safe to remove system apps? - Xiaomi Mi A2 / 6X Questions & Answers

does anybody know which google apps are safe to remove? I uninstalled some google apps and cleared davilk cache with titanium backup on my rooted MI A2 (pie, april update), restarted the phone and and it got stuck in the boot animation, had to reflash rom with mi flash.

takamper said:
does anybody know which google apps are safe to remove? I uninstalled some google apps and cleared davilk cache with titanium backup on my rooted MI A2 (pie, april update), restarted the phone and and it got stuck in the boot animation, had to reflash rom with mi flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of uninstall freeze them with titanium. Only don't touch default launcher and files.

if there is the Uninstall option when you press and hold the app icon, that means the app is not a system app and can be removed safely (this applies for Xiaomi default laucher)
If you plan to get OTA (and I highly recommend to do so, since this is Android One), then do not remove any system app. Disabling (freezing) them is safe though. There is a nice Magisk module that helps you do that https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/magisk/module-terminal-debloater-debloat-t3584163

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[Q] Phone won't boot after Ultimate JB ROM Upgrade

Can anyone please help?
I just installed the Ultimate JB ROM XXLSA 4.1.2 v5 upgrade on top of v4.
All went perfectly well and I was able to enter all my setup and account details after the initial boot of the phone.
When I tried to re-install apps from Google Play, however, (Titanium Backup Pro, Quickboot) the phone hangs at the Samsung Splash screen and won't go any further. I re-tried the procedure 3 times but each time the result is the same.
Can anyone tell me what the problem could be? I followed all the instructions about wiping etc. correctly.
Trevor
v4 and v5 use completely different bases (LS7 and LSA).
I would save everything to my ext SD card.
Then goto Settings > Backup & Restore > Factory Reset (don't click on format external sd card).
Your phone will restart and do some crazy things. Then restart again.
When you get to the welcome page, or bootloop... take the battery out (its safe).
Then hold Vol Up, Home and Power (let go of Power after ~5-15sec) and goto recovery.
In recovery, wipe cache.
Then format data.
Then format system.
Then format cache.
Then wipe Dalvik cache.
Then install the v5 zip.
It shouldn't restart automatically, but it might, don't worry let it.
Now you should have a fully, fresh, clean install of v5.
Connect to your wifi, go through the start up.
Goto SuperSU and update binary.
Goto Play Store and install TiBu.
Open TiBu and grant it root access.
Close TiBu.
Connect phone to PC, then copy your TitaniumBackup folder into your sdcard directory.
Open TiBU and now, it will see your previous saves.
Restore your apps + data.
Presto! No bootlooping and no App FC !
Thanks for going to all the trouble to write all that out.
I followed the instructions to the letter but no, same result I'm afraid: it worked fine but as soon as I installed Titanium and granted root access, it asked me to choose to restore the original phone ID which I did. The phone rebooted but then wouldn't go past the "Samsung Galaxy Note Gt-N7000" screen.
I have no choice but to restore from my Nandroid backup. This is really p****ng me off but at least I can restore v4 easily.
Thanks again
Trevor
Kangal said:
v4 and v5 use completely different bases (LS7 and LSA).
I would save everything to my ext SD card.
Then goto Settings > Backup & Restore > Factory Reset (don't click on format external sd card).
Your phone will restart and do some crazy things. Then restart again.
When you get to the welcome page, or bootloop... take the battery out (its safe).
Then hold Vol Up, Home and Power (let go of Power after ~5-15sec) and goto recovery.
In recovery, wipe cache.
Then format data.
Then format system.
Then format cache.
Then wipe Dalvik cache.
Then install the v5 zip.
It shouldn't restart automatically, but it might, don't worry let it.
Now you should have a fully, fresh, clean install of v5.
Connect to your wifi, go through the start up.
Goto SuperSU and update binary.
Goto Play Store and install TiBu.
Open TiBu and grant it root access.
Close TiBu.
Connect phone to PC, then copy your TitaniumBackup folder into your sdcard directory.
Open TiBU and now, it will see your previous saves.
Restore your apps + data.
Presto! No bootlooping and no App FC !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mystery solved - well partly. Turns out Titanium Backup Pro was causing it on my phone for some reason. This was naturally the first app I wanted to install so I could restore apps one by one from the Nandroid backup. I tried Quickboot too which also caused the same problem so because TB and then QB did the same thing I assumed every app was going to cause trouble. Shouldn't jump to conclusions, I know.
I have JB Ultimate XXSLA v5 installed and am restoring my apps one at a time from Google Play and making new Nandroid backups as I go along.
And now I just tried installing TB free version - the phone boots normally! Then I installed the TB Pro version and again the phone boots normally. When TB was the first app I installed after the ROM upgrade it hung up the phone every time on 6 attempts. I'll try re-installing Quickboot now and see what happens. Conclusion: I must have been doing something in the wrong sequence but can's see what.
Many thanks for your help.
Trevor
sacentre said:
Thanks for going to all the trouble to write all that out.
I followed the instructions to the letter but no, same result I'm afraid: it worked fine but as soon as I installed Titanium and granted root access, it asked me to choose to restore the original phone ID which I did. The phone rebooted but then wouldn't go past the "Samsung Galaxy Note Gt-N7000" screen.
I have no choice but to restore from my Nandroid backup. This is really p****ng me off but at least I can restore v4 easily.
Thanks again
Trevor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

[Q] Play Store doesn't open(crashes) after upgrading nightly CM 11 build

I upgraded my Samsung Tablet SGH-T849(P1000) from "cm-11-20140207-NIGHTLY-p1.zip" to "cm-11-20140729-NIGHTLY-p1.zip ".
After the upgrade, most of the Google Apps don't work esp Google Play Store.
I previously had "gapps-kk-20140606-signed.zip" installed.
I have tried to wipe data, wipe cache, re-installed Gapps from different versions but doesn't help. I also downgraded back to "cm-11-20140207-NIGHTLY-p1.zip" but no help either.
I also deleted the google account on the tablet but now I cannot add it back.
Am using CWM-Based Recovery v6.0.5.0
Appreciate any pointers.
I took the below steps and it still doesn't help.
boot to clockworkmod recovery
make a backup
format system
wipe cache
wipe dalvik cache
flash rom
flash gapps
reboot
Also noticed that I was out of space and installed minimal apps and am able to open Play Store but it does not connect to the internet - it just goes into a circular loop and finally says connection timeout...
This post helped. http://forum.cyanogenmod.org/topic/...unning-cm11-google-play-services-not-working/ but it doesn't resolve the play store unable to connect to internet
Since you can't really uninstall or reinstall gapps, did you format system, re flash rom, re flash gapps, after you realised the lack of space?
Sent from my GT-N7100 using XDA Free mobile app

Cannot remove SuperSU

I cannot remove superSU to use android pay. Even after going into supersu and using full unroot, the supersu folder is still there.
I've tried going into file manager on twrp, mounting system, and using chmod755 to delete the folder but it comes back every reboot.
I've just done a full factory reset and completely wiped the disk and installed stock miui and upon reboot, I can still see it from twrp, and of course android pay doesn't work.
Please help get rid of supersu, or otherwise get android pay working, I don't care which. It was working before installing supersu. Thanks.

[Q] Titanium Backup process - problems migrating from 5.1.1 to 6.01

I purchased a spare Note 4 SM-N910T as a backup. It came with MM 6.01, so I thought I'd try to migrate to that environment and start using that as my primary phone.
First I installed TWRP and did a full reset and data wipe. Booted back to the OS, did the initial setup. Then back to recovery, and install systemless root with SuperSU. From there thought it would be a quick and easy process to restore the latest TB "Backup All user apps + system data" (TB Guide 5i) from the source phone, and then "restore all missing apps + all system data" (TB Guide 6i) to the new phone. Unfortunately, that process rendered the new phone unbootable.
So I re-flashed N910TUVS2EQB1 with Odin, restored TWRP and SuperSU. This time I re-loaded all my market apps from the Play store.
However there are some apps that are sideloaded or are detached from the store. I tried to restore these non-market or old-revision apps from TB. I go into the Backup/Restore list and search for the app. (Source phone shows it as "2 backups). On target phone, the app shows in gray strikethrough, but still says "2 backups". There is no button to restore the app. Why? I read the FAQ. This is not a system app. I have not "disabled the “Normal apps (apk)” and/or “Protected apps (apk)” options"
I first had problems with getting the extSDcard mounted as storage location. It was not writable. I found tips in other forums about setting the External Storage provider. The backup folder location now says "this folder contains 847 backups" which is about right (?) since "Backup all user apps + system data" has a count of 405, and I have max backup history set to 2.
Maybe this has something to do with the change in extSD storage provider in MM?
Is there another way to perform this upgrade, avoiding the need to install every app individually, and have to manually reconfigure screen layouts? For example, could I restore a Nandroid backup of the source phone with 5.1.1 to the new phone, and then do an "in place upgrade". Is it possible to simulate the process of an OTA upgrade but loading the new firmware from the extSDcard?

Magisk Installing OTA on Pixel XL 1

Hi,
I own a Pixel XL 128GB, running 8.0.0 October FW. I have installed Magisk 14.3 beta 1437. Almost everything works, except for:
1. When installing Magisk using Magisk's internal installer it always downloads MAgisk 14.0 and tries to install this old, outdated version. Is this a bug?
2. I can't install OTAs, tried following john's installing instructions...
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/blob/master/docs/tips.md#ota-installation-tips
My steps were:
* Install stock boot loader - Magisk almost immediately confirms that it has installed the stock boot image. That's a bit surprising, I don't see any flashing dialog like when installing Magisk. Bug?
* trying to update using the internal OTA fails. It takes very long and suddenly stops.
Any idea what went wrong?
niko26 said:
Hi,
I own a Pixel XL 128GB, running 8.0.0 October FW. I have installed Magisk 14.3 beta 1437. Almost everything works, except for:
1. When installing Magisk using Magisk's internal installer it always downloads MAgisk 14.0 and tries to install this old, outdated version. Is this a bug?
2. I can't install OTAs, tried following john's installing instructions...
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/blob/master/docs/tips.md#ota-installation-tips
My steps were:
* Install stock boot loader - Magisk almost immediately confirms that it has installed the stock boot image. That's a bit surprising, I don't see any flashing dialog like when installing Magisk. Bug?
* trying to update using the internal OTA fails. It takes very long and suddenly stops.
Any idea what went wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. If you wan't the current beta to install, you need to change to the beta update channel in the Manager settings.
2. You've probably done something that messes with important partitions (/system, /vendor, etc). It's enough to just mount the partition rw to destroy the ability to update through OTA.
Restoring the stock boot image through the Manager is instantaneous...
Hi @Didgeridoohan,
thank you very much for the quick answers!
Didgeridoohan said:
1. If you wan't the current beta to install, you need to change to the beta update channel in the Manager settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks - I didn't know that.
2. You've probably done something that messes with important partitions (/system, /vendor, etc). It's enough to just mount the partition rw to destroy the ability to update through OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm, how do I find out what has been messed on /system, and/or /vendor?
Does installing and using AdAway tamper with /system or /vendor?
So reflashing the stock boot image is not sufficent, correct?
And most important.. how do I fix this?
niko26 said:
Hi @Didgeridoohan,
thank you very much for the quick answers!
Thanks - I didn't know that.
Hm, how do I find out what has been messed on /system, and/or /vendor?
Does installing and using AdAway tamper with /system or /vendor?
So reflashing the stock boot image is not sufficent, correct?
And most important.. how do I fix this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you let AdAway directly write to /system/etc/hosts, then yes, you have a compromised system partition. If you're using Magisk Systemless Hosts you should be fine though. Do you have TWRP installed? That'd be an issue as well...
If you want to make sure that you can update through OTA in the future, clean flash a factory image (you can leave data intact) and then make sure not to touch /system or /vendor at all.
* DELETED *
Didgeridoohan said:
If you let AdAway directly write to /system/etc/hosts, then yes, you have a compromised system partition. If you're using Magisk Systemless Hosts you should be fine though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've been using Magisk's systemless hosts-file.
. Do you have TWRP installed? That'd be an issue as well...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP has not been installed permanently.
If you want to make sure that you can update through OTA in the future, clean flash a factory image (you can leave data intact) and then make sure not to touch /system or /vendor at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There aren't a lot of apps I am granting root. One of them is Titanium Backup. It may have tampered the fs.
Is there any kind of diff against the original folders which I can run to find out what has been tampered to possibly identify which app is causing the issues?
One of the main reasons for installing Magisk was because I was tired of flashing the entire system when updates have been released.
I never couldn't get Flashfire working properly when it comes to install updates / OTAs.
niko26 said:
Yeah, I've been using Magisk's systemless hosts-file.
TWRP has not been installed permanently.
There aren't a lot of apps I am granting root. One of them is Titanium Backup. It may have tampered the fs.
Is there any kind of diff against the original folders which I can run to find out what has been tampered to possibly identify which app is causing the issues?
One of the main reasons for installing Magisk was because I was tired of flashing the entire system when updates have been released.
I never couldn't get Flashfire working properly when it comes to install updates / OTAs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since the OTA can check for a tampered system, I'm sure there's a way to check. Question is if it's worth the effort.
Any app that has root access can be the culprit... Could also be that you let TWRP mount system rw or something similar. Really hard to say...
Didgeridoohan said:
Since the OTA can check for a tampered system, I'm sure there's a way to check. Question is if it's worth the effort.
Any app that has root access can be the culprit... Could also be that you let TWRP mount system rw or something similar. Really hard to say...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does TWRP mount system as rw by default? Because all I really do is.. boot to TWRP, flash the Magisk's zip. That's it. Nothing else.
Is there any other way I can install OTAs without using a computer with USB (and keeping root of course )?
As said... I never could FlashFire to work correctly. The documentation leaves a lot of questions open - BTW.. props to the Magisk's docs - much better.
niko26 said:
Does TWRP mount system as rw by default? Because all I really do is.. boot to TWRP, flash the Magisk's zip. That's it. Nothing else.
Is there any other way I can install OTAs without using a computer with USB (and keeping root of course )?
As said... I never could FlashFire to work correctly. The documentation leaves a lot of questions open - BTW.. props to the Magisk's docs - much better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TWRP doesn't mount system as rw unless you let it.
I've never used Flashfire and haven't updated through OTA since, 2014-ish. :laugh: I'm mainly going on theoretical knowledge here... On my Nexus I used fastboot to flash the factory image (until I switched to ROM flashing in TWRP) and now I just flash the full update package that OnePlus provides in TWRP.
For a while there I also flashed the system.img and boot.img files in TWRP. If that months security update only had anything to do with those files it was just a matter of downloading the factory image and unpack those two files and flash them directly in TWRP. No computer needed (unless there was an update to the bootloader and/or radio). No idea if this is viable on a Pixel...
My main use for Magisk is that all my system modifications are still there after I update my phone. Drastically cuts down on the time it takes to set my phone up after an update.
Didgeridoohan said:
I've never used Flashfire and haven't updated through OTA since, 2014-ish. :laugh: I'm mainly going on theoretical knowledge here... On my Nexus I used fastboot to flash the factory image (until I switched to ROM flashing in TWRP) and now I just flash the full update package that OnePlus provides in TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried installing TWRP permanently, but the moment I have installed an official patch, it got wiped - and I haven't found any docs how to prevent that.
My main use for Magisk is that all my system modifications are still there after I update my phone. Drastically cuts down on the time it takes to set my phone up after an update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What settings are you referring to?
niko26 said:
I've tried installing TWRP permanently, but the moment I have installed an official patch, it got wiped - and I haven't found any docs how to prevent that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After updating, you probably need to boot straight to TWRP and reflash root. If you boot directly to the OS, it'll automatically replace TWRP with the stock recovery.
What settings are you referring to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like to change screen density, debloat system apps, install Viper4Android, install boot scripts (LiveBoot, etc) and a bunch of other things. With Magisk, as long as I don't wipe /data, all of that will still be intact after a system update. And even if I wipe data I can restore a backup of the Magisk image or just flash the module zips in TWRP. Takes seconds rather than half an hour like it could prior to Magisk.
Didgeridoohan said:
After updating, you probably need to boot straight to TWRP and reflash root. If you boot directly to the OS, it'll automatically replace TWRP with the stock recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, TWRP is gone after an update - I can't boot into it.
[/quote]I like to change screen density, debloat system apps, install Viper4Android, install boot scripts (LiveBoot, etc) and a bunch of other things. With Magisk, as long as I don't wipe /data, all of that will still be intact after a system update. And even if I wipe data I can restore a backup of the Magisk image or just flash the module zips in TWRP. Takes seconds rather than half an hour like it could prior to Magisk.[/QUOTE]
Hm, I am not sure if I get you right. If it is about apps, I use Titanium Backup to recover my old apps+settings.
system files
Most of the setting you mentioned are messing with the system files. "debloating" or removing and system applications with titanium backup will fail a system check with OTA update. You can freeze the apps i believe.
I changing the screen density and boot scripts. These are all system files locations.
I have had an ota work be re-installing the system apps from titanium backup and reverting all the other changes when it was failing before. Think this was back on android 6.0 though.
Didgeridoohan said:
After updating, you probably need to boot straight to TWRP and reflash root. If you boot directly to the OS, it'll automatically replace TWRP with the stock recovery.
I like to change screen density, debloat system apps, install Viper4Android, install boot scripts (LiveBoot, etc) and a bunch of other things. With Magisk, as long as I don't wipe /data, all of that will still be intact after a system update. And even if I wipe data I can restore a backup of the Magisk image or just flash the module zips in TWRP. Takes seconds rather than half an hour like it could prior to Magisk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
automattic said:
Most of the setting you mentioned are messing with the system files. "debloating" or removing and system applications with titanium backup will fail a system check with OTA update. You can freeze the apps i believe.
I changing the screen density and boot scripts. These are all system files locations.
I have had an ota work be re-installing the system apps from titanium backup and reverting all the other changes when it was failing before. Think this was back on android 6.0 though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since all of the things I mentioned are done with Magisk, none of them will cause an OTA to fail...
Reinstalling system apps will not work, since nowadays an OTA will fail just by mounting /system as rw.
Hi guys, trying to install latest OTA patch for Pixel 2. I am assuming process would be the same. I tried to follow the guide but hit the bump immediately. I can't see "Restore Stock Boot" when pressing uninstall. But there is restore images option. Hitting it does nothing, I receive the message that there are no backups. Where does the backup go so I can put the original file for it to be reinstalled?

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