Branch subscribe not working

Expo SDK
6

in the adb logcat we see this error:

01-22 10:43:14.875 27690 27690 E h       : java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: abi24_0_0.host.exp.exponent.modules.api.branch.RNBranchModule
01-22 10:43:14.895 27690 27690 E h       : Runtime exception in RNObject when calling method initSession: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'java.lang.reflect.Method[] java.lang.Class.getMethods()' on a null object reference
01-22 10:43:15.365 27690 27690 E h       : java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: abi24_0_0.com.facebook.soloader.SoLoader
01-22 10:43:15.365 27690 27690 E h       : Runtime exception in RNObject when calling method init: java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method 'java.lang.reflect.Method[] java.lang.Class.getMethods()' on a null object reference

overall looks very similar to this issue