Pokémon Go Crashing on Android? Do this

Pokémon Go generally works really well however, sometimes the app crashes or automatically closes for no apparent reason on Android. The augmented reality that Pokémon Go uses can face issues because in the world of gaming it is relatively new.

The guide below will help you find out why your Pokémon Go app has crashed and suggest some fixes that you can implement to get back to playing.

Pokemon go app crashing on Android – Here’s why

The app may load to a point and then you only get a spinning Pokeball for what feels like the rest of your life, if this is happening your phone is trying to connect to the servers but is struggling.

You may even receive an error message ‘Unfortunately, your app has stopped.’ There are a couple of reasons why the Pokemon Go app crashing error occurs on Android. These reasons include;

  • The Pokémon Go app was installed or updated incorrectly
  • Lack of storage space.
  • A poor internet connection

There are some problems that occur much more often than others like the Gym Fight error, which usually happens when you’re playing a specific stage of the game. But for more general stuff and random crashes, you’ll want to look at Developer Options.

Step 1: Activate the Developer Options

For these fixes I recommend you activate the ‘Developer Options’ as they are useful when establishing fixes for the Pokémon Go app.

Not just for when it crashes but in general for any other errors you may encounter playing the game.

  1. Go to ‘Settings’ on your phone.
  2. Find ‘Developer options.’
  3. Go to ‘Don’t keep activities.’
  4. Uncheck this option.
  5. Restart Pokémon Go again to see if this has fixed the issue.

Note – If you cannot find the Developer options then you may not have activated them yet, to do so follow the below steps:

  1. Go to ‘About Phone’ in your settings.’
  2. Go to the ‘Build Number’ 7 times.
  3. This will activate the ‘Developer Options.’

Step 2: Clear cache of the Pokemon Go app

Clearing your cache settings is the miracle cure to all malfunctioning apps. Caching is simply when your apps save data from your previous visits so when you play Pokemon again, your app will run faster.

These temporary files usually cause some kind of problem at some point, and although caching can help the app to run faster, it can occasionally result in crashing issues.

The good news is that they’re safe to delete, so go ahead and delete them to see if this fixes your crashing problem.

  1. Go to ‘Settings.’
  2. Go to ‘Apps.’
  3. Go to ‘All’ tab.
  4. Tap on the Pokémon Go app.
  5. Tap clear cache.
  6. You can tap clear data as well this will mean you need to provide your login details again.

Step 3: Force Stop Pokemon app

If you get the error message “our servers are experiencing issues” when you try to log into the app, it may actually be a server issue.

But before you wait around to see if this is the problem, ‘Force Stop’ your app and reboot it to see if this fixes this issue. To force stop your Pokémon Go app, follow the advice below.

  1. Go to ‘Settings.’
  2. Go to ‘Apps.’
  3. Go to the Pokémon Go app.
  4. Tap on ‘Force Stop.’
  5. Now reopen the app to see if this works now.

If you find the app constantly crashing, then you may need to Force stop it to try and get it working again. If you can’t force stop, you may need a fresh install.

Step 4: Delete and reinstall the app

Your data for Pokémon – I.E your account details, catches, progress, and wins – are saved to the cloud. So if you are still having issues with your app crashing you can always uninstall the app completely and reinstall it.

It could be an issue with the app and the compatibility of your device so to be on the safe side this is a quick and relatively easy fix you can try to see if it was something to do with the app itself.

  1. Go to ‘Apps.’
  2. Go to Pokémon Go.
  3. Tap on the ‘Uninstall’ option.
  4. Go to the Google Play Store and reinstall the Pokémon Go app.

Step 5: Free up some storage space for the app to work

Pokémon can take up a decent amount of storage, so it may be crashing because there is not enough room on your phone for your game to now boot correctly. If you have a lot of Pokémon in your Pokedex then you can try to clear some space to see if this is causing your issue.

Delete files and folders from your device you no longer need. Or use a wire transfer to transfer everything onto your computer or an external hard drive. This may fix Pokemon if you’ve been having issues with it crashing on Android.

Conclusion

In conclusion, above we have gone through many of the tried and tested fixes of Pokémon Go crashing on Android, failing the above suggestions.

You can try a factory reset but that is something I wouldn’t suggest, you would be better off uninstalling the app for a few days and then reinstalling it to see if there has been a patch because the issue might not be you.

But hopefully, one of the simplest solutions has got you back into the game and it is not booting with any problem.

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Author

Tracy

An avid gamer, historian and all-round literature buff, Tracy is our go-to when it comes to using different devices. MacOS, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux or whatever else, Tracy's got a device that runs it (she's even got an old Blackberry laying around somewhere!).

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