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Sometimes, you grab an app where you have to question whether it's safe (even from the market).
You can always use Droidwall to block the internet access, but that doesn't mean the app isn't sending out SMS messages or making calls.
What's the best way to monitor apps to determine if they're safe?
I don't know if typical traffic counter apps would work for this type of situation, or if they only catch stuff a user does through the dialer or installed sms app.
You can try Lookout - http://www.mylookout.com I think you'd need the pay version, but you can try it out for 2 weeks and see if it does what you want. I just use the free version for now.
Thanks, but Lookout won't do what I'm looking for. Lookout will only scan for know viruses or trojans. It's not going to find custom coded malicious behavior.
I suppose the best compromise is to find an app that will log all incoming and outgoing SMS messages and calls. The problem is that I haven't found any that log the stealth messages/calls that don't go through the dialer and UI-based sms apps.
Download SystemPanel from the market - it runs in background, but shows you exactly which app uses how much CPU and time. Also plots battery drain/CPU usage etc... essential app! maybe not quite what you are after though......
aussois said:
Download SystemPanel from the market - it runs in background, but shows you exactly which app uses how much CPU and time. Also plots battery drain/CPU usage etc... essential app! maybe not quite what you are after though......
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, but that doesn't really have anything to do with what I need. Thanks, anyway, though.
Haphim said:
Thank you, but that doesn't really have anything to do with what I need. Thanks, anyway, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like you are looking for something like this:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.stericson.permissions&hl=en
xploited said:
Looks like you are looking for something like this:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.stericson.permissions&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good link! But not useful here, for a couple of reasons:
1. As an example, apps may legitimately need to send sms messages. The goal in this case is to make sure they're only sending (or receiving) when they are supposed to - and not trying to sneak any past you.
2. It's a nice idea, but realistically, modifying permissions will break many apps.
The idea is to find out if an app is doing something it shouldn't, which means this is all about monitoring.
Haphim said:
Good link! But not useful here, for a couple of reasons:
1. As an example, apps may legitimately need to send sms messages. The goal in this case is to make sure they're only sending (or receiving) when they are supposed to - and not trying to sneak any past you.
2. It's a nice idea, but realistically, modifying permissions will break many apps.
The idea is to find out if an app is doing something it shouldn't, which means this is all about monitoring.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well how do you suppose a security app is going to know if something is abusing permissions? For example, how does a security app distinguish between a legit sms being sent or non legit sms?
You say that a full monitoring app will fix your concerns. Well a typical phone is running 10+ applications at any given time. Imagine yourself being bombarded by constant notifications: app1 accessed internet, app2 read from SD card, app3 sent sms..... so on so on.... Not only will this get overwhelming in 10 minutes, it will probably drain your battery at a serious rate.
I think the answer to your concern is common sense. There's no reason to monitor 99% of apps. If you really feel some app is suspicious, just block it's permissions.
xploited said:
Well how do you suppose a security app is going to know if something is abusing permissions? For example, how does a security app distinguish between a legit sms being sent or non legit sms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not asking for an automated process. I'm asking for the tools that will help me make the determination myself.
xploited said:
You say that a full monitoring app will fix your concerns. Well a typical phone is running 10+ applications at any given time. Imagine yourself being bombarded by constant notifications: app1 accessed internet, app2 read from SD card, app3 sent sms..... so on so on.... Not only will this get overwhelming in 10 minutes, it will probably drain your battery at a serious rate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never said I wanted notifications. An app that simply logged the info would be fine. I could go in once a day and check to make sure that all calls and sms messages sent and received were legitimate. Once I knew that an app was trustworthy, I could turn the logging off.
xploited said:
I think the answer to your concern is common sense. There's no reason to monitor 99% of apps. If you really feel some app is suspicious, just block it's permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't work if blocking its permissions breaks the app. There are many apps coded by fly by night developers whom you don't know and have no reason to trust. If it's an app that doesn't have permissions to cause harm anyway, then it's no big deal. But if the app has permissions to send and receive sms and calls, you have no way of knowing what it's doing behind your back. I'm looking for an app that will answer that question.
LBE security service monitors when apps access info. U can also deny permission. Its in the market.
**edit** LBE privacy guard
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Sass86 said:
LBE security service monitors when apps access info. U can also deny permission. Its in the market.
**edit** LBE privacy guard
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! At a quick glance, this looks like exactly what I wanted.
I updated to jelly bean last week. It came with talk back. trying everything I can think of, I have come to the conclusion that if anything else in accessibility is on, talk back come on too. I have a pebble watch, an love it. But when either it, or pebble notifier, it light wave is on, then the blasted voice tells me everything I am doing. It's very annoying. I tried stopping talkback with system tuner, which led to even worse problems. (like no touch screen function except with the s-pen.) Does anyone know how to get rid of talk back? Thanks in advance.
chainmaileguy said:
I updated to jelly bean last week. It came with talk back. trying everything I can think of, I have come to the conclusion that if anything else in accessibility is on, talk back come on too. I have a pebble watch, an love it. But when either it, or pebble notifier, it light wave is on, then the blasted voice tells me everything I am doing. It's very annoying. I tried stopping talkback with system tuner, which led to even worse problems. (like no touch screen function except with the s-pen.) Does anyone know how to get rid of talk back? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root your phone, download an app for deleting system apps. delete it.
You can find how to root your phone in the development forums. Make sure you do it for the correct version of andriod ie:4.1.2
chainmaileguy said:
I updated to jelly bean last week. It came with talk back. trying everything I can think of, I have come to the conclusion that if anything else in accessibility is on, talk back come on too. I have a pebble watch, an love it. But when either it, or pebble notifier, it light wave is on, then the blasted voice tells me everything I am doing. It's very annoying. I tried stopping talkback with system tuner, which led to even worse problems. (like no touch screen function except with the s-pen.) Does anyone know how to get rid of talk back? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disable it in settings/application manager/all applications. Find talkback and select uninstall updates. After updates are uninstalled go back into talkback from application manager, select force stop, then disable.
Right! Never delete a system app until you have disabled it or froze it with TiBU, then tested your phone fir a day or so. You never know how or what those apps are connected to.
chainmaileguy said:
I updated to jelly bean last week. It came with talk back. trying everything I can think of, I have come to the conclusion that if anything else in accessibility is on, talk back come on too. I have a pebble watch, an love it. But when either it, or pebble notifier, it light wave is on, then the blasted voice tells me everything I am doing. It's very annoying. I tried stopping talkback with system tuner, which led to even worse problems. (like no touch screen function except with the s-pen.) Does anyone know how to get rid of talk back? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings/accessibility/talkback/turn off or configure options from there.
rangercaptain said:
Right! Never delete a system app until you have disabled it or froze it with TiBU, then tested your phone fir a day or so. You never know how or what those apps are connected to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True. Thats why I tried to disable it. And google text to speech. And Samsung text to speech. Each one stops it for a while. Then it comes back on even though it shows it is disabled. Its enough to make you start pulling out your hair.
If it says it is off then you are experiencing something else. What speech are you getting?
Agoattamer said:
If it says it is off then you are experiencing something else. What speech are you getting?
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Click to collapse
Whenever I turn a page. Which page of apps or widgets I am on.ect. I disabled all three. Then powered down the pbone. When it came back up, it has the talkback hand up I the top bar. Says it is on. Yet it doesn't even show up in settings/accasabilities menu. I'm stumped.
chainmaileguy said:
Whenever I turn a page. Which page of apps or widgets I am on.ect. I disabled all three. Then powered down the pbone. When it came back up, it has the talkback hand up I the top bar. Says it is on. Yet it doesn't even show up in settings/accasabilities menu. I'm stumped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me the issue was being caused by that fact that I have NoLED turned on in Accessibility. And it's a known issue with the developer of NoLED because he has a FAQ item about it. The best I've been able to do is get the talkback completely silent by disabling Talkback, Google Text to Speech and Samsung TTS. NoLED still works, and the nagging voice is gone, the only unwanted artifact is the HAND icon of Talkback that continues to show up in the Notification bar even though it's not running. I can live with that way easier than hearing that silly voice telling me everything I was doing.
For what it's worth I think the guides provided concerning rooting and rom upgrades for this phone are not as explicit or clearly written as they could be. Kudos to those who took time to do and provide what's there, and I realize that they've most likely moved on to newer devices, but even though I've rooted most of my devices in the past and am not a complete noob I did not feel comfortable using the provided instructions on this device. I haven't bricked a device yet, and don't want to start with this one.
Well, I'm not running no led. Whenever any of the services I use are active (pebble, or pepple notifier) are activated, talkback is activated. Like you, I have rpoted every device up to this one. Not really scared of bricking it. Just not sure a new rom would help. Contacted samsung, and was told it was a hardware problem. Like I'm an idiot. Obviously its in the software. Just not sure if it is samsung specific. Guess I'll just keep bumbling along with this work around.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Tref said:
... the only unwanted artifact is the HAND icon of Talkback that continues to show up in the Notification bar even though it's not running ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI. You can get rid of the Talkback icon after each reboot by opening the notification bar, touch and hold Talkback, pick App Info, this will open into Settings App Info (for some reason), pick force stop and then the icon is gone until the next reboot.
holmanm said:
FYI. You can get rid of the Talkback icon after each reboot by opening the notification bar, touch and hold Talkback, pick App Info, this will open into Settings App Info (for some reason), pick force stop and then the icon is gone until the next reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. However, every time I have force stoped it, my touch screen will only work with the stylus. Touch input goes dead. And sometimes the touch alignment goes so that when you touch in one place, it refesters somewhere else. Guess I'll just live with the hand.
holmanm said:
FYI. You can get rid of the Talkback icon after each reboot by opening the notification bar, touch and hold Talkback, pick App Info, this will open into Settings App Info (for some reason), pick force stop and then the icon is gone until the next reboot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
chainmaileguy said:
Thanks. However, every time I have force stoped it, my touch screen will only work with the stylus. Touch input goes dead. And sometimes the touch alignment goes so that when you touch in one place, it refesters somewhere else. Guess I'll just live with the hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This whole Talkback feature appears to be filled with issues. I think I'll live with the hand (and not talk to it, lol), rather than risk more complications and further issue. So far I like Jellybean, but I hope that the next version of Android on Samsung devices fixes these issues.
As an aside, another thing that took me by surprise was the use of a new mountpoint for the external SD card. It took me a bit to figure out why /sdcard/external_sd was empty of files, but Music and other apps were able to see the data I had on the card. It's been awhile since my days as a UNIX SA and it dawned on me, literally in the middle of the night that perhaps the OS was using a different mountpoint. I was very relieved to find it under /storage/extSdCard and that my data was both there and able to be used.
chainmaileguy said:
Thanks. However, every time I have force stoped it, my touch screen will only work with the stylus. Touch input goes dead. And sometimes the touch alignment goes so that when you touch in one place, it refesters somewhere else. Guess I'll just live with the hand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you uninstall TalkBack (using something like Titanium BackUp) and not just disable it? If so, when you pick App Info from the Talkback notification does it open up the "Settings Version 4.1.2-I717UCMD3" app? If not It might be that we have different apps installed causing a different app to come up. If this is the case, would you mind trying going into Settings, Application Manager, All, Settings (the one with "Version 4.1.2-I717UCMD3", I have 2 Settings apps) and force stop that and see if that works.
I never uninstalled talkback. Since i haven't bothered rooting. forced stop defiantly gave me headaches, so I settled for stopping the text to speech of google and samsung. Running android 4.1.2. Ive seen on other posts where this is a samsung issue, and hopefully they are working on it. Looks like we have the same versions. Baseband i717ucmd3 with android version 4.1.2 \. Build # JZO54k.i717ucmd3. Force stopping just screws up my touchscreen, so I'll leave it enabled for now. Maybe Samsung will fix it, but I won't be holding my breath....
rangercaptain said:
Right! Never delete a system app until you have disabled it or froze it with TiBU, then tested your phone fir a day or so. You never know how or what those apps are connected to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
<<<<<<Well unless you know what your doing <<<<
I run my ROMs tight and bare minimum
™
Did you mean 'you're' ?
Don't quote, reply. If you quote, edit.
Yup
™
I too have a Pebble, and have had the issue with talkback showing up on every reboot. I had seen that it was a Samsung issue, so all I do is get rid of it on reboots. Just turn your Pebble Notifier, or I think any other accessibility app, off then back on. This will get rid of the hand, and thus far I have not had it talk to me at all. But I am running Padawan currently, so YMMV. To turn things off and on, just select the talkback notification from the bar to get into accessibility settings.
I ended up rooting for a couple of reasons. I had already frozen Google Text to Speech, Samsung Text to Speech, or whatever it's called, and the Talkback app but still had the hand. After rooting I was able to tap on Talkback in the pull down notification screen and turn off notifications of it. Strange that is was still there, but it worked and the hand hasn't been back.
I recently noticed that every once in a while, seems like every hour or so that my s4 will vibrate once, and only once with absolutely no indication of why, no sort of notification, and I am losing my mind trying to figure out what is causing it. I have gone through a bunch of apps and disabled any kind of notification, uninstalled lots of apps and yet, it still happens. Does this happen to anyone else and or does someone know why? I am on mdk. Thanks.
Bump. No one has run into this..? Googling the issue has been useless.
RojoNinja said:
I recently noticed that every once in a while, seems like every hour or so that my s4 will vibrate once, and only once with absolutely no indication of why, no sort of notification, and I am losing my mind trying to figure out what is causing it. I have gone through a bunch of apps and disabled any kind of notification, uninstalled lots of apps and yet, it still happens. Does this happen to anyone else and or does someone know why? I am on mdk. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it happen only when you pick up the phone? If so, this is an optional feature that indicates you have unread messages. That's about the only thing I can think of.
this also has been happening to me. i started noticing this at night
Spookymonster said:
Does it happen only when you pick up the phone? If so, this is an optional feature that indicates you have unread messages. That's about the only thing I can think of.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it can happen when it is in my pocket off, or when I am using it even.
Bmup. Still happens, tried using notification history app, and that showed nothing when the phone vibrated.
Bump. I've experienced this randomly myself.
I've noticed that if I have emails in gmail that I didn't check like" promotions" as the sperate it then mine does that. Might zero you in on a target.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
i had the same issue. in my case it was vibrating everytime i got a new email on the outlook.com app. even though i turned off all notification for that app it still vibrates.
I checked those other things already and it was still doing it. Though I believe I just figured it out in my case. Handcent privacy box. It had sent message notification in the status bar disabled and yet, it was set to vibrate every time, so that made it vibrate shortly after sending a text without any sort of notification. Hopefully that's the only reason for me.
random vibrations well
I've been noticing this too as of recent. While not in use, it tends to sit on my desk next to me. There is no set time, notification, or anything I can see triggering these vibrations. Really bugs the heck out of me.
Well I feel comfort in that I am not the only one it is happening to, and apparently the handcent thing didn't fix it, it just now vibrated for no reason. I'm completely stumped ugh.
RojoNinja said:
Well I feel comfort in that I am not the only one it is happening to, and apparently the handcent thing didn't fix it, it just now vibrated for no reason. I'm completely stumped ugh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would backup all of your 3rd party apps, uninstall them, then see if it's still happening. Then if it's not doing it just restore one by one until you find the culprit.
Crawshayi said:
I would backup all of your 3rd party apps, uninstall them, then see if it's still happening. Then if it's not doing it just restore one by one until you find the culprit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah its a good idea, but it would take ages to execute. Since the vibration happens randomly I would have to have the phone on my person at all times and if it happens just once in a day then I'd be restoring a single app at a time
RojoNinja said:
Yeah its a good idea, but it would take ages to execute. Since the vibration happens randomly I would have to have the phone on my person at all times and if it happens just once in a day then I'd be restoring a single app at a time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What might be faster would be just to freeze the apps with TiBu, then it would only take a second to restore them. It might take a few days to track down, but it'll save you the hassle of having to deal with it long term
mrules45 said:
i had the same issue. in my case it was vibrating everytime i got a new email on the outlook.com app. even though i turned off all notification for that app it still vibrates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the culprit for me too. It's very very annoying. I have notifications turned off within outlook.com but it still vibrates when I get a new email. It must have been one of their updates that broke this because it never used to.
philhouse said:
That's the culprit for me too. It's very very annoying. I have notifications turned off within outlook.com but it still vibrates when I get a new email. It must have been one of their updates that broke this because it never used to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The solution to that would be to go into app info for outlook.com and disable all notifications.
mrules45 said:
The solution to that would be to go into app info for outlook.com and disable all notifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've done that. It doesn't stop :thumbdown:
Hmm, that is very strange. For me, if the vibration is disabled within the app, and all notifications are disabled app settings, then i get no more vibration. Did you try reinstalling outlook and or rebooting?
mrules45 said:
Hmm, that is very strange. For me, if the vibration is disabled within the app, and all notifications are disabled app settings, then i get no more vibration. Did you try reinstalling outlook and or rebooting?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'll try reinstalling outlook.com. Sort of a hassle but worth it if it stops the buzzing!
So I'm running Barin (2.3), which I love. I do have a quick question and I'm not sure if this is normal or not but when someone leaves me a voicemail I get no icon for it. I have to call myself after someone calls to see if they left a message, there's no notification for it. Is this a normal thing with ROMs? Or can I download something to get my voicemail icon back? It's not a big deal if I can't, I would just like to know when someone leaves me a message, I'm a bit new to ROMs, so this may be a normal thing, just wanted to ask.
Thanks for any help on this.
jbrow314 said:
So I'm running Barin (2.3), which I love. I do have a quick question and I'm not sure if this is normal or not but when someone leaves me a voicemail I get no icon for it. I have to call myself after someone calls to see if they left a message, there's no notification for it. Is this a normal thing with ROMs? Or can I download something to get my voicemail icon back? It's not a big deal if I can't, I would just like to know when someone leaves me a message, I'm a bit new to ROMs, so this may be a normal thing, just wanted to ask.
Thanks for any help on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did it work right before the update?
It's never been the same for me since they added that avatar crap.
I usually have to manually go into the app to get my voicemail. I usually disable most of the stuff in it, maybe that's why?
Maybe adjust your settings and see what happens.
I don't think it's the ROM. I THINK it's the app. $2.99 a month and you can have this free service. Lol
Have yall tried youmail? Works better than stock, can customize greetings per person. Bypasses your carrier voicemail. Notifications work very well.
sent from my LG G3
I'm still on 2.2, but VM notification is working fine for me.
Yea I got it working, for some unknown reason it wasn't set up even through I did it when I first installed Barin, probably just a Sprint voicemail glitch. Oh well, it's working now, that's all that matters.
Thanks for the help.
Hi there! I'm having some doubts about the phone, switching between apps forces app refresh, even if I switch only for a couple of seconds. If I was filling up a form and had to check something in another app (let's say a bank app), everything I completed resets itself. If I was using a browser, leave it for a couple of seconds, come back, it refreshes the website (spending data and time). Any way to make it better? A really fast phone but this is bothering me.
Here is a video I recorded to show what I mean.
https://youtu.be/b_wrBgJrS4M
Tried limiting 4 background process as someone suggested me but it didn't change behavior.
Thanks!
McMacri said:
Hi there! I'm having some doubts about the phone, switching between apps forces app refresh, even if I switch only for a couple of seconds. If I was filling up a form and had to check something in another app (let's say a bank app), everything I completed resets itself. If I was using a browser, leave it for a couple of seconds, come back, it refreshes the website (spending data and time). Any way to make it better? A really fast phone but this is bothering me.
Here is a video I recorded to show what I mean.
https://youtu.be/b_wrBgJrS4M
Tried limiting 4 background process as someone suggested me but it didn't change behavior.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should add wanted application to App protection (actually you have to remove them from the list of "killable" applications, they will appear in Disabled auto cleaning part).
You will find those settings in Phone Manager > Power saving management > App protection.
If you want all applications to be kept you should disable Ultra-long standby during sleep.
Let me know if it has worked.
xavihernandez said:
I think you should add wanted application to App protection (actually you have to remove them from the list of "killable" applications, they will appear in Disabled auto cleaning part).
You will find those settings in Phone Manager > Power saving management > App protection.
If you want all applications to be kept you should disable Ultra-long standby during sleep.
Let me know if it has worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yessssss! That did it, you are a god among men!
All the browsers keep refreshing when I get back to them, do you have any tip for that? I know its something they just do, but perhaps you know
McMacri said:
Yessssss! That did it, you are a god among men!
All the browsers keep refreshing when I get back to them, do you have any tip for that? I know its something they just do, but perhaps you know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing more sorry, thought that adding borwsers to "don't kill" list would stop theses refresh. Maybe it's the way your browsers are designed. Try others to compare.
I tried a couple of browsers, opera, chrome, dolphin, they all do the same, the only that kind of works are the bubble type browsers but I don't find them stable enough. Oh well, if you think of something let me know, for now I'm grateful you could help me the way you did.
McMacri said:
I tried a couple of browsers, opera, chrome, dolphin, they all do the same, the only that kind of works are the bubble type browsers but I don't find them stable enough. Oh well, if you think of something let me know, for now I'm grateful you could help me the way you did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well really weird
Btw just an update, I installed the USA .16s version and its a really nice improvement over the Chinese .14 that I had, now I can see my phone using the ram as intended, the old rom always had 1 - 1.6gb free and cleaning the memory all the time.