How to fix Instagram that keeps crashing or not working stable on your iPhone 8 (easy steps)

by

When it comes to online photo sharing/bragging, the Instagram app appears to be one of the leading and widely used platforms in use. And it even gets better when a Facebook update was rolled out offering Instagram posts integration, which allows your Facebook friends to view and react to your latest Instagram photos. But there are just some factors that can ruin the good experience the app offers as they would halt the Instagram app from functioning smoothly. And this is when the Instagram app starts to misbehave. Tackled in this post is one of the common issues that’s by far encountered by some iPhone 8 users and it’s on the Instagram app that keeps crashing or not working stable on their new iPhone. Read on to find out how this happens and what options you can try on to troubleshoot and fix the problem on your end.

Before we move any further, if you are looking for a solution to a different problem, them drop by our iPhone 8 troubleshooting page for we have already addressed some of the most common problems with this device. Odds are that there are already existing solutions to your problem. Try to find issues that are similar with yours and use the solutions we suggested. If they don’t work or if you need more help, fill up our iPhone issues questionnaire and we’ll help you with you problem.

First solution: Quit and restart Instagram.


Apps can go experience various type of issues at any time especially when triggered by some factors. Symptoms also vary depending on what went wrong. For the Instagram app that keeps crashing, it’s possible that some app data or the app itself might have been corrupted so unable to function properly. Problems like this happen and when they do, they are usually resolved by simply restarting the malfunctioning app. And here’s what you should do then:

  1. Swipe up from the bottom to the middle of your screen and hold until the App Switcher opens.
  2. Swipe left or right to locate the Instagram app.
  3. Firmly touch and hold the app, then tap the Minus (-) icon. Doing so triggers the app to quit or close.
  4. Alternatively, you can swipe up to close the app as soon as the Minus icon appears.

After about 30 seconds, launch or open Instagram again and see how it works this time.

Second solution: Reboot your iPhone (soft reset).

A soft reset or device reboot/restart is also an effective solution to minor apps problems and errors. It’s a simple way to refresh your apps, phone system and internal memory for faster and smoother performance. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Press and hold the Power button until the Power off slider appears.
  2. Drag the slider to turn your iPhone completely off.
  3. After about 30 seconds, press and hold the Power button again until you see the Apple logo.

If your phone gets frozen as the Instagram app crashes, you can perform the alternative restart using the hardware keys or force restart on your iPhone 8. Here’s how it’s done:

  1. Press and quickly release the Volume Up button.
  2. Press and quickly release the Volume Down button.
  3. Press and hold the Side/Power button until you see the Apple logo.

No data or personal information will be deleted in the process so there’s no need to worry of data loss.

Third solution: Force close background apps on your iPhone 8.

Keeping apps running in the background may be beneficial especially in terms of multitasking or apps reloading. However, any of these background apps would eventually crash and when this happens, your other apps or system functions will likely be affected. Aside from sluggishness, your other apps can also become unstable in this case. To make sure that this is not what’s causing your Instagram app to become erratic, try to forcibly close all your background apps with these steps:

  1. Swipe up from the bottom to the middle of your screen and hold until the App Switcher opens.
  2. Swipe left or right to each of the background apps.
  3. Firmly touch and hold the app, then tap the Minus (-) icon. Doing so triggers the app to quit or close.
  4. Alternatively, you can swipe up to close individual app as soon as the Minus icon appears.

After closing all background apps, restart/reboot your iPhone to refresh the system and memory as well. Then relaunch Instagram when ready.

Fourth solution: Update Instagram app/iOS to the latest version available.

Installing app updates can potential fix the problem especially if it’s triggered by certain bugs from within the app. Thus, keeping apps updated is recommended. Unless you’ve activated auto-update feature on your device, you will need to manually install apps updates. And here’s how:

  1. Tap the App Store icon from the Home screen.
  2. From the App Store main screen, locate and tap the Updates icon at the bottom right.
  3. Then tap the Update button next to Instagram.
  4. If you see multiple app updates, you can tap Update All to install all updates at once.

Aside from updating apps, installing the latest iOS update on your iPhone may also be able to help especially if the problem is attributed to some system bugs and glitches. New updates typically integrate fix patches for security enhancements.

  • To check for available iOS update, go to Settings-> General-> Software update.

If an update is available, you’ll see an update notification. Back up your iPhone data then follow the onscreen instructions to proceed with the update download and installation.

Don’t forget to reboot your iPhone when the update installation is complete. This will refresh the system and apply the new changes accordingly.

Fifth solution: Uninstall and reinstall Instagram on your iPhone 8.

As your last resort, you may have to uninstall Instagram from your iPhone. The app might have been completely corrupted and is therefore not working. So, instead of spending too much time tracing and correcting individual errors from within the app, you can just delete the app and then install the latest app version. Here’s how:

  1. Tap and hold on the Instagram icon or any icon from the Home screen for a few seconds.
  2. When the icons begin to jiggle, tap the X on the corner of the Instagram app icon. Doing so will delete or uninstall Instagram from your device.
  3. Tap Delete to confirm action.
  4. To stop the icons from wiggling, tap on an empty spot from the Home screen.
  5. Then restart your phone.
  6. Wait until your iPhone has booted up completely then open the App Store and search for the latest version of Instagram to download and install your iPhone 8.

Other options

You may reach out to the Instagram Help Center and Instagram Support to report the issue you’re dealing with the application. Doing so will give them a heads-up about an issue requiring prompt solutions. There might be a more complex app error that caused the Instagram system to get corrupted and stopped working. If you see any error prompts or error codes when using Instagram, read and take note of the information so you can relay that to Instagram Support to. These error codes usually offer some hints on what triggers the problem to occur and likewise on how to correct them.

Connect with us

If you need more help with the use of certain functions and features of the new Apple iPhone 8 smartphone, feel free to visit our Tutorial Page. There you can find a list of how-to contents, step-by-step tutorials, as well as answers to FAQs regarding iPhone 8. If you have other concerns or encountered some troubles while using the phone, you can reach us through this form. Just be sure to tell us more details of the problem or device issue(s) you may have and we will be more than happy to assist you further.

Posts you may also like to check out: