Fitbit developer SDK 4.1 - nothing seems to work anymore

[Guy_]

I get the message

sideload of app failed, cannot replace an application installed via the gallery

How on earth do you get round that?

There has to be an app loaded from the gallery, so it means you can't develop anymore, because you can't load the app from the Studio environment to the watch to test.

Using the OS Simulator there is a similar error which means you can't load it to the Simulator either, along with many errors in the Simulator alone, such as launch an app, or uninstall an app which invariably ends in an error.

How do we get around these problems?

[Guy_]

The error message loading to the OS Simulator is

"sideload of app failed. RPC call to 'app.install.stream.finalize' could not be completed as the RPC stream is closed"

Presumably because the OS Simulator says

Dang! Simulator failed to start, try again

Incidentally you get this same error if you choose Launch or Uninstall

Anyone know how to solve this?

[JonFitbit]

For now, try quitting the simulator, and exiting the CLI.

For this error: sideload of app failed, cannot replace an application installed via the gallery

Go to the gallery on your phone, remove the app/clock you already created from the device.

Now open the CLI again, connect your device and phone to the developer bridge, and try to install again.

If you want to just use the sim, then disconnect your phone and device from the developer bridge, launch the simulator and try to install.

[Guy_]

Thanks.

Watch says connecting to server, connected to server, then connected to debugger

Started Studio and clicked on Run, it says "sideload of app failed. Internal error."

disconnected from debugger and started Simulator, still get same message

Neither simulator or developer bridge work

[Gondwana · Accepted solution]

The only way I've found to recover from the watch saying 'Sideload of app failed. Internal error.' is to shut it down and restart it.

[Guy_]

Thanks, that works but the connection is not very reliable.

[morningReign]

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@Guy_ wrote:

I get the message

sideload of app failed, cannot replace an application installed via the gallery

How on earth do you get round that?

There has to be an app loaded from the gallery, so it means you can't develop anymore, because you can't load the app from the Studio environment to the watch to test.

Using the OS Simulator there is a similar error which means you can't load it to the Simulator either, along with many errors in the Simulator alone, such as launch an app, or uninstall an app which invariably ends in an error.

How do we get around these problems?

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You can get around this by using an alternate (beta) UUID for development

Make yourself a packageA.json and packageB.json file.

Generate a new app id using the command line tool or Fitbit Studio and copy it into the packageB.json

npx fitbit-build generate-appid

 Develop with the beta version by copying packageB.json to package,json

You already know this, but don't try to sideload an app with the same ID as one you already have loaded from the gallery (and vice-versa)

At it's worst, you end up in your backyard (30 feet away from every bluetooth device you own) reloading the fitbit app, the watch firmware, while shutting down and restarting everything multiple times.

Creating an alternate UUID also lets you publish your beta version for your beta test users.