I've been facing a problem for several weeks, which I still can't solve.

Summarize

I have an application developed with react native. This one loads images from the backend at various places, these images are accessible via an https url and everything works very well in development, whether on simulator or real smartphone. During the releases, I have no display problem on the ios version, on the other hand on android, no problem with local images. But the url images are not displayed whereas they are however well in https urls.

I've tried

The problem is that I concentrated a lot of time on the development and production of the ios version and I'm hardly able to tell when it worked last time in an android release. But what I can say is that the only changes I've made to the android configuration recently are:

• Changed the name of the app because we lost the keystore (com.myapp to com.myapp.app)
• Added config for react-native-map

Yesterday, by manipulating elements of the manifest.xml and/or build.gradle file, I managed to create a release where the images appeared, unfortunately I had to touch something else in the meantime because it doesn't work again. In order to get back as close as possible to what was working, I re-initialized the configuration from the addition of react-native-map.

Code

android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
  package="com.myapp.app">

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW"/>

    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CAMERA" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_PROFILE" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_CONTACTS" />
    <uses-permission android:name="com.android.vending.BILLING" />
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/>
    <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.VIBRATE"/>


    <application
      android:name=".MainApplication"
      android:label="@string/app_name"
      android:icon="@mipmap/ic_launcher"
      android:roundIcon="@mipmap/ic_launcher_round"
      android:allowBackup="false"
      android:theme="@style/AppTheme">
      <uses-library
        android:name="org.apache.http.legacy"
        android:required="false" />
      <activity
        android:name=".MainActivity"
        android:label="@string/app_name"
        android:configChanges="keyboard|keyboardHidden|orientation|screenSize"
        android:windowSoftInputMode="adjustResize"
        android:launchMode="singleTop">
        <intent-filter>
            <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
            <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
        </intent-filter>
      </activity>
      <activity android:name="com.facebook.react.devsupport.DevSettingsActivity" />
      <meta-data
            android:name="com.google.android.gms.ads.APPLICATION_ID"
            android:value="xxx"/>
            <!-- You will only need to add this meta-data tag, but make sure it's a child of application -->
      <meta-data
        android:name="com.google.android.geo.API_KEY"
        android:value="xxx"/>
    </application>

</manifest>

android/app/build.gradle

apply plugin: "com.android.application"

import com.android.build.OutputFile

/**
 * The react.gradle file registers a task for each build variant (e.g. bundleDebugJsAndAssets
 * and bundleReleaseJsAndAssets).
 * These basically call `react-native bundle` with the correct arguments during the Android build
 * cycle. By default, bundleDebugJsAndAssets is skipped, as in debug/dev mode we prefer to load the
 * bundle directly from the development server. Below you can see all the possible configurations
 * and their defaults. If you decide to add a configuration block, make sure to add it before the
 * `apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native/react.gradle"` line.
 *
 * project.ext.react = [
 *   // the name of the generated asset file containing your JS bundle
 *   bundleAssetName: "index.android.bundle",
 *
 *   // the entry file for bundle generation
 *   entryFile: "index.android.js",
 *
 *   // https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/performance#enable-the-ram-format
 *   bundleCommand: "ram-bundle",
 *
 *   // whether to bundle JS and assets in debug mode
 *   bundleInDebug: false,
 *
 *   // whether to bundle JS and assets in release mode
 *   bundleInRelease: true,
 *
 *   // whether to bundle JS and assets in another build variant (if configured).
 *   // See http://tools.android.com/tech-docs/new-build-system/user-guide#TOC-Build-Variants
 *   // The configuration property can be in the following formats
 *   //         'bundleIn${productFlavor}${buildType}'
 *   //         'bundleIn${buildType}'
 *   // bundleInFreeDebug: true,
 *   // bundleInPaidRelease: true,
 *   // bundleInBeta: true,
 *
 *   // whether to disable dev mode in custom build variants (by default only disabled in release)
 *   // for example: to disable dev mode in the staging build type (if configured)
 *   devDisabledInStaging: true,
 *   // The configuration property can be in the following formats
 *   //         'devDisabledIn${productFlavor}${buildType}'
 *   //         'devDisabledIn${buildType}'
 *
 *   // the root of your project, i.e. where "package.json" lives
 *   root: "../../",
 *
 *   // where to put the JS bundle asset in debug mode
 *   jsBundleDirDebug: "$buildDir/intermediates/assets/debug",
 *
 *   // where to put the JS bundle asset in release mode
 *   jsBundleDirRelease: "$buildDir/intermediates/assets/release",
 *
 *   // where to put drawable resources / React Native assets, e.g. the ones you use via
 *   // require('./image.png')), in debug mode
 *   resourcesDirDebug: "$buildDir/intermediates/res/merged/debug",
 *
 *   // where to put drawable resources / React Native assets, e.g. the ones you use via
 *   // require('./image.png')), in release mode
 *   resourcesDirRelease: "$buildDir/intermediates/res/merged/release",
 *
 *   // by default the gradle tasks are skipped if none of the JS files or assets change; this means
 *   // that we don't look at files in android/ or ios/ to determine whether the tasks are up to
 *   // date; if you have any other folders that you want to ignore for performance reasons (gradle
 *   // indexes the entire tree), add them here. Alternatively, if you have JS files in android/
 *   // for example, you might want to remove it from here.
 *   inputExcludes: ["android/**", "ios/**"],
 *
 *   // override which node gets called and with what additional arguments
 *   nodeExecutableAndArgs: ["node"],
 *
 *   // supply additional arguments to the packager
 *   extraPackagerArgs: []
 * ]
 */

project.ext.react = [
    entryFile: "index.js",
    enableHermes: false,  // clean and rebuild if changing
]

apply from: "../../node_modules/react-native/react.gradle"

/**
 * Set this to true to create two separate APKs instead of one:
 *   - An APK that only works on ARM devices
 *   - An APK that only works on x86 devices
 * The advantage is the size of the APK is reduced by about 4MB.
 * Upload all the APKs to the Play Store and people will download
 * the correct one based on the CPU architecture of their device.
 */
def enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture = false

/**
 * Run Proguard to shrink the Java bytecode in release builds.
 */
def enableProguardInReleaseBuilds = false

/**
 * The preferred build flavor of JavaScriptCore.
 *
 * For example, to use the international variant, you can use:
 * `def jscFlavor = 'org.webkit:android-jsc-intl:+'`
 *
 * The international variant includes ICU i18n library and necessary data
 * allowing to use e.g. `Date.toLocaleString` and `String.localeCompare` that
 * give correct results when using with locales other than en-US.  Note that
 * this variant is about 6MiB larger per architecture than default.
 */
def jscFlavor = 'org.webkit:android-jsc:+'

/**
 * Whether to enable the Hermes VM.
 *
 * This should be set on project.ext.react and mirrored here.  If it is not set
 * on project.ext.react, JavaScript will not be compiled to Hermes Bytecode
 * and the benefits of using Hermes will therefore be sharply reduced.
 */
def enableHermes = project.ext.react.get("enableHermes", false);

android {
    compileSdkVersion rootProject.ext.compileSdkVersion

    compileOptions {
        sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
        targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    }

    defaultConfig {
        applicationId "com.myapp.app"
        minSdkVersion rootProject.ext.minSdkVersion
        targetSdkVersion rootProject.ext.targetSdkVersion
        versionCode 9
        versionName "1.6"
        multiDexEnabled true
    }
    splits {
        abi {
            reset()
            enable enableSeparateBuildPerCPUArchitecture
            universalApk false  // If true, also generate a universal APK
            include "armeabi-v7a", "x86", "arm64-v8a", "x86_64"
        }
    }
    signingConfigs {
        release {
            if (project.hasProperty('MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE')) {
                storeFile file(MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_FILE)
                storePassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_STORE_PASSWORD
                keyAlias MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_ALIAS
                keyPassword MYAPP_UPLOAD_KEY_PASSWORD
            }
        }
        debug {
            storeFile file('debug.keystore')
            storePassword 'android'
            keyAlias 'androiddebugkey'
            keyPassword 'android'
        }
    }
    buildTypes {
        debug {
            signingConfig signingConfigs.debug
        }
        release {
            // Caution! In production, you need to generate your own keystore file.
            // see https://facebook.github.io/react-native/docs/signed-apk-android.
            minifyEnabled enableProguardInReleaseBuilds
            proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile("proguard-android.txt"), "proguard-rules.pro"
            signingConfig signingConfigs.release
        }
    }
    // applicationVariants are e.g. debug, release
    applicationVariants.all { variant ->
        variant.outputs.each { output ->
            // For each separate APK per architecture, set a unique version code as described here:
            // https://developer.android.com/studio/build/configure-apk-splits.html
            def versionCodes = ["armeabi-v7a": 1, "x86": 2, "arm64-v8a": 3, "x86_64": 4]
            def abi = output.getFilter(OutputFile.ABI)
            if (abi != null) {  // null for the universal-debug, universal-release variants
                output.versionCodeOverride =
                        versionCodes.get(abi) * 1048576 + defaultConfig.versionCode
            }

        }
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation project(':react-native-admob')
    implementation project(':react-native-onesignal')
    implementation project(':tipsi-stripe')
    implementation project(':react-native-reanimated')
    implementation project(':react-native-image-picker')
    implementation fileTree(dir: "libs", include: ["*.jar"])
    implementation "com.facebook.react:react-native:+"  // From node_modules
    implementation 'androidx.appcompat:appcompat:1.1.0-rc01'
    implementation 'androidx.swiperefreshlayout:swiperefreshlayout:1.1.0-alpha02'
    implementation project(':@react-native-community_datetimepicker')
    implementation 'com.android.support:multidex:1.0.3'
    implementation project(':react-native-maps')

    if (enableHermes) {
        def hermesPath = "../../node_modules/hermes-engine/android/";
        debugImplementation files(hermesPath + "hermes-debug.aar")
        releaseImplementation files(hermesPath + "hermes-release.aar")
    } else {
        implementation jscFlavor
    }
}

// Run this once to be able to run the application with BUCK
// puts all compile dependencies into folder libs for BUCK to use
task copyDownloadableDepsToLibs(type: Copy) {
    from configurations.compile
    into 'libs'
}

apply from: file("../../node_modules/@react-native-community/cli-platform-android/native_modules.gradle"); applyNativeModulesAppBuildGradle(project)

android/gradle/wrapper/gradle-wrapper.properties

#Fri Apr 10 12:41:15 CEST 2020
distributionBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
distributionPath=wrapper/dists
zipStoreBase=GRADLE_USER_HOME
zipStorePath=wrapper/dists
distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-5.5-all.zip

android/build.gradle

// Top-level build file where you can add configuration options common to all sub-projects/modules.

buildscript {
    ext {
        buildToolsVersion = "28.0.3"
        minSdkVersion = 24
        compileSdkVersion = 28
        targetSdkVersion = 28
        playServicesVersion = "17.0.0"
    }
    repositories {
        google()
        jcenter()
    }
    dependencies {
        classpath("com.android.tools.build:gradle:3.4.2")

        // NOTE: Do not place your application dependencies here; they belong
        // in the individual module build.gradle files
    }
}

allprojects {
    repositories {
        mavenLocal()
        maven {
            // All of React Native (JS, Obj-C sources, Android binaries) is installed from npm
            url("$rootDir/../node_modules/react-native/android")
        }
        maven {
            // Android JSC is installed from npm
            url("$rootDir/../node_modules/jsc-android/dist")
        }

        google()
        jcenter()
        maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    }
}

File example where use remote images and item.photo example https://xxx-xxx.herokuapp.com/assets/category/activity-cca3aaee2bbe230a03879512a660e5b3099b1beaabaec8d2054a6d47facda224.jpg

import React from 'react'
import { Image, Keyboard, StyleSheet, Text, TouchableWithoutFeedback, View } from 'react-native'
import { colors } from '../../../colors'
import i18n from '../../../i18n'
import { distanceCalculator } from '../../../utils/geo'
import { Title } from '../../common'
import addIcon from '../../../image/profile/profile-picture.png';
import baseIcon from '../../../image/profile/cat-base.png';

const CategoryCard = ({ item, onPress, coord }) => {
  const imagePath = { uri: item.photo };
  const isAddAction = item.activityType === 'add';
  let distance;

  if(item.activityType){
    distance = distanceCalculator(item, coord);
  }
  
  return (
    <TouchableWithoutFeedback onPress={() => {Keyboard.dismiss(); onPress(item)}}>
      <View style={styles.container}>
        <Image source={isAddAction ? addIcon : baseIcon} style={{...styles.image, ...styles.imageMask}}/>
        <Image source={imagePath} style={styles.image}/>
        <View style={styles.wrapper}>
          <Title style={styles.title}>
            {i18n.t(`sports.${item.name}`, {defaultValue: item.name})}
          </Title>
          {
            distance 
            ? <Text style={styles.text}>{distance}</Text>
            : null
          }
        </View>
      </View>
    </TouchableWithoutFeedback>
  )
}

export default CategoryCard

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  image: {
    width: 100,
    height: 100,
    borderRadius: 50
  },
  imageMask: {
    position: 'absolute',
    width: 115,
    height: 115,
    top: -7
  },
  wrapper: {
    display: 'flex',
    alignItems: 'center',
    justifyContent: 'center',
    flex: 1,
  },
  title: {
    fontSize: 18,
    marginTop: -15,
    color: colors.dark,
    textAlign: 'center'
  },
  text: {
    fontSize: 12,
    color: colors.dark,
    marginTop: -15,
    textAlign: 'center'
  },
  container: {
    width: 140,
    borderColor: colors.gray,
    display: 'flex',
    justifyContent: 'center',
    alignItems: 'center',
  }
})