Weber Kettle Club Forums
Grill Talk => Weber Grill Forum (Grills, Accessories) => Topic started by: Lightning on August 22, 2017, 10:50:58 AM
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A couple of weeks ago I made the mistake of hitting "Update All" and got screwed over with the upgraded version of the iGrill app. It's an unmitigated disaster. Frankly, I'm surprised that anybody was willing to authorize releasing this piece of garbage to customer devices. It's incredibly feature-incomplete and buggy. Like I said, unmitigated disaster. I thought it was an internal prototype build they accidentally posted on the app store because there's no way this could be a production version of software that's in shape to push out to customer devices - except, apparently, it is.
Does anybody have a copy of the .ipa file for the previous version? I've been unable to find it in my computer's library and I need to try and revert back to 3.2.1 because I can't do a lot of the things I used to and need to with the 4.x revision.
Thanks.
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Looks like I did the same thing. I have not tried it yet but they don't even have a picture of the iGrill that I have under "Select your device". Overwhelming majority of the reviews for the new version are 1/5 stars.
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I don't think the old app actually works
It's still on my phone and iPad and I had to update to the forkin Weber app which absolutely sucks
Red
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Also it appears the developer has stopped letting you review the app in the iOS app store
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Not surprised they shut down reviews since 99.9% of them were blasting the new version. If you go into the app itself, however, you can submit feedback to the developers. I did that. They responded pretty quickly and hopefully they are taking all the negative feedback to fix everything they broke in this version.
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Weber responded to my exceptionally negative review promptly.
They mentioned 2-4 weeks and all will be fixed
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Good news
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It should not take 2-4 weeks to roll it back.
The way they have handled this sucks.
It has already been almost 2 weeks.
I had no complaints or issues with the previous version.
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True, but they mentioned wanting to stick with the new interface/graphics and the add back the functionality. When they responded to me several weeks ago, they mentioned wanting to perfect the new interface first.
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Never understood needing apps to BBQ/Grill. Guess I'm just old fashioned and do it the way I've always done it.
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As a relative newbie to the charcoal world, the app has helped me learn the correct settings on my kettle to control and hold different temperatures. It allows me to "play" with conditions and see how they effect the temperature of my cook. So, need it, no, but I think it has really helped my learning.
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The app makes it easier to restore kettles in the garage while you have a brisket or a shoulder on in the back yard. No walking back and forth to check pit temps. Tracking temps is easier than writing in a log book. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170826/2871a64c440c987493effbb30c82c54d.jpg)
The dip in the pit temp is when I opened the lid to take a peek.
Ignored it all day except for that.
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Ok everyone. Here's what you do (If you're on Android; if Apple see separate post below)
Google "igrill APK 3.2.2". You'll find sites that host the old version.
The first site you find should be fine
Download the app then if you're suspicious about viruses you can have the file scanned for example by two online all checkers: try Virus total or NVISO ApkScan
Then install and you're back to the good working previous version
I'd also recommend an app like My Backup so that you always have old APK backups on your phone so when idiots like Weber update and wreck their software you aren't vulnerable.
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@OldAPK .. your apk is for android right? Is there anything for us Apple fanboys?
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Sorry fljoemon, yes I was writing about android (and I modified my post)
If you're on Apple hopefully you've been syncing with iTunes on your computer; It's been a while since i've used iPhone but the old version of iGrill (3.2.2 for example) should be on your computer. Find your iTunes folder, then go into MobileAppsBackups, then MobileApplications, and then there should be a bunch of ipa files, and try to find the one that looks something like igrill 3.2.2.ipa or the like. Then delete the app off your iphone, and double click on the 3.2.2 file and sync with iTunes. I'd also suggest if you can turn off auto-update or iTunes will put the new version back on your phone the next time you update.
I have to apologize but it's been years since I've used an iphone, and furthermore I use a windows laptop, so if you're on an iMac or if they've changed iTunes in the past few years then the above may not be entirely accurate. I hope it helps.
I know how frustrating it is that Weber have chosen to totally and completely screw up their app. Idiots. I even called them the other day and complained, and the goober who took the call (admittedly not a tech guy I'm sure) said that the engineers at weber don't have any of the old versions of the apps. Utter nonsense. Fools.
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There are a number of things that really do not sit well with me on this. Sure, I understand wanting to get the user interface pinned down before adding features. The way they did this is so totally wrong. First off, you do both in development builds - without deploying this on customer equipment. Especially not in an environment like the Apple App Store where it's next to impossible for average customers to roll versions back after getting foisted with a turd.
Secondly, adding the missing features back in should be trivial. Not removing them in the first place should have been trivial. We all know the code base for them exists and works - it was in the previous version of the software. Redoing the interface shouldn't be difficult because the user interface is well detached from the actual control logic with the way the Model-View-Controller programming model used for iOS is designed; this is not new, it's been in use with various versions of the XCode development environment for all of iOS, OS X on Macs, and Nextstep/Openstep right back to the late 1980s. Reskinning an app designed this way while leaving the programming that does the heavy lifting untouched - and complete - should not have been a problem. I don't have any experience with how Android development is performed but detaching user interface from everything else shouldn't be all that difficult in most modern development models and tool chains.
Never understood needing apps to BBQ/Grill. Guess I'm just old fashioned and do it the way I've always done it.
I don't need it. I got the iGrill 2 so I could use a grate level ambient temperature probe in my WSM because the lid thermometers are known to be off. I know mine's well off, and I didn't want to kludge it with a long stemmed thermometer hanging in through the top vent. Being able to track ambient plus multiple food temperatures helps me keep control over my cooking that much more thoroughly and being able to do so remotely helps me do more than one thing at once. I'm not retired; my time off work is limited so if I can do other things around the house or yard while a long cook is in progress, it really helps me avoid trading off activities in an either/or proposition and lets me do both more often. Me? I'm old fashioned. That pentode vacuum tube schematic symbol pretty much gives that away. I'm also old fashioned in that I also think things should be tested, validated, and proven before being turned over to customers, which very clearly did not happen here in spectacular fashion. But I'm an older style electronics technologist trying to make my way in an information technology world where standards aren't the same.
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Well said @Lightning but remember we've been in a paradigm shift in IT with trying to be more agile and process driven. I think a lot gets lost or missed along the way. My last job I ran and maintained infrastructure which hosted hundred of in house written apps and you'd be shocked how much is missed in testing. I don't try to stereotype but a lot of developers out there are trying to cut corners and circumvent processes in place just to deploy junk ass code to production then deal with the aftermath later. I think Apple should absolutely be adding a feature to roll back an app to the previous version if you aren't happy with the update. I'd sacrifice a small portion of my local or iCloud storage for that feature.
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And look at those fools they pulled the crap app off the Google play store.
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Still on iTunes and still getting panned
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I was one of the many disappointed reviewers. The one update they've since released has made it marginally functional again, but it is still shockingly disappointing. Makes me want to buy a Smoke instead. That would be overkill though. I was really happy with the igrill2 as it was. It worked fine for me. It helped me learn to keep stable temps for long periods of time in my current set up. Now it's not much different from the unit I bought it to replace.
I hope they do something crazy good to it to make up for the pile of_______ they have turned it in to now.
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It looks like they dropped a new version of the iOS app today. I have downloaded, but haven't tried it yet.
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Just downloaded. Thanks for the heads up. Haven't tried it yet, but noticed that on the home screen, there is a new "Presets" button and the most interesting part is that it pulled up my presets from the old version before they messed it up. So, those must have been stored in the program but not part of that last abomination of an update.
It also allows you to set a temperature range again.
So it looks promising.
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I downloaded it on my iPad mini. This is yet another new version and not a re-release of the old one. Anyways, I and gave it a very quick test with the ambient temperature probe and one food probe hanging in free air just to get values of some kind to be read in I made a couple of observations:
When you toggle the probe type to ambient, you can't set a range for it anymore. This means you can't set ranges and alarms for pit temperature - only food temperature. This is somewhat of an improvement but it's of limited value since you're still hobbled in not being able to set warning thresholds for your pit temperature. This is essential for keeping an eye on long running cooks.
The graphs now function on the iPad mini, and aren't obscured by a huge label that you can't close. This is an improvement.
You still can't name probes, check the battery level of the iGrill, and landscape still doesn't function. You still can't view graphs of more than one probe at a time.
So, from what I've been able to see so far, this is a very incremental update.
In fairness to Weber, I do blame Apple for some of this in that they've made it so you can't (easily) download old versions from the App Store and they've made version management very difficult at the iTunes end. In my case, iTunes hasn't been syncing some things properly and the iGrill app is one of the ones that hasn't backed up properly on my computer along with a lot of football team pictures that I had to get replacement copies of. I'm going to ransack it again and see if I can unearth the .ipa file.
I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Weber contracted app development out and changed software houses, or had some serious programmer turnover if it was done in house. The new version of the iGrill app is very clearly being built from scratch. It's also clear that whoever's doing it now doesn't really have much experience with barbecue and electronic instrumentation since the way things were done with the new version don't reflect an understanding of the needed requirements of people who are serious about barbecuing or cooking in general. Whoever made the previous app had a good understanding about what was needed/wanted and the app was quite good. The only major change I'd have asked for was being able to export chart data. This is why I'm wondering if maybe the developers have changed; that theory would go a long way to explaining why the app's so incomplete, why code from the older version couldn't be reused and would have to be rebuilt from scratch, and answering the question what on earth are they doing?
I reviewed version 4.0.1. It's the first time I've ever written a review on the apps store but I felt it had to be done. If the customer dissatisfaction over this isn't expressed, they won't feel any pressure to fix it up.
Well said @Lightning but remember we've been in a paradigm shift in IT with trying to be more agile and process driven. I think a lot gets lost or missed along the way. My last job I ran and maintained infrastructure which hosted hundred of in house written apps and you'd be shocked how much is missed in testing. I don't try to stereotype but a lot of developers out there are trying to cut corners and circumvent processes in place just to deploy junk ass code to production then deal with the aftermath later. I think Apple should absolutely be adding a feature to roll back an app to the previous version if you aren't happy with the update. I'd sacrifice a small portion of my local or iCloud storage for that feature.
I fully agree about Apple's iOS version management for customers. It's completely absent. Not being able to roll back app versions when situations like this happen or entire iOS versions if an upgrade cripples your device (I remember the last version of iOS for the iPhone 3G turned it into an almost unusable piece of junk). I've made a couple of observations about the IT industry. Outside of desktops and servers running Windows which is where the bulk of the expertise is by necessity, a lot of IT people become very dicey very quickly. Non-Windows platforms and hardware, especially outboard hardware interfacing with outboard equipment that deals with real world stuff - temperature data gathering like the iGrills would be a good example - seems to give a lot of career IT people a hard time. A lot of people I've worked with over the years have made the observation that it's been much easier to get engineering/technologists to do IT and software engineering work and obtain good results than to go the other way, and that's been my experience too.
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I too was one of the more than irritated iGrill 2 users after the Weber 4.0 app update. As mentioned above, some of the needed features are back (temp range, alerts). One of the things I just found is that setting an alert for a temp range only sounds audibly once. So, once you drop or escalate above your set temp it alerts you, but never again after being dismissed. FAIL! You have to stop & then reset the range for it to audibly notify you again.
If you're going to challenge a classroom of 6th graders to develop a mobile app, don't do it with a perfectly good functioning app that already existed.
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Success!
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170901/f7c1876f1f3cab6bfbec590caea41ad1.jpg)
Remember this?!?!?! After some serious legwork, I've gotten my hands on the 3.2.1 .ipa file.
If anyone needs it, send me a personal message.
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PM sent. Grate find!!!
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The developer's comments on the latest update is promising and is why we should continue to submit feedback and wishes.
The valuable feedback we received from our consumers will assist us in introducing continuous improvements to our app, which is why we have scheduled a few exciting updates of the next several weeks, bringing back some of the features you have come to know and love as well as introducing new functionality. Stay tuned!
Not to be the grammar police, but man, they need to learn about run-on sentences.
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PM sent.
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Fantastic @Lightining .. I was looking for this and now that you found it, we can use this until they put back all the features in their updated app. Thanks for offering to share it with us. I also sent you a PM. Thanks!
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Pm sent.
Thank you Lightning!
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PM sent... Thanks in advance @ Lightning!
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I hope it all works out.
I had the concept of iGrill (I did not call it that) back in 2006 and it looks like they went through my confiscated notebooks. I suggested such a device, along with several ways of harnessing the data: multiple probes, configuring temps, phone apps or a unit that would receive it (which was their wireless thermometer at the time) and thirdly, a Bluetooth PC and Apple product. My boss at the time thought it was so hip to carry around that thermometer unit on his belt. Yeah cool buddy. Right next to your pager, lol.
But app development and testing is extensive. I did quite a bit of this in my later work when developing hearing aids and microphones and a lot for cellphones. At least back in 2006/8, Weber was in no position of doing that work in-house and I'm not sure if anyone there at the time understood any of it. Remember: "Fire, good. Ugh! Hott. ARRRRGH.. cook food."
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Were any of you who used my copy of the old iGrill app able to get it working?
It sounds like one person wasn't able to, and that the app might be serialized to my iTunes account. If that's the case, it might not install or run for anybody but me and that would moot the point of sharing it.