Friday, September 20, 2024

Google Search app on Android keeps crashing in widespread bug

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On Saturday evening (PT), a large number of Android users are seeing the Google app repeatedly crash (“Google keeps stopping”) when they attempt to search.

Opening the Google app via the homescreen icon will result in a crash. You see the app briefly load before you’re returned to the homescreen. The Google Search bar widget momentarily shows your past queries before crashing.

The Pixel Launcher search bar continues to work for device lookup, but entering a query briefly loads the results page before crashing.

Google Discover (to the left of your homescreen) won’t launch, while tapping the Voice Search microphone also stops the Google app.

After repeatedly attempting to launch the app, Android shows a “Google keeps stopping” message.

We’re seeing this crashing issue with the latest stable (15.35) and beta (15.36), as well as older, versions of the Google Search app on Android 15, 14, and (presumably) earlier.

Google Assistant (voice commands), Gemini, and Google Lens continue to work, while google.com through Chrome for Android works normally, so that’s your workaround. You can also use the Gemini app.

No other platforms are impacted. As such, we believe this to be a Google app on Android-specific issue. Google Search — along with all other first-party services, like YouTube, Drive, Docs, etc. — continue to function normally as of Saturday evening/Sunday morning.

This will draw comparison to the WebView bug in 2021, but only the Google app is impacted. That said, the Google app powers and is responsible for a lot of services on Android.

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