[Q] Is there any reason why I should make a theme a system app? - General Questions and Answers

I was looking at some themes for Apex and I read some replies where people recommend to convert the theme to a system app via titanium backup.
Is there any reason for this?
I searched the net but came away empty-handed.
thanks!

The reason why some people would say that is so if you do a full wipe on your device, when you boot it back up, the theme will still be there rather than having to download and apply the theme every time.

KidCarter93 said:
The reason why some people would say that is so if you do a full wipe on your device, when you boot it back up, the theme will still be there rather than having to download and apply the theme every time.
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Is this through the freeze option? Thanks

No. If you "freeze" an app it disables it so you won't be able to access it until you unfreeze it.
There should be an option somewhere to set apps as a system app. I'm not too sure though because I use ROM Toolbox instead.
''Evil corrupts the mind of the weak but fails to feed off the mind of the strong''

Related

How to get Titanium Backup to restore all widgets in LP?

To those who flash roms all the time, I've noticed that sometimes when I do a full Titanium restore after a fresh ROM flash, sometimes Titanium Backup will restore Launcher Pro where it doesn't go "Error loading Widget" for every widget. Instead sometimes I get a full proper restore.
This is clearly an issue for those of us that customize so much that we have overlapping stretching widgets that we need to play widget tetris.
How can I get Titanium backup to do this? I haven't investigated enough but it's clearly a set of events that I've done to get it to work SOMETIMES....
So far I've noticed that this has happened with Nandroid backups for "ROMs" on the Milestone. Those Nandroid backups are essentially bare bone OS installations with customized stuff (since we have a locked bootloader still, so updates are harder). I usually do a Ti backup full restore and sometimes the widgets of my Launcher Pro restore perfectly.
It is android not letting you restore widgets. It just doesn't work. not TiBu or LP or any other home screen replacement.
Get Gingerbread and maybe that will fix your problem.
darkamikaze said:
It is android not letting you restore widgets. It just doesn't work. not TiBu or LP or any other home screen replacement.
Get Gingerbread and maybe that will fix your problem.
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The problem is it does it once in a while. I know it's not supposed to work becase only the official Launcher Pro widgets will be restored. You are supposed to have to add back your own widgets, but once in a while a titanium backup restore upon flashing a new rom gives me my original homescreen where I don't have to manually re-add any widgets.
I think you're on something because it doesn't.. only reason LP widgets work is because you're using it's own widgets and the launcher can load it because it's its own propriety. I think the only way you can have widgets restored to state is through a nandroid restore.. and even that i'm not too sure.
It's a security thing, Android doesn't let any program, aside from the official Widget Picker, add a new Widget. So when you restore, the Launcher tries to add the Widget, Android checks to see if that program is authorized for that widget. If it is, it adds it. If not you get the error or empty space.
If you restore the data without uninstalling Launcher Pro or resetting your phone, I imagine Android still has the widget authorized so no permission error occurs.
darkamikaze said:
I think you're on something because it doesn't.. only reason LP widgets work is because you're using it's own widgets and the launcher can load it because it's its own propriety. I think the only way you can have widgets restored to state is through a nandroid restore.. and even that i'm not too sure.
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It has done it.
You are right that a Nandroid restore will restore everything because a Nandroid is essentially like an HD image. But I can assure you what I'm talking about was a Titanium Backup incident. My problem is that I've seen it a few times, but I haven't investigated it enough to reproduce it or to see how to get it. Perhaps someone here has also seen it before, but shrugged it off.
I'm a Milestone User and when we still had Eclair mods like this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765346
The modder replaced the default launcher.apk with LauncherPro. So what happens is he uses Nandroid to make a Nandroid image of his "ROM." Yes. Locked bootloader FTL. So we use Nandroid images. Essentially it's still a bare bones version of a ROM.
Well, I have all my apps backed up on Titanium Backup before I install this because its like a full wipe. I then restore all my apps.
Now I've only used like 8 versions of his ROM compared to like 2-3 of other ROMs, so perhaps its the fact that when installing his ROM, he already HAS LauncherPro as the default system launcher. Thus when I'm restoring my Titanium Backup, when it reads my Launcher Pro settings and puts it in the system app, it has no problem accessing widgets.
I do remember it failing once in a while too, but there have been AT LEAST 3-4 times where I did NOT have to restore any of my own widgets.
Once again I highly suspect this has something to do with having LauncherPro integrated in the Nandroid backup, even if it doesn't have any of my widgets.
I'm asking this because I'm using CM6 now and it uses the update.zip method and obviously I can't trigger the LauncherPro thing anymore. I don't know how it worked before, as it seems to be a bug. I completely understand that Launcher Pro is not supposed to allow restoring of non LP widgets. How it's done it before, I do not know.
dmo580 said:
To those who flash roms all the time, I've noticed that sometimes when I do a full Titanium restore after a fresh ROM flash, sometimes Titanium Backup will restore Launcher Pro where it doesn't go "Error loading Widget" for every widget. Instead sometimes I get a full proper restore.
This is clearly an issue for those of us that customize so much that we have overlapping stretching widgets that we need to play widget tetris.
How can I get Titanium backup to do this? I haven't investigated enough but it's clearly a set of events that I've done to get it to work SOMETIMES....
So far I've noticed that this has happened with Nandroid backups for "ROMs" on the Milestone. Those Nandroid backups are essentially bare bone OS installations with customized stuff (since we have a locked bootloader still, so updates are harder). I usually do a Ti backup full restore and sometimes the widgets of my Launcher Pro restore perfectly.
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Click to collapse
This too has happened with me as well and not only with TB but also Mybackup root as well, TB has option like applications widgets and MBR says android home, I flash alot and I say 10% of my restores this happens with (working) I tried every ordering i can think of to reproduce it but never can seems completely random. I wish someone could figure this out because it does work just not sure how to always reproduce it.
He is not on anything... This has happened to me also.
Like he said every once and a while after installing a new rom and doing a titanium restore everything goes back to normal widgets and all.
This would be very helpful for me because I don't use icons at all. I strictly use custom Icon and desktop visualizer. So this would be huge to figure out the work around to make it work every time
Stupid question..
Have you tried restoring everything BUT LP with Titanium, let it finish, then restore LP with Titanium?
i reinstall new rom > wait 15 > reboot.
restore backups via titanium > reboot.
at this stage, my widgets don't display. i'll usually open market to login, open talk, maps. whatever else requires logins or permissions and reboot.
most of the time, after this last reboot my widgets appear, but this time they didn't. after restoring tons of stuff again and rebooting, no change.
this time i opened google finance (which i have a widget for and requires login). i allowed it's permissions and rebooted. my widgets appeared.
in this one case, i believe i had to open each application i have a widget for to make sure they were all logged in, then reboot.
i hate having to restore my widgets each time. i'd love to figure out the secret to restoring them consistently.
I can get Titanium to restore all my widgets every time. I use TB to backup "Application Widgets" before flashing a new ROM.
Obviously once I restore all my apps with Titanium Backup my Widgets all show up with the error. But if I restore "Application Widgets" again and immediately restart my phone using a quick reboot app (I use Hot Reboot) the widgets all load fine.
I'll usually do a full restore of all my apps. Put a Hot Reboot widget on my homescreen. Restore "Application Widgets" again. Reboot using Hot Reboot. Then when the phone is done booting all my Widgets appear correctly (minus the Hot Reboot widget I just added, it errors out).
Don't know if it'll work for everyone but it works every time for me. Saves a lot me time.
EDIT: Works perfect!
dustinb17 said:
I can get Titanium to restore all my widgets every time. I use TB to backup "Application Widgets" before flashing a new ROM.
Obviously once I restore all my apps with Titanium Backup my Widgets all show up with the error. But if I restore "Application Widgets" again and immediately restart my phone using a quick reboot app (I use Hot Reboot) the widgets all load fine.
I'll usually do a full restore of all my apps. Put a Hot Reboot widget on my homescreen. Restore "Application Widgets" again. Reboot using Hot Reboot. Then when the phone is done booting all my Widgets appear correctly (minus the Hot Reboot widget I just added, it errors out).
Don't know if it'll work for everyone but it works every time for me. Saves a lot me time.
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I don't find anything in Titanium Backup to select backup "Application Widgets"? How this is done? Thanx
IS this LauncherPro specific or does it work with other launchers
rickg99 said:
I don't find anything in Titanium Backup to select backup "Application Widgets"? How this is done? Thanx
IS this LauncherPro specific or does it work with other launchers
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I don't believe it has anything to do with Launcher Pro actually. It's listed in green for me indicating that it's a "System service with useful data". I have the paid version of TB and I have no idea if that has anything to do with it.
It's available for me in batch mode and through backup/restore. It's exact name is "Application Widgets" the icon is the Titanium Backup Circle and it's listed in green with all the other Apps that start with A.
I see Application Widgets on the free version also, I haven't tried it before though...next time I switch ROM's I'll give it a shot!
dustinb17 said:
I don't believe it has anything to do with Launcher Pro actually. It's listed in green for me indicating that it's a "System service with useful data". I have the paid version of TB and I have no idea if that has anything to do with it.
It's available for me in batch mode and through backup/restore. It's exact name is "Application Widgets" the icon is the Titanium Backup Circle and it's listed in green with all the other Apps that start with A.
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Don't understand that. I have latest Titanium but I don't have anything found to backup/restore "Application Widgets" or "System service with useful data". Whre do I find that. I have default launcher as well as Launcher Pro but don't find it with both launcher. Thank you.
rickg99 said:
Don't understand that. I have latest Titanium but I don't have anything found to backup/restore "Application Widgets" or "System service with useful data". Whre do I find that. I have default launcher as well as Launcher Pro but don't find it with both launcher. Thank you.
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The "System Service with useful data" is in the legend if you hit menu. It describes what the programs written in green indicate. Maybe try a Batch backup of all system data, and look for it in there. If you do a Batch "Backup of all system data" do you have anything in that list listed with green writing?
Edit: I guess it may depend on your root status as well. I know I'm rooted with S-Off, maybe that has something to do with it if you're not.
thank you.this trick is working perfect. i tried it with a cm7 rom in hd2
got it
Going to try this now - flashing another ROM just to see.
dustinb17 said:
I can get Titanium to restore all my widgets every time. I use TB to backup "Application Widgets" before flashing a new ROM.
Obviously once I restore all my apps with Titanium Backup my Widgets all show up with the error. But if I restore "Application Widgets" again and immediately restart my phone using a quick reboot app (I use Hot Reboot) the widgets all load fine.
I'll usually do a full restore of all my apps. Put a Hot Reboot widget on my homescreen. Restore "Application Widgets" again. Reboot using Hot Reboot. Then when the phone is done booting all my Widgets appear correctly (minus the Hot Reboot widget I just added, it errors out).
Don't know if it'll work for everyone but it works every time for me. Saves a lot me time.
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Sorry for digging up an old thread but I just had to say thank you for this. Really saved me a buttload of time! THANKS!

[Q] Cleaning up the bloatware - Kidzone?

I tried searching the forums and found nothing...
Like a lot of others, i dont like most of the applications that come bundled on my phone and like to get rid of most of them. I cant seem to figure out what .apk file to remove to get rid of the "Kidzone" application. Any ideas?
If any root-level file explorer works, download Absolute System from the Market. It's about two bucks but it's worth it. You can use it to remove any bloatware from your device.
blackknightavalon said:
If any root-level file explorer works, download Absolute System from the Market. It's about two bucks but it's worth it. You can use it to remove any bloatware from your device.
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Not in this case. We do not have S-OFF.
Freezing the apps with titanium backup lasts between reboots, luckily. Won't remove them completely but they will be prevented from running or showing in the app drawer.
Only problem is I'm having trouble finding the package names of a couple bloatware apps, namely kidzone, highlight, friend stream and t-mobile mall. If anyone could find the names of those packages it would be great. I'll look up the names of the apps I did find in a little while and post them for you.
vimk said:
Freezing the apps with titanium backup lasts between reboots, luckily. Won't remove them completely but they will be prevented from running or showing in the app drawer.
Only problem is I'm having trouble finding the package names of a couple bloatware apps, namely kidzone, highlight, friend stream and t-mobile mall. If anyone could find the names of those packages it would be great. I'll look up the names of the apps I did find in a little while and post them for you.
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Click to collapse
Download Absolute System from the Market.
Sent from a Western Union telegram.
vimk said:
Freezing the apps with titanium backup lasts between reboots, luckily. Won't remove them completely but they will be prevented from running or showing in the app drawer.
Only problem is I'm having trouble finding the package names of a couple bloatware apps, namely kidzone, highlight, friend stream and t-mobile mall. If anyone could find the names of those packages it would be great. I'll look up the names of the apps I did find in a little while and post them for you.
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Click to collapse
I cant figure out what process is Kidzone either, but i think the T-Mobile mall was called "AppPack" (MallLite-4.0.92.apk)
Gumpo10k said:
I cant figure out what process is Kidzone either, but i think the T-Mobile mall was called "AppPack" (MallLite-4.0.92.apk)
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also tried removing the app pack, and it does not remove "kidzone"
Kidzone appears to basically be a locked down version of the home screen that only lets you turn on Youtube, Internet, Bejeweled, and T-Mobile TV from that screen. It requires you to setup a password for the lock screen. It appears to be built into sense. It's not really an application. Mostly a replacement lock screen. There's nothing "kid" about it honestly.
Akujin said:
Kidzone appears to basically be a locked down version of the home screen that only lets you turn on Youtube, Internet, Bejeweled, and T-Mobile TV from that screen. It requires you to setup a password for the lock screen. It appears to be built into sense. It's not really an application. Mostly a replacement lock screen. There's nothing "kid" about it honestly.
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Is there a way to remove the shortcut from the app drawer?
electro_chef said:
Is there a way to remove the shortcut from the app drawer?
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I second that request!
I made a thread in "themes and apps" about cleaning up bloat - still no luck on kidzone though.
I am fiddling around with dumping sense now, that will probably do it. I'll post back here if I can figure out how to make kidzone go away.
Meantime - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=16739548#post16739548
okay - sorry to post after myself but I got rid of kidzone.
First, I restored a CWM backup I made right after root/busybox installation.
So, my phone state is fresh S-OFF/Root with SU & busybox installed.
It may be important to note that I did a factory reset to my phone just before S-OFF/Root & had a freshly formatted MicroSD card.
I then installed ADW Launcher from the Market, and hit my "home" key. Selected "Use Default" and chose ADW Launcher.
Now my phone defaults to ADW as it's launcher.
I then installed "Absolute System" from the Market, and used it to remove "HTC Sense"
Closed out Absolute System, then scrolled between all 5 ADW desktop screens, powered down the phone, then powered up again. (*NOTE fastboot = off)
Booted fine, was able to ditch sense without issue, and KIDZONE IS GONE!
As always, make sure to do a fresh system backup before messing with anything like this, but Kidzone is linked to sense, and replacing sense with another launcher will remove it.
HTC Sense was the only app removed from the phone, and I haven't checked everything to make sure it works yet, but no HTC crash report to send, and no force close issues. (yet - to be determined)
I've been itching to ditch sense since I got the phone, and this was my first quick test at it. Works good so far.
Edit to add:
Checked the "personalize" option at the top of the "settings" list. This just brings you back to the main desktop, doesn't throw an error.
I knew this one thing would be messed up somehow after ditching sense, but the fact that it doesn't make a problem and just closes the menu is fine by me.
I'll spend the rest of the day testing out my phone without sense to see how it runs. I'll post back how it went tomorrow.
Edit - 11/01/2011:
When I said "without sense" I meant without the sense launcher. I expanded on and clarified that in another thread (that app thread) but never cleared it up here.
To fully remove sense is one heck of a project, and will take much more then just switching your launcher.
This is great info - but with this last method - can you still use the stock/factory camera app? Is the camera fully functional, it might not be a big deal to some but would be cool to retain full factory camera functionality.
Wow, feels like going back in time -
Yep, stock camera app works fine.
It's tied to sense, and there is no true AOSP ROM out there yet, so pretty much no matter what you do you should keep stock camera functionality.
Actually, keeping the stock camera functionality/app is the main reason why there is no AOSP ROM yet, it's been generally decided that losing that would be...undesirable.
Kidzone is part of Rosie.apk, which is the Sense launcher. You lose it once you switch to another launcher (adw, go, etc...) and uninstall rosie.apk
Blue6IX said:
Wow, feels like going back in time -
Yep, stock camera app works fine.
It's tied to sense, and there is no true AOSP ROM out there yet, so pretty much no matter what you do you should keep stock camera functionality.
Actually, keeping the stock camera functionality/app is the main reason why there is no AOSP ROM yet, it's been generally decided that losing that would be...undesirable.
Kidzone is part of Rosie.apk, which is the Sense launcher. You lose it once you switch to another launcher (adw, go, etc...) and uninstall rosie.apk
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Exactly.. + 1 for blue.
Sent from my Senseless Doubleshot using xda premium

[Q] Valhalla 1.2 Launcher Issues

Have to post here since I'm new... Love Valhalla 1.2! I just get way too many reboots/restarts with (I think) the launcher. If I move an app around, it reboots. Is there a fix/alternate launcher for this? Whitehawkx is the man! I'll donate if it helps!
I'm using Valhalla 1.2 and I get the same thing. I've noticed that anytime that does happen, if I am patient and don't touch the phone for a few minutes, it will eventually settle down again. It only happens to me rarely now. It can be annoying though, I agree.
I think most of us use a launcher from the Market. I use Launcher Pro (I have the paid version but there is a free one) and it works Great. It is way better that stock in my opinion.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
i removed the launcher.apk before flashing. put launcherpro.apk in my system/app folder of the zip file. I then added the ro.home__app_adj=1 line into my build.prop.
finally, i removed w/e apps didnt want and added others to the system/app folder. then i flashed the rom.
i dont have any problems with the launcher redraws anymore cause 1. it is now a system app and 2. it has a high priority when it comes to ram.
---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 PM ----------
Jerry D said:
I think most of us use a launcher from the Market. I use Launcher Pro (I have the paid version but there is a free one) and it works Great. It is way better that stock in my opinion.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
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you can also place the launcher pro key in the system/app folder prior to install and the pro launcher will automatically be installed. makes flashing very easy should you not want to restore data. it also give you a ton more space because the ROM memory and the internal are separate. instead of only using 200mb of ROM memory and 400 mb of internal, i use 400mb of ROM and only 140mb of internal space.
jager555 said:
i removed the launcher.apk before flashing. put launcherpro.apk in my system/app folder of the zip file. I then added the ro.home__app_adj=1 line into my build.prop.
finally, i removed w/e apps didnt want and added others to the system/app folder. then i flashed the rom.
i dont have any problems with the launcher redraws anymore cause 1. it is now a system app and 2. it has a high priority when it comes to ram.
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Hrm...jager555, do you think it would be okay to delete launcher.apk through Titanium and manually push launcherpro.apk into the /system/app? Also, my .apk for launcherpro is "com.fede.launcher-1.apk". Did you rename yours or did you just say that for simplicity purposes?
Does that extra line you add to your build.prop put the launcher into high priority RAM? If so, can't you just set that in the LauncherPro memory settings?
I've still been getting the redraws, so I wanna try this method.
jager555 said:
i removed the launcher.apk before flashing. put launcherpro.apk in my system/app folder of the zip file. I then added the ro.home__app_adj=1 line into my build.prop.
finally, i removed w/e apps didnt want and added others to the system/app folder. then i flashed the rom.
i dont have any problems with the launcher redraws anymore cause 1. it is now a system app and 2. it has a high priority when it comes to ram.
---------- Post added at 12:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 PM ----------
you can also place the launcher pro key in the system/app folder prior to install and the pro launcher will automatically be installed. makes flashing very easy should you not want to restore data. it also give you a ton more space because the ROM memory and the internal are separate. instead of only using 200mb of ROM memory and 400 mb of internal, i use 400mb of ROM and only 140mb of internal space.
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hmmmm interesting method...would this work with go launcher ex as well?
is there any way to make an app high priority in RAM, for some reason my messaging app (go sms pro) always gets killed...didn't have this problem in froyo, but it happens a lot in GB
bkoon1218 said:
Hrm...jager555, do you think it would be okay to delete launcher.apk through Titanium and manually push launcherpro.apk into the /system/app? Also, my .apk for launcherpro is "com.fede.launcher-1.apk". Did you rename yours or did you just say that for simplicity purposes?
Does that extra line you add to your build.prop put the launcher into high priority RAM? If so, can't you just set that in the LauncherPro memory settings?
I've still been getting the redraws, so I wanna try this method.
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Click to collapse
i would start fresh, to be honest. if you delete the launcher while it is the only launcher running, you are going to get fc's like crazy. i would put launcherpro in the system/app prior to flashing the rom. i do it this way because during the flash, it installs other things too (hidden folders, themes, other things). i usually test everything out before i delete it, but i get rid of all of the launcher stuff, download ui apps, live wallpapers, and 99% of the things i dont use. like with ftw, it had adw launcher, adw themes, and all of this stuff that i dont use, so i delete it before it is even installed. since we've all been scarred with the crapiness of the windows registry, i like to keep things neat.
i found an interesting way to get the actual launcher apk, so you guys feel free to use this method (woot). it will work for 99% of apk (does not work for quickpic, tegrak). uninstall launcherpro. now, redownload it from the market. once it downloads and installs, open root explorer, go to your cache folder. in that, you should see a file called download.apk. this is the launcher pro.apk you just downloaded and installed from the market (think about it. its like your temp folder in windows). take this file and copy it out of the folder to wherever you want. this is the file you put in your system/app folder. i do this for everything. so i dont have to redownload everything. sometimes, i like to start fresh and not restore my personal data and this method makes it easy. you can cust if i ever switch phones to help someone else, i can just flash my customized rom with apps and have it have all the things i have, but with no data. its nice.
the extra line does put it as high priority (credit goes to antonx for that). i did try putting it as high priority in the settings, but it still gave me a ton of redraws on lp.
try it out and if it still redraws, set it as high priority in the launcher settings. or you can change the line item to 0 instead of 1. (ro.HOME_APP_ADJ=1) i put this line at the very bottom of my build prop. i only get launcher redraws if i am in multiple apps without closing them and the phone goes to sleep for an hour or two.
bkoon, hope this helps, man
---------- Post added at 02:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 PM ----------
druhaul said:
hmmmm interesting method...would this work with go launcher ex as well?
is there any way to make an app high priority in RAM, for some reason my messaging app (go sms pro) always gets killed...didn't have this problem in froyo, but it happens a lot in GB
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Click to collapse
i use go sms pro and i never have that problem. did you delete your mms.apk from the system folder? if you didnt, then that may be why. mms.apk will always have priority over gosms. use the method i told bkoon above to set it as a system app and once you remove mms.apk, you shouldnt get too many closes. yes, it should work with go launcher.
geez, whitehawk, idk how you tweaked this rom, but man are you efficient. im am truly impressed with memory usage on this rom. can't praise you enough for this.
I don't know why every1 is having launcher issues. I never had any problem with it..Do you guys UV or OC to extreme setting or maybe have too many tabs or icons? btw I used titanium backup and remove even more stuff I don't use from the rom like wifi calling, google maps, latitude, drive smart..etc.
You should keep google maps. I think it's needed, isn't it?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
jager555 said:
You should keep google maps. I think it's needed, isn't it?
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I have completely uninstalled it before and it caused no issues for me. However it does come in handy now and then so now I just freeze it until I need it again.. It is a Huge App that only seems to get bigger. I wish we could choose what updates we want and just apply those.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
Google map is not needed. You can remove it and still be fine, but i do have another map application called ndrive that only runs when i start it up. it have turn by turn voice navigation and offline map .
Jerry D said:
I have completely uninstalled it before and it caused no issues for me. However it does come in handy now and then so now I just freeze it until I need it again.. It is a Huge App that only seems to get bigger. I wish we could choose what updates we want and just apply those.
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium
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Click to collapse
oo. lol. its TALK that needed. ugh. long day at work.
@jager555
Is there a guide or a thread somewhere I can read to learn how to mod a ROM BEFORE I flash it? Like you describe in this thread.
I follow what you are saying but because of my level of knowledge I need something more definitive ie what tools I would need and the processes.
I have a windows 7 laptop (brand new) and have 7zip installed. I am going to download and install ADB tonight using a guide from addictivetips.com..
I feel I'm ready to start modding like this... Flashing in fun but this is really modding your Android!
Forgive me if I have gotten off topic or personalized the thread but it seems related to me.
Thank you
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lol. its easy, just open the zip file on your computer, go to system folder in the rom, then to app folder. from there, you can add/remove apks. no need for adb. you can do this in linux or mac as well. its a simple procedure that can make the world of difference.
once again, be sure to know what you are removing. what i would recommend is downloading a rom and making a copy to mess with. flash the rom on your phone, then use titanium to see what you can delete. once you know what you can delete, remove it on the copy on the computer. then once you are done, add all of the apps you want into the system/app folder (remember you have a limited space) and then flash the custom rom. its kind of fun to do because it gives you a much better understanding of the system.
i can write a guide, but honestly, i am so busy with work, it will take me a long time. i can try to work on it, but i know for a fact, not this week. i am just swamped.
jager555 said:
lol. its easy, just open the zip file on your computer, go to system folder in the rom, then to app folder. from there, you can add/remove apks. no need for adb. you can do this in linux or mac as well. its a simple procedure that can make the world of difference.
once again, be sure to know what you are removing. what i would recommend is downloading a rom and making a copy to mess with. flash the rom on your phone, then use titanium to see what you can delete. once you know what you can delete, remove it on the copy on the computer. then once you are done, add all of the apps you want into the system/app folder (remember you have a limited space) and then flash the custom rom. its kind of fun to do because it gives you a much better understanding of the system.
i can write a guide, but honestly, i am so busy with work, it will take me a long time. i can try to work on it, but i know for a fact, not this week. i am just swamped.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds easy and I understand what you are saying. It is definitely the way I want to go from now on. I will take your recommendation of downloading and copying a ROM to mess with. It is how I learn mostly anyway
I've done a ton of deleting using TB these last few months so I already know what can be safely removed.
As for the guide, hell you just wrote it lol.
I know you are busy. You help everyone in our Community ALL THE TIME and thanks for your replies. This has turned out to be a very informative thread.. I can't wait until I know a fraction of what you and other members here know.
Cheers!
jager555 said:
i would start fresh, to be honest. if you delete the launcher while it is the only launcher running, you are going to get fc's like crazy. i would put launcherpro in the system/app prior to flashing the rom. i do it this way because during the flash, it installs other things too (hidden folders, themes, other things). i usually test everything out before i delete it, but i get rid of all of the launcher stuff, download ui apps, live wallpapers, and 99% of the things i dont use. like with ftw, it had adw launcher, adw themes, and all of this stuff that i dont use, so i delete it before it is even installed. since we've all been scarred with the crapiness of the windows registry, i like to keep things neat.
i found an interesting way to get the actual launcher apk, so you guys feel free to use this method (woot). it will work for 99% of apk (does not work for quickpic, tegrak). uninstall launcherpro. now, redownload it from the market. once it downloads and installs, open root explorer, go to your cache folder. in that, you should see a file called download.apk. this is the launcher pro.apk you just downloaded and installed from the market (think about it. its like your temp folder in windows). take this file and copy it out of the folder to wherever you want. this is the file you put in your system/app folder. i do this for everything. so i dont have to redownload everything. sometimes, i like to start fresh and not restore my personal data and this method makes it easy. you can cust if i ever switch phones to help someone else, i can just flash my customized rom with apps and have it have all the things i have, but with no data. its nice.
the extra line does put it as high priority (credit goes to antonx for that). i did try putting it as high priority in the settings, but it still gave me a ton of redraws on lp.
try it out and if it still redraws, set it as high priority in the launcher settings. or you can change the line item to 0 instead of 1. (ro.HOME_APP_ADJ=1) i put this line at the very bottom of my build prop. i only get launcher redraws if i am in multiple apps without closing them and the phone goes to sleep for an hour or two.
bkoon, hope this helps, man
---------- Post added at 02:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:09 PM ----------
i use go sms pro and i never have that problem. did you delete your mms.apk from the system folder? if you didnt, then that may be why. mms.apk will always have priority over gosms. use the method i told bkoon above to set it as a system app and once you remove mms.apk, you shouldnt get too many closes. yes, it should work with go launcher.
geez, whitehawk, idk how you tweaked this rom, but man are you efficient. im am truly impressed with memory usage on this rom. can't praise you enough for this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so I deleted both the mms.apk and the TWlauncher.apk from the system/app folder...I put the GO Launcher EX.apk and the GO SMS Pro.apk into the system/app folder, it works fine at first, but when I restart my phone I get a "unexpected data error, please reinstall GO Launcher EX" error message and forced to uninstall go launcher, also go sms pro disappears from my phone and is no longer installed, without me even uninstalling it...right now I still have the touchwiz launcher and the mms.apk deleted off of my phone, but I had to take go launcher and go sms pro out of my system/app folder for everything to work fine, I also still have you build prop line added...I'm still having the problem with sms pro getting killed often since I guess it isn't a high priority RAM app, since it isnt in the system/app folder...any ideas how I can get your method to work?
druhaul said:
so I deleted both the mms.apk and the TWlauncher.apk from the system/app folder...I put the GO Launcher EX.apk and the GO SMS Pro.apk into the system/app folder, it works fine at first, but when I restart my phone I get a "unexpected data error, please reinstall GO Launcher EX" error message and forced to uninstall go launcher, also go sms pro disappears from my phone and is no longer installed, without me even uninstalling it...right now I still have the touchwiz launcher and the mms.apk deleted off of my phone, but I had to take go launcher and go sms pro out of my system/app folder for everything to work fine, I also still have you build prop line added...I'm still having the problem with sms pro getting killed often since I guess it isn't a high priority RAM app, since it isnt in the system/app folder...any ideas how I can get your method to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you take the correct apk that was downloaded from the market? do not take the one in your data folder. i have done this a ton of times with gosmspro on every rom i have flashed so far. can you try it on ftw and see if you get the same results?
jager555 said:
did you take the correct apk that was downloaded from the market? do not take the one in your data folder. i have done this a ton of times with gosmspro on every rom i have flashed so far. can you try it on ftw and see if you get the same results?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The go sms apk that I put in my system/app folder is actually from a zip file that I downloaded off the internet...I purposely use an old version of go sms that doesn't force me to use the in house Go dev's picture viewer when handling MMS messages...
druhaul said:
The go sms apk that I put in my system/app folder is actually from a zip file that I downloaded off the internet...I purposely use an old version of go sms that doesn't force me to use the in house Go dev's picture viewer when handling MMS messages...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmm. whenever i view an mms, it goes to quickpic....
did you retry go launcher with the right download.apk file or on ftw?
Try with launcher pro instead of go launcher
Sent from my SGH-T959V using xda premium

[Q] Market Keeps Updating!!!

I have a custom Android Market that is really nice looking. I want to keep this one, but the Market app keeps auto updating it everytime I open the app...
I've already tried the terminal "pm disable com.android.vender.updater" thing.
I've already tried to "freeze" the Market Updater app.
I've already tried to "remove/uninstall" the Market Updater app.
I've tried to clear (reg/Dalvik) cache via recovery.
Is there no way to stop the updates? What can be done??? Help!
The theme market your using most(probably) not developed/modded(maybe not completed), most themed markets prevents itself from being updated.
Edit: Are you using a ROM? If so, then which?
austrie said:
The theme market your using most(probably) not developed/modded(maybe not completed), most themed markets prevents itself from being updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Princely's Blue, black, white 2.7.5 rom... The Market version included with the ROM is 3.0.x and it keeps trying to goto 3.1.3.
I love the transparent blue, and not the ugly green/grey/black market... : /
533y4 said:
I'm using Princely's Blue, black, white 2.7.5 rom... The Market version included with the ROM is 3.0.x and it keeps trying to goto 3.1.3.
I love the transparent blue, and not the ugly green/grey/black market... : /
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, cause I use BBW as my daily ROM, and I always have blue market, I know when the theme version isn't very modded it allows market to update itself, but I'm sure it's not the market this time because I use it too. Did you follow full install steps, that is main reason some system apps don't install? Your second option is, pull the Vending.apk from the V.2.7.5 zip and put it on your SD Card, Go to settings the applications, go to market, then click uninstall updates, if you get the themed market then good, but if it uninstalls the whole market app and you don't have market anymore, go to es file explorer or astro explorer(any file explorer than can ), then install from your SD Card. You should be ok from those steps, but if it fails by some strange reason, then reflash ROM full steps.
Edit: Before doing those steps let it update itself first, also, it's trying to update to 3.1.5 now.....
austrie said:
Hm, cause I use BBW as my daily ROM, and I always have blue market, I know when the theme version isn't very modded it allows market to update itself, but I'm sure it's not the market this time because I use it too. Did you follow full install steps, that is main reason some system apps don't install? Your second option is, pull the Vending.apk from the V.2.7.5 zip and put it on your SD Card, Go to settings the applications, go to market, then click uninstall updates, if you get the themed market then good, but if it uninstalls the whole market app and you don't have market anymore, go to es file explorer or astro explorer(any file explorer than can ), then install from your SD Card. You should be ok from those steps, but if it fails by some strange reason, then reflash ROM full steps.
Edit: Before doing those steps let it update itself first, also, it's trying to update to 3.1.5 now.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the full install steps but originally installed RBT first... then the BBW over the Red... Could this cause it? Also, I've already uninstalled updates, and it just keeps reverting to the regular market right after I accept the TOS...
I think I'm gonna have to reflash the full ROM again...
{[EDIT]}
The other issue I have is that the battery icon in the status bar keeps chainging between a percentage and a battery icon... Another over install issue?
Try reflashing them full steps, if the steps above don't work for you. The battery and percent is my "fault", it turns to a buttery icon at 30, 50, 70, and 90 percent. Not sure which looks better though, the light blue battery looks pretty nice, it matches, but the battery icon is a bit more helpful being as the number percent.
austrie said:
Try reflashing them full steps, if the steps above don't work for you. The battery and percent is my "fault", it turns to a buttery icon at 30, 50, 70, and 90 percent. Not sure which looks better though, the light blue battery looks pretty nice, it matches, but the battery icon is a bit more helpful being as the number percent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reflashed the phone with the BBW again... (no over installing this time). As soon as the phone booted I uninstalled the Market Updater and it still updated as soon as I pressed "Agree" on launch... WTF?!
Other then the fighting market place and the every switching battery icon, I love the ROM... : ) Faster then my Epic 4G and Droid Charge by a land slide.
{[EDIT]}
I uninstalled the update, and the blue market came back (again)... But it keeps making my accept the TOS... and then boom! Updated...
OK, when you have the blue market don't except TOS yet, go to titanium backup, backup the blue market, then accept TOS, If it updates then let it update, after it updates then go to titanium backup and restore the blue market.
I'll try to get a up to date market in V2.8.
I downgraded to the 2.x version of the market (before any fancy crap, definitely before videos and books)... guess what? It's fast and responsive.
Definitely going to think hard about going to the latest version.
austrie said:
OK, when you have the blue market don't except TOS yet, go to titanium backup, backup the blue market, then accept TOS, If it updates then let it update, after it updates then go to titanium backup and restore the blue market.
I'll try to get a up to date market in V2.8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No go... Removed updates. Made a back up. Then started the app and accepted TOS. Let it update. Then tried to restore.
Android won't restore over the new version... Keeps saying "Application not Installed". Tried to delete just the app, but when I restored the TOS was needed again... Was a good idea tho.
{[EDIT]}
Just tried something else... I directly replaced the com.android.vender(-1).apk apps over the whole rom... Seems to work for now... Wish me luck...
{[EDIT 2]}
Stayed for about 10-20 mins and then was replaced... What is causing this?
Theoretically you COULD delete the app, but that seems a little risky...something you should only try after a full backup (and something I would only try with a lot of Red Bull early in the morning)...
Or theme the latest market apk too. If it is recompiled, and assigned with a different key than the One Google uses, it might stick. But then, you may be voiding your ability to use Marketplace too...
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

[Q] Switching ROMs Question

Hi, I'm sorry if this question has been asked, I would like to start switching ROMs to test different ones, and I've been using Titanium Backup to backup all my data. I know that I should only restore back the user data and never system data when switching ROM's however I hate having to setup my widgets and homescreen layout everytime I switch ROMs. Is it safe to restore the backup of the Launcher even though it is in red text under Titanium Backup? I've read that it is okay to restore system data for the ones with yellow text but if its green or red it shouldn't be restored.
Is there any alternative of being able to switch between ROMs without having to setup your home screen icons everytime? Thanks.
bobokun said:
Hi, I'm sorry if this question has been asked, I would like to start switching ROMs to test different ones, and I've been using Titanium Backup to backup all my data. I know that I should only restore back the user data and never system data when switching ROM's however I hate having to setup my widgets and homescreen layout everytime I switch ROMs. Is it safe to restore the backup of the Launcher even though it is in red text under Titanium Backup? I've read that it is okay to restore system data for the ones with yellow text but if its green or red it shouldn't be restored.
Is there any alternative of being able to switch between ROMs without having to setup your home screen icons everytime? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're moving between Stock ROMs or Between AOSP ROMs with the same launcher, it shouldn't be an issue.
rootSU said:
If you're moving between Stock ROMs or Between AOSP ROMs with the same launcher, it shouldn't be an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. If I'm using Google's Launcher do I just restore Launcher in Titaniumbackup? I heard that I also need to restore Google Search as well.
bobokun said:
Thanks. If I'm using Google's Launcher do I just restore Launcher in Titaniumbackup? I heard that I also need to restore Google Search as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure about the latter. Just restore data (not app) for launcher so do it separately. However, titanium is never great at restoring laucnhers anyway
rootSU said:
I'm not sure about the latter. Just restore data (not app) for launcher so do it separately. However, titanium is never great at restoring laucnhers anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Do you have any better alternative solution for restoring launchers other than titanium?
bobokun said:
Thanks Do you have any better alternative solution for restoring launchers other than titanium?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really I am afraid. I use Nova. Titanium restores the widgets as "place holders" and nova allows me to "tap to restore widget" but even then, I have to add a bit of configuration to each. I've never found a perfect solution and as a result, have much less complicated homescreens nowadays.

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