Related
Has anyone noticed that not all apps installed on your phone show up in the "Downloads" section of the phone apps. I'm not referring to spoofed apps, rather free or paid apps that for some reason just don't show up. I've narrowed it down to countries. For instance, if I download via Kies a free app from the UK store, it installs fine and I can use it. However it won't show up in phone apps, thus preventing me from re-downloading or re-installing it at a later date.
Has anyone else noticed this? At first I thought my phone had a bug, or that I had reached a max limit of apps that would display on the phone apps. But now I'm starting to this it is a bug, or is actually like this by design.
i think it is design. but is it not that if u download and install via kies from another country other than your native one it will not show in download section??
It should show up. I mean my main store is the AU one, but often there are free apps on the UK, ES and other ones. The apps install fine using Kies. But they don't show up in the downloads section at all. I even tried submitting a Q&A with Samsung but it never accepted my submission oddly. Anyway that's another issue.
I'm not sure if it's by design or not, but it gives even more credence that it's best to install apps using Kies. Then you have a backup of the app if you want to re-install later.
But the best tip I can give everyone is this. Create separate accounts for the different countries's app stores. It's easy to just download an app and not bother, but it's well worth the effort. That way you can also login and re-download the app at a later date too. I created a UK, FR, ES, RU account and continue to do so for any free app I am going to download. Since other countries apps dont' seem to show up in the downloads section, I can't recommend enough taking the short time to have multiple accounts.
google play store error: [RPC:S-5:AEC-0]
I've been getting this on a few devices for the past few days and have done LOADS of searching and tried numerous listed and suggested solutions to resolve this error. Including removing and re-adding google account, clearing cache and data on Google Play Services and Google Play store. Restoring a previous backup of the Playstore etc. but nothing has worked.
Seems I'm not alone. Here are some recent search results you can paruse if you feel like it.
Just this evening I logged into the Play Store via the Web on a PC and went to 'My Applicatins' in the Play Store and get an error there too!!
Supposedly Google is aware of this and is 'working on it' but since they are notorious hard to get any real information from I doubt we'll get an update until it 'just works'.
Though I'd put this out for others in the same boat.
Have you tried the JB server reset?
In Terminal:
--------------------
su
drmserver&
--------------------
Reboot phone
Team Rejectz
Tried that too. Still getting error. Still can't update anything. Also tried diferent (including stock) kernels and doing all of the suggestions.
When I log into Playstore via web and click on 'My Android Apps' I get this "We're sorry, there was an error. Please try again later." too still.
Did get some apps to install by just unistalling and using the web to 'push' them to the phone again. But others won't.
Pretty frustrating. But I guess I'll just keep pluging along.
Is there a Google tech support #? Lol
Team Rejectz
same problem
bilgerryan said:
Is there a Google tech support #? Lol
Team Rejectz
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I spoke yesterday with the support of Google. They do not have any solution and what they said is just ridiculous "to wait until a solution" Currently website record that they support are aware of the problem and the middle of April they care but still no solution.
I suggest you just call and update them that the problem is common and much simpler device owners encounter this problem ... just massive advertising will probably have to address the problem. This simply indicates disrespect.
tempw said:
I spoke yesterday with the support of Google. They do not have any solution and what they said is just ridiculous "to wait until a solution" Currently website record that they support are aware of the problem and the middle of April they care but still no solution.
I suggest you just call and update them that the problem is common and much simpler device owners encounter this problem ... just massive advertising will probably have to address the problem. This simply indicates disrespect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or that they have no idea what the problem is and they are stalling as much as they can so they don't have to admit it (more likely scenario)
Everything is now working!!!!!!!!!!!! Problem solved!!!!!:highfive:
Okay I fixed now....
I switched off all of my devices.. Then I keep one only...
Go to system
Privacy
Unmark back up my data
Then make a factory reset..
After that the device will be opened again...
Put your email
Unmark restore my account in this device (in the first setup)
After setup is finished go to market.. Then you will find all your purchased apps and even your pending updates.
Try to retrieve one of your purchased app, and update one app
That is it.
Now open your other devices.. All well be fixed.
This is my experience.
Hope will work with you
Playstore seems to be working for me too now.
Works on phone AND the Web (desktop) interface for 'My Android Applications' is working too.
Also thought I'd add this for other who have problems with PlayStore.
Though Google seems to have corrected the problem, it may come up in the future, or you may simply wish to download .apk(s) seperately.
You can use a Chrome extension to download the .apk then push it to your phone or copy it and install it.
There is a good page on how to do this here.
The one caveat I'd recommend if you use the extension it to use Google's two factor/step authentification, create an application specific password for just this extension, use the extension to grab your apk(s) then delete that app specific access. If you don't know how to do that there is always Google.. [I hate when I have to use my Google credentials anywhere and really don't trust any other sites or applications to be secure and completely non-nefarious; but that's me and my tinfoil hat].
I'm wondering if there is anyone here who can speak to the stability of Google Apps (hangouts, Gmail, etc.) sideloading them onto the fire phone along with Google lay services. I'm really interested in this phone but am not sure if I can give up my gapps.
I've only had the Google Apps on my phone for a day. I don't use hangouts, but I do use Gmail and the Drive suite, as well as Maps. I'm using the most recent version of Amazon's OS.
Here's my take on some of the Google apps:
My Gmail isn't getting refreshing emails as fast as I'd like it to, though I'm not sure if that's some sort of issue on my side (connectivity or something) or an issue with the app (Note, while I'm typing this post, my Gmail just instantly got an email as soon as it was delivered and alerted me to it...). Gmail does nice little popup alerts and seems to integrate well with Amazon's OS, though.
Maps has some issues with road labels on the most recent version (seems to work fine with some older versions, as per a post on this forum somewhere). I'd consider this app a no-go for now, unless you don't need to read road names at any point. The Maps app that comes with the phone is good enough though (it actually looks a lot like a skinned version of Google Maps, without the social integration and "places to go" recommendations) and I've used it for a 2h drive already with no hiccups.
Drive, Quickoffice, Docs, all work well and I'm able to access, edit, etc, on my phone.
Chrome and Chrome to Phone work.
Google Play Music works for music downloaded on the device (unsure how it works with Google's cloud music service)
Google Play (the appstore) works and delivers updates to apps.
I can give hangouts a go, but I'm not really sure what to look for in terms of functionality.
Google Play apps install and run. I've tried Snapchat, Pixel Dungeon, Soundcloud, and some others. G+ login works, and your Google account is set up when you first try to launch the play services like it would be on a brand new stock Android phone so you get the same kind of Google account integration that you expect from Google's Android.
Edit:
I'd see if you can get some more info from other people... As far as I'm aware, installing Google Play and Google Services doesn't work for everybody. They have for me though, and I'm really happy with the device as it is now, especially considering what I paid for it unlocked.
snapplefish said:
I've only had the Google Apps on my phone for a day. I don't use hangouts, but I do use Gmail and the Drive suite, as well as Maps. I'm using the most recent version of Amazon's OS.
Here's my take on some of the Google apps:
My Gmail isn't getting refreshing emails as fast as I'd like it to, though I'm not sure if that's some sort of issue on my side (connectivity or something) or an issue with the app (Note, while I'm typing this post, my Gmail just instantly got an email as soon as it was delivered and alerted me to it...). Gmail does nice little popup alerts and seems to integrate well with Amazon's OS, though.
Maps has some issues with road labels on the most recent version (seems to work fine with some older versions, as per a post on this forum somewhere). I'd consider this app a no-go for now, unless you don't need to read road names at any point. The Maps app that comes with the phone is good enough though (it actually looks a lot like a skinned version of Google Maps, without the social integration and "places to go" recommendations) and I've used it for a 2h drive already with no hiccups.
Drive, Quickoffice, Docs, all work well and I'm able to access, edit, etc, on my phone.
Chrome and Chrome to Phone work.
Google Play Music works for music downloaded on the device (unsure how it works with Google's cloud music service)
Google Play (the appstore) works and delivers updates to apps.
I can give hangouts a go, but I'm not really sure what to look for in terms of functionality.
Google Play apps install and run. I've tried Snapchat, Pixel Dungeon, Soundcloud, and some others. G+ login works, and your Google account is set up when you first try to launch the play services like it would be on a brand new stock Android phone so you get the same kind of Google account integration that you expect from Google's Android.
Edit:
I'd see if you can get some more info from other people... As far as I'm aware, installing Google Play and Google Services doesn't work for everybody. They have for me though, and I'm really happy with the device as it is now, especially considering what I paid for it unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you're getting successful results then you should consider sharing what you did and how you did it so we can get the ball rolling.
Also you're able to sideload most apps (besides google apps) and they work normally? Im considering buying this phone with the current deal
sram21092 said:
if you're getting successful results then you should consider sharing what you did and how you did it so we can get the ball rolling.
Also you're able to sideload most apps (besides google apps) and they work normally? Im considering buying this phone with the current deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I detailed what I did here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=57161714&postcount=24
(Here's the post where I got the instructions from: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=57095260&postcount=9 )
I didn't change the directory where I sideloaded the Vending.apk, I just sideloaded it in with everything else. I don't remember if I briefly tried to install the Play store before without Google services, but that's probably why I had to adb install with the -r flag.
Before I installed Google services, some apps were working fine without them. Notably, Snapchat complained every time I brought it up, but ran fine. I would wait a bit for some more input from people... From what I've heard around here, it's just me and another guy (Aztecwarrior, the guy whose method I used in that thread) who have it working at the moment. I'd say you can sideload most applications without installing Google services.
http://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ is what I used to pull APKs to sideload before installing the Google services and Play store.
EDIT: I should mention that the Play store doesn't just deliver updates to apps... I've been able to completely install and manage applications through it; it works just as you'd expect it to work on any other phone for the moment. i.e., you don't need to sideload apps first to get them on the phone if you've installed all the Google stuff. Sorry for the ambiguity in my previous post.
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Another question: so far have you noticed that you've been getting a number of error massages/application crashes? I had previously installed google apps and services on my fire hdx and constantly received messages that various apps were crashing in the background, which I found super annoying.
Has anyone else had luck with play music? Does it work for all access?
Just a follow up on why I care about hangouts- I run all of my phone and text through google voice and this has been integrated into hangouts. I'm a cheapskate and can use the hangouts app to place calls and send/receive texts so I don't pay for minutes or texts. I'm one of the few people who doesn't care too much about missing play store, since I have the hdx, I've got a bunch of apps off of the amazon store.
bmbriefs said:
Thanks for sharing your experience!
Another question: so far have you noticed that you've been getting a number of error massages/application crashes? I had previously installed google apps and services on my fire hdx and constantly received messages that various apps were crashing in the background, which I found super annoying.
Has anyone else had luck with play music? Does it work for all access?
Just a follow up on why I care about hangouts- I run all of my phone and text through google voice and this has been integrated into hangouts. I'm a cheapskate and can use the hangouts app to place calls and send/receive texts so I don't pay for minutes or texts. I'm one of the few people who doesn't care too much about missing play store, since I have the hdx, I've got a bunch of apps off of the amazon store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No background crashes -- yet -- at all. I've also enabled background ANRs in the dev options, and nothing's popped up from that either.
I don't have all access for Music, so I can't comment on that.
I just installed Hangouts and gave it a cursory launch... It loads up, enabled SMS (loaded all my conversations from the Fire Phone's messenger app), has all my contacts loaded up to start a conversation. Is there anything specific you'd want me to try?
Thanks again! Glad to hear you're not getting the annoying error messages. I think this pretty much seals the deal for me.
On the fire phone, is it possible to change the default sms and dialer apps?
On last request.... could you give the hangouts dialer a shot? This allows you to place calls over wifi using hangouts.
bmbriefs said:
Thanks again! Glad to hear you're not getting the annoying error messages. I think this pretty much seals the deal for me.
On the fire phone, is it possible to change the default sms and dialer apps?
On last request.... could you give the hangouts dialer a shot? This allows you to place calls over wifi using hangouts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Regarding default apps, everything is handled via intents (e.g. I set chrome to take all web requests)... when I enabled hangouts sms, I started getting texts to hangouts without being notified by the default app, so I think that much is configurable. The dialer, I'm not sure.
I'm in class right now (and pretty much until 9pm, and lots of homework), but I'll check hangouts dialer and default apps when I have time.
Did you root it first ,if so, did you use the same method as aztecwarrior?
No root. I used the guide that Aztec referenced, but not his exact steps. Check post #4 in this thread, the first few lines.
bmbriefs said:
I'm wondering if there is anyone here who can speak to the stability of Google Apps (hangouts, Gmail, etc.) sideloading them onto the fire phone along with Google lay services. I'm really interested in this phone but am not sure if I can give up my gapps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using the Play Store, Hangouts, and Gmail off and on the last 12 hours or so. It's been rock solid for me. No crashes. Haven't found any missing features. Maps does seem to have some issues but haven't tried navigation yet, which is what I really would use it for.
Thanks to you all for your input. I bit the bullet and ordered one before the sale ended.
Now I tried the procedure from scratch (all apks uninstalled and rebooted the phone) several times with different apk-Versions (mainly 2 different links as d/l source).
My Play Store is always not getting any connection and I am not able to d/l apps from the store. Additionally, G Servies crashes every few minutes. I did follow the procedure like apk installation order, reboot, etc. No luck .
Btw. my fire phone is NOT rooted and is on fire OS 3.6.2.
natter.
natter_deluxe said:
Now I tried the procedure from scratch (all apks uninstalled and rebooted the phone) several times with different apk-Versions (mainly 2 different links as d/l source).
My Play Store is always not getting any connection and I am not able to d/l apps from the store. Additionally, G Servies crashes every few minutes. I did follow the procedure like apk installation order, reboot, etc. No luck .
Btw. my fire phone is NOT rooted and is on fire OS 3.6.2.
natter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried checking for a firmware update in the settings? When did you get your fire phone? I think the ATT/Carrier-bound FPs have some slight differences in hardware and firmware.
snapplefish said:
Have you tried checking for a firmware update in the settings? When did you get your fire phone? I think the ATT/Carrier-bound FPs have some slight differences in hardware and firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi snapplefish,
there is no firmware update available, when I am checking in the settings. I did get my phone from Amazon Germany with T-Mobile Sim lock (German localization - maybe that is why e.g. there is no 3.6.8 fire OS firmware available yet) early october 2014 when it was launched here. They sold it accidently for 10 bucks w/o a carrier contract.
Is there any hardware id of phone that can be checked? I could find:
Fire OS 3.6.2 (122009420)
Model No. SD4930UR
Btw., latest versions of Account Manager and Framework from my second phone do not install. Play Services 6.5 and Play Store 5.0 will install, however, no change compared to the older versions linked in the tutorials --> no 'my apps' tab in G Play Store.
natter_deluxe said:
Hi snapplefish,
there is no firmware update available, when I am checking in the settings. I did get my phone from Amazon Germany with T-Mobile Sim lock (German localization - maybe that is why e.g. there is no 3.6.8 fire OS firmware available yet) early october 2014 when it was launched here. They sold it accidently for 10 bucks w/o a carrier contract.
Is there any hardware id of phone that can be checked? I could find:
Fire OS 3.6.2 (122009420)
Model No. SD4930UR
Btw., latest versions of Account Manager and Framework from my second phone do not install. Play Services 6.5 and Play Store 5.0 will install, however, no change compared to the older versions linked in the tutorials --> no 'my apps' tab in G Play Store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be on Fire OS 3.6.8 if you have unlocked phone. I had some issues with some launchers, but the standard Google Now Launcher for the most part seems fine. Appstore is very limited and playstore seems to have a lot of tools...unfortunately it's going to be playing with some apps and seeing if they are stable or not. Battery Doctor, clean master, home switch, and weather & clock seems to work for me.
frekey22 said:
You should be on Fire OS 3.6.8 if you have unlocked phone. I had some issues with some launchers, but the standard Google Now Launcher for the most part seems fine. Appstore is very limited and playstore seems to have a lot of tools...unfortunately it's going to be playing with some apps and seeing if they are stable or not. Battery Doctor, clean master, home switch, and weather & clock seems to work for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, checking the update status does not provide the 3.6.8 version to my phone. It is not rooted and after delivery with 3.6.0 I did nothing else to the phone but update it to 3.6.2.
Only the new GSM unlocked phones come with 3.6.8 Sounds like you got your phone before this all happend therefore you are able to downgrade and root, your one of the lucky ones. You can get a AOSP feel to your phone if you want. Not sure why your not following those guides. Heck if you don't want to root then I'll trade you phones lol.
Gmail conacts
I am transferring my contacts to the FIre phone from Android. All my phone contacts are stored in Gmail(google contacts).
Now the problem is i am not able to find a setting option which would show only contacts with Phone no.
It is showing all contacts of Gmail, but i only need contacts with phone no there.
I had the same issue in Android 2.3 or something, when Android had an option of enabling the contacts with phone no only. Later on in Android 4 they moved to keeping all contacts but at the dialup i could search for only contacts with numbers only.
Any suggestion here. May be a different launcher or app?
Thanks
I received my phone and mostly everything is working. Google voice works, and automatically places calls using my gv number. Only issue I'm having is that the hangouts doesn't send sms messages over WiFi (but will over let) and the hangouts dialer has the same issue, I can't place calls via WiFi either. Anyone else find this?
So two days ago I installed freedom on my phone. I patched minecraft for the skins and then just left it and the next day my friend came over and was using my phone as a hotspot but he couldn't use snapchat. It just wasn't loading anything even though everything else was fine and it worked fine when he connected to my wifi. I then noticed my snapchat wasn't loading anything either so i logged out and that was the last time i've been logged into snapchat for two days now. It just thinks about logging in for ages then tells me it cant reach the servers. The other problem is my playstore won't work. It says check connection and retry instantly and ive tried uninstalling all updates to play store, clearing cache and data etc. Another weird thing is my phone was taking ages to boot up. I removed freedom cus I suspect it has sabotaged my phone but I have no idea what to do about it. I use snapchat a lot and it's really getting to me as this issue makes no damn sense. Sorry for the rushed typing.
Factory reset?
Oh, and anything related to Lucky P****** is a taboo on XDA. The mods are dead serious about it, you might want to edit your post quick.
Sent from my LG-H812 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the reply and I've edited my post now. I have narrowed the issue down to being google play services as snapchat requires that to log in. I tried to remove google play services to reinstall it but it can't actually be removed fully not even with titanium backup so now it's just one big mess. My google account has been removed from my phone and I can't add it back because it just tells me "There was a problem communicating with google play servers". I really don't want to factory reset my phone as I have it rooted etc and it's just a major pain in the arse to get everything back to how I want it so I'm going to just try and sort it out by trying different things.
Edit: I solved it. Went into the hosts file in etc/hosts and commented out the ip for google play services then restarted my phone and that allowed me to log into google play account and everything works fine now. It said my hosts file was last edited at 9 oclock of august 30th so I don;t know what edited it but I feel like it as purposely sabotaged.
I don't know if this might help but i remember i had the same problem (coudn't use play store right after using freedom) on my s3. When you're done with freedom just remember to click on "stop" in the app or play store won't allow you to access it
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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...