java - Android App Bundle introduces Resource Not found crash in Android app

Question

By using Android's new Android App Bundle, I have received a Resource Not Found error in 2 of my Google Play Store apps.

Here is the stacktrace from fabric for one of the apps:

Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{/com.Lastyear.MainActivity}: android.content.res.Resources$NotFoundException: File res/drawable/abc_item_background_holo_dark.xml from drawable resource ID #0x7f08002c
       at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2377)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2429)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.access$800(ActivityThread.java:151)
       at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1342)
       at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:110)
       at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
       at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5363)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invokeNative(Method.java)
       at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:515)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:828)
       at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:644)
       at dalvik.system.NativeStart.main(NativeStart.java)

build.gradle dependencies:

 dependencies {
implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
testImplementation 'junit:junit:4.12'
implementation 'com.android.support.constraint:constraint-layout:1.1.2'
implementation 'com.android.support:appcompat-v7:27.1.1'
implementation 'com.android.support:customtabs:27.1.1'
implementation 'com.android.support:cardview-v7:27.1.1'
implementation 'com.squareup.picasso:picasso:2.5.2'

implementation 'com.android.support:palette-v7:27.1.1'
implementation 'com.afollestad.material-dialogs:core:0.9.6.0'
implementation 'com.jakewharton:butterknife:8.8.1'
implementation 'com.github.bumptech.glide:glide:3.7.0'
implementation 'com.android.support:design:27.1.1'
annotationProcessor 'com.jakewharton:butterknife-compiler:8.8.1'
implementation 'com.github.hotchemi:android-rate:1.0.1'
implementation 'com.hannesdorfmann.smoothprogressbar:library:1.0.0'
implementation 'com.android.support:palette-v7:27.1.1'
implementation 'com.google.android.gms:play-services-ads:15.0.1'
implementation 'com.muddzdev:styleabletoast:1.0.9'
implementation 'com.github.GrenderG:Toasty:1.2.5'
implementation 'com.hannesdorfmann.smoothprogressbar:library:1.0.0'

implementation 'com.wang.avi:library:2.1.3'
implementation 'com.github.medyo:fancybuttons:1.8.4'
implementation 'com.irozon.sneaker:sneaker:1.0.1'
implementation 'com.sdsmdg.tastytoast:tastytoast:0.1.1'
implementation 'de.hdodenhof:circleimageview:2.2.0'
implementation 'com.github.barteksc:android-pdf-viewer:2.8.2'


implementation 'com.getkeepsafe.taptargetview:taptargetview:1.11.0'


implementation('com.crashlytics.sdk.android:crashlytics:2.6.8@aar') {
    transitive = true;
}


implementation 'petrov.kristiyan:colorpicker-library:1.1.8'}

One more thing, it is happening only on Android 4 operating system, not on newer versions of Android. I have found that other apps are having the same problem of Resource Not Found, which was not existing before using Android's app bundle. Is there some problem in the library or code or it is because of the beta version of Android's app bundle?

I have also found the resource drawable due to which it crashes:-

I think this question is also related to this one: Resource Not Found error res/drawable/abc_switch_thumb_material.xml after adding SwitchCompat in Android App Bundle

Answer 1

This is almost certainly users sharing (sideloading) the app, either via P2P sharing programs, or uploading the APK to the web then other users downloading and installing from the web.

People used to dealing with non Android App Bundle apps just transfer and share the main APK. But your App bundle app has lots of "split APKs" for things like the resources, that is how the size saving happens. You can read all about this process on the help page. If a user installs the main APK without installing the right split APKs, then a "Resources Not found" crash will occur the first time the app tries to load a resource.

If you want to support users sideloading your app and just the main APK you could try to detect this situation and display a message to the user (without using any resources) that says "Please install from Google Play". Or you could just decide you aren't going to support users who share APKs in this way.

I suspect in the long run the websites and P2P sharing programs will get better at sharing such APKs properly, so I wouldn't spend too long worrying about it.

If you see this happening far more frequently on lower Android versions, this isn't probably due to a bug in lower Android versions. Instead, it is probably because in countries where users commonly P2P share apps (eg India) users also are far more likely to be on older version phones.