What do you include when you report a crash or a freeze?

First, describe exactly what happened. “Crash” means different things to different people:

• Crash: the app closes and you’re back on the home screen.
• Freeze: the app stops responding. On Android, if the main thread is blocked for about 5 seconds, the system shows an “App isn’t responding” (ANR) dialog. On iOS, the system can terminate an app that hangs for too long.
• Blank or white screen: the app or page is open but shows nothing. On the web this is often a JavaScript error.

What goes into the report

• Title: where and when. “Order history: app crashes when opening an order with 50+ items.”
• Environment: app build and version, device model, OS version, environment (staging or production), account.
• Steps and frequency: “3 out of 3 tries” or “1 in 10”.
• Exact time it happened, with time zone, so the developer can find it in logs.
• Evidence:
  • Mobile: the stack trace from adb logcat (look for FATAL EXCEPTION) or the crash report from the iPhone or Xcode, plus a link to the crash in Crashlytics or Sentry if the app uses one.
  • Web: the console error with its stack trace, and the failing request from the Network tab.
  • A screen recording showing the steps and the crash.
• Only the relevant log lines in the description, with the full log attached.

Useful extras: Does it happen on the previous build? On the other platform? After a fresh install? With another account? Each answer helps the developer narrow it down.

Crashes usually get high severity, since the user loses their work and can’t continue.

Learn more: adb Basics