React Native app (release build) crashes on start, works fine in debug. Why?

Question

When I run app in debug mode, it works fine, but when i install release mode it crashes immediately after start. I didn't find a fix yet.

Currently I am using Samsung J6 for the app.

Here are the logs by adb logcat *:E:

03-30 14:03:08.718 32503 32556 E log     : error java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.facebook.jni.NativeRunnable" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/lib/arm, /data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
    03-30 14:03:08.720 32503 32556 E SoLoader: couldn't find DSO to load: libfbjni.so caused by: Didn't find class "com.facebook.jni.NativeRunnable" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/lib/arm, /data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: create_react_context
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.mindola, PID: 32503
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: couldn't find DSO to load: libfbjni.so caused by: Didn't find class "com.facebook.jni.NativeRunnable" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/lib/arm, /data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader.b(Unknown Source:368)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader.a(Unknown Source:106)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader.a(Unknown Source:108)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader.a(Unknown Source:1)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.soloader.l.a(Unknown Source:0)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.soloader.a.a.a(Unknown Source:10)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.jni.HybridData.<clinit>(Unknown Source:2)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.react.bridge.WritableNativeMap.initHybrid(Native Method)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.react.bridge.WritableNativeMap.<init>(Unknown Source:0)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.facebook.react.jscexecutor.a.create(Unknown Source:2)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at c.b.m.H.run(Unknown Source:58)
    03-30 14:03:08.721 32503 32556 E AndroidRuntime:        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:764)
    03-30 14:03:08.850  2956  3031 E Netd    : getNetworkForDns: getNetId from enterpriseCtrl is netid 0
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager: RemoteException occurs on reporting focusChanged, w=Window{a61296f u0 com.mindola/com.mindola.MainActivity}
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager: android.os.DeadObjectException
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at android.os.BinderProxy.transactNative(Native Method)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at android.os.BinderProxy.transact(Binder.java:1145)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at android.view.IWindow$Stub$Proxy.windowFocusChanged(IWindow.java:500)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at com.android.server.wm.WindowState.reportFocusChangedSerialized(WindowState.java:3966)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at com.android.server.wm.WindowManagerService$H.handleMessage(WindowManagerService.java:5497)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at android.os.HandlerThread.run(HandlerThread.java:65)
    03-30 14:03:08.917  3297  3324 E WindowManager:         at com.android.server.ServiceThread.run(ServiceThread.java:44)
    03-30 14:03:08.930 32579 32579 E Zygote  : isWhitelistProcess - Process is Whitelisted
    03-30 14:03:08.933 32579 32579 E Zygote  : accessInfo : 1
    03-30 14:03:08.950  2956  3031 E FrameworkListener: read() failed (Connection reset by peer)
    03-30 14:03:08.952 32579 32579 E android.dqagen: Not starting debugger since process cannot load the jdwp agent.
    03-30 14:03:08.957 32590 32590 E Zygote  : isWhitelistProcess - Process is Whitelisted
    03-30 14:03:08.960 32590 32590 E Zygote  : accessInfo : 1
    03-30 14:03:08.962  3297 15116 E WindowManager: win=Window{a61296f u0 com.mindola/com.mindola.MainActivity EXITING} destroySurfaces: appStopped=false win.mWindowRemovalAllowed=true win.mRemoveOnExit=true win.mViewVisibility=0 caller=com.android.server.wm.AppWindowToken.destroySurfaces:888 com.android.server.wm.AppWindowToken.destroySurfaces:869 com.android.server.wm.WindowState.onExitAnimationDone:5460 com.android.server.wm.-$$Lambda$01bPtngJg5AqEoOWfW3rWfV7MH4.accept:2 java.util.ArrayList.forEach:1262 com.android.server.wm.AppWindowToken.onAnimationFinished:2422 com.android.server.wm.AppWindowToken.setVisibility:552
    03-30 14:03:08.969 32590 32590 E oid.sm.provide: Not starting debugger since process cannot load the jdwp agent.
    03-30 14:03:09.026  8108  8129 E SDHMS:SDHMS_UTIL_IO: e = /sys/class/input_booster/touchkey/time (Permission denied)
    03-30 14:03:09.026  8108  8129 E SDHMS:SDHMS_UTIL_IO: e = /sys/class/input_booster/touchkey/time (Permission denied)
    03-30 14:03:09.033 24346 24363 E PBSessionCacheImpl: sessionId[107076425850360534] not persisted.
    03-30 14:03:09.062  3297  4215 E WindowManager: win=Window{60cb2a2 u0 Splash Screen com.mindola EXITING} destroySurfaces: appStopped=false win.mWindowRemovalAllowed=true win.mRemoveOnExit=true win.mViewVisibility=0 caller=com.android.server.wm.AppWindowToken.destroySurfaces:888 com.android.server.wm.AppWindowToken.destroySurfaces:869 com.android.server.wm.WindowState.onExitAnimationDone:5460 com.android.server.wm.WindowStateAnimator.onAnimationFinished:319 com.android.server.wm.WindowState.onAnimationFinished:5882 com.android.server.wm.-$$Lambda$yVRF8YoeNdTa8GR1wDStVsHu8xM.run:2 com.android.server.wm.SurfaceAnimator.lambda$getFinishedCallback$0:100
    03-30 14:03:09.394 21699 30661 E WakeLock: GCM_HB_ALARM release without a matched acquire!

Here is my android/build.gradle:

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.

buildscript {
    ext {
        buildToolsVersion = "28.0.3"
        minSdkVersion = 16
        compileSdkVersion = 28
        targetSdkVersion = 28
    }
    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
        maven {
            url 'https://maven.fabric.io/public'
        }
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.2")
        classpath("com.google.gms:google-services:4.2.0")
        classpath("io.fabric.tools:gradle:1.28.1")

        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenLocal()
        maven {
            // All of React Native (JS, Obj-C sources, Android binaries) is installed from npm
            url("$rootDir/../node_modules/react-native/android")
        }
        maven {
            // Android JSC is installed from npm
            url("$rootDir/../node_modules/jsc-android/dist")
        }

        google()
        jcenter()
        maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    }
}

Here is my app/build.gradle:

apply plugin: "com.android.application"
apply plugin: 'io.fabric'

crashlytics {
  enableNdk true
}

def useIntlJsc = false

import com.android.build.OutputFile



project.ext.react = [
    entryFile: "index.js",
    enableHermes: false,  // clean and rebuild if changing
]

apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native/react.gradle"

/**
 * Set this to true to create two separate APKs instead of one:
 *   - An APK that only works on ARM devices
 *   - An APK that only works on x86 devices
 * The advantage is the size of the APK is reduced by about 4MB.
 * Upload all the APKs to the Play Store and people will download
 * the correct one based on the CPU architecture of their device.
 */
def enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture = true

/**
 * Run Proguard to shrink the Java bytecode in release builds.
 */
def enableProguardInReleaseBuilds = true

/**
 * The preferred build flavor of JavaScriptCore.
 *
 * For example, to use the international variant, you can use:
 * `def jscFlavor = 'org.webkit:android-jsc-intl:+'`
 *
 * The international variant includes ICU i18n library and necessary data
 * allowing to use e.g. `Date.toLocaleString` and `String.localeCompare` that
 * give correct results when using with locales other than en-US.  Note that
 * this variant is about 6MiB larger per architecture than default.
 */
def jscFlavor = 'org.webkit:android-jsc:+'

/**
 * Whether to enable the Hermes VM.
 *
 * This should be set on project.ext.react and mirrored here.  If it is not set
 * on project.ext.react, JavaScript will not be compiled to Hermes Bytecode
 * and the benefits of using Hermes will therefore be sharply reduced.
 */
def enableHermes = project.ext.react.get("enableHermes", false);

android {
    compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion

    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.mindola"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 13
        versionName "1.3"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }
    splits {
        abi {
            reset()
            enable enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture
            universalApk false  // If true, also generate a universal APK
            include "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "arm64-v8a", "x86_64"
        }
    }
    signingConfigs {
        debug {
            storeFile file('debug.keystore')
            storePassword 'android'
            keyAlias 'androiddebugkey'
            keyPassword 'android'
        }
        release {
            if (project.hasProperty('MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE')) {
                storeFile file(MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE)
                storePassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD
                keyAlias MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS
                keyPassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD
            }
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
        }
        release {
            // Caution! In production, you need to generate your own keystore file.
            // see https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/signed-apk-android.
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
            minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro"
        }
    }
    // applicationVariants are e.g. debug, release
    applicationVariants.all { variant ->
        variant.outputs.each { output ->
            // For each separate APK per architecture, set a unique version code as described here:
            // https://developer.android.com/studio/build/configure-apk-splits.html
            def versionCodes = ["armeabi-v7a": 1, "x86": 2, "arm64-v8a": 3, "x86_64": 4]
            def abi = output.getFilter(OutputFile.ABI)
            if (abi != null) {  // null for the universal-debug, universal-release variants
                output.versionCodeOverride =
                        versionCodes.get(abi) * 1048576 + defaultConfig.versionCode
            }

        }
    }

    dexOptions {
        javaMaxHeapSize "4g"
    }


}

dependencies {
    implementation project(':react-native-vector-icons')
    implementation fileTree(dir: "libs", include: ["*.jar"])
    implementation "com.facebook.react:react-native:+"  // From node_modules
    implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:18.3.0'
    compile 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.3'

    if (enableHermes) {
        def hermesPath = "../../node_modules/hermes-engine/android/";
        debugImplementation files(hermesPath + "hermes-debug.aar")
        releaseImplementation files(hermesPath + "hermes-release.aar")
    } else {
        implementation jscFlavor
    }

    if (useIntlJsc) {
        implementation 'org.webkit:android-jsc-intl:+'
    } else {
        implementation 'org.webkit:android-jsc:+'
    }

}

// Run this once to be able to run the application with BUCK
// puts all compile dependencies into folder libs for BUCK to use
task copyDownloadableDepsToLibs(type: Copy) {
    from configurations.compile
    into 'libs'
}

apply from: file("../../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/native_modules.gradle");

// icons
project.ext.vectoricons = [
    iconFontNames: [ 'FontAwesome5_Regular.ttf', 'FontAwesome5_Solid.ttf', 'FontAwesome.ttf' ] // Name of the font files you want to copy
]

apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native-vector-icons/fonts.gradle"

applyNativeModulesAppBuildGradle(project)

apply plugin: 'com.google.gms.google-services'

In Firebase Crashlytics, i get this issue:

???
com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader.b

[Stack Trace]
Fatal Exception: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError
couldn't find DSO to load: libfbjni.so caused by: Didn't find class "com.facebook.jni.NativeRunnable" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/lib/arm, /data/app/com.mindola-KM7-U7S64fvp4Oow2Wfasw==/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /system/lib, /vendor/lib]]

and

    ???
        com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader.b

        [Stack Trace]
        Fatal Exception: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError
couldn't find DSO to load: libhermes.so

I tried a few workarounds already after searching through similar questions, but none of them worked for me.

Answer 1

You're using ProGuard so you need to add the following rule to android/app/proguard-rules.pro:

-keep class com.facebook.jni.** { *; }

This is mentioned in Breaking change of v0.62.0 changelog. https://github.com/react-native-community/releases/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md#breaking