I recently purchased a Moto Z Play Droid Edition which is incapable of being rooted or the bootloader being unlocked. In an attempt to remove bloatware, I have removed several apps. I managed to "uninstall" apps following this XDA tutorial, however without root, that merely disables them from the user.
I have used an old version of Google Calendar for several years, and I wanted to be able to install the same .apk that I have used, however Google Calendar was installed as a system app on Stock Android, so I would need to downgrade it. When I try the simple commands of "adb install -r -d -f calendar.apk" I get [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE]
Because I was unable to fully uninstall the Google Calendar app that came with the stock ROM, there must be some remnant that prevents me from installing an older version.
Is there any way to progress and install this apk? Do I need to change something in the AndroidManifest.xml in order to proceed? Is that even possible with a Google app, which is most likely encrypted?
Any other suggestions?
Related
UPDATE: I tried a few things on another NT running 1.4.1 and I was able to get the Android Market working. Here are the steps I followed:
Both of the units I have the market working on were initially rooted on 1.4.0 and Google Apps installed using the method described by Indirect. Note that this did not include installing the FOTAkill.apk which prevents Firmware Over-The-Air upgrades.
On the first unit the Google Apps packages were side loaded prior to rooting as described by Anlog.
The second unit I did not side load Google Apps first, instead installing them as part of Indirect's root kit.
Both units also had the tgps_launcher package installed. It is not necessary to use this particular package (you could use AnyCut to create the shortcut). If you do not side load the Google Apps apks prior to upgrade to 1.4.1 you will need some method to get back to the Application Settings screen.
Firmware 1.4.1 arrived on both Nook Tablets. On the first tablet that had Google Apps side loaded the market and Google Mail continued to work properly. On the second tablet that installed Google Apps as root the market and Google Mail both stopped working.
On the second unit I used tgps_launcher to get to the Application Settings screen. I disabled auto-mount, and enabled USB debugging (twice, once for each check box). I then connected the USB cable to my PC where the unit showed up as an Android Phone.
Launch a command prompt. Change directory to C:\ntroot (this is where you unzipped Indirect's files right?). Then execute the following commands:
C:\ntroot>adb install system\app\GoogleServicesFramework.apk
2869 KB/s (2238785 bytes in 0.762s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/GoogleServicesFramework.apk
Success
C:\ntroot>adb install system\app\MediaUploader.apk
1988 KB/s (270892 bytes in 0.133s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/MediaUploader.apk
Success
Once these steps were completed I was able to launch Android Market and I was prompted to sign in to my account. Once signed in I could install new apps and upgrade existing apps from the Android Market.
Also, if you need to manage the Google accounts on your Nook Tablet, you can get to the account management screen from the GMail app. Launch GMail, then click the soft menu button. Select Accounts. Click the soft menu button again and choose Account Settings. This displays the Account Settings activity where you can add a new account, adjust the sync settings for existing accounts, or delete an account.
I've read in several other threads that post 1.4.1 update a lot of folks are experiencing trouble with Android Market. Am I the only lucky one who can still use the Android Market after the 1.4.1 upgrade?
Here are some notes on my experience:
My NT firmware version is 1.4.1
I no longer have root access
Side loading from the nook tablet no longer works
I can still purchase and install apps via the Android Market properly
Since side loading doesn't work I can't purchase apps via alternative markets (Amazon, AppBrain, GetJar, etc). It also appears that the files I replaced in /system/apps have been at least partially restored (Google Calendar is missing, the keyboard is now a weird mashup of the NT stock keyboard and the honeycomb keyboard).
Thinking back on the initial steps I took with my nook tablet, I first side loaded all of the google apps prior to rooting. That meant I had an installed copy of Android Market and GMail outside of /system/apps. I was also able to launch the Android Market and setup my google account, but received the familiar crash at that point. I then rooted and installed google apps to /system/apps which left me with a working Android Market. I'm wondering if that first step of side loading google apps prior to root is why I have a working Android Market now on firmware 1.4.1.
Anyone else have a working Android Market on 1.4.1? If so, was your setup process similar to mine, or different in some way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I managed to install MediaUploader, but GoogleServicesFramework failed:
C:\ntroot>adb install GoogleServicesFramework.apk
2052 KB/s (2189960 bytes in 1.042s)
pkg: /data/local/tmp/GoogleServicesFramework.apk
Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES]
I found that I had the google certificate inside the file OneTimeInitializer.apk, but I'm unable to install it (same error).
Does anyone know if there's any way to get the google cert installed without rooting?
Thanks
Hmmm, I must have loaded that cert as one of the side effects of actions I took while still running 1.4.0. I get that same error when I attempt to install the other apks from the gApps folder.
Thank you thank you thank you!!!
I have a 1.4.0 rooted tablet that autoupdated to 1.4.1. I had lost market functionality. I followed your three easy steps and everything is great now.
Hi Guys,
I tried to install WA+ in my S7(non-edge) phone but I am getting an error, The package conflicts with an existing package by the same name. Since there is no way to uninstall the preinstalled WA, I disabled it but still the same error is there. I have seen people having WA+ in their phones without rooting or deleting the preinstalled version. What should I do?
Thanks
To install WA+ in phones which got pre intalled WA you got to remove the pre installed WA, you can only do this by rooting your s7.
I want you to follow this step
1. Rooting your phone (rooting voids warranty)
root your phone from this link(rooting)
2. After rooting your phone install System App Remover(links given below), unzip the file, install the apk, give su root permission and uninstall stock WA.
3. Reboot your phone.
4. Install the latest whatsapp+ from the link below.
Enjoy!
Downloads
System App Remover.zip
whatsapp+
Hi,
I had the HDX 8.9 Saturn running with the older rooted firmware (4.x). Then I updated to Android 5.1.1 with the help of the other thread here and everything was working immediately after that.
However, I noticed that there were some residues of the old Android 4 installation. Especially a very outdated Android Webview (v.41) was causing issues with some apps I wanted to use. (updating the webview from play store did not work as the old one was a system app and was not "overridden" by the play store app).
So after the upgrade the old webview was still there and the behavior of the 3rd party apps still like before. So I opened up Titanium Backup and removed the old webview as well as an app from Amazon (someting like amazon.webviewkkhelper or similar) with the same version as the outdated Android webview (the "kk" in the name made me think it was a Android 4.4 Kitkat residue).
Now, after a factory reset, however, I cannot sign in my Google account. After entering user/password the screen jumps back to the first screen (choose between login with existing account or new account).
In logcat I can see that apparently the webview is called and not found:
Code:
W/PackageManager( 997): com.amazon.webview.chromium is not installed for user 0
W/PackageManager( 997): com.android.webview is not installed for user 0
I'm not 100% sure that these messages are actually describing whats causing the issue, but they are a strong indicator that the google login wants to access a webview component.
Now, I have sideloaded the most recent webview from APKmirror, but it is called
Code:
com.google.android.webview
and is threfore probably not found / used.
Can anyone help me restore the system webviews that came with the Android 5.1.1 update?
Which versions of it do you guys see in the stock image?
Thank you in advance
Jochen
jo2012 said:
Hi,
I had the HDX 8.9 Saturn running with the older rooted firmware (4.x). Then I updated to Android 5.1.1 with the help of the other thread here and everything was working immediately after that.
However, I noticed that there were some residues of the old Android 4 installation. Especially a very outdated Android Webview (v.41) was causing issues with some apps I wanted to use. (updating the webview from play store did not work as the old one was a system app and was not "overridden" by the play store app).
So after the upgrade the old webview was still there and the behavior of the 3rd party apps still like before. So I opened up Titanium Backup and removed the old webview as well as an app from Amazon (someting like amazon.webviewkkhelper or similar) with the same version as the outdated Android webview (the "kk" in the name made me think it was a Android 4.4 Kitkat residue).
Now, after a factory reset, however, I cannot sign in my Google account. After entering user/password the screen jumps back to the first screen (choose between login with existing account or new account).
In logcat I can see that apparently the webview is called and not found:
I'm not 100% sure that these messages are actually describing whats causing the issue, but they are a strong indicator that the google login wants to access a webview component.
Now, I have sideloaded the most recent webview from APKmirror, but it is called
and is threfore probably not found / used.
Can anyone help me restore the system webviews that came with the Android 5.1.1 update?
Which versions of it do you guys see in the stock image?
Thank you in advance
Jochen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming you rerooted install the Play Version of webview and then migrate it to the system partition using TB or another tool like Apps2SD. I have seen this both work and fail on Lollipop bases ROMs. Good luck.
Edit: Understand the naming issue; recent Google Play Services builds should look for both.
Davey126 said:
Assuming you rerooted install the Play Version of webview and then migrate it to the system partition using TB or another tool like Apps2SD. I have seen this both work and fail on Lollipop bases ROMs. Good luck.
Edit: Understand the naming issue; recent Google Play Services builds should look for both.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks @Davey126, that helped. I installed the older webview v60 which was still called com.android.webview and made it a system app.
Then it worked again!
Login failed still but that was a different issue. Had my system further borked by trying to install Google stuff via flashfire... who knows what that did, but it did not work either. However, it prevented the old play store stuff to fail. I manually cleaned it up (hopefully) but at least now I can install the old playstore + gms again again .
Login worked afterwards. Lets see how it goes
Kindle Fire tablet are always a handfull... :silly:
While debloating the phone from ADB, I decided to remove the built in Samsung Gallery app. The phone has Google Photos, so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal. However, I realized that only the stock gallery app can set the wallpaper. I have tried numerous ways of getting the app installed again, but nothing so far has worked.
The app's package ID is com.sec.android.gallery3d, its version name is 3.0.1181647, and the version code is 1601181647.
I have searched everywhere online to get the APK, but I can't find any one with the same version. apkmirror.com seems to have one which is slightly newer, version 3.0.37, but when I try to install it, I get a [INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE] error, even though it seems to be a newer version.
Is there anywhere I can get the apk for that specific version of the Samsung Gallery app?
If not, is there a way to set the wallpaper without the gallery app? I tried using the Google Wallpapers app, but it tries to redirect me to the gallery and gives me an "App not installed" message.
I know that a factory reset would solve this, but as this is not my phone, it isn't an option.
I'd really appreciate if someone could help,
Thank you.
Ok, I managed to get it working.
What I ended up doing was, first extract the apk with:
adb pull /system/priv-app/SecGallery2014ESS/SecGallery2014ESS.apk
And then I installed the pulled apk using the -r and -d options like so:
adb install -r -d SecGallery2014ESS.apk
So when it comes to newer sony phones for development, patches, roms and debloating.
Are there previous debloating scripts we can use on the newer phones? It looks like we already have a process for root access. but not sure what i apps i should remove or backup.
Not to mention if i flash with a totally new rom i will probably want some of the Sony apps installed which means backing up the sony apps before we flash a rom to it right?
@thud1, I've successfully run the attached script using adb. I'm on the US variant, so can't root, and also removed a few extras from other non-US carriers like Orange. I'd recommend reading through it yourself and changing it (anything without a "::" at the start of the line is being removed), since I removed as much as I possibly could (including almost all Google apps). You can use it as a starting point for which apps you can systemlessly uninstall with Magisk though. After uninstalling all of those, everything still seems to be working for me, and I based it on what I uninstalled with Magisk on my 1 III, so it should also work on a rooted device.
I don't think there are any custom ROMs out yet, but even if there are, flashing will be limited to what can be done through fastboot or Magisk, since we don't have TWRP. If you wanted to install Sony apps on a non-Sony ROM, you'd likely need to use a Magisk module to add in the Sony framework to that ROM or the apps wouldn't work (not even sure if something like Camera Pro would work on an entirely non-Sony ROM like LineageOS).
EDIT: Make sure you have a browser and keyboard downloaded, else you will have to reinstall GBoard and Chrome.
Pointless816 said:
@thud1, I've successfully run the attached script using adb. I'm on the US variant, so can't root, and also removed a few extras from other non-US carriers like Orange. I'd recommend reading through it yourself and changing it (anything without a "::" at the start of the line is being removed), since I removed as much as I possibly could (including almost all Google apps). You can use it as a starting point for which apps you can systemlessly uninstall with Magisk though. After uninstalling all of those, everything still seems to be working for me, and I based it on what I uninstalled with Magisk on my 1 III, so it should also work on a rooted device.
I don't think there are any custom ROMs out yet, but even if there are, flashing will be limited to what can be done through fastboot or Magisk, since we don't have TWRP. If you wanted to install Sony apps on a non-Sony ROM, you'd likely need to use a Magisk module to add in the Sony framework to that ROM or the apps wouldn't work (not even sure if something like Camera Pro would work on an entirely non-Sony ROM like LineageOS).
EDIT: Make sure you have a browser and keyboard downloaded, else you will have to reinstall GBoard and Chrome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank for the debloat list i am going through the list now. Quite an extensive list. so pretty cool.
I also found an universal android debloater app. thought i share it here in case anyone wants to try it. really easy to use.
universal android debloater app.
Release 0.5.1 ยท 0x192/universal-android-debloater
Since 0.5.0, all changes related to apps are available to users without downloading a new version of UAD as the software directly download the json debloat list from Github. These changes can be tr...
github.com
Instructions.
Making the Perfect Phone
Having Fun with Technology
christitus.com
Pointless816 said:
@thud1, I've successfully run the attached script using adb. I'm on the US variant, so can't root, and also removed a few extras from other non-US carriers like Orange. I'd recommend reading through it yourself and changing it (anything without a "::" at the start of the line is being removed), since I removed as much as I possibly could (including almost all Google apps). You can use it as a starting point for which apps you can systemlessly uninstall with Magisk though. After uninstalling all of those, everything still seems to be working for me, and I based it on what I uninstalled with Magisk on my 1 III, so it should also work on a rooted device.
I don't think there are any custom ROMs out yet, but even if there are, flashing will be limited to what can be done through fastboot or Magisk, since we don't have TWRP. If you wanted to install Sony apps on a non-Sony ROM, you'd likely need to use a Magisk module to add in the Sony framework to that ROM or the apps wouldn't work (not even sure if something like Camera Pro would work on an entirely non-Sony ROM like LineageOS).
EDIT: Make sure you have a browser and keyboard downloaded, else you will have to reinstall GBoard and Chrome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome thank you for this, does it need to be re-applied every OTA update?
Pointless816 said:
@thud1, I've successfully run the attached script using adb. I'm on the US variant, so can't root, and also removed a few extras from other non-US carriers like Orange. I'd recommend reading through it yourself and changing it (anything without a "::" at the start of the line is being removed), since I removed as much as I possibly could (including almost all Google apps). You can use it as a starting point for which apps you can systemlessly uninstall with Magisk though. After uninstalling all of those, everything still seems to be working for me, and I based it on what I uninstalled with Magisk on my 1 III, so it should also work on a rooted device.
I don't think there are any custom ROMs out yet, but even if there are, flashing will be limited to what can be done through fastboot or Magisk, since we don't have TWRP. If you wanted to install Sony apps on a non-Sony ROM, you'd likely need to use a Magisk module to add in the Sony framework to that ROM or the apps wouldn't work (not even sure if something like Camera Pro would work on an entirely non-Sony ROM like LineageOS).
EDIT: Make sure you have a browser and keyboard downloaded, else you will have to reinstall GBoard and Chrome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I applied your script and everything looks super clean now. However. i am experiencing an issue with the settings application. it keeps crashing.
I have already applied your script if i want to revert anything. How would i go about doing that?
SonicSamZ said:
Awesome thank you for this, does it need to be re-applied every OTA update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should not, no. The only exception is if new apps are added by an OTA that you would want to remove.
thud1 said:
I applied your script and everything looks super clean now. However. i am experiencing an issue with the settings application. it keeps crashing.
I have already applied your script if i want to revert anything. How would i go about doing that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To revert, running the below command should work:
adb shell cmd package install-existing --user 0 <package_name>
Example:
adb shell cmd package install-existing --user 0 com.google.android.youtube
If you want to undo everything, just do a find and replace of "adb shell pm uninstall -k" with "adb shell cmd package install-existing" in the script.
Pointless816 said:
It should not, no. The only exception is if new apps are added by an OTA that you would want to remove.
To revert, running the below command should work:
adb shell cmd package install-existing --user 0 <package_name>
Example:
adb shell cmd package install-existing --user 0 com.google.android.youtube
If you want to undo everything, just do a find and replace of "adb shell pm uninstall -k" with "adb shell cmd package install-existing" in the script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks i reverted all the changes and rebooted the phone. The main reason for doing this other than having a few oddities with some of my apps.
Was that everyone is saying android 13 is pushing. so reverted all the changes to see if would push me to android 13 and then i could reapply the debloating script.
So far going into system software update. it keeps saying android 12. up to date. and doesn't seem to be pushing 13 yet.
thud1 said:
Thanks i reverted all the changes and rebooted the phone. The main reason for doing this other than having a few oddities with some of my apps.
Was that everyone is saying android 13 is pushing. so reverted all the changes to see if would push me to android 13 and then i could reapply the debloating script.
So far going into system software update. it keeps saying android 12. up to date. and doesn't seem to be pushing 13 yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there, check the variant you have of the 1 IV, currently, only the XQ-CT54 got the update, the US and Asian model is behind for now