How much battery do running services use? With froyo I don't see any way to stop them unless someone knows of a way to do it. My widgets always restart in the background and cnet is always running even though I don't have it set as a widget. All the apps that stop them dont work on froyo. Is killing running services the same as killing tasks as in its bad for the phone?
wings9130 said:
How much battery do running services use? With froyo I don't see any way to stop them unless someone knows of a way to do it. My widgets always restart in the background and cnet is always running even though I don't have it set as a widget. All the apps that stop them dont work on froyo. Is killing running services the same as killing tasks as in its bad for the phone?
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Yeah, don't stop services manually unless you absolutely have to. These are the active parts of apps. Technically, they aren't a part of the apps per se, but anyways you can read the documentation on the Android Developers site if you really want to know about them. They can drain the battery, so be on the lookout for apps that have services running all the time. If you start having battery troubles, look at those apps first to see if they are a problem. That being said, most services do very little in the background and aren't a problem. Most will go away if you turn off auto update settings in apps or get rid of widgets or other persistent parts of apps. Long press on the homescreen, hit shortcuts>settings>running services to get an easy way to view and manage running services. You can stop some of them there, but again, don't do it unless you have to. Its better to uninstall the app if you think its using too much power/resources. Also, you should get the Manage Applications shortcut too. Its in the same location and is really handy for managing your apps.
I've noticed lately that K9 Email always seems to be running now and it never used too.
I have to manually stop it.
Hi.
Gmail keeps updating and eating storage space without asking me first.
I don't want it, as I prefer the htc client...so how do I stop it happening, automatic updating is NOT ticked.
I'm concerned about how this happens, as it implies any application can update without my permission which would seem to be a privacy risk (although its the storage usage that concerns me most)?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Are you rooted? I have not seen gmail update but deleting it should stop it from updating.
Gmail is a push email system so when an email appears in your inbox it will be pushed to your phone. It's how Android works. Although, as you said, turning off Gmail sync should stop this...
Apologies, maybe I wasn't so clear. It's not that 'emails keep arriving' that I'm on about!
I mean the actual "Google Mail" application itself. I don't use it...I have tried it on occasion but I always come back to using the HTC Mail application because I prefer the UI and I don't need instant push email, I'm happier scheduling to recieve mail every few hours.
BUT...what I find is that every so often, the Google Mail application UPDATES itself with a new release from the Market. I don't want that to happen, and I have to "remove the updates".
Same happened with Flash for a while which kept insisting on installing a big update that I had no interest in recieving, although that seems to have disappeared from my Applications list now (and I can still use Flash fine).
I'm not rooted, the stock ROM is fine for me, I've toggled that setting that enables all apps to install directly to SD...but things like the updates to Google Mail seem to take up a load of on phone storage.
Ah right!!! Unless Google ignores things for system updates I can't comment. I have the opposite issue in that nothing updates automatically ever!!
In the market page, can you turn off "automatic updates"? I think for google mail it is on by default.
Hmm, am having this same problem. Gmail App keeps updating, dispite auto-updates (for gmail app) unchecked. Problem is I'm using email-notifier app, which only works w/ earlier version, hence I need the current gmail version to remain.
For what it's worth, this is a non-HTC phone / stock ROM. Found this thread via google search and am posting here (sorry to revive old thread) in case there is some other 'android wide' solution someone's come up with.
Blue
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...
Anyone else having issue with Facebook notifications?
Every other app works fine - Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn..etc.
I checked my app settings and notification settings within Android and everything seems to be in order. Even re-installed the Facebook app and still no dice.
When I open the app I see I have notifications, however my phone isn't notifying me of anything related to Facebook. I have open the app to see the notifications within the app.
Anyone else having the same problem?
I am on Pixel 2 XL 8.1 stock.
Did you disable background activity for the app?
laureanop said:
Did you disable background activity for the app?
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Click to collapse
No, it is active.
Having the same issue. Also there are times the app doesn't recognize that the phone is connected to WiFi. The app continues to update the feed, but the videos won't auto play until I turn off WiFi then back on.
Have you ever cleared the cache and data under the Google Framework Services trying to push the OTA update? It is said that would break GCM things.
solohsu said:
Have you ever cleared the cache and data under the Google Framework Services trying to push the OTA update? It is said that would break GCM things.
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Click to collapse
I have not, but the problems have been since day 1 of getting the phone. I'll give it a try and see if there is an improvement.
hey have you got a solution to the problem i am facing the same problem
Similar problem with bootleggers on my Redmi note 5 pro
Hi,
I have last OOS version, 11.2.7.7 and I'm having problems with some apps besides the know problem of gmail not showing notifications of new emails.
For example in weather apps, in the widget in homescreen I have to force update to get new reading of temperatures. I've already tried two different weather apps. The same with OnePlus Shot, even with auto-update ON for daily images, with wifi and mobile data on, I dont get new image every day. I have to go inside OnePlus Shot and then it updates the homescreen with new background. In rest of apps I'm getting notifications and sync data automatically. Don't understand why in these apps it doesnt happen but seems to me something similar to gmail??? Any one having similar issues?
Thanks!