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Apps set to auto update but not updating.

T

tim091

Newbie
Moto G5 on Android 8.1.0.

I used to do manual updates on apps from the Play Store but got fed up with getting notifications daily telling me updates were available so set it to auto-update.

But I still get notifications saying "Updates available for app x, app y, app z etc.". Touching them takes me to the Play Store where, sometimes, it starts updating when I get there, other times I have to click the Update button.

I then get a notification telling me it has finished!

What I want is never to hear from the Play Store and be 100% certain it is auto-updating apps. Isn't that how auto-update is supposed to work? Any ideas?
 
tim091 said:
What I want is never to hear from the Play Store and be 100% certain it is auto-updating apps. Isn't that how auto-update is supposed to work?
Click to expand...
Yes. And it must be frustrating that it isn't.
Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Sure! There are a few things you can try, but I make no guarantees. :)

First, go into your System Settings and find the Play Store under 'Apps' or 'Apps & Notifications' or wherever it is on your device. Clear its cache and force stop. Now open the Play Store app and check your settings. When they're correct, go about your business. You'll have to wait and see if this worked. If it didn't...

Go back to System Settings and repeat the above, but this time also delete its data. When you run it now, you're going to be prompted to enter your account info, and of course you'll have to re-do your settings. Does that fix it? If not...

Back to System Settings, repeat the above, and uninstall it if you're allowed to. Then reinstall it [by going to the Play Store via browser]. If your only choice is to disable it, do that and follow any prompts. Then go back to Play via browser and see what choices you have for Play Store, such as update to latest version. If that fails...you're on your own! :eek: ;)
 
MoodyBlues said:
Yes. And it must be frustrating that it isn't.

Sure! There are a few things you can try, but I make no guarantees. :)

First, go into your System Settings and find the Play Store under 'Apps' or 'Apps & Notifications' or wherever it is on your device. Clear its cache and force stop. Now open the Play Store app and check your settings. When they're correct, go about your business. You'll have to wait and see if this worked. If it didn't...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the comprehensive reply, much appreciated. I have done the first step (as quoted above) and will monitor the situation.

Much thanks.
 
Go into the Settings >> Apps menu, find and open the Google Play Store app listing, and open the Notifications option to enable/disable what you want. Don't forget that the Play Store app has its tie into a lot of Android OS incidentals so be judicious about shutting off what it does or doesn't squawk about.
 
svim said:
Go into the Settings >> Apps menu, find and open the Google Play Store app listing, and open the Notifications option to enable/disable what you want. Don't forget that the Play Store app has its tie into a lot of Android OS incidentals so be judicious about shutting off what it does or doesn't squawk about.
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Thanks svim. I know I can switch off the notification but as it doesn't seem to be auto-updating (despite being set to auto-update) then for the moment I need them.

I am hoping that once auto-update starts working properly I won't get notifications anyway.
 
tim091 said:
UPDATE: didn't make any difference. I got a notification today that an update was waiting.
I have tried your second step (deleting data) and will see what happens.
Click to expand...

UPDATE: No, that didn't fix it either. Yesterday I got a notification saying that an app had been updated. Great I thought, it seems to be auto-updating so all I need to do now is stop it telling me about it!

But today I have a notification saying "Updates are available for the following apps...".

I will try reinstalling Play Store.
 
MoodyBlues said:
Okay. Damn, I hope that does it! This has got to be frustrating.
Click to expand...

Weird thing I noticed yesterday after posting is that I got a notification saying "updates are available for x, y, z apps..." which I ignored as I was busy. About three hours later I got one saying they had been updated!

So, it looks like it is prompting for manual input but then goes ahead and updates anyway! If it is consistent with that then I will turn off notifications and be happy.
 
UPDATE: Not working consistently it seems. I am looking at Play Store now and it says "Updates Pending..." Directly under that it says "Auto Update is turned on"!

Maybe pending means it will get around to them in it's own time (I can't think why it wouldn't just zap them down to the phone straight away though).

I'll leave it like that and see if it does update them.
 
tim091 said:
UPDATE: Not working consistently it seems. I am looking at Play Store now and it says "Updates Pending..." Directly under that it says "Auto Update is turned on"!
Click to expand...
This is very weird! When I used to have Auto-Update on, it auto-updated! Just like it should. I don't know why that's not happening for you. :thinking: Could there be a conflicting setting somewhere? Perhaps buried deep in Google's zillion settings? I'm going to poke around a bit...

ETA: There's some possibly useful information on this page; please take a look and see if anything helps. I'm particularly interested in the possibility that this could be a connectivity issue--even a perceived connectivity issue, if you're using a VPN.

ETA: This may be it! Read this reply in a Google Support thread about your problem.
 
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Thanks for the the reply. Firstly, I can report that it does get around to updating. The updates that were pending yesterday are now installed.

That perhaps fits with the second link you posted above where Play Store "sleeps" when screen goes off. I have turned off battery optimisation for Play Store and will see what happens.

Thank you so much for the active interest in getting this resolved!
 
UPDATE: No change in behaviour after turning off battery optimisation for Play Store. I am looking at it now and there are three updates pending.

What we have leaned is that those pending updates will be applied at some point, so Auto-Update is working. It must just have a schedule of re-tries. I always switch phone off at night so that would make sense if an update became available then, but I wonder how often it re-tries to update? Phone has been on for seven hours so far today and they are still showing pending.
 
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