As many of you who have already upgraded to Android 10 may have noticed, both of our apps, Battery Notifier BT Free and Battery Notifier Pro BT are not totally compatible with Android 10. The sound notifications may still work, but the status bar number icons to show the current battery level may not appear. This is due to many decisions made by Google in recent years, one of them being to force developers to comply with their desire for Android applications to only have white notifications in the status bar.
We have resisted this change as long as we could because we felt users should have a choice if they want a colored number in the status bar or not, and that is part of the reason our apps have not been updated in awhile. Google recently rejected our attempts to update our apps that did not comply with their white only status bar requirements in Android, as well as removing many of our free colored add-ons for Battery Notifier Pro BT users.
.
But the good news is, for those of you who for the time being will not be updating to Android 10 or getting a new device which has Android 10, the current versions of Battery Notifier BT Free and Battery Notifier Pro BT will work just fine on all versions of Android up to and including Android 9.
And if you recently updated to Android 10, or plan on getting a device with Android 10, be aware that we are currently working on two new apps, Battery Notifier BT Free 2020 and Battery Notifier Pro BT 2020, both of which will be totally compatible with Android 10 and up, and which should be out soon. While they will no longer have multi-colored icons in the status bar and will have white only numbers, the free version will have two built-in choices, one including a percent sign, while the pro version will have eight built-in choices of white numbers in different fonts, two with the percent sign, and two with extra large easier to read numbers. And if you only desire white numbers, the new 2020 apps should work with earlier versions of Android as well.
Please be patient and check back from time to time on Google Play by doing a Search for Battery Notifier 2020, and we will also be posting on this blog when it is available.
Saturday, February 15, 2020
Important Notice Regarding Add-ons
Important notice regarding add-ons for Battery Notifier Pro BT
In an attempt to try and reduce duplicate and spam apps from Google Play, Google has removed many of the numerous free add-ons we offered for Battery Notifier Pro BT from Google Play. We appealed the decision but our appeal was rejected. If you were one of our users who used one of our add-ons, hopefully there are enough of them remaining for you to choose from to give you the look in the status bar you desire.
In an attempt to try and reduce duplicate and spam apps from Google Play, Google has removed many of the numerous free add-ons we offered for Battery Notifier Pro BT from Google Play. We appealed the decision but our appeal was rejected. If you were one of our users who used one of our add-ons, hopefully there are enough of them remaining for you to choose from to give you the look in the status bar you desire.
Friday, February 14, 2020
Copycats!
Back in 2011 when I co-developed Battery Notifier BT Free (Battery Notifier Big Text at the time) and Battery Notifier Pro BT with my programming partner Dmytro Shkil, there was only one app with the name Battery Notifier which was created by my partner. Now there seems to be all kinds of copycats. To be certain you have the original apps, with no ads, only download them from Google Play and make sure the developer is Shkil/larryvgs.
Also, please be aware that Google Play is the only place authorized to carry our apps
If you installed an apk with our name from some other site and are getting popups or ads,
the app has been altered and might have malware
If you think you might have installed an apk with malware see:
Help! I Can't Uninstall Your App!
Also, please be aware that Google Play is the only place authorized to carry our apps
If you installed an apk with our name from some other site and are getting popups or ads,
the app has been altered and might have malware
If you think you might have installed an apk with malware see:
Help! I Can't Uninstall Your App!
Friday, April 13, 2018
Help! I Can't Uninstall Your App!
UPDATED 7/28/18
"Help! I can't uninstall your app!"
"This app is f***ing stupid. And it won't let me uninstall it. I NEVER agreed to it being put on. IT HAS TAKEN OVER MY PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Your app appeared on my phone and I can't deactivate or uninstall it."
"Want to uninstall it but it wont let me. It's always opening ads. Please help me."
"I need help to uninstall this app. It just appeared on my phone today. Pop up windows all the time notifying about viruses. Thank you!"
These are just some of the numerous emails we have gotten recently, and mostly from people who have said our app suddenly appeared on their device without it being installed. All have said they did not install our app from Google Play. Unfortunately, what they have on their device IS NOT our app.
From the responses we have been getting, this is a result of installing an apk file from a place other than Google Play that secretly includes an illegal altered version of our app that includes ads, popups, malware and makes it difficult to uninstall.
UPDATE: 4/18/18
What's even worse, the malware and popups ads may not appear until 6 hours after the apk has been installed, so the user assumes the apk they installed over 6 hours ago is safe.
Now we have an idea why we are suddenly appearing out of nowhere on people's devices.
Some of these infected apps even managed to sneak past Google Play
(6 QR readers and a "smart compass") but Google Play has since pulled them.
ZDNet - Android malware found inside apps downloaded 500,000 times
Sophos - Crooks infiltrate Google Play with malware in QR reading utilities
Google Play is the ONLY place authorized to carry our apps (Battery Notifier Pro BT and Battery Notifier BT Free) and the only place to download our apps safely. There are no ads in either app when downloaded from Google Play, and both apps can be easily uninstalled.
On every Android device, in Settings under Security, installing apps from unknown sources is disabled by default. If you enable this option, you get the following warning...
"Your device and personal data are more vulnerable to attack by apps from unknown sources. You agree that you are solely responsible for any damage to your device or loss of data that may result from using these apps."
Despite the warning, many continue to disregard it and install apk files from questionable sources and so-called "free" apk sites on the Internet mistakenly believing they are safe.
At this time, we can only go on feedback we get from others we have tried to help.
Fortunately, many people have replied, and said they were successful in uninstalling the infected app using the steps below we have compiled from their responses...
Go into Settings on your device, then Security and find Device administrators. Look for something you do not recognize. It may even be a blank entry that only shows a box with a checkmark. Select that box with the checkmark and deactivate it. (Uncheck it.) Then go to Google Play and if you are given an option to uninstall it, do so. Some said this step seemed to work, while others said it just hangs at Google Play when choosing uninstall.
We then recommend installing and running two or more free antivirus apps from Google Play on your device to remove malware in the apk or app you may have installed recently, because one antivirus might miss something. Install and run each antivirus one at a time, as installing and running more than one antivirus on your device at a time may cause problems. After trying each one, uninstall it, and then consider reinstalling one that was able to find and remove the malware.
Well known free antivirus apps at Google Play we recommend are Bitdefender Antivirus Free, Kaspersky, Avira, AVG, ESET, Sophos (found the malware in the barcode apps at Google Play), Norton, Lookout and Malwarebytes.
UPDATE: 7/28/18
Antiviruses that have been reported back to us that were able to find and remove the malware are Bitdefender Antivirus Free, Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus and Malwarebytes, so you may want to try one of those first.. Avast Antivirus was reported back to us as not being able to detect it.
Several people have gotten back to us and told us they were able to uninstall the malware using the above method and using an antivirus found at Google Play.
If you are able to identify the apk you installed that you believe gave you the malware, please email us at bnbtfree@gmail.com and let us know the name of the apk and where you got it, so we may install it on a test device and try out various antivirus apps on it to give others the best solution for removing the malware. Also let us know if you installed a QR Reader (barcode scanner) or "smart compass" from Google Play in the past year.
Unfortunately, there may be nothing we can do for you in the future if those responsible for these infected apks alter them further to make them even more difficult to uninstall.
We STRONGLY recommend that you DO NOT install apks from unknown sources, and that you only install Android apps from Google Play.
"Help! I can't uninstall your app!"
"This app is f***ing stupid. And it won't let me uninstall it. I NEVER agreed to it being put on. IT HAS TAKEN OVER MY PHONE!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Your app appeared on my phone and I can't deactivate or uninstall it."
"Want to uninstall it but it wont let me. It's always opening ads. Please help me."
"I need help to uninstall this app. It just appeared on my phone today. Pop up windows all the time notifying about viruses. Thank you!"
These are just some of the numerous emails we have gotten recently, and mostly from people who have said our app suddenly appeared on their device without it being installed. All have said they did not install our app from Google Play. Unfortunately, what they have on their device IS NOT our app.
From the responses we have been getting, this is a result of installing an apk file from a place other than Google Play that secretly includes an illegal altered version of our app that includes ads, popups, malware and makes it difficult to uninstall.
UPDATE: 4/18/18
What's even worse, the malware and popups ads may not appear until 6 hours after the apk has been installed, so the user assumes the apk they installed over 6 hours ago is safe.
Now we have an idea why we are suddenly appearing out of nowhere on people's devices.
Some of these infected apps even managed to sneak past Google Play
(6 QR readers and a "smart compass") but Google Play has since pulled them.
ZDNet - Android malware found inside apps downloaded 500,000 times
Sophos - Crooks infiltrate Google Play with malware in QR reading utilities
Google Play is the ONLY place authorized to carry our apps (Battery Notifier Pro BT and Battery Notifier BT Free) and the only place to download our apps safely. There are no ads in either app when downloaded from Google Play, and both apps can be easily uninstalled.
On every Android device, in Settings under Security, installing apps from unknown sources is disabled by default. If you enable this option, you get the following warning...
"Your device and personal data are more vulnerable to attack by apps from unknown sources. You agree that you are solely responsible for any damage to your device or loss of data that may result from using these apps."
Despite the warning, many continue to disregard it and install apk files from questionable sources and so-called "free" apk sites on the Internet mistakenly believing they are safe.
At this time, we can only go on feedback we get from others we have tried to help.
Fortunately, many people have replied, and said they were successful in uninstalling the infected app using the steps below we have compiled from their responses...
Go into Settings on your device, then Security and find Device administrators. Look for something you do not recognize. It may even be a blank entry that only shows a box with a checkmark. Select that box with the checkmark and deactivate it. (Uncheck it.) Then go to Google Play and if you are given an option to uninstall it, do so. Some said this step seemed to work, while others said it just hangs at Google Play when choosing uninstall.
We then recommend installing and running two or more free antivirus apps from Google Play on your device to remove malware in the apk or app you may have installed recently, because one antivirus might miss something. Install and run each antivirus one at a time, as installing and running more than one antivirus on your device at a time may cause problems. After trying each one, uninstall it, and then consider reinstalling one that was able to find and remove the malware.
Well known free antivirus apps at Google Play we recommend are Bitdefender Antivirus Free, Kaspersky, Avira, AVG, ESET, Sophos (found the malware in the barcode apps at Google Play), Norton, Lookout and Malwarebytes.
UPDATE: 7/28/18
Antiviruses that have been reported back to us that were able to find and remove the malware are Bitdefender Antivirus Free, Kaspersky Mobile Antivirus and Malwarebytes, so you may want to try one of those first.. Avast Antivirus was reported back to us as not being able to detect it.
Several people have gotten back to us and told us they were able to uninstall the malware using the above method and using an antivirus found at Google Play.
If you are able to identify the apk you installed that you believe gave you the malware, please email us at bnbtfree@gmail.com and let us know the name of the apk and where you got it, so we may install it on a test device and try out various antivirus apps on it to give others the best solution for removing the malware. Also let us know if you installed a QR Reader (barcode scanner) or "smart compass" from Google Play in the past year.
Unfortunately, there may be nothing we can do for you in the future if those responsible for these infected apks alter them further to make them even more difficult to uninstall.
We STRONGLY recommend that you DO NOT install apks from unknown sources, and that you only install Android apps from Google Play.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Most Frequently Asked Questions
Last updated: 3/4/2017
For even more FAQ, go to our webpage at: BNProBT: Frequently Asked Questions.
Does your app have estimated battery time remaining?
We don't include a built-in calculation, as these "estimates" tend to be wildly inaccurate.
(For example, a very popular battery app competitor's "estimate" of our tablet's battery time left went from saying our tablet had 12 hours left at 88%, to 9 hours left at 87%.)
A much more accurate estimate is available if you have Android 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher, (as of 2/7/17 64.8% of all Android users). Go to Settings - Battery and you will see the estimated time remaining for the battery until it reaches zero along with a graph.
(NOTE: It is generally not a good idea to allow your battery to drain all the way to zero, and for the best battery life you should charge it once it drops to 25% or 15% at the most.)
When you plug in your charger it will also show you here how much time is remaining until the battery is fully charged.
HINT: For a quick way of pulling up this information in Battery Notifier Free BT or Battery Notifier Pro BT, go to the dashboard, touch the settings icon (three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the dashboard) and then select Battery use.
The battery level your app shows is all over the place! After a full charge it said 100%, but now after a full charge it shows less than that. What gives?
Our apps get the information on the battery level directly from the Android OS. If the battery level readings you get are not consistent, (and especially if you have an extra large or non-standard sized battery) then your device may need to be re-calibrated.
For an excellent article on how to do this, see:
How To Calibrate The Battery On Your Android Phone Or Tablet
TIP: Be sure to also take the time to read the sections on "What is calibrating a battery?", "Smartphone battery myths", as well as following the links from Battery University on information on Lithium-Ion batteries in general, before moving on to the section on
"How to calibrate an Android device battery without root access".
What happened to the "unplugged/plugged since" information?
Ever since I updated to the latest version it's gone!
In addition to the dashboard area, the "unplugged/plugged since" info appears in the swipe down notification area. In order to see it however, you must first plug something into your device before this information will appear. Also be aware that this "plugged since" and "unplugged since" information will be lost if you reboot your phone or tablet, or if you update or restart Battery Notifier. For more info on this topic, and to find out how to get battery charging or discharging time, see our blogpost on:
Getting battery charging or discharging time
Is there a way to remove the stock android system battery icon?
Sorry, this is not possible. We are only allowed to generate notifications on the left hand side of the status bar, and the right hand side is reserved for system icons which we as developers are not allowed to remove or alter.
How do I select the charging icons?
To select the charging and full charge icons, touch Settings to the right of your icon choice in the "Change font / Icon add-ons" menu.
I have a custom ROM and your app is not working
Because of the large number of custom ROMS out there it is impossible for us to test our app on them all. If our app is not working, please report this to the ROM creator as our apps currently work on thousands of devices with all standard Android OS's.
How can I turn off the status bar number in Battery Notifier Pro BT?
The status bar icon can be switched off by going to Battery Notifier Pro BT - Settings - Under APPEARANCE go to Notification priority - Change from Default to Minimum
The status bar number icon keeps disappearing from the status bar. Why?
Both of our apps start at bootup time, run quietly in the background constantly, and under normal operation the icon will not disappear from the status bar unless you choose that option in the settings.
One reason the status bar icon may disappear, is that the Android OS has been updated without reinstalling our app. When the Android OS has been updated, our app needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled from Google Play.
Another reason the status bar icon may disappear is that a third-party battery saver or app manager you installed that you have given permission to control other apps may be shutting us down to save memory. Many apps like Juice Defender and Tasker routinely ask for and are given permission to control and even shut down other apps. In that case, you will need to find a setting in that app to tell it to ignore us.
If you have a Huawei device, you will need to set our apps to be protected at Settings -> Protected apps to prevent them from being closed automatically by the system.
Many times a simple reboot of the phone or tablet will clear up the problem. If a reboot doesn't help, do a clean reinstall. To do a clean reinstall:
1) Uninstall our app.
2) Check for an option in your settings (it might be under "privacy" or "Backup and reset") called "Automatic restore" or something similar. This puts back settings you had when reinstalling an app. To do a clean install make sure this option is unchecked first.
3) Do a soft reset of you phone or tablet instead of just a reboot. If your battery is removable, to do this shut off the phone and take out the battery for about 30 seconds before putting it back in and turning it back on. If your battery can't be removed, a way to do a soft reset on many devices, is to hold down the power button for 10 seconds.
(Check the manual for your device.)
4) Reinstall our app from Google Play.
5) Go back and recheck the "Automatic restore" option.
The status bar icon shows the Battery Notifier logo instead of the battery level!
This is an ongoing problem with the MIUI in Xiaomi and Meizu phones. They have chosen to use the app's icon image instead of the notifications icon, breaking standard Android OS rules. Unfortunately, there is currently no known fix for the problem.
http://en.miui.com/thread-294606-1-1.html
The full or low battery alarm either doesn't go off or only goes off sometimes!
There are a lot of factors that can cause alarms not to go off.
For the full battery notification, in the settings for the app, make sure "Notify when charged" is checked, and then choose a unique notification sound that you won't confuse with a full battery alarm that your device might already have built in. Go to Notification ringtones to see the options you have on your device. As you select each one, you should hear a preview of the sound. If you do not hear a preview of each alarm, the volume for notifications on your device may be turned down. Go to your main Settings and under Sound & notification make sure Alarm volume and Notification volume are both turned all the way up. Also, when the battery level reaches 100, this doesn't necessarily mean that the battery is full as it will also read 100 when the battery level is between 99.51% and 100%. Wait until you get the full battery notification in the status bar. If the sound still isn't playing when the status bar notification is reading full, go to Settings in the app - Full battery charge options - Sound mode Change from "Use system settings" to "Always" and test again. Also, when you test again, it's best to stop and restart the app and wait a full 5 minutes between sound tests, as the Android OS has built-in protection against apps abusing sound notifications too often.
For the low battery notification, in the settings for the app, the default setting is for the alarm to go off at 25%. Make sure this is where the slider is set, and then choose a unique notification sound that you won't confuse with a low battery alarm that your device might already have built in. Go to Notification ringtones to see the options you have on your device. As you select each one, you should hear a preview of the sound. If you do not hear a preview of each alarm, the volume for notifications on your device may be turned down. Go to your main Settings and under Sound & notification make sure Alarm volume and Notification volume are both turned all the way up. If the sound still isn't playing when the status bar notification is reading full, go to Settings in the app - Full battery charge options - Sound mode Change from "Use system settings" to "Always" and test again. Also, when you test again, it's best to stop and restart the app and wait a full 5 minutes between sound tests, as the Android OS has built-in protection against apps abusing sound notifications too often.
The alarms also may not go off in the Android OS if there is not enough free memory on the device. Make sure you have at least 10-15% of free memory available on your device or the alarms may not play.
If you still do not hear the full battery alarms, if you have Battery Notifier Pro BT, use the "Custom full charge %" and set the level to 99% or lower and see if it will play.
If you have recently updated the Android OS, uninstall either Battery Notifier Pro BT or Battery Notifier BT Free and do a clean reinstall. To do this:
a) Uninstall our app.
b) Check for an option in your settings (it might be under "privacy" or "Backup and reset") called "Automatic restore" or something similar. This puts back the settings you had when reinstalling an app. Make sure this option is unchecked.
c) Do a soft reset of you phone instead of just a reboot. If your battery is removable, to do this shut off the phone and take out the battery for about 30 seconds before putting it back in and turning it back on. If your battery can't be removed, most devices have an option such as holding down the power button for 10 seconds to do a soft reset.
(Check your device's manual)
d) Reinstall our app from Google Play.
e) Go back and recheck "Automatic restore".
For even more FAQ, go to our webpage at: BNProBT: Frequently Asked Questions.
Does your app have estimated battery time remaining?
We don't include a built-in calculation, as these "estimates" tend to be wildly inaccurate.
(For example, a very popular battery app competitor's "estimate" of our tablet's battery time left went from saying our tablet had 12 hours left at 88%, to 9 hours left at 87%.)
A much more accurate estimate is available if you have Android 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher, (as of 2/7/17 64.8% of all Android users). Go to Settings - Battery and you will see the estimated time remaining for the battery until it reaches zero along with a graph.
(NOTE: It is generally not a good idea to allow your battery to drain all the way to zero, and for the best battery life you should charge it once it drops to 25% or 15% at the most.)
When you plug in your charger it will also show you here how much time is remaining until the battery is fully charged.
HINT: For a quick way of pulling up this information in Battery Notifier Free BT or Battery Notifier Pro BT, go to the dashboard, touch the settings icon (three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the dashboard) and then select Battery use.
The battery level your app shows is all over the place! After a full charge it said 100%, but now after a full charge it shows less than that. What gives?
Our apps get the information on the battery level directly from the Android OS. If the battery level readings you get are not consistent, (and especially if you have an extra large or non-standard sized battery) then your device may need to be re-calibrated.
For an excellent article on how to do this, see:
How To Calibrate The Battery On Your Android Phone Or Tablet
TIP: Be sure to also take the time to read the sections on "What is calibrating a battery?", "Smartphone battery myths", as well as following the links from Battery University on information on Lithium-Ion batteries in general, before moving on to the section on
"How to calibrate an Android device battery without root access".
What happened to the "unplugged/plugged since" information?
Ever since I updated to the latest version it's gone!
In addition to the dashboard area, the "unplugged/plugged since" info appears in the swipe down notification area. In order to see it however, you must first plug something into your device before this information will appear. Also be aware that this "plugged since" and "unplugged since" information will be lost if you reboot your phone or tablet, or if you update or restart Battery Notifier. For more info on this topic, and to find out how to get battery charging or discharging time, see our blogpost on:
Getting battery charging or discharging time
Is there a way to remove the stock android system battery icon?
Sorry, this is not possible. We are only allowed to generate notifications on the left hand side of the status bar, and the right hand side is reserved for system icons which we as developers are not allowed to remove or alter.
How do I select the charging icons?
To select the charging and full charge icons, touch Settings to the right of your icon choice in the "Change font / Icon add-ons" menu.
I have a custom ROM and your app is not working
Because of the large number of custom ROMS out there it is impossible for us to test our app on them all. If our app is not working, please report this to the ROM creator as our apps currently work on thousands of devices with all standard Android OS's.
How can I turn off the status bar number in Battery Notifier Pro BT?
The status bar icon can be switched off by going to Battery Notifier Pro BT - Settings - Under APPEARANCE go to Notification priority - Change from Default to Minimum
The status bar number icon keeps disappearing from the status bar. Why?
Both of our apps start at bootup time, run quietly in the background constantly, and under normal operation the icon will not disappear from the status bar unless you choose that option in the settings.
One reason the status bar icon may disappear, is that the Android OS has been updated without reinstalling our app. When the Android OS has been updated, our app needs to be uninstalled and reinstalled from Google Play.
Another reason the status bar icon may disappear is that a third-party battery saver or app manager you installed that you have given permission to control other apps may be shutting us down to save memory. Many apps like Juice Defender and Tasker routinely ask for and are given permission to control and even shut down other apps. In that case, you will need to find a setting in that app to tell it to ignore us.
If you have a Huawei device, you will need to set our apps to be protected at Settings -> Protected apps to prevent them from being closed automatically by the system.
Many times a simple reboot of the phone or tablet will clear up the problem. If a reboot doesn't help, do a clean reinstall. To do a clean reinstall:
1) Uninstall our app.
2) Check for an option in your settings (it might be under "privacy" or "Backup and reset") called "Automatic restore" or something similar. This puts back settings you had when reinstalling an app. To do a clean install make sure this option is unchecked first.
3) Do a soft reset of you phone or tablet instead of just a reboot. If your battery is removable, to do this shut off the phone and take out the battery for about 30 seconds before putting it back in and turning it back on. If your battery can't be removed, a way to do a soft reset on many devices, is to hold down the power button for 10 seconds.
(Check the manual for your device.)
4) Reinstall our app from Google Play.
5) Go back and recheck the "Automatic restore" option.
The status bar icon shows the Battery Notifier logo instead of the battery level!
This is an ongoing problem with the MIUI in Xiaomi and Meizu phones. They have chosen to use the app's icon image instead of the notifications icon, breaking standard Android OS rules. Unfortunately, there is currently no known fix for the problem.
http://en.miui.com/thread-294606-1-1.html
The full or low battery alarm either doesn't go off or only goes off sometimes!
There are a lot of factors that can cause alarms not to go off.
For the full battery notification, in the settings for the app, make sure "Notify when charged" is checked, and then choose a unique notification sound that you won't confuse with a full battery alarm that your device might already have built in. Go to Notification ringtones to see the options you have on your device. As you select each one, you should hear a preview of the sound. If you do not hear a preview of each alarm, the volume for notifications on your device may be turned down. Go to your main Settings and under Sound & notification make sure Alarm volume and Notification volume are both turned all the way up. Also, when the battery level reaches 100, this doesn't necessarily mean that the battery is full as it will also read 100 when the battery level is between 99.51% and 100%. Wait until you get the full battery notification in the status bar. If the sound still isn't playing when the status bar notification is reading full, go to Settings in the app - Full battery charge options - Sound mode Change from "Use system settings" to "Always" and test again. Also, when you test again, it's best to stop and restart the app and wait a full 5 minutes between sound tests, as the Android OS has built-in protection against apps abusing sound notifications too often.
For the low battery notification, in the settings for the app, the default setting is for the alarm to go off at 25%. Make sure this is where the slider is set, and then choose a unique notification sound that you won't confuse with a low battery alarm that your device might already have built in. Go to Notification ringtones to see the options you have on your device. As you select each one, you should hear a preview of the sound. If you do not hear a preview of each alarm, the volume for notifications on your device may be turned down. Go to your main Settings and under Sound & notification make sure Alarm volume and Notification volume are both turned all the way up. If the sound still isn't playing when the status bar notification is reading full, go to Settings in the app - Full battery charge options - Sound mode Change from "Use system settings" to "Always" and test again. Also, when you test again, it's best to stop and restart the app and wait a full 5 minutes between sound tests, as the Android OS has built-in protection against apps abusing sound notifications too often.
The alarms also may not go off in the Android OS if there is not enough free memory on the device. Make sure you have at least 10-15% of free memory available on your device or the alarms may not play.
If you still do not hear the full battery alarms, if you have Battery Notifier Pro BT, use the "Custom full charge %" and set the level to 99% or lower and see if it will play.
If you have recently updated the Android OS, uninstall either Battery Notifier Pro BT or Battery Notifier BT Free and do a clean reinstall. To do this:
a) Uninstall our app.
b) Check for an option in your settings (it might be under "privacy" or "Backup and reset") called "Automatic restore" or something similar. This puts back the settings you had when reinstalling an app. Make sure this option is unchecked.
c) Do a soft reset of you phone instead of just a reboot. If your battery is removable, to do this shut off the phone and take out the battery for about 30 seconds before putting it back in and turning it back on. If your battery can't be removed, most devices have an option such as holding down the power button for 10 seconds to do a soft reset.
(Check your device's manual)
d) Reinstall our app from Google Play.
e) Go back and recheck "Automatic restore".
Friday, April 1, 2016
Battery Notifier Pro BT 2.5.11
Battery Notifier Pro BT 2.5.11 is here and fixes the following issues...
Wrong charging/charged icons displaying in Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Bug fix for charging/charged icons in Android versions earlier than 6.0
Fix for quiet times settings being incorrect after time zone is changed
Small bug fixes and improvements
Updated links to main website and copyright year
If you recently updated to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), be sure to download the latest version of Battery Notifier Pro BT 2.5.11 as well as updating your addon if you are using one, so your charging icons will display correctly.
Wrong charging/charged icons displaying in Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)
Bug fix for charging/charged icons in Android versions earlier than 6.0
Fix for quiet times settings being incorrect after time zone is changed
Small bug fixes and improvements
Updated links to main website and copyright year
If you recently updated to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), be sure to download the latest version of Battery Notifier Pro BT 2.5.11 as well as updating your addon if you are using one, so your charging icons will display correctly.
Android Antivirus update
Just yesterday I was having a conversation with a security guard, and as soon as I mentioned Android, he said, "Do you know there are places you can go on the Internet where all the paid apps are free? And I sadly replied, "Yes. But do you think the people that offer these paid apps for free do it because they just think everyone should get free apps? Or do you think it is more likely they alter it, and then give it to you for free so they can steal information from your phone?" "Huh." was all he could say.
The above conversation is taken directly from a post on antiviruses I made almost three years ago, and unfortunately the risk of getting your phone or tablet hacked has not decreased much despite several improvements Google has made to the Android operating system.
It's still important to have an antivirus installed on your phone or tablet even if you only install apps directly from Google Play, which is a good first step to avoid getting hacked by an app infected with malware. Fortunately, there still are some very good solutions, some which are free, and the two we still recommend are still excellent and free.
Recommended Antivirus Apps
Bitdefender Antivirus Free, VirusTotal
Bitdefender Antivirus Free has the same antivirus protection as their Bitdefender Mobile Security & Antivirus, but without all the extras. The reason we really like Bitdefender Antivirus Free is because of how lightweight it is, and because of how few permissions it needs compared to the other name brand antiviruses. It uses definitions in the cloud, so you need Internet access to run a scan, but it also scans much faster than the others in our opinion. It also has options to scan storage, and to automatically scan all new apps, and that's about it. But if you want something lightweight and simple that isn't going to slow down your tablet or phone, this is it.
From AndroidAuthority...
15 best antivirus Android apps and anti-malware Android apps
"Bitdefender Antivirus Free is perhaps the lightest, most unobtrusive option on this list. It has exactly two features which is to scan and clean your device and then it offers real-time antivirus protection on top of that. The real-time protection scans apps as they are installed and also keeps an eye on what they are doing. The scanning is simple and only takes a few moments to get everything done. This is technically an offshoot of Bitdefender’s much larger antivirus suite, but we found that we loved that there is an option that requires zero configuration and runs as light as this one does."
A great backup antivirus app that also is totally free is VirusTotal. VirusTotal checks the applications installed in your device against VirusTotal (http://www.virustotal.com).
It will inform you about malware (virus, trojans, worms) on your phone by having your applications scanned by more than 40 antiviruses, flagging any undesired content. Please note that VirusTotal for Android does not provide real-time protection and, so, is not a substitute for any antivirus product, just a second opinion regarding your apps.
IMPORTANT - Be sure to download only the original VirusTotal and not others with VirusTotal in the name, as the others not created by VIRUSTOTAL have added permissions that allow the copycat apps to find accounts on your device, read your contacts and read your device's usb storage.
If you would like a more complete antivirus solution, check out the following link....
The best antivirus software for Android by AVTest
Some of the antiviruses listed that offered 100% protection at the link above which also have been around for awhile and have developed good reputations are Bitdefender Mobile Security 3.2, ESET Mobile Security & Antivirus 3.2, G Data Internet Security 25.9, Kaspersky Lab Internet Security 11.9 and Norton Norton Mobile Security 3.13. Any of them would be excellent choices. It's interesting to note that Lookout Security & Antivirus 9.33 which used to be excellent, seems to have fallen down recently with only a 77.3% detection of the latest Android malware discovered in the previous 4 weeks.
But again, we see nothing almost three years later to change our minds about still highly recommending Bitdefender Antivirus Free and VirusTotal as the best free and lightweight antivirus solutions for Android.
The above conversation is taken directly from a post on antiviruses I made almost three years ago, and unfortunately the risk of getting your phone or tablet hacked has not decreased much despite several improvements Google has made to the Android operating system.
It's still important to have an antivirus installed on your phone or tablet even if you only install apps directly from Google Play, which is a good first step to avoid getting hacked by an app infected with malware. Fortunately, there still are some very good solutions, some which are free, and the two we still recommend are still excellent and free.
Recommended Antivirus Apps
Bitdefender Antivirus Free, VirusTotal
Bitdefender Antivirus Free has the same antivirus protection as their Bitdefender Mobile Security & Antivirus, but without all the extras. The reason we really like Bitdefender Antivirus Free is because of how lightweight it is, and because of how few permissions it needs compared to the other name brand antiviruses. It uses definitions in the cloud, so you need Internet access to run a scan, but it also scans much faster than the others in our opinion. It also has options to scan storage, and to automatically scan all new apps, and that's about it. But if you want something lightweight and simple that isn't going to slow down your tablet or phone, this is it.
From AndroidAuthority...
15 best antivirus Android apps and anti-malware Android apps
"Bitdefender Antivirus Free is perhaps the lightest, most unobtrusive option on this list. It has exactly two features which is to scan and clean your device and then it offers real-time antivirus protection on top of that. The real-time protection scans apps as they are installed and also keeps an eye on what they are doing. The scanning is simple and only takes a few moments to get everything done. This is technically an offshoot of Bitdefender’s much larger antivirus suite, but we found that we loved that there is an option that requires zero configuration and runs as light as this one does."
A great backup antivirus app that also is totally free is VirusTotal. VirusTotal checks the applications installed in your device against VirusTotal (http://www.virustotal.com).
It will inform you about malware (virus, trojans, worms) on your phone by having your applications scanned by more than 40 antiviruses, flagging any undesired content. Please note that VirusTotal for Android does not provide real-time protection and, so, is not a substitute for any antivirus product, just a second opinion regarding your apps.
IMPORTANT - Be sure to download only the original VirusTotal and not others with VirusTotal in the name, as the others not created by VIRUSTOTAL have added permissions that allow the copycat apps to find accounts on your device, read your contacts and read your device's usb storage.
If you would like a more complete antivirus solution, check out the following link....
The best antivirus software for Android by AVTest
Some of the antiviruses listed that offered 100% protection at the link above which also have been around for awhile and have developed good reputations are Bitdefender Mobile Security 3.2, ESET Mobile Security & Antivirus 3.2, G Data Internet Security 25.9, Kaspersky Lab Internet Security 11.9 and Norton Norton Mobile Security 3.13. Any of them would be excellent choices. It's interesting to note that Lookout Security & Antivirus 9.33 which used to be excellent, seems to have fallen down recently with only a 77.3% detection of the latest Android malware discovered in the previous 4 weeks.
But again, we see nothing almost three years later to change our minds about still highly recommending Bitdefender Antivirus Free and VirusTotal as the best free and lightweight antivirus solutions for Android.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)