Reinstall the old app on the phone and inhibit upgrades to the horrible new design

edited November 2022 in General Discussion

The new Crono app has caused a storm of posts expressing dissatisfaction that it is ugly and dysfunctional. Not a single positive comment! Developers do not listen to us but try to defend the new app and feed us with promises of minor changes. But we are not defenseless: technically, one can simply reinstall the old app on the phone. The old app is still interoperable with the Crono server.
-> Does anybody know a mirror server where the old APK is still available? Or could somebody fetch the old APK from one of their devices where it did not upgrade yet and post it here?

once the APK file is found, I promise to post here guidelines with screenshots how to install it on Android phones. It is is a few simple steps that can be taken back anytime.

Comments

  • Or, @Aaron could you just be so kind to post the old APK file yourself? it would be to your advantage too because then all your dissatisfied clients can ease their dissatisfaction, use the app they love with all its beauty and industry leading function, and you get less angry comments. wouldn't it be nice? <3

  • edited November 2022

    Please please please!! I want the old APK too! so I can continue using chronometer in the previous version :*

  • edited November 2022

    I found a trustworthy APK mirror that still has the devious version: apkpure. for those familiar with how it works, here is the download link:
    https://apkpure.com/calorie-counter-cronometer/com

    for those who haven't done this yet:

    all this what I write is only for android and not for iphones /ios

    1. Google for apkpure, so you see that this APK mirror is trustworthy. Trustworthiness is very important, because if they have some malicious software for you to download then you are lost. anything could be installed and anything could be executed. this is why I recommend you to Google a bit that APKpure is trustworthy so you can proceed with confidence in the steps that follow.

    2. de-install the current version of cronometer

    3. press the download button on the apkpure site linked above. your browser will download it for you and tell you when it is finished.

    4. now press "open" / tapp on the APK file in the list of all downloaded files (this step is somewhat different on each and every browser, but every browser has a list of all files you downloaded ... it is sometimes surprising how much junk is there in... :-)

    5. Android will send you a message that this doesn't work because this is an unknown APK file. it will also offer you a possibility to make a change in the settings to permit browser to install APK files. tap on the option to change the settings:

      (Opera is the name of my browser. of course you can use your preferred browser for all this)

    6. once there the settings, permit your browser to install APK files by pressing the toggle right to the name of your browser. you can take this back after the installation in the settings

    7. now tap again on the APK file, for example in the list of downloaded files of your browser. this time it will install.

    8. now go to the Play Store.

    9. search for cronometer

    10. you will see that the Play Store offers you a green button: "update". do not press it! the presence of this button confirms that you have successfully installed the previous app version and the Play Store recognizes it as a valid but outdated cronometer app.

    11. now go to the three-dots menu in the right upper corner. there you will see a check mark "enable auto update". make sure that this is unchecked. if this is checked, then chronometer will auto update at some time in the future and then you will get the new version again.

    12. while it's not absolutely necessary, for additional safety I went to the settings again, there to "Apps". you see that the list of all your apps on the phone. search there for your browser, tap on it. then scroll down until you see the permission "install unknown apps". take away this permission because you do not need it anymore.

    if any day you wish to use the newest version, then just go to the Play Store again, press the green update button for cronometer, and press the check mark to enable auto update.

  • correction:
    sorry guys, in the above post I copied only the first part of the link. so here is the full link:
    whttps://apkpure.com/calorie-counter-cronometer/com.cronometer.android.gold/download/1447-APK-0440772b2a5dd7213644e6dacee910ef?from=versions/version

    and here is the overview of all the different versions if you want that:
    https://apkpure.com/calorie-counter-cronometer/com.cronometer.android.gold

    sorry again for my mistake, but this forum does not permit me any more to correct my previous post.

  • @Lolinda Thank you so VERY much! It worked and I'm very pleased. I also see that they've made a few more improvements, such as they are, to the new desktop UI, so that helps. I was thinking of migrating over to MyNetDiary and buying the premium version (which has some features available for free in Cronometer Basic). I will put that off for a while, as this will allow me to use the phone app when the desktop UI gets too annoying.

  • @Lolinda I'm sorry to say that the older version that I installed yesterday from your link above updated itself during the night. I'm now trying to figure out how to not let that happen.

  • @Lolinda I had to go back through other versions on APKPure to find an older version that worked, because your link no longer takes me there. Then I followed the rest of your instructions about disabling automatic updates -- and now everything is fine. Thank you again for your suggestion!

  • If you guys are gonna run stuff you get from APKPure, APKMirror, or any of the countless others, hope you have malware protection on your phone, there's a reason the phone tries to scare you away from installing APKs from 3rd party stores.

    A large majority of the malware on phones if from people doing exactly what you're doing. Unless you have the technical knowhow to verify the hash of those files to verify that they haven't been altered, good luck!

    Also just FYI, not sure how long you guys have been around, but this isn't the first UI update the app has got, and won't be the last. The old version was outdated visually for how Android currently looks. Can't live in the past!

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