[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] patcheenrocks:
HTC is running bloatware

I have a HTC Desire S running Android 2.3.3 and HTC Sense 2.1.

I have 2 services running in the background that were a bit suspect:

HTC Report Agent and

My Downloads Provider,

so I contacted HTC about them.

Here is their response and the subsequent discussion that ensued:

"HTC report agent is a HTC background application so you do not need to worry about it from a security point of view. My Downloads Provider however is not an HTC application."

"I know "HTC Report Agent" is a background process.

My question is, what does it do exactly?

Does it connect to the Internet?

I'm on a daily Internet Plan from Vodafone and I don't want any process opening up a data connection to the Internet and costing me money without my express consent.

Can I safely stop the precess and prevent it from starting again?

You don't know what "My Downloads Provider" is then?

I bought this phone from Expansys.ie and it was unlocked and SIM free.

So it was in a factory state when I received it.

The process was either installed by HTC or is part of the Android OS?

I will contact Google and ask them."

"HTC report agent is an application used to bring notifications on the screen. It does connect to internet for some of the application. My downloads provider will also connect to internet for applicaitons downloads. If you want to monitor mobile internet data then you can download 3g watchdog which is an application to monitor mobile data."

"Why does HTC Report Agent have to connect to the Internet?

Is it some sort of "Big Brother" application?

I get charged €1 per day for using a data connection on Vodafone, no matter how little data is transferred.

I will now be charged every single day, because these apps are connecting for NO good reason.

I stopped "HTC Report Agent" in the Applications manager and it restarted itself again soon after.

Can the process be stopped permanently?"

"HTC report agent is used to send application crash reports to HTC so that HTC can improve and fix porblems that occur with the phone. It does not send any personal data to us. What you can do is try switching off mobile internet on your phone so your phone will not connect to internet and you will not incur any charges."

"I am not happy about this at all.

This is why people Root their phones, so they can have some measure of control and remove unnecessary programs.

Surely HTC should give the option to stop this process.

At least warn users, and give the option to decline uploading of reports.

By the way, to my knowledge none of my apps have crashed and "HTC Report Agent" seems to be transmitting data regularly."

"I am sorry that you are not happy with the HTC report agent working in the background. Unfortunatley HTC phone applications are designed this way. This is to improve the quality of software that we release. If you are seeking to root your phone then we are unable to provide any support for a rooted phone."

I am very disappointed with this situation, if you have a very slow data connection in the country somewhere and are trying to access the Internet these bloody "services" are running in the background transferring data making my incredibly slow connection even slower.

Newer versions of HTC Sense seem to have even more bloatware running.

This once "Quietly Brilliant" company has headed to the dark side I think.:(