I just bought a tablet on ebay, the model was first manufactured in 2017 so whilst not new it’s not exacty ancient. All I want it for is watching Netflix when I’m away from the internet, (and possibly other streaming services later but Netflix at the moment). Google Play won;t even show Netflix as an app.
Confused, I later managed to discover GP actually hides apps it doesn’t think your device can play, as though they don’t even exist. I tricked it by going to the Netflix download page via a direct link and GP refused to download it.
I used a 3rd party website to just download the latest version on Netflix and it ran. Same story with Disney+. Both these apps clearly run on my tablet, yet GP took it upon itself to hide it from view completely, and then refuse to install. Is there any way to override this for the future?
So, if I were in your situation, the first thing I’d probably do is go to the Google App website and see if it lets me install it from there. There may be something you have to do to register your device with Google on your Google account.
What kind of tablet is it? I know that, with Amazon Fire tablets, there are tricky things you have to do to get it to work with Google Play, and even then some apps won’t work.
I only have one device on this account as I use a completely different and new GP account every time I get a new device. Google Play knows which one it is, and hides it on both the in-broswer and direct app. It’s an Alba 7Q running 5.1 Lollipop.
That’s probably your issue right there. The current version of Android is 12, and I bet that Google Play probably cuts off access to apps that aren’t certified (or whatever) for older versions of Android.
You may be able to get a more recent version of Android on your device via third-party Android builds like LineageOS. But I can’t find anything about an Alba 7Q tablet, only Alba 7. Maybe the model number will make things clear.
Lollipop is from 2014, which really is ancient. I wouldn’t expect any modern app to work.
It’s technically doable, but it’s a huge pain. You have to root your device and then spoof what it is. I personally wouldn’t bother.
Instead, just use a site like apkmirror.com or apkpure.com. I know from direct experience that you can install Netflix from them. Sometimes the latest version won’t work, depending on how old your device is, but then just try an earlier version.
That’s also something you can’t do with Google Play, even if your device is supported. It just won’t let you install an older version of the app in most cases.