Cannot find symbol method "setAppCacheEnabled(boolean) – Ionic capacitor application – Android

The Problem:

After upgrading the Android SDK version from 32 to 33 in an Ionic/Angular application with Capacitor, the build fails due to the removal of the "setAppCacheEnabled" method in the WebSettings class.

The Solutions:

Solution 1: Modify Bridge.java file

To resolve this issue, navigate to the ***Bridge.java*** file in your project and make the following changes:

1. Locate the line `settings.setAppCacheEnabled(false);` and comment it out with `//`. This line is no longer valid since the method `setAppCacheEnabled()` has been removed.
2. After commenting out the previous line, add a new line below it: `settings.setCacheMode(WebSettings.LOAD_DEFAULT);`.

With these changes, the `Bridge.java` file should look like this:

...
// settings.setAppCacheEnabled(false);
settings.setCacheMode(WebSettings.LOAD_DEFAULT);
...

These modifications will ensure compatibility with the updated Android SDK version 33 and resolve the error related to the missing `setAppCacheEnabled()` method.

Solution 2: Manual Removal

If you are unable to update to Capacitor v5, you can manually remove the line containing `setAppCacheEnabled(boolean)` from the source code. Here’s how you can do it:

1. Navigate to the following directory in your project:

node_modules/@capacitor/android/capacitor/src/main/java/com/getcapacitor/

2. Open the Bridge.java file.

3. Locate the following line:

settings.setAppCacheEnabled(true);

4. Delete this line.

5. Save the changes to the file.

After completing these steps, the error should be resolved, and you should be able to build the APK successfully.

Video Explanation: