Root Samsung Galaxy Core i8262 manually I tried almost every readymade app like Framaroot, Root Genius, etc. to root my Samsung Galaxy Core i8262 , but I didn't succeed.

I want to root it manually but did not have Linux laptop. I have a Windows 8 laptop. How to root it with that?

Before rooting your Galaxy Core GT-i8262, you need to know that CWM have bug to get caught in bootloop. But don't worry about that if your phone get caught in this situation. Here is solution  for all problems during rooting of your phone. So, here I prefer TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project) over CWM , which has no such problems.

Here, you need to flash a custom recovery before because, after rooting if you you reboot then your root access vanishes. It happens as stock recovery sets them back. It was happening with me. Such a waste of time in rooting your phone again. Then, I got this process for permanent root access.

  Before you continue to the tutorial, you please prepare the following files:

Make sure your computer has installed SAMSUNG USB Driver and Odin307. If not, please download.
Download file TWRP Recovery, and save it on your computer.
Download flashable SuperSu zip file.

Steps to follow:

Step 1: Download both the above files in a specific folder on your computer. The Odin that you’ve just downloaded is an essential tool & is must for installing TWRP recovery on any Android device. We remind our users that this tool is an illegal way & is not officially released by Samsung. Even though it will not cause any damage to your device unless you follow the instructions properly.

Step 2: Enable mode USB Debugging on your android by going to the settings, click on the phone, click on the version 7x formation, then you will receive Developer options.

Step 3: Power off your Galaxy core completely. You need to boot your mobile into downloading mode now.

Step 4: For Galaxy core, downloading mode can be entered by pressing & holding Home button + Volume Down key + Power button simultaneously until you see a warning message.

Step 5: Leave all the three buttons as soon as it appears. And just press the Volume up button to land into downloading mode.

Step 6: Now you need to flash the TWRP recovery on your device. For that keeping the device in download mode, connect it to computer using the USB cable.

Step 7: Launch the Odin Multi Downloader v3.07 that you’ve downloaded earlier. If your device is connected properly, then you’ll see that an Added message has been appeared on the Odin window. Along with that you’ll see the ID:COM section has turned blue with a random com port number below it. If this doesn’t happen, then ensure that proper device drivers are installed on your computer. You can install them from the link mentioned above.

Step 8: Make sure that the Auto-Reboot and F.Reset Time options present on the Odin window are checked. Do not tick or untick anything else.

Step 9: On the Odin window, click on the PDA tab and browse to the twrp2.7_arubaslim.ODIN.tar recovery file which you have downloaded earlier & select it.

Step 10: After completing everything as mentioned above, simply press the Start button located on the Odin window to execute the TWRP flashing process. Your phone will automatically reboot itself while going through the process. It is recommended not to touch or remove the USB cable until the process completes.

Step 11: Be patient until the TWRP flashing process completes. It will hardly take 2 minutes to complete. As soon as it completes, you’ll see the ID:COM section on the Odin window is turned green with the message Pass below it. Now you can safely remove the USB cable.

Note: Unfortunately due to some reason phone if the process fails or if Odin gets stuck or in case your device gets boot loops, then don’t panic. Just close the Odin window, remove and re-insert the battery from your device. Again go into downloading mode and repeat the whole procedure as given above.

Step 12: As all the flashing processes are completed now, let’s see whether the TWRP recovery is properly installed or not. For that, firstly switch off your Galaxy Core.

Step 13: Now boot into recovery mode. For Galaxy Core, recovery mode can be entered by pressing & holding Volume Up key + Home button (Middle button) + Power button simultaneously until you land into recovery mode. You’ll notice that TWRP Custom recovery is properly installed on your device.

Step 13: Now select ‘Wipe data/factory reset’ option followed by ‘Wipe Cache partition’ option for wiping out the data & caches present onto your phone memory. You can now reboot your phone by selecting ‘reboot system now’ option from the recovery mode itself.

Step 14: Now, copy SuperSu zip to your sdcard and put it in your phone.

Step 15: Open recovery mode again as stated above. Click Install, then choose your SuperSu zip file and flash it.

Step 16: Reboot to system and search for SuperSu app. If you have it, then you have full root access.

    Don't forget to enjoy it by utilising ROOT access.

Disclaimer: To build this answer I used my experience ( Yup! I have same device ) and two main sources as follows: first and second.


Is it possible to change Android font in all apps? Is it possible to change the Android font in all apps, including the keyboard? I have successfully changed the system font, but here and there I find odd fonts, such as in Flipboard and on my keyboard, Fleksy. I have a rooted Moto G running SlimKat.

Not sure about keyboard font but maybe you can change the font in apps. Check out this link - Custom fonts in apps. And also this link - Custom fonts in apps 2.
Link 2 is from external site.


Switching profiles based on networks availability While there are plenty of apps to switch profiles based on various triggers (time, position, ...), Llama being an excellent one for instance -- I did not manage to find any which would from time to time switch a network device on (Wifi, Bluetooth) and check whether a previously configured network is available, then connect if it is available. Should the network not be available, or not be available anymore, the device would be switched off. Until the next check.

This would be extremely useful for someone who is neither very much "time organized" (ie. I do not know what I will be doing a Tuesday at 10:00), nor "place organized" (I spend some time in the neighborhood of my WiFi access point, without the access point being close enough to be connected to, but close enough for cell/GPS based location to think I am in its direct vicinity).

Would someone know of such an application (or a combo - one for WiFi, one for Bluetooth)?

Thank you!

As usual: try with Tasker. Tasker can react on "network near" (check for WiFi SSID), you also can check signal levels and react depending on that. This way you could not even check whether a certain WiFi network is in reach, but also how strong its signal is -- which might prove helpful e.g. in an office building with multiple WiFi networks to determine which room you are in.


Fastboot failed with (data transfer failure (No error)) Sorry for newbie question,

I'm running fastboot on windows and sometimes fastboot returns this error

FAILED (data transfer failure (No error))

and when it get this error it continue to send this error until I reboot the PC and re-run it again.

C:\>fastboot.exe -s tcp:192.168.1.73 flash system_i C:\system.img
target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes
erasing 'system_i'...
OKAY [ 60.543s]
sending sparse 'system_i' 1/2 (262140 KB)...
FAILED (data transfer failure (No error))
finished. total time: 86.195s

C:\>

Note: it usually happen on large files, but when it happen, it also fails on all other files including small ones until I reboot the PC.

I have not encounter this problem on Linux, it seems it's specific to Windows version, probably fastboot itself or windows setup. (different fastboot version tried).

I search and did not find any complain for this kind of error!

Note: fastboot downloaded from internet. https://developer.android.com

I found the answer:
This problem happen in case that the fastboot is not compatible with software version, e.g. when we want to run a fastboot.exe from Windows and connect to a device that has software has been built with Linux machine.


Is it possible to restrict access to raw user data in fine-grained manner? Usually, to allow an app to read user's data we add some lines to the android manifest stating a specific permission for that app. However, android does not have any kind of control over the raw data that an app may read. For example, if an app has the permission to read the call logs of the user, it will be able to access to all the raw call logs information without any kind of restriction. Furthermore, it happens exactly the same when an app tries to read the contacts. It can read every entry without and restriction on the raw data. The fact that apps does not have any restriction on user's raw information once they have access really concerns me. It would be more desirable that, for example, a social app would have only access to your contacts email and not phone numbers, addresses or phone office numbers.

I am trying build an app that could restrict the access to raw information in a fine-grained manner. That is, an app that could restrict the access depending on user's preferences so that two different apps that, for example, have the permission to access to the call logs could view different processed versions of the same call log. One could only see the calls made during an specific day and the other one could only see the calls during the last moth. The idea could also be applied to contacts so that sensible user information would not be disclosed.

I have been researching a lot into the topic but I have not found any answer. From all the sources that I have read, I guess this cannot be done (yet). However, if anyone could shed light on how to implement this I would be very grateful. Would it be possible to restrict the access to raw data in a fine-grained manner?

Android official supports multiple users with profile restrictions:

https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/3175031?hl=en

I think there are several 3rd party ways to do it (Like Maas360 software) that can also do multiple user profiles

I don't k now if "android restricted profiles" meets all of your needs, but I think this is the starting point for controlling a device that may have multiple users with different roles.


How to revert Androidone X510 to Lollipop I am making use of Androidone,
Model:X510
Version: 5.1.1

Recently, my phone received a system update, so I installed the system update, and my device upgraded to Android Marshmallow 6.0.

After this update, I started having problems with most of my apps. These apps have refused to run.
For example, I installed Modern Combat 4, but after the update, the game doesn't display, it just shows a pink screen.

I have tried everything I could, but I am still having this problem, and there is no way I can contact the manufacturer, because the phone is made by Google.

My main question is this—

How do I uninstall this new update of 6.0, and return my device to its former stage, which is 5.1.1?

Thank you.

I'll try to help you, maybe it's not relevant to your answer (but I think it's kinda). So, yesterday I've got a little problem too when try to installing Modern Combat 4 on my lollipop device. I downloaded the Modern Combat 4 from this link
http://apksaurus.com/modern-combat-4-android-apkdata-download.html

Unfortunately, Modern Combat 4 isn't working normally on Lollipop device, yeah the model will become a pinky object like this.

And then I'm doing a quick search on Google just want to know how to fix this, and voila. Maybe you can try this youtube.com/watch?v=m7qj16vnutM
To be noted, it's not a promotion, that's not even my YouTube channel nor video, I just want to say that if you want to play this game on your 6.0 device, you can.


What's the difference between factory reset and hard reset? I know that both of them wipe data and revert the device settings as they were - - but let's say I notice a bug on the device.

Should I pursue a hard reset it factory reset? What are the key differences?

Hard-reset does not wipe data. It is a forceful way of restarting the device.

To put it simply, Factory-reset, is to restore the device to the state it was in when you got the new device (excepting the upgrades) and is a sledge hammer approach, while hard-reset is restarting device to get rid of minor irritants . Which approach you want to take depends on the "bug" you have and how severe it is. Look up the tag wiki information and questions to help you decide what you need to do to fix your bug

Key differences below:

Added hard-reset tag to your question. Quoting from hard-reset tag wiki

  A hard reset is traditionally when you kill all power to the phone and then boot it up from that state. Normally you remove the battery, then put it back in and boot up. Unfortunately, some people use "hard reset" when they really mean factory-reset.

Again quoting from factory-reset tag wiki

  A factory reset results in a full reset of an Android device to the original settings of the currently-installed ROM. This process deletes all user data and user installed apps, so the device looks like it came fresh out of the box. Usually this corresponds to the state it comes in from the factory (hence the name "factory reset"), which sometimes can be a little misleading: A factory reset will not roll back any possibly applied updates to the system.


*#7284# not launching phoneutil My tablet is not getting connected through USB.

It's showing me the error" "USB device not recognised"

On one forum I read to dial *#7284# and it will launch Phoneutil.

But in my case it's not working.

It seems that the code is specific for Samsung devices. Therefore, if your device is made by another manufacturer, it doesn't work (if the manufacturer hasn't added it specifically).


Can't play full audio files I'm using a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, not to be confused with a small surf board, and I've run into a new problem this morning.  I usually load some smutty audio books (ok, Star Wars audio books) to listen to during the more mundane parts of the workday, at the gym, etc.  When I added the next few in my current series, I noticed that my audio book player was only playing about 5 min. of each file and then moving on to the next one.

I checked on my PC to make sure that the files weren't corrupted, and they were fine on the desktop (when VLC opened them, they played for the proper duration).  Okay, I thought, I'll delete the files that got screwed up when I loaded them via WiFi and retransfer them using my cable.  Same problem once I got the files on again.  Next I tried to use the Samsung Music app instead of my audio book player but got the same result.  Even in the system audio file player I get the same problem.  What should be a 1:17:46 file keeps trying to play like it's a 00:05:14 file.

This behavior was seen pretty heavily across the 40 or 50 files I put on this morning (using the USB, over WiFi I only transferred the one book), but some of the files didn't have any problems.  It also seems like entire books are treated the same way; if one plays fine, all play fine, and vice versa.

Technical Details:
Android:
Version 4.4.2
Kernel 3.4.0-722276
Build KOT49H.N900AUCUCNC2
SE for Android status: Enforcing SEPF_SAMSUNG-SM-n900A_4.4.2_0013
Security revision MDF v1.0 Release 2

Files:
Type .mp3
Bit rate 128kbps

Audio Book App (not sure this is relevant since it's on the system and Samsung players as well): Smart AudioBook Player

Since this has been open for a week, I decided to post my workaround and the other details I found as an answer.  Mods, please don't close other similar questions, because this is not an actual answer, just a hotfix that might help someone later.

Just wanted to update: 1) Found a workaround using the VLC Player (still in beta) to open the files. 2) After going back to google basics and figuring out a better way to ask, it looks like it might be an issue with variable bit rates; unfortunately, when I downloaded an app to fix that, it came back telling me that based on the file tags, it thinks they're constant bit rate and not variable. I'm way outside my area of focus on this one, but TL;DR is that the file on the device is not corrupt, as I can get it to play with the VLC app.


Replacing pre-installed Settings app I own Intex Aqua Life III with Android Lollipop. The pre-installed Settings app behaves like malware, automatically installing unwanted apps. On uninstalling this pre-installed Settings app, the issue is resolved.

I tried to install the Settings app from my Lava Iris X8, but it did not work.

How can I replace the pre-installed Settings app with another one? What's the procedure?

Possible Solutions

Grab APK from another of the SAME model phone running the EXACT SAME ROM your phone is:

The only thing you may be able to do is grab a settings.apk from another phone with the exact same ROM.

Re-Flash just the System partition:

Otherwise you will need to re-flash your ROM.  Don't Panic!!  If you just format the following via the Recovery menu:

ART/Dalvick cache
System
and Cache

you can retain all your apps and everything else in /data.

Note: You may wish to do a backup of your launcher settings if you use something like Nova or ADW or Apex or Go custom home launchers (stock won't have a layout backup function).  The only settings you may lose are any system settings (though MOST will be backed up anyways for you as most apps in /system use an area of /data to store settings files.  Some do not and is why I mention it) that do not save their settings somewhere in /data or /sdcard.

Other than that, this process as such (as long as you do not delete /data) will retain all your apps and their settings (the boot after the flash will take longer than usual as it will need to generate the cache for all the extra apps on the initial boot, but an extra couple min is a small price to pay to not have to re-setup everything IMHO ;-) (and you should get a countdown as it is running through the apps)).  AND since you will be flashing the exact same ROM there is no chance of problems [when changing ROMs if they use a different code base you can run in to issues where you are forced to format /Data as part of install, BUT NOT THE CASE when flashing the exact same ROM].

Tech Note on How This May Have Happened and Ways to try and defend against this sort of thing (nothing is a guarantee)

The only way something could mess with anything you have in the /system partition (including the system settings menu) can only be messed with by an app that has root access.  So, be careful what apps you are granting SuperUser access to (and be VERY VERY VERY careful if you download apks outside the Google Play Store.  It may seem like a good idea, but crackers can take ANY apk and add a virus to it and put it on a random site.  Then you think you just got the newest angry birds and in fact you did, BUT they added a nasty surprise to it.

You could also try out a Virus scanner (ONLY download this via the Google Play Store, and ONLY use reputable big name brands to be safest.  If unsure just fire up google and google the name of the anti virus and read up on user reviews and related material to get a feel for if what you are looking at is a good and safe option.  Of course, even if you have a virus scanner something may still get by it so still best to keep things like the above paragraph in mind at all times.


How To Sync Data From Specific App(s) Across Multiple Devices I know some are going to skip over reading this and just think this is regular Android syncing, I can assure you this isn't the same. I'm not talking about sytem, email, social media, or calender apps. Most normal user apps don't sync data between devices. I'm not developing anything, so this question is posted from the viewpoint of an end user.

What I am trying to figure out

How to sync data from a specific app to all my devices on my home network, without manually entering the data?

(For Reference one of the apps I want to sync data from is ShowBox. There are others, but I would be able to duplicate the solution provided)

Steps I have taken so far is to

contact developer(s)/no luck
write a script/no luck
get an app/no luck
researched/no luck

The answer I'm looking for will be basically non-device specific, but for sticklers at least for Android 4.1 and up. If the answer includes an app or other method, please include details with step-by-step instructions. EDIT Please don't include steps or apps that involve user interaction everytime, because I could manually transfer the data myself just as easy. One last request, it must be done locally. Not online, but do on home network.

EDITED PER REQUEST
In the reference (example) app above, the data I wish to sync would be watched videos and favorites. User data. Like stated above there are other apps I would also use the same solution/steps on.
Also if there is a way to automate the syncing.

Now you're a bit vague when you say data but if I know what you're talking about then I would consider an app called OneNote by Microsoft.

You need to have a Microsoft account. Go to Outlook and sign up for an email there. You don't have to use that email. It just links all the Microsoft apps together.
Once you have created the email, download OneNote, both on your computer and all your other devices. Sign in with the email that you have created.

It will give you plenty of features in which you can sync all your information that you need across all of your devices. For example, I have it on my phone and when I take a picture it is uploaded to OneNote and I can automatically see it on my computer.

It will also sync all sorts of information and data that you need such as important documents like word Excel and PowerPoint and even video.

There are also a few other apps that can do the same thing.


Hardware ID missing on Galaxy S3 after Windows update A few days ago I accepted Windows Update's Samsung drivers for Galaxy S3 running rooted Jelly Bean. It worked fine as USB MTP device until then.

Now, every time I connect the USB cable I get the error "Hardware ID missing. Contact manufacturer..." and I can't see my device's file system.

Switching to PTP or enabling Debug doesn't work.

How to fix it?

Make sure your device is connected. Open Device Manager. In USB Devices, find a SAMSUNG composite device (can't capture a screenshot because it goes away).

Right click, choose Uninstall and make sure to check "get rid of that sheet of driver software"... Well... I mean "delete driver software too".

Disconnect and reconnect USB, or clik Detect Devices button

Windows detects the phone and installs the plain old MTP driver.

Optional step: report to Samsung

Optional step 2: upvote :)


Error: Application not installed, when trying to install Google Play Services APK I'm using XOLO A500 running Android 4.0.4. Initially, it was showing this error:

Then I tried installing Google Play Services through APK file(that was solution on many sites), but I am getting the error "Can't install Google play services":

I rooted the  device, and  accidentally, my friend deleted it.

Download System Apps Installer APK file and install it in your phone
Download recent version of Google Play Services app's APK
Install it as a system app by using System Apps Installer

Note: Incorrect use of System Apps Installer will harm your phone


Block apps from accessing the Internet on Android device In Android, is it possible to block apps from accessing the Internet? Many apps will often connect to remote servers in the background, including Google's own apps or system services. Over time this can eat away at a user's data limit set by a mobile carrier. Does Android allow an app to act as a firewall whereby the user can select which apps have access to the Internet? Or does the device have to be rooted to have that ability?

If you don't have root access on the device, then you can use mobiwol to control the access various apps have to the Internet. Mobiwol creates a 'virtual' VPN connection on the device which allows control of the individual app connections. However, although the app starts when the device starts it is possible that there may be a brief period prior to Mobiwol executing in which apps could get Internet access despite the Mobiwol configuration.

If you have root access, there are more alternatives:

Remove the 'internet' permission using an app like Permissions Denied
If your kernel supports IPTables, you can use an app such as AFWall+ to control which apps have access to the internet.


Is it possible to change Android ID without root access nor factory reset? I have an Android 10 phone (OnePlus 5) and I want to change the Android ID (I think this is what apps use to identify you sometimes). I read that either I can do a factory reset or root my phone, both of which probably involve wiping the data clean which I want to avoid, and rooting looks complicated.
But I read that it's possible to change the Android ID by just using some command line tools, is it possible?

AFAIK you cannot change Android ID without root or without performing a factory reset.
For my own and future visitors' reference, I'll explain what you asked in the comment:

Would a factory reset also lead to a different app-specific ID?

Android documentation is not very clear about this:

"The value may change if a factory reset is performed on the device or if an APK signing key changes."

As I explained in my answer to Where is the "android_id" stored and when does it change?, since Android 8 every app gets a unique Android ID which is saved in file:
/data/system/users/<User_ID>/settings_ssaid.xml

Since the file is not accessible without root, it's not possible to change the ID for a specific app.
Android 11 source code shows that the app-specific Android ID is generated based on two parameters: a random ID generated on first use to identify a user ID (in multi-users or work profiles), and the app's signing key.
Since the user ID is randomized after a factory reset, the app-specific Android ID should also change.
Without root and factory reset the only thing we can change is the package's signing keys, which may not always be very feasible and requires some good hacking skills.
With root access you can edit the file mentioned above. It contains the user ID as well as the app-specific Android IDs. Simply changing the Android ID will do the trick.
But if you reinstall or update the app the original Android ID (created by Android OS) will come back (since the randomly generated user ID and the package's signing key isn't changed). So you need to edit the file again. Or you can remove the user ID as well from the file (the line with name="userkey") which makes the changes permanent.
After making changes to the file, a reboot might be required if Android framework is caching the values somewhere.


How do I delete application sync data permanently? Is there a way I can completely remove sync data for an app and thus prevent it from syncing with my google account? For example, I had Google Fit on my other mobile, I wasn't using it at all, but it is still listed in my account to sync on this new phone, even when I dont have Google Fit. Is there a way I could completely remove its association with my devices?

You can just go to google settings, delete all your Google Fit history and other App-data, remove google fit, and not worry about it showing up under your account sync settings.


Will changing app shapes be affected by themes? I have just desovered 'developer mode' and there is an option to change the app shape. But I have a theme installed on my phone and I don't know if me having a theme will not let the shape change or will make my theme disable so the app shape can change? Basically can I have a theme enabled and still change my app shape?

Icon Shapes
Home screen icon shape changing is the feature by android. It was first introduced in Android 8.0 Oreo. Later, in Android 9.0 Pie and Android 10 Q, more shapes are added. Shapes include Square, circle(default),squircle,teardrop etc.
Themes
Theme is a feature provided by some manufacturers(Samsung, Xiaomi, Oneplus, Realme etc). Theme changes complete look and feel of devices by its color,icon styles, positioning etc.
Note: I am using stock android, I don't know whether manufacturers provide icon shape changing on their theme app.


my galaxy tab s only showing todays emails in outlook, email received from same account is ok on pc and smartphone Email inbox only showing todays email not those received yesterday or last week etc. Tried settings to increase number of messages etc but no joy. The same account working fine on pc and smartphone problem only on my tablet

I can almost guarantee it's a mapping issue. Your PC is set up to pull emails off of the server they are originally sent to and they are then stored on the computer. (Outlook is configured this way by default, but nowadays will email on our cellphones it really should be changed). This deletes them off the server, so when you go to check your emails on your phone, the old messages are no longer in the server and the android email client is reflecting that. Your iPhone is likely set up to not delete these messages when they are deleted off the server like your android is (I know this is what my iPad always did). Change the email fetching settings your computer from POP3 to IMAP if possible. Make sure they are set to mirror each other and not to delete the original once they are fetched. If you can't use IMAP, this setting should technically still exist in POP3, but I've fought with it in the past.

Once you do this, you should notice tomorrow that the emails are no longer disappearing.


Losing connectivity with my carrier, how can I reconnect? I'm not sure why this happens, but I've lost connectivity (phone service, 3G) with my service provider a number of times now. Not just for a short while, I may be off the air for hours. This is worrying, as I'm not aware that this is happening. I have to reset the mobile.

Is there a way to get a notification that I'm off the air?
Is there a way to reconnect without rebooting the phone?
Is this something that happens to others, or am I just lucky?

I have a Samsung Galaxy SII.

Is there a way to get a notification that I'm off the air?

I don't think this is possible, but there might be an app out there for it. I'm not sure. I'm fairly certain that it's not a native function in Android though.

  Is there a way to reconnect without rebooting the phone?

Airplane mode on/off seems to be the easiest route. If that doesn't work, you can try going into "More..." on the settings menu and look for available networks manually. Maybe you'll find that you find other networks, just not your carrier, and in that case it's actually a coverage problem, or a problem with their equipment since you can actually see networks, just not the one you want to connect to.

  Is this something that happens to others, or am I just lucky?

Connection drops to the network is very common, but it's usually different kinds of drops for different reasons. If you have rooted your phone and you're running a custom ROM, you might need to check out GetRIL. If you're running stock, try a factory reset/reinstall of your device first, or see if there's any updates available from Samsung.

I get drops at times on my Galaxy Nexus as well, but I only lose data connection, I still see my carriers name and I can recieve SMS/phone calls. This sounds completely different from your issue if you are actually losing contact with the GSM network completely.

I'd recommend that you check out if you can find other carriers networks or not (mentioned above), if you can find others you need to notify your carrier first of all. If you can't, it's probably phone-specific but even there your carrier/Samsung should be able to help you if you still have warranty and the device is not rooted.


Why does Spotify say that there is no Internet connection available when there is one (Samsung Galaxy S)? When I start the Spotify Android app from my Samsung Galaxy 1 it seems that the internet connection is not working:

What can I do to resolve this?

Lucky for you, I am a super user on the Spotify community.

First, you need to wipe the data for the Spotify app, and then re login.

Once this has done, it may take a few seconds for the app to recognise the Internet connection.

If that fails to work, reinstall the app, and login again.


Is moving apps to SD only available to rooted devices? Can I move any apps to SD?
Is there a specific version of Android that I should run: 2.1, 2.2?
Should my phone be rooted for that? Or does it work for stock versions too?

The app has to support moving to the SD card.
The feature should be in Android 2.2+.
Your phone doesn't have to be rooted in order to do it.


My Samsung Galaxy Ace disconnects from Wi-Fi when sleeping even after setting the Wi-Fi sleep policy I asked this question and found that normally setting the Wi-Fi sleep policy to Never would prevent my device from disconnecting from Wi-Fi when the screen is off, but it's not working.  Even after setting this it still ends up disconnected.  How can I get it to work properly?

I found this somewhere -- and it works for me.

Here is the solution that worked perfectly with me:
the problem lies in the DHCP settings of the ADSL router.

FOLLOW THESE STEPS TO SOLVE THIS PROBLEM.......

Login to your router and go to DHCP settings (for belkin its 192.168.2.1) and find the item called leasing time. The default values of the leasing time is usually Forever -- and there is a bug with Android
All you have to do is to change the value of the Leasing time from forever to any other long value (depends on the routers options). Here I changed the value from forever to 2 weeks -- and since then I didn't have a single WIFI disconnect.


How Do I change from PTP to MTP mode? Cannot find options in settings That may be the issue why I can't see my captured videos from my phone when connected to my pc. How do I access PTP and MTP modes? Can't see any options in settings.

You can do that via adb or a terminal app (in the latter case, ommit the leading adb shell from the examples):

read settings: adb shell getprop sys.usb.config
find valid settings: adb shell grep usb.config= /init*rc
change settings: setprop with the appropriate values (e.g. adb shell setprop sys.usb.config "mtp,adb" or adb shell setprop sys.usb.config "ptp,adb")

EDIT: If the above doesn't yield the expected results, it might need root powers. So if your device is rooted, you could try to run adb root prior to above commands. If your device does not accept this ("not available in production builds"), instead run:

PC> adb shell
Android $ su
Android #

Now at the root prompt (#), run above commands without the adb shell prefix (e.g. simply setprop sys.usb.config "mtp,adb").


How to sync an Android phone with anything other than Google? Possible Duplicate:
  Suggestions for syncing data to someone besides Google? Funambol?

As I understand, the Android phone can only sync with Google (GMail, Google Calendar, etc.) out of the box. I can imagine corporate users having a problem with their data residing on Google's servers — despite their "do no evil" credo.

Is there any Android application that lets you sync with the desktop (either Linux or Windows) or corporate server applications (think Exchange)?

Finally, I can Sync Android contacts & calendar plus notes & tasks on other platforms...

I've tried all sorts of ways to sync my rooted Android HD2 with Outlook but nothing seems to work, not even HTC's Android sync works particularly well, and it's complicated by the fact that I have other devices (Nokia etc) that I also want to sync and often the software clashes or records get deleted or duplicated....

And then I stumbled across Funambol (http://www.funambol.org) which is a free server that runs on Linux (in my case) and I think there might be a windows version too.  I think there is also a hosted version (http://www.funambol.com) if you don't want to go to the trouble of hosting your own server, but I don't have any experience of that.

So I downloaded the funambol server binary, ran it on a CentOS system and that was pretty much it!  I then downloaded the android client from market place and the symbian client (for my Nokia) from the Ovi store and grabbed the Windows Outlook client.

The installation of these clients was straightforward and now all 3 systems (PC Outlook, HTC HD2 on Android, Nokia on Symbian) all sync up against Funambol with no problems and the phones sync over the air!  And yes, there's a client for iPhones too.

This has really been a life saver for me so I hope others out there discover it and find it as useful! It's a shame it doesn't yet support notes and tasks on Android but hopefully that will come and in any case I sync tasks using Toodledo and GotToDo so no biggie.


I can't use my Google Account password to bypass the lock screen On my CM9 / ICS 4.0 phone, if I incorrectly enter the drawn pattern five times in a row, it locks itself for 30 seconds. I can't enter any more passwords, but I can click a "forgot my password" button and enter my Google Account password.

On my rooted 4.0.3 tablet running a custom ROM, my lock screen is set with a numeric PIN. If I input it incorrectly five times or more, it locks itself and I can't enter any more passwords.

I'm not offered the option to enter my google account password to bypass this, although I have configured a Google account on the device.

I want to activate the "I forgot" button in order to enter my Google Account credentials. Is it possible?

It will not show if gapps aren't installed on the tablet (some more obscure brands don't come with gapps).

If gapps are installed, then try and enter it incorrectly 20+ times. This will lock you out. You will only see the enter google details screen if the device has gapps (Google Play, Gmail etc).


HTC ONE last update. Bootloader claims tampered I have an HTC One bought unlocked (i.e. no simcard) with Android. I swear on my grandma's tomb that I've never tried to tamper it (I don't even know what that exactly is, I thought that made only in very closed phones such as iPhone). It was updated to the last version until a couple of days ago I got a notification to install the last update. After downloading and clicking in install it reboots the phone and I come to a bootloader which says

tampered
locked
security warning

some other data and gives me usual options for reset. I have read online that this happens when one 'tampers' the phone, which I haven't. There are solutions to 'untamper' it online, but I am afraid that attempting any of those solutions

As a side note: the phone was bought from HTC's US website less than a year ago, so it must still have the warranty running but I am not sure if I should contact them (I fear they say the warranty is invalid if the phone says tampered).

I believe all the apps were installed from the Google App Store. I installed F-Droid because a friend recommended it, but I never used it.

Any idea on how to get rid of this silly message, keep my phone under warranty and install the update?

Go to the HTC site and download the official ruu file for the HTC one and run it. There should be an explanation on htc's site or you could ask them to walk you through it. This will fix the security bootloader thing and update your phone.


How does Android handle tablet specific apps and how do you distinguish these apps? How does Android handle tablet specific apps and how do you distinguish these apps?

I know there are Android apps that only work on Tablet devices (they say there are currently 16) and wont work on phones. There is a similar relationship between the iPad and iPhone but in the iTunes app store there are distinct iPad and iPhone tabs.  There doesn't appear to be the same type of distinction in the Android Market that will allow me to browse Tablet specific apps.

At this time there are no distinctions in the Market for browsing Tablet specific apps, and actually there is no real Tablet specific distinction in general, it's a device specific destinction.

Android has a distinction for "Protected Apps."  These are apps that the developer has specified certain required device specific criteria.  For example Adobe Flash has different versions of their app for different devices.  If you have a Droid X, you'll see the specific version of the Flash app in the market which is different from the one that appears in the market for the Nexus 1, and if you have device that's not on the developers list of approved devices you won't see the app at all.

I have an Archos Tablet.  The NY Times has a "Tablet App" but since my Tablet isn't a supported device, I don't see it in my Market.

These protected apps are mostly about Resolution, Processor type or Android OS version so apps cant be loaded on a device which couldn't support the resolution, or doesn't have the correct processor technology.  In many cases if you are able to sideload the app, it'll work just fine but other times they do not.  I download a lot of Protected apps on my Droid then transfer them to my Archos and they work great.  Adobe Flash however force closes because it was designed for the Droid's processor and for good reason isn't available for my Archos.  That doesn't mean another devices version of the Flash app won't work but this illustrates the problem of cross device compatibility.


Does Android have a "router setup page" when acting as a wireless or wired hotspot? I can edit all the crucial aspects of my hotspot/router within the setup options for the hotspot/router configuration.

I am confused as to how the DHCP works when using up the Android phone as a wireless hotspot/router and wanted to figure that out.

One of my attempts to get this information for myself was to try and navigate to 192.168.6.1 via a web browser - this is, of course, the phone's IP address.  I was hoping to see some sort of router setup page as you would normally see when configuring a normal ethernet wired/wireless router via a web browser, but unfortunately, there was no such page.

I did some research and found out that you can get some basic information about the phone's IP configuration by downloading a terminal emulator and running a few basic *nix flavored commands.

I was looking for something more - a GUI would be excellent, but I'll take any suggestions on how to access the phone's routing configuration specs.

Is there any sort of "router setup page" that I can access when I enable my wireless hotspot on my Android phone?

The Android builtin wifi tethering is designed to use 192.168.43.1/24 as the server, with netd handling the tethering, using dnsmasq. First DNS range is 192.168.42.1-254 and and 2nd DNS range is 192.168.43.1-254.

Netd is not easy to change. It requires a socket to communicate with it, and that socket is taken when android starts tethering. But going through the source files for Tethering.java (I used Froyo) we see:

// usb client will be provided 192.168.42.129
private static final String USB_NEAR_IFACE_ADDR      = "192.168.42.129";
private static final String USB_NETMASK              = "255.255.255.0";

// FYI - the default wifi is 192.168.43.1 and 255.255.255.0

private String[] mDhcpRange;
private static final String DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE1_START = "192.168.42.2";
private static final String DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE1_STOP  = "192.168.42.254";
private static final String DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE2_START = "192.168.43.2";
private static final String DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE2_STOP  = "192.168.43.254";

And Later on we see those ranges used, AS BACKUPS.

    mDhcpRange = context.getResources().getStringArray(
            com.android.internal.R.array.config_tether_dhcp_range);
    if ((mDhcpRange.length == 0) || (mDhcpRange.length % 2 ==1)) {
        mDhcpRange = new String[4];
        mDhcpRange[0] = DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE1_START;
        mDhcpRange[1] = DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE1_STOP;
        mDhcpRange[2] = DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE2_START;
        mDhcpRange[3] = DHCP_DEFAULT_RANGE2_STOP;
    }

The main source for the dhcp ranges is not the hardcoded 42 and 43, but read from array.config_tether_dhcp_range, an internal string array. But it is currently empty.

You could edit the android framework. On my phone, it is /system/framework/framework-res.apk. There are a ton of tutorials online for editing framework-res.apk, from simple strings to full theming. Find one for your phone and android version.

Main thing you want to change is the /res/values/arrays.xml

Look for <array name="config_tether_dhcp_range" />

Change to:

<string-array name="config_tether_dhcp_range">
     <item>192.168.x.y</item>
     <item>192.168.x.z</item>
</string-array>

compile/zip/sign as needed (follow a tutorial), then reinstall.

If you want more than one range, just copy the two items over and over. You always need to provide a start and a stop for each range. Try to keep it in the same /24, ie 192.168.50.5 and 192.168.50.99 or whatever. You can confirm it is working with busybox ps | grep dnsmasq or if you don't have busybox ps dnsmasq then use the pid in cat /proc/pid/cmdline. You should get (or similar):

  /system/bin/dnsmasq --no-daemon --no-poll -no-resolv --dhcp-range=192.168.50.5,192.168.50.99,1h

FWIW, my WIFI tethering uses the default dnsmasq ranges, yet my computer was assigned 192.168.43.147/24 and gateway 192.168.43.1/24. Not sure why yours defaulted to a 42.x address.


Is there any compatibility issue while using wifi-direct between different cell phone vendors? I was trying to transfer a file via my LG optimus L9 (T-mobile) wifi-direct to my friend's Samsung galaxy S3, it got connected successfully however shortly after sending initialization, I got an error "Sending Failed".

then I tried the other way i.e. Recieving, but no success.

Later, I have tried with my another friend's Samsung galaxy Note, but no success.

nobody around having LG device with wifi-direct feature.

Can someone tell why is that going wrong?

Why don't you try using a 3rd party implementation just as Izzy suggested. My ROM doesn't have that feature so I typically use Fast File Transfer. It's a great app and only the host phone needs it. Currently it doesn't work with host HTC phones though.


Disable Encryption after Factory reset on Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) Is there any method to disable encryption after A factory reset on Android 6.0?

Regards

For me (Lenovo P2, Android 8.1/LineageOS 15.1) the TWRP procedure below worked although with one side effect. It may also work on Android 6.

Please note that it requires an unlocked bootloader, a custom recovery image (standard for custom ROMs), blanks the /data and internal /sdcard partitions and involves rooting - note that this may result in problems with some security-sensitive programs, such as banking/payment apps.

It is essentially this one for a different device, apart from the steps to mount storage and using a different zip (important); the screenshots are instructive. It is worth being familiar with the recovery program.

Backup /data partition, including the USB mounted internal storage (which I think is /sdcard on my phone). I would also recommend syncing contacts, backing up WhatsApp to cloud ..etc. Back up the entire phone flash memory if you are not using a custom ROM/recovery.

I would advise studying/reading up a bit on this - I somehow failed to do /data properly, so had to reinstall and reconfigure all apps.

Download the Magisk zip on this page or a newer one if you can find it (it may be possible to update it with newer Magisk files; or you can flash a newer Magisk version after rebooting the system and confirming the /data partition is unencrypted).
Reboot into recovery (TWRP).
Format the /data partition (for TWRP use the specific Format Data button under Wipe - see screenshot on first linked page).
For TWRP reboot into recovery again so it definitely understands the /data partition is now no longer encrypted.
Mount /data & /sdcard and move the Magisk zip to the sdcard area.
Install the Magisk zip.
Reboot System.
Open Magisk Manager under the apps and configure Magisk Hide for any relevant apps. Magisk Hide settings may not survive a reboot on some filesystem implementations - worth checking as if you are blanking /data, that is also a good time to change filesystem on it if you want those settings persisted!

Side effect on Lenovo P2 is that the fingerprint sensor and settings do not work. (If I encrypt the data partition later from within the Android settings, then it works again.)


How to automatically delete photos after google plus upload? Once Google plus uploads the images, then it automatically delete the image files on the phone for more storage space. Is it possible? Can it be used with tasker or any other app?

Tasker  does not support HTML response like when photo is uploaded, that's why you can't use it.

But App called FolderSync - (paid version) to pack up my photos to cloud. You can set automatic delete of the local files, after transferring them. But with this you can't use Google+ 's automatic upload.


Security Audit - how can I tell my Android Distribution is safe I've just bought a Jiayu G4 and it came with android installed (rooted).

My question is - how can I tell that nothing nasty has been installed on the phone?  Or best practices to ensure that it's safe to use.  I've had a look but I haven't seen any accounts of malware distributed Android OS's, but I'm sure it can happen.

Obviously there's an (un)healthy amount of paranoia here, but it'd be nice to know that data isn't being siphoned off somewhere it shouldn't be.

The bad news: You very probably can't.

If the manufacturer decides to backdoor your phone's firmware, it's hardly detectable by individuals.

Phones consist of many components of which only a tiny fraction is really authored by the manufacturer.

Think of drivers and firmwares for various chips like the baseband, wifi, sensors, the various open source parts like the linux kernel, the Android system itself, the closed source Google apps and additional 3rd party packages from other other companies, that are preloaded.

To be sure, you would need all of the firmwares' source code and a way to compile it in a way such that the official builds and your build match bit by bit to prove that the source code matches the firmware (and nothing was secretely altered). Now one still needed to audit all the source and scan it for backdoors/vulnerabilities.

To get an idea: TrueCrypt is a popular disk encryption software for many operating systems. In the wake of the NSA scandal its sources have recently been binary matched with the official windows releases which was a very tedious process (report here). A source code audit hasn't been conducted yet, but there's a (now) still running indiegogo project for funding that audit with currently ~35k US$ pledged for doing it.


Galaxy S3 Bug: Navigation app crashes when clicking "Start" Summary: Route navigation crashes on starting of route finding.

This is an intermittent bug. It only started happening recently - I think it coincides with when on a desktop browser I volunteered to start using the new version of Google Maps. (I wanted to use the new traffic monitoring feature). I didn't realise it would propagate my choices to my phone as well.

Is there any fix? E.g.

How can I configure the navigation app on my phone to use only the more stable mainstream navigation app?
How can I configure my Google account to revert to the mainstream version of Google Maps, for all devices?
Are there any third party apps which have route navigation similar in quality to that of Google's?

Thanks

After you enter the starting point and destination, the app gives you the possible routes. On that screen the best route has a start navigation option; selecting this causes the app to crash. Instead select the route you prefer and then hit the start arrow at the bottom right corner. Works for me.


Recover Google account password without unlinking/deleting the main account from android device I forgot the password for my Google account and I want to recover it. This Google account happens to be the main Google account linked to my Android device.

When I try to use the Recovery options:

A password reset link can only be sent if you haven't signed in for 4 days.
Your security question can only be answered if you haven't signed in for 5 days.
A third option where "I no longer have access to those above", it implies a very long password recovery process and MAY get the password again.

If I don't unlink this Google account from Android device, the device will continue to sign in to Google services. So, recovery options can't be used.

I don't want to reset my phone to unlink/delete the main Google account, wait 4-5 days and then get the password. This means I can't use my phone for this amount of time and may lose data.

How to get it without unlinking or deleting the Google account of my Google Nexus with Android 4.2.1 (Jelly Bean)?

I am able to receive reset links despite having logged in today, yesterday and pretty much every day. However you should be able to access your account on your phone (as it will use your login details to sign in to chrome) then use that to add your phone number to your account. Then pick reset my password with my phone which will send an SMS to your phone.


File Manager for Android HTC One of the frustrating things about HTC is that i cannot manage my files which have been downloaded. On the market place there are some apps which allow you to do this such as:

Astro File manager
eFile
Root Explorer

If i install a file explorer app, will that invalidate my warranty with HTC or android?

No, you won't invalidate your warranty.*  Keep in mind that Root Explorer requires root, though, and rooting will invalidate your warranty.  I personally love Root Explorer, so I recommend the non-root version: Explorer.

* I haven't read your warranty, but I've never heard of a condition that bizarre. This is not legal advice; I am not a lawyer.


Android system cant start because of "No space left on device"? I ran my app, which communicated with my server in every 5 minutes. 2 days later I can't turn on my tablet, because it stops at the boot image.
I'm getting all kinds of error in logcat like this.
My app did not use any database, so I don't know what went wrong, and how can I solve it..

E System  : ******************************************
E System  : ************ Failure starting system services
E System  : java.lang.RuntimeException: Failed to boot service com.android.server.devicepolicy.DevicePolicyManagerService$Lifecycle: onBootPhase threw an exception during phase 480
E System  : Caused by: android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDiskIOException: disk I/O error (code 4874)

W SystemServer: ***********************************************
E SystemServer: BOOT FAILURE making Lock Settings Service ready
E SystemServer: android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDiskIOException: disk I/O error (code 4874)

I SystemServiceManager: Starting phase 480
E SQLiteLog: (4874) os_unix.c:29945: (28) write(/data/system/locksettings.db-shm) -
E SQLiteLog: (4874) disk I/O error
E SQLiteLog: (4874) os_unix.c:29945: (28) write(/data/system/locksettings.db-shm) -
E SQLiteDatabase: Failed to open database '/data/system/locksettings.db'.
E SQLiteDatabase: android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDiskIOException: disk I/O error (code 4874): , while compiling: PRAGMA journal_mode
E SQLiteOpenHelper: Couldn't open locksettings.db for writing (will try read-only):
E SQLiteOpenHelper: android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDiskIOException: disk I/O error (code 4874): , while compiling: PRAGMA journal_mode

D AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM
E AndroidRuntime: *** FATAL EXCEPTION IN SYSTEM PROCESS: main
E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.RuntimeException: Failed to boot service com.android.server.devicepolicy.DevicePolicyManagerService$Lifecycle: onBootPhase threw an exception during phase 480

DropBoxManagerService: java.io.IOException: write failed: ENOSPC (No space left on device)

So how Can I figure out what allowed my space, and how can I resolve this problem, and start the device.
Currently I can't even use ADB commands because the device don't even start...

Most likely your application has either filled up the /data partition or (if your tablet is rooted) even the system partition. Likely suspects are log files and SQlite databases growing infinitly.

A communication every 5 minutes over 2 days means 576 communications - if every communication uses up a MB of storage, you have used up more than half a Gigabyte.

Adapt your application to never ever write to system
Adapt your application to keep a firm hand on disk usage on data
Adapt your application to stop if less than half a Gig of storage is available

Then factory-reset your tablet via recovery and try again.


How to force built-in apps to update on a brand new android device? I've just unpacked a new phone Moto G 2nd Gen and noticed that the Google Play My Apps is completely empty (it's for my wife, she didn't use android before).

So I updated several essential apps (chrome, gmail, maps) manually by searching them in play store manually and clicking "Update". Now they appeared in the list of apps.

But how can I ensure that all built in apps eventually update automatically as soon as they are not in the list?

It's painful to do that manually - some apps are not even in App Drawer (like Google Keyboard).

UPDATE:

Just to let you know: all the built in apps updated automatically and appeared in the list of "my apps"

PS: to be precise only some of them updated, others just appeared there waiting for granting more permissions

Open up the PlayStore, open menu and select settings.

Select second option from the top auto-update apps. Then chose if you want to update from just WiFi or incur data charges.

Sooner or later apps that have updates will want to update.

You can also go into the apps and select auto update if available.


Is there a music player that supports play counts and smart playlists? I'm looking for a music player for Android that supports smart playlists and play count metadata like the iPod and iTunes.  Ideally I'd like something that:

Keeps track of statistics like last played, play count, last skipped, etc.
Allows rating of songs from Android.
Supports smart playlists that are live updating (for example, if I have a smart playlist to match all songs I haven't played in a month, and I play a song from it, the played song drops off the playlist without having to sync back with my PC since it no longer matches that criteria).
Is supported by a desktop PC media management application such that these statistics are synchronized back to the PC.  (I'm open to switching, so as long as it's supported by a stable, relatively featured desktop app, I don't care which).

I've tried the stock music player, which doesn't support any of these (to my knowledge), and doubleTwist, which supports ratings but doesn't support smart playlists or play counts yet.

iSyncr does this. They also do wireless sync. lifehacker article

Unfortunately (for me at least) it uses iTunes and I hate iTunes, but it does work. I think I hated iTunes so much I bought an Android to avoid it, but now have to use it anyway because of the smart playlists. It is the only thing I've found that keeps smart playlists, playcounts, and ratings updated. Everything you said you wanted. Plus you already use iTunes and seem to not hate it.

I think iSyncr could work for you. :)

You should be able to use the stock music player, MixZing, or a half dozen other popular other android players in combination with the sync app which pushes playcounts and ratings to iTunes.


Does CyanogenMod Installer create a recovery image? I'm looking at installing CyanogenMod onto my Galaxy S3 (i9300) and the CyanogenMod Installer looks to be the easiest way to do this.

However I would like to get an image of my phone before I attempt to install CyanogenMod. This is so that if anything goes wrong (or I dislike the ROM) then I can just revert back to an image of the phone as if nothing had changed.

Google searches suggest I need to root my phone, unlock the bootloader and then install ClockworkMod Recovery to create a backup.

If I do go down this route then the automatic rooting and bootloader unlocking that the CyanogenMod Installer will do seems completely redundant, since I'm going to have to do it manually anyway to get an image.

That doesn't really make sense to me - so can anyone please advise on what I should do to get this image before I start?

Your google research is correct. There is an order. root → unlock bootloader → install custom recovery (twrp or cwm) → backup current rom → install custom rom (cyanogenmod or aosp etc). Without being rooted and having bootloader unlocked, you won't be able to install recovery and custom room. That's why it needs to be done first. Cyanogenmod is pre-rooted. So you don't have to do it again once it's installed. Initial rooting of your current rom and installing recovery is only one time process. You can then backup/restore the roms using the recovery of your choice (twrp/cwm). Assuming you have rooted/installed custom recovery, make sure to backup current rom should anything go wrong. Also wipe data/cache/dalvik cache before installing the new custom rom. There is usually a hardware combination button to access recovery menu or you can issue reboot recovery command from terminal.


Change Sim Card Number Galaxy S3 I have a new Galaxy S3 which I ported my old number to from across networks. I now have my old number, but Settings -> Status still shows the old number!

Is there any way to change this on ICS or the Galaxy S3? I also have access to an old HTC Desire running Cyanogenmod 7 if that helps :D

If you are referring to the "My Number" field then I answered the question here.

  The "My Number" isn't actually stored on the phone, it is stored on
  your sim card. Stock android can't edit this data. CyanogenMod can, so
  can iPhones and BlackBerrys. If you can get your hands on one of these
  then just pop your sim into it and edit the "My Number" field and Bobs
  your uncle.


What is the small hole on the top of the pixel 3a? Many reviews note the pixel 3a has a headphone jack on top. Yes, I like it, too.  But I can't find anywhere that describes the other little hole, the one on the right in this picture.  What is it?

If you look at the specs for the Pixel 3a and open up the Media & Audio section you'll see:

  Stereo speakers

  2 microphones

  Noise suppression

The small holes are for microphones, usually multiple ones are used to improve call quality, i.e. suppressing background noise.


Can't charge/power on Nook HD+ The device won't power on.  The screen and status light show no indication of activity when pressing or holding the power button (or any button / pairwise combination of buttons for that matter).

The Nook HD+ (model BNTV600) has been unused for at least six months.  It would not power on, so I presumed that the battery was simply dead and left it plugged in overnight to charge but would still not power on the next day.  I suspect that it is not charging.  When initially connected to a charger the light shows green for three seconds and shows orange/amber for three seconds and then remains off (there is a brief flicker orange/amber -> green at the transition between colors).

The device was functioning normally before storage.  I've tried charging with two different Nook HD+ -> USB cables and two different USB AC adapters and the behavior is all the same.

Is this device completely dead?  Are there any tricks to get this thing to charge / power on?

Since the device showed brief activity (the six seconds which the status LED was illuminated) I set the owner of the Nook on a mission to force a trickle charge to the device.  Using the factory cable and USB power adapter plugged Belkin Conserve Power Switch to easily interrupt the power (a surge protector could work as well) they found that it was possible to give the device a minimal charge so that it would permit normal "unattended" charging.

The procedure that worked for them was:

Apply power
Interrupt power at the point the status LED would transition to amber
Wait some seconds before re-applying power and repeating (we don't recall how long it was exactly only that it was the minimum amount of time before the same illumination pattern could again be elicited; somewhere around 5 seconds)

After 15-20 minutes of this the device finally displayed the charging icon on the screen and has been functioning and charging as expected since.


Chrome and Chrome Beta suddenly won't fill up the entire screen on launch So, I'm currently on the N5X rom with a cyanogenmod 4.4.4 base on my Samsung i9300, I restored Chrome Beta from one my backups in titanium Backup, after flashing the latest version of the ROM recently.

But every time I launch Chrome or Chrome Beta from the drawer, it comes up, staying right at the center, here's a screenshot:

Its so strange, it doesn't force close or pop up with any errors, everything works fine except for the part where it just starts fixed to the center of the screen.

What I've tried:

Uninstalling Chrome Beta and Chrome, and then re-installing both
Wiping data and cache of both browsers.
Re-flashing the ROM.

So here's what I've noticed, sometime last month when I flashed a Paranoid Android nightly, both Google Browsers behaved this way, and I thought it had to do with P.A then until this happened. Firefox works fine though, just Chrome and Chrome Beta.

This is happening in any custom ROM that supports floating windows. It is there, for example, in SlimKat, Spirit ROM, CM based ROMs etc. In my case I can move and size the window, and there is a maximize button available. It resizes the window with pinch to zoom automatically rendering it almost unusable.

This is an app issue ultimately, but it is specific to custom ROMs with this functionality.

The only thing you can do it, open the Chrome window then bring up the task manager and select Chrome and it will fill the screen as normal. This is obviously an awkward work around.

Alternatively if you have Xposed installed you can try to Blacklist Chrome from xFloatingWindow and see if it will work. Some, but not all have had success with this.


Wakeup Android Oreo Go phone with broken power button I have an Android Oreo Go/Nokia 1 phone which is fine, except the power on/off button is broken.

Right now, the only way I found to wake it up to type the PIN is either connecting it to a charging cable or removing the battery.

There is no setting under display to activate double tap to wake it up.

Volume buttons are fine, but don´t wake phone.

Until I repair the power button (if at all), how can I wake it?

PS: power button came miraculously back to life (after a day not using the phone). I imagine the question can still be useful for someone else.

Use Power Button to Volume Button. It turns the volume button into the power button. Thumbs up!


Nexus 4 wont charge or turn on; LED is blinking red I've been charging my Nexus with the original charger for 2 hours. It still shows red LED light when I hold the power button. I've tried everything:

Different USB chargers
Holding the volume button with the power button

It just wont work. I'm not the original owner so I can't get another one.

Try to long press power in for about 30s.
Then short press.

This is how I recover after a Nexus4 crash.


Twitter app not showing any pictures I updated my Nexus 5 to the official Android L factory image yesterday, and Twitter was working fine for a while after that. Now, however, the app won't load any images at all--no tweet images, no profile pictures, nothing. If I tap an image I get an icon like I'm disconnected and it can't load.

I've tried clearing the data and force stopping the app, then uninstalling it entirely, but neither approach worked.

How can I get the app to show pictures again?

It turns out that the Twitter app uses data stored at /sdcard/Android/data/com.twitter.android. I deleted that directory and reinstalled the app and everything works now.


Is there an app to select who's going to make my phone ring? I usually sleep with my cellphone on silent mode, but some important people are allowed to wake me up whenever they want. When it's not on silent mode, some inconvenient people usually wake me up for nothing. Is there a way to make a call filter and allow only these important  people to make my phone ring?

I recommend Sanity which is free and open source. It has many calling-related features, such as call filtering by caller name, that you can set it to get silent when some people call you.

These two features, copied from description of the app, would really help you:

...

block unwanted calls and SMS: automatically refuse incoming calls and SMS filtering out the phone number (include or exclude anonymous and/or unknown numbers, favourites, contacts and groups; enable the block by choosing date and time); advanced: choose between different block methods to confuse the caller!
urgent calls: choose what phone numbers your phone will ring or vibrate also when it's in silent mode.

...


How to enable device administrator for exchange after user has declined it appears that a user has declined the device administrator prompt for an exchange email account on samsung galaxy. It doesnt prompt anymore just displays a message about requiring a device administrator, but in the setting>location & security>device admin there are no options at all and nothing displyed.
 Is there another menu option somewhere to enable the device administrator for exchange after it has been declined?

Make sure you have asked for the right permissions in manifest.
Also check your manifest declarations
Check your xml file.
For reference check this
https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/admin/device-admin.html


Messaging icon in Samsung S3 always show one unread message My Samsung S3 messaging icon always show one unread message. See the screenshot below. I have thoroughly checked if there are any unread messages and also restarted the phone couple of times. I also removed the battery for sometime. Any clue as to what might be causing it?

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

Go to Settings > Application Manager > All applications (on the top). Locate the "BadgeProvider" app and select "clear data". After that, restart the phone.


How to disable all notifications from the lock screen Can anyone kindly tell me how to disable notifications from appearing on the lock screen? I have tried going to settings and then notifications but it just gives me a list of all apps, and I would like to disable them all.

Thanks.

In settings -> Notifications we see all apps list. On same screen there is a gear icon or advanced menu which will launch advanced notification settings. From options select 'On the lock screen' and select don't show notifications at all.

You can also search 'lock screen' in settings to easily find it.

If this doesn't work then edit and  mention your handset model in the question.


How to Play Pokémon Go in High Accuracy GPS -mode with Oneplus 2 of CM13? It is possible to play Pokémon Go in GPS only mode in Oneplus 2 of CM13 as described in the thread Can you play Pokémon Go on Oneplus 2 with CM13? However, the application does not work in the high accuracy mode with the device. I would like to understand which technology Wifi/Bluetooth/... is disturbing the game and GPS, in order to understand how to play the game in the high accuracy mode.
I have not seen the same problem with Samsung Galaxy Phones of CM13.
Fig. 1 Output in High Accuracy Mode

Test configurations tested in High Accuracy Mode

Fresh installation of the OS - no difference
Clean memory before starting Pokemon or not - no difference
Bluetooth on and off - no difference
Power saving mode on and off - no difference
Google Wear installed but no devices connected to the application; tested also as uninstalled - no difference
All internet gadgets (Pebble, Xiaomi Mi Band 2) disconnected from the phone - no difference
Using own local wifi network or not - no difference
...

System: CM13
Phone: Oneplus 2
Pokémon Go: 0.33.0

This is Pokemon's server side problem. You cannot do anything here but wait that the company improves. Now, the situation is better.


.thumbdata files maxing out internal SD memory I have an 8GB Nextbook7 running Android 4.0.4. Recently, I discovered that I have 2 files named .thumbdata3... eating up all my internal space of 5+GB. These files are found in the .thumbnail folder under the DCIM folder. I have read on the internet that these files are produced by Android Gallery, but there is a bug in the OS that causes these files to grow so large and max out all the available internal storage space.

I have tried deleting the files, but they come back. I have tried writing small text files and saving them with the name .thumbdata3... as in the problem files, but that does not work either. I have downloaded an app called Thumbnail file deleter, which deletes the problem files, but the files will rebuild themselves again until the space is maxed out.

Does anyone have a permanent cure to this .thumdata3... problem? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

If your SD card is using ext4 filesystem

There is no need to do anything here, since these files, despite reporting massive sizes, actually use very little space, as they are so called "Sparse Files". I left more details on the android ticket about this issue:

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=39546#c79

If your SD card is using FAT/exFAT

Then the problem is real, since FAT has no support for sparse files and their apparent and real sizes would always match. In that case you should resort to trickery described in the other reply - create the folder with the same name as an offending file after removing the file.

This Cyanogen fix sheds some light onto the problem:
http://review.cyanogenmod.org/#/c/36850

It looks like .thumbdata3 consists of sequence of records indexed by integer ID associated with a picture (not sure which app is in charge of assigning them). If file is deleted and is being recreated, and the minimum ID is, say, 10000 then 10000 empty records would be skipped over in .thumbdata3 on the assumption that sparse file handling would do its job and these 10000 records would consume no actual space. Except that on FAT there are no sparse file support and you end up with 10000 records worth of zeroes in you file which suddenly becomes couple of Gb big.


Record screen problem vivo 1902 - unable to capture the screen of this interface due to app limitation on
how to override this situation when record screen from some apps. If I use the app recorder it just blanks when I play it again.

You cannot do screen recording on apps which restrict taking screenshots and recording. Your only solution will be root access, I believe.


Find out if remote wipe has worked (Google find my device) My phone (Galaxy S7 Edge) was stolen two days ago and up until about 8 hours ago it had been off (or airplane mode was on), I decided that I wasn't seeing that phone again so I opted to erase the device via the "find your phone" section of google my account (the replacement to google device manager, i believe). About 2 hours after I sent the command, the phone synced with my google account.

The phone was offline when I sent the command but I was assured the command would be executed when the phone came online. Presumably it came online when it synced.

Is there any method by which to tell if the command succeeded? The sim is still in the phone and active, I haven't changed the Google password or anything at all along those lines, my phone will still be connected to Google.

EDIT I should also mention that the phone has not been reachable after the sync - but that could be down to the phone being switched off again

If it connected after you had the command prepared for it, it would continue to wipe the phone until all user data and apps were deleted once it synced, the only thing that can stop it after it starts is a force restart in which I believe it would continue trying once turned on again.

Once the phone is wiped there is no user data left including any login credentials, there is no way to know if it was successfully wiped and no way you can track it by yourself using google or any other online tracking solutions. If you still have the SIM active you should contact your provider and they might be able to track the phone with your SIM.


Restrict contacts from knowing I am on WhatsApp Am I right in understanding that when one installs whatsapp everyone in the contacts on my phone knows I am on whatsapp (at least the ones who have whatsapp)

I do not want the above to happen. So if I put in another SIM card, then can I avoid the contacts on my primary SIM knowing I am on whatsapp and restrict to only the contacts on the new/secondary SIM. Or will WhatApp anyway broadcast to all contacts on all SIMs?

My basic aim is to expose the fact that I have whatsapp to a limited set of people - hence the second SIM.

Kindly let me know

Ananth

Simple answer to your question is - everyone who has your new number will see that you are on WhatsApp. WhatsApp is tied to mobile number only and it will not "broadcast to any other sim". If you don't give this number to another person then they will not be able to  see or contact you.

Also a hint. If you have dual SIM phone you can use normal WhatsApp and business WhatsApp (it's free) on the same phone simultaneously (using 2 different numbers).


Any way to download swf files on android? I want to download an swf file on my phone. I have the link of the swf, but nothing worked, chrome just ignores the link while other browsers(dolphin in this case) run the swf file and still no download option. I cannot play it in dolphin because it always crashes at a specific part. Any help will be appreciated.

I download the page it's on as HTML, find the link to the file, and then use ES's Download Manager to download it. But that's just me.


How Class Lookup happens in Android ART? As per my understanding of AOT( Ahead of Time ) compilation in ART, dex files are converted into native codes at the time of installation. Does that mean that the dex files are never referred after the installation? If this is so, then why there is the entry for dex file references in OAT files.

From the Google IO video on ART the speaker states that the DEX files are kept around for class loading and debugging. https://youtu.be/EBlTzQsUoOw?t=9m20s


Google Photos: Changing from iPhone to Samsung S9 I’m switching from iPhone 5SE to Samsung Galaxy S9. I’ve used Google Photos to save my photos and videos. Is the change from phones going to impact my data on Google Photos? Basically, when I log into Google Photos on Samsung, will all of my photos be there?

No. They will remain on Google Photos unless you select "save to phone" for each photo you want to be available offline. They won't be automatically downloaded to your new Samsung.


Add am/pm after the 12-hour clock time in the status bar The status bar at the top of my Samsung S9+ does not show the am/pm after the time.  The picture below was taken at 3:23 pm local time but you would not know that unless I told you.  It could be 3:23 am.  If I were using a 24-hour clock, I would expect that there not be an am/pm.  However, my time setting is for 12-hour clock and could have an am/pm.  How do I add the am/pm after the time?

Some may say that I can easily tell whether it is am or pm... just look outside.  That may be true at 3:23 am or pm.  However, at 8 pm during the summer time, the sunlight is about the same whether it is morning or evening.  I would have to walk outside to find the sun and then know.  During the winter time, 6 am and pm is completely dark.  There is no sun to help me know.

Let's say I am very tired during the winter and start a nap at 4 pm.  I wake up at 6.  I do not know if I slept for 2 hours or 14 hours.  Most likely I slept for 2 hours but it depends on how much sleep debt I have.

It is possible only if your device is rooted and cannot be achieved on stock devices. Changes to status bar components like the clock, date, battery icon, percentage, etc. require root or a custom ROM
On rooted devices, one way is to install Exposed/EdXposed framework and Gravitybox module (For Android 10, see How to install EdXposed on Android 10 without triggering safety net)
Note that Gravitybox does not play well with heavily modified UI, so it's better to check in device/Gravitybox threads on XDA


How can I modify the phone model in build.prop to get unsupported apps? I currently have a rooted HTC Legend. In light of the current Android Market sales, I would love to be able to purchase some of the apps on sale without a compatible handset, since I plan to get a GNex in the next few weeks.

I've read that it may be possible to modify my build.prop file to a more modern handset, however beyond this suggestion, I can't find any more specific details, nor which phone model would be ideal for this. How can I do this?

I note that a number of people complain they've bricked after messing with build.prop. Is this a real danger or would it just require fixing the build.prop from adb, or reflashing the ROM?

There is no particular phone that's ideal, given the app devs can choose to support whatever subset of devices they wish.  The Nexus devices are probably the most likely to be broadly compatible though.

You can't brick with build.prop as far as I know, though you can certainly prevent your phone from booting if you change the wrong setting.  Make a backup of the file and don't edit anything under this line:

# end build properties

Just edit anything that has the device name, e.g. 'ro.product.device' or similar.  Replace it with the corresponding entry from the build.prop for the device you're emulating (extract it from the ROM or see if it's been posted somewhere).  Updating any other text to be accurate (like manufacturer) is best too.  Note that changing the version of Android in this file won't help, since it looks like the Market polls the system directly.  Nothing you can do about that unfortunately.

After editing, make sure /system is mounted read-only.  Then reboot and clear the data for the Market.

Below is the relevant portion of my Vibrant's build.prop, with which I just got Minecraft for 10 cents :)

# begin build properties
# autogenerated by buildinfo.sh
ro.build.id=FROYO
ro.build.display.id=Bionix NextGen 1 by TeamWhiskey
ro.build.version.incremental=UVKA6
ro.build.version.sdk=8
ro.build.version.codename=REL
ro.build.version.release=2.2
ro.build.date=2011. 01. 18. (화) 21:53:23 KST
ro.build.date.utc=1295355203
ro.build.type=user
ro.build.user=jaeyoon.yoon
ro.build.host=SEP-05
ro.build.tags=release-keys
ro.product.model=SGH-T959
ro.product.brand=Samsung
ro.product.name=SGH-T959
ro.product.device=SGH-T959
ro.product.board=SGH-T959
ro.product.cpu.abi=armeabi-v7a
ro.product.cpu.abi2=armeabi
ro.product.manufacturer=Samsung
ro.product.locale.language=en
ro.product.locale.region=US
ro.wifi.channels=
ro.board.platform=s5pc110
# ro.build.product is obsolete; use ro.product.device
ro.build.product=SGH-T959
# Do not try to parse ro.build.description or .fingerprint
ro.build.description=SGH-T959-user 2.2 FROYO UVKA6 release-keys
ro.build.fingerprint=Samsung/SGH-T959/SGH-T959/SGH-T959:2.2/FROYO/UVKA6:user/release-keys
# Samsung Specific Properties
ro.build.PDA=T959UVKA6
ro.build.hidden_ver=T959UVKA6
ro.build.changelist=860813
ro.tether.denied=false
# end build properties


Need to know ip address through my viber login My laptop has been stolen and viber is installed there, the thief has acceesed my viber . can i check the ip address associated with my viber so that i can trace the location of my laptop.

other my viber account is linked with my gmail account. can i show my viber login activity/ipaddress/location on gmail account.

You can see your IP activities from gmail too, go to the gmail homepage, scroll down and look for last account activity: some time ago, under that line there is a link to details
there you can see from where your Google account has been accessed, hopefully you can retrieve your laptop

Good luck :D


Is the Voodoo lagfix compatible with Darky's ROM? My SGS has awful lag, and I'm considering my steps.

The first step I want to do is install Voodoo, because I'm under the impression that it's relatively easy and will not require my to reinstall everything on my phone (though I asked about that in a related question to make sure).  If that doesn't provide the desired results, I want to flash a custom ROM.  The one I'm looking at is Darky's ROM.

Will I have to uninstall Voodoo before installing Darky's ROM, or can I install Darky's on top of Voodoo?

The default kernel (Dark Core) is derived from the Voodoo kernels, but the lagfix is disabled by default. For example, the v9.5 description on XDA has the following note:

  New Kernel >> Dark Core v1.0 inside! I9000, I9000M, I9000T ONLY (Cappy users choose speedmod or skip kernel)

  Customized and built by ficeto [Team Darky Dev Crew]

  Based on supercurio’s latest voodoo sound 6, lagfix and color - thanks a ton, Mr. Supercurio

If you install on top of a kernel with Voodoo enabled already then you should be fine (and I don't believe it will disable it, but you can re-enable if it does). There are a handful of threads on the Darky forums that talk about some of the nuances to this, but here are a couple:

The Quick Start Guide - Recurrent Questions (The "Recommendations prior to flashing a ROM" section talks about lagfixes).
activate lagfix in 9.2?
What is a lagfix and how to enable or disable it (This one is kind of goofy but still helpful)


Galaxy Tab S can't boot into fastboot mode I want to install a custom ROM on my Galaxy Tab S. Therefore, I need to install TWRP as recovery. For that, I need to unlock my bootloader. I'm following this guide to unlock my bootloader: http://rootmygalaxy.net/unlock-bootloader-android-using-fastboot-commands/

I installed the appropriate drivers and ADB&Fastboot on my computer. Then, I enabled debugging on my Galaxy Tab S. Then, I opened the command console and typed: "adb reboot bootloader". My tablet then restart, but doesn't go into fastboot mode. Instead, it simply reboot normally.

I've tried this on both, Mac OS and Windows. It does the same thing on both systems.

I've tried to boot while manually pressing Home, Power and Volume down buttons. Then, my Tab S into a special mode: Odin mode. I know I've used Odin previously to upgrade my Tab S from Lollipop to Marshmallow. I don't know if the fact that I hve Odin doesn't allow my tablet to boot into fastboot. However, I would need to boot into fastboot to unlock my bootloader and, later on, to install TWRP in order to installer the AOSP 7.0 Nougat custom ROM to my Galaxy Tab S.

How can I do to boot into fastboot mode?

Thank you very much,

Blaccko


Restoring HTC EVO 4G to stock I bought an HTC Evo off someone and they had it rooted, but for some reason 4G isn't working. I'm not sure if it's because they rooted the phone and it now has wifi tether (I don't know too much about rooting and ROMs) but could that be the reason why 4G isn't working? If there's a way to fix it I'd appreciate it.

Root access is unlikely the problem, but you can go back to stock and see what happens. Best and surest way back to stock is flashing a .sbf. The .sbf is the stock image provided by the retailer. If you're on Windows, you'll need RSD Lite to flash I believe. If on Linux or OS X use sbf_flash. You'll also need the .sbf for your particular device, but I'm not sure where the Evo images are; Google can probably help.

But again, I'd blame the network before an issue from root.


Is it possible to revert back to Jellybean Stock while keeping ClockworkMod? I am running CM10.1 on my i9300 and use ClockworkMod. Is there a way for me to revert back to JellyBean?

Just flash the firmware you like with Odin.

Attention: you will probably lose your data because of the wiping.


Samsung Galaxy - Import contacts from sbu file I'd a Samsung Galaxy i551. I've done a backup using Kies and it saved a .sbu file. Now I don't have the phone any more and I'd like to export this information to some useful format or at least to view it with the Kies. But I can't find anyway to open the .sbu file.

How do I open an .sbu file generated by Kies?

Thanks!

Take a look at this thread over at XDA-Developers forum. Someone wrote a Java app to extract the contacts out of the .sbf file into VCard files, which are a lot easier to deal with.

Also, in the same thread people report that with the latest version of Kies you can execute a Restore without having a Samsung phone connected to the PC, and extract the contents.

I personally haven't tried either method, so please let us know if they work for you.


Prevent phone from automatically lowering media volume I have a Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket. Everytime I unplug my headphones/auxiliary cord from my phone and plug it back in, the media volume gets lowered to about 60%, system-wide, regardless of media player. As much as I appreciate that Android is looking out for my hearing, I don't want it to do this. Any way to prevent the phone from lowering the volume of its own accord?

I'd say this is solvable with an automation tool like Tasker, Llama & Co. Rawly described profile:

Condition: Headphones plugged
Action: Set audio level to X

Where "audio level" in many cases (at least with Tasker) can be defined more specific (e.g. different levels for notification, alert, incoming call...) -- and "X" being the specific level you'd like it to have.

This done, everytime you plug your headphones in, you'll have the same media volume you've defined.


Is this "Boost" / File Manager app a true system app or malware? I installed this app after I received a notification on my lock screen informing me that a new system app was available for download. Seeing that the app was listed as an update to the "File Manager" app, I assumed it was safe and downloaded it. Now it's filling my lock screen with spammy looking notifications, prompting me to "boost" my phone to free disk space and memory.

The original File Manager app that shipped with my Android was very unobtrusive and was located in the Settings app on the phone. It never interfered with anything I was doing. It never sent me twice-daily notifications to 'clean my system', 'boost my phone' or 'free up RAM'. That is what makes me think this app is really malware posing as a true system app and tricking Android into installing it.

There is no way to uninstall it or disable it. The  original File Manager app appeared alongside this app for a while, but the original app was recently removed and no longer shows up. My phone is lagging and other apps are crashing or not performing well since I installed this app. Additionally, this "Boost" app that has installed itself on my home screen is full of ads. No true Android system app has ever contained ads that I have seen, so this is very fishy. Also, the fact that it cannot be disabled is also very suspect.

I am suspicious that it is affecting my phone in a negative way and I want it gone! I cannot imagine that Android would release a "system app" that was full of ads. PLEASE HELP!

The device affected is an Alcatel Fierce 4 5056N running Android 6.0.1.

Images available on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Tg7BtjmCMqWXZZVXgwQy0xOXc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Tg7BtjmCMqX2dKbTBTaDMyblk/view?usp=sharing

This is a system app update from Alcatel. Recently they started updating some of their apps. I'm assuming you have an Idol 4 or 4S.

Although you can't uninstall or even fully disable this app, you can uninstall updates and stop automatic updates. Go to Settings - Apps - File manager. In the upper right-hand corner, push the three dots and click "Uninstall updates". Then go to Google Play - Your apps, click the file manager. Then in the right corner, click the three dots. Uncheck "Automatic updates". This will keep it from updating. You can do this with all of Alcatel apps.

I don't know why they thought having a purple octopus on the main screen a good idea but I and others have sent several emails regarding it and have been ignored.


Is it possible to exclude some folders on the sd card from being added to my playlist in the standard android player? I use the android media player to listen to music. Last week I installed an app that brings a lot of sounds with it in mp3 format and saves them on the SD Card to prevent the app from cluttering my internal memory. Now the media player picked up this folder and added it to my playlist. Every time I listen in shuffle mode I hear a sound from this Application mixed in at least every tenth song I listen to.

Is it possible to exclude a folder from being indexed by the media player?

As I understand it it's possible to add a .nomedia file into a folder that you want to exclude from media scans. I've not had occasion to test this myself but the comments on this issue seems to confirm that it works.


why HTC wildfire phone deleted all of my sms for 2 times? my HTC wildfire phone deleted all of my sms suddenly. I don't know what happened!!
and I hadn't made a backup of them. what can I do to restore them?

If you are using the stock messaging app, the settings might be the cause of the trouble.
Go to Messaging app -> Settings -> Untick Delete old messages. (If it was ticked I'm sure that was the reason for auto deleting of the sms)


How can I view Google My Maps on my phone (Nexus One)? I have a collection of locations in Google My Maps but I don't know how to access it from my phone. Using the browser and go to google map site doesn't help at all. Do you have any idea?

Bearing in mind I'm using CyanogenMod6 + Google Apps your mileage may vary - but I can access my My Maps as follows:

Open Google Maps (the application, not the full site)
Click menu
Select Layers
Select More Layers
Select My Maps and your maps should be displayed

Job done

[Edit] Looks like I'd installed the wrong Google Apps package when I flash my ROM last night, (tiny instead of medium), and the updated version has the Layers button up next to the search bar - so I don't need to open the menu (step 2) anymore.


Install company's wireless certificate to Samsung Android 4.0.3. tablet Trying to install all exported windows WEP Enterprise 802.1X Wireless certificates (.p12 extension) to a Samsung Android 4.0.3 tablet. With no certificate installer, Android certificate was installed from Google Play on the Tablet. The certificate file was opened, however, the error “No Certificates to Install” was displayed.

I had an issue with something similar a few years back - and I believe this thread helped (see Lynx's post about halfway down).  (I know it's a bit old - but I remember it being very helpful).

I believe the certificate also needs to be very generically titled "certificate.p12" or something like that (if I recall correctly).

Make sure it's in the root of your SD card and that you're trying to install from Settings >> Security >> Install from SD card.

You can also try and use this tool (not sure how secure it is - but it might help).


Switching app with physical keyboard, with one click "alt + tab" I love android's exensive support for keyboard, even "app switching" works almost exactly as in Windows/Mac OS/Some graphical Linux disitros.

When you click "alt+tab" it shows:

But what bothers me is that after you click "alt + tab" this window shows "actual app I used before"   so you need to click

"Alt + tab, and then keeping alt pressed again tab"  So those are 3 cliks instead of 2.

Is it customiazable ? Maybe I'm able change this behaviour?

Thanks in advance.

the only way this works is as follows:

alt-tab, use arrows keys to select app and than press enter, once app has switched only than release alt-tab.

Hope this helps.


Can I report phone numbers as NOT spam callers? I have the opposite situation as this question.  I received a call which Google marked as Suspected Spam Caller, but it was a legitimate call from a company I do business with.  Can I report to Google that this is not spam so others are not confused?  I selected the call in my history, and there is an option to report as spam, but not an option to report as not spam.

You missed seeing this  Report a mistake in spam protection

If a call from someone you know is marked as spam, you can report the mistake.

Open your device's Phone app phone.

Tap Recent calls Recents.

Tap the call mistakenly labeled spam.

Tap Not spam.

Future calls from this number won't be marked as spam.


Android Outlook IMAP: Microsoft account interference in configuration I have various IMAP accounts which all work fine both from Outlook on Windows and from MailDroid, Thunderbird, Samsung Email, Windows 10 Mail, etc.
One particular email address gives a login error every time on Outlook for Android, both via autodetect and with manual input, despite my entering exactly the same values as on Outlook for Windows etc. (servers, user names, passwords, SSL/TLS port numbers).
I tested the setup against the Microsoft IMAP tester here https://testconnectivity.microsoft.com/tests/O365Imap/input and it passed. In particular there are no material SSL certificate issues.
The account works fine with Outlook for Android on a brand new Android installation (BlueStacks) but not on my 'phone or tablet.
I have also tried (against my better judgment) using the non-SSL ports (which the email server supports) - same login error experienced.
(edited to remove superfluous/confusing material)

The problem here turned out to be the specific email address involved (autodetect was working as well as it could given some absent DNS entries; and anyway, as I now realise, autodetect/autodiscover means something different to every email client, and autodiscover specifically is really just an Exchange thing anyway).
I got suspicious once I had tried another email address in the same domain and it worked perfectly.
I had an old Hotmail account set up on the 'phone and tablet for various things (Windows Phone Companion, OneDrive, etc.) This Microsoft account had at one stage included an alias of the offending email address. I had got rid of this alias right at the beginning of this episode, but clearly the 'phone still thought it was there, and in particular Android Outlook was confused by it. Once I had tried on a brand new Android instance (via BlueStacks) and it had worked perfectly, I realised the situation, removed the Hotmail account from the 'phone, and Eureka.