yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android Apps and Games] uschipower:
@AndroidDeveloperLB

I tried to use your app on FireTV, but this is not possible because of app-statistic-right.

FireOS (=Android 9, SDK 28) doesnt have app-statistic

How can i get running the app such devices?

Thanks.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
What do you mean " app-statistic"?

You mean the permission of usage-stats ? This permission exists for a long time.

If your OS blocks it or doesn't have a screen to grant it, it's not because of my app...
[Android Apps and Games] uschipower:
Of course, but as I unterstand, the right is only used for sorting in your app.

How can I start your app without that right?
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
It's used for multiple things:

1. Showing exact app size from Android 8, in each item on the list. Before Android 8, it was possible in a hack-y way.

2. Sorting by recently-launched

3. Sorting by app-size (because I can get the app size)

You can't use the app without this important permission.
[Android Apps and Games] uschipower:
you app was recommended for installing split-apks.

Do you know a adequat alternative
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
I know of this one:

Split APKs Installer (SAI) - Apps on Google Play

SAI lets you install and export split APKs

play.google.com

Also probably possible via adb, but I don't remember if I tried it. I wrote about this on FAQ though.

Maybe it is time though to make this permission optional. Need to do some big changes though....

So many things that I know I can do better, but they are all spare time apps...
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
First thing most people do (including me) to decide if they should even try an app is to look at its screenshots and video. Even the icon is important.

The reason is that usually apps that have good looks also mean a lot of work was done on them.

I know the UI is important, but it all started from the features for me.

For me, if it's "bearable" ,doesn't annoy and has what I need, that's enough for me, and since I am the developer of the app I use, I'm more tolerate about the UI.

I also don't get apps that spend so much on the UI that it gone too far from the purpose of the app (like "Timely", which look very cool but it's still just an alarm clock...).
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
just the way every dev should go. They should focus on making their app fast, feature rich and efficient and then concentrate on a beautiful UI(the reason Google's apps always have positive review, and negative only because some can't be removed).|

And by the way, I discovered another bug after the new update, the initial time required to start up the app has gone up from 1 to between 3 and 5 seconds(depending on cpu and ram load), and also the app shows signs of minimal stutter when you scoll quickly using the scroll thumb, so you might want to optimize performance before rolling out a new feature or change

---------- Post added at 07:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:14 PM ----------

And also the app shortcuts created using this app appear with only label name and a blank icon
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
The time till showing the apps depends on the number of apps to show, since it gets the basic data from them (time of installation, names,...), and also need to sort them. Also if the system apps are shown, (a lot) more items are added to the list and need to be used...

However, I plan to make it much faster in future versions. I have my ideas.

About the scrolling issue, is it possible you have apps that have names that are not in English? Also, which device do you have?
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Well, I for one, have kept my rom to a bare minimal and with quite less system apps(600mb free system partition, with only 0.99GB used) so mit shouldn't be that slow with starting up, I also tried it on my friend's nexus 5 with Slimkat(one of the lightest one with same results.

All my apps are in English only, I don't prefer any other language at my screen even if I could read or understand it.

By the way, I own an international version Note 2(GT-N7100
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
It's not about the size of the apps, it's about the number of apps.

I don't check their sizes (yet).

About the scrolling issue, I will just have to check it out. I just know that for me, if there is a list with items that are in English and some are in Hebrew (which is a Right-To-Left language), the scrolling is "jumpy", but that occurs everywhere on Android, even on settings screens. I don't know why it happens and I hope it got fixed on Kitkat.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Well, the startup time is not much different when system apps aren't shown(I got only 27 user apps, out of which only 1 game- fives)

And about that scroll glitch, it happens even when all text in left to right english. And yes, RTL text issue is within android too, but not fixed on kitkat:rolleyes:
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
it shouldn't be slow on your devices, especially with so few apps.

I have more than 50 apps (I think) because I have many tools for developing and many demos, and I have Galaxy S3 (I9300), and it takes this much time. with the system apps (of samsung-stock-based rom), it's probably 100...

Anyway, as I've written, it is possible to make it much much faster. I even have multiple ideas of how to make it faster.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Well, that would be great. I actually saw a way to make it open instantly- that is, clocking the frequency to anywhere above 900mHz. The reason you don't notice it is due to the touchwiz dynamic voltage and frequency scaling(DVFS), introduced in 4.3, and scales up the CPU whenever any app that scans for instances of memory is detected(mosly used for boosting benchmarks).

You'll notice the effect once your device gets kitkat and the DVFS is removed
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
overclocking is not a good solution to use on my app. :)

also, it's not because the app itself is CPU intensive. it's more because of system calls to get the app's information.

At least that's my main suspect.

Now that I read about it, it seems that for getting some information of apps (even app name), it might take time depending on the APK size... weird.

Anyway, since it bothers me too, I will try to make it faster using some of the ideas I have, while also doing some other tasks I've planned for the near future.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
ok, I made a test version which has some tiny adjustment in terms of speed and smoothness (not using the "big guns" yet) , and since it's impossible (?) to install it as it is instead of the play store, I will just let invite anyone who wishes, to enter the alpha/beta google group:

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.lb.app_manager

it's the first time I manage such a group, so tell me if anything goes wrong.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Making a google group would be a nice idea

but please do mention the link to google group.

Without joining the group, all one gets is a 404 error on google play.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
I'm sorry. this it the first time I'm doing this.

Is this the correct link:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/appmanager_test_group

?

if that also doesn't work, maybe I need to gather the gmail addresses in order to add them manually to the group.

EDIT: yes, I probably need an email address (attached image to show it).

BTW, how do you properly put an image here, and how do you change its size?
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
OK, since I had problems using the normal settings of the holo-light theme, I've decided to take the cards-ui and use it ...

Hope people will now be nicer towards the UI part.

I've also made some adjustments which might help with some scrolling issues .

Next update will be about faster startup of the app. Hope to finish it by the end of Passover (at the end of next week).

Maybe I will do even more...

If you find any weird thing on the new UI, please let me know.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Alright, I have sent the request to join.

I will test thoroughly and report bugs or glitches present, if any.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Ok, I've accepted you being there, but do note that I will rarely need to publish an alpha version, as I usually test the app myself and add tiny features each time.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Joined the testing group. But well, I have found some bugs present in the version you published yesterday.

1) The cards are of inconsistent sizes, and sometimes have a blank space(a full line), which expands it further, making lesser apps visible.

2) Can you consider changing the descriptive text of apps to a bit darker shade? the light grey colour is sometimes a bit hard to spot on the white, and needs a bit of effort to read.

3)Icons for some core android apks and services aren't displayed(screenshot below). It should be displaying an android logo if no other icon is available, that's how all of the apps on android work, and this seems more like a glitch.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
1. What do you mean? they get resized according to the content, so that it won't be truncated (or worse- have a marquee effect)... You should try out rotating the device. they take space automatically. I hope it also shows well on tablets. I've tried it on emulators of tablets and it looked fine, but not the best it can be for tablets. It can have much better design for tablets.

The cards UI takes more space, that's true, which make less apps being visible. that's also why i also didn't like this design on the play store.

If I let it use the default resizing, weird things can happen, and I've written a thread about this issue here .

Do you think I should add an option "cards UI" vs "simple list UI" ?

Anyway, I've made some tiny tweaks to the spacing between items. I think it's a bit more to see, yet the user should see it clearly that the items are separated.

2. I took the exact same colors used on the play store, but ok.

3. Some apps do have the android icon logo. Some apps don't have any icon. I don't want to put false data.

But you are correct on this. each app i've seen that doesn't have an icon will be shown with the default icon when you choose to manage it.

Weird. So you think I should put it? ok.

Maybe that's why there is an image file called "sym_def_app_icon". I've used it so many times for POCs and never thought about its purpose...
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
1) I don't have anything against the big cards, but sometimes they bug out, and are sometimes fine, the issue went away with a reinstall so all is okay now.

Well, it's your wish to add the option for UI

2) changing colors will help even the elder ones see it better.

3)icons should be placed properly, or looks downright wierd.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
1. I don't understand what is "bug out", and how could a re-install helped, but ok.

2. I've already changed it. did you make an update? latest version is 1.10 (version code 13).

3. what's wrong with the icons placements?
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Version 1.11 - version code 14 - available for the beta test users.

This version is about UI speed optimizations, and the scrolling speed should be a bit better too, but I'm not sure if it works well on all devices and it might cause weird problems, especially on Nexus devices (I remember I've tested similar things on them and got weird things).

The optimizations:

- less overdraw (and you can see it via "developer options"->"show GPU overdraw")

- some scrolling tweaks.

Please let me know if you find any weird things going on while scrolling, especially on AOSP based ROMs.

Also try clicking/long clicking on items .
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
The new version is faster and opens quicker too.

And, yup the lag while scrolling is gone now.

the dialogs are quicker to popup.

The ui looks better and the cards do look even sized now.

as always, will be on the lookout for any bugs.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Are you sure it looks ok? have you tried to scroll and also click on items?

On which devices have you tested it ?
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
All is fine here on my N7100 and my friend's Z1. Well I haven't tested on any AOSP or SENSE based roms yet, so will report bugs once I get to(most probable after wednesday, till then I am at home due to my vacations)
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
that's good news.

I guess I will publish it soon for everyone.

But the big change would be the new optimization of bootup of the app, which I should be very careful implementing it.

How do I tell XDA to update the screenshots on the article they've made (here) ? I've tried to contact the writer , but didn't get any response... :(
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
With my testing on AOSP on my friend's Nexus 4, slimrom and omni on other friends' devices, I didn't find issues at all, the ones you mentioned weren't present on non-rooted, stock rooted or custom AOSP as fas as I have tested.

And about thise screenshots, you can edit the OP to remove them, and upload newer ones yourself

Sent from my Calculator
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
That's awesome. Thank you .

I will soon publish the experimental version for all. Its version is 1.12 (version code 15).

About the screenshots, I don't understand. I was talking about the article on XDA website, and not the forum...

Next update (that would be of faster bootup) could take some time as it's quite hard to implement and will require a big change in the code. I also would like to test it a lot before publishing, since there is no place for a mistake here.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
My bad, I thought that you were talking about the thread.

I hope next version turns out to be even better
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Yes, and maybe I'll add a feature or two. Do you have any idea of a tiny feature you'd like to add?
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
I guess you can move some options to a 3-dot menu present at right, like settings, batch actions(unistall or freeze), some others which would make the interface more simplified, and would be better if the list is draggable without lifting the finger (just like chrome). And maybe, you can add a small label on cards qhich are displaying apps currently running in background(like the screenshot below).

See how, the apps running in background have a special indicator, maybe you can add it too.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
3-dot menu - it's called overflow button, and moving things there is quite automatic, and will get into a menu for devices that have a menu button. I'd prefer putting some stuff on the navigation drawer and let 2 main actions on the action bar. Even now, devices that cannot show 3 action items will show just 2 (or 1), and put the rest on either the menu or the overflow button.

batch operations is one of the main features I wish to add, but this will take quite some time.

draggable list - you mean like on Gmail, where you can slide an item to remove it? it's also something i'd like to add, and maybe i will add it this time, as i think it's a relatively easy task. maybe i'll add a feature for rooted devices that will also bypass the confirmation window in this case, or add an undo button like on gmail.

about showing indications of which apps are "running", this is possible, but I don't think I should monitor the entire system. It's more of an app manager than a task/process manager. I don't know. I'll think about it.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Draggable list from an overflow button, just like chrome, was what I am mentioning. It is just easy to use the overflow menu like that
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
I don't understand what you mean by "Draggable list from an overflow button, just like chrome" . Could you put a screenshot perhaps?

I have a Galaxy S3, which has a menu button on the device itself, so I never see the overflow button.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Just press menu button and tap on any option, then slide you finger up or down without lifting. You'll notice that you can select any other option like that, besides the one you tapped.

Here, see this video:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iXjpXS3UXp4
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Oh, now I understand.

As I remember, this is a built in feature of Kitkat. It has nothing to do with apps.

It will always be shown for all apps that the framework has decided to show overflow button for them.

You can even see this in the description of the video:

Maybe it's even working this way for any sub menu. Can you please try out the "sorting and filtering" button my app has?
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Yes, the sorting in you app draggable too. I completely forgot that the change had been systemwide. Samsung never used it in their apps, so I thought it might have been in some apps.

Well, I guess then you can work on adding an option for light or dark theme then. You know, AMOLEDS love dark?
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
I have some weird problems with the setting of the themes, so even though this should be very simple and easy (and I have done such things in the past, I just can't find what's wrong) , I will sadly probably only add an option to choose between cards-UI vs holo-light.

Anyway, I have done some research on improving the startup of the app, and found out that using one of my ideas, I can drastically improve it . It should be less than a second to start the app even if there are plenty of apps being installed.

The only disadvantage of the optimization comes from how it works : since getting the app name (and icon, BTW) takes relatively long time, I will need to cache it, so the first time the app starts, it will take about the same time it took so far. However, from the second run of the app, it should be much faster.

I could make it even more efficient, but I think this optimization will be enough for now, as the other optimizations are both complex and probably minor speed boost.

I will update here when I get a new APK for testing. Really hope to tackle this annoyance. :fingers-crossed:
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Caching is quite a good idea to improve performance.

You can take you own time to develop any features you want to implement, just be sure it works.

Waiting eagerly to test the improved version
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
OK, I've published a new beta version - 1.13 (version code 16).

Don't know how it will work on other devices, but on my device I can say it's blazingly fast compared to previous versions. No matter how you kill the app, it will start in less than a second. This is how each app out there should be ... :)

What's new:

- some minor fixes&tweaks , nobody will even notice.

- added caching of apps list. This will be used whenever possible.

notes:

- just found out that icons of the widgets can have the wrong color on some cases. I need to fix it.

- need to get rid of some features on the settings screen nobody uses and are confusing : back functionality, sorting and system apps visibility .

I had them as features for testing the app anyway. I think I forgot to remove them.

- thinking of putting the current sorting type on the action bar navigation menu, instead of a sub menu of an action item.

- when the final version is out, I strongly recommend to uninstall the beta version. too many things might have changed.

What needs to be tested :

- installing/updating/uninstalling apps while the app has focus should update the list correctly.

- except for the first time showing the entire list (and on the first time including system apps), loading the list should take a very short time.

I've tested the app quite well, but would still wish to know how well it works on other devices, and it's more important to know that the list still functions well, and not just faster than before.

Enjoy. :)
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Yes it is faster, and fixed the rare flickering in the app too (at first I thought it was implemented that way, but now I realize it was a bug), and has also made the app more snappy.

Also, as you mentioned, startup time has drastically reduced.

And about the app sorting part, it would make it even better if you could add tabs on top for differentiating system apps and user apps, with them being swipable to other( left and right side swiping to switch between the tabs)

It will make the app look better and even less cluttered
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
What flickering? Are you talking about refreshing of the list? It occurs when the app identifies any kind of change on the data (uninstall, update, install).

About the tabs, I'm not sure I wish to do such a thing, as it will take extra space on the screen, and I'm not sure how the sorting would work in this condition (sort both? sort current? ), and how it should look like. I need to think about it.

Did you notice any kind of new bugs? any weird issues?
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
It was with kitkat. A slight flicker when you tap any app to uninstall. Don't worry about it, it's gone now, flly tested.

Didn't notice any issues until now, still on lookout for potential bugs.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
weird. I've tested it on nexus 4 multiple times and didn't notice anything. did you run it on a kitkat with root perhaps?

Anyway, thank you for helping me. If you wish, I can try to give you a refund on your donation, so that you get ad-free app.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Well, I'll provide my support for as long as I can.

And don't mind, but I couldn't donate, not at this moment. I am a school goer, just 17.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
Cool. Didn't see that coming.
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
added another beta version - Version code 17 , Version name 1.14

what's new:

-improved list query speed by up to 33%. might not be noticeable on some devices.

-feature to stop an app will be shown only when the app isn't already stopped.

-feature to search for app package name will work fine even when using Opera web browser.

-widget icon should now have a nicer color in case it has some issues with its configuration (caused when the user cleans the app's data).

-handled case of having no more apps installed for the widgets to handle (now they will just be empty and do nothing when being clicked).

-other minor bugs fixes that I don't remember.

what's next to come:

-more filtering features, including any combination of the following : system vs user , enabled vs disabled . maybe others too.

-different UI (especially because of the previous feature). still need to think what should be done. I was thinking about a navigation drawer, but I think the guidelines say I shouldn't use it for this case.
[Android Apps and Games] TheLucidEnhancer:
What version is this compatible with ? Looks great ! :)
[Android Apps and Games] AndroidDeveloperLB:
You mean Android version?

It's supported from Android 2.3 , API 9 , AKA Gingerbread.

Please read all the description on the first thread and/or the play store link. You might find some useful features .

Also, if you wish, you can join the beta testers group. Currently the main thing that is different from the official one is much better speed and smoothness.

Thanks for the compliment BTW. You are welcomed to write here your suggestions and/or put reviews.

If you have are good in speaking English, I could put your video review on the app's play store website.
[Android Apps and Games] KNIGHT97:
Well, that's quite a lot of features added. And a good list for coming features too.

The only Ui change I can think of now is to enable a holo dark theme, with black cards and white text, which shall be good for AMOLEDS.

And by the way, is it possible that the whole list of options pop up when an app is tapped, rather than the uninstall dialog; would make it much easier to do other things with apps for everyone