Why does Poweramp need to verify license through Google Play when Poweramp Unlocker is installed?

[jerryteacup]

Yes, I have to add that reinstalling the licence file does not immediately solve the problem.

[Growler]

I know it has all been said before but I would like to add my name to the list of disappointed users. This issue (exactly as described above) has been happening to me for years - dozens of times - and by its nature, always at the most inconvenient time... During a long flight or road trip without data and when I was relying upon Poweramp to relieve the boredom. Very annoying.

I am an airline pilot and spend a lot of time airborne or traveling in foreign countries without data for work. This issue happens to me every month or two. I like Poweramp and was happy to pay for it but find I need to use my stock player just as much these days - due specifically to this licence issue - so what was the point of buying it? 

I am using a stock Galaxy S7 and have a licensed version of the Poweramp unlocker app installed.

It has been mentioned above that this issue is rare, unusual and only affects a few users... But it is not! Clearly there are a large amount of people affected judging by the comments here... And that it is just the people who have taken the time and effort to write.

I shall email Max again on the email above... (although I have already done this previously and have never had any reply.)

Cheers.

[bee46]

My latest failure iteration after following advice from Poweramp Tech Support to delete and reinstall the App:

Hello Alex,

 

I followed your advice and removed both Poweramp and the Unlocker from the device.  Then downloaded  and installed Poweramp trial from your website followed by installing the Unlocker from Play.  As seen below, the App reports that the full version was Purchased and Verified.
After using the App for just a couple of days, it reported the error "Too many failed files.  Playing will now stop." as can be seen in the screenprint.  This was followed by the well reported Google Play error "ERROR_CONTACTING_SERVER" followed by the Failure to verify the Licence.
I can confirm there was no internet service available during the time of the Poweramp App use, approximately 30 minutes, which at that time, the App failed.
The understanding is that once the purchase and licence is verified, that the App does not check again.  Is that correct, as it does not appear to be the case and does indeed attempt to verify the licence again and again during App usage.
Pls offer a resolve to this via patch or the likes.

 

 

[andrewilley]

There does appear to be a problem with an update to Google Play / gapps on certain versions of Android which is causing issues for a number of apps which use this system at the moment. Max is looking into it in case that is what is causing the recent increase in people experiencing licence validation issues. Rolling back from the latest update of the Play Store app (if you are able) seems to be a temporary solution.

Andre

[Cardiacs]

Google play store 10.7.19

Working Fine

Kind regards

Robert

[Growler]

Thanks Andre for following this.

This issue (in my case) dates back at least to early 2016 - maybe earlier - so not recent for me

After more than a year of putting up with it I wrote a detailed review in May 2017 to this app in the Google play store stating this. Max himself replied to the review dismissing it saying I must not have a license... However I have used it previously and I can provide a receipt for purchase through Google play store.

So I'm not sure if I can rollback my play store that far... I think I would need to pull my old Galaxy S4 back out.

[bee46]

19 hours ago, andrewilley said:

There does appear to be a problem with an update to Google Play / gapps on certain versions of Android which is causing issues for a number of apps which use this system at the moment. Max is looking into it in case that is what is causing the recent increase in people experiencing licence validation issues. Rolling back from the latest update of the Play Store app (if you are able) seems to be a temporary solution.

Andre

@andrewilley,

Thank you for checking into this and for moderating the forum.
Is it your understanding that Poweramp does not continue to check the licence status after the initial unlocker install/licence check?  Data from my experiences shows that it does continue to check it.  And if there is no internet connection at the time, the licence verification will fail and the App will shut down/fail.  If the App does not continue to validate the licence, then it would be difficult to assign cause for the continued Poweramp failures on which rev of Android and/or Google Play is/was running.
Also found this interesting.  Just what version of Android is Poweramp written/optimized for?  I am running 7.0 (Nougat)

I received a reply from Alex from Poweramp Tech Support as mentioned in my post yesterday and was disappointed, but I guess not surprised, to find out it's an exact cut and paste from the previous reply:

On Tuesday, July 3, 2018, 2:19:21 AM GMT, Alex Platonov <Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello from Poweramp support team!

Please uninstall Poweramp Trial and Unlocker, restart your device and  update Poweramp (trial - which is the main app) from Poweramp site -http://powerampapp.com/download-Poweramp to latest build.

Thanks!

 

***************************************************************************************************

 

On Friday, June 29, 2018, 3:30:07 AM GMT, Alex Platonov <Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Hello from Poweramp support team!
Please uninstall Poweramp Trial and Unlocker, restart your device and  update Poweramp (trial - which is the main app) from Poweramp site -http://powerampapp.com/download-Poweramp to latest build.

Thanks!

[andrewilley]

5 hours ago, Growler said:

So I'm not sure if I can rollback my play store that far... I think I would need to pull my old Galaxy S4 back out.

Rolling back probably wouldn't help you. The only known specific Google Play operational faults (rather than individual issues experienced separately by users, which need to be handled one by one) are the recent 10.7.17 release which caused problems for a lot of apps and is now being replaced by the fixed 10.7.19, and Android 2.x ROMs with more recently updated Play Store versions (in which case rolling back the Play Store to a very old more-compatible version usually helps)

Max has stated in his FAQ that once initially validated, the licence is "never checked again, unless Poweramp is reinstalled, system is reset, or ROM is updated", which is all I have to go on when seeing any reported problems in the forums. While the first and third points are clear, I've never been able to get confirmation of what the second case actually means. My own assumption was that it means a Factory Reset, however I do wonder whether he might mean a simple power-cycle reboot - which, let's face it, can happen all the time (especially for airline travellers who are asked to turn their devices off during takeoff and landing). If simply turning the phone off and back on again can cause a licence check, then no wonder so many people seem to have issues. Frustratingly, I've never been able to duplicate it on any of my own devices though. 

Andre

[dirtywater]

@bee46 I tried to download from the Poweramp site, but the download build is from May 2016. This still does not fix this prevalent and very frustrating license failure issue. @Max (Developer) I have paid for and have been using Poweramp for over 8 years! Why is this happening. Please Fix and correct!!!! Thank you!

[slayman]

Unfortunately, I am not tech savvy enough to know what most of this means. I do know my old droid 3 is turned off more than it is turned on. I have not a clue how to get an older version of Google Play, if that would solve the problem. Just very frustrating because when it works, the app is very good.

[andrewilley]

For individual user licence issues, please email poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com with your details including email address and device version/ROM.

@slayman What ROM version do you have on your Droid 3? That is pretty much an obsolete phone now, and it could still be running on Android 2.3 or similar,  for which updates to Google Play are known to cause problems. If so, try reverting the Play Store app to its factory installed version and see if that helps.

Andre

[okievit]

As I have several flights coming up, I have once more uninstalled and reinstalled both the app and the unlocker (bought 6-2-13), to see if it makes any difference at all.

Sadly, I've also taken the step of installing two other music player apps as very much needed backup.

Last chance. Max didn't reply to my message from June 25 either.

 

Quite sad, as I do like the app, but enough is enough.

 

Olaf

[bee46]

9 hours ago, andrewilley said:

Max has stated in his FAQ that once initially validated, the licence is "never checked again, unless Poweramp is reinstalled, system is reset, or ROM is updated", which is all I have to go on when seeing any reported problems in the forums. While the first and third points are clear, I've never been able to get confirmation of what the second case actually means. My own assumption was that it means a Factory Reset, however I do wonder whether he might mean a simple power-cycle reboot - which, let's face it, can happen all the time (especially for airline travellers who are asked to turn their devices off during takeoff and landing). If simply turning the phone off and back on again can cause a licence check, then no wonder so many people seem to have issues. Frustratingly, I've never been able to duplicate it on any of my own devices though.

Andre

 

9 hours ago, andrewilley said:

For individual user licence issues, please email Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com with your details including email address and device version/ROM.

Andre

 

@andrewilley

I understand the FAQ* states the license isn't checked again, but the data doesn't seem to support that as I have shown through multiple uninstalls/reinstalls that after installing the Unlocker, Poweramp shows verified and if the FAQ statement is correct, then it shouldn't check again (except under 3 very specific instance, each being rare occurrences).  But many users report that it does indeed fail at a later date and well after the initial verification has occurred.
It is much more plausible that whether by intent or not, the licensing check does occur after the initial verification and if there is not an internet connection for the license check, (which happens to occur through Google Play which is unlikely to be the cause of the issue) then the [re]verification fails and Poweramp fails.  This is a much more plausible issue which has yet to be addressed.

*Poweramp FAQ:

Is Internet connection required?

← Poweramp F.A.Q.

Internet connection is not required for normal operation.
Internet connection is required for a short time after Poweramp purchase.

Poweramp (main app):
- uses optional Internet connection for Album art downloading, and Support.

Poweramp Unlocker:
- for Play purchase license is checked via Internet in first 24 hours after Unlocker installation and Poweramp next start, and if the Google Play Store check is successful, then it's never checked again, unless Poweramp is reinstalled, system is reset, or ROM is updated

- for Website purchase, license is checked via Internet once after Unlocker installation and Poweramp next start, and if the check is successful, then it's never checked again, unless Poweramp is reinstalled, system is reset, or ROM is updated

If license check is failed, Poweramp will try to check it until it fails completely in few attempts.

[andrewilley]

10 hours ago, bee46 said:

It is much more plausible that whether by intent or not, the licensing check does occur after the initial verification and if there is not an internet connection for the license check, (which happens to occur through Google Play which is unlikely to be the cause of the issue) then the [re]verification fails and Poweramp fails.  This is a much more plausible issue which has yet to be addressed.

I have seen plenty of posts here anecdotally indicating the same experience that you describe (although I have never managed to get it to happen on any of my devices) but I can only go by what @maxmp has stated on the subject, unless he will clarify it further for those folks who do seem to get a different experience to what the FAQ suggests. 

Andre

[bee46]

On 7/5/2018 at 1:47 AM, andrewilley said:

I have seen plenty of posts here anecdotally indicating the same experience that you describe (although I have never managed to get it to happen on any of my devices) but I can only go by what @maxmp has stated on the subject, unless he will clarify it further for those folks who do seem to get a different experience to what the FAQ suggests. 

Andre

@andrewilley
In your attempts to duplicate the issue, have you disabled Google Play's access to cell/mobile data?  I'm quite sure that is why the failures are occurring.  Granted, it doesn't happen right away, but in my case, it has yet not to fail.
I also removed cell/mobile data access from Poweramp as well, but don't believe that plays a role based on the error generated being a Google Play "ERROR_CONTACTING_SERVER".

[andrewilley]

12 hours ago, bee46 said:

@andrewilley
In your attempts to duplicate the issue, have you disabled Google Play's access to cell/mobile data? 

Yes, and every time I fly I put my phone into flight mode, reboot at least twice, etc. Even on long-haul routes I've never seen this problem.

Andre

[peter_mccc]

I'm getting really sick of this happening to me. Every so often we go camping in remote areas of Australia. Every time over the last few years before we have gone Poweramp has worked perfectly while in the city. Then, after being out of contact for a few days, Poweramp fails its license check and stops working. We haven't done a software update. We haven't even rebooted. It just stops working. Then we have no music player until we get some mobile coverage again - sometimes 1-2 weeks later.

I don't believe the FAQ at all. It isn't just a problem with the latest version - it happened last year, and the year before, and the year before. This time it happened on 3 of my devices. It is usually 3-4 days after last internet contact.

[andrewilley]

31 minutes ago, peter_mccc said:

This time it happened on 3 of my devices. It is usually 3-4 days after last internet contact.

Have you raised this with poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com ? Max is adamant that it should not happen unless your device is not saving its licence statuses correctly, but how would that happen on three devices?

Andre

[bee46]

8 hours ago, andrewilley said:

Yes, and every time I fly I put my phone into flight mode, reboot at least twice, etc. Even on long-haul routes I've never seen this problem.

Andre

 

@andrewilley,
At next opportunity, after using the App for approx. 30 to 45 minutes in airplane mode, try moving to the next track though about 15-20 songs without them really even starting.  That seems to provoke the failure for me.

[andrewilley]

14 hours ago, bee46 said:

 

@andrewilley,
At next opportunity, after using the App for approx. 30 to 45 minutes in airplane mode, try moving to the next track though about 15-20 songs without them really even starting.  That seems to provoke the failure for me.

I can test that at home by putting the phone in Flight Mode. I'll give it a try later.

Andre

[Growler]

I would also advise people reading this to go into Google play store and review the app mentioning these issues.

Max doesn't reply to any emails I have sent. But he does reply to negative (yet factually true) reviews.

And to be fair... People shouldn't be spending their money on this app if it doesn't work as advertised. It's too late for us to get our money back and I'm guessing Max doesn't care about us existing users (he has our money)... But he may fix it if he starts getting negative reviews which affects his revenue stream.

[bee46]

8 hours ago, Growler said:

I would also advise people reading this to go into Google play store and review the app mentioning these issues.

Max doesn't reply to any emails I have sent. But he does reply to negative (yet factually true) reviews.

 

As @Growler mentioned doing, I too have looked at the reviews and only until recently, below was the cut and paste response for those reporting the app failure due to license check.  

Max MP October 2, 2017

Google Play verifies license for Poweramp 2 times in first 24 hours after purchase/install. If it happens for you all the time, sorry but you have NO valid Poweramp purchase or your google account or Play setup is wrong. Please write to Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com or check Poweramp in-app support. Thanks!

 

The replies now are a more innocuous cut and paste requesting to report the issue.  But can anybody report that they have had a reply from Max after writing with questions or concerns?  I have received a reply each of the 3 times I've written from someone named Alex, but they are cut and paste from the help section and/or FAQ and did not address the issue.

Max MP

Can you please write your issue details to Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com?

[peter_mccc]

On 7/8/2018 at 9:08 PM, andrewilley said:

Have you raised this with Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com ? Max is adamant that it should not happen unless your device is not saving its licence statuses correctly, but how would that happen on three devices?

I haven't reported it - I guess I should give it a go. I've been out of contact for the past month (hence the license problem...) - perhaps I should just give it a one star rating and look for something else.

No other app that I use has this issue - Poweramp is the only one that causes problems when we head into the bush.

[bee46]

On 7/8/2018 at 6:08 AM, andrewilley said:

Have you raised this with Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com ? Max is adamant that it should not happen unless your device is not saving its licence statuses correctly, but how would that happen on three devices?

Andre

15 hours ago, peter_mccc said:

I haven't reported it - I guess I should give it a go. I've been out of contact for the past month (hence the license problem...) - perhaps I should just give it a one star rating and look for something else.

No other app that I use has this issue - Poweramp is the only one that causes problems when we head into the bush.

On 7/3/2018 at 10:16 PM, bee46 said:

I received a reply from Alex from Poweramp Tech Support as mentioned in my post yesterday and was disappointed, but I guess not surprised, to find out it's an exact cut and paste from the previous reply:

On Tuesday, July 3, 2018, 2:19:21 AM GMT, Alex Platonov <Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello from Poweramp support team!

Please uninstall Poweramp Trial and Unlocker, restart your device and  update Poweramp (trial - which is the main app) from Poweramp site -http://powerampapp.com/download-Poweramp to latest build.

Thanks!

 

***************************************************************************************************

 

On Friday, June 29, 2018, 3:30:07 AM GMT, Alex Platonov <Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Hello from Poweramp support team!
Please uninstall Poweramp Trial and Unlocker, restart your device and  update Poweramp (trial - which is the main app) from Poweramp site -http://powerampapp.com/download-Poweramp to latest build.

Thanks!

On 7/9/2018 at 6:39 PM, bee46 said:

 

As @Growler mentioned doing, I too have looked at the reviews and only until recently, below was the cut and paste response for those reporting the app failure due to license check.  

Max MP October 2, 2017

Google Play verifies license for Poweramp 2 times in first 24 hours after purchase/install. If it happens for you all the time, sorry but you have NO valid Poweramp purchase or your google account or Play setup is wrong. Please write to Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com or check Poweramp in-app support. Thanks!

 

The replies now are a more innocuous cut and paste requesting to report the issue.  But can anybody report that they have had a reply from Max after writing with questions or concerns?  I have received a reply each of the 3 times I've written from someone named Alex, but they are cut and paste from the help section and/or FAQ and did not address the issue.

Max MP

Can you please write your issue details to Poweramp.maxmpz@gmail.com?

 

@peter_mccc,  Not sure if you saw a previous post of mine, but after posting screenprints of multiple license verification app failures, I did contact the developer using the suggested email and received replies that were cut and paste from their FAQ.
As I can't defend the app from deserving a one-star rating with this yet-to-be-addressed catastrophic failure mode, you will likely see one of the above posted replies from the developer to similar ratings and ratings comments on the app failure.
 

[elschido]

Same problem here, will add to the already long thread.

Happened to me (and annoyed me) several times on flights and on sea with no internet-connection. 100% no reboot or reset within 24h before it happened. License is shown as "Verified" and installed on my devices years ago.

Devices

• Samsung Galaxy S4, Stock Android
• OnePlus 3 OxygenOS 5.0.4, Android 8.0.0

Even though there may be workarounds of some kind, when you're offline, googling for instructions and then "download and re-install..." is not an option - if it was, license-check would not be an issue in the first place.

Please, if the checking-issue can not be resolved then make the impact less frustrating and do not just stop working at all - give me a grace-period of some days, put up a nag-screen...

Thomas