Tech Forum

I have had my fire tablet for just over a year and suddenly the LDS tools stop working my husband just got a new fire tablet and we couldn't even find the app in the app store.. I had it in my library was able to put on his fire tablet and his will not work either. Hence I checked mine. It works fine on my Google ran Samsung why??? I LOVE MY FIRE TABLET is this going to be fixed?

Mine doesn't work either.

A couple of weeks ago the LDS tools app wouldn't sync on my Kindle Fire. I uninstalled it, then reinstalled it and I logged in but every time I tried to sync it, it would take me back to the sign in screen. I downloaded the app to another Kindle Fire and it did they same thing. Now I can't find the LDS tools app in the app store. What's going on?

The sync was changed around Aug 1 to remove the old HT/VT (which had been relabeled as Ministering) and bring up the real Ministering system. That would explain why it no longer works.

I've heard there's an issue with the Kindle store. I'm haven't heard yet if it's temporary or permanent. However, I think it's safe to assume that you have to be on at least Fire OS 5 (which is based on Android 5.1.1). Everything before that is based on a Android OS that's no longer supported by LDS Tools.

I'm running OS 5.6.2.0, and I can't get it to work after reload. Like the post below, after I log in, when I try to sync it, it takes me back to the sign in screen. One of the reasons I got a Fire was to access lds tools, but now I can't. Is this going to be fixed??

rrecker wrote:Is this going to be fixed??

We've not heard a definitive answer. My Magic 8 Ball says "Outlook not so good."

So, I have sent an email about this, and this is the reply.

'LDS Tools is no longer available for Kindle devices. We only support Android (Google Play Store) and iOS (Apple App Store). We apologize for any inconvenience and hope we will be able to serve you with one of those platforms.'

However, I do believe it could be back on the Kindle devices later on, but for now it just would not be. Unfortunate, I know, but we'll need to make do somehow.

Re "LDS Tools is no longer available for Kindle devices. We only support Android (Google Play Store) and iOS (Apple App Store). We apologize for any inconvenience and hope we will be able to serve you with one of those platforms.'" -- Thanks for the input. Saying "We apologize" doesn't fix the problem. It's not like the Kindle Fire (especially current version) is old technology. Their previous support of Kindle Fire is one reason I bought it (just a little over a month ago). I'm not going to go out an buy another device just because they don't want to support what they previously supported, and then hope that they don't decide to stop supporting that new device as well. I can't afford to chase what appears to be the whims of some programmer.

LDS Tools and other Android applications need to meet the criteria that Google puts in place in order to be listed in the Play Store. Sometimes the requirements from Google involve deprecating old Android releases like the one on the Kindle Fire. The Church considers these moves carefully. We focus our efforts on platforms that the most members use.
Google has generally been easier to support old releases that with Apple on iOS. It takes significant development and testing to release each version.
Thank you for your feedback.

In this case, dropping older versions of Android (pre-5) was required to upgrade to current industry standards for secure data communication.

I'm not sure what caused it to be dropped from the Kindle store. It would be expected that support for older Kindle devices would be dropped (pre-5) for the same reasons. But something else happened. I haven't heard details other than it was some kind of problem. Without knowing something more, we can't tell if the problem was insurmountable or if it involved some kind of decision on the part of the church over and above the one for secure communication.