The Sims Freeplay: Basic troubleshooting
Having trouble with The Sims FreePlay? Check out these basic troubleshooting suggestions.
Try the following tips regularly to maintain optimum performance in your game. Some of these steps may also help with refreshing your game and clearing various glitches:
- Close all unnecessary applications
- Restart your device
- Try a different network connection
- Reinstall the app
- Clear some additional storage space
- Turn off the Auto-Update feature
- Close the game completely when you're not playing
- How to send us a crash report
- Close all unnecessary applications -
Force-close all unnecessary applications running in the background. Your device usually leaves all apps running unless you manually shut them down. This is bad for overall performance, as the system gets taxed and slows down.
- Android: You may need to have a look in your task manager to clear any processes which aren't necessary while you are playing the game.
- iOS 6 and earlier: Double tap the home button to bring up the multitasking tray, then tap and hold on one of the icons until they all start to shake. Tap all of the little red minus icons to close all of the apps in the multitasking tray.
- iOS 7 +: Double tap your home button to enter multitasking mode, then swipe upwards on each app's screen preview (not the icon) to close it.
Apps such as Facebook & Messenger may continue using memory even after they have been closed in the multitasking menu.
To check for this on iOS, go to the Background App Refresh section of your device settings, then toggle OFF apps such as these to prevent them from using additional memory while you play. On Android, you can choose "Restrict background data" on each app's settings.
Reboot your device by turning it off for a few seconds and then powering it back on again. This can help to clear the memory of your device from any tasks that should no longer be using resources.
On iOS devices, you may also need to perform a hard reboot. To do this, hold down the power and home buttons simultaneously until the screen turns off and the Apple icon appears. Once you release the buttons your device will reboot.
- Try a different network connection -
If your download is progressing slowly or your game is having connection errors, you may need to try a different network connection.
If you're on 3G, try using a Wi-Fi connection instead; or, if you're already on Wi-Fi, try connecting through a different Wi-Fi network.
If you have a firewall you may also need to check that it is not restricting your access to the app or to other third-party apps such as Facebook that may be interacting with your game.
If the app is crashing consistently on a certain level or upon launching, it's very likely that some of the assets you downloaded when you were installing or updating weren't downloaded correctly. Uninstalling the game and reinstalling it will usually fix these types of crashes.
On Android, some devices may take a while to fully erase the game files before you begin re-installing. If you have an application manager on your device, try using it to make sure that all of the game files have been completely removed prior to reinstalling the game. Restarting your device can also ensure that the memory has cleared these files.
You will want to make sure that you are using a stable Wi-Fi connection to download the game again. Most of our games can have relatively large downloads, so doing this will minimize the chance of experiencing connection issues which may corrupt game data as it's being downloaded. If you're using Android, the game will need to remain open while installing or launching it for the first time; it may not install correctly while running in the background.
If you have the option, remember to back up your save data to the Cloud from the in-game settings menu so that you can restore it later without losing your progress; uninstalling an app will usually erase your local save data along with the app. You will want to make sure that your latest progress is available on the Cloud to be recovered after your reinstallation, if possible.
- Clear some additional storage space -
Erasing some photos, videos, or other apps that you no longer need in order to clear some additional space on your device can vastly improve overall performance. It's recommended to keep at least 10% of your device's storage free to prevent performance issues.
- Turn off the Auto-Update feature -
Downloading apps in the background while you play may cause some evident performance issues such as lagging or freezing during gameplay. We recommend ensuring that your auto-update feature is turned off (particularly using iOS 7). Any apps that routinely require Internet access to download or sync additional data while running in the background (such as Mail apps) are recommended to be closed completely to prevent this process from occurring during gameplay as well.
- Close the game completely when you're not playing -
If your game is left running in the background, your game's progress can be affected by other occurrences, such as crashes caused by other apps. When you're done playing for the time being, you may wish to take the precaution of fully exiting and force-closing the game.
- How to send us a crash report -
If you're experiencing persistent crashes, you may also be able to find crash reports for the game on your device. These can be valuable for our team. Please check to see if you have any reports available on your device that you can attach to your crash support ticket:
Retrieving crash reports on your device (iOS)
Please back up your save data to the Cloud, then sync your device to your computer. After doing so, you should be able to locate the correct log file for the app using the correct path based on your operating system (see below). The log file's name should start with the app's name.
Mac OS X
~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice//
Windows XP
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Apple computer\Logs\CrashReporter\\
Windows Vista & Windows 7
C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\Apple computer\Logs \CrashReporter\MobileDevice\\
Source: https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/the-sims/the-sims-freeplay/sims-freeplay-basic-troubleshooting/
