Troubleshooting Android market app problems

Overview

Issues can crop up with the Android market app. These include the failure to complete downloads, not opening, missing apps and connection issues. This article offers suggestions for dealing with these problems.

Connection Issues

If you repeatedly get a network error message:

Things to check:

• Make sure you are not in airplane mode
• Check that you have a strong carrier connection or
• Check that your WiFi connection is working properly, make sure that the router you are connected to is connected to the internet.
• Toggle your WiFi connection.
• If that does not correct the problem toggle your phone into airplane mode and then out to restart the radios.
• Power cycle the phone
• Remove the battery, wait a minute and put the battery back in and power up phone.
• Try again later. You are connecting to a remote server and that there may be issues with the network or the server that you can’t fix.

Market App Won’t Load

If your market app just won’t load first power cycle the phone.

If it’s still not loading go to:

Menu->Settings->Applications->Manage Applications

Scroll down to the Market app:

Tap on the entry for the market.

Scroll the screen and check to see if you have a button for “Uninstall Updates”. For now just note it if you do. Tap on the clear cache button.

The cache for the market will clear and now displays 0.00KB. Now try to load the market app.

If it doesn’t load restart your phone and try again.

If it still does not load and you had a button to “Uninstall Updates” go back and press that. Google silently updates the market app at times and the updates don’t work for everyone.

Downloads don’t complete

If your download does not start cancel it and then try it again.

Check out everything listed under network error problems.

If you still have problems check out the steps for the market app not loading. many times you need to clear the market cache when downloads stall.

Remember that it may not be an issue with your phone.

Uninstalling Market Updates

Here is what the App Manager details look like if you have received the updates:

Apps on SD Card

In some cases an app installed on the SD card will not update. Try moving the app back to internal memory, updating, and then moving it back to the SD card.

Auto Update not working

If you have auto-update turned on but an app shows that it must be manually updated this is probably because the permissions that the app requires have changed. This prevents an app from changing the permissions without your knowledge.

Unmount SD Card

Some apps will not install unless you unmount your SD Card. This came to my attention with a recent Angry Birds update. This happens on phones that aren’t using apps2sd as well as phones that do. Go into your phones settings and unmount your SD Card. Some phones will require a reboot to remount and others can be remounted from the settings after the update or install.

Clear Dalvik Cache

Clearing the dalvik cache requires root.

This article at streaksmart.com details how to use a terminal emulator to clear the dalvik cache.

Short version:

• Install a terminal emulator
• Launch the terminal emulator
• Use these commands
  1. su
  2. cd data/dalvik-cache
  3. rm *
  4. exit
• Reboot your phone

You can clear the Dalvik cache using Streakmod recovery. See this gallery to view the streakmod recovery menus.

If you have root explorer installed you can use that to delete all of the files in the dalvik cache folder.

Delete smdl2tmp1.asec (requires root)

If you have tried everything else and your phone is rooted delete the file:

smdl2tmp1.asec (that is SMDL in lowercase)

from /mnt/secure/asec/

Read this thread from Google support. Deleting this file requires that you have root access.

I have also seen posts saying that this file might be in .android_secure on your SD Card. You may want to use a file explorer that has root permissions to search and make sure that you delete all instances of this file. All folders starting with a dot (.) are hidden folders and you will need to make sure that your file explorer has the setting selected that allows you to view hidden files and folders.

 Can’t see your paid apps – missing apps

Your apps should follow you to a new phone. Sometimes this is prevented by the market identifying your phone as not compatible with apps you have previously purchased. Even with the same phone a software upgrade could cause your phone to be seen differently by the market. This is due to the way your phone is identified by the market.

The following tips may help with any “Not Compatible with your device” messages when you try installing apps.

Clear Google Services Framework cache

You may also have to clear the cache and data for the Google Services Framework app if your apps are not showing up in the market. Got to manage applications to clear these (same method as clearing the cache and data for the market app itself, as outlined above).

Non-Stock Display DPI

If you are rooted and have changed the DPI of your display the market may filter out some apps that you can see at the stock setting. This has been reported as a problem on the Dell Streak and may also occur on other phones/devices. Restore your phone to the stock screen density and reboot the phone. If you are logged in online you may have to log out of the market and back in.

This seems to happen more with later versions of the market (the ones with the movie rentals) so reverting to an earlier version of the market by uninstalling the updates may resolve this also.

Carrier restrictions

In some cases the carrier may block apps. You may be able to see these by removing your sim and starting your phone. In some cases you may achieve the same result by putting your phone in airplane mode and then connecting with wifi. Obviously you have to have a working wifi connection to use either method.

Fingerprint

Your phone is identified by a “fingerprint” that is stored in a file on the phone. You can change the way the market sees your phone by editing this string. This article will help you understand how to change your phone’s fingerprint. This post at XDA shows an example of the fingerprint from a stock Streak ROM and a custom Streak ROM. Some users of the custom rom ‘lost’ some of their apps and had to change the fingerprint to see them again.

Content filtering

The market app now has a setting to filter apps by maturity level. This is controlled by a setting on your phone. Open the market app, then tap the menu key, then settings to view the content rating setting. You will not be able to view or install apps with a higher rating than what you set here.

Android market settings

Maturity settings

Update Notifications

Update Notification but no apps to update?

Check to see if some of the Google apps have auto-update on. If they do they may display an update available icon in notifications and update in the background because of the auto-update setting, so when you check you see no apps needing updates.

After a reset or rom reinstall many of the Google apps have auto-update turned on by default.

If you have set an app to auto-update this can also happen with non-Google apps.

Turn off Update Notifications

You can’t anymore. The latest versions of the market app removed the setting to turn off update notifications.

Install from web market

Later versions of the Android market include the option to install apps to your phone from the market web page on your browser. For this to work you must:

• Sign in to the market with your gmail account that is linked to your phone.
• You must have Background data turned on (the box is checked) in settings
• You must be signed in to Google Talk (Talk in your app drawer). You may have to open the menu and sign out and then back in.
• Try the install on both WiFi and 3G.

Prevent Updates to Market App

There is no setting to prevent updates for the Android market app from installing automatically. If your phone is rooted you can ‘freeze’ or remove the market updater app. This will prevent updates from installing.

I recommend freezing the market updater with an app like Titanium Backup. You can then unfreeze it if you want to test the latest market version. Make a backup of your current market app so that you can easily revert.

Useful Links

• Google’s market help topics page
• Google’s market troubleshooting page
• Known issues

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