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First Note: These apps will become uninstallable! (much like any other stock rom apk) and must be deleted using the console, somehow.. anybody care to shed some light on how?
Hopefully someone can add more to this or use this info to build a much more thorough how-to, but for now here's what I've got...
Instead of building your own update.zip you can modify your alt+w wipe data to reinstall the downloaded/backed-up apks of your choice. This can also be used to install 3rd party apks without having access to any other installer, for instance if you wipe then find yourself without any access to the internet/market or a computer.
To do this you must first have the apps on the sd. I used astro to backup apps which puts the apks in /sdcard/backups/apps
I'm doing this on IonR2, your system apps may be elsewhere, mine are located in /system/app, you'll need to know where they are for this to work.
Power off your phone and do this (enter the bold stuff only, replace my directories with yours):
home+power (enter recovery)
alt+x (to go to console)
hit enter (cause the prompt says so..)
/ # mount sdcard
/ # mount system
/ # cd sdcard/backups/apps (or cd to where ever your backed up apks are)
/sdcard/backups/apps # ls *appname* (this may be useful for finding the exact *.apk name)
/sdcard/backups/apps # install -cp org.appName.com.apk /system/app (remember to capitalize where necessary)
at this point it should hang for a second then return to the "/sdcard/backups/apps #" prompt, if so the apk has successfully been added.
/sdcard/backups/apps # reboot (or install more apks if you like)
home+power then alt+w to test if you so desire. now your backed up apk should reinstall itself if you ever have to do an alt+w wipe again..(weather the apk is on the sd card or not)
I know, not very thorough but wth, I figured someone might find this as useful as I did(or be able to expand on it a bit, data, app settings etc). Also cool if you happen to have no net connection, no pc access and a wiped phone with no real useful/fun apps...
u only have to do this once, and it'll flash the new roms WITH these apps installed? how do we 'clear' these apps if we don't want to have them installed when we wipe?
Is it possible to install all the apps in your backup directory at once, with some sort of batch command?
These apps will become uninstallable! (much like any other stock rom apk) and must be deleted using the console, somehow.. anybody care to shed some light on how?
@ Lieu10ant, yeah, you only have to do once/updated rom, this modifies the base install. the newely added apks will be installed every time you alt+w (wipe). If you apply an update.zip this process will need to be redone(I'm pretty sure, haven't tried).
@ lukekirstein, I'm sure there's a way but I'm not sure how. Really hoping someone more knowledgable jumps in here with a bit more info :/
I've added a file manager(with backed up apps installer) and wifi tether because I always need/use em and never really planned on uninstalling em..
Im pretty sure you would have to use "rm" and individually remove all apps you dont want.
instead of backing up your apps, just run apps to sd and never reinstall any apps again
Breakthecycle2 said:
Im pretty sure you would have to use "rm" and individually remove all apps you dont want.
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Click to collapse
you would mount the system again from the recovery console and 'rm' each app you don't want. You would want to be careful not to batch delete stuff.
sonikamd said:
These apps will become uninstallable! (much like any other stock rom apk) and must be deleted using the console, somehow.. anybody care to shed some light on how?
@ lukekirstein, I'm sure there's a way but I'm not sure how. Really hoping someone more knowledgable jumps in here with a bit more info :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't it be a nice thing to make them uninstallable? That would, in theory, make them a lot more stable like the stock apps and can only be updated, not modified. You can probably delete them through console in recovery or even through ADB if you wanted to. It'd definitely be impossible to do it through some basic installer or the package uninstaller while the phone is running normally. The same process as a stock app.
I know you can't do it while the phone is running (bummer :/) but I was hoping it's possible when the phone is off.
@ Breakthecycle2, cool, I figured rm through console after mounting but haven't tried so wasn't 100% on that one.
@ Sirus20x6, I prefer this method to apps2sd, mainly because everything's stored in the phone's internal memory. Although I know most folks now seem to be using an apps2sd of some sort.
@ lukekirstein, yeah. That's why I do it this way, but some may want them uninstallable so I figured I better make a point to inform those folks
Wouldn't this decrease your internal memory since these apps are being saved to the phone so you can later wipe?
jusplainmike, I would assume so. Something to keep in mind.
Would a nand be better?
sonikamd said:
I'm doing this on IonR2, your system apps may be elsewhere, mine are located in /system/app, you'll need to know where they are for this to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(10c)
perhaps, depends on what you want I suppose. I wipe clean every so often just to get a fresh start, speed things back up etc. Sometimes while installing themes I wipe multiple times and also just want a clean slate.
This is definitely not the way to go for a complete backup-restore. Just seems a good way to reinstall a few missing by stock apps after a wipe.
lol soulife i know, i know
I believe apps2sd is the best bet for keeping apps after a wipe or fresh install.
retort
sonikamd said:
lol soulife i know, i know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only reason is because you push a market app to internal memory it read only. If there's an update you have to open terminal or adb and rm and push the update back. Plus if you flash a new update it will wipe them out. With a2sd however you can update them no hastle, and even if you flash a new build, with a2sd the reinstall themself. Much more convient as long as you smart with your partitioning.
I think you guys may be doing this the hard way. If you are wiping and moving to a compatible ROM, just leave the sd card as it is and the new ROM should be able to find and install the apps as long as it has apps2sd built in.
If you are moving to an incompatible ROM you will have to remove old sd app directory first.
rm -r /system/sd/app
then you should be able to just copy over your entire apk backup directory to your sdcard as follows.
cp- a /sdcard/yourdirectoryname /system/sd/app
and if you are installing a ROM that has app2sd built in, it should find all the apps and install them.
If the ROM you use does not have apps to sd, then you will be able to use Lucid script to move apps from phone to sd card app directory (with already copied apps) and link directory
Tru, I just don't use apps2sd. My sd is constantly getting mangled for one reason or another..
uh, by doing this you're filling up your /system folder which actually needs memory to improve. and you can uninstall them by
mount -o rw,remount -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
rm/system/app/nameof.apk
on another note wouldnt wiping while having info in the system ; wipe?
anyways
Even though I keep killing with Task Manager the Amazon MP3 Store application, it keeps coming back, how I can stop it from auto running all the time or even better to fully remove it from the phone ?, thanks
I fully removed it from the adb shell using rm -f. I think it's stored somewhere in /data/app. Anywais, just look for the apk and remove it.
St.Jimmy! said:
I fully removed it from the adb shell using rm -f. I think it's stored somewhere in /data/app. Anywais, just look for the apk and remove it.
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Click to collapse
I just remove it using Titanium Backup, great tool, I also removed, Mail, VPN, Music, etc.
brosen said:
Even though I keep killing with Task Manager the Amazon MP3 Store application, it keeps coming back, how I can stop it from auto running all the time or even better to fully remove it from the phone ?, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Original post @ Modaco
http://android.modaco.com/content/g...-mp3-store-or-other-stock-apps-rooted-device/
---
adb remount
adb shell rm /system/app/com.amazon.mp3.apk
---
If you are using enom's ROM , the option for removing amazon MP3 , and other built-in apps .. is under spareparts :
Application Options
Built-in Applications ..
checkmark and done !
You also can remove it with "Root Explorer" from the market too...
Or SUFBS I hardly ever bother with commands anymore
You can also remov it with Android mate. (marked)
pvillasuso said:
..
---
adb remount
adb shell rm /system/app/com.amazon.mp3.apk
---
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Click to collapse
Thanx..removed
rori1 said:
Thanx..removed
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Click to collapse
Can someone walk me through this? I have a stock N1 I've been using for a couple weeks and would love to get rid of some of these crappy programs I never use, without voiding the warranty.
johnstevens said:
Can someone walk me through this? I have a stock N1 I've been using for a couple weeks and would love to get rid of some of these crappy programs I never use, without voiding the warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't without rooting.
sergioalvarezmac said:
You also can remove it with "Root Explorer" from the market too...
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Click to collapse
Anyone care to explain how to do this? Is it as simple as just deleting the apk's?
InFlicT666 said:
Anyone care to explain how to do this? Is it as simple as just deleting the apk's?
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Click to collapse
Yep.
If you want to completely remove it, rm the apk, the related /data/data/.. folder, the related dalvik-cache object and remove it from packages.xml.
But for a quick removal just del the apk (and .odex if exists).
Or you could just get root manager from the market (paid app) which allows you to uninstall system apps
Can someone please explain to me why programs like the Amazon MP3 store come back after reboot each time I've deleted it. I've deleted it via Root Manager, android mate, titanium backup and all the other methods listed in this forum. Each seem to be rid of the files with out issue. Then I reboot ...and the program is BACK. Clearly there is something I'm missing when i reboot the system reverts back before I deleted it. I just want this sprint bloatware gone
GinjiVitis said:
Can someone please explain to me why programs like the Amazon MP3 store come back after reboot each time I've deleted it. I've deleted it via Root Manager, android mate, titanium backup and all the other methods listed in this forum. Each seem to be rid of the files with out issue. Then I reboot ...and the program is BACK. Clearly there is something I'm missing when i reboot the system reverts back before I deleted it. I just want this sprint bloatware gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds to me like the old days of my Blackberry, and things getting pushed to your device OTA without permission, lol. I haven't had that issue though, sorry.
GinjiVitis said:
Can someone please explain to me why programs like the Amazon MP3 store come back after reboot each time I've deleted it. I've deleted it via Root Manager, android mate, titanium backup and all the other methods listed in this forum. Each seem to be rid of the files with out issue. Then I reboot ...and the program is BACK. Clearly there is something I'm missing when i reboot the system reverts back before I deleted it. I just want this sprint bloatware gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That...doesn't sound right.
GinjiVitis said:
Can someone please explain to me why programs like the Amazon MP3 store come back after reboot each time I've deleted it. I've deleted it via Root Manager, android mate, titanium backup and all the other methods listed in this forum. Each seem to be rid of the files with out issue. Then I reboot ...and the program is BACK. Clearly there is something I'm missing when i reboot the system reverts back before I deleted it. I just want this sprint bloatware gone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like you're not mounting the file system for writing before trying to write (delete) to the file system.
Very interesting thought. I figured since I'm not familiar with these root file system programs yet I could easily have it set to read only instead of write but after some digging I do have the software set to allow write permissions. I found some posts regarding this deleted program respawning issue. the general consensus is its the systems NAND protection. Im going to work on disabling that and trying again. thanks for the great suggestion though.
tipe this on your termina without the quotes if you dont have a terminal get one at the market.
"su"
"mount -o rw,remount /system"
"rm -r /system/app/com.amazon.mp3.apk"
"pm uninstall com.amazon.mp3"
In root explorer I went in to /system/apps and deleted .com.amazon.mp3.apk. Is that fine or is there anything else I need to delete to uninstall it?
Hi everyone!
I'm having difficulties with the malware that I, nor all AV and anti-malware apps I've tried cannot delete. I'm sorry if this thread was discused previously, if so just send me a link.
Here's what happened:
I clicked on a link in a web browser, and than phone flashed several times as application "Firewall" was starting.
Anyway AV app detected a virus and tried to clean it, but failed.
The malware is on the phone as "SecurityService" system app in /system/priv-app/.gmp.apk
I cannot delet file it's write protected. I've tried several methods nothing worked.
Any ideas?
If you're rooted, you can uninstall system apps.
Sent from Hell
No, I cannot... Can you give me some tip how to, maybe I Didn't try it.
Most of the time the app which you get when you root can be used to uninstall system apps.... If you don't seem to find it google for root apps uninstaller and install one of them
Sent from Hell
Nope... I tried several of them but they all failed. They either crash, freez or say something like "unable to uninstall", "failed to uninstall", "can't uninstall for unknow reason" and things like that. This malware protected itself somehow. Any other ideas?
dtalic said:
/system/priv-app/.gmp.apk
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Click to collapse
Just delete the folder with a root file explorer. If the "." in front of the file name is correct, it looks like it's trying to mark itself as a hidden file, which may be why the other methods aren't working.
Yes there is dot (.) in front of file name. But if you are suggesting me to delete folder "priv-app" where the file is, I don't think that's a good idea at all. It's packed with system apps files such as dialer, calendar, contacts, etc... Anything else?
I could show you some screenshots if it would help anyone to maybe figure out what to do... Although I wrote what is going on...
dtalic said:
Yes there is dot (.) in front of file name. But if you are suggesting me to delete folder "priv-app" where the file is, I don't think that's a good idea at all. It's packed with system apps files such as dialer, calendar, contacts, etc... Anything else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't delete the folder, delete the apk
Sent from Hell
I cannot delete it. Root Explorer just say "can`t delete file" (or something like that). And dozens of other apps say the same. That is my main problem.
dtalic said:
I cannot delete it. Root Explorer just say "can`t delete file" (or something like that). And dozens of other apps say the same. That is my main problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can delete anything in TWRP. Just mount system and then use unternal file manager to delete the app.
That sounds promising. Im quite unfamiliar and new to all this, can you either explain me how to, or send me a link with explanation...
dtalic said:
Yes there is dot (.) in front of file name. But if you are suggesting me to delete folder "priv-app" where the file is, I don't think that's a good idea at all. It's packed with system apps files such as dialer, calendar, contacts, etc... Anything else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should have paid more attention to the file path. Since Lollipop, installed apks are given their own folders. It looks like you're on Kitkat or earlier.
Most root explorers have a toggle between read only and read/write. Check that.
Yes i know about that. Switching to r/w mode didn't help.
i googled twrp as optimumpro suggested and it seems like something that really would work, BUT my phone is not supported any other suggestions?
I also tried "force remove app (by recovery exploit)" option offered by titaniumbackup, but that also failed saying that file couldnt be found!?
dtalic said:
That sounds promising. Im quite unfamiliar and new to all this, can you either explain me how to, or send me a link with explanation...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to have TWRP recovery. Boot in recovery, go to Mounts and mount System. Then go back to the main screen, choose Advanced, then File Manager. Go to the directory where your file is, click on it, then choose Delete. You'll get a warning that operation is irreversible. Swipe to execute. That's it.
If that doesn't work for you, then reinstall your current rom without wiping data. This way, your System partition will be reformatted, original system apps installed and data preserved. Depending on the rom you flash, you may lose root and/or Supersu, so, you'll have to redo those.
Ok, I think im following you, optimumpro. I also saw some instructions on youtube. But did you see that i wrote that my phone is not supported in twrp. I need to install it, right? I mailed them, maybe they will add my phone for installation too. Or can i risk trying to install twrp using settings for some other device? There is a ZTE, but not my model...
dtalic said:
Ok, I think im following you, optimumpro. I also saw some instructions on youtube. But did you see that i wrote that my phone is not supported in twrp. I need to install it, right? I mailed them, maybe they will add my phone for installation too. Or can i risk trying to install twrp using settings for some other device? There is a ZTE, but not my model...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlikely that another device recovery would work. You can use terminal to execute rm "your file" in the directory your file is in. First type su to get root rights. If your rom has no terminal, get it from f-droid. Also see if whatever recovery you use has a file manager or terminal. But again, just reinstall your rom without wiping data...
Ok, here's where im now: tried to use terminal to remove file, but couldn't, it said that i don't have permissions for that. Tried to change permissions, couldn't. As i see it, i should find a way to delete file in recovery. Because i couldn't install twrp, i looked for another recovery file manager. Found "aroma", tried it, but also couldn't install it (none of several versions, followed instructions, but just got message something like "not able to verify... ",something like that... Now, im willing to reinstall rom, but how do i do it? I don't even care for wiping data, I'll just make backup and start all over again
That type of malware usually makes itself immutable so that it can t be erased (even when in recovery, immutable that is), and by reading your post I guess that it s what is happening on your phone.
It s easy to undo if you are rooted and have busybox installed.
Open your android terminal, or connect your phone through adb, then type:
lsattr system/priv-app/.gmp.apk
Most likely it will show something like:
-------------iA----------
The "i" means that the file is immutable, ie is write protected.
To undo this type:
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system
then type:
chattr -i system/priv-app/.gmp.apk
Now you can erase the file, and don t forget to erase its dex in the dalvik cache ([email protected]@[email protected]).
The malware may have some hidden stuff in the system/etc or the system/usr folder(check the install date and time, it should be the same than for .gmp.apk), and it may be immutable too so if that s the case just follow the above procedure again (you ll have of course to change the path, for example if there s a suspicious file called xyz in the system/etc folder then type chattr -i system/etc/xyz).
Let us know if it worked...
Hi all,
I recently moved from Windows Phone to Android and have been enjoying fiddling with my phone. I rooted the phone using ODIN and CF Auto Root (CF-Auto-Root-herolte-heroltexx-smg930f.tar.md5). I used Titanium Backup to remove a lot of bloatware from my device, but ended up making a mess of things. I then flashed the stock firmware for my Telstra device from Sammobile (G930FXXU1APF2_G930FTEL1APF2_TEL).
Everything seemed fine, but I now cannot use Titanium Backup to integrate updates or move apps to the system partition. I have tried using ES File Explorer and an adb shell to do this also, but with no luck. The apps either do not work, or are installed back into /data/app. It seems to move the apk to /system/app (I can see it there), then removes the app from /data/app and then hangs. If I reboot the phone, the app is uninstalled (but the apk is still in /system/app). I have noticed via /proc/mounts that the /system partition is often mounted RO. Even when I remount RW after TB starts processing it immediately becomes RO.
I have set the TB to use indirect app loading, enabled USB debugging and unknown sources for apps.
Before I reflashed with the stock firmware I was able to move apps to the system partition (I did Gmail and Google Keyboard and they worked well). Could I have stuffed up my firmware flashing? I only used the AP file, not BL/CP/CSC/UMS that were included in the download.
I apologise in advance if I am all over the shop here with my description. I know enough to get myself into trouble but not enough to get out! And yes, first thing I did after flashing was to back everything up so I don't make the mistake again...
Hi All
I am hoping someone can help... I have the Galaxy S7 (SM-G930F / 6.0.1 / UK / EE) and have come up with an issue.
I use Cerberus Apps in case my phone is lost - you are able to install this into the system to avoid someone wiping the phone and removing the software. To do this the phone must be rooted and then I usually use Link2SD to transfer the app to make it a system app. This has always worked on my old phones - but alas not this time.
The problem is that the system partition (4Gb) is full!! I have deleted all the language packs to try and clear some space - but it is still full! Strangely enough I also uninstalled an "Amazon" app which was listed as being a system app and quite large (from memory I think it was just under 100Mb)... but when I removed it and rebooted the system partition free space remained unchanged! It's possible that Amazon was a user app and I mis-read it... but anyway - I thought that the only way to clear some space was to resize the system partition - so I installed TWRP (3.0.2), have done a complete backup (system/efs/etc) apart from \data as this showed 0Mb and "failed to mount" when I tried to back it up originally.
So, my question is - can anyone help me to free some space from the system partition to allow Cerberus App to be stored there? I did think about uninstalling the VR Gear files as I dont have a VR device and assumed I could re-load these from Google Play if needed - but I do have the Galaxy Gear watch - so decided not to remove these files in case it screwed this up. Not sure which Google Apps I can remove and re-install if needed... so if anyone knows this, then that would be a help too
I thought you could resize the partition in TWRP but cant find any clear details on how to do this, so thought I'd ask here before I screw the phone up :silly:
Any ideas/help greatly received.
TWRP doesn't support encryption so that's likely why /data won't mount. Resizing partitions is typically done via Odin with PIT files, but it's very dangerous, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Luxembourg ROMs have around 130mb free system space, so there must be a ton of carrier bloat in yours. This doesn't sound right though, it's required that there is some space for expansion. Could you run the following command in a root terminal and post the results please?
df -k | grep system
CurtisMJ said:
df -k | grep system
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Click to collapse
Thanks Curtis - I left my phone at home today, so will try this tonight and post results. After deleting all the unwanted language files I have about 40Mb space free, but this still doesnt seem to be enough as when I run Link2SD and reboot the phone, Cerberus has vanished and has to be re-installed... although when it re-installs it shows it as an "update" which would indicate that it is installed already - just 'lost' ???
Will update tonight when I get a moment.
Thanks
That's interesting actually. It seems to be indicative of permission issues. The app was successfully moved to the system, but the permissions on its files were wrong and the system refuses to load it(Link2SD's fault, essentially) . It's still acknowledged by the app manager though, which is why it can be "updated". Can you try move it with something apart from Link2SD? I recommend titanium backup.
CurtisMJ said:
Can you try move it with something apart from Link2SD? I recommend titanium backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Curtis - I have Titanium Backup (free version) installed already so can give it a go - I have only used it for backups (a long while ago) and have never used it to relocate an app... is it fairly self explanatory how to do it?
Will look tonight when I get in
Thanks
Just tried with titanium myself and it fails in a similar manner. Seems Marshmallow is a little fiddly and Link2SD puts out a generic message when it has issues. Titanium just freezes. You'll have to do it manually
First you'll need to clear the system of failed attempts. Look in the /system/app and /system/priv-app with a root Explorer for Cerberus apks or folders. Next, look in the /data/app folder and find the Cerberus folder. Take note of this path.
Next, fire up a root terminal and enter the following commands. In my case I was moving Greenify.
mount -o remount,rw /system
cp - a /data/app/com.oasisfeng.greenify-1 /system/app/Greenify
Replace the data folder with your noted path. The system path can be anything.
Then reboot and the app should be system.
Hi Curtis
Thanks for spending so much time on this.
OK, I skipped straight to the manual relocation method that you said. Whilst the app is Cerberus the APK etc is called System Framework as I have installed the 'hidden' version rather than the one which shows as Cerberus on the phone. However using OI File Manager, when I look in /system/app and /system/priv-app folders there is nothing called Cerberus or System Framework... so I am assuming that there are no orphaned APKs or other files.
But, this is where the strange thing starts, when I look in the /data/app folder, it is empty... so I am guessing I am looking in the wrong place as there are loads of apps! I am looking from home then selecting data, etc... any thoughts?
Oh, I have checked that hidden files are shown too!
Thanks again
i used to install the same app on my S7
please follow this guide & let me know the result.
1- uninstall Cerberus App, Link2SD, TTb, etc. and reboot
2- install SystemCleanup.
3- from the app SystemCleanup swip to tab apps and remove some bloatware like Google books, music, games, google TTS.
4- Reboot & install Cerberus App, do not run it.
5- from the app SystemCleanup go to apps tab and move Cerberus App to system/app & reboot again.
6- That's all.
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Click to collapse
Hi Abuzar
Thanks for the help... I tried using System Cleanup and initially it didn't work... it didn't show System Framework after cleaning up which made me think it was uninstalled properly. But when I tried to re-install it I got a message asking if I wanted to update the the built in application... so I said yes and re-checked in System Cleanup and it was visible, so I tried uninstalling it and after a couple of attempts it succeeded.
Then I re-installed and it installed it as a new app and it was visible in System Cleanup as installed in /data. So, I moved it to /system and configured it. It now lists in System Cleanup as being installed @auto system+data... so I am assuming it has installed properly... but not 100% sure as it lists some of it in data - so not sure if after a reset it will wipe the user profile from Cerberus or not.
I took a backup in TWRP and thought I would do a factory reset and test it... but on the S7 using factory reset in O/S it asks for my samsung password etc so looks like it may delete my Samsung/Google account's so didn't proceed as I didn't want to delete any online info. So... I tried factory wipe in TWRP but it just said failed "could not mount /data and unable to find crypto footer" and a few more "failed to mount /data" errors... so I gave up and will have to assume its installed properly as a system app
Thanks for all your help.
Just as a final note, the system+data combo sounds normal. Under regular conditions, the system partition is read only, so in order to install any updates to system apps, Android actually installs them as data apps, but cross-references them to system apps and gives them the relevant permissions. You can remove the data part by selecting "Uninstall Updates" in the app info page.