Sign In Error in Android TV Control app

[whyisit]

I'm in the process of swapping phones, from a Samsung Flip3 to a Flip5 - both run Android 13. Over 400 apps have copied over and are functioning as expected - following any tweaking and logins required - but not TV Control. I could install and log in to TV Go immediately but TV Control always terminates with a "Sign In Error - Login Error" when attempting initial setup after installing.

I have:

• forced stop
• cleared cache
• cleared data
• uninstalled
• reinstalled

all to no avail, over multiple times.

Because I intend to sell it on I did the same on the old phone, except that signing in after reinstalling was a breeze. During that process the permission request for nearby devices popped up - which I allowed, of course - but it never gets as far as this on the new phone.

Any thoughts, please?

[Kath_F]

Hi whyisit, 

Thanks for taking the time to post on our Community. 

I'm sorry to hear you're having an issue with logging in to TV Control. As it's working on another device, it's unlikely to be an account issue and more likely to be something on the device itself affecting it. 

Other than the 2 flip devices, do you have a tablet or another device in the house that you could try the app on? 

Keep us posted on how things go. 

Thanks,

[whyisit]

Hi, Kath_F

Thanks for your reply.

I dug out my old Samsung S10 (Android 12) and TV Control installed and opened perfectly!

I also have two old tablets (running Android 7 and 9 respectively - yeah, they're old!) that can install but not open - receive the same login error screen. Strangely, they open the picture Captcha when attempting the sign in, so I assume that I'm reaching the challenge on the Virgin side of things, but then the error follows after verification. BTW this also can happen occasionally when attempting sign in, after fresh install, on the Flip5.

I'm searching each Flip to see if I can find setup differences between them that could explain things, but I'm getting nowhere.

Regards.

[Vikki_M]

Hi whyisit

Thank you for your reply.

With regards to the issues you are having with other devices, the information here may help. 

[whyisit]

Hi, Vikki_M.

Thank you for your input but the link you have included is plainly of no use.

It is not a sign in issue, per se, because two devices can log in without problem, and I'm using the latest version of the app as I have downloaded, and (re)installed it, it now from the Play Store a countless number of times over the past week. Additionally, all my devices are Android-based (albeit some have 'ancient' versions installed, so a login failure on those is, perhaps not surprising, and I dont'want the app on them anyway) and the old and new Flips are both running the latest version 13; the phone running Android 12 is also rocking the app successfully. Furthermore, connection to the TiVo is not the issue, again because two devices can connect without problem. The rest of the advice on the referenced page bears no relevance to the matter at hand.

I am in total agreement with Kath_F that the problem is associated with some setting on the new phone and, as I said in my reply, I'm trying to determine what that difference is. Do you, or anyone else, have any suggestion as to where the roadblock might be?

Regards.

[Matthew_ML]

Thank you for reaching back out.

Can I just ask are you getting any of these issues with it "return to sign in or exit?

Please do let us know. Cheers 

[whyisit]

In response to Matthew_ML's query: of course I was having issues with "return to sign in or exit", or the app would have been working and I wouldn't have raised the matter. Both options essentially caused an infinite login failure loop and the app didn't function.

As I have said in an earlier reply, I've been going through the phone's settings and enabling/disabling anything that seemed to have some relevance; force stop the app; clear data; uninstall/reinstall without success; then diabling/re-enabling to get back to where I started. Nothing made any difference.

Strangely though, after all the above and reverting to original phone settings, each subsequent sign in attempt began to consistently bring up the picture Captcha - something that had occurred only occasionally on previous attempts - but still terminating at the login error screen. Anyway, after another two or three goes yesterday afternoon, I gave up. Then, late last night I made another attempt and got a successful sign in and the app is now working as it should!

The only conclusion that I can draw is that the 'fault' was not with my phone but with the VM login protocol - something alluded to in another thread I have stumbled across on this forum. Whatever, apart from the initial helpful advice from Kath_F, the other two responses have seemingly ignored the detail that I have tried to include to assist in a resolution and contributed nothing - apologies if you intended to be helpful but they were wide of the mark.