Image replacing in a mobile app - Other Tools & General Discussion

I have a game I enjoy on my Android phone, but the problem is the US release of this mobile game has replaced the original artwork.
I can't seem to find the original game .apk anywhere else. Thought about doing a proxy with my phone.
Anyway, I decided to try to replace the original artwork myself, I found the original online, at the very least. When I rooted my phone and went into the apps data folder I found the images but they all are blank. I thought this might be a permissions issue, but I have root permissions and I've pulled the files down to my local PC but they are still blank when I open them with an image viewer.
If this is just typical with apps and a security measure, I understand. Just seeing if there is something I can do.

Related

Disabling Access To Games

Hi - is there any way on PocketPC 2003 to disable access to Solitaire and Jawbreaker. I'm pretty sure I can't remove them all together as they're in the ROM - but some registry hack to prevent access to them would be sufficient.
Try this...
You don't list what device or WM versions you are using, but here are two possible solutions you could try:
1) Read through the forums specific to your device, and learn how to cook your own ROM, removing the offending software.
2) Any file in your ROM can be "overwritten" by syncing to your pc and draggin a file with the same name to the folder containing the file you wish to replace. IE. I have a small, written for the pda application, which when run, displays a pop-up saying "This software has been removed because I do not wish for anyone using this device to have fun doing so!" or similar. I then name it solitare.exe and drag it into the Windows directory from my PC. It asks me am I sure I wish to overwrite the file, I click yes and bam! the file is "replaced". (I believe what actually happens is the OS delinks the file and places the new file in the old ones placeholder on the filesystem, it is still in the ROM as that is unwritable unless flashing, but it is no longer accessable, which is what you want to happen.
tried & failed...
I've created a solitare.exe as you suggested and placed it in the Windows directory - it doesn't seem to get run when executed however - The original game still gets run - I fear I may be doing something stupid.
Re: tried & failed...
gremlin said:
I've created a solitare.exe as you suggested and placed it in the Windows directory - it doesn't seem to get run when executed however - The original game still gets run - I fear I may be doing something stupid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why do you want to block them?
Re: Try this...
pneuma said:
You don't list what device or WM versions you are using, but here are two possible solutions you could try:
1) Read through the forums specific to your device, and learn how to cook your own ROM, removing the offending software.
2) Any file in your ROM can be "overwritten" by syncing to your pc and draggin a file with the same name to the folder containing the file you wish to replace. IE. I have a small, written for the pda application, which when run, displays a pop-up saying "This software has been removed because I do not wish for anyone using this device to have fun doing so!" or similar. I then name it solitare.exe and drag it into the Windows directory from my PC. It asks me am I sure I wish to overwrite the file, I click yes and bam! the file is "replaced". (I believe what actually happens is the OS delinks the file and places the new file in the old ones placeholder on the filesystem, it is still in the ROM as that is unwritable unless flashing, but it is no longer accessable, which is what you want to happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey pneuma.
2) Isn't working for me either. I thought gremlin was doing something wrong, but I just tried it myself, and, although my "fake" solitaire.exe (a renamed app) file is there, so is the original solitaire.exe. Tapping on the Solitaire icon under games runs the game as if nothing happened, although just opening the Games folder would tell you that it didn't work (the Solitaire icon is still the cards)
What did you do that we didn't? I'm using a Universal.
Peculiar...
Personally I haven't tried this specific to the games, but there was a nasty spash screen in the new WM5 for my Himalaya that I replaced in the method detailed above. It would appear however that solitaire might be a system program, as the following files:
\windows\solitaire.lnk
\windows\start menu\solitaire.lnk
have the following Target: ":MSSOLITAIRE"
but don't despair!
If you have resco explorer or some similar mobile based explorer replacement, try edit the links to point to the replacement exe, or even delete the links altogether, as well as the Games directory under "\windows\start menu\" (might not work deleting them though).
If the deletion or edits don't work you may well have to do the same trick, replacing these .lnk files with something else.
--Marc
Thanks to pneuma I think I've got a workable solution without having to hack into the ROM!
I've created two programs (using PocketBuilder) called Solitare.exe and Jawbreaker.exe which just pop up a response window saying "This Application Has Been Disabled"
I've also created two .lnk files - solitare.lnk and jawbreaker.lnk which contain:
22#"\Windows\Solitare.exe"
and
23#"\Windows\Jawbreaker.exe"
respectively
In my boot process I copy the executables and .lnk files to the \Windows directory and also copy the .lnk files to the
\Windows\Start Menu\Program\Games\
directory.
I don't think our users (sorry to diss them) are bright enough to figure out they have to remove all of these files to get the games working again.
Thanks for all your help.
Gremlin.
gremlin said:
(sorry to diss them)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But you're dissing them all the way by treating them like this.
Why shouldn't they be able to play Solitair or JawBreaker every now and then during a coffee of lunch break. A bit of light releif never did anyone any harm.
I'm glad I don't work with you. (Bah Humbug)
I have no say in how the users are treated - I am merely a developer - I get told what needs to be done and I do it. I can offer my suggestions at design time but ultimately it is not my decision how the users are treated on the shop floor.
If I was in management it would be a different story.
I'm lovely to work with - I make the tea and everything
gremlin said:
If I was in management it would be a different story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Point taken. :wink:
I would argue that it's hardly worth the effort just to piss people off.
I'll have my tea with milk and no sugar.

[Q] An idea about preventing some apps to open without the permission

I have an idea about preventing some apps to open without my permission, don’t know if feasible. The principle is that using some tools like wp7 root tools to rename or move some files of the target app in the “\Applications\Install\{The product ID}\” to the other location, and when I want to use the app, I just give my password to the tool, and the tool will recover the files that modified before.
So I have a try by using wp7 root tools. I rename a dll file of one app, and I found that it is worked. Although the target app is still in the app list, but when I try to open it, it just shows the splash screen and then exits. And then, I recovers the name of the dll that I had renamed and reopen the app, it still works fine. So far I haven’t found any bad effects to my phone, so if we can find out the product ID of the office which I really want to protect, we can protect the most important things I think.
Are there anybody have the same requirement about protecting our privacy? I really hope there is an app that can achieve this goal.

help with locker app files

Ok, so my buddy had an app downloaded from the google play store. back when the S4 Mini was newish. He had some kind of photo/file locker app which all i can tell you is it made a folder on the internal storage simply called "Locker" and all the encrypted files that were locked with that app were in there but of course un-readable because that are apparently actually encrypted to some extent. the phone went overboard in the salt water, couldnt be repaired but i managed to get it running enough to pull the "locker" folder with all the locked data off the storage. He doesnt remember the name of the app used and no longer has the google account to look at his download history to find it. but the icon was blue-ish and it created a folder called "locker" on the storage. he entered his passcode on a dialpad looking menu and boom, his locked files showed up. but thats all i know about it. hes trying to get that data readable again, and changing the extension to jpeg or jpg or png didnt work. just wondering if anyone here may have some sugguestions of apps to try to get these files readable again, if i could find the exact program used my plan was to install it on his new phone. set a password and lock a random picture so this way the program would created all the directories or whatever it needed, and i can copy the recovered files from the old phone and copy them into the new phone in the appropriate directory, and hopefully unlock those files. sorry if im jumping around alot. so im trying to find a way to make these files readable again is the end goal. ive tried for days to get them unlocked. and if anyone can help me they are on these forums. Any help ideas would be greatly appreciated.
jaxfljustin said:
Ok, so my buddy had an app downloaded from the google play store. back when the S4 Mini was newish. He had some kind of photo/file locker app which all i can tell you is it made a folder on the internal storage simply called "Locker" and all the encrypted files that were locked with that app were in there but of course un-readable because that are apparently actually encrypted to some extent. the phone went overboard in the salt water, couldnt be repaired but i managed to get it running enough to pull the "locker" folder with all the locked data off the storage. He doesnt remember the name of the app used and no longer has the google account to look at his download history to find it. but the icon was blue-ish and it created a folder called "locker" on the storage. he entered his passcode on a dialpad looking menu and boom, his locked files showed up. but thats all i know about it. hes trying to get that data readable again, and changing the extension to jpeg or jpg or png didnt work. just wondering if anyone here may have some sugguestions of apps to try to get these files readable again, if i could find the exact program used my plan was to install it on his new phone. set a password and lock a random picture so this way the program would created all the directories or whatever it needed, and i can copy the recovered files from the old phone and copy them into the new phone in the appropriate directory, and hopefully unlock those files. sorry if im jumping around alot. so im trying to find a way to make these files readable again is the end goal. ive tried for days to get them unlocked. and if anyone can help me they are on these forums. Any help ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried to open that images on Adobe Photoshop ?
saarav242 said:
Have you tried to open that images on Adobe Photoshop ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not. I will definitely try that. ill have to guess which ones are pictures. i know there are videos in there too. Thank you for the suggestion.
jaxfljustin said:
I did not. I will definitely try that. ill have to guess which ones are pictures. i know there are videos in there too. Thank you for the suggestion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Anytime with pleasure mate !! And for video file, You should try Xilisoft Video Editing software and convert video file to another format.
It should be also working fine.
saarav242 said:
Anytime with pleasure mate !! And for video file, You should try Xilisoft Video Editing software and convert video file to another format.
It should be also working fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure which one is the video because there is no file extension or anything. But I will try Photoshop here shortly and see if I can at least open the pictures. I'll post s snapshot of the files
Download
Es file explorer
And press on the picture and choose open as image
And it will work
This screen shot may help you
I have tried both photoshop and es file explorer. no luck with either. i tried every single file as image and even tried video on each. neither worked. any other ideas? i appreciate all the help so far :fingers-crossed:
jaxfljustin said:
I have tried both photoshop and es file explorer. no luck with either. i tried every single file as image and even tried video on each. neither worked. any other ideas? i appreciate all the help so far :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, try to upload image and video on your Google Account and open. Let see what will you see.
saarav242 said:
Okay, try to upload image and video on your Google Account and open. Let see what will you see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I uploaded one of the smaller files which should be the image and one of the larger ones which should be the video. both just say there are no previews available when i try and open either of them.
If the files were encrypted then no matter which app you use, you won't be able to open them. You need to decrypt them first. To decrypt them you need the password they were encrypted with and the encrypting/decrypting algorithm (provided by the locker app). I would try to find the app (and copy the files to its folder), or try to decrypt it using various decrypting algorithms, provided the app uses a standard well-known one.
jaxfljustin said:
I uploaded one of the smaller files which should be the image and one of the larger ones which should be the video. both just say there are no previews available when i try and open either of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We will not defeat
Try to fix image and video from below link :
https://online.officerecovery.com/pixrecovery/ and for video : https://online.officerecovery.com/

Help with Google Play app

I had an app on my phone that was used to hide photos. I used it for several years and no problems. Today I go to open the app and it was acting like it was my first time ever using it... then I look in the Private folder and its completely EMPTY. I had over 800 very important photos in there and I can not find them. I looked in google play for the app... and its gone. I even talked to Google Help people and they said the app is no longer in the app store.
So what am I supposed to do?
I looked in the phone, and I found a folder called .photosafe and another called .photosafe_DoNotDelete
i opened the donotdelete one and it has a camera folder in there, i open that folder and there is an images folder, a videos folder and 2 files. So i click on images and i believe its all my pictures but when i click on one to open it it asks what app i wanna open it with and i tried several and none work. i think they are just text files.
how can i get the pictures back? can i change the files to something so i can open them?
please help. I am completely devestaed. The p;ictures are very important to me.
.photosafe_DoNotDelete
MissLaniS said:
I had an app on my phone that was used to hide photos. I used it for several years and no problems. Today I go to open the app and it was acting like it was my first time ever using it... then I look in the Private folder and its completely EMPTY. I had over 800 very important photos in there and I can not find them. I looked in google play for the app... and its gone. I even talked to Google Help people and they said the app is no longer in the app store.
So what am I supposed to do?
I looked in the phone, and I found a folder called .photosafe and another called .photosafe_DoNotDelete
i opened the donotdelete one and it has a camera folder in there, i open that folder and there is an images folder, a videos folder and 2 files. So i click on images and i believe its all my pictures but when i click on one to open it it asks what app i wanna open it with and i tried several and none work. i think they are just text files.
how can i get the pictures back? can i change the files to something so i can open them?
please help. I am completely devestaed. The p;ictures are very important to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever find a solution to this issue?
I have the same problem
Do you remember the exact name of that app?
If yes, try to google with it for some clues.
You can also post a thread for help about that app on sub-reddits, AndroidApps.
Good luck to you.

kindle RCE plugin, hidden files.

I saw this on my device, and only found little info/threads, with almost zero content/analysis. Aparently the kindle app leaves a bunch of random files around. And since the prefix is "RCE" i am a little paranoid, since that usually means "Remote code execution" and is usually associated with exploits
Files:
CS_JIT_Animation.mp4
jit_cs_positive_preview.png
rce_plugin_strings_resource_cs_CZ.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_de_DE.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_en_US.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_es_ES.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_fr_FR.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_it_IT.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_ja_JP.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_nl_NL.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_pt_BR.json.min
rce_plugin_strings_resource_v2_TYPO_TEST.json
rce_plugin_strings_resource_zh_CN.json.min
All Attached in a zip created by the android native file manager.
Current places mentioning this
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/unkown-files-in-download.948860/
https://talk.sonymobile.com/t5/Xper...erious-Files-in-Downloads-Folder/td-p/1353185
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xz1/help/phone-mysterious-files-download-folder-t3871763
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMmx5tRm0jM (one of the files is a video, someone uploaded to youtube ...and to https://gfycat.com/generouspinkcolt
How to make those files appear for you:
Install kindle from the google app store
if you already have it installed, or want to see the files again after you deleted, Stop the app and delete all storage. (nothing will be lost, this app syncs everything and some more to the amazon servers)
perform the first Sync on kindle app
Now, insert a pen drive and open the native android File Mananger and look at the local Download folder
Files are somewhat hidden:
If you look into the download folder with any other app (I tried, blackberry file manager, oi file manager, Ghost Commander, and Termux --after enabling the storage setup)
Files probably have a weird attribute or ownership... but the native android file manager does not show anything other than creation date! And every single file operation (copy, move, compress) reset the information to "regular user, creation time set to now". So either I see them on the Native File Manager, without any information available, or I do not see the files until I destroy the information.
Android version is not important (seems to happen on several versions) and has been happening for a while (First mention seems to be Nov2018)
Anyone have any idea what this is? I know I will probably reverse eng the kindle app at some point, wast a bunch of time, and realize it is just some dumb amateur library badly implemented by amazon... or maybe not. I think at this point I am most curious as to how the app "hides" the files from most everything.

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