Permanently Disable Cell Radio, Remove Phone and SMS App - Nexus 6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently got a Nexus 6 second hand, I want to turn it into an MP3 player for the Gym and to also record workout videos. Like my tittle says I'd like to disable to cell radio and remove the phone and SMS apps. I have looked and found on google that someone wrote a script accomplishing just that but it was more for Jellybean(my favorite android) anyone know how I can do this? currently using Stock Lite 7.1.1, rooted(https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-6/development/rom-5-1lightromstock-lmy47e-03-19-2015-t3059493)
Thanks for all the help!

Remove the SIM...?

The simplest way to deal with the phone and sms apps is to go to settings -> apps find each app and disable it.
You can use root and remove the app packages from the system partition if you'd rather. The app Titanium Backup may make this easier for you. On a rooted device, it can remove system apps.
As far as removing the emergency call capability of the phone, that's not so straightforward. It's build into the software at a basic level. Removing the SIM won't stop emergency calls. I guess if you wipe the modem partition, it would be impossible for the device to connect. I believe that will also affect Wi-Fi.

Related

phone crashes when making phone calls

whenever i attempt to make a phone call the dialer screen crashes and gives this error. com.sec.android.app.dialertab. only thing i have done to the phone is root it i installed launcher pro juice defender and setcpu both of which are no uninstalled now. i also did the settings.db mod to allow non market apps and i removed a few of the att bs apps but nothing that has to do with the phone. mostly the ones they want you to pay month fee for.
When I had task panel set to auto kill when the phone slept.....every phone call dropped as soon as I put it up to my face and the screen blacked out. I uninstalled my task killer and it solved my problem. Not the same circumstances that you have but......just a thought.
Unroot your phone or try to obtain an unmolested settings.db.
What ROM you are on...
Chances are high that you deleted something that was required by the dialer. Crashing can occur when a program (in this case, the dialer) relies on another program for pieces of information or to carry out specific tasks on its behalf, and that program is no longer present on the device.
You can test this by running the dialer while having your phone connected by usb with debugging enabled (settings>applications>development>usb debugging). If you have the android SDK installed, go to the platform-tools directory and type 'adb -d logcat'. You should see the system log being dumped to the screen. If you run the dialer and it crashes, the log will reveal why in the stack dump (most likely the dialer fired an intent and there was no application that could handle it - in other words, something that used to be there that the dialer relied on was deleted).
The easiest solution in your case is to either restore the files you deleted, or to simply back up your apps and data with titanium backup, then flash the stock rom or a custom rom and restore your apps.
Also, please keep things like this in the appropriate subforum from now on (Q&A or General).

[Q] Freeze Stock running apps

I'm running a few tests on the limits of the STOCK Nook HD ROM (2.0.5) and was wondering if anyone knows a safe way to try and freeze some annoyances.
Here are my main targets:
Code:
Calendar Storage
com.bn.cloud.svc
com.bn.nook.affiledownloadservice
CloudService
DeviceManagerService
FmService
Home
Library
NookconnectivityService
Profiles
Reader
Social
Shop
TestCenterService
Now if there is any information as to which ones can/cannot be safely stopped please let me know before hand so I don't waste extra time with destroying my /system.
Thanks:good:
If you're rooted, then you could try Android Assistant or All-In-One Toolkit (both free), there's an option to disable specific startup apps.
You shouldn't be able to change anything regarding the Stock B&N ROM, unless you're rooted. If so, TitaniumBackup fits the bill. You can freeze pretty much all system apps there; including those which you have mentioned. However, this process requires you root your stock ROM, and that you allow superuser access to TitaniumBackup.
The apps you listed should be good to freeze, however I've not tested much with the stock ROM; so I would take caution. I'm unsure that "Home" cannot be frozen safely; I would assume that's a key process, which interacts with the user. Of course, all in the name of testing, I don't know.
All the best.
Will do
I don't think there is a safe way to disable them, i have tried a bunch of apps and most don't allow freezing and if i disable them I get reboot loops.

Manage apps on device with Market.

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

[Q] Whatsapp Backup

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...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

Rooted, now what?

I got a new wifi S2, installed the permissive kernel and rooted it. I installed TWRP and made a backup. Now I've got an uninstall app and I've removed a few things; primarily Knox and the security logger so that it quits whining at me. I have a strong desire to never ever use the cloud, create a Samsung account, or a Google account. I really just want to load some books onto it and DLNA some music and videos.
So I want to get rid of all the stuff that I'll never be able to use but it's not clear to me how to identify all that. I'm a long time Unix guy but not at all an android guy. If something prompts me to create an account I know I want to uninstall it, but damned if I can figure out how to identify what to uninstall from what icon I touched.
I've found bloatware lists but they're all somewhat old and not for the S2, so it's not clear to me if I should trust them. I'd like to avoid trial and error "uninstall and reinstall if something doesn't work" or the even more dreaded "uninstall and find out six months later that something doesn't work". Can anyone point me at a good list of what I can remove, or where I can figure out how to determine that for myself? Thanks.
Better start freezen apps instead of uninstalling them. I use titanium backup for that, but you can use whatever you like. Just be carefull freezing or uninstalling OS related apps, you can end in a bootloop, but you always have the odin flash method to reflash your system back to normal. Just don't play around with partitions or /dev .
Right now I using my tablet unrooted and untouched, so I can't be more specific which apps you can freeze without problems.
He doesn't need odin as he has a twrp backup.
I take it you are using System App Remover (root) to uninstall system apps? If so you are pretty safe as they are backed up and can be restored any time if something goes wrong.
Also are you aware without a Google account you will lose part of the functionality of an Android device?
Samsungs account you can do without. All that stuff related to it can be deleted, but don't advise removing any of the Google core services from the stock rom.
If you really want a GAPPless rom then you're better off with a non stock custom rom like CM or AOSP.
Not much in that area of development at the moment, but there are a couple of members working on it.
ashyx said:
He doesn't need odin as he has a twrp backup.
I take it you are using System App Remover (root) to uninstall system apps? If so you are pretty safe as they are backed up and can be restored any time if something goes wrong.
Also are you aware without a Google account you will lose part of the functionality of an Android device?
Samsungs account you can do without. All that stuff related to it can be deleted, but don't advise removing any of the Google core services from the stock rom.
If you really want a GAPPless rom then you're better off with a non stock custom rom like CM or AOSP.
Not much in that area of development at the moment, but there are a couple of members working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, thanks. If I lose functionality to avoid Google watching over my shoulder I'm all for it. I'm old and probably overprotective of what's my business and not theirs. In truth, I bought the S2 because I have a collection of chess book pdf's and djvu's that I want to be able to read while I'm sitting at my chess board. I got the 9.7 inch S2 because the old eyes aren't what they used to be. Anything I can do beyond that is icing on the cake.
I do have the app remover, and I've removed the stuff that was obvious to me (like the Microsoft Office stubs). But there are still lots of things that bring up a prompt for an account when I run them and it's not clear to me how to figure out what app to remove to get rid of that particular thing. On Linux I could use rpm -q to figure out what rpm contained a file I want to remove and I'd be good to go. I've tried googling some of the app names but the "descriptions" I end up finding are particularly unenlightening. And since this is definitely not my area of expertise I don't really want to operate in "let's remove this and see what happens" even if I can reinstall the app from its backup. I've been doing software development and sysadmin for more than 35 years now and that just doesn't seem like the way to approach this.
I was looking at CM, which seems like it might be what I'm looking for, but it's still in alpha and my skill level is probably not up to coping with that so I'm back with the problem of how to decide what to get rid of.

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