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Cannot install app because OS falsely says already installed [Fix]

In this guide, we will show you the steps to fix the issue of being unable to install an app because the OS falsely states that the app is already installed. Recently while installing an app from the Play Store, I was greeted with a rather intriguing issue. The OS kept on stating that the app that I was trying to install was already there on my device- even though that wasn’t the case!

I even went through the data and obb directories and verified that there were indeed no instances of any app, not even their standalone APK files [even though that wouldn’t lead to any issue, but still, just to be double sure]. Apart from that, I also tried sideloading the app from a trusted third-party site but was again greeted with the same error. Fortunately, I finally stumbled upon a nifty workaround, which allowed me to rectify/mitigate this issue and install the app in one go. And in this guide, I’ll show you how I was able to achieve this. Follow along.

Cannot install app because OS falsely says already installed

Cannot install app because OS falsely says already installed

To get this job done, we will take the help of ADB Commands. Here’s how:

  1. To begin with, download and extract Android SDK Platform Tools on your PC.
  2. Then enable USB Debugging on your device and connect it to PC via USB cable.usb debugging
  3. Now transfer the APK file to the platform-tools folder and rename it to app.apk.
  4. Likewise, also get hold of the app’s package name using our comprehensive guide.
  5. After that, open Command Prompt inside the platform-tools directory and type:
    adb shell pm uninstall app-package-name
  6. Make sure to replace the app-package-name accordingly in the above command.
  7. Now type the below command to install the app [replace app-name accordingly]:
    adb -s install app-name.apk

That’s it. These were the steps to fix the issue of being unable to install an app because the OS falsely states that the app is already installed. If you have any queries concerning the aforementioned steps, do let us know in the comments. We will get back to you with a solution as soon as possible.


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