Custom ROM, remove all permissions? - Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm going to be giving a phone to my grandma who will be using the phone half a world away. I wish to be able to customize this phone remotely after I've given this phone to her. For example, she may feel that the default dialer is too confusing -- I want to be able to change it, or at least allow another app to directly make calls to all (including emergency) numbers.
The thing is I have no idea what changes I may need to do (it all depends on her user experience), so I was thinking perhaps if I created a custom ROM that removed all permissions requirements (so for example, ACTION_CALL would only require normal, instead of system, permissions) I'd have the most flexibility in adjusting the UX.
No one else but my grandma will be using this phone, and no apps will be installed by anyone but me, so security doesn't seem to be an issue.
Is this a good idea? Would this be hard to do, or would it just be a search and replace job in the code?
thanks for any help!

customize it before you give it to her. It's better for her not to be using an insecure phone. the granma spy police might try to hack it

Related

Stopping apps from starting up

Is it possible to stop apps from starting up at all to speed up the boot sequence without
a) removing them
b) using a third party application
is there some boot file or something that can be edited?
From the maker of AutoKiller: http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-rs-autorun-jjnmD.aspx - this is the one I use. I even donated and it allows you to continue to try to stop some apps from opening up independent of whether you ask them to or not. I have also heard of this one: http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-elsdoerfer-android-autostarts-jppi.aspx - but I have not tried this one. Hope this helps
I know about these =p
I'm looking for some edit to the actual ROM/ boot sequence, not an application that'll use up RAM (part of what I'd like to do is not use RAM)
Ohhh...that sounds like a lot of work to make something like that happen. Would be nice though. Way beyond my skills at the moment though.
This could be some interesting reading, although at this time in the morning, I can't even pretend I want to try to get it right now lol. http://www.androidenea.com/2009/06/android-boot-process-from-power-on.html - I'm thinking maybe something in the INIT needs to be modified? Anyway...bed time... lol

[Q] Problems with developing a custom GS2 rom for medicinal purposes.

Hello to you all people of XDA, firstly I must state that I've scoured the forums far and wide and have yet to find some valuable info regarding my problem.
So what we're doing is developing (or trying to, as is obvious from this post) a custom rom for the Galaxy S2 which would be used for a single medical application for sensor tracking and the processing and displaying of said data on the SGS2, while at the same time sending it to his/her doctor.
What we need to be able to achieve with this rom is to put it into the hands of the end-user (a chronical patient which will in turn be able to stay at home instead of being hospitalized) and be able to completely lock down the phone for his use (I know, it sounds terrible) so that he loses the phone/sms/games/youtube/internet functionality as we need the phone to run as stable and for as long as possible without any additional battery stress (the constant sending, processing and processing of data seems enough of a problem for now).
I've searched into some custom roms but we eventually came up with the need for a stock Samsung rom which could be modified as we want to.
See this is where the problem begins, we can't seem to get the phone rooted, the ROM customized and then unrooted again so that the phone can't be fiddled with anymore, except when it's completely dead and we need to fix it.
So to cap it all up:
It needs to allow for a custom load and bootscreen (I almost got this to work)
It needs to be completely locked down for the end user.
It has to have full BT, NFC and WiFi functionality
It has to be able to call out and reciev calls, but only to/from specific numbers (911, doctor, etc..)
It has to basically allow for 2-3 programs to be running, while the others simply don't exist on the phone.
I am terribly sorry if anything like this has been asked about before, I swear I put 2 days of me life into researching already.
Any help, any help at all, ideas and solutions, but mostly links are welcome.
Thank you and good day to all.
Just a detail, but the SGS2 doesn't have the NFC functionality. Project seems to be possible, I would look into CyanogenMod sources if I was you.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Why are you afraid of leaving the phone rooted and in hands of the patient?
Is he so uncritical that he can search the web and find means of unrooting a mobile phone and then get around to actually doing it?
LucLucLuc said:
Hello to you all people of XDA, firstly I must state that I've scoured the forums far and wide and have yet to find some valuable info regarding my problem.
So what we're doing is developing (or trying to, as is obvious from this post) a custom rom for the Galaxy S2 which would be used for a single medical application for sensor tracking and the processing and displaying of said data on the SGS2, while at the same time sending it to his/her doctor.
What we need to be able to achieve with this rom is to put it into the hands of the end-user (a chronical patient which will in turn be able to stay at home instead of being hospitalized) and be able to completely lock down the phone for his use (I know, it sounds terrible) so that he loses the phone/sms/games/youtube/internet functionality as we need the phone to run as stable and for as long as possible without any additional battery stress (the constant sending, processing and processing of data seems enough of a problem for now).
I've searched into some custom roms but we eventually came up with the need for a stock Samsung rom which could be modified as we want to.
See this is where the problem begins, we can't seem to get the phone rooted, the ROM customized and then unrooted again so that the phone can't be fiddled with anymore, except when it's completely dead and we need to fix it.
So to cap it all up:
It needs to allow for a custom load and bootscreen (I almost got this to work)
It needs to be completely locked down for the end user.
It has to have full BT, NFC and WiFi functionality
It has to be able to call out and reciev calls, but only to/from specific numbers (911, doctor, etc..)
It has to basically allow for 2-3 programs to be running, while the others simply don't exist on the phone.
I am terribly sorry if anything like this has been asked about before, I swear I put 2 days of me life into researching already.
Any help, any help at all, ideas and solutions, but mostly links are welcome.
Thank you and good day to all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Block all internet access apart from ones you want or you can just setup iptables rules, shouldnt need root apart from when setting it up
As far as removing programs, just delete the apks from the zip, or before you remove root. My sig has a list of all apks in a upto date rom and what they do.
You can use gemini app manager to control autoruns (stop them etc) also to block (hide and disable apps)
As far removing root, your best bet is to once you are done, use adb (from the android sdk) to remove the superuser.apk then flash the stock kernel back, as far as I know without superuser apps cant grain root permisions.
OR
This app will allow you to block any app behind a password
This app will block incoming and outgoing sms and calls on white and blacklists
Custom boot logo (the first screen before the animation)
Custom boot animation need to go into system/media, I am not sure about the format but there are loads around, like this thread has loads, stock kernel should support them.
I hope that helps
Most of that is easily possible.
If you listed the apps needing removed, the apk files just need deleted.
To control calls, you can use a third party app from market for that.
It's possible to have the custom rom unrooted, and easily flashed, regardless of how badly the phone gets rooted
Boot animation is easy anyway... If you can provide it in a zip like other ones (zip containing numbered png's) then it's a piece of cake.
A little bit of clever firewall stuff would prevent any web traffic, in or out, except to your defined server, which is obviously a concern when a phone is handling sensitive medical info.
genieass said:
Why are you afraid of leaving the phone rooted and in hands of the patient?
The phones are going to be used by around 500.000 people in a year, it's not that we want to take anything away from the user, it's more about not having any problems with the firmware - like ever.
Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
genieass said:
Why are you afraid of leaving the phone rooted and in hands of the patient?
The phones are going to be used by around 500.000 people in a year, it's not that we want to take anything away from the user, it's more about not having any problems with the firmware - like ever.
Thanks for all the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LucLucLuc, not sure where you live, but you're entering the patient confidentiality minefield with big, big boots.
Apart from the legal considerations, your question is definitely OS related and not device related.
I see what you want, but legally - where I live anyway - it's too much of a grey area to get involved with.
I use call recording a lot for referrals and info from other doctors, but I've always asked the other party if they're OK with it. I won't record patient conversations, and I won't accept any files whatsoever that have seen RIS or PACS first - not worth it.
Can't see it's worth your while, but I'd appreciate it if you keep me informed should you decide to work on it.
Big boots indeed
We are from Slovenia, Europe.
I'm actually just a student doing the research and some basic Android programming, thank god I wasn't let into the bigger of the projects
But yes, this project is a colaboration of several european firms and you can read more about it at chiron-project.eu - it's a very very interesting project afaic.
I don't think we'll be swimming with lawyer piranhas soon though, the project uses sensor data (which sorta is a privacy issue) which will be monitored on a tablet running Android (currently testing the Galaxy tab 10.1 - we were lucky to order one before Steve had another one of his fits), proccessed in real time and then stored on the central server, from where it will only be accessible by the patients doctor.
Patient consents are dealt with before we even start talking about mobile hospitalizations.
It's very encouraging to see some actual interest, if anyone wants to know more about anything related to this project contact me at [email protected]
Thanks again for all the help.

[Q] Limiting access to Settings?

Hi xda-community,
we are wondering how we can modify our Android by limiting access to certain settings. We have LG-p500's for our employees and we managed to limit the apps they can acceess with an simple app, works a treat.
However employees keep changing settings and then complain that something is not working anymore with their device.
Now i was wondering what the easiest way is to block Access to the Settings? All they should be able to change is the Language settings and the Ringtone Setting, nothing else. What would you recommend is the easiest approach?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Cheers
there is nothing that i know of. i would use clockwork and make a backup right when after you flash, then when they mess it up you should be able to restore. otherwise tell the employees that they break it they bought it. thats what i do at my company. i got a legal sheet from google i have everyone sign when they get somthing.
hope this helps

[Q] What is the best way to go about disabling most of Android's functions?

Hello,
I have a couple of Galaxy S3's that I want to mess with. I'm going to write my own messaging app to use on the phones.
Here's the thing though: I want to make it impossible to make phone calls or use regular text messaging. I want to make it so that it can't be re-enabled in any way via Settings or anything like that.
In other words, ideally, I want to have the android phone with no apps except for mine. (and no option to use anything else) Think of it as a specialized tool designed only for one thing.
What is the best way to go about this? Do I need to root the device and install Ubuntu Mobile or something? How difficult would it be to modify the Android system itself?
I'm an experienced developer but I'm completely new to the mobile space so I'm looking to learn about how to do this the best / easiest way.
Thanks!

Strange semi-stealthy malware that hides itself

Hi all,
So here's the situation: I have a Pixel 1 with stock (read: overbloated verizon) android. Whatever, I'm lazy and I haven't gotten around to rooting it. I installed a firewall recently for giggles. I'm going through the system apps and merrily blocking verizon junkware when I come across this thing (bear with me for the complete description, as XDA's spam filters are blocking my image links)
It's a system process called 'nobody' with a version number of 10. The Netguard app also gives a number above the name (i don't know what it's supposed to mean) that for most apps seems sort of random, but for this app is 9999.
I try to find this thing in my system app manager, and it's nowhere to be found.
So I keep on keeping on, thinking 'weird, but whatever', and then I come across another app called 'root' with a version number of 10 and (maybe it's a process id?) of 0.
Also, nowhere to be found.
And here's the thing; there's a gear icon in Netguard, that for _every other app_, opens up the system app manager page for that app. For these two? Nothing.
Now, I am not super proficient in android stuffs. My questions for you smart and pretty people are these:
1. How can I go about digging around in my phone to find the files that are running this thing?
2. What's the best way to get more information on what this is? (and yeah, I tried googling 'nobody' and 'root'. It went predictably).
3. How can I prepare a report / who would I send this to? There's gotta be security researchers who could use logs pertaining to this ****.
Yeah, I know that I need to nuke & pave the device. I will. I want to try and recon a little first. So, what do you got?

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