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Tapatalk FUBAR

AZhappyjack

AZhappyjack

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 3, 2011
10,183
23,660
Happy Jack, AZ
Why oh why do they insist on updating the Tapatalk app? My favorite version ever was 3.0.1, followed closely by 3.2.1. The piece of crapware they are now pushing is horrible - layout is atrocious, they offer no way to turn off the internal notifications, and despite having paid for the version previously, I'm stuck looking at all of their ads.

However, I found an easy way to prevent it (or any other app) from updating via iTunes... simple and straight forward:
  1. Find the old version of the app in your iTunes library or your TimeMachine backup. (The default location will be Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Mobile Applications > appname).
  2. Make a copy of this file outside of this folder just in case.
  3. Then make another copy of it on your desktop. Make sure you have file extensions on so you can see the .ipa extension.
  4. Change the .ipa extension to .zip and extract the folder
  5. Download a plist viewer. I downloaded the free lite version from plist Editor - reading and edit plist files for Windows. On my Mac, I use BBEdit, but any editor that is compatible with .plist files will work fine.
  6. Open the folder you extracted and open the iTunesMetadata.plist with the plist editor.
  7. Search for the <itemId> tag and change the number inside the <integer> </integer> tags to anything. I just use 54321.
  8. Save the file.
  9. Zip the CONTENTS of that folder back up. Change the file extension back from .zip to .ipa.
  10. Delete Tapatalk (or other app) from your iOS device first. Double click the new .ipa file you just made and iTunes will ask if you want to replace it. Hit yes and drag it onto your device.
  11. Sync your device, and you're good to go. Because the ItemID will never match the iTunes store info for that app, it will never update.
If you ever want to abandon this and get the latest and (maybe not so) greatest version, just delete the app from your iOS device and re-download it from the App Store.
 
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i had the classic pro version - the best version ever. since then it has been awful or even more awful.
 
Minor threadjack... I'm on Tapatalk 3.1.1 / iOS 7.1.2. In the last 4-5 days it has become massively wobbly with MacRumors. Is anyone else experiencing this? It's okay with the three other forums I'm using, but I'd be surprised if they have a combined membership/traffic of more than 1% of MR.
 
mojolicious said:
Minor threadjack... I'm on Tapatalk 3.1.1 / iOS 7.1.2. In the last 4-5 days it has become massively wobbly with MacRumors. Is anyone else experiencing this? It's okay with the three other forums I'm using, but I'd be surprised if they have a combined membership/traffic of more than 1% of MR.
Click to expand...

It was so for me for a day or so... would crash when attempting to open a thread on iOS 10 DP8... but since installing iOS 10.0.1 (GM), it's good again... strange goings on.
 
dwfaust said:
... strange goings on.
Click to expand...
Well... I logged out of the four forums I subscribe to and logged back in: no difference. Then I uninstalled Tapatalk and restarted my aged iPhone. And waited. And waited. Half an hour later, the phone was still showing the Apple logo. Lost patience, detached out the battery for a moment, and took it into recovery mode. At which point I remembered I don't have a functioning USB cable - see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-4-charging-issue.1989712/ :)

So I took a not-entirely-healthy iPhone 5c from the drawer and moved myself over to that. Clean install of iOS 9.3.5 and restore from a recent iTunes backup. Installed Tapatalk 6.1.3. Firstly, if Tapatalk now looks like *that* then I won't bother. Secondly, it still crashed on the couple of occasions I accessed MacRumors.

Deleted and installed Tapatalk 3.1.1 (the only other version I have), and seemingly behaves exactly the same way as it did under iOS 7.1.2: will intermittently crash (one time in three?) when accessing 'participated' or 'unread' either immediately, or once the list of posts is displayed, or once an individual thread is loaded.

Have noticed one of the forums I *can* visit is also XenForo, but can't tell the version. Other two 'good' forums are still on vBulletin.
 
mojolicious said:
Well... I logged out of the four forums I subscribe to and logged back in: no difference. Then I uninstalled Tapatalk and restarted my aged iPhone. And waited. And waited. Half an hour later, the phone was still showing the Apple logo. Lost patience, detached out the battery for a moment, and took it into recovery mode. At which point I remembered I don't have a functioning USB cable - see https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/iphone-4-charging-issue.1989712/ :)

So I took a not-entirely-healthy iPhone 5c from the drawer and moved myself over to that. Clean install of iOS 9.3.5 and restore from a recent iTunes backup. Installed Tapatalk 6.1.3. Firstly, if Tapatalk now looks like *that* then I won't bother. Secondly, it still crashed on the couple of occasions I accessed MacRumors.

Deleted and installed Tapatalk 3.1.1 (the only other version I have), and seemingly behaves exactly the same way as it did under iOS 7.1.2: will intermittently crash (one time in three?) when accessing 'participated' or 'unread' either immediately, or once the list of posts is displayed, or once an individual thread is loaded.

Have noticed one of the forums I *can* visit is also XenForo, but can't tell the version. Other two 'good' forums are still on vBulletin.
Click to expand...

I'm not really big on conspiracies, but perhaps in this case... Tapatalk got a huge revolt when they started the whole re-design process several years ago. There were a couple of releases that were absolutely unusable. Over time, they started listening to their customer base and started adding back some of the deleted functionality. Since then, it's all been good (or decent)... but some of the more vocal old-timers have still refused to update and done things like I described above to prevent auto-updates to the app...

I'm wondering if something has changed in the forum plugins that is causing these issues... and wonder if it's totally (or at least in part) to thwart that.

Also, in the interest of full disclosure, after a day or so, the crashes are back for me, as well. I only use Tapatalk for 2 forums, one of which has its own app anyway. For the time being, I am using Safari to browse the MR forum.
 
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dwfaust said:
Also, in the interest of full disclosure, after a day or so, the crashes are back for me, as well.
Click to expand...
My Tapatalk 3.1.1 on a 5c running 9.3.5 suddenly became rock solid again, four or five days ago. And has survived the update iOS 10.0.1, too.

Words, lovely words, and not an image to be seen outside of individual threads. It's glorious.

Given how much everyone hates Tapatalk, and has done for years now, it's amazing that it's never had a genuine rival. I guess there's way more going on under the hood that we give it credit for.
 
mojolicious said:
Given how much everyone hates Tapatalk, and has done for years now, it's amazing that it's never had a genuine rival. I guess there's way more going on under the hood that we give it credit for.
Click to expand...

Very true. When the only tool you have is a hammer, suddenly every problem looks like nail. As I stated above, one of the two forums on which I am active has its own app. That works well, but has to require quite a bit of effort to maintain, where Tapatalk seems to work with most forums, albeit in a less that satisfying way.

Now, if we could get @arn to commission a MacRumors app, life would be good. Otherwise, we're at the mercy of some other developer to take Tapatalk out behind the woodshed.
 
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dwfaust said:
(quote for flagging purposes)
Click to expand...
...aaaaaand, it's back.

As of 24–36 hours ago, after four trouble-free weeks, and in the absence of any changes to either iOS or the app on my iPhone, Tapatalk has again taken a strong dislike to MacRumors.

Any thread I go to, whether 'unread' or 'participated', crashes while loading. If the thread has only one or two short posts on the page, and I'm therefore able to see the bottom the of page, I will momentarily see a grey panel with the title 'see also' and a generic user icon before the application quits. I presume this is an equivalent to 'similar threads' as seen on the browser version of MacRumors.
 
dwfaust said:
It's the older versions (3.0.1 and 3.2.1) that are crashing again. You know, the versions that they released prior to the ugly, crappy, difficult to use "redesign" fiasco.
Click to expand...

Ahh, didn't realize that. I like the new version, much easier to use especially seeing how slow Macrumors is on a PC.
 
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