Google has fixed an issue with Android System WebView that caused applications like Gmail, Google Chrome, and others to crash. As per a report, users began seeing these crashes on Monday evening and at that point, Google recommended users to switch to the desktop client for Gmail. The search giant acknowledged the issue on its Google Workspace Status Dashboard and was regularly updating it with follow ups, till it was able to fix the issue around noon today, March 23.
Some Google applications including Gmail and Google Chrome were crashing for Android users because of an issue with Android System WebView – a framework segment fueled by Chrome that permits Android applications to show web content. According to the report by The Verge, these application crashes began on March 22, Monday evening, and as per the Google Workspace Status Dashboard, the organization recognized the issue at 4:35am today, March 23.
“We’re aware of a problem with Gmail affecting a significant subset of users. The affected users are unable to access Gmail. We will provide an update by 3/23/21, 5:35 AM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem,” the update from Google reads.
It then advised users to switch to the Gmail Web interface on desktop temporarily till the issue is fixed. By 11:48am, Google solved the issue with Android System WebView and released an updated version – 89.0.4389.105, as well as an update for Google Chrome. Users will need to update Android System WebView and Google Chrome from Google Play store in case they are facing these issues.
“We have resolved the issue with WebView that caused some apps on Android to crash for some users. Updating Android System WebView and Google Chrome via Google Play should now resolve the issue,”
While the service were down, Samsung Support tweeted that eliminating the latest update to WebView will fix the issue, alongside ventures for how to do as such, which appeared to fix the issue for some users.
