I finally posted on Motorola's Forums asking about the suspect APK's with as much info as possible.
See HERE
If they for some reason take it down I will duplicate it here below:
Ok,
We Motorola owners have been silent and I think its time that we was not. Just last year I signed up for the Electrify Beta test for Motorola's 2.3.5 update for the phone. I received an email from Motorola that within 24 hours I would be getting the updated pushed to my device. At the time I got the email (around 9:30 am) I was using a custom ROM (Cyanogen Mod 7) and I proceeded to back up my phone and flash the phone back to Stock 2.3.4. Once I did that, I never got the update pushed to my device. So in turn I posted that question why I never received it on the Forums.
Mark answered it by saying this:
“Wow you've reset your phone 21 times... Whatever for? The reason you can't get the update is because you've factory reset the phone after the update was sent out. I'll reply in the other thread concerning the wifi issue. It's off topic here.
Mark
Support Forums Manager”
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Click to collapse
To which I answered that it was really non of his or Motorola’s business how many times I reset my device as for one – its MINE. I also asked what else Motorola was tracking from my device and why we users are not made aware of it. Of course I never got an answer to that post.
To be honest it was a Godsend that I never got the update, because as we all know Motorola relocked the Bootloader and has every intention of never making it unlocked again. However that’s a different issue and not the one at hand here.
Now I get that that I missed the update to 2.3.5 because I was on a custom ROM that is totally not supported by Motorola, and quite frankly this isn’t the issue here.
The issue is that my activity was tracked. When I got the phone and activated it I was not aware of any EULA that would state that Motorola would be tracking its users and activities. There was no such message in the Box, Manual, or on the phone on first boot. If it IS in the manual then it is so far embedded in some clause that it’s criminal that it is in there. However I am pretty sure its not.
So I would put that down to my activity was tracked WITHOUT my consent. Which to me, is a pretty big deal.
So this brings me to the meat of this post. A few users have stated there are some suspect apps (Motorola Stock) that are running in the background and require some insane Access Rights.. I will now list them along with the permissions they require (You can see these for yourself on your own phone. Applications > All > and find them on the list.). Some of these are quite the eye opener…
AdService.apk
Network Communication (Full Internet Access)
Phone Calls (ReadPhoneStateand identity)
DataCollection.apk
Your personal Information (Read Contact Data, Read Sensitive Log Data, Read user Defined Dictionary, Write Contact Data)
Services that Cost you Money (Directly Call Phone Numbers, Send SMS Messages)
Your Location (coarse (network-based) location, fine (GPS) location, mock location sources for testing)
Your messages (edit SMS or MMS, Read SMS or MMS, Receive SMS)
Network Communication (control Near Field Communication, Create Bluetooth Connections, Full Internet Access)
Your Accounts (manage the accounts list, use the authentication credentials of an account)
Storage (Modify/delete SD card Contents)
Phone Calls (intercept outgoing calls, read phone state and identity)
hardware Controls (change your audio settings)
System Tools (Bluetooth Administration, change network connectivity, change WiFi State, Change WiMAX State, Change your UI Settings, Modify Global System Settings, Mount and unmount file systems, prevent phone from sleeping, reorder running applications, retrieve running applications, write Access Point Name settings, write Sync Settings)
(Hidden)
Default (Modify battery Statistics, Read Certificates)
Your personal Information (write to user defined dictionary)
network Communication (view network state, view Wi-Fi state, view WiMAX state)
Your Accounts (discover known accounts, read Google service configuration, View configured accounts)
hardware Controls (control vibrator)
System Tools (Automatically start at boot, expand/collapse status bar, kill background processes, measure application storage space, read Home settings and shortcuts, read sync settings, read sync statistics, set wallpaper, write Home settings and shortcuts)
DataCollectorProvider.apk
Your Personal Information (read contact data)
DataCollectorService.apk
Your Personal Information (read contact data)
KpiLogger.apk
Your personal Information (Read Contact Data, Read Sensitive Log Data, Read user Defined Dictionary, Write Contact Data)
Services that Cost you Money (Directly Call Phone Numbers, Send SMS Messages)
Your Location (coarse (network-based) location, fine (GPS) location, mock location sources for testing)
Your messages (edit SMS or MMS, Read SMS or MMS, Receive SMS)
Network Communication (control Near Field Communication, Create Bluetooth Connections, Full Internet Access)
Your Accounts (manage the accounts list, use the authentication credentials of an account)
Storage (Modify/delete SD card Contents)
Phone Calls (intercept outgoing calls, read phone state and identity)
hardware Controls (change your audio settings)
System Tools (Bluetooth Administration, change network connectivity, change WiFi State, Change WiMAX State, Change your UI Settings, Modify Global System Settings, Mount and unmount file systems, prevent phone from sleeping, reorder running applications, retrieve running applications, write Access Point Name settings, write Sync Settings)
(Hidden)
Default (Modify battery Statistics, Read Certificates)
Your personal Information (write to user defined dictionary)
network Communication (view network state, view Wi-Fi state, view WiMAX state)
Your Accounts (discover known accounts, read Google service configuration, View configured accounts)
hardware Controls (control vibrator)
System Tools (Automatically start at boot, expand/collapse status bar, kill background processes, measure application storage space, read Home settings and shortcuts, read sync settings, read sync statistics, set wallpaper, write Home settings and shortcuts)
MasterClearErrorReporter.apk
Your personal Information (Read Contact Data, Read Sensitive Log Data, Read user Defined Dictionary, Write Contact Data)
Services that Cost you Money (Directly Call Phone Numbers, Send SMS Messages)
Your Location (coarse (network-based) location, fine (GPS) location, mock location sources for testing)
Your messages (edit SMS or MMS, Read SMS or MMS, Receive SMS)
Network Communication (control Near Field Communication, Create Bluetooth Connections, Full Internet Access)
Your Accounts (manage the accounts list, use the authentication credentials of an account)
Storage (Modify/delete SD card Contents)
Phone Calls (intercept outgoing calls, read phone state and identity)
hardware Controls (change your audio settings)
System Tools (Bluetooth Administration, change network connectivity, change WiFi State, Change WiMAX State, Change your UI Settings, Modify Global System Settings, Mount and unmount file systems, prevent phone from sleeping, reorder running applications, retrieve running applications, write Access Point Name settings, write Sync Settings)
(Hidden)
Default (Modify battery Statistics, Read Certificates)
Your personal Information (write to user defined dictionary)
network Communication (view network state, view Wi-Fi state, view WiMAX state)
Your Accounts (discover known accounts, read Google service configuration, View configured accounts)
hardware Controls (control vibrator)
System Tools (Automatically start at boot, expand/collapse status bar, kill background processes, measure application storage space, read Home settings and shortcuts, read sync settings, read sync statistics, set wallpaper, write Home settings and shortcuts)
So, to paraphrase Mark….
Wow these Apps need some insane permissions…. WHATEVER FOR??
And aren’t they named well?
I suggest that someone provides FULL DISCLOSURE on what all these apps do. They are NOT required to run the device (if you are rooted you can freeze the processes with no ill effects and can infact remove them) and they most certainly are NOT part of Android’s original OS.. So whatever ARE they for and what ARE they collecting???
So Motorola, the ball is in your court so to speak, I and a great many others would be really curious on telling us what they are for…
Your move..
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Click to collapse
Just a thought on this issue also. maybe a reason you could provide to this **** from Motorola is the fact that these phones have problems out of the box. Random reboots for example. That in itself would be reason enough for me to reset my phone in homes it will go away. Another thing you could point out is that some app developers are using Airpush ads that some people might think are a form of trojan and might also to a reset to try to eliminate them. Bottom line though is you are totally correct and that it's none of their damn business what we do with these phones. Sprint can ***** at us and threaten to void warranties or whatever but Moto has nothing to do with it. I'm curious to know what they respond with. I'm going to post in that forum too
It's funny. Those were the first apps that I had frozen. I have NO problem with my phone since I froze those. It's been about 2 months now and no problems.
My post on that forum rules LOL
Even if they do respond I'll be willing to bet you don't get a straight answer that exposes the truth.
On a side note, are the apps you have listed everything that does the questionable snooping or are there more parts to the puzzle?
I'm a MoPho-er
FernBch said:
Even if they do respond I'll be willing to bet you don't get a straight answer that exposes the truth.
On a side note, are the apps you have listed everything that does the questionable snooping or are there more parts to the puzzle?
I'm a MoPho-er
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Click to collapse
If I knew how to debug and show what those apps did, I would have more "clout" I guess..
I'm sure there's more in there, but those are obvious (and poorly named) with what they do.
I'm not expecting an answer either, but just sitting idly by saying nothing doesn't achieve anything either. It was worth a shot, and if more people post a response in the original thread, then well... its gonna make it harder for them to ignore it as well.
He posted a reply... Usual PR Snuff and tried to make it look like I was the bad one for breaking an NDA on software that was publicly released two months ago..
I think not, so I replied in kind.... Funny how it took a posting of APK's permissions and concerns about privacy (which was brought up before) for him to garner any response on it...
Lets see if this can carry on...
mistaken, your privacy is important and must be protected, in Europe there are strict legislative on this point, and I hope that clarifies why if the European community discovers that unbeknownst to many users, are read everything that trigger sanctions. I also do not want others to know of my sites visited, etc..
sorry for my English
ZeroManArmy said:
It's funny. Those were the first apps that I had frozen. I have NO problem with my phone since I froze those. It's been about 2 months now and no problems.
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One of the four has something to do with corp. mail now get an error message. Option to FC every thing working though.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium
Cythrawl,
Honestly, if I would have known that the Electrify would have been like this, I would have stuck with the Hero S. sometimes...I regret switching from the Hero S to the Electrify.
IBMguy said:
Cythrawl,
Honestly, if I would have known that the Electrify would have been like this, I would have stuck with the Hero S. sometimes...I regret switching from the Hero S to the Electrify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I had have known too, I would have stuck with the Mesmerize until we get the SGII
Love it when people have no idea!
"We Motorola owners have been silent and I think its time that we was not."
"If I knew how to debug and show what those apps did, I would have more "clout" I guess.. "
I would not worry about Moto, the govenment is watching you right now through your tv.
halfdriven said:
Love it when people have no idea!
"We Motorola owners have been silent and I think its time that we was not."
"If I knew how to debug and show what those apps did, I would have more "clout" I guess.. "
I would not worry about Moto, the govenment is watching you right now through your tv.
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Click to collapse
Seeing I don't have TV (or a TV connected to Cable / Sat / OTA) I doubt that...
Thankyou for your really useful post...
I was performing a firmware update on my Asus Transformer Pad Infinty last week. Something went wrong, so I perfomed a factory reset.
After rooting again and making sure i was back to the latest firmware I used Titanium backup to restore most of my apps and data.
I went further by copying back most of my media files, etc (this took me half a day or so).
Titanium backup was complaining about a changed ANDROID_ID. Because I did not no what it was at the time and I was not able to restore due to an unpaid version, I chose to ignore the message.
Now I have the following problems:
- I don't receveive new Gmail by push notifications
- New Google calendar items are not pushed to my device.
- If I choose to send a new app from the Google Play website (from PC) to the device it will never arrive.
I don't have this problem with my android phone. I also do not have any problem when performing this actions manually (by refreshing..) and my push setting on my tablet are Ok.
If I look at my registered devices on the Google Play website (My Orders & Settings -> Settings) I see that the 'Last used' and 'Registered on' dates are the same and equal to the date i performed the factory reset. Google Play does not see my device as active anymore, somehow, while i'm still possible to add apps from the Google play app manually.
I figured this could have something to do with the changed ANDROID_ID. But now Titanium backup is not aware anymore of my original Id.
So in an attempt to get to know the id my device is registerd to on Google Play I was searching in the source of the Google Play Website and noticed the following:
'gd7XXXXXXXXX':{'name' : 'Asus ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T','icon' :
'https:\/\/lh5.ggpht.com\/9_o5_8emBAl4Tuzngu1vny_QuzJiCv4EE2hkr-i9xi3fTlvHzJM0M_Ej2qj-m7E2R_E\x3dw50', 'thumbnail' : 'https:\/\/lh5.ggpht.com\/9_o5_8emBAl4Tuzngu1vny_QuzJiCv4EE2hkr-i9xi3fTlvHzJM0M_Ej2qj-m7E2R_E\x3dw75'}}, selectedDeviceId: 'gd7XXXXXXXXX,
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Click to collapse
The 'gd7..' id resembles an ANDROID_ID so I entered this in the app 'Change Android Id' and restared my device. Now my device is using this Id.
But my problems are not resolved!
I don't know what I could do anymore besides another factory reset.
-----------------
Are my problems due to a changed ANDROID_ID?
How can I retrieve the correct ANDROID_ID, that belongs to the registered device that is mentioned on the Google Play website?
Or is there a way to register the device again with the current ANDROID_ID, without having to perform another factory reset?
I found out that the id from the source was NOT the ANDROID_ID, when i compared the entry of my phone to the id of my phone.
I also found out that there is another id that has a role in this: Google Service Framework ID Key.
I tried to clear the cache of the Google Services Framework and restart. This gave me a new GSF ID Key and the entry of my device on the Google Play website seemed to be reset (have a new 'Registered' on date).
However, I still don't get push services from Google!! :crying:
UPDATE:
My problem seems to be resolved already. Push services are working again like a charm.
I am not sure what exactly did the trick...
I disabled the Gmail app in Settings-Apps and enabled it again in the market.
Then I was busy with som push settings in IM+ and suddenly received e-mail again.
The other problems where also resolved... somehow.
I see that my Gear S is set to automatically backup periodically. When this happens, it significantly drains my battery. is there a way to either disable this backup process or have the Gear S only backup when plugged in?
more questions on back-up & restore
on a semi-related issue - if i buy a new Samsung phone and paired that to my Gear S, (or vice versa), where are all my contacts, diary entries, apps and other stuff?
yeah I understand they get wiped - but is there anyway to save then somewhere - using Kies?? - the sim card ??, a memory card??
After a few trials & errors i decided to save everything to the Samsung account, but for better or worse that doesn't seem to work like say ahem iCloud - should i "backup" to the sim & turn off if possible Gear S backup facility as the OP seems to be asking ---- but there seems to be no facility to bulk change prior entries to "save to sim" or "memory card"
Pairing the watch and the phone over BT or when further away via my samsung account via 3G does seem to be now working very well - thanks to what I've learned here - but what exactly is my samsung account - when I registered initially I was able to add the S4 as a device but not the Gear S - now I'm directed to hot deals on microwaves etc when i log in
I haven't noticed such a battery drain backing up (by BT presumably) but my use case aspirations for the Gear S does involve the hope that the liberation of one device on my wrist (+/- the host phone somewhere else) might significantly reduce my very expensive data usage - disciplining me to restrict checking emails or browsing to wifi at home or at work - so far so good ... but will the downside be having to type in my contacts diary events and re-download the apps every time I change one of the devices or I have to perform a hard reset on the watch-phone to try to overcome some glitch?
thanks
There is no way to enter new contacts on Gear S. It gets whatever your phone get. So, the question is how do you transfer your contacts between your phones. It seems to me you are still living in stone ages. If you use any of the services like GMail or Outlook.com (from MS), you should already save your contacts in one of those cloud services. So no matter what phone you are on, they are always there. I won't trust saving to Samsung account. What happens when you move to a non-Samsung phone? You can't retrieve them anymore. Samsung account only works on Samsung phones.
Seems like my backups are happening around 12 pm. I'd like to schedule them to occur at night when I have the Gear S plugged in.
Is the backup setting for the Gear S linked to another backup setting on my Galaxy Note 4?
Thanks
....I understand I can't enter contacts on the phone
....I still don't understand what my Samsung account is, whether it does save my contacts/calendars somewhere however unreliably - I don't like being "locked in" to anyone but will continue to be locked into Samsung while the Gear S continues to fulfil its promise and exceed expectations (despite the difficult learning curve, deficiencies in the implementation and support and being somewhat underwhelmed by the Galaxy user interface)
....I do still use iCloud for better or worse for personal stuff, (not sure thats relevant here) but would rather avoid Gmail (i did reactivate an old gmail account to play around with some of the services / apps on the Galaxy)
.... ditto - outlook.com - I'd rather not go back there either but would do if it is then relatively easy to sync my outlook contacts and calendar(s) (when in wifi) with the samsung Galaxy apps that sync with the Gear S via Gear Manager
I can use iCloud or my work outlook whenever I'm at my desk or on wifi (or dollar gobbling phone tethering or mobile broadband dongle)
- yes in outback Australia I am kind of living in the stone age - often away from wifi or even a phone signal, having to wait weeks/months whenever i move house / location to transfer over my broadband account, figure out what to do when i travel abroad etc
so yes i have heard of and can use these cloud based services but often not 24/7 365 days a year so I'm still having to consider the best way to get the contacts onto the "master" phone with some degree of preseverence / transferability so that they are physically there on the gear S
sorry if i've missed an obvious point / solution or overcomplicated that -- i just tried creating a new contact and the choices are save to Samsung Account Device SIM or my recently reluctantly reactivated google account
thanks
If privacy is not a big concern for you, I don't see what you don't embrace those cloud services. It is very convenient to sync multiple devices at the same time. You don't need them to be perfectly on 24/7. It only needs to be on when you first sync to your phone. The contacts will remain on your phone even if the service is down afterwards. You can sync them to your phone, tablets and PCs.
The could services allow you to store multiple phone numbers per contact as well as photo, mailing address and email address etc.
Here are pros and cons of what you have listed:
1. SIM cards: only one phone number per entry. Multiple phone numbers for the same contact requires multiple entries. Can store phone numbers only. If SIM card dies, so are all your contacts.
2. iCould: works best with Apple devices. Not so much with others (although you can find work arounds).
3. Google: works best with Android devices. But also works on other platforms like Windows and iOS. If you use Android device, you will have to sign in with a Google account anyway. So you will be synced with Google contacts regardless you use it or not.
4. Outlook: works best with Windows Phone and Windows PC. But also works on other platforms like Android and iOS. If you use Windows devices, you will have to sign in with a Microsoft account anyway and synced with the contacts.
5. Samsung: as far as I know, it only works with Samsung Android phone and Android tablets.
I often use my desktop PC to edit and input contact information and it then syncs to cloud and to the devices. Very convenient.
Hi everyone,
I made a simple search yet I'm not sure I know how to really pronounce my problem for a good search result
For over 2 months now I've been having issues with Facebook app. I'd like to describe my symptoms and things I've been checking out and I'd be more than happy if you pro's could share your 2 cents.
1) Facebook crashes spontaneously .. and I don't mean FC. It simply "vanishes". The app disappears from main view (I have no ghost of it under "Running Apps"). I have to open it again. When I do, my feed is rearranged as if its the first time I launch facebook after boot. No specific thing I do that does is. I can browse, I can type a comment, I can press a like. I can simply live the screen on (keep awake with power).
2) Faceboot app constantly "disconnects" and denies updating its data. For instance, I may finger-browse my feed and suddenly I get to the bottom of the feed with "Can't Connect" and a sad cloud icon. Same happens if I try to "refresh" the page, search for a user or go into a group - "Can't Connect". I have to manually close facebook (apps-screen and swipe away) for it to get fixed..
Things I've noticed:
1) I'm using 1plus2 oxygen latest (2.2.2?). I've changed app permission to block access to "calendar", "contacts", "camera", "audio", "clipboard", "location"
2) I noticed that when I recoked app permission "Keep Awake" - vids didn't start properly. Some of them crashed my app like in (1) above. I restored "Keep awake" and "Audio" and vids play fine. I restored the rest of the permissions and I still get the "cant connect" issue.
3) I've constantly limited facebook permissions even on my old Nexus 5 phone (using cyanogen privacy default deny any permissions unless specified by me)
READ FURTHER FOR EXTRA ISSUES IF POSSIBLE
1) Whatsapp. My current whatsapp is constantly backed up and the .db file moves between phones I change (for over 3 years now).
2) my db file is ~1GB. I sometimes also copy media/photos and media/videos too .. so I'll always have access to my historic images and videos shared by contacts.
3) Whatsapp, every 2-3 weeks, behave erratically. I may open a message notification from the drawer and whatsapp takes 15-20 seconds to open that chat! I may open a picture in a group (MAINLY in groups) and it would take 15-20 seconds to open. It opens half way, device is "laggy", and after 15-20 image is fully viewable.
Same laggy activity (for both facebook and whatsapp) happened over at my old nexus 5 making me believe I actually had faulty hardware. Now its 1plus2.
Not a lot of rooted apps, other than the obvious (Titanium, SuperSU, Call Recorder - which is currently disabled).
Sorry for the long post, I lack a potato for you. Will be glad for any thoughts.