Why is Google stalking me? - General Topics

Since upgrading to lollipop I'd noticed a couple of small niggles with me Galaxy S5. As I've not had to rebuild my phone since purchasing it, I decided a factory reset wouldn't do any harm. Since resetting, Google play services keeps waking my GPS and searching for my location, this happens every few minutes unless I turn the GPS off. I've got all the usual Google stalking features turned off (Google now, location history, location reporting) but I've still got the same issue. I've even reset again and unticked the box to restore my user data... But still Google want to know where I am.
Any ideas how to resolve this one? It's a pain if I have to keep turning my GPS off when I'm not using it, especially when I had no issue prior to factory resetting.

clattewell said:
Since upgrading to lollipop I'd noticed a couple of small niggles with me Galaxy S5. As I've not had to rebuild my phone since purchasing it, I decided a factory reset wouldn't do any harm. Since resetting, Google play services keeps waking my GPS and searching for my location, this happens every few minutes unless I turn the GPS off. I've got all the usual Google stalking features turned off (Google now, location history, location reporting) but I've still got the same issue. I've even reset again and unticked the box to restore my user data... But still Google want to know where I am.
Any ideas how to resolve this one? It's a pain if I have to keep turning my GPS off when I'm not using it, especially when I had no issue prior to factory resetting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's more likely one or several of the myriad of apps/services on your phone. Do you have a weather app on your phone? Well, how's it going to know how the weather is, if it doesn't know where you are? Facebook by default wants to know where you are so when you post or send a message, it tells everybody where you are. Even apps like music streamers want to know where you are so they can tell you where you were when you heard something. Lots of apps that you wouldn't expect to use GPS in fact do. The vast majority of this data collection is completely innocuous and harmless, but you always have the option to disallow it. Or not use the app(s) as well; remember, it was you that granted the app GPS permissions when you installed it.

Planterz said:
It's more likely one or several of the myriad of apps/services on your phone. Do you have a weather app on your phone? Well, how's it going to know how the weather is, if it doesn't know where you are? Facebook by default wants to know where you are so when you post or send a message, it tells everybody where you are. Even apps like music streamers want to know where you are so they can tell you where you were when you heard something. Lots of apps that you wouldn't expect to use GPS in fact do. The vast majority of this data collection is completely innocuous and harmless, but you always have the option to disallow it. Or not use the app(s) as well; remember, it was you that granted the app GPS permissions when you installed it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your suggestion, I don't think it is another app though. Prior to resetting my phone the 2nd and 3rd time I uninstalled any suspect apps one by one to see which one was the culprit. In the end I just went through the entire apps list and uninstalled/disabled everything I could, it made the phone really unstable and practically unusable but still didn't stop Google Play Services using my GPS every few minutes.
Any other ideas?

clattewell said:
Thanks for your suggestion, I don't think it is another app though. Prior to resetting my phone the 2nd and 3rd time I uninstalled any suspect apps one by one to see which one was the culprit. In the end I just went through the entire apps list and uninstalled/disabled everything I could, it made the phone really unstable and practically unusable but still didn't stop Google Play Services using my GPS every few minutes.
Any other ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this:
http://androidforums.com/threads/is-there-an-app-to-track-which-app-uses-gps.732746/

how about "Android Device Manager " .. is that disabled?

There are a lot of guides about how to fix this. It isn't always the same service that is an issue...but you can try and disable some of the ones that are known to be problematic. For example see post #3 in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2785128
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Related

Google services

Guys,
Anyone else having this issue, ever few days I get this error
The Application Google Services Framework (process com.google.precess.gapps) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again
And I have to clear data on Google services app
uefcommad said:
Guys,
Anyone else having this issue, ever few days I get this error
The Application Google Services Framework (process com.google.precess.gapps) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again
And I have to clear data on Google services app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just went through this on my Thunderbolt.
It's usually an issue with corrupted contact or calendar.
To fix it you have to turn off syncing automatic. Then manually try syncing one by one all the Google services. When you get to the one that causes the force close, turn syncing off. Go to settings... applications... clear data and cache for the offending app, then clear data and cache for Google services framework... force stop them if they're running. Reboot your phone. Try syncing again.
That worked for me.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
distortedloop said:
I just went through this on my Thunderbolt.
It's usually an issue with corrupted contact or calendar.
To fix it you have to turn off syncing automatic. Then manually try syncing one by one all the Google services. When you get to the one that causes the force close, turn syncing off. Go to settings... applications... clear data and cache for the offending app, then clear data and cache for Google services framework... force stop them if they're running. Reboot your phone. Try syncing again.
That worked for me.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i understand that, that is what i had to do i was wondering if anyone figured out why this is going on. it happens to me every 2 days now.
uefcommad said:
i understand that, that is what i had to do i was wondering if anyone figured out why this is going on. it happens to me every 2 days now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not reassuring - I had this problem earlier this week. It's the reason I was jumping back and forth between ROMs and bricking my phone in the process. Hahaha. No matter what I did the crashes would persist.
Anyways, my resolution was to do a factory reset since /data was the only partition that never got wiped when switching ROMs. I haven't had any issues since. I restored all my apps with data with TiBu. I left all the system settings alone and input my settings manually.
But, when I did notice these issues start occurring it was only after I got a random soft reboot. My phone was just sitting on the counter when I heard the bootup sound.
distortedloop said:
It's usually an issue with corrupted contact or calendar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny you mention this, because I noticed one of my contacts disappeared when I switched to this phone. Turns out two of my contacts somehow automagically merged together. It was still like that after I wiped /data, but I fixed it manually.
To the OP, it's something worth looking into. If it matters, the two contacts were my dad and bro. It's the same last name and the first names start with the same letter, but in no way are they similar.
uefcommad said:
i understand that, that is what i had to do i was wondering if anyone figured out why this is going on. it happens to me every 2 days now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Something is corrupting your calendar or contacts.
Do you know which is the culprit?
It's tedious, but if you do, go through each contact or calendar entry that syncs and find the offending one.
You didn't make it initially clear that you'd also turned off syncing and cleared the data in something beyond google services. If you skipped that, all you're doing is trying to repush the bad data on your phone back to the server, which pukes at the attempt and crashes your phone's services.
binglejellsx2 said:
Funny you mention this, because I noticed one of my contacts disappeared when I switched to this phone. Turns out two of my contacts somehow automagically merged together. It was still like that after I wiped /data, but I fixed it manually.
To the OP, it's something worth looking into. If it matters, the two contacts were my dad and bro. It's the same last name and the first names start with the same letter, but in no way are they similar.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're coming from an HTC sense phone, I think the problem might be related to how it tries to link contacts. Every time I put a new install or rom on my Thunderbolt, the first thing the HTC sense stuff wants to do is link all my google contacts to the phone contacts. What's odd about that is the contacts on the phone come from Google in the first place, so what's the linking needed for?
Another thing I forgot to mention, the phone would crash doing basically anything with calls/SMS, and none of my services were synching properly. Only when I received a call or SMS would my GVoice SMS and GMail update.
distortedloop said:
If you're coming from an HTC sense phone, I think the problem might be related to how it tries to link contacts. Every time I put a new install or rom on my Thunderbolt, the first thing the HTC sense stuff wants to do is link all my google contacts to the phone contacts. What's odd about that is the contacts on the phone come from Google in the first place, so what's the linking needed for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, it is an odd scenario. Even more odd, I was coming from pure Android with my Moto Droid on CM7. I never had a phone with an overlay nor did I link multiple Google contacts together, and I hadn't encountered this problem before when switching between ROMs on that or my NOOKcolor. This is actually the first Android device I've had where the contacts could be saved on the phone, but I still prefer to sync everything to the cloud.
I'm just glad my phone is running smooth again and hope the same for the OP.

[INFO] NFC Service and Market

Learn from my Fail.
I was cleaning out some bloat yesterday by freezing a bunch of stuff I didn't need or want. After a reboot, I noticed that NFC Service was still running, even though it was frozen. I came to the obvious conclusion that it would be best to just uninstall it, nothing near me uses NFC anyways...
This was a mistake.
My Market started acting flaky... I could run it, and browse apps, and I could even update apps and install things I pushed through the web market, but as soon as I tried to view details about an app, Market would force close on me.
I tried all the obvious things like wiping Market data and cache, to no avail. Started poking through logCat and noticed that something was trying to talk to NFC Service around when I try to view an app. I restored NFC Service from titanium backup, rebooted, and the market works as expected again.
TL;DR: Do not uninstall NFC Service, otherwise your Market will force close when you try to view an app's details.
Hope this helps someone!
m.
what does it need nfc for?
jessejames111981 said:
what does it need nfc for?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good question, I have no idea... just reporting my findings. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable can shed some light?
m.
I did the exact same thing for the exact same reason, but I only had issues when I used Google Play Store, when I did uninstall updates it worked fine. Unfortunately, it would always update itself, so I ended up flashing a custom ROM. Wonder why you can't freeze it or force close it?? Why is NFC always running?

[Completed] Audio Adverts when android is sleeping

Hi everyone,
At a bit of a loss here. My gf has a nexus 5 running android 6 and she keeps getting loud adverts playing when her phone is sleeping.
It is intermittent, no set pattern and as soon as the power button is pressed there is no trace of anything.
I have googled excessively and can find no one else who has experienced it.
I have removed lots of her apps that could be suspect but today it happened and I heard it with my own ears. They appear to be targeted ads as it played an audio ad for a national car chip repair service.
Any help or advice welcomed.
Thinking of doing a factory reset of the phone.....
hawkyhawk1404 said:
Hi everyone,
At a bit of a loss here. My gf has a nexus 5 running android 6 and she keeps getting loud adverts playing when her phone is sleeping.
It is intermittent, no set pattern and as soon as the power button is pressed there is no trace of anything.
I have googled excessively and can find no one else who has experienced it.
I have removed lots of her apps that could be suspect but today it happened and I heard it with my own ears. They appear to be targeted ads as it played an audio ad for a national car chip repair service.
Any help or advice welcomed.
Thinking of doing a factory reset of the phone.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One way to find out which app is causing this is to go to Settings->Apps->Running and see what all apps are listed here.
Try looking uninstalling the user apps listed here one by one and check if the problem is fixed.
Normally it has to be a Game app or sth. like that.
Cheers.
dagger said:
One way to find out which app is causing this is to go to Settings->Apps->Running and see what all apps are listed here.
Try looking uninstalling the user apps listed here one by one and check if the problem is fixed.
Normally it has to be a Game app or sth. like that.
Cheers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried doing that, and nothing obvious was running. The only thing it claimed was running was Android Web View - which would make sense, the ads are probably javascript and HTML5 audio elements., but I could not see what was invoking the web view to open.
I did run a malware scan using malwarebytes for andorid and it ALWAYS crashed when scanning chrome, even after I cleared the chrome cache and data. Which made me suspect chrome was infact infected.
On a more depressing note, I did end up factory reseting the phone, and did a clean install, and installed her "vital" apps (to make sure it did not restore a "bad" application) and my gf has just alerted me to the fact it has begun speaking to her again! Arrghh.
I would of thought a factory reset would have removed all traces of this thing.
Would it be worth doing (the rather drastic) full factory reset, using the google provided factory images and ADB/Fastboot?
hawkyhawk1404 said:
I tried doing that, and nothing obvious was running. The only thing it claimed was running was Android Web View - which would make sense, the ads are probably javascript and HTML5 audio elements., but I could not see what was invoking the web view to open.
I did run a malware scan using malwarebytes for andorid and it ALWAYS crashed when scanning chrome, even after I cleared the chrome cache and data. Which made me suspect chrome was infact infected.
On a more depressing note, I did end up factory reseting the phone, and did a clean install, and installed her "vital" apps (to make sure it did not restore a "bad" application) and my gf has just alerted me to the fact it has begun speaking to her again! Arrghh.
I would of thought a factory reset would have removed all traces of this thing.
Would it be worth doing (the rather drastic) full factory reset, using the google provided factory images and ADB/Fastboot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity, does this music play while there is an incoming notification?
dagger said:
Just out of curiosity, does this music play while there is an incoming notification?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The odd thing is there is NO notification at all. You can just hear the advert, and once the screen comes on, there is no sign of it ever happening!
No notifications, no open applications in the app draw. Very annoying!
hawkyhawk1404 said:
The odd thing is there is NO notification at all. You can just hear the advert, and once the screen comes on, there is no sign of it ever happening!
No notifications, no open applications in the app draw. Very annoying!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well,that's strange.
Only thing that is left to try is a full reset, as I guess the media is stored somewhere in the internal storage and is played by some adware.
Just back up only the essential folders ( like DCIM,Music,etc.) and nothing more from your internal storage prior to a full reset.
That should solve the problem.
Cheers.

Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus Screen Timeout

Does anybody else have a problem with the screen timeout settings? It seems to remain the same 10-15 seconds no matter what I put it on. Even if I set it to 10 minutes
Good for your battery life! ?

			
				
Are you talking about the lock screen or the normal display after you unlock it. There is no way to change the timeout of the lock screen.
I get that too. It times out no matter what time I set it!
This is driving me crazy!!
joshlee80 said:
I get that too. It times out no matter what time I set it!
This is driving me crazy!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might have something to do with face recognition. (Smart Stay) try messing with those settings too. I receive mine today so ill look into it too.
I'm having the same issue. Spent all night messing with every setting to no avail. Incredibly frustrating.
think its about smart stay, or did you use any battery saver that comes with the phone?
Does the same thing with smart stay on or off (unless you're staring right at the screen in good lighting), no battery saving modes used. On the phone with Samsung right now
[email protected] said:
Does the same thing with smart stay on or off (unless you're staring right at the screen in good lighting), no battery saving modes used. On the phone with Samsung right now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please let me know? I would like to find out what Samsung says!
They used smart tutor to access my phone and looked at all the settings. Said they would call me back when they have a solution. Didn't ever verbally confirm it as an issue, not holding out much hope
[email protected] said:
They used smart tutor to access my phone and looked at all the settings. Said they would call me back when they have a solution. Didn't ever verbally confirm it as an issue, not holding out much hope
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just for your info, I did spoke to Samsung as well and I reset the phone as they told me to. They are thinking there is something contradiction between your old backup data and current. It actaully fixed the issue but now I found a dead pixel.... shoot. Now I will have to go to T-mobile for the replacement phone. Hope they accept it.
So did they just have you do a factory reset? Sorry to hear about the dead pixel what a bummer. Anything you could tell me about what they had you do would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
I'm glad its not just me, I'm going to factory reset to see what happens. I've been using a Stay Alive app in the meantime
Installed the T-Mobile software update, made no difference. So far the only thing that seems to work for me is a factory reset and to set it up as a new device; restoring any devices through Google seems to result in the same issue. Restoring data from devices linked to Samsung account (which I have to if I log into Samsung account while setting up for some reason) doesn't seem to matter one way or the other.
Mine is working for now going to start installing my apps and hope it continues to do so
[email protected] said:
Installed the T-Mobile software update, made no difference. So far the only thing that seems to work for me is a factory reset and to set it up as a new device; restoring any devices through Google seems to result in the same issue. Restoring data from devices linked to Samsung account (which I have to if I log into Samsung account while setting up for some reason) doesn't seem to matter one way or the other.
Mine is working for now going to start installing my apps and hope it continues to do so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, Thanks for the info. So which one did have an impact? Google backup or Samsung Cloud? I only restored phone number and picture from google and didn't even try Samsung cloud.
joshlee80 said:
Hi, Thanks for the info. So which one did have an impact? Google backup or Samsung Cloud? I only restored phone number and picture from google and didn't even try Samsung cloud.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung cloud seems to have no effect. Restoring app data (can add Google accounts etc. just do not restore data from any other devices when prompted) from any devices linked to my Google account causes the issue eveytime. Set up as a new device and manually selected apps to install from my list of apps in play store and all is well.
Hope this helps
[email protected] said:
Samsung cloud seems to have no effect. Restoring app data (can add Google accounts etc. just do not restore data from any other devices when prompted) from any devices linked to my Google account causes the issue eveytime. Set up as a new device and manually selected apps to install from my list of apps in play store and all is well.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a lot! it helps! I am getting a warranty exchange for the dead pixel. You cannot get this exchange from Samsung directly but from the service provider.
[email protected] said:
Samsung cloud seems to have no effect. Restoring app data (can add Google accounts etc. just do not restore data from any other devices when prompted) from any devices linked to my Google account causes the issue eveytime. Set up as a new device and manually selected apps to install from my list of apps in play store and all is well.
Hope this helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much, so much help. It worked
I find even playing games my phone goes onto lock mode if I'm not touching screen.
Annoying.

Updates stuck at 100%, Gmail does not notify, and other issues.

I am desperate, I can't find the issue here. I have a S10 (Xfinity unlocked on Verizon) , I can't seem to update apps, they get stuck at 100% or 99%, AND some things like Gmail and Instagram do not seem to notify that I am getting messages.
Here's the kicker, I factory reset the phone some 5 times now, and still have the issue. The Reset fixes it for a few days (if even a day) and then the issue starts up again!
the phone was just upgraded to 10, but it was happening on 9 also!
no clue what the problem is ! it kills me! Please anyone have any idea? I even had an authorized Samsung dealer do a "software refresh" and then wiped out the phone again, and I'm still having the same issue..
HELP! please.
thank you
eatonjb said:
I am desperate, I can't find the issue here. I have a S10 (Xfinity unlocked on Verizon) , I can't seem to update apps, they get stuck at 100% or 99%, AND some things like Gmail and Instagram do not seem to notify that I am getting messages.
Here's the kicker, I factory reset the phone some 5 times now, and still have the issue. The Reset fixes it for a few days (if even a day) and then the issue starts up again!
the phone was just upgraded to 10, but it was happening on 9 also!
no clue what the problem is ! it kills me! Please anyone have any idea? I even had an authorized Samsung dealer do a "software refresh" and then wiped out the phone again, and I'm still having the same issue..
HELP! please.
thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Boot into safe mode, it will only load your system apps and not your user apps. Then try to update your apps, if it works then you know the issue is being cause one of your user apps. Then you just need to identify which user app is the offending app.
It also might be caused by a conflict between various settings or maybe you have some things disabled or turned off that are causing this.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Droidriven said:
Boot into safe mode, it will only load your system apps and not your user apps. Then try to update your apps, if it works then you know the issue is being cause one of your user apps. Then you just need to identify which user app is the offending app.
It also might be caused by a conflict between various settings or maybe you have some things disabled or turned off that are causing this.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That kinda works.. but again, as said, I have reloaded the phone over and over, and it works fine, until a few days later and stars over.. And updating is not the only problem, Geolocating is slow, sluggish or not working sometimes, Push updates of emails are slower or not happening. just weird things..
I am not sure what it could be! its like the phone is the problem!
eatonjb said:
That kinda works.. but again, as said, I have reloaded the phone over and over, and it works fine, until a few days later and stars over.. And updating is not the only problem, Geolocating is slow, sluggish or not working sometimes, Push updates of emails are slower or not happening. just weird things..
I am not sure what it could be! its like the phone is the problem!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, everything I posted went completely over your head, I'll try again.
If it is working like it is supposed to while in safe mode(which is only loaded with system apps and system settings and not any of your user apps or data) that tells you that the issue is caused by some user app that you have installed or something in your user settings. In other other words, it is very likely something that you, as the user, have installed or setup/selected, it is probably not the device. It keeps happening after resetting because you are not changing what you are doing that it is causing it, it is something that you keep returning to after resetting the device. You just need to figure out which user app is causing the issue or whatever settings are causing the issue.
The way to do that will be trial and error. Uninstall one of the apps that you have installed, then use the device for a few hours, if the issue continues, that wasn't the app causing the issue, reinstall that app then choose another user app to uninstall and then use the device for a few hours, if the issue continues, that is t the app, reinstall that app, and so on and so on, etc... Get the picture? When you uninstall an app and the issue stops, the last app uninstalled is probably the app causing the issue.
I suggest resetting the device again. Then, only install one of your usual apps but don't install any others and don't change any settings, use the device a while, if the issue does not occur, install another one of your usual apps but don't install any others, basically, install one app at a time until the issue occurs, when it does, the last app installed is probably the offending app.
Or, if you don't find it that way and you get all of your usual apps installed without triggering the issue during the trial and error process, then you need to go through settings by trial and error. Changing one setting at a time and using the device a while to see if the issue occurs, if it does, it probably has something to do with the last setting that you changed before the issue occured.
Slowly changing one thing at a time over an extended amount with time between each change, will allow you to isolate exactly which app or setting is causing the issue.
Or maybe you need to flash your stock firmware via PC tools to start over with a clean installation.
Sent from my SM-S767VL using Tapatalk

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