[Q] Need "quiet time" app with incoming-call whitelist-group - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Between my personal and business contacts, I have a very, very large number of contacts (thousands). I also share calendars with business partners, so I have a very large number of events.
I have been looking for a very simple app that will impose a "quiet time" blocking all notifications and calls EXCEPT for a specific whitelist of callers -- and this is the important part: organized using a Google Contacts group. In particular there are a few family members and a few others (like my office's alarm monitoring company) from whom I would like to receive calls at any time of the day or night, and all else should be blocked.
I have found a few apps that work using custom hand-managed lists, and so far they haven't worked very well. I have found a few very complicated apps that do all sorts of scheduling and event-handling and so on, and as a side-effect they can sort of do this, but I don't want to spend time learning and (effectively) programming (and maintaining) a general-purpose event manager.
Does such an app exist?
FWIW, I'm on a Galaxy S3 running SlimBean (currently based on Android 4.2, soon to be 4.3).
Thanks in advance.

Related

App picker needs to get a lot smarter and flexible

Sorry, the app picker falls several light years short for me in two specific fields - messaging and calling. If I select "always" in one of those cases this selection gets applied across all my contacts. Sorry, that's just daft.
I'll give you an example: I have Zoiper, Skype and WhatsApp installed on my phone. Now when I send somebody a message, I want to use WA for those as have it, Skype for those as have it and be able to select a preference for those cases where somebody has both. Also, if my preference is Skype, but person is not logged in, it should be smart enough to then go WA. If I am roaming or my data connection is disabled for other reasons, it should use SMS. It's called a Smartphone by Jove! Currently I feel like I am in the 70s. the device is that daft.
Similar rules apply for calls.
Oh and also I want to be able to make this choice individually for every contact, either rule based, as outlined above, or just on my personal whim. And I want to be able to override said choice on a case-by-case basis, or permanently, again based on my personal whim. Double tapping in order to avoid making an idiotic and not easily reset general setting is a kludge at best.
For a sec, I was wondering what the heck app picker was.
Yeah, it probably needs to be updated to a more convenient and smarter way. I wonder how the less advanced users get through processes like that. Seriously, if I were an 80 year old grandpa, I would not know how to manage the app picker for sure.

[Q] Can I stop Twitter from doing this?

1st things 1st - My device: Verizon S4 Root/Safestrap/Eclipse/Titanium Pro
Is there a way to not allow this to be done without uninstalling the TweetCaster app? I checked in the app's settings and I don't see any way to stop or not allow updates. I do have Google Play's settings at "Do not auto-update apps" - would this be sufficient? Or may Twitter go behind everyone's back and do this independently through their app and bypass Google Play? I do not want Twitter to be able to identify what apps I have or otherwise have access to my S4 to "target ads" to me.
Please note I Do Not have the Twitter app, I have TweetCaster (if it's different than the Twitter app? I don't know?) I heard facebook was doing this same BS & people deleted the app (I Do Not use FB) and am looking for a way to not allow Twitter to do this (if there is a way to). Thanks (I don't believe the last line below)
>>From Wired.com, Nov 26th<<
Twitter Plans to Peek at Your Apps to Serve You Targeted Ads
Twitter will soon identify the other apps on your phone in an effort to personalize your experience on its service—i.e. serve you targeted ads.
The company discusses the move on its website, and according to the news site Re/code, this sort of tracking will begin with a new version of its iPhone app, set to roll out on Wednesday. A new Android version that works in much the same way will roll out over the next week.
Now a public company, Twitter is exploring many different ways to boost its revenue, and one method is through better targeted ads. The company already has some personal information about those using its service—what they type into their Twitter profiles and the tweets they post—but now, it wants more. “To help build a more personal Twitter experience for you, we are collecting and occasionally updating the list of apps installed on your mobile device so we can deliver tailored content that you might be interested in,” the company says.
In this way, it’s following the lead of Facebook and Google and so many others that seek to target ads. The difference is that Twitter doesn’t have access to nearly as much personal data as Facebook, which inherently encourages users to provide information about themselves, or Google, which operates a wide range of services atop its own mobile OS. So Twitter is reaching out into other parts of the phone, something that is easy to do. The Apple/Google mobile OSes provide ready access to information like this & many apps take advantage of this—some going much further than others.
Twitter says it will point users to its new data policy, via an in-app notification, before it starts collecting any personal information. But the new update is opt-out, which means that in order for the company to stop gathering data on your account, you must explicitly turn this data collection off. But few users are likely to do so.
Source
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/twitter-targeted-ads/?mbid=social_twitter
Lane W. said:
1st things 1st - My device: Verizon S4 Root/Safestrap/Eclipse/Titanium Pro
Is there a way to not allow this to be done without uninstalling the TweetCaster app? I checked in the app's settings and I don't see any way to stop or not allow updates. I do have Google Play's settings at "Do not auto-update apps" - would this be sufficient? Or may Twitter go behind everyone's back and do this independently through their app and bypass Google Play? I do not want Twitter to be able to identify what apps I have or otherwise have access to my S4 to "target ads" to me.
Please note I Do Not have the Twitter app, I have TweetCaster (if it's different than the Twitter app? I don't know?) I heard facebook was doing this same BS & people deleted the app (I Do Not use FB) and am looking for a way to not allow Twitter to do this (if there is a way to). Thanks (I don't believe the last line below)
>>From Wired.com, Nov 26th<<
Twitter Plans to Peek at Your Apps to Serve You Targeted Ads
Twitter will soon identify the other apps on your phone in an effort to personalize your experience on its service—i.e. serve you targeted ads.
The company discusses the move on its website, and according to the news site Re/code, this sort of tracking will begin with a new version of its iPhone app, set to roll out on Wednesday. A new Android version that works in much the same way will roll out over the next week.
Now a public company, Twitter is exploring many different ways to boost its revenue, and one method is through better targeted ads. The company already has some personal information about those using its service—what they type into their Twitter profiles and the tweets they post—but now, it wants more. “To help build a more personal Twitter experience for you, we are collecting and occasionally updating the list of apps installed on your mobile device so we can deliver tailored content that you might be interested in,” the company says.
In this way, it’s following the lead of Facebook and Google and so many others that seek to target ads. The difference is that Twitter doesn’t have access to nearly as much personal data as Facebook, which inherently encourages users to provide information about themselves, or Google, which operates a wide range of services atop its own mobile OS. So Twitter is reaching out into other parts of the phone, something that is easy to do. The Apple/Google mobile OSes provide ready access to information like this & many apps take advantage of this—some going much further than others.
Twitter says it will point users to its new data policy, via an in-app notification, before it starts collecting any personal information. But the new update is opt-out, which means that in order for the company to stop gathering data on your account, you must explicitly turn this data collection off. But few users are likely to do so.
Source
http://www.wired.com/2014/11/twitter-targeted-ads/?mbid=social_twitter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think Tweetcaster is a third party application just like Falcon doesn't have anything to do with the default twitter app. .Or you can just see if that option is listed their within the Tweetcaster application to opt out of it.

Calendar app recomendation

Hi everyone,
I'm looking for a calendar app with a feature that's rather low-tech, yet surprisingly rare: I'm looking to add notes/comments/memos to a certain day (rather than event). Just like on a physical calendar one can mark a day with "watered plants" or "opened new pack of...", I would like to do the same on a calendar app, without it being associated with a particular event or meeting. I don't want to use events because they have a lot of fields I don't need to fill (like time and duration), using all day events interrupts my actual scheduling and marking the calendar is usually done retroactively (some apps don't allow scheduling past events).
Can anyone think of a competent and capable app with this feature, or at least suggest search terms?
Fame and glory for those who'll help

Is there a way to get push email to work with Doze?

The doze mode introduced with Marshmallows breaks push email because email apps will no longer check for email when the phone is in doze. You can exempt apps from battery optimisation, but the exemption is only partial (read: useless). With Nougat it's even worse because Doze has become more aggressive.
My mailbox is on an imap server and I use imap idle for push (no, Apple fanboys, that's no battery drain).
AFAIK the only things which can wake a phone from Doze are phone call, sms messages, and high-priority google cloud messaging (or whatever they're called now) notifications.
Whatsapp, for example, relies on high-priority GCM notifications, and does wake phones up from Doze
There are some mail apps which rely on GCM notifications, but none which sends high-priority notifications - leaving aside the fact that I prefer imap idle because I don't like the idea of having a third-party server, which I somehow have to pay for, with access to my emails...
My question is: how on Earth are we supposed to get push email when the phone is in the doze? Or has google effectively decided that Android will no longer support real push email?
Rooting is not an option because the app I use to read my work email (Good by Blackberry) does not work on rooted devices.
Thanks!
PS Details of doze breaking push email are on another forum: http://androidforums.com/threads/mar...droid.1058445/
Anyone? yes, I know it's an old question, but it's still valid! Am I the only user for whom not having push email is an issue? I can live without getting instant notification of my private email, but work email is a different thing and I have had multiple situations where this has caused problems.
cdl2 said:
Anyone? yes, I know it's an old question, but it's still valid! Am I the only user for whom not having push email is an issue? I can live without getting instant notification of my private email, but work email is a different thing and I have had multiple situations where this has caused problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try typeapp maybe. Works for me without whitelisting it
Are you sure it works when the device is in Doze? I ask because Google documentation explains very clearly
https://developer.android.com/training/monitoring-device-state/doze-standby
that whitelisting is only a partial exemption, and that the one and only way to be sure the device receives notifications when in Doze is to use high-priority FCM notifications.
Last I checked, typemail was using normal-priority FCM. has this changed?
To test it, you can force the app into doze by using adb:
adb shell dumpsys deviceidle force-idle
now send an email to yourself from your PC or another phone. Do you get a notification? If you do, typeapp uses high-priority FCM. if you don't, it doesn't, and there seems to be no way around it, because Google has decided to kill push email without providing a ******* alternative!!!
To exit doze and reactivate the phone:
adb shell dumpsys deviceidle unforce
adb shell dumpsys battery reset
A counter-test is to send yourself an email when the phone is not in doze - you should receive an immediate notification.
When talking about Doze, the most common mistakes are:
not understanding that whitelisting is only a partial exemption
mistakenly thinking that you are getting notifications despite doze, when, in fact, either doze hasn't kicked in, or you are getting them in the windows allowed by Doze (no push)
By the way, my key problem is with work email; I can live with private email not being delivered immediately, but work email is a different story!
You might also want to look at these two links about privacy:
https://mobilsicher.de/security-des...d-other-email-apps-transmit-login-credentials
https://androidforums.com/threads/email-which-apps-keep-it-private.935578/
Never heard of any email app using any information in a bad way, especially big ones like typeapp. Even if info is sent to their servers they plainly say they don't store it and even if they do, they can't use it for anything without implicating themselves.
Also first link includes misspellings in the header lmao. I wouldn't trust everything you read, you'll end up in a bubble.
As far as notifications from typeapp, they come through relentlessly if not turned off, dunno if it's preventing the doze somehow but it works well on my quarks running RR Oreo. Try it and do your own tests
Mrpookie said:
Never heard of any email app using any information in a bad way, especially big ones like typeapp. Even if info is sent to their servers they plainly say they don't store it and even if they do, they can't use it for anything without implicating themselves.
Also first link includes misspellings in the header lmao. I wouldn't trust everything you read, you'll end up in a bubble.
As far as notifications from typeapp, they come through relentlessly if not turned off, dunno if it's preventing the doze somehow but it works well on my quarks running RR Oreo. Try it and do your own tests
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As for typeapp, what leaves me confused is that its documentation talks about whitelisting it in the battery settings. However, even though 99% of Android users fail to understand this, whitelisting is only a very partial exemption. You don’t need to whitelist Whatsapp in order to receive messages even while in Doze. Why? Because Whatsapp uses high-priority FCM notifications. Hence I suspect Typeapp does NOT use high-priority FCM. I have emailed them this question.
It’s very unfortunate that it’s now become very hard to get real push email; we have gone backwards since the early days of mobile devices! Also, Google forcing FCM down our throat means going back to a BIS/BES kind of solution, which was wildly criticised for being a single point of failure. But, most incredibly, AFAIK there is no email client that uses high-priority FCM, so Google is effectively saying: you can have push whatsapp but not push email! The crazy thing is that this was done because too many apps were misbehaving and connecting too often, not because there is anything wrong with push email – imap idle used to work brilliantly, without draining battery.
It has also become very hard to test for push in Doze: many manufacturers add their own app-killing optimisation tool, so the app must be whitelisted there, too. Also, it is never clear when a phone is in Doze, or if it is in a maintenance window: you may think you are getting emails, but you are only getting them because the phone is in a maintenance window, and the next email you might not see for 2 hours!
I have never heard of any email app using private data in a particular bad way, either, it’s just that the concept of giving access to my email to some server of some unknown company makes me uneasy. I don’t even use gmail for this reason, preferring to pay for my own email! The apps listed in my second link (k9 mail, aquamail etc) download mail from the server to the app and the developers of the app have no access whatsoever to my mail. For example, there have been cases of developers of email clients letting their employees read emails to “train the software”
https://www.cnet.com/news/third-party-gmail-apps-reportedly-let-employees-read-peoples-emails/
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-reading-user-emails/
I understand many people don’t care; these things are very subjective and I have zero interest in convincing anyone – I am just explaining why I’d rather avoid this kind of email clients, unless maybe it’s the one and only way to get real push with Android Doze.
cdl2 said:
As for typeapp, what leaves me confused is that its documentation talks about whitelisting it in the battery settings. However, even though 99% of Android users fail to understand this, whitelisting is only a very partial exemption. You don’t need to whitelist Whatsapp in order to receive messages even while in Doze. Why? Because Whatsapp uses high-priority FCM notifications. Hence I suspect Typeapp does NOT use high-priority FCM. I have emailed them this question.
It’s very unfortunate that it’s now become very hard to get real push email; we have gone backwards since the early days of mobile devices! Also, Google forcing FCM down our throat means going back to a BIS/BES kind of solution, which was wildly criticised for being a single point of failure. But, most incredibly, AFAIK there is no email client that uses high-priority FCM, so Google is effectively saying: you can have push whatsapp but not push email! The crazy thing is that this was done because too many apps were misbehaving and connecting too often, not because there is anything wrong with push email – imap idle used to work brilliantly, without draining battery.
It has also become very hard to test for push in Doze: many manufacturers add their own app-killing optimisation tool, so the app must be whitelisted there, too. Also, it is never clear when a phone is in Doze, or if it is in a maintenance window: you may think you are getting emails, but you are only getting them because the phone is in a maintenance window, and the next email you might not see for 2 hours!
I have never heard of any email app using private data in a particular bad way, either, it’s just that the concept of giving access to my email to some server of some unknown company makes me uneasy. I don’t even use gmail for this reason, preferring to pay for my own email! The apps listed in my second link (k9 mail, aquamail etc) download mail from the server to the app and the developers of the app have no access whatsoever to my mail. For example, there have been cases of developers of email clients letting their employees read emails to “train the software”
https://www.cnet.com/news/third-party-gmail-apps-reportedly-let-employees-read-peoples-emails/
https://www.macrumors.com/2018/07/02/third-party-email-apps-reading-user-emails/
I understand many people don’t care; these things are very subjective and I have zero interest in convincing anyone – I am just explaining why I’d rather avoid this kind of email clients, unless maybe it’s the one and only way to get real push with Android Doze.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dud... I'm not reading all that, lol
Why not try typeapp itself with a non important or dummy email and see. It could be something with my device or ROM causing it to come through but I think it may work for you.
Quick question: is it possible to get typeapp to retrieve mail from the inbox folder immediately (push), but to also retrieve mail from another folder every 4 hours or so? This is the setup I had with Aquamail and K9mail. I ask because I have a 'newsletter' folder where all the newsletters, notifications and non-urgent stuff gets filtered (server-side). I am testing typeapp but haven't found a way to do this.
cdl2 said:
Quick question: is it possible to get typeapp to retrieve mail from the inbox folder immediately (push), but to also retrieve mail from another folder every 4 hours or so? This is the setup I had with Aquamail and K9mail. I ask because I have a 'newsletter' folder where all the newsletters, notifications and non-urgent stuff gets filtered (server-side). I am testing typeapp but haven't found a way to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure abt other folders. I know you can set it up that way for different e-mails. Maybe there's a way to make a rule for such a thing. If I discover a way I will post here
Edit- does not appear to be a way to do this using typeapp alone. Maybe another email program could be in fetch mode on that folder and you could set typeapp to push and notifications enabled for certain contacts or something of the like.
You could always contact support and ask if it could be done or put in a feature request. That is a good idea and would be useful to many
Another idea: depending on the email client you use, you may be able to set up a rule to forward those emails you want in fetch mode to a dummy email, then set that email in fetch mode within typeapp
Nothing special about TypeApp in terms of quick notifications when in Doze. I left my phone unattended for 20 minutes then sent a test email and it took over 40 minutes to get the notification. Samsung Email got it first at 28 minutes and BlueMail / TypeApp got it around 42 minutes. This is without touching the phone. This is with Batttery Optimization OFF, Adaptive Battery OFF, Put unused apps to Sleep OFF. Note 10+ Factory Unlocked Android 11 One UI 3.1
Edison Mail sends INSTANT notifications even if your phone's been sleeping for hours, but I hate their GUI, let alone their privacy policy.
Will this ADB command stick after reboot?
Code:
adb shell dumpsys deviceidle unforce

Boiler plate calendar code for use in Android apps

I've got someone developing an app for me. It's not complicated but it's hit a bit of a brick wall. Part of the functionality of the app includes a calendar for the user to enter predicted events. The developer is struggling with understanding this aspect, especially repetitions of events that aren't a fixed date (e.g. first Tuesday of every month). Is there any 'off-the-shelf' Android calendar code that a developer can incorporate, rather than having to write something from scratch? Apart from appearing as an option in the same app, and seeing the number of events entered by the user over the period of a year, the calendar is self-contained won't have to integrate with any of the other app functions. Maybe this means there's pretty much a copy/paste option for calendar code? Any help would be really appreciated.

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