In an addition to the most popular post on my site Why You Shouldn’t Be Using a Task Killer with Android, I have decided to make this post which quite frankly, is a rant.


When it comes to troubleshooting things in this world, there are a lot of questions that immediately come to mind when you are trying to fix something. My car won’t start is followed by “do you have gas?” My computer is acting strange always triggers “have you tried restarting it?”

With issues on a custom rom on Android the typical question is did you try doing a full data wipe? Well as I look at my 289 unread private messages on XDA and the 34 emails I’ve received just in the last few hours and 100s I’ve received over the last few days, I have a couple new ones.

Did you use a program such as titanium backup?

Are you using a theme or modification?



When a new rom is released it only takes a few people to start saying something doesn’t work before it turns a lot of people off from it because they think it’s broken. When in the reality the problem is caused by something that was installed AFTER the user installed the rom. Which leads me to:

Why you shouldn’t be using Titanium Backup to transfer application settings*


First off let me say that I think Titanium Backup is a great app that I would happily pay for. It does exactly what it says and it does it well. The PROBLEM really is with the way people are using it. Most every important user setting in Android is saved in an SQLite database file. This allows your program to easily pull up your information and also allows for easy backups using a program such as Titanium. The problem is that when a user makes the backup on one rom/build/version and imports it on another, it can cause major issues. As is common with new versions of software, different options are added which also means more tables are created in your SQLite database file. If you take your old backup and overwrite that file, you have now broken that program. Plain and simple. It is called Titanium Backup… not Titanium Transfer Your Settings From One Rom to Another.

*What Titanium IS great for is backing up your settings in case you have to get a new phone, or for having a backup just in case. It could also be useful if you want to do a backup and a full restore and then import again just to clear off your phone. However you have to keep in mind that whatever problem you were already having could easily be be introduced again by importing the exact same settings that you had already. Please don’t take this as a negative post about Titanium, my issue is with how people are using it.

Why you should be testing everything BEFORE you change it


If you are having issues with a rom of mine and they aren’t experienced by every single user then most likely it is something you have done… flat out. Let’s say there is a theme that is causing issues… there is no doubt in my mind that you may find a ton of other users (maybe even 100′s of them) that are all having the same problem. Yet everyone neglects to mention that they applied a theme after installing Fresh. The way a rom works is it’s basically an image. If you do a full data wipe and then flash the rom and do nothing else then your phone is identical to my phone and everyone elses. TEST IT. I can’t guarantee that an app you install won’t cause wake time issues, or a theme you install won’t cause market download issues, or a titanium backup that you restored won’t cause something to force close. If Fresh has issues that I can duplicate on my fully wiped phone then it’s a bug and I will fix it right away. But if you are having problems and you haven’t tired doing a FULL data wipe and testing before you do anything else then you are simply spamming me by emailing me or private messaging me.

For anyone that knows me (especially in real life) I am one of the nicest guys you will meet. It takes a whole lot to get me upset and I’m willing to step up and help just about anyone. I have dedicated thousands of hours of my life working on my projects (thanks to those who have donated!) and it gets so frustrating to have to sort through hundreds of comments/messages/emails of people complaining about issues that they could have resolved themselves because they weren’t caused by Fresh in the first place. It also prevents me from seeing the legitimate issues and questions.

END RANT.

I hope I don’t come across as a jerk. I promise I’m not.