Unfortunately, there is still no official list with Google error decoding. Therefore, Android users themselves have to find out the reasons and look for ways to fix it. One of the most common problems is the Play Market error 963. Today we will find out why it occurs and what to do in this situation.
What's happening?
As a rule, the "Play Market" gives an error of 963 when installing or updating various programs. A message appears on the device screen stating that the system was unable to download the application. It looks like this:
In most cases, this happens when downloading software to an external drive - that is, to a MicroSD flash drive instead of the device’s internal memory.
Possible reasons
Let's find out why the error "Play Market" 963. There are only a few reasons that can trigger its appearance:
- The client cache is full. When downloading any Android applications, temporary files remain in the phone or tablet memory. Their number is growing all the time, and after some time it can become critical. That is, the error occurs due to the fact that the system simply has nowhere to write data about the new version of the application.
- Problems with the SD card. Most often, it is precisely because of them that error 963 occurs. Here the options are possible: either the memory card itself is faulty, or a failure occurs during data transfer to the USB flash drive.
- In some cases, the problem may be related to updating the version of Google Play itself. The fact is that, unlike all other applications, it updates automatically in the background. Errors occur if you used the "Market" at the time of downloading the new version. Due to the fact that some files are active, the system cannot overwrite them, and the update is not installed correctly.
It is worth saying that error 963 can occur on any Android device, regardless of memory size and version of the operating system. Fortunately, in most cases the problem can be solved in literally 15 minutes.
Error 963 in the Play Market: what to do?
There are several ways to solve this problem, depending on the causes of its occurrence. Unfortunately, the exact cause can only be established empirically, taking turns trying various correction options.
Flush cache
The first thing to do if you see error code 963 in the "Play Store" is to delete temporary files and data from memory, that is, clear the application cache. How to do it?
- Go to "Settings"> "Applications" and find the Play Market on the "All" tab.
- All information about the program will be displayed on the screen. Locate and click the "Clear Cache" button.
- Go back to the list of all applications and go to the program that starts up with an error.
- Delete the application cache.
Optionally, you can clean up temporary files in the Google Services Framework and the Google Play Services. After that, try to run the program again and check if the error message has disappeared. If not, move on to the next option.
Transfer to internal memory
As you already know, Play Market error 963 can occur due to malfunctioning flash cards. In this case, the solution may be to move the application to the internal memory of the device.
To do this, go back to "Settings", open the list of all applications, find the one you need and click on the "Move to internal drive" button (in different versions of Android, the text may vary slightly). Do nothing and do not press until the process is complete. Then try again to update the program through the Play Market and run it.
Disconnect SD Card
Error code 963 in the "Play Market" may indicate a malfunction in the flash drive itself. If the previous options did not help, you should try temporarily disabling MircoSD. The main thing is to do it right.
- Go to Settings> Memory.
- Click on the "Disconnect SD card" button.
- Turn off the device.
- Remove the flash drive from the slot.
- Turn on the device again.
Now try again to update the application that produces an error. If after that everything works fine, you can insert the card back. But note: if errors continue to occur, and the phone or tablet slows down, then most likely the flash drive will have to be replaced.
Uninstall Play Market Updates
Error 963 is often encountered by users who have Market installed version 6.1 and higher. You may need to uninstall the latest updates and revert to an earlier version of Google Play to restore apps to their normal functioning. You can do this in the same place where we cleaned the cache (button "Delete updates"). Confirm the removal and wait for the process to complete. Please note that it may take several minutes. As always, we conduct a test and try to update the program that interests us. If it works out, then there have been compatibility issues.
Reinstalling the problematic application
This is another option that is worth a try if you have the “Play Market” error 963. If the store itself opens normally, you should completely delete all data about the application from the phone and SD card, and then try to reinstall it. Unfortunately, some of the information may be lost.
Radical Method: Reinstalling Play Market
This option is suitable only for those who are at least a little versed in computers and technology. The fact is that it is impossible to reinstall Market in normal mode. In order to do this, you need root privileges.
Help: root access (superuser rights) is a special mode that allows the owner of an Android device to get full control over system files with the ability to edit and / or delete them.
The first thing to do is install one of the many root-access programs on your smartphone or tablet, for example, Framaroot, Root Genius or Kingroot.
Then we proceed as follows:
- Run the program and get superuser rights.
- Uninstall Play Market.
- Search the web and download the installation apk file for Market. Use only reliable sources and be sure to check the file for viruses.
- Transfer the installer to the phone.
- Run the program and install "Play Market" again.
After that, you need to wait until the store itself, as well as other applications are updated, and only then try to open the program you are interested in.
What if nothing helps?
If all the recommendations on how to fix error 963 in the "Play Market" turned out to be useless, you will have to move on to even tougher measures, since here we are talking about serious damage to the system. In this case, you can try to perform a full reset of Android with deleting all files and returning to the factory settings ("Settings"> "Restore and reset").
In extreme cases, the device may need to be flashed, but this rarely comes to this. As practice shows, most often applications are restored after clearing the cache and removing updates.