Fix “The application is not responding, you want to close it” (EX: WhatsApp)

The error “the application is not responding you want to close it»On WhatsApp, Facebook or any other is quite common on Android. This is often just a software issue that is fixed by restarting the app or device.

Why an application crashes

It is difficult to determine why an Android application stops, is unresponsive, or crashes unexpectedly. The most common thing is that your data is corrupted, there is a bug or error in your code (especially if it is an app in “Beta” or test phase), in the Android system code or in both. You could also have touched something that you should not, such as deactivating a dependent or related application.

If this error appears sporadically, you should not worry because every app is susceptible to crashing sometimes. If it is frequent then the solutions below should work in most cases, unless you have touched where you should not in the Android software, in which case you will have to remember what you did recently and reverse it.

Restart the mobile

It is something elementary that the average user forgets to do before anything else and that in many cases, without exaggeration, solves the problem. Turn off and on your mobile. If you can remove the battery and disconnect the equipment completely for five minutes it will be even better.

Force stop, clear cache and data

Force stop: This simply closes the application.

Clear cache: Android offers each application a small portion memory called «cache», to store frequently used data. These serve to make the application work faster. An example of this data is the image thumbnails that appear when you open the Gallery application. If deleted, this data is regenerated after using the app again.

Delete data: Used to restart an application. That is, leave it as it was right after installing it. Clears all your local settings, configurations and data (including the old cache).

To find these options go to Android Settings> Applications> Application name (Storage, in some cases).

These options are safe to apply. Just keep in mind that by using them you can lose local settings, customizations and data, such as game progress, especially when deleting data. Stopping and clearing cache can only make you lose recent data or data from the last session.

Update

By default, Android apps update automatically, but just in case look for the problem app in the Play Store and check if the “Update” button is available. Through updates, developers are always patching defects in their applications, which can be the cause of problems such as unexpected stops.

Uninstall and reinstall

Go to Android Settings> Applications> Application name> Uninstall. Then go to the Play Store, find the app and install it again. Yes, sometimes this solves what data erasure cannot.

Another option that has worked for me is to downgrade. That is, download a version older than the one currently installed, because just as updates fix things, they can also bring errors. For this go to Settings> Applications> Application name and at the top or bottom you should see the current version. Then look in APKMirror the APK of a previous version and install it, but first uninstall the current version.

If it is a factory application that you cannot uninstall, in the same administration screen (Settings> Applications> Application name) look for the option “Uninstall updates”. There may be a menu button at the top.

For the outdated to persist, make sure to disable automatic updates in the Play Store (as well as other updaters) by going to your Settings> Automatically update apps and check “No”.