A lot of divers don’t want to use a laptop to download their dives during vacation. Instead there are many requests to download dives directly to a tablet, which is more lightweight than a laptop. Unfortunately this is technically challenging or almost impossible to do this from a tablet app (e.g. iPad or Windows Store app) due to hardware limitations or missing API’s. Because of that, I created a touch optimized dive computer downloader (based on libdivecomputer), which runs on the desktop in full screen. It looks exactly as Diving Log Touch and can be easily used with a touch screen or mouse, but it is a desktop application and thus does not have the limitations of Windows Store apps.
Download dives on a Windows 8 tablet
Because it is a desktop application, the touch downloader cannot be used on a Windows RT device (e.g. Surface RT). You need a full Windows 8 tablet or PC to run the downloader. It works also on Windows 7 and Vista, however this app is meant for touch screen devices. You can launch the app directly from Diving Log Touch:
Tap the download button in the app bar
From the next page you can launch the desktop downloader
When you tap on “Launch Downloader”, Diving Log Touch will be closed and the desktop is displayed. On the desktop the touch downloader app starts automatically in full screen:
The desktop downloader looks exactly as Diving Log Touch
When the downloader was launched from Diving Log Touch, the dives are imported directly into the touch logbook. When it was started from the desktop, it will download the dives into your desktop logbook. After downloading and importing, you can either close the desktop downloader with the X in the upper right corner or you can switch back to Diving Log Touch with the back button in the upper left corner.
If the Touch downloader does not start (and tapping the “Download” button just opens the website), start Diving Log 6.0, click on the menu “File > Preferences > File Association > Apply:
Register the Touch Downloader
Frequently asked questions:
- Where can I download the Touch Downloader?
- Click here to download it and extract (unzip) it into the Diving Log 6.0 program folder
- Why does this app run on the desktop and is not integrated into Diving Log Touch?
- It is currently technically not possible to create a dive computer downloader in a Windows Store app
- Why do I have to install the Diving Log 6.0 desktop application to get the touch downloader?
- The touch downloader is integrated into the Diving Log 6.0 setup, because Windows Store apps cannot install desktop components
- On which devices does this downloader work?
- The downloader runs on Windows 10, 8, 7 and Vista and requires the .NET Framework 4.0 (only Vista and Win 7)
- When I tap “Launch Downloader”, a website opens or nothing happens at all.
- Make sure you have the latest Diving Log 6.0 desktop version installed and registered the downloader in the system
- I have a Windows RT device (e.g. Surface RT or Nokia Lumia 2520), can I use this downloader?
- Unfortunately not at the moment. On Windows RT you cannot run desktop applications (except MS Office). There are also no dive computer drivers for Windows RT available
- I have an Android tablet, can I download my dives directly with it?
- Yes, you can use DiveMate USB, which can be synced later with Diving Log 6.0
- I have problems downloading my dive computer, what should I do?
- Please have a look at this page and/or contact me with the exact error message and problem description
- My dive computer is not listed, how can I help to get it supported?
- Please support the libdivecomputer project either by donating or by providing analysis data
Tags: Diving Log Touch, Downloader, Windows 8