#stable #release
App Manager v3.1.0

App Manager v3.1.0 comes with a few new features and a lot of improvements. Visit Settings > About > Version/Changelog for details.

Android 13 support
App Manager now targets Android 13 which means most issues in Android 12 and 13 has been addressed, including SSAID and SAF issues as well as monochrome icons and other theming issues.

Known issue: KeyStore backup/restore not working in Android 12 and later.

Introducing freeze/unfreeze
Enable/disable is replaced with freeze/unfreeze to allow greater control on the behaviours of an app. It supports suspend, disable and hide functionalities which can be controlled at Settings > Rules > Default freezing method. In order to make it easy to freeze or unfreeze an app, shortcuts can also be created from the App Info tab by long clicking on the freeze or unfreeze button.

Export app list
In the Main page, it is now possible to export the list of apps in either XML or Markdown format using batch operations. In the future, the XML file may also be imported to App Manager.

Elliptic Curve Crypography (ECC)
App Manager now fully supports encrypting backups using ECC in addition to offering AES, RSA and OpenPGP.

New languages
Two new languages are added: Korean and Romanian.

More list options
In the main page, more sorting and filtering options are added. Sorting options include sorting the apps by total size, total data usage, launch count, screen time and last usage time. Filtering options include filtering the apps having at least one item in the Android KeyStore, filtering apps with URIs granted via SAF, and filtering apps with SSAID.

Improved handling of mode of operation
Fixed various issues with ADB pairing, handled incomplete USB debugging. Some rooting methods cannot allow interprocess communication via Binder. In those cases, ADB mode is used as a fallback method by enabling it automatically if possible.

Handling multiple users
When possible, App Manager will be able to display apps from Work profile in no-root mode in addition to allowing basic operations such as launching the app or navigating to the system settings. For backups, it is now possible to restore backups for other users, but for work profile, some apps may only work properly after re-enabling the work profile. In the installer page, selecting All users will now install the app for all users instead of only the present user. Finally, in the app info tab, current app can be installed in another profile using the Install for option available in the three-dots menu. This is analogous to the pm install-existing command, thereby, making the installation process a lot faster.

Explorer enhancements
Explorer can now open DEX and JAR files in addition to APK files. Several sorting options as well as folder options are also added as the list options.

New tag: WX
In app info tab, a new tag called WX is added. It is displayed in Android 10 and later if the application targets Android 9 or earlier. It indicates W^X violation which allows the app to execute arbitrary executable files either by the modification of executables embedded within the app or by downloading them from the Internet.

App ops management
App ops are now managed automatically to avoid various app ops related crashes in various platforms. This will also lessen the amount of crashes in an unsupported operating system.

Batch uninstallation
In the Main page, enabled batch uninstallation in no-root mode.

Running apps
Enabled advanced searching. Searching now matches not only app labels but also package names.

Interceptor
Copy the intercepted Intent as am command which can be run from either an ADB shell or a terminal using root with the same effectiveness.

Device-specific fixes
Graphene OS: Explicitly handle the Internet permission which is a runtime permission in the OS.
MIUI: Fixed permission denied issues in the installer due to a framework issue introduced in MIUI 12.5.
Motorola: Fixed crashes in the Interceptor page due to a framework issue introduced in Android 11.

Others
- Improved Java-Smali conversion by including all the subclasses during conversion
- Improved scanning performance in the Scanner page
- Improved updating the list of apps in the Main page
- Scan all the available paths to detect systemless-ly installed system apps
- Vacuum SQLite database before opening it for viewing or editing

Full Changelog: v3.0.0…v3.1.0

The campaign was ended. It was better than the last year. Thanks everyone who contributed during the campaign.

Metro v6.1.0

- Synced with Retro Music Player
- Target 13
- Removed startup warnings

Full Changelog: v6.0.4...v6.1.0

A new build will be available on F-Droid within a few days weeks.

Now available.

NOTE: Metro is for F-Droid users only. So, if you want to see it outside F-Droid, feel free to fork the source code, change the app noscript and package name and publish it wherever you want, and please stop E-Mailing me with comments such as “This app deserves more visibility.” I don’t maintain applications for visibility but usability, and contrary to what some of you think, such E-Mails greatly demotivate me.

#unstable #alpha #release
App Manager v3.2.0-alpha01

What's New
- New logo for App Manager!
- Added a dedicated page for debloating the phone
Debloating profiles were available as “Presets” in the Profiles page which has now been replaced with the Debloater page which can be accessed from the three-dots menu in the Main page.

The list is taken from UAD project and kept intact for now.

Colour codes for the list:
- Dark cyan: The app is safe to remove. It does not necessarily mean that the app should be removed as it is always up to the preferences of the user
- Sand colour: The app is safe to remove, but removing it might break one or more features
- Orange: The app may or may not be safe to remove
- Red: The app is not safe to remove. It is not clear as to why these apps are listed in the UAD list.

Batch operations:
- Uninstallation
- Enable/disable
- Save APK
- Create new profile
- Add to profile.

In addition to the typical search option, there are several filtering options available in this page:
1. Categories: AOSP, OEM, Carrier/ISP, Google, Miscellany and Pending
2. Types: Safe (i.e. safe to remove), Replace (i.e. should be replaced with alternatives), Caution (i.e. generally safe to remove but no guarantees), Unsafe (may cause bootloop)
3. Other: User apps, System apps (mutually exclusive), Installed apps and Uninstalled apps (mutually exclusive).

- Integrated code editor within App Manager
Manifest viewer, code viewer, etc. have been replaced with this new editor.

Among other regular features, the editor includes proper syntax highlighting, advanced searching options.

- Added options for runtime optimization in Android 7 or later
This option is available for all apps in the 1-click ops page and individual app in the three-dots menu in the app info tab.

Features:
- Set Compile filters such as speed-profile or everything-profile
- Compile layout resources
- Immediate optimization of DEX, i.e. somewhat similar to pm force-dex-opt

- [Main page] Replaced log viewer, sys config, Termux, etc. with Labs
Labs is a new page where various handy tools are listed. They include Sys Config, Log Viewer, Terminal (experimental), File Manager (experimental), UI Tracker, Interceptor and Code Editor.

- [Backup/restore] Enable experimental support for Zstandard (ZSTD) compression
This option should only be used for testing purposes.

- [App Info tab] New tag: Open links
“Open links” is displayed for apps capable of opening links from the verified domains without any user intervention. This feature, added in Android 12, has raised privacy as well as usability concerns, because it promotes tracking and reduce user's freedom of choice. Therefore, in active state, that is, when the app is able to open the links directly, this tag will have a “red” background (otherwise, it will have a “green” background).

On clicking the tag, a list of supported domains will be displayed in a dialog (although not all domains can be opened by default). If the user has enough permissions, an option to enable/disable the behaviour will be displayed. Otherwise, an option to open the app details page in the Android Settings app will be displayed.

- [App Info tab] New tag: Static shared library
The tag is displayed for static shared libraries, that is, the apps with static-library tag in their manifest files, requires root or ADB. Clicking on the tag displays a dialog with a list of libraries installed under the same package name, and offer the user to uninstall the selected libraries.

- [Installer] Added the option to align APK files before signing
When APK signing is enabled, enabling this option will ensure that the contents of the APK are aligned properly before the APK is signed. Since it doesn't modify the contents of the APK, the option is enabled by default.

- [1-Click Ops page] Added option to uninstall apps that were previously uninstalled without clearing data.

1-Click Ops
- Replace “Block components…” with “Block/unblock components…”
From now on, components can also be unblocked using the option.

App Info tab
- Split APKs are no longer displayed in “Paths & Directories” section
Split APK info are already displayed in the corresponding tags above this section. There is no reason to display them again in this section.

App Ops
- Prevented crashes in Samsung devices running Android 6.0.1

Code Viewer
- Enabled Smali to Java conversion feature in Android Nougat and earlier

Explorer page
- Fixed opening files with external editor/viewer

Freeze/unfreeze
- Prevented the app from crashing if a shortcut icon is immutable

Installer
- Fixed displaying re-installation prompt for apps that were uninstalled without clearing data

Interceptor page
- Prevented crashes if the shortcut icon is invalid

Main page
- Display static libraries in privileged mode
Static libraries such as Trichrome Library are only visible to system, shell, root and the apps which depend on it. Using privileged mode, it is possible to list them in the Main as well as perform typical operations on them.

For non-rooted users, these libraries are only visible in the “Shared Libs” tab (in App Details page) of the apps that depend on them.
- Display a prompt to fully uninstall apps that were uninstalled without clearing data
- Prevented crashes when the installer feature is disabled

Profile page
- Fixed a crash due to lifecycle issue

Settings page
- Renamed “Layout orientation” to “Layout direction”

Others
- Improved security of the shortcuts created within App Manager
Earlier, opening the shortcuts of exportable activities did not require any authentication. From now on, authentication is required for opening any new shortcuts.
- Fixed parsing the manifest of some apps
- Fixed opening certain shortcuts in Android 13
- Fixed various security issues related to JADX

Full Changelog: https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/compare/v3.1.0...v3.2.0-alpha01

App Manager is now 3 years old!

#stable #release
App Manager v3.1.1

1-click Ops page
- Replaced “Block components…” with “Block/unblock components…”

App Info tab
- Skipped displaying split APKs in “Paths & Directories” section
They're already displayed when the “Splits” tag is clicked.
- Fixed crashes in Android < 11 while fetching the installer of an app
- Fixed fetching installer package in Android 14

App Ops tab
- Fixed crashes in Samsung devices running 6.0.1 and Lenovo devices running 7.1.2

Explorer page
- Fixed opening files with external editor/viewer

Freeze/unfreeze
- Prevented crashing the app if the freeze shortcut icon is immutable/unmodifiable

Interceptor page
- Fixed crashes if the shortcut icon is invalid

Installer page
- Offer to re-install apps that were previously uninstalled without clearing data

Main page
- Offer to fully uninstall apps that were uninstalled without clearing data
- Prevented crashes when the installer feature is disabled

Profiles page
- Fixed a crash due to lifecycle issue

Settings page
- Fixed listing available storages in backup volume selector

Shortcuts
- Improved security of third-party shortcuts
Third-party shortcuts created in the App Info tab redirects via App Manager in order to provide authentication. It also fixed launching certain shortcuts in Android 13 due to mismatched Intent filters.

Others
- Enabled Smali to Java conversion in Android < 8
- Fixed memory leaks while calculating the size of a folder
- Fixed updating uninstalled apps in no-root mode
- Fixed writing to files managed via ContentProvider (instead of a DocumentProvider)
- Prevented crashing due to lifecycle issues in list options dialogs

Full Changelog: https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/compare/v3.0.0...v3.1.1

GitHub has just approved my profile for GitHub Sponsors! It means you can now donate me directly from GitHub!

Link: https://github.com/sponsors/MuntashirAkon

PS. GitHub Sponsors is linked with my open collective profile. Hence, it automatically handles finances via Open Source Collective, and the same terms apply here as well.

In the light of Telegram’s new policy regarding personalised advertisements (the latest violation of their own policies), I’ve decided to reduce my activities in Telegram. This means the App Manager official group will be discontinued once again. But this time, we have decided to continue our group activities in a Matrix room.

Link: https://matrix.to/#/#appmanager:matrix.org

Guidelines will be the same as before. But in addition to group activities, messages from this channel will also be posted in the group. Telegram channels will be maintained as usual until further notice. I’m investigating a way to move the secondary channels out of Telegram. But the primary channel (@AppManagerChannel) shall be continued indefinitely.

#unstable #alpha #release
App Manager v4.0.0-alpha01

_Due to the massive number of changes, v3.2.x is skipped in favour of v4.0.0. For the same reason the release notes
provided here are incomplete as only the most useful ones are noted._

App Info
- Added a new tag: Bloatware
Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing denoscription, dependencies, alternatives, etc. like in the Debloater page described below.
- Added a new tag: Xposed
Clicking on the tag opens a dialog with more details:
1. Module name
2. Denoscription
3. Type of module (modern or legacy)
4. Xposed API dependency info
5. Scope (if available statically).
- List SAF files and directories in a user-friendly manner
Instead of a raw representation of the granted URI, display authority, type of file or folder, and the file or folder itself in a meaningful way. It also attempts to retrieve the original file path when possible.

Backup/Restore
- Display backup extras and rules in no-root mode

Debloater
- Display bloatware details on clicking on an item
Current the following information are displayed with visual enhancements:
- App icon (valid only when the app is installed)
- App label
- Package name
- App info button (if the app is installed)
- Tags (list type and removal type for now)
- Warning (if exists)
- Denoscription with references
- Dependencies
- Suggestions/alternatives.
- App list is now taken from android-debloat-list
android-debloat-list is a new project aimed at improving debloating experience by listing the details in a more structured way and list potential alternatives of the bloatware with usability and reproducibility in mind.

Docs
- Fixed App Manager links in the docs

Editor
- Enabled editing files via Code Editor from third-party applications
- Enabled editing AXML (Android APK's binary XML format) files
- Improved memory usage during loading or saving a file
- Fixed clearing texts on configuration changes
- Fixed writing to files that were managed by ContentProvider

Explorer
- Avoided decoding AXML files
Decoding should be done by code editors, not explorers.

Files
- Added a floating action button to create new files, folders and links
It allows creating a few blank documents. They include: text files, PDF, documents (docx/odt), sheet (xlsx/ods), presentation (pptx, odp) and SQLite3 database.
- Added intent-filters that allows opening folders from third-party apps
- Display path navigation on top
Using the path navigation, it is possible to navigate to any parent folders quite easily, or navigate to any arbitrary location using the “Edit” or “Go to” button.
Long clicking on any path also displays a popup menu which can be used to copy the path, open it in a new window or view properties.
- Display thumbnails for supported files
- Implemented all the unimplemented features in popup menus
Implemented copy- and cut-paste options, shortcut creation, multiple selection options such as batch renaming, deletion, cut/copying and sharing. Note that _copy and paste options are experimental and should be handled with care._
- Implemented settings for file manager
Added option to set home directory, remember last opened folder and position, and whether to display the file manager as “Files” in the app drawer like a regular app.
- Added searching in the “Open with” dialog
- Added support for SAF/tree URIs
SAF access is currently very slow and its usage isn't recommended if there are a lot of files in the folder.
- Display folder info (size, file count, etc.) as a subnoscript
- Display helpful messages when a folder is empty, non-existent or invalid
- Implemented modification of access and modification dates, permissions, UID/GID and SELinux context in the properties dialog
- Open resolved symbolic link instead of the link itself
- Remember the selection locations for past opened folders in a session
- Use file overlays to display directories inaccessible in no-root mode

Installer
- Added an option to perform DEX optimisation immediately after installing an app
- Added the ability to modify installer options before installing an app
In the installation dialog, clicking on the settings/cog icon opens a new dialog where the installer options can be temporarily set for the session. Any items queued for the session will retain those temporary options.
- Display installation progress in the notification
In some devices such as Samsung, it takes an indefinite amount of time to verify the app after copying the APK files. For those cases, the progress won't be accurate as it only takes into account the amount of time to copy the files.
- Display “Confirm install” notification even if the app is running in foreground
In no-root mode, when the app is running in foreground, the user may accidentally dismiss the install-confirmation dialog produced by the Android package installer which would either allow the installation to run forever or for a minute until the timeout occurs. To solve the issue, a silent notification is triggered at the same time the dialog is shown so that even if the user accidentally dismisses the dialog, the dialog can still be displayed by clicking the notification.
- Fixed parsing unsigned APK files
- Fixed installing apps for users other than the main profile

Interceptor
- Prevented the app from crashing on creating a shortcut with invalid extras
Shortcuts support only 11 types of data structures. Intents, on the other hand, support any type of data structures. When a shortcut creation is requested, the unsupported data structures are removed from the Intent to avoid crashes.

Labs
- Display “System Config” page in all modes of operation

Main page
- Added a new filtering option “Stopped apps“ to filter the force-stopped apps
- Added filtering by users in the list options
- Added a new batch operation “Optimise” to dex optimisation of the selected apps
- Display user count alongside app ID
If an app is installed in more than one profiles (that is, for multiple users), instead of displaying only the kernel user ID (UID), display the app ID (that is, UID sans the user ID) and user count in the following format:

<user count>+<app ID>

Scanner
- Display link to Pithus report if available
- Calculate file hashes more efficiently
- Fixed scanning external APK files in privileged mode

Settings
- Added options to run App Manager in the background
In Settings > Privacy, two new options have been added:
1. Run App Manager in the background
2. Automatic lockdown
Running App Manager in the background makes the annoying “Initializing” screen go away. Due to possible privacy issues, this option is disabled by default. When automatic lockdown is enabled, App Manager will attempt to lock the app by killing its process. As expected, there are several side effects:
1. All the activities will be closed. They'll be reopened by the system based on how the user was interacting with them
2. All the running operations as well as scheduled or running jobs will be stopped immediately. This might cause data loss if potentially destructive operations are running.
Note: Enabling the latter option does not wipe the memory of App Manager, i.e. it does not prevent a forensic software from scrapping the memory used by App Manager even if the process no longer exists.
- Added option to disable sending notification to the connected devices
The setting is located at “Settings > Advanced > Send notifications to the connected devices” and is enabled by default. Low importance notifications, e.g. ongoing notifications and optional alerts, won't be delivered to the connected devices even if the setting is enabled.
- Fixed saving backup options
- Prevented a crash that occurs on importing the rules if some of them are invalid

UI
- Better handling of application-wide notifications including the progress of various operations
- Display all multi-selection options in a single row with an overflow menu at the end
- Display icons in popup menus