I’ve switched some default apps in Android 9, but they’re occasionally resetting back to the preinstalled system options. How do I prevent it and why does it even happen?


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Try disabling / uninstalling the system apps in question (make sure you’ve installed an alternative first!).
You should really install another OS or get a new phone. Your current OS (Android 9) has been out of support for 4 years now.
If you never go outside, the chances of stepping in a turd are none.
The device is clearly connected to the internet. They are going outside. Stupid analogy.
You don’t get malware simply by being connected to the internet.
If you always stay inside i.e. don’t install anymore apps, stay on known websites, use your own mobile data, you have to be targeted specifically. Most people are just not important enough for the latter.
That’s how people who just want some basic functions from their phone get to skip the planned obsolescence cycle.
And here’s a vulnerability thats unpatched on Android 9 which can be taken advantage of by literally any app. It even works in some older Android web browsers.
TapTrap
You want to skip planned obsolescence? Install Lineage, Iode, or /e/. They all still receive updates for devices that have not been officially supported for years.
Dogs and cats can live in that same home, so yeah you could still step on a turd.
It’s you decision to bring them in your house. You don’t have to.
Stuff like this drove me nuts. I was checking installed apps sorted by install date periodically so I could catch and uninstall apps I didn’t install.
https://grapheneos.org/install/web took 15 minutes and I was free from all that. Only thing I miss is tap to pay via google pay.
I wish I could use Graphene but I’m afraid I won’t manage rooting a Honor
Once I tried rooting an old ZTE and even then I failed
Oh, sorry. Your screenshot said Pixel launcher so I thought you were using a pixel. The other reply has some options so hopefully there’s a way for you to break free.
I couldn’t make a post without a picture for some reason so I’ve attached random pic Anyway, thanks for advice, I will give Graphene a try if I manage to get a Pixel
Note that GrapheneOS (currently) only supports Pixels. I assume the comment assumed it was a Pixel due to the Google apps and the Pixel Launcher.
Since you don’t have a Pixel, you can look at other degoogled Android ROMs like LineageOS (compatible with lots of devices), iodeOS (fork of Lineage with additional privacy bits and a parental control feature), and e/OS (Lineage fork with a custom iOS-like launcher, tied with Murena services).
And I believe that installing ROMs do not require rooting devices for devices that allow you unlock the bootloader. Not sure about your specific device, it might require rooting to do that.
Some carrier SIM’s/eSIM’s install and force app defaults when inserted for the first time, are you sim swapping at all?
Wouldn’t be surprised if some carrier sims repeatedly update system defaults, because cellular carriers are shitbags like that
Fuckin crazy that I read the phrase “sim swapping” in your comment right as a podcast episode from almost a decade ago is describing someone being sim swapped without using that term.
I’m not sim-swapping at all, but I have recently placed my phone into faraday cage, maybe that was the trigger?
I can’t imagine that it would be related. Losing cell service doesn’t trigger the SIM OOTB (out of the box) setup process that would reset appdefaults.
Either your carrier is doing some dumb shit and force resetting defaults or the phone is just cursed lol
Shit like this used to happen constantly when I bought a phone provided by my carrier. Stopped as soon as I bought an unlocked phone from the manufacturer.
It’s almost always your carrier pulling stupid stunts like this and not Google/Android.
Carrier-locked phones are not common in my region. Maybe it’s Huawei’s tricks?