JSONException: Value of type java.lang.String cannot be converted to JSONObject

Reason is some un-wanted characters was added when you compose the String. The temp solution is

return new JSONObject(json.substring(json.indexOf("{"), json.lastIndexOf("}") + 1));

But try to remove hidden characters on source String.

Had the same problem for few days. Found a solution at last. The PHP server returned some unseen characters which you could not see in the LOG or in System.out.

So the solution was that i tried to substring my json String one by one and when i came to substring(3) the error went away.

BTW. i used UTF-8 encoding on both sides. PHP side: header('Content-type=application/json; charset=utf-8');

JAVA side: BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(is, "utf-8"), 8);

So try the solution one by one 1,2,3,4...! Hope it helps you guys!

try {
            jObj = new JSONObject(json.substring(3));
        } catch (JSONException e) {
            Log.e("JSON Parser", "Error parsing data [" + e.getMessage()+"] "+json);
        }

see this http://stleary.github.io/JSON-java/org/json/JSONObject.html#JSONObject-java.lang.String-

JSONObject

public JSONObject(java.lang.String source)
           throws JSONException

Construct a JSONObject from a source JSON text string. This is the most commonly used` JSONObject constructor.

Parameters:
    source - `A string beginning with { (left brace) and ending with } (right brace).` 
Throws:
    JSONException - If there is a syntax error in the source string or a duplicated key.

you try to use some thing like:

new JSONObject("{your string}")

Here is UTF-8 version, with several exception handling:

static InputStream is = null;
static JSONObject jObj = null;
static String json = null;
static HttpResponse httpResponse = null;

public JSONObject getJSONFromUrl(String url) {
    // Making HTTP request
    try {
        HttpParams params = new BasicHttpParams();
        HttpConnectionParams.setConnectionTimeout(params, 10000);
        HttpConnectionParams.setSoTimeout(params, 10000);
        HttpProtocolParams.setVersion(params, HttpVersion.HTTP_1_1);
        HttpProtocolParams.setContentCharset(params, HTTP.UTF_8);
        HttpProtocolParams.setUseExpectContinue(params, true);
        // defaultHttpClient
        DefaultHttpClient httpClient = new DefaultHttpClient(params);
        HttpGet httpPost = new HttpGet( url);
        httpResponse = httpClient.execute( httpPost);
        HttpEntity httpEntity = httpResponse.getEntity();
        is = httpEntity.getContent();           
    } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException ee) {
        Log.i("UnsupportedEncodingException...", is.toString());
    } catch (ClientProtocolException e) {
        Log.i("ClientProtocolException...", is.toString());
    } catch (IOException e) {
        Log.i("IOException...", is.toString());
    }

    try {
        BufferedReader reader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(
                is, "utf-8"), 8); //old charset iso-8859-1
        StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
        String line = null;
        while ((line = reader.readLine()) != null) {
            sb.append(line + "\n");
        }
        is.close();
        reader.close();
        json = sb.toString();
        Log.i("StringBuilder...", json);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        Log.e("Buffer Error", "Error converting result " + e.toString());
    }
    // try parse the string to a JSON object
    try {
        jObj = new JSONObject(json);
    } catch (Exception e) {
        Log.e("JSON Parser", "Error parsing data " + e.toString());
        try {
            jObj = new JSONObject(json.substring(json.indexOf("{"), json.lastIndexOf("}") + 1));
        } catch (Exception e0) {
            Log.e("JSON Parser0", "Error parsing data [" + e0.getMessage()+"] "+json);
            Log.e("JSON Parser0", "Error parsing data " + e0.toString());
            try {
                jObj = new JSONObject(json.substring(1));
            } catch (Exception e1) {
                Log.e("JSON Parser1", "Error parsing data [" + e1.getMessage()+"] "+json);
                Log.e("JSON Parser1", "Error parsing data " + e1.toString());
                try {
                    jObj = new JSONObject(json.substring(2));
                } catch (Exception e2) {
                    Log.e("JSON Parser2", "Error parsing data [" + e2.getMessage()+"] "+json);
                    Log.e("JSON Parser2", "Error parsing data " + e2.toString());
                    try {
                        jObj = new JSONObject(json.substring(3));
                    } catch (Exception e3) {
                        Log.e("JSON Parser3", "Error parsing data [" + e3.getMessage()+"] "+json);
                        Log.e("JSON Parser3", "Error parsing data " + e3.toString());
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    // return JSON String
    return jObj;

}