Tapatalk

[edslunch]

WTF is going on with Tapatalk (on iOS anyway)? First a complete redesign that makes it next to impossible to find stuff, now it crashes every time I try to select a forum. This app has seriously gone downhill the past few years

[keratosis]

Same on android. Its a fuggly mess now. You can go back to the old Tapatalk Pro, but it is not updated anymore.

[Wormius]

I was just thinking about this. It's practically unusable. Now that I have an iPhone, I can't downgrade to a better version. Not sure what the app developers are thinking. Maybe they want people to hate this so much that they will pay extra to go back to version 2.

At this point using the browser is better.

[FlamesPuck12]

As soon as I saw the topic, I knew it would be about this.

But definitely agree with everyone here. The app is so damn terrible, I can't browse CalgaryPuck on it. Not to mention that it crashed so often.

[Igster]

I'm surprised they don't take a step back because EVERYONE is complaining about the new update and interface. It's simply awful.

[photon]

I think it really depends on how you use forums. I can see what they were trying to do and for some forums or people it probably works great.

But for how most of our users probably use the forum (including me), it's worse than terrible. It took me five minutes just to figure out how to get to different forums.

Good opportunity for someone to come in with a new product.

[Drury18]

Not to pile on, but I also hate the update. The Back Burner forum didn't even show up in the initial list when I first updated, I had to add it to favorites. And you can't see any of the Tech Talk or Ticket Exchange forums unless you open the entire list.

I think I counted that it took me 4 different clicks and pages just to get from opening screen to whatever forum category I wanted to read.

...that's when it worked mind you. I've been able to see any pages since this morning. It just crashes when you try to open the forum list.

And they took away the settings to adjust font size and background colour. I think that's what irks me the most. I liked the option of a larger font so that I didn't have my phone on my face trying to read.

[Galakanokis]

The options for dark mode and larger font are still there you just have to be at the home page of tapatalk (where you select which forum you want to enter) to access the global settings. But yes, the new update blows chunks!

You used to be able to see favorited forums under the starred or favorute section now it is only threads. That's a major pain.

[psyang]

I've been reading the tapatalk support site since the 4.10.1 update came out on Android. Almost overnight all Android threads became threads complaining about the update. When iOS (then Windows Phone) followed suit, those threads changed in the same way.

My take is that the 5.8 million dollar investment last summer played a huge part in the change. My guess is that some of the money was based on a milestone release before the end of the year, which explains why the update seemed to be hastily rushed out the door around Christmas.

The good news is that Tapatalk vows to make good changes. Better forum navigation, more streamlined interface (so you can view more than 2 threads per screen), and even a compact mode.

Here's their new sticky post just released today:

There has been an overwhelming reaction to our latest release and we acknowledge that much of it was negative. Since then, we’ve been listening to you, our passionate users who have cared enough to give us feedback, and for that we are extremely grateful. We've combed through the discourse, gathered a lot of great suggestions, and we plan to implement many of them in the very near future.Currently there are 3 main areas we are actively working on to improve our user experience:



1. Topic/Thread User Interface (UI):

“The user interface was one of the main areas of contention. Wasted space, reduced visibility of content, and features make the app difficult to use.”

To answer this issue, there will be an overhaul of our content card UI (the display of topics/threads). The upcoming interface is designed to:

Improve readability and status (read vs unread)
A cleaner look that removes wasted screen real estate. (goodbye blue/grey bars! more viewable topics)
The new cards will also allow you to instantly interact with each post, including marking posts as read or subscribed.

Expect to see the above changes by the end of January on Android and shortly thereafter on iOS. However improving our UI will be an ongoing process so it won’t just stop there. The above fixes may still be tweaked based on your feedback even after release.
After initial UI fixes are live, we will also work on providing an optional “compact” card UI mode so that seasoned forum users can quickly glance through more content. We plan on rolling out this feature in the February/March timeframe.




2. Forum Navigation:

“Forum Browse is gone! They expect us to view nothing but trending and recommended content now!”

The forum browse navigation was a big departure from past versions and was not obvious to many users to the point they thought we took it away. To fix this, we will improve the sub-forum browsing experience and redesign the visual cues to make finding forum browse easier. Fixes in this area include:

Ability to navigate to any sub-forum from anywhere in the forum
A layout that provides more of a full screen navigation experience
A “vertical breadcrumb” interface so you know exactly where you are in the forum hierarchy at all times
Accomplish both of the above with the minimal amount of clicks.

We think the new implementation will significantly simplify the sub-forum browsing experience. The timetable for this updated forum navigation experience will also be 3rd week of February on Android and iOS shortly thereafter.




Additional UI and Feature fixes

“It doesn’t make sense that my subscribed content is located in the hard to find drop-down navigation”
“Forum home screens make it hard to see all of my content”
“What do these tab icons mean? They don’t represent each function well at all”

Based directly off your feedback on various parts of the UI, beginning in January, these additional changes to various parts of the UI are officially on the roadmap and should roll out within the next few updates:

A longer preview of content in Feed including PMs/Conversations
Improved forum listing view in Profile tab that is more compact
Subscribed sub-forums will now be displayed in your subscribed tab instead of in the dropdown navigation
Optimizing Home Screen forum cover image to take less space
Updated tab icons to help you more quickly recognize content and actions
Cleaning up other areas that include icons and navigation that were confusing

We are constantly trying to make Tapatalk a better product for our users and while we may not get it right from time to time, it doesn’t change our mission to improve for you. Your feedback keeps us on track and moving forward, we appreciate that greatly and will continue to listen.


Thank you for your passion, patience, and we look forward to continue working together with you to make Tapatalk better.

We will have renewed focus on our beta groups as well. Please check our stickies or keep an eye on this thread to learn how to join our iOS testflight team and Android Beta Community. More updates to come as they develop...

[Machiavelli]

I'm glad I have Titanium Backup. I simply reverted to the previous version of Tapatalk because the current one is so frustrating.

[psyang]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

I'm glad I have Titanium Backup. I simply reverted to the previous version of Tapatalk because the current one is so frustrating.

Yeah, I also reverted to an older version (4.9.5) that you can download from the net. There's actually a thread at the Tapatalk forum on how to downgrade. Hopefully the changes they forecast will resolve the major issues. But until then...

[Wormius]

Soooo.. does anybody have a copy of Tapatalk 2 ipa for the iPhone? I don't have any backups since I just got the phone, so I am not sure if I am SOL or what.

[Drury18]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Soooo.. does anybody have a copy of Tapatalk 2 ipa for the iPhone? I don't have any backups since I just got the phone, so I am not sure if I am SOL or what.

I have a 2.5.2 one that I just did the change as per the link above on to reinstall to my phone. Worked perfectly!

I can email that to you if you'd like.

[keratosis]

Wow! They really blew it didn't they.

[Wormius]

Yes! PM'd.

[Rathji]

I have finally managed to not want to tear my hair out when I use the new version. It still sucks, but at least when I get totally lost in the interface I can usually get myself back to where I want to be.

Still takes twice as many clicks as it should to get anywhere though.

[Drury18]

Tapatalk has released an update for iOS today that they claim fixes all of the previous problems.

Haven't updated yet, but the screenshots look like it is an improvement from the last
mess.

[Anduril]

Originally Posted by Machiavelli

I'm glad I have Titanium Backup. I simply reverted to the previous version of Tapatalk because the current one is so frustrating.

What version was it before the horrible update?

Anyone else have no sound when playing videos from threads (in iOS)?

[FlamesPuck12]

Originally Posted by Bent Wookie

Anyone else have no sound when playing videos from threads (in iOS)?

Yup I get that too.

The new update isn't that much better. Still POS app.