System.loadLibrary(...) couldn't find native library in my case System.loadLibrary(...) couldn't find native library in my case android android

System.loadLibrary(...) couldn't find native library in my case


To root cause (and maybe solve your issue in the same time), here is what you can do:

  1. Remove the jni folder and all the .mk files. You don't need these nor the NDK if you aren't compiling anything.

  2. Copy your libcalculate.so file inside <project>/libs/(armeabi|armeabi-v7a|x86|...) . When using Android Studio, it's <project>/app/src/main/jniLibs/(armeabi|armeabi-v7a|x86|...), but I see you're using eclipse.

  3. Build your APK and open it as a zip file, to check that your libcalculate.so file is inside lib/(armeabi|armeabi-v7a|x86|...).

  4. Remove and install your application

  5. Run dumpsys package packages | grep yourpackagename to get the nativeLibraryPath or legacyNativeLibraryDir of your application.

  6. Run ls on the nativeLibraryPath you had or on legacyNativeLibraryDir/armeabi, to check if your libcalculate.so is indeed there.

  7. If it's there, check if it hasn't been altered from your original libcalculate.so file: is it compiled against the right architecture, does it contain the expected symbols, are there any missing dependencies. You can analyze libcalculate.so using readelf.

In order to check step 5-7, you can use my application instead of command lines and readelf: Native Libs Monitor

PS: It's easy to get confused on where .so files should be put or generated by default, here is a summary:

  • libs/CPU_ABI inside an eclipse project

  • jniLibs/CPU_ABI inside an Android Studio project

  • jni/CPU_ABI inside an AAR

  • lib/CPU_ABI inside the final APK

  • inside the app's nativeLibraryPath on a <5.0 device, and inside the app's legacyNativeLibraryDir/CPU_ARCH on a >=5.0 device.

Where CPU_ABI is any of: armeabi, armeabi-v7a, arm64-v8a, x86, x86_64, mips, mips64. Depending on which architectures you're targeting and your libs have been compiled for.

Note also that libs aren't mixed between CPU_ABI directories: you need the full set of what you're using, a lib that is inside the armeabi folder will not be installed on a armeabi-v7a device if there are any libs inside the armeabi-v7a folder from the APK.


In gradle, after copying all files folders to libs/

jniLibs.srcDirs = ['libs']

Adding the above line to sourceSets in build.gradle file worked. Nothing else worked whatsoever.


In my case i must exclude compiling sources by gradle and set libs path

android {    ...    sourceSets {        ...        main.jni.srcDirs = []        main.jniLibs.srcDirs = ['libs']    }....