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Zachary Powell
Zachary Powell

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How do I Resolve Error Code -13 When Installing an App

A developer reported that an app downloaded from AppGallery could not be installed.
After checking the message to find out more details about the error, I discovered that the error message was actually "Conflicting provider (Error code: -13)", indicating that ContentProvider of the downloaded app conflicted with that of an existing app. The system also provided a description of the error and recommended a solution.
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Generally, if a provider conflict occurs when you install an app, it is probably because an existing app has the same ContentProvider. ContentProvider is one of the four Android elements, although it very rarely used. The ContentProvider feature interacts and shares data between processes, which determines that it must be globally unique. Once an app has registered a ContentProvider on the phone, the app installed later cannot use the same ContentProvider. Otherwise, installation will fail.
As expected, installation failed when we found the same ContentProvider settings in the AndroidManifest.xml file after checking the two conflicting apps.
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In this case, you can modify the ContentProvider information and install the app again to resolve the problem.

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