android guru help for settings... - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 8 Questions & Answers

Its been a while since I use android... bot now that i have switched things changed a lot. Im still at the edge if im going to return my note or not because of some annoyances im getting that i cant figure out how to fix it. Hopefully an android guru can help.
FIrst... i need some help why does all my online account signs out. If i didnt get to open them in a significant amout of time. the moment i launch the app it gonna be asking me to log in again. kinda frustrating sometimes esp when im in a hurry that i really want to check something.

Firstly: This is something that happens to all mobile devices. Almost every iOS (iPhone and iPad) users complains about this. Android is a little less aggressive in logging users out of services from apps than Apple does. But, yes, Android does time out after inactivity some login sessions, like banking, for security reasons. Some apps have a "stay logged in" option in its settings or on the login page that you can enable. While other apps choose to allow login sessions to time out. Few these apps will give you a warning about the timeout so you can delay the logout. And few apps may have a time delay without human interaction setting before logging you out (Android has this time delay without human interaction (inactivity) setting before logging you out to the Lock screen). Also some areas in an app, like Account Settings, you may need to log into separately from the main app for (again) security reasons.
What I do about this: I use LastPass (a password manager) auto-fill feature so that I don't need to type in the user name and password all the time. The auto-fill will allow you to choose the user name and password set to use for the app or site, then it auto fills the user name and password. Some apps also may allow you to use your fingerprint to auto login to an app, like a bank app.
Most Android apps should somewhere in the app have the "hamburger" menu (three lines or three dots). Settings/Options for most apps would be found in the Hamburger menu. Once you tapped onto the Hamburger menu look for and tap the Setting or Option name/icon to go to the settings for that app. There you can navigate the settings to see if there is something like "stay logged in" setting to enable. You can logout then go to the login page to see if there is something like "stay logged in" that you can check before you log back in.
Android has a time delay without human interaction (inactivity) setting before logging you out to the Lock screen. To set this go to Settings > Display > scroll down to and click on "Screen timeout". There you can choose from 15 seconds to 10 minutes without human interaction (inactivity) before Android logs you out to the Lock screen.

JaguarXT said:
Firstly: This is something that happens to all mobile devices. Almost every iOS (iPhone and iPad) users complains about this. Android is a little less aggressive in logging users out of services from apps than Apple does. But, yes, Android does time out some login sessions, like banking, for security reasons. Some apps have a "stay logged in" option in its settings or on the login page that you can enable. While other apps choose to allow login sessions to time out. Few these apps will give you a warning about the timeout so you can delay the logout. And few apps may have a time delay without human interaction setting before logging you out (Android has this time delay without human interaction setting before logging you out to the Lock screen). Also some areas in an app, like Account Settings, you may need to log into separately from the main app for (again) security reasons.
What I do about this: I use LastPass (a password manager) auto-fill feature so that I don't need to type in the user name and password all the time. The auto-fill will allow you to choose the user name and password set to use for the app or site, then it auto fills the user name and password. Some apps also may allow you to use your fingerprint to auto login to an app, like a bank app.
Most Android apps should somewhere in the app have the "hamburger" menu (three lines or three dots). Settings/Options for most apps would be found in the Hamburger menu. Once you tapped onto the Hamburger menu look for and tap the Setting or Option name/icon to go to the settings for that app. There you can navigate the settings to see if there is something like "stay logged in" setting to enable. You can logout then go to the login page to see if there is something like "stay logged in" that you can check before you log back in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well thats the problem... im using LastPass and LastPass itself is logging me out once in a while.

Okay. Let us try to fix this.
Go to LastPass app.
Go to the Hamburger menu (three lines on left top of app)
at the bottom of the Hamburger menu click on Settings click on "Security"
uncheck " Lock LastPass automatically"
There are more login settings to go for LastPass. In the same Security settings:
uncheck "Check session when app is activate"
select "Skip reprompt after login" > choose "Disabled"
select "log out when app in idle" > choose "Never"
check "Allow offline access.
Here you can setup fingerprint to unlock LastPass.
In the Security settings check "Use fingerprint to unlock".
Then follow instructions.
If you never set fingerprint reading for your Note 8, then you will need to go through that setup first.
Now restart LastPass.
The" Allow offline access" helps you prevent logging out when your device loses 4G/LTE connection. This stores your LastPass stuff in your device.
Make sure you setup App Fill in the Settings.
Hope that helps.

Thank you... Good karma to you for giving a little bit of your time to help. I hope this fixes my logging out problems.
:fingers-crossed:

Cool

Related

A little HTC Taskmanager Tip for you guys

Most of you may already realize this but I just experienced a little oddity related to the HTC Taskmanager's "X to close app" feature. I was trying to change my Activesync settings to download older emails and all msgs instead of partial but everytime I closed out of the settings page it lost my changes. I then realized that I had set the plugin to close apps not just hide/minimize when I hit the X's. Of course, the box within the activesync settings is actually an "OK" but it still results in the plugin closing the activesync settings without saving. I turned off that feature temporarily and it allowed me to tap "OK" without losing my settings. This may be too basic a tip but maybe it will save someone some trouble out there.

[Q] No status bar network type indicators (2G, 3G) when data disabled + other qns

Few qns:
1. I know we cannot delete the first Microsoft Account associated with the device, but can we at least delete the email part of it? It automatically created a hotmail email account/tile and started syncing it. I don't want email on my phone, its my primary email and I usually have no security on phone. I know I can disable email sync and it will remove the tile but anyone can re-enable it
2. Is there a way to select only specific people to appear on the People Tile? It allows disabling certain accounts but not certain people (either blacklist or whitelist), I don't want random people checking out my phone and wondering if they've been selected to specially appear on my home page! Can it only display certain "Favourites"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Resolved, Thanks
3. The status bar shows no indication of whether it is connected to 2G or 3G network (Data is disabled so can't use the E/H icons), is this normal?
4. The Settings>Mobile network Highest Speed settings does not show a 4G option, I only have 2G and 3G
5. Marketplace does not show all the available on the home page (of the Marketplace or on the live tile), if I goto a specific app, THEN it shows the update and also reflects this on the home page and live tile.
For your qn #5, I've experienced the same.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2046856
I was rigorously researching this and someone elsewhere seemed to suggest that this is deliberate and the Microsoft provides an option for the developers to do this. i.e There is a time lag between when they become available and when the actual notifications are pushed out.
This did not seem intuitive. The only reasons I can think of this happening are:
1) Pushing update notifications out to all instantly would cause mass damage in case of severe bugs, this way they know only a few hardcore users will check the app individually and install it and they have time for a pseudo-beta test.
2) The update notifications get pushed from the server and this server is only polled/or pushes them at certain times a day or week.
ah06 said:
2. Is there a way to select only specific people to appear on the People Tile? It allows disabling certain accounts but not certain people (either blacklist or whitelist), I don't want random people checking out my phone and wondering if they've been selected to specially appear on my home page! Can it only display certain "Favourites"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New feature in Windows Phone 8: Groups!
http://winsupersite.com/windows-phone/windows-phone-8-tip-share-only-certain-people
Make a group with the people you want to see/interact with most often. Pin THAT to the Start menu. Only those people show up...
When you tap the tile you are taken to the group, but you can still swipe over to all people easily, so it still gives you access to the full people hub.
---------- Post added at 09:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:48 AM ----------
ah06 said:
1. I know we cannot delete the first Microsoft Account associated with the device, but can we at least delete the email part of it? It automatically created a hotmail email account/tile and started syncing it. I don't want email on my phone, its my primary email and I usually have no security on phone. I know I can disable email sync and it will remove the tile but anyone can re-enable it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Settings, email + accounts, Microsoft account, content to sync, uncheck Email.
Settings, email + accounts, Microsoft account, content to sync, uncheck Email.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I knew about that but it allows anyone to re-enable it at any time without re-entering the password, that's hardly ideal. But I am currently using that as a workaround anyway. Thanks for the help
Also thanks for the Groups suggestion, will use that workaround.
ah06 said:
Few qns:
I know we cannot delete the first Microsoft Account associated with the device, but can we at least delete the email part of it? It automatically created a hotmail email account/tile and started syncing it. I don't want email on my phone, its my primary email and I usually have no security on phone. I know I can disable email sync and it will remove the tile but anyone can re-enable it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know this doesn't answer your question, but can I ask why you would not have any security on the phone? You can always have pin number set-up.
However, I can see a case where you have to hand over your phone to may be family and you don't want them to go through your email.
A non-ideal solution is to set-up a separate MS account for the phone. Of course, this means that you'll leave all your other stuff (Xbox gamertag, calendar etc) behind and have to start over again.

Found a security issue with Restricted Profiles

I decided to try and lock down my younger brothers Nexus 7 so that he could have his favorite apps but have no access to the internet. Android 5.0 has made this a little easier with the addition of Restricted Profiles.
However there is a major flaw.
Firstly i can disable access to all browsers etc but it does not have the option to disable access to settings. From there you can browse to "Accounts" then "Google Ads" which then gives you full access to the internet and acts as a mini web browser. This defeats the whole purpose of a restricted profile lol, is Google aware of this?
What i need is a way to disable access to settings. I have tried App lock apps but he manages to beat them by repetitively punching a bunch of random numbers
Is there a way to disable the quick settings and notification panel, so that when he tries to pull it down, it won't do anything?
I have hidden the settings icon from Nova so that he can't access this way. But all it takes is a simple swipe down, tap the settings icon in the quick settings panel, go to Accounts, then Google ads and you have access to a full web browsing experience LOL.
Did i mention he's 7? I'm scared of what he'll be able to do at 16
I realise it will probably require root. I'm willing to try anything at this stage!
Any suggestions?

Bypassing Google account login after factory reset.

Hey,
So I have this case at work, employee that was leaving company returned company issued phone after a very long time of deleting this user's google account, covid situation made it hard to return the equipment back to the company earlier.
There was a screen lock that was forgotten by this user, what made removing de-facto non-existing google account from it's settings impossible.
Only option was to factory rest it through recovery mode and try to bypass it.
The problem is that every tutorial I found online is outdated.
- I tried using the talkback way but the option to show privacy policy is not even there now.
- using proxy method while connecting phone to the Wi-fi also doesn't work because the error message that should pop up after a while of no internet connection also doesn't show up.
- Trying to open up any app using "share" option on selected text also doesn't work, after pressing "share" a pop up window with apps is empty.
My question is does anyone by any chance knows another way or maybe there is a possibility to downgrade the system so above solutions might work again.
We even tried to re-create this users' gmail account only to log in with those credentials but it didn't work.

Anyone know how to clear Google Map Search results in the Android Firebase?

Anyone know how to clear Google Map Search results in the Android Firebase?
And why does Firebase capture such searches even if you have it turned off?
a. Android 11:Settings > Google > Developer > Firebase App Indexing
[ (You may need to turn on "Developer Options") ]​b. Select "Maps <com.google.android.apps.maps>"
c. Select "Place"
What pops up on my Android 11 phone (which doesn't have a Google Account registered to it) are the "Latest updated indexables", which, at least in my tests, include the last few dozen locations you've searched in the Google Maps app.
How do you clear all Firebase indexables, en masse, on Android 11?
And why does Firebase capture ALL your Google Map destination searches even if you don't even have a Google Account?
I hear you... excellent observation
The data is likely stored in Gmaps... it's a pig.
Go through it's settings and use the factory load version. Playstore updates always make it worse.
It's doing the same thing to me... Temporarily disabling Google play Services seems to kill that interaction. I normally keep Google play Services disabled unless I need to use Gmail; apparently it was enabled when I used Gmaps on 11.10.2021.
I've used Gmaps multiple times since. Clearing Google play Services doesn't clear the Firebase data. I didn't try clearing Gmaps data as it's a pain to set up.
Firebase is another Gookill data hog.
Thank you for your observations so that I know it's not just me who has this huge privacy hole that I didn't even know existed!
I love that you volunteered additional useful details that will help me debug (and which should help everyone - which is always the point of posting) where your setup is different from mine (for example, you have the phone registered to a Google Account, I don't - and yet you saw the same Firebase App Indexing that I did).
Keep in mind that I go out of my way to NOT set a Google Account on the phone (so that Google can't save anything to that non-existing account), and therefore I NEVER sign into any Google app which "asks for" a signin (e.g., Google Maps, the GMail App, Google Voice, YouTube, Google Play, etc.).
The instant you sign in to some of those (GMail & Google Voice for example), the mere act of signing into a Google account will automatically CREATE a Google Account on the phone. So my rule is never sign into anything on the phone (hence I have no accounts set up on the phone - and it works just fine without them).
However, I do use the Google Maps app (without signing into it), where you can see in my tests listed in the OP, I searched for "100 Main Street" which was captured in the Firebase App Indexing in gory detail.
Luckily nothing was "transmitted" but every destination I ever entered into the Google Maps app was stored on the phone, where the question now is how to wipe out all that stored Firebase app indexing data, en masse?
From the standpoint of privacy, it's terrible these Android Firebase App Indexes exist, and worse, it's horrid that we don't know (yet) how to easily clear them (as they contain ALL your Google Map searches, even if you've never once ever logged into any Google Account!).
I don't have a Google Account (for privacy) but I can't root my phone yet (as T-Mobile owns it for another year and a half) so I'm stuck with just disabling what seem to be non essential Google packages.
What surprised me is that I don't have an account when I use Google Maps so I was surprised that the phone saved the search locations in the Firebase.
Looking for how that could be possible, I noticed this isn't disabled.
Google Location History (com.google.android.gms.location.history)
Looking in my free ad free App Manager, I see that Google Location History hasn't transmitted any data but it did store 32.77kB of data.
Maybe that's how Google Map searches end up in the Firebase?
To test, I just did the following (wish me luck) hoping it might clear those Google Map destination searches from the Android Firebase privacy hole.
Android 11: Settings
Apps
Your apps
(with "Show system apps === on")
Google Location History
App info
Google Location History
(with "Permissions === No permissions allowed")
[access location in the background]
[access precise location only in the foreground]
[access approximate location only in the foreground]
(with "Location === Denied")
(with "Set as default === Not set as default")
Usage > Mobile data > Total = 0 B
(Allow background data usage === I turned this off)
(Allow data usage while Data saver is on === off)
Usage > Storage > Total = 32.77 KB
(App === 32.77 KB
(Data === 0 B)
(Cache === 0 B)
Unfortunately the "Clear cache" & "Clear data" buttons on the bottom were both grayed out
So how are you supposed to clear that app data?
After doing that, I then purposefully borked Google Location History as best I could as shown below (some of the steps are similar).
Android 11: Settings
Apps
Your apps
(with "Show system apps === on")
Google Location History
App info
Google Location History
(with "Permissions === No permissions allowed")
(with "Location === Denied")
(with "Set as default === Not set as default")
Force stop
You can't "Uninstall" because it's a protected system app)
You can't "Disable" either for the same reason.
(Disable is grayed out)
Be careful when you force stop a protected system app because the force-stopped app (in this case, Google Location History) will suddenly completely disappear from your phone (AFAICT) such that it won't appear in a search inside most app drawer apps, and it won't show up in most app managers.
From experience, I know that my FOSS App Manager shows stopped/disabled systems apps but others might not be aware of this caveat. In that App Manager, when you tap on "Google Location History", you can hit the threedots at the top right and then click "View in Settings" which will bring you to the Android settings for that app, even as after you force stop the system app, you can no longer get to those Android settings for that app through the normal Android methods anymore.
Notice what I just said, which is once a system app like Google Location History is disabled/stopped, you can no longer FIND it in the Android Settings to turn it on, and even if you did find it (like I show above using my FOSS App Manager, you still can't re-enable it until you know how to do that - which I describe below for clarity).
Start the FOSS App Manager
Run a search for "google" to find "Google Location History"
Long press on the result to select "Google Location History"
Press the threedots (at the bottom right) of the selected set
Your choices for "Google Location History" will be
Uninstall
Enable
Disable
Force-stop
Clear Data
Save APK
Backup/Restore
Prevent background operation
Block/unblock trackers
Export Blocking Rules
Add to profile
You should be able to select the "Enable" option.
I figured out (I think) how to clear the Firebase search data for the Google Maps app destination searches (to protect your privacy).
I started with this existing shortcut (which was already in my homescreen shortcut folder) to the following Android Activity:
ShortcutName === Search Data
ShortcutValue === com.google.android.gms.icing.ui.IcingManageSpaceActivity
My specific "Search Data" Android Activity in the Android 11 Settings, has four entries (yours will likely have more or less depending on what apps you use).
Google Play services (2.51 MB)
T-Mobile (371 kB)
Maps (22.42 kB)
GasBuddy (1.28 kB)
To get to that "Search Data" Android Activity the slow way (instead of using that quick shortcut) you do the following on Android 11.
Android 11:Settings
Apps
Your apps
Google Play services
Storage
At the bottom, press "Manage storage"
This brings you to "Google Play services storage"
Press the gray "[MANAGE SEARCH DATA]" button box.
This brings you to the "Search Data" Android Activity
In that "Search Data" Android Activity, you select "Maps" and then "Storage" and then individually select "Clear cache" & "Clear data".
Search Data > Maps > Storage > {Clear data, Clear cache}
If you already know ahead of time that it's only the "Maps" app that you want to clear the cache & data for, you can also get there more directly using the Android 11 Settings of
Android11: Settings
Apps
Your apps
Maps
Storage
{Clear data, Clear cache}
Only after doing that procedure of clearing the "Maps" storage, do I finally clear out the Android Firebase storage of all the places I've ever searched for as the destination in a Google Maps app routing.
In my homescreen shortcut folder is already a shortcut to the Google menu in Android which brings me to the following Android Activity:
ShortcutName === Google
ShortcutValue === com.google.android.gms.app.settings.GoogleSettingsIALink
Once there, when I look at the Firebase App Indexing for "Maps", there is no longer anything stored which confirms this privacy hole has been cleared (for now).
Android 11:Settings
Google
Developer
[ (You may need to turn on "Developer Options") ]
Firebase App Indexing
Maps <com.google.android.apps.maps>
You should no longer see a selection for "Place"
Instead you should see "No indexibles found"
This is an indication that this privacy hole has been cleared.
The key unresolved question, of course, is how to prevent it from ever coming back?
Try disabling Google play Services when using Gmaps...

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