SignalCheck Beta Crew Forum

[Trip]

5 hours ago, mikejeep said:

I saw your diagnostic report.. it's just null. That's it, null. Nothing else at all.. it literally just says the word null! The only devices I've ever seen do that were non-phone tablets like a Kindle fire. Impressive!

I don't have APKs, I deploy with bundles that Google Play determines how to handle on a case-by-case basis.. but I'll try to figure something out for you.. check your e-mail. Did previous versions work on these phones? New beta is rolling out now, give that a try in a few hours.

Yikes.  That seems like bad news.  I hope it's not a result of being required to target Android 10.  If so, it implies a lot more software is going to break as it updates and that I need to upgrade my phones much earlier than I anticipated.  (I really thought I was set for a few years.)

EDIT:  I noticed that Tower Collector had also updated to a version released on 12/5, and it still gets data.  So hopefully that means there is a solution to be had and it's not strictly caused by targeting Android 10.

Yes, I have both the latest beta before 12/2 and whatever was before that installed on other phones that have yet to be updated and they work fine.  It's just the 12/2 build, and now, the build you just uploaded.  I just installed it, and can tell you that both are failing to show anything.  I sent new diagnostics, but in case they don't contain anything, this is a sampling of what I see when I enable Diagnostic Mode:

https://imgur.com/a/7CDvboI

The rest was related to the database update or repeats of that EGL_BAD_ATTRIBUTE message, as far as I could determine.

Let me know if there are any other diagnostics I could run, even with other software, to help point you in the right direction.  These phones are all rooted, so I have more flexibility than most. 

Alternatively, I could try to unroot them, install any more recent updates, reroot them, and see if anything improves.  Or factory reset.  Or try unofficial ROMs, which is not something I've done before.

- Trip

Edited December 11, 2020 by Trip
Added comment about Tower Collector.

[bmoses]

tested out the site note feature for 5G SA! i wasn't able to save a note though  sent a diagnostics report and here is a screenshot of what SCP looks like as well as the error

[mikejeep]

4 hours ago, Trip said:

Yikes.  That seems like bad news.  I hope it's not a result of being required to target Android 10.  If so, it implies a lot more software is going to break as it updates and that I need to upgrade my phones much earlier than I anticipated...

The new diagnostic report is the same as yesterday, just says "null" -- very odd. I don't see how targeting Android 10 would cause that, as it's working fine on other older devices. Many apps have been targeting it for 2 years, I literally waited until the last moment to make the move. We will keep chatting over email and get it figured out.

 

1 hour ago, bmoses said:

tested out the site note feature for 5G SA! i wasn't able to save a note though  sent a diagnostics report and here is a screenshot of what SCP looks like as well as the error

Saw your report this morning, thanks! It's working for others, but you oddly have that "no connection" block above the 5G info that is a red flag.. is that always there? If you toggle airplane mode does it go away? Please try saving a note again and sending a report right after, I want to compare the info.

[bmoses]

3 minutes ago, mikejeep said:

The new diagnostic report is the same as yesterday, just says "null" -- very odd. I don't see how targeting Android 10 would cause that, as it's working fine on other older devices. Many apps have been targeting it for 2 years, I literally waited until the last moment to make the move. We will keep chatting over email and get it figured out.

 

Saw your report this morning, thanks! It's working for others, but you oddly have that "no connection" block above the 5G info that is a red flag.. is that always there? If you toggle airplane mode does it go away. Please try saving a note again and sending a report right after, I want to compare the info.

that was it! no that block above is not always there. generally just see it when switching off of wifi. i got connected back to 5G SA and that block was gone and tried it again and it worked to save a note. I sent a new diagnostics report after saving a note, thanks!

[mikejeep]

4 hours ago, bmoses said:

that was it! no that block above is not always there. generally just see it when switching off of wifi. i got connected back to 5G SA and that block was gone and tried it again and it worked to save a note. I sent a new diagnostics report after saving a note, thanks!

Excellent! Some of those occasional hiccups when switching networks and 5G is involved will take awhile to sort out, it was the same when LTE was rolling out. Fringe scenarios confuse the app sometimes. Glad it's working for you!

[mikejeep]

Thank you to those who have provided feedback about the latest SignalCheck beta so far, I appreciate it! I have identified a bug where the app will crash in some instances if you attempt to add a 5G site note when there is an invalid NCI. It does not happen every time. It will be fixed in the next update, which I intend to roll out very soon. In the meantime, don't try to add a site note when the NCI is missing or invalid!

Some have asked why they cannot see any identifying information for 5G cells when also connected to LTE. This is "non-standalone" (NSA) 5G mode, and for whatever reason, cell identity information is not reported in that mode, only signal data. "Standalone" (SA) 5G mode has no simultaneous LTE connection, and seems to reliably report cell identity information. This mode should become more prevalent as 5G deployment evolves.

SignalCheck is more useful with SA 5G connections than NSA, but it is reliably reporting everything it can in both modes.

[mikejeep]

Another SignalCheck beta is in Google's hands and will hopefully be available shortly. This update includes numerous bugfixes and also two significant pieces that I have been working on for awhile:

* A new "Trail Logger" feature -- it saves one "crumb" to this log each time there is a signal update. It can be backed up and exported just like the existing Site Log. For reference, I drove around testing it for about an hour, and ended up with about 900 LTE entries. Not everyone will find it useful, but it opens up a lot of potential.

* New 5G alerts based on bands or plaintext matching, same as what is already available for LTE alerts. Select "all bands" under the 5G band alert if you want to be notified of non-standalone 5G connections that do not report a band.

Feedback is always appreciated.. thanks!

[mikejeep]

Busy week for the beta crew.. and me.. ANOTHER update has been pushed to Google Play and should be available within a few hours! These bugs were squashed this time:

* No information at all was being displayed on pre-Android 10 devices. Fixed!

* Connecting to 5G with the 5G band alert enabled but not configured was causing the app to crash. Fixed!

* Some 5G bands (n41, most notably) were displaying improperly in some instances. Fixed!

Hopefully getting very close to a stable release for everyone.. please let me know. Feedback has been awesome this release cycle, thanks!

[mdob07]

@mikejeep I noticed a Samsung/Android bug today and wanted to point it out incase someone else notices it too. Since both my S20 ultra and S20+ updated to Android 11 HSPA signal strength is reported as -24 dBm. Cellmapper reports it as -24dBm also so it looks like that's what the OS is passing through to SCP and cellmapper. Service mode screen shows proper signal strength. I sent a diagnostic report just incase there's anything useful. 

[mikejeep]

22 hours ago, mdob07 said:

@mikejeep I noticed a Samsung/Android bug today and wanted to point it out incase someone else notices it too. Since both my S20 ultra and S20+ updated to Android 11 HSPA signal strength is reported as -24 dBm. Cellmapper reports it as -24dBm also so it looks like that's what the OS is passing through to SCP and cellmapper. Service mode screen shows proper signal strength. I sent a diagnostic report just incase there's anything useful. 

So it's kind of technical/complicated, but there's 2 things going on here.. 1) your device is (incorrectly) reporting -24 dBm via one method and 2) it's loosely tied to an Android bug I reported 2 years ago that the development team disagreed with. Best bet is hope Samsung fixes the radio glitch.. if not I can try to come up with a creative workaround. But that might have a negative impact on a device that's properly reporting..

[mikejeep]

ANOTHER update rolling out to the beta crew now.. I did not intend for this week to have nightly builds, but here we are! Hopefully this wraps up all the bugfixes for this cycle.. maybe.. 🤞

[mikejeep]

Last update didn't quite get the job done.. another beta rolling out now, should be available within a few hours. More 5G (standalone) information is included in the notification pulldown in this release -- please test that out! Also improvements to the 5G Lost alert and hopefully resolved the problem with 5G provider names missing.

[mikejeep]

New beta is rolling out right now.. includes a new option: Preferences > General > Use Alternate PLMN ID

As promised, this option will use a different method to obtain the PLMN ID, which in some instances, will give a different value (i.e. T-Mobile sites showing 312250). On modern devices, enabling this should not cause any issues, but if you experience problems, please let me know.

This version is also being rolled out as a public release, with dozens of changes and bugfixes thanks to your testing results and feedback. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

[mikejeep]

Minor beta update rolling out.. alternate PLMN option was always being used on LTE, regardless of user preference setting. Also updated Clearwire to show as Sprint and (hopefully) resolved a crash.

[dkyeager]

On 12/11/2020 at 1:47 AM, mikejeep said:

New beta rolling out now.. hopefully will become available on Google Play within a few hours! It has another pile of bugfixes, but more fun than that.. 5G logging and site notes! Just like LTE, you will need a minimum of a PLMN and a site ID (NCI) to save entries, which means you will need to have a standalone connection. I have not seen any non-standalone connections provide any cell identity information, so those will not be able to be logged.

I do not have access to 5G SA, so those of you who do, please test it thoroughly and let me know how it goes.

Another new feature is a somewhat hidden "shortcut" to send a diagnostic report -- long-press on the "Connected to [whatever]" line in the top right corner and it will send. It will use the username that was included on the last report (if any), but you can't include any details. This should come in handy for those of you trying to report certain situations or issues. You can always send a shortcut report, then follow it up with a regular one if you want to include a note.

The last significant change in this release is a new column in the log database, "hits". It is a running counter of how many times an entry is logged.. so it's how many times you have "hit" a cell. Right now it doesn't display anywhere in the app, but you will see it browsing the database or if you export your log. If there's somewhere in the app that you think would be useful to display it, let me know. I have some ideas for it in the future.

Thank you for the help!

An alternative way to store hits would be the last date it was hit, then it would be easy to see Sprint sites disappear (eventually) or better yet, get converted.  How were you thinking of using the counter?

Thanks

[Trip]

37 minutes ago, dkyeager said:

An alternative way to store hits would be the last date it was hit, then it would be easy to see Sprint sites disappear (eventually) or better yet, get converted.  How were you thinking of using the counter?

Thanks

SignalCheck already has a last_time field.

- Trip

[dkyeager]

2 hours ago, Trip said:

SignalCheck already has a last_time field.

- Trip

How soon I forget.  Thanks

[mikejeep]

On 1/3/2021 at 9:09 AM, dkyeager said:

How were you thinking of using the counter?

I didn't plan on doing anything with it in the app UI yet, just thought it might be useful/interesting for people to have the data in their log. Perhaps to use it as the sort field when browsing their log.

[mikejeep]

S4GRU Premier Sponsors and above who are on the Beta Crew, please see this post about a new feature you are invited to test. If you're not a Premier Sponsor, or not on the crew.. sit tight for now!

Also, new beta update will be rolling out tonight. It has some minor changes, including better identification of fringe LTE signals and improvement to the Trail Logger -- no more repeated entries when your phone is remaining in the same spot, remaining connected the same cell.

[mikejeep]

Also included in the overnight SignalCheck beta update was the addition of automated in-app updates. When you open the app, it checks for an updated version; if there is one available, you will be offered the option to download it without leaving the app. Once it's downloaded, a bar will remain at the bottom of the app's main screen with a button to install it and restart the app at your convenience.

The app update process is still handled by Google Play, this feature just eliminates the need to check the Play Store for updates.

[mikejeep]

Another SignalCheck beta update is rolling out now.. it includes some minor fixes, but the real goal is is to test the in-app update functionality. Once it is available on Google Play, it should be offered the next time you open SignalCheck. If you happen to see the app update offered in your Google Play app before you see it in SignalCheck itself, please do not update on Google Play. Instead, open up SCP.. you should be prompted to update. Please try it and let me know if there are any issues!

[Grabber5.0]

I just saw the update in the Play Store and saw the message in the update notes about updating in the app, so that worked. I'm not sure if everything went as expected, but it wasn't quite what I expected. My shortheimers is kicking in, so I already don't remember the exact sequence 😁, but this is close:

- As soon as I opened Signal Check Pro, it notified me about the update

- I tapped update, and saw the active download arrow appear in the notification bar, then go away.

- Nothing else happened.

- I closed the app using the exit option in the menu (I wish I had just used the home button, but..)

- Re-opened Signal Check, and was notified that the update was ready to install.

-Tapped install, got the animated install screen.

- Wait, maybe this is when I used the exit function? 🤷‍♂️

- Reopened the app and got the change log notification.

Sorry, I tried to remember. Hope that helps, but probably not. 🤦‍♂️ Bottom line, it did work. I should have used the screen recorder. 🤣

 

 

[Rickie546]

10 hours ago, mikejeep said:

Another SignalCheck beta update is rolling out now.. it includes some minor fixes, but the real goal is is to test the in-app update functionality. Once it is available on Google Play, it should be offered the next time you open SignalCheck. If you happen to see the app update offered in your Google Play app before you see it in SignalCheck itself, please do not update on Google Play. Instead, open up SCP.. you should be prompted to update. Please try it and let me know if there are any issues!

Tried couple times closing the app and opening no prompt to update within the app.

[bmoses]

mine worked! here are the steps i did

• opened app and waited 5 seconds - no update prompt
• exited the app and reopened it
• immediately got an update notification
• tapped update
• waited about 30 seconds
• prompt came up at the bottom of the screen saying an update was ready to be installed
• tapped install
• the app closed and an install screen came up
• once the install was done the app reopened
• presented with the new release notes
• profit

[mikejeep]

Thank you for the in-app updater feedback! It appears to be working as designed. I will elaborate on a post in the main SignalCheck thread shortly, in conjunction with a new release rolling out now.

A new beta is rolling out as well, it only has a couple of minor changes. It is mostly to keep the beta version aligned with the public release.

I appreciate all of your help!