Google Play Store - Sideload or Flash - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi, I just transitioned to CyanogenMod 12.1 and I want to install the Google Play Store app but I'm not sure what are the advantages of flashing a minimal GApps package over simply sideloading the APK... or whether there even are any advantages at all. I know that the GApps package also includes some extra functionality, but what is that functionality and can I do without it?

Just the Play Store alone isn't enough. It's best to install a Gapps package because it will install the Google Services Framework, Play Store, and a couple more things needed to make it work. I find it best to flash an appropriate package and then just disable whatever you don't need after you boot. If you uninstall something important, it's more of a pain to install again vs just defreezing the app. You don't save any more usable space by deleting them anyway as they are stored in a different partition vs apps you load from the Play Store.

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GAPPS: Stock vs Modded

What is the fundamental difference between stock, preinstalled Google Apps that you would find on your newly bought phone versus the google apps package that you flash over to the phone when installing a custom rom like CM?
I realize that the GAPPS are installed into a system directory as opposed to where all other apps are installed. I don't understand why all GAPPS that come on a new phone are updateable even though they are in the system directory as you can "Uninstall Updates" while with GAPPS that are flashed over with a custom rom are not. Are the GAPPS that you flash after a custom ROM updateable via the Play Store?
Blazing Hornet said:
What is the fundamental difference between stock, preinstalled Google Apps that you would find on your newly bought phone versus the google apps package that you flash over to the phone when installing a custom rom like CM?
I realize that the GAPPS are installed into a system directory as opposed to where all other apps are installed. I don't understand why all GAPPS that come on a new phone are updateable even though they are in the system directory as you can "Uninstall Updates" while with GAPPS that are flashed over with a custom rom are not. Are the GAPPS that you flash after a custom ROM updateable via the Play Store?
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Me, also have the same question. Hoping they were updateable via play store
Blazing Hornet said:
What is the fundamental difference between stock, preinstalled Google Apps that you would find on your newly bought phone versus the google apps package that you flash over to the phone when installing a custom rom like CM?
I realize that the GAPPS are installed into a system directory as opposed to where all other apps are installed. I don't understand why all GAPPS that come on a new phone are updateable even though they are in the system directory as you can "Uninstall Updates" while with GAPPS that are flashed over with a custom rom are not. Are the GAPPS that you flash after a custom ROM updateable via the Play Store?
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Downloadable gapps you can choose which versions i.e standard all Google Apps and core would be basic stuff like playstore and file size would be a lot smaller... As for updating I've never ran into any issues
I've never run into update problems with GAPPs. They are built off of Google's source, so they should be just like any pre-installed app. However, they don't come pre-installed on aftermarket ROMs because of licensing issues. Also, many devs, for example the Slim team, modify their GAPPs so they will respond to the "Dark Slim" or similar toggles. Stock GAPPs won't respond to theming. Oh, many of the aftermarket ROMs are de-odexed and as such, so are the GAPPs packages that go with them.
I believe I understand it now. Correct me if I am wrong. GAPPS include the Play Store and other apps for example Gmail and Maps etc. depending on if it is a standard or core package. All of these will update with newer versions as they are released in the Play Store. Things like the Dialer and Calendar are apps that come with the ROM and are not update able unless the ROM itself is updated.
Why is it then that people download standard packages and not just a core package with the Play Store so that they can immediately download the newest Google Apps?
Blazing Hornet said:
I believe I understand it now. Correct me if I am wrong. GAPPS include the Play Store and other apps for example Gmail and Maps etc. depending on if it is a standard or core package. All of these will update with newer versions as they are released in the Play Store. Things like the Dialer and Calendar are apps that come with the ROM and are not update able unless the ROM itself is updated.
Why is it then that people download standard packages and not just a core package with the Play Store so that they can immediately download the newest Google Apps?
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I think you're a bit confused. Most gapps packages are already somewhat "core" packages and have very few elements extra. If you check Cyanogenmod gapps you'll see them sometimes remove the apps that are available via the Play Store in their changelog.
As for updating, they can update just fine. What you're confusing though probably is on a rom upgrade. When you download a stock OTA update, they contain the updated gapps at least for the core functionality that would "break" the phone if they weren't updated. The others update via Play Store.
On a custom rom update from let's say Android 4.3 to Android 4.4, rom maintainers do not package the gapps with the rom itself for various reasons, one of them being not wanting to get picked on by Google like Cyanogenmod was in the past. They used to have them packaged, but Google didn't want that and the community came to an agreement to provide them separately.
Hope this helps
polobunny said:
I think you're a bit confused. Most gapps packages are already somewhat "core" packages and have very few elements extra. If you check Cyanogenmod gapps you'll see them sometimes remove the apps that are available via the Play Store in their changelog.
As for updating, they can update just fine. What you're confusing though probably is on a rom upgrade. When you download a stock OTA update, they contain the updated gapps at least for the core functionality that would "break" the phone if they weren't updated. The others update via Play Store.
On a custom rom update from let's say Android 4.3 to Android 4.4, rom maintainers do not package the gapps with the rom itself for various reasons, one of them being not wanting to get picked on by Google like Cyanogenmod was in the past. They used to have them packaged, but Google didn't want that and the community came to an agreement to provide them separately.
Hope this helps
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Thanks for the explanation

GApps

Hello guys,
First, I want to say I'm new here so dont judge me I have a problem. I installed CyanogenMod, the newest version, I guess (nightly, date 2014-11-14 12:59:24, its kitkat 4.4.4.). It works just fine. Then, as I know, I need to install GApps. But I tried like 100 gapps zip files. Every file i installed, dont have Google play store and other google services. What should I do? Maybe someone can give me correct gapps download link, which i should use?
Update!: It actually shows some of google apps like play books, play games, youtube, play movies. but, for example i try to start any google app, it says "google play services, which some of your applications rely on, is not supported by your device. Please contact the manufacturer for assistance."
Update!: found proper gapps for 4.4.4 kitkat, but phone says it doesnt have enough memory to install them. actually it has dafuq?
Thank you very much!

How can I install Google Play Services/Google Play Store on a phone with just AOSP?

I need to pair a watch with a phone that has just AOSP flashed on it and so I'm trying to figure out if/how I can install Google Play Services/Google Play Store onto the phone. (In order to pair the watch with the phone I need to install the Android Wear App, but I can't do that if the phone doesn't have Google Play Store/Google Play Services installed).
My phone is a Nexus 5 with the Lollipop AOSP installed, so I just tried installing the GSP apks using adb but I keep getting error messages that GPS has stopped running.
I'm an iOS developer and new to Android and have been searching for days how to solve my problem without success, so I'd be grateful if somebody could help me with the following questions:
1) If I get Google Play Services and Google Play Store apks from somewhere like apkmirror.com and install them will I be able to access the Android Wear app on Google play and download/install/run it?
2) If not then if I get the Android Wear app itself from somewhere like apkmirror.com and install it along with GPS will the Android Wear app run?
3) When I try to install GSP why do I get the error messages about it stopping? Are there other dependent components I need to also install to make it run?
4) Can I install it using adb or do I have to install it using a recovery? If so, then why does a recovery have to be used to install it, whats the difference between installing via a recovery and installing via adb?
Thanks for any insight, I'm getting nowhere and getting frustrated trying to work all this out.
I had exactly the same problem and could solve it.
I described my solution here:
https://code.google.com/p/aosp4nexus5/wiki/AOSPforNexus5
The documentation describes two alternatives:
1. Manual installation which is lost with every new flashing of the system image
2. Integration in the build process to create a system image including Google Play Store as vendor-specific prebuilt APKs
Thanks, I'll try it out
Do you have any ideas where I could get GoogleServicesFramework.apk from?
Places like apkmirror have GooglePlayStore.apk and GooglePlayServices.apk for Lollipop but not GoogleServicesFramework, (why would they have 2 of them but not all of them?).
I don't have a Nexus 10 device so can't obtain them as you did in your post.
mungbeans said:
Do you have any ideas where I could get GoogleServicesFramework.apk from?
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You can unzip the file gapps-lp-20141109-signed.zip from BasketBuild https://s.basketbuild.com/gapps
You find it under system/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework.
The name of the APKs may differ. GooglePlayServices is named something like GsmCore or com.google.android.gsm.
The Play Store is named something like Phonesky or Vending.
Thanks very much

Install Gapps as non system apps

I want to install the Gapps package as non system (ie user) apps so I can easily remove them whenever I need, instead of using titanium backup to make them user apps one by one and removing them. Is there any way to do this by editing the text files in the zip?
Also can I choose not to remove the cyan apps when gapps are installed?
(I'm posing here bec I'm not yet allowed in developer threads)
You can't. There are system files that are needed via a flash to make atleast the play store and play services work. Use the OpenGapps Pico Package and install all the other gapps from the play store

What's the difference between installing GApps or manually installing PlayStore?

And if I install GApps, will I be able to remove each app if I start to dislike it? Thanks. (I assume I can remove the apps installed manually on the Play Store)
Almeidowski said:
And if I install GApps, will I be able to remove each app if I start to dislike it? Thanks. (I assume I can remove the apps installed manually on the Play Store)
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With G apps,you can select and download the Aroma Package, you'll have the choice to install what you want. But once it's installed you can't remove the apps (unless you have root) because Gapps are installed as system apps.
On the playstore, the will be removable at any time.
I think that installing playstore manually will be buggy because, it installs apps automatically, something that other apps are forbidden to do.
Have a nice day.
And next time put your question on your post, even if it's on the title

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