Antennapod: Unable to import database

[abendebury]

App version: 1.7.1 (from Google Play)

Android version: 9 on the destination, 4.4.4 on the source

Device model: Nokia 7.1 destination, Moto X source

Expected behaviour:

I want to move AntennaPod to my new phone, and I want to preserve my listening history, subscriptions, etc. So I expect to export the database to google drive and download it from google drive on my new phone and have all my feeds and listening history.

Current behaviour:

I want to move my database to my new phone. I exported the database successfully to google drive. On loading the database on my new phone there is a message at the bottom that the database has been imported successfully. However, no feeds are visible and there is no listening history - it's the same as it was before import.

Since I want to preserve my history, I can't use OPML or gpodder to perform the sync.

I tried opening the file using sqlite on my computer and got the following error message:

% sqlite Downloads/AntennaPodBackup.db 
Unable to open database "Downloads/AntennaPodBackup.db": file is encrypted or is not a database

Seems strange since AntennaPod works perfectly on my old phone so far.

First occured: Today

Steps to reproduce:

1. Export the database to google drive on one phone

2. Try to load it in on another

Environment: Nothing unusual, autodownload enabled.

Database file

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZYZjFRUeXgIswWVrlbJVESbc_7FxpWa3

[orionlee]

I cannot reproduce the problem:

1. I can import the database file you provided (to AntennaPod 1.7.1 on Android 7.0, from sdcard's Download/ directory)

1. I opened the database file on my computer (SQLiteDatabaseBrowser gui) successfully.

---

I'd suggest the following to narrow down the problems.

1. Try to import the database from the device's sdcard (rather than google drive)

1. If (1) does not work, on you new phone, try to see if basic export / import works.
   a. clear all data of AntennaPod app (on system app info screen)
   b. start antennapod, subscribe to a podcast, export the database (to local sdcard, e.g, Download folder)
   c. clear all data again.
   d. start antennapod, and import the database from sdcard.

[abendebury]

This is quite surprising.

I will try using SQLiteDatabaseBrowser rather than sqlite on the command line to see what happens, since there's no reason that we should get different results.

I tried to first download the file onto the nokia and then load it into antennapod. Same result (no subscriptions or anything loaded).

I followed your directions in 2. Import did not work - the podcast I subscribed to was not imported. Perhaps this is an issue with newer android versions?

[abendebury]

I also have access to an android 8 device, I will test on that and update later.

[abendebury]

Tested on Android 8.1.0 Moto G5 plus with AntennaPod 1.7.1 from play store. Importing the database from my old phone works as expected.

Seems like something must be different in the Android 9 API.

[ByteHamster]

Maybe this could be a solution: https://stackoverflow.com/a/51953955/4193263

[orionlee]

@mfietz made a check-in https://github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaPod/commit/006204c3df3ef8c7e533efe438dd1300fb668a0b
(in v1.7.1) that does almost the same thing as @ByteHamster suggested.

Anyway, according in the same stackoverflow question, it was suggested that in Android 9, write-ahead logging is enabled by default.

So it seems that disabling an explicit call newDb.disableWriteAheadLogging() will be needed.

1. It might solve the problem discussed here.
2. Even if it does not solve the problem, the explicit disable is still needed so that the intent of the abovementioned 006204c3df3ef8c7e533efe438dd1300fb668a0b (disable WAL) commit will be applied on Android 9 as well. (assuming the comments that Android 9 enables write-ahead logging by default is true)

[darthwalsh]

I also hit this error when trying to set up my Pixel 3 running Android 9 (with database exported from a Pixel 1 running Android 9).
I'm able to import my DB to another phone running Android 8.

@abendebury I was able to import your DB file using sqlite commandline:

c:\code>sqlite3 \users\darth\Downloads\AntennaPodBackup.db
SQLite version 3.25.3 2018-11-05 20:37:38
Enter ".help" for usage hints.
sqlite> .tables
DownloadLog       FeedItems         Feeds             SimpleChapters
Favorites         FeedMedia         Queue             android_metadata

[abendebury]

@darthwalsh turns out I have SQLite version 2.8.17, so that's probably why I couldn't load it on the command line.

[ubmarco]

I'm having the same issue on Pie. Database is from Android 7. Is there a workaround to get my db imported?

[abendebury]

This is also reproducible in the android studio emulator for android 9.

[samatjain]

I've held off moving to an Android 9 phone because of this—could we get a new release or nightly with this fix incorporated?

[ByteHamster]

It will take some time until the next release because we currently have some bugs on the development branch. If you are brave, you can use the apk I just built. Don't expect everything to work. The apk is signed, so you should be able to upgrade from Google Play as soon as there is an official update.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1uDCQ2EjaguogLvX4szqIqz6JJOKhIB2g

[samatjain]

Thanks for the build!

Unfortunately, as you mention, it is a little buggy… AntennaPod imports and runs fine at the launch after import, but on the second and subsequent launches it crashes constantly.

[ByteHamster]

Crashes constantly? Do you mean it does not even start? I am using the branch on a daily basis. It's not totally stable but it is also not crashing constantly. Do you know how to get the logcat output of the crash?

[orionlee]

I also use a build based on develop (plus a few pending PRs) an Android 7 device, and ran the build on Android 9 emulator quite often.

I have not used import/export for quite some time, however.

[hvhaugwitz]

Would it be possibe to provide a bug fix release only for this issue? It is very annoying to not be able to import the database on a new phone.

[ByteHamster]

We already released 1.7.2-RC5 which you can get by enabling beta testing on Google Play

[abendebury]

I actually did not know that, thanks for letting us know. I've joined the beta and successfully imported my database.