Thanks for replying! But I still don't understand why I can install 9 after 8, but not 10 after 9.
11001 IS greater than 10902 right? Unless there's some weird numbering thing that I'm not aware of.
This is something that is affecting the users of my game. If I tell them to uninstall they'll lose their progress
Oh I see what you mean, didn’t realize this is for users.
Yes, this shouldn’t happen, only the versionCode is compared when installing a new version, not the versionName.
Did you add anything in the android manifest that makes the app unplayable in some devices?
Also for future reference, you can use the “Reply” button on someone’s comment, as that gives them a notification and increases the chances of them seeing it :)
The androidmanifest.xml is identical for all 3 files is the same except for the versionCode & versionName (I'm comparing by dragging the APKs into Android Studio.
I've done another test now where I've changed the versioncode to something a lot higher, 21000 and the same thing happens. I can't install it if version 9 is installed.
Any idea what else to check?
Hmm, the only thing I can think of is the key used to sign the app, but you mentioned it’s the same in all versions.
Have you managed to reproduce this on one of your devices? If so you can run Android Studio’s logcat, and see what error pops up when trying to install it. Alternatively if you are using “adb” you can use “adb logcat”.
Logcat is basically a “terminal” that displays messages of what’s happening in an android device. When an error occurs, it displays the message there.
On Android Studio, on the bottom left, there should be some small tabs, and one of them should be called “6: Logcat”. If you click that, it should display the Logcat of any connected device. It will display a lot of messages, from all apps running on your device, but you can filter messages per-application to make it easier to find.
So the idea is to connect your device, open the Logcat window, and keep looking at it while on your device you are installing your app to trigger the “App not installed” message. At exactly that point, Logcat should display some error message with more details.
“adb” (Android Debug Bridge) is basically a set of command-line tools to do the same thing, but without using Android Studio. No need to dive there, it is a bit more involved that simply using Android Studio.
