question

lazlotabor avatar image
lazlotabor asked

VictronConnect App won't start since last update (11.09.2019)

Hello,
Since the last update at 11th Sept the VictronConnect app won't start, but before that it worked as expected.
The splash screen comes up then it exits.
I was suggested to remove and reinstall the app and reboot my phone but these did not solve the problem.
Phone is a Huaweii P8 Lite.
Any suggestions?

If you need logs or anything, just tell me where do I find them and I'll send it.

Thank you in advance!

Best regards,
Lazlotabor

VictronConnect
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5 Answers
jperez (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
jperez (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Update:

Android 5 devices with a 64bit CPU will experience a crash at startup due to an issue in the libraries we use to develop VictronConnect. This is not expected to be fixed. A workaround for this issue is to manually install the VictronConnect APK that can be downloaded in the software section.

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Hello @Lazlotabor,


Sorry I didn't read the part of your post where you said that you have already tried to reinstall VictronConnect.


We have tested VictronConnect v5.10 on a P8 Lite and it works fine. Which Android version is your phone running, Android 5 or 6? Our is running Android 6.

So if your phone is still running Android 5 you can try to update it to Android 6.


If for some reason updating to Android 6 is not possible, you can download VictronConnect 5.8 from our downloads page: https://www.victronenergy.com/support-and-downloads/software



1 comment
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lazlotabor avatar image lazlotabor commented ·

Hello @jperez (Victron Energy Staff),

I got Android 5.0.1.
I downloaded V5.8 of Victron Connect and it just works fine for me.
Thank you for the suggestion!

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image
Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) answered ·

Is anyone else having a problem with this?

Also @Lazlotabor, we have just released another version 5.10. It may not yet be in the App Store, but please update to that and report back if the problem still persists.

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pj-undev avatar image pj-undev commented ·

Hey. Yes, the same problem with version 5.9 of the app on an old Hudl2 tablet running Android 5.1. Apart from the usual connection and firmware update issues, up until a week or so ago the app had been working fine for more than a year. Now as characterised above, the splash screen comes up for a few seconds and then disappears, and that's it - nothing more.

There's no Internet access where my solar controller is installed and it'll be a few days until I'm back out there and able to test v5.10, if it has updated on my tablet by then.

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klim8skeptic avatar image klim8skeptic ♦ pj-undev commented ·

I think support for Lollipop (android 5) has been discontinued. https://www.victronenergy.com/live/victronconnect:beta


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pj-undev avatar image pj-undev klim8skeptic ♦ commented ·

"Drop support for Android versions older than 5.0(Lollipop)" I'm on 5.1. Connect is not a sophisticated, bleeding edge app. If it starts to rely exclusively on recent OS features, the developers probably need a bit of a talking to. Graceful degradation remains A Thing. :)

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ pj-undev commented ·

This change was driven by the google store now requiring all apps to be 64 compatible ( https://developer.android.com/distribute/best-practices/develop/64-bit ), and what that means for our 3rd party development toolset.

While the app itself isn't using the cutting edge VR features or anything, the tools we use to provide cross platform compatibility (simultaneous and mostly feature identical apps for Windows, macOS, iOS and Android), combined with the requirements of each of those platforms, means that sometimes there is issues with one platform to maintain the whole.

This was the reason for the lack of windows bluetooth compatibility, and the same with the recent move to lose support for Android 5.0.

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pj-undev avatar image pj-undev Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Thanks for the details. Is there a bug in the v5.9 changelog? It states, "Drop support for Android versions older than 5.0(Lollipop)". Given that I'm on 5.1 on what I believe is a 64bit processor (Atom Z3735D), by my reading of the above, Connect should still run on my device, but... :/

Did the author of the v5.9 changelog mean, "Drop support for Android version 5.0(Lollipop) and older"?

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Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) avatar image Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ pj-undev commented ·

Thanks @PJ-UnDev,

There seems to be bug with this version and 5.0, the developers looking into it.

It is intended that 5.0 is supported.

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pj-undev avatar image pj-undev Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager) ♦♦ commented ·

Good. Thanks for the update. Developers? Don't trust 'em! ;)

I look forward to future updates.

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timmermc avatar image timmermc klim8skeptic ♦ commented ·

I'm on 6.0.1 and after the last update the connect app 5.11 doubled the startup time to get to the devices list.

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lazlotabor avatar image lazlotabor commented ·

Hi @Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager),

I tried to update and even reinstall the whole app, but it did not solve the issue.
I downloaded v5.8 of Victron Connect and it works fine tho. The problem will be with my Android version (5.0.1) as @jperez (Victron Energy Staff) suggested.

Thank you for the quick response!

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rapiti avatar image rapiti commented ·

I have had this problem since Jan.2020 with iPhone. Every time I wanted to see charging stats in Victronconnect, it asked me to update. Finally it stopped working, and my phone no longer sees my four 100/50 controllers. Please help!

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jperez (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image
jperez (Victron Energy Staff) answered ·

Hello,

Try to uninstall VictronConnect, reboot the phone and then install VictronConnect again.



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pj-undev avatar image pj-undev commented ·

What does this do to saved settings and histories? Are they lost?

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jperez (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image jperez (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ pj-undev commented ·

Yes, saved settings will be lost when uninstalling. What you can do is continue using v5.8 by downloading it from our downloads page: https://www.victronenergy.com/support-and-downloads/software

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pj-undev avatar image pj-undev jperez (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·

That's a pity. Thanks for the link, though. :)

Edit: I don't know what mechanism you use to push firmware updates to my solar controller. Does sticking with v5.8 mean that I won't get future firmware updates?

I haven't been paying attention recently - has the Bluetooth protocol been open-sourced yet? That'd be the best solution, in my opinion. :)

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iostrym avatar image
iostrym answered ·

Same problem for me. With lg g4 phone and 5.1 Android. It worked with precedent version.

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arran avatar image
arran answered ·

I can't down load the app from playstore and my phone won't let me download from here as a 'security' risk. Help please. Arran

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Please provide more details. Which phone model and Android version? If you download VictronConnect from our website you need to enable "Install from unknown sources" option in your phone settings. If is the browser who is blocking the download try using a different one.

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