Suggestions

[thewh1teagle]

Hi!
Looks like a great app
I have two suggestions for features

1. Add option for rooted devices to turn on and off GPS.
2. Add command to play sound on the device in case you have lost it in a place close to you.
3. Add option for secret starting command

[tranquvis]

Hi,

thank you :)
Unfortunately I will not implement, which require root permission, because I don't have the equipment for testing it.
What do you mean by "secret starting command"?

[thewh1teagle]

Hi,

thank you :)
Unfortunately I will not implement, which require root permission, because I don't have the equipment for testing it.
What do you mean by "secret starting command"?

I can test for you.

secret starting message -
additional security -
you will choose secret message for every sms message for control the device.
the command should be executed only if the message contains the secret text too.

[tranquvis]

Ah, for example "rc my-secret-123 enable bluetooth"?

[thewh1teagle]

@tranquvis
exactly.
This will prevent possible for control you android by phone number spoofing.

[tranquvis]

I think #14 is exactly what you want . If so, please add a thumbs up to it.

[tranquvis]

What would be the use case for "Add option for rooted devices to turn on and off GPS."?

[thewh1teagle]

What would be the use case for "Add option for rooted devices to turn on and off GPS."?

good question.
Imagine you lost your device and the GPS is turned off.
generally you will not be able to find it "remotely".

Another use case:
there's no internet - the cellular internet is turned off and there's no wifi. + the GPS is turned off.

Now the solution -
You send sms command to turn on the GPS, search for GPS signals, send the long lat and then turn off the GPS (for saving battery).

What you can do with it more?
You can take any old Android phone and turn it into cheap GPS tracker.

[tranquvis]

The important question for me is: How many users do still turn off/on the GPS?

In modern android you can't switch GPS anymore. There is something called "Location" in the settings, which a user can switch, but I think this can't be automated. I couldn't find any api regarding that (see https://developer.android.com/training/location/change-location-settings).

Why don't you simply keep GPS on?

[thewh1teagle]

@tranquvis
I never keep the GPS on when not in use because it takes a lot of battery
You can implement it easily but as I said to turn off / on the GPS programmatically you will need to root permission
Look here how I did it
https://github.com/thewh1teagle/rcya/blob/main/lib/main.dart#L107

About how many users will be able to change the GPS remotely, idk. I think one is enough.

[tranquvis]

Since you are also a developer, what do you think about adding this GPS feature yourself? 😉
Just fork the repo and create a pull request.

[thewh1teagle]

@tranquvis
I don't have a lot of experience in android development, and not at all in java,
But I can give it a try

[tranquvis]

A lot is copy and paste. You can ask me any time if you need help at the development 😃
Some hints to start:

1. Add a class for the new Module and two Command classes (one for enabling and one for disabling Location).
2. The actual logic for disabling and enabling GPS goes into the execute method of the commands.
3. Add unit tests. You can use them to test your code, without having to care about sms. You need 3 classes for the unit tests (one for the module and two for the commands).

[TupambaeNet]

I actually posted this part in the XMPP request.

About GPS not being possible to turn off in newer android versions:

Personally I find that even scary and would probably never buy a device that can't turn it off.
It's a safety and privacy issue in my opinion!
My GPS is always turned off unless I really want to make a picture with GPS or look something up in OSM or googleMaps. My cellphones have all google apps turned off by default and when I start my phone for the first time I never accept wifi-hotspot and start them the first time without SIM card so I can switch to f-droid once initial startup is done and all google apps (except maps) are put to rest.
Yet the day I need to find my stolen phone in my stolen vehicle I would be delighted to send it a "turn notificationtonethingy off/turn GPS on/send me location data" message by SMS (or XMPP)!

---

About:

Add command to play sound on the device in case you have lost it in a place close to you.

Actualy SMS "normaly" plays a sound already if received.
Also KDEconnect solves this problem in some cases by wifi.
In any case it would be neat if that sms command would also integrate:

• full volume
• playing a specific tune or song and for a certain time, as the phone might be "somewhere" near or be lost in the wilderness lately. Restricted time or battery drainage level or percentage reduction could be helpful.