Play Store keeps misidentifying Phone (4a) as a tablet - help

StudyFile

Hi everyone,

I am facing a highly persistent layout bug on my new Nothing Phone 4a (256GB variant). The Google Play Store keeps misidentifying my phone as a tablet, completely messing up the app UI.

The Problem:

Tablet UI Forced: The Play Store acts as if my phone is a tablet.

App Glitches: Other apps get confused by this incorrect hardware identification. YouTube tries to force a tablet menu layout (making the bottom bar blurry and stretched) ,eg YouTube like bottons.

Standard Usage: I am not using any Developer Options, custom DPI modes, or root modifications. I normally use this phone with standard settings, only adjusting the default Display and Text size sliders.

What I’ve Tried:

I already tried clearing the data and cache for Google Play Services and the Play Store. I even completely removed and re-added my Google accounts. While this fixes the issue temporarily, the problem always returns after a few days.

I need a permanent solution. Why does this keep happening to a brand new Nothing Phone 4a that is being used completely normally? Can the software team look into a permanent patch so the phone stops randomly registering as a tablet in the Play Store?

Thanks

StudyFile

StudyFile Today it happened again.

flaschenhalsschnapsflasche

I second this. Same problem, tried the same things, clearing cache etc but keeps reverting to tablet. This also messes with icon resolution on apps like Whatsapp and makes everything look blurry.

Coldpaw

I don’t know if this has any positive effect on that issue, but have you tried to manually update the Google Play Services?

Settings - About This Device - Android Version - Google Play System Update

Have you also submitted an official bug report via the feedback form? I never had this happen on either my NP2 or NP3.

flaschenhalsschnapsflasche

Coldpaw Play Service is up to date.

Bug report is not filled yet. Where can I post one?

StudyFile

Coldpaw

I always keep everything fully updated, including the Google Play System Update under settings.

The bug actually came back today, and I had to fix it again by clearing data for the Play Store and Play Services, followed by a restart.

My screen density is normal at 408 dp, so Google’s servers are definitely pushing a mismatched tablet profile to the Phone 4a.

flaschenhalsschnapsflasche

Since the last update a couple of days ago the bug seems resolved. Without me doing anything it identifies as smartphone correctly. Now apps load the correct update and buttons and graphics look correct and sharp.
I report back if anything changes.

@StudyFile How is it on your end?

np3user_d7fjTIvwYL

nice username my man.