UPDATE:
Hi everyone,
I want to share some news. I received an email from Google yesterday letting me know that Amplify has been suspended from the Play Store because it changes the way that other apps work, which is against their policy. Google is enforcing this policy much more recently than they had in the past. Numerous other apps have also been taken down: CyanogenMod's installer, LuckyPatcher, Magisk Manager, Viper4Android, etc. I respect Google's policy on this and understand that the Play Store is evolving and needs to be "safe for Grandma" rather than a tool for Power Users like ourselves.
After some consideration, I think that Amplify should remain available. Google's implementation of Doze, Coalesced WakeLocks, and user pressure to deliver apps that don't overuse the battery have made Amplify less critical than it was in the past. Still, there are users on older phones and power users who want to have granular control over their wakelocks and Amplify fills a valuable niche for those people. I'm still considering how to make sure that Amplify remains available for people who need it. I need to find a couple of hours this week to recompile so that it will work without the Google Play Services and decide where to host it. Amplify has always been, and will always remain, an open source project. You're always welcome to download the source yourself from GitHub.
This Amplify thread has over 8,200 posts and over 2 million views. It's the 5th most viewed thread of all-time in the Xposed Modules forum. The app had almost 1 million downloads and a Play Store rating of 4.13 stars. I originally built Amplify for myself because I was frustrated with two particular wakelocks that were misbehaving. I never dreamed it would grow the way it did. I appreciate all of your support throughout the years.
Here's to better battery life!
Ryan
--- Original Post Follows ---
Amplify puts you in control of how your device uses your battery by controlling how often your device can wake up, and how long it can stay awake. Use the recommended settings for easy battery savings, or dig in and customize every alarm, service, and wakelock on your device.
Here are some highlights:
A beautiful design, inspired by Material Design principles. Your choice of Light or Dark.
A stable blocking engine
Comprehensive measuring of the time wasted and time saved because of alarms and wakelocks
Support for Nougat and SELinux.
A growing list of descriptions of the alarms, services, and wakelocks in plain English (and other languages!)
A Pro package that lets you control any alarm, service, or wakelock on the device
Translated by the community into Chinese, Czech, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Malay, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and more
Tasker integration
An open source codebase so you can see how it works, or build it yourself
4.0.1 is the latest version, available in the Google Play Store.
You can learn more at Amplify for Android.
The In-App purchases allow you to unlock the Pro package that lets you customize the alarms, services, and wakelocks on your device. Without the pro package, you can control the worst battery hogs: NlpWakelock, NlpCollectorWakeLock, ALARM_WAKEUP_LOCATOR, and ALARM_WAKE_ACTIVITY_DETECTION.
May you have a long [battery] life!
Ryan
Watch this excellent review by Chris Nacca for an introduction, and to answer most of your questions
FAQ for problemsI donated but Amplify doesn't recognize my donation
This is frustrating. The reason is because of the way that the Play Store handles In-App-Billing when apps are installed from different places (like sideloading, Xposed repo, and sometimes from the Play Store app). The fix is usually simple:
1) Uninstall Amplify from your device
2) Go to the Play Store on your computer and install Amplify from the Play Store web interface.
For some reason this tends to link the accounts more reliably than installing from the Play Store on the device.
It won't let me donate, or I see an error message when trying to donate
There are a few reasons this happens. It's always because Google reports that In App Billing isn't available for your device. Here are the causes I've seen:
You installed Amplify from the Xposed installer instead of from the Play Store, which causes problems due to a bug in Google Play
You have the Play Store or Google Play Services Greenified
You have blocked some part of the Play Store from running with Service Blocker, or another XPosed module
You purchased Amplify with a different Google account than the one you're using now
You have Lucky Patcher installed
You're from a country where In-App Billing is not available (not common)
You need to update your Google Play Store or Google Play Services (not common)
I just did an update to Amplify in the Play Store and it takes a couple of hours for Google to update their servers with the new version (not common)
I had Lucky Patcher installed. I uninstalled it but Amplify still doesn't work
Lucky Patcher makes permanent changes to your system. Simply uninstalling it doesn't work. Here's something to try, courtesy of @mikeezy187:
- Uninstall lucky patcher
- Go into settings
- Go to apps
- Go to Google Play Store
- Clear Cache and app data
- Uninstall Google Play Store updates and it will ask you if you want to restore Google Play Store to its stock settings
- Click Yes
- Reboot
Amplify gets stuck on the screen checking for Xposed, or says Xposed isn't installed
If you're positive that Xposed is running properly, and that Amplify is checked in the Modules list, and you've done a soft reboot:
When it gets stuck, swipe from the left side of the screen, choose Settings, then push the back button to bypass these checks.
Additional details
I have a bug or feature request.
Cool. Thanks for helping out! Please go file the issue here, on GitHub. You can also upvote bugs and feature requests there.
I'd like to help with translations.
That would be AWESOME. Please check here to get started.
Why is Play Services such a battery killer:
1) If Google Location Services are turned on, it sets an alarm to wakeup every 60 seconds, check the network location, and broadcast ALARM_WAKEUP_LOCATOR.
2) Everytime ALARM_WAKEUP_LOCATOR fires, Google Search receives the broadcast and grabs an NlpWakeLock and NlpCollectorWakeLock.
3) Those wakelocks hold the keep the device on for 5-15 seconds. This means that the device is actually awake for about 15 seconds per minute, or 25% of the time!
What are the consequences of reducing alarm and wakelock frequency?
It depends on the alarm. The defaults are well tested and don't have negative impacts. They just save battery life. If you start blocking unknown alarms and wakelocks, it may stop things from working. You can always disable the module at boot to fix things. The latest knowledge base was created by @1ceb0x and is being maintained by the community. I regularly include their findings in Amplify. You can find the knowledge base here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...0gYFBe1K8_R3NBloP4Q1FgpIU/edit#gid=2072742181
I blocked something and now my device won't boot!
To disable Xposed during boot, you have to repeatedly tap one of the hardware buttons (Power, Volume, or Home) on your device during startup. During boot, your device will vibrate twice when it detects the first key press. You'll then have five seconds to press that same button four more times, with each keystroke producing a short single vibration. After ending with a long vibration, your device will disable and prevent most of Xposed's actions, allowing you to go back to Amplify settings and fix what you broke.
What do the numbers mean, and how do I use this thing?
Check out this awesome intro video by Shiwak that explains the basics of how Amplify works.
I still get a ton of Wakelocks showing up in BetterBatteryStats
Short version: Those aren't really wakelocks. You can ignore them. Please go check in WakeLock Detector, and you'll see that they don't show up there.
Long version: Admittedly, I don't know *exactly* why they're showing up in BBS, but not in Wakelock Detector. I did a ton of testing today and can confirm that my device showed 988 NlpWakeLocks in BBS, but only 20 in WLD. During that time, I also had logcat running and a custom hook in the Android stats code. Logcat didn't show any of those phantom wakelocks, the Android stats code doesn't record them, Amplify doesn't see them, and WLD doesn't see them. BBS is [awesomely] open source, so I went digging a bit. I don't see anything obviously wrong in the code, but for some reason it's getting the counts wrong. Here's the interesting piece: It's getting the TIME SPENT in the wakelocks correct. That's why you see something absurd like 2000 wakelocks and only 6 seconds of lock time. If it were really that many wakelocks, your lock time would be much, much higher.
Where's the source code?
It's here: https://github.com/rsteckler/unbounce-android
A couple of things:
1) Don't judge. I need to do some cleanup, but wanted to post the repo early so people can take a look at what it does.
2) Pull requests are welcome.
I didn't read the FAQ
The band will not perform unless there is a bowl of M&Ms backstage, with all of the brown ones removed.
Where's the change log?
It's here: https://github.com/rsteckler/unbounce-android/commits/master
What are the best settings?
There is no "best" for everyone because every device is different. Check out this helpful thread from @Celestial Fury for a guide that walks you through an awesome baseline, and gives you advice on how to tune further.
What's an alarm vs. a wakelock, and how are they related with regards to Nlp (Network Location Provider)?
An alarm wakes your device from deep sleep, scheduled using the RTC (Real Time Clock). For example, Google Play Services schedules an alarm every 60 seconds to wake up the device with the ALARM_WAKEUP_LOCATOR alarm. That's why I didn't try to stop the wakelocks at first, but instead tried to stop the alarms. I don't even want the device to wakeup in the first place!
Once the alarm fires, the Nlp service wants to get your location and send it back to google. This requires keeping the device awake for a few (5-15) seconds. To keep the device awake, Google Play Services grabs the NlpWakeLock. This is the second point we can modify the system, but it only puts the device back to sleep once it's already awake.
A couple of other things: This is why I recommend starting with just the alarms. It's less intrusive, and stops the device from waking up at all. Most people will probably be fine with the settings 240, 240, 0, 0. There are other things that can cause an NlpWakeLock, though, including third party apps. If the alarms don't work by themselves for you, you can also slow down the frequency of the wakelocks directly in the settings.
Are there any ads in Amplify?
Nope. Never have been, and never will be.
What information do you collect about me?
When you launch the UI, I use Google Analytics to collect some information about your device. Specifically, the version of Amplify that you're using, the type of device you have, what country you're in, the version of Android you're using, etc. I use this information to make the app better. For example, it tells me how many people have the app installed in each country. This helps me know which language translations will be the most helpful. It also helps me know which versions of the app people will be upgrading from so I can make those transitions smooth. In my Google Analytics account, I have the options to share your data with Google and Third parties turned off. You can also read Google's Privacy Policy if you want to know how they use the data.
Do you sell my data?
Nope. Never.
The data collected for Google Analytics is only used to make the app better. I don't do anything else with it and no third parties get access to it.
How do I know that the code on GitHub is actually the code you push to the Play Store?
I don't think there's a way to verify that. You just have to trust me. If that makes you nervous, I encourage you to build the GitHub code yourself.
Can I get Pro features by donating via PayPal, Bitcoins, or something else?
Sadly, no. The Google Play Store Terms of Service require that I use the Google Play Store IAP system to collect donations. I also don't plan on distributing non-Google IAP versions outside of the Play Store because of the effort involved. I'd rather spend my time making Amplify better, instead of maintaining two copies of the code and writing a new donation system. Sorry if you're one of the people affected by that.
Thanks, and let me know if it works for you!
Ryan
What are the consequences of reducing its frequency? Are there any negatives?
alex91s said:
What are the consequences of reducing its frequency? Are there any negatives? if not, why don't reducing it more?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know all of the consequences, but it should be pretty safe because you're able to completely disable Google Location Services without major disruption.
For myself, I think 4 minutes is a good balance between the apps that depend on Network Location and battery life. Once I verify with you guys that it works and doesn't cause problems on different setups, I'll make the timing adjustable so you can decide for yourself what you want the threshold to be.
Thanks,
Ryan
After two days using this, my battery use has gone from about 5% per hour to about 2% per hour when the phone is idle.
The ALARM_WAKEUP_LOCATOR in BBS has gone from 1.1/minute to 15/hour.
The next biggest wakeup is now ALARM_WAKEUP_ACTIVITY_DETECTION, so I'm going to tackle that one next.
I'm on an HTC One M8, and would appreciate if someone can confirm on a different device, as well.
Thanks,
Ryan
Not sure If it's working here (Moto X 4.4.4). Take a look:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
alex91s said:
Not sure If it's working here (Moto X 4.4.4). Take a look:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to tell with WLD because it doesn't show the source of the alarms that wakeup the device.
You should notice a decrease in NlpWakeCollectorWakelock, but you'd have to run it for some time before and after to see the difference in the count.
BBS shows the alarms that actually wake up the device, and the frequency. WLD just shows the wakelocks, and the count. The problem is that you'd need to run it for the same amount of time to calculate the frequency.
In any case, I'd love even your subjective opinion on your battery life today vs. yesterday.
Thanks,
Ryan
Any chance you could put a setting in that would allow us to set the time by ourself?
Corndude said:
Any chance you could put a setting in that would allow us to set the time by ourself?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
He says it's planned in the OP, which you should've read.
Giving a try right now since I hate how much NIp keeps my phone awake.
Gonna give it a shot too. For reference, this is how my NLP wakelocks looked like on my previous charge. I have Location History on since I use Cerberus, so I suppose I should notice any improvements.
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Free mobile app
metalboy94 said:
Gonna give it a shot too. For reference, this is how my NLP wakelocks looked like on my previous charge. I have Location History on since I use Cerberus, so I suppose I should notice any improvements.
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your stats are REALLY good, as is. Nice!
Hi, sorry for the stupid question, but if I'm already using Wakelock Terminator to control the Nlp-wakelocks, would it be redundant to use your module as well, or would there still be a benefit?
shockwaverider said:
Hi, sorry for the stupid question, but if I'm already using Wakelock Terminator to control the Nlp-wakelocks, would it be redundant to use your module as well, or would there still be a benefit?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using both is redundant. The difference is that this doesn't disable Google Search from getting the wakelocks. It just tempers the alarm that causes them so they don't destroy your battery.
I've got a VZ Note 3, rooted stock ROM. I travel a lot, so I leave location on basically 24/7. It would be nice to get better battery life without turning every thing off like a lot of these "battery gurus" like to suggest. What's the point of having a smartphone if you turn off every function that makes it smart? LOL
I'll certainly give this a try and report back ?
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
BlastTyrantKM said:
What's the point of having a smartphone if you turn off every function that makes it smart? LOL
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My feelings exactly! I installed this module about 8 hours ago. It works... without a doubt.
Sent from my LG-D801
Please tame these 2 wlan wakelocks!
wlan_rx_wake
wlan_wd_wake
After about an hour of use, wakelocks have clearly happened, but have not kept the phone awake for 25 minutes like they used to. The phone is also no longer warm to the touch while it tries to sleep. Waiting for moar updates for this wonderful piece of software.
whittikins said:
Please tame these 2 wlan wakelocks!
wlan_rx_wake
wlan_wd_wake
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm fairly sure kernel wakelocks are out of his power, mate. Fixing those things are up to the manufacturer of the phone.
whittikins said:
Please tame these 2 wlan wakelocks!
wlan_rx_wake
wlan_wd_wake
View attachment 2907298View attachment 2907299View attachment 2907300
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have Always Scanning turned OFF under c WiFi Advanced??? If not.. Try that.
- Tapatalked from the G3
cryptyk said:
It's hard to tell with WLD because it doesn't show the source of the alarms that wakeup the device.
You should notice a decrease in NlpWakeCollectorWakelock, but you'd have to run it for some time before and after to see the difference in the count.
BBS shows the alarms that actually wake up the device, and the frequency. WLD just shows the wakelocks, and the count. The problem is that you'd need to run it for the same amount of time to calculate the frequency.
In any case, I'd love even your subjective opinion on your battery life today vs. yesterday.
Thanks,
Ryan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my subjective opinion, the battery got better .
Related
I have been in love with this app for over a year now I guess and it just keeps on getting better, thank you , I have a couple of suggestions / questions if I am being dumb and missing something though...
The ability to allow hibernated apps to be woken up via GCM calls is amazing for apps that make sense, e.g. gmail / whatsapp / skype etc etc, but with the ever growing abuse of this system in games / apps that have no legitimate need to use it I feel it would kinda rock to be able to tell them in greenify that their services are not allowed to run and most definitely are not allowed to give you notifications. I know as of android 6+ you can disable notifications for apps, but as far as I understand how that works it just ignores any gcm push the services / alarms / wakelocks / whatever try to make ?, whilst leaving the actual battery draining parts active. The best solution I have come up with so far is to go through apps I feel have no right to use gcm and deny their access to the appropriate service in Better Battery Saver... feels a bit of a chore hehe.
My other suggestion is to have a whitelist time on the apps that I actually want to allow gcm to wake up, like waylaidwanderer added to Power Nap recently ... and if you figure out how to do that, maybe some amplify kind of limits on how often they are allowed to do so ?
Sorry in advance if these kind of changes are impossible or a silly amount of work hehe, I realise I have asked you to incorporate functions from 3 different apps which just feels wrong .. still, ask not get not or something
Feel free to ignore this, and keep up the good work, honestly one of my favourite android apps !.
Like many other developers, I also received the 30-days deadline warning email from Google Play team about the potential "misuse" of accessibility service in Greenify.
As the very first developer who introduced this trick of "misusing" accessibility to achieve UI automation years ago, I'm very proud that many more creative tool apps followed this approach to enable fantastic functionality beyond the imagination of the creator of Android, without root. It's a miracle bred from the openness and flexibility of Android.
Unfortunately, the supervisor of the dominant app market is now declaring its right of final interpretation, to judge the proper use of Android API and claim that this whole idea is unacceptable. At this point, I feel I have to say something.
Why accessibility service?
As we all know, root is the ultimate playground of super users in the Android community. But it also has its inconvenience and grey side, so I decided to make Greenify work for users with non-root device. I had been experimenting with many approaches for this purpose in almost the whole year 2013. Finally I found the magic of UI automation driven by accessibility service. With this approach, many more users now enjoy the improved battery life and smoothness brought by Greenify.
I know that accessibility service is not a perfect solution, considering the overall UI performance degradation involved (explained below). So I never gave up seeking alternative approaches ever since, (many of which might also be considered API "misusing" in strict speaking) but still no better approach found. If Android could provide any alternative solution, I would never prefer accessibility service in the first place.
The Good
Accessibility service is so powerful, that I have to admit it's some kind of Pandora's box.
With accessibility, developers could not only help people with disabled abilities, but also greatly benefit the general users with wonderful use cases, including:
• Remote assistant via touch interaction, without root. (seems like no such apps yet?)
• Automate the tedious operations inside not-well-designed apps, even possibly driven by Tasker or IFTTT, without root.
• Programatically trigger global actions (e.g. Back, Home).
• Overlay the whole screen including the notification shade on Android O.
• ……
I even wrote a small app with accessibility service to "fix" the bottom navigation bar of my wife's Moto X Style, whose touch screen is not reading touches any more in bottommost rows of pixels.
The Bad
With such power, accessibility service is also becoming the trending target of malware, endangering average users world-wide. A typical malware could deceive user to enable its accessibility service and then perform many dangerous actions without user consent, including gaining other sensitive privileges.
Together with screen overlay, this could even hide from average user's observation, effectively making it a seductive approach, thus highly dangerous in the wild.
The Ugly
The dangers above may not be a thread to advanced users, but the overall UI lag caused by accessibility service could be a real hurt.
Android delivers accessibility events to active accessibility service in two phases. Events are first generated in the current interacting app and immediately sent to system process, then dispatched to separate accessibility services, each in its own process.
If no accessibility services enabled, both phases are shutdown, thus no performance affection at all. If at least one accessibility service is enabled, the first phase is turned on, in full power, no matter which types of events are interested (declared by accessibility service). The second phase is taking that into consideration and only delivers the interested events to each accessibility service.
The performance lag comes mostly out of the first phase because some types of accessibility events are so heavy, considering how frequently they are triggered. For example, TYPE_WINDOW_CONTENT_CHANGED is generated and sent every tiny bit of UI content changes and TYPE_VIEW_SCROLLED is generated and sent every pixel your finger is moved across during scrolling, even if no accessibility services are interested in them.
Sounds crazy? Unfortunately that's the current situation. Although Android O took a step to address that, the situation is still not changed fundamentally. Maybe in Google's view, accessibility service is not intended for general users, so performance optimization is never in the priority.
How is Greenify doing
Performance is always Greenify's priority since it’s one of the purposes defining Greenify. So I took all the possibilities to improve that in the past years, even greatly pulled-back by Android system itself.
First of all, Greenify declares no interest of events at all at most of the time and only declares minimal interest of events (all are trivial to generate) and specific target (system settings app) required during the short period of on-going hibernation operation. This is implemented by dynamic registration, cutting the cost of the second phase to almost zero.
Due to the inefficient implementation in Android system, the first phase is still the bottleneck of UI performance. After a long time of trial and failure, I finally managed to eliminate that cost, in a tricky way. With necessary permission granted via ADB, Greenify only enables its accessibility service during the hibernation operation and disable it immediately afterwards. That means, if no other accessibility service enabled, you will have no performance problem of accessibility service at all while still enjoy the power of Greenify.
With above optimization, Greenify limited the events it could receive to the minimal, thus also effectively keeps the privacy of users in safety. I'm planning to bring this optimization to broader users who has little knowledge about ADB, and even to other apps with accessibility service hopefully.
My Concern
Accessibility service is a yard full of potential creativity and magic. It should never be a Pandora's Box if Android itself implement it with caution in the first place. I understand the complexity and historical reasons that lead to the current situation, but feel sorry and sad about how Google deals with this situation, by banishing popular tool apps. Will that make Android users more secure? I highly doubt.
I don't know if Google Play team represents the atitude of Android team at Google. If so, it will then be the breaking day for all Android developers, when Google starts to use its power to judge the "proper use" of Android API, even if it's not used by malware.
Will it come a day that the use of screen overlay besides showing information will be banned?
Will it come a day that the use of content provider not for providing data will be banned?
Will it come a day that the use of internal APIs will be banned?
oasisfeng said:
Like many other developers, I also received the 30-days deadline warning email from Google Play team about the potential "misuse" of accessibility service in Greenify.
As the very first developer who introduced this trick of "misusing" accessibility to achieve UI automation years ago, I'm very proud that many more creative tool apps followed this approach to enable fantastic functionality beyond the imagination of the creator of Android, without root. It's a miracle bred from the openness and flexibility of Android.
Unfortunately, the supervisor of the dominant app market is now declaring its right of final interpretation, to judge the proper use of Android API and claim that this whole idea is unacceptable. At this point, I feel I have to say something.
Why accessibility service?
As we all know, root is the ultimate playground of super users in the Android community. But it also has its inconvenience and grey side, so I decided to make Greenify work for users with non-root device. I had been experimenting with many approaches for this purpose in almost the whole year 2013. Finally I found the magic of UI automation driven by accessibility service. With this approach, many more users now enjoy the improved battery life and smoothness brought by Greenify.
I know that accessibility service is not a perfect solution, considering the overall UI performance degradation involved (explained below). So I never gave up seeking alternative approaches ever since, (many of which might also be considered API "misusing" in strict speaking) but still no better approach found. If Android could provide any alternative solution, I would never prefer accessibility service in the first place.
The Good
Accessibility service is so powerful, that I have to admit it's some kind of Pandora's box.
With accessibility, developers could not only help people with disabled abilities, but also greatly benefit the general users with wonderful use cases, including:
• Remote assistant via touch interaction, without root. (seems like no such apps yet?)
• Automate the tedious operations inside not-well-designed apps, even possibly driven by Tasker or IFTTT, without root.
• Programatically trigger global actions (e.g. Back, Home).
• Overlay the whole screen including the notification shade on Android O.
• ……
I even wrote a small app with accessibility service to "fix" the bottom navigation bar of my wife's Moto X Style, whose touch screen is not reading touches any more in bottommost rows of pixels.
The Bad
With such power, accessibility service is also becoming the trending target of malware, endangering average users world-wide. A typical malware could deceive user to enable its accessibility service and then perform many dangerous actions without user consent, including gaining other sensitive privileges.
Together with screen overlay, this could even hide from average user's observation, effectively making it a seductive approach, thus highly dangerous in the wild.
The Ugly
The dangers above may not be a thread to advanced users, but the overall UI lag caused by accessibility service could be a real hurt.
Android delivers accessibility events to active accessibility service in two phases. Events are first generated in the current interacting app and immediately sent to system process, then dispatched to separate accessibility services, each in its own process.
If no accessibility services enabled, both phases are shutdown, thus no performance affection at all. If at least one accessibility service is enabled, the first phase is turned on, in full power, no matter which types of events are interested (declared by accessibility service). The second phase is taking that into consideration and only delivers the interested events to each accessibility service.
The performance lag comes mostly out of the first phase because some types of accessibility events are so heavy, considering how frequently they are triggered. For example, TYPE_WINDOW_CONTENT_CHANGED is generated and sent every tiny bit of UI content changes and TYPE_VIEW_SCROLLED is generated and sent every pixel your finger is moved across during scrolling, even if no accessibility services are interested in them.
Sounds crazy? Unfortunately that's the current situation. Although Android O took a step to address that, the situation is still not changed fundamentally. Maybe in Google's view, accessibility service is not intended for general users, so performance optimization is never in the priority.
How is Greenify doing
Performance is always Greenify's priority since it’s one of the purposes defining Greenify. So I took all the possibilities to improve that in the past years, even greatly pulled-back by Android system itself.
First of all, Greenify declares no interest of events at all at most of the time and only declares minimal interest of events (all are trivial to generate) and specific target (system settings app) required during the short period of on-going hibernation operation. This is implemented by dynamic registration, cutting the cost of the second phase to almost zero.
Due to the inefficient implementation in Android system, the first phase is still the bottleneck of UI performance. After a long time of trial and failure, I finally managed to eliminate that cost, in a tricky way. With necessary permission granted via ADB, Greenify only enables its accessibility service during the hibernation operation and disable it immediately afterwards. That means, if no other accessibility service enabled, you will have no performance problem of accessibility service at all while still enjoy the power of Greenify.
With above optimization, Greenify limited the events it could receive to the minimal, thus also effectively keeps the privacy of users in safety. I'm planning to bring this optimization to broader users who has little knowledge about ADB, and even to other apps with accessibility service hopefully.
My Concern
Accessibility service is a yard full of potential creativity and magic. It should never be a Pandora's Box if Android itself implement it with caution in the first place. I understand the complexity and historical reasons that lead to the current situation, but feel sorry and sad about how Google deals with this situation, by banishing popular tool apps. Will that make Android users more secure? I highly doubt.
I don't know if Google Play team represents the atitude of Android team at Google. If so, it will then be the breaking day for all Android developers, when Google starts to use its power to judge the "proper use" of Android API, even if it's not used by malware.
Will it come a day that the use of screen overlay besides showing information will be banned?
Will it come a day that the use of content provider not for providing data will be banned?
Will it come a day that the use of internal APIs will be banned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thanks for all you've done for the Android community!
Perhaps you and many other devs should just pull away from Google and switch to a different market like FDroid.
Google has done this sort of thing in the past, like with SCR Pro (screen recording software with internal audio support) because it changed SELinux Policy. If Google loses their cut money, maybe they would rethink that decision. Personally if I was Google, I'd just add a "Potential Security Issue" or a "Modifies Critical Security Settings" indicator to apps on the Play Store that use the Accessibility Services or change SELinux Policy, or other security related settings. Give the users the option of what they choose or not choose to run on their phones! They already have some sort of a system in place that already does this with the "Play Protect" system. Slowly but surely, Android is becoming more like iOS with less freedom.
Interesting update to original article on XDA
https://www.xda-developers.com/google-threatening-removal-accessibility-services-play-store/
"Update: LastPass has just responded to this news and states that there will be “no immediate impact” for their Android apps. Whether or not this means that other applications will be given leniency remains to be seen."
Accessibility Service options
If I may ask -- what are you going to do? Are you going to pre-emptively unpublish the app before the 30 day limit is up? Are you going to try to reach out to Google and ask them to clarify whether there is any changes / clarifications? (LastPass implies they have gotten some kind of assurance, but they don't directly state that). Or, are you going to try to get as compliant as possible (put the appropriate language in the appropriate places), and hope for the best?
As far as I'm concerned your app is one of the few mission critical apps in the android ecosystem. So I can only hope that this can be resolved amicably.
I think this change is aimed solely at Substratum, as I have heard (not confirmed) than in Android 8.1 without root/unlocking and only using accessibility services, OMS can be exploited for theming. So Google is using a shotgun to kill all apps using this service rather than narrow their focus.
@oasisfeng
An insightful, deliberate and extremely well written post! ?
Sent from my SM-G955W ??
I think its time of the developers make a big migration of the apps to the XDA store to save the lagacy of the -7.0
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe using XDA Labs
divineBliss said:
Interesting update to original article on XDA
https://www.xda-developers.com/google-threatening-removal-accessibility-services-play-store/
"Update: LastPass has just responded to this news and states that there will be “no immediate impact” for their Android apps. Whether or not this means that other applications will be given leniency remains to be seen."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LastPass and Chrome enjoyed a cozy relationship in the past. That said I'm almost surprised at the news given Google could easily incorporate similar functionality into Android. Maybe Google and LogMeIn have something going on the side (new rumor...lol).
As much as i like to sympathize with developers using Accessibility to improve functionality of Android, I can't.
Because in last couple of months i have seen many crappy apps (cleaners n all) also start asking for same permission, and average user don't really understand or even care to read what impact or access they are giving and more than 95% of Android user falls in this category. We at XDA or other nerdy site don't like this fact but it's bare truth.
And from Google perspective, They can't monitor each and every App for eternity that which one is using this permission for good and which one isn't. So hammer of Banning all of it seems only solution for now on their part. especially considering Accessibility service was never meant to use for improving "Device Functionality" (Button Mapper, Battery Saver) it was always meant for "helping hand" in case normal functionally can't be used, not as "Replacement".
Also in my personal option, i think this ban is more due to App developers are trying to bypass each and every thing device manufacturers put (Bexby & Assistant Button) than apps trying to help with routine task (LastPass, Greenify).
Though they may not say explicitly OEM are not happy with their excursive feature are ruined by apps using accessibility as bypass and they (including Google in this case) can force Play Store to make restriction on this. (whether it's is Good practice or not is entire different topic so don't dwell into that debate in replies)
So in conclusion, Till Google come up with better solution (and i think they will, People working there are not fools they understand good that this access can do for Android as whole) , banning seems fair to me because security & stability of 95% users comes above 5% demanding modification & features.
Nerdy will always find a way but it's extremely difficultly to help understand average user why their phone suddenly start behaving abnormally
and that's what Google & OEM face daily.
jineshpatel30 said:
As much as i like to sympathize with developers using Accessibility to improve functionality of Android, I can't.
Because in last couple of months i have seen many crappy apps (cleaners n all) also start asking for same permission, and average user don't really understand or even care to read what impact or access they are giving and more than 95% of Android user falls in this category. We at XDA or other nerdy site don't like this fact but it's bare truth.
And from Google perspective, They can't monitor each and every App for eternity that which one is using this permission for good and which one isn't. So hammer of Banning all of it seems only solution for now on their part. especially considering Accessibility service was never meant to use for improving "Device Functionality" (Button Mapper, Battery Saver) it was always meant for "helping hand" in case normal functionally can't be used, not as "Replacement".
Also in my personal option, i think this ban is more due to App developers are trying to bypass each and every thing device manufacturers put (Bexby & Assistant Button) than apps trying to help with routine task (LastPass, Greenify).
Though they may not say explicitly OEM are not happy with their excursive feature are ruined by apps using accessibility as bypass and they (including Google in this case) can force Play Store to make restriction on this. (whether it's is Good practice or not is entire different topic so don't dwell into that debate in replies)
So in conclusion, Till Google come up with better solution (and i think they will, People working there are not fools they understand good that this access can do for Android as whole) , banning seems fair to me because security & stability of 95% users comes above 5% demanding modification & features.
Nerdy will always find a way but it's extremely difficultly to help understand average user why their phone suddenly start behaving abnormally
and that's what Google & OEM face daily.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually Google has fairly simple way to provide a solution, for example, Play services API to provide similar functionality with refined security and proper restriction. The new SMS verification API is a good example for app to avoid requesting SMS permission. Fairly speaking, SMS too was not designed for verification purpose.
They did nothing for a long time, but rush to ban all these apps in just 30 days. I think they just don't care that much about advanced user like the old days when Android was competing with iOS fiercely.
I’m the developer of Battery Overlay Percent. Not one of the big apps out there but it does got 500,000 downloads and about 30,000 active users.
I use accessibility services for hiding overlay when user pull status bar or on later release to resolve overlay breaking permission.
I’m quite sad with Google closing down on legitimate use cases. Personally from an open source OS we now live in a world of 2 pretty closed mobile environments.
And who’s collecting most data? Play Services of course.
Hope there will be a shift from this centerlized dark state we’re in.
oasisfeng said:
Actually Google has fairly simple way to provide a solution, for example, Play services API to provide similar functionality with refined security and proper restriction. The new SMS verification API is a good example for app to avoid requesting SMS permission. Fairly speaking, SMS too was not designed for verification purpose.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought something similar and i still think they will implement it but not before 30day timeline.
They did nothing for a long time, but rush to ban all these apps in just 30 days. I think they just don't care that much about advanced user like the old days when Android was competing with iOS fiercely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True that. When you have 90% of market you don't need to expand it any more you just need to control it.
I don't mean to sound like I'm supporting them, but this what people do in general, when they have control on almost entire market.
Luckily for now (and unlike with ios) Android can still and probaly can always exist without the Google Play Store and Google Play Services and thats still a big win over ios! And as much as I hate this news, this is something I think will ultimately lead advanced users and advanced developers to become less dependant upon Google Play Store and Google Play Services.... and for users/devs like us, thats actually a good thing!
Maybe now Google Play Store will finally get some real competition!! Google has certainly with their actions have now got a significant chunk of users and devs properly motivated to look or create healthy alternatives for app licensing and license management on Android, thats for sure and to also kick it off with a healthly sample of some of the most prized apps android has ever seen, yikes!! Greenify is amazing but Tasker too; bigger yikes!!!
cantenna said:
Luckily for now (and unlike with ios) Android can still and probaly can always exist without the Google Play Store and Google Play Services and thats still a big win over ios! And as much as I hate this news, this is something I think will ultimately lead advanced users and advanced developers to become less dependant upon Google Play Store and Google Play Services.... and for users/devs like us, thats actually a good thing!
Maybe now Google Play Store will finally get some real competition!! Google has certainly with their actions have now got a significant chunk of users and devs properly motivated to look or create healthy alternatives for app licensing and license management on Android, thats for sure and to also kick it off with a healthly sample of some of the most prized apps android has ever seen, yikes!! Greenify is amazing but Tasker too; bigger yikes!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly.
We need to stand our ground.
I have a feeling that alternate app stores are about to see a huge boost in users. Google is going to sorely regret their decisions.
betatest3 said:
Exactly.
We need to stand our ground.
I have a feeling that alternate app stores are about to see a huge boost in users. Google is going to sorely regret their decisions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I admire your optimistic attitude - But... Alphabet is a Juggernaut and if it suits them - They'd probably just buy any potential problem ?
Sent from my SM-G955W ??
shaggyskunk said:
I admire your optimistic attitude - But... Alphabet is a Juggernaut and if it suits them - They'd probably just buy any potential problem ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to mention the relatively small number of individuals that will be adversely impacted when all is said and done. Bigger players (eg: LastPass) will likely receive some form of dispensation. Niche tools like Greenify might take a hit but that is not where the revenue stream resides. Google ain't catering to the Android enthusiast community.
shaggyskunk said:
I admire your optimistic attitude - But... Alphabet is a Juggernaut and if it suits them - They'd probably just buy any potential problem ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think they'll be buying the amazon app store any time soon.
but to the point of the other user you quoted, you'll likely see the accessibility needing market move to another app store.
cantenna said:
I dont think they'll be buying the amazon app store any time soon.
but to the point of the other user you quoted, you'll likely see the accessibility needing market move to another app store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. There are a handful of reputable alternative app stores that cater to small communities that dare to venture off the beaten path. Niche market; don't think Google is worried. Nor is it likely Amazon will cater to Android enthusiasts.
If Alphabet/Google is serious about reining in potential abuses look for further adjustments in the successor to Android 8.
Can you on XDA Dev put an parallel market on the XDA Labs with PayPal account with less taxes (good for all) to maintaining and update webpage to conventional user going fu*k up the Google to the apps then will not survive on the Google rules on the market?
Put and good design market to the conventional use on XDA please.
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 05:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:20 PM ----------
If you on XDA Labs put a inner market in the app with an Market safe with PayPal the developers can update the Apps on the Market with no acessibility but make an link to be updated on the XDA Labs with a plugin or a new full version, we can free more people with xposed solutions to defeat Google Policy
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 05:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:31 PM ----------
Dev can update your apps and redirect to the external link in XDA Labs without violated google policy.
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 05:50 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 PM ----------
XDA Labs have power with an safe and free market scanning and checking malicious new apps to be so respected and Xposed so popular then I believed on the futere ASUS and Samsung make the ZenFone Deluxes and Galaxy S with Xposed on stock on the most expansive "and free" devices, absolutely. Please think renew the XDA webpage and XDA Labs to defeat the enemies of the freedom on coding.
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 05:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:50 PM ----------
Its time of the XDA webpage be more like Facebook on design and XDA Labs more like market on the safe and design to receive more redirected links to update and pay by apps on the XDA Labs with PayPal an Google Account if I like. Well if that happen we really will see if Google support free coding on open source.
Sent from my Asus ZenFone 3 Deluxe using XDA Labs
Interesting/digestible read; nothing new if you have been keeping up with the news on this topic.
https://www.howtogeek.com/333365/android-apps-using-accessibility-services-could-disappear/
I don't know if this is the right place to post this thread but I can't see any feature request thread anywhere.
So as the title says, I would like to request a feature that is similiar to Smart Hibernation, except that it will avoid Dozing the phone if it detects any notification of application(s) added to its list.
Of course there should be an extra menu to add Smart Doze list. This way I don't have to disable Aggressive Doze everytime I cast something. I keep losing connection with Aggresive Doze on when I cast Youtube / other apps to Chromecast. Only disabling Aggressive Doze fixes it. (Yes I did put Youtube on doze white list)
Probably Smart Doze is not the right name but you get the point I'm using android 6.0.1 Galaxy Note 4
Thanks in advance!
Off topic : I think should we have a feature request thread? That way oasisfeng can read all the feature requests in one thread
threetwotwo said:
...I would like to request a feature that is similiar to Smart Hibernation, except that it will avoid Dozing the phone if it detects any notification of application(s) added to its list....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming that I've correctly understood your addressed requirement, and my assumption might be wrong that would void everything coming behind, the requested feature/function is already available as one of the Xposed-based features; and actually working perfectly.
I'm well aware that not everybody wants to use Xposed for some reasons beyond the scope of the Greenify forum but I think it's simply that way that you can't get lots of functionalities if you're unrooted, you receive more power if rooted, but for some functionalities you ultimately require the Xposed framework.
Oswald Boelcke said:
Assuming that I've correctly understood your addressed requirement, and my assumption might be wrong that would void everything coming behind, the requested feature/function is already available as one of the Xposed-based features; and actually working perfectly.
I'm well aware that not everybody wants to use Xposed for some reasons beyond the scope of the Greenify forum but I think it's simply that way that you can't get lots of functionalities if you're unrooted, you receive more power if rooted, but for some functionalities you ultimately require the Xposed framework.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess you misunderstood? Let me rephrase my experience in points.
- My chromecast keeps disconnecting from my phone if I cast Youtube / other apps after a few minutes when screen is off
- Already put all casting apps to doze whitelist
- Can be fixed by setting Aggresive Doze off but I want to keep it on
threetwotwo said:
I guess you misunderstood? Let me rephrase my experience in points.
- My chromecast keeps disconnecting from my phone if I cast Youtube / other apps after a few minutes when screen is off
- Already put all casting apps to doze whitelist
- Can be fixed by setting Aggresive Doze off but I want to keep it on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aggressive doze generally does not yield significant power savings relative to standard doze. Switch it off and profit.
threetwotwo said:
I guess you misunderstood? Let me rephrase my experience in points.
- My chromecast keeps disconnecting from my phone if I cast Youtube / other apps after a few minutes when screen is off
- Already put all casting apps to doze whitelist
- Can be fixed by setting Aggresive Doze off but I want to keep it on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologise; it's correct I clearly misunderstood. Lacking own experiences with chromecast or other casting apps and the apps not being part of my portfolio, I'm unable to test myself. Just imagine its utilisation, I currently don't understand why to greenify chromecast and the others at all. At least I didn't do that with applications I want them to run even if the screen is off like OsmAnd+, my mapping and navigation app for hiking and biking,and 15 (just counted them) others for various reasons. On average, I get a battery drainage of 0.5 - 0.7%/h, which is absolutely satisfying to me under special consideration that my devices is running and doing its job as advertised and required by me under all conditions. I never tried but personally doubt that I'd gain a lower drainage if I greenify the aformentioned applications.
Davey126 said:
Aggressive doze generally does not yield significant power savings relative to standard doze. Switch it off and profit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On android 7.0+ maybe but on 6.0 Aggresive doze really helps a lot.
Oswald Boelcke said:
I apologise; it's correct I clearly misunderstood. Lacking own experiences with chromecast or other casting apps and the apps not being part of my portfolio, I'm unable to test myself. Just imagine its utilisation, I currently don't understand why to greenify chromecast and the others at all. At least I didn't do that with applications I want them to run even if the screen is off like OsmAnd+, my mapping and navigation app for hiking and biking,and 15 (just counted them) others for various reasons. On average, I get a battery drainage of 0.5 - 0.7%/h, which is absolutely satisfying to me under special consideration that my devices is running and doing its job as advertised and required by me under all conditions. I never tried but personally doubt that I'd gain a lower drainage if I greenify the aformentioned applications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I don't greenify those apps either, I only greenify stubborn apps I got in my phone there are a few but I need them.
delete
threetwotwo said:
On android 7.0+ maybe but on 6.0 Aggresive doze really helps a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doze on the go (Xposed section) is the setting you want on Android 6 which is the default on Android 7.x and above. If Aggressive Doze is helping "a lot" then something else is happening under the covers. Whether it is worth pursuing is up to you.
Davey126 said:
Doze on the go (Xposed section) is the setting you want on Android 6 which is the default on Android 7.x and above. If Aggressive Doze is helping "a lot" then something else is happening under the covers. Whether it is worth pursuing is up to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, but this does not relate to what I am suggesting / feature request.
threetwotwo said:
Of course, but this does not relate to what I am suggesting / feature request.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smart doze isn't needed IMO; you have a specialized situation on an EOL Android base. Would rather see the developer focus on other progressive functionality.
Greenify isn't a 'doze tweaker' - nor should it become one. Plenty of other largely ineffective apps/modules/tools apps in that crowded space.
I'll step out of the ring now and allow your request to progress on its own merits.
I originally posted a summary of these thoughts on my Play Store review of Greenify. But, since comments there soon get lost in the traffic, I thought I'd rewrite here.
Greenify seems to get a free pass from pretty much every Android-focussed site as a "must have app". I even saw an article on one site that said all RAM/Battery optimiser apps were a waste of time except for Greenify.
My own findings are a bit less uncritical.
My findings are that Greenify is constantly trying to make internet connections behind your back. I have the excellent AFWall+ installed on all my gadgets and, after I installed Greenify and blocked it from making internet connections, I was having AFWall+ alert me that Greenify was trying to make connections, almost constantly.
I would be doing something on my phone and the alerts from AFWall+ would be popping up continually, telling me that Greenify was trying to connect to one IP address after another. This would literally go on for two or three minutes at a time. It got so distracting that I eventually turned off AFWall+'s alerts for Greenify, just so I could use my phone in peace!
Digging further into AFWall+'s logs I found that, in the couple of months I'd had Greenify installed, it had attempted to make over ten thousand internet connections!
To put that into perspective; during the same time period, the second most tenacious app on my phone, Google's Gboard keyboard [which you'd expect to be spying on you], had made around two thousand attempts to phone home – and the connection figures for all the other apps I'd blocked with AFWall+ were way down in the couple of hundreds.
So, what is Greenify doing, trying to connect to these myriad servers all the time?
Even if you believe it's benign [although I can't see any legitimate reason it should be making ANY online connections at all] you've got to wonder how much the app is saving your battery by shutting down other background processes, when it's pretty much constantly trying to make internet connections itself.
I realise this is just my unverified opinion. I've since uninstalled Greenify from all my devices and so no longer have the AFWall+ logs to back up what I'm saying. And you've got no reason to trust me on this. But, if you've any doubts, feel free to install AFWall+ and try it yourself. You might just get a nasty shock.
@xxxmadraxxx I'm a long time user of Greenify in its donation version running on all of our devices and I confirm all of your observations. As you could see by my other own threads, I'm very heavily privacy minded but I continue to use Greenify despite its permanent attempts to "call home" (actually the 1e100.net i.e. Google) because I'm able to fight it. From my perspective, reason are the implemented Google analytics tracker. Certainly, I'd prefer if first no trackers at all were implemented and second no attempts to connect to the internet were made at all. Grenify doesn't require an internet connections for its functionality.
However, as I said I'm able to fight it and I don't want to miss Greenify as it certainly enhances the duration of my battery.
All of our devices still run on custom Nougat ROMs for specific reasons. As far as I see if you're already using Oreo or Pie you wouldn't require Greenify any longer to achieve a better battery duration.
Remark: Malware? Not from my point of view. Spyware? As much as every application that contains trackers or analytics tools but there are a few I trust for the benefit of the developer and the development. As an example: SD Maid and Piwik (now Matomo) (the SD Maid Privacy Statement).
If interested: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/how-enhance-battery-duration-sgs-3-lte-t3478287
Oswald Boelcke said:
...I don't want to miss Greenify as it certainly enhances the duration of my battery...
...As far as I see if you're already using Oreo or Pie you wouldn't require Greenify any longer to achieve a better battery duration....
Remark: Malware? Not from my point of view. Spyware? As much as every application that contains trackers or analytics tools....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My problem isn't so much with the fact Greenify phones home per se. I know that most apps do so, or at least try to. My problem with Greenify is the tenacity and persistence with which it tries to phone home. As I said in my previous post, it made over TEN THOUSAND! attempts to phone home in the space of the couple of weeks I had it installed.
With the vast majority of other apps, they'll try a couple of times to phone home, maybe using a couple of different IP addresses and then give up. With Greenify, I would sit there and watch the AFWall+ alerts pop up on screen, one after the other, with a succession of different IP addresses, literally for 2 or 3 minutes continually. Also, as I said previously the only other app I had installed that came anywhere near this level of persistence was Google's GBoard which would regularly try and phone home as I was typing stuff on my phone [you can draw your own conclusions as to what that entails for your privacy!]. But, even then, Gboard only [relatively speaking] made about a fifth of the attempts to connect to the internet that Greenify did.
I uninstalled it because I really couldn't see how whatever small savings in battery juice that Greenify was purportedly giving me by sleeping apps which aren't doing anything much anyway wouldn't be being more than cancelled out by the drain on my battery caused by Greenify spending countless minutes every day, trying to make hundreds of internet connections behind my back.
I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever in battery life, since uninstalling Greenify.
xxxmadraxxx said:
My problem isn't so much with the fact Greenify phones home per se. I know that most apps do so, or at least try to. My problem with Greenify is the tenacity and persistence with which it tries to phone home. As I said in my previous post, it made over TEN THOUSAND! attempts to phone home in the space of the couple of weeks I had it installed.
With the vast majority of other apps, they'll try a couple of times to phone home, maybe using a couple of different IP addresses and then give up. With Greenify, I would sit there and watch the AFWall+ alerts pop up on screen, one after the other, with a succession of different IP addresses, literally for 2 or 3 minutes continually. Also, as I said previously the only other app I had installed that came anywhere near this level of persistence was Google's GBoard which would regularly try and phone home as I was typing stuff on my phone [you can draw your own conclusions as to what that entails for your privacy!]. But, even then, Gboard only [relatively speaking] made about a fifth of the attempts to connect to the internet that Greenify did.
I uninstalled it because I really couldn't see how whatever small savings in battery juice that Greenify was purportedly giving me by sleeping apps which aren't doing anything much anyway wouldn't be being more than cancelled out by the drain on my battery caused by Greenify spending countless minutes every day, trying to make hundreds of internet connections behind my back.
I haven't noticed any difference whatsoever in battery life, since uninstalling Greenify.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's amazing the conclusions one draws when given a tool. Perhaps Greenify behaves differently on your device than the huge universe of other long time users, some of which share your concerns over excessive outreach. I do not see the aggressive characteristics you and a few others describe - perhaps because I permit *most* analytics to flow unimpeded.
The power saving potential of Greenify and similar tools has depreciated over time given native doze and more aggressive enforcement of app background behaviors via Google policy. That said, Greenify remains an essential tool in my arsenal for performing selective tasks without manual intervention. It certainly is not malware/spyware as your click-bait thread title suggests.
Oswald Boelcke said:
@xxxmadraxxx I'm a long time user of Greenify in its donation version running on all of our devices and I confirm all of your observations. As you could see by my other own threads, I'm very heavily privacy minded but I continue to use Greenify despite its permanent attempts to "call home" (actually the 1e100.net i.e. Google) because I'm able to fight it. From my perspective, reason are the implemented Google analytics tracker. Certainly, I'd prefer if first no trackers at all were implemented and second no attempts to connect to the internet were made at all. Grenify doesn't require an internet connections for its functionality.
However, as I said I'm able to fight it and I don't want to miss Greenify as it certainly enhances the duration of my battery.
All of our devices still run on custom Nougat ROMs for specific reasons. As far as I see if you're already using Oreo or Pie you wouldn't require Greenify any longer to achieve a better battery duration.
Remark: Malware? Not from my point of view. Spyware? As much as every application that contains trackers or analytics tools but there are a few I trust for the benefit of the developer and the development. As an example: SD Maid and Piwik (now Matomo) (the SD Maid Privacy Statement).
If interested: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/how-enhance-battery-duration-sgs-3-lte-t3478287
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are a couple of ways around Greenify's nearly constant call-outs to Crashlytics.
First, set up your hosts file.
Second, use MyAndroidTools and XPrivacyLua to lock Greenify down.
In MyAndroidTools, disable:
Content Provider > Greenify > com.crashlytics.android.CrashlyticsInitProvider
In XPrivacyLua, disable everything for Greenify except:
Determine activity
Get applications
Read identifiers
In Settings > Apps > Gear Icon > App permissions, go through and ensure Greenify isn't enabled for anything.
Greenify, being root, will still try to connect, but it won't be able to because of the hosts file.
---------- Post added at 06:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:15 AM ----------
xxxmadraxxx said:
My problem isn't so much with the fact Greenify phones home per se. I know that most apps do so, or at least try to. My problem with Greenify is the tenacity and persistence with which it tries to phone home. As I said in my previous post, it made over TEN THOUSAND! attempts to phone home in the space of the couple of weeks I had it installed.
With the vast majority of other apps, they'll try a couple of times to phone home, maybe using a couple of different IP addresses and then give up. With Greenify, I would sit there and watch the AFWall+ alerts pop up on screen, one after the other, with a succession of different IP addresses, literally for 2 or 3 minutes continually. Also, as I said previously the only other app I had installed that came anywhere near this level of persistence was Google's GBoard which would regularly try and phone home as I was typing stuff on my phone [you can draw your own conclusions as to what that entails for your privacy!]. But, even then, Gboard only [relatively speaking] made about a fifth of the attempts to connect to the internet that Greenify did.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google Keyboard is, by Google's own admission, a keystroke logger... it's in their privacy policy for GBoard. I've removed it from my phone, along with nearly every other Google app (16 Google apps removed, 3 disabled in case I need them in the future)... and what remains is so locked down that the only thing that works is Google Play Store... for the rest of Google Play Services and Google Services Framework functionality, I've used MyAndroidTools and .xml file hacks to disable. I have no location tracking from Google, no logging from any Google components, no aGPS phone-homes to anywhere (aGPS is completely disabled)... in fact, Google can't even see when I'm online unless I change to my 'Google Enabled' AFWall+ profile to visit Google Play Store. In fact, I've recently disabled all Google Ads functionality... I found out that Google is presenting to the user a fake_adid_key that the user could change but which otherwise did nothing, yet they also have an adid_key which never changes, which they use as a GUID to track users.
Try Hacker's Keyboard... no ads, I've never seen any connection attempts from it, and it's a very nice keyboard once you configure it to suit you.
For me, I set Portrait keyboard height to 45%, landscape keyboard height to 55%, Keyboard mode in portrait and landscape as 'Full 5-row layout', Gingerbread keyboard theme, Auto-capitalization, Double-tap Shift mode, Apply Shift Lock to modifier keys, no Ctrl-A override, no Ctrl key code, no Alt key code, no Meta key code and ignore slide-typing.
It does everything I need, I can type pretty quickly, and it doesn't log keystrokes. I especially like the little arrow keys which let me navigate around in a text file, and the fact that I can Ctrl-A (select all), Ctrl-C (copy) and Ctrl-V (paste) just like a regular keyboard.
Pro-tip: If you want to select a few lines of text, hold the shift key, and tap the down arrow key, just as you'd do on a regular keyboard.
Lusty Rugnuts said:
There are a couple of ways around Greenify's nearly constant call-outs to Crashlytics...
Google Keyboard is, by Google's own admission, a keystroke logger... it's in their privacy policy for GBoard. I've removed it from my phone....
Try Hacker's Keyboard... no ads, I've never seen any connection attempts from it, and it's a very nice keyboard once you configure it to suit you....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found the simplest way of reining in Greenify was to uninstall it. As I said, I've not noticed any detriment to battery life whatsoever –although that may be partly because I'm using an Oreo based ROM now. When I had Greenify installed I was on Marshmallow.
I do use Hacker's Keyboard for apps like Termux and JuiceSSH when I need access to all those extra keys, but it doesn't have swipe-to-type [or didn't last time I looked] so it's no good for my day-to-tay messaging/email/texting etc. where I swipe-to-type all the time.
After uninstalling Gboard and having a brief foray through Samsung's built-in keyboard, I've ended up using SwiftKey on all my devices.
Don't laugh! –I know it's owned by Microsoft which is a huge red flag. But if you set it up without creating a SwiftKey account and switch off any of the "cloudy" options [such as backup, dictionary sync, downloading themes, etc.], it does all its word-prediction processing locally on your device and [according to AFWall+] has never tried to make a single online connection.
Lusty Rugnuts said:
There are a couple of ways around Greenify's nearly constant call-outs to Crashlytics.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm glad to see that we both have nearly the same setup to protect our privacy.:good:
xxxmadraxxx said:
I found the simplest way of reining in Greenify was to uninstall it. As I said, I've not noticed any detriment to battery life whatsoever –although that may be partly because I'm using an Oreo based ROM now. When I had Greenify installed I was on Marshmallow.
I do use Hacker's Keyboard for apps like Termux and JuiceSSH when I need access to all those extra keys, but it doesn't have swipe-to-type [or didn't last time I looked] so it's no good for my day-to-tay messaging/email/texting etc. where I swipe-to-type all the time.
After uninstalling Gboard and having a brief foray through Samsung's built-in keyboard, I've ended up using SwiftKey on all my devices.
Don't laugh! –I know it's owned by Microsoft which is a huge red flag. But if you set it up without creating a SwiftKey account and switch off any of the "cloudy" options [such as backup, dictionary sync, downloading themes, etc.], it does all its word-prediction processing locally on your device and [according to AFWall+] has never tried to make a single online connection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm surprised that you quoted me but with statements in the quotation, which I've never made. As far as I see they are by @Lusty Rugnuts. If you click the quotation you're referred to post #2 with a totally different content. May I politely ask you to edit your post in regard to the quotation.
Sorry about that. The multiple nested quotes, when replying, gets a bit unweildy. I deleted the wrong bit when trimming then.
xxxmadraxxx said:
I found the simplest way of reining in Greenify was to uninstall it. As I said, I've not noticed any detriment to battery life whatsoever –although that may be partly because I'm using an Oreo based ROM now. When I had Greenify installed I was on Marshmallow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish there were a way to do away with it on Nougat... I take the Lotus approach, add speed by taking away. The less installed, the better. The stock ROM backup I took when the phone was brand-new is 4.74 GB in size. My latest backup is 2.29 GB. Yeah, I've stripped out a lot of Google-stuff.
xxxmadraxxx said:
I do use Hacker's Keyboard for apps like Termux and JuiceSSH when I need access to all those extra keys, but it doesn't have swipe-to-type [or didn't last time I looked] so it's no good for my day-to-tay messaging/email/texting etc. where I swipe-to-type all the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Hacker's Keyboard options does have an "ignore slide-typing" option, so I'm assuming it supports slide-typing / glide-typing / swipe-to-type. I've never tried it... I'm a creature of habit, and regular typing suits me. I watched my sister-in-law doing slide-typing, and it seems like one would need very good word correction to get readable text. Besides, I'm a mechanical engineer, I use my hands as hammers, pliers, etc. all day... they're not exactly "tuned" for the finesse I think slide-typing would require.
I came across this thread because in the past year, three times I have been notified by Xposed that a module has been updated. SuperSU also asks me to grant root access again so I'm wondering what the app is doing self updating?
Version 4.5.1 (donate)
Never ever had a "self-update" of Greenify.
Currently on Greenify v4.6.3 (Google beta programme) & Greenify (Donation Package) v2.3
Oswald Boelcke said:
Never ever had a "self-update" of Greenify.
Currently on Greenify v4.6.3 (Google beta programme) & Greenify (Donation Package) v2.3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same. This FUD about Greenify being evil by design is disinformation the net craves. I expect this to be a top trending thread in no time that trashes the reputation of an otherwise fine product. Shesh.
Davey126 said:
Same. This FUD about Greenify being evil by design is disinformation the net craves. I expect this to be a top trending thread in no time that trashes the reputation of an otherwise fine product. Shesh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely concur. I'm going to refrain from bumping this thread any longer; this is the last time. BTW: Congrats to well deserved 9,000+ thanks. And what does "shesh" means? Never heard it. Just for me to learn.
Davey126 said:
Same. This FUD about Greenify being evil by design is disinformation the net craves. I expect this to be a top trending thread in no time that trashes the reputation of an otherwise fine product. Shesh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how stating a fact and questioning why it happens is spreading "FUD". And it's certainly not "disinformation". Surprised you didn't also call it "Fake News", since that seems to be the millennial way to deal with anything you read which doesn't align to your own personal viewpoint.
10,000+ attempted internet connections by Greenify in the space of a couple of months is a statement of fact that I observed on my own device. But, as I said in the first post in the thread:
xxxmadraxxx said:
I realise this is just my unverified opinion... And you've got no reason to trust me on this. But, if you've any doubts, feel free to install AFWall+ and try it yourself...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardly spreading FUD and disinformation. Just letting people know what I saw and telling them to check for themselves and draw their own conclusions.
If other people want to believe that Greenfy is 100% benign, because it's useful to them, then that's fine too. But I could counter your accusations of FUD with saying other people are spreading CCC [Complacency, Certainty and Confidence]. ie. you're blindly trusting an app just because it provides a useful service
[cf. Google, Facebook, et al, if you want to see where that can lead].
I also note that these questions about Greenify's surreptitious behaviour have been raised before on this forum, on other forums and also on the app's reviews on Google Play and, as far as I can see, the developer has not once responded. That may or may not seem suspicious to you but I ask myself:
* If there's an innocent explanation, why not just explain it and clear the air?
* If there's a bug in the app which is causing these attempts to phone home to be repeated endlessly, thousands upon thousands of times, why not fix it?
or, since the phoning home is not necessary for the app to function;
* Why not provide a preference to turn it off? [especially for those people who have paid for the donation version]
Defensive wall of text speaks for itself. Moving on.
(several generations removed from "millennial")
xxxmadraxxx said:
I don't see how stating a fact and questioning why it happens is spreading "FUD". And it's certainly not "disinformation". Surprised you didn't also call it "Fake News", since that seems to be the millennial way to deal with anything you read which doesn't align to your own personal viewpoint.
10,000+ attempted internet connections by Greenify in the space of a couple of months is a statement of fact that I observed on my own device. But, as I said in the first post in the thread:
Hardly spreading FUD and disinformation. Just letting people know what I saw and telling them to check for themselves and draw their own conclusions.
If other people want to believe that Greenfy is 100% benign, because it's useful to them, then that's fine too. But I could counter your accusations of FUD with saying other people are spreading CCC [Complacency, Certainty and Confidence]. ie. you're blindly trusting an app just because it provides a useful service
[cf. Google, Facebook, et al, if you want to see where that can lead].
I also note that these questions about Greenify's surreptitious behaviour have been raised before on this forum, on other forums and also on the app's reviews on Google Play and, as far as I can see, the developer has not once responded. That may or may not seem suspicious to you but I ask myself:
* If there's an innocent explanation, why not just explain it and clear the air?
* If there's a bug in the app which is causing these attempts to phone home to be repeated endlessly, thousands upon thousands of times, why not fix it?
or, since the phoning home is not necessary for the app to function;
* Why not provide a preference to turn it off? [especially for those people who have paid for the donation version]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------- Post added at 09:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:47 AM ----------
Oswald Boelcke said:
Absolutely concur. I'm going to refrain from bumping this thread any longer; this is the last time. BTW: Congrats to well deserved 9,000+ thanks. And what does "shesh" means? Never heard it. Just for me to learn.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Sheesh" (forgot the second ''e') is a mild expression of exasperation generally uttered as a final remark. Not entirely dismissive but leaning in that direction. Akin to 'geez'.
As for the other, any and all acknowledgements go back to the XDA community who support each other like a well designed house of cards. Each depends on the other for support but removing one (or many) does not lead to collapse but the subtle shifting of another 'card' to share the load.
Davey126 said:
Defensive wall of text speaks for itself. Moving on.
(several generations removed from "millennial")
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In other words:
I'm not a millennial and just to show how mature I am –because I disagree with what you're saying, I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears and go "Na! Na!Na! I can't hear you!"
M'lud. The defence rests its case.
Davey126 said:
Same. This FUD about Greenify being evil by design is disinformation the net craves. I expect this to be a top trending thread in no time that trashes the reputation of an otherwise fine product. Shesh.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to disagree with you, and I applaud the original poster for making this thread. No closed source project should be immune from scrutiny.
I of course have been using the app for many years and trust the developer but still don't have an answer as to why Xposed and SuperSU were telling me that Greenify has been updated - I think it would be fair to question what's going on.
Though OP could have probably not used such a click-baity and sensational title. Even if it's not malware, the bug would mean that Greenify is not getting root access unless I manually grant it again.
htr5 said:
Though OP could have probably not used such a click-baity and sensational title...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The title wasn't intended to be either click-baity or sensational but, with hindsight, I can see how it might read it that way. Mea culpa.
However, given that no third party has been able to offer any justifiable reason as to why Greenify behaves as it does and the developer has never responded to the oft-expressed concerns of users –I don't think it unreasonable to infer that Greenify may be behaving; at best, irresponsibly and at worst, nefariously.
In which case, maybe the headline wasn't that click-baity, after all.
htr5 said:
I of course have been using the app for many years and trust the developer but still don't have an answer as to why Xposed and SuperSU were telling me that Greenify has been updated - I think it would be fair to question what's going on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that would be a fair question (sans other baggage).
xxxmadraxxx said:
10,000+ attempted internet connections by Greenify in the space of a couple of months is a statement of fact that I observed on my own device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've quieted Greenify. I used MyAndroidTools to disable the following for Greenify:
Content Provider:
com.crashlytics.android.CrashlyticsInitProvider
com.google.firebase.provider.FirebaseInitProvider
Activity:
com.google.android.gms.common.api.GoogleApiActivity
com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.TagManagerPreviewActivity
Broadcast Receiver:
com.google.android.gms.measurement.AppMeasurementInstallReferrerReceiver
com.google.android.gms.measurement.AppMeasurementReceiver
com.google.firebase.iid.FirebaseInstanceIdReceiver
Service:
com.google.android.gms.measurement.AppMeasurementJobService
com.google.android.gms.measurement.AppMeasurementService
com.google.firebase.components.ComponentDiscoveryService
com.google.firebase.iid.FirebaseInstanceIdService
com.google.android.gms.tagmanager.TagManagerService
That Tag Manager Service and Tag Manager Preview Activity are worrisome...
https://support.google.com/tagmanager/answer/6102821?hl=en
Google Tag Manager is a tag management system (TMS) that allows you to quickly and easily update measurement codes and related code fragments collectively known as tags on your website or mobile app. Once the small segment of Tag Manager code has been added to your project, you can safely and easily deploy analytics and measurement tag configurations from a web-based user interface.
When Tag Manager is installed, your website or app will be able to communicate with the Tag Manager servers. You can then use Tag Manager's web-based user interface to set up tags, establish triggers that cause your tag to fire when certain events occur, and create variables that can be used to simplify and automate your tag configurations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-tag-manager-guide
Collecting data using tools like Google Analytics is critical for expanding your business’s online reach, converting leads into customers, and optimizing a digital marketing strategy to create stronger relationships with your audience.
However, collecting data is easier said than done. Google Analytics and other similar analytics tools aid the process, but they work more effectively with the addition of tags.
Tags, in a general sense, are bits of code you embed in your website’s javascript or HTML to extract certain information.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So Tag Manager is yet another way for Google to track your every move... in apps and on web pages. It's almost a backdoor to your device, since Tag Manager can be used to remotely change what it tracks and when. Google is getting awfully malware-y, which is why I've worked so hard to make it so I can completely kill all Google components on my phone and the phone still works... and the Google components stay killed until I start them (without the necessary modifications, Google Persistence kicks in and restarts the Google components, which is also very malware-y... Google is a service provider, they shouldn't run unless the user wants to use their services, and there should be an interface to disable (or uninstall) any functionality the user doesn't want.). Further, the user shouldn't have to rely upon changing settings on Google's servers, while leaving the Google components running on their phone... that means we have to trust that Google is abiding by those settings... does anyone believe they are?
I've uncovered instances on this very phone where Google is less than honest in abiding by settings... another is their GoogleOtaBinder, which disregards the Developer Options setting to disable Automatic System Updates... the only way to turn off Google pushing a new ROM (without consent, without notification) and rebooting the phone (at midnight each night, without consent, without notification) is to edit a file such that GoogleOtaBinder can't authenticate with Google's servers.
You'll probably also find an app in Settings > Apps called 'Tag Manager'... I got rid of it long ago.
Google Tag Manager / Tracking Pixels and Tags
package:/system/priv-app/TagGoogle/TagGoogle.apk=com.google.android.tag
To get a list of packages installed on your system, in an Administrator-privilege command prompt on your computer, with your phone plugged into your computer via USB and set to 'File Transfer' USB mode, type:
adb shell pm list packages -f
Here's the list of packages I've removed.
{UPDATE}
I've also found the following:
The file:
/data/user/0/com.oasisfeng.greenify/app_google_tagmanager/resource_GTM-KN73P2
contains the following:
Component Display Name:
com.xiaomi.mipush.sdk.PushMessageHandler
alibaba.sdk.android.push.AliyunPushIntentService
com.igexin.sdk.PushService
com.tencent.android.tpush.service.XGPushServiceV3
org.android.agoo.client.MessageRecieverService
com.baidu.sapi2.share.ShareService
"MessageReceiverService"? PushMessageHandler? What is being pushed to our phones?
Further down, because I've completely neutered Google Analytics, it reads:
.analytics.disabled.exception.NoSuchMethodError true
{/UPDATE}
Greenify is also using the real 'adid_key' content in /data/data/com.google.android.gms/shared_prefs/adid_settings.xml, although I doubt they're in on Google's nefarious scheme to trick users into thinking they can reset their Advertising ID, while tracking them with a non-changing GUID (Globally Unique ID).
There are two keys in adid_settings.xml... 'adid_key' and 'fake_adid_key'... pushing the "Reset Advertising ID" button in Settings > Google > Ads changes 'fake_adid_key', but 'adid_key' never changes and is propagated to many other apps.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=79521903
Further, I tried to uninstall Greenify (I'll manually set up device_idle_constants to mimic what Greenify did)... it's never had Device Administrator privileges, I disabled Usage Access, uninstalled the XPosed Framework 'Greenify Experimental Features', then went into Greenify's settings and disabled all that was there... but when I went into Settings > Apps > Greenify, there isn't an "uninstall" button, just "Force Stop" and "Disable" buttons. There's no way to uninstall it from within Greenify itself, either.
I booted into TWRP Recovery Mode, went to /data/adb/modules, deleted the module for Greenify, and when I rebooted, Greenify was gone. All that remained was to wipe it from the Dalvik cache.
I would like to ask a simple question from users who currently use Doze apps, Ex: the best is Franco's Naptime. (i know it's not updated since Feb last year)
Are they really working in Android 13? Would you recommend any other app or suggest any other battery save feature?
I use naptime on my 6a, 4a b4 traded back in, Moto G7, and G5+. So yeah...ever since Oreo iirc. Has all the features u want/need IF...U take a lil time to understand the doze works, the stages and terms {from pre-idle, idle to pre-light doze, light doze, Doze, Deep Sleep and my fav mistake, 'KTFO' mode Req. an annoyed owner to be simultaneously tapping, pressing and cussing for 3 min str8 and cluck like a chicken 3x. j/k...about the chicken anyway. Just pick one app for ALL your doze related tweaking.
Lots of battery apps 'dabble' in doze enuff to be helpful but none that I've seen that can go toe to toe for long and if its close (like w/ Battery Guru), then Naptime has an 'ace in the hole' with 'Doze Google Play Services' option accompanied by Franco's Doze 'Google Play Services' Magisk module which did get a recent (key?) update for A12. If u visit the Magisk mod you'll come up a great debate ov OG Google GMS doze vs. the 'Simplified' module and a few semi-heated exchanges while folks tryin' to what still works as of A12 when peeps started noticing worse battery 'mileage'. That's when I posted that I've always used Naptime (and Servicely), with BBS in the background.
Long story short...YES using a doze app will have u a nice chunk of charge. Battery Guru (w/root or ADB perms) will 'do' for the avg. user. For those that rooted and are known to exhibit 'geekish tendencies' will opt for $!.50 which includes his special doze sauce found in his magisk module, I 'SUSPECT' there's sumthin' diff. than other modules...or maybe it a combo and works with napetim's code?! I've never taken the time to do accurate, objective comparisons/tests. That being said, Naptime is more feature rich, 'fine tunable' with DEEP timing parameters - and also has saveable profiles too...thank fk. It about time naptime got a 'How to' write-up as it pertains to A11/12 & 13ish. I say '-ish' cuz I can no longer call myself a 'coder'.
Last things I 'coded' were in COBOL, FORTRAN, RPG II&III and 'some' Machine Code on IBM 'mainframes'...stuff most of u guys only seen in Computer History textbooks.
/end ramble
Zaxx32 said:
I use naptime on my 6a, 4a b4 traded back in, Moto G7, and G5+. So yeah...ever since Oreo iirc. Has all the features u want/need IF...U take a lil time to understand the doze works, the stages and terms {from pre-idle, idle to pre-light doze, light doze, Doze, Deep Sleep and my fav mistake, 'KTFO' mode Req. an annoyed owner to be simultaneously tapping, pressing and cussing for 3 min str8 and cluck like a chicken 3x. j/k...about the chicken anyway. Just pick one app for ALL your doze related tweaking.
Lots of battery apps 'dabble' in doze enuff to be helpful but none that I've seen that can go toe to toe for long and if its close (like w/ Battery Guru), then Naptime has an 'ace in the hole' with 'Doze Google Play Services' option accompanied by Franco's Doze 'Google Play Services' Magisk module which did get a recent (key?) update for A12. If u visit the Magisk mod you'll come up a great debate ov OG Google GMS doze vs. the 'Simplified' module and a few semi-heated exchanges while folks tryin' to what still works as of A12 when peeps started noticing worse battery 'mileage'. That's when I posted that I've always used Naptime (and Servicely), with BBS in the background.
Long story short...YES using a doze app will have u a nice chunk of charge. Battery Guru (w/root or ADB perms) will 'do' for the avg. user. For those that rooted and are known to exhibit 'geekish tendencies' will opt for $!.50 which includes his special doze sauce found in his magisk module, I 'SUSPECT' there's sumthin' diff. than other modules...or maybe it a combo and works with napetim's code?! I've never taken the time to do accurate, objective comparisons/tests. That being said, Naptime is more feature rich, 'fine tunable' with DEEP timing parameters - and also has saveable profiles too...thank fk. It about time naptime got a 'How to' write-up as it pertains to A11/12 & 13ish. I say '-ish' cuz I can no longer call myself a 'coder'.
Last things I 'coded' were in COBOL, FORTRAN, RPG II&III and 'some' Machine Code on IBM 'mainframes'...stuff most of u guys only seen in Computer History textbooks.
/end ramble
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I humbly appreciate your detailed explanation.
Damn...was afraid you were gonna say that...smh
Well, you''l have be patient. I have a few gaps in my understand of how much of all things 'doze' is affected by kernel settings to kernel tweak apps to full on custom kernels.
Ofc they affect doze, in many possible ways...they don't just add features and nuthin else. Sposed to catch Fanco whens a min to do lil Q & A session tomorrow...he knows doze inside out and he's also done tons of kernel dev. ofc, Also know oner rom/kernel dev who can help me re: doze and kernels. Ttys...I'm beat...3:20am (damn missed it by an hr. noot! Tty
Got some brain pickin nQA tomoz 4 sure. Night all
Zaxx32 said:
Damn...was afraid you were gonna say that...smh
Well, you''l have be patient. I have a few gaps in my understand of how much of all things 'doze' is affected by kernel settings to kernel tweak apps to full on custom kernels.
Ofc they affect doze, in many possible ways...they don't just add features and nuthin else. Sposed to catch Fanco whens a min to do lil Q & A session tomorrow...he knows doze inside out and he's also done tons of kernel dev. ofc, Also know oner rom/kernel dev who can help me re: doze and kernels. Ttys...I'm beat...3:20am (damn missed it by an hr. noot! Tty
Got some brain pickin nQA tomoz 4 sure. Night all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's awesome to hear that you connect with legendary Franco!
If possible pls ask him whether his app Naptime works with A13 and he's planning to release an update to the app. Thanks!
I'm still waiting for a confirmation of some sort. We're not like personal 'friends' per se...just exchanged a few emails on a few occasions. But yeah...not 100% he's all that active since like A10 dayz. But yeah, nice guy fwir...didn't mind questions.
Fwiw...Naptime is still effective on A13...just gotta be on the lookout for any other apps with similar features. If annoying when setting get 're-toggled'. basically undoing your tweaks. There's of few cool tweaks I like in BatteryGuru that that won't light up unless u also toggle to allow it to turn on android's battery saver and/or extreme batt. saver when dozed. One of the interesting setting is 'Advertise power saver' to all apps in hopes that they will in turn activate any power saving attributes or behavior within. I need to go digging round and test to see 'how' that might work and to do it myself without having to 'hand over the reins'. Being able to whitelist what you need and where you need it is a must imo....beyond just by battery optimization tho that's a biggie. Well, I'll try and post up if I find my ultimate combo of apps n tweaks n gettin' them to play nice together with my limited understanding of how it all works 'under-the-hood'...iow I'm not a coder/dev since ~90's.
nobody needs Francos trash app.
To each his own, there's more than 1 way to skin a cat. Just found Naptime can take care of doze n most all related tweak n option. And FKM is always good...one of the original 'OG' kernel flashers. How do u manage you doze/battery settings...somethin better, a combo of apps or all manually? I'm always up for bigger/better ways, to avoid trash that is...