Didn't find class "androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory"

Question

I don't know what to do about the following errors, I've searched the web but not found anything:

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory" on path: DexPathList[[],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.example.padmw-CXElJ_vfrfm3y7py3CPsJw==/lib/x86, /system/lib]]
    at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:134)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.createAppFactory(LoadedApk.java:226)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.updateApplicationInfo(LoadedApk.java:338)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleDispatchPackageBroadcast(ActivityThread.java:5388)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1733)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
    at com.android.server.SystemServer.run(SystemServer.java:454)
    at com.android.server.SystemServer.main(SystemServer.java:294)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
    at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:493)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:838)

and :

2019-08-29 00:19:24.071 1853-1853/? E/LoadedApk: Unable to instantiate appComponentFactory
java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory" on path: DexPathList[[],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.example.padmw-CXElJ_vfrfm3y7py3CPsJw==/lib/x86, /system/lib]]
    at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:134)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:379)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:312)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.createAppFactory(LoadedApk.java:226)
    at android.app.LoadedApk.updateApplicationInfo(LoadedApk.java:338)
    at android.app.ActivityThread.handleDispatchPackageBroadcast(ActivityThread.java:5388)
    at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1733)
    at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
    at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
    at com.android.server.SystemServer.run(SystemServer.java:454)
    at com.android.server.SystemServer.main(SystemServer.java:294)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
    at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:493)
    at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:838)

my dependencies in gradle app :

dependencies {
implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.0.2'
implementation 'androidx.constraintlayout:constraintlayout:1.1.3'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-core:17.1.0'
implementation 'com.google.firebase:firebase-database:19.0.0'
implementation 'androidx.legacy:legacy-support-v4:1.0.0'
implementation 'com.google.android.material:material:1.0.0'
implementation 'androidx.navigation:navigation-fragment:2.0.0'
implementation 'androidx.navigation:navigation-ui:2.0.0'
implementation 'androidx.lifecycle:lifecycle-extensions:2.0.0'
testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test:runner:1.2.0'
androidTestImplementation 'androidx.test.espresso:espresso-core:3.2.0'
implementation 'androidx.recyclerview:recyclerview:1.0.0'
implementation 'com.squareup.picasso:picasso:2.71828'
implementation 'androidx.cardview:cardview:1.0.0'
implementation 'com.firebaseui:firebase-ui-database:1.2.0'
}
apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

Answer 1

Adding Java 1.8 compatibility to my module-level build.gradle fixed this for me (non-release build with multidex enabled).

compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
}
kotlinOptions {
    jvmTarget = "1.8"
}

Unfortunately I'm not sure why :)

Answer 2

This error message is caused on API level 28+ by:
AppComponentFactory extends android.app.AppComponentFactory

This means that on API 28+ one can use tools:remove ...

tools:remove="android:appComponentFactory"
tools:targetApi="p"

Answer 3

In my case, the code works on one of my teammates' machine. These steps made it work for me too:

1. Close project
2. Remove the project from the list in the welcome screen
3. Open the project again

This is a solution to another problem, that I also found here in SO. It's worth a try when Invalidate and Restart doesn't solve it for you.