Having trouble opening some of your favorite Android apps this week? You’re not alone. An annoying mistake has devastated Android smartphone and tablet owners around the world. Some of the most popular apps on the platform crash as soon as you tap the app icon to open them. The glitch, which was first spotted late Monday evening, affected every section of Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Google Chrome, as well as Amazon and BBC weather apps on Android. Fortunately, there is some good news on the way.
Google released a solution to the problems yesterday morning, about 12 hours after the initial reports of problems began. However, there are a few steps to follow to ensure that everything on your Android phone is working again. If you haven’t tried the four-step process yet, please find instructions Here.
Unfortunately, even then, some users with Google, Samsung, and OnePlus smartphones still have issues with apps crashing. To solve this, Google has come up with some additional steps to help those who urgently need to use their Android apps to work remotely or keep in touch with friends.
But now the Californian company is going one step further.
A spokesman for Google has confirmed to Express.co.uk that the patch will automatically be installed on users’ Android smartphones in the next 24 hours. So, if you haven’t tried to fix the problem yourself, or the steps haven’t fixed the crashing apps on your smartphone, Google will automatically optimize your settings and update your handset for the next few hours. Since this is a worldwide problem, there is no accurate estimate for users in the UK. However, we would expect the update to begin overnight as it will likely cause the least amount of disruption for Android users (who have already suffered reasonable disruption in the past few days).
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Can’t update Google apps to fix the crash error? Here is the update
Google’s official @Android Twitter account has not yet announced the automatic update, which will be available shortly. However, it confirmed the first patch this morning when it tweeted, “A number of users have experienced app crashes in the past 24 hours and have now been fixed. If your device is still affected, please update Android System WebView and / or Google Chrome via Google Play. “
If you need to use your Android apps now and don’t want to wait for the automatic updates to start, see Google’s first instructions below.
- Open the Google Play Store on the smartphone or tablet that is having the problem
- Look for “Android System WebView”
- Select “Update”. If you don’t see “Update”, skip this step
- Search the Play Store for “Google Chrome”.
- Select “Update”
If the above steps don’t work e.g. For example, if the Refresh button crashes while typing, you need to take a few additional steps. If you are unable to update any of the above apps from the Google Play Store, here are some steps you need to take:
- Open the Settings app on your phone.
- Tap Apps & notifications> See all apps> Google Play Store> Storage & Cache> Clear data
However, it is worth noting that Google is warning Android users that the above steps will erase Google Play Store settings such as parental controls and auto-update settings. So whenever you try to get a shared tablet or phone to work, remember to go back to your settings and set the age limits again as they have been deleted. That’s not ideal … but maybe still a little better than not being able to load apps.
You don’t need to understand exactly how Android System WebView works to fix the app crashing issues. In short, this is the core of the Android operating system which supports a number of apps and third-party apps developed by Google. “Android System WebView” is linked to Chrome and enables Android apps to display content from the web.
Because of this, both Android System WebView and Google Chrome need to be updated to fix the problem.
Since the problem is caused by this core system component, deleting and then reinstalling the crashing apps – whether Microsoft Outlook, Amazon, Gmail, Yahoo Mail or whatever – cannot fix the problem either.
