Database Info

[Q] How can I test an .apk to see if it's "safe" to install?

Hi,
Sometimes an app (.apk) is either simply not available through Google's store, or it might say "not compatible with your device", etc. There can be various reasons why a person might download a .apk from somewhere other than a "trusted" source.
If this was a file for my PC I could test it in a "sandbox", and I could scan it with both Microsoft Security Essentials and Malware Bytes Antimalware.
On my Android phone(s) I'm not aware of something like the "sandbox" option, and I don't really want to run an "antivirus" program on my phone. Is there an easy way to scan .apk files on the PC to see if they are rogue apps, might send SMS, "phone home", or otherwise mess with other applications or the system software installed on my phone?
Lets give another example: say I thought 15 minutes was not long enough to evaluate a relatively expensive Android game (it certainly isn't!) and I want to test it out first. Let's assume my only option in that case might be an illegally downloaded copy from unknown sources. Of course, we shouldn't do that. But if we did, how could we know if the file is safe and not risk installing some Chinese spyware?
About Android AV programs: anybody know how effective they are? Do some defend against "trojans" - I would think these days trojans are 99% of problems and viruses mostly a relic of the past?
My biggest concern is actually just unwanted crap that runs in the background which eats up battery, makes my phone warm (which I hate), or, perhaps even sends SMS message [this would be even worse because I don't have a text message plan].
EDIT: I see web pages with tiles like "new study finds Android antivirus apps not effective" and articles like this one: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/...bouncer-does-it-offer-enough-protection/17981
Do we have an easy way to boot Galaxy S3 off of "external" SDCARD instead of internal memory?

Search play store for avast antivirus, completely free, updates daily and works really well (firewall. Anti theft. And many more Features
sony xperia ray ics 4.0.4
stock rom unrooted

I found this website, maybe it can help someone.
h t t p://scan.netqin.com/en/
Maybe someone can post another one...

an easy way to check for safe apk
The easiest way to check for safe apk is to have one gmail account and another "whatever" email account. Then just send the apk from the gmail one to the second account, gmail always find viruses in any apk and stop the process to join the file (virus alert). Bad point is you are limited with the size of the file you wanna send.

Nowadays, even pc antiviruses can detect viruses in apks. I would rather not burden my phone with any android antivirus,since they are literally battery hogs.
sent using my HTC One S

Go here and upload the APK
http://anubis.iseclab.org/
Anubis is a service for analyzing malware.
Submit your Windows executable or Android APK and receive an analysis report telling you what it does. Alternatively, submit a suspicious URL and receive a report that shows you all the activities of the Internet Explorer process when visiting this URL.
Andrubis executes Android apps in a sandbox and provides a detailed report on their behavior, including file access, network access, crypto operations, dynamic code loading and information leaks. In addition to the dynamic analysis in the sandbox, Andrubis also performs static analysis, yielding information on e.g. the app's activities, services, required external libraries and actually required permissions.

Found a good one too
apkscan.nviso.be - give it a try. Drag and drop - wait for the upload - than click SCAN . Wait for a few minutes. That`s all. Unlike ANUBIS it has a resolution at the end of the analysis . Usually helpful.

You can also email the file to [email protected] and it will email the report back in about ten minutes. Virustotal can display some interesting info, for example it said that Lucky Patcher is a "Potentially Infected Hosts File (v)", as reported by VIPRE and AVware.
Virustotal also has an official android app.
The Netqin scanner is also an android mobile app.

Late answer, sure, but I think ClamAV is what you want. You also want its bytecode signature file, and to speed things up, you only want that single file (speeds up things quite a bit).
It is the only offline apk scanner i know of, and as for its efficiency i cannot say, but it seems like it is what you are asking for.
An alternative would be to install something like BlueStacks and remap your "Windows shared folder" (through registry) to the folder you have your apk files in, and then run BitDefender on it. BD is by far the most pernickety AV app out there for Android.

I'll have to check out bitdefender (it's also included on virustotal.com)
apkscan.nviso.be seems to be pretty good at analyzing files for suspicious activity, and it also uploads the file to virustotal for you. Then you can copy the sha256 hash into the virustotal's search, to get all the gory details.
anubis.iseclab.org limits files to 8 megabytes.
Another way to avoid malware is:
when installing an update to an already-installed version of an application, it will 99% of the time prompt you to update an existing app. There's been rare instances where some apps do use a new digital signature (for example when spotify had a big security hole, and for awhile there were two apps by spotify in the app store).
One other way to tell, as a final check when launching the apk for installation on the phone: the icon will not have the right icon. I've installed apps before that I thought came from a trusted source, but the icon was not right. In fact, I was considering not posting this publically, so the "bad dudes" would not update their methods.

Another tool I found:
http://andrototal.org/
Although it might be a duplicate of virustotal.

nintendo1889 said:
Another tool I found:
http://andrototal.org/
Although it might be a duplicate of virustotal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just tried out this site. To me, it appears to be the most thorough virus testing site that I have seen. It takes some time for it to complete the scans. mainly because it scans the file with about 7 or 8 different scanning engines. Just just have to keep refreshing the page every few minutes to see if the results have updated.
I will be using this one as my go to site for apk scanning.

Just install it on the default emulator in the Android SDK
You can also install your apps on other emulator live bluestacks(best for games), jar of beans(best for rooted app) and windroy(the lightest)
Hit thanks if this helps

nintendo1889 said:
I'll have to check out bitdefender ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your signature photo ... awesome ... Bad Dudes

By using GDATA security , When you want to install an app the GDATA will scan it befor installing
Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

Use google scanning service VirusTotal to scan any app, secondly always use secure source. There are many well reputed apk sites but I personally use apklink.com , on this site required apk file is just a click away and its quite easy as well...
be safe & secure

This threads out of date, but it has me thinking I want to use something as mentioned in several replies to OP.
Are there any sites, or apps that can warn me if an .apk (for example) has malware etc.?
Thanks in advance for any help, including a link to another discussion that may have my answer

denise1952 said:
This threads out of date, but it has me thinking I want to use something as mentioned in several replies to OP.
Are there any sites, or apps that can warn me if an .apk (for example) has malware etc.?
Thanks in advance for any help, including a link to another discussion that may have my answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Malwarebytes can detect malware.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

I tried this site and I like it because it goes into a lot of detail after analyzing and sends me a report in email. It was mentioned, and it is still available to use: https://apkscan.nviso.be/
Thank you for the heads up on MB, I use that on my PC and works great

You can use virustotal.

[GUIDE] Using(Understanding) XPRIVACY

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 START​Youtube 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.

[GUIDE] My Android Tools(Pro) - one of my fav apps

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.

[Completed] Changing APK name doesn't let it find the license app

Hello,
I have an interesting problem to solve. Your insights or ideas will be helpful. I have purchased "Automatic Call Recorder - ACR" and its license app (separate app that needs to be purchased installed). Since the apps are alphabetically ordered on my mobile, I changed the ACR apk (using APKEdit) to XACR. The app works well but it cannot detect the license app and provides only free features.
Is there any way I can make it detect the license app? I tried to rename the license app by adding 'x' but didn't work. Within the APK, is there a location where I can tell/configure the APK to find the correct app?
If this requires a lot of time and efforts, I would be ready to pay (depends on how much is your ask).

jalgaon999 said:
Hello,
I have an interesting problem to solve. Your insights or ideas will be helpful. I have purchased "Automatic Call Recorder - ACR" and its license app (separate app that needs to be purchased installed). Since the apps are alphabetically ordered on my mobile, I changed the ACR apk (using APKEdit) to XACR. The app works well but it cannot detect the license app and provides only free features.
Is there any way I can make it detect the license app? I tried to rename the license app by adding 'x' but didn't work. Within the APK, is there a location where I can tell/configure the APK to find the correct app?
If this requires a lot of time and efforts, I would be ready to pay (depends on how much is your ask).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand this is a genuine request, but xda is not a place where anyone can come to make money so payment is out of the question. The other part I'm also not sure about, we have to be careful when modding a license as it is a paid app so not something we could really discuss
Regards
Sawdoctor

sawdoctor said:
I understand this is a genuine request, but xda is not a place where anyone can come to make money so payment is out of the question. The other part I'm also not sure about, we have to be careful when modding a license as it is a paid app so not something we could really discuss
Regards
Sawdoctor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry i am new to XDA and this was my first thread. If this is irrelevant and not allowed then I request admins to delete the thread.

jalgaon999 said:
Sorry i am new to XDA and this was my first thread. If this is irrelevant and not allowed then I request admins to delete the thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thread closed per request

[Q] Parallel Apps (Utility), and Systemizing it with xXx.NoLimits ?

So my situation is:
I have 2 SIM cards, and each SIM card has a WhatsApp account (WhatsApp + WhatsApp Parallel App).
I was trying to Systemize WhatsApp (using xXx.NoLimits) because it is Mission Critical application I use for work, and need it to be reliable.
When I went to Systemize WhatsApp, it worked - but the Parallel App account would not open (just said permission denied).
I then tried removing the Parallel WhatsApp before Systemizing, and after Systemizing WhatsApp I cannot add a parallel WhatsApp (via the Parallel App Utility).
And my question(s) is:
How does the Parallel App Utility work, does it create a 2nd .apk file (then I could Systemize both .apks), and where is that .apk located?
Has anyone gotten Systemized applications to create a Parallel version via the Utility?
How could I fix the permission denied issue for the Parallel WhatsApp?
Thanks in advance for any useful input/answers!

only4dank said:
So my situation is:
I have 2 SIM cards, and each SIM card has a WhatsApp account (WhatsApp + WhatsApp Parallel App).
I was trying to Systemize WhatsApp (using xXx.NoLimits) because it is Mission Critical application I use for work, and need it to be reliable.
When I went to Systemize WhatsApp, it worked - but the Parallel App account would not open (just said permission denied).
I then tried removing the Parallel WhatsApp before Systemizing, and after Systemizing WhatsApp I cannot add a parallel WhatsApp (via the Parallel App Utility).
And my question(s) is:
How does the Parallel App Utility work, does it create a 2nd .apk file (then I could Systemize both .apks), and where is that .apk located?
Has anyone gotten Systemized applications to create a Parallel version via the Utility?
How could I fix the permission denied issue for the Parallel WhatsApp?
Thanks in advance for any useful input/answers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bumping for 9.0.5 OTA upgrading people returning to forums.

Why do you want to systemize WhatsApp?
This is the first time I am coming across someone wanting to systemize it. I do not know of any advantages that WhatsApp could have as a system application -- it will work as it is, even if you don't systemize it. Au contraire, by systemizing it, you are taking additional steps with the end result being unreliability.

a.cid said:
Why do you want to systemize WhatsApp?
This is the first time I am coming across someone wanting to systemize it. I do not know of any advantages that WhatsApp could have as a system application -- it will work as it is, even if you don't systemize it. Au contraire, by systemizing it, you are taking additional steps with the end result being unreliability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Notifications are not reliable (at least with xXx.NoLimits). Both WhatApp, and Paralleled one, are not consistent on getting notifications. Also using Franz for WhatssApp Web front-end, and it does not hold stable connection over extended periods of time.
Using WhatsApp for work (both accounts), so it is mission critical

only4dank said:
Notifications are not reliable (at least with xXx.NoLimits). Both WhatApp, and Paralleled one, are not consistent on getting notifications. Also using Franz for WhatssApp Web front-end, and it does not hold stable connection over extended periods of time.
Using WhatsApp for work (both accounts), so it is mission critical
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Would converting it to system app solve these issues? I think not.
Have you restored whatsapp data through Titanium Backup? Do you have whatsapp excluded from Doze? These are more likely to impact(/solve) your notification issues

a.cid said:
Would converting it to system app solve these issues? I think not.
Have you restored whatsapp data through Titanium Backup? Do you have whatsapp excluded from Doze? These are more likely to impact(/solve) your notification issues
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have not backed-up/restored data using Titanium backup.
Issue is with WhatsApp being killed in background (even though it is marked to NOT be battery optimized)... (see explanation on xXx NoLimits thread below)
xXx said:
Systemizing Apps
For all who have issues with apps being killed in the background even they are marked as not to be battery optimized. If this happens, you won't get notifications anymore from that specific app and next time you jump to that app it have to be loaded again instead of still being available in Ram.
In order to work around this issue, you can now place your critical apps as apk file with any filename in the following folder:
/sdcard/xXx/apps
All apk files will be installed as system apps when you flash NoLimits next time.
Now your selected apps will behave like a system app and as system apps are excluded from battery optimization mechanisms, they are most likely not killed anymore in background.
Let's say you want to do this with Whatsapp and have Whatsapp already installed as user app. This is not a problem. You don't lose any data and if updates are available, they will be applied by the Playstore like always. The apps are installed system-less as part of the NoLimits Magisk Module and NOT placed on the system partition.
If you want to add further apps, just place the apk files in /sdcard/xXx/apps and flash NoLimits again. Or if you want to remove some, or all apps simple remove the apk's or remove the apps folder and flash NoLimits again.
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Click to collapse
Systemizing it fixed it for me, however the problem was I could not create a Parallel App of WhatsApp, via the Android Utility, to be Systemized as well.
Alternatively, there are 3rd party apps that I can use (and am using temporarily)- however I want to use the built in Parallel App within the native Android Utility. Not keen on using 3rd party apps for this type of problem.

only4dank said:
Have not backed-up/restored data using Titanium backup.
Issue is with WhatsApp being killed in background (even though it is marked to NOT be battery optimized)... (see explanation on xXx NoLimits thread below)
Systemizing it fixed it for me, however the problem was I could not create a Parallel App of WhatsApp, via the Android Utility, to be Systemized as well.
Alternatively, there are 3rd party apps that I can use (and am using temporarily)- however I want to use the built in Parallel App within the native Android Utility. Not keen on using 3rd party apps for this type of problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh, this is a specific issue with the ROM. I am not sure why the ROM is so aggressive with how it handles background processing. I would advise asking this in the ROM thread as other users using that ROM would be better equipped in answering the question of how to systemize a parallel app.
Alternatively, I would also suggest just moving away from the ROM if WhatsApp is so critical to your functioning. WhatsApp is known to ban accounts using unofficial derivative apps (not referring to parallel apps in this case), so you are at risk of losing access to an important resource. The stock ROM would not require you to systemize any app to continue receiving notifications.

a.cid said:
Ahh, this is a specific issue with the ROM. I am not sure why the ROM is so aggressive with how it handles background processing. I would advise asking this in the ROM thread as other users using that ROM would be better equipped in answering the question of how to systemize a parallel app.
Alternatively, I would also suggest just moving away from the ROM if WhatsApp is so critical to your functioning. WhatsApp is known to ban accounts using unofficial derivative apps (not referring to parallel apps in this case), so you are at risk of losing access to an important resource. The stock ROM would not require you to systemize any app to continue receiving notifications.
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Click to collapse
Ya well I like the NoLimits Magisk Module, so I will use this workaround for the time being .
But it seems this notification issue is related to Android Pie and affects a whole list of devices (stack overflow, xda forums, Reddit - all have reports of this issue).

only4dank said:
Ya well I like the NoLimits Magisk Module, so I will use this workaround for the time being .
But it seems this notification issue is related to Android Pie and affects a whole list of devices (stack overflow, xda forums, Reddit - all have reports of this issue).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there is a notification issue. But I am betting it is related to the module you are using, rather than be the same bug.

a.cid said:
Yes, there is a notification issue. But I am betting it is related to the module you are using, rather than be the same bug.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very well could be true about being a different bug. I have no way to prove that it is the same bug or isn't.
For me, Systemizing WhatsApp with xXx.NoLimits does fix the problem - but still, I would like to use the built in OOS Parallel Utility to clone WhatsApp and Systemize that clone.
That is why I was wondering A) how to solve the permissions problem for cloned app once WhatsApp is Systemized, and B) how does OOS Parallel Utility work on a technical level.
Have not seen any info on either of these things (from these forums or elsewhere).
So at the moment I am using very old version of an application that got banned from the Play Store to clone WhatsApp so I can Systemize WhatsApp - and everything works.
Not really what I want to do though, if you catch my drift.