Is there a way to easily record a phone conversation in-progress? I do not own an Android device. I was thinking about getting one, and an important feature for me is the ability to record a phone conversation which is in progress - meaning, while I am in the middle of a conversation, I could touch a button which will save a two-sided audio recording of that conversation from the moment onward.

I am aware that recording a conversation I am participating in without notifying the other members is illegal in some places - I have already checked this and have verified that it is completely legal in my country.

Is there is such a functionality in Android, through core features or available applications?

EDIT:

I prefer a solution which does not notify the other side of the recording, though it's not a must.
I need a solution which works in any country.

There are a couple of apps to try.  I use Ultimate Voice Recorder which costs $4.99 but works beautifully.  You can start recording in the middle of a call.

A quick search on AppBrain brought up Record My Call which is free.  I haven't used Record My Call so I can't comment on whether or not it can start in the middle of a call.

Update: Ultimate Voice Recorder does record both sides of the conversation.


Galaxy S4 keeps rebooting I recently updated my galaxy s4, and after this update contacts app keep force close from yesterday night my device keep rebooting constantly. already did Google and tried so many things.

I have tried a number of steps,

such as taking battery out
removing SD Card and Sim Card

but still it remain same. even device is not going for recovery mode and when i tried to go for Odin mode device is not going in downloading mode and its just restarted.

For me a factory reset helped somewhat, although sometimes it still shuts off (about 3 times a week, better than every hour).


French in the Indian version of the Samsung Note 4 I have the Indian version of the Samsung Note 4. I want to change the language to French, but I don't see French or German in the list of possibilities. Is there a way to do it?

You might want to check out MoreLocale 2 from the Play Store.

Taken from the app page:

  You can select more locales via this app.
  If your locale doesn't appear, please use custom locale function in menu.


Google Play Services Sync problem on Android 2.3.6 I have a phone Samsung GT-S5302 it has stock ROM and root.

When it connects to internet it started to sync as always (sync icon appears), but the icon doesn't disappear even after 8 hours and I can't enter Google Play Store, Google+ account, Hangouts, I get an error "Google Talk authentication problem" and it reduces all phone performance.
Then I try to freeze Google Play Services with Link2SD problem disappear: sync works fine, error disappear, I can enter to Android Play Market, download and install app...
But in this case Google+, Hangouts of course don't work because they need Google Play Services to work fine.
What I've already tried:

I tried to erase cash, app data of the next processes: Play Market, Google Play Services, Google Services Framework and reboot device.

I tried to erase userdata and add only my google account again with no changes.

I tried to reinstall gapps for gingerbread using CWM unsuccessfully again.

I tried to switch off automatic date/time settings and after reboot turn on again - no luck.

I tried to delete Google Play Services and reinstall it with Play Market - the same problem.

So the question is:
Is there any way to solve the problem with Google+ or may be one know where do I need to look or what do I need to do further?

After looking through verbose log of my mobile phone I noticed that Google Play Services (GMS) can't find class "android.os.UserManager" and it has another dead codes connected with Google Play Services (gms).

And this blocks of errors apear over and over again so Google Play Services restarts them self. Class "android.os.UserManager" require API level 17; my phone has API level 10 so I decided to install the older versions of Goolge Play Services.
After that I find out that problems appear with versions of Goolge Play Services greater then 8.3.0. With 8.3.0 and below there is no such problem. Google+ works fine with this version of GMS.

I install all programs that I need using Play Market and after that I delete all data and updates of Play Market to prevent updating Goolge Play Services (I find out that Play Market respones for updating Goolge Play Services).


Samsung Galaxy S3 doesn't mount external SD card I've recently flashed the stock firmware onto my Samsung Galaxy S3 because there was one feature which didn't work on CyanogenMod. My external SD card worked fine until recently - the 'mount SD card' option in Settings is now grayed out, and whenever I insert the SD card into the device, the following messages appear in the logcat:

W/MountService( 3370): Failed to mount media on insertion
W/MountService( 3370): java.lang.NullPointerException
W/MountService( 3370):     at com.android.server.MountService.doMountVolume(MountService.java:1212)
W/MountService( 3370):     at com.android.server.MountService.doMountVolume(MountService.java:1288)
W/MountService( 3370):     at com.android.server.MountService.access$2100(MountService.java:134)
W/MountService( 3370):     at com.android.server.MountService$6.run(MountService.java:1021)

My computer seems to recognise the SD card just fine. Can anyone help me with solving this problem?

Update 1: I was successful in mounting the SD card manually using the shell command from this tutorial: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1804573, however it was only accessible to apps with root permissions.

Update 2: As suggested in the comments section, I formatted the card in question to exFAT. The problem persists.

Update 3: The dmesg (/proc/kmsg) file seemed to have some relevant information. This is what got logged into it when I removed then inserted the card:

<6>[ 5096.384848] c2 mmc1: card removed.
<6>[ 5096.385093] c0 mmc1: card e624 removed
<6>[ 5096.478613] c0 sdhci_set_ios : MMC Card OFF samsung-hsmmc
<6>[ 5097.221780] c2 mmc1: card removed.
<6>[ 5097.221830] c2 mmc1: card inserted.
<6>[ 5097.421722] c2 sdhci_set_ios : MMC Card ON samsung-hsmmc
<6>[ 5097.450386] c0 mmc1: cmd 52 command timeout error
<6>[ 5097.450735] c0 mmc1: cmd 52 command timeout error
<6>[ 5097.454610] c0 mmc1: cmd 5 command timeout error
<6>[ 5097.454944] c0 mmc1: cmd 5 command timeout error
<6>[ 5097.455274] c0 mmc1: cmd 5 command timeout error
<6>[ 5097.455606] c0 mmc1: cmd 5 command timeout error
<6>[ 5097.599241] c2 mmc1: new high speed SDHC card at address e624
<6>[ 5097.600105] c3 mmcblk1: mmc1:e624 SU32G 29.7 GiB
<6>[ 5097.614116] c3  mmcblk1: p1

I fixed the problem just by flashing the stock firmware (using Odin) again. I didn't even have to wipe /data - all my apps are still there.


Disabled apps keep coming back I followed the instructions found in this StackExchange post to disable the YouTube app on my phone.

Everything seemed to go well at first; the updates were uninstalled and the icon was hidden away to oblivion. However, a couple minutes later, I saw a notification that the YouTube app was being updated from the Google Play Store. Lo and behold, the app reinstalled itself and returned to its former place in my app drawer.

No matter how many times I try to disable the YouTube app, it just keeps coming back. Is there any way to permanently disable it?

I'm running Android 5.1.1 on an Xperia Z1 Compact.

Try using Greenify app to hibernate Youtube app (if you are a rooted user). Once hibernated, it won't come into picture unless explicitly opened.

You can also use Titanium Backup to freeze Youtube app, if u want to permanently disable it. You can unfreeze the app later anytime you want.


how does share it application use our information? I would like to know, does share it application store our photos and videos on its server since it has access to phone's gallery

But it's said in their TOS. Please refer it here.


How to install apps which are targeted for another country? Possible Duplicate:
  How can I circumvent regional restrictions in the Android Market?

I'd like to install an app from the Market which is limited to the USA (specifically Google Music). When I search for the app myself in the Market app on my phone, it does not find the app; it seems to be filtered.

So how do I install apps which are not meant for my country?

Before we got paid apps in the Android Market in Denmark, I used to use Market Enabler (requires root). This allowed me to pretend that I was a resident in another country, and thus buy paid apps from the Market.

Perhaps you can use the same solution, faking the market to believe you are from the US?


Anonymous vote on Play Store I often would like to vote app on Play Store, but I do not want to shows to my contacts my votes or the app I installed on my device.

How can I do that?

There is a similar question posted on Google product forums,
Forced to join google + in order to rate apps?
Answer: It's not possible to anonymously rate or review an app. And letting users post anonymously will result in simply posting a review in anger, in an attempt to hurt the developer or app. Making someone identify who they are, in this instance, ensures that they are more likely to think about what they are writing, and if they're going to criticize, they are more likely to do it constructively. Also read this Google product forum post,

It sounds like the heart of your concern is you want to be able to
leave reviews anonymously and the recent change won't allow for that.
Requiring accounts to write reviews is increasingly common (Yelp,
TripAdvisor, OpenTable, and others). In the world of mobile, Apple
requires sign-in with an AppleID to review apps and other content.  In
fact, requiring sign-in has become so prevalent that there's already
industry research on it (example here).
Unfortunately, for folks who don't want to sign-in to leave reviews
like yourself, this shift isn't a desirable one.  Changes like this
can be frustrating if it's not what you want to happen and I'm sorry
that you're so frustrated by it.  Aside from illuminating that this is
a greater trend, there's unfortunately not any other solution except
that I hope that you can make the choice that's right for you.
Finally, I'm not sure what your objective is with leaving a review for
the app and don't know if this will be helpful to you, but know that
you can reach out directly to the app's developer via these steps.

Go to Google Play and select the app in question.
On the app's description page, scroll down to the "Developer" section.
An email address, a phone number or a website will be provided.


I have a pop up every time I open my phone Can someone please tell me what app is causing this pop up every time I open my phone? It's annoying, because I have to click on it every time just to use my phone. I've attached a screenshot.

Remember when did this start to happen. Then uninstall apps after that time.
If that didn't work a factory reset is always handy.
Good Luck!


How to delete Hola launcher on Intex phone? I can't delete Hola launcher on my Intex smartphone. Once I deleted it from app setting, after some time it's automatically installed again. Another launcher named Launcher3 is on my phone with same problem, it's not removing by factory reset.

How can I delete Hola launcher permanently?

Launcher3 is the stock launcher. You can't remove it without rooting your device (it might void the warranty).

And, for the Hola launcher. If it's getting automatically downloaded from the Internet (Google Play Store), then you may disable auto app update or restrict background data to prevent it from getting downloaded.

If it's not getting downloaded from the Internet, then I'm afraid it comes pre-installed (bloatware). You can't uninstall those without rooting your device (voids warranty I repeat).


How can I remove the previous owner's Google account in a pre-owned device? i bought a used phone that has the old owner's information stored in Google Play. How do I erase it?

when I download games from Google play if they have already downloaded them they are showing up as the old owners how do I erase this to where the phone recognizes my account not their's for Google play?

Ideally, you should factory reset the device, so you're starting afresh.

You haven't mentioned what device you have or what version of Android you're running, but usually the setting to factory restore a device is found within the main SETTINGS > BACKUP & RESET. Use the Factory reset option to erase all personal data from the device and start afresh. Once the device is rebooted, you'll be prompted to enter your Google account credentials and link your phone and all apps you download from the Play Store linked to your Google account.

Be warned, factory resetting your device will erase all personal data on the device. If there's any content, you want to retain, copy it over to your PC or to a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox (using your account, not the previous owner's).


Google Maps Location not working when offline I have a Galaxy J7 Prime, android version 7.0. I'm abroad for a week and as such, am not using data. I can only use WiFi intermittently when I'm near a free hotspot.

When I had an iPhone, I was able to view my location even when offline. This was very useful for directions, as I could download an offline Google Map and figure out where I was. Now I can't seem to do that with my Android-- even with Location enabled, the location dot stubbornly stays gray (unless I connect to WiFi).

I've enabled Automatic date and time as suggested by this question. I have high accuracy turned on.

Is there no way to view my location offline in Android?

There is actually a Google Maps Offline version app you can download. I always had problems getting directions with google maps on devices that didn't have cellular connections, I now use one of my old smartphones as a dedicated GPS for my car.


Galaxy s4 compatible sdcards I'm thinking about buying this:

http://www.amazon.com/PNY-Elite-Performance-256GB-Speed/dp/B00FF90EZM/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1417386617&sr=1-3&keywords=sd+card

Is the 256gb  compatible with galaxy s4? I'm concerned that it might not be because I've never heard of anyone using such a high gb card with the s4.

Thanks

I just put a 256gb micro sd in mine today, it works so far. But it has to be a micro sd not the one you have a link to. I've been trying to look up what the galaxy 4 can support, to see if I'll have problems as I fill it up. Haven't found anything yet.


Barcode Scanning with a low res camera (3.2mp) I have two phones, one has a 3.2mp camera, the other has an 8mp camera. I downloaded the 'Barcode Scanner' app on both phones, it works on the 8mp phone but the 3.2mp phone doesnt pick up any barcodes at all.

Is there a way around/fix to get the 3.2mp phone to scan the barcodes?

UPDATE: The 3.2mp camera picks qr barcodes just fine

UPDATE: From the discussion below, it seems the phone doesn't pick up barcodes because it doesnt have Auto Focus. Is there a way I can get around this?

FREE solution:

I've had success with a fraction of a drop of water or oil over the lens of the camera on my ZTE Score.  It causes bar codes close to the camera to be in focus, and they read reliably.  Enough to form a convex surface, but not so much that it drops off.

The ZTE Score has a smooth back; I dip my finger in oil and, with the lens aimed up, touch the back of the phone where the lens to put a droplet of oil on it.  Then I can turn the phone face up (lens down) and I can scan bar codes.  If the outer surface of your camera lens isn't flat, this likely won't work, but it's worked with my ZTE score and should work with most low-end (fixed focus) phones.

A clear convex on one side, flat and sticky on the other side piece of plastic would do the trick too; I recall seeing stick-on rubber feet that would have served well, but haven't seen 'em and haven't tried that.

I got tired of doing this every time I wanted to scan a barcode, and just ordered a macro lens.

If the codes don't fit on the screen when in focus, your drop is too big; use less.


Samsung Galaxy S2 stops during boot My S2 stops at the Samsung logo screen during boot. When I restart it, the same thing happens. My phone is using Android 4.0.4 (ICS), and it is not rooted. Please help me with this. Thanks in advance.

Sometimes android goes into Fubar mode and the only way to get past it is to make a hard reset. This unfortunately deletes any data stored on the device but anything stored on the memory card will remain. Luckily there is a hardware hard reset mode.

A hard reset can be accomplished by doing the following things:

Turn the power off. If your Samsung Galaxy S II is frozen, pull the battery out and reinsert it
Hold the Volume Down button
Press and release the Power button
You are now presented with a menu that allows for Fastbook, Recovery, Clear Storage, and Simlock
Select Clear Storage by pressing the Volume Down button
Press and release the Power button
Now simply confirm your decision: Volume Up for YES and Volume Down for NO

Some versions of samsung galaxy s2 require that you need to hold down volume down AND volume up to get into the menu.

Youtube video showing how it's done


Turning on SMS delivery report on Android 9 How can I turn on SMS delivery report on Android 9? In messaging section, I go to settings, but there's no "advanced" option. I'm using Huawei Y5 2019.
Here's a screenshot and there's no double-check (which is a sign of a delivered message)

As far as I know, whether to show delivery reports or not is to be implemented in a messaging app, and is independent of Android version. If you don't see any such option in your stock messaging app, than it doesn't have that functionality. I suggest you try a third-party messaging app from Play Store or F-Droid. It should work out.


Distorted photos on LG G2 I've recently bought two LG G2's, and I'm having a hard time trying to get decent photos out of either of them.

The photos are distorted in a scary way.

Obvious jokes aside, look at my face in this photo (click on the photos to zoom):

And again here, with a weird line on my forehead, and smudges on the nose, mouth, etc:

Some of the photos are even worse...

Am I doing something wrong? I've tried the different modes or settings and I'm getting the same results. I keep reading the G2's camera is great, but I'm not seeing that at all...

The only solution I  found is using another camera app, like Google Camera.

The problem is in the default LG camera app, and it still takes deformed images when I use it. I use it sometimes because it has more features and seem to take photos quicker, but I try not to take photos of people because the result can be scary and deformed.


I rooted my phone. Now apps cannot connect to the internet but browsers work fine I have a Samsung Galaxy Y and rooted it a few days ago. After that I set up a few apps and granted them access to root permissions (via the Superuser app). I allowed root to all apps that requested it.

Now I cannot connect to the internet via any app except browser apps - Gmail cannot receive emails, and Google Play is not loading.

I tried a factory reset and unrooted the phone, but it is still not working.

How can I fix this issue?

Is background data enabled?

You can enable it in Settings->Accounts and Sync->Background Data or System Settings->Data Use->Menu Button->Auto-sync data checked.


GPS optimization, is really necessary? Some android users are experiencing GPS problems; are applications like this really useful and safe for all devices?

http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-optimisation/com.gps.opt

What do you recommend for a 2.2 device?

It would depend on the device. Some devices have/had some real serious issues with their GPS. The Galaxy S is one of them. It can take 10 seconds for it to get a GPS lock or it could take a minute (or even more).

If you never have any issues with your device, then I wouldn't recommend running an application like this. If you can get a GPS lock within a few seconds or so and it is accurate, then I would say just leave it alone.


How to get latest version of Google Play Store I'm trying to solve a problem I'm having with Google Play Store. (Specifically, a continual "Error checking for updates" and an empty "Installed" list. I tried clearing the cache.)

The version I have of Play Store is 14.2.58, and I know it's not the latest. I've read that sometimes the app doesn't update automatically. But where do you go to upgrade the app manually?

When I google for it, I see a lot of third-party sites that offer the latest download, but I don't know if they can be trusted. If Google itself offers the download, I can't find it.

If you don't trust other sites, then use Yalp.

Yalp Store lets you download apps directly from Google Play Store as apk files. It can search for updates of installed apps and lets you search for other apps. Yalp saves downloaded apks to your default download folder. Other features include browsing categories, viewing and leaving reviews, black/whitelisting apps for updates, filtering apps by being free/paid and containing/not containing ads.
To supplement the features related to Google Play, Yalp Store has ordinary package manager features: listing, running, installing and uninstalling local apps

Also, visit What are the alternative Android app markets? to get a list of other apps/places/sites that can help you get it.


Disable heads-up notifications How to disable heads-up notifications (pop-up notifications)?
(These are the notifications that show at the upper part of the screen and obstruct the view.)

First of all you'll have to install adb on your pc and then connect your phone and run the commands
Installing ADB

Download adb installer from HERE on your pc
Run the setup and do as directed to install adb.
See THIS video for reference

Connecting device and running command

To use ADB with your Android device, you must enable a feature called USB debugging. Open your phone’s app drawer, tap the Settings icon, and select “About Phone”. Scroll all the way down and tap the “Build Number” item seven times. You should get a message saying you are now a developer.

Head back to the main Settings page, and you should see a new option near the bottom called “Developer Options”. Open that, and enable “USB Debugging”.

Later on, when you connect your phone to your computer, you’ll see a popup entitled “Allow USB Debugging?” on your phone. Check the “Always allow from this computer” box and tap OK. Select connection type to MTP from charge only if this doesn't pop up.
Take a look at THIS if you're stuck somewhere.. Everything mentioned above is demonstrated here with pictures

Now open command prompt and type adb devices. You'll see a device listed there.

Enter adb shell settings put global heads_up_notifications_enabled 0 to distable it. And if you want to enable it back again enter adb shell settings put global heads_up_notifications_enabled 1


Why is my Android activity showing up on myactivity.google.com? I never consented to this and there was no indication anywhere that activity on my Android phone would show up in Google's My Activity. I see stuff like "com.google.android.pack" and other stuff. How do I STOP this information from being sent to Google? How long has this been going on for?

What information gets sent? For instance, I just read My Activity has detailson the photos I've taken. What kinds of details? How does Web & App Activity differ from Device Information? Does Web & App Activity the setting that controls whether information about apps I use is sent to Google? Does it send my Chrome browser history to Google? It looks like it controls my Pixel's default camera app, too. Is there a way to keep search history on but not the camera info being sent?

On your phone, navigate to Settings > Google (or Accounts and select Google account). Then click Google Account > Data & Personalization.

Under Activity Controls section you can review and turn on/off many of these tracking features. BTW, you consented to this when you skimped over the ToS Agreement and just clicked "next, next" when setting up your phone.

Each section explains what it saves/tracks.

Web & App Activity is specific to Google Apps and Websites (maps, search, account, etc). It also includes 3rd party Apps you use on Google's OS (i.e. Android). It also includes history (i.e. Chrome History) of these apps. Thankfully, the latter can be separately disabled.
Device Information is more for preinstalled Android apps, like Phone and Contacts, voice searches, etc.

Oh and it has been going on for years.
The only "recentish" change is that logging into 1 Google Service (for example, Maps) also logs you automatically into other Google Services (like YouTube, Gmail, etc)


Modify framwork-res with same signature? According to this post, you can modify the framework-res.apk to remove carrierIQ software from the phone. Unfortunately a lower post, and others, suggest that this doesn't work, causes infinite boot loop, since recompiling it will make a different signature. If true, is there a better way to do this?

The core android framework, the UI and lockscreen are all compiled into the framework-res.apk. So naturally messing with it and improperly modifying this will result in infinite boot loops, strange overall bugs and "wonkyness."

If you have the ability to flash new framework-res.apk, it means that you have a custom recovery and root access. So just flash ROMs that don't have Carrier IQ. These are usually builds built from AOSP and CM as both of these code bases are given straight from Google and are clean of any third party proprietary software like Carrier IQ.


Nexus 6P GPS location inaccuracies I have a brand-new Nexus 6P, not rooted, running Android 6.0.1. I have location mode set to high accuracy (with GPS, WiFi Scanning, and Bluetooth Scanning all set to on). Almost all of the time, this works well: location detection is fairly accurate, and while navigating with Google Maps, the GPS has worked as it should.

However, once in a while (every day or so) when I am at home (and have been for at least 3-4 hours), my Nexus thinks I am at work. Not just one app: my IFTTT recipes set to go off when I reach work activate, Life360 (the family location tracking app) alerts my family that I've arrived at work, Google Now offers me the commute time to my home, and Google Maps shows my current location as work. A minute or two later, the issue dissolves and my phone thinks I'm at home once again. Note: my work is almost a mile away from my home, so it's not a minor gps error.

In a couple days of testing, the issue has not occurred when my location mode is set to "Battery Saver," which doesn't use GPS but rather approximates location with Cellular, Wifi, and Bluetooth. So, I think this is a GPS issue with my phone. Battery Saver location mode, however, makes navigating with Google Maps difficult (the bubble of where I might be is a little on the large side), and Google Maps constantly prompts me to re-enable GPS and high accuracy mode.

What should I do to fix this issue and what could be an explanation for this?

I left my GPS on Battery Saver mode for a while (maybe a week or two) then turned it back on to High Accuracy afterwards; the problem went away.


Charging paused. Battery temperature too high or too low I have a Samsung Galaxy player that has been giving me the message "Charging paused. Battery temperature too high or too low". I left it unplugged and powered down all night, and it still gave me the message as soon as I turned it on. The battery should be at room temperature. I've turned it off and on several times. I've tried removing the battery and putting it back. I have no idea what's wrong. It's been working fine for the past 9 months. Can anyone help?

AFAIK the temperature sensor that measures the battery is built-in (in the battery). In your case either the battery is defective, because it get's to hot immediately when charging or the sensor is defective. Either way, I think you have to replace the battery with a new one.

Before you replace the battery you should rule out a software error by doing a factory reset to see if the problem persists.


WhatsApp—How to prevent notifications from returning after swiping them away? When I get a new message in WhatsApp, I get a notification that contains the beginning of the message. After I swipe it away, the old message always returns when I get a new message. How can I prevent those zombie messages from coming back? There is a "mark as read" feature but that is too complicated to use, I have to swipe down and then click, I just want one swipe to completely clear the notification.

The notifications are showed by the Whatsapp (and there is no option in whatsapp to change this). You'll have to request Whatsapp dev for this feature.
Personally, I don't think they will consider your request so easily.
Anyways, Good Luck!


How to share files through Bluetooth? The only way I found to do it is by installing a 3rd party file explorer software. Isn't there a default app that does that? At least for media files?

Certain apps like the gallery let your share content via Bluetooth (or any other number of methods).  The gallery handles video and images.  Highlight the item and hit menu to get the Share menu.


Restoring wpa_supplicant.conf [root] I have a rooted Nexus 5 (Lollipop 5.1) which just decided to restart itself and clear out my saved WiFi passwords!

Luckily I make regular manual backups of the wpa_supplicant.conf file from /data/misc/wifi to /sdcard.

However I am trying to restore this file so that the networks appear again under Wifi > Saved Networks but I am having no luck!

I have tried to copy the file from /sdcard to /data/misc/wifi and /system/etc/wifi (even though I'm pretty sure it's the one in /data that Android uses) using ES File Explorer. The networks do not show up and after restarting the phone, the file in /data resets itself and the one in /system is remains.

I have also tried copying the file using Terminal Emulator and also running chown on the file in /data but this also hasn't worked.

Any ideas as to why Android doesn't accept the restored file?

In my case it was necessary to change the owner and group of the file to wifi:

mount -o rw,remount /system
chown wifi:wifi /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
ls -la /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf
-rw-rw---- wifi     wifi         2343 2016-07-11 10:31 wpa_supplicant.conf

Note: you need a rooted device to do that.


How to disable hidden trackers, in google play store applications So most applications, on google play have hidden trackers, analytics they don't tell you about. This site lets you search any app shows trackers. The article explains what i'm talking about.

Example: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/reports/37324/

Article : https://theintercept.com/2017/11/24/...-android-apps/

Article : https://www.wired.com/story/android-users-to-avoid-malware-ditch-googles-app-store/

The second article explains Fdroid is partly a solution as those apps there don't have these trackers. One other not a full solution is uninstalling the app removes the tracker.

Certain apps on google play store either open source or proprietary don't include trackers as far as exodus-privacy.eu.org analysis is aware of, it's possible there's some there unaware of as they state.

Applications without trackers could later receive trackers through application updates. The other option is researching the extent of the specific trackers used in certain applications and what there been used for.

I want to know how it's possible to disable these trackers, analytics so there not active in the background "while" using these apps.

I saw XPrivacyLua xposed module can disable certain analytics.

Appreciate all advice.

Root access needed

Both of these apps are likely using built in pm disable command in Android, which lets you to disable app's services, activities, receivers and providers (all of these can be done from command line too). Significant part of ads and tracking stuff can be disabled this way. Of course developer can hide whatever they want, so it won't be accessible through pm disable. Afaik it can disable only things mentioned in app's manifest. Also apps can reenable all of these back (I think I noticed such behavior only in system apps)

1) MyAndroidTools Pro  (which I use)
It has free and paid versions. Author was banned in Play Store, but you can still buy outdated version (1.5.1 instead of 1.6.0) on Amazon or find apk somewhere else..
App has convenient option to display component info after new app is installed/updated.
Developer made Xposed module to prevent apps reenabling components, but it was abandoned long time ago, so you'll have to check if it works for you.

(Click on image to enlarge it)

2) Lucky Patcher
Free app, also not in Play Store. Downside: developer started embedding ads (removed in current version) and analytics recently, which require excessive permissions.
To disable components:
Long tap on app in the list -> Change The App's Components -> Disable components 'pm disable' method (may be enabled by the application) -> Select components -> Apply


Single Window Menu screen in Nexus 5 I am using Nexus 5 with Android 4.4.2. Its menu screen contains "3 screens" to accommodate all the apps I have. But I remember in older Android (I think I saw it in Galaxy S phone) that all the apps were put in single screen and we could scroll down to get any app.

So I want to change this "multi-window" menu screen to a single scrollable window.

Is it possible in KitKat? if so, how?

Currently on the nexus-5 stock launcher the 'Google Experience Launcher' or 'GEL' for short, there is no way to customise the app picker / app drawer. You could install a free third party launcher such as Nova Launcher which I have checked and it has a 'List' option, or Apex Launcher

The potential downside to a third party launcher is you will lose the Google Now integration on the left most homescreen and the Ok google functionality.


How to create shortcut in the homescreen for 'Favourites' tab in Dialer? I'm using Samsung Galaxy 3 (GT-I5801). The ones listed as Dialer.favourites and contacts.starred in the 'Choose custom activity' are not working. This happens in both TouchWiz and ADWLauncher

If you use Dialer One as your dialer or even if you install it but use the default stock dialer app, you can get to the Favorites screen by long pressing a blank area of the homescreen, and from the SHORTCUTS menu, choosing FAVORITES.


Win8.1 doesn't see Android device? Not sure why, but even though my Android is connected, charging, and set to Media Device mode, Win8 will not even notice it. Any advice? Ask any questions necessary.

It's an Moto X 2nd gen KitKat and I'm trying to connect it to a Win8.1 laptop. It doesn't have a slot for SD cards, and for some reason my cell provider isn't letting me update to Lolli.

Update: Just installed Motorola Device Manager, and nothing changed.

I believe your computer does not have the drivers needed to communicate with the phone. It is like speaking german to an american, you do not understand what they are saying.

First of all, You can search for your phone's drivers via google search. Trust me, i know what the problem is, this also happened to my Nexus 4.

It all should be good from their. If there are still problems, just PM me. Or you can tell me the device name. (ex. Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Nexus 5, OnePlus One, etc.) or if it is a generic phone. tell me.

EDIT: Search ADB Drivers on google. It is a universal driver, and its the one I used with my phone. If this doesn't work, then I don't know what.

MORE GOODNESS:

Also, I forgot to point out. You have to enable USB DEBUGGING on your phone. If you already have developer options enabled in settings, it should be there. IF YOU DONT HAVE DEVELOPER OPTIONS UNLOCKED, go to settings > About Phone.  And tap on the build number 5 times.

IF YOU NOW HAVE DEV. OPTIONS, go to settings > developer options. And click on "Enable USB debugging"

Hope this works.


Samsung S duos - showing charging symbol but percentage not increasing I have samsung s duos. Suddently one day, when i was charging .. though the indicator shows charging, the battery level keep going down.
I restarted mobile... still same issue.

Then i tried with another charger, and there it was ok.
Note: The first charger is a smiley data charging cable connected to Laptop.
This charger i was using never, had this problem earlier. Is this OK ?

The charger will show as connected because the cable is making contact with the charging port, regardless of actually charging.

Yes chargers do go bad, usually at inopportune moments and there is a long list of reasons why. Sometimes from being plugged into long, getting dropped, getting too hot, used with wrong devices, being improperly pulled out from the wall, the charge connector getting bent in the charging port, etc.

When acquiring another charger, check a few things.

Is the charger OEM (recommended, although aftermarket's will work)
Does the charger have proper charging connector (miniUSB, microUSB, male plug, female plug, etc.)
Will the power output match the requirement of your device (voltage & amperage must be correct)
Is the charging cable long enough (for convenience).


Does ROM Manager need S-OFF? I want to try the CyanogenMod9 Alpha builds for the T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide [MT4GS/Doubleshot] and all the instructions say I need S-OFF.  The problem is that I have HBOOT 1.55 so software solutions like Revolutionary do not work and I am left with the JuopunutBear wire trick.  I am not up for that so I will stay S-ON for now.

Then, I found ROM Manager that claims to easily install custom ROMs easily, but I can not find if ROM Manager requires S-OFF for HTC devices.  Does anyone know if I can install custom ROMs through ROM Manager with S-ON?

ROM Manager doesn't do anything particularly special to install a custom ROM. It essentially makes a call to the recovery binary that allows it to save instructions for your recovery partition to run the next time it boots, thereby automating the process of flashing whatever zip file you choose. You could do the exact same thing manually.

Therefore, if your device needs to be S-OFF to flash a custom ROM from recovery, it will also need to be S-OFF in order for ROM Manager to flash a ROM. It will not work on an S-ON device since it won't be able to write to the NAND, and you won't even be able to get a custom recovery to stick in the first place, most likely, which it will ultimately need to flash the ROM.


Motorola Motoroi South Korea o South Africa change over I have a Motorola Motoroi XT720 that I bought in South Korea. My service provider is SK Telecom. When I insert my South African sim card (Service provider Vodacom, and using the phone while in South Africa) in to the phone, the phone simply states that it does not accept foreign SIM cards.

I want to change my phone so that I am able to use it in South Africa. I am absolutely clueless when it comes to rooting unlocking, but obviously eager to learn.

I can't really find any good resources, but after reading a lot of postings on various sites the general conclusion seems to be is that unlocking the phone directly is not possible, at least via "normal" methods. SK Telecom has altered the ROM such that you are not able to enter an unlock code no matter what you do; the functionality is simply disabled.

You can follow this XDA thread (or this one if that doesn't work) to root your device.  Once rooted, you can install a custom ROM such as this popular one, just follow the instructions in that post.  The new ROM should have an enabled unlock feature.

After that you need an unlock code.  Sites that sell unlock codes are unfortunately very sketchy; I personally would not try one unless you can get a solid recommendation from someone you trust or know for sure has done it.  You could attempt to contact SK Telecom and ask them for the unlock code, but they seem to be uncooperative from what I've read.  Don't let them tell you that Motorola has the unlock code, since this is false.


I got semi-invisible Google Play 1-star rating Recently I saw 1-star rating on an app. It was invisible to me when I selected any language other than English(US) in my phone. And the comment was empty.

Image of rating in Russian / in English (click images for larger variants)

What to do with that. This is a bug?

Thanks!

P.S: Can't view the profile of that "Google user".

Comment in Google Play store separate for different countries.

You can simply add to URL &hl=en where en is two-letter language code defined in ISO 639-1

For example:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader&hl=en
(English)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader&hl=pl
(Polish)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader&hl=it
(Italian)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader&hl=fr
(French)
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adobe.reader&hl=es
(Spanish)

Source

What is a google user comment ?

If we go through what is written here, we get that after updating review profile by user, play store simply replaces old user name by new entry A Google User. This can also be because of some reasons like reviewer changed his name or deleted his account.


Nexus 6P - cannot turn off Developer Options On any other device, I was able to go to Settings, scroll to Developers Options and toggle it On/Off. On Nexus 6P, this toggle does nothing. If I turn it off, next time I look at it, it shows as on even though I turned it off minute ago.

I am building Android app so I do need Developer Options.  I dont want to disable or hide it, I just want to be able to use the toggle to turn it on or off as I need.  Just as I did with many other android devices.

Anyone else noticed this?

I tried suggestions from this link http://visihow.com/Disable_the_Developer_Options_on_Nexus_6P but that did not resolve anything.

I would also like to note that until very recently, perhaps 3 months ago, I was able to disable Developer Options by simply going to Settings->Developer Options -> Turn toggle Off

I suspect this strange behaviour is caused by some setting that requires developer options to be enabled, but itself is not deactivated for instance USB debugging., transitions/animations etc.. (this has been observed to enable developer options in some LG builds typically when the battery saving feature disables animations at 15% )

As a workaround try this:

Go to developer options, turn off debugging,
Then disable the  developer options with the switch on top of the screen
(same as your screenshot)

The trick is to first deactivate setting that uses developer options then toggle it off


What does /mnt/asec directory contain? What does /mnt/asec directory contain in Android? Can someone explain in brief?

Thought Google would have an official definition on Android Developers, but surprisingly not. So with a lil bit of Google I dug up this:

Android Security Internals: An In-Depth Guide to Android's Security Architecture

Look around P80 for related content. From what I understand, ASEC (Android Secure External Cache) was implemented in a time when Android devices come with limited storage and has to resort to external storage (i.e. SD card) for apps, and its purpose is to securely store part of the apps so as to prevent corruption and piracy by copying SD card contents.

Wikipedia also has a bit of intro here.


How to show my devices in my custom google map I have 5 mobile devices with me, all these devices have GPS. On my map i need to view all the devices wherever it is located. And GPS will be turned on. Please help me

Android Device Manager is perfect for this.

Just download and set up the app on all of these devices (if the app isn't already on them), and you're pretty much ready to go.

As long as all of these devices are signed into the same Google Account, and the GPS is on on all of these devices, you won't find it very hard to locate them.

click here, and you will see just what I am talking about. You can also use the app to lock your device, ring it on full volume, and even wipe the phone completely.  It is basically Google's "Find My iPhone"


What are the technical reasons of updating SuperSU? After rooting a device , and installing SuperSU ( Chainfire or Coding Code Mobile Technology ) and everything is fine , let's say an update to SuperSU is  available say after a few months

Do I need to update ? What are the downsides , if any , if I don't ?

My understanding is that I don't need to but wanted to be sure with technical reasons / explanation . Googling didn't help.

Edit: This is not related to the problems with Ver 2.80 or 2.81 , this is a generic question

Edit 2: From Generic to specific - after reading changelogs, I don't understand whether I should Ver 2.79 to a later version on Moto X Play , 6.0. Can this be clarified ?

It is not necessary to update. But, it is always a good habit to keep your device up to date.

If you do not want to download so frequently, then see the change log of the updates, and decide whether you want to update or not.


icade arcade "keyboard" not working with Android phone, working with Android tablet I'm guessing this is some sort of bluetooth keyboard recognition and/or selection/activation issue in Android that I can't seem to figure out...
The icade arcade bluetooth device is in essence a keyboard device. I can pair it with a Nexus 10 tablet, and after I do, I can see various characters appear in a text app when I move the joystick around and press the buttons.
But my Android phone is being stubborn. It pairs ok, but the input refuses to get fed to the apps. I also have a bluetooth actual keyboard, and it works ok with that phone.
I've tried various bluetooth connect apps, and there I can see a list of paired devices and the option to "connect" to a device. It refuses to work.
What am I missing here?
Does anyone know of a bluetooth helper app of sorts that also give immediate feedback what it is picking up from the selected bluetooth device? Is there anything specific I could look for in logcat?
The phone is Android 4.4 and I can't upgrade it (Chinese phone with no firmware support). It's an ECOO S04 Aurora plus 3GB.
The Nexus I think runs lollipop.

I don't think your Nexus would be Android Lollipop. Android Lollipop is version 5.0, and the iCade Arcade only connects with Android 4.2 or below to a certain minimal version. Starting from Android 4.3, the iCade no longer functions properly as you are then required to input a Bluetooth pin with 6 digits, rather than 4, which is the number of digits that an iCade connects with when using an iPad, iPod or iPhone. Though if you are able to check your version of Android on your Nexus, and it IS indeed Android 5.0, I would like to know how you managed to connect it with the iCade, which is something I am trying to figure out myself. I know this is an old question, but if you are reading this, I hope thins information works.


How to root Acer Z630s? I'm trying to root my new phone, it's an Acer Liquid Z630s (T04) running Android 5.1.

I can't find anything useful online, Google is filled with auto-generated pages that just give a link to some one-click-root app. I've tried a couple of them (Kingroot, Kingoroot and OneClickRoot) and they all say "no root available at this time".

Here is the link: http://android-lovers.com/Downloads/baidu.easyroot_v2.8.6.apk

It might not be the lastest version. If not, go to android-lovers.com/Downloads/baidu


The battery is discharged suddenly on Galaxy S2 Sometimes after I fully charge the phone, and disconnecting it from the power, the battery suddenly drops to 97%, it is normal? I already made a battery calibration past week. Well, this happened only 2 times.

Yes, this is fairly normal. It happens on most new devices, i have an Evo and it does this constantly. If i'm not mistaken, it comes from the fact that there are multiple cells in the battery, and when it reads 100%, they may not all be fully charged. Thus, when the battery discharges, the first few percent goes quickly, because it wasn't actually charged completely to begin with.

I assume you did something like this for recalibration:

Turn the EVO on and charge it until the LED indicator turns green.
Unplug it and turn it off.
Plug it back in and charge until the LED indicator turns green.
Unplug it and turn it on.
Once powered on completely, turn it off again.
Plug it back in and charge until the LED turns green.
Unplug it, turn it on, and use it normally.

Without this, i find the battery usually drops to 90% pretty quickly, but if yours is only decreasing to 97% in that time, you're probably okay.

The only thing we can really do is hope that these hit it big soon.


How to schedule downloads in Advance Download manager? I installed Advanced Download manager to schedule my downloading for night time. I know how to schedule and it works as long as the app is open. So I put some files for downloading and schedule it for a late night download. But the app closes by itself after sometimes, resulting failure in downloading the intended files. How can a tweak it so that I can schedule my downloads for the desired period?

thanks.

For you to download on schedule, ADM requires a running service program. Make sure you do not close the service after you have enabled your scheduler
You can do this by:

Giving ADM a higher memory priority (so that it will not be killed when system memory is low)
Whitelisting ADM in phone's power saving features, task killers or hibenation programs
Enabling a persistent notification to keep the program's services running in the background.


Preventing mobile data use for select apps on non-rooted phone? I have a number of apps that are fairly chatty on the network, and with a limited data connection I would like these apps to not use the 3G connection (WiFi is fine).

I know that rooting the phone and installing DroidWall would do the trick. However, is there a way to accomplish per-app data permissions without rooting it?

FWIW, I have a Droid 1 on a CDMA network.

Not quite answering your question, but switching off Background Data usage should stop chatty apps from doing anything in the background, and restrict it to just apps you launch and use, rather than apps that are syncing and checking for status updates all the time.

If you add the Power Control Bar (built into Android since 1.6) to your home screen it's just one tap to switch the background data on and off. Just hold your finger on an empty space on the home screen, select Widgets, Power Control, and the second icon from the right (two round arrows in a circle) controls the background data usage.


Multiple devices associated with a single Samsung account I am transitioning from iPhone to Samsung.
I mean to setup Find My Mobile.

For iOS, I can have one account and link many devices to the same account. Then, I can monitor/operate any of the devices from that account.

Is that possible with Samsung?

I read that something can be done with Android Device Manager, but I am asking specifically about Samsung accounts.

Yes you can. Just go to settings (if the device is already on), and go to accounts and add account (Gmail).


Android update on HTC Desire 628 I'm looking into buying an Android phone, and quite like the specs and looks of the HTC Desire 628. Unfortunately it ships with Lollipop (5.1). Would it be possible for me to upgrade this device to Marshmallow (6) or Nougat (7)? If so, how?

For a phone of this popularity you can only expect something to drop officially, the chance of which is slim (especially in regards to Nougat). Decide what's your priority (aesthetics VS updates) then choose wisely.


How to start Chrome's T-rex game from an Android tablet? I can't start Chrome's cute endless T-rex running game from an Android tablet. On a PC, pressing Space starts the game while for an Android phone, I can just tap the dino to start it. But I can't figure out how to do the same on an Android tablet!

I've tried tapping, holding, swyping, and what not but the game doesn't start.

So, How do I start the T-rex game from an Android tablet?

One way to do this would be to install a third-party app called Hacker's Keyboard.

Then, enable the keyboard and set it as the current input method. Also, check the box against the 'Use permanent notification' setting under 'Input mode settings' in the Hacker's Keyboard settings.

Now, open Chrome and make the dino appear by, say, by enabling airplane mode and visiting any website. Tap on the permanent notification of Hacker's keyboard and press Space.

Voilà! The game will start. Press Space or ↑(Up arrow key) to jump. Oh, and Enjoy! :-)


My android device doesn't show up when I do ADB Devices but DOES show up in my Chrome developer tools Really not sure what's going on because it seems to be detected by chrome when I plug in but ADB doesn't know whats going on.

Since you've got Chrome Remote debugging working, just make sure that Chrome debugging isn't running when doing things with adb on the command line.

I believe that Chrome has its own version of adb-server so that would conflict with the one used by Android Studio/Android SDK tools.


Which application generates the "S" notification icon? Which android application generates the "S" notification icon?

This most likely comes from the running game "Subway Surfers". The S from your notification resembles the font used in the game's name.


Bootloop and random restart issues in android (Gionee A1 plus) My Gionee A1 plus started acting strange a month ago. It would often restart whenever I received any SMS notification and then boot up just fine. I tried using an earphone and keeping the phone in silent mode, as reducing the notification sound levels didn't help. This fixed the problem for a few weeks until 2 days ago while using my camera, it suddenly decided to restart but got stuck in a bootloop(the boot logo kept popping up and disappearing again and again). I managed to turn it off by plugging it to a charger where it went to charging mode.
After a bit of research, I entered the stock "Android recovery mode" and cleared the /cache partition but that did not fix the issue. I panicked as I did not have a twrp or any other recovery tool installed. I didn't even have USB debugging enabled. However, after a bit more strolling I found that fastboot could detect my device(after rebooting to bootloader) and then ran the command fastboot continue and my phone booted up alright. But now my phone can't use the "Ultrafast charge mode" which makes the charging process 5 times longer and the battery drains really quick. What's more the phone restarting by itself has become often(I can't even use my camera) and its always the bootloop. I have to use fastboot to boot in again.
I created a backup of my data and then did a factory reset on the device to no use.
Do I need to flash a stock ROM to my device or am I missing something? I am inexperienced in this domain so please guide me on how to fix this issue. I have attached snaps of my Recovery and Factory modes.

TLDR; phone ends up in bootloop after suddenly restarting while in use, battery drains faster, no ultrafast charging, clearing cache and factory reset doesn't help.

Did it suddenly started to do weird things? Can you specify the cause.
As per the mentioned details, you need to flash stock firmware from SPFlash Tool(as you have a MTK device). You can google for your firmware. And flash it while your phone is in download mode.
I too have faced many bootlops while flashing roms. So I flash stock firmware and all good.


If I use free WiFi in a hotspot, can data be easily sniffed? If I use my mobile device in a Wifi hotspot, can I take it that it bears the same risks as using a laptop in that data can be easily sniffed and that the mobile device is also open to man-in-the-middle attacks?

Yes, you are subject to the same risks as you would have in a laptop (or any device that connects to a wireless network, for that matter); to avoid them, the standard security procedures apply: do not use unencrypted connections that you do not trust and always prefer HTTPS for browsing.


Having a look at the contents of the Phone Memory? In my Samsung Galaxy Y mobile phone, I am able to see the contents of my Memory Card but I am not able to see the contents (the files and folders) that are saved in the internal memory of my mobile.

Is it possible to have a look at it only after rooting the mobile phone? Is there any app for doing so?

You would need to root your phone.

For file managers with root access, you can try Astro or Root Explorer. If the app loads the default folder, keep going up the parent folder until you can no longer move up; that will be the root folder.


My Galaxy S4 shows a black screen with clock. What is this? It looks like this:

I can't unlock or do anything with it. My Android version is 4.4.4 running CyanogenMod

This is the S-View cover mode. That's a cover with a piece of glass in it. Are you holding magnets by your phone? If there is no way to get out of it, you should restart your phone, or you can hold a magnet near your phone like the red dot:

Hope my answer helps!


Associate android actions (at least turn sound on/off) with calendar Is there an app for associating events with time. For example:

If it is during event in specific callendars (say Meetings) the profile is turned to vibrate
Otherwise switch to normal profile

I looked on Tasker and it looks nice but possibly it is something free or cheaper.

I wasn't able to find a free solution so I am doing exactly what you're looking for with Tasker.  When my work calendar shows me in a meeting it turns the ringer to vibrate.


Visual impairment support on Android? Perhaps this is somewhat of a software recommendation but I hope people will realize it is a  very important and relevant one (plus, one shouldn't need to download an app, it should be part of the OS). On PCs there is something called SuperNova software which will allow you to view larger text on PCs. On Android it is possible to pich and spread the fingers apart to view larger web pages (and this works on most pages), but what I need is I need to be able to do the same on things like settings pages and contact lists. I wonder whether there is some way to support this functionality on Android devices (Android comes with good support for people with restricted motion of the limbs, and I was wondering why support for visual impairment that allows to zoom by reverse-pinching is not included).

Thank you for your feedback.

Settings --> Display --> Font size will adjust the font from "tiny" right through "huge" on the system pages (like Settings) on the two Samsung devices I have.  Tinkering with brightness and mode can also help boost contrast.  If you head over to Settings -- > Accessibility --> Vision, there are additional/duplicate adjustments for magnification gestures, color adjustment, and negative colors.


How is it that Rooting is always possible? Having spent some time researching what actually goes behind rooting an Android phone, the main reason that leads to the ability root is an inherent vulnerability on the Linux kernel that leads to the exploit and getting the 'su' binary to be installed.

My question is: How come the OS is not hardened yet? Who is responsible? This is a Linux OS we're talking about, which is considered "secure". Yet, people always find a way to get in and root devices.

it's not really the "linux OS", it is the linux kernel. The vulnerability is not necessarily in the OS, or the kernel. There are different exploits that are used. I remember some device being able to load any zip file in the recovery if it was "pre-pended" by a signed zip file. So they used a signed zip and added an unsigned zip to the end of the file. I think this exploit was for the Original Droid.

No software is 100% bug free. if it was, then even a mature product like Windows would not have to do security patch releases every month.

No matter how smart the developer is, or thinks he is, more likely than not, there is probably someone smarter (or at least they may know more about exploiting code).

When exploits are discovered, Google (or the manufacturer) has (usually) patched them. But since a lot of the devices don't receive updates very often, the exploit remains available.


How can I update my Galaxy Tab to 2.3? I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab which has Android 2.2. I want to upgrade it to 2.3 but I don’t know how. I searched to find out a way to do so, but I couldn't find anything.

You connect device to computer running samsung kies and do the damage with official gingerbread
All settings and databases will be lost or erased, so take care to make backup (if you know how to root then with titanium is best)

There is aftermarket Ice Cream Sandwich in development http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=807


Get installed apps as APK within Android? I'm looking for an application that will let me easily export any application I have to APK format (I'm not rooted). Normally, AirDroid does this easily and I love AirDroid for that. However, one of the downsides was that I need to be around a computer to do the said process. Are there any apps that offer a way for me to output the APK file from within the Android itself? I can see that some backup solutions provide this but I don't want a whole new backup system just to do this one small task. A small utility app of sorts would be really nice which has only one purpose and that is to produce the APK file.

Backup apps using Astro File Manager.

Alternatively, you can use a little app dedicated for this task: App Backup & Restore.


Blank screen when trying to boot into recovery mode on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 I am in the middle of trying to install Cyanogenmod on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 according to Wiki instructions and I'm getting stuck when I try to go into recovery mode. I tried to flash it to koush's ClockworkMod Recovery (recovery-clockwork-6.0.2.3-p5110)

I've tried using Power + Vol Up and by using adb reboot recovery in the terminal on my PC. It seems to start into recovery mode with a message in blue stating it's entering recovery mode, however, it just goes black and I can't progress passed this point.

I can still boot into the stock and into Download Mode fine.

It's possible there was a problem installing the custom recovery as I never saw a progress bar as described in the wiki. Instead, it seems to stay at the "Don't power off target device" screen, despite the message in my terminal stating that it was finished. If the custom recovery was botched, how can I remedy it?

What can I check to narrow down the problem?

I'm running off a PC using Linux Mint in case that helps.

Me too. Tried flashing "Bump" TWRP 2.8.0.0 for LG D855 (G3) with Flashify and I got the same all black screen. Then after a while, it reboots normally...


What happens if vendor partition is corrupted? I  mistakenly flashed recovery image in vendor partition while installing a custom rom. I am using Lenovo K6 Power with Lineage OS Oreo Karate by Karthik with TWRP. I was flashing Resurrection Remix Oreo while this happened.

I haven't rebooted my device till now and it is charging. So what will happen now? When I try to flash RR I get error: /vendor cannot be mounted, when I try to restore I get the same error message.

Currently I am downloading stock rom and planning to flash it via Qfil in hopes of fixing it. Any ideas what to do?

/vendor is sister partition of /system on Android devices which holds system applications and libraries that do not have source code available on AOSP but added by vendors (OEM's). It also contains SoC firmware images i.e. hardware specific libraries and binaries (OpenGL, ISP...).
Proprietary blobs (HALs) usually live in /vendor as shared libraries (.so files) which are loaded by Android binders when processes call a hardware component. This partition was optional before Treble support and /vendor used to be just a symlink to /system/vendor. However, on Treble devices it contains a separate filesystem, usually same as that of /system i.e. ext4 or f2fs.

If you accidentally flashed recovery image over vendor partition, it won't brick your device unless you have a ROM or factory firmware to flash. However its filesystem is erased which needs to be recreated. Factory firmware flasher will do this for you but you can also manually format it from TWRP Wipe menu or through terminal emulator using mkfs.ext4 or mkfs.f2fs commands.

Further reading: ANDROID DEVICE PARTITIONS and FILESYSTEMS


Change "OK Google" hotword I want to change the Hotword for the Google Assistant.

Is it possible to change the hotword from "OK Google" to something else?

Do i need a rooted device?

UPDATE: According to a comment below, the OpenMic+ app has been taken down by the author.

According to Google Help Forums, this feature seems  not to have been implemented yet:

  At this moment, changing the hotword is not an available feature.
  However, we appreciate your feedback, and your feature request has
  been noted.

Fortunately there is a workaround:

There is an application, Open Mic+ for Google Now, with lots of customisation and enables the user to change the hot phrase.

  With Open Mic+ you aren’t limited to “Okay Google”. Live out your
  sci-fi fantasies, support your favourite team, and just feel awesome
  with complete control over your phone.

Instructions:

Download and install the latest version of Google Search App on your device if you haven’t already.
Download and install Open Mic+ For Google Now App.
After installation ,open the app Open Mic+ For Google Now.
As soon as you open up the app you will see a warning indicating you to turn off Google Now Hot word Detection, here click on Settings >>Voice >> OK Google Detection >> Turn it Off.
Now head back to Open Mic+ For Google Now App and tap on Say area with a pencil icon.
Here type any command with which you want your Google Now respond like “Hey Device” and then hit Set.
Once set click on the Play button.
That’s it you now have successfully customized and changed Google Now wake up command from OK Google to something else in this case to Hey Device.

Hope this helps

References:

Alternative to "Ok Google"
How To Change Google Now Command From Ok Google To Something Else


Xperia Sola keeps rebooting after reset I have a Sony Xperia Sola phone that keeps rebooting after having done a factory reset. It's been like that for hours now. I have never flashed anything custom on the phone but did an official update (with Sony update companion) once to ICS which has been working fine for months. The problem appeared after doing the factory reset. The phone is no longer under warranty and was bought without a carrier contract. So I suspect that the bootloader is not locked..

How could I fix this? I've been reading and trying for hours now and I was thinking of flashing a stock rom on the phone but not sure how to do this. And even if it has a chance of working. Sony provides a tool called Emma but it does not recognize the phone. I held the volume down button pressed and then connected usb but it does not work. I noticed that holding down volume up and power button turns the phone off but when I restart, it keeps rebooting as before.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated on how to fix or flash to something working.

Does the phone fully boot or does it reboot almost immediately?  I have had similar experiences with phones (from other vendors) not being recognized until some time after they have booted (mostly likely services need to start etc. etc.). I love (not) how this happens just at the time when you need to repair your phone!

Have you tried removing SIM cards, extra storage etc.  Sometimes if you can get the device to boot differently it will get far enough along to be "recognized".


Can not install apks from File Manager or browser? In the answer to this question I specifically discovered that I could not install the VLC nightlies. It had nothing to do with that answer, which was on a question about which version of VLC was right for that device. But that question was in fact inspired by this problem: I never previously had an APK I couldn't install by merely downloading, when I am in the Android Web Browser, and it downloads the APK, I can click on it in the notification applet at the top. When I do, it says

  Can not open file

When I open that file up with the LineageOS Files Manager, com.android.documentsui I get the same error. Now, I'm wanting to know what specifically is borked about just the VLC packages? Does anyone else get this problem? Why is that pm install ./appname.apk in the shell works, but the GUI doesn't?

I'm using LineageOS 14.1-20180616, based on Android 7.1.2.

Installing

With the  LineageOS File Manager

It seems that inside the File Manager, there are two discrete things Download a directory, and Downloads some broken nonsense shortcut link:

Does not work: On the left nav, you'll see Images Videos Audio Recent, and then Downloads Documents, and SM-P600. Installing from the Downloads on the right bar, gives this error.
Works: Going into the device at the bottom of the left nav (which is actually just a link to /data/media/0 and then clicking on Download will take you Download which is actually different from Downloads (plural and on the Left Nav). From this you can install the APK.

With the CLI

Enable ADB in the Settings
Run adb shell on the host
Browse to /sdcard/Downloads or /data/media/0/Download with cd. If you're unsure where the apk is located try running

find / -name 'VLC*-ARMv7.apk

Locate the apk and install with pm

pm install ./VLC*-ARMv7.apk

The problem

The problem seems to be that VLC web server answers the request with a response that has content-type: application/octet-stream like this,

$ curl -s -I "https://nightlies.videolan.org/build/android-armv7/VLC-Android-3.0.11-20180618-0249-ARMv7.apk"
HTTP/2 200
server: nginx/1.15.0
date: Tue, 19 Jun 2018 03:16:06 GMT
content-type: application/octet-stream
content-length: 25048251
last-modified: Mon, 18 Jun 2018 06:05:02 GMT
etag: "5b274b8e-17e34bb"
accept-ranges: bytes
x-clacks-overhead: GNU Terry Pratchett
strict-transport-security: max-age=31536000

Rather than application/vnd.android.package-archive. This means that you can't install through the browser, or the Downloads shortcut. This is because APK files are just zip files:

$ file VLC-Android-3.0.11-20180618-0249-ARMv7.apk
VLC-Android-3.0.11-20180618-0249-ARMv7.apk: Zip archive data, at least v2.0 to extract

So what the File Manager and browser are trying to do is open them as such -- and you don't have something that hands Zip archive data 2.0+


Android keyboard resizes when changing letter casing I've Nexus 4 with latest update. When I type something, when typing capital letters, keyboard size is almost twice bigger than when typing small letters and it's confusing because when I start the sentence, I have to type first letter (capital) and then wait a little to click on small letter (because its position changes as key sizes change). Is it possible to "fix" the keys sizes?

UPD: This ONLY happens with Russian keyboard... Attached screenshots.

I've the same problem suddenly with UK keyboard quertyuiop. Nexus 4 latest android.

The solution was to power down the phone and start again. All back to normal now.


System partition locked to read only in Android 10 Help, I don't know what I did but after installing a custom ROM, I noticed that my system partition cannot be mounted as read/write.

I tried

"mount -o rw,remount /system" command on a terminal emulator, ADB shell, and TWRP terminal

The command shows no feedback showing failure (maybe I succeeded?)

Mount it using the built-in TWRP mount function.

The system check box can be checked out (it doesn't retain its check mark on reboot)

Some apps that actually works according to sources and reviews.

Some say (Failure to mount..) Some say (System mounted as rw) some doesn't have feedback.

I don't know what to do.

I noticed this when I installed a custom ROM. I tried using another custom ROM but same thing. Also reformatting doesn't help. I don't know if this occur on the stock ROM.

For reference

Device: Xiaomi Mi A2

Android version: Android 10

Custom ROM: AICP nightly build 15.0

Android 10 prevents apps or pretty much anything from mounting system as R/W. Yes, even if you are rooted.

Top John Wu, the creator of Magisk has covered this in a series of tweets. I will link them below for your reference. Your only way of tampering your system now would be using a systemless Magisk module. You can make your own or use some other module and inject files inside its folder before rebooting to apply that module.

Just confirmed that the inability to remount system (the directory "/" in system-as-root) to rw is something new in Android Q, NOT an issue with the new system-as-root approach Magisk is using in the canary builds. Will have to investigate further to find out how to deal with it. Source: https://twitter.com/topjohnwu/status/1169720663201988611
I found out that Android 10's system images are formatted with EXT4_FEATURE_RO_COMPAT_SHARED_BLOCKS. It will deduplicate blocks in the filesystem to reduce the image size. On my Pixel XL, the partition is physically not large enough to successfully run 'e2fsck -E unshare_blocks'. Source: https://twitter.com/topjohnwu/status/1170404631865778177?lang=en
As clearly stated in the name of the feature, that EXT4 shared blocks feature is RO (read-only). The inability to disable this feature due to lack of free space in the partition (at least on my Pixel XL) makes it literally impossible to ever mount the system partition as rw. Source: https://twitter.com/topjohnwu/status/1170404633371525120
I guess Google's justification to format partitions with this feature enabled is the introduction of overlayfs to "simulate" a writable partition.
RIP to any mods or root apps that modify system. On Android 10 it seems system is either formatted as RO or using logical partitions. Source: https://twitter.com/topjohnwu/status/1170404634604658688
BTW, just found this tidbit in Android's source code. They call these kind of filesystems "ext4 dedup". Other read-only filesystems they are aware of is squashfs (widely used in extremely constrained devices) and Huawei's EROFS. Source: https://twitter.com/topjohnwu/status/1170443615077666816

So, in short, you cannot R/W the system partition anymore with Android 10. The argument is just rejected.


Change the name of the Wi-Fi hotspot Device: Samsung Galaxy Note 3

The wireless tethering hotspot name is AndroidAP. I would like to change this if I can.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S4, but you should have something similar to this: System settings > Connections > More Networks > Tethering and portable hotspot > Portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

If you don't see Configure button (not visible on my S4 5.0.1), try pressing device Menu button while you are at the Mobile Hotspot settings page (which shows your hotspot name and password)


Forward tethered device? Alright, so I have a raspberry pi (192.168.42.53 on rndis0) that is tethered to an android tablet to access the internet. The tablet is connected to my home LAN via WiFi (on wlan0). How do I forward the raspberry pi so that I can access all of it's services through devices on my home LAN? Could this work through iptables?

I found an answer to my own question that is a really easy fix.  Turns out, iptables is not at all needed.  There is an easy to use app on the play store that solved my problem: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=at.bherbst.net&hl=en


how to safely remove usb storage? My android 2.3 tablet supports usb. It mounts all usb drives. However there is no mechanism for unmounting in the settings menu.

On direct unplugging usb devices, i get notification " usb mass storage device removed unexpectedly

Is there is an app for unmounting usb storage devices?

It should normally be located within settings>storage>unmount USB storage. Otherwise look within whatever file explorer you are using on the tablet for USB storage, this should indicate that a usb stick etc is using the drive, and hence give you the option to remove/unmount.

There are apps available but these require root access to my knowledge.


Increase Wi-Fi Roaming Aggressiveness on Samsung Dart? I have a T-Mobile Samsung Dart (which IIUC is a re-branded Samsung Galaxy Mini) and a Wi-Fi network in my apartment with two access points.  When I make Wi-Fi calls while walking from one end of my apartment to the other, the signal from the access point I was originally connected to (AP1) degrades to the point of being unusable.  By the time I get to this point the signal from the other access point (AP2) is strong but my phone doesn't roam to AP2.

Both access points are set up with the same SSID and security settings, so roaming should "just work".  It does work when the Wi-Fi connection is idle, although it usually takes a long time for the phone to figure out that the signal from AP1 is weak and start using AP2.  Using Wi-Fi calling seems to make Wi-Fi roaming even less aggressive, probably because the Wi-Fi NIC is busy sending data instead of scanning for hotspots to roam to.

How do I configure my phone to roam more aggressively between Wi-Fi hotspots on the same network (same SSID and security settings)?

Even if the other AP connected, you will lose your call. When you switch access points, you are going to drop the wi-fi call.

The device may have a hard time figuring out if it should switch to AP2 because it is still connected to AP1 and it can still see AP1. if the signals overlap, it will connect to the strongest one at the time, if it is already connected, it will not attempt to connect to another AP until it is no longer connected. Once you go completely out of range of AP1, the device scans and sees AP2, then it connects. It doesn't matter how "strong" the signal is for another AP, if you are connected, it will not see another AP. Then once you disconnect, the device needs to go in to "scan" mode.

If your router supports it, you could turn down the power of the AP so they don't overlap (or if they do, it is only slightly). but then again, if your router supports that, you could also increase the power so you don't need the second AP.


sd card installation in s7582 I am having a problem with my sd card installation. After inserting sd card in my phone, still its showing "insert sd card". Can anyone help me out with this problem?

If you have another memory card try it out and see if it works.  If it does then your first memory card may be corrupt or damaged.  If the second memory card doesn't work either then it's possible there is a problem with your SD card slot on the phone.  If the problem is the SD card slot then you may need to look into a warranty replacement for the phone, if that option is available.


Where is the options button in Rockplayer? How do I open the options for the Rockplayer app? I need to get to the subtitle encoding menu so that my srt is supported (currently it looks like Chinese) but I can't find it. I see only the play/pause buttons, the screen resize button and the video info button. Can you help me?

Try pressing your phone's Menu button.  That should bring up everything else you can do/look at/etc. that is not on-screen.


Font on my AMOLED display has white border I noticed that text on my Galaxy S3 is bad looking.

This is how it should look

And this is how it is looking

On the second image you can see white border around every letter..

But, when I change display mode to Natural or Movie, the border there is not. Is it right? Does it mean that the display is corrupted?

I bought this phone few days ago as used. The phone was made 2 years and 2 months ago but I don't know how long it the previous owner was using. Display is without any scratch, blue colour is okay. The phone is looking as unused.

thanks for help

If i adjust brightness and saturation on your first image:

White border is visible!
It's really hard to say. I think this occurs because the adjustments is very different in each display mode.
Which mode have you used in second image?


How can I stop downloads from Google Play when net balance is ending (or zero)? In my SIM, the net balance is zero. But, the device shows that it is still downloading applications. Because of this, I am losing my main balance. Also, the battery is getting lower every 3 hours.

How can I stop this problem?

There is no way to disable the Google Play store from downloading apps that you have asked to download, however if you go into the Google Play app settings menu, you can enable the Update on WiFi only option - this will only let updates download when you are connected to WiFi.

You can also completely disable your mobile data connection by going to System Settings -> More -> Mobile Network -> Uncheck the mobile data checkbox.

This will stop your device from connecting to the mobile network data.


Can't log in via Gmail app but browser login is fine I can't log in through my android Gmail application and have to log in using the browser. I am kind of confused. The response I got from the app was "Can't establish a reliable data connection to the server".

Here are some things you can try to get things working right:

1. Try an alternate data connection.

  Try other data connections, preferably faster WiFi, if available.

2. Check your devices Date and Time.

  Either wait for your service providers to set date and time automatically or you can manually update the time by Settings > Date & time

3. Reset your Google apps.

  Go to “Settings” > “Applications” > “Manage applications” > “Google Apps“, then tap the “Clear data” button.
  Go to the Home screen.
  Select “Settings” > “Data synchronization” > “Google“.
  Enter your Google credentials.


Nexus 5, I'm getting remote: flash write failure while trying to fix a bootloop Before I say anything I just want to say I didn't install any custom ROMs nor rooted my phone.

I've downloaded the factory images from here https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#hammerhead

I put my phone into bootloader and I start the flash-all.bat script from the folder I've downloaded above. It runs this script:

PATH=%PATH%;"%SYSTEMROOT%\System32"
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-hammerhead-hhz12d.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot flash radio radio-hammerhead-m8974a-2.0.50.2.22.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
ping -n 5 127.0.0.1 >nul
fastboot -w update image-hammerhead-lrx22c.zip

echo Press any key to exit...
pause >nul
exit

I get the following output:

OKAY [  0.307s]
writing 'bootloader'...
**FAILED (remote: not supported in locked device)**
finished. total time: 0.407s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.050s]
finished. total time: 0.050s
< waiting for device >
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
sending 'radio' (45521 KB)...
OKAY [  1.732s]
writing 'radio'...
**FAILED (remote: not supported in locked device)**
finished. total time: 1.842s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.046s]
finished. total time: 0.046s
< waiting for device >
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
failed to allocate 1005027540 bytes
error: update package missing system.img
Press any key to exit...

I've noticed the bolded lines so I unlocked the phone using a command fastboot oem unlock. It unlocks it, however if I reset the phone, it's locked again. People on the Internet say that if this happens then the phone is dead. I hope it's not the case.

I've tried running the script again when the phone is unlocked:

target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
sending 'bootloader' (2579 KB)...
OKAY [  0.202s]
writing 'bootloader'...
**FAILED (remote: flash write failure)**
finished. total time: 0.402s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.090s]
finished. total time: 0.090s
< waiting for device >
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
sending 'radio' (45521 KB)...
OKAY [  1.709s]
writing 'radio'...
**FAILED (remote: flash write failure)**
finished. total time: 2.939s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.100s]
finished. total time: 0.100s
< waiting for device >
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
failed to allocate 1005027540 bytes
error: update package missing system.img
Press any key to exit...

As you can see I get the FAILURE (remote: flash write failure).

I've tried removing the commands that reset the phone so the phone stays locked and I get this output after running the modified script:

target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
sending 'bootloader' (2579 KB)...
OKAY [  0.300s]
writing 'bootloader'...
**FAILED (remote: flash write failure)**
finished. total time: 0.492s
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
sending 'radio' (45521 KB)...
OKAY [  1.716s]
writing 'radio'...
**FAILED (remote: flash write failure)**
finished. total time: 1.894s
target reported max download size of 1073741824 bytes
archive does not contain 'boot.sig'
archive does not contain 'recovery.sig'
failed to allocate 1005027540 bytes
**error: update package missing system.img**
Press any key to exit...

Again, the FAILURE (remote: flash write failure) occurs but I don't understand why it can't find "system.img" because it is in the folder where the script is.

I've also tried the tutorial from this Youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJnoiMTw5cY

When I try the first command which is "fastboot flash system system.img" I get the same error.

So, is my phone dead or can I still fix it?

EDIT: I've RMA-ed[1] the phone and they've sent me a replacement. I hope this thread will help future people.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_merchandise_authorization

The flash-all.sh script does not take into consideration that your bootloader is locked after each restart.

I opened the shell script and executed each command one by one, re-unlocking with the following after each command:

fastboot oem unlock

I flashed each image with no errors, but it did not seem to write to memory regardless.


Blocking apps to be installed in AVD environment? Is it possible for developers to block their Google Play apps to be installed at AVD or am I just picking the unsupported AVD profile? I'm trying to install the app into the AVD and debug in a more controlled environment, however, it says:

  Your device isn't compatible with this version

So, it isn't an error message. It's a Google Play message before installing the app.

There are multiple ways to detect if an app is running on an emulator. But in your case it seems to be a general problem because the error already occurs on installation:

Emulators are usually x86 devices because of emulation speed (as PCs usually have x86 based CPUs). The number of real Android devices with x86 architecture is very very low hence if a developer does not support x86 this can result in an error like you encountered.

Try the latest beta emulators image for Android R it supports both x86 and arm. Therefore on on this emulator image you should be able to at least install the app. If it runs is a different question.

In any way a rooted physical device is usually suited better for an analysis.


Google bookmarks app? Is there an app for Google Bookmarks (this is distinct from Chrome bookmarks)?


Auditing application's use of GPS There is an application on my phone that triggers the GPS at random intervals. The start of this polling doesn't correlate with any newly installed applications so I imagine a recent update or recently activated feature in an existing application is causing this behavior.

What options do I have to audit the GPS usage on my phone (Galaxy S4 - Verizon)?

Android 4.4 allows you to view recent requests - this is probably the closest you can get...

This probably exists in prior versions too, I just don't have a device with JB to test it with. You get there from settings->location


Why wouldn't Project Treble work on Android phones that weren't originally shipped with Oreo once updated to 8.0? I saw a couple of references discussing Project Treble which all seem to agree that only phones which ship with Android 8.0 "Oreo" would be able to take advantage of Project Treble. The ones that did not won't be able to - not even when the non-8-shipping phones are themselves upgraded to Oreo.
Why is that the case for phones that will get Oreo 8 upgrades?
What's missing from those phones that the Oreo updates for them wouldn't support Project Treble? I was under impression that it was purely a software architecture, not some dedicated hardware.
In other words, why wouldn't releasing Oreo based firmware for the phone automatically make it into a Treble phone?

The Pixel and Pixel XL are the only existing phones that will be able to use Project Treble's features, but phones shipping with Android 8.0 or later will have full access. We hope they take advantage of it! (AndroidCentral)
Oxygen OS on the OnePlus 3 and OnePlus 3T was upgraded to Android 8.0 Oreo the other day, and both the OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T are due for an update in early 2018. That’s mostly good news, but sadly, none of OnePlus’s phones will support one of Oreo’s headlining features: Project Treble. In an AMA on the OnePlus forums, OnePlus confirmed that the OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 and OnePlus 5T won’t get Project Treble support (XDA)

Yes, project treble is a software architecture update but there are few things to consider.

Q. What is the real reason for Android fragmentation?

A. One word answer is silicon vendor's kernel source.

They start developing the hardware almost 2 years before the commercial launch so the source is based on an Old Linux kernel version. As the silicon company is interested in developing new chips instead of supporting 2-year-old chips, they do not update the source for new Android release. Hence no device OEM can update it to the new version.

Google has done many efforts to resolve this issue. One is extended long-term support releases of Linux kernel (6 years instead of 2). Another effort is to provide silicon manufacturers a Vendor Test Suite (VTS) similar to CTS(Compatibility Test Suite). Now silicon vendors only have to develop source once which is compatible with VTS guidelines and Google will ensure that it will work with further updates. So vendors will not update previous chips according to VTS but upcoming all of the chips will be treble supported (hopefully).

So fragmentation is solved this way?

Wrong. Because this is only one of the cause of fragmentation. There is one more that is modifications done by device OEM and carriers. Treble is not a solution for these problems. The only solution is to stick to a pure stock android but no OEM is doing so. OEMs are not interested in porting their changes to every device because it needs a lot of work so they only work for their flagship devices. In the case of one plus, Snapdragon 835 is treble supported but I think they lack the workforce to port oxygen OS to next releases for old devices.

In a nutshell, Google has done the part to fight fragmentation now it depends on device OEMS.

I hope the answer helps.

EDIT(One Plus):

For One Plus refer this post

  However, because partitions were not required of Android N and previous versions of Android, all of our current devices do not feature a partition. According to our tests, if we were to modify the partition layout via OTA there is a risk that devices will brick during the partitioning.

In a nutshell, The main problem for one plus is that project treble requires different partitions for modularity of OS which was not the case before Oreo. As One Plus 5 as well as 5T were originally shipped with Nougat, they are not partitioned according to treble. Partitioning via OTA update can brick the device so they are not doing it.

Normal users want all the apps and data saved while updating which is very risky while partitioning via incremental update. You can do it with clean wipe but no OEM will do this as average user does not want treble at the expense of losing all the saved apps and data.

TL;DR

Phones shipped with nougat has only one partition i.e. system but for treble, vendor partition must be different from system and partitioning from ota update is not a good idea for companies.


How to directly measure or read the screen capacitance I am looking for a way to directly measure or read the (total or individual grid) change in capacitance as observed by the touchscreen of an android device. Is it possible to achieve this with the default android SDK, or does this require a more extensive knowledge of the hardware?

No. It is not possible to get this information with the Android SDK.

You might get this information if you have access to the drivers and the kernel of your device.


My newly updated Droid rings at max volume even when ringtone is muted I was forced to install a mandatory update (Droid version 9, Kernel version 3.18.91-16068741) for my Samsung Galaxy J7 around 2 weeks ago. Since then, there have been six (6) incidents where my phone rings EVEN IF MY RINGTONE IS SET TO MUTE. Is this a bug with the new update or did the change break a setting? As a last resort, how do I downgrade?

Try using do not disturb, that usually helps by going to Settings > Sounds and notifications and check that the following are selected to how you want. There are two options:

Volume: To adjust the volume level for music and videos,  system sounds, call ringtones, and notifications.
Do not disturb: Mute incoming call and notification sounds, except for allowed exceptions.

  For the Do not Disturb option, check that you are not leaving an exception for incoming calls before enabling because that could be one of the problems too.

Also, as a last resort like you said, you can also flash your phone using this well-explained guide by clicking the link here (don't mind the title, the process of flashing can either upgrade(which you don't want) or downgrade(which, of course, you want) ) which will provide all the resources you need to properly flash your phone.

  REMEMBER: I am not responsible if you brick your phone if you follow these instructions incorrectly. MAKE SURE you select your correct device along with the correct ROM you want to use on the SamMobile website, meaning, since you want to downgrade, select a firmware other than the 9.0 Pie firmware, so an older one like one back in 2017. If you don't know how to use Odin, follow this link which will provide you with instructions of how to use it. ALSO NOTE: To avoid the stress of you permanently bricking your phone, install a custom recovery like TWRP, which will make life easier when you have to deal with a bricked phone.

I  hope these instructions were helpful and wish you the best of luck.
Cheers, Joe


Significant battery drop/reboot, but only in cold weather (+5°C/+41°F) with camera - expected behaviour or battery defect? Disclaimer: This is not a duplicate, I've looked at these questions but none are applicable(temperature) or provide an adequate answer.
Recently I've realized that my 15 month old LG G4 seems to have an issue with the battery in cool or cold weather: dry, no significant windchill, +5°C/+41°C
In at least 3 instances, it happened to drop from 50% or even 65% charge to zero, rebooting without warning. I've not seen issues at other times (higher temps)
I can even reproduce this:

Have the phone at 50% to about 70% charge
go outside if its around 5°C
take a couple of pictures with Open Camera.

After a couple of minutes, it will reboot and only have a fraction (<10%) of the charge, and keep rebooting if I try to take pictures.
I've tried all the "battery reset tricks" out there, but as I said above - I don't have any issues other than in the cold (+camera).
Is this expected behaviour or should I replace my battery ?
Do I want too much from my smartphone ?
Should I scale back my settings to try and keep the power draw lower ?

Additional Information:
It's a Li-Po 3000 mAh (original) battery
Android 7.1.2 (LineageOS 14.1)
Open Camera settings: High Res (16:9 15.87 MP), 90% JPEG, GPS on, 100% display brightness, background thread, no flash
I'm also uploading the pictures to owncloud via the owncloud App ("Instant Upload") over 3G/4G
Here are some graphs from GSam Battery Monitor.
If you look at them closely, it seems to "recharge" around 5% if its in a warmer environment again.

All batteries achieve optimum service life if used at 20°C (68°F) or slightly below
For Li Ion ( or Li Po) the ideal charging temperature is 0°C to 45°C
(32°F to 113°F) and operating temperature is –20°C to 60°C
(–4°F to 140°F) Source

Based on the above, it looks like you have a poor battery given that

It is being operated within the designed temperature range
Unexplained sudden drop from above 50% or more to zero
Marginal increase in charge when brought indoors

Till you get a replacement battery all I can think of by way of power consumption reduction is to delay the cloud upload (do it once it's charged / WiFi)

Edit: Try a different camera app. It looks like Open Camera does consume more power and show increase in battery levels after reboot as quoted here -in particular post of 17/12/2017 which matches very closely to what OP describes. If that doesn't help much change battery