What's a good app for someone else to use to find my phone?

I've thought for a while that I should have an app that would help me,
or someone, find my phone if it were stolen. But that was very low
priority.

Now I have a specific need that will help you all recommend something
even more appropriate.

I want to go hiking by myself along the streams in Baltimore and
Baltimore County. Through woods with roots and logs and rocks to trip
on, rivulets to cross**. I wouldn't be more than a half mile from a
street, but I know my friend is going to be concerned that I could fall
and break my leg or hit my head and spend a week lying there. I have
things to do and don't want to spend a week in the woods.

So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
be able to find me from the phone's lccation.

I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
app I want. What do I want?

**And it already happened last fall within a mile of my home, in the
woods, that I did trip. I wasn't hurt at all, but I had a hard time
getting back up just because I was even fatter than now. And actually I
tripped where walking was easy. There were some harder places where I
paid more attention. The odds are very slim*** but it's conceivable,
and since I'll have the phone anyhow, I want to make the best use of it.

***The odds seems slim but when I was 23, 51 years ago, I was walking in
the woods, just a very short distance, in the dark, feeling every step
of the way with my leed foot, and all of sudden the ground undeneath me
collapsed and I was falling through the air until I landed on a stone
"floor" and broke my leg. It was 9PM and I had no choice but to spend
the night there. I thought I was on the walkway to an expensive home
that was next door to the expensive home whose gate I had just walked
past, but in the morning, I realized I was in a drainage ditch to drain
rain off the 2-lane inter-city highway. Fortunately it was not the
rainy season and it was warm. More about this later.

micky wrote on 13.05.2021 07:28

> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
> app I want. What do I want?

First hit in a search turned up this
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ngo.locationsms
"If you get stuck in emergency situation, then this application can be a
savior. It would fetch your current address and send to 1 to 3 phone numbers
mentioned by you. If you shake phone 5 times then app will activate, Also it
will start buzzing sound so that nearby people can notice you and come for
help.

Good to keep app for girls and senior citizens and people who generally
travel to unknown riskier places.

App fetches address from mobile data connection or GPS or wifi connection
which ever is available. In case address is not available, app sends
location in a url format having lattitude and longitude. Recipient would
click on that URL and will get location on google maps. Even if no gps or
location is available, app will send an emergency help request so that
emergency contact can call back." (sic)

I don't recommend that one because it has ads (and I've never used it)
but I post it first as it's potentially a solution to your stated problem.

A second quick search shows there are many like it so some may be ad free.
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=emergency%20sms%20location&c=apps

paul wrote on 13.05.2021 08:09

> A second quick search shows there are many like it so some may be ad free.
> https://play.google.com/store/search?q=emergency%20sms%20location&c=apps

A third search on Auroroa shows these are free, GSF free, and ad free.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.healthappy.smsalert
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.github.ilisevic.SOSbasic
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.aospstudio.securitycenter.button
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mysos.in
etc. (none have ads, all are free, and all are GSF free)

If I open up the search terms to allow GSF dependent apps, more surface
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rghvsapp.android.sosalert
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mysosfamily
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Emergency.sos
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.mobilemed.echo112
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.sosapp.sos.sosapp
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.signkeys.fouremergencies
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.revoluxsolutions.stayvigil
etc. (none have ads, all are free)

And for International travelers
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bitbase.soscall

Of course, the OP may not be looking for "emergency SMS SOS" apps,
so let's see what the OP thinks of these as other ideas may work.

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

> What's a good app for someone else to use to find my phone?
>
> I've thought for a while that I should have an app that would help me,
> or someone, find my phone if it were stolen. But that was very low
> priority.
>
> Now I have a specific need that will help you all recommend something
> even more appropriate.
>
> I want to go hiking by myself along the streams in Baltimore and
> Baltimore County. Through woods with roots and logs and rocks to trip
> on, rivulets to cross**. I wouldn't be more than a half mile from a
> street, but I know my friend is going to be concerned that I could fall
> and break my leg or hit my head and spend a week lying there. I have
> things to do and don't want to spend a week in the woods.
>
> So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
> then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
> be able to find me from the phone's lccation.
>
> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
> app I want. What do I want?

It is highly likely with an Android phone that you have a Google
account. If so, see:

https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

It shows an general area of about 300 feet of where is your phone. For
an address, you need a 3rd party app. Android needs to be configured to
support the service. On my LG V20 phone, it's under:

Settings -> General -> Google -> Security -> Find My Device

On other phones, it could be under:

Settings -> Google -> Location -> Security

The nav path vary by phone, because every phone maker customizes the
config screens to brand the phone as theirs. Only Google phones have
what would be considered standard nav paths to settings. You never
bothered to identify you phone, as yet, in this thread, and I'm not
hunting through your past articles to guess which one you are asking
about now.

You can install Google's Find My Device app (on another phone) to locate
and remotely control your lost phone. It wouldn't make sense to install
it on just one phone you own since that phone would be lost, and you
wouldn't need the app to find the phone. Google's Find My Device app
doesn't give any better location data than does their web site version.
There are lots of "find my phone" apps. Alas, the vast majority are
adware or crippleware.

I remember looking at "Where’s My Droid" by Alienman Technologies;
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.alienmanfc6.wheresmyandroid.
The free version can: ring your phone (to help find it buried in the
sofa cushions), locate via GPS, a passcode in the app to prevent
non-admin changes, and get notifications to the SIM card or phone number
(someone is trying to repurpose your phone, like a thief). It has a
premium version ($0.87/month) that adds: remotely take pics with the
camera (check the phone's surroundings), remote lock (although other
freebies do that, too), remotedly with the SD card or phone's data
(freebies can do that, too), prevent the app from getting uninstalled,
and hide the app's icon.

There are location apps that are more of people tracking, but it does
track them by their phones. One is "Life360: Family Locator";
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.life360.android.safetymapd&hl=en_US.
The "free" app is trialware to promote their paid services. However,
you never mandated a free solution. This app is more about someone else
(in your "family") finding you by your phone. The above suggestions is
about you, or someone with your account login, finding your phone.

There are antivirus programs for Android that also include their own
remote control, tracking, or anti-theft features. Avast Mobile Security
for Android has those features; however, I eventually grew weary of
their interferring ads, especially interjected in their screens
attempting to mislead users into clicking on the ads instead of the
functions. Also, as I recall, Avast's anti-theft was unreliable, and
required buying their premium version to get it working. While some AVs
on Android have location tracking, they're mostly focused on anti-theft
features.

Some phone makers customize Android to add their own find-my-phone
feature. I had a Samsung phone with settings to find my phone. As with
Google's Find My Device, you created a Samsung account and activated
features in the phone to work with the account to find your phone, or
lock or erase it (anti-theft features). Again, you never identified
which phone you are asking about.

If you haven't disabled it in your Google account, there is also the
Timeline feature that tracks where your phone is and where it has been.
Go into the Google Maps app on your phone, select the menu (an icon with
your pic or firstname initial), and select Your Timeline. If you
haven't gone anywhere today with your phone, the list will be empty.
Tap on the date selector, and pick a calendar day that is circled as
that is a day where your phone was moving around. Instead of using the
Google Maps app on your phone to see where it travelled, you can go to
https://www.google.com/maps/timeline to see your travels at their web
site. While the Timeline feature shows where you stopped, it doesn't
necessarily match up with the roads you used between stops. Often it is
a as-the-crow-flies tracking map.

Seems you aren't trying to find your phone, but have others find you
provided your phone is with you. There are many family/people tracker
apps, like those mentioned at:

https://www.gokid.mobi/10-best-family-location-tracker-apps-for-android-and-ios/
(no datestamp on the blog, which is typical, so no idea if information
is current or out-of-date)

On 2021-05-12 11:09 p.m., paul wrote:
> micky wrote on 13.05.2021 07:28
>
>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
>> app I want. What do I want?
>
> First hit in a search turned up this
> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ngo.locationsms
> "If you get stuck in emergency situation, then this application can be a
> savior. It would fetch your current address and send to 1 to 3 phone numbers
> mentioned by you. If you shake phone 5 times then app will activate, Also it
> will start buzzing sound so that nearby people can notice you and come for
> help.
>
> Good to keep app for girls and senior citizens and people who generally
> travel to unknown riskier places.

And of no use at all for the situation described.

If he's conscious, he can just make a call.

If he's incapacitated, he can't shake the phone, now can he?

On 13/05/2021 06:28, micky wrote:

> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
> app I want. What do I want?

What you really want is Google's Trusted Contacts feature, which was
designed for exactly this sort of scenario... a designated contact could
ask you to respond, and if you didn't do so within 5 minutes, it would
show them your last known location so they could arrange help if necessary.

But Google killed that feature last year.

They recommend you use the location sharing feature of Maps instead, but
that obviously means the other person can see where you are the whole
time, and takes more for them to figure out if you've stopped moving and
might be in trouble.

VanguardLH wrote on 13.05.2021 11:08

> It is highly likely with an Android phone that you have a Google
> account. If so, see:
>
> https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager
>
> It shows an general area of about 300 feet of where is your phone.

That's interesting as it's a privacy hole waiting to happen in some cases
if it exists, is on by default, and if the user is unaware of that case.

However your suggestion is almost certainly probably the best idea for not
only the OP but for most people but I for one don't ever set my phones to a
Google account. This makes it instructive for me to look to see what my new
Android 11 did by default with respect to the findmyphone location services.

Looking at my Android 11 Settings, I see a section for "Google".
Settings > Google > Security > Find My Device (Remotely locate this device)

Hey! That's set to "on" (this phone is only a few days old) by default!
But then below that setting it says with an orange warning sign
"Find My Device won't work (No Google account on this device)"

I also noticed just below that "Google Play Protect" is turned on.
That's why it triggered on some of the SMS SOS apps I downloaded to test!

For those downloading the SOS SMS apps, you may want to be aware that, for
whatever reason, Google Play Protect stopped the installation of a couple.

Why?
Why does Google Play _allow_ apps in Google Play that triggers a warning?

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
> What's a good app for someone else to use to find my phone?
>
> I've thought for a while that I should have an app that would help me,
> or someone, find my phone if it were stolen. But that was very low
> priority.
>
> Now I have a specific need that will help you all recommend something
> even more appropriate.
>
>
> I want to go hiking by myself along the streams in Baltimore and
> Baltimore County. Through woods with roots and logs and rocks to trip
> on, rivulets to cross**. I wouldn't be more than a half mile from a
> street, but I know my friend is going to be concerned that I could fall
> and break my leg or hit my head and spend a week lying there. I have
> things to do and don't want to spend a week in the woods.
>
> So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
> then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
> be able to find me from the phone's lccation.
>
> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
> app I want. What do I want?

Just share your location with her temporarily via google maps. Then she can
see where you are at any point for the next X hours where X is specified by
you.
https://www.usethistip.com/temporarily-share-location-using-google-maps.html

No special app required.

paul <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> VanguardLH wrote on 13.05.2021 11:08
>
>> It is highly likely with an Android phone that you have a Google
>> account. If so, see:
>>
>> https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager
>>
>> It shows an general area of about 300 feet of where is your phone.
>
> That's interesting as it's a privacy hole waiting to happen in some
> cases if it exists, is on by default, and if the user is unaware of
> that case.

I forget the article, but remember reading one authored by Google that
mentions all the features in their services that you might want to
disable. In fact, as I recall, I simple logged into my Google account,
and went through the security settings to decide what I wanted to enable
or disable. Log into your Google account, and go to Manage Your
Account. In the Home category, click on "Privacy & personalization".
There you'll find some tracking services, like web & app activity,
location history, Youtube history, and ad personalization. I don't
consider any of that as hidden. It's completely up to each user if they
want to bother investigating the settings for their software and
services, or remain ignorant and use as-is. Some users wish to remain
ignorant, as learning takes effort. How many read the manual for their
TVs, remotes, washing machine, toaster oven, or microwave?

> Why? Why does Google Play _allow_ apps in Google Play that triggers a
> warning?

See your other thread about this. There's a big difference between
blocking and warning. Which actually happened? (Please reply in your
other thread.)

Calum <com.gmail@nospam.scottishwildcat> wrote:

> micky wrote:
>
>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category
>> of app I want. What do I want?
>
> What you really want is Google's Trusted Contacts feature, which was
> designed for exactly this sort of scenario... a designated contact
> could ask you to respond, and if you didn't do so within 5 minutes,
> it would show them your last known location so they could arrange
> help if necessary.
>
> But Google killed that feature last year.
>
> They recommend you use the location sharing feature of Maps instead,
> but that obviously means the other person can see where you are the
> whole time, and takes more for them to figure out if you've stopped
> moving and might be in trouble.

Well, yes, they can see your [phone's] location all the time WHILE the
feature is enabled. When the OP goes hiking, he could tell his family
before the trip that he is sharing his location, turn it on when he
leaves home, and turn it off when he gets back. It is not a toggle-once
setting that once set cannot be undone (doesn't require a factory reset
of the phone to undo). That's the same for any of the other location
tracking apps: enable when you want to share your location, otherwise
leave disabled or unloaded.

The problem with Google Maps (sharing or timeline features) is they show
your stops, and with a as-the-crow-flies map, not by monitoring every
second for your location and drawing a point-by-point map at each
tracking interval. I'm not sure micky even wants a sharing or timeline
feature, or anything that tracks where he was at some tracking
intervals. He seems to want an app that reports where he is now, not
where he was. I only mentioned the Google Maps (and Google's location
history service) as a likely already installed app and service setup.
He likely already has Google's Timeline (location history) service
enabled both in his Google account (which he also likely has setup on
his phone) and in the Google Maps app. It's already there. I don't
recall if location sharing is enabled by default. I just checked, and
it is disabled on my phone, but I started with most Google service
disabled, and enabled them (even if only temporarily) one at a time when
I wanted to use them.

Also, micky stopping moving would be the wrong trigger for his family to
determine if micky were in trouble. He could stop to pee or squat, to
eat, to rest, to sleep (on a multi-day hike), go fishing, or other
activity that has him not moving or very little for a long time. Plus
all that location tracking is going to show his family where is was, not
where is now after falling through tree downfall and getting impaled by
a pointy dry branch while hidden in the downfall. If he is that
concerned about his safety, maybe he should practce dual hiking: go with
a friend. The same ruleapplies with scuba diving. Don't rely on a
phone to save your life, plus even if the phone did notify someone just
how long will it take them, or someone they contact (police, forestry
service) to get to you? I have to wonder if micky's real intent for
location tracking by phone is he got lost, but then he has his phone to
guide him out (as long as there is a cell tower around, and one that
carries his cellular carrier).

Of course, all of this requires micky to be within range of a cell tower
to employ his phone to locate him or call/text for help. micky isn't
hiking very far from civilization, so he probably doesn't need a
satellite phone (no cell towers needed, but still need to reach a comm
satellite) or shortwave transceiver. Doesn't take much for me to hike
in the state parks to end up out of cell tower range. Hell, I went to
wedding at a woodland resort, and we didn't get cell coverage until we
started to drive into town. Not sure where micky is going "hiking" that
won't take him out of cell tower range. Despite the cell maps that
carriers provide, their coverage is not what they claim. My area is
shown as heavily covered by multiple carriers, and the cell towers are
about a mile, or less, away. Yet I live near the river, and the towers
are on the cliffs or hills, so signal strength is poor at my home.
That's why I don't rely solely on my cell phone as my home phone. I
could build a tower to mount a cell repeater, but it would take a long
time for ROI on that cost to offset a landline cost. Just because cell
towers are close doesn't mandate they are usable where you are.

On 2021-05-13 8:21 a.m., paul wrote:
> VanguardLH wrote on 13.05.2021 11:08
>
>> It is highly likely with an Android phone that you have a Google
>> account. If so, see:
>>
>> https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager
>>
>> It shows an general area of about 300 feet of where is your phone.
>
> That's interesting as it's a privacy hole waiting to happen in some cases
> if it exists, is on by default, and if the user is unaware of that case.

And if the user has given someone the credentials to access his account.

>
> However your suggestion is almost certainly probably the best idea for not
> only the OP but for most people but I for one don't ever set my phones to a
> Google account. This makes it instructive for me to look to see what my new
> Android 11 did by default with respect to the findmyphone location services.
>
> Looking at my Android 11 Settings, I see a section for "Google".
> Settings > Google > Security > Find My Device (Remotely locate this device)
>
> Hey! That's set to "on" (this phone is only a few days old) by default!
> But then below that setting it says with an orange warning sign
> "Find My Device won't work (No Google account on this device)"
>
> I also noticed just below that "Google Play Protect" is turned on.
> That's why it triggered on some of the SMS SOS apps I downloaded to test!
>
> For those downloading the SOS SMS apps, you may want to be aware that, for
> whatever reason, Google Play Protect stopped the installation of a couple.
>
> Why?
> Why does Google Play _allow_ apps in Google Play that triggers a warning?
>

Hmmm...

....because Google doesn't really care about you?

I already started to answer Vanguard, but that will take a while so I'm
going to do short answers first.

In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 14:10:54 +0100, Calum
<com.gmail@nospam.scottishwildcat> wrote:

>On 13/05/2021 06:28, micky wrote:
>
>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
>> app I want. What do I want?
>
>What you really want is Google's Trusted Contacts feature, which was
>designed for exactly this sort of scenario... a designated contact could
>ask you to respond, and if you didn't do so within 5 minutes, it would
>show them your last known location so they could arrange help if necessary.
>
>But Google killed that feature last year.

Darn!
>
>They recommend you use the location sharing feature of Maps instead, but
>that obviously means the other person can see where you are the whole
>time,

That's okay. I don't have any secrets, well, at least not regarding my
location.

>and takes more for them to figure out if you've stopped moving and
>might be in trouble.

Not a problem. The plan is to tell her I'll be done in, say, 3 hours and
if I don't call her then, she should (call me and/or) figure out where I
am and tell the police.

Believe you me, this girl doesn't like me enough to keep track of where
I am. And I'm not her boyfriend, so she doesn't care where I am. But
this much she would do for me.

In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 15:48:59 -0000 (UTC), Chris
<ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:

>micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>> What's a good app for someone else to use to find my phone?
>>
>> I've thought for a while that I should have an app that would help me,
>> or someone, find my phone if it were stolen. But that was very low
>> priority.
>>
>> Now I have a specific need that will help you all recommend something
>> even more appropriate.
>>
>>
>> I want to go hiking by myself along the streams in Baltimore and
>> Baltimore County. Through woods with roots and logs and rocks to trip
>> on, rivulets to cross**. I wouldn't be more than a half mile from a
>> street, but I know my friend is going to be concerned that I could fall
>> and break my leg or hit my head and spend a week lying there. I have
>> things to do and don't want to spend a week in the woods.
>>
>> So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
>> then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
>> be able to find me from the phone's lccation.
>>
>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
>> app I want. What do I want?
>
>Just share your location with her temporarily via google maps. Then she can
>see where you are at any point for the next X hours where X is specified by
>you.
>https://www.usethistip.com/temporarily-share-location-using-google-maps.html
>
>No special app required.

This looks pretty good.

It never occurred to me to tap on my own blue dot.

Hmm. Even after tapping More, it only shows 8 choices for who to share
with, most of them from when I was out of town. The friend I plan to
use is in my address book, and I'll have to try to figure out how to add
her to this list.

But I think this will do fine.

Thanks, and thanks all.

VanguardLH wrote on 13.05.2021 23:23

> Of course, all of this requires micky to be within range of a cell tower
> to employ his phone to locate him or call/text for help.

I think _that_ point Vanguard made is the critical problem to overcome.

This might work:
Micky is hiking in range of cell towers & experiences an emergency
Micky presses the SOS button (using whatever method he chooses)
The SOS is initiated by micky & received by people who care about him
Micky continues to travel & positional updates continue to be sent

This probably would _not_ work:
Micky is hiking _out_ of range of cell towers & experiences an emergency
Micky presses the SOS button (using whatever method he chooses)
The SOS is initiated by micky but not received by people who care about him
Micky continues to travel but positional updates depend on cellular signal

This should work better:
Micky is hiking _out_ of range of cell towers & experiences an emergency
Micky presses the SOS button (using whatever method he chooses)
The SOS is initiated by micky and _continually_ attempted until success
Micky continues to travel but positional updates depend on cellular signal

But even that has flaws if micky doesn't continue to travel and remains in a
cellular dead spot. In that case micky is eventually dead but nobody knows
where he is because he's in a cellular shadow. Eventually his battery dies.

What the emergency personnel "could" do is fly portable towers overhead to
pick up a cellular ping - so micky's only hope is that someone cares to look
for him using the same technology the FBI uses to catch criminals.

VanguardLH wrote on 13.05.2021 22:55

> I forget the article, but remember reading one authored by Google that
> mentions all the features in their services that you might want to
> disable.

Thanks for all your insight as you appear to be a "thinker" as am I.
Hence I'm pretty good at disabling stuff on an unrooted Android phone. }:)

As are you I'm sure.

Pretty much I disable anything I don't like, don't need, or don't know what
it is and then I watch for consequences.

Often there are delayed consequences so that's why I have a plethora of
screenshot capabilities (delayed screenshots, timed screenshots, multiscreen
screenshots, etc.) because I have to go back in time to figure out what I
turned off that caused something to fail.

For example, recently I lost my microphone on the SMS app for voice to text
which only came back when I realized you can't disable the app simply called
"Google" (even as you can disable almost all other apps with Google in the
name!).

You need a good app manager to even _see_ most of these Google related apps.
https://muntashirakon.github.io/AppManager/

Bear in mind that's not a good app manager - it's a _great_ app manager!
The best.

And you need the best because anything less doesn't show you the truth.
It shows _many_ apps with Google in the name but the one that matters is
com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

Who would have thought that a "search box" that I've never even once in my
life ever used ends up disabling the microphone on SMS texting keyboards!

Unfortunately that Google search box contains 3 trackers which remain on:
com.google.android.gms.measurement.App.MeasurementService
com.google.android.gms.measurement.App.MeasurementReceiver
com.google.android.gms.measurement.App.MeasurementJobService

> In fact, as I recall, I simple logged into my Google account,
> and went through the security settings to decide what I wanted to enable
> or disable. Log into your Google account, and go to Manage Your
> Account. In the Home category, click on "Privacy & personalization".
> There you'll find some tracking services, like web & app activity,
> location history, Youtube history, and ad personalization.

I don't have a Google Account on the phone so none of that applies.
But it does apply to most people so it's useful information for Usenet.

Interesting even without a Google Account the later Android operating
systems still have an AdvertiserID (which earlier Androids didn't do)
so Google separated the advertising ID from the Google Account.

Also interesting is that you can access all of Google Play app downloads
without ever logging into Google Play just as you can access all of YouTube
without ever touching the YouTube app (even to the point of subscribing
without ever logging in to YouTube - and certainly never seeing ads!).

There's almost no good reason to have a Google Account on Android given you
can do anything you need to do WITHOUT that Google Account (AFAICT).

The point is that not having a Google Account makes disabling tracking a bit
easier as an entire set of login-based tracking suddenly doesn't even exist.

> I don't consider any of that as hidden. It's completely up to each user
> if they want to bother investigating the settings for their software and
> services, or remain ignorant and use as-is. Some users wish to remain
> ignorant, as learning takes effort. How many read the manual for their
> TVs, remotes, washing machine, toaster oven, or microwave?

The first things I do when I load a new operating system or when I install
an app is go through the settings with the Internet turned off.

Often I go through the settings backward because they seem to try to hide
the "good stuff" (such as diagnostic uploads) in the end of the settings.

Also Google has a propensity to kick you out of the settings Google doesn't
want you to investigate so that you have to keep diving into them to find
them all. This takes time and energy as you already said & to which I agree.

Over time I pretty much have investigated every setting which interested me.

>> Why? Why does Google Play _allow_ apps in Google Play that triggers a
>> warning?
>
> See your other thread about this. There's a big difference between
> blocking and warning. Which actually happened? (Please reply in your
> other thread.)

It warned. It did not block. It just added one extra installation step.
More details in the other thread.

paul <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> For example, recently I lost my microphone on the SMS app for voice to text
> which only came back when I realized you can't disable the app simply called
> "Google" (even as you can disable almost all other apps with Google in the
> name!).

For that, first I'd see what happened if I went under Android's
Settings, Apps, when to the Google app, and changed permissions to take
away the microphone. Then test by saying "Okay Google" or "Hey Google"
at your phone to see if the Google Assistant launches.

I found Google Assistant had activated, did a search, and started
reading off it findings when I didn't even have the phone in my hand. I
was at about 10 feet away talking to someone, and my phone started
talking, I went over to it, and found Google Assistant had fired on
something I said to someone. This happened several time, and it was
annoying. Instead of disabling mic permission on the app, I went into
Google Assistant to disable the "Hey Google" feature. Google doesn't
let you easily get at the settings. I tap the Google app, do a search,
and then I can click the "... More" icon at the bottom of the app's
window. Then I can select Settings, and select Google Assistant. Under
there, I tap on "Voice Match", and disable the "Hey Google" setting.

Now the Google Assistant app does not respond to my voice. The app is
not constantly listening for a trigger phrase, or something that sounds
enough like a trigger phrase. I can still use voice input by tapping on
the microphone icon in the app, but that is when I overtly choose to use
the microphone.

If I disabled mic permissions on the app, I couldn't even use the mic
icon in the app for when I do want to use voice, like do a search while
I'm driving, so I don't have to pull over to use the onscreen keyboard
to enter search criteria. I can't say "Hey Google" to trigger the
Google app to do a voice input search. Now I have to tap the mic icon
in the app to do a voice search. It is less distracting to momentarily
look at the screen to tap the mic icon than to get the app to shutup and
unload because it picked up on something I said to someone while it was
spying on my conversation.

VanguardLH wrote on 14.05.2021 10:35

> I went over to it, and found Google Assistant had fired on
> something I said to someone. ]

Yup. Not only Google. Apple was infamous for that with their Siri also.
Basically it's recording when you don't think it's recording - that's bad.
(Plus they got caught exporting it to humans who listen to what you say.)

> This happened several time, and it was
> annoying. Instead of disabling mic permission on the app, I went into
> Google Assistant to disable the "Hey Google" feature. Google doesn't
> let you easily get at the settings. I tap the Google app, do a search,
> and then I can click the "... More" icon at the bottom of the app's
> window. Then I can select Settings, and select Google Assistant. Under
> there, I tap on "Voice Match", and disable the "Hey Google" setting.

I looked for anything on my phone called "assistant" and didn't find it.
But I had to keep "Google" (com.google.android.googlequisearchbox) so that
the microphone in the SMS keyboard would work for voice to text messaging.

I was able to hit "uninstall" which simply dropped the version from
12.something to 11.something but that's the best I could do (and Google Play
will update it back to 12.something anyway if I leave the autoupdate on).

Note that I don't even have a Google Account on the phone & that happens
(depending on the settings for auto update of course).

> Now the Google Assistant app does not respond to my voice. The app is
> not constantly listening for a trigger phrase, or something that sounds
> enough like a trigger phrase. I can still use voice input by tapping on
> the microphone icon in the app, but that is when I overtly choose to use
> the microphone.

I wish I could do that on my phone but if I disable "googlequicksearchbox"
then the microphone _disappears_ from the keyboard.

The keyboard is the default keyboard which, upon inspection, is
Samsung Keyboard (which was selected)
Although when I just looked there is also another option for the keyboard
Google voice typing (which was not selected)

Since I got the phone for free from the carrier only a few days ago I
haven't bothered yet to add other keyboards (Gboard, Swiftkey, Fleksy, etc.)
> If I disabled mic permissions on the app, I couldn't even use the mic
> icon in the app for when I do want to use voice, like do a search while
> I'm driving, so I don't have to pull over to use the onscreen keyboard
> to enter search criteria.

Yup. When I disable "googlequicksearchbox" I lose the keyboard mic icon.

I have big Eastern European hands which do not type well on puny keyboards.
So for me the voice typing is de-rigueur on my SMS app & for sending email.

I rarely use Google Maps so I just opened it now to test what you said.
It asks me to "Make it your map" which isn't gonna happen (ie no "sign in").
I hit the "skip" & noticed it comers up with a world map & a "Search here".

The "Search here" has a microphone. Let's test it out. OK. It works.
It also says "Your audio will be sent to Google to provide speech
recognition service. [sic] A transcript will be shared with this app."

I then tried a bunch of variations on "hey google" and none triggered it.
Dunno what that is telling me though as I never use "hey google" anyway.

> I can't say "Hey Google" to trigger the
> Google app to do a voice input search. Now I have to tap the mic icon
> in the app to do a voice search.

Yup. Me too.
I don't know what setting did that but I'm ok with 'hey google' set to off.

> It is less distracting to momentarily
> look at the screen to tap the mic icon than to get the app to shutup and
> unload because it picked up on something I said to someone while it was
> spying on my conversation.

I don't have any use for "Hey Google" but my wife seems to have entire
conversations with Google which get funny given she has a heavy Russian
accent (and her indigenous vernacular accounts for humorous queries).

You bring up a good thought question which is how to tell whether the
automatic "hey google" is truly turned off or if it's just flaky.

In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 16:23:35 -0500, VanguardLH
<V@nguard.LH> wrote:

>Calum <com.gmail@nospam.scottishwildcat> wrote:
>
>> micky wrote:
>>
>>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category
>>> of app I want. What do I want?
>>
>> What you really want is Google's Trusted Contacts feature, which was
>> designed for exactly this sort of scenario... a designated contact
>> could ask you to respond, and if you didn't do so within 5 minutes,
>> it would show them your last known location so they could arrange
>> help if necessary.
>>
>> But Google killed that feature last year.
>>
>> They recommend you use the location sharing feature of Maps instead,
>> but that obviously means the other person can see where you are the
>> whole time, and takes more for them to figure out if you've stopped
>> moving and might be in trouble.
>
>Well, yes, they can see your [phone's] location all the time WHILE the
>feature is enabled. When the OP goes hiking, he could tell his family
>before the trip that he is sharing his location, turn it on when he
>leaves home, and turn it off when he gets back. It is not a toggle-once

sounds good.

>setting that once set cannot be undone (doesn't require a factory reset
>of the phone to undo). That's the same for any of the other location
>tracking apps: enable when you want to share your location, otherwise
>leave disabled or unloaded.
>
>The problem with Google Maps (sharing or timeline features) is they show
>your stops, and with a as-the-crow-flies map, not by monitoring every
>second for your location and drawing a point-by-point map at each
>tracking interval. I'm not sure micky even wants a sharing or timeline
>feature, or anything that tracks where he was at some tracking
>intervals.

I don't want it but I wouldn't mind it. I don't go anywhere I
shouldn't, and the friend who will be checking on me doens't much care
where I go.

I talked to her yesterday and she's fine with doing this. (It's not much
effort and if it's once a month, I'll be doing good.)

> He seems to want an app that reports where he is now, not
>where he was. I only mentioned the Google Maps (and Google's location
>history service) as a likely already installed app and service setup.
>He likely already has Google's Timeline (location history) service
>enabled both in his Google account (which he also likely has setup on
>his phone) and in the Google Maps app. It's already there. I don't
>recall if location sharing is enabled by default. I just checked, and
>it is disabled on my phone, but I started with most Google service
>disabled, and enabled them (even if only temporarily) one at a time when
>I wanted to use them.

>
>Also, micky stopping moving would be the wrong trigger for his family to
>determine if micky were in trouble. He could stop to pee or squat, to

I would never pee while a girl is monitoring my location. What do you
take me for?

>eat, to rest, to sleep (on a multi-day hike), go fishing, or other
>activity that has him not moving or very little for a long time. Plus
>all that location tracking is going to show his family where is was, not
>where is now after falling through tree downfall and getting impaled by
>a pointy dry branch while hidden in the downfall. If he is that
>concerned about his safety, maybe he should practce dual hiking: go with
>a friend.

I don't even like going with someone else to a museum. We're never on
the same pace. But I have no friends who want to hike during a weekday,
who aren't in much better shape than I am. Plus they dont' want to stop
and look at the bugs and leaves as much as I do.

>The same ruleapplies with scuba diving. Don't rely on a
>phone to save your life, plus even if the phone did notify someone just
>how long will it take them, or someone they contact (police, forestry
>service) to get to you? I have to wonder if micky's real intent for
>location tracking by phone is he got lost, but then he has his phone to
>guide him out (as long as there is a cell tower around, and one that
>carries his cellular carrier).

On the hikes planned so far, I'll be no more than a half mile from a
street at any time.

I did get "lost" in the woods one time. A girlfriend and I were driving
by Soldiers Delight, in Baltimroe county and it was a warm late fall
day, and it was 4 or 4:30 and I wanted to see a different side of her so
I suggested a walk. I chose the east side of Deer Park Road because it's
flat and certainly within her ability. And I'd never done that part
before. It IS flat and it's boring and after a while I lost track of
what direction we were going and suddenly it was getting dark, and we
had brought nothing with us, no compass, no flashlight, and cell phones
didn't exist yet (There were mobile phones as big as a half-gallon of
milk). But I did what I would do now, just pick a direction and stick
to it so that eventually I would reach a street. My sense of direction
is adequate that if I'm paying attention I won't get turned to the side.
And it was totally dark except some house lights in the distance when we
emerged from the woods, and it turned out we were on the far side of
them from where I aimed. We had to hitchike back to the car, which was
not hard.

I'll never be that careless again. Even though the actual risk was
never that great.

And if my phone and google maps broke, and the sun was not bright enough
to determine direction, and the moss was on vacation, I'd get out of the
woods the same way now, or I'd just follow the stream until it crossed a
road.

>
>Of course, all of this requires micky to be within range of a cell tower
>to employ his phone to locate him or call/text for help. micky isn't
>hiking very far from civilization, so he probably doesn't need a
>satellite phone (no cell towers needed, but still need to reach a comm
>satellite) or shortwave transceiver. Doesn't take much for me to hike
>in the state parks to end up out of cell tower range. Hell, I went to
>wedding at a woodland resort, and we didn't get cell coverage until we
>started to drive into town. Not sure where micky is going "hiking" that
>won't take him out of cell tower range. Despite the cell maps that
>carriers provide, their coverage is not what they claim. My area is

Indeed. First I bought this phone in Europe and afaict now, if you buy
a fairly expensive pho;ne it will have channels 1,2,3, and 4 among
others. But mine was the cheapst Samsung I've seen, Galaxy A30, has
only 2 or 3 of those, I forget, and is missing a very popular USA band.

I went on a crummmy little hike a few weeks ago in Carroll County, west
of here, because it looked so good on the web, but it turned out to be a
county park mostly used by horse riders with wide grassy boring paths,
and while I was there I found that I had no cellular service, in the
middle of Carroll County, only 60 miles from "our nation's capitol". I
did have GPS however and the park even had an online map that one could
dl and with a particular free app, it wold work to show one's location
on ThAT map using the GPS. How cool.

I have another phone now but I haven't swtiched to using it. I bought
it for a trip around southern Florida, but that was postponed because of
Corona. Maybe in September.

>shown as heavily covered by multiple carriers, and the cell towers are
>about a mile, or less, away. Yet I live near the river, and the towers
>are on the cliffs or hills, so signal strength is poor at my home.
>That's why I don't rely solely on my cell phone as my home phone. I
>could build a tower to mount a cell repeater, but it would take a long
>time for ROI on that cost to offset a landline cost. Just because cell
>towers are close doesn't mandate they are usable where you are.

True.

In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 20:05:58 -0400, micky
<NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

>In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 15:48:59 -0000 (UTC), Chris
><ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>>> What's a good app for someone else to use to find my phone?
>>>
>>> I've thought for a while that I should have an app that would help me,
>>> or someone, find my phone if it were stolen. But that was very low
>>> priority.
>>>
>>> Now I have a specific need that will help you all recommend something
>>> even more appropriate.
>>>
>>>
>>> I want to go hiking by myself along the streams in Baltimore and
>>> Baltimore County. Through woods with roots and logs and rocks to trip
>>> on, rivulets to cross**. I wouldn't be more than a half mile from a
>>> street, but I know my friend is going to be concerned that I could fall
>>> and break my leg or hit my head and spend a week lying there. I have
>>> things to do and don't want to spend a week in the woods.
>>>
>>> So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
>>> then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
>>> be able to find me from the phone's lccation.
>>>
>>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
>>> app I want. What do I want?
>>
>>Just share your location with her temporarily via google maps. Then she can
>>see where you are at any point for the next X hours where X is specified by
>>you.
>>https://www.usethistip.com/temporarily-share-location-using-google-maps.html
>>
>>No special app required.
>
>This looks pretty good.
>
>It never occurred to me to tap on my own blue dot.
>
>Hmm. Even after tapping More, it only shows 8 choices for who to share
>with, most of them from when I was out of town. The friend I plan to
>use is in my address book, and I'll have to try to figure out how to add
>her to this list.
>
>But I think this will do fine.
>
>Thanks, and thanks all.

So, how to I connect a contact in my contact list to a google account.

When I google this question, I get loads of hits about syncrhonizing my
contacts, but a) I have nothing to synchronize with, b) I only want this
one contact to have a google account, and she does have a gmail address.

So how do I connect her? I took her entry in my contact book and added
her email address to it, but it didn't change what follows:

It says at the end of this narrative,
"Share via link?
This contact isn't connected to a google account. To share your
real-time location, we will send a link. People with this link will be
able to see your location."

I don't really know wha this means, but I have the feeling it would be
simpler for her and for me if she were "connected to a google acount",
and she *has* a gmail address. How do I connect her? (Only polite
answers, please.)

To get to this point:

I tapped the blue dot,
Tapped Share your location,
My friend wasn't in the first list, just 8 of my contacts and I
couldn't figure out what they had in common.
Tapped "more" and they were all there, but in a slightly different
font from what I usually see when I tap the Contacts app. Stopped to
think about it.

Next time
I noticed at the top of the list, it says Type a name, phone-number,
or email
I called her and got her Google address,
I typed that in. (Now it shows in the list of 8, or maybe it always
did.)

But it still gives the same message, isn't connected to a google
account.

What to do?

micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
> In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 20:05:58 -0400, micky
> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>
>> In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 15:48:59 -0000 (UTC), Chris
>> <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
>>>> then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
>>>> be able to find me from the phone's lccation.
>>>>
>>>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
>>>> app I want. What do I want?
>>>
>>> Just share your location with her temporarily via google maps. Then she can
>>> see where you are at any point for the next X hours where X is specified by
>>> you.
>>> https://www.usethistip.com/temporarily-share-location-using-google-maps.html
>>>
>>> No special app required.
>>
>> This looks pretty good.
>>
>> It never occurred to me to tap on my own blue dot.
>>
>> Hmm. Even after tapping More, it only shows 8 choices for who to share
>> with, most of them from when I was out of town. The friend I plan to
>> use is in my address book, and I'll have to try to figure out how to add
>> her to this list.
>>
>> But I think this will do fine.
>>
>> Thanks, and thanks all.
>
> So, how to I connect a contact in my contact list to a google account.

You either need to sync your phone's contacts with your google account or
add her manually to your google contacts.
https://contacts.google.com/

> When I google this question, I get loads of hits about syncrhonizing my
> contacts, but a) I have nothing to synchronize with, b) I only want this
> one contact to have a google account, and she does have a gmail address.
>
> So how do I connect her? I took her entry in my contact book and added
> her email address to it, but it didn't change what follows:
>
>
> It says at the end of this narrative,
> "Share via link?
> This contact isn't connected to a google account. To share your
> real-time location, we will send a link. People with this link will be
> able to see your location."

My guess is that if you send her the link she can use it to login to google
and see your location.

In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 16 May 2021 08:52:35 -0000 (UTC), Chris
<ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:

>micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>> In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 20:05:58 -0400, micky
>> <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>>
>>> In comp.mobile.android, on Thu, 13 May 2021 15:48:59 -0000 (UTC), Chris
>>> <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> micky <NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> So I thought I'd give her a time that I'll be done, and if I don't call
>>>>> then and she remembers I was going to, she or the police or someone will
>>>>> be able to find me from the phone's lccation.
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't know what app will do this. I don't even know what category of
>>>>> app I want. What do I want?
>>>>
>>>> Just share your location with her temporarily via google maps. Then she can
>>>> see where you are at any point for the next X hours where X is specified by
>>>> you.
>>>> https://www.usethistip.com/temporarily-share-location-using-google-maps.html
>>>>
>>>> No special app required.
>>>
>>> This looks pretty good.
>>>
>>> It never occurred to me to tap on my own blue dot.
>>>
>>> Hmm. Even after tapping More, it only shows 8 choices for who to share
>>> with, most of them from when I was out of town. The friend I plan to
>>> use is in my address book, and I'll have to try to figure out how to add
>>> her to this list.
>>>
>>> But I think this will do fine.
>>>
>>> Thanks, and thanks all.
>>
>> So, how to I connect a contact in my contact list to a google account.
>
>You either need to sync your phone's contacts with your google account or
>add her manually to your google contacts.
>https://contacts.google.com/
>
>> When I google this question, I get loads of hits about syncrhonizing my
>> contacts, but a) I have nothing to synchronize with, b) I only want this
>> one contact to have a google account, and she does have a gmail address.
>>
>> So how do I connect her? I took her entry in my contact book and added
>> her email address to it, but it didn't change what follows:
>>
>>
>> It says at the end of this narrative,
>> "Share via link?
>> This contact isn't connected to a google account. To share your
>> real-time location, we will send a link. People with this link will be
>> able to see your location."
>
>My guess is that if you send her the link she can use it to login to google
>and see your location.

Thanks for replying. I found a page that distinguished between those
with google accounts (as recorded on *my* phone), and those without.

Those with the account would see some marker on their google map showing
where I am, whereas those without would, as you say, get a link, that
would open a version of google maps in the browser. In this case, the
second choice, while not as elegant, is probably better, because she can
send that link to the police.

With the map IIUC she'd have to tap on the exact spot and copy the
coordinates and send them. She could do that, but I think it's a
couple steps longer.

Apparently the link would also always show my current position, and I'm
going to send myself my own location today and see if that's the case.
(You know, my phone surely knows that I have an account and that I'm
logged in, and when I try to send this to myself, it acts no differently
from sending it to someone else.)

https://support.google.com/accounts/thread/14959595/this-contact-isn-t-connected-to-a-google-account-when-trying-to-share-my-location?hl=en

In a way this is so silly of me. I'd have to either be unconscious, or
have broken my leg AND my phone, to need her help. I'm much more at
risk at home where if someone calls and I don't answer, they wait a day
or two or forever for me to call them back, and where there are plenty
of things to trip on, including stairs. I think even being unconscious
is more likely at home where there are more hard tables, counters, and
door frames to hit one's head on than in the woods. But the image of
being unconscious in my home or even the back yard** is not scary but in
the woods somewhere is. It's warmer and drier at home.

**In the front yard, the mailman would notice me on Monday, if I get
mail that day.

In comp.mobile.android, on Sun, 16 May 2021 11:31:39 -0400, micky
<NONONOmisc07@fmguy.com> wrote:

>
>Those with the account would see some marker on their google map showing
>where I am, whereas those without would, as you say, get a link, that
>would open a version of google maps in the browser. In this case, the
>second choice, while not as elegant, is probably better, because she can
>send that link to the police.

Well, I'm not sure anymore there is really a difference.

When I did this for myself, I got a link that I texted to myself, and I
clicked on it it and it brought up, not the web browser, but the google
maps screen with a different heading so I'd know I was watching someone
else.

And indeed my doppelganger moved as I walked.

So this is the best of both worlds, a link and a dot on google maps.

Of course this was to myself which might be different.

OTOH, I don't make it into the first list, only to More.
OT3H, my friend is now in the first list and she (along with another guy
I must have clicked on by accident) no longer have a phone number
underneath their icons but the word Maps, and they have a llittle google
maps pushpin in the bottom right corner of their image. OH, darn, that
pushpin must mean they are in the special category, and indeed, it no
longer says about her that it will send a link. So after convincing
myself that a link was better, and then todya deciding it had the best
of both worlds, for her I'm back to just the map.

I suppose I could take her email address out of her listing. That might
get me back, but I'm not positive the linke would work for her like it
works for me, displaying google maps in the map app. I sent her the
link I had sent myself.