MuntashirAkon/AppManager · error · BackupException

Couldn't perform a re-installation|Couldn't perform an…

Error message

Couldn't perform a re-installation|Couldn't perform an installation: ${status}

What it means

restoreApkFiles hands the staged APKs to the installer (via PackageInstaller). This error means the install session reported a failure; the message is either "Couldn't perform a re-installation" (package already present) or "Couldn't perform an installation: <status>" with the installer's status detail. It is the terminal failure of the APK restore step.

Solutions

Uninstall the existing app (or accept data-clearing) and retry the restore to avoid signature conflicts.
Read the appended status detail and fix accordingly (free storage for INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE, restore all splits for INVALID).
Ensure all split APKs were extracted (check earlier restore logs for staging/extract errors).
Retry the install; transient session failures (timeout, reboot) often succeed on retry.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

InstallStatus pre = installer.checkCompatibility(apkPaths, userId); if (!pre.success) throw new IllegalStateException("Install will fail: " + pre.message);

Try / catch

if (status.get() != null) throw new BackupException("Couldn't perform an installation: " + status.get()); // branch on status code: INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE -> free space; SIGNATUREMismatch -> uninstall first

Prevention

Uninstall conflicting packages with different signatures before restore
Ensure all split APKs are present and staged
Free storage before installation
Read the appended status detail and handle each code specifically

When it happens

Trigger: The PackageInstaller commit returns a non-success status: signature mismatch with an installed package, INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE, INCOMPATIBLE/INVALID apk, session abandoned, or user/timeout rejection.

Common situations: Reinstalling over an app signed with a different key; split-APK set incomplete so the session is invalid; storage exhaustion; device dropped the install session (reboot/timeout); downgrade attempts without -d.

Understand the failure class

Background: "API error: {status}" and "HTTP 401/403/404/429/5xx" errors: non-2xx HTTP responses explained — this error's family across 27 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of MuntashirAkon/AppManager@0152f468fc (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/33e5ce85b0765184. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at app/src/main/java/io/github/muntashirakon/AppManager/backup/RestoreOp.java:394

                @Override
                public void onFinishedInstall(int sessionId, String packageName, int result, @Nullable String blockingPackage, @Nullable String statusMessage) {
                    status.set(statusMessage);
                }
            });
            try {
                if (!packageInstaller.install(allApks, mPackageName, options)) {
                    String statusMessage;
                    if (!isVerified) {
                        // Previously installed app was uninstalled.
                        statusMessage = "Couldn't perform a re-installation";
                    } else {
                        statusMessage = "Couldn't perform an installation";
                    }
                    if (status.get() != null) {
                        statusMessage += ": " + status.get();
                    } else statusMessage += ".";
                    throw new BackupException(statusMessage);
                }
            } finally {
                deleteFiles(allApks);  // Clean up apk files
            }
            // Get package info, again
            try {
                mPackageInfo = PackageManagerCompat.getPackageInfo(mPackageName, GET_SIGNING_CERTIFICATES
                        | PackageManagerCompat.MATCH_STATIC_SHARED_AND_SDK_LIBRARIES, mUserId);
                mUid = Objects.requireNonNull(mPackageInfo.applicationInfo).uid;
                mIsInstalled = true;
            } catch (Exception e) {
                throw new BackupException("Apparently the install wasn't complete in the previous section.", e);
            }
        }
    }

    private void restoreKeyStore() throws BackupException {
        if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.S) {

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