Google photo network problem

treequell

I'll agree that I misunderstood you in the first place. I'll mark this as unsolved for now.

Diagnosing behavior of the Google apps is complicated by the fact that many of them including Google Photos have functionalities which are dependent on other Google apps.

In any case, I don't believe Google Photos requires an internet connection to edit photos.

jufstp

treequell thanks. I think it's the Google play sandboxes that are the problem, Google photo has to communicate with them via IPC but as the play services have absolutely no internet connection for some time they remove functionality from other applications. This means, in my opinion, that network authorization can be bypassed. This is just my opinion, I'm not a security researcher. Maybe that's why the devs are working on a system to cut off IPC communications.

[deleted]

jufstp the IPC is more likely happening with Google products, maybe it is happening in this case (I don't use Play Services). So, in theory it may be trying to access network through them.

The question is what do you expect us to do about it. Why is that a not warning sign for you to reassess its use? I told you to look for alternative if you are not happy with Google Photos in current conditions or if you have privacy concerns using it.

It definitely doesn't escape the sandbox in terms of traditional Android permission system.

treequell

It's still unclear to me what exactly you're saying the issue is here. To understand you better I'd ask that you're more precise with your language.

Apps don't bypass the network permission, and what you're experiencing is in no way indicative of that. If the device does not have a internet connection, then there is no way an app can access the internet. Apps can communicate via IPC, for example when functionality is provided through another app, as is the case with Google Photos. That is well known and one of the reasons why GrapheneOS is working on an IPC permission.

jufstp

treequell There's a problem somewhere, but I don't know where.

de0u

[deleted] the IPC is more likely happening with Google products, maybe it is happening in this case (I don't use Play Services). So, in theory it may be trying to access network through them.

Can you go through what happened, step by step, where each step is simple, like "Installed X from Y", "removed permission X from Y", " waited two days", etc., in a numbered list? The developers can't look into an issue without being able to reproduce it on one of their devices.

[deleted]

jufstp you should ask yourself what is it that the Google Photos do what other gallery/photo editor apps like Simple Gallery, Aves or even Amaze File Utilities don't, because you seem to be quite stubborn and hellbent on using it in conditions it most likely wasn't designed for. Are you surprised to see it misbehave?

jufstp

[deleted] You're a bit off-topic, how do you know which application I'm using? I'm just raising a problem.

[deleted]

jufstp now you have shown your true colours. Thanks. I will ignore you in the future.

jufstp

[deleted] What's the problem I just pointed out a problem, I didn't do or say anything against you

jufstp

[deleted] Your first answer was if I have a problem with Android's authorization system why am I using Android , great...

Volen

jufstp

I can confirm I experienced this issue recently: Google Photos was able to open images but couldn't edit them (was freezing on loading screen after tapping to Edit button).

This happened after the latest Photos app update and the root cause is that Photos needs to download the latest editing tools but can't due to lack of Network permissions.

I did the following to resolve the issue:

Cleared app's cache
Connected to wifi (this is very important as Photos will not download its libraries on mobile connection, this is how Google coded it).
Enabled notifications for Photos (specifically - the one named Other, as it's the one responsible for showing tool download notification).
Allowed Network access for Photos app and the Google Play Services (although I think it might still work without granting Network access to Play Services).
Opened the app and kept it open. After some time it displayed a notification saying Photos is downloading the latest editing tools. It tooks some time to download and install (around 20 mins) and editing started to work again.
I then disabled Network access to Photos and Play Services.

jufstp

Volen Wao I didn't go that far. I deleted everything Google and reactivated the preinstalled apps. I've been without wifi or sim card for 1 week now.

jufstp

Volen How can Google photo stop allowing photo modifications when, for example, I installed it with network authorization deactivated! It was supposed never to have had access to the network and yet it detects that it's missing an update. So there's a leak somewhere.

Phead

jufstp

My guess here, without any deeper knowledge of how it is done, is that the playstore or anything related to it is able to communicate to Google Apps via IPC. When I was using photos the app informed me about updates usually a day or two before the update was available on the playstore. Yet I wasn't able to nail down any suspicious traffic at that point. The photos app itself never connected to its mother ship with a direct connection - permissions were not granted and, as far as I can tell, never broken.

jufstp

Phead This IPC thing is completely crazy, haven't the developers planned anything to cut it off? Because if the photo application arrives without a network to know that it needs an update, it's worrying.

Phead

jufstp
As I said, it's just a guess based on observation and very little knowledge of the Core Android OS. The devs do an incredible job despite limited resources and manpower. I trust they will eventually come up with a solution if IPC proves to be a major security or privacy risk. Until then make use of user profiles or stay away from Google software altogether if you cannot afford leaks due to IPC (as unlikely that might be).

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