Can't reinstall on tablet running lineageOS

Dana

I accidentally uninstalled diarium and hen I try to reinstall, it says that diarium is not compatible with my device.I am running android 16.

timo

Can you please show a screenshot? What device are you using exactly? Latest versions of Diarium require 64bit CPU

Dana

Its a Samsung sm-x210 galaxy tab a9+

timo

I’d reply:

Thanks. The SM-X210 / Galaxy Tab A9+ should normally be 64-bit capable, and Android 16 is also not too old. Diarium does not intentionally block this device model.

This message is shown by Google Play, so it likely depends on what the LineageOS installation reports to Google Play, for example supported CPU/ABI, Play Protect certification, or the installed Google Play services package. Please check in the Play Store under Settings > About whether the device is “Play Protect certified”, and also make sure the LineageOS/GApps build is 64-bit.

If Google Play marks the device as incompatible, I unfortunately cannot override that from inside Diarium. You can also try opening the Diarium Play Store page in a browser with the same Google account and see if that gives a more specific reason or allows selecting the tablet.

Dana

timo but it installed on this device when I installed lineageOS a few months ago, and it hasn't been upgraded to a newer version of the OS since then.

Dana

I'd love to know why google says your app isn't compatible. It has to be something with the app that changed in a recent update.

Dana

So I did some more testing on another device that also runs lineageOS and it turns out that the issue is with lineageOS. There's something with your app that does not like that OS, yet it used to work on it.

timo

I think it has to do with Google Play. I recently enabled this safety mechanism:

So it appears that your device might fail Play Basic integrity checks

Dana

timo Of course mine fails integrity checks, I'm running it in third-party ROM. Everybody who is using a ROM that is not designed by the device manufacturer is going to fail the security checks. By enabling that option you're locking out a lot of users from using this app. Why would you enable this at your side? Why wouldn't you leave it up to the user to decide which devices they want to install it on? This is like banking apps preventing usage from anybody who has a rooted device even though there's absolutely no security risk from a rooted device any more than there is from Windows.

timo

I enabled this after one of my apps had been cracked/repackaged in the past, because Google recommends these Play Integrity protections as one way to reduce tampered or unauthorized app usage.

I understand that this can also affect legitimate users on custom ROMs such as LineageOS, even if they purchased the app normally. That is not ideal, but it is the tradeoff with this kind of protection.

I will continue to monitor the situation and see how much similar feedback I receive before deciding whether to disable or loosen this check again. If I make a change, it may take some time until Google Play updates device availability.

Dana

timo Then I guess it's time for me to change apps since all of my devices are running custom ROMs. That kind of sucks because I really do love your app, but if I can't use it on any of my devices, that's a problem. I'm glad I figured it out while I have time to export my data from my one remaining device that has this installed before I totally lose access to all of my history.