Rendering broken on Android app

**cam295** · April 22, 2019, 5:41pm

Just adding to the frustration, I keep checking the github thread, hoping for an update, and the last comment from the developer there was more than a week ago, basically saying that there’s no ETA. More than a little frustrated.

**samuelclay** · April 22, 2019, 10:04pm

It’s been a while and I’m also feeling like we will have to bring in extra help if we can’t get this done by May 1st. But know that there isn’t a day where I’m not thinking about this bug and what to do about it.

**larand** · April 24, 2019, 3:16am

Gotta say I’m also more than a little frustrated with this, especially since the website isn’t mobile-friendly, so that’s not an option. Why wait until May 1? Bring in the extra help now, not later. It’s been far too long already.

**yardena** · April 24, 2019, 3:39am

If you have to blame someone for the delay, blame Google. They’re the ones who’ve been blocking app updates until maintainers jump through a bunch of new hoops. Newsblur is not the only app affected here.

Would it be any quicker or easier to try targeting SDK 26 in the meantime or does it make more sense to jump directly to 28?

**geoffwood** · April 24, 2019, 6:00pm

If you have to blame someone for the delay, blame Google

I’m not paying Google, I’m paying NewsBlur and this is pretty basic core functionality that’s been broken for over 5 weeks…

**samuelclay** · April 26, 2019, 8:46pm

I am now in the process of confirming with our Android developer to see if he can fix this in the next few days. If not, I will post a call for an Android developer on Monday and then we will have a clear path to fixing the bug. I’m so sorry this has continued for this long.

**steanne** · April 26, 2019, 11:48pm

webview 73.0.3683.90 just came out 4/25. it does not fix it.

**justkurt** · April 29, 2019, 12:55am

It would really be a bummer if this sloooooooowwww response was due to paying Android users being perceived as less valuable than iOS users.

**Attezz** · May 1, 2019, 3:34pm

I’m not sure if this has been mentioned, but a decent fix would be to uninstall/un-update the regular Google Chrome app, and then install and use Chrome Beta.

I had been using Brave since this error started, but just installed Chrome Beta and didn’t have any issues with rendering in the Newsblur app.

**samuelclay** · May 1, 2019, 10:56pm

Wait, the Chrome beta has fixed the issue?

**Attezz** · May 2, 2019, 1:43am

I’m not great at computer/Android stuff, but I can say that when uninstalling all regular Chrome updates, and using Chrome Beta, newsblur is back to working perfectly.

**steanne** · May 2, 2019, 2:38am

okay, i’ve joined the android system webview beta, we’ll see when it offers me an update

**Tuck** · May 2, 2019, 7:41pm

I think it’s uninstalling all the updates that fixes Newsblur, not using Chrome Beta.

You can’t uninstall Chrome…

**elp** · May 2, 2019, 7:59pm

I think you are right.

I tried removing Chrome Beta and Newsblur still worked, but as soon as I re-enabled regular Chrome the rendering died again. I then disabled regular Chrome again and the rendering was fixed.

Chrome Beta is good temporary work around though.

**steanne** · May 2, 2019, 9:43pm

android system webview 75.0.3770.16 from the beta program does not fix it.

**tedder42** · May 2, 2019, 10:18pm

Chrome Beta isn’t fixing things- what is happening is you “uninstalled” Chrome, which took chrome back to the baseline (eg before any updates). That’s what @tuck was saying.

So… there’s no fix/workaround here other than a bad one, going to an ancient version of Chrome.

**Attezz** · May 3, 2019, 4:49am

Apologies if I phrased it in a way to say beta fixed it. I was trying to say that uninstalling all chrome updates fixes it and then using Chrome Beta doesn’t break it, but allows you to use a version of chrome rather than switch to a different browser.

**Tuck** · May 3, 2019, 3:50pm

That’s a good point, may certainly be an improvement…

**samuelclay** · May 3, 2019, 4:25pm

Good news, I’ve just hired a new Android developer and he begins tomorrow working on the API updates necessary to get this fixed. I hope the update will be out within the week.

**samuelclay** · May 7, 2019, 2:15am

Ok, we have a new fix for the time being. Caleb, our new Android developer, discovered that the new upcoming OS-wide dark mode is causing the issue.

In Chrome, go to chrome://flags and set the flag #enable-android-web-contents-dark-mode to Disabled . Then you’ll need to kill/restart the NewsBlur app in order to reload it.

We’ll have an official release as soon as possible, stay tuned!