Android apps by scary alien

AFV (Android File Verifier)

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:27:59 +0000

The AFV (Android File Verifier) application is a tool for helping to verify & validate that files transferred to your Android device are whole and uncorrupted. Functions include:

* MD5 / SHA1 checksum/digest calculation (also supports SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 algorithms)

* Validation of signed jar-type files (.jar, .apk, .zip); you can use this to verify a signed .zip file even if you don't know the MD5 checksum

* Nandroid backup directory MD5 verification (i.e., verify backups created by custom recoveries such as ClockworkMod, Amon_RA, TWRP)

Excellent tool for root users (but does not require root).

How To Use:

* From the home screen, press the "Select File" button to enter the file-selector

* Top row (folder icon with the green up arrow) always displays the currently selected directory (touch this row to navigate UP one directory level)

* Back key can also be used to navigate UP one directory level (will return to main screen when back key is pressed at the root directory)

* Navigate to other subdirectories by touching a directory row (folder icon)

* Touch screen and drag up and down to scroll through all files and directories in currently selected directory

* Long-press on a file to view the available functions:

- Calc MD5 Checksum
- Calc SHA1 Checksum
- Verify Jar-type file
- Verify Nandroid Backup (long-press backup folder name or long-press nandroid.md5 file to verify the backup)
- md5sum -c Type Check (operates on any .md5 file)
- Calc SHA224 Checksum
- Calc SHA256 Checksum
- Calc SHA384 Checksum
- Calc SHA512 Checksum

Notes:

1. Version 1.8 works on Android version 2.3 and higher

2. Does not require root, but is useful for root users to validate ROMs, signed update.zip-type files, etc.

3. Visit https://sites.google.com/site/scaryalienware/afv

4. Please contact me (scary.alien@gmail.com) if you have any issues, problems, comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this app.

Thanks and enjoy!

Thanks to all who have donated or purchased the donate version (very much appreciated!)

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

Recent changes:
[version 2.1 - 24-Feb-2013]:

- support auto-verification of MD5 checksum in *.tar.md5 files (thanks for Mike D. for this excellent suggestion)

- better recognize .md5 file entries formatted by other md5sum utilities (i.e., other than busybox md5sum applet)

[version 2.0 - 18-Jul-2012]:

- support Nandroid backup verification for Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) custom recoveries

- moved two checksum comparison options to the main screen from the menu

Android Root Toolkit

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:18:38 +0000

Android Root Toolkit

I wrote this little root utility for myself to help consolidate and automate some root functions that are available in various other apps, but nowhere all together.

Note: this utility does not root your Android device--it assumes that your device is already rooted. If you are having problems or issues with it, please send me an email at scary.alien@gmail.com with as much detail as you can provide.

Features:

- display current root, /system and root (/) mount status, and root save status

* will also display bootloader lock status for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus

- reboot options (normal, recovery, bootloader)

- power off device

- remount rootfs (/) and/or /system in read-write or read-only mode

- save (protect) / restore root function for devices whose /system partition is a ext2/3/4 filesystems (great saving root prior to accepting an OTA update)

- freeze (disable) or thaw (enable) an application (use caution when freezing a system app!)

* select showing user and/or system apps in the Freeze/Thaw Display Options in the Preferences/Settings menu

- display system (getprop) property values

- Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 7 only options:

* flash a stock recovery
* flash various custom recoveries
* make recovery "stick" (keep stock recovery from overwriting your custom recovery)
* identify currently installed recovery
* bootloader lock, unlock, status (Galaxy Nexus only)

- option to turn confirmation mode on / off (defaults to on)

- option to turn "safe mode" on for the app to prevent any su or flashing operation from occurring

Warning / disclaimer: the author of this app is not responsible for any loss or damage caused by or related to its use.

If you are not comfortable with or knowledgeable about the proper use and functionality of this app, please discontinue its use and uninstall.

Permissions information:

INTERNET - for downloading recoveries from the internet

WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE - this is for the downloaded recoveries and work files used to identify which recovery is currently installed

Keywords: root status, root checker, mount status, flash stock recovery, flash custom recovery, reboot recovery, reboot bootloader, power off device, remount system, make recovery stick, identify recovery, save root, restore root, freeze app, disable app, thaw app, enable app, bootloader lock, bootloader unlock, bootloader status, getprop, system properties

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Android is a trademark of Google, Inc.

Recent changes:
[version 2.3 - 14-February-2013]

- support stock 4.2.2 recoveries for Samsung Galaxy Nexus (maguro - takju/yakju) and Asus Nexus 7 (grouper & tilapia)

BattMonX - donate

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:54:07 +0000

BattMonX is a battery monitoring utility that can indicate the current state of your phone's battery via a status bar icon (all phones) and/or the LED indicator (many phones).

You can select/assign a different color to the status bar icon and/or LED indicator (if enabled and supported) for each of BattMonX's two main monitoring modes:

- by charging state

* full / charged
* charging
* discharging

- by each 10% range in battery percent-charged

Additionally, you can monitor, for each of the above modes:

* high battery temperature

* low battery percent charged

Note: when enabled, the above two modes:

- take precedence over all others

- have selectable thresholds

- optional vibrate or sound alerting

OTHER APP HIGHLIGHTS & FEATURES

- selectable LED on, off, or blink action

- LED color tester

- auto-restart after boot option

- battery temperature and voltage reported in notification shade pulldown

- option for rooted phones to have LED turn on even when screen is on

- now shows 1% change in percent-charged for Droid X

- v2.6 supports four time-range suspend schedules

LED STATUS COMPATIBILITY

The LED function of this app will not work on all phones. For example, the Samsung Vibrant and Captivate do not have LED indicators. Some phones only have a two-color LED (the HTC Eris and Evo 4G both have a green/amber LED; the Epic 4G supports a red/blue LED) which might allow for partial functionality from this app (especially if rooted).

LED functionality works wonderfully for the Motorola Droid-class phones (original Droid, Droid X, Droid 2, Droid 2 Global, Milestone). If your phone has a multi-color LED indicator and you have problems get the app to work, please contact me for debugging options.

PERMISSIONS INFO

receive SMS: app will step-aside when SMS/text is received to allow the blinking-green SMS notification to take control of the LED so that BattMonX does not interfere with the text notification; SMS message is NOT read or parsed

modify SD card: write/read temporary file to scan for battery status files and LED notification's brightness files (to make app compatible with a wider-variety of phones); there is also an option to enable logging of debugging messages to the SD card

wake-lock: keep CPU awake for approx. one minute after screen is turned-off or un-plugged so that LED status is updated

vibrate: used for the low-battery percent or high-battery temperature alerting options

start at boot: optionally allow app to be automatically restarted after a reboot

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For screen shots and additional information, please visit https://sites.google.com/site/scaryalienware

Please contact me at scary.alien@gmail.com if you have any issues, questions, comments, or suggestions. Cheers!

Thanks to all who have donated or purchased the donate version (very much appreciated!)

Recent changes:
Version 3.0 - 08-Oct-2011:

- fix random issue w/losing LED-always-on (root) setting for turning LED on while screen is on

OTA Verifier (beta)

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 16:18:20 +0000

Whenever there's an over-the-air (OTA) update sent-out or made available (either leaked or official), there's always a large number of users that end-up reporting that their installations have failed with the infamous and dreaded "E:Error in /sdcard/xxx.zip (Status 7) installation aborted." error message.

So, I decided to try to write an app that would help folks figure-out what the issues might be so that they can get their OTA update installed.

The OTA Verifier app can be used to evaluate an over-the-air (OTA) update.zip or other flashable .zip file before you attempt the install or afterwards to help you figure-out why the installation may have failed. OTA Verifier will point-out what files and conditions are being tested so that you can more easily attempt to correct these issues.

Q: Do I have to be rooted to use this?

A: No, but rooted devices will have more conditions that the app will be able to test/evalute because it will have access to protected files that non-app devices don't.

Q: Will the app actually do the installation or change anything on my device?

A: No. The app will only evaluate the expressions and conditions contained inside the updater-script file inside the .zip file that's trying to be installed. None of the functions or commands that try to modify your device (i.e., delete/patch/format/extract, etc.) will be evaluated or executed. The app basically operates in "read-only" mode with respect to the .zip file being evaluated.

Q: Will this app work on older devices or flashable .zip files that use the amend update-script files?

A: No, this app evaluates and interprets the newer edify updater-script files (notice the "r" in "updater").

How do I use this app?

1. Install and launch the app

2. Click the "Select File" button and navigate to desired .zip file

3. Long-press (press and hold) the file entry for the desired .zip file

4. Click the "Verify OTA .zip" file pop-up

5. Wait for the app to process the file (should take under a minute, depending on your device)

6. View the displayed results (text will also be copied to the clipboard)

Miscellaneous info:

1. Savvy root users probably already know that after a failed .zip file installation, you should be able to view the /cache/recovery/log file to view the information about what might have failed. OTA Verifier will try to uncover all of the issues and not just the first one that causes the installation to fail.

2. While I wrote this app principally to evaluate OTA update.zip files, the edify updater-script files are used and written by ROM devs and others who created flashable .zip files. This app can be used to evaluate those file's updater-script files, too.

How does this all work?

Here's the basic outline/structure of what the app does:

1. the .zip file is selected by the user via the file selector

2. list of frozen system apps are identified for later reporting

3. the updater-script file is extracted from the META-INF/com/google/android folder in the .zip file

4. this updater-script file is parsed and converted into reverse polish notation (RPN) for execution

5. edify functions that might modify your device are NOT evaluated

6. note: the update-binary executable is not used by or involved in this app; the edify script interpreter that the app uses was written by me, in Java, specifically for this app

7. the remaining edify script functions that test conditions are evaluated using an operand/operator stack from the RPN expression parsed from the updater-script statements

8. expressions that fail (return a null-string) or are bypassed (usually because a resource (file/partition) is protected/secured against read-access) are reported for the user

9. after the entire script has been processed, the results are displayed in a pop-up window on the device and the text of those results are copied to the clipboard

Questions? Contact me at scary.alien@gmail.com

Keywords: OTA, over-the-air, updater-script, edify, amend

Recent changes:
[v1.3 - 04-Nov-2012]:

- for rooted devices, change file browser to allow navigating and selecting .zip files in protected directories (like /cache)

[v1.2 - 29-Oct-2012]:

- minor fix to handle two reports of null pointer exceptions

[v1.1 - 28-Oct-2012]:

- remove unused SD card write permission

[v1.0 - 28-Oct-2012]:

- initial Play Market release

BattMonX

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 01:17:53 +0000

AFV - Donate

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 04:18:31 +0000

The AFV (Android File Verifier) application is a tool for helping to verify & validate that files transferred to your Android device are whole and uncorrupted. Functions include:

* MD5 / SHA1 checksum/digest calculation (also supports SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 algorithms)

* Validation of signed jar-type files (.jar, .apk, .zip); you can use this to verify a signed .zip file even if you don't know the MD5 checksum

* Nandroid backup directory MD5 verification (i.e., verify backups created by custom recoveries such as ClockworkMod, Amon_RA, TWRP)

Excellent tool for root users (but does not require root).

How To Use:

* From the home screen, press the "Select File" button to enter the file-selector

* Top row (folder icon with the green up arrow) always displays the currently selected directory (touch this row to navigate UP one directory level)

* Back key can also be used to navigate UP one directory level (will return to main screen when back key is pressed at the root directory)

* Navigate to other subdirectories by touching a directory row (folder icon)

* Touch screen and drag up and down to scroll through all files and directories in currently selected directory

* Long-press on a file to view the available functions:

- Calc MD5 Checksum
- Calc SHA1 Checksum
- Verify Jar-type file
- Verify Nandroid Backup (long-press backup folder name or long-press nandroid.md5 file to verify the backup)
- md5sum -c Type Check (operates on any .md5 file)
- Calc SHA224 Checksum
- Calc SHA256 Checksum
- Calc SHA384 Checksum
- Calc SHA512 Checksum

Notes:

1. Version 1.8 works on Android version 2.3 and higher

2. Does not require root, but is useful for root users to validate ROMs, signed update.zip-type files, etc.

3. Visit https://sites.google.com/site/scaryalienware/afv

4. Please contact me (scary.alien@gmail.com) if you have any issues, problems, comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this app.

Thanks and enjoy!

Thanks to all who have donated or purchased the donate version (very much appreciated!)

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

Recent changes:
[version 2.0 - 18-Jul-2012]:

- support Nandroid backup verification for Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) custom recoveries

- moved two checksum comparison options to the main screen from the menu

- several other minor tweaks and enhancements

AFV - Legacy

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:18:04 +0000

Note: this is the "original" version of AFV (Android File Verifier) that I have created this "legacy" version of that supports Android version 1.5 through 2.2.

For Android devices 2.3 and higher, please use "AFV (Android File Verifier)" [or its identical donate version] for the latest and greatest version.

-----------------------------------

The AFV (Android File Verifier) application is a tool for helping to verify & validate that files transferred to your Android device are whole and uncorrupted. Functions include:

* MD5 / SHA1 checksum calculation (v1.3 now includes SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 algorithms)

* Validation of signed jar-type files (.jar, .apk, .zip); you can use this to verify a signed .zip file even if you don't know the MD5 checksum

* Nandroid backup directory MD5 verification

Excellent tool for root users (but does not require root).

How To Use:

* From the home screen, press the "Select File" button to enter the file-selector

* Top row (folder icon with the green up arrow) always displays the currently selected directory (touch this row to navigate UP one directory level)

* Back key can also be used to navigate UP one directory level (will return to main screen when back key is pressed at the root directory)

* Navigate to other subdirectories by touching a directory row (folder icon)

* Touch screen and drag up and down to scroll through all files and directories in currently selected directory

* Long-press on a file to view the available functions:

- Calc MD5 Checksum
- Calc SHA1 Checksum
- Verify Jar-type file
- Verify Nandroid Backup (long-press nandroid.md5 file to use this function)
- md5sum -c Type Check (operates on any .md5 file)
- Calc SHA224 Checksum
- Calc SHA256 Checksum
- Calc SHA384 Checksum
- Calc SHA512 Checksum

Notes:

1. This legacy version 1.8 works on Android version 1.5 and higher

2. Does not require root, but is useful for root users to validate ROMs, signed update.zip-type files, etc.

3. Visit https://sites.google.com/site/scaryalienware/afv

4. Please contact me (scary.alien@gmail.com) if you have any issues, problems, comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this app.

Thanks and enjoy!

Thanks to all who have donated or purchased the donate version (very much appreciated!)

Android is a trademark of Google Inc.

Recent changes:
[version 1.9 - 26-Jun-2012]:

- minor update to fix crash when non-.md5 file is selected for a Nandroid verification

AF Rescue

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:17:47 +0000

This app attempts to launch the WiFi File Explorer app for those whose touch screens no longer function and wish to retrieve files and information from their devices.

Note: this app does not work on all devices or versions of Android; it seems that newer versions of Android will not autostart apps that listen for various intents (like a system reboot or new app install) unless the app has been previously manually launched (which is kind of hard to do if your touch screen is not functioning).

Anyway, to use this app:

1. Install the WiFi File Explorer via the Google Play Market's install feature:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dooblou.WiFiFileExplorer

2. Next, install this app (AF Rescue) from the Google Play Market

3. To get my app to launch, you'll have to reboot or install another app from the Google Play Market (I've added a listener for a new app install intent to make it easier to try to launch the app)

Best of luck--sorry if this doesn't work on your device, but I hope it does :).

Recent changes:
initial Market release