Gospel Library crashes on load

[tfurrows]

I'm having an issue on my phone (Verizon, Orbic Joy, RC608L_v1.0.49_BVZPP/jenkins240316, Android 12 kernel 4.19.157-perf+) where the Gospel Library starts, displays the logo about 80% of the time (blue background only about 20% of the time), seems to be attempting to load, then crashes.

When this first started happening, I was able to uninstall/reinstall and the application would work. Sometimes it would work for a day, sometimes a little longer, before exhibiting the same behavior again. Now, nothing I do will allow the program to load properly.

Here are a few of the things I've attempted:

• * Clear cache & data
  * Re-install app
  * Force stop app
  * Power cycle
  * Monitor crashes with Scoop & ADB custom permissions, but no crashes were reported
  * Monitor logs with Logcat & ADB custom permissions
  * Battery saver completely disabled or enabled
  * Start in airplane mode
  * Start with mobile data OFF and WIFI on
  * Start with mobile data only (4GLTE)
  * Start with mobile data and WIFI both enabled
  * Over 8GB of storage space on main device available, all over APPS swiped out of background
  * Developer mode disabled background processes, and back to standard limit
  * I have minimal apps installed
  * Private DNS and custom DNS settings
  * In Developer Mode, tried the System Default graphics driver
  * Turned on "always show crash dialog", but no dialog is shown
  * Various other developer mode options
  * Entered bootloader but no cache partition clearing option present

I contacted the developers, explained my issues, and send a screen recording. Resolution was basically to wait for my phone manufacturer to update my phone (which has now happened twice, but without helping anything), or buy a new phone, but with no explanation of what the problem might be. They're busy, I get it, so I take this to mean: we won't try to fix this.

Does anyone else have the same problem, or know of other things to try?

Thanks for your help.

[sbradshaw]

Do you have any updates for Google system libraries available, like Google Play Services or Chrome / Chrome Webview? Maybe there's a system library missing that Gospel Library is crashing when trying to load.

[tfurrows]

Thanks for the recommendation sbradshaw. My app updates are always manual, and all my system-related updates (well, all my updates) are current now and regularly watched.

After I posted, my brain started wondering what else I could try, and I decided to look for an APK directly from the Church. Not finding one, I thought I might try my luck with an APK from a secondary source. I found one with the filename "Gospel Library_6.9.0-(690050.1495392)_APKPure.apk" and installed it.

Much to my surprise, the Gospel Library loaded and I was able to browse the Handbook (which, for my calling, is mostly what I need on a regular basis; I've had to resort to the PDF download, which is quite cumbersome). Now I need to see if it continues to work over the next several days. It's not much of a solution, as it is most certainly not the latest version, but it may be something workable for now.

I'll return here and post my findings, in case they're helpful for anyone else. If this does continue to work, I may attempt to find all the APK versions I can locate, and test until I find a version that fails. If it doesn't continue to work, I suppose I'm back where I started more or less.

[tfurrows]

Forgot to mention another troubleshooting item that didn't work:

• Changed my default browser app from Firefox back to Chrome, and completely cleared/reset Chrome cache and stored files.

Again, this didn't help, but I thought that if the Gospel Library used the default browser somehow it might affect things.

[sbradshaw]

At the bottom of the Gospel Library FAQ page, under "Can I download Gospel Library for Android without Google Play?", there's a link to download an APK. It might be a little more secure than an APK from somewhere else. I'd be curious to know if it works!
https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/mobile-applications/gospel-library-faq?lang=eng

[tfurrows]

Excellent! I didn't dig enough to find that. I've downloaded it... I'll go ahead and finish testing the one I have installed, just to be thorough. Normally, it would only run for a day, sometimes a few days, before failing again. When I get past that point, I'll test the APK from the link you shared to see if there is any difference.

Or, do you think I should go ahead and uninstall the one I have and test this one right away, to see if it even loads?

[russellhltn]

How much free memory do you have? Given the failure pattern, I have to wonder if you're at a critical threshold of free memory.

Edit: I see you say you have 8 GB, but I'd keep an eye on that and see what it's down to when it crashes.

[tfurrows]

8GB was the free storage space. I have 3GB of RAM total, but am not entirely sure how Android breaks up cached memory, etc, to say exactly how much I have available. I'll look for an app that might tell me more. The developer options screen says on average I use about 73% of my RAM (but again, that may be including cached and shared RAM).

[tfurrows]

Another note: I did test the developer option to terminate all background tasks (and disallow them), which would free up a maximum amount of RAM. Didn't help the program start when I tested that.

[tfurrows]

Update: This morning, the installed version (the APKPure version) no longer opens, but exhibits the same behavior as before (attempts to open, displays the logo for a few seconds, then crashes with no message). I've uninstalled it and re-installed the APK that was linked in this thread, from the Church website. That worked/loaded this AM, it remains to be seen if it will continue to work, or if it will behave the same as the others.

I'm not sure what would have changed overnight to cause this issue. I have seen on my wife's Lenovo tablet, a hidden background application designed to "optimize performance" that really just messed things up. I can't recall the name of the app that Lenovo uses, but that would be a vendor-specific issue. I haven't been able to detect anything on this Orbic that would be of that nature, but it's a possibility.

Another remote possibility (it seems to me) is that the fact that I use a non-stock launcher could cause some issue. I use Nova, which is very common. If the Church APK fails, I may attempt to remove that to see if it helps.

I'm still open to any troubleshooting suggestions!