How to fix soft bricked Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 after /data reformat I jot got brand new Galaxy Tab A 10.1 tablet (580 model running Android 6). After using Odin 3.12.1 to install TWRP 3.0.2-0 custom recovery I tried to do a full image backup and it failed with "can't mount /data (Invalid argument). So I Googled around and found the "[SOLVED] Cant mount /data" video https://youtu.be/X7yDPszoQ5s that suggested to change data partition type from ext4 to exFat. After that the tablet does not boot and gives some criptic error about data encryption and dropping devices. Nothing, even factory reset helps. I read that Samsung does some encryption but I am not Android expert. Can someone help?

The solution was to choose "Format data" in TWRP.


Do ALL stock Verizon Droid RAZRs have the full Developer Optionc menu on System Settings? I have it on my Droid RAZR bought at Verizon on the 1st day available: 11/11/2011. It was recently updated over the air to Ice Cream Sandwich. I never rooted or installed custom ROMs. I do have a developer menu ( which caused this problem: On it's own, my Verizon Droid Razr (recently with ICS), went into debug mode. How do I get it out of debug mode?). Do all Verizon droid RAZRs have this menu item?

Virtually all Android devices have the Developer options menu. This is stock Android; a carrier or device manufacturer would have to explicitly remove it. If they did, the hue and cry from actual Android developers would be very loud; some might even refuse to develop for such a device, which would have a negative impact on device sales.

In Ice Cream Sandwich, it's grown lots of extra options, as you've noticed.

The developer options are mostly useful to actual developers, though some of them are useful to power users. For instance, "USB Debugging" allows a user to control their Android from their PC with adb; that could be anything from side-loading an apk to rooting the device. Privacy fanatics will appreciate "Allow mock locations"; when this option is on they can use simple apps to generate false geolocation data. And my personal favorite is "Stay awake" which prevents the phone from sleeping or blanking the display while it's on the charger.

If you're having a problem with these options getting enabled while the device is in your pocket, as in your other question, consider using a screen lock.

In Jelly Bean, developer options must be enabled explicitly and a warning dialog appears if you try to enable developer options. This will help prevent you from enabling them accidentally in your pocket.


How to view animated GIFs in Android? Is there a way to view animated GIFs on an Android device?  I searched the Market without success.

A Google search shows me a lot of people have this question...looks like it's still an issue.

Although one post here says Image Viewer (with animation) v1.0 from Androlib.com helped (I have not tried it).


Setting Up Live Wallpaper with Tasker I'm trying to set up a Tasker widget to switch between a static wallpaper and a live wallpaper.

I have no problem with coming up with the action for the static wallpaper, but I am unable to change my wallpaper for the live wallpaper. Hope someone with experience could help me out here.

I am using the latest version of Tasker and the live wallpaper I wish to set up is Koi Live Wallpaper running on a rooted 4.3 stock rom Samsung S3.

Thank you in advance.

To set a LW the only thing needed is a task with an action of shell command and this command in the command text box:

service call wallpaper 2 i32 1 s16 "com.maxelus.poweroflifelivewallpaper" s16 "com.maxelus.poweroflifelivewallpaper.WallpaperService"

The first argument is the package of the LW, then the other one is the service.

For example, the shell command for AudioGlow is:

(Click image to enlarge)

This command sets live wallpaper:

service call wallpaper 2 i32 1 s16 "[package name]" s16 "[class name]"

This command allows to get name of active live wallpaper:

service call wallpaper 4

And this command disables it:

service call wallpaper 5


How to re-arrange images in gallery after changing the GMT time zone? I travel to another country and take photos for a few days. After that I change the tike zone of my phone.

Since then, photos in my gallery are mixed up!?

I open the DCIM folder and see that the cause is that gallery sorts images by the filename and filenames are named after the taken time when the photo is captured.

How can I get photos updated with the time zone changed?

NOTE: This is based on Samsung Galaxy S4 (Android 4.2.2)

In Gallery, click All beside the Gallery (flower) icon. Then, press left menu button, and select Sort by latest (If you see Sort by oldest, then your pictures are already sorted by latest.


QR Scan in WhatsApp doesn't work (QR loads but phone scan never ends) Not the same as Why I can't scan the WhatsApp QR? because the problem there was the "OK Got It" was not visible due to the screen being too small, but that's not the problem here

I have the latest version of WhatsApp

I restarted the phone

I have the WhatsApp Web option

The QR code loads perfectly in my chrome browser

I have the "OK Got It" option

It starts scanning the code....
.....and keeps scanning and scanning and scanning.....

I waited over 15 minutes and nothing happened! It just keeps scanning the code, no matter how many times I reload it, and nothing happens :(

I tested my internet and wifi connections, so I know it's not that.

Anyone else have this problem? Or know how to fix this?

I have a galaxy s3

Mine wouldn't scan when phone was on wifi; turned off wifi and it worked perfectly.


SSL error on Firebase hosting on old Android devices I am not being able to see my Firebase Web App on old Android Devices due to SSL error.

There is a question about this, but the answer doesn't say how to solve it.
Is there any solution for this?

SSL/TLS support is based on the Android version. There's no way for Android end-users to fix this issue unless to upgrade to a newer Android version if possible.
In this case, based on Qualys SSL Server Test, the site only supports TLS 1.2.

TLS 1.2 is only supported since Android 4.4.2 KitKat, where Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and before only supports TLS 1.0 (among other older protocols).

The only fix is to configure the server to allow other protocols and/or cipher suites (the specific depends on the server and out-of-scope of this site).


How can I decrypt an encrypted SD card (HTC Evo 4G) on a different device? I encrypted both my phone and SD card upon purchasing my HTC Evo 4g LTE.  Recently the phone died (would get to the login screen and then reboot).

After a factory reset the SD card shows up as damaged.  I've tried mounting it in various ways, but neither the phone nor a computer will attempt to mount the drive - they just ask to format it.

Is there any hope of recovering the contents?

The simple answer is: You Can't

The volume is already encrypted and can only be read as random hex because the required key is stored in your phone in order to decipher it. Unfortunately there is no way for you to recover your sdcard contents because the key on your phone is also lost when you factory reset.

Just reformat it if you still want to use your sdcard.


Can't install Google USB driver I have been trying to install the google USB driver so I can use Unity Remote 5 on my phone. I needed to force install the driver because Windows was being weird, but, when I did, I got this error: "The folder you specified doesn't contain a compatible software driver for your device. If the folder contains a driver, make sure it is designed to work with Windows x64-based systems."

I am using Windows 10 and I have an LG k30.

I used this guide to force install the driver: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-hardware/how-to-force-install-a-driver-on-windows-10/b72ef97f-7aee-4fb5-9acb-6e86122a8306

Android SDK ( Software Development Kit )
According to the vague documentation on the link you provided, it requires the Android SDK because this will install a system-wide ADB.exe program that can be accessed via the command adb ...

Using ADB ( Android Debug Bridge ) you can run your software on any supported Android device that has USB Debugging enabled.

You must install a system-wide ADB, many custom built installers have been made for this, so many that Android ( Google ) - ( NASA ) Has released an ADB installer of their own, so I'm sure that using the official installer would be the recommended way of installing ADB.

After installing ADB on your development machine, you can now connect to Android device's using USB Debugging ( Testing and debugging your apps in Android Studio or another IDE like Unity via USB - { Universal Serial Bus } )

To accept ADB connections on your test device, you'll need to enable USB Debugging in Development Options.

To do that,

Open Settings
Open About ( or More -> About )
Find Build Number ( Sometimes in a sub directory )
Tap ( Build Number ) 7 times - You should see it confirm the process to enable Development Options.
Navigate Back to Settings
Navigate to Development Options
Find & Enable USB Debugging

P.S, if you don't have a correct installation you'll get ( Device Not Found - or Similar )

After enabling USB Debugging open a command window on your development computer and test the ADB install by running adb devices

Windows
Hold Shift and right click on a blank space in any folder or on the desktop, it should say "Open a command window here", click on that.

( Search CMD and open it, Right click start, etc.... )

Mac - Not sure, I use PC.

After you have run adb devices you should see either a found device, or a message to indicate otherwise.

If your device returns ( offline ) you'll need a different ADB installation that has the configuration files alongside it, it'll ask for authentication and you'll have to accept it on the device screen, after you have an Authorised connection to the device via ADB you can test the remote software in Unity.

SO THAT'S A.D.B INSTALLED
If you don't find your device after you are sure you have a successful installation ( the ADB files might be accessed from a specific location or subdirectory of the Android SDK installation, and might not be system wide.. You need to place the ADB files inside the correct installation directory of the Android SDK, as-if it was installed by the Android SDK installer.

If not, install the entire Android SDK ( 1-2GB  )

After you've completed the Android SDK installation you need to be sure that you have installed the ADB driver for your device, to handle USB Debugging via a USB Cable or ( Network ADB is another option ) .

Usually you can select the option to install your driver on Windows by setting the connection method on the Android

It should load as a CD-ROM and have the software you need to install ADB Driver's on your machine.

...

After installing the ADB driver once, it seems to work on nearly all Android device's when they're connecting via USB Debugging ( so I'll call it a universal driver for all Android device's )

Once you've successfully installed ADB Drivers and ADB . .

Enable USB Debugging in Development Options
Connect your device via MTP or USB Storage, charge only will not use ADB, neither will PTP... Test a few.
Authorise the computer to connect
Open Unity
Test the Remote Software


Is it possible to completely disable radio signal in a phone without a SIM card? I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, powered by CyanogenMod 13 (Android Marshmallow 6.0.1), which I use as Wi-Fi only, being it without SIM card.

The device antenna, though, seems to be constantly connected to a cellular tower, so I'm afraid that this fact may result in an increased battery consumption (even if slight, that is). Plus, I don't want my position to be triangulated due to this behaviour.

Simply dialing *#*#4636#*#* and disabling the antenna from there seems to suffice, but the change does not persist between reboots, and repeating all of the procedure each time is a nuisance.

What I wish for, is a way to make the abovementioned change persistent, without the need for a whole app, which I deem overkill for such a simple task. Even better, I favor a solution that makes use of the built-in Terminal, be it a single command or a function, and I'm open towards solutions that require root access.

Is there such a way to accomplish this?

Use airplane mode to disable the cellular radio. This is simple and does not require an app, use of terminal, or root access.


People app disappeared from apps on Nexus 4 It's a system app, but somehow I disabled it. Now, it won't show me my contacts or anything. If I try to see a missed call from notification drawer, it leaves me at home screen. I cannot view any of my call records.

Solved it by clicking reset app preference from the action bar in Settings


Incoming calls Moto X ; press 1 to accept call For some reason my Moto X is requiring me to press the number 1 in order to accept incoming calls. I thought this may be a Motorola assist glitch, but the problem was not fixed when I disabled the application.

Any ideas? Similar problems out there?

"Press 1 to accept the call" sounds like Google Voice's call screening.

Check your GV call settings to ensure that call screening isn't on at all. (You can individually turn it off for certain people or groups, but the main setting would need to be "on".)

More on Call Screening at Google Voice Support.


Why does flashing my Tab3, 7.0, 8GB, WiFi (sm-t210) fail with Odin? I tried several versions of Odin and also several ROM's, yet successfully flashing still seem to fail.

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/005> Added!!
<ID:0/005> Odin engine v(ID:3.1301)..
<ID:0/005> File analysis..
<ID:0/005> Total Binary size: 1397 M
<ID:0/005> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/005> Initialzation..
<ID:0/005> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/005> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/005> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/005> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/005> PBL.bin
<ID:0/005> FAIL!
<ID:0/005>
<ID:0/005> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1

Please observe that with the newest version of Odin in the log above 'Get PIT for mapping' and 'PBL.bin' failed.

<ID:0/005> Added!!
<ID:0/005> Removed!!
<ID:0/005> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> T210XXBNI1_T210PHNBNI1_T210XXBNI1_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/005> Odin v.3 engine (ID:5)..
<ID:0/005> File analysis..
<ID:0/005> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/005> Initialzation..
<ID:0/005> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/005> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/005> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/005> PBL.bin
<ID:0/005> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/005> FAIL!
<ID:0/005>
<ID:0/005> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

Please observe with an older version of Odin that in the log above 'Get PIT for mapping' and 'NAND write' failed.

The stock ROM I seem to need for this device 'SM-T210, Tab3, 7.0, 8GB WiFi, has these specs: KOT49H, T210XXBOB1, PHN, build date Feb 3 2015, Android version 4.4.2
Kernel version: 3.4.5-4081557
I'm not sure if it's KitKat or Jelly Bean as both seem to have similar versions of Android.
So what's going wrong here?

As Odin in Windows doesn't seem to work for my device, I tried another application such as Heimdall-Frontend.
This application differs from Odin in that it uses the extracted files from a stock ROM where as Odin uses the stock ROM to upload to an connected device.
Anyways, I found that from Heimdall all files are successfully downloaded to the Samsung Tab3 device.
Yet there was a slight difference between the download of 'system.img' file and all the other 9 files out of the stock ROM.
After the download from Heimdall completed, it was released and right after that the Tab3 device goes into reboot.
While after the download of all other 9 files, it took a few seconds before the Tab3 goes into reboot.
So my guess here is that right after being released, the Tab3 goes immediately into reboot and deletes that way the successful downloaded 'system.img' file.
That would also explain as to why there's no change after the successful flashing with Heimdall.


Motorola X Broken Digitizer A while ago, I dropped my Moto X, and my digitizer slowly stopped working. I can no longer see my screen or unlock it. Is there anyway that I could get the files off of the phone without replacing the digitizer? It is not rooted.

I think that moto x supports usb-otg. so you can connect a mouse and copy the files to an sd card or send them through bluetooth to another device.


Connecting a National Instruments device to an android phone I'm attempting to connect a national instruments usb data aquisition device to a samsung galaxy s2 mobile phone. As far as I can tell the phone has a USB driver but no driver exists to run the national instruments device. Does anyone know where I would start in order to get one of these cards to talk to the phone?

This is as close as I've come to finding a solution but it seems to require an external computer. I want to connect directly only using a phone.

This is in the early stage so I'm really looking for a starting point and then will update as/if I make progress.

Any help much appreciated.

You are trying to use the USB port as a USB Host. This is not currently supported in android. The feature will be available on devices starting with Android 3.1. From what I took from the video, they are not using USB, they are communicating via TCP.

@GAThrawn, I honestly didn't just take your comment as an answer, I had mine in the form, but forgot to hit submit :)


How to shutdown android via ssh command? Is there any toolbox or app that will support issuing shutdown command via ssh to a rooted android smartphone? Note that I'm not asking how to restart Android via command line (remotely) – but to really shut it down / turn it off.

reboot -p

was mentioned here which works for me on a rooted device. But someone mentioned here (see comments as well) that it's a bit harsh to simply shutdown without notice. So try something like this:

su -c 'am broadcast android.intent.action.ACTION_SHUTDOWN && sleep 5 && reboot -p'


i want to know what app an icon belongs too... how can I find out I would like to know how I find what app an icon relates to on top left of android phone please. Thanks :)

Looking for the second icon

Tap and hold on the icon, it become draggable.

In the top(or bottom) you will see 2 options remove if it is on home screen or uninstall if it from the menu and app info. Drop the icon on app info and it will bring you the corresponding page in settings.


cannot see option to turn off my google news feed I am using a Moto G7 Power ,  android phone

When I open the Google browser (chrome I suppose), it says on the bottom
"discover, updates, search, more...".   If I choose "more..." and then 'settings', then it says

I see no news option to turn off

After clicking "more..." on the bottom, and getting that settings page up, as you did..

choose 'general' then see it says
'discover  - you'll see stories related to your interests..'

turn that 'discover' off.

That closes the news feed.


Where is the mount point/folder for a USB pen drive mounted on Marshmallow? Prior to Android Marshmallow, I used StickMount to access my USB OTG pen drive.  When I tried it first time on my Nexus 5 I saw a native notification and notification from StickMount.

Stickmount usually mounts the pen drive as a folder under storage folder. This helped me to use my own file explorer and other apps.  However the stock notification has two buttons:

Upon touching Explore, a native browser opens and shows the file. I would like to use my own file explorer like ES File Explorer.

By using the stock USB feature, I would like to know the mount point (the path) of the mounted drive. Does any know or tried this feature?

Device info: Nexus 5, Android 6.0, rooted with stock ROM.

Following is the output of the command mount in the terminal emulator after inserting the USB drive:

u0_a137@hammerhead:/ $ mount
rootfs / rootfs ro,seclabel,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0
debugfs /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
tmpfs /mnt tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/default/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/read/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/fuse /mnt/runtime/write/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/system /system ext4 ro,seclabel,relatime,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/userdata /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nomblk_io_submit,noauto_da_alloc,errors=panic,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nomblk_io_submit,noauto_da_alloc,errors=panic,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/persist /persist ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nomblk_io_submit,nodelalloc,errors=panic,data=ordered 0 0
/dev/block/platform/msm_sdcc.1/by-name/modem /firmware vfat ro,context=u:object_r:firmware_file:s0,relatime,uid=1000,gid=1000,fmask=0337,dmask=0227,codepage=cp437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=lower,errors=remount-ro 0 0
tmpfs /storage tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/dev/fuse /storage/emulated fuse rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,user_id=1023,group_id=1023,default_permissions,allow_other 0 0
tmpfs /storage/self tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
u0_a137@hammerhead:/ $

/mnt/media_rw/random-hex-id is the path you're looking for, where 'random-hex-id' is a folder name of format ABCD-EF01, e.g. E4E4-4394. Guess it took a random to actually be useful. You must have access to root.


Why does a single MMS message show up as three separate download buttons? Using the default messaging app, CyanogenMod 6.1, T-Mobile Pay As You Go, whenever someone sends me an MMS, it shows up as 3 separate messages, all with Download buttons.  If I click the first Download button, it downloads the image.  If I click the other two, they fail, and don't go away until the message expires days later.

Using SQLite manager to look at the mmssms.db pdu table, the pending messages all have mtype 130.  After downloading, they become mtype 132.

https://github.com/jberkel/sms-backup-plus/issues/issue/80

Why 3 messages?  Can I change this behavior?  Is it a bug?

I would suggest this is one of 3 things:

a bug in CM6. I used Handcent regularly in CM7 and didn't see this behaviour.
Possibly related to having Handcent / some other MMS app installed. All apps have registered to be told when a message arrived, and all apps are capturing it and inserting it into the telephony MMS/SMS database. This seems unlikely, because apps will normally rely on the built-in app to insert the message into the database.
This could be an issue with the interaction with the network, and acking of the message, which is causing it to be notified multiple times.

I think the best thing to do in this case is capture some logs using ADB and logcat, and posting them on the Cyanogen forums where we can take a look at them and figure out if this is a bug. If you aren't comfortable using the development kit there is an app on the market called aLogCat, which will grab the log for you, and allow you to send it to an email address.


How long are older versions of Android supported Having very recently acquired my first Android phone, I am interested in Apps development. I know this site tries to avoid dev specific questions, but I hope you'll still find my question relevant.

I am wondering whether to learn development for the "upcoming" Android4.0 version or to stick to the "current" 2.3 version. The arguments pro 4.0 are obvious but here are a few advantages about 2.3:

Documentation is widely more available. Tutorials are easier to find. People in the community are more familiar and more likely to help.
2.3 is on my phone (Galaxy SII). 4.0 won't be for some time. I don't want my app to be confined to an emulator or a SDK.

In order to help me make up my mind, I have one specific question to ask:

How long will the 2.3 version still be around?

Are there any upcoming phone scheduled with that version?
Will Google/manufacturers still provide updates, patches and support?
Is it likely that (like some notorious open source projects) the 2.x branch will be forked and keep evolving?

Being new to the community, I'm hoping you could provide answers based both on references to official announcements, and past behaviours when Android went from 1.x to 2.x

When you're about to start Android app development, you should not stick to the 'old' Gingerbread version.

Of course you'll still use many things introduced in Android 2.3 and older, so most of the tutorials still work. This is very important, because even if you target API level 15, you need to care about backward compatibility!

As an unexperienced developer, later Android versions help you writing better apps. For example Android 3+ applications forces developers to use AsyncTasks for networking services, so your application does not freeze on network issues.


Is Nexus 7 2013 LTE usable as a phablet? I've stepped into a B&M the other day, and they had Nexus 7 in stock; I've realised how small it is, and it occurred to me that it might be usable as a phablet.

Other than being unable to use voice over 2G/3G (and 4G?), and size distinctions, are there any other features that are different between Nexus 7 and Nexus 5, especially as far as phone usage would be concerned?

Besides being unable to make traditional voice calls, one difference is there is no earpiece, so unless you have headphones, your VoIP calls, video chats, etc... will all be on speaker.  Since it is a tablet, it's obvious why you wouldn't have one and it would look crazy holding that giant thing up to your ear.  Another  difference that people also tend to overlook is SMS.  Since there is no phone number associated with the tablet you won't get SMS service.  That can be mitigated by using services such as Google Voice which uses data instead of the SMS protocol to send these messages but yet are delivered to the recipient as SMS messages.

Due to the above you'll be missing the phone and messaging app components of the android OS on the nexus 7 (although as of 4.4 messaging app has been integrated with hangouts). Also you'll have support for multiple user profiles on your tablet, which is not an option on android phones.

BTW, you'll probably need to wear cargo pants to accommodate a Nexus 7, as it would probably be too large in your front pocket for you to sit comfortably.


How to flash a zip file without signature verification? I have lenovo a3300-gv running android kit-kat. I tried to flash a .zip file in it using flashify. But it fails to flash as signature verification fails. I read some articles stating to flash in CWM/TWRP recovery to avoid this error. But I can't get custom recovery for my device. So, is there other way to flash in stock recovery without signature verification?

I'm afraid no (no easy one). As you have no custom recovery for your HW platform there is chance you can't rebuild a firmware for your phone. Bypassing this signature is possible only by modifying the source (actually this is what is done in teamwin or clockworkmod recoveries).


When is the Nexus S Android 2.3.3 update coming to the UK Possible Duplicate:
  When will my phone get the Android 2.3 update (Gingerbread)?

I have a UK Nexus S and it is still on 2.3.2. It's been a month since this update began being pushed out in the US, but so far I've seen nothing. Have any UK users received it, and is there any news on its UK roll-out?

Offficial OTA updates can take their own sweet time getting to your phone, since they're dependent on not just how Google is rolling down the updstes but on operator arrangements as well. The simplest andquickst way of getting an update is to download the signed OTA update from Google and manually update your phone. XDA forums is typically a good place to find links to those updates - that is also how I downloaded my the 2.3.3 update to my NexusOne, sitting in India. Waiting for an OTA update, I would probably have been among the last people in the world to get it :)

Here is a simple way of manually updating your phone:
- Download the update and rename the file update.zip
- Connect your phone to your PC/Mac and copy that file to your microSD card.
- Power down your Nexus S. Then press ‘power’ and hold the volume button. You’ll see a screen appear with three Androids.
- Using the volume buttons, select ‘Bootloader’ and then press ‘Power’ to select.
- On the next screen, select ‘Recovery’.
- The phone will reboot. You’ll see a triangle with and Android robot and an exclamation point.
- Press the volume up button and the power button at the same time.
- Using the volume buttons, select “Apply sdcard: update.zip”.
- Reboot to get 2.3.3


Parsing Package & ROM problem I have a bit of a mixed problem in my Xperia arc s. I started by trying to install apps, and I got that message saying "There was a problem parsing the package". I checked "unknown sources" in settings and made sure that I matched the minimum sdk required or higher and still the same message.

After that I tried to install a different rom, but whenever I flash a kernel I get stuck in CWM and the rom's zip file is not found! Even when I open the sd card from windows explorer it seems that the zip file has disappeared.

I used flashtool to get back to the original rom, but again whenever I try to install an app I face that "Parsing Package" problem again!

So what's wrong here? How can I get my phone working again so I can install apps?

It sounds like you have a bad ROM install. You should try completely wiping the phone and re-installing the ROM from scratch. Make sure to clear the cache, the dalvik cache, and system. Then flash the original ROM back on.


Mute Phone Mic when Headphones are Plugged In? I saw a question similar to mine but it was 7 years old so I'm hoping there may be an update to the answer
I would like for my Note 9 running Android version 10 to mute the mic on the phone when I have my headphones plugged in. It seems like it takes sound from both areas and I have my phone setting right next to my keyboard. When I am typing while talking, the sound of the keyboard clicks are extremely loud to the listener. I cannot move my phone as the conversations are typically video calls and I am using a wired headphone connection. Additionally, when I talk while in a somewhat noisy area, the phone mic seems to be more sensitive to the background noise and quiets my voice via the headphone.

You might try an app called Pilfershush.
It takes control of the microphone so that other apps can't use it.
Just remember to turn it off before you try to use the phone for a call.
PilferShush Jammer (Block unwanted use of onboard microphone) - https://f-droid.org/app/cityfreqs.com.pilfershushjammer


Galaxy S3 stuck on Samsung logo, is there anyway i can backup my data in recovery mode without rooting? i have the original Firmware, no rooting. Recently, i got this issue where my s3 doesn't startup, it just keeps flashing the logo over and over again until the battery drains. I've already tried pulling the battery, wiping cache partition several times but no luck.

So is it possible to root my device without losing any data or at least can i backup from the recovery mode?

I'm an Android newbie, so i have zero background on this stuff. What am i suppose to do ?

Edit: i'm specifically asking about backing up my data, is it possible?

Boot into odin mode, plug into laptop,  get custom recovery and root via odin (this doesn't wipe data) then in the custom recovery do a nandroid backup then clear dalvik cache and try to boot. If this doesn't work then sorry you're gonna need to flash a custom rom or stock rom again


My phone just notified me that Kickback and Soundback were updated, what are they? My Motorola Droid just informed me that Kickback and Soundback were updated. Clicking on the updates takes me nowhere, and they aren't listed in installed programs that I can see. What are these programs?

These are accessibility apps. One of Motorola's FAQ questions summarizes their purposes well:

  KickBack - Check to vibrate the phone briefly as feedback as you navigate the phone’s user interface, press buttons, and so on.

  TalkBack - Check to cause an installed speech synthesizer to speak the labels or names of items as you navigate the phone’s user interface.

  SoundBack - Check to play a sound as you navigate the phone’s user interface.


Connecting to internet using Wi-fi portable hotspot or bluetooth? which one is more battery saving? I have EDGE internet connection in my Samsung Europa I5500L (Froyo 2.2). I can connect to the Internet from my laptop using both bluetooth or making a wifi hotspot from the device using that EDGE connection.

{internet}-----[phone]-----{wifi/bluetooth}-----[laptop]

My question is which one will be more battery saving for both my laptop and mobile?

Thanks for your answer.

Generally Bluetooth uses less power. On my HTC Desire, I use Bluetooth because it lasts longer and consumes much less power compared to Wi-Fi hotspot when connection is idle.


I can't get my device supported by Google Play Services to get my Snapchat to work I recently updated my phone, before updating Snapchat was working fine but now it logged me out and I can't log back in as it says " Google Play Services which most applications rely on, is not supported by your device. Please contact your manufacturer for assistance."

I have downloaded Google Play Services onto my phone but it says it need to be updated otherwise it will not work. When I go to Google Play Services it says "Authentication is required.You need to sign in to your Google Account", which under Settings → Accounts I am signed in. But I cant access the app.

This may be an authentication issue with your account and connecting to the Google Play servers. Go ahead and try removing your account from the device, and re-adding it. Make sure you remember the password!


"insufficient storage" though nothing is installed I can't download any apps onto my android tablet. I have put it back to factory settings and it has nothing saved on it at all and is still telling me I have insufficient storage. I can't even install the cache cleaner.

This a common problem faced by rooted phone users.
If you have any app that links your files to Sd like link2sd, luckypatcher...
and your phone doesn't support it. You'll have to revert all this apps setting to get the memory back. The actual problem is that you are linking to a directory which doesn't actually exist.


How to set MTP mode on phone with broken screen in USB charge-only mode My phone’s screen broke from a 30 cm drop. The touchpad is dysfunctional while the display itself still works (i.e. I can see everything).

USB mode is charge-only, so connecting to the PC is not working (./adb devices yields empty results)
Developer mode is enabled, USB debugging is enabled
A MicroUSB to USB (OTG USB) cable is available, I can control the phone with a mouse
Phone is a LG G2 with Android 5

Now since the USB mode is charge-only, I cannot set the mode to MTP because I can't control the phone while it is plugged into the computer.

How can I switch to MTP mode or have my computer recognize the phone so I can retrieve data from it?

(I guess I could just move the data I have on there to a cloud storage, but I prefer to do it via computer)

(Honestly, not being able to set the preferred USB mode without a active USB connection is a pretty big design flaw for scenarios like this. It would be so simple.)

Probably its too late. I had exactly the same problem and i used a Bluetooth keyboard with a touch pad / a Bluetooth mouse should also work. Use the OTG to connect the Bluetooth device then disconnect the OTG. Connect it to the Computer and you can change the mode with the Bluetooth device.


How to prevent uninstalling applications How can I prevent uninstalling selected applications by mistake? can I add a user application to device administrator for example?

No, you cannot add any app as a device administrator unless it has provisions for it. What you can do is convert those apps as system apps. The process requires root access. Follow:

How do I properly install a system app given its .apk?
Installing .apk as system app directly (with root)

You can alternatively, albeit with root access, disable the component com.android.packageinstaller.UninstallerActivity. (Elixir 2 can do that easily.) That component shows the the dialog to uninstall the app. If you prevent the appearance of that you won't be able to uninstall the app through GUI.

In absence of root access, consider disabling the Package Installer app. It is a system app which handles installation (sideloaded apps) and uninstallation of apps through GUI. It can be disabled from Settings → Apps → (three-dots line → Show System) or (All Apps) → Package Installer → Disable.

One side effect of disabling Package Installer completely or its aforesaid component is that you won't be able to uninstall any app through Settings app either (Play Store is exception). Re-enable Package Installer to uninstall any app from Settings app again.


Manage Contact Groups on Droid X On the Droid X I'm able to create contact groups. However I don't seem to be able to add/delete group members. What am I missing?

Well I just did the OTA update so I'm not sure if it was there before, but now when viewing a group I can see the Edit Group button when displaying a group in the contacts.


Galaxy Nexus screen flashes and brightness issues on various button taps and screens While using my Galaxy Nexus at night in the dark, I started experiencing issues where the screen would flash for a moment to what felt like full brightness when I tap on certain buttons. It seems inconsistent, but frequent. I've had it happen when pressing the back button in various apps, or switching to different apps in the application switcher. It's bright enough to say that it kind of hurts my eyes.

It also seems like certain screens get locked into full brightness. One example is the main timeline screen of the official Twitter app.

I have Automatic Brightness turned off, and the brightness slider at the lowest setting.

Any ideas as to what causes this? Is there some setting I'm missing?

I just had this happen to me. Seeing your answer, Moskie, I carefully removed the apps one at a time from the application switcher by sliding them to the right, testing between each one. For me, pressing home from the web browser caused my screen to do a slow flaah, opening the apps menu made it go bright and stay bright.

The app that caused the trouble? Camera.


IP Address of desktop computer USB tethered to phone For my Internet connection I use a Motorola Electrify Android phone USB tethered to my desktop computer Windows XP. My service provider is US Cellular.

I would like to know the IP address of my desktop computer so that some friends in the outside world can connect to it, like for FTP and TelNet and Remote Desktop Sharing. My phone shows an IP address (it's currently 10.244.3.92, and I realize that this will change with every power-up.)

I've been told that this is the IP address I should use, but I have not been able to make any connection to my desktop computer from outside.

The easiest way to see the public IP of a device is by a Google search. If that IP still doesn't let you connect from an outside source, check the following:

Make sure your firewall isn't blocking the connection. You can temporarily disable it to troubleshoot this.
Make sure your computer has services/ports/servers open that you can connect to.


Google Cardboard with 4.5 inch smartphone Has anyone tried the Google Cardboard (the carton equipment and the relative software from Play Store) with an android device of 4.5 inches like Moto G 1st gen? (I have the LTE - XT1039 version, so, it has gyroscope)

I am asking because I am about to order some of this equipment and I doubt that in less than 5" display the eyes will have the ability to focus and get a clear image...

I won't go for it on a phone with a 720p display, at least 1080p is a must for Virtual Reality. The 4.5 inch phone will work and fit, just pick out the right cardboard. I'd recommend the Moto G3 with 1440p for VR, its actually perfect, your phone is a bit out of date. But if its all you need in a phone, don't bother switching.


Grant access to the phone to additional users I have a rooted Nexus 5 with multi users enabled (with gravity kk).
This is great except when I receive calls or SMS... only the account marked as "owner" receives it.
The most frustrating is that when I'm logged in with an additional user, I do receive the call (it rings) but I cannot catch it...
And SMS are just only received on the "owner" account.

I didn't find any way to change that behaviour.
Basically, I want that any user can receive the calls and receives the SMS.
How can I change that?

Solved in Android 5.0 (built-in feature).


Overcommit ratio settings for Android? (Kernal Adiutor) I cannot seem to get a straight answer on this, and that is the Overcommit Settings in the Android Kernel. I only have a basic understanding of it, that it allows the system(?) to only use a certain percentage of ram? Anyway, with my failed research attempts, there is very little on this subject, and often articles will conflict with each other. For example, in these articles:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-comprehensive-guide-to-kernels-t3121088

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/guide-comprehensive-guide-to-kernels-t3121088

They both say that overcommitting is bad and should be disabled. However, in a few other articles:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1621808

They set the overcommit to 100% (Or just leave it at 50). I just want a plain and straight answer, what is the overcommitting ratio and how does it affect ANDROID specifically, one way or the other? (Battery, performance, stability)

Thank you very much!

(I am editing my Android Kernel [HotDog] with Kernel Adiutor)

EDIT: My phone is Android 7.1 with 2GB of ram

My understanding is this. basically the android system runs all the apps and determines when to give them memory and how much. when an app requests some RAM the system will set aside some ram for that app.  apps dont always use as much ram as they request, so the system will actually tell the app it has X amount of RAM to use when in reality only Y amount of ram was set aside and X>Y is the ratio essentially.
so 50% would mean that the system would attempt to set aside 50% less physical memory to this app than it wants but keeps it a secret from the app and then uses multitasking in order to try and give it ram as needed


Setting static ip for Android hotspot I'm connecting to my Android's hotspot. I see that the IP is 192.168.43.0/24, so any ip in 192.168.43.X would be reserved for Android's DHCP server. But I need the machine that connects to Android's hotspot to have a static IP. I would have multiple Android hotspots connected to my machine using different WiFi nic cards. How would I set the static IPs in order to prevent any conflicts?

Edit:
This question asks how to configure the DHCP settings of Android
How configure the DHCP settings of WIFI Tethering(Hotspot) in android I don't want to change DHCP settings, but I want to modify DHCP settings, but I want to set a static IP

I can not ad a comment with my reputation,  it seems to be solved there How can I permanently assign a static IP address to Wi-Fi or USB tether clients?enter link description here. Should i copy the answer over? I am new here.


Why is my phone not an available option on the online Play market? I have to Android devices, a phone and a tablet. I recently upgraded both to Android 4.4.

When I go to Google Play's website using a browser on my computer, and select an app to install, my list of devices shows my tablet, but not my phone. It used to show both.

I can't seem to find any setting to connect my phone to my Google account in such a way as to make my phone appear in the list. How do I make my phone an available option when installing apps from a computer based browser?

Ensure that you have your Google account connection set and have logged into Play Store from your phone and installed a program.  This can be found under accounts and sync.

I believe this also has to be the primary account... the first one set up.  You can most likely remove any of them except your primary account.  The primary account can only be removed by taking the phone back to factory reset.  The first one setup in the Android have a special value.

Steps to ensure android is linked to Google Play Store:

Ensure your using the same account on both phone and google.
Using your android device, download an app from play store.
Ensure you're running a compatible version of the Android OS (Version 1.5 would be too old).
Ensure you're not using a business or school account that is using the old Google Apps infrastructure.

Other details can be found at: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1141080?hl=en


How do I sign my SG4 out of google play? I have tried several times to go to settings>accounts>google, however, when I touch google, my phone tells me repeatedly that "Unfortunately, settings has stopped".  Can someone help me please?  I really need to sign out of that old account.

Thanks!

Log into it from another device's Web browser, change the password on that account, and go to https://mail.google.com and scroll to the bottom and select Details then Sight out other sessions.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/gmail/zIVuCmZ-tuA


Force close message for every single application on Easypad Junior I have an Easypad Junior and have the following problem with it: When I start it and unlock it i get this error:

  The application <..., it does that for every single one> has stopped
  unexpectedly

The only thing I can do is to press Force close and then I enter a loop of pressing that. That leads nowhere. In safe mode, the same story.

Can you please help me?

It may be because of permission issue.
If you are rooted and installed Custom Recovery(CWM recovery,TWRP Recovery) there is an option in advanced.

1: Boot into recovery
2: Advanced (CWM Recovery)
3: Fix permissions

It will fix permissions for all apps installed.
try it.. or else provide more details like ROM,Root status,recovery etc.


How do I make the priority menu disappear I recently upgraded to Lollipop on my Nexus 5.

To put the phone on silent, I press the volume-up button and select Priority. Great.

Now how do I make that menu go away? I can click on an empty area of my homescreen, but that seems like a bad solution. What is there wasn't an open place to click on? Isn't there a sane way to exit that dialog?

I think you have to tap an empty space on the screen; if the screen is full of touch-sensitive stuff (homescreen) you can open Recents/Overview and swipe there, then close it again. Not ideal, but the best you can do.


Restore SMS from a phone with broken screen I have a Samsung Galaxy S phone with a broken screen. I have text messages on it from about 2 years ago (which I need for court).

After the screen broke I changed service providers. Now their is no service to the phone. So if I fix the phone will my messages still be on the phone?

The SMS will still be there, assuming that:

you have not wiped, or done a Factory Reset on the phone
the SMS was saved to the Phone and not the SIM
the phone can still be repaired


Transfer WhatsApp chat from iPhone to Android I recently moved from iPhone to Android, now I want to transfer all my WhatsApp chats to my new Android phone from iPhone, but the problem is WhatsApp doesn't have any feature to transfer chats between different platforms, so I was looking for third-party apps which can make this possible, but no luck till now, please share your thoughts and experiences.

You can use a third party app to take the data and migrate it. You can use the following apps:

Backuptrans
WazzapMigrator
Dr. Fone

Alternatively, you can email yourself the backup file from the WhatsApp and import it on the new phone:

  On your iPhone, launch the WhatsApp App and then go to "Settings >
  Chat Settings" on the interface.   Select the WhatsApp chat messages
  you want to transfer from iPhone to Android and swipe the pane to
  left. Then you need to tap on "More" button and choose "Export Chat".
  After that, you would be asked Whether to attach media or not. ￼
  Choose the e-mail to export and type in your email address as the way
  you do to send an e-mail, and then please press "Send".


Difference between VLingo and the built in Voice functionality in Android? My wife is contemplating an Android phone, and loved the demo she saw of VLingo on a Blackberry.  I keep noting that this is all built in and free on Android.  I imagine since they are cross coding anyway, might as well offer it for Android at least (It IS offered for Android, as well as iPhone and Blackberry).

So a couple of things:
What are the differences between VLingo and the built in functionality?
Are there other alternatives?

I like the Google technology currently used, and am playing with VLingo on my Blackberry, and am not so impressed yet.  I am waiting to be wowed.

I tried VLingo for a while on my Evo and wasn't impressed.  It did not seem to offer any value to me above that provided by the built-in voice actions.  I uninstalled it after trying it for a couple of months.


Stop droid x from security locking during a call I have noticed that when I am on a lengthy call on my Droid X, the phone locks itself.  This seems to happen within the expected timeout period, so I don't believe that the phone is malfunctioning.  Instead, I just think that just bad design (if I am on the phone making a call, I would expect that to register as an activity and keep the handset from locking).

My question is whether there is any way to keep the phone from doing this (other than setting the timeout to off before I take a call).  I have Tasker on the phone, so I have been toying with the idea of setting up some workaround, but does anyone have any other options?

UPDATE: To be clear, I am talking about the phone locking (requiring you to re-enter security PIN or pattern to unlock) during a call, not the screen turning off when the phone is in proximity to your face.  So basically after a 20 minute phone call, if I want to check my mail, I need to enter my PIN.  I find this annoying and would like to avoid it if possible.

Maybe Screebl can help - it enables/disables your phone's power saving features depending on the orientation (how the phone is held in your hand in relation to the ground).

Originally designed to keep the screen awake during a call, the PRO version also includes Tasker / Locale integration.


multiple android devices using same email address question/ I work for a company which uses many android devices (tablets). Same level of users share same email address. When an email is sent to a group,they all get the emails but only one of them is receiving the email alert from the tablet. Is there any way to configure the tablets to have all of them alert when new email is received? We use Samsung Galaxy tablets with Android. Thank You.

I think other tablets didnt turn on the notifications of New arriving emails.
Go to email -> settings -> 1.tick the EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS.
And also check you have tick the SYNC EMAIL.


Where can I add xposed modules to systemless xposed framework? I have installed Magisk and systemless xposed. What do I need to do to download and install xposed modules (not Magisk modules)?

I don't see any app for xposed only the Magisk Manager from where I can install Magisk modules (like systemless xposed).

From Magisk tap downloads and search for Xposed

Choose Xposed version corresponding to your Android version- choose the version by rovo89

Tap on the module, on the next screen it will prompt you to download an installer. Do that, give permissions for installing for external sources when prompted. Go back to the earlier screen and install. Let it do it's job and reboot.

You would get the familiar Xposed installer. You are now good to install systemless Xposed modules


Setting's "Search" function doesn't work properly on Android N Preview 3 In settings of Android phone, there is a search button in the Action Bar and it cannot give me what I want to search. I find it works sometimes but 90% it doesn't. The 2nd image shows the very irrelevant results.

For example, I enter battery to search for battery settings, it gives me nothing.

My question is: how to fix it?

And result when enter ba:

I cleared data and cache from settings app and it's worked for me. Not factory reset and clear cache from recovery. I went into settings>apps>allaps,settings>storage and clear cache and data


Any way to disable emojis/smileys/everything? So, is there any way to COMPLETELY stop showing emojis/smileys in every single app? I'd rather see a blank square than an annoying face.

Why I want to do that? I don't know, I hate them.

It is not possible to remove in every single app, since some are baked into the app itself. You can remove emojis from your keyboard however as well as from the app in which you are using. As an example, if you have google keyboard, go into settings---> preferences switch emoji switch key off. In apps such as WhatsApp or Macebook messenger, it is not possible without tampering with the app itself.


How do I remove the pattern lock? I have my brothers old HTC & was playing with the Location & Security settings. I added the pattern lock to my phone, but it's now just an extra thing to get through before being able to use my phone. How can I remove this? I'm rather clueless with the terminology too & don't grasp the concept of APN's & VPN's or know what a corporate administrator is.

In your phone go to the settings options and check for Security settings and find key lock settings.

You will have Some options like PIN, Pattern, None.
Pin is for the phone will ask you for a 4-digit number to unlock
your phone.
Pattern is for the phone will ask you to draw the pattern for the
phone to unlock the phone. The  pattern should be the same as the pattern you
had set.
Choose none for the phone will not ask for any pattern or pin to
unlock your phone.In this way you will be free of any hassles to unlock your phone.


How can I update Huawei Honor 4C I need  Android 6.0 Marshmallow Firmware B067 Huawei Honor 4C (CHM-U01)

For this device: Huawei HONOR 4C, Model number: CHM-U01, Build number: CHM-U01 V100R001C185B067, CPU: Octa-core 1.2GHz, RAM: 2.0GB, Internal storage: 8GB, Android version: 4.4.2, Kernel version: 3.10.49-g3a7cb5a android@localhost #1 Wed Apr 15 17:28:55 CST 2015, EMU version: EMUI 3.0.

When I try to update the system I get this message "No updates", but the official website has the updates but it does not compatible with the device.

You can find Honor 4C downloads on CarbonTesla's Huawei Honor 4C Firmware & OTA page; according to your build number (C185B067) your device seems to be pakistan or Middle-East region. Follow up the link to the corresponding download section there, where you will find the files to download and a short instruction on how to proceed. According to that page, the firmware offered is Android 6.0 Marshmallow with EMUI v4.0, for the CHM-U01 as specified by you.

good luck..........


Can non-HD Android devices output full HD over HDMI? What is the chance Android 4+ phone or tablet with physical HDMI-out connector will be able to output FullHD resolution if the device itself does not have FullHD screen? Are there any rules for this? What if the device's screen resolution is even smaller than 720p (like 800x480)?

There aren't any rules for this, so it's entirely up to the tablet in each particular case. I can give an example: the original Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 has a < 720p screen, and its HDMI output is a pixel-for-pixel mirror of the screen (i.e. the HDMI output is the same pixel size as the screen).


Get app's compatibilty matrix from Play Store I am trying to figure out why Play Store claims that an app is incompatible with my device. Sideloading the app works fine, I'd just like to get it over the Play Store so that I don't have to update manually.
I know that, as a developer, you can set criteria on what devices are compatible to your app.
Is there any way to get those criteria as a customer?

Some years ago the protocol used by Google Play Store internally to query and download app was so nice to present you the exact reason why you can not download an app (e.g. the responses on network level contained the data what feature, library or what so ever your device misses).
Unfortunately some years ago (I think it was about 2016) Google changed the protocol and nowadays you only get the response like INCOMPATIBLE but no further details.
If you manage to get the APK file you can decompile the app and check it's AndroidManifest.xml for the technical limitations. However using a device that satisfies all the requirements defined in AndroidManifest.xml does not necessary means that Play Store allows to to download that app.
Play Store only allows you to download an app it the rules defined by the app developer allows to do so. When uploading an app app developer can explicitly allow or deny certain devices, manufacturer, countries, network operators and many more. Most of those restrictions are not mappable to the restrictions in AndroidManifest.xml. Therefore side-loading may work even if Play Store doe snot allow you do download an app.
As far as I know there is no way to view those rules defined by the app developer. Hence the only way to regenerate those rules is using a large number of devices and test on each one if an app is available or not. Based on that results you can reverse-engineer the rules.
There are some services that collect these information using multiple devices in many countries and provide those information. Service are for example: 42matters.com AppBrain.com and many more.
Most of those service are not free or only provide a very limited data set for the free accounts.


How can I permanently assign a static IP address to Wi-Fi clients? (Lineage OS 17.1 Android 10) My phone Moto X 4 has LineageOS 17.1 installed and is rooted with magisk. I use the phone's hot spot as main mean to connect to the internet.
In this scenario the android device acts as DHCP server, therefore distributing random IP addresses in the 192.168.43.0/24 sub range. I would like to assign static IP addresses to my devices, then i can connect to them trough SSH easily. The clementine android remote also requires my laptop to be available on a fixed IP.
I do not like to carry a travel router for this basic network ability.
On android 9 this was possible by setting up the dnsmasq.conf file, setting the file permissions and configuring SELinux rules.
This workaround helped me to set it up.

Android uses dnsmasq as its DHCP/DNS server (up to Pie). So create the configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.conf with option dhcp-host=<MAC>,<IP>.

DHCP  is Dynamic Hosting Control Protocol. It give you dynamic IP address. Static IP address you need to lease. DHCP server give ip address to host, it is not static.
You can assign IP address. Go to setting / connection / select network / manage network setting / Advance option. Here you can give static IP address.
After Question Update.
Go to Wi-Fi / setting / Advance networking / DHCP IP reservation / Here add static IP address and also select device for static IP address.
Network admin use static IP address for shared device like ZEROX machine printer.


If I install a new ROM does that erase all my installed apps and dat? If I have a rooted (Razr M in this case) and want to install an updated ROM (e.g., to upgrade to a new 'Droid OS version) will I need to reinstall my apps and restore my data?

Unless you wipe all your data before the update, you do not need to Reinstall applications or Restore application data. But when flashing a completely different new ROM, it's recommended to do a full wipe before proceed. Further more, If you are planing to do a full wipe you can use a application like My Backup Pro or Titanium Backup to back up all your applications and data.


How to turn off "Shake to wake camera" on Nexus 5? Ages ago, while running Lollipop, I found a setting to allow activation of the camera whilst locked. All you have to do is shake the phone. I'll give that a try, I thought. After all, I can always cancel it if I don't like it. However, the thing is way too sensitive and has been driving me mad taking photos of pocket lint and my feet mostly

I can't find the setting to turn it off, despite a great deal of menu exploring and even checking the 'similar questions' panel currently to my right as I type. Upgrading to Marshmallow hasn't got rid of it.

I've got a sneaky suspicion it's a function of a 3rd-party app since there's nothing obvious in the Android settings screen or in the app settings.

Has anyone else come across this or actually figured how to disable it?

On the Moto X (2013), this setting is called Quick Capture, and appears in the camera app's settings.  It's likely to be in a similar place on the Nexus.

(Click image to enlarge)


Persistent malware despite factory resets I'd love your thoughts on this. Several months ago I mistakenly clicked a popup on a website, and since then have been getting intermittant popups says "your sim card is infected...etc" and it tries to direct me to the play store to install some sketchy "antivirus" app (which I have never downloaded).

The issue is, I've done multiple factory resets, but after a few days I get the popup again. I've tried 10 antivirus apps from the play store, google chrome's malware detector, but everything comes up clean. Most recently, I used TWRP to completely wipe all data from my phone (wiped Dalvik, system, storage, data, cache, everybox I could check), and before reinstalling Oreo 8.1 I wiped all my data being synced by Google. Still, a few days later, I get the popup, without visiting sketchy websites or downloading non-standard apps in the interim.

I figure there is either something that is being synced to my phone from my Google account (I use google Fi and it requires I use my google login), or there is some niche in my phone that is not getting wiped. The only other thing I can think of is that these are just regular popups, and not part of malware, but that seems unlikely since I didn't get them before I clicked the banner that one time.

Any suggestions on how to get rid of this thing? Thanks!

You can try identifying the app the next time it brings up that popup by checking the foreground activity using dumpsys:
adb shell dumpsys activity activities|grep mFocusedActivity
OR
If it's just a window without an activity use adb shell dumpsys window windows and search for apps whose windows have isReadyForDisplay()=true, this may help you be able to identify exactly what app is responsible for the popup so you can disable or remove it


How to turn off red-dotted-underline spelling check when text-messaging? I've updated my HTC Desire HD A9191 to Android 2.3.3 and now I don't know how to get rid off the spelling check (red dotted underline) when text messaging. The underlining isn't present when typing in Evernote's application, for example. It is strictly text-messaging issue.

There's no spelling-check option in message settings. I've tried turning on and off spelling check under Settings->Language & Keyboard->Touch Input->Text input->Spell correction and it didn't do anything either way. I don't have enabled neither 'Prediction' nor 'Word completion'. Google search didn't find anything about red dotted underline on Androids either.

Why would I want to disable spelling check? Androids don't support my locale the way they should (QWERTZ instead of QWERTY), so I'm forced to use German locale. Which is fine, I'd use English as a system language anyway. But the spelling check is underlining non-German words, which is obviously annoying to me as a non-German native speaker.

You can use an alternative SMS app, e.g. Handcent. I think the spell checking feature is probably HTC specific (AFAIK, HTC has their own SMS app).


Is there any working implementation of Google Docs on Honeycomb? Simple question. I need to edit some Google documents on my EEE Pad Transformer with Honeycomb 3.2. I want few basic features.

I want my changes to be displayed corectly in File/See revision history
I want to be able to browse the file only with keyboard (that means up and down keys on the physical keyboard).
I want to use my localized, non-US keyboard, which I have on Transformer and which works on most of the applications

There were few ways people told me. None of them works.

Google Docs in mobile version looks ugly on tablet, but mainly, I am not able to browse the file with up and down keys. Moreover, the cursor jumps like crazy, so I often delete some text accidentaly when I want to delete something else, and there is no undo in the whole thing.
the application "Google Docs" in the market does the same thing.
the external applications, like Documents to Go, which are paid, do work more sanely, but still, when I upload the document, it replaces the whole revision, so I don't see any changes in revisions, just one version replacing the other.The same thing happens when I remotely connect to my server with SSH and use the python API (yeah, I tried everything).
the desktop version of Google Docs doesn't work at all, I can't enter single letter, no matter how hard I try. It looks beautiful, though, which is awesome.

edit:

what sort of works is opening desktop version of Google Docs in newest Firefox beta. However - for some reason, Firefox takes all keypresses as coming from US keyboard, while I have clearly selected  localized keboard (which I have).

So, is there any working implementation for Google Docs? I thought that because Android is from Google and Docs are from google, it will work seamlessly, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

There was a recent (around 5-Oct-2011) update of the offical Google Docs App, with the following changes:

What's new in this version:

Optimized experience for tablet users, Honeycomb (Android 3.0+)

New 3-panel interface for improved browsing
Details panel showing a thumbnail and sharing information
Improved sharing experience with autocomplete system
Landscape or portrait mode

Improved video playback

Maybe it fixes the problems you described. I am sure Google will further work on the tablet compatibility of the Google Docs app, it's just a matter of time.


How Do I Activate 3G Only On Samsung Galaxy A5(2015) I use Samsung Galaxy A5 (2015) and I have just upgraded the firmware to Android 6.0 (Marshmallow). The phone supports 3G but the option to set it is LTE/3G/2G (auto connect) on Network mode.

How do I get the phone to use 3G only?

Try to call ##4636## then select Phone/Tablet Information, scroll below and you saw Spinner, select 3G/WCDMA only

Or

Goto Settings > Cellular/Mobile Network > Your 3G SIM > Network (3G only)


Communicating with a device via USB port , is it possible? I am new to Android Platform and I Like to know whether it is possible for an Android device (App) to communicate with Linux/XP system via USB port for 2 way communication. If yes how can it be done?

What I want to achieve: I have a PC running Linux and I want to write a small App in my Android device to send and receive data from PC via USB.

Android Devices as USB Hosts has been a point of interest for all the developers. Until the Android's HoneyComb OS (OS 3.0), there have been no signs of possibility.
The latest HoneyComb API (OS 3.1), however, seems to provide possibilities to support Android devices being used as USB Hosts. An API has been included for the same.
Therefore, though as of now very few Android devices support the USB Host capability, it will be possible in all the upcoming devices.


"Lock & Erase" feature on my android phone I lost my android phone and tried using Android Device Manager.  Normally when you got to Android Device Manage it gives you three choices:  "Ring", "Lock", and "Erase".
For some reason, on the phone that I am looking for, it only gives you two choices:  "Ring" and "Lock & Erase".  Here are my questions:
1.  If I select "Lock & Erase", will it give me a choice between the two?
2.  If I select "Lock & Erase", and it doesn't give me a choice will it ask me "Are you sure" before proceeding?
3.  If the Android Device Manage "erases" and puts the phone back to factory default, will the "finder" of my phone be able to re-activate the phone?
Thanks!

The Android Device Manager is only able to work if:

1 .You enabled it on your phone.
2. Your phone has an active connection to the internet.
3. At the time its connected to the internet, your google account is still signed into the phone. If your finder performs a hard reset on your phone or resets it to factory default settings, your google account is erased effectively rendering ring lock or erase useless.
Are you using a web browser to access the ring lock and erase feature?


Do I need network's SIM in in order to receive OTA update I have a UK HTC Magic which is from Vodafone - I am in France for the time being and don't have the Vodafone SIM in. The phone is on the internet via wifi a lot.

Do I need to have Vodafone's sim in the phone in order to receive the Froyo OTA update that was announced today?

No, you don't. The updates are received from the Servers of the Provider/Manufacturer. This adress is saved in the ROM. So you just need an internet connection via 3g or wifi.


Read audio from USB OTG I have a lot of music files. Far more from what my SD card + internal memory could support even if they had no apps, pictures and whatnot stored into.

I have a 128Go USB stick where I store all my music so I can listen to it on any device. However, this does not work with my Android 6.0 phone.

I mean, I can plug the stick on the device with the cable, then click onto the "USB drive" notification to see the files and then play the file I want. Problem: I want to listen to music through a proper player, which goes onto the next song when one is finished and let me browse my music in an intuitive manner.

So far I was unable to find any player that would detect music on my USB stick. I think I understood now the problem comes from OTG itself - which is made for using a DAC more than a USB stick or to store files more than play them - but I wonder if there isn't some kind of trick or workaround to get, for example, my phone to detect my USB stick as an SD card, or to make it treat the stick as internal memory (which is possible with SD cards).

My phone is not rooted for now (haven't got the time to investigate much on this) by I do have a custom recovery (TWRP) if that can help. If rooting is necessary I'll dig more into it.

Thanks for your help !

Well, finally, I found an app that can read music from an USB stick.

ES File Explorer

It is a file eplorer which:

1) detects USB sticks

2) comes with a simple music player with basic functions

3) can create a playlist from a specified folder

4) can do this with USB folders

While the player in itself is not exactly the most advanced one (it won't detect id3 tags on USB files, doesn't sort songs by Artist, Album or whatever else than alphabetical order) nor the most beautiful, it has all I need for listening music in the subway (which was my main goal here) i.e. making a playlist from my music folder and being able to shuffle it.

Hope it helps people who had the same problem as me.

Edit

This player has some problems. It crashes, don't detect the stick sometimes and often goes as far as restarting my phone. It does the job, but it does not do it well and the user experience is unpleasant. Therefore, if anybody has a better suggestion, please write an answer !


Link to a group in Whatsapp I am attending a group on Whatsapp.

I would like to add a friend to this group.

I wanted to know how to get a link to my friend to find this group.

If anybody know an option where I can add it would also be interesting.

You must be the group admin in order to have access to the link.
Ask the group admin to share the link with you, and you can then send it to your friend.

From WhatsApp's FAQ:

  If you are the group admin, you can invite people to join a group
  simply by sharing a link with them. To share a group invite link:

  Go to the group in WhatsApp. Tap the subject of the group. Tap Add
  participant. Tap Invite to group via link. Choose to share the link
  within WhatsApp or to another app.
  (Source)

More info on how the link works:

When you press on the link, it will open WhatsApp, and it will give you more info about the group, who the creator is, and who is part of the group. You then have the option of joining the group.

If you open the link in a browser, and press the 'join group' button, it will open WhatsApp and give you the option to actually join.


How do I lock my bootloader again? I tried to root my Moto G3; but I was unsuccessful. Now my phones boots with this warning.

I am sick of seeing this on boot screen. How do I disable it? Seems like I need to lock the bootloader again. How do I do that? I'm completely blank.

First, I want to tell you that relocking the bootloader will NOT get rid of that message... On the Moto G3, once the bootloader has been unlocked that message will always appear, forever. That being said, you can flash a custom boot logo to cover the warning. I will explain how to relock the bootloader and fix the logo though.

To successfully relock the bootloader on a Moto device, you must flash a complete stock firmware image via fastboot that is of the same or newer revision than you have installed, you cannot downgrade to relock. Firmware images are available here and vary by exact model. Once you have that unzipped and in your fastboot directory, perform the following commands:

fastboot oem lock begin
fastboot flash partition gpt.bin
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader.img
fastboot flash logo logo.bin
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.0
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.1
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.2
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.3
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.4
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.5
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.6
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.7
fastboot flash system system.img_sparsechunk.8
fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot erase modemst1
fastboot erase modemst2
fastboot flash fsg fsg.mbn
fastboot erase cache
fastboot erase userdata
fastboot erase customize
fastboot erase clogo
fastboot oem lock
fastboot reboot

Note that the number of sparcechunks can vary by model and Android version from 5-11 pieces, but what you flash must match the firmware image you have. If any piece fails, the bootloader will not lock.

Once this is done, you will have a completely stock device and a relocked bootloader, with a nice Bootloader Unlocked warning screen. As I said, once the bootloader has been unlocked, it cannot be restored to it's original condition in any way we know of.

To get rid of the screen (but not the delay or vibration, we can't get rid of that) you can flash a patched logo.bin file in fastboot. This can be done even with a locked bootloader. This can be done by flashing the logo.bin file from this ZIP file with the command:

fastboot flash logo logo.bin

And the warning screen will disappear. The ZIP file can also be flashed in it's entirety via TWRP recovery instead.

All of this may not be relevant, since rooting this device is very simple, since that wasn't your question I will not answer it here, but I will point you to my thread on XDA which may be of assistance if you want to attempt rooting again. Note that the logo.bin file I reference above can be flashed on a stock or modified system to get rid of the warning, your bootloader does not have to be locked to get rid of the warning.


Nexus 6 - black screen on unlock I have a Nexus 6 that I've been using now for almost a year.

Very recently, it started this odd behaviour of turning the screen black as soon as I swipe up to unlock it.

The screen works fine otherwise - it boots fine, it behaves in bootstrap and recovery mode, etc. The rest of the phone also seems to operate 'correctly' and I can see notifications occuring in the lock screen. There is no PIN or other unlock pattern - just the swipe upwards.

However, the moment that I try to unlock it, it goes black.

Apparently, there is a sensor for magnetic covers that can become biased and cause this issue. Some have noticed this occuring after prolonged use of a cover with a magnetic clasp - and sure enough, the phone has been used with one of these since when it was new.

Any ideas on how to fix this? Both a cache wipe AND a factory reset didn't solve the issue - which would be consistent with the cause above.

Some have suggested swiping a magnet to 'unbias' the sensor, but I am not sure about what kind of magnet and how to do this. Experiments with a fridge magnet have yielded no effect.

I am not certain if there is the Nexus 6 is really using magnetic sensor to determine if it is in a holster but your mention of noticing this problem after prolonged use with a magnetic clasp makes it likely.

If this is your problem then a refrigerator magnet is way too weak. Ideally, you want an AC current generated magnetic field, similar to the old days when one needs to deGauss a CRT. You can try using a magnetic setup that is used to erase computer/audo tapes.


Open source app for remote wiping Android phone? I recently lost my android phone, and regretted not having a remote wipe app installed. However, I do not trust 3rd party compiled apps with such power (too many weak links).

Does anyone know of an existing open source app to do a remote wipe?

For non-rooted phones.
Up until 2.1 it is not possible. Regular apps do not have the permission to perform full wipes or factory restores. I believe there are apps that erase your call/sms records and your contacts.
Starting with 2.2, it seems Google is granting limited root powers to apps that use Device Administration. It is supposedly a way for enterprises to policy their employee's phones, and requires an extra confirmation by the owner. But I believe it could be used by anyone writing an app. In fact, the code for wiping seems so simple that I think you could write an open-source app yourself if you have some programming background. ;-)

For rooted phones.
There are remote wipe apps, but I don't believe any of them is open source (that I've heard of).
Remote Wipe for root users is possibly the simplest one, and it's in the market, but I've never tried it myself. This app is no longer on the market.


Connect to a device with WiFi, but use 4G for Internet As the title states, is there a way to connect to a WiFi device (my drone), yet use another app on 4G? Right now when I'm connected to my drone using WiFi, I can't use 4G, but is there a work around?

Samsung devices have a direct connect with option via Wi-Fi (Wi-Fi Direct), it acts as a hotspot for your other devices but uses your mobile data for internet. Other manufacturers and carriers offer similar features also, take a peek in your settings and see what you've got.


How to download via Chrome on Nexus 7 with Jelly Bean 4.2.2 I have a Nexus 7 updated to Jelly Bean 4.2.2, with all apps updated. Chrome is version 28.0.1500.94.

I navigated to

http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/diablo-3-podcast-102-public-game-leeches-economics-and-hardcore-dh-follies

in Chrome and long-clicked the "Download" hyperlink located below the video. This is a link to a .MP3 file (audio podcast). A short message appeared, indicating that the download had started.

However, no indicator appeared in the notification bar at the top and nothing is present in "Apps, Downloads", either when the download starts or a while afterwards.

I looked in the Downloads folder via Rhythm Software's "File Manager". The file appeared there for a short while, but vanished soon afterwards; it vanished long before it would have finished downloading.

Neither uninstalling "File Manager" nor restarting the tablet solved the problem.

Single-clicking the "Download" link causes Chrome to start playing the file, which is not what I want; I want to download the .MP3 file.

II only have a few other apps installed, which are not download/file manager apps.

I tried to download the link using Chrome for Android SEVERAL times, but it always disappears. Like I've been telling myself before, Android for Chrome is not mature enough and lacking in (so many) features.

I would suggest installing a 3rd-party browser like Dolphin or Boat, which are both highly-customizable. I downloaded the MP3 file successfully using Boat (which is my main browser), and it appears in my Download folder.


Prevent Screen from rotating in Android VM Using VirtualBox, I have created a Virtual Android.  My problem is that certain apps will rotate the screen, but virtual box doesn't flip.

Here is my guide:

http://www.howtogeek.com/164570/how-to-install-android-in-virtualbox/

How do I either rotate the screen or keep it from rotating?

I tried disabling the "Auto Rotate Screen" option, but there are some apps that force the screen rotation.

I encountered this problem when trying to run QQ on Android 4.4 running in VirtualBox. F9-F12 were ineffective as soon as QQ started. The app "Ultimate Rotation Control" does the trick but does not resize the QQ window. So part of it gets to lie out of the virtual screen. Finally, I ended up redefining the screen size of the virtual Android to 360x640 (portrait) as described here. It seems that QQ detects which side of the screen is longer and rotates according to this. So if you start with a portrait aspect ratio it will not rotate sideways. I do not about pheed, but guess it operates the same way.


Show size of biggest folders and files in system data 1. Summary

I don't find, how I can view, which folders and files are the biggest in my system data. So I can manually decide which files to delete and which not.

2. Expected behavior

Ideally to have behavior as in SpaceSniffer Windows program.

SpaceSniffer can show sizes of system Windows files.

I can't get similar behavior for Android.

3. Data

ASK Benefit S401
Android 5.1.1
CyanogenMod 12.1 ROM
Rooted

When I install CyanogenMod, system data size — ~700 MB; at the time — ~1,5 GB.

Several hundred megabytes — apps data, for which I would consider the possibility of removal.

4. Not helped

4.1. SpaceSniffer Android alterntaives

All doesn't show system data files and folders.

DiskUsage

DataSize Explorer

Grid Size File Manager

I don't find another DiskUsage alternatives, that can help me.

5. Do not offer

Yes, I understand that operations with system Android files may be risky. I understand that I do actions at my own risk.
Yes, I know about SD card partitioning, and I move all my apps to SD card use Apps2SD.
Yes, I can view system data files, use any file manager, that support root — I use Amaze, — but I don't find file manager, that:

correct sort folders and files in system data
show files/folders size of all files in screen.

6. Related questions

My question is not duplicate for these questions; please look carefully.

How to see what is stored in System memory area?
Huge «system data» file on SD Card
How do I get rid of “System Data” that takes up half my hard drive?

Install Solid Explorer and grant it root access. This is the most feature filled file manager that I've tried. Visit the Root (/) partition, click three dots on top right and properties. There you can see a breakdown of the content, file types and top 20 files (it does take a while to index this).

Alternatively with a terminal emulator use the common Linux tool du and sort by size:

du -ah(x) | sort -n -r | head -n (number_to_show)

I tried to find a build of ncdu for Android which would be ideal but no luck. If you have Ubuntu/Arch/some other system with a package manager installed you could simply apt-get it.


Motorola Xoom "Complete action using" dialog won't display to select an activity When generating an intent in an application that is supposed to create the dialog popup to choose an activity to complete the action, it simply doesn't show.  I get a darkened screen and no dialog.

For example: click on a YouTube link should popup a dialog asking to use Browser or YouTube (if no default is set).  When I click on this link, the screen darkens like it wants to show a dialog, but it simply doesn't.

Solution: apparently there is a bug with this in Android 3.2.  Rotating your Xoom will fix it.


Bypassing a blocked port on a 3G connection I know this may seem illegal, but I just wanted to know how to bypass a blocked port on my Carrier 3G connection.

Sometime before I used to use some Android VPN app that gave me access to the Internet via my carrier, without Wi-Fi. I only use 3G data to connect to the internet and use all my apps, Facebook, Twitter and many others with no limits.

Then one day it stopped working and I couldn’t connect to the VPN server. I asked about it and I’ve been told that my carrier blocked the port I was using, and that it why I couldn’t use it anymore.

How does this port blocking work, and how can I bypass it, if it is possible?

Your carrier blocked the port. You cannot use it unless you can get the carrier to unblock it.


Samsung Galaxy Ace - HID Bluetooth Keyboard Connection? I'm a newly arrived escapee from the iPhone Empire - I just got a Galaxy Ace and it seems better in all respects except one very important one for me... I used to use my iPhone to write / take notes etc, using an I-connex Bluetooth keyboard.   But it looks like my Ace won't allow this keyboard to connect - it says it doesn't connect to HID devices.

I've tried two different apps to try and fix this - BlueKeyboard JP (which only works with certain keyboards, not including mine) and Bluetooth Keyboard Easyconnect (which I think requires my phone to be rooted - at any rate, it doesn't work).

I'd be very grateful for any suggestions how I can fix this, as it really makes the phone seriously less good than what I had before, given how I use it!   Failing that I'd be very grateful if anyone could advise me if there is any version of Android that DOES allow HID devices to connect - and what phones run it.

Bluetooth was enabled early on in Android (1.5 or 1.6 iirc) So any limitation in that regards is from your specific device and not the platform itself.

I have successfully used HID bluetooth devices with: Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and HTC Evo 4g LTE, Toshiba Thrive, Acer Iconia A200.

I was unaware that there were any devices that disallowed HID device connections actually.

In general though Nexus [anything] devices are the least limited devices on the market at any given time, so I'd say you can't go wrong with one of those.


How to a use android debug bridge on my frozen phone without usb debugging My AZUMI IRO A4Q crashed. I tried to access the recovery menu  using the volume up/down/power button combinations but non of them work. It goes directly to the Digicel screen and freezes there. Is there anyway to access the recovery menu using adb without USB debugging, which I didn't enable prior to the crash?

This site mentions this procedure for getting into recovery:

Volume Up + Power button (or)
Home button + Volume Up + Power button(or)
Volume Down + Power button (or)
Volume Up + Volume Down + Power button

Once you get into recovery, you should be able to use ADB in I remeber correctly, and if not you can easily factory reset


Can't use chmod to alter permissions on emulated phone So, I'm trying to make an app in android studio and I need to reference a particular file in the app, cascade.xml. I've pushed it onto the emulated phone no problem using adb (it's in the storage/sdcard folder). However, the app still can't access it and I think that's because the file permissions are -rwxrwx--- (which means no global access). These permissions are verified in ADM and using ls -l <filename>

I try to change the permissions of that cascade.xml file by going back into the shell (adb shell) using chmod 777 /storage/sdcard/cascade.xml, but it fails quietly and doesn't do anything. Tried doing other chmods, and nothing happens to it at all. If I do su and then chmod 777 /storage/sdcard/cascade.xml, same thing. Trying to do other chmods like chmod 700 and the like also do nothing (quiet fail).

Now, if I try to make a directory in the folder, I can do that using mkdir - mkdir /storage/sdcard/cascades works fine, and the file permissions of the folder are drwrwx---. However, if I try to use mkdir chmod to create the folder and end up with the same permissions - like mkdir chmod 770 /storage/sdcards/cascades2 - the shell says mkdir failed for chmod, Read-only file system. I can also make text files doing something like echo 'Hello World.' > /storage/sdcard/foo.txt (which creates it with permissions of -rwxrwx---), but if try to chmod it afterwards, nothing happens.  If I try to do `echo 'Hello World.' > storage/sdcard/foo2.txt chmod 777, it's the same permission but the file size is 24 instead of 14.

I've done every iteration of mount and remount I can think of, and I still can't get chmod to work properly. I've tried running su in front of everything, and nothing. I've tried starting with adb root, and it says I'm already in root. I can also push stuff the emulator using ADM and adb push. Unfortunately, all of my environment is on a Windows 7 device, so I can't just make a file with -rwxrwxrwx permissions and just transfer it across (unless there's a permission setting in Windows that will make it transfer over as a 777 permission that I don't know about).

Edit: Forgot to mention, the emulated phone is running API 19, target Google APIs (x86 System), running KitKat.

Figured it out - seems like you just can't change permissions for files on sdcard. Moved it to data/local and chmod worked like a charm.


Can't connect to WiFi after spoofed MAC address I'm changing the MAC address on my Android device; however, once I change it I get disconnected from the WiFi network that I'm connected to and then I'm unable to reconnect to the WiFi.

I realized that I can connect to unsecure WiFi but not secure. I know the MAC address is changing properly because I did packet capturing with WireShark and the spoofed MAC shows as the MAC address of the packets.

I have tried forgetting and reconnecting to the secure WiFi network, but it still doesn't connect. When I changed back the MAC to the original value, it works fine. I can only connect with the real MAC address, but not the spoofed one.

Is there something missing?

Make sure MAC filtering is disabled on your router or your spoofed address is allowed to connect to the network and try again.


My phone is not transmitting I have an Htc Desire and I'm using the headset that came with it. During a call yesterday the other party stopped hearing me.  I unplugged the headset and continued with the conversation normally. Today I checked the headphones again before buying a new pair and indeed the other person couldn't hear me. What was really surprising is that I could hear myself,  echo with about a second of delay. So, electronically my headphones work. Is there something broken in my phone?

Update: I just tried the Skype test call and it worked just fine, so it seems to be my headset when making phone calls, which is really weird.

Well, that's hard to say. Its either your phone, your headset or both of them. I'd say: go to a shop, ask to test a new one. If they work: buy them, its just your headset.

If they don't work: Test your headset in another phone. If they work: it's your phone. If they don't: its your phone AND you headset.


Is TWRP OS-version specific? I have a Vsmart Joy 1 phone, running VOS/Android 8.1.0

I found a port of TWRP recovery for Vsmart Joy 1s here (translation), but it says "Android 9.0 VOS..."

Does this mean that I should/have to upgrade to VOS/Android 9.0 to be able to use TWRP properly (the end goal is to root the phone)? Or, can I flash it on my phone as is, without upgrading?

yes, TWRP is built OS-version specific

the reason is changes in android versions may differ in

encryption type
file system type
partition layout
mount point

most (if not all) updates are backwards compatible. that means the TWRP is ready for android 9 but you can still run android 8 on your device


[Sony Xperia XZ1]Remapping camera button Hello {darkness my old friend}
I have a Sony Xperia XZ1(G8341) with AOSP GSI

What I would kindly like to ask  how to map the "dead" camera button to any function

Currently the button doesn't work at all presumably because my custom rom didnt hsve plans for it

Tried any root app i could find, msgidk modules and others however i wourld prefer not using xposed as it gives negative results on ctsProfile

Any suggestion is welcome since I have a throughout knowledge and understanding of technology in general ,you can trust me on that{pushes pile of softbricked deviced under bed} but i would prefer being guided to the right direction on how to make s script to accomplish that

Thank you in advance

Try this:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.irishin.buttonsremapper
It works on my Xperia x compact. It's just a workaround. On my phone the problem is with camera button that was deasappeared after the rom unlocking aldo with drm fixed in...


Is there any documentation on the correct/expected directory structure of the external memory card? There's a couple of issues that i have with the way Android sees my card...

The Gallery App shows CD artwork as a separate photo album.
I want to exclude some things from shuffle playback by the music player.
there's probably more thing that could appear better if we new what Media Scanner was doing....

Summing up from the comments, and adding a little.

Directory structure

There's no complete documentation for the entire cards structure, that seems not to be fixed. However, some directories seem to be more or less common:

the developers guide suggests app specific data should be stored below /sdcard/Android/data/<package_name>/files/ (<package_name> represending the name of the package the data belongs to, which looks like com.example.android.app), and /Android/data/<package_name>/cache/ for external cache files (basically, this corresponds to the /data/data/<package_name>/ directory on internal storage)
same source recommends a bunch of directories to store files intended to be shared among apps. All of those directories are located in the root of the card, and include:

Music/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as user music.
Podcasts/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a podcast.
Ringtones/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a ringtone.
Alarms/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as an alarm sound.
Notifications/ - Media scanner classifies all media found here as a notification sound.
Pictures/ - All photos (excluding those taken with the camera).
Movies/ - All movies (excluding those taken with the camcorder).
Download/ - Miscellaneous downloads.

Excluding directories from Media Scan

If you wish to exclude a directory from the media scan (i.e. from being indexed for the gallery), you can place a file named .nomedia there. This will tell the media scanner to skip this directory (including all files and subdirectories) from a scan -- thus neither images, nor audio or video files stored here will turn up in the gallery. You however can still access them by looking them up manually. Up to my knowledge, there's no way to restrict this to a certain media type (i.e. having the media scanner index audio/video, but skip images). Important: Note the "dot" at the beginning of the file name (making it a "hidden file"). This must be included with its name.


Is there a way to Factory reset my HTC One M7? Is there a way to Factory reset my HTC One M7?

I want to completely wipe it and restore it to how it was when I first turned it on.

So all apps, pictures, phone numbers, music, everything gone.

Googling Factory reset is just showing me instructions on how to Hard reset the device as if it's stalled or frozen.

Take your HTC One and tap on menu.
Then hit settings.
Go to general and choose “backup and factory reset”.
Pick “factory reset”.
Agree and wait while the hard is being completed.
Done.

This will completely wipe all information off your phone, texts, call logs, pictures, etc.  Make sure you back up all your information onto your sd card and remove it before starting this process.

Source