How to Fix App Crashing Issues in iPhone?

There are millions of free and premium apps available in Apple App Store. Over the period, some of the installed apps may stop working on your iPhone. This happens due to various reasons and fixing the issue will be a daunting task depending on the situation. For example, your iOS version may have a bug affecting the app or the app’s latest update may conflict with the iOS. Here are some of the simple solutions you can try to fix app crashing issues in iPhone.

Installing Apps in iPhone

It’s always recommended to install apps from official App Store. Unlike Android which allows app installation through APK files, Apple officially does not allow any other ways of installing apps except from App Store. Though there are possibilities to install apps through sideloaing or jailbreaking, it is not a common case. Even the iPhone App Store is different from the Mac App Store, so, you should face less app crashing problems in iPhone compared to Android apps. In addition, iPhone will show a warning for outdated apps that they will not work if the developer do not update to fix the compatibility issue with the latest iOS version.

Besides all these protection, if you are still facing some apps are crashing on your iPhone then here are some simple solutions you can try to fix the issue. In this article, we will focus on the apps that you have downloaded from App Store and not the third-party apps.  

1. Restart Your iPhone

The first and foremost thing you can do for any issues is to simply restart the device. Go to “Settings” app and then to “General” section. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and tap on “Shut Down” option. This will shut down your iPhone and then press the power button on the right side to start your phone again.

Alternatively, you can press and hold power and volume up/down buttons together. This will show you few options on the screen and swipe the power button on “slide to power off” option to shut down your phone.

2. Update Your App

If restarting did not resolve the issue, it could be a conflicting issue with your app and iOS. It could also be a problem with the previous app update which results in frequently crashing of the app. Go to “App Store” and tap on your profile icon. Scroll down and check “Updated Recently” section to find if the app frequently crashing is listed there. If yes, then it is an indication that the recent update was causing the issue.

• Check under “Upcoming Automatic Updates” section and tap on “Update” button if the app has any pending update. You can also read the description to understand whether the update will fix any bugs.

• You can also enable automatic app updates under “Settings > App Store” section. Turn the “App Updates” option under “Automatic Updates” section.

• Sometime the problem can happen due to the subscription issue. In this case, you may need to restore the purchase from the app and check if that helps to resolve the issue.

3. Update iOS

Similar to apps, sometimes the iOS version also can cause the app to crash frequently. Go to “Settings > General > Software Update” section. Your iPhone will check for the updates and show if any latest version is available. You can update the iOS version and check if it resolves the issue. Similar to app updates, you can also enable auto updates for your iOS.

4. Offload App

Most of the social and documentation apps keep large amount of document data in your iPhone. If your iPhone is running too low in storage space or any corrupted document data can easily crash your app. You can check this article on how to cleanup your iPhone and free storage space. However, you can’t delete the document data since you need those documents to work with the app. In such a case, what you can try is offloading the app to fix the problem. This will delete the app but retain its data. You can again reinstall the app to start working with the old document data.

• Go to “Settings > General” section and tap on “iPhone Storage” option.
• On the resulting screen, tap on the app to see its size and the document size.
• In the below example screen, you can see the WhatsApp app is of 109.2MB in size. However, it has 2.26GB of documents & data.
• Tap on “Offload App” to delete the app.
• Now, go to App Store and reinstall the app to check if it works properly.

Note that some apps like WhatsApp also offers an option to check the stored data and delete them. You can tap on the settings icon on the WhatsApp app and go to “Storage and Data > Manage Storage” section. Here you can find the large files and chat wise storage data which you can view and delete.

5. Delete and Reinstall App

If offloading the app did not help, you can delete the app and reinstall again. Since deleting app will also delete all its documents, make sure you have a backup for restoring the documents. You can tap on “Delete App” option showing just below the “Offload App” option on the same screen. Alternatively, you can tap and hold the app on home screen and select “Remove App” and confirm to permanently delete it from your iPhone.

Remember, if you have downloaded the app from different country App Store , make sure the app is available in your current App Store. For example, apps like TikTok and WeChat once available are no more available in Indian App Store. If you delete such an app, it will not be possible to download again unless you change the country of your Apple ID and download the app.

6. Contact App Developer

If you find the latest App or iOS version is causing the issue or none of the above options resolved your issue, then the best option is to contact the developer. You can find the contact details from the app if it opens or contact the developer through App Store app page. Most developers will respond and fix if the issue is widely reported by other users as well.

7. Reset iPhone

If mention this as a last option, since resetting your iPhone will set it back to factory settings. It means you will lose the data on the phone and all the apps you have installed. Make sure to have a backup and do this only if the app that crashes is very important and you can’t live without that app.

• Go to “Settings > General” section and scroll down to the bottom.
• Tap on “Transfer or Reset iPhone” option.
• On the next screen, tap on “Reset” and select “Reset All Settings”.

Final Words

In most cases, restarting and offloading will help to fix the crashing issue with the apps. However, if the problem is with the latest update, you can fix by updating the app and iOS to its latest compatible versions. Otherwise, you may need to get in touch with  the app developer for fixing the issue.