Android app no longer working without Google Play
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I’ve been a Pocket Casts user for years. However, the Android application recently became unusable after updating it.
On opening, it shows the error “Something went wrong: Check that Google Play is enabled on your device and that you’re using an up-to-date version before opening the app” and prevents me from using the app.
Indeed, I do not have Google Play. I also do not have a Google account. I do not see how this is relevant for using Pocket Casts. The app never asked this before and it always worked well. None of the other apps on my phone are requesting this.
I hope this will be fixed? If Google Play is needed for some specific feature, you could display the error when launching that feature, not when opening the app. I’d like to listen/manage my podcasts, and don’t need Google Play for that.
Thanks!!
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This is a known bug, not an intentional change, and the good news is it’s already fixed. A Google protection check was accidentally enabled in v8.13, which incorrectly blocked the app from launching if Google Play Services isn’t present on the device. It has nothing to do with anything you’ve done, and it was never supposed to affect non-Google setups.
The fix landed in v8.14. Here are your options depending on how you installed the app:
- Update to v8.14 through whatever source you use (Aurora Store, F-Droid, direct APK, etc.). If you sideload, the latest release is available on the Pocket Casts Android GitHub releases page.
- Roll back to v8.12 if you need access right now and can’t get v8.14 yet. One important caveat: some users who downgraded reported losing local data such as downloads and per-podcast settings, so keep that in mind before going that route.
Your feedback on the error placement is genuinely well-taken. Blocking the entire app for a missing component only used by one feature isn’t the right experience, and this incident is a good example of why.
Let us know if v8.14 resolves things for you!
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