If you own an Android phone and you have experienced frequent app crashes, you are not alone. Most Android users tend to face sudden crashes. And this is a concern that needs to be addressed quickly.
Several Android users reported last week that the number of applications on their Samsung phones crashing constantly at random. It’s a major issue and people are concerned about it. To fix this issue, all you have to do is to disable the Android System WebView app. You can also update this app via the Google Play Store.
Users of Samsung smartphones – J7, Note 20, A70, and A50, and Galaxy S20 and S21 among the other users of Android phones like Motorola, OnePlus phones, and Pixel are most likely to be the most affected.
This particular issue is not limited to the apps that are associated with Google, but it has affected different applications with more or less any function from any developer. The worst thing is that apps are crashing repeatedly and without any warning.
Google and Samsung both acknowledged the issue when thousands of users flooded the internet with complaints about frequent and repeated app crashes.
They both quickly worked out to trace down the culprit – the WebView update. Luckily, the updates were made via the Google Play Store, so it did not ask to roll back the firmware and install the apps again.
In wake of the current app crash issue, Google has suggested using the desktop version of the apps until the issue gets resolved.
While Samsung US official support tweeted how to fix the issue:
Users who are experiencing app crashing issues must uninstall the WebView updates from their Android phones and restart their devices.
If you are facing a similar issue, you can check out the following steps:
- Go to Settings
- Click Apps
- Navigate to Android System WebView
- Tap on the three dots you see on the top right corner
- Select Uninstall Updates
- Restart your phone
The fix uninstalls the recently updated WebView settings, which means it restores the WebView’s factory version on your smartphone. It’s important to note that the fix does not uninstall your WebView completely, just the latest updates from the app store, so don’t worry about the app if it works after uninstallation or not.
If you experience the same app crashing issues even after uninstalling the updates, then you may need to reboot your phone.
However, it is uncertain that uninstalling the updates, will fix this app crashing issue for good. Many Reddit users reported that this fix worked for them.
Reservations also exist about future updates. The main question is: would updating WebView again, prevent an app from crashing?
In case if you experience the same issue again, you can fix it by going into settings and following the steps mentioned in this article.