Google Maps runs GPS in background even if the GPS radio is off - how do I fix? I have the T-Mobile version of the LG G2, running Android 4.2.2, everything stock except the keyboard. I'm not sure what version of Google Maps, but the Play Store says it's up to date.

Yesterday I noticed that the G2's battery was draining a lot faster than it had been. I had thought it was just because I had been listening to music a lot more that day, but then when I checked the battery app that night it said that Google Maps was responsible for half the battery drain. I had used it earlier that morning for directions and it had apparently run the GPS in the background for 11 hours straight. I thought it was a one-off, but it happened again today. I've attached a screenshot.

The GPS on my device is off as far as I can tell (i.e. the visual indicator in the tray is dark), so I don't know whether Google Maps is turning it on stealthily and forgetting to turn it off, or whether it's trying to find a GPS signal, can't because the radio is off, and gets stuck in a loop looking for it. I'm assuming the former because there's no CPU activity, just GPS. When I click the "Location Services" button, these are the settings:

Access to my location: ON
GPS Satellites: OFF
Wi-Fi & mobile network location: ON

So it shouldn't be happening. Why does this happen and how can I fix it? I suppose I can just remember to force stop Google Maps every time I use it, but I'm hoping for a better solution.

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

Google Maps is known for situations like this for years. It doesn't happen all the time and on all devices simultaneously with all versions of maps, but comes often enough. For me, the decision was to disable/freeze Google Maps, and use other Map apps (Locus Map, OruxMaps) instead. But let's go into details how an app (in your case Google Maps) can be "put on ice":

On a rooted device

A rooted device gives you the most alternatives. Say you want to use the app from time to time, you could use the following approach:

Dynamic freeze

convert Google Maps from system-app to user-app. This can be done e.g. with Titanium Backup – and is of course not necessary if Maps didn't ship with your device (but was explicitly installed by yourself, which already makes it a "user-app")
Greenify Maps. This way the app is kept from running unless you explicitly start it. You could think of this as a "dynamic freeze"

Static freeze

If you do not need the app anyway, and rather use another replacement, you can freeze it permanently. A freeze marks an app as being "unavailable", so it can no longer be started. There are multiple apps which can handle this, as e.g. before mentioned Titanium Backup or App Quarantine. Using Titanium Backup would give you an advantage here: TiBu let's you place a shortcut on your homescreen to freeze/unfreeze-start an app, basically emulating the "dynamic freeze" described above. No need to convert the app into an user-app for this.

Disabling Auto-Start on certain events

Many apps register so-called "broadcast receivers" to be notified on system events they are interested in. The best known certainly is boot_completed for apps that want to become active right after the device has booted up – but there are a lot more. Examples include the change of network status (true for our Google Maps candidate), battery-low, or the SDCard being mounted. On a rooted device, you can disable those "listeners" with so-called "Autostart managers". One of the best is Autorun Manager in its Pro-Version. If using those, take care to not disable too much, as that might render an app unusable.

Without root

Without root, I know of only one way to achieve something comparable:

Go to Settings→Apps
Select the "All" tab
Scroll to the app in question (here: Google Maps), and tap its entry
If you don't see a "Disable" button, but "uninstall updates" instead, it's a system app. Tap "uninstall updates", then "force stop".
Tap the "Disable" button

Now the app is de-activated, and should no longer run. I explicitly made "should" in italics, as to my experience often this is only a partial working solution: though the app is removed from the drawer, it seems it's still not completely out-of-reach for certain frameworks.

Pros and Cons

Disable: Only available solution if your device is not rooted.

Pro: does not require root
Cons:
app not always completely disabled
no dynamics
requires multiple "taps"
requires to always uninstall updates first (if there are any)
not applyable to all apps (manufacturer/carrier can "lock" apps against this)

Static Freeze:

Pros:
Works on all apps
Partly dynamic (using TiBu and its "shortcuts" on your homescreen)
Con: Requires root

Dynamic Freeze:

Pros:
Dynamic
app icons remain in the drawer/on your home screens (so from the user's perspective, handling remains unchanged)
Cons:
requires root
doesn't work on system apps (though there are "experimental features" for this AFAIK).


How can I keep my clock widget work in background? I use clock widgets. The problem is that when I lock the phone, all applications are killed (except some system applications) including clock widgets. When I unlock my phone then I see that clock widget is stuck on time when I locked phone. I have to restart widget. Please tell me that how can I keep my clock widgets work in background without being killed when the phone is locked.

My problem is solved. Following link helped me.

http://support.meetviva.com/knowledge_base/topics/huawei-how-to-disable-battery-optimisation-for-the-viva-app#

I opened Phone Manager, then Power saving, then Protected apps and then I turned on the apps which I do not want to close after turning off my screen.


Is it safe to Factory Reset my tablet to improve performance? Will I lose the uninstallable apps? I'm going to reset my Android tab because its internal memory is low.

Is it safe to erase the system data of my android tablet (not rooted)? If I restore the factory setting of my Android, will the uninstallable apps be also removed or only those that can be uninstalled?

Is it safe to erase the system data of my android tablet (not rooted)?

Yes, it's safe to Factory Reset your tablet.

  If I restore the factory setting of my Android, will the uninstallable
  apps be also removed or only those that can be uninstalled?

Only those that can be uninstalled will be removed. Doing a Factory Reset is like making your phone brand new. You will lose all your installed apps and all your data, but you will still have the stock / default apps that your phone came with.

Once the phone reboots after a Factory Reset, you start from scratch. You will log-in to your Google account, and have the option of restoring the apps you installed and bought before from Google Play.

Related questions:

Factory reset to restore performance? What are the disadvantages?
Should i do the factory reset? If yes, what will i lose?
Will factory resetting my device remove the Android upgrade?


Can't boot Android 6.0.1 Dirty Unicorn Custom ROM Trying for hours to install the new Dirty Unicorns Custom Rom with Android 6. Used to have the Lollipop version for more than a year and loved it.

However, I get into a bootloop and don't know what else I can try. First, I wiped all data from my phne, including /system and /boot.
After flashing the extracted boot.img I flashed DU_m8_6.0.1_20160910-0239.v10.6-OFFICIAL, the newest release for my model HTC one m8 and also wiped the dalvik cache.

Now my phone won't boot, it always starts up the bootloader. The following line wasn't here when using my former DU Rom: *** Software status: Modified ***

HBOOT-3.19.9
S-ON
tried Recovery TWRP-3.0.2 aswell as ClockworkMod Recovery 6

I also tried older releases of DU with Marshmallow. When using other custom roms such as CyanogenMod everything works fine..

Anyone has an idea what else I could try ? Thanks a lot!

NO.. first flash ROM file

  (in your case it is DU_m8_6.0.1_20160910-0239.v10.6-OFFICIAL)

then after that flash boot.img any time you flash rom on any phone..!!

Hope this will help..! ;)


Fully Remove Google Voice Search I am running Lollipop on the LG G3 and due to a loose connection on the audio jack google voice search gets activated everytime a slight movement of ANY attached cable.

Now, I would like to deactivate google voice search completely. My phone is rooted and i am willing to raze any part of the file system to stop this annoying hellfire.

It is annoying because I can be on a free-hands call and google voice search asks me over the speakers "In order to do a google voice search please unlock your phone".

Additionally, the same physical problem results on the default music player starting to play music. Is there a wat to deactivate the wire control for the music player ?

Open your Google app (not chrome).
Press "more"
On the new screen press "settings"
You should see "google assistant" and "voice", press "voice"
Press "voice match" under the"ok Google" section.
You have finally reached the screen you need. Here turn of the setting "access with voice match"


How do I set a separate launcher as default? I have a Huawei Y300 with Emotion UI. I want to change from the stock Huawei launcher to Holo Launcher. On launching Holo and pressing home, I do not get any options and am directly taken back to the stock home screen.

How do I set Holo as the default launcher?

You have to clear the defaults in the Settings > Application > Your default Launcher. Then when you tap the home button, you will be asked to choose a launcher. You select the one you want and mark that as the default.

Generally when you install a new application, it clears the defaults for that category. So installing Holo should have done that for you. I wonder why that did not happen.


SQLite database operation from Android terminal I want to do SQLite command like sqlite3 myDb.db, or do other SQLite command from Android shell, like Terminal Emulator or something else.

I have tried googling for these, but no luck. Is it possible to do that? If it is, how to do it?

I'm using locally-made Android phone in my country, based on Jelly Bean OS.

Yes, it's possible if you have sqlite3 binary for Android installed. Most of Android devices don't have this binary. If your device doesn't have it, then you need to get the proper binary and install it (refer to Where can I obtain an SQLite 3 command line binary for Android?). Note that you need root access to do this.

After getting the sqlite3 binary, place it inside system/bin/ (or system/xbin/). After this, you just need to test if the terminal can access  the binary by calling sqlite3 from there. If it shows sqlite> prompt and SQLite version, then you're done.

For usage hints, on sqlite3, write .help.

sqlite> .help


Notification bar turns green when I'm having a phone call (Galaxy S4 Plus)? Whenever I talk to someone and the Phone app and the phone call in progress is not in the foreground, the entire Notification bar turns all green on me. See the screenshots below. When I return to the phone call it disappears (i.e. turns back to normal/black).

Is this normal? What does it mean then? Does this happen to any one of you with a Galaxy S4? Is it a bug? If this is a "feature" of the phone, how can I get rid of it? I've looked at settings but couldn't find anything relevant.

The phone is a Galaxy S4 Plus (GT-I9506) on Android 4.2.2 (stock ROM and everything, brand new, retail version, unlocked).

The green is a notification that you're still on a call.


Using a US DOD CAC on Android The US Department of Defence (DOD) uses a Common Access Card (CAC) for authentication on a number of externally available websites. It is possible to use the CAC with Firefox on Linux (e.g., see the Arch Linux wiki). From my understanding, the CAC is a fairly standard smartcard.

Are there smartcard/CAC readers and web browsers that are compatible with Android? If not, are there technical limitations that prevent it?

Arg, the military and their acronyms. Anyway yes there are some companies that are TAA compliant (Trade Agreements Act [19 U.S.C. & 2501-2581])

Thursby with PKard is one that is known to have a working model for both CAC or PIV (Personal Identity Verification) cards.
Reference

Samsung Knox also has a working system and they do have DOD contracts. I believe they are TAA compliant because they are from a friendly foreign country. At what clearance level though I am unsure about because of the foreign country thing. Reference


Can I install the native Android OS on a non-Google phone? Samsung makes up 90% of the Android market where I live, and getting a Nexus/Pixel is difficult and ridiculously expensive, but I really want the raw, native Android OS without any of the vendor's modifications, and able to update to the latest OS whenever it comes out.

If I were to buy an older, second-hand Samsung, would it be possible to root and replace the entire OS with native Android (that which you'd find on Nexus/Pixel)?  Or only some phones (if so, which)?  Or is that not possible at all?

I think you want to run AOSP like ROM on your device instead of OEM's bloated version. The answer to your question depends on the device you are using. There are a lot of custom ROMs available for devices.

For finding these go to XDA and search for your device.
There you can find all the ROMs available. LineageOS (formerly known as CynogenMod) is the most popular one.


How to create a safe copy of every new photo/video right after shooting? Is there any app that can secretly duplicate every photo/video right after it was taken?
Maybe using inotify?

Update:

I was thinking about this while reading a story about a journalist whose phone was taken by the politician's bodyguards when he was trying to film their illegal bahavior.

That very much depends how and where you place the "secret", and what other conditions/restrictions are in place. Network storage (such as cloud services or email) e.g. require a network connection to be present, and the transfer might be noticed. A local copy might not have the copy-process noticed, but the copies could be found, in most times easily when using a file explorer. Your "secret act" might also indicate infringment on a 3rd persons privacy (if only your own photos are involved, then why the secrecy?), which not only would be indecent, but also may incur a penalty (no accusing, just a hint).

But assuming completely legal application, there might be a few options available:

photoCopy backups photos to email. The app's description states: "when the program runs, there is no indication at all"
Photo Auto Uploader automatically uploads pictures to Picasa or Facebook after pictures are captured
Auto Uploader does the same for configured services
FolderSync can synchronize your photo's folder (and of course others) periodically in the background -- to cloud services as well as to your home computer

There are more apps for each of the mentioned categories. There may also be some to create local copies, but I'm not aware of any at this time.


How can I play an Adobe Flash video on my Google TV? I cannot open a Jib Jab video on my Google TV that someone sent me. It says that I have to have the latest version on Adobe Flash.  I thought it came with the latest Google Chrome browser, that's what I have, but it won't play.  Can someone tell me how to fix this?  I have Sony Google TV NSZ-GS7.

Adobe stopped supporting Flash player on Android, and removed their app from Play Store.  GTV's Chrome browser's Flash plugin will remain at whatever version it currently is, and will no longer receive any updates.

Bottom line is that there is no way to play that video on your Google TV device.


What is SOAgent in Samsung Galaxy? What is SOAgent in Samsung Galaxy,  and why it can connect to internet by itself?

How to Block SOAgent from Accessing the Internet ?

(and also it can't be disabled, SOAgent is very suspicious app)

SOAgent (package name com.sec.android.soagent), is a system application or rather manufacturers tool that comes preloaded in most Samsung devices.

It is one of the packages responsible for checking software/security OTA updates, readying, alerting the user  and downloading such updates. As a system application it does have such privileges to access the internet to check for updates regularly to the annoyance of many users (not really necessary to sending alerts to download) because sometimes one may not be ready to install new updates.

One can remove (if rooted) or disable this package if not rooted.

Android already has mechanisms to do such checks, since other devices receive updates without the presence of such an application or even doing offline updates will be great news for some.


com.android.phone force closes constantly after a clean install of CM7.1 in SGS1 I installed a CM7.1 over a custom 2.3.5 installation on my Samsung Galaxy S I9000.  I did a full wipe through CWM as well as wiping the cache, as explained in the SGS installation instructions.  The installation completed without any errors, but when the phone booted the process com.android.phone force-closed.  When I dismissed the error, it force-closed again within less than a second, and continued doing so.

I rebooted into recovery and made sure to wipe everything, but nothing helped.  I finally reverted to my previous ROM in disappointment.

What could be the causing these force-closes?  How can I install CM7.1 successfully?  Is there any specific kernel I should install?  Any specific modem?

After researching this in local forums, it turned out to a SIM card issue.  My carrier had a series of yellow SIM cards that for some reason caused this problem.  I had my carrier replace it, and I've been on CM ever since (with a short break for AOKP).


How to remove Google Play sample books from my library without them coming back? I have the Google Play Books app on my Android tablet, and there are three books included with it: Alice in Wonderland, The Three Musketeers, and Treasure Island. When I go to my library and hit the three-dot icon, then Delete from library, it removes them.

However, in about 2-5 minutes, I get a notification that they were added to my library, and when I look back in, they're there once again. How do I make them go away?

Go to Google Play Books, find the book(s), click on the menu (three vertical dots), choose "Remove from my library", and agree to the confirmation that pops up.

The books should now be gone from your library and will, once your device syncs, be gone from the device as well.


Writing 'partition' Failed (remote failure) error, when flashing from fastboot A couple of days ago, I got an error on my phone (Motorola Razr HD xt925) saying that it cannot load the home screen. So, I restarted it in order to resolve the issue. However, it didn't reboot and since then it has been stuck in the Motorola logo.

I tried to do recovery or factory reset, but all the options lead to the same Motorola logo with no luck.
The only option that is working is AP Fastboot.  I managed to unlock the bootloader by getting an unlock code from Motorola's website and using the mfastboot command. So I assume that the fastboot command is working since it detects the devices; however, I couldn't make ADB command to work since it give the error: 'device not found'.
Anyway, the second step is to flash the phone. According to this question, I should be able to do that. However, when I am running the command fastboot flash partition gpt.bin, I am getting the following result:

(bootloader) Variable not supported!
target max-download-size: 30MB
sending 'partition' (32 KB)...
OKAY [  0.022s]
writing 'partition'...
FAILED (remote failure)
finished. total time: 0.154s

I have been searching for days to solve this problem, but nothing yet! I don't know which part I am doing wrong.

Use Motorola root toolkit.
From here, give a try to mfastboot-v2, then post your results.


Is there a way  to compare networks in terms of internet connection? I want to compare two different networks and choose the "better one". Better could be that I want to find out if the one I want to switch to would handle VoIP applications, like a Skype call in particular.

Is there any way for me to compare two networks like this? I have two SIM cards and and an Android phone with CyanogenMod 7.2

You can always perform a speed test and check for packet loss( Speedtest.net, pingtest)

Alternatively, you can try calling the skype Voice Testing Service which should be in your contacts from before, and if it isnt there the username is echo123 i belive.


DAVDroid CalDAV Calender does not show as phone calender account I have a Xiaomi Redmi 4X Device with Stock Android (no custom OS installation or modifications)
I run a Radicale CalDAV Server at home and have installed the DAVDroid app (via F-Droid). Inside DAVDroid App, i have set up the connection to my CalDAV Server and DAVDroid shows up the calendar so the connection to the server is fine.

Problems occur when I want to use the calendar with the Calendar App on the Phone. In the calendar app I want (i.e. i have) to chose the CalDAV calendar as "calendar account" but the DAVDroid account is not showing up in the list of available calender accounts although it definitely exists.

(I did some other tests using the aCalDAV app from the google playstore and the aCalDAV account shows up and is working).

Is there maybe a problem that DAVDroid has becuse it does not have all the needed permissions? I have no idea how to resolve the issue so any hints are welcome!

I solved the issue. It was an issue with a permission problem, that prevented DAVDroid to do a synchronisation. I assume that I granted the permissions "to late" (after DAVDroid already tried a sync before the correct permissions and failed).
A restart of the phone and manual re-triggering of the synchronisation process solved the problem.
Thanks!


Is there anyway to watch wmv and or divx videos on android? I have a nexus one and would love to watch divx and wmv videos on it. Is there a way to do that?

The only one I'm aware of is yxflash, and I wasn't too impressed by it - the video was quite choppy. I am looking forward to the upcoming Android version of CorePlayer, though, because I was able to play smooth DivX videos with its predecessor TCPMP on my Tungsten T5 with a fraction of the power my Nexus One had.

edit: I just saw that there's a new media player out for Android called RockPlayer that will play DivX and WMV. I haven't had a chance to test it though.


How do I get a USB stick with an adapter to work with an Android phone (rather than a tablet)? I have a USB stick that lights up when it is plugged in.  I have attached it to laptops and tablets (with adapters), and it lights up and works well.  When I attach it to cell phones (through the same adapter that I do with tablets), it does not light up.  Is there a setting to enable the Android 7.x phone to give power to the attached devices (the way Android tablets do)?
Update: My phone does not support OTG.

How to set the default USB behavior in Android 10
When you plug something into your Android device, it will behave in accordance with how you have configured the action. With Android 10, you have five options:

File transfer/Android Auto: Transfer files to and from PC/Android or
open Android Auto.

USB tethering: Behave as an external network interface for the PC.

MIDI: Used when connecting your phone to a MIDI device (such as a
digital keyboard).

PTP: When connected, your device will appear to the PC as a digital
camera.

No data transfer: No action taken.

Steps to change the default USB dehaviour in Android 10:
First, you are going to want to enable Developer options

Open Settings. Tap About Phone.
Scroll down to the bottom.
Tap Build Number (seven times) until you are informed that
Developer Options have been enabled.

Now that you have Developer Options enabled, you can set the default USB behaviour.

Navigate to the developer options: (System > advanced > developer options, may differ from device to device)
Within Developer options, navigate to (in my case) Networking > Default USB configuration


how can I prevent apps from immediately connect upon wifi connection I often have to connect to public wifi networks, and upon connecting (automatically or otherwise), several apps will immediately connect to their host server and start exchanging data. How can I make sure that those apps will not start anything until I have my VPN turned on ? Even if I have my VPN auto-connecting, there is still a [sometime longer] delay during which other apps will start "chatting" on the net..........

I'd like to be able to give the go before apps automatically connect to the net. Some will let me configure a "connect on demand" but most will connect whenever they can.

Since Android 8 there's built-in option Block connections without VPN in VPN settings.

In other case you may use AFWall+ (root required) from F-Droid or Google Play to allow apps to connect to internet only through VPN (only paid version supports VPN).


If a device is already running cyanogenmod os, is rooting still required? The phone Micromax Yu Yuphoria already comes with Cyanogen Mod OS v12. Does this mean I can uninstall unwanted pre-installed apps or do I have to root the device?

First of all, a correction is required in the question. The device maker Micromax has partnership with Cyanogen Inc. to ship an OS into the former's YU series devices.
What does it mean to me?
Cyanogenmod is a community driven open source Android based ROM. Cyanogen OS (installed in Yureka and Yuphoria) is a proprietary ROM based on Cyanogenmod, owned by Cyanogen Inc., and is used in all those devices that you hear nowadays ships with Cyanogen. (I repeat the stock ROM is not Cyanogenmod but Cyanogen OS.)

Does this mean I can uninstall unwanted pre-installed apps or do I have to root the device?

It means nothing unless one of the partners clear the fog here. Micromax in its Yureka device allowed the users to root it without issues of voiding its warranty, but the device wasn't shipped with an unlocked bootloader, let alone being rooted. There can be multiple reasons why OEMs do not prefer to ship an unlocked/rooted device. Major is the integrity of the phone itself which can be compromised before it reaches user's hands. (Google them)
So, what do I do?
It means you should ask the OEM or Cyanogen Inc. to reveal details, or perhaps, they are already their on web which you may need to search using Google. :)
Ultimately, given the background of the OEM here, do not expect the device's bootloader pre-unlocked or the ROM rooted.


How to set static IP on command line or adb shell? I can't seem to use netcfg on Nougat. If I use ifconfig ip is not updating.If there is another method to change IP on command line or adb shell, I am all ears.

You can try using ip command.

How it compares to ifconfig

Edit:
To set up an IP address you can use:

  ip address add 192.168.0.77 dev eth0

or the long form

  ip addr add 192.168.0.77/24 broadcast 192.168.0.255 dev eth0

look up current config using

  ip addr show


Cannot Get This Disk Image To Mount! I am trying to download the firmware for the RikoMagic MK802 IV, which can be found here. After it finishes downloading, I want to open it up and begin modifying it a bit for fun, but nothing I do seems to work. I've tried opening it with ext2/ext4 explorers and unpackers, I've tried mounting the disk image file in Ubuntu and Windows, I've tried using everything I could in Android Kitchen, and nothing seems to be able to get this open and editable. Any ideas what else I could try? Thanks everyone!

I picked one of those downloads at random and looked at the .img file inside the .rar archive.  It's a proprietary format.  file and trid have no idea what type it's supposed to be, the former just says "data".  The first four characters of the file are RKFW, presumably for Riko firmware.

GeekPeek.net has a pretty good guide on how to unpack and repack these files using the imgRePackerRK tool from XDA.


Mount /system/app/ using adb (non rooted phone) Is it possible to mount /system/app/ or to push an apk file to /system/app/ using adb on a non rooted phone? I am trying to use adb push to push an apk file to the aforementioned directory but it keeps telling me Read-only file system. Is there any other routes to take to try to push the apk file to my phone without rooting it?

Not from within Android, no. Only root can mount or remount filesystems, including /system.

There is another way, which is to go outside of Android completely by making the change you want from the recovery. Since the recovery doesn't use Android's permissions system, it can let you mount whatever filesystems you like, however you like. But if you're going to install a custom recovery to let you do this, you might as well root the phone anyway.


ADB using USB-C to USB 2.0 cable Can I use ADB (USB Debugging) with cable that has USB-C connector on phone side and USB 2.0 Type A plug on the computer side? It should be able to transfer data.

The cable you describe is a standard USB converter cable (USB-A to C).

A lot of manufacturer ship such a cable together with a new phone.
You can use it to establish a USB 2.0 (and may be 3.0 if the device supports this) connection between your computer and your phone.

Like any USB cable it is agnostic to the data it transmits, therefore ADB and MTP (file access) will work as expected as long as the used computer is correctly configured.


Will launcher dry the battery quickly? I like to install doldol launcher will it dry battery quickly? or maintain battery backup normal like default launcher?

There will be subjective opinions, however, the battery life will depend on what launcher you use. For instance, if the launcher makes heavy usage of internet for fetching data for its widgets, etc., it will surely end up in poor battery life. But again, it will vary from launcher to launcher and what settings you enable/disable in the launcher. I have been using Nova Launcher for a long time, and having no trouble with the battery life.


Does smart lock check all active verification methods or only one of them? I've recently started using smart lock. I've enabled two features: a trusted place and a trusted face. I cannot understand if in this case both of these mechanisms should pass to unlock the device or passing any one of them is enough. For example, is my face (theoretically) enough to unlock my device when I am not in a trusted place? I haven't been able to do so, but maybe I'm just doing something wrong.

Smart Lock will unlock your device if any of the trusted places/faces/devices/etc. are found. Configuring multiple verification methods does not mean that you have to match all of them. You should be able to unlock your device with just your face without being in your trusted place. You can also unlock it by being in your trusted place and not showing it your face.


How to copy all photos in gallery to linux desktop machine? I have a bunch of photos on my Samsung Galaxy Tab running 3.2 which I'd like to copy over USB to my main machine running Linux so I can work on them with GIMP and other power tools.   Despite this seeming like a simple and common thing to do, I haven't found any way to do this after hours of googling and experimenting.

Some answers and articles already out there assume the existence of sdcard, which I don't have (AFIK), mention directories named /dcim or /emmc (sp?), involve Windows-only software such as Kies, or are about some specialized problem not relevent here.

I figured I could poke around the Galaxy Tab's file system with adb, but found no place holding .jpg or other image files, which I should have at least 30 or so of.  If I knew the path, I could just do an adb pull to get my photos.

If it's possible, I prefer to use adb pull, since it can be automated, but I also wonder how regular folk, the nontechies, get their photos off their tablets.  I have read about MTP and that the USB mass storage device way of doing things doesn't work with the Galaxy Tab (or anything Samsung?)

Just to be clear, my photos do exist on the tablet.  I can see them all in the Gallery, as a regular end user.   I do have the proper USB cable, and adb runs fine.

I assume you have Galaxy Tab with Honeycomb and don't have a SD card slot, but have 16/32 GBs of internal storage. In Honeycomb, MTP mode (Windows Media Transfer Protocol) is used instead of USB Mass storage. That's why it's isn't working for you perhaps.

First read what MTP is and why it's being used by OEMs now here. MTP and ICS. Also this Question should be useful - Android Stack Exchange - Can I disable MTP mode and just have a regular USB connection?

Have your tried enabling MTP support for Linux? These are the steps for a Ubuntu distro - Guide To Setup MTP.

Alternatively via using ADB I believe you can access Gallery files in /mnt/sdcard/. The sdcard folder should be there even if you don't have a SD card slot. Camera photos would be in /DCIM folder.

Full steps would be (if anyone needs) -

adb shell
cd /mnt/sdcard/DCIM/

You can check which folders exist here and verify if your Media files are here or not.


Can you use "OK Google" to set a timer with a label by voice? Is it possible to set a timer with a label using "OK Google"?   I'd like to be able to say:

  OK Google: 20 minute timer for laundry

or

  OK Google: laundry timer 20 minutes

but I haven't found a way of phrasing it that actually works.   It just takes me to the Google search results.   I can only say "OK Google: timer 20 minutes."  How do I set the label on a timer using "OK Google"?

"Ok google, set alarm label laundry for 20 minutes"


Volume down key not working. How to enter flashmode I am using Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. After replacing its screen the Volume-down key stopped working.

However I am in Bulgaria and cannot wait anymore for the Lollipop update, that is why I followed this guide:

http://techbeasts.com/2015/04/14/update-sony-xperia-z1-compact-d5503-to-android-502-lollipop-145a0242-firmware/

However without Volume-down key I cannot finish Step №9: For Xperia Z1 Compact Volume Down key will do the job of back key, just turn off your phone, keep the Volume Down key pressed and plug in the data cable.

Is there a way to simulate pressing the volume-down or to install the "FTF Firmeware" without it?

Thanks!

You can use ADB to connect to your phone over a terminal and issue the following commands to reboot into Download Mode

su
reboot download

Your phone will need to be rooted to run the 'su' command.


Android photo viewer that doesn't blank screen I have many photos of my family on my phone. I like to draw with my daughters and I invariably end up drawing family members. It would be really nice to have an android phone app that displays a photo and simply leaves it there without allowing the screen to dim or to lock the phone. Certainly such permissions are commonly used by video player apps, but photo viewer apps seem to always allow screen dimming and phone locking.

Is there such a photo viewer app? I would expect a handful, but haven't been able to find one.

(Yes, I know display costs battery, and that if I don't close it my battery will be drained.)

I have looked for that kind of app in all my installed apps but no photo viewer requests such permission. I really doubt there is a photo viewer that keeps your screen awake, because of battery drain (which is not exactly what an average user would be looking for)

Maybe what you should do instead is to search in Google Play for an app made specifically for keeping your screen awake, and use it with your favorite photo viewer. There are lots of them, and many are free, like this one (Keep Screen On)


Are the AOSP Email and Calendar apps dead? Are the AOSP Email (com.android.email) and Calendar (com.android.calendar) apps dead?  I cannot find any information on their development, though they appear to have been stuck on version 6.0.1 for some time.  They are still distributed as part of CyanogenMod.

I cannot speak to cyanogen mod, however my understanding is that cyanogen mod has been taken over/morphed into what is now known as the  Lineage OS Distribution here: https://lineageos.org/ perhaps you can get more info there or check on the android open source project here AOSP Platform Email and here.
Regarding how to install them, see here.


Localisation in-app on Android, issue I will try to be brief :
There is this app, a game (World of Warriors) that DO NOT ASK FOR PERMISSION TO TRACK LOCALISATION. In this same app, there is this offer, Tapjoy (in the app, not through the Tapjoy app), that asks you to check an ad, download an app, complete a survey etc, in exchange of some of the game currency. However, the offers change in function of where you are. French dont have the same as Italians that dont have the same as Americans etc ...
I tried to change my language, my localisation, the degree of localisation (only GPS, only network, both), using a fake gps provider, a VPN (Tunnelbear, Hola and a tons of others), but it doesnt change anything at all.
Do you have any idea of how this is working ? Again, the app does not ask for gps localisation !

This is a simple IP location lookup.
There are some services that offer so called IP2Country lookup that gives you the country of an IP address. For instance http://www.iplocation.net/ combines multiple services and presents you all results of their respective databases.
All of them will at least share the same country (probably the one you are currently in) and mostly your rough region.


How to create folder in app drawer of galaxy A3? When using galaxy S4, I could create a folder in the app drawer. But after I changed my phone to galaxy A3, I couldn't find any menu to create a folder in the app drawer. How can I do that in galaxy A3? Thanks before in advance.

The creation of folders depends on the launcher.
If you can't simply drop one icon on top of another (a folder would be created with two icons inside), try changing launcher.

Go launcher gives you the option of adding folders on the app drawer, so give it a go. The downside is that go launcher on the last years has been supported by ads. Give it a go and see if it's too much or if it's bearable.

Nova launcher is a good option (low on resources and plenty of customization) (you can add drawer folders and tabs with prime, I don't know how much but not a free solution)

Both are two good and stable launchers that have been evolving for a couple of years now. See which one suits you best.


How to fix wakelock issue on Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900H running Lollipop? I have a little problem with my Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900H from Orange Dominican Republic running Android 5.0.

It happens that suddenly the phone ots having wakelocks and I dont know what to do since I don't want to root the phone to know which one is the bad app.

Here are the screenshots  of the battery:

(Click to enlarge the image)

stats after

After turn off remote controls

Battery stats

Location settings

If you don't wanna root your phone there is no way of preventing the
power consuming apps from doing so.
From your screen shot I see the kernel and android system used most
of your power but they are not the ones using power but there is apps
on your phone are using core system functions so it's hard to say
witch app is really using to much power.
The other service using to much power is gpsd and I think it is the
real problem here. gpsd is a gps daemon it's a piece of software that
works with the gps sensor normally it shouldn't even appear in the
battrie stat ,but samsung repaced it by it's own software to offer a remote location service for the phone to help users find their lost handset through a website, just as Apple does with Find My iPhone. Unfortunately it appears to be causing the GPS Daemon to continually search and update your phone’s position, thus running down the battery.  While it’s a useful feature, you’ll need to deactivate it for now to save your battery and hope that Samsung issues a fix for it soon. Here’s how to do it: if you need this service even with the expense of power you can keep it but if you don't want it follow the next steps to disable it.

Open Settings
search for Security and tap on it.
Scroll down, tap Remote controls
Enter the password for your Samsung account, tap OK in top right
Slide the switch in the top right corner towards the left, where it
should change to grey or off.


Is there a way to force an app to remain running in the background no matter what? On Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) the OS categorizes your app and each category has its own threshold in which the OS uses for determining which app to close first when it runs out of memory.

Has anyone of you been annoyed by, say you opened a timer to run in the background to measure the time elapsed of something, then you opened few more apps and got back to your timer just to see it was reset or closed? I mean, seriously, it is really excruciatingly annoying.

Is there a way to force an app to remain running in the background no matter what even when the OS runs out of memory?

The accepted answer turned out incorrect or outdated. The "App Settings" module for the Xposed app allows you to specify on a per app basis to keep apps from being killed or freed:

http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.installer

http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.mods.appsettings

Responsible care should of course be exercised when playing with apps changing such low level behaviour.


How to restart android, without touch or removing battery? All of a sudden my Android (Lollipop) stopped responding while I was using an app. I pressed the power button two times and the problem persisted.

I waited a few minutes and pressed the power button again. It showed the lock screen, but still the smartphone (Moto G) didn't respond to my touch commands.

How can I reboot my device? I can't touch the "Power Off" option neither can I remove the battery.

Press and hold the power button for 10-20 secs and your phone will force reboot, in most cases anyway. If your phone still doesn't reboot, then you'll have to remove the battery and if its not removable  you'll have to wait for the battery to run empty.


Using USB peripherals with hardware debug I have a developer tablet, and I also need some peripherals connected via USB to my tablet and debug cable at the same time. I tried to connect USB hub to my tablet using OTG cable, by got the problem - tablet can use peripherals, but PC doesn't show the device in adb devices.

Is it possible to connect debug cable and USB peripherals to my tablet at the same time?

No, this is not possible. In order for your device to be in debug mode/connect to the computer with the debug cable, it needs to be connected as a slave device. The OTG cable tells the tablet to go into host mode. So now your computer is telling your tablet to be a slave but through the enumeration with the OTG cable the tablet believes it needs to be the master, there's a quarrel and it appears the tablet wins and is the master and thus your computer does not acknowledge the tablet's existence.
If you need the debugging tools have you looked into ADB wireless debugging? (Sorry I can't find the link right now but I've used it in the past and know it is somewhere on the developer.android.com site)
I couldn't find the link so I figured out how to do it again:

Open the command prompt and navigate to your sdk/platform-tools/ folder.
Type adb tcpip 5555
Type adb connect <your device IP address>:5555
At this point you unplug your device and type adb logcat
At times, such as unplugging/plugging into a USB device, the logcat will become disconnected, just redo steps 3 & 4.


Google maps app works without wifi? So I have been using google maps in airplane mode. I only connect to cafe´s around Barcelona and once I have searched the directions. I leave any wifi in range. Shouldnt that mean my google maps no longer works? However, on the app, when I walk down a street or make a turn, the little blue dot seems to update where I am, regardless of the presence of internet connectivity...

If I try retyping a search or starting a new route without wifi, it says that it cant connect to server, which is expected.

My question is basically, how does it know to update once I have established a route?

The blue dot is because of GPS and not because of WiFi. GPS doesn't require internet connectivity to work when it locks onto your position.

How does it know to update? When you go off course then the app will try and update your route with a new route(which needs internet).


What does a "phone with 4G" system notification icon mean? I have a Moto G6 with Vodafone Gujarat India. There is a "phone with 4G" icon in the notification bar.

What does it mean?

That signifies the "VoLTE" calling. Because now your call is made over the LTE network, which is different than how they used to be placed earlier. Vodafone had launched VoLTE in many states but it's been a good time since they were launched in Gujarat. Surprising that you're noticing it only now.

VoLTE brings HD voice quality and faster call connect times. So, you get a lot of improvement in the experience.


Nexus 4 auto dialing extension does not work I used to own a T-Mobile Mytouch 4g before, which had the pause character before extension otherwise 'p' on that handset and it was working fine.

Now, I own and use a Nexus 4 and I understood that the pause character on the Nexus 4 is ',' (a comma).

I replaced all the contact entries that had a 'p' with ',' (a comma) in my contacts. And now it is not working, basically, what happens is when I make the call using that contact's number, the number gets called but the extension is not dialled automatically.

Anyone would know how to fix my issue?

I had the same problem. I changed in the google voice settings to only use it for international calls, which fixed the problem.
When dialing out using Google Voice, I can't get the auto extension feature to work, unfortunately


Stop Google Talk from signing in I recently had to change the password of my primary account. Now Talk keeps trying to sign-in and fails. Having no way of changing the credentials used by talk without completely resetting my phone, I just want to completely disable it (I'm using a better messaging client). Do you thing I could fathom-out how to do this? Anyone know?

I believe you are still want to use the Google Play Store to grab some apps, are you?

If you disable Talk, the Play Store will not working properly (No auto updating, can't download any app...), so I recommend you use the method below:

Hit:

Setting > Application > Manage Application.

Navigate and click on Google Apps. Then click on “Clear Data” button. Press "OK" on the pop-up dialog. Then find Gmail and Talk under Manage Application, click "Clear Data" as well.

After you've done the above, please head to "Account & Sync Settings" and press your account, then press Menu > Sync Now

Then it should pop up for you to re-enter the password.


Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus connect to wired network I have bought Lenovo Tab 4 10 Plus unit recently. It replaced my laptop perfectly but one, I need to connect to a server on a local closed wired network. I tried to connect using a USB C Hub with Ethernet port. The hub can support usb flash disk but not with ethernet.

I contacted Lenovo support, they said it does not support ethernet and the USB is a USB 2.0 only for data and charging.

Any idea on how can I connect to a local closed wired network? Its okay to purchase a small device that can easy to bring.

TIA

Daniel

Purchase a small wireless access point and connect that to LAN, then connect wirelessly to the WAP.


How can I delete all mail from gmail stored on my Android device? There seems to be quite a lot of similar questions but I haven't found one which covers my situation.

I have an android device on loan to do some development testing and at some point I opened the standard Mail account and connected to my Gmail account.
Obviously all my mail was synced.

Now I need to return the device and I have set Aeroplane mode to avoid any further access to my WiFi.

However, when I run the Mail app all my previously synced emails are there, obviously stored somewhere on the device.

I need a way of deleting all those emails from the device only.
Maybe deleting a file somewhere on the device or something else ?

Gmail account is directly linked to the internet and stores few bits of data onto the device. Even if you are not connected to the internet, the data will stay on your device. Logging out of the Google device will remove your preferences or settings, but the data can on your device is still visible. To remove the data, you need to do a factory reset, which will wipe out the entire data (including your internal memory file).
This can be done in two ways, reboot from settings, Settings --> system or about phone --> reset --> factory reset.
Or manually by switching off the phone, and then pressing power and volume down button simultaneously. You can find more information here https://www.androidcentral.com/how-factory-reset-android-phone


S4 Wont turn on unless removing battery then turns off after 2 seconds So, my Galaxy S4 turned off randomly today during charge. I attempted turning it back on via the power button but it would not respond.

Then I tried taking out the battery and replacing it, the device vibrates with the Galaxy S4 logo showing up for about a couple seconds, then the screen goes blank again.

I even tried placing a battery from a different S4 - still doesn't work.

Anybody know what's wrong with my device?

Edit: Flat Surface trick doesn't work. It vibrates sometimes but then it turns off.

Try booting into recovery mode and seeing if it turns of there

if it doesn't that means your software is corrupt and a factory reset/format cache from recovery mode might fix it

to access recovery mode hold power button+ volume up + home button at the same time while the device is off


I cant delete a google drive archive (pd: sorry for my bad english) Ok so long time ago my google drive account was like ban so of course i cant use it but for some reason when i enter the google drive mobile app its appears some wierd photos i tried to delete but obviouly my account was banned so it pop up a message saying unable to open the menu of the archive

If there another way to delete this fotos

Here's what you can try to delete photos from "Album Archive" (if that's the issue)

In Auto-backup select the folder holding a picture or pictures

Click the 3 dot option: Manage in Google Photos

select the photos followed by the 3 dot option to Move to trash

When empty refresh the page by hitting F5 on Windows or the refresh circular arrow to the left of the URL

Wait until the page is fully reloaded
If the deleted photos reappear, you can go to https://photos.google.com/ and click on the 3 bar menu: Help and feedback: Send feedback, and copy/paste the following sentence:-

I provide consent for you to look into my account in order investigate  issue #b_120099634
followed by the folder name causing problems and any other information you determine is important.


Is there any way, how to make dualboot on android device? I would like to have dualboot on my phone, because of making custom ROM. Is possible to have stable system on default memory and my custom ROM in development on my SD card? And if yes, how to make it please?

Many thanks :)

There was a few apps in early android day's, but it takes too much memory..

You're better off just using a nan droid backup and restore between systems !

If you just swap system and boot, it'll be quicker and you can work on as many ROMs as you want !

I used to run CM9 CM11 and CM12 when i was still working out CM 12


Passwords do not work: Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE Tablet A friend of mine recently became bedridden and a kind neighbor gave her a
Verizon Ellipsis 7 4G LTE Tablet QMV7A

to help relieve her boredom. My friend has no other access to the internet while she is injured.

Her problem is that she can't log into any of her web sites that require a password.

She continuously gets told her password is invalid.

She made sure the shift and caps lock key were not issues.

She told me that she was able to see her actual password characters before they were redacted as asteriks..........she typed them correctly.

Does anyone have any suggestions for helping her successfully entering her passwords into web sites running on this tablet?

Thanks

Steve

It turned out she was trying to get into her accounts via a web browser rather than apps.   She needed to include an "m" in the URL to get the mobile version of her sites.

Thanks for the input everyone.


What does zipalign mean and how does it fit into how we use our Android devices? What does "zipalign" mean and what is its significance?

When a ROM claims to be "zipaligned" what does that mean and what the difference from a ROM that is not "zipaligned"?

This mechanism is described at the Android developers site as follows:

  zipalign is an archive alignment tool that provides important optimization to Android application (.apk) files. The purpose is to ensure that all uncompressed data starts with a particular alignment relative to the start of the file. Specifically, it causes all uncompressed data within the .apk, such as images or raw files, to be aligned on 4-byte boundaries. This allows all portions to be accessed directly with mmap() even if they contain binary data with alignment restrictions. The benefit is a reduction in the amount of RAM consumed when running the application.

In short: .apk content can be easier/faster/more optimal accessed due to the order of data inside the packed file.

For deeper information, there's a "complete guide" available at AddictiveTips: What Is Zipalign In Android And How To Make Apps Zipaligned, which answers the second part of your question:

  Quite understandably, situation would be reserved for unaligned application packages. Resource reading would be slow and memory usage would be on the higher end of the spectrum. It would also depend on how many unaligned applications are present. For example, if less number of applications with an unaligned home application, you’d see slower application launch times. This is the best case scenario. For a worst case scenario, having a number of unaligned applications will result in the system repeatedly starting and killing processes, struggling with lags and huge battery drain.


How do I "unroot" my android device Now with Pokemon GO pushing the new update and not allowing rooted devices in the game, I want to reverse that.

So how do I unroot my device

Bonus: How do I manipulate the app into thinking I do not have root access

Edit: I used SuperUser's Full unroot option but it does not remove root access. Either SuperUser has a problem or my phone's jacked up

If you want to unroot only to play Pokemon Go, you don't need to do so.

Just root with Magisk:

Download the magisk installer from the official post on XDA-Developers
Flash it with the custom recovery.
Install the Magisk app (also in that post on XDA)

Now, to hide root from Pokemon GO:

Go to Magisk Hide and enable Pokemon GO
Go to Settings, and press on Hide Magisk Manager

It will take a while, just let it work.
When it finishes, reboot your device and open Pokemon Go.
If it still detects root, clear the data of Pokemon Go.


Prevent app installation when switching phones I would like to know if there is a way to prevent the auto-install of apps when switching to a new phone / device. Going in and uninstalling apps is a bit of a pain and I'd like to avoid it. I did not see any option to prevent this on the google play website (which is where I expected to find it).

Similar question, but not the same; it deals specifically with ROM switching: How can I prevent Android from auto-installing all of my apps?

I finally got an answer for this by contacting google, so here goes:

On your old / current phone, open the Play store app
Go to "My Apps"
Select the "ALL" tab
Scroll and click the gray "X" next to the app to prevent its install on the new phone

This does not delete the apps from your Play account; you can install the apps at your convenience via the Play store web interface and purchased apps don't need to be re-purchased.


How to root Honor 9 lite? I have bought a new Huawei honor 9 lite and I want to root it.

Model No: LLD-L21
Android version: 8.0.0
Software build version: 8.0.0.123 (C185)

How can I do it?

To root your device you first need to unlock your bootloader, and Huawei no longer provides bootloader unlock codes. There are several possible options, but all of them are paid, ranging from €3 to $55 depending on your choice.
I'm not affiliated with or responsible for any of the services mentioned below.

Read unlock code from phone:
(Keep in mind that these methods are not guaranteed to work in Android 8.0.0 or newer, but if it doesn't work you can ask for a refund)

DC-Unlocker €3: You can buy 3 credits (one credit=one euro) from their website https://www.dc-unlocker.com, download the software for your PC and get the unlock code by connecting your phone to your PC. You can follow the tutorial in their website for a complete step-by-step.
HCU-Client €3: This is associated with DC-Unlocker but supports some newer devices, so it is generally recommended over DC-Unlocker. The website is https://hcu-client.com and you can follow the same steps above.

Order unlock code by IMEI:
(This method works for any version, but is more expensive)

Global Unlocking Solutions $20-$22: The website is https://global-unlocking-solutions.miiduu.com/bootloader-unlock-codes-choose-model-below .The website looks sketchy but plenty of XDA users have had success with them. The ordering process is straightforward.
FunkyHuawei $55: The website is https://www.unlockhuawei.com .The advantages of FunkyHuawei are: If it doesn't work you can ask for a refund, and they just have a very reliable track record.

You can just Google how to install ADB and Fastboot. There are plenty of guides. Also install Hisuite (for drivers) too.
After you order the code unlock the bootloader with fastboot oem unlock ******** (replace with the code, also that will WIPE ALL YOUR DATA)

Download TWRP from https://forum.xda-developers.com/9-lite/how-to/honor-9-lite-twrp-3-2-1-0-available-t3771358, rename it to twrp.img and to flash it use "fastboot flash recovery_ramdisk twrp.img".

Google "magisk xda download" and download the Magisk ZIP from the XDA thread. Boot into TWRP (You can Google how to do that in Huawei devices) and go to Install, and choose the ZIP you downloaded, and confirm, and you have rooted your Honor 9 Lite.

So that is there to it. A lot of work and some money is needed, but there are no other choice for now.


Xperia phone not playing audio properly through headphones? I have an Sony Xperia phone (not sure which model)

Within the space of about an hour, my phone has gone from playing music crystal clear through my headphones to not playing the whole bit of a song.
For example, whenever I play "Professional Griefers" I can hear some of the tune, but it seems to not be playing bits of it. Also, I can't hear the vocals in it.
I've tried this with other songs, and trust me, it's not just one song. It also has the same effect on videos.
I'm sure it's not the headphones themselves either. I just got them a couple of days ago and it wasn't until an hour ago that the problem started.

The audio also appears to be crackly, quiet and very low quality?

However, when I take the headphones out, everything plays fine?

I've had the phone for a while, and I've never had the problem before, so why now?

EDIT: Turns out it WAS my headphones. I tested them on my iPad and I had the same problem.

Check your headphones in another device, clean the headphone jack socket, if the headphones work fine on another device and you cleaned the socket and the problem is still there bad news the headphone socket on your phone is damaged, you can get it repaired but that can be expensive, you may want to think about using Bluetooth audio.


Hangouts can't connect to server - Android phone I was using my Hotmail account for a very long time for hangouts and other Google services. Today I create a Gmail account on top of my existing Hotmail Google services. This is supposed to mean that the Google email is now the primary way to access all of that information. I did it and as soon as I did that, I couldn't log into Hangouts on my Nexus 5. Can someone please help me out?

I can still receive SMS with the app, just not hangout messages.
I can't use hangouts on gmail.com or other google web sites either.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the hangouts app. Everything is up to date.

I have factory reset my phone and logged in with my Google email. Still doesn't work. I'm starting to believe it's something on the Google side of things and not anything to do with my phone.

This problem seems to have resolved itself over night.
This is only speculation, but my guess would be that some of the processing involved in converting a non-gmail Google account to a gmail Google account happens overnight. I woke up this morning and everything seems to be working perfectly again.


Is there any (major) difference between the Galaxy Note 3 on different US carriers? I am currently a loyal Verizon customer, and have been pretty much forever.
My current phone is a Galaxy Nexus, and my previous phone was a Droid, and the carrier has been fairly hands-off with these "stock" Android models.

I'm currently out of contract, so I have the ability to freely/easily switch carriers if need be.
I really like Verizon's coverage, but might be willing to jump ship for various reasons.
(Carrier decision is really a separate question)

I'm currently interested in the Galaxy Note 3. However, I'm concerned about what modifications Verizon may have made to their version of this model.
The main reason for my concern is this list of differences about the previous model, the Note 2: http://engadget.com/2012/12/07/dnp-samsung-galaxy-note-ii-verizon-review/
What especially concerns me is things that were removed and hardware differences, such as the Verizon model of the Note 2 missing the wireless charging contacts, but on principle I am also concerned about firmware and software differences (other than the necessary CDMA chip, of course, and I can live with additional Verizon branding and bloatware).

I have asked this question in a variety of forums, including asking Verizon and Samsung directly, but haven't gotten a straight answer. I'm hoping that "no news is good news" and I would really like to dive in and take this model. But if there are any differences, I'd like to know them.
I just want to make sure I am getting the features as-advertised by Samsung.

Thanks!

I found good info on the hardware specs here:
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-Note-3_id7984
I'd compare that to any stats verizon releases.
Word on the street is it will be both CDMA and GSM, so I wouldn't be surprised if there are no differences.
My reading:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2469047


Chrome does not load videos This problem is very weird for it has never happened until now. Whenever I want to play a video in chrome it starts to load the video after which it stops and shows the play button again but it does not function when tapped and this happens for every video. What is causing this?

Clearing the browser's cache in the browser's settings will do the trick. I hope it helps


Tasker: continually check for shell command result and run task when it matches I've got the following shell command that checks to see if a particular process is running:

pgrep -x com.package.name

It either returns a process ID if the process is running, or it returns empty if it's not. How can I pop this into a tasker profile that checks every few seconds and runs a task when it sees that the result is empty?

The ultimate goal here is to keep near 100% uptime on a process that has a tendency to crash multiple times a day.

I see two ways to do what you want.

Run a time based profile and set it to repeat after every n minutes. Then follow your logical actions in the task of what to do when it crashes.

The other option (since the former doesn't give control on seconds but minutes and hours) is to execute the task manually or at some point automatically (say at 10:00 AM) but make an infinitely looping task.

For example, consider the following actions:

Note: Anything with and between <> has to be replaced with your custom values.

Code → Run Shell

Command: <YOUR_COMMAND>
Store Output In: %Grep

Create this action based on what to do when the above command returns nothing i.e. when the process is not running.

When doing so, set an 'If' condition under that action. E.g. under the action  App → Launch App, the If condition would be %Grep Isn't Set.

Note that I'm not talking about using a separate If action.
Add a wait of the amount of seconds/minutes/hours you want using Task → Wait
Now is the time to make an infinite loop. Use the action Task → Goto

Type: Action Number
Number: 1

All we've done here is to execute a command then execute an action if only the first command didn't yield anything, then wait for sometime and then repeat the whole procedure.

At some point, you would want to get rid of that infinite loop. You can either consider disabling and re-enabling Tasker or make a stop action in another task using Task → Stop, and execute it manually.


Why does my HTC Android phone's screen switch on and then off again? The screens on my HTC Wildfire and Desire will just switch on and then off for no apparent reason.

Some badly developed apps can cause device wakes.

Try uninstalling or freezing suspicious apps.

Check the logs to see what is causing this.


What are methods to play audio/video files from a tablet onto a media center? I need to have my kodi-based entertainment platform account for android tablets to play high definition media files (audio and video) located on the tablet. Kodi runs on an ARMv7 board, such as the Orange Pi and is connected to a large screen (24-27 inches). So far the possibilities that I have encountered are:

audio/video streaming
Android screen casting (with audio)
accessing the tablet through USB/Bluetooth/Wifi as a hard drive
an audio/video sharing application (either existing or to be developed)

Note that the tablet is also to be used as a remote control for Kodi through Yatse – I've just discovered that app, I don't know its features thoroughly yet.

I'm not sure screen casting can occur with a non-android node however; for example, I have seen Android TV do support receiving media content from tablets and smart phones. As for streaming, I assume it would imply a high bandwidth usage. I know VLC can do that but I'd like to spare the user from any configuration/preparation manipulations. Finally I'm not sure any tablet can be shared as a disk drive, be it through USB, wireless or Bluetooth.

Does the above make sense? What possibilities are available along with pros and cons?

Yatse is indeed a really nice app and allows you to stream any content from your phone to your Kodi enabled device. You probably have to buy the pro version.

Alternatively you could just install an (S)FTP or NFS server on your phone and add the remote drive in Kodi.


Can I play high end games on my rooted low end phone I own a spice phone which have low internal memory and ram but it is rooted. My question is that is it possible to play high end games like GTA vice city or nfs on that phone.  I had Googled about it but it makes more confusion. Some sites say yes and some no. Can anybody tell exactly the answer. It is running on android 4.2 and I had played some big games like angry birds epic and prince of persia on my device. They worked great. I can increase internal memory and ram also but after that, do really big games will work. Though GTA is a very large file so please help me solving this.

To the best of my knowledge, just having your phone rooted does not make it Memory efficient  and that means it will not automatically become suitable for high end mobile games.

Rooting phone gives you additional privileges, one of most common of which is a privilege to remove system apps that are shipped by your device manufacturer.

You can try this yourself, by downloading some bulky apps from Play store and soon when you will reach device memory threshold, you will find that Android OS will complain and ask you to free some memory, albeit your phone is Rooted.

Good Luck!!


Unable to change time in Android emulator: Alarm driver missing I am running Android 4.4 (using custom a custom rooted system image) in the android emulator (from the command line). When trying to set the time via Settings > Date & time ("Automatic date & time" and "Automatic time zone" are disabled) i can set the time (the dialog appears and works), but the system clock is not updated.

Logcat says:

D/        ( 1206): Setting time of day to sec=1515250620
W/        ( 1206): Unable to open alarm driver: No such file or directory

What could cause the alarm driver to be unavailable/missing and how can i fix this?

Update: I have verified that /dev/alarm is missing -- is there any way to add the missing driver without having to recompile android?

Thanks!

Yes, but some compiling is needed for the driver. Just not the whole custom image.

You need to set-up a cross compiler.

Go to your .config file and set the kernel driver you want to compile to

  =m

using the menuconfig command

By selecting 'm' for the kernel driver. This means ``module,'' meaning that the system will compile it, but not directly into the kernel, but as a loadable module."

Now you are ready to compile your specific driver using this make command.

make <ARCH= Path to arm-eabi- directory >  <path to the .c file of module>

Once compiled go grab the created .ko file. Copy it to

  /system/lib/modules/

within your custom rooted system image.

Lastly, from the terminal emulator use the insmod  command to inject it in. So it would look like

su

mount -o rw,remount,rw /system

insmod /system/lib/modules/modulefile.ko

That should do it if you encounter any errors read them carefully incase the module is interdependent. Check the Dmesg logs for success or errors.

References:

https://source.android.com/devices/architecture/kernel/modular-kernels#loadable-kernel-modules

http://linuxdocs.org/HOWTOs/Kernel-HOWTO-4.html


Unknown status bar icon - Galaxy note 9 Today I (very briefly) spotted a new icon in my status bar.
It looked like a little person icon (head and shoulder, silhouette kind of thing) with sound waves on the right (like WiFi signal but horizontal).

It was only there for a second so I wasn't able to get a screenshot but will definitely try if i see it again.

I haven't come across this icon in the 8 or so years that I've been using android and I can't think of any obvious app that it would be for.
I haven't installed any apps in the last week or so either.

If it helps, I was on my Galaxy Note 9 on Oreo (8.1.0 / Samsung Experience 9.5), it is rooted (Magisk) and has Xposed installed.

Any help identifying this icon is greatly appreciated and I'll update if I manage to get a screenshot.

As per my findings, thanks to @Firelord, this icon is used for voice-over.

There may be multiple apps that use this icon but it seems the most common would be Google Voice (which I don't have).


Identify when a file was Deleted Some files suddenly went missing from my Android Device. Is there a way for me to Identify when a file was Deleted? I don't need to recover them (for now), but I just want to have a clue when it was deleted/removed so i can further investigate.

If you have root acess you can try app like Undeleter Restores File And Data.

You can search for the deleted file and as well as recover it.


Why do I have to get permission to save to my own phone? I am the owner of a new Samsung Galaxy J7 (J700T). When I try to delete files with no data on them on my internal, external, or SD card, the phone tells me I am denied.

I want the files I've created. I would love to have this phone checked for spyware, but I am a Windows desktop guy and this Android flashing/rooting stuff has me stumped. Please send me in the right direction.

How do I get my permissions to stay in my favor? How does this happen, why I don't have the authority to do what?

As @Robert mentions in his excellent comment, the permission system on Android is not user-based, but app-based. Although newer Android versions have some multi-user support, the general attitude of the privilege system is that you, as the owner of the phones, have the privilege to modify the access of the apps. It is because the only human using the phone is its owner, so they can be trusted, and they is the one who should be protected from the generally distrusted apps. Before the mobile world, the case was its opposite: the apps was (roughly) more trustable, but the users using them were not.

With the default settings, in general, if you give an app access to your files (photos, documents, contacts and so on), it should work. A general "permission denied" for everything is clearly a problem. If your device is not rooted, the warranty now lives and you don't want to root / reflash it, then you might look for your warranty options.

Before that, I would suggest to try a factory reset. It might help. Considering your problem, you probably don't have data to lose with it. :-)


Factory reset after purchase After purchasing a phone from the store should a factory reset be done to erase anything that the store or someone might have put in?

If the phone is new and in the box, then it has probably never been turned on. You can tell because the first time you turn it on (after fully charging the battery), it will go through the initial setup process, inviting you to enter or create a Google account, and showing some pop-up tips about adding shortcuts to the home screen.

If it's second-hand, then the shop or the previous owner should have factory-reset it already, but you can tell in the same way. If you turn it on and get the initial setup process right away, then you're already starting from a fresh state. If you just get the home screen, with no setup screen inviting you to enter or create a Google account, then you need to factory-reset from the device settings.


How can I see the history log of system updates I need to know the history log of system updates "ROM / OTA updates", is there any file on the device can I know this information?

Most OEM doesn't keep a log of that on your device, but the recovery (a place for installing OTA updates) does keep a log of what you installed, when you wiped data, etc. That log should be in /cache/recovery/last_log


How large can a "recovery" like TWRP be? Perhaps someone can correct my understanding.

True or false: TWRP is copied into the "recovery" directory and can be executed after reboot.
True or false: Running TWRP does not require an unlocked bootloader. (If so, why not?)
True or false: The size of a program such as TWRP is limited only by the size of the partition it is being copied into, and could be quite large.
True or false: An entire OS could in theory be run as a "recovery" if it were so desired.

False. Many newer devices utilizing the A/B partition layout don't have a dedicated recovery partition. See landing page for Google Pixel for a full explanation.
True. Certain devices have exploits that allow recovery on locked bootloaders - this kind of recovery is often referred to as "Safestrap". Do note "exploits" - most devices don't have such discovered.
True - partition size is usually the same as boot. On my Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, both are 67108864 bytes, i.e. 64MB.
True - recovery can be considered a minimal OS by itself (with complete display, input, file management subsystems). If you want to start a regular OS by booting into recovery, just flash a regular boot image (one that usually goes into boot) to recovery.


Improving performance of YouTube app I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 (a.k.a. p4, P7500), running Android 4.2.2 rooted (latest CyanogenMod nightly build: 10.1-20131208-NIGHTLY-p4) and YouTube v5.3.28.

Does anyone have an idea how to improve the performance of the video playback?

What I'm experiencing is a lot of stutter: videos often only show a few frames per second (the audio seems to get priority and plays fluidly). Sometimes videos pause for a few seconds at a time.
I'm testing with preloaded, fully cached videos, so it's not a problem of network connection. Killing background tasks helps a little bit when it's really bad, but doesn't fix the problem entirely.

Now I know this isn't exactly a high-performance device, but when playing them with MX Player, all 720p videos are playing absolutely fluidly without a single stutter. This also includes the exact same videos that stutter in the YT app after downloading them and playing them with MX Player. So the device is capable of playing back those videos perfectly fine.

Any ideas what I could try to increase the YouTube app's performance?

The YouTube app has been and continues to be a laggy little dingleberry. Here are a few things to try:

Is there the same level of lag when you try to load the video from youtube.com?
Have you tried an alternative YouTube app like Viral?
When updating to the latest nightly, do you clear your Dalvik cache?


How to make Gcam work on POCO F1 I have tried many different APK's available online on my POCO F1, but none seems working fine. Can someone provide me the best GCam links for POCO F1?

The best resource for all Gcam links for POCO F1 is available under XDA forums which are listed under https://www.celsoazevedo.com

Please make sure you read and follow the instructions properly before downloading and installing it on your android device.

When you choose the APK to download, make sure your Android OS version is compatible with the APK version to be installed.


Linux Deploy removal I was going to install Linux Deploy , but then if I don't like it how can I remove the Linux installation?

I did this for myself by navigating to Settings > Storage, tap on the Misc category, select the ~4 GB linux image and use the trash icon to delete it, but this will probably vary depending on what device you use.


How can I root my Android on my Mac? I've been looking into rooting my Android phone, which is a ZTE Score. The only way I've found so far is to use the ZergRush tool (Or something like that..)
But I believe it can only be used on a Windows based computer.. Anyway, I have a MacBook Pro which runs an Intel cpu, and I'm running Snow Leopard. Is there a way to root my phone using my Mac?

I searched for that one click root tool and found a post in XDA's Amaze 4G forum that has a Mac version.  I would expect it to be the same as for the ZTE Score, you can try it out anyways: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1310115


How does my phone start installing apps so quickly when initiated from the play on-line store? When I go to the Google Play on-line store and install an app, how does my phone know to install it? Is it using push notifications? Quite often it happens within a few seconds so presumably it can't be using polling.

I just don't understand the nature of the connection between my phone and Google's servers.

Yes, it's using a push notification via Google Cloud Messaging (GCM), the same as Google+ Hangouts, Google+, Gmail, and some third-party apps.


Does rooting wipe the /sdcard? I recently rooted my nexus 5 phone and lost all of my photos :( I was wondering what rooting actually does. Is it like formatting the disk and updating file tables or is it like deleting all the sectors? In the former case is it possible to recover my photos?

I used chainfire for rooting the phone. For that, I turned off the phone and turned it on while pressing +- volume buttons. Then I ran the script contained in http://download.chainfire.eu/363/CF-Root/CF-Auto-Root/CF-Auto-Root-hammerhead-hammerhead-nexus5.zip Later I realized that all of my apps, photos, etc are gone. I don't care about the apps because they were automatically installed after setup. Just need to recover my photos.

The Official XDA Discussion for CF Auto-Root (The tool OP linked) includes the following line:

  Note that if your device had not been unlocked before, this procedure will wipe all your data!

So to answer your question:

Does rooting format the /sdcard/ partition?

No, rooting alone will not format the partition mounted at /sdcard/.
When I root for the first time, or root using a tool, could this happen?

Yes. When using a tool provided by a third party (EG: Not you or Google), then you're following the steps their tool defines.

When you first gain root, one of the steps involves unlocking the bootloader. This is really only necessary once, Unlocking the bootloader will perform a full factory reset, erasing everything.


How can I prevent the earphones from muting the speaker? The FM radio in my phone uses the earphone cable as the antenna. It plays the music just fine if I plug the jack in about 2/3 the way (and only hisses without it). But if I push the jack all the way in, the phone starts outputting all the audio to the earphones and mutes the speaker. The range between "antenna OK" and "Earphones active" is about 2-3mm, and the jack is sitting completely loose, so I can't even move the phone or either the jack goes loose or the phones activate and mute the speaker.

There are posts how to do it programatically: 1 2 - but I'm not too fond of writing my own app to do this. Is there an app to do this maybe?

The phone is Xiaomi Redmi Note 2, running Android 5.0.2 if that helps.

[actually, I don't really care if the earphones are still active; I just need the speaker to work]

I found the HF Button Widget to be the most comfortable way to toggle the speaker while the earphones are plugged in.


Will I be removed from groups on WhatsApp if I upgrade to a new phone? I was removed from all groups before, when I changed my number. Will the same happen if I change my phone? This time, I have the same number but a different phone.

You retain your groups if you have the same number.

Off-topic, you may also want to check the official documentation on how to back-up and restore your chat history to the new phone.


Arrow keys are shown by some weird characters everywhere In my Android device, arrow keys are shown by some weird characters everywhere. Example:

I have tried changing system fonts. Also, this is independent of the keyboard because I have changed the keyboard but the issue is not resolved.

Edit:: ij acts as  UP key, IJ acts as LEFT key, 'n acts as  RIGHT key and ' acts ad DOWN key.

I don't have a fix, but Internet search results (this, this) give me the impression your issue is caused by lacking Unicode support in the fonts you've tried so far, although that would be strange for something as generic as arrow symbols. As such, my only suggestion is to try yet more fonts if you are able to do that. I doubt I can provide more help than that, but you could add some more info about your issue:

Have you seen these symbols display correctly on your device in the past?
What device are you using, and what Android system is it running?
What fonts have you tried so far? (font names)
When you say "everywhere", do you only refer to keyboards or texts as well?


How did I get my Nexus 7 homescreen into landscape? I was playing around on my Nexus 7 today and somehow ended up in a landscape version of the homescreen. I haven't downloaded any apps that mess with it like Ultimate Rotation Control, or rooted it or anything. Somehow though, it was in landscape and I thought it looked pretty cool. As soon as I switched into a different app and came back it was stuck in portrait again though.

Does anybody know how that would have happened? I'd like to at least mess around with it in landscape, especially since it seems to be built in.

EDIT: It looks like if you open mVideoPlayer and lock the screen, then it will open up to the landscaped homescreen when you unlock. However it rotates back. It doesn't look like the orientation being in landscape messes up anything, so why would it be locked in portrait?

EDIT: The above method worked the first three times but doesn't seem to do it at all anymore.

More of a status update than an answer: Jelly Bean 4.1.2 allows a landscape rotation on small screens.

I previously had the same experience (accidentally changed the rotation but could not reproduce it) -- I received the system update yesterday and was pleasantly surprised after the reboot  :-)


My phone's camera app doesn't work When I'm trying to take photos, I get the error:
The application Camera (process com.android.camera) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again.

My phone is a Verzo Kinzo with Android version 2.2.
Factory reset didn't solve it.
What else should I do?

This can occur when you have insufficient storage available.

If you camera saves pictures to the SD card and your SD card is full (or does not have enough space for a new picture) it can crash.
A factory reset does not affect external storage.

Check where your camera stores it's pictures and if there is room left for pictures.


"Android Pay is unavailable" on Note 2 running CM 12.1 I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 running the latest nightly of CM 12.1. I've installed the correct version of Gapps using OpenGapps Aroma installer.
I have root disabled in developer settings, however, when I open Android Pay I get the following error.

Click on Image to enlarge

I looked up other ways to fix this problem on the internet but I could not find any solutions. The only other solution I found was to install the right version of Google Play store, but I also tried that to no avail.

Please let me know a way to solve this problem since I can no longer access the gift cards, loyalty cards, or credit cards I used to have on Google Wallet.

Android Pay checks the operating system and if it's not stock Android, it will refuse to run. Some people have reported on that they have fooled the app into working by changing the default.prop file and others install a custom APK of the older version of Google Wallet. Otherwise, there's no way to run Android Pay on CyanogenMod or any other custom ROM.


How to re-install Google play services How do you reinstall Google Play store and Google Play services after uninstalling them.

As Firelord asked, did you uninstall the apps or only the updates?

If only the updates, if you open the play store on your phone, and it should seek for updates to both your play store and play services. If it doesn't happen automatically, try clearing the data of the play store app, and then manually trying to find the update by going to the settings activity of the play store and tapping on the version number.

If you've uninstalled the apps, then I presume you already have root access, because uninstalling them without root access is very difficult.
In this case, flash a recovery to your phone if you haven't already, and flash the Google apps zip (GApps) matching your android version, and clear the cache and dalvik cache if necessary through the recovery after the install.


Trying to replace a modem but encountering errors I've been having connectivity problems on my i9505 LTE on every ROM I've tried since August. Searching around reveals that the outdated modem is the source of the troubles, and that by using the latest firmware the problem should cease.

I've downloaded my latest firmware (XXUGNF6) and tried flashing with Mobile Odin Pro. I get the error "Memory lock in place - TriangleAway may fix this. Skipping flash."

To use TriangleAway I have to be on a stock kernel and recovery (I think). However if Mobile Odin can't flash a new modem, it's going to struggle flashing a kernel and recovery right?

First question: by stock, does it mean stock Android (i.e. AOSP?) or stock as in original for my phone (Galaxy S4 i9505 LTE (H3G)?)

Here's the plan of action, do you agree that this should work?

Full wipe and install a stock ROM. This should contain a stock kernel.
TriangleAway reset.
Mobile Odin the latest firmware modem.
Reflash my current ROM

NB: I can't use Odin on PC as I'm at work with no admin rights. Failing this I could try at home. Does anyone think just flashing the modem straight away via PC would work?

Okay solved myself. Solution:

1) Flash stock ROM through Odin on PC. Lost all SD content but retained external SD content.

2) This resulted in a weird encryption thing, so I flashed PhilZ recovery and then flashed a third-party ROM from my external SD.

3) Bootable, and modem is updated because I flashed the newer stock.


How can I use Termux with the JuiceSSH interface? I would like to use Termux and its package manager as a local terminal, but I cannot get used to its keyboard. The volume buttons are a poor choice IMO, as they require significant finger pressure and only work some of the times, at least on my phone (OnePlus 6.)
On the contrary, I find JuiceSSH's keyboard and overall terminal interface perfect.
Can I use JuiceSSH to open a local Termux session? How?
If that's not possible, is there a plugin for Termux that makes the keyboard work more like JuiceSSH's?
I tried executing Termux's bash from a JuiceSSH "local" session, but they are run under different Unix users (u0_a214 vs u0_a198) and so anything I try to do gives Permission Denied.

It's already supported.
I created a ~/.termux/termux.properties with the following contents:
extra-keys = [ \
 ['ESC','|','/','-','HOME','UP','END','PGUP'], \
 ['TAB','CTRL','ALT','DEL','LEFT','DOWN','RIGHT','PGDN'] \
]
extra-keys-style = arrows-only

It's enabled by opening the left sidebar (swipe from the left screen edge) and long-pressing on the "keyboard" button.
Documentation here: https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Touch_Keyboard


Dual active doesn't work in Samsung Galaxy s duos phone In the Samsung S duos device it has an option for the Dual SIM active. When I check it and try the feature by calling on SIM 2 it doesn't work I instead got a number busy .Is this feature country specific or is it network operator dependant ,does using this feature require any charges on monthly basis.
Is there any site where we can know that which operator/area supports Dual Sim Active.

Update:-On keeping the dual SIM active to "ON" and when i rang up the second SIM i got the number busy from the operator.It did not seem any difference as with the dual active being "OFF" or "ON" calling the second SIM get's a busy tone by default.

The Galaxy S Duos allows for both SIM cards to be active simultaneously, meaning that you can receive a call on one SIM even while you are on a call with the other. What happens is that calls from your other SIM are forwarded to your currently active SIM's network, which you can put on hold to answer (this might incur additional network charges). You can put the two calls on and off hold as you please.

You can toggle the Dual SIM Always On option on or off for either SIM card. Effectively, this enables call waiting and call forwarding so you can switch each SIM card on and off individually (which can help save battery). During a call, the active SIM gets displayed at the top of the call interface.

You can also pick which SIM is to be used for mobile data - only one can be used at a time. Another option is whether or not the phone should be able to receive calls on the other SIM while using mobile data on one SIM.


What does the new button on the power control widget do? There are 6 buttons on my power control widget:

WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, ???, Data sync, Screen brightness.
What does the 4th one do?

P.S. I'm using an Orange San Francisco (ZTE Blade) with the 'Japanese Jellyfish RLS6' custom FroYo ROM, but I've seen this power widget in other ROMS.

It's either a mobile network data enabled switch or a 2G/3G switch, try it and check your data connection.

Edit: got confirmation, see comments.


Is super su and twrp rom specific or phone specific or not specific at all? Whenever I follow a root guide, I see a link to super su and twrp files. Is this super su and twrp file the same file for all phones or is there a different super su for each phone? Also, if it exists for each phone, is it rom specific? Do I need a seperate super su file for cm 13 and stock rom on the same phone?

SuperSU is generic, same for all (most) devices, some specific devices or methods may require a specific version though.

TWRP is very device specific, each build is customized for the intended device. http://twrp.me is the official site for TWRP which has a database searchable by device.

CM13 is pre-rooted, you do not need SuperSU at all.


HTC Desire - cannot turn Bluetooth on! I was playing with Android Bluetooth API on HTC Desire. Bluetooth was working fine, then suddenly it stopped. Now I cannot turn it on, even manually from the Settings menu. Here is something from Logcat,

01-06 07:34:37.208: ERROR/bluedroid(96): bluetoothd stop timed out
01-06 07:34:47.215: ERROR/bluedroid(96): btld start timed out
01-06 07:34:47.215: ERROR/bluedroid(96): $#$#$#$#$# Stopping btld because of starting btld fail...

What should I do? Please help!! :(

Reset the phone works. Only difference is that I have to set the device into discoverable mode each time I turn the Bluetooth on. It was automatically set before.


Nexus 7 2013 won't update to 6.x On my nexus 7 I have not been able to install any of the 6.0.x updates. Whenever I try I download them and when I go to install half way through my t says error and I restart my tablet and nothing changed. I have tried a reset but it did not change anything. What could I do?

Google has given out an end of life (EOL) policy, which lists different hardware and versions and their final deadline for guaranteed software updates.
You can check if you can find your device listed here:
https://support.google.com/chrome/a/answer/6220366?hl=en
and see if the EOL time has been reached.
More news on the different Nexus EOL's can be found for e.g. here:
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/06/21/google-support-site-now-lists-end-life-dates-nexus-devices/

If your device is listed, but the EOL has not been reached, you should still be able to access guaranteed google updates.


What podcast app supports podcasts that require basic authentication? I subscribe to podcasts that require paid subscriptions.  It works fine on iTunes, but I can't find a (free) Android app that supports Podcasts that require basic authentication.  Does anyone know of one?

BeyondPod supports Feed Authentication.  I use the pro version which costs $7, but if you choose not to go pro there are only a few limitations.  The free lite version should still handle Authentication.


Prevent display to sleep while charging I want to add a functionality option to choose in my android phone so that when the option is selected its display will never sleep when under charging condition.

What should I need to program my software without changing RAM?

there is a setting in developer options on your phone that allows you to keep your display awake whilst charging it. It is enabled by going to settings, then scrolling all the way down to about. From there scroll all the way down to build number and tap it 7 times to enable developer mode. Next, click the back button then click on Developer options. Click the tick to turn it on (already on in default). Finally, turn the tick on for Stay awake and your phone will stay awake while charging.


How to switch to Developer mode in Android 4.2.* If you get the Android 4.2.* version phone, you will notice that there is no Developer mode any more.

How can you switch to Development mode?

Open Settings, go to phone details (where u can see kernel, Android-version, Model number etc).

Tap 7 times the Build Number (ALPS.JB2.MP.V1.3 in my case)

If you already in developer mode, the tooltip with message:
"No need, you are already a developer." will appear.


How to make custom apps to appear by default in the lower dock panel in my custom ROM At the very bottom of my device (MT6577 + ICS + TouchWiz Launcher) are the default icons for "phone", "contacts", "web", and "applications". I want to replace them with my own apps in my custom ROM so that the custom apps appear by default on the dock.

Now, the problem is for instance, I removed stock "phone" and "Contacts" apps from /system/app and copied new phone and contacts app in there. Then I created the build, flashed the ROM and rebooted.
After reboot, the places for phone icon and contacts icon were empty.
It's like:

Before replacing the dock was - phone - contacts - web - App

After replacing the doc is -  empty - empty - web - App

Is there any specific file I need to edit to do the trick ?

Any help/suggestion would be immensely appreciated!

Thanks.

You'll need to edit the apk for the default launcher, which in this case is TouchWiz launcher. You'll need to figure out how TouchWiz gets its default setting, my guess is it would be in some of the xml files in the /res/values/ folder for the launcher, which should make modding easier as you'll only need to extract the apk, edit the files you need, and recompress and probably resign the package but it may also be hardcoded into the code in which case you'll need to decompile, reverse engineer, and recompile the Dalvik class files in addition to the previous steps.

These are some tools that might help you do these modifications:

apktool: A tool for reverse engineering Android apk files
smali/baksmali: An assembler/disassembler for Android's dex format
jarsigner: tool to sign an apk (included in SDK)