Do you enable "developer options" on Android? (What do you do with these new options?)

[Arlen Holder]

I wrote up the following nascent tutorial for my own use, where I started
wondering what other people do after they enable developer options.

Do you enable "developer options" on Android?
(What do you do with these new options once you enable them?)

Here's what I do, but I'd like to learn more from you about what's
possible.

****************************************************************************
Enabling specific developer options on Android 7.0 Nougat LG Stylo 3 Plus
****************************************************************************
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Allow apps outside of Google Play (e.g., copied APKs, F-Droid, etc.)
Settings > hamburger > General > Fingerprints & security > Unknown source
Change from: Unknown source = off
Change to: Unknown source = on (allows APKs outside of Google Play)

Note: Free app APKs almost always work on any phone no matter the
operating system version or the user id that installed the free app
or from whence the free app was obtained.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Make the "Developer options" menu visible (it's invisible by default):
Settings > General > About phone > Software info > Build number
Tap three times on "Build number" & it will then pop up the message...
"You are now 4 steps away from being a developer"
Tap 4 more times and it will say...
"You are now a developer."
This makes visible options such as the "Select USB Configuration"
which allows you to just plug your device into a Windows PC to slide
files back and forth across the visible file system.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Enable Windows to access the entire visible Android file system.
Enable "Developer options" first as shown in #2 above, & then go to...
Settings > General > Developer options > (OK the warning) >
NETWORKING > Select USB Configuration
Change the options from:
Charging only (o) <== the default
MTP (Mediat Transfer Protocol) (_)
PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) (_)
RNDIS (USB Ethernet) (_)
Audio Source (_)
MIDI (_)
Change the options to:
Charging only (_) <== the default
MTP (Media Transfer Protocol) (o)
PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) (_)
RNDIS (USB Ethernet) (_)
Audio Source (_)
MIDI (_)

Charging = Just charge this phone
File transfer = Transfer documents & media files to the connected device
Photo transfer = Transfer photos & videos to the connected device
MIDI device = Record and listen to music from the connected device
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Spoof your GPS location
First install any fake-gps location spoofer, e.g.,
a. Fake GPS location, by Lexa
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lexa.fakegps
b. Fake GPS GO Location Spoofer Free, by IncorporateApps
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.incorporateapps.fakegps.fre
http://incorporateapps.com/fake_gps_free_faq.html
Then enable "Developer options" first as shown in #2 above, & then go to...
Settings > General > Developer options > (OK the warning) >
DEBUGGING > Select mock location app
It will pop up a form saying "Select application" with the following:
Fake GPS
Fake GPS Pro
FakeGPS Free
Choose one & follow prompts to select any desired GPS location to spoof.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Enable viewing of running processes
Enable "Developer options" first as shown in #2 above, & then go to...
Settings > General > Developer options > (OK the warning) >
Running services
This will show a list of what services are in use and how much
of your RAM each app is using and how many processes and services
each app is running.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Enable any app to be written to external storage regardless of manifest:
Enable "Developer options" first as shown in #2 above, & then go to...
Settings > General > Developer options > (OK the warning) >
Inactive apps > Force allow apps on external
Change from: Force allow apps on external = off
Change to: Force allow apps on external = on

If you have limited internal storage space on your Android device,
but you have a SD card in the device, you may want to install some
apps to the SD card. Not all apps allow this, but the "Force allow apps
on external" setting in the Developer options allows you to install
any app to the SD card, whether it was programmed to do so or not.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Enable the phone to "talk" to the Android SDK on a PC over USB.
Enable "Developer options" first as shown in #2 above, & then go to...
Settings > General > Developer options > (OK the warning) >
DEBUGGING > USB debugging
Change from: USB debugging = off
Change to: USB debugging = on
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do you enable "developer options" on Android?
(What do you do with these new options once you enable them?)

[Anssi Saari]

Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> writes:

> Do you enable "developer options" on Android?
> (What do you do with these new options once you enable them?)

Only two things that I can think of. To install apps from other than
Play Store, I have a couple that aren't available from there.

The other thing is USB debugging so I can push or pull files easily with
adb. If I have a new device, I usually start with pushing a file manager
(ghost commander) and keepassdroid apks, then my password database. Hard
to do anything without those.

[Calum]

On 24/07/2018 03:17, Arlen Holder wrote:
> I wrote up the following nascent tutorial for my own use, where I started
> wondering what other people do after they enable developer options.

Normally, I then develop an app...

[Arlen Holder]

On 25 Jul 2018 15:34:40 GMT, Calum wrote:

> Normally, I then develop an app...

I admit I've never written an Android app in my life!

I haven't even coded in decades.

Some day I will write a tutorial for a "hello world" Android app.

One thing I'd like to write is a camera app that does what I want.

I just finished replacing a clutch and I documented every step with
pictures, and the damn camera apps always fight me when working on a car in
less than ideal situations.

The damn front camera goes on too easily, and the settings don't get
remembered and the camera has to work from a sound or single tap with
gloves or a button.

In fact, I'd make a camera app that did only one thing and one thing only.
Take pictures.

If there are settings to be changed, you'd have to punch a lot of buttons,
on purpose, so that they don't get changed accidentally. It would be
optimized to take the damn picture, and nothing else.

If you did unlock and then change settings, they'd be PERMANENT. My damn
camera app keeps resetting to its stupid (for me) defaults.

Most of this doesn't matter in normal use, but under a car, with gloves, in
poor lighting, with only one hand, in odd positions, all that starts to
matter a lot.

[Arlen Holder]

On 25 Jul 2018 01:41:58 GMT, Anssi Saari wrote:

> Only two things that I can think of. To install apps from other than
> Play Store, I have a couple that aren't available from there.

Just to be clear, I don't think you need "developer options" to enable
installing of APKs from other than the Google Play Store.

It's just the first thing I do, which is why it was number 1 on the list.

> The other thing is USB debugging so I can push or pull files easily with
> adb. If I have a new device, I usually start with pushing a file manager
> (ghost commander) and keepassdroid apks, then my password database. Hard
> to do anything without those.

Interesting. Thanks for that input. I don't use ADB.

When I want to push or pull an APK (or any file) to or from my desktop, I
just plug the phone in (or use WiFi) and copy the file over.

The PC can see the entire visible file system of the Android device.

[nospam]

In article <pjh17p$3a7$7...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:

>
> > Normally, I then develop an app...
>
> I admit I've never written an Android app in my life!
>
> I haven't even coded in decades.
>
> Some day I will write a tutorial for a "hello world" Android app.

don't.

plenty of people have already done so, including google.

> One thing I'd like to write is a camera app that does what I want.
>
> I just finished replacing a clutch and I documented every step with
> pictures, and the damn camera apps always fight me when working on a car in
> less than ideal situations.
>
> The damn front camera goes on too easily, and the settings don't get
> remembered and the camera has to work from a sound or single tap with
> gloves or a button.
>
> In fact, I'd make a camera app that did only one thing and one thing only.
> Take pictures.
>
> If there are settings to be changed, you'd have to punch a lot of buttons,
> on purpose, so that they don't get changed accidentally. It would be
> optimized to take the damn picture, and nothing else.
>
> If you did unlock and then change settings, they'd be PERMANENT. My damn
> camera app keeps resetting to its stupid (for me) defaults.
>
> Most of this doesn't matter in normal use, but under a car, with gloves, in
> poor lighting, with only one hand, in odd positions, all that starts to
> matter a lot.

user error.

if you can't figure out how to use existing camera apps (and there are
a lot of them), you certainly won't be able to figure out how to write
one.

[Arlen Holder]

On 28 Jul 2018 01:29:25 GMT, nospam wrote:

> plenty of people have already done so, including google.

What's amazing about you nospam, is that you are *never* purposefully
helpful; but, since you "just guess", once out of about 20 times you
actually guess right.

I'm sure hello-world *code* exists, by the way, but what I'd write may or
may not exist (it likely does - but I haven't googled yet) which is it
would start a user from the phone in their hand, to the hello-world
working.

That means the tutorial would cover *everything* needed, and not be like
that hilarious Jolly Roger video he just posted, which skips so many steps
that Ant can't comprehend what it's missing.

NOTE: You or I can comprehend that Jolly Roger's video skipped as many
steps as it showed - but people like Ant can't - since they're noobs. The
point of my tutorials is always to explain every step.

I do realize that you, nospam, have repeatedly been incapable of
comprehending any fact if it contains multiple steps so for you a
clutch-replacement tutorial would be:
a. Lift vehicle
b. Remove & replace clutch
c. Lower vehicle

But for me, the tutorial would be like this one I haven't finished yet.
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.home.repair/qEhph1MmSKs/S_R2Y4gRBwAJ>

The part about you, nopsam, that proves you lack adult comprehensive
skills, is that you consider your 3-step sequence a "better" more efficient
method of removing the clutch than mine, which lists every step that you
must take, including every bolt.

The fact both you and Jolly Roger repeatedly say that, and, the fact you
just said that yesterday, proves to me that you exhibit the comprehensive
skills of a child.


> user error.

Yet again, nospam, you "just guess" and you "just guess wrong".
Every unhelpful post from you contains one or more of the following:
===========================================================================
. You brazenly & repeatedly fabricate wholly imaginary app functionality
. You then exclaim that it's been told to us many times how to do it!
...
. You almost never back up statements with actual referenced facts
. You incessantly play childish semantic games when faced with those facts
...
. You consistently fabricate quoted content that never happened
. Then you wittily respond to that imaginary quoted content as if it did!
...
. You're never purposefully helpful by helping the OP answer the question
. You post worthless retorts, all of which lack any added technical value
...
. You consistently blame Android for most of Apple's app & hardware faults
. You consistently find the absolute worst price:performance comparisons
...
. You actually believe that a well-documented process is too complex!
. You literally believe elapsed time is proof of actual resolution time.
===========================================================================

> if you can't figure out how to use existing camera apps (and there are
> a lot of them), you certainly won't be able to figure out how to write
> one.

Notice that you prove me correct in every single post.

[nospam]

In article <pjl3es$mci$7...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder

<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:


>
> I'm sure hello-world *code* exists, by the way, but what I'd write may or
> may not exist (it likely does - but I haven't googled yet) which is it
> would start a user from the phone in their hand, to the hello-world
> working.
>
> That means the tutorial would cover *everything* needed, and not be like
> that hilarious Jolly Roger video he just posted, which skips so many steps
> that Ant can't comprehend what it's missing.

the video didn't skip anything and you're blowing smoke, as usual.

by your own admission, you don't know enough (as in nothing) about
android development to write a hello world tutorial:

In article <pjh17p$3a7$7...@news.mixmin.net>, Arlen Holder
<arlen...@nospam.net> wrote:
> I admit I've never written an Android app in my life!
> I haven't even coded in decades.

nevertheless, let's see what you can come up with.

as someone who has written several ios and android apps, i expect to
find this 'tutorial' thoroughly entertaining.

[Anssi Saari]

Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> writes:

> On 25 Jul 2018 01:41:58 GMT, Anssi Saari wrote:
>
>> Only two things that I can think of. To install apps from other than
>> Play Store, I have a couple that aren't available from there.
>
> Just to be clear, I don't think you need "developer options" to enable
> installing of APKs from other than the Google Play Store.
>
> It's just the first thing I do, which is why it was number 1 on the list.

Yes of course, it used to be in Settings->Security. Looking around I
couldn't find it on my Oreo phone anymore, so I Googled and turns out in
Oreo it's different, individual apps can now have an "install unknown
apps" permission.

> When I want to push or pull an APK (or any file) to or from my desktop, I
> just plug the phone in (or use WiFi) and copy the file over.
>
> The PC can see the entire visible file system of the Android device.

Yes, it's what one does in Windows. Problem is, Android uses MTP which
is probably not Microsoft Transport Protocol but nevertheless, support
in not-Windows isn't great. Or actually I don't know if it's gotten
better but a few years ago in Linux I managed to get a directory listing
after which the thing hung.

ADB provides a cross platform solution for file transfers and I prefer
command line for most things anyways.

[Arlen Holder]

On 29 Jul 2018 13:01:08 GMT, nospam wrote:

> the video didn't skip anything and you're blowing smoke, as usual.

Remember you congratulated Snit on his hilarious video condemning Android
while fabricating imaginary iOS functionality to compete with Android?
<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp.mobile.ipad/-T7FEXIdU9Q[126-150]>

And then you fabricated imaginary iOS functionality on cell-tower ids:
<https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.mobile.ipad/4oz61SJXctk/xbzM_XpKBAAJ>

> nevertheless, let's see what you can come up with.

I'm just an average person on Android, and maybe even well below average on
both Android and iOs, and yet, you always seem to know far less than I do,
since, I'm (almost) never wrong, and you're almost never right.

NOTE: My "almost" is in parenthesis as you've never found once when my
facts were wrong - not once - in thousands of posts - but I'm not
infallible, so, I must have been wrong by mistake at least once in my tens
of thousands of posts of fact.

While you criticize my tutorials, I've written, oh, I don't know,
*thousands* of tutorials (I can't count them, there are so many) that I've
published on the net, and I know you've seen plenty, but I publish them all
over (e.g., on car forums I'm famous for the best DIYs on the planet).

How many have you written, nospam?
Zero?

> as someone who has written several ios and android apps, i expect to
> find this 'tutorial' thoroughly entertaining.

Given that you've written zero tutorials, I find your childish response
above enlightening.

You are exactly like Jolly Roger, who thinks he's the smartest guy in the
world, and yet, *everything* you and he say, prove otherwise.

[Arlen Holder]

On 31 Jul 2018 04:12:45 GMT, Anssi Saari wrote:

> Yes of course, it used to be in Settings->Security. Looking around I
> couldn't find it on my Oreo phone anymore, so I Googled and turns out in
> Oreo it's different, individual apps can now have an "install unknown
> apps" permission.

Thanks for letting us know that Oreo is different:
https://duckduckgo.com/?&q=android+oreo+install+unknown+apps
"Android Oreo ditches 'Allow unknown sources' installs and
instead introduces per-app permissions."

First hit:
<https://www.zdnet.com/article/android-oreo-google-has-just-made-app-installs-from-unknown-sources-a-lot-safer/>
"Until now, Android users could install apps from places other
than Google's Play Store by enabling 'Install from unknown sources'
in Android Settings. In Android Oreo, Google eschewed the setting for
a new 'Install unknown apps' permission that's tied to each app.
So, the user could enable Drive and a third-party store app to
download apps outside the Play Store, but block Chrome and Gmail
from downloading unknown apps."

Since I load from APKs that I have saved from other phones 99% of the time,
I looked more to find how to just tap on an APK in Oreo to install it:
<https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/sideload-apps-android-8-0-oreo-now-unknown-sources-is-gone-0184399/>
"When you open an APK that you downloaded using any other app aside
from the Play Store, you'll be asked if you'd like to let that app
install other apps. That might sound confusing, but it's actually easy.
Just tap "Settings" on the prompt, then enable the switch next to
"Allow from this source" on the following screen. From there, hit
your back button twice, then you'll be taken to the app installation
screen. Just tap "Install" and you'll be all set."

I guess I'll wait until I get Oreo to try it, because most articles assume
we don't *already* have the APK so they use Chrome as the example, but
almost all my APKs already exist and have existed for years.

Reading more about how to just install just an APK on Oreo, Android 8,
<https://www.droidviews.com/enable-unknown-sources-or-install-apk-files-on-android-oreo/>

They too think that people actually install APKs from "Chrome", which, I'm
sure they do, but I don't. I install by tapping on the APK in a file
manager, where, I presume in Oreo we simply need to grant *that* file
manager the ability to "install unknown apps".

> Yes, it's what one does in Windows. Problem is, Android uses MTP which
> is probably not Microsoft Transport Protocol but nevertheless, support
> in not-Windows isn't great.

The good news is that it's just as good on Linux.

> Or actually I don't know if it's gotten
> better but a few years ago in Linux I managed to get a directory listing
> after which the thing hung.

The current Ubuntu 17.04 is pretty good, IMHO, when it comes to interacting
with devices in the real world.

For example, it can access simultaneously all three operating systems, iOS,
Linux, and Windows, the moment you plug a mobile device into your desktop
USB port.

> ADB provides a cross platform solution for file transfers and I prefer
> command line for most things anyways.

I only used ADB once, years ago, to test it out. I don't see what it can do
for file transfers that I don't already have.

It might be useful ... I'm not saying it's not, but I can already see the
entire Android visible file system, read/write, just by plugging in the
mobile device to the Windows PC.

I haven't tried command-line access through this method but I can't imagine
Windows doesn't have that given the entire file system is already "mounted"
for the Windows file explorer.

I may need to test that out, but I don't generally do command line access
to files from Windows to Android.

[Anssi Saari]

Arlen Holder <arlen...@nospam.net> writes:

>> Yes, it's what one does in Windows. Problem is, Android uses MTP which
>> is probably not Microsoft Transport Protocol but nevertheless, support
>> in not-Windows isn't great.
>
> The good news is that it's just as good on Linux.

OK, I was really out of touch regarding MTP on Linux. I found some notes
from 2012 which is probably when I last looked at it. A quick Google
reveals that "out-of-the-box MTP support" was in Kubuntu 13.04
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubuntu) over five years ago...

My phone showed up without a problem in Dolphin when plugged it in my
Kubuntu (16.04 LTS) laptop.

> I haven't tried command-line access through this method but I can't imagine
> Windows doesn't have that given the entire file system is already "mounted"
> for the Windows file explorer.

The problem in Windows is that an MTP device doesn't have a drive letter
so it's impossible to access on the command line. I did find a tool
called MTP Drive which puts a drive letter on MTP media so it's
doable. MTP Drive is commercial though, with a free version that has
limitations.

[Arlen Holder]

On 2 Aug 2018 23:24:03 GMT, Anssi Saari wrote:

> OK, I was really out of touch regarding MTP on Linux.

Actually, I just realized I typed 17.04 where I meant 18.04, and where the
leap in automatic functionality is *big* between those two releases, so you
were right.

As I recall, with 17.04 you had to patch libimobiledevice, but in 18.04,
everything works by default.

In fact, I can plug in both the iOS device and the Android device to the
same dual-boot desktop, where instantly, I have access to the entire
visible file system of *all four* operating systems (with only 3 devices!).
a. I can r/w whatever part of Android is visible (usually /sdcard0/)
b. I can r/w whatever part of iOS is visible (document spaces for apps)
c. I can r/w the entire visible part of Windows' file system
d. And I can r/w the entire visible Linux file system
(By visible I mean whatever the access allows, generally dependent only on
whether you're a user or root).

> I found some notes
> from 2012 which is probably when I last looked at it. A quick Google
> reveals that "out-of-the-box MTP support" was in Kubuntu 13.04
> (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubuntu) over five years ago...

I've been connecting iOS and Android devices for a long time where, on
Linux, it's just getting better and better and better, and where, as I
noted, in Ubuntu 18.04, everything you need is already *native* (in so much
as it's typically installed during the normal typical installation
process).

You can find lots by running quick searches in the respective ngs:
http://tinyurl.com/comp-mobile-android
http://tinyurl.com/comp-mobile-ipad

> My phone showed up without a problem in Dolphin when plugged it in my
> Kubuntu (16.04 LTS) laptop.

As I said, Linux is just getting better and better and better at
recognizing mobile devices when you plug them into the USB port. Linux
gives us more access to iOS devices, for example, than does iTunes (e.g.,
we have access to the system logs, for example).

> The problem in Windows is that an MTP device doesn't have a drive letter
> so it's impossible to access on the command line.

Well, there is always the NETBIOS/SMB commands in Windows, which I don't
use all that often, but as I recall, one powerful command is:
"net use Z: \\192.168.1.10\Share
which should assign a drive letter if you really want a drive letter.

On Windows, the URI I generally use over USB is
smb:\\machine\share
or over wifi
ftp:\\machine\share

On Linux, there is already a /media link that is automatically mounted.

We could ask for more help on syntax over in the Windows ngs.
http://tinyurl.com/microsoft-public-windowsxp-gen
http://tinyurl.com/alt-comp-os-windows-10
http://tinyurl.com/alt-windows7-general
http://tinyurl.com/alt-os-linux
etc.

> I did find a tool
> called MTP Drive which puts a drive letter on MTP media so it's
> doable. MTP Drive is commercial though, with a free version that has
> limitations.

As noted above, I suspect the "net use" syntax should work fine on the
command line for Windows. For Linux, there are already /media links.