Just looking for some information & help here guys. I might seem like a really basic & simple question but I'm a newbie to Android. Got my Galaxy Nexus (which is my 1st Android) after having moved over from the iPhone.
Anyway, I have noticed that some apps I have installed auto start as soon as I stop them. My mate advised me to install the Android Booster app which closes apps, but a few minutes later some of them just auto restart like Facebook & Sky News. They also auto restart if I stop them through apps on the settings menu.
Is there a way of stopping these apps from running when I'm not using them to save on battery and data usage?
Thanks
Apps that restart automatically have a background service running and will keep restarting. They might need that service for background updates or other tasks.
Uninstall the booster app and any other task manager you might have installed and let Android manage the resources. Apps running in the background normally have no measurable impact on battery life. You should never have to worry about that. Only really crappy apps (or wrong user settings like update every 2min) make problems and you should uninstall them anyway and not try to "fix" what they do wrong.
If you are worried about them eating your data, use the new data usage feature in the settings and restrict background data for the apps individually.
Thanks for the reply. Yeah it was more the data usage than battery I am worried about. I hav now gone into setting and restricted background data. How do I restrict individual apps?
You can't do Facebook yet as its not working with ics yet and can't access the menu. Most other apps have a setting option about auto updating.
I had some issues with the Google Play recently, so I followed the help-page advice to clear the 'cache' and 'data' from the market and downloader apps.
The issue is that upon entering one of the app's screens within settings/apps/all, it took about 5 minutes for it to calculate the file sizes/allocations. I can remember this taking seconds on my Desire.
Is this slow calculation of memory use etc. an issue with anyone else's phone or is it just mine?
i think i have the same issue i am running LeeDrOid at the moment perviously Android Revolution HD and i had a similar / same issue i think when you actually click on the app its self as in to remove or clear cache / data it takes ages to populate the sizes also when i have tried to remove some apps some installed from backup or play store and it just hangs in the uninstalling screen and never removes
Quite wiered but very frustrating
Like the title says, I've noticed since updating to 7.1.2 at least 2-3 times a day I am thrown a notification for "updating Instant Apps" but it never tells me if it was updated or installed. I tried going to Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps and it is disabled yet these apps are auto-downloading and installing in the background. I have auto-updates off on the play store but this still occurs.
Is there anything I can do to disable or at least cripple the instant apps? I'm reading the purpose of instant apps is so you can try an application without installing it, I do not want to test drive apps like Buzzfeed so however I can disable it would be great
fatapia said:
Like the title says, I've noticed since updating to 7.1.2 at least 2-3 times a day I am thrown a notification for "updating Instant Apps" but it never tells me if it was updated or installed. I tried going to Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps and it is disabled yet these apps are auto-downloading and installing in the background. I have auto-updates off on the play store but this still occurs.
Is there anything I can do to disable or at least cripple the instant apps? I'm reading the purpose of instant apps is so you can try an application without installing it, I do not want to test drive apps like Buzzfeed so however I can disable it would be great
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So, using Titanium Backup I couldn't find the package com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor but using a root explorer I found the application in /data/app/com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor-2
I also found saved data in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor
I have no idea if this will prevent the service from auto-updating as it has been without permission but I know where it is now...
Update: Deleting both folders causing settings to crash when you go to Settings -> Google -> Instant apps, so it might be deleted off my phone entirely. I will update if I see the application re-install itself
Instant apps are temporary apps. So you can't uninstall them or disable it. It's a feature built into Android that is not going away. Your only option is to install a rom without Gapps. Otherwise deal with it.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
superchilpil said:
Instant apps are temporary apps. So you can't uninstall them or disable it. It's a feature built into Android that is not going away. Your only option is to install a rom without Gapps. Otherwise deal with it.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
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deleting those two files seemed to have broken that feature.
My issue was that I disabled that service through settings as suggested by one of the google support pages but it would still download and install "Instant Apps" the service throughout the day, not the actual temporary apps themselves. So it's been dealt with lol
oh man, when i saw this i thought i had a virus on my phone.
especially when i couldn't find anything named "instant apps" in the app drawer
I am hoping that this will work for me as well. The first time I saw the instant apps pop up I just connected to a free wifi in Mexico and freaked out. This seriously bothers me. I uninstalled it and it came back update after update. I also will not be using any instant apps, so this is something I want to break.
speedee12 said:
I am hoping that this will work for me as well. The first time I saw the instant apps pop up I just connected to a free wifi in Mexico and freaked out. This seriously bothers me. I uninstalled it and it came back update after update. I also will not be using any instant apps, so this is something I want to break.
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some how it was pushed back on to my phone. this is not a permanent solution...
so I'm trying to disable this through other means now and I found something interesting? I need someone with more experience to chime in as far as what these* lines* do*.. and where I found it...
so in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor/shared_prefs/phenotypeConfigurations.xml there are these three lines:
<boolean name="Supervisor__enable_instant_apps" value="true" />
<boolean name="Supervisor__disable_url_resolution" value="false" />
<boolean name="TestFeature__enable_test" value="true" />
I flipped the value of these three entries to see if this will disable it. I find it odd that for the first line it was set for "true" when the settings say it's off. I will update again if I see this come back. My coworker had suggested that this may be built in to the Google app itself? Let's see...
so I had to unroot my phone because I forgot to log into snapchat, then re-root after, and Instant Apps was back yet again. The changes I made to the XML file persisted but the app was back.
I think I found a way to remove it entirely. I used Root Explorer, idk what other applications would work for this. So I navigated back to /data/app/com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor-1 and I clicked the base.apk and I had an option to uninstall, I did this then rebooted my phone to see if reboots are why it fixes itself except the entry for Instant Apps has been removed from settings. This appears to permanently remove this feature.
every time I think I fix this it keeps coming back lol, I finally called Google Support and this is the first they are hearing of it. The application re-installed itself at 430-some Mountain Time on it's own, other times it re-installs upon reboot. I'm going to find a way to cripple it if google cant
I recommend calling support to let them know that Instant Apps is enabled even though the switch says it is disabled.
fatapia said:
every time I think I fix this it keeps coming back lol, I finally called Google Support and this is the first they are hearing of it. The application re-installed itself at 430-some Mountain Time on it's own, other times it re-installs upon reboot. I'm going to find a way to cripple it if google cant
I recommend calling support to let them know that Instant Apps is enabled even though the switch says it is disabled.
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Click to collapse
I have the same annoyances, "Installig Instant apps" notification appears randomly during the last month, and reading in the logcat they are updates/patches to the new feature, managed by finsky app (Play Store). The most scaring thing is that one time it appeared also during mobile data connection, which is not acceptable (and 800kb background data from Play Store). Google is being too aggressive with it. Why not simply integrate it and update it along with Play Services like the other 1000 google APIs ? !on WIFI!
Thank you for your tests, unfortunately the update process seems to be triggered by Google Play services itself or by Google play store.
I searched for related alarms/wakelocks in Amplify and could only found one wakelock coming from com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor itself: .ExperimentUpdateService. I decided to keep it as this probably isn't the trigger.
ninestarkoko said:
I have the same annoyances, "Installig Instant apps" notification appears randomly during the last month, and reading in the logcat they are updates/patches to the new feature, managed by finsky app (Play Store). The most scaring thing is that one time it appeared also during mobile data connection, which is not acceptable (and 800kb background data from Play Store). Google is being too aggressive with it. Why not simply integrate it and update it along with Play Services like the other 1000 google APIs ? !on WIFI!
Thank you for your tests, unfortunately the update process seems to be triggered by Google Play services itself or by Google play store.
I searched for related alarms/wakelocks in Amplify and could only found one wakelock coming from com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor itself: .ExperimentUpdateService. I decided to keep it as this probably isn't the trigger.
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Click to collapse
yeah that's now my only worrisome complaint is that it ignores the play store settings and will download over any network connection. You can try submitting feedback through settings and suggest they fix this part so that it updates as you said. Thanks for the additional info, I'll try disabling that and report back if it makes any difference. I doubt that's the source of the problem though so I uninstall the apk so something else must be initiating it.
Thank you guys for this thread! I have the regular Pixel and have been seeing this happen... "Instant Apps" was disabled but somehow still updating either itself or something else, and I wondered if there was an additional switch somewhere to disable it. Looks like the answer is no. ?
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
So I noticed every time the play store found an update, magically Instant Apps was back. I began to notice that this may be a service built into Play Store and not the Google app itself. So I had an idea, I went into Settings for Android and turned off background data for Play services. Obviously this will affect quite a bit, but honestly I am at that point from fighting this feature that I'd gladly give that up. So far after 2 days I have not seen the application re-install itself. It has been more permanent that the other solutions I've had so far.
There's an article from XDA in Analysis and Opinion talking about Instant Apps and Play Store 7.8.15, apparently this issue is affecting people all the way down to the Samsung S5... although people are hesistant to believe this issue exists for whatever reason.
You can cripple it by restricting its access to internet via firewall. Unfortunately this method also drives up battery consumption as the firewall does jujitsu with "Google Play services for Instant Apps" - I am actively fantasizing about taking my baby sledge to this thing and going back to a "dumb"-phone that doesn't have all this drama constantly! I'm using an S5 right now. This is definitely a google thing. They have a similar self-install-without-asking "feature" on windows via their chrome browser. Just look up "SwReporter" in that program's directory. It self-populates with an executable as you use chrome normally and there is no option in the program for it to not do that. You can safely make a shortcut to that directory and empty it out regularly to restrict its functionality which is presumably for keeping an eye on you. I am also trying an alternate method of changing security to prevent write access to that directory. I have no idea how to do that on an unrooted android. Any ideas? And does anybody know how to cripple "instant apps" malware/spyware backdoor "feature" on an unrooted device without eating battery like crazy?
Today I noticed that Instant Apps was installing without my permission. When I clicked on that notification, it brought me to the Google Play Store. (In Google Play Store, I have auto updates disabled.) I have an unrooted Galaxy Note 4 and I can't even find the settings for Instant Apps under the Google settings. Why aren't the settings there? I found the app in the Apps settings called "Google Play services for Instant Apps" (thank you G1A). I cleared it's the cache and data and then uninstalled it. So I'm assuming it will not come back but you never know.
EDIT: Well the "Google Play services for Instant Apps" reinstalled itself AGAIN WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Getting sick of tired of Google's POMPOUS business ethics.
If it reinstalled itself.... then his would require root privileges in order to disable.
yeah this issue is annoying, it seems to initiate the download upon every reboot and each time it checks the play store for updates for any of your apps.
I found a way to disable it but it required freezing the app through Titanium Backup. I have NO CLUE why I couldn't see Instant Apps before in this list but it is listed as "Google Play Services for Instant Apps." It does not re-install or try to even download, does not show in Settings under Google, but if you look at the app itself in settings you will see it does still run. I am not sure to what extent but yeeeaahhh at least it doesnt seem like it can run anything
No problem As an update, changing security permissions (specifically for writing) for chrome's target folder Definitely (in windows 10) serves as an effective measure to blockade its ability to regenerate itself. This same method also works for microsoft edge located in the C-Windows-SystemApps folder. I presume that the programming methods would be analogous with android on google's end. Anybody know how to restrict write access to a folder on android? So long as it checks for a folder existing and it does exist (multi-decade programming approach) then it attempts to write to that folder. However, because it's already running in stealth mode (aka background) then it will never show an error message when it fails to execute, and it won't report back either, as that functionality depends on the contents of the targeted folder it is denied access to. It should be effectively crippled without excessive CPU consumption if you can just restrict its ability to write to the default folder that it installs itself in. Any ideas how to execute this kind of blockade?
UPDATE: As a way to cripple not Instant Apps specifically, but an entire host of functionality on the android platform, something called "Power Saving Mode" seems to knock out a key background runtime required for this pest to run. Unfortunately it doesn't let you pick and choose what it shuts off, so other useful apps may lose their functionality too. Post if anybody finds a more app-specific method!
Does this crap have its own separate package? If so, you could uninstall it and make a dummy APK having the same package name. This could prevent "updates" due to signing key conflicts, but might also break things...
For privacy reasons on every Samsung device I've ever had including the Note 10 I would remove Facebook and messenger accounts from the account screen everyday and would wipe the storage on the Facebook and messenger app and my user info would be cleared. Since getting the z-fold 3, when I do the above messenger still somehow shows the accounts that I have previously logged in with.
I have Samsung pass disabled and the only way to clear that information appears to be uninstalling messenger and reinstalling it. Facebook application manager is uninstalled and I answer no to the dual messenger prompts that pop up when logging in.
Does anyone know how messenger is retaining this information or what app might be doing it?
If you are for sure clearing all the data, then it must be server side
The ANDROID_ID value won't change on package uninstall/reinstall, as long as the package name and signing key are the same. Apps can rely on this value to maintain state across reinstalls
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Changes to Device Identifiers in Android O
News and insights on the Android platform, developer tools, and events.
android-developers.googleblog.com
Maybe the app is still running so your account info is still in memory, or when one is cleared it copes the data to the other? Force stop both apps, then clear data?
How are you clearing the data?
If you are going into Apps -> Facebook -> storage -> Clear Data
There is a Package Manager app that somehow detects you are trying to clear its data and opens a special dialog to clear the data. I am at work and are not next to my test device but I will upload screenshots when I can.
If the force stop clear data doesn't work, then you could look at using Samsung Knox to clear the data.
RRiVEN said:
If you are for sure clearing all the data, then it must be server side
Changes to Device Identifiers in Android O
News and insights on the Android platform, developer tools, and events.
android-developers.googleblog.com
Maybe the app is still running so your account info is still in memory, or when one is cleared it copes the data to the other? Force stop both apps, then clear data?
How are you clearing the data?
If you are going into Apps -> Facebook -> storage -> Clear Data
There is a Package Manager app that somehow detects you are trying to clear its data and opens a special dialog to clear the data. I am at work and are not next to my test device but I will upload screenshots when I can.
If the force stop clear data doesn't work, then you could look at using Samsung Knox to clear the data.
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Click to collapse
Yes I'm first removing the account. Next I end the messenger task. Then I go to storage and clear the storage. Then I go to Facebook and end that task then I also clear that storage.
If it were server side, uninstalling and reinstalling the app shouldn't clear it so I don't think it's server-side. Doing the above method worked fine on my Note 10. There has to be some other samsung app on the fold 3 that is retaining that data.
You said you uninstalled the App manager, some devices have another system app called Facebook App installer. Maybe that one is present on your device?
That is my Fold 3 and Note 9
RRiVEN said:
You said you uninstalled the App manager, some devices have another system app called Facebook App installer. Maybe that one is present on your device?
That is my Fold 3 and Note 9
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It's a pretty nasty and vicious virus that farcebook thingy!
And you reckon that Google or the keyboard don't keep track of your Facebook accounts? Usually Google retains my Facebook credentials, for fast log in.
After deleting several applications, the "NFC Services" service always stays in the background (even without NFC being active)
I have tried to clear data, cache, debloat the application and restore it and nothing seems to work.
Even with activity manager, it forces the background app to close by restricting it and it stays open.
Start the phone in error proof mode and it kept starting, maybe the process got stuck.
I also deleted the data from google play and google services in case it was something related to gpay but it didn't work
The NFC works correctly, but that's it, it stays in the background and it doesn't happen to others.
I have asked friends who did not debloat and in forums with the same phone and it does not happen to them.
Maybe remove some application that controls that? either maybe some application from the debloat list is making a call to the NFC API and that causes it to not close?
you can look at settings, applications, manage applications and in Search you put NFC (maybe it won't come out and you have to enable see hidden applications)
https://i.ibb.co/zHFrt10/e3ac7546-d76e-4b38-912f-1fc5e54dcdc7.jpg