If you’re asking why are my apps not working, the good news is that a factory reset is almost never the answer, and most causes can be fixed in a few minutes. Apps stop working for a handful of predictable reasons: a stuck background process, low storage, a missing update, or in some cases, a broken shared system component that affects several apps at once. This guide walks through exactly what to check first, explains the real technical reasons behind the most confusing cases (like several unrelated apps crashing on the same day), and gives you a clear path depending on whether one app is broken or all of them are. By the end, you’ll know exactly what to try, in what order, and when it’s actually worth contacting a developer instead of troubleshooting further yourself.
Quick Answer: What to Try First
Before anything else, work through these steps in order:
- Restart your phone
- Check your Wi-Fi or mobile data connection
- Update the affected app through Google Play or the App Store
- Check for a pending Android or iOS system update
- Force stop the app and reopen it
- Clear the app’s cache
- Check your available storage space
- Review the app’s permissions
- Reinstall the app if the problem continues
If more than one app is affected at the same time, skip ahead to the section on multiple apps failing at once, since the fix is usually different from troubleshooting a single app.
Why Are Apps Not Working on My Phone? The Real Causes
There’s rarely one single cause. The most common reasons apps stop working include:
- A background process getting stuck, causing an app to freeze or crash
- The app itself needing an update to fix a known bug
- Your operating system needing an update
- An unstable or disconnected internet connection
- Corrupted or bloated cached data inside the app
- Missing permissions the app needs to function (like camera or location access)
- Very low device storage
- A conflict with a recently installed app
- The app being incompatible with your current OS version
- A problem on the app developer’s servers, not your phone at all
- A broken shared system component affecting multiple apps simultaneously
That last cause is the one most guides explain vaguely, so it’s worth covering properly.
When Several Apps Break at the Same Time: The Real Reason
If multiple unrelated apps, say your email app, a messaging app, and a game, all start crashing on the same day, it’s tempting to think three separate things broke at once. Usually, they didn’t. Android apps share underlying system components, and when one of those components breaks, everything relying on it breaks too.
The most important of these is Android System WebView, a component that many apps use to display web content inside the app itself, even if you never open a browser. It updates independently through Google Play, separately from your phone’s operating system and separately from the apps that depend on it.
This isn’t a hypothetical risk. In March 2021, a faulty Android System WebView update broke a wide range of apps across Android devices worldwide simultaneously, confirmed by Google and reported by outlets including The Verge. The apps themselves weren’t broken. A shared component they all depended on was.
The fix at the time wasn’t reinstalling every app, it was uninstalling the recent WebView update and letting the app revert to a working version, or waiting for Google to ship a corrected update.
The lesson from that incident still applies today: if several unrelated apps break at once, check for pending updates to Google Play services and Android System WebView specifically before assuming each app is separately broken.
If Only One App Is Broken
Work through these steps in order, testing after each one:
- Restart your phone. This clears any stuck background processes.
- Check your internet connection. If the app needs to load content online, confirm other apps or your browser also work.
- Update the app through Google Play or the App Store.
- Force stop the app, then reopen it. On Android, this is under Settings, Apps, then the specific app.
- Clear the app’s cache, not its data. This removes temporary files without deleting your saved information.
- Check the app’s permissions to confirm it has access to what it actually needs.
- Reinstall the app if the problem continues, after confirming your data is backed up or synced to an account.
- Check whether the app’s own service is down. Visit the company’s status page or official social media before assuming the problem is on your end.
If All or Most Apps Are Not Working
Use this shorter sequence instead of troubleshooting every app one by one:
- Restart your phone
- Check available storage
- Install any pending Android or iOS system update
- Check for updates to Google Play services and Android System WebView
- Update your apps in bulk through the app store
- Check your internet connection
- Review recently installed apps for a possible conflict
- Start your phone in Safe Mode to see if a downloaded app is the cause
- Back up your important data
- Contact your device manufacturer if the problem persists
How Low Storage Causes Apps to Stop Working
Storage problems are easy to overlook until a phone is nearly full. Photos, videos, downloads, and cached app data quietly accumulate over time. Once available storage drops below roughly 10%, Android devices commonly start showing performance issues, including apps that crash, freeze, or fail to save data properly.
Check your storage under Settings, then Storage, and look for large downloads, duplicate photos, and unused apps rather than deleting files at random.
Battery Optimization Settings by Phone Brand
This is a detail most guides skip entirely: aggressive battery-saving features can quietly stop apps from running properly in the background, and every major phone brand names this feature differently.
| Brand | Feature Name | What It Does |
| Samsung | Sleeping apps / Put unused apps to sleep | Restricts background activity for apps you haven’t opened recently |
| Xiaomi (MIUI) | Battery saver / Autostart restrictions | Blocks apps from starting automatically or running in the background |
| Sony | STAMINA mode | Disables background functions like syncing and location to save battery |
| OnePlus | Battery optimization / Deep optimization | Limits background processes for apps not actively in use |
| Google Pixel | Adaptive Battery | Learns usage patterns and restricts battery to rarely used apps |
If an app relies on background activity, like receiving notifications or syncing data, check your specific phone brand’s battery settings and confirm the app isn’t being restricted.
The Risk of Apps From Unofficial Sources
If an app was installed from outside Google Play or the App Store, this is worth checking specifically, since it’s a distinct and different risk category from a simple bug.
Official app stores scan apps for malware and verify basic compatibility before listing them. Sideloaded apps skip that review entirely. If an app installed from a third-party website or an unofficial APK file is misbehaving, or affecting other apps on your device, uninstalling it and reinstalling only from the official store is the safer path forward, rather than troubleshooting a potentially unsafe app extensively.
When to Stop Troubleshooting and Contact Support
Most app problems resolve with the steps above. It’s worth contacting the developer or your device manufacturer when:
- The problem persists after reinstalling the app
- Other users are reporting the exact same issue, suggesting a bug on the developer’s end
- The problem started immediately after an app or system update
- You’ve confirmed the issue isn’t storage, permissions, or connectivity related
Don’t Factory Reset Too Quickly
A factory reset removes all data and every installed app from your device. It’s rarely the right first response to an app problem, and it should come after, not before, the steps above.
Before considering a reset, make sure you have access to your account credentials, contacts, photos, and any important app data. In the vast majority of cases, the steps covered in this guide resolve the issue without needing to go anywhere near a full reset.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my apps not working on my phone?
The most common causes are a stuck background process, an outdated app or operating system, low storage, missing permissions, or a broken shared system component like Android System WebView affecting multiple apps at once.
Why do my apps keep crashing after an update?
An update can introduce a new bug, change compatibility requirements, or occasionally get shipped with an error that affects multiple apps sharing the same underlying component, as happened with the 2021 Android System WebView incident.
Will clearing an app’s cache delete my data?
No. Clearing cache only removes temporary files used to speed up the app. Clearing an app’s data is a separate, more significant action that can remove saved settings and login information.
Why are all my apps crashing at the same time?
This usually points to a shared cause rather than several apps breaking independently: low storage, a pending system update, a broken component like Google Play services or Android System WebView, or a conflict from a recently installed app.
Should I factory reset my phone if an app isn’t working?
Not as a first step. Try restarting, updating, clearing cache, checking permissions, and reinstalling the app first. A factory reset erases your device’s data and should only be considered after simpler fixes have been ruled out.
Conclusion
If you’re still wondering why are my apps not working after a routine restart, the answer usually comes down to one of a handful of predictable causes: a stuck process, a missing update, low storage, or a shared system component like Android System WebView quietly breaking more than one app at once. Work through the steps in order, starting with the least disruptive, and pay attention to whether the problem affects one app or several, since that distinction changes what’s actually worth checking first. In almost every case, a full factory reset is the last resort, not the first move, and the fix is usually simpler than it feels in the moment.