"City ID" Crapware!

[Cory Streater]

That's been my experience as well. So the question is, what exactly causes this thing to pop-up the nag screen? I know I opened City ID when I got my phone, but I can't remember how I answered the question about the trial. Knowing me, I probably said no, because I wouldn't pay a reoccurring fee for such a trivial feature.

 

[mritter88]

can someone post a video to what this actually does? I am leaning towards an Incredible but you guys make it sound like it's impossible to take with this City ID thing. I'm already irritated by my Eris to perform when lots of apps are on and lots of things going on like it's inability to answer a call without a delay on 10 seconds once I press 'Answer' Sorry just ranting but yeah can someone?

It's not a big deal at all. When someone calls you, underneath their name and number, it gives an approximate location for the phone number. For example, you get a call from a 212 number and it will say New York, NY. You get a call from 617 and it will say Boston, MA. Apparently some people are getting notifications after they end a call asking if they want to subscribe tot he service. I have had the phone for a week now and have had no such issues. I still recommend getting the phone!

 

[revlimiter]

I got a reply from Cequint about their CityID product and how it should be behaving on our phones.

City ID is designed to present a screen once after your fifth incoming call, informing you that you are receiving a free 15-day trial. The next City ID screen will appear on the 15th day of the free trial to inform you the trial has expired. This expiration screen will ask if you would like to subscribe to City ID with the options ?Yes,? ?No,? or ?Remind Me Later.? Selecting ?No? will disable City ID, and the city and state of calls will no longer be displayed. If you select ?Remind Me Later,? or press the Back or End key, the trial expired message will appear after each incoming call (up to 10 times), then will automatically disable City ID after the 10th reminder.


City ID should not present any messages between the fifth incoming call, and the day the free trial expires (on the 15th day after the fifth incoming call).

So, there it is. Straight from the crapware developers themselves.

 

[Cory Streater]

Well if that's true, it's better than needing a ROM update to get rid of it.

 

[mritter88]

If that's how it works then I don't really have a problem with them. It's not a feature I use, and I'm not going to subscribe, but it's not really that big of a deal to get 2 notifications and a free preview of the app. It's not hindering my experience with the phone, and I wouldn't mind the feature if it were free, therefore I'm ok with the 15 day free trial.

 

[bulldogmoe7]

if you dont like it DONT USE IT!! simple

 

[MushroomStamp]

CityID is integrated into the SenseUI. At first I was irritated till i discovered what it was doing and now I'm glad it's there. When I get calls from numbers I don't know, it tells me the location right under the number without me doing anything.

 

[mritter88]

if you dont like it DONT USE IT!! simple

Yeah that's not really an option, as described by everyone who posted before you...

 

[greggerm]

As the thread starter let me also add that this nagware should NOT prevent you from selecting this phone.

As someone coming from the iPhone, it was important for me to see the openness and flexability of an Android handset. This "CityID" $#!t being non-removable (at this time) flies in the face of that, so I was ranting.

I've been bothered by CityID on every 3rd or 4th incoming call. Will the world come to an end because of that? No. BUT if we find out after the trial is over that it cannot be removed, I'll be really ticked.

At least reputable software developers give you the checkbox to install the "Extra Super Special Google/Ask!/Gator Toolbar", rather than just shipping it to you and forcing it down your throat.

 

[chomsky1]

if you dont like it DONT USE IT!! simple

Dude...READ the thread. If "DON'T USE IT" was an option, why would there be a 2-page thread about it?

 

[Qazme]

Dude...READ the thread. If "DON'T USE IT" was an option, why would there be a 2-page thread about it?

LOL no joke. If the developer says that's the way it works then I'll take them on their word. I haven't had any screens telling me thing or another. It would be a nice feature on the phone but the monthly subscription ruins it for me. So after my two nag screens I'll be selecting no and it should go away. So that's good news.

 

[Execute]

That's been my experience as well. So the question is, what exactly causes this thing to pop-up the nag screen? I know I opened City ID when I got my phone, but I can't remember how I answered the question about the trial. Knowing me, I probably said no, because I wouldn't pay a reoccurring fee for such a trivial feature.

The EXACT same situation as me. Opened it when I got the phone, can't remember what I did about the trial. I haven't been bothered by it once. If I do, however, and have no option to stop the notifications, I will be all over htc until they fix it.

 

[tamanaco]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if this City ID is incorporated in Sense UI and it's in ROM... you might be able to disable/enable it, but I doubt that you'll be able to uninstall it and completely get rid of it. A phone reset might bring it right back. This is one of the reasons that folks root their phones so that you can flash a ROM without any crapware.

 

[sermon8r]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but if this City ID is incorporated in Sense UI and it's in ROM... you might be able to disable/enable it, but I doubt that you'll be able to uninstall it and completely get rid of it. A phone reset might bring it right back. This is one of the reasons that folks root their phones so that you can flash a ROM without any crapware.

its installed on my sons lg choc touch..... no sense ui on that phone.....

 

[Adiliyo]

it is installed with sense, but it not an integral part of it.

while removing it won't be possible without root (since you don't have the proper permissions to modify the rom partition) it really shouldn't break anything once we have root and disable it.

heck, when i had my droid i uninstalled the email app (i only use gmail on my phone) and nothing bad happened

 

[Slick Finger Flicker]

I wrote HTC asking about how to remove this City ID Crapware software and this is what Sam replied to me with, See Below:

Hello James, I understand that you would like to remove the preinstalled applications from your Incredible. Unfortunately, the only applications that can be uninstalled are market downloaded or self-installed programs. In order to ensure stability of the system and accidental removal of crucial applications and features, we have disabled the ability to remove these pre-installed applications. I apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. To send a reply to this message or let me know I have successfully answered your question, log in to our ContactUs site using your email address and your ticket number. Sincerely, Sam HTC Want to see what others are saying? Have a question to ask other HTC fans? Participate in our community http://community.htc.com Become a fan of HTC http://www.facebook.com/htc Follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/htc Subscribe to our YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/htc Explore our development resources http://delevoper.htc.com.

What a BUNCH of Horse Poop.

Everyone should go to HTC Customer Support and Send Them an Email About this Crap, Here's there link that you'll need to go to and do this at.
HTC Mobile Phones - Customer Service - E-mail Support

Maybe if enough Please will send them an email something will be done about it.

 

[Qazme]

These deals they make are what make the phones cheaper. I agree they shouldn't be there, but still. No matter how many emails they are getting this stuff is always going to be there. As long as it does what the developer says it will do I have no issue with it. I got my first 15 day trial pop-up today. It only gave me two options, continue the trial or buy. I suppose the next one in two weeks will be the turn off one.

 

[kareden]

Me Too!

I agree with everyone else who is annoyed by this app-spam . Funny thing is, it doesn't even get the locations correct most of the time. When I get a phone call from someone I know, I have often noticed a generalized metropolitan area named as the location, not the actual location the person is calling from.

Even so, I can't say I was really annoyed until I got the message about the trial and the "invitation" to pay for it! Right after that, I tried to uninstall, only to find that was not possible.

I fully intend to refuse this subscription when the trial period is up and I am looking forward to this GOING AWAY (yea!!)

 

[Adiliyo]

I wrote HTC asking about how to remove this City ID Crapware software and this is what Sam replied to me with, See Below:




What a BUNCH of Horse Poop.

Everyone should go to HTC Customer Support and Send Them an Email About this Crap, Here's there link that you'll need to go to and do this at.
HTC Mobile Phones - Customer Service - E-mail Support

Maybe if enough Please will send them an email something will be done about it.

locking down of the preinstalled software is normal for android, because they are installed on the RO section of the ROM, you don't have the proper permissions to delete them without root (su) access.

them installing it in the first place is another story though...

 

[bigslam123]

....not to mention that this is a Verizon software package and not an HTC package. HTC has no control over it.