I have an android app that shouldn't request location in background. But I do see a reminder.
Most probably it's some library, can be facebook sdk or similar. How can I find, which one?
The best way would be to crash internal builds, then I will get stacktrace. But I haven't found strict mode settings for background location access.
Any recommendations?
Related
I have a similar issue to this post How to make my Android app comply with the "Background Location Policy" but that post doesn't have an answer.
I have a web browser app, which on occasion will ask for location permissions if the user visits a website that requests that. App targets API 29. The app manifest has <uses-permission-sdk-23 android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" /> which is API 23 and higher because I didn't want to force location permission on older phones.
Today I got an email saying I have until March to fix this, but I don't understand what I have to do, I'm not requesting background location anywhere.
Anyone have any idea what I have to do?
Edit: I have read the help center, and I'm wondering if that my issue is the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, maybe something is accessing it on the background. I don't know how I would prevent ad networks from that if they do it. I already pause the WebViews the app is not on the foreground so websites should not be using it.
Edit2: Is there maybe a way I can log background location access so that I can monitor my app a few days to see if it happens?
I would like to answer my own question in case someone else is searching for this. I can't say that I know for certain this is correct but it has worked for me so far.
First, on this answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/65894488/704836 I was told to use AppOpsManager to log background location requests. After doing that I found a few places where that takes places. I will discuss those below:
Ad networks. I have ad network initialization on my Application.onCreate() and a lot of those accessed location. So when triggering a BroadcastReceiver, they would check location.
WifiManager.getConnectionInfo() - this will trigger a location request. Same deal as above, I had one of those on Application.onCreate().
After removing those calls the Play store stopped complaining.
Using Xamarin Android, I need to be able to access location updates from within a service.
I have tried the native Android.LocationManager, Plugin.Geolocator, and Xamarin.Essentials.Geolocation, but none of them seem to provide location updates.
If I do it inside an activity, it works fine, but I have a requirement to post location updates from a service which launches at boot time.
Yeah, I know it's a "privacy violation" or whatever, but the app is only used on company devices for a specific internal use.
I saw somewhere that requesting permissions from a service "is tricky," so I know it's possible, but the guy didn't elaborate on how to do it.
I've recently changed an app to target Marshmallow and as you know, I now need to handle the Marshmallow permissions model.
The app hasmany files and thousands of lines of code. Aside from the brute force way ie
turn off permissions and use the app , noting where exceptions happen
is there a more efficient way of finding out which lines of api calls request certain permissions so that they can be wrapped in a permission request?
There are some methods that will raise a lint error if they do not detect permission checks (for example location updates using Google Play Services.) To trigger that run Analyze > Inspect Code and look under the Android Lint Errors.
Other than that brute force is the only way. I had to do this for a project I was working on (also many many thousands of lines of code). I suggest monitoring Logcat for errors and hitting the app hard. Be careful though... if you catch the errors in code then they may not appear in logcat so you'll have to make sure the app functionality is as expected.
But, it's not as hard as it sounds. If take a moment to review your app and the potential locations where permissions are required you'll find that its pretty straight forward. Review this article to determine what permissions you'll need http://inthecheesefactory.com/blog/things-you-need-to-know-about-android-m-permission-developer-edition/en
I work in QA for an company that helps market applications. Currently I have been tasked to ensure location dependent apps function if correctly (ie if im in russia the app displays the russian content and if i change to us the app updates to the us content)
I have tried numerous items to accomplish this but get no where.
What i have tried:
Proxy. Setting this up via wifi to several locations. Both the app and the device still show my current location.
Apps: I have tried all of the following apps and they all give the same result as above.
Fake Location
AutoProxy
Fake GPS
I have enabled developer mode on the devices, and have ensured that "Mock Locations" is checked.
Use case 1:
A developer whats us to test his app which is only available in england. Google Play still sees me in US
Use case 2:
A developer releases a game where the background changes based on your location if i cant force the location change I cant verify this feature works.
Im guessing the fails so far are due to the fact that the location being called in our test apps is network location not GPS?
Any help would be awesome. Even if you could just point me in a direction.
Thank you Greatly
J
Update:
Ok, Thanks to the answers about google play and mock locations. So with those in mind lets think about it from another perspective. If the app is not calling for mock location, Is there anyway to force a mock location override? im trying to cover all the bases here, One app for sure does not use this method, so I still need to find a way around.
depending on how they are calling for the location, I would think (remember im knew here) that using a proxy would work, however as stated above, i'm not getting anywhere there either. Did try a few free proxy's from hidemyass but even the browser wouldn't work with them.
Yes, network location does not get faked by mock location providers. I don't know why not, but it only fakes GPS. In addition, your app has to request the MOCK permission to get it. If it doesn't have this permission, setting a mock location will not actually fake anything to the app. This is for security purposes, so a malicious app can't start broadcasting the wrong location to the phone.
I downloaded the GeoDetection.zip file for trying out location based geofencing using the Google Play Services API that is available from the developer android website from the following link:
http://developer.android.com/training/location/geofencing.html
but when i tried to add geo fences using this app, i constantly get the error GEOFENCE_NOT_AVAILABLE
i tried to check what this error means, and i found that if location access is not available that is when i should get this message, but i checked the Location Services section on my phone and i saw that all the Location provides GPS/Wifi Location are all enabled. I am also connected to WIFI successfully. Not sure why i still get the message.
Any body else encounter this issue?..if so, do you have a fix that i could try?
Any other suggestions?.. i tried a lot of options to make sure it is capturing all the options, but there is isn't much debug information for me to proceed any further.
Thanks in advance
Are you requesting the FINE_LOCATION permission?
Remember on Android 6 and above you have to handle the permissions at run-time too.
The above error, GEOFENCE_NOT_AVAILABLE is an expected error code, to let you know that the location adapter is off and location (and geofence) will NOT be tracked anymore.
Once available again, your geofences will be active and you will get the desired callback.
Few Reasons why the triggers aren't happening :
Check if your expiry timestamp that you set in your geofence request, is still valid.
Did your device get restarted ? If yes, you need to re-register fences. (Refer documentation : Re-register geofences only when required documentation)
Is your location, set to High Accuracy mode in Device settings ?
When you re-register your fences, you should un-register them first and then only re-register.
Open Google maps and check if it's showing the right location.
Is Battery Optimisation on for your device ? This will delay geofence triggers
Is you app whitelisted for background operations (Happens in some Chinese OEM's)