[General Questions and Answers] telmoabff:
Help with Google Play / Google Play Games

A couple of days ago I phoned Google Play Support to report that several apps were missing from My Apps tab in Google Play (web and app). What they suggested was that I should download the apps again and then they would be showing in the respective tab.

I tried what they suggested but it simply couldn't be performed (Google Play simply doesn't allow it).

Then I sent the following e-mail to them:

I tried downloading again the apps that are no longer showing in My Apps tab and looks like the problem is still there.

My Google Play app version (at least on my smartphone) is 4.3.11 and I'm running AndroidOS 4.3.

I have 4 groups of apps:

1 - Free apps downloaded from Google Play;

2 - Apps purchased from Google Play;

3 - Free apps downloaded from other services (Amazon, etc.);

4 - Apps purchased from other services (Amazon, etc.).

I have 2 devices connected to my google account (telmoabff@gmail.com): a smartphone (Samsung Galaxy S III) and a tablet (Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1).

These 4 groups can still be divided into 2 groups each: apps that are and that aren't installed in my devices at the moment. So that would total 8 groups.

I tried the solution you suggested earlier: downloading the apps again.

However, I am facing the following problem: at least for apps from groups 1 and 2, that are still installed in my devices, Google play won't let me download them again (neither from the site nor from the app) because looks like they're already installed in my device(s). For instance, the app "Plague Inc.". I installed it a few days ago. Then I bought the in-app ad-free key. It's installed only on my tablet. If I try to install it again from the app in the device, it simply won't let me because it's already installed in it. If I try to install it again from the Google Play site the device will be greyed out (not available) because the app is already installed in the device.

This happens for all apps in groups 1 and 2 that are still installed in the devices.

Looks like the solution would be to uninstall and re-install it. However, I don't want to run the risk of losing all my data (progress).

Because the apps don't show in My Apps tab of the Google Play (app or site) a consequence (for the games only) is that they don't show in the Google Play Games app.

This is my main concern: the games. The Google Play Games app, intended to the a hub for android games, can't show the games I own (installed or not) because they are no longer in my Google Play history (My Apps tab). And, as a consequence, the data (progress, achievements, multiplayer gaming possibility, etc.) won't be available for me.

This is my first problem.

A second problem is: how does Google Play and Google Play Games handle the apps (especially games) from groups 3 and 4? They're not showing too.

This is really upsetting me.

How can we sort it out?

Thank you for listening to me and thank you in advance.

Well, friends, I guess you're my last resort. I've tried Google Play Support Team and their suggestion was to uninstall all my apps and then install them again.

I really don't think this is very intelligent... Do you have any suggestions?