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Fix: “The application (process com.android.vending) has stopped unexpectedly.” on Android

In the event that data related to the Play Store gets uninstalled on a non-rooted Android device, the user gets the error message “The application (process com.android.vending) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again” whenever they run the Play Store, after which the application force closes. On rooted Android devices, this error message is caused by a problem with the gapps (Google Apps) package installed on the device or if the Play Store on the device (or its data) starts acting up.

This error message completely annihilates the user’s ability to download any apps onto their device, which is why this error is one of the most serious issues associated with the Google Play Store. This issue has been faced by quite a large number of Android users from all over the world, and the following are the methods that proved most useful to them:

Uninstall Google Play Store Updates

  1. Go to settings.
  2. Locate and enter the ‘Apps’ section or the ‘Application Manager’.
  3. Select ‘All’ when presented with the list of applications installed on the device.
  4. Locate the Google Play app and tap on it.
  5. Select ‘Uninstall Updates’.
  6. Run the Google Play Store, allow the application to install updates and the application should then no longer display the “process.com.android.vending has stopped” error.

Clear Device’s cache partition

  1. Remove the device’s SD card to preserve the data stored on it.
  2. Boot the phone up, go to ‘Backup and Restore’ in Settings, and perform a full factory reset.
  3. Wait for the phone to be completely reset.
  4. Set the phone up.
  5. Reboot the phone into Recovery Mode and completely wipe the device’s cache.
  6. Open the Play Store.

Reflash the Google Apps package file (Root Only)

  1. Turn the device off.
  2. Reboot the device into Recovery Mode.
  3. Flash the gapps.zip file all over again.
  4. Boot the device up and the problem should no longer persist.

Forcefully deleting the Play Store data folder (Root Only)

  1. Use the Root Explorer application to gain access to the ‘com.android.vending’ folder in the path ‘Android/data’ or ‘Android/data/data’.
  2. Delete the folder.
  3. Fire up the Play Store to make sure that the issue has indeed been fixed.

If none of these methods worked for you at all, you will have to factory reset your phone in order to get this issue resolved.