How to Force Stop an App That Keeps Crashing on Android
What is an apk crash and why does it happen?
Have you ever experienced an app that suddenly stops working, freezes, or closes unexpectedly on your Android device? If so, you have encountered an apk crash. An apk file is the package format that Android uses to distribute and install apps. An apk crash occurs when there is an unexpected exit caused by an unhandled exception or signal in the app's code.
apk crash
There are many reasons why an app can crash on Android. Some of them are obvious, such as checking for a null value or an empty string, but others are more subtle, such as passing invalid arguments to an API or having complex multithreading interactions. Crashes can also happen due to external factors, such as low memory, network connectivity, device compatibility, or user actions.
Crashes are not only frustrating for users, but also harmful for developers. They can affect your app's reputation, ratings, downloads, and revenue. Therefore, it is important to detect, diagnose, prevent, and fix apk crashes as soon as possible. In this article, we will show you how to do that using various tools and techniques.
How to detect and diagnose apk crashes
The first step in solving any problem is identifying it. To detect and diagnose apk crashes, you need to collect and analyze some information about the app's behavior and performance. Here are some ways you can do that:
Android vitals
Android vitals is a feature of Google Play Console that helps you monitor and improve your app's quality and stability. It measures several metrics related to crashes, such as:
Crash rate: The percentage of your daily active users who experienced any type of crash.
User-perceived crash rate: The percentage of your daily active users who experienced at least one crash while they were actively using your app.
Multiple crash rate: The percentage of your daily active users who experienced at least two crashes.
You can use Android vitals to see how your app's crash rate compares to other apps in your category, identify which device models or Android versions are more prone to crashes, and track the impact of your changes on your app's stability over time.
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Stack trace
A stack trace is a snapshot of the sequence of nested functions or methods that were executed before a crash occurred. It shows the name, location, and parameters of each function or method, as well as the line number where the error happened. A stack trace can help you pinpoint the exact cause of the crash and fix it accordingly.
You can view the stack trace of your app's crashes in several places, such as Android vitals, Firebase Crashlytics, Google Play Console Pre-launch report, or the app's crash report. A stack trace looks something like this:
java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.widget.TextView.setText(java.lang.CharSequence)' on a null object reference at com.example.myapp.MainActivity.onCreate(MainActivity.java:25) at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7136) at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java:7127) at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java:1271) at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2893) ... 11 more
In this example, you can see that the crash was caused by a null pointer exception, which means that the app tried to access or modify an object that was null. You can also see that the error occurred in the onCreate method of the MainActivity class, at line 25, where the app tried to set the text of a TextView that was null.
Logcat
Logcat is a command-line tool that lets you view and filter the messages that your app and the system write to the log. A log message consists of a priority level, a tag, and a message. You can use log messages to print useful information about your app's state, such as variables, exceptions, or events. You can also use log messages to debug your app and find errors.
You can access logcat from Android Studio, Android Debug Bridge, or a terminal emulator. You can use various options and filters to customize the output of logcat and focus on the messages that are relevant to your app. A log message looks something like this:
D/MainActivity: onCreate: Hello World! E/MainActivity: onCreate: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'void android.widget.TextView.setText(java.lang.CharSequence)' on a null object reference
In this example, you can see that the app printed a debug message with the tag MainActivity and the message onCreate: Hello World! You can also see that the app printed an error message with the same tag and the message onCreate: java.lang.NullPointerException..., which is the same exception that caused the crash.
How to prevent and fix apk crashes
The next step in solving any problem is fixing it. To prevent and fix apk crashes, you need to write robust and reliable code that can handle different scenarios and edge cases. Here are some common causes of apk crashes and how to avoid or handle them:
Null pointer exceptions
A null pointer exception is one of the most frequent and notorious causes of apk crashes. It happens when you try to access or modify an object that is null, which means that it has no value or reference. For example, if you try to call a method on a null object, or access a field of a null object, you will get a null pointer exception.
To prevent null pointer exceptions, you need to check if an object is null before using it. You can use conditional statements, such as if-else or try-catch, to perform different actions depending on whether an object is null or not. For example:
TextView textView = findViewById(R.id.textView); if (textView != null) textView.setText("Hello World!"); else Log.e("MainActivity", "onCreate: textView is null");
In this example, you can see that the app checks if the textView object is null before calling the setText method on it. If it is not null, it sets the text to "Hello World!". If it is null, it logs an error message.
If you are using Kotlin, you can use some features that can help you avoid null pointer exceptions, such as:
Null safety: Kotlin distinguishes between nullable and non-null types, and does not allow you to assign or return null values for non-null types.
Safe call operator: Kotlin allows you to use the ? operator to call a method or access a property on a nullable object only if it is not null.
Elvis operator: Kotlin allows you to use the ?: operator to provide an alternative value or expression if a nullable object is null.
Let function: Kotlin allows you to use the let function to execute a block of code only if a nullable object is not null.
For example:
val textView: TextView? = findViewById(R.id.textView) textView?.setText("Hello World!") // Safe call operator textView?.setText("Hello World!") ?: Log.e("MainActivity", "onCreate: textView is null") // Elvis operator textView?.let it.setText("Hello World!") // Let function
Invalid arguments
An invalid argument is another common cause of apk crashes. It happens when you pass a value or an object to an API or a function that does not meet the expected requirements or conditions. For example, if you pass a negative number to a function that expects a positive number, or a null object to an API that expects a non-null object, you will get an invalid argument exception.
To prevent invalid argument exceptions, you need to check and validate the arguments before passing them to an API or a function. You can use conditional statements, such as if-else or try-catch, to perform different actions depending on whether the arguments are valid or not. For example:
public void setAge(int age) if (age > 0) this.age = age; else throw new IllegalArgumentException("Age must be positive");
In this example, you can see that the function checks if the age argument is positive before assigning it to the age field. If it is not positive, it throws an illegal ar