Restart adbd as shell user on a non-rooted device without rebooting after the "setprop" operation The setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555 worked on my non-rooted device, now I need to restart adbd as the shell user :

$ adb shell
shell@android:/ $ getprop ro.build.version.release
4.1.2
shell@android:/ $ getprop service.adb.tcp.port

shell@android:/ $ setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
shell@android:/ $ getprop service.adb.tcp.port
5555

I tried this to restart adbd, but the PID of adbd didn't change :

shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     161   1     4724   308   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $ stop adbd
shell@android:/ $ start adbd
shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     161   1     4724   308   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $ exit
$ adb connect 192.168.2.27
failed to connect to '192.168.2.27:5555': Connection refused

Then I sent a SIGHUP to try and trigger a adbd restart, but all it did was to kill adbd and now I cannot connect via USB anymore :

shell@android:/ $ kill -SIGHUP 161
$ adb shell
error: device offline

So now I HAVE to reboot in order start adbd which I've accidentally killed.

After reboot I also tried setprop ctl.restart adbd but it didn't work :

shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     176   1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $ getprop ctl.restart

shell@android:/ $ setprop ctl.restart adbd
shell@android:/ $ getprop ctl.restart

shell@android:/ $ ps -C adbd
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     176   1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
shell@android:/ $

Can you help me restart adbd on my non-rooted device without reboot ?

In the specific context of setting the adb tcp/ip port, the adb tcpip 5555 command does restart the adbd service.

As one can see the PID of adbd is changed after the adb tcpip command :

$ adb shell ps | egrep -w "adbd|PID"
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     3675  1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd
$ adb tcpip 5555
restarting in TCP mode port: 5555
$ adb shell ps | egrep -w "adbd|PID"
USER     PID   PPID  VSIZE  RSS     WCHAN    PC         NAME
shell     3800  1     4720   300   ffffffff 00000000 S /sbin/adbd


CyanogenMod installer won't connect to internet As per screenshot below, I have been unable to proceed with the CyanogenMod Installer (Windows).
This is what I get:

Having internet troubles? Please check your network connection.

Screenshot (click image for large variant)

I've tried adding extra inbound and outbound exceptions for Cyanogen Mod Installer (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\CMInstaller.exe) in the Windows Firewall (accessible from Control Panel), but it didn't help.
I am not behind a proxy. And there's nothing wrong with my Internet connection : I'm accessing all other online content.

I'm using Win8x64, and trying to install CM on my Samsung S3 GT-i9300.

Has anyone encountered the same issue?

*UPDATE: I tried running the msi installer via an admin command prompt, didn't make any difference.

Because this question is in the active category, I'll give an updated answer.

CyanogenMod was discontinued on December 27th, 2016. Because of this, their webserver also went down, which would cause the issue this question asked. There is no solution, and the installer is forever broken. You can manually install the ROM or use a different custom ROM.


Samsung Galaxy S7 stuck at boot - power button not working in recovery mode my Samsung Galaxy S7 is stuck in boot with the "no command" error screen. I found out I can possibly fix the problem by wiping the cache partition, and have found the recovery menu to do this.

However, my power button does not seem to work in the recovery menu (it does work for powering the S7 on, however. Thus, I can not select the menu item to wipe the cache partition.

How can I get rid of the no command error? If wiping the cache partition is the right way, what am I doing wrong? I don't want to factory reset my device.

I am not usnig a modified version - I use the android version shipped by Samsung

My power button will work after scrolling to the option using the volume keys but I've always wondered about what it says below the options for the hashtree lineup..


Installing CM 11 (KitKat) on an S II without USB I've inherited a Galaxy S II running Android 4.1 (no software updates are available for the stock version), and I want to put 4.4 on it. There are plenty of tutorials for this on the internet, but most of them seem to rely on flashing CWM with ODIN first.

My problem here is that USB Mass Storage doesn't work on this phone, and hasn't for about a year now. It will charge over USB, but doesn't appear to acknowledge being connected to a PC. It shows up in Device Manager as Unknown device, and in Properties it says Code 43: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. If I go into settings on the phone and try to switch on USB Mass Storage, it tells me to Connect a cable before using USB Mass Storage (or similar wording). I've tried with USB Debugging on and off.

I can, of course, copy files on and off of the SD card using an external reader, what I want to know is whether it is possible to go from stock android (and stock recovery) to CyanogenMod 11 without using the USB connection? If so, how?

Yes it's possible. You don't need the USB connection to do this. You need to flash a rooted kernel like Philz which is specific to the S2, and you need to do this from the stock Android recovery which you can access by holding power+home. The rooted kernel must be on the SD card.


Is there a way to forward online calls to cell network? I am traveling abroad and roaming costs are extremely high. Therefore, I thought about the following. I would leave a smart phone at home, connected to my home wifi. Then I would call that phone via Skype, Hangouts, whatever online service and the phone would forward my call through the local mobile network. This way I could make local calls via web in my home country.

Is there a way to do this?

Unless you have a particular reason for wanting to route through a secondary device, a more direct approach would be to investigate apps that are available to you that use wifi-calling. These can be used even in airplane mode (with wifi subsequently turned back on) and behave the same way whether you are in your home country or abroad - ie no roaming charges.
These are often carrier specific (at least in my experience).


"Use Voice with Wired Headset" Notification Stops Music I have my Moto G plugged into an AUX port in my car which plays music from the car's speaker's via Google Play Music. Occasionally, the music will automatically pause and a notification will popup on my phone saying "Use Voice with Wired Headset."

If I try to hit play again, Google Play Music will show the music playing, but nothing is coming from the speakers. In order to get it working again, I found I need to kill the Google Play Music app, unplug from the AUX cable, then reconnect and open the app. The process repeats every time the "Wired Headset" notification pops up. The frequency of the notification is random when driving.

I'm guessing the phone is picking up the music from my car's speakers and thinking it's me trying to give voice commands. I turned off all relevant settings concerning voice commands (Settings > Accessibility; Google Assistant > Settings > Voice), but it still occurs and I'm afraid a I'm missing something.

Anyone familiar with the problem or have an idea for a countermeasure?

Thanks!

No. The Internet is full random speculation about this issue, ranging from dirty/damaged headhone jack, to hardware issues and defective headphones. All of these lame excuses are wrong. Google Assistant has been intentionally written (several updates ago) to use this method of nagging harrassment to force Android users to enable "Ok Google"/Assistant. Just like your Google Feed cannot be shut off now without completely disabling the Google app entirely, and disabling Play, Gmail, etc along with it. It is just another form of "user herding" so they can further Snoop and send you focused advertising. Not happy with only gathering search terms, they want everyone on board with Voice, befotre they change the user agreement and eavesdrop on end users constantly. This is already happening to wide cross section of users, without any real consent or knowledge. Some of it Google has pushed off on third party affiliates to insulate themselves from inevitable push back and outrage. People are figuring this out, by conversations overheard by phones are changing their advertisment and news feeds.


ADB Shell command not applied - "am set-standby-bucket" - Android 9 Currently trying to observe the behaviour of my app in different adaptive battery buckets on Android Pie. I was testing it with the command :

adb shell am set-standby-bucket <packagename> <active|working_set|frequent|rare>

(documented here : https://developer.android.com/about/versions/pie/power)

The problem is that the command appear to be ignored by the device as you will see in the actual behavior snippet.

Notice that only one device is plugged during the process.

Actual behaviour :

$ > adb shell dumpsys battery unplug
$ > adb shell am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 10
$ > adb shell am set-standby-bucket <package-name> rare
$ > adb shell am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 10

or

$ > sudo adb shell
$ > su
# > dumpsys battery unplug
# > am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 10
# > am set-standby-bucket <package-name> rare
# > am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 10

Expected behaviour :

$ > adb shell dumpsys battery unplug
$ > adb shell am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 10
$ > adb shell am set-standby-bucket <package-name> rare
$ > adb shell am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 40

or

$ > sudo adb shell
$ > su
# > dumpsys battery unplug
# > am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 10
# > am set-standby-bucket <package-name> rare
# > am get-standby-bucket <package-name>
> 40

Here is my configuration :
Android Studio 3.3.1
Build #AI-182.5107.16.33.5264788, built on January 29, 2019
JRE: 1.8.0_152-release-1248-b01 x86_64
JVM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains s.r.o
MacBook Pro - MacOS Mojave 10.14.3

Here is the device configuration I am using :

Type : Emulator
Name: Pixel_API_28
CPU/ABI: Google APIs Intel Atom    (x86_64)
Path: ..../.android/avd/Pixel_API_28_1.avd
Target:    google_apis [Google APIs] (API level 28)
image.androidVersion.api: 28
tag.id: google_apis

Thank you in advance !

I see the same thing with the Android P emulator.
However, this works for me on a Pixel 2 device with P.

Btw I think you need to use the integer representation when setting:

adb shell am set-standby-bucket <package-name> 40

Not

adb shell am set-standby-bucket <package-name> rare


How to mount SMB/CIFS Network Shares on android device? I have a rooted android device running on gingerbread. I was wondering if there is a way to mount my windows CIFS(Common Internet File System) Shares on my android device over WiFi.

Is it required to have a kernel that supports CIFS protocol for mounting ?

You have to be rooted and you have to have the kernel module for cifs support. if you have froyo, you also will need slow-work.ko kernel module as well.

Once you have those, you can use (shameless plug) Mount Manager, it can handle loading the modules for you automatically and lots of features available for auto mounting when connecting to wifi, and other stuff. It is a lot like Cifs Manager, but has a more robust system for loading the modules, and supports multiple modules and has support for being a plugin for locale/tasker (paid version).


'Rear Camera' and 'Flash light' Not Working in Lenovo k6 Note (Custom Rom) I am not able to use Rear Camera and Flash Light in My Lenovo K6 Note. Front Camera Works Well.
When I open Camera App, by default it Opens with Front Camera. Rear Camera Option is Not Found. (Front Camera works Perfectly Fine)

Even when i opened WhatsApp and Take a pic, only front camera is shown. No Button to switch To Rear Camera. (Front Camera works Perfectly Fine)

When i swipe Down the status Bar and try to switch on 'Flash Torch light'. it is not working.

In Stock Rom, Front and Rear Camera Works Fine even Flash Light Works Fine.

Solutions Tried

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=71423852&postcount=112 Tried But Not Working (Both Solution not Working)
Download libmmcamera2_sensor_modules.so from my github, override /system/vendor/lib/libmmcamera2_sensor_modules.so in your phone, take care file permission, then reboot your phone. Even This Is not Working
Used Rom lineage-14.1-20180319-UNOFFICIAL-karate . Not working
Used Validus_Karate.zip still not working same Problem As above

Device:

Device : Lenovo K6 Note

Android Version : 7.1.2

Os : lineage-14.1-20180319-UNOFFICIAL-karate (Flashed Using TWRP)

Rooted : Yes

Just a Doubt

I downloaded 'karate' and there is a rom with name 'karateP' . I have a no idea what is it, Im a noob. Am i facing problem because of this ? I am Not sure.!

u need to flash the rom named Karatep. the one you flashed in for k6 power.
K6 Power(Karate)
K6 Note (Karatep)

https://forum.xda-developers.com/k6-power/development/stable-unofficial-lineageos-lenovo-vibe-t3635064


Accidently discarded lollipop update on nexus 4 I have accidently cancelled android update ffrom tasks. Now how will I get it again?

Thanks

If you cancel an update, you can almost always go back and still update the phone. All you need to do go to Settings >>>> About Phone >>>> System Updates >>>> And then click "Check for Updates" or "Check Now"


Why can't I access google.com when tethering? I am paying my wireless carrier (MetroPCS) for the "hotspot" feature, which is required in order for me to tether. However, strange things are a happening....

I can't access google.com, although I can access it via IP address - 208.54.90.53. Which leads me to believe it has something to do with DNS resolution.

HOWEVER

I can access android.stackexchange.com directly.

BUT

I can't access facebook.com either directly or via IP.

... I've tested this on multiple laptops, and the issue is the same. What in the world is going on?

Once I disconnected my other LAN and Wifi connection that were connected but had no internet, it worked. Before I had no FB or Google as you say. Must have been a conflict


Backup Notification Led (Pulse Light) Configuration I recently switched from CyanogenMod to Paranoid Android on my Nexus. I knew I would lose most of my settings, but I felt rather stupid when I realised I had lost all of my carefully defined Pulse Light per-app configurations.

Given that this is quite likely to happen again, I'd like to know
whether there's a way to back up these settings.

I'm talking about Settings > Display > Pulse notification light,
where you can configure how each specific app should blink and which
colors they should use.

I already use Titanium Backup, but I couldn't find any item in its list
which seemed to regard the pulse light.

I use Light Flow app to control my notifications light. It has an option to backup/restore settings that I have used when flashing new ROM or doing a data reset.


How do i flash my android device ROM to uninstall King root 4.8.0? My android device is a Huawei Ascend G7-L01
I downloaded King root 4.8.0 like one year ago,when i was fed up of it,it tried to uninstall it,didn't work claiming that it is a system app,then i did a factory reset,did't work again,then i tried to uninstall it inside the app itself and it said 'removing failed feedback',didn't work again, and i disabled it but it does still affect the phone and it is annoying ,then many people were suggesting flash the android device ROM...........

My problem here is i don't know if it will really work and how to use it , can you guys please specify your answer ?

Download ES File explorer, grant it root permissions and:

 1. Delete the app from /system/app/Kingroot
 2. Delete the su file from /system/bin
 3. Reboot the phone

That is if you can't do just as my friend already told you


Changing to an SD Card Because my internal storage didn't have enough space for new applications and updates I decided to change where applications were being installed to my SD card.

I used the adb commands and a message informed me that I changed to the SD card. However when tried I was unable to download applications due to insufficient space which means that my primary memory is still my internal memory.

How can I change to the SD storage?

I am using a Samsung Galaxy 2 7.0, OS 4.0.4

Just switching the default install location does not free up storage. If you follow up to the insufficient-memory tag-wiki, you will find the explanation:

  First thing you should check when encountering this problem is how much internal storage is left on your device (space on sdcards, internal or external, is completely irrelevant to this problem). As a general thumb rule, you need at least 25 MB free

So regardless where apps are to be installed: Google Play first needs to download them, and stores them in /data/local before installing them. This is in internal storage, hence it will check there for "sufficient space".

For things to do, again the insufficient-memory tag-wiki is a good starting point, and should be sufficient to solve your issue (basically, you need to free up some space, e.g. by moving some apps to SD or deleting some you no longer need). If that still didn't solve the issue, please indicate (and update your question to note what you tried, what the outcome was, and where you're stuck).


How to use a bluetooth mouse on an Android Phone? I have a RedMi Note 3 with CM13 installed. I bought a Phone bracket to watch videos on my bed. To interact with my Phone without the bother to lift my hand, I tried to use a bluetooth mouse.

My Phone can connect to the bluetooth mouse, but shows no pointer and no reaction.

I searched throw the Internet, but the results are all about how to use a phone as a virtual mouse to control a PC. I really don't know how to filter them out. Could you give me any guide on it? Thank you.

I happen to have got a Redmi Note 3 (Snapdragon) just recently and also have CM13 on it, and my Bluetooth keyboard/mouse combo connects and functions just fine.

All I can say is that your mouse might be faulty - test it somewhere else.


Moto G5 Plus - will the US sim free version work with a UK sim card? I'm getting a new phone and I'm pretty set on the Motorola G5 Plus. I live in the UK but I will be traveling to the US soon and I'm considering buying a new phone while I'm there ($230 vs £250 here which is about a £50 difference even with MA sales tax).

Anyway - I am wondering if the G5 Plus from the US would work without any issues in the UK and the rest of Europe with a UK sim card. I googled around a bit and found some info on GSM bands but I hope that someone knowledgeable will be able to give me a definite answer.

This is what I found on Motorola's official website regarding this phone's bands:

  Moto G Plus - XT1687 CDMA (850, 850+,1900 MHz) GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850,
  900, 1800, 1900 MHz) UMTS/HSPA+ (850, 900, 1700, 1900, 2100 MHz) 4G
  LTE (B1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 25, 26, 38, 41, 66)

I have also found bands supported by British carriers and they seem compatible to me but I would like to be sure first (it's also quite important that it works in the rest of Western Europe as I travel from time to time).

Thank you in advance!

Unfortunately it would not work on 4G as O2 in the UK requires band 20 which the US version of the phone XT1687 does not support.


Is it possible to be connected to two different bluetooth devices at the same time? I'd like to be able to send A2DP to my car stereo while at the same time sending phone calls to the speakerphone I have in my car.  I haven't bought the stereo adapter yet, since I wanted to find out if this setup would work, otherwise I would just try it. ;)

Thanks!

Answer:
Yes, you can have multiple bluetooth devices connected to your phone.

App to manage your bluetooth devices
Additionally, you can use Smart Bluetooth Widget Pro by MDR Tools, Inc. available from Google Play Store to help you manage those devices:

This is a must have widget for your android if you have any bluetooth devices.
It adds a bluetooth icon to your home screen, and by just clicking on it, It will display you the list of paired devices and you can just click and connect to your bluetooth devices. No need to go to settings screen, turn the bluetooth on, and connect to your devices.
When you walk away from your bluetooth device, this widget not just cancels the bluetooth connection, It also turns off the bluetooth to save more from the battery.
You can also connect to multiple bluetooth devices at the same time.
You can connect to your speaker, and your headset at the same time.

There's also a free version Smart Bluetooth Widget Free.


What is /system/bin/mediaserver on Android, and why is it pegging the CPU? I noticed that my Motorola Droid, running rooted 2.2 Froyo, has been acting sluggish sometimes.  I fired up the terminal emulator, and ran top, and noticed that /system/bin/mediaserver is using around 90% of my CPU.

What does this program do? Is it safe to kill it?  How can I prevent it from slowing down my phone in the future?

Some quick Googling has turned up other people with the same problem, but not really any answers.

The media server is responsible for indexing the images, videos and music files on the device. It then is queried by programs like the media gallery or the music player for filtered lists of certain media types.

I think that it would be restarted pretty fast after killing. I would assume that somehow there are many write options on the sd card and the media server will constantly reindex your mass storage. But I don't know a solution for that.


Can I mount external SD card read-only? I have a SamsungGalaxy S3 (32GB Verizon version, not rooted) with a 64GB external SD card.

I use the external card only for music, which I load from my computer. Several times now I have lost files from the external card. Is there any way I can force the S3 to mount the external card as "read-only"?

Ideally, a widget that would allow me to toggle the mount from RO to RW and back would be perfect, but any way to mount it as RO will satisfy my need to protect the data on the card.

I disagree with Liam's answer.

Its possible with root, you can just use the "root explorer" app on play store and navigate to /storage/extSdCard/ and on the top, click the "Mount R/O" button to mount the drive as read only.

Surely if you know the linux codes, you should be able to make it into a widget for it :p (one line or so)

(I think there's an app that makes widgets from busybox codes) - that could be your answer


LG Volt is stuck on Boot-Loop As I was using one of the apps on my phone. It suddenly turned off then kept turning off and on going through the same process. I tried taking the battery out for a while, but that never worked either it just kept proceeding to turn off and on. What should I do?

This might not help your device:

Go To Recovery Mode Hold Power Button + Volume Down
Navigate using Volume Buttons
Choose Wipe User Data/ Factory Reset
Reboot your phone


Is Evernote a malicious app? I have been using Evernote on my Laptop and Mobile phone for quite some time now. Recently, when downloading an update of Evernote app in my phone from Google Play app, I noticed that Evernote asks for some objectionable permissions:

I am not aware of any option/facility/service provided by Evernote which would require any of these permissions. Is Evernote Malicious?

The reason for "phone calls" might be quite easy: Looking at the app requirements, they list "Android 1.6 or higher". With that, this permission is automatically set -- whether the developer wants it or not. Reference: Android 1.6 Changelog.

An interesting discussion on this permission can be found at StackOverflow: Android permissions: Phone Calls: read phone state and identity.

Of course this might not be the only reason. If the app e.g. lets you take "call notes" for an ongoing phone call, it might want to connect it with the contact or at least the calling number. To get the contact, it needs the number. To get the number, it needs... yes, READ_PHONE_STATE. Not using EverNote, I cannot say if it offers such a feature.

Personal Information: A possible reason for Contacts I just explained. Some additional reasons, taken from the app description, could be:

Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account (Email taken from contacts)
Share notes with friends and colleagues via Facebook and Twitter (again, your friends data is probably stored with your contacts)
Take meeting and class notes (meetings are probably among your calendar entries, so they could be connected)
Plan a trip: keep track of travel plans, plane tickets and passports (again a clear candidate for calendar: Travel plans)

As for accounts, pick reasons from above: How to share on your Twitter and/or Facebook accounts without accessing them?

So all mentioned permissions could be easily explained. Could, as it takes some guess-work. You may be able to tell my assumptions are true if you investigate the described features. But the devs should be able to confirm or deny -- and IMHO it is their responsibility to explain.

My suggestion to developers always is: If there are sensitive permissions involved, split the connected functionality into addons/plugins. My standard example: Locus Maps. It needs internet access to load maps, that's crucial to the app. Being a navigation app, you might want it to navigate you to your friends -- so accessing your contacts makes sense. But that together with internet, well... you might be concerned. So Menion (the dev) moved this part to a (free) addon. Choice is up to you: Trust him (and install the addon), or enter all addresses manually.

And for another thing I agree with a point mentioned here a couple of times: A 4.7 star rating with almost half a million downloads, I'd say if that app were malicious, we'd have heard about.


Nexus 7 , Android Ver. 4.2.2, Locking icons down on home screen We have a set of 30 Nexus 7's that are checked out by students who constantly delete/move/add icons on the home screen.  We would like to lock the home screen icons so that they cannot be deleted/moved or added to.  Is this possible?

Have a play with SureLock in the Play store. It is pretty good at locking the home screen down.


SuperSu not at all functional, can't uninstall I installed SuperSU from Google Play, and then from a zip file using ClockWorkMod and now it crashes every time I go to log or settings. I tried factory reset, not quite sure how I thought it would help, and it's still broken. I'd like to uninstall it if possible. Fixes are also welcome, tough.

Edit: I'm using LG Nexus 5 with Android 5.1.1, Cyanogenmod 12.1 and ElementalX N5 2.11 kernel.

Steps:

First, you need to install the SuperSu Zip file from recovery; then,
Install the latest version of SuperSu app from Play Store.

Also, based on my experiences on Cyanogenmod ROMs, these ROMs are rooted before installing. So, you don't need to install any SuperSu file from recovery.


Set an app to be default without clearing old first I have unfortunately set Truecaller as the default app to view contacts.

I want the standard Google Contacts app to open contacts.

In particular, when I search for a contact on the phone using the search bar and then tap a contact, I want it to be opened in Google Contacts.

I have found plenty of advice about how to clear the launch by default setting for an app.

However, Truecaller does not think that it is the default for anything.

So, I would simply like to choose Google Contacts as the default without clearing the original app first.

In general I think that first having to find the old default app is a very clunky user interface. I'd like to choose the default app I want, not search for the old app. Especially when it is not clear at all which one that is.

EDIT
Ok, I found that it was Truedialer not Truecaller that had the defaults. But my original question is still valid: If I have difficulty finding the default app, is it possible to set a new default without clearing the old one?

Updated answer: Try Better Open With app, I see they added support for dialer (I can chose from Contacts or Phone).

Old answer: Go to Settings
Go to Apps
Select the app that is currently the default launcher for contacts.
Scroll down to “Launch By Default”.
Tap “Clear Defaults”


Are there any known rom(s) with full device encryption incorporated? Possible Duplicate:
  Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

Are there any recommendable known rom(s) with full device/disk encryption incorporated?

Device specs: Samsung ARM Cortex A8 processor at 1GHz, and 512MB RAM, right now runs Android 2.2.

You mean like WhisperCore? Quoting from it's site:

  By default, WhisperCore encrypts your entire data partition at the device level, and can optionally be enabled for your phone's SD card as well. WhisperCore also includes smudge-resistant screen unlock patterns.

Unfortunately it only currently runs on the Nexus handsets.


Transferring messages to android from a sqlite db on my laptop I am a new android user. I switched from nokia to android today only. Been googling around for various solutions to transfer my sms (text messages only) from my old nokia to my new Android (Galaxy Ace with Android 2.3).

After exploring my laptop, I found the synced(using Nokia PC Suite) sms were stored in AppData as a sqlite file.

Can I transfer all these to my new Android? Any app for this?

Well I solved the problem. Documenting the solution here for future references.

Using any sqlite manager (I used firefox plugin- SQlite Manager), export the database to XML format (generally any db manager has options to export the database in csv, xls & xml formats).

If your sqlite was generated by nokia pc-suite sync, you would get an xml like:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<sm_xml_export version="2.0">
  <database name="msg_db.sqlite">

      <column name="msg_txt" type="3">Your message body</column>
      <column name="msg_address" type="3">+919203487229</column>
      <column name="msg_folder" type="1">1</column>
      <column name="msg_time" type="1">1305483332</column>
      <column name="msg_imei" type="3">355940045825435</column>
      <column name="msg_status" type="1">36</column>
      <column name="msg_uid" type="3">{c33eb602-1456-4542-a755-268dc3728638}</column>
      <column name="msg_address_substr" type="3">4487229</column>
      <column name="msg_subject" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachments" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_type" type="1">0</column>
      <column name="msg_binary_path" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachment_tns" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_sent_frompc" type="1">0</column>

      <column name="msg_txt" type="3">Hi gopi, how are you? ;)</column>
      <column name="msg_address" type="3">+919582821300</column>
      <column name="msg_folder" type="1">1</column>
      <column name="msg_time" type="1">1305516490</column>
      <column name="msg_imei" type="3">355940045825435</column>
      <column name="msg_status" type="1">36</column>
      <column name="msg_uid" type="3">{15a0d257-2318-4baa-b764-dd14c1aa1fb5}</column>
      <column name="msg_address_substr" type="3">2821300</column>
      <column name="msg_subject" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachments" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_type" type="1">0</column>
      <column name="msg_binary_path" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_attachment_tns" type="3"/>
      <column name="msg_sent_frompc" type="1">0</column>

  </database>
</smses>

Then you can use the following php script to do the conversion to the generate the xml format script required by the SMS Backup and Restore App.

<?php

$file=fopen("sms-20120708160401.xml", "w");
$xml=simplexml_load_file("messages.xml");
echo $xml->getName()."

";
$begin="<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes' ?>\n";
$begin.='<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="sms.xsl"?>'."\n";
$begin.='<smses count="">'."\n";
fwrite($file,$begin);
$start='  <sms protocol="0" ';
$finish='/>';
$i=1;
$j=0;

foreach($xml->children()->children() as $table) {
    echo $i++."  ";
    $read=1;
    $msg_status=$table->column[5];
    $msg_folder=$table->column[2];
    if($msg_status=="34") {
        $type=1;
        $read=0;
    }
    else if($msg_status=="36") {
        if($msg_folder=="4294967295") {
            $type=3;
        }
        else {
            $type=1;
        }
    }
    else if($msg_status=="1" || $msg_status=="5") {
        if($msg_folder=="4294967295") {
            $type=3;
        }
        else {
            $type=2;
        }
    }
    else {
        echo "
".$msg_status."; ".$msg_folder."

";
    }
    $body=htmlspecialchars($table->column[0]);
    $body=str_replace("\n", '&#10;', $body);
    $address=$table->column[1];
    if(strlen($address)==11) {
        $address="+91".substr($address,1);
    }
    else if(strlen($address)==10) {
        $address="+91".$address;
    }
    else if($address=="") {
        $i--;
        continue;
    }

    $sms=$start;
    $sms.='address="'.$address.'" ';
    $sms.='date="'.$table->column[3].'000" ';
    $sms.='type="'.$type.'" ';
    $sms.='subject="null" ';
    $sms.='body="'.$body.'" ';
    $sms.='toa="null" ';
    $sms.='sc_toa="null" ';
    $sms.='service_center="null" ';
    $sms.='read="'.$read.'" ';
    $sms.='status="-1" ';
    $sms.='locked="0" ';
    $sms.='date_sent="null" ';
    $sms.=$finish."\n";

    fwrite($file, $sms);
}

$end='</smses>';
fwrite($file, $end);
fclose($file);

?>

One point to be noted:

You have to manually write the count attribute in the smses tag. Just check the number of lines in your generated xml file & subtract 4 from it OR just write the last echoed integer by the script

Now just send this to your android & restore using the SMS Backup & Restore App. Bingo! you are done!


I did a factory reset to sell my phone, and my photos are still there according to the new owner… I need help in this strange situation! I did a factory reset and cleared everything in my HTC One X, erased all files and photos, removed all accounts, and sold the phone.

Now all my photos (2150!) are all back there, as the person who bought it says!
How is this possible? and what can I do to completely clear it up?
I made sure after the reset that nothing was in my phone!

If you thoroughly checked that nothing was left, that's a strange thing indeed (and I cannot imagine it returned "by itself"). But as a factory-reset usually only deletes/wipes /cache and /data, the SDCard (internal or external) are not touched in this process, so you might have missed that. Some devices offer to include the SDCard with the wipe/factory-reset, though.

For a real safe clean, however, even a wipe might not be enough, as files still could be restored using appropriate software. So if you're selling your device, you'd better make sure your data is completely nuked: not only "marked deleted", but really removed and overwritten. To achieve this, you can use helpers like Nuke My Phone.


Restoring Nexus S to factory everything I'm running a Nexus S i9020A on CM9 ICS 4.0.3, with a Matrix 1.46. I've found this website which seems to contain a fastboot image. I was wondering if I use the fast boot image on my Nexus S. Would this keep or get rid of my Matrix Kernal (I would like to get rid of it), and it would unroot my phone right?

Basically, if I use this fastboot image on my Nexus S will my phone be exactly like it was, just on 4.0.4?

As long as you reflash both the boot partition and the system partition it will take you back to a stock version of Android. The kernel is packed in the boot image, so that will overwrite a custom one, but a system image alone will not.

You could also choose to flash back to a stock recovery, but that has no real bearing on the Android system itself and custom recoveries are much more robust, so I would personally not recommend reflashing recovery.


fastboot set_active command does not exist I am trying to root my Xiaom mi a2 phone. But i am stuck on changing the active partition. When i enter "fastboot set_active b" it doesnt execute the command. Instead i get a list off all available commands which doesnt contain an option to change the active partition.

Console-Output

I am following this tutorial: Tutorial

First you need the actual fastboot, e.g. 1.4.3 (from link in the other answer).
Then the correct command is:

fastboot --set-active=a

or:

fastboot --set-active=b

In the help (fastboot help) you can read in fastboot version 28.0.3:

--slot <slot>                          Specify slot name to be used if the
                                       device supports slots. All operations
                                       on partitions that support slots will
                                       be done on the slot specified.
                                       'all' can be given to refer to all
                                       slots.'other' can be given to refer to
                                       a non-current slot. If this flag is not
                                       used, slotted partitions will default
                                       to the current active slot.

-a, --set-active[=<slot>]              Sets the active slot. If no slot is
                                       provided, this will default to the
                                       value given by --slot. If slots are
                                       not supported, this does nothing.
                                       This will run after all non-reboot
                                       commands.


Synchronize/copy OSGB Map I've paid for & downloaded a map from Great Britain Ordnance Survey onto my Android phone. I want to copy it to my tablet. Can anybody tell me where (i.e. directory) the map is within the phone, or how to copy the map properly?

Have you purchased a map direct from us on our OS MapFinder app? If so, there's advice in the FAQs on syncing downloaded maps between devices that are using a linked Google Play account: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/mapfinder/mapfinder-android-faq.html

If you've purchased an Ordnance Survey map from one of our partners rather than direct from us, you'll need to check with them on how their apps and services work though.


How to enable the DayDream feature in the Nexus10? I know that in Android JellyBean 4.2 there's a new feature called DayDream. I want to access it in my Nexus10 but don't know how.

How can I enable and use it?

Go to Settings -> Display -> Daydream and select your desired daydream. After this, tap When to daydream and select when you want it to work.

Now, when you charge/dock the device, leave the screen on and after a while, the daydream will start. For me, this required me not to lock the screen manually by pressing the power button, and disabling Stay awake from Developer options.


Why does my Galaxy S3 make a noise when I put it down? Occasionally, when I put my Samsung Galaxy S3 down relatively firmly, it makes a noise that's sort of half way between 'BONG' and 'CLANK'. When it happens I can immediately pick it up and put it down again to make it happen again. I can repeat this for as long as I like. Pick up, put down, BONG/CLANK, repeat.

There are no on-screen messages, just the noise. Why is it doing this? Can it be stopped?

Thanks

Well, I've figured it out. Sort of. I habitually put my phone down on top of my wallet, which contains my NFC-chipped credit card. It turns out the phone actually makes that noise when it finds an NFC chip. If I push my credit card against the back of the phone the same thing happens.

I'm still not sure what it really means, though.


It that possible for the wallpaper cache saved in Android /data folder being hacked? (Not Rooted) My boyfriend was kidding with me, setting my private photo as wallpaper.

I deleted the photo but the wallpaper still remains there...

After browsing through some information on the net, I found out that the wallpaper is saved to a folder which only can be accessed after rooting.

If I change the wallpaper, will the previous wallpaper automatically be deleted?

If not, since it is saving in a folder which only can be accessed after rooting, is it safe? Or does it still have a possibility of being hacked by others?

If you'd like to be safe, you could always wipe the cache of the phone:

1. Turn off your Galaxy S3.
2. Hold down the Home and Volume Up keys.
3. Press and hold the Power button while still holding the other keys
4. As soon as you see the Samsung logo, release all keys/buttons.
5. Press on the Volume Down key to tab down to “wipe cache partition”
6. Once it is highlighted, press the Power button to select it.
7. On the next page, Press the Volume down button to highlight "yes" and press the
   Power button to select it.
8. Wait for a few seconds for the phone to clear the data.
9. Press the Power button on the next page to select “reboot system now.”
10.Wait for your phone to reboot.

  *This will not wipe any of your information stored on phone, pictures, video's, apps, contacts, etc. will all be safe

Source


Android sd card default folders purpose I wonder what is the purposes of each of these extra folders that android creates on a sd card.

Edit:

.android_secure

.data

.estrongs

.showme

_nero_sync

Alarms

Albums

Android

DCIM

download

LOST.DIR

media

Movies

Music

My Documents

Notifications

OTA-Updater

Pictures

Podcasts

ppy_cross

Ringtones

Each app on your phone with the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission may create files or folders there. Most of these folders have once been created by one of these apps and many of them may be deleted with a few exceptions (e.g. Android, .data, .android_secure, these contain important system or app data like a game's downloaded content). Alas, it's impossible to tell exactly which folder belongs to which app.

.android_secure: apps installed and then moved to sdcard
Android: app data/cache
data: app data
.estrongs: ES file manager
LOST.DIR: sort of trash folder (collects recovered files after phone crashes)
DCIM: phone gallery's photos and previews
OTA-update: Over The Air update service
ppy_cross: an unknown third-party app's data. info

I think you know what's in the others :)

Generally, note that uninstalling an app doesn't clean up the stuff it has created there. One needs to manually do this task but don't delete stuff if you're in doubt what it is.


Oreo 8.0 - How can I bypass root detection for banking app? - Suhide doesn't work So I just flashed suhide lite onto my nexus 5x after reading around that I could use it to bypass root detection for banking apps and android pay; however even if I set it so my banking app (halifax) can't detect root I open it up and it still states an error code about it being rooted.

Anyone able to help me figure out an alternative or if I'm missing something?

There're apps like VirtualApp, VirtualXposed and Parallel Space that can clone your apps into a "sandbox" environment. I've just tested cloning my root management app SuperSU into VirtualXposed and it didn't detect the device has been rooted.

I guess that banking apps may also fail to detect root, but it's not guaranteed. All those apps can be used free and VirtualApp was open sourced. VirtualXposed won't be available for you because banking apps detect not only root but also xposed.

But anyway keep in mind that sandbox apps are always able to see all app's private data inside it.


Does Voting on Market Comments Have Any Effect? In the Market you can choose to mark any comment on any app as one of the following:

Helpful
Unhelpful
Spam

Marking something as Spam will remove it from the list of comments, but only on the account that marked it as such (that is, if you view the comments from another person's account/phone, the comment is still there). Does marking a comment as Helpful/Unhelpful have any actual effects? If not, has Google ever laid out/announced any plans to use this feature in some way?

I have seen, with some of my apps that I have developed, a comment be there, and then later on, the comment is no longer visible.

And it's not from me marking it as spam, as I have looked on other devices too, just to confirm.

So it would look like that after "x" number of "spam/unhelpful" votes, it gets removed.


Wrong HTC phone type attached to android market I have a htc desire z and accidently put htc vision
How can it be changed.

I cannot download a program from android market for my phone as it thinks is a Htc vision

The HTC Vision is the Desire Z, it is also known as the G2 on T-Mobile.

This is basically the name that HTC gives the device before it sells it to carriers. Some carriers want it rebranded. I also believe that HTC decided to publicly call the Vision the Desire Z, but I assure you, they are the same device.


apps(tasks) restarting even after killing them Possible Duplicate:
  Do I really need to install a task manager?
  apps automatically starting?
  How can I stop applications and services from running?

I have some apps running in background using cpu all the time and draining my batery. I want to stop them.

I have a latest task manager to kill the background tasks but BUT some of the tasks(apps) are restarting even after killing them, WHY ?

Is there any way to permanently kill a particular task ?

No, these tasks are services. And I think the developer starts the service START_STICKY which means, the service get every time restored if killed (normaly not through a taskmanager, only on low memory).
I would suggest you, to remove the task manager. Android is not designed, that the tasks get killed.  If Android need memory, the system frees the ram on it own.


Phone softbricked after updating TWRP My Yu Yureka is stuck at boot logo after I updated to TWRP 3.2.0.0.

It does not go into recovery or download mode. I tried connecting it to PC and that too isn't working.

How do I flash a working version of TWRP to a softbricked phone?

Does the Yureka have Fastboot mode, or the Samsung's Download mode you mean, and if its MTK based, you can read how to flash it using SP Flash Tool via Preloading an Image or Fresh ROM


How can I exit "Quick Mode" on Acer Liquid smart phone? The Acer Liquid 630 received a Lollipop update in December.

I accidentally launched Quick Mode and now I am not able to exit. If I choose to end QM, the phone asks for confirmation but stays in Quick Mode. Before installation of the Lollipop update, leaving QM was possible.

This problem has been reported also in a recent comment on How do you take quick mode off Acer Liquid Z3?

Is there a way to disable or exit QM, or do I have to return to factory settings?

I have filed a bug report with Acer now, and resetted my phone to factory settings.

Update: three months later, Acer has not yet replied, but the phone has received two updates since December so maybe it is fixed. I will not test it as I might end up with another factory reset.

Instead of a factory reset and install everything again, you can download a home launcher from appstore! Set your new home launcher as default then uninstall quick mode(sucks bigtime)... I like my phones new look, i even got rid of the left page on the homescreen. :-)


How can I uninstall this app which keeps getting reinstalled? Hello I'm running android 4.2 Samsung rooted. There is an app which always appears on my data/app folder and always runs at start-up. When I go to app manager I can uninstall it however the next time I reboot it's still there. I cannot change its permission and I suspect it's malware since it's not in system/app folder I do not consider it a system app.
How can I get it off my android system? It always reinstalls during reboot.

Sounds clearly a malware. In such case, there is always another app/scripts that reinstall it whenever you uninstall.

Download ES Explorer, open it.  Enable hidden files in its settings, also enabled root explorer.

Now navigate to the data folder, or even /system/app or system/priv-app and see if you can find some weird app names and look also for folders which names start with . (dot) and delete them.


Mount Android device directly in Mac OS X Finder I have a Nexus 5 and I have to use Android File Transfert to copy/check my files.

It's working but it's not enough for me.

For example, if I want to see my picture, there is only a list view, no thumbnail. Also, if I want to upload a picture on a website, my phone doesn't shows up in Finder so, first I have to copy my file to my SSD then I can see it.

Maybe it's possible to use Samba or anything else to make my Android device shows up directly in Finder ?

PS : I've already post this question on apple.stackexchange.com but someone advised me to ask it here...

Transferring files between macOS and Android or any other MTP devices has always been a nightmare. I have tried a lot of apps and was disappointed with the poor support for Android phones on macOS. Either they were too slow, bug-ridden or too expensive. Finally, all these made me sit and write a macOS MTP app for myself.

Well, then I thought to give it to the community.

OpenMTP | Advanced Android File Transfer Application for macOS is safe, transparent, open-source and shall be free for a lifetime!

Download latest version of OpenMTP from https://ganeshrvel.github.io/openmtp

GitHub repo: https://github.com/ganeshrvel/openmtp


Silencing a Whatsapp group I would like to stop receiving new message notifications from a certain Whatsapp group. Is it possible?

Clarifications:

I don't want to leave the group.
I don't want to turn off all Whatsapp notifications. There are other groups from which I still want to get notifications.
I don't want to just mute the notification sound. What I want is to get rid of the group's notifications entirely.

Since WhatsApp version 2.11.399 and above for Android you can disable notifications when group is muted.

Follow this:

Open your group which you wanna mute.
Now go in 'Options' > 'Mute'.
A dialog box will pop up and as of WhatsApp version 2.11.399 select the max period available to mute your group which is '1 Year'.
Untick the 'Show Notifications' checkbox. Then click 'OK'.

You won't receive any notifications now from this group on your status bar.

(Click image to enlarge)


View list of voicemails I have a first gen Moto G running Android 5.1 that I purchased from Republic Wireless about two to three years ago.  Whenever I receive a voicemail I get a notification.  If I tap the notification I get taken to a visual list of voice mails that I have received with the title saying "History".  If I tap the back button I am taken to the home screen of the Phone app.

I am unable to figure out how to reach this list of voicemails without having a notification for a new voicemail.

Description of the Phone App

On the home screen of the phone app I have the following tabs: Speed Dial, Recents, and Contacts.  Going through these three I have been unable to get to the list of voice mails.

While writing the details for this question I figured it out.

There is a horizontal ellipse at the top-right of the screen.  Tapping that and then Call History brings up a screen with three tabs: All, Missed, and Voicemail.  The voicemail tab is what I was looking for.


Keeps crashing, why? I love my android phone, but  it has started to crash and go right back to my home screen when I play 1 or 2 of my games on my phone. What is causing this? Almost ready to get a dreaded iPhone.

Base off of your description, it appears to be a RAM issue.

While 1GB RAM is usable for some games (from personal experience), some games will crash on the loading screen due to too little memory (I've experienced it with other games as well).

The best way to stop this is to lower the quality settings, if possible. Try Low or Very Low to use less RAM.

If that fails, try an app hibernating app like Greenify. (This app works on non-rooted phones, but needs root in order to be more efficent). This will reduce the amount of background apps, freeing up more RAM.

If the above fails, try getting a better phone. There are a lot of phones on the market with 2GB RAM or more at the moment.


How can I make scroll bars always visible? Android hides scroll bars unless the window is actively being scrolled.  This makes it hard to tell if a window can be scrolled without actually trying it.  Is there a way to force Android to always show scroll bars when there is something to scroll?

I have a Thunderbolt running Android 2.2 (Froyo).

When an activity that can be scrolled opened, the scroll bar should show for a few seconds before fading, therefore you can will know that the page can be scrolled. If you missed the subtle hint, then just slightly swipe the screen to display the scroll bar.

IMO, it wouldn't be a good idea to always display the scroll bar, as the scrollbar is in the content area and may obscure whatever is in the screen.


Video player for H264 videos for Adam/Tegra2? It seems that the Adam is not fast enough to decode my H264 videos. With some players I get unsync audio, some skip video frames. Even usual PAL size (something around 500x300, far from HD). Ok, Those may have non-basic profile, but I think they are main-profile (most use CABAC, though).

The players I tried include

MX Video Player -- best results, but can not keep up with most H264 vids
VPlayer -- good results
RockPlayer -- often recommended, often tried, no good results.

As you can see, all freely available ones. I would like buy one, If I would know that my videos are handled properly.

Can you suggest a video player that really uses Tegra2 hardware decoding capabilities and therefore will decode the H264 videos nicely?

(Is it important to know that I run Adamcomb on it?)

I first used DicePlayer Trial to verify it worked properly, and the bought the full version, and 720p material works well on my Galaxy Tab 10.1. Give it a try :)


How does one share Samsung camera "Virtual Shot" (3D spin-around) photos? I recently traveled to Europe and took dozens of beautiful 3D spin-around shots using Samsung built-in camera's "Virtual Shot" mode photos.

These look amazing on my phone, but I want to share them with the world. In the past I've been able to share photos to a javascript-powered website, such as 360 photos via Microsoft's Photosynth.

How can I share these spin-around 3D photos?

Note: if there is no way to do it currently, I am an app developer and web programmer so I'd be happy to build one myself, so let me know if there's any information on the data they are stored in as well

Othr than an MP4 export, you can't. You have to take your photos in Phogy (app, gif, or mp4) or Fyuse (web or gif). Both are lower in pixel quality (slightly) but allow for sharing the interactive experience. The pro version of phogy has higher quality but still lower than 4k.

I hope someone makes a parallax  player that takes raw videos, then all video cameras could share it.


Galaxy s5 stuck in reboot loop after root Today I tried to root my galaxy s5 with Kingo Root for android. My phone restarted during the rooting process, but it keeps looping over and over. I have tried resetting the cache and even factory resetting it (by booting it up in recovery mode), but after the reset the same reboot logo appears. Any help at this point would be great.

Your device is bricked, this means that unless you have a custom recovery installed then you cannot access your device. If your phone is still under warranty, then you may be able to get it fixed for a low cost, as this is a quick fix with the right equipment.

If you want to attempt the fix yourself, here are some articles:

MakeUseOf

XDA


How can I force the Market to reinstall an installed app? I have an app, installed from the Market, which I just updated. The "updating" notification was present for several hours, so it appears to have gotten stuck somehow.

I believe it now claims to be the current version, but to be sure, is it possible to tell the Market to re-download and reinstall the current version of the app?

As far as I know there's no way to tell the Market to reinstall an app.  I was hoping you could do it through the Market website but I just tried and it refused to install an already-installed app.  (Which bothers me because my phone and the website will definitely be out of sync regularly, I do too many third-party restores and so on.)

That said, you could clear the data for the Market (Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> All -> Market -> Force Close, Clear Data) and reboot your phone, then start up the Market again and look to see whether the update is available again or not.  If it's not then you can trust that the latest version is installed since it grabbed that info directly from the system, and if not you can attempt the update again.


Could not dial on my galaxy tab How to get Dialer application on my T-Mobile Galaxy tab?

Apparently the only way to get dialer is to reinstall the european firmware: http://www.thegalaxytabforum.com/index.php?/topic/151-gt-phone-dialer/

BTW, you are on the wrong site. SO is for specific programmers questions.


Is there a way to organize the numbered MP3's from Google Play? Music purchased from Google Play is stored on my phone as untagged, numbered MP3 files. Is there a way to get the information Play has about these MP3 files, then rename them and set the ID3 tag so that other applications can easily use these files?

The Official Google Play Music app will download music as untagged, numbered MP3 files, as you said, and uses an internal mapping method to know which MP3 is which.
However, the app Offline Music Importer should do what you want. It is free for the first 50 songs; after 50 it costs $2.49 to unlock.
A description from their app page:

Why you need this app:
When you make your Google Play Music media available offline, you are storing cached music files in a special folder on your device. The media provider service within Android can’t see the music in there. Even if it could, the file names are meaningless and they don’t have any ID3 tags. The service would not know what the song title is, what album it belongs to, what track number it is, not even the artist. The files are just raw music. For all those reasons, you can’t play those files properly in any other music player except the Google Play Music player.
This app gathers those meaningless music files, applies the proper ID3 tags and artwork, moves the files to your /Music folder on the sdcard, and updates the Media Provider. All your imported music will be available to any music player installed on the device.


How to downgrade an app if it has been updated via Play Store? I have an app installed on my phone, which I've installed from the Google Play Store.  If I update the app and don't like the upgraded version, is there a way to undo the update and downgrade back to the version of the app that I had previously installed?

I tried searching a bunch on this site, and I found lots of questions about downgrading the OS/ROM/firmware, but nothing about downgrading app versions or reverting an app update.

There is an idea  by Firelord in the comment here which I think should work:

  The best way I think is to have a backup of the app (at least its APK if not the data files; APK of earlier version of an app can also be obtained from some websites (beware of malware) if you updated the app and doesn't have the backup) so that if you end up disliking the updated version, then you can simply use that APK to revert back to previous version. That was for non-rooted devices. For a rooted device, well, use Titanium Backup to take complete app backup.


Android 11 supports creation time (crtime/btime) for local folders and files? is there a way on Android 11 (OnePlus 8T) for file manager to display creation time for local folders and files?
Is there in recent years the support?
Because have an iOS 14 device and use macOS 10.15 devices and the Files app and Finder shows here for local folders and files the creation time (crtime/btime).
Just like my KDE neon 5.20 and Linux Mint 20.
Are there any improvements in mtp protocol under Android 11, because so far I have heard that it is very sluggish from the user's point of view. For example, if a user copies a large file to computer (Windows 10) and at the same time copies another large file in parallel to computer, it does not work. It comes a message that you have to wait for the first copy process.

This problem exists since the first Android version. I can confirm on Android 11 there is no such support. I asked Google a few years ago why they can't add it. I think it is a problem with Android system design. On Linux itself it is possible and there are already Linux distributions that show it by default in their file managers. By the end of 2021, all Linux distributions with GNOME (Nautilus) should display it. That means Ubuntu will soon display created date by default.
Android needs root rights or something similar for this to work (without root) and Google developers would have to do a lot of customization in Android system to use Linux kernel functions for user space programs. I think in the future Android system will support this and Google developers will add it. Maybe in Android 12 or Android 13.
Windows XP (2001) for example supports created date in Windows File Explorer for a long time and displays it by default e.g. by right click action on a file.
Just like Apple desktop systems. I know myself the System 6 (Macintosh System Software 6) from year 1988 the "Finder" (standard file manager on Mac devices) supports created date. Most likely the predecessor version of System 6 already support this.
Since iOS 11 (2017) the Files app has been integrated and shows created date for files and folders by default for users.
If you want a Linux smartphone that already supports created date then you can use a PinePhone. It uses Plasma Mobile (mobile version of the KDE Plasma Desktop) and since 2019, Dolphin (standard file manager of KDE) shows the created date.


TripAdvisor Lockscreen Folder Path I'm trying to find TripAdvisor's lockscreen folder on my Samsung Note 3. Can you please tell me where it is ?

You can find it under,

/data/data/com.samsung.android.service.travel/

But you need root permission to access this directory. If you have unrooted phone please have a look into this quesion on How to root your android device?


How to create Android themes I would like to create a whole new theme for Android jelly bean but not sure where to start. I have rooted my phone and have poked around the file system a little but haven't really seen all that much that would help.

I would like to completely change the LockScreen, Homescreen(s) the menu layout, icons, wallpaper, etc. It's not going to be just a launcher theme but a whole UI theme. I have spent a while searching for a solution (links, articles, any resources) but have not found anything that would be of much help.

If you know how to do this, or know of any resources at all that would help I'd be extremely grateful.

Thanks

Themes on Android are internal to apps: they're not user-accessible things. Replacing the theme of every app on your phone entails building a new custom ROM with your changes, and may cause some apps to behave oddly or appear wrong, because they're relying on details of the Holo themes. These days, even phone manufacturers can't replace the themes of third-party apps, because the Android conformance tests verify that the Holo theme has not been modified. That's why, if you buy (say) a Samsung phone with a blue theme, only the built-in apps use that blue theme: third-party apps use the unmodified Holo theme.

Replacing the theme of an individual app is more feasible, but without the sources it requires decompiling and replacing the app's APK file, essentially making a new app. This kind of reverse-engineering may be illegal where you are, even if you don't intend to distribute your themed app; either way, your new app would not have access to the original app's data, and will fail any licensing or anti-piracy check the app performs.


Can files from android internal be recovered after using adoptable storage? I have lenovo k50a40 which is pretty old. I was using my SD card as internal(adoptable storage). By mistake I took out my SD card with taking any backup and inserted another card. Now old card is not working and I have lost all my files. After trying available methods I came to conclusion that files on old card can't be recovered as its not encrypted.
Now what I'm thinking is, does android used to put all photos directly on SD card or first it goes into internal then its copied to SD card? If it first goes to internal then to SD then removed from internal then I think I can root my device and use a recovery app to recover the photos.

your only chance to get files back is decrypt MicroSD Card with correct encryption key. as long as you did not discarded the adoptable-storage by forgetting SD Card or factory reset, they key will remain on device.
therefore you can try to root your device.
be aware unlocking bootloader will erase all data.
you have two possible options:

get a temporary root shell with mtk-su, or

root your device (on locked bootloader) with SP Flash Tool and Magisk Manager

once you managed to access /data/misc/vold you can use linux dmsetup to decrypt your MicroSD Card and access the files
for more information refer to the adoptable-storage tag-wiki
How to decrypt Adopted Storage?


Check the source of a toast message Notifications have a handy feature where lo g pressing brings up the App Info option, which let's you track down the source of strange notifications.

I keep getting toast messages and I can't figure out where they're coming from. Is there any way to track down what app is sending them?

This is possible on rooted devices with Android 4.0.3 or later.  It requires installation of Xposed framework and a module called "Buttered Toast".  This module appends the name of the app to the text of the toast message.

Download and side-load the latest version of Xposed module installer from here.
Open the Xposed Installer app, tap on "Framework", and tap on "Install/Update" button.  This copies all the necessary libraries and scripts to the /system partition.
Reboot your device.
Once the device boots back up, open the Xposed Installer app, tap on "Download", tap the search button (looks like a magnifying glass) on top-right, and type in "buttered toast" (without quotes).
The module should be listed under the "Not Installed" section. Tap on the "Buttered Toast" module, tap on the "Versions" tab, tap the Download button.  This downloads the module.
Once the module downloads, it will attempt to install itself.  Tap the "Install" button on the presented dialog, and then tap the "Done" button to get back to Xposed Installer app.
Go back to Xposed Installer's main screen, and tap on "Modules".  Tap the empty check-mark next to the "ButteretToast" module to activate it.
Close the Xposed Installer app and reboot your device.

Once the device boots up again, all the toasts will have their corresponding app's name added in the beginning.  You may also want to install a similar "Burnt Toast" module (repeat steps 4 through 8 for this module,) which also adds the app's icon into every toast.


Backup / Restore Titanium Backup's labels When I move to a new phone, I only want to install my previously installed user apps.
I use a label to identify which apps are currently installed, vs old ones, vs system apps.
How can I backup and restore my TiBk labels?

From the old ROM, save a copy of /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/databases/custom.

Settings->Apps, force stop TiBak, wipe its data.
Run TiBk (this creates an initial set of databases). Check busybox, etc are OK.
Again: Settings->Apps, stop TitBak.
Replace /data/data/com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup/databases/custom with the copy from the old ROM
Restart TiBk; profit.

Credit


How can I change the default picture of the contacts? As you can see, when I call someone who doesn't have a unique picture, the default picture of the contacts looks like this:

And I want to see something different or less pixelated for instance.
Is there anyway to change that picture to something else?

*note: I have a rooted phone.

There is no easy way to do that. At least not easily as one needs to root and modify and/or replace phone.apk and contacts.apk with a different resource file with "unknown" icon.

Easier alternatives can be alternative dialers. You can find them in Google Play.

Hope this helps.


How to unlock bootloader on samsung devices? Before you try to install any custom ROM on your device, you need to unlock the phone’s bootloader, which is a code executed before any OS (operating system) launch. The notion of a bootloader is unanimous to all operating systems worldwide and includes systems running on your personal computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, smartwatches and everything that has OS on it
HTC website has a section for developers where you can grab SDK; you just need to find your phone’s model. Samsung website does not offer such luxury, Sony Mobile website offers a section for users looking to unlock their Sony’s bootloader.

So, For Samsung Devices How to unlock Bootloader?
any useful reference links or comments or answers will much be appreciated :)

Note: am using Samsung note 3 neo

To unlock the boot loader you need to have the ADT with all the packages installed and configured.

Later once the configuration is done properly then you can connect your device and enable USB Debugging under the options.

Download Modaco’s Superboot files and save them to your computer.
Once downloaded, extract it by right clicking and extract all.
On your phone, click on Settings > Developer Options > Turn USB Debugging On.
Plug the device in to your computer via USB cable.
Open the superboot folder that we just extracted (until you see the folder with fastboot-windows inside it), then hold the shift key down on your computer and right click any blank area.
Now, select open command window here.
In the command prompt, type the following with hitting enter at the end of each line.

adb-windows reboot bootloader (and wait for the device to reboot)

fastboot-windows oem unlock

(If it gets stuck at waiting for device here, download and install PDANet on your computer, once installed, unplug then plug the device back in and see if that fixes it)

Once it runs the device should display a screen asking you if you
    are sure. Click yes using the volume buttons. The device will go
    back to the bootloader screen but say unlocked at the bottom.


How to send sms to all contacts in Android 6? I need to inform all the contacts with mobile numbers in my contacts list on my new mobile number. How do I do that?

Most stock messaging apps are not able to do this... if it does, create a new message and go to groups and select All Contacts.

If it does not have that capability, there are several alternative apps in the Play Store that do have that capability, such as Textra SMS, Chomp SMS, Handscent Next SMS, or most other 3rd party SMS/MMS apps are capable of this as well.

Note that in Android 6 there are some permissions involved and only one messaging app can be active at a time, so you would have to install the new one, give it permissions to be the default messaging app, send your group message, then change the default messaging app back to the native one that came with your device if you wish. Although, depending on your stock messaging app, you may find a 3rd party messaging app much more feature rich and you can safely leave it as the default.


How to change color of entities shown in Google map? The present colouring scheme of Google maps gives me a challenge to differentiate between the road and its surroundings.  The contrast between these two are simply not sufficient for me and my screen guard is making it worse.

The following is how it looks in my screen (ignoring the volume notification) and the road color is not that apparently different from its surroundings during day time.

I am looking for some way to customize the colors of the entities, like road, buildings, grounds etc so that it will be vivid in my screen. Few navigation apps usually provide a toggle between day and night mode. I will be even happy with that. It will be great if a theme can be applied to switch colors, if it is not too much at this stage!

Are there any hacks/ways to achieve this?
I am running  Google Maps (version 6.11.1) in LG P500 (a.k.a Optimus One) on CM10 Android 4.1.

All my search effort only results about changing colors through API, which I do not want.

There's currently no way to achieve this in Google Maps. You can send feedback within the app, so you could suggest that they add such a feature.

There are alternative map apps you might like to try instead. Those based on the free OpenStreetMap database usually allow you to change which tile server to use, which gets you a completely different visualization of the map data: some tile servers are optimized for particular uses, such as cycling or marine navigation.


unmounting USB CM12? I'm using CM12 on a rooted Nexus 7 2012 (grouper). When I plug in my USB through OTG cable, I can access it using the default file manager, but an "umount USB" option is nowhere to ne seen!
Please help me

Open "storage" (or "memory") in settings, and on the list there will be USB storage and the option to unmount it


ADB doesn't recognize my device in recovery mode I have an ASUS ZenFone 2. I have tried using ASUS USB drivers and Google Android composite ADB drivers on my computer, but neither recognize the device while it is in recovery mode.

Can anyone help me solve this problem?

Had the same problem, plus the device was shown with a yellow exclamation mark in the device manager but only when in recovery mode.

Solution was to install the Google USB drivers for this device again:

Google and Download "Google USB Driver"
Open device manager
Right click device
Update Driver Software
Select "Browse my Computer ..."
Select "Let me pick ..."
Select "Android Device"
Select "Android ADB interface" ...


How do I delete a Non - primary Gmail account from Gmail app 4.3.1? This was easy to do before the upgrade,  now it doesn't do this.  It  doesn't make sense to have to do a factory reset!   It's less intuitive!

I believe you'll need to remove the associated Google account on your device. Go to Android's SETTINGS > PERSONAL > ACCOUNTS & SYNC. Tap on the account you want to remove. Next, tap the overflow/menu icon and choose REMOVE ACCOUNT

http://support.google.com/android/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1663649


Battery performance of Dual SIM phone running only one SIM Does a dual-SIM Android phone running only one SIM yield almost the same battery life as a single-SIM phone?

Will both the radios be running all the time regardless of whether both the SIMs are present?

From Wikipedia:

  Battery life (talk time and standby time) of active dual-SIM mobile
  phones is reduced, typically by about a third. For instance, Device
  manufacturer Samsung declares a standby time for its Champ Duos E2652
  Dual SIM phone of 476 hours when used with one SIM card and of 322
  hours when used with two SIM cards. To compensate the shorter battery
  life, some Dual SIM phones ship with better capacity batteries, for
  example newer Lenovo P780 have a 4000mAh capacity.

Wikipedia also describes different types of dual-sims, such as:

Pseudo-Dual
Dual SIM Shift: Accepts 2 SIMS; only 1 active at a time; 1 signal bar
Dual SIM Dual Stand-by (DSDS): both active; 2 signals, but only 1 call at a time
Dual SIM Full Active (DSFA) Dual SIM Dual Call/Dual talk: both active; 2 signals, and can process both calls at the same time. I think this one would consume the most battery.

UPDATE 2013-09-23: The answer to your 1st question is NO, as described in the quoted Wikipedia text above. For your 2nd question, I don't know, but I assume it wouldn't run since there is no SIM. Probably also the reason why it consumes lesser battery.


I locked my phone from android device manager, now i'm not being able to remove the lock screen password I locked my phone from android device manager, now i'm not being able to remove the lock screen password, it says that, lock screen is disabled by administrator or encryption policy or credential storage
I tried clearing the credentials, but it didn't work

Different Devices have different options to go into recovery mode. Specify your device I will tell you how to go into your device's recovery mode! After going into recovery mode try

Wipe Data/ Factory Reset
Wipe Cache Partition

And then reboot your device. It Will Work!!


Partially dead digitizer - any way to change slide to unlock? The middle third (long-narrow thirds way) of my digitizer seems to have crapped out. Diagnosed from having vary hard time unlocking and weird selection issues, to suspecting digitizer, to getting a drawing program installed and seeing no record of movement over that part of the screen when drawing.

This makes unlocking (non-secure) with the "slide to unlock" tab almost impossible - takes 20 or more tries to get it to work sometimes. Since that button does not move when the screen rotates, I can't get it to live where the digitizer works. I thought I might be able to make it work with "pattern unlock" but that won't set a pattern with the middle third out of operation. Same issue affects the sound on/off (and trying to unlock often sets the sound on or off instead.)

So my answerable, stack-exchange-ish question, essentially, is whether there is any way to move/reorient the "slide to unlock" tab, or let the keyboard do that function.

Phone has not been wet, but I tried drying it anyway since many digitizer problems seem to be water related. No help. On/off/reboot battery in/out also make no difference. While it's irritating, if I could get something else (like the keyboard) to do what the slide-unlock is doing, but reliably, I could live with it as is for as much as I use the touchscreen.

I'm on a rooted (basically so I could install AFWall+, as I'm using it on a prepaid service primarily to make/take calls with, and really wanted to make double sure that any data use was restricted to WiFi, ONLY.) "Gingerbread" (2.3.4) Motorola Droid 2 Global if it makes a difference. I'm no great shakes at android-ness, I basically tracked down a root tool method that was purported to work, and after finding that many versions of it didn't discovered one "not the most updated" version that did work, despite dear old VZ making it more difficult.

(I'd also like to ask about replacing the digitizer, but after reading the help page 3 times I'm still not sure if that's considered on or off topic, since it's more about "hardware running android" than about "android as such" but it is "a problem I'm trying to solve on my android device")

As pointed out in my comment on the question itself, you might try a lock screen replacement from Google Play that might let you customize where to place the "unlocker". Just picking some examples by their screenshots:

LockMenu / Zipper Lock screen / WidgetLocker (click images for larger variants)

As you can see, there are multiple solutions available letting you define where the slider (or whatever) should be located – so you should be able to leave out the "dead spots" easily.


How google home and our smartphone get connected together to send WiFi password to google home? As you all know in order to connect our google home devices we use a special google home app on our smartphone. But the questions is , suppose that app know the current WiFi password, how that password gets sent to google home itself when google home has not been connected to any WiFi yet? is it via Bluetooth or something else?

Google home's initial setup is likely similar to the initial setup on a Chromecast device. The Chromecast acts as an access point (i.e. something a WiFi-enabled device can connect too, just like your router). The Google Home app is programmed to search for and connect to this access point. Once connected, the two devices can communicate information between eachother. In fact, when setting up a Chromecast device, a message is displayed in the Google Home app stating that "you may be disconnected from WiFi for a moment".

Google Home probably works in the same way - it acts as an access point, gets paired with the phone and they exchanged information/passwords and then Google Home connects to the WiFi.


Phone turned off for empty battery. Now it gives "No command" My non-rooted phone (Morotola MOTO G5s Plus, bought just 2 months ago) just reached the 1% battery and automatically Powered Off.

I charged it for some hours. Tried to turn it on but just the flash icon of charging kept staying.
Disconnecting the charger didn't make the icon disappear.

So I pressed the Power button for 10 seconds till it turned off.

It automatically restarted, but now it doesn't load anymore. I wait for a while and the I get just the "No Command" recovery mode.

I tried to "Wipe cache partition" already. No luck. I tried to "Run the Graphics Test", but it gave quickly *"Installing system update" -> Error -> "Erasing" -> "Installing system update" (and a really graphical animated logo; so graphic looks fine) and then comes back to the menu. After that it still doesn't load, and running the test again does the exact same thing.

What just happened? Did my phone broke just because of empty battery?

How do I resolve? How do I prevent data loss?

I didn't really solve the problem, but I just tried to be sure that the phone was rebooting really from scratch (the purpose of resetting).

I went in recovery mode and I tried choosing "Power off" this time. After that it didn't try to reboot automatically as all the previous times.

I waited a little and then powered it on. Magically it booted correctly and without any issue


What's the difference between "sd card" and "usb storage"? Under Settings -> Storage, I see entries for both "SD card" and "USB storage". What's the difference? What should I be using each of those for?

In addition, how can I control what data goes where? since so far, everything I've copied into my mobile (via USB cable and via Kies Air) seems to go to the "USB storage", as the "SD card" is almost completely empty of data.

Finally, where can I find the base folder of each of these, using a file explorer?

Have just noticed this too on my (original) Galaxy S since it got the Gingerbread update, presume that this is something that Samsung have changed in their Gingerbread build, as the S2 comes with  Gingerbread from the factory.

On the Galaxy S (and I presume it will be the same on the S2) they have a built-in storage (either 8GB or 16GB in the original S) that looks like an SD card to the OS, but is actually built into the phone, there is also a Micro-SD card slot, that can take normal micro-SD cards. On my device it looks like "SD Card" is the built-in storage space (8GB on my phone), whereas "USB Storage" is the separate SD card that plugs into the slot by the battery and you can plug the card in yourself (I've got a 32GB card in mine).

Previously these showed in the phone as "Internal SD Card" and "External SD Card". Since Gingerbread (see the screenshots below to see the contents of Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications on an Android 2.3 Gingerbread LG Optimus Net smartphone), internal storage (including the internal SD card and excluding any possible ROM space) is called "Internal storage", which in the screenshots below amounts to a meager 150MB on the device where the screenshot was taken, whereas the space occupied by the external SD card, appears as "SD card storage", which in the screenshots below amounts to 16GB. It also appears that on Gingerbread (at least this is the case on my LG Optimus Net), it is not possible to see the amount of read-only-memory (ROM) which is present inside the smartphone (on such LG Optimus Net device this space amounts to 512MB according to the specs; newer devices don't have ROM, they just have a single internal SD card for internal storage):

Here is the screenshot of the Settings -> Storage screen on the aforementioned Gingerbread LG Optimus Net device. This screen uses the term "SD card" to refer to the external SD card and the term "Internal storage" to refer to the internal SD card excluding the (internal) ROM storage:

On the Samsung Galaxy SIII there is no internal ROM (just an internal SD card space and an optional external SD card space). On such device, the naming convention is different:
the interface accessed from Settings -> More -> Application manager calls "Device memory" the amount of internal SD card storage which is not allocated to system files but to user files (on my system a total of 11.3GB available for user files out of a total of 16GB for the internal SD card), whereas "USB storage" is the storage available on the external SD card (which when inserted as on the screenshot below amounts to 16GB for a 16GB microSD card):

On the Samsung Galaxy SIII the Settings -> More -> Storage screen is slightly inconsistent as it calls "Device memory" the total amount of memory on the internal SD card, and "SD card" the stuff available on the external SD card, as the screenshots below demonstrate:

So, the naming conventions used across various devices or even across the same device can be inconsistent and confusing. As long as you know how to interpret these terms on your own device you'll be OK.

Also, most apps don't know that there's two separate storage spaces, as this is a Samsung thing, not an Android thing. Media files copied into either location will be picked up OK by the media scanner, so you can put your music, etc where you want without any worries. Some apps, like the Camera app, have been modified by Samsung to know about the multiple storage locations and will let you save to either (configurable in the settings); others don't, and will only save to the internal storage space.

Here is the option allowing you to save to either location on the Samsung Galaxy SIII Camera app:

I haven't had a chance to play with Kies Air since Gingerbread, so can't help you there (but I will try to over the weekend and update). But for File Manager apps you should be able to see the folder /mnt/sdcard which is the internal SD card and looking down that you should see a folder called either external_sd or extSdCard which, if you open it is your micro-SD card. For any apps that let you pick where to save files, saving to this location will ensure its on the actual external SD card.


Setting gmail to sync / push / notify on wifi only? I have a droid mini that is running 4.2.2 and I want gmail to only sync automatically on WIFI only; never on 4g / network / whatever. How do I do this without rooting the phone?
When I first bought the phone, gmail allowed me to chose to sync on wifi only (and by sync, I mean that it would notify me of new emails and download them or what not on wifi only). This is how it was originally set up. I work for a local cable company and this was great. I know this is how it was originally set up because 1) I set it up that way and 2) when I setup up new internet connections in customer's homes, I would use the wifi on my phone to verify that their internet was working. As soon as the wifi would connect I would usually hear my phone announce I had emails, letting me know the wifi was connected.Then today, I was having an issue with Google play store. I took my phone into Verizon where they claimed to only have 'soft reset' the phone. Now, not only does gmail download / notify /syn (whatever) whenever it wants but the setting for wifi only is completely gone. I distinctly remember something like 'sync on wifi only' or 'push on wifi only' or something like this. I assume there has been some update or something recently and I have no idea how to check this. I would, however, be happy to uninstall the update if i could get it to work on wifi only again.

So long story short, how the hell do I get gmail to 'whatever' on wifi only without rooting?

You can use an app like Llama or Tasker to activate sync only when on WiFi. If you turn off sync, that also turns off syncing of your calendar/contacts/tasks et al in your Google account.

The Gmail app should have an option to only download attachments via WiFi within your specific account options.


How to force the locale/language of a specific app? I'm looking for the functionality of MoreLocales2 but only applying the changes to certain apps. In this case, I'm trying to force German on TypoClock 0.51 but have the rest of my phone left in English.

Any apps out there that could do this? Or any suggestions for how to accomplish this? Specific advice to get TypoClock to show in German would be good too.

The device is Samsung Galaxy S2, if it helps.

TypoClock and TypoClock Free both use the system language as one can see on the app features:

  Multilanguage (widget uses your system language to display day name and month name).

There's no solution for situations like this, as you can only manipulate the application i18n feature if it was developed with such an option.

You can, as mentioned by Izzy on the comments, email the developer and see if this can be a feature a for future release.


fastboot not working on my Nexus 4 I'm trying to root my N4, and fastboot doesn't seem to work.  Running it on linux, and the fastboot binary seems to run.

'Fastboot devices' produces info on my device, but 'fastboot oem unlock' just echoes '...' and hangs.  I don't get the prompt on the phone about unlocking.  It just hangs there until I restart the bootloader, at which point fastboot echoes "FAILED (command write failed (Cannot send after transport endpoint shutdown)"

Other fastboot commands don't seem to work either.  'fastboot reboot' echoes 'rebooting...' but then nothing happens.

I've tried this with and without usb debugging enabled. Any ideas?

I'm beginning to think the USB port(s) on my machine may be blown.  This morning, the machine didn't recognize an iPod plugged in under Windows on either the front or back USB ports on my machine.  I'm working on the phone under Linux, and /var/adm/messages shows stuff happening when I plug the device in.  I'm guessing 'fastboot devices' doesn't acutally access the device - just looks at the device types detected by the OS when you plugged it in, no?  Is it possible I can read from the usb port but can't write to it?

Well, it looks like it was my USB ports.  I found an old laptop, booted it up to a Ubuntu live CD, and was able to root the phone from there.  Sorry for all the drama.  Odd that my USB ports died just at this moment, but come to think of it, they've been running slow recently - gPodder had been taking minutes to copy podcasts to my iPod.  I guess it was a gradual fail.

The clue lies with the comment above But I just tried 'adb reboot bootloader', and it worked. which shows that adb is indeed recognizing the USB connection, but not in fast-boot mode which is where this answer comes in...

Sounds like the udev rule for the fast-boot is absent!

Do this: lsusb with the cable plugged in while the handset is in fast-boot mode.

Typical output should be one similar to this:

  Bus 001 Device 012: ID 18d1:d00d Google Inc.

                     ^^^^ ^^^^

The numbers identifier 18d1:d00d corresponds to idVendor : idProduct respectively.

Make note of it, and check your udev rules found in /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android-rules. (Mileage will vary slightly with differing Linux distributions!)

If you do not have this file, then its recommended to create one using root, there may be a few rules that need to be added depending on the mode of the handset, i.e. normal, recovery and boot-loader modes.

Here's an example of mine, that has differing values respectively when handset is in one of these modes. Take this as a template and change the numbers as shown that matches up with idVendor and idProduct respectively to suit your make/model of handset.

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="19d2", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1354", MODE="0666" GROUP="androiddev", SYMLINK+="android%n"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="19d2", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1350", MODE="0666" GROUP="androiddev", SYMLINK+="android%n"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="19d2", ATTRS{idProduct}=="1351", MODE="0666" GROUP="androiddev", SYMLINK+="android%n"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTRS{idProduct}=="d00d", MODE="0666" GROUP="androiddev", SYMLINK+="android%n"

The user id is added to the androiddev group, which was created on previous occasion, in that way I do not have to sudo at all!

To create a group, using root

groupadd androiddev, this creates a group, then to add your
linux's user id to that group...
usermod -a -G androiddev your_user_id; replace your_user_id with your own user id used for logging in).

Then when in fast-boot mode, the fastboot binary should work (bonus! without the necessitating for sudo either!)


I can't find the directory 100ANDRO on my pc I was wondering why I can not find the folder 100ANDRO that contains the pictures that I take with the smartphone if I connect the phone with the pc.
I premise that this happens only with the directory on the sdcard (that I set as main storage for the photos I take), in fact I have two of this directories , one on the phone storage, the other one on the sd, both are inside a main directory called DCIM.
The problem is that if I use a file manager on the phone I can see every directory, differently on the pc the directory DCIM on the sd doesn't contain anything , consequently I can't see the picture I take apart from the case I move then to the internal storage.
Do you have any idea ?

ps: I've already activated the option to show any hidden directory on the pc but nothing changed

Camera photos should be in DCIM/Camera not in 100ANDRO, but however here is the thing that might help you:
Go to settings>apps and find apps "media storage" and "external storage" and clear cache and data for them, after that reboot your phone and wait up to 10 minutes for android to index all files, then connect phone to PC via USB and see if files are there.


Android copy file to /system/bin/sh, now devices can not booted to day I add one daemon file to android devices, I use command:

 ./adb push XXXXX   /system/bin/sh

I say done, but when i restart the device, now it can not boot, no logo appear, just black screen, although I see the light is enabling. I can not know what can I do now, how can i fix it... plz

USE FASTBOOT INSTEAD...Shell/sh has been replaced by

adb push  xxxx  /system/bin/sh

Shell controls the adb commands, So ADB is now disabled ! ...    What you need to do is reboot into FASTBOOT using the device specific button code while the phone starts
(usually home and volume up together for 10 seconds) or(power and volume up )
Once inside FASTBOOT you need to replace your boot.img and system.imgSystem then boot

fastboot flash system xxxx.img

fastboot flash boot xxxx.img

XXXX represents the .img file name


google maps wrong navigation starting point I have a problem with Google maps.

Starting navigation on the app shows a grey point as a starting point. And a blue dot as my location, which is not the starting point. Just random point nearby (for this case last place i was search) or my home location (which is on other country).

(click image for larger variant)

I tried to clean cache ,delete the app and resetup the account. No nothing helps.

Setup other account fixed the problem but its not my account so i can use it. (Meaning that its no device problem).

Did any one have something like this before ? or maybe any solution ?

Fixed !

The problem was that i setup my account on other device (Nexus 7 - 2012 ) and this what makes the navigation problem. Removing it in the security settings fixed the bug..
Here is the link for removing your account on installed devices :

https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/6264236?hl=en


Does the Nexus 7 [2013] (Wi-Fi) tablet update to Android 6? In my country, Nexus 7 2013 Wifi only tablets are still available. It comes with Android 4.3, but I was told that it updates to 6.0.1 (official update). Does anyone know if this is true? Also, is it stable on 6.0.1? And will Facebook, Instragram, Pintrest & Google Photos apps be stable on it?

Yes, it is true that Nexus 7 [2013] (Wi-Fi) can be updated to official Android 6.0.1. On Google's factory images page for its devices you can see all the updates.

The concerned apps work fine with Android 6.0.1, at least on my Nexus 6 with Android 6.0.1.


Cannot install apps from Google Play Store due to insufficient space I have an SD card which is 3 GB, but I only have 4 downloaded apps and the  internal storage almost reach its capacity and thus yet I have an insufficient space problems.

Try clearing cache for your internal storage and transfer "unimportant" files to your memory card, this will create some space for your apps to be installed.


Upgrade small-screen phone to Ice Cream Sandwich? I'm running 2.3 (Gingerbread) on an Xperia mini, and Sony Ericsson recently announced the availability to upgrade to 4.x (Ice Cream Sandwich). My understanding is that ICS is geared more towards tablets and large-screen phones. Would the Xperia mini with its small 3" screen benefit from this upgrade, or would ICS features such as action bars negatively affect usability?

If you are getting ICS update from device manufacturer, its Ok to upgrade. It'll be usable on small screen because you'll not get bare vanilla ROM.. Manufacturers put their own skins over it.

So, if Sony Ericsson is pushing upgrade to Xperia Mini, their custom skin would take care of usability.

Other than this, you will get performance boost with ICS upgrade. There're other benefits, too. So, I'd recommend you to upgrade. Best of all, would you like to be out-of-date?