Database Users

Forward-Locked Apps?

I have a question that is purely out of curiosity. I'm not a developer, nor do I have any desire to become one... at this time.
In the process of answering questions for my father about his new Android phone, I came across the Android Developers website. Being the infinity curious person that I am, I started to browse through it and came across something that I was particularly curious about, the "Forward-Locked Application" market filter. It states that an application in the market can be set to not be visible to developer devices and unreleased devices. What I'm curious about is why would a developer not want their app to not be visible to said devices? Wouldn't it be to their advantage to allow their app to be visible, installed, and possibly tested if the owner of the developer phone or new unreleased phone so chose to do, after all, this is potentially new hardware that the app developer may not have support for in their app. Now not being a developer myself, I'm sure there are valid reasons for the filter and I am just curious as to what they may be.

Because you haven't tested your app on a new OS build, and want ensure compatibility before offering it for sale. Other reason is that the new OS build either obsoletes, duplicates, or just plain breaks your app. An example would be the updates to the calendar API's in Android 2.2. Every calendar widget in the market that tied into the built-in calendar app ceased to function because the way it interacted with outside apps had changed.

So the lock is not in reference to developer or unreleased hardware, it pertains to developer or unreleased software or OS?

They would check build/version number in the build.prop or whatever they use... It's just like how FroYo builds couldn't see protected apps while it was in pre-release.

garfnodie said:
So the lock is not in reference to developer or unreleased hardware, it pertains to developer or unreleased software or OS?
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yes this is correct. The developer phones have different software that allow native root access and this would be defined in the build.prop . That would also allow people to rip applications and pirate them.
That switch is mainly a quality assurance/anti-piracy measure.

ATnTdude said:
Because you haven't tested your app on a new OS build, and want ensure compatibility before offering it for sale. Other reason is that the new OS build either obsoletes, duplicates, or just plain breaks your app. An example would be the updates to the calendar API's in Android 2.2. Every calendar widget in the market that tied into the built-in calendar app ceased to function because the way it interacted with outside apps had changed.
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Actually, those apps that broke, broke because they were using private APIs. As explained, if you stick to public APIs your app should not break when updating OS iterations because ALL APIs are frozen as soon as a release is cut.

Here's another question then, are app's allowed to do automatic bug reporting back to a developer with out the user consent, or even with the users consent. It seems to me that say Google is testing Android 3.0, and one of their in house testers decides to install your app, but your app does not support 3.0 for whatever reason, if there is automatic bug reporting, you could be made aware of a potential incompatibility with a new API and have time to fix it long before the new OS is ever released. This all could never happen though if you have the market filter set.

garfnodie said:
Here's another question then, are app's allowed to do automatic bug reporting back to a developer with out the user consent, or even with the users consent. It seems to me that say Google is testing Android 3.0, and one of their in house testers decides to install your app, but your app does not support 3.0 for whatever reason, if there is automatic bug reporting, you could be made aware of a potential incompatibility with a new API and have time to fix it long before the new OS is ever released. This all could never happen though if you have the market filter set.
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bug reporting is going to be a new feature of 3.0. I dont think many if any apps have their own built in bug reporting. Also it really is on the developers side if their app doesnt work with new OS revisions. They should program their apps in such a way that they wont have to make drastic changes for updates. Google also give plenty of time for developers to make fixes before the first iterations of the new update goes out (almost 1 month in the case of froyo)
however some developers just dont care (e.g Co-Pilot)

[Q] App updates

Well it's been 2 days and I have yet to be informed of any AP updates in the market (that's with 53 apps. installed).
Are you all getting update notifications in the market?

yes, i've gotten several. most have not had a lot to do with honeycomb, though a couple early on did. mostly i think developers are working on updates for tablets now that the sdk is out.

I got my first update notification today.
All is well in Xoomland.

How?
How do you sign up for updates like that?
We should start a thread that lists Xoom native apps, I would myself, but I don't have enough knowledge of the Market. This is my first Tablet, and I use an iPhone for my cell.
I don't know many good apps, so I've been cautious on the one's I've been downloading.
But one thing that does get me is Google Sky Maps, its apparently been designed for a tablet. but i suppose not the xoom?
It works fine, just the initial loading screen looks choppy.

When you go into the market/My Apps, it should let you know if one of your installed apps has an update available (unless you have checked the box to allow automatic updating. I don't as I like to see what has been changed with the update).
Thx

Android apps compatibility issue on Atom CPU Yoga Book ?

Hi, showbox APK installs but when I click a video, the ShowBox app just stuts down.
Anyone got ShowBox working fine on their Android Yoga Book?

Same problem here
Got mine yesterday, been trying to play movies etc on showbox. Crashes.

It worked fine until about early Feb at which point it became increasingly unreliable.
MovieHD works fine, head over to reddit and get the lite advert sans adverts, ice tried a few on the yoga book ,they all work absolutely fine bar showbox, i found MovieHD to have the quickest update rate for new eps (after showbox)
All , that said , unless you get a lite version the recent iterations of showbox are ridiculously plastered with OS intrusive ads, so i dont think im missing out

Fire HD 8 7th Gen ver. 5.4.0

I'm new to XDAdevelopers, so hello to everyone! I've read the majority of the posts concerning rooting the older Fire HD devices. While I have no expectations that anyone out there will have any new information concerning rooting this generation of Fire HD I'm going to solicit suggestions with respect to rooting the newest model of the Amazon device. I have an Samsung S10 that I use for my primary tablet at the moment, so short of turning this HD in to a "brick" I'm open to experimenting with it.
It's a nice little tablet, but the OS is less then desirable for anyone that does not want the Amazon-centric software. This device was purchased via Amazon's pre-order list and arrived on 7 June. Almost immediately the OS auto updated to the newest version i.e. 5.4.0, which as you might guess is not one that can be rolled back. The sole intention of purchasing this device was to root it eventually so I could go to a full Android OS. Yes, I was aware of the drawbacks of the Amazon OS beforehand and the close integration with their site and product lines.
That being said, I've been able to install Google Play and download some of my more useful apps. Of course any app that is already installed, such as Audible, will not download via Play Store, as one might expect. The purpose of this thread is to open dialog concerning rooting the 7th Generation Fire HD and sundry issues. Any comments and/or suggestions, experiences, etc, will be great appreciated.
Thank you all and it's great to be on board!
L...

Mine arrived this afternoon, and I went straight to instructions for the Playstore, etc. (For background, my Fire 7" works fine using a 3rd party launcher, and a full collection of gApps) I thought that I'd try the Fire 8 7th gen 5.4.0 for the extra memory. I have been pleasantly surprised how useful the 7" is, even without root, etc.
I'm slowly setting up my essentials, passwords, etc. The only very annoying bug that I've come across so far is GMAIL... It downloaded and synced properly, but now just shuts down after a brief second. (I've tried the usual fixes, but it's still not working). I'm curious... Have you managed to get GMAIL to work on yours?

I'm having the same issue with Gmail - hoping to root it in the near future - any advice anyone?

Gmail Alternative
I'm not using Gmail at all. After I installed Play Store I downloaded the same email client that I use on all of my Android devices i.e. K-9 Mail. This app works extremely well and will do what you need with a host of email sources. I have quite a few email accounts for business and personal use, so K-9 allows me to bring them all together in one app, and segregate the individual accounts. I've had this app for years and would recommend it to anyone. You might want to take a look at it and see if it meets your needs.
L...
mba123 said:
I'm having the same issue with Gmail - hoping to root it in the near future - any advice anyone?
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BlackOPSSpook said:
I'm not using Gmail at all. After I installed Play Store I downloaded the same email client that I use on all of my Android devices i.e. K-9 Mail. This app works extremely well and will do what you need with a host of email sources. I have quite a few email accounts for business and personal use, so K-9 allows me to bring them all together in one app, and segregate the individual accounts. I've had this app for years and would recommend it to anyone. You might want to take a look at it and see if it meets your needs.
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Thanks for the suggestion... I'll check it out.

I have had same issues with gmail, but i restarted the device, i opened gmail, it crashed within seconds, i left the device idle for 10 minutes and afterwards gmail works fine (i am using 5 gmail accounts without issues). Hope it may help you to sort this issue out.

Anonymize your S10+

Hallo!
I've recently heard about ROMS,degoogling your Phone etc. and I bought this S10+ Phone. Is there a safe was to delete all bloatware,google Software and so on?
I've heard about GrapheneOS but unfortunately it's only for google devices so I was wondering what kind of solutions exist for this case. There are also phones with hardware kill switches but I'm a little bit skeptical about them.
Please tell me everything you know about this or the best pages to get an idea how to do so. I will be forever grateful
Science

This might help you:
Galaxy S10/S10+ Debloat / bloatware removal list
Please see my original post from the Galaxy S8 to see the XDA article on how to do this. https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/how-to/s8-debloat-bloatware-thread-t3669009 New phone, new list! I've compiled a list of most of the bloatware...
forum.xda-developers.com

I feel you. The only google crap I (want to) use is Gmail and occasionally gmaps.
Unfortunately all of Android is created to serve its master... how can you separate the two?
Lol, Apple?
Proof that unlimited power corrupts ultimately.

Thanks for your replys. I will try it out

I've been using this for 3 years.
Home - Package Disabler
The only NON-root solution that let’s you disable any unwanted packages that come pre-installed / installed with your phone / tablet.
www.packagedisabler.com
Karma Firewall (Playstore) stops the leaks and reduces battery drain by shutting Google, Samsung, etc up.

sciencebitches said:
Hallo!
I've recently heard about ROMS,degoogling your Phone etc. and I bought this S10+ Phone. Is there a safe was to delete all bloatware,google Software and so on?
I've heard about GrapheneOS but unfortunately it's only for google devices so I was wondering what kind of solutions exist for this case. There are also phones with hardware kill switches but I'm a little bit skeptical about them.
Please tell me everything you know about this or the best pages to get an idea how to do so. I will be forever grateful
Science
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Click to collapse
If your s10+ is using an exynos cpu you can install lineage os. Lineage won't work on the snapdragon variants

sciencebitches said:
Hallo!
I've recently heard about ROMS,degoogling your Phone etc. and I bought this S10+ Phone. Is there a safe was to delete all bloatware,google Software and so on?
I've heard about GrapheneOS but unfortunately it's only for google devices so I was wondering what kind of solutions exist for this case. There are also phones with hardware kill switches but I'm a little bit skeptical about them.
Please tell me everything you know about this or the best pages to get an idea how to do so. I will be forever grateful
Science
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Click to collapse
Hi there sciencebitches,
I realize your original post was from 2020 and its now March 2023 so maybe this is not something your interested in anymore... maybe you have a new phone, etc. But....
The Samsung phones that are sold in North America (either Canada or US) have locked bootloaders that cannot be unlocked. So you are stuck flashing Samsung firmware that is digitaly signed by Samsung.
However, if you get an international model then you can unlock the bootloader and load custom firmware. You have a couple of choices.
LineageOS​When loading LineageOS, you can choose to load it with or without GApps. Loading it with GApps gives you all the same Google stuff, a library known as Google Play Services, as on normal Android. Loading LineageOS without GApps gives you no Google stuff whatsoever. This is what I am running on my SM-G975F – LineageOS without GApps.
LineageOS for microG​This gives you LineageOS with a substitute library called MicroG. The MicroG library is a reimplementation of the Google Play Services that some (a lot?) of Android apps require. So, if you need to use some apps that require Google Play Services but don’t want to be overrun with Google again, then MicroG is recommended. With “pure LineageOS” (sans GApps) you get no Google Play Services whatsoever.
/e/OS​This is another implementation of LineageOS with MicroG. It is fairly polished but tries to look like iOS and so feels somewhat un-Android like. I have no first-hand experience with /e/OS.
GrapheneOS and Calyx OS​There is also GrapheneOS and Calyx OS but I have no experience with those either. My understanding is they are along the same lines. I think that GrapheneOS comes with no Google Play Services and no MicroG (i.e. like “pure” LineageOS) but gives you the option of installing real Google Play Services (not MicroG) as a normal app as opposed to as a system app.
If you live in Canada I can help you get an international phone that you can install LineageOS or one of the others listed here.
Best regards,
The Fish