My attempts to access "Car Minder" app on my iPhone 8 has been rendered useless by the latest update. Is the any assistance available for this message I receive when trying to open the app? "Car minder needs to be updated - The developer of this app needs to update it to work with this version of iOS.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
I've used this app for years and today at the gas station was just as disappointed as everyone else in this thread. I have years of records stored in there which I need.
I was able to access the raw data stored in SQL tables
The next step is to open that sqlite file on your computer. I used the free SQLiteBrowser software ( https://sqlitebrowser.org/ ) to open the file.
It helps to understand SQL and databases, however it's somewhat easy to decipher.
There are database tables and in these tables are rows of data.
table - car = list of your cars and their unique ID. You'll see that unique ID in the other tables
table - fillup = list of all your fill ups including date, gallon and price
table - record = list of service records. You need to match the data here with the "service" table
table - repair = list of repairs with description, date, and mileage
There are two other tables which you can ignore, sqlite_sequence and schema_info
It's worth noting the date fields are numbers. They are stored in the UNIX timestamp format. You can convert them (yes, one-by-one) using this online tool ( https://www.unixtimestamp.com/ )
I've used this app for years and today at the gas station was just as disappointed as everyone else in this thread. I have years of records stored in there which I need.
I was able to access the raw data stored in SQL tables
The next step is to open that sqlite file on your computer. I used the free SQLiteBrowser software ( https://sqlitebrowser.org/ ) to open the file.
It helps to understand SQL and databases, however it's somewhat easy to decipher.
There are database tables and in these tables are rows of data.
table - car = list of your cars and their unique ID. You'll see that unique ID in the other tables
table - fillup = list of all your fill ups including date, gallon and price
table - record = list of service records. You need to match the data here with the "service" table
table - repair = list of repairs with description, date, and mileage
There are two other tables which you can ignore, sqlite_sequence and schema_info
It's worth noting the date fields are numbers. They are stored in the UNIX timestamp format. You can convert them (yes, one-by-one) using this online tool ( https://www.unixtimestamp.com/ )
If you are experiencing any difficulty with third-party apps then please contact the app developer directly --> How to contact an app developer - Apple Support
The ONLY way to retrieve your data is from App developer. Apple doesn't have any of the data in a 3rd party app. If you can't reach the developer and the app is no longer being supported, you may not be able to get your data.
A follow up to my earlier post. To make things a little easier for people looking to view/extract data from their CarMinder database.
1) Follow the steps below to extract the data
2) Visit this page and upload the database to view the contents
http://sector13.org/carminder/
(NOTE - your database is NOT saved on that website. You can copy and paste your data into Excel or Google Sheets or whatever)
Extract your data from your device:
View your data
Problem Solved!
So I was able to back up the app from the updated phone using iMazing (trial version of the software). Then I was able to install the backup on an older iPhone that was still running iOS 14.4. App functions and all data is there! Very happy about this. Obviously I’ll be manually copying the data to a spreadsheet and I’m now looking for a good car maintenance app to keep track of things moving forward. Thanks all for you help!!
The app developer was provided the iOS update long before Apple updated iOS. It is ALWAYS up to the app developer to make their app compatible. Apple cannot and does not control 3rd parties in any way, shape or form. We are ALL users on this user to user forum. We have no way to help you get access to your data. Only the developer can help you with that.
So I have used car minder app for many years - I even paid for it(!) - but its obvious the developer has no interest in maintaining it. Really annoying as it was a great app for non-commercial use.
Like others I have 5+ years worth of data for 5 vehicles that I didnt want to lose.
I managed to extract it out using the following process. Note this is ugly. Its mildly technical and the data you get out is badly formatted csv files. Its up to you to work out what you do with it - but at least you havent lost it :)
To get the data back from Car minder (at least in CSV format) you need TWO free tools:
App - com.joshmonroe.carminder - documents
and right click on the data.sqlite document and save to PC
You now have your data in CSV and can work out what to do with it. The structure is pretty straightforward. There are only 7 tables. I opened each one in excel to play with them
Note that dates are all stored as UNIXDATE (seconds since 1-1-1970).
The excel formula to convert to a Windows date (if unixdate is in cell E46) is
=(E46/86400)+DATE(1970,1,1)
Once I had the dates reformatted I imported the 7 tables into access so I could link them and build a quick and dirty report to print of all my historical data.
Not pretty - but at least you haven't lost the information :)
Hope this helps others.
You seem to not understand that every single response to this thread is from another user, not an Apple employee. This forum is user to user. Apple doesn't participate here. As users only, all we can suggest to you is to contact the App Developer.
It is terrific a user took it on their own to come up with a workable solution, but most users would not have the ability to do so. And since Apple isn't here, nor do they own the App, nor any of the data in the app, the expectation that Apple will get involved is an over-expectation.
Problem Solved! I tried rolling back the update but that requires a backup from the old version of the software which I don’t have.
So I was able to back up the app from the updated phone using iMazing (trial version of the software). Then I was able to install the backup on an older iPhone that was still running iOS 14.4. App functions and all data is there! Very happy about this. Obviously I’ll be manually copying the data to a spreadsheet and I’m now looking for a good car maintenance app to keep track of things moving forward. Thanks all for you help!!
If this data is in your backup you can use a backup extractor app to pull it from the backup. If it is readable you can then do whatever you wish with the data. Unfortunately you are using an app that was probably long ago abandoned by the developer.
That's bunk. Apple has no control over an App Developer maintaining an App. You say not trust Apple Apps. You didn't buy the use of an Apple App. You bought the use of a 3rd party App, one which Apple does not own the code or the data inside the App. Had you bought an Apple App, you wouldn't be in this situation. If you read the thread, it appears the developer of this app stopped support for the app a long time ago. It finally stopped working because of iOS updates. The App developer, if they cared or still wanted to support their app would receive the API for iOS updates and do what is necessary to keep the app current. But they stopped supporting their app long, so they likely don't care at all. And that leaves where you are. Apple likely has no more ability to contact the developer than you do, if they are out of business, which appears they are.
I was able to get my information out the of car minder app. I used my old iPhone and restored my backup from iCloud. The backup was dated February 2021 so I am missing some info. I was able to get the past nine years back.
Per my response earlier, I was able to get the app data by creating an app backup using iMazing and then loading the app onto an older iPhone that hadn’t yet been updated. Now I’m transposing the data to a spreadsheet.
Similarly, I’d expect you could also make a backup of the app and then roll back your update (somewhat complicated process) and reinstall the app from the backup.
I understand what you're saying but your idea of backward compatibility doesn't work with iOS. Apple provides the API's for every new iOS version and update to all App Developers, so they can make whatever changes necessary to keep their apps up to date and compatible with the newest iOS release. It's not up to Apple to make software backward compatible. It's up to the developer to bring their app up to the newest versions. When a developer stops updating their app, it means they are abandoning it, which again is not Apples responsibility.
And since Apple does NOT own the code for the app or the data in the App, Apple can't do anything to make the app backward compatible to begin with.
It appears the AutoCare app is still actively offered with the latest being Auto Care 3
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/auto-care-3/id1461058785
The app author maintains this website
https://www.xper2solutions.com/autocare3.html
I suggest you try reaching out to them.
Or, is your app something different from what is linked above?
Car Minder app compatibility with iOS 14.5
