Database Users

Prevent erasure of application after wiping?

I recently started using the new Mobile Defense app (mobiledefense.com) and I'm trying to make it survive a wipe. I moved it to /system/app and the APK stays after a wipe, but it is not recognized as an installed program. Can anybody give me some direction as to how to fix this?
Thanks,
Chris

Anyone? Maybe better in the dev. forum?

grokdesigns said:
Anyone? Maybe better in the dev. forum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
can you not cook it into the ROM, i think if you open up the flash and put the APK file into the framework-res.apk in the framework/apps folder
then sign the update.zip and flash it
and with any luck the app should now be integrated into the OS.
EDIT: Ignore this post and read my second one below Daveid's this explains what I meant better than this post does.

I think you were on the right path trying to place the file into the /system/app directory, however.. I believe you want to do it a little differently. I think the command you want to use is:
adb install xxx.apk /system/app
I think that installs it into the specified directory, instead of just copying it there. I could be wrong, but I think that may do it. If not, it may need to be signed with the test-keys in order to be installed in /system.
I am not sure what you tried to copy it (I am assuming you did "adb push xxx.apk /system/app"), but I would try my method out. Don't listen to warrmr, judging by what they wrote, I doubt they really know what they are talking about. The framework-res.apk file is an application in and of itself, that is mainly responsible for the layout and design of the operating system. and there is no framework/apps folder, nor do you put any apks into the framework-res-apk file. So his entire post is pretty bad advice (no offense intended, just if you don't know what you are talking about, maybe you should tell people that to start off with).
EDIT - I guess you can't specify the target using adb install. Let me try to figure this one out real quick.
In fact, I believe I will attempt to install an app using the adb install command listed above, and post back in a few moments to see if it works out ok.
Alright, so I pushed an APK into the /system/app directory, and it worked just fine for me. Showing in the list and all, one thought. Is the program you are trying to do this with a copy-protected program? If so, you may need to be a little underhanded in your actions. Let me try moving one real quick from /data/app and /data/app-private over to /system/app and see what happens, though I doubt it will work.
Nah, doesn't work like that, if this is indeed a copy-protected app, I don't think there is much you can do about it. Sorry.

I am able to copy to /system/app and run it with no problems. The problem is after wiping, the APK is still in the directory, but doesn't show up in my applications.

daveid said:
I think you were on the right path trying to place the file into the /system/app directory, however.. I believe you want to do it a little differently. I think the command you want to use is:
adb install xxx.apk /system/app
I think that installs it into the specified directory, instead of just copying it there. I could be wrong, but I think that may do it. If not, it may need to be signed with the test-keys in order to be installed in /system.
I am not sure what you tried to copy it (I am assuming you did "adb push xxx.apk /system/app"), but I would try my method out. Don't listen to warrmr, judging by what they wrote, I doubt they really know what they are talking about. The framework-res.apk file is an application in and of itself, that is mainly responsible for the layout and design of the operating system. and there is no framework/apps folder, nor do you put any apks into the framework-res-apk file. So his entire post is pretty bad advice (no offense intended, just if you don't know what you are talking about, maybe you should tell people that to start off with).
EDIT - I guess you can't specify the target using adb install. Let me try to figure this one out real quick.
In fact, I believe I will attempt to install an app using the adb install command listed above, and post back in a few moments to see if it works out ok.
Alright, so I pushed an APK into the /system/app directory, and it worked just fine for me. Showing in the list and all, one thought. Is the program you are trying to do this with a copy-protected program? If so, you may need to be a little underhanded in your actions. Let me try moving one real quick from /data/app and /data/app-private over to /system/app and see what happens, though I doubt it will work.
Nah, doesn't work like that, if this is indeed a copy-protected app, I don't think there is much you can do about it. Sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was a suggestion, and as nobody had replied to the thread i thought i would give it a bash with my limited knowlage.
Mabe i should explain what i meant a bit better than i did in my last post and then you can tell me of im talking utter balls so to speak.
Ignore what i said about the framework-res.apk I was being slightly stupid. I was getting confused with where the App folder in the flash.
If you take the update.zip and look in system/app you will see lots of the "core" APK files along with any other ones that the "chef" has decided to cook into it.
If you were to take your APK file and inject it into the update.zip and then sign it, put the update.zip on your phone and then flash that zip file you will have the app pre-installed thus if you do a factory wipe then it will still be there.
It was badly explained and there was no real need to just brush my post off and say it was a useless waste of time. Isnt the ethos of this forum for learning and development, If I was talking utter balls then fine. I also should have bothered to check the content of an update.zip file rather than just relying that i saw the folder somewhere.

warrmr said:
It was a suggestion, and as nobody had replied to the thread i thought i would give it a bash with my limited knowlage.
Mabe i should explain what i meant a bit better than i did in my last post and then you can tell me of im talking utter balls so to speak.
Ignore what i said about the framework-res.apk I was being slightly stupid. I was getting confused with where the App folder in the flash.
If you take the update.zip and look in system/app you will see lots of the "core" APK files along with any other ones that the "chef" has decided to cook into it.
If you were to take your APK file and inject it into the update.zip and then sign it, put the update.zip on your phone and then flash that zip file you will have the app pre-installed thus if you do a factory wipe then it will still be there.
It was badly explained and there was no real need to just brush my post off and say it was a useless waste of time. Isnt the ethos of this forum for learning and development, If I was talking utter balls then fine. I also should have bothered to check the content of an update.zip file rather than just relying that i saw the folder somewhere.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally understood what you meant the first time and agree. For example, having SuperUser permissions, Spare Parts, and Term emulator "cooked" into JesusFreke's build. Should be able to simply decompile an update.zip, plug in those programs, and resign.

[Q] Rooted Samsung Fascinate v. Google talk service

So yes, Titanium Backup and the deletion of google talk are at it again. This time I actually knew I shouldn't delete then brain farted and did it anyway. So here lies my marketless and FC gapps everytime I pull the market app up.
For the record I searched as best as possible for a solution and the closest I got was a link for gtalk and the Evo 4G, and needless to say it still doesn't work, the market and the force close gapps.service still happens after re install
A solution without a flash and re-root is preferred, please educate the new guy! Thanks for the record I know I'm a jack wagon lol.

Search these forums (or Google) for Fascinate System Dump. It will have whatever files you deleted.

So dump files obtained. Is this is simple drag and drop to the OS or do I need a program on the computer to be able to interface with the filesystem on the Fascinate?
Bare with me guys, while I bring myself up to speed on tearing through the Andriod OS, hacking windows is one thing - tearing apart my phone for the first time - thats a whole nother ball game for me.

DeezNotes said:
Search these forums (or Google) for Fascinate System Dump. It will have whatever files you deleted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I did that, finally got the files onto my phone and reinstalled all the google.apks including ones that were already existing on the phone.
To no avail I still get the gapps Force close and I'm still unable to download from market after restoring Google Talk Service.
Any help or a simple suggestion would be appreciated - been trying this all day with no success.

I'm not sure if you "installed" the apps or if you placed them back in their proper folder(s), but my guess is that any app you had pre-installed which you deleted was previously in the /system/app folder. The dump has all the files in this folder. You don't need to re-install these files, you need to just copy them back to the /system/app folder.
When you download and install an app, it will install to /data/app. If you "installed" the files rather than copying them back to /system/app, that may be the problem.
On a side-note, this is why I like to move files from one folder to another rather than use Titanium Backup to delete apps/files.

Don't forget to reboot your phone after you copy the files back to /system/app.
Lastly, I'm not responsible for what you break.

DeezNotes said:
I'm not sure if you "installed" the apps or if you placed them back in their proper folder(s), but my guess is that any app you had pre-installed which you deleted was previously in the /system/app folder. The dump has all the files in this folder. You don't need to re-install these files, you need to just copy them back to the /system/app folder.
When you download and install an app, it will install to /data/app. If you "installed" the files rather than copying them back to /system/app, that may be the problem.
On a side-note, this is why I like to move files from one folder to another rather than use Titanium Backup to delete apps/files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Roger that side note - that will be my new policy when managing files.
As far as the clarification - I have been indeed installing the apps instead of moving them to the appropriate location - I guess the difference in installation location never occurred to me. Thank you in advance for the heads up and I'll report my success or failure, hopefully success after i get out of work this evening.
Don't worry if I brick I won't hold you accountable - after all I'm the one who deleted Google apps from the Andriod phone. LOL, In hindsight it was a terrible Idea.

[Q] GoogleServicesFramework.apk won't install

Wonder if anyone has any ideas about how to fix this: I rooted my Kindle Fire, installed root explorer, everything's working fine. When i place GoogleServicesFramework.apk on my device and install I get a message that it won't install. I've tried placing the apk in the system/app folder, still no install. My ultimate goal is to get the Android Market working. I've been all over the threads in the developer's forum for the KFire ... no one has posted that they've not been able to install GoogleServicesFramework.apk. I must be missing something obvious ...

I'm having the same issue... even tried to "reset device" from the settings menu... but to no avail!

I am having the same issue!

You need to copy the file to /system/apps and change the permissions to 644.

Chadarius said:
You need to copy the file to /system/apps and change the permissions to 644.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you explain how to change the permissions to 644?

http://androidforums.com/behold-2-all-things-root/73177-understanding-android-file-permissions.html
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Also some step by step guidance for installing all of it.....
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1349902
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium

Thanks, Chadarius. I'll try when I get done with work today and post my results. Appreciate the answer!

Chadarius said:
You need to copy the file to /system/apps and change the permissions to 644.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How to change the permissions with ES Explorer??
I'm a complete noob at this. I see Root Explorer can change permissions but it is on the Android Market and I can't get to that until I get all of this installed

Spdracer said:
How to change the permissions with ES Explorer??
I'm a complete noob at this. I see Root Explorer can change permissions but it is on the Android Market and I can't get to that until I get all of this installed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got Root Explorer from Amazon App Store (not free) which I used to get the android Market APK copied to system/app and change permissions. Works great now.

The system is telling me I cannot move the file to /system/app becuase it is read only. When I try to make the directory writeable via root explorer, it does not work (will not perform the function after selecting it in the upper right corner).
I am getting really frustrated with this. I hate to ask but would someone PLEASE dumb this down for me. If possible please provide step by step commands of how to change this file permission. I visited the link and did not get it (feel like a retard right now). Not sure If I should be using ADB, RE or something else.
I have rooted 8 phones, flashed tons of ROMs and for some reason I can't accomplish this. I am about to throw this Kindle POS into the FIRE AAAARRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

I had the same problem, but I had already side loaded some other Google apps, so I did a full factory reset and it installed just fine. It was the first thing I loaded on it, just to be sure. I never had to play with permissions.
It does depend on what version you use though, and there are a few flying around. I used the one from here

Also really frustrated
I am having the same problem where I can't install googleservicesframework. I also can't change permissions because root explorer doesn't show up in the android market. THis shouldn't be that hard! Already spent 4 hrs messing with this today.
---------- Post added at 05:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:19 PM ----------
DId a full reset. Rerooted Kindle. Side-loaded Root Exporer and installed on Kindle. Changed permissions on system and on apps. Moved GoogleServicesFramework.apk to system/apps. Also changed permissions on the apk. Still won't install???

Update
Working now. I loaded a different GoogleServicesFramework.apk and it installed right away. Weird. All is good now!

I have the same issue
daddygene said:
Working now. I loaded a different GoogleServicesFramework.apk and it installed right away. Weird. All is good now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you let me know which version and where did you get the googleservicesframework.apk that finally worked for you. I still keep getting the same irritating "application not installed" message. If I see it one more time I might do some serious damage to my KF

Why don't you push the market to your device using dos commands

krishmo said:
daddygene said:
Working now. I loaded a different GoogleServicesFramework.apk and it installed right away. Weird. All is good now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you let me know which version and where did you get the googleservicesframework.apk that finally worked for you. I still keep getting the same irritating "application not installed" message. If I see it one more time I might do some serious damage to my KF
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks daddygene! I had all the same problems and here's the dl which worked.
www(dot)mediafire(dot)com/?4ykd6rdikmz5l8c
The working version is 1.35Mb as opposed to 624Kb for the non-working one. Sorry for the (dot)'s ... I don't have enough posts to use urls :\

sl0ttedpig said:
I had the same problem, but I had already side loaded some other Google apps, so I did a full factory reset and it installed just fine. It was the first thing I loaded on it, just to be sure. I never had to play with permissions.
It does depend on what version you use though, and there are a few flying around. I used the one from here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly happens when you use the factory reset button on the KF? Understand that you lose root but what about all the apps that you have installed from the market, are they still on the device or do they need to be reinstalled as well? May be trying this as I can't get some things to sync, or wait and do it after the next update.
Thanks.

Hellcat6 said:
What exactly happens when you use the factory reset button on the KF? Understand that you lose root but what about all the apps that you have installed from the market, are they still on the device or do they need to be reinstalled as well? May be trying this as I can't get some things to sync, or wait and do it after the next update.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i believe you lose everything in the /data folder, so yes that includes apps you installed from the market.
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using xda premium

Problem fixed
Had this problem too but turns out I wasn't using the right framework apk. Download the one from the pcworld turorial! Google "install android market on kindle fire" and open up the tutorial, there's a link in the post to the google apps package!
The just tap it in root explorer and install!

browser in qslide apps for vzw g2

As all of us vzw g2 owners know, verizon left out the browser app in favor of chrome. But they didnt enable qslide with chrome. We do have the stock browser in a flashable zip but it doesn't show up in qslide. Untill now lol. I take no credit for this i just figured it out through trial and error. Ok first flash the stock browser zip from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2452399 then copy this browser apk https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0lbyXDReetfdmg2Zm8tU0dRd1k/edit?usp=sharing to system and reboot, bingo stock lg browser in qslide. Don't forget to hit thanks if this helps you out.

Great! Although the icon works fine for me. What I'd like to see is Mobile hotspot in quick settings...

blazewit said:
As all of us vzw g2 owners know, verizon left out the browser app in favor of chrome. But they didnt enable qslide with chrome. We do have the stock browser in a flashable zip but it doesn't show up in qslide. Untill now lol. I take no credit for this i just figured it out through trial and error. Ok first flash the stock browser zip from this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2452399 then copy this browser apk https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0lbyXDReetfdmg2Zm8tU0dRd1k/edit?usp=sharing to system and reboot, bingo stock lg browser in qslide. Don't forget to hit thanks if this helps you out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where in the System do we put the apk? Also do we have to rename the apk?

Put the apk in system/app. I renamed it to browser.apk just for my own convenience. You don't have to though.
To the o.p., thanks this worked perfectly.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

garywojdan81 said:
Put the apk in system/app. I renamed it to browser.apk just for my own convenience. You don't have to though.
To the o.p., thanks this worked perfectly.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea i actually just put it in system/app and clicked the button to overwrite the old one, glad it works for u bro although I have no idea why lol

blazewit said:
Yea i actually just put it in system/app and clicked the button to overwrite the old one, glad it works for u bro although I have no idea why lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I am pretty sure you don't have to flash the browser zip before putting the apk in the system/app folder. Just rename the apk you provided to LGBrowser.apk and put it in system/app, also changing the permissions to match the other system apps. The zip is simply flashing the same file without the qslide properties that are built into the apk you have linked to. For some reason those properties were not included in the zip scott posted for the LG browser. Great find overall! Just wanted to clarify that people dont need to flash the zip... just use the apk you provided named correctly with the correct permissions in the system/app folder and reboot. Sweetness!!!

dajmanjt said:
Honestly I am pretty sure you don't have to flash the browser zip before putting the apk in the system/app folder. Just rename the apk you provided to LGBrowser.apk and put it in system/app, also changing the permissions to match the other system apps. The zip is simply flashing the same file without the qslide properties that are built into the apk you have linked to. For some reason those properties were not included in the zip scott posted for the LG browser. Great find overall! Just wanted to clarify that people dont need to flash the zip... just use the apk you provided named correctly with the correct permissions in the system/app folder and reboot. Sweetness!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not my experience. I tried pushing & renaming just the apk when Scott first posted it. Fixed permissions, reboot & the icon didn't even show up. Booted back into twrp to wipe cache/dalvik & fix permissions from there & when I rebooted the icon was present but gave an immediate FC when selected. I gave up on it & grabbed the aosp browser from the play store.
This has been the only way I could get the stock lg browser to work at all. Having it in qslide is just icing on the cake.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

garywojdan81 said:
Not my experience. I tried pushing & renaming just the apk when Scott first posted it. Fixed permissions, reboot & the icon didn't even show up. Booted back into twrp to wipe cache/dalvik & fix permissions from there & when I rebooted the icon was present but gave an immediate FC when selected. I gave up on it & grabbed the aosp browser from the play store.
This has been the only way I could get the stock lg browser to work at all. Having it in qslide is just icing on the cake.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The key to your statements is you were using Scott's apk which is not this apk posted. Compare the apk in Scott's zip to this one. I am talking about pushing this apk into the system without flashing Scott's zip. But if you needed Scott's zip flashed first and then pushing this apk I suppose there must be something going on in the background I'm not aware of. In my experience they are different apks. Scott's zip flashes the first browser version into system/app folder and then all we are doing is then pushing this second version apk and overwriting it. So basically the first step is unnecessary imho. But whatever works thanks to the op for this other apk.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

dajmanjt said:
Honestly I am pretty sure you don't have to flash the browser zip before putting the apk in the system/app folder. Just rename the apk you provided to LGBrowser.apk and put it in system/app, also changing the permissions to match the other system apps. The zip is simply flashing the same file without the qslide properties that are built into the apk you have linked to. For some reason those properties were not included in the zip scott posted for the LG browser. Great find overall! Just wanted to clarify that people dont need to flash the zip... just use the apk you provided named correctly with the correct permissions in the system/app folder and reboot. Sweetness!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried just pushing the apk to system/app and rebooting and it didn't work for me that's why I said to do it the way I have it in the op. If it works for people with out the initial flash great, but if anyone gets force closes after just pushing the apk try flashing the zip 1st

....
blazewit said:
I tried just pushing the apk to system/app and rebooting and it didn't work for me that's why I said to do it the way I have it in the op. If it works for people with out the initial flash great, but if anyone gets force closes after just pushing the apk try flashing the zip 1st
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
after flashing I did get the qslide app but when trying to go to google.com i get the error in the picture. it is also happening on Chrome browser now too. I cannot search google either from the browsers...any help?

thenewak said:
after flashing I did get the qslide app but when trying to go to google.com i get the error in the picture. it is also happening on Chrome browser now too. I cannot search google either from the browsers...any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay figured it out. I am running clean rom and idk if the scotts rom one works with this one or not. SO...I just took the LGBrowser apk from the op and dropped it in the system/app folder. That worked like a charm...and Now all browsers working and qslide etc. I would suggest a nandroid which is why I fixed mine also rename the LGBrowser.apk in the system/app folder to LGBroswer.bak or something before replacing it with the one in the op so if it gets jacked you can back it up. Anyways good luck to you all and thanks op.

thenewak said:
after flashing I did get the qslide app but when trying to go to google.com i get the error in the picture. it is also happening on Chrome browser now too. I cannot search google either from the browsers...any help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so i did alittle googling and as far as i can tell i could be a problem with the site or your network especially if its a guest network. But one of the fizes seems to be clearing browser cache, cookies and history (id clear data in the app manager too for good measure) if that doesn't work google the first few words of the error cuz there were a ton of entries and one should have a fix that works for u. Either way i really dont see why just installin an apk would cause that so you may have some deeper issues with the network where your at?

blazewit said:
Ok so i did alittle googling and as far as i can tell i could be a problem with the site or your network especially if its a guest network. But one of the fizes seems to be clearing browser cache, cookies and history (id clear data in the app manager too for good measure) if that doesn't work google the first few words of the error cuz there were a ton of entries and one should have a fix that works for u. Either way i really dont see why just installin an apk would cause that so you may have some deeper issues with the network where your at?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried it on 4g and my work WiFi. But either way it is working and thanks for the post just thought I'd post my experience with the fix.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

thenewak said:
I tried it on 4g and my work WiFi. But either way it is working and thanks for the post just thought I'd post my experience with the fix.
Sent from my VS980 4G using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So its fixed then or no? Also was/is it just google that spits out the xml erro or all sites?

blazewit said:
So its fixed then or no? Also was/is it just google that spits out the xml erro or all sites?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is fixed, and it was only google sites. I tried www.google.com google.com then just tried typing in something to search and did the same since google is my default.

Hey i was wondering, do you think this could work in a AT&T g2? Cause this is the one thing missing on my phone that i just need man

curiousmileo said:
Hey i was wondering, do you think this could work in a AT&T g2? Cause this is the one thing missing on my phone that i just need man
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The att version doesnt have the stock browser either? I assumed it did. But yea It should, there is nothing device specific in the apk but i didnt put the zip together so the updater script might have a version check, but try it n let me no. The absolute worst case scenario is forced closes

Awesome dude. Confirmed it worked!
Manually copy apk over and change permissions to match other files, then flash the LGBrowser.zip. Then it shows up in QSlide apps and floats. So nice.
I've been missing this since I got my G2. I watched a video and seen the floating browser and QuickNotes. Ran and picked up my Verizon phone and found they removed the browser.
-sent from my LG G2 using XDA Premium 4

blazewit said:
The att version doesnt have the stock browser either? I assumed it did. But yea It should, there is nothing device specific in the apk but i didnt put the zip together so the updater script might have a version check, but try it n let me no. The absolute worst case scenario is forced closes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so yea i tried it and it force closes. I flashed it first, then went and put it in my system/apps and over wrote the previous lg browser and then changed the permissions and then rebooted and i can see and press on it but it still force close. i dont know why.
editk so new issue. i tried to delete or remove anything that had to do with the lgbrowser in the system app and now it is in the qslide app but it opens up in the full app.. hmmm

curiousmileo said:
so yea i tried it and it force closes. I flashed it first, then went and put it in my system/apps and over wrote the previous lg browser and then changed the permissions and then rebooted and i can see and press on it but it still force close. i dont know why.
editk so new issue. i tried to delete or remove anything that had to do with the lgbrowser in the system app and now it is in the qslide app but it opens up in the full app.. hmmm
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What ROM are u running bro? I'll see if I can duplicate it on the ROM ur running so we can maybe figure out why its not working for u

Can't Modify SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk

Background: Really not loving the default New Contact icons and the random colors. Should be easy enough to change. What I tried (and failed miserably...)
MODest ROM 11 (Twiz/stock 6.01-based)
Flashpoint 5 Kernel
Copied SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk from
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
to my Win7 PC.
Used 7-Zip to unpack the file to a temporary folder.
Found the .qmg files I didn't like.
Found a .qmg that would be a passable replacement for the ones I didn't dig.
Made 11 copies of that image in a working folder.
Renamed each copy to the exact name of each of the 11 files I wanted to replace.
Dragged those 11 files back into the open .apk in 7-Zip
On the Phone, in Root Explorer:
Made a copy of SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk in the same folder:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
deleted the original
Copied my mod'd apk back into this folder and set the perms.
Rebooted.
No Phone or Contacts on home screen or in Apps
Tried to 'install' the apk from Root Explorer.
Wouldn't install
Tried to delete cache & Dalvik from TWRP.
No Joy.
Tried to do a partial Nandroid restore of Contacts and sec.phone from Titanium (nothing there called /systempriv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA)
No Joy.
Nandroid restore from TWRP.
Back to normal.
Okay, what did I do wrong, and how can I change the icons?
Should I have used APKTook instead of 7-Zip, created a new signature, etc?
Should my mod'd apk somehow be flashed from recovery rather than copied to a system folder?
Is this some perverted Samsung-ism that would have worked fine on any other phone on the planet?
Thanks for reading.

ForestCat said:
Background: Really not loving the default New Contact icons and the random colors. Should be easy enough to change. What I tried (and failed miserably...)
MODest ROM 11 (Twiz/stock 6.01-based)
Flashpoint 5 Kernel
Copied SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk from
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
to my Win7 PC.
Used 7-Zip to unpack the file to a temporary folder.
Found the .qmg files I didn't like.
Found a .qmg that would be a passable replacement for the ones I didn't dig.
Made 11 copies of that image in a working folder.
Renamed each copy to the exact name of each of the 11 files I wanted to replace.
Dragged those 11 files back into the open .apk in 7-Zip
On the Phone, in Root Explorer:
Made a copy of SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA.apk in the same folder:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
deleted the original
Copied my mod'd apk back into this folder and set the perms.
Rebooted.
No Phone or Contacts on home screen or in Apps
Tried to 'install' the apk from Root Explorer.
Wouldn't install
Tried to delete cache & Dalvik from TWRP.
No Joy.
Tried to do a partial Nandroid restore of Contacts and sec.phone from Titanium (nothing there called /systempriv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA)
No Joy.
Nandroid restore from TWRP.
Back to normal.
Okay, what did I do wrong, and how can I change the icons?
Should I have used APKTook instead of 7-Zip, created a new signature, etc?
Should my mod'd apk somehow be flashed from recovery rather than copied to a system folder?
Is this some perverted Samsung-ism that would have worked fine on any other phone on the planet?
Thanks for reading.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That apk took me a long time to figure out too. It's one of the apps you I had to modify for multi dpi. The only way I know of is to change the compression when you're putting the app back together and even then it took a couple tries. There's probably a better way but the compression change seems to work well enough.
I don't know if 7-zip has this option, but with winrar you can change the compression to "store". You should know right away whether or not it worked. You'll see the little phone icon in the bottom left of the lock screen. You may still have to do a factory reset to see your changes (probably not though) but the app should work without it.
By the way, you can swap those image files for .png files if you'd like. Just delete the corresponding .qmg or .pio file.
I saw your post in the rom thread about theming TouchWiz. You should check out @supergrobi94's theming threads. He's put together an impressive collection of options for 6.0.1 and 5.1.1 and there's also a [how to] section that uses the vrtheme zip that will modify the res folder of a specific app without having to break it down. I'm not sure how active he is these days but he's always been very helpful with requests and questions in the past if you need it.
Supergrobi94's theming threads:
This one has all the themes
This is the [how to] thread

kevintm78 said:
That apk took me a long time to figure out too. It's one of the apps you I had to modify for multi dpi. The only way I know of is to change the compression when you're putting the app back together and even then it took a couple tries. There's probably a better way but the compression change seems to work well enough.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, that makes perfect sense. But I'd never have figured it out myself, lol.
I'll dig into those theming threads, thanks.
kevintm78 said:
☆☆Edge Panel for ModestRom v11☆☆
DOWNLOAD-This will change your Contacts app to the S6 version and the IncallUI app to the Note 7 version because the people stripe will not work with the N4 contacts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, this is from the MODest ROM thread, but I think it's germain here.
SO.....
If I want to 'try out' that Edge Panel, is there a way to revert back to the stock apps in question other than restoring a nandroid backup or re-flashing the ROM?
I ask because I'm thinking that, at least in the case of the Note 4 and its well known memory problems, 'bulk' memory writes like ROMs, nandroid retores, etc., stress the device, so I'm trying not to do it more than I have to.
During my last episode(see above) putting the stock apk back in its original folder didn't work.
Is there a standard procedure for either android generically, or touchwiz specifically, for safely reverting back to the stock system apps after experimenting w/ custom stuff?
EDIT: Just tried something. In Root Explorer, went into:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
and simply renamed the .apk to .foo
Rebooted.
No Contacts, as expected, but no Phone either??? Not sure why.
Anyway, back into Root Explorer.
Rename .foo back to .apk
Reboot.
Still no Contacts or Phone, so something bigger at work here.
Before I have to restore Nandroid anyway (unless there's a better way???),
I flashed your EdgePanel.zip in TWRP to see if it would restore the Phone/Contacts apps.
Wiped the cache. Reboot.
Edge Panel is now there, but still no Phone or Contacts. WTF???
Last resort-TWRP- Factory Reset.
Now the Contacts/Phone are back (and all my other stuff is gone, lol)
So is whacking the Data a necessity here?
If so, it makes trying out things related to the phone/contacts a LOT more tedious...
Any workaround???
Thanks again.

ForestCat said:
OK, this is from the MODest ROM thread, but I think it's germain here.
SO.....
If I want to 'try out' that Edge Panel, is there a way to revert back to the stock apps in question other than restoring a nandroid backup or re-flashing the ROM?
I ask because I'm thinking that, at least in the case of the Note 4 and its well known memory problems, 'bulk' memory writes like ROMs, nandroid retores, etc., stress the device, so I'm trying not to do it more than I have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it doesn't look like I ever made an easy way to go back. I had thought I did but I'm either overlooking it or it's not there. Feel free to rifle through my androidfilehost folders if you want to double check. All of my stuff is very organized so it could be buried in there somewhere.
If you still need a recovery zip let me know and I'll get one together. I'm actually going to make one anyway but if you need it right away I can get on it. I didn't realize that there wasn't a way back to stock.
ForestCat said:
During my last episode(see above) putting the stock apk back in its original folder didn't work.
Is there a standard procedure for either android generically, or touchwiz specifically, for safely reverting back to the stock system apps after experimenting w/ custom stuff?
EDIT: Just tried something. In Root Explorer, went into:
/system/priv-app/SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA/
and simply renamed the .apk to .foo
Rebooted.
No Contacts, as expected, but no Phone either??? Not sure why.
Anyway, back into Root Explorer.
Rename .foo back to .apk
Reboot.
Still no Contacts or Phone, so something bigger at work here.
Before I have to restore Nandroid anyway (unless there's a better way???),
I flashed your EdgePanel.zip in TWRP to see if it would restore the Phone/Contacts apps.
Wiped the cache. Reboot.
Edge Panel is now there, but still no Phone or Contacts. WTF???
Last resort-TWRP- Factory Reset.
Now the Contacts/Phone are back (and all my other stuff is gone, lol)
So is whacking the Data a necessity here?
If so, it makes trying out things related to the phone/contacts a LOT more tedious...
Any workaround???
Thanks again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is strange that they are not coming back. You may just want to double check your permissions and that there isn't two of the same apps in your folder. At the time of making that Edge zip I was still using other programs to make zips for me and the major downside to that is having to name the new apps the exact same as the old so it would get overwritten so if it doesn't match you'll end up with two active apps in one folder.
Now I think the best way to do that is to use a binary script (osm0sis has great tutorials for this) to change the app getting replaced to a .bak file and then just copy the new app to the system, set perms, and reboot (dalvik cache/ cache needs to be wiped if it's a framework .jar file). But to each their own. If you can get the job done a better way then I would use what you're comfortable with.
My system to test apps isn't much difference than yours. I think the only thing I do differently is change the app to be replaced to .bak instead of .foo although I can't imagine there's much difference. There's been a few apps like the Contacts app that gave me a bunch of trouble when modifying them but I can't remember ever having trouble bringing back the stock app. I wish I had more insight on that situation for you. If push comes to shove I would reflash the rom zip over factory reset only because the factory reset won't correct the system partition problem, if that's what's going on in this case.

kevintm78 said:
If you still need a recovery zip let me know and I'll get one together..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, Merry Christmas!
Thanks very much. No rush on that, I'm OK on the Edge version for the minute.
What would be extremely useful if you have some time/curiousity would be to replicate my steps, ie renaming the untouched apk in a fresh MODest flash (i.e. break the contacts/phone function), and then see if you can get the whole thing working again without a factory reset, or if not, why. I see on xda, you & I are not the first ones to be tripping over this contacts.apk issue.
The other thing that would be telling is after successfully installing the Edge.zip, whether you can modify something (like a picture) within the contacts apk within the zip, reflash the zip and have contacts/phone still working with the change active.
I think there just HAS to be abetter way than Factory Resets.
Thanks so much again for the insights. I really want to become at least minimally competent at hacking my own ROMs together so I don't have to feel like such a noob/mooch on here, but I really do appreciate the help.
What are your weapons/platform of choice, or, if there are better tools for noobs learning the ropes, I'm all ears.
EDIT: Just found this. The last post is interesting...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/devs-only/recompile-seccontacts-apk-t3377142/page2

ForestCat said:
First, Merry Christmas!
Thanks very much. No rush on that, I'm OK on the Edge version for the minute.
What would be extremely useful if you have some time/curiousity would be to replicate my steps, ie renaming the untouched apk in a fresh MODest flash (i.e. break the contacts/phone function), and then see if you can get the whole thing working again without a factory reset, or if not, why. I see on xda, you & I are not the first ones to be tripping over this contacts.apk issue.
The other thing that would be telling is after successfully installing the Edge.zip, whether you can modify something (like a picture) within the contacts apk within the zip, reflash the zip and have contacts/phone still working with the change active.
I think there just HAS to be abetter way than Factory Resets.
Thanks so much again for the insights. I really want to become at least minimally competent at hacking my own ROMs together so I don't have to feel like such a noob/mooch on here, but I really do appreciate the help.
What are your weapons/platform of choice, or, if there are better tools for noobs learning the ropes, I'm all ears.
EDIT: Just found this. The last post is interesting...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5/devs-only/recompile-seccontacts-apk-t3377142/page2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not exactly sure what's going on with your contacts app not showing back up. Ever since modestrom v8 (I think) I've been doing the multi dpi on SecContacts_M_OSup_Note_Legacy_USA and every time I would test it doing the same as your way. After a reboot if the modified app was no good, then I would just delete that new app and change the name of the old app back to .apk, reboot and it would work again. I can't remember running in to any problems where I would have to factory reset or reflash the rom to get things working again.
There has been a couple times where I've had to factory reset to get a color change to show up or if you're adding toggles to the QS drop down that also (sometimes) requires a factory reset to show up.
As far as the post you linked, that is exactly how I do it except I use winrar to open the newly compiled app and drag the changes to the original. When I drag the changes over I change the compression method from "normal" to "store". If I don't change the compression the app doesn't work for me. The apps that I've ran into where I had to change the compression are: secContacts, secCamera, secSettings, and framework-res.apk. Any other app that I've worked on can be dragged and dropped without compression changes.
Jar files don't need an original signature though (so long as signature verification has been disabled, which it has in modestrom). They can be decompiled, edited, recompiled, and copied to the system. It does require a dalvik cache/cache wipe though on all framework files except for the framework-res.apk and twframework-res.apk
If you get a chance, you should start using apktool to decompile/recompile. It will make things easier for you in the long run and most of the time if you've made any mistakes in your edits apktool will catch it. If you're not familiar with apktool you can try using Tickle My Android or Advanced Apktool. You may also want to get Apktool by itself. I use all three of them. Android can be fickle and sometimes what works with one app won't work with another. What's nice about TMA and Advanced Apktool is that they'll do the drag and drop method for you, but when the compression needs to be changed that's when I use apktool by itself.
Sorry for the word vomit. Hopefully, this all makes sense.