Develop Bugs

[Q] Mobile AntiVirus - Is it recomended?

Morning,
I've been toying with the idea of installing an Anti Virus solution on to my phone but have a couple of questions.
Is it necessary? I know that most of the AV apps come with nice features like tracking and remote wipe but was wondering how big the threat of mobile malware actually is.
Will it prevent my device from going into 'Deep Sleep' and have a negative impact on battery life?
It is possible that I am going to install Vipre Mobile Security as we use a lot of GFI products at work. Do any of you have experience with this app?
Cheers in advance.

JimmyEatFood said:
Morning,
I've been toying with the idea of installing an Anti Virus solution on to my phone but have a couple of questions.
Is it necessary? I know that most of the AV apps come with nice features like tracking and remote wipe but was wondering how big the threat of mobile malware actually is.
Will it prevent my device from going into 'Deep Sleep' and have a negative impact on battery life?
It is possible that I am going to install Vipre Mobile Security as we use a lot of GFI products at work. Do any of you have experience with this app?
Cheers in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) No it's not. Just install apps from the official google market and none of the chinese/russian ones and look at the permissions each app uses. Unless you are installing "big busty blonde" style apps you should be fine.
2)Most AV/Malware products have a negative effect on a phones performance and battery. Don't bother, just use your common sense instead.

animaleyes76 said:
1) No it's not. Just install apps from the official google market and none of the chinese/russian ones and look at the permissions each app uses. Unless you are installing "big busty blonde" style apps you should be fine.
2)Most AV/Malware products have a negative affect on a phones performance and battery. Don't bother, just use your common sense instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have to agree here as well. Do not bother with AV apps mate..Just use common sense on what you flash or install on your phone. Simple as that

I have never used Anti Virus on any of my phones and I've never had any problems.

Cheers lads. I was reading an article about Android Malware which prompted me to look into AV. Don't think I'll bother now though
Any recommendations for an app to locate and remote wipe the device if it is lost?
Sent as my GF gets angry at me for playing with my HTC One X....again.

Cerberus is excellent, does everything.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

animaleyes76 said:
[...] Unless you are installing "big busty blonde" style apps you should be fine. [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn!

JimmyEatFood said:
Cheers lads. I was reading an article about Android Malware which prompted me to look into AV. Don't think I'll bother now though
Any recommendations for an app to locate and remote wipe the device if it is lost?
Sent as my GF gets angry at me for playing with my HTC One X....again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest try AndroidLost I have tried most of the features like taking pictures, recording and GPS, it integrates nicely with your Google account and best of all its for FREE
I am yet to try its SMS capabilities and Sim notifications
http://www.androidlost.com

Cheers guys. I will look into the free app as I am a tight fisted Yorkshireman.
Sent as my GF gets angry at me for playing with my HTC One X....again.

I use free version of lookout. It don't cause any battery drains and is set to scan any new app get installed on the phone. You can also manual scan the whole phone.

You can install Avast Anti-Virus from the google play store, and if the phone has root access you can install Avast onto the ROM.
Once it has been installed you can set up theft aware for SMS text commands to remote wipe, lock etc.
The reason why the install it to the ROM is because if someone was going to factory reset through the bootloader or even from the settings menu the Avast will still be install but it will be disguised as another app (Which you can name) and they will not know that it is there.
Hope this was helpful.

Av only good for one thing and that's the tracking if its lost/stolen
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

check out Kaspersky, I think it still comes with life time updates, it might not be necessary today but it's a good deal and might get useful in future...

JimmyEatFood said:
Cheers lads. I was reading an article about Android Malware which prompted me to look into AV. Don't think I'll bother now though
Any recommendations for an app to locate and remote wipe the device if it is lost?
Sent as my GF gets angry at me for playing with my HTC One X....again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although not free, PhoneLocator Pro is the best I've seen,
It hides from your app drawer, adds un-installation security, takes an automatic photo of your thief and sends it you, along with his call log, also blocks the phone if the thief changes sim card, along with all the GPS tracking services that it emails you - you also get a web user interface too, aswell as the usual text commands.
Its good stuff, developer is very responsive and eager to add more features all the time too.
However, due to the way HTC have implemented multi-tasking, their pre-installed task manager app will kill it, along with anything else you may have running such as battery saving apps, antivirus, etc etc
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk 2

Apps that can be safely Frozen or Removed

Thought this may be useful for everyone to have as the device does sadly have a tendency to be a bit laggy.
Have followed a few guides and got some great info from XDA so trying to give a little back if I can
From what I have done I have found no ill effects that I have noticed so far, all fairly obvious choices so early on, but will get braver as I get more used to the handset and I'm sure others have been more adventurous than me and can help bulk the list up a bit and we can do away with a whole bunch of bloat to get a smoother ride from out G3. Some of these I froze as I prefer other 3rd party apps.
Frozen/Removed
Cell Broadcast
E-Mail
Documents
File Manager
Internet/Stock Browser
LG Health
LG Search Widget Provider
LG Setup Wizard
McAfee Security
Messaging (stock)
Music
Video
Video Trim
Weather
Weather Theme
Weather Platform
If you have any other suggestions please post and and I'll add updates to Post 1 for easy reference :highfive:
Hope this helps some fellow G3 users

557953 said:
Thought this may be useful for everyone to have as the device does sadly have a tendency to be a bit laggy.
Have followed a few guides and got some great info from XDA so trying to give a little back if I can
From what I have done I have found no ill effects that I have noticed so far, all fairly obvious choices so early on, but will get braver as I get more used to the handset and I'm sure others have been more adventurous than me and can help bulk the list up a bit and we can do away with a whole bunch of bloat to get a smoother ride from out G3. Some of these I froze as I prefer other 3rd party apps.
If you have any other suggestions please post and and I'll add updates to Post 1 for easy reference :highfive:
Hope this helps some fellow G3 users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should do a different list for the Google apps, the main attention people will give this thread is to find out what LG apps they can freeze and remove, most people will not be interesting in removing the Google apps from their devices.

Lennyuk said:
I think you should do a different list for the Google apps, the main attention people will give this thread is to find out what LG apps they can freeze and remove, most people will not be interesting in removing the Google apps from their devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understood, you are most likely correct. Google Apps removed from list

If possible, can you post the real app name (the apk name in /system/app or /system/app-priv) ?
Thanks

Get my G3 later today. Thanks for the list! I'm completely new to Android, so how do I remove bloat ware?

you need to keep file manager if you wish to write to the extsd card
I've not been able to disable the mcafee software

walkerx said:
you need to keep file manager if you wish to write to the extsd card
I've not been able to disable the mcafee software
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't find the apk by myself, but root uninstaller found somehow

Is freezing them through TB essentially a better version of hibernating them through Greenify?

alphamini said:
Is freezing them through TB essentially a better version of hibernating them through Greenify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They do different things. Freezing them is like uninstalling them - they are gone and won't work at all but can be retrieved by unfreezing. Greenifying them just hibernates them but they work as normal.

bartito said:
If possible, can you post the real app name (the apk name in /system/app or /system/app-priv) ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Also in system/vendor/app. Found some stuff in there that tibu couldn't get rid of. Here's most of what I froze. If it's not in my list of frozen apps I deleted it lol
Sent from my LG-D850 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Could we have a non-root list, and also a description of what gets disabled/broken for each one. E.g. what does Cell Broadcast do? (I've googled, I 'm now aware, not relevant currently in the UK).
ActionManager service? Board Content Provider?
I've found this list but most of the bloat on Verizon wasn't on mine, since I'm not in the US: http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-lg-g3/general/list-bloatware-safe-to-disable-t2819370

I wonder if anyone has the time, patience, and good will to compile all of these threads into one master index?
ohmegosh said:
Could we have a non-root list, and also a description of what gets disabled/broken for each one. E.g. what does Cell Broadcast do? (I've googled, I 'm now aware, not relevant currently in the UK).
ActionManager service? Board Content Provider?
I've found this list but most of the bloat on Verizon wasn't on mine, since I'm not in the US: http://forum.xda-developers.com/verizon-lg-g3/general/list-bloatware-safe-to-disable-t2819370
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've noticed that the system doesn't allow you to disable everything if you're not rooted so maybe anything you are allowed to disable is safe to disable.
Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

drock212 said:
Also in system/vendor/app. Found some stuff in there that tibu couldn't get rid of. Here's most of what I froze. If it's not in my list of frozen apps I deleted it lol
Sent from my LG-D850 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And how is everything working out after having disabled all those 3 weeks ago? Any anomalies or bad experiences? So far your screenshots give the best list of the removable apps (I'm completely new to LG so I don't know about their stock stuff), and I'd love to remove them but I'm afraid to experiment without a fully working recovery to restore nandroid.

Horcza said:
And how is everything working out after having disabled all those 3 weeks ago? Any anomalies or bad experiences? So far your screenshots give the best list of the removable apps (I'm completely new to LG so I don't know about their stock stuff), and I'd love to remove them but I'm afraid to experiment without a fully working recovery to restore nandroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything is working great. Battery life is spectacular. There are 0 negative results to report.

drock212 said:
Everything is working great. Battery life is spectacular. There are 0 negative results to report.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for the quick feedback! I just got a notification about a new downloadable software update (will not do it ofc), I suppose freezing the software update app will mean no more notifications and to setbacks either?

Horcza said:
Awesome, thanks for the quick feedback! I just got a notification about a new downloadable software update (will not do it ofc), I suppose freezing the software update app will mean no more notifications and to setbacks either?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct. I have mine frozen to avoid receiving update notifications. Also this is good until you find out if the new update is rootable. If its not then its good to stick with the current software.

drock212 said:
Also in system/vendor/app. Found some stuff in there that tibu couldn't get rid of. Here's most of what I froze. If it's not in my list of frozen apps I deleted it lol
Sent from my LG-D850 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My list is almost this one of yours. Had to unfreeze some of those because it made the home screen very lagged.

Everything Google uninstalled or frozen for over 2 weeks. No problems or complaints.

thanks the development has really taken off for this great device

So I froze most of these. Will it free up memory or do I have to delete them? Kinda scared to delete them. I have nandroid backup, just hate to possibly have to restore when the phone is running good.

Potentially Dangerous Flashlight Apps

All of the applications below appear to obtain access and information way beyond the needs of a Flashlight. Some appear specifically designed to collect and expose your personal information to cybercriminals or other nation states. In addition, you are at significant risk if you are doing Mobile Banking on the same device as one of these free Flashlight Apps.
Our strong recommendation is to uninstall your flashlight app immediately.
--From SnoopWall's Threat Assessment Report
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so we all know that we need to be extra careful with the apps we use and the permissions they demand, at least, if you are here on XDA, I certainly hope you know this! And for many of you it is probably 2nd nature to steer clear of many apps that require too many irrelevant permissions. However, it was just brought to my attention that yesterday SnoopWall released a Threat Assesment Report regarding the top 10 Flashlight/Torch apps in the Play Store, and every one of them can potentially be used maliciously! So I thought I would share this with everyone, first, so that you are aware of it, and second, so you can make others aware! Maybe if we show those stubbornly ignorant people we all know, they will start trying to be a little more careful, and start paying a little more attention to what they are doing!
One important thing to note, as I dont remember seeing it mentioned specifically in the report, is that during their investigation they found a lot of personal information being sent by these flashlight apps to Russia, China and India! Need I say more???
Personally, I have always stayed away from these flashlight apps for several reasons that are mentioned by the report. For example, why would any app that only functions as a flashlight need to be several megabytes in size??? Huge red flag if you ask me!
Anyway, as many of you know here, I do not have a lot of time right now, so I will just post the links you need to educate yourself below. I will try to post more information later on as time allows, but I just wanted to get this out there for anyone who needs to know about it.
SnoopWall's Flashlight App Threat Assessment Report
Fox News report - A Cybersecurity Threat That Could Be Lurking On Your Phone
FTC Sues Brightest Flashlight Developer
SnoopWall's Apps on Google Play
Doc

Reserved
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

dont know if this appropriate place to post (and will delete if needed) when i use to use play store , i found this xposed mode
http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.germainz.playpermissionsexposed
and am aware that there are many filter/nets/whatevers. but this one was helpful to me.
good day
err on the side of kindness

This looks and smells like some fear mongering BS.. http://www.snoopwall.com/threat-reports-10-01-2014/ just has a chart of permissions and the ones used on several of the apps are VERY reasonable .

Idk that first app in the grid is vary suspicious alongside some others with same permisions
---------- Post added at 05:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 AM ----------
Lol but there recomeded safety precautions are way too exaggerated

I'm definitely glad most Roms come with a simple torch/flashlight app so I've never had to download one from the play store, that's scary stuff!

AddictedToB3er said:
I'm definitely glad most Roms come with a simple torch/flashlight app so I've never had to download one from the play store, that's scary stuff!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thing is, here it is about flashlight apps. But the same threat could eventually apply to any app. Not that I would like people to become paranoid, but a quick read of permissions requests by apps when installing them and evaluate what the asked permissions could do is always a good habit to have. Lots of apps developers publish, on their website or directly on the Play Store, the reasons why certain permissions are requested and how they are used for -- this is an habit I would like to see more often.

Yeah for sure I was reading one of the XDA articles a while back about how many permissions keyboard apps ask for and it seemed a little much to me. I like to just go in and disable permissions I don't think certain apps need like Facebook for example. I never check in anywhere so I disable the location permission.

OK, and would anyone ever recommend one safe privacy-centric flashlight app???? Since my ROM - Lollipop 5.0.1 and Nova launcher simply don't have it built in what am I to do ??? I am switching neither my rom nor my launcher, so as I see it ... I need an app to do it.

unknown404 said:
OK, and would anyone ever recommend one safe privacy-centric flashlight app???? Since my ROM - Lollipop 5.0.1 and Nova launcher simply don't have it built in what am I to do ??? I am switching neither my rom nor my launcher, so as I see it ... I need an app to do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can check here. free and open source.
https://f-droid.org/
"err on the side of kindness"

mrrocketdog said:
you can check here. free and open source.
https://f-droid.org/
"err on the side of kindness"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I'm acquainted with fdroid, but I was asking for a particular flashlight app, that uses only your camera's flash and nothing else and is kilobytes light ... not 20mb like some other flashlight apps. The closest thing to this description is https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.flashLight however it asks for permissions for the camera not the camera flashlight, which again makes little sense IMO and secondly it causes a screenlock if phone screen is turned off with the app running. U then need only to double tap your screen to check what time it is and you are guaranteed to have your screen locked from then on until your battery dies. Thus this calls for the need of a proper flashlight app ...

Package Disabler Pro for the Note 7.

Has anyone tried to see what works with some bloatware disabled & what doesn't work? Personally I would like the iris scanner and samsung pay to be enabled and everything else disabled.

Yeah, it's working for me quite well

XavierAD said:
Yeah, it's working for me quite well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad to hear it,arguably the best feature available for any Samsung device,short of root/ROMs.
Hopefully it'll still work once Android 7.0 rolls out.

KOLIOSIS said:
Glad to hear it,arguably the best feature available for any Samsung device,short of root/ROMs.
Hopefully it'll still work once Android 7.0 rolls out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will. They use Knox which is a product of Samsung.
Sent from my XT1528 using XDA Labs

I'm rather confused by this thread. Is the poster asking what will 'break' if you disabled all the bloatware? Or asking something else entirely? Cause you can disable everything that comes on any phone and it'll always work just fine.
And I have no idea what Android 7.0 would have to do with bloatware, or what KNOX would have to do with bloatware...

HikariNoKitsune said:
I'm rather confused by this thread. Is the poster asking what will 'break' if you disabled all the bloatware? Or asking something else entirely? Cause you can disable everything that comes on any phone and it'll always work just fine.
And I have no idea what Android 7.0 would have to do with bloatware, or what KNOX would have to do with bloatware...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't speak for the O.P.,but,my guess is, as with me, just making sure that it works before purchasing the Note 7,especially for those of us with the Snapdragon powered versions that may have no other way to disable bloat.
JMHO, but, the Q&A regarding functionality of PDP, whatever they may be, are of merit & might as well have a thread addressing the subject.
Most realize you can disable the bloat, but,not everyone, including yours truly, understand exactly how it works & why only on Samsung devices.
The Knox tie-in makes sense to me, even without a full understanding of how it works.

KOLIOSIS said:
I can't speak for the O.P.,but,my guess is, as with me, just making sure that it works before purchasing the Note 7,especially for those of us with the Snapdragon powered versions that may have no other way to disable bloat.
JMHO, but, the Q&A regarding functionality of PDP, whatever they may be, are of merit & might as well have a thread addressing the subject.
Most realize you can disable the bloat, but,not everyone, including yours truly, understand exactly how it works & why only on Samsung devices.
The Knox tie-in makes sense to me, even without a full understanding of how it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
KNOX doesn't make much sense to me, because that's just a security platform. It just makes sure you protected from being 'hacked' per say. As in like, it adds an extra layer of security over your phone so someone can't just pick it up and plug it into a computer to gain access to all of your stuff. Though thats only the very loosest of analogies.
But I have to ask what you exactly mean by the "not everyone understands exactly how it works and why only on Samsung devices". Do you mean as in why disabling works? or something else. Because you can disable the bloatware on any android phone so long as the carrier and manufacturer didn't lock the option out. Which most devices will let you do it now because of the whole 'you'll get sued for forcing users to use a specific thing without giving them a way out' (an example would be microsoft getting sued over the bundling of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office with the earlier Windows OS's).
What I'm wondering is, based on the title of the thread after thinking about it some, does the OP mean an app that disables/uninstalls bloat? Because I'm sure there are plenty of apps out there that do it. But most I think require Root in order to do it properly and reliably. I use Sprint for my service, and its Sprint ID and such are a pain in the ass, and they can't just be 'disabled' easily even though there is the option to (every time you disable it, Sprint just re-installs it the next time you reboot the phone because it thinks it got uninstalled somehow). But to get it to disable properly on my Note 5, I had to install some random app that I think was called App Quarantine. It looked like a bio-hazard symbol for the icon. I haven't re-installed it since this last wipe I was forced to do, so I can't remember exactly lol. But it was the only one that would let me actually disable the Sprint ID stuff and not have it re-install all the time.

HikariNoKitsune said:
What I'm wondering is, based on the title of the thread after thinking about it some, does the OP mean an app that disables/uninstalls bloat? Because I'm sure there are plenty of apps out there that do it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it's an app in the Google Play Store that has the ability to disable literally anything on Samsung devices,WITHOUT ROOT, so, care must be taken to not get carried away & I recommend only disabling, not deleting, in the event of not being able to take an update otherwise.
Not everything can be disabled natively, so, that explains the appeal of the app.
If you used it, you'd see the tie-in with Knox........

KOLIOSIS said:
Yes it's an app in the Google Play Store that has the ability to disable literally anything on Samsung devices,WITHOUT ROOT, so, care must be taken to not get carried away & I recommend only disabling, not deleting, in the event of not being able to take an update otherwise.
Not everything can be disabled natively, so, that explains the appeal of the app.
If you used it, you'd see the tie-in with Knox........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then that makes alot more sense. I originally just thought they were basically asking if there was an app to disable everything instead of having to do it manually. I've always just manually disabled everything cause its not that hard to do. Just find the troublesome things and hit that disable button lol. But if this can do it all in one quick swoop, then I'm all in =O I'll definitely be looking into it later today when my phone finally arrives...
Sprint screwed up my pre-order, and is sending me the wrong device, so I have to take it into a store to get it exchanged because they refused to cancel my pre-order or change the order at all even though I legitimately ordered the dang thing 2 minutes past midnight on the 3rd. So ontop of that, they also didn't ship the phone when they said they would, AND the put restrictions on my package. I normally have to physically go to a UPS location to pick up my packages cause the dumb driver will never deliver to my house... always states that they can't find my house even though its the ONLY house down the ONLY long driveway... heck you can SEE my house above the trees! But nope, the guy wont deliver. But because of the restrictions, UPS wont let me flag the package as 'hold for pickup' like usual, so I gotta stand at the end of my drive way for hours upon hours just to catch the UPS driver. Then I gotta drive all the way into town to HOPEFULLY exchange the phone for the Black Onyx variant that I was supposed to get...
Anyway, sorry for the ramble o-o; didn't realize it was that long XD

HikariNoKitsune said:
Then that makes alot more sense. I originally just thought they were basically asking if there was an app to disable everything instead of having to do it manually. I've always just manually disabled everything cause its not that hard to do. Just find the troublesome things and hit that disable button lol. But if this can do it all in one quick swoop, then I'm all in =O I'll definitely be looking into it later today when my phone finally arrives...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a nice tool to have, a powerful one.
Just a friendly piece of advice :
Read up on it before using, check the FAQs on the developers site if need be & go conservative at 1st if you're not familiar with what is safe to disable.
The app gives color-coded guidelines per each app on what is known to be safe to disable. You can go above and beyond that, but, mainly, just disable, do not delete anything & leave the stock keyboard alone.
You might be able to disable the stock launcher, provided you have another one installed, but, I'd leave it alone until you're certain one way or the other........

KOLIOSIS said:
It's a nice tool to have, a powerful one.
Just a friendly piece of advice :
Read up on it before using, check the FAQs on the developers site if need be & go conservative at 1st if you're not familiar with what is safe to disable.
The app gives color-coded guidelines per each app on what is known to be safe to disable. You can go above and beyond that, but, mainly, just disable, do not delete anything & leave the stock keyboard alone.
You might be able to disable the stock launcher, provided you have another one installed, but, I'd leave it alone until you're certain one way or the other........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I'd only disable the things I already know I need to disable. Like all the Sprint stuff. I leave the Samsung stuff alone cause I actually use alot of Samsung's things. But as for Sprint's stuff? All of that goes bye bye lol. Now that is assuming it doesn't somehow show things that you normally can't see from the applications manager. In which case then I wouldn't bother, cause I don't see much of a point lol.

there are a few package disabler for Samsung out there, which one the best?

amenlo9 said:
there are a few package disabler for Samsung out there, which one the best?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go with either one,the Pro+ has a hardware lockdown feature,otherwise,there two are identical:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ospolice.packagedisablerpremium&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ospolice.packagedisablerpro&hl=en

I'm guessing Samsung still has a partnership w/Cheetah Mobile,which is one of the main reasons I like having this app,Package Disabler Pro,on-board to ward off the data mining/crapware/etc...
However,I'm not seeing anything in the apps,system or otherwise,that's jumping out & identifying itself as CheetahMobile/CleanMaster/etc.......
I'm guessing it's some/all of the apps identified w/the "Smart" moniker,but,I'm not 100% certain on that.
Anyone have an idea on which,if any,of the apps are actual CheetahMobile bloatware?
Thanks In Advance!

Using EZ Disabler here. Works well, but you gotta be careful using "disable bloat" part as it will turn off many useful things. I just went through and picked what i wanted. Very Easy to use though

Thanks for recommending Package Disabler Pro. I was worried Since not rooted. In past had always used TB . This worked Great!!
Sent from my SM-N930P using Tapatalk

Why would you guys use an app for disabling stuff.
Since we're on xda, enable USB debugging and use pm (package manager) cmd from adb shell.
For instance: adb shell pm hide 'package'
There are other interesting options: list, install, uninstall.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

millicent said:
Why would you guys use an app for disabling stuff.
Since we're on xda, enable USB debugging and use pm (package manager) cmd from adb shell.
For instance: adb shell pm hide 'package'
There are other interesting options: list, install, uninstall.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see your point, but i would also say there is a ease to the app though. Whatever works best for people. Im just glad there are options.

OP5T Arrives Today: Going 100% Google-less. Some questions...

Hello! Long (LONG!) time lurker. Decided to finally make an account today to ask you guys some questions...
My OnePlus 5T will be arriving today, and I plan to immediately flash FreedomOS - and wish to go as Google-less as possible.
RSalad said:
I simply want to minimize Google's presence in my day-to-day life... and that's a topic for a totally separate discussion that I don't really wish to partake in here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few years ago I heard about a way for the YouTube app to function without the Google Play Services. Is this still possible? I want to go completely without GApps, etc.
So far my plan(s) for application replacements are as follows:
1. Google Maps -> HERE WeGo
2. Google Drive -> Dropbox
3. Google PlayStore -> Use raw APKs downloaded from the internet + Aptoide + F-Droid
4. Google Calendar -> Etar or DigiCal
5. Google Photos -> QuickPic
6. SMS -> Signal
Anything I'm missing?
With that being said- Is there really any need for me to download/flash any GApps, whatsoever?

What are the benefits on going without gapps?

IonutP said:
What are the benefits on going without gapps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I simply want to minimize Google's presence in my day-to-day life... and that's a topic for a totally separate discussion that I don't really wish to partake in here.

funnoam said:
Better buy an iPhone then no ?
I mean even if you completely remove all Google apps, you pay a small percentage of the phone price to Google, then you're using AOSP but still coded by Google. Then by watching YouTube you're completely in the Google system too, and watching ads gives them money too.
So you want to do this the hard way ? Buy an iPhone, use Bing, stop watching YouTube.
There's no point just breaking android by removing Google services and play store...
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Once again, this is completely off-topic. If you have helpful insight to my questions then post it, if not- move along.

RSalad said:
Once again, this is completely off-topic. If you have helpful insight to my questions then post it, if not- move along.
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I just edited my message to give you some advices on some apps, but there's also a debate over buying an Android and in the same time do not want to support Google...
Do whatever you feel :angel:
Some apps are really broken when you don't have Play Services. Except crashes and missing features.
Also if you watch YouTube in browser (I suppose you won't use chrome then) you'll be limited to 480p.

funnoam said:
I just edited my message to give you some advices on some apps, but there's also a debate over buying an Android and in the same time do not want to support Google...
Do whatever you feel :angel:
Some apps are really broken when you don't have Play Services. Except crashes and missing features.
Also if you watch YouTube in browser (I suppose you won't use chrome then) you'll be limited to 480p.
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I'm aware that some apps will not function correctly. I can work around that. I'm not concerned about that.
As far as the YouTube app hack is concerned, it is not a part of a browser. It is a hacked version of the YouTube app. Completely different, and is fully functional.
I have several years of experience developing/modding android, and I'm sure I will do just fine without GApps.
I am simply here asking about the old YouTube app hack method, and seeing if I am forgetting any baser level GApp.
Thanks so much for your... help...

I use iYTBP for my YouTube app as it features a black design, no ads and background listening. Not sure if it will work without Play Services but you can still try it.
Your welcome for my ...help...
Less condescension can work too.

You can use microG to spoof the Google services (at least in YouTube's case) and use iYTBP (google it, read the xda post and download from their website). Otherwise you could try NewPipe.
You don't need another SMS app, the phone comes with one from OnePlus by default.
It also has a gallery application from OnePlus, so you should avoid QuickPic (as it is pretty much adware).
You could also try to look for a HydrogenOS image on the chinese OnePlus website, but I'm not sure if any have been posted. That way you won't even need to get rid of the Google apps, as there are none.

Dariusdd said:
You can use microG to spoof the Google services (at least in YouTube's case). Otherwise, try NewPipe?
You don't need another SMS app, the phone comes with one from OnePlus by default.
It also has a gallery application from OnePlus, so you should avoid QuickPic (as it is pretty much adware).
You could also try to look for a HydrogenOS image on the chinese OnePlus website, but I'm not sure if any have been posted. That way you won't even need to get rid of the Google apps, as there are none.
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Oh wow is QuickPic really that bad? I've never tried it, but reading all about it, it seemed nice.
That's a shame.
Thanks for the notice about NewPipe by the way, I totally forgot about that!

Newpipe is a great replacement from YouTube and you can download videos/music
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk

Some worthwhile reading for you:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/general/gapps-free-samsung-galaxy-s3-lte-gt-t3553620

FreedomOS does not give you the ability to remove all Google apps.
I flashed H2OS and microg as soon as I got the phone.

Didgeridoohan said:
Some worthwhile reading for you:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/general/gapps-free-samsung-galaxy-s3-lte-gt-t3553620
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Holy cow. I don't know of a more helpful or relevant post reference. Thank you so much for this!

The built in apps are pretty bad. Gallery is very limited. Messages is crippled. Dialer has a bug in it and Contacts is a bit wonky.
I put the Google apps back ON and disabled the built in apps.

You can also replace Chrome with Brave
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk

n1kos said:
You can also replace Chrome with Brave
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3003 using Tapatalk
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Enjoy the amazing battery life going googless. I did this a few years back for a while and enjoyed it.

Baldilocks said:
The built in apps are pretty bad. Gallery is very limited. Messages is crippled. Dialer has a bug in it and Contacts is a bit wonky.
I put the Google apps back ON and disabled the built in apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally off-topic, but I purchased a phone from you on Swappa last year. LG G6 for $475.
Edit: Not last year. Got it on June 21, 2017.
Edit2: How funny is that... Small world. Nice to see you around.

I mean you can still use the YouTube app and I have ads if you use the Xposed app to install YouTube adaway molecule to be completely ad-free
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

RSalad said:
Hello! Long (LONG!) time lurker. Decided to finally make an account today to ask you guys some questions...
My OnePlus 5T will be arriving today, and I plan to immediately flash FreedomOS - and wish to go as Google-less as possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lulz
Install adaway, import this
http://t-ryder.de/googlehosts.txt
Also comes in other flavours btw...
http://t-ryder.de/facebookhosts.txt
http://t-ryder.de/xiaomihosts.txt
http://t-ryder.de/spotifyhosts.txt (ads only)
(all that stuff is maybe outdated a bit)