Database Develop

Cant Re-Download Purchased Apps

I got a new g1 today and some of the apps i bought before i cant download now. I get a " unsuccessful download " when i try to install hello im, ringo, snap photo pro, and a few others. Anybody know whats goin on or have a solution?

Google blocks non-T-mobile IP addresses from downloading premium apps so just make sure you're connected to 3G/Edge and it should download.

Ron Overdrive said:
Google blocks non-T-mobile IP addresses from downloading premium apps so just make sure you're connected to 3G/Edge and it should download.
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thanx..i was on my home wifi...

JxTwoRockJs said:
thanx..i was on my home wifi...
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Did you move your apps to sd ? This could also be a problem when installing certain apps.

im.l0ltn said:
Did you move your apps to sd ? This could also be a problem when installing certain apps.
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not true downloading apps while on sd no problem for me im running jf 1.42 modded by lucid and ive been able to download paid apps with no problems i think th eproblem with the op was he was on his home wifi.

well ive been havin similar problems....i bought the snapphoto pro app a couple days ago.....i rooted my phone today...and it doesnt let me redownload the app

Ron Overdrive said:
Google blocks non-T-mobile IP addresses from downloading premium apps so just make sure you're connected to 3G/Edge and it should download.
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Just where did you get this bit of information? I have update several times my paid protected apps (such as SanpPhoto Pro) over my wifi. Without a hitch. I believe a lot of people are just jumping to ridiculous conclusions, like Google is blocking paid apps to root users, or updates are blocked to root users, or you can't download over wifi, etc. I believe most of these issues are due to the heavy load being placed on the Market Servers during and after the large update that allowed for paid apps. Also something to think about is the fact that the two users in this thread with issues have a similar situation...
The OP bought these apps and then got a replacement phone, perhaps there is something that is keeping it from working on a second device (would make sense, all the paid cell phone apps I used in the past were tied to IMEI numbers).
The last person to post an issue stated they bought the app, then wiped and "rooted" their phone. However, they did not state if they were getting the "Download Unsuccessful" message, so it is not entirely clear if the issue is the same. This could be a similar situation, or it could be indicative of another method of identifying the original installation phone.
I think they may be very closely tied together because there are other things stored on the phone when an app is purchased. There is a zip file in the /data/app directory (which may need to be present for updates to take place, not sure) there is the app in /data/app-private (obviously), but there is also information stored in the /data/dalvik-cache (which may hold the key to these issues - just a guess), and there may be something else I am overlooking.
It is entirely possible that there is data stored on the phone when an app is purchased to help identify the hardware to the market place. I know purchases are supposed to be tied to your Google account, but do not know if the TOS of the Market allow for the use of purchased apps on more than one device. If they do not, there is probably some kind of protection involved.
Just some things to toss about in your heads, may not be anything to what I am saying... But... I could be onto something. Seeing how I am a JFRC33 "root" user, who downloads and update paid apps via my home wifi connection, without any issues. Yeah the first few days or week that paid apps went live there were some issues downloading the updates, but those were felt across the board, and do not exist anymore. Meaning they must have been general issues with the Market, not certain phones/software.

Google Play, not tied to my Google account in the web interface?

It is really great to have the Google Play Store to leverage the apps I already bought for the kids. But unfortunately, since the Amazon child profiles can't see them, and the issues I mentioned elswhere with the Kindle reader being tied to the device account, sigh... It looks like a move to CM might be the only option.
But one curiosity, if I stay with this setup of the Fire software and sideloaded Google Play stuff... When I go to the online play store, I see my other [older] devices registered there, but I can't see the new ones. However, if I go to the device locater, they do show up. Very strange. But I can't see them in the device list or when it comes to download/install software from the web.
Anyone else getting this to work or seeing this same behavior?

I have the same question. It's a bit annoying. It can be much easier to use Google Play on a desktop, and then have it push the app to the device.
Has anyone figured out a way to get the Fire listed as one of your devices in the Google Play desktop store? I assume it involves some sort of registration that our method of installing Google Play and its required services does not do.

trlkly said:
I have the same question. It's a bit annoying. It can be much easier to use Google Play on a desktop, and then have it push the app to the device.
Has anyone figured out a way to get the Fire listed as one of your devices in the Google Play desktop store? I assume it involves some sort of registration that our method of installing Google Play and its required services does not do.
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A common problem with custom roms and 3rd party devices (Google it) that has nothing to do with the method used to install Google Play components. All my Amazon devices show up just fine; took no special steps to make it happen. Likely something related to Google Account configuration IMHO.

Davey126 said:
A common problem with custom roms and 3rd party devices (Google it) that has nothing to do with the method used to install Google Play components. All my Amazon devices show up just fine; took no special steps to make it happen. Likely something related to Google Account configuration IMHO.
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So you run stock roms on your Amazon devices? I'm just running FireOS, albeit now with the Nova Launcher. Do you have any FireOS devices that have it?
I'm actually kinda hoping someone will have a device that works and one that doesn't and they can try and see what the underlying difference is.

trlkly said:
So you run stock roms on your Amazon devices? I'm just running FireOS, albeit now with the Nova Launcher. Do you have any FireOS devices that have it?
I'm actually kinda hoping someone will have a device that works and one that doesn't and they can try and see what the underlying difference is.
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At present I do not have FireOS running on any of my devices. Not a bad rom once debloated if you like the presentation. My leanings are closer to AOSP (pure Android UI).
I don't believe a direct comparison will yield any clues as the problem has been around for years, crosses multiple device types and has (so far) resisted efforts to diagnose. There are a handful of workarounds and supposed fixes but what works for one often fails for the rest.

Davey126 said:
There are a handful of workarounds and supposed fixes but what works for one often fails for the rest.
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Do you know of any of them?

trlkly said:
Do you know of any of them?
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Google 'device not in play store' or similar constructs; lots of material. Maybe something will work for you!

WidgetLocker: cannot add widgets

I'm using a rooted 5.1.1 KFFOWI and would like to add widgets to WidgetLocker. (This is not about disabling the stock lockscreen, I did that with Xposed.)
However, attempting to add a widget with the program opens settings and does not add the widget, even when WidgetLocker is made a system app. Is there anything I can do, or has Amazon won this round?

This seems to be a feature of the stock Fire OS. On my Fire 7, I had rooted it and added Nova launcher with Root Junky's SuperTool. Still, it had the same problem you are seeing. When trying to add widgets from the Nova launcher, the Fire 7 went to the Fire OS setup menu instead of popping up a permission screen to add a widget.
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Finally, I loaded the Nexus rom with Flashfire and now the Nova launcher is able to add widgets to the home screen. Adding a custom rom (I like the Nexus rom) is really the only way to make a decent tablet from the Fire 7. You have to get rid of the stock Fire OS rom and replace it with a custom rom in order to add widgets..
I have 3 Fire 7's (all with 5.1.2 firmware) that I have rooted with RootJunky's SuperTool (April 3 ver) and then added the Nexus ROM (20160405 ver) using FlashFire v.031. They all work great now.

Robo-rooter said:
This seems to be a feature of the stock Fire OS. On my Fire 7, I had rooted it and added Nova launcher with Root Junky's SuperTool. Still, it had the same problem you are seeing. When trying to add widgets from the Nova launcher, the Fire 7 went to the Fire OS setup menu instead of popping up a permission screen to add a widget.
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Finally, I loaded the Nexus rom with Flashfire and now the Nova launcher is able to add widgets to the home screen. Adding a custom rom (I like the Nexus rom) is really the only way to make a decent tablet from the Fire 7. You have to get rid of the stock Fire OS rom and replace it with a custom rom in order to add widgets..
I have 3 Fire 7's (all with 5.1.2 firmware) that I have rooted with RootJunky's SuperTool (April 3 ver) and then added the Nexus ROM (20160405 ver) using FlashFire v.031. They all work great now.
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Great suggestion. I just switched to the Nexus ROM and it's pretty great.

Shoot, I came here to ask this exact question (rooted a 5.1.1 Fire 7 5th gen with Supertool, used it to install Nova, now adding any widgets jumps to settings page). I actually tried the Nexus ROM at one point, but found it buggy and some much-needed apps wouldn't work (LIFX being the main one). The boilerplate answer seems to be "make the launcher a system app", but a) I'm pretty sure supertool did that, b) just to make sure I did it manually with Root Explorer, and c) when that didn't fix the issue, I moved it back and tried it with Titanium Backup Pro for good measure.
My sole purpose for buying this thing was to use the LIFX widgets and use it as a wall-mounted home automation control, so this is pretty important. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

mwoody450 said:
Shoot, I came here to ask this exact question (rooted a 5.1.1 Fire 7 5th gen with Supertool, used it to install Nova, now adding any widgets jumps to settings page). I actually tried the Nexus ROM at one point, but found it buggy and some much-needed apps wouldn't work (LIFX being the main one). The boilerplate answer seems to be "make the launcher a system app", but a) I'm pretty sure supertool did that, b) just to make sure I did it manually with Root Explorer, and c) when that didn't fix the issue, I moved it back and tried it with Titanium Backup Pro for good measure.
My sole purpose for buying this thing was to use the LIFX widgets and use it as a wall-mounted home automation control, so this is pretty important. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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Surprised to see 'buggy' used in the context of Fire Nexus (@ggow's builds); those two terms are uncommon bed fellows. As you have discovered Nova on FireOS is not ideal. If you are seeking robust widget support you are going to have to bite the bullet and flash a custom rom. Suggest Nexus or CM 12.1. For a quick test I grabbed LIFX from APKMirror and installed on CM. Launched fine.

Davey126 said:
Surprised to see 'buggy' used in the context of Fire Nexus (@ggow's builds); those two terms are uncommon bed fellows. As you have discovered Nova on FireOS is not ideal. If you are seeking robust widget support you are going to have to bite the bullet and flash a custom rom. Suggest Nexus or CM 12.1. For a quick test I grabbed LIFX from APKMirror and installed on CM. Launched fine.
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For my purposes, unfortunately, it didn't work. Programs would constantly hang for several seconds as if under extreme load, LIFX indicated it "wasn't compatible" in Google Play, once I installed LIFX from APKMirror it wouldn't let me log in to my cloud account and started crashing the bulbs, and eventually I lost wifi permanently (even through reboot). I don't know what it was about my experience that differed from the norm, but I was afraid it was going to brick if I didn't get back to stock.
Anyway, I know there are no guarantees with this sort of stuff, and I appreciate the response. If someone comes up for a widget fix, I'll be forever grateful, but I can work around in in the meantime. Nova is otherwise rock solid.

mwoody450 said:
For my purposes, unfortunately, it didn't work. Programs would constantly hang for several seconds as if under extreme load, LIFX indicated it "wasn't compatible" in Google Play, once I installed LIFX from APKMirror it wouldn't let me log in to my cloud account and started crashing the bulbs, and eventually I lost wifi permanently (even through reboot). I don't know what it was about my experience that differed from the norm, but I was afraid it was going to brick if I didn't get back to stock.
Anyway, I know there are no guarantees with this sort of stuff, and I appreciate the response. If someone comes up for a widget fix, I'll be forever grateful, but I can work around in in the meantime. Nova is otherwise rock solid.
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Something may have been amiss with your Nexus install. Understand the hesitation on trying again but you probably won't get widget satisfaction on FireOS. Been a problem for years across multiple generations of Amazon devices and FireOS versions.

So how does this work? I have the widget issue as well. Does this install another OS over my kindle? I was not planning on going through the trouble of a new OS even after root.

Herox said:
So how does this work? I have the widget issue as well. Does this install another OS over my kindle? I was not planning on going through the trouble of a new OS even after root.
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A custom ROM (Nexus, CM, SLimLP, etc.) completely replaces FireOS from a UX perspective. Many report dramatically improved performance and battery life. Debatable, but certainly no worse than stock. The biggest score is direct access to the Google Play Store and associated applications. A custom ROM negates restrictions imposed by FireOS including widget support. Downside: takes time/effort and removes curated Amazon UX that many Fire owners enjoy.

Problems with Kindle Books app

Hi All,
I'm having some issues with my Kindle Books app, when I go into the library most of my books appear as greyed out and won't open, there seems to be no difference between books downloaded to the device and books stored in the cloud. Only two books seem to work and I think both of these were purchased after the issue first ocurred. The odd thing is that if I go via the books store and select the "read now" button, the book will open on my device. Not really sure what's going on here, any thoughts on what I an do to fix this?
Running Fire OS 5.3.1 with root and ota blocked (by renaming file).
Thanks,
Jonny

jonathanmoneill said:
Hi All,
I'm having some issues with my Kindle Books app, when I go into the library most of my books appear as greyed out and won't open, there seems to be no difference between books downloaded to the device and books stored in the cloud. Only two books seem to work and I think both of these were purchased after the issue first ocurred. The odd thing is that if I go via the books store and select the "read now" button, the book will open on my device. Not really sure what's going on here, any thoughts on what I an do to fix this?
Running Fire OS 5.3.1 with root and ota blocked (by renaming file).
Thanks,
Jonny
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Not immediately sure about your Kindle Books issue but first need to get the facts straight on your device. FireOS 5.3.1 is not rootable at present so you must be running another version or don't actually have root. This could be relevant as some apps behave differently on rooted devices.

Davey126 said:
Not immediately sure about your Kindle Books issue but first need to get the facts straight on your device. FireOS 5.3.1 is not rootable at present so you must be running another version or don't actually have root. This could be relevant as some apps behave differently on rooted devices.
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I used this tutorial to do it. It allows 5.3.1 to be rooted using 5.1.2 bootloader.

jonathanmoneill said:
I used this tutorial to do it. It allows 5.3.1 to be rooted using 5.1.2 bootloader.
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Yep - welcome to the 1% club (ok - maybe 5%) that followed this procedure and opted to remain on FireOS. I actually thought about that possibility when penning my previous response but felt mentioning it would only lead to confusion. My bad.
As for Kindle Books have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling the app? I realize this may be a challenge as the version included with FireOS is a system app different (and possibly not readily available) than the generic Android app. You might also try clearing the app data store which *should* be repopulated from Amazon cloud on initial connection after the flush.

Davey126 said:
Yep - welcome to the 1% club (ok - maybe 5%) that followed this procedure and opted to remain on FireOS. I actually thought about that possibility when penning my previous response but felt mentioning it would only lead to confusion. My bad.
As for Kindle Books have you tried uninstalling/reinstalling the app? I realize this may be a challenge as the version included with FireOS is a system app different (and possibly not readily available) than the generic Android app. You might also try clearing the app data store which *should* be repopulated from Amazon cloud on initial connection after the flush.
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Yeah, I know it's an unusual choice, will probably install a custom rom at some point but for now Nova launcher and Fire OS is good enough for me
In more relevant news clearing the app data store seems to have worked a treat, thanks for your help

I'm on n the same boat, running Fire OS 5.3.1 with 5.0.1 bootloader. That's the only way that FreeTime works for my kids. Wish they just made free time available in he Google. Play store

Using NetGuard to prevent Amazon OTAs but allow Google services?

Has anyone tried using NetGuard or another firewall to prevent Amazon services from phoning home?
I have 5.3.1.0 on my Fire, so no root. But fortunately NetGuard doesn't need root.
I'm trying to find exactly which packages to block and allow to make sure Amazon can't update my OS, and preferably also block ads, while allowing the Play Store.
The problem I have been running into is that NetGuard lumps some services/apps together, so if I try to enable, for example, Android Contact Storage, it also enabled all of the Amazon contact related options, including all the social media connectors.
I haven't found a combination that allows me to login to Google but prevents system updates.
Has anyone successfully done this? I'd love some tips or maybe even an export of your NetGuard config.

S.Mayer said:
Has anyone tried using NetGuard or another firewall to prevent Amazon services from phoning home?
I have 5.3.1.0 on my Fire, so no root. But fortunately NetGuard doesn't need root.
I'm trying to find exactly which packages to block and allow to make sure Amazon can't update my OS, and preferably also block ads, while allowing the Play Store.
The problem I have been running into is that NetGuard lumps some services/apps together, so if I try to enable, for example, Android Contact Storage, it also enabled all of the Amazon contact related options, including all the social media connectors.
I haven't found a combination that allows me to login to Google but prevents system updates.
Has anyone successfully done this? I'd love some tips or maybe even an export of your NetGuard config.
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This approach has proven unreliable on various Amazon device going all the way back to 2nd gen Tate:
- you can't block the relevant OTA services without root
- blocking by IP is only a temporary fix as Amazon rotates addresses
Despite claims to the contrary no local 'firewall' can be 100% effective without root access.

Davey126 said:
Despite claims to the contrary no local 'firewall' can be 100% effective without root access.
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Thank you for the info. Just to be 100% sure, are you aware that NetGuard functions as a local VPN service, rather than using iptables? When connected to a VPN, the device should be sending all traffic that way. Whether it does or not, I can't actually say.

S.Mayer said:
Thank you for the info. Just to be 100% sure, are you aware that NetGuard functions as a local VPN service, rather than using iptables? When connected to a VPN, the device should be sending all traffic that way. Whether it does or not, I can't actually say.
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Yes, I was aware but good to ask the question. A VPN *should* capture all traffic. Whether it does on FireOS is the $64K question. To my knowledge there are no widespread reports of VPN effectiveness blocking Amazon OTA updates, but that could simply reflect the limited number of attempts. Until recently VPNs were rather difficult to understand/implement for most non-technical users.