Do you "Decline" or "Accept" Google regularly checking on your apps?

Horace Algier schrieb am 2016-09-21 um 07:47:

And usually most people don't do this.

EOD

Which are you saying most people don't do? a. Declining or accepting Google checking of the apps? b. Installing apps from previously-saved APKs

My guess: he's apt to be saying most people don't reset their phones (or anything else, forf that matter) to factory defaults every month or so, with concomitant need to re-install all apps and re-establish all settings/options/preferences. YMMV, of course.

Cheers, -- tlvp

Horace Algiers schrieb am 2016-09-23 um 00:43:

None of the above. I talk about this:

"Just about monthly, I reset my Android phone to factory defaults, where I re-install my apps from auto-archived APKs without creating a Google Play account."

Thanks for that clarification becuase I wasn't sure which it was.

BTW, rebuilding a phone back to normal is trivially easy if you *plan* ahead, just like rebuilding the OS on a desktop is easy if you plan ahead.

For example, on a desktop, I *always* plan ahead by... a. Storing all installers in a given hierarchy b. Installing all programs in (a copy of) the same given hieararchy c. Using all menus in (another copy of) the same given hierarchy

For example: c:\data\software\{the hierarchy} for the installers c:\apps\{the hierarchy} for the programs c:\data\menu\{the hierarchary) for the menus

To re-install the user's data and apps is trivial since all I need to do is copy the data hierarchy to a safe place and then re-install, one by one, simply by going down the installer hierarchy.

It's even *easier* on a cellphone, simply because all the APKs are and data are *automatically* saved on Android on the external flash card (if you set it up correctly), so I already have a *saved* copy of everything that is unaffected by a factory reset!

The Android reset procedure doesn't require huge Internet mainframe servers, and it doesn't have *any* pain whatsoever associated with it.

Just click on the APKs, one by one, to set up the cellphone, and without need of Internet or a computer with hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of megabytes of bloatware, you're set up in minutes.

1. You simply make a hierarchy of empty placeholder folders, e.g., Desktop: {map, people, browser, buy, pic, audio, video, wifi, etc.} For example, here is my /extSdCard/data/software/video hierarchy:
   formatting link

NOTE: Multiple version of the same app from any repository can easily be saved, installed, tested, and the best one for your needs finally installed (whatever version you like best, all without any repositories being installed, least of all Google Play!

1. When you install the app, the icon goes visibly wherever you want it to so, which, in this case, is in the top-left corner as shown here.
   formatting link
2. You simply slide the app icon into the placeholder folders as shown here:
   formatting link

Even with setting up the app, it takes almost no time whatsoever to reconfigure an Android device, without the need of mainframe computers and home desktops - and the best part of this is that you always can use *any version* of the app that works with your operating system.

You can have app APKs from any number of outside repositories, and you don't even need a Google Play account to re-install everything!

Any version of the app - and - any version of the operating system that works with your hardware.

Of course, on iOS, that's all *impossible*; iOS itself, as we've proven many times, is incapable of doing the *simplest* things, such as installing older versions even *with* the help of mainframe computers on the net and powerful desktops - and - worse - iOS is extremely limited itself, as it can't do *any* of this without the huge assistance of mainframe computers on the Internet and/or desktop computers (to do something as simple as restore a personal backup!).

PS: I tapped on each screenshot to bluetooth them to my laptop while I was writing this note. iOS is so limited, even *that* simple task is impossible on iOS!

it may be 'trivially easy' conceptually, but it's very time consuming (especially with higher capacity devices) and completely pointless to do it monthly or even yearly.

bullshit. it's actually very time consuming to restore a device no matter what it is, particularly if you're doing it manually.

trolling again, and as usual, complete nonsense.

it's actually very easy to restore an ios device from a backup, so easy that it's just a button click and without needing any 'mainframe computers on the net'.

more trolling.

on ios, tapping a screenshot will send it via wifi, which is over 100x faster than bluetooth.

In the simplest sense, your "concept" is similar to that of an automatic transmission - where you default on thinking - whereas my concept is akin to the manual transmission - which - sure - it's "more work" but the results are more satisfyingly tuned to my needs.

Well, let's look at it the way Jolly Roger looks at jailbreaking.

To *him*, since he's done it so many times, it takes "5 minutes". To "me", it would take 10x that and then add an order of magnitude.

Likewise, I've re-installed so many operating systems, that it does only take me a short while (maybe an hour, if that) to set up the system the way I want it set up.

Each time, of course, I *explore* more settings, and I *test* different apps and versions, and I *experiment* with disabling of permissions.

For example, I disabled location permission on *all* the apps that requested it (that didn't need it).

For example, *why* does ES File Explorer need location access?

Why does a WiFi Analyzer need location access?

Why does the T-Mobile carrier-iq "System Manager Application" need it?

Why does a stinkin' clock need location access?

Or the Contacts app, for heaven's sake?

The list goes on and on and on. My "experiment" is to see if anything bad happens. So far, after two days, nothing bad has happened yet.

I notice how you cleverly danced around the fact that it's *impossible* to restore iOS without needing a *SECOND* computer (of any sort, net or no net), whereas it's trivial do restore an Android system *without* anything but the Android device itself.

That's only one of very many things that Android can do, all by itself, that the more primitive and limited iOS can't hope to accomplish all by itself.

Which fails every time when you don't have a network established, which means you can't do it when you're away from your established network.

So, again, yet another of many things Android does that the primitive and limited iOS can't even hope to accomplish simply because of the limitations of the software (the hardware is fine - it's the software that is limited by Apple as to what it can do).

If you know cars, and if you know engines, then what I'm doing is more akin to "blueprinting" the engine than merely rebuilding it.

And, my constant tweaking of hundreds of settings a month is akin to using a manual transmission instead of an automatic (where many people just take the defaults handed to them for everything).

Since iOS has the engine bay welded shut, iOS users have no possibility of blueprinting the engine, nor choosing which gear they'll be in. . All they can do is point the thing.

Worse, they need a tow truck standing by with hundrds upon hundreds of megabytes of bloatware just to change a tire, since, by their own admission, iOS can't even do the *simplest* of things without that desktop and Internet mainframe tow truck following them everywhere they go.

more trolling, and it doesn't.

you're just too stupid to figure out how to pop its hood, even though people tell you where the hood release is.

If I'm too stupid to figure out how to set up an automatic call recorder, then so are you.

If I'm too stupid to figure out how to set up the desktop like I already do on all other platforms, then you are too (since it can't be done due to iOS limitations imposed by Apple MARKETING.

If I'm too stupid to torrent from iOS then you are too, since Apple disallows torrenting in non-jailbroken devices.

Heck, if I'm too stupid to simply list out all the apps installed on the device into an *editable* text file from the device itself (without needing a tow truck to do the *simplest* of things), then you are too - since you're the one who advocates the towtruck hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of megabytes of bloatware just to perform the simplest of tasks which *every* other operating system can do on its own.

All you care about is: a. *feeling* safe b. being *stylish* c. Limited solutions [because complexity scares you ... see (a) above]

That's why you "point" your vehicle, which has the engine welded shut, and which uses a computer-based transmission becuase - as you said - let the computer do *all* the thinking for you - and - of course - in abdicating all your thinking and ability to tweak the engine - you are supremely limited in where you can *point* the thing.

The only thing iOS users *can* do is punch buttons *already* supplied by Apple & Developer MARKETING organizations. They can *never* go off road.

iOS is the most limiting commonly used operating system on the planet. It's also one of the most successful.

That just means there are a *lot* of people like you on this planet. Lots! (the other problem is that people like you also vote)

Horace Algiers schrieb am 2016-09-23 um 15:56:

You have a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder?

Nobody I know does reinstall his or her phones or computers on a regular basis.

You're joking, surely. My Moto Droid X2 lists 195 apps. I'm certainly not going spend a day a month clicking each one's .apk to re-install it, month after month after month. (Sheesh!) But enjoy it, if that's what you do.

Cheers, -- tlvp

To learn what TZO to be using, perhaps :-) ? YMMV. Cheers, -- tlvp

I understand what you're saying.

What you're saying is that you have your tools and files strewn about all over your garage workbench desktop, and if I suddenly called independent cleaners to your house, and they piled all the tools and data that you have strewn about on your desktop into a big box, you'd *never* be able to put them back in the hugely disorganized mess that *was* your desktop before the cleaners arrived.

In stark contrast, I have a desktop with as many apps as you have, but which is well organized (and where less often used apps are accessed from inside the app drawer apps):

And, I keep all my *data* (including app data!) in /extSdCard/data/{my hierarchy}.

The tools are in the /extSdCard/data/software/{APKs by folder} using the

So, it *is* trivial to reinstall everything. I don't even back things up (since they're already on the SD card).

1. I remove the SD card & SIM card (just in case).
2. I factory reset
3. I put back the SD card & SIM card

That gives me all my data (including app data!).

1. Then I reinstall all the apps, folder by folder, from the APKs. (Notice there is no need for Google Play or F-Droid at this time!)
2. The only "complex" thing is that I have to set up things, but luckily the file-redirector apps work just fine from their backup data.

So, the only thing I have to *manually* set up are the *permissions* which are different from default.

Which is why you see a spate of posts from me on how to best make those decisions of non-default setup for the apps and the operating system.

I'm always honing my setup. Every single day. Because I'm *organized*, it's trivial to recover from a factory-default.

That holds true for Linux, iOS, Windows, or Android - although the huge limitations of iOS make any attempt at an organized plan a shamble.

Actually, you misunderstood, but I do agree with you that nobody factory resets their phone on a *frequent* basis.

What you misunderstood was *why* I factory reset.

The *reason* I factory reset is that I *screw* with hundreds (and hundreds) of settings a month. I turn off Google Play. I eliminate the Ad Id. I turn off location access to all apps that don't need it. I disable *everything Google* that I can get away with, etc.

In doing so, I screw things up, which happens (and I'm ok with that).

However, I'm as old as Jeff Liebermann - so I am used to rebuilding Windows OS's on a *regular* basis. We don't have to do that nowadays, but certainly if you're as old as Jeff and I am, you'll remember those days of "regular OS" rebuilds.

What I learned in those days is that rebuilding the OS is easy if you plan ahead.

How to plan ahead is easy if you learn two things! a. Put your data in a place that is never polluted by others! b. Your data includes your app installers & your menu hierarchy.

With those two things done, it's actually almost trivial to reset either Windows or Android in about an hour (well, Windows takes longer because the factory reset takes longer).

What I do, on Android, is: A. I store all my data in the flash card in /extSdCard/data/{hierarchy} B. I use an Android file redirector for dumb apps' data C. I automagically save all APKs to that data hierarchy D. I maintain a well-organized single desktop screen which I screenshot just before a factory reset (so that I can easily reproduce it if want to)

Notice whether I'm on Windows, Linux, iOS, or Android, I *organize* my apps and data the *same* way.

For example, on both computers and mobile devices, I have a "browser" folder because I browse the web and Tor equally on all platforms.

Likewise, I have a "communication" folder, where I perform communications tasks such as email and chat and text on all platforms.

Similarly, on all platforms, I have an "editor" folder where I store picture editors, and video players, and audio recording and editing apps.

My premise is that we all do (essentially) the same things on our devices.

I feel the reason why (most people) can't handle a factory reset gracefully is simply that they don't plan ahead at all times for that factory reset.

I do. Hence, a factory reset is no big deal for me.

If you did that, I'd have you (and them) arrested for felonious entry :-) .

Cheers, -- tlvp

Horace Algiers schrieb am 2016-09-24 um 18:31:

That's irrelevant. Nobody I know does this and I don't know of any publication recommending doing this.