The Strange Case of the Vanishing Map

[nirakaro]

I use MapsMe – which I really like – on both phone and tablet. It works fine on the tablet, but when I install it on the phone (Moto E3/Android 6.0) it's fine for a few days, but then vanishes and I have to reinstall it.
MapsMe customer support assure me this is an issue with the phone, not the app - they would say that of course, but I'm inclined to believe them. Lenovo customer support haven't come up with anything useful yet. This hasn't happened with this app on several other devices, nor with any other app on this device. So, what the heck? Any of you techies out there give me a steer on this?

[iandriver]

Is it stored to internal memory or a micro SD card?

If the latter, have you another card you can try?

[Sweep]

If on the card it may have something to do with the quality of the card/the speed at which it reads.

I gather that cards intended for rapid access by progs/apps (as opposed to you just manually copying stuff on to them) should be fast - there are different standards.

I had an ongoing problem with OSMandplus neglecting to find the offline maps I had put on my android tab's card.

I changed the card and (touch silicon) all is now well.

May be an idea to check out card options and specs here:

https://www.mymemory.co.uk/

[nirakaro]

The Moto E3, AIUI, formats the card as internal storage? It's a micro SDHC, with a 10 inside the little C, and marked A1, which I understand "means that the card is specifically designed to enable the smooth loading of Apps." But it's the obvious (only?) thing to change, and I think I've got another one somewhere, so I'll swap 'em over and see what. Watch this space.

[Sweep]

Look forward to hearing back.

May be useful for others.

[mercalia]

maybe he has vanished now?

[nirakaro]

No, he's still trying to find the spare SD card. Needles, haystacks.

[nirakaro]

OK, I found the spare SD card (bought from a reputable source, tested and found good), stuck it in the phone, reinstalled MapsMe, downloaded some maps. Thirty-six hours later, it's done a runner again.
If I look in the file explorer, all the maps are still there, but no sign of the app. Anyone got any other suggestions? Apart, of course, from ditch the phone (which I'm by no means in love with) and buy something else.

[Darkman]

This sounds suspiciously like malware, to me. I'd download MalwareBytes from the Google Play store, and give that a run, see if it finds anything nasty. Contrary to popular belief, you CAN get malware and viruses on your phone now.

[nirakaro]

Thanks for the suggestion, Darkman. I installed MalwareBytes, and the scan found no malware and told me that my device is safe. The plot thickens…

[Sweep]

Back up anything important, then factory reset the phone?
Put stuff back on slowly slowly as you test run it for a few days?

[nirakaro]

Good idea. I've done a factory reset - made no difference. I'll try it with no other apps for a bit, see if that works, then reinstall apps one by one. The mystery deepens...

[tim-b]

Hi
C10 A1 should be fine for your needs.
Is the app installed on the phone internal memory? If not try that rather than installing to the SD card; my phone always tells me that the SD card isn't installed on first switching it on (it is and it sorts itself out given time)
Regards
tim-b

[nirakaro]

AIUI (correct me if I'm wrong) the Moto E3 formats the SD card as internal memory, and then makes no distinction between the built-in memory and the card. There is an option to format the card as portable memory, but then – I think – you can't install apps to it, which leaves you a bit short of app-space.

[Sweep]

AIUI (correct me if I'm wrong) the Moto E3 formats the SD card as internal memory, and then makes no distinction between the built-in memory and the card. There is an option to format the card as portable memory, but then – I think – you can't install apps to it, which leaves you a bit short of app-space.

I'd try to avoid putting apps on a card (as distinct from some of their stored files/media etc) to be honest.