Google will FIX crashing Android apps TONIGHT: Gmail, Samsung, Outlook apps to work again

Struggling to open some of your favourite Android apps this week? You’re not alone. An infuriating bug has caused havoc for Android smartphone and tablet owners worldwide – with some of the most popular apps on the platform crashing as soon as you tap on the app icon to open them. The glitch, which was first spotted late on Monday night, has impacted everything from Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Google Chrome, as well as Amazon and BBC Weather apps on Android. Thankfully, some good news is on the way.

Google issued a fix for the problems yesterday morning, around 12-hours after the first reports of problems started to roll in. However, there are quite a few steps to follow to ensure everything is up-and-running again on your Android phone. If you haven’t tried the four-step process yet, you can find instructions here.

Unfortunately, even then, some users with Google, Samsung, and OnePlus smartphones find themselves still struggling with crashing apps. To try to solve that, Google has revealed some extra steps to help those who desperately need to use their Android apps to work remotely or keep in touch with friends.

But now, the Californian company is going a step further.

A spokesperson for Google has confirmed to Express.co.uk that will begin automatically installing the patch 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 resolved the crashing apps on your smartphone – Google is going to automatically tweak your settings and update your handset some time in the next few hours. Since this is a worldwide issue, there’s no exact estimate for UK users. However, we’d expect the update to begin overnight as this is likely to cause the least disruption to Android users (who have already had to endure a fair amount of disruption over the last few days).

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Unable to update Google apps to fix crashing bug? Here’s the fix

Google’s official @Android Twitter account has yet to announce the automatic update that will be rolling out soon. However, it confirmed the initial patch this morning when it tweeted: “A number of users experienced app crashes over the last 24 hours, which has since been fixed. If your device is still affected, please update Android System WebView and/or Google Chrome via Google Play.”

Of course, if you need to use your Android apps right now – and don’t want to wait for the automatic updates to start, we’ve got the initial instructions from Google below.

• Open Google Play Store on the smartphone or tablet suffering the issues
• Search for “Android System WebView”
• Select “Update”. If it doesn’t say “Update”, skip this step
• Search the Play Store for “Google Chrome”
• Select “Update”

If the above steps aren’t working – for example, if the Update button crashes as soon as you tap it – then there are some additional steps to try. If you’re unable to update either of the apps above from the Google Play Store, you’ll need to follow these steps:

• Open your phone’s Settings app.
• Tap Apps & Notifications > See All Apps > Google Play Store > Storage & Cache > Clear Data

However, it’s worth noting that Google is warning Android users that the above the steps will clear Google Play Store settings like parental controls and auto-update preferences. So, if you’re trying to get a shared tablet or phone working – you’ll need to remember to head back into your settings and set up age limits again as they will have been wiped. That’s not ideal… but maybe still a little better than not being able to load any apps.

You don’t need to understand exactly how “Android System WebView” works to fix the app crash problems. In a nutshell, this is core part of the Android operating system that powers a number of Google-developed and third-party apps. “Android System WebView” is tied with Chrome and enables allows Android apps to display content from the web.

That’s why you need both Android System WebView and Google Chrome updated to fix the problem.

Since the problem is caused by this core system component, it’s also why deleting and reinstalling the apps that are crashing – whether it be Microsoft Outlook, Amazon, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or whatever – will not solve the problem.