Amazon acknowledges its Appstore is breaking on Android 12

Shortly after Google rolled out the Android 12 replace in October, customers began noticing that they’re unable to make use of any of the apps within the Amazon Appstore, as reported by 9to5Google. Reports of the problem cropped up on the Amazon forum over a month in the past, and there’s no timeline for a attainable repair (by way of Liliputing).

“We are aware and working to resolve an issue impacting app performance and launches for the small number of Amazon Appstore users that have upgraded to Android 12 on their mobile devices,” Amazon spokesperson Troy Edwards instructed The Verge. “This issue does not impact Amazon Fire Tablets or Fire TV devices.”

One consumer, Lovingboth, describes their expertise with the problem within the thread on Amazon’s forum:

My rain radar app from the Amazon Appstore remains to be fortunately operating and giving me alerts by way of notifications, however I can’t truly see them as a result of it’s being prevented from operating full display by the Amazon Appstore’s failure to run correctly.

Additionally, some customers say no apps seem after they open the Amazon Appstore, whereas others cite receiving prompts to replace their apps when no replace is required. An Amazon workers member additionally responded to complaints within the discussion board, noting that the “technical team is still investigating the issue,” however doesn’t supply a lot of an evidence of what went unsuitable.

As identified by Liliputing, the problem might stem from a scarcity of compatibility between Amazon’s built-in DRM and Android 12. One consumer on the Amazon discussion board, Eduardo S, highlights a workaround that factors to DRM as the basis of the problem. He notes that — for the technologically savvy — you’ll be able to attempt downloading an app’s APK on one other machine that has an older model of Android. From there, you’ll be able to decompile the app’s code, remark out strains referring to the DRM, repackage it with a self-signed certificates, after which set up the APK in your Android 12 machine. Easy, proper?

While the problem could also be affecting solely a “small” variety of customers now, that quantity will solely proceed to develop. Google first launched Android 12 on simply Pixel gadgets, however Galaxy S21 customers additionally obtained the replace in mid-November. Samsung is planning to convey the replace to extra of its telephones sooner or later and so are different machine producers, additional complicating issues for Amazon.