[Android] Sprescia app for run activity tracking

No it is not Christmas today, but here is another free, no ads, no trackers, no data collection, minimalistic app to track your run activity!

Built for Android 14+ using help from ChatGPT and icons from SVG Repo this app writes to a local Rooom DB in 1 table: run

Run view allows you to add, edit, delete run details and calculates average speed for each entry, comparing it with the previous one, giving you a quick view of your training progression. You can also export and import data to/from csv for quick backup and restore logic.

Daily stats view allows you to see daily run data and compare it to previous runs using key metrics: steps, average speed, distance, time.

Monthly stats view provides the same capability but averages the data grouping per month instead.

You can find the Sprescia project on my GitHub

[Android] MaiCar app for car expense management (refuels and maintenance)

Finally a free, no ads, no trackers, no data collection, minimalistic app to track your car expenses!

Built for Android 14+ using help from ChatGPT and icons from SVG Repo this app writes to a local Rooom DB in 2 tables: fuel and maintenance

Fuel view allows you to add, edit, delete refuel details (partial and full tank) and calculates efficiency for each entry, comparing it with the previous one, giving you a quick view of your trip efficiency progression.

Maintenance view allows you to add, edit, delete maintenance details for multiple maintenance types, it also allows you to filter the view on a specific maintenance type to quickly find a specific item.

Both views allow you to export and import data to/from csv for quick backup and restore logic.

You can find the MaiCar project on my GitHub

[Android] Recompile and sign APK

Each new Android version introduces changes that usually require app developers to put some effort into keeping their app compatible with the latest OS releases. As a result, sometimes, your favorite free apps have issues if the developer does not update it.

Depending on the required changes, the effort varies, however you can often adapt the app yourself by simply decompiling it, updating whatever needs to be updated, and repackage it with a new Android version as target. Here are the simple steps to achieve this.

[Android] Revive MyTracks app

MyTracks was the best GPS tracking application. Lightweight, simple to use, well integrated with Google Drive, no extra crap. Until the fire nation attacked Google decided to kill it hoping you would switch to that pile of manure that is Google fit.

As valid alternatives I could only find ViewRanger or Open GPS Tracker but they are just not as good in my opinion.

The way Google killed the app, was to revoke the API keys it used. Meaning that by swapping those keys out with ones you own, everything works as expected.

Interested? Then check out the revive MyTracks project on Github

[Linux] Connect Android phone for file transfer

One of the things I like about Android, is the ease with which you can connect your device to any computer and start transferring files right away. Recent versions of the OS however are using MTP to perform the exchanges.

On some Linux distros, this means you need to install additional packages to keep using your phone as you prefer:

mtp-tools mtpfs

After installation, the phone should be accessible via your file manager

[Android] Auto Answer app

Last year I bought an Android smartphone from LG, with Gingerbread 2.3.4 on it. Much to my surprise, it was not very smart, for example I couldn't set it to automatically answer incoming calls.

The good thing about having it run Android, was that I could fix this flaw by developing my own app, so I googled around and found an Auto Answer project on Google Code from Matt Hahnfeld, released under a GNU GPL v3 licence.

Since the author removed it from Google's Play Store, I catered his code to my needs and installed the app on my Optimus HUB. It works perfectly, I tested it on Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3 (LG Optimus L7) without issues, and it should work on Froyo 2.2 too.

At the time there weren't many free apps that did this but now you finally have some choices, note that some phones already come with this feature built-in.

You can find my code on GitHub, the licence remains the same GNU GPL v3. To successfully compile it you'll need an IDE such as Eclipse, and the proper Android SDK for your OS version. The source code I uploaded comes with the Android 4 lib, but you can easily switch it to another version.