App shortcut disappears when App Shortcut Maker is uninstalled

[MrDoh]

I have a Samsung S9 that's on Verizon, and Verizon removes the Samsung Cloud backup and restore app in hopes that you'll pay for their "Verizon Cloud". I had the Samsung Cloud on T-Mobile, and it would do a nightly backup that was very useful. I won't mention what I think of Verizon for replacing that piece of functionality that I paid Samsung to get (with the phone software) with functionality that needs to be paid for every month, I think that you might be able to guess...

Anyways, found a source for the Samsung Backup and Restore app apk for the S9 via xda-developers.com:

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/samsu...cloud-3-0-02-2-android-apk-download/download/

Dragged and dropped the apk file from my PC desktop to the S9 "Downloads" folder. Installed it, and what do you know, the installation worked and the app functions as it should, but no app shortcut was added. In my list of apps, but no way to access.

So I installed App Shortcut Maker to make a shortcut for the app, and that worked as well. Couldn't figure out how to put the shortcut in my app drawer, but I could put it on a homepage. Now the puzzling thing is that when I uninstall App Shortcut Maker, the app shortcut disappears. So I have to keep the App Shortcut Maker app around if I want to use the Samsung Backup and Restore app (which I am doing, at least for the time being).

My question is whether this is expected behavior for an app shortcut and app shortcut maker? Or if there is an app shortcut maker app out there that actually makes app shortcuts that are permanent? I tried the recommended one, Quickshortcutmaker, and that one couldn't make an app shortcut at all on my phone.

Any help?

 

[Rukbat]

1. When you install an apk, it installs as an icon in the app drawer. Not as a shortcut to the app, as the app itself. If it doesn't, there's something wrong with the .apk file. (You should be installing it with Package Installer, which should either just run, or you should get a choice - when you find the apk file in a file manager and tap it.)

2. To create a shortcut on the homepage, just long-press the icon in the app drawer until the homepage appears, then drag to the homepage and let go. That creates the shortcut. App Shortcut Maker is for making shortcuts of activities, not shortcuts of apps.

 

[MrDoh]

Well, interesting. I think that Verizon has done something to prevent the Samsung Backup and Restore from adding itself to the app drawer when it's installed. Allowing adding the app icon to the app drawer would give too easy of a workaround for people who care about backups to avoid paying the $5/month for Verizon Cloud, and Verizon apparently really wants that $5/month from their users.

Anyways, I did the install via the My Files app, which I'm sure invoked the "Package Installer", since it said that the app was installed afterwards.

I'm not sure what you mean by "activities", since all the apps are listed under "activities" in App Shortcut Maker. When I made the shortcut, the icon that appeared was the "Samsung Cloud" icon, which must be part of the apk. At any rate, what I did worked just fine, except that when I uninstalled the App Shortcut Maker, the app shortcut went as well. That's the part that I'm looking for help with. The app shortcut that was made looks and works as I expect. Although it would be nice if Verizon allowed it to be in the app drawer.

Thanks.

 

[chanchan05]

1. The Samsung App backup and restore DOES NOT have an app shortcut even on unaltered Samsung phones. I know because I am not in the US and Samsung backup works fine on my phones. It's in the settings menu.

2. Yes, the App shortcut creator needs to be installed to have the shortcut running. Not really sure why you expected it to behave any differently. It created the shortcut but obviously what it created cannot remain on the phone if you remove the service that makes that creation. Think of it this way. If you made a Word file on a PC and proceeded to uninstall Word, obviously the Word file won't be usable anymore until you get the program again.

 

[MrDoh]

The reason why I assumed that the shortcut would stay after the maker app was removed was because I assumed that something was created that was permanent. Like a symbolic link in UNIX or Linux, connected via the icon properties in the GUI to the actual installed app. In fact, I'm not sure of the actual implementation, but I've just been told by the author of the App Shortcut Maker that app shortcuts used to be persistent until Android 8.0, and remained present and useful after the app that made them was removed. I believe him, it makes sense to me that they could be. I'm not sure why you would think that something persistent wasn't created, how else would it work? You don't invoke the app that made the shortcut, you invoke the shortcut, just like on a Windows or UNIX/Linux desktop. Icons in most OS's are connected via the GUI implementation to the code that they cause to be executed when they are clicked, so why would that not be the case for Android, as well?

I think that your analogy to a Word document is wrong, I believe that real graphical objects are created, not some special thing only usable via the app shortcut creator app. Android just requires them to be removed when the app that made them is removed. I'm not sure why this design decision was made for Android 8.0, I'm not on that team.

Yes, the Samsung Backup and Restore facility is normally in the settings menu, unless a money-hungry company (Verizon) removes it from the settings. Which in fact, money-hungry Verizon, has done. The app shortcut that's created shows the Samsung Cloud app icon, if you're familiar with that.

Anyways, the app designer of the App Shortcut Maker app was very helpful, and has answered my questions.

And, happily, my phone is being backed up as I had hoped. Without paying Verizon. The downside is that I have to keep the app shortcut maker app around even though I don't need it. Actually, I most likely don't need the app shortcut unless I want to change something about the backup or restore a backup, so I could just get rid of the app shortcut and app shortcut maker app, and my backup would continue to run. It is convenient to have the app shortcut around, though, so I'll most likely keep both.

Thanks.