An app opens and immediately closes. Or it freezes mid-use and you have to force-close it. Or multiple apps crash throughout the day for no obvious reason. App crashes are one of the most common phone problems, and the cause is usually software — a bad update, full storage, or a corrupted app cache. Hardware causes are less common but do exist, especially on older phones with degraded storage chips or failing RAM.
Before anything else, fully close the app rather than just swiping it away from the recent apps list. Swiping an app away does not always fully stop its background processes.
Reopen the app. If it was a temporary glitch caused by a stuck process, force-stopping fixes it immediately.
Apps store temporary data (cache) to load faster. Over time this cache can become corrupted, especially after app updates that change how data is structured. A corrupted cache causes crashes on launch or during specific actions within the app.
If clearing the cache does not help on Android, the next step is Clear Data (in the same Storage menu). This resets the app to a fresh install state — you will need to log in again and reconfigure settings. This fixes crashes caused by corrupted preferences, databases, or saved state files that survive a cache clear.
Only do this if you are okay with losing local data in that app. For apps that sync to the cloud (email, social media, notes apps with cloud backup), your data is safe on the server and will sync back after logging in.
Phones need free storage space to operate. When storage is nearly full, apps cannot create temporary files, download updates, or write to their databases — all of which cause crashes. Check your storage:
Aim to keep at least 10 to 15 percent of your total storage free. A phone with 64 GB should have at least 6 to 10 GB available for smooth operation.
App crashes often coincide with OS updates or app updates that introduce bugs. Paradoxically, the fix for a buggy update is usually the next update — developers typically release patches quickly when a major crash bug is reported.
OS updates include fixes for system-level bugs that can cause app crashes. An outdated OS can also become incompatible with newer versions of apps that are built for the latest system APIs.
Install any available updates, restart the phone, and test the crashing app again.
If multiple apps crash or the phone feels slow overall, the phone may be running out of RAM. Too many apps running in the background consume memory, forcing the system to aggressively kill apps to free space — which the user experiences as crashes.
If clearing cache and data did not help, fully uninstall and reinstall the app. This replaces all app files including the executable, libraries, and configuration — anything that might have been corrupted during an update or by a storage error.
On both Android and iPhone, uninstall from the home screen or app settings, then download a fresh copy from the store. Log back in after installation.
Safe mode disables all third-party apps and runs only the system software. If your phone works fine in safe mode and crashes stop, a third-party app is causing the problem — possibly a recently installed app that conflicts with others or consumes excessive resources.
To enter safe mode on most Android phones: hold the power button, then press and hold the Power Off option until the safe mode prompt appears. In safe mode, uninstall recently added apps one at a time, restarting after each removal, until the crashes stop.
If nothing else works and crashes persist across multiple apps, a factory reset returns the phone to its original state. Back up all data first — photos, contacts, messages, and app data. After the reset, set up the phone as new (do not restore from a backup immediately, as the backup may contain the corrupted data causing the crashes). Install apps one at a time and use the phone for a day before restoring remaining data.
If crashes continue even after a factory reset with a clean setup, the problem is hardware — failing storage (NAND flash degradation) or faulty RAM. These are not user-fixable issues.
If your phone apps keep crashing and the steps above did not resolve it, or if you suspect a hardware issue, Marion Phone Repair can diagnose whether the cause is software, storage health, or a failing component and get the phone running reliably again.