On August 19th 2020 the Watchtower released an update to the JW App that included a fix to crashes. I was hoping it would fix a publication crash in the JW App on Android systems.
I have use the JW App on Windows 10, Apple and Samsung devices. On Windows 10 and Apple devices I was able to download all the publications without any issues. However on Android if I download every publication the App crashes and closes. So with the above fix I was hoping to be able to download all the publications.
Why is it important to download all the publications and have them?
First what publications are available? Most of the books published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and The Watchtower’s dating back to 1950, Awake! dating back to 1970, Kingdom Ministry’s dating back to 1970 and several other publications. In time the Watchtower Library will be discontinued as well as the online library and the JW App will include search features similar to the Watchtower Library. So it soon become necessary to have all the publications downloaded.
I have use the JW App on Windows 10, Apple and Samsung devices. On Windows 10 and Apple devices I was able to download all the publications without any issues. However on Android if I download every publication the App crashes and closes. So with the above fix I was hoping to be able to download all the publications.
Why is it important to download all the publications and have them?
First what publications are available? Most of the books published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and The Watchtower’s dating back to 1950, Awake! dating back to 1970, Kingdom Ministry’s dating back to 1970 and several other publications. In time the Watchtower Library will be discontinued as well as the online library and the JW App will include search features similar to the Watchtower Library. So it soon become necessary to have all the publications downloaded.
So after the latest update I opted to test the JW App to see if it would crash if I downloaded all the publications. Before anyone tries this remember to either have your media files downloaded or wait to try because if you download media files AFTER downloading publications you will be unable to reverse the crashes.
In the past when I attempted to download all the publications the entire JW App would crash with no means to even open the Home page, with the above fix the JW App will now load and you can tap every left hand item except Publications. If you download too many Publications the JW App will crash when you tap Publications.
In the past when I attempted to download all the publications the entire JW App would crash with no means to even open the Home page, with the above fix the JW App will now load and you can tap every left hand item except Publications. If you download too many Publications the JW App will crash when you tap Publications.
So here is what I have determined and the fix if you do experience a crash related to the Publications.
I was able to download all the books, brochures, tracks, article series, programs, index, guidelines, CLM’s, however I limit the remainder to The Watchtower back to 2010, Awake! back to 2010, I then tried to download all the Kingdom Ministries back to 1970, but after downloading the JW App crashed when I tapped Publications. As I mentioned before the 8-19-2020 update I was unable to keep the JW App from crashing, with the fix update the JW App will now load to all tabs except Publications.
So if you download too many Publications and the JW App crashes there is now a means to fix it without uninstalling and reinstalling. From the Home page go to Frequently Used and slid the Frequently Used List to the point that you can see the Kingdom Ministries. Then start deleting the Kingdom Ministries. After you delete about 5 years’ worth you should then be able to tap Publications without the JW App crashing.
However, I suggest continuing to delete Kingdom Ministries at least back to 1980 or 1990, remember every month we get a new The Watchtower and CLM.
I was able to download all the books, brochures, tracks, article series, programs, index, guidelines, CLM’s, however I limit the remainder to The Watchtower back to 2010, Awake! back to 2010, I then tried to download all the Kingdom Ministries back to 1970, but after downloading the JW App crashed when I tapped Publications. As I mentioned before the 8-19-2020 update I was unable to keep the JW App from crashing, with the fix update the JW App will now load to all tabs except Publications.
So if you download too many Publications and the JW App crashes there is now a means to fix it without uninstalling and reinstalling. From the Home page go to Frequently Used and slid the Frequently Used List to the point that you can see the Kingdom Ministries. Then start deleting the Kingdom Ministries. After you delete about 5 years’ worth you should then be able to tap Publications without the JW App crashing.
However, I suggest continuing to delete Kingdom Ministries at least back to 1980 or 1990, remember every month we get a new The Watchtower and CLM.
So in summary, the JW App on an Android device will crash if you attempt to download all the Publications. So you have to limit yourself and choose what you want to download. As an example here is what I have done.
BOOKS – All
BROCHURES & BOOKLETS – All
TRACKS – All
ARTICLE SERIES – All
PROGRAMS – All
INDEX – All
GUIDELINES – All
WATCHTOWER – Back to 2010
AWAKE! – Back to 2010
CLM – All
KINGDOM MINISTRY – Back to 2010
So what is the cause? I still believe from an earlier troubleshooting post on this site that it is related to Frequently Used, however it could also be related to an old line of code from the early days of development. Since there are different teams for each platform to work on the JW App, then it is plausible that one team may have overlooked something. Perhaps at some point in the early days of the JW App there was code that had a line limiting the number of total Publications, or an “IF” or “and or” related to the number of Publications. It could be even related to how Android’s file structure for the Publications themselves. However, since the update of 8-19 allowed for many more Publications before the crash and now the crash is only related to the Publications Tab it appears more related to the total number of Publications allowed within the code.
So if you download too many Publications and the JW App crashes just use the above means to delete some of the Publications until it becomes stable again.
BOOKS – All
BROCHURES & BOOKLETS – All
TRACKS – All
ARTICLE SERIES – All
PROGRAMS – All
INDEX – All
GUIDELINES – All
WATCHTOWER – Back to 2010
AWAKE! – Back to 2010
CLM – All
KINGDOM MINISTRY – Back to 2010
So what is the cause? I still believe from an earlier troubleshooting post on this site that it is related to Frequently Used, however it could also be related to an old line of code from the early days of development. Since there are different teams for each platform to work on the JW App, then it is plausible that one team may have overlooked something. Perhaps at some point in the early days of the JW App there was code that had a line limiting the number of total Publications, or an “IF” or “and or” related to the number of Publications. It could be even related to how Android’s file structure for the Publications themselves. However, since the update of 8-19 allowed for many more Publications before the crash and now the crash is only related to the Publications Tab it appears more related to the total number of Publications allowed within the code.
So if you download too many Publications and the JW App crashes just use the above means to delete some of the Publications until it becomes stable again.
#JWApp #Watchtower #JWAppCrashes #JWAppAndroid
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