Release Apk not working with Minimum android version 23+:

[GMCristiano]

Xamarin.Android Version:

Microsoft Visual Studio Community 2019
VisualStudio.16.Release/16.7.7+30621.155
Xamarin 16.7.000.463 (d16-7@5209782)
Xamarin.Android SDK 11.0.2.0 (d16-7/025fde9)

Operating System & Version: Windows 10

Support Libraries Version: Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat

Describe your Issue:

Release APK doesn't install with minimum android version 23+ using Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat 1.1.0.1+

With minimum 22 and 21 works and 23+ with Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat 1.1.0 works fine too.

It took a long time to find out this combination. I didn't test individual packages from Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat 1.1.0.1+

Steps to Reproduce:

1º Create a new Android project using the existing template
2º Add Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat 1.1.0.1
3º Change Minimum Android Version to 24
4º Create signed release Apk with success
5º Manually install Apk on device (NOT WORKING)

6º Change to Minimum Android Version 21 or Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat 1.1.0 (Manually install Apk - WORKS)

Include any relevant Exception Stack traces, build logs, adb logs:

Apk size increases a lot with this.
No logs.

[jpobst]

Is there an error message when you try to install the not working APK?

[GMCristiano]

Is there an error message when you try to install the not working APK?

Just the regular generic popup saying "Application not installed", like the same you get when trying to install a lower version of an app, or with a different keystore.

This started to happen with the Xamarin.Android SDK 11+ (Mono 6.12+) more then a month ago.

[jpobst]

It looks like there are several newer versions of Xamarin.AndroidX.AppCompat.

https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.AndroidX.AppCompat/

I would try updating it to see if it fixes the issue.

[GMCristiano]

It looks like there are several newer versions of Xamarin.AndroidX.AppCompat.

https://www.nuget.org/packages/Xamarin.AndroidX.AppCompat/

I would try updating it to see if it fixes the issue.

sorry, i tested all 1.1.0.1+ versions.

Same happens with all Xamarin.Google.Android.Material bundle.

next step is probably install all individual 1.1 packages from Xamarin.AndroidX.AppCompat and upgrade to 1.1.0.1 one by one

[jpobst]

I've tried to reproduce this locally and I have not been able to. We need to do one of several things:

1. Provide a diagnostic log which will hopefully show the error message.
2. Provide a sample project that will reproduce the issue.
3. Try out my sample project that works for me and see if it fails for you.

App16.zip

[GMCristiano]

Using your sample:

Test 1: Release Auto Build Apk Signed - Minimum version 24 - Working
Test 2: Archive->Distribute->Sign with keystore - Minimum version 24 - Not Working
Test 3: Archive->Distribute->Sign with keystore - Minimum version 21 - Working

As i said Xamarin.Androidx.Appcompat 1.1.0 -> 1.1.0.1 was the lowest breaking point i found.

zip with all apks and installing logs
apks_logs.zip

[jpobst]

Thanks for the .apk, they helped!

The message I get is:

Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install com.companyname.app16_24_not_working.apk: Failure 
[INSTALL_FAILED_INVALID_APK: Failed to extract native libraries, res=-2]

I think this may be related to dotnet/android#4990. Like mentioned in that issue, try adding android:extractNativeLibs="true" to your manifest and see if that helps.

[jpobst]

Additionally one of my coworkers pointed to this: dotnet/android@8828fef. As this is not in stable yet, make sure you are doing a full Rebuild of your project after you change the minSdkVersion to ensure it packages correctly.

[jpobst]

(This should be fixed in the preview version of 16.8, which is probably why I couldn't reproduce it with the packages I built: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/preview.)

[jpobst]

Visual Studio 18.8/8.8 has been released, so this should be fixed by updating.

Closing this issue, feel free to comment if it didn't fix your issue and I can re-open it.

[GMCristiano]

thank you.

now its working.