App crashes on start on Samsung Oreo devices because of dex issue

Running a release variant of React Native app on Samsung Oreo (8) devices leads to a crash:

java.lang.RuntimeException:
Unable to instantiate application com.pershop.pershop.MainApplication:
  java.lang.ClassNotFoundException:  Didn't find class "com.pershop.pershop.MainApplication" 
  on path: DexPathList[[zipfile....]]
  at android.app.LoadedApk.makeApplication (LoadedApk.java:977)
  at android.app.ActivityThread.handleBindApplication (ActivityThread.java:6030)
  at android.app.ActivityThread.-wrap1 (Unknown Source)
  at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage (ActivityThread.java:1764)
  at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage (Handler.java:105)
  at android.os.Looper.loop (Looper.java:164)
  at android.app.ActivityThread.main (ActivityThread.java:6938)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke (Native Method)
  at com.android.internal.os.Zygote$MethodAndArgsCaller.run (Zygote.java:327)
  at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main (ZygoteInit.java:1374)

App runs fine on non-Samsung devices. (and iOS FWIW)

Environment

  React Native Environment Info:
    System:
      OS: macOS High Sierra 10.13.6
      CPU: (4) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4650U CPU @ 1.70GHz
      Memory: 68.29 MB / 8.00 GB
      Shell: 3.2.57 - /bin/bash
    Binaries:
      Node: 10.5.0 - /usr/local/bin/node
      npm: 6.1.0 - /usr/local/bin/npm
      Watchman: 4.9.0 - /usr/local/bin/watchman
    SDKs:
      iOS SDK:
        Platforms: iOS 12.1, macOS 10.14, tvOS 12.1, watchOS 5.1
      Android SDK:
        API Levels: 25, 26, 27, 28
        Build Tools: 27.0.3, 28.0.2, 28.0.3
        System Images: android-27 | Google Play Intel x86 Atom
    IDEs:
      Android Studio: 3.2 AI-181.5540.7.32.5056338
      Xcode: 10.1/10B61 - /usr/bin/xcodebuild
    npmPackages:
      react: 16.6.3 => 16.6.3 
      react-native: 0.57.8 => 0.57.8 
    npmGlobalPackages:
      react-native-cli: 2.0.1

Description

Created a release version of Android app and any users that install it on Samsung Oreo devices report a crash. (see more above)

Reproducible Demo

You can download and run this app on any Samsung device and see the crash.

[tonyd3]

I had a similar issue before, I fixed it by forcing Java 8 in app/build.gradle.

  compileOptions {
    sourceCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
    targetCompatibility JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8
  }

[amoljain]

@tonyd3 is right. I scrolled up the crash logs and there was a line that complained about Java8. Explicitly setting Java8 solve the issue. Thanks!