The 'Open' button is missing in our Android app

Question

We have recently upgraded our apps so they are in line with Android 12 (API level 31) and built with Flutter version 2.8.1.

Google recently approved our apps, yet when we 'Update' the app, the previous version is removed from devices and in the Play store. The remaining button option is 'Uninstall'. There isn't an 'Open' button any longer (see screenshot 1).

This is occurring across 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 Android versions. All our apps have GooglePay enabled.

1. Missing 'Open' button

Steps we have taken:

• How our versioning appears in the stores (see screenshot 2)
• Included activity in our App Manifest
• Contacted Google Support who advised the bullet point above, which we already had in our App Manifest. Any answers or even comments to point us in the right direction will be great. Thanks!

2. Versioning

File AppManifest.xml

Is there something incorrect within our AppManifest.xml file?

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="<BOUNDLE ID>">
    <!-- io.flutter.app.FlutterApplication is an android.app.Application that
         calls FlutterMain.startInitialization(this); in its onCreate method.
         In most cases you can leave this as-is, but you if you want to provide
         additional functionality it is fine to subclass or reimplement
         FlutterApplication and put your custom class here. -->
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <!-- commenting this out as i don;t think we;re using it and google asks us why we're requesting it.
     it's for seeing what apps are installed on someones phone
     not sure if needed for web views perhaps?
     -->
    <!-- <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES"/> -->

    <application
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher">
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:exported="true"
            android:launchMode="singleTop"
            android:theme="@style/LaunchTheme"
            android:configChanges="orientation|keyboardHidden|keyboard|screenSize|locale|layoutDirection|fontScale|screenLayout|density|uiMode"
            android:hardwareAccelerated="true"
            android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize">
            <!-- This keeps the window background of the activity showing
                 until Flutter renders its first frame. It can be removed if
                 there is no splash screen (such as the default splash screen
                 defined in @style/LaunchTheme). -->
            <meta-data
                android:name="io.flutter.embedding.android.SplashScreenDrawable"
                android:resource="@drawable/launch_background" />
              <meta-data
                android:name="com.google.android.gms.wallet.api.enabled"
                android:value="true" />
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER"/>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.BROWSABLE" />
                <data
                    android:scheme="stripesdk"
                    android:host="3ds.stripesdk.io" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name="com.yalantis.ucrop.UCropActivity"
            android:screenOrientation="portrait"
            android:theme="@style/Theme.AppCompat.Light.NoActionBar"/>
    </application>
    <meta-data
        android:name="flutterEmbedding"
        android:value="2" />
</manifest>

Redingote

Does the app show up in the application list? If yes, does it open correctly? What about in the Settings app, under the Apps? – Meatball

Hi there, we've tried this and had no luck! – Redingote

I'm not sure I understand you last comment. Does the app show up in the application list or in the Settings app? – Meatball

@Meatball - apologies let me be more clear: it shows in the GooglePlay Store list of apps, when I click onto it, it just shows a button to 'uninstall' the app, no 'open' button. it also shows in the mobile Settings – Redingote

@GregPrice did you get any solution for this? Even I am facing the same issue – Gunrunning

facing the same issue, not found any solutions yet – Roshan

Answer 1

This happens only when you have a debug version of your app on the phone. Try opening the app from a device that you've never used for development or testing and you will not face this issue.

Lovelorn

Hi Jabbar, thanks for the tip - oddly we have already done quite a bit of device-specific troubleshooting. For example, we tested on some non-development colleagues devices and all faced the same issue (which is all the Android versions mentioned in the question). I will try with some friends and family too. We think it’s more likely to be to do with our build code? If it was, do you have any tips for this? – Redingote

Did you get this error fixed? We experience the same problem. – Maidenly

No it can also happens on real devices that have never downloaded the app before. I have the same issue and still stuck on it – Intuitive