Ingress APK Teardown [1.83.1]

Ingress, Scanner Updates

Welcome back everyone. It has been a good while since we have had the honor of tearing apart an APK. This is because Niantic became an independent company and thus the pace of released versions slowed down for a bit. However, we jumped from 1.81.0 to 1.83.1, so we have a lot to catch up on!

Key Capsule

Another item joins the crowd of capsules. Joining the MUFG and regular Capsule is the Key Capsule. We can see from examining the description of the item, it packs a unique difference from other capsules.

 <string name="ITEM_DESCRIPTION_KEY_CAPSULE">A storage container that can hold only keys. Keys in this capsule do not count towards the inventory limit.</string>

You read that right. Keys in this capsule do not count towards the inventory limit.

Morgan Jones, did his thing and we have a photo of this item.

https://plus.google.com/+MorganJones0/posts/SU3zPMyQSyw

Capsule Item Filtering

For existing capsules (MUFG and Normal), we have noticed an additional filter when transferring items (to or from) a capsule. You now have the options (shown below) when adding items to a Capsule.

  • All
  • Portal Keys
    • by Title (Only works during loading a capsule)
    • by Distance (Only works during loading a capsule)
  • Power Cubes
  • Resonators
  • Weapons
  • Mods

Screenshot_20150924-170732

This should streamline filling capsules with only certain items. However, a tiny bug has been noticed that when unloading keys from a capsule, the sub-ordering of “By Title / By Distance” doesn’t appear to work.

 

Abaddon Artifacts / Flash Shards

Some hate ’em, some love ’em. Artifacts are back and this time come in two sets of 100.

artifact_[frozen]_abaddon1_fragment_[1-100].obj
artifact_[frozen]_abaddon2_fragment_[1-100].obj

This shows we have 100 fragments for abaddon 1 and 2 respectively. With two weekends of Flash Shards, each site might get a portion of shards and a task. The rules however for this are still unknown as of this post.

Due to the large amount of artifacts, we do not yet have a visual representation of them. We will update this post with renders of artifacts after the talented Daniel Benton has rendered them for the Ingress community. Below is a YouTube video by Benton showing the two sets of 100 shards revolving around portals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqP1We1lTyk

 

Portal Powerups

Major new types of items add a new filter to our inventory. Our last added type of item for that list was “Capsules”. We have noticed a new entry

   <string name="INVENTORY_UI_FILTER_POWERUPS">Powerups</string>

labeled “Powerups” as shown above. A tiny investigation into related fields in the APK, resulted in the following:

   const-string v1, "PORTAL_POWERUP"
   const-string v3, "Portal Powerup"
   const-string v5, "Increases hack output of a Portal."
   Portal Fracker
   Please wait until exisitng effect ends.
   <string name="PORTAL_POWERUP_INSTRUCTIONS_ALREADY_ACTIVE">Powerup already active on Portal!</string>
   <string name="PORTAL_POWERUP_INSTRUCTIONS_OUT_OF_RANGE">Out of Range</string>
   <string name="PORTAL_POWERUP_INSTRUCTIONS_TEXT_DEFAULT">Choose Portal</string>
   <string name="PORTAL_POWERUP_USE_CONFIRM">CONFIRM</string>
   <string name="PORTAL_POWERUP_USE_BACK">BACK</string>
   <string name="PORTAL_POWERUP_CONFIRM_DEPLOYMENT">CONFIRM PORTAL</string>
   <string name="ENUM_MAP_POWERUP_FAIL_POWERUP_DOES_NOT_EXIST">Item does not exist.</string>
   <string name="ENUM_MAP_POWERUP_FAIL_SERVER_ERROR">Unable to operate on item.</string>
   <string name="ENUM_MAP_POWERUP_FAIL_INVALID_PLAYER">Error identifying Agent.</string>

So we know these “items” boost hack output of a portal. We can dive further into the resource “Portal Powerup” and learn some more things. Each PowerUp has the following attributes:

  • rarity
  • multiplier
  • expiryTimeMs

So we can assume these items will come in a variety of rarities having different multipliers and length of use. Those who remember the boosted hack changes throughout the first few years of Ingress will remember the power and strength of a boosted hack.

I think these items apply into a single slot on a portal, called the “portalPowerUp” slot, instead of using the 4 mod slots. However, this is simply a guess.

 

The Store

warning: This is an unreleased feature and thus everything could be tweaked/changed/modified. This is simply a first look.

First noticed in the Handshake was a variable called “enableStore“. Without an APK, it was simply speculation at that point. Now we have the APK and more details surrounding this unreleased change.

 <string name="ENUM_MAP_NEMESIS_TABS_STORE">STORE</string>

First off. This will be a new tab. Much like “Inventory”, “Agent”, “Intel”. Now we can examine the frontend code changes to learn a bit more about the store.

  • currency
  • store-item-currency-cost
  • store-balance
  • store-item-vendor-cost
  • store-item-title
  • store-item-description

Then a PurchaseableItem array with attributes of

  • assetUrl
  • cost
  • description
  • itemId
  • sortOrder
  • title

It appears, real life money will be spent for credits. Those credits then can be spent on items. As of now, it is unknown what will be for sale.

  <string name="ENUM_MAP_STORE_FAIL_SERVER_ERROR">Unable to make purchase.</string>
  <string name="ENUM_MAP_STORE_FAIL_BALANCE_LOW">Store balance too low.</string>

What is known though, is that both Apple and Android will be supported (in terms of purchasing credits) as file names such as

  • ProcessAppleBillingTransactionsParams
  • ProcessGoogelBillingTransactionsParams

are present in the application code.

This feature is in the infancy of its development and is sure to spark some interesting conversations. Time will tell what this will bring, and I urge people not to jump to conclusions especially after only examining an unreleased feature.

 

Mysterious Item

Before a new item is released, it is too easy to spot. Elements are added to common files, assets added and much more. Spotting a new item in an APK has become a far too easy task. This version we saw the addition of:

    const-string v1, "MYSTERIOUS_ITEM_PLACEHOLDER"
    const-string v3, "Mysterious item"
    const-string v5, "For testing new items."
    mysteriousResource.obj
    mysteriousResourceUnit.obj
    mysteriousResourceXM.obj
    nianticResource.obj

    <string name="ENUM_MAP_RESOURCE_TYPE_MYSTERIOUS_ITEM_PLACEHOLDER">Mysterious test item</string>

Like expected, this item takes up a slot but is nothing more than a placeholder. Allowing Niantic to work with server side changes with this “placeholder” item without letting us (the clients and community) figure out what such item is. Another great step towards keeping secrets before a launch of an item. Yeah, I have no idea what a nianticResource.obj is either.

 

Conclusion

Wow. What a big APK. I’ll see you guys with the next version with hopefully more pictures/details on the store.