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Hello,
Since upgrading to VictronConnect 6.0 on Android, the app “works” but also crashes a lot, randomly. It just closes. This happens about everywhere, but mostly when returning from a device to the devices list, or when staying on the devices list for a while to see quick values.
This is the 1st version that I see crashing on my phone, after having used all previous versions for more than a year.
Works ok on my Samsung S24+ Android v14 March update.
What do you have?
@Guy Stewart (Victron Community Manager)
Happens on smartshunt, inverter rs 48/6000 and mppt rs 450/100 that I have tried.
This issue has been addressed in v6.01 that is already available in the Google Play Store.
Can't see it yet on my phone, nor on https://www.victronenergy.fr/support-and-downloads/software but I expect to see it soon :)
I did the update a few minutes ago on my phone.
Probably some playstore caching or distribution delay.
OTOH the Linux AppImage works fine and doesn't crash (on Manjaro Linux).
What phone do you use? Android version?
Can you please create a service report?
My phone is a Realme 7 Pro (RMX2170) running Android 12.
Not too recent but not too old.
I will see for creating the service report.
Now how can I transmit it please ?
After the app crashed reopen the app and create the report.
You can upload the file here:
The file being binary, I cannot figure whether it might contain personal sensitive information about my phone, myself, my Victron equipment (such as bluetooth PINs or passwords...) etc, so I'm reluctant to post it on a public forum.
Hi @petaramesh
The service report file is encrypted and not many users can decrypt it....
Same here. I have had no luck since the release of 6.0. Every version hangs and crashes before even displaying anything. I really wish I could go back to the last working version of the app.
Same as above:
What phone do you use? Android version?
Can you please create a service report?
Version 5.106 is still available for download here:
https://www.victronenergy.com/support-and-downloads/software
It is a Samsung Galaxy S4 running LineageOS 18.1, so Android 11. The app was always 100% stable on it until the release of 6.0.x. In fact, the best version in terms of functionality and startup time was the one just before 6.0.0.
I can't create a service report because the app freezes and crashes during startup. What I might have (or not) is a tombstone from the system itself after the application crash.
I hadn't considered v5.106 because it seems to be targeting Android 5/6/7. Is this the latest APK before v6.0.0?
Many thanks.
I'm now on 6.03 and haven't had any crash since 6.01.
Ok, I staged a new, clean test by rebooting first etc. v6.03 loaded, showed the blue splash screen for some time, then a white screen and nothing else. The application can be exited with the "back" button, but does nothing else.
v5.106 can't be installed on Android 11, unsurprisingly. Is it at least possible to get the last APK for modern Android versions before v6.0.x?
Hi @Max
We can reproduce the issue on a Galaxy S4 with LineageOS 17 and will investigate the issue.
Kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen
Any update or information about this issue? Can I please at least get the last working version?
Thanks and best regards.
Hi @Max
No update yet on this issue. The suspicion is now that it is a problem that our graphical framework requires certain graphical functionality to be available and that this is not the case on the Galaxy S4 (due to hardware limitations). In that case, this will never be solved.
The latest version that still uses the old graphical framework can be found here (https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/software/VictronConnect-v5.106-armv7.apk)
Regards,
Thiemo van Engelen
This would make it the only incompatible app I have come across on this platform. In any case, as I indicated earlier, v5.106 you are proposing does not install on Android 11 as it targets old systems. The version I need is the last one that was on Google Play before the release of v6.0 for ARMv7 and modern Android releases.
Thanks and best regards.
Hi @Max
I just tried and had no problems installing v5.106 for ARMv7 on our Galaxy S4 running LineageOS 17 (although this is Android 10 and not 11). What was the error that you were getting when you tried to install it on Android 11?
With kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen
edit: I just installed LineageOS 18.1 on the Galaxy S4 and again had no problem installing VictronConnect v5.106 for ARMv7 that can be downloaded from our website (and is already linked by me above).
Thiemo,
Ok. Here it progresses through the install process normally and fails close to the end with "App not installed" when v6.0.3 is already installed. If I first remove the newer version, then v5.106 does indeed install and communicates with the firmware present on the device (which was up-to-date just before v6.0.0). It is not the most recent app before v6.0.0, it won't display key data in the device list for example, which was a nice feature, but this certainly takes care of the most critical issue, so thank you for that.
I haven't seen v6.0.3 running, but I am somewhat puzzled by the graphics problem, if this is what it is. All the releases before v6.0.0 ran perfectly fine.
Hi @Max
Ok.. that is a learning point for us and that is to tell to uninstall the Play Store version indeed.
Regarding the key data in the device list: Because you had to completely uninstall VictronConnect v6.03, the encryption data for the Instant Readout stored on the phone by VictronConnect was also removed from the phone. You have to reconnect to each device to have the newly installed VictronConnect fetch it again and store it on the phone. v5.106 is almost completely the same as the last pre v6.0 version that was in the play store so this should definitely work.
Regarding the graphics issue: We did not change much to the graphics of VictronConnect itself, but we had a major change in the underlying graphical libraries / framework. This (probably) has different requirements with respect to the graphics driver/hardware of the phone. As Android version 12 does not really match the age of the hardware of the phone, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a mismatch in expectation by the graphical framework. So it thinks it can run, because it is Android 12, but at one point something just doesn't work or is not supported and the application terminates.
Kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen
Removing the Bluetooth device pairing and recreating it does indeed solve the Instant Readout issue.
This represents a reasonable solution considering that the hardware won't be supported much longer now due to other external factors like carriers moving to VoLTE, something the S4 firmware has no support for.
Thanks and kind regards.
Hi @Max
To be complete: You don't need to remove the pairing. You just need to connect to the products once in VictronConnect. The pairing is stored by Android and is not removed when uninstalling the app. So the pairing is still there when you uninstall VictronConnect and you should be able to connect to the product without filling in the pincode. Then VictronConnect fetches and stores the information that is needed for the Instant Readout.
Kind regards,
Thiemo van Engelen
It is an interesting comment. The pairing of course remained after uninstalling v6.0.3. I always turn Bluetooth on and immediately start the app. I am not convinced that Bluetooth connected before the app started. The Instant Readout only came back after I had renewed the pairing, for whatever it is worth, always following the same sequence.
I never used the pin code within the app. I used it to pair the device from Android before starting the app.
Re-reading your earlier message and going back to the app for a look, it appears that I could have simply told the app to "forget" the device. Yet, somehow renewing the pairing also fixed the issue while keeping the same device within the app.
Kind regards.
