Anti-Google Rampage - Deleted Stock Messenger App - BLU R1 HD Questions & Answers

Bold - condensed
I researched, whether the stock messaging app could be deleted without breaking anything, I decided to delete it anyway. In the past, even when I have used stock roms, I have encountered no issues. I want to know if there is any way to get things working without Google's stock app, maybe through pushing an AOSP version to system? Going to experiment, but figured I would ask.
MMS is not working, but regular SMS is. I didn't really understand it from what I saw, but I would like to begin understanding how things like this work, so that I fully customize my own device, as well as contribute to the community. I came from a BlackBerry, I didn't anticipate so much data harvesting, I was very uninformed and naive. I have managed fine without Gapps, but it has not been convenient.
mod edit - thread closed as per OP request - solved

Related

[Q] Anyone notice increasing Spam due to Android apps?

Since buying the N1 in April, I've been very happy with both the phone, and the Android OS.
However, I've been noticing an uptick in the past couple of months of dubious emails hitting my Google account which I registered with my phone. admittedly this is anecdotal, but the nature of the emails leads me to think that some of the app devs whose programs I've installed/tried out, are capturing and selling validated email addresses to third parties. It then seems that some of them (besides increasing the usual Spam being filtered by gmail) go a step further and register the email address to various groups, lists, emails, newsfeeds, etc.
I'm not terribly shocked by this, and since I pretty much limit my gmail usage to using on the phone, I just want to sound people out to determine if I'm just being paranoid, or actually noticing something valid.
Not that it's related, but I'm also running Cyan 6.0.0 (8/27)
Seeing as the market is open for any individual to just slap some crap up for people to download, there is no doubt this is possible. Nothing unique to Android.
One way to attempt to protect yourself in the future would be to sign up with these dev's by adding a tag to your email address like such:
Code:
[email protected]
or
Code:
[email protected]
where '+shadydev1' is incremented to identify who is sending what. Though, the spammers could strip the tags making all this pointless, in which case just do what everyone else does and send them to your Hotmail account
*Edit* Looking at your OP again, I guess youre saying that the DEVs are pulling your email from the phone itself which is much more malicious, making my post pointless.
crachel said:
Seeing as the market is open for any individual to just slap some crap up for people to download, there is no doubt this is possible. Nothing unique to Android.
One way to attempt to protect yourself in the future would be to sign up with these dev's by adding a tag to your email address like such:
Code:
[email protected]
or
Code:
[email protected]
where '+shadydev1' is incremented to identify who is sending what. Though, the spammers could strip the tags making all this pointless, in which case just do what everyone else does and send them to your Hotmail account
*Edit* Looking at your OP again, I guess youre saying that the DEVs are pulling your email from the phone itself which is much more malicious, making my post pointless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I have not noticed this, but thanks for the tip! Had no idea you could tag in the username like that for GMail. I don't use it much honestly, but perhaps I will
I have my own domain and I have like spam1 spam2 spam3 etc I use... but not quite as flexible
Thanks for the suggestion. Going to start utilizing it. Sorry about the late response, been out of touch for a bit.
With the recent dustup over Facebook, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm suspecting is happening in my situation. Because it really started to amp up when I installed Cyanogen 6.0. Now in no way am I implying something wrong or directly related to Cy's code. It's awesome and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But anecdotally, the level of Spam seems to coincide. And as i don't know enough about the Android OS, not sure if 1) rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM left it more exposed than stock, 2) Some market app(s) I've installed have done a 'Facebook' with my data via some exploit or 3) Stock or rooted, wouldn't make much of a difference because jagoffs are the same no matter where, when or how. They'll find a way.
But as my original query didn't seem to gain much traction, doesn't seem others have experienced any noticible increase as a result of rooting their phones. Btw, I should say not just Spam for viagra type stuff has increased in my gmail account. but what would otherwise seem to be 'legitimate' emails that i have no idea as to their origins. religious groups, a car dealership asking me how I like my new car, etc. And after some research, it seems that variants of my email address will find their way into my inbox. according to google's Help. If I create [email protected], i'll also get email for [email protected], for example.
smashmouth_engineer said:
Thanks for the suggestion. Going to start utilizing it. Sorry about the late response, been out of touch for a bit.
With the recent dustup over Facebook, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm suspecting is happening in my situation. Because it really started to amp up when I installed Cyanogen 6.0. Now in no way am I implying something wrong or directly related to Cy's code. It's awesome and I wouldn't trade it for anything. But anecdotally, the level of Spam seems to coincide. And as i don't know enough about the Android OS, not sure if 1) rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM left it more exposed than stock, 2) Some market app(s) I've installed have done a 'Facebook' with my data via some exploit or 3) Stock or rooted, wouldn't make much of a difference because jagoffs are the same no matter where, when or how. They'll find a way.
But as my original query didn't seem to gain much traction, doesn't seem others have experienced any noticible increase as a result of rooting their phones. Btw, I should say not just Spam for viagra type stuff has increased in my gmail account. but what would otherwise seem to be 'legitimate' emails that i have no idea as to their origins. religious groups, a car dealership asking me how I like my new car, etc. And after some research, it seems that variants of my email address will find their way into my inbox. according to google's Help. If I create [email protected], i'll also get email for [email protected], for example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, as does [email protected], or [email protected]
Has nothing to do with this nonsense thread.
I have yet to get a spam mail past Gmail spam filter, and I have my Nexus rooted and on custom ROMs for a long time.
The scenario you describe theoretically might happen if you installed a "semi-malicious" app that would request your permissions for accessing your account / contact list, and you let it. Just rooting and installing whatever ROM won't get you there.

[Q] Password protect certain applications?

Is there an application that can password protect certain apps that I choose?
And please do not say Kids Corner as it does not do what I am asking.
It's probably possible (though far from easy), but I'd actually be more inclined to help if you hadn't opened a duplicate thread about this.
Only made second thread about this to attract some attention, 7 months passed since that guy opened his thread and nobody could give a good answer.
To me it's weird that nobody tried to make an app like this still, it would be very popular and help users very much.
Anyways, thank you for replying.
Really, just bumping the other thread was enough, but since we're here anyhow... my idea for how to approach it (and this would take a *lot* of hacking) goes something like this:
1. Create an app (call it X) that has the capability to launch other apps, and filesystem write access.
2. Have X take another app (call it Y) and encrypt its binaries. This prevents anybody from launching it by any means.
3. Tweak the app database to make it so that when you try to launch Y, it instead launches X and passes the id of Y as a parameter to the launcher.
4. X prompts the user for a password to Y. On getting the right one, it decrypts Y's binaries and writes them back to the correct location, then launches Y.
5. When the user (or OS) closes Y, a background process of X notes that Y is closed and re-encrypts it.
Currently we know how to do... well, some of #1, and we think the rest is possible. Given that, #2 isn't too hard. #3 is something I don't have the least notion how to do *right now* but I'm sure it's possible. #4 shouldn't be too hard given #1 and #2. #5 will be a trick - currently, apps have no way to know what other apps are running - but I'm sure it can be done.
It's a large engineering problem blocked by an even bigger research and hacking problem, though. Nothing we'll have soon. You'd never be able to publish it in the store, either, and it would only work for people with hacked phones. It's exactly the kind of *useful* thing that would be possible if Microsoft were willing to let up the restrictions on third-party developers a bit, of course, But for the time being, there are *reasons* nobody has done it yet.
Well the word that I actually was thinking after reading your post was "crap".
It seems only with time (and a whole [email protected]#$ing lot of it) will wp become a true competitor to android, but to be honest I don't think it will come to that.
Thanks for replying GoodDayToDie, I'm freakin' sad that there is no app that can suit my needs, I even tried with kids corner but the screen still needs the password entered like the normal one. Nothing really can make up for what I have in mind.
Cheers mate.
as soon as we can interop unlock all WP devices, it will be pretty easy... if you're able to provide the XAP (uncrypted of course )
i'll be able to "mod" this in for you... which app are we talking about?
@GoodDayToDie: i do'nt think he is looking for real data security here, so encrypting the whole thing shouldnt be required... i think it's more about preventing his gf to read his private messages or something like that
oh btw.: you would need a dev-unlock to deploy the modified XAP then...
tfBullet said:
as soon as we can interop unlock all WP devices, it will be pretty easy... if you're able to provide the XAP (uncrypted of course )
i'll be able to "mod" this in for you... which app are we talking about?
@GoodDayToDie: i do'nt think he is looking for real data security here, so encrypting the whole thing shouldnt be required... i think it's more about preventing his gf to read his private messages or something like that
oh btw.: you would need a dev-unlock to deploy the modified XAP then...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right tfBullet! I need it for whatsapp, photos, message and games app, mostly to prevent from friends but gf too.
I was thinking it might be possible to mod an app and add password before it can be accessed, although I have no experience in this domain. Many apps in store have this function, like wallet or prive photo apps.
My phone is dev-unlocked as I started a few days ago to study and try to create a simple app for me and my friends.
Modding an app like that would actually be quite hard, because it would break the signature and prevent the app from running. The encryption thing really isn't too hard, although you could skip it anyhow too.
If there was a way to run a program in the background that monitors when certain apps are selected and then prompts when its activated would work, but it would need an unlocked phone. And even under home brew I don't know if its possible to run apps in the background. Yet.
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
The encryption thing really isn't too hard
Yea, but that's a little extreme. If you can create that password program that runs in the background you could probably have it watch files, apps or pretty much anything. You'd have to password protect the cofig file. And maybe if you can't remember the password after so many attempts you can have the program email the passwords to your email. Just some ideas.
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 8 App
Running software in the background is actually shockingly easy. The trick is getting it to run with better-than-app-sandbox privileges. We're still working on that one. In the meantime, apps can't even read, much less write, to the install location of other apps.
GoodDayToDie said:
Modding an app like that would actually be quite hard, because it would break the signature and prevent the app from running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@GoodDayToDie: actually these .NET apps are pretty easy to decompile, if you're willing to fix the bugs that the decompiler leaves you with...
so there is not really a need for a valid signature, if you're able to compile & sideload the app yourself
the only thing is: you need the decrypted XAP, as far as i know these get decrypted while installation and can be pulled from a interop unlocked device?!
It would be nice to get my fingers on some OEM (Nokia etc..) XAPs, to see if we can find any exploit in them
I know better than probably 95% of this forum what it takes to decompile managed code; I have reverse engineered huge numbers of apps. However, you are missing several important points.
1) Modifications like you suggest are very complicated to automate. It's certainly possible, but it's not simple.
2) Re-installing the app would be a pain. You would really want to do this as an in-place modification, and that means (for store apps) that it would still be signature-checked.
3) Not all apps are managed code; WP8 supports purely native code.
4) Even with managed code, obfuscation can make tinkering with the binary nigh-impossible.
It's just so incredibly stupid that WP is so limited. I know it's under Android big time, but I think even iOS more customizable, right?
Also, is there a message app in the store that has pass option? I searched but found nothing...
I don't believe iOS is any more customizable, no. It has some feature that WP lacks (it ought to; it's been out for years longer and Apple completely controls the hardware it runs on) but it's also missing some features that WP8 offers. In any case, this isn't the thread to have that discussion in.
GoodDayToDie said:
I don't believe iOS is any more customizable, no. It has some feature that WP lacks (it ought to; it's been out for years longer and Apple completely controls the hardware it runs on) but it's also missing some features that WP8 offers. In any case, this isn't the thread to have that discussion in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But with the jailbreak and MobileSubstrate, iOS is extremely customizable, and there are tons of tweaks, that's where Apple gets its new features from
Back to topic, I think the OP would be happy with a solution that locks the "normal" user of his phone out of some apps, so it wouldn't be necessary to modify anything of it, just making the standard launcher (I don't know how it's called, but I mean when you launch the app via home screen or with a toast) ask for a password should be enough.

Need help finding a ROM that fits me!.

I have an AT&T HTC ONE and I constantly switch roms. It's annoying because I lose everything but I get bored easily because none of the roms are perfect.
I tried CyanogenMod and I didn't like it because I thought it was suppose to be stock android but it's not.
I tried AOKP, Paranoid Android, and PACMAN ROM all of which killed my battery and made it hot.
I even tried Stock Sense roms such as AndroidRevolution which is probably the best rom but I'm getting tired of Sense kind of. ViperOne Rom killed my battery so I didn't like that.
Then I tried MIUI because I love iPhone and hoping to go back when my contract ends because of how easy it is to use. The problem with android in my eyes is that it doesn't come with much support. On IOS you have your texts come in easily and you see them on your lockscreen, IOS has all kinds of apps like Weather, Clock which some Android Versions don't even come with. on android when I get a text all I see is a green light and it's annoying. It doesn't even light up my phone when I get a text, Android always makes like 5 different duplicates of a contact. MIUI did almost everything right. It provided you with many pre installed apps that you can use such as Weather, Calculator, Security, Calender, notes, etc. MIUI also had micloud which allowed me to text from my computer. The one problem with MIUI is that it doesn't support Group Messaging. And I know what everyone is thinking you can just download apps such as heads-up notifications and certain apps to change your lockscreen, hangouts that has support for Group Messaging. But that's the problem Id on't want to install 3rd Party apps that most of the time is laggy and doesn't work right. MIUI did lmost everthing right except minor stuff that is making me change again.
Now I know my post sort of became a rant on android and I'm sorry for that. All I want is a custom ROM that is different. If it's Stock sense that's fine. If it's like MIUI/IOS that's fine preferably no AOSP because AOSP has the least support of apps. I want a ROM that comes with many pre installed apps that the ROM creator made or that he partnered with an app on google play. So that When I get a text like the old Sense 5 where texts would appear on lockscreen(but it only worked with the provided Messaging app which was extremely laggy and disgusting) What i'm trying to say is I want a ROM that makes android SIMPLER, SO i'm not forced to close an app to read a text message or have unlck my phone just to read some notifications.
MY BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH ANDROID is that constantly everyday it lose connection to data. It ****** me of so much. I have to restart my phone just to get data again. It says I have 5 bars but it doesn't say LTE or 4g, and LTE is extremely slow on my android vs my moms iPhone 5.
Again i'm sorry that I went off-topic a alot. If no ROM has that simplicity I guess I'm forced to go to Android Revolution and download 3rd party apps. What apps do you guys recommend? I don't want it to look like IOS. I just want some of the features. What apps look the best(preferably material design) Like messaging apps or alternatives for Twitter or other apps.
Did I post this in the wrong forum?
I probably have terrible English in this post and once again i'm truly sorry!
Thread moved and closed.
"Best ROM" topics are not allowed. This is for a number of reasons, including the obvious huge variation in subjective opinions, which can quickly become out of hand.
As always, since you in the midst of a variety of choices, we suggest you try various ROMs yourself until you find one that suits you.
Thanks, and good luck in your quest.

Haw can I use Chroma Dialer on Stock 5.1.1?

I have used Chroma in the past with minimal issues, but prefer the pure stock over a rom - so my question is; is there any way to use the Chroma Rom Dialer on the stock 5.1.1? (since I know there's several telephony, dialer, phonesky apps/files) I am not sure how I would go about doing that, or what all I would need to change in order to pull it off - if this is even possible at all?
Reason for my question, I like that it has BUILT IN native call blocking ability that the stock dialer doesn't, other than THAT feature it's identical to the stock dialer. I don't care if it's the Chroma dialer, or another rom dialer, I just want the STOCK dialer (or stock-like) to have this ability.
I know there's 3rd party apps for this type of thing, and I've used many of them, but I very much so prefer NOT to have to use a 3rd party app for something that (IMO) should have been built in to begin with.
If you wish to know why this is important to me, read the spoiler:
So, I get ~3-6 calls every day that's just the same BS; Scam calls saying I can lower my CC interest rates and to press 1 to speak to a representative. They always call from a different number, so blocking them individually doesn't work since it's never the same twice (typically - you'll understand after reading below). If you DO press 1 you get a rude person who will cuss at you, call you names, or laugh at you if you ask to be removed from their calling list. Doing that will only make it worse. I've recorded dozens of calls where they say really effed up things to me. Beyond harassment, it's straight up abuse.
I have been getting them for years, I DO NOT own a credit card, never have owned one, and have never even applied for one - plus there's THOUSANDS of pages on Google about these type of calls being a major problem. Even the FCC has a $50,000 bounty for anyone who can legally or illegally stop them - no questions asked (how badass is that!?) - THAT should tell you how hard they are to catch, find, or stop.
After more than 2 years of filing formal complaints/reports with the FCC, Local PD, FBI (as told to by the FCC), USCC, and have seeked legal advice from my lawyer as to getting this stopped via getting a subpoena so uscc has to release the real call origin trace, I'm on the Do Not Call list... - I've been met with ONE solution that has been common on all counts; change my number. That's not really an option, I've had this number since 1997, I'm not about to change it for obvious reasons.
Now, I've tried many apps to get this stopped, ranging from free to paid, and have not found one that ACTUALLY works toward getting it stopped, many are difficult to use or require WAY too much effort and personal information in order to do anything but ask you to donate.
So far I have logged (through Google Voice VM) a growing total of 566 *different* numbers they have called me from - from all over the US and some that are unused anywhere on earth.
In conclusion, Ive logged 566 different numbers that have called me a total of 11,925 times since 2008.
If that isn't justification for this request, then IDK what is. Shy of ditching my phone altogether, I'm out of ideas.
Bumping - I'd really appreciate any help, gents.
iRub1Out said:
Bumping - I'd really appreciate any help, gents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have no idea. If dialer would work would need boh contacts and dialer apk. Have no idea where the code for that mod is and if ASOP dialer will even work on stock. Then you have odex vs deodex to work through.
If it CANT work on stock (which, honestly, I didn't expect it to) given, as you said, the differences are small on the surface but in the actual build they're very different. I understand that, and those are things I considered leading me to wonder.
Can anyone MAKE the stock dialer with that mod added in, or a otherwise stock rom with that?
It seems like a lot to request, I know, but I've been looking for this for months, I've even set up a bounty in a thread on TUSCC, its something that I've really hoped would become a mod thru xposed or "Pure Shamu" rom with it. However, it seems that others don't experience this ridiculous problem, leading to it not being as popular as I wish it was.
Trying to stop an ex from calling is one thing, but trying to stop every call that isn't a contact, I realize that's quite another. Thus is my case, its crazy how many spoofed numbers they use. I'm more amazed that the carrier hasn't done something than I am that it's not a mod. There's tens of thousands of people with this problem and the one solution that requires no effort on the end user isn't available to cell phone users.
I don't know - I'm just at my wits end with these calls. I'd be happy to do it myself if a dev is willing to give me some direction, or ideas to try out.
As a side note, I've recorded several where I just screw with them for as long as I can - then put it on YT after they realize they've been trolled and blow up. It's a small, yet, satisfying "middle finger" I can do.
iRub1Out said:
If it CANT work on stock (which, honestly, I didn't expect it to) given, as you said, the differences are small on the surface but in the actual build they're very different. I understand that, and those are things I considered leading me to wonder.
Can anyone MAKE the stock dialer with that mod added in, or a otherwise stock rom with that?
It seems like a lot to request, I know, but I've been looking for this for months, I've even set up a bounty in a thread on TUSCC, its something that I've really hoped would become a mod thru xposed or "Pure Shamu" rom with it. However, it seems that others don't experience this ridiculous problem, leading to it not being as popular as I wish it was.
Trying to stop an ex from calling is one thing, but trying to stop every call that isn't a contact, I realize that's quite another. Thus is my case, its crazy how many spoofed numbers they use. I'm more amazed that the carrier hasn't done something than I am that it's not a mod. There's tens of thousands of people with this problem and the one solution that requires no effort on the end user isn't available to cell phone users.
I don't know - I'm just at my wits end with these calls. I'd be happy to do it myself if a dev is willing to give me some direction, or ideas to try out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I knew what the mod is it would be possible to port to stock. My guess it is in smali which cannot access on stock odex. Stock Would have to be deodexed to access smali which is also possible in rom form. Nobody I know of is deodexing stock 5.1.1 We have done it and got it working but don't post as we still don't know if everything works. Lollipop is still hard to make fully working rom from stock image. M is even going to be harder. Would still need the code required to enable the mod.
prdog1 said:
If I knew what the mod is it would be possible to port to stock. My guess it is in smali which cannot access on stock odex. Stock Would have to be deodexed to access smali which is also possible in rom form. Nobody I know of is deodexing stock 5.1.1 We have done it and got it working but don't post as we still don't know if everything works. Lollipop is still hard to make fully working rom from stock image. M is even going to be harder. Would still need the code required to enable the mod.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concurr, your talking about taking apk's not meant for a certain rom and adding them in to pray it works. Did you look in the market t.o see if there was a KB you liked there? You can't just switch around apk's like that because you could easily get force closes. If you want to try just copy and paste it into a rom. you wont brick doing that, it may work
I know it isn't as easy as swapping apks - I had *hoped* it would be similarly easy, but figured there was no way.
Idk what the mod is, or how Chroma did it - but the dialer looks stock other than the addition of that option under the advanced menu in the dialer settings.
I've looked in the market, used many of them, Mr. Number was my go to for a long time but it is iffy on 5.1 as *sometimes* a call will get through for a couple rings then gets blocked. It would also block known contacts on a rare occasion, I would go a couple days without knowing I had missed a call from a family member because it didn't show up in Mr. Number or the stock dialer - somehow it blocked it and had no record of the call even coming in.
That's why I was hoping to find a way to get this option in the stock dialer - without porting anything or swapping apks, that way it's a native feature to the dialer and I wouldn't have to depend on 3rd party apps to do it.
I've asked Google, but their solution was to add them to one contact and send the calls to VM - while that essentially works, that means I'd have to add all 500+ numbers to a single contact, and they OFTEN call from spoofed numbers I've never seen before - so that really doesn't solve anything.

Remove SMS Limit (manually preferred)

I'm looking to remove the SMS limit. I'm currently on 6.0 (pure nexus rom), but I would also like to know how to do it on 5.1.1. Manually is preferred so I know exactly what is being changed on my device.
Why? Because it's my phone and I should be able to remove this ridiculous limit if I want to, and...
I wrote a python script that sends out multiple SMS to a large group of my friends. I keep getting that annoying pop up that the app is sending large amounts of text messages, and having to hit the allow button multiple times. This wouldn't be an issue if hitting the allow button actually sent all of the text, but it doesn't. Quite frustrating.
I've read a few thread on XDA about the issue, but can't seem to remove the limit. I tried following a guide in one of the s3 categories to no avail.
I am looking for this too!
After hours of searching today - it appears that the setting has been moved into the framework?
com.android.internal.telephony
https://android.googlesource.com/pl...droid/internal/telephony/SmsUsageMonitor.java
I hope I'm wrong as I'm no Android dev.... But, if I'm correct the only way I know of to "fix" it is to make the change in a custom Android build/ROM.
This SUCKS as I use mass texting for business purposes (communicating with many individuals who sign up for contract work). I really like Android N (along with AndroidPay) - but, looks like I'll be going back to M (on a custom ROM)...
If anyone locates/determines a way to alter that file using RootExplorer/Sqlite or some other way - please let me know.

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