What to Do If Your Android Apps Keep Crashing When Loading Web Pages
Crashing your Android apps when trying to load a web page? You’re not alone; many users have been reporting these issues for several weeks and the Android WebView feature seems to be to blame.
Browsing in a WebView differs from using the main Chrome app or other mobile web browsers in that it allows you to navigate websites without having to load an external app. The benefits of this feature are obvious, but there are an increasing number of freezes and crashes reported by users trying to open web pages using WebView.
The bug reports popping up on Twitter, official message boards, and support forums aren’t limited to specific devices or Android versions – and even include the recently released Android 10 for Pixel phones. The good news is that for most Android 7.0 or later users, there is a way to temporarily disable the WebView until an official fix is released:
- Open the Google Play Store app.
- Click on the three-row hamburger icon.
- Click My Apps & Games.
- Scroll down and tap “Android System WebView” in the list of apps.
- On the app’s settings page, click Uninstall to disable it.
If WebView is disabled, you will need to set your primary mobile browser as the new default app the next time you load the website inside the app. This means the pages will be loaded externally, but this seems to be more stable.
However, some users have reported that even the main Chrome app is crashing as well. In this case, it might be wise for now to change the default browser to something else.
The default app menu location may differ for different devices and versions of Android, but Pixel phones running Android 10 will find this page in their settings app. Go to Settings> Apps & Notifications> Default Apps> Default Browser and then tap on the browser you want to use. (The list only includes apps installed on your device, so check out our recent reviews of the new Vivaldi Android app , the rebuilt Firefox mobile app, and our recommendations for non-Chrome browsers if you’d like suggestions for other browsers to try .)