Bad wake-up call for hundreds of millions of Android users around the world: all apps crash all the time, here's why and how to fix this problem.
Since last night many Android smartphones have been behaving in a very strange way: most apps, as soon as they are opened, immediately crash. It's not a single manufacturer's problem, even though Samsung tweeted about the solution, nor is it a single app's problem. It happens to Gmail, Google search, Amazon's app, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and all other apps that access the Internet, so much so that many believed it was a general down of all these apps.
Ma non è così: il problema sembra derivare da un aggiornamento poco riuscito della componente Android System WebView, un pezzetto del sistema operativo mobile di Google che ha il compito di mostrare pagine e contenuti Web all’interno delle app. In pratica tutte le app che mostrano all’utente qualcosa proveniente da Internet (e vi sfidiamo a trovarne una che oggi non lo fa), chiamano per questo scopo Android System WebView e, di conseguenza, vanno in crash. Google è al corrente di questo problema e sta lavorando ad una soluzione, nel frattempo è possibile ritornare a usare le app normalmente disistallando l’aggiornamento problematico di Android System WebView.
Android: come risolvere il problema delle app
Per disinstallare l’aggiornamento di Android System WebView che sta creando tanti problemi dobbiamo andare su Impostazioni > App > Mostra tutte le app. The installed apps will be shown in alphabetical order, so Android System WebView will be one of the first.
Once inside Android System WebView we have to tap on the main menu (the one with the three dots in the top right corner) and choose "Uninstall updates".
Apps that crash: Google's final solution
What we've done so far allows the user to get back to using the Android apps installed on his smartphone regularly. But it's a temporary solution: the definitive one is the new Android System WebView update released late at night by Google.
To install this update (which replaces the one with the bug that causes apps to crash), we have to go to the Play Store and look for updates for all apps. It's not certain that the update is already available for your smartphone, so it's a good idea to try several times during the day.