Many users have been complaining about how their phones have been plagued by random app crashes this afternoon, particularly those who own more recent Samsung flagship and mid-range smartphones. Other phones such as the Google Pixel and OnePlus phones seem to be also affected albeit not as heavily. It’s been a cause of headaches for hundreds of users so far, with seemingly no particular reason.
Update 3/23: Google is rolling out a patch via the Play Store.
Thankfully, Reddit user /u/WatfordHert was able to come up with a quick fix to work around the issue at hand, by restoring the built-in Android System WebView to the version it came with your phone. Android System WebView is basically Google’s built-in tool that is utilised in a number of cases, such as rendering a webpage in Chrome without actually leaving whatever app you were initially using, as well as handling stuff such as secure logins. Of course, it’s not the most ideal solution to roll back such an essential tool to its initial version. This is just a temporary fix until Google figures out which of its spells went wrong.
If you are among those users whose phones have been plagued by this issue recently, simply follow these steps to cure your phone from these random app crashes.
How to fix the random app crashes
1. Open the Settings app (either by dragging down the notifications panel and clicking on the small gear or by opening the Settings app from the App Drawer) and tap on “Apps and Notifications.” (In the case of Samsung phones, it’s just “Apps” further down the list.)
2. Locate the Android System WebView on the Apps list. In case you did not find it straight away on the list, tap on the 3-dot menu button and select “Show system apps.”
3. Tap on the 3-dot menu on the top right corner and then tap “Uninstall updates.” A small pop-up window will show up right away. Tap OK, and you should be done.
4. Open the Play Store and search for “Android System WebView.” Tap on the 3-dot menu and disable Auto-update for the time being. Otherwise, the Play Store may automatically update the app without notifying you, otherwise this issue could rear its ugly head again a short time afterwards.
If you continue to encounter app crashes, reboot your phone. Users of older phones having the same issue may need to uninstall updates for Google Chrome as well.
Hopefully, Google is able to iron out the issue shortly with a quick update, presumably to Android System WebView, to put these shenanigans to bed once and for all.
Update 3/23: Google recently issued a patch via the Play Store for Chrome and Android System WebView to fix the app crashing issues. The new version number is 89.0.4389.105.
Alternatively, if you’ve not received the update yet, you can also sideload the APK from APKMirror for Chrome and WebView, respectively.
Don’t forget to go back in the Play Store and re-enable auto-updates for WebView if you had previously turned it off.
End of Update
Via: Android Police
