React-native: cannot run app on Android 4.4 device

[rogerwq]

I am trying with React Native Android for the awesome project. It was successful running under emulator while fail with the real device with android 4.4. Here below is the output:

...
Installed on 1 device.

BUILD SUCCESSFUL

Total time: 10.449 secs

This build could be faster, please consider using the Gradle Daemon: http://gradle.org/docs/2.4/userguide/gradle_daemon.html
Starting the app (adb shell am start -n com.awesomeproject/.MainActivity)...
Starting: Intent { cmp=com.awesomeproject/.MainActivity }
Error type 3
Error: Activity class {com.awesomeproject/com.awesomeproject.MainActivity} does not exist.

_Can anyone give a hint?_

[arypurnomoz]

I also got this problem

[NishanthShankar]

The documentation provided is for Android 5.0 and above as adb reverse works only from Android 5.0 and above.
I got a "Unable to download JS bundle" error on the device when I tried to run it on a KitKat device
I solved it by building the bundle file using the command

curl "http://localhost:8081/index.android.bundle?platform=android" -o "android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle"

followed by react-native run-android
(Create the necessary folders if they don't exist)
The only problem being that I have build and run every time I make a change

[rogerwq]

@NishanthShankar The problem I met is the application is not started (using USB Debugging mode). I encountered "Unable to download JS bundle" error when I played with the emulator. And it was solved by "brew update watchman". Worth to have a try to avoid manual building every time.

[NishanthShankar]

@rogerwq . Yeah I had to update watchman to get it running on the emulator too. But that doesn't seem to work for the device. I guess a fix for the same is in the pipeline. I'm not sure why the app fails to launch.

[oren]

is this related to my issue? https://github.com/facebook/react-native/issues/2871

[kmagiera]

@rogerwq By any chance do you have more than one device connected (e.g. real device + emulator). What is the output of adb devices when you get the error you've posted?

Also for running on device <5.0 please refer to this section: http://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/running-on-device-android.html#configure-device-to-connect-to-the-dev-server-via-wi-fi

[rogerwq]

@kmagiera there is only 1 real device.

List of devices attached 
phone-id    device

The "wifi" approach seems impossible for me. I have no _rage shake menu_ since there is no app launched in real device. Even the console says _Installed on 1 device_, I cannot find any icon of the installed app.

Any further suggestion?

[kmagiera]

1. Do you have USB debugging enabled on your device: http://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/running-on-device-android.html#usb-debugging
2. Try building app manually using gradle: cd android and ./gradlew :app:installDebug
3. If the above fails try running adb command to install apk (should provide more output) from android dir in your project: adb install app/build/outputs/apk/app-debug.apk

[oren]

@kmagiera thanks for the suggestions. Both option 1 and 2 installed the app on my phone but I still see the red screen with "Unable to download JS bundle".

[rogerwq]

@kmagiera Great thanks for the support.

I got the white screen with "Welcome to React Native" finally by building, installing manually the apk file and connecting to dev server via wifi.

[journeys]

The same issue caused by the short of system storage.

adb install app/build/outputs/apk/app-debug.apk

will get the error msg, but gradle install will not.

[kingnand]

@NishanthShankar you save me a lot. Thanks

[tiagofumo]

@NishanthShankar You can set the development server ip:port on the app_menu>"Dev Settings">"Debug server host & port for device" in order to reload via wifi.

[qrobin]

Also guys check if you have nice permissions for your android/gradlew directory, that was my problem.

chmod 755 android/gradlew

[alejandromcsd]

I was facing this issue after installing-uninstalling a release version of the RN app on my device. I was no longer able to do a yarn android.

I solved it with @kmagiera suggested solution (#3: from android dir in your project: adb install app/build/outputs/apk/app-debug.apk). Thanks

[fawaz-ahmed]

In my case with Android 4.4.2 had to do what @NishanthShankar had suggested and some additional steps:
(Make sure rn server is running npm start, delete app-debug.apk from android/app/build/outputs/apk , uninstall from android if previously installed and run following commands from root folder)

1_ create dir mkdir android/app/src/main/assets
2_ create file index.android.js which is a clone of index.js cp index.js index.android.js
3_ react-native link
4_ curl "http://localhost:8081/index.android.bundle?platform=android" -o "android/app/src/main/assets/index.android.bundle"
5_ react-native run-android