Android OS 13&14 Not allowing to use ProviderInstaller.installIfNeeded

[guru2010j]

Feature Request

We believe that after the company portal update on OCT 16th, We are no longer able to run the ProviderInstaller.installIfNeeded() function.

Questions to Ask Before Submission

1. Have you checked the Microsoft Intune App SDK for Android repository for a similar feature request?

Yes. I did not find relevant results.

2. Are you using the latest version of the SDK and Plugin?

Yes: SDK 10.0.0 updated

Summary

1. For SSL security updates our application code executes the ProviderInstaller.installIfNeeded() function to verify provider updates.

2. But with the latest changes in the company portal or Android OS 13 OR 14, no longer able to run the app crashes.

Reason For Request

As per our policy, We must check for the latest ProviderInstaller.

If Intune SDK already taking care of it, Then we are good to remove this part of the code.

Please confirm what are my options as soon as possible please.

[jcrabanal]

This is causing all of our apps inside managed intune devices to crash violently on start.

ProviderInstaller.installIfNeeded() cannot be ignored because the GMS provider solves a gazillion of SSL errors in older Android devices, and there is no suitable replacement for it.

[mcsimons]

Hi @guru2010j, apologies for the delay in response. To help our investigation could you provide a full stack trace of the crash and if possible, share a sample application that reproduces this issue?

[jcrabanal]

I'm not OP, but I can provide you a stack trace.

stack_trace.txt

It's a SIGSEGV, segmentation fault, which is weird because the app does not contain native code, and it comes from onMAMCreate() -> ProviderInstaller.installIfNeeded().

[mcsimons]

Thank you, we will continue to update on our investigation here. Internally tracked by 25977960.

[jcrabanal]

Hello @mcsimons, any updates on this issue?

[mcsimons]

@jcrabanal, yes, from our investigation this appears to be a google issue and an issue has been filed in the Google issue tracker: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/316396709

[guru2010j]

hello @jcrabanal & @mcsimons . Thankyou so much for all the updates. we will wait for your next update.

As of now, we had to release hotfix version by removing this check, just to avoid the crash. We hope this will be addressed ASAP.

[jcrabanal]

@jcrabanal, yes, from our investigation this appears to be a google issue and an issue has been filed in the Google issue tracker: https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/316396709

It seems like clearing the app cache temporarily fixes the problem. I believe that the ART code cache is cleared when you do this. My theory is that when the ART compiler kicks in again, the bug happens.

Do google takes those reports seriously? My previous experience with Android Issue Tracker has been pretty poor.