I've created on my desktop a shortcut to a project folder on my SD card. Can anyone recommend an app that will let me set up a password for that folder?
I'm not looking to encrypt all the data in the folder, I just want password-restricted access to it. I can't find anything suitable in The Market.
Thanks.
If it's not encrypted, then its not protected.
Really, seriously, utterly, there is no way at all that you can "protect" a folder on an SD card other than encrypting the contents. Other apps, will always be able to access it, and, equally, anyone could take the card out and stick it in a PC card reader.
I appreciate that, and that's fine! I'm not looking for total protection from access, either through SD card reading or via apps. I'm just looking for password-restricted access when accessed through the desktop shortcut.
SmartLock will let you lock your photos/videos, as well as apps and such but I don't think it does folders. The best you could probably do would be to hide the folders using SmartLock or a similar app along those lines.
Yes, I have discovered SmartLock, thanks. But I have to say I'm not a fan at all of the whole mentality with mobile phones that data is split into storage of photos, videos, "music", etc, in separate locations and treated separately.
The folder in question contains mp3, pdf, jpg, xls and doc files.
Hiding the folder would be completely against what I'm trying to do, which is to have a clearly visible, easily accessible desktop shortcut. I guess basically I'm looking for the Android equivalent of a zip file with password.
AidanBell said:
I've created on my desktop a shortcut to a project folder on my SD card.
. . .
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When you write desktop, do you mean homescreen or as a network shortcut on your PC? If the latter you can use the desktop's OS to protect the link.
AidanBell said:
. . . I guess basically I'm looking for the Android equivalent of a zip file with password.
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Wouldn't the Android equivalent be a zip file with a password? ES File Explorer is free and supports password protected archives.
Sorry, terminology!
Yes, I mean the home screen on my Streak (or strictly speaking one of them!).
I already have and use ES File Explorer, that's how I created the Homescreen shortcut!
So if it turns out that what I'm looking for is already a feature of that program, then how's that for irony!
Glad you've found a solution that works for you, but... you do know that password protected zipfiles are encrypted,
jim-bo said:
Glad you've found a solution that works for you...
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Thank you, but regrettably I haven't.
When you zip a folder it of course creates a copy of that folder, zipped, which is not what I want at all. I'm amazed that what I do want doesn't seem to be readily available; in order to open a folder you have to enter a simple password, and then you're in the folder. Simple as that ...
AidanBell said:
Thank you, but regrettably I haven't.
When you zip a folder it of course creates a copy of that folder, zipped, which is not what I want at all. I'm amazed that what I do want doesn't seem to be readily available; in order to open a folder you have to enter a simple password, and then you're in the folder. Simple as that ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, part of the reason that nobody makes such an app / feature, is that it is pretty much the equivalent of selling a security system for your house that consists of a door that doesn't lock, with a sign on it saying "no unauthorized entry". It really offers no actual protection at all.
That being said, what you're trying to achieve sounds more like you want to protect an app / shortcut on your launcher screen, rather than protecting the folder itself
Take a look at something like https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sp.protector.free&feature=search_result (I searched for password any app, if you want to see other options). It may let you achieve what you're after.
Thanks for your thoughts. To use your analogy, yes; I do indeed want the sign that says "no unauthorized entry" but I don't want the door to be locked. Precisely!
Perhaps I should explain my situation more closely. I'm taking my Streak in to meetings with colleagues who will also make use of it. All I want is to prevent casual non-malicious access of the folder by other people. I neither need nor want encryption or strong security, I just want that tiny bit of difficulty, the little hint that says "you're not supposed to be doing this".
Thanks for your thoughts.
Using your own analogy; yes, that's exactly what I do want; the sign says, "no unauthorized entry", but the door remains unlocked!
Let me explain. I take my Streak in to meetings where it is also used by other people. What I want to prevent is non-malicious, accidental access by others. I want a gentle hint, not a 100% secure lock-out or data encryption, just a little kick that says "you're not supposed to be doing this".
Smart App Protector would be ideal if it would protect a folder. It's exactly what I want, but I need it for for folders, not apps.
You said that you wanted the prompt to come up when you hit an icon on your desktop - that would be app-protection, or shortcut protection, since it is the launch of the app / shortcut that causes the password prompt.
If you are saying that you are already in a file browser, and you want the prompt to pop up when you choose a certain folder to enter, then you are going to need to find a file browser that supports protecting or "hiding" folders, since it will have to be a direct function of the file browser app itself. I'm afraid that I don't know of any that offer anything like that feature.
To be absolutely clear, there are no features or functions in an SD card filesystem that will allow this sort of security flagging, and to do it at the OS level would involve some relatively low level dalvik / libc / kernel patching, which would require root, a custom ROM, and quite possibly end up being device specific, which explains why you can't find anything in the market.
I seem to manage to make a habit of this: There are literally tens of thousands of available apps that do everything under the sun. Yet the simple, not unique or unusual, function that I'm after isn't available! Oh well, many thanks for your kind help nevertheless.
AidanBell said:
I seem to manage to make a habit of this: There are literally tens of thousands of available apps that do everything under the sun. Yet the simple, not unique or unusual, function that I'm after isn't available! Oh well, many thanks for your kind help nevertheless.
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Unfortunately, this one isn't simple (you are asking for a low-level redesign of the security model), and while it may not be uniquem it is something that not many people would want - referring back to the previous metaphor, how many people would buy a front door with no lock, just a keep out sign, really? Especially once they learned that burglars can't always read...
But if I ever do come across anything that might help, I'll definitely let you know
AidanBell said:
Thank you, but regrettably I haven't.
When you zip a folder it of course creates a copy of that folder, zipped, which is not what I want at all. I'm amazed that what I do want doesn't seem to be readily available; in order to open a folder you have to enter a simple password, and then you're in the folder. Simple as that ...
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Click to collapse
Can't you then delete the folder and use the zip. When you tap on the zip you can see the file names, but to open a file you need the PW. Not ideal since ES Fie Explorer doesn't support copying directly to a zip file, but it is as close as you can get, I think.
Edit: I don't usually put shortcuts to things I don't want others peeking at on the homescreen.
Hey guys! Does anyone know of a widget or app (preferably an app) that will display ONLY a specific SUBSET of images/photos?
Most gallery apps, when opened, will go to a directory of image sets/folders which you can then open from there. I am looking for an app that will NOT give that option, but instead will ONLY display the 1-100 (actually I only want to display about 10) specific images/photos that I choose ahead of time.
Also, ideally, I would be able to have multiple instances with separate links/widgets that will each point to their own specific closed gallery.
Let me know of you've come across anything like that.
Thanks!
DevonSloan said:
Hey guys! Does anyone know of a widget or app (preferably an app) that will display ONLY a specific SUBSET of images/photos?
Most gallery apps, when opened, will go to a directory of image sets/folders which you can then open from there. I am looking for an app that will NOT give that option, but instead will ONLY display the 1-100 (actually I only want to display about 10) specific images/photos that I choose ahead of time.
Also, ideally, I would be able to have multiple instances with separate links/widgets that will each point to their own specific closed gallery.
Let me know of you've come across anything like that.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically what your saying is....
When you open Gallery, it shows folders X, Y, and Z.
What you want is an app that, when pressed, opens ONLY folder Y with no option to open X or Z. And be able to change it yourself so when you open that app, it shows folder Z without the option to view folder X and Y.
Correct?
A possible idea to make it so YOU can change what folder it opens but others can't would be....
It automatically opens a folder, "PicturesApp" by default. And the way you would change it is to go into something like Root Explorer, find the folder that you want to show pictures within, and rename that folder to "PicturesApp". So when you open the app, it looks for a folder called PicturesApp and opens that.
That sounds awesome. I'll give that a try.
I'm also considering building either html5 galleries hosted on my web domain, or maybe flash files that will open when clicked, but I will try your method first. Thanks!
Anyone have any other ideas?
Hi, I was digging through my external mem on my SGS2 and it is quite a mess. Folders like sounds, pictures, application folders, burstlyImageCache (whatever that is, i got the cache part) scattered all over the place. In windows I can choose where to install applications so in my /Program Files folder i have things like Multimedia, OfficePRogs, Tools and then install things like imaging/video editing software under multimedia, various system tools under Tools etc.
My question is, can i do something similar with Android? Can i organize the folders a bit by putting them in sub-folders to tidy things up a bit?
Any suggestions would really be appreciated!
Cheers,
-Davidson
Be gentle, new poster...
I've been scouring Google Play Market, F-Droid, and the net in general for an app that can Monitor and Log all files/folders created during the installation of another apk. Preferably one that can revert these changes with it's own uninstall sequence.
I'm so tired of having to root around in a file explorer trying to identify and clean out completely useless folders and files left behind by over-reaching apps. ES File explorer pro has a feature that cleans -some- of this crud upon uninstalling an app, but it leaves much behind.
Any suggestions? Pointers? I'm not opposed to creating my own Tasker profile to achieve the results, but I'd rather have a nice neat all-in-one app for it.
[Sorry if this is in the totally wrong forum, or I made any kind of posting whoopsie. Still very new to posting in forums, feel free to berate me and point me to the right place, so that I learn.]
maybe Xinstaller,app cache cleaner,smart booster (3 of them or 2 of them can help for setting things that u want.
@mark manning
sir,
another 1..
please move it to dedicated forum.
I'm looking for the same type of app.
I was using SD maid on my rooted S2 and it was doing some kind of tracking app installations.
And after getting rid of the app, it showed corps from the specific app.
But I think it didn't show all of em.
Cause while using an Explorer like solid Explorer, I still could find some folders from apps I already deleted from my phone.
Not just folders, also library's, thumbnails and many more stuff like that.
It's not a big deal, but if you trying a lot of apps without keeping them on your phone, like me, you will came to that point, where your phone is floated with stuff from apps you aren't using anymore.
So if there is an app out there,at best without needing root, I would love this app and also would be willing to pay for it.
And if there is no app out there, what I can't imagine, we should contact an dev with that idea.
And because I'm an German, don't get mad at my bad English skills.
Sent from my SM-N915FY using XDA-Developers mobile app
Afaik, such an app does not exist (yet).
SD Maid's CorpseFinder the closest thing we have right now, but it's passive and database based.
I've looked into this idea already and some things worked, but it was not reliable or safe enough to just start deleting files based the collected information.
It also wasn't very battery friendly.
I downloaded and started using "terminal-launcher" as my homescreen (available from Google Play Store); it's amazing, simple, and has super-low-memory usage, but...
If you have multiple apps with the same name (I have two called Calendar and two called Messenger) it can only launch one of them (due to being text based and the names sharing text). I asked the developer if he could remedy but he (very politely) said he'd moved on and I should develop it if I wanted to. I have enough knowledge of java to know roughly what is going on in his script (roughly!), but not enough knowledge to make the change required, recompile, or pretty much anything really useful.
His script is on github.com/mattpvaughn/terminal-launcher but I can't post the link as I'm a newbie (but that basically was the link).
My theory is that either:
it appends app names (where multiples exist) with ~1, ~2, etc
it lists app ids next to the names (it lists app names when you type "apps" on your homescreen) and allows launch via app id
it does something more clever than I can come up with (this is the more likely option
To be honest, this is a great launcher that just needs a final polish (TUI console launcher crashes too much as it's script is too involved, this launcher has tried to keep script to a bare minimum); unfortunately there aren't enough comment lines to guide an inept idiot like me through adjusting the script.
Any ideas?