A couple of weeks ago I bought and installed a new android car radio. Among many other things, it has GPS. As a security measure against theft I was planning to buy a GPS tracker for the car, but then I got the fine idea that I could use the traccar client instead. So I installed it and made it launch on boot and it works just fine. I'm running my own traccar server.
But (але). Since the traccar client launches on boot, it becomes the landing screen on the radio, prompting the potential thief to immediately switch it off. So I need the hidden client. It used to be directly downloadable from traccar.org, but it is no longer. This thread says that you nowadays have to compile it yourself. Fine, I can do that.
There are no compilation instructions in README.md or elsewhere, so I had to figure it out. I'm including a (very) short HOWTO here as help for the next person:
- Download and install Android Studio,
- git clone the traccar client,
- start a new project in Android Studio and point it to the git clone directory,
- wait for Android Studio to download gradle and another zillion dependencies,
- compile.
With that said, compiling the hidden client failed. Only a few days ago and because of the above-mentioned thread, I browsed the source code on github and found the necessary edit to build the hidden client. Something like 'HIDDEN = false' that needs to be edited to '= true'. But now it's not there, it is nowhere to be found.
Having ripped my hair to complete baldness, I finally found the problem. In commit 6a267e8, the buildConfigField HIDDEN_APP in
app/build.gradle was removed between v7.1 and v7.2 and several related files were completely deleted. And these deletions seem to have made their way back into v.7.1 too. The official traccar hidden client is no more.
Then again, what once goes on the internet can never be removed from it. There are curently 688 forks of the traccar client, so somewhere out there I should be able to find and revive the hidden client. To be continued...
BTW, Anton, all the translations of hidden_app_name and hidden_alert are still in all the strings.xml files.
We removed the hidden options for various reason, but even if we didn't, it won't the solve the problem you think it will. You can still download an older version from GitHub if you want to try it.
We removed the hidden options for various reasons...
I can imagine complaints about spyware etc, so I'm not surprised.
but even if we didn't, it won't the solve the problem you think it will.
Could you please elaborate on why not? If I'm trying to find my (potentially) stolen car, the hidden client should be a near-perfect solution if the thief switches the stereo on. And I can do that for him too, make it switch on as soon as the engine is started.
You can still download an older version from GitHub if you want to try it.
It's been removed from 7.1. Could you please point me to the latest version where it still is in?
I can imagine complaints about spyware etc, so I'm not surprised.
Correct. That's one of the main reasons. Another big reason is that many tricks we used originally in the past no longer work with modern Android devices, so it makes less sense to have an app like this. You can't really hide it from the user anyway.
Could you please elaborate on why not?
The behavior of both apps is pretty much the same. The only difference is that hidden app has an icon that resembles settings and title says settings. Everything else is pretty much the same.
It's been removed from 7.1. Could you please point me to the latest version where it still is in?
Previous version?
A couple of weeks ago I bought and installed a new android car radio. Among many other things, it has GPS. As a security measure against theft I was planning to buy a GPS tracker for the car, but then I got the fine idea that I could use the traccar client instead. So I installed it and made it launch on boot and it works just fine. I'm running my own traccar server.
But (але). Since the traccar client launches on boot, it becomes the landing screen on the radio, prompting the potential thief to immediately switch it off. So I need the hidden client. It used to be directly downloadable from traccar.org, but it is no longer. This thread says that you nowadays have to compile it yourself. Fine, I can do that.
There are no compilation instructions in README.md or elsewhere, so I had to figure it out. I'm including a (very) short HOWTO here as help for the next person:
With that said, compiling the hidden client failed. Only a few days ago and because of the above-mentioned thread, I browsed the source code on github and found the necessary edit to build the hidden client. Something like 'HIDDEN = false' that needs to be edited to '= true'. But now it's not there, it is nowhere to be found.
Having ripped my hair to complete baldness, I finally found the problem. In commit 6a267e8, the buildConfigField HIDDEN_APP in
app/build.gradle was removed between v7.1 and v7.2 and several related files were completely deleted. And these deletions seem to have made their way back into v.7.1 too. The official traccar hidden client is no more.
Then again, what once goes on the internet can never be removed from it. There are curently 688 forks of the traccar client, so somewhere out there I should be able to find and revive the hidden client. To be continued...