I found a way to roll back buggy Google Services updates on Android – in just a few clicks

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• If a Google Services update is causing problems, there’s a quick fix
• With the tap of a button, you can roll back certain updates.
• Use this carefully, and it could get you out of a jam.

Over the past decade, there have been a handful of occasions when an Android update wreaked havoc on my phone. Once, it was so bad that I had to do a factory reset and start over.

Not ideal.

There have also been situations where an update didn’t cause catastrophic problems, but did give me a headache or two. For example, a Google Play Services update led to the inability to install apps. That issue wasn’t resolved until Google pushed an update to the service.

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The good news is that there’s a somewhat hidden section in Android where you can roll back updates for nearly any Google service.

For example, if Android WebView (the service that lets you view web pages within an app) suddenly stops working correctly, you could roll back the update, and the service will work as expected again.

If you roll back a service, and it doesn’t fix your phone (and no other option has solved the problem), first make sure you rolled back the right service. Your last-ditch effort would be a factory reset, as there’s no way to roll back a full Android update.

Note that the following directions concern only Google Services, so you won’t find updates for installed user apps here. (For that, you would go to Settings > Apps > All Apps. If an app is causing trouble on your phone, simply uninstall it.)

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With that in mind, let’s take a look at where this hidden option for rolling back Google Services is located and how to use it.

Where is this rollback feature?

I stumbled upon this feature by accident, so you don’t have to spend time looking for it!

On Pixel, open the Settings app and go to Google services and preferences NAME > All services > Privacy & security > System services (where NAME is the name associated with your phone). On Samsung, try Settings > Google services > All services > System services.

On the “System services” page, you’ll find a list of all up-to-date services and those with available updates.

If you find a service with an available update, tap the service name, then tap Update.

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To roll back an update, locate and tap the service you want to roll back. On the service’s page, you should see a button labeled “Remove update.” To roll that service back to a previous version, tap that button, verify the uninstall when prompted, and wait for the update to be rolled back.

Depending on the service, you might need to reboot your phone for the process to complete.

Understand that this is not a cure for everything ailing your Android phone. What this does is give you control over Google Service updates that might be causing issues with your device. 

If you roll back an update and find it wasn’t the cause of your problem, you can go back to that same service and manually run the update to restore it to its previous state.