When it comes to the world of mobile operating systems, Android is the most popular by a landslide. In fact, Statista estimates that as of January 2018, there were over 2 billion monthly active Android users. That’s almost 3x the number of Apple iPhone users! It’s no surprise then that businesses are investing more and more time and resources into developing apps for this OS.
After all, there’s no better time than now to give your business an edge and reach new customers with a mobile app. But with so many people using Android devices, you may be wondering why so many of them experience so many bugs. Let’s take a closer look at what makes Android buggy and how you can keep your apps from crashing or freezing on you.
What’s the Biggest Problem with Android Apps?
There are a number of issues that can cause an Android app to crash or freeze but ultimately the biggest issue is that Android apps run on a wide variety of devices. Since the number of devices that run Android is so large and the variety of models, brands, and operating systems is so high, it’s inevitable that some devices will have issues with your app. The other main issue that leads to apps crashing and freezing is that developers often try to develop for all Android devices at once.
What this means is that they try to create one app that works for all Android devices and that’s just not possible. Since the number of devices is so high, trying to create one app that works for all Android devices ends up creating problems. For example, older Android devices may not have the processing power needed to run the app as intended, which can lead to crashes and freezes. On the other hand, newer Android devices may have too much processing power and run the app too quickly, which can also cause it to crash and freeze.
Why is Android So Buggy?
As we’ve seen, there are a few reasons why Android apps crash and freeze. But why are there so many bugs in the first place? After all, Android has been around for a while, so why is it only now that we’re seeing all of these issues? Well, it turns out that the faster an operating system grows in popularity, the more likely it is to have bugs.
In fact, Android was designed to be a more open operating system, which meant that it was built from the ground up to allow third-party apps to work with it. This led to many companies jumping on the Android bandwagon and developing apps for the OS. But since Android was designed to be open from the start, this meant that there were far more bugs in the system than in other operating systems (like iOS) that are designed to be more closed.
3 Reasons Why Android Apps Crash and Freeze
So now that we know a bit more about why Android apps crash and freeze, let’s take a look at some of the reasons why they do. We’re looking at three main reasons: processing power, hardware, and OS updates. Let’s take a closer look at each of these reasons.
- Processing Power: This is probably the most common reason why Android apps crash and freeze. As we discussed earlier, older Android devices often don’t have the right processing power to run the apps as intended. This lack of power often means that the app crashes and freezes.
- Hardware: Hardware is another reason why Android apps crash and freeze. For example, if your app relies on the camera to take pictures or video, and the device doesn’t have a camera, your app will crash and freeze.
- OS Updates: While we’ve focused on why Android apps crash and freeze on older devices, we’re also seeing more apps freeze on newer devices. This is usually because the app doesn’t work with the new operating system. For example, if your app was designed for Android 6.0 and relies on Google Maps for driving directions, and a user tries to use Google Maps on Android 8.0, the app will freeze.
2 Strategies to Avoid Freezing and Crashing Apps
Now that we know a bit more about why Android apps crash and freeze, let’s talk about how to avoid these issues. There are two main strategies that you can employ during the app development process to avoid crashing and freezing: test and design. Let’s take a closer look at how each of these strategies works.
- Test: One of the best ways to avoid issues with Android is to test your app. But what does testing entail and how do you do it? Well, more than just clicking “run” and hoping for the best, testing Android apps involves rigorous and extensive testing on a wide variety of devices. This testing will help you identify potential issues with your app and allow you to make changes before the app launches.
- Design: The other strategy for avoiding Android crashes and freezes focuses on the design of your app: design for each device and each operating system. What does this mean exactly? Well, when designing your app, you should keep in mind the different Android devices that might run your app. You should also keep in mind the different versions of Android that might run your app.
Conclusion
When it comes to the world of mobile operating systems, Android is the most popular by a landslide. In fact, Statista estimates that as of January 2018, there were over 2 billion monthly active Android users. That’s almost 3x the number of Apple iPhone users! It’s no surprise then that businesses are investing more and more time and resources into developing apps for this OS.
When developing an Android app, it’s important to keep in mind that Android runs on a wide variety of devices and that some devices may have issues running your app. To avoid freezing and crashing issues, it’s important to test your app on a wide variety of devices and to design your app for each device and OS.
