Root Saving an APK Using a Titanium Backup File??

[scudder]

So I have some sort of battery status APK file (widget) that I installed on my EVO within a couple days after I got it back in June. I wanted to share or otherwise provide a friend with the APK to install on his phone, however, the app is NO LONGER available....

Soooo, what I'd thinking I MIGHT be able to do is the following:

I have the APK backed up using Titanium Backup Pro. I can see the file when I mount my SD Card in sdcard/TitaniumBackup (my backup directory for Ti Pro). There are 3 files....one with extension .properies (probably settings) and two other .gz archive files...one .tar.gz and the other .apk.gz.

Can I save the .apk.gz file and extract the APK from the .apk.gz file on my desktop so that I have THE APK FILE which I can THEN sent to my friend to install on his phone? Or is this Titanium Backup .apk.gz file a bit more than just a gz compressed apk file that I can use as simply as I hope??

THANKS!!

 

[isaemm]

Have you tried sending it to your friend using the app share feature? That should work just fine.

 

[scudder]

Have you tried sending it to your friend using the app share feature? That should work just fine.

Been there, done that Problem is that the "App Sharing" option merely sends a link to the Market...and the app isn't there anymore. It doesn't share or attach the ACTUAL APP, just a link for downloading...

Anyway, what I did a little while ago was decompress the .gz file and left myself with what I HOPE is a viable APK file that I can then send to him. I'm gonna throw the APK on my SD card and see if will install.

I'll keep you (and anyone else) posted on what I find...

 

[scudder]

Been there, done that Problem is that the "App Sharing" option merely sends a link to the Market...and the app isn't there anymore. It doesn't share or attach the ACTUAL APP, just a link for downloading...

Anyway, what I did a little while ago was decompress the .gz file and left myself with what I HOPE is a viable APK file that I can then send to him. I'm gonna throw the APK on my SD card and see if will install.

I'll keep you (and anyone else) posted on what I find...

I'm back already. Well, seems IT WORKED!! Answered my own question. Decompressed the .apk.gz file to just the .apk...threw it on my SD card...opened the file with my Astro file manager and it was recognized as an APK file that I could install! As a matter of fact, Astro was able to associate THE actual app icon while I was browsing the apk on the SD card.

So, appears we're good to go...hope someone else can use this info (though probably MANY other smarter people knew about already...I'm just proud I figured it out myself!)

 

[Mr. Ed]

interesting. it's always been said that this "can't" be done haha

glad you got it working but be careful...many times an app is no longer in the market for a good reason

 

[akazabam]

I agree with Mr. Ed. You're walking on thin ice by doing this, even if the app was free to begin with. That being said, I've heard this "it can't be done" thing before, but, as you found out, there really isn't anything stopping you. There's another (potentially easier) method of doing this. As it's obviously possible to do things you shouldn't do, I think we'll just leave it at that.

 

[scudder]

I agree with Mr. Ed. You're walking on thin ice by doing this, even if the app was free to begin with. That being said, I've heard this "it can't be done" thing before, but, as you found out, there really isn't anything stopping you. There's another (potentially easier) method of doing this. As it's obviously possible to do things you shouldn't do, I think we'll just leave it at that.

Well, to clarify, I went as far as decompressing the .gz, taking the .apk and loading it on my phone, browsing with Astro and "CONFIRMED" that it was an installable apk file, i.e., RECOGNIZED by Astro as such, but did NOT try to install...didn't need to because it was already on my phone.

Why the general warning about an app no longer in the Market?? Is that always a bad sign?? I might have gone for YEARS not realizing this app was pulled from the Market if I wasn't asked for it by my friend who no longer had it installed on his phone with a full wipe/factory reset. Couldn't it simply be pulled from the Market because the developer doesn't devote any more time to updates??

This wasn't some sort of fugazi hack/mod app. Was legit and worked...DOES continue to work fine...(by the way, the app was "Battery Status Pro" and apk file battery.battery-1.apk...it was a notification bar indicator of battery percentage)

 

[akazabam]

It's just one of those things where developers can pull things from the market, and request that people stop redistributing it.

 

[scudder]

It's just one of those things where developers can pull things from the market, and request that people stop redistributing it.

Oh, OK. I just think of it like I did with my ChompSMS recently. I had v4.9 and then upgraded to v5.1 I think and it had these HORRIBLE full-page adds. The version on the Market was, obviously, the current one with the ads but I downgraded to the previous version until the ad presentation was changed.

There was never anything WRONG with the battery app I had...just wasn't available anymore. Just wanted to keep the working, but old version.

I THINK that the app was actually updated in a way that it was bundled with a whoooooole bunch of other functions that were either paid and/or what I did not need. I don't really recall what I found when I looked into it missing in the Market.

 

[akazabam]

I think all of us have probably used titanium backup to save older versions of an app before in order to restore them after updating. I've done it. I think the issue is with spreading around previous versions of apps or apps that are no longer available. You're likely to get in trouble for posting something like that around here. Obviously, don't do it with paid apps, but that kind of goes without saying, and I know you're not doing that.

 

[scudder]

I think all of us have probably used titanium backup to save older versions of an app before in order to restore them after updating. I've done it. I think the issue is with spreading around previous versions of apps or apps that are no longer available. You're likely to get in trouble for posting something like that around here. Obviously, don't do it with paid apps, but that kind of goes without saying, and I know you're not doing that.

Ok, ok...not I see where you're coming from. Gotcha. I thought there was s suggestion that there might be something wrong with THE APP or might give me problems using it on my phone in the future. As you said you realized, I had NO INTENTION of distributing the .apk here...just trying to get my friend's phone back to where it was before he had to, unfortunately, hard reset and wipe everything. Otherwise he would be using the app that he lost right now.

THANKS for the concern and heads up...

 

[akazabam]

Ok, ok...not I see where you're coming from. Gotcha. I thought there was s suggestion that there might be something wrong with THE APP or might give me problems using it on my phone in the future. As you said you realized, I had NO INTENTION of distributing the .apk here...just trying to get my friend's phone back to where it was before he had to, unfortunately, hard reset and wipe everything. Otherwise he would be using the app that he lost right now.

THANKS for the concern and heads up...

Yep, I never said you did anything wrong . You're fine, I just want to make sure you don't take your new found power and do something you probably shouldn't . I think you already understand, that though. As for potential problems doing this, you might run into issues with restoring app + data (if you'd done it through titanium, but that would depend completely on the app. Some apps just don't like it. Just installing the apk that way should always work fine.

 

[scudder]

Yep, I never said you did anything wrong . You're fine, I just want to make sure you don't take your new found power and do something you probably shouldn't . I think you already understand, that though. As for potential problems doing this, you might run into issues with restoring app + data (if you'd done it through titanium, but that would depend completely on the app. Some apps just don't like it. Just installing the apk that way should always work fine.

"...absolute power corrupts, absolutely..."