I am looking to stop my phone from tracking the amount of data I use. I am rooted on 4.4.2. I found this thread (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2494991) from a while back, but when I open /data from Root with amaze the folder is empty. That solution really only suggests deleting the tracking file where I moreso want to just stop it from logging new information.
The goal here is to prevent individual apps from tracking how much data I use as they disable certain features after a set amount. I am pretty sure they just check the log rather than actually track the usage themselves as they seem to count ALL data, not just what's used by the specific app.
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I am a hardware engineer with some limited software knowledge. I am ULTRA paranoid when it comes to security and have a few questions:
1) People do seem to be paying attention to app permissions now. If an app only had network and storage access permissions, people would probably think it seemed pretty tame. Am I wrong in thinking this is probably the most dangerous an app could be? With these permissions it seems that the app could siphon EVERYTHING off your phone to their servers.
I guess my question would be, do Apps that have read/write storage access, have at the very least read access to all files? For example, it seems that my music app can scan for music, which is fine obviously, but what is stopping it from scanning ANYTHING else on my phone? Like business related documents, private notes, etc...then uploading these to their servers.
2) If an app only has network access, but no access to storage, I assume it would have no ability to add anything malicious locally after installation (or transmit anything off your phone)? Basically, can an app load malicious code from the network?
3) One nice feature on the iPhone is that a full reset actually does a decent job protecting your data. On Android this is not the case. Does Android device encryption actually encrypt everything (i.e. starting from the root (/) directory)? If this is the case, I would assume that a full device encryption, followed by a factory reset would nearly be akin to running a dd urandom on the drive.
4) Google seems to be stepping in the right direction with the new App Ops in Android 4.3. I am not sure what direction they will be taking this, but currently on my Nexus 7 it does not allow you to prevent access to storage or the network (for example I would like to block Final Fantasy from having network access and Weather Bug from having storage access).
Regardless, can an app automatically run on installation? The reason I ask is let's say you are downloading a seemingly benign app, but it really wants to make a dump of personal data and send it to their servers. If I download the app, could it start doing this immediately, or would I need to manually launch it first? If this was the case, then App Ops would not be very useful against certain malicious apps if they have the 1-2 minutes to dump off your contacts list before you could shut them off in the menu.
during installation it'll ask for granting permissions before installed
once installed, it can do the things you granted without further request for permission
with popular apps like viber, this is supposed to be okay
I've seen this problem discussed before, but not specifically in the context of using BitTorrent Sync. Since I've started using BitTorrent Sync as a Dropbox replacement to sync about 16GB and 24,000 files, every 1-3 days (sometimes more frequently) my S4 goes into a period of high CPU usage (30-40% capacity, all cores pinned at 1.6GHz) that lasts 2-4 hours, while it consumes battery at about 20% per hour. Using performance analyzers such as Android Tuner, I've ruled out any single app hogging CPU, and the culprit is the Android system itself. I've tried many things to try to stave off or reduce the battery drain if it happens at a bad time, but there seems to be no way to exert any kind of control at this level. I figure that putting governors on the cores won't help because it will reduce my phone's performance while merely extending the time the maintenance requires before it will let my people go, saving no power in the end. Yes, I shut as much stuff down as possible--even going into airplane mode--but once this annoyance begins, it overwhelms any energy conservation efforts. My only viable strategy is then to find an AC outlet and weather the storm there, or plan to finish using my phone within a couple of hours.
I gather from comments people have made in other contexts that if a lot of files change status, then the system needs to do a bunch of stuff, but I'm really not changing that many files, or moving folders around, etc. But it could be that BitTorrent Sync changes a lot if its own system files (while checking in with peers, maintaining its db, and whatever it does), so in response Android then has to do a lot of work maintaining files that the user never directly sees or uses. I do use BitTorrent Sync's auto sleep function, but still.
So I'm wondering if the scenario I'm describing sounds plausible. I'd have to shutdown data sync completely for several days just to do one trial, and it would take several trials to confirm more positively that using BitTorrent Sync is the root of the problem. But I need my data to sync more than I need my battery, so I'm willing to live with short battery times. But it's still a pain in the a$$--and the instances of 2-3 hours battery time are really crippling--so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions how to analyze or improve this situation because I don't really know enough. Then maybe I'll be able to suggest something to the BitTorrent Sync devs. I don't want to raise the problem in the BitTorrent Sync forums because very few of the active people there are well-versed in Android, the Windows/Linux/OSX crowd being much more numerous. Any comments are welcome: I want to start collecting info on this issue so that it can be discussed more profitably at the BT forums.
Jimmy34742 said:
I've seen this problem discussed before, but not specifically in the context of using BitTorrent Sync. Since I've started using BitTorrent Sync as a Dropbox replacement to sync about 16GB and 24,000 files, every 1-3 days (sometimes more frequently) my S4 goes into a period of high CPU usage (30-40% capacity, all cores pinned at 1.6GHz) that lasts 2-4 hours, while it consumes battery at about 20% per hour. Using performance analyzers such as Android Tuner, I've ruled out any single app hogging CPU, and the culprit is the Android system itself. I've tried many things to try to stave off or reduce the battery drain if it happens at a bad time, but there seems to be no way to exert any kind of control at this level. I figure that putting governors on the cores won't help because it will reduce my phone's performance while merely extending the time the maintenance requires before it will let my people go, saving no power in the end. Yes, I shut as much stuff down as possible--even going into airplane mode--but once this annoyance begins, it overwhelms any energy conservation efforts. My only viable strategy is then to find an AC outlet and weather the storm there, or plan to finish using my phone within a couple of hours.
I gather from comments people have made in other contexts that if a lot of files change status, then the system needs to do a bunch of stuff, but I'm really not changing that many files, or moving folders around, etc. But it could be that BitTorrent Sync changes a lot if its own system files (while checking in with peers, maintaining its db, and whatever it does), so in response Android then has to do a lot of work maintaining files that the user never directly sees or uses. I do use BitTorrent Sync's auto sleep function, but still.
So I'm wondering if the scenario I'm describing sounds plausible. I'd have to shutdown data sync completely for several days just to do one trial, and it would take several trials to confirm more positively that using BitTorrent Sync is the root of the problem. But I need my data to sync more than I need my battery, so I'm willing to live with short battery times. But it's still a pain in the a$$--and the instances of 2-3 hours battery time are really crippling--so I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions how to analyze or improve this situation because I don't really know enough. Then maybe I'll be able to suggest something to the BitTorrent Sync devs. I don't want to raise the problem in the BitTorrent Sync forums because very few of the active people there are well-versed in Android, the Windows/Linux/OSX crowd being much more numerous. Any comments are welcome: I want to start collecting info on this issue so that it can be discussed more profitably at the BT forums.
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I imagine most of the file you are syncing are media files, and here probably lies your problem/solution.
Your drain is more than likely Android Mediaserver which analyzes media files (images, sounds, videos).
You should troubleshoot using BetterBatteryStats to confirm this.
You can always "kill" the Mediaserver, however you'll lose functionality (your phone won't find new media, quite annoying).
The alternative and the better solution in my opinion is to create a .nomedia file in the root directory where all your files are synced so mediaserver skips them completely. This might not be possible if you have a strange hierarchy though.
The vast majority of files are not media files (mostly docx, pdf, and txt), but there are a large number of media files scattered about. The media files don't change much, but if a few changes trigger the media server to perform major operations, then that might explain it.
If I put a ".nomedia" file at the top of a highly nested file hierarchy, will that suppress finding new media throughout the entire tree? That behavior would be fine in my case because the media that I actually use with any frequency is all in its own tree. But if I use the .nomedia trick, will file browsing apps still be able to list the files that are in media format? In that case, I don't see why I'd care if Android's media server ever runs or not. I mean, I do take some photos, but very few. And I always have to use PowerAmp's media scanning function to listen to my mp3's, which are all in their own file hierarchy.
EDIT: I should that I never use any of the stock Android media apps. In that case, do I even need Android's Mediaserver at all?
I put .nomedia files at the top of all my file trees, but I'm still getting, periodically, massive batter drain from the Media Storage process. It will run for hours constantly using more than 25-30% CPU, thus running down my battery entire in a few hours. I don't know how to check for sure, but this seems to indicate that Media Storage does a lot of work involving the trees where the .nomedia files are. I mean, there's no way my phone could be running at a constant 30% without me being able to account for it. Do I need to put .nomedia files in every folder under the same hierarchy? Is Media Server known to sometimes just ignore the .nomedia directive?
Since Android 4.0/1 the media server now references every files on your SD cards. So even those are not actual media files, that might still be the issue.
Not sure BBS or Android Tuner battery stats will reveal anything particular in this situation, but might be worth adding a .nomedia file at the root of your sync folder, at least to confirm.
Since my original post, I've concluded that BitTorrent Sync is the source of Media Storage running so frequently. It's not an error exactly, but because I sync about 16GB in 20,000 files, then each time a file changes on one of the sync peers, then when the phone syncs and changes the file, it causes Media Storage to want to run again. So Media Storage was running 1 or 2 times a day, every day, at the cost of 20-30% battery each time. It looks like bad software design rather than an error. The only thing I could think of was to freeze Media Storage, which turns out not to be as annoying as one might think because apps seems to be able to find the media files, and my file explorer works fine. But I have the annoyance of missing basic things in the Android UI, like ringtones, so my phone never rings for a phone call, only vibrates. I don't care about the other stuff in the OS UI that I'm missing because I have no interest in any kind of theming, but I don't think many people would like freezing their Media Storage process.
5. Update your Apps Over WiFi Only
Many apps in Google play store get unnecessary updates by unnecessary i mean they are meant to fix bugs only, and have you noticed how many times all your apps were auto-updated without your consent, spending all them precious GBs, so wasting your finite date over useless updates is not a great idea. To disable Auto-Update you just need to open the Google Play Store and tap on the side tray button, click on Settings option and then select the “Auto-update apps” and select Auto-update apps over WiFi only.
4. Turn On Data Compression on Google Chrome
Most of us are Android users, coz this process is only for Android Users. And if you are an Android user you are also likely Chrome users. Most of us Don’t know that Chrome supports a feature that can reduce data consumption, Google states this feature should save you about 50% in data, without even feeling any difference. All you need to do is open Chrome and hit the menu button and select Settings, click Data Saver and then toggle the option and it done.
3. Cache Everything You Can
Like Google Maps and Google Play Music allow for storing data locally and many other apps. Make sure to save as many as caches and data you can while you are on a WiFi network. Afterwards you can enjoy your saved data without wasted Precious Mobile Data.
2. Avoid Online Streaming
The most awesome Things over the internet consume more data, this includes streaming videos and music, as well as looking through high quality images or GIF files. Try to avoid this kind of consumption as much as possible if you really want to save your mobile data. And if you need to watch it, make sure you change the settings and set quality at lower rates.
1. Restrict Background Data
Do you know that when your phone is not in use some apps spend your too much data. the feature we about to tell is actually one of the greatest features on Android. Background data allows apps to keep everything updated which leads to a great amount of Data wastage. so here is what you can do, Go into Settings > Data Usage and select Restrict Data for the apps that consume large amount of data and dont worry you can undo this by the same method.
Samsung Xcover3, Marshmallow, unrooted, noob.
Is there a way to export (as CSV for example) storage, and possibly data transfer, stats per application?
I'm using an oldish phone with limited storage as a bike GPS, and mainly just go online through wifi to get maps and the occasional app I might want to add. I'm using NoRoot firewall to limit what can get through, but I find that G**gle etc manage to squeeze a lot of stuff down which I don't necessarily want. So for now I'd like to be able to export lists of installed apps with their storage, before and after wifi connection, to see if I can understand what's coming down, and what I can block or delete later.
Is there such an app? Or can I interrogate Android for that info from a connected Linux machine?
In the longer term I'll think about taking control of the device with a new OS, but for now I'd like to try the above.
I have an old non-rooted smartphone that I currently need and cannot format. Scanning with the app Diskusage the part named "system data" has reached the size of half of all memory. It has gotten bigger as time has gone on, but particularly in the last few months. A year ago, for example, it was half the size of now.
The point is that today I noticed when and how this "system data" gets bigger: it happens when I uninstall an old app, perhaps a large one. This system data becomes bigger after uninstalling, and even reinstalling the same app, the size does not decrease again. This makes me think that android does some sort of backup of some kind when an uninstall of a certain type happens (probably big and old app, it seems). No cleaner is able to decrease this part.
Could there be a solution to decrease the now enormous size of this system data without formatting?
Back up all critical data. That's all that really matters.
Try SD Maid Pro, scan with Malwarebytes.
If that fails it's factory reset time, if that fails and it's not Android 9 or higher it may need reflashed.
Possible virus or rootkit. Android 8 and lower are vulnerable to the infamous XHelper.
You are what you load. Maybe just a poorly coded 3rd party app that corrupted or permanently changed hidden user settings in the user data partition (factory reset will clear this if you can't rectify it) or outright invasive malware.
Maybe someone here has a better plan...
Tried both, neither cleaner or antimalware fixes. I think it's some kind of bug.
What device and OS version?
What do you mean by "can not format"?
It's a MT6580, with Android 5.1
I can't do the reset otherwise the problem was solved
Could be a faked one? Then partition sizes can be anything...
Anyways, with those specs if they are real, mtk-su should work.
It's real, enlarging this part decreases the available space, like there's something in the system files that gets bigger, junk files or backups, or something like that. And it happens progressively, I've often read about this problem on the forums (this for example: https://community.oneplus.com/thread/514553 ),but I've never found a solution.
Anything below Android 9 is suspectable to partition worming nasties like Xhelper. Malware should always be considered when persistent and abnormal behavior is seen especially in older Android versions.
Something is generating the data. Obviously you need to find/examine that data then extrapolate the process responsible if the easy fixes don't work. To start you need to find the tools to do this. This deeper than I ever need to or care to go at least thus far. If you want to continue to play with it you might want to kill it's internet connection and isolate it as a security precaution.
However, I've gone through various antiviruses, including Malwarebytes, but it doesn't find any type of malware or virus.