I see this app is still worthless

Once upon a time Gospel Library was by far my favorite app. A while back a new version came out that eventually lead me to stop using it all together. Recently, I decided to try it again. I had the app open earlier this week with out any issues. When I tried to open it at church today I get this.
So if I don't have internet access I can't read my scriptures?!!!! This is totally unacceptable! Looks like I will have to find some alternative if I want to read my scriptures on my mobile devices. The app I had on my palm pilot almost 20 years ago is more useful than this one is now.

cdw3423lds wrote:Once upon a time Gospel Library was by far my favorite app. A while back a new version came out that eventually lead me to stop using it all together. Recently, I decided to try it again. I had the app open earlier this week with out any issues. When I tried to open it at church today I get this.

GospelLibScreen.jpg

So if I don't have internet access I can't read my scriptures?!!!! This is totally unacceptable! Looks like I will have to find some alternative if I want to read my scriptures on my mobile devices. The app I had on my palm pilot almost 20 years ago is more useful than this one is now.

You only need internet connection to download each book. Once downloaded then the book can be read offline.
On a new install nothing will have been downloaded. So initially you will need an Internet connection. There is a [Download All] link in the menu if you prefer that rather than individually downloading each book.

klricks wrote:You only need internet connection to download each book. Once downloaded then the book can be read offline.
On a new install nothing will have been downloaded. So initially you will need an Internet connection. There is a [Download All] link in the menu if you prefer that rather than individually downloading each book.

If you read my post more carefully, you will see I had been using the app earlier in the week, so the content had already been downloaded. Why it wouldn't run at all without an internet connection today is a mystery.

I have seen this exact same behavior, during church, *after having used the app that morning* - with all books already downloaded (I download all content and keep it updated at least a couple times per week). The problem is as follows:

1) They do not have any way to disable downloads without disabling internet (at least, or mobile data)

2) Even if you have connectivity all disabled (e.g. airplane mode), when you open the app, it will try to sync, or, if there are content updates, try to pull them, but since you're disconnected, you'll get the error in the screen capture.

It's insane. They need to give people a way to turn off all downloads, content updates, sync-ing - entirely. Not by disconnecting your device from all connections, but simply as a feature so that if all you need is to use the books you've already downloaded, you have that option.

More than once, I've refreshed content on Saturday or Sunday morning, only to have it try to download half an hour or more of content when I start up the app in Sunday School or RS. It cannot be that hard to give me the option to simply disable such behavior on demand.

(And no, I don't care how urgent it is. If by some fluke Exodus 20 suddenly says "Thou shalt commit adultery", it can wait until after church before I update it.)

PS: I'm not some ignorant end user - I am a computer programmer, I am a person who set up an Android VM on my Windows box so I could make YouTube videos on how to use the previous version of Android GL. Just in case someone wants to suggest that I don't know what I'm talking about - I do.

This message shows up after updating from Android Gospel Library 4 to Android Gospel Library 5, which was released on Wednesday. Gospel Library 5 has a new content updating system – including background content updates (as frequently requested ), but the first time you open the app after updating it has to install its starting content (catalog / list of books, and the scriptures). In addition to background content updates, which should happen in the background during the week, the app is hard coded to never do an automatic content update on Sundays (excluding the first time you open the updated app, whichever day that happens to be).

sbradshaw wrote:Gospel Library 5 has a new content updating system. . .

It seems to have a content removal system too. I had to download all of the content again.

It sounds like what you are saying is the new version will never prevent the user from viewing content that has been previously downloaded when there is no internet connection. I'm pretty sure that was the case in all versions prior to 4.

However, I see this new version still insists on pretending the screen on my tablet is sheet of paper. I didn't pay hundreds of dollars for a 10" screen so I could use apps that waste over 25% of that space. The Book of Mormon app doesn't was tons of space like that. Of course if the developers find out, they will probably change it to be just like Gospel Library. It's also the only reading app I have ever used that limits me to only one font and insists on using a font that is proven to be more difficult to read on electronic screens.

cdw3423lds wrote:It seems to have a content removal system too. I had to download all of the content again.

Yes, I believe that has happened with every major upgrade. It is a royal pain.

But once you get it downloaded, you will be able to access the content whether or not you are online.

And it let me download the latest version from the google play store onto my old Note 8, but now it claims I'm not connected to the internet. Nevermind that the play store knows I'm on the internet, or that Firefox knows. The Gospel Library app apparently doesn't know its own system requirements, so it let me install on a device that doesn't meet those system requirements, and now I can't go back to the old version because they've also hidden the page from which you could download old apks to sideload - heaven forbid we be able to revert and continue using the previous version! I'm fine with them not providing tech support for any but the current version, but to basically force people to spend hundreds of dollars on new hardware when their old hardware works just fine for everything but this app is offensive in the extreme. I should not need some special encryption or protocol just to use an app that contains nothing but publicly available information any idiot could scrape off the website.

Thanks for nothing.

PS: The dumb thing even triggers downloads and gets to about 3/4 on the status bar vbefore telling me it needs an internet connection to load its starting content. Grrrrrrrrr. I don't have hundreds of dollars to buy a new device.

lmcguire wrote:The Gospel Library app apparently doesn't know its own system requirements, so it let me install on a device that doesn't meet those system requirements, and now I can't go back to the old version because they've also hidden the page from which you could download old apks to sideload - heaven forbid we be able to revert and continue using the previous version!

How do you know it isn't compatible with your device? As far as I've heard the only restriction is on the version of Android and the Play store should enforce that.

It sounds more like a bug to me. A number of people on the forums have encountered problems with the new download and install system (in my case it takes a very long time to install and then gives multiple bogus error messages even after the content is actually installed and usable). Others have reported the the current beta version has fixed their similar bugs.

Unless there is some statement somewhere that your hardware isn't supported I'd report it as a bug and maybe try the beta.

lmcguire wrote:I should not need some special encryption or protocol just to use an app that contains nothing but publicly available information any idiot could scrape off the website.

Your LDS Account ID and password are not (or at least shouldn't be) publicly available. For many people, those credentials also grant access to personal membership information (birth date, parent information, membership record number), financial information (donation history), and the ability to request that donations be withdrawn from your bank account. For leaders, they also grant access to other functions, including the ability to modify and move membership records. In many areas, they also grant access to unit financial information and the ability to transfer money from Church accounts to other bank accounts.

lmcguire wrote:And it let me download the latest version from the google play store onto my old Note 8, but now it claims I'm not connected to the internet. Nevermind that the play store knows I'm on the internet, or that Firefox knows. The Gospel Library app apparently doesn't know its own system requirements, so it let me install on a device that doesn't meet those system requirements, and now I can't go back to the old version because they've also hidden the page from which you could download old apks to sideload - heaven forbid we be able to revert and continue using the previous version! I'm fine with them not providing tech support for any but the current version, but to basically force people to spend hundreds of dollars on new hardware when their old hardware works just fine for everything but this app is offensive in the extreme. I should not need some special encryption or protocol just to use an app that contains nothing but publicly available information any idiot could scrape off the website.

Thanks for nothing.

PS: The dumb thing even triggers downloads and gets to about 3/4 on the status bar vbefore telling me it needs an internet connection to load its starting content. Grrrrrrrrr. I don't have hundreds of dollars to buy a new device.

What version of Android are you running? Are you running the app from an SD card (if so, have you tried putting it on internal storage)?