Develop Bugs

maps and other apps keep launching in the background?!

Im puzzled why maps and other apps keep autostarting in the background?
and eat battery... maps alone can eat up to 10% of my battery in the duration of a day, even if I dont use it...

kurgandk said:
Im puzzled why maps and other apps keep autostarting in the background?
and eat battery... maps alone can eat up to 10% of my battery in the duration of a day, even if I dont use it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a task killer app and set it to always kill maps, and set a schedule for pruning (like every 30 mins). It's not supposed to start by itself. If you haven't rooted/flashed a custom ROM on it, call HTC. If you have, unroot and go back to stock for a day and see if the problem persists. If it doesn't, it's the ROM's fault.

its not rooted, so if I understand you correctly its a bug?

kurgandk said:
its not rooted, so if I understand you correctly its a bug?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Either a software bug or an application issue. Have you reset to factory settings (full wipe)?

no not yet..

how much does a 'full wipe' .... 'wipe'?

kurgandk said:
how much does a 'full wipe' .... 'wipe'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry, but that is hilarious.

kurgandk said:
how much does a 'full wipe' .... 'wipe'?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About as much as 2 packs of Kleenex.
Okay, serious answer. All data on the phone, but not SD card too (on the off chance that something goes wrong, just copy/paste everything on your SD card to your PC, so you can restore)

heh heh
my point being.. I keep the 'backed up' settings and info on the sd? or is it completely blank?
also I need to apply firmware upgrades again?

kurgandk said:
heh heh
my point being.. I keep the 'backed up' settings and info on the sd? or is it completely blank?
also I need to apply firmware upgrades again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't think it touches software version, but it might. I suggest you backup either with MyBackup (30 day free trial) or TitaniumBackup first.

i have the same issue, everytime i check my task manager i see apps like maps launched even though i never use them, sucks more battery for no reason, i hope froyo sheds some light

Please check one of the many battery/task manager threads. Cached applications don't use anything if they aren't somehow active. Also you could have lots of applications open at startup which must initialize something or cache themselves.
I also have maps and many other launched at startup, and my battery life is more than good.

well its claimed that they dont use any ressources.... but the reality is that something like maps eat 10% of my battery in the course of a day even if i dont use it...
if i regularely kill off unused tasks I have plenty of battery for a whole day including wifi
but if I dont Im down to the wire..
apps like maps, gallery etc. alll runs on bootup, and maps at least restarts every ... minutes..

got a response from HTC:
Dear Mr Jacobsen, Thanks for contacting HTC Support. Regarding your question, the applications will run automatically in the background as you pointed out. And yes, they will affect the longevity of the battery. Phones operating on the android platform or the Windows Mobile platform will need to be recharged on a more regular basis than other mobile phones. “Heavy” users might need to recharge their phone as often as every 24 hours, and this applies to every brand (Nokia, Sony...)out there. That aside, I do share your frustrations regarding the energy applications waste. If you go on to the Marketplace (market) and search for the application task killer, you should find an application enabling you to close down applications you do not need on a regular basis. Yours Sincerely ****** HTC Support
To send a reply to this message or let me know I have successfully answered your question log in to our ContactUs site using your email address and your ticket number *******.
Sincerely,
***
HTC

Task killers, full wipes, uninstallation...
...People could you calm down?
OP, could you check you don't have Latitude enabled in your Maps app? I found this too and it was because I set Maps to report my location. If it's not thats a good start. Now go to your settings and select Location. If you want turn off the use of wireless for location acquiring.
Ensure you're not using any widgets that need mapping data, or the Maps live wallpaper (that's a REAL juice hog)
You'll find a service running called FriendsAppWidget or such. Not sure what it does, but it's the only Map service I know that runs as long as the phone is on. You can kill it if you want, but I'm getting about 16 hrs use with it running all this time and no task killers.
[EDIT]
From some searching is seems quite a few 3rd party apps plug into this service. Foursquare, Buzz, Twitter etc... Also , run maps and turn off any location aware features you may have enabled in the Labs section.
Basically seek out any apps you use that are dependant on getting your location to work. Even your weather widget might be the culprit.

Menu > Add > Shortcuts > Settings > Battery Use. Charge it to full, use it til it's running out of battery, then open Battery Use and tell us if there are any apps that you didn't open once (like maps) that use, say, 10% of your battery.
Sounds to me like they're just background services (which consume 0 resources)

well maps for sure, it seems its the single most powersucking app...
when Im down to orange/red on the battery from full charge its rated at 7-10%

kurgandk said:
well maps for sure, it seems its the single most powersucking app...
when Im down to orange/red on the battery from full charge its rated at 7-10%
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you using Foursquare/Facebook/Twitter/geotagging photos & snapping a lot of them/etc? All of those use Maps, to a certain extent. If not, and you're on a stock ROM, call HTC and *****.

I do use geotagging and some facebook, but that ... in my opinion does not excuse maps not quitting after its done what it has to do...

3G usage per app

I use 3g watchdog to keep a track of my internet usage. Lately I have notice the amount of.requests to internet increased but I don't know.why. is there any app that will show me how much traffic each app used?
This will alien me.to check witch apps are requiring more.usage and when.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

I know a way to check the amount of time an app uses your network (not the traffic itself) EDIT: you can also see the amount of bytes sent and received if you select the app in the list.
Dial *#*#4636#*#*
Go to "battery history"
select "network usage"
I'm not sure if those are the exact words in an English menu. My phone is Dutch. I have no idea how it looks in Portuguese.

There is an app DataStats but it drains your CPU and battery.
If I was you install it, run for a few hours, identify if any apps you have installed are really draining your data (remove them if they are I found a couple of really bad ones) then uninstall the app again.

[Q] Use data only when I ask for it, not behind my back

I have all sorts of auto-sync, auto-update etc. features switched OFF. My mail, contacts, and calendar only sync when I tap on sync, I've disabled auto-updating in every app on my phone, I've unchecked "auto system update", "background data" is switched off, etcetera. To cut a long story short: every available setting that disables automatic use of data has been applied.
But when I booted my Defy and left it sitting idle for a while it still downloaded almost a megabyte of data, even though I didn't touch my phone at all.
So I made a backup with Titanium and MyBackup Root, reset my phone to factory state, went into the settings again to disable all user-configurable ways of automatic data use, and rebooted.
And then my phone auto-downloaded 0.7 MB for reasons unknown.
I don't care about a bit of data when I'm in my home network where I have an unlimited data plan, but if I would have been roaming abroad this unsollicited data could have cost me 10 euros or more. International data roaming is horribly expensive.
I could use the sledgehammer approach and disable data completely to avoid unwanted data roaming charges, but this would also disable data traffic that I'm willing to pay for (like manually checking my mail). So I need something more sophisticated than a sledgehammer.
Tools available:
1) DroidWall
2) Titanium (with the "freeze" option)
3) AdFree
Question: which apps and services should I block/freeze to ensure that my phone only uses data when I tell it to, and to make sure that it never ever downloads a single byte of data behind my back?
If DroidWall, Titanium, and AdFree are not enough, which other apps give me full control over which apps and services can use data?

Give juicedefender a try
Sent from my MB611 using XDA Premium App

ApnDroid, but kills all data by rewriting APNs. I use it all the time. You can still use wifi, text and call and, if you choose, use MMS. Otherwise...?

I'm curious as to what is taking your data. When I disable the data connections, I don't use a single byte of data. Even with data enabled but background data disabled, I don't use any data.
I know you asked for an app to kill the data...but I think it's best if you can find the culprit...sounds like either your deactivation of the data isn't working, or you have some nasty app that could be overriding the setting and still downloading data (I'm thinking the first)...
For starters, which rom are you using?

Juice Defender and ApnDroid are both sledgehammers that switch data 100% on or 100% off.
I'm looking an app that let's me control data per individual app and service, so that when I fire up my email program it can download my mail without letting other apps/services hitch a ride on the open data connection.
@darule_2011:
I don't believe something nasty is eating up my data, because my phone is hungry for data even after a factory reset without any 3rd party apps installed.
I'm using firmware version 2.1-update1, which came with the phone straight out of the box. I doubt Motorola would have pre-installed malware, unless we count Motoblur as malware.
On my old Nokia, each and every app could only go online after asking me for permission first. No permission, then no data. Not even a single byte. And it was up to me to choose between "ask me once" or "ask me every time."
Is there an app that forces Android to do the same?

rogier666 said:
Juice Defender and ApnDroid are both sledgehammers that switch data 100% on or 100% off.
I'm looking an app that let's me control data per individual app and service, so that when I fire up my email program it can download my mail without letting other apps/services hitch a ride on the open data connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood. Can't see how that can work. If your data is on, everything that wants it is going to jump on it.

darule_2011 said:
sounds like either your deactivation of the data isn't working, or you have some nasty app that could be overriding the setting and still downloading data (I'm thinking the first)...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is there an app that logs which app connects when and to what? The data meter in Android's built-in data manager is completely useless, and DroidStats counts the amount of data used but doesn't tell which app was using it.

Droidwall has a log function for blocked apps.
Sent from my MB525

I told DroidWall to block internet access for "MotoBlur Services" (I don't even have a MotoBlur account), and now the amount of unsollicited traffic is down to about 40 kb in the 30 minutes since rebooting my phone.
So it looks like I found the stowaway. Motorola tries to keep my phone hungry for data even though I never signed up for MotoBlur.
DroidWall's log told me it blocked some unsollicited packets from GO Launcher EX, so at least my firewall is doing its job. (Why would a launcher need to go online if you don't enable anything internet-related in its settings?)
Unfortunately DroidWall only logs what it blocks. It doesn't log traffic that it allows, so I can only guess about those 40 kb. Maybe even an unused data connection needs to talk a bit to stay alive?

You may also use AutoStarts to disable applications running automatically on background when specific events happen.

DroidStats has the possibility to watch for which app consumes data. Not only total amount. It is integrated in the donation-addon

There's an app to tell which programs and services been using data and how much, and it's on your phone already. It's way more informative than the disfunctional data meter in the data manager menu.
Dial *#*#4636#*#* (the 4636 part spells "info" on the dialpad) to launch an app called "Testing." Then hit "battery history->network usage->total since boot." It doesn't count the bytes of data that are pingponged back and forth to keep an idle connection alive, but it monitors everything else.
You can make a shortcut to "Testing" with Any Cut.
First offender: MotoBlur. Even without a MotoBlur account and every possible autosync option disabled the MotoBlur Service eats data. I blocked it with DroidWall so now it doesn't phone home anymore.
Second offender: GO Launcher EX. I also blocked it with DroidWall, because a launcher doesn't have to talk to the world outside my phone.
Third offender: An all-in-one package that's shared by GMail Storage, Google Apps, Google Search, Google Settings Provider, Google Talk Service, Google Talk Storage, and com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts. Doesn't matter if you tell your settings menus not to call Google behind your back, 'cos Big Brother doesn't listen unless you ram the message home.
Fourth offender: WinAmp. Play an mp3 from your local SD card and WinAmp still tries to go online to do things, even with scrobbling etc disabled. It probably sends out usage statistics without asking for permission first.
Fifth offender: NQmobile Anti-virus. Even if you disable all automatic connections in the settings the program phones home anyway. Most of the traffic is outgoing, so apparently it's collecting hundreds of kilobytes worth of usage statistics, even if you're not installing new apps or doing manual scans. A day of launching offline apps can easily make NQ burn a full megabyte of data where it shouldn't have been using any.
Sixth, seventh, etc. offenders: apps that go online for the sole purpose of downloading ads. All DroidWalled, of course. I'm not gonna pay international data charges to see the junk from AdMob.
I've firewalled MotoBlur, GO Launcher EX and the Google package away from the web and everything on my phone still works. Even Google Search can live without the all-in-one service, because it sends the search queries to the web browser. I guess it only needs to go online for web suggestions, which I don't use anyway. The Google Talk app is dead, but I never use it because fring and Nimbuzz are much better and they only go online after I tell them to do so. But just leave it to Google to make GoogleTalk dependent on a piece of code that phones home even when you're not using GoogleTalk.
But DroidWall is not a convenient way to tame NQmobile (NetQin), because then I'd have to manually unblock it everytime I want to update the virus database. Is there another antivirus app that only goes online when I tell it to instead of calling home on its own?

ABC_Universal said:
You may also use AutoStarts to disable applications running automatically on background when specific events happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They'll probably just restart and in the end you will slow down your phone and drain your battery as you go through the kill-restart cycle.

scrannel said:
They'll probably just restart and in the end you will slow down your phone and drain your battery as you go through the kill-restart cycle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freezing 'em with Titanium makes more sense.
But those are all workarounds, not solutions. As Android matures we should get an option to control the data behaviour of each and every app in full detail. If other operating systems can do it, why shouldn't Android be able to do the same?
If you think about it, it's totally ridiculous that you need to root your phone and jump through hoops to make sure that your phone bill doesn't explode when you set foot across the border. Didn't the inventors of Android ever hear of international data roaming rates?

Thanks for the useful info. I use Go Launcher too. I wondered how they moneterised their apps - probably collecting/selling usage stats.
Is roaming data being used even without the option checked?

When the G1 came out those of us who travel soon found out that certain apps would over-ride the option to prevent data roaming, thus programs like apndroid.

rogier666 said:
If other operating systems can do it, why shouldn't Android be able to do the same?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because that's not how it's designed to operate.
Pu simply, you've picked the wrong OS for your needs.
That's hardly Google's fault.

rogier666 said:
Is there another antivirus app that only goes online when I tell it to instead of calling home on its own?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Lookout - that's what I use and it only updates when you allow it too (at least mine does).
What do you think about flashing a blurless rom? There is a barebones rom in the dev section (haven't tried that one yet), this will allow you to add back in apps that only you want...this might do the trick. I'm using Pays rom and loving it.

Thanx darule_. Lookout indeed doesn't phone home behind my back, even with automatic scanning enabled and a couple of new apps scanned.
Over two hours since last boot and not a single app has squeezed a byte through my open data connection without my permission. Looks like I've got Android tamed and fit to travel.

All I can say is, all the contemporary smartphone OS use background data stupendously.
Shut down data roaming if you don't want a hefty bill.

[Q] What's the deal with Google Maps services running all the time?

Epic 4G Touch (GB 2.3.6.) I've rooted it and dumped all the bloat like Social Hub, Media Hub and such.
Yesterday, in "Running Services" I had the basics plus Email (I assume that's needed for grabbing SMS?), Swype, and such.
After 7 hrs of light/average use (4G on and off a few times, dloaded an app, BT on and off a few times, 15 mins of gaming, etc), my battery was at 87%. That was roughly my pattern for the last few days- great battery life for this device, I think.
Then yesterday afternoon, I played with Google Maps, turning GPS on and off, opening and closing the "Traffic" widget (do people actually use that??), etc, then shutting it all down, turning off location, etc.
I then see Google Maps has three processes running:
"NetworkInitiatedService"
"NetworkLocationService"
"FriendsAppWidgetUpdate"
that can't be shut down (when you do, they pop back up a moment later). I left it alone, though, figuring it was filling its cache or whatever- I don't get too worked up about apps doing their thing if they can do it then shut down.
So today, after charging it last night, those processes are still running and my battery is now at 88% after three hours. Google Maps seems to be killing my battery for no apparent benefit- I have no widget running that uses it, either (I have the Accuweather widget running, but it's not set to use current location).
I guess my questions are:
Is this normal- does everyone else see this behavior? Is there any way to shut Maps down that I can't find?
TIA.
[edit]
GPS has been off the whole time (except as noted above), I'm not signed in to Latitude (never have been), and Settings --> Location and Security --> Use wireless networks and use GPS satellites are both unchecked.

Guess time: Do you have Location services enabled? That might be the issue. Disable them and see if this goes away.

Robbzilla said:
Guess time: Do you have Location services enabled? That might be the issue. Disable them and see if this goes away.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the first thing I thought of, but
Settings --> Location and Security --> "Use wireless networks" and "Use GPS satellites"
are both unchecked and always have been.
Is there another place I should be looking?

Is it cached or running in the foreground?

phatmanxxl said:
Is it cached or running in the foreground?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm, Google Maps is 'closed' (or at least I back out of it every time- I assume that 'closes' it), and in Cache Settings, Automatic Caching is set to "Wi-Fi Only".

Update:
I just went in to:
Settings --> Applications --> Manage Applications
And hit "Clear Data" on the Maps app and it stopped all the services running.
Happy, but I didn't expect that. In fact, I might have expected the opposite.
Why would clearing its data stop it from running??

Also, it only shuts them down when you "Clear Data" from the system settings, not from Titanium Backup.

rodbac said:
Update:
I just went in to:
Settings --> Applications --> Manage Applications
And hit "Clear Data" on the Maps app and it stopped all the services running.
Happy, but I didn't expect that. In fact, I might have expected the opposite.
Why would clearing its data stop it from running??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Open Google Maps again and see if those services get started back up. They do on my phone (LocationFriendService and MapsBackgroundService)

Autostarts!

That's why I always delete it and grab it from Market when I need it. Google+ does too I believe
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium

Maps running
what works best for me is titanium backup pro....(only pro version) i personally dont like to keep uninstalling apps so with pro you can keep the apps that run all the time and than just freeze them and than they wont run any more and when you need them you just go back to titanium and defrost them !!!!!!!

rocketman228 said:
what works best for me is titanium backup pro....(only pro version) i personally dont like to keep uninstalling apps so with pro you can keep the apps that run all the time and than just freeze them and than they wont run any more and when you need them you just go back to titanium and defrost them !!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Freezing is definitely a great alternative to uninstalling. I just use those apps so little that I figure uninstall. JRummy's Ultimate Backup is great too. It is also a feature in ROM Toolbox Pro if you long press on an app in App Manager. You can freeze there as well
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium

[Q] Android OS data usage

Hi I bought my G Pro a couple of months back with a 2gb data bundle. Within the first few weeks, I noticed that Android OS was using quite a bit of data (around 600mb), I looked around on the internet and found that most sites' solution was to turn of backups under "Backup and Reset". I did that and it seemed to work for a while but now the problem came back, in the span of 1 week Android OS somehow managed to rack up 491mb of data. If this continues I'm going to have to pay extra charges. Is it possible that some of the data use recorded was from WiFi?

JerryBYong said:
Hi I bought my G Pro a couple of months back with a 2gb data bundle. Within the first few weeks, I noticed that Android OS was using quite a bit of data (around 600mb), I looked around on the internet and found that most sites' solution was to turn of backups under "Backup and Reset". I did that and it seemed to work for a while but now the problem came back, in the span of 1 week Android OS somehow managed to rack up 491mb of data. If this continues I'm going to have to pay extra charges. Is it possible that some of the data use recorded was from WiFi?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Data from your 3G/4G connection is calculated separately. There's an option to turn on the wifi tab in the data usage menu. Use the menu button and select "Show Wi-Fi usage"
I'm not sure how your backup settings affects Android OS in terms of data usage but in my case everything's running well, with Android OS usage is only at 12-18mb tops every month. Try see if you have any system app that's misbehaving and abusing data.

syngamer96 said:
Data from your 3G/4G connection is calculated separately. There's an option to turn on the wifi tab in the data usage menu. Use the menu button and select "Show Wi-Fi usage"
I'm not sure how your backup settings affects Android OS in terms of data usage but in my case everything's running well, with Android OS usage is only at 12-18mb tops every month. Try see if you have any system app that's misbehaving and abusing data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its all background data. where should i look

JerryBYong said:
its all background data. where should i look
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In settings/mobile data. It shows you how much data each app is using foreground & background. If you scroll down a little after clicking on an app their will be an option to restrict background data. Don't think you can restrict background data on Google play services. But you can the rest.
But I suggest you get greenify..It's one of my favorite apps EVER. It lets you auto hibernation apps when they are closed in other words they don't continue to run in background using data and battery.
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esimon311 said:
In settings/mobile data. It shows you how much data each app is using foreground & background. If you scroll down a little after clicking on an app their will be an option to restrict background data. Don't think you can restrict background data on Google play services. But you can the rest.
But I suggest you get greenify..It's one of my favorite apps EVER. It lets you auto hibernation apps when they are closed in other words they don't continue to run in background using data and battery.
_________________
Beavers & Ducks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
um its not google play. its just Android OS

Lol sorry I mean android services.
_________________
Beavers & Ducks!