[iOS] Smurfs' Village appears to freeze and either locks up completely or continues to run but you cannot tap or touch on anything at all!

[Cupcake]

A number of players (including myself) seem to be having problems with their screens freezing during gameplay. For example, It happens often when using the App Switcher to swap back to Smurfs' Village after being in another App. The game is still running, but you can't tap or touch on anything. All your input is disabled.

If you are having similar problems too, please use this topic to add your comment as to what device you are playing on, what you were doing when it froze, and whether you had to reboot. Thanks!

[asmurf]

Yes not good. My iOS game has been freezing for a long time and the only way to unfreeze it is to power off my iPad and start again

[Cupcake]

You should be able to just reboot your game. Have you tried pressing your home button to return to your main screen and then closing down the app from there?

[asmurf]

Ah ...how do how do I close the app from the main screen?

[Cupcake]

Because I can’t put a pic in a comment, I’ll PM you now.

[Cupcake]

My screen is freezing on my iPad, and there seem to be two main problems:

- Freezing completely, necessitating game reboot.
- Freezing to the touch; Smurfs still going about their business, but screen totally unresponsive, necessitating game reboot.

[PearlLilly]

Exactly the same here

[O.RUS]

exactly the same thing happens to me on my ipad air, I have to continuously restart the game because it freezes

[FaryalSia]

Same game issues here ????

[skydiver118]

On my mini 4 I have experienced game stuttering - slowly still moving but at a snail’s pace (tied to the UI moving up and down)

I have also experienced multiple times the screen going unresponsive. You may be able to scroll around but cannot affect anything. It usually results in me needing to reboot the game (that may or may not trigger the time loss bug). I personally attribute this to the ‘hold your finger down to move’ part of the UI, where someone touches something just a bit too long, but not long enough to put it into move mode and the game gets hung up cause it doesn’t understand what you want and the screen freezes.

These issues are mainly on my mini 4. Occasionally on my ipad 6 or ipod 7, but it is my oldest device that is having the worst issues.

[June.E]

Same here. Its frozen. I cant move the screen. The smurfs are going around but i cant move the screen To another part of the village. I can still plant but i cant move the screen.

[Dnor1972]

Game still freezing when moving objects, either have to reboot or zoom out, which can take numerous attempts.

[Cupcake]

Hopefully the eventual move to the new engine will fix this problem!

[Dnor1972]

When is the move meant to happen?, because the game is becoming unplayable, freezing every 5 secs, trying zooming in takes to unfreeze takes ages.

[Dnor1972]

The game is becoming unplayable, keeps freezing even closing app and reloading unfreezes for a seconds then freezes again, the same for zooming out, unfreezes for a sec then freezes again. Wasting such time trying to unfreeze. Seriously thinking of not playing until Popreach fix it, and that’s a big if.

[Cupcake]

What specific device are you playing on, Dnor? Also, please make sure to submit a ticket to Customer Support!

[Dnor1972]

iPad Pro and I sent a ticket last year.

[Cupcake]

Please send another ticket so they know it is still a problem for you.

One thing I have found (when my screen freezes) is that it is because I have accidentally touched it in two places at once, for instance, my thumb has accidentally been touching it on the bottom and when I try to move the village, the screen freezes. I find that if I then touch opposite sides of the screen with two fingers and try to move it, then release both and go back to one finger, it usually releases. It may not be your problem, but that is the best that I can offer right now.

[Rosey7477]

This happens to me almost every day, uninstalling my game is a hard NO (yes I know it is not recommended) I have synced and back up my iPhone 11 max pro, I don’t want to “go back in time” again. Another major issue, I just updated my rare seed dispenser and my super duper resource machine, it said it had 2 hours left then changed to 14 hours within seconds-this also happens with my crops after I harvest crops. In the past, the developers have asked for a screenshot of the problem, would that be a before and wafted picture?

Please excuse the long reply, and I should have looked for these issues. I’m just hoping someone could shed some light.

[Cupcake]

Rosie, it appears that you may be a victim of the going-back-in-time bug. Read about it here: https://smurfsforums.popreach.com/fo...ce-update-1-88

Please fill out a Customer Support ticket. They won’t have a solution yet, but it helps them to know the extent of the problem!

[Rosey7477]

Thank you for the link ????

[Hoppeline]

Hello, good to know that others have the same problem. My game freeze after few minutes everytime I start to play (doesnt matter what I am doing like collecting/switching world etc) (Huawei/Google Play Store)

[Artyharry]

I’ve had some issues since the Easter update. My screen freezes more often than it used to, but not as much as others are noticing and it releases if I wait and then pinch in and out a few times. However my main issue is I think linked to the back in time bug. In the last 24 hours, every time I try to go to my island, the game crashes and when I reboot it, the timers on my dives go back to the start of a dive, so I haven’t been able to collect them. I’ve read the links to the back in time bug but nobody seems to suggest doing a recovery to before the problem started as it is an ongoing issue that crops up every now and again and seems to fix itself. I’ve never had this happen with my island though. Do you think a recovery is prudent (I hate going back if it’s not necessary) or will this one fix itself too and it’s just a temporary glitch?

[Cupcake]

Don’t recover. The GBIT bug has been happening for over a year, and it does not fix itself. It is not temporary. It happens in all areas. It happens more than you realize; we just notice it occasionally when we see timers are off or decorating disappears. It may help to do a manual save before you leave an area, but even that is no guarantee.

The freezing seems to be a separate issue and may be related to the present size of the game.

[Artyharry]

Thanks Cupcake. I’ve rebooted my device again and the dives have finally cleared. The new set of dives seem to be running down normally. It’s good to know there’s nothing serious going on.

[Dnor1972]

Game still freezing, will it ever e fixed?, sent another ticket to Popreach

[Cupcake]

Dnor, when it freezes try this: Put two fingers on the screen and, without moving them on the screen, push back and forth several times. [The screen will not move when you do this.] Then take your two fingers off and try moving your screen with one finger.

This may not work for you, but it is worth a try!

[PearlLilly]

Cupcake Thank you for this hint, it works very well ????

[Cupcake]

PearlLilly So glad it worked for you!

[Dnor1972]

Game still freezes, spending more time trying to unfreeze the game then actually playing it. Even if I do manage to unfreeze, it freezes up again. Are Popreach trying to fix it or aren’t they bothering?

[Cupcake]

The freezing may depend on what device and operating system you are using. The game is huge now, and some devices/systems cannot handle it smoothly. What specific device are you using, and what version of the operating system? I know you said iPad Pro above, but which one?

[Dnor1972]

iPad Pro version 15.6.1
Capacity 128GB
Available 87.31GB

[Cupcake]

Dnor, which generation of iPad Pro?

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[Dnor1972]

Sorry I haven’t replied sooner, can’t actually find what generation it is. The model number is A1673

[Cupcake]

Two things to try:

- How much RAM your device has, and how much it is using at any given time, is what determines performance. Check ALL your apps and see if you have any with ‘background app refresh’ turned to ‘on’. [Please note that background app refresh is a whole different thing than automatic updating, which I also have turned to ‘off’.]

If your device is constantly trying to refresh your apps (even when they are closed) this uses a lot of RAM, which is what determines performance. Your device has 2 GB of RAM, which is really the minimum needed to play SV.

- Try closing all your other open apps whenever you play.

See if this makes a difference.

FYI, here is the info on your device: