For questions about Android apps in general.
46
votes
6answers
1k views
Is it possible to install an app and exclude some of its requested permissions?
Occasionally I want to install an application which requires certain permissions that I feel it really shouldn't need. Can I install the app without giving it these permissions? For example, GPS ...
42
votes
6answers
18k views
What is the right way to close apps in Android?
I'm new to the Android platform, and this is probably a dumb question, but...
How do you close an app?
When I'm in an app, and I want to get out, I just click on "Home" and move on, but I just ...
32
votes
9answers
43k views
How can I prevent applications from running on startup? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I stop applications and services from running?
I've installed some applications that I mostly like, except for the fact that they all decided they were too ...
28
votes
5answers
5k views
How can I install an app given only its APK file?
I downloaded the APK file for an app to my PC. How can I install it on my phone?
27
votes
2answers
3k views
How to buy an app for a friend?
I would like to buy a game (well several copies of it really) for some of my friends for Christmas. Is there any way to do this? Would I have to rely on the publisher, or is there some way to "gift" ...
25
votes
4answers
6k views
Where can I find open source Android apps?
I'm not an open source zealot, but I generally prefer to use open source applications over proprietary ones if they stack up. Are there any directory sites with reviews, ect that specialize on open ...
24
votes
3answers
841 views
What are the drawbacks of moving an app to SD card?
Since I upgraded to Android 2.2, I noted some minor disadvantages of moving an app to SD card, like having to wait the SD card to be mounted after a reboot to be able launch the app.
What other ...
20
votes
1answer
32k views
How can I stop applications and services from running?
When my phone starts up there are several application/services running in the background that I would rather not. And when I press the Home button while using an app, that app usually goes into the ...
20
votes
5answers
24k views
How can I get apps from the Amazon app store from an unsupported region?
Currently, the Amazon app store appears to be US-only. Similar to How do I use the US Android Market, I want to know: How can I use the US Amazon Appstore?
Market Enabler doesn't seem to work, and ...
18
votes
5answers
2k views
Emacs on Android
I would like to run emacs on my android phone. Has anyone done this? If so, how can I?
I've looked, and I haven't been able to find either an executable or instructions to compile emacs for android.
...
18
votes
5answers
5k views
Securing a young child's tablet
My wife has decided to get the kids a set of android tablets for christmas. These are Coby Kyros 4GB wi-fi only models. The kids are ages 6-10 so I don’t particularly want to let them have free ...
18
votes
1answer
1k views
Does uninstalling apps leave any traces?
I come from a Windows background where anything you install-uninstall usually leaves traces which are sometimes hard to detect and remove.
Does the same happen when you remove Android apps? I know ...
18
votes
3answers
1k views
Is there a black list for Android apps?
Is there a blacklist yet for Android apps? After reading things like this on slashdot, I think this sort of thing would be extremely helpful. As much as I like Android because I'm not censored as to ...
18
votes
5answers
5k views
What's using my GPS?
On my Android phone (a Desire HD), the GPS indicator is currently on & flashing away.
How can I find out which app is responsible for using the GPS? I have my suspicions but would like to know ...
17
votes
6answers
3k views
Can I install apps on phone without using the Android Market?
I have this Huawei Device that does not come with the Android Market installed.
Is there any work-around for this? As in how can I install Android Apps without the Android Market?
Is there a way to ...
17
votes
2answers
3k views
Converting phone to SIP gateway
Is there an application that can make the phone to be a SIP GSM gateway so I can make and receive cellular calls using SIP phone and/or re-route them through a SIP PBX?
16
votes
3answers
24k views
What is the default Android Root Password?
What is the default password for the android root account?
Can I change the root password after rooting my android device by simply typing "passwd"?
How does the rooting process work? What is the ...
16
votes
3answers
534 views
Why can't I download games, apps, etc from any site except the Official Android Market?
Every time I try to download any of the games I love from any site except the Android Market, my phone tells me that the settings are set to not allow unknown apps to be run on my phone.
By the way I ...
16
votes
0answers
1k views
apps automatically starting? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I stop applications and services from running?
I noticed that some apps automatically starts without me opening it. Some of them runs everytime I turn on the ...
15
votes
3answers
30k views
Where in the file system are applications installed?
I have installed a few Android applications both with the adb install MyApplication.apk command and via a webserver (like an alternative to Android Market).
But where in the Android file system on my ...
15
votes
3answers
528 views
Will I get automatically lifetime FREE updates if I pay for an app?
If I buy a paid app, will I be able to get free updates for the rest of the lifetime of that app or should I pay later for the updates?
What's the norm? Can you perhaps give 1-2 examples?
Thanks!
15
votes
3answers
3k views
How do I remove HTC Desire pre-installed Android applications? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I uninstall applications that are locked by phone vendor?
My HTC Desire from Orange came with a number of pre-installed demo applications and games, these cannot ...
15
votes
5answers
2k views
Open source app for remote wiping Android phone?
I recently lost my android phone, and regretted not having a remote wipe app installed. However, I do not trust 3rd party compiled apps with such power (too many weak links).
Does anyone know of an ...
15
votes
2answers
1k views
What happens with the installed apps when you switch Google Account on a phone?
I am going to buy a new Android phone.
I would like to give my current one to my wife when I do this. She already owns an Android phone so she has her own Google account.
I am just wondering what ...
15
votes
3answers
845 views
Audit app permissions easily in one place?
Is there anyway to list all the applications installed on your phone and the permissions they require all on one page, or export the list so it can easily be audited?
15
votes
1answer
899 views
Why do some apps with no internet features require internet access?
A couple of apps I've installed or considered say they require internet access even though they have no obvious internet features. One of the most surprising ones was a simple compass app.
Why is ...
15
votes
8answers
4k views
What podcast apps include variable speed playback?
I know about Astro Player. Any other apps that feature podcast managment and variable speed playback?
14
votes
9answers
22k views
Is possible install Eclipse IDE in Honeycomb?
Since Eclipse IDE can run in Linux and the new Honeycomb has a Linux Kernel, can Eclipse IDE run in Android Honeycomb ?
I know that isn't pretty much comfortable coding in a tablet, but I'd want to ...
14
votes
6answers
1k views
How can I find a lost phone or help people return it?
I'm looking for an app like Where's My Droid to help locate a lost device.
Ideally I'm hoping there is one that might have two specific features:
The ability to display a message to the screen to ...
14
votes
5answers
7k views
How can I run Android applications on my PC with the Android emulator?
Is it possible to run Android applications on PC (with emulator)? I have Android SDK on my PC and I want to run Angry Bird on it. Can any body help to me?
14
votes
2answers
1k views
How do you link to applications in the Android market?
When posting app links, I'm always using a link on Cyrket or AppBrain -- becuase I can't get a link to anything in the official Android Market.
But I have seen some links out there for use w/ Android ...
14
votes
3answers
3k views
Watch Coursera's videos with the video app on Jelly Bean
Coursera has a html5 based video viewer that works on the android browser on Jelly Bean, but I would like instead to use the video app, in order to have full screen and better controls.
On my Kindle ...
13
votes
4answers
3k views
How do I secure/encrypt SD card data transparent to apps?
Are there any off-the-shelf options for securing the contents of an SD card so that files written by apps writing to SD are encrypted? If so, what is the best option?
I'm looking for something for ...
13
votes
2answers
131 views
Where can I find out when I installed an app?
Is there a Play Store log file?
Or should I be looking where apps are installed on the phone for time/date stamps?
13
votes
1answer
737 views
How Should I Handle This Suspicious App?
While traversing the 'installed' list of Google Play, I noticed a very odd app named SOUPER ANDROID DEVELOPMENT.
What's so suspicious about it is:
It does absolutely nothing to explain what it ...
13
votes
5answers
2k views
Is there a music player that supports play counts and smart playlists?
I'm looking for a music player for Android that supports smart playlists and play count metadata like the iPod and iTunes. Ideally I'd like something that:
Keeps track of statistics like last ...
13
votes
0answers
409 views
What's the secret behind super durability of latest ADW Launcher EX?
Update of ADW Launcher EX is back again after a long time. It brings lot of visual tweaks as well as performance boosts. After few days of experience, I have encountered one even more interesting ...
12
votes
7answers
4k views
Are the apps safe? How can I make my Android more secure?
Are the apps on the Android Market checked or audited?
If I search Google for "hardening Android", the best hit I can find is Google Android Hardening Checklist.
What's your opinion regarding this? ...
12
votes
5answers
537 views
What Android app replicates the iPhone Siri (voice recognition) functionality?
The new Siri app on the iPhone looks pretty intersting (at least from the videos). Is there an application on Android that matches or improves on the same functionality? Specifically, something that ...
12
votes
7answers
627 views
How can I categorize the apps on my phone?
I'm downloading many apps but then forget about them. I'd like to be able to see all my "note taking" apps, "todo" apps etc. So I can quickly compare and discard those I don't want. Of course I'd also ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Wi-Fi icon next to apps in android market
In Android market some app have a Wi-Fi icon next to them.
Some examples are Cordy, Fieldrunners HD, Flight Control, Where's My Water?, Wind-up Knight, World of Goo.
What dose it mean that these apps ...
12
votes
2answers
436 views
Why do apps get smaller when they are moved to the SD card?
For example, the Barcode Scanner app takes up:
Total: 0.96MB
Application: 0.92MB
Data: 40KB
on the phone. When I move it to the SD Card, it changes to:
Total: 524KB
Application: 484KB
Data: 40KB
...
12
votes
1answer
1k views
Why are some apps on the market incompatible with my device?
I own a Motorola Flipout, Android 2.1 stock ROM. According to the market the app "Handyticket Deutschland" is not compatible with my phone. The required Android version is 1.5 or above. How can I tell ...
12
votes
2answers
188 views
Are there any side effects of uninstalling Apps
Are there any side effects of Installing and uninstalling lots of apps on an Android smart phone?
Specifically are there any things that do not get cleaned up that I need to be aware off?
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Is there a reliable way to detect the app responsible for an Airpush ad?
I noticed the other day that my Xoom's notification bar has started receiving Airpush ads (which is what it sounds like - push notifications that are really ads). I'm rather philosophically opposed to ...
12
votes
1answer
8k views
Is there a way to clear your Google Play App history? (Not the search history) [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to remove apps from “all downloaded” in Play Store
I'm looking to see if there is a way to clear the actual history of installed apps in Google Play, as ...
11
votes
6answers
427 views
Any reason not to allow automatic updating for an app?
Since Android 2.2 (Froyo), you can select "Allow automatic updating" for applications. For some reason, I haven't started using this yet. The benefit would be to save time, but are there any good ...
11
votes
4answers
18k views
Where can find older versions of Apps?
Is is possible to download older versions of Android applications?
Is there some kind of online archive for all versions of Android apps? Like how you can find older versions of some Windows app.
11
votes
5answers
2k views
What are some solutions for remotely connecting to an Android phone?
I sit at a desk for most of the day, and having my phone (Sprint HTC Hero) sitting next to me is very useful, but it can be distracting to move my focus away from my PC to control my phone when ...
11
votes
1answer
249 views
What are my most frequently used apps?
As I want to optimize my workflow, how do I determine my most frequently used apps?, so I can put them on start screen. Of course I guess the 3-5 most frequently used apps by myself, but as there ...
