Android .apk building, but not always installing on devices, Ren'py 8.0.1 and 7.4.11

[Flurby]

With permission from the original creator, I am attempting to port an existing game to android. I've no intention to release to google play, so I'm just trying to make a universal .apk. Project builds just fine, and gives me an .apk, and that .apk installs and runs with only very minor graphical issues, smoothly on my Razer Phone 2. However, upon release it became quickly apparent the .apk did not work for many people.

Quoted problem reports:

"Keeps telling me that the package is invalid. I don't know a lot about coding, but I tried opening the files and it keeps telling me that the android manifest is corrupted."

Upon attempted installation, "it takes about a minute to stage then another to get to the point of saying it is invalid".

"I ran into the same issue with and without a file manager, samsung internet, chrome and google and all the same message, package appears invalid"

"i dont believe the android mod link works anymore it says the app package is invalid."

Affected devices listed: Samsung s20 5g and Samsung S10, Samsung S21 Ultra, as well as Bluestacks.

The finished .apk is just under 3gb.

How might one go about troubleshooting this? Thanks in advance.

[PyTom]

The finished .apk is just under 3gb.

For many devices, the limit on apk size is 2gb.

[Flurby]

Thanks a lot, man, that's gotta be it, though I haven't gotten a chance to trim it down yet.

[lsf22]

The finished .apk is just under 3gb.

For many devices, the limit on apk size is 2gb.

Is there a way to increase the apk size limit on android devices?

[Zetsubou]

If it's a device limit, then you probably can't do anything about this.
It's unlikely that a device would have a setting to change that limit either.

If your game is 3GB, then you should really be looking at what's taking up most of that space and whether it actually needs to be that big.
You may be able to reduce the size drastically without changing the game's content.
For example, you can save a significant amount of space by redoing your sprites as layeredimages, with the base image, outfit, expression, etc. on separate layers.
Or by compressing your images, audio files, video files, etc.