I fixed this problem with the instructions written by Darren https://www.technipages.com/fix-google-for-android-shows-as-offline?unapproved=1042149&moderation-hash=c61959b8bfe3e4ed38cf51c03bd8cd25#comment-1042149 : Clearing Google Play Store Settings -> Apps & notifications Google Play services -> Storage Clear Cache & Clear Storage Uninstalling Google Play Updates Settings -> Apps & notifications Google Play services 3 Dots (Top-right corner) Uninstall Updates Afterwards restart the phone and check if the problem is solved!

This appears to be (another) Google bug. The Google Play Store system seems to be broken in yet another way (it also thinks updates are available for apps when there is no compatible update available). Release notes for all apps seem to be broken in the Google Play Store. A https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/google-play-no-information-from-the-developer.4408515/ indicates others having problems with Google's Play Store. Similarly, a https://old.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/sythga/no_information_from_the_developer_for_all_app/ talks about people having the problem with Google Play Store that you identified. A member of that discussion postulates a hypothesis as to why this may be happening: Google strongly encourages turning on automatic updates and just blindly accepting every update. Sure seems like they've decided that if they blind us to what the updates contain, we'll just turn on automatic updates since we can't make informed decisions about them without the update info. From the data I have gathered, this Google bug seems to be affecting all versions of Android.

Setting up an HTTPS intercepting proxy like Fiddler Classic or mitmproxy on a PC and then set it as http proxy on the phone would it make possible to allow only certain domains. I know that from Fiddler, Google Play does not trust the certificate of fiddler so you only see the initial CONNECT requests containing the domain name (if you have disabled privacy DNS on the phone). Those CONNECT requests fail because of the non-matching certificate but they allow you to recognize the domain name and then add this domain to the HTTPS intercepting domain list (in Fiddler there is text field named Skip decryption for the following hosts there you can place a space separated list of domain names). I would assume that you have to have to add the major domains used by Google Play before it detects that you are online. Most likely you have to skip decryption for the following domains connectivitycheck.gstatic.com play.google.com accounts.google.com android.googleapis.com. But luckily the actual downloads of apps are served from different domains (Google has a large number of download servers on *.googleusercontent.com). So even if Google Play would detect that there is an update available it will fail to download the download so in worst case you would have to open the app update list and abort each scheduled download. But as far as I remember Google Play is usually not that fast in starting automatic downloads.

Google usually does not use passwords for authentication on Android. Only for the initial account set-up you have to enter username and password which is then sent to the Google authentication server but not stored on your phone. If username and password were correct the authentication server sends back an long term oAuth authentication token (looks like a long string of random characters - usually 50 character or longer) which used for authentication and updated periodically by the server (about every month). Therefore changing the password has no effect on your Android device. Do logout devices from your Google account Google provides a web page where you cans see all active devices and where you can log out each device if want: http://google.com/devices

The described situation seems to be a bug in Android Auto. It is true that you cannot use Google Maps app without being logged in to your account. But, in this particular situation it turned out that user was and wasn't logged in in the same time. Or was semi-logged in. Google Maps worked normally, but when opened up on the phone (not on car's display) there was a strange user-like icon in the right up corner, instead of actual user's avatar. Tapping that icon (opening user menu) immediately changed it into actual user's avatar (no actual re-login was needed). Right after that all user-related features (like saved places) started to work in Google Maps running in connected car mode.

Google's https://support.google.com/mail/troubleshooter/2650727 's last resort ("Only follow these steps if the above steps didn't work") solved it for me! However, it initially led to confusion since it seems to refer to obsolete settings. The correct "last resort" steps are: Open your device's Settings app. Tap Apps & notifications > See All Apps (not "App info"). Tap Gmail > Storage & cache (not "Storage"). Tap CLEAR STORAGE > OK (not "Clear Data"). Restart your device. Not sure step #5 is mandatory, but I guess it's better to be on the safe side.

Fixed! The second I got back into Seattle, everything started working again. So, this problem is most definitely location based. Either Google Discover does not work in Texas, or something about my account prevents it from working in Texas. This theory fits in with a reply from a product rep in https://support.google.com/websearch/thread/139353113/google-discover-says-something-went-wrong-how-to-fix?hl=en , saying the issue can be solved by VPN'ing into another network. As VPNs basically "mask" the real location, this is perhaps another way to work around the issue. Now I'm kinda wondering if I could have fixed this by turning off Location services as well.

Either use an MDM -mobile device management- or send them link of the APKs files through whatsapp-telegram or gmail.