Got HUAWEI/HONOR maps errors? Install the beta Play Services to fix it (Update)

Update, May 18:Google is moving to solve the “Google Play Services are updating” issues that have been plaguing HUAWEI and HONOR devices this week. A company representative announced in the Google Product Forums the rollout of a beta version of Play Services that should fix the HUAWEI and HONOR errors that broke apps like Maps, Uber, and Google Pay.

If you need to fix the “Google Play Services are updating” errors on phones like the HUAWEI Mate 7, Mate 8, Mate 9, P20, P10, HONOR View 10, HONOR 9 and others, go ahead and join the public Google Play Services beta and wait about one minute before launching the affected applications.

To join the beta, click on the button bellow and then click on the blue Become A Tester button.

Clearing the data on your Play Services (Settings > Program > Google Play-Services > Storage capacity > Manage Space > Clear all data), as well as rebooting your device after joining the beta may help fix the errors. Note that Google said the new beta will be rolled out to users slowly over the next days, so even if you join the beta, you may still need to wait to get the HUAWEI/HONOR maps issues patched.

Here’s the full message Google posted in its product forums: 

We are pleased to report that a beta version of Google Play Services is ready. We believe this version mitigates the issue on HUAWEI devices running Android 7.0 Nougat, or higher. An important caveat is that each time the device is rebooted, you will need to wait about one minute before launching the affected applications.

Starting today at midnight (Pacific Time), the beta will be rolled-out to a segment of the community that has signed-up for the Google Play Services Public Beta Program. It will ramp to increasing segments of the beta audience over the next few days. We invite you to join the beta program at https://developers.google.com/android/guides/beta-program to obtain an early release of this and future versions of Google Play Services. Once beta testing is complete it will be rolled out in stages to all users.

Numerous users have confirmed in the Google Product Forums that the beta has indeed fixed the “Google Play Services are updating” issues for them.

Let us know in the comments if it works for you.

Original post, May 17: If you own a Huawei or Honor device, you may have noticed that some of your apps that access Google Maps do not work as advertised. The words ‘Google Play Services are updating’ appear, even though there is no update in progress, and Google Maps works as normal. Even though a fix is on the way, several other issues might not have fixes, reported Piunika Web.

According to folks on the Google Product Forums and Google’s Issue Tracker, the problem purportedly stemmed from the latest Google Play Services update, version 12.6.73. The latest update reportedly broke Google Maps integration and location sharing within certain apps, rendering apps like Uber completely useless.

Worse still, the Google Play Services update seemingly created other issues, such as Google Pay crashes and issues with Google Home connectivity. The update might have also messed with Android Auto, with issues including errors when you tap the microphone button on the car’s head unit.

The common thread with these issues is that they appeared on HUAWEI and HONOR devices, regardless of the Android version.

The good news is that HUAWEI and Google are aware of the problems and identified the cause. According to Google, the problem was with an “unexpected change to the filesystem permissions.”

Google also said that a new version of Google Play Services should resolve all of these problems, though the company did not say when it will push out the update.

In the meantime, you can disable Google Play Services and restart the phone. Alternatively, you can clear out the app’s cache or uninstall the app’s update, though the issues might eventually resurface, as follows:

Settings > Program > Google Play-Services > Storage capacity > Manage Space > Clear all data.

If you have a HUAWEI or HONOR device and have the Google Play Services bug, let us know in the comments below.