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Fixing PayPal Android app message ‘Unable to parse license data’

My credit union closed its branch in my city and has horrible hours at the branch in the neighboring city. I opened a checking account with another bank in town so I could cash checks there more conveniently. They closed the branch that was right next to my work. I checked out the PayPal app for Android which allows you to take a picture and deposit checks. It would even do business accounts, which Ally would not.

After my luck with brick-and-mortar banks, I came to use the PayPal app regularly to cash checks. It will deposit the check value to my PayPal account, which I can then withdraw to my bank. It is incredibly more convenient than trying to get to either of my banks.

Everything was working well until, the scan check module for the PayPal app stopped working. I could launch the app, sign in, and visit the Wallet section of the app. After hitting the ‘Scan check’ button and it tried to load the camera, I would get an error message that said ‘Unable to parse license data’.

I was able to scan and deposit checks using the PayPal Here app, a different app for businesses.

I uninstalled the app, rebooted my phone, and installed the app again. I still received the ‘unable to parse license data’ error message until I went through the app Settings and confirmed my phone under the Mobile Phone and PIN section. It seemed the uninstall/reinstall did it.

I looked around online and saw a few reports of the error but no solutions. I figured I would post mine here in hopes that it helps the next person.