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[APP][1.6+] PDroid - the better privacy protection app - will you use it?

Hi,
I have recently developed a privacy protection application for Android.
You can use it to block access for any installed application to the following data separately:
Device ID (IMEI/MEID/ESN)
Subscriber ID (IMSI)
SIM serial (ICCID)
Phone and mailbox number
Incoming call number
Outgoing call number
GPS location
Network location
List of accounts (including your google e-mail address)
Account auth tokens
Contacts
Call logs
Calendar
SMS
MMS
Browser bookmarks and history
System logs
SIM info (operator, country)
Network info (operator, country)
For device ID, phone and mailbox number, SIM serial, subscriber ID and device location it also allows supplying custom or random values.
Unlike others (e.g., Permissions Denied or CM) this does not make applications crash when access to private data is blocked.
The following short video shows some of its functionality.
PDroid does not require ROOT or any Android permission to function, nor does it need any services running in the background. But it does require patching some ROM components, so that it needs to be ported to different devices. Currently it is available for Nexus One, Nexus S, Desire HD (Gingerbread) as well as Magic with CM 6.1 (Froyo).
So I am wondering if I should release it for public use and maybe port to other devices. I will only do so if you would like to use it, since it requires some fine-tuning to be more user-friendly. So please vote if you would like to use PDroid.

I would love to use this app on my galaxy s and tab.
Especially the point to give the apps random or custom information instead of just blocking the access is important.
If you need help testing the app on those mentioned devices just let me know
I hope you get enough positive feedback to port and continue developing this app.

I ll love to have such an app on my Xperia X10 mini pro (cyanogenmod 7)

so basicly it's a LBE replacement? The major disadvantage of that one is being closed-source. Do you plan to open-source yours?

I would like to give this app a shot too with my devices (Nexus S 4G, EVO 3D and Epic Touch 4G). Does not require root, but assume that root is ok? Also seen that you have for Nexus S, but was not sure if that implies to the NS4G as well. Looks promising.

XlAfbk said:
so basicly it's a LBE replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kind of. The functionality is similar to that of LBE while I tried to account for its disadvantages, such as not being able to disallow access to some data (e.g., system logs, incoming and outgoing call numbers etc.), requiring root or being unreliable since LBE requires its protection service to be running so that malicious apps still can steal data if they are started before LBE after boot.
XlAfbk said:
The major disadvantage of that one is being closed-source. Do you plan to open-source yours?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely yes (depends on how much spare time I can allocale to this project).

Tahde said:
Does not require root, but assume that root is ok?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it won't interfere
Tahde said:
Also seen that you have for Nexus S, but was not sure if that implies to the NS4G as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, basically any device, for which Android can be directly built from AOSP (and this includes Nexus 4G) is supported right now.

Love to see it for the T-Mobile G2x especially if it is open.

svyat said:
You can use it to block access for any installed application to the following data separately...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a nice list. I'd really like a version for my Motorola Defy.
How hard would it be to reuse the code to make it run like LBE, i.e. make an apk that works on every phone without having to patch ROMs for every type of device?

I too would like to use this app, sounds awesome. If you need any beta testers, I volunteer

rogier666 said:
How hard would it be to reuse the code to make it run like LBE, i.e. make an apk that works on every phone without having to patch ROMs for every type of device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Impossible, since the actual application logic performing the data access control is based on the Android application framework and not the SDK. Plus, doing it the LBE way requires root and will never be 100% reliable. In other words, there is no way of creating a proper solution without patching the ROM.

I would like to have this for t-mobile US Vibrant since we're getting no Gingerbread love from t-mo or Sammy and I'm all flashed out with nothing else to do.

I would like to give your app a spin to see how it works

KB0SDQ said:
I would like to give your app a spin to see how it works
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am also interested in this app... Sounds very promising and I hope this will get ported for the G2/DesireZ, so I can get some freakin' privacy!
If I can help in any way, any way at all, I'd be very happy to do so.. I'm running CM7.1.0 on my DesireZ @ 1.2ghz...
Thanks a lot!

Looks great. I'd love to get that on my Thunderbolt (CM7) would there be anyway to block permissions like internet and SD card access, I know Cyanogenmod lets you disable them but you have to reset your phone after a change for them to take effect. Also I don't know if it falls into the scope of what this project is intended for but I've seen people ask about making certain apps work on 3G that only work on wifi or the other way around if you could make an app think it was using one or the other for a connection I think that would be very helpful to some folks.

I'd test this on the t-mo Galaxy S2 if you're willing to do it...
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

I guess this is TISSA (http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/jiang/pubs/TRUST11.pdf) ?
I would like to see for Desire , Great to have this kind of app! I'll help which ever way

IvanNCase said:
would there be anyway to block permissions like internet and SD card access
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in near future. Doing that would require modifying the kernel and that, in turn, would make PDroid much less portable.
IvanNCase said:
Also I don't know if it falls into the scope of what this project is intended for but I've seen people ask about making certain apps work on 3G that only work on wifi or the other way around [...]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it doesn't
ukanth said:
I guess this is TISSA (http://www.csc.ncsu.edu/faculty/jiang/pubs/TRUST11.pdf) ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I've developed PDroid completely from scratch as a part of my Master's Thesis.

svyat said:
Not in near future. Doing that would require modifying the kernel and that, in turn, would make PDroid much less portable.
Nope, it doesn't
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair enough.
By the way how do you install this does the ROM patching need to be done by the original creator or done with a zip file through recovery?

svyat said:
Nope, I've developed PDroid completely from scratch as a part of my Master's Thesis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's great to hear. Good job done ! I can't wait to see you release. I'll surely try to port it for Desire

Google Hangouts 2.0.012 KITKAT version with SMS working on Gingerbread 2.3.3

Hi Folks
Feeling too happy to report that even GB users can get a glimpse of what Hangout 2.0 performs on android 4.4 KITKAT!!
First of all let me announce the device I've tested it on. Mine is a Dell Streak running GB 2.3.3 Traveller's DSC ROM.
How I did it:
1. I have my phone rooted
2. Renamed existing hangout apk so that if in case i need a backup. Mine was in /data/app folder
3. Moved and renamed attached hangouts 2 apk as "com.google.android.talk-2.apk" (without quotes) - don't know if this a useless step?
4. changed permission of the renamed apk to rw-r--r--
5. Cleared dalvik cache
6. Opened the app and enabled SMS on the prompt and allowed it to collect all existing SMS messages
7. Voila! everythings works so far.
Features:
1. SMS integration
2. More fluid (in my opinion)
3. Online/offline notifier
4. Still exploring the differences
5. Will check if this can be integrated into the ROM itself or not by getting rid of MMS.apk
Need your feedbacks and press thanks if it works for you too. :victory:
Link: here u go! My dropbox shared URL
Came to know that video chat in hangout wasn't working with only the steps above. to fix
1. Download the libvideochat_jni.so
2. Move to system/lib
3. Change permission to rw-r--r--
4. Try video calling. Should work now!
5. Let me know
*NEW ADDITION*
HOLO themed black version (via- makers of Ultima ROM) of the same 2.0.012 version here
IMP: Please do NOT update hangout or else you will lose SMS functionality.

Successful, tha nks
This worked just fine on my Samsung Proclaim with 2.3.4. I had just been trying to sideload the new 2.0 yesterday, and it wouldn't work and I was afraid I might be getting screwed here in the near future. I use google voice extensively, and with the recent announcement that google would be dropping xmpp support for voice, I can tell that it a sign of much greater hangouts/talk integration and I'm a little concerned that my numerous pieces of older hardware are going to be left out in the dust. So, I had tried to sideload the new one yesterday, and it wouldn't work, but following your prescribed steps, it's working just fine now.

ammujee said:
3. Moved and renamed attached hangouts 2 apk as "com.google.android.talk-2.apk" (without quotes) - don't know if this a useless step?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This step shouldn't be necessary if embedding it in /system. Hangouts.apk works just as well. Like I mentioned in my ROM thread, I'll have to try this out. If I like the change, then I'll update Traveller DSC.
Have you attempted this with any of the other KitKat apps?

Works for me by just installing it and not pushing it as a system app. Android 2.3.7
Sent From My Phone?

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Have you attempted this with any of the other KitKat apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I did with few more like launcher, email but no luck. It gives parsing error.
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2

NRG001 said:
Works for me by just installing it and not pushing it as a system app. Android 2.3.7
Sent From My Phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about video calling? Does it work without pushing the .lib file?
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2

What about the gallery app? Does it give you the parsing error?

Yes, gallery also gives parsing error.
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2

ammujee said:
How about video calling? Does it work without pushing the .lib file?
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know i just install it because it can be used now as sms app. And no one i know uses hangouts sadly they use other messaging app like wechat etc.
Sent From My Phone?

If you don't have to add that file, you might want to check to see if your ROM already includes it.
On a side note, the KitKat version of Hangouts is apparently available on the Play Store, but only for ICS and up.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
If you don't have to add that file, you might want to check to see if your ROM already includes it.
On a side note, the KitKat version of Hangouts is apparently available on the Play Store, but only for ICS and up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The newest one released yesterday will install on Gingerbread phones. However, SMS has been removed for folks below 4.0. The previous version pulled from the Nexus 5 did put Hangouts SMS on Gingerbread.

One thing the portal article doesn't mention is that Google does version checking on its files. If the API version isn't sufficient what is downloaded is an older version that would work at the given API version. Case in point is Gmail. The current version is 4.6, as my ICS tablet will attest. However on a Gingerbread device, a freshly delivered version from the Play Store will be version 2.3.6.
In the case of Hangouts, the version being downloaded to Gingerbread devices is version 1.1 build 12 or something similar. Only ICS and up will get Hangouts 2.0. So to summarize, it's not that certain features are being disabled (as this thread can attest to) it's that Google is sending an older version of the app to the device.

Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
One thing the portal article doesn't mention is that Google does version checking on its files. If the API version isn't sufficient what is downloaded is an older version that would work at the given API version. Case in point is Gmail. The current version is 4.6, as my ICS tablet will attest. However on a Gingerbread device, a freshly delivered version from the Play Store will be version 2.3.6.
In the case of Hangouts, the version being downloaded to Gingerbread devices is version 1.1 build 12 or something similar. Only ICS and up will get Hangouts 2.0. So to summarize, it's not that certain features are being disabled (as this thread can attest to) it's that Google is sending an older version of the app to the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's kind of silly really, since the 2.0 version works fine on my Gingerbread ROM. Sending texts, receiving texts, pictures, video etc. Even the holo style settings menus work. Nothing appears badly broken, but from time to time it might force close.
The API support is within the APK, because otherwise it wouldn't allow you to install it. So if google strip that away then they're doing it simply to get people to update to a newer version of Android.
The file here is 2.0.012 (884159-30). The version Play Store will install is 1.2.018 (849105-30).

In one respect it isn't all that silly. Gingerbread is a few years old now and Google wants to focus on Android 4.x. I actually can understand that. What I would like to see, but never will, is Dell going back and making a KitKat ROM for the Streak, especially knowing KitKat will work on the Streak.

I can understand that they'd like people to upgrade, but blocking a feature for no good reason is silly. The 2.0 version clearly works. Yes theres the force close that happens 2% of the time, but that's going to be a bug in the code and not an API issue, because if it were API related it wouldn't even run or it'd force close every single time.
Of course I'm due for an upgrade anyway, and I probably will soon, but it still would of been nice to see google officially support the 2.0 version on Gingerbread.

Hey it works bt always show the number.... I mean showing the number insted showing the name which I save in my phone or sim card
Sent from my MT11i using xda premium

Yes, that is a known issue even for Nexus 5 owners. An application bug probably to be fixed in next few versions. For now few people have found changing their contacts to international format helpful (like for Indian nos changing it from 022xxxxxxxx to +9122xxxxxxxx). It didn't work for many but there is no harm in trying for now. Do make sure to force sync contacts and then switch off your phone and switch back on.
Let us know if it helps!
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2

Hey man, can you see if the latest Hangouts update with messaging will work on Gingerbread? I'm certain it won't, but maybe you can give it a shot again.

I checked all later versions but those don't work with SMS support. May be @theos0o can help us by enabling SMS support for all devices as he did for FB messenger.
Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for at least checking. I'm sure many of us appreciate it.

[Q] Running old Facebook Messenger with SMS in KitKat

Hello!
For ages, I held on to the old version of Facebook's messenger in order to retain the SMS chat head functionality. However, this was always a finicky feature as it would disappear depending on the model of phone and OS version detected.
When I loaded the APK onto my newly 4.4-flashed phone (CM11 based), it no longer gave the option to use SMS. With the advent of the default SMS app system in 4.4, I worry that the app wouldn't work at all, even if I fooled it into revealing the option to toggle SMS on.
Are there suggestions? If I modified the contents of the manifest to work with my phone and android version, would the archaic SMS handling system even work under 4.4?
Cheers, all

Sad, four-day bump.

Bump....please help. I need FB SMS on KitKat.

I have been searching for this as well.. Hope someone can let us know how to get this to work. Thanks!

bump.. same problem here

Biggest of bumps. I've been at this for quite a long time, but still no info. The lat stable rom for my GT-i9300 can only be KitKat based. Though I don't think that Lollipop would be any different regarding this issue. And I reeeeally don't want to get back to JellyBean. Anyone found out anything?

Beware : Whatsapp Permanent Ban - Don't use anything but official !

http://www.androidpit.com/whatsapp-not-permanently-banning-users-of-alternative-clients
http://androidcommunity.com/whatsapp-issues-permanent-ban-on-users-with-3rd-party-apps-20150306/
Must Read Annoucement*
Whatsapp Inc. has started _Permanent Account Disbale_ wave recently.So please...Uninstall any whatsapp mod (Including WhatsApp Reborn , WhatsApp+ , OgWhatsapp or any other)
*Immediately* from your phone and download & install official whatsapp from*whatsapp.com/android.
One more news About Whatsapp Calling
I observed that invite server opens every Friday as per GMT +5:30
You need to be on latest version from
www.whatsapp.com/android
^this is important bcz even single before version on site won't work with invite ..so be on latest version before asking for invite
And finally ask for invite from someone who has already calling feature enable..
Here is link of thread in our forum for invite.
You can find more thread by searching if you need

UPDATE: WhatsApp recently said that its a temporary ban, not a permanent one (thank God!). The Plus users' accounts will get reinstated once they install the official app.
(Sources: http://www.igyaan.in/101276/whatsapp-temporarily-banning-whatsapp-plus-users/, http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/06/wh...ts-service-just-blocking-third-party-clients/)
I understand why WhatsApp wants everyone to use their app instead of third-party ones, but come on... WhastApp Plus offers features that the official app will never introduce. I absolutely hate their UI. But thanks to WhatsApp Plus, I am able to customize and theme the UI to my liking.
This really is a bad move made by WhatsApp and looks like there's no other option but "downgrade" to the official app

Sami Kabir said:
UPDATE: WhatsApp recently said that its a temporary ban, not a permanent one (thank God!). The Plus users' accounts will get reinstated once they install the official app.
(Sources: http://www.igyaan.in/101276/whatsapp-temporarily-banning-whatsapp-plus-users/, http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/06/wh...ts-service-just-blocking-third-party-clients/)
I understand why WhatsApp wants everyone to use their app instead of third-party ones, but come on... WhastApp Plus offers features that the official app will never introduce. I absolutely hate their UI. But thanks to WhatsApp Plus, I am able to customize and theme the UI to my liking.
This really is a bad move made by WhatsApp and looks like there's no other option but "downgrade" to the official app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yah i got that news too ...u fortunately after writting this thread
Btw was never fan of WA+ bcz it took me so long to customize and UI tweeks that i always end up with uninstall & go back to official .....but i like one version which was material design by default...didn't remember it's name but then this carp of ban appers and now i'm again of official

For Permanent Ban!<Solution>
for a temporary ban of Whatsapp there's solution i.e it is limited to a certain amount of time, but For permanent sadly there's no
Shortcuts , till of my own experience for permanent ban the only Solution is to wait for *2 months, whatsapp team will see if no trace of user not trying loging again n again for 2 months it'll Unban,
Hope you got help...
GoodBye...
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[Completed] Customizing Cubot X9's rom(replacing apps issues)

Hello everyone
i think this is my first post or one of the first on this forum, i'm a videogame modder(vice-boss at VStanced.com) who for fun also mods/dismounts/analyzes everything that slips in his hands(like, seriously every single thing). I have a semi-good knowledge of java and from some years i'm learning more and more about android, yet(as you can see) i still need help from time to time to figure out some stuff.
So, enough of presentation, time to talk about what i came here for.
I've been gifted a Cubot X9 some days ago, so the first thing i did was rooting(Kingroot -> Supersu-me) and applying a custom recovery(TWRP), i backed up rom and nvram with sp flash tool and the base rom(just rooted and recovery-ed) from recovery to make sure that in case i f**kd up something i could restore it without issues.
After that i restored all the additional apps and a couple gapps(Google Play Store, Google Play Services, Google Account Manager, Google Latin Keyboard) from a backup(Titanium Backup) of my old phone, a LG P990(Optimus Dual/X2/Star/Speed) and it all worked straight at first try. As soon as i finished restoring these i got myself a new recovery backup to prevent having to redo everything once again.
At the moment there are still 4 things that "bother" me, i've not been able to install Dialer, Contacts and Messaging apps from that same backup(they're a lot more comfortable than Cubot's original ones) because they just f**k up the whole thing, after a restart(either with or without cache/dalvik cleanup) System starts flickering/turning on and off and with it the background and the SIM control(it stop receiving any signal/recognizing the sim and wont allow me to open the sim selector/editor - for dual sim mode).
I've installed the first two apps(Dialer and Contacts) flawlessly with a root explorer(ES file explorer) and after deleting all odex files related to the old apps they worked well, cant say the same for Messaging(Mms.apk), it works but as soon as i press either on a received message, on the "new message" button or on "setup" it crashes to desktop.
Moreover, i'm not able to install the data backup(i'm mainly interested in contacts and messages but also the calls history) from Titanium Backup otherwise i'll get those issues i said above.
Mind both phones are 4.4.4 and so are their apps, on the LG P990 i had installed Slimroms' Slimkat but those apps i named should all be stock Google KitKat's ones(correct me if i'm wrong) and thus should work 1:1 on any 4.4.4 OS. Should.
You may ask me why i dont simply use google's backup system, so here's the answer, it is because i just dislike uploading my personal data and i honestly prefer figuring out how to do stuff manually.
I tried moving the *.db files from the old phone but they either cause to not show any messages(mmssms.db) or to not receive signal/not recognize the sim(telephony.db).
I have also installed an app called WAPPushManager.apk(com.android.smspush) from the old phone because i thought it could be somehow connected with the crash from clicking on the new message button but nothing changed.
So now i'm kinda lost, i have no clue if i'm missing to delete/add some files, or replace/add some apps.
Here's a few pics of the apps of which i'm speaking
I hope someone will be able to help me out on this, thanks a lot everyone for even bothering reading all this drama. hahaha
Also, yeah, you noticed well, i said that there are 4 things that bother me but i talked only about 3 things so here's the 4th:
this is more like a random question than a real issue or anything else(since i didnt even try yet). I would like to get the system bar and options/setup menu from the old phone(LG P990 Slimkat) to the new one(Cubot X9) but i have no clue if it is doable or not and what it eventually implies.
I'm looking forward for some magic to happen, thanks again
- BB93

Alright, i've been able to transfer all my contacts, calls and messages using an app called Super Backup, it did the trick quite quickly.
I still cant figure out why the Mms.apk wont work, i sent it over to a couple friends and all of them installed and used it right away. I am now almost sure the Cubot wont work correctly with it because it's dual-sim... in case there's anything(scripting wise) that can be done to make it work properly?

Well i kinda solved all my problems, for some reason that app just dont want to work on this phone, i downloaded another "kitkat 4.4 stock messaging app" from google play and it worked straight on... or almost, because for some reason that Super Backup program was messing my messages in a way that i had two threads for each person, one with sent and the other with received messages. Analyzing the *.xml file created by that tool i realized that it was using spaces between the numbers only for either received or sent messages(i didnt bother checking which of the two was it).
A basic example:
<sms address="+391234567890" time="22/gen/2016 09:18:58" date="1453450738028" type="1" body="THIS IS MY TEXT" read="1" service_center="+291234567890" name="" />
versus
<sms address="+39 123 45 67 890" time="22/gen/2016 09:18:58" date="1453450738028" type="1" body="THIS IS MY TEXT" read="1" service_center="+29 123 45 67 890" name="" />
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It made so that the phone recognized those as different numbers and thus create the issue i said above.
I hope this little self-research thread will help someone else too in the future, thanks for reading.
- BB93

Bigg Boss93 said:
Well i kinda solved all my problems, for some reason that app just dont want to work on this phone, i downloaded another "kitkat 4.4 stock messaging app" from google play and it worked straight on... or almost, because for some reason that Super Backup program was messing my messages in a way that i had two threads for each person, one with sent and the other with received messages. Analyzing the *.xml file created by that tool i realized that it was using spaces between the numbers only for either received or sent messages(i didnt bother checking which of the two was it).
A basic example:
It made so that the phone recognized those as different numbers and thus create the issue i said above.
I hope this little self-research thread will help someone else too in the future, thanks for reading.
- BB93
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Thanks for using xda assist.
I see you've solved your problem. Thanks for being so thorough with your post. This should help others with the same problem. Enjoy the site :good:
Thread closed.