Which Android Apps Are Crashing Due to a Faulty ‘Android System WebView’ Update?
Last updated September 20, 2021
As you’ve probably already experienced yourself by now, a faulty Android System WebView update is currently causing quite a commotion. More precisely, that Android component is experiencing a bug, causing many Android apps to crash upon launch. So, which apps are those exactly? Let’s find out!
The List of Apps Affected by the 'Android System WebView' App-Crashing Issue
Even though there’s no definite list of the affected applications, we’ve seen numerous reports online about various Android apps crashing. We’ve taken a good look at those reports, so here’s our list of the apps identified to be affected by the WebView issue.
- Gmail
- Google Maps
- Google Photos
- Messages (Android’s built-in app)
- Outlook
- Play Store (specific components only)
- Google Pay
- AOL
- ESPN
- Amazon
- Yahoo
- Google (the official Google Search app)
- DuckDuckGo (the official search app)
- Microsoft News
- TikTok (direct messaging component)
As you can imagine, the list of the affected Android apps doesn't stop there. This seems to be a widespread issue that can affect any app relying on Android System WebView. So, we're talking about a massive number of apps. In addition to that, this problem isn't limited to certain countries only, as Android users from across the world have reported the same problem.
How to Fix This Problem? What to Do?
As per Google’s Workspace Status Dashboard for Gmail, there's a freshly released update for Google Chrome and Android System WebView. Therefore, Google acknowledged the existence of this problem and has also already offered a solution.
With that said, our strong recommendation is to update the Google Chrome and Android System WebView app by visiting the Play Store. Here’s how that is done.
- Launch the Play Store app on your Android device.
- Tap on the 'hamburger' button in the top-left corner of your screen.
- A menu will appear right now. Use that menu to pick 'My Apps & Games.'
- Make sure that the 'Updates' tab is selected and active at this point.
- Check if there are updates available for Chrome and WebView.
- To update those two apps, tap on 'Update' or 'Update All.'
- Restart your device and try opening any app. That’s it!
Are There Other Workarounds Available? What About Disabling WebView & Chrome?
Even if Google's recently published updates for Chrome and WebView aren't yet available for you, there are specific workarounds that you'll want to try. More precisely, you need to disable WebView first. And if that doesn't help, disable Chrome on your Android. Here's the full breakdown of what needs to be done.
- First, go ahead and disable Android System WebView.
- Then, restart your Android device and try opening any app.
- If the app still crashes, go ahead and disable Google Chrome.
- Again, restart your device and try reopening any app. That’s it!
So, that would be all on the apps affected by the Android System WebView issue. If you have any questions for us, make sure to post your comment below. Thanks for reading!
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