Google Maps is particularly a major map & navigation app on Android smartphones. Thanks to the tonnes of features in inhibits, the app is used by tens of millions of apps at any given point of time. The app is equipped with features to showcase routes from point A to B and all other information. However, what can you do if it keeps crashing or shows the ‘Unfortunately Google Maps has stopped working’ issue appears on your phone? Since this issue can occur due to a number of reasons, we have a detailed guide on how to both the issues that can turn things upside down in case if you need Google Maps and can’t access it due to this problem.

How to fix Unfortunately Google Maps stopped and crashing error on any phone?

Restart the Google Maps

This is a kind of soft reboot where you literally close the app from the ‘recent’ list and swipe up or swipe to the right depending upon the UI to close an app.

Force stop the app

It is not just Google Maps but if any app shows ‘unfortunately the app has stopped’ or crashed, it is time to force stop the app as it might help. It is possible that when you tried opening the app or doing something, it triggered the app to crash due to XYZ reasons. This is where a force stop will help fix the issue by abruptly closing the app. Wait for a few seconds and tap on the app to restart it.

Clear app cache

In simple words, app cache is a repository for an app like Google Maps to store temporary files as it speeds up the work. Cache files have a get corrupted when partially overwritten or otherwise which is a common issue why apps crash on Android smartphones. When you clear those cache files, the app will create new files and thus, the problem if indeed was caused by app cache must clear as well. Here’s how you are going to do that.

  • First of all, open the Settings and go to the Apps section.
  • Search for Google Maps and direct to Storage.
  • Here, you must see two buttons ‘Clear Cache’ and ‘Clear Data’ so hit on it to clear.

Check for storage

Storage could be particularly a problem if your phone has a limited 4/8/16 or even 32GB of internal storage. The app might stutter if it is unable to get memory for its use. This is why it is recommended to free internal storage for apps to work properly.

Restart the phone

Also touted as a soft reboot, many users would resort to restarting their phones in case any app like Google Maps is crashing repeatedly. This method the system to deallocate resources hoarded by apps when it was turned on. It also fixes any corruption or bugs in the RAM usage by deleting all temporary files causing an app to crash either directly or in some other ways. It is not rocket science to reboot your Android phone so do it and check if Google Maps works or not.

Update the app

A few days ago, I was using an app which incidentally crashed when I was navigating through the menu. The app crashed a number of times after that throwing me out of it to the home screen. This is where I realized that the app is due to get an update which I had been notified earlier about. A quick update and the app restored to its original state so that’s kind of a relief.

Google Maps gets updated almost every month and in fact, updating an app isn’t just required to keep it away from crashing but also to prevent any intruders from causing harm to the app or the phone as well as get new features. Here’s how you can check for updates.

  • Open the Google Play Store app on your device.
  • Search for Google Maps.
  • If there’s an update, an ‘Update’ button will go live against Google Maps.
  • You can search for updates via My apps and games section of Google Play Store as well.
  • It is recommended to turn on ‘auto-update’ that will take all your update-related work away.

Check for app conflicts

I bet you didn’t know but apps can have conflicts with each other as well. It is possible that two apps are clinging to the same resources causing conflicts with each other. There can be a number of different reasons that could spark this issue including if you recently changed some settings and so on. Try to remember what you did when the app started crashing the first time and reverse the order to get the app work properly. If not, try the next method.

Uninstall & reinstall the Google Maps

I wouldn’t mind if an app crashes a few times over a period of days because it happens. But I would definitely not remember what might have caused the problem in the first place such as if I tweaked some settings causing the app to go haywire. The best way to bypass it and try to fix the problem is to simply uninstall the app. This will take all the settings preferences and others with it. Next, you just need to reinstall the app and done. Since Google Maps comes as bloatware is almost all Android smartphones, it might not be easy to remove it so disable it for that matter and enable it in a few minutes.

Perform a factory reset

Now, this is a final resort to fix any problem on your Android smartphone. Before you can go through with it, note that you must take a backup of all the data that is stored on your device. This will prevent any data loss as a factory reset will delete every kilobyte of data from your phone leaving it as new as you bought it. Here’s how you can perform a factory reset but I would assume that this method should be used only when highly required.

  • Start by turning off the phone.
  • Now, press Power + Volume UP or Power + Volume DOWN or Power + Volume UP & DOWN or otherwise for your specific make and model (which can be different).
  • You need to press the combination of buttons and hold for a few seconds until an Android logo doesn’t appear on the screen and that’s when you leave those buttons.
  • You’ll need to scroll and select ‘Wipe data/factory reset’ using volume rockers as scrolling keys and power button as the selection key unless it is otherwise mentioned.
  • On the next screen, select ‘Yes — delete all user data’ and that’s all.
  • Finally, select ‘Reboot the system now’ and the phone will automatically restart giving you the new feel.