Ideal charging / discharging percentage for maximum battery life? One of my friends has a relatively new Samsung smartphone. He has this app that notifies him whenever the charging is up to 80%, and tells him to unplug the charger.

He tells me that it will increase the number of charging cycles for his battery. He says that if he lets it charge all the way up to 100%, it will mean he has to replace the battery of the phone more often.

Is this true?

Somehow, I feel this is a thing of the past. I thought the internal architecture of batteries these days was made so that it wouldn't drop too low or too high. (In other words, when the phone is at 100%, it isn't really 100%. It's what the battery can safely be charged to in order not to degenerate too much.)

Here's a related answer which taught me something about this.

In the comments to linked answer, it was brought out that batteries are not allowed to stay at 100% charge since it is harmful to the battery and the battery % rapidly drops to around 90% as explained in this XDA post. This is a precaution implemented by OEMs ( though not sure if all OEM's do that)
Related to this is battery longevity on terms of Voltage per cell
Source: How to Prolong Lithium-based Batteries

Most Li-ions charge to 4.20V/cell, and every reduction in peak charge voltage of 0.10V/cell is said to double the cycle life....
In terms of longevity, the optimal charge voltage is 3.92V/cell. Battery experts believe that this threshold eliminates all voltage-related stresses;

This voltage as per Table 4  ( above ) corresponds to battery charge level at 58 ℅ .  This is clearly impractical and the recommendation of your friend to charge to 80%, more than doubles the discharge cycles .
This was on the charging part. Table 2 shows another interesting aspect discharging and it's impact on battery life

IMO , if one badly wanted to maximise battery life, ideally, keeping practical usage in mind - charge when the battery drops to 50% and stop charging at 80 or 90%
Thanks to Dmitry in comments who says and subsequently made an interesting point in his answer for the end user is number of charge cycles*capacity at full charge: that's how long a battery will last for a given usage pattern

Edit:  For rooted devices, there is an app on XDA which disconnects charging at a given percentage. This is now open source.  Approach followed appears to be similar to my solution here  Automatically limit (stop) battery charging at a given percentage
Edit 2: Discovered this magisk module which does the same and much more - see Don't charge the battery but use connected power to run the phone


Is it possible to track what information on your phone an app is uploading? If you are concerned about what information an app is sending about you (your privacy concerns) is there any way of tracking this? Can you see if an app is sending photos on your phone? Can you see if it is sending the text that you type in it?

In general can you log the information that an app (application) sends over the network from your phone? Would it be readable? Or at least should it be readable?

Sniffing the network traffic would require root for the app that does the sniffing part. This can easily be done with "shark for root". But you won't get any end-user friendly information, just the raw packet data that's been send and received from your phone. That information needs to be matched to a particular app and action (e.g. app xy is uploading photo file x123.jpg).

Generally you don't want an app to be able to read and log another apps network traffic for security and privacy reasons. That's why you need root for that.

Even if you could read and log the packets from other apps, it's easy to disguise the malicious data as something normal. It is not so easy to reveal that.

Side Note: If you don't trust an app which has network access, don't install it.  If you really need the app and you know that it works also without Internet although the app requests permission to use it, some custom mods will allow you to block internet access without the app knowing.


Shortcut to change value of the developer option My case: during day to day phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) usage I have monochromatic color space turned on from developer options in 'Simulate color space'. But sometimes I would like to turn back to normal color space. Is there possibility to create shortcut to change that option directly from main screen or at least open Developer Options on certain position?

You can open a settings page from your home screen by adding a shortcut.

Open the Widgets/Shortcuts on your launcher (I can do so by long-pressing an empty space on my home screen) and scroll down to Settings. Then tap the Settings shortcut and select the settings page you want that shortcut to open to. You will want to select Developer Options.

Also, some accessibility options are available in your Quick Settings (settings above your notifications). You may be able to edit your Quick Settings tiles to include color space (I have a Quick Setting tile named Greyscale which comes from Google's Digital Wellbeing app.


i want to set the sd card as default download location in htc desire 500,how? In my mobile the apps are only downloading in my phone's memory I think which is full my sd card has a space of 16 GB only 1 GB is used in it and I want that when I download apps it directly goes to sd card memory not my phones memory,how do I set the download location to sd card,so that it uses the space of sd card not phones memory and pls show me the to check whether my download location in setting is on sd card or in my phone's memory

This is what I did on my HTC desire and an LG device, and worked for me:

I went to phone storage, scrolled down to storage settings, tapped storage settings, tapped update all and chose the SD card option.


Chrome save as PDF doesn't work For some reason whenever I try to save a webpage as a PDF Chrome generates a 0-byte size document. And when I try to open the PDF in my Downloads folder QuickPDF tells me "Error while opening file. It appears to be damamged."
My phone is a Moto G if it helps.

Alternatively visit http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/ and paste the url which you want as a PDF.

Or

If you want to download pdf via app, try free app named "UrlToPdf" from play store.


Block some sources from Google Now? I'm seeing some cards from the Daily Mail when I look at Google Now. How can I prevent Google Now surfacing cards from sources that I dislike?

Tap the menu button at the top right of the offending card, there should be an option for "Never show stories from the Daily Mail".


How can I configure the Email app not to save sent messages on the Google server using IMAP? Device: Nexus 4
Android: 4.2.2

I am using the default (stock) Android Email app, not the Gmail app. The reason being that there is no option to turn off conversation view.

I am trying to follow Google's own advice about Recommended IMAP client settings. I quote:

  If you're not using one of the above listed clients, as a general
  rule, we suggest the following settings:

  Sending:
      Do not save sent messages on the server. If your client is sending mail through Gmail's SMTP server, your sent messages will be automatically copied to the [Gmail]/Sent Mail folder.

But I just can't find any setting to turn off the saving of sent messages on the server. Am I blind or does this feature not exist?

[rant on] Seriously, trying to configure Gmail IMAP access with all kinds of different email clients (desktop and mobile) gives me never ending headaches and eats up all my free time. [rant off]

I think there is no need to set those settings in the Email app. You only need to set them in e-mail clients where you are getting duplicate copies of the email, provided those clients have a way of setting those settings.

If you notice in the image below (from the desktop GMail web app), there is a Sent Mail and an [Imap]/Sent folder. The Sent Mail folder is GMail's, while the [Imap]/Sent folder is generated by a 3rd-party client (like Thunderbird or Kaiten, for example).

Ideally, a sent mail would be placed under Sent Mail or under [Imap]/Sent. In some cases, it gets copied under both. So now, you have two copies of the sent email. If this is happening, then you need to follow the Recommended IMAP client settings. If not, you're fine.

Related reference:
https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/16868/gmail-and-imap-how-do-the-imap-drafts-imap-sent-and-imap-trash-folders


What process happens when there is a system optimization? My question is the following: Not long ago I was moving apk, data and .dex files to the directories / data, and they did not show the applications I had manually installed, if not until I rebooted on the device and a message appeared saying "optimize the system" from the moment I was curious about this.

My purpose is to learn what happens in this process and to know how to be able to repeat it manually.

If you know anything about this, I'll be happy to hear your comments and answers.

What is Android doing when it says “optimizing apps/system”?

Basically the android system will be creating an optimised version of each application. This process makes each app start as fast as possible with the new Android version.

  While it says ‘optimising,’ operating system generates ‘odex’ files
  for your apps from scratch. As a simple explanation, odex files can
  help the system boot faster and reduces the time needed for launching
  applications.

Apk files and odex files

  The longer story is that when an APK file is added to your Android
  system, it’s not actually stored that way. It’s converted to something
  called an “odex” file.

The Android OS does not store apps as is after installation (i.e., one single APK file). An optimized version of the app is stored in the Dalvik cache — called the odex file.”

What Is an Odex File?

In Android file system, applications come in packages with the extension .apk. These application packages, or APKs contain certain .odex  (Optimized Dalvik EXecutable) files whose supposed function is to save space. These odex files are actually collections of parts of an application that are optimized before booting. Doing so speeds up the boot process, as it preloads part of an application. On the other hand, it also makes hacking those applications difficult because a part of the coding has already been extracted to another location before execution.

Deodex

Deodexing is basically repackaging of these APKs in a certain way, such that they are reassembled into classes.dex files (Dalvik EXecutable).

  By doing that, all pieces of an application package are put together
  back in one place, thus eliminating the worry of a modified APK
  conflicting with some separate odexed parts.

In summary, Deodexed ROMs (or APKs) have all their application packages put back together in one place, allowing for easy modification such as theming. Since no pieces of code are coming from any external location, custom ROMs or APKs are always deodexed to ensure integrity.

There are several explanations on how this works:

  In Android, applications come in packages with the extension  .apk.
  These application packages, or APKs contain certain .odex files whose
  supposed function is to save space. These ‘odex’ files are actually
  collections of parts of an application that are optimized before
  booting. Doing so speeds up the boot process, as it preloads part of
  an application.

  Android OS uses a Java-based virtual machine for running applications,
  called the Dalvik Virtual Machine. A deodexed, or .dex file contains
  the cache used by this virtual machine (referred to as Dalvik-cache)
  for a program, and it is stored inside the APK. An .odex file, on the
  other hand, is an optimized version of this same .dex file that is
  stored next to the APK as opposed to inside it. Android applies this
  technique by default to all the system applications. Now, when an
  Android-based system is booting, the davlik cache for the Davlik VM is
  built using these .odex files, allowing the OS to learn in advance
  what applications will be loaded, and thus speeds up the booting
  process. By deodexing these APKs, a developer actually puts the .odex
  files back inside their respective APK packages. Since all code is now
  contained within the APK itself, it becomes possible to modify any
  application package without conflicting with the operating system’s
  execution environment.

How to do the process manually;

If you want to manually optimise your apks, there are some options:

You could try using  using applications like Lucky patcher
Alternatively with Windows you can zip-align them with
Apk decomplier (apk sign tool)

Acknowledgements

What Is Odex And Deodex In Android
What is Android doing when, after an upgrade, it tells you it's "optimizing" the apps?
http://alvinalexander.com/android/what-android-doing-optimizing-apps-after-system-upgrade-restart


Should you delete apps moved to SD card with new ROM? Say you move a bunch of apps to the SD card. Then you do something big, like factory reset your phone or install a new ROM. What happens to the apps that have been moved to the SD card? Are they still there taking up space but no longer accessible? Does this mean that apps moved to the SD card should be uninstalled before rewriting the system?

Yes. You need to uninstall or move the app to internal storage

When an app is moved to SD ( in versions before Marshmallow or portable storage of Marshmallow ) it does not move the complete app to SD card. A portion of the app remains on internal storage - that's why when you upgrade to a later version of app it again reverts to internal storage and you need to move it to external SD

When you install a new ROM or factory-reset only that portion of what is on your internal storage is being overwritten. The portion of app on external SD occupies space, though it cannot be used. So to reclaim that space you would need to uninstall the app first or move the app completely to internal storage

If you are using the adoptable-storage feature, then you are treating the external SD as internal storage anyway, so you needn't bother doing this

See Appendix 2 and 3 of this reddit for additional reading


Cross-device game saves My father loves the game Hay Day. I'm not exactly sure why but that isn't important.

He is on a Motorola Droid Ultra and the Ellipsis 7 tablet he recently got for free at Verizon for upgrading. Both running some version or another of Jelly Bean.

He doesn't want to transfer the data from his phone to his tablet, he wants to sync the games. He won't be playing them both at the same time. But I was just wondering, if that is a possibility.

Summing up, I guess I'm asking, if we can backup and download save data seamlessly. I'm not a programmer but I'm absolutely not a newbie.

Cross device save as explained by Boggartfly, is to be enabled by the game developer to use Google Play Services.

However, if the game does not support the feature, you can always sync the game's data saved in /data folder of Android across the devices. Unfortunately, that tends to be a root-only option, since reading/writing from/to /data folder requires root access.

If you are willing to root your device, DataSync allows syncing of data across devices over WiFi/Bluetooth/Google Drive/DropBox/NFC. It is easy to use once you have understood the mechanics of it.

This applies to all the applications on your devices not just to games.


Authentication Problem: Even after typing the correct passoword I have Digisol router in my home. My phone was connected to it for a time, but then suddenly it started showing no internet. So I tried to reconnect by Forgot password. But since then I am facing the *Authentication Problem** every time I tried to connect.
Some points:

It is connected to a PC by LAN and two phones by WiFi. It is working fine in all of them.
I have tried to clear Google Services Framework cache and restart. Still nothing happened.
Also I tried to turn Airplane mode on and off.

Please help...

That's a common problem that occurs with may users.
well the solution is pretty simple
Go to settings > wifi > select the wifi you want to connet
Now when it ask for password.
Fill the password.
down below there will be advance settings open that. Locate Ip settings and change it from DHCP  to Static
there just change de ip to 192.168.1.X
[X] be any number like 32,24,64

just do that and click connect. it will connect.


On an Android phone, how to create a shortcut to read new Gmail emails with a specific tag? On my Android phone, to be specific a Google Pixel 2 XL, where I use Gmail app to receive and read emails, I'd like to have a shortcut to read new emails tagged with a specific tag. How to do it?

On your home screen, long-press an empty space, then select widgets.
Look for "Gmail label". Add it to your screen. You might be prompted to select an account if you have multiple one.
Select the label, give it a name and click "Done".
A shortcut to emails with a particular label will be created on your home screen.


Google Play Store: Package file was not signed correctly I'm using Lenovo A369i and my Android version is 4.2.2. When I install an app, after it's finished installing, an error appears,

  Package file was not signed correctly

First time, I thought maybe it's my connection problem. But when I try it again, Google Play Store shows the same error. How to fix that?

I am pretty sure this is an issue with the Play Store, and not your specific device.  Probably the best bet is to just wait, and try again later.  You could also use the Play Store customer support to complain (which might get the issue elevated in their internal bug queue).

Bottom line, it's not you, it's them.


Recovering deleted files from unrooted Galaxy Nexus In my infinite buffoonery earlier today I deleted the entire camera pictures folder from my GSM Galaxy Nexus. I had last copied images from my phone in August and have lost all pictures since then :(

I've been looking around quite a bit to see if there's any way possible to recover those files.  The two options that I've come across so far - using an Undelete app available in the Play store or using dd to take a block-level dump, both require the phone to be rooted. However my GNex is not and the official rooting process requires unlocking the bootloader which wipes the device. There was a thread on xda-developers that documented an exploit that could be used to root the GNex without unlocking the bootloader, however that exploit has been patched by Google.

Do any of you have any bright ideas on what I can do?

What's the nature of device wipe like that happens while rooting? Is recovery still possible after that making rooting still an option?

Sorry, but in you phone there not SD card, and internal flash blocks can be rewritten, when phone works (physical location of blocks are different from logical and phone record logs, change internal data, download updates).

It's available chance with destructive methods (read flash on programmer device), and much smaller with root you phone (read whole memory), because any change of phone state decrease chances.


Trouble updating Android Market to Google Play on Logitech-Revue (Google-TV) When I try to go into the Android Market on my Logitech-Revue it says it needs to update, but never does. On my Acer A500 tablet the Android Market updated to Google Play, so I assume that is the update that my Revue is attempting, but failing.

Anyone else successful with the Google Play update on Logitech-Review or Google TV? Any suggestions for a work around?

It finally updated. Not sure what the hang up was before.


Hebrew word suggestions on ICS I have a Galaxy Nexus with Ice Cream Sandwich OS installed, and I write emails and text messages in Hebrew and English.

The English keyboard has as-you-type word suggestions that appear (in blue) bove the keys while typing.

The Hebrew keyboard does not have that feature (it only suggest to complete contact names). How do I add word suggestions to my device?

Try using a 3rd-party keyboard replacement app.

I've previously used AnySoftKeyboard, and can confirm that it does show word suggestions on other languages.  For Hebrew you would need to install the corresponding language pack as well.


messages stuck in notification area I have a Samsung J3 running Android 7.  I have received 2 notifications which seem to be stuck in the notification area, no way to get rid of them.
One is a Push Message saying that I've used 1.6Gb of my monthly traffic (coming from my carrier).  Which is somehow associated with the "Messages" app which came with the phone (can't tell who is the vendor on it) even though I set my texting app to "Messages" from Google.
The other one is from "Wifi Calling" and it notifies me that "Calls will be made over Wi-Fi".
My previous phone was a Nexus and neither of these was a problem.  Wifi calling was a small icon at the top, not a whole notification message.  The push notifications about traffic would come in and be dismissed like any other message.  Is this a problem with Samsung notification app?  Can I replace it with the Nexus-style Google notification app?

For the comic relief: I was able to find others complaining about the stuck wifi calling notification and the advice to them was to disable wifi calling.

The stuck push message about traffic  is solved.  I changed the default messaging app back to "Messages", then deleted the push notification and changed the default messaging application to "Messages" (yes, I am having too much fun with the fact that they are named the same).


No 3 dots option on whats app on my Samsung Galaxy Grade i don't have that 3 dots( which usually is in the top rhs) so I can't change my profile picture on my what's app

If your device have hardware buttons like menu,home,back buttons, you can get those options by clicking Menu button. Those 3 dots denotes menu options for an App. Actually its useful for devices with capacitive(software) buttons. Currently I'm not sure about your device, and I can't find any device named Galaxy Grade. I you meant Galaxy Grand it have hardware buttons and you can use Menu button as mentioned earlier.


How do I recover from a botched adopted storage migration? I can't take pictures or screenshots TL;DR: I messed up. Now my phone won't store pictures because it's probably trying to write to some directory that doesn't exist. How can I fix this? What directory structure is expected? I caused it by maybe screwing up a bit when moving to Adopted Storage, but that may not be important for the answer.

I migrated to adopted storage this morning. I wanted a mixed partitioning, but accidentally got full-card adoption (i used the GUI). As part of that I suppose I migrated the existing /storage/emulated to the adopted storage.

Because I wanted a mixed setup and I had backups of my data, I just ran sm partition ... mixed 25 and nuked the existing adopted storage.

Now I can't take any pictures. If I do a screenshot, it says it couldn't save it. If I take a picture with OpenCamera, it says the same.

I would like to avoid the hassle of factory resetting if it's just a matter of creating some directories and/or creating some symlinks. I tried setting up a symlink /media/expand/&lt;my-adopted-storage>/user -> /storage/emulated and created DCIM (mode 1777) in /storage/emulated/0/DCIM (where it used to be). That doesn't help.

Am I on the right track and just getting the details wrong, or am I screwed?

As you can see from the tags, I'm on CyanogenMod 13 / Android 6 / Marshmallow.

Further investigation:

Looked where OpenCamera is looking, and it's looking at /sdcard/DCIM. /sdcard is a symlink to /storage/self/primary and that's a symlink to /mnt/user/0. Tried creating a symlink to the existing DCIM there, didn't help. Maybe it needs to point to the right place in the system to slip through the security tracks? Trying a reboot and seeing where things end up.

EDIT: It was /sdcard -> /storage/self/primary -> /mnt/user/0/primary. I created /mnt/user/0/primary -> /mnt/expand/*/user/0. No go.

There is a secondary user on the phone. When I switch to that, I get a bunch of "Unfortunately YouTube/Gallery/foo stopped." and I can't run any of the installed apps -- then I get the same message.

I had three SD "Cards" listed in Storage & USB: Purple (successfully adopted), Grey (first adoption, now abandoned, said "not mounted") and sdcard1. I figured that maybe it's still yearning for that unmounted (nonexistent) partition, so I clicked it and chose "Forget". Now sdcard1 is corrupt (!). Will reboot again and see what it makes of it.

Progress! After forgetting that original adoption and rebooting, now we have /sdcard -> /storage/self/primary -> /storage/emulated/0.

/storage/emulated/0 is a FUSE system that seems to have the same size as /data, so things look pretty normal now. I took a screenshot, and /sdcard/Pictures was created.

sdcard1 is back and looks fine.

Now there was a Migrate data command on both Internal storage and the adopted storage. When I clicked it on the adopted storage, emulated/0 was remounted as a FUSE proxy for the adopted storage and screenshots now go there instead of to internal-internal. I think this is like I want it now.

I believe what solved my problem was that I ran Migrate data in the newest adopted storage. Until then the system was in a state where the abandoned adopted storage was the "primary storage", but wasn't present.

I'm not sure why Migrate data on Internal storage wasn't available before I abandoned the first adopted storage. Maybe all I would have had to do was to reboot and the command would have been available.

I am going to move more of the story from the answer to the question, to create a more coherent Q&A picture.


Cannot access adb shell on emulated x86 phone Trying to get access to a phone on Android emulator via adb. Error message returned:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>adb shell error: device unauthorized.
This adb server's $ADB_VENDOR_KEYS is not set
Try 'adb kill-server' if that seems wrong.
Otherwise check for a confirmation dialog on your device.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools>

I have deleted the adbkey and adbkey.pub files from the .android folder as suggested in some question/answers for physical phones without success. Also disabling and re-enabling USB debugging on the phone.

Phone details:
Device - Nexus 7 (7.02", 1200 x 1920: xhdpi)
Target - Android 8.0.0 - API Level 26
CPU/ABI- Google Play Intel Atom (x86)

Any ideas on how to get adb access? Thanks.

I had a similar issue with an x86 emulator sdk 24

Settings -> About emulated device -> click on "Build number" several times (as you do on a real device)
go to Settings -> Developer options -> turn on "USB debugging"

you should be getting a dialog to enable debugging access from the pc

and attempt running again via Android Studio


Will Honeycomb get an update to add email search (Xoom)? I am an avid user of Android and resisted the urge to get an iPad in favor of a Xoom - staying loyal to Android.  I was very disappointed to learn that the email function (which I sync with a corporate exchange server) does not have a search function.  Hard to believe.  As a business traveler, getting thousands of emails, it is critical to be able to search my email.  Does anyone know if this will be addressed.  I do not want o have to use a third party app like touchdown.  Please advise.  Thank you!

To address your question in the comments: Star this issue and perhaps leave a comment. Hopefully Google will take notice and improve the email app!

In the meantime, though, I do suggest using a third-party app.  Depend on your company's rules, you could even create a secondary Gmail account and either have your work emails forwarded to it or have Gmail grab mail from your work account via POP3 or IMAP, and then you could use the Gmail app for search.


S7 Edge - Boots into Odin Mode when trying to system update I have a rooted Verizon S7 Edge on 7.0 and whenever I try to do a system update, it reboots into Odin mode and does nothing. FRP lock is off and OEM unlock is enabled.

Rooted phone firmware cannot be updated as one does with unrooted device. Usually, you would need to unrooted, flash stock recovery and update or flash stock with Odin and then update followed by rooting.

There is an alternate way mentioned in this XDA post GUIDE -Easy way to update a rooted phone without losing data using FlashFire, which lets you retain your custom recovery and update using Flash Fire. In this process, apart from reducing steps your data and settings are intact


Google photos uploads everything from DCIM folder So in my Redmi Note 7 Pro, the screenshots and screen recordings all go in a subfolder inside DCIM folder. Photos (app by Google) simply uploads everything in the DCIM folder. I have tried this, but it did not work (hence asking a new question).

There seems to be no clear solution to this.

I have had to manually move the sub folders within DCIM to outside the DCIM folder using a file explorer so that I can later individually choose which folders should get backed up in Google Photos.


Difference between /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard I'm in the beginning of Android kernel study and I'm looking at every directory in rooted Android.

I realized that the same directories were in those two: /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard. What's the difference between them?

(The directories that I found were:

Alarms,Android, Audio, Books, DCIM, Download, Images, LOST.DIR, Movies, Music, Notifications, Pictures, Podcasts, Ringtones, Video)

I'm using Android 4.1.2.

The directory /mnt houses the mount points of different Android partitions. (hence the name mnt) Actually the "real" directory is /mnt/sdcard. /sdcard is a Symlink (short for Symbolic Link) to that directory, intended for easy of usability. (That is also explained  here Are files created in "/storage/emulated/0" supposed to appear in "/storage/sdcard0"? and the answer by Izzy on that question is quite useful and detailed) It is possible to access /mnt/sdcard by ADB or a well designed file manager. /sdcard directory serves as a way for normal apps/users to interact with that data.

You can read more about Symlinks here. This article (also the source of some facts I stated above) may be useful for a basic understanding about the Android filesystem. (It is/may be outdated for current Android versions, but you are using an old Android version, so it may still be useful for you)


Does the IP address over a mobile data connection (gprs, 3g/4g) change every time on new connection? Is the IP address of a data connection assigned every time whenever a fresh connection is established (e.g after a  disconnect-reconnect scenario, reboot etc) or its preserved.

I have done a bit of research on this topic but there are slightly different views. The first one is affirmative:

  Whether the IP address is reachable from the public Internet, however,
  depends on your ISP; most mobile ISPs operate a NAT that multiplexes
  several network-internal IP addresses through a single address visible
  to the public Internet. The externally visible IP address may change
  on the fly as you move around from cell tower to cell tower. Your external IP will, however, change when you reconnect to your network 1

On the other hand, some suggest that the same IP address is maintained even on reconnection after reboot but only changes when the lease expires

  Phones use DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) to obtain new IP
  addresses from the carrier when the lease on the address expires. You
  don't get a new IP address every time the phone reboots, only when you
  restart the phone and the lease on the IP address has expired. 2

I do understand the concept of DHCP and that new IP  addreses are assigned whenever the lease expires (some suggest usually after 24 hours or so) but my confusion is that if the lease is still valid and I do disconnect and reconnect mobile data, do I get assigned a new IP or the existing one is kept?

References

Does my phone have an IP address when I'm using the internet, but not connected to WiFi?
Does my 4G mobile phone have a fixed IP address or does it change whenever I move to a different location or whenever I restart the phone?

The answer is this varies by carrier and can vary for any number of other circumstances such as market, locale, and traffic density... Both answers you referenced are correct for certain situations. I have also seen DHCP leases in crowded mobile network areas be under 4 hours... So does your IP address change every time you connect? Sometimes it will, sometimes it won't, there is no definite answer that encompasses all/most situations.


Javascript not loading in browser(Miui10 Global8.9.6 beta_Redmi note4) I had written a custom HTML/javascript application and wanted to run it in a android browser on my Redmi Note4.

Firstly I activated javascript in all the browsers (MIUI default browser,chrome,firefox).Then,I tried opening the file directly from the file manager,but it only loaded html but not javascript.

Afterthat ,I pasted the file path

  content://com.mi.android.globalFileexplorer.myprovider/external_files/...

in the browser but even in this case only html was recognised but not javascript.However as seen from this forum thread here,this solution has worked on other phones.
Is there any way to detect javascript in MIUI10 OS?

Apparently,the Redminote4 file manager doesn't recognise the link between separate html/css/javascript files(even though it get's perfectly recognised in a desktop environment).

The only option left is to embed all your html/css/javascript code into one large html file(not a good practise!) and open this file directly from the file manager.


How to sync two devices as paranoidly as possible? While I could use Google or in my case Samsung to synchronise my tablet and phone, I'd prefer a solution that neither requires Internets access nor trusting a third party. So how can I synchronise my devices offline, including sms and other non-file things, and without using a PC?

Both devices are rooted and I wouldn't mind♤ paying♤ for a solution

♤not too much

Connect both devices to a PC and simply copy all files from the first device to the second one and vice versa. So all files are in sync on both devices.

If you like to do that automatically then look up some sync app/program that will do it for you.


How to get max of sound quality for music listening? Yo,
I like to listen to music through headphones, so I'd like to tweak the sound parameters on my phone and tablet to my taste.

What can be done in this direction? My devices are not rooted.

Sound purely depends on phone make and model and the headsets too. Most of the phones support 5-band custom Equalizer (you can tweak them just like that) and some phones only support the given presets like Bass, Flat, Treble , 5.1 Channel etc. Sony phones have their own technology like xLoud and ClearBass. So it depends on various things. Also you can download music players from Play Store if the stock music player doesn't support all these options.
Try all of these and pick the best as you've not mentioned your phone and tablet model and are not rooted.


Samsung S4 GPE - "GPS Signal Lost" Dilemma. Considering Factory Reset. Need Backup advice I've just found this web site and I'm hoping that I can get some advice/assistance.

I have a Samsung S4 Google Play Edition phone. The GPS worked fine for close to a year. (Location setting on High Accuracy.)  However in June of last year (I think it was around the time I got the Kit Kat update), I started having a severe GPS problem. Within 90 seconds of initiating a navigation route with Google Maps, I'd get a "GPS signal lost." voice response. As I'd continue on with my trip, I'd notice the minutes to destination would click down at the appropriate rate. I'd also notice that the blue nav triangle would update every couple minutes or so and be somewhat in the vicinity of where I actually was - but the triangle would be turned in odd directions (not in the direction of traffic flow) and be several hundred yards off. And, of course, no voice commands at all. I'm guessing it had no fix on a satellite and was just determining my approximate location from cell towers. This happens every time I initate a navigation route, and for all practical purposes, the GPS is useless. However, one odd thing is that if I was on a trip more than 40-45 minutes, the GPS would get a satellite fix and it would all of a sudden start working correctly for the rest of the trip - a pinpoint-accurate blue triangle moving with traffic and the female voice commands would start. This happens everytime around the 40-45 minute mark of a trip (if the trip lasts that long). Bizarre. I have installed a GPS Status and Fix app and it confirms the unstable GPS signal (it occasionally will fix on a satellite, but then lose it). I have uninstalled Google Maps and reinstalled. Obviously a simple phone reboot doesn't fix the problem (this has been going on since June). My phone has now been upgraded to Lollipop, still same behavior. My network provider is AT&T - which concerns me as other people seem to be reporting on the net that they have GPS problem with AT&T. So, I'm out of things to try except a factory reset- unless someone here has any other suggestions. (I hope you do.)

That being said, I dread a factory reset (I've never done one before), but maybe it won't be so bad. I don't mind re-downloading apps and setting up my screens again. And my emails and contacts are all synced on the Google cloud. However, I really don't want to lose my SMS Hangouts trail or my call history which goes back over a year. I see that there are a few apps that claim to backup these data. But does anyone want to suggest/recommend apps and a procedure to make sure I retain as much of this as possible post factory reset? It will be much appreciated to reduce my anxiety about the process (not that the world's going to end if I lose these data).

Thanks in advance for any help. I appreciate it.

Had same problem but was able to solve by:

open back cover
take a very small phillips-head screwdriver
remove the battery, SIM Card, and Data card
tighten all screws, especially the one on the top left hand when the back is open. Reason:  Behind that screw is the GPS contact point touching the GPS antenna, and this gets loose very often.

For me this solved the problem.

Download GPS Status and Tools from Playstore and test.

Works fine now.

Even Samsung couldn't solve this over phone, but asked me to leave the phone with their service centre which will take a week to fix.


Instead of tabs, is it possible to save links and read them one by one? My reading style is as follows:

Open the main page of, say, a newspaper.
Review the entire main page and open the links I want to read in a new tab. This usually results in 30-40 tabs
Read and close tabs one by one.

Unfortunately, Chrome for Android crashes frequently if many tabs are open. So I'm looking for a way (addon, app) to a different workflow:

same
Review the entire main page and add the links I want to read to a reading list.
Walk through the reading list: read the first article, touch Next, etc.

Try Link Bubble: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.linkbubble.playstore

If I decide I'm done reading, I share the links I've opened to Pocket so I can read them later.

Pocket: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ideashower.readitlater.pro


What launchers support Tasker's Go Home to a paticular page? Tasker's Go Home action has a slider that lets you select which page of your launcher will be displayed. Trouble is, the launcher has to be written to support this feature (specifically, it needs to recognize net.dinglisch.android.tasker.extras.HOME_PAGE as a parameter to the launch intent).

Anyone know which launchers support this feature? ADW doesn't and Go doesn't. Tag Home doesn't. Nova does, according to its readme, but it's ICS only (I'm still on Gingerbread). I'm willing to download every launcher to see if I can find one, but I was hoping someone would know before I resort to that.

The now (almost) obsolete LauncherPro supports this feature.


Tasker, how to append a string to a variable Tasker is making this simple task complicated.

I am doing a "Send Intent" action within a task and I need the extra 1 and extra 2 to be a string concatenated to a number variable concatenated to another string.

In most languages it'd be something like

extra1 = "str1:" + integer + "str2"

It'd be easier if there were spaces between the strings; it'd just be str1 %integer str2, but there are no spaces to separate things out.

How do I accomplish this?

Set a new variable with To field as %var1%var2%anyvarname


Removing an icon on statusbar How can I get rid of the sun icon on the top left of the statusbar???

I've checked my wether apps, and it doesn't belong to them.

Since you are using Samsung and I presume you're on version 6.0, go to Settings > Notifications and toggle off All Apps. Now activate the notification for every app, one by one. This way you may find which one is responsible for the sun icon.


Google Play Music remove pinned offline music quicker When starting with the Google Music (or Play Music) app I've selected quite a few albums for offline syncing over time. Is there a way to quickly get an overview of my offline music and remove it?

When having the "offline music" view filter on I see tons of songs that I've to deselect one-by-one and I don't seem to find out how to do a multiple select or any other way to speed up this proces.

If you use a file manager, you can browse to /mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music and just delete everything you want from there.


Getting around the lock screen and cannot reboot to do Hard reset I purchased a ZTE Z970 MetroPCS phone from ebay sold as "For parts - Broken". The battery was drained completely when I received the phone. When I charged it for a bit and tried the Power + Volume Up key, it kept rebooting upon reaching the first Android logo. There's nothing I could do. I tried all key combinations and it just keeps rebooting.

Magically, after charging again for the second time, the phone boots up. But the seller put in one of those pattern based lock screens. I emailed the seller via ebay but the seller doesn't know the unlock pattern himself.

I connected it to the computer to see if I can access ADB but no dice. Now the phone is up at the lock screen and I do not want to restart it and attempt to go to recovery as I'm afraid that it won't boot up again. What can I do to either get around the lock screen or somehow reset the phone some other way?

You're going to have to restart it and go to recovery. The whole point of a lock screen is to keep people out who don't have the piece of information needed to get past it.


Galaxy S4 back button pressing itself After replacing the digitizer, the back (and sometimes menu) button randomly presses itself. I feel the phone vibrate as if the button was actually pressed but it was not. Sometimes there are a number of presses in a quick succession.

I did a factory reset but problem remains. Everything seems to be connected OK, I even put some electric tape between the back & menu ribbon cables to prevent shorting.

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this?

It appears to be a strictly mechanical issue. If the phone is bent in any way, it can put pressure on the digitizer without any involvement from you.  If you take the phone apart again (but don't disconnect the cables), does the digitizer behave the same or was the pressure from the frame causing the issue?   This is obviously not a specific answer to your question, but answers to these questions would help you understand the next steps to take.  Issues like this are usually either a faulty digitizer or faulty (or badly installed) connectors.


Does Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 support Otg? Does Samsung Galaxy Grand 2 support Otg?

I have read various opinions but they are all very confusing...  Please help.

The specs say that it supports OTG 2.0, but it doesn't work.


Cannot mount internal SD card in Semaphore CWM Recovery v5.0.2.7 I Installed CyanogenMod 10.1.2 in my Galaxy S I9000 using Semaphore CWM Recovery v5.0.2.7  following this guide: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_galaxysmtd
Before flashing the new ROM I made a backup using Semaphore CWM.
After installing CyanongenMod I've noticed that I didn't saved my contacts inside my Google Acount so I tried to restore the backup I've made using CWM Recovery. An error occured while restoring and after that I can't boot in normal mode (I didn't remember the error message).
When tried entering in the recovery mode to reinstall the CyanogenMod I got the following error messages:

E:failed to open /etc/recovery.fstab (No such file or directory)
E:unknown volume for path [/cache/recovery/command]
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/command
E:unknown volume for path [/cache/recovery/log]
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E:unknown volume for path [/cache/recovery/last_log]
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log
E:unknown volume for path [/cache/recovery/command]

And when I try to install CyanogenMod from the SD card I got the following errors:

E:unknown volume for path [/sdcard/]
E:Can't mount /sdcard/

I tried reinstalling CWM Recovery but nothing changed. Do you have any ideas on how to fix this issue and flash a new ROM?
Thank you.

I've followed the guide in this page and reinstalled a stock version of Android: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1196179

Then I reinstalled CWM Recovery and flashed CyanogenMod.


Hangouts is using obscene amounts of background data 248 Mb this last week of background data compared to 41 Mb foreground. Last month was 400/100. How do I go about seeing what's the cause? I don't send/receive many pictures, when I do it's usually a Hangouts message, not MMS, but usually on wifi too. My brother is 441 foreground, 85 background fore comparison, so about opposite. But as frequently as we're on wifi, I wouldn't think it should use that much cellular data.

Anyone have any tips or a way to start investigating what's going on?

Edit: doesn't fix the root cause, but disabling background cellular data usage doesn't stop you from getting notifications through the magic of GCM push notifications.

It used 1.5GB in less than a day for me a couple of weeks ago, so I've turned off background data for the app. Makes it pretty crippled, but only option. I can't find any answer to this problem anywhere.


Can't format microSD card I am trying to format a microSD card which was previously used in a Windows Phone. Currently the microSD card is in a Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus (GT-S7500) running Android 2.3.6. I have tried erasing the memory from the Settings menu and now I have plugged the USB and givin it a go from Ubuntu.

Every time I try to format (or manually delete) data, every file and directory seem to stay put.

I thought it could be a microSD card corruption problem, but as I type

sudo fsck -a /dev/sdc

The only warning message I get is:

0x41: Dirty bit is set. Fs was not properly unmounted and some data may be corrupt.
Automatically removing dirty bit.

Then I issue the command one more time and the check is fine.

Is there anything I can do to format this microSD card?

Update: Running gparted I get this error:

plain floppy: device "/dev/sdc" busy (Resource temporarily unavailable):
Cannot initialize '::'
mlabel: Cannot initialize drive

This is due to a bug in fsck.

 # fsck.vfat -v -a -w /dev/sda1

The above command automatically write changes to disk.

The dirty bit is set and cleared in the kernel, when mounting and unmounting a device;

or if its not working try this HDD Low Level Format Tool.This will help you format microSD completely.


Why are there not generic phone OS installers? I am used to install and remove various operating systems in my PCs, even having several at a time.

Usually, to install a new OS means:

Burn the ISO to a CD/DVD/USB.
Insert it.
Boot. (Maybe you have to tweak a bit the BIOS first).

The only difference between PCs is its CPU architecture: x86, x86_64, arm, etc. Depending on that, you have to download one ISO or another. But I never have to worry about which graphic card, mouse, keyboard, screen, network card, etc. it has. The install wizard automatically detects that and installs the corresponding drivers. Sometimes, if they are not bundled, the installer also downloads them. Anyway, the key point here is that the ISO is always the same.

Now, many mobile OS come out: Ubuntu, Tizen, Firefox OS, the omnipresent Android, and why not any Linux ARM distro out there!. Sadly I have a random chinese mobile, that surely will never get official support in any platform, and I will never be able to test them.

But... Are not today's phones just tiny ARM PCs? Why is installation that different? Why do I always need to have a precompiled monolithic ROM specific for my phone model? Why not just a single "ISO" per OS for any phone that detects and installs automatically the needed drivers, just like always has been in the PC market?

Note: I understand the problem with privative drivers, but I remember Debian asking me for those when there were no libre alternatives at installation, and I could install them then or later. I suppose that workaround could be used in those cases too. Correct me if I'm wrong.

In short, it's because of the different ways that Android and MS Windows are distributed. MS Windows is a retail product, sold directly to PC owners. Therefore, Microsoft is responsible for making it run on PCs. PCs are standardized, and (nowadays) have a hardware-discovery mechanism, so Microsoft can design the Windows installer so that it can run on any PC-compatible machine. It's in their interest to make drivers for old Windows versions compatible with newer versions, so that they can keep selling new Windows versions to users.

There's also a technical dimension to this. Phones aren't just "tiny ARM PCs" as you suggest. The distinguishing thing about a PC is that it satisfies the PC specification, originated by IBM but now specified by an industry consortium. There are several more standards for how components of a PC interact, and they're what allows automatic driver configuration such as you find on a desktop PC. Graphics cards offer a VESA interface, which allows graphics to be displayed before a GPU driver has been configured.

All PC hardware nowadays offers Plug N Play, which allows the OS to discover hardware and configure the memory map at boot. Before Plug N Play, you had to change physical jumpers on each PCI card, and then tell the software what memory range, IRQ, etc. you'd set on the jumpers. And in the days before DirectX and its ilk, you had to do that separately for every game that wanted to use that hardware. Plug N Play came about mostly so that sound card (and other discrete component) vendors could make easier-to-install hardware.

In contrast, Android isn't a product that's sold to users: it's "sold" to device manufacturers. Phones (also tablets, STBs, media players, etc.) don't have anything like the PC specification, so it's not possible for Google to make an "Android installer" that can run on any device. Even displaying the battery animation when the phone is off requires it to load the Linux kernel with a framebuffer driver and a battery driver. It's the device manufacturer's responsibility to modify the Android source code so that it can run on their device, and the resulting Android firmware image belongs to the manufacturer: they don't (have to) give those changes to Google or anyone else.

The phone world doesn't have these kinds of standards, because there's no demand for it. There's no one trying to sell phone components that you put together yourself. No one in the phone industry is interested in making an OS that you can install on any phone - only the likes of Ubuntu and Mozilla, who are outsiders with no contribution to hardware standards.


Battery usage for keeping apps open How much of an effect does it have on the phones battery life to keep applications such as the contacts application open. I ask because that app sometimes takes long to open the first time depending on how many contacts you have I guess. I'm running android 4.1.2 on an galaxy s3 if that makes any difference. But I'm wondering whats the best practice from an user as well as developer perspective with regard to keeping apps open as a posed to the old school conservative thinking of closing everything when it's not needed.

In Linux/Android it is not recommended to close apps or use task killers.  Unlike a Windows computer/phone, Linux/Android can keep applications "running" in the background which doesn't use any CPU or networking (unless it's a media player).  It has actually been proven that closing apps causes more battery drain, because instead of Android being able to recall the app that was in memory it has to relaunch it, which requires more memory use as well as CPU.
You are better to leave apps running.
Sources:
How To Geek and
LifeHacker


After Uninstall, Android Device Manager still shows in Device Administrator List I enabled Android Device Manager a while ago, and then realized it wasn't useful for me so uninstalled it.

I just now noticed that it still is listed in my Device Administrators list despite not being installed on my phone (and if I log in to their website I can STILL track my phone)

Am running Android 4.2.2 on an HTC One X (unrooted)

The Android Device Manager app doesn't control whether your device is tracked by ADM. It simply allows you to see and manage your other Android devices.

You need to go to the Google Settings app, choose "Android Device Manager", and un-check "Remotely locate this device".


How to send same text message to multiple people but they would only see their name as recipient? I have a Moto X with KitKat.

I am trying to send the same text message to multiple people.

I do not want the recipients to see the numbers of other recipients.
I do not want the recipients' replies to go to multiple people.
I do not want the recipients to see who all the recipients are.
If the recipient reply's to my text message than that message should only go to me.

Just like adding people under BCC in the email.

Any help?

That's how SMS usually works. When you send a text to a group of people, only they should be able to that they got it. They won't be able to see who else got the text.. unless you were sending SMS through Google Hangouts.


What is the best way to get my Samsung Note 3 SM-N900V to at least Nougat 7.0? The step by step examples have holes in their solution for one reason or another.
I need to:
a. USB debug (easy)
b. Root w/o KNOX violation
c. Install TWRP
d. Flash a ROM like Apply a custom ROM like RR-N-v5.8.2

Has anyone done this in 2020? It seems like links for these solutions vanish for some reason. This like  ArabicTools and Root_de_la_Vega-SM-N900V.7z seemed to have vanished.

found a non corrupt Root_de_la_Vega-SM-N900V.7z here:
http://rootjunkysdl.com/files/?dir=Galaxy%20Note%203/MI9%20build%20root
http://rootjunkysdl.com/files/Galaxy%20Note%203/MI9%20build%20root/Root_de_la_Vega-SM-N900V.7z
I am about to give it a go myself.


Is my .img file corrupted? I downloaded the firmware (.img) of my Android device (Boyue T62D) just to have a backup of it. I'm in the Indian countryside with an extremely limited internet connection, so this is a huge file for me. The reasons I'm unsure are:

I can't extract the file (just to look at the contents) in any way on my computer (OS X 10.10.1). Is this to be expected with an Android image? I tried to unpack it using a variety of methods (like converting it to iso first). (none too fancy though).
I was out of the house when the file was downloading, and when I came back it looked like the file was done, but the Internet connection was broken. But the file seems to have the same size as it is supposed to have. So what got me wondering was the fact that I can't unpack it. If you guys could just tell me that this is standard, and that .img files are very hard/impossible to extract on OS X, that would be great.

Usually when downloading files (very likely for software) you have a checksum provided by the supplier. The checksum is nothing else but the hash value of the file you're going to download. Quite often this is MD5, but due to the collision potential in MD5 it starts to drift towards SHA (SHA1 mostly, somtimes SHA2).

After your download has finished, you compute the hash on the file yourself and compare the value with the one presented by the download page (or other source). If the two values match, this means that your download equals the file supplied on the website.

I started my VM for accessing such sites and had a look if there is a MD5 hash present. Right next to the download link, it was and that's the value I have copied to my comment. Therefore, if you follow the procedure I have written down above and look for such a hash value (check for MD5 or MD5SUM, SHA1 or SHA1SUM) you don't need any third-party assistance.


How do you capture video from the command-line on an Android device? How do you capture video from the camera on command-line of a rooted Android mobile device?

Depending on the recording app installed, that could be done by calling the corresponding activity via the am (activity manager). The syntax for this is explained on the ADB help page:

start [options] <INTENT>

Example given:

am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW

This means, you first have to find the corresponding intent. This can be done using any Manifest browser (there are several apps available), or e.g. using the activity browser integrated with Apex Launcher (long-tap free space on homescreen, select Shortcut, then Activity). The am call then can either be initiated from within a terminal in the way described above, or via ADB by prefixing the call with adb shell, e.g. adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW.

See also: http://en.androidwiki.com/wiki/ADB_Shell_Command_Reference


How to Re install Android 4.2.2 on Samsung galaxy grand I am using Samsung Galaxy Grand GT-I9082 from past one year. I got lot of software updates and did all of them, including the 4.2.2 JellyBean FirmWare Update.

Recently I got one stability update, after which my mobile lost it's stability. Now I want to revert back to Jelly Bean prior to that update, by re-installing 4.2.2 JellyBean FirmWare. I have read few blogs about the procedure with Odin but I am confused whether that procedure only works when my mobile is loaded with 4.1.2, or with any version? Currently I am using 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

I have tried hard reseting the device and wiping the cache partition; but still the device is slow, constantly hanging sometimes, and I am missing important calls also.

I Have Replaced ROM in my mobile using Odin and downloaded official Jelly Bean Firmware from  here and installed by following instructions
i was able to succesfully flash the Jelly Bean Released on nov 11 2013 and after flashing i did following

Wiped User Data (Factory RESET)
Wiped Cache Partition

Now it's working like charm


Do I need to downgrade my Xperia J to ICS before installing a custom ROM? I would like to install a Custom ROM in my Xperia J and its named AVD ROM. To install that ROM do I have to install the ICS first or no need?

Please help me. thank you.

If your device is rooted/unlocked, and you already use a custom recovery (like clockworkmod or twrp), there's no need to downgrade first. flashing the custom-rom will either replace the complete system, regardless of the installed version: usually, the images contain complete "disk images" for all relevant partitions.

If, on the other hand, your device is not rooted, and there doesn't exist any rooting solution for the currently installed Android version, but only for ICS: then yes, you might need to downgrade so you can gain root access to your device, and flash a custom recovery.

On some devices it might be sufficient to simply unlock the bootloader in order to install a custom recovery or flash a custom rom. If that applies to your device, I must leave for someone else to answer.


android error 495 while downloading application , why is there no solution for it? tried almost every solution but faced very frequently.
Android should deliver a fix for it and at least show more details on the failure.
almost could not download from weeks due to 495 error.

Well, what you can try following methods:

Step 1. Clearing Cache and Clear Data stored over the Google Play Store:

Go to Settings -> Click on Application Manager or Apps -> Open “All” apps

If that still doesn't helps you:

Step 2. Clear Cache and Data for Google Play Service Framework - For clearing the cache and data of frame work you can use the same steps mentioned above, what you only need to do is search for the Google Play Services app and clear its cache and data stored.

If you still encounter the error then head over to Step 3

Step 3.Remove Gmail Account and Add it again:

Head over to Settings>Accounts and sync> Tap over the Google account> Tap over Remove account. Once done again clear the cache and the data of Google Play Service app which I already mentioned over STEP2. Once you cleared everything up add the google account again.


How to Decide where Camera Shots are Going? I cannot find any option in Settings of different Camera applications etc Nexus default Camera and CyanogenMod Camera where the pictures are going.
I would like that new pictures go to the directory SD://BTsync/Camera.
I am using Android 6 and CyanogenMod 13.

How can you change the default locations of new pictures from Camera?

Andrew's answer in comment

  AFAIK... on most stock camera apps, you can't. There's always a solution with automation apps though. – Andrew T. Mar 16 '16 at 9:54


Read GPS location from command line via SSH I am wondering if there's a way to read the current GPS coordinates via SSH using SSHelper as SSH server.

I came accross some similar threads:

How to detect GPS status through adb shell?
A way to get location coordinates from command line
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31707981/adb-shell-get-live-gps-location-not-last-known-location
Viewing the GPS-location of an Android Device?

I managed to run the SSH server and connect to it. So far, I have tried to run the dumpsys location command over ssh, which gives me the following:

Permission Denial: can't dump LocationManagerService from from pid=27381, uid=10192 due to missing android.permission.DUMP permission

Does that command only work with adb? If yes, is there another way of retrieving GPS coordinates over ssh, i.e. using some shell commands?

I don't have root, and I'm not an app developer. Thanks!

While I found no solution using SSHelper, it is indeed possible using Termux and the Termux-API. No root is required.

After installing the Termux app, one has to install the Termux-packages openssh and termux-api:

$ pkg install openssh
$ pkg install termux-api

I also had to install the Termux-API app from Playstore or F-Droid to get it working.

The sshd config can be edited as desired and can be found at $PREFIX/etc/ssh/sshd_config.

Set a password for SSH authentication (or, alternatively and even better, public key authentication with ssh-keygen and ssh-copy-id):

$ passwd

Next, start the ssh server:

$ sshd

To stop the server:

$ pkill sshd

In my case it's on port 8022 per default. One should now have access to the Termux-API commands via ssh. termux-location retrieves GPS data as JSON. For example:

$ ssh u0_a202@192.168.0.7 -p 8022 termux-location
{
   "latitude": xx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
   "longitude": yy.yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy,
   "altitude": zzz.zzzzzzzzzzzz,
   "accuracy": 64.31999969482422,
   "vertical_accuracy": 192.0,
   "bearing": 301.9921875,
   "speed": 0.4399999976158142,
   "elapsedMs": 8,
   "provider": "gps"
}

Sources:

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Remote_Access

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux:API

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Termux-location


Require fingerprint to answer call? A friend has a problem with other people answering their phone and thereby intercepting their calls. Is anybody aware of an app, setting, or Android distro that requires a fingerprint swipe to answer an ordinary phonecall?

Google has not been helpful (or my google-fu is insufficient level, below 9000).

Simple Google Fu: "android protect incoming calls" turns up a bunch of apps to protect incoming calls. Most of them use PIN or pattern, though. So: android protect incoming calls finger-print → Hit #1 = AppLock 2:

Android 5.1 supported, Samsung Fingerprint unlock supported
[…]
☆ Lock Incoming Calls

(My Google-Fu must be beyond level 9000 then :))
Hit #3 from that search might be worth reading as well: How to Lock Any App with Fingerprint Security on Your Galaxy S5. Not sure if all this is restricted to Samsung devices, though (and you didn't name yours).


Prevent ads from launching apps I use a lot of free apps, and understand that ads are an essential part of making sure the maker gets paid. However, I am finding more and more ads that will automatically open the App Store or a web site in my browser, as I'm in the middle of doing something.

I can understand that it's likely not the app-makers choosing the ads, and that the ads are based on some special code the company gives them. I'm not against blocking all ads, but I do not wish to root my phone. All I want is to block apps from automatically reloading URLs, causing other applications to launch and take focus on my phone. Is this possible?

Yes, it is possible. All you need to do is to root your device and install Adfree. This small app will block all the ads on your device.

NOTE : I am also not against devs for adding ads to their apps, but intense ads popups are irritating.


How can I add a Google Now card from corresponding search result card? I am interested in exchange rates for some currency pairs. So I would like to see updates for them in my Google Now. Google search result for query usd eur gives nice card (as shown in the picture below). Is it possible to somehow "convert" it to Google Now card? And with updates?

Click the image for larger variant

It's not possible to do that, no. You can add each currency to your interested stocks by opening the Google Now menu > Customize > Stocks, but I don't know if that will do what you're looking for.


Sync Exchange Contacts Subfolders with Android Finally I managed to sync Exchange Server with Galaxy S3 and had managed to make it all work fine except the annoying contacts thing...
The android sync only contacts that are in the main contacts folder won't sync contacts sub folders.
Email Subfolders from some reason does sync.
Any idea how can I make it work?

The problem has been reported and seems like it might be solved with some release

In the mean while, an alternative would be:

  label contacts rather than put them in folder


Contacts and calendar no longer syncing between google and phone I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 that has suddenly stopped being able to sync my calendars and contacts with GMail. Every time I try, I get the message sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly.

The only thing I've tried to do is to remove and then re-instate my account, but still no joy. Has anyone had this problem before? What have I done or am I doing wrong?

I don't think it's anything new that I've installed because it was syncing fine up till about a month ago, and that's long after I installed non-native apps such as Go contacts.

Try these things:

Go to the tablet's System Settings/Account (Google), tap your account name, make sure Calendar is checked for sync.
Go to the Calendar app's Settings, tap your account name, and make sure the calendars that you want synced are checked.

OR

Settings-->Apps--> click on the ALL tab-->Calendar.
Then Clear Data.
Then go back to Settings-->Accounts-->Google--> Tap on Calender for sync.

Short cut name will change according to which android version you are using.


Installing pure android to Huawei Ascend P6 Is it possible to install pure (not manufacturer modified, without Emotion UI) Android version (4.2 to 4.4) to Huawei Ascend P6? If above is possible, is it possible to recover original Huawei Android version (with Emotion UI)?

You could try custom roms like Cyanogenmod or AOSP. I've checked Cyanogenmod site and there is no official build available for your device. However there are both unofficial Cyanogenmod and AOSP built for p6 on XDA-Developers Original Android Development. To install custom rom,

Unlock your p6 bootloader.
Install Custom Recovery like TWRP or ClockWorkMod [Look in above XDA-Developers Original Android Development forum link].
Nandroid Backup your Huawei ROM from custom recovery so you can restore it later when you want to.
Download custom ROM from XDA-Developers Original Android Development forum.


Why am I getting random push notifications from Venmo? I got a Samsung Galaxy S8 not too long ago, and I can't seem to stop push notifications about random Facebook friends making transactions.

First, I am logged in, so it's not the random-public-transactions feed. These are all people I am connected to on Facebook.

These are my settings:

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

As you can see, I've turned off all push notifications and social networks. Why am I still getting notifications?

When the notification appears up top, swipe the menu down and hold your thumb on the notification for a second or so. There should be 3 options that appear, one being "block notifications."


How to see what is stored in System memory area? I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" tablet (Android 4.1.2, not rooted).  I tried to install a big app recently and it failed because it said that I didn't have enough space.

When I go into Settings > Storage, this is what I see:
8GB - Total Space
2.83GB - Apps
199MB - Pictures, videos
116KB - Audio
18.69MB - Downloads
3.47GB - Miscellaneous files
1.14GB - Available space

The 3.47GB for Miscellaneous files seems really odd to me.  When I select the "Miscellaneous files" item, it says that most of the space (3.33GB) is being used for "System Memory" and the rest contains a number of small files.

I have tried restarting it, cleaning out cache of various apps, and a lot of poking around with a file manager.  I have also moved as many apps to SD Card as possible, but most of my apps don't support that function.

I just can't understand what is taking up almost half the available storage space.  Is this normal operating system stuff that can't be cleaned up?  Is there a way to see what is contained within and clean some of that space up?  If there is one particular app that is taking up a ton of "System Memory" space, then I might be willing to remove it.  Note that I have looked at the applications through Application manager, sorted by size, and the largest app is only using 323MB of app space.

Just get X-plore mate ;D. I have been usign it since 2006. It is available on multiple platforms.

You can see system folders.
You can see hidden files and folders.
Which you can delete/copy/move (be careful when you do that)
You can open many archived files as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lonelycatgames.Xplore


What is the meaning of "Unfortunately, the process android.process.media has stopped." It keeps popping up when I start using the phone, shortly after it has booted. The phone is a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N900), running Android-5.0
I flashed the phone and installed a fresh copy of the stock Android-5.0 the one I got it with (OTA update). What could be wrong with it. I need an interpretation of this error message. Thanks.

android.process.media is a common issue which can occur anytime and is caused mainly because of two applications, the Download Manager and the Media Storage.

try the following

Go to Settings > Applications > Manage Applications and make sure to look under the ‘all’ tab. Scroll down and find Google Services Framework and clear the cache and data for this one.
After doing that, scroll down and find Google Play. Tap on it and clear cache+data for this one too.
Now press the back button and choose Google Services Framework from all apps > Force stop > Clear cache > OK
Now open Google Play from you app drawer and when given an error, click OK.
Turn off your device by holding the power button and clicking on Shut down/ Reboot


Revenant folders on my Nexus 7 (flo) - how to track down the culprit? This may have been going on for a while, but I have only noticed a few weeks ago.

There are some folders inside the Downloads folder (i.e. subfolders and subsubfolders) which originally contained documents meant for a particular period and thus were named after year and month (e.g. 2014-05).

They contained documents which I have read in apps like Moon+ Reader.

I deleted those (sub)subfolders many times now, but they keep coming back.

My first hunch was: "oh, somehow Moon+ Reader must have registered them in its DB and keeps recreating them". So I decided to use the rudimentary file browser included in that app and removed the folders there. Yet, after every reboot they keep reappearing.

How can I track down the culprit? Is Moon+ Reader perhaps known to behave like that?

I have now been able to confirm without doubt that indeed Moon+ Reader is responsible for the folders reappearing after deletion.

The problem is that I've come up empty-handed when looking for a database or text file related to Moon+ Reader which contains the names of those folders.

Meanwhile I have moved my books into the Books folder instead of leaving it in a subfolder of Download, but now the whole folder hierarchy inside Download which was used by Moon+ Reader keeps reappearing.

Unfortunately even rating the app requires a Google+ account which I will not create and there is no support contact given. So no way to report this issue back. But I am thinking about extracting the app and trying to find the offending code to add more details here.


How do I upload a 3D Facebook photo from Android? iOS users can use portrait mode to upload 3D Facebook photos.
This uses a depth map + 2D photo to work.

PC users can do it by naming the files *.jpg & *_depth.jpg and uploading them as a a pair.

Google Pixel phones (and others with ports, see https://www.celsoazevedo.com/files/android/google-camera/ ) can autogenerate a depth map with the Lens Blur camera mode, which can be tested on http://depthy.me

HTC Evo 3D phones have stereo Side by Side pair, which can be converted to a depth map with Stereo Photo Maker on Windows

How can one upload a 3D photo to Facebook from Android?

Take Lens Blur photo in Google camera (ports work)
Upload to depthy.me just to split depth map (optionally edit it)
Use file manager to rename files to *.jpg and *_depth.jpg
Use Firefox Request Desktop Site to load main Facebook new feed page
Upload them one at a time (both together crashes)
Post and view in main Facebook app

https://youtu.be/DOb-CiURqJo


Open Web Page in Browser (not on SD card) My question is similar to this one, but my HTML file and resources are not on an SD card, as my phone does not accept SD cards. It is currently at file:///Download/AnotherFolder/here.html. I have resources like images and javascript in a subfolder. How can I run this is in a browser, preferably Chrome? Just entering file:///Download/AnotherFolder/here.html does not work in Chrome.

Is it in the internal SD card? Try file://mnt/sdcard/Download/AnotherFolder/here.html.


How do i get my phone's IMEI number if it was stolen? My Samsung S5 mini was stolen and I now need the IMEI number. How do i get this without the phone?

You should be able to get this information from your network provider as they will have a list of IMEI numbers that have been used by your sim card depending on the system that their customer care is using. They may need to contact a higher department in order to get this information for you.


Not receiving past messages on WhatsApp Recently I've ported my number from Idea to Vodafone, after doing this and reinstalling WhatsApp after a couple of months I've been removed from all the groups and am not receiving any messages. How do i get bach the messages of the past month?

You can decypt the .cyrpt12 file which will output a .db file which can be viewed easily using a SQLite viewer.


Determine device architecture (ARM/ARM64/x86) with 'adb getprop' Using adb getprop, I've found a few values that I think are pertinent, but I don't have any idea what an ARM64 device's value would like, much less an x86 one.

For my ARM device, the values are:

ro.product.cpu.abi       armeabi-v7a
ro.product.cpu.abi2      armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist32 armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64

I though armabi-v8a would mean ARM64, but Wikipedia says

  most chips support 32-bit AArch32 for legacy applications

So, I'm wondering if an ARMv8 chip could possibly be loaded with 32-bit Android which would further complicate things

Is there any way I can determine my device architecture with adb?

I did some poking around in some custom ROMs for x86 devices, and along with the info provided by @Izzy I think I've figured it out.

Example ARM64 device

ro.product.cpu.abilist32  armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64  arm64-v8a

Example ARM device

ro.product.cpu.abilist32  armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64

Example x86 device

ro.product.cpu.abilist32  x86,armeabi-v7a,armeabi
ro.product.cpu.abilist64

So, to figure out what kind of device you have:

ro.product.cpu.abilist64 not empty = ARM64

ro.product.cpu.abilist32 contains x86 = x86

If none of these conditions match, you have an ARM device


Android 6 Home screen sweep right (stock) (in stock Android, no any UI gadgets installed)

At home screen I can sweep to right direction
(screens right of home screen) and more screens appear to put my icons...

In old versions of Android I could also sweep to left direction
to put icons... but now appears a google search screen...

How can I configure Android get the old behavior...
same as saying... sweep to left and appears a empty screen to put my icons...

Thx

That's how Google Launcher is intended to work, so if you wish to swipe left/right to have available screens for widgets and icons, you'll want a third-party launcher to do that.


Google Maps Location History is showing an incorrect location I have a major problem that I hope someone can help with. On my Google Maps feature under my Location History it shows a location that I was never at at any point, but when my wife happened to see that location she doesn't believe me that the GPS could be wrong and pinpoint that location if I was never there.

I was first wondering myself how could that could be possible if I was never there or my phone was never at that location that was 35 miles away from me and second is there any way I could prove the GPS being wrong? Can I contact Google Maps and can they give an official printout of that certain day and every location I was? I really need to prove my honesty to her and hope there is a way.

From Google's Location Source and Accuracy page:

  Data sources

  The following location data sources may be used to derive location:

  GPS: GPS accuracy can be up to several meters depending on your GPS signal and connection. Your phone must support GPS, have it enabled,
  and allow Google Maps access to it.
  WiFi: WiFi (wireless network) accuracy should be similar to the access range of a typical WiFi router, or about 200m or better. Your
  phone must support WiFi and have it enabled.
  Cell ID: Cell ID (cell tower) accuracy depends on cell tower density and available data in Google's cell ID (cell tower) location database.
  Accuracy may be approximated at distances up to several thousand
  meters. Note: Some devices do not support cell ID location.

  ...

  Note: When Latitude is running in the background, it will default to
  cell ID (cell tower) location on most phones to preserve your battery
  life.

So if you didn't have Google Maps open for any reason at the time of the erroneous location, it will have defaulted to it's least accurate location finding service, that depending on the density of cell towers in that area (generally more dense in urban areas, less dense out in the countryside) could be out by several kilometers.

If you visit the Location History page in your Google account on a PC, at https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0 then it should show a similar map and listing of places as you see on your phone, but you can also click each recorded location to see how (in)accurate it was. When you click the blue dot for a location, Google draws a blue circle around it that shows approximately the (in)accuracy of that location fix.

The picture above shows an inaccurate fix that covers 3 villages, and a number of roads (I was actually on a train at the far southern edge of that blue circle).

As long the problem location fix has a large blue circle around it, and you can account for being somewhere in that blue circle then you should be ok.


How do i retrieve my contacts from google account using my computer Hie, my phone just stopped working, and now I need to retrieve my contacts asap, how do I go about retrieving contacts

If you added them to your google contacts you should be able to access them here: contacts.google.com hope this helps!


What is Gapps (Google Apps)? I have some questions regarding Gapps:

What is Gapps? Is it a custom ROM?
Do I have to install it on my Android 4.4 device?

GAPPS is not a custom ROM. It means "Google Applications" and usually includes Play Store, Gmail, Google Calender, and more. If you have some of these applications, then you already have some GAPPS.

Most users will only need to install GAPPS if they have installed a custom ROM that did not have GAPPS included.


SystemUI.apk is not in /system/app I tried to pull SystemUI.apk on my Samsung Android Pie/OneUI and it seems like it's either in some other directory than /system/app or has been renamed. I tried to pull this through adb. Tried different cases for it but didn't work. To anyone curious, I want to modify me status bar icons. Does someone know where it might be located?

Since Android 4.4, all privileged system apps including SystemUI have been moved to /system/priv-app.


Androidify does not show correct graphic on my device Androidify from Google that uses svg-android library, shows broken graphics when running on my low-cost Chinese tablet (Android 4.2.2). Look here:

Is someone else facing the same issue? How can I fix this?

I was able to replicate your issue. You need to disable hardware acceleration in Developer Options.

This step is for the Samsung Galaxy S4, but you should be able to find something similar for your tablet: Settings > More > Developer Options > Force GPU rendering.


Huawei Ascend G510 do I need to unlock bootloader and root to flash a custom ROM with CWM My sister wants me to fix her phone, an Huawei Ascend G510-0100, which is having lots of issues in the stock ROM (she's not able to call, for instance). we tried an hard reset but in a few days the phone started bothering us again (this problem presented the first time a few weeks after purchase, but she did not say that cause she thought she introduced malware...).

We can't use our warranty since she lost the receipt and the service is 500 km from home.

So I deceded to try flashing  Android 4.4 . I flashed my own phone 3 times but I never unlocked the bootloader (Samsung Next Turbo) and root was not needed (in two of them).

Do I need to unlock bootloader and root to flash a custom ROM in this device? I wanted to use the ClockWorkMod to flash, but I can't find an updated version for G510, can anybody link me one?

If yes, where is the dload folder in internal storage?

Root wasn't needed,but I first tried to uninstall system apps to make the system faster, but there wasn't a really huge difference.

I had to unlock the bootloader to flash recovery (TWRP), and now I have a custom ROM on (AOSPA 4.6).


Cannot update to Lollipop on rooted Moto G 2nd Gen I have rooted my device a few days back. Today I received Lollipop update for my Moto G 2nd gen. I downloaded the updates and clicked on install updates.
When I clicked on Install updates, it powered off my phone and then opened TWRP screen with all its options. I had no idea about what to do next so I just clicked on "Reboot". It rebooted my device and again due to Lollipop installation, got powered off again.
My device got in power off and TWRP screen loop. I rebooted my device a few times and then it displayed me the message that the "update was unsuccessful"
Now, when I check for updates, it shows me that my software is up to date. I still have KitKat on my device.
Please help me to upgrade my Android version from KitKat to Lollipop. Please also suggest what to do when I install updates and my device powers off and start with TWRP screen.

You can't get OTA updates while the phone is rooted.  What you need to do is un-root the phone, install the OTA update, then re-root the phone once you're done.

Also, OTA updates are best done using the stock recovery.


Installing stock Android on Galaxy S3 fails. How to see why? I have tried installing AUT-I9300XXUGNA5-20140129183554.zip and O2U-I9300XXUGNA5-20140224162541.zip on my S3. They both fail with "Installation aborted", but I have no problem installing cm-10.1.3-i9300.zip. I have tried both from external_sd and sideloading. Same problem.

I can see the information from the screen in /tmp/recovery.log:

-- Installing: /external_sd/O2U-I9300XXUGNA5-20140224162541.zip
Finding update package...
I:Update location: /external_sd/O2U-I9300XXUGNA5-20140224162541.zip
Opening update package...
Installing update...
Installation aborted.

The most prominent difference between AUT&O2U and cm-10 is size: The AUT&O2U are around 1 GB whereas cm-10 is around 200 MB.

Can I somehow do the installation by hand through the shell, so I can see exactly why the two zips fail to install?

You can't install the stock ROM zip like as custom rom. Extract the stock rom zip and you will get the .tar PDA file to flash via ODIN. Download ODIN 1.85 and also install Samsung USB driver and then reboot your phone in download mode by pressing three combo key VOL Down+ Home+ Power button. Now connect it to pc while ODIN is opened on PC. Now your phone should show up on some port and usind PDA button and browse the firmware you extracted from the zip on pc and select it and flash. You will loss the root by doing this and also all data will be wipe out.


How to take a screenshot of an entire scrolling activity? I have a Samsung Galaxy Y, and I have an application that has a scrollable activity. I wanted to take a screenshot but the "Home button - Power button" combination only captures the contents that are visible on the screen. What I wanted is to capture the full activity of the app including the unscrolled parts... I hope I explained it well ...

You can check the scrollscreenshot tool: https://github.com/PGSSoft/scrollscreenshot

It makes multiple screenshots and simulates drag events to scroll content between each screenshot, then join all images into one.

Disclaimer: I'm author of this tool, it was published by my employer. Feature requests are welcome.


Inability to call or text with Samsung Galaxy S3 My Samsung Galaxy S3 has this annoying habit that, whenever I try to do something like connect to a network, or open Candy Crush, after 20 seconds my phone will turn off, and on, and then keep turning off and on, the timing at which it turns off after turning on is variable: sometimes I have the option to enter my PIN, most of the time not.

Up until this point I solved it by plugging it in, and stop attempting to do anything  with this phone that I cannot do on my old Nokia. The problem this time, is that my phone has entered a state of isolation: I cannot text, or receive texts, cannot call and the symbol which normally shows how good my connection is to my network has been replaced by a stop sign. How do I get rid of this?

Also, my battery occasionally drains: from full to 0 in under 2 minutes.

Placing my SIM into a different phone allowed me to text and call, so its nothing to do with that.

Take a backup of your phone and do a hard reset.

Steps for a hard Reset

Turn the phone off.
Press and hold VOLUME UP and Home(center) button Press Power until
the phone vibrate Wait until you see the Android   logo then release
all the buttons
Select Wipe data/Factory reset with VOLUME DOWN, press Power (right
    hand-side) Select YES -- delete all user data with VOLUME DOWN and
    then press Power After format,    press Power again to reboot phone.
    (select reboot system now)

Source


Why newer android versions drain the battery faster? I've got an Android phone whose stock Android version is 2.1. I've tried several times to install some custom ROMs (mostly Cyanogenmod based) with Android 2.2 and 2.3.

The full charged battery lasts:

>3 days with the 2.1 stock version
1.5~2 days with android 2.2
~1 day with android 2.3

...And they say that android 4 drains the battery even faster!

I'm wondering why this happens:

Is the newer software using the hardware more intensively? What pieces of hardware? What pieces of software? And why?
In general, should I expect a custom ROM to drain battery faster than a stock one (same Android version)? The ROMs I installed were supposed to be more optimized than the stock one, and have less crappy services running, but meh!
If the phone was designed for a newer Android version (say 2.3) would I get a big battery boost by switching to a former version (2.1)?

I doubt this is a software issue but moreso a hardware issue. Consider the following, Newer phones typically have:

Bigger Screens
More Antennas (Wifi N, 4G, NFC, etc.)
More sensors (This includes cameras)

Either more or more advanced of what's mentioned above. This comes at a cost, as each draws its own amperage. While it may be minuscule in an isolated system, when combined together these features present a non-negligible drain on the battery.

And, While newer batteries will perform great, over time the battery will not hold the same charge as it once did, this is not a limitation of the phone but battery technology in general. I'm specifically talking about Lithium Ion batteries right now, b/c that's the most common battery in phones today.

While there are things you can do to mitigate the problem, such as staying in airplane mode throughout the day or buying power management apps for your phone, downgrading your OS likely won't help much. If anything, it will provide old power management code, as well as no support for newer hardware.

Custom ROMs are a different story, and aren't created equal. Some may have modified code to provide better battery life, some may be performance focused and not taken battery life into account.

Some phones also have extended batteries available for them. I can't speak firsthand to their effectiveness, but I obtained one for my Dell laptop and it made a huge difference. Some people are reluctant to this approach because it changes the weight and/or profile of the phone, however one must weigh that against having it tethered to a charger all day as well.


control per app internet (non-rooted) while using actual VPN? I am trying all sorts of (non-root) security software that allows me to block internet for apps. so far every one needs some kind of fake VPN to gain access to traffic, I guess so no root is needed. I can't have this since I use an actual VPN which gets turned off if I use any of these security apps. is there no way to block internet for apps while using my VPN?

This is possible since Android 8 (when Block connections without VPN feature was added), also you will have to use VPN app which supports Per-App VPN (which is supported since Android 5.0?) e.g. OpenVPN for Android from F-Droid or Google Play.

Assuming you use OpenVPN for Android:

System settings → VPN → tap button with gear icon on the right side of OpenVPN for Android → enable both Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN.
OpenVPN for Android → tap button with pencil icon on desired profile → swipe to ALLOWED APPS tab → select apps you want to exclude from using VPN → return to main screen → re/connect to VPN using this profile

This was tested on MIUI device, but I think should be pretty much the same on majority of devices (except those whose manufacturers removed or hid Android's default functionality from ROM (like Huawei from EMUI)). Also per app internet control access is built-in by default in MIUI.


Lg optimus L 70 system update won't work I had checked my system update file and there is a file with 200 mb to download. I click on it and that annoying little message comes up: Insufficient storage available to download......I have 765 mb available. I google it and it's a pretty common but solutions put on absolute garbage and the *#9900# thing won't because it only works for Samsung. Another thing, should I even update or it doesn't matter and I can leave it how it is. Please help because I can't find anyone with my phone type and in my same situation. App updates and downloads work fine, just this stupid thing. Please help, anyone.

If you have an SD card slot . Shove a 2gb+ card in there and point it to download to the SD card. You can use chrome or some other browser that will let you change  download location for every download. Only if this does not work - you can try increasing the space in /system
/System and /mnt/sdcard1 these are different partitions.Try clearing the /system partition by moving some apps that do not appear to be needed system apps. This can be done using Link2SD app. You have to be very choosy- if you select some vital app and make it non system it can be a problem.


Directory named with random characters automatically (re)created in SD card? Could this be a malware? Lately, I've seen that a directory with what seems to be a random name (like Z0tQWDVmQmoyRUxVSWdBU2pwNzAxMzc1Mw) is present in the local storage (/sdcard) of my Samsung Galaxy S5.

When I delete it, it's automatically recreated.

The directory contains three files, two with random name and the third is  named 'This directory is very important. Please do not delete.' One file contain some script or code to create an sqlite database and tables.

Could this be a virus? Is there a way to find out which app is creating this directory?

Something similar happened to my 7" phablet.

The file belonged to the MobileCare app.

If you check the properties, the date and time are similar.

Good luck!


Install APK from ADB and bypassing the prompt on Redmi Device = Redmi 5 Plus.

I have 250 apps as a .bak created by PC app. But the cheater PC app is asking for premium to restore it now. So, I can extract the .bak and find my apps.

I wanted to batch install those apks. I tried adb install apkname.apk to check if it works. But the phone keeps prompting me to accept the install and countdown starts, or else it will auto deny after countdown finishes. I've also tried 3rd-party app like ApkInstaller but it's the same.

I read many articles and they say it works without prompt. So, why am I getting this issue? How to bypass this prompt automatically?

In addition to adb install, you can directly use package manager from adb shell to install apps. Place .apk files in /data/local/tmp and make sure files are readable, SELinux context must be u:object_r:shell_data_file:s0. Now:

~$ cd /data/local/tmp
~$ ls *.apk | xargs -I {} pm install '{}'

Another simple root solution is to use some file explorer e.g. MiXplorer to batch install apps. Select all .apk files and tap on Install from menu.


Droid X attachment download location I'm just trying to figure out where in the phone the attachments get saved after you open them?

I remember opening a PDF attachment from my email using my Droid X. The email was deleted so I'm trying to find the PDF that was downloaded by my phone when I opened the attachment.

I have an MSN account.

Anyone knows the default location in the phone?

Thank you

By default, email attachments and browser downloads are stored at:

/sdcard/download

Can also be identified by some File Managers as:

/HWUserData/download

If the device doesn't have a user-replaceable SD card the location should be:

/mnt/sdcard/Download

Some apps may have their own default location, or save to appropriated locations based on the file extension.


What triggers Always On Display's display of seconds? I'm using a Samsung A320F/DS with AOD in "show always" mode. Android is 8.0.0, AOD has only a single page (without the player). Clock style is set up as

  22:59
TUE 3 JULY
  84%

But one day, when I extracted my phone from the pocket, I found it displaying time as 12:00:41, changing seconds every second. I didn't pay attention at first, and hid the phone back into the pocket. After some time, when I extracted it again to use, the seconds appeared to have gone.

But now I wonder: what triggered this display of seconds? How do I reproduce this? I've tried tapping everywhere, pressing sensor buttons at the bottom, holding them, pressing/holding menu button, volume buttons, but the phone didn't react.

EDIT: I've found that on the Lock Screen, I can get seconds by tapping the clock area. Then the screen dims a bit, and the clock begins to display seconds — until the screen turns off. I still wonder how I triggered this in the Always On Display.

Apparently, what I saw was not the Always On Display. I suppose the sequence of events was something like follows:

While the phone was in the pocket, power button got pressed
Due to hot weather the touchscreen was activated by the side of the pocket (wetted due to sweat), thus tapping OK in the warning dialog to "continue using the phone"
The same activation mechanism resulted in a tap on the clock area on the Lock Screen
Lock Screen presented its "extended clock" or whatever it's called, which shows seconds — on a very dimmed out background.

The dimmed background is likely what made me think it's completely black and assume that it's the Always On Display.

And indeed, this agrees with my observation that after several seconds the extended clock format changes back to the MM:SS — this is simply the display going to sleep, turning on the real AOD.