Maybe what I'm looking for doesn't exist or maybe it does, I don't know.
I've been on the hunt for a decent app that is like a tech's "dream come true" when it comes to Wifi tools and functionality. I'm not an IT professional or anything, but looking for more than an average "oh look, here's a wifi network" app.
A few apps that I've come across and tried...
Wifi Analyzer
Two of the things I like most about it - the AP list and the signal meter. It also lets me grab a snapshot so I can look at it later.
Wi-Fi Analytics (amped|wireless)
The ap list (WiFi Scanner as it's referred to) is nice but cluttered. Between Wifi Analyzer and this, I'd say both are somewhat the same, though I think Analyzer is better.
Fing
Still playing with it, though it doesn't seem to offer much (unless making an account gives more functions).
Wolf WiFi Pro
Only having used the demo, maybe it has what I'm looking for. The demo alone, though, was a let down.
Of the different apps I've tried (listed or not), some offer similar features such as detecting how many networks are using the same channels, graphs to show signals, etc. That's nice, but seems common enough that it's tossed in there just to say it's a feature, as opposed to being a provided tool in addition to something that other apps don't offer.
What I'm looking for is more or less this... An app that will provide a compact listing of found networks. Constant scanning or manual scanning. Option to log details about the results (date, time, gps location). Function to use found results to generate a 'map' of found networks and if the same network is found in multiple logs, use the different locations to try to form a better fix on where that network is originating from. Once a network is detected, optionally be able to keep a record of it even if it's not being picked up anymore (along with date/time of first finding and date/time and gps location of strongest signal). When viewing the list of found WLAN's, tapping on one won't prompt to connect to it, but instead bring up a page of tools. Miniature signal meter (like Wifi Analyzer does it, rather nice), button to click to connect, button to add notes about the discovered AP, along with information such as security, mac ID (which most seem to provide) and anything else that is possible to show. I dare say, ability to detect what devices (computers or otherwise) are attempting to connect (or are connected) to the AP as well (useful if I want to see if someone is somehow connecting to my network even if it's not showing up in any logs).
Is there anything even remotely close to what I'm describing? Are there any recommend Wifi tool like apps that I just haven't come across yet? When looking on Google's Play store, most of the apps seem to be like practice apps that more or less do the same thing as using the built in Wifi connection manager.
Using a T989 with Jellybean (rooted, stock OS or whatever).
You might find something here that is describing your needs. But what your describing my be a little too advanced for android.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2170460
Don't forget to hit the thanks button
eugeneeaster18 said:
You might find something here that is describing your needs. But what your describing my be a little too advanced for android.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2170460
Don't forget to hit the thanks button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, but already saw that topic. I read that and a couple of others before making this one in case what I was asking for was more or less already answered. What I'm describing may sound complex but I'm sure it's really just a matter of designing it to act in certain ways vs the "easy route." ie, it's easy to make it so tapping on a found network will ask if you want to join the network. Heck, if that's what I wanted, then I could just use the built in manager. Using one of the tools, I did discover that the wireless I'm running was on the same channel as a couple of others nearby. So I changed the routers two use a couple of different channels that were showing as empty.
Just comes down to wanting the best from each app that happens to have a good feature or two and packing it all together in one solid app.
Related
What's the best WiFi interenet sharing solution? WalkingHotSpot, WiFiRouter,
JoikuSpot, ICSControl, Internet Sharing, or Tethering, etc. Is there another option? What's the advantages and dissadvantages of each?
What I would really like is to have a solution that allows me to configure how many people can connect and/or some kind of security, WEP, or anything at all. Is that possible?
I tried using the Internet Sharing Utility but I would keep getting a Verizon sceen saying I needed to sign up for a different service. I tried both WalkingHotSpot and WiFiRouter. WifiRouter seemed to keep my WiFi on all the time and allowed unlimited people to connect with no security, and WalkingHotSpot I couldn't get working for some reason, but it didn't look like you could set up any security with that either. Thanks for the help and time..
WMWifirouter does have WEP security that you can configure, and you can kick unknown IPs if you wish. There is a known bug regarding the WiFi always being on, but if you want to kill it you just go to your comm manager and click on the WiFi button. I know that's a bit of a hassle but it is a workaround. I havent used the WalkingHotSpot program but I can't imagine it's much better than WMWifirouter, which has many config settings to customize.
How do you configure the WEP Security? Is it a setting in the software itself? I don't remember any settings in it that allowed you to configure for WEP or to kick off IPs. What's the latest free version? Maybe I have an older version. I uninstalled it because it seemed to be turned on all the time and I couldn't prevent anyone from using it and I tested to see how long it went and it went about 6 houses down the street from my house. I thought it would only go like 10 feet or so, but it must be at least 300-400 feet. That's pretty crazy. Thanks!
fvultee said:
WMWifirouter does have WEP security that you can configure, and you can kick unknown IPs if you wish. There is a known bug regarding the WiFi always being on, but if you want to kill it you just go to your comm manager and click on the WiFi button. I know that's a bit of a hassle but it is a workaround. I havent used the WalkingHotSpot program but I can't imagine it's much better than WMWifirouter, which has many config settings to customize.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I take it back. WMWifirouter just crapped out on me, so I can't even test it. I am trying walkinghotspot right now. It does support very basic WEP as well, but the interface isn't as smooth as WMWifirouter. It does appear to work, however it crashed on me about about 2 minutes. It did continue to work through the crash, however I was not able to get back into the app until I did the soft reset.
The ad revenue from this app has passed the $25 mark -- what it cost me to register with Google to put the app in the market. As promised, any revenue the app earns from that point forward will be added to my annual donation to the Baypath Humane Society of Hopkinton, Massachusetts -- a no-kill shelter.
Thanks from me and thanks from the kittens and puppies.
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I've written a widget to establish a PAN connection between the Nook a phone. It grabs the first networking-capable device it finds in the list of pairings. A couple of things to note:
There is an application. All it will do is show you what device, if any, it can connect to. It has to turn on Bluetooth to get the list, but it will politely ask you before doing so.
The widget will turn on Bluetooth, but it isn't so polite. For the life of me, I can't find a code snippet nor can I think of one that will start the polite activity (or any activity) from a widget that doesn't directly involve a button press. If anyone has such a snippet, I'd love to see it. I know its possible because the Bluetooth GPS widget does it. Fixed!
The widget, of course, requires root.
I do send a Toast when the process is complete, but toast from my widget isn't reliable. I need to figure that out, too... advice is welcome. Fixed!
Still to do: Monitor the connection and reflect the status in the widget. Fixed!
If nothing else, it's prettier than a GSCript script. Once it's stable and complete, I'll stick it in the marketplace.
Note... You must be running CM7 and you must have already paired the phone before you can use this....
Apr-13: New version with better Bluetooth device state management.
Apr-17: Added connection monitoring, polite Bluetooth enabling
Note: The pop-up to grant superuser access is asynchronous, so there may be a timing window on first use where state is not correctly monitored. I'll try to work that out, but in the meantime, all subsequent uses should work.
The icon will display a yellow LED during the connection process and a green one once the connection is going.
If a connection could not be established, the LED may go briefly green, then turn off. The challenge is that the only way I can monitor the connection is with "pand -l" or "ifconfig bnep0" and if the connection is gone, the attempt to read the result from those commands simply hangs. So, I start a thread and then periodically run "pand -l". A different thread monitors the first and, if it looks stuck, I kill the process and turn off the LED. But, until I can be sure it's really stuck and not just taking time to answer, the LED will be green. Fixed!
Obviously, once the connection is broken, the LED will go off.
Since I have the LED, I've taken out most of the toast, though some still comes from the OS.
Apr-19 Fixed the widget graphics so the LED turns off instead of disappearing. Fixed the green-before-failed connection status issue. Added a proper toggle -- if the connection is off, tapping the widget turns it on and if the connection is on, tapping the widget turns it off.
Apr-20 The official version is now in the Market:
https://market.android.com/details?id=earlmagnus.nctether
May-27 Fixed a null pointer issue discovered by Ophbalance
As always, feedback is welcome.
Could you accomplish the blue tooth polite toggle with a conditional method?
Check blue tooth status,
if off, direct user to settings-> blue tooth
I know thats not as cool as a nice button press
Downloadin ur app now!
One other oddness...
... Android doesn't seem to think the tethered connection is worthy of note. If you start the browser after being connected, you'll be told you have no connection. Pages will load perfectly well, anyway.
sinanju said:
... Android doesn't seem to think the tethered connection is worthy of note. If you start the browser after being connected, you'll be told you have no connection. Pages will load perfectly well, anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure it's because Android does not natively have bluetooth DUN capabilities, at least input-wise; it's based on functions within custom kernels, and therefore the system does not recognize it as a connection capable of fueling GApps.
But I could be completely wrong / that information could be outdated; this is from my research into Bluetooth DUN for my Nook when I first got it a while ago, and I'm not much of a developer. I'd more call myself someone who likes dabbling with code, and watching everything break.
But back to this post's point: thank you so much, you are a god. I've been looking for an easier way to do this for so damn long.
Kudos, sir. Kudos.
This is very promising! Now, what is the feasibility of adding Bluetooth DUN support? A number of phones out there (to include Blackberries) do not support PAN. I've done a lot of googling and have come across one resource, which may or may not be useful: https://github.com/wertarbyte/android_vendor_cyanogen/blob/omni-tether/prebuilt/common/bin/tether
The "pand" binary is included with the CM7 ROM, but "dund" is not. How much effort would be involved in adding this functionality?
Thanks in advance and appreciate any guidance..
exactly what i was looking for.
Thanks a lot for this. Will be installing and tethering to my iphone via mywii
I will report back with results.
anonim1 said:
This is very promising! Now, what is the feasibility of adding Bluetooth DUN support? A number of phones out there (to include Blackberries) do not support PAN. I've done a lot of googling and have come across one resource, which may or may not be useful: https://github.com/wertarbyte/android_vendor_cyanogen/blob/omni-tether/prebuilt/common/bin/tether
The "pand" binary is included with the CM7 ROM, but "dund" is not. How much effort would be involved in adding this functionality?
Thanks in advance and appreciate any guidance..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DUN is in a whole different ballpark. I don't know what's involved.
Thanks, folks, for trying it out. I have an idea for monitoring connection status, but other than some POC work, I probably won't get to it before the weekend.
It doesn't work for me, it says tethering then tethered and then starts tethring again and this goes on quite sm time and then the internet doesn't work, i really needed this:-(
am running pherimod 5.3 and trying to tether with sony erricsion's k530i which has bluetooth networking.
rigy73 said:
It doesn't work for me, it says tethering then tethered and then starts tethring again and this goes on quite sm time and then the internet doesn't work, i really needed this:-(
am running pherimod 5.3 and trying to tether with sony erricsion's k530i which has bluetooth networking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the application show the the phone and its BT address?
Is there a particular app you have to start on the phone before you begin tethering and, if so, does it show status if a link is established?
EDIT: Also... have you used the phone for tethering before with a laptop? Do you know tethering should work?
For the life of me, I can't think of anything that would make it loop through connection attempts other than mashing the widget repeatedly.
sinanju said:
Does the application show the the phone and its BT address?
Is there a particular app you have to start on the phone before you begin tethering and, if so, does it show status if a link is established?
EDIT: Also... have you used the phone for tethering before with a laptop? Do you know tethering should work?
For the life of me, I can't think of anything that would make it loop through connection attempts other than mashing the icon repeatedly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes phone and address are both shown, i start tethring by taping the widget and as for the status i see nothng xcpt bluetooth icon, which shows that both the devices are connected. But am trying this with a gprs connection. i havent tried 3g yet, will that be any different?
Yes the phone has bluetooth tethring, the pc suite has a module for bluetooth internet.
I've attached a new version in the OP. Have a try.
I've improved managing the Bluetooth device. Final state of the connection still isn't reported... that will have to wait.
I would remove the widget and uninstall the old app before installing the new version.
Hm... pand --nodetach doesn't do what I hoped it would in a --connect context... So much for that idea.
I'm trying to use this app to tether my nook to my moto Droid. When I tap the widget it says there's no paired PAN device. I've tethered these two before using the pand command, so I know it's possible. Am I doing something wrong? The droid and nook are "paired but not connected", but every Bluetooth device has said that.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
Calla969 said:
I'm trying to use this app to tether my nook to my moto Droid. When I tap the widget it says there's no paired PAN device. I've tethered these two before using the pand command, so I know it's possible. Am I doing something wrong? The droid and nook are "paired but not connected", but every Bluetooth device has said that.
Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They were probably paired while the droid wasn't advertising the profile. I rely on the list of paired devices knowing which is the network provider.
Try this:
- Remove the Droid from the list of paired devices on the Nook
- Enable visibility on the Droid
- Get the Droid ready for a PAN connection
- Then, from the Nook, initiate pairing
That should ensure the Nook sees the Droid can provide a network connection.
Now I just need my phone to just advertise the bluetooth network without having to run wifi tether.
painter_ said:
Now I just need my phone to just advertise the bluetooth network without having to run wifi tether.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing WiFi related will help you.
My WinMo 6.5 phone just shows a list of nearly a dozen profiles it supports, PAN being one of them. My suggesting about getting the phone ready for PAN before pairing came from my experience setting up my Ubuntu system as a tethering client. Both that and the Nook recognized the PAN profile when I did that.
The only app I could find that supports bluetooth tethering and is reliable on my HTC Hero is wifi tether set up in bluetooth mode. I have been using it for over a year with my netbook.
What would make the bluetooth tethering the cat's ass would be to not to have to start anything on the phone, for the connection to always be available so i could just wip out the nook and be able to use the data connection.
painter_ said:
The only app I could find that supports bluetooth tethering and is reliable on my HTC Hero is wifi tether set up in bluetooth mode. I have been using it for over a year with my netbook.
What would make the bluetooth tethering the cat's ass would be to not to have to start anything on the phone, for the connection to always be available so i could just wip out the nook and be able to use the data connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't help you there... that's up to the phone.
In my case, it's an HTC Topaz and I have to start an app on that, too...
I am happy to report it works well with mywii running on my iphone and tethering from the nook.
Did not have any issues at all. And yes, i did have to hold my iphone the right way
Google Now gave me a rather interesting message: For better location, please enable Wifi. This works even when not connected to a network.
How can the phone figure out my location by using the Wifi antenna without connecting to any networks?
Here's how I originally thought it worked: The phone sees what cell towers are available, then uses data or Wifi to look them up in a database and determines a likely location. But now the app is telling me it really just wants the wifi antenna on. Why?
Because its like when you turn on your Bluetooth it scans near by devices..you connect with them or not its not the question but you can know that how many devices are in your range got it..
Same like when you turn on wifi it searches near by connection you connect or not Google find out your near by wifi networks.. By using that nearby wifi network already registered they find you approximately locations..
we all should be polite enough to press thanks for anyone who helped US.
Oh. Then Google records the location of Wifi networks, so visible networks can be used for location lookups?
Actually, that makes sense. I remember a couple years ago they got in trouble for wardriving and said it was unintentional. It could have been related to an effort to record the location of all visible networks.
That makes sense, but I'm running JellyTime on an Inspire, and it doesn't have the biggest battery. I don't want to leave wifi on all the time. Would it make sense to use Tasker to turn wifi on for a few minutes every hour, or would Google Now even be able to gather enough location info in such a short time?
Longstreet said:
That makes sense, but I'm running JellyTime on an Inspire, and it doesn't have the biggest battery. I don't want to leave wifi on all the time. Would it make sense to use Tasker to turn wifi on for a few minutes every hour, or would Google Now even be able to gather enough location info in such a short time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not test it without Wifi? Leave google maps open with Wifi/GPS disabled while you're traveling. If that looks reasonably accurate, just leave them off.
As for timing, the phone can tell your location pretty quickly, but I don't know how Google Now is written. It would probably need to have specific logic that says "check location whenever wifi gets enabled". I'm not sure whether it does.
fenstre said:
Why not test it without Wifi? Leave google maps open with Wifi/GPS disabled while you're traveling. If that looks reasonably accurate, just leave them off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I've been doing. It works so far, I was just wondering if there was a better way.
It just doesn't seem to do much beyond weather and sports. Maybe I haven't used it long enough. Or maybe my life is so freaking boring it doesn't have a lot to work with!:laugh:
As for timing, the phone can tell your location pretty quickly, but I don't know how Google Now is written. It would probably need to have specific logic that says "check location whenever wifi gets enabled". I'm not sure whether it does.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm wondering. There's a lot of info out there on what it does and how it does it. But I'd be interested in the nuts and bolts, finding out exactly what it's doing and when and how.
It is kinda neat. But kinda unsettling too.
Hey guys. So my Mate 20 Pro has the WEIRDEST issues. When connected to wifi a few web pages etc are not opening. Instagram can't refresh feed etc. But if I use my Mobile Connection or use a Proxy when connected to the wifi everything works. The same wifi connection on the pc works flawlessly. Opens every single page immediately including the ones not opening on the phone, and even plays games effortlessly.
What do you think is holding back this connection on my phone?
Sounds like you were using public WiFi and some tend to use a firewalls which block lots of different things, I was on the train the other day and they didn't allow forums
The wi-fi on my phone has been screwed since day one. It still 'works' for most things, like games and such, but web pages or links in a reddit app will mostly load (the progress bar will speed along and then grind to a halt) and then... Nothing. When I googled around, it seems like Huawei devices in general are known for this - a smattering of people have devices that are simply broken on wi-fi. Now, I haven't done extensive testing, so it may be the wi-fi devices in combination with the phone that are the problem. It isn't like I have tested this with all kinds of types of routers/bands. It certainly is strange, normally when a wi-fi signal is pooched you simply 404 or stop dead. The way my phone 'almost' loads sites makes it feel like an error checksum protocol spiraling out of control, choking the connection.
If I didn't have a lot of data with my plan, I would have attempted to return my phone.
I haven't found the "one" best mock location fake gps app - but I found a few good ones that have ads.
But if I had to pick just one as the "best", I'd pick Lexa simply because it works without ads.
*Fake GPS Location* by LexaFree, no ads, requires gsf, rated 4.6, 456K reviews, 10M+ Downloads<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps>
Note that these mock location apps are set inside the operating system, such that EVERY app gets their information from them, and that these mock location apps can randomly move along roadways by a given distance per a given time period, and they can start at the last location, and they can randomize the amount of movement per second, and they can spoof the altitude, and some can set a specific exact location by the keyboard instead of only graphically, etc. They can even send the location to another phone or get the location from another phone if you want that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But others (with ads) do a better job of random location following roadways with random movement time periods.
Others (with ads) can also shift the GPS location from one phone to another (either way) - but what use is that for you?
Also others (with ads) can spoof both the wi-fi provider & the GPS provider - but what use is that for you?
Which fake GPS mock location app do you feel is best and why?
GPS position falsification is currently not very effective when RIL is enabled on the phone. Apps can easily orient the phone in space based on the signal strength to the network operator's mast.
ze7zez said:
GPS position falsification is currently not very effective when RIL is enabled on the phone. Apps can easily orient the phone in space based on the signal strength to the network operator's mast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For privacy reasons... I have every setting for location accuracy turned off, and I also have every unused radio on the phone turned off (e.g., NFC, bluetooth, gps, wi-fi, etc.) and my phone's wi-fi does NOT reconnect (auto-connect is turned off) as my home AP SSID is hidden (for privacy, not for security!) and it has a "_nomap" appended to keep out of the well-behaved databases such as Google/Mozilla, but not Wigle/Netstumbler/Kismet,etc, which aren't well behaved, and I randomize the phone's Wi-Fi MAC upon every connection - which is a new feature of Android 12 in Developer options, etc., ....
... But I had to look up what RIL stands for, so I thank you for bringing up that unknown-to-me Radio Interface Layer detail...
RIL references:
https://wladimir-tm4pda.github.io/porting/telephony.html
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/connect/ril
Specifically
Radio Interface Layer: It is the bridge between Android phone framework services and the hardware. In other words, it is the protocol stack for Telephone. The RIL consist of two primary components.
RIL Daemon
Vendor RIL
RIL DaemonRILD will be initialized during the Android system start up. It will read the system property to find which library has to be used for Vendor RIL, provide the appropriate input for vendor RIL and finally calls RIL_Init function of Vendor RIL to map all the Vendor RIL functions to the upper layer. Each vendor RIL has RIL_Init function.Vendor RILIt is a library specific to each modem. In other words, we can call it as a driver to function the modem. The RIL daemon will call the RIL_Init function with the device location (eg: /dev/ttyS0). It will initiate the modem and returns theRIL_RadioFunctions structure contains the handles of radio functions
After skimming that RIL information, I'm not sure exactly what you're trying to tell me, but I guess you're saying that we can be geolocated when we make phone calls and even when we don't, in that the cell towers can be triangulated if the phone is in calling mode... which I understand full well.
But, in terms of privacy, how many apps that need to be fooled by their GPS location have access to that cell tower radio location information?
You understood correctly. A phone in call mode, as you wrote, can be easily located while moving.
The google map tricked out by "Fake GPS Location", does quite well while driving a car, as I recently verified in the field.
I don't analyze the app for route tracking.
ze7zez said:
You understood correctly. A phone in call mode, as you wrote, can be easily located while moving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you that any phone, if it's going to be used for two (or three) things, will be easily tracked by those with the resources to do so
Make/receive phone calls
Send/receive sms/mms texts (mms requiring data)
Wi-Fi connections (aka "the Internet")
However, in all cases above, the geolocation isn't as accurate as with GPS (if you are judicious about your location settings), and, more to the point, the applications themselves don't have access to the cell tower information (although they do have access to your IP address, which can be roughly geolocated).
We have to assess our threat level where I'm not using fake location apps to hide from a well-funded TLA adversary; I'm using the fake location to simply hide from the likes of Google and other nefarious outfits that put the tracking APIs inside the code (which is why almost none of my apps require GSF).
ze7zez said:
The google map tricked out by "Fake GPS Location", does quite well while driving a car, as I recently verified in the field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If what you're saying is that the mock location apps "fool" the likes of Google Maps, I fully agree with you. If... If... if...
If you don't allow Google Maps to run a more detailed analysis that is.
As an example, I recently ran a test inside of a local town where I had the fake location set to miles away, and Google Maps was telling me I was where the fake location said I was... but...
But... then Google Maps asked me to snap a photo so that it could better figure out where I was, and BINGO! It figured out where I was based on the video that I allowed (for test purposes) to show the storefronts.
When I tested it again without allowing the video to see anything of value (e.g., I panned to the mountains above), Google Maps could NOT geolocate me.
Likewise when you don't let Google Maps geolocate by WI-Fi address (although for all I know the camera mechanism sneakily allowed that as I'm well aware there are TWO APIs for turning on your GPS radio, one of which (from Google) is downright nefarious)...
ACTION: "android.lintent.action.MAIN"
PACKAGE: "com.google.android.gms"
CLASS: "com.google.android.gms.location.settings.LocationAccuracyActivity"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vs
Notice it's similar but different from the Android setting for accuracy.
ACTION: "android.intent.action.MAIN"
PACKAGE: "com.android.settings"
CLASS: "com.android.settings.Settings$ScanningSettingsActivity"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Notice that, for this very reason, you NEVER want to turn on your GPS radio from ANY Google app prompt!
ze7zez said:
I don't analyze the app for route tracking.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you need to navigate and if you don't want to be tracked by Google, I found a little trick that works kind of nicely with the simple interfaces of the offline mapping programs.
Set your position as your destination in the mock location app
Use any offline map to set your current position as a waypoint
Then use the offline map app to route to your destination
Another "trick" that keeps you out of Google maps' databases is that you can easily get traffic using a web shortcut of the area you are currently traveling in - where you don't need to know your exact location in order to check out the traffic in front of you.
Yet another trick for traffic is that PLENTY of web sites provide Google traffic updates without logging into Google web servers (afaik), such as sigalert apps, 511 apps, and many local DOT apps such as caltrans (for California).
Overall, in summary, the mock location apps work to prevent apps that use your GPS location from tracking you - but as @ze7zez warned, it will only work for GPS and not for cell tower tracking.
GalaxyA325G said:
(...) the applications themselves don't have access to the cell tower information (...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true.
Go into your phone's service mode and see for yourself what the phone knows about the mast connection.
Here's a cheesy Cell Diagnostic app that I wrote myself:
Note that the only permissions that it uses is android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE and android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
It refuses to give you this information if you have "Location" turned off.
ze7zez said:
This is not true.
Go into your phone's service mode and see for yourself what the phone knows about the mast connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As always, you're correct... but.... you're being too narrow I think... in that debugging apps which we use when we need to are different from the run-of-the-mill apps we use all day every day...
There are only "some" apps, which I'm well aware of, that have your telephony information, such as this one which requires you to provide that permission first...
Once you manually provide that permission, yes, of course, the app has you dead in its sights... but most apps (that don't need it) don't ask for THAT much permission... (nor would you let them if they did).
Renate said:
Here's a cheesy Cell Diagnostic app that I wrote myself:
Note that the only permissions that it uses is android.permission.READ_PHONE_STATE and android.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION
It refuses to give you this information if you have "Location" turned off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You bring up a good point that a few Android releases ago Google cheated like hell by forcing apps to request "Location" being turned on in order for the app to display unrelated things such as "Wi-Fi signal strength"...
Which is ANOTHER good reason for being able to set the mock location... because the Wi-Fi Signal Strength of all nearby access points has nothing (per se) to do with your current GPS location.
EDIT: BTW, as a related aside, I post a billion screenshots to the Internet, where some of them contain GPS location - which - if spoofed - means I don't need to redact it in those screenshots. For other information though, such as the cell tower information, I never know how much to redact (for privacy) where you didn't redact anything on your screenshot.
Can you let me know which are the cellular tower information pointers that we should redact for privacy when posting screenshots?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/attachments/cell1-png.5676683/
The CDMA system has a place for actual Lat/Long. But, these cells are set up by various people and the amount of information in them is variable.
I've rarely seen lat/long on a CDMA signal
The LTE stuff only references cell number. You need a database to reference it to location.
I have a few cell numbers hard-coded to named location.
I can't even find my current tower on https://www.opencellid.org/
Renate said:
The CDMA system has a place for actual Lat/Long. But, these cells are set up by various people and the amount of information in them is variable.
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I'm aware there are open signal public OSM cell-tower-location databases (which essentially suck - but which are good enough to track your general location) and then there are the "real" databases (which the carriers and the FCC kind of sort of keep to themselves.
Renate said:
I've rarely seen lat/long on a CDMA signal
The LTE stuff only references cell number. You need a database to reference it to location.
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Click to collapse
The reason open signal public OSM databases only "essentially" suck is because they're averages from lots of people, so, for example, a tower might be on the wrong side of the railroad tracks or in the middle of a river on those open signal public OSM maps when it's not really the case - but they're still good enough to geolocate you to a general area were I to publish the unique number in the screenshots.
Renate said:
I have a few cell numbers hard-coded to named location.
I can't even find my current tower on https://www.opencellid.org/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My tower is almost always my own femtocell or my cellular repeater (both of which I have but usually the femtocell wins out), which is unique to me (which is why I'm worried about privacy).
Unless you're in my driveway, only I would be using that femtocell (I don't know how far out they go, but it's not more than a few hundred feet at the most, isn't it?).
Hi, I'm a new member of the forum and this is my first post.
I've read this thread and it's an interesting discussion about layers in global positioning. But I have a simpler question out of curiosity;
is there perhaps a way to work around this plugin (https://github.com/wongpiwat/trust-location) without root / only with developer option, since I haven't found any fake gps app that could fool/bypass this part.
Or do I have to use a custom ROM to accomplish it?