Hi!
Recently, I flashed CM7 (Neutrino ROM) onto my Atrix, and I'm loving it. However, there is one problem left: The stock calendar app that came with the Atrix is gone, and I can't use aCalendar or Agenda any more without resorting to Google Calendar, which I will not, being very sensitive about data privacy.
How can I get back a purely local calendar that both are able to sync with? They do not know about each other (same with Jorte, Business Calendar, ...), and I have not found any suitable replacement for that team so far, as most calendar apps' native widgets do no fulfill my requirements and Agenda is very, very customizable.
Google has turned up nothing so far, and I am hesitant to just try files from several sources, as I have bricked my device that way before.
Thanks for any advice!
David
if u made a nandroid backup of stock atrix extract the calendar apk and use it, as it seems that's what you're familiar with
I didn't, as I couldn't, as the system was very, very screwed and I feared I would break even more. [Edit: Furthermore, I did not want to install an app with a wrong version number any more, as this is what trashed the system in the first place.]
Also, I don't care about the 'familiar' part, I just need that calendar to run in the background, so aCalendar and Agenda (and possibly, other stuff) can sync to it. I never used the app itself, just the framework it provided. If there is any other way to provide a local framework to those apps, I will gladly use it. (I did put a CalendarProvider for 2.3.7 from somwhere onto it (trusted source, just forgot), as I figured it would most likely be said framework, but alas, it doesn't seem to be.)
Related
If it matters, mine is a P509 - my question is whether any of you have found, short of custom ROM, a way to remove bloat apps, or freeze them effectively, given a stock LG ROM? I run kernel 2.6.32.9 and it is very stable. just wanting to free up cycles and memory
the reason I can't get along with custom ROM is the lack of wifi calling [that is, the way it is supposed to work, via T-mo]
Will Titanium Pro do this? any nasty side effects?
root - delete the apps.
TiBackup - freeze or delete.
All of these work. I just test-searched this subforum for remove bloatware and was rewarded with an abundance of information. This also contains info on the likeliest followup question, "what apps can I remove?".
FWIW, I find greatest stability and battery life on a sanitized stock ROM but run CM7 on principle. I use Google Voice + Groove IP for my wifi calling needs. Works fine and doesn't eat TMO voice mins.
I just go to system/app and delete the apps or "bloatware" that you dont need, titanium backup does the same but you have the option to freeze. If you want to get rid of it quick and easy just go to system/app and delete the app you want gone. Be careful what you delete, stay away from system apps that your phone will need. I would make a backup first before you start deleting just to be safe hope this helps
you are my man! i use the same plan with T-mo - do everything I can on wifi, keep data turned off 90% of the time, send pics via GoSMS Pro...
Thank you both, fratermus and 'droid311 for the help.
If you don't mind let me list a few that I ASSUME I can safely remove - if you see something dangerous pls let me know
- Drivesmart
- Telenav
- thinkfree office
- visual voicemail
- Voice Search
- web2go home
- Pacman demo [good grief]
- places
- latitude
- fm radio [never worked]
- dinerdash
- doodle
ok fire away
btw - re: titanium does the freeware version do the trick or the upgrade?
I'll have a look at system/root - not an expert su by any means
fratermus said:
root - delete the apps.
TiBackup - freeze or delete.
All of these work. I just test-searched this subforum for remove bloatware and was rewarded with an abundance of information. This also contains info on the likeliest followup question, "what apps can I remove?".
FWIW, I find greatest stability and battery life on a sanitized stock ROM but run CM7 on principle. I use Google Voice + Groove IP for my wifi calling needs. Works fine and doesn't eat TMO voice mins.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, friends I got it rolling now. handful of that stuff uninstalled.
could I bug you for just a couple of specifics?
- Keyboards: I have been running the Gingerbread keybd for awhile and like it well enough - the handset still has he original keyboard installed. is it safe to uninstall/remove that or is it involved with the core ROM?
- Similarly, I seem to have three Messaging things stacked: there is the original which I guess was on the handset from the edge: there is an Update to the stock Messaging app, then there is GoSMS Pro which is what I actually use. Is it safe to uninstall the other/stock messaging apps?
- Maps [latitude] is a pig - it loads three modules at powerup and I never even use it [my eyes and that screen with ddetailed maps,, no worky well]. safe to remove? answer seems to be yes.
that's all. I am a happy camper
Are you running cm7?
-You would probaly get a foreclose if you delete it, I would go into play store (android market) and find the keyboard you want, download it and push it to system/app then delete the old gingerbread key board.
-I wouldnt move/delete the stock messaging apps because I think (not positive) but gosms pro would need your stock messaging app to run off of.
-yes maps can be safe to remove
-Also reading your list of your bloat ware, they all can be deleted safely with no harm
thank you so much!
no, i'm running 2.2 LG rom and it is so stable I am ok to stay here, especially because WIFI calling works like butter... excellent.
uninstalled maps, finally - nothing else would stop it from loading up. no harm done, as you indicated.
all this has managed to free up about 35% of the meager ROM.
I guess this is about as good as it gets if one retains wifi calling, gmail/voice, and basic decent apps like a good media player, maps [that is, 3rd party], sms/mms, memos, calendar, reminders, notifier[missed message flasher the only one I have found that actually works]
No problem man, make sure you always backup
Sent from my NookColor using xda premium
I think it would have been better to post the question in the topic for the ROM in questions (KA02 Xperia Sspeed) but beeing newly registrered I can't post there...
I tried googling and found a lot of info on how to get Google Apps (including Talk) if you are running CM, but trying those methods at the best gave me boot loops (that was when trying to flash the .zip).
I have Maps, Gmail, Google Translate etc installet so I guess I have most of the necessary framework, but trying to just install the Talk.apk for Android 2.3.7 (from the gapps package for CM) didn't work (it didn't even install).
So, can anyone direct me to further reading?
Did you try and copy it in system/app and give proper permissions to the talk.apk ??
No, I didn't realise /system can be mounted r/w, but on the other hand I'm not very keen to "testing if it works". Being deaf my phone is more or less the main way I communicate (but NOT using voice calls), I waited half a week before moving my SIM and SD-card from my old phone because I wanted to be sure I didn't have to re-flash or something to get things working.
So if I'm gonna do "trials" that will probably have to wait until next weekend (so I will have time to do a full backup and a re-flash+restore if things go wrong). I have a full time job and a family, so I can't spend all my free time messing with my phone
I was hoping there would be some way to just install it like any app... I'll stick to using ebuddy for google talk meanwhile, the negative side of that is that I want to be always logged in on google talk, but not always on MSN, Yahoo or ICQ.
I "solved" the issue temporarily by installing BeejiveIM GTalk. I would have preferred Google original app, but when they make it so hard for users of custom ROMs to use it... I can't understand why they can't put it up on Market?
I have finally discovered how to remove all nonessential blur components and services. Because they are codependent, hunting and pecking at them quickly leaves one certain the can of worms is bound to the phone; fortunately this is not actually the case.
The trick is to install fully interoperable replacement apps, then strip the blur all at once, like a band aid on hairy flesh.
First I installed:
ADW Launcher
Contacts Editor Free
Contacts+
Messages+
(and "XPhone - Phone and Contacts", but really contacts+ should have it covered, I just like this)
Then with root explorer, I removed:
blur-services
blur_activesync
blur_email
blur_facebook
blur_flickr
blur_lastfm
blur_linkedin
blur_myspace
blur_orkut
blur_photobucket
blur_picassa
blur_skyrocket
blur_twitter
blur_yahoo
blur_youtube
BlurCalendar
BlurCalendarProvider
BlurChooser
BlurContacts
BlurEmail
BlurEmailEngine
BlurHome
BlurTasks
BlurUpdater_VZW
Conversations
FakeBlurXmppApp
Fota
FriendFeed
IMPresence
MessagesWidget
Messaging
MyVerizon
NewsWidget
OnlineAlbum
QuickContactWidget
QuickSms
RichLocationVzW
Setup
SetupProvier
SocialMessaging
SocialShare
StatusWidget
UniversalInbox
Vcast
Vvm
WZWIM
WorkContacts
YahooConctacs
I removed both the apk and odex, to SD, in case I ever need them for other testing, which was very important when I was just figuring this out)
There were looping force closes afterward, I pulled the battery to get the phone to restart.
When it starts, the entire system works without blur.
The only blur feature I like, automatic contact photos from facebook, contacts+ also does.
Depending on the exact phone, there are certainly other Verizon or Motorola apps you can remove, but that covers the things that are part of the can of worms that is blur I have confirmed full functionality without.
If you want to do this, you already know how much nicer things will run without it, I don't have to convince you.
remember
Remember you can use this instead:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1575259
If you don't mind flashing or scripting.
I'll continue seeing what additional blur can be removed from a rooted phone you are already using.
I used to have a huawei ascend p1 phone with gapps preinstalled (good phone). People first complain about its build quality but it that plastic they used on it can withstand many drops without even scratching the phone. I sort of found the gapps annoying because the first time I set it up, it asked me for my physical location and a google account and asked me to store home wifi passwords, contacts, etc in google servers and all that those data stuff google wants from people. I know I can back up my own things so I don't need google to do all these things for me, I tried to disable as much of these features as I could and it was okay for a while until my phone got stolen at a sports center and couldn't find it back despite having installed tracking apps on it.
So I got a new phone, the nexus 4 because it had a booloader that was easy to unlock. I decided to start fresh without all those data sucking features and remove the stock firmware to flash cyanogenmod on it. It was my first time using cyanogenmomd and I gotta say it's wayyy better than the stock firmware in terms of useful features. I really liked it because of all the customizations it offered. As a replacement for google play I installed 1mobile, and fdroid/slideme they worked wonderfully without a google account (I never had one). When I started to install apps from these markets, some apps would work and some would not and some wouldn't even install. I used adb logcat to figure out what was wrong with them and it showed that they required some permissions from the gapps package mainly "com.google.android.maps.xml" and few others. I decided to just copy this file over to the permissions folder on my device and the apps that wouldn't install before installed but most of them would crash easily. Subway sufer was one of my favourite games but it wouldn't work without gapps along with other apps. I figured I had to install gapps and all the data sucking questions and features poped up after I rebooted my phone prior to the installation so I set it up just like previously did on the huawei ascend p1. I noticed that 1modile wouldn't work as smoothly as it did anymore because the searches don't return the official apps. It's like something's been changed in its search algorithm because it when I search for subway surfers it used to return the official game as #1 result but after gapps it dosn't show at all, it just shows tricks, cheats and other apps for the game. The same things goes with other apps I tried to find from it.
To sum everything up, my question would be something like "Is there a way to have all those dependencies apps rely inside cyanogenmod without gapps?".
I am wondering if there is a way to modify the Facebook APK to get contact sync working without modifying ContactProvider.apk as I am using a non rooted phone and don't want to root just for this. In the past I have used HaxSync but with the latest Facebook APIs that no longer works.
Is it simply a case of adding the WRITE_CONTACTS permission to the Facebook APK and if so is that (easily) possible?
Thanks for any help, if there is a better subforum for this type of thing please let me know also, thanks.
I don't believe it is app specific, it's through their servers, if I understand the problem correctly. The only thing I have seen from the apps that used to work is they say the contact has to grant permission to let them sync the info before it will work. This seems like just modding the app will not be enough to help accomplish what you are trying to do.
es0tericcha0s said:
I don't believe it is app specific, it's through their servers, if I understand the problem correctly. The only thing I have seen from the apps that used to work is they say the contact has to grant permission to let them sync the info before it will work. This seems like just modding the app will not be enough to help accomplish what you are trying to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For third party apps, (e.g. HaxSync, UberSync etc.) what you're saying is true. These apps no longer function due to server side changes by Facebook in the form of updated APIs (as I mentioned in the OP).
However I am talking about the official Facebook app. With this app, the contact sync still works perfectly, on ROMs where ContactsProvider.apk is modified to explicitly grant permission to the Facebook app (com.facebook.katana) to write contacts, without the app itself requiring the permission that every other app needs. OEMs such as Samsung modify ContactsProvider.apk in this way so as to allow Facebook to sync (by basically adding an exception to the permission check). There are also flashable mods for custom ROMs, as well as an Xposed module which performs this task. Obviously these require unlocked bootloader & custom recovery, or root & Xposed respectively.
However, I believe that if the app itself is modified to require this permission (i.e. android.permission.WRITE_CONTACTS, it should also work, without requiring an exception in ContactsProvider.apk.
The reason modifying ContactsProvider is "preferred" by most is that doing it that way allows the app to be installed from the Play store and thus maintain auto-updates, whereas if you modify the APK you no longer get auto-updates, and would have to manually update. But that's worth it to me to get contact syncing working.
EDIT: On closer inspection, it may be more complicated than I thought. The Facebook app already has this permission, there must be something else preventing it from functioning. I still believe it is possible to get it working simply by modifying the APK, but it is likely beyond my capabilities.
SifJar said:
I am wondering if there is a way to modify the Facebook APK to get contact sync working without modifying ContactProvider.apk as I am using a non rooted phone and don't want to root just for this. In the past I have used HaxSync but with the latest Facebook APIs that no longer works.
Is it simply a case of adding the WRITE_CONTACTS permission to the Facebook APK and if so is that (easily) possible?
Thanks for any help, if there is a better subforum for this type of thing please let me know also, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually this fiasco started a couple of years ago. When Facebook & Google had a spat over data sharing. Facebook app has the support to sync contacts. But it is not natively supported. It is just a matter of 0 & 1. But OEM like Samsung, HTC have made contract with Facebook individually, so it is supported on those phones.
For syncing, if you are rooted you can use an Xposed module here in XDA. It's something like Xfbmod. And for the apps, Sync.me still works like a charm. I used it just a while ago.
Dexter_S said:
Actually this fiasco started a couple of years ago. When Facebook & Google had a spat over data sharing. Facebook app has the support to sync contacts. But it is not natively supported. It is just a matter of 0 & 1. But OEM like Samsung, HTC have made contract with Facebook individually, so it is supported on those phones.
For syncing, if you are rooted you can use an Xposed module here in XDA. It's something like Xfbmod. And for the apps, Sync.me still works like a charm. I used it just a while ago.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen a few forum posts referencing things along these lines, but I have found absolutely zero concrete evidence of such a "spat". There is nothing in Android to specifically disallow FB syncing, the OEMs that support it have modified the framework to explicitly grant the app permission. For a reference on this, check the CM gerrit issue about this. To quote Steve Klondik (founder of CM) on this:
Yeah, screw Facebook. We should not be hacking up the framework because they won't fix their app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OEMs have decided to make a workaround, for their users benefit. Not because they have some contract, of which I have seen no evidence. The issue is with Facebook's app and their refusal to fix the issue.
As I mentioned in the OP if you bothered to read it, I am not rooted and do not want to be, and am also fully aware of the Xposed module.
As for Sync.ME, I installed it the other day and it asked straight away to upload all my contact data to their servers. It's not my place to put the details of my friends and family in the hands of some company I'm not particularly familiar with.
Tip: Installing Facebook APK version 28 or lower will give you the ability to sync contacts again. Updating to the latest version will still allow you to sync for a limited amount of time until it re-downloads updated configuration files (I think?). So I think the problem is just some config or database file disabling the feature.
ArmsAsuncion said:
Tip: Installing Facebook APK version 28 or lower will give you the ability to sync contacts again. Updating to the latest version will still allow you to sync for a limited amount of time until it re-downloads updated configuration files (I think?). So I think the problem is just some config or database file disabling the feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed version 28 and got no option to sync. Are you on AOSP or some OEM/custom ROM? Version 28 was released long after sync stopped working on the official FB app for myself and many other people.
SifJar said:
I installed version 28 and got no option to sync. Are you on AOSP or some OEM/custom ROM? Version 28 was released long after sync stopped working on the official FB app for myself and many other people.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Samsung Note 4 official rom. Try older ones? Mine doesn't have sync if I use versions above 28. It stopped working for me around October 1st week (Version 49). So when I want to sync, I have a titanuim backup of my version 24 data and just restore it (without restoring app itself). That way I can sync for a few minutes until the menu disappears again.
Edit: read the whole thread and I see that the problem was on other roms only. But nevertheless, Facebook disabled contacts syncing for all phones now since around version 40+. Only way to make it work is to downgrade or the steps I used above.