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News from the Portal of XDA.
http://www.xda-developers.com/annou...addition-to-sharing-policy-on-xda-developers/
Posted August 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm by egzthunder1
We are going to deviate a bit from our regularly scheduled programming to let you know about an upcoming change in the rules in the XDA forums. As time has gone by, our site has grown by leaps and bounds from what it was a couple of years ago. With a membership base of over 4.5 million registered users and an average of 35-40 thousand people active at any given time, we need to ensure that this place can offer the best possible environment for all people, both experienced developers and people who come here looking to learn about mobile devices. Because of this reason, the rules of our site need to be amended from time to time to accommodate the needs and wants of such a large user base, but without losing our principles and forgetting what XDA was founded on in the first place.
Just a bit of background: XDA was a website founded by hackers and developers for hackers and developers. People coming here shared one common goal, which was to get more and more out of their expensive toys and they did so by reverse engineering, creating new code to expand the device’s capabilities, and doing things with hardware that most people cannot do (mainly due to lack of knowledge or technical ability). The site prospered to what it is today because these very same people knew that their collective ideas and efforts would yield more results if they collaborated by sharing what they knew with others. More often than not, this resulted in fantastic feats such as the original XDA online kitchen, the very first port of WM5 to the mythical HTC Blue Angel, and many more accomplishments that are stored in the depths of XDA’s forums.
XDA-Developers has always been a place for sharing knowledge. People spend countless hours on their projects and give back to the community in several different forms, either by releasing the complete work to the community, or by sharing its source and methods by which the work was conceived. The latter allows others to pick up the work and tweak it to improve it (think of the Linux kernel for this to make sense). XDA’s own foundation is much like that as well. However, often times, this concept of the sharing of knowledge gets confused with the concept of sharing everything. If you frequent our site, you will have undoubtedly come across a few threads were discussions about sharing are on going. Essentially, some people demand for work to be released or even think that they can take as they please without following rules already present on our site. Likewise, people sharing their work sometimes have rather bizarre ways of doing so, which has a bad tendency to develop in what we like to call “dev wars”.
We (administrators and moderators of this site) truly believe that intellectual property (IP) is a very important part of what is done on xda-developers. As such, we cannot and will not support any kind of action which forces a developer to share their work with others if the developer does not wish to do so. A developer of anything has rights over their work and as such he/she can choose to do with it as he/she pleases (give it away, share the source, burn it, give it to an orphanage, or eat it for breakfast). We support whatever decision is taken by its developer. Having said that, over the years people have found what can only be categorized as a loophole in our current sharing policy, and thus people are forced to do things in exchange for permissions to use certain pieces of work by others.
After a long deliberation with the entire moderator and administrator staff, we are implementing the following addition to our sharing rule (Rule 12) – revisions are in bold:
12. Using the work of others.
If you are developing something that is based on the work of another Member, you MUST first seek their permission, and you must give credit to the member whose work you used. If a dispute occurs about who developed / created a piece of work, first try to settle the matter by private message and NOT in open forum. If this fails then you may contact a moderator with clear evidence that the work was created by you.
Convincing evidence will result in copied work being removed. If there is no clear evidence you created the work then in the spirit of sharing all work will remain posted on the forums.
As an addition, developers have the right to hold exclusivity over their work for as long as it is deemed necessary by the dev or freely share it. However, if the work is claimed as exclusive, it must remain as such. No selective sharing will be allowed (ie allowing certain people to use it and not others). Should the dev decide to start sharing the work with others, the work automatically becomes fair game for all to use.
In regards to permissions, same rules remain for this but if permission was already given, unless there is a very valid reason, it cannot be revoked (same applies to major updates on the work). Under that same premise, permissions cannot be denied unless the work is exclusive or under severe circumstances.
In plain English: If you want to keep your work exclusive, go for it. However, if you are going to share your work, do it fairly.
These rules apply to all software posted on XDA (including but not limited to ROMs, RUUs, apps, games, kernels, themes, icons, etc) unless that software comes with a license that waives these rules.
The problem with the aforementioned permissions is that the rule never really stated anything regarding continuity or longevity of said permission. On top of that, selective sharing creates a massive problem on our site as it tends to give place to kanging (unauthorized copying and/or redistribution of work), fights between devs (so called “dev wars”), and tons of time wasted on investigations, which normally involves a large number of people from our staff. This needed to stop as it was reaching critical mass and high levels of anxiety were generated for no apparent reason on something that should be a hobby.
So, if you are a developer on this site and would like to keep your work as something exclusive, we encourage you to do it. If you would like to freely give it out so that others can use it and make it better, we encourage you to do it as well. However, we will no longer accept claims from anyone who picks and chooses who gets what. As stated in the rule, you either share or keep, but if you do share, do it fairly. Favoritism has created a great divide in our site and our community and it is only hurting development as a whole. People focus more on pointing fingers than they do on trying to create original work.
Permissions should still be sought as a matter of common courtesy, much like the original rule stipulated. However, unless a valid reason is provided, a simple “no, you cannot have it” will not suffice, especially if the work is being shared with others and permissions are denied out of spite.
Lets all work towards a new, rejuvenated XDA that is based on the core principles placed by the site’s founding fathers. Sharing of knowledge is what brought many of us together on this site and we should strive as a community to keep it that way. Please share your thoughts on this.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
XDA-Developers Administration Team
I like Droidwall. Here's my review: Droidwall is a nifty program which can easily be configured to block wifi and/or data communication for each individual application. Perhaps allows small savings in battery, data usage, and slight improvement in security. Particularly when app had no logical purpose to acces internet other than advertisements etc. Also does not cost any significant cpu or memory resources... just modifies a table somewhere.
Now onto my question:
One of the applications that I blocked was labeled “(Kernel) – Linux Kernel”
Blocking the “kernel” has no effect on items like browser, gmail etc.
Based on Droidwall log, over the past several weeks since I installed the program, it has blocked 397 outbound packets from “kernel” which were destined for a variety of IP’s that all seems to be associated with Google, XDA, or Microsoft.
Below is an example of three of the IP’s:
Google
74.125.227.140
https://ipdb.at/ip/74.125.227.140
xda
50.23.216.69
https://ipdb.at/ip/50.23.216.69
Microsoft
65.52.32.12
https://ipdb.at/ip/65.52.32.12
Another thing I noticed, these are the only log entries where the external IP is recorded in the log. In all the other non-kernel blocked-application log entries, the IP recorded is my router IP.
I’m using Entropy’s DD kernal on GB.
It seems to me a little strange that these outbound transmissions are associated with the kernel. And at the same time, they don’t seem to be associated with any obvious legitimate purpose....because my phone works fine on normal internet application even with “kernel” blocked by Droidwall.
Does anyone have any ideas what would be the explanation for these packets sent from kernel to Google, MS, xda ?
Well I don't know much of anything about programming, however some people say that it isn't just apple that collects information about people without them knowing. Could be that or I could be completely wrong.
Just for curiosity, do you allow anonymous data to be collected and sent to Google?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
If no answer here, maybe post your question here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1957231
Well I don't know much of anything about programming, however some people say that it isn't just apple that collects information about people without them knowing. Could be that or I could be completely wrong.
Just for curiosity, do you allow anonymous data to be collected and sent to Google?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I generally answer no the the “anonymous data collection”.... thinking about battery, data usage, and privacy. I think several apps have that question. I don’t doubt there are a lot of programs trying to communicate for a variety of non-obvious (possibly suspicious) reasons regardless of how you set up the options. ....there were a several installed Apps attempting access that had no obvious reason to do so.
What initially struck me as strange was that this was attributed to the kernel.. that didn’t quite compute. Trying initially to formulate an intelligent thought about what that meant, I utterly failed and came up with the notion that these items must somehow be related to programming by the developer of the kernel. When I actually engaged my brain, I realized that was just plain silly because:
1 – That would be Entropy. Enough said.
2 – The kernel is open source.
3 – There are several different destination ip’s. If one person was trying to collect data, he wouldn’t send it to different places. So it must be several applications interacting with the kernel.... just shows up attributed to the kernel by Droidwall.
If no answer here, maybe post your question here: [afwall link][
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Pony Ex. I didn’t know that program afwall existed. Looks like it might have some good improvements to an already-great program (Droidwall). Will definitely give it a try. But I’m not bold enough to post this type of question in the developer’s thread though... several others were scolded for non-appropriate posts in that thread.
To my limited understanding, and I apologize if I am wrong, entropy just modified the kernel that was already there? Hence why the new ICS and jelly bean ROMs are still using a gingerbread kernel.
So who actually wrote the kernel? Samsung? Google? Both?
I agree I don't see entropy gathering personnel data.
However, apple was caught doing it and to the conspiracy minded individual, Google (a company that made it's fortune with information) would be in a similar position to do the same.
Again I have no evidence or knowledge to back up anything I'm saying, however what better way to collect information then distributing a free open source program with 100's of millions of users?
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
electricpete1 said:
Thanks Pony Ex. I didn’t know that program afwall existed. Looks like it might have some good improvements to an already-great program (Droidwall). Will definitely give it a try. But I’m not bold enough to post this type of question in the developer’s thread though... several others were scolded for non-appropriate posts in that thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
electricpete,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35352916&postcount=256
I'll fade the heat.
Edit: His first reply: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=35360652&postcount=257
Pete,
Are you using the Droid Wall to stop the outgoing packets to ensure privacy or are you using it to stop the wakelocks that may be contributing to the wifi drain bug on gingerbread?
Here is a reply from someone else... pretty good read:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13148076#post13148076
post # 47
Pony Express said:
Here is a reply from someone else... pretty good read:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=13148076#post13148076
post # 47
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Pony Express, for posting that question. Good info in the responses and other links.
qkster said:
Pete,
Are you using the Droid Wall to stop the outgoing packets to ensure privacy or are you using it to stop the wakelocks that may be contributing to the wifi drain bug on gingerbread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is the potential to improve all three (limit data usage, limit battery usage, improve privacy).
I think the improvements in battery life and data usage are probably relatively small (especially because I also manage those by turning my connections off when not in use while away from home wifi)... whereas I think the improvement in privacy may be substantial... so I guess that's my main interest (improving privacy).
But since the $ cost and resource cost is basically zero, it almost seems to me like no-brainer choice to use it regardless of the level of benefit we expect (unless there is some hidden disadvantage...which I haven't seen yet).
I wasn't aware of a particular wakelock problem on Gingerbread. I haven't particularly noticed a change in batteryusage one way or the other (and I really wouldn't expect to notice unless it was a dramatic change), but it stands to reason that reducing traffic from unwanted Ads, pinging, data-gathering etc could help. Here are some links that may support that view:
http://gizmodo.com/5894572/in+app-ads-are-destroying-your-battery-life
http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/19/2884902/android-apps-battery-efficiency-study
There was one poster in the AFwall thread that suggested an App that is denied access will keep trying again and again, and therefore use more juice..... which also sounds plausible, but several others disagreed with that.
* I have installed AFwall now, in place of Droidwall. It is the same program with a few improvements (fixed hole in the security wall during reboot) and a lot of extra features. But still keeps the same basic simple user interface.
Hi.
I recently came across some chinese / asian websites which kang / modify and release a diversity of roms.
I'm not specifying sources / which roms are, this is a general announcement to be careful with what we download & flash into our devices, and why ?
I flashed in order to test some of these roms (not the sense 5 kang tho), since I work in network security, I had noticed on our firewall logs when my mobile connected through the wifi, a bunch of UDP requests / DNS queries to russian websites. This can be used to botnets, DoS, even malware / spam propagation (a diversity of not cool stuff, basically).
A colegue of mine which also has a 'droid had once an app which sent repeatedly ICMP requests in "not random" but specific hours / intervals, he asked me to test his rom which he downloaded and flashed from "another" website, and I confirmed the suspicious behavior. There was established connections to foreigner addresses through a diversity of protocols, data being sent / received and at times, a udp flood directed to specific addresses. This is bad, my friends.
We don't know what these roms have inside, what's their mechanism besides the standard transparent operations which most of us are familiar with, and they could be very well used to do illegal things which I guaranty we don't want to be part of.
Flashing a rom, connecting through 3G or Wifi, and then our mobile is now part of a botnet which participates without our knowledge on such illegal operations is just one of the things that could happen. Phishing is also very possible - in other hand, a lot of things are possible without our knowledge and consent. We don't want this do we ?
The last Rom which I have experienced this, the link was removed and is no longer online. So i'm not pointing URL's / Rom names because this is something that each one of us has to be careful about.
Fortunately we have ways to detect / avoid / remove and make sure our device is used only for us and does only what we "tell" it to do.
We can use this thread to report such roms (since they're not published on xda, we can only warn each other and be aware) and applications that have malicious content.
I'll also be updating this thread with methods, applications for android to detect malware / suspicious activities (I'm not going into depth like using a sniffer or protocol / packet analyzer (although we can) I'll try to keep as simple as possible.
Suggestions, reports are very welcome and should be reported here. We can use this thread to protect our droids and help each other making our devices secure.
This post has the intention of protecting ourselfs, but privacy tips / applications are also welcome. Be careful tho, would be ironic to suggest an app to protect user privacy and in the end the app itself sends private data to GodKnowsWhere.
To be continued / Updated Soon.
List of Applications to monitor / analyze traffic:
Netstat Professional - Allows you to see what connections your android has established. Allows whois info, Real time IP / Port and status information (pretty much like netstat -an), and what service is running / port information.
Wi.cap. Network Sniffer - Much like a network protocol analyzer / network sniffer. This neat app allows you to see what connections are estabilished / protocol / status / analyze packets. If there's a connection estabilished - it will be listed. [Root needed]
Shark for Root - Traffic sniffer for 3G & Wifi (supports FroYo tethered mode too). Records traffic which later you can open with WireShark. To preview you can use Shark Reader.
List of Applications fo scan for malware.
Coming Soon...
Procedures to discover / analyze / report malware / suspicious behaviours and such.
Coming Soon...
Post reserved for procedures which will include:
- Common Sense
- How a malware works (the term malware is used to include viruses, trojans, custom scripts and apps.
- What to look for / suspicious behavior which you should pay attention to (also included in Common Sense).
- Basic tools to detect / analyze / remove malware.
More to come.
Sent from my HTC Z710e using xda premium
Generally, i suggest to use ROMs from XDA only, except for CM/MIUI official website. The risk is real! Thanks to @MidnightDevil for his help and his time
I suggest to read this thread to all the users!
XxXPachaXxX said:
Generally, i suggest to use ROMs from XDA only, except for CM/MIUI official website. The risk is real! Thanks to @MidnightDevil for his help and his time
I suggest to read this thread to all the users!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your support
If anyone has suggestions / knowledge about this sort of matter please share
There's a LOT of info that I tend to post on this thread in a way to educate / share knowledge with everyone.
Trusting the developers and sources is the first step for prevention. Be careful with dodgy websites and roms which you don't know about.
Scanning the rom zip file with a virus scanner is useless in this matter.
Unknown Rom
The threat is over when a secure rom is installed (after using a none xda rom) ??
MidnightDevil said:
Thank you for your support
If anyone has suggestions / knowledge about this sort of matter please share
There's a LOT of info that I tend to post on this thread in a way to educate / share knowledge with everyone.
Trusting the developers and sources is the first step for prevention. Be careful with dodgy websites and roms which you don't know about.
Scanning the rom zip file with a virus scanner is useless in this matter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
phearell said:
The threat is over when a secure rom is installed (after using a none xda rom) ??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far there isn't malware which persists after full wipe. Can't speak of the contents of the sdcard tho. But usually yes. But then you have the apk's which can contain malicious code and so forth...
Those apps are usually banned from the PlayStore, but there's a short window between published / report / removed from Store which users can download it.
Unless I didn't understood your post
MidnightDevil said:
So far there isn't malware which persists after full wipe. Can't speak of the contents of the sdcard tho. But usually yes. But then you have the apk's which can contain malicious code and so forth...
Those apps are usually banned from the PlayStore, but there's a short window between published / report / removed from Store which users can download it.
Unless I didn't understood your post
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK google also scan apps installed on the device. When installing a 3rd party app (not via Google Play), you get a prompt to allow google to scan it anyway for malicious content.
Also, there are a couple of anti-virus apps available from well known companies such Avast for android, and also from AVG.
I never really tried those, but they might help protecting your device. However I doubt if they scan system apps/services, for in most cases they are supposed to be safe (from the OEM itself).
It is well known that the biggest security hole is the user. So the best thing to do is to keep away from unknown ROMs/sources.
astar26 said:
AFAIK google also scan apps installed on the device. When installing a 3rd party app (not via Google Play), you get a prompt to allow google to scan it anyway for malicious content.
Also, there are a couple of anti-virus apps available from well known companies such Avast for android, and also from AVG.
I never really tried those, but they might help protecting your device. However I doubt if they scan system apps/services, for in most cases they are supposed to be safe (from the OEM itself).
It is well known that the biggest security hole is the user. So the best thing to do is to keep away from unknown ROMs/sources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No doubt the biggest flaw usually comes from the end user.
But answering your statemente about anti viruses.
Usually anti viruses (specially in portable devices) act base upon a database of known signatures and suspicious behavior. They provide no protection against a custom developed script or code with a work-around for this behavior. Basically - avoids behaving like a malware.
A code is considered malicious when acts upon suspicious behavior (for example, on windows - when an app registers itself on registry autorun / startup folders / tries to load a file on temp directory / temporary internet files, hooks itself into a process / uses a windows process to deliver it's payload faking a signature, etc etc). Knowing this, any custom app / script that avoids suspicious behavior / does not have a present signature on a AV database and a few more details - all doors are "open" and is a highway to hell.
Google scan engine uses the same mechanism, in fact, I'm not even sure if it has any sort of protection against suspicious behavior as it only executes upon apk install.
Believe me, the biggest flaw is the user as the best protection is also a well educated user. It's a matter of knowing what can do and what should avoid. Fear or suspicion is an important thing these days, as they prevent us from making mistakes as installing an app from a dodgy site. We should know better.
MidnightDevil said:
No doubt the biggest flaw usually comes from the end user.
But answering your statemente about anti viruses.
Usually anti viruses (specially in portable devices) act base upon a database of known signatures and suspicious behavior. They provide no protection against a custom developed script or code with a work-around for this behavior. Basically - avoids behaving like a malware.
A code is considered malicious when acts upon suspicious behavior (for example, on windows - when an app registers itself on registry autorun / startup folders / tries to load a file on temp directory / temporary internet files, hooks itself into a process / uses a windows process to deliver it's payload faking a signature, etc etc). Knowing this, any custom app / script that avoids suspicious behavior / does not have a present signature on a AV database and a few more details - all doors are "open" and is a highway to hell.
Google scan engine uses the same mechanism, in fact, I'm not even sure if it has any sort of protection against suspicious behavior as it only executes upon apk install.
Believe me, the biggest flaw is the user as the best protection is also a well educated user. It's a matter of knowing what can do and what should avoid. Fear or suspicion is an important thing these days, as they prevent us from making mistakes as installing an app from a dodgy site. We should know better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just remembered of an app called "Who is tracking" (was featured on the portal a while ago), that also scans system files (bloatware) and tells you which app tracks you. tried using it a while ago, but didn'y really try to understand it, and it seems to have changed since. will try it myself.
Agreed with Patcha, unless you 100% trust the source (CM/MIUI are well known and if they did something untrustworthy a massive ****storm would ensue) then I would stick to ROM's posted on XDA (though frankly I avoid MIUI out of moral principle #SouceCodeMuch?). Anything untrustworthy that is posted on XDA is picked up very quickly and dealt with effectively.
More to come from me on this, I need to organize what I want to say so it doesn't sound like a mad persons ramblings
Edit: A thing to look out for in google play store is the permissions, READ THEM, read what they mean, read what permissions the app requests and if you don't know why an app needs that permission or if it looks dodgy (like the permission to send sms messages without the user knowing) then for God's sake don't use the app util you've found out what the app needs that permission for (quick google search or email to the developer). Don't just blindly agree to all the permissions without reading them.
These permissions are declared by the developer in the Android_manifest.xml file and pulled from there when publishing the app on play store. As far as I am aware, there is no way to fool this system - you can't edit the visible permissions through the developer panel of play store, only by editing the manifest - I have a developer account on play store so this I am 100% sure on.
Yup, very true. Something I forgot to mention earlier and is VERY important.
Always check the permissions and what for the permissions are used. Some good developers write what for they need the permissions. Some things are obvious, others not so quite.
Also reading the comments of an app helps as well. More experienced users tend to write a more complete review and sometimes they draw the attention to things that sometimes other users miss. About permissions or anything else.
Any user can write a review, so if you find something important, you can also write in the review. Just make sure you don't underrate an app because of a doubt
Usually developers also have their contact email in case of doubts, it can be used to to bring some things to light.
Freeware isnt something you really find much in the Android community.
You hear the term thrown around quite a bit, but even alot of what is termed as freeware, actually isnt.
The Lion's Share of Android apps are not Freeware at all, and the Vast majority of the so-called 'freeware' apps that are available for us to download & use daily are not truly freeware at all
I would like to draft a set of guidelines for what would ideally become a certification standard for the ethical creation & development of free apps
Apps adhering to this standard could be classified under this genre of apps, and even bear a symbol within the app, overlaid on its logo, showing users it belongs and mentioned in the app's description, showing users how it was developed, and stating that it adheres to the guidelines and fulfills the requirements of the new standard.
I would also like to compile a list of any existing apps which already meet these criteria
and all Apps filling these requirements will fall under the realm of this Guild.
Please feel free to offer your own ideas & input as to what you feel would be best for the end user, and any rules or criteria you feel are relevant to forming a framework of guidelines & prerequisites needed for apps to be called under this name, and be brought under the umbrella of this guild.
Please feel free to offer suggestions for the certification & class name and/or Guild name as well
this is all preliminary work, and I'm looking for anyone interested in helping to build this community and standard & promote its use.
There could be 2 classes of apps, Freeware & Benefit-Ware
Or there could just be one set of rules for each, stating "IF.. such and such, THEN... such and such"
If you are an App User, please mention anything you find annoying, bothersome, or troublesome.
If you are an App Developer who knows about or is displeased with the ethics and developments of certain apps which gives other apps and developers bad names, please mention anything you can that might assist us in reigning in the cowboys of the App Wild West.
Also, if somethings are simply & 100% "Not Possible" because of the Android OS, these would be issues the Guild will work to make Individual Device Manufacturers as well as the Android team at Google aware of
So, it could start something like this:
- An app should not contain ads nor promotions which cannot be closed or disabled
- An app should not contain any full-screen ads nor any ads which limit or effect user interaction with the app
- An app should not give reminders which pop up and ask the user for money, ratings, or to download additional apps
- All requests for financial support, ratings, and downloading of additional apps should be contained in the 'About' Section of the Apps Settings
- All apps which produce sound of any sort must include its Volume Controls, including in-app Mute
- All apps with services which wish to run at start up must include their own settings option to enable or disable "Start when Android Starts"
- An app must not Auto-start unless the User has specifically selected it to, nor shall it be kept running if it has not been manually Launched by a User since the last Boot time.
- An app must allow users to manually select the installation directory upon installation
- An app must have its own internal Uninstall button in the "About" Menu Settings
- An app must install 'portably', that is, without adding data to the internal phone storage
- All apps which save data must have a User-Selectable Save Location which can be used to replace the App Default Save Location
- All Apps must Uninstall completely and leave no folder behind, asking users whether or not to uninstall specific items which might contain important user data
I hope other people can add to this list
thanks
I would like to stress that this isnt a knock on any existing programs, nor do I expect anyone to change what they are doing who isn't willing to.
If you hate the idea of this, please continue doing what you are doing.
This is for people who want to join or participate because these are the apps they would prefer to use, or make.
thanks
Others may include:
- An app must ask users whether or not the user wants to add a shortcut to the users default Home screen, regardless of the user's own phone settings. Perhaps an "Allow Shortcut" selection for Shortcuts which are going to be added
- An app must ONLY install shortcuts to the program currently being installed, and can in no way add shortcuts to the Home screen, the apps drawer, or the installation directory, to any other program nor any website at all.
- An app may include a single, small, unobtrusive "Donate/Beer" button on a menu bar with other menu buttons, but to be at the far right or farthest/last menu item available on the menu
- An app must not include permissions for anything other than the express intent & use of the app for its specified purpose.
- No app may, at any time, access a users personal information unless the app has direct interaction with such information as directly related to a service it is providing as a primary function of the app - And even then, the apps access to information must not be sent online nor over the internet unless specified as such due to it being a primary function of the app - and if & when personal information is sent online, the owner of the server must have a secure server which is not accessed by himself or his employees, but in which information is automatically transferred by software to and from the end users needed locations, and to no other place shall the information be passed - Nor shall it be kept on the server while not being sent or received to/from the users locations, without the users express consent, as an additional option.
- A "Primary Function" is defined as a Function which is the main or only reason a user installs or interacts with the site, and will be the main focus of the apps description
- Secondary Functions are not allowed to gain internet access, nor have any interaction with any online server or service, nor be granted any access to personal information nor any stored data outside the apps own install directory, etc.
- Apps must, in a written disclaimer provided in the "About" section of the apps own settings, give specific details as to the apps permissions and justify with specific reasons and technical details why each function requires each form of permission, and exactly how the app will use each permission, including server specifications & information-handling specifics, where applicable.
- Apps qualifying for inclusion in the Guild will clearly label themselves in one of 3 categories exclusively - Freeware, Benefitware, or Trialware.
- Apps labelled as Free, or containing the word "Free" must 1.) be 100% ad-free, 2.) not be a Trial, 3.) be fully functional, & 4.) not bother users for payments, ratings, etc.
- Apps labelled as "Benefitware" may include 1.) ads adhering to the guidelines for the inclusion of ads, 2.) requests for financial assistance in accordance with the guidelines for requests of Financial Assistance, 3.) Added Functionality which is above and beyond the scope of the original, feature-rich, fully-functional program, & 4.) Other items which are primarily of benefit to the developer, but which adhere to the guidelines of Enjoyable, Unfettered User Interaction
- Apps labeled clearly as "Trialware" may 1.) Limit the functionality of the apps Primary Functions, 2.) Must have a fully-functioning trial period of no less than 30 days, 3.) Must not be limited in any way during the Evaluation Period (e.g. no "20-character", "2-page", "3-time" limitations, or the such), & 4.) after the Trial Period, the app will be completely 100% uninstallable, and a re-install of the app on a specific device will begin a new 30-day evaluation (Users will not be treated like criminals nor presumed Guilty of Fraudulent use before proven otherwise).
- Other apps will not gain classification, certification, or inclusion in the Guild, and may refer to themselves in anyway they care to, but may broadly be referred to as "junkware" if they are found to not conform to the Principles, Guidelines & Statutes set forth and adhered to by the Guild & its Members & Affiliates
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Also:
- An app must have an option to turn off Automatic updates, and may not self-check for updates otherwise.
- All Settings a User sets must be permanent and may not be reset nor shall those permission requests for updates, etc, be altered or changed nor be made to reappear, nor require the user to specify the same setting more than once.
- No app shall ever contact its servers for anything other than a user-launched request for the specific function required by the user at the time of the request.
- No app nor server nor company shall in any way interact with its apps or servers in anyway other than to execute the exact function called for by the user according to the UI meaning and implicit intent of the action
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I have checked almost all the setting of it..But couldn't find the prior results..What are the other alternatives of it?
MarkanthonyDonald said:
I have checked almost all the setting of it..But couldn't find the prior results..What are the other alternatives of it?
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Hi, markanthonydonald. welcome to the forum, I see this is your first day registered, and your first post no less.
That's right, all the prior results are belong to the settings of it t almost at all from the prior r results, but dont stop trying your point o of that the alternatives are to us, and thats the most bases of it. ll
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I like the idea of this, and from what youre saying and a few apps I use would fall into this category just fine IF certain things were moved into the 'about' option. How or why a dev would change their current, 100% working fine app, to modify this I dont know.
robneymcplum said:
I like the idea of this, and from what youre saying and a few apps I use would fall into this category just fine IF certain things were moved into the 'about' option. How or why a dev would change their current, 100% working fine app, to modify this I dont know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great Idea!
- An App must have a complete Version History contained in the About Menu Settings, or a Menu Item Devoted to Version History, with Detailed explanations as to why the changes were added, and if they are only to fix a bug with device x, why is it recommended to install it if you arent using that device
- Each App Update should be available as a complete App Stand-Alone APK installer, or installable from the Play Store Directly. No App should require Updates, nor provide updates for which there is no Standalone APK or an updated Google Play Installation.
alot of devs set up their apps just good enough to get on Google play, without getting kicked off, and then after you install it, they update the app with functions & behaviors that would get it kicked from the Play Store.
great work catching that one, thanks
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robneymcplum said:
I like the idea of this, and from what youre saying and a few apps I use would fall into this category just fine
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Click to collapse
If you know of any solid apps that you believe fall into this category, or easily could, please post them here
We need a list of example apps that we feel embody the spirit of honesty, transparency, user-centric programming & packaging, and which are either made in the spirit of true freeware, or made in the spirit of goodwill, and have either Benefitware or Trialware which adheres to consumer-oriented needs & interests
The following behaviors DO NOT qualify for inclusion in the Guild:
- Any app which appears desperate to flash things in front of your face, particularly things which flash or change scenes or color rapidly, change in a single frame, or less than a 1 second cross-dissolve, and which are overly animated, bothersome, annoying, or which may lead to epileptic reactions, which cannot be permanently closed or disabled for the duration of the session.
- Any app which appears to desperately or urgently present users with matters of no immediate significance or importance to the user. This includes the pestering need for ratings, requests for financial assistance, downloading of the developers other apps or partner apps, offers to visit the Play store or any other external website, etc..
- Any Benefit-ware app with any full-screen advertisement at all, from Internal or external sources used to promote the sales, use, or downloading of its own other products & services or those of an external company
- Any Benefitware which does not allow you to close a bar-style advertisement with a clear, easily-accessed, and adequately-sized close button
- Any Benefitware which re-opens an ad which has been closed within the same 24-hour period, or since reboot.
- Any Trialware which limits functionality of its products to a state inconsistent with the primary function of the app
- Any Trialware which does not allow a minimum 30-day trial period
- Any Trialware which limits the functions within its trial period in any way
- Any Trialware which doesnt openly allow a re-installation of a Trial package on fresh uninstall/reinstall
A user is to be given as much time as is required for him/her to fully evaluate the product. Often times a user may begin a 30-day trial period, only to never have the time to use it, including having no time to even look through it the day it was installed
Furthermore, All apps containing promotions of their own products are to be classified as Benefitware, and not Freeware, even if there are no ads from external advertising companies.
Feel free to add to this list, or to add an app you believe warrants inclusion for its programming efforts, ethics, & merits
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A similar Evaluation Period problem arises when users are given a 30-time evaluation. As one "Evaluation" day is simply a 24-hour period since the app was launched.
Launching the app by accident, or launching the app and immediately closing it, removes evaluation days from your trial, days in which no evaluating took place.
Even if we give each launch a time-specific interval where an app which is running for 10 or 15 minutes is considered "Evaluated" for one day, it doesnt take into account that launching the app then closing it where it sits opened in the background still takes away your evaluation days, or opening it, then answering the door or going to grab a sandwich also takes from your evaluation period
We could find other solutions to this problem, but one of the primary characteristics for an app or developer to be included in the Guild is to treat the user as if they were a guest in an actual store, and not a criminal pirate on a baby-killing spree, meaning:
- No app or developer should treat a user like a criminal, nor assume he is engaging or will engage in criminal activity, nor accuse him of such activities, nor behave in a manner which displays mistrust or accusations of users
- An app & developer must leave it to fate, heaven, and the common goodwill of mankind to have its requests & guidelines (such as for trials, etc) met, and can in no way behave in a manner which is inconsistent with good will
- All agreements made will be made in Good Faith with the community at large
you wont walk into a department store and be tackled by the security guards and forced to pay for something you didnt even try on, simply because you touched in on the rack, or be banned from the store for life until you do pay for it.. simply because the paranoid psychotic lunatic in charge of the store thinks everybody who walks into his store is a dirt-poor crack-head criminal out to steal his supremely precious goods
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Also:
- An app is not to be created for the sole intention of Data Collection or Information Gathering, and apps which appear to do so will be blacklisted
- An app is not to be developed or created for the primary purpose of spreading advertising spam, shady promotions, other sites & services, etc, and any app found to be out of balance with respect to this criteria will be blacklisted
- Any app found to be in breech of any of the guidelines shall be blacklisted. Concerned Members could write a letter to the developer instructing them on the things they could change for inclusion in the Guild, if they so choose
- No app shall include advertisements or links of/to any shady or malicious programs or websites, including phishing sites, spoof sites, porn sites, or any site which executes malicious code or scripts, or which is deemed as an unhealthy website, program, or service by the world-wide community of web experts as a whole
- Any app or developer found in severe breech of the spirit of the Guild will be banned for life. Severe offenses include things such as falsifying information, deception, betrayal, lying, perpetuating viruses/malware or web-based attacks, hacks or intrusions, or stealing private information & personal data; the gathering of personal data for uses unspecific to the service or which willfully compromise the security & privacy of users; or if an app or developer is found to be using the information & data of users in a way which destroys the Integrity & Trustworthiness of the app & developer, and undermines, corrupts, corrodes, or destroys the Trust & Faith the community has put in the app & developer
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chinarabbit said:
If you know of any solid apps that you believe fall into this category, or easily could, please post them here
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Click to collapse
I use zeam launcher, that definetely qualifies.
robneymcplum said:
I use zeam launcher, that definetely qualifies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks
It seems its not under development anymore.
Perhaps a goal of the Organization can be to encourage, promote, or reward excellence in Programming as well..
It may help to motivate devs who've grown disassociated or whos apps may not be getting the attention they deserve.
I currently use Lightning Launcher, and I would definitely say it qualifies as well. It has the most features of any launcher I've tested, and one of the smallest foot prints as well.. its fast and minimalistic, and completely free, and never bothers you about anything.. it has more features than you'd expect from any high-priced app.. if it has additional paid options I dont even know, as the app is extremely feature rich and has all the functions you could ever want, and many more you havent even thought up yet
These kinds of apps make using Android Phones worthwhile
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Other important requirements -
- Any App wherein the user enters personal, private, or sensitive information, which has the ability to sync Across Devices & Computers through Web-based Servers, shall:
- Provide a switch to turn off all syncing options & functions
- Provide an adequately useful method for SD Card Storage export which is not dependent on the software which was used to create it
- Be fully functional, practical & useful, as per the intent for use of the primary function of the app, in an offline state.
- No app shall automatically start Services such as GPS, Wi-Fi, etc, without offering a user Prompt for acceptance of such actions
- All apps which turn on services like GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc, shall contain a settings option to permanently disable turning on of any such external services
- All information Sent or Received through online servers or web services shall be secure & inaccessible by the host, in the following ways:
- The information & data sent by users shall enter the server and leave the server, and not be kept on the server except for the brief moment during transfer, without being subject to any sort of copy mechanism, nor filter, nor scan, nor shall accessing the content in any way while the information is passing through the server be allowed
- Information & Data uploaded to storage servers for later access by users shall be encrypted by the server administrators with 128-bit encryption, and be stored thus encrypted until it is Retrieved from the server by the user or users granted password access by the owner of the information.
- Server administrators & owners are forbidden from accessing any user information on their servers, and must encrypt the files & user data in such a way that its available only to the user, and otherwise remains in a software-encrypted state upon the server, inaccessible by server admins & owners
- Servers shall be vigilantly maintained and frequently tested for security
- If a server is used for "cloud" storage by the user, the User Data shall be backed-up in an Encrypted state, and frequently tested for data integrity
- Servers which are not secure and which do not encrypt user files & data files, or which do not design themselves to be secure from admin access of data and other third-party viewers, shall be known as "Public Servers", and a Warning Prompt shall appear on the device or computer each time the Server is accessed and data is sent or received (there shall be no method for disabling this prompt). The Warning Message shall clearly state the user is accessing a "Public Server" (capitalized) and that any data sent or received is freely viewable to third-parties, and server owners & administrators shall include themselves as third-party viewers
- First Party users & viewers (hereafter referred to as the "Owner") are designated as both the Device & User which uploaded the data to the server for storage
- Second Party users & viewers are defined specifically as both the Device & User which downloads or accesses the data which was previously stored, and who has been given password-protected permission by the Owner (First Party)
-Third Party is broadly inclusive of any organization, company, or individual who has access or potential access to the Owner's Data. Third Party also includes Devices, Computers, Servers, & Software which handles, accesses or views (or has the potential to do so), in an unencrypted state (not 128-bit or higher), any data or information belonging to or uploaded by the First Party / Owner, with the exception of Software or an Algorithm accessing the data for the sole purpose of automated Encryption to 128-bit level, or decryption from 128-bit, which does not copy, record, send or store any user-sent/received data at all, and which no other software or entity views, has access to, or monitors, records, sends, or retrieves in any way whatsoever
- "Encrypt" (also Encryption, Encrypted, Encrypting, etc) is defined as 128-bit automated, unmonitored software / algorithm encryption processed by a program without oversight or monitoring by any other software, algorithm, or entity,and which has no other function other than Encryption
- To Qualify for Inclusion in the Guild, Server owners must open up their server modules, processes and other relevant information to review by the Guild or one of its member affiliates for inspection, review, & certification. Server Owners must also provide sworn affidavits stating the integrity and security of the data, and how the data is used, who has access, how information is processed, transferred, encrypted, etc. and submit said Affidavits to the Guild before being removed from the Guild Security Blacklist.
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I think we've already narrowed the list of qualifying software to less than what's available for Windows Phone
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A qualifying app must also have the ability to retain full functionality after an Android OS reinstall.. meaning a portable install or an install which can use existing files found in File System Root/data/data without errors when reinstalling the app
No developer shall make any requests for donations or monetary compensation of any kind, who has included in his app any form of advertising or which has been given any permissions pertaining to user data & usage information
No App shall require specific permissions for advertisements or promotions.
No in-app advertisement shall require any special permissions or access whatsoever.
No advertisement or information gathering function shall piggyback on other functions requiring access or permissions, nor shall any advertisement or information gathering function utilize access or permissions granted to the app for its core, non-advertising, non-data collecting, non-marketing functions
Purpose: To share my personal experiences how I achieved an enhancement of my battery’s life, privacy and security.
INDEX:
Post #1 - General Statements, ROM and Kernel.
Post #2 - Privacy Measures and Considerations.
Post #3 – Better Battery Stats.
Post #4 – Greenify.
Post #5 – Amplify.
Post #6 – Power Nap
Post #7 – AppOpsXposed
THE BASICS:
Please read the XDA Forum Rules provided by @MikeChannon; from my personal point of view a definite MUST READ for everybody who intends to post on XDA or to contribute to this great site. Other MUST READ's I certainly recommend to everybody who wants to "breathe" what I believe the spirit of XDA is, are the following posts:
Forum Etiquette by @TheByteSmasher,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16682226&postcount=2441 by @zelendel, and last but not least
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2031989&postcount=44 by @kyphur.
Do me the favour and really inhale what I just linked above!
Disclaimer:
Your device requires to be rooted, and in most cases that the Xposed framework is installed, too.
I am not responsible for any damages to your device if you follow any of the suggestions or my experiences provided in this thread.
If you do your warranty is now void. I am not responsible for bricked devices, dead SD cards, thermonuclear war, or if you’re getting fired because the alarm app failed. Please do some research if you have any concerns about features mentioned in this thread before flashing anything! YOU are choosing to make these modifications, and if you point the finger at me for messing up your device, I will laugh at you.
Whatever you do, before you do it ensure you save a NANDROID backup. If you don’t know what this means you’d probably rather discontinue further reading. Alternatively, you might want to start reading this and then return: What is?Boot loader,custom roms, CWM, modem, kernel?? by @esimon311.
Background: In December 2015, I got a used SGS 3 LTE that was running on CM 10. Immediately, I started to search for others ROMs especially on XDA (actually my first contact with this fantastic forum), thoroughly read the OPs and the subsequent posts, flashed and tried a few of them, till I've ended up in the configuration I'm now using for nearly nine months (details are available in the hidden part of my signature). I'm extremely happy, and my phone completely fulfils my requirements and desire; thanks to @rodman01, the dev of "my" ROM, I certainly don't need a different phone.
I'm quite "paranoid" in regard to privacy i.e. I don't and won't ever use things like FB, Whatsapp etc., and I’m not having experiences with them. Privacy is also my main driver to have my devices to only carry a minimalist suite of Google (“pico” and even some of that crap uninstalled) because I only use Play Store (unfortunately, some of my favourite apps incl. their betas are only available there) and broad location. If I'd get MicroG to run on my device Google had already been totally eliminated.
Desired End State: A device, which runs in a well-balanced ratio between battery endurance or drainage and performance specific to my objectives.
Criteria for Success: Battery lasts at least for 36 hours while all functionalities in regard to the objectives are applied; no unintended or random reboots occurring; no frozen screen.
Own Centre of Gravity: Maximum privacy.
Objectives:
Phone calls 24 hours per day, 7 days a week (24/7).
Text messaging 24/7.
Email reception and transmission 24/7.
Email and messenger encryption.
No “social networks” at all unless provider fulfils all privacy requirements.
No “messenger” except “Signal” but Signal 24/7.
All what can be accessed via a (slim line) browser, will be accessed via browser but not via dedicated applications.
If possible and achievable, no use of any Google “tool” or service.
If possible, no use of Chinese or Russian “products” or from any other country of “similar quality”. If unavoidable to use such a product, no WiFi, mobile data, or VPN access at all; all private or confidential data will be spoofed.
Control of access to private or confidential data like contacts, calendar, location, telephone number, IMEI etc. Spoofing as access control is acceptable.
Control of permissions only via ROM tools.
Control of broadcast receivers, services, wakelocks, and alarms.
Battery endurance of at least 24 hours.
Scenario: Remote location close to a national border with low 4G and 3G reception, even GSM reception occasionally weak and weather depending. No gaming at all.
Initial Steps: As stated above at background, I quite intensively and thoroughly scanned XDA for a ROM that could suit me; reading at least all the Ops but screened the respective thread, too. I finally but quickly found my desired one with [ROM][6.0.1][i9305 OFFICIAL] Resurrection Remix® M by @rodman01 in April 2016; it became my daily driver, and I’m using it till today.
Very fast, I concluded that performance of my phone might be enhanced by replacing the stock ROM kernel by a custom one i.e. I commenced the same search for a suitable kernel as I did for the ROM. Please be aware that kernel totally depend on the device and highly on the ROM. Read extremely thoroughly through the respective OP of the kernel you’ve in mind and get a clear indication if the kernel is really suitable for your device and your ROM. Even then, there might be more than one version available (as it’s the case for my current kernel); simply try, which one runs the best on your phone but also study the thread – others might have already shared experiences.
Next step was to experiment with the kernel settings especially the governor, governor and GPU frequencies and under-voltage. It became a try-and-error process including frozen locked screens and unintended reboots but the result was worth the torture. I was able to find kernel settings in accordance with my objectives especially improving the battery duration. I found the following thread extremely helpful in working out “my” kernel settings: [REF][GUIDE]Most up to date guide on CPU governors, I/O schedulers and more! by @Saber. If you search the thread of my kernel but also the Q&A section of my ROM you’ll certainly able to find some of the experiences I tried to share. Attached is a zip-file with screenshots of my current kernel settings.
Please be aware that not all kernel come with the same types or number of available governors. Some come with a dedicated control tool, some use the tool e.g. provided by the ROM; and as this would be off-topic and isn’t important to me, some offer different sound control like “boeffla”. Unless you’re on AGNi like me with its own AGNi Control application or on another kernel with its own control tool, I’ve very good own experiences with a tool called [APP] [4.0+] Kernel Adiutor by @Grarak. From my point of view, besides the marginal ROM settings to decrease battery drainage, installation of the right kernel and manipulation of its settings were the first major step to enhance my battery’s life!
Soon, I realised there are two versions of my ROM available, the “regular” one but also a so called “Sammy version” (for those who are interested, the differences are explained in post #3 of the above linked Resurrection Remix thread). I converted to the Sammy version and was impressed; first, how smooth my device performed “on Sammy” but second and more important to me that battery charging was much faster.
Nonetheless, if required I'm tweaking my system by tools like [APP] [4.0.3+] L SPEED Android tweaking APP by @Paget96 and keep it clean and tidy by [APP][1.6+] SD Maid - System cleaning tool by @Dark3n. SD Maid additionally offered me the possibility to easily control the “autostart” behaviour of my installed applications; however, there are certainly other tools available for this purpose e.g. My Android Tools that I'm also mentioning in post #2 for another reason.
Please be advised that for all somewhere in this thread mentioned applications or tools, I personally started using them with the recommended settings in their OPs if available i.e. you must thoroughly read them but eventually commenced to experiment with different settings until I achieved the results I wanted. This certainly also applies to the use of e.g. different governors or other kernel settings. I collected some of the guides and tutorials, which were very useful and supportive to me, in post #3 of this "How-to...". This whole thread is meant in conjunction with the SGS3 but some parts might be helpful even for your device.
EDIT (2016-11-11): If you experience WiFi drops you might be interested in experiences that @Wood Man is sharing with us, and he gratefully allowed me to quote him regarding WiFi drops that occured to him several times. It never happened to me because my setup was (just by accident) always different; however, if WiFi drops occur to you please have a look at this post. The explanation is so reasonable and makes so much sense from my point of view. Thanks very much to Wood Man for sharing his knowledge. I do mention this issue in this OP as I assume that these type of connected inteferences might even lead to a higher battery drainage in turn.
Last but not least a few words regarding Xposed – I apologise to the multiple XDA users who already know for covering this here but just by monitoring all the Xposed threads I’m convinced a lot of guys just don’t know. The Xposed framework in available in different versions pending e.g. on the brand of the device or its architecture, on the ROM respectively the Android SDK or if systemless root is used. I refrain from quoting all the different Xposed threads at this point; simply search the Xposed forum by yourself, and you certainly find the framework suitable to you. In the hidden part of my signature you can retrieve the Xposed version I’m using.
We talked about ROMs and kernels, now let’s mention the other key players for my satisfying battery endurance but as stated you certainly need Xposed:
BetterBatteryStats, Greenify, and Amplify, and PowerNap. EDIT (2016-11-11): Please refer to post #6 (about PowerNap) why I "removed" PowerNap.
I tried all of them, it worked out for me, and I'm continuing to use them; however, that what I stated in the paragraph above applies for them too: Comply with the recommendations and develop it further till you are satisfied.
EDIT (2016-11-19): If interested how I made my system GApps free, please check post #54.
Remarks:
If a donation option is available please consider to take advantage of this chance as you not only occasionally get a better capability but you're supporting the dev and the development.
None of the mentioned apps has got permission granted to the internet, and all are spoofed by XPrivacy. I'm pretty cautious regarding applications if so much power has been made available due to root and Xposed, and I always take their origins into consideration (a reason why I don't update my SuperSU anymore and continue to use SuperSU v2.76).
Occasionally, it's required to post you logs on XDA, and quite a few guys have problems with attaching files to their post; me too. In such a case, I suggest to try a different browser; I can only post all allowed attachments via Microsoft Edge and Chrome. FF, IE and Chrome doesn't allow for whatever reason; they even don't provide any possibility to select a file for upload. I have no experiences with XDA Labs. EDIT (2016-10-18): I don't know what changed a few minutes ago but I'm now able to use Chrome for the upload of files. Weird! Another option is to upload e.g. to http://hastebin.com and to post the link.
Now, you know more or less what I did to achieve a really good battery life.
ATTENTION: In accordance with my objectives
No so called "social network" applications (e.g. Whatsapp, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or how you name them) at all are installed on my devices i.e. you couldn't find any settings/limitations regarding them.
All my described settings/limitations are in that way that no push notifications at all are allowed (because I want it this way). Every wakelock and alarm connected to Google Play Services (GPS) is somehow limited; not one is unlimited. Quite a few services of GPS and/or Google Services Framework (GSF) are disabled. Edited because all devices are GApps-free.
If you just copy my settings without any reflection do not wonder that all of your push notifications are (even extremely) delayed. If you require anything of above you need to play with your system yourself.
The following posts provide you with details of all the applications I use to monitor and to limit the drainage of my battery.
CREDITS: To everybody who I mentioned in this OP or the subsequent posts. If I forgot someone I apologise. Please let me know in this case or if you want to be more prominently given credit; I'm happy to immediately follow such a request!
Off topic comments are allowed as long they are generally related to the overall topic, are in the general interest of the followers of this thread and add value to the thread. The ultimate decision rests with me as the OP!
Privacy Measures and Considerations
You might be wondering why I post this and actually so far on top of this thread. As you can read above, I recognise maximum privacy as my centre of gravity (COG) i.e. everything needs to be done to defend the COG. Or in other words, without all the steps below, I wouldn’t be able to install and use some of the applications i.e. tools to decrease the drainage of my battery. The following measures and considerations are therefore the prerequisite to continue further.
Prevent Google's and other applications from "calling home” by controlling access to WiFi, mobile data (including roaming), or VPN through “AFWall+ (Donation)” and control effectiveness through Network Log.
EDIT (2016-11-18): Google is no longer an issue as I'm "GApps free" for some days, and I'm extremely happy with the performance of my system. If you are interested in more information please search this thread for "GApps free".
Limit all unnecessary use of services and broadcast receivers not only in support of privacy but also “to save fuel” e.g. by “MyAndroidTools”. As an example, here’s a link to one of my posts in a different thread, where I showed how to manipulate some broadcast receivers used by “Google Play Services” in order to decrease its wakelocks.
If using MM+ control of all permissions in the ROM settings granted to the installed applications including system applications. In the ROM privacy settings, by default don’t allow any application including system applications access to your private data; just grant this permission on a strict case-by-case policy if absolutely necessary. Check in the advanced privacy settings if the granted permissions correspond with your objectives. Use AppOpsXposed for additional implementations (refer to post #7).
XPrivacy - The ultimate, yet easy to use, privacy manager by @M66B. Actually, I deem XPrivacy to be the most powerful tool on an Android device to protect privacy. XPrivacy can only run on devices with an installed Xposed framework. XPrivacy doesn’t control permissions an application gets granted but is able to spoof all data that are made available to an application or are requested by it. The advantage of this method is that the application itself “believes” it’s correctly functioning whereas denial of a requested permission quite often leads to a force closure of the application.
XPrivacy isn’t only extremely powerful but also highly complex albeit easily to use from my point of view if you familiarised yourself sufficiently; however, this takes a bit of time but it’s the effort worth. And M66B has provided a very detailed user manual and FAQ tutorial.
And just to reiterate: Without the mentioned measures, I would personally never have installed some applications; to name them I leave it with your imaginations.
Remark: If someone decides to go for one or all of the mentioned applications please consider to use the donation versions (if available) or to donate to the developers in order to support them and the further development!
EDIT (2017-06-11): Due to the (hopefully only temporarily) non-availability of Xposed for Nougat, I had to terminate the utilisation of XPrivacy i.e. to try to use my brain more intensively. It's a pity.
If interested in Privacy, these two posts might be interesting to you: Post #64 and post #66.
Better Battery Stats
For me, it’s was immediately obvious that I needed to know how and what is when draining my battery before I could commence reducing the drainage. In order to monitor drainage of the battery, I finally learnt about [APP][2.1+][06 Sept. - V2.2RC3] BetterBatteryStats (BBS) by @chamonix.
BBS serves my personal requirements the best; the application is well maintained and supported by a really active XDA thread. BBS is also able to run on non-rooted devices; however, some modifications via ADB are required. As an example, I attached a BBS log but please be aware it isn’t really informative at all because I used the phone while logging was running. Clear guidance is in this thread [GUIDE] 0% [0.0%/h] Idle Battery Drain on Stock ROM (XPosed & Amplify Required!) of @Celestial Fury how the BBS log must be taken in order to provide valuable information for a diagnostic assessment of your battery’s drainage, literally it has to be an idle log. It’s also very helpful to establish first baselines for your device and its current battery i.e. for you to known how much is the battery draining even with the phone switched off and the next time when it’s not transmitting/receiving at all (i.e. in airplane mode).
EDIT (2017-06-08): From my point of view, this procedure by @Davey126 is the best way to achieve a suitable dump file.
Just for completeness: Besides the log (dump file), BBS is able to provide you simultaneously with a logcat and dmesg file. You can retrieve the logs by pressing on the "triangle sign" located in the middle between the refresh and the menu symbols (see screenshots).
EDIT (2016-10-13): Idle Dump attached. Drainage of 1.5%/h i.e. a theoretical battery duration of slightly more than 60 hours, which is fully in line with my given objectives, especially under consideration that neither K-9 Mail and ChompSMS nor Signal are hibernated. From my personal evaluation and conclusion - however, I'm happy to receive experts' opinions, nearly no partial wakelocks but the "standard" (at least from my point of view) kernel wakelocks. As you see at post #1, my kernel's settings are a fair compromise between battery savings and performance. I haven't had any frozen screen or unintentional reboot for month, which is equally important to me as a good battery duration. I doubt that I'm able to further minimise kernel wakelocks. Final remark: Within our home WiFi network, the phone has a fixed IP address assigned respectively reserved.
EDIT (2016-10-17): If you experience issue with "net scheduler wakelock" maybe my post here is interesting to you?
EDIT (2016-10-18): Again thanks to @Wood Man as already so often (eventually I believe he knows the whole XDA by heart) I've become aware of another thread dealing with "net scheduler" by @spencetj. Maybe this helps you in case of any problems e.g. this workaround.
Greenify
Greenify supports my objectives by “hibernating” most of my installed applications. The screenshots below are supposed you to show you the applications, which I haven’t “greenified”. What Greenify does respectively is supposed to achieve can be taken from the XDA threads. Please be aware that the thread regarding [APP][4.1+] Greenify v2.9 Final (Updated on Aug.1) has been closed by @oasisfeng; instead he opened this new one: [BETA] Greenify 2.9.5 beta 3 (Sep. 21, 2016) [BETA]. Please check the Greenify Forum for applicable threads.
Further guidance, actually the one I initially used, is also available in this guide: [GUIDE][26-07-2016]Extreme Battery Life Thread(Greenify+Amplify+Power Nap) by @v7.
EDIT (2019-01-02): Meanwhile, hibernation on Oreo and later seems to work nearly perfectly that Greenify is probably unnecessary in conjunction with these Android versions. However, no own personal experience as our devices are still and will remain on Nougat.
Amplify
By the use of Amplify, I manipulated wakelocks, alarms, and services connected to my installed applications. Using Amplify probably requires the most manual input of all other mentioned applications (except maybe MyAndroidTools and/or AppOpsXposed) but the outcome is tremendous in my opinion.
Amplify is available via this thread [Mod][Xposed] Amplify - Battery Extender - Control alarms, services, and wakelocks by @cryptyk who also nicely explains in his thread what wakelocks and alarms are.
My screenshots below (zipped due to their amount) are supposed to provide an impression, which wakelocks, alarms, and services I limited by Amplify; however, it’s a pity I can’t show you the exact settings for each one of them. Till today, I’ve been unable to figure out how to export or save my settings of Amplify.
EDIT (2016-10-12): Additionally, the attached xml-file contains my current Amplify limitations for those interested. I found it thanks to this post by @Sam Nakamura and the hint to it by @Davey126.
EDIT (2016-10-27): For completeness, I must mention that some highly experienced users e.g. @Davey126 are questioning the let's call it effectiveness of Amplify and from my understanding seem to achieve less drainage without the use of Amplify. If interested in these conversations I suggest to search for respective posts (e.g. by @Davey126) relevant threads. Some of his very valuable thoughts and paradigmatic attitude can be retrieved here.
In the very beginning, I initially took the settings suggested at [GUIDE][26-07-2016]Extreme Battery Life Thread(Greenify+Amplify+Power Nap) by @v7 but in turn continued to modify them more and more. Meanwhile, all Google Play Services related wakelocks and alarms are limited, by the way without any problems for me or my device; however, remember how limited my intended use of Google crap is (post #1).
@Celestial Fury provides very helpful guidance in his thread [GUIDE] 0% [0.0%/h] Idle Battery Drain on Stock ROM (XPosed & Amplify Required!) “[GUIDE] 0% [0.0%/h].
If you use the powerful XDA search engine it’s going to drag you to other valuable, sometimes specialised posts e.g. to this one: Getting rid of wlan_rx_wake wakelocks by @laxor.
EDIT (2016-10-31): Just in order to gain some own experiences, I uninstalled Amplify three days ago after resetting to its defaults. My intention was to observe battery drainage of my system without a running Amplify; everything else remained unchanged.
Observation: Within the two days, the system had higher battery loss of 1.5%/hour during idle without an installed Amplify compared to the values before with the running Amplify.
EDIT (2016-11-16): For two days now I'm GApps free!!! System is running thousand times smoother, fixing the location is very fast even without GPS, blanketstore does what it's supposed to do, and in a few days I'm going to observe my battery drainage more closely; just this morning resetted my Amplify statistics.
But talking Amplify: Obviously due to the lack of the original Google Play Store, it doesn't recognise my donation anymore i.e. no pro-features available and by this now useless to me. Most likely, I'm going to uninstall Amplify having also in mind that some very experienced guys like @Davey126 doubt its necessity anyway.
Alternatively, I hope that @Paget96 is eventually forking Amplify to his great application L SPEED.
Davey126 said:
FYI - I am Amplify free on most of my devices and have profited from reduced maintenance (monitoring/tweaking/optimising blocks) and undesirable side effects that often manifest in subtle ways. In some cases I accepted a modest increase in drain rates while still enjoying overall performance that ranks in the top 20% based on values reported here and similar threads. All day battery life is a must; no compromises there. Arguably drain rates improved a bit with the removal of Amplify but hard to isolate (hint: reset stats on occasion and observe results with no other changes). I do have Amplify running on a couple of older devices that rely on stock ROMs and tight Google Play Services integration. I find a minimal configuration works best with carefully selected conservative blocks (items/durations) along with a weekly stat reset.
Amplify continues to be a fine (albeit stagnant) tool with no apparent equal. It is the right solution for many who experience excessive battery drain and/or wake time due to unconstrained alarms/wakelocks. I prefer to go after these pups at the source which mitigates the need for Amplify.
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EDIT (2017-04-14): A few weeks ago, I decide to no longer use Amplify as @Davey126's philosophy quoted above and below makes sense to me. Meanwhile, I'm able to fully concur to his deductions and conclusions.
Davey126 said:
I'm certainly no expert but take a different approach to wakelock management after spending am embarrassing amount of time with Amplify and similar tools. I don't limit anything that does not contribute to unwanted wake time and associated battery drain. That reduces the number of candidates from hundreds to a handful. From there I target the app/service/function vs going after wakelocks. For example I disable Firebase Analytics vs limiting/blocking the associated WLs. Currently enjoying 0.2%/hr idle drain will LTE, WiFi and location service on 7x24. Haven't used Amplify in months. Greenify and native Doze are my power management tools of choice on Android 6 w/Xposed. Also use MyAndroidTools and SD Maid to rein in a few rogue services and broadcast receivers. The rest is pure stock.
Bottom line: the vast majority of wakelocks are benign. It's the receiver that determines what actions, if any, will be taken.
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Power Nap
Please allow me to phrase from [GUIDE][26-07-2016]Extreme Battery Life Thread(Greenify+Amplify+Power Nap) by @[I]v7[/I], as I couldn’t explain it better: “Power Nap for Xposed is the SONY's stamina mod for non-Sony devices. When your screen is off, Power Nap maximizes your device's deep sleep time by stopping services, alarms and wakelocks from waking the device when the screen is off. You can get notification from the apps you've whitelisted.” The application itself is still available here:; however, the corresponding XDA thread [MOD][APP][XPOSED][4.1+] Power Nap for Xposed - Sony's Stamina Mode for all devices! by @waylaidwanderer currently seems not to be very active because waylaidwanderer didn’t contribute since nearly April 2015 anymore. Anyhow, the application does its job from my point of view, and I amended this post by some screenshots of my applications on the whitelist.
EDIT (2016-10-22): @waylaidwanderer is back on air.
EDIT (2016-11-03): I was wondering if PowerNap really has an influence on the battery drainage of my device. For this reason, I uninstalled PowerNap and observed the power consumption for about two days. Attached is last night's idle dump. Actually, I wasn't able to detect any difference to the times when PowerNap was installed. I know my device is more than idling when asleep but this is due to my personal objectives; however, even without PowerNap I got a drainage of (in my opinion) only 1.1%/hour. My decision is now: I don't re-install PowerNap 'cause I don't require applications I don't benefit from in some way - less apps, much better.
AppOpsXposed
AppOpsXposed is a permission manager on Android, and by that you’re also able to deny permission to “keep awake” of e.g. Google Play Services, Google Services Framework, and other applications; However, I again suggest to look into the recommendations at [GUIDE][26-07-2016]Extreme Battery Life Thread(Greenify+Amplify+Power Nap) by @[I]v7[/I]. Actually, I used AppOpsXposed to re-check and to modify my advanced privacy settings of the ROM if required.
The application is available via its thread [Xposed][MOD][1.30.3] AppOpsXposed - AppOps for 4.3+ “[Xposed][MOD][1.30.3] by @caspase.
Spare #1
Spare #2
Spare #3
Wow and again wow!! :good: Congrats and many thanks for the time you spent
and the effort you did for such a contribution, the thread and the posts.
And also thanks for what you do and did for our beloved i9305 in this thread and all in all the other threads you participate. Thanks!! :good:
rodman01 said:
Wow and again wow!! :good: Congrats and many thanks for the time you spent
and the effort you did for such a contribution, the thread and the posts.
And also thanks for what you do and did for our beloved i9305 in this thread and all in all the other threads you participate. Thanks!! :good:
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I'm surprised how many thanks you had available. Getting slightly embarrassed now; however, I believe it's my duty to share my experiences like so many others do on XDA. I learnt incredibly much from them. Superb community.
Anyhow, I not only guess - I know as soon as my wife left the hospital and is back home, I won't and actually don't want to spend the same amount of time at XDA as I did in the past.
You are welcome and all my best to and for your wife and you. Enjoy your life together and when she is back home and you find the way back to xda from time to time, we would appreciate it.
Wow, great thread! I'll be following this closely as I can only get 1.5 hours of SOT max with my current setup.
thanks man....apreciate
carlitobahsoun said:
thanks man....apreciate
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If you like it I don't mind you'd hit the thanks button in the lower right corner of the OP and/or the post(s) helpful to you.
rodman01 said:
You are welcome and all my best to and for your wife and you. Enjoy your life together and when she is back home and you find the way back to xda from time to time, we would appreciate it.
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You won't definitely lose me. I get so much out of XDA and its great community; you made such a great tool out of my device, and I want to see RR "N" (despite not knowing if or when I convert - RR v5.7.4 Sammy is running so smoothly. Shall I really change a well running engine?)
limjh16 said:
Wow, great thread! I'll be following this closely as I can only get 1.5 hours of SOT max with my current setup.
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I'm convinced I'm going to further decrease my battery's drainage as soon as I'm able to modify my objectives: No requirement for 24/7 framework operations (calls, text messaging, email, messenger). And this will occur when my wife is returning home.
Well executed write up with a nice balance of general guidance and specific detail. Thanks for sharing your experiences; should prove a helpful starting point for those seeking tighter control and improved battery life from their devices.
Update of OP
OP Updated: Amended post #3 by an idle dump from BBS, and amended post #5 by my Amplify settings.
I hope both is interesting to check.
Update of Post #3
Added a remark regarding "net scheduler wakelock" to post #3.
EDIT (2016-10-18): Updated post #3 thanks to @Wood Man I've become aware of another thread dealing with "net scheduler" by @spencetj.
Gave all my thanks for today
Great guidance, hope i can improve my batterylife and SoT
I already followed most threads you suggested but this one sums up everything very nice and easy