Many users have reported problems with Google Play Store updates: here’s what’s going on and how to intervene
New problems on the Google Play Store, but this time it’s not about dangerous apps or apps that ask too many permissions to the user to steal personal data. The problem, this time, is a real (as trivial, but annoying) bug: the Play Store makes us re-download the updates of the apps we’ve already installed.
The bug, by the way, did not appear on all Android phones and, if it appeared, it did so only for a very short period of time: between Sunday evening and Monday morning. Most of the apps to be “updated”, then, were Google’s own: YouTube TV, Wear OS, Gmail, Google Docs, Sheets and Slides, Google Fit and Google Files. The most astute users immediately noticed that something was wrong: updates over the weekend, unless they are critical security patches, are something more unique than rare. But the proof of error was even clearer: despite installing the updates, the Play Store in some cases continued to propose them.
Google Play Store updates gone wild: what happened
When entering the “My Apps and Games” section of the Play Store between Sunday evening and Monday morning, users affected by the bug noticed the availability of numerous updates, all at once and ready for download. The strange thing is that the version of the app proposed for download was always the same as the one already installed on the smartphone, but in some cases the Play Store proposed to update an app whose last update was months ago with an absolutely identical version. Other times the last update was a few days old. In fact, therefore, there is no real logical thread that could justify this bug.
Is there something to worry about?
Although it would seem, counting the reports on the network, that this problem has affected many users, it should be noted that there is no risk to the devices. Anyone who enters the Play Store today and finds an update available, with the same version already installed, can choose to ignore it or make it. Absolutely nothing will change and exactly the same files already on the phone will be downloaded. Could this have been a test by Google on its app update system gone wrong?