Help Installed wrong version of Google Play Services

[greenmark]

Hello

I think I installed the wrong version of Google Play Services. I now have pop-up messages on the phone every 3 seconds saying that Google Play Services has stopped working. I want to know how to remove the wrong version and install the correct one.

I recently had an issue where Gmail, Google Play and Youtube were not working. Eventually I got a message from the Youtube app that told me to sign out and back in of Google on the phone.

After signing out, I could not sign back in because I kept getting a message that the phone could not communicate with Google servers. After searching I found a solution that this was likely because Google Play Services was not working, and suggestion for me to update it from APKMirror.

I did this but it seems that the version I downloaded was incorrect. So the situation is:
- I have the incorrect version
- I have since tried each of the other versions available for Android 8 (my current operating system) and none will install over the current installation. This means I have to somehow remove the incorrect version before I install the correct one.
- I cannot find how to disable the incorrect version
- I cannot look up information on which is the correct version from the app information page, because it just shows details of the incorrect version
- the installed version will not auto-update because I am signed out of Google Play Store
- lastly, one of my banks uses a 2factor authorisation system which does not provide back-up codes (bloody bank), so if I do a factory reset I need to take a long-haul flight to go the bank branch to re-enable the online account.

So... how do I install the correct version of Google Play Services?

Nexus 5X, Android 8.1.0, not rooted

 

[greenmark]

OK - replying to my own thread to say how I fixed this.

To remove the wrongly installed GPS app:
First, I removed the Device Administrator access to all the Google apps (eg Google Pay, Find my Phone). (settings>Security>Device admin apps)
Then uninstall updates to Google Play Services to restore it back to the factory original version (settings>apps & notifications>Google Play Services>3-dot menu at top of screen>Uninstall updates)
That removed all the popups about Google Play Services stopped working. I did though get countless notifications from several different apps that "app" cannot work properly and needs Google Play Services to be updated.

To be able to sign in to Google servers:
Google product forums suggest that you should uninstall updates from both Google Play Services and Google Play Store to bring them both to factory versions, after which you can sign in. This did not work for me and I still could not communicate with Google servers.
So I then removed updates to all of the Google apps (eg Gmail, Maps). Still could not communicate to Google servers.
So lastly I reset my wifi connection on my phone - I got my phone to forget my home wifi and then signed into it again with the password. That worked. I could sign in to Google and then all the apps were updated.
It was very odd because previously I could not sign in either on wifi or on mobile data.
Note also, to sign in you need to turn off Google 2factor authorisation. You also need to make sure your phone's date and time are set correctly (settings>system>date&time>use network date and time)