Does anyone know how to stop apps and services from starting up automatically when you boot the phone?
I like to install lots of Apps to try them out, but a lot of these apps start processes with the phone and run in the background. I don't know if they're necessarily using many resources but I don't see why puzzles, games and other apps need to be starting with the phone and running all the time.
I know there's a paid app in the market, but I don't have a credit card and anyway there MUST be an easy way to stop these things from starting with boot, either a file to edit or some commands.
A task-killer isn't what I'm looking for here as I don't think that's a good idea with android, I think it slows the OS and causes instability, and anyway they just come back on next boot. I've searched for this but can't find an answer.
Anyone have any ideas?
I wonder the same.
Nobody is able to give an answer ?
+1 on that. It is quite annoying.
spamianspoon said:
I know there's a paid app in the market, but I don't have a credit card and anyway there MUST be an easy way to stop these things from starting with boot, either a file to edit or some commands.
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No, there is no "easy" way of doing it because of the way that Android handles these things. Essentially, the applications register a receiver which acts on the android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED broadcast action, rather than being explicitly called by the OS.
The app in the Market, autostarts (see http://elsdoerfer.name/=android-autostarts) presumably either amends the apps permission so that it no longer has the rights to receive this message (no idea if this is actually possible), or it is autokilling the task as it starts.
Of course, without a credit card, you are SOL as there do not appear to be any free alternatives.
Regards,
Dave
Nice
The android next step is to start all app found in the market and after boot to shut down manually witch is not installed.
I've installed tons of apps on my Nexus One (naturally) and am really annoyed to find many of them position themselves in the 'Share' menu on my gallery. There's no way (that I can see) to reorganize or limit this, either.
I typically either use Pixelpipe or Twidroyd to upload from there - I'd like to be able to either
A. pick and choose what does and doesn't show up in this list
OR
B. reorder it so the ones I want to use are closer to the bottom bar.
Currently, Pixelpipe *and* Twidroyd are at the top of the list. This isn't a big deal in portrait mode, but in landscape mode, they're cut off and I can't scroll up to get to them.
I would like such a mod as well!
Not being able to edit it was the main reason I uninstalled twidroid. Cuz I saw no sense why, when in twidroid, twidroid would be the first option under 'share'. That really annoyed me. I mean why whould I need to share a tweet via the 'share' menu in twidroid?
Now...quite happily using twicca which doesn't force itself as the first app under the 'share' settings.
just put a .nomedia file in the folder that has the pics you dont want in the gallery
BloodyWasHere said:
just put a .nomedia file in the folder that has the pics you dont want in the gallery
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Click to collapse
You didn't get the request.
When you open a photo in the gallery app, click on 'More', and then click on 'Share', there are a TON of apps in there, most of which I don't want to use from that menu. The main one that I want to use is Pixelpipe. However, it shows up in the top of this list. That's fine in portrait mode, but the top of the list is cut-off in landscape mode, which is a hassle. I'd like to be able to either reorganize this list or remove some apps from it at my discretion, so that it's not littered with options I'm not going to use.
one way to modify the app's manifest xml and remove the broadcast receiver or other related lines.
in for this...
Billy
I like the fact that the OS allows this type of integration. It's awesome, but an option should be in settings to turn it on or off for each app.
britoso said:
one way to modify the app's manifest xml and remove the broadcast receiver or other related lines.
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Click to collapse
So I'd need to do that for every app that appears in the list?
the orange bandit said:
So I'd need to do that for every app that appears in the list?
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Click to collapse
That's correct. The applications declare in their manifest.xml to which Intents they can respond. They only way to have an application no longer appear in a Share menu item is to have it no longer handle the Intent that is going to be passed, and the only way to do that is to modify the application's manifest.xml.
rpcameron said:
That's correct. The applications declare in their manifest.xml to which Intents they can respond. They only way to have an application no longer appear in a Share menu item is to have it no longer handle the Intent that is going to be passed, and the only way to do that is to modify the application's manifest.xml.
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Click to collapse
Would I have to do this again whenever the app is updated, too?
Also, given that I have root, is there any way to set this up as an app somehow? I could launch the app, which would consist of a checklist of the apps that I have installed on my phone (which was compared against a master list somewhere of apps that declare this intent). I could then simply uncheck the ones that I want removed, and the app would automatically remove the declaration from each app's manifest? Or perhaps a way to monitor the Intent, see which apps are declaring that intent, and then populate the checklist like that?
This has been bugging me for the longest time, it would be great to be able to disable Facebook, Picasa and crap like that which I never use.
the orange bandit said:
Would I have to do this again whenever the app is updated, too?
Also, given that I have root, is there any way to set this up as an app somehow? I could launch the app, which would consist of a checklist of the apps that I have installed on my phone (which was compared against a master list somewhere of apps that declare this intent). I could then simply uncheck the ones that I want removed, and the app would automatically remove the declaration from each app's manifest? Or perhaps a way to monitor the Intent, see which apps are declaring that intent, and then populate the checklist like that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You would need to have root access to modify the APKs of protected and system apps. If you updated the application, it's manifest.xml would have to be changed again, too. I'm not completely certain that if you did this to Market apps if they would be updatable because of signing issues; you could do an adb pull, modify the manifest.xml, then adb push the file back, but if it's modified, I'm not sure that the Package Installer would allow the installation because of the signature.
As far as an application to automate this, I'm not sure if the permissions system on Android allows modification of another app's APK. In theory, the application would scan every APK, examine the manifest.xml of each one, and make a list of which apps respond to which Intents. It could then selectively modify the APKs (and possibly re-zipalign), but I'd rather have a slightly over-populated Share menu than deal with the hassles of broken Market application updates because my installed apps are no longer properly signed.
rpcameron said:
...I'd rather have a slightly over-populated Share menu than deal with the hassles of broken Market application updates because my installed apps are no longer properly signed.
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Unfortunately, I think I agree with this.
Perhaps it would be easier to figure out a way to re-organize this list so that the apps that I'm actually going to use show up at the bottom (closer to the toolbar) instead of the top? Hypothetically, this would only involve finding the code that populates this list and changing 'descending' to 'ascending', right?
Rather than modifying the apps, wouldn't it be easier to have an exceptions list that the Share menu just ignores? I know that's not a very technical explanation, but what I'm trying to say is a more centralized solution where you cut out programs regardless of whether or not they have made themselves available for the Share menu.
Would be nice to edit this. If i remember correctly, during the Donut days, Cyanogen was experimenting with adding bluetooth share to the gallery app. In his code, he made an error that resulted in the "share" menu to be empty if if bluetooth is turned off. Meaning, Picasa, email, twidryod and everything else won't be there if bluetooth is turned off.
So this means that there was a way to make things disappear from the list.
str4vag said:
Would be nice to edit this. If i remember correctly, during the Donut days, Cyanogen was experimenting with adding bluetooth share to the gallery app. In his code, he made an error that resulted in the "share" menu to be empty if if bluetooth is turned off. Meaning, Picasa, email, twidryod and everything else won't be there if bluetooth is turned off.
So this means that there was a way to make things disappear from the list.
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Interesting - I'll have to see if I can find out how.
Unfortunately, I couldn't code my way out of a paper sack, so at some point I'm going to have to find someone to actually *do* this for us.
I would love this feature too. I currently have so many choices, I can't even see Pixelpipe on the list. I don't need to send photos to Google Googles.
I appreciate the option to, but I'd love to turn it off by app.
I've checked allow unknown sources and it will even pull up the install screen but I can not click on install it doesn't do anything. Just allows me to hit cancel and that's it.
Any ideas?
some problem happen to your app
I have this same issue.. I cant install apps from Amazon..or sideload apps...and my Unknown Sources is checked as well. Most people seem to fix it by disabling ScreenFilter. I guess its an app that has something to do with the screen brightness. So if you have any app that mess with the screen brightness, disable that first and see if it works
I dont have this app installed so I am at a loss as well. I went thru all my apps to see if I have anything that might create and overlay and I didnt see anything on my device that would prevent it..
Found out the app that was doing it for me..it was Soft Buttons Light..and app on the Market that allows the capacitive keys to stay lit!! I uninstalled this, and was able to install things again. In the permissions it said "Allows the app to draw on top of other applications or parts of the user interface. They may interfere with your use of the interface in any application, or change what you think you are seeing in other applications."..Your best bet is to look thru all your apps, and find out which ones have the permission for system wide alerts..and disable those!
Tower1972 said:
I have this same issue.. I cant install apps from Amazon..or sideload apps...and my Unknown Sources is checked as well. Most people seem to fix it by disabling ScreenFilter. I guess its an app that has something to do with the screen brightness. So if you have any app that mess with the screen brightness, disable that first and see if it works
I dont have this app installed so I am at a loss as well. I went thru all my apps to see if I have anything that might create and overlay and I didnt see anything on my device that would prevent it..
Found out the app that was doing it for me..it was Soft Buttons Light..and app on the Market that allows the capacitive keys to stay lit!! I uninstalled this, and was able to install things again. In the permissions it said "Allows the app to draw on top of other applications or parts of the user interface. They may interfere with your use of the interface in any application, or change what you think you are seeing in other applications."..Your best bet is to look thru all your apps, and find out which ones have the permission for system wide alerts..and disable those!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ill check that out.
Probably just try to factory reset.
thank you!
Tower1972 said:
I have this same issue.. I cant install apps from Amazon..or sideload apps...and my Unknown Sources is checked as well. Most people seem to fix it by disabling ScreenFilter. I guess its an app that has something to do with the screen brightness. So if you have any app that mess with the screen brightness, disable that first and see if it works
I dont have this app installed so I am at a loss as well. I went thru all my apps to see if I have anything that might create and overlay and I didnt see anything on my device that would prevent it..
Found out the app that was doing it for me..it was Soft Buttons Light..and app on the Market that allows the capacitive keys to stay lit!! I uninstalled this, and was able to install things again. In the permissions it said "Allows the app to draw on top of other applications or parts of the user interface. They may interfere with your use of the interface in any application, or change what you think you are seeing in other applications."..Your best bet is to look thru all your apps, and find out which ones have the permission for system wide alerts..and disable those!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha it was exactly what you said. It was soft buttions light that was messing that up.
THank you again.
Anytime..glad to help..Strange thing is..even thought I uninstalled this app,,,I still have the (somewhat) working functionality..without the app even being there..Sweet!!! Oh and its no longer affecting my installs..Win/Win
I'm always very careful about what apps I install and their permissions, but I got this doubt for a long time. I already know what some Android permissions do and which of these are potentially dangerous.
Now let's assume an app asks for permissions to read my contacts, access the internet, read the identity of the phone, read the user position, etc.
When I use an app (mostly games) I always turn off wifi, bluetooth, gps and sometimes even the sim via airplane-mode. Now that app can easily collect all the data it wants but would never be able to send them. Am I correct?
My doubt is, when apps can send data? Is it only when the app is effectively running (also in background) or can do the same while, for example, updating the app via Google Play?
If it doesn't, I would probably download most of the apps I discarded because of their stupid permissions...
App permissions are always headache!
apps will always ask for various stupid permissions.even though they not require such permissions.
I think,,
how the apps collect and send data is upto the developer!!
Even though you put ur phone in AirPlane mode.the apps may or may not collect the contacts details frm your phone & may update to their server when data connection is detected..
Some applications will run in background as a seevice, even though they are not opened or running in foreground.
when u install an app you must be aware of the permissions granted.dont install apps that requires suspicious permissions.
if u are rooted there are some apps which can block permissions requisted by apps.
good luck....
motoshan said:
if u are rooted there are some apps which can block permissions requisted by apps.
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Click to collapse
I already heard of such apps but never found one. Could you please tell me some of them?
Thanks for the answer, anyway it really sounds like "I don't know and we'll never know"... it's sad
Is there anybody really sure about what the apps can do and give a nice rest to my neverending question?
Yes.. I already mentioned.
the permission requirements by the app can be explained only by the developer of that particular app.
I had developed an app myself 9 months before.which requires gps location along with hardware control permission etc...
as a developer of this app I can steadly says that my app will update ur device location soon after u switch on ur data conn.
you can find some apps and their reviews here... http://www.howtogeek.com/115888/
Oh, so my hopes are totally crushed.
Looks like they are more problematic than I imagined. I'll keep skipping 90% of the apps on the market.
Thanks a lot for that link!
Edit: I'd add, Jesus Christ, how funny to see that on Android spyware is legalised:
"Angry Birds Space – along with many other apps – has permission to view the device’s serial number and monitor the phone numbers you call."
A few weeks ago, my banks decided to introduce a "pushTAN" option for their online banking interfaces where you have to install an app on your phone - both use the same one, developed by some software company - and TANs are then sent to the phone as a push notification. Sounds nice, but the app obviously wants to "protect" me and closes every time I launch it because it detected "suspicious screen reading activity" - of course, because I got the great AutoInput and AutoVoice Tasker plugins installed which need to be granted screen reading permissions in the accessibility settings.
This is bad because I really need to use the pushTAN apps (one bank only has the old-fashioned TAN list which I want to get rid of and the other one decided to charge money for their smsTAN option) and I don't want to be required to change the permissions every time I need to receive a TAN on the phone.
My question: Is there a way to hide screen reading rights (and maybe root because I think about rooting my phone and I'm pretty sure the app will detect that, too) from a specific app?
Or is it possible to set up a Tasker action which toggles the rights when I launch the app and toggles them back when I quit it?
Does anybody have an advice for me?
I would be interested, too.