GPS Essentials hijacked my file open associations!

[Maka]

Does anyone know how to disable or deactivate this?
It is extremly annoying and IMHO didn't happen with earlier versions. When I try to open a file on my phone from a file manager, especially one without extension, a weird dialog opens up and tells me "This is not a valid file or URL....", a yellow bar and "browse", "paste" and "close" buttons.
It took me some effort to even find out which program creates this dialog since there is nothing to attribute it to GPSE.

In order to open most files I now have to open sub menus and explicitly choose "open with", because by default this useless dialog appears. I have tried changing a permission for GPSE to not open certain URLS (the only permission in settings available), but that had no effect.

Any suggestions are very welcome!

[Michael Schollmeyer]

Hi Maka,

I'm sorry that you're having this issue. GPS Essentials offers to handle certain file types, not sure why this seems to be too broad for you. The reason why GPS Essentials opens by default is usually a user choice. You can reset this behavior like this:

1. Long tap on the GPS Essentials app icon

2. Tap onApp Info

3. Tap on Advanced

4. Tap on Open by default

5. Tap on clear defaults

Hope this helps,

Michael

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[Maka]

Thank you so much for the reply Michael! I have been to that settings page, but the "clear defaults" button is grayed out.
I have only two sections on that page, the first is "Opening Links" and offers me a choice of "Open supported links", which I set to "Don't open in this app", and "Supported Links" which merely displays 3 URLs. The second section is "Other defaults" and there it says "No defaults set" and the "clear defaults" button right below is  grayed out.

[Lodro Gyamtso]

i have 100% the same issues with the user into post 1

- insane steal of file open association into my device
this gnss util must have zero (0) file open association. The programmer must update the last version with a new one, with none file association. Leave android device file association as it was before the install of GPS Essentials.

- i have also this message of "This is not a valid file or URL...."

[nhoe...@sinet.ca]

I have run into this issue in the past, but so infrequently that I did not try and diagnose the cause.  What kinds of files are triggering this error?  Is there an app on your device that can successfully open the files?  Can you share some of the failing files so that they can be inspected?  Based on a bit of reading, it appears that the file association process in Android is more complicated that Windows which relies largely on the file extension.

[Maka]

I guess it is all files that are not otherwise associated with specific programs, so "unknown". Particularly files with no extension and system files. My file explorer used to just open a generic dialog allowing me to choose, but now GPSE snatches it. I don't think content matters. It also happens with empty files.

[nhoe...@sinet.ca]

What device are you using, how are you creating the file, and how are you launching the file?  I created a no extension/empty file with Solid Explorer on a Galaxy Tab S2 and a Google Pixel 4a.  Launching the file with Solid Explorer shows the "Open file using..." pop-up on both devices.  However, My Files on the Tab S2 passes the file to GPS Essentials, even though GPS Essentials has no defaults defined.  There isn't a "My Files" equivalent on the Pixel 4a, but I was able to create a shortcut on my home screen to the "noextension" file.  Tapping on the shortcut brought up the "Open file using..." pop-up.  

[Lodro Gyamtso]

the only guaranteed method to resolve the problem is the hard reset and wait to install only when a new version arrived. This is what i did before some days.
GPS Essentials is out of my device. I had it only for the dashboard screen it has

On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 7:14:36 PM UTC+3 Michael Schollmeyer wrote: