How to Install Google Play Store and Google Services on the Redmi Note 5

If you’re running the Chinese version of MIUI on your Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro, or Redmi Note 5 Plus then you likely don’t have Google Play installed. Some resellers will sideload this for you but if you’re looking for help then you can follow the steps in this tutorial.

Xiaomi has restricted the sale of their devices to a handful of countries since they were founded. This is partially due to the company not being able to afford to compete in some markets but it’s also likely due to some patent conflicts that they need to work out first. Either way, unless you live in a country that Xiaomi officially sells their smartphones in then you are forced to get your device from a reseller. These are almost always purchased from China and this means they will likely be running the Chinese version of MIUI.

Since the Google Play Store, Google services, and their applications aren’t fully available in China, this means your device will probably not come with Google Play or Google Services installed.

Some resellers are nice enough to sideload these things for you ahead of time, but if you unlock the bootloader or perform a factory reset then you’re stuck with the Chinese version of MIUI (with an English option) without these applications installed. This was my case as I recently unlocked the bootloader of the Redmi Note 5 so I had to follow these steps below to get Google services on my device.

Install Google Play Services on Redmi Note 5 Tutorial

1. Download the Google Installer on the Redmi Note 5
2. Open the Mi File Manager application (or any file manager app)
3. Locate and tap on the Google Installer APK file
4. Tap the Settings option
5. Allow the Mi File Manager to install applications
6. Tap the Back button
7. Then tap the Install button to complete the installation of the Google Installer
8. Tap the Google Installer application icon to open it
9. Tap the blue Install button at the bottom
10. Wait for the Google Installer to request permission to install applications
11. Tap the Settings option
12. Allow the Google Installer to install applications
13. Tap the Back button
14. Tap the Install button at the bottom
15. Then tap the Done button at the bottom after the app has been installed (unless it automatically goes to the next application in the list
16. Continue installing these 6 applications for the Google Play Store and Google Services
17. Then press the Home button when all of them are complete
18. Open up the Google Play Store application
19. Sign into your Google account
20. And then accept the terms of service to begin installing and using apps from the Google Play Store

Explanation

Google is doing some work to prevent these types of devices from accessing the Google Play Store by using their ‘certified for Google Play’ label, but the company has included a way for us to manually go in and add smartphones or tablets that we own to our personal account. They currently aren’t blocking uncertified devices from installing applications right now, but it will likely happen in the near future. In any case, I will be writing up a tutorial to show you how to add your uncertified device to Google’s list.

So, we start this tutorial by downloading the Google Installer APK file so that we can begin the process of installing Google Play Services onto the Redmi Note 5, Redmi Note 5 Pro, and the Redmi Note 5 Plus. Once you have downloaded this APK to your smartphone, locate it in a file browser and then tap on it to open it up. You will likely be prompted to allow the file manager to sideload an application. Once that is done, you will be shown the install screen for the Google Installer. Tap the Install button at the bottom and then we can proceed.

Once the installer has been installed we can then locate the application icon in the Home Screen and tap on it to open it up. This will tell you some information about how it will install the most basic requirements for Google services to work and then display a big blue button at the bottom. Tap the blue Install button and then wait. This next screen shows that it needs to install 6 different applications but again, we need to allow the Google Installer permission to install applications (just like we did with the file manager app).

With that done, tap the Back button to go back to the Google Installer and it will begin the install process. Some of the time it will automatically go to the next application in the list but other times you will need to tap the Done button at the bottom. You’ll be done completely when the last application has been installed and you will see Done and Open buttons at the bottom. You can tap Open if you want, or you can just tap on Done. Either way, your next step will be to open the Google Play Store application and sign into your account.

Once you have logged in and agreed to the terms of service you can then browse the Google Play Store to install applications and games like you normally can on other Android devices.