Android users were experiencing random app crashes.
Those apps include popular ones, like Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, and others. Google Chrome and even Google were also experiencing hiccups. Users of other Android apps also experienced constant app shut down, with apps throwing the dreaded “keep closing” warning messages when users try to open them.
During the moment, many Android apps were behaving erratically with no explanation.
As a result of this, many Android users were flocking to both Twitter and Reddit forums to share their complaints.
Google later confirmed that it's aware of the issue, and said that the problem was caused by WebView.
“We are aware of an issue with WebView causing some apps on Android to crash for some users,” Google said in a statement, adding that it's working towards creating a fix.
The bug impacted all Android apps that use the WebView system component.
It was then realized that the bug was caused by a bad update to WebView, pushed by Google.
Android WebView is a system component powered by Chrome, that allows developers to display web contents inside their apps.
It provides a class as an extension to Android's View class, allowing developers to display web pages as part of their apps' activity layout. WebView does not include any features of a fully developed web browser, as it does not have things like navigation controls or an address bar. What WebView does, by default, is to only show web pages inside apps.
This Android component comes preinstalled on all modern Android devices, and gets regularly updated from Google via the Play Store.
"This component is pre-installed on your device and should be kept up to date to ensure you have the latest security updates and other bug fixes," said Google on Google Play Store.
Following the issue, and before Google fixed or suggested a workaround, some users have found that removing the troubled WebView update can help.
Uninstalling WebView entirely can also temporarily fix the issue.
Even Samsung’s official U.S. support Twitter account also recommended removing the update.
Later, Google updated its announcement, saying that the issue has been resolved.
"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," a Google spokesman said.
