F-Droid users: App Manager is back on F-Droid!

Starting from v2.6.0, the INTERNET permission is only required for the ADB-over-TCP users. If you're blocking network permission (despite our repeated assurance) and the mode of operation is set to auto, you may get stuck in the initialization screen forever depending on how the permission is blocked. So, make sure to change mode of operation to the desired one before doing so. In reality, had we chosen to be decisive about how the INTERNET permission is used, we would've been able to connect to the Internet without the permission using root. The FAQ will be updated in the next version.

PS: We've considered using an Internet extension for the ADB users but consensus suggests that a large number of users rely on ADB over TCP, and future features such as blocking network signatures may require this permission.

App Manager v2.6.1 Stable

This patch release contains bug fixes and minor features. It also provides fixes for a few security vulnerabilities. Therefore, it is recommended for all users. Crash-related fixes are annotated with [Crash].

- New Feature: Wireless debugging for Android 11. Due to licensing issues, ADB pairing couldn't be implemented. See notes below.
- Improvement: Fixed various issues with mode of operations, especially ADB
- Improvement: Fixed loading app list in some Android 6 devices
- Improvement: Improved loading app icons
- Improvement: Move from RestrictionBypass to HiddenApiBypass, saves more than 300 KB
- [Feature] Added more debloat profiles: Fujitsu, HTC, Korean and Japanese carriers, Tencent, Toshiba and Vivo. They are added from different sources and are not well-tested.
- [Feature] Added support for ADB via TLS-1.3
- [Feature] Added date-time in the backup info dialog prompt
- [Feature] Display APK verification status in the scanner page
- [Feature] Display suspended and hidden tags for the respective apps in the app info tab
- [Feature] Display unknown netpolicies and Lineage OS specific netpolicies
- [Feature] Prompt user to confirm falling back to no-root when root/ADB is not working/detected
- [Feature] Updated trackers, libraries and translations
- [Fix] Display changes for the external APK for the same version code
- [Fix] Display error message as toast if the activity cannot be launched in the interceptor page
- [Fix] Display “no changes” instead of empty what's new dialog
- [Fix] Enforced privileged execution of hidden APIs in root/ADB mode
- [Fix] Fixed backing up external folders for the given user (instead of nothing if the user is not the current user)
- [Fix] Fixed backing up keystore due to the use of illegal escape characters
- [Fix] Fixed extracting OBB files for the given user (instead of the current user)
- [Fix] Fixed importing RSA or signing keys
- [Fix] Fixed indefinite loading issue in the app info tab if SSAID couldn't be loaded
- [Fix] Fixed installing apps uninstalled without clearing user data (and signature)
- [Fix] Fixed listing unsupported app ops
- [Fix] Fixed opening apps on Aurora Store
- [Fix] Fixed prompting user to confirm ADB connection even if the user clicked “Always allow from this computer”
- [Fix] Load app details page for hidden apps
- [Fix] Made the key name in the shared preferences editor dialog scrollable and selectable
- [Fix] Match running services based on package name and user ID instead of just package name
- [Fix] Store ADB keys in App Manager keystore
- [Fix] Skip running remote server in root mode
- [Crash] On trying to configure RSA encryption
- [Crash] On trying to open an uninstalled system app when the installer feature is disabled
- [Crash] On trying to open the permissions tab on Android 12
- [Crash] On trying to reopen the interceptor
- [Crash] On searching in the main page with certain character combinations
- [Crash] On trying to save logs in a zip file
- [Crash] When external storage is not available for writing logs

Notes

In order to use wireless debugging, first enable ADB over TCP as usual and select Always allow from this computer. When App Manager is working on this mode, enable wireless debugging, and then, go to App Manager settings and change Mode of Operations to Wireless Debugging. At this point, App Manager should display a prompt where the port number from the wireless debugging window should be inserted. With this mode enabled, App Manager will display this prompt everytime it requires the port number. As always, remember to disable wireless debugging once App Manager's initialization screen goes away. Unless you're using MIUI, you won't need to enable wireless debugging until the next restart.

Aurora Store 4.0.5 (and later) have introduced promotional apps. As a result, we stopped supporting these versions. You can still use the previous versions without issues.

Today (31 May 2021) marks one year of App Manager as the very first release was made on this day last year.

To be honest, I never knew that App Manager would go this far (who knows the future, anyway?). Some of its users might be interested to know what went into my mind during that time or what inspired me to do it as they did in the past. However, to my regret, I don't remember anything at all!

For ADB users only.

ADB requires generating and storing RSA key pairs which is similar to but not the same as HTTPS requests. As stated in the v2.6.1 changelog, ADB keypairs are now stored in App Manager’s built-in KeyStore (previously, it was stored in the cache folder) in order to improve security. KeyStore, as the name suggests, is a file where various keys and certificates can be stored securely. However, in order to provide actual security, KeyStore has to be encrypted with a password. Each key in the KeyStore has a name, called alias. As a result, if you’re opening AM for the first time or after an update, App Manager will require you to create or insert your KeyStore password. After that, it will also require you to insert a password for an alias called adb_rsa. The second step is optional. You can leave it empty and just proceed in which case the default KeyStore password will be used.

Why it needs a password while apps like Signal don’t?
Signal uses the Android-provided KeyStore (which is very secure) directly which means they generate and/or store all their encryption/singing keys and certificates via/into Android KeyStore. As a result, the databases and preferences used by Signal are not portable. In order to make them portable, they had to implement a backup system where you have to remember (or save) a new password (or a key). App Manager uses its own KeyStore with custom password provided by the user. The password is, then, encrypted with an AES key generated from (and stored into) Android KeyStore, and the encrypted password is stored in App Manager’s unencrypted preferences so that the user do not have to insert the KeyStore password repeatedly. We have taken this approach so that the KeyStore maybe backed up and restored without issues. This also won’t crash App Manager when you back up and restore App Manager using App Manager itself or any other backup solutions.

SetEdit v2.0

- Option to export list as a JSON file
- Material design with App Manager-style theme
- Support for Android 11 and gesture navigation
and some other minor improvements.

SetEdit v2.1

- Enabled searching for settings tables
- Added the ability to change app theme
- Ability to copy permission command from the dialog prompt.

I couldn’t make a scheduled release today (28 June) due to extreme weather. I’ll try tomorrow!

App Manager v2.6.2 Stable

This patch release contains critical bug fixes for the back up/restore feature.

- [Feature] Added new batch operation: clear cache
- [Feature] Back up permission flags (restoring is not currently possible)
- [Feature] Display permission flags on long clicking on a supported permission item
- [Feature] Improved uses features tab: Unavailable features have light-red color, unavailable but required features have dark-red color
- [Feature] Updated focusability in some pages to improve keyboard/remote navigation
- [Feature] Updated libraries and trackers
- [Fix] Added backward compatibility for ADB over TCP
- [Fix] Fixed filter out in log viewer
- [Fix] Fixed MIUI-specific app ops issue in Android 11
- [Fix] Fixed relative path issue in back up/restore
- [Fix] Fixed returning the wrong manifest if the APK has multiple manifests
- [Fix] Added workaround for Android KeyStore bug in older Android versions
- [Crash] Display error message instead of crashing in the activity interceptor page
- [Crash] Fixed random crashes in the app info page
- [Crash] On trying to uninstall an app in Android Lollipop
- [Crash] When configuring RSA encryption or signing info
- [Crash] When a package has changed but the executor has been shutdown
- [Crash] When a package has changed after exiting its app info page
- [Crash] NPE on running apps page

Note: Aurora Store 4.0.6 reverted promotional apps, therefore, the support has been re-added. Only 4.0.5 is unsupported.

Introducing App Manager Community

Certain features offered by App Manager could be very useful if the experienced users shared their configurations and tips which would allow a new user or a complete newbie to get started quickly. Currently, this is very limited because we do not have any dedicated forum nor any central repository where the information may be readily available. We do have a documentations site, but it is understandable that many users do not actually read them. So, we concluded that involving users is the best approach to solve these problems. In future, we may also add the option to interact with the repositories in App Manager so that users can access these configurations directly in the app.

Currently, the repositories are hosted at GitHub: https://github.com/AMCommunity. However, we've planned to extend this to GitLab and Codeberg in the future.

The repositories
Currently, there are three repositories:
- Exported Rules: App specific rules exported using App Manager's export function
- Profiles: Exported profiles from App Manager
- Tips & Tricks: Tips and tricks on App Manager

How to contribute
Contributing instructions are available in the readme file of each repository.

Additionally, if you are interested in becoming a member of the community, you can add a comment here.

Official F-Droid Client users only.

App Manager v2.6.2 has now been released on F-Droid. Due to a bug on the official F-Droid client, you might not be able to see this in the update page if you also have IzzyOnDroid repository. Please, update manually by searching for App Manager using the search button.

Announcing the Discontinuation of Metro.

You may be already aware that Metro hasn’t been receiving update for some time. I’ve already made some changes but didn’t get the time to provide an update. So, you may get another (and the final) update soon.

Why I started it in first place?
Retro Music is the best open source (but non-libre) music player for Android with many features and screens, and an app that I used occasionally. Therefore, I thought it would be nice to put it on F-Droid by making it truly open source. So, I did it.

What went wrong?
Retro Music or Phonograph or any other forks of Phonograph, or any open source music app for Android relies on Android Media Store, which has many limitations, and the false-positive ratio seems to be ever on the increase (in fact, most of the music files I have in my phone aren’t recognized by the stupid Media Store). This situation is very familiar to the Poweramp users, which, unlike these music players, does not rely on Media Store. As a developer, my purpose of developing an open source app is to use it on my device in a regular basis, and Retro/Metro isn’t something I can use because of this limitation. So, I was very disappointed, and my disappointment led to the discontinuation of the app.

What’s the future of open source music player for Android?
Personally, I don’t see any future right now. Of course, there are many open source music players available to date, but every app I’ve ever tested relies on Media Store which is a deal-breaker. So, for me, Poweramp is currently the best option. However, in the future, I might work on an app that wouldn’t rely on Media Store, but the chances are very remote unless I see interests from other developers and contributors, because massive projects like this cannot be succeeded without massive collaboration. If you are such a developer or contributor, you can send me an email at muntashirakon-at-riseup-dot-net specifying your field of interests i.e., a developer should have previous working knowledge of Java, C/C++ and JNI and other contributions should be purely on marketing and finance. DO NOT bother me unless you fall in any of this category.

I know this is a disappointing news, but this is the reality.

App Manager v2.6.3 Stable

This patch release contains bug fixes for ADB mode and back up/restore.

- [1-Click Ops] Fixed missing applications
- [ADB] Eliminated the need for entering a KeyStore password. For the first time at startup or every time data is cleared from App Manager, a new Keystore password will be generated and the user will be asked to note down the password
- [App Details] Display process name in the components tabs, fixed displaying duplicate permissions
- [App Info] Display warning if App Manager is being disabled, fixed freezing on pressing refresh
- [Backup] Fixed extracting tar files backed up before v2.5.23
- [Batch Ops] Merged enable/disable apps and clear cache/data
- [Installer] Added fallback method for checking signing keys and fixed various crashes
- [Interceptor] Added camera actions
- [Main] Cancel selection on pressing the back button if the selection mode is active
- [Running Apps] Fixed displaying apps running in another processes, filtering issues and returning empty list on quick refresh
- Added support for opening apps via ACTION_SEND i.e. file sharing
- Fixed random crashes during and after app initialization
- Fixed “select all” button behaviour to select only the currently filtered items instead of all items
- Fixed day/night theming issues in various places