Thunkable Classic is Retiring -- What you need to know

Announcements
1

Dear Thunkers,

As you know, we are planning to retire the Thunkable Classic platform.

Why is Thunkable Classic retiring?

With Thunkable Classic, you can only build Android apps. With Thunkable X, you can build apps for both Android and iOS.

It makes more sense to only have one platform, so our team can focus on putting out the best features and service.

What does this mean?

On November 1, 2019 , you will no longer be able to sign up for a new account on Thunkable Classic (you will still be able to use existing accounts).

On July 1, 2020 , you will no longer be able to edit your projects on Thunkable Classic.

If you have projects that you want to keep, we recommend that before July 1, 2020 you:

  1. Rebuild your apps in Thunkable X. You can update an app published to the Play Store by importing your keystore feature on Thunkable X
  2. Export your .aia and import it into a compatible platform like MIT App Inventor

But wait, I have questions!

Hopefully we have answers.

To ask questions, please respond to this post. You can also check out an FAQ sheet here.

6 Likes
2

Does this mean you will not even bother fixing the faulty API 28 compiler?

3 Likes
3

Best luck!
Now its time to say complete good bye.
Sure… I will not be alone in this case.

6 Likes
4

Hi there! We will definitely be fixing this issue. We will also be keeping the platform up-to-date until July.

6

So basically speaking we now need to pay to use the Thunkable platform!!!

Well, so far it has been a wonderful learning experience for me on Thunkable and I hope the same remains in future too.

7

Without the possibility of importing AIA projects on ThunkableX it becomes impossible to reconstruct complex projects, you risk losing important projects.

2 Likes
8

No, that’s not the case. Thunkable X will always be free for users who are working on public projects.

You only need a PRO membership if you want to create a private project, or if you want to use one of our PRO components.

Thanks for getting in touch - if you have any more questions about this process please follow up here!

9

Hey @Labirinto_Ambientale - good news, Thunkable âś• now supports importing keystore files from Classic. This means that you can rebuild your project, upload it as an update to Google Play and you get iOS compatibility thrown in for free too!

1 Like
10

That was his point. I rest my case, only time will tell if you can compete with App Inventor for iOS…

2 Likes
11

this means that the previous android project built with ionicframework can be continued using thunkable x by importing my keystore and changing the package name. Right? @domhnallohanlon

12

Hi @5bea7ac7f4624d :wave:

I’ve never tried this with an Ionic project actually, but I would imagine that as long as you the original keystore file and accompanying password then you should be ok?

Is there any way you can test this on a simple app or demo project first - just to verify?

As long as you Thunkable X project hasn’t been published there won’t be any hassle with uploading the keystore anyway.

13

This is really saddening. Being with Thunkable Classic, right from it’s Inception, has taught me so many things, and transformed my view on App development. When Thunkable X came along, I really wasn’t able to get myself to like it cause it had so many shortcomings and wasn’t simply as friendly as the original. I remember being genuinely worried when the devs started branding Thunkable X and advertising it with premium plans. There was a small talk back then about whether Thunkable classic was retiring, but the devs assured that they were only simply stopping support. I knew things were going to go downhill for Thunkable Classic and since then stopped using Thunkable entirely, for the fear of my projects being obselete one day. Now that that day has come, it’s really saddening.

All the best for the future! That’s probably all I can say.

3 Likes
14

Hey @antonyjohne - thanks for your feedback.

This is great to hear - hopefully you have a set of transferrable skills that you can use now to create any apps you want to.

x.thunkable.com was initially launched as ios.thunkable.com back in 2017. There have been a lot of improvements and enhancements since then.

  • When was the last time you used Thunkable X?
  • Can you be a bit more specific about what you want to do in your app and why you can’t do this in Thunkable X?

As I’ve mentioned already in my other posts, I’d be happy to walk you thought the conversion process from Classic to X. Let me know if you want to hop on a call and we can discuss in person!

15

Hi, Will Thunkable X be adding Extensions soon ? Im busy working on an App that needs TCPIP comms and Im busy building a Graphing Extension on App Inventor but I need the app to generate both Android and iOS so I was planning on switching to Thinkable X but if Extensions are the thing of the past then I will have to stick with APP Inventor and wait till their iOS stack is ready.

3 Likes
16

I am sure extensions are “possible” but realistically Thunkable X should provide just about everything we need for making cool apps as there are many features in the works that will catch up or even surpass builders with the likes of Thunkable Classics. I don’t see the real urgency for extensions, but I wouldn’t rule it out! I’m not sure if Thunkable X uses a cross platform language but if they did then extensions would be less difficult.

1 Like
17

Bye Bye Thunkable…
I could never complete a project in Thunkable X…
the interface is very complicated.

Thx u for All !!!

2 Likes
18

If you are having issues with Thunkable X please do ask the community, check out Thunkable Docs or browse YouTube for fantastic videos. Videos from the likes of Thunkable X Tutorials and the Thunkable X Team.

Again if you are stuck, don’t be afraid to ask any questions in the community. The people here are extremely helpful and you are bound to get an answer :slight_smile:

Hope to see you soon!

1 Like
19

The AI you have mentioned is not compatible right now.

So the only choice is Kodular?
Are there any plans to move to MIT App Inventor?

Please, I need an official answer because there is a lot of work to convert my apps to be compatible with Kodular or MIT App Inventor and time is passing.

1 Like
20

MIT App Inventor has the limitation of a rather primitive canvas support (resolution is poor) and does not support AdMob.

It looks like you should not really expect an official answer; it has been weeks since I asked the status of the API 28 compiler bug to be fixed, and I am still waiting.

3 Likes
21

Hey @ONikosEimai,

I did a simple test with this and found the following:

I could create an app in Classic and download the aia file:

part1
part11440Ă—821 94.6 KB

Upon uploading to ai2 I saw the same error message as you (about version 24 error)

error_msg_ai2
error_msg_ai21229Ă—183 57.7 KB

After clicking “OK”, the project successfully loaded in AI2 and I was able to edit it:

part2
part21440Ă—821 218 KB

I was able to download and install the apk from AI2 on my phone:

44
44746Ă—557 195 KB

Looking at the aia file from AI2, the Form version was automatically changed to 24:

37
371196Ă—272 15.4 KB

Can you take another look at your own project and let us know how you get on?

Thanks!

2 Likes