Google Play services is the first app to reach 5 billion downloads

Google Play services has reached 5 billion downloads on Google Play Store and it is the first app to do so. This does not mean that there are 5 billion active devices with Google Play services installed. This means that it was downloaded a total of 5 billion times on all the devices including the ones which are no longer in use.

Google Play services comes pre installed on all Android devices (except on some devices in China). You don’t have to manually download the services. When you connect your Android phone to the internet and add your Google account to it, the Play services automatically gets installed in the background. Which means that there were at least 5 billion Android devices activated at some point since the birth of Android.

Many applications rely on Play services to work properly. We can say that it is the core of Android for most apps to work. When you uninstall the Play services, some apps will give you the error that you need to install or update the Google Play services to run the app. The Play services allows Google to bring new features to older devices because Google can update the services just like an ordinary app and it does not need to push the update for the entire OS for some new features.

Google Play services is available on the Play Store.