Root Protected Apps problem with Velocity 1.1

[artcloud]

So I'm fairly certain that the "protected" attribute that a developer can include in a compiled APK is causing the problem I have been witnessing on my Velocity 1.1 Ally where my Online Banking app does not show up in the Market, and is shows as "Incompatible" from the market website where it is clearly approved for Android 2.1 and 2.2 APIs. As I have been researching this a fairly common problem with custom ROMs on ANY Android phone, there is a fingerprint that each ROM uses to access that market that must be approved by Google to be able to access / install the above mentioned "protected" apps.

The fix that I've seen is tricking the market into thinking that you have an approved ROM. This is done by editing the line:

"ro.build.fingerprint=**ROM specific text here**"

from the file: "/system/build.prop" to match from a known correctly working ROM.

I know I didn't have this issue on Velocity 1.0 so could I have a Velocity 1.0 (ZVD/ZVE should work also as they are obviously approved ROMs) user post or PM this line from their build.prop file to see this is really is the case? Probably have to have root to access this file if I had to guess.

 

[death2all110]

Velocity 1.1
ro.build.fingerprint=verizon/aloha/aloha/aloha:2.2.1/FRG83D/eng.lge.20101218.151114:user/release-keys

Velocity 1.0
ro.build.fingerprint=verizon/aloha/aloha/aloha:2.2.1/FRG83D/eng.lge.20101218.151114:user/release-keys

As you can see they're the exact same. I don't think thats the cause.

 

[artcloud]

Fixed it! I ran a compare between build.prop from velocity 1.0 and 1.1 and turned out to be the following line:

ro.build.version.sdk=*

Velocity 1.0 was:
ro.build.version.sdk=8

Velocity 1.1 was:

ro.build.version.sdk=10

So it wasn't the protected app problem that I had suspected, they must have used a maxSdkVersion in their code. If anybody else is witnessing apps not visable or "Compatible" in the market, you must edit this value back to 8 and reboot. Probably wanna do a Nandroid before-hand also.

 

[artcloud]

FWIW (according to Google Dev documentation) SDK Version 8 is the proper level for application compatibility with Android 2.2.

Android API Levels | Android Developers

 

[death2all110]

Yeah, I didnt think of that. Good Find!

 

[artcloud]

No problem. This probably doesn't affect to many apps as it is not best practice to include the maxsdkversion line of code in apps since it prohibits forward compatibility. I believe the reason why they've used it in this app is that there were issues with higher res devices (such as tablets) running gingerbread. The ability to set this ahead to api level 10 might actually provide the ability to download gingerbread specific apps from the market (not saying that they will actually run correctly, lol).

 

[netizenmt]

FWIW - Making this change fixes the issue with the Update Utility for Ally not showing up in Market.

 

[Deleted User]

Ok so which part of this says wat to do to fix the upgrade thing

 

[KingOfGreen]

Ok so which part of this says wat to do to fix the upgrade thing

none of it. it tells you how to dl apps that the market doesnt show LIKE the upgrade utility but is not a fix for the update notifications

 

[Deleted User]

none of it. it tells you how to dl apps that the market doesnt show LIKE the upgrade utility but is not a fix for the update notifications

Is there any fix yet cause i have failed it twice and it came back again

 

[KingOfGreen]

Is there any fix yet cause i have failed it twice and it came back again

not that im aware of. D2A said he would look into it also savoxis is aware of it too. saw a screenshot of the 1.2 beta and it said 2.2.2 so maybe at the latest with the next release itll be taken care of. there was another pst on how to get rid of it but D2A said its best not to alter that file

 

[Zoandroid]

For those interested in minutia, on this 3rd "bogus" download and "install" of the System Update, my Ally did not hang on the "reboot" step at the end of the download, as it has done the first 2 times. This time it simply displayed "your system is up to date". Of course I am still showing 2.2.1 and Velocity 1.1 in the Android System Info app. Note that I do not have the Update Utility installed.

 

[artcloud]

From what I've noticed, and this may have been total coincidence, I ran through the "mock install of the ZVE update which took care of the notification after it hung and I rebooted manually. The update notification came back to my phone almost immediatly after I had cleared the market cache in relation to the problem I had been working on earlier in the thread.

I'd say I may have been on to something but I'm thinking it is less than likely that everyone is clearing their market cache to receive the recurring notification, unless there are multiple triggers, and that just happened to be one.

 

[Zoandroid]

How do you clear the Market Cache?

 

[tattedman]

How do you clear the Market Cache?

Settings->Applications->Manage Applications->Scroll down to the Market and click clear cache

 

[jmar]

Fixed it! I ran a compare between build.prop from velocity 1.0 and 1.1 and turned out to be the following line:

ro.build.version.sdk=*

Velocity 1.0 was:
ro.build.version.sdk=8

Velocity 1.1 was:

ro.build.version.sdk=10

So it wasn't the protected app problem that I had suspected, they must have used a maxSdkVersion in their code. If anybody else is witnessing apps not visable or "Compatible" in the market, you must edit this value back to 8 and reboot. Probably wanna do a Nandroid before-hand also.

Worked like a charm!

 

[Zoandroid]

So once you edit that file, download the "updater" app, accept the OTA update VZE, does that finally put a stop to the update notifications? I've been through this dance 4 times now having not downloaded that app yet.

 

[jmar]

So once you edit that file, download the "updater" app, accept the OTA update VZE, does that finally put a stop to the update notifications? I've been through this dance 4 times now having not downloaded that app yet.

Yup
But I had to reboot manually. The ota seems to fail before the reboot as opposed to after reboot as we've come to expect with previous otas.

 

[Zoandroid]

Thanks. I'll give it a try then. Getting tired of downloading the OTA for "nothing".

What's the actual name of the updater app on the Market? I tried looking for "Update Utility for Ally" and found nothing after making this file change and rebooting. Searching for "Verizon Update" finds a whole bunch of stuff but none of it looks like what would be required to get an OTA from Verizon for the Ally.

Aha! It is called "UpGRADE Utility for Ally". I am downloading it from the Market now.

Not sure exactly what to do here, since I don't currently HAVE the notification for the update. So once the Upgrade Utility was installed, still on the Market page, I tapped on it and selected OPEN. It started doing "something" in the blurred out background, and then rebooted the Ally into RA recovery, which shows the following messages at the bottom:

Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E: No signature (177 files)
E:Verification failed

Zip verification failed
Zip isn't signed correctly! Installation aborted.

So------Do I need to "toggle signature verification" and do this AGAIN, OR, is this actually what is supposed to happen to finally put an end to the update notification???

 

[jmar]

Thanks. I'll give it a try then. Getting tired of downloading the OTA for "nothing".

What's the actual name of the updater app on the Market? I tried looking for "Update Utility for Ally" and found nothing after making this file change and rebooting. Searching for "Verizon Update" finds a whole bunch of stuff but none of it looks like what would be required to get an OTA from Verizon for the Ally.

Aha! It is called "UpGRADE Utility for Ally". I am downloading it from the Market now.

Not sure exactly what to do here, since I don't currently HAVE the notification for the update. So once the Upgrade Utility was installed, still on the Market page, I tapped on it and selected OPEN. It started doing "something" in the blurred out background, and then rebooted the Ally into RA recovery, which shows the following messages at the bottom:

Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E: No signature (177 files)
E:Verification failed

Zip verification failed
Zip isn't signed correctly! Installation aborted.

So------Do I need to "toggle signature verification" and do this AGAIN, OR, is this actually what is supposed to happen to finally put an end to the update notification???

I think you'll be cool

 

[Zoandroid]

I sure hope so! I decided I wanted to try dialing the *#*#CHECKIN#*#* number to see if it shows an update. But the phone will NOT dial anything other than NUMERIC characters!!??

I don't get it. We are supposed to be able to dial things like * and # to access special features. Why won't the "Velocity" phone dialer allow me to dial those characters? We used to be able to back when the Ally was stock.

 

[jmar]

I sure hope so! I decided I wanted to try dialing the *#*#CHECKIN#*#* number to see if it shows an update. But the phone will NOT dial anything other than NUMERIC characters!!??

I don't get it. We are supposed to be able to dial things like * and # to access special features. Why won't the "Velocity" phone dialer allow me to dial those characters? We used to be able to back when the Ally was stock.

That is very weird considering I have two Ally's, one rocking terminal v and the other on v1.1 and can run *#*#checking#*#* on both. Wish I had an answer for you...Maybe boot into recovery and do a cache and dalvik wipe? Wipe phone data in applications settings?

 

[Zoandroid]

Would installing a custom Launcher (Like ADW, which I just installed) or theme (ADW KROM) have any bearing on this? I used Launcher Pro before. I am pretty sure the "dialer" where numbers are entered is different now than what I was used to seeing, but not sure if it is because of Velocity 1.1 upgrade, or some other reason (like the launcher or theme changes).

 

[jmar]

That is very weird considering I have two Ally's, one rocking terminal v and the other on v1.1 and can run *#*#checking#*#* on both. Wish I had an answer for you...Maybe boot into recovery and do a cache and dalvik wipe? Wipe phone data in applications settings?

Not sure you saw this.

 

[Zoandroid]

Yes, I had. Wiping phone data - that sounds destructive. It won't trash all my settings for the phone, will it (contacts, favorites, and such)?