The other day I did a hard reset. All is back to normal with the exception of one thing. I no longer have a search history on the phone. When I click the search bar at the top of the home screen, none of my past searches are there. When I go into the search settings, the "clear on-device search history" is greyed out.
I do have my google account set to have my web history paused, but I don't think that is the same as my search history on my phone.
Is there a setting that I'm overlooking that needs to be turned on or off? I 've looking everywhere on the phone I can think of and no luk. I know it did save my searches before the reset.
Side note: I noticed that the google search app is no longer in the play store when I search for it via the phone, but it's installed on the phone. I do know that my tablet running official jelly bean does have search history and the search app shows up on the play store with that device.
Thanks for the help.
Hello everyone!
I'm running Hyperdrive on my S3, and I'm struggling with Google Search and getting it to work properly. I haven't had this issue before on the S3 or my Note, so I'm a little lost. It came pre-installed with this app. It would open, run through the Google Now setup, and then when it went to the part where it listens to what you're saying, the screen would freeze and it would force close (eventually). I removed it and reinstalled it from the market.. Same thing. I have tried different APK files I found and nothing is working.
I have also noticed that when the app is installed, I have two different search applications, so I think it's running a duplicate app somewhere, but I can't find it.. I have "Google" which takes me to the search thing, and then I have "Voice Search" which takes me there as well, both force close if I open them.
Any ideas? Where are all the files for these located? I thought I completely removed it, but maybe I missed something and it's causing issues.
Thanks for the help!
GeneralSky2004 said:
Hello everyone!
I'm running Hyperdrive on my S3, and I'm struggling with Google Search and getting it to work properly. I haven't had this issue before on the S3 or my Note, so I'm a little lost. It came pre-installed with this app. It would open, run through the Google Now setup, and then when it went to the part where it listens to what you're saying, the screen would freeze and it would force close (eventually). I removed it and reinstalled it from the market.. Same thing. I have tried different APK files I found and nothing is working.
I have also noticed that when the app is installed, I have two different search applications, so I think it's running a duplicate app somewhere, but I can't find it.. I have "Google" which takes me to the search thing, and then I have "Voice Search" which takes me there as well, both force close if I open them.
Any ideas? Where are all the files for these located? I thought I completely removed it, but maybe I missed something and it's causing issues.
Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like your google voice is messed up somehow, If you manually type something into google now, does it work? I would say to try and clear cache and data for google search and framework in settings>apps>under all tab. Reboot phone, if this doesn't work, try a full wipe-ROM reflash. For future reference this should have been posted in Q&A.
I have had my moto 360 for about three days now. It updated and i can not get the new watch faces nor will it allow me to say "ok google show me my steps" because it will pull up a link on my watch and i press it and it opens on my phone. Nor will this work with the heart rate command. Im kind of pissed that i bought ab250 dollar watch that is messing up!
Try uninstalling Google Fit App on your Phone. When installed the Wear app do not works like before.
dersie said:
Try uninstalling Google Fit App on your Phone. When installed the Wear app do not works like before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issue here.. worked fine yesterday. This is odd.
Same here. Will try suggestion from dersie.
---------- Post added at 10:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 PM ----------
Uninstalling and reinstalling the fit app did not work.
I am able to do voice searches from my phone. Also, I was able to use my voice to send a text from my watch. Not sure what gives.
I'm having problems with the commands "start a run", "start a ride" or "start a workout" - it just does google searches instead of starting the assigned apps (Runkeeper and VimoFit).
It all seems related to the latest wear update from the party store as I was fine until that installed when I got back on WiFi this evening
Sent from my SGP612
Same here.
1. If I ask it "Show me my Steps" or "Show me my heat rate" it will take me to a search page vs. opening up google fit or the moto apps. On day 1, this did work.
2. If I ask it to "Start power amp" on my phone it opens the playstore vs. poweramp app. Other apps also do this, but not all of them.
3. If I say "settings" it takes me to a search page vs. opening settings.
4. If I say "Play music" it opens up Google music as it should.
5. Notes and reminders work.
Yep. Same here. Seems like a config issue...
I have the same problem as the first one you mentioned. The watch interprets the words and displays them on the face, so it got that much right. It seems like the definition of what to do has been removed. My guess is that there is a dictionary, hash map, registry or whatever that translates interpreted statements into Androidwear app actions. The entries for these two phrases have somehow been deleted or are unreadable.
App need: A tool to manage the actions taken by AndroidWear when a registered phrase is found. Typical CRUD operations. Maybe this app already exists?
Update: A few days after posting this, the device (dare I call it a watch) starting responding properly to the command. I'm sure something was updated but I don't recall seeing any notifications about an update (a little creepy if you ask me). Then a few days later an update to AndroidWear on my phone along with Google and Maps. No noticeable change in the device. Earlier I had noticed that the watch face would not display the date, even though I had configured it using Moto Connect. I reset the watch today and now the date is back and the commands continue to work almost flawlessly. All is good... for now.
hamiltonca said:
I have the same problem as the first one you mentioned. The watch interprets the words and displays them on the face, so it got that much right. It seems like the definition of what to do has been removed. My guess is that there is a dictionary, hash map, registry or whatever that translates interpreted statements into Androidwear app actions. The entries for these two phrases have somehow been deleted or are unreadable.
App need: A tool to manage the actions taken by Androidwear when a registered phrase is found. Typical CRUD operations. Maybe this app already exists?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try IFTTT. It's free and solved some of my issues until Motorola fixes this.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ifttt.ifttt
The same problem appeared on my watch today. Strange thing is that it was working fine this morning. I've not updated nor installed any new apps on either my phone or the watch.
I've seen others report the same issue but on the LG G Watch R so this seem to be a Google problem.
Reinstall fixed it for me
But didn't fix it for me on g watch r
dangreene1 said:
Reinstall fixed it for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my HTC One_M8
Update to android wear in okay store on 12/3. Didn't get notified, but I uninstalled it, then reinstalled it. No change.
fixed!!
https://forums.motorola.com/posts/47f3ee214e
Like the title says, I've noticed since updating to 7.1.2 at least 2-3 times a day I am thrown a notification for "updating Instant Apps" but it never tells me if it was updated or installed. I tried going to Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps and it is disabled yet these apps are auto-downloading and installing in the background. I have auto-updates off on the play store but this still occurs.
Is there anything I can do to disable or at least cripple the instant apps? I'm reading the purpose of instant apps is so you can try an application without installing it, I do not want to test drive apps like Buzzfeed so however I can disable it would be great
fatapia said:
Like the title says, I've noticed since updating to 7.1.2 at least 2-3 times a day I am thrown a notification for "updating Instant Apps" but it never tells me if it was updated or installed. I tried going to Settings -> Google -> Instant Apps and it is disabled yet these apps are auto-downloading and installing in the background. I have auto-updates off on the play store but this still occurs.
Is there anything I can do to disable or at least cripple the instant apps? I'm reading the purpose of instant apps is so you can try an application without installing it, I do not want to test drive apps like Buzzfeed so however I can disable it would be great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, using Titanium Backup I couldn't find the package com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor but using a root explorer I found the application in /data/app/com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor-2
I also found saved data in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor
I have no idea if this will prevent the service from auto-updating as it has been without permission but I know where it is now...
Update: Deleting both folders causing settings to crash when you go to Settings -> Google -> Instant apps, so it might be deleted off my phone entirely. I will update if I see the application re-install itself
Instant apps are temporary apps. So you can't uninstall them or disable it. It's a feature built into Android that is not going away. Your only option is to install a rom without Gapps. Otherwise deal with it.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
superchilpil said:
Instant apps are temporary apps. So you can't uninstall them or disable it. It's a feature built into Android that is not going away. Your only option is to install a rom without Gapps. Otherwise deal with it.
Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
deleting those two files seemed to have broken that feature.
My issue was that I disabled that service through settings as suggested by one of the google support pages but it would still download and install "Instant Apps" the service throughout the day, not the actual temporary apps themselves. So it's been dealt with lol
oh man, when i saw this i thought i had a virus on my phone.
especially when i couldn't find anything named "instant apps" in the app drawer
I am hoping that this will work for me as well. The first time I saw the instant apps pop up I just connected to a free wifi in Mexico and freaked out. This seriously bothers me. I uninstalled it and it came back update after update. I also will not be using any instant apps, so this is something I want to break.
speedee12 said:
I am hoping that this will work for me as well. The first time I saw the instant apps pop up I just connected to a free wifi in Mexico and freaked out. This seriously bothers me. I uninstalled it and it came back update after update. I also will not be using any instant apps, so this is something I want to break.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
some how it was pushed back on to my phone. this is not a permanent solution...
so I'm trying to disable this through other means now and I found something interesting? I need someone with more experience to chime in as far as what these* lines* do*.. and where I found it...
so in /data/data/com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor/shared_prefs/phenotypeConfigurations.xml there are these three lines:
<boolean name="Supervisor__enable_instant_apps" value="true" />
<boolean name="Supervisor__disable_url_resolution" value="false" />
<boolean name="TestFeature__enable_test" value="true" />
I flipped the value of these three entries to see if this will disable it. I find it odd that for the first line it was set for "true" when the settings say it's off. I will update again if I see this come back. My coworker had suggested that this may be built in to the Google app itself? Let's see...
so I had to unroot my phone because I forgot to log into snapchat, then re-root after, and Instant Apps was back yet again. The changes I made to the XML file persisted but the app was back.
I think I found a way to remove it entirely. I used Root Explorer, idk what other applications would work for this. So I navigated back to /data/app/com.google.android.instantapps.supervisor-1 and I clicked the base.apk and I had an option to uninstall, I did this then rebooted my phone to see if reboots are why it fixes itself except the entry for Instant Apps has been removed from settings. This appears to permanently remove this feature.
every time I think I fix this it keeps coming back lol, I finally called Google Support and this is the first they are hearing of it. The application re-installed itself at 430-some Mountain Time on it's own, other times it re-installs upon reboot. I'm going to find a way to cripple it if google cant
I recommend calling support to let them know that Instant Apps is enabled even though the switch says it is disabled.
fatapia said:
every time I think I fix this it keeps coming back lol, I finally called Google Support and this is the first they are hearing of it. The application re-installed itself at 430-some Mountain Time on it's own, other times it re-installs upon reboot. I'm going to find a way to cripple it if google cant
I recommend calling support to let them know that Instant Apps is enabled even though the switch says it is disabled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same annoyances, "Installig Instant apps" notification appears randomly during the last month, and reading in the logcat they are updates/patches to the new feature, managed by finsky app (Play Store). The most scaring thing is that one time it appeared also during mobile data connection, which is not acceptable (and 800kb background data from Play Store). Google is being too aggressive with it. Why not simply integrate it and update it along with Play Services like the other 1000 google APIs ? !on WIFI!
Thank you for your tests, unfortunately the update process seems to be triggered by Google Play services itself or by Google play store.
I searched for related alarms/wakelocks in Amplify and could only found one wakelock coming from com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor itself: .ExperimentUpdateService. I decided to keep it as this probably isn't the trigger.
ninestarkoko said:
I have the same annoyances, "Installig Instant apps" notification appears randomly during the last month, and reading in the logcat they are updates/patches to the new feature, managed by finsky app (Play Store). The most scaring thing is that one time it appeared also during mobile data connection, which is not acceptable (and 800kb background data from Play Store). Google is being too aggressive with it. Why not simply integrate it and update it along with Play Services like the other 1000 google APIs ? !on WIFI!
Thank you for your tests, unfortunately the update process seems to be triggered by Google Play services itself or by Google play store.
I searched for related alarms/wakelocks in Amplify and could only found one wakelock coming from com.google.android.apps.instantapps.supervisor itself: .ExperimentUpdateService. I decided to keep it as this probably isn't the trigger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah that's now my only worrisome complaint is that it ignores the play store settings and will download over any network connection. You can try submitting feedback through settings and suggest they fix this part so that it updates as you said. Thanks for the additional info, I'll try disabling that and report back if it makes any difference. I doubt that's the source of the problem though so I uninstall the apk so something else must be initiating it.
Thank you guys for this thread! I have the regular Pixel and have been seeing this happen... "Instant Apps" was disabled but somehow still updating either itself or something else, and I wondered if there was an additional switch somewhere to disable it. Looks like the answer is no. ?
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
So I noticed every time the play store found an update, magically Instant Apps was back. I began to notice that this may be a service built into Play Store and not the Google app itself. So I had an idea, I went into Settings for Android and turned off background data for Play services. Obviously this will affect quite a bit, but honestly I am at that point from fighting this feature that I'd gladly give that up. So far after 2 days I have not seen the application re-install itself. It has been more permanent that the other solutions I've had so far.
There's an article from XDA in Analysis and Opinion talking about Instant Apps and Play Store 7.8.15, apparently this issue is affecting people all the way down to the Samsung S5... although people are hesistant to believe this issue exists for whatever reason.
You can cripple it by restricting its access to internet via firewall. Unfortunately this method also drives up battery consumption as the firewall does jujitsu with "Google Play services for Instant Apps" - I am actively fantasizing about taking my baby sledge to this thing and going back to a "dumb"-phone that doesn't have all this drama constantly! I'm using an S5 right now. This is definitely a google thing. They have a similar self-install-without-asking "feature" on windows via their chrome browser. Just look up "SwReporter" in that program's directory. It self-populates with an executable as you use chrome normally and there is no option in the program for it to not do that. You can safely make a shortcut to that directory and empty it out regularly to restrict its functionality which is presumably for keeping an eye on you. I am also trying an alternate method of changing security to prevent write access to that directory. I have no idea how to do that on an unrooted android. Any ideas? And does anybody know how to cripple "instant apps" malware/spyware backdoor "feature" on an unrooted device without eating battery like crazy?
Today I noticed that Instant Apps was installing without my permission. When I clicked on that notification, it brought me to the Google Play Store. (In Google Play Store, I have auto updates disabled.) I have an unrooted Galaxy Note 4 and I can't even find the settings for Instant Apps under the Google settings. Why aren't the settings there? I found the app in the Apps settings called "Google Play services for Instant Apps" (thank you G1A). I cleared it's the cache and data and then uninstalled it. So I'm assuming it will not come back but you never know.
EDIT: Well the "Google Play services for Instant Apps" reinstalled itself AGAIN WITHOUT MY PERMISSION. Getting sick of tired of Google's POMPOUS business ethics.
If it reinstalled itself.... then his would require root privileges in order to disable.
yeah this issue is annoying, it seems to initiate the download upon every reboot and each time it checks the play store for updates for any of your apps.
I found a way to disable it but it required freezing the app through Titanium Backup. I have NO CLUE why I couldn't see Instant Apps before in this list but it is listed as "Google Play Services for Instant Apps." It does not re-install or try to even download, does not show in Settings under Google, but if you look at the app itself in settings you will see it does still run. I am not sure to what extent but yeeeaahhh at least it doesnt seem like it can run anything
No problem As an update, changing security permissions (specifically for writing) for chrome's target folder Definitely (in windows 10) serves as an effective measure to blockade its ability to regenerate itself. This same method also works for microsoft edge located in the C-Windows-SystemApps folder. I presume that the programming methods would be analogous with android on google's end. Anybody know how to restrict write access to a folder on android? So long as it checks for a folder existing and it does exist (multi-decade programming approach) then it attempts to write to that folder. However, because it's already running in stealth mode (aka background) then it will never show an error message when it fails to execute, and it won't report back either, as that functionality depends on the contents of the targeted folder it is denied access to. It should be effectively crippled without excessive CPU consumption if you can just restrict its ability to write to the default folder that it installs itself in. Any ideas how to execute this kind of blockade?
UPDATE: As a way to cripple not Instant Apps specifically, but an entire host of functionality on the android platform, something called "Power Saving Mode" seems to knock out a key background runtime required for this pest to run. Unfortunately it doesn't let you pick and choose what it shuts off, so other useful apps may lose their functionality too. Post if anybody finds a more app-specific method!
Does this crap have its own separate package? If so, you could uninstall it and make a dummy APK having the same package name. This could prevent "updates" due to signing key conflicts, but might also break things...
I have an two Nexus 5X. I'd like to transfer everything from one to the other. Both have the latest update (Android 8.1)
On the "new" one, I did a factory reset, I go to the part where there is "Bring your data from .... A backup from an Android Phone". I thought it used a cable but I guess its wireless now.
The next screen, it says on the "old" device to open the "Google Settings" app, but I have no app called "Google Settings" Then it says to select "Set up nearby device" and to look for the phone on the list. There is a "Can't complete these steps" button. If I click it, I get the exact same screen but the first step says to goto "Settings" then "Google" which I CAN do, then continue with "set up nearby device"
However, once I do this and it searches, it doesnt find anything.
I tried touching them back to back and leaving it like that. There's a sound, and the screen changes to "connecting..." but just hangs there.
There's a restore from cloud backup option but it doesnt cover everything. For example I need to relogin on all my apps. Also doesnt cover files in storage.
There are various apps out there, but the phone is not rooted so it won't copy everything (ie. titanium backup). I don't want to root and lose nfc pay, etc