I installed a few apps a while back and for some odd reason I backed them up and installed them from my SdCard using Astro. Dont worry people at the time they where free. Now one of the apps has gone paid and the other has started adding bloat that I don't want because its way more than I want.
Now all of the sudden those two apps are showing up in the market as updates available. Its not a life and death thing, but I know some how I'm going to end up clicking on them when I don't want to. For the longest time they did not and I was happy as heck. Playing around and finally getting the "G1" version of the Facebook 1.1.2 app installed they now are showing up. One is asking for money for a newer version and the other is offering a ton of bloat that I simply do not want.
Is there any way around this?
I'm guessing I could delete the market database, but what cracks me up is I didn't install them via the market database anyways so why would it show up now all of the sudden?
Okay, this has been bugging me for a long time. I've been around since the beginning of G1 and have never seen a solution to this. I'm out of town on vacation, so my updates and responses may be slow. I've found a partial solution for this. If you don't want to read the fluff, drop down to Partial Solution sections, but be warned, this is not perfect (yet). Below is a quick spilling of my guts on this. Please excuse any grammar mistakes and fragmented thought. I posted this in DEV because more research needs to be done by someone that knows how this stuff works. If we get this worked out, I'll update this post with whatever information is necessary.
This post takes for granted the reader has some knowledge of file management and manipulation, so I won't get too detailed with how to copy/move/delete files. There is a lot of information here and I know most won't read it all, but I'm trying to get all the detail into this I can think of in hopes others have ideas that we can share.
I DO NOT KNOW THE RAMIFICATIONS OF WHAT THIS DOES! ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOUR PHONE IS YOUR FAULT, NOT MINE! Etc... Etc... Etc...
Issue: After flashing/Odin/wiping, sometimes the Market takes about a minute to load as does the app and security info screens. The Top Paid button is missing and all that's available is Top Free and Just In. Installing an app takes quite a bit of time. It eventually clears up, but it may take up to a week.
If you restore Market preferences via Titanium Backup or similar app, it can speed it up, but in the long run, you may get cross referenced apps over time or Market problems in general. For example, I install app1 and when it's finished, I select it in notifications and it takes me to app3. Some apps are also missing from Downloads and have to be installed again for them to show up. I also experience Titanium Backup not linking the Market correctly if at all. How to fix that is below, also.
How I Tested: I renamed /dbdata/databases/com.android.vending which reproduced the problem reliably and gave me a working set of databases and .xml's to look at.
Partial Solution: Save a copy of /dbdata/databases/com.android.vending/shared_prefs/vending_preferences.xml and put it back after you've restored your apps and opened Market once (just to lay down the directory structure). There are other files that will get more "stuff" back, but because of issues I've had between vending.apk versions, I choose to restore just this one file. It doesn't seem to change much. You can look in it and find some interesting things, but I've found changing it does very little if anything. Changing local_db_sync_required didn't do anything and it just reverted back to "false" for me.
What you will find, is Market will run quickly again BUT, you have no links so none of your apps show as installed. Although it will probably sync over time, the point of my messing around was fairly instant gratification. Thus the next section.
New Problem: Market speed is normal, but no apps are linked. Hey, I use Titanium backup! Fix Market links works, partially. I have 226 apps backed up in TB (Yes, this is why I wanted to get this working) and when I fixed Market links, it found 167. I fixed them again and it found 9, then 17, then 6 etc... It repeated some apps and never detected others. I checked and some of the "fixed" apps did not show in downloads... So I started looking. Menu -> Legend showed me part of the issue. Smiley face -vs- green M. For some reason, some of my apps were not linking properly. Here's how to get that part working.
Partial Solution: Here's what I did in TB. I filtered by Status: Backed up and Type: User. Starting at the top of the list, I long pressed on the first "smiley face" which means it didn't back up the Market link and if it was "Attached to Market", I Detached it. View in Market and installed the app. When it was done, I backed the app up again and viola, green M showing it backed up the Market link. I did this many, many more times to fix my links. It worked in all occasions as long as I could find the app in the Market. Of course, some apps installed outside the Market cannot be fixed (duh), but all others worked fine.
I still have a problem getting everything attached in one shot. If I fix Market links in TB, I still get strange results, but this is as close as I can get and I found quite a few apps that have not been linked for so long, they were a few revs behind, so I'm happy with how far I've gotten.
Questions that will be asked:
- Why didn't you force attach to Market with TB? Because it didn't work. Some indicated it did, but they didn't show up in Market as installed, they didn't back up as linked and some even reverted back to not being attached and the forced button was available. The above is how I got around all of that.
- What about the other cool DB's and .xml? I didn't find that it was worth any possible issues to restore anything else except this file. That is probably what got me into this in the first place. Your mileage may vary. DB's usually need an update script if any changes are made. If that doesn't happen and the schema doesn't match, that's usually bad. That's why a lot of ROM's require a wipe. The old doesn't match the new...
- Why can't you backup Market with TB now that it is working well? I could and it would probably work, but I know it won't work forever because it didn't before. It also won't help someone else who is in a similar situation. I've been using TB (paid) since it came out and I love it. But, it's not perfect.
- Why should I mess with this instead of waiting for it to fix itself? You probably shouldn't. I've found that if I did a restore of apps, some NEVER go back to the Downloads section without a re-install. That's my concern.
- I don't have any of these problems, why are you posting this? Because I and others have. The universe does not revolve around you. Please move on.
- Why did you post this in Dev? As I said in the beginning, because we need someone who knows how this OS works so maybe a reliable workaround can be had for all. I didn't post in DEV for exposure, I posted here because I started it and I don't know where to go. Maybe a fix can be turned into an app or incorporated directly within a ROM. Who knows? I'm not a DEVing, but I am troubleshooting an issue within the OS.
One thing I've found that helps, is I kinda ignore if it shows up in Downloads in the market after a restore. I check for updates using AppBrain app, it finds all the apps on the phone whether they're in the market or not. Then, whenever an app is updated, it directs you to the market download page. If the market link was broken, that will say "Install" instead of "Update", but an install at that point will update properly, and you'll now have a working market link.
The main goal of having apps show up in the market, IMHO, is updates and uninstalls. Use the system uninstaller rather than the market for uninstalls, and use AppBrain to find updates. Works for me.
Thanks a lot for putting this up! I was banging my head against the wall last night, as I ran into this issue again and couldnt remember how I fixed it on my G1
zimphishmonger said:
Thanks a lot for putting this up! I was banging my head against the wall last night, as I ran into this issue again and couldnt remember how I fixed it on my G1
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yw
lotherius said:
One thing I've found that helps, is I kinda ignore if it shows up in Downloads in the market after a restore. I check for updates using AppBrain app, it finds all the apps on the phone whether they're in the market or not. Then, whenever an app is updated, it directs you to the market download page. If the market link was broken, that will say "Install" instead of "Update", but an install at that point will update properly, and you'll now have a working market link.
The main goal of having apps show up in the market, IMHO, is updates and uninstalls. Use the system uninstaller rather than the market for uninstalls, and use AppBrain to find updates. Works for me.
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I rarely uninstall via market. Have an app that throws me straight to the system uninstaller from the apps icon. I like appbrain, but it exhibits the same issue as the Market for me as far as detecting installed apps in some cases. I use the Market for updates and it works fine for me as long as the apps are linked. I think it has something to do with the hash getting messed up in the assets.db
I've seen in the phiremod development forum that people are having problems with the market showing all apps. Im curious if all the apps show up in a third party market app, i.e. appbrain?
I see all apps installed via Appbrain not like the usual My Apps problem but I still have an issue, if some apps show as to be upgraded in Appbrain, by clicking on them, it loads the Market but then says object not available
Anyone has the same issue?
weirdness
I'm having different pronouns, I flashed 6.2 and it wont load the Google widget, the icons are screwy,and every thing else is off. Like where the buttons are and where they look like they are.
and now it wont reboot to clockwork, ahaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Hello,
I have with me an app I would like to share with the HD2, and XDA community which I previously found on the Google Market which now doesnt exist anymore.
I managed to copy out the APK and I will attach below.
The app is good for
Listing all your installed apps quickly so you can remove them
Smooth scrolling
Sort by Name/Size/Last Installed/Install Location
Search
Just needs to build cache during first launch, and doesnt work on LANDSCAPE, which are the only disadvantages of it.
I personally use the Last Installed sorting mechanism, to view all the last installed and remove. I install quite a number of apps and usually when I found that it sucked, I enter this app quickly and remove them (latest apps appear on top of the list)
I have been using this since 2.2 FROYO and it doesnt seem to give errors back then. On GB 2.3, I noticed an occasional error message :
[Opps Sorry I got error ] but this doesnt stop it from uninstalling the application.
I have given this app rigorous testing and it has survived 2.2+ and 2.3+ Androids application removal, whether it produces errors or not.
I also noticed that this app has been removed from the Google Market, without reason from the developer / Google. Hence I would not mention anything about future release or support, neither do I know whether it would damage your device/ operating system but I certainly ONLY been using this app to remove applications and it has been TREMENDOUSLY awesome. Give it a try, and let me know whether you found similiar apps in terms of speed, features and outlook.
Credits to its developer, which I remember to be known as MINIGUY after a few Googles. I also couldnt find this application anymore hence I am posting it here
If this has been posted before I apologize.
Dont forget to click the THANKS button if you found this app useful
On another note, this applications is FREE and is not WAREZ
It sounds like appsaver.. is it better?
Hnktc said:
It sounds like appsaver.. is it better?
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i think ive tried appsaver but this is an app that lists out all your apps pretty quickly and lets u just choose to uninstall them
its like add/remove programs, but way way faster than anything ive tried especially 200 apps
default manage applications takes nearly 15 seconds to load, while this takes 1-2 seconds, tops
Thanks for the app. I will give it a try! :0)
I realized that this application was ripped and published as someone else's work as follow up
its called "Uninstaller" in market , which uses the same error message, logo, text, font, settings, buttons, icons
you are free to use both as they produce the same results and same settings
I download my schedule from my email every week. Thing is, the pdf disappears from my phone after two days, without fail. I thought maybe it was all downloads, but I've got a pdf of a remote manual I downloaded in Chrome from a few weeks ago as well as pictures from a reddit app that didn't disappear.
I thought maybe it was my file browser (ES) so I uninstalled it and tried Solid Explorer. Same issue. Interestingly, this issue occurs in both the stock email app as well as the gmail app. I have different accounts (both gmail) associated with both.
I've restarted my phone, but that does not help. I think it might have something to do with Download Manager or the Downloads app, but I have no idea how to test this or to change settings. Can they be disabled safely? Does anyone have any idea what could be going on? I don't have any space saving/clearing apps, nor have I ever installed any.
EDIT: NM, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to what is saved and what isn't. Everything I downloaded last night has been cleared from my downloads folder. Not even 24 full hours. Perhaps the reboot clears it? This will require further testing.