Google ML Kit Text Recognition(v16.1.3) crashes after upgrading the dependency

Question

After upgrading the Text Recognition dependency from 16.1.1 to 16.1.3:

com.google.android.gms:play-services-mlkit-text-recognition:16.1.3

on some devices(Realme 3 Pro Android 10), the app starts crashing when calling TextRecognition.getClient().process(InputImage.fromFilePath(context, data)).await()

here is the stack trace from firebase:

Non-fatal Exception: f.b.e.a.a: Failed to init thin text recognizer.
   at com.google.mlkit.vision.text.internal.zzb.zza(zzb.java:47)
   at com.google.mlkit.vision.text.internal.zzn.load(zzn.java:3)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.ModelResource.zza(ModelResource.java:18)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzn.run(zzn.java:10)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzp.run(zzp.java:10)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.MlKitThreadPool.zze(MlKitThreadPool.java:13)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.MlKitThreadPool.zzc(MlKitThreadPool.java:8)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzj.run(zzj.java:2)
   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167)
   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.MlKitThreadPool.zzd(MlKitThreadPool.java:10)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzk.run(zzk.java:2)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:919)


Caused by android.os.RemoteException: Not allowed since feature flag for ML Kit is not enabled.
   at ii.a(ii.java)
   at com.google.android.gms.vision.text.mlkit.TextRecognizerCreator.newTextRecognizer(TextRecognizerCreator.java:11)
   at com.google.android.gms.vision.text.mlkit.TextRecognizerCreator.newTextRecognizer(TextRecognizerCreator.java)
   at mu.u(mu.java:4)
   at al.onTransact(al.java:4)
   at android.os.Binder.transact(Binder.java:914)
   at com.google.android.gms.internal.mlkit_vision_text.zza.zzb(zza.java:7)
   at com.google.android.gms.internal.mlkit_vision_text.zzlh.zzd(zzlh.java:8)
   at com.google.mlkit.vision.text.internal.zzb.zza(zzb.java:30)
   at com.google.mlkit.vision.text.internal.zzn.load(zzn.java:3)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.ModelResource.zza(ModelResource.java:18)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzn.run(zzn.java:10)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzp.run(zzp.java:10)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.MlKitThreadPool.zze(MlKitThreadPool.java:13)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.MlKitThreadPool.zzc(MlKitThreadPool.java:8)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzj.run(zzj.java:2)
   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1167)
   at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:641)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.MlKitThreadPool.zzd(MlKitThreadPool.java:10)
   at com.google.mlkit.common.sdkinternal.zzk.run(zzk.java:2)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:919)

Answer 1

The feature flag should already be enabled everywhere, it may due to your play services have not received the update. You can reboot your device to see if the issue gets resolved. See github.com/googlesamples/mlkit/issues/236 for a similar report.