Have 2 issues here.Crashes all the Time now after updating iOS & unable to craft anything now

Hi there
I’m not sure which version my son has but I’m 99% sure it’s the latest version of Minecraft PE on the iPad mini. It’s not a brand new iPad mini but now an old one either. About 1.5 yrs old.
Anyhow, now after my son begins to play, whether it’s multiplayer or alone, it’ll crash, he’ll lose all his items he just worked so hard for and it’s to the point now where he’s begging me to do something. I’ve updates, I’ve turned off the iPad mini, waited awhile and turned it back on, I’ve deleted and reinstalled the app/game and it still crashes.
Now the other issue he has had for quite some time : unable to craft items. When he goes into multiplayer most of the time he’s unable to craft, and has to beg others to craft for him. This has been going on for a couple of months now. I thought it would of been fixed by now, but obviously not if no one reports it right. LOL. I don’t have a screen shot of the game crashing, or the inability to craft items but if I need to get those I will.