On-demand dynamic feature module persistence under storage pressure

Persistence of On-Demand Modules

There is no supported way to mark a dynamic feature module configured with dist:onDemand="true" as non-removable. The dist:removable="false" attribute does not apply to on-demand modules, and the SplitInstallManager API provides no mechanism to lock a module in storage or prevent the Play Store from reclaiming space under storage pressure.

Understanding Silent Uninstallation

Because the Play Store manages the lifecycle of on-demand modules to optimize device storage, it may silently uninstall modules without notifying the application. This behavior is undocumented and varies based on the Play Store version, the Android API level, and OEM-specific storage management heuristics. Crucially, SplitInstallManager does not provide an uninstallation callback; the SplitInstallStateUpdatedListener only tracks the progress of active installation requests, not the removal of existing modules.

Detection and Recovery Strategy

Since you cannot prevent eviction, the app must treat the presence of a dynamic module as a transient state. You can rely on the following signals and patterns to detect and handle missing modules:

• Presence Verification: Before accessing module-specific code or resources, call SplitInstallManager.getInstalledModules(). If the module name is absent from the returned set, the module has been evicted.
• Runtime Guarding: Wrap calls to module-specific logic in a check or a try-catch block to handle ClassNotFoundException or Resources.NotFoundException, which may occur if eviction happens between the check and the execution.
• Re-installation Flow: When a module is found to be missing, trigger SplitInstallManager.startInstall() again to restore functionality.

// Example verification check
Set<String> installedModules = splitInstallManager.getInstalledModules();
if (!installedModules.contains("my_feature_module")) {
    // Trigger re-installation flow
    splitInstallManager.startInstall(request);
}

Verification Steps

1. Install the module via startInstall() and verify its presence in getInstalledModules().
2. Simulate storage pressure (e.g., by filling device storage or using OEM storage cleaning tools) and check if the module disappears from the installed set.
3. Confirm that no SplitInstallStateUpdatedListener events are fired during the silent removal process.

Diagnostic Detail Needed: Are you using a custom ClassLoader or a specific dependency injection framework (like Hilt) to access the module? This may change how you implement the runtime guards to avoid crashes during silent eviction.