Introduction
The digital revolution cannot be complete without mentioning Android devices. They are essential tools which keep us connected, informed and entertained. From our day-to-day leisure activities like listening to music, reading books, or watching movies, these devices make our lives enjoyable. However, these devices do not perfectly suit our needs whenever we use them. We note that even the best performer of these devices can sometimes come across glitches and fails that ruin the smooth experience of user interaction.
Have you ever felt a sudden Android app crashing or freezing while using your Android device? Well, you do not experience these disappointing experiences alone. Undoubtedly, these problems are frustrating, but fortunately, they do not require any technical expertise and are easily fixable with some troubleshooting. After reading our article, you will be able to understand and identify the various contributions leading to the misbehaviour of your Android apps.
From this, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide that will enable you to sort them out and get your mobile back on track. We will relieve you of the stresses we know you are going through and ensure that you experience a perfect work mobile that is more stable and reliable. Well, there is no need to make any more introductions and move further by beginning the talk about common crashes and freezes of your Android Apps.
What causes Android App crashing and freezing?
Android app crashing or freezing during the operations of an application are issues that can cause a significant deterioration in the user experience and a problem we all face every day as we use an application on an Android-based device. This problem results from various sources from enlightening the multi-centric character of mobile environments. These sources include,
- Software Bugs: Bugs in codes are one of the leading reasons for apps freezing and crashing. The bugs can lead to issues that can spread across areas like the architecture of an app, memory leaks, unhandled exception errors, and other complex errors like android app development . So, let us look at:
(i). Memory leaks: This is the first type of memory corruption preventing an app from deallocating the reserved memory while allocating memory. It builds up the consumption of all the available memory, making the app slow or may even not work or crash.
(ii). Unhandled Exceptions: These are neither intentional nor expected anomalies in a program. These cases are not taken care of, thus leading to some circumstances where the app malfunctions or gets hanged. For example, a Null Pointer Exception is thrown by the JVM when the application attempts to refer to an object reference that does not point to any object.
(iii). Logical Errors: Software bugs in the application’s logic cause logical errors leading to incorrect operations. They come from assumptions by the developers, under estimations, or control flow errors.
(iv). Resource Management: Incompetent use of resources like file handles, networks or database connections may result in crashes. For instance, if an app fails to close connections to a database when it is no longer in use, it may exhaust the resources of the database, using up all available connections.
- Software version Incompatibility: As the Android Operating System comes with updates now and then, some apps that are not frequently updated may run with incompatibility issues, which lead to a situation crash. A similar crashing error occurs when you use newer app versions on an older Android Operating System. The changes from updates causing incompatibility issues include;
(i). API Changes: As you update your Android version, it is possible that the older API version of your app cannot run on the newer Android version. This results in the crashing or freezing of your app once you invoke these APIs.
(ii). Permissions Model: Android version 6 and above protects users with changes to the permissions model. Some improper handling of runtime permission may cause the apps to crash if they try to access specific resources.
(iii). UI Changes: Changes in the Android UI components and layouts may affect the application presentation of content for different apps. Failure to account for such changes can result in an app not functioning as intended. It can cause an incorrect loading of the application layout, causing the UI to freeze or crash.
(iv). Hardware-Specific Changes: This is another potential way in which Android OS upgrades may impact performance through hardware-specific improvements that aim to improve performance for faster or newer hardware. Identified applications that do not suit these changes might not run efficiently or even crash on new devices released into the market.
(v). Security Enhancements: New security model changes in Android upgrades can impact application compatibility. For instance, stricter security policies might constitute an app’s inability to accomplish specific actions, which in turn cause crashes in case the app does not expect such scenarios.
- Hardware Limitations: The hardware constraints result in applications freezing and crashing on Android devices more often than other devices on Windows or IOS software. These limitations can result from several factors, including,
(i). Insufficient Random Access Memory: For your device to support the smooth running of various applications, it needs an adequate amount of RAM. When you launch an application, it allocates data and processes into your RAM. When the launched app needs to run for a while and, in the process, it lacks sufficient RAM, the chances of it crashing are high. RAM inefficiency often occurs when you install memory-demanding applications such as games or entire suites of office tools.
(ii). Limited Processing Power: The processing power of your Android device originates from the Central Processing Unit. This part is essential since it deals with the executing instructions given by the respective mobile apps. Older and weaker devices with poor processors may not cope with the intensive work of the current mobile applications that require high computing power. If your device is under so many processes, it reduces the processing power, making some apps crash or freeze. It happens because the whole system cannot process the crashing app workload.
(iii). Insufficient Storage Space: When you install an application, it requires enough storage allocation depending on its size. Apart from the installation space, it requires more storage for creating or managing temporary files. If you have limited internal memory on your device, the system might not have enough space to save these temporary files, and as a result, the application could crash or freeze. Moreover, insufficient internal memory can negatively affect the ability of your device to swap memory. This ability occurs when your device uses its internal memory to extend RAM capabilities.
(iv). Outdated Hardware: When an app updates, it adds new features and functions. If by any chance you install them on outdated hardware, these features and functions might not be compatible with it. In the process, the apps could crash or freeze.
- Malware Infection: In simple terms, malware is preventable malicious software developed to corrupt or even destroy computer systems. A regular application freezing or crashing of an application is one of the most likely signs that your device contains malware. So, how does malware affect the performance of your applications? These infections can cause applications to freeze or crash through several disruptive mechanisms, which are,
(i). Resource Exhaustion: Malware hogs the system resources like CPU, memory, or disk space, thus reducing the resources available to the applications that make the systems unresponsive or misbehave.
(ii). File and Data Corruption: Crashing of applications can involve damaging or removing critical files or data within an app. Without these essential files, apps on your device can freeze or crash.
(iii). Interference with System Processes: Malware hinders the working operations of essential system processes or services, leading to instability in the applications that depend on such processes.
(iv). Code Injection: Attackers inject viruses into functioning applications where the applications run codes they are never intended to run, thus causing the application instabilities and crashes.
Solutions to Android App Crashing and Freezing
Solving app crashing and freezing does not need any technical expertise but following simple instructions. Here are simple guidelines to sort this issue out. You can,
- Restart the Device: A familiar approach is to restart the device. It can help remove software bugs that could be forcing your app to behave abnormally. There are many ways you can restart an Android device. Here is how,
(i). Using the Power button: This familiar method to many Android users is the simplest. Locate the power button on the side of your device and hold it for some seconds. On some devices, the power menu must appear on the screen, and you should wait until that happens. It features choices, for instance, the Power off option, Restart option and the Emergency mode option. Once they are available, tap on Restart, and your mobile device will declare the shutting down process. After some time, it will power up and switch on.
(ii). Unresponsive Devices Restart: You can apply this mechanism when your device is frozen or not responding to perform a forced restart. The first step is to coordinate the power and the volume down buttons until the volume up and the home buttons appear on the screen. Keep pressing these buttons until the screen switches off and your device starts again. For some devices to forcefully restart, you may have to use the power and volume-up buttons for this method to work.
(iii). Through Settings: The ability to restart your Android device through settings is not similar on all devices. But as for most models, the approach requires you to locate the settings app first. Move down the page and click the system button (this might not read the same depending on the kind of gadget you are using). Tap on the Advanced section to expand the power options. Select the Restart or Reboot button to restart your Android device.
(iv). Scheduled Restart: Like other major Operating systems like Microsoft Windows, Android OS can schedule a device restart. On the Settings app, open Battery & Device Care or another similar tab/section to optimize it. Click on Restart, and depending on the Time you want to schedule it, your device will power off and restart.
- Update the App: Check if the app is running the latest version. The developers often send new updates to address errors and ensure compatibility with the latest versions of Android. You can update your app via the several methods available on your device. They are,
(i). Google Play Store: One of the simplest methods many users know when updating Apps is through the Google Play Store. You can do this through the ‘My apps & games’ option and update the selected app through a button next to it. Moreover, you can opt for Settings to turn on the auto-update feature for all or individual apps.
(ii). In-App Updates: Some apps have an in-app update feature that allows them to update. When a newer version is available for download, the feature activates, and then after, your app automatically updates.
(iii). APK Files: You can independently install an app without necessarily through the Google Play Store. To set up this method, you need to allow ‘Unknown sources’ or ‘Install unknown apps’ on the device management menu so that you can install it from any source other than the Google Play Store.
- Clear App Data and Cache: Clearing the cache of your crashing application may be handy in case of temporary file corruption. If this does not solve your problem, then the Clear Data option will restore the app to its original state, and this may go a long way in solving issues which are hard to detect. To clear App Data and Cache, you can follow these steps.
(i). Locate the app you want to clear the cache.
(ii). Press and hold your app until the ‘App Info’ option appears.
(ii). Tap on it to direct you to the app information panel and click on storage. To clear the app Cache, tap on clear cache, though it does not delete your app personal info or settings. To clear App data, click on clear storage. It will delete all information in the app, including your info and settings.
- Reinstall the App: Uninstalling and installing your crashing app may solve this issue if the program is improperly installed or has corrupt files. You can do this through your device app and the Google Play Store.
(i). If you uninstall an app through the device app, hold and press on it for some seconds. An uninstall app option will soon appear for you to click and execute the uninstallation process. To install it back, go to the Google Play store, search for it, and click the install button.
(ii). To uninstall an app through the Google Play store, locate the Play Store services and click on uninstall app. After it deletes the app from your device, click on the install app button to reinstall it.
- Free Up Storage Space: Storage capability may be an issue that makes an app crash. You should often delete unnecessary and unused applications to create more space. You should have more than 600MB of free space in your device to reduce the occurrence of this error. The Android Operating system will use this free space to run background processes of your applications, thus reducing the chances of freezing and crashing.
- Check for Conflicting Apps: If you have any third-party application running on your device, it could be the source of your problem. This kind of apps can cause other apps to malfunction. To identify a third-party app on your device, boot it on safe mode. If the crashing app runs well in safe mode, consider deleting the recently installed apps.
- Factory Reset: If the problem persists, this should be your final option. It is because factory resetting your Android device will erase all your phone data. Before performing this function, ensure you back up the data you need.
Conclusion
In conclusion, APP crashing and freezing are some of the problems that are frequently to be met by Android users. Nevertheless, they are not very complex to overcome with the help of this approach. This way, users will know how to fix problems like having old software, a corrupted cache, or having low memory resources to improve the performance and efficiency of their respective devices.
Updating apps and operating systems is very important since developers create patches for the application and improve the current performance. To my understanding, there are various ways of dealing with the apps and clearing the cache and data is one of the most effective ways since it educates all the temporary files that may be causing the corruption of the apps. If the problems continue, one solution that may help is to remove the application which caused the issues and install it anew.
The task of rebooting the device is brief and unobtrusive but is an effective solution for different marginal software-related errors. When dealing with chronic problems, the availability of space on the device and handling of running backgrounds can eliminate congestion that causes halting of the device.
In this way, users can keep the experience of an application and, in general, less problematic during its use. One of the best ways to avoid these common problems is to take regular care and precautions like proper storage and being aware of updates. In other words, being ahead of the game with devices will benefit your Android apps greatly to provide your users with a smooth experience and avoid troubles.
