Installing and updating apps can give you problems if you do it from Google Play, but even more so if you try to do it from an APK file. One of the most enigmatic errors that Android throws at us when doing so is that of “unable to parse package”. What does mean?
Google Play automatically downloads the correct version of an app for your mobile, but when you install an APK, that might not be the case. Android warns you that unable to continue installation with different error messages, and the packet could not be parsed is one of them. We tell you why it appears and what you can do about it.
Why is it written “the package could not be scanned”
An APK file is basically a ZIP file containing a series of files containing the data necessary to install the application on our mobiles. Before Android asks if we want to install or update the app, the app installer you need to read some basic APK datalike its name, icon and ID, to know if it is going to be installed as a new app or as an update.
When this process works correctly, the message is displayed Do you want to install this app? This message is always displayed, even if the application is not really compatible with our system because it is not on the right architecture (for example, if you try to install an x86 APK on an ARM64 mobile). If that fails, the message we will see then is The application was not installed because it is not compatible with your phone.
When we try to install an application for a different architecture than our mobile, we receive another error message
The message above is pretty self-explanatory, but the same cannot be said for “Failed to parse packet”. What package? What does this mean exactly? In other words, this means that Android cannot read the APK filein any circumstance.
And what could those reasons be? The most common are two: that you try install an APK for a higher version of Android than you have installed, or the APK file is corrupt or fake (for example, it is a file of another type renamed to APK). Either way, when you try to install the app, you will get the message Failed to parse packet.
How to solve it
This error means that Android does not understand the APK file
The solution to this problem will depend on the cause. If the problem is that you are trying to install an app or game that needs a higher version of Android than you havethere are only two possible solutions: update your mobile’s Android or install an APK for a previous version (if it exists).
By updating the Android version of the mobile (officially or not) so that it meets or exceeds the minimum version, you can now install the APK. Another possibility is to get the APK of this application or game for an older version of Android which is equal to or less than the one you are using. This is only possible when your phone meets the minimum system requirements for the version of Android, but you have downloaded the APK for a later version.
If the problem is that the APK file is corrupt, the most common cause is that it was not downloaded correctly or the file downloaded or sent is corrupted for some reason. Try downloading it again and, for security reasons, download APK files from trusted sites that perform security checks, such as APKMirror or UpToDown.
