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I just booted my brand new 2014 note and when the home screen finally showed up the notification bar was full of warning sign/exclamation marks each mentioning a different app saying "<app name>" could not be downloaded due to an error (920)".
I've bought well over a dozen Android devices through the years and they've all downloaded my set of apps just fine. Some of the apps that get downloaded cannot be found on the app store any more as the developer packed up and left, but they still download when I get a new device.
But, this error essentially means that none of my initial download of apps (which is the only way I get some of my legacy apps) didn't happen.
Any thoughts on troubleshooting this? I didn't find any references to the problem in the Note2014 forums.
Also, if I can get the downloads to work, any thoughts on triggering it to do the "brand new device download" again?
FWIW, I did try a factory reset once the new system update downloaded to see if it would download the apps with the new OTA version of the play store, but the same thing happened all over again...
Note that the standard solutions you find on the web include removing your Google account and adding it back and force stopping the Google Play Store and then clearing its data and cache.
I recreated the account about 4 times and cleared the data and cache about 15 or so times and one of those times it managed to download just updates for the pre-installed apps, leaving me with none of the 100 or so apps I usually have. I then tried recreating the account and clearing the data again a few times, but it stubbornly refused to believe it had any more work to do.
Then I did another Factory Reset after all of that, hoping that the gremlins were asleep, but it came back up to the notification list full of hundreds of 920 errors. I also found a thread on the web about someone asking about retriggering the initial download of all of the apps and nobody could find a solution - they eventually gave up and just manually reinstalled all of the apps. That isn't really a good solution for the hundreds of apps that I typically carry and isn't even possible for the 5 or 6 that are no longer searchable on the Play Store (they must be downloaded in that initial download or they won't appear. I can get their 920 notification errors, but I can't use that to trigger another download of the original app...
I've had the same issue. Usually, I just turn the device off for a bit, turn it back on and it's fine. It seems to be an odd issue. If it lasts longer than a day I'd try the factory reset, not right away however.
The problem is you have more than 5 devices attached to your android play store account. Go into google play and remove some of your older devices.
skyline23 said:
The problem is you have more than 5 devices attached to your android play store account. Go into google play and remove some of your older devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like the most knowledgeable advice so far, but I'm not sure how to follow it. I found where my devices are listed in the play store (play.google.com => gear icon => settings) and I do have more than 5 devices (8 currently listed including the new 2014 Note) on the account, but...
- there is no way to remove them. All I can do is hide them (visibility).
- There were only 4 total that weren't hidden, including the new Note.
So, if this is an issue of more than 5 visible devices, I didn't even have 5 visible with the new tablet. If it's an issue of deleting them from the account, there is no option for that (only changing their name and a checkbox for visibility).
All of them have a "last used" date within the last couple of years. Perhaps there is a 2 year timeout?
I just did a factory reset after updating the visibilities in my Google Play account. Unfortunately, I think Google has shifted from "downloading the apps from your old devices" to "Oh, hey, we recognize that device - it was the one you didn't download any apps to, right?" and so now I'll never be able to get that factory fresh download unless someone knows the magic to make Google treat it like a brand new device.
Sorry I wasnt clear. If you make then not visible, thats the same as deleting it. If you make the note not visible, then google should see it as a new device. Are you sure you're checking the auto reload option when you are setting up the note?
flarbear said:
I just did a factory reset after updating the visibilities in my Google Play account. Unfortunately, I think Google has shifted from "downloading the apps from your old devices" to "Oh, hey, we recognize that device - it was the one you didn't download any apps to, right?" and so now I'll never be able to get that factory fresh download unless someone knows the magic to make Google treat it like a brand new device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
skyline23 said:
Sorry I wasnt clear. If you make then not visible, thats the same as deleting it. If you make the note not visible, then google should see it as a new device. Are you sure you're checking the auto reload option when you are setting up the note?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had downloaded a bunch of apps last night (I was up to the F's by scanning the app list on my old tablet), but this was worth an experiment to try.
I had already unchecked all of the devices other than my Notes and my phone, so I unchecked the tick mark next to the new unnamed device and factory reset my 2014 Note. It came back up and managed to start installing apps without errors - woohoo!
But, it only reinstalled the apps that I had been busy downloading last night. Perhaps I mucked it up when I started downloading apps and so now it remembers my device even if it was unchecked?
I found a few apps that aren't "searchable" by going to the "All" tab in the list of "My Apps" in Google Play Store. One of them worked, but another (the Doodle Android app for the Doodle.com service) refuses to install. That may be due to the fact that they have modified the app to be "not compatible with any of your devices". The version installed on my old Note gets an error on startup, so they may have manually sabotaged it (and given that they now have a $3 pay app, I can imagine why). If I remember my device install history I seem to recall that the initial app install could install older versions of apps that aren't accessible from the Play Store (and I relied on that in the past to avoid updates that broke things when I got a new device) so it might have been able to install the version that I last installed on my old Note, but in this case it probably wouldn't have worked out of the box.
Still, at least some of the withdrawn apps are still visible in the "All apps" tab...
Probably just version conflicts. I have a lot of apps I paid for that wont show up and install on my note 10.1. Even some apps that work on my note3 wont be compatible with the 10.1. Your 'all apps' should always show you the apps you paid for and workable. As for pulled or discontinued apps, try finding the apk and side loading them.
skyline23 said:
Probably just version conflicts. I have a lot of apps I paid for that wont show up and install on my note 10.1. Even some apps that work on my note3 wont be compatible with the 10.1. Your 'all apps' should always show you the apps you paid for and workable. As for pulled or discontinued apps, try finding the apk and side loading them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I assume you are referring to my example of the Doodle app that won't install?
The apps that failed to download when I did my most recent factory reset are the ones that I didn't manually install last night. It was 1:1 as far as downloading only those apps (A-F) that I had downloaded last night and none of the others. It looks like the system has permanently remembered the app set for my new device whether or not I uncheck it from my list of active Google Play devices...
I see.. I guess you'll just have to go to 'my apps' and install manually one by one. Have fun with your note. It's an amazing device!
skyline23 said:
I see.. I guess you'll just have to go to 'my apps' and install manually one by one. Have fun with your note. It's an amazing device!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
grrr. many of my games, including crystal defenders and need for speed most wanted are telling me i have to buy the app or the device isn't authorized for this game. never had this problem before, just using my google play account as usual. advice?
Google playstore probably detected that you had too many devices using the same play account. Dont think theres a work around
I had this on my first one..
Then it filled up the memory with hardly any app installed and kept boot-looping. Same results after restoring so I returned it and bought a new one. No more issues! I didn't restore backups from Google though.
For me Method 1 worked
Here are couple of fixes for the infamous error 920 or “App could not be downloaded due to an error 920” :
Method 1:
Turn your wi-fi off
Turn your wi-fi on
Run Google Play Store and install or update the app
Method 2:
Go to settings>>Accounts>> Delete your Google account synced with Google Play.
Restart Phone and add your Google account back in the settings. Alternately, add a different Google account.
Run Google Play Store and download your app.
Method 3:
Go to settings >> Apps >> Open “All” tab
Find and click Google Play Store >>Clear Cache and Clear Data
Now from the same tab uninstall Google Play Store Updates
Restart your phone, open Google Play Store and install the app
What worked for me
1.First Remove your google account from the device
Settings -- Accounts -- Google -- (select your email account) -- Remove
2.Then clean cache and data of Google Play store
Settings -- Application Manager -- Google play store -- remove cache, remove data, force stop (in that order)
3.Then turn off for 15 seconds
4.Add your account again on Google accounts
Settings -- Accounts -- Google -- (sign in with your account)
It worked well after that!
And I tried many other options before without it working.
As quick commercial if anyone is having problems with the stupid google update that makes the tablet not access properly the SD Card, I just found an app that amazingly fixed it with one click. Only for rooted users:
NextApp SDfix
Works fast and after a reboot you can use your SD card again!
My dad just got a nexus 7, his first android device, yesterday. I was over there helping him set up, and noticed a couple weird things...
First of all, the wifi bars seem to go back and forth between blue bars and gray bars. Odd, as my galaxy nexus always shows the blue wifi bars, so I believe the wifi connection is fine.
The other issue is, when I go to the play store and go to "my apps", there was nothing listed. It's been a while since I've seen a new Google account in the play store, but shouldn't the pre-installed apps be showing up there? (gmail, youtube, google search, etc.)
When I searched for the gmail and youtube apps, they showed that they had an update, but shouldn't they be automatically updating?
talz13 said:
My dad just got a nexus 7, his first android device, yesterday. I was over there helping him set up, and noticed a couple weird things...
First of all, the wifi bars seem to go back and forth between blue bars and gray bars. Odd, as my galaxy nexus always shows the blue wifi bars, so I believe the wifi connection is fine.
The other issue is, when I go to the play store and go to "my apps", there was nothing listed. It's been a while since I've seen a new Google account in the play store, but shouldn't the pre-installed apps be showing up there? (gmail, youtube, google search, etc.)
When I searched for the gmail and youtube apps, they showed that they had an update, but shouldn't they be automatically updating?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only "User Installed Apps" will show in My Apps. System/stock apps wont.
Also if you want to Auto-Update apps, Open Play Store, go to Settings and check the Auto_Update option.
Hope this helps!
nijom said:
Only "User Installed Apps" will show in My Apps. System/stock apps wont.
Also if you want to Auto-Update apps, Open Play Store, go to Settings and check the Auto_Update option.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From Play Store, you can also go to "My apps" > "All" and you'll see all apps installed on your older devices :good:
That's what I did to have all apps installed in my old Galaxy Tab (dead at this time).
Hope this can help.
nijom said:
Only "User Installed Apps" will show in My Apps. System/stock apps wont.
Also if you want to Auto-Update apps, Open Play Store, go to Settings and check the Auto_Update option.
Hope this helps!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the auto update setting is enabled, but I'll have to make sure on that.
If the first part is true, how do the pre-installed apps get updated? Would his tablet be sitting on the same version of the Gmail app for a year and a half, until I go out and manually update it for him? And then it would be able to auto-update itself after that point? If so, that doesn't seem very user friendly.
Like I said, it's been a while since I started with Android as a new user, so maybe some of my confusion is just due to the fact that my google profile has updated all of these apps in the past?
lionelia said:
From Play Store, you can also go to "My apps" > "All" and you'll see all apps installed on your older devices :good:
That's what I did to have all apps installed in my old Galaxy Tab (dead at this time).
Hope this can help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just it... This is his first Android device, so he has no history yet
If you're still on 4.3 and your WiFi bars are changing from blue to gray then it means that you have a bad connection. Basically the phone pings Google servers and if it gets a response then it'll be blue. If it doesn't then it'll be gray.
In 4.4 Kitkat, it'll always be white now.
talz13 said:
...when I go to the play store and go to "my apps", there was nothing listed. It's been a while since I've seen a new Google account in the play store, but shouldn't the pre-installed apps be showing up there? (gmail, youtube, google search, etc.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They DO show up there. You're just looking at the wrong list. There are two tabs at the top of "My Apps" page (Installed and All). "Installed" just shows you the ones you (manually) installed yourself. Click the "All" tab to see the pre-installed system apps.
That list shows everything, including apps that have been deleted.
Vmurph said:
They DO show up there. You're just looking at the wrong list. There are two tabs at the top of "My Apps" page (Installed and All). "Installed" just shows you the ones you (manually) installed yourself. Click the "All" tab to see the pre-installed system apps.
That list shows everything, including apps that have been deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both tabs were empty
talz13 said:
Both tabs were empty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm. Something isn't right. Try installing a new app (then uninstall it if you don't want it), and see if anything shows up then.
Vmurph said:
Hmm. Something isn't right. Try installing a new app (then uninstall it if you don't want it), and see if anything shows up then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did manually update some of the apps when I was over there (gmail, youtube, maps, etc.), and after that, they showed up in both lists.
Maybe I'm just crazy and forget what a new account looks like on the "My Apps" / "All Apps" page, before you install anything from a new account?
There was a problem with a recent Google Play Services update. I can't remember how I fixed it but I think I disabled Google Play services and uninstalled updates.
The problem that I am having is that when I sign on to the Play store from my computer, my Nexus 7 doesn't show up in My Devices. So when I want to load an app from my browser on my computer, my Nexus 7 doesn't show up as a device I can send the app too. However, it does show up in the Android Device Manager and it locates my location successfully. What setting am I missing to make my device show up?
What's everyone on about? Most (all?) of the stock apps on my Nexus 7 (stock 4.3) show up under Play Store > My Apps > Installed.
GoneTomorrow said:
What's everyone on about? Most (all?) of the stock apps on my Nexus 7 (stock 4.3) show up under Play Store > My Apps > Installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think someone's device is somehow not syncing with their google account
@talz13 and @Paten In your system settings, check Accounts/Google and see what it says for when you last synced.
I checked the settings for the Google account and it synced about an hour ago. When I look at all my apps on the device, everything shows up as it should, it's just when I look at the play store on the web my Nexus 7 doesn't show up as a device I can load apps too.
Originally, the device didn't show up in the Android Device Manager on Google either but I went into the Google Settings on the device and turned on the correct settings to locate the device and reset it remotely. Then it showed up correctly when going to the Android Device Manager web page on my computer.
xdhall said:
I think someone's device is somehow not syncing with their google account
@talz13 and @Paten In your system settings, check Accounts/Google and see what it says for when you last synced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll check that next time I get over to my parents house.
In the meantime, I checked on my dad's play store account, and it shows apps under the "My orders" page, which is good. However, his nexus 7 doesn't show up under the devices page. And if I browse to install an app from the web, it says "/!\ You don't have any devices"
Anything that I should check on this? Could it be related to the flaky blue / gray wifi bars indicating sync trouble with Google?
I have auto app updates turned off. How do I know if there is an update available for an app?
I am assuming you are talking about turning off updates in google play settings in FTV. The only way to know of updates is to open google play and go to your Apps in the top left menu. It should show all available updates for your installed apps (only those apps that are "compatible", so run the Market Helper before you attempt this). Also, and I could be wrong, it will only show updates for apps that you have installed from the play store, and not side loaded ones (paid or otherwise).
I mean in FTV settings/apps.
I have turned auto updates off so how do I know when an update is available for an app that I installed via FTV?
Pagemakers said:
I mean in FTV settings/apps.
I have turned auto updates off so how do I know when an update is available for an app that I installed via FTV?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you go to Your Apps Library via the default launcher, you can highlight Icons of your apps. Underneath it is 2 boxes, the one on the left should always say "More Info" Click that, and then on the page that shows, if there is an update , it will say it, or it will say Open.
Yes, this is annoying and I only found it by accident. And as far as I can, Amazon doesn't automatically update anything even if you have it on. At least it doesn't on my AFTV.
Found it. Thank you.
When setting up a new phone, how do you stop the play store from downloading all the apps you had on your old phone? I'd like to do this manually and not have it go hog wild as soon as I boot the phone for the first time.
Thanks!
Anyone?
jarablue said:
Anyone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought it was in the first steps of setting up the phone or shortly after signing in with your google account. I can remember the step on my previous phone but don't remember seeing it on this phone but likely missed it. It's something about backup and restore. I always de-select it and then enable it later. That avoids the download frenzy.
Yea. If you chose back up / restore when setting up phone / adding google account for first time. Its going to auto download all the apps you had your last device synced with your account. But you can disable auto update from the market. In settings.
On lollipop it asks you during setup if you would like to restore. If you fast finger mgee'd all the way through mashing the next button the default is to restore all apps you had installed on your last phone/before you reset.
or at least the ones you installed from play store.
If you master reset and poke around a bit you may see that you can restore some all or none of the apps by selecting different options.
if you have already done this then you will need to go into play store and stop all manually. which is often hard because all your bandwidth(both internet and processor) is being hogged by the downloads
This is one thing that has always annoyed me with the play store. If you are not on wifi it's nearly impossible to get it to stop without at least a half dozen of the apps installing before you can get it to stop.
Maybe google will fix this someday.
Or you can just remove it from My Apps in the play store. Tap the X in the upper right corner of the apps you don't want anymore.
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...