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Where the hell is adaway?
Suddenly Google decided adaway was violating section 4.4 of the developer agreement.. Suuuure. I'm sure there wasn't any pressure from the ads being blocked. I'm sure it was a breech of terms.
You can follow this link to get the blocker. (ironically it's at code. Google.com)
http://code.google.com/p/ad-away/
Lil at the strike
But I just re downloaded a free because of flashing a new ROM. Weird. I really like adfree because it works for apps and browsers. For those who want, guess we could upload the apk
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app
wdkingery said:
Suddenly Google decided adaway was violating section 4.4 of the developer agreement.. Suuuure. I'm sure there wasn't any pressure from the ads being blocked. I'm sure it was a breech of terms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can't it be both? Google decided they didn't care about that part of their terms until someone complained. The nice thing about Android is you can install apps from places that AREN'T the Play Store, unlike other platforms, so who cares what they do and don't allow in their store?
The dev has moved AdAway to FDroid:
https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.adaway
thebobmannh said:
Why can't it be both? Google decided they didn't care about that part of their terms until someone complained. The nice thing about Android is you can install apps from places that AREN'T the Play Store, unlike other platforms, so who cares what they do and don't allow in their store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love the "other platforms" part. But you are right. I can understand from a dev point of view putting out a free app. But get like SSH droid and revert it. I don't mind reverting it because I can always turn it back on. With great power comes more power.
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app
now adaway & adblock plus is scam
Hi just try to search in play store for adaway & adblock plus and install it via play store and looks like scam to me as instead of blocking ads its bombarding ads and forcing user to rate it 5 star then only user can use it at first start. I guess all the app by this devloper doing the same thing. I don't know how this end up in play store but I think you should update this forume as I adaway is doing different & suspicious things.
That app is not from the developer of Adaway, it's a fake app.
Sent from my Evita
still using adaway
agree, adaway and other ad block apps are no longer available on play store, but still you can download them from any sharing site like 4share etc.
i'm using ViperX4.0.2 on my HTC One X and adaway is preinstalled on ROM and doing great job.
Just download from official repository on f-droid, not file sharing sites. AdAway
Using XPRIVACY*****won't be adding any more stuff to this guide for a while. will continue this when i have enough free time*******
XPRIVACY is undoubtedly the best privacy app out there. Its because of the options it supports almost all the android versions.
But it is not as easy to understand as App Ops or Pdroid privacy guard. Thats why inspite of my many attempts to use it, i gave up after few hours or days and switched back to App Ops.
It has come along way from when i made those attempts, it has become more user friendly and interactive but so many options which is its biggest plus point, also makes it hard for new users to switch from other privacy app to XPRIVACY.
I recently made a small guide about HOW TO USE APP OPS MORE EFFECTIVELY.
So the next obvious step was GUIDE on XPRIVACY. i have been putting it off from many days but now no more will add more videos whenever i can but its about time i that i finally get started with it.
I hope this guide will help my fellow XDA members to make the required switch or to introduce them to the world of XPRIVACY
Installation instruction, minimum requirements and other usefull stuff can be found at the official thread of XPRIVACY
What this Guide is ABOUT???
>This guide is for NOOB users, so that they can understand how to use XPRIVACY. Also as i ahven't purchased the PRO version yet this huide will only cover functions of FREE version. I will be buying the PRO version soon and then it will cover use of PRO features as well
>I will try to explain different restriction using different apps.
>Examples will be video of the app with and without those restrictions and the effect that those restriction will have on that app
>NOTE 1 - this is not full blown guide and it is just to get you started. However it can turn into full blown guide depending on the inputs from various users and also after a certain time as i get better in using this app.
>Note 2: Differnet categories are explained using different app. Most of the times category name will be used as heading as you can see in 3rd point, but at some places where permissions like location, contacts , clipboard etc are explained i will use these words only as these words will result in easier understanding.
> More and more videos will be added as i find the appropriate app and a way to demonstrate the use of a particular permission using that app.
LETS STARTYoutube playlist link
1) Faking or restriction location
I am pretty sure this is going to be very useful to many people for playing location based games or to become mayor of certain place in foursquare and i am sure you can think of using it in many other apps.
Please note that you cannot fake location for some apps like google maps and facebook. these are the only two apps that i know of. you cannot fake location for these two apps but you can restrict it.
Also as you can see in the video you will be able to fake location in foursquare but when you will try to access google maps view from inside Foursqaure app you will get no location. But still you can check in and get suggestion from foursquare based on your fake location. default fake location is CHRISTMAS ISLAND. but you can change it through XPRIVACY(which is covered in the video).
2) Blocking access to the different accounts configured in your device
For this i have used Chrome beta as you can see in the video that blocking the account permissions will result in chrome not seeing the different google accounts that are present on my device. Thus i am unable to sign in chrome beta to sync my bookmarks and other stuff.
You can use this to block access from those app which try to gain access to the different accounts configured in your device.
Note: if you block access to 9gag, Ifunny etc apps like these for which you sign in using your configured google account. You wont be able to sign in those apps as these apps won't be able to see the configured account.
Although if a you sign in using username or email id which you use only for that particular app. You can block restrict this permission as it will have no negative effect on that app behaviour
3) Xprivacy Category - View Browser
For explaining what this permission does i have used DIGG app. This permission will restrict app from opening external links. or more precisely hyperlinks from withing app. If this permission is restricted you will be displayed warning from xprivacy when you try to open any link from withing the app(shown in the video).
4) More Videos to come soon..........
More videos to be added whenever i can find time and based on users input. I am also a beginner when it comes to XPRIVACY so be patient with me and if you have any ideas to make this thread better please do share it with us.
Once you have enough understanding to use Xprivacy on daily basis you can head over to XPRIVACY thread and post you advanced question there.
Currently i have some personal stuff to take care of so updating this thread is on hold. Will update it with more videos as soon as i can. I have made the videos just need to edit them and upload.
Reserved
reserved
Other Useful threads by Me
[GUIDE] Using Apps Ops (or Privacy Guard) 4 blocking wakelocks & saving battery
[App] Samachar - Indian News app and more
thanks
thanks for this helpful tutorial.
can u please tell me if I could use xprivacy to block adds on apps , cheers
drreality said:
thanks for this helpful tutorial.
can u please tell me if I could use xprivacy to block adds on apps , cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can block internet permission. That will block ads but that can also make app useless if it needs internet to function.
Why don't you use adaway or adblock pro to block ads?
I know this is a dumb question but I've been using Xprivacy for a few years now and I never could figure out what the two boxes to the right of the application names are for. I believe one is for restrict and one is for allow? If someone could let me know which each of those boxes means it would be much appreciated.
Good question. The two-column system is a later addition to xprivacy and many of the newbie tutorials don't cover it.
Let's take a simple example like location.
For starters, let's say the second column is unchecked. This is the easiest situation to understand. Then what happens depends on the first column.
The first column -- if it's checked then xprivacy will always deny access to location and will instead feed the app fake information as set up in the xprivacy settings.
If however the first column is unchecked then the app will be able to get to your actual location.
This is what you want with an app where the answer to "can it use this permission?" is always the same (either "always" or "never"). Second column unchecked, first column choice telling the app yes or no.
The second column controls the pop-ups that you see with xprivacy. If the second column is checked then you'll get a pop-up asking whether to allow the app the permission or not (whether or not the first column is checked).
There are four choices -- "allow", "deny", "don't know", and "oops I timed out".
"oops I timed out" will give the app whatever the answer in the first column is. You can tell what the first column is because the app says "Timeout will: allow/deny" depending on whether the first column is unchecked/checked.
If you click "allow" in the pop-up then xprivacy unchecks the second column in its settings, unchecks the first, and gives the app access to your true location. The popup will then not appear again unless you recheck the second column in the xprivacy settings.
If you click "deny" then xprivacy unchecks the second column, checks the first column and feeds the app fake location. Again you'll not see the popup again.
If you click "Don't know" then I *think* xprivacy denies access (whether or not the first column is unchecked) and leaves the second column checked, so it will ask again the next time.
How did I find this out? Well I didn't read it from a FAQ! I just downloaded xprivacy yesterday and I found it incredibly difficult to work out from scratch. In the end I just downloaded an app which prints out your gps location and nothing else, and I just experimented with it. The above is a report on my conclusions. I hope it helps other people because it is the post which I wish I could have read this time yesterday.
Note that other permissions might work slightly differently. For example it is not really possible to feed an app fake internet information, as this would require carrying around a fake internet on your phone. You can get a quick idea about what data can be faked by looking at the xprivacy settings. For example, you can fake your phone number and your MAC address. But as I've said you can't fake your internet and you can't fake your storage either -- which is quite a good idea because if you pretend to let an app write to your SD card and then pretend to let it read it and it can't find what it just wrote, this is bound to lead to trouble, probably more trouble than if you'd just denied it access in the first place.
Nice tutorial
@yannick.12
Many many thanks for you're well explained tutorial.
This is was definitley needed because is still (incredibly) very hard to find out some good guide out there, expecially for the "second column" options, as you mentioned.
Thank you, again my friend :good:
I got also another question (if someone knonw the answer) about the "shared rules". I mean, if I download the rules for some app, from the XPrivacy server, it's supposed to be the settings that someone has configure, ok. But what if I send my rules and, later in time, I download it again for that app? I got my rules (the rules that I uploaded before) or I got the " common" rules setted shared by the XPrivacy?
Sent from my Xperia E4g using XDA-Developers mobile app
Is it possible for xPrivacy to allow app's permission? I'm using a phone that runs android 5.1.1 and some apps just don't ask for permissions which makes it impossible for me to access storages. It will only respond that app has no permission to write over storages which makes the app not functional.
rUx_Gaming said:
Is it possible for xPrivacy to allow app's permission? I'm using a phone that runs android 5.1.1 and some apps just don't ask for permissions which makes it impossible for me to access storages. It will only respond that app has no permission to write over storages which makes the app not functional.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Won't work like that.... And that issue is still there.. Even with pie... App's developer fault..
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
Kapiljhajhria said:
Won't work like that.... And that issue is still there.. Even with pie... App's developer fault..
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for info. Is there any possible workaround for this other than contacting the devs to fix storage permission issue?
rUx_Gaming said:
Thanks for info. Is there any possible workaround for this other than contacting the devs to fix storage permission issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, give permission manually from app info
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
Kapiljhajhria said:
No, give permission manually from app info
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess there'snothing I can do other than look for an alternative app, android 5.1.1 won't let you edit app permission.
rUx_Gaming said:
I guess there'snothing I can do other than look for an alternative app, android 5.1.1 won't let you edit app permission.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean give app permission from app's info. I think u can do that... Dont remember 5.1.1 interface now but it should be possible
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
Kapiljhajhria said:
I mean give app permission from app's info. I think u can do that... Dont remember 5.1.1 interface now but it should be possible
Sent from my Redmi Note 5 Pro using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My phone doesn't seem so. Here's how it looks like in the app settings.
I'm pretty new to the world of Android and was wondering what are some "best"/"good" apps to hide your identity online? I've looked at the Google Play Store for Tor related apps but unsure if they're actually secure and reliable? What do you guys use for security/anonymity?
I use Spotflux and Hotspot Shield and I find that both are pretty good.
Have you ever tried disconnect me? Or just activate private mode in Firefox
There are two main Tor apps on the play store: Orbot and Orxy. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages. I've used both, and both work well.
Rebekka_Sun said:
... activate private mode in Firefox
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Private mode in Firefox does not make you anonymous.
Using normal VPNs doesn't make you anonymous either. The VPN provider has all your details.
Remember, just using Tor will not make you fully anonymous. The torproject.org website has details, and the Orxy app store page has some tips.
7101
IS it really that easy to steal ID from your phone?
The OP wants to browse the web anonymously and such services are helpful for that.
Its not to prevent your ID from getting 'stolen' but more to make sure you are not being tracked, access sites that may be blocked on your corporate network or country, etc. Ofcourse there are countless other uses as well.
Ill give you one small example - if you want to access a job portal from your work computer without being worried your company can see you are looking for a new job, you can use a VPN to sort of 'mask' the internet traffic.
Or if you live in a country where YouTube is blocked and you want to access it...
How to regain control of my accounts & phone? My spouse has used a couple of my old google accounts to hack me. Either google work or education. All my files & everything gets sent to him & I can't download anything from play store & I'm web blocked on some sites
SouthernDiva said:
How to regain control of my accounts & phone? My spouse has used a couple of my old google accounts to hack me. Either google work or education. All my files & everything gets sent to him & I can't download anything from play store & I'm web blocked on some sites
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thank you for using XDA Assist. It sounds like more of a domestic issue than anything XDA can assist with. I would suggest you get a hold of Google and get the accounts transferred back to you. Then use a secure password that only you know and use 2-step verification.
Sent from my Nexus 9 using XDA Free mobile app
Thread closed.
I'm surprised no one has reviewed this app but I'll give it a shot. *edit- attached pics keep going away each time I edit this post. Take a look at the attachments for screenshots.
My Android Tools (free version)
My Android Tools(Pro)
This is an app I stumbled across by chance or mentions in random forum posts and maybe those who've played with it do only a few things such as disable startup items but it's a lot more powerful than that in regards to blocking in-app ads and trackers.
Now, blocking stuff is a multi-prong approach.
You have Adaway for removing the DNS requests for both apps and browser traffic. MAP targets in-app stuff- not browser traffic. That's why you'd do something like Adaway + MinMinGuard/Adblocker XPosed modules. They actually target blocking the code in the app.
something like XPrivacy for sending random info instead of what an app wants from you
And a bunch of apps and XPosed modules to do things like block receivers or in-app ads.
I've whittled it down to Adaway + *Youtube Adaway + *CrappaLinks + My Android Tools(Pro)
*XPosed Modules
from now on I'm calling My Android Tools MAP
First, make a backup of your ROM
Next, make a backup in the About screen in MAP. The optional thing is if you want MAP to open after every app install/upgrade for review of new and updated apps.
*screenshot
The 3 things we'll look at are Services, Broadcast Receivers and Activities.
Services- things that run whenever
Broadcast Receivers - things that respond to system events (boot, connectivity changes, timezone changes, packages added, etc)
Activities - ads and junk that pop up on your screen. Developers add 3rd party sdk's to show pop-ups and stuff. This is how XPosed Modules such as MinMinGuard and Adblocker work
ContentProvider - still haven't figured out if I find stuff here yet. Maybe in Google Play Services it might have some analytics provider but it's basically things that share things with other apps.
*screenshot
Under Services I mainly look at Analytics and Campaign Tracking svcs. It's up to you but these do offer legit tracking analytics to developers.
Google to see what they do
*screenshot
Broadcast Receivers a few apps that do look at a limited selection of these like XPosed module ReceiverStop
mainly I look at 2 of them:
android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED
com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER
*screenshot
Finally, Activities
This is how MinMinguard and the like block things. We're going to block more because MinMinGuard just has a hardcoded list (see above link to its source code. That's what frustrated me about MinMinGuard. If I'm going to block this stuff I'd rather not have a hardcoded list as ad blocking should be equal opportunity if a user is going that route.)
under here it's really about getting familiar with names of ad networks. Here's a hint
I just downloaded a random app to find one with a bunch of fun things.
*screenshot
Great guide, thank you.
royeiror said:
Great guide, thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yw, thanks for the nudge to put it together
Also, note disabling some activities core to an app can cause loss of functionality, force closes, icon removed from the app drawer, etc. That's why I toggle showing the long description of things (that <> button) so I know which are main pieces.
Unity is a library for game development so most of it is actually the app if you see that one a lot.
Sometimes I use the search to look for ad, analytic, track, campaign
Official worst app I've seen for ad activities : agar.io
It's one of the Google recommended apps of 2015 and I was able to find and block 35 ad network activities.
I can't imagine what it's like to actually play the app and what info about you gets collected
@jawz101 : There is an older thread where is shared this app along with an guide which stuff to disable: [SHARE] [APP] MyAndroidTools + Guide to disable some Play Services processes Add it to OP...
@Force I'm wary of disabling too many Google Play Services. I mainly look at the analytics and ads stuff but even then I wonder what repercussions any of it has on battery life. Say, if an app calls for a specific function and it's no longer able to retrieve the information would it cause a force close or get hung in some loop and chew up CPU? I dunno.
Anyone having FCs with the latest version?? It doesn't seem to open at all.. I have a note 4 N910C, on 5.1.1 COJ5, rooted, xposed.
i have been using this for many roms and it saves loads of ram and helps your phone/tablet boot up quicker,i read somewhere that it dont work with xposed or mm both are wrong because i use it on AICP MM ROM and have Xposed installed for XinternalSD and have had no problems at all.
I do submit any crashes if they happen and have emailed the dev in the past when crashes happened. I used to get app crashes until several months ago when trying to backup the current config or when clicking the Content Providers menu option but no longer. Sometimes I completely wiped my device to get it to stop crashing. Since it's been updated these past few months those problems don't occur.
You may want to try reinstalling the app, clearing its data, rebooting, etc to see if something fixed your app crash. Make sure your device I is rooted and the My Android Tools app does indeed have root privileges. Given the nature of the app it may take some error submissions and logcats sent to the dev.
Good to see that somebody reviewed and created a thread for this great app.
Just one question here (if someone could help out) - unlike other apps, Skype seems to be way too stubborn. By mistake I once turned off the connectivity change broadcast receiver. Now, no matter what I do I cannot toggle this receiver back on. WHY? I tried pretty much everything. Rebooting, enabling the receiver from within SD Maid pro, tried making a backup of MAT and then editing this backup manually to remove the tweak for skype but it all failed. With other apps I can toggle their receiver, activities and everything however I see fit and the toggles remain put. With Skype, however, it's a fail. Any help?
Let x
Great tutorial.
As you seem to be very clever with MyAndroidTools, do you have any idea how to spot the services to disable with MyAndroidTools, in order to kill UC news inside the 11.4.5.1005 UC browser last release :
For more or less one week, UC browser has become unusable for Android nowadays with forcing every user with b******* news, foxnews search engine, star magazine search engine, googlenews search engine, yahoo search engine, uc browser search engine, 9app, music player and many more.
Do you think MyAndroidTools could be able to strangle this overwhelming flow of stupidity ?
If yes, there are so much possible items among Services (run whenever), ...
What could be a method to spot the tap and turn it off?
thx
is there any FOSS alternative?
Can't locate in the Play store?
Has the app been removed from the play store? If so is there any chance you could make the file available here? This has been a favorite app of mine for quite sometime. Would hate to see it fade into oblivion.
Guys this was a one-stop app for me...can somebody make the apk here??
Sivabalan said:
Guys this was a one-stop app for me...can somebody make the apk here??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if I would be violating any XDA rules or not. For sure this app is no longer available on the Play store and the developer unfortunately didn't respond to my email. If I can be assured that I'm not violating any XDA rules, I'll gladly share. PS, I love this app I use it for so many things
Bobbaloo said:
I don't know if I would be violating any XDA rules or not. For sure this app is no longer available on the Play store and the developer unfortunately didn't respond to my email. If I can be assured that I'm not violating any XDA rules, I'll gladly share. PS, I love this app I use it for so many things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buddy it's available in apk mirror portal.
App was removed from Play Store how to get the Pro now?
I bought it but if it's in my library its a pita to search a misplaced tap and you back to the top of the list
How I can get this app? It's no longer in the AppStore. I bought the Pro Version.
Bobbaloo said:
I don't know if I would be violating any XDA rules or not. For sure this app is no longer available on the Play store and the developer unfortunately didn't respond to my email. If I can be assured that I'm not violating any XDA rules, I'll gladly share. PS, I love this app I use it for so many things
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought it on google play and suddenly it disappeared. I contacted the creator and he wrote me he violated some rules (?) of google play and they cutted off his account, but he send me the full apk. But I don't know if I can share it here and if he wants to share the full version. Anyway it's still possible to find it on some websites (apkmirror and something else).
I'm satisfied with it, expecially after I lost money buying autorun manager pro (the developer is not releasing new version, he said he's not interested in it anymore).
Anyway, if someone has any alternative to suggest to My Android Tools Pro it would be good.