Database Develop

Paid Apps on the Rooted\Dev Phone - TEST ONLY.

So, as we generally disscussed google is blocking downloading of paid apps from market.
1) It is NOT related to your firmware version (JF\Stock\ADP etc.).
2) It is related to your IP. Means, if you're not a US T-mo resident, you can't see any of those marvelous apps.
So, The Test:
1) Can we copy\upload some of the "closed" apps?? ( Could be done through the Terminal Emulator
2) Try to run them.
To clarify the spirit of experiment, I'll suggest the cheapest apps to be tested, though they are hidden from us to. Any contributors ready to hit the new Scene?)

Here's what going on.
If you're IP is not from the US you will not see paid apps.
If your running ADP or have a ADP phone you will not see protected apps.
If you moved your app-private folder to sd you will also not see protected apps.
"So, The Test:
1) Can we copy\upload some of the "closed" apps?? ( Could be done through the Terminal Emulator
2) Try to run them."
No, that's stealing.

im.l0ltn said:
If you moved your app-private folder to sd you will also not see protected apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I have pretty much proven to myself that this is not the case. Yesterday I moved app-private to my SD's ext2 partition and subsequently lost access to paid apps so I thought moving them caused the the loss of access. I ran some experiments (detailed over around post272 in LucidREM's modded image sticky) and finally, after 3 or 4 experiments, gave up trying to pin down the cause. I moved app-private back to SD yesterday afternoon and have generally continued to have access to paid apps, both new ones and updates to ones I've already bought. They still disappear and, while I still have a hunch or two, I'm not yet ready to blame any action in particular.
Just my $.02

my app-private is on the ext2 sd and NO PROBLLEMm

short/y said:
Unfortunately, I have pretty much proven to myself that this is not the case. Yesterday I moved app-private to my SD's ext2 partition and subsequently lost access to paid apps so I thought moving them caused the the loss of access. I ran some experiments (detailed over around post272 in LucidREM's modded image sticky) and finally, after 3 or 4 experiments, gave up trying to pin down the cause. I moved app-private back to SD yesterday afternoon and have generally continued to have access to paid apps, both new ones and updates to ones I've already bought. They still disappear and, while I still have a hunch or two, I'm not yet ready to blame any action in particular.
Just my $.02
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's strange. The moment I deleted the link and remade the /data/app-private folder then rebooted, I could see protected paid apps again. I did this at least 3 times.
Smokuevo said:
my app-private is on the ext2 sd and NO PROBLLEMm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you see protected apps such as bettercut and guitar hero on the market ?

I can't seem to figure this out. Sometimes apps are there, sometimes the ones that were there aren't anymore and its not developer pulling or any change on my phone. I'm unlocked on a dev phone on AT&T. I can see many paid apps (Task Manager, HelloIM) and the like, but I can't see things like the office one. One thing I've noticed is I have no app-private directory in /system. Just my $.02 but google you've shot yourself and developers in the foot here by basically making piracy a necessity unless we find away around it or you fix it.

im.l0ltn said:
Can you see protected apps such as bettercut and guitar hero on the market ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mine moved to the sdcard, and I can see, install, and use BetterCut just fine. Even moved it, and all apps, back and forth from the sdcard just fine, with no problems.

Phromik said:
I have mine moved to the sdcard, and I can see, install, and use BetterCut just fine. Even moved it, and all apps, back and forth from the sdcard just fine, with no problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird, for some reason its working for me again. I guess it was just my phone.

I have an ADP1 phone, and I'm quite irritated that I can't access copy-protected apps on it
Google's reasoning is to fight piracy, but there's more rooted G1s than there are ADP1s, and in my personal opinion, since most of the ADP1s in the wild are Google's own employees, I think their fear of "piracy" from ADP1 users is *seriously* overstated, compared to the regular G1s that have been rooted. I'd be far less upset if they just blocked all rooted phones, but singling out their own employees and their devs, and accusing them of being potential software pirates, while normal end users who have hacked their phones aren't even considered, well, I find it *quite* offensive.

rc33 1.42 app & app-private on sdcard.. no credit card so havent bought any

im.l0ltn said:
That's strange. The moment I deleted the link and remade the /data/app-private folder then rebooted, I could see protected paid apps again. I did this at least 3 times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, same thing happened to me. Other things I did made paid apps disappear too (like turning off my GSM radio and only using WiFi to access the Market), After spending most of an afternoon trying various scenarios to see which caused the apps to disappear, I gave up, moved apps back to my SD card and left them there. They still go missing every so often and I still can't figure out why or what causes them to disappear but I reboot and, generally, full access is restored.

why dont somebody just make a mod version of the app market or make another redesigned app market. im no expert btw.

sensimila said:
why dont somebody just make a mod version of the app market or make another redesigned app market. im no expert btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this is because the market.apk is a close source program. I'm still a noob myself and I'm trying to learn a lot of new information.

If you guys want protected apps on your ADP just flash an RC build on it.

maxdamage2122 said:
If you guys want protected apps on your ADP just flash an RC build on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a really piss poor solution, FYI. The whole point of ADP is having an unlocked and unbranded OS.

uberingram said:
That's a really piss poor solution, FYI. The whole point of ADP is having an unlocked and unbranded OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
flash the RC version, download your app, place it on your SD card, flash back to ADP, and re-create links for apps on SD, your app will still be there

uberingram said:
That's a really piss poor solution, FYI. The whole point of ADP is having an unlocked and unbranded OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please elaborate? Last time I checked T-mobile isn't branded ANYWHERE in the OS. Your "whole point" of having an ADP is slightly flawed.

maxdamage2122 said:
Could you please elaborate? Last time I checked T-mobile isn't branded ANYWHERE in the OS. Your "whole point" of having an ADP is slightly flawed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
*cough* myFavs *cough*

haitiankid4lyf said:
rc33 1.42 app & app-private on sdcard.. no credit card so havent bought any
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looking at the screen shots you have a lot of apps us uk users don't.
I've even put my phone back to standard just to see if having a rooted phone was stoping
Me from getting paid apps. Where left with all the crap ones now lol.

Specific A2SD Question.

I now know how to use A2SD now a little more confidently now that i discovered DroidExplorer and i am going to start to use it to increase my hero's performance. So let me get to my question.
If i say download a protected app on the market or online or what have ya, how do i or where do i push/copy the apk for it to show up on my market? If at all possible. So i can get its updates when needed.

if you install an app through market it will receive its updates. if you install it manually it will not receive updates. are you talking about warez or why do you want to install paid apps manually?
and actually this is not a2sd specific, a2sd is transparent for android (it doesn't know it is using the sdcard for the apps).

well actually i just got my "old" friend a hero and i wanted to see if i can get him the same apps that ive got so i can give him the same experience that i showed him the first time around. he is loving the phone and i just wanted to push some of my already paid apps onto his phone.

pretty sure that's warez and shouldn't be discussed here (xda)

my mistake then i apologize ^^
sorry

[Q] Harmful .apk file

Say I download an *.apk file from some site or I get one from a friend, could it potentially harm my phone, cost me money etc.? Basically what I'm wondering is, when I install an app it generally says what the app has/wants access to, is this "warning" coded by the programmer to tell the user what it's accessing or is it determined automatically by built in functions? I don't want to install and app that has access to stuff that I'm not aware of.
Regards,
B
Edit: On a second note. Say I do download some harmful application, would uninstalling it solve the problem or could there be remaining harmful files still at work? The whole Android OS is sorta worrying me...bad experiences with Windows is making me cautious.

if you can think of it
there can always be a chance of happening
yes, a malicious hacker could do something like that
yes, a pissed programmer might including something like that into their apps to stop people from sharing their apps without buying it
yes, the apk might be legit but might have been corrupted some how
yes, you might be able to uninstall if lucky
but worse case scenario if i were a malicious hacker i wouldn't code a way to uninstall the app, instead i'll probably code a way to lock the user out of all access forcing you to Flash the phone from scratch

You didn't really answer my one major question, or maybe you did but I didn't understand. Are the services that the app is able to access programmed or are they determined by a function?

Well when installing I've resorted to checking a few things:
1) Make sure the app that I've downloaded is the same size as the one in the market (for equivalent versions...obviously)
2) Compare the system permissions when installing with those found at www.androlib.com
This way seems pretty safe to me. If the size is the same and the permissions are the same...you can be quite (not 100%) certain that they are legit/the same.

Ok heres the deal. Apps have 2 types of access.
1. Standard permissions
So if u don't do adb-install (where u dont see an app's permissions), then market / copy to sdcard and install from there u'll see the permission screen. An app cannot do something w/o permissions. If an uninstaller is askin for email permissions u know somethings wrong.
2. Root
Most dangerous. An app will ask u for 0 standard android api permissions. But when u run it, u will be asked for a superuser allow/deny request. From their its up to you. An app could do anything behind the scenes from tht point.
So read reviews/ user comments before trying root apps. Standard apps, just look over the permissions thts all.
FYI : The permissions are read by android, they're not user defined. Any permissions will always show up when installing it using the native package manager.

To be honest I wouldn't advise downloading an .apk from a non-trusted source. If its on the market, you're near certainly ok, and if its from a trusted developer (say from these boards, or some other similar dev portal) then again, you are likely to be ok. In the second case, you are unlikely to be getting a finished app if you get a straight apk from boards, because when they are finished or at least solid, they go to the app store anyway, so harm in that case is more likely to be of the force close variety rather than bricked variety.
Outside of that, I can't see why you would get an apk from a friend rather than downloading it yourself, simply because that way it makes certain you get a clean, non-corrupted version. If apps don't show up in the market for you, its mostly because your device can't run them, in which case, again, force close.

Uninstalling it is possibly too late. All smartphones suffer this issue though.
As mentioned, if you get the files from market though, you are likely to be safe..
Also, not all melicious programs are obvious..

Daneshm90 said:
Ok heres the deal. Apps have 2 types of access.
1. Standard permissions
So if u don't do adb-install (where u dont see an app's permissions), then market / copy to sdcard and install from there u'll see the permission screen. An app cannot do something w/o permissions. If an uninstaller is askin for email permissions u know somethings wrong.
2. Root
Most dangerous. An app will ask u for 0 standard android api permissions. But when u run it, u will be asked for a superuser allow/deny request. From their its up to you. An app could do anything behind the scenes from tht point.
So read reviews/ user comments before trying root apps. Standard apps, just look over the permissions thts all.
FYI : The permissions are read by android, they're not user defined. Any permissions will always show up when installing it using the native package manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you.

Btw, just because security on App store says an app can do stuff like make phone calls etc, doesn't mean it's malicious.
A few people were misled by an article that stated that apps with such extreme permissions were malicious, but it's untrue. It isn't always the case, but if an app uses functionality you don't believe it should, it's possible it is dodgy

andrewluecke said:
Btw, just because security on App store says an app can do stuff like make phone calls etc, doesn't mean it's malicious.
A few people were misled by an article that stated that apps with such extreme permissions were malicious, but it's untrue. It isn't always the case, but if an app uses functionality you don't believe it should, it's possible it is dodgy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aye, I know. Thanks for the advice. I've actually been comparing any app I download off the internet to the actual ones on the market (size and permissions).

Hi everyone im a noob member to the site but have read some interesting threads before membership but as usual joining when i have a problem that needs some of your help
I have had a .apk file download to my htc desire running 2.2.2. I was browsing pics of the fake kind when it started downloading. i did see some letters and numbers before the file ext. It is not an official .apk that im sure off. I have searched for it on my phone but cannot find it to delete .
can anyone help please

After hooking up htc to my pc by usb lead, I have managed to locate the file by searching. It was in the download folder, I deleted it via the pc and then did a factory reset on htc.
Would this get rid of it safely

[Q] What happens if you lose an app?

Ok, I understand that we should have backups with clockworkmod and/or titanium to avoid these issues.
However, what happens if I don't have a backup of an app that I've paid for and somehow lose it?
Does the market recognize that I purchased the app before and let me re-download? Do I have to re-purchase the app?
With itunes for example, if you don't have a backup of purchased music you have to jump through flaming hoops to get it back and you're still not guaranteed they will work with you.
How do this work for us?
Thanks,
Neudle

Short answer is yes if you downloaded from the Market and it's tied to your gmail account it will let you re-download it provided that it shows up in your Market at the time you want to download it.

That's the way it worked for me. When I flashed Vegan and did the market fix every app I had paid for in the past (even on my old phones) synced and downloaded. Even setcpu which wasn't even functional till this week.

FWIW I use the USB hookup to back up apk files to a computer, an external fixed disk or ZIP disks (a good use for all the old but functioning Iomega stuff around here). I do this even before installing a new app, just in case. If I have a need to do so, I just drag the folder contents back to the tablet. And with files on the computer, Carbonite also backs up the files which enables retrieval from any computer I may use when traveling. I put all bookmarks onto the Web space included with the ISP account. It makes a complete recovery or transfer to a new tablet just about as quick and easy as anything I could think of.

I use Titanium... Any app I d-load from the market or elsewhere I back up.
Even if I do not intend to use it in the future... Who knows, when time comes I might need it.

Do not rely on the publisher to keep the app on the Market. I have purchased a couple of apps that are no longer available to download on the market that aren't available anymore, Transformers G1 comes to mind. Best bet is to buy Titanium Backup and set it up for Dropbox syncing.

Thanks for the help
Thank you for the replies.
I've only purchased one app (dungeon defenders), all the others have been free and most have been downloaded for side-loading anyway.
After I got the system rebuilt I logged onto google and dungeon defenders showed up as purchased in the market.
I'll try to keep titanium up to date but still glad to know they honor the original purchase.
Thanks again,
Neudle

[Q] ?

I hacked contract killer zombies 2 with game unlocker and after some buys it tells me -517 coins,then i delete the app the cache the obb file and recopy it show then after i open it without using unlocker it still says -517 coins,so what im asking is it there a folder on system where it could save anything a file save or something to delete it?

That was a stupid question for this forum......

Thanks,why is that,where am i supposed to post a thread like this,i though someone with better knowledge about android could answer it,the main question is if there is a place in root of phone memory that apps store files,and where is it to delete them myself since they were not by uninstalling the app itself,please enlighten me,what didi i do wrong.

Found a way to hack gold coins and got it to work,other persons job not mine,but when connected to internet glu finds out the hack and deletes all the coins and the ones you spend it makes them - coins,reuplying the hack works offline,dont got why this question had nothing with android development in general but it was a tricky way to make it work,please romwiz stop being so arogant there are people who dont know that much of android,just asked for help cause i love this game.