Installation failed due to: 'null' - Android Studio 3.5

Question

I have updated Android studio to 3.5, ever since I am running into an APK installation problem. This is the only log it shows:

Installation did not succeed.
The application could not be installed: INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_UNEXPECTED_EXCEPTION
Installation failed due to: 'null'
Retry

This happens when trying to install APK on a real device. If I uninstall the app from the device and then rerun the build, it installs only one time and then it keeps throwing this error on the next installation. It runs fine on an emulator but I can not use an emulator for everything.

What I have tried:

• Deleted Android Studio configuration file.
• Deleted Gradle files from the project.
• Invalidated and reset caches.
• Cleaned/rebuilt the project.
• Looked for similar problems Stackoverflow(nothing matches my problem)
• Clean installed(Removed all files including SDKs) Android Studio 3.5

Update

I installed Linux Mint on my machine and tested the AS 3.5 there, for some reason everything is working fine even for Android 7 and below devices.

Previous OS: Windows 10 1903

Current OS: Linux Mint 19.2

I reckon this problem may be originating from Windows machines.

Solution 1

Open Run/Debug Configuration dialog (Windows: Run > Edit Configurations)

edit You app > General > Installation Options > Install Flags .

add install flags -r -t.

This flags means adb install -r -t apkpath

Solution 2

You need disable "Use libusb backend" in preferences--> debugger

Solution 3

This issue in Android Studio happens for devices lower then API 26 (Android 8). This is caused by replacement of InstantRun, known now as ApplyChanges.

Seems to be there are only two ways before they fix it in the next update.

1. Run on API>=26.
2. After every change in code edit run configuration changing deploy from APK to App bundle and vise-versa. If I correctly understand, this will correctly rebuild app and workaround bug.

Of course, there is an option to manually delete app from device before running app from AndroidStudio.

Solution 4

Build > Clean project its work's for me. Before change other setting try this first.

Happy coding :)

Solution 5

For me either uninstalling the app or cleaning project "solves" the problem. To make it less frustrating I added clean job to debug build type like so:

buildTypes {
    ...
    debug {
        clean
    }
    ...
}

View more solutions

Comments

[adek111]

I have an Android 9.0 device and have this problem. However, when I mix running tests between emulator and then real device, app and tests appear to be running quite often. I don't really know why but maybe it will help someone.

[mohax]

Maybe you can successfully rerun app on API26+ if you click Apply changes, instead of rerun? This is new button to right of rerun.

[Taseer]

I have changed OS to Linux and AS 3.5 is working fine there.

[Admin]

This flags means adb install -r -t apkpath,I guess.@TaseerAhmad

[duckbrain]

-r means "replace existing application". -t means "allow test packages"

[0101100101]

Where did this man come from and how did he think of this solution? Give him a medal!

[Syed Arsalan Kazmi]

Not working for me! :( Please look at my problem. Its a little different than yours. stackoverflow.com/questions/57770464/…

[Yogesh Umesh Vaity]

It's working for app install but not for tests. When I try to run androidTest.

[Taseer]

We have to wait for a 'stable' 3.6 release.

[Beatrice Lin]

The setting is Run > Edit Configurations, if windows version.

[Raskilas]

Only this solution helped - Xubuntu 18.04

[Minasie Shibeshi]

That was just amazing

[Kebab Krabby]

Cant believe this worked! Android Studio 3.5.1 Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41 Version 29.0.5-5949299

[srisindhu saride]

Works like charm. Struggled with this problem for months and only this answer worked for me

[Polycarp Kavoo]

Works like charm

[Ryan Barrett]

thank you so much for this tidbit - I was having to remove my app before each debugging session after upgrading Android-Studio ... now it works on it's own!

[CoolMind]

I uninstalled the app from API 29 emulator and it helped.

[Zoe stands with Ukraine]

DO NOT USE THIS! Aapt has been deprecated in favor of aapt2, and will eventually be removed. This workaround will stop working, and cause other problems when aapt is removed

[Vivek]

OMG! this has solved a big big problem. Struggled with this problem for months as wel.. Wow!

[Chris.Jenkins]

Fixed this for me on OSx 10.15! Thank you!

[Gulnaz Ghanchi]

It does not work for me

[TimWeb]

This helped me. Thanks)