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My Galaxy Note was stolen a few weeks ago. Fortunately, my parents were nice enough to buy me a new one. Now I'm trying to protect it with maximum security. I've set up the pattern lock screen, I was also asked to set up a back up PIN code just in case I forget the pattern. Now when I try to draw the wrong pattern on purpose for over 20 times, it only tells me "Sorry, try again." It doesn't stop me from trying nor does it ask for the PIN code. Is everyone's Note like this or is there something wrong with mine?
I want to know if it's possible to NOT have it ask for the pattern every time I unlock the device? Is it possible to have it ask for the pattern every hour or something? It's quite annoying having to draw a complicated pattern every time I unlock the device.
I also heard of some security app that takes a picture with the front camera after numerous wrong passcode/pattern attempt and sends the picture to my email. Anyone know what apps have the ability to do that?
Lastly, what are some of your advices/suggestions/recommendations for security apps or keeping the phone more secure?
Loads of thanks.
rcheung28 said:
My Galaxy Note was stolen a few weeks ago. Fortunately, my parents were nice enough to buy me a new one. Now I'm trying to protect it with maximum security. I've set up the pattern lock screen, I was also asked to set up a back up PIN code just in case I forget the pattern. Now when I try to draw the wrong pattern on purpose for over 20 times, it only tells me "Sorry, try again." It doesn't stop me from trying nor does it ask for the PIN code. Is everyone's Note like this or is there something wrong with mine?
I want to know if it's possible to NOT have it ask for the pattern every time I unlock the device? Is it possible to have it ask for the pattern every hour or something? It's quite annoying having to draw a complicated pattern every time I unlock the device.
I also heard of some security app that takes a picture with the front camera after numerous wrong passcode/pattern attempt and sends the picture to my email. Anyone know what apps have the ability to do that?
Lastly, what are some of your advices/suggestions/recommendations for security apps or keeping the phone more secure?
Loads of thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Hmm, for me after 5 incorrect patterns, it just says try again in 30 seconds, don't really have the patience for 20 But I remember one time I gave my friend my phone to hold on to before going for an exam, and she locked the device completely, in which case I had to enter my google account email.
2. there should be a "Lock Delay" option in lock screen settings, and you can delay screen lock, up to 30 min
3. I know what you are talking about with the face taking picture app, but right now for my life of me I can't remember what that app was, back from march-ish, cause I did have it. I used to have Kaspersky anti-theft after that, but got rid of it around june. I felt like it lacked some features, but its been a while, so there could have been an update with more features and stuff. There's an app called Ceberus anti theft that supposedly does the face picture, but I have not used it so can't confirm on that. And there's a specific app on the market Gotya! Face trap. Haven't used it, you can buy it and try it.
3. I'm currently using avast mobile security, since july. I feel like it covers my bases, the only thing thats not featured is the "lock device if entered incorrectly" and essentially the face picture, but i don't really care for that.
Personally, I just use the slider unlock, just quicker, no hassle, especially when driving, its on me always, I trust my friends around me, if someone steals my phone, I have avast to do the magic.
There's many anti-theft/mobile security apps out there, and most are free to install with no in app billing extended features. Kaspersky you have to buy initially, Cerberus is free initially, and has an in app extended feature billing. Just shop around, see what suits your needs
dr. xp55 said:
1. Hmm, for me after 5 incorrect patterns, it just says try again in 30 seconds, don't really have the patience for 20 But I remember one time I gave my friend my phone to hold on to before going for an exam, and she locked the device completely, in which case I had to enter my google account email.
2. there should be a "Lock Delay" option in lock screen settings, and you can delay screen lock, up to 30 min
3. I know what you are talking about with the face taking picture app, but right now for my life of me I can't remember what that app was, back from march-ish, cause I did have it. I used to have Kaspersky anti-theft after that, but got rid of it around june. I felt like it lacked some features, but its been a while, so there could have been an update with more features and stuff. There's an app called Ceberus anti theft that supposedly does the face picture, but I have not used it so can't confirm on that. And there's a specific app on the market Gotya! Face trap. Haven't used it, you can buy it and try it.
3. I'm currently using avast mobile security, since july. I feel like it covers my bases, the only thing thats not featured is the "lock device if entered incorrectly" and essentially the face picture, but i don't really care for that.
Personally, I just use the slider unlock, just quicker, no hassle, especially when driving, its on me always, I trust my friends around me, if someone steals my phone, I have avast to do the magic.
There's many anti-theft/mobile security apps out there, and most are free to install with no in app billing extended features. Kaspersky you have to buy initially, Cerberus is free initially, and has an in app extended feature billing. Just shop around, see what suits your needs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The lock delay doesn't work as I want it to because as long as there's some activity within 30 minutes, it doesn't lock. I'm looking for something that looks the phone EVERY certain amount of time, just don't know if it's impossible. Nonetheless, you have given me a great list of suggestions and apps. I'll look into those apps.
I'm open for more suggestions.
rcheung28 said:
The lock delay doesn't work as I want it to because as long as there's some activity within 30 minutes, it doesn't lock. I'm looking for something that looks the phone EVERY certain amount of time, just don't know if it's impossible. Nonetheless, you have given me a great list of suggestions and apps. I'll look into those apps.
I'm open for more suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For security thing, see if you can use this.. http://www.samsungdive.com/DiveMain.do
For more info about using this, please go to Ketan's thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1946240
First, don't use a lock pattern, it's not safe. The only thing that is really safe is password that is composed of numbers and letters.
For delayed locking I recommend the app delayed lock. The name makes sense doesn't it
Further I recommend some kind of encryption tool to protect sensitive data on your phone. There are many available on google play. For logins etc. you can try keepass which is freeware (open source). For photos, videos and any other file types I use droid crypt which is paid software but offers a long trial periode.
Sent from my Galaxy Note running ICS
Create account on samsung dive & u r good to go...
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium
Thank you all. My previous Note had Samsung Dive set up but immediately (well 10 minutes) after I lost the phone, I tried using Dive but it did not find the phone. I did set it up on my second Note but I'm not fully relying on it.
Ceberus seems like a good app as a few of you guys have already suggested to me. I'll definitely try that out.
Altae, thanks for the list of apps! And I agree that numbers+letters is the most safe password but it takes quite a bit of effort to type and it's not something I can do without me looking at the screen.
Thanks again everyone.
Gulp, here goes.
Welcome all,
Lock Extender is a plug-in for Automation apps such as Tasker, Locale and Llama (and possibly others that use the Locale standard plugin method) that allows you to change the delay between your devices screen turning off, and the security lock being set.
For example, if you set this with a profile that activates when you are home, it will effectively keep your phone unlocked (not keep the screen on ) whilst you are there. You will have to add an exit task that re-sets a shorter time out for when the profile ends or the lock will stay off.
There are two small caveats that I am working on (app is still in early stages, as I imagine most of these kind of things are )
You will have to unlock the device once the profile is active to actually remove the lock.
If you turn the screen off with the power button, it will apply the lock again.
There are two versions of the app in Google Play (or at least there will be soon). They are both identical in function; the free one will flash a toast every 8 uses (every 8th time Lock Extender runs a task to change the time out, you get a toast), and the paid one doesn't do this.
**** ROOT Required ****
Root/SU permission is required when you 'install' the application. To be more specific, the app needs to copy a little helper file to your devices /system/app folder and then you need to reboot. This (and removing the helper) is the only time that Lock Extender will ask for root access. If you are concerned then when it asks for root, don't save the choice and it wont be able to get root without you knowing.
Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] for help if you need it, and please contact me before leaving a bad rating!
If you have any suggestions on how I can improve the app (I know the UI is a bit sucky) then please drop me a mail. I have tested this on a Galaxy Note II and a Galaxy S3 with Tasker. Please let me know if your device has issues and I will see if I can help.
Tablet UI is coming soon.
This app uses ActionBarSherlock and would look turd without it.
[edit] The latest version of the Free app is in the Play store using the top link, the paid one is still being distributed throughout the store.
Hi All,
It's been quite a few years since I last rerooted a phone - I've found I just didn't really need to with Nexus devices, but since the next Nexuses don't have wireless charging, I've decided to pick up a Note 5.
It's a good phone, I really like it so far, but there are enough things niggling me about it, I think I will root this time. If anyone can provide advice on any of the following list I'd really appreciate it!
1. I see Dr Ketan's thread on the matter (http://forum.xda-developers.com/note5/general/how-to-root-note-5-t3205073) which seems doable, and as complex as I remember. Has anyone tried one-click rooting and can comment on reliability? I'm all for just getting easy root access... For reference I have the SM-N920I. I also see "tripping Knox" a lot, but I have no idea what the means. Last person I asked said "I can't say if that is a good or bad for your specific situation" which makes me think they didn't understand my question.
2. I don't like TouchWiz. It's OK, but I much prefer stock, or, what I'm doing at the moment: Action Launcher 3. I prefer the stock dialer, and the stock quick menu (when you pull-down notification bar). Can I flash a stock ROM onto the Note 5? I mean, not stock-like like the popular MODs (Cyanogen for example) but something that is practically stock? I may end up going with something like Cyanogen, but I'd just like to know what's out there along those lines.
3. Having said that I don't like TouchWiz, and might install a new ROM, there are many things I do like about this device's interface: The SPen's overlay/menu is handy. The fact it brings up a notepad-like app if you pop the SPen out when the screen is off, one-hand mode (note: I have found an XPosed Module for this), the fingerprint scanner, the camera app, the S Planner app, the Home button shortcuts (single click->home; double-click->camera; triple-click->one handed mode) ... all things I assume I'll lose if I flash away Touch Wiz. However, perhaps I can get some (or all) of these things back? If so ... how? e.g. It looks like one-handed mode could be acheived with an XPosed module, and the home-button shortcuts with a launcher (I think Action Launcher can over ride this...)
4. Always listening Google Now. At the moment I have fingerprint scanner lockscreen security, always listening S Voice, and Google Now "from any screen." It... kinda works. But I can't see any reason why Google Now shouldn't just be always listening, and using a Trusted Voice allow me to throw voice commands at my device at any time. At the moment only S Voice is always listening... and even if I have the screen on, trusted voice doesn't seem to be able to get through the fingerprint security anyway. Ironically if I ask S Voice to launch Google Voice Search... it ploughs through in that scenario. Ultimate goal: Have Google Now always listening, and use Trusted Voice to get past the lockscreen, which would typically be secured with a fingerprint scanner.
If you can answer, or provide feedback on any of these queries, it'd be much appreciated!
dakuth said:
Hi All,
It's been quite a few years since I last rerooted a phone - I've found I just didn't really need to with Nexus devices, but since the next Nexuses don't have wireless charging, I've decided to pick up a Note 5.
It's a good phone, I really like it so far, but there are enough things niggling me about it, I think I will root this time. If anyone can provide advice on any of the following list I'd really appreciate it!
1. I see Dr Ketan's thread on the matter (http://forum.xda-developers.com/note5/general/how-to-root-note-5-t3205073) which seems doable, and as complex as I remember. Has anyone tried one-click rooting and can comment on reliability? I'm all for just getting easy root access... For reference I have the SM-N920I. I also see "tripping Knox" a lot, but I have no idea what the means. Last person I asked said "I can't say if that is a good or bad for your specific situation" which makes me think they didn't understand my question.
2. I don't like TouchWiz. It's OK, but I much prefer stock, or, what I'm doing at the moment: Action Launcher 3. I prefer the stock dialer, and the stock quick menu (when you pull-down notification bar). Can I flash a stock ROM onto the Note 5? I mean, not stock-like like the popular MODs (Cyanogen for example) but something that is practically stock? I may end up going with something like Cyanogen, but I'd just like to know what's out there along those lines.
3. Having said that I don't like TouchWiz, and might install a new ROM, there are many things I do like about this device's interface: The SPen's overlay/menu is handy. The fact it brings up a notepad-like app if you pop the SPen out when the screen is off, one-hand mode (note: I have found an XPosed Module for this), the fingerprint scanner, the camera app, the S Planner app, the Home button shortcuts (single click->home; double-click->camera; triple-click->one handed mode) ... all things I assume I'll lose if I flash away Touch Wiz. However, perhaps I can get some (or all) of these things back? If so ... how? e.g. It looks like one-handed mode could be acheived with an XPosed module, and the home-button shortcuts with a launcher (I think Action Launcher can over ride this...)
4. Always listening Google Now. At the moment I have fingerprint scanner lockscreen security, always listening S Voice, and Google Now "from any screen." It... kinda works. But I can't see any reason why Google Now shouldn't just be always listening, and using a Trusted Voice allow me to throw voice commands at my device at any time. At the moment only S Voice is always listening... and even if I have the screen on, trusted voice doesn't seem to be able to get through the fingerprint security anyway. Ironically if I ask S Voice to launch Google Voice Search... it ploughs through in that scenario. Ultimate goal: Have Google Now always listening, and use Trusted Voice to get past the lockscreen, which would typically be secured with a fingerprint scanner.
If you can answer, or provide feedback on any of these queries, it'd be much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Rooting is easy on the 920I. Just follow the instructions. As for tripping Knox, Knox is a security system which you may or may not use. Many don't but some people and enterprises do. Knox is also required for Samsung Pay which is currently rolling out. As soon as you root Knox will be disabled and a flag will be tripped which cannot be reset - thus once you root, that is that. Whoever said that they don't know whether you use Knox was absolutely right. The most obvious case is that if you want to use Samsung Pay, don't root.
Two things: when you root, make sure you backup your EFS. Also have a look around for which kernel you are going to install. I use arter 7.0 at the moment.
2 and 3. Experiment with other launchers and see what you like. I don't like touchwiz but I do like the spen integration. Same for ROMs - have a good look around before you root to see what you like. I prefer Dr ketan L3 but it's all personal choice.
After receiving my Chinese version of the OP10 Pro, I waited for over a month for the international ROM expecting a seamless flashing experience through "Local install" like in past phones. Unfortunately OP10 Pro seems to have settled in this regard and this is no longer possible, so I decided to make the most out of ColorOS... and was pleasantly surprised.
I've used ADB App Control to debload Breeno, HeyTap and some of the Oppo stuff and the result is pretty good. So far I've disabled:
Breeno
Breeno Scan
Breeno Touch
Calendar
HeySynergy
HeyTap Cloud
Omoji
OPSynergy
Please note that I have not tried OxygenOS for this phone so I'm not sure if some of these features are also available:
Pros so far
The battery is incredible - I'm getting up to 2 days if using the phone with IM/browsing, a full day if I throw in a couple hours of PUBG and some other heavy usage apps.
Call recording works by default
System Cloner - surprisingly useful feature, not only can clone apps but now can also clone the entire system. You can switch from the lockscreen with a different fingerprint or password, and you can even "hide" the secondary system by removing the system cloning options from the main system menu, in which case it becomes only accessible by inputting the alternative password or fingerprint in the lock screen. Super useful to separate life and work, increase privacy in a high censorship country where stuff like VPN apps are forbidden, may be subject to "phone searches", etc.
Privacy Protection - many apps require personal info access to work, and there's no way around it. With this feature you can select which apps with the personal info access permission will get blank data, providing a workaround to being able to use the app while protecting privacy (assuming everything works as advertised)
There's a few other interesting Privacy tools like a Permission use records and the possibility to hide or lock apps
Cons so far
ColorOS comes a bit bloated with Breeno, HeyTap, Omoji and other features that even after disabled remain in the main menus (I've only disabled the main apps so it's possible I'm forgetting related apps)
The internal password manager is local and I can't use my Google saved passwords to auto-fill my apps within android
When transferring phone data from OP8 Pro to OP10 Pro the SMS transferred with switched SIM cards, strangely.
I'd like to hear from ColorOs users about which other features you found useful and some debloating feedback about what else is worth removing!
I hated coloros on my 9RT. Battery life was great as well, but that's because everything except 5 apps are launched at startup and you don't get background updates ultra you open the app every few hours. Phone manager sucks, but I made due with it. You can't change your default msg app.
I've tried everything possible to stop vivos spyware, namely cim.vivo.pushservice and com.vivo.abe (plus maybe some others but the main one clearly is push service - whatever you do interacting with your phone shortly after push service tries (because I blocked it's internet access with Adguard) to contact some Chinese servers.
Edit: For app ops to work reliably you need to debloat com.vivo.devicereg first. Also remove com.vivo.abe and other apps for best results first - see here for list: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...al-battery-drain.4544851/page-5#post-88459025
You cannot debloat it, you cannot freeze it, there is no normal way to remove it from starting as you cannot simply restrict it from running as it runs on user 1000.
However what you can do, though only with app ops is to simply remove it access to any system content by providing fake zero content (ignore). Actual denying is also not possible.
I'm attaching a screenshot on how to set it up and I don't know which actual setting works, but something does work because for the first time I'm using this device it's not trying to connect to the internet anymore. This should also substantially improve battery life.
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"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
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You need to activate system and system framework apps to show it. By default they are hidden.
It's quite crazy how many times different vivo apps access location and contacts. Well enough other apps are pretty annoying in accessing fine location so app ops is a great tool to cut down on requests by apps (yes usually a power manager would restrict the apps a bit, but as we have to remove vivo.pem to receive notifications app ops is the answer)
If you setup an island with islands app, it's pretty crazy how fast the vivo system starts requesting access to loads of stuff. Maybe because I forbid internet access to the vivo spyware it kept on going crazy? Well clearly by default this system send everything, and yeah really everything straight to Chinese servers when it comes to location, contacts, messages, phone log, system settings and so on. You cannot even deny this but it's great that android now provides the ignore function which will return empty information instead.
This one is especially terrifying. I guess the service gathers all the data it gives to push service to send to China... Put it on ignore straight away.
App ops is available on Google play, installation needs shizuku too which is a bit complicated and needs restarting after reboot of system. However most settings should survive a reboot (I have to try and monitor this), best make a backup and yeah totally worth it to buy the full version. There is no single other app that I tried which worked and the auto restore feature is only available in full version. Also some more other stuff.
I'm thinking if I should remove all accounts and try the device owner mode. Clearly this will be the first thing I will do on any new phone or hard reset. Put shizuku as owner so it can autostart
App Ops - Permission manager - Apps on Google Play
Manage app permission with App Ops (require root or adb)
play.google.com
Edit/Update.
Vivo using system user 1000 is problematic because somehow you cannot set some/many permissions per app but only per user. It's hard to see when this applies and when not.
So both of this apps which are core parts of the spyware armada will share/influence the android system permission on location. Clearly debloat would be better but impossible without root.
You cannot directly set it here - and that's the problem. It's even not possible in the log to tell which user 1000 app requested location as somehow it will always show android system...
Some things I do not know yet - because I didn't use it long enough.
Does Vivo rotten oranges tries to overwrite the settings? MIUI seemingly does and there is a restore mode especially for it.
Some reviews mention that the backup/import option does not work for System apps. I don't know if this was fixed or not (seems to have been okay 2-3 years ago - maybe downgrade if that is so).
Do you need the app? No you could do this manually or even write a batch as its all app ops set commands. But that would be way way more complicated than using the app (and the free version does most things already).
I hope by seeing the body sensors log I managed to eliminate the offending apps like Phone that accessed them and cause the phone to lose battery while on the go like crazy.
Which apps should you set to ignore everything?
Well foremost those that we would all like to uninstall and remove but cannot.
com.vivo.abe, push notifications service, com.android.phone (and use a different dialler app instead - the default phone must be spyware infused to the top as it becomes active all of the time without being in use and replaced in my case with google phone already), the numbermark stuff, vivo locationservices,
Youtube Revanced - Fine Location - should you use it. I don't know why it keeps on requesting this all the time. Put it on ignore or Deny to save battery (seems to be a bit badly programmed)
Multi Device Connectivity (don't know what this thing does, but it requests loads of data/wakeups and so on - maybe part of the spyware suite? For Sure remove it from Fine Location)
AiEnginge,Aiservices.
Controversial: Should you remove location access to Android System? I think it can save battery but not sure if some apps break some functionality?
com.vivo.devicereg (this one is quite active too - I'm not sure if we should put everything on ignore here too).
And yeah - I'm 99.99% positive the China Spyware is tracking your location 100% of the time. So it's not only some metadata, contacts, call data, messages, clipboard content and app filtering - but also your location. Now is this collected by Vivo for its own good, or for the Chinese government? I don't care I don't want either and I pretty much thing the way it works is several services gathering all that data - and most like vivo push notifications (haha fitting name) pushing this info to Chinese servers.
And yeah - seeing how many access rights are given to various system apps is not normal! I compared this to my Huawei P30 Pro and Galaxy S7 and both have much much less permissions given (a bit problematic as earlier Android versions aren't so detailled). Plus without app ops you don't even know about this! The stock permission management just hides all the system framework apps so you never know!
BTW - If you identify any app that requests a lot of stuff like location or contacts and you do not know why it should - try to debloat it because that's always the better solution. com.vivo.multinlp - Vivo Location Services can be debloated.
Same for Multi Device Connectivity: com.vivo.connbase
The rest of the apps above (except phone which breaks functionality if debloated) - cannot be debloated. So that's when you use App Ops instead. It's always safer using app ops vs fully uninstalling/disabling an app from a standpoint about breaking something. However for battery use most likely uninstalling via adb is the better solution. I decided to remove those two apps, but a more conservative approach is to simply remove their access to sensitive data.
Someone knows why google play services needs access to body sensors?
I'm attaching my current profile - not sure if you can import it without having the same debloat level as on my phone (which is pretty extensive - I have 77 apps uninstalled and 11 disabled. Yeah and most of that are services/system apps (very few a pre installed user apps).
Need to remove the txt ending on the backup to import.
Oh I think the reviews are right, the backup doesn't include settings for system apps. That a bummer. Kinda makes the backup/import function useless.
Now it clearly would make more sense if one could create a huge bash/batch file to do all of these app ops commands. I clearly don't know how to do that simply? Yeah finding out what changed is possible with dumpsys....
Battery life improved loads on first try, but then somehow I managed to destroy the Bluetooth connection by removing permissions somewhere too much. Also I had the phone in vibration mode overnight which kills all notifications and is like airplane mode light.
It's really horrible software design by vivo that vibration mode kills all notifications with screen off.
The only thing to achieve actual vibration mode is turning volume down to 0. I really cannot get who can program such a lousy thing.
I don't know why but location is constantly requested by something and I highly doubt it's actually android system!
Sadly Vivo system like MIUI seems to reset the restrictions all the time. So you need shizuku running all the time to restore the settings..
Especially com.vivo.abe restores it's permissions several times daily and as soon as that happens battery life goes **** again in idle and spyware starts working again...
It's super frustrating but essentially this phone had rubbish software that isn't fixable. It can be improved as many settings aren't reset but the spyware tries everything it can to restore itself overwriting system settings all the time.
Oh and push notifications also sends out data to fixed IP addresses in China that cannot be prevented.
Location is accessed like crazy by all the spyware.
Thats the main killer because it's permanently checking location if you don't disable location system wide.
At least down from 15.000 requests to 9000 thanks to app ops.
Hi @extremecarver, any updates on this? I appreciated what you have done so far to investigate this issue.
The problem I'm facing right now is, the idle drain is too much for me. With plane mode on during 6 hour night, it lost 3%. With normal 3g-4g signal (no data), it drains about 1% per hour, sometimes 2%. That means if I go to work and let my phone sit there for a whole day without touching anything, then it will lose 8%-16%. That's crazy numbers.
I also found that, googlemap (with gps+4g) can kill battery very quickly. Usually, I drive to work in 30 mins and it drops 6%, i.e, 1% per 5 mins. With the same use, the s22 ultra drops just under 3%.
And if I use the phone normally such as web browsing, facebook, instagram, tiktok, even taking photos then it drains very very normally as other phones do.
I have the s22 ultra and I can say that the battery on s22 ultra is much better than vivo. It's understandable because it has been optimized for a year now. With the s22 ultra and with the same using pattern, I can easily get 8 hours SoT, while the vivo can barely get it to 5-6 hours.
Pretty sad because this x90 pro+ camera is better than the s22 ultra in many aspects, easier to hold in hand (s22 ultra is too hard to reach the edge of the phone and too heavy) although I don't like both curve screens. I don't have many problems with the notifications because I mainly use messenger and gmail and that's all.
So hopefully, someone can find out the way to fix those excessive battery drain or Vivo can release some updates to solve this problem in the future.
Dear All,
i'm not sure if mine could be a good solution or not but i'm using nextdns service and it basically blocks all or almost all vivo and others brand spyware without installing any apps.
it's very quick and easy to activate, just enable dns privato in network settings and write your dns resolver url.
i hope it could be helpful.
lemonade747 said:
Hi @extremecarver, any updates on this? I appreciated what you have done so far to investigate this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes by removing virtually any rights on any app/service that I don't think needs it - I could solve the battery drain.
However now I cannot use the telephone to make calls (passive receving calls still works), and I seem not to be able to update to the new trial software because it isn't found.
Now the problem with App Ops is - I cannot quickly return all rights to update the software - as the backup/import function does not work with system apps.
This phone is just one thing, Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. Not a single day I don't want to use a hammer and trash it. It's simpy virtually impossible to fix the crapware/spyware of this phone.
Svask89 said:
Dear All,
i'm not sure if mine could be a good solution or not but i'm using nextdns service and it basically blocks all or almost all vivo and others brand spyware without installing any apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it doesn't - it can only block apps, not even some system services - and only if they connect to a website, not if they connect to an IP address!
I have written about stopping spyware with DNS services already - this stops some sending of data - but doesn't help at all when it comes to battery drain. There will still be 20.000 events or so per day (which is a crazy amount) of the china spyware logging your location (and yeah mostly high accuracy, not low accuracy), trying to connect to chinese servers and other problems that you can only discover via Shizuku.
And NextDNS is not the right solution at all. I think even Adguard is a bit more efficient for this. The best one is Rething DNS+ - it's the only app that can block all system services (but then you cannot use another app for ad filtering like Adaware/Adguard).
This menu is not accessible via settings... But it exists
Needs to be accesses via activity launcher.
Actually private DNS exists too but is hidden by Vivo like so many other privacy related settings.. this OS is so rotten they try to hide everything that improves privacy...
Likely everything you write with Vivo secure keyboard has preferential upload to China servers
(This last one is sarcasm without proof, but don't believe anything this OS tells you about privacy because logs tell you it's lying)
Some more stuff of which a lot is hidden and not accessible
Go f**k standard vivo settings menu. The only problem is the real android settings menu is missing the search function. But it's feature complete (except the stuff Vivo really removed from Android which isn't too much.. mostly they just removed it from the settings menu)
This phone is a absolute garbage. Seems vivo blocks shizuku after some days of using it.
Found a Chinese tutorial on bilibili on what to do to solve it but that doesn't work anymore either.
Now vivo Push notifications spyware tries to send again notifications at a rate of 10-20 every second...
Basically the phone is a brick now, draining battery faster and faster with pushware and Abe having restored their permissions...
Also I cannot use ADB Appcontrol anymore - as it doesn't get permission (removing/restoring permission for ACBBridge didnt help).
I also activated Force Activity Resizeable in the developer options but that didn't change a thing... ( I think this only applies to apps that cannot get the pairing code via notifications and need the code entered in splitscreen - as if you switch screen the code is renewed)
'This phone is just one thing, Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap. Not a single day I don't want to use a hammer and trash it. It's simpy virtually impossible to fix the crapware/spyware of this phone.'
Patiently waiting
extremecarver said:
This phone is a absolute garbage. Seems vivo blocks shizuku after some days of using it.
Found a Chinese tutorial on bilibili on what to do to solve it but that doesn't work anymore either.
Now vivo Push notifications spyware tries to send again notifications at a rate of 10-20 every second...
Basically the phone is a brick now, draining battery faster and faster with pushware and Abe having restored their permissions...
View attachment 5873093
Also I cannot use ADB Appcontrol anymore - as it doesn't get permission (removing/restoring permission for ACBBridge didnt help).
I also activated Force Activity Resizeable in the developer options but that didn't change a thing... ( I think this only applies to apps that cannot get the pairing code via notifications and need the code entered in splitscreen - as if you switch screen the code is renewed)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Vivo, keep doing it to his phone
Any updates on this @extremecarver?
I'm using this and what I see so far is the battery drain cut down to around 5% overnight (6 hours). With plane mode ON, it lost about 3% in 6 hours, not too bad for me. However, when put it there on my desk when I'm working (with 4g signal covered, no data), for 8 hours it sucked around 10%, and with wifi on that number is around 20%. My old Huawei Mate 20 and S22U can do even better than this (just around 5% without wifi, and 10-15% with wifi).
In addition, I also found that the battery drain when using GPS on this phone is too much for me. Just 1 hour and it sucked about 12% with 4G data ON.
Yes - in order to really cut the battery drain you need to remove much more permissions. The problem is that Vivo restores them - you could try to restrict that but modifying "modify restricted settings/ files" or something similar - but maybe that is how I locked myself out.
You can go into the "keep awake" and "run in background" and put ignore on everything you think that is not absolutely needed. Android 12 and above should not use this keep awake but Vivo apparently does.
Then you culd restrict body sensor data to more apps/services.
But yes as long as there is no way to really remove vivo.abe and vivo push notifications the battery drain is not fixable. Then of course the modem sucks - and uses way too much power. That one is either hardware rubbish or software mess up. I rather guess a rubbish modem.
The worst is battery drain while outdoors doing sports without being in airplane mode even if you disable any access to body sensors for all apps normally (use "device Info" app for this to actually get to all services, then app ops for removing even more.
extremecarver said:
Yes - in order to really cut the battery drain you need to remove much more permissions. The problem is that Vivo restores them - you could try to restrict that but modifying "modify restricted settings/ files" or something similar - but maybe that is how I locked myself out.
You can go into the wake something section and remove everything you think that is not needed. Android 12 and above should not use this - but Vivo apparently does.
Then you culd restrict body sensor data to more apps/services.
But yes as long as there is no way to really remove vivo.abe and vivo push notifications the battery drain is not fixable. Then of course the modem sucks - and uses way too much power. That one is either hardware rubbish or software mess up. I rather guess a rubbish modem.
The worst is battery drain while outdoors doing sports without being in airplane mode even if you disable any access to body sensors for all apps normally (use "device Info" app for this to actually get to all services, then app ops for removing even more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is good overall, camera, design, performance, but the battery drain is destroying those good points. Not sure if vivo will fix this in the future or not, but my S22U did take more than 6 months to get some first stable updates, and it's super stable right now at 1 year.
Well I cannot call any phone good if it's basic functions like notifications and spyware are rubbish like hell - causing battery drain without end. And yeah - without root you can make it a bit better but cannot fix it. With root if would be quite doable (as long as Vivo doesn't introduce any killswitch like disabling stuff once vivo.abe or push notification service is uninstalled). Root for running adb commands would be enough. But vivo actively disabled this by making many apps removable only for user 1000.
ok so it seems no way to fix the rubbish battery life.
this thread convinced me to sell the phone for a s23 ultra, the battery life differences are huge given only the 300mah battery.
Very good phone ruined by battery life, I don't even care at this point about camera and other specs, I expected good battery life from a sd gen 2 with 4700 mah but i was clearly wrong.
My 1st and last vivo phone, too bad i'll lose tons of money now because is vivo is a no name here.
You lose tons of money everywhere as soon as you cannot return a Vivo phone anymore...
Btw, can someone show what permissions are on Android system by default?
I wonder if I'm missing some (screenshot from device info):
I never directly removed a permission from Android system, but I removed permissions from apps running as well on system.uid user, and sometimes they interact, sometimes they don't. Vivo really messed up the permissions because it's not possible to cleanly change permissions.
If you see the permissions given to push notifications it's anyhow clear than restricting any permissions to vivo apps to stop them to spy on you is like fighting windmills, because push notifications just about has any permission imaginable even after removing some with app ops. Here are the permissions left over from push notifications after removing any possible with app ops app.
Found the error why I couldn't access adb anymore. Shell system app somehow had all rights removed. Fixed it by exporting the apk and reinstalling it. Not locked out anymore and can use app ops again...
Strange thing though - on reboot shell went missing again. Not sure what the crap deletes shell on reboot. I'm pretty sure that's some kind of vivo killswitch if you remove rights via app ops commands from it's spyware.