taking control of apps and downloads - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

ok so this is my first smart phone and i hate that i feel like such a noob! i am accustomed to having control of everything win7.
i have astro installed on my rooted phone. just downloaded an app from amazon. i have not installed it yet and have no idea where the dang app is temporarily stored.
is there anyway to take control of the default file location for downloads? i would like to save the apk to my pc prior to installing it on the phone.
additionally im guessing that when an app is installed it creates folders and file locations that the app needs to function on the phone. so when apps are installed and uninstalled over time will there eventually be orphan files and folders that just take up space and cause performance issues?

Most market apps are stored in data/app. No. It wont cause performance issues.

Related

Paid Apps

Hi Guys,
unfortunately a friend of mine has lost his gmail account (someone broke his password), and therewith all his apps bound to that account.. of course thats at the moment not extremely bad, because the apps are still on his phone, but if he might update the rom or buy a new phone, the paid apps will be gone.
therefore i am wondering, where these apps are stored. i found out, that most apps are stored in /data/app, but for example new applications, which i bought lets say an hour ago, are not stored there (think that this has something todo with 24h refund).. has someone experience with this? will those apps work, which i bought and then copied the apk file from data/app to a backup?
Yes, they will definatly work. you can use "appManager Pro" to back up the apps realy simply, or you can use "mybackup pro" to back up all your apps. Google seems to have no DRM in place whatsoever for the app store, so you can back up your apps manualy or with the above apps and they will still work, on any phone!
yes okay, the first app (appmanager) works, but only with some apps, not with all
for example i have the app "colorUp Lite", there stands "geschützt"/"protected".. any idea how the programmer managed to protect their app? and how to store that?
edit: i found out that every app, which can be backuped is stored in /data/app.. for example the app from above "colorUp Lite" has no apk-file in that folder.. theres just a zip-file with some pictures and templates in it.. where do these apps store their binary on the phone??

[Q] Android File System Structure?!

Coming from Windows Mobile, I knew I was in for a bit of a shock. But I didn't realize it would be this bad.
You see, I have OCD when it comes to organization and cleanliness. It's pretty bad. On Windows Mobile, I had every program organized by category. I edited all the .cab files to install to "\Program Files\*CATEGORY*\App Name", and the shortcut to be installed to "\Start Menu\*CATEGORY*"
Everything was perfectly organized. On the root of my SD card, I had 2 folders - "My Documents" and "Program Files". There were no stray files on the root.
I had everything setup PERFECTLY with Sashimi so when I reflashed, I could run my script and all settings/apps would be restored.
I found the registry key for all settings and backed them up, made provisioning XMLs for all of my account settings, etc. Anything that needed to be saved between flashes would be saved to the SD card. When I flashed, everything would be back to the way it was an hour ago.
I LOVE my Evo 3D, but I'm getting incredibly frustrated with how insane the clutter is. Every app and its mother decides to make a folder on the root of my SD card. And half the time, they're empty folders. I just want to know:
1. How are settings stored in Android? In WM, there were registry keys for everything from backlight to email signatures. Where and how does Android store these settings?
2. How can I have an app completely installed on the SD card, so that if I hard-reset, all I need to do is put it's shortcut in the app drawer?
3. Are there any tools like Sashimi that streamline the hard-rest/reflash process?
4. Are apps hard coded to store files where they do? Or is there something like an XML file for the app that tells it to write to "%SDCARD%" instead of "%SDCARD\xxx"
Thanks in advance!
saumaun said:
Coming from Windows Mobile, I knew I was in for a bit of a shock. But I didn't realize it would be this bad.
You see, I have OCD when it comes to organization and cleanliness. It's pretty bad. On Windows Mobile, I had every program organized by category. I edited all the .cab files to install to "\Program Files\*CATEGORY*\App Name", and the shortcut to be installed to "\Start Menu\*CATEGORY*"
Everything was perfectly organized. On the root of my SD card, I had 2 folders - "My Documents" and "Program Files". There were no stray files on the root.
I had everything setup PERFECTLY with Sashimi so when I reflashed, I could run my script and all settings/apps would be restored.
I found the registry key for all settings and backed them up, made provisioning XMLs for all of my account settings, etc. Anything that needed to be saved between flashes would be saved to the SD card. When I flashed, everything would be back to the way it was an hour ago.
I LOVE my Evo 3D, but I'm getting incredibly frustrated with how insane the clutter is. Every app and its mother decides to make a folder on the root of my SD card. And half the time, they're empty folders. I just want to know:
1. How are settings stored in Android? In WM, there were registry keys for everything from backlight to email signatures. Where and how does Android store these settings?
2. How can I have an app completely installed on the SD card, so that if I hard-reset, all I need to do is put it's shortcut in the app drawer?
3. Are there any tools like Sashimi that streamline the hard-rest/reflash process?
4. Are apps hard coded to store files where they do? Or is there something like an XML file for the app that tells it to write to "%SDCARD%" instead of "%SDCARD\xxx"
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Long story short, it won't be easy. The answers aren't likely the most technically complete, but I believe them to be accurate.
1) I know someone has the answer.
2) There is no way to install 100% to SD card.
3) Titanium Backup, MyBackup, etc.. will all backup and restore your applications and settings. You can also take a complete image of the phone, using ClockworkMod. You can then restore all or part of that image. These all require root access.
4) As far as I know, I think it can swing both ways. It would require you to extract, modify, and repack the contents of the APK.
Man do I feel your pain! I absolutely hate the way android allows apps to be installed.
Don't even get me started on the lack of quit buttons on too many apps, or the way apps that have no business running in the background constantly start themselves in the background.
What's crackalackin saumaun. I haven't seen u since ppcgeeks. That's one thing that pissed me off with android when I came from windows mobile. Have you been with android or did u finally get rid of your tp2.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
xenx said:
Long story short, it won't be easy. The answers aren't likely the most technically complete, but I believe them to be accurate.
1) I know someone has the answer.
2) There is no way to install 100% to SD card.
3) Titanium Backup, MyBackup, etc.. will all backup and restore your applications and settings. You can also take a complete image of the phone, using ClockworkMod. You can then restore all or part of that image. These all require root access.
4) As far as I know, I think it can swing both ways. It would require you to extract, modify, and repack the contents of the APK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the response. I'm going to be looking into those backup apps. But I fear I won't be able to do much more until the 3D is rooted.
touchprofan said:
Man do I feel your pain! I absolutely hate the way android allows apps to be installed.
Don't even get me started on the lack of quit buttons on too many apps, or the way apps that have no business running in the background constantly start themselves in the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is definitely a pain too! I wish there was an option to close the browser so when I'm done, the next time I want to use the internet, I would be at my home page.
gmfeny said:
What's crackalackin saumaun. I haven't seen u since ppcgeeks. That's one thing that pissed me off with android when I came from windows mobile. Have you been with android or did u finally get rid of your tp2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man, it's been a long time! This is my first Android device. I just came from the TP2. In fact, it's sitting right next to me lol.

Moving paid apps using titanium backup

How does it work if you have to move paid apps with data from one phone to another? I have done free apps a few times, but TB will install those from its own back up rather than market. Don't paid apps must be installed from market by signing in? How to transfer data alone using TB?
All you gave to do is back up your paid apps in TB and the pull off your Titanium folder from your sdcard and put it on your new phone. Then on new phone, sign into market and dl'd TB. Once you have it there, you are pure profit. All your backups are held as .tar files so once you open TB it will pull up your exact configuration. You'll just need to restore your app and data. You can also create an update.zip of the TB app that is flashable which is only the app and data itself, not all your other apps, just TB.
Another feature is that if you hit menu>more, there is an option called Market Doctor that will re-link all your apps back to the Market. Also another setting is when I freeze an app, I break the market link so it doesn't show up on the updates section. Figure if I am freezing it, why would I update it. Unfreeze and it re-links by itself. Handy trick eh?
Appreciate the detailed reply. So you mean to say no difference between free and paid apps when using TB to restore?
Nope. An app is an app is an app as far as TB is concerned.

Where are com. files stored

Hi guys, I am looking for the location of where com.* files are stored. I installed an application upon removal it stated com.hc.'AppName' could not be uninstalled. so I would like to hunt for it and force remove it. I have use Titanium backup to try and search and also my root file manager but can not seem to find it.
The game was some daft sheep game (I downloaded it to get EQ in double twist for free, usually £4.99)
Well the apk is located in /data/app/ it could be there, or if the leftovers are making problems they are in /data/data/ You could also use sdmaid to clean it up.
Sent from my Optimus Me using xda premium

Can't stop Phone Manager from automatically deleting app files?

I'm using a manga reader app which saves the catalogue dbs and image files to /sdcard and the stupid Phone Manager app thinks they're junk cache files and keeps on deleting them. I rummaged through Phone Manager and unchecked everything related to that app, but it just re-checks it automatically and at some point overnight it gets deleted.
Unfortunately Phone Manager isn't on the list of apps that can be uninstalled for user 0 . Is there any way to tell Phone Manager to ignore an app? This is my first Oppo phone so I'm just discovering these stupid chinese quirks...
Edit: sorry, thought I was in the Q&A subforum guess I can't move it now.
drazil22 said:
I'm using a manga reader app which saves the catalogue dbs and image files to /sdcard and the stupid Phone Manager app thinks they're junk cache files and keeps on deleting them. I rummaged through Phone Manager and unchecked everything related to that app, but it just re-checks it automatically and at some point overnight it gets deleted.
Unfortunately Phone Manager isn't on the list of apps that can be uninstalled for user 0 . Is there any way to tell Phone Manager to ignore an app? This is my first Oppo phone so I'm just discovering these stupid chinese quirks...
Edit: sorry, thought I was in the Q&A subforum guess I can't move it now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey man! I was having the same issue with my Find X, when just two days back I saw that the Phone manager was running in the background around 3am, and once it finished, my widget was gone. I know how frustrating this can get!
Upon further tinkering, I found that I could disable phone manager like this- settings>system apps>phone manager>self diagnosis frequency and then I switched it off. That's it! I tested it for two days, and my widget is still there.
Hope this helps!

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