Google Docs keep crashing on Android and iOS (FIX)

If you often use Google Docs, chances are that you will jump into documents from your phone from time to time. Creating or editing might not be the best experience on handheld devices, but previewing and creating quick drafts while away from your computer is pretty useful. Sadly, some users report that Google Docs keep crashing both on Android and iOS. If that’s something that bothers you, worry not! We have a few solutions that should fix your problem in no time.

Table of contents:

1. Force close Google Docs and restart your phone
2. Clear the local data from Google Docs
3. Reinstall the app
4. Reset Google Play Services
5. Google Docs keep crashing on the PC

Why does the Google Docs app keep crashing on the phone?

If the Google Docs keep crashing on your phone, you can usually fix this by:

• Keep your documents relatively small in size/short in the word count. We suggest not going over 20 thousand words per document as that might cause the document to crash.
• Force stop, reset, or reinstall the app and give it another try.
• Check related system services.

1. Force close Google Docs and restart your phone

The first thing to do is to force close Google Docs and restart your Android or iPhone. This usually resolves the majority of temporary issues. To force close the app, you can swipe it away from the Recents screen or navigate to Settings > Apps > Docs and tap Force Stop at the bottom.

Also, since Google Docs require a network connection (unless you use it to open local files), make sure that you are connected to a stable Wi-Fi or Mobile data network. Finally, although this is a hard feat to get, if a document has above 1.02 million characters, it can’t be accessed as it exceeds the limit. That’s approximately around 50MB.

2. Clear the local data from Google Docs

If Google Docs keep crashing on Android, a viable solution is to clear the local data from the app. That’s a good way to reset the app and hopefully, after that, the problem will be resolved. Of course, if that fails, you can always reinstall Google Docs on your Android.

Here’s how to clear local data from Google Docs on Android:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select Apps.
3. Open Docs.
4. Tap Storage.
5. Clear data and check if the app keeps crashing.

3. Reinstall the app

The next step would be to reinstall the app and it’s applicable on both Android and iOS. If the app doesn’t work as intended, reinstalling it from App Store or Play Store is always a good idea. To reinstall Google Docs on Android, open the Play Store and locate Google Docs. Tap Uninstall and, after a quick phone restart, install Google Docs again.

To reinstall Google Docs on your iPhone, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings.
2. Select General.
3. Tap iPhone Storage.
4. Select Google Docs from the list of available apps.
5. Tap Delete App.
6. Now, navigate to App Store, tap Search from the bottom tab, and search for Google Docs.
7. Tap Get to install the app.

4. Reset Google Play Services

The Google Docs problem on Android might also come from the issues with Google Play Services. This essential system app works in the background and one of its main purposes is to connect your Google Account with a plethora of Google services and apps. In this case, the inability to keep you signed into Google Docs might cause the app to crash. That’s just an assumption but we still recommend resetting Google Play Services.

You can’t reinstall this app but you can clear the cached data and give Google Docs another try. Here’s how to reset Google Play Services on your Android phone:

1. Open Settings > Apps > Google Play Services.
2. Tap Storage.
3. Select Manage Storage.
4. Tap Clear All Data.

5. Google Docs keep crashing on the PC

On the other hand, if Google Docs keep crashing on your PC, in a browser, make sure to take the following steps:

• Clear the website data. Click on the padlock while on the Google Docs webpage and select Site settings. Clear all data.
• Disable Browser extensions.
• Try a different browser or use an Incognito window to log in.
• Reinstall the browser.

And, with that said, we can conclude this article. Thank you for reading and we hope that the instructions provided here helped you sort out your problem with Google Docs crashing. If you have any questions or suggestions, we are always open to hearing them. You can share them with us and other readers in the comments section below.

Editor’s note: This article was initially published in July 2022. We made sure to revamp it for freshness and accuracy.