Why are my apps crashing during file system reads on two different devices?

[xenthressa]

Hello everyone,

I have two different android devices running on their latest available android versions (non-rooted):

- Galaxy Tab S2 running android 5.0.2
- Note 4 running android 5.1.1

Since somewhere last week I've been having strange consistent app crashes that seem to be related to filesystem calls somehow. It produces the following error:

<Unfortunately documents has stopped>

Some of the apps I've seen this with (but probably not limited to) is:

- Keepass
- Excel
- Adobe fill & sign DC

As soon as I browse and try to open a file from within these apps is when this behaviour occurs. What's interesting is that browsing through the file explorer and opening for example a keepass database does <not> trigger the crash. Judging from the time frame and the fact that two different devices with different android versions are having this issue I'm assuming it might be related to an app update?

I've tried clearing the cache for the affected apps but this hasn't solved anything. Removing updates for Android System Webview (running 49.0.2623.105 on both) hasn't solved the problem either. I figured it might be related to touchwiz somehow, so I installed Nova Launcher but this also hasn't fixed anything.

I'm stumped, don't know what to try anymore. How do I troubleshoot this?

Thanks!

 

[N4Newbie]

Try starting your devices in Safe Mode and see if the problem persists.

1) Turn device on
2) Press and hold power button until "Power off" banner appears
3) Tap and hold Power off banner until "Restart in safe mode (or something like that) appears

If the issue persists, it may be an OS or hardware problem. If the device works normally, then you have an app installed (could be something seemingly unrelated) which is causing the problem and you'll just have to figure out which one it may be.