Lins2SD app error: could not load library libsigchain.so. What does it mean? I've a Lenovo A 7000 (64-bit) Android mobile.  While using Link2SD app on my rooted mobile, I observed an error after trying to move an app to SD. It says:

  WARNING: linker: could not load library "libsigchain.so" from LD_PRELOAD for "/system/bin/sh";  caused by "libsigchain.so" is 32-bit instead of 64-bit  CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE:....

What does this error mean?

It basically means that some binary code cannot be executed on your phone. It appears the Link2SD app you use comes with a piece of 32bit software, but your phone is 64bit so it cannot execute the code.

LD_PRELOAD is a system variable which basically tells Android what code libraries should be loaded/executed when starting any process or app. It appears libsigchain.so was added to this variable, possibly by the Link2SD app itself. When the app tries to execute the system program /system/bin/sh, it tries to load the libsigchain.so file but fails, apparently because libsigchain.so is 32bit.

Another possible cause is that /system/bin/sh is 64bit but ligsigchain.so is 32bit. Because 32bit and 64bit software operate in a different way, the two can not be combined and the /system/bin/sh process cannot start and produces an error.

Either way, not being able to execute sh is a mayor problem for most apps working with root permissions as sh is used to execute scripts on your device. If you see such an error in other root-apps as well, this might be a problem with your Android ROM.

The solution to this might be either a software update from Lenovo or from a new version of the app. Try reporting the issue to the app developer, maybe he/she can give you the exact details.


Install CyanogenMod in lenovo A3500-HV I own a Lenovo A3500 -HV. I have been using it for an year now and it is running KitKat(4.4.2). There is no sign of a newer OS coming to this tab so I have decided to install a new ROM. I decided to go with CynanogenMod but the problem is my device is not listed in the supported devices directory.
I think my device has the minimum requirements to run the OS.

I would like to know if it will be better to install the CyanogenMod or just leave it with kitkat or maybe install some other mods that my tab can support?

You've probably looked only at the official builds, go try to search for an unofficial one. If you don't find one, it's better (and your only choice, if you flash a ROM for a wrong device you are going to break your phone) to stay with your old OS. However, you might still want to root it, as that gives you some new interesting options to explore, too.

But, if you either flash a new ROM or want to root your phone, always do a full backup of your system before doing anything! If something goes wrong, the Backup will save your life.


Paste YYYYMMDDHHMMSS timestamp anywhere (hotkey shortcut) YYYYMMDDHHMMSS or YmdHis in PHP is the timestamp format used by Wayback Machine URL and the %A_Now variable in AutoHotKey.

It looks like this: 20171223145921.

How can I paste the timestamp of the current time anywhere?

Is there anything like AutoHotKey that can do the job?

I'm not sure if there is anything like AutoHotKey in Android but it is possible to get the timestamp in that format for the current time on demand.

You'd need Tasker or any other app which can run a command.

Setup a task with these actions:

Code → Run Shell:

Command: date "+%Y%m%d%H%M%S"
Store Output In: %date

System → Set Clipboard → Text: %date
Now, exit the Tasker, go back to Home Screen, long press your home screen to add a widget and choose Task Shortcut → pick your newly created Task → assign an icon at the bottom. That's it.

Whenever you would press that icon on your home screen, the current date-time would be copied in your clipboard automatically in the supplied format. You just have to copy paste it wherever you want it. There can be other methods to run a Tasker task less disruptively, such as through quick settings, as mentioned here by Grayox96 on Reddit.


Can I set up two children on one device both managed by Google Family link? The Google Family Link FAQ says you are only permitted to have one child per device.

But on this page it says you can add a second profile to your child's device.

Does this mean two children share one device under Family Link? Or that there can be one Family Link account and one other account?

What are the limitations / implications of a second account?

Many Android devices allow multiple user profiles (not to be confused with Google accounts).  It's a similar function to what computers have, where you can have the admin account and the child one.

From the second link you posted:

  The steps below will only work if your child's device allows multiple
  profiles

From your comment on this post it's apparent that you're using an Asus Zenpad 3s. That device doesn't seem to have the multi user functionality. (You can confirm this info by simply going settings and looking for "users"). Therefore, you will not be able to add more accounts.

So to explain the difference between the two links you posted, the first one seems to be talking about adding a second Google account to the same device (from settings  → accounts  → Google,) while the second link is discussing how to get past the limitation of one account per device, by adding a second user, which in turn make it as if you're using a different device, with a lock screen preventing the child from switching between users.

  Does this mean two children share one device under Family Link? Or
  that there can be one Family Link account and one other account?

With a device that supports multiple users, you can add either a child, or a regular Google account. If you're adding a regular account, make sure to have a lockscreen preventing your child from switching between users.

  What are the limitations / implications of a second account?

Had that been possible, your child would be able to open Google play store, switch to the other account, and download any app they want.

Therefore, they don't allow more accounts unless you add a new user to the device.


How can I change the icon, icon name that lays under the icon, notification name, and notification icon for an Android app? I'm running Android 5.1.

I'd like to change the icon for a few apps on my device.

I'd also like to change the app name both on the desktop and on the notification window that the OS makes pop up when those apps push notifications to my device.

Lastly, I'd like to change the notification icon that appears at the very top of my screen when a notification is pushed.

How can I do this?

I think I need to take the app, somehow "unzip" it and get the APK for it, change the image files and text files that carry those pieces of data, "re-zip" it, and finally reinstall it.

Is this correct?

How do I accomplish my goal?

Thanks.

You need an apk editor. With it you can edit app,so change icons etc.,but you also need to change JSON file becaose app need to know which file it need to use. After you edit app, you need to sign it,  most app editors do it automaticly. And then install like update over app. But there is a problem. Some apps will after update return to original settings. And some will give you notice that app is edited and forbid you from using it. So all dependent on app. You did not specify your device manufacter, but if you have Samsung you can change icons of most apps in Samsung Theme app(some thems can change app icon design and notification iconand you can also  download only app icon design).

If you only want to "edit" app you need to be vety carefully to not ruin app completly. Good Luck.


Rotate 180 degrees screen in HTC Desire HD with ICS from Blackout team I just installed ICS in my HTC Desire HD (thanks Blackout Team) in this thread

HTC Desire has the charging plug in the bottom, and a coworker was so nice to make me a stand for the phone. PRoblem is I cant charge it while standing.

IS there a way so that I can rotate 180 degrees upside down everything in my screen?

Go to settings > display > rotation. In there you might have the option to enable 180 degrees. This works for me using CM9 so hopefully it works for you.


How does wpa_supplicant differ from the Linux (say Debian) version What are the major differences between wpa_supplicant found on a Debian Linux distribution and that wpa_supplicant found on android?

PS: please apology if the question is too generic

In Android, wpa_supplicant deamon, wpa_cli and libwpa_client library are generated from wpa_supplicant external project found in aosp_root/external/wpa_supplicant; being in the "external" folder means that it was taken as is from another project (means wasn't Androidized in any way). so I think there are no differeneces at all.

Also the README file found in the project says that it can work on all distros based on linux kernel.


Android x86 (7.1, TV / Leanback) not booting on a Virtual Machine with GooglePackageInstaller I have a virtual machine running Android x86 (7.1, TV / Leanback 'edition'), and I'm attempting to install GApps (from OpenGApps). The installation worked perfectly except for one app - GooglePackageInstaller. When this app is installed, the boot appears to hang. I managed to get some dmesg logs of the failed boot: https://pastebin.com/UUn6Pup0

For reference, here is logs of a successful boot: https://pastebin.com/sVxQVRYC

The logs appear to be very similar until the successful one appears to initialise:
[    0.774709] init: init first stage started! (line 408), but this line never appears on the unsuccessful boot.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit: If more information is required, please comment and I'll attempt to find it.

You need to enable 3D Acceleration in the display settings for your box.


How to read 2 or more documents side-by-side in Android? When I do my math exercises, I need to view the book and the exercises at the same time. Sometime I need to open a third PDF, but it's more optional. How can I do so with Android? On iPad I use the application Side by Side, which allows to read up to 4 different PDFs side by side.

I use Nexus 7 with Android 4.4.2.

Try using floating apps. Multi window feature is only available on a few android devices like samsung Note, etc.

Floating apps will provide similar functionality. Try this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lwi.android.flappsfull


Strange Android app displaying in Mandarin On my Samsung Galaxy Note phone I started receiving strange notifications in Mandarin (the language of the people of China). Once I click on the notification it opens my browser with a blank page and then exits just after few seconds.

A few minutes later I get this app install prompt:

It says in French

  blocked install of apps not coming from Android market.

This has been repeating several times since ~2 weeks now.

Questions:

What's this?
How to be sure that it won't repeat again?

My phone has the latest updates offered by Samsung and is not rooted. I also did not install any app in Mandarin.

I would say the app is Baidu Browser or any other app from Baidu.

Despite not being able to see an app in the laucher, you could have some sort of malware app installed that will only display notify items but stood hidden in background. On your phone go to Settings > Application Manager and check for all the apps you have installed. If you find an app that you haven't installed, uninstalling it might end the notification issues.

If you only install apps from Google's Play Store I would suggest you disable the Unknown source option to enable/disable the installation of third party app (if you have this option enabled). You can find the option in either Settings > Security, Settings > Developement or Settings > Application Manager (depending on your Android version)

As for the ROM and updates, they can't do anything about malware apps.


Firmware Update for Samsung S LCD I 9003 stops at "preparing firmware update" I am trying to upgrade the firmware of samsung galaxy S LCD using Samsung Kies. I am using the recent version of Kies. But during when I click start update it is showing that the FirmwareUpdate has stopped working. and it is showing preparing firmware upgrade components forever. Please advice me what to do.

I'm having the exact same problem and just received the following message from Samsung:

The Kies software does not detect the handsets, there are several
causes for this and a process of checks will discover the cause and
show the solution:

Check the system specification is correct for
the KIES software.
Check the correct and up to date version of the
software is being used.
Check that handset is set on the correct mode which is SAMSUNG Kies.
Be sure that the handset show connected ‘not connecting’ on home screen.
Try to test a different USB port and restart PC.
Check in device manager that the driver has been installed and update if required
If handset has device manager (download one from market place for android 2.1 or higher)
ensure that all tasks have been ended and handset is in the idle mode
before connecting ‘download the task killer, it is an application used
to close all the applications (not just minimizing them)’
Completely remove current version of the Kies software and re-install
the latest version from the website.
Test with different PC.

It's quite a number of possibilities being mentioned.


Should a certificate be installed when a browser offers to install it? I was accessing my internet banking site, and I found my browser asking to install some certificates noted some extensions of certificate.

Do I need to install certificate to access the site safely or can I access it ignoring the suggestion of installing certificate?

Do certificates help more in secure browsing?

Yes, your bank wants to establish a secure connection to you. To make sure that the connection is secure, a set of certificates must be installed on both your client and the bank's servers. If the website that you blurred out is correct, then installing the certificates is perfectly safe.

TL;DR: press Install to access your bank securely.


Preview download size of app on Play Store I do not seem to be able to see how large an app's download size in the play store is prior to buying it or agreeing to install it.

Is there a means of doing this?

On the application page, press the green dialog, then scroll down to the bottom, and you will find all the infomation there.


Is continuous focus a 4.0-only feature? The http://www.android.com/about/ice-cream-sandwich/ page details that Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" introduced two interesting features for Camera: “continuous focus” and “zero shutter lag exposure”.

Have both of these features been removed or disabled post 4.0?  My Galaxy Nexus seems to have neither since the 4.1 and 4.2 over-the-air upgrades.

Holding a 4.2 Galaxy Nexus still and taking a picture with auto settings and without flash in a relatively-very-well-lit nightclub takes about 3 seconds, and taking another picture right away takes another 3 seconds, seemingly indicating that both features are completely absent in stock 4.2.

In low light(or in very bright light) scenario, 'Zero shutter lag' feature won't work  because the camera module and the software together will do some heavy work to capture picture really good. Try taking picture in good lighting condition(during daytime) to test Zero shutter lag functionality.

In some phones, Continuous focus makes use of accelerometer sensor to detect the movement of the phones to refocus the camera. This may not work when there is very slight movement. You can also check this during good lightning conditions


I changed my sim card - how do I find which app is sending sms messages to my old number? I recently traveled to another country and I'm using a local prepaid sim card on my Galaxy S2.

My prepaid credit was depleted rather quickly, and when I checked the phone record I found out my phone was sending two sms messages each day, about one minute apart from each other - one to my old number and one to my wife's number (as far as I can tell the only thing special about my wife's number is that with my old sim card I used to call it a lot).

These two numbers are in my home country, so the sms messages were very expensive, and that is why my prepaid credit was depleted so quickly. Of course I didn't send any messages myself, nor is there any record of them in the outgoing messages.

Now that my credit is depleted I still sometimes get a message from the mobile carrier saying they can't deliver a message I was supposedly trying to send (though really I wasn't) because I have no credit - so my phone is still trying to send these messages. Specifically this also happens after I restart.

So I'm stuck with no credit, and I don't want to recharge my card because my phone keeps trying to send these messages and it will deplete my credit again.

Obviously some application is sending these messages, and to find out which application (after reading this question) I installed RL Permissions, and here are all the applications listed as having the permission to send sms messages:

Now as far as I can tell all these apps came preinstalled by Google or Samsung, and therefore supposed to be trusted.
The only exception is WhatsApp, but this is a widely used app and I think is also trusted. It does make me wonder though, why WhatsApp needs permission to send sms messages in the first place - it's supposed to send messages only by using the internet connection isn't it?
So can anyone help me find which app is the culprit?

I am such an idiot.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

When I bought my device, about a year ago, I turned on the feature "SIM change alert - Send SMS when SIM card is changed". I completely forgot about it later, and it only came back to me today. Of course the recipients I defined were my own number and my wife's.

The lead I followed was @roxan's comment, which raised the suspicion about the mobile tracker app. A Google search led me to this forum post that describes this security feature, and when I read it I recalled that I turned it on.

Despite this incident, I actually still think this is an excellent feature that can really help in case my device will be stolen, but I just have to remember to turn it off before I change the SIM card myself...


Install android on non-booting XT1033 (Moto G 1st gen) - USB debugging not enabled I have a Moto G (XT1033) running Android 5.0.2 that went out of charge one day. It then decided to boot into a black screen - i.e. I can see the Motorola splash screen (animation) but all I get after that is a black (grey) screen, not responsive to touch.

I tried a few things and they didn't work -

EDIT Fastbooted and selected Recovery option (Google recovery showing the fallen Android logo) - Tried clearing cache as well as a factory reset - did not help.

I did not enable USB debugging before my phone stopped working. Hence fastboot detects my device, but adb does not. Connecting my phone to the computer shows an unformatted disk partition i.e. unable to access file contents from PC.

How do I get my phone working again? It's out of warranty - so I'm willing to root/re-install the OS etc.

Edit: Successfully managed to unlock device - The fastboot menu now says Device is UNLOCKED. Status Code: 3.

You have to follow this three steps to recover your device. Hope it helps.

First you will need to unlock the device. To do so follow the instructions given at motorola bootloader unclock

Now you need to install a custom recovery. Download the recovery image from here. You will need the platform-tools from the Android SDK on your computer. Rename the image you downloaded to twrp.img and boot into the stock recovery of your phone once you are in the stock recovery type
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
fastboot reboot

You now have successfully installed the custom recovery. Now Boot into custom recovery. To go into custom recovery you need to go through stock recovery. Once you are in stock recovery use the recovery option available in the menu using the vol + down to navigate to the option and vol + up to select the recovery option. This should take you to custom recovery.

If you wish to install cynogen OS download the latest zip file from this official cynogen page. Keep this file in internal storage or sdcard and then using the recovery first
wipe > advanced wipe > check dalvik cache, data, cache, system > and swipe to wipe - go back and select install > from the storage options that are available select the zip file downloaded above, this will flash the cynogen os.

You will also need to install the google apps. Install them using the same steps as above.
A different method also is available check this XDA GUIDE for the same.

This is official page of cynogenmod to install cynogen os on MOTO G.


Android Auto works with out a WiFi or data connection On my mobile phone, I have the WiFi and data connection disabled.  Yet, I still get  google maps via my Android Auto as seen on vehicle display.  How is this possible?

For me at least, my local area has been automatically downloaded to be used offline. Has yours?

In "normal" Google Maps, outside of Android Auto, go to the hamburger menu, then Offline maps. Mine's currently set to "Home, 52MB, expires 21 April 2020", which corresponds to a square about five miles across.

There's loads of settings in there for you to tweak.


"Google keeps stopping" after Android Oreo update I got a Nexus 6P and it received the Oreo update yesterday. After installing the update, there were few errors like "Gboard stopped working" etc., That happened only once and the device was working normally for few hours. Now suddenly, I keep getting "Google keeps stopping" in the launcher screen. When I close the popup, the launcher is reloaded and the popup appears again immediately. Phone is currently kind of unusable. Tried to open Settings, but that got closed as well.

Tried checking Play Store for the latest updates, but got none. Anyone else got this issue? Any idea if this can be resolved?

There is some critical error for the new android Oreo (for me is nexus 6p) which make a system crash on the desktop (google now launcher) and on settings (you can't open app list). It is can be created by any of your applications which you need to find. So only way to remove the app, in this case, it is to use a google play application or maybe some other launchers. For me, it was "6 Minute English". I find it via installing nova launcher and on the common app list, the application was shown without a logo,  with green robot image instead.


How do I bookmark a page in Google Books? Google Books has a feature whereby you can bookmark a page by tapping any corner of any page of a book you're reading. However, I was unable to do this. Could someone please provide some help as to what I might be doing wrong, perhaps with a few images illustrating what should be happening in the user interface?

Thanks.

You need to specifically tap the top right corner to add a bookmark. Also, be sure to only tap once. A double tap will result in a zoom.

Alternatively, you can swipe down from the top of the screen, tap the three dot menu, and select "Add bookmark."


How to make "poor man's roaming" by proxying cell calls to SIP or Skype? What applications should I use to make the Android device to forward calls from cell network to SIP or Skype and back?

One device ("Home") is expected to be left at home, serving as proxy; other device ("Travel") is just using data connection to connect to the first device, so it works like this:

Someone is calling you using cell network.
Home device receives the call and calls Travel using SIP.
Travel device sees the incoming SIP call.
You answer the call.
Home device is proxying between SIP and cell network for you until you drop the call.

How to do it? How to workaround greedy cell providers?

There is an opensource application Sipdroid, which theoretically could be modified to do proxying. But, judging from the poor general Android SIP experience, I'd think it would be very unreliable solution.

Easier way to workaround greedy cell providers seems to set up an IP PBX on the home computer, or get a free account at freepbxes.org and get a cheap SIP-connected phone number to eventually route your calls thru while using your "Travel" device's SIP connection to terminate calls.


Complete list of Lollipop system icons shown in notification bar? Is there a complete list of these? I've seen lots of Q&A about "What does x icon mean" but it would be really useful if there were a complete list for reference!

Google provides a big, categorized list of Material icons with few-word description.

Note however that not all of them are used for system notifications.


Cannot receive group messages from iPhone users I switched from an iPhone, of which I was a fanatic, to the Samsung Galaxy S3. I can receive individual messages from iPhone users, but I cannot receive any group messages. I have downloaded many apps to try and fix the issue such as Handcent and GoSMS. I have re-enabled and disabled iMessage. Unregistered the iPhone(s) from my Apple ID and it doesn't seem to work.

AT&T has tried to help but because they don't get this too often they couldn't help me. I have called Apple but they want me to pay $29 for any type of support. How can I receive group messages on my Galaxy S3? I'd hate to have to go back over this issue.

This is the most fascinating issue that I've seen in a long while.  And it's clear that Samsung is turning a blind eye (I've read that there are some whose phones work fine with the stock ICS messaging app).  This problem is posted all over every forum that I've searched.  And the only answer is GoSMS, or Handcent, or blah, blah, blah.  I count myself among the many that would like the group messaging to work in both directions.  One would think that one of the most basic functions of a smart phone would not have such an elementary problem.  After searching high and low, I'm of the belief that the stock messaging app can't do bidirectional group texts and that a third party app is the only possible solution.

Like many other iPhone converts, it's a shame that I have to admit that my awesome S3 has such a fundamental shortcoming.


Insufficient storage space problem in LG Optimus with only two apps installed I got a new phone about a month ago, the LG Optimus. I factory reset it two times. Right now, I only have two apps, Messenger, and the game Siegefall, and already my phone is saying I have insufficient storage space available.

I later found out that Siegefall takes up 432MB which still shouldn't give me the notification and prevent me from downloading any more apps. I don't know what is the reason for this.

How do I fix this issue?

you could try if there is a option for moving app to external SD card in particular app setting, then move it into external SD card. usually this option is available with micromax and some samsung mobile handsets.

hope this could help


GPS not working reliably I am facing the following problem:

There are times with cloudy or rainy weather, when I have the phone in my back pocket while sitting in a car. Nevertheless, the route I am driving is recorded.

There are other times when my phone directly lies under the windscreen with clear visibility and nevertheless I don't get any signal. At the same time, a navigation device lying directly beneath it works fine.

The same happens sometimes when I am walking through the nature. Instead of recording the whole track I walked, I have only parts of it, or sometimes even nothing.

If I notice this to happen if I am under the way, I see the GPS status app telling me that it has 3 or 4 satellites, and the AGPS age is usually 0 h.

Do I have issues with the software or rather with the hardware? I have a LG-D290n, if that matters in any way.

I had trouble with my gps on Samsung S6 ( using STRAVA) after an update. Times and routes were out of whack. I fixed the problem by turning off my Battery Power Saving in the settings under battery. This was causing problems with "ok google" as well. Now all is ok. Hope this fixes your problem.


Best way to read programming/technical/math PDFs on Android device I have a ton of programming/technical/math PDFs that I would like to read on my Samsung Epic 4G. I have tried Adobe's PDF reader and ThinkFree office and the reading views destroy the code snippets and images. Zooming in and out is difficult and cumbersome. I have tried converting to ePub and reading using Aldiko but I have the same problem. (Aldiko being the best application I have found for reading on Android).

What solution would you suggest for reading these books on my phone?

I have no problem with converting or buying an application.

You could try Picsel Smart Office. It handles PDFs natively, and zooming is quite easy.

Disclosure: I work for Picsel.


What is the "code" after the app package name in /data/app/? Just by curiosity, since I wasn't able to find an answer after googling, do you know what are these "codes" after the packages names of my apps in /data/app/…?

This number is neither in androidmanifest.xml, nor in cert.sf, nor in manifest.mf (inside the meta-inf folder).

For example the package name of Clash of Clans is followed by the "code": com.supercell.clashofclans-Bd6GIb47XTzpL16jgR1kZA==

That's a random string appended to apps installation path in order to force developers don't hard-code paths in apps, instead use proper APIs.

Quoted from Android 8.0 Behavior Changes:

  You can no longer assume that APKs reside in directories whose names end in -1 or -2. Apps should use sourceDir to get the directory, and not rely on the directory format directly.


Prevent call taking over screen during navigation I want to prevent call taking over my screen during navigation (Google Maps or Waze).

During navigation I dial / receive calls by my car controls, also see everything there, so don't need to see call information on phone (however seeing it for a few seconds before automatically switching back to navigation would also be fine).

I've already tried looking for solutions, but all what I've found was just workarounds (switch to "do not disturb" ...)

I've a Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) with Android 7.0

Haven't tried much other then Macrodroid - PlayStore

Steps:-

Install app
Add new macro
In triggers search and select "Call Active" (also check any contact, any number, non contact, unknown caller)
In actions search and select "Press Back Button" (would need accessibility permission)

Note:- I am using Rooted(but this Particular macro shouldn't need Root) Moto G5+(Almost stock Android N 7.0 that Google provides) and samsung uses customised version so give it a try
It should work but still can't say anything without trying

Also Note:-
The time you want to use call screen you will have to disable the macro or you can also create a Toggler Macro (to toggle it on/off)

Do report back


How to access guest SD card Using Droid Explorer, how to I access the guest microSD card?

In Windows Explorer, it comes up as a connected device, with a path of Computer\Acer Iconia Tab A100\SD Card\Documents

How do I get to that in Droid Explorer?

*(Windows 7 with Android 4.0.3 and Droid Explorer 0.9.0.4)

Oh - you know, this always happens.  I spend time trying to figure things out, and as soon as I post a question, I find the answer.  doh!

I found it under /mnt/external_sd/documents


Start bash script on boot not rooted Android 7.0 and Android 9.0 device I currently do it manually each time after my phone is restarted. I connect using adb and running this

adb shell sh /sdcard/AFolder/ascript.sh "a-dummy-argument" &

Then I just disconnect the cable and script continue working.

How I can achieve the same thing on non rooted Android 7.0 and Android 9.0 devices(I have 2 and I would like to do this on both)? I would like to avoid rooting. From what I was reading it can not be done without rooting. My question is, would it be possible to install TWRP, backup stock ROM, modify stock ROM so that it would have an additional file ascript.sh (or run it from sd card) which will be started at startup. Then flash this modified ROM, to avoid doing this manually. Is this possible?

Note: adb via tcp I believe is not an option as to make adb work via tcp on non rooted device after each reboot we need to connect the device to PC first to switch to tcpip, so we back to the task how to avoid after reboot connecting phone to PC.

This app, called LADB — Local ADB Shell, can open an adb wifi shell without ever needing to connect to the PC:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.draco.ladb
Unfortunately you have to cut and paste your commands into it for now, I'm trying to get him to add editable shortcuts. It's a fairly new app.


S7 Edge Stuck on Samsung Logo I have a S7 Edge Phone (G935FD) Single SIM, after googling the only CF Auto Root file was here CF AUTO ROOT LINK

Which shows for G935F however some said it works for FD as well. While rooting via ODIN I got the message that says "Recovery Is Not Seandroid Enforcing" and then it rebooted and stuck on the Samsung Boot Logo after the S7 Edge logo. Tried all known possible ways yet not booting any advises please?

When you flashed cf-autoroot-etc did you make sure it is for your model SM-G935F also called hero2-lte-xxx? Did you enable developer options > own unlocking and in the same menu USB debugging > on?

Did you flash a custom recovery after flashing c.f. Autoroot? You must have to get the recovery is not se android enforcing msg. It depends on the recovery you installed too. If it is TWRP then you have to remove the check mark from autoreboot in odin options, then press and hold home vol down and power, and immediately release vol down and press and hold vol up as the device screen goes black.

This will get you into recovery, if not then force reboot before it boots and again use the three button method to get into recovery. Once you are in twrp you will be asked if you want to modify system so put a check mark there by tapping it and drag slider to the right and you will be in twrp recovery menu.

The link should explain everything. You may need to read a lot so that you don't go on to discover that you cannot run certain apps as the don't run on rooted phones like Samsung pay, Samsung pass, and Ota updates.

You get the developer options menu by going into about phone> software info > build no and tap on build no 7 times then go back to the main settings page and you will see a new entry called developer options then follow steps above.

You need to follow each step given in the instructions to be rooted and have the phone boot normally. Here's a link describing what to do step by step

http://www.samsungsfour.com/tutorials/how-to-root-galaxy-s7-edge-on-nougat-7-0-using-cf-auto-root-all-models.html


Transfer many files from android to pc, without usb and wifi How can I quickly transfer many files from my Android device to the PC,
without USB cable or WiFi?

Regular bluetooth would require to transfer every single file manually.

Install Astro File Manager with Astro Bluetooth Module. Go to Networks page of Astro File Manager (using toolbar) and tap Bluetooth icon. On next screen, turn on Bluetooth and check OBEX FTP Server.

After pairing, use Bluetooth software on PC to browse file system of device (almost all software work as OBEX FTP client). You can copy an entire folder from device to PC. Done!


How can I give my Samsung Galaxy S2, with ICS, a name? When my Samsung Galaxy S2 ran on Gingerbread I had a unique Bluetooth name set on it to differentiate from members of my family when I wanted to receive files by Bluetooth from their devices. However, since my upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich I cannot see how to give my phone a name so that others searching for my phone by Bluetooth can find mine without others having switch theirs off to distingiush mine as the only one with its Bluetooth switched on. Can anybody help with this? Thank you for any help offered.

considering you're running the Samsung stock ICS

go to "Settings" then "Bluetooth", turn your Bluetooth on, click the menu button (the one left of the Home button) and click "Device name". then edit your device name.


Is There a Computer Application To Manage SMS Messages The Same as Nokia PC Suite Can? In Nokia PC Suite we can backup mobile data (contacts, message etc) on a computer. We can also send, receive sms or manage sms by computer using Nokia PC Suite when a Nokia mobile is connected with a computer by Bluetooth or by data cable.

Is there any software or application by which I can use my HTC Desire SV mobile phone the same way as above?

I want to send or receive SMS by my laptop which is connected to my HTC Desire SV because this saves my time.
Is this possible?

For a system independent solution, you might want to take a look at e.g. AirDroid:

AirDroid runs as an app on your Android device. When you start this app, it offers you to start its service. Having done so, it displays an URL to connect to with a web browser, plus a password to authenticate. Doing so on your PC, you can manage your Android device from within the PC's web browser: edit your contacts, send SMS, play your media, change the background image, and much more. Even the clipboard can be shared.

Preferably this is done while both devices (the Android device and your PC) are connected to the same network, of course -- but you don't need a cable, as the name AIRdroid correctly indicates the "over-the-air" use of WiFi :)

Other than with the Nokia PC suite, AirDroid doesn't save a copy of the Android device's data on your PC. This is, however, AFAIK done by MyPhoneExplorer Client -- which was already mentioned in MattLin's answer; but this is only available to Windows users.


Removing permissions from apk I'm trying to remove permissions* from certain bank app to prevent abuse.

I've managed to download apk file using emulator (AVD) and appextractor. I've used toolapk to extract the apk file and modified AndroidManifest.xml, repacked it and signed the file using jarsigner.

The installation on my phone fails with "App not installed.". The situation is the same on fresh emulator instance (no gapps). I tried to install unmodified version of the app on emulator with the same error.

How to get a more descriptive error message?
What am I missing?

My device is Galaxy Nexus running Cyanogen mod without gapps.

*contacts & call log reading, sdcard r/w, etc...

It turns out that the installation fails because missing shared library.
Using aLogcat ROOT app from f-droid repo I was able to see following error:

E/PackageManager:( 1221): Package com.evil-bank requires unavilable shared library com.google.android.maps: failing!

One solution would be installing google maps app(or whole gapps package). I'm not going to test this one through.

Thanks to Firelord for pointing out using logcat.


Android 4.4.2 youtube/video stuck in pause Got me a shiny new Hudl 2 (8.3" Wi-Fi tablet with Android 4.4.2).

It's nice. It does the gmail and the facebook, etc.

What it doesn't do is play video from youtube, or other sources such as the BBC. This is either using the Youtube android app or inside the android chrome browser.

The behaviour is as follows:

Video box is displayed but is paused and shows the 'play button' in the centre (the right facing triangle).
Clicking on the play button, a few frames will play, maybe less than half a second of sound.
Then it wall pause again. 'Play' button is displayed in the middle of the frame.

It's like as soon as you press play, it immediately pauses again. Constantly tapping the 'play' button gets a stop animation of the video.

I have tries the following to fix it:

Un-installing and reinstalling the Youtube application.
Clearing the Chrome browser cache (don't know why that was necessary but one website seemed to think it could fix it).
Lowering the quality of the video, even down to the lowest possible setting.

I've tried this on both my home wifi and one other. In both cases, my Samsung Galaxy S4 (also Android 4.4.2) has no problems playing the exact same videos.

So, any advice?

The trick was to put the tablet into Airplane mode and then to take it out of Airplane mode again.

Unlike just disconnecting and reconnecting the wifi link, this actually unloads and reloads the wifi stack.

Since I did this, it plays videos from youtube, iPlayer, etc just fine.


Can't see email older than 30 days I have a Galaxy S4 Active and I cant find emails that are older than 30 days. How do i get them back? I didn't delete them.

There is an option in settings for your email account where you select how long to cache email locally. It works on a per label basis so you can store starred emails for longer than inbox (or whatever you like).


How can I keep track of all types of contact interactions in one place? I'd like to record the interactions with different companies (e.g., the cable company) and document my interaction with them by recording the phone calls, uploading photos/pdfs of paperwork and set reminders...  Is this functionality possible in Android, and if so, how would I accomplish it?

One way to do this would be with Evernote.  You could organize it all sorts of different ways (eg. Organize companies by tag or by notebook... and a new note for each interaction...) and you can attach files (photos, pdf, voice memos...) to each note.  As far as recording the actual calls, as Matthew Read suggested, take a look at this question.

If you are looking for a more integrated approach that works with the current call log and calendar you could consider an app like BizLog ($9).  It doesn't do everything you want but it gets you very close.  If this is more of why you are looking for I'd continue your search but use terms like CRM (contact relationship manager) and contact notes, contact log or contact management.


Does Accelerometer Sensor work on my Samsung Galaxy S2? I have Samsung Galaxy S2 and i'm experiencing with an issue that is annoying me very much.

When I do \auto rotate\ , the rotation happens after 4-5 seconds.

I've done the calibrations and all that stuff that you will find on google or forums.

After i checked secret code *#0*# , i noticed that: at Accelerometer Sensor I get:

  ACC Raw Data - X: changing numbers, y: changing numbers, z: 1024

( z is not changing like X and Y)

After this test i noticed  that somthing is wrong with this phone, and i doubt that the problem is with the sensor.

The strange thing is that sometimes my phone and accelerometer WORKS JUST FINE, but most of times it doesn't work at all!

So, does my phone have problem with sensor or something wrong with the software?

Here you can see in the graphic Accelerometer values
http://i.stack.imgur.com/OvUzb.png

Please Help Me!!!

Having an SGS2 myself, I just checked *#0*# and all 3 axis values change. So you definitely seem to have a problem here, either in software or hardware, and since you've already tried to search for solutions online and could not find anything which works, perhaps it's best to contact Samsung directly for help.


TWRP Recovery installation not working I am following these instructions to root my Galaxy Light - http://rootmygalaxy.net/root-galaxy-light-sgh-t399-install-twrp-recovery/. Part 1 seemed to work fine, but I am not able to boot into TWRP recovery with Vol Up + Power + Home, it's still the regular recovery mode with the volume up and down buttons to select options. How can I get to the TWRP recovery mode? I have a locked bootloader.

Odin Message:

<ID:0/006> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> openrecovery-twrp-2.8.4.0-gardalte.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/006> Odin v.3 engine (ID:6)..
<ID:0/006> File analysis..
<ID:0/006> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/006> Initialzation..
<ID:0/006> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/006> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/006> recovery.img
<ID:0/006> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/006> RQT_CLOSE !!
<ID:0/006> RES OK !!
<ID:0/006> Removed!!
<ID:0/006> Remain Port ....  0
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 1 / failed 0)

I noted from the provided link that your device is a Samsung Light SGH-T399, running Android Jellybean 4.2.2.

With that considered, you can try the Framaroot app to root your device. Follow the steps below (guide in the link) to root the device. After rooting the device, copy the TWRP image to your internal SD card from your computer, and use the Flashify app (get it here or here) to flash it to your recovery partition. Again, the app itself will be pretty clear as to what you need to do, or follow the steps below.

Framaroot usage (from the XDA link (with corrections and emphasis)):

  Installation:

  Download it to your device (links are available at the end of the linked XDA post)
  Install it with a file explorer or directly from your internet browser, if android warn you about security risk, say OK and check Unknown sources to allow install of applications outside of Play Store.

  Usage:

  Open Framaroot and select one of the following actions:

  Install SuperSU
  Unroot
  Execute script (for advanced users)

  Possible cases once application has been launched:

  A popup saying "Your device seems not vulnerable to exploit included in Framaroot", in this case you can uninstall app
  You seeing one or more exploit name, also click on one after you have selected an action and you will see one of the above messages

  Possible cases once exploit had been selected:

  "Success  ... Superuser and su binary installed. You have to reboot your device"
  "Failed  ... Exploit work but installation of Superuser and su binary have failed"
  "Half-Success :-/ ... system partition is read-only, use local.prop trick. Reboot your device and use adb to see if it run as root", happen when the filesystem in use on system partition is a read only filesystem (ex: squashfs)
  "Failed  ... Try another exploit if available"
  Framaroot crashed or foze, in this case relaunch Framaroot a second time and select the same action and exploit.

Flashify usage:

Refer below screenshot. Tap on the "Recovery Image" button.
Select the recovery image file you had copied to your decice earlier.
Accept the confirmation dialog.
You're done, reboot.

Flashify flash screen:

(image credits @cgollner of XDA,the Flashify developer)

Click on image for larger version

Reboot to recovery using adb reboot recovery, the Flashify app or the key combination, configure TWRP time zone and other stuff, take a NANDroid backup and then go do whatever you want with the device, flash ROMs and whatnot.

If you are worried that the custom recovery may get reset after a reboot, you need not. That particular issue is only applicable to flashes via ODIN on certain select enterprise-class devices (and most probably yours isn't one of them), and has nothing to do with the suggested method.


Android 11 update for Samsung Galaxy S10 devices When will an update come to Android 11 for Samsung Galaxy S10 devices?
Currently Android 10 is installed.

The update is currently in preview on this devices. The update is planned starting in January 2021 (this month)_ and will be the second update of the OS.


Pasting text into Android emulator I need to paste text into the Android emulator for testing. I'm running Android 1.6 on the emulator on Mac OS 10.6. Any idea if this is possible?

Not sure if it is possible as I do not work with or use an Android emulator. What you can do however is place the text you want to copy in a text file and push it to the emulator. Once there, open it and copy the contents that way.


Is it true, that Trump sanctions as of 01.06.2019 have started battery drainage on Huawei Android mobile phones? It is 1st of June 2019 and new round of sanctions have started under Trump. And severe drainage of battery of my Huawei Android phone has started as well. 20% of batter is gone under just 1 hour. Android System is the main user of battery - around 30%, then WhatsApp follow with 23%. Remaining apps consume less. I have pending update from Android 5.x to Android 6.x on my device but there is button to download this update and I have choosen not to do any activity. Why such unexpected drainage. Is it due to Trump?

p.s. and my Grindr application is ceased to start as well. Who knows what else will happen?

No, it not because of Trump. Why? Because Huawei was granted 90 days during which it will still continue to support equipment.

The Trump administration is working to ban Huawei products from the US market and ban US companies from supplying the Chinese company with software and components. The move will have wide-ranging consequences for Huawei's smartphone, laptop, and telecom-equipment businesses. For the next 90 days, though, Huawei will be allowed to support those products. The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has granted temporary general export license for 90 days, so while the company is still banned from doing business with most US companies, it is allowed to continue critical product support.

Even if it was not granted an extension period, I don't see how suddenly the battery will start draining.
By the way, Huawei and Google are still working together on security issues during the 90-day exemption

The 90-day license means Google can work with Huawei again on smartphone updates. A Google spokesperson told CNBC, "Keeping phones up to date and secure is in everyone's best interests, and this temporary license allows us to continue to provide software updates and security patches to existing models for the next 90 days."

From the second listed source:

Existing owners of Huawei smartphones can continue to enjoy Google apps and services, such as Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube. They can still use the Google Play Store and receive security and software updates for Google apps and services.

Existing Huawei smartphones, like the recent Huawei P30 Pro, will continue to have access to Google apps and services, as well as security updates. But Huawei may not be able to update the Android software to the next version promptly, if at all.
Since most Android smartphone makers, such as Samsung, take months to update the Android software with the latest features, consumers may not be overly concerned about this.

In mid August, if the exemption is not renewed, your battery will still work fine (assuming it is not old or damaged already).
Check your running services and processes to find out what is causing the battery to drain.
You question will be great at Skeptics StackExchange.
Source:

The US DOC gives Huawei a 90-day window to support existing devices
Huawei barred from Google updates: What you need to know if you own a Huawei or Honor phone


How can I find my Chrome bookmarks from Windows? I dropped my Galaxy S4 SGH-M919 running KitKat not rooted and the screen broke. I can connect to PC using a USB. I was able to copy all the other data I needed using this method. But I had a few bookmarks in Chrome i would like to copy. I can't find these files anywhere I look.
I don't have my android chrome synced to anything. And I can't set that up at this point. Is there any way this is information is findable?

Short answer: No, you can't access those bookmarks from the PC that easily.
Why so?
Because Android's UMS and MTP only gives you access to content under /storage. Chrome's bookmarks are stored in its data directory (/data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome/Default/Bookmarks). A normal user doesn't have the privileges required to  access /data directly.
Even ADB backup isn't allowed because android:allowBackup="false" is set in Chrome's Manifest file.

While the device is not rooted, I should mention in brief methods to get those files when the device is rooted:

Use a root file explorer like ES File Explorer to access Chrome's data directory. Copy the bookmark file to SD card, and then use PC to copy it from SD card.
You can use adb pull directly or indirectly as well.

Run a file server like FTP and set it's root directory at /data/data/. Access the server on PC using Wi-Fi/hotspot or USB tethering. This is the direct access I like to have.

There are other methods for rooted devices, but because the screen broke and the device is not rooted, the chances are none. Sorry!


Phone keeps turning on and back off. What do I do? This morning, I turned on my mobile, which had been fully charged during the night. It displayed the usual white «Samsung Galaxy SIII Neo  powered by android» thing, but then it vanished, then it reappeared, and it has been doing this throughout the day, for all I know. I tried googling, and found out about:

FastBoot, which is acheived by pressing Vol+,Vol-,Power all at once; this does nothing at all on my device;
Recovery boot, which is acheived by pressing Vol+,Power,Home all at once; this displays a small blue «RECOVERY BOOTING…» on the top-left corner, but only if the phone is connected to a charger, otherwise nothing happens;
Hard Reset, but this seems to be impossible, as it requires (see here) the phone to be completely off, which is, at present, simply impossible.

Removing the battery won't do anything: I tried that several times, but as soon as I put it back, it goes back to doing the above. Also, connecting to the charger makes the «Samsung Galaxy [etc]» display like 2 or 3 times longer.

What should I do about this? What is wrong with my phone?

Update

Following @MatthewRead's comment, I tried Vol-,Power,Home. Something flashed on the screen, and then back to on-off-on-off. This is a frame of a short movie I captured with another mobile:

Sorry for the name of the movie showing up and hiding «Warning». I just tried Vol+ as that screen suggests, and now the screen shows up no more. One thing is sure: holding down that combination now stops it from on-off-on-off-ing, but as soon as I release, we're back there.

Update 2

I tried other key combinations, and this is what I found out:

Vol+ -> Recovery booting;
Vol+,Home -> Recovery booting;
Vol+,Power -> Recovery booting;
Vol+,Power,Home -> Recovery booting;
Power,Vol- -> screen above;
Vol-,Home -> screen above;
Vol-,Power,Home -> screen above;
Vol- -> screen above.

The last two have not always happened, but maybe I thought I was pressing when I actually wasn't. The screen says to hit Vol+ or Vol-, but none of those does anything.

Update 3

Someone suggested I scrape the battery contacts, I did it, and now the mobile seems to be working again. So this apparently saved me the trouble of flashing, though I have the firmware downloaded in case something goes wrong.

Try this take out your battery
Wait for 10 seconds
Re Insert the battery without pressing the power button
if it turns on itself (witout pressing the power button( then it would be hardware problem. Just clean it with alcohol or tinner and keep pressing on it to clean the inside of your power swith or if not just replace your power button.
If not auto turn on after inserting the battery then its software problem. Just download the official firmware ang flash your phone via odin.


Map displays incorrect data. Maps appear as fragmented tiles When I zoom in beyond a certain level, the map appears in square tiles. Some of these tiles are correct, and others are not. The roads and landmarks appear correctly in Google Maps, but the topography layer looks pretty randomly filled in. In another app called Mapdroid, the incorrect tiles appear to be repeats of correct tiles.

This occurs on both my Digno ISW11K and Casio IS11CA (firmware version 2.3.3). I first noticed the problem (for both phones) when I was recharging via my car's cigarette lighter while refreshing map data.

I'd be totally happy if I could just somehow reset all the map data. . .

Does anybody else have this problem? Thanks for any help/ideas.

try clearing the appdata and cache. still if your problem isnt solved try unstalling the updates you have done to the app.
you can do all this by goin to the settings then application manager select the app and do whats mentioned above


USB to ethernet not working on Samsung Galaxy S I have Samsung Galaxy S Blaze with the following specs

Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G SGH-T769
Android version = 4.0.4
Baseband version = T769UVMB1
Kernel version = 3.0.8-perf-T769ULVH5-CL990184
Model Number = SGH-T769

I am following this thread on XDA as I had the same problem reported on page 4.

I am using AX88772 compatible USB to Ethernet adapter (plugable USB 2.0) and have successfully compiled drivers for Android ICS. I have also put the asix.ko into /system/lib/modules directory and loaded it with insmod.

I have connected the Samsung phone with Inateck USB 3.0 four-port hub where I have also connected plugable USB 2.0 ethernet adapter. But the ethernet is not working:

root@hammerhead:/ # netcfg eth0 up
netcfg eth0 up
action 'up' failed (No such device)

1|root@hammerhead:/ # netcfg
netcfg
rev_rmnet8 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 72:21:40:52:3e:20
rev_rmnet4 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 9e:5b:78:bd:4b:89
rev_rmnet2 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 a6:e7:62:d2:fc:c5
rev_rmnet3 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 8e:9d:a8:c7:cc:94
rev_rmnet7 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 ea:82:2f:72:9d:fc
rev_rmnet5 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 82:db:fe:b7:a9:1d
rev_rmnet6 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 be:db:eb:ab:b3:17
rev_rmnet1 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 ae:87:e2:c4:c8:4e
rev_rmnet0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 4a:49:58:b0:1d:e4
rmnet4 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet2 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet3 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet7 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet5 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet6 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet1 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
rmnet0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000000 00:00:00:00:00:00
p2p0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 8e:3a:e3:4c:21:28\
sit0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000080 00:00:00:00:00:00
lo UP 127.0.0.1/8 0x00000049 00:00:00:00:00:00\
wlan0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001002 8c:3a:e3:4c:21:28

root@hammerhead:/ # ifconfig eth0
ifconfig eth0
eth0: No such device

There is no mention about OTG driver and USB host driver. Are they installed by default? How do I check if I have these installed? Or, are they not needed?

Thanks and a very happy new year.

Well i got the solution. I was using inatek HB4004G USB3.0 four-port hub. I should have used on the go (OTG) cable instead. When i used the OTG cable, ethernet interface eth0 came up. Here is the OTG cable for your convenience.


Can rooting be the cause of battery drainage? Its been three weeks I have rooted my phone. I have installed a lot of apps using link2sd on external sd card. I have noticed that since the rooting, the battery goes down very fast. 80% of charge goes down to below 40% overnight when on stand-by (without any data/wifi connection). Can the root be cause for that? It hasn't been even a year I bought that phone.

Note: I am using android 2.3.6 and juicedefender for improving battery usage.

Short answer: No

Long answer: It's all the apps and services running in the background, some great apps I use for monitoring what's going on with the phone:

System Panel [theres also a lite version, SystemPanelLite Task Manager]
CPU Spy
BetterBatteryStats

With those you will be able to narrow down what is causing all the battery drain

Also it may be wakelocks on your kernel


Android does not boot because of missing apk files in system/app folder I moved the question from https://stackoverflow.com/q/15872848/1665807

I have a rooted Huawei u8825d phone.I want to know if there were no apk files in "/system/app/" folder.

So,I moved these apk files from /system/app/ to internal sd-card.When I tried to reboot the phone,it didn't succeed.I hanged up with a white screen.

Then I tried to push the apk files from the internal sd-card into the /system/app/ folder by using "adb".

D:\MTH\update>adb devices

List of devices attached

78F5FD6420D5 device

D:\MTH\update>adb remount

remount failed: Operation not permitted

Then,in another way,

D:\MTH\update>adb shell mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

mount: Operation not permitted

This is another way.

D:\MTH\update>adb shell

shell@android:/ $ su

su

Segmentation fault

139|shell@android:/ $

Root access or SuperUser is an apk that resides in /system/app. If you remove it with the rest of the apps, you lose root. As a possible workaround, you can try to run:

> adb root
> adb shell

And see if the shell that adb opens is $ (normal user) or # (root). If you're logged as a normal user, I'm afraid you will need to reinstall root in your phone.

Also, /system/app is like C:\Windows or /bin (in Linux), if you remove the files there, don't expect the device to run, as it won't have the necessary files to do so.


How to block all outgoing calls? I want to block all outgoing calls regardless of who I'm calling since I have finished all my allowance.

I need a way to block all calls because I keep forgetting and I'll exceed my allowance. (I can use VoIP services instead).

Inspired by DrZoo's idea in the comments, if you have a rooted device and using Macrodroid, you can block all outgoing calls by following the steps below:

Open Macrodroid, click on Add Macro.
On the Triggers section, select Call Outgoing follwed by the contact(s) you want to block.
On the Actions sections, select Air Plane Mode On/OFF then choose Air Plane Mode On (you can choose to keep Wifi and Bluetooth on). Add the Wait Before Next Action and set it to 1 second.
Add the Air Plane Mode On/OFF action, select Air Plane Mode OFF.

The image below illustrates the macro when completed. When you try to make a call, the air plane mode will be on, forcing the dialer app to stop the call because there is no connectivity. After 1 second wait, the air plane mode will be set to off, restoring connectivity.

Disclaimer: I am not associated with Macrodroid developer(s), only a user.


How to get Android to ask for my choice of phone dialer? I have the default Phoner Dialer on my HTC phone as well as the Doximity Dialer.  When I first installed the Doximity dialer, whenever I made a phone call it would ask which phoner dialer to use the native one or  Doximity and then followed by 'Just once' or 'Always'.  I made the mistake of choosing the native phone dialer and hitting always but cannot for the life of me figure out how do I reset so it goes back to providing me with the choice of a dialer whenever I make a phone call. I have gone under Apps and looked under both the apps properties but to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Go into settings  → apps. Open the menu, and select show system apps. Now scroll down to the stock phone app press on it  → set as default  → clear defaults. Now, whenever you select a number to call, it will ask which app to use.

If you don't see the clear defaults option, then go to settings  → apps. Open the menu and press on reset app preferences this will clear all your app preferences, including which app should be the default.

Don't worry, this will not delete any data.


Free PDF reader for Android phone that has a "Go To page" function Is there a free PDF reader for the Android phone that has a "Go To page" function?

When I try to read a 600+ page document on my smartphone I find it tedious to scroll to the page I'm interested in. It takes a lot of time and is not precise. It would be much easier if possible to jump directly to the page I want (I know which page I want to see because there is a "Table of Contents" in the document - such a fresh and wonderful invention).

I tried Adobe Reader X, and my phone's default PDF reader application, but they don't seem to have an option to jump directly to a page, or at least this is not a documented feature and I didn't find how to do.

Is there an alternate (preferably free) PDF reader for Android?

You can goto page in 'fit to screen' or 'continous scroll' mode (but not 'reflow text') by touching at the bottom of the screen and it'll make a scroll bar turn up. As you drag your finger left and right you'll see the page number and total number of pages at the top left of the screen.

Edit in 2015: Slightly different now: touch at the bottom, then you'll see a page number on the right edge of the screen, which you can drag up and down.


How to sync subtitles with video? If we have an .srt and a video file that are out of sync, how to correct it? (Like we would do with Aegisbub on a desktop OS.)

Use MX Player.

It has an option to sync by specifying the time to adjust (in seconds).

Go to Options (3dots) ->Subtitles-> Synchronization while playing a video to adjust it..


How do i remove double notifications? Galaxy s 2 I have the newest Samsung Galaxy S2 (SkyRocket) and as a user of Handcent I was able to disable the "double text notifications" on my last Galaxy but on this phone when I go to the main messaing app then the menu button I dont have a settings option.

How can I turn off the notifications so I don't recieve every message twice?

You need to go into the Stock Messaging app, hit Menu > Settings, un-check 'Notifications' which has the text stating 'Display message notifications in status bar'.


How can I make wifi automatically go on when my G1 boots up I've got CM6 on it, and every once in a while the power goes out, the battery eventually dies, the power comes back and it boots up but no wifi. I have the thing in a faraway place and I get to it via ssh, so it's annoying to have to go manually turn on wifi when it reboots.

Is there a script somewhere I can run in userinit.sh that will turn on wifi?

There's an APP to workaround that issue, Wifi Fixer available for Free from Google Play Store:

  Wifi Fixer is a low-resource background Service that maintains your wifi connection automatically and works around several bugs in Android wifi.


What is the meaning of "need access to: " in when we want to install an application? Whenever we want to install an application from Google Play, the application will ask permission to access to some things. The number of permissions are different from one to another application. Below is an example of application that requests permission to access.

Then my question are, how that access work? Is the application will take our data for them? I.e: It ask to access images in the phone, will the application will copy and send all the images to the developer? Or, will the application copy the conversation as it has access to the microphone? And how long it will have the access one we granted and installed the application?

Is the application will take our data for them? I.e: It ask to access images in the phone, will the application will copy and send all the images to the developer? Or, will the application copy the conversation as it has access to the microphone?

There is no authoritative answer to this in the absence of the source code of the software being available for review, and of course, one's ability to review the code themselves. The applications are written by actors, developer(s) technically. That actor may be benign and genuine and minding just their business, literally and figuratively, so they would mention it in their terms of use policy that to what extent and what category of data would be collected.

However, a malicious actor would naturally want to have access to all the private data of yours, so their app may listen to your private conversations, use your camera, upload your photos and so on once you have granted access to the permissions it would have demanded.

Some detection and preventive safeguards can be deployed, but that matter is beyond the scope of this question here.

  And how long it will have the access one we granted and installed the application?

Since Marshmallow, a user can revoke or grant certain dangerous permissions later in time even if they had been granted earlier, by going into Settings > Apps. The permissions stay as long as the app stays in the device. Once you uninstall an app, all granted accesses are lost, but not the data that it may have collected and uploaded somewhere else. A reinstallation is no different than a fresh installation in terms of permissions access.


Nexus 4 won't charge or boot (red light) I have been reading a bunch of articles on ways to fix this "red light" issue. My issue seems a bit different from most articles as the red light does not show up when I plug in my charger. Articles I have read seems like most "red light" appears when they have the charger plugged, but my issue is that the red light only shows up when I have my charger plugged AND holding down the power button for several seconds. Without holding down the power/power+volume down button, the red light doesn't blink at all.

What I have tried:

Unscrewing the two screws for the battery, as some article has stated
it was a design flaw where the screws tighten causes the battery
connector to not work.
Replaced battery with a new one, nothing    different, still
unresponsive phone.
Left charger plugged into phone    for 24 hours, phone does not get
warm/hot so I doubt the charger is    even charging the phone. (no
red light)
Used Qi wireless charger,    phone got really warm but still nothing.

If anyone had this issue and solved it, please inform me on how you did so. I'm not sure if it is a battery issue or some other component but would like to get to the bottom of this. Before this happened, my phone was being charged using a car charger and I noticed the charger was loose so the charging indicator kept blinking on and off rapidly. I believe that may have drained the battery to 0% but I did replace the battery with a new one and issue was not fixed. Hope the seller didn't send me a dead battery as well.

I am having the same problem, with no red light when charging a nexus 4.
I changed the usb cable and it charged.

The problem came back however. I just noticed that if I held down the buttons while inserting the cable, the red light came back on.

After a while, it started blinking, and charged fully.

I use my nexus4 for development, so it is on for days even weeks in a row, which is not good for the battery.

Also most computer usb sockets dont provide half the current that a dedicated usb charger does, and that is what flattened the battery.

It would be nice if I could bypass the battery completely, since this one is always tethered to the workstation.


Gmail App Expanded Email Notification Not Collapsed Automatically Recently I freshly installed the Gmail app from the Play Store and it had this nice feature which offered a peek of my email in the notification area whenever I swiped down the notification tray; it also had the reply/delete buttons.

But now all of a sudden that feature is literally gone. Now, whenever I receive an email I do get the notification but in kind of that classic way and to have a preview of my email and the reply/delete buttons to appear I have to slide down that notification (either by dragging it by one finger or tap-holding that notif. and then dragging it down as mentioned here on Google's Help Page) a bit every single time which is kinda annoying.

I have Android 4.2.1 installed on my phone. And have checked all related settings to no avail :|

Please help :(

This is standard behaviour, however I think it may have been different in older versions of Android/different ROM's.

On all the apps on my device that use expanded notifications, only one seems to be expanded by default. There is (most likely) an option for developers to make it expanded by default, and this may have been recently disabled in the gmail application.

As this is done at a program level, there would be no way to change it.


Is it safe to install Android L on my Nexus 4 (January 2015) I have a Nexus 4 that was killed (battery) when Google released android 4.4. It was the bug regarding battery being drained by the WiFi.

It was such a pain to make Google sending me a refurbished one that now I don't upgrade my phone as soon as a new android release is delivered.
I want to be sure it won't destroy my phone again.
According to this, there were bug with the Nexus 5 in the beginning of android L...

So finally my question:
Is it safe to install android L on my Nexus 4 at the moment (January 2015)?

Thank you for your help!

Wait.

I've had positive and reliable experiences running Android 5.0.1 on Nexus 10, Nexus 7, and Nexus 5.

However, my Nexus 4 experiences reboots with Android L and a friend's Nexus 4 outright powers down regularly.

That said, a bugfix Android 5.0.2 is rolling out to Nexus devices right now.  So wait.


ICS App Drawers, how to give them a name? I own a Samsung Nexus S and Yesterday I was able to upgrade to Android 4.0.4. When I upgraded, I saw that Google had created an app drawer full of Google apps, and it has the Word Google underneath it. I know it is possible to create app drawers by dragging app shortcuts on top of one another, but is there a way to give an app drawer a name the way Google has done with the Google drawer?

If it's done like on the Galaxy Nexus, just open the folder, tap the text Unnamed folder and write your own label :)


If I have a phone contact and I sync my contacts to my google account then will the contact see my email address in his contacts? If he has a google account too and I sync my contacts to my google account with his phone number then will google notice that we are in phone contact and therefore show my email contact to him in his contacts?

That is, does google reveal additional public information for connected people when it makes a connection between two people?

Yes, it does, especially if you or the other person uses Google Contacts app

Details for updating contacts and adding people are based on

Suggestions could come from a user’s Google profile, Maps, or a corporate directory when in an enterprise environment
Suggested contacts to add: You’ll now see suggestions to add contacts you frequently communicate with across Google’s products (Gmail for instance)

I have observed suggestions to add a Gmail address for a contact who corresponds with a different mail address with me.

Another source could be if you both linked Google + profiles


Backup data with broken screen and empty system Device details:

Samsung Galaxy S3 (i9300) with broken screen
No System (was running CM13.0 with GAPPS)
Currently flashed with TWRP 3.1 with Odin (was CWM)
/data | /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 | Size: 11622MB Used: 5540MB Free: 3440MB Backup Size: 5540MB

System details:

Windows 10
adb-1.0.39

I need to make a valid nandroid or adb backup for Titanium Backup Pro on my new device. What I've tried so far:

adb backup --twrp data (also with --compress option) to my laptop but it's currently unrestorable. #1011
adb backup without --twrp, results in 0KB file. Tried using adb-1.0.31 as described at question 83080 but didn't work (no password set)
backup with CM Recovery v6.0.4.6, but seems to fail on system (not sure). The backup folder only contains boot.img and recovery.img
adb uninstall package to create space/reduce backup size. /sbin/sh: pm: not found

Any other ways I can try without losing apps+data?

Restored system with what was running before by doing:

twrp wipe system (it was already empty, but for good measure)
twrp wipe cache
twrp install /sdcard/Download/cm-13.0-20160113-UNOFFICIAL-temasek-i9300-V2.9.zip
twrp install /sdcard/Download/open_gapps-arm-6.0-mini-20171004.zip
twrp install /sdcard/TWRP/SR4-SuperSU-v2.78-SYSTEMMODE.zip
twrp fixperms
twrp wipe cache
twrp wipe dalvik

Aftwards it got stuck in a bootloop. I had Android Studio open to watch the logcat and somehow managed to adb shell pm uninstall packages, just before the Fatal signal 11 (SIGSEGV) error, with the intention to fix the bootloop.

I uninstalled CM 13 themes first as they where appearing before the Fatal signal 11. It got to a point where it was unclear what was causing the bootloop and remembered I had activated a custom bootanimation with one of those themes. Deleted the /data/system/theme/bootanimation.zip, but did not help.
Tried adding debug.sf.nobootanimation=1 to the /system/build.prop, but did not help either.

Then I decided to uninstall packages I don't need backing up, as I was planning to try and create a backup again with CWM Recovery when enough space was available. To my surprise I was able to get out of the bootloop! Probably one or more apps were the cause of the bootloop after re-flashing the ROM.

I am now able to use Vysor to backup apps+data I need with Titanium Backup to transfer to my new device.

Alhamdulillah..

I hope this may be of use to someone else who may be experiencing a similar problem.

Options are:

Create nandroid or adb backup with TWRP or CWM Recovery, for Samsung Galaxy S2/S3/S4/S5 available here
Restore ROM without losing data

View device screen on Desktop (e.g. Vysor)
Create backup of apps (e.g. Titanium Backup)


What does [HYPOS] tag on logcat relate to in Samsung Galaxy S II? I have Samsung Galaxy S II. When I check the logcat using Eclipse, I see an entry with tag [HYPOS].

What is that? I am worried about my privacy.

From:

Is GPS chip control affected by 'sensor aiding'? - Stack Overflow
Suspected memory leak (in Sygic); how to interpret the Allocation Tracker - Stack Overflow
Show on Map - cgeo Issue Tracker

All of these people are posting issues or logcats relating to the GPS on their phone, I would imagine yours is something similar if it's in a line like:

DEBUG/(2696): [HYPOS] NOMOVE Time 13114, PowerMode 2, GPSWeakSignal 19, GPSFixTime 0, Car 1, DOE 3

The fact it also says GPS in the logcat entry is a hint also.


How can I prevent my Desire HDs battery from draining overnight? I've recently got the new HTC Desire HD, which has a poor battery to start with (1230 mAh), but in the last two weeks I've had several nights waking up with a dead battery.

The first few nights, I suspect that wifi was still running and by default the radio didn't go to sleep when it's idle (changed that). I reduced syncing frequencies for most services to once a day, so that can hardly be the problem. When looking at the battery usage reports, it's mostly the huge screen draining the battery, but that's turned off at night. Last night I turned off any data connection and went to bed with 90% battery and woke up with a dead one.

So what on earth is crashing my battery so quickly? Does anyone have any suggestions other than the no-brainers mentioned here.

I'm suggesting an app called PowerTutor (free on the Market). When you turn on the profiler, the app monitors the power usage of each applications and android subsystem, and give a detailed report of what application has been consuming the most battery.

The idea is, you turn the profiler on, then use the phone as usual. Be aware though, the power profiler itself is very power-hungry and it does not save the profiling result if the profiler is restarted, that means if your phone's battery runs out before you can look at the report, you'll just be wasting battery (IOW, you might need to wake up in the middle of the night to look at the report before your phone runs out of battery; or you might need to put the phone on charger, which might affect the result of the profiling since some applications might behave differently when charged and when on battery).


Set different volumes for different alarms Is there any way to set a different volume for every alarm? Samsung has had such a feature for ages, but is it possible to do something similar on a stock rom?
Third party apps don't seem to be able to do it.
Two workarounds possible include -
a) Using tasker to change the alarm volume before and after that particular alarm
b) Increasing/decreasing the volume of each and every alarm tone to something "louder" and something "softer", then copying these new alarm sounds to sd card/alarms
Both are significantly tedious as compared to Samsung's method.
I also have root access, if it helps.
Edit - I'm running marshmallow 6.0.1

I would recommend editing the ringtone files, because you don't even need to leave your Android in order to do it.

Searching the Play Store, I've found 2 apps in question that claim to adjust volume on .ogg and mp3 files:

MP3 Gain - Play Store
MP3/OGG Volume Booster - Play Store

Hope one of these do the trick for ya. I love the Tasker idea (I use Tasker in many hackish ways that would be considered unorthodox haha)

Anyway, hope this helps


Autofill location on Google Calendar How do I get the location to autofill when I begin to enter a place in Google Calendar on my Moto E4 Plus?

Fixed this problem in Chrome.
Problem: addresses in a Calendar event no longer autofilling.
Fixed it like this:
Went to Chrome Settings (Chrome, the three vertical dots in top right corner, not Calendar Settings).
Then chose "Autofill", clicked "Addresses and more", and turned on "Save and fill addresses".
Seems to work now.


How to have a custom table of contents in Google Play Books? I uploaded a big PDF book to my Google Play and I was wondering if there was a way to make my own table of contents for it ? Right now, the only item in the table is the beginning of the book...

Thanks !

You could edit the pdf changing the table of contents, either using adobe acrobat or some other, free, software.


Unable to paste files on sd card on ubuntu I am unable to paste files on SD card of my phone connected to Ubuntu pc in MTP mode.

When I try to paste files, it shows the following error.

There was an error creating the directory in mtp://[usb:001,004]/Card.

If Linux thinks the card's filesystem may be damaged (i.e., wasn't removed safely/unmounted cleanly) then it will force it to mount in read-only mode.

If you are fairly sure it's OK, you can remove the card from the phone and put it in a card reader, then force it to mount in terminal (assuming it shows up as /dev/sdc1, and you make a folder /mnt/usb for it):

sudo mount -o rw,nonempty /dev/sdc1 /mnt/usb

Try that. If it works for you, be sure to unmount it properly when you are done. Next time you try to access it through your phone you should be fine.

If not, you may want to check that your account has permissions/group memberships to appropriate groups (or cheat and run Nautilus with sudo).

Good luck!


Can we use an Android phone as a Wi-Fi repeater? Can we use an Android phone as a Wi-Fi repeater?

Imagine situation when you can access a weak Wi-Fi signal from a free hotspot (coffee shop) signal near window, but want to work in the middle of the room. Then we can put the phone on the window sill to spread the signal over the entire home.

Is it feasible?

No. To do this would broadly speaking require multiple Wifi interfaces (or specialized software) which is not readily available (or easily installable) on Android.

In general this is done on Linux using something like hostapd in master mode: I don't believe that is easily setup on any Android phone.


HTC One M7, "Other" storage category seems too large It hasn't become a legitimate problem but I'm on my way there because I met a person who showed me how their HTC One ended up with really large Other category size in Settings -> Storage free disk space report.

So, currently my 32GB storage is consumed like this:

8.03GB Apps
5.64GB Music
1.87GB Photos & Videos
7.21GB Other
9.24GB Available

So, that looks insanely large to me. More than Music or close to Apps.

I'd like to be able to review somehow what takes up those 7.21GB. Does anyone have an advice as to how I could see what exactly is those 7.21GB of data? Because it keeps growing over time. I do use the Clean Master app, and it saved tens of gigs of space but still Other keeps growing and I don't want to wake up one day to a phone that is full of data I can't manage.

My own best explanation so far, is the fact that a number of applications may cache some data during the course of actively using them. Data that can't be classified as any of the standard categories, such as Music, Video, Pictures, Applications, etc or Android's accounting methodology fails to recognize this cached data, or doesn't bother to look in places where it's located.

Also, there is another type of applications that use a specific model when the application itself remains small size which, once it is installed, downloads gigabytes of "data files" that are not recognized by Android as part of this Application. For example, a lot of games seem to be doing this but it's not uncommon to see other applications to download any type of data files (dictionaries, etc.)

So, basically the problem and a challenge of identifying what exactly eats up disk space and why Other category is so big is because Android's accounting structures are far from perfect. It just clearly fails to associate "data files" and any cached data with an installed application, which is what normally a user perceives as a logically convenient way to answer the question of "How much disk space does program X take up?". Android simply attributes it to Other category that usually looks disproportionately large on just about any Android system I've seen so far.


Is there a way to evaluate Android apps in a browser (like Pieceable for Android)? I have seen Pieceable which is a Website where you can upload iOS apps and then try them out directly in the browser. Is something like this also available for Android?

To upload an APK File, embed some code into a website and be able to try out the app before buying it?

Thanks for introducing Pieceable. After reading your question I learnt about it and when going beyond, I found Amazon's Test Drive seems to have a similar ability.  Thanks to @jcisio, I found this answer here.  Currently the Amazon Test drive is available in US only. Hence, I could not test and verify it.


What video chat works between the Android and iOS? What video chat works between the Android and iOS? For example between a Samsung Galaxy and iPhone.

Skype and Hangouts should work. There are probably other apps too, but you can google them yourself


How to change the way joined contacts are displayed I have several accounts synchronized on my galaxy S3 (google, google+, skype, facebook, linkedin) and I grouped the same contacts from various accounts into one.

How can I modify the way this merged account is visible in my contacts list? As an example I have the same person as:

in linkedin: John Doe + ugly picture
in google: Johnny + nice picture
in skype: The mad guy + no picture

When merging these contacts I usually end up with the combo "the mad guy" + ugly picture, or whatever combination. I obviously would like to have "John Doe" + nice picture.

Is there a way to select what element should come from which contact?

Fallback question: in case this is not possible: is there a way to enforce one of the contacts as the "master one" ? (I would choose google as I have the most control over that one)

Note: This question was initially asked on Phandroid but it will hopefully apply to any Android device

Thank you for any pointers!

Open joined contact > menu button > mark as default > chose account, name, phone.

Thats all.


How do I get past a VPN lock screen as I've never entered a password? I downloaded Private Internet Access vpn to a Nexus S which also had Tor installed. Tor asked did I want to set up a VPN. I said yes. Nexus S vpn dialogue came up. I decided no and hit the back button to return to Tor. Went to front door to answer a knock with the phone in my hand.

Looked at the phone and saw a lock screen saying emergency calls only with a cursor blinking at me. Tried the random five wrong passwords with no result or no dialogue. End result no way back to the phone. Dont want a factory reset n losing my data. Ice Cream Sandwich runs (ran !) on the phone. Q: POssible hack ? Thanks for any suggestions.

You can remotely wipe your phone from https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager and that will remove the lock, sorry for your luck.

Edit: Looks like you can replace the lock from there using the lock feature there too, might be useful to you, to avoid wiping.


Remote icon on Galaxy S6 Edge I suddenly have a new strange symbol on my S6 Edge screen and have no idea what it is but if I touch it, it locks my phone up. The only way I can get it unlocked is by swiping the edge. I'm able to move it around but it appeared while away from and charging my phone so I wasn't accidentally playing around with settings or anything. It appears like a remote perhaps.

What is it?

Edit: I'm with Bell, using version 5.1.1 and have attached an enlarged a screenshot (it's the same size as a Messenger Chat Head).

Based from a thread on Android Central, it's an icon from Peel Smart Remote app.

uestraven recommended to disable the app to remove it.

  [...]. I just figured it out. It's Peel Smart Remote app. You have to disable it.

It seems the icon was added on the latest update as IAmSixNine wrote,

  I updated the Peel Smart Remote app on my GS6 and after I rebooted the phone, it showed up on mine as well. Pretty annoying if you ask me that they did that. I don't and have never used the app and for them to update the app and then force that on me is pretty lame.

Screenshot on Galaxy Note 4, courtesy of Realityhurts82


iPhone-to-Android convert: how do I change the lock screen, set up 2-click speed dialing, etc. I just left my iPhone 3G for a Samsung Galaxy S II Android phone. I am trying to recreate certain iPhone behaviors and am wondering if it's possible, and how.

Android 2.3's default lock screen is just a giant picture tile that you have to tap-swipe out of the way. I don't like it, as the tap-swipe distance required is ~3/4 of the screen. Are there any better alternatives?
On the iPhone, I could customize the bottom four "home row" icons. Is there a way to do this in Android? (I couldn't find one.)
On the iPhone, I could achieve a speed-dialing of sorts by choosing Favorite phone numbers, then dial them by tapping on "Favorites", then the person's entry. The closest I've found in Android, navigating through the Phone icon, requires a ridiculous five or six clicks. Is there a better way? I tried making a folder and then populating that folder with "Direct Dial" shortcuts for each person in my favorites list. But it seems very manual. I would prefer to have this folder be in my home row of icons as well.
On the iPhone, I could arrange the order of items in a folder. Is this possible on the Android?
On the iPhone, when someone sent me a text message, the message would appear in a dialog window on my screen. On the Android, I just get a icon indicating I have a new text message. Is there a way to configure Android to just display the text message contents immediately?
When I'm looking at someone's text message history, is there a way to call them directly? The iPhone had a button at the top for allowing this.

(Answer to #3: hit the left-menu button and then hit Call.)

As you're using a Galaxy S2 which has Samsung's TouchWiz interface layered over the Android OS, some of your questions are specific to Touchwiz, so I'll answer them that way too, in a way that may not be helpful to people with a different interface:

Yes, there are a number of Lockscreens built in, if you go into Settings -> Location and Security, then you should see a section labelled Screen Unlock Settings selecting Set screen lock gives you some options.
This is TouchWiz specific. On the home screen press the Applications icon to get to the Apps list, then press the Menu button and select Edit. You should now be able to drag any icon off the "home row", and drag any other icon on (to maximum of four apps).
There are a couple of other questions on this site about setting up quick dials (like this one) etc. But it sounds like you could do what you want by creating a Starred Contacts folder on your home screen. Firstly go through your Contacts and "Star" any contacts that you'd regard as favourites, then find an empty space on your home screen, long-press there, sleect Folders from the menu that pops up and then select Starred Contacts.
Don't really use folders myself, so I'll leave that to someone else.
That was the first annoyance I noticed when I got my first Android phone a few years ago, I use the SMS Popup app for that, couldn't use an Android for messaging without it.
Never even tried doing that, but when you're in their text message conversation you can press Menu then More then Call.


Shortcut to the notifications panel? Many applications place an icon on the notification bar. But then to get to the action I need to long tap the notification bar (taking care not to tap the screen area below it) and then pull it down (at least this is how i do it in my htc desire hd)

Is there an easier way? Maybe assign this to a long press on the menu button (same as long press on the home button shows recent apps)?

You shouldn't need to long tap the notification bar, just tap and swipe down.


Is it possible for rooted phone to move internal SD to external SD? I want to make my internal space solely for app installation and then the rest of the data (e.g. big game files, etc) I want to go to my external SD instead. How do I do this with a fully rooted phone with Xposed framework and recovery and running Lollipop 5.1.1?

I'm answering my own question here now. What I ended up going with is the Xposed module called XinternalSD. What it does is trick the apps of your choosing to think the external SD card is the internal SD. You can choose which app to redirect so things you want to be faster (like a launcher) can be kept pointing to the internal. This module can also work on system apps so that's really nice. For example, if you set Chrome or Firefox to be redirected, when you download things, it's gonna go directly to external SD.


How can I flash my Galaxy 5 (GT-I5500) via Linux? I like to know if there's a way to flash my Galaxy 5 (I5500) via Linux. I found Heimdall, but it only works with Samsung's Galaxy S.

you can use mobile odin to flash ROMs directly from your device.Galaxy 5 (I5500) is supported. See the thread at xda developers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1347899


Volume control using Macrodroid My friend has the same problem on his Samsung device as described here Android automatically corrects my volume

I showed him the solution and it worked beautifully for him. But he would like to make it work whether Google Play Music is in foreground or background, which beeshyams in his answer said is possible but perhaps didn't add as OP didn't  ask for that.

I have Macrodroid installed ( learner ) and tried to modify that macro by the condition While Google Play Music in foreground OR ( ) Background and it didn't work

What am I doing wrong and how to achieve the Macro perform as required ?

Macrodroid has three powerful conditional statements

WHILE / DO , which you tried is not suitable. It doesn't work with OR ( background or foreground ) . That leaves us with
IF <conditions> ELSE which is also not appropriate . Reason you have 4 states , app in Foreground, Not in foreground , Alive in background , Not running - if you choose one state with IF ,  ELSE would cover all 3 remaining states and that's not what you want
That leaves us with two IF loops , each having the corresponding WHILE loop nested. Two WHILE loops in similar fashion may work but I didn't try ( stuck me just now )

Macro would look like this ( didn't add in linked answer so as to keep it simple and I had the macro ready ). Trigger and constraints would remain same. Only actions shown

You may need a second macro ( for user convenience,  and to ensure that macro is not active in other two states) to disable this macro. It would have empty trigger and single action of Macro Stop → Lossless Music 2. Go to the widgets section of your launcher , drag and drop Macrodroid widget to your home screen and assign it to the macro just created with empty trigger.

If Google Play Music is inactive as an example , but you are listening to music on another player, you certainly wouldn't want that player to be locked down. Or let's say you like listening to Heavy Metal on Play music with volume at 75% , you wouldn't want the same volume to persist. As additional precaution

I tested this for the other answer , so you are good to go with this

Happy automation with Macrodroid :)


Whatsapp data transfer from expired Sim card to new Sim card My old Sim card number has expired and is no longer active on my mobile network. How do I recover my Whatsapp account chat history from this inactive Sim card number since it can no longer receive the call or message that sends the Whatsapp confirmation code to my cell phone in order to activate the Whatsapp account to my old mobile number.

I have tried to purchase a new Sim card in order to reactive the expired mobile number but was told by my network providers that I can no longer use that number as it is no longer registered to the network. My best bet would be to try recover my contacts from my google account backups.But there's is no guarantee that I can recover my chat history from that expired no.

I would like to migrate my Whatsapp chat history from this old Sim card number to a new Sim card number to which I have already installed Whatsapp.I am using an Android device.

WhatsApp stores a backup of everyday into your internal memory. If you register in WhatsApp with the new sim still it will allow you to restore the messages of previous chat. No matter what number you had.

Try re-registering with your new number and when it asks you for restore back, allow it to.


Difference Soft Reset/Hard Reset Just a quick question.
I have been trying to figure out the difference between Soft Reset, Hard Reset, Factory reset. If anyone could please help me to clarify the differences, it would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

A little bit of random information. So my phone was in my pocket, seems that it was reset (Turned off and instantly came back on) by the power button being held down for fifteen to twenty seconds, wondering if this is considered a Soft Reset, or Hard Reset, or if there really is a difference.

Soft Reset is simply powering your phone off and on by using power button - no data is lost
Hard Reset is forcibly stopping the power to phone by removing the battery ( if the battery is user replaceable)- no data is lost

Both these are first level means of rectifying minor issues and are harmless

Factory Reset is restoring the device to the state it was when you purchased it (with few exceptions) - all user data is lost. This is next level of troubleshooting or happens when you unlock bootloader. See also What is hard reset and what is factory reset?

What you describe is not any of the above. It is sleep state or sleep mode which your device goes into when it is inactive for long. This is a battery saving measure. One activates or wakes up the device  by power button or home button  ( if it was soft reset, it would have displayed start up logo and process)

Edit: OP clarified that start up logo appeared so it was actually a soft reset . Mobile likely got switched off accidentally