Installation Blocked - app contains code that bypasses Android's security protections

Question

I've seen this post, but my question is slightly different.

When this error occurs, does it mean that it detects "dangerous" code (which is absolutely a false error), or does it mean that this app wasn't downloaded off the Play Store? TBE, will this error go away once I publish this on the Play Store?

Can the person who downvoted please tell me the reason he downvoted? — Ali Bdeir, Sep 04 '16 at 09:33
First time I ever heard of such a warning, but reading from the other stack overflow question you provided. Does your app have any class or any jave file which has bad names? (i.e. something like FakeMobileGenerator.java) — Sarhad Salam, Sep 04 '16 at 09:35
Also, this is not a standard Android warning. This warning is available to only your phone vendor. Therefore, others using a different vendor will not be able to see this warning. — Sarhad Salam, Sep 04 '16 at 09:37
@SarhadSalam tbh, I think checking for malware by class name is rather dumb — Ali Bdeir, Sep 04 '16 at 09:43
Oh, have you tried uninstalling and then building it again? Well some security features are stupid sometimes. — Sarhad Salam, Sep 04 '16 at 09:49
@SarhadSalam that's not really my problem, I want to know if this will happen when users download my app off the Play Store — Ali Bdeir, Sep 04 '16 at 10:01
why dont you temporarily change the applicationId and upload it on the alpha/beta channel and see for yourself it you still get the error when getting it from play store? — Viral Patel, Sep 13 '16 at 10:49

score 1 · Answer 1 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:01

Yes, this installation blocked error will still remain there on Play Store. If the solutions provided here doesn't help you then you can consider my answer.

I faced this problem because of the features I added in my AndroidManifest.xml file. I was making an app using camera and so I added so many uses-feature which caused this problem.

<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera"
    android:required="false" />
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera.front"
    android:required="false" />
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera.autofocus"
    android:required="false" />
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera.flash"
    android:required="false" />
<uses-feature android:name="android.hardware.screen.landscape" />
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.wifi"
    android:required="false" />
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.touchscreen"
    android:required="false" />

After removing them the problem went away.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 13 '16 at 10:52

The guaranteed way of knowing for sure if the error would still popup would be actually trying it out.

Change the applicationId temporarily.
Create a new app on playstore for this applicationId. And upload your apk to the alpha/beta channel (No one is going to see it unless you move it to production)
Download from the alpha/beta channel and see if you still get the error.

Same approach will also help verify if any of the fixes you try to get rid of the dialog works later.

Installation Blocked - app contains code that bypasses Android's security protections

2 Answers2