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Rooted/Custom Rom'd my AT&T S4, now for some basic a

[Thread in wrong area! Mods please move to AT&T S4 under Q/A!]
I recently rooted/installed CleanROM for my S4, but now I have some basic questions regarding what actually happened in the process and how I could improve it. (First smartphone, first Android).
1. Is flashing the exact equivalent of installing a kernel/ROM/app in a recovery like TeamWin that is zipped in an SD card? All I did was select my zipped file and install--the guide says to use GooManager but I never used it. Also, does updating TWRP, kernel, or ROM (same application/kernel/ROM, but newer version) require that you delete the old ZIP, copy over the new ZIP, then install it? Is there a cleaner method (I feel that since we have to wipe to prevent old files from interfering with new ROM that maybe parts of the old version of a ROM may be redundant or may interfere with the new ROM?
2. Is there a way I can save the phone settings when dealing with one ROM and transferring these settings to another ROM? I really don't want to spend 20 minutes to go through all the settings and change it to my liking every time I install a new ROM.
3. With TWRP I could backup the entire ROM and also be able to install that backup ROM if I don't like the new ROM installed? What does Titanium Backup offer in regards to this aside from backing up app data and the ability freeze/uninstall system apps?
4. Does Titanium Backup leave any residual files? I see other apps designed to uninstall system apps and Titanium Backup seems like an all-in-one jack of all trades.
5. I thought I wiped everything and to me, that sounds like reformatting the entire drive. I only wiped system, boot, and data though (good enough for ROMs, according to what I've read). I was surprised when I saw my videos that I had already backed up to my PC accessible on the phone. Should I just wipe literally everything (I assume it would be cleaner) like cache, preload, EFS, modem, recovery, etc.? Will wiping literally everything be like reformatting my phone (since my phone was not reformatted because my personal videos was still there when I installed my custom ROM? If I were to install completely different ROMs cleanly and wanted to keep my personal files, I would only need to wipe system, data, and boot?
4. Do I have to use CASUAL again to install an updated TWRP?
5. Does backing up a ROM also backup its root? I'm going to assume this is a dumb question and the answer is no. I'm also guessing I have to block OTA updates from AT&T to ensure I keep my root. How would I go about doing this? Also, would my phone be "safe" if I stick to my ROM (no updates or anything) for 4+ years? I'm asking this as an extreme case because I feel like I'm missing out on AT&T security updates that could protect my phone and also I don't think the developer my ROM (CleanROM) will do frequent updates).
6. I had problems with my computer not being able to recognize my phone and my SD card in the phone after I wiped everything and before I installed a ROM. I literally had to take the SD card from the phone and use an SD card reader to transfer my custom ROM/loki then put it back into the phone. Was I missing a driver?
7. What are some must-have apps a newly rooted user would want?
8. I read that you only need 1 EFS backup and you don't need to back it up every time you are going to install a custom ROM. Can I get a confirmation?
9. What does Goo Manager do and would I want it?
10. Is it essential that I keep up to date with news about my custom ROM/phone to ensure my phone is secured?
**Not Root/ROM related--Is swiping an app away from the Recent Apps List (long-press home button) the equivalent of killing an app? I use the Recent Apps List often but I don't want to go about swiping apps away if means it is killing it, since I read that killing apps are bad and actually drains battery life. Also, is there a mod that lets you access the Recent Apps List by long-pressing the menu one? I only see a mod that kills the app if you long-press it.
Thanks. I'm hoping for many responses as I have more questions to ask but not a lot of free time (I will check back on this thread every several hours until there are no more responses on the thread.

I think you are in the wrong forum.

@work said:
I think you are in the wrong forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, I clicked the edit/delete thread but can't find the delete button. Under reason for editing I told the mods to move it to AT&T S4 under Q/A. I'm new to XDA, what should I do?

otumsel and
just wait,someone will be along and move it.

PA Gapps

I had an Evo LTE but now I have an N5. I rooted my device not too long ago and tried our a couple Roms. I stuck with PA. I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, I don't post on here much, but I keep getting notifications from PA telling me to update Gapps. I like the stock PA Gapps. I like that it doesn't have the old messaging app and browser(I like using Hangouts and Chrome). I don't want to have 2 of each thing. Really my question is, is there some sort of advantage to updating Gapps?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Updating GAPPS is merely updating these apps, not much different to updating normal user apps.
You don't have to update, but they often bring new features / fixes bugs etc. Not necessarily and advantage, just nice to keep things updated really.
If the zip comes with apps you don't want e.g. messaging or old browser:
- You can always remove them with titanium backup or similar
- Or you can delete them from the zip before you even flash it.
open the .zip with something like 7zip (double click, don't extract)
delete apks you don't want from /system/app or /system/priv-app etc.
close 7zip to update it.
- Use another flashable zip to remove them after flashing the gapps (set it up once, saves you editing the zip every time). I do this personally.

Turn off the notifications in the ota app settings. Problem solved. You do not need to update from the ota app at all
Sent from my Nexus 5

[Q] Flappy's AOSP Rom Questions

I'm too new to post in the dev subforum, but have a few issues with Flappy's AOSP Rom and wanted to ask:
- very low call volume, even maxxed out. any way to increase?
- lots of FCs, all sorts of apps - WhatsApp, Gmail, Exchange Services, etc. - how to troubleshoot?

nindustrial said:
I'm too new to post in the dev subforum, but have a few issues with Flappy's AOSP Rom and wanted to ask:
- very low call volume, even maxxed out. any way to increase?
- lots of FCs, all sorts of apps - WhatsApp, Gmail, Exchange Services, etc. - how to troubleshoot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
since you are new to the forum may I suggest you look in all sub forums because there is a fix zip in Apps section for what you are asking to be increased. Prior to posting though you should simply search all over. Also take some time and explore the forum especially now since its early and not to cluttered.
As far as troubleshooting I think you may need to simply try a clean install again. Did you install your apps via Play Store or did you use Titanium. You can go into recovery and wipe cache(s)

playya said:
since you are new to the forum may I suggest you look in all sub forums because there is a fix zip in Apps section for what you are asking to be increased. Prior to posting though you should simply search all over. Also take some time and explore the forum especially now since its early and not to cluttered.
As far as troubleshooting I think you may need to simply try a clean install again. Did you install your apps via Play Store or did you use Titanium. You can go into recovery and wipe cache(s)
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Thanks playya, apologies and my bad about the search.
I used Play Store (don't use any backup app like Titanium). I wiped cache/dalvik before and after rom-install. Want to avoid re-install if possible, took a long time to get apps back.

nindustrial said:
Thanks playya, apologies and my bad about the search.
I used Play Store (don't use any backup app like Titanium). I wiped cache/dalvik before and after rom-install. Want to avoid re-install if possible, took a long time to get apps back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what gapps did you to flash the AOSP rom? I use minimal gapps all the time to allow my apps to be restored via PlayStore plus I dont like all that bloatware. Do you use and exchange email? I normally delete that from my system.
You can always wipe cache(s) download a new gapps then wipe cache, dalvik and system(only) and reflash rom and gapps again. NO loss of apps will occur

playya said:
what gapps did you to flash the AOSP rom? I use minimal gapps all the time to allow my apps to be restored via PlayStore plus I dont like all that bloatware. Do you use and exchange email? I normally delete that from my system.
You can always wipe cache(s) download a new gapps then wipe cache, dalvik and system(only) and reflash rom and gapps again. NO loss of apps will occur
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Flappy's AOSP rom came with gapps pre-installed, rom instructions said to specifically NOT install gapps separately. I agree with you, I prefer minimal and less bloat. I wanted a clean AOSP rom to throw Gravitybox on, as this is what I'm used to coming from the Nexus world.
I don't use Exchange, but have disabled the built-in EMAIL app - would that cause problems? Is it easy to delete Exchange?
Ok, thanks for the tip - I'll try the reflash if the problem continues.

nindustrial said:
Flappy's AOSP rom came with gapps pre-installed, rom instructions said to specifically NOT install gapps separately. I agree with you, I prefer minimal and less bloat. I wanted a clean AOSP rom to throw Gravitybox on, as this is what I'm used to coming from the Nexus world.
I don't use Exchange, but have disabled the built-in EMAIL app - would that cause problems? Is it easy to delete Exchange?
Ok, thanks for the tip - I'll try the reflash if the problem continues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use root explorer or es file explorer and delete the apks altogether. I remove all apks that I don't need and I know is safer to remove as well. You sure xposed is not the culprit

playya said:
I use root explorer or es file explorer and delete the apks altogether. I remove all apks that I don't need and I know is safer to remove as well. You sure xposed is not the culprit
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Click to collapse
I'm fairly certain Xposed is ok - been using it for ages on my previous phones. I think I may have found the issue, though - I noticed I was getting FC's mostly when I was typing. Flappy's ROM came with the CM keyboard, and I installed the standard AOSP Google keyboard over top, but it was still using the default spell-checker from the CM keyboard. In settings->input, I changed it to the Google Keyboard AND the Google spell-checker and haven't got a typing-related FC since. Maybe there was some incompatibility between the CM spell checker and the Google keyboard. Anyway, thought I'd mention it, in case it helps others..
Thanks!

Apps from Stock to Cyanogenmod

Hi. This is my first time installing a custom ROM, CM 12.1 in this case. I'm really liking the ROM and I would like to stay with it, but my main problem right now is that I can't restore the apps I backed up using Titanium Backup. Is there a way I can restore my user apps to this ROM?
I even have many linked apps with Link2sd and none of them showed with CM (I recreated mount script, rebooted and nothing).
I know restoring data through different ROMs can cause problems... but I would like my user apps, I don't need to restore system apps or data.
Another question is, can I use some moto apps (camera, gallery, FM radio basically) with CM? I really like them, especially the camera interface, and I don't like the camera that CM has.
Thanks for any answers! Sorry if it's a noob question, but I've managed to restore full backups in the same ROM, and I don't know why now Titanium Backup doesn't even shows my apps now.

Stock apps - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=62823450
Sadly you may just have to re download your user apps from the play store, I can't dig too far into the issue because TI is always annoying.

Thanks a lot!! Really nice to have moto camera and gallery back again. And for the apps, I made a zip with all mi apk and restored them later, but thats better than nothing!
Thanks again.

Glad ya sorted it!

Updating system odexed apps from market?

Heya guys, I'm pretty sure this was asked but I cannot find the answer on XDA.
When you update a system odex app with the new market version (eg google maps, google services, etc), the odex file becomes completely useless, right? Until you factory reset your phone then they will be used again?
Because my phone includes Facebook.odex in /system and I would like to delete the 180mb odex file that seems pretty useless to me as Facebook is updated constantly anyways and I would prefer to install manually (unless there odex file is still helping out even after an update, or it's also being updated)
I often integrate the google apps updates in /system as well, so I'm not sure if this changes anything like deleting the old odex, updating the old odex, etc
Thanks guys!
Sent from my Vphone-X3 using XDA-Developers mobile app