Using Firebase App Distribution service is resulting in app not installed error

Question

I'm using the Firebase app distribution service for the Android platform. For automatic distributions, I've set up the Gradle file according to the steps mentioned in the docs. The setup and auth are successful. The distribution is also successful. But once I download the app using Firebase's App Tester app for Android, it results in app not installed error. This is for both: debug as well as release variant.

I tried installing the app after disabling the Google play protect, but the issue remains. Can someone please help me regarding this?

Answer 1

I ran into this issue with a customer and it turned out that she needed to delete the version of the app that was on her phone to get this to work. (It was a previously installed non Firebase version)

Answer 2

The reason of the message "Installation Failed" or "App not installed" can vary, simply because this is the only error you can get while installing your app. I agree that it is not helpful.

However, it is for most cases due to a signing issue. Here are some solutions :

1. Make sure you used a Release Signed APK for your Firebase Distribution. https://developer.android.com/studio/build/build-variants#signing

2. When you generate your signed APK, you can choose V1 or V2 signatures. Try using the V1 signature. V2 signature was a feature introduced in Android 7.0 : https://developer.android.com/about/versions/nougat/android-7.0#apk_signature_v2

3. Make sure your app is signed correctly, by checking the values in your file, app/build.gradle :

   android {    ...    defaultConfig {...}    signingConfigs {        release {            storeFile file("myreleasekey.keystore")            storePassword "password"            keyAlias "MyReleaseKey"            keyPassword "password"        }    }    buildTypes {        release {            ...            signingConfig signingConfigs.release        }    } 

   }

Last but not least, make sure that your phone has enough storage to install the app, and that the option "Install from unknown sources" is checked in the settings.