App Updates – are they really necessary?

[Ed P]

My phone no longer gets Android updates, yet every week I probably get 30-40 app updates. Even though I use Wi-Fi for updating, the process gobbles up battery life and does not seem to add anything but trivial facilities to the apps. If I allowed it, it would probably bust my data limits completely.

Would I gain or lose anything by just switching off updates and ignoring them for three months or so?

[Bob Williams]

Interested in any answers to this, myself, Ed. Watching this space…

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Richard]

I wonder the same thing as many of the updates are for things that I don’t use. Updates are only allowed while I am within Wi-Fi range to avoid charges. There has not been much impact on battery life, though that is not much impact I have noticed, though I charge the thing every night anyway. The important word there may well be that I have not ‘noticed’ adverse impacts. The possible problem is that you are not told what changes during the update so it is hard to know if it could affect something, security, battery life or what? Like you, I suspect many are ‘feature changes’ that I will never see as I don’t use the programme.

[JayCeeDee]

I regularly get 6 – 10 app updates every other day, which surprises me, as I don’t consider that I’ve gone overboard on the app front. I’ve just checked and there’s 90 apps in total, but, scrolling through, 30 of those are Google oriented one way or another, including some weird foreign keyboards that it feels I need.

I have mine set to download via wifi, but only when the charger is plugged in ( usually most nights ) so I don’t get problems with data limits or battery life.

What really annoys me is when they update a perfectly working simple app ( like TomTom Speed Cameras  ) and update it to a fully fledged SatNav app that will never compete with Google maps or Waze, and has to be fiddled about with to get it back to where it was before, and ignore the map aspects of it.

Sometimes they just don’t know when to leave well alone!!

[Richard]

Did you install the TomTom app? I have never seen it. My mobile acts as a hot spot for the car satnav and is powered off the car when on longer trips, to get travel up dates and keep it charged. The car is good at spotting limits. I like the cruise control and the speed limiter to mange my limits.

I have disabled most of those keyboards, so I no longer get those updates, but there are many other, ‘don’t care’ dross apps like them.

[blacklion1725]

The TomTom speed camera app was a great app that gave limits, cameras and (unlike many) also average speed cameras. It had a “overlay” feature which allowed a small small speed display to sit on to of (e.g.) Google Maps. The recent update uninstalled the app and replaced it with “Amigo” which is a full (but not very good) sat nav app. As JC says with a bit of tinkering, the Amigo app can be made to look and behave like the old app, but it was a real chore, and none of your preferences from the old app were carried over. It is all OK again now but definitely a case of them fixing something that wasn’t broke.

[JayCeeDee]

Richard wrote:

Did you install the TomTom app?

Yes, Richard, I installed it about 2 years ago and used it in my old car, separately from the SatNav and it did brilliantly, warning me of fixed cameras, if I went over the limit by 5% a gentle “double tinkle” and if I went 10 or more over, a more strident triple tinkle. Also it put numbers to your actual average speed through average speed zones. It warned you of congestion ahead and actually gave distance to the traffic jam you were in, so you could tell if it was worth taking a divert or not. It was just a perfect little app that sat on your phone, or, with later cars, or ones with Android Auto, could show the app display overlaid onto a map.

Then they got ambitious and screwed it up!!

It’s still useful, on it’s own on the phone, but it is more finicky to set it up for best use.

[The Duke]

I never even noticed it chanced names. I used it all the time as an overlay for Google maps. It still works the same way. I used it last week when helping a friend.

Ive never used any other functionality of Tom Tom’s sat nav, just use it for the overlay.

my car has a good sat nav (tom Tom software on an sd card) with a speed limit /and speed showing, bit I much prefer to use android auto, sadly I don’t think you can make the overlay trick work in auto, but waze has an speed/limit icon built in and works well.

Also on my car it has a digital dash board, so it tells you the road limit almost all the time  on the dash if you want it to

Funny enough I don’t want it on a daily basis, it bugs me. I think it’s the red ring distracts my eyes. But on drives to places I don’t know I’ll have it up on the dash, and google maps on the media screen.

I’m currently surpassed the need for gmaps with an overlay. But my next car may not have android auto, so it will be back to a phone stand and my old approch. Even if it has a built in satnav and media. Rather use the phone.

 

[Wheels-Of-Fire]

Im not sure if you loose much by suspending updates for a while but I switched my old Galaxy S5 on for the first time in about 5 months last week. I wanted to make a quick Messenger call while I was on my other phone but as soon as the S5 connected to wifi it kicked off an update cycle that was still going 15 min later. I don’t know how long it would have continued for because the battery went flat but the phone was useless during the updates.

[Dave Rice]

After discovering it in a pile of bits I turned the Hudl on again yesterday after at least a year being off. I vaguely remember it wasn’t working too well that’s why it had been abandoned. I left it on for a good hour just running the CCTV app which I manually updated. If there were any updates going on I never noticed them.

 

[blacklion1725]

The Duke wrote:

I never even noticed it chanced names. I used it all the time as an overlay for Google maps. It still works the same way. I used it last week when helping a friend. Ive never used any other functionality of Tom Tom’s sat nav, just use it for the overlay. my car has a good sat nav (tom Tom software on an sd card) with a speed limit /and speed showing, bit I much prefer to use android auto, sadly I don’t think you can make the overlay trick work in auto, but waze has an speed/limit icon built in and works well. Also on my car it has a digital dash board, so it tells you the road limit almost all the time on the dash if you want it to Funny enough I don’t want it on a daily basis, it bugs me. I think it’s the red ring distracts my eyes. But on drives to places I don’t know I’ll have it up on the dash, and google maps on the media screen. I’m currently surpassed the need for gmaps with an overlay. But my next car may not have android auto, so it will be back to a phone stand and my old approch. Even if it has a built in satnav and media. Rather use the phone.

Pretty sure you’d notice Duke – maybe yours hasn’t updated, new app is called Amigo, and can be made to look the same but for example to get “overlay” on the old app you tapped one of three icons – on Amigo you tap the speed display to go from full screen to overlay. One nice thing on Amigo is at the end of an Average Speed zone it tells you what your average speed was, and it tells you out loud the limit for upcoming static cameras which (I think) the old one didn’t.

[wasbit]

Posted on alt.comp.freeware by Arlen Holder

“My experiment turning all Android app permissions off, specifically to Google Play Services permission

I’ve been testing the Android Pie Moto G7 for a few days now, where I have
installed hundreds of freeware apps, so I’ve been testing with all app
permissions initially turned off to everything, including system apps
including Android Google Play Services and Carrier Services (whatever that
does):
<https://i.postimg.cc/DzwR5fYf/permission00.jpg&gt;

Very few programs actually required me turning on _any_ app permissions!
<https://i.postimg.cc/pdGC0GQF/permission02.jpg&gt;

After a few days of testing, there was only 1 minor glitch so far, and a
few bonus glitches, where I’m actually rather surprised how well the phone
works with almost all app permissions turned off.
<https://i.postimg.cc/SxHBxftC/permission07.jpg&gt;

The minor glitch was that cellular data worked only for MMS but not for
Internet, which a half hour with T-Mobile support cleared up, which was
that somehow turning all carrier permissions off swapped the cell tower
access point names as described in more detail this recent thread:
o Curious what access point name your mobile provider uses for
cellular and MMS-only APs on your cellular towers?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.android/ez-QuVw1fK4&gt;

When I fixed the cellular tower access point name, I found that I could
still keep carrier services with no permissions, surprisingly, although I
get errors in my notifications (that I could turn off most likely):
<https://i.postimg.cc/xdc1W5Nm/permission05.jpg&gt;

I’m not even sure _what_ “Carrier Services” does; does anyone know?
<https://i.postimg.cc/wxcg4Z4P/permission06.jpg&gt;

The bonus glitch is that programs which were automatically doing things
without me knowing about it are now complaining that they can’t do those
things automatically, which I wouldn’t have known they were doing otherwise
– so this is a bonus glitch.
<https://i.postimg.cc/xTvRrTyY/permission03.jpg&gt;

Some permissions you can turn on ad hoc, e.g., if you want a browser set to
Google Maps to know where you are via your GPS receiver sensor:
<https://i.postimg.cc/QxWXjCfB/permission04.jpg&gt;

*Overall, so far, it’s shocking how _few_ permissions you really need!*

I will test for a few more weeks to hone the process, as, one by one, an
app (e.g., a video camera app) asks for permissions when I use it.

################

> After a few days of testing, there was only 1 minor glitch so far, and a
> few bonus glitches, where I’m actually rather surprised how well the phone
> works with almost all app permissions turned off.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/SxHBxftC/permission07.jpg&gt;

I found yet another set of permissions which is NOT in this listing!
<https://i.postimg.cc/SxHBxftC/permission07.jpg&gt;

What happened was I was testing a set of app lockers, such as:
o App Lock (F-Droid)
o AppLocker (F-Droid)
o Smart Applock (Aurora Store anonymous scrape of Google Play)
o LockIt (Aurora Store anonymous scrape of Google Play)
o AppLock (Aurora Store anonymous scrape of Google Play)
o Perfect AppLocker (Aurora Store anonymous scrape of Google Play)
etc.
<https://i.postimg.cc/L8wMJx2c/permission08.jpg&gt;

These apps allow you to password protect any specific app you choose.
o But a whole _new_ set of permissions named “usage access” showed up!
<https://i.postimg.cc/KjZ66VDM/permission09.jpg&gt;

Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > Special app access
<https://i.postimg.cc/V6wptTTV/permission10.jpg&gt;

There are a slew of _additional_ access permissions in that location!
o Battery optimization
o Device admin apps
o Display over other apps
o Do not disturb access
o Modify system settings
o Notification access
o Picture-in-picture
o Premium SMS access
o Unrestricted data
o Install unknown apps
o Usage access
o VR helper services
o Directory access
o Wi-Fi control

So it seems we have _more_ stuff to turn off to test over time! :)”

 

--
Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[The Duke]

I noticed the interface shift, I just never noticed the name change. Probably cos I just search for apps in the app menu, and it’s still called Tom Tom amigo, so writing Tom Tom finds it.

[Ed P]

I guess no-one has actually gone for months without updating, so I’ve gleaned the following ‘rules’ from the posts so far.

Assuming Android is no longer being updated the following probably applies:

a) Apps that have ‘live’ info embedded such as Mapping Apps benefit by being updated.

b) Apps that save to the Cloud probably should be updated otherwise the Cloud save may silently go t-up

c) Apps that regularly download info probably should be updated.

d) Apps that use static data e.g. British birds App. probably do not need to be updated

e) Games apps probably do not need updating unless you hit frequent ‘bombs’

Please amend/add to my list as you see fit.

[Ed P]

I have just run for ten weeks without updating my phone. (Not strictly true as Google did its own sneaky updates and ignored my setting). As I have an old phone, there were no Android updates, so no new features. Existing apps continued to perform with zero issues. As I have nothing better to do I have put the phone on charge and I’m letting it do 66 updates. If there are any issues I’ll post again, but to me it appears app updating is a waste of time and effort!

[Dave Rice]

My Hudl finally ran out of steam, after the latest Hikconnect upgrade that app won’t work. I believe it’s related to Google Play services somehow. But after 6+ years and several times I thought it was dead, it’s finally time to go in the tech drawer.

I’ve replaced it with a £90 TECLAST P80X from Amazon, chosen because it had decent ratings and has a 4G sim slot. Build quality is nowhere near the Hudl but I don’t want to fork out for a Huawei or Samsung. That’s not to say it’s flimsy, just placticky, and it does have a screen protector already applied.

Type C USB and Android 9 , runs well, has all the things you’d expect and battery time OK. It’ll spend most of it’s time on a stand – Android tablets do make good CCTV monitors – so I think it’s going to last a good while.

I will be keeping the updates going though.

[Bob Williams]

The only apps I removed on my Sony Xperia L3, was Sony’s own “News Suite” and Google News. Both are always way behind other sources such as Reuters and even the BBC. I see no point in getting notifications for news reports I read a day or two before from a faster, up to date source.

Dave, I had retired the Hudl I got from Nolan after making sure it was reset. I had bought a Lenovo Tab 3-8″ 3 years ago and wanted the Hudl2 for ‘insurance’. Now the Lenovo is quite frankly a complete pita, slow and sluggish even after I applied all the fixes and reduced  internal and SD storage. Battery is dying: replacements vary from £14.49 (cheapest) to almost £40. Hudl has an almost new battery and I have in the past repaired my granddaughter’s Hudl by using two “sold as seen” from ebay and her own, cannibalising all 3 to make one, which is still working. I also put a new charger and charging port in that one, they are cheap enough from ebay. Gdaughter calls it “Frankenhudl”!

So I know the Hudl quite well, not afraid to delve into its innards, in fact I enjoy that. I also think that the Hudl camera is better than the Lenovo and the screen res seems better, although the spec’s don’t bear that out. It’s certainly quicker, so I will be setting it back up soon as. If you have no intention of using your Hudl and it still has usable parts, I would be happy to take it off your hands. Let me know what you want for it and we can work something out with P&P. I am interested in seeing how far into the future I can take my Hudl.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Dave Rice]

I will Bob. Frankenhudl, I like that.

[Author]

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