Llama - Who's Using It and Any Good Examples?

[Hypnotoadd]

My first guess is that you kept the old cells. If so, then you should remove all cells and make llama learn again

Thanks, but no. I deleted all the old cells & have been trying to learn the new ones, but none are showing up.

If I'm on wifi at home & scan for towers, none show up. If I'm on LTE & scan (with or without location turned on), no towers show up. The only way I'm able to find any towers is if I'm on CDMA & turn location on, but this isn't how I use my phone. Normally I'm on wifi at home & I've been using LTE at work, but neither of these modes find towers...

 

[Hypnotoadd]

I thought I remembered reading on the Llama dev's website that you don't need to use GPS or data to pick up towers, so I tried another test. I made sure mobile data, wifi, & location were all turned off, & tried searching for towers. Nothing. Then I turned on just Location - immediately a couple towers were picked up. I know that before Lollipop, I didn't need to have Location turned on, & I don't usually turn it on unless I need it for something.

So with Lollipop, do I always need to have Location turned on to make it see the towers & trigger events?

 

[Olivier D]

I thought I remembered reading on the Llama dev's website that you don't need to use GPS or data to pick up towers, so I tried another test. I made sure mobile data, wifi, & location were all turned off, & tried searching for towers. Nothing. Then I turned on just Location - immediately a couple towers were picked up. I know that before Lollipop, I didn't need to have Location turned on, & I don't usually turn it on unless I need it for something.

So with Lollipop, do I always need to have Location turned on to make it see the towers & trigger events?

If you're rooted and have time to play around, go back to a KK ROM and see if llama does the same

 

[Hypnotoadd]

I'm not rooted.

 

[Hypnotoadd]

Ok, so... I'm just keeping location on all the time & things seem to be working. Nobody has answered my question though - are any of you who are in lollipop having to keep location on now?

My profiles are mostly basic - at home my sounds are all on normal until 11pm, then I have everything set to vibrate only until 6am. M-F when I get to work, I have sounds on vibrate, & when I leave work, sounds switch back to normal. I also have sounds switch to silent for 1 min if I open the camera, because I don't like the shutter sound going off.

 

[buggy_droid]

I am still on KK, but I have never heard anyone saying Llama lost towers (only) because of Lollipop update.
I know that Llama can't see active apps with Lollipop -- the dev fixed it and you should use the dev version of Llama, not the market version.
On the other hand, people have been always complaining about Llama unable to locate towers with LTE. There is a reason for it.
LTE uses only a handful of cell ID's and recycle them through a given network. It's more than possible that you get the same cell ID here and in the other side of the town (or the continent). LTE cell ID is useless for Llama.

I have no clue how you got Llama working with LTE on your two previous phones. But, since you know that it won't work on your current phone, why not turn it off? I don't suppose you need a high speed internet 24/7. Since you use Llama, why don't you let Llama turn LTE on when you use certain apps and turn it off when you are done?

Ok, so... I'm just keeping location on all the time & things seem to be working. Nobody has answered my question though - are any of you who are in lollipop having to keep location on now?

My profiles are mostly basic - at home my sounds are all on normal until 11pm, then I have everything set to vibrate only until 6am. M-F when I get to work, I have sounds on vibrate, & when I leave work, sounds switch back to normal. I also have sounds switch to silent for 1 min if I open the camera, because I don't like the shutter sound going off.

 

[Hypnotoadd]

I am still on KK, but I have never heard anyone saying Llama lost towers (only) because of Lollipop update.
I know that Llama can't see active apps with Lollipop -- the dev fixed it and you should use the dev version of Llama, not the market version.
On the other hand, people have been always complaining about Llama unable to locate towers with LTE. There is a reason for it.
LTE uses only a handful of cell ID's and recycle them through a given network. It's more than possible that you get the same cell ID here and in the other side of the town (or the continent). LTE cell ID is useless for Llama.

I have no clue how you got Llama working with LTE on your two previous phones. But, since you know that it won't work on your current phone, why not turn it off? I don't suppose you need a high speed internet 24/7. Since you use Llama, why don't you let Llama turn LTE on when you use certain apps and turn it off when you are done?

I'm using the updated version from the dev's website.

I did just recently turn off LTE - honestly, I don't fully understand the difference between all the mobile data variants - when I'm home I use wifi, when I'm not home I use... whatever. On my previous phones I'm 99% sure I was on CDMA but I'm not exactly sure why (most likely because I was on Sprint before & they were working on their towers & CDMA didn't eat up my battery). When I got this new phone & went back to Sprint, I started out on CDMA again, but I went into the store to ask them a couple things, the guy there told me to put it on LTE so I did (again, not fully understanding which I *should* be using).

I'm going to keep experimenting to see if I HAVE to keep location on for it to work, since it seems like that's the case.

 

[buggy_droid]

Hypnotoadd,

Can I ask a few questions? I am not entirely sure what you are doing.
When you say "scan for towers", what exactly are you doing?
When you say "keep location on", do you mean Android's location service? If so, are you using high accuracy, device only, or battery saving?
You said you find "towers" with location on. What are these "towers"? Where do you see them? (in Llama?) What do they look like?
Are following statements correct?
One year ago, Llama could find your "towers" on Sprint CDMA with "location" off.
One month ago, Llama could find the same "towers" on Verison CDMA with "location" off.
Now, Llama can't find the same "towers" on Sprint LTE with "location" either on or off.
Llama can't find the same "towers" on Sprint CDMA with "location" off.
Llama can find the same "towers" on Sprint CDMA with "location" on.

I'm using the updated version from the dev's website.

I did just recently turn off LTE - honestly, I don't fully understand the difference between all the mobile data variants - when I'm home I use wifi, when I'm not home I use... whatever. On my previous phones I'm 99% sure I was on CDMA but I'm not exactly sure why (most likely because I was on Sprint before & they were working on their towers & CDMA didn't eat up my battery). When I got this new phone & went back to Sprint, I started out on CDMA again, but I went into the store to ask them a couple things, the guy there told me to put it on LTE so I did (again, not fully understanding which I *should* be using).

I'm going to keep experimenting to see if I HAVE to keep location on for it to work, since it seems like that's the case.

 

[Hypnotoadd]

Hypnotoadd,

Can I ask a few questions? I am not entirely sure what you are doing.
When you say "scan for towers", what exactly are you doing?

In Lllama, under the Areas tab, scanning for cell towers in an area I've defined (either Work or Home) so that events will be triggered based on moving from one area to another.

When you say "keep location on", do you mean Android's location service? If so, are you using high accuracy, device only, or battery saving?
You said you find "towers" with location on. What are these "towers"? Where do you see them? (in Llama?) What do they look like?

On my phone, when I pull down from the top, some of my options are "Data", "Wi-Fi", "Vibrate", "Location", etc. When I'm talking about turning Location on, this is what I'm referring to, just toggling Location on. Under my phone's Location Mode settings, it's currently set on "High accuracy (GPS and networks)".

The towers I'm finding are the cell towers that Llama uses to detect what area you're in so it will trigger an event. Under the Areas tab in Llama, I'm only able to find towers when I have Location turned on (once you search for towers to add to an area, they show up on the Area tab).

Llama isn't detecting a change from one area to another unless I have Location turned on (which, according to the dev's comments on his website, shouldn't be necessary - and never was necessary for me before Lollipop, but seems to be necessary now).

Are following statements correct?
One year ago, Llama could find your "towers" on Sprint CDMA with "location" off.

A year ago I was on Verizon, with a KitKat phone that was on CDMA. About a year and a half ago, I was on Sprint, with a Kitkat phone also on CDMA. Neither required me to keep Location turned on for Llama to work correctly.

One month ago, Llama could find the same "towers" on Verison CDMA with "location" off.

A month ago I was still on Verizon & my phone was on Kitkat, so yes this is correct. Just recently I switched back to Sprint, & Llama worked the way I expected until the Lollipop update.

Now, Llama can't find the same "towers" on Sprint LTE with "location" either on or off.

I'm not 100% sure on this at this moment - I'm at work & going from memory - but I think this is correct, I think LTE didn't work either way?

Llama can't find the same "towers" on Sprint CDMA with "location" off.

Correct, since my phone updated to Lollipop.

Llama can find the same "towers" on Sprint CDMA with "location" on.

No. The only time Llama seems to be working correctly for me now, whether searching for towers (which I've done now for the areas I care about) or to trigger events, is when I have Location turned ON. I have my phone set back on CDMA now.

 

[buggy_droid]

Hypnotoadd,

Thank you for the details. I am sorry I must have missed in your previous posts that Llama has worked after you switched back to Sprint, but stopped working after Lollipop update. In that case I would suspect Lollipop to be the cause of the problem, too. However, if you started using LTE around the time of Lollipop update, I would still think LTE is the main culprit for the reason I stated in the previous post.

I speculate that as part of its battery saving features, Lollipop os won’t wake up to get a cell id when the phone switches between towers if it’s in deep sleep. This has been a known issue for CDMA phones to various extents, but Lollipop might have taken it a step further toward more aggressive enforcement.

“High accuracy location” determines your current location using both GPS and Google’s location database. To determine the current location, your phone first needs to know which network, if any, you are connected to. This information is then sent to a Google’s server, where the identified network is matched up with its physical location in their database. Because the phone identifies the cell id you are connected to during this process, Llama can snatch that cell id from the side and determine which area you are in now. That’s my guess.

Long story short, if Llama is working for you with LTE off and location on, you should keep it that way. If I am guessing it correctly, you should be able to achieve the same result by either one of the following methods, some of which might be easier on the battery, but I am not really sure. You don’t have to do anything if you are happy with your current arrangement, but your experience will probably help many others.

Try turning off high accuracy location, and do either one of the following, but not more than one at a time:
1. Llama settings > enable cell polling. May also need to check “awake while polling”. Set at desired frequency.
2. Llama settings > experimental stuff > check Android location polling. Set at desired frequency.
3. Turn on “location” but instead of “high accuracy” use “battery saving”.

 

[Hypnotoadd]

Thanks for your suggestions, buggy_droid. I've tried some of them but nothing works any better than what I'm currently doing, & I'm OK with how things are working overall now.

 

[buggy_droid]

Thanks for your suggestions, buggy_droid. I've tried some of them but nothing works any better than what I'm currently doing, & I'm OK with how things are working overall now.

Thank you for reporting back!
Did those at least work the same way as with high accuracy location on?
I am trying to understand how those settings work internally.

 

[Hypnotoadd]

Thank you for reporting back!
Did those at least work the same way as with high accuracy location on?
I am trying to understand how those settings work internally.

Well, you had suggested this -

Try turning off high accuracy location, and do either one of the following, but not more than one at a time:
1. Llama settings > enable cell polling. May also need to check “awake while polling”. Set at desired frequency.
2. Llama settings > experimental stuff > check Android location polling. Set at desired frequency.
3. Turn on “location” but instead of “high accuracy” use “battery saving”.

I guess now that I'm reading this again, I really didn't try "some of them"... oops. I only actually tried one-
For 1 & 2 - I looked at the settings but I don't really know what I would change them to, so I didn't do anything with those suggestions.
For 3 - I tried changing to "battery saving", but the first time I attempted to use Google Maps (which I use a lot) I had to change that back so I decided it wasn't worth experimenting with further.

So ultimately I just decided to keep Location on all the time, & I just leave my phone on CDMA since I can't use LTE if I need to detect towers in a new area.

 

[anupamm2002]

Can some one guide me how to use Llama to silence camera shutter sound? Am using Huawei Honor Holly Android 4.4.2. Thanks

 

[Hypnotoadd]

Can some one guide me how to use Llama to silence camera shutter sound? Am using Huawei Honor Holly Android 4.4.2. Thanks

I imagine there are multiple ways to do this, but here's what I use to silence my camera shutter. It works well for me because most of the time, I only take a picture or two at a time.

 

[anupamm2002]

Hi Hynotoadd--Am unable to view your response( some pic that you posted). Can you PLEASE share detailed instructions? Thanks a lot.

 

[Hypnotoadd]

Hi Hynotoadd--Am unable to view your response (some pic that you posted). Can you PLEASE share detailed instructions? Thanks a lot.

Hi, the picture you were unable to view is a screenshot of my settings to quiet the camera. It says:
Camera silent (my name for this event)
When the current app is Camera - change profile to Quiet - vibrate only (a profile I use to set my sounds to only vibrate) and lock profile for 1 minute and set music/media volume to 0"

 

[anupamm2002]

Thank you for the steps. Unfortunately on my Huawei Honor Holly phone, when I go to select current app = Camera, there is no choice of Camera!! It is strange and seems Huawei has not kept the option enabled. Under App manager, the camera app also does not show! Thanks anyway

 

[Olivier D]

Thank you for the steps. Unfortunately on my Huawei Honor Holly phone, when I go to select current app = Camera, there is no choice of Camera!! It is strange and seems Huawei has not kept the option enabled. Under App manager, the camera app also does not show! Thanks anyway

did you enable Llama in accessibility?

 

[anupamm]

Yes Llama is enbled in accessibility. However when I try to create the event --Camera Silent (name) and I add condition--Active application, and then click on choose an app Camera app does not show up! Calculator, Calendar, Chrome, Clocl, Colornote etc show up but NO camera app! Even in Silent mode, the camera shutter sound happens and it is very irritating! Guess Huawei decided to do it their way!!