14

I'd like to revert to the previous version and stick with that permanently. Is that possible?

I have Beautiful Widgets installed, and had it set to auto-update. It just did, and the 'update' is totally unacceptable.

I've got several devices, all rooted and running different versions of Android. Some have auto-updated the APK to the new version, some have not (I just disabled auto-update on those that have not).

6 Answers 6

10

Android does not natively back up applications so you can't "undo" an app update. Best thing I'd say you can do is something like this howto. It backs up your apks and their settings. It uses Titanium Backup and requires root, but rooting is not your problem.

1
  • So glad I had more than one device, and that I caught this before they all updated. Titanium Backup FTW! Dec 5, 2012 at 10:17
4

Unfortunately once the new version is installed there is no way for you to roll back. The only way you can get back to the old one is if you already have a copy of, or can manage to find the APK file for the version that you want.

2
  • Finding the APK is the problem, since this just leads to 'warez' sites, which I won't use or trust. I'll recover from one of my other devices instead. Thanks for the answer though. Dec 5, 2012 at 10:15
  • 1
    "can manage to find" was open ended. If you have the version you want on another device you should be good to go. If you're rooted just copy it out of /data/app/ if not use My Backup Pro or some other app to pull a backup copy to the SD card and then copy it from there.
    – FoamyGuy
    Dec 5, 2012 at 22:59
1

To be pedantic, you can uninstall updates for System apps. They will revert to the version installed when the phone was at factory defaults (or when you installed a rom). But otherwise, you will need to find a copy of the previous version in order to revert an update.

On my (rooted) device, I have a Titanium Backup schedule set up to backup everything every week. In the future, you could set up something like that (root required).

1
  • Titanium does very well this job! Dec 21, 2012 at 4:29
1

You could install AppMonster Pro Backup Restore to your device. This app automatically captures each .apk installed and stores it on your SDCard (initially, you can do this also manually for all your installed apps). Now, if you've installed some update you don't like for some reason (bugs, reduced functionality, or whatever), you can simply start AppMonster and have it restore a previous version.

AppMonster AppMonster configuration
AppMonster Pro (source: Google Play; click images to enlarge)

To not fill-up your SDCard entirely, AppMonster can also be configured to "only keep X backups". And it offers some additional features as well, as e.g. showing which app can be moved to SDCard, or which app contains ad-modules.

And yes, for the automatical backups you will need the (paid) Pro-version. To take a look at the app first, there's also a free pendant, AppMonster Free Backup Restore -- but here you have to do all backups manually. Also, the Pro version offers a batch-restore. I'm using the Pro version for years now, and can only praise it (saved my day more than once). Support is excellent as well, by the way -- some of the app's features came from my wish-list :)

Ah, and one more remark: this app does not require root. But it (currently) only backups the apps (.apk) itself, not their data.

0

The Astro File Manager can be easily used to make backups of the application and to restore these later.

-1

Simply go to play store, search for that app, there will be two options 'uninstall' and 'open', just simply click on uninstall and your good to go. Dont worry, it wont uninstall your app completely but only the update gets uninstalled. After that you'll see there two options 'update' and 'open' and thats what you always wanted!

1
  • This only happens if the app is a system app, in which the user can't totally uninstall it. If it's a 3rd-party app, then the app will be gone from user's device, obviously.
    – Andrew T.
    Apr 18, 2017 at 7:35

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .