Simcity buildit keeps crashing on startup

I have the same problem as everyone else. I have a ipad2 16gb with the latest update 9.3.4. Anytime there is some special running, I can log in then get booted straight out. These crashes are disabling their revenue stream (which come from in-game purchases) so you'd think someone at EA would fix this but it looks like it's not a priority.

Someone wake me up once the silly sports event is over ; )

Update, cant even login now, the game crashes on startup now. I notice no one from ea will even touch this forum, which tells me they know there is a big problem and cant fix it. 

Hey guys. BuildIt has been crashing in a similar fashion on my wife's iPad 2 as well, but runs without a hitch on my Nexus 5X, so I decided to investigate for her. 3D games such as this require a high amount of RAM (random access memory) in order to run, and Apple's mobile products seem to be pretty notorious for not having much RAM (more profit for Apple ...). The iPad 2 specifically has only 512 MB of RAM, whereas you probably couldn't even find a phone on the market these days with less than 2 GB. I'm suspecting this is the reason Apple doesn't even list RAM amounts for most of its iPad products on their website. They just ignore the issue.

It's very likely the issue most of you are experiencing is not EA's responsibility, but the fact that you have very inadequate hardware. When RAM is exceeded, an operating system will typically close apps until it can function normally - i.e. the "crashing" of BuildIt. Of course, larger cities and Wi-Fi connectivity enabling background downloads etc. will greatly increase RAM use. That's why many of you have had some success in closing background apps and disabling Wi-Fi.

If an analogy helps, think of your 16 GB / 32 GB / 64 GB etc "memory" storage as the space you have in your fridge. You can hold a lot of food in your fridge with any of those amounts - more than enough for this BuildIt game. But to play the game (i.e. cook the food), you need a certain amount of counter space for chopping, etc. Running BuildIt on an iPad 2, you're trying to cut a Thanksgiving turkey on a counter the size of a Post-It note. You simply don't have enough space to operate, so the app gets closed.

It doesn't really matter how good a processor you have (i.e. how fast you can cook), because you can't even fit the food on the counter to start.

As I implied earlier, 2GB RAM is pretty standard for mobile devices these days, and it will continue to increase. Always check a device's RAM amount before buying, and be wary if that information isn't given upfront as in Apple's case.

This probably doesn't apply to all crash instances, but it's likely the unfortunate answer for iPad 2 owners and iPad mini 2 owners, as they have 512 MB and 1 GB of RAM respectively.

Hope this helps clear the issue up a bit. If you can somehow move your save files to any device with more RAM, the game should run as expected.

Thanks for this - explains a lot.  

I now have a newer iPad on which the game runs well - now have to check its RAM.

again thanks

Thanks for this info. I never noticed the missing ram info on apple's website and rethorics! I like this freeking game so much that I thought of changing for a new ipad, I'll go to the competitors now. Thanks (written by a long time apple fan, ex-fan should I say).

Oh by the way my car magazine app has recently been freezing just the same way after a recent major update!

It's true I'm very anti-Apple myself, but I have to admit the choice comes down to more preference than whether Apple is incompetent or not. I'm sure Apple did focus groups and studies to determine how long customers would typically use an iPad 2, and 512 MB probably fit the bill for /most/ people back in the day (I think it was released in 2011?). Unfortunately some of us aren't like /most/ people and since we can't rely on big corps to determine that for us, if we intend to use a tablet for longer than three years, it's up to us to look at specs and find one that should last longer.

For example, some of the newer iPads have 2 GB of RAM, which is plenty - for now. In just a few years, 2 GB of RAM might be as limiting as 512 MB is right now for the same reasons, so to avoid that, finding a tablet with 4 GB or more right now will help ensure you can use it to play the newest games for longer. But eventually 4 GB might (probably will) become limiting too, so it really does come down to how long you want this particular mobile device of yours to be competitive.

At some point the cost of buying a beefier mobile device outweighs the savings of having it last longer. And there could totally be some iPads on the market right now with 4 GB or more RAM. I just haven't checked because I'm an Android/PC guy.

Glad my previous reply helped! And P.S., I'm addicted to this SimCity as well lol.