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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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
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).
So a friend of mine updated his T-Mobile UK Samsung Galaxy S to the official 2.2.1 JPY firmware using Odin a few weeks ago. This went well, and is the same firmware that I've had on my unbranded SGS since December.
However, he has an interesting problem. Some of his apps (Handcent, Dolphin HD, plus a few others) seem to forget all of their settings every time the app is exited. For example, every time he goes back into Dolphin it enters the setup wizard as it it's being ran for the first time. This doesn't happen on every app, and it doesn't happen every time.
I noticed there are a couple of other threads on here with people reporting similar issues on custom ROMs (with no solution), but this is a stock ROM from samsungfirmware.com and certainly doesn't happen on my SGS, so it's not the ROM to blame.
Anyone know of a fix?
This question posted in the last few days .
jje
As I said in my post "I noticed there are a couple of other threads on here with people reporting similar issues ... (with no solution)". I wasn't being lazy and just starting another thread without doing some research first. I've read the other threads and they do not contain a solution that will work for him.
I'm assuming you're referring specifically to this thread? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=992335 In my friend's case, rooting is not an option, so this solution won't work for him.
However, based on that it looks like a factory reset may fix it. If I don't come back people reading this can assume it worked.
Hello
I experimented the same issue.
Looking at some log traces event it reported some permissions errors on intestinal filesystem like database location access write errors. This can explain setting persistence trouble.
After various workaround, bypass or others kind of fallback I did a full reinstallation of filesystem including a wipe data of the system. Take care to backup application and sensible data SMS, photo...
Since all is working fine and no more problems with settings
I don't know if it's helping you.
This is just my personal experience on this same problem.
Perhaps more simple solution is possible
Regards
Gilles
Thanks. So far so good after a Factory Reset. If it were my phone I'd be looking at Logcat, etc, too, but it's a bit hard to do remotely.
It's odd how some apps saved their settings fine, but some don't.
A factory reset did fix it... for a while. But then other apps started suffering from the problem.
So I've been researching this a bit more today. Here's what I've discovered:
The problem is unique to Samsung Galaxy S phones, and appears to be only ones running 2.2.1 (but maybe 2.2. too?).
Samsung have renamed /data/data to /dbdata/databases, and shared preferences for applications are persisting in this folder even if the application is uninstalled. If you install the app again, the app becomes a different user from the one that owns the shared preferences.
For example - If you install some random application and you look at its process running with the ps command, it will show as "app_XX", where XX is some number. For our example here let's say it shows as "app_55". When it then saves its settings in /dbdata/databases the folder the settings are saved in will have owner (shown by ls -l) as "app_55" too. That's fine, and normal.
The seed of the problem is sewn when you uninstall the app. Those shared preferences are not removed. Even using the "Clear data" option before uninstalling doesn't seem to help. If you then install the app again and look at the output of ps you'll see the new app is "app_56". The shared preferences are still there from last time with owner "app_55", hence the permissions error when it tries to save its settings, as user app_56 cannot modify user app_55's files.
A factory reset obviously cures it as this, at least temporarily, as it wipes the data in /dbdata/databases.
If you're rooted, you can go into /dbdata/databases and delete the relevent folder for the application that's having the problem. It will be recreated with the correct owner next time the app saves its settings.
I didn't try chown to change the owner to the correct one, but maybe that's a way to keep the old settings and correct the problem.
Bingo. No wonder my titanium backup is not remembering the preference settings.
Hey,
Has anyone ever looked into how the Whatsapp Backup is stored? It can be used after reinstalling the app, but not after hard resetting/flashing/etc. So it should be stored on the phone, but not the normal isolated storage of the app since I can reinstall it and use the backup then.
Is there special access necessary or could other apps also access (and modify/export) this backup? I'm asking this because I hope to find a way to make a backup that really is useful, I almost only write via whatsapp because SMS cost way more than internet here. Thanks!
why do you think whatsapp isnt useing isolated storage? shure it is, but you still cant access it - unless you have a interopt unlocked device
the reason you can restore, is that the app id stays the same.. you could try to deploy an older (uncrypted) whatsapp xap to your phone, if the app id still stays the same (and im not shure it does! actually i think it doesnt..) you would gain access... again, thats total theory! i havent tryed this, and it has propably the potential to mess up your backup...
maybe GoodDayToDie has some more info about the app-id thing.. i'll also do a quick research
tfBullet said:
why do you think whatsapp isnt useing isolated storage? shure it is, but you still cant access it - unless you have a interopt unlocked device
the reason you can restore, is that the app id stays the same.. you could try to deploy an older (uncrypted) whatsapp xap to your phone, if the app id still stays the same (and im not shure it does! actually i think it doesnt..) you would gain access... again, thats total theory! i havent tryed this, and it has propably the potential to mess up your backup...
maybe GoodDayToDie has some more info about the app-id thing.. i'll also do a quick research
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! I din't know files in the isolated storage keep being there after you uninstall the app..
I tried deploying an old Version (1.4) of Whatsapp and it replaced the current one, so it should use the same app id. I didn't find anything in the isolated storage, but the backup is still there when I reinstall it from the store. I'll try launching the deployed app first now.
have you checked out the IsolatedStorageSettings?
Let me have a quick look where this thing is on my harddrive... when i find it, i'll be able to tell you where / how it saves the backup
tfBullet said:
have you checked out the IsolatedStorageSettings?
Let me have a quick look where this thing is on my harddrive... when i find it, i'll be able to tell you where / how it saves the backup
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, I have no real clue how to do that, the only thing I can is deploying apps and watching their isolated storage thanks!!
they used "messages.sdf" & "contacts.sdf" before, but then at some version they started to migrate this files into a database.. not shure where it gets stored, or if you can access it with simply browsing the IsoStoreage... ill make a quick test project to test out how or if we could access it..
EDIT: actually i was talking **** the .sdf files are already databases, and the data still resides there... and forgot to mention: even if you couldn't see the database files, you should see the user-picture thumbnails that reside in "cphotos/" + some-sha1-hashed-userinfo...
IsoStore is cleared when an app is uninstalled. So far as I know, this is instant, as part of the app removal process, although I suppose I haven't actually checked that. However, apps can (and many do) implement a backup situation to cover this use case by using a unique identifier that survives a re-install. There are several places such IDs can come from. Since the one you have survives app installs but *not* OS reflashing (even though you presumably sign on with the same Live ID afterward), I'm guessing it's a value that uniquely identifies your OS install and is randomly generated the first time the OS boots. Re-flashing counts as a new install, I guess.
I'd have to investigate further to be sure. There could be other mechanics at play, such as the OS keeping the data around for a short time in case you re-install the app, or the app storing its data in some other (off-phone) location. It's not storing it in some special folder within the phone, though; there's nowhere else it could!
Backup history with Whatapp on Android. Then check the backup file on:
/sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases/msgstore.db.crypt
Or
/data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db and wa.db (root)
Coweri said:
Backup history with Whatapp on Android. Then check the backup file on:
/sdcard/WhatsApp/Databases/msgstore.db.crypt
Or
/data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db and wa.db (root)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, but this is Windows Phone, not android..
@GoodDayToDie so, there is no simple way like deploying an app with the same ID and trying to access the backup with it?
Since the data would have been deleted when the old app was removed (and since you can't sideload an app with the same Product ID as an existing Store app), no, that won't work (well, it didn't in WP7; I guess you could try again here; some things are somewhat less secure now than before).
th0mas96 said:
GoodDayToDie so, there is no simple way like deploying an app with the same ID and trying to access the backup with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait for a interop-unlock... thats the way to go in this case.
Until then, you can send your conversations to yourself by mail (option form the context menue)
GoodDayToDie said:
IsoStore is cleared when an app is uninstalled. So far as I know, this is instant, as part of the app removal process, although I suppose I haven't actually checked that. However, apps can (and many do) implement a backup situation to cover this use case by using a unique identifier that survives a re-install. There are several places such IDs can come from. Since the one you have survives app installs but *not* OS reflashing (even though you presumably sign on with the same Live ID afterward), I'm guessing it's a value that uniquely identifies your OS install and is randomly generated the first time the OS boots. Re-flashing counts as a new install, I guess.
I'd have to investigate further to be sure. There could be other mechanics at play, such as the OS keeping the data around for a short time in case you re-install the app, or the app storing its data in some other (off-phone) location. It's not storing it in some special folder within the phone, though; there's nowhere else it could!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GoodDayToDie, any news about this Whatsapp backup feature in Windows Phone? Is it possible to utilize this feature as an "ordinary" developer?
I would have to reverse engineer the app to see how its backup feature works. The most likely explanation - that it's storing the backup "in the cloud" using the device ID (which resets when you do a hard reset, I think) - is easily possible for any app so long as you provide the storage space...
GoodDayToDie said:
I would have to reverse engineer the app to see how its backup feature works. The most likely explanation - that it's storing the backup "in the cloud" using the device ID (which resets when you do a hard reset, I think) - is easily possible for any app so long as you provide the storage space...
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That could be an explanation. But then the Whatsapp developers could easily offer a full backup, as on other platforms, linked to the phone number or something. Then you could restore the messages even after a phone exchange. But who knows what's in their heads ...
GoodDayToDie said:
I would have to reverse engineer the app to see how its backup feature works. The most likely explanation - that it's storing the backup "in the cloud" using the device ID (which resets when you do a hard reset, I think) - is easily possible for any app so long as you provide the storage space...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope, it doesn't seem to be online.. it backups pretty big chats extremely fast with 2 bars of GPRS, so it can't be via internet.. it even backups without connection at all. That's the weird thing.. how are apps even allowed to store files that keep being there after an uninstall?
There are a couple really sneaky ways you could do that; one that comes to mind is creating a fake "image" or "ringtone" or similar, serializing the data to it, and then looking for it the "first" time the app is run after installing. However, I'm definitely more curious now. There are folders which apps can request permissions to write to, but usually that's a trick limited to "second-party" apps (OEMs, etc.) and prohibited for third parties.
I've already looked into the code, as far as i can tell there is no online backup feature. it just stores the conversations in a database.
And to answer yout question schluff: no there is absolutley no way the usual developera to utilize this.
btw: @GoodDayToDie could you provide us the newest WhatsApp XAP (2.11.312.0)?
When I get the chance to extract it of my computer, yeah. It's really hard to get full FS access working these days, so I'm looking into other ways to access the install folders and storage of other Apps.
here you go
edit: I've changed nothing, so it's the whole install folder in this zip file
Thanks for the extraction! Obviously, I can't do anything with it
However, if anyone is interested in this too, in the following versions it seems to backup to the SD card, at least @Nazwzil8 reported so at twitter: https://twitter.com/Nawzil8/status/410486248156172288 he reported a lot about whatsapp, he seems a legit beta tester.
A few weeks ago I received the Marshmallow update to my Moto G 2014. I switched back and forth between Internal/Portable storage, and also bought a bigger SD card to go in the phone.
Somewhere along the way, certain actions consistently cause an app to crash.
- starting the Uber app (it lets me log in, and shows the splash screen, but crashes before showing a map)
- attaching a location to a WhatsApp conversation (although attaching photos and documents seems to be fine)
- selecting "Start activity" from Google Fit.
These all worked fine before the update, and some searching didn't show any obvious suggestions of what to do. I've tried uninstalling apps, and also wiping their data but neither made any difference.
I can get a log using adb if it's useful and someone can point me to the right bit to look at.
Can anyone suggest how to stop these apps crashing?
I've tried taking traces using adb logcat. The crashes often seem to have an early error line like the following:
Code:
cutils : Failed to openat(/storage/emulated/0/Android): Permission denied
I can't find instances of similar issues online - has anyone seen this before or know what the problem might be?