[Q] Suggestions for reminder apps - Android Apps and Games

Hello,
I am looking for a cross platform reminder program with android app functioning offline that works as a reminder for my specific tasks I set. I know that there are a large variety of apps that do this function, but I need something for the following case.
I am on my Windows PC and I set a reminder, it should remind me with a beep or a sound on my PC offline. So, now if I allow the program on Windows to connect to internet and sync the list, it should be ringing on my Android too and vice versa.
I tried a few apps like Wunderlist, Todoist. These apps require my email and need the google play services to be running. I think the notification thing has something to do with the Google play services, if yes someone positive can confirm me. I also guess in order to sync the list/to/gtd tasks, these apps require the email, so is there any chance of finding an app that does not require any emails?
I am running Windows 7&8, Android Kitkat with Google play and Google play services disabled.

Related

[Q] [APP][WANTED] custom Google Voice SMS Notifications - per user

Is there an app out there that would allow custom notifications for SMS\phone\gmail for users of google voice? There are several that work outside of google voice, but not so much with it.
Only app I found that mostly worked was Whoisit lite. Lite version works fine, except any new email cause it to stop responding & force close. Tried the pro version & got my refund. It didn't crash on email notification, but initially it would only play the default sound, not the custom, then it wouldn't allow anything to play when an email arrived. (The dev on this app has disappeared, so contacting him to fix it isn't going to work.)
I like having all my stuff in one easy to access location, that syncs everything with my voice account, so not using google voice isn't really a consideration.
Ideas or suggested apps?

[REQ] Multiple-Device Assistant App

I'm not sure if one of the multiple voice assistant apps already does this, but I haven't discovered one yet, so thought I would throw this out there.
Here is what I would like to do.
I have two android phones--One I don't use often, one daily driver. I would like to turn the first one into a sort of HAL system for the house, where I can ask it questions, and tell it to set reminders for me. Here is the catch, most apps like that now only set a local reminder on that particular phone. I want an app that syncs with other versions of itself on different devices and carries the reminder over to the other device as well. ".assistant" in the market does have an option now where you can sign in and use the same profile on different devices, but so far my testing has shown that it doesn't work very well.
Anyone have any ideas or comments?
aujbman said:
I'm not sure if one of the multiple voice assistant apps already does this, but I haven't discovered one yet, so thought I would throw this out there.
Here is what I would like to do.
I have two android phones--One I don't use often, one daily driver. I would like to turn the first one into a sort of HAL system for the house, where I can ask it questions, and tell it to set reminders for me. Here is the catch, most apps like that now only set a local reminder on that particular phone. I want an app that syncs with other versions of itself on different devices and carries the reminder over to the other device as well. ".assistant" in the market does have an option now where you can sign in and use the same profile on different devices, but so far my testing has shown that it doesn't work very well.
Anyone have any ideas or comments?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can suggest looking at Maluuba, it will sync with you Google calendar. So if you use Google, each device would sync with the same Google calendar, thus giving you the same info on each unit you sign into with. As for reminders, not sure but if set them as events it would then work. At least it is worth a look and try to see if this can resolve your issue.
Yeah. I have thought about going through Google Calendar. It would definitely be one way to do it. However most assistant apps don't set reminders through Google Calendar by default or can even be configured to. So you would have to make sure you set a Calendar reminder every time you wanted a reminder set. Just seems like a hassle when a good assistant app that syncs to different devices would do the job more efficiently. I'll look at the app you recommended.

[Q] How does install from browser work?

We all know, Google Play Store offers us a unique (and quite user-friendly in my opinion) feature of installing an app from the browser of your computer. All we got to do is login to your PC's browser using your GMAIL account, access play.google.com/store, search for a the app there and click on Install.
Behind the scenes, Google somehow finds out the device which has the same Google account registered and the download gets started on this device!
I would like to know all that happens 'behind the scenes' and all the related APIs.
[Note: Tried to search for a similar question but couldn't find one. If there exists, please let me know the link to it]
Thanks in advance!
rohit.dhavale said:
We all know, Google Play Store offers us a unique (and quite user-friendly in my opinion) feature of installing an app from the browser of your computer. All we got to do is login to your PC's browser using your GMAIL account, access play.google.com/store, search for a the app there and click on Install.
Behind the scenes, Google somehow finds out the device which has the same Google account registered and the download gets started on this device!
I would like to know all that happens 'behind the scenes' and all the related APIs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, on a computer, when you are logged in to Gmail account, and click Install on an app, Google installs it automatically on your phone.
This actually works because of the app so called "Google Play Services" (if you had noticed), which manually triggers Play Store to download that app.
As soon as your phone (connected to Play Store with same Gmail ID as on PC) is connected to internet, the app you wished to install would automatically install (which you had clicked "Install" on PC)
So this is how it works. Hope you get it
GokulNC said:
Actually, on a computer, when you are logged in to Gmail account, and click Install on an app, Google installs it automatically on your phone.
This actually works because of the app so called "Google Play Services" (if you had noticed), which manually triggers Play Store to download that app.
As soon as your phone (connected to Play Store with same Gmail ID as on PC) is connected to internet, the app you wished to install would automatically install (which you had clicked "Install" on PC)
So this is how it works. Hope you get it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! It does make sense! But I am looking for a more fine-grained answer. Let me put it in more detail:
1. I click on Install button on my computer. Now, in some way, Google needs to send across this info to my device (probably the package info app that needs to be installed).
2. Assuming that Google might be storing some kind of device id in their database, is it that there is some process in GPlayServices that is continuously pinging Google servers to find out whether there is any new app request registered? If yes, I would love to know the details of this process!
rohit.dhavale said:
Thanks! It does make sense! But I am looking for a more fine-grained answer. Let me put it in more detail:
1. I click on Install button on my computer. Now, in some way, Google needs to send across this info to my device (probably the package info app that needs to be installed).
2. Assuming that Google might be storing some kind of device id in their database, is it that there is some process in GPlayServices that is continuously pinging Google servers to find out whether there is any new app request registered? If yes, I would love to know the details of this process!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's more like a packet of data info that Google sends to Play Services in phone (if connected to network, else retry after set_frequency) to trigger execution, rather than continuously pinging for checking updates.
If you're so curious to know, here's the source list for Google Play Services API: https://developer.android.com/reference/gms-packages.html
If you quite know Java, you can understand the packages and classes in it and trace the way it does it
(I don't have the patience for this )
Thanks

Failed Retrieving Accounts with Google Voice

When I try to use the Google Voice app, it launches and gets stuck at the "Sign in to your Google Account" screen, with a brief message at the bottom that says "Failed retrieving accounts." It works fine on my Nexus 4 running Nougat (Lineage). Anyone able to use the Google Voice app on the Pixel 2?
I also notice some other weird account behavior, like in the maps app, in the side pane, I don't see my account name to sign in, but I do see it in a pop up if I click on "add account" (and can log in with maps--as well as Play and other apps).
Any thoughts what's up with Google Voice? Uninstalling it and reinstalling it did not help. Neither did restarting the phone several times.
*
[Edit: OMG, I answered my own question after futzing with this for more than an hour. It turned out that Google Play Services did not have permission to access contacts on my device and that caused the weirdness on Google Voice and Maps also.
So I went to: Apps & Notifications > All apps > Google Play services > Permissions and then flipped the switch to enable contacts.
I guess when the pop up says, "If you deny this permission, basic features of your device may no longer function as intended," they mean it. When I was disabling some of this stuff, I figured Google was just trying to scare me away from giving them more personal information (which Google probably considers a basic feature).
The funny thing is that on my Nexus 4 with Lineage, Google Play services has permission to access contacts, in the same place in the settings. But then in the Privacy Guard settings I set it to ignore requests to read or modify contacts from Google Play services and that apparently does not interfere with how it manages accounts. In fact, Privacy Guard says Google Play services has never tried to read or modify my contacts, even though it apparently needs permission to do so or won't work correctly. Weird.]
In my case it was not a permissions issue. My Google Play Services was very old and not updating itself. Loading the latest APK fixed the issue with Google Voice (via Apkmirror). I could not even update from the Play Store.

Using a Nubia X without GApps

What are the possible replacements for google services?
Aptoide/Yalp store as replacement for play store?
If it works, I guess installing youtube, maps, etc. from either store should work? Or not?
Or we can find alternative apps thatbwork like youtube, gmaps, etc. anyway
How about retrieving contacts saved in google account? Can i retrieve them using browser logged in my google account? How to import into phone?
Users of Apps/games that require google login like pubg should use alternative logins now. Will it work?
What are the all the requirements for degooglefied phone like nubia x?
Hi,
I'm using one phone like that, until some solution for the google services is found.
It's a bit uncomfortable, but it's working. In anther one post I have uploaded a picture how it looks like.
Here is the answers of your questions:
sgn15 said:
Aptoide/Yalp store as replacement for play store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm downloading the applications from Google Play store, and then installing the apks manually.
sgn15 said:
If it works, I guess installing youtube, maps, etc. from either store should work? Or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouTube app generally working, but closes when cant find the google services. Anyway I'm watching the videos from the browser.
Maps - you can install Chrome and then pin it to the home screen. Works like charm.
You can install Mesanger, WatsApp, Viber, Skype - they work.
sgn15 said:
How about retrieving contacts saved in google account? Can i retrieve them using browser logged in my google account? How to import into phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have download a Microsoft launcher. It has Cortana as voice assistant. Then Outlook app, which can import all the contacts and from your accounts (o365, Google, Hotmail, yahoo etc.)
sgn15 said:
sers of Apps/games that require google login like pubg should use alternative logins now. Will it work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With PUBG I had some issues installing it because except the apk has obb, may be I'll try later when I have some time. Fortnite is working like charm. Even with the back screen two additional buttons is like a cheat.
Things which I could not solve until now:
- Outlook cant import o365 mail hosted by GoDaddy.
- It seems that, a lot of applications rely on google services for the push notifications. If the app (let say Viber) is not running, you may not have popup notification on the lock screen. (If anyone knows how to solve that I'll be happy)
So, that's all. At the end you can live with the phone. I'm happy with it.
I hope that answers your question. If you have other questions - let me know
br_other said:
Hi,
I'm using one phone like that, until some solution for the google services is found.
It's a bit uncomfortable, but it's working. In anther one post I have uploaded a picture how it looks like.
Here is the answers of your questions:
I'm downloading the applications from Google Play store, and then installing the apks manually.
YouTube app generally working, but closes when cant find the google services. Anyway I'm watching the videos from the browser.
Maps - you can install Chrome and then pin it to the home screen. Works like charm.
You can install Mesanger, WatsApp, Viber, Skype - they work.
I have download a Microsoft launcher. It has Cortana as voice assistant. Then Outlook app, which can import all the contacts and from your accounts (o365, Google, Hotmail, yahoo etc.)
With PUBG I had some issues installing it because except the apk has obb, may be I'll try later when I have some time. Fortnite is working like charm. Even with the back screen two additional buttons is like a cheat.
Things which I could not solve until now:
- Outlook cant import o365 mail hosted by GoDaddy.
- It seems that, a lot of applications rely on google services for the push notifications. If the app (let say Viber) is not running, you may not have popup notification on the lock screen. (If anyone knows how to solve that I'll be happy)
So, that's all. At the end you can live with the phone. I'm happy with it.
I hope that answers your question. If you have other questions - let me know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How about updating/syncing contacts? I mean after retrieving them and i added a new contact entry. How do i update/sync that contact into google?
And for photos? Do i have to manually backup to pc or cloud since there's no google photos and no google drive?
Any other concerns i might have forgotten?
Edit:
Link to this thread you mentioned?
I used aptoide - the only google apps that seems to work is Google Chrome Browser and gmaps. youtube did not work through aptoide as didn't all the other google apps i tried. I placed a youtube home page using the chrome broswer on the desktop. Whatsapp apk i downloaded from their official website and installed working fine. When I downloaded whatsapp through aptoide and the chinese market app it won't work and keeps saying date and time is not right even though it is - maybe because its not chinese date and time?
For Contacts i opened my pc with chrome broswer and downloaded the contacts VCARD which you can do and placed in root folder of Nubia X - picked all my contacts up - I'm not sure how to sync though to google accounts as you cant add a google account through the phone unless you root as per other posts.
Pretty silly how they just didn't let you install gapps without root - i buy a lot of chinese phones and its the standard now even if google isnt preinstalled - its been a long time since I've seen a phone that doesn't let you install gapps yourself if you want too even though they dont support it. I'm finding it hard to use the phone and it will probably end up in a drawer for a few months until the international rom is released with google. Its annoying, even switching the phone off the voice assistant starts in Chinese and i want to get rid of this.
I've deleted practically all the bloatware, yet can't get music player to detect music i placed in the music folder.
Should have done my reading before hand but oh well... I got it for less than £495 from geekbuying 128gb version but should have waited out for the international rom version
Most of my good apps I downloaded through the Amazon App Store which is also working so I have 3 markets on my phone at the moment.

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