F-Droid v2.0-alpha11 mostly stuck at "Preparing Installation"

1

Steps

  1. I tap Install on the app’s F-Droid page. It doesn’t matter what repository was used; F-Droid, IzzyOnDroid, etc.
  2. I get a prompt (presumably from the OS, not F-Droid) asking me whether or not I want to install the app. I tap Install
  3. The Preparing Installation progress indicator shows up… and never goes away. What’s supposed to happen next is F-Droid begins downloading. Rarely, it does work and I got to download and install the app. I give it a 1/10 chance of it working at any given hour or so. If it doesn’t work at this moment then it just doesn’t.
Screenshot of the state after I pressed Install, showing Preparing Installation

Screenshot_20260728-235622
Screenshot_20260728-2356221080×2329 180 KB

According to the in-app advice, I should not post logs as-is here since it can contain sensitive information. So… I’m not entirely sure how I’m supposed to share logs or if it’s even a good idea.

What works

  • I can install local APK files through my file manager.
  • I can install apps from F-Droid repo manually by downloading the APK and installing it through my file manager.
  • I can install apps from F-Droid repo using Droid-ify. I presume other clients work too.
  • My internet connection is fast enough to install apps. I mean, I can stream videos and post in this forum with it.

System info

  • Android version: 15
  • Phone model: TECNO POVA 6 Pro 5G (market name), TECNO LI9 (internal name)
  • HiOS version: 15.1.2.170
  • Build Number: 15.1.2.170SP05(OP001PF001AZ)
  • The OS comes with an non-trivially removable nagware (maybe even spyware?) app scanner named Phone Master that scans all apps after install. This might be the culprit but I tried disabling and revoking it as much power as I could within the phone to no effect. I can make it work normally again if I open it. I’m kinda scared removing this using methods outside of my phone. For all I know this is just a red herring. it’s gone.

What I tried

I tried clearing cache, clearing storage, reinstalling, force stopping, restarting, airplane mode On/Off toggling, VPNs On/Off toggling, DNS On/Off toggling, Install unknown apps Permission Allow/Block toggling, Disabling all mirrors except for the official one, Google Play Protect On/Off toggling, Phone Master On/Off toggling, Phone Master uninstalling through ADB; none of them reliably solved this problem. Some worked, tried again, no longer works.

Safe to say I have no clue what the culprit may be.

2

make it fail or wait a lot, then go to Settings, Debug logs, save, email that file to team at f-droid.org mentioning this thread

1 Like
3

Got your email.

Forgot to ask, do you have some example apps? Say, “this app X” always installs" while “this app Y” always fails.

Disabling any Tor or VPN or Private DNS, helps? If any.

(Do email a debug log after a successful install too)

4

There is no app that always works or never works. Apps that this problem I come across: Markor, Obtainium, NewPipe, Droid-ify, Al-Azan, Paper Loop 2. I was able to install all of them after retrying various little variants of the ritual. It occurs for apps from both F-Droid and IzzyOnDroid repositories.

In the 1st e-mail message I mentioned how Markor was unable to be installed. After doing the ritual of clearing cache, force stopping F-Droid, I can now install Markor through VPN (the attempt I sent in the 2nd e-mail). Then I try Private DNS, it works (not included in the 2nd e-mail). Then I try with those disabled, it works too. Then I try Private DNS under fragile connectivity it works too.

With the bloatware out of the way, my suspicions leans toward with networking – fair, I don’t have the most stable network here + I use “hosts files as VPN” app (ala non-root AdAway) from time to time.

EDIT: I’m going to sleep, it’s quite late zzz

5

Can you check if you have any activated Backup in Android system Settings? This could delay an installation while it checks locally or on cloud (even if it fails).

6

sorry for the late reply, but nope I don’t have android system cloud backup enabled either. I do have contacts and call sync, but I feel like it is unrelated.