I discovered an unusually high data usage (Wi-Fi, luckily) from APK Extractor by Kim Heeseok (This one, to be precise). You can see it in the screenshots attached. I know this app can't have used so much data, since I've only used it once for testing purposes and I never sent a single byte through the app.
I find this suspicious, because the app has the rights of reading /sdcard, installing apps and use the internet. It could have uploaded large parts of my /sdcard to who-knows-where!
I deleted the app immediately for security reasons and since I already have another app installed that can do the same.
What are your thoughts on this? Should I report this in the Play Store or is this data usage somehow erroneously recorded as if APK Extractor was the culprit? I don't want to speak badly of a perfectly fine app.
My current phone details are in my sig.
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ok so this is my first smart phone and i hate that i feel like such a noob! i am accustomed to having control of everything win7.
i have astro installed on my rooted phone. just downloaded an app from amazon. i have not installed it yet and have no idea where the dang app is temporarily stored.
is there anyway to take control of the default file location for downloads? i would like to save the apk to my pc prior to installing it on the phone.
additionally im guessing that when an app is installed it creates folders and file locations that the app needs to function on the phone. so when apps are installed and uninstalled over time will there eventually be orphan files and folders that just take up space and cause performance issues?
Most market apps are stored in data/app. No. It wont cause performance issues.
I can't seem to find an answer to this simple questions: what is the path to the offline map files saved by Google Maps 6.9?
Workaround to limits
+1
This may be a way to offset the 6 map limit. As it is Maps 6.9 cannot load a trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas.
I downloaded a 71MB map, then I searched for a file of around that size with ES Explorer SD card analyst function... no chance. I thought about /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.apps.maps/cache for location, but this directory is only 24MB total and there are only smaller files inside it.
It must be in one of the caches though because every time I flash a new ROM, I wipe the cache and the Dalvik cache and my offline maps disappear. Knowing where this data is stored would maybe also allow users to back it up.
I just tried to download an extra 56MB map, and the aforementioned location increased in size by 8 or 9 MB. However I then deleted this same offline map and the directory size did not change at all...
Thought of the Dalvik cache also but there is nothing in there remotely close to the correct file sizes.
open maps app press left capacitive button offline maps and there it is the offline map
Isn't it in the application's data? Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Maps, then check its data?
I can't do this myself, I have a dedicated GPS unit and I uninstalled the Maps app after rooting
Sent from my MB508 using xda premium
ajay8055 said:
open maps app press left capacitive button offline maps and there it is the offline map
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I know that but that doesn't tell me where in the directory structure these maps are stored
gagdude said:
Isn't it in the application's data? Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> Maps, then check its data?
I can't do this myself, I have a dedicated GPS unit and I uninstalled the Maps app after rooting
Sent from my MB508 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes through that I can see that the Maps application is using about 46MB of data, but that doesn't tell me where this data is stored, or how it stored a 71MB map into 46MB of data...
I am getting seriously p*ssed off with this. Just upgraded to the latest Omega ROM, and my offline maps have disappeared again. I took a backup of the previous /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.apps.maps/cache and restored it, no chance. I also tried to restore the app data from Titanium backup, still no joy.
No amount of Googling offers a solution. I can't believe nobody has figured this out yet... back to redownloading all my areas of interest...
I keep replying to myself here, but I figure that since the CWM recovery cache wipe function does wipe the /cache partition (which is a Linux filesystem cache), it means that the offline Google maps must be stored in it.
Why Google would elect to store important user data in such a volatile location is beyond me.
Guess I'll go back to using traditional GPS apps like Sygic or IGo.
I'd like to figure this out as well....
yeah...
no tb backup for maps
+1
I've been trying to figure this out for hours now..
Look at this. Before downloading maps:
http://db.tt/NiCZb1bO
After:
http://db.tt/4hhOudyE
So it must be in the internal memory somewhere, hidden in the system apps section (?). It's a big mystery..
Anyone know how to get more than 6 maps saved offline? If i try to save another it says "maximum number of offline maps reached"
danben7 said:
Anyone know how to get more than 6 maps saved offline? If i try to save another it says "maximum number of offline maps reached"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If we find out where the files are stored, then we can change the name of the files or folder, them I think you should be able to download another 6 more maps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
When you do a ROM backup it does no save the downloaded maps. I've tried so many times and I have been on a quest to figure this out. I even went on Google's website and asked and know one seems to know where the maps are stored
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Pino76 said:
I've been trying to figure this out for hours now..
Look at this. Before downloading maps:
http://db.tt/NiCZb1bO
After:
http://db.tt/4hhOudyE
So it must be in the internal memory somewhere, hidden in the system apps section (?). It's a big mystery..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you're looking at is RAM memory, not physical memory.
If I have time this weekend to set up my computer again, I'll decompile the apk and look at the smali and stuff to see if that helps out at all. Unless someone else wants to do that for me and upload it somewhere for me to look at hint hint
But from what I've looked at I still believe it's stored on the sdcard in /sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.apps.maps
The 3 screenshots I've attached show that folder size before I have any offline maps, then the size of the map, then the folder size after, respectively. It increases, but obviously not as much as the download is so whatever type of container the app stores the files as must be really compressed or its split up elsewhere...
After I deleted this folder my stored offline maps went away fwiw.
Also going back on what one of you guys said; booting into recovery and wiping cache&dalvik cache seem to have no effect on the offline map I downloaded. as seen in the 4th pic (I downloaded a small map after deleting the folder off my sdcard to test this theory out)
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
/sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.apps.maps/cache <- Stored there. Must be, since I am downloading offline maps currently and it's increasing in size. The files are many and have strange filenames but if you backup that folder and restore it in a new ROM, maybe you'll get your offline maps back?
we have s3 with 16 or 32gb right?
in 16gb version we have 11 usable!
so maybe Maps cache goes there! in OS location. maybe it is in ext location in internal storage, so we must search for another partitions
i hope someones like ownhere team find that out
It would be okay to have more than 6, but I'd really like to be able to backup.
Finding Offline Maps
you can find offline maps if you turn your wi-fi off.
go on maps click the left button and go on show offline list.
hope this helps :good:
I have an HTC Sensation running CM10. The very day I installed the CM10 ROM this problem started, I get an error saying " Storage space running out. Some functions may not work". I can clear the data and everything works fine until the next time it happens. Some days it happens 2 or 3 times a day. As far as I can tell, this is not a common problem.
The only thing I can think is that it may have something to do with my BackCountry Navigator app. It has lots of aerial photographs. I suspect that it is trying to catalog them all. But, 700MB seems excessive. I have been trying to locate this large file or files to see analyze the data, but I'm not sure where they are located.
Anyone willing to help me tackle this problem?
utmatt20 said:
I have an HTC Sensation running CM10. The very day I installed the CM10 ROM this problem started, I get an error saying " Storage space running out. Some functions may not work". I can clear the data and everything works fine until the next time it happens. Some days it happens 2 or 3 times a day. As far as I can tell, this is not a common problem.
The only thing I can think is that it may have something to do with my BackCountry Navigator app. It has lots of aerial photographs. I suspect that it is trying to catalog them all. But, 700MB seems excessive. I have been trying to locate this large file or files to see analyze the data, but I'm not sure where they are located.
Anyone willing to help me tackle this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you figure the average picture is approximately 1MB in size, and ariel photographs are usually very detailed most likey 2MB (Or greater in some cases) it's not unrealistic for 350-700+ pictures to be cached by the app as you use it to navigate and view maps. Even navigating a small area with that level of detailed images will occur a large size cache quickly, which is likely why it sometimes fills up 2-3 times a day. I would recommend going into system settings, then application manager, and locating BackCountry Navigator then clear the apps cache. Also check the apps settings and see if it has any options for disabling image caching or limiting the cache size.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
OK I cleared the cache which was less than 1MB. I also turned off caching. Cross your fingers.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Unfortunately, that didn't work. If I could find the actual file or files that were using up the remaining 706MB of my phone, I might be able to figure out what was going wrong.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
utmatt20 said:
Unfortunately, that didn't work. If I could find the actual file or files that were using up the remaining 706MB of my phone, I might be able to figure out what was going wrong.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try using root explorer or a similar root enabled file browser to go to the application data folder then look for the BackCountry Navigator app's data folder and see what files you can find, you may find some hints as to why the application is using so much storage space.
Did you ever get this sorted out? I have the same problem. Sold my last phone due to this problem. It definitely has something to do with BCN. Is there a way to tell the phone not to catalog that folder?
BTW I'm running it on an S3.
I'm having the same issue on my EVO LTE, running Viper ROM so it happens on Sense too. Either I get a notification to move apps because I'm out of space, or I'll get an install error when trying to update apps. It's always Media Storage is huge, I can clear it but then sometimes my Music Files don't get recognized by players even though I can see them in a file explorer. Very frustrating.
utmatt20 said:
I have an HTC Sensation running CM10. The very day I installed the CM10 ROM this problem started, I get an error saying " Storage space running out. Some functions may not work". I can clear the data and everything works fine until the next time it happens. Some days it happens 2 or 3 times a day. As far as I can tell, this is not a common problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw the same thing as your 'Disk Usage' thumbnail above, except the path was "Storage card -> Apps -> Media Storage -> Data", and it was using 3GB (out of 5.8GB total internal capacity available to end-users). Clicking on 'Media Storage' and clicking 'Show' brought me to the 'Amazon Fire Media Storage' app (a system app, the logo being 'Fire' in a red square).
After clearing all the 'Media Storage' app data, it got regenerated to 3.7GB after a couple hours and filled up my internal storage again. I then deleted an ebook reader app that I remember installing a couple days ago, and it automatically shrunk to 300MB shortly afterwards without my manually clearing the 'Media Storage' app data. About an hour after that, though, it regenerated back to 3.7GB and filled up my storage again.
Anyone know what files are consulted to populate this Media Storage/Data file (i.e., video, audio, ebooks), what process/processes populate it, and what reads it? It would be really helpful to examine its contents to at least look for a rough idea on which apps are using it heavily, and/or honoring '.nomedia' to prevent scanning.
Device: Amazon Fire 7in KFFOWI, running rooted FireOS 5.1.1
The desire x is my business mobile, so i dont want to mess with it in case any problems and i get charged for the phone. to be honest i struggle, its terrible device compared to my personal phone.
I need maps to navigate around, the connection in London drops when im close to destination, i blame this on the tall buildings blocking signal but not sure if 100% the reason. i was told may help to download a map program and use this way, but there is no storage free, and i have only 2 small apps required for work.
Is there a way to delete apps like chrome and facebook / twitter which came pre-installed but i cant remove them.
I tried adding a sd card but it wont allow me to move apsp to sd card. ( so failing the deletion of apps, can i roll back the rom to a older version?
pretty weird that the data partition is full, when there are only 2 apps installed.
are you storing all your company-mail on your phone or something like that??
whatever, as first step you can try to locate the storage-hog by using a storage analyser like https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mobile_infographics_tools.mydrive&hl=de
i have downlaoded the program but not sure what i am lookign for?
can i remove the android APK files? surely once program isntalled i no longer need these?
A takes 591mb
O takes 127mb
App storage is taking 2.51Gb of 2.91 available.
Apps = 704Mb
other = 1.82Mb
Available - 408Mb but when i download the map program it requires me to download a large file for offline maps. plus i have this space as i deleted a few photos which were for work but old. so when i take photos this space decreases further.
the only apps i can uninstall are the two apps (about 40Mb each for work, plus i have pocket locker and now this analyser which have small footprints).
I am using Android 6.0.1 though i'm not sure that would make a difference with my question. So my question is after an app has been uninstalled through Settings --> Apps and then clicking the "Uninstall" button after selecting the particular app is there, in general, any evidence left on the phone that the app was ever installed? Secondly, if so how can that evidence be removed? Sort of like how a browser has a "browser history" after you've visited sites is there anything analogous in a history or a cache of some sort that can be recovered to see that the app was once on the phone and OS (barring a sophisticated forensic analysis). If i were to hand the phone to someone who is tech savvy or knows their way around android would they be able to ascertain that the app was once there?
Hey @AndroidPlistic,
So my question is after an app has been uninstalled through Settings --> Apps and then clicking the "Uninstall" button after selecting the particular app is there, in general, any evidence left on the phone that the app was ever installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The short answer is yes it is very likely that there is evidence left by the app.
Uninstalling the app will automatically clean up the private storage areas used by the app however any created files or modifications to files in the common storage area will remain and could be used as evidence that the app was installed at some point.
Orphaned data left over could include:
System log messages which would include the unique identifier for the app, e.g. com.skype
Files in common areas of the file system, e.g. photos saved by a photo editing app.
Secondly, if so how can that evidence be removed? Sort of like how a browser has a "browser history" after you've visited sites is there anything analogous in a history or a cache of some sort that can be recovered to see that the app was once on the phone and OS (barring a sophisticated forensic analysis). If i were to hand the phone to someone who is tech savvy or knows their way around android would they be able to ascertain that the app was once there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I haven't used them there are a number of apps that claim to provide an automatic app cleaning feature. Examples include: "SD Maid" and "ES File Explorer". These apps would search the common areas of the phone to see if there are any orphaned files based on some kind of proprietary smarts however there is no guarantee that these will find every file created or modified. I'd also be surprised if they automatically cleaned the system logs as they are primarily designed to increase free space on the device rather than forensically clean data from it.
If you really wanted to ensure that the installation of an app was never known about based on the information on the device itself I would recommend a full factory reset of the phone.
Hope that helps.