While Android provides a simple way to completely reset an app, there are some apps that bypass this ability using the Manage Space method:
I have seen even non browser apps that do not allow their data to be deleted completely.
Is there any way to delete the data of such apps instead of uninstalling and reinstalling?
TheMystic said:
While Android provides a simple way to completely reset an app, there are some apps that bypass this ability using the Manage Space method:
I have seen even non browser apps that do not allow their data to be deleted completely.
Is there any way to delete the data of such apps instead of uninstalling and reinstalling?
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Click to collapse
Have you tried going to system settings>apps then selecting your app then on the app info page select storage then select the wipe data option?
Droidriven said:
Have you tried going to system settings>apps then selecting your app then on the app info page select storage then select the wipe data option?
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This is where you see 'Manage Space' instead of 'Clear Data' for some apps. Examples would be some Google apps, many Chromium based browsers, and some others too.
TheMystic said:
This is where you see 'Manage Space' instead of 'Clear Data' for some apps. Examples would be some Google apps, many Chromium based browsers, and some others too.
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Click to collapse
Have you tried going to the Android/data folder on your device then find the folder that contains the data for the app you want to delete? Either with a file manager app on the device or via PC?
If you have ADB successfully enabled on Android device, then have you ever tried to completely uninstall the app in question via command-line?
Related
In the phone manager - > storage manager - > the last option is Application restore. Anyone knows what that involves?
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ken481 said:
In the phone manager - > storage manager - > the last option is Application restore. Anyone knows what that involves?
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Click to collapse
Its equivalent to clearing the cache/data on each app, so next time you launch the app its like its being opened for the first time
Thanks a lot
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MuPp3t33r said:
Its equivalent to clearing the cache/data on each app, so next time you launch the app its like its being opened for the first time
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what is the use of these? Are they consuming space of internal memory? what if I delete these?
polashd said:
what is the use of these? Are they consuming space of internal memory? what if I delete these?
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Click to collapse
They do consume some space.
"Cache" is usually temporary info kept for quick access (think scrolling past the same image twice on Facebook app, first time it retrieves the image, second time it might refer to the cache and thus load quicker)
"Data" on the other hand contains info such as signed in accounts and application configuration info.
Clearing data for an app essentially restores it to factory state, equivalent to the time you first downloaded it from Play Store. This is generally only done when you are having a problem with an app that cannot be resolved by rebooting the device and/or clearing the cache
i would like to install google prey or similar apps as an system app, or default app so when you factory reset the device it is already installed with the user and configuration, are the tutorials "installing app as system app" the ones that will work?
any tips for where to go or what to do? thanks
jvds said:
i would like to install google prey or similar apps as an system app, or default app so when you factory reset the device it is already installed with the user and configuration, are the tutorials "installing app as system app" the ones that will work?
any tips for where to go or what to do? thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're rooted you can use Titanium Backup to convert it to a system app or you can use ES File Explorer with root explorer enabled to manually push it to your /system/app folder then boot to recovery and wipe cache and Dalvik/Art cache then reboot to system.
You can also use adb to adb push it to /system/app folder.
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Droidriven said:
If you're rooted you can use Titanium Backup to convert it to a system app or you can use ES File Explorer with root explorer enabled to manually push it to your /system/app folder then boot to recovery and wipe cache and Dalvik/Art cache then reboot to system.
You can also use adb to adb push it to /system/app folder.
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Click to collapse
thanks, i tried it with airdroid, but factory reset still delete the settings, the app stays like intended but configurations and login to app is all gone. any tips?
jvds said:
will factory reset still delete it or delete the settings?
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Click to collapse
It won't delete the app but it will delete the settings but you can also use Titanium Backup to backup and restore the app data for that app, you can also backup the app data to google and you can restore it from Google.
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Droidriven said:
It won't delete the app but it will delete the settings but you can also use Titanium Backup to backup and restore the app data for that app, you can also backup the app data to google and you can restore it from Google.
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Click to collapse
but will titanium backup survive factory reset?
do any one know if you can also move the settings to specific locations to avoid them being deleted? for airdroid, or google prey or any other app that can track?
for airdroid the apk and the lib files hat to be moved to system folders and it stays after a factory reset, but anything that looses the settings over a factory reset is pretty much useless for stolen devices, the first step a thief takes is factory reset and format the device. all aps on play store is as good as nothing when it comes to recovering a stolen device. :silly:
jvds said:
but will titanium backup survive factory reset?
do any one know if you can also move the settings to specific locations to avoid them being deleted? for airdroid, or google prey or any other app that can track?
for airdroid the apk and the lib files hat to be moved to system folders and it stays after a factory reset, but anything that looses the settings over a factory reset is pretty much useless for stolen devices, the first step a thief takes is factory reset and format the device. all aps on play store is as good as nothing when it comes to recovering a stolen device. :silly:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Titanium Backup will back up whatever apps, app data and settings that you want it to.
You can use Titanium Backup to make itself a system app, it won't get removed by the factory reset, then just use it to restore everything that you backed up.
There is plenty of information about all of this all over XDA and all over the internet if you'll just take the time to do some searching. Get off your butt and get to looking and you'll see.
As for the device being stolen, there are apps that you can install on the device that can be used to lock the device or wipe the device or even track the device to its location or last known location, whichever of those apps you use to secure your device can also be made into system apps using Titanium Backup. Then if its stolen and wiped the apps will still be there.
It isn't rocket science, why are you over thinking and complicating it?
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Droidriven said:
Titanium Backup will back up whatever apps, app data and settings that you want it to.
It isn't rocket science, why are you over thinking and complicating it?
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Click to collapse
hi, i'm not trying to over complicating it, the thing is that i tried moving aps like google prey and airdroid that can locate a device to the system folders but when i factory reset the device, the apps are there but the configuration of the aps is gone, i want the configuration to stay alive with the aps, because thieves just factory reset the device at the moment they steal it and then you kiss your device good bye, at least if i can get the configuration to stay alive then i have a 50% chance against thieves, at the moment the chance is next to none.
the reason i ask is to not waste time testing things that some one already know, i searched but don't find good tutorials on that, and i'm not sure if Titanium Backup will work for that, i was expecting some one knowing the software like Titanium Backup can tel me that if i do convert an app to a system app with Titanium, that the system app and its configuration will sirvive a reset and not just the app.
i will test Titanium Backup later today when i have some free time, thanks
jvds said:
hi, i'm not trying to over complicating it, the thing is that i tried moving aps like google prey and airdroid that can locate a device to the system folders but when i factory reset the device, the apps are there but the configuration of the aps is gone, i want the configuration to stay alive with the aps, because thieves just factory reset the device at the moment they steal it and then you kiss your device good bye, at least if i can get the configuration to stay alive then i have a 50% chance against thieves, at the moment the chance is next to none.
the reason i ask is to not waste time testing things that some one already know, i searched but don't find good tutorials on that, and i'm not sure if Titanium Backup will work for that, i was expecting some one knowing the software like Titanium Backup can tel me that if i do convert an app to a system app with Titanium, that the system app and its configuration will sirvive a reset and not just the app.
i will test Titanium Backup later today when i have some free time, thanks
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Click to collapse
Factory reset removes all data and settings when you factory reset even for system apps, there is no way to protect that data from a factory reset. You can back it up and restore it but you can't prevent it from being wiped.
There is an alternative though, you can remove the recovery, then turn USB debugging off then password/PIN protect your system settings app.
Removing recovery ensures that they can't use recovery to factory reset.
Turning off USB debugging ensures that they can't flash the device with PC or use adb/fastboot because PC won't recognise the device.
Password/PIN protecting your system settings app prevents them from getting into your system settings so they can't factory reset from settings.
The one issue with this setup is that if your device encounters an issue where it won't boot or bootloops then even YOU won't be able to fix it because you won't have recovery and you won't be able to connect to PC because you won't be able to get into settings to turn USB debugging back on to be able to flash it.
Research these things to verify its safe to do on your device because all devices are different and things are different depending on the device in question.
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thank you
I'm interested in this topic, since nobody seems care that much to write up a friendly method to do that...
Not friendly
These guys claim to know these things but fail to even give a link to a tutorial on how to do it. Its infuriating. They tell us to research but asking here on XDA is part of research. Pls give a valid tutorial on how to secure prey data so it doesn't get deleted.
Hi All
I am hoping someone can help... I have the Galaxy S7 (SM-G930F / 6.0.1 / UK / EE) and have come up with an issue.
I use Cerberus Apps in case my phone is lost - you are able to install this into the system to avoid someone wiping the phone and removing the software. To do this the phone must be rooted and then I usually use Link2SD to transfer the app to make it a system app. This has always worked on my old phones - but alas not this time.
The problem is that the system partition (4Gb) is full!! I have deleted all the language packs to try and clear some space - but it is still full! Strangely enough I also uninstalled an "Amazon" app which was listed as being a system app and quite large (from memory I think it was just under 100Mb)... but when I removed it and rebooted the system partition free space remained unchanged! It's possible that Amazon was a user app and I mis-read it... but anyway - I thought that the only way to clear some space was to resize the system partition - so I installed TWRP (3.0.2), have done a complete backup (system/efs/etc) apart from \data as this showed 0Mb and "failed to mount" when I tried to back it up originally.
So, my question is - can anyone help me to free some space from the system partition to allow Cerberus App to be stored there? I did think about uninstalling the VR Gear files as I dont have a VR device and assumed I could re-load these from Google Play if needed - but I do have the Galaxy Gear watch - so decided not to remove these files in case it screwed this up. Not sure which Google Apps I can remove and re-install if needed... so if anyone knows this, then that would be a help too
I thought you could resize the partition in TWRP but cant find any clear details on how to do this, so thought I'd ask here before I screw the phone up :silly:
Any ideas/help greatly received.
TWRP doesn't support encryption so that's likely why /data won't mount. Resizing partitions is typically done via Odin with PIT files, but it's very dangerous, so I wouldn't recommend it.
Luxembourg ROMs have around 130mb free system space, so there must be a ton of carrier bloat in yours. This doesn't sound right though, it's required that there is some space for expansion. Could you run the following command in a root terminal and post the results please?
df -k | grep system
CurtisMJ said:
df -k | grep system
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Click to collapse
Thanks Curtis - I left my phone at home today, so will try this tonight and post results. After deleting all the unwanted language files I have about 40Mb space free, but this still doesnt seem to be enough as when I run Link2SD and reboot the phone, Cerberus has vanished and has to be re-installed... although when it re-installs it shows it as an "update" which would indicate that it is installed already - just 'lost' ???
Will update tonight when I get a moment.
Thanks
That's interesting actually. It seems to be indicative of permission issues. The app was successfully moved to the system, but the permissions on its files were wrong and the system refuses to load it(Link2SD's fault, essentially) . It's still acknowledged by the app manager though, which is why it can be "updated". Can you try move it with something apart from Link2SD? I recommend titanium backup.
CurtisMJ said:
Can you try move it with something apart from Link2SD? I recommend titanium backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks Curtis - I have Titanium Backup (free version) installed already so can give it a go - I have only used it for backups (a long while ago) and have never used it to relocate an app... is it fairly self explanatory how to do it?
Will look tonight when I get in
Thanks
Just tried with titanium myself and it fails in a similar manner. Seems Marshmallow is a little fiddly and Link2SD puts out a generic message when it has issues. Titanium just freezes. You'll have to do it manually
First you'll need to clear the system of failed attempts. Look in the /system/app and /system/priv-app with a root Explorer for Cerberus apks or folders. Next, look in the /data/app folder and find the Cerberus folder. Take note of this path.
Next, fire up a root terminal and enter the following commands. In my case I was moving Greenify.
mount -o remount,rw /system
cp - a /data/app/com.oasisfeng.greenify-1 /system/app/Greenify
Replace the data folder with your noted path. The system path can be anything.
Then reboot and the app should be system.
Hi Curtis
Thanks for spending so much time on this.
OK, I skipped straight to the manual relocation method that you said. Whilst the app is Cerberus the APK etc is called System Framework as I have installed the 'hidden' version rather than the one which shows as Cerberus on the phone. However using OI File Manager, when I look in /system/app and /system/priv-app folders there is nothing called Cerberus or System Framework... so I am assuming that there are no orphaned APKs or other files.
But, this is where the strange thing starts, when I look in the /data/app folder, it is empty... so I am guessing I am looking in the wrong place as there are loads of apps! I am looking from home then selecting data, etc... any thoughts?
Oh, I have checked that hidden files are shown too!
Thanks again
i used to install the same app on my S7
please follow this guide & let me know the result.
1- uninstall Cerberus App, Link2SD, TTb, etc. and reboot
2- install SystemCleanup.
3- from the app SystemCleanup swip to tab apps and remove some bloatware like Google books, music, games, google TTS.
4- Reboot & install Cerberus App, do not run it.
5- from the app SystemCleanup go to apps tab and move Cerberus App to system/app & reboot again.
6- That's all.
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Click to collapse
Hi Abuzar
Thanks for the help... I tried using System Cleanup and initially it didn't work... it didn't show System Framework after cleaning up which made me think it was uninstalled properly. But when I tried to re-install it I got a message asking if I wanted to update the the built in application... so I said yes and re-checked in System Cleanup and it was visible, so I tried uninstalling it and after a couple of attempts it succeeded.
Then I re-installed and it installed it as a new app and it was visible in System Cleanup as installed in /data. So, I moved it to /system and configured it. It now lists in System Cleanup as being installed @auto system+data... so I am assuming it has installed properly... but not 100% sure as it lists some of it in data - so not sure if after a reset it will wipe the user profile from Cerberus or not.
I took a backup in TWRP and thought I would do a factory reset and test it... but on the S7 using factory reset in O/S it asks for my samsung password etc so looks like it may delete my Samsung/Google account's so didn't proceed as I didn't want to delete any online info. So... I tried factory wipe in TWRP but it just said failed "could not mount /data and unable to find crypto footer" and a few more "failed to mount /data" errors... so I gave up and will have to assume its installed properly as a system app
Thanks for all your help.
Just as a final note, the system+data combo sounds normal. Under regular conditions, the system partition is read only, so in order to install any updates to system apps, Android actually installs them as data apps, but cross-references them to system apps and gives them the relevant permissions. You can remove the data part by selecting "Uninstall Updates" in the app info page.
Hello all,
I've been searching this topic for a few weeks, and have yet to find a viable solution. I want to grab some files out of the app caches on the data partition of my Pixel 2. I don't necessarily want to root it, because I have no desire to modify anything, just want to view some stuff.
I've tried several backup apps - which have either failed because they need root, or "backup disallowed". I've also tried adb using pull, backup, cp, shell, etc. It seems a bit backwards to unlock the bootloader, wiping the device of the very data I'm trying to extract. It's been frustrating to not be able to access one's own personal data ?
Any ideas? Thank you.
+1 I'd love to have this answer as well. All my passwords are in Twik (Play store app). I don't think Google is backing up app data (or are they?). If I ever decide to flash the Pixel 2, I'll have to re-type all my websites, plus the private key. Twik is one of the few apps I rely on that isn't cloud based. I suspect the answer is there's no way on an unrooted android device.
Speaking of Google backing up app data, Google android says it can restore app and app data, but in my experience, unless the app uses cloud based data, it ain't happening. So why do they claim to backup app data? I suppose they are refering to Google apps, as of coarse, Google does keep your Google app cloud data anyway, so you'll have it restored when you log back into your android device.
You could try using Helium for backing up data. Even without root, if you follow the instructions (download the file to a Windows box and connect the phone to it) Helium should work.
Rukbat said:
You could try using Helium for backing up data. Even without root, if you follow the instructions (download the file to a Windows box and connect the phone to it) Helium should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I tried that once. But without root, it skips anything that has it's backup flag set to "false". Unless you know a way to trick it ?
I want to do a Factory Reset on my Pixel 5a. I only want to back up data from certain apps... along with my accounts and account settings, etc. How can I do this.. without backing up and restoring ALL apps and data?
xda6969 said:
I want to do a Factory Reset on my Pixel 5a. I only want to back up data from certain apps... along with my accounts and account settings, etc. How can I do this.. without backing up and restoring ALL apps and data?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well pretty much you can do it if you have google drive enabled as your backup place. It will restore accounts and settings, not sure if it has the option to manually choose which apps you want or it restores all at once. If so sure there will be a workaround
Good luck
orb_selektor said:
Well pretty much you can do it if you have google drive enabled as your backup place. It will restore accounts and settings, not sure if it has the option to manually choose which apps you want or it restores all at once. If so sure there will be a workaround
Good luck
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Click to collapse
I think I have part of a Nexus 5 app on my phone that came over when I set it up. I can't uninstall it. I wouldn't want that to be brought back down after a reset. That's why I need to be able to select which apps and data I want restored.
Look inside here:
Backup android app, data included, no root needed, with adb
Backup android app, data included, no root needed, with adb - android-backup-apk-and-datas.md
gist.github.com
Thanks.