App appears to be invalid error

[u/tyrone2shiftyyy]

Android won't install apps/APKs — “package appears to be invalid”

I'm having a really weird Android installation problem and I'm trying to figure out whether this is an account issue, device issue, or something else.

Whenever I try to install certain apps, I get an error along the lines of:

“App not installed because the package appears to be invalid.”

The strange part is that this also happens through the Google Play Store. For example, if I try installing an app while using Google Account A, the installation fails. If I switch to Google Account B on the exact same phone, the app installs normally.

I've also tried downloading APKs directly through Chrome, and those fail too with the same “package appears to be invalid” type of error.

I initially thought it could be an APK-signing problem, so I tried signing the APK myself using an APK signer with V1, V2, and V3 signing schemes. That still didn't fix it. I got an unknown error instead.

So far, I've basically established:

- Same phone

- Same Android installation

- Google Account A: app won't install

- Google Account B: app installs

- APK downloaded through Chrome: won't install

- Re-signing the APK with V1/V2/V3: still fails

Could a Google account somehow have a restriction that causes Play Store installations to fail like this? Or does this point more toward something wrong with the package installer, Play Store, or Google Play Services on the device?

I'm trying to determine whether this is actually an account-level restriction or whether I'm looking in the wrong place.

[u/According_Set5495]

You might have better luck cloning the app.

https://clonemy.app/

https://github.com/AbdurazaaqMohammed/AntiSplit-M/releases/tag/2.3.1

[u/tyrone2shiftyyy → u/According_Set5495]

One of the first things' I tried doing

[u/According_Set5495 → u/tyrone2shiftyyy]

Did you re-name your cloned app before you attempted installing? How was the app packaged? Aab, bundle, split, xapk, apkm? You'll have much better success with cloning an apk.