While Google Play Music has been officially “dead” and users encouraged to switch to YouTube Music, there are devices that cannot uninstall the app because it came pre-installed out of the box. So now we’re getting the one last update to the now useless app that will let you hide the app and free up space on your device. If your device is one of the newer ones then you can go ahead and delete the app but for those that have been unable to do so, this is an update that you need.
If Google Play Music is still there haunting your smartphone even if you have since then moved on to another music streaming service, download the latest update, version 8.29.9112-1.W. This will go down in history as the last ever update for the defunct app. You’ll see the “Google Play Music is no longer available” screen as well as a push for you to go and Explore YouTube Music, if you haven’t already done so.
9 to 5 Google notes that there’s a new thing though with this update. You get a “Free up space” prompt and underneath that are three options. “Hide app” means you will no longer be able to open it and it will disappear from your app drawer. You can also choose to “Delete all local data” in case you were not able to remove the downloads within the app before the app was locked out. There’s also “Open app info” which may be practically useless as well.
This update is really more for those who cannot uninstall Googe Play Music because it has been preinstalled there. Some devices like the Pixel 3 that has it as a default app have the option to disable it from the app info page but not everyone knows it. At least, the newer devices that have YouTube Music pre-installed will be able to delete the Google Play Music app just like any other app on their phone.
So yes, this is the super final nail in the coffin of this poor app. Not a lot of hearts are broken though since there are a lot of other options now in the market, including the official replacement, YouTube Music.
