RuntimeException: Unable to get provider android.support.v4.content.FileProvider

Ionic Framework
1

My Android Studio build completes but the app keeps failing in the emulator and on devices with the following error (complete log follows, but here is the stated cause):

Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "android.support.v4.content.FileProvider" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/lib/arm64, /data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/base.apk!/lib/arm64-v8a, /system/lib64, /system/vendor/lib64]]

Plugins

The only plugins I’m using are the following:

cordova-plugin-google-analytics (1.9.0)
cordova-sqlite-storage (5.0.0)
es6-promise-plugin (4.2.2)

Complete error message

Here’s the full output from logcat:

2020-05-15 16:28:02.956 9290-9290/? E/Zygote: isWhitelistProcess - Process is Whitelisted
2020-05-15 16:28:02.959 9290-9290/? E/Zygote: accessInfo : 1
2020-05-15 16:28:02.975 9290-9290/? I/o.ionic.starte: Late-enabling -Xcheck:jni
2020-05-15 16:28:03.293 9290-9290/io.ionic.starter W/FirebaseApp: Default FirebaseApp failed to initialize because no default options were found. This usually means that com.google.gms:google-services was not applied to your gradle project.
2020-05-15 16:28:03.294 9290-9290/io.ionic.starter I/FirebaseInitProvider: FirebaseApp initialization unsuccessful
2020-05-15 16:28:03.294 9290-9290/io.ionic.starter D/AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM
2020-05-15 16:28:03.296 9290-9290/io.ionic.starter E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
    Process: io.ionic.starter, PID: 9290
    java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to get provider android.support.v4.content.FileProvider: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "android.support.v4.content.FileProvider" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/lib/arm64, /data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/base.apk!/lib/arm64-v8a, /system/lib64, /system/vendor/lib64]]
        at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:6770)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:6312)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6227)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1200(ActivityThread.java:238)
        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1787)
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106)
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7073)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:494)
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:964)
     Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "android.support.v4.content.FileProvider" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/lib/arm64, /data/app/io.ionic.starter-X1v4RZ9YPITKm62O3C-xRQ==/base.apk!/lib/arm64-v8a, /system/lib64, /system/vendor/lib64]]
        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.AppComponentFactory.instantiateProvider(AppComponentFactory.java:121)
        at androidx.core.app.CoreComponentFactory.instantiateProvider(CoreComponentFactory.java:67)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.installProvider(ActivityThread.java:6754)
        at android.app.ActivityThread.installContentProviders(ActivityThread.java:6312) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6227) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1200(ActivityThread.java:238) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1787) 
        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:106) 
        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:214) 
        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7073) 
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:494) 
        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:964) 
2020-05-15 16:28:03.306 9290-9290/? I/Process: Sending signal. PID: 9290 SIG: 9

I’m at a loss.

2

What is the version of capacitor that you are using? Is it 2.0.0+?

I had the same issue this morning because I was using version 2.1.0 and it requires androidx (jetpack). That being said, my guess is that some of your plugins are still using android versions prior to jetpack.

Specifying version ^1.5.2 to @capacitor/core @capacitor/cli @capacitor/android and @capacitor/ios did the trick for me.

You can also try cordova-plugin-androidx-adapter which is supposed to migrate all your native code to jetpack. However, it did not work on my end (ionic 4 + capacitor).

UPDATE
My issue was not exactly the same, but it was saying: could not find symbol android.support.v4.content.FileProvider

2 Likes
3

I’m using Capacitor 2.1.0. I installed and ran jetifier and updated gradle.properties:

android.useAndroidX=true
android.enableJetifier=true

I guess my next step will be to try cordova-plugin-androidx-adapter, thanks!

4

Oh awesome! I tried jetifier as well, but it did not do anything (edit: I forgot the enableJetifier!! OOps!!). Let me know if it helps, because I would really love to do the same thing as you and use the latest version.

Jetifier is awesome though. It saved my life last summer when I was working with react native :slight_smile:

My pleasure and have a good day!

5

I installed the plugins…

npm install cordova-plugin-androidx
npm install cordova-plugin-androidx-adapter
ionic cap sync

… but I’m still getting the same error. :sob:

Guess the next step is to downgrade Capacitor. Thanks for the tip.

6

Yeah androidx-adapter was not working on my end as well :frowning:
Let me know what happens when you are on version ^1.5.2 I have been playing around with that kind of issue for the past week and I’ll see how I can help.

1 Like
7

Oh also I think you only need cordova-plugin-androix-adapter.

Also according to their documentation this plugin is using cordova hooks

Screen Shot 2020-05-15 at 5.15.48 PM
Screen Shot 2020-05-15 at 5.15.48 PM790Ă—223 18.3 KB

And cordova hooks are not supported by capacitor. So it might be a reason why we cannot use this plugin properly.

1 Like
8

Ok, so I downgraded Capacitor and that didn’t work for me so I went back up to 2.1.0 (core, cli, and android platform), removed my android directory and reinstalled using npx cap add android, then in Android Studio, ran Refactor -> Migrate to AndroidX as described here (it gave me the message “no usages found” so that last step may or may not have done anything).

I also ended up running npm audit fix at some point, though I doubt that had anything to do with anything. But you never know.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t especially scientific about isolating the problem. If I had to guess, I think one of these were the cause:

  • version mismatch between @capacitor/android and @capacitor/core (now both are on 2.1.0)
  • some edit I made in AndroidManifest.xml or other file (I re-started the android project from scratch)

Anyway, my app seems to work now in both the emulator and physical devices.

Thanks for your insights @vitonimal, hope some of this info is helpful to you and others.

1 Like
9

Oh awesome! What were the changes made to the manifest?
And always a pleasure! glad you found the solution! :slight_smile:

10

@ebellempire thanks! I did follow your steps along with some modifications to my package.json:

changing @capacitor/cli @capacitor/core @capacitor/android and @capacitor/ios to 2.1.0
Most of my @ionic/native packages were on 5.0.0 beta and updated them to ^5.24.0

rrm -rf node_modules/
npm i
ionic build
npx cap add android
npx cap open android

I then followed the steps you provided to migrate the app project to AndroidX.

The build works :slight_smile:

Thanks a lot!

3 Likes
11

Confirmed - this worked for me :slight_smile: