Methods and apparatus to detect uninstallation of an on-device meter
View Patent ↗Example methods and apparatus to detect uninstallation of an on-device meter are disclosed. An example method includes receiving, at a second application on the mobile device, a notification that a first application is to be uninstalled. An uninstallation notification is transmitted, with a transmitter on the mobile device, to a remote data collector, the uninstallation notification including an identifier to identify at least one of the mobile device associated with the uninstallation or a user of the mobile device.
1. A method to detect uninstallation of a first application on a mobile device, the method comprising:
installing the first application;
installing a second application;
gathering, at the first application on the mobile device, status information of the second application to ensure that the second application is installed;
transmitting, from the first application on the mobile device, the status information to a remote data collector;
identifying, at the second application on the mobile device, a first notification that the first application is to be uninstalled;
displaying a prompt regarding whether the second application is to be uninstalled when the first notification that the first application is to be uninstalled is identified; and
transmitting, with a transmitter on the mobile device, an uninstallation notification to the remote data collector, the uninstallation notification including an identifier to identify at least one of the mobile device associated with the uninstallation or a user of the mobile device.
2. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the first notification originates from a package manager on the mobile device.
3. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the first notification is broadcast within the mobile device in response to an instruction to uninstall the first application.
4. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the first application is an on-device meter to monitor usage of the mobile device.
5. The method as described in claim 4 , wherein the second application is an on-device meter monitor to monitor uninstallation of the on-device meter.
6. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the first notification further comprises a reason for the uninstallation of the first application.
7. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein:
the first application is to monitor usage of the device; and
the second application is to detect uninstallation of the first application.
8. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the second application is dedicated to monitoring only the first application.
9. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the second application does not respond to uninstallations of applications different than the first application or the second application.
10. The method as described in claim 1 , further comprising:
uninstalling the second application in response to a user response to the prompt indicating that the second application is to be uninstalled.
11. The method as described in claim 10 , wherein transmitting the uninstallation notification is performed prior to uninstalling the second application.
12. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the second application is to initiate a survey on the mobile device in response to the uninstallation of the first application.
13. The method as described in claim 1 , wherein the first application is to be uninstalled by a package manager.
14. An apparatus to detect uninstallation of an application on a mobile device, the apparatus comprising:
an uninstall detector on the mobile device to detect that the application is to be uninstalled from the mobile device, the application to gather status information of the uninstall detector to ensure that the uninstall detector is installed, the application to transmit status information to a data collector;
an uninstaller to display a prompt regarding whether the uninstall detector is to be uninstalled when the application is to be uninstalled and to prompt a package manager to remove the uninstall detector from the mobile device; and
a communicator to transmit an uninstallation notification to the data collector when the application is to be uninstalled, the uninstallation notification to enable identification of a panelist associated with the mobile device, at least one of the uninstall detector, the uninstaller, or the communicator is implemented by a processor.
15. The apparatus as described in claim 14 , wherein the application is an on-device meter to monitor usage of the mobile device.
16. The apparatus as described in claim 14 , wherein the uninstall detector is to detect that the application is to be uninstalled in response to a message from the package manager of the mobile device.
17. The apparatus as described in claim 14 , further comprising a startup detector to cause the uninstall detector to determine if the application has been uninstalled during startup of the mobile device.
18. A tangible machine-readable storage medium, storing instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to at least:
install an application on a mobile device, wherein the application is an on-device meter to monitor usage of the mobile device;
install an application monitor on the mobile device, wherein the application monitor is an on-device meter monitor to monitor uninstallation of the on-device meter;
gather, at the application on the mobile device, status information of the application monitor to ensure that the application monitor is installed;
transmit, from the application on the mobile device, the status information to a remote data collector;
identify, at an application monitor on the mobile device, a first notification that the application is to be uninstalled;
display a prompt regarding whether the application monitor is to be uninstalled when the first notification that the application is to be uninstalled is identified; and
transmit an uninstallation notification to the remote data collector, the uninstallation notification including an identifier to identify at least one of the mobile device associated with the uninstallation or a user of the mobile device.
19. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the first notification originates from a package manager on the mobile device.
20. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the first notification is broadcast within the mobile device in response to an instruction to uninstall the application.
21. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the first notification further comprises a reason for the uninstallation of the application.
22. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the application monitor is dedicated to monitoring only the application.
23. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the application monitor does not respond to uninstallations of applications different than the application or the application monitor.
24. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , further comprising instructions which, when executed, cause the machine to at least:
receive a response indicating whether the application monitor is to be uninstalled; and
uninstall the application monitor if the response indicates that the application monitor is to be uninstalled.
25. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 24 , wherein transmitting the uninstallation notification is performed prior to uninstalling the application monitor.
26. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the application monitor is to initiate a survey on the mobile device in response to the uninstallation of the application.
27. The machine-readable medium as described in claim 18 , wherein the application is to be uninstalled by a package manager.