Guys,
As Google has released the latest version of Android i.e. JB 4.3. Still we haven't fully aware what does it have.?
So i have collected few information about the same & sharing with you guys. Please help me to share more about the Android 4.3.:highfive:
This thread can be used as General Discussion Thread of Android 4.3.
- Android 4.3 restricted profiles explained
- What is virtual surround sound in Android 4.3?
- Improved photo-spheres will make their way to Android 4.3
- will add as and when receive any new about Android 4.3
Android 4.3 restricted profiles explained
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Android 4.3 might not be the most monumental update to Google’s operating system, but one of the more notable improvements heading our way in Android 4.3 is the upgraded features available in the user profiles section, which was first introduced for tablets in Android 4.2.
Essentially, restricted profiles will allow the device administrator to control exactly what each profile has access to. Google states that restricted profiles are ideal for “friends and family, guest users, kiosks, point-of-sale devices, and more”, so don’t expect to have unfettered access to store demo devices any more.
But the main benefit is definitely going to be seen by families, especially for those who are concerned that their kids could run up an expensive Play Store bill. Restricted profiles will allow concerned parents to turn off access to the Google Play Store or in-app purchases on their child’s profile, whilst keeping full access available for themselves.
The setup process seems simple enough, and is done in much the same way as setting multiple accounts in the older Android 4.2. Heading on over to Settings, then Users, will take you to the screen where you can add new users and edit the permission of existing ones.
From there, various results can be achieved by toggling the on/off options, such as restricted access to certain applications, and some apps have a wider variety of control available via a familiar settings button. This fine tuning allows you to adjust what Settings options can be seen and which apps can be accessed, which is helping if you want to keep the little tykes from messing around with some of Android’s more advanced features.
But the profiles aren’t just about controlling applications, each profile is granted an isolated space with its own local storage, uniquely customized home screen, widgets, and will store various other settings unique to each user, just like with the old user profiles.
What is virtual surround sound in Android 4.3?
Fraunhofer isn’t exactly a household name, but it should be, as the company is responsible for the invention of the ever-so popular MP3 format. But perhaps the company can earn some much deserved recognition with its latest venture, bringing theater quality surround sound to the palm of your hand.
The new Nexus 7 will be the first device to make use of Fraunhofer’s new technology, which will give users a cinema-esque surround sound experience through their headphones, internal stereo speakers, or with an HDMI output to their home theater surround systems. But why is this such a big deal?
You’ve probably noticed, when listening to stuff through your headphones, that although you easily have a sense of left and right panning, it’s very difficult to determine the depth of a sound. In other words, it’s sometimes hard to tell how far in front or behind you that sound originated from, which can ruin the experience when watching a high-quality movie on your tablet.
How it works
The best way to explain the theory and implementation behind this is to imagine a scene in real life. Each source of sound, such as a passing car or your TV, travels a different distance, reflects off different surfaces, and reaches your outer ear at a different angle to every other source nearby. These minor delays, reflections, and frequency differences, created by the shape of our heads and ears, allows our brains to pick out the location of the sound, giving it “depth”.
Cingo essentially creates a “digital space” for multiple sound channels (sources), by applying various digital filters, and other algorithms, to each sound, in order to replicate the experience that our environment creates in the real world. This process is called “binaural audio processing”, which is then combined with more traditional loudness optimization and equalization techniques, such as enhanced bass for headphones, to provide a more optimal listening experience.
Bringing it to Android
From the looks of things, Cingo will be heading to Android in the new 4.3 update, coming pre-installed with the new Nexus 7, and then heading to the Nexus 10, and hopefully other Android devices, once the new update starts rolling out.
Fortunately, Cingo should work will all Android devices which use the High Efficiency AAC (HE-AAC) audio codec, as this is what allows for the management of multiple audio sources on our handheld devices.
However, surround sound will only work with source files that contain multiple audio channels. In other words, we need 5.1 surround sound movies on our devices, it just won’t work with any old video or audio file. Fortunately, Google will be offering feature films through the Google Play Movies & TV service that support HE-ACC Multichannel in the near future.
If you want to know just how awesome surround sound and binaural audio can be, I’ll just leave this video link here for your listening pleasure.
Improved photospheres will make their way to Android 4.3
If photospheres are one of your favorite things about Android Jelly Bean, I’m right there with you. Taking a 360-degree shot is one of the coolest things about Android, and really sets it apart from other cameras on other platforms.
If photospheres are also one of your biggest annoyances with Android Jelly Bean, I’m right there with you. The photos don’t stitch together properly, and they often seem like you took them too fast or slow. It’s great when you get it right, but when you don’t, it’s an embarrassing headache.
Evan Rapoport, a project manager for Google Maps, announced today via a Google+ post that photospheres are greatly improved in Android 4.3. Stitching would be cleaner, and overall clarity will improve.
From the post:
First, alignment and stitching are much better, giving you more level horizons and fewer errors throughout the image. While environments with lots of moving things are always challenging, scenes like the one attached here with a long flat horizon are now much better. Second, we've improved exposure compensation for each individual frame, producing a beautifully exposed photo sphere. You can compare this to the previous versions that produced gray areas and inconsistent coloring in areas of high contrast (near the sun, horizons, buildings against blue sky, etc.).
Credit:
XDA users
Android Authority
Gsmarena
Phonearena
There are new stuffs not mentioned on the recent press event:
"Faster, Smoother, More Responsive
Android 4.3 builds on the performance improvements already included in Jelly Bean — vsync timing, triple buffering, reduced touch latency, CPU input boost, and hardware-accelerated 2D rendering — and adds new optimizations that make Android even faster.
For a graphics performance boost, the hardware-accelerated 2D renderer now optimizes the stream of drawing commands, transforming it into a more efficient GPU format by rearranging and merging draw operations. For multithreaded processing, the renderer can also now use multithreading across multiple CPU cores to perform certain tasks."
Source:http://developer.android.com/about/versions/jelly-bean.html
Do take note that it's the developer page and most changes listed are under the hood stuffs for developers. But yeah we're on xda so..
Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Hidden Android 4.3 Jelly Bean codes reveal possible permissions manager and 4K video support in the future
Earlier this week, Google announced Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and as developers have spent time with it, they have come across hidden features that might be a sign of what could arrive in future iterations of the OS. The folks at AndroidPolice report about two such features, one which lets users control app permissions and the other is 4K video support.
The first feature is called ‘App Ops’, which essentially will allow users to control what settings or information a particular app will have access to. It sounds similar to the granular app controls available on iOS for some time, but the report says that Google’s version of permissions manager is far better.
Additionally, the report also talks about a couple of lines of codes that indicate possible support for XXXHDPI (640ppi) settings and assets in the near future. Now it is unlikely that tablets or smartphones which look good enough on 480ppi displays will get require XXXHDPI support. But it is good to see Google readying itself for next-generation HD displays.
Thanks to AP
[HOWTO]
Android 4.3 permission manager; what it is and how it works.
ndroid 4.3 is out! Even though it’s an incremental update at best, it still brought with it a number of enhancements and features, including support for 4k displays. However, that’s not all Android 4.3 was packing. Underneath the improvements we could see in Android 4.3 was a secret feature that is, for the time being, hidden. Much like the multi-user feature in earlier versions of Android, this hidden feature can only be accessed if you know where to look for it. So what is it exactly? It’s a Permissions Manager.
Okay, here’s some Android 101. When you download an app, the app usually requires permissions. GPS apps need to access your GPS so it can find your location. Most of the time, they make sense. Sometimes, they do not make sense. For instance, Facebook wants to read your call logs. We have no idea why Facebook would want to read your call log, but it does. The idea behind this Permission Manager hidden in Android 4.3 is to give you control over what permissions apps are allowed to have. So if you don’t want Facebook to see your call logs, you can tell it to stop.
As Android Police reports, this hidden feature is actually accessible to anyone who is running Android 4.3. So if you have that lovely update, this is available to you right now. Don’t know how to use it? That’s okay, we’ll tell you. If you have Android 4.3 and you want to try out this permission manager, here’s our how-to.
Step 1 – Have Android 4.3.
Step 2 – Download this application. This app will give you access to what is called “App ops”, which is the Permission Manager.
Step 3 – …
Step 4 – Profit!
I’m in the Android 4.3 Permission Manager. Now what?
That was easier than expected, right? So once you’re in the Permission Manager, you’ll need to know how to use it. The first thing you’ll see is a list of apps and 4 tabs. The tabs are Location, Personal, Messaging, and Device. These organize your apps based on what permissions they use. If you download Google Hangouts, it’s probably in the messaging list. Things like your camera app will likely be in device. You get the idea.
From there, you can select any app on the list. You’ll then be presented by every permission that app uses with a handy on-off switch. From here, you can turn various permissions on and off. Don’t want Facebook to read your call logs? Turn it off! Don’t want it to know where you are? Turn off the location permission. Keep in mind that the app will still work, it just won’t be able to do those things. So if you, for instance, check into places over Facebook, turning off the location permissions will likely make that feature much more difficult to use.
The last thing we’ll talk about is what the Permission Manager can see. As Ron Amadeo reports, some permissions don’t even show up until you use them in the app. In his example, the “Camera” and “read call log” permissions didn’t even show up until he imported his contacts into Facebook and then posted something with his camera. So keep in mind if you try it out, you may have to fiddle with the app a little bit to get all the permissions to show up.
Lastly, as you can probably imagine, this isn’t a fully working feature yet. While something simple like disabling “read call log” won’t do much of anything, other permissions in other apps can. If you disable the Camera permission in your camera app, your camera app will cease to function properly. If you disable Location in Google Maps, it won’t be able to find you in order to give you directions. There is a reason this is a hidden feature and that is because it is not ready yet. So if you do use the Permission Manager, you do so at your own risk.
Standard boilerplate aside, is there anyone who will be checking this functionality out? Or would you rather wait until it’s a live feature? If you want to discuss it, feel free to do so in our comment section.
So what other security enhancements does Google have in store for Android 4.3?
So what other security enhancements does Google have in store for Android 4.3?
We are glad you asked. According to JR Raphael, Google has been working on these security features for years. We’ll do a quick breakdown.
Starting with Android 4.2, there was a feature called Verify Apps that was added. This scans phones both downloaded and side-loaded to make sure they didn’t contain malware or pose a threat.
Verify Apps was eventually made available to all devices from 2.3 onward. According to JR Raphael, that’s 95% of Android devices running currently.
This now works in tandem with another older feature, the app scanner in the Google Play Store that scans apps as they’re submitted to Google Play to make sure they aren’t malicious. This is why you can always download from Google Play without worries.
All of these features are currently on Android devices right now.
But wait, there’s more. In Android 4.3 specifically, they have added yet another security feature called SELinux. This stands for Security-Enhanced Linux and it essentially keeps the important parts of your phone safe. Most notably the operating system. So there is protection everywhere.
Thanks to AP
https://plus.google.com/114519877662741226877/posts/Eay4Y5ikYcc
This is not written anywhere but JBQ was the one mentioned it.
Sent using GT-i9505~
override182 said:
https://plus.google.com/114519877662741226877/posts/Eay4Y5ikYcc
This is not written anywhere but JBQ was the one mentioned it.
Sent using GT-i9505~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the significant performance boost in 4.3 is probably bec. of this:
The new Nexus 7 (2013) with Android 4.3 includes support for fstrim, essentially idle garbage collection, which TRIMs the eMMC when a few conditions are met – the device is idle, screen off, and battery above roughly 70-percent. I’m told that TRIM support has been part of the eMMC standard since around version 4.2, it was just a matter of enabling it in software. The result is that the new Nexus 7 shouldn’t have these aging affects at all. Better yet, fstrim support has also been added to the old Nexus 7 with as of the Android 4.3 update, so if you’ve got a Nexus 7 that feels slow, I/O performance should get better after fstrim runs in the background. I'm checking on whether the other Nexus devices have also had TRIM support added. I would consider the slow storage aging problem fixed as of now, and Google took the eMMC and storage I/O performance issues with the previous Nexus 7 to heart for this version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Source: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7176/nexus-7-2013-mini-review/4
Review was about the 2013 Nexus 7 but the TRIM support is not just for that device but probably 4.3 itself. I have a Galaxy Nexus as well but haven't had the time to update it(wife has it), based on user feedbacks that I've been reading from the Gnex forums, 4.3 made it like it's JB 4.1.2 again and if you have a galaxy nexus you'll know that 4.2 made the device lag at some point. Having tested 4.3 leaks for about a day on the S4 I'm starting to think that the update really made significant boost in performance and definitely not placebo :good:
Thanks for all of the information
One thing is bugging me though.. I created a user profile and switched to it. Later I am not able to go back to the primary profile.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
debnath said:
Thanks for all of the information
One thing is bugging me though.. I created a user profile and switched to it. Later I am not able to go back to the primary profile.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is App OPS only available in Google Play edition on the HTC One?
Because I have 4.3 Dev edition and cant seem to find activities in the settings menu.
Related
Given the way android is built is it technically possible to make android buttery smooth like ios? I read that article about that google engineer saying that it will never be, but several people disputed his points.
Fasty12 said:
Given the way android is built is it technically possible to make android buttery smooth like ios? I read that article about that google engineer saying that it will never be, but several people disputed his points.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience, my gs2 is extremely smooth. If you want close to ios, you should try miui. They are the best roms for extreme smoothness.
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Sure
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
Thing is, iOS is a Operating system created for only 2 devices. The developers working on it have one focus only, making the iPhone and iPad work great.
Android instead has the power but to run on thousands of devices from any brand, any size, any CPU and other specifications.
Now knowing this, ask the question again:
Quote: is it technically possible to make android buttery smooth like ios?
No, but god bless you it's fast for it's great power. iOS might be 0.5ms faster or w/e people have tested, but you won't have such amazing results close to the Android, ever!
People say iOS is better and faster, I say that there phone looks just like 5 million other people's phone. Mine doesn't!
'nuff said
So the answer is no? Lolz
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Actually one if the main things for apple is that the user interface is a real time priority where android is not. Android is a much better os.
Sent from my HD2 using xda premium
I'm using an LG Optimus One. I'll take a little delay here and there in the GUI over buying an otherwise expensive and over-rated iPhone.
bambu85 said:
I'm using an LG Optimus One. I'll take a little delay here and there in the GUI over buying an otherwise expensive and over-rated iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well its better. By not assigning a real time priority to the GUI it can load more efficiently
Sent from my HD2 using xda premium
I find MIUI as smooth as IOS. It most likely will depend on your device though.
You have to give a little to get a little. To allow true multi-tasking (not available on the Iphone) you need to distribute the RAM differently. I for one would like to be able to multi task than to see a minimal difference in my FPS...
Waddle said:
From my experience, my gs2 is extremely smooth. If you want close to ios, you should try miui. They are the best roms for extreme smoothness.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd agree with that. MIUI is unbelievable!
lowandbehold said:
You have to give a little to get a little. To allow true multi-tasking (not available on the Iphone) you need to distribute the RAM differently. I for one would like to be able to multi task than to see a minimal difference in my FPS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the difference between Android's multitasking and IOS's multitasking?
springsten said:
What's the difference between Android's multitasking and IOS's multitasking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm led to believe and have been told iOS' multitasking isn't true multitasking, and more power is put into the interface.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW
My Android (Xperia Arc S) is already as smooth as iOS.
I use Go Launcher Ex, and it's not only as smooth as iOS, it looks WAY better, added to the fact that Android supports true multi-tasking in ALL applications, it's win/win for Android owners.
springsten said:
What's the difference between Android's multitasking and IOS's multitasking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For example on an apple device if you type in a web address in the browser and you switch to another app while it is loading, when you come back to the browser it is where you left it. With android the web address you entered would have loaded. The process is not truely running in the background. So where as in android you can have multiple functions running at once with apple it is more like a placeholder.
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
No, if you want smooth stick with iOS or WP7. Android has terrible performance, because it's Java based and speed has never been Java's strong suite.
PVTD said:
Thing is, iOS is a Operating system created for only 2 devices. The developers working on it have one focus only, making the iPhone and iPad work great.
Android instead has the power but to run on thousands of devices from any brand, any size, any CPU and other specifications.
Now knowing this, ask the question again:
Quote: is it technically possible to make android buttery smooth like ios?
No, but god bless you it's fast for it's great power. iOS might be 0.5ms faster or w/e people have tested, but you won't have such amazing results close to the Android, ever!
People say iOS is better and faster, I say that there phone looks just like 5 million other people's phone. Mine doesn't!
'nuff said
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And your phone also randomly freezes,reboots and has more malware than those other 5 million.
alex2792 said:
And your phone also randomly freezes,reboots and has more malware than those other 5 million.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Such a small portion of android devices behave this way I am not sure why you keep repeating it. I am on my flyer 3+ hours a day, never freezes, never reboots, and no issues with mallware.
This with a CPU clocked at 1600 (stock is 1500). Now my iPhone on the other hand has constant browser freezes, facebook crashes, and apps force closing. It struggles at times to get out of its own way, and it has like 15 apps installed. And battery since ios 5 is great as long as you do not use it at all. If I make 3 phone calls and send a couple emails it drops over 60% in an 8 hour work day
Sent from my HTC Flyer P510e using xda premium
I find it quite funny that not a single person here can tell why Android's multitasking is "better" than iOS' multitasking, and how it's true multitasking and iOS' is not (Spoiler: It's not).
iOS
iOS apps can exist in any of five states of execution. These are:
Not Running: The app has been terminated or has not been launched.
Inactive: The app is in the foreground but not receiving events (for example, the user has locked the device with the app active).
Active: The normal state of “in use” for an app.
Background: The app is no longer on-screen but is still executing code.
Suspended: The app is still resident in memory but is not executing code.
When you press the home button, the app moves from Active to Background. Most apps usually then go from Background to Suspended in a matter of seconds. (Suspended apps remain in the device’s memory. This is so they can resume more quickly when you go back to them. They’re not using processor time and they’re not sucking battery power.)
You may think that if an app is resident in memory, you might have to remove it manually in order to conserve memory. But you don’t: iOS does it for you. If you launch a memory-intensive app such as a game, iOS will start to purge Suspended apps from memory and move them to the Not Running state. That is, they will be completely removed from memory and will launch afresh the next time you tap their icon.
Here’s the confusing part: None of these states are reflected in the multitasking bar. That bar always shows a list of recently used apps, regardless of whether they’re in the Background, Suspended, or Not Running states. (You may also have noticed that the app that is currently Active does not appear in the multitasking bar.)
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Android
A common misunderstanding about Android multitasking is the difference between a process and an application. In Android these are not tightly coupled entities: applications may seem present to the user without an actual process currently running the app; multiple applications may share processes, or one application may make use of multiple processes depending on its needs; the process(es) of an application may be kept around by Android even when that application is not actively doing something.
The fact that you can see an application's process "running" does not mean the application is running or doing anything. It may simply be there because Android needed it at some point, and has decided that it would be best to keep it around in case it needs it again. Likewise, you may leave an application for a little bit and return to it from where you left off, and during that time Android may have needed to get rid of the process for other things.
A key to how Android handles applications in this way is that processes don't shut down cleanly. When the user leaves an application, its process is kept around in the background, allowing it to continue working (for example downloading web pages) if needed, and come immediately to the foreground if the user returns to it. If a device never runs out of memory, then Android will keep all of these processes around, truly leaving all applications "running" all of the time.
Of course, there is a limited amount of memory, and to accommodate this Android must decide when to get rid of processes that are not needed. This leads to Android's process lifecycle, the rules it uses to decide how important each process is and thus the next one that should be dropped. These rules are based on both how important a process is for the user's current experience, as well as how long it has been since the process was last needed by the user.
Once Android determines that it needs to remove a process, it does this brutally, simply force-killing it. The kernel can then immediately reclaim all resources needed by the process, without relying on that application being well written and responsive to a polite request to exit. Allowing the kernel to immediately reclaim application resources makes it a lot easier to avoid serious out of memory situations.
If a user later returns to an application that's been killed, Android needs a way to re-launch it in the same state as it was last seen, to preserve the "all applications are running all of the time" experience. This is done by keeping track of the parts of the application the user is aware of (the Activities), and re-starting them with information about the last state they were seen in. This last state is generated each time the user leaves that part of the application, not when it is killed, so that the kernel can later freely kill it without depending on the application to respond correctly at that point.
In some ways, Android's process management can be seen as a form of swap space: application processes represent a certain amount of in-use memory; when memory is low, some processes can be killed (swapped out); when those processes are needed again, they can be re-started from their last saved state (swapped in).
It is useful to think of an application in Android having three "lifetimes" associated with the preceding diagram and table
The Entire Lifetime: the period between the first call to onCreate() to a single final call to onDestroy(). We may think of this as the time between setting up the initial global state for the app in onCreate() and the release of all resources associated with the app in onDestroy().
The Visible Lifetime: The period between a call to onStart() until a corresponding call to onStop(). Although this is termed the "visible lifetime", the app may not be directly visible and interacting with the user at any one time if it is not in the foreground. The feature that distinguishes this lifetime is that, even if not in the foreground, the app maintains resources such that it can instantaneously return to the foreground.
The Foreground Lifetime: The period between a call to onResume() until a corresponding call to onPause(). During foreground lifetime the activity is in front of all other activities and interacting with the user.
This multitasking capability is part of what makes Android devices quite nimble, with apps often appearing to load and initialize much faster than for the iPhone. However, as with all good things there is a price: the developer must remember that just because you execute a finish() command in your app does not mean that it is no longer running. It is very likely still in the background in a paused or stopped state if the device is not overtaxed for resources. This means that as a programmer you have to be careful that an app not in the foreground is not consuming valuable system resources to no useful end. For example, various features of the device like the GPS or cameras can consume power rapidly, so a poorly written app can lead to very short battery life for the device, and an unhappy user.
Sources:
- Android
- iOS
And while we're at it, here's why Android's UI will never be as smooth as iOS.
"We’ll start off with Google engineer Dianne Hackborn’s post. She states that hardware acceleration – i.e. using the GPU, instead of CPU alone, to render the user-interface – has existed on Android since version 1.0 for things such as sliding the notification bar, pop-up dialogues etc. Full hardware acceleration only came with Android 3.0 Honeycomb and, unsurprisingly, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich actually has the same kind of hardware acceleration and this won’t necessarily sweeten things up.
Hackborn states that hardware acceleration “is not all full of win” since it takes away a lot of RAM when used for devices like Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus with OpenGL. Each process takes about 8MB of RAM and “isn’t worth it” considering the minimal effect it has on how “smooth” the UI looks after implementing it. So yes, hardware acceleration certainly helps, but it takes far too much processing power for it to be implemented to all parts of the UI.
She ends her post on how full, complete, A-to-Z hardware acceleration that results in 60 frames-per-second graphics is simply not possible, even with powerful chips like the Tegra 2.
Now, the question arises: why is it that even seemingly outdated phones like the iPhone 3GS offer a smoother UI than the latest Android smartphones? iOS uses hardware acceleration and that too on weaker hardware. How does Apple’s engineers manage to pull it off, then? Why can’t Google do the same?
That has been answered by Andrew Munn – software engineering student, ex-intern at Google and future intern with Windows Phone 7 team at Microsoft – who states that UI rendering processes in iOS occur with dedicated threads with real-time priority whereas on Android, UI rendering processes occur along with the main thread with normal priority. Whenever an iOS devices detects touch, it stops other processes and focuses all attention to rendering the UI. Android devices don’t do this, instead general processing and UI rendering occurs concurrently which results in choppy UI."
Source: RedmondPie
LordManhattan said:
I find it quite funny that not a single person here can tell why Android's multitasking is "better" than iOS' multitasking, and how it's true multitasking and iOS' is not (Spoiler: It's not).
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People like to regurgitate FUD and misinformation! Good post LM, a very informative read!
I have been consistently wanting a viable video editor / movie maker for android, and finally there's some hope.
- Background: My work phones have been iPhones for several years, and I own a personal iPad 2. Currently iOS is in a different league, above Android, when it comes to video editors / movie makers (yeah, I said it...). There is nothing comparable to Apple's iMovie on Android (nothing that is multi-platform, that is). I know there have been apps by individual vendors (Samsung etc.) that only work on their hardware, and even then, there were buggy (I have the Samsung app, and it has a lot of issues).
So, the good news is, I Just came across this tonight - http://blog.wevideo.com/bid/272187/W...pp-for-Android
It's a new app called WeVideo (just released, so it's still in BETA), and it's pitching itself as an iMovie-like editor for Android, with some cloud-based features and other differences, but what's important as it appears to provide full "movie making" capabilities across various Android devices.
I just tried it out and it works well, with a few oversights like:
- No transition control
- No volume control for music tracks
- No local storage of published video (not that I've found anyhow)- This is its biggest drawback IMO
But with the app being brand new and in beta (AND FREE) I'm hopeful that community feedback will sees this things are addressed.
So for now, if you don't mind using their simple theme, and don't want to include your own music, it works pretty well.
It's also nice that it supports publishing of your videos directly to YouTube, despite not exporting to sdcard etc.
not supported on my device
c3n_dhol said:
not supported on my device
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Be patient. It was literally just released. Their website states that additional device support is under development.
Developers have to know that there is huge demand for a working movie-making app for android. I'm really hoping that this one pans out. I know many people who would be willing to pay a decent fee for such an app.
Works for my i717.
:beer:"We can't stop here! This is Bat Country":beer:
Downloading feedback later
Sent from Qarth
Looks very promising.
Sent from the Mars Rover.
The Android M developer preview was launched today at Google I/O 2015 in San Francisco. Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of products at Google, introduced the conference and said that the company had "gone back to basics" with the new version of Android. While Android Lollipop introduced a brand new design and aesthetic, Android M is bringing some much-needed stability and usability improvements, which might not be as immediately arresting, but may prove to be significant long-term additions.
Dave Burke, vice president of engineering at Google, followed Pichai on stage to outline six of the major new features you can expect to see in Android M.
Which phones will get the Android M update first?
1. App permissions
First up, app permissions. As had previously been speculated, app permissions have been overhauled in Android M, with users now being able to choose to accept or deny individual permissions as they see fit. Permissions have also been simplified.
Permissions will now be requested the first time you try to use a feature, not at the point of installation. "You don't have to agree to permissions that don't make sense to you," Burke said, and used WhatsApp to give an example of how this works.
If you want to record a voice message, WhatsApp will prompt you with a one-time request for permission to use your mic: if you still wish to give it access and record the message, you can, but you don't have to. Android M is giving users greater control of the information apps can access, and this is a truly positive step forward for Android.
You can modify the permissions granted to apps at a later date in your Settings, or you can view permissions by type and see which apps have that permission granted. It's all about giving the user complete control over their Android.
2. Web experience
Google has been exploring trends in the way web content is consumed to provide a better user-experience when interacting with websites and apps. "Chrome Custom Tabs is a new feature that gives developers a way to harness all of Chrome's capabilities, while still keeping control of the look and feel of the experience," said Burke.
Chrome Custom Tabs will allow apps to open a customized Chrome window on top of the active app, instead of launching the Chrome app separately. This will provide a faster and more intuitive user-experience when navigating between apps and the web.
Chrome Custom Tabs supports automatic sign-in, saved passwords, autofill, and multi-process security to assist the integration of the app and web experience. So, for example, a Pinterest custom tab will have a Pinterest share button embedded in it, can include custom overflow menu options and doesn't require the Pinterest developers to build their own web browser.
3. Fingerprint support
Google will "standardize support" for fingerprint scanners on phones running Android M. The new functionality will allow fingerprint scanners to be used not only to unlock phones, but to make purchases shopping in real-life or within Play Store apps.
Of course, your device will need a hardware fingerprint scanner to begin with, but with Google's full support, expect to see these appear on many more devices in the future.
4. Mobile payments
Android Pay is Google's new mobile payments system designed to make the checkout process easier and faster. Google is aiming to provide "simplicity, security, and choice," with Android Pay, allowing you to use your existing credit cards to pay for products in more than 700,000 stores in the US.
Compatible with any device housing NFC capabilities (and running 4.4 KitKat or above), the Android Pay platform is being supported by American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, as well as carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. Google's response to Apple pay is here.
5. App links
"When a user selects a weblink from somewhere, Android doesn't know whether to show it in a web-browser, or some other app that claims support for the link," this was the problem facing the Google developers before Android M.
You may be familiar with the "Open with" dialogue box which appears when you try to open a link within an app on Android. You might be asked if you want to open a link with YouTube, or with Chrome, for example.
App links are being changed in M so that Android has a greater awareness of which apps can open content directly, instead of stopping users every time with the dialog box. If you tap a Twitter link in an email, for example, the Twitter app will open automatically instead of prompting you to ask if you want to use Twitter to view it.
This is almost a blink-and-you'll-miss-it improvement, but it's representative of Google's attention to detail: Android M is probably going to feel more usable without the user ever understanding why.
6. Power and charging
Android M makes use of a new function known as Doze to improve device standby time. By using motion detectors, Android will recognize when devices haven’t been interacted with for a while, such as when a person is asleep or a device has been left on a table, to reduce background processes.
Burke said that Google tested two Nexus 9 devices, one running Lollipop and one running the Android M preview, and learned that M will provide up to two-times longer standby time. Even in Doze mode, your Android can still start alarms or notify you of priority notifications.
Android M also supports USB Type-C which provides faster charging, and lets users charge other devices with their phone.
Android M release date
The Android M Developer Preview is available today for Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus Player, and the final version is due to launch in Q3, 2015.
What else is in new in Android M?
Auto Backup and Restore for Apps
Possibly the most interesting aspect of Android M not discussed in Google’s I/O keynote speech was Android Auto Backup and Restore for Apps. This feature will be used in conjunction with Google Drive to automatically backup app data and settings with a file size of 25 MB or less.
These backups occur no more than once per day, and run only when the device is idle and connected to Wi-Fi and power. The uploaded data does not count towards your Google Drive storage quota, and is encrypted.
If you lose your device or delete the app, your previous progress will be restored the next time you install it, and it even works with apps which are side-loaded or accessed through a third-party app store.
New app drawer
One of the most immediately noticeable visual changes to Android M is the new app drawer. This now scrolls vertically instead of horizontally, and is held against a white background, rather than a muted shade of your homepage wallpaper. Across the top of the menu you will see your four most recently used apps, and down the left-hand side are the letters of the alphabet.
Android M RAM manager
Google has introduced a new RAM manager to Android M with the aim of providing users with more accurate and comprehensible information regarding the maximum and average RAM usage of apps.
The menu can be found in Settings > Apps > Options (three dots button) > Advanced > Memory. Though it's a little hard to navigate to, the page offers a far clearer insight into app demands, and the overall effect they will have on your device.
With a reading of an individual app's RAM consumption, as well as how often it is running in the background, users will be able to better determine which apps should be removed in endless bid to increase device performance and battery life.
Android M even includes a simple bar at the top of the page displaying the current performance status of a person's handset; if it says "good performance", you're likely running an efficient set of apps.
Adoptable Storage Devices
Though Google has in the past tried to step away from external storage use (the reason why none of its Nexus devices house a microSD card slot), it appears that Android M is striking a compromise.
Adoptable Storage Devices is Google's new storage feature which essentially takes an external storage source (such as an SD card or USB drive) and formats it like an internal storage space. This means that app and personal data can be moved freely between a devices internal storage and its "adopted" storage source.
Adopted storage devices are wrapped in a layer of encryption to soothe security concerns and both microSD cards and USB OTG drives are currently supported.
Google Now
Google Now has been improved upon once again in Android M. Focusing on three key ares: being aware of different contexts, providing answers and helping you take action, Google Now is now smarter than ever.
Google Now's context awareness understand over 100 million different places, so when you ask ''How far is it to there?'' Google Now know exactly which ''there'' you're referring to. This awareness is compounded by Google's Knowledge Graph, which understands one billion different entities, from sports teams to gas stations, TV shows to recipes.
Google Now is also rolling out a pilot program called ''Now on Tap'' with 100 popular apps. Now on Tap provides Google Now-like content right where you are, without having to leave the app you're in. So if you're in Spotify and say ''Ok Google, what is his real name?'' Now on Tap will know you're talking about the musician you're listening to and provide search results right there an then.
The same goes for content in emails. If someone asks you a question about a restaurant and to not forget something on your way home, Now on Tap can automatically pop up a restaurant card with Maps info, Yelp, OpenTable and the dialer, as well as offer to set a reminder for whatever it was you were supposed to not forget.
Google Chrome
Chrome is also leaner and faster than ever before. Initially revamped with Android One devices in mind, where stable and speedy internet connections are not always possible, Chrome's new optimizations are set to arrive for everyone.
Chrome is now aware of network strength and can modify what you see as a result. For example, if your connection is bad, you might see colored squares rather than preview images in Search results. Optimized web pages will load four times faster and use 80 percent fewer bytes. You'll also see a memory usage reduction of up to 80 MB. Chrome will also support offline mode.
Google Photos
As expected, Google pulled the wraps off its new Google Photos service. Previously a part of Google+, Google Photos is now standalone photo and video storage and sharing service that provides unlimited free storage for up to 16 MP photos and 1080p video. That is seriously impressive.
The Google Photos service stores high-quality compressed versions of your photos and movies but doesn't store anything on your device, so you can search through thousands of photos at high speed and without bogging your device down with gigabytes of photos.
Popular features like Auto-Awesome and Stories are a key highlight, accessible through a new Assistant feature, which will automatically suggest creative uses of your images and footage. Through simple pinch gestures you can see tiled images for particular days, weeks, months or even years and then zoom right back in at any point you like.
Google Photos is also powerful for search, as you'd expect. You can search by People, Places, Things and Types, which are all automatically created, and you can drill down in each of those categories to see, for example, every picture you have of a particular person, all without ever tagging them.
Sharing is also a breeze. You don't even need you contacts to have the Google Photos app. You can simply share a link that they can view in Chrome. If they are logged in they can easily download an entire album in seconds.
Are you impressed by what Google has been up to in Android M? What would you have liked to have seen?
First off, if you're going to copy & paste something from another Android site, it helps to at least give credit to the original writer of the article (I have supplied a link to the original article below). Second, please post in the correct forum. The Apps & Games forum is the wrong place for this sort of post.
http://www.androidpit.com/android-m-release-date-news-features-name
Thread closed.
I read some details (Scoped Storage) about what should come in Android Q (Android 10), but was aborted first and will be introduced with Android 11.
Why Google lies to the users and what the honest developers have to say about it and have recognized it correctly.
https://www.xda-developers.com/android-q-storage-access-framework-scoped-storage/
Android Q is fundamentally changing the way storage works on your phone. In every version up to Pie, Android’s storage worked like a desktop computer: you can use any app you want to read or write any file (if you grant an app permission to do so). With Q, Google is introducing (and requiring) “Scoped Storage,“which makes Android work more like an iPhone, where storage is isolated to each app. An app can only access its own files, and if it’s uninstalled, all its files are deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google touts the security and privacy benefits of this change, but technically speaking, there is no improvement. Apps have had the ability to privately store files since Android 1.0, and almost all apps make use of this capability. When you grant an app access to the root directory of your storage via SAF, it can read, write, and send any file it wants to its nefarious developer in the exact same fashion it could when you granted an app access to storage in Pie.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only “security improvement” comes about because it’s now a more arduous process for a user to do this. Unless of course an app only wants to steal your most personal information, like photos and videos you’ve taken, for which Google has added an alternative access solution which uses a simple pop-up click-yes security dialog. It is not known what benefits Google hopes to achieve with this change. The official stated reason in the Android Q beta documentation is to “give users more control over their files and to limit file clutter.” Scoped storage, in its present form, is a new limitation of what the user is allowed to do, not an extension of their control. The claim of reducing clutter may be somewhat valid, but only because the change reduces the ability to use files at all. And “clutter” is increased when you consider the problem of some apps now having to duplicate files to work with them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If Google is truly concerned about giving users more control over files and clutter, they should architect a solution that directly addresses that, rather than falsely branding the current Android Q design as such an improvement. The simplest answer would be to let users decide if they want an app to have scoped or general filesystem access, using the extant storage permission request dialog. If there is a particular concern for users making poor decisions here, it’s certainly possible to make that dialog more prominent and require additional user interaction to approve an app for full access.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer to how Android can give users more control of their files is to actually give users more control, not to take it away and fundamentally constrain the capabilities of the Android platform.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do we see here?
The developers knew exactly how to really improve it for the users and the added value behind it.
Why does Google lie and want to include it in Android Q even though it's not an improvement? Google wants to limit Android even further, just like Apple does with their iOS system and products that use this system e.g. iPhone.
Google is pursuing the same goals as Apple and Microsoft in the final stages. Building a centralized system. No more control by users (developers are also users), only server dependent.
The problem that most Android or Linux developers have known about for a long time and therefore do not develop apps for centralized systems. But the consumers don't know it yet or don't see the interrelations and that's a problem.
Since Google is able to integrate it into Android 11, they will try again and again in the future to make the Android platform similar to the Apple platform.
What many do not know Google does these steps in small steps. So it always starts first.
Only in a few years one sees the effects. Apps can only be installed from the Google Play Store. Everything else goes only by an software which one sends to Google, in order to get a permission, so that the App can be installed. Android devices can only be set up and used if the device does Internet activation (like an iPhone). No offline setup/use possible anymore!
We have to act otherwise we will be more and more controlled by global corporations that only pursue their own interests (centralization, control, economic growth, fake security problems to limit the operating system, more market power, etc).
But the cause is in reality the consumers. The majority currently believe that Google, Apple, etc... are on the users' side. No, that's not true. It's just an illusion to distract.
The fact is that without the users' money, corporations like Google cannot exist. The decision is always ours!
We millions of users can spend more money in independent systems, hardware, software. We users can support even more independent developers. It's really possible. Don't forget!
So Google tries to remove one of the main reasons for using Android. I remember that I tested the iPhone and other iOS devices and hated not being able to navigate the file system. And without internet activation it was not possible to set up the operating system locally. Totally horrible.
3 main reasons why I use Android:
- file system access*
- microSD and external storage media support
- Installing Apps outside the Google Play Store
* Thanks MiXplorer @HootanParsa
here are other reasons:
- Android has good support for external storage media = this allows manufacturers to add USB 3.1 Gen 1 or even USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports to their Android devices already today. Maybe in the future also possible with USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 and USB 4. This allows you to transfer data much much much faster via File Explorer app, similar to a desktop operating system.
- adapts to the user
Something else.
On every desktop PC there are real operating systems which must not be restricted so easily. It would be illegal to kick Linux off the desktop or off the market in general.
In the mobile areas there is no real alternative to Android without Google control.
There is no real promotion by law (strong financial support), like for the Linux community.
Actually it's illegal that Google tries to do something like this with Android and to destroy Android. LineageOS and other Android based systems have no support for strong financial support by law, so that there are real mobile operating systems and no monopoly position can be created, as it is currently the case.
On any current desktop PC or notebook I can install Linux without getting severe problems. Of course there are also some problems when using Linux, e.g. when proprietary manufacturers do not want to update their drivers.
But for normal users it is very well done and there are very few bugs in the everyday software. The installation itself almost always runs smoothly, very easy (via USB stick), no matter from which well-known manufacturer I buy the devices.
What about file managers?
Developers of apps like file managers that want access to every file in the external storage can do so through the Storage Access Framework once granted permission by Google — we learned in October 2019 at the Android Developer Summit that a program allowing for "special access" was being implemented.
Legitmitate apps need these special permissions.
A user would give permission for a file manager app to access the root (top-level folder) of the external storage, thus granting recursive access to every folder and file inside of it. Since this is a pretty broad selection and one of the goals of Scoped Storage was to reign in apps that want this level of access, it's good that Google will take a special look at apps who want to do this and grant permissions for legitimate apps like your favorite file manager.
Scoped Storage is going to happen this time
Early feedback for Scoped Storage was not very good. There was even a petition that asked Google to remove the feature rethink its implementation.
Which is mostly what Google did. Scoped Storage was available in the official Android 10 release, but developers were not required to use it. But that's all about to change.
Starting in September 2020, apps will need to target Android 10 or later if they are to be available on the Play Store.
Any app that is targeted for Android 10 or later must use the new storage APIs, and that includes Scoped Storage. Changes to Google Play's developer agreement say that starting August 1, 2020 all new apps submitted to Google Play must target Android 10 or later, and all updates to existing apps must target Android 10 or later as of November 1, 2020.
That means that unless an app developer is willing to let an app wither and die in a sea of old apps, Scoped Storage must be implemented soon. Luckily, this time Google has listened to feedback and made things easier for apps that have a need for full or special access and the new APIs in Android 11 make other things easier, too. A safer and more secure Android is something we all should want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.androidcentral.com/what-scoped-storage
I really laugh
There are always Android users who say that iOS is limited, but Google is trying to copy Apple. Every file manager developer must have Google's explicit permission to run their file manager applications on Android 11. Without Google, this is no longer possible.
What is the next step? Most likely, as an Android user, you will get a full device activation in Android 12 or Android 13. If users do not take this step, you will always get stuck in setup. You won't even be able to use the alarm clock, open the calendar application and much more.
Here is a video and pictures of my iPhone 11 and the current iOS 13 (first time setup). What is this?
If you have never used an iPhone before. Then I'll be happy to tell you what it is. This is a device activation in the setup. It is not possible to skip the activation, there must always be a communication with the server first. The device activation comes back when you run the setup process again, for example when you reset the iPhone to factory defaults and then want to set it up again. This also applies to other Apple products such as watchOS, tvOS and iPadOS devices. All mobile Apple devices are already fully server dependent.
Have fun, their Android user with Android/Android TV, Wear OS and Chrome OS. You will get the same.
Boardcdd said:
Here is a video and pictures of my iPhone 11 and the current iOS 13 (first time setup).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
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https://streamable.com/lhb0u
Why nobody is talking that EVEN if apps could get exceptions to have broader access to storage, won't be a true full access like is it now?
This will break apps like SDMaid in cleaning folders /storage/Android/, or sync/backup apps won't be able to see them either. Additionally we don't what else is going to be forbidden!!!
Have a read here
https://developer.android.com/preview/privacy/storage
Code:
Why nobody is talking that EVEN if apps could get exceptions to have broader access to storage, won't be a true full access like is it now?
This will break apps like SDMaid in cleaning folders /storage/Android/, or sync/backup apps won't be able to see them either. Additionally we don't what else is going to be forbidden!!!
Truvark is a modern file encryption app for Android. You might be wondering why building another vault app as there are already a lot of options. The difference is that Truvark is built around security by design and privacy by default. To proof that I take that serious, this is an offline app, it does not have/requests Android's Internet permission. Features like cloud synchronization are not compatible with the mentioned paradigms. However, that does not mean that you cannot sync or backup your data through a third-party app (on your own risk). Read more about (unique) features below.
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"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
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"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
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FeaturesMultiple vaultsYou can create multiple vaults on your device. Any empty folder can become a vault. All your data remains on the shared device storage, means you can access the encrypted files from a file manager e.g. for backups.
This is a major difference to alternatives. Some apps don't even encrypt your files, they just move them to the app's internal storage. These often speak about "hiding data" instead of encrypting. Others using encryption still prohibit access. You fully rely on their export feature.
Deep folder structuresTruvark is not an encrypted gallery that just lets you group your pictures into albums. It is a file encryption app providing full support for creating folders inside folders. You are not limited in organizing your files.
View encrypted filesThe aim is to be able to view common file types in the app. Currently supported are images, videos and audio. The decryption takes place "on the fly" means the required data is decrypted in memory while needed. This is especially important for long videos that would not fit into memory. The image viewer supports high-res pictures and shows more details when zooming in instead of becoming pixelated.
Here are more differences to alternatives to spot. While I analyzed a wide range of vault apps from multimillion downloads to open source ones I found many flaws. Apps decrypting the full file to disk before showing it, scarify performance and possibly put that file on a risk. Others don't encrypt thumbnails, just the original files.
Privacy by defaultTo make it short this app has no Internet permission. There are no analytics, ads, telemetry or requirements for an account. However, there is an option for logging that is turned off by default. Logging is required to be able to help any user that has an issue with my app. The user needs to provide these logs, they are not automatically sent (what is technically impossible because of the missing Internet permission).
Security by designTruvark is using a component (library) for encryption that is built by Google engineers and used in Google Pay. It's called Tink and has the following promise:
A multi-language, cross-platform library that provides cryptographic APIs that are secure, easy to use correctly, and hard(er) to misuse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The last part is important. In cryptography it is enough to get a single parameter wrong to make an encryption insecure. Therefor I decided to rely on a popular open source library.
Additionally, Argon2(id) is used for key derivation. It won the Password Hashing Competition back in 2015 and is one of the best (if not the best) algorithm for that task out there.
The cryptographic core of Truvark (the combination of both libraries) is open source and available on GitHub.
The database is a Realm database. Realm can feature encrypted databases and of course that is in use. I have seen a lot of vault apps without encrypted database during my analysis.
Furthermore, Truvark supports biometric (e.g. fingerprint) authentication for unlocking a single vault. That feature is backed by the Android Keystore and might not be available on devices even though they offer biometric authentication because a strong authentication is required that not every device supports.
Partly open source, fully in futureAs mentioned above the cryptographic core is already open source and available on GitHub. You can see that this is not my first open source project. Because I'm committed to open source, I plan to publish the full source code sometime in future. The idea is to do that when the app leaves early access but all in all I will do that when I think it's ready.
About developmentOn the one hand I want to let you know that I'm a professional software developer and not coding as hobby only, on the other hand I have to put a disclaimer here that I'm not a cryptography expert. However this app was carefully build over time and not in a hastle. Although this app is in early access, it is not a prototype or minimal valuable product. Every release is going trough automated and manual tests. For the manual tests I'm using multiple devices. Nevertheless I'm not afraid to say that bugs can happen. I personally lost data using alternatives in the past, so I am very aware of that issue. Therefor this app stores many information redundant. For example in near future a corrupted or deleted database can be almost fully restored (only some information about the folder structure will be lost but you don't need to organize all files again). The app is already designed to support featues like this in future. Furthermore to backup your encrypted files all you need to do is copy the vault folder.
Upcoming features
Move files and folders to different folders
Rename folders
Rename vault
Material3, followed by many UI and UX improvements
Performance improvements
Future plans
Support more file types (like text and PDF)
Fully open source
Provide desktop clients (cross platform)
DownloadDownload from Google Play
Changelog:
0.4.0:
Target Android 13
Handle new notification permission (first and only required permission)
Support themed icons (Android 13)
Update dependencies
0.3.2:
Replace prebuild Argon2 (used for password derivation) with own build from official source
Update various dependencies (including improvements to the in-app file presenter)
0.3.1:
Fix a bug during biometric setup
Thanks for this, I noticed in recents I did not have to relog in to open, pixel as far as I understand doesn't close recents and clearing them also doesn't actually end the process losing a security risk. Great app though!
7h3DuD3 said:
Thanks for this, I noticed in recents I did not have to relog in to open, pixel as far as I understand doesn't close recents and clearing them also doesn't actually end the process losing a security risk. Great app though!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
many thanks for giving Truvark a try and for providing feedback. Indeed there is no mechanism automatically closing a vault or the app itself. Actually I spend a bunch of hours on this feature already and haven't found a solution yet that significantly improves security while keeping encryption/decryption/etc reliable.
You might have noticed that this app makes heavy use of background scheduling. Other apps show a dialog forcing you to wait while they encrypt one file after another, where Truvark runs encryption parallel in background and you still can view your already encrypted files. This is one of the reasons why the feature you mentioned is not available yet, closing a vault would cancel background operations that cannot be automatically started again when the vault is opened next time, because of storage permissions.
Truvark is completely build on Android's "new" storage design (that Google enforced in Android 10/11) by using the storage access framework (SAF).
Therefor I cannot grantee that automatically closing a vault will ever be available, however likely there will be at least a button to close a vault inside the app or maybe a login screen to prevent access to the UI while still having that vault open in background. Actually I’m planning bigger changes on how the vaults are opened with the goal to make it possible having multiple vaults open at the same time. During that process I will reevaluate if it is easier to implement that feature.
@7h3DuD3 did my post answered your questions or are you looking for different information? Happy to answer any question or feedback.
May I ask you in case you regularly use a vault/encryption app what app you're using? What you like about it and what could be improved in your opinion?
Furthermore, I might be able to give insights about the security and privacy of alternative apps if they were part of my analysis. Hoping to analyze more vault apps soon, possibly on request.
Actually don't use one ever for more than a few days, however I've been using this for a bit and find it adequate. Perhaps a triggered deletion of the vault, say recieve an email or text, but I'm fairly certain tasker could do that or multiple other apps not to mention the security risk of having something like that poses a security risk in itself. But overall I'd say it's better then what I've used in the past and files I carry on my personal thumbdrive are vaulted which feels better knowing should I lose it my personal information won't just be in a .hiddenpasswords.txt file lol that's been the main thing is bs where they hide the file like no one's gonna see that or rename the extension with no encryption. I haven't tried a brute force, might be kinda fun to do. Suggestion, Better variety of file types *
7h3DuD3 said:
I haven't tried a brute force, might be kinda fun to do.
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Click to collapse
Starting with your last sentence, I wish you good luck with that. Of course it depends on your password. Assuming you picked a good password (Truvark requires 8 character at the moment) brute force is by far the worst attack you could try. For hashing Argon2id is used with a configuration above the minimal recommendations by OWASP and for encryption Google's Tink library is used that "has been deployed in hundreds of products and systems" (quote from their readme file) including Google Pay.
I think you should try attacking the implementation instead of globaly used algorithms.
7h3DuD3 said:
Actually don't use one ever for more than a few days, however I've been using this for a bit and find it adequate. Perhaps a triggered deletion of the vault, say recieve an email or text, but I'm fairly certain tasker could do that or multiple other apps not to mention the security risk of having something like that poses a security risk in itself. But overall I'd say it's better then what I've used in the past and files I carry on my personal thumbdrive are vaulted which feels better knowing should I lose it my personal information won't just be in a .hiddenpasswords.txt file lol that's been the main thing is bs where they hide the file like no one's gonna see that or rename the extension with no encryption. I haven't tried a brute force, might be kinda fun to do. Suggestion, Better variety of file types *
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Thanks that you overall seem to like my app. I don't plan to implement a remote deletion because I believe that strong cryptography does not need that. If you really want to build that yourself in a first step you could just delete the file with the name "vault". It contains a so called salt and the encrypted database key, without the file the attack surface is reduced (and you lose access to your files even with correct password btw).
Because you mentioned a thumb drive, that is one of the benefits of the new storage APIs. Truvark fully supports sdcards and external USB devices without workarounds or the need to move data manually from time to time. I have seen lots of vault apps with bad sdcard support.
What file support are you looking for? I plan GIFs, basic text files and PDFs next.
0.3.2:
Replace prebuild Argon2 (used for password derivation) with own build from official source
Update various dependencies (including improvements to the in-app file presenter)
Development is currently a little slow or let's say less visible to users because of many under the hood changes. Furthermore, I'm waiting for improvements/new features in some dependencies. Next will be various improvements to the database. After that I plan to work on Material3 design.
0.4.0:
Target Android 13
Handle new notification permission (first and only required permission)
Support themed icons (Android 13)
Update dependencies
Was quiet in the last months, also because I had little time, the development will progress much faster in the next weeks. I am still working on the replacement of the database implementation. Afterwards it goes on with the Material3 redesign that will come with many new features.
0.5.0:
Fix lags affecting the in-app file viewer
Loop video/audio playback
Update various dependencies
Drop a dependency in favor of official implementation
Obviously, my plans (see above) didn't work out. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for a final feature for database migration, which is finally in development upstream. So here is another small update.
I commit to continue improving this app and bring it out of early access status, as well as go fully open source in future.