Develop Bugs

Why do we need to flash gapps?

Newbie here, Why do i read everywhere that i need to flash gapps if I ever flash my device?
Is gapps Google Apps?

Yes they are apps and framework from Google, like Google sync, Gmail, Maps, Talk... Google asked ROM developers to remove their copyrighted gapps from their ROM so you have to flash it most of the time.

Yes, Gapps is Google Apps, and it includes the Market among other things...

We have to flash it separately because google asked several popular developers to leave google apps out of their roms since it contained proprietary software.

another noob here, just about to flash a custom rom (AKOP to GNex) for the first time.
if i have all apps (user and system) backed up with titanium, do i still need to flash gapps?
(on a slightly less relevant note: i'm copying all titanium backups as well as the rom backup from clockwork mod rom manager to my computer so as not to lose them when flashing the new rom because i'm not really sure if they would be wiped. will they?)
thanks for your help

I have aokp ms4, annd flashed the gapps thats on aokps website. I lost the Google Music player.. Is there a way to get it back?

Malarie said:
I have aokp ms4, annd flashed the gapps thats on aokps website. I lost the Google Music player.. Is there a way to get it back?
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I believe google music is still in the market. Just download it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

I would keep your titanium backups on your comp, just in case. I wouldn't, however, back up system apps as that can cause conflicts when you're restoring in a different rom. Just back up user apps. And yes, you do still need to flash gapps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium.

gonintendo said:
I would keep your titanium backups on your comp, just in case. I wouldn't, however, back up system apps as that can cause conflicts when you're restoring in a different rom. Just back up user apps. And yes, you do still need to flash gapps.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium.
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Precisely, well said.

artvandelay440 said:
We have to flash it separately because google asked several popular developers to leave google apps out of their roms since it contained proprietary software.
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Google did not ask "several popular developers." To my knowledge, it was only Google sending CyanongenMod a Cease & Desist... because of this, developers decided to respect Google and stick to the respective Google Apps rather than including them in their ROMs. It is illegal to include these gapps with their ROM. However, you're fine with including them until Google sends that developer a C&D but only CyanogenMod received the C&D.
As far as TitaniumBackup.. you can also sync your backups to DropBox and now Box.

another noob here...just wondering how do u flash gapps? im planning to flash AOKP anf they said to flash gapps...

trissc said:
another noob here...just wondering how do u flash gapps? im planning to flash AOKP anf they said to flash gapps...
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Download gapps from the given source and flash them via CWM like a ROM.

zephiK said:
Google did not ask "several popular developers." To my knowledge, it was only Google sending CyanongenMod a Cease & Desist... because of this, developers decided to respect Google and stick to the respective Google Apps rather than including them in their ROMs. It is illegal to include these gapps with their ROM. However, you're fine with including them until Google sends that developer a C&D but only CyanogenMod received the C&D.
As far as TitaniumBackup.. you can also sync your backups to DropBox and now Box.
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That's who I was referring to.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

artvandelay440 said:
That's who I was referring to.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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CyanogenMod at the time was a one-man project by Cyanogen himself. Not all these other developers who are now associated with the project.
@trissc: 1) Flash ROM
2) Flash Gapps
3) Flash Kernel (if desired).
NOTE: You will have to reflash gapps after flashing a updated version of the ROM. Otherwise you will lose the gapps.

Because Gapps are google's, they don't allow the third part developer use or edit them, but they allow users to download and install by themselves

Newbie Guide

Ok so I need to flash the stable release of CM9 but I need to know how I can restore all my apps and app data. I've spent some money on apps that I'll lose if I flash and just redownload. Suggestions?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Just re-download your apps. Every transaction is stored in your Google account, you won't be charged twice.

t3chi3 said:
Ok so I need to flash the stable release of CM9 but I need to know how I can restore all my apps and app data. I've spent some money on apps that I'll lose if I flash and just redownload. Suggestions?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Just use the Galaxy Toolkit to backup and restore features. Link is below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1405345

t3chi3 said:
Ok so I need to flash the stable release of CM9 but I need to know how I can restore all my apps and app data. I've spent some money on apps that I'll lose if I flash and just redownload. Suggestions?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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Is your bootloader already unlocked? If yes, flash a custom recovery, root your phone and use an app like titanium backup to backup apps + appdata.
If no, unlocking it will wipe your device. You can use adb backup in that case though, use this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Petrovski80 said:
Is your bootloader already unlocked? If yes, flash a custom recovery, root your phone and use an app like titanium backup to backup apps + appdata.
If no, unlocking it will wipe your device. You can use adb backup in that case though, use this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1420351
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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Nailed it!
And OP, your purchases are all tied to your Google Account. Signing back into the new ROM means you get access to all of your apps for download again if you want.

Here's your guide.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=21328733
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Red Tapatalk 2

If your looking to back up your apps and not any system data along with the app data, the best app for that is titanium backup. But it requires you have root. Just a matter of backing them up and then restoring them using the tool. It keeps a backup on your phone. Or if you have the pro version you can store the backups online at your storage place of choice.

Tim4828 said:
Just use the Galaxy Toolkit to backup and restore features. Link is below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1405345
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No. stop suggesting people to use a toolkit, since its pretty obvious that the op doesnt know what he's doing! if something goes wrong, will you be the one to get his device out of trouble?
and besides, the link you posted goes to a baseband thread. ????
a simple solution was given, use play store builtin restore feature, unless op chooses to roll bare aosp, but even then, op wouldnt need a toolkit (he would know how to build from src) to restore apps.
Sent from my i9250

Changing From Rom to Rom

Sorry nub Q,...
Best way to switch roms without losing all my apps every time... Running asop 4.2.1 and would like to check out a few others. But jus thinking about having to redownload all these apps and log in again makes me tired. Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

Titanium Backup.

Been some problems with titanium back up when flashing new roms, see galaxy nexus development threads for some examples, if you want a relatively failsafe method that stores your apps off phone you can use a file manager like astro to back up all your apps into apks then drop the backups into a folder on your computer via usb, along with any media or data you want preserved, then reload after fully wiping phone and flashing new rom, you might have to download a file manager to install the apks if rom doesnt have one. Gather you have a custom recovery installed, dont forget to update it prior to flashing new rom so you can recover if all doesnt go to plan. Good luck
sent via xda app from maguro gnex paranoid beta9

Thanks... Recovery I'm using is twrp. I've done a few rom switches feel comfortable. Just hate re downloading apps and logging back in. Will definitely try pc back up tho.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

matthew0776 said:
Thanks... Recovery I'm using is twrp. I've done a few rom switches feel comfortable. Just hate re downloading apps and logging back in. Will definitely try pc back up tho.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app
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If you're interested in using your PC to back things up, you may as well give apk batch installer a try: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1531880

If you are using the latest version of titanium backup, you have the option of creating flashable zips of all your apps with data included. Tried it a few times and it seems to work flawlessly for me. The key is to avoid restoring any system apps. I have about 70+ apps to restore and setup. Before it would take me an hour or two, now is done in about 10 minutes.

DZYR said:
If you are using the latest version of titanium backup, you have the option of creating flashable zips of all your apps with data included. Tried it a few times and it seems to work flawlessly for me. The key is to avoid restoring any system apps. I have about 70+ apps to restore and setup. Before it would take me an hour or two, now is done in about 10 minutes.
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That was very useful. First time to know such feature. It seems only available if you donate. Thanks anyway

ahmadallica said:
That was very useful. First time to know such feature. It seems only available if you donate. Thanks anyway
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Titanium backup is useless unless you actually have the pro version. Pro version makes it all one click, set it and forget it. Definitely recommend it for any custom rom flasher.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

App2zip

So I decided to switch ROMs today and used app2zip to restore my apps after flashing I am on dirty AOKP BTW and it is great but any way app2zip will all of a sudden not restore any of my paid apps from the market and when I try to install them from the market myself I get this error... Any ideas of what I can do tried wiping play store data and nothing any suggestions are appreciated
Michael
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium

Just a guess, you flashed the a2z right after you flash rom and gapps. You might want to try booting up, signing into your gmail account, then flashing in your a2z zip. I haven't used that in a while, but I think I had this same issue.

If that doesn't work try clear data/cache for Google Play Services.

style154 said:
So I decided to switch ROMs today and used app2zip to restore my apps after flashing I am on dirty AOKP BTW and it is great but any way app2zip will all of a sudden not restore any of my paid apps from the market and when I try to install them from the market myself I get this error... Any ideas of what I can do tried wiping play store data and nothing any suggestions are appreciated
Michael
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda premium
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This is exactly what had happened to me. You fix this by going to data/data then find the folder called scd.app2zip. Delete that folder. Then reboot. Reinstall the app and it should work
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app

hlxanthus said:
Just a guess, you flashed the a2z right after you flash rom and gapps. You might want to try booting up, signing into your gmail account, then flashing in your a2z zip. I haven't used that in a while, but I think I had this same issue.
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I might have... I dont remember
airmaxx23 said:
If that doesn't work try clear data/cache for Google Play Services.
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I tried that too no go :/
NabhanKhan100 said:
This is exactly what had happened to me. You fix this by going to data/data then find the folder called scd.app2zip. Delete that folder. Then reboot. Reinstall the app and it should work
Sent from my Nexus 7 using XDA Premium HD app
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Your suggestion worked on my t989 for only 2 apps but on my nexus I just did a clean clean flash by wiping everything a couple times of dirty aokp and then booted signed in to Google then flashed app2zip zip and everything on my nexus works great!! Thanks for the help!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app

Since there is no external sd card for my Nexus 7, how did you get this to work on the Nexus?

[Q] Google play services have stopped

hi all, last night i upgraded from cm 10.2 to cm 11 trough the updater and now i get a warning popup every 5-10 minutes saying that so and so app have stopped working, mainly google play services, should i re-flash gaps? thanks in advance

Try uninstalling the Google play services update and then update. I had the same issue on another ROM and it worked for me
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

i don't have an option to uninstall updates, only to uninstall the entire app thing

You probably have to flash kk gapps.. Uninstall anything gapps related and flash kk gapps
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thanks, so what exactly are the gapps is it just like gmail, youtube, google play and such? will flashing kk apps just replace them?

no_username_available said:
thanks, so what exactly are the gapps is it just like gmail, youtube, google play and such? will flashing kk apps just replace them?
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No it's not those.. It consists of Google back up, sync, play store, and other things, but I think it'll be better to just wipe the system, reflash ROM, and then flash kk gapps.. You should be up and running by then
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

serio22 said:
No it's not those.. It consists of Google back up, sync, play store, and other things, but I think it'll be better to just wipe the system, reflash ROM, and then flash kk gapps.. You should be up and running by then
Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk
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This. Anytime you are moving to a new base (in this case Android 4.3 to Android 4.4) your best option is to do a full wipe and fresh install. You can backup and restore your app data to the new version, just not your system settings.
The CM installer tried to outsmart this but if it doesn't work perfectly, just do a full wipe and fresh flash.
However, if you want to try flashing a KK Gapps package, I'm sure it won't brick your phone. So it's worth a shot to see if that fixes it. It will only waste 30 seconds of your time if it doesn't.

Skipjacks said:
This. Anytime you are moving to a new base (in this case Android 4.3 to Android 4.4) your best option is to do a full wipe and fresh install. You can backup and restore your app data to the new version, just not your system settings.
The CM installer tried to outsmart this but if it doesn't work perfectly, just do a full wipe and fresh flash.
However, if you want to try flashing a KK Gapps package, I'm sure it won't brick your phone. So it's worth a shot to see if that fixes it. It will only waste 30 seconds of your time if it doesn't.
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so just flashing kk apps might brick it?

no_username_available said:
so just flashing kk apps might brick it?
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No. I said that WON'T brick it. That's why it's worth a shot.
No risk. High potential reward.
You might also try using Titanium to manually uninstall all google apps and services before flashing the KitKat Gapps package.

Skipjacks said:
No. I said that WON'T brick it. That's why it's worth a shot.
No risk. High potential reward.
You might also try using Titanium to manually uninstall all google apps and services before flashing the KitKat Gapps package.
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thanks man, i screamed YOLO and just flashed it, time to see if it'll work lol
EDIT: thanks a ton bro i flashed kk apps and its all fine and dandy working perfect