downgrade my app please!!!!
yahbai
May 16, 2014, 04:48 AM posted in ChinesePod Mobile AppsHi all, and hopefully Chinesepod,
(sorry if this is the wrong group, not sure where to post this...)
I recently "upgraded" to the latest version of the IOS chinese pod app...
Can I downgrade please?
This is I think one of the MOST unusable IOS apps I have ever used. Ever.
It has numberous, serious, usability problems and bugs. It is unacceptably slow and frequently freezes or crashes.
The UI design looks is a confusing mess that I still can't use well.
If I list all intermedieate lessons, then I can't access any older lessons than what fits on the screen.
Honestly, as a long time user of Chinesepod and also a software design product manager, in my opinion this is the worst app I have ever seen.
It will do more to loose chinesepod business than not having an app at all!
Chinesepod ...what are you doing???
You guys have great teachers and fantastic lessons ...but all that work is being completely let down by your app right now!
....this honestly is 10x worse than your previous app in everyway I can think: usability, stability, functionality and performance.
tim102
July 06, 2014, 04:17 PMI can't believe this is a legitimate business. I seriously can't, the app has tones of problems, no one responds to my customer service questions. I got a supposed refund for one month but it never reappears.
I am just astonished by your lack of customer care.
root
June 09, 2014, 12:18 AMURGENT: please undo the latest app update or start giving refunds / time credits.
The app is unusable, no lessons show up under saved (none, zero), and even if managing to find your lesson in the library, the app crashes and quits within 5 seconds of starting to play the lesson.
The way the iOS app is right now amounts to ZERO quality of service, and advertising it would amount to misrepresntation. Anyone who signs up based on CPod claiming that they have a working app would be fooled by a lie.
tim102
how is fixing the bugs going?
waynewaynelo
June 24, 2014, 11:10 PMI would prefer if we could go back to the old working version while the bugs are fixed in the new version. The new version is horrible and makes it impossible for me to to study while on the move. Key busted feature is the ability to listen to the lesson when the phone locked. I always used this feature on the old version. Now the only way to listen is to have the app open the whole time. To make matters wose, the app typically crashes even before the lesson is over.
The people responsible for releasing the app before it was ready should be fired. This is an epic fail.
bluesky3064
June 08, 2014, 05:18 AMThe latest version of the iOS app is dreadful. Please can we go back to a version that actually works.
steve0492
June 25, 2014, 01:42 PMHello, I sent a message to customer service about 10 days ago but have yet to receive a reply, so I'm going to try my luck here.
The iOS app is the only way I use ChinesePod. It has been unusable, not just unstable, but entirely unusable, for nearly 3 weeks.
I feel as though my subscription fee this entire month has gone to waste. Will you offer refunds or credit to us paying customers who have been let down by this technology failure? Thanks.
Steve
boldTraveler
July 01, 2014, 04:30 AMWhat in the world are you guys thinking? Just downgrade to the last working version, 1.13 I think. I am in the same boat as steve0492, cannot use subscription, as I only access from the app. Therefore, I am wasting my money.
davidb4646
July 02, 2014, 02:33 AMI agree with the comments above the ridicuously poor quality of the iOS app. On the Dashboard of the web version, I see a simple list of only the lessons I am suscribing to. Conversely, on the bizarre UI of the app, lessons from every level are shown. Even after I filter by level,it still shows lessons I have never looked at. Compared to the website, it takes forever to find a particular lesson. The simple list we had in the past was so so so much easier. Another huge problem, mentioned by others, is that if I go out of the extension exercises (for example) to look at Pleco, I cannot go directly back to the app page I was on. I haven't been able to use the app for several weeks as a result of all this nonsense!!
Right-Wingnut
July 02, 2014, 07:35 AMI don't have a smart phone, so I'm asking this just out of curiosity. When you download the CPod app, can it still be used after your subscription expires (on previously downloaded material of course).
If not, you seem to be getting less value than someone who downloads lessons manually and keeps them forwever.
If yes, what if your subscription expires while you are in possession of a non-working version of the app (which appears to be most of the time). Shouldn't you be able to download the repaired version without resubscribing?
I realise that I could be showing my complete ignorance of how apps work.
he2xu4
iirc you can't get in if you're not an active subscriber.
I just download all the audio files and text files when I'm a subscriber and put them in Evernote and Dropbox and the like. That way I have them forever accessible from the smartphone. I actually prefer reading the text from Pleco (popup translations and pronunciations) and while it's playing on any audio app of your choosing. I've been doing it this way for years now.
Right-Wingnut
Thanks for that. So it seems that to guarantee continued access, I would have to treat it the same as an iPod. Which seems to be a reason to continue without a smartphone.
And to illustrate my ignorance, I have no idea what Evernote or Dropbox (and the like) is.
podster
You raised a VERY important point: ChinesePod uses the app to block users from accessing their own previously downloaded (and paid for) content after the customer's subscription expires. So yes, you are right, in order to get the most value out of a CPod subscription customers should NOT rely solely on the app if they want to continue to have access to the material on their mobile devices or anywhere else in the future. I suppose this is one of the main reasons that CPod has moved away from its original "podcasting" business model to one emphasizing the app. As an aside, I continue to be amazed that something which the company seems to take as central to its business plan is so near useless, even though it has been years since the introduction of the first mobile app and after several "upgrades" / complete overhauls which included earlier versions that actually worked.
pretzellogic
It would be interesting to see how many complaints there are as a percentage of total users. Or how the app is rated in the iTunes app store.
Amusingly, i've gone ahead and answered my own question. The latest version of the app available is 1.15, dated June 27, 2014. It gets a 4 star rating, and has 6 reviews as I type this. boldtraveler expressed his opinion, but I don't see many other 3, 2,1 or 1 star reviews. Boldtraveler also did readers a favor by distinguishing his review, as a review of the app, not the content.
Armel@ChinesePod
June 25, 2014, 02:14 AMDear waynewaynelo,
We are aware of the problems for this app. Besides fixing the bugs for this app, we are also working on the development of new apps.
waynewaynelo
So fixing the iOS ChinesePod app has a lower priority than the development of new apps? I want a refund for my subscription for the period of time the iOS ChinesePod app is not functional.
root
June 03, 2014, 04:53 AMI've just used the new app for the first time since the iphone auto-updated the app, i am having the same reaction. Please can we go back to the old one? The very first lesson I tried to listen to produced AUDIO_PLAY_FAIL (or similar) error, and life hasn't gotten much better since :(