Develop Bugs

[Q] Safe to remove APKs?

My Desire's ROM is full. I have rooted the phone and using root explorer to remove garbage from the ROM. There are many apps in /system/app. Each app has a .apk file and an .odex file. Is it safe to move the *.apk files to my sd card to save up space? Or are they needed to run the application?
Thanx

norad73 said:
My Desire's ROM is full. I have rooted the phone and using root explorer to remove garbage from the ROM. There are many apps in /system/app. Each app has a .apk file and an .odex file. Is it safe to move the *.apk files to my sd card to save up space? Or are they needed to run the application?
Thanx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think you may need to read a fair few of the posts in the forum if you are asking is it safe to remove apk's.
A fair answer is yes and no.
Some you can some you can't.
Removing the wrong ones will cause havoc with your phone.
Why not try flashing one of the custom Roms on here.

Thanx Raze.
I believe that the operating system either *needs* or *doesent need* an apk file in the system/app folder for the app to function correctly.
My question is: Does android 2.2 *need* or *not need* the .apk file of an app to exist in the /system/app folder in order for the app to function correctly? Isnt the odex file enough?
Since apk's are package files, my impression was that maybe they are not needed after the app is installed.

deleted .apk file = uninstalled app
deleted important.apk file = havoc on your phone

norad73 said:
My Desire's ROM is full. I have rooted the phone and using root explorer to remove garbage from the ROM. There are many apps in /system/app. Each app has a .apk file and an .odex file. Is it safe to move the *.apk files to my sd card to save up space? Or are they needed to run the application?
Thanx
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't get any advantage from that; freeing space on the system storage partition won't lead you to have more room for your apps on the internal storage of your device: those are two different partitions. If you want more space on the internal storage partition you should flash a custom, resized partition table (you need s-off, look on the related topic for the howto) and (if you didn't do that yet) partition your sd, so that you can use a2sd scripts to move your stuff there. That's the best you can do if you wanna have more room for your apps, everything else won't help much imo

norad73 said:
Thanx Raze.
I believe that the operating system either *needs* or *doesent need* an apk file in the system/app folder for the app to function correctly.
My question is: Does android 2.2 *need* or *not need* the .apk file of an app to exist in the /system/app folder in order for the app to function correctly? Isnt the odex file enough?
Since apk's are package files, my impression was that maybe they are not needed after the app is installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding (please correct me if i am wrong as i am so used to windows phone) is that the odex file is simply the integrity of the apk. lots of roms now are de-odexed so you can push or zip-flash a file into its place and it will still function. if the rom still has the odex files this is not possible as the phone will check the apk against the odex file and bootloop. The apk is the install package and the woking part of the file itself. Your best bet would be to flash a rom with A2SD installed in it. This accesses a fat3 partition on your sd card which the android os sees as extra internal space. I'm running LeeDroid 2.2d A2SD version. I have more apps installed now than when i was on a stock rom (motonav, psx4droid, angry birds, snesoid etc) and my phone still says i have 85mb or 52% of my space left

Thank you guys, now it is clear.
I keep getting a storage space low warning on my Desire, and I am trying to find out how to free up some space. My phone is rooted, my sd is partitioned, and most of my apps are installed on the SD with apps2sd.
Any apps still installed on the phone do not support installing on the SD. I have removed almost all apps and left only a very few that cannot be moved.
EDIT: Just realized that HTC Mail data was taking up 65mb of the phone memory.... deleted it and now my phone can breathe again

you are rooted? well if you use a2Ext you dont have to move your Apps to SD.

Moved to Q&A as not development.
Please do not post such questions in development.

Check those articles:
Safe to remove apks:
http://androidforums.com/droid-x-al...t-apps-apks-removable-non-removable-root.html
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.com/index.php?title=Barebones
Custom MTD Partitions (resize data, system, and cache):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=806321

system app space

maybe a daft question but what is the benefit from deleting system apps,wallpapers etc.
does it speed up things , create more space?
anybody no

Speed up things? Not really, it is a linux based device, not windows But depending on what you delete (e.g. running unnecessary apps).
Removing factory stuff will create more space.
And what to remove? It depends on the ROM what you use. If it is a HTC Sense based ROM, then there is a list over at Leedroid's site what can be remove.

cheers, what will it create more space for tho? can u say obtain apk files of apps from the market and install then as system apps therefore creating more space for downloaded apps on internal memory?

Just cut and paste apks from /data/app into /system/app, preferably large apps that rarely get updated and your unlikely to uninstall.
Or
Use titanium backups "convert to system app" feature.
Don't forget they will disappear when updating your rom.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

i can convert to system apps in titanium, then backup the rom , extract the boot and system image and run it thru disxda kitchen and that will create a rom with the titanium backups in system apps .wont it??????

Not all apps convert well as system apps in titanium. Also I think you'd need to be s-off to do that.
Why not just run your rom.zip through dsixda, then drop the .apk's you want into the system/app directory and pack it up again?

sounds like a plan dan!

rootSU said:
Not all apps convert well as system apps in titanium. Also I think you'd need to be s-off to do that.
Why not just run your rom.zip through dsixda, then drop the .apk's you want into the system/app directory and pack it up again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i used this method time ago and it works...

Request for Data Dump folder

Hi, i thought to post my thread here since everyone's posting their problems here. I need someone to post his/her data folder because mine is corrupted :/
Please don't go basaltic at me all at once. I know there are threads in which people dump their system folder and all but i haven't found any data folder. I've been searching for 5 days of research and downloading :/
My brother have accidently deleted a file from his data folder and keep getting FC in his apps...
Much appreciated for help in advance

AceofSpades90 said:
Hi, i thought to post my thread here since everyone's posting their problems here. I need someone to post his/her data folder because mine is corrupted :/
Please don't go basaltic at me all at once. I know there are threads in which people dump their system folder and all but i haven't found any data folder. I've been searching for 5 days of research and downloading :/
My brother have accidently deleted a file from his data folder and keep getting FC in his apps...
Much appreciated for help in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The data folder contains the downloaded/installed apps? I have mine though, consists of the downloaded apps from the android market.

zangetsu2188 said:
The data folder contains the downloaded/installed apps? I have mine though, consists of the downloaded apps from the android market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OMG! first of all. Thanks for the quick reply and all i need is some specific files and thats all... he has some of his apps FC because while he was customizing something.. he accidently deleted some files and all i need to do is find those files. I really really appreciate the reply
and data folder dont have the installed apps but only data of some built-in and other apps that help run your apps. system/app has the installed apps

AceofSpades90 said:
OMG! first of all. Thanks for the quick reply and all i need is some specific files and thats all... he has some of his apps FC because while he was customizing something.. he accidently deleted some files and all i need to do is find those files. I really really appreciate the reply
and data folder dont have the installed apps but only data of some built-in and other apps that help run your apps. system/app has the installed apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/system/app contains the pre-installed apps (the ones that you cannot delete normally)
/data/app contains the user installed apps
Anyways what files are you looking for? Im pretty sure your phone has root access, as user level access cannot view whats inside the /data folder.

zangetsu2188 said:
/system/app contains the pre-installed apps (the ones that you cannot delete normally)
/data/app contains the user installed apps
Anyways what files are you looking for? Im pretty sure your phone has root access, as user level access cannot view whats inside the /data folder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah that lol. ok so theres this one called /data/data/com.sonyericsson.widget.text2action and /data/app/com.sonyericsson.widget.text2action-2.apk. and /data/data/com.sonyericcson.timescape.ui. i think this will at least fix SE search widget thanks again

AceofSpades90 said:
yeah that lol. ok so theres this one called /data/data/com.sonyericsson.widget.text2action and /data/app/com.sonyericsson.widget.text2action-2.apk. and /data/data/com.sonyericcson.timescape.ui. i think this will at least fix SE search widget thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buddy, just get the TFT file of your firmware version and do a quick flash using flashtool without wiping the data. That should solve all your problems

[Q] Adding own apps into cm7?

hi guys, just switched to cm7.1, its a good rom, i was wondering if its possible to add your own apps into the rom and then flashing it? what i mean is to add your own essential apps into the rom and then to zip it so it uses up more rom space and leaves more internal space. if there is a method, can some one please give some idea on it. thanks

Of course it is. Just copy the app's apk from /data/app in the /system/app folder of the zip file.

Thanks but can you explain abit more in detail please, like if i put the apks in that folder, will the apps automaically be installed? and as for the rom zip file, will that need to be zipped up back in a special way? also will the apk's need to be signed with a special program? a small accurate guid would be sweet. thanks

There are two ways, either manually open the zip (no need to extract it) then just drag and drop your apk files to the System/app folder or data/app folder then close the window. Sometimes it doesnt work it depends I think on how the files was compiled or something.
Or use ROM manager. Look it up in the forums.
Edit: Its Rom Editor if my memory recalls it correctly.

kuljit55 said:
Thanks but can you explain abit more in detail please, like if i put the apks in that folder, will the apps automaically be installed? and as for the rom zip file, will that need to be zipped up back in a special way? also will the apk's need to be signed with a special program? a small accurate guid would be sweet. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, just open the zip and stick the apk's in that directory. Then when you go to flash just disable signature verification..
I'm not sure as to how this will go about saving space though.. it's the same as installing apps AFAIK

bortak said:
I'm not sure as to how this will go about saving space though.. it's the same as installing apps AFAIK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In a way it does save space. I remove some apps that I don't need from the CM zip like ROM Manager, live wall paper etc and then add my apk files on system instead of it being saved in data folder.

Sthankyou, can i manually move apps in the data folder into the system with root explorer? i am s-off.

kuljit55 said:
Sthankyou, can i manually move apps in the data folder into the system with root explorer? i am s-off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with root explorer yes, but I don't think they'll actually be installed just by putting them there..

kuljit55 said:
Sthankyou, can i manually move apps in the data folder into the system with root explorer? i am s-off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can manually install apks to the system/app using root explorer. But you have to modify the permission of the apk file upon transferring. It is best that you first copy the apk from the data/app folder to sd. Then uninstall the app. Then use root explorer to transfer the app from sd to system/app. Update the permission then reboot.
Take note that not all apps will work with this method. Some apps just needed to be on the data/app folder based on my experience.
Sent from HTC Desire via XDA App

Or use titanium backups "Covert to system app" functionaility

rootSU said:
Or use titanium backups "Covert to system app" functionaility
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I forgot about that. Yeah damn easy too.

Rom flashable .zip not working properly

I made a rom with bloat removed and some of my useful app into /system/app, after flashing the zip phone boots to OS but
i dont see my apps installed into system, also the airplane mode toggle is also missing from power menu.
I trying to flash stock GB rom.
when i look into system/app using root explorer i can see my apps there with proper permission but they are not installed
What can be the problem?

Are the APK files well-signed ?
Try to install them manually directly from the /system/app folder.
Hope I helped.
Cheers.

xdlol123321 said:
Are the APK files well-signed ?
Try to install them manually directly from the /system/app folder.
Hope I helped.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured it out my self, those .apk files were having space in their name and so they didnt install in /system/app.

Great !