How to Fix Phone Apps That Keep Crashing

Published 2026-10-16 · Marion Phone Repair

An app opens and immediately closes. Or it runs for a few seconds, freezes, and then crashes back to the home screen. Sometimes you get an error message — "Unfortunately, [app] has stopped" on Android or a blank crash on iPhone — and sometimes the app just silently disappears. App crashes can affect a single app or multiple apps at once, and the cause determines the fix.

Single app crashing vs multiple apps

Before troubleshooting, note whether one specific app is crashing or whether several apps are having problems:

• One app crashing: The problem is almost certainly with that specific app — a bug in a recent update, corrupted cached data, or a conflict with your phone's OS version. Start with the app-specific fixes below
• Multiple apps crashing: The problem is more likely system-wide — low storage, a bad OS update, corrupted system files, or failing hardware. Skip to the system-level fixes

Fix 1: Force close and reopen the app

When an app crashes, it sometimes leaves background processes in a stuck state. These stuck processes can prevent the app from launching properly the next time you tap it:

iPhone

• Swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle (or double-click the Home button on older iPhones) to open the app switcher
• Find the crashing app and swipe it up to force close it
• Wait a few seconds, then open the app again

Android

• Open Settings, Apps (or Applications), find the crashing app, and tap Force Stop. Alternatively, open the recent apps view and swipe the app away
• Force Stop is more thorough than swiping away — it kills all background processes and services associated with the app, not just the foreground activity

Fix 2: Clear the app cache

Apps store temporary data (cached images, database files, session tokens, downloaded content) that can become corrupted. When the app tries to read corrupted cache data on startup, it crashes. Clearing the cache forces the app to rebuild this data from scratch:

Android

• Go to Settings, Apps, select the crashing app, tap Storage (or Storage and cache), then tap Clear cache
• This removes temporary files without deleting your account data, settings, or login. You may need to re-download some content within the app (like offline music or map data)
• If clearing the cache does not help, tap Clear data (or Clear storage). This resets the app to its freshly-installed state — you will need to log in again and reconfigure settings. For most apps, your actual data (messages, photos, posts) is stored on the server, not on the phone, so clearing data does not delete it

iPhone

iOS does not have a dedicated clear cache option for most apps. The equivalent is to delete the app and reinstall it. Before deleting, verify that your important data within the app is backed up or synced to a cloud account. Some apps (like Safari) have a cache clearing option within the app itself: Settings, Safari, Clear History and Website Data.

Fix 3: Update the app

App crashes are frequently caused by bugs that the developer has already fixed in a newer version. Developers release crash-fix updates regularly — especially after a major OS update that breaks compatibility:

• iPhone: Open the App Store, tap your profile icon at the top, scroll down to see available updates. Tap Update next to the crashing app, or tap Update All
• Android: Open the Google Play Store, tap your profile icon, tap Manage apps and device, then Updates available. Update the specific app or tap Update all
• If the app was recently updated and the crashes started after the update, the update itself introduced the bug. Check the app's reviews in the store — if many users report crashes after the same update, the developer will likely release a fix within days. In the meantime, you can try the clear data fix (Fix 2) which sometimes resolves post-update crashes

Fix 4: Update the phone's operating system

OS updates include fixes for system-level issues that can cause app crashes:

• iPhone: Settings, General, Software Update. Download and install any available update
• Android: Settings, System (or Software update), System update. Check for and install updates
• Some app crashes happen specifically because the phone is running an older OS version that the app no longer fully supports. Social media apps and banking apps are particularly aggressive about dropping support for older OS versions. If your phone cannot update to a supported OS version, the app may not work reliably

Fix 5: Free up storage space

When phone storage is nearly full, apps cannot create the temporary files they need to run. This causes crashes, freezes, and extremely slow performance. Many apps need several hundred megabytes of free space for their cache and temporary data — when there is not enough, the app either crashes on launch or crashes mid-operation:

• Check available storage: Settings, General, iPhone Storage (iPhone) or Settings, Storage (Android)
• If you have less than 1 to 2 GB free, storage is likely contributing to app crashes. Free up space by deleting unused apps, clearing photo and video backups that are already in the cloud, removing downloaded music or podcasts, and clearing browser data
• On iPhone, the storage screen shows each app's size and offers an Offload App option that removes the app binary but keeps its data — useful for large apps you use occasionally
• On Android, Files by Google (or your manufacturer's file manager) can identify large files, duplicate photos, and cached data that can be safely cleared

Fix 6: Restart the phone

A full restart clears all running processes, releases all held memory, and reinitializes system services. If multiple apps are crashing or the phone feels sluggish, a restart often resolves the immediate problem:

• Power off the phone completely (not just lock the screen), wait 10 to 15 seconds, then power it back on
• After restart, open the crashing app before opening other apps — this gives it the maximum available memory and system resources. If it works after a fresh restart but crashes again after the phone has been running for a while with many apps open, memory pressure is the issue. Close apps you are not actively using to keep memory available

Fix 7: Reinstall the app

If clearing the cache, updating, and restarting have not fixed the crash, a clean reinstall replaces all of the app's files:

• Delete the app from your phone (long-press the icon, select Delete/Uninstall)
• Restart the phone
• Reinstall the app from the App Store or Google Play Store
• Log in and set up the app fresh. A clean install replaces the app binary, all libraries, and all local data — this resolves issues caused by corrupted installation files that persist through updates

Fix 8: Check for app compatibility

Some apps stop working on older phones due to hardware or software requirements:

• If a specific app crashes consistently and none of the above fixes work, check the app's listing in the store. The listing shows the minimum OS version and sometimes the minimum hardware. If your phone does not meet these requirements, the app will not run reliably
• Some apps also have device-specific issues — a bug that affects only certain phone models. Check the app's reviews filtered by your device to see if others with the same phone are experiencing crashes

App crash repair in Marion

Marion Phone Repair diagnoses persistent app crashes — checking for corrupted data, storage issues, OS problems, and hardware faults that cause apps to force close repeatedly.