I have an Android apk that was generated and signed trough the archival process in Visual Studio (if you right click on the .Android project and select "Archive").

When I install the app and then try to debug, it seems that this signed version is uninstalled and then redeployed before the debug starts.

However when I deploy a release build by selecting the Release configuration, and then select Debug config, it does start debugging without uninstalling or clearing the app data.

Is there a way to to the same with an signed/archived build, or has this something to do with the signing that prevents it from doing this?

CodePudding user response：

Release versions are usually optimizated versions and all Debug symbols and references are removed during compilation time. Even "row numbers" are lost, so it's not possible for a Debugger to let Source and Runtime in sync without any debugging information.

So finally answer is No.