Exported files (.CSV/.KML.SQLITE) building up on phone?

[MikeB3]

As well as uploading to Wigle.net in the usual way, I regularly use the CSV/KML and DB exports, by BlueTooth share, to get data off Wigle onto a laptop for further processing.

Once created, the temporary files seem to remain on the phone forever.

Should Wigle clear these up once the file is transferred successfully? Clear them after X days? Or is there a way to manually purge these?

They don't seem to be visible in a file manager, I only noticed as they are showing up when an ADB backup of phone is made.

I haven't tried going to Apps -> Clear App Data, as it threatens to clear ALL settings for Wigle. I just want to remove this data :-

apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/WigleWifi_202311YYYYXXXX.csv.gz
(from first ever CSV export to date)

apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/app_kml/WigleWifi_202311YYYYXXXX.kml
(from first ever KML export to date)

apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/sqlite/backup-16990YYYYXXXX.sqlite
(from first ever backup DB to file to date)

Is there a safe way to do this? I have adb tools on the laptop, and I'm using Android 10 with Wigle 2.85

[arkasha]

Yeah, that's an artifact of the way we used to be able to use "external" storage on Android (like images and certain docs still are) to store these and make them more easily accessible between applications for for users to access directly for investigation/use. With the Android filesystem lockdown, these got moved into app directory which protects access to them (because Google is restrictive about what types of files can be designated for external storage now).

The up/download CSVs and download/export KMLs might be a candidate for moving to "cache" directories in future releases - this would allow users to use the settings -> apps -> <wigle> -> storage -> "clear cache" button to eliminate these files without clearing the DB/settings entries. I'd tried to do this earlier but it broke the file "share intents" we have to use to get at them under the new storage design, so discarded it.

Perhaps we should start a feature request as a github issue?

[MikeB3]

I'm aware that Android is a constant shifting mess of ways to stop people using their own hardware/software the way they want

It might be enough simply to delete these files (inside Wigle) if they are found in "the place where Wigle puts them" and are more than X hours/days old. Because once shared, they are no longer needed/used? Is that a correct assumption? I think they are not even "cache" files, they feel like "tmp" files that have no purpose beyond immediate use.

E.g. where I try and export CSV, share by bluetooth, and a bluetooth error occurs (not Wigle's fault) -- on the second attempt it creates the same content into a new file with a new name. Now, BOTH are left behind So definitely a lack of clear-up.

I would be happy manually clearing them out if I could just find WHERE they have ended up, but can't seem to get to the real location of "apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/ ... ".

This path has come from using SmartSwitchBackup to backup the phone to the SD card, then using adb tools to copy the SD card content over to a laptop. I don't know how well it corresponds to a real location in the Android filesystem.

[arkasha]

that's interesting - sharing an existing on-device CSV shouldn't make a second copy that requires cleanup - only a failed upload.

There are too many legitimate applications (and other users use cases) for the on-device files for us to create an automatic deletion process, even after the filesystem lock-down - let's look at other options.

[MikeB3]

I haven't tried going to Apps -> Clear App Data, as it threatens to clear ALL settings for Wigle. I just want to remove this data :-

Just as a data point, I bit the bullet today and did the "Clear App Data" option, which freed up about 570Mb of this stuff.

One file for every time I've done Export DB as KML, as CSV, and every time I "backup database" over the past year.

As a side effect, it did (as I feared) trash all the settings, user login etc. etc. so I manually put them all back. and all is well again.

I never did find the true location where these files live. I can see them in SmartSwitchBackup's logging as

Code: Select all

apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/WigleWifi_20240831201600.csv.gz apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/sqlite/backup-1725131986353.sqlite apps/net.wigle.wigleandroid/f/app_kml/WigleWifi_20240831201745.kml

but the real location from within adb-shell seems to be hidden from me!