How to avoid two flavours of an app opening the same app?

Question

I have different flavours configured for my application. When I install both flavours on the same device there is a huge problem.

When I open App1(Flavour 1) and then minimise it(Click on Home button) and try to open App2(Flavour 2) it opens App1(Flavour1). In order to open App2 I have to kill App1 from recents and then open App2. This happens vice versa too.

I tried using different flavour dimensions too. Here is my current configuration.

android {
compileSdkVersion 28
buildToolsVersion '28.0.3'
flavorDimensions("default")
defaultConfig {
    applicationId "com.xx.aa"
    minSdkVersion 21
    targetSdkVersion 28
    versionCode 1
    versionName "1.0"
    testInstrumentationRunner "android.support.test.runner.AndroidJUnitRunner"
    vectorDrawables.useSupportLibrary = true
    multiDexEnabled true
}
buildTypes {
    release {
        minifyEnabled false
        proguardFiles getDefaultProguardFile('proguard-android.txt'), 'proguard-rules.pro'
    }
}
lintOptions {
    disable 'RestrictedApi'
}

productFlavors {
    aa {
        applicationId "com.xx.aa"
        versionCode 12
        versionName "1.0.1"
        manifestPlaceholders = [
                appName: 'aa',
                appId  : 'com.xx.aa'
        ]
        buildConfigField "boolean", "XXXX", "false"
    }
    bb {
        applicationId "com.xx.bb"
        versionCode 2
        versionName "1.2.3"
        manifestPlaceholders = [
                appName: 'bb',
                appId  : 'com.xx.bb'
        ]
        buildConfigField "boolean", "XXXX", "true"
    }
}

My Manifest

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

<!-- few permissions-->
<uses-feature
    android:name="android.hardware.camera"
    android:required="true" />

<application
    android:name=".global.aaApplication"
    android:allowBackup="false"
    android:fullBackupContent="false"
    android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher_default"
    android:label="${appName}"
    android:roundIcon="@drawable/ic_launcher_default"
    android:supportsRtl="true"
    android:theme="@style/AppCompactTheme">
    <activity
        android:name=".activity.SplashActivity"
        android:screenOrientation="portrait"/>
.
.
.

</application>
</manifest>

Answer 1

Remove applicationId "com.xx.aa" from the defaultConfig. You don't have to specify here when you are using productFlavors.

Answer 2

I don't know what's your exact objective, below task will stop your app before launch.

task stopApp(type: Exec) {
    android.applicationVariants.all { variant ->
        android.productFlavors.all { flavor ->
            if (variant.flavorName == flavor.name) {
                def applicationId = [variant.mergedFlavor.applicationId, flavor.applicationIdSuffix].findAll().join()
                def command = ['adb', 'shell', 'am', 'force-stop', applicationId]
                commandLine command
            }
        }
    }
}

Add this task to your Run Configuration > Before launch.

Or simply (if it's OK) add uninstallAll task.

Answer 3

In your manifest you are specifying "com.xx.aa" as your package. This can cause problems between both or your apps (aa and bb). Also remove it from your defaultConfig.

I have an app with several flavours all with the same manifest package but in order to install them all in the same device I change applicationIdSuffix parameter and all the app can be used at the same time.