Upgrade from Android to Crosswalk build and back again.

[SithLord]

I was experiencing some display issues on 1 brand of hardware and decided to try crosswalk to see if it was their webview that was the cause.  I rebuilt my app with crosswalk and installed on the device and it upgraded the existing vanilla android build without issue, it did fix the the display issue.   I then rebuilt the app back to vanilla android to see if the original problem reoccur but it would not install, ends with "Application not installed". 

My only option is to first uninstall the existing crosswalk app and then the vanilla android build installs.  Why can i install a Crosswalk app on top of a vanilla android version without first uninstalling but i cant do the reverse.   Is this expected behavior?

[PaulF_IntelCorp · Accepted solution]

Yes, this is the expected behavior due to the "versionCode" setting in the Build Setting section of the Projects tab (assuming your App ID is the same for both builds).

Crosswalk builds add 20000 and 60000 to the versionCode for ARM and x86 builds, respectively. This is done to simplify the management of multiple APK files in the Google Play store. It means, however, that the installer will refuse to install your normal Android APK because it's version code is a few ten thousand too small. :)

I avoid this (for the purpose of testing, anyway) by adding .crosswalk to the Crosswalk App ID so I can install both builds onto a device at the same time, making for easier comparison between the two. Of course, this tactic is not good for submitting to the store, but works great for testing during development.