Expo build properties error - couldn't find DSO to loaad

Question

I need to set the minSdkVersion of my expo app (with custom dev client) to 24. So, I added the "expo-build-properties" plugin with the minSdkVersion to my app.json file as mentioned here:

{
  "expo": {
    ...
    "plugins": [
      ...
      [
        "expo-build-properties",
          {
            "android": {
               "minSdkVersion": 24
            }
          }
      ],
    ]
  }
}

The problem is that when I build the app using eas build ..., when I try to run the app on an Android emulator or a physical Android device, I get the following error. Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? The only change I made was to set the min sdk version. Everything else remained as before when the app would run properly.

In case it matters, I am developing on a MacBook Pro with an M1 chip.

Answer 1

For anyone who faces the same issue, I was able to fix the problem by adding a new custom plugin as mentioned in this GitHub issue:

Basically, first save the plugin code in the post above to a file in your project, for example, ./withAppBuildGradleModified.js.

Then, in your app.json or app.config.js file, add the plugin to the plugins array like this:

{
  "expo": {
    ...
    "plugins": [
      ...
      "./withAppBuildGradleModified"
    ]
  }
}

And finally, rebuild your app using the proper eas build command. If you get any errors during the build, you may need to add --clear-cache to your eas build command.

Hope this saves the next person a few hours of uncertainty and doubt :)