Marshmallow: Apps NOT battery optimized still seem to doze off I have a Nexus 6P. I have disabled battery optimization for a few apps and yet those apps still seem to doze off.

Specifically those apps are 1) a sip client (csipsimple and bria) and 2) pushover.

It would be great if those apps would never sleep :-)

Is this possible?

--

Edit: I agree with CmosBattery below that this might not be the way to go. In fact, I have set battery optimization on all apps like it was before. As mentioned in my comment below, some apps, like Bria, suggest that we should do so (and maybe they shouldn't suggest this at all). After a few weeks with the suggested setting, I see no improvement in call reception and a reduction in battery life.

GCM allows developers to send high priority messages. High priority messages allow you to wake your app (haven't tested, but the Android documentation says that this is reliable). Could there be other ways?

Apps are designed how they are designed by each developer. Apps can acquire wakelocks and keep the cpu (for instance) from sleeping thereby allowing the app to stay active: http://developer.android.com/training/scheduling/wakelock.html

A great app will do this as little as possible especially as apps can set alarms to check the internet for updates or an app can wait to receive a push from an internet server.

Apps never sleeping is the wrong way to look at it and will do nothing for you but hasten the battery usage for typically no good reason.

If there's an app that stops working when it should stay working then the developer should be contacted so as to let them know you want it to continue working even after situations where it may have become disabled regardless of what happens.


Oneplus2, define/add user ringtones I'm have a OnePlus2 device and I can't seem to set a different ringtone other than those provided with the ROM (Oxygen OS 3.1.0). I can't see an option for it under Settings > Sound and Notification.

Am I missing something? Is there a way to set a ringtone without flashing a new Rom or adding some cheap app for it ?

As @Izzy hinted to check the tag wiki, I found this old answer

How do I set a custom MP3 as a ringtone for other notifications?

The answer said I should put the ringtone file at a certain directory in my SD card, that directory doesn't exist in my device but instead I noticed a ringtones directory that Hangouts created to insert it's own notification sounds.

I placed an mp3 file in there and now I can set it from Sound and Notification.


Can I get a virus on Android 4.4.2 by clicking "no thanks" on one of those virus browser pop-ups? I opened a link using the built-in facebook browser yesterday, and pop-ups on the website kept asking me if I wanted to install some anti-virus and they had two options: No thanks and OK.  Normally I press the back button because I'm wary of clicking anything, but this time I clicked "Cancel."

I've noticed some weird behavior with my phone freezing this morning and now I'm paranoid.  Could have clicking "Cancel" actually installed something?  Was the message box option spoofed?

Well it's hard to know. Install avast anti-virus from google play and it will show any viruses (if there are any). But that 'Message Box' shouldn't have appeared, so that means either Facebook was hacked or you were using a fake Facebook app/page. Clicking 'No Thanks' on a webpage can't install anything unless you already have a virus on your Android. You should be safe if you were using the genuine Facebook app/page and that Settings>Security>Unknown Sources was unchecked.


Weird package "com.google.ccc.abuse.droidguard.droidguasso" Recently my phone shows "Android is starting Optimizing App 1 of 1" at every boot. I intercepted this and found it running dex2oat in this way

/system/bin/dex2oat --runtime-arg -classpath --runtime-arg /system/framework/XposedBridge.jar --instruction-set=arm64 --instruction-set-features=default --runtime-arg -Xnorelocate --boot-image=/system/framework/boot.art --dex-file=/data/data/com.google.android.gms/app_fb/f.apk --oat-fd=45 --oat-location=/data/data/com.google.android.gms/app_fb/f.dex --runtime-arg -Xms64m --runtime-arg -Xmx512m

I also managed to grab a copy of the APK. The original APK and DEX disappears after dex2oat is done. Its package ID is com.google.ccc.abuse.droidguard.droidguasso and it's only 6.5KB in size. There's not even a META-INF folder in the APK. Google shows no exact result about it.
I'm afraid whether it's a malware but I can't find out anything more. Can anyone help me?

I have the intercepted APK uploaded to Dropbox.

Edit: Got rid of it by creating a blank file at /data/data/com.google.android.gms/app_fb. But I still wonder about its malice (if so).

Disclaimer

This APK's code is obfuscated, hence it's difficult to ascertain its purpose. For those who have doubts concerning my analysis — and I encourage you to —, feel free to download the decompiled APK from my MEGA account.

Analysis

First and foremost, I'd like to state that there are five characteristics of this code that made me think:

the code is obfuscated;
no permissions are ever declared inside the AndroidManifest.xml;
even if the code itself is obfuscated, there are strings which mention EGL, shaders and rendering;
a method in the code probes the device's graphic card;
this APK is not signed.

As for point 1, I often decompiled Google's apps, and they do like to obfuscate their code.

Point 2 greatly limits the potential nefarious actions an app can perform, as long as the app doesn't inherit its permissions by another app.

Points 3 and 4 seems to hint at a software which is devoted to draw on the display.

Point 5 is fascinating, as Android's package installer doesn't normally allow installing unsigned packages.

Guess

My guess is that this is a piece of software developed from Google, by Google. The APK is unsigned, but it might theoretically be installed by a system app, thus bypassing the signature restriction.


How to drag in the web browser without moving the page? With the stock browser when using a web page has a feature that requires dragging, how do you drag without moving the page?

For example, cropping an image on the Gravatar site requires dragging the boundaries, but whenever I try to, I end up moving the page... but not dragging.

UPDATE: I did notice on a third-party page with Google Maps embedded that the map did drag correctly.  However, the above example still holds.

With sites like Gravatar or Twitter's image cropping, I've found that the two finger "pinch" gesture works.


i hv tried opening a soccer game i hv just downloaded Every time I open it ,it loads then just crushes and goes back to the home screen. I have  tried to reinstall it but all in vain I have tried to clear all the background apps but still no sign of improvement. The game is Winner Eleven Elite by Touch Tao.

Maybe the game doesn't support your device. If you have any other devices, try to open the game, and if it still doesn't, then try contacting the developer of the game.


How to hide ongoing persistent notifications on Lollipop lockscreen It's driving me nuts seeing those notices each time I open my phone, leaving no room for the transient notifications and messages I've received.

Not possible, it seems. There is a thread on XDA about this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/hide-ongoing-notifications-lockscreen-t2938422


Two errors that refuse to be resolved, Google Play, Android 2.2.1 I have an old phone (LG Optimus V) running Android 2.2.1. I recently took it out and would like to download some apps on it. It automatically updated Android Market to Google Play by itself, but for some reason, it wouldn't let me download anything at all.

I keep getting two errors:

Google Talk authentication failed
Error retrieving information from server. [RPC:S-7:AEC-0 4SL6-CLLI-5VT2I]

I have tried everything:

Clearing all data for Google Play and Google Services Framework
Uninstalling updates for Google Play
Restarting the phone
Resetting the phone to default factory settings
Creating a new Google account

I'm still getting the two errors above, and I can't download anything. Is there anything else I can try to resolve this problem?

Information pulled from
http://wikitechsolutions.com/1222/error-while-retrieving-information-from-server-rpc-s-3-aec-and-rpc-7-aec-0

  Method 1: Level: Easy

First we have to remove our Google account settings on this device. Go to: Settings > Accounts > Google > Delete Account.
Then, we will: Settings> Applications > All> Downloads > delete data.
Settings> Applications > All> Play Store> delete data.
Settings> Apps > All> Google Services Framework > delete data.
We turn off the device. Turn it on again.
Settings> Accounts> Add Account

If not then try

  Method 2

Please read carefully. If the download does not work from the device, you'll have to download it to your PC. Then copy it to the device, using the USB cable to a folder on the external memory (microSD).

The Facebook app is the one most commonly generating this error, so we will focus on that. If needed, changing app files can be applied to almost any application that is giving you this problem.

Facebook version 3.8 is what we want :

 Download Facebook 3.8 APK

How to get downloaded APK files to update through Google Play Store

Enable installation from Unknown Sources

Settings> Security> and check the box for Unknown Sources option

Locate the APK file you downloaded using a file manager.
Open and install the APK file.

If installed version is newer than the downloaded APK, uninstall it & reboot, then continue.

Open the application and login into Facebook with your username and password.
Close the application and reboot.
Open the Play Store & check for updates.
Remove the check from step # 1, for added security.


developed apk installed in bluestacks lost lower part I installed an app-invenetor2 developed app, then installed it to bluestacks.
I cannot see the lower part of the app. I've
tried to adjust the resolution of bluestacks using methods suggested by How do I increase the resolution of BlueStacks?, especially the height from 400 to 1800. But it's failed.
Although the height of bluestacks window is increased, the lower part of installed app didn't appear.
How to see that lower part of the app?

I've tried it out. Just clicked "Change app size" on the left of BlueStacks to turn Tablet screen(Landscape) to Smartphone screen(Portrait), and it's done.


HTC One M8 Screen Broke Not sure if this goes here but I don't see any other section where it would go really. About a week ago, I found a HTC One M8 is a creek when I was hiking. I took it out and when I got home I placed it in rice for about 2 days. When I took it out, the battery worked fine because of the charging signal. I let it charge for about 8 hours and the signal is still there. The screen won't power up. Any tips on how to fix the screen without going inside the phone? Thanks.

The charging light means little - chances are it's completely non-functional except for the charging light itself.

However, you could check if it's booting and just the screen is dead by connecting it to a PC and observing whether the PC detects anything.  If just the screen is dead, the PC should still see it as an external storage device.  If the PC sees a USB device, you may be able to check further into its health by connecting via adb. However, keep in mind that these come in both Android and Windows Mobile varieties, and adb isn't going to work with Windows Mobile (there may be a logo on the back indicating which).

As far as fixing the screen if that's the only problem, there's no way to do it without opening the device and replacing the faulty component(s). Search YouTube and the like for teardown guides. However, given the device's exposure to the elements, there could be more faulty than can be replaced. Screen replacements are typically done for cracked digitizers, while your device may have fried graphics chips, etc., and changing the screen would be an expensive, time consuming, and fruitless endeavor.

Finally, although I don't know the circumstances of your find, I would point out that the device's IMEI (or equivalent) can be used by the carrier to return it to the rightful owner. If it's branded with a carrier's name, take it to the nearest store for that carrier and they can easily look up who owns it and get it back to them. Just sayin'.


Root and/or flash ROM on Haier Haipad 8.0 (PAD821) I'm trying to root my haipad but none of the methods I found over the internet works.
Here the PAD821 features:

Basic parameters

Time to market: February 2013
Product positioning: Entertainment Tablet PC
Operating system: Android4.1
CPU/GPU Processor architecture: ARM architecture
Processor model: ARM Cortex-A9
Processor Main Frequency: 1.5GHz
Processors core: Dual core

Storage device
System memory: 1GB
Storage capacity: 8GB
Storage media: Flash Flash disk
Storage expansion: supports Micro SD (TF) card, maximum support 32GB

Display
Screen size: 8 inches
Screen resolution: 1024x768
Screen description: Capacitive touch screen, Multi-point touch screen
Pointing device: touch screen
Screen characteristics: Five-point touch screen,The TFT screen,LED backlight
Language support: supports many languages
Network connection: WiFi support
Network mode: 3G module reserved ports
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4

Multimedia features
Sound system: Double stereo speakers,Built-in microphone
Video playback: support playback of 720P vide
Camera: dual camera (front: 300,000 pixels, rear: 2 million pixels)
Video recording: support for recording 720P video
Flash features: supports Flash

Format support
Audio format: supports MP3 format
Video formats: supports MP4 format
Picture formats: support JPEG,BMP,GIF,format
Text formatting: supports TXT format
Buttons/interfaces: Data interface Micro-USB
Audio interface: 3.5mm earphone interface
Other interface: power interface,memory card interface
Function keys: switch button, volume buttons

Power parameter
Battery type: Lithium battery,4400mAh
Life time: depending on the using environment, at a specific time
Power adapter: DC (5V, 2A) adaptive AC power supply
Function parameters: Built-in induction The intelligent gravity sensor
Basic applications: Baidu input method,The ES file browser,PPTV,AppChina,WPS

Appearance parameters
Product size: 204.37x155.42x9.5mm
weight: 432g
Casing material: composite materials
Casing color: silver

Is there someone who knows a ROM compatible with such a device? Otherwise: is there a way to root it? Which version of the recovery (CWM or TWRP) can I install?
Thanks in advance.

First, have you tried to search for this device on http://forum.xda-developers.com? They should have got the ROM and the ROOTing method for you.

Note: Never try to ROOT or install a ROM from someone you don't trust! Again never root the device when its still in use, because Rooting the device would remove the warranty of its! You might brick your device too.

You can try to search for the ROM by the name. Secondly I know the good rooting software, search for Bin4ry root! They will root you device, you can follow steps! hehehe, you must see the Note I provided before continuing the process.

By that software, you can first Root the device. Then check for the CWM support for your device on their site. Or you can Google it to find the best solution for that phone. After installing the CWM, you can easily install a ROM, but again, becarefull while installing the ROM, you might brick the phone.

Good luck, Cheers!


Is it possible to replace stock 'Phone' app? First of all, I know one can replace the dialer app and there are many options available for it.
But is it possible to replace the stock phone app? Is there any calling app that uses the normal cellular network to make calls apart from the stock android app?

The reason why I am asking this is because I am having problems with talking on handset on my Nexus 5 since I update to Lollipop. And I figured that if I replace the phone app, this problem could be solved as my calls on Skype and Hangout are normal which proves that the microphone is fine and the problem lies in the software.

It might be easier on a custom ROM, as you can flash what you want. However, since you're on Stock, here's what I'll suggest.

Disable (uninstall) your phone app (if that's possible), then install another phone app of your choice. Automatically, that'll take over as your default phone app.


Any way to find a Wi-Fi connected (unactivated) phone? I'm ALWAYS losing my phone at home, in various obscure places (on a shelf in the basement, under the coffee filters, behind the toilet, etc.,) and I was wondering if there's any way to find it.
The thing is, I have no cell package at all. None. No call, no text, no data. It doesn't even have a number.

I do have Google Voice, and GrooVe IP, but the likelihood that a call will actually ring the phone is.. unreliable, at best. I've given up on it as a method of locating the phone.

So what I need is a way to "ring" the phone over Wi-Fi. I've set up a static local IP, and I set it not to ever disable Wi-Fi during the daytime, but I need some way to contact the phone.

The phone is a Rooted Droid X with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. I am fairly tech-competent, and enjoy tinkering with electronics, so if the solution is difficult or complicated, don't knock it immediately.

The phone is lost extremely often while at home, but never while out, so it's perfectly OK if the solution requires a Wi-Fi connection.

P.S., this is not a duplicate of Question 2603, that concerned phones with the ability to recieve Calls/SMS/Data, and as such, all its answers are irrelevant to this question.

There are plenty of apps on Play supporting that already. The first coming to my mind is PAW Server, which allows that and many more things (basically, you can remote-administrate your device via WiFi with this app). Other, similar apps might offer the remote-ring as well. Several anti-theft apps for example.


How can one remove the animation when searching for a string in a web page in Google Chrome for Android? How can one remove the animation when searching for a string in a web page in Google Chrome for Android?

For example searching for "law" with the "Find in page" Chrome feature on https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States takes more than three second of scrolling down animation before showing the first occurrence of "law" in the page:

This is a longstanding problem[1][2][3] with no solution in sight. Some Reddit users argue[1] that if you click on the sidebar instead of arrows on the top, you get the same no-smooth-scroll functionality. I tested this and this is true. But this becomes next to useless when the searched term occurs often and between very few lines, as tapping onto them using the side bar is neither convenient nor practical.

My solution is Kiwi Browser (based on Chromium) and as of version v77.0.3865.92, it has that same classic find-in-page scroll (instantly shows next occurrence instead of scrolling to it). I've been using it because of its support to Chrome Extensions. Firefox for Android also doesn't have this problem either. If the smooth scrolling is a deal breaker you can try these alternatives.

1: Chrome app "find in page" issue
2: scroll-behavior: smooth on Chrome can cause motion sickness issues
3: DISABLE search animation query


Will running virtual machine on Android completely turn my Android into Windows phone I have heard about the BOCHS app which can run a virtual machine created by us on android. So we can run Windows OS on Android (please refer to this link). I want to know that if it's just a virtual machine opened by an app then we can click back button it will close the app and bring us back to the Android screen or it will turn our Android completely to Windows?

No we cant. BOCHS is a single thread program. And till now, individual processor cores aren't that strong for any android till today to run any modern OS as intended.

Infact, even you you managed to install just the os, the hardware wont be enough t or run any app and interface will be far too pain.

You can install older OSes like windows xp (on phones like s5-s6 or similar) or windows 98, but again, no real softwares could be run. Forget games, even mugen doesn't run properly. Even if the android hardware is good enough, BOCHS hasnt developed to that level yet.

So until BOCHS supports multi-threading and some other things, its almost useless to try that. Plus you can install only older OSes. New ones will hang a lot. I have personally tried Ubuntu 12.04 and a stripped off version of windows xp. But they were no use.

The only thing its good for is that you can say "Hey look! I got windows in my phone". But other than that, there's no purpose, atleast for now.

  Will running virtual machine on Android completely turn my Android
  into Windows phone

Its not what you think it is. As I already said, you wont be able to make use of any major function. Its like using virtualisation programs like virtualbox on pc. Your pc wont turn in to that os, but both OSes will run simultaneously. SO no, your android wont be replaced. And android and that OS will both run together until you exit the app. Thats all it is to it.... The article is over-exaggerated. Infact, you will get bored of this in less than a day.

Again, feel free to try.

Finally, its not the os from windows phones. Instead, it is the actual windows we run on pc. You can imagine what it would be like in such a small sized screen like phone right?


Issues getting screenshots in emulator. parts of screen missing Hello I am wondering if anyone has ever experienced this problem.

I am trying to take screenshots of my app (or any app that I have tried) in the emulator.  When I take a screenshot quite frequently part of the screen is corrupt / missing,  like shown below, it can happen anywhere on the screen not just on the keyboard. If when using monitor to take the screenshot I can refresh and it make work and take a proper picture or another area of the screen may then get the problem blank area.

Example screenshot (click image for larger variant)

I am using android-sdk_r22.6.2-linux on Ubuntu Trusty 14.04.

My emulated device is Nexus 4, 4.4.2,  ARM cpu and any skin, no emulation options.

I have tried taking screenshots via monitor and adb but result in the same issue as seen in screenshot above.

Does anyone know how to fix this or am I going to have to take an ubuntu screenshot and crop to the android screen?

This may help:

  1.Firstly start the emulator

  2.Then go to the DDMS please select the emulator

  3.Then left side we have button Screen Capture click this button

  4.Screen Shot taken own App.


Disable new Android permission system I really like the new permission system in Android from the end users point of view as I like to have control over what my phone does but I am really struggeling with it at work, here is why:

We are developing apps and I am responsible for the QA and we recently introduced automated tests. During the testing process, we install our app on an Android Emulator (Visual Studio Emulator for Android).
As our app needs access to location services, Android asks the user for permission. Since the user is "the king", the permission dialog is not exposed to our testing framework so we can't respond to it automatically and because the tests run at night, there is nobody to respond to that dialog manually.

So here is my question:

Is there any setting in Android to disable the new permission system? There is no need to set this setting automatically, I can set this one setting once by hand, the only thing I can't do is to respond to that permission dialog every time the app is installed.

Thanks for your help,
vat

adb install -g package.apk
I had a similar issue in automated testing: when launching the app the permission dialog popped up. The adb shell pm grant … command did not help but there is the  -g option of adb install to grant all permissions upon install. This solved the problem for me.
From adb --help:

Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 30.0.5-6877874
[…]
app installation (see also `adb shell cmd package help`):
 install [-lrtsdg] [--instant] PACKAGE
     push a single package to the device and install it
[…]
    -g: grant all runtime permissions
[…]


Why don't some widgets work on Cyanogen? I have a HTC Hero CDMA that I upgraded to Cyanogen 6.  I'm on version 6.0.0-Heroc-testing2.  Before installing Cyanogen, I had the official Twitter widget and official Facebook widget on one of my screens.  Ever since upgrading, I have not been able to add the Facebook widget or Twitter Widget.  Both of the apps work fine, but when I go to the list of widgets I can add, neither of them is there.  I'm using the default home screen/launcher that comes with Cyanogen.  Other widgets such as Beautiful Widgets work just fine.

Is this a problem with Cyanogen, the home screen, or something else?  I have a hard time believing these widgets are only compatible with HTC Sense.

Can you download another home launcher like LauncherPro (I highly recommend it) and see if the widgets also don't work there?  It could be a problem with the launcher you are using (ADW or Launcher2).  Or you could re-flash CM6 with the other launcher than the one you chose.

If these are the official Twitter/Facebook app widgets, then I doubt it is because of HTC Sense no longer being available.

Additionally it sounds like you are running a test build of CM6, so it may be a bug.  Check out their forums to see if anyone else has your problem or to report the issue.


How does fast-charge work? How does Fast Charge work?
Does it actually charge your device faster, and if so,
Is there a downside to using it?

Fast Charging can be achieved in two ways

Hardware based Charging

Qualcomm-  Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 and Qualcomm quick Charge 3.0. Also see Fast Charging by Qualcomm 3.0- impact on battery?. This is the most popular, adopted by OEMs under various brand names
Type C USB Charging- USB Type C Charging explained. Also see Android phone “charging slowly”: How to make it faster
By OPPO- VOOC (Voltage Open Loop Multi-step Constant-Current Charging) and Super VOOC

Kernels (including kernel tweaks) capable of increasing charge rate whether it is USB or wall outlet charging

First part of your question How does fast charging work? Does it actually charge your device faster

This has been covered at length here (linking it rather than copy-paste) Will plugging the Samsung fast charger into a outlet rated 10W/2.1AMP slow down the charge rate?.

To summarise, normal charging is done at 0.5 to 0.8 C (C is charge rate) and fast charging done at 1 to 3 C. Please note that the exact or indicative charging rate is not revealed in any OEM documentation despite extensive search and it is unlikely that OEMs will reveal such  details, deeming it "proprietary"

Coming to the second part of your question Is there a downside to it (Fast Charging)?

Yes, in two ways:

A common feature while using fast chargers is raise in temperature of battery (since more current is being pumped in and power (read heat) is proportional to square of current) and this is inimical to good health of battery, which is extensively  covered here.

Short Term (Battery capacity after charging) Battery is not really fully charged as it does not undergo charging spending enough time in all stages, compared to conventional charging. In simple words battery may deliver typically 85% of performance compared to regular charging. Details on this are available here
Long Term (Battery life span) Battery life is specified in Cycles or discharge cycles. OEMs/ Battery resellers may specify this number, for example, it is 550 Cycles for Samsung Note 2

Quoting from BU-501: Basics About Discharging

  What Constitutes a Discharge Cycle?

  A discharge/charge cycle is commonly understood as the full discharge of a charged battery with subsequent recharge, but this is not always the case. Batteries are seldom fully discharged and manufacturers often use the 80 percent depth-of-discharge (DoD) formula to rate a battery, meaning that only 80 percent of the available energy is delivered and 20 percent remains in reserve. Cycling a battery at less than full discharge increases service life and manufacturers argue that this is closer to a field representation because batteries are commonly recharged with some spare capacity left.

  There is no standard definition as to what constitutes a discharge cycle.

This does not mean that every time you charge you are consuming a cycle

  For example, if you discharge a battery to 50 percent one day, charge it back to 100 percent, then discharge it 50 percent again the next day, that is counted as one "cycle" of the battery. So shallow discharges, in all these regards, are ideal for a Li-ion battery.

Now that battery life in cycles has been explained, let us see how fast charging adversely affects long term battery life

Figure 2 from BU-401a: Fast and Ultra-fast Chargers graphically shows deterioration in long term battery life. Note deterioration in charge holding capacity and life of battery are both affected adversely

Figure 2: Cycle performance of Li-ion with 1C, 2C and 3C charge and discharge
Charging and discharging Li-ion above 1C reduces service life. Use a slower charge and discharge if possible. This rule applies to most batteries.

Bottom Line: Use fast charging when you "have to" due to time constraints else if possible stick to normal charging if you care for your battery( if you have read this lengthy answer, it's because you care:). But a relevant question is what can be done if your cell is equipped only with a fast charger? Answer would be to use a battery pack for normal use and fast charging when you really need it. This way, you could end up spending more but wouldn't need to bother about battery health

Perhaps realizing that ill effects of fast charging would be negative, Samsung has come up with user selectable enable/disable fast charge option

See FoneArena Labs : Best Fast Charging Standard in the market for performance comparison of different charging techniques


How to get root back after OTA update When I updated to Android 4.1.2 on my Galaxy Nexus, I lost root. Everything is still there, but the permissions on system/bin/su no longer include the setuid bit, which prevents su from working.

I don't want to go through the whole re-rooting process if possible since I used root to re-lock the bootloader and unlocking it without root will wipe the entire phone, including /storage/sdcard0.

As far as I can tell, the only thing I need to do to get root back is to fix the permissions of su. How should I do this?

Of possible relevance:

I'm using the stock ROM.
The phone is the international GSM version.
I tried to get into recovery and got an android with a red exclamation mark. Is this due to the bootloader being locked or is it a different problem?
Since the update and losing root, a process called system_service has frequently started comsuming 100% of my CPU and slowing my phone to a crawl, forcing me to reboot.

What I wanted doesn't seem to be possible. It makes sense, really, as if it were possible it would represent a major security hole that would allow any app to gain root.

I ended up wiping my phone and testing the quality of my backups. (They weren't as good as I'd hoped.)


Watching Android Tablet app on connected TV I was looking into whether a vanilla Android app running on a tablet can have the tablet screen output to TV via an AVI or HDMI output jack? The intent is NOT to view video content but just the app screen on a large TV. An example of how this would be useful would be a 'low-tech' training session for a bunch of people on how to use the app.

This may depend on the tablet, but as far as I know anything with Honeycomb and an HDMI output will simply mirror the screen when plugged in. My Motorola Xoom, for example, will mirror everything on the screen to a TV when my HDMI cable is plugged in. I can use it for app demos and the like at work just fine, so what you're looking for is (from a purely technical standpoint) possible.

Saying that it will work on every device would a very broad and presumably incorrect generalization on my part, though, so I would assume that I cannot accurately apply this rule to every device out there. You'll probably want to look at the specs for specific devices before you purchase one, and ask a retailer (or a manufacturer, if necessary) about it's video output capabilities.

On top of that, there are also some devices like the Galaxy Tab 7 which support composite output via a special connector cable. This also mirrors the screen, as I recall, but I don't know of any other devices that support composite hookups offhand.


Is there a way to share my mobile screen with another Android phone like Netmeeting or Live Meeting? The requirement is similar to Netmeeting software where the screen of a desktop is shared and can be accessed for another system. Is is possible in a mobile device?

There should be no PC to Mobile connection.

Applicability: This can be used for verification of railway or air tickets where I can show my ticket shared with examiner's device instead of handing him the device.

If your device is rooted you could try to run a VNC Server (e.g. droid VNC server BETA) and access it from the other mobile device with a VNC viewer of your choice.


How do I disable the triple vibrate of Viber? When I get a notification in Viber it vibrates three times, as well as playing the sound. How do I stop it from vibrating three times!?

I saw the question about receiving multiple notifications but that doesn't apply as I don't use Viber for SMS.

In version 5.3.0 for Android, on my HTC one m8 I couldn't find ANY option to disable vibrations, exept for the "incoming Call" one.
So my phone sounds one time and vibrates 3 times when I receive a message...

Later edit: Just wrote Viber, they answered that a fix will be available shortly !


Use of swap size while partitioning? I just rooted my phone (Android 2.3.6) and partitioned the sd card using CWM recovery. While partitioning, I noticed about swap size and while searching about it, different blogs (xda developers) recommended using 0M as swap size. What is the use of it? Why is it recommended to be 0M?

Primary reasons for the no swap recommendations are the basic uselessness of swap for most devices, performance reasons, and device longevity.

As Liam mentions, modern devices have no shortage of RAM (Even my old underpowered Wildfire S has as much RAM as my previous desktop.) and that RAM is managed fairly well by the modern Android system, making a swap largely pointless.

Also, even though flash is far better than platters of spinning rust, it's still orders of magnitude slower than RAM is, hence for performance reasons, you don't want to tier down to flash if you can at all avoid it.

Furthermore, flash memory has a limit on how many times you can erase and rewrite it.  While this cycle limit is typically in the thousands or tens of thousands, which combined with modern wear leveling systems, means you're unlikely to hit the limit within the useful lifespan of the device, but if you're using it as swap, with loads and loads of itty-bity writes, you will chew through those cycles needlessly and might actually bump against those limits in time.


Offline Voice-to-Text Now Showing Up? I am seeing many articles pointing to how to setup Android Voice-to-Text offline, but I am not seething the setting where they tell me to look (languages & Input).

Has the location changed, has it been removed? Does my phone just not have the capability?

Works online.

Android 8.1.0 - June 5, 2018
PRO_SELFIE - SKY_Pro-Selfie_V06_20180625

In Settings -> Languages & input, tap on Virtual keyboard, then Google voice typing. Tap on "Offline speech recognition", then All. Select the language(s) that should be downloaded and use offline.

Alternatively, if you have Gboard installed, in Settings -> Languages & input, tap on Virtual keyboard, then Gboard. Click on Voice typing, then "Offline speech recognition". Click on "Offline speech recognition", then All. Select the language(s) that should be downloaded and use offline.


What is this "com.android.backupconfirm"? What is the package on my phone that is called com.android.backupconfirm? I tried Googling and found an answer on a random forum that said that is the UI for the backup confirmation dialog. While this sounds correct, could you explain why this isn't a part of the core but instead a separate package?

After googling around a little, I found the source code of BackupRestoreConfirmation.java, which is used to build the package com.android.backupconfirm. Quoting from its comments:

  Confirm with the user that a requested full backup/restore operation is legitimate.
  Any attempt to perform a full backup/restore will launch this UI and wait for a designated timeout interval (nominally 30 seconds) for the user to confirm.  If the user fails to respond within the timeout period, or explicitly refuses the operation within the UI presented here, no data will be transferred off the device.

So this confirms what I already guessed in my comment on the question itself: it's belonging to the dialog popping up when initiating adb backup, and which does nothing but asking you to confirm whether the remotely triggered backup should be executed (and if you want to protect it with a password).

As the comment is further speaking of a backup manager service, one could also think of the Google Cloud Backup (see: google-backup). So let me again stress some important keywords from the comment's start:

  a requested full backup/restore operation

Google Cloud backup neither is a "full backup/restore operation", nor can it be "requested" by the user. The only backup service this applies to is adb backup.


can I tell google maps to avoid motorways? So, my question is

Is there any way for me to tell google maps, to avoid motorways?

Edit

I'll add some screenshots to show why the currently suggested answer doesn't seem to apply.

Say I search for my destination

I see no blue circle

I can tap "Get Directions" then I get this screen

So I see the icons for car, bus, cycling, walking.

Say I tap the bottom right three dots. Then it just says  "Reverse start & end"

If I tap the car, then I  get two options. Get Directions, or Navigate.

There's no 3 dots in the top right or anywhere,  with a "route options" option, that the suggested answer mentions.

I'm not seeing the option to avoid motorways.

The following seems to be the answer though I haven't put it in practise yet.

in google maps, choose navigation, then in the bottom right there are 3 horizontal bars, then  it has options of "routes and alternatives, directions list, layers, turn off voice, exit navigation, more".  Choose "routes and alternatives"

Then it has 4 buttons..

A button with a blue arrow,

A button with 2 cogs

A button with arrows pointing to what looks like a raindrop.

A button with 3 dots with 3 horizontal bars alongside the dots.

Click the button with 2 cogs.

Then it says Route options.  Avoid motorways.   Avoid toll roads.  You can choose "Avoid Motorways".

I'll include some pics when I can.


Voice activated offline voice recorder Sometimes while driving or washing the dishes some idea pops up in my head while I am listening to music.

How may I record voice without touching the phone?

(Sometimes while driving in remote places I do not have Internet connection so it needs to work offline)

Have a look at this : Text by Voice. It says that :

This app makes texting a totally hands-free experience. With it you can send and listen to messages without so much as touching your phone. It's entirely voice-powered.

Hope it will help.


Is it possible to have a media folder inside a .nomedia folder? I have a folder with various folders and subfolders where I don't want my content to be scanned.

Inside that folder I have put a .nomedia file to prevent media scanning.

Now, I have a single folder (with music) what I do it to get scanned.

Is it possible to do something like writing a ".media" file or setting an exception on the .nomedia file?

Oh I get him now. If the .nomedia file exists in a folder containing the folders you have it will hide files in all those directories. For example having a .nomedia on /sdcard will definitely hide the whole sd card media. So ensure the folder you want media scanned isn't preceding the folder you don't want media scanned. Like:

/sdcard/myfiles/mediapublic/photos
/sdcard/myfiles/mediaprivate/photos

These are two folders. To hide media in mediaprivate and photos. Paste the .nomedia file in the mediaprivate directory. If it's photos folder only. Paste it there only. And ensure to remove the file from the folder containing that folder. There is another alternative you can use. Delete all .nomedia files. The folder you want hidden, just start it's name with a dot. Like

/sdcard/.myfiles/mediapublic/photos

To hide all myfiles

/sdcard/myfiles/mediaprivate/.photos

To hide only photos

Remember the .nomedia file is an empty file with no code even if you open it with text editor. It is 0bytes size and 0characters. So forget about editing it


Sync old google accout to a differnt Galaxy 6 My phone died, and I had to get a new one.  My husband took new phone and we transferred my number to his old galaxy 6.  How do I register MY stuff on this phone so I can retrieve my photos, apps, etc.  It thinks I'm him.

You will need to sign in with your own Google account.

Having said that, unless all your photos, contacts, etc were all synced to Google, it's a bit of an unknown really exactly what will sync back to the replacement phone.


Playing VLC streams directly from web page? I found several pages that provide streams directly (e.g. JaGledam.com) and in this example, the first two tabs require x-google-vlc-plugin to play the stream.
I can use the link with the Flash player, but I'd prefer to watch them via VLC (either VLC Player for Android or directly from the web page).
Is there any way to watch VLC streams from Android (if relevant, Nexus 5)?

If you inspect the object (right-click -> Inspect (Q)) with the VLC plugin, it shows the HTML markup of that object. Looking further into the HTML, you'll notice a target="*" tag. Open the URL inside this tag (in your case IP:PORT/directory) with the "Open Stream" option of VLC and you are good to go.


Change Phone name on Nexus 4 When I look into the logs of my router, I have trouble identifying my own phone.

How can I change the name of my phone, on my nexus 4 running latest Android OS, without rooting it? Is it even possible?

Developer options > Device Hostname should get you where you need to go.
You may need to mash "build number" in "About phone" a few times to make the Developer Options appear in your settings app...

EDIT: Apparently that's for CyanogenMod only. Without that option, you'll need root...


Titanium Backup from Nandroid using pc I know you can create a Titanium Backup from a Nandroid Backup using the Titanium Backup PRO app.

But is there a possibility to create a Titanium Backup from a Nandroid without having a phone, i.e. using a pc (preferably Linux, Windows is ok too)?

Titanium Backup is able to read from Nandroid backups, so you can use it to restore parts from them -- and then use Titanium Backup again to backup those restored parts. However, as there's no Titanium Backup for PC, this has to be done on an Android device.

If your goal however is to separate some apps from a Nandroid backup, there are other ways to achieve this: Nandroid copies the entire partition (see: nandroid tag-wiki). So you could mount the images (on Linux, this should be no problem with the EXT file systems at least -- see e.g. Restore only part of nandroid image), or unpack them (for YAFFS partitions e.g. using unyaffs -- see my answer here).

For completeness: there are also ADB-style backups (which again Titanium Backup is able to access). For these, you might want to take a look at e.g. Android Backup Extractor and Android Backup Splitter, and also my answer here on how to convert an ADB backup into a tar file to investigate, using the Perl AdbBackupRoutines from this XDA thread.


Confused about Nexus 7 failing system update to 4.2 During the day today, I got the notification about the available system update to 4.2. SO I confirmed it after ensuring that SuperSU was set to "survival mode" and then it looked like it was actually doing the update. However, when I now check the system version it states 4.1.2 just like it did before. I also rebooted once more in between just in case something wasn't complete or so.

Any ideas? How can I force the update through. There was no indication that anything went wrong during the update, yet I am stuck at 4.1.2 and checking for available updates shows none.

Note: I have encrypted the contents of the tablet (standard option). Can that be an issue here?

I'm getting the same problem and have not encrypted my nexus 7's storage (but it is rooted). Any luck? I've attempted to update it several times with no success.

To reset the "check for updates" and allow you to attempt the update again, try the following:
In Settings > Apps > All (tab), search for Google Services Framework, clear it's data and kill it. Then go to Settings > About tablet > System Update, and it will find the update.


Google play services are lost and a notification said it has been set to stop Today on my one day old new Android smart phone I tried to update goggle play services and it stopped updating and could not find update page anywhere in the play store and then I got an error message that said google play services is now in stop  and so I looked in my google play store account apps and it was deleted and also it was deleted in my settings app list so I searched for google play services hoping to reinstall but when I tapped it a new app is there called play services info and I also checked on my computer if the app would be in play store but it was the same new app play services info. With no google play services I cannot access many important apps. How can google play services be put back in the google play store so I can download it to be able to use many important apps.

I did a factory reset and then I checked my settings app list and google play services was back, but it is only enabled and the force stop, clear data and clear cache are not working but all that matters is my apps that require Google play services working I can use again like messenger, Gmail and more. Since the factory reset to google play store it is still not found there and when it comes time for an update for google play services then my apps will not work and I am good for now but need to solve the issues that are critical to my device.


Android 4.2 for Asus Transformer tf300t I bought an Asus Transformer tf300t tablet. It runs on Android 4.1.

I really need the multi-user feature of the Android 4.2.

I read that Asus will provide an upgrade for all the Transformer series to Android 4.2, but there isn't any official announcement.

Should I wait for this hypothetical upgrade or install a CyanogenMod ROM right now?

You can install Cyanogen now, and in the event of an official update, go back to the stock Rom.

Steps to install CyanogenMod in Asus TF300t: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_tf300t


Volume up key to answer call I'm running Android device on version 5.1 and my device doesn't have any buttons except power and volume.

I want my volume up key to answer incoming calls. Is there any exposed or any other method to help facilitate the ask?

Alternatively with Tasker;

Now for the Task:

Task 1 Answering the call

Create a named task :

Action: Phone >> Take Call

(click images for larger variants)

Exit out of the task.

Task 2

Ending the phone call

Create another named task:

Acion: Action: Phone >> End Call

Create a new Profile

State >> Hardware >> Button [Next] (which is similar to volume up) Check Stop Event.

For the second profile the proccedure is the same but this time a media button used is "previous" instead of "next".

Activate all profiles

Thats all.


Help with flashing stock ROM on Nokia 3.1 (Mediatek MT6750) I got my Nokia 3.1 in a bit of a weird situation trying to flash the stock ROM. I feel like it's a lost cause, but since I can still boot in recovery mode, there may still be a solution, I will explain in case someone can help.
It started when I tried to update from Android 8.0 to 10.0 (none of the previous OTA updates had worked and would always reboot in Oreo 8.0). This time, it didn't work and got the phone stuck in a boot loop.
The phone is still under warranty, but because I bought it overseas and there's no Nokia care centre here is New Zealand, I had no option but trying to repair it myself.
A wipe/factory reset didn't help, but after changing the active slot from B to A (using fastboot), it booted again in Oreo 8.0. Only problem is that I could no longer start a fresh Oreo 8.0 install without updating first and since all updates failed, I was stuck.
I suspect slot B is damaged or corrupt, hence the impossibility to update. To check it, I switched back the active slot to B after a factory reset, and that was not a great idea, the phone wouldn't even boot and looked hard-bricked.
But I still managed to use SP tool to download firmware, so I did that with the original Nokia 3.1 stock ROM (ES2).
However, I could not flash all files, I'm not too sure why.
I had the error message:
ERROR: STATUS_SEC_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER
Verified boot is enabled
Please download signed image (sutinfo-verified.img) or disable verified boot
I didn't know how to do either of these, so I skipped the three problematic files: sutinfo.img, systeminfo_a.img, and cda_a.img (not sure what they do?).
It worked and un-bricked the phone, but it now boots to recovery mode only. What puzzles me is that I also no longer have access to fastboot, even when I reboot to bootloader (as if it skipped bootloader and went straight to recovery). I suspect it is because it still boots on slot B but I don't know how I can check that or change it back to slot A without fastboot access.
I tried using adb: adb shell getprop ro.boot_suffix but although it can see the device, it failed because it says device is unauthorized. I've tried all the fixes for this I found, to no avail.
So that's where I am, able to boot to recovery (but with adb unauthorized), able to flash firmware (except those files that must be signed), and unable to access fastboot.
I'm giving up hope that it's repairable, but I'd love to at least understand what happened, if someone has any idea...
Sorry for the long story...

I had the same problem as you, after looking in a lot of forums I managed to solve it, I hope it helps you.
My phone was no longer able to access the recovery, nor fastboot. After trying lots of Rom and various methods, I will explain to you which one I recovered the mobile, that is, losing the Imei, but for that there are many valid solutions.
Enter the page https://www.needrom.com/download/nokia-3-1/
You have to create a premium account to download, but they are 3USD for 1 month, download the Rom and the flashtool from that link, when it flashes put it in Firmware Upgrade mode and uncheck the preloader, sutinfo, systeminfo and cda boxes.
It worked perfectly for me and after that he let me update via OTA to Android 10.
Greetings.


timestamp on messages is wrong My phone is turned off
11:00 - My friend sends me a text message/sms
2:00 - I turn my phone on.
2:01 - I receive the text message/sms, the timestamp is 2:01
But I want the timestamp to be 11:00

How do I get this to happen? I am on a ZTE Racer on giffgaff in the UK. I have Android 2.1, Eclair.

This has been reported as a bug in the Android source but no particular action seems to have been taken. You can follow and star the issue on the Android bug tracker.

Alternatively, one comment on the bug tracker notes some potential workarounds you an take a look at:

  Just an additional comment for all those still waiting for this bug to
  be fixed: current version of Handcent saves the "sent time" of the
  messages. It can be seen on "message details". It's not the perfect
  solution but it's the best solution that we have right now.

  "SMS
  Timestamper Fix" from andrperk worked for me most of the times but not
  always.

Additionally, some commenters have reported that certain handsets do not suffer from this bug, presumably because the manufacturer patched it themselves in their messaging application or SMS framework.


How to delete a corrupted file on SD Card I have a NVIDIA Shield Tablet K1 running Android 7.0 and SHIELD tablet software version 5.2(24.29.404.153).

My relatively new SD Card has a file which has been corrupted although I'm not sure exactly how this one file was corrupted when everything else seems fine.

If I access the folder through Windows I can delete the file but it does not actually delete on the tablet. If I browse to the folder through the Android file explorer there is nothing in the folder and deleting the folder fails.

I've tried installing SD maid & ES File Explorer and both apps were unable to delete the file or the folder.

I was able to rename the folder through ADB Shell but if I try to delete it or try and list the file it throws the following errors

shieldtablet:/storage/sdcard/BrokenFolder $ ls
ls: ./Noisecontrollers - Pillars Of Creation (Full) [HD].mp3ß▒Ñºíü: No such file or directory

shieldtablet:/storage/sdcard $ rm -rf ./BrokenFolder
rm: ./BrokenFolder/Noisecontrollers - Pillars Of Creation (Full) [HD].mp3ß▒Ñºíü: No such file or directory
rm: ./BrokenFolder: Directory not empty

Is there anything else I can try to delete this file short of formatting the hard drive, its a 128gb SD card that is almost full and transferring 128gb over USB 2 is quite slow. It is not rooted and i'd rather not root it if not necessary

Go and get a computer, better if it's running Linux or macOS (OS X). Then you can delete the file with the file manager, or via terminal and commands if you prefer, on the computer.

Android utilizes FUSE (Filesyetem in USErspace) based on vold, which often runs into various problems. Yours is just one of them. I'm afraid you can't remove the file simply with your tablet.


Are there specific cases in which a task-killer or "fast reboot" program is helpful? I know there have been previous questions regarding task killers, but I wanted to ask about two specific cases.

I've heard a debate raging here and on several forums about Android's way of managing apps and the use of task killers, (examples hereenter link description here and here and here), in which one side says that Android manages tasks just fine but the other side insists that their phone does indeed slow down and a task killer helps.

So my questions are these.

1) Could task killers or "reboot apps" conceivably help for a program that has high CPU usage and simply needs to be restarted?  I'm not necessarily talking about malicious apps, but reputable apps that tend toward higher CPU usage the longer they run?  I'm assuming that if an app always has high CPU usage a task killer will not help as it will likely restart, and should just probably be uninstalled altogether.

2)  In the case of a launcher that slows down over time, would a task killer or reboot app be helpful, simply in restarting it (similar to case 2, but I'm not sure lag in a specific app is directly correlated with its CPU usage).  I know that when I used third-party launchers, I had more lag issues as opposed to using the basic AOSP launcher (Android's own default launcher, often replaced by phone vendors own version).

Any other specific cases?

Honestly, I don't believe so. If you need to stop an app, you can always go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications, click on the app and force stop. It does the same thing and the only time I find myself clicking on it, is when an app is acting up.


Samsung GT 7.7 hung after charging After charging my Samsung GT 7.7, I switched it on but it just showed the "Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7" and stayed like that like it hung.

What do I do?

If it has a removable battery, remove the battery, put it back and run it. Else wait for it to discharge then charge and turn it back on. If none of these solve your problem, boot to the Recovery Menu and factory reset your device.


Cannot SIM unlock Samsung Galaxy S7 with Rogers (Canada) My dad got the Samsung Galaxy S7 back in May and wanted to SIM unlock it shortly after because he travels a lot due to work. No rooting, just unlocking the phone to use with foreign carriers. At the time, he went to a local store that provided him with a code but it wouldn't work, they told him something along the lines of "this phone is too new and cannot be unlocked yet". I was really busy at the time so I couldn't provide more assistance unfortunately. He phoned Rogers (his phone provider) and was told that they could provide him directly with an unlocking code but he had to wait 3 months from the time of the purchase. He thought that was a much safer way to do it, so he waited.

Fast forward to now, and the code he was given wouldn't work. According to him, even after following the steps in this page from Rogers he gets a message that says "INCORRECT NETWORK UNLOCK ENTERED". He also attempted to get it unlocked at a local store (from the foreign country he's currently working at) to no avail. I believe they even tried a factory reset, and the SIM unlock still wouldn't go through. As time goes by he is getting more frustrated and I don't know how to help since we're in different countries. Is the phone hardlocked after many unsuccessful attempts? Can such a thing occur even after a factory reset? Also, do you think it would be possible to get the phone sent to warranty for this problem?

There are several ways you can unlock your Samsung as highlighted below. Unlocking by code is by far the safest method. Detailed instructions on how to obtain an unlock code can be found at point 3:

You can ask your current carrier to unlock it. The law says they are obliged to do it, but the bad thing is that your phone must NOT be under contract.
You can go to repair shop. They will unlock your phone by cable using a special software. The bad thing is that you have to leave your phone there for a few hours.
You can use a third party phone unlocking service like this (SIM unlock Samsung galaxy). They will search and provide you with an genuine unlock code from the manufacturer's database. This is the safest method to unlock any phone.


Configure Australian Phone to work on US Network I have an HTC Desire HD (unlocked) purchased in Australia, currently operating on a T-Mobile network but I am not getting any data service. I purchased an activation kit from Amazon and the $30/mth unlimited data package from Walmart. Text and voice are working fine, but I am not receiving any data.

The data plan is a 4g plan but I assumed that would also include 3G for those without 4G phones.

On the phone settings, T-Mobile is listed under settings > Wireless & networks > mobile networks > Network Operators. When I select Network Operators > Select Automatically it flashes up a message "registered on network".

Is there something I must do to get my phone to work here? OS = Gingerbread.

You can't. The "international" version of the HTC Desire HD is not hardware compatible with T-Mobile USA's 3G frequency bands. The phone's antennas support HSPA on the 900 and 2100 MHz frequencies (the North American GSM variants should work, though: source), and software settings will not have any effect on this. T-Mobile's 3G network uses:

850 MHz: Acquired via a roaming agreement as part of the failed AT&T merger
1700/2100 MHz AWS: the device must support both of these frequencies to work because the 1700 band is used for uplink and the 2100 band is used for downlink.
1900 MHz

As you can see, these do not line up (excepting half of the AWS band, which is not sufficient). You'll need a new phone if you want 3G service. See Can I use my device on a different carrier? for suggestions on how to determine which phones will work.


Terminal for android I'm still learning how to use the terminal. I know the dangers of fiddling with it. But I want to use the terminal emulator app to navigate my phone(messaging, camera, launch applications, etc) from the command line. What are the commands and where should I start

My first suggestion would be to take a Nandroid backup (requires a custom Recovery) first if you've had an unpleasing incident on some other OS, or want to recover from one after fiddling with terminal on Android.

  I want to use the terminal emulator app to navigate my phone(messaging, camera, launch applications, [and so on).]

Messaging and Camera (UI not HW) are also apps in Android and are accessed in the manner similar to other apps (they have their .apk in /system/app). The most common way to access an app is to call its component or activity using am command. Consider this as an example to use am. See more examples on Stack Overflow like:

How to start an Android application from the command line?
How to run a specific Android app using Terminal?
How to start an application using android ADB tools?

am will only launch a part of the app and possibly would need root access if called without ADB(has higher privilege then a normal user). So how would you interact with the app from command line?

For that, I prefer to use Android keyevent or Pointer location (under Developer options) combined with the input command.  See:

ADB Shell Input Events
How to use ADB to send touch events to device using sendevent command?

You would now be able to launch an app with UI and can use the app rather easily from command-line.

  What are the commands?

I'm not aware of all the commands but you can take a look at /system/bin and /systen/xbin (like /bin and /sbin in GNU/Linux). You'll need root access to use some of them. (See Busybox too.)

  Where should I start?

Well, I'm unaware of a crash-course and I would advise to work on an issue or a possibility to learn the know-how of terminal rather easily. Try this answer for a start.

Good Luck!


Monitoring phone usage and limits I have 100 minutes of free talk every week, 25 free SMS every week and 2GB of Internet data usage in a month. Nothing alerts me when one of these thresholds has been exceeded.

Is there any way to keep track of my outgoing calls and messages, and then receive an alert when I'm going to exceed my limit? It would be preferable if the threshold would reset automatically every week and be configurable.

Some networks allow you to check how much you have used such as O2.  If you have ICS or Jelly Bean there is a Data Usage listing in settings.

Alternatively try apps like these
http://www.theandroidsoul.com/best-android-data-usage-apps-for-monitoring-3g2gwi-fi-usage/


Backing Up Apps With allowBackup=false I'm trying to back up the apks and preference data for all of the apps on my device, but it only backs up about a third of them; the remainder all have allowBackup=false in their manifests, which disables the ability to back them up, either with adb or with Helium.

I'd much prefer not to have to go through each of the apks one by one, extract their manifests, change them, then make them apks and add them to my device again. So is there a way of ignoring allowBackup=false when doing adb backup? Or, is there an app or shell command I could run that would find all of the apps with allowBackup set to false and set them to true?

I checked out this app that's supposed to do just that, but was unable to run it since it doesn't have an activity specified. If there's any easy way of getting that to work, or any alternative to it, that would be great.

allowBackup=false
This is specifically put into the application by the developer so that people can not make a copy of the application ( usually to stop reverse engineering )

It would probably constitute as copyright if you ignored the allowBackup=false and made a copy of it anyway, so most applications won't allow it to respect other developers wishes.

This obviously would apply to rooted phones as well.


Can I have a "force close a specific app" shortcut on my screen? My Google Chrome frequently hangs for no apparent reason. Application is active (responding), but tabs are blank and nothing loads... The only solution that I found is to go into Settings -> Apps -> Google Chrome and "force close" it. Then I re-open it, and it works OK again, for some time.

I'd like to automate this manual "force close" process, e.g. I'd like to have a shortcut on my screen that terminates Chrome for me. Any other easy way to close Chrome is acceptable too.

My device is Asus Transformer, rooted.

I've ended up using Tasker, it is trivial to create a task to kill a specific application (Google Chrome), than add a shortcut (widget) to that task on the screen.

Edit: I've actually created a task that not only kills Chrome, but restarts it afterwards as well, all in one click:


External SD card error: java.lang.IllegalStateException: No suitable external storage I have a Motorola Moto E LTE 2015 (XT1524) (surnia) and a Lexar micro SDHC card 1000x 32Gb.

I followed this how-to install-link2sd-apps2sd-marshmallow, to put my apps on the SD card.

I split my SD card in 2 partitions for external storage:

1st partition in FAT32, primary, about 15 Gb
2nd partition in ext2, primary, about 15 Gb (ext4 gives me corrupted partition in my phone, partitioned with aParted on my phone or Gparted on my PC (Kubuntu 16.10), I've tried both, same results.)

My device is rooted, with TRWP 3.10, LineageOS 14.1-20170414 and SuperSU-v2.79-SR3 installed.
I used Apps2SD, and Link2SD, to install apps on my external storage SD card, but it doesn't work and I have this same error:

Do you think it comes from:
    - LineageOS,
    - kernel,
    - partitions' softs, flags, labels
    - Apps2SD/Link2SD,
    - SD card
    - ...

And how to fix that?

Device Details:
Phone: Moto E LTE (2nd gen) - XT1524
Android version: Android 7.1.1 - LineageOS 14.1-20170414-NIGHTLY-surnia - API LineageOS Guava (7) - bandbase M8916_2020629.41.03.21.51R - kernel 3.10.49-MPI24.241-2.35-1-g1ec3abb

But you did not made any error:

Moving to SD card means moving the apk files with part of app data to SD card so the app will be splited between the SD card and internal storage and this could help freeing up more space, but linking Apps to SD is different which will move the app almost completely to your external storage, but you need a second partition with ext2/4 file system and this will free up more space from your internal storage.

now the last method is making the external storage as internal which can be done by formating the SD card and preparing it again as internal storage.

Ok now every method has it's advantages but to me I prefer moving to SD:

Moving to SD card can be done defaultly without the need of any app like link2SD and without the need of spliting SD card to two partitions which will limit the size of your SD card to media data like videos/images/music .....etc and you may need more space for them, but moving to SD card from the app info at applications setting ----(or from any root app if moving option was not found at application info by default)------ will move your app to your fat32/exfat/NTFS file system SD card but not completely freeing up less space without the need to split your SD card.

Moving to sd card Also more stable and will cause no error or lose to your data if your external SD card was removed while device running so your external SD card won't lose it's function as external storage that you can move any where not in your device only.

removing your external storage while there is apps linked to your SD card has a chance to delete your linked appd or losing some of your apps data or freezing your device or making it not work normally(maybe not) according to the apps linked so you need to turn off your device then remove your SD card to put it somewhere you need and you may also not able to use second partition to move files so your external storage will be limited.

Ok what about preparing external storage to use as internel on android 6.0+  ?
Ok this option is ported by google officially to android 6.0+ and it does not need any external app to manage it so you will make your external storage as internal and forget about anything else while the device will automatically manage the apps and decide which apps will be saved in your SD card or in your internal storage.

After preparing your external storage as internal your device will fuse them as one partition and this will extend your storage functionality not limiting it unlike linking to SD card so you will have the advabtage of extending storage functionality but on the other hand you won't be able to remove your external SD completely even if you turned off your device and moved it to any other device.

The file system will shows up as corrupted so you need to attash all your device to your PC to move files for example in addition to that you will lose your data if your android system was stoped and need to be reformated and this is a big disadvantages and that's why some smartphone manufacturer like the great Samsung has disabled it in the system of her devices officially but you still able to renable it by using the app  (Root Essentials)  where you can download free from play store which will give you the simplest way to reenable this function to your Samsung device ( any way your device is not Samsung so you can skip this)

Ok, now what would you like to choose linking to SD or moving apps normally or use your external as internal?

I think Samsung was right when it has removed using external as internal storage since it has apoeared obviously dangerous to your personal files and data also losing the external functionality of you SD card so you can't remove it.

Ok know if you chose like I prefer to move apps normally to sd card you will need to fix this issue (error no suitable external storage to move apps) I think this error is from the lineage 14 and all roms passed on it like resurrection remix rom and currently I am trying to fix it and I will report you a proper solution.


How to see which countries the app is allowed? I am trying to find where I can install Epokrates Plus app. In Finland, it is not allowed.
Having my devices, I see in all:

  This app is incompatible with all of your devices.

I tried to send email to the developers but I could not, since Email page just kept loading, and did not let me pass through. Either they are geoblocking or having server downtime.

Sensor Tower overview says USA, Canada, Brazil form 90% of user base remaining being others.
Sensor Tower Reviews shows Mexico and Saudi Arabia.

That makes it 6 countries, including India (I see it on Play Store). You could write to them and check for a full list.

Edit: I mailed them using Play Store support mail, linking this question and they reverted very promptly. Non availability in some countries is because of GPDR issues. Details pasted in chat.


Find where the wifi router is I wish to get the best possible signal from unknown Wi-Fi routers (i.e. ones you don't own, say public hotspots) - that is, getting as close to them as possible. However, just moving [let alone finding algorithms that optimize moves] and checking if the bars go up or down seems too slow and inefficient for me: so, what can be done?

If you move and the signal gets stronger, that doesn't mean you moved closer to the Wi-Fi hotspot. Because of shadowing and reflections, the signal strength varies unpredictably from place to place. The signal your phone receives is almost never a direct, line-of-sight signal, unless both you and the hotspot are in a huge, empty field.

You'd have to measure almost every point in the room to find the very best signal: any kind of "warmer, colder" method isn't going to work at all.

Your best bet is just to tune it like a TV: try all the places you can put the phone down, and just see which one gives you the best signal. You don't need to go by the indicator on the notification bar, though: there are many apps that will tell you the received signal strength of all the Wi-Fi networks in the area. Wi-Fi Analyzer is one ad-supported example, and there are lots more.


how to enable Android apps to browse user mount points in /mnt I want to access and work on my remote documents (such as .docx, .xlsx, etc... and pdfs) from within my apps. For this, I have created a cifs mount point from a network sdcard (NTFS v3.1) to my android device in directory /mnt/routersd ; the problem is that some apps such as WPS Office or Adobe Reader don't offer directory list with access to root directories (Ofcourse, the device is rooted). My question is that how these apps can be enabled to explore root directory list such as /mnt/routersd in order for me to open my remote office documents and pdfs through those apps.

I want my mountpoint to be shown in WPS Office directory listing.

Or, to be shown in Adobe Reader directory explorer.

As you see, the pictures in the mountpoint is displayed by QuickPic.

Also, X-plore file explorer can explorer the mountpoint and do copy/delete operations in there.

So, how can I open my remote docs (/mnt/routersd) from within WPS Office and Adobe Reader apps?

Through my research, I couldn't find a way to create a symbolic link in '/sdcard' (my android internal storage) from /mnt/routersd (mountpoint to //192.168.x.x/sdcard); as filesystem for /sdcard in android doesn't support symbolic links.

I also tried busybox mount -o bind /mnt/routersd/ /sdcard/mylink but mylink couldn't be browsed by the said apps (those apps find mylink as an empty directory).

Eventually, I created the symbolic link in my external sdcard, namely sdcard1 (NTFS v3.1), successfully (recent NTFS versions support symbolic links); as follows :
busybox ln -s "/mnt/routersd/" "/storage/sdcard1/mylink"

As Adobe Reader, WPS Office, and many other apps can browse into external sdcard, mylink can be visible in their dicrectory list happily. Now, I can successfully browse my remote files and work on them from within the said apps.


Bottom right and left page curl that shows shortcuts when swiped? My friend and I both have Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro (SGH-I547) on Android 4.1.2, both fully updated OS and software.

His phone has a bottom right and left page curl effect accessed with a swipe from bottom left or right corners. This will reveal recent apps, swipe again and it reveals favorites, swipe again and it reveals tools.

I can't for the life of me figure out what app or setting makes this happen. I can't even find an image on Google to show you what I mean.

I figured it out. Omni Swipe gave me most of the options that I was referring to.

The page curl effect comes with an app called Clean Master. It has the option to have the page curl swipe with tools, favorites and recent apps.


Permanently setting launcher in Nox In Nox (3.8.1.1) running Android 4.4.2, I'd like to change the launcher from Nox Launcher to Smart Launcher. I set the default home app through settings, but every time I restart Android in Nox (or sometimes randomly), the setting doesn't stick and it gets switched back to Nox Launcher. Nox Launcher apparently likes to reset the default app to itself on boot. Also I can't uninstall Nox Launcher, nor can I disable it in settings:

Is there a way to make the home app setting stick?

I found the answer in the video beeshyams posted in a comment. There's actually a much more concise video here. I've confirmed that it works correctly in Nox 3.8.1.1, so here are the instructions, which basically just involve disabling Nox Launcher by "removing" the app directly:

Make sure you have an alternate launcher installed first! I don't know what will happen if you try this without having another launcher installed. You're welcome to find out, but I didn't want to test it.
If not already set, enable root mode in Nox (Settings → General → Root) (note I mean the actual NoxPlayer settings in the title bar, the little gear, not the settings in Android), then restart Nox to apply the change.
Open File Manager then navigate to the folder /system/app.
Scroll down until you find one named launcher_1.7.1_en_signed.apk (version number / language code may be different in older or newer versions of Nox so your filename may vary slightly).
Rename it to launcher_1.7.1_en_signed.apk.bak (Long Press → Rename).
Now you're ready to go. Go to the Android Settings → Home and make sure your launcher is selected there just to be safe, and it should be good.
Disable root mode in Nox if you want then restart it.

To restore the Nox Launcher, just undo the filename change in the same way. If you'd rather see this all visually just watch the "concise" video linked above.


Save contacts to phone not Google account On my new ASUS ZenFone I could not figure out how to save contacts just to my phone.
The default app should be Google Contacts and despite some suggestions even here it does not seem possible. There is no option to choose where to save new contact. There is just Default account for new contacts and it is set to my Google account, as there is no other account to by set.

EDIT: I decided to use MyLocalAccount app to fix this problem with Contacts app. But now I have the same problem with Phone app, which is showing all contacts in its Contacts tab.
I probably could live without ever going to this tab, but it would be nice if there is a way to do it.

You should try to use a 3rd party Contacts app. I have seen similar behavior in Motorola contacts app. They left no option to store contacts locally to the device.
Most likely using the Play Store version of Google Contacts will help. If not, try something else. There are ample contacts app and I do not wanna be partial about a specific app.


Why are the app labels missing in "all apps" list? My "all apps" list doesn't show the app names and I have no idea how I turned it off. Because I'm using a theme I have a really hard time figuring out what icons belong to which apps.

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

How do I turn the labels/names back on for the apps in the "all apps" list?

1 - In your homescreen, press and hold on a free space to get to this menu

2 - Click on the up arrow to enter advanced settings and you'll be presented with a screen like this

3 - Scroll down till you get to Drawer Settings(Do not confuse it with Homescreen Settings).   In the Icon Labels options change it to Show


Is there a desktop / web app to manage Android contact linking? Contacts on my Android phone come from different sources (Google account, Facebook, Skype, Windows Live etc.) and I can link them manually using the People app or how it's called. The user interface is not too bad but still, if there was a desktop / web application for this I think I would prefer that. Is there any?

Things I've tried and that don't support this:

Google Contacts (only supports Google account contacts, not Skype, Facebook etc.)
Samsung Kies
Remote Web Desktop
Airdroid

Unfortunately, no, there is no sort of cloud service that will handle this for you.  Since the combination of contacts from the various apps you have installed only exists on your phone, no one of the services you use will be able to make global changes to your contacts.

This is not to say that it's technically impossible to do what you're asking:  Since it's possible to write an app to make changes to contacts, and since it's possible to write an app that could act as a web server, there's nothing preventing a program from providing a web-interface to the contacts on a phone.


How do I change the theme, (iconset) on a Galaxy S3 default launcher? I bought a Galaxy S3 (Android 4).

I downloaded the user manual, and I can't find a way to change the appearance.  I can change the wallpaper and the font size, but I can't change drawer transition behavior, the general UI theme or the icon set.

Download Apex launcher--

It has full support for themes and transitions, icons, etc-

For Icon packs, "ADW Icons" is a good keyword to use- since Apex will use ADW icons.


How can I send SMS messages through PC programatically? Or there a way to send SMSs through a PC programatically?
Alternatively: is there an android application that exposes an API over a socket (REST or otherwise) that allows one to send SMSs (and possibly other functionality)?

We have a similar question here that asks abour forwarding incoming messages to the PC over a HTTP interface.

Again, I can suggest MAXS or GTalkSMS which is like a remote control for your phone over XMPP.

Disclaimer: I am involved in MAXS and GTalkSMS


SD card problem, card gets suddenly removed and later added- Sony Xperia X8 I am using xperia x8 version 2.1 update 1.

Sometimes my phone creates problem with sd card i.e it automatically ejects stating "sd card unexpectedly removed" and after sometime it again shows "sd card preparing" and it works on. This distracts me to work in phone automatically the process gets delayed. I even tried by shutting down my phone, but the problem occurs.

Looks like the cause of you problem might be:

Your SD card is corrupted or with some problem
Your version of Android is very outdated and might have bugs

Try to use another SD card, if you get the same problems then I highly recommend you to flash a custom ROM like CyanogenMod 7 for example. Here you can get some tutorials about how to make it Update Xperia X8 with official firmwares or custom firmwares


Changing bootlogo Sony Xperia Z4 Tablet I'm trying to change to splash-screen / boot logo of my Sony Xperia Z4 tablet (SGP771)

I have already rooted my device.

With the help of the bootimg.exe tool I unpacked the boot.img - exchanged the logo.rle and repacked the boot.img.

My custom logo.rle I created with boot_screen_logo_creation_package.

However, when flashing the new-boot.img to my device (with fastboot flash boot new-boot.img) the logo is not changed. Still showing the Sony logo before the bootanimation appears.

My tablet runs the Marshmallow firmware and I'm using the corresponding AndroPlusKernel v31  (Z4T_SGP771_AndroPlusKernel_v31.zip).

Any suggestions what I am doing wrong?

Edit: I tried already diffent tools like bootimg_tools from an xda forum, or split_bootimg.pl from the android-wiki.

The one mentioned in my question I found in several forums (wordpress, miui, dark-cyanide-devs ...) I would post the links, but I'm do not have enough reputation for posting more than 2 links...

Most of the tools I tried already did not repack the image correctly (fastboot reported "remote: dtb not found") The tool I used, mentioned in the question, seemed to work for correcly unpacking and repacking. But as I said - the logo does not change -.-

You can change bootanimation by going in root/system/media.
there you will find bootanimation.zip. open it and you will see set of images included. you can use custom images of same size and format.

it may not be accurate answer for what you asking. just some relevance.


Preserving a whatsapp account from an inactive/foriegn SIM on a new device My dilemma is as follows:

I signed up for WhatsApp in a foreign country on my Tecno R7 and used it happily even after returning back to my home country.
When i returned, I of course restored my home country SIM cards, but WhatsApp was unaffected and ran normally.
However, my Tecno R7 malfunctioned and I had to change to a Samsung Grand Prime. So, when I tried to move my whats-app account to my new device, it initiates a new registration.
I do not wish to open a new account and lose my old history, all my contacts were also already hooked on my old account.

Is there a way to transfer my old WhatsApp account from Tecno R7 to Samsung Grand Prime, without effecting a new registration (changing numbers)?

Just take a backup of the WhatsApp conversations in old phone and copy the entire folder /sdcard/WhatsApp/ and send (copy) it exactly to the same location in your new phone..

Now open WhatsApp from new phone and Enter the desired number (It may or may not require verification)
After verification is over, it'll prompt you asking for restoring chat backups..
Just restore them.

The latest version of WhatsApp supports backing up of data to Google Drive.
So, if you can update to a latest version, better sync it and try the same.


Access "locked" phone storage I was given an Archos Diamond S phone to repair. The phone can't boot after an OTA update, it's stuck on the booting screen (no boot loop).

When it's stuck on the boot logo I can access the files however this is really slow and make explorer.exe crash everytime I want to perform an ation. Furthermore I want to access the root of sdcard so I can backup some apps data.

The only think I can do is boot in factory or in recovery mode. However in recovery mode I can only use adb in sideload mode and can't pull anything. I could try to force the OTA update via adb but I can't find the firmware for this model.

I then wanted to install a custom recovery that would enable android debug mode (like TWRP) and pull files with adb but I didn't find any for this model.

Do you know any way I could access the phone storage and create a backup of thoses files before wipe data/factory reset ?

Thanks

Use ADB.

Connect your device to PC/Mac in Recovery mode.
Test connection. Type ./adb devices (MAC) OR adb devices (WINDOWS).
Assuming you want to download DCIM folder, type ./adb pull sdcard/DCIM <optional_dir>

Use ./adb on Mac and adb on Windows.

You can also download the complete /sdcard folder as a full backup.


Lost android phone, shows no active devices Lost an android phone. This is what shows:

I tried getting the map at android.com/find
This is what is shows:

Help please.

As per Google account support,

Make sure your device can be found
After you sign in to a Google Account on an >Android device, Find My Device is on by default.
To use Find My Device, a lost Android device must be:

Turned on
Signed in to a Google Account
Connected to mobile data or Wi-Fi
Visible on Google Play
Location turned on
Find My Device turned on

Lost Android Wear devices must also be running Android Wear 2.0 and up.

Unfortunately, if any of these settings are turned off you might not be able to locate your device. Given that you do not have access to your device my best guess is one of these is not on.


wifi hotspot client list does not list all wifi clients I have an embedded device that I am connecting to a Samsung GS3 hotspot. It connects fine, but does not show up in the "Connected devices" list. It does show up in /data/misc/dhcp/dnsmasq.leases.

Can anybody point me to the right section of android code that creates and displays the "Connected devices" list? I want to modify the DHCP client in my embedded device so that it shows up in the list properly (it's the easiest way to get the assigned IP address). Do I need to change more than just the DHCP client?

I figured out my problem. I am using an ethernet-wifi bridge module, which means the wifi client mac does not match the dhcp client hwaddress. This is why it does not show up in the client list.

I have a static IP address assigned to the bridge, and when I use the wifi mac in my dhcp requests (and set the broadcast flag), then the IP address assigned to my embedded board shows up in the android client list.


Radio error when flashing new ROM (Samsung SGH-T989) Here's the log.

Installing '/sdcard/cm-11-20140923-Sultan-hercules.zip'...

Checking for MD5 file...

Skipping MD5 check: no MD5 file found

assert failed: run_program("/tmp/test_radio_version.sh", "T989:UVMC6", "T989D:TLMC4") == 0

E:Error executing updater binary in zip '/sdcard/cm-11-20140923-Sultan-hercules.zip'

http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2-tmobile/development/rom-kernel-unofficial-cyanogenmod-11-t2885259 (LINK to the ROM and kernel I used)

What's the deal with this error? Do I have the wrong radio version or something? I did a factory reset before flashing. I can give more info if needed.

Thank you!

When flashing a ROM, make sure that all required packages are the right version. Usually it will state in the error which modem is needed. Since you are using the latest android build, you would want the latest modem version.

Also read the thread on the ROMs forum and search for modem within their thread for extra info.


Other than comma, are there any supported pause characters in a dialing string? On a Blackberry, a phone contact with the form:

1-800-555-1212 x1234#12#7#123456
1-800-555-1212 ext1234#12#7#123456
1-800-555-1212,,,1234#12#7#123456

all worked.

On my Android (Samsung Galaxy S5 with 4.4 Kitkat) the shortcut x, and ext do not work. You are supposed to use a comma (actually three).

However, Outlook (in Office2010 at least) will not let you save a contact as:
1-800-555-1212,,,1234#12#7#123456

It insists on inserting a space before the commas.  But Android sees the space as end of phone number processing. Interestingly, it lets you enter this in a Meeting location, or as a string in an email, and Android will process this properly.

Are there any alternate pause characters I could try, so as to get around this Outlook limitation?

Have you tried  "P"  for pause gives a timed pause on remote phone and at least some other phones.   Use more than one if you need additional pause time.


Is it possible to use the Kindle Fire's browser in a full screen mode? So we got a Kindle Fire at work today, and I've been playing with it a bit to see what all it can do. One thing that I thought would be neat is to try our new web-based application in the Fire's Silk browser to see how it stacks up against some of our other devices (like my Xoom and the Galaxy Tab 7).

In general it's okay, but it's starting to really bug me that the status bar is always visible when I'm using Silk, instead of filling the whole screen. There's also a tab bar at the top that I can't get to go away, and the bottom menu bar appears to be persistently visible. When you read a book, all of this goes away and then you bring it back by touching the screen, and I really like the full screen look.

Is there any way to run Silk in a "full screen" mode, specifically one which hides the top status bar? I checked around in the settings and whatnot and haven't been able to find anything. Bonus points: Is there a way to hide the tab bar or the bottom menu bar similar to the book reading app?

This appears to have been added in v6.2.2 of the Kindle Fire's system firmware. I updated today and there is now a fullscreen button at the far right of the bottom menu bar in the stock browser. Pressing it hides the menu bar, the status bar, and the tab bar.


how to remove sticky (permanent) notifications from notification bar? I have a buggy app installed in my phone, which sometimes creates permanent download progress notification with animated icon but fails to remove it from notification bar by its own.

I tried to remove the notification manually (swipe it off) but it is sticky and can't be removed. I tried "clear" option in notification bar, but again no success and it is still there! I even stopped that app which created the notification, but no change.

The only option that I have to remove such sticky and buggy notifications is to restart the device, which is very unpleasant.

Which app, hack, command, gesture, etc... I can use to remove that sticky notification?

*My device is Sony Xperia S running ICS 4.0.4 stock ROM (rooted)

If you're using Jelly Bean, then in manage apps, you can turn off notifications for the specific app. Keep in mind, this will turn off all notifications for the app.


Add me feature of Galaxy S There is an interesting feature in the camera of Galaxy S phones, called Add me. Using this one can take photo of a person sitting in two postures in the same frame. (A normal photo is taken, the person in the photo can change his posture and again when clicked the new posture along with original is taken in same picture creating a double/twin effect) Are there any Apps in market for this or has any one ported this to Sony Xperia X8?

There is an app called "Twin Me!" in the Google Play. It does exactly what the Samsung Galaxy S "Add Me" feature does.


How to send (email-)file(s) from phone to phone using phone numbers instead of an email account? In the good old days files were sent from computer to computer using modems and (copper wire) telephone lines. No email account needed, no server between them, just the computers, the phones and the telephone numbers.
I would be shocked if that would not be possible today.
So question is: How can I send (email-)file(s) from phone to phone using phone numbers instead of an email account, especially not using Whatsapp or anything else between the phones.
I'm new here and so probably there will be better tags then those used now.

Direct phone-to-phone data transfer, on sound channel, is today inherently incompatible with the system. Some decades ago, an (even at the time) slow communication was possible by modems (with maximal transfer rate of 56 kb/s). Today the providers use various compression algorithms which optimize the sound transfer (for human voice), but limit the bit rate to about 800 bit/sec. Furthermore, doing it is inherently alien from the androids (although still possible).
What remains, that is the tcp pased, direct digital communication between phones.
Here the case is far more easy, if both phones are on the same local network. Namely:

You can send and get files by bluetooth. It is similar to wifi, except that the practical range is only some meter. Bluetooth is a well integrated builtin functionality of all android phones.
If the phones are on the same wifi network, you can install an sftp server on one of them (example), and then use an sftp client (example) to send/receive data. This is painful at first, but after everything is set up, it can be done nearly so easy like the "common" solution.

You can also have your own server (accessible over the internet, or accessible over a vpn) what you can use for a cloud-independent intermediate storage. This requires some skill to set up.
Direct phone-phone communication over the internet is problematic, but sometimes works. Typically ISPs dislike the incoming connections and they often filter them. Their reason is security, what could be an acceptable reason - if the whole behavior of the whole system would not point consequently to the direction, that somehow you always need to upload all your data to hostile USA companies (and "services"). If the ISPs you use do not filter so vehemently, you can do the sftp-based data transfer even if you are not on the same wifi.
You can also use your own home wifi router as a VPN access point. That means that anywhere on the world, you can connect home and enter virtually into your home network, accessing also the phones on it.
All of them requires work - "the system" very clearly does everything to prevent you from doing this, but it is still possible and you can do.
Another option is using tor to make your phones accessible from everywhere. You will need to learn, and in the reality, this is what prevents the commoners to doing that massively. A legal prohibition would not be so efficient.
Your exact system configuration, well that depend on a lot of things, but it is possible. All your options will require learning and work. Only direct data transfer over phone lines, over sound channels, is not possible.


Let Android believe it is connected to internet Possible Duplicate:
  How to set up reverse tethering over USB?

Is there a way to do this?

I'm trying to reverse tether my Android phone. I'd like it to use my PC connection. Many guides on the net say that I should root my phone, but I don't want to do that.

What I would like to happen:

connect Android to the Internet via wireless
attach to PC via USB, in "tethering usb mode"
PC is already connected to the Internet in another way (cable)
when I disconnect the wireless connection on the Android phone, then the Android phone uses the connection of my PC

With no internet connection on my phone I can't connect successfully to the PC.
So, I'd like to know if there is a way to let the Android device believe it is connected to the Internet.

I'm using Ubuntu 11.04

You haven't specified if you have wireless capability in your computer. Assuming you have one or can manage wireless in your computer then you can take the following steps to share the computer's Internet via ad-hoc wireless connection.

First create an ad-hoc connection in your computer so that your phone can connect to it. You can follow this guide for that.

After that you have to enable Internet connection sharing in your computer. Follwo this guide for that.

Now from your Android phone search for the ad-hoc network you created and connect to it. Internet should work fine.

One more thing I should mention is that when I tried the same for my cousin it didn't work. The phone couldn't see the ad-hoc network. She had Windows 7 in her computer. But after little Googling and using 3rd party software for ad-hoc connection in the computer, everything worked.


What effect does tasker/locale have on battery life? Locale and tasker look pretty cool. How much effect will they have on battery life?

I am the developer of Locale.

Battery life is a key metric that we test extensively.  The only feature in Locale that has any real effect on the battery is the Location condition.  At the time of this writing, the Location condition in Locale 1.4.3 can accurately detect 100-meter location changes within 4 minutes on average, while using 3% or less of the battery.

If you've configured Locale to turn Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on/off, then battery life may actually improve depending on the exact configuration.


Syncthing does not work with AFwall+ activated Syncthing does not get any connection as long as AFwall+ is activated.
It should work in my WLAN at home. Mobile data is disabled because I don't need it.
I am using LineageOS on my mobile phone.
Here are my settings of AFwall+ (I only allow wireless communication for Syncthing)

The solution was to disable wireless (WLAN) in AFwall+ and activate LAN.
This does not make sense for me, but it works...
It still works if I activate wireless as well, but it is not necessary.

Even if I disable wireless access within AFwall+ I still need to be connected to a WLAN within Android (what makes at least some sense).