Question

I have exported an app with 3 activities (main, splash and another activity called “about”) to an apk file. It works fine when tested on the emulator. After uploading to the Play Store and then downloading to my own phone, it installs fine on my phone. Good so far. However, the apk doesn’t appear packaged – it’s showing the separate activities and not starting with the splash screen as it did in the emulator. What could be the problem? It exported with no errors. When I was exporting, I gave the apk a name that was different than the package name in the manifest. Would this cause the problem? Here is the manifest:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
package="com.spinner"
android:versionCode="1"
android:versionName="1.0" >

<uses-sdk
    android:minSdkVersion="7"
    android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

<application
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
    android:label="@string/app_name"
    android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar" >
    <activity
        android:name=".SplashActivity"
        android:label="@string/title_activity_splash" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity
        android:name=".MainActivity"
        android:label="@string/title_activity_main" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
    <activity
        android:name=".AboutActivity"
        android:label="@string/title_activity_about" >
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />

            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
    </activity>
</application>

Thank you for looking.

Answer 1

This intent-filter

   <intent-filter>
        <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
        <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
    </intent-filter>

tells Android launcher app to show icon associated with Activity this filter is attached to on its Launcher screen. When corresponding icon is tapped by user, launcher app starts that activity and your code is executed. You usually want one entry point in your application so edit your Manifest file and ensure only one Activity element uses it. In your case, I guess leave it for SplashActivity and remove from others. It should look like this:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    package="com.spinner"
    android:versionCode="1"
    android:versionName="1.0" >

    <uses-sdk
        android:minSdkVersion="7"
        android:targetSdkVersion="15" />

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

    <application
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:theme="@android:style/Theme.NoTitleBar" >
        <activity
            android:name=".SplashActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_splash" >
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".MainActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_main" >
        </activity>
        <activity
            android:name=".AboutActivity"
            android:label="@string/title_activity_about" >
        </activity>
    </application>
</manifest>

I’d also get rid of android:label from <activity> elements (just leave for <application>)