# Live Testing on device not starting at the initial screen **URL:** \ **Category:** Issues / Bugs\ **Created:** [May 4, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987 "2023-05-04T23:43:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![john\_shelby\_hhs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@john\_shelby\_hhs](https://community.thunkable.com/u/john_shelby_hhs)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2023, 11:43pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/1 "2023-05-04T23:43:11Z")
Hi Thunkable folks, I’m seeing some evidence of what I’m experiencing in other forum posts here: > [@Live Test screen issue](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-test-screen-issue/2075006): > > tl;dr: Thunkable Live displays the screen that is active on the phone rather than refreshing the project and showing the first screen as it used to. I might be remembering this wrong but I thought that when you previewed in a browser, it displayed the screen you were editing first. So if you have Screen1, Screen2, and Screen3 and you were editing Screen2 and clicked Web Preview, it would show Screen2 in the browser preview. But with Thunkable Live, it would always show the first screen (Screen1… When doing live testing on the phone, my Thunkable app is not starting with the first screen of the app. This is a problem for testing because I’m using a navigator for most screens - but not the initial screens of the app, which are log in screens. So, by not starting on the first screen, live testing is bypassing my log in process and there’s no way for me to go back because I don’t want these screens to be part of my navigator. Is this a known issue? Are there any good work arounds to make Thunkable begin testing on a specific screen, but not provide full navigational control to the user? ---
**Author:** ![ioannis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/ioannis/32/146956_2.png) [@ioannis](https://community.thunkable.com/u/ioannis)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2023, 5:23pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/2 "2023-05-05T17:23:48Z")
Hello @john_shelby_hhs I understand your frustration. As I understand you are trying to test the login page but the app goes directly into the screens that are inside the navigator. I think that if you have this screen first and you can’t see it maybe is because you are logged in, so adding a button to log out that will navigate you to the login screen will fix the issue. Could you please try it and let me know if it worked? ---
**Author:** ![john\_shelby\_hhs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@john\_shelby\_hhs](https://community.thunkable.com/u/john_shelby_hhs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/3 "2023-05-09T19:09:39Z")
On further testing, I think this is working for me. The confusion is maybe just due to how the Thunkable app syncs with website data. To get the app to begin from the initial screen, I need to: - Exit the project if I’m currently looking at it on the device (go to my menu of projects). - Do something that causes the project to “refresh” while the Thunkable app is running on the device and device is awake - for example, change project design/blocks in some way while the Thunkable app is currently running on the device. - Wait a bit to make sure the refresh actually happened (there’s not a definite way to know if the sync went from website to device) - Reopen the project from the menu Though this is working alright for me, a thing that would be nice in general is if there was a way on the device to know that the current version of a Thunkable project matched the website version (a timestamp when it last updated, maybe?) ---
**Author:** ![tatiang](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/tatiang/32/55482_2.png) [@tatiang](https://community.thunkable.com/u/tatiang)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/4 "2023-05-09T19:15:41Z")
> [@john\_shelby\_hhs](#): > > Though this is working alright for me, a think that would be nice in general is if there way a way on the device to know that the current version of a Thunkable project matched the device version (a timestamp when it last updated, maybe?) 1000 times yes! I’ve mentioned this a few times before and it’s really hard to program and test projects without this. See this related topic: [Can Thunkable Live be fixed so it updates properly?](https://community.thunkable.com/t/can-thunkable-live-be-fixed-so-it-updates-properly/2406538) ---
**Author:** ![john\_shelby\_hhs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@john\_shelby\_hhs](https://community.thunkable.com/u/john_shelby_hhs)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 8:09pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/5 "2023-05-09T20:09:51Z")
I’m sure you have all kinds of solutions for this, but - On my end (and I recommend this to my students as well), I often just throw a “version number” label on to every screen I’m actively editing. When I need it to push changes to the device, I just add +1 to the version number while the app’s open. Changing visible text tends to force a sync - and in my past experience, changing blocks does not always (but it’s way harder to detect the update). An “update timestamp” that appears in the bottom bar of the Thunkable app would be a nice way of automating what we’re doing as a work-around. Or an on-website button that gives feedback of a successful sync. Though the live update concept is flashy cool looking, I’d take a sync button that I have to press but with accurate feedback on success any day of the week. Or maybe there’s a better way than what I’m doing that I don’t know about! ---
**Author:** ![tatiang](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/tatiang/32/55482_2.png) [@tatiang](https://community.thunkable.com/u/tatiang)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2023, 9:06pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/6 "2023-05-09T21:06:40Z")
> [@john\_shelby\_hhs](#): > > Or an on-website button that gives feedback of a successful sync. Though the live update concept is flashy cool looking, I’d take a sync button that I have to press but with accurate feedback on success any day of the week. I would agree that I’d much rather have control over when the project syncs then to have live syncing. Even if it worked perfectly – and it doesn’t currently – it’s just not a feature I really require. I’m much more interested in knowing without a doubt that the change I just spent five minutes working on actually exists in what I’m seeing on my phone. ---
**Author:** ![ioannis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/ioannis/32/146956_2.png) [@ioannis](https://community.thunkable.com/u/ioannis)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2023, 8:26pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/7 "2023-05-10T20:26:56Z")
@john_shelby_hhs @tatiang Thank you for sharing your experience using the live app and for sharing some good suggestions! I’ll pass them on to the team. ---
**Author:** ![ioannis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex015/user_avatar/community.thunkable.com/ioannis/32/146956_2.png) [@ioannis](https://community.thunkable.com/u/ioannis)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2024, 1:33pm UTC](https://community.thunkable.com/t/live-testing-on-device-not-starting-at-the-initial-screen/2403987/8 "2024-11-08T13:33:54Z")