Chromebook Users Report Missing Play Store and Apps, Google Promises a Fix

What if you turn on your Chromebook in the morning to quickly begin your work, but the Play Store and other previously downloaded apps vanish? Well, that frustrating situation has recently happened to many users running ChromeOS. The good news is that Google is aware of the issue and is working on a fix.

A bug removes the Play Store from some Chromebooks

Several Chromebook users recently took to Reddit to complain about this weird issue. An affected user wrote, “After restarting my Lenovo 300e Chromebook, all the apps downloaded with the Google Play Store, along with the Google Play Store, disappeared.” As of this writing, we have not spotted reports from Galaxy Chromebook users. Most complaints are coming from Lenovo Chromebooks, mainly models like the 100e, 300e, and IdeaPad S330.

As TechIssuesToday points out, all affected devices share the same internal code name (hana) and are running build 16295.54.0 on the stable channel. This suggests the bug is not widespread, and Chromebooks from other brands are probably unaffected. Some affected users are even pointing to Google’s new Extended Update program as a possible cause.

If you opt into the Extended Updates policy, you will no longer have the ability to run Android apps. This policy ensures that devices continue to receive automatic software updates even after they reach their official end-of-life date. However, the company has confirmed that the new policy is not causing the disappearing apps issue.

Thankfully, Google is looking into it. “Our team is aware that a small subset of users, on a handful of models are experiencing an issue where the Play store is no longer available on their device,” the company said. We are working quickly to resolve this issue, and once the fix is available we will share an update on this thread”.

While there is no timeline for the fix, you should keep an eye on system updates and check regularly. As of now, there is no workaround available, so the only option is to wait for a fix from Google.