Without Play Services, his phone was a brick with a wallpaper. No notifications. No location. No syncing. It was like Jiyo’s heart had stopped beating.

“So what do I do?” Arjun asked, desperate.

His friend, Raj, a self-proclaimed tech wizard, glanced at the phone. “Ah, the J2. Classic. The automatic update probably pushed a new version of Play Services that’s too heavy for it. Your phone is choking on its own medicine.”

But on the eighth day, a new pop-up appeared: “Google Play Services is out of date. Update required for some apps to work.”