Word for iPad hangs and is terminated by the system watchdog (0x8BADF00D) on iPadOS 26.7

Question

Word for iPad hangs and is terminated by the system watchdog (0x8BADF00D) on iPadOS 26.7

Marina Kramskaia 0

Hello,

I'm experiencing a recurring issue with Word for iPad on my iPad Pro (iPad17,1) running iPadOS 26.7 (build 23H24). The app version is 2.113.26091116 (2.113.5).

Problem: Word periodically stops responding and then gets force-closed by the system. It doesn't crash on its own — the OS kills it after failing to terminate gracefully.

Key details from the crash report:

· Termination reason: FRONTBOARD, code 0x8BADF00D — "Failed to terminate gracefully after 5.0s"

· Exception type: EXC_CRASH (SIGKILL)

· Faulting thread: com.apple.main-thread

· Main thread is stuck in: __psynch_cvwait / _pthread_cond_wait, called from UIKeyboardStateManager handleKeyCommand: and UIKBInputDelegateManager _hasMarkedText

· Process state at time of kill: Background

This suggests the app hangs while handling keyboard input and then can't respond to the watchdog.

Questions:

Is this a known issue with Word on iPadOS 26.x?
Are there any workarounds besides reinstalling or resetting the app?
Is a fix planned in an upcoming update?

I can provide the full crash log if needed. Thank you.

0 comments

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

There is support evidence of recent Word for iPad freezing and hanging issues on iPadOS 26.x, but no published support article here that specifically confirms the exact watchdog signature 0x8BADF00D for Word on iPad. The available guidance supports treating this as an active app stability issue on iPadOS 26.x rather than a normal document or account problem.

Supported workarounds:

Update Word to the latest App Store version.
- A moderator-recommended answer reports the issue was resolved with the 2.102.3 bugfix release for affected iPad users.
- Microsoft also states that fixes for iOS app sign-out/stability-related behavior are being released through the App Store and recommends updating all Microsoft 365 apps to the latest version.
Sign out, then sign back in, and restart the app or device.
- Microsoft recommends this sequence after updating: update the apps, sign out, sign back in, and retest after restarting the app/device.
On iPad, reset the Word app login state.
- Go to iPad Settings.
- Tap Word.
- Under RESET, tap Reset Word.
- Enable Delete Login Credentials.
- Fully close the app, then reopen it.
- This is specifically documented for iPad when Office apps show account/subscription-related problems, and it is a supported reset path short of reinstalling.
Send feedback from the app immediately after reproducing the issue.
- Microsoft recommends capturing a Send-a-Frown submission after repro and noting the Session ID, app version, device details, and screenshots.
- From Word on iPhone or iPad, open a document, tap the triple-dot menu, then choose Send Feedback or Help and Support.

About a planned fix:

There is no support article here that announces a specific upcoming fix for Word on iPadOS 26.7 or for the keyboard-input watchdog hang.
The published guidance does confirm that app updates are being released through the App Store to reduce similar iOS app issues.

Based on the available support content, the best current path is:

Update Word in the App Store.
Sign out and back in.
Restart the iPad.
If the issue continues, reset Word login credentials from Settings > Word.
Reproduce once more and submit Send Feedback with the crash details.

References:

Answer 2

Kai-H 27,975 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi, Marina Kramskaia

The crash log strongly points to Word’s main interface thread becoming stuck while processing keyboard input. Similar freezing has been reported with Word 2.113.5 on iPadOS 26.7, but there is currently no official confirmation of this exact 0x8BADF00D issue or a published fix date.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Disconnect the Magic Keyboard or Bluetooth keyboard and test using only the on-screen keyboard. Also temporarily remove any third-party keyboard under Settings > General > Keyboard > Keyboards. This helps confirm whether the hang is being triggered by the keyboard-input path shown in the crash log.

Open Word with Airplane Mode enabled, then edit a locally saved test document. This workaround resolved a similar Word-for-iPad freeze involving background-connected features.

Test a new blank document saved On My iPad. If that works, copy the affected document into a new file in smaller sections. This separates a document or cloud-sync problem from the app-wide keyboard issue.

As a temporary option, edit the file in Word for the web through Safari.

I would not recommend factory-resetting the iPad for this. At present, no public release note confirms when a targeted fix will arrive.

Kai-H 27,975 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-24T09:10:33.8666667+00:00

Hi, Marina Kramskaia

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.
Marina Kramskaia 0 Reputation points

2026-09-28T15:53:23.8833333+00:00

New crash log shows a different signature — memory management hang

Previous reports showed the main thread stuck on keyboard input. The new log (Word 2.114.2, iPadOS 27.0 build 24A437) shows the main thread stuck in xzm_malloc_zone_try_free_default_tc — memory deallocation — with a Guard region of 385 GB. This strongly suggests a memory leak or resource exhaustion inside Word or the Intune MAM layer.

I have already updated both iPadOS and Word to the latest available versions:

· iPadOS: updated from 26.7 (23H24) to 27.0 (24A437) — no improvement.

· Word: updated from 2.113.26091116 (2.113.5) to 2.114.26092517 (2.114.2) — no improvement.

The issue is cumulative: initially freezes happen ~once per hour, then increase to every 2–3 minutes after prolonged use. Neither update fixed it.

Please investigate memory management in Word + Intune MAM on iPadOS 27.x.
Kai-H 27,975 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-09-29T08:09:43.7266667+00:00

Hi, Marina Kramskaia

Thanks for the updated log and for testing both newer versions. I agree this needs more than another reinstall suggestion. The increasing freeze frequency is important, but xzm_malloc_zone_try_free_default_tc shows where the main thread was when the log was captured, not necessarily what caused it to stall. The 385 GB guard region is virtual address space, not evidence that Word used 385 GB of physical memory. A watchdog termination also differs from a confirmed out-of-memory termination.

The next useful check is whether this happens only with a work account protected by Intune, or also with a personal account and a new blank document. Please don’t move a work document into an unmanaged account to test this. If Word is Intune-protected, ask your IT admin to collect its diagnostics in the Intune admin center under Troubleshooting + support > Troubleshoot > [your user] > App Protection > Checked-in > Word > Collect diagnostics, then open a support case with the full crash reports, the times of the freezes, and your Word and iPadOS builds. That gives support both the Word and app-protection evidence needed to investigate which component is involved.

I can’t confirm from the crash excerpt alone that Intune MAM is involved, or give you a fix date. Please share the full logs through the support case rather than posting them publicly, since diagnostics can contain identifying information.
Jonah 99 0 Reputation points

2026-10-02T12:01:35.91+00:00

Hi @Kai-H I have been experiencing repeated freezes in Word on an iPad mini 6. I have reported the problem to Microsoft through In-App Support (case 7109578148), but am posting here because the problem has been persistent and the iPad diagnostic reports appear to identify a consistent failure.

The freezes began with Word 2.113.5 and continued after updating to Word 2.114.2 (build 2.114.26092517). They occurred on iPadOS 26.7 and 26.7.1 and were not confined to one document.

When a freeze occurred, Word would become completely unresponsive while other parts of the iPad remained usable. Reopening the document would initially allow me to continue working, but the freezes then tended to occur progressively sooner after each reload, until Word became completely unusable for editing, so I had to revert to Pages, which subsequently introduced conflicting formatting issues when the document was returned to Word.

Several Apple .ips diagnostic reports show Word being terminated by iPadOS after a 10-second FRONTBOARD scene-update watchdog timeout, with termination code 0x8BADF00D and SIGKILL. These therefore appear to be application hangs rather than memory-pressure (Jetsam) terminations. The reports repeatedly show Word's main thread involved, with keyboard/text-input-related activity appearing in the stacks.

A force restart of the iPad did not prevent the problem recurring, and the same fundamental watchdog failure occurred on both Word 2.113.5 and 2.114.2.

There has, however, been an interesting development. As a diagnostic experiment I used Word extensively with the iPad in Airplane Mode. During that period the serious freezes stopped. I subsequently restored network connectivity and Word has so far remained stable.

Word has also since updated to 2.114.3 (build 2.114.26092828), and I have not yet had a watchdog freeze on this version. This means I cannot tell whether the improvement is connected with the period in Airplane Mode disrupting or resetting some problematic network/cloud-related state, with a change in 2.114.3, or simply with the intermittent nature of the fault.

I would therefore be interested to know whether Microsoft or other users are aware of a Word for iPad issue corresponding to these 0x8BADF00D FRONTBOARD watchdog terminations, and particularly whether anything relevant was changed in 2.114.3.

I still have the .ips diagnostic reports from the freezes if their detailed contents would be useful.
Jonah 99 0 Reputation points

2026-10-02T13:38:33.4733333+00:00

@Kai-H One clarification to my comment above: I have just realised that, although I re-enabled Wi-Fi and have been working online without further freezes, Airplane Mode itself has remained switched on. So the present stable state is Airplane Mode ON + Wi-Fi ON, rather than a complete return to the previous connectivity state. This may be relevant to the diagnostic significance of the Airplane Mode experiment.
Kai-H 27,975 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-10-04T08:22:43.9433333+00:00

Hi, Jonah 99

Thanks for the careful follow-up. The repeated 0x8BADF00D reports and the fact that the freezes affected multiple documents make this worth investigating through your existing support case, rather than repeating app resets. A watchdog report shows that Word stopped responding in time; the keyboard-related stacks are useful clues, but they do not establish the underlying cause on their own.

Your correction about Airplane Mode is important. Airplane Mode ON with Wi-Fi ON is still an online test, so the stable period does not rule out a network or cloud-related cause. It also does not prove that toggling Airplane Mode fixed one. Apple confirms that Wi-Fi can be turned back on while Airplane Mode remains enabled.

I checked the published App Store notes for Word 2.114.3. They say only “General quality and performance enhancements”; they do not identify a fix for this watchdog hang. So it is encouraging that Word has stayed stable, but I cannot attribute that to 2.114.3 rather than the changed connectivity state or the intermittent nature of the issue.

Please add that exact sequence to case 7109578148: the versions that froze, the period fully offline, and the current Airplane Mode ON + Wi-Fi ON state. Offer the .ips reports through the case’s private support channel, not in a public forum post. That gives support the best chance to compare the repeated failures without exposing diagnostic details.