Database Develop

Strange data issues. How to track down malicious apps?

Alright, I really need some help from the big boys here.
I have had my N1 since release. I have T-Mobile and no data plan. Everything I do is over wifi.
On Friday, I saw the 3g icon on my phone for the first time. It appeared out of nowhere and just flips between 3G and E since T-Mobile just blocks data for non-plan users. This was killing the battery life of the phone.
I called Google and they ran me through *#*#4636#*#* to disable the data connection. This fixed the problem for a while; However after a while the phone will give a message that there is no service provider and will reconnect to T-Mobile (it has never done this before outside of phone boots). When it is back up the 3G/E cycling starts again. Even worse the data connection still lists as disabled and will not re-enable. I have to pop the battery out while it is running to get back in to disable it.
Google thinks its an app but I have removed everything but Touchdown and K9 which I don't think are the problem. I have used Android OS Monitor and I do see connections to 64.15.75.218 and 209.44.107.13 which are hot beds for malware and when I uninstall any app these connections vanish temporarily. But they come back after a few hours.
Anyone seen this before or know a way to track IP connections to a particular app?

I have no solution for tracing 'malicious' software but it is possible to just disable all mobile data usage.
Settings/Wireless and network settings/ Mobile networks > "Data enabled"
If you unselect this there should be no more data transfer while on the mobile network.

I do not have that option. Google Rep said it was only in froyo.
Problem is I did the same thing for 2.1 but it keeps coming back on. Even with wifi the phone connects to these ips so who knows what it is doing.

3G isn't used only for data, you can do voice on 3G.
Could be T-Mobile expanding 3g into your are where you didn't have coverage before.
Call T-Mobile and make sure you're not actually using data.
As for tracking applications, you can use System Panel Pro of the market to monitor how much data applications are using.

I know I am not using data. The T-Mobile account page is pretty detailed and I am unable to do anything online when wifi is off. 3G has also been available for a while here as I know others that use it.
I will check out system panel.
Thanks.

UmbraeSoulsbane said:
I do not have that option. Google Rep said it was only in froyo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is indeed only on Froyo, however, Froyo is out now, so install it and you'll instantly benefit.

A few more things:
Were you receiving or sending MMS (picture/video messages) when the 3G icon popped up? This is normal and doesn't usually come out of your data balance.
If you'd like to be triple-sure you're not using data, go into the APN settings. Edit the APN name - e.g. change tmobile.com to nomobile.com. Now it *really* shouldn't be able to access data.

Smarphones would be well to do to have a Zonealarm/little snitch type app for this purpose.
Id imagine ad based apps wouldnt be too happy about it. At the least an app that reports IPs times , and IN/OUT info.

I never use SMS or mms and have not gotten any during this time.
My concern is not related to getting charges but with unwanted use of my phone or data. When the data connection auto enables it will go through my battery in a matter or hours and who knows what the phone may be doing.
I know I can turn this off and make sure data is not used - in fact I have already done this. However when smoke enters room you don't just put a towel under the door and forget about it. I want to find the source of this and stop it because the behavior is not normal.
I agree something like zone alarm would be good. You should be able prevent or track an app activities for situations like this. If I knew what was connecting to these IPs and enabling the data connection I could stop it and report the app or submit a bug request. Right now I am just all alone.
I did try system panel which seems like a nice app but it does not give me good information on network usage by app. OSMonitor is better at connection monitoring but doesn't list by app. Why has no one thought to monitor network threads by app?

Try alogcat maybe? Any time you notice the icon suddenly appearing, save a copy of the logcat and comb through it.

alogcat may work. Figured out OSMonitor had something similar and filtered by app.
Now I just gotta wait I guess. Still not enough info to relate to IP though.

You should know that the data connection setting isn't an enforcement for the entire phone. It only acts as a notice to applications on whether or not to use data in the background.
Developers are supposed to respect those settings, but they are not enforced.

There is a free program called Network Statistics which is no longer in the market. I will backup the apk for you and upload it so you can use it. It shows the amount of data used by each app.
I too had a data hungry app issue and this helped me solve it immediately.
I'm just at work ATM, so I'll do it this evening. (Almost midday now here in Australia )
Cheers,
Ross

@JCopernicus
I am aware of this which is why I want to track this problem down.
@Ross
That sounds great. I appreciate the help. Not sure if tracking data usage is enough since I don't think the app is sending a lot of data. But I am willing to try anything.
I should be getting froyo soon so maybe that will help as well.

This is what I do when I want to ensure I don't use Data. Go I. To wireless connections. Mobile Networks, and then access points. Create a new one. I usually call it No Data. The for the apn, I just make something dumb, like no.data.com, and then save. After I'll select that as my apn.

The issue is not about the use of the data connection. I have done this and can guarantee the phone cannot use any cell data network. The problem is an app is trying to use it anyway even when it is disabled. Even if you ignore that as a concerning activity the constant 3G searching reduces the battery life to a mere hours.
I appreciate the help, but my issue is not with how to disable the data connection. Its about identifying malware on my device, and tracking an app calls to a specific IP.

Again,k 3g doesn't mean data. 3g is also used for voice.
If you only want to use "2g" switch your phone over to gsm only through 4636 or through the menu where it says "use 2g only".
You will never see the 3g icon again.
If you wan't to be 100% sure no app is calling an IP, then do a factory reset. Install apps one by one, monitor them through the various options given in this thread already.
You will not be able to prevent an application from "calling home" unless you modify the app itself. Apps use the data connection provided to them by the OS however they see fit.
Every app you install has a permissions prompt that will tell you it want's internet access.

JCopernicus said:
Again,k 3g doesn't mean data. 3g is also used for voice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Android "3G", "H", "E" or "G" icon denotes data. It may also appear temporarily when making the connection necessary to transmit MMS. It does not appear when the phone is using voice over 3G without a data connection.

Actually, this may be a T-Mobile issue - they just enabled the ability to do "pay as you go" data on ALL plans without a data plan, so they may be the ones turning on the ability to do data. You'd still need to authorize it in your browser, and I think it costs about $1/1MB so it is totally not worth it.
May be worth looking into because it wouldn't surprise me if their new "service" is screwing things up.

I am aware of 3G voice but the 3G status icon is related to data flow. I have had the phone since launch and posted this because this behavior is not normal. Even Google was perplexed by what it is doing. And as I said it is not constrained by the 4636 settings.
And I disagree that an app can use the network connection as they see fit. Rights are given to perform its intended purpose; anything else is malicious.

How to turn off data?

When I had my Aria, I could turn off the data connection but I cannot find the setting on the captivate.
Any ideas?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Bump
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I would also love to know how to turn off the 3G data so I can be 100% positive that I'm not eating all of my monthly allotment when I think I'm on wifi

I use "APN on-off Widget" from the market. It's a simple 1x1 widget that allows you to enable and disable APN (data) connectivity with a single tap. It's color coded green/red for data on/off.

There are a few apps that can do this for you. Here is one of them: http://www.appbrain.com/app/com.DataOnOff

Neither seem to work. :/
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Have you tried APNdroid or SMODA Widget?

Gonna try now
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Download "network" app from the market place. Start the app, press menu, and press disable data. Works great for me. Would prefer an edge only option.

when by a wifi connection, can you just connect to the wifi connection to disable data?

When I first got my phone, came home, and connect to my wifi, it was showing the 3g icon next to the wifi icon for like a day and a half. Then for some reason, I had to power the phone completely off and back on again. So, now it just shows the wifi icon when I'm at home, and switches properly to 3g when I go out.

Been looking around for awhile (almost last two years!)
My favorite app/widget for controlling all sorts of things on the device (including data) is:
Extended Controls
Frigging AWESOME - not related to them or anything - just a fan of the app.
I use it and have TWO of their widgets full of controls on one screen!

This is my first post ever to a forum. So, hopefully this comes out ok.
Just picked up my Captivate yesterday and was trying to figure this out also. Found a post by someone, can't remember from where, to go Settings, Wireless and network, Mobile networks, Access Point Names and then add a bogus APN. I named mine OFF. Once you have a bogus APN then select it instead of the ATT WAP. Well, tried this and it didn't work, still had icon at top for mobile data and was transferring data. That is until I got to messing around trying out some the settings and I happen to activate Flight mode, still had bogus APN selected. Then once I turned Flight mode back off the icon was gone and no more data transfer from mobile network. Then when I wanted to turn mobile data back on just went back and selected ATT WAP and the icon popped back in and connected to mobile network.

Extended Controls offers an APN toggle that works very well, and it's not a bad looking widget either.

Undocumented Debug/Diagnostic Menus In Your Android Phone - I found this at: TechSupportAlert
From your Android phone, dial *#*#4636#*#* and then wait a couple of seconds. The testing menu will appear. To exit back to your normal phone, just press your back/exit button. If you're going to explore the various options on the testing menu, take care.
As for the method to turn off data, select the first option on the testing menu (phone information), then press your menu key. You'll see a selection of buttons, one of which says "disable data connection". Press it, and you're all done. To re-enable your data connection, go to the same menu, where you'll find that the name of the button is now "enable data connection".
I tried it on my GT-P1000 and it worked perfectly.
Just in case it helps?

If you are running stock FroYo there is a data connection in the power menu. Hold the power button, and press Data Network. It wasn't there in Eclair, but they added it in FroYo. If I remember right it will even remain disabled after a reboot. I can't test as my phones are no longer stock, but my wife once thought she broke her captivate because she accidentally toggled that.
Sent from my Captivate running Continuum 5.5

From the home screen hit the menu button.
Settings>Wireless and Networks>Mobile Data>Use Packet Data.
Uncheck Use Packet Data
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Airplane mode and wifi?
Am I missing something in my quick review of this thread?
I am going to Europe and dont want any service at all except for wifi.
Cant I just enable airplane mode and then turn on the wifi? Or will those sneaky bastards at ATT find a way to still charge me for something?

FireRaider said:
Am I missing something in my quick review of this thread?
I am going to Europe and dont want any service at all except for wifi.
Cant I just enable airplane mode and then turn on the wifi? Or will those sneaky bastards at ATT find a way to still charge me for something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just leave your sim card out of the phone then there is no possible way to "sneak charges"...
wifi works with no sim. And you will get kick ass battery life without it.

I am in Venice now after a week in Paris and leaving the phone in airplane mode seems to be doing the trick. But let me just say, hotel wifi in Europe sucks! Its nothing like the states. You get a user name and a password and have to log in every single time. And only one user at a time. I need a wifi repeater or something to use my laptop, iPod, and phone as I want to.
sent from XDA app

WiFi App interference?

Is it possible for an App to interfere with the WiFi connection? I've downloaded plenty of third party, torrented apps and I've been noticing that my WiFi will work for a few pages and then stop loading, throwing up an error saying "Web page not available" showing the little Android. This would cause me to disable WiFi and go strictly with 3G. Enabling WiFi later would help with a few more pages until it wanted to die again.
After I uninstalled ALL of my apps and unrooted the phone, I've noticed that the WiFi works again (so far at least). I still have the same 1 bar signal from across the house, but it isn't giving any more errors.
I constantly used task killer to free up memory, so I don't think those apps would have made a difference in the sense that they may have been taking up some bandwidth or the such.
Any clues guys? Thanks for any help.

Same
I have the same problem. I rooted and did the settings.db. My wifi will turn on and connect but 20-30 seconds later it just turns off on its own. I haven't unrooted it to see if it fixes it though.
How did you unroot yours?
Thanks

Like, I'm pretty sure that's just karma, dude. Harsh vibes from people like me that make software for a living reaching out and disrupting your chakra centers. And your WiFis.
That and using Task Killer in the first place. Not needed, causes more problems than it solves (and it solves almost nothing on Galaxy S).

I am in the same boat--just started noticing it today when I got home from work and turned the phone back on only to see I wasn't connected to wifi. When I connected to my network again I noticed the 3G icon stayed on the screen with the wifi connection symbol, where the wifi icon used to replace the 3g icon. After a little while, it was gone.
I have rooted and removed some of the AT&T apps but nothing else. I havent sideloaded any apps either. It usually take me a couple of tries to connect to my router (WRT54GL). Sometimes it also seems that my phone turns off wifi by itself.

I hope this isn't a symptom of the battery cover antenna. Does your WiFi signal show as weak in the strength readout?

candymann said:
I am in the same boat--just started noticing it today when I got home from work and turned the phone back on only to see I wasn't connected to wifi. When I connected to my network again I noticed the 3G icon stayed on the screen with the wifi connection symbol, where the wifi icon used to replace the 3g icon. After a little while, it was gone.
I have rooted and removed some of the AT&T apps but nothing else. I havent sideloaded any apps either. It usually take me a couple of tries to connect to my router (WRT54GL). Sometimes it also seems that my phone turns off wifi by itself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does actually turn off wifi by itself! I did the following last night and haven't seen an issue since. As a new user, I can't post links: androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/130163-wifi-connection-turns-off-when-sleep-mode-default.html
From androidforums.com:
By default the wi-fi setting is set to go to sleep (and use cellular data instead) when the screen is off, which will most likely happen while you are streaming music as well as other things. To change it so the wi-fi never turns off, go into the phone's menu -> wireless and network -> wi-fi settings -> tap the menu button and select advanced which has an option for wi-fi sleep policy that had been defaulted to sleep "when screen turns off". There you have the option to change it to "never" or "never when plugged in".

Did a little more playing around with it, finally had to reset my router to maintain any type of consistent connection after restarting the phone. One weird thing is that my old iPhone wasn't able to connect to the router consistently last night until the reset either--it has never had any issues in the past.
After the reset, the captivate did maintain a consistent connection--I browsed a few websites and streamed part of a show from my computer using Allshare.
This morning when I turned on the phone wifi wasn't connected so I went into the settings and looks like the phone had attempted to connect unsuccessfully. I clicked it again to connect and it connected without any issue and was fine until I left for work. The whole thing seems a little wonky, as well as it should automatically try to re-connect if it fails the first time if network is in range, or at least give you an alert.
I just set up tdogz suggestion above, so we will see if it helps.

miahmartin said:
How did you unroot yours?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On this forum after .com/ place "showpost.php?p=7231968&postcount=4"
Croak said:
Like, I'm pretty sure that's just karma, dude. Harsh vibes from people like me that make software for a living reaching out and disrupting your chakra centers. And your WiFis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha sorry bud, but after browsing for some good videos to put on the phone my curiosity made me type in "android" in the torrent search box. I was amazed I could do such things.
heygrl said:
I hope this isn't a symptom of the battery cover antenna. Does your WiFi signal show as weak in the strength readout?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Before I unrooted the WiFi wouldn't work with full or low bars, not sure of the strength readout.

Darkeligos said:
On this forum after .com/ place "showpost.php?p=7231968&postcount=4"
Haha sorry bud, but after browsing for some good videos to put on the phone my curiosity made me type in "android" in the torrent search box. I was amazed I could do such things.
Before I unrooted the WiFi wouldn't work with full or low bars, not sure of the strength readout.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running into the same issue, I am positive it is a software issue. It only seemed to happen after I flashed my phone with the Odin One click downloader. Dunno if it is coincidence or not. Going to try clearing the user data from the recovery window to see if it helps. I also notices on the power widget, i cant control GPS from there, blue tooth as well i think.

div3rg3nt said:
Running into the same issue, I am positive it is a software issue. It only seemed to happen after I flashed my phone with the Odin One click downloader. Dunno if it is coincidence or not. Going to try clearing the user data from the recovery window to see if it helps. I also notices on the power widget, i cant control GPS from there, blue tooth as well i think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, user data reset did not do it. Reflashing now.

div3rg3nt said:
Yeah, user data reset did not do it. Reflashing now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huzza! I figured my issue out, may be yours as well. Did you do the sideload hack with the settings.db? Turns out you need to change the owner of settings.db to system:
Code:
# chown system settings.db
After that, I was good to go. The logic behind this is that settings.db tracks more settings than just if you can sideload apps or not. I'm betting the system is trying to change a value in that file and it cant after the hack, so various systems fail.

Wifi oddities

Hello,
Has anyone ever experienced the inability to download pictures from SMS/MMS while connected to wifi? My buddy can send me a pic via messaging or chomp sms and once it gets to me, usually a long time later, I will get a small, empty chat balloon touch the balloon and it will give me the loading circle for a few minutes and it will eventually stop without dl'ing anything. If I turn off wifi then it will dl within seconds. This is the same on both my phone and my buddy's(captivate) the only difference is I run the Firefly 2.0.5 and he is running stock eclair.
Is this just something that we have to deal with or is there a fix for this?
I did a samsung live chat and the agent said it was the way samsung makes their phones and restrict it to only allow SMS/MMS DL from the carrier signal.
Thanks for any and all help.

mms are done over 3g, are you able to browse the internet on 3g? are your APN settings correct?

I get mms when on wifi too. I was home two days back when I got like 4 sms. And at home I'm always on wifi.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Never had a problem

MMS are only done over your carrier network. To prove this send your self an mms and as it is sending and receiving what your task bar and you will see that your data network connects to download it.

since the phone has to drop the wifi signal and connect to the carrier data signal to send or receive MMS (it might not show in the icon though), yours might be lagging somewhat in doing that...
so when the buddy is on wifi his one does it quicker yes?

Trusselo said:
mms are done over 3g, are you able to browse the internet on 3g? are your APN settings correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes can browse the internet while on 3G and WIFI.
I do not know if my APN settings are wrong or right.

ap1618 said:
since the phone has to drop the wifi signal and connect to the carrier data signal to send or receive MMS (it might not show in the icon though), yours might be lagging somewhat in doing that...
so when the buddy is on wifi his one does it quicker yes?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, in reference to the way the devices act both do the same thing. Do not allow you to DL MMS while the WIFI is turned on. neither seems faster or slower it just will not complete the task on wifi.
Thanks to all for the replies

zelendel said:
MMS are only done over your carrier network. To prove this send your self an mms and as it is sending and receiving what your task bar and you will see that your data network connects to download it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+10000000000
I checked it 2 days back. Even when on wifi, it turns on EDGE/3G, downloads MMS and disconnects it.

diablo009 said:
+10000000000
I checked it 2 days back. Even when on wifi, it turns on EDGE/3G, downloads MMS and disconnects it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So is there a setting that I need to look for that allows for the edge/3g to turn on/off for mms?

Anyone?
Would love to figure this out as it is quite annoying.

Wifi Issues

Has anyone else had issues with wifi not staying off? I normally turn wifi off when I leave the house to go to work. But when I get to work I will notice when I unlock my phone that I have a pop up asking me if I want to connect to the office wifi network. I go into setting and wifi has spontaneously turned itself on. I will turn it off again but the same thing usually happens the next time I unlock my phone and open the browser. Then just now, I unlocked the phone and opened the browser and the wifi network notification popped up again, but this time I went into settings and and it says the wifi is still off. I am starting to wonder if my D4 is just screwing with me now for the fun of it. Anyone else had any issues like this?

kwyrt said:
Has anyone else had issues with wifi not staying off? I normally turn wifi off when I leave the house to go to work. But when I get to work I will notice when I unlock my phone that I have a pop up asking me if I want to connect to the office wifi network. I go into setting and wifi has spontaneously turned itself on. I will turn it off again but the same thing usually happens the next time I unlock my phone and open the browser. Then just now, I unlocked the phone and opened the browser and the wifi network notification popped up again, but this time I went into settings and and it says the wifi is still off. I am starting to wonder if my D4 is just screwing with me now for the fun of it. Anyone else had any issues like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you use the smart actions on the phone?
I looked into setting them up at one time and got a warning saying some of the functionality of that app required wifi being on.

kwyrt said:
Has anyone else had issues with wifi not staying off? I normally turn wifi off when I leave the house to go to work. But when I get to work I will notice when I unlock my phone that I have a pop up asking me if I want to connect to the office wifi network. I go into setting and wifi has spontaneously turned itself on. I will turn it off again but the same thing usually happens the next time I unlock my phone and open the browser. Then just now, I unlocked the phone and opened the browser and the wifi network notification popped up again, but this time I went into settings and and it says the wifi is still off. I am starting to wonder if my D4 is just screwing with me now for the fun of it. Anyone else had any issues like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's actually a setting on the phone, where it will ask you if you would like to connect to wifi anytime an application requires a data connection. It's just to prevent you from going over your data plan. Go to your Wi-Fi settings and uncheck the "Notify Me" option under Wi-Fi autostart reminders.

bdbraaten said:
Do you use the smart actions on the phone?
I looked into setting them up at one time and got a warning saying some of the functionality of that app required wifi being on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't messed with Smart Actions yet. Might have to look at that though.
Malnodnarb said:
That's actually a setting on the phone, where it will ask you if you would like to connect to wifi anytime an application requires a data connection. It's just to prevent you from going over your data plan. Go to your Wi-Fi settings and uncheck the "Notify Me" option under Wi-Fi autostart reminders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I unchecked the notify me box. Hopefully that fixes it. Thanks!

kwyrt said:
I haven't messed with Smart Actions yet. Might have to look at that though.
I unchecked the notify me box. Hopefully that fixes it. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. Same problem was irritating me too!