App Manager

Manual de Usuario

v3.1.0

24 marzo 2023

Copyright © 2020–2022 Muntashir Al-Islam

> “Sabio y lento. Tropiezan los que corren rápido”. — Fray Laurence, Romeo y Julieta

# 1 Introducción

App Manager es un gestor de paquetes avanzado para Android. Ofrece innumerables funciones y, en consecuencia, requiere un usuario manual para ayudar a sus usuarios. Este documento actúa como un manual de usuario para App Manager en el sentido de que pretende describir todas las características que App Manager tiene para ofrecer. Este documento también puede ser considerado como el “oficial” directrices para App Manager, y representa el comportamiento esperado de App Manager. Las traducciones pueden malinterpretar este documento (que es escrito en inglés). Por lo tanto, cada usuario capaz debe leer la versión en inglés del documento para obtener el mejor de App Manager. También podría haber otros recursos no oficiales o de terceros como artículos de blog, vídeos, chat grupos, etc. Si bien estos recursos pueden ser útiles para muchas personas, es posible que no estén actualizados con la versión actual de App Manager. versión de App Manager. Si se detectan desviaciones en App Manager con respecto a este documento, deben notificarse en el Rastreador de problemas de App Manager.

## 1.1 Terminología

- AM — Nombre corto para App Manager.

- Block/Unblock — Se utiliza para bloquear o desbloquear componentes. La forma en que se bloquean los componentes depende de las preferencias del usuario.

- IFW — Forma abreviada de Intent Firewall.

- Ops — Nombre abreviado de las operaciones, p. ej., operaciones de aplicación, operaciones por lotes, operaciones de 1 clic.

- SSAID — Forma abreviada de `Settings.Secure.ANDROID_ID`. Es un identificador de dispositivo asignado a cada aplicación (Android Oreo y en adelante). Se genera a partir de la combinación del certificado de firma de la app y el SSAID establecido para el paquete `android`. Como resultado, se garantiza que sea el mismo para una app a menos que el usuario decida formatear el dispositivo. Se utiliza mucho para el seguimiento.

- Tracker — Denota los componentes del rastreador en todo el documento y en el App Manager, excepto en el página del rastreador. Los rastreadores incluyen librerías como crash reporters, analytics perfilado, identificación, anuncio, localización, etc. Por lo tanto, no son iguales en funciones. No hay distinción ni sesgo entre las bibliotecas de código abierto y las de código cerrado que promueven el rastreo.

## 1.2 Versiones soportadas

En la actualidad, las versiones compatibles son v2.6.0 (estable), v3.0.0 (versiones alfa y de depuración). Las versiones anteriores de App Manager pueden contener vulnerabilidades de seguridad y no deben utilizarse.

## 1.3 Fuentes oficiales

### 1.3.1 Fuentes de distribución binaria

App Manager is distributed using the following sources. Unofficial sources may distribute modified versions of App Manager, and none but you shall be responsible for the consequences of using such distributions.

1. Official F-Droid repository.1
   Link: https://f-droid.org/packages/io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager

2. GitHub repository.
   Normal releases: https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/releases
   Debug releases: https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager/actions

3. Telegram.
   Normal releases: https://t.me/AppManagerChannel
   Debug releases: https://t.me/AppManagerDebug

### 1.3.2 Enlaces al código fuente

Todos, excepto GitHub, son los enlaces espejo. Las etiquetas deberían estar siempre actualizadas, pero no se garantiza que la rama maestra esté actualizada. Si el objetivo es clonar la rama maestra, utiliza el enlace de GitHub en lugar de los otros.

1. GitHub: https://github.com/MuntashirAkon/AppManager

2. GitLab: https://gitlab.com/muntashir/AppManager

3. Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/muntashir/AppManager

4. Riseup: https://0xacab.org/muntashir/AppManager

### 1.3.3 Traducciones

App Manager no acepta traducciones directamente a través de solicitudes pull/merge. Las traducciones se gestionan automáticamente a través de Weblate. Para unirse al equipo de traducción, visite https://hosted.weblate.org/engage/app-manager/.

## 1.4 Contribuyendo

Hay múltiples formas en las que un usuario puede contribuir, como crear problemas útiles, asistir a debates, mejorar documentación y traducciones, añadiendo bibliotecas o rastreadores no reconocidos, revisando el código fuente, así como informar de las vulnerabilidades de seguridad.

### 1.4.1 Instrucciones de construcción

Las instrucciones de compilación están disponibles en el archivo BUILDING ubicado en el directorio raíz de la fuente.

### 1.4.2 Envío de parches

Los repositorios ubicados en sitios distintos de GitHub se consideran actualmente réplicas, y las solicitudes de pull/merge enviadas en. 2 En su lugar, los parches (como archivos `.patch`) pueden ser enviados a través de archivos adjuntos de correo electrónico. La firma es un requisito. Consulte el archivo CONTRIBUIR ubicado en el directorio raíz de la fuente para obtener más información.

Notice.

En caso de enviar parches por correo electrónico, toda la conversación puede ser accesible públicamente en el futuro. Por lo tanto, no incluya ninguna información personal identificable (PII) que no sea su nombre o dirección de correo electrónico.

## 1.5 Donación y Financiamiento

La donación o la compra no es un requisito para utilizar App Manager. Aunque App Manager no admite ninguna Aunque App Manager no admite ninguna compra, se pueden enviar donaciones al propietario de App Manager a través de Open Source Collective.

Open Source Collective es un host fiscal en la plataforma Open Collective que ayuda a los proyectos de código abierto a gestionar sus finanzas. En la actualidad, admite pagos a través de cuentas bancarias, PayPal, tarjetas de crédito o débito y criptomonedas.

Link: https://opencollective.com/muntashir.

Al enviar las donaciones, los remitentes se comprometen a no utilizarlas como palanca para priorizar sus características solicitadas. Las solicitudes de características no requieren recompensas ni donaciones, y se priorizan de acuerdo con las preferencias del propietario.

App Manager acepta cualquier oferta de financiación o subvención. Los representantes de la organización interesada pueden ponerse en contacto directamente con el propietario utilizando las opciones que se indican en §1.6.

## 1.6 Contacto

Muntashir Al-Islam3
Correo electrónico: muntashirakon [arroba] riseup [punto] net
Huella digital de la llave: `7bad37c2981e41f8f6abea7f58f0b4f26c346fce`
GitHub: https://github.com/MuntashirAkon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Muntashir

# 2 Páginas

## 2.1 Página principal

La página principal muestra todas las aplicaciones instaladas, desinstaladas y con copia de seguridad. Un solo clic en cualquier elemento de la aplicación instalada abre la respectiva página de detalles de la aplicación. Para las aplicaciones del sistema desinstaladas, se muestra un diálogo que puede utilizarse para reinstalar la aplicación. Utilizando la opción ordenación de las opciones de la lista, los elementos de la aplicación pueden ordenarse de varias maneras y conservarse al salir. También es posible filtrar los elementos utilizando la opción filtro de las opciones de la lista. El filtrado también es posible a través de la barra de búsqueda con soporte adicional para las expresiones regulares.

Figure 1: Un elemento de la lista de aplicaciones en la página principal

### 2.1.1 Operaciones por lotes

En esta página también se pueden realizar operaciones por lotes o en varias aplicaciones. El modo de selección múltiple puede activarse haciendo clic en el icono de cualquier aplicación o haciendo un clic prolongado en cualquier elemento de la lista. Una vez activado, un solo clic en un elemento de la lista lo selecciona en lugar de abrir la página de detalles de la aplicación. En este modo, las operaciones por lotes se encuentran en el menú de selección múltiple en la parte inferior de la página. Las operaciones incluyen:

- Añadir las aplicaciones seleccionadas a un perfil.

- Hacer una copia de seguridad, restaurar o eliminar las aplicaciones

- Bloquear los rastreadores de las aplicaciones

- Borrar los datos o la caché de las aplicaciones

- Habilitar/deshabilitar/forzar la desinstalación de las aplicaciones

- Exportar las reglas de bloqueo guardadas en App Manager

- Impedir las operaciones en segundo plano de las aplicaciones (Android 7 y posteriores)

- Guardar los archivos APK en `AppManager/apks`

- Establecer políticas de red

Accesibilidad.

Una vez activado el modo de selección múltiple, es posible navegar dentro o fuera del menú de selección múltiple de selección múltiple utilizando las teclas derecha o izquierda del teclado o del mando a distancia.

### 2.1.2 Códigos de color

- Light greyish orange (day) / dark blue (night) – The application is selected for batch operation

- Light red (day) / dark red (night) – Frozen app

- Yellow Star – Debuggable application

- Orange Date – The app has access to the system logs

- Orange UID – The user ID is being shared among multiple applications

- Orange SDK – The application possibly uses cleartext (i.e. HTTP) traffic

- Red package name – The application does not allow clearing its data

- Red backup – The uninstalled application with one or more backups present in App Manager

- Orange backup – Outdated backup, i.e. the base backup contains an older version of the installed application

- Dark cyan backup – Up to date backup, i.e. the base backup contains the same or higher version of the installed application

- Dark cyan package name – Force-stopped application

- Dark cyan version – Inactive application

- Magenta – Persistent application i.e. it remains running all the time.

### 2.1.3 Tipos de aplicación

An application can be either a User or a System application along with the following suffixes:

- `X` – Supports multiple architectures

- `0` – No dex files present in the application

- `°` – Suspended application

- `#` – The application requested the system to allocate a large heap i.e. large runtime memory

- `?` – The application requested the virtual machine to be in the safe mode.

### 2.1.4 Información sobre la versión

El nombre de la versión va seguido de los siguientes prefijos:

- `_` – Sin aceleración por hardware (rompiendo las animaciones o transparencias in-app)

- `textasciitilde` – Aplicación de prueba

- `debug` – Aplicación depurable

### 2.1.5 Opciones de menú

El menú de opciones ofrece varias opciones que se pueden usar para ordenar y filtrar las aplicaciones enumeradas, así como para navegar a diferentes páginas dentro o fuera de App Manager.

#### 2.1.5.1 Lista de opciones

List options contiene las opciones para clasificar y filtrar la lista en la página principal.

##### 2.1.5.1.1 Clasificar

The applications listed in the main page can be sorted in the following ways:

- User apps first. The user applications are listed on top

- App label. Sort the list in ascending order based on their application labels (also known as application names). This is the default sorting preference

- Package name. Sort the list in ascending order based on their package names

- Last update. Sort the list in descending order based on the date they were last updated

- Shared user ID. Sort the list in descending order based on their kernel user ID

- Target SDK. Sort the list in ascending order based on their target SDK

- Signature. Sort the list in ascending order based on their signing information

- Frozen first. The frozen applications are listed on the top

- Blocked first. Sort the list in descending order based on the number of blocked components each application has

- Backed up first. Display the applications with backups on the top

- Trackers. Sort the list in descending order based on the number of tracker components each application has

- Last actions. Sort the list in descending order based on the latest time and date of any actions made to the applications within App Manager.

- Installation date. Sort the list by the date of installation in descending order.

- Total size. Sort the list by the total size of the apps and their data in descending order. Requires `Usage Access` permission.

- Data usage. Sort the list by the total data usage in descending order. Requires `Usage Access` permission.

- Times opened. List frequently used apps on top. Requires `Usage Access` permission.

- Screen time. List apps with highest engagements on top. Requires `Usage Access` permission.

- Last used. List last used apps on top. Requires `Usage Access` permission.

In addition, there is the reverse option that can be used to sort the list in the reverse order. Regardless of the sorting preferences, the applications are sorted alphabetically at first in order to prevent producing any random sorting results.

##### 2.1.5.1.2 Filtro

The applications listed in the main page can be filtered in the following ways:

- User apps. List only the user applications

- System apps. List only the system applications

- Frozen apps. List only the frozen applications

- Apps with rules. List the applications with one or more blocking rules

- Apps with activities. List the applications with one or more activities

- Apps with backups. List the applications with one or more backups

- Running apps. List the applications that are currently running

- Apps with splits. List the applications with one or more split APK files

- Installed apps. List only the installed applications

- Uninstalled apps. List only the uninstalled applications

- Apps without backups. List the applications with no backups present.

- Apps with KeyStore. List only the applications with Android KeyStore.

- Apps with SAF. List only the applications with SAF access.

- Apps with SSAID. List only the applications with a valid SSAID.

Unlike sorting, it is possible to apply more than one filtering options at the same time. For example, the frozen user applications can be listed by selecting both User apps and Frozen apps. This can be particularly useful for batch operations where filtering the user applications may be necessary to carry out certain operations safely.

##### 2.1.5.1.3 Nombre del perfil

It is also possible to list the applications that are only present in a profile. This can be useful for carrying out certain operations on a profile (e.g., uninstalling all the applications in a profile) that cannot be done via the Profiles page.

#### 2.1.5.2 Instrucciones

Al hacer clic en Instrucciones se abre la versión sin conexión del manual de usuario de App Manager. También puede abrir la versión en línea si la función correspondiente no está instalada, o si no hay una WebView en el sistema para cargar el manual. presente en el sistema para cargar el manual.

#### 2.1.5.3 Operaciones con 1 clic

1-Click Ops stands for the single-click operations. It opens the corresponding page in a new activity.

#### 2.1.5.4 Uso de la aplicación

App usage statistics such as screen time, data usage (both mobile and Wi-Fi), the number of times an app was opened can be accessed by clicking on the App Usage option in the menu. However, it requires the Usage Access permission. This menu item will not be listed if the usage access feature is disabled in settings.

#### 2.1.5.5 Configuración del sistema

Este elemento del menú abre una nueva página donde se muestran varias configuraciones del sistema, listas negras/listas blancas incluidas en Android por el OEM, el proveedor, el AOSP o los módulos Magisk. Requiere root. Por lo tanto, este elemento del menú no aparecerá aparece si el permiso de root no está disponible para App Manager.

#### 2.1.5.6 Aplicaciones en ejecución

This menu item opens a new page where a list of running applications or processes are displayed. It also displays the current memory and cache (if available) usage. If root or ADB is not available to App Manager, it only displays itself in the recent versions of Android. The running applications or processes can also be force-stopped or killed within the resultant page. Logs for each process ID (PID) can also be viewed in the log viewer. In addition, it is also possible to carry out batch operations either by clicking on the icon or by long-clicking on an item. Normal click on any items opens a dialog where a more detailed information is displayed.

#### 2.1.5.7 Perfiles

This menu item opens the profiles page. Profiles are a way to configure regularly used tasks. They can also be invoked via shortcuts.

#### 2.1.5.8 Visor de registro

This menu item opens the log viewer page which can display and manage logs using the `logcat` command. By default, this page can only display the activities of App Manager. However, it can display logs from all the processes if `android.permission.READ_LOGS` is granted. This permission granted automatically if the current mode of operation is either root or ADB.

#### 2.1.5.9 Actualizador de APK

Si la aplicación APK Updater está instalada en el sistema, ésta puede ser abierta directamente desde este elemento del menú. La opción permanece oculta si la aplicación no está presente en el sistema.

#### 2.1.5.10 Termux

Si la aplicación Termux está instalada en el sistema, la sesión en curso (o una nueva sesión) puede abrirse directamente a través de este elemento del menú. La opción permanece oculta si la aplicación no está presente en el sistema.

#### 2.1.5.11 Configuraciones

Este elemento del menú abre la Settings page de la aplicación.

## 2.2 Página de detalles de la aplicación

App Details page consists of 11 (eleven) tabs. It describes almost every bit of information an application can have, including all attributes from its manifest, application operations, signing information, libraries, and so on.

### 2.2.1 Código de color

List of colours used in this page, and their meaning:

- Red (day) / dark red (night) – Denotes any app ops or permissions having the dangerous flag, or any components blocked within App Manager

- Light red (day) / very dark red (night) – Denotes the components disabled outside of App Manager

  Note.

  A component marked as disabled does not always mean that it is disabled by the user: It could also be disabled by the system or marked as disabled in its manifest. The components of a disabled application are also considered disabled by the system (and App Manager).

- Vivid orange (day) / very dark orange (night) – Denotes the tracker components

- Soft magenta (day) / very dark violet (night) – Denotes the running services.

### 2.2.2 Pestañas de información de la aplicación

App Info tab contains general information about an application. It also lists many actions that can be performed within this tab.

#### 2.2.2.1 Información general

The list below is in the same order as listed in the App Info tab.

- Application Icon. The application icon. If the application does not have an icon, the system default icon will be displayed. It is also possible to verify the APK signature via SHA or MD5 sums stored in the clipboard by simply clicking on it.

- Application Label. The application label or the name of the application.

- Package Name. The name of the application package. Clicking on the name stores it in the clipboard.

- Version. The application version is divided into two parts. The first part is called version name. The format of this part varies but often consists of multiple integers separated by dots. The second part is called version code. It is enclosed by the first brackets. The version code is an integer used to differentiate between application versions (since a version name can be unreadable to a machine). In general, a new version of an application has higher version code than the old ones. For example, if `123` and `125` are two version codes of an application, we can say that the latter is more updated than the former because the version code of the latter is higher. Applications that serve different APK files for the same version on different platforms (mobile, tabs, desktops, etc.) or architectures (32/64 bit, ARM or Intel), the version numbers can be misleading as they often add prefixes for each platform.

- Tags. (Also known as tag clouds) Tags include the most basic, concise and useful information of an application. See §2.2.2.2 for a complete list of tags shown here.

- Horizontal Action Panel. An action panel consisting of various actions that can be carried out for the application. See §2.2.2.3 for a complete list of actions available here. Additional actions are available in the options menu.

- Paths & Directories. Contains various information regarding application paths including app directory (where the APK files reside), data directories (internal, device protected and externals), split APK directories (along with the split names), and native JNI library (if present). JNI libraries are used to invoke native codes usually written in C/C++. Use of native library can make the application run faster or help an application use third-party libraries written using languages other than Java like in most games. The directories can be opened via third-party file managers provided they support it and have the necessary permissions by clicking on the launch button on the right-hand side of each directory item.

- Data Usage. Amount of data used by the application as reported by the operating system. Depending on Android version, this may require a wide range of permissions including Usage Access and Telephony permissions.

- Storage & Cache. Displays information regarding the size of the application (APK files, optimised files), data and cache. In older devices, size of external data, cache, media and OBB folders are also displayed. This part remains hidden ifUsage Access permission is not granted in newer devices.

- More Info. Displays other information such as–

  - SDK. Displays information related to the Android SDK. There are two (one in old devices) values: Max denotes the target SDK and Min denotes the minimum SDK (the latter is not available in old devices). It is best practice to use applications with maximum SDK that the platform currently supports in order to ensure that the application is not running in the compatibility mode in order to use privacy-evading features. SDK is also known as API Level.

    Ver también: Android Version History

  - Flags. The application flags used at the time of building the application. For a complete list of flags and what they do, visit the official documentation.

  - Date Installed. The date when the application was first installed.

  - Date Updated. The date when the application was last updated. This is the same as Date Installed if the application hasn’t been updated.

  - Installer App. The application that installed this application. Not all application supply the information used by the package manager to register the installer application. Therefore, this value should not be taken for granted.

  - User ID. The unique user ID set by the Android system to the application. For shared applications, same user ID is assigned to multiple applications that have the same Shared User ID.

  - Shared User ID. Applicable for applications that are shared together. The shared application must have the same signatures.

  - Primary ABI. Architecture supported by this platform for this application.

  - Zygote preload name. Responsible for preloading application code and data shared across all the isolated services that uses app zygote.

  - Hidden API enforcement policy. Since Android 9, many methods and classes in Android framework have been made inaccessible to the third-party applications through hidden API enforcement policy. It has the following options:

    - Default. Based on the type of application. For system applications, it should be disabled, and for others, it should be enforced.

    - None/disabled. The application has full access to the hidden API as it used to be before Android 9.

    - Warn. Same as above, except that warnings will be logged each time the application accesses the hidden API. This is mostly unused.

    - Enforce. The application cannot access hidden API, either dark-grey list or blacklist, or both of them. This is the default option for the third-party applications in Android 9 and later unless the application is whitelisted by the OEM or the vendor.

      Warning.

      Hidden API enforcement policy is not properly implemented in Android and can be bypassed by the application. As a result, this value should not be trusted.

  - SELinux. Mandatory access control (MAC) policy set by the operating system via SELinux.

  - Main Activity. The main entry point to the application. This is only visible if the application has activities and any of those are openable from the Launcher. There’s also a launch button on the right-hand side which can be used to launch this activity.

#### 2.2.2.2 Tags

- Tracker info. Number of tracker components in the application (e.g., 5 trackers) The colour of the tag appears orange if the trackers are unblocked and dark cyan if they are blocked in App Manager. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the list of tracker components which can be blocked or unblocked if App Manager has sufficient privileges.

- Application type. User application or system application. If it is a system application, whether the application is an updated version of the system application or if the application is installed systemless-ly via Magisk.

- Split APK info. Number of splits in the APK excluding the base APK (e.g., 5 splits). Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the split APK information such as type and size.

- Debuggable. The application can be debugged over ADB. Debuggable applications can enjoy certain functions unavailable to a regular application. The data of the application might be accessible via ADB (e.g. using `run-as` command) without any additional permissions.

- Test only. The application is a test-only application. Test-only applications can enjoy certain functions unavailable to a regular application. The data of the application might be accessible via ADB (e.g. using `run-as` command) without any additional permissions.

- Large heap. The application has requested large heap size i.e. more space in memory (RAM) is requested for dynamic allocation. It is still up to the operating system to decide whether to allocate large space for the application. App Manager, for example, requests large heap size because it needs to load an entire APK into memory while scanning an APK before Android 8.

- No code. The application does not have any code associated with it i.e. DEX files aren’t present. In some system applications, the actual code might be located in another place.

- Running. One or more services of the application is currently running in the background. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the list of running services. Clicking on any services opens it in the log viewer provided the log viewer feature is enabled. There’s also an option to force-stop the application.

- Stopped. The application is force stopped. This may not prevent it from running automatically later.

- Disabled. Denotes that the application is disabled (hidden from the launcher).

- Suspended. Denotes that the application is suspended (grayed out in the launcher).

- Hidden. Denotes that the application is hidden (hidden from the launcher).

- MagiskHide. MagiskHide is enabled. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the list of processes within the application that can be added or removed from the MagiskHide list.

- MagiskDenyList. The application is present in MagiskDenyList. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the list of processes within the application that can be added or removed from MagiskDenyList.

- WX. The app violates “W^X policy” and is capable of writing and executing in the same directory or in the same portion of memory. This allows the execution of arbitrary executables either by the modification of executables embedded within the app or by downloading them from the Internet.

  Ver también: W^X in Wikipedia

- KeyStore. The application has items in the Android KeyStore. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing all the KeyStore files that belong to the application.

- Backup. The application was backed up using App Manager at least once. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing all the available backups along with metadata.

- No battery optimisation. Battery optimisation is disabled for the application. It is possible to re-enable battery optimisation by clicking on the tag.

- Net policy. Network policy (e.g., background data usage) is configured for the application. Clicking on the tag displays a dialog containing the supported policies for the platform along with the options to configure them.

- SSAID. Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the current SSAID assigned to the application. It is also possible to reset/regenerate the SSAID if needed.

- SAF. Denotes that the application has been granted to access one or more storage locations or files i.e. URIs via Storage Access Framework (SAF). Clicking on the tag opens a dialog containing the list of granted URIs.

- Play App Signing. Indicates that the application might be signed by Google.

#### 2.2.2.3 Panel de acción horizontal

Horizontal Action Panel, as described in the previous section, consists of various application-related actions, such as–

- Launch. Launch the application provided it has a launcher activity.

- Freeze. Freeze the application. This button is not displayed if it is already frozen or the user does not have enough privileges. After the application is frozen, it may be hidden from the app drawer depending on how it was configured. Shortcuts configured by the application may also be removed. The application may only be unfrozen via App Manager, `pm` command or any other tools that offer such a feature. Long clicking on the button opens a dialog where a shortcut can be configured to quickly freeze or unfreeze the application.

- Uninstall. Uninstall the application with a prompt. In the dialog prompt, it is possible to uninstall updates of a system application, or if App Manager has enough privileges or the operating system supports it, it is possible to uninstall the application without clearing its data and signature. For the latter case, the installed application must match the signature with the previously installed application if it is installed again.

  Tips.

  A better way to reinstall an application with a different signature would be to back up its data using App Manager and restore it again after installing the application instead of opting to preserving data and signature of the application during uninstallation as this option may cause undefined behaviour in the future.

- Unfreeze. Unfreeze the application. This button is not displayed if it is already enabled or the user does not have enough privileges. Similar to the Freeze button, long clicking on the button opens a dialog where a shortcut can be configured to quickly freeze or unfreeze the application.

- Force Stop. Force-stop the application.

- Clear Data. Clear data from the application. This includes any information stored in the internal and, recently, the external directories, including accounts (if set by the application), cache, etc. Clearing data from App Manager, for example, removes all the rules (the blocking is not removed though) saved within the application (Which is why you should always take backups of your rules). This button is not displayed if the user does not have enough privileges.

- Clear Cache. Clear the application cache. If the application is running during the operation, the cache may not be cleared as expected.

- Install. Action to install an application opened via a third-party application. This button is only displayed if the application hasn’t been already installed.

- What’s New. This button is displayed for an external application if it’s already been installed. Clicking on this button displays a dialog consisting of differences between the opened version and the installed version in a version control manner. The information it displays include version, trackers, permissions, components, signatures (checksum changes), features, shared libraries and SDK.

- Update. Displayed if the application has a higher version code than the installed application.

- Reinstall. Displayed if the application has the same version code as the installed application.

- Downgrade. Displayed if the application has a lower version code than the installed application.

- Manifest. Clicking on this button displays the application’s manifest file in a separate page. The manifest file can be wrapped or unwrapped using the corresponding toggle button (on the top-right side) or can be exported using the save button.

- Scanner. Scan the application in order to list potential trackers and libraries. It also scans the file using VirusTotal if configured.

  Ver también: Scanner page

- Shared Prefs. Clicking on this button displays a list of shared preferences used by the application. Clicking on a preference item in the list opens the Shared Preferences Editor page. This option is only visible if the user has the required privileges.

- Databases. Clicking on this button displays a list of databases used by the application. Clicking on an item opens a list of activities that can open the database. This option is only visible if the user has the required privileges.

- F-Droid. Open the application in the selected F-Droid client.

- Store. Open the application in Aurora Store. The option is only visible if Aurora Store is installed.

#### 2.2.2.4 Opciones de menú

Options-menu is located in the top-right corner of the page. A complete description of the options present there are given below:

- Share. Share button can be used to share the APK or (if the application is has multiple splits, OBB files or any dependencies) APKS file extracted from the application.

- Refresh. Refresh the App Info tab.

- View in Settings. Open the application in Android Settings.

- Backup/restore. Open the backup/restore dialog.

- Export blocking rules. Export rules configured for the application within App Manager.

- Open in Termux. Open the application in Termux. This actually runs `su - user_id` where `user_id` denotes the application’s kernel user ID (described in §2.2.2.1). This option is only visible to the root users. See §2.2.2.5 to learn how to configure Termux to run commands from third-party applications.

- Run in Termux. Open the application via `run-as package_name` in Termux. This is only applicable to the debuggable applications and works for both root and ADB users. See §2.2.2.5 to learn how to configure Termux to run commands from third-party applications.

- MagiskHide. Open a dialog containing the list of processes within the application that can be added or removed from the MagiskHide list.

- Magisk DenyList. Open a dialog containing the list of processes within the application that can be added or removed from Magisk DenyList.

- Battery optimisation. Enable/disable battery optimisation.

- Net policy. Configure network policy (e.g., background data usage) for the application.

- Extract Icon. Extract and save the application’s icon in the shared storage.

- Add to profile. Add the application to one of the configured profiles.

- Install for…. Install the application for another user and/or in the work profile if configured.

#### 2.2.2.5 Configurar Termux

By default, Termux does not allow running commands from third-party applications. To use this option, Termux v0.96 or later is required and `allow-external-apps=true` must be added in `~/.termux/termux.properties`.

Info.

Enabling this option does not weaken Termux’ security. The third-party applications still need to ask the user to allow running arbitrary commands in Termux.

### 2.2.3 Pestañas de componentes

Activities, Services, Receivers (i.e. broadcast receivers) and Providers (i.e. content providers) are collectively known as the application components. This is because they share similar features in many ways. For example, they all have a name, a label, an icon and are executed via Intent. Application components are the building blocks of an application and must be declared in the application manifest. Application manifest is a file where application specific metadata are stored. The Android operating system learns what to do with the application by reading the metadata.

Colours used in these tabs are explained in §2.2.1. It is also possible to sort the list of components to display blocked or tracker components on top of the list via the Sort option located in the overflow menu.

#### 2.2.3.1 Actividades

Activities are the windows or pages that can be uniquely identified by the Android operating system (e.g., Main page and App Details page are two activities). Each activity can have multiple UI components known as widgets or fragments, and each component can be nested or placed on top of each other. The developer can also choose to open external files, links, etc. within an activity using a method called intent filters. For example, when you open a file using your file manager, either your file manager or operating system scans the intent filters via PackageManager to find the activities capable of opening the file and offers you to open the file with these activities.

Activities which are exportable can usually be opened by any third-party applications. Some activities require permissions, and if that is the case, only an application having those permissions can open them. In the Activities tab, activities can be launched via the Launch button. If it is necessary to supply additional information such as Intent extras, data or action, long clicking on the Launch button opens the Activity Interceptor page which provides such features.

Notice.

If you are unable to open any activity, chances are it has certain dependencies which are not met, e.g. you cannot open App Details page because it requires you to, at least, supply a package name. Since these dependencies cannot be inferred programmatically, these activities may not be opened via App Manager by default.

It is also possible to create shortcuts of the activities via the Create shortcut button.

Caution.

If you uninstall App Manager, all shortcuts created by App Manager will be lost.

#### 2.2.3.2 Servicios

Unlike activities that users can see, Services handle background tasks. For example, if you’re downloading a video from the internet using your phone’s Internet browser, the Internet browser is using a foreground service to download the content.

When an activity is closed or removed from the Recents section, it may be destroyed immediately depending on many factors such as how much free memory the phone has. But services can be run indefinitely if desired. If more services are run in background, the phone may become slower due to the shortage of memory and/or processing power, and the phone’s battery will be drained more quickly. Newer Android versions have a battery optimisation feature enabled by default for all applications. With this feature enabled, the system can randomly terminate any service. However, foreground services (i.e. services that run with a fixed notification such as music player) are not typically terminated unless the system is low on resources (memory, battery, etc.). Vendor-specific stock ROMs can offer more aggressive optimisation. MIUI, for example, has a very aggressive optimisation feature known as MIUI optimisation.

Both activities and services are run in the same looper called the main looper, which means the services are not really run in the background. It is the task of the developer to ensure this. How do the application communicate with the service? It uses broadcast receiver or Binder.

#### 2.2.3.3 Receptores

Receivers (also called broadcast receivers) can be used to trigger execution of certain tasks when certain events occur. These components are called broadcast receivers because they are executed as soon as a broadcast message is received. These broadcast messages are sent using a method called Intent. Intent is a special feature in Android that can be used to open applications (i.e. activities), run services and send broadcast messages. Therefore, like activities, broadcast receivers use intent filters to receive the desired broadcast messages. Broadcast messages can be sent by the system or the application itself. When a broadcast message is sent, the corresponding receivers are activated by the system so that they can execute tasks. For example, if your phone is low on resources, it may freeze or experience lags for a moment after you enable mobile data or connect it to the Wi-Fi. This is because broadcast receivers that can receive `android.net.conn.CONNECTIVITY_CHANGE` are activated by the system as soon as the data connection is enabled. Since many applications typically use this intent filter, they are all activated almost immediately by the system which causes the freezing or lags.

Receivers can also be used for inter-process communication (IPC), i.e. it can be used to communicate acrosss multiple applications or even different components of a single application.

#### 2.2.3.4 Proveedores

Providers (also called content providers) are used for data management. For example, when you save an APK file or export rules in App Manager, it uses a content provider called `.fm.FmProvider` to save the APK or export the rules. There are many content providers, including the ones provided by the system, to manage various content-related tasks such as database management, tracking, searching, etc. Each content provider has a field called Authority which is unique to the application in the entire Android ecosystem just as the package name.

#### 2.2.3.5 Características adicionales para dispositivos con acceso raíz

A diferencia de los usuarios no-root, que son en su mayoría espectadores en estas pestañas, los usuarios root pueden realizar varias operaciones.

##### 2.2.3.5.1 Bloqueo de componentes

On the right-most side of each component item, there is a switch which can be used to toggle the blocking status of that particular component. If Instant Component Blocking is not enabled or blocking is never applied to the application before, it is required to apply the changes using the Apply rules option in three-dots menu. It is also possible to remove the already-applied rules using the same option (which would be read as Remove rules this time).

It is also possible to block the component using one of the several methods by long clicking on the button.

Ver también: FAQ: App Components

##### 2.2.3.5.2 Bloqueo de rastreadores

It is possible to disable tracker components using the Block tracker option in the three-dots menu. All tracker components will be blocked regardless of the tab you’re currently in.

Info.

Tracker components are a subset of application components. Therefore, they are blocked using the same method used for blocking any other components.

Ver también:

- FAQ: Tracker classes versus tracker components

- Scanner Page

- 1-Click Ops Page: Block/Unblock Trackers

### 2.2.4 Pestañas de permisos

App Ops, Uses Permissions and Permissions tabs are related to permissions. In Android communication across applications or processes which do not have the same identity (known as shared ID) often require permissions. These permissions are managed by the permission controller. Some permissions are considered normal permissions which are granted automatically if they appear in the application manifest, but dangerous and development permissions require confirmation from the user. Colours used in these tabs are explained in §2.2.1.

#### 2.2.4.1 Operaciones de aplicaciones

App Ops stands for Application Operations. Since Android 4.3, App Ops are used by Android to control many system permissions. Each app op has a unique number associated with it which is displayed along with the private name of the operation in the App Ops tab. Some app ops also have a public name. A large number of app ops are also associated with permissions. In this tab, an app op is considered dangerous if its associated permission is marked as dangerous. Other information such as flags, permission name, permission description, package name, group are also taken from the associated permission. Others may include the following:

- Mode. It describes the current authorisation status which can be allow, deny (a rather misnomer, it simply means error), ignore (it actually means deny), default (inferred from a list of defaults set internally by the vendor or the AOSP), foreground (in newer Android versions, it means the app op can only be used when the application is running in foreground), and some custom modes set by the vendors (MIUI uses ask, for example).

- Duration. The amount of time this application op has been used (there can be negative durations whose use cases are currently unknown to me).

- Accept Time. Last time the app op was accepted.

- Reject Time. Last time the app op was rejected.

Info.

Contents of this tab are visible to no-root users if `android.permission.GET_APP_OPS_STATS` is granted via ADB.

There is a toggle button next to each app op item which can be used to allow or deny (ignore) it. Other supported modes can also be set by long clicking on the toggle button. If the desired app op is not listed in the tab, Set custom app op option in the menu can be used instead. It is also possible to reset the changes using the Reset to default option, or deny all the dangerous app ops using the corresponding option in the menu. Due to the nature how app ops work, the system may take some time to apply them.

Tip.

Denying certain app ops may cause the application to misbehave. If all attempts fail, reset to default option can be used as the last resort.

It is possible to sort the list in ascending order by app op names and the associated unique numbers (or values), or list the denied app ops first using the corresponding sorting options.

Ver también: Appendix: App Ops

#### 2.2.4.2 Permisos de uso

Uses Permissions are the permissions used by the application. This is named so because they are specified in the manifest using `uses-permission` tags. Information such as flags, permission name, permission description, package name, group are taken from the associated permission.

Privileged users can grant or revoke the dangerous and development permissions via the toggle button on the right side of each permission item. It is also possible revoke dangerous permissions all at once using the corresponding option in the menu. Only these two types of permissions can be revoked because Android does not allow the modification of normal permissions (which most of them are). It might still be possible to revoke them by editing `runtime-permissions.xml` itself, but whether this is a possibility is still being investigated.

Info.

Since dangerous permissions are revoked by default by the system, revoking all dangerous permissions is the same as resetting all the permissions.

It is possible to sort the permissions by their name (in ascending order) or choose to display denied or dangerous permissions at first using the corresponding options in the menu.

#### 2.2.4.3 Permisos

Permissions are usually custom permissions defined by the application itself. These type of permissions are marked as Internal permissions. It also contains permissions declared in other applications which are marked as External permissions. External permissions are specified in the application components as the dependencies i.e. an application may invoke the component only if holds the specified permission. Here’s a complete description of each item that is displayed there:

- Name. Each permission has a unique name like `android.permission.INTERNET` but multiple applications can request the same permission.

- Icon. Each permission can have a custom icon. The other permission tabs do not have any icon because they do not contain any icon in the application manifest.

- Description. This optional field describes the permission. If there isn’t any description associated with the permission, the field is not displayed.

- Flags. (Uses the flag symbol or Protection Level name) This describes various permission flags such as normal, development, dangerous, instant, granted, revoked, signature, privileged, etc.

- Package Name. Denotes the package name associated with the permission, i.e. the package that defined the permission.

- Group. The group name associated with the permission (if any). Several related permissions can often be grouped together.

### 2.2.5 Pestañas de firmas

Signatures are actually called signing information. An application is signed using one or more signing certificates by the application developers before publishing it. The integrity of an application i.e. whether the application is from the actual developer and isn’t modified by other people can be checked using the signing information; because when an application is modified by an unauthorised entity, the application cannot be signed using the original certificates again because the signing information are kept private by the actual developer. Signing information can be verified using checksums. Checksums are generated from the certificates themselves. If the developer supplies the checksums for the signing certificates, they can be matched against the checksums generated in the Signatures tab to verify the application. For example, if you have downloaded App Manager from GitHub or Telegram Channel, you can verify whether the application is actually released by me by simply matching the following SHA256 checksum with the one displayed in this tab:

    320c0c0fe8cef873f2b554cb88c837f1512589dcced50c5b25c43c04596760ab

Several hashing algorithms are used to generate checksums in this tab. They include MD5, SHA1, SHA256 and SHA512.

Caution.

Signing information should be verified using a reliable hashing algorithm such as SHA256. DO NOT rely on MD5 or SHA1 checksums as they are known to generate the same checksums for multiple certificates.

### 2.2.6 Shared Libraries Tab

Shared libraries tab lists all the legacy JAR dependencies as well as JNI (Java native interface) libraries. For JNI libraries, it specifies platform (x86/x86_64/ARM/AArch64), architecture (32/64 bit), object type (shared object or executable), etc.

### 2.2.7 Otras pestañas

Otras pestañas enumeran los componentes del manifiesto androide, como las características y las configuraciones. Una descripción completa sobre estas pestañas estará disponible pronto.

## 2.3 Página de operaciones con 1 clic

This page is displayed on selecting the 1-Click Ops option in the main menu.

### 2.3.1 Bloquear/desbloquear rastreadores

This option can be used to block or unblock the ad/tracker components from the installed applications. On selecting this option, App Manager will ask if it should list trackers from all the applications or only from the user applications. Novice users should avoid blocking trackers from the system applications in order to avoid bad consequences. After that, a multi-choice dialog box will appear where it is possible to exclude one or more applications from this operation. The changes are applied immediately on pressing the block or unblock button.

Notice.

Certain applications may not function as expected after blocking their trackers. If that is the case, remove the blocking rules all at once or one by one in the component tabs of the App Details page for the corresponding application.

Ver también: App Details Page: Blocking Trackers

### 2.3.2 Componentes de bloque

This option can be used to block certain application components as specified by their signatures. A signature of a component is the full name or partial name of the component. For safety, it is recommended to add a `.` (dot) at the end of each partial signature, because the underlying algorithm searches and matches the components in a greedy manner. It is also possible to insert more than one signature in which case all the signatures have to be separated by white spaces. Similar to the option above, there is also an option to apply blocking to the system applications.

Caution.

If you are not aware of the consequences of blocking applcations components by their signatures, you should avoid using this option as it may result in bootloop or soft brick, and you may have to apply factory reset as a result.

### 2.3.3 Set Mode for App Ops…

This option can be used to configure certain applcation operations of all or selected applications. There are two fields. The first field can be used to insert more than one app op constants (either names or values) separated by white spaces. It is not always possible to know in advance about all the app op constants as they vary from device to device and from OS to OS. Desired app op constant can be found in the App Ops tab located in the App Details page. The second field can be used to insert or select one of the modes that will be set against the specified app ops.

Caution.

Unless you are well-informed about app ops and the consequences of blocking them, you should avoid using this option.

### 2.3.4 Apoyar

1-Click options for back up. As a precaution, it lists the affected backups before performing any operation.

##### 2.3.4.0.1 Back up all apps.

Back up all the installed applications.

##### 2.3.4.0.2 Redo existing backups.

Back up all the installed applications that have a previous backup.

##### 2.3.4.0.3 Back up apps without backups.

Back up all the installed applications without a previous backup.

##### 2.3.4.0.4 Verify and redo backups.

Verify the recently made backups of the installed applications and redo backup if necessary.

##### 2.3.4.0.5 Back up apps with changes.

If an app has changed since the last backup, redo its backup. It checks a number of indices including application version, last update date, last launch date, integrity and file hashes. Directory hashes are taken during the backup process and are stored in a database. On running this operation, new hashes are taken and compared with the ones kept in the database.

### 2.3.5 Restaurar

1-Click options for restore. As a precaution, it lists the affected backups before performing any operation.

##### 2.3.5.0.1 Restore all apps.

Restore base backup of all the backed up applications.

##### 2.3.5.0.2 Restore not installed apps.

Restore base backup of all the backed up applications that are not currently installed.

##### 2.3.5.0.3 Restore latest backups.

Restore base backup of already installed applications whose version codes are higher than the installed version code.

### 2.3.6 Trim Caches in All Apps

Delete caches from all applications, including Android system. During this operation, caches of all the running applications may not be cleared as expected.

## 2.4 Página de perfiles

Profiles page can be accessed from the options-menu in the main page. It primarily displays a list of configured profiles along with the typical options to perform operations on them. New profiles can also be added using the plus button in the bottom-right corner as well as can be imported, duplicated, or created from one of the presets. Clicking on any profile item opens its profile page.

### 2.4.1 Opciones de menú

There are two options menu in this page. The three dots menu in the top-right corner offers two options: presets and import.

- Presets. This option lists a number of built-in profiles that can be used as a starting point. The profiles are generated from the project Universal Android Debloater.

  Ver también: FAQ: What are bloatware and how to remove them?

- Import. This option can be used to import an existing profile that was previously exported from App Manager.

Long clicking on any profile item brings up another options-menu. It offers the following options:

- Apply now…. This option can be used to apply the profile directly. When clicked, a dialog will be displayed where it is possible to select a profile state. On selecting one of the options, the profile will be applied immediately.

- Delete. Clicking on delete will remove the profile immediately without any warning.

- Duplicate. This option can be used to duplicate the profile. When clicked, a dialog will be displayed where it is possible to set a name for the new profile. On clicking “OK”, profile page will be loaded by duplicating all the configurations that this profile have. However, the profile will not be saved until it is saved manually.

- Export. Export the profile to an external storage. Profile exported this way can be imported via the import option as mentioned above.

- Create shortcut. This option can be used to create a shortcut for the profile. When clicked, there will be two options: Simple and Advanced. When configured with the latter option, it prompts the user to select a profile state when the shortcut is invoked. The former option, on the other hand, always uses the default state that was configured when the profile was last saved.

## 2.5 Página de perfil

Profile page displays the configurations for a profile. It also offers the options to edit them.

### 2.5.1 Opciones de menú

The three dots menu in the top-right corner opens the options-menu. It contains several options such as–

- Apply. This option can be used to apply the profile. When clicked, a dialog will be displayed where you can select a profile state. On selecting one of the options, the profile will be applied immediately.

  Notice.

  When you apply a profile, if some packages do not match the criteria, they will simply be ignored.

- Save. Save changes to the profile.

  Notice.

  Changes are never saved automatically. You have to save them manually from here.

- Discard. Discard any modifications made since the last save operation.

- Delete. Clicking on delete will remove the profile immediately without any warning.

- Duplicate. This option can be used to duplicate the profile. When clicked, a dialog will be displayed where it is possible to set a name for the new profile. On clicking “OK”, this page will be reloaded by duplicating all the configurations that this profile have. However, the profile will not be saved until it is saved manually.

- Create shortcut. This option can be used to create a shortcut for the profile. When clicked, there will be two options: Simple and Advanced. When configured with the latter option, it prompts the user to select a profile state when the shortcut is invoked. The former option, on the other hand, always uses the default state that was configured when the profile was last saved.

### 2.5.2 Pestaña de aplicaciones

Apps tab lists the packages configured in this profile. Packages can be added or removed using the plus button located near the bottom of the screen. Packages can also be removed by long clicking on them (in which case, a popup will be displayed with the only option delete).

### 2.5.3 Pestaña de configuraciones

La pestaña Configuraciones se puede utilizar para configurar los paquetes seleccionados.

#### 2.5.3.1 Comentario

This is the text that will be displayed in the profiles page. If not set, the current configurations will be displayed instead.

#### 2.5.3.2 Estado

Denotes how certain configured options will behave by default. For instance, if disable option is turned on, the applications will be disabled if the state is on and will be enabled if the state is off. Currently, it only supports on and off values.

#### 2.5.3.3 Usuarios

Seleccione los usuarios para los que se aplicará el perfil. Todos los usuarios se seleccionan de forma predeterminada.

#### 2.5.3.4 Componentes

This behaves the same way as the Block Components… option does in the 1-Click Ops page. However, the blocking here is only applied to the selected packages. If the state is on, the components will be blocked, and if the state is off, the components will be unblocked. The option can be disabled (regardless of the inserted values) by clicking on the disabled button on the input dialog.

Ver también: What are the app components?

#### 2.5.3.5 Operaciones de aplicación

This behaves the same way as the Set Mode for App Ops… option does in the 1-Click Ops page. However, the operation here is only applied to the selected packages. If the state is on, the app ops will be denied (i.e. ignored), and if the state is off, the app ops will be allowed. The option can be disabled (regardless of the inserted values) by clicking on the disable button in the input dialog.

#### 2.5.3.6 Permisos

This option can be used to grant or revoke certain permissions from the selected packages. Like others above, permissions must be separated by white spaces. If the state is on, the permissions will be revoked, and if the state is off, the permissions will be allowed. The option can be disabled (regardless of the inserted values) by clicking on the disable button in the input dialog.

#### 2.5.3.7 Copia de seguridad/restauracion

This option can be used to take a backup of the selected applications and its data or restore them. Two options are available here: Backup options and backup name.

- Backup options. Same as the backup options of the backup/restore feature. If not set, the default options will be used.

- Backup name. Set a custom name for the backup. If the backup name is set, each time a backup is made, it will be given a unique name with backup-name as the suffix. This behaviour will be fixed in a future release. Leave this field empty for regular “base” backups (also, make sure not to enable backup multiple in the backup options).

If the state is on, the packages will be backed up, and if the state is off, the packages will be restored. The option can be disabled by clicking on the disable button in the input dialog.

#### 2.5.3.8 Exportar reglas de bloqueo

Danger.

This option is not yet implemented.

#### 2.5.3.9 Deshabilitar

Allow enabling or disabling the selected packages depending on the value of the state. If the state is on, the packages will be disabled, and if the state is off, the packages will be enabled.

#### 2.5.3.10 Parada forzosa

Permita que los paquetes seleccionados se detengan a la fuerza.

#### 2.5.3.11 Limpiar caché

Habilite la limpieza de la caché para los paquetes seleccionados.

#### 2.5.3.12 Limpiar datos

Habilitar el borrado de los datos para los paquetes seleccionados.

#### 2.5.3.13 Bloquear rastreadores

Enable blocking or unblocking of the tracker components from the selected packages depending on the value of the state. If the state is on, the trackers will be blocked, and if the state is off, the trackers will be unblocked.

#### 2.5.3.14 Guardar APK

Enable saving APK files at `AppManager/apks` (or in the directory selected in the settings page) of the selected packages.

## 2.6 Página de configuraciones

La página de configuración se puede utilizar para personalizar el comportamiento de App Manager.

### 2.6.1 Idioma

Configurar el idioma de la aplicación. App Manager admite actualmente 21 (veintiún) idiomas.

### 2.6.2 Appearance

#### 2.6.2.1 Tema de la aplicación

Configurar el tema de la aplicación.

#### 2.6.2.2 Layout Direction

Change layout direction, either left to right or right to left. This is usually set using the selected language but not everybody prefers the same direction.

#### 2.6.2.3 Habilitar/deshabilitar características

Enable or disable certain features in App Manager, such as

- Interceptor

- Manifest viewer

- Scanner

- Package installer

- Usage access. With this feature turned off, App Manager will never ask for the Usage Access permission.

- Log viewer

- App explorer. The “Explore” option will not be available while trying to open an APK file.

- App info. The “App info” option displayed while trying to open an APK file.

- Use the internet. All the Internet features are disabled if this feature is turned off. Currently, the only Internet feature is fetching scanning reports via VirusTotal.

### 2.6.3 Privacy

#### 2.6.3.1 Bloqueo de pantalla

Bloquear App Manager usando el bloqueo de pantalla de Android siempre que se configure un bloqueo de pantalla.

Advertencia.

Si se desactiva el bloqueo de pantalla en Android después de activar esta configuración, App Manager no se abrirá hasta que se vuelva a activar.

### 2.6.4 Modo de operación

Mode of operation defines how App Manager works as a whole. It has the following options:

- Auto. Let App Manager decide the suitable option. Although this is the default option, non-rooted users should use the no-root mode.

- Root. Operate App Manager in root mode. App Manager will fall back to no-root mode if root is not detected, or in rare cases when Binder communication through root is disabled (e.g. in Phh SuperUser).

- ADB over TCP. Operate App Manager in ADB mode via ADB over TCP. App Manager will fall back to no-root mode if ADB over TCP is not enabled.

- Wireless debugging. Enable ADB via Wireless Debugging. It will try to connect to the configured port automatically at first. On failure, it will ask the user to either pair or connect to the ADB daemon manually. App Manager will fall back to no-root mode if it fails to connect to the ADB daemon this way.

  Info.

  This option is only displayed in devices running Android 11 or later as Wireless Debugging was introduced in Android 11.

- No-root. Operate App Manager in no-root mode. While App Manager performs better in this mode, all the root- or ADB-specific features will be disabled.

It also displays the currently inferred mode of operation. The actual mode of operations are root, ABD and no-root.

### 2.6.5 Firma de APK

#### 2.6.5.1 Esquemas de firma

Configure the signature schemes to be used when APK signing is enabled. v1 and v2 signature schemes are enabled by default, but v3 should also be enabled to ensure proper security in Android 9 or later.

#### 2.6.5.2 Clave de firma

Configure the signing key for signing APK files. Keys from an existing KeyStore can be imported to App Manager, or a new key can be generated.

Tip.

If you need to use the key in the future, it is recommended that you create a KeyStore yourself and import the key here. Keys generated within App Manager is at the risk of being deleted without a proper backup.

### 2.6.6 Instalador

#### 2.6.6.1 Mostrar usuarios en el instalador

Si se activa, se mostrará una lista de usuarios antes de instalar la aplicación. La aplicación se instalará sólo para los usuarios especificados.

#### 2.6.6.2 Firmar APK

Whether to sign the APK files before installing the application. A signing key has to be added or generated before this option can be enabled. This can be done in the APK signing page.

#### 2.6.6.3 Ubicación de la instalación

Define APK installation location. This can be one of auto, internal only and prefer external. In newer Android versions, selecting the last option does not guarantee that the application will be installed in the external storage.

#### 2.6.6.4 Aplicación de instalación

Selecciona la aplicación instaladora, útil para aplicaciones que comprueban explícitamente el instalador como forma de verificar si la aplicación se instala legítimamente. Esto sólo funciona para los usuarios root o ADB.

Notice.

Mientras que la comprobación del instalador puede parecer una preocupación legítima para una aplicación, el marco de Android ya se ocupa de esto durante la instalación. La comprobación del instalador es simplemente la manera incorrecta de probar la legitimidad de la fuente de una aplicación.

#### 2.6.6.5 Block Trackers

Whether to block the tracking components immediately after installing the application.

#### 2.6.6.6 Display Changes

Whether to display changes in version, trackers, components, permissions, signatures, SDK, etc. in a version controlled style before installing the application if the application has already been installed.

#### 2.6.6.7 Install in the Background

Whether to always install applications in the background. A notification will be issued once the installation is finished.

### 2.6.7 Copia de seguridad/restaurar

Configuración relacionada con back up/restore.

#### 2.6.7.1 Método de compresión

Establezca el método de compresión que se utilizará durante las copias de seguridad. App Manager soporta los métodos de compresión GZip y BZip2, GZip es el método de compresión por defecto. No afecta a la restauración de una copia de seguridad existente.

#### 2.6.7.2 Opciones de copia de seguridad

Personalice el cuadro de diálogo de copia de seguridad/restauración que se muestra al realizar una copia de seguridad.

Ver también: Backup options

#### 2.6.7.3 Aplicaciones de copia de seguridad con Android KeyStore

Permitir la copia de seguridad de las aplicaciones que tienen entradas en el KeyStore de Android. Esta opción está desactivada por defecto porque algunas aplicaciones (como Signal) pueden bloquearse si se restauran.

#### 2.6.7.4 Encriptación

Set an encryption method for the backups. App Manager currently supports OpenPGP (via OpenKeyChain), AES, RSA and ECC. Like APK signing, The AES, RSA and ECC keys are stored in the KeyStore and can be imported from other KeyStores.

Danger.

For your own safety, it is not recommended generating RSA and ECC keys inside App Manager. Instead, they should be imported from a KeyStore stored in a secure place.
In case of AES, the generated key should be stored in a secure place, such as using a password manager.

#### 2.6.7.5 Volumen de copia de seguridad

Select the storage where the backups will be stored. This is also where logs and exported APK files are saved.

Notice.

The backup volume only specifies the storage, not the path. Backups are traditionally stored in the `AppManager` folder inside the storage path. But when the path is selected using Storage Access Framework (SAF), the selected path or directory is used directly.

#### 2.6.7.6 Import Backups

Import backups from old and discontinued projects such as Titanium Backup, OAndBackup, and Swift Backup (version 3.0 to 3.2). The backups are not deleted after importing to prevent data loss in case the imported backups cannot be restored properly.

### 2.6.8 Reglas

#### 2.6.8.1 Bloqueo instantáneo de componentes

By default, blocking rules are not applied unless they are applied explicitly in the App Details page for any application. After enabling this option, all (old and new) rules are applied immediately for all applications without explicitly enabling blocking for an application.

Ver también: FAQ: What is instant component blocking?

#### 2.6.8.2 Importar/exportar reglas de bloqueo

It is possible to import or export blocking rules within App Manager for all applications. The types of rules (components, app ops or permissions) that should be imported or exported can also be selected. It is also possible to import blocking rules from Blocker and Watt. If it is necessary to export blocking rules for a single application, the corresponding App Details page can be used to export rules, or for multiple apps, batch operations can be used.

Ver también: Rules Specification

##### 2.6.8.2.1 Export

Export blocking rules for all applications configured within App Manager. This may include app components, app ops and permissions based on the options selected in the multi-choice options.

##### 2.6.8.2.2 Import

Import previously exported blocking rules from App Manager. Similar to export, this may include app components, app ops and permissions based on the options selected in the multi-choice options.

##### 2.6.8.2.3 Import Existing Rules

Add components disabled by other applications to App Manager. App Manager only keeps track of the components disabled within App Manager. If application components are blocked or disabled by other tools or applications, this option can be utilised to import them. On clicking this option, App Manager will find the components potentially disabled by other applications or tools and list only the name of the applications along with the number of matched components. For safety, all the applications are unselected by default. They have to be selected manually, and the blocking has to be re-applied via App Manager.

Caution.

Be careful when using this tool as there can be many false positives. Choose only the applications that you are certain about.

##### 2.6.8.2.4 Import from Watt

Import configuration files from Watt, each file containing rules for a single package and file name being the name of the package with `.xml` extension.

Tip.

Location of configuration files in Watt: `/sdcard/Android/data/com.tuyafeng.watt/files/ifw`

##### 2.6.8.2.5 Import from Blocker

Import blocking rules from Blocker, each file containing rules for a single package. These files have a `.json` extension.

#### 2.6.8.3 Remover todas las reglas

Opción de un clic para eliminar todas las reglas configuradas dentro de App Manager. Esto habilitará todos los componentes bloqueados, las operaciones de la aplicación se establecerán en sus valores predeterminados y se restablecerán los permisos.

### 2.6.9 Advanced

#### 2.6.9.1 Selected Users

This option lets you control the users App Manager should operate on. App Manager operates on all users in root or ADB mode by default.

#### 2.6.9.2 Saved APK Name Format

Defines the format of the APK name to be used while saving it via batch operations or through profiles. App Manager offers some special keywords enclosed inside `%` (percentage) signs and available below the input box. These keywords are:

- `label`. Denotes the name or label of the application. This can be localised to the configured language depending on the app.

- `package_name`. Denotes the name of the package or application ID, the unique identifier that each application has.

- `version`. Denotes the current version of the application extracted from its manifest.

- `version_code`. Denotes the current version code of the application that can be used to separate two versions of the same application.

- `min_sdk`. Denotes the minimum SDK (i.e. Android framework version) that the application can operate on. This data is only available since Android 7 (Nougat).

- `target_sdk`. Denotes the SDK that this application targets. The application can operate on higher SDK but only in the compatibility mode.

- `datetime`. Denotes the time and date when the APK is exported.

#### 2.6.9.3 Importar/exportar Keystore

Import or export the KeyStore used by App Manager. This is a Bouncy Castle KeyStore with `bks` extension. Therefore, other KeyStore such as Java KeyStore (JKS) or PKCS #12 are not supported. If a key is needed to be imported from such a KeyStore, the relevant options should be should as specified above.

### 2.6.10 Sobre este dispositivo

Muestra la versión de Android, la seguridad, la CPU, la GPU, la batería, la memoria, la pantalla, los idiomas, la información del usuario, etc.

## 2.7 Página del escáner

Scanner page appears after clicking on the scanner button in the App Info tab. External APK files can also be opened for scanning from file managers, web browsers, etc.

It scans for trackers and libraries, and displays the number of trackers and libraries as a summary. It also displays checksums of the APK file as well as the signing certificates. If VirusTotal is configured in the settings, it also attempts to retrieve reports from VirusTotal, or uploads the APK file if it is not in the database.

Disclaimer.

App Manager only scans an application statically without prejudice. The application may provide the options for opting out, or in some cases, certain features of the tracker may not be used at all by the application (e.g. F-Droid), or some applications may simply use them as placeholders to prevent the breaking of certain features (e.g. Fennec F-Droid). The intention of the scanner is to give you an idea about what the APK might contain. It should be taken as an initial step for further investigations.

Clicking on the first item (i.e. number of classes) opens a new page containing a list of tracker classes for the application. All classes can also be viewed by clicking on the Toggle Class Listing menu. A sneak-peek of each class can be viewed by simply clicking on any class item. In Android 8 (Oreo) and later, this includes the whole SMALI version of the class, and can be converted into Java using the corresponding option.

Notice.

Due to various limitations, it is not possible to scan all the components of an APK file. This is especially true if an APK is highly obfuscated. The scanner also does not check strings (or website signatures).

The second item lists the number of trackers along with their names. Clicking on the item displays a dialog containing the name of trackers, matched signatures, and the number of classes against each signature. Some tracker names may have 2 prefix which indicates that the trackers are in the ETIP stand-by list i.e. whether they are actual trackers is still being investigated.

The third item lists the number of libraries along with their names. The information are mostly taken from IzzyOnDroid repo.

Ver también: FAQ: Tracker classes vs tracker components

### 2.7.1 Firmas faltantes

At the bottom of the page, there is a special item denoting the number of missing signatures (i.e. missing classes). The missing signatures are the ones that AM has failed to match against any known libraries. The number itself has no particular meaning as many libraries contain hundreds of classes, but clicking on the item will bring up a dialog containing the signatures which is helpful in inspecting the missing signatures. This feature is only intended for people who know what a missing signature is and what to do with it, other users should ignore it.

## 2.8 Página del interceptor

Interceptor can be used to intercept communication between applications using `Intent`. It works as a man-in-the-middle between the source and the destination applications. It offers a feature-complete user interface for editing `Intent`s.

Warning.

Interceptor only works for implicit intents where the app component isn’t specified.

Ver también:

- Common Intents

- Intents and Intent Filters

### 2.8.1 Filtros de intención

Intent filters are used by the applications to specify the tasks they are able to perform or the tasks they are going to perform using other applications. For example, when you’re opening a PDF file using a file manager, the file manager will try to find the applications to open the PDF with. To find the right applications, the file manager will create an Intent with filters such as the MIME type and ask the system to retrieve the applications capable of opening this filter. The system will search through the Manifest of the installed applications to match the filter and list the application components that are able to open this filter (in our case the PDF). At this, either the file manager will open the desired application component all by itself or use a system provided option to open it. If multiple application components are able to open it and no default is set, you may get a prompt where you have to choose the right application component.

#### 2.8.1.1 Acción

Action specifies the generic action to perform such as `android.intent.action.VIEW`. Applications often declare the relevant actions in the Manifest file to catch the desired Intents. The action is particularly useful for broadcast Intent where it plays a vital rule. In other cases, it works as an initial way to filter out the relevant application components. Generic actions such as `android.intent.action.VIEW` and `android.intent.action.SEND` are widely used by applications. Hence, setting this alone may match many application components.

#### 2.8.1.2 Datos

Data is originally known as URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) defined in RFC 2396. It can be web links, file location, or a special feature called content. Contents are an Android feature managed by the content providers. Data are often associated with a MIME type.

Examples:

    http://search.disroot.org/?q=URI%20in%20Android%20scheme&categories=general&language=en-US
    https://developer.android.com/reference/android/net/Uri
    file:///sdcard/AppManager.apk
    mailto:email@example.com
    content://io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager.provider/23485af89b08d87e898a90c7e/AppManager.apk

#### 2.8.1.3 MIME Type

MIME type of the data. For example, if the data field is set to `file:///sdcard/AppManager.apk`, the associated MIME type can be `application/vnd.android.package-archive`.

#### 2.8.1.4 Categorías

This is similar to action in the sense that it is also used by the system to filter application components. This has no further benefits. Unlike action, there can be more than one category. Clicking on the plus button next to the title allows adding more categories.

#### 2.8.1.5 Banderas

Los indicadores son útiles para determinar cómo debe comportarse el sistema durante el lanzamiento o después del lanzamiento de una actividad. Esto no debe ser tocado ya que requiere algunos conocimientos técnicos. El botón plus junto al título puede utilizarse para añadir una o más banderas.

#### 2.8.1.6 Extras

Los extras son los pares clave-valor utilizados para proporcionar información adicional al componente de destino. Se pueden agregar más extras usando el botón más al lado del título.

#### 2.8.1.7 URI

Represents the entire Intent as a URI (e.g. `intent://…`). Some data cannot be converted to string, and as a result, they might not appear here.

### 2.8.2 Actividades de emparejamiento

Enumera todos los componentes de la actividad que coinciden con la intención. Esto lo determina internamente el sistema (en lugar de App Manager). El botón de lanzamiento junto a cada componente puede utilizarse para lanzarlos directamente desde App Manager.

### 2.8.3 Resetear a valores por defecto

Restablece el Intent a su estado inicial.

### 2.8.4 Enviar intención editada

Vuelva a enviar la intención editada a la aplicación de destino. Esto puede abrir una lista de aplicaciones en la que es necesario seleccionar la aplicación deseada. El resultado recibido de la aplicación de destino se enviará a la aplicación de origen. Como resultado, la aplicación de origen no sabrá si hubo un man-in-the-middle.

## 2.9 Página del editor de preferencias compartidas

Las preferencias compartidas pueden editarse en esta página. Al hacer clic en cualquier elemento de la lista se abre el cuadro de diálogo de edición donde se puede editar. El botón de acción flotante en la esquina inferior derecha puede utilizarse para añadir un nuevo elemento. Para guardar o eliminar el archivo o para descartar los cambios actuales, se pueden utilizar las opciones respectivas del menú.

# 3 Guías

## 3.1 ABD sobre TCP

Many root-only features can still be used by enabling ADB over TCP. To do that, a PC or Mac is required with Android platform-tools installed, and an Android phone with developer options & USB debugging enabled.

Root users.

If superuser permission has been granted to App Manager, it can already execute privileged code without any problem. Therefore, root users don’t need to enable ADB over TCP. If you still want to use ADB over TCP, you must revoke superuser permission for App Manager and restart your device. You may see working on ADB mode message without restarting but this isn’t entirely true. The server (used as an interface between system and App Manager) is still running in root mode. This is a known issue and will be fixed in a future version of App Manager.

Ver también: FAQ: ADB over TCP

### 3.1.1 Habilitar opciones de desarrollador

#### 3.1.1.1 Ubicación de las opciones de desarrollador

Developer options is located in Android Settings, either directly near the bottom of the page (in most ROMs) or under some other settings such as System (Lineage OS, Asus Zenfone 8.0+), System > Advanced (Google Pixel), Additional Settings (Xiaomi MIUI, Oppo ColorOS), More Settings (Vivo FuntouchOS), More (ZTE Nubia). Unlike other options, it is not visible until explicitly enabled by the user. If developer options is enabled, you can use the search box in Android Settings to locate it as well.

#### 3.1.1.2 Cómo activar las opciones del desarrollador

This option is available within Android Settings as well but like the location of the developer options, it also differs from device to device. But in general, you have to find Build number (or MIUI version for MIUI ROMs and Software version for Vivo FuntouchOS, Version for Oppo ColorOS) and tap it at least 7 (seven) times until you finally get a message saying You are now a developer (you may be prompted to insert pin/password/pattern or solve captchas at this point). In most devices, it is located at the bottom of the settings page, inside About Phone. But the best way to find it is to use the search box.

### 3.1.2 Habilitar depuración USB

After locating the developer options, enable Developer option (if not already). After that, scroll down a bit until you will find the option USB debugging. Use the toggle button on the right-hand side to enable it. At this point, you may get an alert prompt where you may have to click OK to actually enable it. You may also have to enable some other options depending on device vendor and ROM. Here are some examples:

#### 3.1.2.1 Xiaomi (MIUI)

Habilite Depuración USB (Configuración de seguridad) también.

#### 3.1.2.2 HUAWEI (EMUI)

Enable Allow ADB debugging in charge only mode as well. When connecting to your PC or Mac, you may get a prompt saying Allow access to device data? in which case click YES, ALLOW ACCESS.

Notice.

Often the USB debugging mode could be disabled automatically by the system. If that’s the case, repeat the above procedure.

#### 3.1.2.3 Realme

Depending on the device and the version of operating system, you have to enable Disable Permission Monitoring, or USB debugging (Security settings) along with Install via USB.

#### 3.1.2.4 LG

Aseguraré de tener USB tethering habilitado.

#### 3.1.2.5 Solución de problemas

In case USB Debugging is greyed out, you can do the following:

1. Make sure you enabled USB debugging before connecting your phone to the PC or Mac via USB cable

2. Enable USB tethering after connecting to PC or Mac via USB cable

3. (For Samsung) If your device is running KNOX, you may have to follow some additional steps. See official documentations or consult support for further assistant

### 3.1.3 Configurar ADB en PC o Mac

In order to enable ADB over TCP, you have to set up ADB in your PC or Mac. Lineage OS users can skip to §3.1.4.1.

#### 3.1.3.1 Windows

1. Download the latest version of Android SDK Platform-Tools for Windows

2. Extract the contents of the zip file into any directory (such as `C:\``adb`) and navigate to that directory using Explorer

3. Open Command Prompt or PowerShell from this directory. You can do it manually from the start menu or by holding `Shift` and Right clicking within the directory in File Explorer and then clicking either on Open command window here or on Open PowerShell window here (depending on what you have installed). You can now access ADB by typing `adb` (Command Prompt) or `./adb` (PowerShell). Do not close this window yet

#### 3.1.3.2 macOS

1. Download the latest version of Android SDK Platform-Tools for macOS

2. Extract the contents of the zip file into a directory by clicking on it. After that, navigate to that directory using Finder and locate `adb`

3. Open Terminal using Launchpad or Spotlight and drag-and-drop `adb` from the Finder window into the Terminal window. Do not close the Terminal window yet

Tip.

If you are not afraid to use command line, here’s a one liner:

    cd ~/Downloads && curl -o platform-tools.zip -L \
    https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip && \
    unzip platform-tools.zip && rm platform-tools.zip && cd platform-tools

After that, you can simply type `./adb` in the in same Terminal window to access ADB.

#### 3.1.3.3 Linux

1. Open your favourite terminal emulator. In most GUI-distros, you can open it by holding `Control`, `Alter` and `T` at the same time

2. Run the following command:

       cd ~/Downloads && curl -o platform-tools.zip -L \
       https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-linux.zip && \
       unzip platform-tools.zip && rm platform-tools.zip && cd platform-tools

3. If it is successful, you can simply type `./adb` in the in same terminal emulator window or type `~/Downloads/platform-tools/adb` in any terminal emulator to access ADB.

### 3.1.4 Configurar ADB sobre TCP

#### 3.1.4.1 Lineage OS 17.1 y anteriores

Los usuarios de Lineage OS (o sus derivados) pueden habilitar directamente ADB sobre TCP utilizando las opciones de desarrollador. Para habilitarlo vaya a las opciones de desarrollador, desplácese hacia abajo hasta encontrar ADB sobre red. Ahora, utilice el botón de conmutación en el lado derecho para habilitarlo y pasar a §[subsec:adb-mode-in-app-manager].

#### 3.1.4.2 Habilitar ADB sobre TCP a través de PC o Mac

For other ROMs, you can do this using the command prompt/PowerShell/terminal emulator that you’ve opened in the step 3 of the previous section. In this section, I will use `adb` to denote `./adb`, `adb` or any other command that you needed to use based on your platform and software in the previous section.

1. Connect your device to your PC or Mac using a USB cable. For some devices, it is necessary to turn on File transfer mode (MTP) as well

2. To confirm that everything is working as expected, type `adb devices` in your terminal. If your device is connected successfully, you will see something like this:

       List of devices attached
       xxxxxxxx  device

   Notice.

   In some Android phones, an alert prompt will be appeared with a message Allow USB Debugging in which case, check Always allow from this computer and click Allow.

3. Finally, run the following command to enable ADB over TCP:

       adb tcpip 5555

Danger.

You cannot disable developer options or USB debugging after enabling ADB over TCP.

#### 3.1.4.3 Habilitar el modo ADB en App Manager

After enabling ADB over TCP, relaunch App Manager. App Manager should detect ADB mode automatically. If it cannot, you can change the mode of operation to ADB over TCP in the settings page. There, you can also verify whether App Manager has correctly detected ADB as indicated by the inferred mode.

Notice.

In some Android devices, the USB cable is needed to be disconnected from the PC before connecting to App Manager.

Warning.

ADB over TCP will be disabled after a reboot. In that case, you have to follow §3.1.4.2 again.

Lineage OS users.

You can turn off ADB over Network in developer options, but turning off this option will also stop App Manager’s remote server. So, turn it off only when you’re not going to use App Manager in ADB over TCP mode.

### 3.1.5 Referencias

1. How to Install ADB on Windows, macOS, and Linux

2. Android Debug Bridge (adb)

3. How to fix USB debugging greyed out?

## 3.2 Wireless Debugging

If you are running Android 11 or later and capable of connecting to a Wi-Fi network for, at least, a few moments, Wireless Debugging is the recommended approach as it offers more protection than ADB over TCP. It requires two steps:

1. ADB pairing. The initial and a bit complex step for a novice user. Fortunately, this step is not required all the time.

2. Connecting to ADB. The final step which needs to be carried out every time you reboot your phone.

### 3.2.1 Enable developer options and USB Debugging

See §3.1.1 and §3.1.2.

### 3.2.2 Enable Wireless Debugging

In the Developer options page, find Wireless debugging and click to open it. In the new page, turn on Use wireless debugging. Depending on your configuration, you might see a dialog prompt asking you to verify your decision. If that is the case, click Allow.

Tip.

For an easy access, you might want to add Wireless debugging in the notification tiles section. To do this, find Quick settings developer tiles in the Developer options page and click to open it. In the new window, enable Wireless debugging. However, this option is unavailable in most operating systems.

### 3.2.3 Pair ADB with App Manager

Keeping the Wireless debugging page open, go to the Recents page either by swiping up or by using the dedicated navigation button, and click on the Settings logo to enable Split screen. It will wait for you to select or launch another application: Launch or select App Manager.

Now, in App Manager and navigate to Settings and then enable Wireless debugging in Mode of operation. After a few moments, App Manager will ask you to either connect or pair ADB. Select pair.

In the Wireless debugging page (now should be on top among the splits), select Pair device with pairing code. At this, a dialog prompt will be displayed. Note down the pairing code but DO NOT close the dialog prompt or the window.

Finally, in App Manager, insert the pairing code and click pair. The port number should be detected automatically. If it cannot, you have to insert the port number as well.

If the pairing is successful, it will display a successful message at the bottom, and the dialog prompt in the Wireless debugging page will be dismissed automatically, and you will be able to see App Manager listed as an ADB client.

Notice.

If you do not use App Manager in ADB mode for a while (depending on devices), App Manager might be removed from the list. In that case, you have to repeat the above procedure.

### 3.2.4 Connect App Manager to ADB

App Manager should be able to connect to ADB automatically if the mode of operation is set to auto, ADB over TCP or Wireless debugging. If that is not the case, select Wireless debugging in the settings page. If App Manager fails to detect or connect to ADB, it will display a dialog prompt to connect or pair ADB. Select connect.

Now, navigate to the Wireless debugging page in Android settings, and note down the port number displayed in the page. In App Manager’s dialog prompt, replace the port number with the one that you have noted earlier, and click connect.

Once a connection has been established, you can safely disable Wireless debugging in Android settings.

Caution.

Never disable USB Debugging or any other additional options described in §3.2.1. If you do this, the remote server used by App Manager will be stopped, and you may have to start all over again.

## 3.3 Back up/Restore

App Manager has a modern, advanced and easy-to-use backup/restore system implemented from the scratch. This is probably the only app that has the ability to restore not only the app or its data but also permissions and rules that you’ve configured within App Manager. You can also choose to back up an app multiple times (with custom names) or for all users.

Ver también:

- 1-Click Ops: Back up

- 1-Click Ops: Restore

### 3.3.1 Location

Back up/restore is a part of batch operations. It is also located inside the options menu in the App Info tab. Clicking on Backup/Restore opens the Backup Options. Backups are located at `/storage/emulated/0/AppManager` by default. You can configure custom backup location in the settings page in which case the backups will be located at the `AppManager` folder in the selected volume.

Note.

If one or more selected apps do not have any backup, the Restore and Delete Backup options will not be displayed.

### 3.3.2 Backup Options

Backup options (internally known as backup flags) let you customise the backups on the fly. However, the customisations will not be remembered for the future backups. If you want to customise this dialog, use Backup Options in the Settings page.

A complete description of the backup options is given below:

- APK files. Whether to back up the APK files. This includes the base APK file along with the `split APK` files if they exist.

- Internal data. Whether to back up the internal data directories. These directories are located at `/data/user/<user_id>` and (for Android N or later) `/data/user_de/<user_id>`.

- External data. Whether to back up data directories located in the internal memory as well as SD Card (if exists). External data directories often contain non-essential app data or media files (instead of using the dedicated media folder) and may increase the backup size. However, it might be essential for some apps. Although it isn’t checked by default (as it might dramatically increase the size of the backups), you may have to check it in order to ensure a smooth restore of your backups.

  Caution.

  Internal data folders should always be backed up if you are going to back up the external data folders. However, it could be useful to back up only the external folders if the app in question downloads a lot of assets from the Internet.

- OBB and media. Whether to back up or restore the OBB and the media directories located in the external storage or the SD Card. This is useful for games and the graphical software which actually use these folders.

- Cache. Android apps have multiple cache directories located at every data directories (both internal and external). There are two types of cache: cache and code cache. Enabling this option excludes both cache directories from all the data directories. It is generally advised to exclude cache directories since most apps do not clear the cache regularly (for some reason, the only way an app can clear its cache is by deleting the entire cache directory) and usually handled by the OS itself. Apps such as Telegram may use a very large cache (depending on the storage space) which may dramatically increase the backup size. When it is disabled, AM also ignores the no_backup directories.

- Extras. Backup/restore app permissions, net policy, battery optimization, SSAID, etc., enabled by default. Note that, blocking rules are applied after applying the extras. So, if an item is present in both places, it will be overwritten (i.e., the one from the blocking rules will be used).

- Rules. This option lets you back up blocking rules configured within App Manager. This might come in handy if you have customised permissions or block some components using App Manager as they will also be backed up or restored when you enable this option.

- Backup Multiple. Whether this is a multiple backup. By default, backups are saved using their user ID. Enabling this option allows you to create additional backups. These backups use the current date-time as the default backup name, but you can also specify custom backup name using the input field displayed when you click on the Backup button.

- Custom users. Backup or restore for the selected users instead of only the current user. This option is only displayed if the system has more than one user.

- Skip signature checks. When taking a backup, checksum of every file (as well as the signing certificate(s) of the base APK file) is generated and stored in the `checksums.txt` file. When you restore the backup, the checksums are generated again and are matched with the checksums stored in the said file. Enabling this option will disable the signature checks. This option is applied only when you restore a backup. During backup, the checksums are generated regardless of this option.

  Caution.

  You should always disable this option to ensure that your backups are not modified by any third-party applications. However, this would only work if you enabled encryption.

Ver también: Settings: Encryption

### 3.3.3 Backup

Backup respects all the backup options except Skip signature checks. If base backups (i.e., backups that don’t have the Backup Multiple option) already exist, you will get a warning as the backups will be overwritten. If Backup Multiple is set, you have an option to input the backup name, or you can leave it blank to use the current date-time.

### 3.3.4 Restore

Restore respects all the backup options and will fail if APK files option is set, but the backup doesn’t contain such backups or in other cases, if the app isn’t installed. When restoring backups for multiple packages, you can only restore the base backups (see backup section for an explanation). However, when restoring backups for a single package, you have the option to select which backup to restore. If All users option is set, AM will restore the selected backup for all users in the latter case but in the former case, it will restore base backups for the respective users.

Notice.

Apps that use storage access framework (SAF), SSAID or Android KeyStore works properly only after an immediate restart.

### 3.3.5 Delete Backup

Delete backup only respects All users option and when it is selected, only the base backups for all users will be deleted with a prompt. When deleting backups for a single package, another dialog will be displayed where you can select the backups to delete.

## 3.4 Automating Tasks

It is possible to trigger profiles configured inside App Manager via third-party applications such as Automation or Tasker. Traditionally, `Intent`s are used to trigger such operations.

### 3.4.1 Generating authorization key

In order to ensure proper security, an authorization key is required. To generate a authorization key, go to Settings page and then click Authorization Manager at the bottom. If an authorization key has not been generated, it will be generated automatically. The key can be regenerated as required.

Caution.

Regenerating the authorization key can have some side effects such as invalidation of all the previously configured Intents.

### 3.4.2 Configuring tasks

The activity `io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager.crypto.auth.AuthFeatureDemultiplexer` is responsible for handling all the automations. Sending an intent to the activity lets App Manager perform the designated operation by redirecting the `Intent` to the designated activity or service.

#### 3.4.2.1 Required extras

It has two primary extras required in all conditions. The key names, data types are all follows:

1. `auth`. (String value) The authorization key as described in the earlier section.

2. `feature`. (String value) Name of the feature. Supported features are described in the next section.

### 3.4.3 Features

App Manager current support a single feature, namely `profile`.

### 3.4.4 Triggering a profile

In order to trigger a profile, `feature` must have the value `profile`. In addition, the following extras can be included:

1. `prof`. (String value – required) The name of the profile as displayed in the Profiles page.

2. `state`. (String value – optional) State of the profile – currently `on` or `off` – as specified in the documentation. If this extra is not set, App Manager will display a prompt where a state must be selected. Therefore, for complete automation, this option should be set.

## 3.5 Net Policy

Short for Network policy or network policies. It is usually located in the Android settings under Mobile data & Wifi section in the app info page of an app. Not all policies are guaranteed to be included in this page (e.g. Samsung), and not all settings are well-understood due to lack of documentation. App Manager can display all the net policies declared in the NetworkPolicyManager. Policies unknown to App Manager will have a Unknown prefix along with the policy constant name and number in the hexadecimal format. Unknown policies should be reported to App Manager for inclusion.

Net policy allows a user to configure certain networking behaviour of an app without modifying the ip tables directly and/or running a firewall app. However, the features it offers largely depend on Android version and ROM. A list of known net policies are listed below:

1. None or `POLICY_NONE`: (AOSP) No specific network policy is set. System can still assign rules depending on the nature of the app.

2. Reject background data or `POLICY_REJECT_METERED_BACKGROUND`: (AOSP) Reject network usage on metered networks when the application is in background.

3. Allow background data when Data Saver is on or `POLICY_ALLOW_METERED_BACKGROUND`: (AOSP) Allow metered network use in the background even when data saving mode is enabled.

4. Reject cellular data or `POLICY_REJECT_CELLULAR` (Android 11+) or `POLICY_REJECT_ON_DATA` (up to Android 10): (Lineage OS) Reject mobile/cellular data. Signals network unavailable to the configured app as if the mobile data is inactive.

5. Reject VPN data or `POLICY_REJECT_VPN` (Android 11+) or `POLICY_REJECT_ON_VPN` (up to Android 10): (Lineage OS) Reject VPN data. Signals network unavailable to the configured app as if the VPN is inactive.

6. Reject Wi-Fi data or `POLICY_REJECT_WIFI` (Android 11+) or `POLICY_REJECT_ON_WLAN` (up to Android 10): (Lineage OS) Reject Wi-Fi data. Signals network unavailable to the configured app as if the device is not connected to a Wi-Fi network.

7. Disable network access or `POLICY_REJECT_ALL` (Android 11+) or `POLICY_NETWORK_ISOLATED` (up to Android 10): (Lineage OS) Reject network access in all circumstances. This is not the same as enforcing the other three policies above, and is the recommended policy for dodgy apps. If this policy is enforced, there is no need to enforce the other policies.

8. `POLICY_ALLOW_METERED_IN_ROAMING`: (Samsung) Possibly allow metered network use during roaming. Exact meaning is currently unknown.

9. `POLICY_ALLOW_WHITELIST_IN_ROAMING`: (Samsung) Possibly allow network use during roaming. Exact meaning is currently unknown.

Note.

Corresponding Lineage OS patches are as follows:

1. fw/b: Squash of app fw restriction commits

2. fw/b: Add support for per app network isolation

# 4 Frequently Asked Questions

## 4.1 App Components

### 4.1.1 What are the application components?

Activities, services, broadcast receivers (or only receivers) and content providers (or only providers) are jointly called application components. More technically, they all inherit the ComponentInfo class and can be launched via Intent.

### 4.1.2 How are the tracker and other components blocked in App Manager? What are its limitations?

App Manager typically blocks application components (or tracker components) using a method called Intent Firewall (IFW), it is superior to other methods such as pm (PackageManager), Shizuku or any other method that uses the package manager to enable or disable the components. If a component is disabled by the latter methods, the application itself can detect that the component is being blocked and can re-enable it as it has full access to its own components. (Many deceptive applications actually do this in order to keep the tracker components unblocked.) On the other hand, IFW is a true firewall and the application cannot detect if its components are being blocked. App Manager uses the term block rather than disable for this reason.

Even IFW has some limitations which are primarily applicable for the system applications:

- The application in question is whitelisted by the system i.e. the system cannot function properly without these applications and may cause random crashes. These applications include but not limited to Android System, System UI, Phone Services. They will continue to work even if they are disabled or blocked.

- Another system application or system process has activated a specific component of the application in question via interprocess communication (IPC). In this case, the component will be activated regardless of blocking status or even if the entire application is disabled. If there is such a system application that is not needed, the only way to prevent it from running is by getting rid of it.

### 4.1.3 Does app components blocked by other tools retained in App Manager?

No. But the application components blocked by the system or any other tools are displayed in the component tabs. These rules can be imported from Settings. However, it is not possible for App Manager to distinguish the components blocked by the third-party tools and components blocked by the system. Therefore, the applications listed in the import page should be selected with care.

### 4.1.4 What happens to the components blocked by App Manager which were previously blocked by other tools?

App Manager blocks the components again if requested. In case of unblocking, they will be reverted to the default state as specified in the manifest of the application. But if the components were blocked by MyAndroidTools (MAT) with IFW method, they will not be unblocked by App Manager as it uses a different format. To fix this issue, the rules have to be imported from Settings at first, in which case MAT’s configurations will be permanently removed.

### 4.1.5 What is instant component blocking?

When you block a component in the App Details page, the blocking is not applied by default. It is only applied when you apply blocking using the Apply rules option in the top-right menu. If you enable instant component blocking, blocking will be applied as soon as you block a component. If you choose to block tracker components, however, blocking is applied automatically regardless of this setting. You can also remove blocking for an application by simply clicking on Remove rules in the same menu in the App Details page. Since the default behaviour gives you more control over applications, it is better to keep instant component blocking option disabled.

### 4.1.6 Tracker classes versus tracker components

All application components are classes but not all classes are components. In fact, only a few of the classes are components. That being said, scanner page displays a list of trackers along with the number of classes, not just the components. In all other pages, trackers and tracker components are used synonymously to denote tracker components, i.e. blocking tracker means blocking tracker components, not tracker classes.

Info.

Tracker classes that are not components cannot be blocked. They can only be removed by editing the application itself.

## 4.2 ADB over TCP

### 4.2.1 Do I have to enable ADB over TCP everytime I restart?

Unfortunately, yes. This is because the ADB daemon, the process responsible for ADB connection, is also restarted after a reboot, and it does not re-enable ADB over TCP.

### 4.2.2 Cannot enable USB debugging. What to do?

See §3.1.2 in Capítulo 3.

### 4.2.3 Can I block tracker or any other application components using ADB over TCP?

ADB has limited number of permissions and controlling application components is not one of them. However, the components of a test-only app can be controlled via ADB. If App Manager detects such an application, it enables the blocking options automatically.

### 4.2.4 Which features can be used in ADB mode?

Supported features are enabled automatically in the ADB mode. Supported features include disabling, force-stopping, clearing application data, granting or revoking app ops and permissions, and so on. It is also possible to install or uninstall applications without any prompt from the system.

## 4.3 Miscellanea

### 4.3.1 I don’t use root/ADB. Am I completely safe from any harms?

Yes. AM cannot modify any system settings without root or ADB.

### 4.3.2 How are the trackers and libraries are updated?

Trackers and libraries are updated manually before making a new release.

### 4.3.3 Are APKs deleted after installed?

No, APKs aren’t deleted by App Manager after they are installed.

### 4.3.4 Any plans for Shizuku?

App Manager’s use of hidden API and privileged code execution is now much more complex and cannot be integrated with other third party apps such as Shizuku. Here are some reasons for not considering Shizuku (which now has Apache 2.0 license) for App Manager:

1. Shizuku was initially non-free which led me to use a similar approach for App Manager to support both root and ADB

2. App Manager already supports both ADB and root which in some cases is more capable than Shizuku

3. Relying on a third-party app for the major functionalities is not a good design choice

4. Integration of Shizuku will increase the complexity of App Manager.

### 4.3.5 What are bloatware and how to remove them?

Bloatware are the unnecessary apps supplied by the vendor or OEM and are usually system apps. These apps are often used to track users and collect user data which they might sell for profits. System apps do not need to request any permission in order to access device info, contacts and messaging data, and other usage info such as your phone usage habits and everything you store on your shared storage(s).

The bloatware may also include Google apps (such as Google Play Services, Google Play Store, Gmail, Google, Messages, Dialer, Contacts), Facebook apps (the Facebook app consists of four or five apps), Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter and many other apps which can also track users and/or collect user data without consent given that they all are system apps. You can disable a few permissions from the Android settings but be aware that Android settings hides almost every permission any security specialist would call potentially dangerous.

If the bloatware were user apps, you could easily uninstall them either from Android settings or AM. Uninstalling system apps is not possible without root permission. You can also uninstall system apps using ADB, but it may not work for all apps. AM can uninstall system apps with root or ADB (the latter with certain limitations, of course), but these methods cannot remove the system apps completely as they are located in the system partition which is a read-only partition. If you have root, you can remount this partition to manually purge these apps but this will break Over the Air (OTA) updates since data in the system partition has been modified. There are two kind of updates, delta (small-size, consisting of only the changes between two versions) and full updates. You can still apply full updates, but the bloatware will be installed again, and consequently, you have to delete them all over again. Besides, not all vendors provide full updates.

Another solution is to disable these apps either from Android settings (no-root) or AM, but certain services can still run in the background as they can be started by other system apps using Inter-process Communication (IPC). One possible solution is to disable all bloatware until the service has finally stopped (after a restart). However, due to heavy modifications of the Android frameworks by the vendors, removing or disabling certain bloatware may cause the System UI to crash or even cause bootloop, thus, (soft) bricking your device. You may search the web or consult the fellow users to find out more about how to debloat your device.

From v2.5.19, AM has a new feature called profiles. The profiles page has an option to create new profiles from one of the presets. The presets consist of debloating profiles which can be used as a starting point to monitor, disable, and remove the bloatware from a proprietary Android operating system.

Note.

In most cases, you cannot completely debloat your device. Therefore, it is recommended that you use a custom ROM free from bloatware such as Graphene OS, Lineage OS or their derivatives.

# 5 Specifications

## 5.1 Rules Specification

### 5.1.1 Background

AM currently supports blocking activities, broadcast receivers, content providers, services, app ops and permissions, and in future I may add more blocking options. In order to add more portability, it is necessary to import/export all these data.

Maintaining a database should be the best choice when it comes to storing data. For now, several `tsv` files with each file having the name of the package and a `.tsv` extension. The file/database will be queried/processed by the `RulesStorageManager` class. Due to this abstraction, it should be easier to switch to database or encrypted database systems in future without changing the design of the entire project. Currently, All configuration files are stored at `/data/data/io.github.muntashirakon.AppManager/Files/conf`.

### 5.1.2 Rules File Format

#### 5.1.2.1 Internal

The format below is used internally within App Manager and is not compatible with the external format.

        <name> <type> <mode>|<component_status>|<is_granted>

Here:

- `<name>` – Component/permission/app op name (in case of app op, it could be string or integer)

- `<type>` – One of the `ACTIVITY`, `RECEIVER`, `PROVIDER`, `SERVICE`, `APP_OP`, `PERMISSION`

- `<mode>` – (For app ops) The associated mode constant

- `<component_status>` – (For components) Component status

  - `true` – Component has been applied (`true` value is kept for compatibility)

  - `false` – Component hasn’t been applied yet, but will be applied in future (`false` value is kept for compatibility)

  - `unblocked` – Component is scheduled to be unblocked

- `<is_granted>` – (For permissions) Whether the permission is granted or revoked

#### 5.1.2.2 External

External format is used for importing or exporting rules in App Manager.

        <package_name> <component_name> <type> <mode>|<component_status>|<is_granted>

This the format is essentially the same as above except for the first item which is the name of the package.

Caution.

The exported rules have a different format than the internal one and should not be copied directly to the conf folder.

# 6 Registros de cambios

## 6.1 v3.1.0 (423)

App Manager v3.1.0 comes with a few new features and a lot of improvements. Visit Settings > About > Version/Changelog for details.

### 6.1.1 Android 13 support

App Manager now targets Android 13 which means most issues in Android 12 and 13 has been addressed, including SSAID and SAF issues as well as monochrome icons and other theming issues.

##### 6.1.1.0.1 Known issue

KeyStore backup/restore not working in Android 12 and later.

### 6.1.2 Introducing freeze/unfreeze

Enable/disable is replaced with freeze/unfreeze to allow greater control on the behaviours of an app. It supports suspend, disable and hide functionalities which can be controlled at Settings > Rules > Default freezing method. In order to make it easy to freeze or unfreeze an app, shortcuts can also be created from the App Info tab by long clicking on the freeze or unfreeze button.

### 6.1.3 Export app list

In the Main page, it is now possible to export the list of apps in either XML or Markdown format using batch operations. In the future, the XML file may also be imported to App Manager.

### 6.1.4 Elliptic Curve Crypography (ECC)

App Manager now fully supports encrypting backups using ECC in addition to offering AES, RSA and OpenPGP.

### 6.1.5 New languages

Two new languages are added: Korean and Romanian.

### 6.1.6 More list options

In the main page, more sorting and filtering options are added. Sorting options include sorting the apps by total size, total data usage, launch count, screen time and last usage time. Filtering options include filtering the apps having at least one item in the Android KeyStore, filtering apps with URIs granted via SAF, and filtering apps with SSAID.

### 6.1.7 Improved handling of mode of operation

Fixed various issues with ADB pairing, handled incomplete USB debugging. Some rooting methods cannot allow interprocess communication via Binder. In those cases, ADB mode is used as a fallback method by enabling it automatically if possible.

### 6.1.8 Handling multiple users

When possible, App Manager will be able to display apps from work profile in no-root mode in addition to allowing basic operations such as launching the app or navigating to the system settings. For backups, it is now possible to restore backups for other users, but for work profile, some apps may only work properly after re-enabling the work profile. In the installer page, selecting All users will now install the app for all users instead of only the current user. Finally, in the app info tab, current app can be installed in another profile using the Install for… option available in the three-dots menu. This is analogous to the `pm install-existing` command, thereby, making the installation process a lot faster.

### 6.1.9 Explorer enhancements

Explorer can now open DEX and JAR files in addition to APK files. Several sorting options as well as folder options are also added as the list options.

### 6.1.10 New tag: WX

In app info tab, a new tag called WX is added. It is displayed in Android 10 and later if the application targets Android 9 or earlier. It indicates W^X violation which allows the app to execute arbitrary executable files either by the modification of executables embedded within the app or by downloading them from the Internet.

### 6.1.11 App ops management

App ops are now managed automatically to avoid various app ops related crashes in various platforms. This will also lessen the amount of crashes in an unsupported operating system.

### 6.1.12 Batch uninstallation

In the Main page, enabled batch uninstallation in no-root mode.

### 6.1.13 Running apps

Enabled advanced searching. Searching now matches not only app labels but also package names.

### 6.1.14 Interceptor

Copy the intercepted Intent as am command which can be run from either an ADB shell or a terminal using root with the same effectiveness.

### 6.1.15 Device-specific changes

##### 6.1.15.0.1 Graphene OS

Explicitly handle the Internet permission which is a runtime permission in the OS.

##### 6.1.15.0.2 MIUI

Fixed permission denied issues in the installer due to a framework issue introduced in MIUI 12.5.

##### 6.1.15.0.3 Motorola

Fixed crashes in the Interceptor page due to a framework issue introduced in Android 11.

### 6.1.16 Others

- Improved Java-Smali conversion by including all the subclasses during conversion

- Improved scanning performance in the Scanner page

- Improved updating the list of apps in the Main page

- Scan all the available paths to detect systemless-ly installed system apps

- `vacuum` SQLite database before opening it for viewing or editing.

## 6.2 v3.0.0 (410)

App Manager v3.0.0 comes with a lot of features and improvements. See Settings > Changelog to see a more detailed changelog.

### 6.2.1 Material 3 and More

Material 3, somewhat similar to Material You, is a significant improvement over Material Design 2 with support for dynamic colours in Android 12 and later. In addition, many design changes have been made in App Manager without any significant changes in the overall user experience.

##### 6.2.1.0.1 Known issue

Switches are still based on Material Design 2 which will be fixed in a future release.

### 6.2.2 Wireless Debugging

Wireless debugging support has been fully implemented. Head over to §3.2 for instructions on how to configure wireless debugging.

No-root users.

Due to auto-detection feature, startup time might be large for no-root users when the mode of operation is set to auto. Instead, no-root users should select no-root instead of auto.

### 6.2.3 Languages

App Manager is fully translated into Indonesian and Italian languages and can be enabled in settings. Bengali is removed due to lack of translators.

### 6.2.4 Introducing App Explorer

App Explorer can be used to browse the contents of an application. This includes binary XML files, DEX contents or any other media files. DEX contents can only be explored in Android Oreo (Android 8) and later. It’s also possible to convert an `.smali` file into `.java` for a better understanding of the reversed code. This feature, if not needed, can be disabled in Settings > Enable/disable features.

### 6.2.5 Import Backups from Other Applications

It is possible to import backups from discontinued or obsolete applications such as Titanium Backup, OAndBackup and Swift Backup (version 3.0 to 3.2). Go to Setting > Backup/restore to find this option.

### 6.2.6 VirusTotal

VirusTotal is a widely used tool to scan files and URLs for viruses. In the scanner page and in the running apps page, an option to scan files with VirusTotal has been added. But the option is hidden by default. To enable the option, it is necessary to obtain an API key from VirusTotal. Go to Settings > VirusTotal API Key for more information.

Internet feature.

This is currently the only feature which require an Internet connection. If you wish to use any Internet feature that might also be added in the future, enable Use the Internet in Settings > Enable/disable features.

### 6.2.7 Trigger Profiles from the Automation Software

As the implementation of routine operations is being delayed, an option to trigger profiles from the external automation software is added. See §3.4 for instructions on how to configure profile automation.

### 6.2.8 Improved Application Installer

Application installer includes several improvements including the ability to downgrade applications in no-root mode, installing multiple applications at once and blocking trackers after installation. In Android 12 and later, no-root users can update applications without any user interactions.

### 6.2.9 Component Blocking

It is now possible to configure how App Manager should block a component. Visit Settings > Rules > Default blocking method for more information. In the components tab, long clicking the block/unblock button opens a context menu which allows per-component blocking in a similar manner. ADB users can also block the components of a Test only app.

### 6.2.10 Advanced Searching

In some pages, the search bar supports additional searching which includes searching via prefix, suffix or even regular expressions. In the main page, it is also possible to search for applications using the first letters of each word, e.g. App Manager can be listed by searching for am.

### 6.2.11 Shared Libraries

Shared libraries tab has received a significant improvements. It can display three types of libraries, such as native, jar and APK files.

### 6.2.12 Make the Best Use of Interceptor

Activity interceptor can be opened directly from the activities tab by long clicking on the launch button, and similarly, activities can be launched from the activity interceptor page with or without root, for any users.

Notice.

Currently, activities opened via root cannot send the results back to the original applications.

### 6.2.13 Widget: Screen Time

Screen time widget is quite similar to Digital Wellbeing’s widget by the same name. It displays the total screen time for the day along with the top three apps from all users.

### 6.2.14 Widget: Clear Cache

Clear cache widget can be to clear cache from all the applications directly from the home screen.

## 6.3 v2.6.0 (385)

### 6.3.1 Introducing Backups

Back up/restore feature is now finally out of beta! Read the corresponding guide to understand how it works.

### 6.3.2 Introducing Log Viewer

Log viewer is essentially a front-end for `logcat`. It can be used to filter logs by tag or pid (process ID), or even by custom filters. Log levels AKA verbosity can also be configured. You can also save, share and manage logs.

### 6.3.3 Lock App Manager

Lock App Manager with the screen lock configured for your device.

### 6.3.4 Extended Modes for App Ops

You can set any mode for any app ops that your device supports, either from the 1-click ops page or from the app ops tab.

### 6.3.5 New Batch Ops: Add to Profile

You can now easily add selected apps to an existing profile using the batch operations.

### 6.3.6 App Info: Improved

App info tab now has many options, including the ability to change SSAID, network policy (i.e. background network usage), battery optimization, etc. Most of the tags used in this tab are also clickable, and if you click on them, you will be able to look at the current state or configure them right away.

### 6.3.7 Advanced Sort and Filtering Options in the Main Page

Sort and filter options are now replaced by List Options which is highly configurable, including the ability to filter using profiles.

### 6.3.8 About This Device

Interested in knowing about your device in just one page? Go to the bottom of the settings page.

### 6.3.9 Enable/disable Features

Not interested in all the features that AM offers? You can disable some features in settings.

### 6.3.10 New Languages

AM now has more than 19 languages! New languages include Farsi, Japanese and Traditional Chinese.

### 6.3.11 Signing the APK Files

You can now import external signing keys in AM! For security, App Manager has its own encrypted KeyStore which can also be imported or exported.

### 6.3.12 New Extension: UnAPKM

Since APKMirror has removed encryption from their APKM files, it’s no longer necessary to decrypt them. As a result, the option to decrypt APKM files has been removed. Instead, this option is now provided by the UnAPKM extension which you can grab from F-Droid. So, if you have an encrypted APKM file and have this extension installed, you can open the file directly in AM.

## 6.4 v2.5.20 (375)

### 6.4.1 Introducing Profiles

Profiles finally closes the related issue. Profiles can be used to execute certain tasks repeatedly without doing everything manually. A profile can be applied (or invoked) either from the Profiles page or from the home screen by creating shortcuts. There are also some presets which consist of debloating profiles taken from Universal Android Debloater.

##### 6.4.1.0.1 Known limitations

- Exporting rules and applying permissions are not currently working.

- Profiles are applied for all users.

### 6.4.2 The Interceptor

Intent Intercept works as a man-in-the-middle between source and destination, that is, when you open a file or URL with another app, you can see what is being shared by opening it with Interceptor first. You can also add or modify the intents before sending them to the destination. Additionally, you can double-click on any exportable activities in the Activities tab in the App Details page to open them in the Interceptor to add more configurations.

##### 6.4.2.0.1 Known limitation

Editing extras is not currently possible.

### 6.4.3 UnAPKM: DeDRM the APKM files

When I released a small tool called UnAPKM, I promised that similar feature will be available in App Manager. I am proud to announce that you can open APKM files directly in the App Info page or convert them to APKS or install them directly.

### 6.4.4 Multiple user

App manager now supports multiple users! For now, this requires root or ADB. But no-root support is also being considered. If you have multiple users enabled and click on an app installed in multiple profiles, an alert prompt will be displayed where you can select the user.

### 6.4.5 Vive la France!

Thanks to the contributors, we have one more addition to the language club: French. You can add more languages or improve existing translations at Weblate.

### 6.4.6 Report crashes

If App Manager crashes, you can now easily report the crash from the notifications which opens the share options. Crashes are not reported by App Manager, it only redirects you to your favourite Email client.

### 6.4.7 Android 11

Added support for Android 11. Not everything may work as expected though.

### 6.4.8 App Installer Improvements

#### 6.4.8.1 Set installation locations

In settings page, you can set install locations such as auto (default), internal only and prefer external.

#### 6.4.8.2 Set APK installer

In settings page, you can also set default APK installer (root/ADB only) instead of App Manager.

#### 6.4.8.3 Multiple users

In settings page, you can allow App Manager to display multiple users during APK installation.

#### 6.4.8.4 Signing APK files

In settings page, you can choose to sign APK files before installing them. You can also select which signature scheme to use in the APK signing option in settings.

##### 6.4.8.4.1 Known limitation

Currently, only a generic key is used to sign APK files

## 6.5 v2.5.17 (368)

### 6.5.1 App Installer

As promised, it is now possible to select splits. AM also provides recommendations based on device configurations. If the app is already installed, recommendations are provided based on the installed app. It is also possible to downgrade to a lower version without data loss if the device has root or ADB. But it should be noted that not all app can be downgraded. Installer is also improved to speed up the installation process, especially, for root users. If the app has already been installed and the new (x)apk(s) is newer or older or the same version with a different signature, AM will display a list of changes similar to What’s New before prompting the user to install the app. This is useful if the app has introduced tracker components, new permissions, etc.

##### 6.5.1.0.1 Known Limitations

- Large app can take a long time to fetch app info, and therefore, it may take a long time display the installation prompt.

- If the apk is not located in the internal storage, the app has to be cached first which might also take a long time depending on the size of the apk.

### 6.5.2 Scanner: Replacement for Exodus Page

Exodus page is now replaced with scanner page. Scanner page contains not only a list of trackers but also a list of used libraries. This is just a start. In the future, this page will contain more in depth analysis of the app.

### 6.5.3 Introducing System Config

System Config lists various system configurations and whitelists/blacklists included in Android by either OEM/vendor, AOSP or even some Magisk modules. Root users can access this option from the overflow menu in the main page. There isn’t any official documentation for these options therefore it’s difficult to write a complete documentation for this page. I will gradually add documentations using my own knowledge. However, some functions should be understandable by their name.

### 6.5.4 More Languages

Thanks to the contributors, AM now has more than 12 languages. New languages include Bengali, Hindi, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Turkish and Ukrainian.

### 6.5.5 App Info Tab

More tags are added in the app info tab such as KeyStore (apps with KeyStore items), Systemless app (apps installed via Magisk), Running (apps that are running). For external apk, two more options are added namely Reinstall and Downgrade. Now it is possible to share an apk via Bluetooth. For system apps, it is possible to uninstall updates for root/ADB users. But like the similar option in the system settings, this operation will clear all app data. As stated above, exodus has been replaced with scanner.

### 6.5.6 Navigation Improvements

It’s now relatively easy to navigate to various UI components using keyboard. You can use up/down button to navigate between list items and tab button to navigate to UI components inside an item.

### 6.5.7 Running Apps Page

It is now possible to sort and filter processes in this tab. Also, the three big buttons are replaced with an easy-to-use three dot menu. Previously the memory usage was wrong which is fixed in this version.

### 6.5.8 Built-in Toybox

Toybox (an alternative to busybox) is bundled with AM. Although Android has this utility built-in from API 23, toybox is bundled in order to prevent buggy implementations and to support API < 23.

### 6.5.9 Component Blocker Improvements

Component blocker seemed to be problematic in the previous version, especially when global component blocking is enabled. The issues are mostly fixed now.

Caution.

The component blocking mechanism is no longer compatible with v2.5.6 due to various security issues. If you have this version, upgrade to v2.5.13 or earlier versions first. After that, enable global component blocking and disable it again.

### 6.5.10 Improvements in the App Details Page

Value of various app ops depend on their parent app ops. Therefore, when you allow/deny an app op, the parent of the app op gets modified. This fixes the issues some users have been complaining regarding some app ops that couldn’t be changed.

If an app has the target API 23 or less, its permissions cannot be modified using the `pm grant …` command. Therefore, for such apps, option to toggle permission has been disabled.

The signature tab is improved to support localization. It also displays multiple checksums for a signature.

### 6.5.11 App Manifest

Manifest no longer crashes if the size of the manifest is too long. Generated manifest are now more accurate than before.

## 6.6 v2.5.13 (348)

### 6.6.1 Bundled App (Split APK)

Bundled app formats such as apks and xapk are now supported. You can install these apps using the regular installation buttons. For root and adb users, apps are installed using shell, and for non-root users, the platform default method is used.

##### 6.6.1.0.1 Known Limitations

- Currently all splits apks are installed. But this behaviour is going to change in the next release. If you only need a few splits instead of all, extract the APKS or XAPK file, and then, create a new zip file with your desired split apks and replace the ZIP extension with APKS. Now, open it with AM.

- There is no progress dialog to display the installation progress.

### 6.6.2 Direct Install Support

You can now install APK, APKS or XAPK directly from your favourite browser or file manager. For apps that need updates, a What’s New dialog is displayed showing the changes in the new version.

##### 6.6.2.0.1 Known Limitations

- Downgrade is not yet possible.

- There is no progress dialog to display the installation progress. If you cannot interact with the current page, wait until the installation is finished.

### 6.6.3 Remove All Blocking Rules

In the Settings page, a new option is added which can be used to remove all blocking rules configured within App Manager.

### 6.6.4 App Ops

- App Ops are now generated using a technique similar to AppOpsX. This should decrease the loading time significantly in the App Ops tab.

- In the App Ops tab, a menu item is added which can be used to list only active app ops without including the default app ops. The preference is saved in the shared preferences.

##### 6.6.4.0.1 Known Limitation

Often the App Ops tab may not be responsive. If that’s the case, restart App Manager.

### 6.6.5 Enhanced ADB Support

ADB shell commands are now executed using a technique similar to AppOpsX (This is the free alternative of AppOps by Rikka.). This should dramatically increase the execution time.

##### 6.6.5.0.1 Known Limitation

AM can often crash or become not responsive. If that’s the case, restart App Manager.

### 6.6.6 Filtering in Main Page

Add an option to filter apps that has at least one activity.

### 6.6.7 Apk Backup/Sharing

Apk files are now saved as `app name_version.extension` instead of `package.name.extension`.

### 6.6.8 Batch Ops

- Added a foreground service to run batch operations. The result of the operation is displayed in a notification. If an operation has failed for some packages, clicking on the notification will open a dialog box listing the failed packages. There is also a Try Again button on the bottom which can be used to perform the operation again for the failed packages.

- Replaced Linux kill with force-stop.

### 6.6.9 Translations

Added German and Portuguese (Brazilian) translations.

##### 6.6.9.0.1 Known Limitation

Not all translations are verified yet.

### 6.6.10 App Data Backup

Install app only for the current user at the time of restoring backups. Support for split apks is also added.

Data backup feature is now considered unstable. If you encounter any problem, please report to me without hesitation.

# 7 App Ops

## 7.1 Background

App Ops (short hand for Application Operations) are used by Android system (since Android 4.3) to control application permissions. The user can control some permissions, but only the permissions that are considered dangerous (and Google thinks knowing your phone number isn’t a dangerous thing). So, app ops seems to be the one we need if we want to install apps like Facebook and it’s Messenger (the latter literary records everything if you live outside the EU) and still want some privacy and/or security. Although certain features of app ops were available in Settings and later in hidden settings in older version of Android, it’s completely hidden in newer versions of Android and is continued to be kept hidden. Now, any app with android.Manifest.permission.GET_APP_OPS_STATS permission can get the app ops information for other applications but this permission is hidden from users and can only be enabled using ADB or root. Still, the app with this permission cannot grant or revoke permissions (actually mode of operation) for apps other than itself (with limited capacity, of course). To modify the ops of other app, the app needs android.Manifest.permission.UPDATE_APP_OPS_STATS permissions which isn’t accessible via `pm` command. So, you cannot grant it via root or ADB, the permission is only granted to the system apps. There are very few apps who support disabling permissions via app ops. The best one to my knowledge is AppOpsX. The main (visible) difference between my app (AppManager) and this app is that the latter also provides you the ability to revoke internet permissions (by writing ip tables). One crucial problem that I faced during the development of the app ops API is the lack of documentation in English language.

## 7.2 Introduction to App Ops

Figure 2: How app ops work

Figure 1 describes the process of changing and processing permission. AppOpsManager can be used to manage permissions in Settings app. AppOpsManager is also useful in determining if a certain permission (or operation) is granted to the application. Most of the methods of AppOpsManager are accessible to the user app but unlike a system app, it can only be used to check permissions for any app or for the app itself and start or terminating certain operations. Moreover, not all operations are actually accessible from this Java class. AppOpsManager holds all the necessary constants such as `OP_*`, `OPSTR_*`, `MODE_*` which describes operation code, operation string and mode of operations respectively. It also holds necessary data structures such as PackageOps and OpEntry. PackageOps holds OpEntry for a package, and OpEntry, as the name suggests, describes each operation.

`AppOpService` is completely hidden from a user application but accessible to the system applications. As it can be seen in Figure 1, this is the class that does the actual management stuff. It contains data structures such as Ops to store basic package info and Op which is similar to OpEntry of AppOpsManager. It also has Shell which is actually the source code of the appops command line tool. It writes configurations to or read configurations from `/data/system/appops.xml`. System services calls AppOpsService to find out what an application is allowed and what is not allowed to perform, and AppOpsService determines these permissions by parsing `/data/system/appops.xml`. If no custom values are present in appops.xml, it returns the default mode available in AppOpsManager.

## 7.3 AppOpsManager

AppOpsManager stands for application operations manager. It consists of various constants and classes to modify app operations.

Ver también: AppOpsManager documentation

### 7.3.1 `OP_*` Constants

`OP_*` are the integer constants starting from `0`. `OP_NONE` implies that no operations are specified whereas `_NUM_OP` denotes the number of operations defined in `OP_*` prefix. While they denote each operation, the operations are not necessarily unique. In fact, there are many operations that are actually a single operation denoted by multiple `OP_*` constant (possibly for future use). Vendors may define their own op based on their requirements. MIUI is one of the vendors who are known to do that.

    public static final int OP_NONE = -1;
    public static final int OP_COARSE_LOCATION = 0;
    public static final int OP_FINE_LOCATION = 1;
    public static final int OP_GPS = 2;
    public static final int OP_VIBRATE = 3;
    ...
    public static final int OP_READ_DEVICE_IDENTIFIERS = 89;
    public static final int OP_ACCESS_MEDIA_LOCATION = 90;
    public static final int OP_ACTIVATE_PLATFORM_VPN = 91;
    public static final int _NUM_OP = 92;

Whether an operation is unique is defined by `sOpToSwitch`. It maps each operation to another operation or to itself (if it’s a unique operation). For instance, `OP_FINE_LOCATION` and `OP_GPS` are mapped to `OP_COARSE_LOCATION`.

Each operation has a private name which are described by `sOpNames`. These names are usually the same names as the constants without the `OP_` prefix. Some operations have public names as well which are described by `sOpToString`. For instance, `OP_COARSE_LOCATION` has the public name android:coarse_location.

As a gradual process of moving permissions to app ops, there are already many permissions that are defined under some operations. These permissions are mapped in `sOpPerms`. For example, the permission android.Manifest.permission.ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION is mapped to `OP_COARSE_LOCATION`. Some operations may not have any associated permissions which have `null` values.

As described in the previous section, operations that are configured for an app are stored at `/data/system/appops.xml`. If an operation is not configured, then whether system will allow that operation is determined from `sOpDefaultMode`. It lists the default mode for each operation.

### 7.3.2 `MODE_*` Constants

`MODE_*` constants also integer constants starting from `0`. These constants are assigned to each operation describing whether an app is authorised to perform that operation. These modes usually have associated names such as allow for `MODE_ALLOWED`, ignore for `MODE_IGNORED`, deny for `MODE_ERRORED` (a rather misnomer), default for `MODE_DEFAULT` and foreground for `MODE_FOREGROUND`.

1. `MODE_ALLOWED`. The app is allowed to perform the given operation

2. `MODE_IGNORED`. The app is not allowed to perform the given operation, and any attempt to perform the operation should silently fail, i.e. it should not cause the app to crash

3. `MODE_ERRORED`. The app is not allowed to perform the given operation, and this attempt should cause it to have a fatal error, typically a `SecurityException`

4. `MODE_DEFAULT`. The app should use its default security check, specified in `AppOpsManager`

5. `MODE_FOREGROUND`. Special mode that means “allow only when app is in foreground.” This mode was added in Android 10

6. `MODE_ASK`. This is a custom mode used by MIUI whose uses are unknown.

### 7.3.3 PackageOps

AppOpsManager.PackageOps is a data structure to store all the OpEntry for a package. In simple terms, it stores all the customised operations for a package.

    public static class PackageOps implements Parcelable {
        private final String mPackageName;
        private final int mUid;
        private final List<OpEntry> mEntries;
        ...
    }

As can be seen in Listing 2, it stores all OpEntry for a package as well as the corresponding package name and its kernel user ID.

### 7.3.4 OpEntry

AppOpsManager.OpEntry is a data structure that stores a single operation for any package.

    public static final class OpEntry implements Parcelable {
        private final int mOp;
        private final boolean mRunning;
        private final @Mode int mMode;
        private final @Nullable LongSparseLongArray mAccessTimes;
        private final @Nullable LongSparseLongArray mRejectTimes;
        private final @Nullable LongSparseLongArray mDurations;
        private final @Nullable LongSparseLongArray mProxyUids;
        private final @Nullable LongSparseArray<String> mProxyPackageNames;
        ...
    }

Here:

- `mOp`: Denotes one of the `OP_*` constants

- `mRunning`: Whether the operation is in progress (i.e. the operation has started but not finished yet). Not all operations can be started or finished this way

- `mMOde`: One of the `MODE_*` constants

- `mAccessTimes`: Stores all the available access times

- `mRejectTimes`: Stores all the available reject times

- `mDurations`: All available access durations, checking this with `mRunning` will tell you for how long the app is performing a certain app operation

- `mProxyUids`: No documentation found

- `mProxyPackageNames:` No documentation found

### 7.3.5 Usage

TODO

## 7.4 AppOpsService

TODO

## 7.5 appops.xml

Latest `appops.xml` has the following format: (This DTD is made by me and by no means perfect, has compatibility issues.)

    <!DOCTYPE app-ops [

    <!ELEMENT app-ops (uid|pkg)*>
    <!ATTLIST app-ops v CDATA #IMPLIED>

    <!ELEMENT uid (op)*>
    <!ATTLIST uid n CDATA #REQUIRED>

    <!ELEMENT pkg (uid)*>
    <!ATTLIST pkg n CDATA #REQUIRED>

    <!ELEMENT uid (op)*>
    <!ATTLIST uid
    n CDATA #REQUIRED
    p CDATA #IMPLIED>

    <!ELEMENT op (st)*>
    <!ATTLIST op
    n CDATA #REQUIRED
    m CDATA #REQUIRED>

    <!ELEMENT st EMPTY>
    <!ATTLIST st
    n CDATA #REQUIRED
    t CDATA #IMPLIED
    r CDATA #IMPLIED
    d CDATA #IMPLIED
    pp CDATA #IMPLIED
    pu CDATA #IMPLIED>

    ]>

The instruction below follows the exact order given above:

- `app-ops`: The root element. It can contain any number of `pkg` or package `uid`

  - `v`: (optional, integer) The version number (default: `NO_VERSION` or `-1`)

- `pkg`: Stores package info. It can contain any number of `uid`

  - `n`: (required, string) Name of the package

- Package `uid`: Stores package or packages info

  - `n`: (required, integer) The user ID

- `uid`: The package user ID. It can contain any number of `op`

  - `n`: (required, integer) The user ID

  - `p`: (optional, boolean) Is the app is a private/system app

- `op`: The operation, can contain `st` or nothing at all

  - `n`: (required, integer) The op name in integer, i.e. AppOpsManager.OP_*

  - `m`: (required, integer) The op mode, i.e. AppOpsManager.MODE_*

- `st`: State of operation: whether the operation is accessed, rejected or running (not available on old versions)

  - `n`: (required, long) Key containing flags and uid

  - `t`: (optional, long) Access time (default: `0`)

  - `r`: (optional, long) Reject time (default: `0`)

  - `d`: (optional, long) Access duration (default: `0`)

  - `pp`: (optional, string) Proxy package name

  - `pu`: (optional, integer) Proxy package uid

This definition can be found at AppOpsService.

## 7.6 Command Line Interface

`appops` or `cmd appops` (on latest versions) can be accessible via ADB or root. This is an easier method to get or update any operation for a package (provided the package name is known). The help page of this command is self-explanatory:

    AppOps service (appops) commands:
    help
    Print this help text.
    start [--user <USER_ID>] <PACKAGE | UID> <OP>
    Starts a given operation for a particular application.
    stop [--user <USER_ID>] <PACKAGE | UID> <OP>
    Stops a given operation for a particular application.
    set [--user <USER_ID>] <[--uid] PACKAGE | UID> <OP> <MODE>
    Set the mode for a particular application and operation.
    get [--user <USER_ID>] <PACKAGE | UID> [<OP>]
    Return the mode for a particular application and optional operation.
    query-op [--user <USER_ID>] <OP> [<MODE>]
    Print all packages that currently have the given op in the given mode.
    reset [--user <USER_ID>] [<PACKAGE>]
    Reset the given application or all applications to default modes.
    write-settings
    Immediately write pending changes to storage.
    read-settings
    Read the last written settings, replacing current state in RAM.
    options:
    <PACKAGE> an Android package name or its UID if prefixed by --uid
    <OP>      an AppOps operation.
    <MODE>    one of allow, ignore, deny, or default
    <USER_ID> the user id under which the package is installed. If --user is not
    specified, the current user is assumed.

1. For distributing normal releases only↩︎

2. Los pull requests de GitHub se fusionarán manualmente utilizando los parches correspondientes. Como resultado, GitHub puede marcarlos erróneamente como cerrados en lugar de fusionados.↩︎

3. también puede dirigirse a mí como “Muntashir Akon”↩︎