Just to be clear, I love my Brax3, but I am finding it interesting what apps won’t work. I knew going in that 10% or so would not. But I am finding quite a few that I used on a regular basis that do not work and they aren’t something I would suspect having issues such as a banking app.
Amazon shopping – This one I suspected wouldn’t work and yep won’t install so no surprise there.
Tusky – Surprised at this one being a open source Mastodon client and won’t install because of CPU in compatibility
Vlc – also a surprise and won’t install
Mx player – won’t install
Jellyfin – another surprise
Connectbot – a ssh terminal and open source as well
Fbreader – another surprise and won’t install
Ywriter – Installs but then crashes. This is the one app I really wish I could get going. The rest I have other options.
Like I said, banking, shopping, and similar apps I expected not to work. Or online games. But much simpler apps such as a Ywriter, I never would have expected problems.
Is there any hope for such apps as Ywriter to be one day compatible? Or what have now is what will always be?
I dont have much need for some of the apps you mention, but i was intrigued. I just had no issue downloading Jellyfin and Vlc from fdroid. So maybe somthing your end?
Edited to add: if you"re using Aurora, you sometimes need to spoof it to accept your phone as ‘compatible’.
I’ve had this on my BraX3 since day one and it works perfectly, no issue… I even have it in work profile under Shelter. I downloaded this through Aurora without doing anything special (i.e. didn’t need to spoof my phone type).
Interesting. I downloaded Tusky from F-Droid and it installed and ran fine. But when I tried to log into Mastodon account it repeatedly failed on the OTP code entry - like it was out of sync time wise or something like that, so something weird with that app because no problem with any others (see below)…
I also did a quick test and downloaded Husky from F-Droid and installed and ran it no problem on my device and successfully added one of my Mastodon profiles and logged in.
As an aside FWIW I’ve been running the standard Mastodon Client (with multiple profiles) on my BraX3 (under main profile) with no problems…
I did a quick test and downloaded from F-Droid and installed and ran VLC also, no problem on my device.
FWIW the one I can’t get to work is the EBay app. Not essential but is useful for me to have it (again in the work profile under Shelter so it’s locked down when not in use). But just won’t run - gives unexplained error when you open it and try and do sign in. Doesn’t even get to the point where it tries to connect to the internet… Multiple re-installs haven’t resulted in any different behaviour.
Very interesting. I was using side loaded apk’s at first, then when they didn’t work I went to the Aurora Store and several apps I mentioned did download but failed to install.
I didn’t try Amazon shopping from Aurora Store. I will give that another shot.
I didn’t think of F-Droid and how the apps there are often different, for example Joplin can’t use the camera. I couldn’t get the F-Droid app to do anything. Search turned up nothing. But found Tusky via the website and downloaded the apk. That did install and run but I didn’t try logging in.
VLC though I found it, and downloaded it and it wouldn’t install saying it isn’t compatible with my phone. Very interesting. I must be missing something.
The strange thing is I haven’t really changed any settings. I only got the phone recently. And it sounds like you haven’t changed the permissions or settings either.
I gave Aurora another try tonight and it went right in and is working fine! I didn’t change a thing either. Figure that one out. Since this worked I gave VLC another try from Aurora and it failed to download. For kicks I tried it again (didn’t change any settings) and it worked! Downloaded, prompted for install and didn’t give any complaints about a wrong CPU. Strange.
Also Ywriter is one of the few apps I could install, but it only crashes. It doesn’t ask for any permissions and no options for them in the system app settings either. It doesn’t even show its icon properly instead showing the android head icon.
It’s my understanding google plays whack-a-mole with Aurora store: google disables Aurora’s access, so then the Aurora admins find another way in; rinse & repeat. If you ever have problems in Aurora, try again later.
Jellyfin i tested and it worked. I have not set up the rest of what I need to use it but it worked.
Have not tried the rest. But everything I have installed from f droid or aurora has worked, sometimes on aurora I have to spoof a different phone and it downloads and works fine.
Also I saw you said you installed vlc from aurora, that is on fdroid, I highly recommend getting any apps from fdroid over aurora.
Yes I installed VLC from Aurora, but as I said the F-Droid version kept giving me a “wrong processor” error. Several other F-Droid apps did similar which is odd. I didn’t use the F-Droid app but rather downloaded the APK and installed that.
And I agree I MUCH prefer the F-Droid vs Aurora, but when they don’t work…
Well I got VLC and Jellyfin to install without the error from F-Droid. Apparently IF you download the APK and try to install that for some apps it gives a error about wrong processor or not compatible with your phone. BUT directly from the F-Droid app works fine. Figure that one out. They should be the same thing. I wasn’t using the F-Droid app as it wasn’t working/connecting for some reason when I first got my Brax3.
Still haven’t been able to get Ywriter working, it is about the only one left I really want to get working. I can’t download it from Aurora as it is a paid app (without signing in anyway which I don’t want to do). All the backup APKs I have from my old phone don’t work complaining about some incompatibility to parts of the split APK (I have all the parts of the split APK but one or two won’t install). Somewhat strange as I never thought this one would have a issue as it is mainly a local text editor, although it does have a couple of features for cloud access (one drive etc) which I never used. I am guessing that is the parts it is having issues with.
I know I could use another text editor, but this one works with Ywriter on the desktop which saves me time and no converting/tracking changes issues. And when writing a novel that is a huge help.
Not necessarily… There can be differences sometimes between a direct download apk and what you get through F-Droid and again from what you get through Aurora/Play Store.
Well I knew Aurora/Play often there are differences vs F-Droid. For example Joplin on F-droid does not have the ability to use the camera. But I am surprised the apk that you would download from F-Droid is different than the one from the F-Droid store. So far it seems that split apk’s are the most likely to fail when trying to side load vs the store.
As for Ywriter, I did find a old version I had on hand that does work, a few less features but I can deal with that. And it is before the developer started having it as a split apk.
Another interesting. A few days ago I tried to install Peacock for streaming. Aurora was down so I went to APKpure. Tried the .APK files first and they wouldn’t install. Then I tried using the APKpure app/store and while that did install and the Peacock app started, tapping on the buttons did nothing although it didn’t seem frozen as the different advertising images still kept changing. A day or two later Aurora was working again and installing from there Peacock installed and worked fine.
