Best custom ROM or eliminate bloatware and privacy? - G3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I just purchased a used G3 (D852) and am in the process of setting it up.
From my research, I know it comes with a lot of bloatware and I wouldn't mind getting rid of it. I am also a fan of privacy, so I found a way to access the "Access Lock" feature (aka App Ops and similar to Privacy Guard)but I found that apps that come as bloatware, Facebook for example, don't appear in the "Access Lock" list, so I can't change permissions on them. It looks like mostly apps that have been installed from the Play Store can have their permissions changed by "Access Lock".
I prefer not to root my device, but if I had to, I would consider it.
If I installed a custom ROM, which ROM would give me the following?
-4K camera (preferably the stock LG camera app)
-Privacy Guard (or similar)
-Not rooted
I don't mind the stock ROM, but I would like to have permission control over all apps, specially Facebook and some of the Google apps. Also, I would like to get rid of the bloatware.
Does someone have a suggestion for me?
Thanks!

Related

[Q] Google Music 3.0.1 ?...

Have any of you Devs looked at this app? I already have a music player on my SII, so I figured I'd use Bloat Freezer to put it away, so to speak, in case I ever wanted it again. Turns out that BF doesn't see the app...
So, I went to Titanium Backup and was just going to remove it. Trouble is, TB can't remove it either. Says that it can't remove a system app. That kind of troubled me, mainly because I never installed this thing: it just showed up after the 2.3.6 update, and I can't figure out why a simple music player would be a system app.
The reason I'm a little worried about it is because it's constantly loaded in memory, regardless of how often I use Task Manager to Exit the app. And, after just finding out about CIQ and the System Manager 1.1 app, and getting rid of that, I'm leery of anything that runs without me starting it.
I might just be paranoid, but am I paranoid enough?
Thanks,
..Joe
did you enable Chuck Norris mode in Ti ?
i've never had an app that will not get removed or freezed by Ti
Yup. Rooted and SU'd after 2.3.6 using CWM and the SU in the Dev thread.
But I like "Chuck Norris Mode" better.
http://www.chucknorrisfacts.com/
..Joe
Bloat Freezer scans for and freezes individual apks. Titanium just loads android's list of apps of what it thinks is installed.
My guess? Sounds like the music app is really stored in another apk. Multiple apps can share an apk.
Based on my guess: bloat freezer sees the apk it is in(it scans the whole phone), but it probably has another name (could be part of google framework, or something else, who knows). Titanium sees it, but cannot freeze it because it would freeze too much other stuff.
I just got off the phone with Google support. Music 3.0.1 was part of the 2.3.6 update and cannot be completely removed from the phone as it is part of the system. In other words there is no .APK for it.
Google said they couldn't really help me with anything because my phone is rooted and they couldn't tell what ROM is on it. I offered to restore it back to the original ROM just to get rid of this thing, and that's when they told me there is really no way to do it- it's part of the system file.
To me, this is nothing more than spyware. I didn't ask for it, I don't want it, and it's not intrinsic to the operation of the phone. Android is an Open Handset Alliance package, so I don't really think Google has the right to force Bloatware down our throats.
For reasons I won't go into here, I will do anything to avoid having anything to do with Google.
So, I will still try to find a way to get rid of it. I saw one over on the
..Joe

[Q] Can I re-enable ads for specific apps?

Hello everyone. I installed the VCS Rom and apparently it blocks ads. I want to enable showing ads once again, so is there anyway to do this? And even better, is there anyway to enable it for specific apps? Meaning that the adblocker will continue for most apps except for some of them? I want to support some developers that I believe did a very good job, and the least I can do is enable the ads to show...
I don't know whether no on knows or just ignoring the question !!
While I am not too sure about disabling it for certain apps, if there is no option to simply disable it on the VCS ROM (I haven't checked that one out yet), what you can do is download ROM Toolbox from the market, and in its ad-block feature there is an option for disabling ad-blocking. If you only need to use a certain app or two (Like Hulu+) then I think that this would be the way to go. At least that is what I do
It did work. Of course for all the apps, but I just wanted to support the developers. So, I guess we're all happy now. Thanks a lot...

[APP] AppShare(+) – Share Apps Between Users without Separate Google Accounts

I've recently released an app that uses Google's new multi-user accounts feature to share apps between the different users on your device (without each of them requiring a separate Google account).
It's called AppShare(+) and you can get it here (requires root):
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.spectrl.appshare
You can download apps on your main user account as usual, and then use AppShare to simply select which users you want to have access to the app.
This also works for "unsharing" (disabling) apps for users. For example, you could disable the Gmail, or Play Store apps for a 'Guest' user account.
As a bonus, you can also use the app to disable (but not uninstall) system or user apps on your main account, freeing up resources and potentially speeding up your device.
It was designed and optimised for tablets (tested on a Nexus 7), however it will also work on phones that have multi-user support enabled through a custom ROM.
Even though I am using the same method that the Android system uses to enable/disable apps, some system apps react in a weird way to being disabled and sometimes re-appear.
I have found that disabling certain system apps works best on a "fresh" account – i.e. A new user which hasn't had a Google account previously set up on it.
There are a couple more limitations, but I would suggest that you read the Play Store description for the full run down...
I have tested it as thoroughly as I can, but please let me know if you run into any problems.
I'd love to hear what you think and get some feedback.
Thanks!
I've been getting a fair amount of crash reports lately and it looks like the cause is a missing file related to Google's multi-user implementation which I assumed would be on everyone's device, in the same place.
It appears that it is not there on some devices, causing my app to crash, so I would really appreciate it if I could get a few people to check and confirm that they have the file /data/system/users/userlist.xml on their device?
You can check using any file explorer with root, or using the adb shell terminal if you know how!
Thanks for your help in making the app better.
I do have userlist.xml in that location; running 4.2.2, updated OTA from 4.2.1.
Currently using "Multi-User App Share" for this feature without problem, but I'll keep and eye on this project and see if it's worth the change.
Psoulocybe said:
I do have userlist.xml in that location; running 4.2.2, updated OTA from 4.2.1.
Currently using "Multi-User App Share" for this feature without problem, but I'll keep and eye on this project and see if it's worth the change.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that.
My app seems to be working great for the majority of users (myself included) but there seems to be a handful of people running into problems because the app can't find that file...
I'm struggling to figure out why though?! The only explanation I've got so far is that they could be using custom ROMs which messes with multi-user in some way.
You should try out AppShare, its free so you've got nothing to lose!

[Q] Custom notifications per app (root)?

I am posting here because I own this particular device, in case any solutions posted are specific to the phone.
What I am looking for is an app that is capable of making different kinds of notifications depending on the app that issues them. Now, I am already aware that apps like GMail and Handcent have their own internal options for notifications, but other apps like CNN and so on have no such option. What I am aiming for is an app that will intercept the notifications sent by other apps and, guided by rules, play particular sounds and so on, such as when the Play Store finishes installing a new app (I already have the means to make custom notification sounds accessible to the system).
I have heard of the app NotifierPro, but it uses the Accessibility API to do its work, which means it can run afoul of the TTS API, and it's aware of it. This makes me leery of paying for the upgrade needed to allow per-app custom notifications.
I'm wondering if there is a more elegant solution available for users like myself who have rooted their phones and can therefore dig a little deeper into the Android system. I have already done some considerable searching both here and through Google without finding a hit, but I wanted to know if anyone here has found a solution that isn't well-discussed.

[Q] How to use App Ops on the Note P605?

Hey there,
since a week I own a Note 10.1 2014ed with LTE. So far I didn't modify anything on it and run the stock -MJ2 firmware.
I want to restrict some apps of accessing what the don't need to access and since 4.3 supposedly has this rights control feature called "App Ops" already integrated, I checked how to use it... Google gives many links to descriptions how to open the feature, they are all the same: Either you use a launcher that can start "Activities" (like Nova launcher) or you install one of the many apps from Playstore which do the trick as well.
Here is what I found on the Note:
Whenever I start the App Ops (no matter if I use an app, and I tried several, or start this activity), it just takes me to the first page of the Settings screen (WiFi).
Although searching the web for a while, it seems no one who owns this Note is using the feature or not having the trouble with it.
Can someone confirm this problem or, even better, give me a solution for it?
Cheers
gisfmp said:
Hey there,
since a week I own a Note 10.1 2014ed with LTE. So far I didn't modify anything on it and run the stock -MJ2 firmware.
I want to restrict some apps of accessing what the don't need to access and since 4.3 supposedly has this rights control feature called "App Ops" already integrated, I checked how to use it... Google gives many links to descriptions how to open the feature, they are all the same: Either you use a launcher that can start "Activities" (like Nova launcher) or you install one of the many apps from Playstore which do the trick as well.
Here is what I found on the Note:
Whenever I start the App Ops (no matter if I use an app, and I tried several, or start this activity), it just takes me to the first page of the Settings screen (WiFi).
Although searching the web for a while, it seems no one who owns this Note is using the feature or not having the trouble with it.
Can someone confirm this problem or, even better, give me a solution for it?
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have that very same thing happen with something totally different. In wanam when I try to enable the flashlight from lock screen feature it takes me tu settings page nothing to do with camera flashlight or lock screen.....No idea I just gave up for now
Hmmm, no one interested?
I'm just wondering now if people don't care what their apps are accessing or if they use a third party program to make restrictions.
Any idea how to control apps will be welcome. If you use sth like LBE, please leave a reply.
Cheers
Hi there again.
Since there is no information available throughout the web concerning my question I was in contact with Samsung support about it. I thought it might be helpful for others what was replied.
They said that using the original Samsung Firmware, the feature cannot be used. They didn't specify whether it was completely removed from the system or only disabled so itcould possibly still work.
Since I am not a developer I didn't go into more detail there.
Now I hope that a custom ROM like Cyanogen will be available soon for the tablet.
Sent from my SM-P605 using xda app-developers app
I'm facing the exact same issues.
When following the windows opening when starting App Ops from e.g AppOpsX, a window titled "App Ops" opens quickly, then closes and ends up on the Settings screen. Same for flashlight.
My best guess was that Samsungs version of the Settings App blocks access in a way that they can only handle windows/panes that their app is capable of - would explain why it shows up just quickly and then closes.
I've been thinking that if I'd be able to flash the stock settings app, temporarily freeze the Samsung one and try App Ops - might work?
I have the same issue. My p605 is not rooted

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