AppApp
The App for your Apps
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Help
AppApp Help Page
This page explains the logic of how and why AppApp does what it does.
The developers of AppApp have made sure the number of permissions is minimum, as a result AppApp was created without internet access permission. Because of this, you will find all descriptions, such as Help, FAQ, etc. included locally, within the AppApp app on your device. You will find the most up-to-date version of all those subjects here on the website, and as soon as there are enough changes to warrant your strict attention we will update AppApp on the market.
Below, you will find these topics:
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Tab Organization
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App Listings
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Current Backup Directory
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The Options Menu
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Known Issues
Tab Organization:
AppApp locates all stored APK files and installed applications and then organizes information about each under several Tabs at the top of the screen.
From left to right, Tabs containing stored APK files are listed first (top most for landscape view) then those containing installed applications are listed to the right (bottom for landscape view). Under each Tab is a list of apps found in the directories represented by the Tab.
Each Tab represents directory locations on your device, details of which (and other useful information) are shown when reselecting a Tab. The number of Tabs depends on where your applications are found on your device and your current Backup Directory.
Tabs: STORED APK Files
All APK files located on the device are listed under the STORED Tabs.
BACKUP PATH STORED
The left most Tab is always the BACKUP PATH STORED, and represents the directory where AppApp will place APK files when you choose to Backup an Installed app or Consolidate Stored Apps.
If APK files exist in directories other than the BACKUP PATH STORED directory, then the following Tabs may be created:
INTERNAL MEMORY STORED
This Tab represents the path that has been found to be the root(home) directory of a memory card. This is possibly a non-removable internal memory chip.
MEMORY CARD STORED
This Tab represents the path that has been found to be the root(home) directory of a memory card. This is possibly a removable SD Card.
DL DEFAULT STORED
The Tab labeled as DL DEFAULT represents the system defined download default directory, and may or may not be present depending on the version of Android running on your device.
The Tabs for DL DEFAULT and BACKUP PATH STORED are special in the sense that they will include only a single directory level, while the others will incorporate subdirectories.
Tabs: INSTALLED Applications
All installed applications will be listed under INSTALLED Tabs and always to the right of the STORED Tabs. There are three possible Tabs for installed applications: USER, SECURED and SYSTEM. The SECURED Tab may be replaced by MEM. CARD, depending on the version of Android and/or service provider.* Descriptions of each Tab follow:
USER INSTALLED
This Tab will list applications installed by the user, and may or may not contain paid apps.* Applications in this Tab are typically available for backup and later reinstallation.
SECURED INSTALLED
This Tab will list applications that have been installed in a secure manner, such as paid apps, that typically cannot be backed up or reinstalled due to an encryption process implemented by Android on later versions to help stop software piracy.*
MEM. CARD INSTALLED
This Tab will exist instead of the SECURED Tab for Android versions earlier than about Jellybean (4.1 or API 16). The directory represented by this Tab is typically where installed applications reside after the Move to SD Card option is chosen by the user in the device settings. (If allowed by the device and application developer.*) In earlier versions of the Android operating system, AppApp is installed by default into this directory. Applications in this Tab are typically backup-able and can be reinstalled by the user.*
SYSTEM INSTALLED
This Tab lists the applications installed by the service provider and Android[TM](Google[TM]). The number of apps under this Tab may be numerous. The information and permission ratings for each of these apps may be of interest, but these apps are not backup-able, and since it takes more loading and refreshing time you can choose not to display this Tab in the Setting for AppApp (See Options Menu).
App Listings:
The STORED Tabs list APK files that are stored on the device in places not associated with installed applications. That is, they are the stand alone files used to install applications.
The INSTALLED Tabs list applications that are currently installed on the device. These also have an APK file associated with them, but are not publically accessible until they have been Backed Up. See the Even More Section below for additional information about STORED APK files and INSTALLED applications.
Each Tab lists this information for each application:
- Application Icon
- Name(Label) and Version
- Package Name
- APK File
- Date and Time of Last Modification and Size
- Last Update (INSTALLED Tabs Only)
- Directory Path to the App
Additionally, depending whether the app is under a STORED Tab or INSTALLED Tab, the Installed Status or Backed Up Status is shown.
Permission Rating Indicators**
If desired, Permission Rating Indicators are shown under each icon which consists of a set of four circles representing the potential invasiveness of the app based on the permissions the application asks for. Additionally, a BLUE Triangle is shown if the app requires the use a of a background service.
More information about AppApp's Permission Rating system can be found on the Permission Ratings page on this website or under About Permission Ratings in the Options Menu of AppApp.
Selecting an App (short press):
Selecting an app in a list shows the permissions (rated by color and sorted by category: P,L,N and S) and services the app requires. If the app is installed then this dialog screen also gives you the ability to open that app.
Long Press Actions:
A long press (or touch) on an app in the list displays a set of possible Actions depending on the Tab and status of the application:
Long Press Actions - STORED Tabs
(Actions on a stored APK file)
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Install This App - Uses the Android native system to verify permissions before the install
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Delete This App - Deletes the APK file (Requires verification)
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Email This App - Will open up your choice email application with that app as an attachment to send
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Move This App to the Backup Directory - Moves or copies the APK file to the current Backup Directory
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Manage or Uninstall This App - Opens the Android Application Manager for the app
Long Press Actions - INSTALLED Tabs
(Actions on an installed app)
The options are fewer here, but once you've backed up an installed app you have the above actions to work with.
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Backup This App - Creates a copy of the APK file associated with that application in the current Backup Directory
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Manage or Uninstall This App - Opens the Android Application Manager for the app
Current Backup Directory:
The Current Backup Directory is the directory where AppApp will place APK files when an installed app is Backed Up. This directory can be chosen by you using the Preferences in the Options Menu. It is initially set to a default directory, possibly the same default directory as Android places email attachments and web downloads.* The Current Backup Directory is represented by the BACKUP PATH STORED Tab and is always the left most Tab, even if there are no files to display.
Changing the Current Backup Directory
To change the Current Backup Directory go to Preferences in the Options Menu and choose Back Up Directory. The screen will show the Current Backup Directory at the top with several suggested backup paths. You can simply choose one of the suggested paths or input your own.
When you choose Input Your Own, a dialog opens allowing you to type in a new directory. Simply inputting a text string will create a new directory(unless it already exists) in the base path of the Current Backup Path, and assign your new current Backup Directory to that one.
Allowed characters are: Letters, Numbers, _, - and /.
If you would like to use your own path without the use of the suggested base path then begin the text string with // and the new Current Backup Directory will be assigned as typed, within the bounds of allowed characters and permissions of your device.
The Options Menu:
Depending on your device screen size, orientation and Android version, the Option Menu may be split between the device option button and screen icons.
Some options require that files are moved or copied to a new directory. In those cases AppApp will never overwrite a file if it already exists, rather AppApp will add an incremented number after an underscore to the end of the filename such as _2 .
Option Menu choices currently available are:
Refresh
Performs a full refresh of the Tabs and listed apps
Reverse Sort
Reverses the specific sort from descending to ascending or vice versa
Search
Prompts for a text string input which will be searched for over the apps, and shown in a dialog. A search includes applicable aspects of APK File Name, File Size, Modification Date, Path, Application Label(Name), Package Name, Version, Last Update, and Description of stored and installed applications.
Consolidate Stored Apps
Copies or Moves all Stored apps into the Current Backup Directory
Backup Installed Apps
Backups all User Installed apps (Paid apps may not Backup*)
Note that System apps will not be backed up using this option, but can be backed up individually with a long press of the app.
Purge Duplicates (This Tab)
Compares apps within the currently chosen Tab and deletes the duplicates. This operation will first show a list of the duplicates so you can choose to continue before they are deleted. Aspects of the APK files that are compared to verify a true duplicate are the Package Name, Version and APK file Size.
Settings / Preferences
Opens up a menu allowing you to set certain behaviors of AppApp such as sort criteria and the Current Backup Directory.
About Permission Ratings
A more detailed explanation of how the permission ratings of each app are computed and displayed using a four circle method representing potential invasiveness of Personal, Location, Network and System (PNLS) information.
Known Issues:
If AppApp is killed by a task killer or dropped from memory by the operating system while in the background, the "Unfortunately, AppApp has stopped." dialog may display. This happens becasue of our desire to make AppApp as backward compatible as possible. Depending on the version of Android that is running on your device, this may or may not happen.
Solution: Simply restart AppApp, and the app will reload from the beginning.
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*Due to the variable ways different Android versions, device manufacturers and service carriers approach application storage, security and access, the description of the topics will be less accurate for some devices.
**We present this subjective rating system only as a means to quickly ascertain a basic indication of what type of permissions an App is requesting. When interpreting the ratings please realize that most Apps require some permissions to be functional. Very rarely will an application have all low(Green) ratings. Many will have at least a single category with a high rating to be functional as needed, and does not indicate any particular risk.
Even More...
Stored and Installed Apps:
AppApp organizes applications into the two categories: Stored Application Files(APK files) and Installed Applications:
Stored Application Files
Application files, or simply APK files, are those files that end with the APK extension and contain all the necessary data and components that the application requires to run on your device. Android extracts the data from these files when it installs the application onto your device.
When an installed application is backed up, it is the APK file that is stored. If previously backed up, then these files will still exist after an application is uninstalled and are available if the user wishes to reinstall the app at a later time. If you uninstall an app without first backing it up (such as with a utility like AppApp) then you will also lose the ability to re-install the app without going back to the market to get it again.
Installed applications
These are applications that have been installed, and are available to open and use on your device.
They come in two main types: User and System Apps. In older versions of Android (about pre-Honeycomb), there was not much difference in the way Android treated free and paid User Apps. Newer versions of Android, however, have separated the two such that the paid applications may no longer be stored by the user and then reinstalled, but rather may be reinstalled only through the store where the app was originally purchased.
System applications are typically not available for backup, except possibly updates, then the most current update may be backup-able, depending on the type of update, the device carrier and version of Android. Since it may be useful and possible to re-install some apps that were backed up from the SYSTEM Tab, AppApp gives you the ability to do so, but not all such apps will be re-installable due to system restrictions.
