I de-compiled APK using APKtool and did not change anything latterly nothing has been change and then I recompiled the APK and install it and everything working fine. However when I try to update the app from Google Play the new app refuse to update and give an error about package conflicted. I check the package name and it's the same as I said nothing has been changed.
If I install the original version without de-compiling it gets update fine with no error. so my guess is the new version check if the APK has been altered with and if it does then refuse to update.
Any fix for this and where exactly I should be looking to change
I think that is the point of signing, security, that a banking app for example could not be updated and replaced with the same code installed from someone else that could read passwords/tokens from the app's storage.
Related
I'm using the Firebase App distribution to send out updates to a few testers and the most recent APK I uploaded will not install on Android devices (actually it is several new versions that all have issues installing). I had previously uploaded a version that worked, but all subsequent updates fail with an 'App not installed' error message. I'm confused by the APK files that are generated from Android Studio and I don't recall which version I previously uploaded that worked. In the apk folder there is a debug folder that contains an apk file named app-debug.apk. I'm pretty sure this is the one I used with the successful version of the distribution. There is also a flutter-apk folder with an identically named file app-debug.apk. Does anyone know the difference between these files and which one I should use? That question is a side note as neither of those files work.
I have tried telling my testers to uninstall the previous (working) version and then try to update their Android with the latest version, but the error still occurs. I do not have any issues with my iOS version and that test group.
Do I need to update the debug.keystore file? I have searched many different threads for a solution and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions to debug the issue would be appreciated.
On Android, if the package exported by debug cannot be installed on some devices, such as "parsing failure", you can add a signature file to the debug version. It is better to generate it yourself, and do not use the tool's own. In addition, you can add a signature file to the debug version androidmanifast.xml Statement under application android:testOnly= "False", which may help you
I have an app on google play store right now.I just move my previous java code to kotlin since It is much easier for me. The package are all the same. Problem is on my android studio, when I try to execute the release variant I keep having this install_failed_update_incompatible error. On my searching, I have to remove the old app. Now I am a bit worried. I don't my user base to uninstall the app let alone erase all their data. Is there a way I could update the app without uninstalling it? Sort of like when you update an app from google play store? The data and information are retained except that the old apk is remove?
Everything is the same with my previous java project except that now I am using kotlin. package and even the apk signed key are all the same.
PS on emulator(genymotion) the updating works and even retained the previous information data. but on real device it won't
Turns out the apk file release from google play store is a bit different. I don't the difference. I have my old java project executed on release variant on my device and then execute the kotlin version release variant. The update went okay. However when I downloaded my app on google play store and then updated it with my new kotlin version release variant, it failed. Im not sure why but it seems that apk submitted to google play store is being modified.
So I have an app on the Play Store that I released about a week ago. I've done a ton of work to to it since and I'm basically going to rebrand it a bit.
When I first released the app, I put it up on the app store with the name "First Name of App" (obviously not the correct name). I now have an update ready to publish with a lot of changes, and one change is that the app name is now "Second Name of App". It's all under the same package yet, I just changed the name using the Manifest.
I'm having an issue though with testing. Currently on my own phone, I have the version of the app that is currently on the Play Store installed.
I generated a signed APK using Android Studio (all with the same settings and key passwords and such). I then put that signed apk on my phone for testing, and when I try to install it I get the "App not installed" message.
Things I have tried:
Uninstalling the previous APK and then installing the newer version. If I uninstall the Play Store version first, and then install the newer signed APK version, it installs fine. The problem with this though is that I lose the data that I had in the Play Store version. I can't have that.
Changing the "versionCode" and "versionName" numbers in the build.gradle. I made sure both numbers are higher than what the Play Store version is, but I still get the same "App not installed" message.
Making sure the settings while generating the signed APK are the same. All of the settings are exactly the same. The signature version checkboxes are both checked yet also, as they were with all previous versions.
Anyone have any ideas what could be going on? I really would like to release this update but I'm afraid if I just upload this signed apk to the store that everyone would have the same issue, and that they'd be forced to uninstall the current version they have (resulting in data loss).
The problem seems that you are trying to install an APK with the same package name but different key and that creates a conflict. Android only considers an App to be the same if both package name and key signature are identical.
Keys are unique, even if you use the same settings and passwords each time you create a key a new unique key is created and it will be always different to the key you used in the Play Store release.
The only way to install the APK is to uninstall the Play Store version.
And that serves to emphasize how important it is to keep the key used in the Play Store, if you lose it you will not be able to upload new updates.
UPDATE
If your have "Google Play App Signing " activated for you app, the key used when an user installs the app from Play Store is different than the one you used to upload the release to the Play Console.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/7384423?hl=en
Have you by chance changed the minimum SDK version or anything like that? I've had a similar issue. I've an app on the PlayStore which I tried upgrading with an APK with the same signature as that of the PlayStore version but a different minimum SDK version. When I tried installing I get the 'app not installed' error. I then uploaded this APK on the PlayStore. On my device, the app on the PlayStore now shows two options 'Uninstall' and 'Open'. Due to your conflict, users will have to first uninstall the app and install it again. There will be no 'Update' option due to the conflict. Hope this helps :)
Similar Issue
Android Phone: Google Pixel3, Android 9
install youtube apk, but error:
Application Not Installed = App Not Installed
Final Solution
use adb's pm to install apk
even same error, but can show/known the fail reason
then can find specific solution to fix it
Examples
here later encounter many error cases:
blueline:/storage/emulated/0/Download # pm install /data/local/tmp/com.google.android.youtube_16.29.36.apk
pm install /data/local/tmp/com.google.android.youtube_16.29.36.apk
Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE]
or:
blueline:/data/local/tmp # pm install youtube_16.29.36_addedDebuggable.apk
pm install youtube_16.29.36_addedDebuggable.apk
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES: Failed to collect certificates from /data/app/vmdl445467286.tmp/base.apk: Attempt to get length of null array]
then google it and find specific solution to fix it, install apk successfully.
Information:
Currently, I have an application on the market that is actively used. Rather than refactor all my code to rebuild the application, I rebuilt the whole application from scratch in a new Android Studio Project with identical/updated information (applicationId/packageId/versions). I want to upload this apk to the google play store to have it update users normally.
Problem:
Testing this situation on my devices hasn't worked. I have a device with the 'old' application on it and I attempt to install the 'new' version and I receive this error during installation: "The package seems to be corrupt"
Question:
Is this process even possible? If so, why might I be getting this error? If not, what is the method by which I could do this?
Thanks!
It is possible as you say, however you need to keep three things in mind:
Package name must be the same
Signing key must be the same
Version number must be higher than last version
Other than that, there should be no problems
You are not going to be able to push the update to the play store with your new project, because the file that you sign the application with (signing key), is associated with your project old SHA 1 and without that file, you cannot push an update.
I suggest you create a new copy of your old project and work there
I have created an app through Eclipse and have uploaded it in the app store. I have the app installed in my phone.
Now I am working on an update. I am having trouble installing the app because it tells me the signature is different.
I know that this is due to using different keystores to sign each. But I dont want to uninstall the app 'cause I want to make sure that the app is able to go to the normal app update process.
Is there a way to go around this?
There are a few possible solutions to this for you:
Change the package name to some thing different like com.example.myapp.debug and remove that from the package name before publishing (this would have to be in the manifest)
Yes you could uninstall the app, do debug work, then uninstall the debug and reinstall from app store, push the update and wait for Google Play to register that version.
Do as Kai said, sign the new version and install it as an update, but then you won't get the updates as triggered by Google Play unless you uninstall and reinstall
Sign your new version, then you can install it as an update as opposed to uninstalling the Google Play version. This is probably the only way.