'Google Play Store keeps closing' error message appearing even AFTER factory reset. Cannot open the app either, it just crashes

[PCBB]

Hi

So will try to keep it short:

- phone shut down bc it ran out of battery about 2 days ago, tried charging it on the gym treadmill, this is when the Google Play Store app crashes. A small message error pop on my screen repeatedly for a couple of seconds.

-cannot open the app either, cannot purchase anything through any apps anymore and cannot update them either because of this

- tried restarting phone, tried wiping cache on both the play store app itself and other google services

- backed up my data on both Samsung Cloud and external hard-drive and did a factory reset

-halfway through reinstalling the apps, Google Play Store crashed again, cannot open it, cannot update the existing apps and cannot make in-app purchases

- I am currently trying a factory reset one more time, but do not have high hopes

Any idea what is happening? How do I repair it?

Edit: forgot to mention, my phone is a Galaxy S9, it is exactly 3 years old now, never had a problem with it

Update: after my second factory reset, all went well until google play services started updating numerous google apps, including google play store.

Then the error 'Google Play Store keeps closing' appeared again. It seems to be something to do with the 'hidden contents' update, whenever that's done, google play store won't work anymore.

So my temporary solution is to keep uninstalling any updates Google Play Store installs and it works!

Also, I double checked that on setting I have unpicked 'automatically update', yet google play store still installed updates overnight and I had to go into settings and manually remove them again. Any idea why?

Also is there a longer term fix, is this Google's fault for having a bad update?

Edit 2: For anyone else having this issue with the most recent Google Update, please star the bug here https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/208490515 so that the issue is highlighted and resolved (please let me know if there is a better place to report the bug)

[Anonymous User]

It will need the 'play system update' in settings

[PCBB]

Hi thanks for the reply.

My system is up to date, so there was nothing to update.

So after my second factory reset, all was well until the google play services started installing updates. Then it crashed again.

What seemed to kind of fix it is to uninstall any updates on the google play store. I say kind of fixed because -despite auto update being turned off- Google Play Store updated overnight again so I had to uninstall any updates again this morning to make my phone work.

[macmahor]

Did you manage to fix this problem? I have an S9 too with exactly the same issues. Google Play error message comes up multiple times often in quick succession every 5-10 mins of using the phone. Google maps even started giving error messages for a while. I have literally tried everything. Removing cache, clearing app data, force stopping apps, restarting, safe mode, combination of buttons which takes me to what looks like system computer code to clear the cache, deleting and adding Google accounts, removing sd card, changing time, full factory reset where I didn't restore any app data in case this was causing the issue so it was painful trying to reinstall everything (for the brief period that Google Play actually worked again). I have followed every instruction I can see online to help with this issue but nothing works. I am at my wits end. I now have an expensive phone which is fairly useless because I now can't install any apps and it is constantly producing error messages.

[Denis5]

The error is on Google's side, after latest Play Store update (com.android.vending, Phonesky), the app is crashing. And there is not much you can do about that, because the app updates silently in background.

I have reported this bug to Google, and I hope they will fix it soon.

[PCBB]

Yeah that's what I thought so too. I just need to police the app  everyday and uninstall the updates if it quietly updates in the background overnight and then uninstall the updates lol Then the phone works again until it updates again. Will report the bug too

[PCBB]

Yes, we are having the exact same problem!

Check one of the replies below, the person explains it's a Google error, so the latest Play Store update (com.android.vending, Phonesky) is bad and will make the app crash. There is nothing wrong with your phone and nothing much you can do until they patch it. Try reporting the bug as well. I swear this almost seemed planned by Google haha, it was like such a good tactic to try and get me to panic buy a new phone during black friday sales! Nearly caved in too!

But yes, there's nothing more you can do other than manually uninstall the updates from google services/ play store from your phone.  It WILL reinstall by itself at some point, in a day or 2, but just keep deleting the updates and you should be able to use your phone again properly.

[Denis5]

Google fixed the error. Play Store will silently update, and you should not have any issues.
I have just tested it and everything is perfect.