After featuring tons of buggy apps on its platform, Google Play Store has come a long way as several users experienced an app download crash or freeze on their Android devices.
Most of the apps on the store initially left stuck downloads frozen albeit semi-permanently on the screen. The market itself was also prone to crashing, but all that has changed with the significant strides made over the years.
A more stable environment is available on Google Play store such that if you experience random app download crash or freeze moments, you only need restart your device and move forward.
However, there are rare situations when rebooting fails and you need more involved fixes to resolve the issue. Below are some of the fixes you can apply regardless of the phone brand manufacturer.
FIX: App Download Crash or Freeze on Android
Resolving the issue of stuck or frozen downloads is generally doable, especially where a reboot fails to fix the chop. You can simply force the problematic app to close.
To do this, you need access to the App manager via your phone’s settings, and either perform a force stop/close, or clear cache or data.
Another method you can use is Download Manager.
For most, if not all, Android phones, you have to download apps from Google Play Store. To clear the caches or data, and get the download moving again, you need to force close the Play store.
To do this:
- Open settings
- Navigate to Apps & Notifications and tap on it (or select Apps depending on your device)
- A list of apps will be populated, each with its respective icon for easier identification. Scroll down and find the Google Play Store app
- Tap it to open App Info
- Now tap Force Stop on the App Info page. Play store will start backing up as soon as you open it and you can try downloading the app again
For older Android versions, like 2.1 that use Android Market, the steps are different as follows:
- Tap Settings>Applications>Manage Applications. If your apps aren’t displayed, tap Menu>Filter
- Select All to display all the installed apps
- Go to Market and tap it
- Tap Clear Cache
- Tap Force Stop. You can also go to Download Manager, tap Clear Data and then tap Force Close
Let us know in a comment if these fixes helped.
Elsier is an avid tech writer, who loves mobile apps, games, music, and cars. When she’s not catching up on the latest in tech, she’s binging on reruns of her favorite series.
