Android Studio is installing old apk on device

The behaviour is erratic. I solved it by reviewing my code.It turned out that there was a resource file that was invalid. Try reverting back to the last working version of your code before the current changes... Probably a known issue that will be/was resolved out of Beta


Run / Debug Configurations / Miscellaneous TAB [] Uncheck: Skip installation if APK has not changed

Android Studio doesn't always detect small changes in code.


Google thinks it is a feature, not a bug

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=156263

Their proposed solution is to copy the apk(s) instead of manipulating the filename, as in e.g.

Copying APK file in Android Gradle project


I had the same problem. After trying numerous methods that didn't work, I realized that I had accidentally changed an option in my "Run Configuration". Here's exactly what I did to fix the issue.

  1. Run --> Edit Configurations
  2. With your configuration selected on the left panel (mine says "app"), in the General tab on the right panel, there is a section called "Before launch". This section should have an option added called "Gradle-aware Make", but I had accidentally removed it.
  3. I re-added it by pressing the "+", then clicking OK in the popup (leave the input box in the popup blank).
  4. Click apply.

This fixed the problem immediately. Hope this helps someone!