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  • Cricket Debut Flip - U102AC/Cingular Flip IV - U102AA

Started by xxdeafgirl · Oct 29, 2021

I picked up another flip phone. It's a KaiOS device, but I can't get WebIDE sideloading working for the life of me!
I can sideload, I just had to dump my firmware and add entries to webapps.json and add the folder, application.zip, and manifest.webapp files. Still, this is very inconvenient and requires resetting for the added apps to show up every time.

Anyone know anything about KaiOS 2.5.3?

xxdeafgirl I've installed apps on the AT&T Cingular flip 4 using webide in the past but i hit a dead end on uninstalling system apps

I need a dump of the firmware from an AT&T model. Cricket firmware seems to have arbitrary restrictions on ADB access.
Also, my laptop's drive died while my phone is on a MFW (Modified FirmWare) so I don't have a stock backup anymore. If your phone is unlocked, all the better. If not, back up, unlock, and back up again, and I'll see what changed with a diff command. This one (Cricket AND ATT!) can be blown wide open and deep flashed using this tool: http://github.com/bkerler/edl

Dump the firmware and upload it to Google Drive.

And for the record, removing system apps is a cakewalk if you know how to dump and manipulate system images. I've removed the MyCricket app and a few other apps I didn't want and installed a few apps I need for my work.
It's not dead end, it's just way more complicated than it needs to be.

*xxdeafgirl well this was some time ago and I don't have access to that phone anymore sorry , I didn't know how to play with the system image and was following bananahackers on installing temporary root apps but when it would root the phone would disconnect from adb and Wallace tools would not let me uninstall either but the apps at least successfully downloaded with webide

Guys. Behold, I HAVE MULTIPLE FIRMWARES FOR THESE! Someone in an Android group I'm in dropped the firmware for a bunch of AT&T and Cricket devices by TINNO and it's flashable via edl.py

Also, I wouldn't try a custom boot.img. I couldn't get it to boot. But editing the system image worked perfectly fine and I was able to debloat packages and add my own.

WARNING: A LINUX SYSTEM WITH edl, AND Android Platform Tools IS REQUIRED

To enter EDL mode on this phone, use VOL-UP + VOL-DN with the phone powered off while plugging in a USB cable with the program/command running already.

The U102AC and U102AA are IDENTICAL but please be SIM unlocked before swapping over, you will have to swap back to your phone's original model firmware to unlock! Swap custom system.img files back and forth on here, but make sure you include your boot.img files too because there are differences between the two in software. Keep system and boot together, mixmatching will cause issues!

I first flashed the image to the phone: ./edl qfil '/home/tsuyuno/edl/U102AA-DEV/rawprogram_unsparse.xml' '/home/tsuyuno/edl/U102AA-DEV/patch0.xml' ./U102AA-DEV/ which installed a fresh AT&T dev build, (U102AAV01.95_7.11_DEV_FLASHER.zip) which has neat codes:

Codes that actually "complete" (any USSD action on entering last digit)
*#*#8#*#* - KaiOS MMI Test
*#*#873733284#*#* - Debug Logger ??
*#*#86436#*#* - Version Information
*#*#8899#*#* - Audio Test v1.2
*#*#793665873#*#* - Qualcomm Diag Port
*#*#3866#*#* - OMADM account settings
*#*#68238665#*#* - stress test
*#3243#* - "DBGF Test Mode" - Purpose???
*#*#36#*#* - OMADM server (productive, iot, ptcrb, external)
*#0661# - Band Info, Efuse support, etc...
*#*#74655577#*#* - "Testbox tools" menu.
*#*#9328378#*#* - Recieve CMAS alerts
*#*#728#*#* - Enable "Network Type" selection option in Carrier under Mobile Data.
Preferably set this to LTE only, as 3G WCDMA (UMTS, HSPA) has gone away and your phone will lose battery life waiting for a 3G network sometimes.
*#*#827#*#* - Disable "Network Type" selection in Carrier menu.
*#09# - IMEI & ICID, good for reading SIM numbers or even when you have to call your carrier.

You then want to read back a system.img in one part - ./edl r system system-u102aa-custom.img
and then mount it - mount system (folder you created for mounting)
In /system/b2g/webapps there's webapps.json and app folders. delete the folder in webapps and the entry in webapps.json.
Once you are done modding, unmount it - unmount (folder you mounted the image to)
And then flash it to your phone.

lgexalter1 Be careful. This only works on U102AA and U102AC. The Alcatel based models are a no-go right now as far as I'm aware.

MXRJR

hey im not so familiar with all this technical stuff lol but i understand allot about computers....
just wanted to know how i can uninstall the browser on the AT&T Cingular Flip it says the model is 4044o running KaiOS v1.0

in wake of recent actions from at&t to remove all phones from their service even the 4g ones like the lg wine un220 and the new kosher fig phone...just to name a few... i was only able to find this phone that still works with at&t i guess cuz its made by at&t....long story short i need to somewhat filter it so if anyone can help me uninstall the browser
thanks

Flippy

MXRJR Cant help with the browser, and TAG wont either do it, but there are a few other phones out there that would work fine still on ATT (and can be koshered) like the Alcatel 4052R, Nokia 6300 4G and the Sunbeam F1.

lgexalter1
If you flash the userdebug version, it gives you access to the full developer menu and you can use
abd root

just replace the /***/ with the path of the folder you unzipped U102ACV01.99.11_DEV_FLASHER_RSU_userdebug.zip to

./edl qfil rawprogram_unsparse.xml patch0.xml /***/

xxdeafgirl I tried your method to enter EDL mode on the same phone (Cricket Debut Flip - U102AC), but kept getting "Waiting for the device ......" I believe I followed exactly what you did: Vol-up and Vol-dn with the phone powered off and the USB cable plugged in. I also tried the other suggested approach to run "adb reboot edl", which says "error: no devices/emulators found".

Another piece of information is that when the phone is turned on and connected to the PC, it shows it is being charged, but I cannot find the device information under USB in the Windows Device Manager. It only showed up as a Bluetooth device or Bluetooth emulator "U102AC". I don't know if this is normal to this phone--USB has seemingly only a charging function, although I did turn on the USB storage in the setting and enabled "ADB and Dev Tools" using the W2D website's tool.

The phone was bought 6 months ago and was finally got unlocked today. I was trying to remove some apps, such as Youtube. It's frustrating that I could not even enter the EDL mode. Perhaps you can help find out where is the problem. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

maxm My guides are Linux only. I'd suggest making a FWUL USB.

xxdeafgirl Thanks for getting back to me! I'm wondering why it would only work in Linux, not Windows. I suspect the manufacturer or Cricket somehow disabled ADB or EDL mode, because Windows does not even seem to recognize the USB, although I installed all kinds of USB drivers (for ADB). In any case, I will give it a try with Linux. Yes, with FWUL!