Is it normal to have two (or more) apps with the same codebase and database in Google Play? I installed two Google Play applications and saw, that they are actually the same app (completely same functionality and database) with only different splash screens. Isn't it against the rules?

It's not normal but there's nothing to forbid a developer releasing multiple variants of the same product with different branding. Some companies even develop white box apps, which their customers add their branding to and publish, the same way that one off-brand gadget or home appliance is sold by different companies under different names.

It's only forbidden if one developer violates copyright by publishing another developer's app without their consent; for example, if I decompile the APK of Angry Birds, replace the name and splash screens with "Bangin' Avians", and publish it on Google Play, then I'm violating Rovio's copyright on their product.


Move data (without cloud storage) from CM 13.0 to LineageOS My current phone is running CM 13.0. I have a new phone ready, running LineageOS. What's the simplest way to move all data (most important: contacts, pictures, mail + configuration, SMS) to the new phone?

Both phones do not have Google services installed and I don't want to move my data to the cloud. I tried to make a adb backup on the one phone and a restore on the other phone. I did not run into an error, but I also did not see the data on the new phone. I would be happy to pay a small fee for a decent tool, but without access to the play store, most apps are not an option.

First and foremost: provided that you trust 3rd-party APK provider sites (APKPure, APKMirror, etc.), no Play Store access is not a problem - you will only be restricted from paid apps. For trust issues read this question (and others related) on the site.

Contacts:

In the Contacts app, top-right menu - import/export - export to .vcf file.
Select items you want exported.
A .vcf file will be saved by default to the root of the internal storage - back it up somewhere.
Import later with the import from .vcf file option.

SMS: use the app SMS Backup and Restore. Been using the Pro version of the app since Android 4.x and it always worked smoothly. Backed-up content will be stored in the SMSBackupRestore folder under internal storage. APKMirror

Mail: your mail is supposed to be all up in the clouds, i.e. synched with your mail server, so there should be no need of backing them up in the first place.

Media files (picture, music, etc.): provided that you know the location, just copy them off the device. Use the details option in the Gallery app if you need help locating a specific picture.

App data: the free version of Titanium Backup is enough for backing up individual apps' data. Backed-up content will be stored in the TitaniumBackup folder under internal storage. Note that, before restoring app data, you might have to start them once. APKMirror

Copy backed-up contents off the device (keep folder structures intact), then after flashing LOS, copy them back in place, and use respective restore options.


App reporting privacy - is there any? When you report an app (for violation) through Google Play, does the developer have access to (any parts of) your Google identity? Does the fact that you've reported this app show up in any of your public (or private) Google records? Does Google have an official policy on that?

There's a pop up every time you submit a report for the privacy policy.

But regardless, pretty much every Google system and API is covered by the same privacy policy:  http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/


Google Play Authenticate to complete purchase, multiple accounts I'm using a device running Android 8.1. I'm trying to complete a purchase using Google Play where I'm facing a problem while authenticating myself after I selected my payment method. I have 4 Google accounts linked to my device. I wish to use my primary Google account to authenticate myself, yet the Google Play application picks the account I've added most recently (which is my dads').

For a few hours today and last night I have searched the internet and the settings of my phone trying to find out how I can change the account that Google Play requires me to authenticate with, but I couldn't find a solution.

Now I do have the password of the Google account that Google Play prompts me to use (because my dad gave it to me), but I do not want to use that account to authenticate as I want the purcahse to be logged/added to my own (primary) Google account.

How can I modify the behavior of Google Play so that I can choose what account is used to authenticate whilst completing a purchase?

After some searching through the Github issues I found this issue regarding in-app purchases using Android/Google Play. Neto Martin, developer at Google, states the following regarding multi accounts in combination with the in-app purchases:

  The purchases are always related to the user that was selected on Play Store app when you installed the app.
  So, if an user A installs the app, all purchases will be done on it's account, even if you have the account selector in your app.

Knowing this I knew the only solution for my problem was to reinstall the app (which was my last resort as I would lose some data), making sure my primary Google account was selected, which fixed the issue for me, the app now prompts me to authenticate using my primary Google account.


Can preloaded apps be restored when Factory reset-ed I have deleted some preloaded apps. If I restore mobile (Factory reset)

Will the preloaded apps be restored?
Will my device remain rooted or will I lose root?

Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 1 (GT N7000)

There are two parts to your question

Factory Reset.

a) Factory reset removes user data including apps installed by the user on phone. Since your device is rooted, you can see that everything in  /data
and /data/data will be wiped.

b) Factory reset does not flash stock ROM. Since you have deleted preloaded apps, they will not be restored. If you want them restored, you have to flash stock ROM

To understand more about factory reset, please read this

Factory reset to restore performance? What are the disadvantages?

Root.  You will not lose root on factory reset. Your phone will remain rooted

Please read this post to understand more Can I safely do a factory reset without losing root?

Further, unrooting will also not being back deleted apps

Please read this Will un-rooting return stock apps

  Additional Information on reverting to stock ROM (asked by OP in comments)

How can I flash stock ROM?

Source for downloading Stock ROM:  Sammobile, you have to register and download ROM specific to your model and region. You can check  here also Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
Flashing Instructions:  Can be found on many sites. Here is one such link (also having stock ROMs) from XDA. You can also see "additional information" of my answer


How to find out which apps are draining the battery? I'm not sure when it started, but my phone is draining its battery even when being charged. It's likely to be caused by some apps I installed recently. How to find out which apps are causing the problem? Is the builtin Settings -> Battery statistics accurate enough?

I think the "Battery" in "Settings" might give a hint and you should turn off  those apps working in the background when you don't use them.

And play your phone in somewhere cool, because hot atmosphere will also drain the battery fast.

Also you can download a third party app like GSam Battery Monitor(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm) to check out what makes your battery drain so fast.


Why wait ten minutes after installing some roms? I notice a lot of custom roms tell you to wait ten minutes after the firstboot before touching anything and was wondering why it is so.

I've never seen that particular caveat, but the most likely things I can think of:

Caches (dalvik, in particular) being rebuilt
First-run scripts
Media scanner running: rebuilding thumbnails and indexes

The worry may be (particularly for first-run scripts) that if you start putting an interactive load on the device, the OS will kill those scripts that are running in the background.

In addition, interactive performance will suffer while all these things are going on.  ROM authors would probably much rather have you go have a snack and come back to a phone ready to go rather than have your first interaction involve poor performance until the OS is "warmed up".


How to use MMS with disabled data roaming? Can I disable all data except for MMS in roaming on Android 4.4 KitKat (Xperia Z1 Compact)?

Disabling Data Roaming disables also MMS. I want to use MMS, but not any data (because of high expenses).

I realized that in phone there are two APNs: one for internet and MMS. Active is Internet APN, which has settings for MMS empty. Can't this be leveraged somehow?

Or any other ways to use MMS with data disabled?

Usually MMS are sent/received via GPRS connection.Get the GPRS and MMS settings one again from your carrier.Try to  Set your default carrier to MMS. Now if you turn on mobile data it will not connect to internet.


Completing HTTP POST request when wireless network connects Possible Duplicate:
  Can I automatically log in to open WiFi that requires web login/password?

My school requires that students using the wireless sign in using an HTTP POST prompt each time they connect. It's a very simple username and password at a set IP address. I'm wondering  if there's some way to automatically login to this when my tablet connects to the network. If not, how hard would it be to code an app that accomplishes this.

You could do this using onx.ms. You'll need to know a bit of scripting, but it's not that hard. onx.ms is basically an automation tool much like Tasker.

onx.ms has the ability to automatically run the script you made at specific triggers (like Wi-Fi on/off). These triggers itself are to be defined within the script you make.

Have a look at this for the HTTPClient object you can use in the script to make this happen.

Though not a perfect app as it requires some internet action initially I presume and the fact that you'll need to have a facebook account to use it. But the whole javascript like scripting and not-so-bad documentation, makes it more fun to use.


Is shielding private data from apps possible by isolating/jailing them? I want to keep my contacts list, call log, photos etc private. Xprivacy/Xposed looked like a viable path, but as of today (June 2017) it seems to be dead-ended and there is no sign of a Nougat release anytime soon.
Thus, afaik, faking results for api call is not a possible option for Android Nougat.

An other option I had in mind is to run certain apps in an empty environment. I was thinking i could achieve that by creating multiple users. I don't know what effects this could bring for my privacy.

My hope would be that nothing would be shared between different users. After digging in the Android documentation I'm not so sure about that being true.

How much isolation does creating extra users bring?
Are there alternative ways to sandbox/isolate apps?

Staring under Marshmallow (Android 6), the Android OS is able to restrict individual permissions (which may or not be fine enough control for you) for an app. Under prior versions of Android, there was no ability to restrict a single permission; if you didn't like that an application used something, then you simply had to choose to uninstall the application.

You can inspect and change permissions under Settings->Apps->[Specific App Name]->Permissions. You can see the table of dangerous permissions that you are probably worried about. These permission categories cover the examples you have enumerated (contacts list -> contacts, call log -> phone, photos -> storage). Izzy has pointed out that there is no separate control for reading v. writing, which could be an issue if your application needs to write to storage but should not be able to view photos.

As Izzy has pointed out, there are some things you cannot control with these permissions, for example access to the randomly generated Android ID or internet access.

Whether an application still functions with a permission disabled depends on how it was written. Well written applications will continue to function in some way. Applications that are targeted to versions of Android before Marshmallow or that are simply poorly written may simply crash.

You can set permissions for Google Apps. You can for example:

prevent the Photos application from reading storage, which means it will not be able to display your photos.
prevent Gmail from reading your contacts

Using multiple users will not help you with privacy. When you install an application, this application is available for all users. You do not need to open an application for it to access your data. So while under user A the application cannot access user B's data, this does not really matter because the application can also run under user B while in the background.


Do I have to buy or need a 3D-enabled phone to use Google Cardboard? Google cardboard comes with 3D glasses. Does that mean that we will be able to watch 3D videos using a smartphone like the Moto-G (1st edition) which is not 3D enabled?

I'm able to use the YouTube VR 3D app to view 3D YouTube videos on my Samsung Galaxy 4S.  I can also view Cardboard specific content with the Cardboard app on this same phone; as I understand it, Cardboard is designed to work with ordinary smart phones.


How do I "train" Face Unlock? After updating my UK HTC Sensation to Android 4.0 I was keen to try out Face Unlock.  I'm happy to say that it works reasonably well, however the setup process has led to me having a query.

When setting up face lock, after your face has been captured for the first time and setting up your backup access, you are given the following prompt:

  You've Finished!

  To unlock your phone, just look at it.

  Tip: Improve face matching by having your face captured in different conditions

The tip sounds good, however it doesn't actually tell you how to have your face captured in different conditions! After clicking OK to the prompt you are returned to the security menu and any attempt to re-set-up face unlock just seems to over-write your previous settings (or at least I assume it does as it asks you to set up a new backup system).

How can I recapture my face multiple times to improve face recognition?

Go to Settings -> Security -> Lock screen -> Improve face matching.  You will need to confirm your PIN, and then follow the on-screen directions to capture your face again.

After each successful capture you will be placed back to the Lock screen settings menu, so just keep going into the Improve face matching section to repeat the process as many times as you wish.


Is there a Google Now command to toggle auto screen orientation? Is there a Google Now voice command to toggle auto screen orientation (e.g. "Ok Google, enable screen rotation")?

I know there are commands to toggle Bluetooth or Wifi, but is there a command to change the screen orientation?

After some investigation I could not find a voice command. But this can be archived  by using a combination of Tasker and the AutoVoice Tasker plugin.


Bypassing Microsoft Intune Company Portal to access Exchange email and contacts? I used to have Outlook for Android installed on my personal mobile to access my work email which runs on Office 365. I reinstalled it recently only to find that now I have to install Microsoft Intune Company Portal and make it a device administrator to proceed with logging in (I couldn't get around it by restoring from a Titanium Backup of when I had it installed before).

I think this is somewhat overkill when all the same information and more can be accessed via a web browser anyway so I don't want to give Microsoft almost total control of my phone just to get my work email and contacts if I can avoid it.

I tried the app Nine because I heard that it could set the security policies to be at the app level instead of the device lever but when I logged in I still got nothing except one email telling me I had to install Intune. The same thing happened with the Gmail app and Mailwise but on those I could see an empty version of my folder directory.

Somehow logging in through Cloudmagic was actually seamless as far as grabbing my email, but it has no support yet for syncing contacts between Exchange and the device. I actually wanted the contacts more than the email in order to get some mobile numbers.

So what's the best way to work around Intune? Installing it but neutering it via Xprivacy or another permissions manager? Finding another app that will do for contacts what Cloudmagic did for email? I'm less concerned about adding my calendar.

You can try these other two Xposed modules:

Security Bypass for Company Portal
This module can bypass the Intune Company Portal.
Exchange Bypass For Lollipop
This app can bypass the official Gmail client and Outlook app.

Both of these modules are based on the Xposed framework and must be installed on a rooted device.


How can I use a dark theme for all webpages on Chrome for Android? How can I use a dark theme for all webpages on Chrome for Android?

I don't mean having a dark theme for only the Google chrome UI (which can be done via Settings, Theme, Dark Mode) but also the webpages themselves, so this can be done with https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/morpheon-dark/mafbdhjdkjnoafhfelkjpchpaepjknad?hl=en on Google Chrome for desktop.

Example of website with no dark theme:

Open Chrome
Tap the 3 dots in the top right corner
Tap Settings
Tap Themes
Select Dark

I haven't come across a site that this doesn't work on yet


Use custom lock screen on encrypted Jelly Bean device I recently enabled encryption on my Nexus S running Android 4.1.1. I'm aware of all the benefits and drawbacks, and device encryption is definitely something I want. It's currently working fine.

However, one small caveat I overlooked is that encryption requires a password or PIN lock screen. I assumed (somewhat foolishly) that I'd be able to change back to the lock screen of my choice once the encryption process was complete. I like using a pattern lock, because I can set it to not display any visual cues, which makes shoulder-surfing a lot more difficult. It's also quick and easy to enter a relatively complex code.

The password I used to encrypt the device was intentionally long and complex, making it something I certainly don't want to be entering every time I want to check my messages. I don't want to change it to something shorter, because increased security was the whole point of doing this in the first place.

Is there a way I can go back to using a pattern lock screen? I understand that encryption is irreversible, and I don't really want to remove it. I just want my old lock screen back.

EDIT: I notice that changing the code for my lock screen also changes the key used to decrypt the device, which I assume is why you're not allowed to use a different type of lock screen. I very specifically do not want to be using the same code to encrypt the storage as I'm using to unlock the screen. That seems like a terrible idea, and I can't believe it's really the way Android does it.

Maybe:
lifehacker: Three Ways to Improve Your Android's Lock Screen Security
recommending:

Picture Password
Hidden Lock

Unfortunately, native Android solution, like proposed here via "vdc cryptfs changepw newpass" seem to work only on rooted devices.


Set font size in Opera Opera Mini has an option to choose between small/medium/large font sizes. I tried to find this option in the new Opera browser for Android, but couldn't.

Is there any way at all to set the font size for Opera?

I have not seen any setting to change the font size. However, you can pinch-in and pinch-out to zoom.


Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 Dropped phone now it won't power on or charge I have a Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 (SPH-L710) worked fine until I dropped it. After I picked it up the phone shut off, I tried removing/reinserting the battery, it would go to the Samsung logo, vibrate, and shut off. Power switch doesn't seem to work.

I tried plugging the charger in and it does nothing. I remove the battery and plug in the charger and the red light comes on, but when I reinstall battery it goes off.

I have tried removing battery, holding down power switch for 1 minute, then reinstalling battery. Does the same thing, vibrate, Samsung logo, off. I tried removing battery and when reinstalling it hold down the home key and volume+ key and it will say loading recovery, but then screen black.

The repair store where I live said it needed a new LCD Display and Digitizer??? I shouldn't be able to see the Samsung logo screen, Correct? I need to power on phone to remove some file and photos. Can this be done?

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

That's a very weird situation. You would assume it's a hardware problem... which it probably is, but it's possible the filesystem could've corrupted when the phone lost power after hitting the ground.

I would try inspecting/replacing hardware first (only if you're experienced), just reseating all the ribbon cables, maybe lightly clean the contacts with isopropyl alcohol to remove oxidation (again, only if you're experienced).

The very next thing I would do, is download the "stock SPH-L710 firmware/ROM image" file off XDA-Developers and use the instructions/downloads provided there to flash the image in download mode via Samsung's Odin program. They make it sound like it will wipe all your data, but from my experience (I have a Galaxy Note 2 -Verizon which I bricked), it will not wipe your data as long as you flash the correct image, same Android version (likely 4.1.2 or 4.3). If you don't know, and you know you have updated the device regularly, I would try to find the latest version available.

If you want more details on either of the solutions, I'll edit my answer to provide more details/articles.

Hope this helps,


Does Galaxy Mini S5570 support ICS? I have a Samsung Galaxy Mini S5570 running Android 2.3.6 (Gingerbread). I know that the official support for Galaxy Mini ends here. But I have come across tutorials for upgrading from Gingerbread to ICS. What I want to know is, is it safe to upgrade my phone? Or will I encounter problems later on after upgrading?

As you said, there is no official ICS for Galaxy Mini.

But CyanogenMod 10 and 10.1 work on the Galaxy Mini. I'm using cyanogenmod 10.1 RC5. It's a Jelly Bean ROM, but it works perfectly with my Mini. You can find it on xda-developers.


A Bad Charger Damaged My Asus TF300t Tablets I bought a charger set off of Amazon.When i plugged it into my tablet it flashed and rebooted and the battery shows 0% and will not charge.Also when i hook up the USB charger the computer does not see it nor dose any screen pop up on my tablet.
I managed to mess up both tablets before i figured out it was the charger.

So I bought a different charger and USB data cable , still no good.Tried the trickle charge thing for 2 days still no good.

So Far i have bought a new fully charged battery ,same thing no good,replaced the charging/docking ribbon,still no good. Factory reset , no good.

I can boot with what battery i have left but it will not charge or go above 0%
always says "Connect Charger"

Is there any thing i can do or did the charger damage the board on the tablet?
Other than not charging or being seen by the USB everything else works.

Any feed back would be appreciated

Thanks!

Chinese "Colorfly", Android 4.4.2 similar case. Long press the "Power" button, select "Power off". Connect to USB or charger. Charging starts a couple minutes later - depends on discharge level.


What are the ways to increase device Screen On Time? I have a device with 2500 mAh battery and I usually get around 3hrs+ Screen On Time. Are there ways to gain some more juice...?
[I am a rooted user, so any method (root/non-root) are welcomed.]

The Screen On Time (SOT) depends on lots of factors like the way you use your phone, apps that you have installed, the strength of the mobile signal in your area, the data service that you have (2G, 3G, WiFi, LTE).

So it's hard to suggest anything specific.

What you can do is- use any battery statistics app (Like Better Battery Stats or Wakelock detector) and find out the apps/ services that are draining the battery. Then you can restrict these apps/ services based on your needs.


How to stop Wi-Fi from using all my mobile data? My phone all of a sudden is consuming huge amounts of mobile data ; apps usage report shows that 'Wi-fi' is causing this: from less than 500Mb per month is has consumed 2GB in a day , and it continues to do this unless  I  disable the mobile data .

What is causing this ? How can I stop it ? Can someone explain why WIFI would use my mobile data ( I thought Wi-fi would use my internet connexion)

Material used:  Samsung S5 dual SIm.
UK Three SIM card and France Orange SIM card
Probelem is with both cards and both providers.
I've had to disable both mobile networks to stop the usage.

there are two 'Wi-Fi apps' one version 35 and a version 126.   Uninstall or Force Stop are inactive, and I cannot see who is the Publisher.

Any suggestions ?
thanks !

As suggested by Dan Hulme, this is a malware app that called itself 'Wi-Fi'.  After his comments, I read the below post by Srihari Karanth that helped me to identify that ''Wi-Fi'' was in fact a Mobile tracker app.

Srihari's post

''To know if a spy app is installed first check your Device Administrator list to see if there are any apps which you have not downloaded yourself. If you find any apps, no matter the name, no matter the icon of the app, just disable the privilege and uninstall it from application list as valid system applications will not be listed in there. Device Administrator list can be found under Settings -> Security or Settings -> Application.''

thank you


I need to do a factory reset on my phone I need to do a factory reset of my phone. I have the Alcatel one touch fierce 2
How and where do I back up my apps and data.

Back Up Applications:

Tap "Apps" while on the home screen.
Tap "Settings" and go to "Backup and reset".
You need to be logged in to your Google account to back up your apps, so if necessary tap "Backup account" > "Add account" and follow the on-screen prompts to sign in with, or create a new Google account.
Mark the "Back up my data" check box.

Restoring Apps:

Tap "Apps" from the home screen.
Tap "Settings" and go to "Backup and reset".
Sign in to the Google account you've used for backing up the apps. To do so, tap "Backup account" > "Add account" and follow the on-screen instructions.
Mark the "Automatic restore" check box.

Backing Up Contacts:

Tap "Apps" from the home screen.
Tap "Settings" and select the account to sync.
Mark the "Contacts" check box.
Press "Menu" and tap "Sync now".

NOTE: Contacts will automatically be restored the next time you sign in with your Google account.

Backing Up Media Files:

Open the apps drawer and launch the "Photos" app.
Press "Menu" and tap "Settings".
Tap "Auto Backup".
Tap the "Auto Backup" switch and set it to "ON".
You need to be logged in to a Google account, so if necessary, tap "Backup account" > "Add account" and follow the on-screen instructions to log in or create a Google backup account.
Set the "Backup Storage" preferences as you desire.
Set the "Backup Settings" preferences.
To learn more about backing up media files using this method, tap "About Auto Backup".

NOTE: Media files will be restored automatically after you sign in with the Google account used for the backup.

Alternatively, as Firelord correctly pointed out, you can use the Helium app or a MTP connection to back up your apps and data.

Factory Reset:

From the home screen, tap "Apps".
Swipe to "Personal" and tap "Backup & reset".
Scroll to "Personal Data" and tap "Factory data reset".
Tap "Reset phone" > "Erase everything".

Source


Extract sms and other personal data from Android Backups without device (ADB, Nandroid, ODIN Backup [.tar.md5]) I have some old backups of my older phones (samsung galaxy S4 / i9500). One of them is a Nandroid backup, one is ADB, and i guess the third one is an Android Image created most probably by ODIN (.tar.md5 file). Since I dont have the mobile device with me anymore, is there a way i can extract my personal data (especially sms) from those backups directly in my Windows 10 Home edition PC ?

My Nandroid backup has the following files:

boot.img, cache.ext4.tar, data.ext4.tar, efs.ext4.tar, modem.img,
nandroid.md5, preload.ext4.tar, recovery.img, recovery.log, system.ext4.tar

Probably not from the ADB Backup (to my experience, SMS are not backed up with that) – but from the Nandroid it should be possible. You'd need to extract that, find the messages database, and then you can access it using some SQLite client (depending on the OS your POC runs). The Nandroid should also hold all other personal data, but might lack your "internal SD card" data – which might be part of the ADB backup, depending on how that was run.

Some types of Nandroid do file-system images. But the default nowadays is a Tarball, i.e. a simple archive containing the directory structure and the files within. That's also the case with yours, as you confirmed – so you can open data.ext4.tar (which holds the contents of your /data partition) in e.g. WinRAR/WinZIP and see if it lists directory structures. I expect it does. You're after something in data/com.android.providers.telephony/*, where you should find a file named mmssms.db or similar (I don't remember the correct path and file name by heart). That's where your messages are in.

For completeness: would your Nandroid be an image file, you can e.g. use Testdisk to browse and extract contents from it.

As for other "personal data", depends what you're after. See our data-recovery tag for further hints.


What does "adb shell ime list" commands do? What do the following two commands mean?

adb shell ime list -s
adb shell ime list

and why don't they return anything at all? See code below:

aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell ime list -s
aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell ime list
aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell ime list -a
jp.co.omronsoft.openwnn/.OpenWnnJAJP:
  mId=jp.co.omronsoft.openwnn/.OpenWnnJAJP mSettingsActivityName=jp.co.omronsoft.openwnn.OpenWnnControlPanelJAJP
  mIsDefaultResId=0x0
  Service:
...
... etc.

I found no manual entry for these commands. It suggested that I did mandb to update the manual entries list. Googled too! But these efforts were in vain.

Any help is appreciated!

You won't find anything about this in the man page on your desktop, nor the usage information for adb because this isn't an adb command. Remember that adb shell foo starts a shell on the device and runs the command foo there. It would be like looking in the ssh man page to find out what ssh myserver rm -rf * does.

The command you want help with is ime list, and it only exists on the device, not your desktop. Running adb shell ime (with no further arguments) prints out the usage information for this command.

usage: ime list [-a] [-s]
       ime enable ID
       ime disable ID
       ime set ID

The list command prints all enabled input methods.  Use
the -a option to see all input methods.  Use
the -s option to see only a single summary line of each.

The enable command allows the given input method ID to be used.

The disable command disallows the given input method ID from use.

The set command switches to the given input method ID.

"Enabled" in this description doesn't refer to the "enabled" field in the manifest (that is, the one printed out under ServiceInfo), but rather whether the IME is turned on in the settings. It might be a little confusing to have two different things called "enabled", but don't forget that adb is a debugging tool for programmers, who are expected to understand such things. End-users shouldn't need to run this command, since the list of IMEs is accessible through the device settings.

From this description, if you get output with ime list -a but not ime list, that tells you that no input methods are currently enabled in the settings.


Gingerbread upgrade for Samsung Galaxy Gio? Possible Duplicate:
  When will my phone get the Android 2.3 update (Gingerbread)?

A few days ago I bought the Samsung Galaxy Gio, an Android phone that ships with Froyo. My regional Samsung site implies that a Gingerbread upgrade is available to me.

I then installed Samsung Kies to see if I could upgrade the firmware, but it said that currently no update was available for my device. (Related discussion about the cryptic update message.)

How do I find out whether Samsung plans to release an official Gingerbread upgrade for my device?

Are there any unofficial firmware upgrades available that work with my device? Would you recommend them? What about security?

Everything I can find suggests that a Gingerbread update is assumed because firmware has been leaked.  So you can't (yet) get it through something official like Kies.  This guide shows how to install the leaked version if you're so inclined.


Space deleted but not reclaimed for re-use I'm using Nexus 5. In the following image, you can see that I have  total space of 12.55GB.  Apps in the dark green bar on the left taking up more than 1/3 of that with 4.93GB.  The light gray "Available" which is nearly the same size is listed as 498MB -- that's much less.

If this were actually 498MB, that would be a tiny sliver, not nearly 1/3 of the storage space.

I've deleted a ton of pictures and apps from my device, basically bare-bones and otherwise not usable even to run the next OTA update. But no matter what I delete the space is never reclaimed on the device:

(Click image to enlarge)

Why is this happening and how can I fix it?

My current theories:

I had an earlier rooted Android but lost the root in the first OTA.  I was able to use SuperSU and whatnot then, so I know I was actually rooted.
On that update, I chose something listed as "Preserve root mode (experimental)" which did not work.  Since that root loss, when I go into my recovery which I believe was Clockworkmod at the time, I don't seem to have a recovery either -- it says "no command".

So maybe the space I cannot recover is controlled by the root user and I can't delete it as a normal user?

Is it possible to restore my ability to use my disk space without wiping my data?

The update from 4 to 5 disabled my access to clockwork mod, but did not remove Clockwork or prevent it from doing whatever automatic recovery process I had set.  So, that was building in the background until I deleted it.


Lock widgets in place Is there any way to lock widgets in place so that a long-tap won't make them move?

Yup - ADW Launcher has an option to LOCK DESKTOP which doesn't allow any changes to be made to the shortcuts or widgets.


Why is Google Play Music the only app that produces a "Browse" button on my car stereo? If I connect my phone via Bluetooth to my car (2016 Toyota Corolla), and then play music using the Google Play Music app, the car shows a Browse button, which allows me to navigate through artists and albums with the car's buttons:

If I install another app, it doesn't show the Browse button on the car stereo.
Apps that produce a Browse button:

Google Play Music ☠ (RIP)

Apps that do not produce a Browse button:

AIMP
BlackPlayer
Canaree
FPlay (found by searching for "AVRCP")
JetAudio (found by searching for "AVRCP")
kure
MediaMonkey
Music [com.maxfour.music]
Music [com.android.music stock]
Music Player Go
Musicolet
Nyx
Odyssey
Omnia
Oto
Phonograph

Vinyl

Pretty Good
Pulsar
Retro

Metro

Samba Player (found by searching for "AVRCP")
Shuttle

Shuttle+

Simple Music Player [com.simplemobiletools.musicplayer]
Timber
Vanilla
VLC
YouTube Music

Is there some Bluetooth feature that needs to be supported by an app in order for this button to show up?  What is the feature's name?  How do I find apps that have it?
This is especially important now that Google has killed off Google Play Music and replaced it with YouTube Music, which does not provide this Browse button on a Bluetooth connection.
If I knew what this function was called, I could try to pester Google, or the third-party app developers, and ask them to add support for it.

This "browse" feature is probably part of "Audio/Video Remote Control Profile" aka AVRCP. AVRCP has different versions with different feature sets. Browsing of playlists was introduced in version AVRCP 1.4 and improved in version 1.5, according to wikipedia.
This bluetooth profile must be supported (in the correct version) by the the car stereo, the mobile phone as well as the app.


Can I prevent my S6 from reducing brightness at 5% battery? My Samsung Galaxy S6 with Android 6.0.1 always dims the screen when hitting 5% remaining battery. This is very bad in bright sunlight because the screen gets so dark that it's impossible to use the phone and pure guesswork to brighten it again. This “feature“ seems to override both auto and manual brightness setting. It also happens irrespective of power saving mode on/off. How can I stop it from doing this?

I believe you are looking for Power Saver Mode. This is under the Settings > Battery.
There is usually an option to turn on Power Saver Mode altogether or adjust what it does.

See

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00038729/


Is MIUI just another version of CYanogen Mod? On their wiki page:

The original MIUI ROMs were based on Android 2.2.x Froyo and CyanogenMod 6 sources, and was initially developed in the Chinese language by Chinese startup Xiaomi Tech.[6] Xiaomi added a number of apps to enhance the basic framework; those include Notes, Backup, Music, and Gallery.[7]

Updates are usually provided over-the-air every Friday.[8] MIUI is then translated and ported into unofficial versions in other languages by independent developers and groups of fansites. The list of supported devices may or may not be complete, and ROMs are very similar but not identical. The list of fansites can be found on MIUI's official English website.[9]

I was just having a discussion about MIUI with a friend. I believe MIUI is just another version of CyanogenMod. Is this correct as there are various conflicting pieces of information scattered on the internet.

NOTE: I am not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, please let me know and I will migrate this question.

As far as I can tell MIUI is a ROM developed by Xiaomi Inc and was designed to mimic iOS more than other android ROMs. It has been available to install on many devices for a while as well as for their own brand of high end Chinese Android devices (http://www.mi.com/en/).

As far as I know, its only relation to CyanogenMod is that MIUI used the core backbone of CyanogenMod to build upon in creating its own ROM and so will share some commonalities/similarities but they have always been available separately and often compared to each other as 'competition' choices with people favouring one of the other for their differences in overall design in the end product.


Restore app data from 4.x in 6.x I have an old phone which I used for a few month when my S4 was broken. I managed to backup and restore the app data from S4 to this phone by just copying /data/data/appname - however both devices were 4.x .

Now I have a new phone with 6.0 Marshmallow and I intended to do the same thing - and failed.

Example whatsapp: I copied the old apk, installed it to 6.0 and then (in twrp) replaced /data/data/com.whatsapp with the old one.

For testing I also set it to chmod 777. Whatsapp shows a notification (A problem with chat history) and if I start whatsapp it closes (crashes?) immediately.

Any idea how to copy the old app data to marshmallow? thanks.

Assuming that you still have the old device and it works properly, I'd advise that you use Titanium Backup to migrate your apps. Check out this answer for more details about it.

Honestly, I have never tried to restore app data between different Android OS major versions (such as 4.X to 6.X in your case), but it's worth a shot. By the way, WhatsApp has its own built-in feature to backup and restore data, in case you were wondering. And please let me know how this turned out, I'm curious to know the outcome for myself.


Shortcut to a specific folder using the "My Files" file manager I have a non-rooted Samsung Galaxy A3 with Android 5. I have an app icon on the desktop for "My Files" app, but how is it possible to create a shortcut for SD card\books\ on the desktop?

My bad, in fact the app My Files has this option already:


Swype flashing on and off I just upgraded my Samsung Galaxy SII phone, unlocked from Gingerbread to stock ICS (ver 4.0.3), and I think it looks cool in many aspects. One thing I am getting annoyed with though is the Swype. I used it all the time before, and it was amazing. What is happening now is that when I swype, get my list of suggestions, then I have about 2 seconds to click on the proper word before the suggestion list goes away, and my screen refreshes. This is killing the battery very fast, and is very annoying when typing longer messages. Is there a way to set the suggestion bar to stay put like in Gingerbread?

As per @Chahk's answer

  I guess it depends if Swype came pre installed on your handset. In that case I don't think you can uninstall it. In either case, try going to Settings -> Apps and see if Swype is listed. Tap it and try to uninstall it. Then you can go to beta.swype.com, download the installer, install it, run it, and follow directions to sign in and install the beta.


Recent activities log Is there an easy way to view a list of recent activities? The one I'm looking for doesn't seem to be showing up in the main recent apps view, and adb logcat is so noisy I'm having a hard time finding anything.

For Lollipop do adb shell dumpsys activity recents. For some earlier Android version, run adb shell dumpsys activity activities.

Alternatively, you may run adb shell dumpsys activity | grep -i run as noted by loeschg here.

You would get a list of recent apps' package name, component (activity) name, flags among other things.

In Lollipop, if you've root access, you can browse to /data/system/recent_tasks/. You'll find some XML files with numeral names, such as 317.xml. Each of them consists of the same aforesaid details, but each XML file is created for an individual app.

You can also get some info from adb shell dumpsys usagestats.


Camera time delay on 2.3.5? Possible Duplicate:
  Is there a zoom and timer functionality on Nexus S camera?

Is there any app that will let one use a time-delay shot with the phone's camera on Android 2.3.5? The default camera app doesn't seem to have time-delay shots, as far as I can see.

This one does the trick pretty well:
https://market.android.com/details?id=identity.android.CameraSelfTimer&feature=search_result&rdid=identity.android.CameraSelfTimer&rdot=1


"login with google" via mobile browser - how to use secondary account? I recently tried to use the Dolphin browser login to my Trello.com account, which I had created by signing up through a Google Apps account. Since I had not set up a Trello-specific account yet, I had to try to login using Google--which automatically used the primary Google Account on my device, successfully logging me in to a different Trello account of mine. I wanted to log in to Trello using a different, secondary Google account on my device, but was not given the choice.

I'm sure the problem happens with different web sites and different mobile web browsers. Is there a solution to this? Is there some specific mobile browser, for example, that when asked to provide Google credentials will allow me to select from the available Google accounts on the device?

When it comes to user authentication, mobile browsers are no different from desktop browsers. Mobile browsers don't get login credentials from local Android accounts.

If your primary google account is used automatically, it means you are logged in with this in Dolphin Browser. Simply, go to google.com and sign out, then try again with Trello.


Google+ auto backup jams up my WiFi network For months I tried to track down a ping issue (high ping; disconnect & reconnect my router; low ping for about 20 minutes; high ping again). Turns out, thanks to this answer, it was the Google+ auto backup feature (that, for some reason, seems to kick in several minutes after it gets a connection).

The Google+ auto backup feature is enabled on my phone. It is configured to upload in "standard size" (not "full size"). Also, it is set to only upload if charging and if on WiFi.

During backup, the ping time (from my laptop, but the same applies from the router's admin page) goes up to over 7000 ms, see:

If I disconnect my phone from WiFi, the ping time goes down to about 50 ms.

What can I do to avoid this from happening? I tried to search for some way to set WiFi bandwidth limits for a specific app, but I couldn't find any.

You can always try to put a firewall between your phone and the router with these apps and block Google+, then when you don't use the internet (for example at night) enable it

No root needed
No root needed
Root needed


What's the input current draw for the Nexus 4? I am trying to find the maximum possible current draw of the Nexus 4 when recharging the battery.

The adapter that comes with the Nexus, supplies 1.2A
The Qi Charging Station needs 1.8A

But I can't find the actual maximum current that can be drawn by the Nexus. I am using a battery pack that supplies around 2A and it only can keep the Nexus running (when playing Ingress), but doesn't really recharge it. I wonder if this is caused by the batteries 2A maximum output or if it's due to the nexus having an upper limit it can handle.


S3 mini switches off randomly My S3 mini switches off when I use social media or browse internet, then won't switch on until I have put it on charge but then it has 75% battery, just comes off charge and then the same thing happens.
When I make or receive calls, it would mute on its own, turn on the bluetooth and/or just switch off.

Please advise what the problem could be.

Thanks

RG

Have you tried doing a factory reset, if that doesn't work it might be a faulty battery


Remove contacts from synced Exchange account, without removing them from the server How can I remove contacts from accounts I don't sync with anymore? Without being afraid of removing them from the "source" exchange account now or in the future?

Background:
When installing the email synchronization with Exchange, I thought it was a good idea to also sync the contacts.

Now the internal memory of my phone is stuffed with thousands of contacts I don't really need. It seems I cannot move them to the SD card, so I want them gone.

When I stop the synchronization (only contacts) with exchange, the contacts are not automatically removed.

I'm a bit afraid that if I remove them manually, and click or accidentally enable the sync, the contact will also be removed from my exchange contacts list, that is linked to my companies contacts list.

BTW: I know some Java, so if necessary I can develop an app to do this.

There's 2 slightly different solutions.

Log onto your corporate mail account using Outlook Web Access. Go to the account settings, i.e. the options link. Under that, select Phone, and delete your phone profile from there.
Now delete & recreate the Exchange account on your phone, and this time don't choose to sync contacts.
Exchange has a corporate addressbook or directory, and a local addressbook for your own personal contacts. Get rid of the locally saved contacts in your Exchange addressbook, so that on the next sync they'll similarly be culled from the phone. You can always look them up in the corporate directory, and Android can also perform a lookup against the directory for contacts that aren't stored locally. This of course assumes that you don't actually need so many contacts on hand in your local addressbook, or that these are all company contacts and not external business contacts.


What's the correct stock ROM for my unlocked Moto E5 Play? So I was working on backing up my phone after installing TWRP so that I could restore it if it had an issue, but it had an issue. It thinks its decrypted and I can't get it to boot, wiping does seemingly nothing.

My next step to troubleshoot is to reflash a stock ROM, but here's the thing: I bought my phone unlocked with no carrier.

$ fastboot getvar product
product: james

According to the fastboot menu, I have the XT1921-2, which according to Motorola's documentation, is the Cricket Wireless variant, which seems to have ROMs here: https://mirrors.lolinet.com/firmware/moto/james/official/Cricket/

I don't want the Cricket Wireless ROM, and my device is not subsidized (as indicated by the filenames), it's wholly owned and hasn't ever really been used to connect to a network. Which ROM am I supposed to use to restore my device?

I've figured it out. Besides the carrier-specific ROMs, Motorola has a "retail channel", called RETUS (Retail - US, I believe).

This is not tied to any carrier, and you can match the factory version by comparing with what you get here:

# fastboot getvar ro.build.fingerprint
(bootloader) ro.build.fingerprint[0]: motorola/james/james:8.0.0/OPP27.9
(bootloader) ro.build.fingerprint[1]: 1-121/42:user/release-keys

Combine the two lines, and we have

motorola/james/james:8.0.0/OPP27.91-121/42:user/release-keys


Force browser to hide nav & tab bar This is dangerously close to "recommend me an app" although it is not necessarily so.

I am currently doing a lot of reading on an online library site. Usually my browser (chrome, android 4.4.2) will go to a "full screen" mode when I scroll down a page of sufficient size.  But such is not the case here, and that site is not unique in this sense either.  The how and why of this is irrelevent to me, I just want to be able to read with the nav bar hidden.

Unfortunately, with the trendy "easier to use" (i.e., dumbed down) interface AFAICT you cannot force this behavior.  Last time I used firefox it had tabs in a manually hidable sidebar, so I installed that.  But it now looks and behaves just like chrome :(  As an irony, it seems that firefox's own homepage is an example of one which will not invoke fullscreen when scrolling down.

I am aware of "immersive mode" apps but have not tried this because I presume it will then just hide the system notification bar and I will get a slightly bigger view of the browser with tabs along the top.  However, if I'm wrong please correct me.

Does anyone know of a way out of this, including a browser which still includes a manual fullscreen mode (as silly and archiac as it may sound)?

Sadly Google Chrome and other browsers don't have a feature to hide the url bar and tab bar. One alternative is the app Full Screen Browser.
Its features are:

Web browser that allows for full screen viewing.
Hide or dim navigation bar (Home, Back etc).
Hide action/status bar


How can I find the name of the Kernel and its version that is running in my phone? I had flashed Android 6.0 Marshmallow in My Nexus 5. As a part of a rooting process, I had to flash the kernel to allow SU binary to work.

All is fine and root works well.

Kernel is a intangible software component. How can I know the name and version of the kernel that I am using on my phone after installing it? I mean if I do not remember from where I downloaded the kernel or do not have the its ZIP file, are there any means with which I can find the kernel's name and its version?

Unless Marshmallow has some unnecessary native changes, you should be able to see the kernel version in many Android releases from  Settings → About phone.

(Click image to enlarge)

A command line way other than uname -a can be:

cat /proc/version

Output in my case is:

Linux version 3.4.107~AK.236.OPO.CM12.1 (ak@kernel) (gcc version 4.9.3 20150424 (prerelease) (UBERTC-4.9.3) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Apr 30 08:37:49 CEST 2015

where,

Linux -- Kernel name
3.4.107~AK.236.OPO.CM12.1 -- Kernel release
#1 SMP PREEMPT Thu Apr 30 08:37:49 CEST 2015 -- Kernel version (I know it's odd)
the rest is homework :)

Provided that you've root access or command executed using adb dumpstate can also show you what you want, but the rest of the output would be overwhelming.

Another alternative can be an app which can show system details, such as  Elixir 2 or Droid Hardware Info.


Dialog option "Use by default for this action" or "Always" not displaying I just completed my Android application which scans NFC tags. When an NFC tag comes near the device, the device tries to show all the apps which can scan the NFC tag.

I want it to remember which app it should use scan the NFC tag. It displayed my app, but I do not want the system to always ask me which app to use.

In my two devices, it not does show any option like Use by default for this action or Always. Why is this so?

This is because there can be no default handler for all NFC intents. You'd have to create a mimetype for your NFC tag and use that mimetype as the data field for the intent filter.

However, this site doesn't deal with developer issues, so you'd be better off on StackExchange, for example here.


Android Firefox Using A Lot Of Memory My Android Firefox is using a lot of memory. What can be done about it?

There is nothing to worry about. If you watch carefully, every Android browser including Chrome and others take a lot of memory. In order to minimize it, try to use a single tab in the browser. Moreover, try to clear browser cache and history once a day. I hope this might solve your problem


UDP no longer allowed to send on android 7+? So I have been running an app on android (Samsung Note 4) with out trouble until the latest phones started coming out with android 7+ (Samsung S8, OnePlus3T).    Now I find that UDP is blocked on the phone in the app.

Is there a new setting that blocks UDP broadcasts?

I used Evothings app to test that UDP is blocked.

I noticed a change with the way WiFi works on android. If the WiFi connection doesn't have internet, the system seems to behave differently.  Does WiFi work differently if there is no internet?

Again, it still works with the older versions of android.  If you have come across this problem please share.

It turns out that the newer versions require another call to set that you want to multi broadcast over UDP.

I could not find any setting that relates to UDP or how WiFi works without internet connection.


Application to switch among multiple running applications I have Samsung galaxy ace with android 2.2 mobile.

Is there any way or any application so i can run many applications simultaneously and i can switch among them?

Why do i need this.

When i surf facebook(or any other
application), and i click on a link.
I am suppose to wait until the page
gets opened then i read it pess back
button to reach on previous button.
If i press previous button in
between i'll lost page which was
being loaded.
If i read some sms, and i have to
search the meaning of a word in dictionary, i
would have to exit from sms box.

Case #1: You can get back to recently used apps by holding down the home key until a menu appears, and then selecting the app you want to return to.

Case #2: Press the home button and open your dictionary app, and then use the method in #1 to return to messaging.

This works if you don't have too many apps open, since the memory is limited and if you open too many apps, android will close them from the background.

The important distinction is that the home key does not quit the app but exists to the launcher, and the back button exits the app.


Moving images from one album to another I would like to move images from one album to another. When I select Move, my phone displays two albums only ("pictures" and "upload"). The problem is that I'd like to move a picture to "all downloads", which I cannot select.

Am I doing something wrong?

Download and open Xplore File Manager. (This can be done with any file manager, but Xplore is easy to use.)
Navigate to the folder to which you want to move the pictures.
Swipe left, and you will see a list of folders on your right. Select the images you want to move by tapping the ticks on their sides.
Long-press on one of the files, and select Move from the menu that pops up. Then press okay.


Android 5 update randomly aborted on my Nexus 4 I have a Nexus 4 phone. It's not rooted nor customized with any mod.

Today I (finally) received the update to Android 5.0.1, which I downloaded. After the download, I clicked on the Restart and install button (my phone's in French so translation might not be exact). The countdown before restarting the phone then began but after a few seconds I have been redirected to a screen telling me my system was up to date.

I tried to search for updates but nothing showed up and now I have no idea where the heck the update went. My phone still displays Android version 4.4.4 and is visibly still running Android 4.4.4.

What am I supposed to do now?

Thanks for your help.

You could use the Nexus Root Toolkit to sideload the OTA updates.  Links:

Nexus Root Toolkit
Nexus 4 OTA (LRX21T from KTU84P)
Nexus 4 OTA (LRX22C from LRX21T)

Hit Launch in the Advanced Utilities pane, then hit the Sideload Update button, and point to the OTA zip from above.  Follow the instructions.  No typing involved.

I don't know of a single LRX22C from KTU84P OTA.


How to use wired and wireless headphones simultaneously? I have both wired and wireless headphones. I thought of sharing the both to see a movie.
To do that, can we get the audio output of both at same time.
I can able to switch the output but not access at same time.

Upgrade to Android Pie, most of the android devices support it as an inbuilt feature since API28.
There are certain hacks you will find on Google for lower versions, they don't work to be honest. As per my knowledge in Pie it will work, because I'm using it


How to delete hidden files consuming internal memory in Android? I have 16gb internal memory in my Android phone (Asus Zenfone 5). I am using only around 3gb of memory and rest is being consumed by some hidden files. I am facing problem of memory shortage (only around 100mb left). I figured out there are two large files in DCIM folder of around 4.6GB in .thumbnails folder naming .thumbdata3xxxxxxxx . I deleted these files but the memory usage is still not reduced.
Are these files not deleted? How and where can I search for the hidden files consuming internal memory?

Thanks

There are lots of guides on the internet that tackle this issue. But be aware that some people refer to the phone's built in storage as "internal storage", but that's not what Android means. There is (at least on my phone which is on 4.2.2 still) a "root" partition that is only 1GB big. This is referred to as internal storage. The rest is called "Phone storage" in Android.

You can have a look at what's eating your internal storage using the tool DiskUsage from the play store. Usually it's all the apps. The properly developed ones will give the the option to move data files from the internal storage to the phone storage. This can be done from the app details page:

What I usually do is go to Settings->Storage. In the "Internal Storage" section, wait until it calculated the sizes, then click on the apps (app data & media content) bar. You'll be taken to a list of apps sorted by size. Now click on each entry starting from the top and select Move to internal storage wherever possible.

This should help quite a bit if you haven't done it before.

To make your phone do the right thing for new apps, go back to Settings->Storage and tap Preferred install location. Set it to Phone storage.


Browse photos on a network drive and delete bad photos While travelling I put photos from the SD Card onto a networked drive. I can use ES File Explorer to view the photos. However there does not appear to be an option to delete the photos from the full screen view.

Is there an app that allows deleting photos on a network drive from a full view of the photo?

Appreciate your help.

Android 6.01 on a Lenovo Yoga tab.

Ghost Commander has this functionality.

(OK, it's not 100% full screen, there is a little menu space showing at the top and bottom - see screen shot)

Depending on your setup, you might need the SMB plugin for Ghost Commander to get to your network drive.


How do I restart the 2.2 update for HTC Desire? I just got the notification for the 2.2 update for my HTC Desire (on O2 in the UK).  I downloaded and let the update install.  After a couple of reboots it told me it couldn't install as I needed to clean up some memory, which I've now done.

How do I restart the update install?  I've tried restarting the phone and going to the phone settings and checking for updates, but it doesn't find any updates and it's still reporting 2.1 installed.

Update:
Turns out the update file was on my SD card, but renaming it to update.zip and following Al. E's steps didn't work - I get a file not signed errors ("failed to verify whole-file signature" and "signature verification failed".

I've also since done a hard reset too, and now have open call with HTC second line support. Will update you when they get back to me.

Apparently setting the date to the future would cause the OTA to be detected again, but my date won't stay set to the future (yes, I have turned off network date updates!). I'm now researching how to use a file manager to update from the 2.2 zip file.

Watch this space...

Update 2: Okay, I finally cracked it!  First, I downloaded the UK O2 update from HTC's site, then followed Al E's method below to install the update.  Job done!!

The URL for the download was http://liveimage.htc.com/.  I knew the name of the update file as it was in my sd\download folder.

Settings | About phone | System updates

It should let you know that there's an update available.

If you still have the update.zip file on your SD card, these instructions should do it: http://geekword.net/manually-install-froyo-htc-desire

  Step 1: Download the Android 2.2
  firmware for the Desire from here.

  Step 2: Rename the file update.zip and
  copy it to your microSD card via USB.
  [Note: make sure the file is named
  update.zip and not update.zip.zip.]

  Step 3: Power down your Desire.

  Step 4: Hold down the “Volume Down” button
  as you power the phone back on.

  Step 5: A screen should appear showing your
  phone’s system searching for various
  files. Scroll down to “recovery” and
  press the “Power” button.

  Step 6: When you see the triangle with an
  exclamation point symbol, press the
  “Power” and “Volume Up” buttons at the
  same time.

  Step 7: From the menu that appears, select “Apply
  sdcard:update.zip.”

  Step 8: When the screen displays “Install from sdcard
  complete” select “reboot system now”
  and wait for the phone to power back
  up.


WiFi-Direct using an Access Point I have some doubts about how the Wifi-Direct (P2P) works. I want to connect an android device to a hardware able to use Wifi. I am not sure if I can use Wifi-Direct to connect the android with the hardware using an extenal wifi with internet (Acces Point) or they need to be only connected without any external wifi.

Question: Can I connect the android and the hardware using Wifi-P2P through an external network (Router) or only with a direct connection between them?

No.
Wifi direct : direct share data between two devices (pictures, video, music, files), without internet.
Acces point by wifi : acces to internet


Forgot google account? Ok so my girlfriend changed her google account after she bought a new phone but she still had the old Google account before she changed it on the new phone cuz that's what she set up on it when she bought it but now she can't remember the new one cuz we had to factory reset the phone.  So the question is can we back the phone up to the old Google account on it or not?   Or is there nothing at all we can do unles she remembers the password?

You can try to recover your girlfriend's account with this link - Google Account Recovery

Hope this helps and she manages to retrieve her account =)


Sleep Apps and Shared Beds I've seen on the marketplace now several alarm clock applications that claim to analyze your motion patterns in your sleep, so as to determine the ideal time to wake you up such that you feel refreshed.  I am intrigued by this possibility;  however, I do not sleep alone.  Does anyone know if these apps work well, or even at all, if there are multiple individuals in the bed, each presumably moving on their own sleep cycle?

No, it would probably not work if you don't sleep alone unless the one you sleep with don't move at all in their sleep.


Samsung S4 Crash After Lollipop Update I recently updated my Samsung Galaxy S4. Since then the phone keeps crashing every few minutes. When I restart the phone, it works fine for a few hours then again starts crashing.

install a custom recovery like philz touch, completely wipe, then flat the firmware for your phone downloaded from live.samsung.com.
Did you face any call quality issues?


How does one get top and bottom bar on Adobe Reader app with recent documents button etc.? Adobe Reader has top and bottom bars which shows home/recent, navigation document buttons, navigation bar other "widgets". It looks like this:

The problem is that I do not know how to open it: menu buttons shows useless settings and info button bar. I tried various gestures - it showed only menu or selected the text. However after random swiping, clicking bar popped out. What is the gesture that should open bar?
I am using ICS - Android 4.0.3 on LG phone without hardware search button. Any ideas?

Just tap the document you're reading. (Note, not a long-tap; that opens a different menu.)
From page 5 of "Getting Started with Adobe Reader.pdf" (which downloads with the app):

My PDF documents are in Adobe Reader. Now what do I do?
Tap the middle of the screen once to reveal the toolbars. After a few moments, they disappear until you tap again.


samsung galaxy s gt-19000 is not starting I tried to install an OS update by updating it manually. After the installation, my phone got stuck on the Samsung logo.

I visited a mobile repair shop. They told me that this repair may take 3 days. After three days, when I came back, they told me that they couldn't fix it.

Before they tried to repair it, ClockWorkMod started. After they tried the repair, it goes into Download mode by pressing keys.

What should I do?

You said you can now enter Download mode? And I'm assuming you can no longer go into ClockWorkMod

If this is true I would suggest putting stock ROM onto your device via Odin. There are many instructions / manuals available so finding the correct one for your phone and model is down to you. Also its your responsibility when following these instructions, if anything goes wrong there will be no one to blame

I would suggest typing Samsung Galaxy S GT-19000 Stock Rom into a search engine as a starting point

Alternatively here is a link where you can get the stock rom and gives instructions on how to install the stock rom, this Link even has the different country versions of the stock rom however their link to further downloads was broken so if your country isn't on their list here is another option;

Just a note worth mentioning, after installing the stock rom if your phone freezes on the Samsung logo which is a familiar problem, try entering recovery mode - via holding - UP Volume Button + Home Button + Power Button and wiping the cache should resolve the problem

So I looked on XDA (personally I find it a reliable website, with plenty of users commenting on forums as to what works/doesn't work ext.) Here is a Link where developers have posted their custom ROMs for your phone

All the best


Should I switch to ART? ART has better performance and better battery life on paper at least.  Should I consider switching to it on my moto g? What are the results I can expect? What precautions should I take? Is it easy to turn back to dalvik?

Just try it by yourself. I've felt no real difference. Maybe it is something that is device specific or there is just a very small difference.

But it can change with Android 5.0 'L' because ART on Android 4.4 is some sort of beta version.

Switching to ART is as easy as switching back to Dalvik.

Settings > Developer Options > Select Runtime.

There you can choose ART.

You have to reboot your phone to apply the changes.

If you want to go back to Dalvik, redo the steps and select Dalvik.


What is Google's OTA phase deployment strategy? I have always wonder what is Google's deployment strategy for OTA for latest software updates.
I do know that they do it in phases but, do they do it base on time zone? model's serial numbers?
In other words how do they pick who gets it first or not. I have a 2013 Nexus 7 and it has been about 2 weeks since the release of Kit Kat 4.4 and I have not received it yet.

It appears to be random chance.
In this reddit thread, Google Employee Dan Merrill says of OS update rollouts and "mashing" the "check for updates button":

Rollouts are conducted in phases. Typically they start at 1% of devices for around 24 - 48 hours; we watch the return rates and resulting device checkins and error reports (if any), and make sure nothing looks wrong before sending it to more. Then typically it goes to 25%, 50%, 100% over the course of a week or two.
What the percentages mean is that when your device checks in, it has a 1% chance (for example) of being offered the OTA. If it doesn't (randomly) get an offer, it will never get an offer until the next batch.
IOW, once your device checks in and gets turned down, that's it until the next batch. Mashing on the "check for updates" button just causes your device to check in again, and get automatically turned down again. Think about how that makes your device feel! WON'T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE PHONES?!
That said, once the new batch does start, hitting that button does give you a new roll of the dice -- but once. Since devices usually only check in for system updates every 24 hours (I think? Certainly on a many-hours basis) this can get you your shot sooner than it would happen on its own.
So, mash away. :) Just be patient, and mashing on it more often than once or twice a day isn't going to gain you anything.
Edit: also, keep in mind that this isn't first-come/first-served. You're not racing other devices to get your slot in the current batch, or something.

He also warns against the "clear data on the Google Services framework" trick, as all that does is make the network think that it's dealing with a factory-reset device and makes you lose all the tokens used by apps that use it. It will not necessarily get you the update faster. (It might, but it might not.)
Source(s): Android and Me, Android Community
p.s. He also states in another message that if you're really impatient you should do an ADB sideload.


Owner Information on Galaxy S3 I just had a software upgrade on my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone. The Android version is 4.3.

How do I update the owner information on the locked screen?

There is no option under "security" in the setting.

From SM: Go to Settings → My Device → Home Screen Mode and select "Standard Mode", then hit "Apply".

Next, go to Settings → My device → Lock screen. All will be active now.


Are there any apps that can shut down the phone? The power button is stuck on my friend's phone, so he wanted to know if there were any apps available that could shut off the phone, or any other way to turn it off without pressing the power button. He has a Droid with Android 2.2.2

If you are simply trying to turn the screen off, like the normal single press of the power button on the Droid does refer to this question: Is there an App or Widget that can replace my Screen On and Off Button on my Moto Droid?
If you are trying to power down the phone you'll need to have a rooted Droid then you can install an app that give you a boot menu like Quick Boot or Reboot Manager, both of wich give you an option to turn the phone off.


Jelly bean voice search not talking back I've recently upgraded my phone to Android 4.1.1 and I've tried the new voice search.
It mostly answers my questions correctly, but i didn't get it to talk back.

I checked the following setting: Settings->Voice->Speech Output. It's set to Always.

Does anybody else have this issue? Any ideas on how to fix it?

Have you made sure that your "Music volume" is actually turned up? Only then you'll be able to hear the talk-back.

To make sure it is, go to the stock music app, hit the "Volume up" key on your phone a few times, then go back to Google Voice Search and try again.


Why is Firefox not vulnerable to Stagefright? This answer (to what can you do about Stagefright) says "use Firefox".
Why is FF not vulnerable and Chrome is?

Firefox have used Android's StageFright Media Library which is disabled by default in Firefox for Android after the stage fright issue is found in Android devices. So the Firefox browser tries to use the Hardware decoder first and then the software decoder as a fallback. You can see the about:config page and search for stagefright keyword. Based on this article,

  If Firefox does not recognize your hardware decoder, it will use a
  safer (but slower) software decoder. Daring users can manually enable
  hardware decoding. Enter about:config as described above and search
  for “stagefright”. To force hardware video decoding, change the
  “media.stagefright.omxcodec.flags” preference to 16. The default value
  is 0, which will try the hardware decoder and fall back to the
  software decoder if there are problems (Bug 797225). The most
  likely problems you will encounter are videos with green lines or
  crashes.

So if you are using Firefox make sure that the about:config values for the flags media.stagefright.omxcodec.flags and stagefright.disabled and stagefright.force-enabled stays default (i.e. 0, false, false).

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

While Zimperium zLabs' VP of Platform Research and Exploitation, Joshua J. Drake hasn't said not to use Chrome. But he has suggested that Firefox is your best bet to avoid hacking by browser in his tweet.


Is it possible to have a phone without a voice plan? Possible Duplicate:
  How can I receive phone calls through WiFi on an Android phone?

I have an unlocked Nexus One.  I barely use the voice function, mostly just use data.  However, I'd like to have the voice function just in case.

Is it possible to use something else (possibly VOIPish) to replace the voice plan that I am currently paying?  Perhaps Skype, or Google Voice or something else.  Has anyone had an experience with this?

Thanks

Since the cell network was originally built for voice, the cell companies kind of have a focus on voice. While this might be technologically possible, I can't imagine how you'd convince a cell phone company to sell you a data-only plan for a device that supports voice. I'm not sure it makes business sense for them to do so - after all, why not rip you for at least a little voice, along with the data. If you don't use it much, then so much the better because they save on capacity.


YouTube app bug "Connection to Server Lost" YouTube app says "Connection to server Lost/ Tap to retry" When a video is played. The same bug presented itself on 3 different devices with the youtube app version(5.7.38) as the only common feature.

Samsung Galaxy S Duos|JB 4.2.1
Micromax Canvas HD|JB 4.2.1
Asus Nexus 7|KK 4.4.4

Rest of the features are working so its not a network problem. Even YouTube ads play, but not the videos.

The problem is same on both WiFi and Data

Similar questions have been asked before but the troubleshooting methods DO NOT work.
Any help woild be appreciated.

Clear cache and data of YouTube and Google play services. It is recommended to do this provided you have a high speed WiFi/data access. These apps may download approximately 70-80 MB after clearing their data.

Steps:

Disconnect all data connectivity. i.e. WiFi & mobile data.
Go to your phone's 'Settings'.
Click on 'Apps'.
Scroll down to YouTube and click on it.
Click on following buttons in order: 'Force Stop' > 'Clear Cache' > 'Clear Data'.
Press 'back' button to come back to application list.
Scroll up for 'Google Play services'.
Do same again in order: 'Force Stop' > 'Clear Cache' > 'Clear Data'.
Restart your device.
Switch on your data connectivity. i.e. WiFi/Mobile data.
Open Play Store and wait until everything successfully loads up.
Now exit from Play Store and open up your YouTube app. It should probably work fine now.


Creating restricted accounts on phone running Lollipop Can we create restricted user on phone running Android Lollipop? Seems that restricted users are not supported on mobile but only on tablet (mobile has only simple user no restricted user option).

Reference: http://www.howtogeek.com/205301/how-to-use-android-5-lollipops-restricted-user-profiles-for-basic-parental-controls/

Although it is not possible to create restricted accounts, you can achieve almost the same effect using a "normal" account.

This is the recipe:

Create account, go into its properties and select whether you want it to be able to take/make phone-calls
do NOT log in to your Google account during creation of that account
after creating the account, deactivate any system-apps you do not want for that user and uncheck notifications for that app. Note that you need to uninstall updates to do so (you can update on your original owner account afterwards)
log in to Google play using your owner account
go to all apps
"install" all wanted apps that are already on your mobile. This will NOT download that app again, but seems to simply create a link to that app, activating it within the mobile for the current user (similar to restricted accounts, but more complicated in the handling)

do not forget to install any keys-apps for bought apps after the app

Now enter the properties, accounts select your google account and delete it (just for that user)

The result will be a user without your google login but with some of your apps.


How do you list all apps in an adb backup .ab file? I did a backup of my phone and produced an .ab file

G:\phonebk>adb backup -apk -shared -all -f backup.ab
WARNING: adb backup is deprecated and may be removed in a future release
Now unlock your device and confirm the backup operation...

G:\phonebk>

How do you list all apps in an adb backup .ab file?
I have read that adb restore com.identifier.name.ab will restore a particular app, but suppose I want to see the name of the app,  And moreso, the names of all the apps?

Restore individual apps from a full backup
adb restore always restores the full content of an Android backup file. Therefore if you want to restore apps individually you have to make individual backups so that you get one backup files per app:
adb backup <packagename> -f <packagename>.ab

Alternatively you can use Android Backup Extractor (abe) to convert an Android backup file to an TAR archive, modify that archive (e.g. delete all data and apps you don't want to restore) and then convert the TAR archive back to an Android backup via abe.
Getting the package name of an app without using a Android device
If you want to know what package name has a particular app you can simply use Google Play Store web site. Search for the app you want to know the package name of - for example Twitter.
Check the address bar of your web browser and you will see https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.twitter.android.
The package name comes after the id= section (it ends at the next & character or the end of the address). Therefore the package name of twitter is com.twitter.android.


"Incompatible with other application(s) using the same shared user ID" when installing Google Play services I am using Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. I use it to play games and I have one that needs to be backed up by Google+. Unfortunately, my tablet doesn't have Google+ and Google Play services app installed in it. So everytime I try to sign into Google+, it always direct me to Play Store and ask me to install Google Play services.

So I did follow the steps required. I tried to install Google Play services, but it always gave an error message below.

  Incompatible with other application(s) using the same shared user ID.

How to handle this issue?

The steps which I followed (when it happens to me) :

1.Backup all the data and apps you already have on your phone as we are going for a factory reset.

( To backup current version apks of the app use root explorer and copy all apks from /data/app and some apks from /mnt/asec/ )

2.Downloaded latest signed Google-Apps for your Android version (like Jellybean, Ice Cream Sandwich, KitKat etc).

Turn off your phone.
Boot phone in recovery mode and Wipe data/factory reset. (This is why you need to back up everything).
Flash the latest signed Gapps downloaded earlier.
Wipe Dalvik cache and cache partition then reboot.
Download the latest version of Google Play Store and install it.
Update all the Google-Apps via Play Store.
Then install Google Play Services and done!

Note:- Alternatively, At step 7 you can open the Market (Play Store) and tap agree. Then press home and leave it for a while. After the Play Store is updated, open it and tap agree again. The new Play Store should download Google Play Services and install it.


Can I install Android P Beta to my Galaxy S8? I want to install Android P Beta to my Galaxy S8 device but after I went to https://www.google.com/android/beta I can see that only Pixel 2 device can opt out for an upgrade.

Is it ok if I opt out for the Pixel version or this will be dangerous for my device?

It would be disastrous to do that !

As you mentioned it is only for Pixel device and flashing it on your device is same as asked here Can I install a ROM made for a different device?
Your device doesn't have treble
support as mentioned here and you are wanting to flash a treble based ROM, which requires major changes to be done by developers

Unless you fancy an expensive paper weight , don't


Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 can't pair with Bluetooth keyboard after update to 4.2.2 Updated last night. Tablet can't find the keyboard when Bluetooth is turned on and tablet is visible.
This is the keyboard that came with the tablet in the student edition. I can't find anyone with this problem yet except in version 4.3. But this is 4.2.2.

I got it to work by going to the Bluetooth settings screen, then holding down the Bluetooth button on the back of my keyboard for about 5-10 seconds.

After that, the keyboard showed up on the available devices and it allowed me to pair it with my Tab 2.


Do not show GMAIL account in gmail for all my email I only use office365. But I also have a gmail account. When I open the gmail app, my gmail account is opened as primary mail. I don't want that I want the o365 account as primary mail, or even better I do not want the gmail mail at all. I switched all sync with the gmail account off. Did not really help me. If I remove the gmail account completely it is fine, however android starts complaining about not having a backup location then. Any ideas?

Settings > Accounts > Google select the Gmail account and turn off Sync Gmail option

I have two accounts that I don't want them to come in to my Gmail app, but I still want them connected with my phone and turning off Gmail sync did the job.


Where did the wifi sleep policy go in ICS? With the update to Android 4.0.3, I noticed that the wifi is always on.

I used to have the sleep policy where is turns itself of when ilse for some time.

Where did this feature go with ICS?

On a pretty much vanilla build on my EVO, I can get to it by going into
Settings->Wifi->(Menu Button)->Advanced. It's listed as "Keep WiFi on during sleep". Just be sure to tap on the left half of the "Wifi" menu item, since the right half is simply the toggle.


What is using mobile data while connected to wifi? Since a recent Android (6.01) update was pushed to my non-rooted Samsung G5 SM-G900I, while connected to wifi, the notification area shows quick 4G connection is made every three seconds (like a heart beat).

How can I find out what is responsible for this activity?

On Samsung Galaxy devices running KitKat and above, there is an option called Smart network switch, which if it enabled makes your device connected to a mobile network automatically when the Wifi connection is unstable.

You can disable it on Settings > Wifi> More > Smart network switch.


Telegram contact addition problem I'm trying to add a contact on telegram, the specified number can be added through other phones, but not same here:

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

Any suggestions?

Maybe the user you're trying to add doesn't have a telegram account or go to settings app manager telegram clear the cache out only the cache then try again


Disable 802.11n on my EVO How can I disable 802.11n mode on my EVO?  I would like to force it to use B or G.

If you're running the HTC Sense UI, then it should already be disabled.  Otherwise check this blog post for a .zip you can flash to disable it.


Invoke /system/bin/sdcard manually via terminal I am trying to mount an EXT4 formatted SD card under Cyanogenmod 13.1 (Android 6.0.1).

So far, I have setup scripts to mount the card at /mnt/ext_sdcard during boot. My current understanding is that the "sdcard" service must then be invoked to create a FUSE mount pointing to the real mount point which will eventually lead the media scanner to the newly mounted disk.

Following some older older documentation and forum threads lead me to this command in terminal:

service sdcard /system/bin/sdcard /mnt/ext_sdcard /mnt/test 1023 1023
    class late_start

When I run the command (as root of course), it fails with an exit status of 1 and no output/error messages.

My question: Am I doing something wrong, or is this command deprecated in 6.0.1 (the documents/forum thread seemed to relate to KitKat)? What is the correct syntax/arguments for using this command?

Are you putting this command in an init.*.rc file? My understanding is you would have this in a init.extmount.rc for example. This requires extracting and repacking the boot.img.

Since I had nothing better to do, I created this: https://github.com/BenBaltz/mountext

Its a recovery flashable zip to install your script by unpacking the boot.img and repacking it with the modifications.

EDIT
Terminal commands

su -c mount -o bind /mnt/ext_sdcard /path/to/new/dir


How to create a link on Android without installing a 3rd party app? I installed some apps but I do not have a shortcut to it anywhere (these apps include Google Maps). The only way for me to start those is through Google Play.

I want to create a link to an app on the "desktop" in Android (not sure what the thing is called on Android, it's the screen that you get back to when you press the Home button (the symbol with the little house)) without rooting or a 3rd party app (except maybe for a terminal app, like Terminal IDE, which does not have mklink which might be used to achieve this).

Any way of doing that?

That "thing" is called "Homescreen" or "Launcher" (depending on what aspect of it is addressed). And you can long-press an empty space on it, then select to add an app, shortcut, or widget. Selecting "app" should list up all available apps, so you can pick the one you want on your homescreen. That's it, you should now find an icon on your homescreen to launch the app.

A second way to achieve the same is to open the app drawer, and long-press the icon of the app you want to add to your homescreen. Usually, the drawer then "blends out", and you should see your home screen(s). Still holding the icon pressed, move it to the place where you want it to be, then let it go.

One more hint: The homescreen cannot be handled via "symbolic links" from within the file system. Which shortcut exists on which screen and at what position etc. is stored in the app preferences of the homescreen.


adb: Push a folder and add only new files within it Using  adb, we can push files or folders. But how can I push a folder ("Music" for example) into my /sdcard/ that already contains this folder to add just the new files within Music on my computer ? It takes a lot of time to push the entire folder each time I want to add music.

Perhaps your best bet is using an alternative tool: adb-sync.

  adb-sync is a tool to synchronize files between a PC and an Android
  device using the ADB (Android Debug Bridge).

Setup

Android

basically you need to allow USB debugging.

PC

  Install the Android SDK (the stand-alone Android SDK "for an existing IDE" is sufficient). Alternatively, some Linux distributions
  come with a package named like "android-tools-adb" that contains the
  required tool.
  Make sure "adb" is in your PATH.(If you use a package from your Linux distribution, this should already be the case; if you used the
  SDK, you probably will have to add an entry to PATH in your ~/.profile
  file, log out and log back in.)
  git clone https://github.com/google/adb-sync
  cd adb-sync
  Copy or symlink the adb-sync script somewhere in your PATH. For example: cp adb-sync /usr/local/bin/

Usage

To get a full help, type:

adb-sync --help

To synchronize your music files from ~/Music to your device, type one of:

adb-sync ~/Music /sdcard
adb-sync ~/Music/ /sdcard/Music

Additionally you can play around with flags in defined in the help section to get the desired result.

Acknowledgements

adb-sync


How do I copy text from my Phone's inbox to my PC's text editor? I am looking for a way to copy text from my Phone's inbox to my PC's text editor, sort of a shared clipboard. My PC's text editor has Ctrl key disabled. So, is there any way to paste the text from phone?

You may be able to achieve that using  tools like Clipsync, Uniclip etc. to share clipboards over local area connections.

Using ClipSync

Setup

You need both the client and server. The advantage of Clipsync is that it is very small in size compared to other tools in this category.

You can get the ClipSync Android client from playstore  (147K B size) and ClipSync server (desktop) (≈ 900KB size) from the main website.

Instructions

First, you need to install the android app on your mobile device, and a Windows program on your PC.
After ClipSync is set up, there will be a background service running on all your devices.
This background service will automatically keep your clipboards synchronized.

Copying text from Android to Windows

Long press any text on your Android device and select Copy then paste the text on your PC text editor program  with Right-click → Paste.

Client:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

Server (notification)

Credits: ClipSync: Synchronize your clipboards over LAN


how can I mount a ab backup file from windows? And would I be able to point an undelete program on it? I see this Does rooting erase anything?  about making an ab backup file.
how can I mount an ab backup file from windows? And would I be able to run an undelete program on it or on the image?
I see this question How do I open a .ab file on my computer  but it doesn't answer what i'm asking because he is asking and was understood to be asking specifically about some firefox tabs.

Android backup files created via adb backup are no images, they are more comparable to ZIP files. Only existing files are included into the backup file. Deleted files can not be included in such an Android backup.
Therefore you will never be able to run an undelete program on an adb backup file.
The only backup files that would make sense to use an undelete program on are NANDroid backup files as those backups files contain one or more whole partition(s).


Integrating gapps into the new rom im installing I have the recovery file for my S4 mini and I have the new CyanogenMod ROM downloaded on my external SD along with my update file and gapps zip file but i'm not sure how to integrate the titanium update file into my ROM or do I just restart my phone and open that zip once the rom is installed?

You can normally install that zip through recovery itself once the ROM is done installing. So the steps would be:

Go into recovery.
Flash ROM.
Flash GApps.
Flash the titanium update.zip (just the way you flashed ROM and GApps).
Clear dalvic cache and cache.
Reboot.

Hope this helps.


Motorola Milestone is constantly firing touch events Starting this morning, when I turn on my Motorola Milestones screen, it starts to constantly press random positions on the screen (starting applications, etc.) which makes it nearly impossible to use the phone. Most of the clicks are along the right side of the screen.

It started while I was reading an email.

Looks to me, like it is an hardware issue. But since I installed Cyanogen Mod 7 a month ago, maybe it could be related so some sort of touch sensitivity setting I don't know of yet?

Anyone experienced the same issues? Any idea how to solve it?

EDIT:

Seams like a Software issue.

First I wiped the cache, dalvic cache and reset to factory defaults. But the issue stayed.
Then I restored the last backup I had using Nandroid and now I have
the exact opposite:

  The most right part of the screen is not touchable anymore.

At least that is better, than touching all the time. Still a little annoying.

Any idea how I can fix this?

There is a lengthy discussion about this on:

http://androidforums.com/droid-support-troubleshooting/87515-my-droids-touch-screen-going-crazy.html

The main point seems to relate to either oil and dirt covering the screen and/or heating up issues from dirt within internal components.

There are some suggested solutions such as carefully cleaning the screen and the speaker opening. It also seems to be strongly affected by moisture.


How to Get Back the External SD Card Notification I used to have a notification whenever the external SD card was in the tablet. Recently that notification has disappeared. How can I get this notification back.

I like this notification since I am able to eject the card from it without needing to go thru the settings menu to get to it.

What is interesting is that when I insert a different card the notification is back. I only am missing it for the original card. Last time I had this problem I factory reset my tablet. I would rather not have to do this again.

I searched for a solution but only found solutions to get rid of the notification, not the opposite. I tried to reboot my device but that didn't help.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Change the volume serial number of the sd card.

There might be various ways to do it, this one worked for me when I had the same problem after touching "clear all" when displaying notifications.

Mount the SD card on a windows PC.

Note the drive letter of the sd card by opening a windows explorer window.
For example let's say it was mounted as E:

In a command prompt window type the following command to find out the current volume id of the sd card, assuming the SD card is E: drive.

vol E:

It should give you a number like 1234-5678

Download the Microsoft utility "volumeid" from this link at Microsoft:

Follow the instructions at the link for using the utility and give the SD card a new volume id.

Make sure you use the right drive letter, the drive letter of the SD card. You don't want to change your hard disk by mistake.

In a command prompt window, the syntax is:

volumeid E: 1234-5679

This will change the volume id of E: drive to 1234-5679

When you put the SD card back in you android device the device will think it's a different card and show the sd card mounted notification.


Google navigation stuck on "Checking navigation availability" I own a LG Optimus One with Android 2.2.2. Everytime I try to use the navigation provided by google, my phone remains stuck on Checking navigation availability. Is there a fix for this?

It seems I was running the 5.0 version of google maps. I tried to search for an update on the market, but I couldn't even find the app. The most surprising thing was that using the exact search strings, I was able to find it very easy in the browser.

I downloaded the 5.2 apk, and I installed it from the SDCard. Afterwards, everything worked.


Unable to connect to Spotify - phantom ad blocker? I'm having issues with the Spotify app. Trying to search gives error messages shown in this Spotify forum. The solution suggested in that thread is to whitelist spclient.wg.spotify.com on my adblocker. I tried connecting to spclient.wg.spotify.com in Firefox and got an Unable to connect error.

I don't have an adblocker app or extension installed. I tested it out on simple-adblock and found that my adblocker failed to block ads, but on fivefilters, it worked. So I'm not sure what to make of that.

I'm using a Samsung Galaxy S7 running Android v7.0. I installed the ROM myself to get rid of the bloatware that came with the phone by following the instructions here. My best guess is that that ROM is tweaked to have a native adblocker. I think that might have been the case, but I can't remember, having it installed a good few months ago.

How can I whitelist spclient.wg.spotify.com when I don't know how to access whatever ad blocker is on my phone, if there is one? Can anyone offer an alternative explanation?

Robert got it. My hosts file is full of URLs rerouted to 127.0.0.1. Thanks!


Is there a black list of applications that drain battery fast? Many people complain about some applications draining batteries fast because of bugs or misconfiguration. Is there a black list of such applications that are not energy-friendly?

It's tricky to know which ones drain battery life fast.
Before installing you can check comments to see if there are many complaining of that.
After installing, either if you know your phone well enough and see a clear decrease in battery life then it could be the new software if nothing else change, or you can try and check the battery usage statistics.


Are offline google maps used device wide? If you save an area on google maps on an android device, will other apps that use the maps api, pull data from this cache if it's available? Or is it separated and doesn't know that it exists?

I ask this question because of a reddit post that popped up about Pokemon GO:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemongo/comments/4s875y/i_wish_i_could_buy_this_guy_a_beer/

Unfortunately, there is no cross-app sharing of map information.

Firstly, there is a privacy concern - If Google allowed other apps to know your Google Maps offline areas (or infer them, for that matter), it would be possible for nasty apps to work out where you live and to sell that information.

Sadly, Google don't provide an 'offline maps' API to developers. I have found this frustrating when developing apps.

Unfortunately, Google have little motivation to encourage offline device usage - they make their money from their online services, especially advertising.