Music App

[Ted Myers]

I have a music app on my Android Phone but no music installed. The app cannot be removed or updated. Can you help?
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[StuartR]

Most apps like that are installed by the phone manufacturer. I just ignore them.

[JoeP]

You'd have to "root" your phone to completely take over. I'd not recommend doing that. See How to root an Android phone for more details.

[BobH]

I understand Ted's complaint. Mine is a bit over the top, perhaps. I'd like to be able to turn my cell phone's radio off. In fact, I think it should be a law that all cell phone devices have an off switch that kills the radio signaling capability. Why is it necessary to have your device ping every tower that it passes using up battery power for no purpose that serves me? Why shouldn't the consumer have the right to shut the damned things off?

[Ted Myers]

The phone in question is an OPPO A5 2020 which I got second hand. I did a factory reset and everything was finally set to my liking. The music App appeared out of the blue after I had been using it for about 8 months. It has been disabled only because it is unable to be removed. Thanks for your input.

[StuartR]

Putting your phone into flight mode should turn off the radio completely

[ChrisGreaves]

Putting your phone into flight mode should turn off the radio completely

Hi Stuart.
I am correct in interpreting this that "Flight Mode" or (in my Android case) "Airplane Mode On" means that my walks around Bonavista cannot be tracked by anyone (that you know of)?
Thanks, Chris

[StuartR]

Yes. That is correct

[ChrisGreaves]

Yes. That is correct

Thanks Stuart.

[Leif]

...I'd like to be able to turn my cell phone's radio off. In fact, I think it should be a law that all cell phone devices have an off switch that kills the radio signaling capability.

As Stuart has pointed out, switching to Airplane or Flight mode will disable all wireless connection.

Why is it necessary to have your device ping every tower that it passes using up battery power for no purpose that serves me?

So that your network knows where to route any incoming call or message to you. If you don't need that facility, power your mobile off and save even more battery life!

[BobH]

Putting your phone into flight mode should turn off the radio completely

Do you know if fight mode persists after powering the device off?

So far, all my tests have shown the phone to continue to ping cell towers as evidenced by attempts to call or text from another device. I have to admit that I don't know if I tried the tests whilst in airplane mode.

[Leif]

Do you know if fight mode persists after powering the device off?

So far, all my tests have shown the phone to continue to ping cell towers as evidenced by attempts to call or text from another device.

Can you clarify what tests you carried out, and how you know your mobile "pinged" network repeaters? I'm curious!

[HansV]

On my Android phone, I enabled airplane mode, then powered the phone down. Airplane mode was still active when I turned it on again.
A quick search suggests that it's the same for iPhone, but I cannot test that myself.

[BobH]

Do you know if fight mode persists after powering the device off?

So far, all my tests have shown the phone to continue to ping cell towers as evidenced by attempts to call or text from another device.

Can you clarify what tests you carried out, and how you know your mobile "pinged" network repeaters? I'm curious!

My test methodology was rudimentary (in keeping with my intellectual limitations ). I turned the phone off and called the phone from my wife's phone and even had her do it when I was miles away. Because my phone rang, I made the inference that it was pinging cell towers in order for the connection to work. I even placed my phone in aluminum (aluminium if you must ) foil and a so-called signal blocking folder and placed all inside a steel box; yet I still received those phone calls. Of course the fallacy might have been in my inference.

I shall have to repeat those tests making certain that Airplane Mode is turned ON. I'm also considering lining that steel box with sheet lead, from a roofing or plumbing supply house.

I'm not so much paranoid as a very private individual who thinks that the passive tracking of my movements when I have my phone is too much of an invasion and shouldn't be passively accepted.

[ChrisGreaves]

... I'm also considering lining that steel box with sheet lead, from a roofing or plumbing supply house.

I searched for "how to shield phone with metal" and came up with this page.

But as I waited for the page to load I thought "Aren't phone signals passed from microwave towers, and isn't a microwave oven powered by microwaves, and aren't the microwaves not supposed to escape from the microwave oven?"
So consider:-
Step 1: unplug the microwave power cord from the wall outlet (better safe than sorry)
Step 2: place phone inside oven and close door.

N.B. Have some other Lounger confirm this. My knowledge of electronics, especially microwaves, is less than yours
Cheers, Chris

[StuartR]

Microwave ovens prevent the emission of a specific frequency. Mobile phone networks use a different frequency

[PaulB]

My test methodology was rudimentary (in keeping with my intellectual limitations ). I turned the phone off and called the phone from my wife's phone and even had her do it when I was miles away. Because my phone rang, I made the inference that it was pinging cell towers in order for the connection to work. I even placed my phone in aluminum (aluminium if you must ) foil and a so-called signal blocking folder and placed all inside a steel box; yet I still received those phone calls. Of course the fallacy might have been in my inference.

I tried to replicate your tests. My results are as follows:

iPhone on, Airplane mode off. Call from landline connected.

iPhone on, Airplane mode on. Call from landline did not connect.

iPhone off, Airplane mode on. Call from landline did not connect.

iPhone off, Airplane mode off. Call from landline did not connect.

You may not be using an iPhone but, if you are, I do not understand why your phone rings when it is off. Why it rings while in your version of a Faraday cage is perplexing.

[ChrisGreaves]

... Mobile phone networks use a different frequency

Thank you Stuart.
@Bob: " My knowledge of electronics, especially microwaves, is less than yours". My knowledge of microwaves is almost less than my own knowledge .
Cheers, Chris

[Leif]

I turned the phone off and called the phone from my wife's phone and even had her do it when I was miles away. Because my phone rang, I made the inference that it was pinging cell towers in order for the connection to work.

My only undertanding of what is happening then is that, by definition, your phone can not be "turned off".
(My interpretation of "turned off" being that it was powered down.)

Can you share the make and model?

[ChrisGreaves]

... Why is it necessary to have your device ping every tower that it passes using up battery power for no purpose that serves me? ...

@BobH See also phone battery dying?
Cheers, Chris