Develop Bugs

New Samsung apps in the marketplace

Several new apps showed up in the Samsung Zone last night:
Video Call
Basically what it sounds like, a 3G-based video calling app. Unfortunately, it apparently requires a FFC, so all it does on the Focus is display an error message and quit.
RSS Times
A pretty nice Google Reader app
AllShare
Samsung's DLNA media sharing app. But again, on the Focus all it does is display a "not supported" error and quit.
FunShot
An interesting-looking (haven't played with it yet) photo editor with some "funky" effects.
MiniDiary
A diary app with text, voice, drawing and photo support.

I'd have thought OEMs would be allowed to only target certain devices for their apps, so either they can't and theyre for the omnia w (etc) or we might be inline for some driver updates...

I use Minidiary which is a good app... we cannot use vedio call app but i think its prety amazing specially cos we can make vedio calls to iphone and android phones even if they dont have this app...
i want to upgrade to omnia W phone, but i will loose all my texts and have to unlock all levels again from begining in my xbox games.. which is the only thing preventing me from switching phones..

There is also an Advanced Text Message app if you tap on "more from Samsung.." but it doesn't work either.

They should let the video call app work on phones with no ffc. At least we can see the other person or we might use a mirror.
Working dlna would have been very good.

singularity0821 said:
There is also an Advanced Text Message app if you tap on "more from Samsung.." but it doesn't work either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't see that one on my Focus, but I do see the new high fidelity positioning app, which is the first new app from Samsung that installs into the settings screen. It has two settings, one that increases GPS accuracy by using other sensors such as accelerometer and compass, and one that enables use of GLONASS (for users in Russia).

RoboDad said:
I can't see that one on my Focus, but I do see the new high fidelity positioning app, which is the first new app from Samsung that installs into the settings screen. It has two settings, one that increases GPS accuracy by using other sensors such as accelerometer and compass, and one that enables use of GLONASS (for users in Russia).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I downloaded that app. Interesting how it installs itself in your settings. My question is, what if we want to uninstall it? How do we? Holding it down doesnt give us the option.

albertleao said:
I downloaded that app. Interesting how it installs itself in your settings. My question is, what if we want to uninstall it? How do we? Holding it down doesnt give us the option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I know this isn't the same, but you can just disable it...

albertleao said:
I downloaded that app. Interesting how it installs itself in your settings. My question is, what if we want to uninstall it? How do we? Holding it down doesnt give us the option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you can sideload the xap this worked for me.
get XAPDeployX.exe
load Zune and have phone plugged into USB
start XAPDeployX.exe
load the app you want to remove from settings page
check options "force uninstall if application is already installed"
click deploy. at some point XAPDeployX will tell you that it found and successfully uninstalled the existing application.
right then you unplug the phone, just in time before it installs the new one.
voila, the app is gone from settings.

albertleao said:
I downloaded that app. Interesting how it installs itself in your settings. My question is, what if we want to uninstall it? How do we? Holding it down doesnt give us the option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is really no need to uninstall it. It takes up very little space, and if neither option is turned on, it does nothing.

RoboDad said:
There is really no need to uninstall it. It takes up very little space, and if neither option is turned on, it does nothing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not if you are anal like some of us that can't bare the fact that there is something stray in the settings page

derausgewanderte said:
not if you are anal like some of us that can't bare the fact that there is something stray in the settings page
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, I am. OCD is my life . I just look at it as Samsung providing an app to install a Mango setting that didn't make it through development in time for the official Mango update. In other words, if the setting had been part of the Mango firmware update, there would be no way to "uninstall" it without uninstalling Mango, right?
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the setting is automatically included in future Samsung firmware updates.

Casey_boy said:
I'd have thought OEMs would be allowed to only target certain devices for their apps, so either they can't and theyre for the omnia w (etc) or we might be inline for some driver updates...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Werent we like Xbox friends before? did you just unfriended me from your xbox?

Purple11 said:
Werent we like Xbox friends before? did you just unfriended me from your xbox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh?! No idea what you're talking about!

Location Services

Hello all!
First off. Long time IOS user that just purchased a GN. More specifically - I just came from an iPhone 4.
Love the GN.
I can't seem to figure something out. In IOS I can selectively set whether or not to allow location to be ascertained by apps individually. The only thing I found that I can do is turn off location services for everything. There's some things that I would rather leave on i.e. google maps etc.
Can you do that on an individual basis?
Other than that I'm digging Android. There are some things that are worse compared to IOS, but there are also some things that are executed better on Android.
Aloha!

kapolani said:
Hello all!
First off. Long time IOS user that just purchased a GN. More specifically - I just came from an iPhone 4.
Love the GN.
I can't seem to figure something out. In IOS I can selectively set whether or not to allow location to be ascertained by apps individually. The only thing I found that I can do is turn off location services for everything. There's some things that I would rather leave on i.e. google maps etc.
Can you do that on an individual basis?
Other than that I'm digging Android. There are some things that are worse compared to IOS, but there are also some things that are executed better on Android.
Aloha!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is possible if you are rooted. It requires that you revoke the gps permissions for the apps you don't want to have that access.
The problem is that this may cause the apps to force close if they can't get that access.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Herman76 said:
It is possible if you are rooted. It requires that you revoke the gps permissions for the apps you don't want to have that access.
The problem is that this may cause the apps to force close if they can't get that access.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that sucks.
Not that I have to be rooted (I will eventually) but that it may cause the app to force close. That doesn't seem like an elegant solution.
I don't want to be visible (via location) to apps such as FaceBook etc.
I wonder if there is an opportunity for a developer to make some money providing this type of functionality. I may have to look at this to see how easy it is (or if even possible) to implement something like this.
Thank you for the response!

kapolani said:
Well that sucks.
Not that I have to be rooted (I will eventually) but that it may cause the app to force close. That doesn't seem like an elegant solution.
I don't want to be visible (via location) to apps such as FaceBook etc.
I wonder if there is an opportunity for a developer to make some money providing this type of functionality. I may have to look at this to see how easy it is (or if even possible) to implement something like this.
Thank you for the response!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, per-app settings for location would be awesome for apps that don't explicitly offer an "off switch".
We can only hope this becomes a stock feature in the future...

[INFO][i317(m)] General Information

What is known safe to freeze
as listed in titanium backup, I've been able to freeze the following bloat without any issue:
Allshare cast
Allshare play
Allshare service
AT&T * (everything starting with "AT&T" can be frozen)
ChatON
DeviceHelp
Flipboard
Kies* (everything starting with "Kies" can be frozen)
media hub
music hub
my AT&T
news daemon
s suggest
s voice
samsung backup provider
samsung browser syncadapter
samsung calendar syncadapter
samsung cloud data relay
samsung contact syncadapter
samsung snote syncadapter
samsung syncadapters
SNS
stock daemon
swype (keyboard still works fine without swype support)
sysscope
tethering provision
vpn client
weather daemon
weather widget
weather widget main
yahoo finance
yahoo news
YP Mobile
There are many other things that can be frozen - this (so far) is just a list of what I'm currently freezing
AT&T users: The "mobile hotspot" icon that shows up in your app drawer doesn't have it's own app that you can freeze. It appears to be something in the settings.apk (and you probably don't want to freeze that.)
FM Radio
There isn't one. Based on my research, the hardware either doesn't exist or isn't physically connected. No luck with spiritFM either. This matches what international users have found with the n7105 (international LTE note2)

The "mobile hotspot" icon that shows up in your app drawer doesn't have it's own app that you can freeze. It appears to be something in the settings.apk (and you probably don't want to freeze that.)
I'm trying to figure out how to deodex a JB firmware... once I have that, I'll be uploading doing a few minor mods (and uploading them, of course.)

Another reason to go international if you don't have lte in your area.
Jesus AT$T, got bloat?
SGH-I717 Galaxy Note | AOSP/CM/AOKP <3 via Tapatalk II

added note about FM radio, updated post title to reflect that I'm just dumping random "faq" type information in it.

Great info! However personally, I'd wait with freezing apps since android operating systems have a wakelock specifically designated for deleted/frozen apps. Why or what for? No clue, but it's there. I'll wait until I can actually remove them completely. Either way this phone's battery and performance is awesome out of the box, even with bloatware :thumbup:
Sent from my SGH-I317M using xda premium

AlonB. said:
Great info! However personally, I'd wait with freezing apps since android operating systems have a wakelock specifically designated for deleted/frozen apps. Why or what for? No clue, but it's there. I'll wait until I can actually remove them completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.. your off base there. deleted_wakelock has nothing whatsoever to do with a frozen app. A wakelock is actually a kernel structure. When an app cleans up after itself, the time it had in wakelock is added to the deleted_wakelocks counter.

Xstop said:
Another reason to go international if you don't have lte in your area.
Jesus AT$T, got bloat?
SGH-I717 Galaxy Note | AOSP/CM/AOKP <3 via Tapatalk II
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
takes 5 min to disable it all forever.. not gonna get up in arms this time

This is still a pretty good excel source for the novice although it is for stock.
Collected way back for SGS2

frewys said:
This is still a pretty good excel source for the novice although it is for stock.
Collected way back for SGS2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this! I was looking to ask the question in q&a. Would this be pretty close to SGN2?
sent using gNote II.

Thanks for the great info! I'll definitely be doing this soon after I get mine. I'm curious, how much of a difference in memory consumption/speed have you noticed after disabling all this bloat?

skochw said:
Thanks for the great info! I'll definitely be doing this soon after I get mine. I'm curious, how much of a difference in memory consumption/speed have you noticed after disabling all this bloat?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... I really can't answer that, as I didn't seriously use the phone until after I disabled that stuff.

garyd9 said:
Well... I really can't answer that, as I didn't seriously use the phone until after I disabled that stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah. well maybe you could run some benchmarks or something, and we could compare with stock scores?

skochw said:
Ah. well maybe you could run some benchmarks or something, and we could compare with stock scores?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. It wouldn't show up in benchmarks, as benchmarks tend to grab exclusive use of the device (meaning the other stuff wouldn't matter.) As well, I don't believe in benchmarks - they are too easily compensated for.
2. By freezing unused services, they'll never start which means the phone doesn't hold them in memory (freeing memory), doesn't use processor cycles to load/reload/execute them which will result in a lower battery usage (depending on the specific service) and allow the phone to "feel" faster in some cases.
3. Finally, freezing stuff that you don't use cleans up the app drawer. Why would anyone want an icon (even if they don't use it) for AT&T's navigation software when google gives us the same thing for free? (Freezing it also prevents someone else from using it if you loan them your phone.)
Of course, the idea of this thread isn't to discuss the merits of freezing bloat (or the merits of urinating when the need arises.) The idea is to let people know what is "safe" to freeze (and give other device information.)

As a guy coming out of the Apple iOS world, I have to say that the only Android device I've held is my wife's Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, and I'm not familiar with the terms "app drawer" or "freezing" apps. Can I ask for a little clarification without sounding like the total noob I am, please?

ohRonaldo said:
As a guy coming out of the Apple iOS world, I have to say that the only Android device I've held is my wife's Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, and I'm not familiar with the terms "app drawer" or "freezing" apps. Can I ask for a little clarification without sounding like the total noob I am, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(I hope you take this with the humor intended...)
No, there is simply no possible way for you to ask that without sounding like a newbie. However, it's okay... we were all newbies at one time.
"app drawer" - in iOS, every app you install leaves an icon on your homescreen (or one of the homescreens.) That isn't the case with android. In android, YOU decide what your homescreen looks like - you can have app icons, widgets, or just leave them blank. There is usually an icon on the homescreen that lets you access your "app drawer" which contains all the phone apps. On the note2 with default configuration, thats the checkerboard looking icon on the lower right of the homescreen.
freezing - using an application such as "titanium backup", you can "freeze" an app. This is a way to basically completely disable and hide an application without physically uninstalling it. The only effective difference between a frozen app and one that's actually uninstalled is that the frozen app still can be "defrosted" (which restores it to normal.) freezing apps requires that your phone is rooted (which is a topic for another thread...)

ohRonaldo said:
As a guy coming out of the Apple iOS world, I have to say that the only Android device I've held is my wife's Galaxy Nexus on Verizon, and I'm not familiar with the terms "app drawer" or "freezing" apps. Can I ask for a little clarification without sounding like the total noob I am, please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The " app drawer" is the location on android that has your application launch icons (and widges). If you delete the app icon on the desktop you can gain access to the installed app here. You can grab a copy from the tray to deposit on other desktop pages.
The term "freezing" is a method to make installed apps dormant and thus not "call home" or use CPU cycles / memory resources that drain power or use data. These are usually done in preparation in determining what apps to un-install. Un-installing bundled applications may leave you no way to re-install them later, short of re-flashing to stock ROM.
Most folks will attempt to freeze apps to remove "bloatware". Later the storage can be reclaimed by un-installing the apps. By freezing, you can avoid "burning a bridge" you may find you need later.

Dynamite answers, thanks. I'm familiar with that app drawer, just didn't know its name, and the requirement of root for a freezing app will be juuust a bit down the road until I can understand the new OS environment.
PS I am a software engineer from way back, part of the generation responsible for "Are you sure?" and "General Error. Continue?" prompts, so.... I deserve every bit of jazz anyone wants to heap on me.

ohRonaldo said:
PS I am a software engineer from way back, part of the generation responsible for "Are you sure?" and "General Error. Continue?" prompts, so.... I deserve every bit of jazz anyone wants to heap on me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... The response, "Hit Any Key to continue..." comes to mind. I'm still looking for the Any Key and have never found it. :laugh:

the builtin application manager can disable some programs... i'm wondering if this is the same as freezing

ShadowVlican said:
the builtin application manager can disable some programs... i'm wondering if this is the same as freezing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes

Screen Overlay Detected

If this is in the wrong thread then please move to correct one.
Has anyone else had issues with this... I'll call it problem, but by the way it behaves, it seems more like its a bug.
It has only been something I've seen on Marshmallow. Try to install an app, and its 50/50 whether or not you get "screen overlay detected"
Try to give an app permission, "screen overlay detected".
I should also point out that it isnt just restricted to HTC. My partners (now apparently ticking time bomb) s7 has also had the issue
You can disable as many screen overlays as you like, it still doesnt go away.
I've noticed now, too, that anytime a chat head from facebook messenger is on screen when I try to do something like install an app, it will spit out that problem until I close the chat head. Which was never an issue, ever, before.
Where has this thing come from and why is it even a problem for Android?

Those chat heads on the messenger as well as light filters, as e.g. CF.lumen, are always screen overlays. Those overlays could read out the whole screen, and thus as well what you're typing into banking apps or similar. Thus Google updated the privacy policy of their devices in Marshmallow, ending up in this specific error message. Sometimes it's enough to just turn the screen overlay of via settings > apps, regarding Apps like FB Messenger, CF.lumen, and the like, on other times and Apps you got to reboot the device after done so, or disable the overlay within the Apps settings as well, and seldomly you got to uninstall such an App to get the problem sorted for the time being. At least that's what I could find out searching the web.
Sent from my htc_pmeuhl using XDA Labs

silegeek said:
Where has this thing come from and why is it even a problem for Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's so malicious apps don't replace the install button with something else (like an install button to install something else).
It's quite clever if you think about it.

Lambo_car16 said:
It's so malicious apps don't replace the install button with something else (like an install button to install something else).
It's quite clever if you think about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory I would say it's clever. In practice, it doesn't distinguish between safe apps that are harmless and those that aren't.

silegeek said:
In theory I would say it's clever. In practice, it doesn't distinguish between safe apps that are harmless and those that aren't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How does the system know if an app is safe or not..?
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

Lambo_car16 said:
How does the system know if an app is safe or not..?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since Facebook messenger (and pretty much all my apps, most of which don't even have screen overlays but are in the list for it) was downloaded from Google play, I would imagine it isn't difficult to implement a system that flags it as safe.
If an app is installed via an apk, even if it is safe, I would understand more the need for concern. You never know, etc.

silegeek said:
Since Facebook messenger (and pretty much all my apps, most of which don't even have screen overlays but are in the list for it) was downloaded from Google play, I would imagine it isn't difficult to implement a system that flags it as safe.
If an app is installed via an apk, even if it is safe, I would understand more the need for concern. You never know, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be difficult to implement a system like that. You never know which app is fake or real. Maybe it was a modified version of the app, you'll never know.
Either way, the feature is there and if you want to install an app just quickly turn off your overlay. Not exactly a big problem.
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk

Question My P6P is spying me

I lately get A LOT of warnings that something is using microphone, during apps, and even in lockscreen.
I don't have the always on permission on any app.
Is it the same for you? How can I check the causes?

gpvecchi said:
I lately get A LOT of warnings that something is using microphone, during apps, and even in lockscreen.
I don't have the always on permission on any app.
Is it the same for you? How can I check the causes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uninstall Google Translate.

Have you tried going into settings privacy and then permissions manager and see what it says for microphone

gpvecchi said:
I lately get A LOT of warnings that something is using microphone, during apps, and even in lockscreen.
I don't have the always on permission on any app.
Is it the same for you? How can I check the causes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now playing, google assistant hotword, voice access, live caption, live transcribe, sound amplifier, sound notifications... there are so many features that use the microphone in the background. Are you absolutely sure that you deactivated ALL of them? And those are only the pre-installed Google Pixel features.
What kind of apps have you installed?
A post like that is not very helpful, there is simply not enough information. There can be a thousand reasons as to why the microphones get accessed in the background.

I had the same thing happening to me, then I was scrolling through Developer options one day and realized that the "Shared Data" option was highlighted, so I clicked ot and there were like 3 million "snippets" from Google translate in there. I never even OPENED the app since I got my phone. I uninstalled Google Translate and that option got greyed out. Check your developer options and see if that's highlighted.

Thanks guys, the only app that used mic in privacy settings is Google app...

gpvecchi said:
Thanks guys, the only app that used mic in privacy settings is Google app...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess that's good since it makes it less likely that you've installed a rogue app.
I think Google has gotten better with privacy, and can still do considerably better, but your title is wrong and misleading.
As others have noted above, Google needs access to your mike to be able to provide a bunch of its features, like Assistant and Playing Now. You can turn these off if you don't want the mike on.
Google controls the OS, s if they really wanted to "spy" on you, they would not be throwing warnings...

Where's your faraday hat?

Google's business is spying on you.
Best tips:
Root your device, cut away any/all Google apps and services as well as other malware like Facebook and replace them with alternatives except the few you can't live without.
Install a tool like App Manager (from F-droid) and strictly set permissions for everything running on your device
Run LSPosed+Xprivacy modules (requires Riru) and block out unwanted access from both apps and system processes.

If you are worried about your privacy then i am not sure buying a google product is the best place to start to protect it if i am honest.

bencozzy said:
GrapheneOS??? Sandboxes gapps in a separate user profile.
Root adds additional vulnerabilities.
Root works for devices that don't have aftermarket firmwares to degoogle but it weakens security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root adds additional vulnerabilities.
Nope
Root works for devices that don't have aftermarket firmwares to degoogle but it weakens security.
Nope

Andrologic said:
Root adds additional vulnerabilities.
Nope
Root works for devices that don't have aftermarket firmwares to degoogle but it weakens security.
Nope
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Signature = User blocked