This article is about 5 ways to fix parsing error issues on a mobile phone. Have you ever experienced any situation where you get a message on your phone that goes thus “Parse error: there is a problem parsing this package”? Of course, that happens when you want to install those fascinating apps and games and there is nothing you can do about then tap the “ok” option.

It is very annoying to have gone through the difficult phase of downloading an app and all of a sudden a notification like this pops up, therefore you are not liable to use the app. Whether your phone is manufactured by Samsung, Google or any other android manufacturer, this article is for you.

In this article, there is going to be a rundown of ways and steps that will help you to solve this parsing error issue anytime. But before that, we need to know the cause of these problems.

Possible Causes of Parsing Error

You need to know the factor behind this frustrating passing error notification from your phone. Now, what you need here is very simple. Just look at all of these causes and see which one concerns you the most. Then we can move into the ways to solve them.

1. Inadequate update of OS

Your phone can notify you that there was a problem parsing error parsing the package if you didn’t update your android OS appropriately. The best thing to do is to make sure that the factors – strong wifi and cellular data connection – required for the update of the OS are all available. Also, when you update your phones OS, you have to wait a bit for things to set up before you start working with apps or installing them.

2. Incomplete application installation

Not completing the installation of apps might not be an issue for users. Sometimes, the phone itself would not download the full package of an application and it will still display full download.

3. Disallowing unknown source installation

Android does not allow you to download from any other sites out of the Google play store, so it has a default setting for disallowing downloads from unknown sources. If you download from these sources without your phone OS allowing you, then the issue of “there was a problem parsing the package” might come up.

4. Incompatibility with the OS

This is explicit already and it is one of the most common causes. That moment you download an app that is not compatible with your phone, just expect this subject as the issue.

5. Security

Even if you don’t do anything about the care of your phone, antivirus is important. Bugs, malicious software, viruses are all kept away by Antivirus apps. Another app that looks almost similar is the cleaner app which helps to remove bugs, cache and so many other things that can disrupt the memory. This app can hinder the working effect of another app that contains bugs. Hence, it forces the big containing apps to display “there was a problem parsing the package”.

denny muller HfWA Axq6Ek unsplash 1 — Picture Credit: Denny Müller

How To Fix Parsing Package Error

1. Allow unknown source installation

If you want to download apps from any source other than the primary play store, then you need to allow installation from an unknown source. Remember, not allowing this will cause your phone to continue displaying the parse error. So, this is how to allow installation from unknown sources.

Go to your chrome app

Go to the website you want to download from and tap the download icon of the app

Unknown source installation will be the next option. Tap on allow or rather go to the settings and toggle on the unknown source installation.

2. Enabling USB debugging

Most people do not know about USB debugging even though it is quite important. It helps to solve as many issues on your phone as well. But you have to enable USB debugging first, then check the app again perhaps it might have been launched.

Open the Settings app and go to the about phone section

Tap on the build number option about 7 times (until you are notified that you are now a developer)

Go back to the main setting option screen and tap on the developer option on top of about phone

Toggle on the switch at the front of USB debugging.

3. Check out damaged or partially downloaded files

Try comparing the size of the downloaded file size of an app to that on the play store. This is very important to monitor whether the app is partially downloaded or damaged. That is you can easily know if you should delete your download and then reinstall again to see what will happen. If it persists then the parsing error issue is from the app

4. Disable Antivirus And Cleaner

We all know that apps can contain bugs, malware and viruses. For that fact, preventive measures like Antivirus apps and cleaners are important. It is either the virus get into the phone and don’t wipe by the cleaner always or it doesn’t get into the phone at all.

However, if you think risking the safety of your phone for the app purpose is appropriate, then you should disable antivirus and cleaners. This will help to solve this issue of phase error as well.

5. Downloading compatible version

The best advice to give someone who is using an android phone is to download compatible files. If the apps that are downloaded are compatible they should work. But if they are not compatible, they will cause too much work for the phone system software. Thereby issues like this parsing error arise. So, downloading a compatible version of apps to your phone is very important.