Party Member Preprocessing error in Apex Legends, explained

Screenshot: Respawn Entertainment

There will always be bugs with games, online ones especially. But have you heard of the Apex Legends “Party Member Preprocessing/Preloading” error?

If you’ve experienced this error for yourself, you’re not alone. Attempting to run a match with your friends can result in this annoying error, so we’ll explain how what it is and how you can possibly fix it.

Apex Legends: Party Member Preprocessing/Preloading error

This is surprisingly a long-running error that has yet to get fully patched by Respawn. You may find yourself stuck loading into a match with the game telling you “Party Member Preprocessing”, or “Party Member Preloading”. This Party Member Preprocessing error in Apex Legends could be happening due to server issues, depending on how widespread the issue is.

Otherwise, the root cause of this glitch isn’t well-known, but there are some common solutions to try out. Here are some ways you can mitigate this error.

1. Restart Apex Legends

Sometimes it can be as easy as shutting down your game and booting it back up again. You can always also try disbanding the party, and then bringing your friends back together. If that doesn’t work, have each party member restart their game. Better yet, restart your PC or console just to be safe.

Related: How to Fix EA Error Code 721

2. Check server status

It may not just be you, but other players online as well. There are multiple ways to check if the Apex Legends servers are down, which we’ve outlined in our guide. Simply check websites like Down Detector, or look at Respawn/Apex Legends’ support Twitter/X accounts. These will both give you the most recent updates on the game’s servers.

I also find it useful to search the keywords of the error into Twitter/X, then look at the most recent posts. You can then see if other players have started complaining online about these annoying issues.

3. Uninstall and reinstall Apex Legends

As a last resort, you can always try uninstalling and reinstalling your game. Honestly, the most success players online have had are through restarting the game. So I wouldn’t even go to this option unless it’s a reoccurring issue that won’t seem to stop.

By this point, you should be able to avoid the Preloading/Preprocessing error and hopefully you won’t run into it as often. It may impede in your matchmaking times, but these fixes should help you in the long-run. Speaking of errors, you may want to check out our other guide on fixing the Apex Legends Anti Cheat error!