Google Play Services: Everything You Need To Know
As most people already knew that Android was launched in 2008 and after 8 years of launching this awesome platform, Android has now more than 1.4 Billion users worldwide and the best selling Operating System on Smartphones and Tablets from 2013.
Even after being an Android user from the past few years, there are few peoples who don’t know some basic stuffs about Android. In those basic stuffs, one of the most important part is Google Play Services.
Almost every Android user knows what is Google Play Store. But most people may not heard about Google Play Services.
You should know what is Google Play Services too Because they are dependent on one another.
Most people don’t know what is Google Play Store and then having issues with their Play Store apps.
If you are one of them, then you will find this place very useful.
In this post, i’m going to share a detailed information What is Google Play Services and what is the use of this? Let’s start from basics.
What is Google Play Services?
Google Play Services is an Android service which runs in the background of Android devices which helps to get the latest version of Google apps from Play Store.
Not understood? Here’s an another explanation for you.
If you want to use the latest version of Google apps such as Google maps, Google chrome etc, You don’t to need to have the latest version of Android to use it. Because Google Play Services can help you to get the latest version of Google’s core apps without upgrading your Android’s operating system.
Here is an example for you,
I’m using Android Kitkat 4.4 in my mobile, but i want to use the latest Google maps app which is available for Lollipop users. In this case, Google Play Services automatically gets the latest version of Google maps in Android 4.4 Kitkat mobile.
In other words, Google Play Services gives you the latest features to the users of old operating system.
It means there is no need to wait for the next Android update to use the latest feature in your old Android device.
Google Play Services only works in those devices which is running Android 2.2 and later versions.
Remember that Google Play Services gets the latest version of apps only for Google’s core apps such as
• Google chrome
• Google maps
• Google+
• Gmail
• YouTube
And so on. And doesn’t gives any guaranteed updates for other apps.
Recommended: Tips and Tricks to become an Advance Google user.
Google Play Services comes as pre-installed app in almost every Android device. It gets automatically updated and ask for lots of permission to access it.
Permissions-Google-Play-Services
Permissions Required for Google Play Services
In brief, Google Play services is an app interconnected with Android OS itself.
It’s a package of APIs (things that assist developers and allow apps to easily communicate with other apps) that ensure less and less apps are dependent upon Android OS updates to run.
Just like i said Google Play Services comes as pre-installed app in every Android devices, but sometimes it may be missing in your device.
What is the reason behind this?
When you update your Android’s OS with any custom OS, sometimes Google Play Services may gone missing. In that scenarios, you can download the latest version of Google Play Services from the below link.
Download Google Play Store
But installing Google Play Store manually isn’t advisable. If your device doesn’t got Google Play or Google Play Services after updating it from custom ROM, it’s always advisable to revert back to the stock ROM of your device and be safe.
I have seen many people have asked lots of question about Google Play Services. I have chosen 3 of the common questions and answering it below.
1. Do i need google play services on my phone compulsorily?
Yes, Of course. Because i have already said earlier that without Google Play Services, you won’t get updates for core apps for your phone.
2. How to update Google Play Services?
You don’t need to update Google Play Services because it get automatically updated when Google releases its latest version. You should also remember that updating Google Play Services isn’t an Good idea.
3. Can i uninstall this app?
Most want to want to uninstall this app Because they think doing this will free up their phone’s memory. But the reality is you can’t uninstall this app. However, you can disable this app. But this is a bad idea to disable this app.
When you try to disable Google Play Services, you will get a warning message like this.
Google-play-services-disable-warning
Warning Before Disabling Google Play Services
As you can see in the above image if you disable this app, some other apps of your device will start misbehaving and your device will start lagging. This is the reason that you should never ever Disable Google Play Services in your Android device.
Conclusion:
If you are one of them who don’t know What is Google Play Services app before reading this article, i’m sure you may have know what it is and what it does. If you have any other information about Google Play Services which you want to share it here, don’t hesitate to add it in the comments. I would like to hear from you.
