Amazon App Black Screen Bug: Fixes From 208 Reviews (2026)

You search for something in the Amazon app, the results load, and then they go dark. Black rectangles slide over the photos, the prices and the product names. Tap one and the product page opens normally. Go back, and the list is black again.

From the last week of September 2026 that was the most common complaint about Amazon's Android app, in English and in at least four other languages. We read the reviews to find out when it started, what people tried, and what actually worked.

Amazon Shopping holds 4.39 stars from 4,712,420 Google Play ratings, and 4.83 from 8,451,024 ratings on the App Store. Every report below is from Android.

Quick Answer: Why Is the Amazon App Showing Black Boxes?

Between 31 August and 3 October 2026, 208 English-language Google Play reviews of the Amazon app describe search results, product photos or prices covered in black, 195 of them with 1 to 3 stars. 149 were written from version 32.18.0.100. At the peak on 28 September, 34% of all negative reviews that day were about it. Reviewers say tapping a listing or holding a finger on the screen shows it again. Of 31 who report the result of a reinstall, 26 say it changed nothing, and 15 say clearing the cache did not help. The complaints fell from 35 a day to 3 or 4 a day on 1 and 2 October with no new app version, and two reviewers say the bug is gone.

How We Read These Reviews

We pulled the 9,000 most recent Google Play reviews of Amazon Shopping on 4 October 2026. They cover 11 July to 3 October 2026, and 5,660 of them are 1 to 3 stars. Google Play returned exactly the same English reviews for the UK, Canadian and Indian storefronts (3,000 of 3,000 identical), so we call this sample English-language rather than American.

We searched every review since 31 August for black, blacked out, blacking out and dark box, screen or overlay. That returned 215 reviews. 7 were about something else (a black dress, a pink item delivered instead of a black one, an app that turns black and then closes), which leaves 208. We then searched those for each thing reviewers tried, and read every match by hand. The counts below are reviews we read and sorted, not keyword hits.

We also pulled the German, French, Italian and Spanish storefronts, and read every negative review since 15 September that mentions black in those languages.

When It Started

The first reports in our sample are from the end of August, on versions 32.13 and 32.17. They stayed rare until 32.18.0.100 reached reviewers, which in our data is 23 September:

The worst day was 28 September: 35 of 103 negative reviews. Of the 208 reports, 149 name version 32.18.0.100 and 25 name 32.17. Four reviewers, in three languages, date the start to an app update on 16 September.

What Reviewers See

The descriptions are remarkably consistent. The app opens normally. After a search, or a few seconds of scrolling, black boxes cover the result tiles, sometimes with only the product photo or the star rating showing through. 64 of the 208 reviews mention search, 22 scrolling and 9 the cart. Several say it flickers between white and black.

Dark black boxes have started appearing over product information after the latest update. Starts shortly after scrolling searches and makes it impossible to see image, price etc. Happens with or without dark mode setting.

One Spanish reviewer gave the most precise description we found:

Spanish

Septiembre 2026: Desde hace varios días, la aplicación Amazon para Android muestra en negro las áreas de texto de los resultados de búsqueda. Al desplazar la pantalla, algunas zonas se muestran correctamente durante el movimiento, pero vuelven a negro al detener el desplazamiento. El texto permanece negro sobre fondo negro. El modo oscuro del dispositivo está desactivado. El problema también ocurre en Amazon Business. En Amazon mediante Chrome funciona correctamente. Arreglen esto, por favor.

They say that for several days the Android app has shown the text areas of search results in black, that parts of the screen show correctly while scrolling and go black again when you stop, that the text stays black on black, that dark mode is off on the device, that the same happens in Amazon Business, and that Amazon works fine in Chrome.

Not Just English

The same bug shows up across Europe, and in some storefronts it is a bigger share of the complaints than in English:

German

Seit dem Update am 16.09.2026 fehlerhafte Anzeige. Alle Produkte werden nur noch schwarz hinterlegt dargestellt.

That reviewer says the display has been faulty since the update on 16 September 2026, with all products shown on a black background.

What Amazon Tells Reviewers

Nothing, in this sample. Amazon replied to none of the 208 reviews. Five reviewers say they contacted customer service, and none got a fix. One was told to use the browser, three say the advice did not help or the support menu had no option for the problem, and one was told something else entirely:

Absolutely infuriating. The latest Amazon update completely ruined the app on popular phones like the Galaxy S5 and S4. The app opens, but it's covered in broken black boxes that make it impossible to use. I spent an hour with customer service just to be told it's a compatibility issue because they dropped support for these devices. It's ridiculous to render working hardware useless and force people to buy a brand new phone just to shop. Fix this glitch!

Step 1: Check That It Is This Bug

The pattern is specific: the app itself loads, other apps on the phone look normal, and black boxes appear over listings after a search or while scrolling. If tapping a black tile opens the product page normally, you are looking at the same bug as the reviewers below. If the whole app turns black and closes, or the screen goes black and drops you to your home screen, that is a different problem.

Step 2: Tap or Hold to See What Is Under the Boxes

Until the bug clears, two workarounds come up again and again. 8 reviewers say tapping a blacked-out listing opens it normally, and 5 say holding a finger on the screen keeps the list visible:

I just updated the app, and now the page pulls up, but everything is behind a black box. The only way to get around it to see the item is to click on the black box or make sure to have constant contact with the screen while scrolling from the top. If you take your finger off, it goes black again, and you have to go back to the top of the page.

Italian

con l'ultimo aggiornamento l'app dà dei problemi. quando sto sul prodotto lo schermo diventa nero e solo tenendo premuto sullo schermo col dito torna bianco, ma così non è possibile consultare alcuno specifico prodotto

The Italian reviewer says the screen goes black on a product and only turns white again while they hold a finger on it, which makes it impossible to look at any specific product. Neither workaround is pleasant, but they let you finish an order.

Step 3: Clear Storage, Not Just the Cache

Clearing the cache is the first thing most people try, and the reviews say it is not enough. 15 reviewers say clearing the cache did not help, and 5 say it helped only until the next search or the next page. Clearing the app's storage, which also signs you out, has a slightly better record. One reviewer says it worked where the cache did not:

Scrolling through searched items causes images to all go black. Edit: clearing cache was a temp fix until I scrolled to a new page. clearing Storage fixed it and changed the background of the app from brown to blue

A German reviewer reports the same, with one more step:

German

30.9.2026: Lösung für Glitch-Problem mit schwarzen Balken usw.: Cache und Speicher (!) der App löschen, dann App deinstallieren und Handy neu starten. Hat jedenfalls bei mir geholfen.

On 30 September they wrote that clearing the app's cache and storage, then uninstalling the app and restarting the phone, fixed the black bars for them. It is not reliable: 3 English-language reviewers say clearing the app's data did not help, and a fourth says it works only sometimes.

Step 4: Think Twice Before Reinstalling

31 reviewers say what happened after they uninstalled and reinstalled the app. 26 say nothing changed and 4 say it helped only briefly, in one case for a single search. The last one lost the app entirely:

No support on samsung galaxy tab S10 ultra!!!! was working fine then just started giving black screens. Followed troubleshooting - like clear cache, data, restart tablet - nothing changed. then made the big mistake of uninstalling (as per troubleshooting recommendations ) only to find that the app is no longer available for my device. (GRRRR) come on Amazon - what you playing at?

That is a real risk on tablets. The Play Store has stopped listing Amazon's Android app for many working tablets, which we covered in Amazon's app dropping tablet support. If the Play Store no longer lists the app for your device, a reinstall can turn a display bug into no app at all. On a tablet, skip this step.

Step 5: Switch Your Phone's Dark Mode Off and On

Many reviewers suspected the phone's dark mode, and the reviews disagree on whether it matters. 7 English-language reviewers say switching dark mode off made no difference, and several Spanish and German reviewers say the same. But one Spanish reviewer posted a fix that worked on their phone:

Spanish

Para los que tengan mi mismo dispositivo y tengan bugueada la app haciendo que se vea todo negro, vayan a ajustes y desactiven el modo oscuro del telefono, cierren la aplicación y abranla. Si se arregló ya pueden volver a activar el modo oscuro

They say to go to settings, turn off the phone's dark mode, then close and reopen the app, and that once it is fixed you can turn dark mode back on. It costs nothing to try. Do not expect it to work everywhere.

Step 6: Update the App, or Shop in a Browser for Now

The best news is in the dates. English-language complaints fell from 35 on 28 September to 4 on 1 October and 3 on 2 October, while the number of negative reviews per day stayed between 56 and 72. The version reviewers report did not change: 189 of the 196 October reviews that name a version say 32.18.0.100. Whatever changed, it was not a new app build that people had to install. The German, Italian and Spanish complaints fell over the same days.

Two reviewers say the bug is gone for them:

The most recent update is causing the background to be black. I can't read the text on the search results because the background is black. I've tried clearing cache, deleting and reinstalling the app, nothing helps. Update: This issue seems to be fixed.

Spanish

creo que ya por fin arreglaron el fallo que tenía la aplicación de que se ponía en negro al navegarla, ese error solo está sucediendo en android.

The Spanish reviewer thinks Amazon finally fixed the bug that turned the app black while browsing, and notes that it only happened on Android.

So update the app if the Play Store offers an update, close it fully, and look again. If the boxes are still there, the Amazon website works: 2 reviewers say they switched to it, and two more say Amazon looks normal in a regular browser.

Read the Full Breakdown

You can read the full negative review breakdown for Amazon Shopping on Android and Amazon Shopping on iOS, or see apps like Amazon Shopping.