What steps are taken by the OS when an app is uninstalled? I recently reported bug for two apps that I use. The support guys replied that I need to delete cache and unblock notifications, set battery optimization and putting that app to sleep to turned off. These are understandable steps to fix an issue.

What puzzled me that both the app support guys additionally suggested that I should uninstall the app and reinstall. Which I will not do because that will mean I have to manually download all the downloaded content again (more then 50+). Seems like a nuclear option.

I am not an Android developer, a .Net full stack developer. Their response made me curious and now I want to know what happens when an app is uninstalled. What made the support guys of these renowned apps to tell me to go nuclear and uninstall the app and then reinstall again?

Additionally which these steps can be performed without uninstalling the app to verify if issue is not with code of the app but it is some other factor?

This question is not regarding those two apps that has bugs but rather to get better understanding of the life-cycle of an Android app.

As of my understanding, in my .Net app most bugs usually are caused by either code or cache issue (tbh cache issue is also due to code not properly handling caches).

As my understanding in Android is limited, I tried to research what are the events and tasks that Android OS performs, that might cause an app's bug to get fixed (Not an effort to fix issue for those apps, rather to understand what Android OS does) however I didn't find much resource on the internet.

Uninstalling an app will remove entry from /data/system/packages.xml, and delete package from:

/data/app/ (apk file)
/data/data/ (user data and cache)
/data/dalvik-cache/arm/ (translated java bytecode to executable dalvik bytecode)

Clear cache can performed from the android settings. Custom recovery twrp has option for wipe the dalvik cache.


what could cause a sudden drop in battery life? According to my battery graph the phone went from 85% to 0 in an instant. I wanted to add a screenshot, but I do not have enough reputation. The last time I checked it was nearly full, and 7 hours later in the morning it was empty. At home I charged it until it showed 29 percent, but by the time  I got to the office, it was 32.

How can this be? How can I prevent it in the future?

LG P990, Android 4.0

It could be a misbehaving app keeping the device awake; I have that about once a month with my Motorola Milestone 2. Did not figure out how to prevent it, but a reboot always solved it.

A proposal how to "catch" it, however: There's an app called DrainGuard available on the playstore. It watches your battery consumption, and gives an alert as soon as it detects a "sudden drop". This helps to notice the "power drain" before the "5% alert" makes a noise and switches your phone off -- so you can either start investigating while the process is ongoing (some time left before "full drain"), or simply trigger an immediate reboot to "kick the bad guy out" when in a hurry.


Help with LG Optimus Logic Memory I recently purchased an LG Optimus Logic for StraightTalk, which runs Android 2.3.6. The phone was advertised as having 1GB internal Memory and also came with a 4GB Micro SD.

I've used the phone for about a week now and noticed something which I believe is drastically wrong with the Memory Scheme. As I've downloaded apps, they seem to not be using the internal memory properly. On the Applications Manage screen, the apps take up "System Memory", which is about 190MB maximum. As you can imagine, this space is used up rather fast after only a few apps installed. So I tried to see if I could move apps to the SD Card, but there's the hitch. The option didn't refer to an SD card at all, but was a greyed-out "Move to Internal Memory". A few of the apps had this option, and when I selected it they began to take up the 1GB Internal Memory, which was not used at all before. The option for memory management then read "Move to Phone". Also, I noticed that as I installed more apps RAM was being used even before the Apps started running.

My theory is that the phone was poorly configured. A section of RAM is being treated as the Internal Storage or Flash Memory or whatever you call it, which was labelled "System Memory". The actual, 1GB Internal memory is being treated as external storage much as an SD card would, which leaves the real SD card out in the cold. My best evidence for this is that I removed the SD card and the apps I moved to the other memory still functioned.

I have two questions:

Am I correct in assuming this, or do I not grasp Android memory properly and your knowledgeable minds can enlighten me?
If I am correct, is there any way I can fix this manually, as LG and StraightTalk seem to be of no help on the issue.

Thank you for your time.

This is the issue with Android.

The 1GB internal storage is classed as an 'Internal SD Card'. A section of this (normally about a 10th) will be used to store /data.

/data is where the apps are installed too, and is mounted as a completely different area.

The rest of the 1GB internal storage is most likely mounted at /sdcard, and the external sdcard mounted at /sdcard_ext or something similar.

This is down to the history of Android devices, and can be quite annoying.

An example that shows this is correct is my SGS2. The app install area has 1GB of memory, and the rest of the 10GB internal is used as an internal SD card.

This is why when you select to move an app to the SD card, it moved it to the 1GB space.

If it grayed out, it is already on the SD card, or the developer does not want it installed on the SD card.


Android 5.1.1 no "move to SD Card" option Just bought a nice 9" Android with 8GB storage.  Put in a 32 GB SD card.  It shows up under storage.  When I select Apps then pick an app, there is no option to move it to the SD card like I had under Kit Kat on another unit.  It does show the Clear Cache and Clear Data options.

I just erased the SD card and it still just shows up as empty, under Storage.  The internal 8 GB is starting to fill up so I really need to use the SD card.

Q:  How can I move apps to the SD card when the option is not there under App info?

First I need you to tell me that you only are able to move a few apps. Often apps which include Google Play Services need to be in internal storage.

Check out first if any of your apps are able to be moved using the system (often games or apps like wikipedia). If not, just go to the Google Play Store and get an app which do that for you.


Notification sound is too loud when listening to music with a headset I'm using a Galaxy S6.  When I'm listening to music with my headphones plugged in, notifications come through startlingly loud.

I checked my sound settings, and I have the volume for notifications very low.  I verified the volume in settings -> sounds and vibration -> volume.  If I have my music playing the test feedback volume is super high even at my low setting.  But once the music is paused, the notification volume returns to its normal reasonable level.

Why do my notifications use such a high volume to interrupt my music?  Is there a setting I'm overlooking to prevent notification volume from being boosted while music is playing?  I'd prefer a built-in solution without external apps, but I'm willing to use reasonable add-ons to manage volume.

Note: I'm ok with the notification interrupting/dimming the music, but I don't want the volume of the notification to rupture my eardrums in an attempt to drown out the music.

The side volume buttons on your device can bring up four volume options by clicking the arrow. Try adjusting the notification setting and maybe even the system setting if that doesn't work. Easy listening my brother.


Buying games for my kids, without me "attaching" a credit card My child has his own email address and his own account on a tablet that we share. He wants to spend his allowance on a video game, and I wish to trade his allowance cash to me buying this game for him somehow.

I refuse to enter my credit card or use PayPal on that tablet, because, well, Android, as much as I like it, given the apps my child installs randomly at will, and given that Android clearly is not a secure system at all, I feel I'd be running a major risk entering any passwords on it.

So, I envision me on my secure Linux system, purchasing some sort of Play Store currency, which I can hand over to my child somehow, like through an email or something. I don't want to physically go to a store to buy a gift card which can then be redeemed. I want to buy something, once, online, that allows my child to then purchase the game he wants.

Is this possible?

P.S. I'm in Canada.

You can buy an application in the website version of the Play Store to remotely install application in the tablet. This way, you'll be entering your credit card details in a computer you can trust.

In the tablet itself, if the child goes to Play Store to purchase a paid application, the last 4 digits of your credit card numbers will be displayed on the device. When you use the default setup (which is to ask to reenter password for every purchase), he will not be able to make any purchase unless he knows the Google Account's password.

If him knowing your last 4 digits of your credit card number is a worry for you, you can detach the credit card after every purchase. I think this is probably unnecessary, if he wants to know your credit card number, it will be a lot easier for him to just snap a picture of your credit card out of your wallet if you live together.

I recommend using a dedicated account for app purchase rather than using your own personal account (you probably don't want him reading your emails) or your child account (he probably should know the password to his own account). You can attach multiple Google Accounts to a single device.

Another possibility is to just tell him to buy the gift card himself. He wants the game and he has the money, he can buy the gift card himself. This is assuming he's mature enough to go to a supermarket/store alone.


Contacts keep crashing. What are my options? Using unrooted vanilla Android 8.1. The default Contacts app always crashes on start.

I have made sure to update to the latest version: 2.8.4.201036949
I have rebooted the device and installed all other available updates
I have cleared the cache for Contacts
I have tried to sideload the apk but got "INSTALL_FAILED_VERSION_DOWNGRADE" error
I have used adb backup but the backup is only 1kb when the app's data is over 10mb on the phone so I'm worried that the backup doesn't include all my contacts

Interestingly, other applications that rely on Contacts such as Phone or Signal Messenger can see these contacts but I cannot create or modify contacts.

I am hoping for ideas on how to get out of this conundrum without losing my contacts.  I don't sync contacts with Google (would like to keep it that way) and wouldn't want to do it with another party either. Perhaps running in some kind of "Safe Mode" or using another app to read and copy contacts and create a vcf file that I can import from Contacts once I've uninstalled/reinstalled it

I found a 3rd party Contacts app that could read Android contacts and save them as a .vcf file.  The .vcf file could then later be imported into the default Contacts app once I get things sorted.  The app is called Contacts VCF

As for my crash problem, I went to Settings >> Applications >> Contact and force closed the Contacts app.  Then from the same screen I tapped "Disabled" and confirmed that data would be lost.  This reset the app to its initial state (before all the updates since I started using it).

I then went to the app's page in the Google Play Store and clicked Enable to turn the app back on, then Update to bring it current.

Now the app works again; I imported the .vcf file that I had exported in the first step above to restore my contacts.


How do you close apps in Android so they aren't taking up resources? This may sound silly but it's a good point. In apps such as web browsers pressing the back key only navigates the browser back to the previous page. Pressing the home key makes an app disappear, but isn't it still running in the back ground? So for apps like web browsers where pressing the back key doesn't close them how do you close them when you want to change applications and not have an unused one taking resources?

Isn't it a bit rediculous that there's no built in way in android to exit an app?

Advanced task killer is very simple, light(< 300kb), and can be placed as an widget to kill all the running process in a single touch.

Also if you have developers options enabled in your phone you can select the number of background process limit or what to do when user leaves a process.


Expandable memory of devices Mobile phones or tablets come with limits like it has expandable memory of 32, 64, etc GB. I was wondering how this is determined? Does it mean that higher capacity sd cards won't work or this limitation is due to performance reasons? Please explain

Our phones/tablets comes with 2 types of memory:

Internal memory(can't be expanded)

External memory(that is expandable)

If a certain manufacturer says that your handset comes with an expandable memory of 32 GB, means you can insert a 32 GB SD card in it.Now , if your device has 8 GB internal memory,that overall you get 32+8 GB space.

Coming to the second part of your question, if you insert a 64 GB SD card in a handset mentioned above in answer, it wont support it.There is a limit to the amount of memory a particular phone can handle. SD cards come in a variety of flavors. And if your device isn't able to handle a particular flavor of storage technology, it won't accept higher capacity cards.

There are different SD card flavors as in :

SDHC(Secure Digital High Capacity), Cards using this technology can hold between 4GB and 32GB of data.

SDXC(Secure Digital Extended Capacity), which can hold between 64GB and 2TB of data.

You can learn more about these flavors here


Samsung Galaxy S3 suddenly dies and won't turn on even after battery removal The phone was plugged in to my computer (I was doing development) and was running all the time. Suddenly, while I was not doing development or doing anything, the phone died and I have have never been able to turn it on again.

I've tried:

Hold the Power button
Hold both Power and Volume down button
Take out the battery and put it in again
Replace the batter with another one from my friends' working-perfectly-fine Galaxy S3

The result is the same: no response from the phone at all - it's completely cold, no sound, light or vibration at all - all I've seen is the blank unchanged screen so please don't ask me about the start up screen

What can I do?

I have found out through searches that this is the Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) which many have reported especially for Samsung Galaxy S3.

It was the motherboard that was broken and replacing it brought the phone back to life.


How do I project the screen of my Android phone for a presentation? How can I project my Droid Incredible screen so I can demonstrate the smart phone to a room full of people?

Does anyone know how I can link the phone to a PC? To a TV?

You can use this project to connect to control and see your phone from your desktop computer:
http://code.google.com/p/androidscreencast/
https://xsavikx.github.io/AndroidScreencast/

All you need is the Android SDK installed and an app OS-bundle (use one from the latest release) and a phone that you can use in debug mode over the USB port. Next you can run the screencast right from your browser if you have the java plugin, just open the jnlp link: androidscreencast.jnlp. You can also download it and run in a terminal with javaws androidscreencast.jnlp.


Where are Messages and other data like Application caches or even Applications saved? Where are the Datas like Messages or Applications exists, i have looked at many stackexchange's Android questions and found that its in data/ location, but when i tried searching for data/ but find data/ in android/ folder i.e Android/data/**, i did'nt find anything in it like .APKs, and even i tried formatting both internal and external(SD Card) storage, but after opening "Messaging App" it shows every messages, even tried restarting my phone because i thought the messages should be loaded up already in the memory, and the applications still exists in my phone after formatting internal memory and removing external memory card, are they installed on a other disk where the OS is installed, because even 3rd party apps can be seen in the Apps list like Hike and WhatsApp, where are the 3rd party Apps installed other than SD card and Internal memory, i have'nt done anything like rooting, i have Micromax Canvas 2+ A110q (Jelly Bean OS), Can anyone tell where does my device installs those third party Apps.

In short: I have formated my Internal SD Card on my PC through USB cable, and removed the External SD card, and restarted the device, but still Messages and Apps can be seen even 3rd party Apps messages(i.e hike's and WhatsApp's Messages).
Thanks in advance!!

Messages are stored in /data/data/(apps package name) folder which you cant access since your device is not rooted.
There are built in options in these app to delete conversations
( e.g in whatsapp go to settings>chat setting>delete all conversation)
You can also delete this data by going to settings>apps>App  which you want to delete data e.g:Whatsapp>clear data
(NOTE: If you will clear data you have to log in agian in app(whatsapp/hike) and dont select restore conversation in whatsapp)


What are the security implications of enabling NFC on my Andriod device? My first NFC-capable Android device (running Lollipop) is on its way. I've been doing some research, and got some info on how NFC events are handled internally, but I'd like some more practical information on how careful I need to be when I have NFC enabled. For example:

I've read that the NFC is only on while the screen is on. Is this universally true?
If I just want to set up some custom tags to control settings on my device (around the house, work, car), is there a way to whitelist the tags I want to trust, and reject or require manual confirmation of any other tags? (I'm guessing if this functionality exists it would require a third party app?)
Is it possible for a malicious device somewhere masquerading as, for example, a simple URL tag to use Android Beam or similar functionality to skim information off my device without my knowledge?

It sounds like you're overthinking the capabilities of NFC. Most devices are configured so that the phone must be unlocked in order for an NFC to be triggered (this can be overridden with an app). Unless you place you phone on a tag with the screen on and unlocked, the tag won't be read.


android as a portable device location I have connected an Android cellphone to the PC through a MTP connection. it brings a folder under Portable Devices section in My Computer.

I want to get the location of this folder. how can I do that? I right-click and choose properties and it says the Location as: Computer/Mo A.Z

But I want to access it through C drive. is it possible?!

It is impossible.

https://superuser.com/questions/369959/how-do-i-access-mtp-devices-on-the-command-line-in-windows

You could try your luck mounting it from a recovery or using adb push. Another option would be installing a SSH (or FTP or ...) server on your phone if you want to be able to manipulate files on your device easier.

(No clue whether this question is a duplicate if it's located on a different SE resource.)


Mirror device screen to pc For presentation purposes I want to mirror the device screen to a (very large) screen connected to a pc, so multiple people can see it at the same time.

What is the best way to do this. I have seen some apps but they either require rooting, signing up for accounts etc.. I don't mind buying some cable if they exist but chromecast is a bit excessive (need to switch device often and don't always run the presentation on the same pc).

Any suggestions or hints to get me in the right directions would be much appreciated.

I would use Vysor.  You can control your phone from your computer.  Root is NOT required.

Link to information on Vysor

You'll need the Android SDK install on the computer, as it does use adb, so you'll want to start adb by opening a command propmpt window and typing:

start adb-server

You'll have to install the Google Chrome extension from here.  It only works in Google Chrome.
You'll need USB Debugging enabled on your phone, Settings → Developer Options.
Plug in your phone, and Vysor will start up automatically, and a window will open, which will be a welcome screen, shown here:

(Click image to enlarge)

From here, you can use your mouse to swipe your homescreen left/right, take screenshots, click to open folders/apps, even keyboard access.


Re-install system Google Play store I tried installing a modded Play store using Lucky Patcher, but in the process it deleted the system app and didn't install the modded one.  I have tried installing it manually but it just can't work and crashes every time I want to download or update apps.
Can anyone help me out in installing the official Play store?

Just flash a GAPPS package available on xda. You can choose from a variety of packages, available on multiple versions of Android. See here for more information.


How to play 3gpp file? I was call recording , my battery died, the phone shut off while I was recording.
The file is on my phone. It is the correct size. It shows as an 3gpp extension. It's 2 MB so it's there. It will not play in window Media Player or with VLC player. It doesn't show up on the phone itself in the gallery, but it's there in file manager.

Till where I know that Gallary doest shows the Music Files.
You can try to plah by using external file manager, like ES File, ZArchiver. etc


How do I use I2C Sender app? I read an article that described how to use the I2C Sender app, by Mirobicu, on an Android 'phone, but unfortunately I have lost the reference, please does anyone have the details of this app? I cannot locate any help files, and it is the I2C address of the app that I mostly need.

By trial and error I have discovered that touching the screen at "12c Slave addr" or "Subaddr(HEX)" bring up lists of valid addresses to choose from.


"Ok Google" i.e google assistant does not work for anyone but me If I say "Ok Google", the assistant starts up just fine. However if my wife says it, nothing happens. She tried it several times, speaking loud and clear, but nothing happened. Is the assistant somehow expecting my voice only? Voice Match ist disabled, though.

Train her voice by going to

Settings → Google → Voice → Voice Match → OK Google Voice Model → Retrain Voice Model

on 7.1.2  for other versions  you may need to search in settings


How can I install Android built from source on a bare device? Possible Duplicate:
  Can I install Android on my non-Android device?

I did look at this
Can I install Android on my non-Android device?

But my question is a little bit different.

I am trying to install Android on Sony Ericsson Satio (Symbian S60).

Can it be done? If yes, then the question is how?

Are there guides/installers/tools available?

Thanks,
Aseem Chiplonkar

It won't just be a case of installing from the source, the internals of those phones are different enough from the internals of most Andoird phones that you'll have to port the OS, write hardware drivers and more.

This StackOverflow question Is it possible to port Android for a Symbian phone? goes into some of the work that would be needed to port Android to a Symbian device.


Can't install app (Error code: -26) I am trying to install Lost Android and Wheres My Droid but I always get this error on both apps:

I have sufficient free space and have installed other apps so that's not an issue. I am using custom ROM MIUI 4.4.18.

I found this page having similar issue. They suggest manual apk install which works but updating the apk results to the same error on Google play.

That seems to be a MIUI-specific error. From the Locus Map help (translated by me):

  This error occurs with Xiaomi devices, but has nothing to do with Google Play Store. Error -26 is caused by MIUI's package manager and stands for INSTALL_FAILED_SYSTEM_INCOMPATIBLE. Which means: for some unknown reason MIUI thinks the app is incompatible, and refuses to install it.

  Solutions:

  Try to install an older version of MIUI which is compatible with the app and doesn't block the installation.
  Then disable automatic updates Aktualisierung of MIUI
  Alternatively just wait until there's a newer, bug-fixed version of MIUI

Also, additional to your find, there's a thread on MIUI forum, which – surprise! – says almost the same. Dated 2014 (ouch).

Funnily, the same error -26 is also reported for the Samsung Galaxy S3 on Sprint. Folks here seem to have been more lucky. One user reports the following procedure as being successful:

  Go to Application manager and find Google Play Store, Erase the cache and data. Then go to Accounts and remove the account associated with the google play services. Restart your phone phone and add the account back.

So if the latter doesn't work, I'm afraid you've to check that with MIUI. I wonder if it really takes them 2 years to get it fixed.

PS: What strangely seems to work is opening the downloaded .apk file using a file manager. Though that should just be an interface to the pm install command (which is also used indirectly by adb install) which did not work out when used directly.


Root for Xperia Z3 D6616 Does anyone know if there is a working root for the Sony Xperia Z3 D6616 (T-Mobile)? I just got upgraded to 5.0.2 but the battery life is awful now.

I know the biggest hurdle is that T-Mobile has locked the bootloader. I have tried giefroot, towelroot, and some other solution that involved sideloading the adb drivers but I can't seem to get anything to work. In addition, I would need to back up the DRM keys so I dont break any of the Sony apps I want to keep (camera apps).

Build No: 23.1.C.0.385

kingroot 4.1

http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/one-click-root-tool-android-2-x-5-0-t3107461

if you want to remove king user and replace it with super su

follow these steps

http://www.w0lfdroid.com/2015/05/How-to-Remove-Replace-KingUser-KingRoot-with-SuperSU.html

install dual recovery by nut's (twrp,cmw,philz) using windows pc/make sure you are up to date with the drivers for xperia z3


i have lost my images by deleting them but now i want them back last day my pictures were deleted by mistake i have tried to acquire them back by simply logging into samsung account . How can i get my pictures back by using my samsung account ?

I've done this before and this is how I got them back:

First things first:  STOP using your phone as much as possible, specifically you don't want to do anything that may overwrite the area where your pictures are.  When you "delete" something, the memory where it is stored is marked as free to be overwritten by other data.  Until this happens you can recover them because they are still there, just waiting to be overwritten by other data.

Here is what I did:

I did a search and found some free file recovery software for my laptop.  I'm not sure what program I used, but there are plenty that can be found for free if you look.  Maybe someone else has some advice on this part?  In fact, many of these programs can be run off a USB stick and may not even need to be installed.  Just search around.
Using your phones USB cable, plug it in to your/a PC where your deleted file recovery software is installed. Mount the SD card, assuming that is where your photos were stored.  If not then just make sure you have access to your phones internal storage from your PC.
Point your file recovery software to your phone/sd card and start it running.  It should find all your pics, and probably a bunch of other stuff.

This type of software usually allows you to pick the location you want it to check as well as a time frame so you can search files deleted in the last 24 hours, last week, or last month etc.  Depending on the software you download there could be other options such as file types to look for.

If you are a Mac user I'm fairly certain this would work the same way, although I've never tried it with my Mac.

Good Luck!  This saved my kids Christmas pictures and about 1200 other ones last year when I accidentally deleted them, so I hope you have a similar experience.


How to use the Search box on these Stack Exchange sites with the Galaxy S? When I type something into the search box at the top right of the main page, I get a Next key instead of the Go or enter key.  If I enter text in search, pressing Next takes me to the interesting tags input, then to the ignored tags input; pressing Go from there takes me back to the main page, with my search text sitting in the search box and no way to do anything with it!

My phone is a Galaxy S and I've tried all three of the input methods -- Swype, Samsung and Android -- and all behave the same way.

From https://android.stackexchange.com/search (it's the same text on other SE sites):

  To search, type in the box at the top right of every page and press Enter.

How can I provide the Enter that the search functionality depends on?  If I can't do it directly, are there any workarounds?

(I'm certain I've run into this problem on other websites too, but I can't think where right now.)

Don't if there's something on the StackExchange sites that has changed, or if the Froyo update has fixed this, but I do get the Go button now, not a Next button when I type into this site's search box on my phone.

(Vodafone UK branded official Samsung Galaxy S 2.2 Froyo release JP7)


How to make Google Maps Navigation show forward as up? It used to be that Google Maps Navigation on my phone would show the direction of travel = as "up" on the screen. However, ever since my phone upgraded to Gingerbread, navigation is displayed with North as "up" on the screen.

How do I revert to the old behavior?

It turns out that the solution to this is rather easy, but scarcely documented.

To switch between forward-is-up and north-is-up, simply tap the red/white compass needle in the upper left hand corner of the screen.

On the updated maps, where the red/white compass icon is no longer there, goto settings and turn off "North is always up'


Google authenticator app Can't remember what it is called, but I used to have that google authentication code generator app on my phone which would be used to enter a special code for the 2 step google authentication system.

My phone has been damaged, so I have a new one now.  But I can't log into google because I don't have that authentication app install on my phone, and I can't install that authentication app on my phone because I need the authentication code...

What can I do?

Goto security tab of your Google account settings and disable 2-step verification.

Then install the authenticator app

Now you can re-enable 2 step verification which should work normally.


Upgrading developer phone I've an HTC Magic Developer Phone running Android 1.6. I want to upgrade it to Android 2.1. Please guide me how to do this.

If you don't mind rooting your phone, perhaps the easiest thing to do is to flash CyanogenMod on it. The HTC Magic is supported up to CM6 (Android 2.2, Froyo). You can find more details here, be sure to read up on the wiki. It is not supported on CM7 or later (Android 2.3, Gingerbread).


Does the Pixel 3 need an active or passive USB C to 3.5mm Adapter? Does the Google Pixel 3 Phone require an active or passive USB C to 3.5mm jack adapter?

Google store doesn't sell this adapter in India but links to retailers whose product description shows it has a DAC chip and therefore  is active similar to this. Note that this works on Pixel 2 and Google Support for Pixel 2 clearly mentions it has a DAC and  is active.


Pattern-locked Samsung Galaxy with SuperSU and no internet Some months ago, I rooted my Samsung Galaxy and installed SuperSU.

Stupidly, I'd had believed that the only thing that happens when you enter the pattern wrong too many times is that you have to wait a bit until you can try again, so when an acquantaince's little kid played around with it, I didn't mind, only to figure out I was locked out afterwards.

Usually, I have data and wifi turned off on my phone to preserve battery life, which was the case here as well, so I cannot unlock the phone with my google account because the phone has no internet access.

I tried the "call from different phone and try to get into settings" tricks, but no dice.

So I hope for one of these solutions (in order of preference):

Somehow be able to activate wifi or data so I can unlock the phone conventionally
Somehow be able to disable or deactivate the pattern lock at least long enough to activate wlan or data
Any other way that lets me keep my data
Any other way that makes my phone useable again

"su" in the adb shell makes me wait, then does nothing (probably SuperSU trying to ask for permission on the phone but invisible due to pattern lock).

-- Edit --

I am aware of this:

Solutions 1-3 require the phone to have internet, which it doesn't
adb -d shell works, but sqlite3 data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db produces sqlite3: permission denied and mount /data produces Usage: mount [-r] [-w] [-o options] [-t type] device directory. adb -d pull doesn't work either: failed to copy 'data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db' to './settings.db': Permission denied
The link to the zip file solution is dead
Apparently the security hole trick with calling the phone to try getting into the menu does not work for my phone
The next phone solution doesn't work either
the GSMHosting Solution is discontinued and taken down
Yeah..., I don't think I'm able to get my hands on a forensics program...

First step : Reboot to a custom recovery. (You should probably know how to do that, but see here in case you don't).

Mount all the partitions (On TWRP, Check everything under Mount)

Connect to your PC, and launch an ADB shell. You should directly fall into a root shell.

Then, either use method 1, method 2, or both.

Method 1

cd /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases
sqlite3 settings.db
update system set value=0 where name='lock_pattern_autolock';
update system set value=0 where name='lockscreen.lockedoutpermanently';
.quit

Method 2

adb shell rm /data/system/gesture.key

Reboot, and enjoy !

Main source...


How can I determine if my device has USB Host Mode (OTG) support? Some Android devices can act as a USB host, so that you can use other USB devices attached to them. For instance, browse or import the photos stored on a camera from your phone, or copy files onto a USB memory stick attached to your tablet, plug a full-size USB keyboard or mouse into a tablet, or use an external GPS or wifi device.

How can I tell if my device can do this?

To use an attached USB device you need to have:

A USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) cable
USB Host Mode drivers loaded on your device
A version of the Android operating system loaded on that device that supports USB Host Mode
An Android device (eg phone or tablet) that has built-in hardware support for USB Host Mode
And finally there need to be drivers on your device, for whatever USb device you're plugging in.

Operating System
USB Host Mode support was introduced in Android version 3.1 (Honeycomb), so if you have Android 3.1, or newer installed on your device then you should have the necessary support for it in your OS, Android 4 also adds additional USB and OTG support. Also, many third-party ROMs add support for USB Host Mode to phones that have the hardware support, but don't have the necessary OS or driver support in the official operating system release.
Host Mode Drivers
Most devices that have both hardware support and a new enough OS will have the necessary drivers loaded to enable USB Host Mode, but some don't. You can find driver apps on the Play Store for some models that don't have built in drivers. Some models with 3rd party instructions and drivers available are:

Nexus One
HTC Desire
HTC Incredible

Cable
You can't just use a normal USB cable. As these devices can act as both a USB "slave" device (for instance so that you can plug them into a PC and copy music onto your phone, or copy pictures off the phone) and a USB "host" (for example so that you can plug a USB memory stick into your tablet and copy files on or off it) they need some way to tell which they should act as at a given time.
A USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) cable is what is used to tell your device to act as a host, this is like a normal USB cable but it has one of the internal pins connected to Ground at one end to let that device know that it should act as the host (technically pins 4 & 5 are shorted to ground in an OTG cable).
Additionally, as most phones have micro-USB sockets, but most USB dongles have "full-size" USB plugs, as below many OTG cables have a male micro-B USB plug at one end, and a female USB-A plug at the other to convert between the different sized connectors.

The Motorola Camera Connection kit, which is a USB OTG cable
USB OTG cables can be bought fairly cheaply on places like eBay or the Amazon marketplace, as well as many small electronics shops. You may also find that your device's manufacturer sells an official, branded one, often called something like a "Camera Connection Kit" or "USB Memory Stick Connection Cable". If you're brave you can also find various tutorials on the web on how to make your own OTG cable from a standard USB cable.
USB device drivers
When you plug your USB device into your Android phone or tablet it needs to know what that USB device is and what to do with it. For common devices, like USB memory sticks, or cameras that support PPTP or USB Mass Storage, these will often already be built into the OS. For other USB devices, like Wifi, 3G or Bluetooth dongles there may not be drivers pre-built into the OS, or only drivers for certain specific devices.
How to test everything together
There are some apps that can help you test whether you have all of the necessary hardware and software to do this, such as USB Host Diagnostics. Using it to test your device's capabilities is very simple

Install USB Host Diagnostics from the Play Store
Run it
Tap the Start Diagnostics link, and following the directions first ensure that you have nothing plugged into USB on your device and then plug a device (such as a USB flash drive) in when prompted

If everything works you should end up with a summary screen like this, showing firstly a few details about your device and the running OS, then letting you know whether or not your device says that it supports USB Host Mode, and then the all important final Verdict that lets you know whether testing the Host Mode access worked or not:

If everything is working and the app successfully detected your USB device (showing that your USB Host Mode is working) you should have "Yes"s in the ringed sections, and some details showing how much access 3rd party (ie non-built-in) apps have to the device. If not, there should be details there to help you track down where the problem is.
Alternatively, Chainfire, the author of USB Host Diagnostics, has a (long) listing of all the reports that people have submitted after running the test on their devices. You can look your device up in the list and see if people with your device and operating system version have passed all of the tests, or not. Have a look for your device here: http://usbhost.chainfire.eu/


Inves Wibook 660lt stuck on boot after update My boss recently went to spain and bought himself an e-reader running Android, the wibook 660lt. He did an OTA update of the OS, but now it's stuck at the screen with a triangle with an "!" in it, with the android logo right beside it. If I press the small reset button for a few seconds, the device reboots, showing the bootscreen, after that the update starts and fails again, going back to step 1.

I've tried recovery, but I can't do it. This device does not have volume buttons, only home and a power button. If anyone knows something, that would be great C:

Bajate el firmware de la página Inves. Lo ejecutas en tu ordenador. Bajate el RKBachtool. Pinchas el wibook, instalas los drivers y sigue las instrucciones de actualización

Translation from Spanish to English (credits @Karel):

Download firmware from the Inves page. Run it on your computer. Download the RKBachtool. Tap the Wibook, install the drivers, and follow the upgrade instructions


Droid Explorer file manager not showing files I am using Droid Explorer (WinXP 32bit) to access my 2013 Moto X - XT1053 (Anroid 4.4.4).  But the main file explorer doesn't seem to be working.  "/" is shown, but nothing else.  My device is bootloader unlocked and rooted.  Seems like adb commands are not getting through.  I have the SDK installed as well as the official Motorola usb drivers.

For Droid Explorer to work correctly, you have to meet the following criteria:

Rooted device (which you said you have)
ADB USB Drivers (if on Windows)
USB Debugging Enabled
Busybox installed (I think this is where your problem is). You do not have to use the version of busybox that I linked to, but it is one that is updated frequently, and easy to install.

The console plugin, in 0.8.8.11 is very buggy and fails with a lot of devices. I have been working on an update that will be released soon (0.9.0.0) that will make the console more stable and work with any device, as long as the device meets the requirements for Droid Explorer.


How do I turn on battery percentage in Android Lollipop? I haven't been able to find a menu option for this setting in Android Lollipop (previously known as Android-L).

This website has a good page on the information:

http://nexus7.wonderhowto.com/how-to/unlock-android-ls-hidden-battery-percentage-icon-status-bar-0155876/

But if you want a quick and dirty way to enable this, you can just use:

adb shell content insert --uri content://settings/system --bind name:s:status_bar_show_battery_percent --bind value:i:1

followed by

adb reboot


Family Link: how to set daily limits for one child regardless of which devices he/she uses? I can't find a way to set a daily limit to my daughter regardless of her devices. I want her to spend 2h max on screen no matter which device she uses on that day.

Yet she's getting 2h on her tablet and 2h on her smartphone.

Am I missing something? Does Family Link only allow to set device-specific limits?

That's how it is supposed to be. See Set daily limits

  Tip: Daily limits apply to each Android device or Chromebook your child uses. For example, if you set a daily limit of 2 hours, your child would get 2 hours of time on each device.

(Emphasis added)


Unable to install any application on my android phone I am an absolute newbie on the android scene, recently I purchased a cheap android phone.Unbranded,chinese make. Mainly to experiment. I am trying to install the apps but it simply won't allow me to add anything . Not even a bigger Phone book.

The menu system - settings-> Applications is simply not there. I have downloaded the .apk's from the computer ,but it simply will not allow me to place it anywhere. I am getting the reply "unsupported media". Why is this and how do I work around it?

I shall be grateful for any help.And what is a T-flash Card?

I'm wondering if this isn't a knockoff Android with a different OS that is skinned to look like Android, or one that's running some kind of weird custom ROM. There are a huge number of "Android" tablets and phones coming out of China lately; some are legit and some aren't. If you look at sites like dealextreme.com, you'll see some pretty wild stuff.

If it's an actual Android phone, the contacts can be synced from a Gmail account, or manually added in Contacts. Unless the phone has a SIM card and you're saving contacts directly to the SIM, you won't really run into a hard limit on phonebook entries. The small phonebook, the "unsupported media" error and the missing Applications menu makes me a little suspicious that the phone might not be what it seems.

I would be extremely interested to see some pictures of the phone if possible. Aside from general interest (I'm sort of a knockoff phone enthusiast, if there is such a thing), maybe some photos would help us figure out what type of phone it is and whether or not you'll be able to load any apps on it somehow.


Is it safe to factory reset my rooted HTC One M8? I rooted my android marshmallow M8 some time ago and didn't flash any custom ROM. Just used SuperSU and Xposed for some modules and that's basically it. Today the phone was forced shut-down at 13% battery (it had that problem for a while) and when I charged it and tried to turn it on, a message pops out saying that there's an internal problem and it may be unstable until I factory reset the phone. And there is indeed a problem. Messages keep popping out saying that google apps are crashing and I basically can't use it.

So, can I just factory reset it like that? Since it's rooted and everything.

Preform backup just in case. Yes factory reset will return it to factory status. If you have custom recovery then just wipe data and cache's. If you have SuperSu system mode do a full factory wipe.


Why "adb remount" retruns "remount failed" on Android emulator? I'm using Android Studio. I was trying to set up dev environment and it requires to modify hosts file. So,

I created new devices in ADM (Nexus 4, Android 10 x86_64 without Google API and without Google Play).
I lunched the emulator
Then I tried following instructions from stackoverflow. I'm using Linux Mint so:

$ ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/.adb root

output:
restarting adbd as root

Okay, I got root:
$ ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/.adb shell whoami

output:
root

Then I suppose to remount and this is where I stuck:
 ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools/.adb remount

output:
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
avb_ops_user.cpp:217: ERROR: Error writing data.
avb_user_verity.c:205: ERROR: Error writing to partition 'vbmeta'
E Skipping /system
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
W DM_DEV_STATUS failed for scratch: No such device or address
E [liblp]No device named scratch
[liblp]Partition scratch will resize from 0 bytes to 814587904 bytes
E [liblp]bool android::fs_mgr::WritePrimaryMetadata(int, const android::fs_mgr::LpMetadata &, uint32_t, const std::string &, const std::function<bool (int, const std::string &)> &) write 540 bytes failed: Operation not permitted
E [libfs_mgr]add partition scratch
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
W DM_DEV_STATUS failed for scratch: No such device or address
E Can not mount overlayfs for partitions: No such file or directory
Skip mounting partition: /product
Skip mounting partition: /product_services
E failed to remount partition dev:/dev/block/dm-1 mnt:/vendor: Read-only file system
E Consider providing all the dependencies to enable overlayfs
/system/bin/remount exited with status 10
remount failed

I don't know if remount is the critical issue, but i guess so. At the moment I don't have permission to modify /etc/. For example:
$ ~/Android/Sdk/platform-tools./adb shell "cp /etc/hosts /etc/hosts.bak"

output:
cp: /etc/hosts.bak: Read-only file system

Run Android Emulator with --writable-system commandline option in order to temporarily disable dm-verity. Then you can run adb remount.


Sending data/obb to external SD card I had a phone with CM11 and I was used to having an option, on the app detail screen, to send an app to the SD card. Now I have bought a new phone, with near-stock firmware (4.4.2), and that option is missing. The phone only has 8Gb of internal storage (~5.5 after OS), so I really need to move some larger apps (San Andreas for instance) to the external SD card (32Gb C10). Is there a straightforward way to do this? I am rooted and I have xposed installed, but I can't find any simple solution to my problem.

I could technically manually move the relevant data/* or obb/* to the external SD and use Lucky Patcher or some tool to bind folders, but this seems like such an important point (with 1-2Gb games being common; how I am supposed to install Bard's tale?) that I wonder if there is a simple tool to achieve this.

As your device is rooted, and you even have Xposed running on it, you have a pool of choices – e.g. Obb on SD would probably be your first choice, as it exactly matches your requirements. It lets you move all or only selected OBB to the external SD card. There are several alternatives; be welcome to check my list of helpers with storage media for that.


Do apps included in the gApps zip get updated via Google Play? While using alternative ROMs like CyanogenMod 9(as i currently am), one flashes an additional zip file called gApps which contains apps provided by Google.

As Google releases newer versions of applications, will the newer versions be updated via Google Play or do I need to manually flash a newer version of the gapps.zip?

I'm asking because an update to the Google Play market app was recently released (which includes the ability to remove apps from the ALL MY APPS section) but I still haven't seen my market app updating itself.

Short answer: Gapps will be updatable via Play Store. You can set them to update automatically if you will (personally, I don't. I always try to find a free wifi hotspot to do updates ;)

More specific answer: The Play Store app updates itself silently in the background; you will never be asked for an update.

Longer answer: Gapps must be installed separately because the apps in the Gapps set are not open-source. It was a compromise reached between Google and ROM devs. In essence, ROM devs are free to create their own version of ROM as long as they exclude Gapps, but Google then went further to provide an installable Gapps.

That is why Gapps' updatezip are rarely updated; after all, Gapps still have the ability to be upgraded via Play Store.


Removing junk files from my Android device Previously I had installed an application for cleaning junk files from my phone, but the app no longer works with my device.

What is the best way to find and remove junk files from my phone in order to save space and increase performance. Is this something I can do on my own (And if so, how?), or is it best to use an app from the Play Store (And if so, which one?)?

-Clearing junk depends on the memory limitations of the device.If you have more memory(4Gb or more then you can avoid it but at some point of time you have to clean) then you don't need to clear the junk files as the device will simply store it on board.But if the device's on board memory is less <=2Gb then you have to clear the junk files quite often.(In case you have 15-30 apps installed then your phone may start responding late/worst case stuck)

-Junk cleaner applications usually clean the cache memory/files >10 Mb as well as the files which are left after uninstalling an application.

So in order to them manually you can follow these steps

-For simple tasks like clearing images/videos you can delete it from the gallery directly as the gallery sorts them based on the app.

-For cache you need to clear the cache separately from app menu.
Only for removing un-instaled app data you need the cleaner.

-Ex:-If you use whats app then you can manually delete the videos/pictures shared from the whats app folder by Videos/Images section.But if you directly delete whats app folder then you will lose all the chat data/backup as well.

Note:-If cleaning each and every applications cache is cumbersome then you have to use the cleaner application.Having more on board storage space does not remove the necessity of cleaning it only delays the frequency of cleaning.

Caution:-Do not delete any file blindly from your device.Cross check the file name with the existing list of applications.As deleting files may cause loss of data to that particular application.By time you will be able to identify the file structure


What can cause the Oct 2011 OTA update of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to fail? I'm using a Galaxy Tab 10.1 3G (GT-P7500), Android 3.1, Baseband version P7500XXKG7, Build HMJ37 P7500XWKG9, rooted. (I got it with 3.1 and TouchWiz preinstalled.)

A few weeks ago, I got a notification about an OTA update. The only information I get about this update is:

Update details (9.61MB)
Improved stability.

Trying to install this update reproducibly fails. It downloads, then asks me whether to install. I confirm, and it tells me that it will reboot the device. The device reboots. During the reboot animation, I see a low-resolution progress bar that runs until about 25%. Then it reboots again, I enter my PIN and it tells me: "Failed to update firmware. Try again using PC software (Kies) or visit a Samsung service centre". It does not give me any details as to why it has failed.

I connected DDMS to the device during the update, but (as expected) it doesn't show anything during that phase. I don't know how to get any additional reporting as to why the update failed.

I can't connect the device to Kies either. Again, it doesn't report the problem. Kies notices when I connect the device, then says: "Reconnect the device in Samsung Kies (PC Studio) mode.Current connection mode not supported by Kies." (sic!)

What can cause an OTA update to fail?

Updating via Kies eventually worked. The trick to getting Kies to connect to the device is to turn off USB debugging on the device.


Android emojis: how to change theme? The yellow blob emojis on my android 6 phone are mostly incomprehensible. Is that one laughing or looking sad? No idea.

Is there a way to replace them with pictures that better represent the emotions they're supposed to help us communicate?

AFAIK emoji are sent as Unicode code points, so presumably they're rendered like a font would be.

(I feel very old asking this question, like I'm just supposed to know... it might even help if there was a list describing the picture in words)

You can use the unicode character codes found here to choose an emojis you like better:

http://apps.timwhitlock.info/emoji/tables/unicode


Access phone without SIM PIN Sometimes I want to access my phone without unlocking the SIM cards (yes, two of them, so two PINs). It may be that I just want to play some games, and I know that there is no coverage so I do not care about missing calls.

How can I avoid entering the PIN but being able to unlock the phone itself?

Note: removing PIN for normal SIM access is not an option.

You can simply remove the SIM cards. Then you will not be asked for a PIN. Some phones will show a "No SIM card"-dialog.


Find out what's disabling screenshots My nexus 5x with cyanogenmod doesn't let me take screenshots anymore, telling me that either some app is disabling them or there is no space left.
As i have enough disk space, some app or system setting must be the problem.

I do not know of any new app since the last time i took screenshots, which would disable this and now i cannot even screenshot the home screen.

Is there an option to find out, what's disabling the screenshot function?

I found it. Seems to be a bug with file permissions (owner looks corrent, possibly selinux?).

Remove or rename the Screenshots folder, see https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/cant-take-screenshots.78176/page-2#post-7449160.


Why can't Android phones record VoIP calls? I use Republic Wireless so the majority of my voice calls are VoIP.

I use a call recording app to help me recall conversations after the fact. But in order for it to work, I have to turn off wifi and make the call over the cell network.

The recording app made me acknowledge that I understand that no app can record VoIP calls.

Question: why is cell recording allowed, but not VoIP. Is it the OS limitation?  Is it for security? Is it a legal reason?

....why is cell recording allowed,...

AFAIK call recording is not a feature of stock Android, though certain OEMs and custom ROMs enable it or can be done using apps. I guess legal restrictions is the reason for not enabling  this feature, as call recording laws widely vary

VOIP recording is quite different from voice recording

Firstly, it is possible:

App recording VOIP calls  is possible, see Call Recorder - IntCall for instance. There may be others too
Non app based services that record VOIP calls seem to be more - Dingtone, for example

What is common for VOIP recording and different from voice recording is that VOIP recording is done when it is routed through the servers provided by the app (see description in both links above). Ordinary voice recording is not bound by such limitations and can be natively record if enabled on device

Call Recording Software Wiki

  VoIP Recording
  is usually restricted to streaming media recorders or software developed by the softphone or IP PBX creator. There are also solutions which use packet capture technology to passively record VoIP phone calls on the LAN.

Since VOIP is using data packets to transmit voice, these packets need to be actively or passively sniffed ( see wiki above for details) and this requires dedicated setup unlike voice recording ( which can be done natively on phone (if enabled) or using apps ). Hence, VOIP recording is not simple to implement on device like voice recording-  a technology constraint


How to read geolocation using adb shell Is it possible to read geolocation data (either one provided by GPS or by GSM) using adb shell?

Input adb shell dumpsys location and look under "Last Known Locations".


How to force load desktop version of website (changing user-agent doesn't work)? Some webpages forces mobile version even I change user-agent.
I changed user-agent in built-in browser and "Dolphin Browser HD",
I am checking it on page www.user-agent-string.info

Main problem is engadget.com, always in mobile version.
I tried to clean cookies, restart browsers etc.

This is my results:

in built-in browser, user-agent - "desktop"

(allegro.pl) doesn't work, redirects to mobile version

in "Dolphin Browser HD", user-agent - "desktop"

(NSFW: redtube.com) doesn't work, redirects to mobile version
(allegro.pl) works fine

in "Dolphin Browser HD", user-agent - "IPad"

(engadget.com) doesn't work, redirects to mobile version
(allegro.pl) works fine
(NSFW: redtube.com) works fine

in "Dolphin Browser HD", user-agent - "custom": Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.0; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/7.0.1

(engadget.com]) doesn't work, redirects to mobile version
(NSFW: redtube.com) doesn't work, redirects to mobile version
(allegro.pl) works fine

Maybe this pages using "adobe flash" user-agent detection ?

(I'am using Asus Transformer TF101, Android 3.2.1, Adobe Flash Player 11)

This might have nothing to do with the UserAgent – but rather use other means of responsive design. Take my Android site for example: I don't evaluate the UA at all. Try the site with your mobile device, play with UA and Cookies all you want – unless you change your screen resolution, results will always be the same.

@media (max-width: 600px) {
  // adjustments for small screens go here
}

That's a snippet from my site's style sheets. You see, as soon as screen width (that's not the physical width of the screen, but the width of the browser window) drops below 600px, special CSS will be applied: to keep the content readable and focused, for example the tabs go from the left to the top (or bottom, depending on how the browser interprets the CSS), and several other things.

Which means: For such sites, the only way to "force the desktop variant" would be to play with screen density – which requires root and might have some unwanted side-effects (set the density too high, and you cannot read anything anymore as the fonts get too small, just to name a rather harmless example).


Is there a way to eliminate Google Play Books / Newsstand? I've never used Books or Newsstand, and I'm continually running out of space. Is there a way to just delete these apps?

Android 4.1.2
Kernel 3.0.31-889555

Since Android 4.0, it is possible to "disable" apps without root. However, not all apps can be "disabled": some (pre-installed) system-apps are protected against this. Still, it's always worth a try if you don't want to root your device:

Go to Settings→Apps
Select the "All" tab
Scroll to the apps in question, and open their entry
Here you see either a button labeled "Disable", or one labeled "Uninstall Updates". If the latter is there, tap it: this will uninstall all the updates this app received during the time you already used the device. Now the "Disable" button should be visible in its place.

Is it "grayed out"?

Tap "Delete Cache", then "Clear Data". This will remove all cache files the app might have created, all its data, and its configuration.
Still "grayed out?" Then this app is "protected", you cannot "disable" it without root.

Otherwise: Tap it. This will disable/freeze the app.

These actions are reversible: You can always re-visit the apps entries here, and push the button again (it will be labeled "Enable" then).

If you could not deactivate an app this way, all that's left is root and some "Bloatware remover", as indicated by Lucas' answer. Apart from Titanium Backup, there are several other "root-apps" which can do that – though Titanium is a great choice, as it also provides the means to do full backups and more. If chosing this path, make sure to freeze apps first to check for side-effects: As with above steps, a "freeze" is revertible – a "remove" is not (at least not easily).

Also see our bloatware tag-wiki, which will give you / point you to more information.


I want to push this file to my cell phone I do adb shell

Then I do ls

~ $ ls -l
drwxr-xr-x    4 root     root          4096 Feb 14 08:54 cache
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            13 Jan  1  1970 charger -> /sbin/healthd
drwxrwxr-x    7 system   system        4096 Jan  2  2000 config
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          2925 Jan  1  1970 config_init.sh
drwxrwx--x    4 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 data
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 datadata
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          4350 Jan  1  1970 default.prop
drwxr-xr-x   12 root     root          3140 Feb 14 11:15 dev
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1320 Jan  1  1970 droidboot.init.mofd_v1.rc
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 emmc
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 etc
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 external_sd
drwxrwx---    7 system   system        4096 Nov 15 10:10 factory
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         16565 Jan  1  1970 file_contexts
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1604 Jan  1  1970 fstab
-rw-r-----    1 root     root           595 Jan  1  1970 fstab.charger.mofd_v1
-rw-r-----    1 root     root           806 Jan  1  1970 fstab.mofd_v1
-rw-r-----    1 root     root           595 Jan  1  1970 fstab.ramconsole.mofd_v1
-rw-r-----    1 root     root           151 Jan  1  1970 fstab.zram
-rwxr-x---    1 root     root        653412 Jan  1  1970 init
-rwxr-x---    1 root     root          1938 Jan  1  1970 init.class_main.sh
-rwxr-x---    1 root     root           109 Jan  1  1970 init.firmware.rc
-rwxr-x---    1 root     root          5253 Jan  1  1970 init.rc
-rwxr-x---    1 root     root           436 Jan  1  1970 init.watchdog.rc
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          1081 Jan  1  1970 intel_prop.cfg
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root             0 Jan  1  1970 lib
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            10 Feb 14 09:47 logs -> /data/logs
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 mnt
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          3220 Feb 14 09:56 original.fstab
dr-xr-xr-x  125 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:47 proc
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          3070 Jan  1  1970 property_contexts
drwxr-xr-x    3 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:56 res
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           240 Jan  1  1970 rfkill_bt.sh
drwx------    2 root     root             0 Jun 26  2015 root
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     shell            0 Feb 14 09:56 sbin
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 sd-ext
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            11 Feb 14 09:57 sdcard -> /data/media
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root           534 Jan  1  1970 seapp_contexts
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root            73 Jan  1  1970 selinux_version
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        141154 Jan  1  1970 sepolicy
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         10548 Jan  1  1970 service_contexts
dr-xr-xr-x   14 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:47 sys
drwxr-xr-x    5 root     root             0 Jan  1  1970 system
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Feb 14 09:57 tmp
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          3388 Jan  1  1970 ueventd.mofd_v1.rc
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          4487 Jan  1  1970 ueventd.rc

Now there is a zip file that contains my cyanogenmod. However, I couldn't find in which directory it is.

It is on the external sd card.

So how can I push some files to the root directory of my external sd card?

I did

cd /
ls -R *.zip

I got nothing even though I know that some zip files definitely exist

I did cd /external_sd

But the directory is empty

If you want to push your files inside sdcard. You need to push it inside /mnt/sdcard/. That is where your sdcard is mounted inside adb shell


Applications restore or install from external sd card I have Samsung Galaxy Duos Trans-S 7562. It had an problem with Wifi, so I sent the phone in for repairs. Before handing the phone over to store, I backed up the applications on the external Sd card.

Now applications can not be restored or installed. Only contacts are backed-up. The error message I get is Applications not downloaded from Google Play store can not be installed.

I used "Super backup-Contact And SMS" application for backing everything up.

This is due to the fact that by default non google-play applications are blocked by default in Android, as a security measure.
To allow these to be installed go to (this may vary in wording across Android Versions)
Settings > Security > Unknown Sources this allows things to be installed that are not form the known (Google Play Store) source.
You can, in later versions, set only the inital install to process or allow any further ones to install.
In android it is similar to this (slight variety in different versions)
http://www.fannsoftware.com/img/UnknownSrc.png
On the Kindle it is slightly different:

(source: bestvpn.com)


Restoring an ADB backup onto a different phone of the same model? We have several Android 4.0 phones of the same model, from the same manufacturer, purchased at the same time, from the same factory batch. We have created a backup of one of the phones using ADB.

Can the backup file from one of these phones be applied to all of the phones, or is there uniquely identifying information in the backup that will make it inapplicable to the other phones?

The backups created from adb have no "checks" to see if the phone you are restoring to is the same device.

You should have no issues as long as they are the same version of android. By same version I mean the same actual android version as well as the same manufacturer. You would probably have issues if you tried to restore a backup made from a sony phone with android 4.1 to a motorola phone with 4.1. But should be ok if you restore from a motorola with 4.1 to another motorla phone with 4.1.

You mentioned that you are going to the exact same device, just make sure the device is updated to the same version that your old phone was.


Unable to activate USB debugging after upgrading to Android 5.1.1 After upgrading my Huawei phone (which is rooted) to Android 5.1.1 (CM 12.1) the 'USB debugging' option is greyed out with message:

  'Device is in charging mode, USB debugging is disabled'.

The message is present even when the cable is not connected.

I have already tried following solutions (but the USB debugging is still greyed out):

  Restarting the phone
  Disabling developer mode and enabling again
  Disabling developer mode, restarting the phone and enabling it again
  Removing the cable and trying all above solutions

Open settings and go to storage
Press menu and go to USB Storage Mode
Change to USB or MTP (NOT Charge only)
Disable and re enable Development options with the 7 clicks on Build Number

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)


Update to ICS makes Firefox fonts look awful (Eee Pad) My Eee Pad TF101 auto-updated to ICS today. After the update, all fonts in Firefox changed to some dreadful-looking Times Roman-like font, in which the accented characters don't show right. Stock browser and Opera look fine and use the newfangled ICS sans serif font. Deleting data and reinstalling Firefox didn't help.

Maybe it expects the old 3.2 font? Is there a way I can install the old fonts in 4.0?

Got same problem. Here's a fix. Go to the advanced settings by typing "about:config" in the url string, filter settings by "font" substring and change the values of font names corresponding to your codepage from "sans..." (NOT mono) to "Roboto". Restart firefox


Internal and External SD card paths on Optimus 2X When running the stock Optimus 2X ROM my "internal" SDCARD was mounted at /mnt/sdcard and my external SDCARD was mounted at /mnt/sdcard/_ExternalSD

I have now installed CM7.2 and the "internal" card is now mounted at /mnt/emmc and the external SD card is mounted at /mnt/sdcard

As a result, my restored apps (via Titanium) are looking at /mnt/sdcard for files that are at /mnt/emmc

My questions:

1) why do the two ROMs treat the cards so differently?
2) the stock LG way seems "better" as the "internal" card was actually being used by apps, now it's tucked away at /mnt/emmc how will it be used?
3) what's the ideal way to resolve my "apps looking in the wrong place" problem?
a) just copy the files from /mnt/emmc to /mnt/sdcard?
b) something else

This is a small bug in cyanogenmod. You can mount /emmc to /sdcard/external_sd by folowing command:

 su
 mount -o bind /mnt/emmc /sdcard/external_sd

You need to install a terminal emulator (e.g. Android Terminal Emulator) in your mobile for excuting command. It's 100% working.


Who makes the Orange San Francisco phone? Does anyone what company who makes this phone? I assume it's made by a 'known' company but can't find any sign beyond the Orange branding.

Its original name was the ZTE Blade so, then, the manufacturer is the ZTE corp in China.


Scan QR codes automatically and continuously I want to put my Android device in a fixed position, and have the device's camera continuously scan for and respond to QR codes.

For example, I have a few QR codes. I want to be able to put the first QR code in front of the device's camera, and have the device perform the action attached to the QR code (e.g. open a web page). Later on, I'll put a second QR code in front of the device, and it will respond to that QR code. There should be no manual intervention as far as scanning for new QR codes, nor for performing the action in the QR code.

Is it possible?

As Sachin correctly states: If you want to immediately execute any action, the barcode scanner will become the background app -- and your auto[mat] is moved into a garage. If on the other side you want to batch-collect barcodes for later processing: this is possible.

The well-known Barcode Scanner offered for free by the ZXing-Team provides a "bulk scan mode", in which all scanned barcodes will just be stored for later export in e.g. .csv format. You can read more about this in an article on Using Android smartphone to mass import books.


Unlock Motorola Droid Razr Maxx (Verizon) I have a Motorola Droid Razr Maxx on Verizon in the US. I want to take it to Straight Talk, a MVNO that uses Verizon's network. I bought the Straight Talk SIM card, but I get an error that the phone needs to be unlocked.

How can I unlock the phone to use it with another provider (same CDMA network type)?

Provided you bought the correct SIM card (StraightTalk provides its service using all 4 major US mobile networks - ATT, TMO, Verizon and Sprint)

from How to Convert Verizon Wireless Phones to Straight Talk:

  Contact Verizon Wireless. Verify your account information and explain
  to the representative that you would like to unlock your phone for use
  with another service. Pay your outstanding balance due and the early
  termination fee, if applicable. Obtain an unlock code from the
  representative.


Will Google play store auto update in future if I install latest store APK manually for now? I'm desperately waiting for play store to update to 4.9.13, now it's been three weeks since update release and I'm losing control now. I want to ask that for now if I update play store manually with the latest APK from android police website, will I receive next update as an OTA or will I have to update it manually? And will there be any problem if I install play store update manually with APK?

Thanks in advance!

Yes, It will :)

I do this all the time when a update comes up and available to my phone.

I too am using Play Store 4.9.13.

Even if this doesn't work out, you can uninstall updates in app settings in your phone.


Is there way to install ICS on Galaxy Pocket? I have Samsung Galaxy Pocket - GT-S5300.

Is there a way to install ICS and it will work properly? Will overclock be needed?

If so, how to do so?

This device will never officially get ICS, as it only has an Armv6 processor. ICS needs an armv7 processor to function.

The only way to get ICS would be if someone ports it to your device - but it would be difficult. I suggest you look at XDA-Developers to see if someone has ported it, or is trying to.

Be aware that it would be buggy if it is ported.


How to update the table of contents in Google Docs On a computer browser I can update a Google Docs table of contents by clicking on the icon in the top-left corner of the table:

How can I do the same in the Google Docs Android app?

From Google support on Google Docs

You cannot insert a Table of contents on Android.

Add, change, or delete a table of contents is only possible on a computer.


Get the chargin process intensity I link my Samsung Galaxy S3 to the computer's USB port using a non-original power cord.
I've found charging process very slow, so I would test the intensity whereby power cord supply  energy to the phone.

There's an app for this?

Use "Battery Monitor Widget" app from Play Store. It can monitor the current flowing through the battery while charging.
I identified my Nexus 7s charger and an aftermarket charger's performance this way.


How do Android devices receive security updates? I'm new to Android and I'm thinking about buying an entry-level Android device.

Yesterday I read that Android passwords are stored in plain text. That got me to thinking... how do Android devices get security updates? I know that OS upgrades aren't available to every Android phone, so I was wondering how vulnerabilities like these will be patched. Does it depend on the goodwill carriers?

Android updates are given three basic classifications: major, minor, security. (I'm looking for a source for this, but I've been unable to find it thus far.)

Security upgrades, at least, are supposed to be part of the core code and have the least disruption to customizations the carrier and/or manufacturer have made.

However, it's still up to the carrier and/or manufacturer to take the update and incorporate it into their particular flavor of the OS. Some are better at it than others.


Is it possible to detect two Gear VR controllers at once with Unity? Is it possible to detect two of the Gear VR controllers at once, with programming in Unity? Has anyone heard of any way to do this, or does Oculus limits it to inspire you to get a Rift? It would open a whole world of possibilities for the Gear VR when used with Unreal or Unity.

Check this post on Oculus developers forums: Would I connect two GearVR Controllers?

User imperativity, listed as "Oculus Staff" in the forums answered the following on 2017 May 1st:

  Yes, there is support for using two controllers at once.
  This functionality will be released in the future and is currently not
  available at this time.

Last blog post about the controller mentions that single controller is supported by several version of Unity starting from 5.3.

According to the documentation, the API provides a way to differentiate between controller held in left hand and in right hand:

OVRInput.Controller.LTrackedRemote
OVRInput.Controller.RTrackedRemote

The feature is not currently exposed by Oculus SDK, but officially it will happen soon.
When it is exposed, it is probable that Unity will support it soon after, maybe through the APIs mentioned above.


Can I disable MTP mode and just have a regular USB connection? I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1, and it's been rooted.

Whenever I try to connect it by USB, it goes into MTP mode, which isn't working for me when connecting to my Ubuntu Linux computer.

I'd really rather not have to deal with some software to make transfers. I'd rather just have it show up as a USB exernal drive like my phone does.

Is there a way I can disable MTP and make my tablet just show up as a USB external drive?

I'm not 100% sure. But IIRC, the problem with normal USB storage is Android has to partition your phone for internal storage and USB storage. Your computer can then umount the USB storage from phone and mount it in your computer. So in many phones without MTP, even though the internal storage had capacity like 16GB, only 1 or 2 GB was available for app installation. While some phone gave up to 8GB for app, that space was wasted for people who didn't need that much for app but needed space for music and photos.

With MTP mode, there isn't separate partition but a whole single partition. So if you have 16GB internal storage in your phone, you can use whole 16GB for apps, music and photos.

MTP mode is available from Honeycomb and I don't think it's an optional component. I mean I don't think you can say I don't want MTP mode, I want USB storage mode.


Does disabling mobile data revert from 3G to 2G? When I disable mobile data in Android 2.2, the 3G symbol disappears. Does this revert my phone's signal to 2G? I don't want to lose my signal when I go to the subway, but I don't want to all my apps consume all my monthly bandwidth.

No.  This completely disables all data access.  Only calls/messages can be used.

EDIT:  You might try looking into something called JuiceDefender.  The free version will disable your data access when your screen turns off.  Good for both battery saving and data-usage saving!


ffmpeg - Permission denied when running binary, even as root I've compiled ffmpeg for Android with the NDK and transferred the compiled binary to /data/local, but when I try to execute the binary, even as su, the terminal returns 'Permission denied.'

The configure script I use for ffmpeg is:

NDK=/home/adam/ndk/android-ndk-r9c
PLATFORM=$NDK/platforms/android-19/arch-arm
PREBUILT=$NDK/toolchains/arm-linux-androideabi-4.8/prebuilt/linux-x86_64

./configure --target-os=linux --arch=arm --enable-cross-compile --cross-prefix=$PREBUILT/bin/arm-linux-androideabi- --sysroot=$PLATFORM --enable-pic --enable-runtime-cpudetect

ls -l ffmpeg outputs:
-rw-rw-rw- root      root 10338136 2013-12-30 15:54 ffmpeg

Looking at your file permissions, it looks like a simple permissions problem. The file does not have execution permissions for any users.

You can use many different options to set permissions:

chmod should work on most cases.
You can also use many file managers to set file permissions individually. The option you wound up using, ES File Explorer, is an excellent example of such.

You should also read up on Unix Permissions if you're not already familiar with the subject. It'll be a great help in the future.


How can I enter into download mode on Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 I tried to put ClockworkMod recovery onto my Samsung GT-7582 and install CyanogenMod but it doesn't enter into download mode when I use volume up + Home + power. When I try this I see "Factory Mode" but for testing not for resetting the phone. ;(

How can I install CyanogenMod?

Android ADB Shell Commands would be one of the solutions.
To get into download mode, please use following command in a Windows or Linux terminal.

adb shell reboot download


Use firefox as the in-app browser instead of chrome When I click a link in another app, say "gmail" for instance, it opens up an in-app browser to view it.
When you clock on the top right menu bar, you can see that at the bottom it says "Powered by Chrome".
On another older phone, it somehow used to be "Powered by Firefox". I don't remember exactly how I enabled it. How should I enable it in other phones?

Setting the default browser as Firefox (it was set to none, because I had disabled chrome) worked.
For firefox, the instructions can be found here
For others, "default apps" menu in the settings is what I had to change for my version (Android P), ymmv.


CELLPHONE (ANDROID) TO PC WIFI SHARING I Just want to ask if its possible for a laptop to share the internet connection of an android phone.The phone is using vpn connection to get internet from my simcard newtwork provider? And HOW?

Thanks!
Monsai

Just to clarify, you want your PC to connect to your phone's internet connection?
Tethering, more like it, right?
If so, then there should be an option in your wireless networks settings (Tethering/Mobile Hotspot) which you can enable to allow your PC to gain connectivity to your phone's internet connection.


When rooting android device, what is changed in device? Not a Duplicate Claim

If you are tempted to flag this as a duplicate of questions like "How to root my android phone?" or "What can I do with a rooted android device?", then please take the time to read my question carefully. My question is not about those topics.

Question

Out of couriosity, what is changed inside of an android device when it gets rooted? Is it saved somewhere, like in a config file with rooted=true or something like that?

I've extensively tried to google for this, but the information I'm looking for seems to be hidden behind all the results for how to root which phone and what fancy things you can do with a rooted phone, so I couldn't find it. Not even a clue.

Although this article is somewhat old (2011), it goes over the concept of rooting and how rooting is done. Rooting is basically exploiting a security flaw (in phones which do not have have it exposed to public unlike the Nexus line of devices) to get the phone to execute code not from the manufacturer.

http://seasonofcode.com/posts/how-rooting-works-a-technical-explanation-of-the-android-rooting-process.html


Factory reset Samsung Galaxy S3 without screen The screen on my Samsung Galaxy S3 has bitten the dust, and is now remains completely black. The phone otherwise seems to be working, however (sounds play, the notification lights light, the touch screen seems to respond, etc.)

I think I'll give it away to anyone who wants it for parts. But first I want to wipe my data off it. Unfortunately, since I can't see the screen, instructions such as "Scroll down to 'Factory reset'" won't work.

Can anyone tell me the exact sequence of button presses to do a factory reset from the bootloader, without seeing the screen?

(Unfortunately, the phone isn't set up with Android Device Manager.)

You could use recovery mode and guess the controls from resources available online or you could use adb if u had developer options enabled and type:

adb shell
--wipe_data

EDIT: I read the comments on your question and it looks like if u wanted to reset it you can go into recovery (Home+VolumeUp+Power) and then press volume down twice and then press power and then press volume down 6 times and then press power again.


Is there an advantage to powering-off the device "properly"? There's something I've always wondered about Androids, which may or may not be causing issues for me...

What is the advantage to "properly" shutting down the device, as opposed to just yanking the battery out?

I'm well aware of various issues that can be caused on a Windows PC if I just pull the power plug... unsaved system files, data loss, even hard drive damage... but none of this seems to be at risk with an Android.

If a battery runs too low the phone can suddenly lose power (in my case, using the camera flash under 15% can do this).

The device(s) always seem to operate just fine when power is restored.

I have a theory that the startup process is faster when shutdown properly, but I'm not sure.

What's Android doing for the 10-ish seconds that it takes to "properly" shut down the device... and does it matter?

Shutting down an Android device isn't that much different than shutting down a computer — it gives any apps that want it notice the device is being shut down (allowing them to save data, cleanly shutdown network connections, etc.), shuts down networking (e.g., chance to release a DHCP lease) gives the radios a chance to shut down (e.g., to sign off from the cell network & WiFi network), and cleanly unmounts all the filesystems.

Everyone knows, however, that phones aren't always cleanly shut down. Batteries die, users do things like rip out the batteries, etc. So the software is all designed to recover from this — though it's surely less-tested than the orderly shutdown. (Desktop and laptop computer software makes quite a few more assumptions about not having the plug pulled, hence the greater damage there.)

Almost certainly, it'll take longer for various things to realize your phone has gone offline. For example, a chat app may still show you as online for a while after you pull the battery, but on a clean shutdown you'd show as offline immediately. (Or, similarly, it may take a wile for another device to take over). Not sure how much the cell network cares, but maybe it'd take a little bit longer for a call soon after battery pull to forward or go to voicemail.

Recently-changed data might be lost or rendered inconsistent. What that means depends on the apps involved. E.g., for an email app, if you pull the battery immediately after sending an email, maybe it won't actually be sent. Or maybe it will be but will be missing from your Sent folder. Or maybe it'll be sent but the "it was sent" data didn't get saved, so it'll be sent a second time after booting.

There's probably a tiny bit of additional wear on power components & very tiny bit on battery connectors, but I doubt that matters unless you're doing this tens or hundreds of times per day.

But yeah, if your phone had been basically idle for a bit, and then you pull the battery, probably no real bad effects.

After an unclean shutdown, various filesystem & database journals will need replaying, so boot is probably a bit slower. Only a stopwatch & some experimentation could say how much.

PS: When the battery is low, the phone is supposed to do a clean shutdown, not just drop power. Sounds like your battery is at the end of its useful life and has built up an unacceptable amount of internal resistance causing voltage drop when high current is suddenly needed.


How can I permanently assign a static IP address to Wi-Fi or USB tether clients? I use my phone as an extended display with x11vnc, which works as intended.
The only issue is, that I have to change the IP address on the VNC client on my phone, very often. Because of dynamic DHCP, I suppose.
I use a Motorola g Turbo Lineage OS 7.1.2, rooted.

Is Android capable of IP reservation? It basically assigns IP address and hostname depending on the MAC address. Or something that achieves the same.

Edit:

Is it possible to assign new static lease through an ADB command immediately?

Android uses dnsmasq as its DHCP/DNS server (up to Pie). So create the configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.conf with option dhcp-host=<MAC>,<IP> (1).

Root is required to place this file. Since /etc is a symlink to /system/etc, /system partition needs to be mounted R/W. Make sure you don't break dm-verity if enabled on your device.

Set permissions:

~# chown 0.0 /etc/dnsmasq.conf
~# chmod 0644 /etc/dnsmasq.conf
~# chcon u:object_r:system_file:s0 /etc/dnsmasq.conf

SELinux rules also need to be defined if status is enforcing. Use Magisk's suploicy or some other similar tool like sepolicy-inject:

allow dnsmasq system_file file { read getattr open }
allow dnsmasq system_file dir { search }

  Is it possible to assign new static lease through an ADB command immediately?

No, you need to modify configuration file and restart the dnsmasq server (switch Hotspot OFF and ON) for changes to take effect.


System notification service error Getting this error from system notification service. With two options, Keep it anyway (unsafe) or disable. I'm getting this notification in every 2 minutes. No matter if I select disable, or keep it anyway (unsafe).

I have restored my phone to its original factory settings two times, still the same issue.

That's the warning from Google Play Protect, which is quite new. It's detecting that app to be harmful, but often it detects some system apps as harmful (which are not available in play store). So if that app is a system app, then nothing to worry about. But if you don't wanna seen the warnings then go over to play store and disable both options in play protect. You can find that option in the left navigation bar....


How do I check if the bootloader is unlocked on the LG Volt 2? I rooted using kingroot and kingroot is my superuser app.

I want to install clockworkmod to install xposed but I don't know if my bootloader is unlocked.

Boot into the bootloader should look something like this.  In the bottom left it should say if it's locked.
If not you can type in an elevated command promt the command fastboot oem device-info that will also let you know


Is there any way to know the RAM of an Android phone? I bought a Spice Stellar Jazz Mi-353. It tells me that it has 116MB of RAM, but it is supposed to be 256MB. Is there a way to check how much RAM my device physically has before deciding to get it replaced?

You can use an app that tells you what hardware your device has.

There are a lot of apps like this and here you have some examples: Antutu, Android Hardware Info, Quadrant.


Where to find IP address in file system (e.g. proc or sys) Is there a way to get the IP (v4) address of an interface in the file system of Android? I know I could use ifconfig or netcfg but I would like to use a monitoring tool which can only access files and not execute commands.

I have no Android to test it, but Linux offers:

 cat /proc/net/fib_trie

.. from https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/365225/how-to-get-the-ipv4-address-for-an-interface-from-proc

The output can then be filtered further by grep, e.g.

 cat /proc/net/fib_trie|grep '|--' | grep -vE ' 127|\.0[^0-9.]*$|\.255[^0-9.]*$'


Will the 'wipe data/factory reset' option in clockworkdmod also wipe the internal sd card? Possible Duplicate:
  Does ClockworkMod Recovery's “Wipe Data” command also wipe the SD card?

I've been using non wipe roms and I'm planning to do a full wipe, my backups etc are on the internal sd card.

Does the above option in cwm also wipe the internal sd card?

Cheers

No.

This would make no sense, because the main use of wiping from ClockworkMod is to install a new ROM from SD card. As certain devices (e.g., Nexus S) do not have an external SD card, wiping the internal storage marked as "SD card" would wipe the ROM you are about to install.


How do you delete Google Calendar goals? A quick Google search pointed me to this thread on reddit

Following a link posted in the comments, and then going to the "android" tab (which I totally missed at first) I found these instructions

Open the Google Calendar app.
Tap the session.
In the top right, tap More.
Tap Delete > This session or All following sessions (and stop scheduling).
Tap OK.

I'm just wondering where I would find "This session" or "All following sessions", because I don't see it:

I'm using Calendar Version 5.5.15-129963483-release and I thought I might be out of date but there doesn't appear to be a newer version on the Play Store.

Same Calendar Version as yours ( update released on 15/08/2016). Moto X Play 6.0.1

I created goals using goals option of app and am able to choose and delete. Screenshots below

First one shows goals for today and tomorrow
On pressing one of them it appears as in second one
Third one shows the Delete option on pressing the overflow (3 button) menu
Last one shows the options you are looking for


Good complete backup solution? I recently had a problem with my phone where I was forced to do a factory reset and lost a bunch of stuff.

To prevent that happening again I want a complete solution that reliably backs up my device at specified intervals. The desired result being the ability to restore my "environment" to a fresh phone if needed.

What solutions have worked for people in the past? I have tried Titanium Backup but that seems to require root and I don't want to root my device.

Note: Please do not consider the native backup solution provided by Google in Android (That failed me).

Many thanks
Conor

I usually just export my contacts and my internal storage. For more you might use the shell (and where you can choose your preferred file explorer) and copy the files you need to your desktop/laptop pc/external SD card. (app data for example needs to be copied with adb, so you have to use the shell) If you have some apps you can not reinstall, for example if they are not on the playstore anymore, then you can use an apk extractor, I prefer the one from F-droid. If you want to make a custom recover like backup you might want to look up how twrp does it.


How can I root the GT 10.1 (running 3.2)? Possible Duplicate:
  Rooting Samsung Tablet GT--P7510 Android 3.2

I've tried using Odin to get root access, but when I finish the process, I still don't have root privileges. Seems like all the tutorials about how to root are assuming the tab is running 3.1 or lower... did the update to 3.2 break the root methods? If so, how can I root this darn thing? ;)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

With 3.2 Google fixed the exploit that allowed most current methods to gain root on 3.1 version.  The only way to get root on Galaxy Tab 10.1 running Android 3.2 is to flash a pre-rooted ROM via Odin (or Heimdal) utility.  Take a look at the appropriate section on XDA-Developers forum for more details.

This completely wipes all data off the device, so it's recommended to back up anything you need first.  Also, be sure to pick the correct ROM for your specific version of the Tab, since
different versions (WiFi-only Vs. 3G) will require separate ROMs.