So you were trying to dabble with a few settings on your phone to make certain changes or you were simply exploring the settings of your phone and all of a sudden you come across this message that does not let you proceed. If you get the message ‘Unfortunately Google Play Services Has Stopped’ then there is no reason to panic. Everything is not lost yet. You simply need to try our fixes to put it back on. We are just dealing with technology here and at times things can get a bit messed up and you may end up at this juncture, but it isn’t your phone or you. It is just that somewhere down the line some data got lost or couldn’t be tracked and Google Play Services ended up losing that connection, so it stopped.

How to Fix ‘Unfortunately Google Play Services Has Stopped’ Error

There are different reasons that this happened, and we are going to discuss the different methods of solving this setback. The cause of this error is not very clear but it usually comes up when you are making some changes to the settings of the Android Operating System. Try these steps sequentially and depending on what is wrong, you may be able to fix the problem with one of these steps.

Solution 1- Empty cache

One of the workarounds for this problem is emptying the cache of the system app Google Play Services. To do so, you must go to the Settings and then tap on Applications. Now look for Application Manager and tap on the ‘All’ tab. Now look for Google Play Services and tap it once so that you can get the detailed information for this app. You will find the option to ‘Clear Cache’ for this app. Once you have successfully flushed the cache from this application, you must restart your phone to avoid this error in the future.

Solution 2- Reset the app preferences

To reset the app preferences you must go to Application Manager the same way as before, and then tap on the tab which says ‘All’. Now look for ‘More’ on the top right corner of the screen and tap on it. Next, the menu that comes up will have an option that reads, ‘Reset app preferences’, tap on it and you should be done. To ensure that the changes you have made take effect, simply restart your phone and the error should be gone for good.

Solution 3 -Add your Google Account Once Again

If you are still facing the same problem then go to the settings and look for ‘Accounts’. Tap on it and you will get a list of accounts that you have created on your device. Your Google Account will be in the list as well. Tap on Google and then tap on your email address on the next page. Once you tap on your email address you will be on another menu which has a lot of information about how your Google account works on the device. You are looking for the 3 dots symbol on the top right corner of your device. Tap the symbol and you will get a drop down that gives you the option to ‘Remove account’. Click on it so that your Google account is deleted.

Once this is done, you are going to add your account once again to your device. For this, you must go to Settings and then tap on Accounts. Here you tap on Add Account and select Google Account. You will now be on a screen with a wizard that asks you to enter your Gmail, email address, so follow the prompts to complete adding your Gmail account to your device once again. It has been noticed that this step helps in correcting the problem of ‘Google Play Service Has Stopped’.

Solution 4- Reinstall Google Play Services

Google Play Services are a fundamental part of your Android device. So you cannot uninstall it completely. However, you have the option to deactivate the Android Device Manager and then reinstall all updates to make sure that you are back on the most recent version of the Play Services. This is how you go about doing it:

1. To deactivate Google Play Services, you must go to settings and then tap on device administrators and tap on Deactivate Android Device Manager.
2. Now uninstall Google Play Services by going into Settings and looking for Application Manager. Inside the Application Manager, you must tap on all and look for Google Play Services. You will now get the option to uninstall updates.
3. Now try using any app that will require Google Play Services. The app will automatically identify the absence of Play Services and prompt you to reinstall it.
4. Once it is reinstalled to the latest version, you can activate Android Device Manager by going to Settings > Security > Device Administrators.

5. Once it has been activated, you must reboot your device so that all changes are in effect. The error should not return after the reboot.

Solution 5- Clear the Google Service Framework cache

Your Google Play Services relies on the Google Service Framework to run properly. Google Services Framework is a system app which stores information and ensures that your phone is synced with the Google servers for regular exchange of data. If something goes wrong here, your Google Play Services may not work as intended. To put things right you must do the following:

Go to Settings and then tap on Application Manager. Now go to the section where all the applications are displayed and look for Google Framework Services. Tap on it and select Force Stop. Then tap on Clear Cache button to flush the cache stored for this system app. Now reboot your device to make sure that the changes are registered to your device. This should help you stop the error from recurring in the future.

With the help of these solutions, you should be able to fix the ‘Unfortunately Google Play Services Has Stopped’ error so that it does not come back again. However, if none of this works, you may want to consider a trip to a professional who can check what is wrong and solve it.