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Blueprint stuck in Drift after app update — INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE

Esper Support

We pushed an updated version of one of our enterprise apps through a Blueprint last night. One device has been in Drift for over 12 hours and every time I manually trigger a re-converge, it fails within minutes. The event log shows:

INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE: Existing package signatures do not match the newer version

I think the issue is that the app was re-signed by a new developer and the signing certificate changed. Is that the problem, and is there a way to resolve this without factory resetting the device?

Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab A8, Android 12
Blueprint: Our standard kiosk Blueprint
App: Enterprise app, uploaded directly to Esper (not from Google Play)

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  • Esper Support

    You've diagnosed it correctly — the signing certificate mismatch is exactly the cause. The good news is you do not need to factory reset.

    Android will not allow an app to be updated in place if the APK signing certificate differs between the installed version and the new version being pushed. This is an Android platform-level enforcement, not an Esper-specific limitation. The device will stay in Drift indefinitely until the old version is uninstalled first.

    Here's how to resolve it:

    1. Uninstall the old version of the app from the device remotely.
      Go to Devices & Groups → select the affected device → Apps → locate the app → select Uninstall.
      If remote uninstall is not available for this app, you can use Remote ADB: 
      adb shell pm uninstall com.your.app.package
    2. Once the old version is removed, re-trigger Blueprint convergence.
      Go to Devices & Groups → select the device → Blueprint → Apply Blueprint. The new, correctly-signed version will now install without conflict.
    3. Verify. The device should exit Drift and the Blueprint compliance status should return to In Sync within a few minutes of the install completing.

    To prevent this in the future: When re-signing an enterprise app, always uninstall the old version from your managed fleet before pushing the new APK through a Blueprint. You can do this with a pre-deployment uninstall command or by temporarily removing the app from the Blueprint, applying, and then re-adding the new version.

    Let us know if the Drift state doesn't clear after these steps — happy to take a closer look.

    — Esper Support

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