APRSdroid crashes on Android 10

[kf6gpe]

Upgraded to Android Q beta 1 today on a Pixel 3 XL. Using the latest version of APRSdroid currently in the app store as of this filing, noticed two issues:

1. When APRSdroid starts, Android prompts that the application does not support this version of Android and must be recompiled. I'm given the choice to "upgrade" or "cancel". Choosing "upgrade" takes me to the Play Store, with no upgrade (not surprising), and "cancel" closes the dialog and lets the app start.
2. Attempting to display the location of a station on the map (not APRS.fi, but the embedded Google map) persistently crashes the application.

Connection to a TH-D74 with Bluetooth, receiving packets, beaconing packets, and sending and receiving messages all appear to work correctly.

[ge0rg]

Thanks very much for the report. Does your beta of Android include the Google apps, especially Maps? Not having Maps, or aprsdroid using an old version of the Maps SDK, might explain the error message.

Could you please try the OSM variant of the app with offline maps? I guess it won't crash then: https://aprsdroid.org/osm/

I'm overdue with updating my build system, using the most recent Google Maps library and implementing dynamic permissions on Android, which is a significant bunch of work outstanding before I can release the next version.

[kf6gpe]

Hi! Yes, it has the full suite of GMS Apps and Google Play Services. Version-wise, it's on:

• Android Q QPP1.190205.018.B4
• Google Maps 10.11.1
• Google Play Services 16.5.66 (100400-236993078)

Yeah, the build system overhaul's going to be a pesky bit of work. I did a pull about six months ago to submit a PR to add a feature I wanted, and after poking at what it would change to update the build system for a bit called a halt.

It's a good app, though; I use it a lot for public services as well as just amateur stuff, and have made it the cornerstone of a couple of talks on getting users started with APRS. There's nothing else like it now.

[ge0rg]

There is a new branch in git and compilation instructions in #225 (comment) now.

[kf6gpe]

Great! I’ll try to give that a go tomorrow. I’ve got a feature I wanted to put together and issue a PR for; if I get it building from your branch maybe I’ll have time to propose it in the next few weeks (it’s a fail over option between one physical transport and another, so that when I shut off my Bluetooth TNC, it’ll automatically switch over to the TCP/IP transport. Cheers!

[ghost]

FYI, this is now also broken on the general release of Android 10 now deploying to phones everywhere. See the Google Play store comments, but I could imagine it's the same problem?

[ge0rg]

Yes, it seems to be the same problem indeed. I've tested the app on the Android 10 emulator by now, and the crash is due to Android missing the Apache HttpClient library, which is ironically required for Google Maps V1, the old API used by the app.

Refactoring to use the new maps API will be a significant feat, and the only option until then is to use the offline maps Version. Furthermore, I need to make many changes to target the Android 9 version (permission dialogs, appcompat), so that I can publish to Google Play again.

I'm considering to copy over the maps code from c:geo, which has a very similar struggle at the moment. It will probably accelerate things a bit, but as I'm very limited on time, I suppose it will take some months anyway.

[PaulTimmins]

Any update on this? As a workaround, I found simply not clicking the map button lets it function, but that's pretty suboptimal

[ge0rg]

I'm sorry, I forgot to give a status update. I've created an OSM based online map build that doesn't crash, but the map display is still not optimal. It's better if you load an offline map file for your region though.

It's available on Google Play Beta and in the January 1st APK in the downloads section.

[Danie10]

Oddly enough my APRSDroid started crashing when opening and I see its the 1st Jan APK. It was working fine before while I had the static maps loaded. So something must have changed when the recent update happened.

UPDATE OK fixed it - re downloaded the OSM map version

[rushtoner]

I've grabbed the Beta version via the Play Store, and it's working on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A with Android 9. I see a map that looks like OSM data.

Can it support offline maps? APRSDroid has been my favorite tool for chasing high-altitude balloons, but we spend a lot of time in places without data service.

The 2018 APK for offline OSM map crashes on me.

[rushtoner]

I found the option to specify the map file to use, but when I pointed it to a downloaded aprsdroid.map file, it repeatedly crashes. Is there a way to "unspecify" a map file to use, and at least go back to online maps so it won't crash?

[kf6gpe]

I admit I haven't tried a recent build since getting the OSM version off of the download link last summer with the full USA OSM map download (which I'm serving by the original torrent at http://aprsdroid.org/KS9N_USA_MAP_for_APRSDROID.torrent. (I'd previously purchased from the play store, so that I was supporting the app).

I keep saying I'll pull the sources and look at them with the latest build of the Android tool chain and see if I can upstream some patches, but I never seem to have the time.

[ge0rg]

I've now published APRSdroid 1.6 to Google Play (direct APK download). It allows to choose the map between Google (not crashing) and MapsForge.