Reverting to older versions of ASIAIR app and firmware for macos, iOS and iPadOS

w7ay

Contrary to some comments on this forum, it is possible to revert the ASIAR app (and thus, also its paired firmware) back to an older version which you have used, as long as you have an ASIAIR that is new enough (with eMMC memory) that can be factory rest to its original firmware.

However, you do need to do some of your own diligence.

If you are using macos to control your ASIAIR (either through WiFi or Ethernet), it is easy... do not delete older versions of the ASIAIR app on your Mac's storage. You simply have to reset the ASIAIR to factory settings, and simply launch the older ASIAIR app.

In my case, I have created a folder to hold older ASIAIR apps (including beta versions):

Be sure to rename the app to something you can later pick easliy (I append the ASIAIR version number).

When you run the ASIAIR app (with the newer than factory firmware) when the ASIAIR is booted with its factory firmware, you will be asked to "update the firmware" from the payload in the app.

Notice that this works with (up to 2) Apple M-based computers. A tablet/phone that now tries to connect to the ASIAIR when running even newer ASIAIR app will not work (you will be warned; and don't even try it -- you will probably crash sooner or later).

If you have an Apple phone or tablet, life is not as straightforward, but equally easy. And you will need to own a Mac.

The first thing that you need to do is to download an iPhone/iPad management application to your Mac. Yes, it cost money, but so does a cup of coffee.

The two that I know are iMazing (which I have beed using for a couple of years now) and AnyTrans (which I have not used, but appears to be a copycat of iMazing).

Instead of saving your old ASIAIR apps in your own folder, you connect the iPhone/iPad to your Mac using a USB-C or Lightning cable (depending on the version of the iPad). The iMazing should now see your iPad as a manageable device. iMazing can also download the "current" version of ASIAIR app from the Apple App Store -- once that is saved, you can in the future download this version of the ASIAIR app.

This is the Manage Apps window of my iMazing showing the older versions of the ASIAIR apps:

When I delete the current version of ASIAIR app from my tablet and install the older ASIAIR app, I will be running the older ASIAIR app on the tablet. When you rest the ASIAIR to factory settings, it will allow you to update the firmware to one that is newer than the version when you received the ASIAIR originally.

This is an example when I run ASIAIR app after installing ASIAIR 1.9.1 from iMazing:

If the ASIAIR device has been factory reset (hold hown reset button for longer than 5 seconds whne powering on the ASIAIR device), the ASIAIR app will not show the "App version out of date" notification, but will show a firmware download window.

So, there you go. You just need to be self disciplined enough to keep saving working versions of ASIAIR app into iMazing's storage.

Over the years, I have mentioned iMazing on this forum a number of times, but somehow, people keep saying you cannot install an older version of the ASIAIR app that you had run in the past.

Chen

Corsair

w7ay thank you for posting this Chen.

I have tried to point people to other posts of yours where you mention iMazing as one of the ways to do it for iOS/iPadOS.

Just a clarification - how do people access the previous versions of the ASIAIR App for their Apple devices if they either haven't been doing this and are currently on 2.2.2 (because they updated manually or didn't turn off auto updates and automatically updated) or they've just bought the ASIAIR so 2.2.2 is the first version they're using.

w7ay

Corsair Just a clarification - how do people access the previous versions of the ASIAIR App for their Apple devices if they either haven't been doing this and are currently on 2.2.2 (because they updated manually or didn't turn off auto updates and automatically updated) or they've just bought the ASIAIR so 2.2.2 is the first version they're using.

They can't ; that is why I mentioned "the version of the app that you had used earlier" or something like that, and the need to save the copies of the ASIAIR app every time a stable version comes out.

One can of course find a friend who has a copy of the older ASIAIR app on their Mac, but I believe that will violate ZWO's EULA. We don't want to infringe on ZWO's intellectual property, even though they routinely infringe on the intellectual property rights of others in the Open Source community.

It might be borderline legal (you will need to ask an IP lawyer, I am just a retired engineer with a couple of dozen patents) to hand your iPad to a friend who has been iMazing the older ASIAIR apps, and let the friend download the older version of the app to the iPad with you allowing the iPad to trust his/her Mac.

they've just bought the ASIAIR so 2.2.2 is the first version they're using.

Has ZWO been shipping ASIAIR with the latest firmware? In the past, they just send the ASIAIR with some ancient firmware in the eMMC, and assume that the user gets to update it themselves when they connect the ASIAIR device to the ASIAIR app for the first time.

All that being said, it is very odd that I have not had any problem with ASIAIR v2.2.2 (or the betas before it) that others seem to have. I have used auto meridian flips, auto focus, plate solving etc, and they all work consistently with a pretty old ASIAIR "Plus" (the version that used the real Raspberry Pi processor) on both iOS and macos. Granted, I have not need to do any polar alignment (my tripier is semi-permanently mountd, and I only redo polar alignment once a year or so, and my OTAs all have moderately corrected tilts -- bad backfocus and tilts will cause auto focus on ASIAIR to fail because of the constant-exposure value that it uses during autofocusing). And I do not use WiFi. Perhaps the ASIAIR knows that I can switch anytime to INDIGO Sky or StellarMate, and is behaving itself :-).

I also don't trust the kind of autoguiding numbers that I am getting from the recent ASIAIR releases. I often get smaller than 0.2" total RMS on a strain wave gear mount, which should be close to impossible without a premium worm geared mount.

Chen

Corsair

w7ay Has ZWO been shipping ASIAIR with the latest firmware? In the past, they just send the ASIAIR with some ancient firmware in the eMMC, and assume that the user gets to update it themselves when they connect the ASIAIR device to the ASIAIR app for the first time.

Yes. That's what I was referring to. New users will be downloading the ASIAIR App for the first time so that means - currently - that they will automatically be upgrading to and using 2.2.2.

It is interesting some have had no issue with 2.2.2 while others have.

johnpd

I use an iPad and have the Pro so there is no reset button. I did save the original ASIAIR version that I got on the SD card with it which I believe was 1.6. I only updated to v1.9 while waiting for a version 2 that was reasonably stable. I have begun using a mini PC or a laptop along with SharpCap for a few things. I might decide to abandon the ASIAIR in the future if their problems persist. It is a great product if it works.

JohnD

R-Per359

well I'm in the situation of having bought an ASAIR mini in the spring, and worked fine. I didn't have to download that firmwae since it loaded when I first started it up. It worked fine, then being a 'newbie' I mistakenly allowed the update of 2.1 to load figuring - what could go wrong... wrong.. The mini now won't connect to my AVX mount - also updated to 2.2 and I have a red paperweight and no old original version to go back to. WTF do I do? ZWO has been no help. They ask for a log but it won't produce a log when it disconnects from the wifi no connection to the mount.
Catch 22 rules this company apparently.

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