As I am sure all Alcatel Idol 3 owners noticed by now, Alcatel have, over the last year or so, released on Google Play "updates" for most of their builtin software - the launcher, file manager, radio player, photo gallery, calendar and more - with what is, if I can be blunt - malware, updates whose only intention is to show you ads and notifications (whereas the original applications, obviously, did not have ads) which you have no way of disabling, and who knows what else.
I avoided this crap by "uninstalling" the updated applications and getting back the preinstalled versions.
BUT, today I started getting on all my Alcatel Idol phones (I have 3 of them!), OTA Android update. And I'm worried what would happen if I click it. Will I get the "updated" (malicious) versions of all the builtin applications with no way to revert them?
Does anyone have an experience with the new OTA update that came out yesterday? Can you tell me if after the update, the "joy launcher", "file manager", etc., are decent versions or the crappy versions which show ads?
P.S. Alcatel, you guys are idiots. I love your phones, and in the past bought 5 of them, but I'll *never* buy another phone from you because of this malware issue.
i have been wondering the same thing, i was scared to even touch the notification to see if it is a large upgrade or just 1 or 2 megabytes, in case touching it forces me to download it. please note, i have no idea if the OTA is any good, but i'm going to continue this post to vent about alcatel idol 3.
i was a bit annoyed with the last system upgrade, which started flashing the screen on and off periodically when any notifications were left active... for me, i always leave some notifications going, so that i don't forget about them or just want to leave them up even if i never take any action with them...
so i'm sure this takes a toll on my battery, since the screen will be flashing on and off for a few minutes before it stops.
i was shocked when a few months ago (or even a year?) apps started sending ads to the notification bar, from reading some posts i figured out you not only had to stop auto-updates in the play store, but also go into the updates app and disable them there. i didn't even know ads on a stock system were a thing, until i saw my dad's BLU $50 phone and realized that's how they make a decent phone $50.
since my idol 3 4.7" was relatively cheap at $180, i could see how they might need to put ads, but if i got a brand new alcatel phone at over $400, i'd be even more furious, do they put ads on their brand new phones?
i see a lot of cheap phones on amazon now listed having versions with "lockscreen offers and ads" including idol 5s
as long as the ads aren't malicious, and if you can just block notifications in android (i dunno if they somehow disable that) then it's sort of worth saving the money
anyway, i've had my idol 3 4.7" for just about 2 years, it's still fine, but i guess i'm starting to think about getting something else. i'd love to get another small phone, right before this i had an xperia z1 compact which i loved but the the battery started failing and bloating after less than a year and a half, so i'm kind of thinking i should never spend over $200 for a phone again (that one was $350)
my android history has been
nexus one $529
galaxy nexus $435.50
xperia z1 compact $350
idol 3 4.7" $180
i've been looking at nokia's new androids lately, or some kind of honor maybe
but my idol 3 4.7" is still working fine pretty much
i just remembered one other thing i hated about the marshmallow updated, which is the adopted SD card storage...
from what i understand if your phone dies, everything that was on the SD card can never be read again, because it works only when plugged into your phone. i mean i guess that's good for security, but it should be optional. it'd be nice to just be able to take that SD card to a new phone and just have everything that was there on it again.
i just noticed someone's post about "semi-adopted" SD card, which i guess means making 2 partitions, which kinda makes sense, but it would be nice if android offered that as a preset option. i had just gotten an SD card a few weeks before the marshmallow update came out and moving apps to SD for apps that supported it, worked fine.
anyway, i don't think and kinda hope no one read this, i'm not sure why i wrote this
I know that feeling, bros
Actually, I managed to uninstall built-in apps using adb shell, which was described in the discussion about Debloater (the app itself did not work after Marshmallow update):
Code:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
(this uninstalls system apps for the current user, so that they cannot be launched, do not notify about their updates in Google Play, and this works without root)
nyh said:
BUT, today I started getting on all my Alcatel Idol phones (I have 3 of them!), OTA Android update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dear nyh, what is your region and phone model (like, 6045K or 6039Y or with other letter in the end)? Here in Belarus (Eastern Europe), my 6045Y does not notify of any update (current system version 6.0.1-010 20).
Mankann said:
Dear nyh, what is your region and phone model (like, 6045K or 6039Y or with other letter in the end)? Here in Belarus (Eastern Europe), my 6045Y does not notify of any update (current system version 6.0.1-010 20).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the 4.7" model 6039S, and three more phones of the 5.5" model, I don't remember now their model number.
What I'm running now appears to be Android 6.0.1 build number "1BGD-UED2". I don't know how this relates to your number. I noticed the "update" program tells me the new version is "0100020" which is suspiciously close to the number you said, maybe it's the same. With your version, does "uninstalling" the "Joy Launcher" (and other) applications to get back to the preinstalled one, gets you a decent version, or one with ads?
nyh said:
I noticed the "update" program tells me the new version is "0100020" which is suspiciously close to the number you said, maybe it's the same. With your version, does "uninstalling" the "Joy Launcher" (and other) applications to get back to the preinstalled one, gets you a decent version, or one with ads?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, I understand now. It seems that your phone wants to update to the version that removes fastboot commands (so I suggest you triple-think and triple-check before upgrading).
"Uninstalling" system apps does not revert them to preinstalled versions, it makes them completely unavailable until hard reset (they are only listed in Settings labeled with "Disabled for current user" and cannot be run). If you decide to do this, you should first install some alternative apps (like Nova Launcher, Google Calendar etc), or else you won't be able to boot and use your phone.
I have the Idol 3 5.5 6045l(USA) Android 6.0.1 Build number 7VGE-UEE1.
I am reluctant to install the OTA I have pending:
______________________________
System update available
010 01 (471.5 MB)
New in this version
Version 7VGS-UES6 includes a security update that fixes Android major security flaw.
Update info:
- Netflix service
- Gameloft games
- UE improvements& bug fixes
______________________________
I am baffled that Alcatel would include Netflix & Gameloft with a major security fix.
After the adware riddled system app updates(that I've reverted to original) I will wait for more information before updating.
I love my phone and was considering buying a back-up or an Idol 4s especially as it seems that the front-facing speakers have been dropped from Alcatel's 2018 lineup.
But the bond of trust concerning system & app updates has been broken.
[Not sure whether one will be able to revert adware riddled system apps after the update]
That's real bad
Maybe this "security update" is resolving BlueBorne vulnerability (actually I wrote Alcatel about this, and they told me not to have bluetooth on all the time, wait patiently and install an antivirus which of course I did not do). But Netflix or Gameloft as system (priv-)apps is a no way (I struggled with TWO hidden Facebook services preinstalled on my phone until I found a method to "remove" them, which I described above).
If such an update comes to me (it may take days, weeks or months before it reaches all regions), and if no one installs it, I will do it and report here
I was stupid and sleepy and didn't fully check the update notes in depth when I saw it pop-up yesterday, I figured the majority of it was for security and maybe a couple of quality of life improvements like a new lock screen, even the entry about the Netflix app just sounded to me like they were fixing a problem people might have been having with it. suddenly I have and Netflix app I didn't want, a news app, some sort of Alcatel store front and two space wasting games (or at least one game and some gameloft "50 free games thing I have no use for).
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled, but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen. I've managed to quiet it down by canceling its access and whatever permissions I could. The fact that it restarts itself after a few seconds is just as irritating even before the reports that it actually may make my phone operate worse. I haven't experienced anything yet aside from the Google Play store crashing once while trying to figure out how to get rid of the update, but that was shortly after doing the factory reset and it's only been a day.
Whats mroe annoying is this now part of their most recent update on Idol 3. It's now impossible to revert or kill this as it's all baked in, not even factory reset will remove it. The new file manager app restarts at every turn, even after Force stop and will not allow you to disable it, and it seems to resist methods of hiding it from the user. I'm still seeking ways of getting rid of it that dont require rooting my phone but at this point it seems like the only possible answer, which is a shame because I was fine not rooting android, this was a really nice phone until they ruined it with this garbage. I know I'm pretty much screwed because My computer doesn't always seem to respond properly to Android stuff for some reason so any attempt to root will probably result in me bricking the thing, and even if I could root I'm not certain I'm comfortable with my phone being that open with other applications like this roaming around not to mention the questions of whether any of my desired apps will respond poorly to my doing it. But I wanted to at least add my voice to the rest that are complaining about this and telling Alcatel this is the last product of their's I'll ever own.
@PN04
Thank you for your very detailed report. Sorry to hear of the predicament you are now in. It goes without saying that I - thanks to you - will not be updating.
PN04 said:
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled, but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
have you held down on a notification and hit the (i) and then block notifications?
does it somehow disregard that? that was a new feature added in marshmallow
zxcvb2 said:
have you held down on a notification and hit the (i) and then block notifications?
does it somehow disregard that? that was a new feature added in marshmallow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have, it takes you to the app notification section where you can reduce it's priority, stop it from peeking and "hide sensitive content" (not sure what that last one means but I turned them all off anyway). As far as I can tell it's teeth are pulled as long as I don't actually start the app or give it any permissions when it asks, but the fact that constantly force stopping it only gets rid of the menu bar on my lock screen for a few seconds and that little stupid broom icon is constantly showing in my bar at the top means it's still an ugly scar on an otherwise nice phone. also App memory usage claims it's used 27 mb in the last 3 hours and I havent' even touched it.
I'll probably be studying up on rooting this weekend.
ichmoimeyo said:
@PN04
Thank you for your very detailed report. Sorry to hear of the predicament you are now in. It goes without saying that I - thanks to you - will not be updating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, no update for me either thanks to PN04's findings. I have managed to silence the Update app by uninstalling updates on the app and then turning off auto update and notifications. So far so good, no nagging messages about the update. Considering my latest security patch is from Nov 2016, I was not expecting to get any more anyway.
Shame on you Alcatel for ruining an otherwise perfect phone! Maybe i can get one more year on this one. The Xperia XZ1 Compact is looking more and more attractive, apart from the price (native Wifi calling, VoLTE and band 12 on TMO US, stuff that this phone didn't have and start to become more important for me).
Glad it helped. I guess I can take some measure of comfort in that at least.
The result of the upgrade.
nyh said:
Does anyone have an experience with the new OTA update that came out yesterday? Can you tell me if after the update, the "joy launcher", "file manager", etc., are decent versions or the crappy versions which show ads?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, I was surprised nobody came up to talk about their experience with the upgrade, so I took a risk and updated two of my Alcatel Idol 3 phones (mine and my son's) to the new update. Like in the old movie, I have good news, bad news, and ugly news:
The bad news was that the application content of the update was just as lousy as I feared it would be. It has the evil file manager and a bunch of other crap applications which spew notifications all the time, spontaneously install applications you never wanted to install, and so on. The strangest thing is that the update claims to add Netflix support, but actually uninstalled the Netflix app that I already had installed, which was very annoying (I had to re-install Netflix, re-download my downloads, and tell Netflix that I don't have the "old" device any more so it will let me download on the "new" one).
Also, the last on the bad list: after using the new system for two days, I haven't found a single thing to be better than the old system. This update doesn't upgrade Android - it's still exactly the same release 6.0.1 as it was before. The "patch level" is listed as November 2017, so maybe it has some security improvements, but I can't really tell.
The good news is that with some considerable effort, I was able to get rid of all of the crap (at least, everything I found so far). There is a new application called "Apps" which installs random crap. You can't uninstall it, but you can "disable" it and it never runs again. The evil file manager you can't uninstall (or disable), but its menu has an option to not send notifications, and then it doesn't. Then I went to the list of applications and uninstalled (luckily, that's possible) a bunch of games and other crap that Alcatel installed for me. If Alcatel had a better track record, I might actually enjoy trying out the new games they installed for me, but as it stands, I was worried about what might happen if I run them - I prefered to uninstall them. Anyway, after doing all that (sorry I don't have more detailed instructions), I am running with the updated Android for two days, and I haven't seen another ad, unexplained notification, or unsolicited application being installed. Hallelujah!
The ugly news is that after two days, I'm starting to worry that this version is less stable than the previous one. In two days I had to reboot my phone at least three times, once it hung during taking a video, once when Netflix suddenly couldn't find my downloaded content, and once when another app suddenly couldn't use the SD card (and a reboot solved these problems). I can't say I never had to reboot my phone, but this seems to be more frequent than I used to do it. I'm not sure this a real new problem or just a string of bad luck - only time will tell.
Mankann said:
Ah, I understand now. It seems that your phone wants to update to the version that removes fastboot commands (so I suggest you triple-think and triple-check before upgrading).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is "fastboot commands", and why should I be worried if they are removed?
Mankann said:
"Uninstalling" system apps does not revert them to preinstalled versions, it makes them completely unavailable until hard reset (they are only listed in Settings labeled with "Disabled for current user" and cannot be run). If you decide to do this, you should first install some alternative apps (like Nova Launcher, Google Calendar etc), or else you won't be able to boot and use your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not my experience... In the Google Play app. For most applications, "Uninstall" lets you really uninstall an app. But for built-in applications, when you "Uninstall" it asks you if you really want to revert to the pre-installed version, and that is actually what happens. This is why I did on my Alcatel Idol 3 for a year before this latest update. In application tray, when you long-press an application, it lets you "uninstall" regular applications, but for built-in application, the uninstall operation is simply missing. I never found any way to do what you describe - "disable for current user". Somebody above suggested this can be done through adb, but I never saw a way to do this in Alcatel's normal UI.
I wrote above my experience from the upgrade, which you can read, but I have two small comments about your experience:
PN04 said:
I got rid of the apps that could be insta-deleted, and the netflix app can at least be disabled,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hilarious (or more accurately, sad) how people who already had Netflix installed (like me), their installation got deleted - but for people who never had Netflix, it got installed and made unremovable. Great job Alcatel!
PN04 said:
but the filemanager is by far the worse offender. It's "boost" download and obnoxious UI, not to mention it clutters my notifications and lock screen. I've managed to quiet it down by canceling its access and whatever permissions I could. The fact that it restarts itself after a few seconds is just as irritating even before the reports that it actually may make my phone operate worse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I did to solve this was to reduce its permissions and more importantly, go into the file manager, go into its "settings", and ask it to stop its notifications. Luckily, it worked, and I never heard from the filemanager again. I don't know if it continues to do evil stuff in the background. It appears it is still running (my app info tells me it has used memory in the last 3 hours), but using "0%" CPU.
PN04 said:
this was a really nice phone until they ruined it with this garbage.
I wanted to at least add my voice to the rest that are complaining about this and telling Alcatel this is the last product of their's I'll ever own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I wonder if someone in TCL lost their marbles with these adware updates... As I said, I bought *five* of these phones - for me, my wife (two phones), mother-in-law and son, and I would have continued to recommend their phones if it weren't for the tricks they started to pull off last year.
nyh said:
What is "fastboot commands", and why should I be worried if they are removed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the Alcatel's OTA updates (IIRC, it was from Lollipop to Marshmallow) removed the ability to send fastboot commands to the phone, so that it became very hard to unlock bootloader and install root or custom ROMs. Actually it was already discussed here many times.
nyh said:
Somebody above suggested this can be done through adb, but I never saw a way to do this in Alcatel's normal UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can either use adb shell or you can use shell directly on your phone via apps such as Terminal Emulator (Google Play, F-Droid). Of course you cannot do this within "normal" GUI, because it is designed not-to-be-able-to-break-things
I work from home/am self employed so most of the time so my phone doesn't get outside except for a few occasions a week otherwise it's usually connected to the home wifi so that I don't waste data. But this weekend I had to run a few errands and in a single hour outing using mobile data, I force quit the file manager maybe 26 times as opposed to 5 - 8 times just connected to wifi so I feel like it's constantly trying to ping servers unless you restrict it to mobile data. I also noticed that number dropped by half to maybe 3 or 4 times in the house when I had a few apps like AIMP or one of the games I do play on it to pass time idling in the background. As I said before I did cancel every permission I could find for it and it still manages to crawl out of the grave every so often but maybe those apps had a high enough priority level so having them active an in memory pushes it down the list.... Literally while typing this just now I was charging the phone and got the signal that the battery was full, woke it up to check if file Manager was running, saw nothing on the lock screen, unplugged it and File manager popped up again.
This update is a cancer. I haven't had to restart yet, but I've definitely noticed a few more app crashes. The loss of Fastboot might explain why my first attempt to hide the offenders with ADB failed. after installing every thing , switching to developer mode and connecting it to my computer the phone just refused to show up in the program (again, this might still be a computer issue because I've had trouble with minor developer tools in the past). I may not be an Android developer like some people on this side but feel like I fiollowed the instructions correctly. I get the feeling this is bad news. We might not be able to even get a different rom installed on it at this point.
Is it possible someone has an older version of the firmware that can be reinstalled over top of this some how? ugh, I really can't afford to have to buy a new phone right now.
PN04 said:
This update is a cancer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. People, please try to avoid this update. If you can find a way to stop the "update" process from notifying you, great, if you don't, learn to leave with them - it's better than doing the update.
After another day experience with this update, I figured out that:
1. The "Google Play Services" processes takes 30% of the CPU all the time, and causes my battery to run out after 6 or so hours. This was not the case before the update. I can't figure out what is calling the "Google Play Services". I see the evil "File Manager" running, but it's not taking up CPU, and nothing else takes CPU except the "Google Play Services".
2. Every once in a while - several times each day (!) - something "hangs" in the OS, and applications start to hang: sometimes they can't start, sometimes they can't read their data (!?), sometimes they can't connect to the network (!?), and other bizarre phenomena. Rebooting the phone solves the problem, and I've been doing this several times each day now. Before that I rarely had to reboot the phone (maybe once a week).
Avoid this update. Like the plague. Shame on Alcatel / TCL.
Mankann said:
Code:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
(this uninstalls system apps for the current user, so that they cannot be launched, do not notify about their updates in Google Play, and this works without root)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't work for me:
pm uninstall --user 0 com.jrdcom.filemanager
Error: java.lang.SecurityException: Package null does not belong to 10096
Related
System updates are generally good, but not for my phone, for now. As you all know a rooted phone cannot just simply be updated through settings app, and FlasFfire Pixel support isn't quite there yet. BUT the thing is every freakin' time I connect to the Internet it just downloads the update automatically despite the fact itself not being able to install it, and then the phone just deletes the update then try again and again... (I have turned off automatic system updates under dev settings the moment phone booted up after rooting). It has used 6 GIGABYTES of cellular data in 2 days and is really freaking me out.
I have come up with some possible solutions, but I don't know how to realize them exactly:
1. Freeze the app which detects system updates, but I don't think there's a dedicated app just for that; so I'll have to disable apps like settings to do so, which is not practical at all.
2. Change the permission of the directory to read-only in which system update files reside, but I have no idea which one either. (the whole cache partition only contains empty folders and some small files wth)
3. Block all connection requests to Google system update servers, but apparently, I once again have no idea what the host name(s) or IP(s) are.
Xposed could probably do the job... But it's not for Android N devices yet.
So please help; could anyone give me some suggestions?
EDIT: Problem solved, I captured the traffic. If you guys also have this problem and need a temporary solution, just block all traffics to *.gvt1.com.
I followed this guide to stop the updates, but still got them so then I used this to stop the notifications and it has worked so far.
Thanks! You just help me discovered a gem of an app called "my android tools"
Hi, since 2 months i have been experiencing random crash on my U11+ i tried to reset my phone today and by completing my phone setup i added the option to restore some of my apps, everything was working perfectly until the phone got to homescreen and the app start to downloads, it crashed 3 times in 10 minutes.
Anyone experiencing the same problem?
kuihome21 said:
Hi, since 2 months i have been experiencing random crash on my U11+ i tried to reset my phone today and by completing my phone setup i added the option to restore some of my apps, everything was working perfectly until the phone got to homescreen and the app start to downloads, it crashed 3 times in 10 minutes.
Anyone experiencing the same problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It started happening to me as well.
However in my case I've managed to (partially/temporary) solve it by going to Boost+ and change from "Optimize" to "Don't optimize" for following apps: Google Play Store, Google Services Framework, Phone, People.
That did it for me for most crashes but Play Store still behaves weird and the only way to prevent Play Store and it's ridiculous crashes is to do in these steps exactly: as soon as you open Play Store > swipe from left > click on Play Protect > and just go back > Play Store won't crash at all.
I haven't tried resetting so I can't tell if that would solve but there are few posts regarding insane crashes related to Play Store and Boost+.
Might be different for you but you might give it a try
cli_junkie said:
It started happening to me as well.
However in my case I've managed to (partially/temporary) solve it by going to Boost+ and change from "Optimize" to "Don't optimize" for following apps: Google Play Store, Google Services Framework, Phone, People.
That did it for me for most crashes but Play Store still behaves weird and the only way to prevent Play Store and it's ridiculous crashes is to do in these steps exactly: as soon as you open Play Store > swipe from left > click on Play Protect > and just go back > Play Store won't crash at all.
I haven't tried resetting so I can't tell if that would solve but there are few posts regarding insane crashes related to Play Store and Boost+.
Might be different for you but you might give it a try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks for the advice dude, sory for late replying you i was kind of busy and hasnt been using xdav at all. well i tried it but to no avail :/.. the thing has gotten worse. someone else is having the same problem as me. Thinking of getting it to warranty and in the mean time im getting back to my old S8.
kuihome21 said:
Hey thanks for the advice dude, sory for late replying you i was kind of busy and hasnt been using xdav at all. well i tried it but to no avail :/.. the thing has gotten worse. someone else is having the same problem as me. Thinking of getting it to warranty and in the mean time im getting back to my old S8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries mate
Sorry to hear that it gotten worse
Most of my issues were caused by Boost+'s aggressive power saving option(optimization?) and going though every app that I think does not need any power saving options I just set it to "Don't optimize". Strangely enough - this did help but it is far from solution.
Yeah, phone does have some serious issues such as what I've recently discovered on my unit is if you have 2 SIM cards inserted* and someone calls you or you call** someone sometimes(very often) it freezes right away. By that I mean screen stops responding completely, ignoring any touch input or vol up/dn, power button or anything at all you just have to wait until it crashes on it's own and pulls it self back together.
On first try or after 2nd or 3rd call, it doesn't even have to be answered it will freeze and will 100% soft-reboot. Before it crashes during the call you can perfectly communicate with person on the other end without any problem but sadly it is timed as it is going to soft-reboot.
(dual sim phone and has issues with it's very own purpose of having 2 SIM cards)
*Inserted and active: it doesn't matter if you switched one SIM card off or another one it still happens (Dual SIM manager settings) Maybe my phone doesn't like that there is 1 UK and 1 HR (Croatian) sim cards together? Maybe has to be both UK or both HR? Can't verify that, sorry. Never had dual sim phone before.
**It does not matter is it SIM1 or SIM2 as it happens on both.
Not sure if it's just my unit or I am doing something wrong that is causing this, couldn't find anything online with this problem.
I can reproduce that issue at any given time but have no idea how to debug this problem sadly.
However in my case I no longer need the 2nd SIM card (HR) and now have microSD card inserted.
To summarize
Phone itself is great, I really love the camera (and DNG pictures) and video recording (60 fps all the time), battery lasts incredibly long way better than anything I had before!
I've completely purged play store as it has no purpose to me and I can live without that, coming from previous incredibly bad phones I am not worried about that.
But because of this serious Dual SIM problem, sadly, I can not and will not recommend this phone to anyone.
Only way is to have patience if HTC is going to release patch for this, but looking though U11+ posts, this might take a while.
Personally I'm not worried, I've rooted and flashed TWRP/CWM on all previous devices I had and in any time I'll just reflash original boot.img and restore stock recovery.img (which took a lot of time to find online) so OTA can work and update when it arrives.
Hey! you could bring it to warranty, and maybe they will replace your unit with a new one, yes i did say that the software on the u11+ is not perfect :/, its been a long long time since the european u11+ got any update the .401 version im still on december 1 security patch thats way too slow for a high end phone, i just read that the u11 life is getting android 9.0 pie in certain part of europe :'( thats not fair.
Well as for my problem i got it solved by bringing my device to an htc shop they took 3 days to analyse and all, at the end they just gave me a new unit. well not as if the old one could be repared.
I did say that the U11+ is an awesome device, excepts for sme little flaws in the system everything is just perfect. i choose this one because the the bigger battery i less powerful cpu compared to the U12+. well i can't wait to have my hands on Htc's new flagship next year
I have been using galaxy devices after my iPhone got hacked and it was a relief since then but till now only. The threat i am going to put forth is very complicated yet true and it exists in both of my galaxy devices i.e Samsung Galaxy S8+ (Snapdragon) as well as Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (Snapdragon).
THE PROBLEM:
My both Samsung phones are remotely accessed by someone. Everything i do on screen is being monitored by someone as well as the camera and microphone are being controlled. I know this because my earlier phones(Apple iPhone 6 and VivoY91c) used to be hacked and the hacker would tell me everything i do on screen, every person i chat with, every site i visit, everything that i do on my phone was being monitored. And now same is the case with Samsung. Nothing is private. I even tried to install an app called "screensings" but it was also bypassed very soon.
THE SYMPTOMS:
Strangely, I do not have any symptoms like battery drain, ads, unknown apps or anything of that nature. My phone location changes to "Redkino, Russia" it seems to me by all aspects that I am in Russia. my weather, the ads on Youtube, the people nearby me in apps, friend suggestions on facebook and snapchat. It feels like this phone is physically in Russia. From weather to apps to everything. Even if i see things for sale of OLX it shows Russian items.
THE PROCESS:
As far as I noticed this happens through any app that runs on one device at a time i.e KIK , What's app, Snapchat, Say HI, etc NOT through apps like facebook or twitter or instagram that can run at more than a device at a time. The experts can relate later what it means may be at the end of reading this narrative. Every phone i change , my whats app number remains the same and as soon as i install whats app in new phone or SayHi or Snapchat ID. As soon as i activate my account within an hour or two my phone gets to Russia. As i searched the hacker attaches some trojan through these apps that can be used in device at a time and that trojan drops payloads. The payload gets root access and after that my phone is being monitored and controlled.
MY EFFORTS:
I started with a normal restart. Did not work. I factory reset my phone. It did not work. I flashed the firmware with new custom rom. Didn't work for me. I finally managed to extract the PIT file of my stock firmware and RE-PARTIONED and NAND ERASED my phone and then installed new firmware. IT WORKED. Which indicated that the malware had reached to system partition. (WHCIH IS WHY I AM MAKING THIS COMPLAINT) my phone was back to normal i used it for long like months and then one day again i had the same issue. So i did the same i re-partioned and NAND earsed my phone. But now it will NOT work any longer. I do not know where is the malware hiding itself now. ? Do i have to change the board of my phone to get rid of it or do i have to change my device? i even flashed verizon firmware on my sprint phone so that may be it will kill the malware but it also did not work. Soon after new firmware my phone is ok as long as it is not connceted to internet / WIFI as soon as its connected it gets to Russian like within 5-8 hrs (after firmware flashing). 5-10 mins after(After factory reset) . I have to change both of my devices for now. But i Hope and pray that Samsung fixes it soon. Something is getting into the read only system and then after its gotten there Samsung's owns security system is protecting it from deletion.
ATTACHMENTS:
My attachments show clearly that i am at KDA KOHAT PK and REDKINO RUSSIA at the same time which is not possible. I even get the location of Russia house where my samsung devices are being monitored or cloned. This is the only sign or symptom but the problem is there for sure as i the whoever the hacker is selling my info is after me and everything i do on my phone is reaching him as it is as if she is watching me right from behind my shoulder. Please look into the matter and find out where lies the vulnerability from where a malware can access phone through an app over wifi and hides in system partition that is immue to factroy reset and afterwards some place where its immue to even flasing firmware NAND erase and re-parition.
I think it would have occurred to you after having both an Apple and an Android hacked that the problem is most likely you.
Or perhaps you have Dr No's grandson for a mortal enemy.
A social butterfly with all kinds of messaging apps running (none that I leave run on my phone), what could go wrong?
More than likely it's something you downloaded or loaded...
If the OS you flashed is earlier then Pie it's vulnerable to that type of attack.
A custom rom... built by who?
Here's the kicker; did the malware(s) slip by you onto all your data backups?
blackhawk said:
I think it would have occurred to you after having both an Apple and an Android hacked that the problem is most likely you.
Or perhaps you have Dr No's grandson for a mortal enemy.
A social butterfly with all kinds of messaging apps running (none that I leave run on my phone), what could go wrong?
More than likely it's something you downloaded or loaded...
If the OS you flashed is earlier then Pie it's vulnerable to that type of attack.
A custom rom... built by who?
Here's the kicker; did the malware(s) slip by you onto all your data backups?
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Yes , my ex she is after me no matter how many phones i change as soon as i log in to my snap chat or whats app my phone gets hacked. the malware then makes it way to the bootloader earlier a firmware with re partition would do the job but now that is not working . soon after that like an hour or so my phone goes to russia. i am thinking to switch back to new iphone may be it will solve the hacking issue for me or andriod new device like samsung galaxy a32. what do u suggest. i am all fed up and exhausted.
waqassikander said:
Yes , my ex she is after me no matter how many phones i change as soon as i log in to my snap chat or whats app my phone gets hacked. the malware then makes it way to the bootloader earlier a firmware with re partition would do the job but now that is not working . soon after that like an hour or so my phone goes to russia. i am thinking to switch back to new iphone may be it will solve the hacking issue for me or andriod new device like samsung galaxy a32. what do u suggest. i am all fed up and exhausted.
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Click to collapse
Ditch the social apps... for starters.
People use to meet in the streets; the streets are fields that never die.
I just bought a U11+ as an upgrade to my U11 and am configuring it, which is taking longer than I expected because neither of the two backups I did (htc's and Backup Your Mobile) installed most of the apps (or their data). Also, I've had two System updates in the last two days.
I got my custom background, the Keep Notes app (plus its data) and Facebook; that's pretty much it.
What did I overlook?
Oh, yeah... I cannot find a setting to keep the display on when powered. Anyone know how to do that?
If you did a jump to a new OS version or device that may be why.
If you did any major firmware updates on the new device, it's factory reset time.
Otherwise clear the system cache.
Manually loading them may be your only option.
Welcome to the fking planet
blackhawk said:
If you did a jump to a new OS version or device that may be why.
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Click to collapse
That occurred to me when I (finally) checked the OS version and saw that it was 8.
I've been getting update notices for the last two days and the most recent one (the third) was the Android 9 OS (update # 2.19.401.2). Where can I check on official updates so I can get an idea when this will stop (because manually looking for updates this morning got me nothing, then I saw the update prompt a couple hours later).
Updated to 9, rebooted and verified that Google Drive is connected, but I'm still not getting Backup & Restore to work. Will have to experiment with the others.
Jeff in 92833 said:
That occurred to me when I (finally) checked the OS version and saw that it was 8.
I've been getting update notices for the last two days and the most recent one (the third) was the Android 9 OS (update # 2.19.401.2). Where can I check on official updates so I can get an idea when this will stop (because manually looking for updates this morning got me nothing, then I saw the update prompt a couple hours later).
Updated to 9, rebooted and verified that Google Drive is connected, but I'm still not getting Backup & Restore to work. Will have to experiment with the others.
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Click to collapse
I learned long ago that if your OS is fast, stable and fulfilling its mission, let it be.
I've been on Pie for 2 years, my last reload was 1.5 years ago, still fast and stable with minimum maintenance. What's not to like?
Unless you start screwing with the firmware and bring in new issues that need fixed.
Security generally isn't an issue unless you do something stupid.
There's no saving dumb bunnies... be careful what you load and download.
blackhawk said:
If you did a jump to a new OS version or device that may be why.
If you did any major firmware updates on the new device, it's factory reset time.
Otherwise clear the system cache.
Manually loading them may be your only option.
Welcome to the fking planet
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Click to collapse
I did a Factory Reset (but it stayed Android 9). I did this because I had 'restored' a lot of files from Backup Your Mobile's (aka BYM) work on my U11.
Two things are bothering me:
1) The HTC Transfer Tool is not working this time (it transfers the PIN Code, but never gets to CONFIRM. After repeated attempts following reboots, etc., I have noticed that the PIN Code sometimes flickers off and back on again; what's up with that?).
2) BYM transferred my SMS and MMS to my U11+, but clicking on a text message that includes an MMS just makes the message thread avatar flicker and stay on the message thread listing (not even a flicker of the thread is displayed).
You mean screen lock codes?
First I don't password lock devices. You're the most likely one to end up getting locked out.
If you do use one I wouldn't attempt to back it up and transfer it. If it gets corrupted what follows won't be fun.
Pie's a good OS.
Clearing the system cache never hurts to try when experiencing glitches.
blackhawk said:
You mean screen lock codes?
First I don't password lock devices. You're the most likely one to end up getting locked out.
If you do use one I wouldn't attempt to back it up and transfer it. If it gets corrupted what follows won't be fun.
Pie's a good OS.
Clearing the system cache never hurts to try when experiencing glitches.
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Click to collapse
No, I did not mean screen lock codes. The HTC Transfer utility worked the first time I tried it before the Factory Reset, but it's not working now. The PIN Code is displayed on the source phone, but it doesn't activate the confirmation button to do the transfer.
I have since learned that many of the apps that were copied over via Google Play's utility also transferred the data, but not all the apps were transferred.
More research to be done, it seems.
Jeff in 92833 said:
No, I did not mean screen lock codes. The HTC Transfer utility worked the first time I tried it before the Factory Reset, but it's not working now. The PIN Code is displayed on the source phone, but it doesn't activate the confirmation button to do the transfer.
I have since learned that many of the apps that were copied over via Google Play's utility also transferred the data, but not all the apps were transferred.
More research to be done, it seems.
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Click to collapse
My bad... I use Google search a lot and it doesn't need to be that specific model or OS version most times. Many of the issues are long standing. I even use solutions for other manufacturers models. Whatever comes in handy.
And/or just play with it until I work it out.
I haven't used that app. If you upgraded the firmware or are transferring data from another device these kind apps can screw up especially with app settings.
If you're doing a factory reset because of an issue or a crash they can inadvertently reload the root cause of the issue.
It's nice to save the homescreen, theme, icon setting on a reload using these though. Most apps I hand reload/configure or use the app's backup setting file like with Poweramp or DIGI Clock which are very intensive to set from scratch.
Critical data I save in a master backup folder(s) as files. Be ready to reload at any time as most crashes while rare give little or no warning. Redundantly backup critical data to at least 2 hdds that are physically and electronically isolated from each other and the PC.
Most times a factory reset is to give the device a clean slate. Looking over app settings while setting them up helps to spot things you may have previously missed. It helps a lot to be familiar with the nuts and bolts at the user interface level. Many times when troubleshooting this is where the answers lurk.
I consider my first load or two on a new phone trail runs. After which it's pretty well sorted out for a clean load. I do the same on PCs. Android's are very forgiving but poorly written apps or the user can still skew hidden user settings that are hard to find/access on a stock device. A stable, fast load is a pleasure to use and will run well for a long time with only simple maintenance on a stock Android.
I couldn't find my phone a few minutes ago. I called myself and ran to find it, fishing it out of the chair I was playing with my dog earlier I, of course, involuntarily hung up the call — I miss bezels — which prompted a message on-screen coming from the SIM services, it was something about sending a text or something along those lines to inform the alleged calling party I'm busy, my carrier seems not to be aware of the busy tone on landlines or that mobile and IP phones already do that when they end the call. Anyway, I got straight away to search how to disable these notifications.
As it turns out, you can't. It's one of these apps that has notifications perennially enabled and the toggled is grayed out so it can't be changed. This is a MIUI 12 Xiaomi device, BTW. Android 10...ish. I think. It is rooted with Magisk and TWRP. Actually the only reason why I haven't sought out another ROM is because' MIUI blocks unknown callers. Which is kind of a moot point now since every block will probably trigger that message.
I have not been able to install a single Magisk module though. Basically the most advanced thing I can do is disable apps, but I don't use Magisk or TDVCR or whatever but ADB and the CLI* — and it doesn't even require root. However, I gather I can just disable this one, so I want to change its (and several others') permissions which are at best obscenely egregious. Part of my reluctance to learn has been that I don't trust it in the first place, so I barely touch the device or treat it as personal. But I'm researching and finding things on my own, I just need a little hint to get me started. Would you—please?
If possible, I'd like to keep/not risk the root, it was so hard to make it stick after reverting back dozens of times. Thanks!
*: or since I have root access, with the FX file manager app (I attached a couple of screenshots). Maybe it's somehow helpful. The device is under MDM and I also have a taskless Tasker app; in about 5 years since I got it, I still don't know how it's used.
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