I have an old Android phone, SIM removed. We use that phone as a baby
monitor so need it to be able to communicate via LAN. With phone on,
Google sends 2FA authorisation messages to that phone. I suspect
removing that phone from my Google account will kill app updates. The
simple solution seems to be to a method that allows LAN access but
enables toggling of internet access. Can someone recommend an app or
is there an alternative wayaround the problem?

--
Steve (--)

I filter using XNEWS.
If you expect a response and don't see it,
don't take it personally.

Yakker wrote:

> I suspect
> removing that phone from my Google account will kill app updates.

Why would removing the account from the phone do anything like you said?

We proved, long ago, with extensive tests, that Google Play Store auto
updates apps even _without_ any account setup on the Android phone.
<https://i.postimg.cc/HsXKj7WK/updateallapps01.jpg>

Even so, you can install & autoupdate apps without the Google Play Store.
<https://i.postimg.cc/ZR25xq5Q/aurora03.jpg>

I haven't had a Google Account on my phone in years, and it works fine.
<https://i.postimg.cc/NG5pHyBx/aurora10.jpg>

The only thing I lose by not having a Google Account on the phone is
tracking.

Andy Burnelli wrote:

> We proved, long ago, with extensive tests, that Google Play Store auto
> updates apps even _without_ any account setup on the Android phone.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/HsXKj7WK/updateallapps01.jpg>

BTW, I test both Apple & Android (& Windows) devices unlike others do, so I
find out stuff that isn't necessarily known to the average user, and, often,
which isn't even published in any Mothership advertising web page.

My tests showed, in addition to proving that the Google Play Store updates
apps without a login (which we already tested extensively), what we found
out in our tests is that Google Play Store only updates _some_ apps
(whether or not you have an account associated with the Android phone).
<https://i.postimg.cc/kgBB3mq0/updateallapps05.jpg>

To updates _all_ apps automatically, we tested a bunch of apps specifically
designed to do that, all of which worked (although we found that the actual
number of apps updated by each of those utilities differed slightly).
<https://i.postimg.cc/fy8TpHFW/updateallapps06.jpg>

In summary, whether or not you have an account associated with the Android
phone, Google Play Store still automatically updates the apps, as does the
Google Play Store FOSS clients, as do plenty of other update utilities.

All you need to do is set the switch.
--
Every post to Usenet should add value so that everyone benefits from the
knowledge imparted and from the effort expended to teach people details.

Yakker <NoMail@isgoodmail.com> wrote:
> I have an old Android phone, SIM removed. We use that phone as a baby
> monitor so need it to be able to communicate via LAN. With phone on,
> Google sends 2FA authorisation messages to that phone. I suspect
> removing that phone from my Google account will kill app updates. The
> simple solution seems to be to a method that allows LAN access but
> enables toggling of internet access. Can someone recommend an app or
> is there an alternative wayaround the problem?

I don't understand.

Why would Google be sending 2FA authorisation messages to the phone if
you just leave that phone logged in (as is the normal situation for any
Android device, phone or tablet)?

And why can't you you leave Internet access on (but not used)?

Also - AFAIK/AFAIR - you can prevent subsequent 2FA (actually 2-Step
Verification) - by ticking the "Don't ask again on this computer." box
during the verification. (I've never tried/done that on a phone/tablet,
only on a computer.)

As to app updates: Updates of *which* apps? The baby monitor app?
Other apps? Are these free - as in no-charge - apps?

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> Why would Google be sending 2FA authorisation messages to the phone if
> you just leave that phone logged in

whenever I login to any google web-property on a PC (which is frequent as I
purge cookies regularly) it sends the 2FA request to both my phone and my tablet.

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote:
> Frank Slootweg wrote:
>
> > Why would Google be sending 2FA authorisation messages to the phone if
> > you just leave that phone logged in
>
> whenever I login to any google web-property on a PC (which is frequent
> as I purge cookies regularly) it sends the 2FA request to both my
> phone and my tablet.

That's probably because you have *not* ticked the "Don't ask again on
this computer." box on that PC. (Or it that status kept by a local
cookie, instead of on Google's servers?)

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> whenever I login to any google web-property on a PC (which is frequent
>> as I purge cookies regularly) it sends the 2FA request to both my
>> phone and my tablet.
>
> That's probably because you have *not* ticked the "Don't ask again on
> this computer." box on that PC. (Or it that status kept by a local
> cookie, instead of on Google's servers?)

Yes the "don't ask" requires a cookie, so it only takes effect for roughly 24
hours for me (I'm fine with that).

Andy Burns wrote:
> Frank Slootweg wrote:
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>> whenever I login to any google web-property on a PC (which is frequent
>>> as I purge cookies regularly) it sends the 2FA request to both my
>>> phone and my tablet.
>>
>> That's probably because you have *not* ticked the "Don't ask again on
>> this computer." box on that PC. (Or it that status kept by a local
>> cookie, instead of on Google's servers?)
>
> Yes the "don't ask" requires a cookie, so it only takes effect for
> roughly 24 hours for me (I'm fine with that).

Install a cookie manager add-on and you can change the lifespan
of any cookie. Very convenient.

-p

Piet wrote:

> Andy Burns wrote:
>
>> Yes the "don't ask" requires a cookie, so it only takes effect for
>> roughly 24 hours for me (I'm fine with that).
>
> Install a cookie manager add-on and you can change the lifespan
> of any cookie. Very convenient.

I used to use one, then firefox killed the add-on with webextensions, not been
bothered since, what do people use?

Andy Burns wrote:
> Piet wrote:
>> Andy Burns wrote:
>>> Yes the "don't ask" requires a cookie, so it only takes effect for
>>> roughly 24 hours for me (I'm fine with that).
>>
>> Install a cookie manager add-on and you can change the lifespan
>> of any cookie. Very convenient.
>
> I used to use one, then firefox killed the add-on with webextensions,
> not been bothered since, what do people use?

In FF I use Cookie Quick Manager. Works reasonable, but not
as convenient as the old "real" add-ons.

-p

Piet <www.godfatherof.nl/@opt-in.invalid> wrote:
> Andy Burns wrote:
> > Frank Slootweg wrote:
> >> Andy Burns wrote:
> >>> whenever I login to any google web-property on a PC (which is frequent
> >>> as I purge cookies regularly) it sends the 2FA request to both my
> >>> phone and my tablet.
> >>
> >> That's probably because you have *not* ticked the "Don't ask again on
> >> this computer." box on that PC. (Or it that status kept by a local
> >> cookie, instead of on Google's servers?)
> >
> > Yes the "don't ask" requires a cookie, so it only takes effect for
> > roughly 24 hours for me (I'm fine with that).
>
> Install a cookie manager add-on and you can change the lifespan
> of any cookie. Very convenient.

AFAICT, the lifespan of the cookie is not an/the issue, because Andy
Burns deletes them ("I purge cookies regularly").

I do not purge cookies regularly and I don't get 2 Step Verification
requests from Google. So I think it's the (non-)existence of the cookie,
not it's lifetime, which is the issue.

Frank Slootweg wrote:

> AFAICT, the lifespan of the cookie is not an/the issue, because Andy
> Burns deletes them ("I purge cookies regularly").
>
> I do not purge cookies regularly and I don't get 2 Step Verification
> requests from Google. So I think it's the (non-)existence of the cookie,
> not it's lifetime, which is the issue.

I think my settings turn all cookies into session-only, rather than timed
expiry, then I quit the browser regularly hence closing the session, so I don't
actually purge them, but the get cleaned-out, I think if I knew which cookie was
the "don't ask" one I could set it to e.g. a couple of years

That was back before GDPR cookie warnings, for that I use I Don't Care About
Cookies extension to just hide the warnings.