Read first, comment after !!
This is an updated version for players with iOS devices.
There are many reports here and elsewhere from players who are getting an endlessly spinning donut on the pre-load splash-screen ( before the account + log-in/out button shows in the bottom left of screen ) with no easy way to sort it and get into their game.
After calling for device and OS info. this seems to be an issue affecting those who have devices running some version of iOS.
If you’re on an Android based device see the earlier article for tips
Click here for that earlier post
First thing to try is a Hard Close, but it may take a few goes.
If you’re not sure how see …
Closing an app on an iPad
Closing an app on an iPhone
Some players say they need to do the Birthday malarkey again, that might be a sign it’s going to behave and load.
If you’ve tried a Hard Close a few times with no luck …
If your game is linked and saved to an EA account:
Many players have said performing an uninstall and re-install has helped to get them back in the game.
If your game is not linked to an EA acount DO NOT uninstall
Uninstalling an anonymous game will delete your town !!
Edited to add this – Oct 10th …
Many of you have said the Uninstall is only a temporary solution and the issue returned.
One of the posts I read elsewhere found a possible great work-round:
Hard Close it once more then find the game in your App Store and open it from there instead
It worked for them, and may work for you if the Hard Close doesn’t.
Good luck to everyone affected
There’s an AHQ thread being monitored and this is being investigated.
Even if you solve it it will help EA to help others if you post on there. Sign in with your EA account email and password to post.
Please include:
Device
OS version
It’ll also help to include:
Problem description
What you’ve tried to do to fix it / what worked for you
Tried every thing, nothing opens… i’m getting really mad, its been 5 days now.
Had to uninstall from both iPhone & iPad and reload game – now working OK – only lost 3 days!
There’s a post up on the TSTO FB – yay – I’d hoped it would be soon 😊
Watch out for an App store update it seems – here’s that post
https://www.facebook.com/TheSimpsonsTappedOut/posts/pfbid02wjCzQrsN76BGgD65YaMnAbM2T6v6V8eVYECEGPj8BgzE39DvcBftDTamGQa9WWq5l
” The Simpsons: Tapped Out
35 m ·
D’oh! Racoons got in the server room.
We’re aware some of you on iOS devices are having trouble logging into your Springfield. Keep an eye on the App Store for an update coming soon.
( and a link to the AHQ thread from my post !! )
Having had to do the u/r AGAIN today (*twice*, because the first time it wouldn’t let me log in because it was stuck in the notion that I wasn’t old enough to pay and there was no way to do/redo the birthday thing!), if this happens again, I’ll definitely try the new tip.
Meanwhile, I lost over a day of playing…fortunately, acts for events have been pretty easy to finish early, so hopefully I’ll at least be able to finish in time (plus, I think you can still finish a prior act after a new act is released, as long as you finish the final act before the whole event ends, right?).
Not happy with all of this, but I know I’m in good company at least!
While there is no official word as of yet I am hopeful there will be good news in the near future …
Oh, missed the Q here …
If you get the dialog and tasks for a prize it’ll stay in your taskbook forever until you do it !!
If you’re really behind aim to get to part 5 in all the Acts and then start those when you feel like it.
( to clarify – get the 4th prize for an Act then do the next Act to get that 4th prize and don’t worry about the 5th prizes if you’re short on time )
My C town from January was meant as a research town so I’d do the intro and then ignore an event. The idea being I’d see the items in store if they ever come back. I’d got about 20 Part 1’s to do and Help wouldn’t zap ’em so went for Mirror Houses and Mirror Homer + Lisa while that event was out, then went getting months worth of prize 1’s !!
Not missin’ THOH and it felt odd not doing the events so I’ve got a plan B for checking the in-store stuff now.
iPhone11/Model # MH8M3LL/A
iOS 16.7
TappedOut: 4.64.0
——————————-
iPad (6th generation)/Model # MR7G2LL/A
iOS 17.0.3
TappedOut: 4.64.0
——————————–
Same behavior on both devices:
Donut just spins on the Start screen. The username is *not* in the lower left corner.
Deleted the app from the iPhone, reinstalled, it worked once, then back to the same behavior.
Other issue, probably not related, but very frustrating:
The iPad would do the “birthday malarkey” thing *every* time I played for the past few weeks, then needed to download an additional 2785 Mb of data, then started. *Every single day*.
I haven’t played in three days.
Can you extend the THOH event after this gets resolved?
Many people are way behind.
Thank you.
We are not EA – we only write about what they give us
If you pop to AHQ and post that then they should see it.
I know the Community Team are monitoring the thread but I can’t say for sure that the Devs themselves are – it is likely though
Stuck with the spinning donut for days (iPad Pro, latest IOS). I have a EA ticket and have been waiting for reply.
I’ve done all the quits, iPad resets, delete and reloaded the App, etc. Got in once, but never again. No luck. Sigh.
I’m on iOS 16.7, iPad PRO. Game won’t boot up. Deleted game and reinstalled. Was able to sign in ONCE and play the game. Tried to go back in and got the spinning doughnut again and won’t boot up. I repeated the process and went into friends section and there were no friends? I tried to add my husbands account as a friend and the screen went to Bart, no connection. My wifi is working fine.
Did the uninstall and reinstall on iPhone 14pro ios 16.7 and it worked then next day broken again….😭
I used a different phone, downloaded Tapped Out, the game worked fine, but once I logged in, once again just spinning and spinning…
I already deleted, and I’m not connected to EA!!! I know that there’s probably no solution, but help if there is.
If you ever wrote down or took a screenshot of your Mayhem ID then Help might be able to recover your game.
Without that there is probably no way they could pick it out from all the data on their servers, sorry.
Wondering what a Mayhem ID is, and how to find it??
See the bit on Find your account ID here …
https://help.ea.com/en/help/the-simpsons/the-simpsons-tapped-out/contact-support-for-the-simpsons-tapped-out/
TSTO addicts, what would I do without you? I’m one of the lucky ones I guess, but the uninstall/reinstall did the trick for me. iPhone 14 Pro Max, latest software version
I have been having an issue with my game. I thought I was the only one. I was trying everything I could think of. And nothing is working. I thought I was the only one. In the past week, I’ve had to let it download 🙃 five times..
Every time it downloads it takes about 30 minutes or so.
Along with the spinning doughnut. You get a message saying: if you tap the bar…..,you can continue playing. And the update will continue downloading in the background.
,,,,,,,,,,……………….BULL Crap……………… I Say …….B S.
WHAT SHOULD I DO. THANKS. AND HAPPY SUNDAY..
You know when it tells you to tap to play while the download continues? Don’t. I did that and it went back to the spinning donut so I had to start all over. I got a few Bart screens but the next time is started downloading, I just let it and that worked for me. I waited until the download was complete
On iOS it doesn’t like you to do anything until it finishes downloading.
Don’t even log in until it’s done.
It can’t start the game without all of the info anyway !!
I keep getting asked for my birthday every day, also! Any idea on when that will stop??
I’ve mentioned it to the EA Community Team that’s watching the AHQ glitch thread.
I think it’s linked to the loading bug, but who knows how long a fix may take
Uninstalling and reinstalling did not work for me. I am on an iPad. The game is also not working on my iPhone. Donuts are just spinning and spinning 🤦🏼♀️.
What happens if you try to start it on both devices at the same time ??
Try and get the Your Other Device warning up on both devices then tap to Play Anyway / Continue on one of ’em and with luck it’ll load
I had been having the log in issue/crash on log in for a while. My work around is to always visit a friend and then go home before quitting the game. This forces it to synchronize to the server and seems to work for me.
I’m on IOS and have an EA login so the uninstall/Instalk worked for me.
It would also be great if there was another way to download the entire game in the background or from the app store itself. About 2x a year, I am forced to Uninstall/Reinstall and with slower wifi or mobile data, I don’t like my devices screen being locked on the splash screen for the entire process.
There are bigger problems in the world, but just sayin’.
Hoping to hear some good news about Xylem by the beginning of Act 2..
Cheers Mate.
Nice idea but the game needs the whole download I’m afraid.
If it did try and load before the files were back there would be too much required info and images missing and it wouldn’t work !!
With this latest issue on loading the game I don’t reckon they’ll be thinking about Xylem right now, but it would be good if they fixed that in some way and did it sometime soon.
I’ve tried all of this including delete/reinstall. They broke tsto with this update, I really feel they should fix it. Too much work for an event I don’t even feel was as good as previous years and I buy donuts every event. I guess I can just wait for it to end and move on.
Apologies, Graham…I hadn’t noticed you updated this when I made my recent comments on some other other post(s)! Yes, uninstall/reinstall is the way to go, of you have an account. (And, since I think it’s three only way to fix the issue, if you don’t have an account, I guess you’re screwed?)
Catch 22, my contact is off for a few days and players rarely post if something gets fixed, but if / when I get any news for those who can’t uninstall I’ll let ’em know
Markie I’d
What is a BIRTHDAY Malarkey ?
Month and Year it asks for, some keep getting that showing up.
I’ve mentioned it to the EA Community Team that’s watching the AHQ glitch thread
Yes & once you put in your dates they send a code via your email address to enter & confirm
The birthday malarky at least 3 times a day. I have to hard close the game in Ios for it to load.