[Q] PhoneLocator Pro - General Questions and Answers

My Samsung Vibrant I bought on Wednesday was stolen last night out of my car. I'm slowing running out of options on tracking it and getting it back. I'm pissed.
In order to protect my other phone, HTC HD2 with Froyo, I want to invest in some security software and found PhoneLocator Pro. I've downloaded it off the market and really like how it works.
I'm concerned however if, by some other unlucky chance this phone gets stolen too, that if the burglar hard-resets the phone. Will this app become entirely useless in this case?
Or another question is what stolen phone locating app / anything do you guys recommend? I want to make sure I'll have any way of getting my property back.

Panda_Face said:
My Samsung Vibrant I bought on Wednesday was stolen last night out of my car. I'm slowing running out of options on tracking it and getting it back. I'm pissed.
In order to protect my other phone, HTC HD2 with Froyo, I want to invest in some security software and found PhoneLocator Pro. I've downloaded it off the market and really like how it works.
I'm concerned however if, by some other unlucky chance this phone gets stolen too, that if the burglar hard-resets the phone. Will this app become entirely useless in this case?
Or another question is what stolen phone locating app / anything do you guys recommend? I want to make sure I'll have any way of getting my property back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If system apps persist through hard reset (apks in /system/app), and you install it as such (root) there is a possibility you should be OK. However, I think that the settings would be erased and therefore leave it useless. I will give it a test and see as I am curious as well.
---------- Post added at 12:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:52 AM ----------
So I can confirm that although the app does persist through a factory reset, it is useless, lol. I know that PLLocator Pro can backup / restore settings from the SD card but before even getting to that point the app it fails the license check and does not proceed. Oh well.
On a side note, make sure you have it installed as a system app (/system/app) in order to use the "activate gps remotely" feature.

Avast! Mobile Security has hard-reset proof storage of settings and other useful security stuff. And it's free, so it's amazing value for the money .
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.avast.android.mobilesecurity

I use SeekDroid Lite. It's free also, so check it out:
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.gtmedia.seekdroid.lite

avast hands down i have tested every feature of this app on my phones and it is flawless and its free dont be fooled this is the best you can get when you install it install as direct write (you must be rooted ) any ? just inbox me i will be glad to help
if it helps please hit thanks button

Avast is epic. I only miss the photo feature and web interface from PLPro but I have my custom lockscreen back, thanks!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App

Related

Motorola Solutions TC55

Hello,
I have a TC55 from Motorola Solutions (i.e. the enterprise division that does not belong to Google). It is a rugged phone with a big battery (4400 mAh), but certainly not the sleekest design. Not sure if there is much interest in this kind of device, and I am certainly no developer - but in case anyone is investigating the TC55, here are two things I found so far:
It does not come with any Google apps: no Maps, no Gmail, no Play store and so on.
It is easily rooted with Framaroot using the Gandalf exploit.
(I cannot post this info into the Framaroot thread due to my low post count).
Anyway, maybe this helps someone. I will be happy to try to answer any questions about the TC55, but keep in mind I am no pro and I am not keen in messing around in its internals much more than I have done already.
Elanguescence said:
Hello,
I have a TC55 from Motorola Solutions (i.e. the enterprise division that does not belong to Google). It is a rugged phone with a big battery (4400 mAh), but certainly not the sleekest design. Not sure if there is much interest in this kind of device, and I am certainly no developer - but in case anyone is investigating the TC55, here are two things I found so far:
It does not come with any Google apps: no Maps, no Gmail, no Play store and so on.
It is easily rooted with Framaroot using the Gandalf exploit.
(I cannot post this info into the Framaroot thread due to my low post count).
Anyway, maybe this helps someone. I will be happy to try to answer any questions about the TC55, but keep in mind I am no pro and I am not keen in messing around in its internals much more than I have done already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I heard my company is planning to go with these soon for entry level supervisors such as myself. I'm trying to figure out exactly what it is. All the specs and brochures from Motorola keep calling it a mobile computer in a smartphone "form factor" but never actually call it a phone. I didn't see anything in any of the specs to lead me to believe for sure that it was a phone or if it was just an Android computer in a smartphone form factor.
Anyway, I just wanted to confirm, that, you're certain this is a phone, correct?
Thanks.
- Byron
bfollowell said:
Anyway, I just wanted to confirm, that, you're certain this is a phone, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, definitely. You can call and get called, and you can send and receive SMS. It also supports wired headsets, and it is supposed to work with Bluetooth headsets, though I do not have any to test.
Elanguescence said:
Yes, definitely. You can call and get called, and you can send and receive SMS. It also supports wired headsets, and it is supposed to work with Bluetooth headsets, though I do not have any to test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the info but it looks like mine is going to be crippled.
Sort of a let-down really. Yes, it "can" be a phone. Or without a sim card it can be a really powerful Android based mobile computer. That's what it is going to be for most of us. Only a few supervisors with area management approval are going to get units with the phone features working. Still cool. Just not as cool as I'd thought it was going to be.
- Byron
bfollowell said:
Thanks for the info but it looks like mine is going to be crippled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, sorry to hear that. It sounds weird to me to do that, but then again I have no clue about this type of work.
Maybe the crippling could be worked around or undone by people with good Android knowledge - but I suppose it might not be the best idea to go against company policy.
Elanguescence said:
I see, sorry to hear that. It sounds weird to me to do that, but then again I have no clue about this type of work.
Maybe the crippling could be worked around or undone by people with good Android knowledge - but I suppose it might not be the best idea to go against company policy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think they're doing anything all that special to cripple it. They just won't all have sim cards or a cell plan. Pretty much as simple as that.
I won't be doing anything to circumvent that though or rooting it or anything like that. It's not like it's a gift and it belongs to me or anything. After almost 22 years, I've kind of grown to like my job and getting a paycheck every two weeks.I'd kind of like to keep it for another 15 or 20 years. Who knows, maybe my manager will decide that I need cell service with mine.
I work for a large automaker in the U.S. We have over 2.8 million square feet under roof. Personally, I can be anywhere on in the plant, on the roof, in pits & sub-basements underneath or anywhere on or near the 50 acre plant site at any given time. A lot of what I need to do on a daily basis is through our intranet portal. They're putting in something like 500 new wi-fi repeaters/extenders all around the plant as well. They're purchasing these for over 300 first line supervisors at my site alone. I'm pretty sure they're doing this corporate-wide so I hate to think what they're spending on these things as a corporation. I'm sure it would bankrupt many small nations! In addition to giving us portal access away from the desk, these are meant to replace our aging industrial radio system. As expensive as these are, they're still much cheaper than $1.5 to $2k per person for a radio that has no other built-in functionality and these do seem pretty ruggedized.
Still a shame about the phone functionality though.
- Byron
Can you see what browser it comes with? Can you install (untrusted) APKs directly without rooting it?
FYI, in case anyone's wondering, there is a version with Google apps on the way (if it isn't already orderable).
Sent from my Moto X
tfnico said:
Can you see what browser it comes with? Can you install (untrusted) APKs directly without rooting it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Browser is a standard one, which comes with other devices. Name is Browser.apk and version is 1.0.9
It's possible to install unsigned APK's without rooting.
google account
Hi,
I got stucked with trying to get google calendars from my google account to TC55.
I found one solution to setup google account as a corporate one, but it's not available anymore due to change in google policy.
I can setup google mail via email account, but that doesn't bring me my calendars to the device.
I tried to install gapps but without success.
Is there any other way?
Thanks.
Motorola work on google apps for TC55.There is in beta.
Elanguescence said:
... here are two things I found so far:
It does not come with any Google apps: no Maps, no Gmail, no Play store and so on.
It is easily rooted with Framaroot using the Gandalf exploit.
(I cannot post this info into the Framaroot thread due to my low post count).
Anyway, maybe this helps someone. I will be happy to try to answer any questions about the TC55, but keep in mind I am no pro and I am not keen in messing around in its internals much more than I have done already.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously u rooted, can u install gapps in it?
RjCode said:
Obviously u rooted, can u install gapps in it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No idea, I haven't tried. As far as I understand gapps are usually installed via flashing a zip from recovery, and the stock recovery of the TC55 does not have that option, it only allows reflashing a whole image, if I understand it correctly. Either way, I have come to appreciate the open source alternatives and do not want to get Google on my phone, so I will not try, sorry.
However, going by this thread over at the Motorola support forum, it seems it won't take long until there is official gapps support:
https://developer.motorolasolutions.com/thread/4989
Motorola has now released a TC55-firmware with Google apps. Here are the release notes:
https://atgsupportcentral.motorolasolutions.com/content/emb/docs/ReleaseNotes/Release%20Notes%20-%20%20TC55_RevAPlus_GMS_01%2074G_v10.htm
According to the support email they sent me, to get the actual release you need to perform the following arcane ritual:
Resolution Type is : Software Download
Resolution Id is  : 95562
Resolution Title is : TC55 Update Image v1.74 with GMS (Google Mobile Service) Release Note & Factory Reset & Enterprise Enabler package
restrictedSW :
T55N0JGMVRUEN17400.zip 321 MB TC55 OS Recovery Update package
T55N0JGMVAUEN17400.apf 321 MB TC55 OS update package file for deployment using MSP
If you require access to OS files for TC55 1.74 GMS then call the local Support Desk and provide following information:
a. Site ID
b. Serial #(s)
c. Phone #
d. Customer name (First and Last)
e. E-mail address
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't ask me what the local support desk number is, or the site ID, or why they have to make this so complicated.
Hi Elanguescence,
I think I screwed up my tc55 by enabling the multiuser function without first creating the white list. Now all the users (with admin rights) does not have access to all the programs, including Applock Administrator and Multiuser administrator.
To cut things short, do you know of a way to reset the device? I don't mind setting it to factory default and start over. I've googled it and some said to launch Rapid Deployment and scan a barcode from there... but my Rapid Deployment just says "Service Not Ready, Please Wait" and get stuck there.
Any help appreciated. Thank you.
Any TC55 users here? Should be getting my unit w/ GMS soon... How do you guys like it?
Is the bootloader locked?
Sent from my Moto X
Hey!
I want to Buy one TC55 for me. Normally i hate Android and the Google stuff on the Phone but some Motorola Salesman told me there is a version with out.
Now i use an Sybian Device. That mean i am "offline" the hole time and when i need Internet the Phone connect the the Internet.
So how about that phone can i work "offline" to?
I will also use an VPN Tunnel to block on my backend all Connnection i dont want. Does all Data trough this VPN Tunnel ?
How about the Barcode Scanning does it work good?
I know for 2D i need to use the Cam but how works it when i am in some other Application?
Nobody?
Ok. I just bought a TC55 from a Friend and I was wondering if someone would post the update to get GSM and the Factory Reset packages. I went to the page and it requires all the information posted above before. Mine is rooted, but i am trying to install GAPS but the recovery is the basic and cannot. I manually installed Google Play and the Google Play Services but Google Play services keep crashing and the Play Store will not connect, any ideas ?
the are 2 versions one with google s... service and the other without.
So i belive you have the first?
(Can i ask you some question about that phone?)

Security Issues. a must see and read

Okay so ive been battling this for sometime. I'm starting to get a little more knowledgeable but still don't know what to do with all this.I experienced this first back in 2015 then I completely made a switch. Well now I'm back to same issues.
The problems I'm experiencing is it's happening on all the devices I have. The phone I'm on now bought brand new from metropcs. and not even a day 30minutes later I get an update for the phone. I new not to install or download. But it inventively did. Now it's sitting on my storage wanting me to move files to root.
LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR. NON OF MY DEVICES ARE ROOTED.
to make this short. My devices seem to have a Bluetooth admin. And connects to any Bluetooth device without me knowing.
So far from what I see chromium and stage fright is a big part of what I'm seeing.
I'm attaching some pictures to give more detail look. And it's not just my Android devices it's my Xbox one S as well.
looking to completely remove. I'm not trying to waste money on switching networks or completly going Mia.
Fast responses please.
Sincerly,
-Desperate androidian
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
Okay so ive been battling this for sometime. I'm starting to get a little more knowledgeable but still don't know what to do with all this.I experienced this first back in 2015 then I completely made a switch. Well now I'm back to same issues.
The problems I'm experiencing is it's happening on all the devices I have. The phone I'm on now bought brand new from metropcs. and not even a day 30minutes later I get an update for the phone. I new not to install or download. But it inventively did. Now it's sitting on my storage wanting me to move files to root.
LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR. NON OF MY DEVICES ARE ROOTED.
to make this short. My devices seem to have a Bluetooth admin. And connects to any Bluetooth device without me knowing.
So far from what I see chromium and stage fright is a big part of what I'm seeing.
I'm attaching some pictures to give more detail look. And it's not just my Android devices it's my Xbox one S as well.
looking to completely remove. I'm not trying to waste money on switching networks or completly going Mia.
Fast responses please.
Sincerly,
-Desperate androidian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Android community isn't what it used to be that's for sure. No help, no suggestions. Just nothing.
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
Okay so ive been battling this for sometime. I'm starting to get a little more knowledgeable but still don't know what to do with all this.I experienced this first back in 2015 then I completely made a switch. Well now I'm back to same issues.
The problems I'm experiencing is it's happening on all the devices I have. The phone I'm on now bought brand new from metropcs. and not even a day 30minutes later I get an update for the phone. I new not to install or download. But it inventively did. Now it's sitting on my storage wanting me to move files to root.
LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR. NON OF MY DEVICES ARE ROOTED.
to make this short. My devices seem to have a Bluetooth admin. And connects to any Bluetooth device without me knowing.
So far from what I see chromium and stage fright is a big part of what I'm seeing.
I'm attaching some pictures to give more detail look. And it's not just my Android devices it's my Xbox one S as well.
looking to completely remove. I'm not trying to waste money on switching networks or completly going Mia.
Fast responses please.
Sincerly,
-Desperate androidian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no expert but I'm struggling to see your exact issue you seem to think you have, is it just t your Bluetooth is switching on. All those licences, security certs, file locations etc look normal to me (without checking numbers or being able to compare to same phone os etc) though I have disabled many of those certs eg the Turkish ones etc & my Bluetooth files are different but I can find ref hill those locations online eg Xieomi phones
You appear to have a ZTE, please give model number and current OS & rev (must be stock I suppose). ZTE was found with a backdoor in older phones, sending data to China, so it's possible, & some Chinese phones also update their apps without notification. But as you say your whole network appears compromised so the source may be something else, like your router/modem, or Bluetooth as you think (though some apps require Bluetooth admin permission legitimately, you can disable it as an Admin). Tell us what behaviors you are seeing that you believe are malicious. New phone update soon after you turn on is quite common, as I'm sure you know.
When I had a quick look at your log it did have a lot of activity going to the US DOD, would you expect this, as well as the usual google & Facebook connections. Though (perhaps) strangely also to a server from a small marketing company here in Australia, but I'm no expert even if I looked at your log line by line I wouldn't understand it all.
Ref his other post
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/security/security-global-family-credientals-t3665851
Things to try. Run a reputable antivirus. Boot into safe mode, so only system apps run, is it still happening? Can you turn off anything that is listed as a device admin? Try run a root checker app. Even if it all comes back negative you may still have a problem as a port may already have been opened and malicious app self deleted or something. Use an app like Fing to see if any device you don't recognise are connected to your network.
You may be able to block some activity if it's not going through root with a firewall eg NetGuard no root firewall, start with everything blocked.
Above are just some general hints, without knowing specifics I can only suggest you backup any stuff you want to keep then factory reset everything & change ALL passwords to strong ones (no good just adding a number on the end of your old ones!), better still reflash all firmware (updates if available) to overwrite everything. This incl your internet access points eg router, and only reconnect to the net/networks after you have done them all (one at a time preferably then you may be able to identify source of problems)
That turned out a lot longer than I intended!
IronRoo said:
I'm no expert but I'm struggling to see your exact issue you seem to think you have, is it just t your Bluetooth is switching on. All those licences, security certs, file locations etc look normal to me (without checking numbers or being able to compare to same phone os etc) though I have disabled many of those certs eg the Turkish ones etc & my Bluetooth files are different but I can find ref hill those locations online eg Xieomi phones
You appear to have a ZTE, please give model number and current OS & rev (must be stock I suppose). ZTE was found with a backdoor in older phones, sending data to China, so it's possible, & some Chinese phones also update their apps without notification. But as you say your whole network appears compromised so the source may be something else, like your router/modem, or Bluetooth as you think (though some apps require Bluetooth admin permission legitimately, you can disable it as an Admin). Tell us what behaviors you are seeing that you believe are malicious. New phone update soon after you turn on is quite common, as I'm sure you know.
When I had a quick look at your log it did have a lot of activity going to the US DOD, would you expect this, as well as the usual google & Facebook connections. Though (perhaps) strangely also to a server from a small marketing company here in Australia, but I'm no expert even if I looked at your log line by line I wouldn't understand it all.
Things to try. Run a reputable antivirus. Boot into safe mode, so only system apps run, is it still happening? Can you turn off anything that is listed as a device admin? Try run a root checker app. Even if it all comes back negative you may still have a problem as a port may already have been opened and malicious app self deleted or something. Use an app like Fing to see if any device you don't recognise are connected to your network.
You may be able to block some activity if it's not going through root with a firewall eg NetGuard no root firewall, start with everything blocked.
Above are just some general hints, without knowing specifics I can only suggest you backup any stuff you want to keep then factory reset everything & change ALL passwords to strong ones (no good just adding a number on the end of your old ones!), better still reflash all firmware (updates if available) to overwrite everything. This incl your internet access points eg router, and only reconnect to the net/networks after you have done them all (one at a time preferably then you may be able to identify source of problems)
That turned out a lot longer than I intended!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank-you. Now for a better visual. There's to many apps.
And if u can give me links to apps that will help.
And on my oneplus one the Bluetooth thing says :1002 sharing or midi or something.
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
Thank-you. Now for a better visual. There's to many apps.
And if u can give me links to apps that will help.
And on my oneplus one the Bluetooth thing says :1002 sharing or midi or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And code.auroa? What is this
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
Thank-you. Now for a better visual. There's to many apps.
And if u can give me links to apps that will help.
And on my oneplus one the Bluetooth thing says :1002 sharing or midi or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have that phone so can't really tell what is a suspect app or not, especially just from screen shots.
Here use this app to run on demand scans against the virustotal database (this is not an "antivirus app" like Avast so offers no protection, it only scans apps on demand, so you should run a good antivirus also)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funnycat.virustotal
it should flag any suspect apps and you can submit any unknown ones you are worried about.
---------- Post added at 05:12 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:02 AM ----------
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
And code.auroa? What is this
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
edit: not Firefox then.
org.codeaurora.bluetooth is a legit part of Bluetooth .... Well unless it's flagged by virustotal then it probably is a malicious app just given a common name to try and hide
IronRoo said:
I don't have that phone so can't really tell what is a suspect app or not, especially just from screen shots.
Here use this app to run on demand scans against the virustotal database (this is not an "antivirus app" like Avast so offers no protection)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.funnycat.virustotal
it should flag any suspect apps and you can submit any unknown ones you are worried about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay but what is provisioning? Code auroa smartcard services googleplay for instance apps and
And IV never encrypted this phone.
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
Okay but what is provisioning? Code auroa smartcard services googleplay for instance apps and
And IV never encrypted this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And alot of the overlay apps n simtoolkit are all questionmarked
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
And alot of the overlay apps n simtoolkit are all questionmarked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ser my edit above re aurora
sometimes virustotal will have 2 or 3 antiivirus companies flag a file, these are probably false positives so probably nothing to worry about (though could just be a new submission, other companies should soon update if real malicious code, check back in a day or two). If lots of companies flag an apk then you haven a problem.
It looks like you have a problem whit overlays (unless it's an app your phone company installs for that function, not sure what you mean). You should install a proper antivirus app like Avast, malwarebytes etc as a first step, hopefully it can remove malicious apk
---------- Post added at 05:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 AM ----------
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
And IV never encrypted this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't matter, encrypting phone only protects unauthorised access to your data. Once it is unlocked anyone can view your stuff. And once a malicious app is on your system it can shall read all your data even if you had encrypted it as it's unencrypted when you use it
IronRoo said:
ser my edit above re aurora
sometimes virustotal will have 2 or 3 antiivirus companies flag a file, these are probably false positives so probably nothing to worry about (though could just be a new submission, other companies should soon update if real malicious code, check back in a day or two). If lots of companies flag an apk then you haven a problem.
It looks like you have a problem whit overlays (unless it's an app your phone company installs for that function). You should install a proper antivirus app like Avast, malwarebytes etc as a first step, hopefully it can remove malicious apk
---------- Post added at 05:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:37 AM ----------
Doesn't matter, encrypting phone only protects unauthorised access to your data. Once it is unlocked anyone can view your stuff. And once a malicious app is on your system it can shall read all your data even if you had encrypted it as it's unencrypted when you use it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay so now I'm trying to post screenshots of when I'm connected to wifi and it's not letting me
Pairwise cyphers and
Group cyphers
Sim_num
?
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
And alot of the overlay apps n simtoolkit are all questionmarked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tap those with question marks to submit to virustotal for analysis
IronRoo said:
Tap those with question marks to submit to virustotal for analysis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/sys/fs/selinux/class/appletalk_socket/perms
Not suspious?
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
/sys/fs/selinux/class/appletalk_socket/perms
Not suspious?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I'm not stupid, this is facts. I just need defined and solution!!!
No these are normal library files. Stagefright "the malicious exploits" were called this as it was the stagefright framework it exploited. Everyone has these files, here are mine below.
You need to use tools like antivirus to identify bad files but even that is no guarantee as there is the possibility the original malicious file could have self deleted and, for example, just left open ports which would not be found as a "virus" but still allow remote access to your device.
If you cannot identify the actual exploit on your phone then the best solution is probably to just reflash the stock rom as this will wipe & overwrite everything. But if a malicious file is left on your SD card or another networked device you could soon be infected/compromised again. That is why I said before if you can't identify the source of your infection you really need to factory reset or reinstall all OS on all devices affected including your home router etc (or maybe it's your work or public network) and change all passwords.
IronRoo said:
No these are normal library files. Stagefright "the malicious exploits" were called this as it was the stagefright framework it exploited. Everyone has these files, here are mine below.
You need to use tools like antivirus to identify bad files but even that is no guarantee as there is the possibility the original malicious file could have self deleted and, for example, just left open ports which would not be found as a "virus" but still allow remote access to your device.
If you cannot identify the actual exploit on your phone then the best solution is probably to just reflash the stock rom as this will wipe & overwrite everything. But if a malicious file is left on your SD card or another networked device you could soon be infected/compromised again. That is why I said before if you can't identify the source of your infection you really need to factory reset or reinstall all OS on all devices affected including your home router etc (or maybe it's your work or public network) and change all passwords.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm on a video bridge network I got the direct TV setup with 2 wireless setups. Both secure from what I know.
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
Pairwise cyphers and
Group cyphers
Sim_num
?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are for encryption of your connection, not your phone
BLEEDCOLORYOU said:
I'm on a video bridge network I got the direct TV setup with 2 wireless setups. Both secure from what I know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm no coding/security guru, but I have worked on telecoms, military electronics, etc but my coding & network security knowledge is limited.
I would run this app Fing to check your local network, are there any unknown devices connected?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.overlook.android.fing
note: this only finds currently connected devices, so you'd want to do this several times & especially when you see suspect behavior.
Also check for open ports, easiest way is probably this site, it will scan the first 1000 ports or so (select all)
https://www.grc.com/
go to shields up
but you really need to scan ALL possible ports with a tool like Zenmap (for PC) if you think you are compromised
https://nmap.org/zenmap/
However it's not clear to me if you ever installed a proper antivirus and whether it found and deleted anything? Virustotal seemed to find some suspect apks, I had a quick look at Trendmicro database but it didn't list details of the one it found in your screenshot, but the fact some of those antivirus companies called the suspect apk names with "joke" in it may suggest it's just a joke app your mate has installed, though probably not a joke app if your other devices are really also compromised, from memory there is also real malware with that name which may be able to infect other devices. Running a proper antivirus should easily find and clean any "joke" app on your phone & hopefully any real malware. If you've done this and still seeing indications you are compromised then do what I suggested above. (Also repeat malware checks on other devices and removable storage media)
You should also log into your router as admin and check settings, are you using a secure router password? Is firmware up to date. Is firewall set up correctly? Also close any open ports that you don't use. Turn off remote admin, if router has it. Etc etc what do your router logs show (turn on more detailed logging if necessary) Factory reset or reinstall firmware if you think changes have been made to your router by someone else.
Hi I am having same issues. Exact same behaviors regardless of new phones new carrier and all accounts being unconnected in name. Google etc. This is extreme. Its via bluetooth I agree something with esims or virtual sims for use of wifi access and or signal piracy for media. The DOD files are also something I am familier with seeing. Code Aurora was also a govt project way back. Its Interesting thst I have Verizon files loading on at & t phones and sprint loading on Verizon. Whatever this is has managed to infiltrate my computers as well. Its relentless. Its impressive and sophisticated. Please please help.
Spidder77 said:
Hi I am having same issues. Exact same behaviors regardless of new phones new carrier and all accounts being unconnected in name. Google etc. This is extreme. Its via bluetooth I agree something with esims or virtual sims for use of wifi access and or signal piracy for media. The DOD files are also something I am familier with seeing. Code Aurora was also a govt project way back. Its Interesting thst I have Verizon files loading on at & t phones and sprint loading on Verizon. Whatever this is has managed to infiltrate my computers as well. Its relentless. Its impressive and sophisticated. Please please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same issmy ues. Did anyone ever resolve or figure out what is happening? I think I'm under investigation by the DOD and they own my devices. My uploads/downloads are blocked, internet searches filtered, pics/screenshots of evidence deleted off my phone, etc.

Trojan infected recovery phone partition

Hi,
I'm new to XDA. I think I'm in the right forum for my issue. My phone was infected with what I think is a type of auto rooting trojan. I was looking for info on an app I'm using called Duraspeed. I came across this website that started throwing popups at me saying my phone had tons of viruses, which was a lie. By the time I could break free from the drive by attacks, it was too late. I started getting sluggish performance on my phone and popup ads randomly. Even though it somehow gained root access, my phone is not rooted. Never was. Its still not! Because I checked with several apps off the playstore to confirm this. Long story short:
It put a file called "ads_popup-release.apk"
in my root folder /system/priv-app/
And modified a file called "8e710bb7.0"
in root folder /system/etc/security/cacerts/
or put (installed) the file there I'm not sure.
The file running on the phone as a system app is called "ad_surface"
I can only force stop and disable ad_surface without the ability to uninstall. I have to repeat this process every time I reboot. This stops the ads from popping up. Funny thing is, even though the force stop button in app settings is greyed meaning it was stopped and disabled, my OS Monitor app that shows running processes shows ad_surface is still running. Yet, it does stop the random popup ads by doing it this way. I've tried 360 AV, Avast, AVG, Malwarebytea, Kaspers, stubborn rootkit remover, a lot of antivirus programs but nothing detects it. I'm using Total Commander File Manager to view the device system partitions. I even copied the two trojan files to a folder on the user partition to see if any of the antivirus programs could check them there away from the root areas. But nothing. My guess is that I need to root my phone so I can gain access to the apk file and delete it. I haven't done a factory reset because I realize that apk file is in the recovery partition in order to reinstall itself. I've never rooted a phone before, but I have Kingroot installed. I downloaded it from XDA. I just don't have the guts to use it in fear of bricking. Do you think it would work with my phone? Does it abort the root procedure if it can't do it? Here are my phone specs:
Vortex Beat 8
Software build: 8_V1.5_20171011
Chipset: MT6580M Cortex-A7
CPU Architecture: ARMv7 Processor Rev 3(V71)
Cores: 4 1300MHz
Kernal Version: 3.18.19
Total Ram: 459MB
Internal ROM: 8GB (4GB for user)
That's about it. If there's anything anybody who could recommend how to go about this I would greatly appreciate the help. Thank you...
Go try factory resetting it, doesn't hurt to try.
If the "virus" is still there you can always re-flash the phones os. Here is the link to the stock ROM ---> http://www.needrom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/BEAT-8_V1.06_20170413.rar
The below link is a tutorial on how to flash the phones ROM.
https://www.getdroidtips.com/stock-rom-vortex-beat-8/#How_to_Download_Stock_ROM_on_VORTEX_Beat_8
In mtkdroid tools, Have all the boxes unchecked, and make sure you only have "ANDRIOD" and "RECOVERY" checked marked. The other boxes are just about the phones information and properties. Theses shouldn't be checked because it might erase your imei/drivers or other stuff. After flashing the rom make sure you do a complete factory rest + cache. Erase whatever you have on ur sd cards or micro sd cards.
Just do this and call it a day
Good luck
Cool
Hi, thank you! I will try this. I will have to borrow someone's computer like my nephews. I did try Kingroot and OneClickRoot but they both failed. Perhaps due to a locked bootloader. Or the evil trojan that made itself super user blocking them. I did do a factory reset, but the trojan persist. My mistake was forgetting to turn off unknown sources in security settings. I think that's how it got in... I'll keep checking back on this thread in the meantime to see if someone knows a tool that can kill the trojan, but I doubt it. Cheers!
SecretSociety68 said:
Hi, thank you! I will try this. I will have to borrow someone's computer like my nephews. I did try Kingroot and OneClickRoot but they both failed. Perhaps due to a locked bootloader. Or the evil trojan that made itself super user blocking them. I did do a factory reset, but the trojan persist. My mistake was forgetting to turn off unknown sources in security settings. I think that's how it got in... I'll keep checking back on this thread in the meantime to see if someone knows a tool that can kill the trojan, but I doubt it. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having similar troubles I somehow believe I have an entire infected Network from Windows 10 to iOS and all the cell phones even two 3-g flip even the Smart car has been recognized I communicated with the virus / hacker Network I have no idea how to get rid of it I give his self super user privileges without quite rooting the phone and hides itself in system apps so it's virtually impossible to get rid of at least for me it is I have post here called wading deep Waters please do check it out
sassyfrassy said:
I'm having similar troubles I somehow believe I have an entire infected Network from Windows 10 to iOS and all the cell phones even two 3-g flip even the Smart car has been recognized I communicated with the virus / hacker Network I have no idea how to get rid of it I give his self super user privileges without quite rooting the phone and hides itself in system apps so it's virtually impossible to get rid of at least for me it is I have post here called wading deep Waters please do check it out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't unheard of for a router to get infected with a virus/malware, rare, but not exactly impossible. I've run across others here over the years that have discussed this issue. I don't remember any specifics, tools or methods to fix the issue though, but you can probably find info on removing malware from a router.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
It isn't unheard of for a router to get infected with a virus/malware, rare, but not exactly impossible. I've run across others here over the years that have discussed this issue. I don't remember any specifics, tools or methods to fix the issue though, but you can probably find info on removing malware from a router.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your prompt response I'm not positive that the router and modem are infected more or less they are overloaded from the amount of leeches in hitchhiker's I have from this awful network of hackers and code running through my TV's my cars for god sakes I read one of their lauder's I got in somehow and I could see that they were logging how many seconds it took me from getting out of the car to getting in my home that was just one scary example they could tell when my phone was in my pocket and if I was walking and how many people were with me this is just my cell phone not to mention my TV's the laptops I have no idea what to do
sassyfrassy said:
Thank you for your prompt response I'm not positive that the router and modem are infected more or less they are overloaded from the amount of leeches in hitchhiker's I have from this awful network of hackers and code running through my TV's my cars for god sakes I read one of their lauder's I got in somehow and I could see that they were logging how many seconds it took me from getting out of the car to getting in my home that was just one scary example they could tell when my phone was in my pocket and if I was walking and how many people were with me this is just my cell phone not to mention my TV's the laptops I have no idea what to do
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds to me like their hold over you has more to do with your personal information than with your devices. With certain pieces of your info, they can gain access to any device that you sign into, login to or even just enter information in while using, even if it isn't yours.
If your network provider randomly cycles IP addresses among its users, it could be that the hacker has previously hijacked that IP address while another user was using it and his access carried over to you when the IP was assigned to you. If this is so, a new IP and changing all of your account info among all of the various accounts you have would cut him off, maybe?
I'm not the best at network security issues that go that deep. My network management/LAN Admin days were a very long time ago, too many things have changed.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
It sounds to me like their hold over you has more to do with your personal information than with your devices. With certain pieces of your info, they can gain access to any device that you sign into, login to or even just enter information in while using, even if it isn't yours.
If your network provider randomly cycles IP addresses among its users, it could be that the hacker has previously hijacked that IP address while another user was using it and his access carried over to you when the IP was assigned to you. If this is so, a new IP and changing all of your account info among all of the various accounts you have would cut him off, maybe?
I'm not the best at network security issues that go that deep. My network management/LAN Admin days were a very long time ago, too many things have changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you I really appreciate you taking the time to think about my situation I have had no one to talk to about this for 2 months
sassyfrassy said:
Thank you I really appreciate you taking the time to think about my situation I have had no one to talk to about this for 2 months
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure how much help I'll be to you. I'm no expert in what you're dealing with. I'm just telling you some possibilities that I've seen others dealing with over the years.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
It sounds to me like their hold over you has more to do with your personal information than with your devices. With certain pieces of your info, they can gain access to any device that you sign into, login to or even just enter information in while using, even if it isn't yours.
If your network provider randomly cycles IP addresses among its users, it could be that the hacker has previously hijacked that IP address while another user was using it and his access carried over to you when the IP was assigned to you. If this is so, a new IP and changing all of your account info among all of the various accounts you have would cut him off, maybe?
I'm not the best at network security issues that go that deep. My network management/LAN Admin days were a very long time ago, too many things have changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You hit the nail on the head! Told me "unfortunately we have met"
Sent from my LGE LGL158VL using XDA Labs
SecretSociety68 said:
It put a file called "ads_popup-release.apk"
in my root folder /system/priv-app/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
translation it installed itself to the privilege app section on your phone which does not delete with a reset (new rom does) this also gives the app more power
it can only be done with root so the app rooted your phone (at least temp) here is a app that removes it but it needs root
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.j4velin.systemappmover/
And a system priv app has AFAIK full power however as of Oreo thier is another file to give it permisions so says google https://source.android.com/devices/tech/config/perms-whitelist namely
/etc/permissions/privapp-permissions-OEM_NAME.xml
/etc/permissions/privapp-permissions-DEVICE_NAME.xml
check these files and see what you find
SecretSociety68 said:
And modified a file called "8e710bb7.0"
in root folder /system/etc/security/cacerts/
or put (installed) the file there I'm not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
translation installed a CA certificate that enables them to have a SSL connection or with this certificate can spoof websites
of course this should be deleted but again you will need root (or new Rom)
SecretSociety68 said:
The file running on the phone as a system app is called "ad_surface"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The app has to be running with a linux GUID so you can check with that
the apps can not find root this can be because the program used root once to get a elevated status (temporary root) and then does not need it anymore
so you cannot find it. The question still remains how they did that but right now you need to get out.
Waiting for other response. Hehe.
I had this take control of multiple devices and 2 computers. 3 android phones and an apple iphone and 2 windows computers. I countless hours going through logs and data. On my android devices it even made a cloned version of TWRP so it would reinstall itself through recovery. I spent hours on the phone with samsung and apple senior advisors. I viewed the analytic data on the apple device over and over. Extremely werid things were running. Constantly writting system wwrites on a stock apple phone. It was able to transfer from device to device over wifi hotspot. It went on for over two months. I had a roku tv also become monitored. It was the craziest **** ive ever had happen to me. It litterally almost drove me insane and I thought I was going crazy. Ive never seen anything like it. Even google reaults were completely false and fake sites. I disnt know this happened to anyone else. Ive got countless logs and screenshots saved in case I ever needed to share the info. It even remotely sipped my desktop hard drives and had me connecring to a remote server on boot.
---------- Post added at 07:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 PM ----------
I could make a phone call and hear breathing in the background. Id make a call and touch tone sounds would go off after the first ring. I was getting constant interference through my phone. It connected all my devices to a home group I never created. I literally had to destroy the devices
---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:48 PM ----------
Applied protocal - makes sense man, in juat glad I got it off my back. On the iphone, when yyou would install a new app from the "app store" it would run a wake up over 4000 times a second to wake up an unknown app in system files . im assuming this was to clone the app or change some code in it when it was installed. The app name was ??? In the analytic logs and it was an "event write system". This was some dirty stuff man. Is this something that is common right now? This exploit across so many devices? Id love to share some of these logs and screenshots if anyone is interested.
SecretSociety68 said:
Hi,
I'm new to XDA. I think I'm in the right forum for my issue. My phone was infected with what I think is a type of auto rooting trojan. I was looking for info on an app I'm using called Duraspeed. I came across this website that started throwing popups at me saying my phone had tons of viruses, which was a lie. By the time I could break free from the drive by attacks, it was too late. I started getting sluggish performance on my phone and popup ads randomly. Even though it somehow gained root access, my phone is not rooted. Never was. Its still not! Because I checked with several apps off the playstore to confirm this. Long story short:
It put a file called "ads_popup-release.apk"
in my root folder /system/priv-app/
And modified a file called "8e710bb7.0"
in root folder /system/etc/security/cacerts/
or put (installed) the file there I'm not sure.
The file running on the phone as a system app is called "ad_surface"
I can only force stop and disable ad_surface without the ability to uninstall. I have to repeat this process every time I reboot. This stops the ads from popping up. Funny thing is, even though the force stop button in app settings is greyed meaning it was stopped and disabled, my OS Monitor app that shows running processes shows ad_surface is still running. Yet, it does stop the random popup ads by doing it this way. I've tried 360 AV, Avast, AVG, Malwarebytea, Kaspers, stubborn rootkit remover, a lot of antivirus programs but nothing detects it. I'm using Total Commander File Manager to view the device system partitions. I even copied the two trojan files to a folder on the user partition to see if any of the antivirus programs could check them there away from the root areas. But nothing. My guess is that I need to root my phone so I can gain access to the apk file and delete it. I haven't done a factory reset because I realize that apk file is in the recovery partition in order to reinstall itself. I've never rooted a phone before, but I have Kingroot installed. I downloaded it from XDA. I just don't have the guts to use it in fear of bricking. Do you think it would work with my phone? Does it abort the root procedure if it can't do it? Here are my phone specs:
Vortex Beat 8
Software build: 8_V1.5_20171011
Chipset: MT6580M Cortex-A7
CPU Architecture: ARMv7 Processor Rev 3(V71)
Cores: 4 1300MHz
Kernal Version: 3.18.19
Total Ram: 459MB
Internal ROM: 8GB (4GB for user)
That's about it. If there's anything anybody who could recommend how to go about this I would greatly appreciate the help. Thank you...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely malmare! Mine was called "Ad-Time", like a kid's show or something, but either way, very persistent and pervasive! I have 2 roms, (v 1.5 & 1.6), in img format, easy fastboot flash. Look at this phone wrong and it's rooted. Anybody interested, hit me up, I even got the couple-line script to install SuperSU /system (beat 8 doesn't like Magisk). A simple su.d script to enable permissive selinux, build.prop changes, and you have a $30 Nexus via MTK. I also ported TWRP 3.2.1(no bugs) & Philz, but TWRP is my comfort-zone.
Sent from my ZTE Sapphire 3G using XDA Labs
---------- Post added at 02:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:48 AM ----------
sameboat said:
I had this take control of multiple devices and 2 computers. 3 android phones and an apple iphone and 2 windows computers. I countless hours going through logs and data. On my android devices it even made a cloned version of TWRP so it would reinstall itself through recovery. I spent hours on the phone with samsung and apple senior advisors. I viewed the analytic data on the apple device over and over. Extremely werid things were running. Constantly writting system wwrites on a stock apple phone. It was able to transfer from device to device over wifi hotspot. It went on for over two months. I had a roku tv also become monitored. It was the craziest **** ive ever had happen to me. It litterally almost drove me insane and I thought I was going crazy. Ive never seen anything like it. Even google reaults were completely false and fake sites. I disnt know this happened to anyone else. Ive got countless logs and screenshots saved in case I ever needed to share the info. It even remotely sipped my desktop hard drives and had me connecring to a remote server on boot.
---------- Post added at 07:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 PM ----------
I could make a phone call and hear breathing in the background. Id make a call and touch tone sounds would go off after the first ring. I was getting constant interference through my phone. It connected all my devices to a home group I never created. I literally had to destroy the devices
---------- Post added at 08:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:48 PM ----------
Applied protocal - makes sense man, in juat glad I got it off my back. On the iphone, when yyou would install a new app from the "app store" it would run a wake up over 4000 times a second to wake up an unknown app in system files . im assuming this was to clone the app or change some code in it when it was installed. The app name was ??? In the analytic logs and it was an "event write system". This was some dirty stuff man. Is this something that is common right now? This exploit across so many devices? Id love to share some of these logs and screenshots if anyone is interested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Typical Chinese ad/malware/surveillance. If you visit china, you turn over your devices for "inspection", so they can sideload some state-sponsored goodies. A lot of these Chinese roms have the ads baked-in, like mine. Whoever's listening and seeing my pics is gonna need therapy, because I filled the phone up with some STRANGE s*** Remove the apk, but there's several .xml's and .jar's that gotta go, too.
Sent from my ZTE Sapphire 3G using XDA Labs
What is the best way to counter this problem?
Dassote said:
What is the best way to counter this problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root, and remove all traces of the " ad_* " app and even the duraspeed app if you want, but I didn't see anything untrustworthy about that. Duraspeed is in the default.prop (running booster), so it's in the kernel. Root uninstall just leaves you no way to control, kuz the PROCESS will go and go, unless you're willing to play with the kernel. Not for amateurs like myself My Beat 8 has been flashed or fastboot-booted more times than I can count. Good times.
Once your Chinese spyware is uninstalled, delete build.prop lines with "running booster", /system/lib's with it, and I think it was in the /system/bin, and /vendor/app had one. Clear them all, and you'll need to tweak the build.prop some more. debug.qemu.kernel=1, ro.secure_storage.support=0, ro.debuggable=1, then reboot AFTER you chmod 644 the build.prop! The "debug.qemu.kernel=1" was what made the rest stick. ADD those props, but don't change the existing ones (kernel). I just deleted the default values, replaced with "" . Fits the whole debug vibe. I should upload a copy of my final build.prop, cheap-a** phone runs like a champ.
Sent from my LG G Stylo using XDA Labs

EVR_AL00 – light review and heavy customization

I got the Mate 20 X from Italy, delivered two weeks after order on November 12 for € 829, VAT and 2-years warranty included. It is a nice silver device 6/128 (don’t need more memory). My first hands-on impression? I was shocked.
I had pure Chinese phones before (Huawei and Lenovo) and I know how to deal with them. That wasn’t what upset me. And it wasn’t EMUI either, I like some of its functionality and I know how to customize it.
But my previous phone was Mate 10 pro (international, not Chinese), which really works well and comparison with a newcomer is what really shocked me. The EVR_AL00 came slow and clumsy with those big fat letters and ugly ios-like icons on the screen. I tried to improve the look with increasing the smallest width in the developer options, but original resolution came back with every reset.
So what I did first, is factory reset (I usually perform it on every new phone). I lost Google Play but I didn’t care, I intended to install and adjust Google apps anyway.
And then I started to customize the phone. Basically, it means “dechinezed” and “deiosinezed” it and make it usable for my purposes as the daily driver. Eventually, I succeeded and like before I don’t regret that I bought the Chinese phone as I never regretted before. I believe that my customization demands would request almost the same amount of work and effort with the “international” version.
And with “dechinezed” I don’t mean to be impolite, actually, I like some of the features of China phones, some of them after years comes to western phones as well (night sight, close all apps etc). I just prefer the more Android look of the phone (even more than currently, Google delivers).
The actual status of my phone is as follows:
In the beginning, when I started phone manager, the performance never exceeded 69%. It seems that later it adapted and healed itself (maybe with help of AI) and now performance is usually over 90, close to 100% and the phone suddenly becomes snappy and smooth, slightly better than Mate 10 pro. As expected, the battery life is due to its capacity and with my way of use it could easily survive two days. I don’t have exact data on SOT and other parameters of the battery performance yet. By adjusting the text and display size (both too small) under settings/display the phone gets a nicer look and more usable size of applications.
I had decided to keep EMUI launcher before I learned that the phone has a hard time with other launchers. I bought Nova Prime once, I consider it a great launcher, maybe the best, but even on my previous phone I used EMUI. The reason is in its features that I don’t want to sacrifice: dedicated Accuweather, swype gestures (now with 9), dark mode. I was never a fan of ios-like white themes, I always considered that Android’s color is black. Besides, what even Google admits now (and started to return black mode into its apps accordingly), the white mode consumes a lot more energy (especially with AMOLED). What is yet to admit is that it burns your eyes.
So, what I have now, is a fully customized EVR_AL00 that perfectly suits my needs. That means that it looks like Android, works like Android and behaves like Android. I replaced most Chinese apps with Google’s ones, installed additional that I use and tune the system. With tuning the system I mean screen adjustment and customization. Under Settings/Display/text and display size, I changed both values to small and thus converted ugly appearance of the display into something that suits size and purpose of the phone. I replaced IOS icons with the Android ones. Adjusted notifications and permissions for each application.
First I was thinking about keeping some Chinese apps that I considered useful, like Sky Mobile and a few others. But trying them I found out that all of them are more or less connected either with Chinese environment or payment system and therefore eventually I removed them all. After I had to perform the factory reset I was only got more careful with apps that I disabled. And according to my orientation, I kept Email, at least until Google implements dark color in Gmail. And kept useful utilities: (Manager, Gallery, Remote…).
Otherwise, I use Google Phone (the amazing last beta from: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-google-phone-v14-0-175904292-bubble-t3708218, thank you Martin), Messages, Translate (removed nonfunctional MS Translate), Auto, Duo, Voice, Photos, Trips, Pay, Assistant, Lens, Google, Chrome, and of course all Google system apps. I also use third-party apps like VLC, Xiaomi calculator and YouTube vanced. Pretty much everything works as expected, including notifications to the extent that suits my way of use. After I erased Hivoice, Assistant works together with the hot word, if the screen is turned on (never wished to use it from turned off screen). The red mic on notification bar of the attached picture shows that assistant is active.
All banks application work. Google Play is not working at the moment but I expect that it will eventually. Currently, failure is the result of poor synchronization between Chinese EMUI and Google Android. No point to call the bank, it is the last one to solve the problem. The problem will be solved with the new EMUI or Play Services, because there is no material obstacle for G Play (SafetyNet passed and bank card is recognized and could be used online). I have another identical payment system installed (Inteso SP) and it works flawlessly.
CUSTOMIZATION
In order to adapt the phone to my needs, I had to deal with existing Chinese application first. I had to either: 1) remove them, 2) hide them, or 3) disable (erase) them.
Removing apps
Removing apps was easy. Just uninstall Chinese in Settings/Apps. As I said, I did it thoroughly and indiscriminately.
Hiding apps
My overall objective is to have only one home screen page. I’m fed up with slippery pages interfering with gestures. And besides, I decided to use gestures (swype) as system navigation and therefore swyping between homepages could be annoying even more.
In order to have only one home page, I have to use folders and hide auxiliary functional apps (like download, OTA, backup, clock..etc).
Surprisingly I found that Tweaker for Huawei works pretty well with EMUI9, although it is an old application: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teammt.gmanrainy.emuitweaker&hl=en. One of its functions is triggering the abandoned EMUI gesture that enables hiding any application and thus removing it from the home screen without affecting its functionality.
Disabling (erasing) apps
To “remove” any nonremovable application without root you need a computer with the adb command-line tool. In fact, this method never removes any application, rather disables and hides it for the current user. So it doesn’t affect OTA and it doesn’t revert after reset either. It does come back after factory reset though.
The method of erasing an app works through adb (so adb must be installed on the computer – either Windows or Linux) and it requests the following syntax in command line:
1. adb devices (and after that setting permission on the phone)
2. adb shell
3. pm unistall -k --user 0 <package name>
where <package name> is not the name of the application as it shows but the name of the installed package, which must be discovered and one of the apps which could do that effectively could be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.itto.packageinspector&hl=en.
(for example: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.huawei.wallet)
A basic idea what to disable could be found here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-10/how-to/guide-to-remove-apps-root-t3828324. Of course, what to disable always depends on personal preferences and therefore this list should be taken with a grain of salt.
So, after arranging applications there comes the final stage of making the phone Android again. EMUI makeover. For that, we need this EMUI editor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixapplications.themeeditor.
But there is a bad news. It doesn’t work with EMUI 9 (yet). What now? There are two possibilities: either finding a good theme and simply installing it (there are plenty of them, only I didn’t test if they are working with EMUI 9 (some of the android likes are to be found in the Playstore under Hamzio7 or here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-10/themes/pure-black-theme-emui-8-t3719904.
The other possibility is to find a phone with EMUI 8 and compile the hwt file there and transfer it to Mate 20 X. That is what I did. The system will warn you that it is an old version of the theme and it might not work well but skip that. It works just fine.
Don’t judge the solution by my design. I’m a modest guy, more practically oriented. You may have almost any design that you wish.
And of course, if you decide to experiment with this stuff yourself, you should be aware that you are the only one taking the risk. I honestly believe that you can’t, if you are not extremely innovative, irretrievably destroy anything, but even factory reset might be sometimes really annoying.
Good luck with your brand new Chinese Mate 20 X.
Great post Just a couple of questions:
1) Are your notifications working perfectly? By that, I mean without delay under both wi-fi and mobile networks, with screen on and screen off? If so, what did you do to achieve this?
2) Do you mind sharing where did you buy the device from?
Nice job! Looking even more forward to the arrival of my Mate 20 X!
@piskr
Would you mind give some steps to get google phone and Messages to work properly. When phone call comes in, my phone call screen does not come on. Messages only works sometime and sometime message does not send. Thanks.
Genoveffo said:
Great post Just a couple of questions:
1) Are your notifications working perfectly? By that, I mean without delay under both wi-fi and mobile networks, with screen on and screen off? If so, what did you do to achieve this?
2) Do you mind sharing where did you buy the device from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yes, notifications work flawlessly in my extent of use, both with the screen on and off. I don't use exotics like telegram or whatsapp though. It's a matter of permissions and notification settings. Be aware that each notification had to be set separately and checked under application and under notification sector under settings. And also have in mind that if you install the third party phone, it is just addition of original phone (under app/system processes), and the later must remain active and has its own permissions and notification as well. Phone app has different system structure than SMS. You can simply erase Huawei messaging and replace it with the Google one (haven't tried others).
2) You can find here both color and memory variants: https://www.ilmultistoredelzazza.eu...l_Sim_EMUI_9_Android_9/p1748191_19236868.aspx
wingzero said:
@piskr
Would you mind give some steps to get google phone and Messages to work properly. When phone call comes in, my phone call screen does not come on. Messages only works sometime and sometime message does not send. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should really carefully check and set both permissions and notifications for each application. And remember that you mustn't neglect the system phone app.
piskr said:
You should really carefully check and set both permissions and notifications for each application. And remember that you mustn't neglect the system phone app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked all the settings and seem to be correct unless I missed some steps.
wingzero said:
I checked all the settings and seem to be correct unless I missed some steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Here are my settings.
You do know there's an EVR-L international models, right? Why not just get that instead? That's what I have.
piskr said:
OK. Here are my settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time to post the screen shots. All my the settings are the same except I don't the phone app on your last screen shot. Did you download it or it's a stock app?
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
MishaalRahman said:
You do know there's an EVR-L international models, right? Why not just get that instead? That's what I have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's too late. I already bought the China version. It's too much hassle try to sell it.
wingzero said:
Thanks for taking the time to post the screen shots. All my the settings are the same except I don't the phone app on your last screen shot. Did you download it or it's a stock app?
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
It's too late. I already bought the China version. It's too much hassle try to sell it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, the last one is Google phone from the link I published and it works just fine (I really recommend it, it has so many opportunities). But you have managed to get notifications neither on the home screen nor on the lock screen? Neither for messages nor for the phone? If I were you I would go from setting to setting for this two apps and inspect every item very carefully. It is possible in this early stage of EMUI9 that it has some weird glitches occurring randomly on some phones but it is not very likely. A small overlooked detail in settings could mean everything.
Otherwise, I don't regret that I bought the Chinese version. Now I've got everything that I would have with the international variant. Only I don't have working Google pay yet, but so far I haven't seen a clear statement that it really works on international Mate 20x either. To work means to be able pay with the phone not only loading a card, that's what I did too. Otherwise, I got a good price (€660 before VAT), integrated call recorder and rooting opportunity.
And regarding crap, international one has it too. I've got international Mate 10 pro and I know it. Besides Chinese one additional western, baked in (MS, Facebook, Google's and third party's).
@piskr
The phone will ring on the google phone app but the screen does not come. I will play with the settings and figure it out. Thanks for all the help.
Thank you. This helped get me to a non-Chinese specifc phone.
Attachin my ADB run.
UPDATE: Please check out AJ's great thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/guide-remove-apps-adb-t3870727
I mistakenly removed one item (com.huawei.android.hwouc) I shouldn't have and I amnot getting OTAs (which I also turn off automatic ones in dev options, but if I want one, I lost it them).
Rudolpht said:
Thank you. This helped get me to a non-Chinese specifc phone.
Attachin my ADB run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I'm not well schooled on ADB. How would you apply this? And why 2 Zips? Gracias
See beginning of the thread and other threads on ADB. Same list, mine in txt or zip, same file, not necessarily good for everyone.
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
def-g said:
As I'm not well schooled on ADB. How would you apply this? And why 2 Zips? Gracias
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my Spreadsheet with a quick guide in it along with the adb files you'll need.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/guide-remove-apps-adb-t3870727
Once you get the list of packages on your AL00 just run the fastboot command to remove each one.
wingzero said:
@piskr
The phone will ring on the google phone app but the screen does not come. I will play with the settings and figure it out. Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wondering if you had any luck. Some people actually use a phone as a phone
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Rudolpht said:
Wondering if you had any luck. Some people actually use a phone as a phone
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it working. I am using the stable v.25 version. What I did was after selected the google phone as default dialing app, I go back to default apps and click the stock phone and then click the google phone again. I did this by chance and luck. Hope this will solve your issue. The stock phone app is horrible. Make sure you use the stable version. Good luck.
wingzero said:
I got it working. I am using the stable v.25 version. What I did was after selected the google phone as default dialing app, I go back to default apps and click the stock phone and then click the google phone again. I did this by chance and luck. Hope this will solve your issue. The stock phone app is horrible. Make sure you use the stable version. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man.
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Now it's 27. And so far everything work. Regarding comments on the forum we are on the privileged side. Just be sure to set notifications and permissions right.

app moding for hire ?

I would like to pay someone to make some changes to a specific app , 2 changes if possible. not sure where to post this question or if such a person ever asked this before or not
1) prevent app from seeing all accounts on device except for the one signed up with on app.
2) prevent app from for updating because then assume i would lose mod #1 altogether. I also guess that preventing force update would also need app to continue working even when the powers that be would like to make it not work if not updated.
I really doubted anyone could do anything on the n20, or s21 considering that the control over the apps now a days is so strict even the chat over at apk tool is close to non existent compared to before . still thought I would ask, in case some genius out there wants a few bucks.

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