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Fix Hot Spot Tile after Many "secret detail" Permissions Disabled

EasyPZ

Lurker
Feb 19, 2021
4
1
A week or so ago I noticed that a new app (Android Web Services) which I'd never noticed before had appeared AND some standard Google Play Permissions (or some other similar system app) had REGRANTED ITS OWN PERMISSIONS. I had disabled all the system permissions in the normal "Apps>Permissions" simple access area for system apps 2 weeks before. This angered me that the permission had been reenabled, and that a new app had appeared (along with a top-down pop-up notification of some sort I'd never seen before) -- seemingly only because I'd finally bought and used some mobile data after months of only WI-FI.

Anyway, that the back story of how I decided to go through this new system that seemed to have appeared. I don't know if it was an android update and the system only uses numbers and there is no install date of the current version. Anyway... in this "new system" as I call it (because of the strange notification which I don't remember what it said), I noticed some advanced "enable/disable/draw over/ and other stuff" which I'd never seen before. These are not if the "Apps>Permissions" area, but scattered through other parts of the Settings consol.

So I went through these system apps and anything Google or Huawei, and I disabled pretty much everything in an attempt to prevent unauthorized takeovers of my device by the companies which seemed to have been overstepping their bounds.

Now... here's the problem. It's much simpler:
When you swipe down there is a title area of two rows of icons at the top including such things as "mobile data", "hot spot", "location", "flashlight", etc. These seem to work fine except for the "Hot Spot" tile button.
For some reason, pressing it can not activate the hot spot, nor deactivate the hot spot. Only by going into Settings>Wireless & Networks>Hot Spot can it be turned on or off.

The question is, Which of the many deep in settings (Not in Apps>Permissions) have I disabled which knocked this HotSpot Tile out of service. Is is google play services, is it Huawei services, is it something else. Does anybody know?

If that still doesn't make sense, I'll try one more set of words:
What connects the titles from the swipe down menu to the hot-spot setting. Did I disable "Can write to system settings" for something which should have that ability, or another ability? I don't know. Do you?
 
SOLVED:

Settings>Apps>System UI>

Scroll to the bottom of System UI,
under "Write System Settings" It was set to "No" as I'd set it. Click it, and activate the "Allow write system settings". This immediately fixed the ~broken tiles Hot Spot button. For some other reason if you go back to the previous System UI app settings it did NOT UPDATE TO SAY THAT THE PERMISSION TO WRITE SYSTEM SETTINGS HAS BEEN ACTIVATED, yet it is active if you click that setting, as if to change it or in my case to check it.

Restarted device, app settings page for System UI now DOES show "Write system settings" is set to "Yes"... and apparently also it decided on it's own to also activate the setting above that (for "Draw over other apps" which I had not manually reactivated).

Hot Spot Tile-button issues fixed, restored, and resolved.

Privacy and undesired updates issue remains mysterious.

:batdroid: "Repeat! Issue Remains Mysterious"
~Indeep EndanceDay
 
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Yep, Google sucks.

That will not change.

Often, with some devices, a restart will reactivate all sorts of things that a user may not want.

I noticed recently (months ago) that Google 'Services' (sarc.) had unwantedly installed a new device administrator.

How nice of them!

Screenshot_2021-02-19_21-29-34_1.jpg


Screenshot_2021-02-19_21-25-20.jpg
 
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Yeah :thinking:

It's a good thing they used to be good :D.


Otherwise, we're looking at a black mirror.

Not necessarilly.

Hand held devices were around before Google.

They didn't invent much themselves.

Look at it this way-
Edison gets credit for 'inventing' the lightbulb.
But he didn't invent it.
What he did do was patent the first reliable, long lasting lightbulb.

Multiple people were all working separately (and together) on the lightbulb at the same time.

Basically, the fact is that if Edison had not done what he did, then somebody else would have- sooner or later.

You should not assume that if Edison was never born that we would all be sitting by candlelight in the dark.
 
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You need Android System Webview.
It is not 'new' to your devce, it is a system app on all Android devices.

It is the app that allows other apps on your device to display web content.

In fact, the best and fastest browsers are actually just wrappers for ASW, and when you are surfing the web and get a 'certification' error, most likely you need to update ASW.

As far as the Google PlayStore, you can disable it.
Google Play Services is needed for many, if not most apps to function {especially apps from Play Store}, and fr any Google app or service {G-Mail, Drive, etc.}

A great way to control what your device is doing is to use a firewall app to control internet access.
This is due to the fact that most system apps will restart themselves soon after you turn them off, an especially after the device restarts.

https://noroot-firewall.en.uptodown.com/android
 
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You need Android System Webview.
It is not 'new' to your device, it is a system app on all Android devices
DONT KICK THE PUPPY!!!

It was a system app. Then the February 1st security update which made my password 6 digits instead of 4 (AND WONT GO AWAY EVEN AFTER FACTORY RESET - no nothing was "restored"). It also changed WebView to display at the top the regular apps list. That is how I noticed it in the first place. Only after that triggered me to wonder what the hell was happening did I go on a quest to remove the invasive forces on my device. It must have been a mistake as later unnotified changes have occurred in subsequent weeks, including it's return to the System Processes list which I only know exists because it was in the wrong place in the first place. While I can't be absolutely sure they didn't exist before hand, I'd never before been able to find and use such things as "networked apps" and "change system settings" permissions.

By the way, back to the top topic, allowing System UI (strangely also not a system app) to change system settings, seems to be the thing which both solves my problem and might have repeatedly allowed "Calendar storage" to have "contacts" permission. That's neither here not here, but something to watch out for if anyone else is trying to halt the invasion of the evil machine on OUR androids (No Google! It does not belong to you unless you're taking it by force of power, like an armed highway robber. ...and yes, you should ALWAYS ask before installing anything. )

If apps with more control than users helps stop the puppykickers from kicking the puppies:batdroid: then, well -- it's a tough decision.
That kind of power is unlikely to be safe forever :thinking:
 
Last edited:
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DONT KICK THE PUPPY!!!

It was a system app. Then the February 1st security update which made my password 6 digits instead of 4 (AND WONT GO AWAY EVEN AFTER FACTORY RESET - no nothing was "restored"). It also changed WebView to display at the top the regular apps list. That is how I noticed it in the first place. Only after that triggered me to wonder what the hell was happening did I go on a quest to remove the invasive forces on my device. It must have been a mistake as later unnotified changes have occurred in subsequent weeks, including it's return to the System Processes list which I only know exists because it was in the wrong place in the first place. While I can't be absolutely sure they didn't exist before hand, I'd never before been able to find and use such things as "networked apps" and "change system settings" permissions.

By the way, back to the top topic, allowing System UI (strangely also not a system app) to change system settings, seems to be the thing which both solves my problem and might have repeatedly allowed "Calendar storage" to have "contacts" permission. That's neither here not here, but something to watch out for if anyone else is trying to halt the invasion of the evil machine on OUR androids (No Google! It does not belong to you unless you're taking it by force of power, like an armed highway robber. ...and yes, you should ALWAYS ask before installing anything. )

If apps with more control than users helps stop the puppykickers from kicking the puppies:batdroid: then, well -- it's a tough decision.
That kind of power is unlikely to be safe forever :thinking:


I will never understand those who complain about changes to their devices via System Updates, or other such updates.

The simple way to prevent such things is through the Developers Options- you turn off the ability for these updates to happen, and then they won't- and then there are no surprises.

Also, it is not only system apps that you need to be vary of, but any app in general.

Whenever any app of any sort is updated, the permissions the app uses can be changed.

It is the user's responsibility to understand this, and to look out for it before performing such updates.

A check of the app Changelog is in order.

It is the user's responsibility- just as it is a dog owner's responsibility not to let a dangerous, inbred, violent scavenger/predator loose in the neighborhood, where it can be kicked by those who will defend themselves.
 
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