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Is it possible to have multiple instances of the same app (logged in to different accounts)?

Example: I want Instagram A logged in to Account A (personal), and Instagram B logged in to Account B (business). Both apps are on the same phone; I don't want to log-in and log-out just use use a different accounts.

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When you mean 'Instagram A' and 'Instagram B' do you mean two instances? If that is the case, Android doesn't permit to have more than one instances of same application. IMHO, unless the app itself has some workarounds (like how Chrome browser has tabs to compensate) this is not possible. –  Narayanan Aug 7 '12 at 12:05
That's something that the individual app needs to implement. Apps like GMail do have this functionality, many other app authors don't put the extra work in for features like this that not many people will use. –  GAThrawn Aug 7 '12 at 12:46
What Android version are you referring to? –  t0mm13b Jan 1 '13 at 18:37
Yes, please clarify exactly what you mean by "different accounts". Do you mean different Facebook accounts but a single Android user account? In that case your question might be covered by a similar one: How to keep two versions of an app installed? Do you mean two Android user accounts on a 4.2 tablet? –  eldarerathis Jan 1 '13 at 18:45
Looks like a classic XY Problem. I'm guessing you want to easily switch among multiple Facebook accounts and you've decided that the solution is to have multiple installs of the same application. 'Twould be better if you would ask about the actual problem you're trying to solve. –  Al E. Jan 2 '13 at 16:19

7 Answers 7

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Titanium Backup PRO (and only the paid (Pro) version allows this) - FYI ROOT REQUIRED - does allow Profiles, but not the running of multiple insntances of the same app, with the exception of Winamp (but Winamp has Always been written to do that, no matter the platform)

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There's an awkward solution:

Renaming the package name inside an apk as proposed by Adobe to fix a nasty limitation of their AIR framework, XDA has the same too.

All use apktool to reverse engineer an app (unpack apk, change package name in AndroidManifest.xml, repack, resign).

This won't change locations on the SD card though (if it's used, all 5 instances would use the very same folder on the card still, just FYI)

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Just decompile the app, change package name, compile, push to phone. Done! Just dont distribute it, advertising it as yours, because that is illegal.

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No, This is definitely impossible. Android OS never allows you to install multiple same apps.

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What about JB 4.2 and multi-user accounts? –  t0mm13b Jan 1 '13 at 18:42
even with 4.2, technically, you don't ever install the app more than once. it uses the same app that had been installed previously, just creates a data folder for the user that "installed" the app. –  Ryan Conrad Jan 1 '13 at 19:41

No, it's not possible to run multiple instances of the same app.

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You can't have two applications which has same identifier. The identifier is the string after this text in url of the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=. So for a single app this would be same, even if you haven't downloaded it from playstore, the identifier would be unique for the app.

For facebook app, the identifier is com.facebook.katana.

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PS: The identifier is also called Package name of the app. –  noob Jan 2 '13 at 9:56
Maybe we decompile app and changeing identidier to com.facebooka.katana and recompile then install. Mybe installed ? –  Batuhan Topbaş Jan 2 '13 at 13:37
Still won't work. The facebook app uses facebook graph API, where you need to put in the package name and main activity class name in dashboard, along with developer id. You've to change the facebook app ID and secret key too. The trick might work on other apps. –  noob Jan 2 '13 at 13:55

Titanium backup lets you set profiles that can be changed to suit which works so 2 profiles can be used on the one app

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