Develop Bugs

Sync contacts & calendar to linux

I am about to make my first foray into an Android device (Motorola Defy - Android 2.1 on the Telstra network in Australia) after years and years of faithful Symbian servitude. There is one little thing that is bugging me about Android so I thought I'd ask the experts as I've spent hours looking for an answer and still not coming up with a clear answer.
I understand I can turn off contact and calendar sync with Google quite easily but I'm unable to find anything to suggest how hard/easy it would be to sync my contacts and calendar (via USB, Bluetooth or WiFi - no real preference) to my local computer running Linux, specifically Ubuntu, rather than the cloud. I would prefer it sync to Evolution as this is what I have been using for years now with various forms of SyncML and Symbian phones (most recently syncevolution).
I would really prefer not to give over my hundreds of contacts and all my personal appointments to the cloud so I'm searching for a solution that doesn't involve customising the basic software too much for preference. It doesn't have to be a 24/7 sync, I'm currently just running it on an as required basis. I would even be willing to pay for the service providing it works.
Now I understand the whole "don't buy an Android phone if you don't want to use Google's services" and I've seen many posts like mine deteriorate into "why do you even want this?" so bearing in mind I've considered these arguments already is there anyone with any constructive suggestions?

This...?
https://android-client.forge.funambol.org/

I was looking at this sort of thing but couldn't understand, would this require the installation of my own funambol server on the computer here or would just installing the client on the phone allow it then to talk SyncML to something like hxxp://syncevolution.org/ (unable to post outside links yet sorry for the crap link)? Sorry if it seems noobish but want to confirm before spending money on something that may/may not suit my needs.

I'm not sure as I don't use it myself. I mentioned it cause you mentioned you've been using SyncML in the past so I think it may help...

Thanks for the pointer. I'm trying to work out if
Handset+SyncML client -> Syncevolution -> Evolution
or
Handset+SyncML client -> SyncML Server -> Syncevolution -> Evolution
is going to end up being the case. I guess it's one of those "just get it and see" things it would appear. I was just hoping this could be confirmed either way beforehand because a SyncML server is going to be a fair bit of work for just one phone and one instance of evolution.
I'm looking to get the Motorola Defy in the next week or so, so I will make sure I report back how it goes if no one else has any other information beforehand.

Just a quick follow up for anyone else looking into this. If you have the time I would whole heartedly suggest setting up your own personal funambol server as I couldn't find a reasonable solution to my problem.
As I don't have the time at this point to do that I have used iCal Import/Export in conjunction with Touch Calendar (I dislike the layout of the default calendar and Touch lets me repeat an event every X days which is good for shift workers like myself) for my calendar needs. I have been using the inbuilt Motorola Phone Portal over wifi to import/export vcards into the phone for my contacts.
So now I have my contacts and calendar in the phone and can manually import/export which is as close as I've gotten to syncing locally at this point. If I figure out anything else I'll post back again and I'm still open to other suggestions that are a bit simpler than a separate funambol server.

[General] How do you people value your own information?

I'm asking this because after the Sony/SOE hacking (which I am somewhat affected by), it's got me thinking.
There are some online services that I've been trying to remove myself form (since before that happened), and companies make it virtually impossible in some cases to get themselves removed from these services.
The biggest example is Facebook. It's literally impossible to remove yourself from facebook. It gives you no decent way to see a list of Pages you have "Liked" and there is no way to remove all of your posts from the site.
Twitter makes this easy... Foursquare makes this easy. Loopt makes this easy...
But it seems companies that are big into Advertising make it as hard as possible for you to decouple yourself form them.
Slacker and Pandora have no such option to remove yourself from those sites after you create your account (and it's impossible to purge your personal information from them unless yo go through hoops and bounds to do so). Contrarily, Last.FM makes it as easy as a button click and some confirmations.
Yahoo! and Google make it easy to delete accounts, but Windows Live basically leaves the account sitting there for something like 4-6 months before it's deleted...
Provided there are decent confirmations, I think any online services should allow any user who willingly signed up for it to willingly walk away from it, and take their personal data and information with them. It seems like a huge power grab by the industry to lock users into them and own our information...
I've already written my Congressman and Senator following an issue with AOL where it took literally weeks of constant phones calls for them to delete my old accounts that I haven't used in forever. Finally they agreed to "waive" the "we don't delete accounts" rule because I was in the military for years following the account creation and they had it on record since I canceled my AOL service that I was doing so because I was being deployed back then...
What do people think. Do you think it's cool that companies expect to own our information after we sign up for their services and make it extremely difficult if not outright impossible to decouple ourselves from them?
Or do you want to be denied a job (or admissions into a university) because you posted something tasteless or inflamatory on facebook one night? (yes, universitiy admissions are starting to check social networks)?
For the past 3 months or so I've been trying to close down all these unneeded services that I have subscribed to in the past, and have been met with several brick walls.
It's even impossible to delete accounts on forums these days, which is uber laughable as well...
I'm thinking about quitting facebook, but getting all my stuff off of there is looking like an impossible task...
EDIT: Pandora finally got around to deleting my account... But I did send them like 5 emails today before they got around to it at 10:50 PM (first contacted them like 2 months ago).

I agree with you that all services you willingly sign up for should be as easy to leave as they were to join, it makes sense.
I'm on Facebook, several tech forums, I use several cloud based services (mail etc.) and I try not to post too many things that would make me look bad.
Facebook has by far been the most problematic to get off, you can deactivate your account but not really remove it.
/J

that's a funny question. It's not ha ha funny but it's funny to jump through those hoops. As far as information shared, on social networking, I know its vitally important to keep professionalism especially in clinical psychology. Personally, if my posts aren't related to tech or anime, I don't post it on social networking. I call a person, I write an angry email or something, but rarely do I kvetch on a social networking platform. Because it's a bad idea...
I mean I have opened a second fb account and surprisingly my first FB is still open. It doesn't bother me because it is "dead" for all intents and purposes. Honestly I just really don't mind it personally, but again that's just me. I'm not the type to post inflammatory material. I guess its different strokes.
However, I do agree, it should be easy to delete your own account. But I have to correct you on yahoo specifically. You can recover the account if its deleted. It's rather easy and I've done it multiple times. I think after a year (for yahoo specifically) then its gone. But otherwise, nope it's still there.

Yahoo! gave me an instant way to delete my account hte last time I did it. It was instant, with no recovery. I checked immediately afterwards when I did it and there was no way to recover the account. Perhaps that is a new development.
Both Yahoo! and Google allow you instant account deletion (or did, IRT the former). Microsoft keeps the accounts for something like 120 days (used to be 45, then 60, etc.) and AOL seemingly keeps them forever because the account I had to go through the run-around to delete hadn't been used for years (almost a decade), but had a ton of personal information on it that I couldn't change because I didn't remember an old secret answer so I couldn't even log in to get it off there (I used to have AOL internet access).
I went back and deleted almost all of my posts on Facebook. It took over 6 hours because you have to personally track down every comment you've made on the site (including those on walls of people no longer on your friend's list). This is intentionally convoluded compared to Twitter, where all of your tweets and retweets are there in a list and it took like 5 minutes to delete them...

As much as I despise Facebook's practice of making accounts hard to delete I've been wondering for a while if it is a result of a fragile database structure they are using. N8ter 's description of having to manually remove comments all over the place makes me wonder if Facebook's database structure has some sort of vulnerability to having data scattered in so many places removed.
Granted, it's prolly more likely they make it difficult because they can.

What do you mean, "you people"?

Nice one
Suppose I.walked right into that
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

So... let me get this straight,
You signed on to privately owned websites, handed over private information/made incriminating posts (in any capacity)... and now you're complaining about it?
In boardroom meetings in those companies, people like you are punchlines.
Nothing on the internet is private. Let me repeat that; nothing on the internet is private.
Learn it, know it, love it.

I think your missing the point.
Facebook makes it almost impossible for people to leave after they've used the service a lot. You have to track down every comment and wall post and delete them one by one, among other things before they will delete your account.
Blacker flat out refuses to delete accounts even after several emails. They don't consider email private information... ... ...
Other services just make it impossible. Google voice makes it impossible ti remove the service or your phone number. Aol generally flat out refuses to delete accounts. Windows live wants your info to stay there for six months.
Its not about it not being private, its about me not having a choice in whether or not my personal info sits on their server.
Having a ton of extra accounts increases spam email, among other things...
Hope that cleared up my stance a bit...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

N8ter said:
The biggest example is Facebook. It's literally impossible to remove yourself from facebook. It gives you no decent way to see a list of Pages you have "Liked"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought you could see those pages in "Download Your Information"
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=18830

N8ter said:
I think your missing the point.
Facebook makes it almost impossible for people to leave after they've used the service a lot. You have to track down every comment and wall post and delete them one by one, among other things before they will delete your account.
Blacker flat out refuses to delete accounts even after several emails. They don't consider email private information... ... ...
Other services just make it impossible. Google voice makes it impossible ti remove the service or your phone number. Aol generally flat out refuses to delete accounts. Windows live wants your info to stay there for six months.
Its not about it not being private, its about me not having a choice in whether or not my personal info sits on their server.
Having a ton of extra accounts increases spam email, among other things...
Hope that cleared up my stance a bit...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
honestly, I know what you mean. Its very annoying and frustrating. But just take it all as a lesson that these are all private companies. Neither you or I have any right to an expectation of privacy. Its a hard truth to face. My Facebook profile is as dry as a bone. I never post or submit any info I wouldn't be comfortable with the whole world knowing.
Until there is a government-run social networking platform, just understand that.

Tone_ said:
I thought you could see those pages in "Download Your Information"
http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=18830
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. That's only to download your pictures, videos, and stuff like that if you want a hard copy or to put it on another social network/profile.
For example, if you want to put all your facebook stuff on your Windows Live Profile, but they don't exist on your computer/smartphone anymore...
Also, that won't remove the ridiculous amount of manual labor involved in tracking down every comment/wall post and deleting them one by one...
All that information is trivially seen by clicking on "Profile" at the Facebook homepage. It shows all your activity. But you should be able to remove it by clicking on the X. Right now, you have to go to every page, track that comment down (sometimes in a sea of 1k+ comments), and manually delete it. Some of those comment feeds are so damn large, that they can crash some users' browsers or slow them to a crawl.

[Q] SIP and Google Voice

So now that Spring/GV integration seems to be picking up speed, lets talk SIP.
I have multiple situations where I would like to have the choice of using a SIP gateway instead of my phone. (ipod at home, second phone at home, etc.)
Now, many of the how-to's on the internet are focused on purely FREE options. I'm willing to pay a little bit, ($1-$2 a month). Also, many of the how-to's rely on services that don't exist or seem to work, (gizmo5, sipgate, etc, etc).
1. So what CURRENT methods are there for getting an inexpensive SIP gateway to add to my phone list in google voice?
2. Does google have any way to just do the connection strait (without adding a SIP gateway as a phone?
3. Google talk is listed as a phone. What the hell does it do? My google talk app doesn't ring on my phone. There's no google talk app on my ipod. It didn't ring on my computer. What the hell does it do?
Some clear explanations of the options (paths the call can take and the different technologies necessary to make the paths happen), current good services to use, and current, good apps (for various systems Windows, Android, IOS, etc) would be very very helpful. Thanks!

gdbassett said:
So now that Spring/GV integration seems to be picking up speed, lets talk SIP.
I have multiple situations where I would like to have the choice of using a SIP gateway instead of my phone. (ipod at home, second phone at home, etc.)
Now, many of the how-to's on the internet are focused on purely FREE options. I'm willing to pay a little bit, ($1-$2 a month). Also, many of the how-to's rely on services that don't exist or seem to work, (gizmo5, sipgate, etc, etc).
1. So what CURRENT methods are there for getting an inexpensive SIP gateway to add to my phone list in google voice?
2. Does google have any way to just do the connection strait (without adding a SIP gateway as a phone?
3. Google talk is listed as a phone. What the hell does it do? My google talk app doesn't ring on my phone. There's no google talk app on my ipod. It didn't ring on my computer. What the hell does it do?
Some clear explanations of the options (paths the call can take and the different technologies necessary to make the paths happen), current good services to use, and current, good apps (for various systems Windows, Android, IOS, etc) would be very very helpful. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read HERE.
I think I already answered everything you're questioning about in this new thread in that thread that's only a few days old. Although I also answered your #3, I'll elaborate slightly. The Google Talk call forward option refers ONLY to an open web browser page of Gmail with the Google Voice plugin installed currently. Any more questions, point them in there and I'll be happy to answer you, as I've already tested and use every service you asked about personally.

Bypassing Pixel 2 XL lock screen for deceased family member.

So as the title says, I have a family member who recently passed away over the weekend. The family is trying to access his phone for any pictures and videos of him with everyone. As of right now, we don't have any info about his Google account info. We're afraid to keep trying passwords in case it ends up wiping the data after a certain number of tries. I tried using Dr. Fone but the unlock software doesn't support this phone. Not sure what to do from here but I thought you guys might be able to help. Thanks, guys.

perhaps contact the local police to inquire if they have the capability to unlock the phone? They will probably require that you prove your relationship to the deceased which I don't think anyone on this forum could do. It's not that I don't believe you, but any creeper/theif/etc could say the same thing.
GL and sorry for your loss.

Sorry for your loss. If he had 2 step verification where you can send a text message to his cell phone #, you could do a Sim swap, pop the Sim in a phone that you have access to. Trigger the 2 step verification for forgot password and it might work.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

I'm so sorry for your loss, and Hope you'd recover the content without much of a hassle.
Good Luck!

You can force a factory reset...that will delete apps and texts and any unsaved pics from texts will be deleted....BUT....it will not delete any pics taken by the cam and saved to the phone.
Good luck and sorry for your lost.

Was he logged into Gmail on a computer? Could possibly go to Google Photos and check for backed up photos and videos.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

sorry for your loss, I hope you can recover the photos.
1st: was already mentioned. sim swap
2nd: Try to sign into their google account. If you know their gmail (you should be able to figure this out pretty easily) and know them pretty well you can probably guess their password especially if you can remember an "old" password they've used because people are creatures of habit and reuse the same or variations of the same passwords for years. Or you can do the "forgot password" option
3rd have the legal rep ask google.
Google lets third parties request the content from a deceased user's account, but this must be requested by the deceased person's legal representative. The legal representative must upload a copy of their government-issued ID and a copy of the death certificate. Even then, there's no guarantee the legal representative will gain access.
If this works, the legal representative would be able to access data from the deceased user's Drive, Gmail, Blogger, Google+, Google Photos, YouTube and other services. But again, if the deceased user didn't back up any photos in the first place, getting into the cloud backup won't do any good.
https://support.google.com/accounts/troubleshooter/6357590?hl=en#ts=6357650
4th: okay, this one is a little macabre and you said password but I have 2 methods to get into mine so I figure I'd say it......sigh.............somehow before the funeral 1) find a way to be alone with your relative and see if either of their index fingerprints will work to unlock the phone OR 2) I GUESS you COULD ask the funeral director to unlock their phone using their fingerprints but I'm not sure how agreeable they'd be on that one.. Look, I know it's creepy but if the photos/vids are important then......sigh.....damn it sounds even more eff'd up reading it than it did in my head. Okay, sorry, I'll stop now....
good luck

First of all, I'm sorry for your loss...
I have some inquiries, and then a suggestion...
First, do you know if the former owner had "unlocked" or "rooted" the phone/device? When you turn the device on, is there a warning in the powering up process that "warns" about having an "unlocked bootloader"?
If it is unlocked and/or rooted, there are more/further options that can be done, but only if it is in this "state"...
And as for my suggestion...
You might be aware of how Apple and iPhones/iPads have a sort of "find my iphone" or "find my device" type of connection and protocol on their devices... I've personally used the "Android"/Google version (called Android Device Manager [or ADM for short]) of this to find the last location of my phone and to also ring it. But I have also noticed that they (Google) are constantly evolving it and later added a "lock" option. So, taking it a step further, I checked if there was possibly an "unlock" option; and there is! Again, I personally have never used it and do not know much about it. After some cursory reading, there are certain criteria that has to have been met while the original owner was using the phone; but if, by some amazing circumstance or miracle, things have been set up properly (and you know the deceased google account information/login), there's a good chance you might be able to get the phone unlocked. You can find the information all about this here: https://one.comodo.com/blog/itsm/unlock-your-android-device-using-android-device-manager.php
One additional thought I just thought of while writing this, along the lines of talking to Google and explaining the situation, even if you don't have the google account information/login, you might be able to obtain that information from them if the situation is explained and they have protocols for this type of situation.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss, and I hope this helps. Good luck to you...

Remove / Disable Google and MI bloat apps

Hello everyone,
I'm used to the LineageOS on my previous phone and now I've upgraded recently to this phone but I feel my personal info too much available to Google and MI system apps and I don't want that, thats why I went to LineageOS on my previous phone but, like others custom firmwares, it have several bugs which limits the potential of the phone.
Even not using an google account I can feel my life is being spied because a few things happen:
- if someone calls me, a friend or whatever, and its not in my contacts list it asks me if its spam. For what? To send the info somewhere using the internet connection and warns others if its spam? If it reads my contacts for this it can read those for anything, like copy my whole contacts list which I'm not comfortable with and I'm not able to control. I'm afraid that later if i use the regular browser to access Gmail for instance, I'm afraid the OS is prepared to warn google that all the info that' I've shared so far belongs to that particular Google account and that phone IMEI is also used but that account. I'm crazy? Maybe, but all this is possible and I want to make it impossible.
- If i do not allow Google services from accessing my text messages APP (built-in app) i keep getting a warning from the system that something it will not go OK if I do not turn on that access from Google services. Why the hell should google services needs to access my texts? My first phone, 20 years ago, could send SMS without google, why the hell google needs to see my texts now?
The list continues but I'm not willing to loose the nice things this OS have too, but for me personal info is too valuable and I dont want to give away any information from my contacts list, SMS texts, the places I visit, my tastes and so on, all this is my personal life and no one needs to know about it, not even just for statistics. Some people on my contacts list doesn't use Android and dont want the personal phone number stored somewhere and connected to me somehow, not that Im a criminal or something like but all this combined together its like a personal "Facebook" for Google and MI to use, they know who are the persons who I connect with, who are near me at a certain period of the day, where I usually do shopping, well, all my life is being stored somewhere, and I want to end this.
Is there a way to keep the current OS and block every outgoing info coming from the phone? I've made some research and i come to this so far
- AFwall can be a solution, but how good it is?
- Removing google services is not an option using ADB, the OS will not work
- Disable google services is not working. The system keeps turning it on automatically
Please give me your feedbacks with your experiences about this security issue, I think several people feels the same way, and how did you managed a work around to this keeping the original OS.
PS: For now I didnt unlock the bootloader, but I will if the solution goes that way.
Thank you everyone
Tomalamix

Living in the age of Google, one cannot use phone & Internet without your info being collected for ad purposes or whatsoever.

Ad purposes i can live with that,. what I cant live with is my personal data being stored by a 3rd party company besides my cell operator
Ive been watching the Anti-Gapps group but it seems discontinued i guess, i think this is a task fitted for them