What's the purpose of Tasker Settings inserting a preferences file for photos?

[Jon8RFC]

/data/user/0/com.google.android.apps.photos/shared_prefs/photos.backup.backup_prefs.xml

What's the purpose of that file it creates? I don't have my original anymore since Tasker Settings overwrote it. Here are the contents:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>
<map>
    <set name="photos.backup.known_local_folders">
        <string>-895631139</string>
        <string>-1829889111</string>
        <string>-1310781518</string>
        <string>-2075511911</string>
        <string>540528482</string>
        <string>-815228101</string>
        <string>1028075469</string>
        <string>325974348</string>
        <string>1579443097</string>
    </set>
</map>

I looked on my old phone which has had tasker settings on it for a few months, and here are the contents of that one:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>
<map>
    <set name="photos.backup.known_local_folders">
        <string>83346867</string>
        <string>-786583970</string>
        <string>-900533369</string>
        <string>488345531</string>
        <string>-421666117</string>
        <string>1846786400</string>
        <string>540528482</string>
        <string>-815228101</string>
        <string>-658847015</string>
        <string>53096471</string>
        <string>-1277066144</string>
        <string>-465379255</string>
        <string>-1978642225</string>
        <string>-1495827460</string>
        <string>1389444597</string>
        <string>-1968712115</string>
        <string>1080702932</string>
        <string>1690584583</string>
        <string>-1617409521</string>
        <string>-895631139</string>
        <string>-1310781518</string>
        <string>-1982279517</string>
        <string>-1980461097</string>
        <string>-939374752</string>
        <string>325974348</string>
        <string>-1955621659</string>
        <string>659403168</string>
        <string>-529614090</string>
        <string>-1772214187</string>
        <string>-1730634595</string>
        <string>1943673773</string>
        <string>1465317251</string>
        <string>-1033338222</string>
        <string>-1432612566</string>
        <string>-1972214426</string>
        <string>-2075511911</string>
        <string>-411422664</string>
        <string>-57043465</string>
        <string>555930832</string>
        <string>-929803292</string>
        <string>1028075469</string>
        <string>1579443097</string>
        <string>-67050004</string>
        <string>55514093</string>
        <string>585053066</string>
        <string>-236893422</string>
        <string>956775912</string>
        <string>1574042472</string>
        <string>-1976798706</string>
        <string>1924697759</string>
        <string>493585805</string>
        <string>-1829889111</string>
        <string>-900533371</string>
        <string>-1572118126</string>
        <string>1269088566</string>
        <string>1997257617</string>
        <string>-497204408</string>
        <string>1702737851</string>
        <string>1527520066</string>
        <string>-1250463623</string>
        <string>-792647906</string>
    </set>
</map>

[joaomgcd]

Hhmm, Tasker Settings doesn't write that file. What makes you think it does?

[Jon8RFC]

Virus total showed it did so in its sandbox environment starting with v1.3.0 and newer versions. I tested and experienced the same behavior, after installation.

Here are the results: v1.2.0 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/666be61f684797ef826212ad27522c9c62f754d643c5a5fb5e8b8cd616cf7871/behavior

v1.3.0 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/84b9a3fca6443b680780ac97b7130a704a4a776e9a532b4a20e0e2405e3547e4/behavior

v1.4.0 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/d937e0d372f385bd190ceab0b5ea59999fc9fed484226312f641682bbeb0f6af/behavior

v1.5.0 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/dc8aa335942b47f6b5431edda2c951b527f001595ac7f523cabffe9cd50110e8/behavior

v1.6.0 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/4ad77033d947dd036bb4457bf56f7710f73a2b24fb984bed45f9157c237d6aea/behavior

v1.7.1 https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/dbc6e7f33e3cd307d986ecba0cb7af7cfa2ebf87857bc925f39912b967c25748/behavior

[joaomgcd]

Sorry, but that's just wrong. I don't know what the anti-virus is on about. If you check the code for Tasker Settings, there's no reference to a file with the name "backup_prefs" anywhere. I don't think the app can even access the path you mentioned.

It must be some kind of error in their testing mechanism...

[Jon8RFC]

Strange indeed. Could be something weird going on with their test environment since they're tricky. I'll delete it from my phone after removing tasker settings and see if it gets created on its own, time it, and what the contents are. Should be able to see within about 10 minutes since it was created in a few minutes beforehand.

[joaomgcd]

Maybe it's the app installer itself that does that for some reason? In the anti-virus report they also mention a bunch of addresses that the app supposedly accesses, but it never accesses any of them:

• c.tenor.com
• clientservices.googleapis.com
• connectivitycheck.gstatic.com
• gmscompliance-pa.googleapis.com
• googlehosted.l.googleusercontent.com
• infinitedata-pa.googleapis.com
• lh3-dz.googleusercontent.com
• lh3.googleusercontent.com
• media.tenor.com
• www.googleapis.com

I wish I knew how they were testing the app.