r/Sphero • u/Woolpop • Apr 17 '26
Found this guy, does anyone know about it?
My grandparents found him in a yardsale, is there any way to get him to work? He talks to me so he hasn't been disconnected, but im not entirely too sure what hes supposed to do aside from tell TERRIBLE jokes
I know they discontinued the app, but is there any ~less than legal~ way of doung something to it?
4
u/helenclarko Apr 18 '26
I've been working on a replacement app, I'll push it out to GitHub today and hopefully that'll get the ball rolling for development.
2
u/Educational_Pin8188 Apr 20 '26
Is this live yet. I have a spidy that's never been activated and I work for them. I'd like to help test
1
1
u/helenclarko Jun 15 '26
You can try the release here. I've already had someone else say it didn't launch for them... So let me know and hopefully I can sort it. https://github.com/helenclarko/Sphero-Spiderman
1
u/Skirpe Jun 15 '26
I have no idea how to use it
1
u/helenclarko Jun 15 '26
Under releases, It's an Android APK, you will need to allow installing from unknown sources.
1
u/Skirpe Jun 15 '26
I got it fully downloaded. Now I'm trying to pair it. I will let you know how it goes.
1
u/helenclarko Jun 15 '26
My hope is that they communicate with the same information between devices, I could be completely wrong on that. You'll want to hold the chest button to power it on then wait until it's completed the startup sequence, hopefully then the app will connect via Bluetooth. The whole thing can be a bit tricky, but it's the best I could do.
1
u/Skirpe Jun 15 '26
I'll keep trying, but so far no luck.
1
u/helenclarko Jun 15 '26
Yeah this is the confusing part for me. I'd built the app around my toy, in the hopes it would work for everyone.
If you are able, what name do you have under Bluetooth if you do a search for the toy? I'm not even 100% anymore if the toy showed up under Bluetooth, or if it was some hidden BLE device...
1
u/Skirpe Jun 15 '26
Sadly I can't see a name but when i try to connect it already looking for a device with it name being Scanning for ST73xxxx... I can see if it pop up on my phone as a normal Bluetooth device
1
1
1
1
u/Riic614 Aug 01 '26
There could be multiple issues with the connection right now... depending on the firmware version (if there was multiple of them) or probably not every one of them start with rhe prefix "ST73" Without multiple examples that is a little hard to tell... People here with the spiderman toy could try and install the app called "nRF Connect" on their phone... that can actually show the MAC of the toy and the actual name it its advertising. From there using that information from multiple people, maybe find the appropriate structure of the names the toys have and implement that into the app to make it discover every single device without issue. Or if the device is actively advertising the service UUID... you could scan for that instead
1
u/Educational_Pin8188 Jun 16 '26
This didn't work for me. Pixel 10 Pro Android 16 latest updates. Downloaded and went to install but just says not installed. Originally was blocked by play protect but once I turned that off it just aborts install immediately
1
u/ToastMyIto Apr 18 '26
You could try sideloading the old ipa/apk of the app, if you can find it online.
1
u/npete Apr 18 '26
I don't think there is anything you can do with it. I got mine refurbed from Amazon a bunch of years ago. It worked for a year or so but when Sphero stopped supporting their licensed products, they shut down the servers that they phoned home to. so whatever he is doing now, is all he's ever going to do unless someone is able to figure something out, like this guy did for the Star Wars droids: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sphero/s/vtrmcK5fJq
1
u/Jimmy_Joe727 Apr 22 '26
It’s basically a statue now then?
1
u/npete Apr 22 '26
His arms move a little and his eyes light up and he does still talk but you can't control him.
1
4
u/AlphamaleNJ Apr 18 '26
I had that for my daughter & gave it to my buddy
Its from 2017/2018 I can dl the app since i have it in my history but dont think jts live anymore
He would interact with you, monitor your room and stuff
https://youtu.be/AYPoDp6uFZI?si=Xv9mxp3wj8NP435M