The `react-native run-android` supports setting a build variant via arguments but always uses the default application id when starting the app via adb. So when you have a debug release and set applicationIdSuffix ".debug" then the adb command is executed with the wrong package name. See https://github.com/facebook/react-native/blob/d4cc5b53c7770f8206e8dbe99593131a3ad0c2d0/local-cli/runAndroid/runAndroid.js#L123 React native version = 0.27.2