Database Info

[Q] Large apps updates?

Hey guys, i was just wondering about those large apps and games that are 150mb+ like the Harvest. When they decide to update the app, will they be able to release small updates to the app or will we have to download the 150mb each time to update the entire app?
this might be a dumb question but i was just curious...

i'm pretty sure it will be a full update. i don't believe the app is broken up into small peices that can be individually updated. i believe it's one huge app.

I agree with The Gate Keeper. When updating an app, I have to repackage the entire XAP file, regardless of what's changed, and I don't it's any different with large apps.

I wouldn't mind the larger apps so much if I could download them directly to my phone and at&t had better data plans. Even though it says that apps over 20mb can be downloaded by computer or WiFi, it is only WiFi. So I would rather they be smaller.

you can't really do much about that to be honest. the app is the app, if it's big it's either a game, or full of features that would most likely require it to be that big. to be honest, i've never encountered any app that is bigger than 20mb when not including games.

Recent Apps in Jelly Bean custom rom - Battery??

I've been using Andromadus JB Test Builds on my desire S. A feature of it is the new recent apps, that shows every recent app, even though i've quit the app. I've now had to swipe each of the app as i'm concerned it does eat up my battery if i leave them there.
Could someone explain if it really does eat my battery or i shall leave the recent apps there as is?

maniche04 said:
I've been using Andromadus JB Test Builds on my desire S. A feature of it is the new recent apps, that shows every recent app, even though i've quit the app. I've now had to swipe each of the app as i'm concerned it does eat up my battery if i leave them there.
Could someone explain if it really does eat my battery or i shall leave the recent apps there as is?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Leaving them there or removing them will have no affect on your battery.
Each app you have installed is composed of any number of activities, services and more components. The screens you see in an app are the activities, the main (or last activity) in the app will show up in the recent apps list. The activities are not running or doing anything unless they are fully visible on the screen. When an activity is not on the screen or in the process of being removed or created it does not use up any battery. Services on the other hand run in the background and do consume battery, the only way to stop these and ensure they do not restart is to uninstall the app, you can stop them from the Manage apps section but they may be restarted by the app. You can also stop the app from the Manage apps section but it too may be restarted.

Last but not least: Android has a build in task killer. so there is no need for you to kill apps to prevent the system from getting laggy or consuming too much battery. As soon as more free memory is needed, Android kills some applications by its own.

automatic app version detection

bit of rant here;
why are users still expected to manually select what version of a app they want to theme (facebook messanger,google app ect)
why is this a thing
why is stability hit or miss why do app updates break stuff so horribly why should theme resources take a decade to update them selves without a reboot

Legitsu said:
bit of rant here;
why are users still expected to manually select what version of a app they want to theme (facebook messanger,google app ect)
why is this a thing
why is stability hit or miss why do app updates break stuff so horribly why should theme resources take a decade to update them selves without a reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Users are expected to manually select app versions due to discrepancy between ROMs and partial rollouts by app devs ending up in different users having different versions available on the Play Store. Surely selecting a version from a spinner is easier for you than to be told to download a specific version from APKMirror.
App updates break themes when resources change heavily. Most properly coded apps don't break over updates unless there's major UI changes. Whatsapp and Instagram break for most themes on almost every update because they change stuff just to change it. Themers are helpless against badly coded apps, and rather than whine you should actually be glad they take time to theme AND maintain the overlay for such apps.
Theme resources don't take long to update, we ditched that in favor of direct assets with commit https://github.com/substratum/substratum/commit/536ed381f540f494700a0ab3ca5e8530f3715862 .

Data saver/background data restriction not fully working (Honor x6)

Hello fellas,
as the title says, i'm enabling the data saver feature for ALL the apps (both installed and system apps) with no exception .. yet, every now and then the screen lock data usage notification mentions that an amount of mobile data has been used by some apps (facebook, whatsapp, system apps ..)
is this a common bug on the honor 6x/emui5 or is there something else i'm missing here ??
My model number : BLN-L21
Build number : BLN-L21C432B365
Emui version : 5.0.1

Hi, i keep data saver always on for habit and i didn't noticed a traffic of mobile data while it is activated. But i know also that those damned social apps are a true pain for phones. I don't have neither one so i can't confirm that, but maybe someone else who has Facebook or others could provide a feedback about. Have you took in consideration the idea of using socials via web browser? When i still had my Facebook account 2 years ago, i used to do everything by my browser because in this way, i was able to avoid useless and heavyweight, crappy client apps

RedSkull23 said:
Hi, i keep data saver always on for habit and i didn't noticed a traffic of mobile data while it is activated. But i know also that those damned social apps are a true pain for phones. I don't have neither one so i can't confirm that, but maybe someone else who has Facebook or others could provide a feedback about. Have you took in consideration the idea of using socials via web browser? When i still had my Facebook account 2 years ago, i used to do everything by my browser because in this way, i was able to avoid useless and heavyweight, crappy client apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi and thank you for your feedback,
Well the thing is, not only social media apps that consume background data but many other apps including games and system apps, maybe not with same amount but they still do, and what mostly concerned about is how come such a bug can even occur in our phone ..
if you are using honor 6x with thae latest emui i suggest you turn on the "locked screen data usage reminder" from (settings -» mobile data -» then the settings icon up right) and see if you are gonna get leaked data ..
Then we can know for sure from where the problem is coming from
I'm looking forward to reading your feedback ..

I tested by disabling or restricting the same and still saw the traffic as bytes on status bar.
But when data turned off, didn't see any bytes consumed. Evem when opened Facebook, it shows 34-35KB data transfer rate but not updated or refreshed means data is not consume and it was only trying to send the data (upload speed) but none received (download data).

Rooted Android Security Measures. What are they?

I've never rooted an Android. One of the warnings I see over and over is that rooted devices are more vulnerable to malware. I don't see any solutions for this though.
What extra measures will I need to take to keep my Android safe?
I use Norton 360 on my PC and Androids. Will this be of any help?
Are there any apps I can install to help with this issue?
Are there any system settings I should use for this particular problem?
Thank you

With stock or rooted the biggest threat is the user themselves. Most either install or download the malware themselves. A fully updated stock Android isn't invulnerable; there's no saving dumb bunnies...
Side loaded apps are high risk; at the least scan with online Virustotal and consider the results before installing. Keep email in the cloud and be careful if you choose to download anything.
All downloads stay in the download folder until vetted. Jpeg's and png's are suspect; open them there first before moving them and watch for strange behavior in that folder. Check the download folder daily for anything you didn't download, if found do not open, delete.
Keep thrash social media apps off the phone, all of them. They are targets and vectors for malware of all types.
Use a good firewall and police what apps are doing. Revoke internet access to all apps that don't need it. Know what apps have run at start permissions; do they need it? Updates and upgrades can cause more lost time then malware trying to find work arounds. Lock auto updates down, and download them only if needed. Updates and firmware upgrades can and do break things...
Most importantly cover your six and be prepared.
Critical data can not be lost, protect it!
Redundantly backup all critical data to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC. Be ready to do a full reload if needed.
If malware is found or suspected, isolate the phone and if it can't be completely deleted in an hour or two, nuke that load. Be ready to change passwords and secure accounts.
Never trust antivirus apps to detect malware or save you, mostly they just waste resources on an Android.

Thank you!
I'm already doing a lot of those things, especially social media apps.
One of the reasons I want to root my phone is that I can't uninstall, force stop, disable or take away permissions for some apps, like Facebook, Facebook App installer, FB app manager Google, ad nauseum. The same goes for the millions of preinstalled Samsung bloatware apps. They dont stay disabled and routinely restore permissions. Im sick of having to routinely check them all. I'll never buy another Saamsung again.

You're welcome. Welcome to XDA
I run 2 stock N10+'s, one on Pie, the other on 10.
I use package disabler to kill bloatware and services I don't want to run at bootup. You can also use a adb editing app to disable apks. Don't go too nuts; be wary of disabling any Samsung system apps. Most of these apps just sit unless needed. Dependencies... actions have consequences; understand what the app does and what other apps, services or UI functions are dependent on it!
Google play Services can be disabled when not needed; disable find my device as System Administrator first.
On Pie Karma Firewall is fully functional but not on Android 10 and up, although it will still block access. It uses virtually no battery.
Once you sort it out (learning curve ahead) stock Samsung's especially older ones like the N10+ are easy to run. They are the most customizable stock Android on the planet with an excellent UI. The current load on this one will be 2 yo this June; still fast, stable and fulfilling its mission. Security is simply not an issue.

blackhawk said:
You're welcome. Welcome to XDA
I run 2 stock N10+'s, one on Pie, the other on 10.
I use package disabler to kill bloatware and services I don't want to run at bootup. You can also use a adb editing app to disable apks. Don't go too nuts; be wary of disabling any Samsung system apps. Most of these apps just sit unless needed. Dependencies... actions have consequences; understand what the app does and what other apps, services or UI functions are dependent on it!
Google play Services can be disabled when not needed; disable find my device as System Administrator first.
On Pie Karma Firewall is fully functional but not on Android 10 and up, although it will still block access. It uses virtually no battery.
Once you sort it out (learning curve ahead) stock Samsung's especially older ones like the N10+ are easy to run. They are the most customizable stock Android on the planet with an excellent UI. The current load on this one will be 2 yo this June; still fast, stable and fulfilling its mission. Security is simply not an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The more annoying Samsung apps I was referring to are the Bixby apps, AR doodle, Smarter things... those kind of apps. If they didn't re-enable themselves restore permissions, I wouldn't mind them so much. But they DO.
I won't be using that phone much longer anyway. I'm going back to Motorola.
I always buy factory or globally unlocked phones. That helps some. But Motorola recently started forcing FB. I can uninstall it, however I have to review updates to make sure it doesn't end up on my phone again. But then I review all updates before installing them anyway..
I always look up the system apps before making any changes. Like Google Easter Egg. Everything I could find says it's unnecessary.

All those mentioned apps can be safely disabled.
Bixby Vision is used for barcode scanning though.
Try the free Galaxy store icon packs, themes and the Good Lock family of apps including One Handed Operation plus.
Chose theme>icon pack>whatever wallpaper you want. The native high contrast theme looks good.
Play with it...

blackhawk said:
All those mentioned apps can be safely disabled.
Bixby Vision is used for barcode scanning though.
Try the free Galaxy store icon packs, themes and the Good Lock family of apps including One Handed Operation plus.
Chose theme>icon pack>whatever wallpaper you want. The native high contrast theme looks good.
Play with it...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually already ordered a new Moto. It will be here tomorrow. Well, it's after 1am, so I guess it'll be here later today.
I've disabled multiple Samsung apps, restricted data and battery, taken away permissions, not just in app settings, but in permissions setting, special access permissions... And all the other weird ways I keep finding out about that you wouldn't think would be a place to remove permissions. When my phone starts to slow down, or the battery isn't lasting very long, sure enough, Samsung has gone behind my back and reset my preferences again. I never had issues like this any of the Motorola phones I've had.