ClassNotFoundException is occured for Application class when installing apk via adb install, but working fine when running through android studio

Question

I'm using Android studio 3.0 beta 9 to build apk. But recently I encountered that when I run the apk via adb install either on emulator or on real device, it pops ClassNotFoundException, Application Class not found in dexPathList.....

But when I run via Android Studio, it's working fine. Any idea what is the cause?

Here is the error log:-

E/AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
                  Process: com.example.demo, PID: 27637
                  java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to instantiate application
com.example.demo.MyApplication:java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.example.demo.MyApplication" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.example.demo-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.example.demo-1/lib/arm, /data/app/com.example.demo-1/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /vendor/lib, /system/lib]]
at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:680)
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6429)
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1800(ActivityThread.java:229)
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1898)
                                                                         at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
                                                                         at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7402)
                                                                         at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
                                                                         at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1230)
                                                                         at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1120)
                                                                      Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: Didn't find class "com.example.demo.MyApplication" on path: DexPathList[[zip file "/data/app/com.example.demo-1/base.apk"],nativeLibraryDirectories=[/data/app/com.example.demo-1/lib/arm, /data/app/com.example.demo-1/base.apk!/lib/armeabi-v7a, /vendor/lib, /system/lib]]
                                                                         at dalvik.system.BaseDexClassLoader.findClass(BaseDexClassLoader.java:56)
                                                                         at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:511)
                                                                         at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:469)
                                                                         at android.app.Instrumentation.newApplication(Instrumentation.java:1005)
                                                                         at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication(LoadedApk.java:670)
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication(ActivityThread.java:6429) 
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1800(ActivityThread.java:229) 
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1898) 
                                                                         at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102) 
                                                                         at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148) 
                                                                         at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:7402) 
                                                                         at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method) 
                                                                         at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:1230) 
                                                                         at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1120) 
                                                                        Suppressed: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: com.example.demo.MyApplication
                                                                         at java.lang.Class.classForName(Native Method)
                                                                         at java.lang.BootClassLoader.findClass(ClassLoader.java:781)
                                                                         at java.lang.BootClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:841)
                                                                         at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:504)
                                                                                ... 12 more
                                                                      Caused by: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: Class not found using the boot class loader; no stack trace available

try to unchecked instant run.. – Dileep Patel Nov 06 '17 at 12:34 — Dileep Patel, Nov 06 '17 at 12:34

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 06 '17 at 12:19

It is because of your proguard minimization. So either edit your proguard properties and exclude your classes either disable proguard for release apk

In your build.gradle set the minifyEnabled property to false to disable the proguard in release apk.

buildTypes {
        release {
            minifyEnabled false
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }
        debug {
            minifyEnabled false 
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
        }

    }

Thanks, but I already have minifyEnabled false configuration. But it still giving problem. — Vivek Vashistha, Nov 07 '17 at 01:52

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 07 '17 at 02:37

I finally got the answer, there are two problem, first one is mentioned here, where I was trying to adb install on apk which was built by Android Studio when I was directly running the app on android device.

Second problem is mentioned here

So when I try to build apk via build gradle task, then it was showing error :-

Error:Failed to complete Gradle execution.

Cause:
The version of Gradle you are using (3.3) does not support the forTasks() method on BuildActionExecuter. Support for this is available in Gradle 3.5 and all later versions.

Hence I upgraded the Gradle version to latest once and problem resolved.

ClassNotFoundException is occured for Application class when installing apk via adb install, but working fine when running through android studio

2 Answers2