[APP] Where I'm parked? - Android Apps and Games

How many times have you forgotten where you had parked?
With this app you will not forget where you parked your car, motorbike, bike or horse...
With a simple and intuitive interface you can save the position where he parked and then get directions from wherever you are.
The application can also save the position of the vehicle automatically when you disconnect the headset, by example.
HOW IT WORKS
A button will appear in the bottom-right of the screen when the location will be fixed with the defined accuracy.
Press the button to save your car location.
When you can re-enter the app it will display the route to your vehicle and, of course, you can save the car location again.
Easier impossible!
PLAY STORE LINK
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ryosoftware.whereismycar
PERMISSIONS
Fine and coarse locations: Required to fix your location
Write external storage: Required by GoogleMaps API
Internet and Access network state: Required by GoogleMaps API and by Ads (in the free version)
Billing and Get Accounts: Required to manage InApp billing
Bluetooth: Required to automatically save current location when BT device disconnected (see app settings)
Vibrate: Required to vibrate when current location saved
Read phone state: To disable voice speech while incall

Only to let us know 2 rellevant dates for this app:
* May 3: I have pulled the app from the Play Store. Active users can use the app but no new installs are allowed.
* June 11: Google Maps API becomes a payment API and developers needs to create a billing account to continue using it. I do not agree with that, so I do not intend to create the billing account. I assume that the app will stop working sooner than later from that date.
Just for your information, I paste a rellevant part of the email that I have received on May 3 from Google...
Code:
Hi,
Today we are announcing important changes, including our new name - Google Maps Platform, a simplified product structure, pay as you go pricing for all, and more. Please take a few minutes to review the announcement to familiarize yourself with the upcoming changes.
We would like to highlight a few updates that may impact your implementation. Beginning June 11th, we are launching our new pricing plan and providing all users access to support. We’ll continue to offer a free tier — all developers will receive $200 of free monthly usage of our core products.
In addition, this change will require you to enable billing and associate it with all of your Google Maps Platform projects. Creating a billing account helps us better understand your usage so we can continue developing helpful products. It also allows you to scale easily with less downtime and fewer performance issues if your product grows beyond the $200 of free monthly usage. For additional visibility and control you can set daily quotas or billing alerts.

Related

Metr0 finally (sort of) available for Android

Metr0 is a very useful public transportation app long available on a whole slew of platforms other than Android. On 31 July the developers released a preview version at their blog.
Their website has extensive general information about the program.
What's the big deal given that there are already other transport apps on the Market? Well, this preview version already beats all the ones I've tried, and most of the features available on other platforms aren't even enabled yet. Metr0 is so useful to me that when I travel I carry an old inactivated Windows phone just to run it. It's not just a collection of subway maps (in fact, if you want to see a map of a system, this isn't the tool for you).
Appearance and (eventual) function of the Android version is very close to the iPhone version.
Here are some of the ways in which it's great (at least in the completed versions):
400 cities worldwide
data frequently updated by users
all data stored offline on your device so you don't rack up roaming data charges
enter start and ending points and your route will be computed and time estimated
details provided when you need to transfer so you don't end up on the wrong train
extensive list of POI's since you probably don't know the best stations for unfamiliar cities
autocompletion, which helps with foreign spelling
quick "reverse route" button for returning to your starting point without re-entering anything or reading in reverse order
subway and bus routes for many cities, allowing for optimal routing
set preferences to minimize transfers, minimize walking, avoid buses, etc.
knows when stations or routes are closed, takes this into account when routing so you don't end up stranded
exclude specific lines if desired (smelly hobos, unreliable, etc.)
features of particular use to commuters and locals
features of particular use to tourists
roughly 50 cities have geolocation data, allowing routing to or from particular addresses or from your current location without knowing what your nearest stop is
It's free, has been for many years, and is planned to remain free (although they'll happily accept donations).
I'm really happy about this, if you can't tell!
There's also a database for Liberty City from Grand Theft Auto IV.

Freeware Apps - Redefining a Lost Genre

Freeware isnt something you really find much in the Android community.
You hear the term thrown around quite a bit, but even alot of what is termed as freeware, actually isnt.
The Lion's Share of Android apps are not Freeware at all, and the Vast majority of the so-called 'freeware' apps that are available for us to download & use daily are not truly freeware at all
I would like to draft a set of guidelines for what would ideally become a certification standard for the ethical creation & development of free apps
Apps adhering to this standard could be classified under this genre of apps, and even bear a symbol within the app, overlaid on its logo, showing users it belongs and mentioned in the app's description, showing users how it was developed, and stating that it adheres to the guidelines and fulfills the requirements of the new standard.
I would also like to compile a list of any existing apps which already meet these criteria
and all Apps filling these requirements will fall under the realm of this Guild.
Please feel free to offer your own ideas & input as to what you feel would be best for the end user, and any rules or criteria you feel are relevant to forming a framework of guidelines & prerequisites needed for apps to be called under this name, and be brought under the umbrella of this guild.
Please feel free to offer suggestions for the certification & class name and/or Guild name as well
this is all preliminary work, and I'm looking for anyone interested in helping to build this community and standard & promote its use.
There could be 2 classes of apps, Freeware & Benefit-Ware
Or there could just be one set of rules for each, stating "IF.. such and such, THEN... such and such"
If you are an App User, please mention anything you find annoying, bothersome, or troublesome.
If you are an App Developer who knows about or is displeased with the ethics and developments of certain apps which gives other apps and developers bad names, please mention anything you can that might assist us in reigning in the cowboys of the App Wild West.
Also, if somethings are simply & 100% "Not Possible" because of the Android OS, these would be issues the Guild will work to make Individual Device Manufacturers as well as the Android team at Google aware of
So, it could start something like this:
- An app should not contain ads nor promotions which cannot be closed or disabled
- An app should not contain any full-screen ads nor any ads which limit or effect user interaction with the app
- An app should not give reminders which pop up and ask the user for money, ratings, or to download additional apps
- All requests for financial support, ratings, and downloading of additional apps should be contained in the 'About' Section of the Apps Settings
- All apps which produce sound of any sort must include its Volume Controls, including in-app Mute
- All apps with services which wish to run at start up must include their own settings option to enable or disable "Start when Android Starts"
- An app must not Auto-start unless the User has specifically selected it to, nor shall it be kept running if it has not been manually Launched by a User since the last Boot time.
- An app must allow users to manually select the installation directory upon installation
- An app must have its own internal Uninstall button in the "About" Menu Settings
- An app must install 'portably', that is, without adding data to the internal phone storage
- All apps which save data must have a User-Selectable Save Location which can be used to replace the App Default Save Location
- All Apps must Uninstall completely and leave no folder behind, asking users whether or not to uninstall specific items which might contain important user data
I hope other people can add to this list
thanks
I would like to stress that this isnt a knock on any existing programs, nor do I expect anyone to change what they are doing who isn't willing to.
If you hate the idea of this, please continue doing what you are doing.
This is for people who want to join or participate because these are the apps they would prefer to use, or make.
thanks
Others may include:
- An app must ask users whether or not the user wants to add a shortcut to the users default Home screen, regardless of the user's own phone settings. Perhaps an "Allow Shortcut" selection for Shortcuts which are going to be added
- An app must ONLY install shortcuts to the program currently being installed, and can in no way add shortcuts to the Home screen, the apps drawer, or the installation directory, to any other program nor any website at all.
- An app may include a single, small, unobtrusive "Donate/Beer" button on a menu bar with other menu buttons, but to be at the far right or farthest/last menu item available on the menu
- An app must not include permissions for anything other than the express intent & use of the app for its specified purpose.
- No app may, at any time, access a users personal information unless the app has direct interaction with such information as directly related to a service it is providing as a primary function of the app - And even then, the apps access to information must not be sent online nor over the internet unless specified as such due to it being a primary function of the app - and if & when personal information is sent online, the owner of the server must have a secure server which is not accessed by himself or his employees, but in which information is automatically transferred by software to and from the end users needed locations, and to no other place shall the information be passed - Nor shall it be kept on the server while not being sent or received to/from the users locations, without the users express consent, as an additional option.
- A "Primary Function" is defined as a Function which is the main or only reason a user installs or interacts with the site, and will be the main focus of the apps description
- Secondary Functions are not allowed to gain internet access, nor have any interaction with any online server or service, nor be granted any access to personal information nor any stored data outside the apps own install directory, etc.
- Apps must, in a written disclaimer provided in the "About" section of the apps own settings, give specific details as to the apps permissions and justify with specific reasons and technical details why each function requires each form of permission, and exactly how the app will use each permission, including server specifications & information-handling specifics, where applicable.
- Apps qualifying for inclusion in the Guild will clearly label themselves in one of 3 categories exclusively - Freeware, Benefitware, or Trialware.
- Apps labelled as Free, or containing the word "Free" must 1.) be 100% ad-free, 2.) not be a Trial, 3.) be fully functional, & 4.) not bother users for payments, ratings, etc.
- Apps labelled as "Benefitware" may include 1.) ads adhering to the guidelines for the inclusion of ads, 2.) requests for financial assistance in accordance with the guidelines for requests of Financial Assistance, 3.) Added Functionality which is above and beyond the scope of the original, feature-rich, fully-functional program, & 4.) Other items which are primarily of benefit to the developer, but which adhere to the guidelines of Enjoyable, Unfettered User Interaction
- Apps labeled clearly as "Trialware" may 1.) Limit the functionality of the apps Primary Functions, 2.) Must have a fully-functioning trial period of no less than 30 days, 3.) Must not be limited in any way during the Evaluation Period (e.g. no "20-character", "2-page", "3-time" limitations, or the such), & 4.) after the Trial Period, the app will be completely 100% uninstallable, and a re-install of the app on a specific device will begin a new 30-day evaluation (Users will not be treated like criminals nor presumed Guilty of Fraudulent use before proven otherwise).
- Other apps will not gain classification, certification, or inclusion in the Guild, and may refer to themselves in anyway they care to, but may broadly be referred to as "junkware" if they are found to not conform to the Principles, Guidelines & Statutes set forth and adhered to by the Guild & its Members & Affiliates
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Also:
- An app must have an option to turn off Automatic updates, and may not self-check for updates otherwise.
- All Settings a User sets must be permanent and may not be reset nor shall those permission requests for updates, etc, be altered or changed nor be made to reappear, nor require the user to specify the same setting more than once.
- No app shall ever contact its servers for anything other than a user-launched request for the specific function required by the user at the time of the request.
- No app nor server nor company shall in any way interact with its apps or servers in anyway other than to execute the exact function called for by the user according to the UI meaning and implicit intent of the action
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I have checked almost all the setting of it..But couldn't find the prior results..What are the other alternatives of it?
MarkanthonyDonald said:
I have checked almost all the setting of it..But couldn't find the prior results..What are the other alternatives of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, markanthonydonald. welcome to the forum, I see this is your first day registered, and your first post no less.
That's right, all the prior results are belong to the settings of it t almost at all from the prior r results, but dont stop trying your point o of that the alternatives are to us, and thats the most bases of it. ll
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I like the idea of this, and from what youre saying and a few apps I use would fall into this category just fine IF certain things were moved into the 'about' option. How or why a dev would change their current, 100% working fine app, to modify this I dont know.
robneymcplum said:
I like the idea of this, and from what youre saying and a few apps I use would fall into this category just fine IF certain things were moved into the 'about' option. How or why a dev would change their current, 100% working fine app, to modify this I dont know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great Idea!
- An App must have a complete Version History contained in the About Menu Settings, or a Menu Item Devoted to Version History, with Detailed explanations as to why the changes were added, and if they are only to fix a bug with device x, why is it recommended to install it if you arent using that device
- Each App Update should be available as a complete App Stand-Alone APK installer, or installable from the Play Store Directly. No App should require Updates, nor provide updates for which there is no Standalone APK or an updated Google Play Installation.
alot of devs set up their apps just good enough to get on Google play, without getting kicked off, and then after you install it, they update the app with functions & behaviors that would get it kicked from the Play Store.
great work catching that one, thanks
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robneymcplum said:
I like the idea of this, and from what youre saying and a few apps I use would fall into this category just fine
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you know of any solid apps that you believe fall into this category, or easily could, please post them here
We need a list of example apps that we feel embody the spirit of honesty, transparency, user-centric programming & packaging, and which are either made in the spirit of true freeware, or made in the spirit of goodwill, and have either Benefitware or Trialware which adheres to consumer-oriented needs & interests
The following behaviors DO NOT qualify for inclusion in the Guild:
- Any app which appears desperate to flash things in front of your face, particularly things which flash or change scenes or color rapidly, change in a single frame, or less than a 1 second cross-dissolve, and which are overly animated, bothersome, annoying, or which may lead to epileptic reactions, which cannot be permanently closed or disabled for the duration of the session.
- Any app which appears to desperately or urgently present users with matters of no immediate significance or importance to the user. This includes the pestering need for ratings, requests for financial assistance, downloading of the developers other apps or partner apps, offers to visit the Play store or any other external website, etc..
- Any Benefit-ware app with any full-screen advertisement at all, from Internal or external sources used to promote the sales, use, or downloading of its own other products & services or those of an external company
- Any Benefitware which does not allow you to close a bar-style advertisement with a clear, easily-accessed, and adequately-sized close button
- Any Benefitware which re-opens an ad which has been closed within the same 24-hour period, or since reboot.
- Any Trialware which limits functionality of its products to a state inconsistent with the primary function of the app
- Any Trialware which does not allow a minimum 30-day trial period
- Any Trialware which limits the functions within its trial period in any way
- Any Trialware which doesnt openly allow a re-installation of a Trial package on fresh uninstall/reinstall
A user is to be given as much time as is required for him/her to fully evaluate the product. Often times a user may begin a 30-day trial period, only to never have the time to use it, including having no time to even look through it the day it was installed
Furthermore, All apps containing promotions of their own products are to be classified as Benefitware, and not Freeware, even if there are no ads from external advertising companies.
Feel free to add to this list, or to add an app you believe warrants inclusion for its programming efforts, ethics, & merits
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A similar Evaluation Period problem arises when users are given a 30-time evaluation. As one "Evaluation" day is simply a 24-hour period since the app was launched.
Launching the app by accident, or launching the app and immediately closing it, removes evaluation days from your trial, days in which no evaluating took place.
Even if we give each launch a time-specific interval where an app which is running for 10 or 15 minutes is considered "Evaluated" for one day, it doesnt take into account that launching the app then closing it where it sits opened in the background still takes away your evaluation days, or opening it, then answering the door or going to grab a sandwich also takes from your evaluation period
We could find other solutions to this problem, but one of the primary characteristics for an app or developer to be included in the Guild is to treat the user as if they were a guest in an actual store, and not a criminal pirate on a baby-killing spree, meaning:
- No app or developer should treat a user like a criminal, nor assume he is engaging or will engage in criminal activity, nor accuse him of such activities, nor behave in a manner which displays mistrust or accusations of users
- An app & developer must leave it to fate, heaven, and the common goodwill of mankind to have its requests & guidelines (such as for trials, etc) met, and can in no way behave in a manner which is inconsistent with good will
- All agreements made will be made in Good Faith with the community at large
you wont walk into a department store and be tackled by the security guards and forced to pay for something you didnt even try on, simply because you touched in on the rack, or be banned from the store for life until you do pay for it.. simply because the paranoid psychotic lunatic in charge of the store thinks everybody who walks into his store is a dirt-poor crack-head criminal out to steal his supremely precious goods
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Also:
- An app is not to be created for the sole intention of Data Collection or Information Gathering, and apps which appear to do so will be blacklisted
- An app is not to be developed or created for the primary purpose of spreading advertising spam, shady promotions, other sites & services, etc, and any app found to be out of balance with respect to this criteria will be blacklisted
- Any app found to be in breech of any of the guidelines shall be blacklisted. Concerned Members could write a letter to the developer instructing them on the things they could change for inclusion in the Guild, if they so choose
- No app shall include advertisements or links of/to any shady or malicious programs or websites, including phishing sites, spoof sites, porn sites, or any site which executes malicious code or scripts, or which is deemed as an unhealthy website, program, or service by the world-wide community of web experts as a whole
- Any app or developer found in severe breech of the spirit of the Guild will be banned for life. Severe offenses include things such as falsifying information, deception, betrayal, lying, perpetuating viruses/malware or web-based attacks, hacks or intrusions, or stealing private information & personal data; the gathering of personal data for uses unspecific to the service or which willfully compromise the security & privacy of users; or if an app or developer is found to be using the information & data of users in a way which destroys the Integrity & Trustworthiness of the app & developer, and undermines, corrupts, corrodes, or destroys the Trust & Faith the community has put in the app & developer
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chinarabbit said:
If you know of any solid apps that you believe fall into this category, or easily could, please post them here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use zeam launcher, that definetely qualifies.
robneymcplum said:
I use zeam launcher, that definetely qualifies.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool, thanks
It seems its not under development anymore.
Perhaps a goal of the Organization can be to encourage, promote, or reward excellence in Programming as well..
It may help to motivate devs who've grown disassociated or whos apps may not be getting the attention they deserve.
I currently use Lightning Launcher, and I would definitely say it qualifies as well. It has the most features of any launcher I've tested, and one of the smallest foot prints as well.. its fast and minimalistic, and completely free, and never bothers you about anything.. it has more features than you'd expect from any high-priced app.. if it has additional paid options I dont even know, as the app is extremely feature rich and has all the functions you could ever want, and many more you havent even thought up yet
These kinds of apps make using Android Phones worthwhile
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Other important requirements -
- Any App wherein the user enters personal, private, or sensitive information, which has the ability to sync Across Devices & Computers through Web-based Servers, shall:
- Provide a switch to turn off all syncing options & functions
- Provide an adequately useful method for SD Card Storage export which is not dependent on the software which was used to create it
- Be fully functional, practical & useful, as per the intent for use of the primary function of the app, in an offline state.
- No app shall automatically start Services such as GPS, Wi-Fi, etc, without offering a user Prompt for acceptance of such actions
- All apps which turn on services like GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc, shall contain a settings option to permanently disable turning on of any such external services
- All information Sent or Received through online servers or web services shall be secure & inaccessible by the host, in the following ways:
- The information & data sent by users shall enter the server and leave the server, and not be kept on the server except for the brief moment during transfer, without being subject to any sort of copy mechanism, nor filter, nor scan, nor shall accessing the content in any way while the information is passing through the server be allowed
- Information & Data uploaded to storage servers for later access by users shall be encrypted by the server administrators with 128-bit encryption, and be stored thus encrypted until it is Retrieved from the server by the user or users granted password access by the owner of the information.
- Server administrators & owners are forbidden from accessing any user information on their servers, and must encrypt the files & user data in such a way that its available only to the user, and otherwise remains in a software-encrypted state upon the server, inaccessible by server admins & owners
- Servers shall be vigilantly maintained and frequently tested for security
- If a server is used for "cloud" storage by the user, the User Data shall be backed-up in an Encrypted state, and frequently tested for data integrity
- Servers which are not secure and which do not encrypt user files & data files, or which do not design themselves to be secure from admin access of data and other third-party viewers, shall be known as "Public Servers", and a Warning Prompt shall appear on the device or computer each time the Server is accessed and data is sent or received (there shall be no method for disabling this prompt). The Warning Message shall clearly state the user is accessing a "Public Server" (capitalized) and that any data sent or received is freely viewable to third-parties, and server owners & administrators shall include themselves as third-party viewers
- First Party users & viewers (hereafter referred to as the "Owner") are designated as both the Device & User which uploaded the data to the server for storage
- Second Party users & viewers are defined specifically as both the Device & User which downloads or accesses the data which was previously stored, and who has been given password-protected permission by the Owner (First Party)
-Third Party is broadly inclusive of any organization, company, or individual who has access or potential access to the Owner's Data. Third Party also includes Devices, Computers, Servers, & Software which handles, accesses or views (or has the potential to do so), in an unencrypted state (not 128-bit or higher), any data or information belonging to or uploaded by the First Party / Owner, with the exception of Software or an Algorithm accessing the data for the sole purpose of automated Encryption to 128-bit level, or decryption from 128-bit, which does not copy, record, send or store any user-sent/received data at all, and which no other software or entity views, has access to, or monitors, records, sends, or retrieves in any way whatsoever
- "Encrypt" (also Encryption, Encrypted, Encrypting, etc) is defined as 128-bit automated, unmonitored software / algorithm encryption processed by a program without oversight or monitoring by any other software, algorithm, or entity,and which has no other function other than Encryption
- To Qualify for Inclusion in the Guild, Server owners must open up their server modules, processes and other relevant information to review by the Guild or one of its member affiliates for inspection, review, & certification. Server Owners must also provide sworn affidavits stating the integrity and security of the data, and how the data is used, who has access, how information is processed, transferred, encrypted, etc. and submit said Affidavits to the Guild before being removed from the Guild Security Blacklist.
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I think we've already narrowed the list of qualifying software to less than what's available for Windows Phone
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A qualifying app must also have the ability to retain full functionality after an Android OS reinstall.. meaning a portable install or an install which can use existing files found in File System Root/data/data without errors when reinstalling the app
No developer shall make any requests for donations or monetary compensation of any kind, who has included in his app any form of advertising or which has been given any permissions pertaining to user data & usage information
No App shall require specific permissions for advertisements or promotions.
No in-app advertisement shall require any special permissions or access whatsoever.
No advertisement or information gathering function shall piggyback on other functions requiring access or permissions, nor shall any advertisement or information gathering function utilize access or permissions granted to the app for its core, non-advertising, non-data collecting, non-marketing functions

LookPoint android application, Download from Google Play Store for FREE

LookPoint is an application which could benefit a user in many life circumstances that location matters. The LookPoint does not need any internet connection except in a case that it runs the "Maps" application to find a target location point on the live Google "Maps" and analyze possible routes and ways. Sometimes, the "Maps" application could be used offline as well for some countries, therefore in this condition, naturally the internet consumption of your device would be zero.
All communications between LookPoint users are made by encrypted SMSs and one cheap SMS or dependent on a operator’s subscription policy, a free SMS is used to perform an operation (Submission or Request)!
Moreover, even if the user closes the LookPoint or restarts the phone, it still can accomplish the tasks perfectly!
Also, if the GPS of the target device is OFF or inaccessible within one minute, the LookPoint will access his/her location from SIMCARD's network operator.
The LookPoint consumes the phone battery in an efficient manner. You can feel free to keep the location hardware of your device always ON, because the LookPoint does not activated it unnecessarily. (In the new android versions, You have to keep the location part always ON for a normal operation and it is controlled by the android operation system itself).
Note: The LookPoint application does not require any registration and never share your personal information such as location, name, number … anywhere without your desire.
Note: Use the latest version of the Google "Maps" application and keep it updated.
Note: The customer satisfaction is important for us. Please feel free to contact us before you leave any feedback.
To get more detailed information about how to use the LookPoint, don't forget to watch the "Video Manual" through the below link:
The LookPoint application could benefit the user in many scenarios such as:
1) You lost your phone but you have no idea where it might be or if it is stolen.
2) You got lost and you are unable to describe where exactly you are.
3) Your kid possibly got lost or annoyed by somebody and unfortunately does not respond to your calls. You do not know where you should look for him.
4) You want to reach somewhere but you don't know the destination point and the best route to get there.
5) You face or are a witness of an accident and you want to inform others or emergency about its exact location.
6) You are on a trip (car, bus, train, airplane ...) and you want to inform others about your location or your relatives want to know where you are at the moment.
7) You run a transportation company and are interested to get informed about the location of your trucks.
8) You own a catering company (Food, Pizza ....) and delivery staff have difficulties in locating customers.
9) You run a taxi service company and location monitoring of your fleet is interesting for you.
and ......
No download link, thread closed.

HyperTrack - The fastest way to build live location features [Android/iOS]

HyperTrack is the easiest (and fastest) way to build dynamic location features in your apps.
In three easy steps:
Step 1: You plug a lightweight and open sourced SDK into your app. Add a few lines of code in Android and iOS.
Code:
// Swift and Java
HyperTrack.setUserId("249d26da-c31c-4a70-bab8-53ef164411f0");
HyperTrack.startTracking();
Step 2: Watch your user's location data on a pretty looking dashboard. No code to be written, and did we mention, free to view for unlimited users and usage?
Step 3: Play with the data through events (via webhooks) and actions (via APIs) to build location features in your product within
minutes. All our dashboard views are easy to embed into your own workflow to create a seamless experience.
Code:
<iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" width="100%"
height="100% src="https://dashboard.hypertrack.io/widget/users/<YOUR_USER_ID>/timeline;action_id=<YOUR_ACTION_ID>?key=SECRET_KEY">
Tell me more
The SDK generates accurate, battery-efficient location and activity data using a bunch of black magic with device sensors, maps and business context. The location data is organized as trips and stops in the life of the user. Useful events are automatically generated along the way and available via webhooks. When actions are performed by the user in the app or expected by the business workflow on the server, they may be posted via APIs.
Unlimited trips, stops and events for unlimited users are free to view on the dashboard. Pay to play with this data and build location features within your product in minutes. To test your integration before deploying in production, we have a free test mode that lets you sandbox the API/webhook integrations with your users’ live data - up to 20 of them.
So What's the Catch?
Thanks for asking. The catch is... there is none. We are offering you the ability to add our location stack to your application and begin tracking immediately, for an unlimited time, for FREE. If you want to begin performing actions, analyzing trips, etc. then we have pricing which you can find on our website (https://hypertrack.io).
Compatibiliy
Hi,
Good to know about this. I wanted to see if this can be used with ibeacon to facilitate the functionality to track locations? iBeacon is a top way to add location based features in iOS and so if this can be used with it then it makes sense.
hnrindani said:
Hi,
Good to know about this. I wanted to see if this can be used with ibeacon to facilitate the functionality to track locations? iBeacon is a top way to add location based features in iOS and so if this can be used with it then it makes sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. This would depend on how you are using iBeacon.
hypertrack said:
Thanks for the reply. This would depend on how you are using iBeacon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so I will ask my team to test it and shall get back to you incase of any query. Thanks for the response though.

Getting started microG: how I degoogled my Google Pixel

Hello all,
Recently I got a new phone and installed it using LineageOS + microG. Many Android apps rely on the Google Apps API, but many people no longer trust Google for various reasons. In response to this, microG was created as an open-source re-implementation of the Google Apps API.
The thing is, once you step outside of the Google sandbox, there are a few features you might miss and this thread intends to express my experience moving off the Google network. This is organized with the most important considerations during your transition away from googledom at the top:
Play Store
You're probably used to the Play Store, and you may even use apps that are not owned by Google but where to get them without logging into Google?
Enter F-Droid: a FOSS repository for Android apps. There is an app called "Aurora Store" which connects to the existing Google Play store, but without using the Google app---its just a play-store client!
First, install F-Droid using the APK they provide.
Install Aurora Store using the F-Droid interface from your phone.
Login with an existing Google account or the provided anonymous account.
Then download whatever you want from Aurora and it will come from Google Play.
This is a good time to install your firewall (AFWall+ or orWall) before testing a bunch of apps. Default-deny/explicit allow is the best policy. See the firewall section below.
Contact Sync & Calendar
You can still use Google's storage if you wish, or at least use it temporarily to move to a private DAV server. Install DAVx and follow this guide to (at least initially) sync your contacts and calendar from Google. Then you can use the calendar that comes with LineageOS/AOSP. Non-google Cal/CardDAV servers are available, or your can host your own on something like NextCloud.
Navigation
I'll break this into two parts: Location services and Nav Software:
Location Services
The microG Unified Network Location Provider (UnifiedNlp) is used to find your current latitude/longitude. In addition to your on-phone GPS hardware (which is typically slow to get a location fix), microG uses different backends to discover your lat/long with faster resources such as cell tower signal strength based on known tower locations. See "Apps->microG->Location modules".
nominatim - Converts addresses to lat/long
Uses OpenStreetMap by default
Can optionally use the MapQuest API for address resolution. You will need an API key from MapQuest.
The GSM Location Service (gitlab) can use an OpencellId database to find cell towers. It first downloads a database and can from then on get a lat/long location without Internet connectivity.
Mozilla Location Service: uses Mozilla's online database to find lat/long, requires network connection.
See the Unified Network Location Provider (UnifiedNlp) link for a full listing and detailed description:
AppleWifiNlpBackend - Uses Apple's service to resolve Wi-Fi locations. It has excellent coverage but the database is proprietary.
OpenWlanMapNlpBackend - Uses OpenWlanMap.org to resolve user location but the NLP backend did not reach release-quality, yet. Users interested in a freely licensed and downloadable database for offline use should stick with openBmap for now - Last updated in 2015
OpenBmapNlpBackend - Uses openBmap to resolve user location. Community-created, freely licensed database that can optionally be downloaded for offline operation. The coverage varies from country to country (it's best in central Europe).
MozillaNlpBackend - Uses the Mozilla Location Service to resolve user location. The coverage is OK. Only the cell tower database is free.
LocalWifiNlpBackend - Local location provider for Wi-Fi APs using on-phone generated database.
LocalGSMLocationProvider - Local opencellid based location provider backend. Has been surpassed by LocalGSMBackend which also has an OpenCellID option - Last update in 2014
LocalGSMBackend - Local location provider for GSM cells. It works offline by downloading freely licensed database files from Mozilla, OpenCellID, or lacells.db.
Nav Software
These navigation packages download maps to your device so you can navigate without network connectivity! (Read the text-to-speech section below if audible announcements.)
Organic Maps is the most user friendly, others are more technical:
Navit
OsmAnd
ZANavi
You'll have to try it to see if you like it. If you really prefer the more user friendly features that Google Maps and Waze provide, then I know at least Google Maps will install from the Aurora store will get your location using the UNlp backends from microG (above).
Firewall (requires root):
I've not found anything better than AFWall+. orWall is an option too, but I've not tried it. Drop a comment if you have a firewall you like better. Generally speaking you want to disable all network and then only enable what you need.
By default I disable everything. At a minimum, you probably want to enable these apps:
NTP for time sync
Aurora Store
DAVx
F-Droid
Location:
GSM Location Service (to download cell database)
GSMLocationBackend (to download cell database)
Mozilla Unified Nlp
Nomanatim Geocoder backend
microG Services Core is needed for some location downloads to work (I think...)
Network Manager so it doesn't say "limited connectivity"
Phone and Mesaging Storage for SMS and such.
Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine
eSpeak will verbialize text which is useful for mapping software annoucements like "Turn right at the next intersection". Without a TTS engine you will not hear any navigation advice. When you run eSpeak the first time go to "eSpeak->menu->General TTS settings" and select "Preferred Engine" and then select "eSpeak" so it will download the voice model.
I find the voice is choppy so in "menu->eSpeak TTS settings" change the speech rate to "80 WPM". This is slow, but then you can go to "menu->General TTS settings" and set the "Speech rate" slider to run at a reasonable speed with less chop. Adjust your language and other parameters to your preference.
Speech-to-Text (STT)
One of the great things Google provides is speach-to-text, but unfortunately there are not many great replacements here, or at least not yet. There are a few projects being worked on:
LocalSTT is a proof of concept to support the microphone button on some keyboards like AnySoftKeyboard.
This page has an en-US build of LocalSTT (.apk) that works on Android 11.
vosk-android-service is a work in progress. Check it often and encourage the developer, it appears to be the first promosing STT option that does not need a network backend to convert speech to text:
Kõnele (github) provides STT service but requires a network server to do the translation. You can setup your own server, and maybe even deploy that server on your phone but I've not tried so post a comment if you get this working.
Keyboards
If you use swipe, then you can try a few alternatives:
OpenBoard
AnySoftKeyboard
Of course you can always install "GBoard" if you need to, just firewall it off
Email
I have found FairEmail to be a great open-source IMAP/POP3 client with a focus on privacy.
SMS
I use Signal from the Aurora store as my default SMS app because the android SMS app wasn't always waking the phone. This is probably a LineageOS bug, though, not a microG bug. The privacy feature is neat if you and your peer are both on Signal, but most of my texts are things like "please bring home milk" so I really don't care about the private text messages. (Of course now that I say that I'll start getting milk advertisements...)
Actually if you have an SMS app that you really like, please post it in the comments. I've never really loved any particular SMS app so something great would be great!
Browser
I'm sure everyone has an opinion on browsers. My favorite is Firefox Mobile and I always install the NoScript plugin so javascript is off by default. It is difficult these days to exploit a vulnerability in a browser, to advertise or to track you without some JS help, so only enable JS for sites you trust. There are many private browsers so I'll let you do your own research.
SafetyNet
See "Apps->microG->Google SafetyNet" because there is an option for it. For now I've been fortunate not to need any apps that need SafetyNet, so untested by me. The microG core does support it, read this article and this ticket for more detail.
Closing Thoughts
So thats about it, the rest is just normal use of your phone the way you normally would. I've been daily driving this config for a while and so far no real issues. GPS works, I can text and make phone calls, and do my occational browsing about the latest Linux Kernel features, maybe lookup a recipe or a HAM radio repeater frequency. It will be interesting to see what the future of microG is, but for now, I like that it gives me greater control of my device.
Cheers,
- Eric, KJ7LNW

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