If an application has stopped running or working properly, before you attempt any fixes, determine where the problem lies: within the app (the app is faulty), within your device (the device is not functioning correctly), or due to an issue at the service provider (the service provider has an outage). The initial solution for each type of issue differs and depending on which type of problem you are attempting to resolve first, you may waste your time and/or data, so it’s crucial to correctly identify the problem. If it is only one application causing an issue, you would typically perform the least invasive solution first. If it is multiple applications experiencing issues simultaneously, then it is most likely your device causing the problems. If the service provider is having an outage, you will not need to fix anything on your phone.
This guide covers the entire triage process from solutions that are free of charge to complete resets that erase all accounts and files. Therefore, you will never spend more than necessary to resolve your problem. If you select the correct order of troubleshooting steps, the majority of crashes will be resolved within the first two or three steps; if you do not select the correct order of troubleshooting steps, you run the risk of wiping out a device that was not actually broken. In March 2021, this is what happened to millions of devices one morning because of an incorrectly performed troubleshooting step.
Is it one app or all of them? Work out the failure scope before you touch anything
To begin, review the actual dialog, as there is more to be learned from this than meets the eye. A “keeps stopping” dialog indicates that an error occurred in the app’s process that was beyond the app’s control, resulting in an immediate termination of the process by Android terminated it instantly, whereas an “isn’t responding” message refers to an application that has frozen for several seconds on its main thread, and you see both Wait and Close buttons. If you select Wait, there is sometimes an ability to recover from the freeze. The first message indicates the app’s death, while the next indicates a state of coma. It can be somewhat confusing to see a crash message for an app you aren’t using, as there may be background processing for that app occurring at the same time you are using other apps, and a background process which fails will generate the same message.
Next, perform a sixty-second scope test. Use two or three additional applications, even if only momentarily. Test the service having issues from within a browser. If you have access to a second device, and it is practical, try connecting to both Wi-Fi and via mobile data. With each new result, you will pursue a different path, and those who don’t perform this step typically end up resetting their phones. Additionally, Google’s own help forum is similarly encouraging this practice, as seen in a user-posted crash dialog in which the product expert’s first suggestion was to check whether other applications were also crashing, as it may indicate an issue within the general Android environment.
The table appearing below contains each scope and its first move, as of the date of September 2026.
| Deciding evidence | Likely culprit | First valid move | What not to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| One app crashes; everything else runs normally | That app’s own update, cache, or stored data | Run the cheapest-first repair ladder in the next section | Don’t reset the phone over a single app |
| Several unrelated apps fail within the same hour | The phone: a shared component, low storage, or a bad system update | Restart, update Android and WebView, then test in safe mode | Don’t clear each app’s data one by one; the fault usually isn’t theirs |
| The app fails the same way on other devices and networks, or its website is down too | The developer’s servers | Check the official status channel and wait | Don’t reinstall or wipe anything; no local change fixes a remote outage |
| The Play Store itself misbehaves, or an app cannot update | Play Store or Google Play services | Clear the Play Store’s cache and recheck download settings | Don’t clear Google Play services storage first |
Fixing it in the order that costs you the least: the steps worth trying first
Google’s repair sequence for crashing apps runs cheapest-first, and the order is the whole point: each rung risks more than the one before it. Some steps require Android 8.1 or later.
The initial step in recovering from a crashing app is to restart your phone. Google has programmed Android to retain memory space for the applications formerly used. This is due to the engineering principle that free memory is useless; when there is not enough memory available, Android will automatically kill background processes (thoroughly clearing memory) and free them up for other apps. When Android terminates an app, it looks like a crash from a user’s perspective. When the user switches back to the app they had previously been using, they must restart from zero, as previously any progress has been reset to zero. A reboot of the phone clears out this accumulation of memory, which is why it is common for a broken phone to work again after 30 seconds of inactivity.
The next step is to verify/update an app through the Play Store, and verify/update the Android operating system through Android settings. When a user updates an app through the Play Store, they cannot assume that the update will also update the operating system. The next step is to force stop an app in the App Info screen. Force stopping an app clears all processes associated with the app, versus simply hiding the app in the App Overview; after all processes are suspended, the app will reopen and all tasks will begin anew.
After you clear the app’s cache, your cached files are simply temporarily working copy files the app generates upon next launch and eliminating them won’t allow you to sign out of the app or lose anything else that you really care about. When an app fails to open even after you’ve cleared its cache, you have experienced an early attempt at starting an app that has had an early crash in the process of starting the app. When you cannot update an app and see that downloads are stuck on pending status, clear the Play Store’s cache and ensure that its download preference has not been set to download only via WiFi.
You can begin clearing storage after completing the steps mentioned above; however, do not start clearing storage right away; this process will reset the app back to its initial install state and the pop-up dialog box from Google states that “All saved data in this app will be deleted.” Samsung’s version of the same guidance offers a more direct approach of stating “This action will delete ALL your accounts, files and settings in this app.” Items that exist solely in the app and cannot be backed up outside of the app will be lost if you go through the clear storage process. If you are not absolutely certain what the app will delete from its file storage, please research the app to determine exactly what it will delete from its storage.
Which app is it, and what survives if the fix doesn’t work
When multiple applications exhibit problems or if a single application keeps causing your phone to crash and it seems that repairing it via your software ladder is not possible, the question then changes from how to fix it, to what app is actually responsible for all the crashes.
The cleanest way to conduct an investigation on an Android device is to use Safe Mode. Safe Mode boots up your Android phone using only the preinstalled software that came with it. Therefore, if your phone is no longer crashing, it is likely that one of your downloaded apps is to blame for your phone’s poor performance. The way Google’s safe mode procedure suggests that users find the app that is causing their device to crash when they are in Safe Mode is to remove the most recently downloaded apps from their device one by one, restarting after each removal. The only things to keep in mind are that the process to enter Safe Mode can vary depending on the device, and all of your home screen widgets will be removed. Therefore, it is a good idea to take a screenshot of your home screens before entering Safe Mode.
Finally, it is important to remember that the app that crashes your phone does not necessarily mean that app is the cause of your phone’s problems. For instance, when Microsoft’s Outlook app for Android was crashing upon launch, Microsoft’s fix was to update Android System WebView and then Chrome because they shared the same underlying component that was corrupted or broken.
Before any destructive retry, first, take account of what survives to allow for recovery. Cloud-synced data is restored with re-login; however, Local-only data is not recoverable after clearing storage and uninstalling. Thus, you must treat reinstalling the app as a diagnostic (test), as at least one participant on Google’s Android Help Forum stated that “Uninstalling” followed by “Reinstalling” only fixes the app “once.” The “once” indicates that the main cause of the problem is elsewhere. Rolling back pre-installed apps by choosing “Uninstall updates” from the three-dot menu carries a separate cost since that will remove the app’s data in addition to the associated update, and it is only possible to downgrade an app through a one-way process. In addition to the previous reference, one user on a Reddit thread regarding the downgrading of app updates warned that “when you downgrade an app, all app data gets deleted,” while an app developer on the same thread explained that this occurs due to the fact that app migrations are typically a one-way process and that forcing old code into existing/new data will create the possibility of data loss or corruption.
A particularly dangerous process is clearing Google Play Services (the service layer upon which many applications rely). Google’s own guidance advises that you should not clear Google Play Services until you have tried every other possible method of fixing the issue. The reason for this is that clearing Google Play Services will cause the loss of saved passwords, transit and payment cards. Additionally, you cannot force stop or uninstall Google Play Services. One owner of a Pixel 7 Pro called clearing Google Play Services the worst thing he had done to his Android phone, having spent days resetting all the permissions that were granted after clearing Google Play Services. Even he did not have to perform a factory reset.
When the right move is to wait, because it isn’t your phone that’s broken
In March 2021, millions of users experienced issues with their Android apps crashing during the same hour, and nearly all attempted solutions made the situation worse for them. The source of the problem was a faulty upgrade to the Android System WebView component used by many apps, including Gmail and banking applications, which caused the issues. The permanent fix was for Google to ship WebView and Chrome updates at version 89.0.4389.105. Google explicitly stated not to use this workaround and that uninstalling updates to WebView could lead to data loss from certain applications.
It happened again in September 2024, when the Google app itself began crashing on Android. That time, even people running older versions crashed, which proved no local rollback could help, and Google’s status dashboard logged the incident as fixed in under three hours. Everyone who spent that window clearing storage paid in data for a problem that was never theirs.
Two minutes could potentially save you from taking action prematurely. You should first check each individual app’s support account or status page before reverting to any negative comments on social media, in which the frustration of one single user means nothing because everyone experiences different levels of frustration. Use crowd-reporting tools cautiously. For example, Downdetector only indicated an incident when the number of reports about a problem (an “incident”) exceeded the usual volume for that specific time on that specific day, based on data collected over the past six months. Couple this with your own experiments, as it takes multiple devices and internet connections to establish substantial evidence that the problem exists outside of your network (in other words, if you experience difficulty accessing an app on two different devices using two different networks [e.g., Wi-Fi and 4G], that’s a strong indication that there is a server-side issue).
If the evidence supports the existence of an outage, your immediate response should be to remain patient. The cost of waiting is zero; all other responses have associated costs.
What to send the app’s developer before you ask them to fix it
If you’re still in the dark about a problem after running through the cheap rungs and clearing the outage check – remember once again to escalate! Most apps on your mobile device are created by third-party developers; therefore, only they can repair any malfunctions in their own software. The latest method (as of September 2026) for getting to an app developer to report bugs has been made much shorter: via the listing on the Play Store, find and click on App Support, then use the contact information the developer lists there provided by the app developer.
Submitting a report they can act upon is far better than submitting a complaint they can’t. In your report, you’ll want to include the specific app name, along with the exact error message you received (word for word). Additionally, you’ll want to include the app version, which you can find at the bottom of the App Info screen in your settings/applications section (as per September 2026), as well as the version of Android and the specific phone model you’re currently using, since different combinations frequently crash. Be sure to also include information regarding when the crash first began and whatever changes occurred just prior to that point, such as an app or system upgrade or when you received your phone. Indicate any prior troubleshooting steps you’ve taken, including an indication of whether or not the crashing occurs in safe mode, as this can eliminate half of the possible causes. If you are able to reproduce the crash reliably, detail the exact steps you go through to replicate the crash; a consistently reproducible issue is much more likely to be resolved quickly than one that cannot consistently be duplicated. In the event of an app-related purchase issue, Google has stated they will respond to inquiries within three business days.
For those willing to delve deeper, Android allows users to create a comprehensive bug report using the Take Bug Report option from Developer Options. The bug report contains all of the important logs that developers need from a device to troubleshoot issues on their end. Treat the bug report file with the same level of care as you would treat any sensitive files, as system log files may contain private or personal information. Share your bug report only using the official communication channels provided by your developer. While it may feel excessive to create a full bug report for one crashing application, regularly creating a bug report will ensure that your bug report is much more likely to get the attention it deserves compared to all other crash reports received by the developer.
Why this keeps happening, and what’s actually worth doing about it
Apps don’t break at random; they break at seams because of something that changed in the app, Android or shared component that the two share. Apps can crash when you have no room for memory/storage or when files have corrupted in the background until something trips over them. In this manual, you will find a fix for each of the earlier sections corresponding to each of the seams listed above, and you can use the sections above to help prevent an app from breaking for the reasons outlined above.
Don’t stop app updates; let them keep coming to you! As of September 2026, you can go to the Play Store, click on your profile picture at the top right-hand corner of the screen, and from the dropdown menu, select “Settings”; click on “Network Preferences,” and select “Update Application Automatically.” Starting in 2023, Google Play has started automatically pulling up prompts to prompt you to update crashing apps as soon as you experience a crash in the foreground; if you experience a crash while using an app, and a version of that same application has been statistically shown to have a lower crash rate, you will receive a notification to download the update, even if the crashed app crashes when you start it. This service is available to you for Android 7.0 and above. To take advantage of this service, all you have to do is not disable automatic updates. Googles March 2021 announcement includes a corollary that WebView and Chrome applications are also considered applications and Correlates to two applications that could halt operation of your entire device.
Capacity to operate is determined by storage capacity; leave room for storage. Google has stated no absolute amount of space to use for apps, so consider what you see written down as reference only; however, it is true that, once a device runs out of free space, the operating system will not have space to save data for your apps, and they will not be able to install or update.
In conclusion, do not rely on the same kind of rituals to improve performance. Cache clearing is a repair solution, not a performance enhancement, because the Android OS already manages cached data; therefore, clearing caches results in slower apps (until they re-start and build their caches back); this also holds true for “task-killers” and “cleaners;” since Android already evicts background applications when memory is low, paying for a third-party application to aggressively manage them works against the design of the platform.
Frequently asked questions
What should I do first when an app update refuses to install from the Play Store?
Verify the Play Store download settings because if updates are set to Wi-Fi only, all downloads will remain in a pending status while on mobile data. If the settings appear correct, attempt to clear the Play Store cache and restart the download process.
How much free storage does a phone need before apps run reliably?
As there is no official Google threshold for storing and managing your data on an Android device, it’s best to consider any given percentage as a guideline or estimation, rather than an established level of accuracy. What is known is how that will function within the Android operating system: once the available space on your storage becomes close to being completely full, Android will find it difficult to save new application data and, ultimately, to complete the installation or update of new applications.
Do the same triage steps work on an iPhone?
The idea of ‘scope first’ carries through, and the order that Apple’s own sequence for closing down apps on the iPhone mirrors that of the ‘cheap first’ way of organising closure; i.e., close and then reopen, restart the device, update software; then, delete and redownload the app. The primary difference is that iOS does not offer a separate clear cache step before you reinstall the app; rather, by reinstalling, you effectively clear the cache.
Will a factory reset always cure an app that keeps failing?
A reset, while potentially the most costly option available, provides no aid if the issue lies within the hardware or a problem with the cellular connection. In addition to that, it will lead to the loss of all local files and require time to retrieve them again whilst discovering the problem.
If It Still Doesn’t Work
A factory reset should be considered a last resort and should only be done if you have backed up your Google Account and if the problem is indeed a software issue. If you perform a reset and your phone continues to crash in safe mode, this indicates either a hardware or firmware problem. The best way to resolve these issues would be through your manufacturer’s support. When contacting them, provide them with your failure scope (how often your device failed), what you tried to fix the issue, and any changes that occurred during the troubleshooting process. However, few individuals get to this step due to the low cost of cheap phones and the high failure rate of this category of phone.
