Author Topic: Questions about AMS and Chrome and Turning on Accessibility Services Setting  (Read 21790 times)

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Hi,

I just installed the AMS app (version 5.0.18-9064-955eff3) and have a few questions based on what I'm seeing on my phone and what I've read in a couple of posts in this forum.

I've been using Chrome on my phone and wanted to know if AMS supports it. In AMS Settings - Web Shield, it does indicate that AMS supports Chrome. However, when I check AMS in my phone's Settings - Accessibility Services, Chrome is not listed as one of the supported browsers. Then in https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=183880.0, Filip Havlicek also reiterates Chrome is supported. However, in https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=91217.60,  Filip Havlicek also states that you need to manually enable Chrome support in the Settings of the app. I can't find anywhere in the AMS settings where I have to manually enable Chrome support.

Also, I initially had my phone's Settings - Accessibility Services turned on for AMS. However, after reading https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=183880.0 in which Filip Havlicek states you only need to turn on Settings - Accessibility Services if you have Android 6 (which I don't have. I have 4.4.2.). So, I turned off Settings - Accessibility Services. When I did this, I got the message that AMS is no longer protecting my phone.

So, my questions are

1. Is Chrome supported by AMS?
2. Do I have to manually enable Chrome support in the Settings of AMS? If so, how do I manually enable the support?
3. By turning off my phone's Settings - Accessibility Services, did I stop AMS' protection of my phone? If so, how do I reactivate protection? Do I simply turn my phone's  Settings - Accessibility Services back on, or do I have to reinstall the app?

Thank you so very much for any information you can provide.

Best regards,

mybuddy1998

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Hi,

OK, hope I'm gonna clarify it for everyone now.

If you have Android 5 or lower - you don't need Accessibility for Web Shield (it might even be bad for you), so don't enable it manually in device Settings - Accessibility Services. Just keep the Web Shield checkbox in AMS Settings - Protection enabled and you are good to go for all the browser.

If you have Android 6 or higher - you need Accessibility for Chrome support in Web Shield. This means you need two checkboxes enabled - a) Web Shield checkbox in AMS Settings - Protection and b) Chrome Support  checkbox in AMS Settings - Protection.

There are currently two issues out there that are probably confusing people:
1) The Accessibility Service has a wrong description. It's currently for Chrome only.
2) The Accessibility Service is visible even on devices with Android 5 or lower (even if they actually don't see the mentioned Chrome Support checkbox).

I will personally fix both issues on Monday. Should be in a release in a week or two. Hope that it will remove the confusion.

Filip

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Hi Filip,

Thank you so very much for your quick and extremely detailed and helpful reply. It clarified everything for me, and I hope it does so for everyone else, too.

I sincerely appreciate your personally fixing both issues so quickly. I look forward to the new release. I am very glad I installed AMS on my new cell phone!

Best regards,

mybuddy1998

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Hi,

glad it's clear now.

Fixed both issues, the accessibility service is visible until first reboot of the device though because the Android OS performs the accessibility services registration only during boot.

Filip

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Hi Filip,

Thank you so very much for fixing both issues.

I've both rebooted my phone, turned it off and on several times and updated the virus definitions since yesterday, and when I check Settings - Accessibility Services, I still see AMS listed and set to "Off". My understanding from your post is that I should no longer be seeing AMS listed. Can you please tell me what I'm doing incorrectly that is causing AMS to still be listed in Settings - Accessibility Services?

Thank you so very much for any information you can provide.

Best regards,

mybuddy1998

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Hi,

you need to wait for a release of AMS that includes the fixes :) I think it will come out next week or week after that.

Filip

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Hi Filip,

Thank you so very much for the clarification and time frame for the release of AMS that includes the fixes. I'll patiently and happily wait for the release.  :)

Best regards,

mybuddy1998

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Hi Filip,

I thought the release of the updated version of AMS might be out by now, but as I haven't had any AMS updates on my phone yet, I checked the Google Play Store to see when the last update date was. It indicates that AMS was updated on April 7th. I'm assuming this updated version contains the fixes for the accessibility services.

Since I didn't receive this update, tonight I uninstalled AMS and reinstalled it. However, I still received version 5.0.18-9064-955eff3 (the same version I had when I started this thread). Since it is the same version, AMS is still listed in Settings - Accessibility Services.

My phone is an Alps X401A Flow, and I'm running Android version 4.4.2 (KitKat). Can you please tell me:

1. If I should have gotten this update
2. If I should have gotten the update, how do I get it since uninstalling AMS and reinstalling it did not work?
3. Is this update for the fixes to the accessibility services? If not, what was it for? I'm concerned I may be missing an important update.
4. If it wasn't the update for the accessibility services, when do you anticipate the version with those fixes will be released?

Thank you so very much for any information you can provide.

Best regards,

mybuddy1998


Offline Filip Havlicek

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Hi,

I can give you answers on Tuesday at best since I don't have the data at the moment and actually have a vacation on Monday. What I can tell you is that

a) The update date on Google Play means last update to the whole profile, not just the .apk. So if we add a word to the description, it changes. (Or at least that was the case a year or two ago, I don't suspect anything changed since then.)
b) Currently released version is available to 50% of the userbase. The segmentation is done by Google so there is nothing you or we can do to include you in the half you would like to be in.

Filip

Offline Gopher John

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On my Samsung 10 S (wifi only), AMS updated to version 5.1.2-9714-d899677 a couple of days ago.  My 2 Samsung S5 phones are still on version 5.0.18-9064-955eff3.  On the previous updates, it went the same way with the cell phones lagging about 3 days or so.
AMD A6-5350M APU with Radeon HD Graphics, 8.0GB RAM, Win7 Pro SP1 64bit, IE11
i7-3610QM 2.3GHZ, 8.0GB Ram,  Nvidia GeForce GT 630M 2GB, Win7 Pro SP1 64bit, IE 11
Common to both: Avast Premium Security 19.7.2388, WinPatrol Plus, SpywareBlaster 5.5, Opera 12.18, Firefox 68.0.2, MBam Free, CCleaner

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Hi,

Filip - I hope you had a great vacation day. Thank you so very much for the quick reply and the very helpful information while you were not in the office. I sincerely appreciate knowing what Google considers an update and how Google releases a new version to the userbase. I look forward to your answers to my questions when you are back in the office.

Gopher John - Thank you so very much, too, for letting me know that you have experienced a delay between when your Samsung 10 S and 2 Samsung S5 phones have received updates in the past and what is occurring with the latest release. Hopefully, our phones will receive the latest release like your Samsung S 10 did in then near future.

Best regards,

mybuddy1998

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Hi,

sorry for the late reply. I found out that they are not included in the version that's currently available (released to 100% of the userbase yesterday), but they are in the version that will be published to the beta channel in a few days.

Filip

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Hi Filip,

Please no need to apologize.

Thank you so much for the information. I just got the same update that Gopher John got several days ago (5.1.2-9714-d899677), so, unfortunately, not the one released yesterday. Hopefully, I'll get that version soon.

Best regards,

mybuddy1998

Offline Filip Havlicek

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Hi,

that's the one, it just went from 50% of the userbase to 100% :)

Filip

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Hi Filip,

Thank you so very much for the update. I feel much better knowing that I'm up to date now and not behind a version.

Based on your information, you might be interested to know that the Google Play Store apparently changes the updated date for their apps even when they simply release it to more of an app's user base. I say this because the Play Store's web page for AMS showed an updated date of the April 20th when all they did on that date was release it to the remaining user base.

Best regards,

mybuddy1998