1

Some time ago I noticed Wi-Fi powers on without any action from me. There was a question already from me, asking why the phone would do this. I localized the issue to Foursquare app — it actually has a permission to change Wi-Fi state and seems to be using it to turn it on when it wants to use geolocation (which is, strangely, almost all the time). When I removed the Foursquare, Wi-Fi stopped to turn on by itself.

Is there any way to prevent Foursquare from enabling Wi-Fi without removing it and logging off from app (to be able to still use it)?

|improve this question
  • Just a thought: Can't you logoff from 4square when not using it? Or wouldn't that change its behaviour? – Izzy♦ Dec 3 '12 at 23:35
  • @Izzy I should rephrase the question: stop Foursquare from enabling the Wi-Fi without stopping to use the app. – Michael Pankov Dec 4 '12 at 13:51
  • I think I identified the app incorrectly — removal of Foursquare doesn't solve the problem in the end. – Michael Pankov Dec 7 '12 at 15:38
  • Just being curious: which app was it then? – Izzy♦ Dec 7 '12 at 15:42
  • Not sure, maybe WaveSecure – Michael Pankov Dec 7 '12 at 21:31
0

You could try removing the permission to change the Wi-Fi state with something like LBE Privacy Guard. There's also the possibility of using the method described in a similar question on here, this involves changing the .apk file and no root is needed.

There's a few caveats though:

  • Biggest one is that when Foursquare tries to use the removed the permission it may well break depending on how the developers coded it.
  • LBE Guard needs root, so you'll need to have a rooted phone.
  • There have been suggestions here and here LBE Guard isn't all it's cracked up to be (buggy, hard to uninstall, might mine your data?) despite the high ratings in the marketplace.
|improve this answer
  • n.b. I haven't actually used LBE Privacy Guard before and am just going off several descriptions I've read of its capabilities. – Peanut Dec 3 '12 at 12:23
  • Maybe none of my apps requested that permission -- but AFAIK LBE can only block network access (like a firewall) and Geolocation access, but not the "network state change". Might be worth a try, though. Same goes for PDroid. And manually patching an .apk is not a good thing in terms of breaking updates. – Izzy♦ Dec 3 '12 at 23:03
  • Ah well, Constantious let me know how it goes and I'll update my answer accordingly. – Peanut Dec 3 '12 at 23:26
  • @Peanut well, thanks for suggestion, but it seems I'm not ready for usage of such a controversial app as LBE (don't want to reset my phone because of bugs and so on). Moreover, I don't have root access. – Michael Pankov Dec 4 '12 at 13:58
  • I'm not going to patch .apk too, so it seems I need to just get over it. – Michael Pankov Dec 4 '12 at 13:59

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.