Database Develop

Autostarts (Must HAVE)

Hi fellow XDA'rs.
As most you probably know, the way android and most os's works, every time you start up your device some/many apps startup with it.
This certainly bogs things down on startup but also in the long run when they stay resident idling in mem.
Android allows apps to register for events that are then started whenever triggered.
For example, on my phone prior to getting this app, everytime I pressed the camera button Camera, SMS commander (WTF), ChompSMS (WTFF), and Snaphotopro ran code. I could even see it happening in a task manager.
Sometimes apps stay in memory indefinitely after doing something irrelevant to their function like clicking camera/downloading something .
So I disabled everything except my main camera and everything still works the same, but ONLY SnapPhoto runs code and uses memory.
The real place i think autostarts shines is that it not only allows you to selectively disable what starts on boot, but also control what happens on every event.
It's on the market for like 98cents or some crap, and I REALLY think we should support the dev for this top-notch app.
It does way more for me than overclocking etc.. and i'm not advertising LOL.
What do you guys think??
Stock Apps that May Be Unsafe To Disable
Messaging (Disabling Is Known To Hinder SMS-Retrieval)
Google Talk (Disabling Is Known To Cause Trouble with the Market)
Stock Apps That Appears to be Safe to Disable
Maps (Disabled on startup without issues)
Clock (Disabled on start without any issues thus far)
Camera (Disabled Stock camera from running when camera button is pressed without issue)
Pico TTS (A text-to-speech thing that runs code every time an app is installed Disabled without issue)
MP3 Store (Runs code whenever an app is replaced, disabled, no issues)

i used it before, but i noticed that if you disable some apps on startup, it will make those apps not function anymore. for example, i remember i disabled the default message app and a bunch of other "normal" apps, and then i would not get any SMS anymore or some of my apps stopped loading. also even after you uninstall the app, it would not return to normal. they listed this as a bug for the version i tried so i couldnt restore the apps i disabled.
right now i just use advance task manager and put the one click widget on my home screen. so after every event i get in the habit of just clickin that widget and it iwll close all apps. and everything works fine.

That's true. Disabling messaging will prevent you from getting sms's even if you have chompsms, chomp's main functionality is as a front-end to the messaging app, not the core. This is not the apps fault
The reason I made this post is so we could compile a list of apps that are okay to disable and aren't. I forget to mention that in the OP .
I will edit the first post with the list but I need input from the community.
So far..
Messaging (Disabling Is Known To Hinder SMS-Retrieval)
Google Talk (Disabling Is Known To Cause Trouble with the Market)
For the most part disabling stock apps isn't the brightest idea.
Autostarts will warn you when you try to disable a stock component.
Also you can view only non-stock apps, if you don't want to mess with the settings.
Some can be disabled without any apparent trouble.
In my case..
Maps (Disabled on startup without issues)
Clock (Disabled on start without any issues thus far)
Camera (Disabled Stock camera from running when camera button is pressed without issue)
Pico TTS (A text-to-speech thing that runs code every time an app is installed Disabled without issue)
MP3 Store (Runs code whenever an app is replaced, disabled, no issues)
There are several more instances of the same apps that are disabled.
So far no FC's or problems. I've reduced the amount of times I need to end all apps by about 90%
Feel free to help add to the list!

I don't disable any stock apps as they seem to die by themselves after a while. Meanwhile I disable pretty much all 3rd party apps (except things like Sim Checker).
This app is amazing!
By the way, if you disable "Widget updating" it also removes unwanted widgets (I tend not to use any).

Glad it's working well for ya Karolis.
Thanks for the tip!
I havent actually tried it, but i'll remember that if I ever have too many widgets in the list.
Another tip is to check out Menu -> View.
You can enable the unknown's and have more options to disable

Is anyone else annoyed by devs who don't allow their apps to be purchased through your T-Mobile account? Something about putting $0.99 on my credit card annoys me. No biggie, but it would be nice if that option was available for this app.

TeeJay3800 said:
Is anyone else annoyed by devs who don't allow their apps to be purchased through your T-Mobile account? Something about putting $0.99 on my credit card annoys me. No biggie, but it would be nice if that option was available for this app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well what can we do except take it

I use Startup Auditor, works pretty well, compared to Autostarts. I also believe it doesn't list anything that would damage your bootup.

tehseano said:
I use Startup Auditor, works pretty well, compared to Autostarts. I also believe it doesn't list anything that would damage your bootup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't heard of Startup Auditor either, but after reading about it, it seems a little more appealing than Autostarts. Especially the part about not disabling anything important from starting. Thanks!

Startup auditor isn't bad.
It doesn't have even a third of the options as autostarts though.
I tried it and although the GUI was nice, and it worked, the lack of choices made me uninstall it in a matter of minutes.
Also, if you're worried about messing up your phone with autostarts just go to Menu -> View -> Hide System Apps and its pretty much the same thing as startup auditor.

I just purchased Startup Auditor and it seems like a nice app. However, I disabled a few apps and then rebooted. When the reboot finished, some of the apps that I had just disabled were still running! I've e-mailed the dev and will post if I get a response. Has anyone else experienced this with Startup Auditor or any other startup app?

I've been using Autostarts for a while and I really notice the difference on boot up time. Before Autostarts it would take forever to boot up the system, then it would be super sluggish. Now since it doesn't start nearly half the apps on boot, it's much faster.
Some apps I question on why it's doing what it's doing. Like Tunewiki for instance. Why does it need to start when an application is replaced or removed? Cleared those out and everything is much speedier!

A lot of them are triggered by strange things.
Like you said, tunewiki when adding or replacing an app.
I think this is their way of staying in the background, which speeds up opening tunewiki but at the cost of slowing everything else down.
I hate developers that do this..

How does the system determine which apps to run at boot?

Whenever i try to disable the amazon mp3 autostart the program tells me to wait and gets stuck on the please wait screen... Any clue if this is normal operation?

amazon mp3 does not seem to want to be disabled.
edit: i think i figured out the problem with amazon mp3. you have to disable it in two places, once in the after startup but also in the connectivity changed section. also i was having trouble with other programs but i forgot i those had widgets. i think for apps that have widgets will cause those apps to load on start up. if you want to disable them you have to do so in the widgets section. just dont do it for widgets you actually have in use.

Does this app not work on latest superd? i get fc everytime on g1.

Anyone know where there are two (2) Messanger apps AND two (2) Handcent apps listed for after startup?
Seems like I should be able to disable messanger, but from these posts perhaps not.... can I disable handcent with no issues... seems like a text received would trigger it to open with no problems.
Why (and can I stop) is Voice Dialer involved with all changes to applications (installed/removed)?

s15274n said:
Anyone know where there are two (2) Messanger apps AND two (2) Handcent apps listed for after startup?
Seems like I should be able to disable messanger, but from these posts perhaps not.... can I disable handcent with no issues... seems like a text received would trigger it to open with no problems.
Why (and can I stop) is Voice Dialer involved with all changes to applications (installed/removed)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering this too. Maybe it starts to read the app names so it can "read" the filename so if you call it through Voice Search it knows what app to call up. Not sure.

Imho, this app is absolutely amazing.
I had the problem, that although i am using Handcent only, still every text was shown as new in the message application as well (and the icon on the homescreen shows one new message). Now i have removed message completely - only my handcent widget shows any test infos
Besides that, i could disable a lot of useless or at least strange applications starts triggered by certain events.
In this point of view, it's very useful, for Galaxy S as well!

Captivate boots slow, issues. How to troubleshoot?

So, a little history...
I'm on my 2nd Captivate (unrelated issue). The boot problems didn't arise until I restored my data onto it. The first time I tried restoring system data along with my apps (which I figured was safe since I was going from 2.1 stock to the same) but that had lots of issues. So I did a factory reset, and started over. This time I just restored apps and their data, and a few specific pieces of system data (contacts, wifi APs, etc). That worked better. But later I got too aggressive with what system apps I "froze" (using Titanium Backup), and it got into boot loops I couldn't break out of. So I did another factory reset.
This time, first I carefully froze only apps I was to confirm were safe to freeze. I didn't proceed restoring my apps until I was done freezing and ensured it was booting fine. I then restored all my apps (and their data). The problem is now that it takes forever to boot... in fact, it'll go into a boot loop if I just leave it be. It seems the only way I can gain access is to try and unlock it before it's done booting, clear any "Force close" errors (sometimes takes a few tries) and given enough attempts, I can get in. But the boot takes an unbelievable amount of time, and even with my original apps is many times longer than before on my previous Captivate. Once I fuss my way in, it seems mostly fine, but something is obviously wrong and I want to get it straightened out.
Aside from doing another factory reset, and reinstalling all my apps (which takes like a day without troubleshooting after each, since batch restores in TB don't seem to work well on the Captivate so I have to do them one by one), I'm hoping there's a way to troubleshoot it in its current state and try to fix the problem surgically versus erasing and starting over. I looked at the logcat logs but got in over my head... there are so many errors and warnings and I don't know what's normal and what isn't... too many to know where to begin with searching Google.
So... advice? What tools are available? Even the logcat doesn't seem to kick in until the boot is mostly done, so I'm not sure if it can catch the problem while it's happening. One frustrating thing about Android is that is seems to have no "safe mode" or other diagnostic boot or full logging where you can methodically look at what's happening and experiment with the config. If this was a Windows, Linux or FreeBSD box I'd be in my element and able to get to the bottom of this, but on Android I feel even more crippled, locked-out and helpless than even on Windows. Urgh.
There's got to be a better way to troubleshoot and fix than endless random factory resets. This is something us anti-Windows people scold PC makers for, with all their use of "Restore CDs" for every minor and trivial software issue.
Thanks!

I can't help but think you are still disabling some essential system apps. Either that or one of your apps is causing major problems. Please list what you have frozen in tibu. Btw, the batch function works fine and is what most people on here use.
Also, what is force closing after you restore your apps.

newter55 said:
I can't help but think you are still disabling some essential system apps. Either that or one of your apps is causing major problems. Please list what you have frozen in tibu. Btw, the batch function works fine and is what most people on here use.
Also, what is force closing after you restore your apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, thanks for taking a stab at this.
My frozen apps are:
* AllShare
* AT&T FamilyMap
* AT&T Hot Spots
* AT&T Maps
* AT&T Music
* AT&T Navigator
* AT&T Radio
* Daily Briefing
* Days
* Instant Messaging
* Media Hub
* Mini Diary
* Mobile Banking
* Mobile Video
* MobiTV
* Where
* Write and Go
* YPmobile
I also tried removing my MicroSD card, as well as switching back to Touchwiz (from LauncherPro). Didn't help.
Yeah the batch problem in TB is very frustrating. I'm using the pay/donate version so I'm missing out on a feature I paid for. I've been exchanging emails with Joel (the author) and we haven't figured it out yet. Batch backups work fine. Batch uninstalls also work fine (update: phone just spontaneously rebooted after about 50 or so uninstalls in a batch). It's the batch restores that seem to choke it. It's not corrupt backup files... a verify runs fine, and I can individually restore the same handful of apps one by one that will choke and hang/reboot the Captivate if attempted to restore in a batch.
The FC error I get is on boot-up, as I try to unlock the screen prior to the boot finishing. I often see "Process system is not responding".
I have aLogcat installed, if that's any use. A few questions about that:
- What's the best logging level to view on? In other words, do I care about "Warnings"?
- What errors are common, harmless, and safe to ignore?
Currently I've tried uninstalling everything down to just a few core apps. Certainly boots fine now, but I get plenty of warnings and errors in logcat.

Are u restoring just the user installed apps+data, or system apps too? Or restoring system stuff like contacts data, accounts prefs, etc?

diablo009 said:
Are u restoring just the user installed apps+data, or system apps too? Or restoring system stuff like contacts data, accounts prefs, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not do a "restore system data" or any batch/bulk option in TB that restored all system data. As I recall, the only system data I restored a-la-carte (by selecting the individual item from the TB list) were:
Accounts
Bluetooth pairints
Bookmarks
Calendar
Contacts
Wi-Fi Access Points
These were all items in green in TB. I don't believe I restored anything else. Possibilities I suppose are wallpaper settings, "Country, Launguage, Time Zone"... but I definitely would not have restored anything not green.
Are these items safe? Is there any system data definitely not safe to restore? I have to wonder though, if "system data" is unsafe to even restore to the same stock OS version... why back it up at all?
I'm not a long distance from doing yet another factory reset I suppose, if it must come to that. But I'd love a way a bit more analytical/exacting to try and troubleshoot this other than "reinstall one app, reboot, see what happens" as that will take me a week to get back to where I was. I also suspect it's not just one single app that would suddenly show a huge difference after installing, but instead might be the cumulative errors from several apps and knowing how to identify that and clean them up would be useful.

Using adb logcat you can view what is occurring while the phone is booting and possibly see where it is hanging or what is causing the slow boot times. I have seen problems from restoring data such as accounts and contacts with titanium backup but does not seem that it should be an issue when using the same system though I have very little experience with the stock firmware. I know it is not an answer to your question but it seems that you are wanting to remove all the att/Samsung BS so why not flash a rom that does this as well as much more?
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

Thanks for the tip about adb. I've actually not needed adb for anything yet so I've never set it up or used it. I wasn't aware that the service would be active early enough on the phone's boot process to allow it to log boot logs... nor was I even aware it could do this. I'll definitely check out how to set this up... however, if you have a free second and can point me in the right direction (FAQ, instructions, etc) it'd certainly be appreciated otherwise I'll search around and try to find it.
I could probably find other ways to restore contacts and could set my accounts up again manually but I really doubt that's the cause and the other ways are sort of a pain and imperfect. Since neither of us is really convinced that'd be it I won't bother yet until/unless you really suspect it.
I wondered how long it'd take before someone would suggest a custom ROM, this being XDA and all. Short version is I'm not really sold on the concept, as they are all based on the buggy beta leaked ROM, or 2.2 ROMs from other devices that have been hacked up to sort of work as well as possible on the Captivate. All seem to have issues... enough that I'm not really left feeling confident about them. Seems every release unleashes new issues despite addressing old ones, and all seem to have at least a handful of gremlin items that just don't work quite right. Don't have a warm fuzzy feeling, and I still feel like Samsung is going to release an official 2.2 for the Captivate within the next month or so, so I'm interested to see what comes of that. If nothing else, it'll give a better baseline for custom 2.2 ROMs. Then there's the 2.3 being worked on... now that might be interesting.
I don't really think my issue here is related to me running 2.1.

On my phone so it is a pita to search and add a link for you but search for android sdk and you will find what you need to get adb up and running.
And as far as the rom issue goes..it is your phone and I respect your concerns I just had to ask

I would think its media hub that slows it down. It will search your SD cards on every boot. I would start there first.

smokestack76 said:
I would think its media hub that slows it down. It will search your SD cards on every boot. I would start there first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's one of the apps I've frozen though.

For me the longest process while booting is the stupid media scanner upon bootup. Takes FOREVER for the phone to finally "boot" all the way up.
Been looking for a way to disable it (not really lol) and only have it scan manually to see if the boot time will improve. I'd start searching there.
Also - from what I've read nothing you did should have affected the phone. BUT - if your using Google for your Calendar and Contacts.. and they all get synced up to Google? Why bother doing the restore for those? After you sign up with the Market they get pulled back down to your phone automagically

It's definitely more than just the media scanner. I watch that. When everything is loaded up, it actually reboots in a loop unless intercept the FC. The media scanner will rerun over and over each time... far more than the standard two times.
And I use Google Calendar for my events, but I keep my contacts locally on my phone.

So what is the FC again?
Yep.. my media scanner will run at least 3 times before it stops checking everything.
Very frustrating that the software does this EVERY time I boot back into my phone - you'd think a programmer would put a check to see if it had run before or make it user configurable to scan when you want it to.

avgjoegeek said:
So what is the FC again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
See my second post (reply #3):
"Process system is not responding"

LOL sorry not enough coffee and a lil' guy that decided to wake up at 4a.m. = not a good mix.
Well.. did the ol' wise search of Google and came up with:
Might be a permissions issue. Easiest way to fix it is to run ROM Manager and have it fix permisions.
Run the command yourself in ADB:
Code:
Open terminal and
>su
$mount -a
$fix_permissions -r
The -r is optional, but necessary if you find orphaned apps (the app not found please reinstall message)
And reboot. That may help.
And it was also stated that you might have an errant widget/application causing the issue as well. That will be fun trying to figure out what it is.

And.. from my non-dev/non-professional experience - I have checked the logs on my phone and do see a large number of warnings on the phone - but never hindered performance.
So.. 99% of the time you can probably ignore them.
But back to the FC issue - I would try doing a restore of your apps/data again (I read where you have it back down to the "core) and then run the permission script or have ROM Manager do it for you and see if it returns.

Just an update that I think the "fix permissions" thing solved most (but perhaps not all) of my issues. Thanks so much for the tip. I've been reinstalling apps in batches and it's much better, although I see it getting bogged-down bit by bit and I can't pin down what or why.
Thing is, the apps I'm installing in these later rounds/batches shouldn't be resident all the time, shouldn't be auto-loading, and don't come up in things like Startup Cleaner or Advanced Task Killer. Nor do the various process monitors I've tried seem to have the granularity/ability to catch them while they're happening.
So things are better, but I still have some issues without a suitable means to diagnose. I don't get why just having more apps installed, but not running, should affect boot time so much. Hmm...
An inability to troubleshoot certainly rains on my love-affair with Android... not that I'm jumping to another platform anytime soon, but I really want this to work well (as well as be a good salesman to friends and family who often turn to me to show off quality technology).

[Q] Freeze Stock running apps

I'm running a few tests on the limits of the STOCK Nook HD ROM (2.0.5) and was wondering if anyone knows a safe way to try and freeze some annoyances.
Here are my main targets:
Code:
Calendar Storage
com.bn.cloud.svc
com.bn.nook.affiledownloadservice
CloudService
DeviceManagerService
FmService
Home
Library
NookconnectivityService
Profiles
Reader
Social
Shop
TestCenterService
Now if there is any information as to which ones can/cannot be safely stopped please let me know before hand so I don't waste extra time with destroying my /system.
Thanks:good:

If you're rooted, then you could try Android Assistant or All-In-One Toolkit (both free), there's an option to disable specific startup apps.

You shouldn't be able to change anything regarding the Stock B&N ROM, unless you're rooted. If so, TitaniumBackup fits the bill. You can freeze pretty much all system apps there; including those which you have mentioned. However, this process requires you root your stock ROM, and that you allow superuser access to TitaniumBackup.
The apps you listed should be good to freeze, however I've not tested much with the stock ROM; so I would take caution. I'm unsure that "Home" cannot be frozen safely; I would assume that's a key process, which interacts with the user. Of course, all in the name of testing, I don't know.
All the best.

Will do
I don't think there is a safe way to disable them, i have tried a bunch of apps and most don't allow freezing and if i disable them I get reboot loops.

Manage apps on device with Market.

I never knew this and just maybe you all would find this kinda maybe interesting as well.
You can manage your apps on your device, including update, uninstall or even install apps on your device via. (you don't even have to touch your device.)
https://play.google.com/apps
You have to be signed in with your Google account that you use on your Device
I left one example of how i made use of the Managing apps on the desktop via Market.
This gave me a interesting idea actually after learning about this. I tested and this worked.
You can setup a little system to where Tasker can initiate a command to ask Titanium backup to restore data,wipe data, or even launch say a "Find lost phone app." (used a random find phone app)
I used the web based app market to install "Find my phone." When it gets installed(whenever it does), Tasker initiates a setup to restore the data using Titanium backup, and launch the app. Thus allowing my phone to be traced.
Reason this is a great combo in my opinion is because Titanium backup allows u to store its default setting and load them up even if TB isn't installed.
you could even have ONLY tasker on the device then allow tasker to initiate BOTH apps instead of just the one. Although i will admit this does require some knowledge of how Tasker works and how to setup circumstances =/
However ina real world circumstance, i highly doubt this little discovery would matter since everyone knows if u find a phone turn it off asap. unless hopefully u leave it accidentally at a restaurant with good people or some other good place like family. =/
Just thought id leave a possible combination i found using the desktop based android market. =)
of course you could always just leave a "find phone app" installed at all times, however im very OCD about whats on my phone as I am sure a lot of flashaholics are also (least i think they are =P )

Adding an app to device administrators list

I have 2 related apps (Hub and Blackberry Hub+ services) installed in my rooted Note 3 running Lollipop which handle all my communications, messages, email etc. in one place. I love it but I have a problem.
Every time that I try to restore the apps from a Titanium Backup, the app gets somehow messed up, for example some of the settings are not accessible anymore and I also loose some other ones.
The only way to have it backed up reliably is to do a TWRP backup.
After some investigation I noticed that it is listed as device administrator, although the name shown is different than the actual app name but the icon is the one of the app. However, when I restore it from a Titanium Backup, the entry as administrator is not there anymore, so I'm wondering whether this is the cause of the problem.
How can I add manually an app as device administrator? Not sure whether this would solve the issue but I'd like to try.