Android: Crash on Android — Can only use lower 16 bits for requestCode

Overview

The error message “Can only use lower 16 bits for requestCode” in Android occurs when you’re trying to use a request code that exceeds the limit of 16 bits (which means it should be less than 65536). This is common in intents, especially when starting activities for results or using startActivityForResult() or ActivityResultLauncher.

Root cause

Caused by: java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Can only use lower 16 bits for requestCode

Documenting the findings for future reference:

The following are code from android.support.v4.app.FragmentActivity

RANGE
startActivityForResult() in FragmentActivity requires the requestCode to be of 16 bits, meaning the range is from 0 to 65535.

Also, validateRequestPermissionsRequestCode in FragmentActivity requires requestCode to be of 16 bits, meaning the range is from 0 to 65535.

Understanding the Request Code

In Android, the request code is an integer you provide to uniquely identify the request when you start an activity for a result. It should be a value between 0…