What's infected my Android device, and how do I remove it? This story of images occasionally pops up on opening new links in Chrome. These links are for legitimate websites such as imgur and reddit. When it happens, I'm on mobile data. When I choose the tab, and click the link again,  no pop-up appears.

Here's the relevant portion from chrome://version

  Google Chrome 51.0.2704.81 (Official Build) (32-bit)

  Revision
  211d45a5b74b06d12bb016f3c4d54095faf2646f-refs/branch-heads/2704@{#696}

  OS    Android 6.0.1; E5823 Build/32.2.A.0.224

This is a screenshot of the pop-up:

How do I find out what caused this,  and how do I fix it?

It happened again, this time without clicking a link. I was in reddit, it just popped up.

URL: http://rcknmwcyct.pw/gaz6s9/x1psi.html?model=Xperia%20Z5%20Compact&brand=Sony&ip=86.181.166.144&voluumdata=BASE64dmlkLi4wMDAwMDAwMi01MjQ2LTQwYTItODAwMC0wMDAwMDAwMDAwMDBfX3ZwaWQuLmFlZTQxMDAwLTNmZjgtMTFlNi04NWQyLTZiNmI2ZjViZDYwNV9fY2FpZC4uYjFmNjYxMTMtNjBiNy00OGNmLTk4ZDktZjdkNTU3MGY1NjdiX19ydC4uSEpfX2xpZC4uODVjNzVhMTctZjYxMi00MTBmLWJlZTMtODE1MmU3NmVjMjMxX19vaWQxLi4wNGM0OTMyYS00ZWE5LTQwYzMtYTBmNy0wYWQ4MGE1YTc1YWRfX3JkLi5fX2FpZC4uX19hYi4uX19zaWQuLg#

Here's the pages without the pop-up:

When I try to click back,  I get to this page:

Which is something about appflood security. I haven't managed to teach it down to anything though.

I'm assuming this only happens in chrome and not any other browser or device. If it does happen on another device then the problem would be that a virus hijacked your router(on WiFi) and changed the DNS settings. Solution logon to your router and change the DNS settings to be automatically picked from your ISP.

You could

Head to settings and disable Javascript. Which disables the redirect link from functioning as long as Javascript is off but is quite hectic since genuine websites will most likely require Javascript  to function.
Check your DNS settings and ensure that it's either set to automatically pick DNS settings from ISP or on a DNS server you know of such as googles DNS servers(8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4)
Root your phone and install Ad Blocker This would prevent the popup links from generating.


How do I lock my HTC whenever I want? I have a HTC Wildfire S and set up the screen lock pattern for it. This triggers after some time but sometimes I want to lock it myself, for example if I leave the office and let my phone on the desk.

In Settings | Security | Lock phone after I can use the "Immediately" option but this closes every time the screen turns of.

Is there some way I can keep it to lock after some time as it is now but also lock it whenever I want?

You can press the power button or use program like Screen Off and Lock. The advantage of software lock is it will prevent wear and tear of your hardware button.


LTE Bands for European Galaxy S7 (SM-G935F) while in the US I have a European model of Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (SM-G935F), 32GB version.

It is a SIM free phone, not locked to any particular vendor. I am aware of region lock, but from my understanding it should be OK, since I have been making calls for a few months with it in Europe.

According to GSM Arena, these are the bands supported by this model:

  LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600),
  8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800),
  25(1900), 26(850), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) -
  G935F

Currently I am using EE carrier in the UK, supporting bands 3 and 7.
AT&T in the states should support bands 2, 4, 5, 17.

My assumption is, because my phone supports these bands, I should have no trouble using LTE in the US?

Thank you for your help.

Starting from Note 5, Samsung has blessed their flagships with near-iPhone level of international cellular capabilities, as shown in the specs you've read. VoLTE and Wi-Fi calling might take a hit, but as long as AT&T is willing to offer and activate a new SIM for you, you should be fine using LTE itself.


Realtime Transfer (Stream) the Audio to "another mobile" device "directly" without any in-between components? How to do if I want to play some (any) sounds on one device, and then want another device to hear the same thing at the same time?

And what i also mean is to be able to connect "directly" (via BlueTooth or WiFi) by not using any in-between Server or any such components. Or, should i say point-to-point? P2P? (Lets say without Internet)

There are many apps in the market which you may use to achieve this;

StreamFurious
ServeStream

Both app require you to posses access to a ShoutCast server. (which is a server technology to host what you broadcast. learn more). Services like listen2myradio provides such services for free. This will allow anyone in the world to listen what you play, realtime!

You may also use bluetooth (with apps like Bluetooth Music Player) or wifi (with apps like WiFi Audio Wireless Speaker or WiFi Speaker) if you want to stay at a limited area.


Backup to SD card in kit kat Is there a backup program that will allow me to back up directly to my SD card in Kit Kat without an internet connection?

I currently am forced to back up to the internal storage {after clearing space} then copying to the SD card, then deleteing the copy on my internal storage.  this wastes much time and effort.  My phone storage is only 2.8GB free, but my SD card has 28.0GB free.

I'm not sure what you're wanting to back up, but most backup applications on the Play Store will do this for you.  Examples are MyBackup Root, Titanium Backup, and Helium.

EDIT:  Scratch that.  As mentioned by Izzy in the comments below, you must be rooted for these apps to work, as there is a..."feature"...in Android 4.4 KitKat that prevents "rouge" SD Card access: link


Disable Bluetooth discoverability in Redmi 6 / MIUI 11 Is it possible to completely turn of the ability of my Redmi 6 (using MIUI 11 currently) to being discovered via Bluetooth by other devices? If yes, then how to achieve this?
Things I've tried or read so far:

No corresponding system option (NFUI clone on my Neffos X9 still has it)
This answer that is reported to not work under MIUI 10 so won't work most likely under MIUI 11
Turning off Bluetooth Scanning (turned off, no effect, device still discoverable)
Using Bluetooth Settings 3rd party application

I had the biggest faith in last option (Bluetooth Settings app), but it fails completely under Readmi 6 / MIUI 11. Not only Bluetooth discoverability is turned on again when phone is restarted or Bluetooth is enabled, as it is written here.
It is also turned on again when any paired device connects to it or when Bluetooth Settings app is reopened again. So this is a completely false pathway.

Found the "[Tools] MIUI Bluetooth Discovery App" thread in Mi Community. It lead me to Bluetooth Visibility Fix app which seems to be working as expected under MIUI 11 / Readmi 6 phone.
There's some work when start using it:

It is a  system service that needs special permissions to auto-start,
It didn't work ("restarted" itself to "Visible to all") for first 2-3 times then it suddenly started to work.

But after some time it does seems to be resolving the issue in question and turning off Bluetooth discoverability permanently.
In case the Bluetooth Visibility Fix app is not working for you itself, the "[Tools] MIUI Bluetooth Discovery App" article also mentions some user-contributed app, available as direct .apk file download under above link. Consider it as an alternative.


Movement (gyro) input reversed on Zopo 998 I have Zopo 998 on Android KitKat, and I have started to use cardboard for movies and VR. My problem is that the movement sensors seem reversed: when I turn my head right, the view moves left, and also happen for up and down.

I have tried many applications and such which all behave the same. Nothing in settings that I can find.

Am I missing something obvious?

I found the problem and it doesn't look good so far. It's a bug which is model specific. The Zopo 998 is known for this issue (fixed in the 999 model). Perks have been asking for a ROM to correct the error.

Going to just have to keep my eyes open for some fix.


Answer phone calls directly from computer (linux)? When I'm on my work computer, I'd like to connect my phone via USB and have the possibility to answer calls or initiate calls directly from my computer, using a microphone handset directly connected to the computer, not the phone.

I Googled assuming something like this already existed, but I didn't find that specific use (I found GtalkSMS, EasySMS, Airdroid, but most of them are for SMS/MMS only).

How can this be done?

It would be great if this would be directly connected to Google+ (like initiating a Hangout that would automatically use my phone, or a GTalk call that would use my connected phone insted of a "web" phone number).

Thanks for your help!

The only linux application I know that could achieve this is 'HFP for Linux'. It works by implementing the Bluetooth HFP 1.5 Hands Free profile, which basically makes your PC a remote control/headset for your Android phone.


Setting default Save Location in Android 6.0 Is there a way to set the default installation from my Apps to SD Card.

I couldn't find it, in Settings/App/Configurate Apps and Setting/Storage & USB.

Where do i have to look for it?

Thanks

My Device is a Moto G (2.Gen) with a 32GB SD Card formatted as Adoptable Storage (Marshmallow Feature)

If your SD card is setup as adopted (internal) storage, apps should save their information there by default as long as you migrated your apps there, your SD card is now internal storage.

For more information, look at the Moto help page for Android 6 Marshmallow - SD card - Tips and Tricks


How to intall whatsapp plus I downloaded whatsapp plus and I installed it on my phone...when am doing the initialization... where they ask you to put ur number there...I put my number there and when the thing was loading...they told me to install the new version on Google play store...uninstall original whatsapp and download whatsapp plus..I uninstalled the whatsapp and downloaded the whatsapp plus but still...they said that thing again...I tried doing they "call me thing" and they told me" it seems ur client has been modified...please download the new version from Google play store..my friend uses the same phone(Motorola droid RAZR) and the whatsapp plus is working perfectly for him...pls help me.

These happens sometimes. But after 1 or 2 try it will work.
Try these steps.

Make Sure you have perfectly running whatsapp installed with your important chat

1) Go to /sdcard/whatsapp/databases/
Delete all files using FILE MANAGER.
In Whatsapp Go to Settings>Chat settings>Backup Conversations to Backup your conversations ...

2) Uninstall OLDER WHATSAPP

3) Install Given WhatsApp+'s apk ...

4) Open it & Click AGREE & CONTINUE & enter your number

5) If you have done above steps well then there should be RESTORE BUTTON , Press it
(If you Dont get restore button or you get message like "Your app is not official Download from play store"
then
uninstall current whatsapp+ & install original whatsapp from play store , do verification process and then chat with 1-2 person again backup chats and then uninstall original whatsapp & install given WhatsApp+ You will get RESTORE button)

6) Wait ...it might take some long... Press Continue after it finishes


Why does Google Drive for Android say "Failed to open the document"? Periodically, when I try to use Google Drive for Android, it will show the list of documents, and when I click one, it says:

"Failed to open the document. / Unable to open the document. Please make sure you are connected to the Internet and have permission to open the document and try again. / Cancel / Open in browser"

I had the problem Tuesday and couldn't open any documents; by Wednesday it was normal again; today it's back and I can't open any documents.  The app is the newest version and has not released any upgrades in the meantime, so I'm thinking it may be caused by the server. Is that plausible?  Is there a fix?

I am using Cyanogenmod 10 (Android 4.1.2) on a Samsung Captivate.

[More info:  When I choose "Open in browser" it does open in the browser.  But it still doesn't open in the Google Drive app.]

After months of mysery, I found the solution: go to docs app (instead of the drive app): if it says you need an update you are lucky as this solved my problem.


Control media player on one phone from another I recently upgraded by old Wildfire to a Galaxy S2.  For an event I'm running, I'd like to be able to hook the wildfire up to a sound system and play music (that's on the wildfire).  However, I'd also like to control the playback using my S2.  This can be via bluetooth or wi-fi, as I can use the wi-fi hotspot feature if required.

Can anyone suggest any Apps that would allow me to do this?  So far a remote-desktop app is the best I've found, but it's a bit awkward to use.

KODI + KORE
for those who looking not only streaming but a simple remote control over media player itself (android - to - android)
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/494-android-tv-remote-apps.html#s16


Are there any landline phones running Android? I'm looking for a landline phone (not necessarily cordless) which runs on Android and gives me the associated control, customisability, and for a bonus, market access. Does such a thing exist?

Apparently Yes. The Archos Smart Home Phone is an Android Phone priced at £130 in the UK:

http://www.androidcentral.com/archos-smart-home-phone-now-available-get-android-your-landline

Although the reviews on Amazon UK arent very good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Archos-501809-Smart-Home-Phone/dp/B005H0M8LW

Binatone iHome Phone iDect with DECT and Android Technology

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Binatone-iHome-Phone-Android-Technology/dp/B004EBV1GI

Currently unavailable (maybe its that good)


Whatsapp is disappeared in Ultra power saving mode I just bought a Samsung C9 Pro mobile phone. Not sure what I did on the phone, when I change it to Ultra power saving mode, Whatsapp is disappear and I'm unable to use it. It worked well before but not sure why it disappear suddenly. I already remove and re-install Whatsapp on my phone but cannot help.

You can use what's app just go to gallery select any photo to share and then you will get 3 options 1 one is whats app just go ahead and select any contact when whats app is about to send the photo click on upper left hand corner what's app back button ...

Then you will able to use what's app without any problem
Just remember do not to clear your recent apps if u clear that part then you have to do the same processes again


Only notifications from text messages are being shown As the title says, I only get notifications from my texting application but not from everything else.

A couple of examples:

I use pushbullet to share a website with my phone, but I won't get the notification until I open the app.
To see if I have to  manually open the app and refresh it, same thing with emails.
If I install an app on my device remotely from the play store, the app won't start downloading/installing till I open the play store on my phone.
Texting works as expected, i get notifications normally even with my third party texting app. (textra)

Specs:

Samsung Galaxy S4
SGH-i337M
5.0.1
Nova Launcher (if that matters)

It sounds like you've gone into the developer options and turned on "limit background processes", which stops apps running in the background to do all these things. The fact that they work normally when you open the app by hand suggests that app is still getting the information it needs, just not until it's in the foreground. The fact it's the whole behaviour of the app (e.g. Play Store downloading updates), not just the appearance of the notification tells me it's not just a problem with notifications.


Does a battery with more capacity last proportionally longer? I recently bought a Galaxy S2 which came with a 1650mAh battery and in a near future the manufacturer will be offering another one with a 2000mAh. My question is: will it last 21% more than the original? Is this just as linear as it seems or is not the case?

Technically no, the relationship is not linear.

Milliamp-hours (or amp-seconds, coulombs, or any other similar unit) is a measurement of electrical charge, not of electrical energy.  As with all common batteries, the voltage is not constant while the battery is being discharged.  Assuming your phone was drawing as much power as it could the whole time, the current would be constant; coupled with the fluctuating voltage this means that the energy drain from the battery is not linear.  Essentially this means that the first 1650 mAh drained from a 2000 mAh battery will not comprise proportionally the same energy drain as the last 350 mAh, meaning that the battery capacity affects the battery life in a nonlinear fashion.

For your purposes it should give you a more or less linear boost, however.  It depends how much current your phone draws at any given time but you can expect an approximate 20% boost in battery life on a full charge.  I would suspect slightly less than 20% due to the tail end of the battery being longer (more charge stored in the battery after the voltage has dropped too low for the phone to use it) but I don't know for sure.


Is it possible to move the keyboard to the top of the screen? One of the biggest advantages to the Swype keyboard is the ability to effectively type with only one hand. However this dosent work very well since the keyboard is at the bottom of the screen. Is there any way to move the keyboard to the top of the screen only when on portrait mode so that I can grip the phone with one hand and type with my thumb on the top of the screen where my thumb has more range of motion?

There is no setting to do this.  It would appear there is also no supported method for a keyboard developer to set where their keyboard is drawn (see KeyboardView on android.com).


Quick capture of www URLs to local LIFO stack of hyperlinks? I often come across interesting websites while looking for something else, and I want to be able to quickly "push" (i.e. capture) their URLs onto a consolidated stack of clickable links, in LIFO order, for review at a later time.  (It would be great if it were easy to "pop" links from this stack, but this is gravy.)

My current method for capturing URLs is awfully inconvenient: I choose my browser's "share" option, and email the URL to myself.  This is not only slow and cumbersome, but the captured URLs get spread over a bazillion separate email messages.

In fact, the absence of a consolidated "dumping site" for these captured URLs is the weakness of every info capture app I've tried so far: quick capture always results in one link per "node" (or email message, or "note", or whatever) in a way that makes it difficult to review the current LIFO stack of URLs.  With some of them it may be possible to simulate the "LIFO stack" effect, but this is invariably at the expense of speed and ease of capture.

Another feature of many of these apps that I found highly undesirable is that they stored the information remotely.  I definitely want to keep this information exclusively local, i.e. in my phone.  I don't want to find myself in the near future bumping into a "free storage limit" at some remote site (as with, e.g. Evernote).

Does anyone know an app that meets these criteria?

I just stumbled upon Pocket -formerly Read It Later. Might be worth a try.


How much space do I need for 1hr of 1080p video? I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge with 10GB of space free. I'd like record roughly 1hr continuously using the standard camera app.

Do you see any problem with this?

Record one minute and check how much storage it takes and duplicate by 60


Lost/Stolen Samsung S4 Mini blocked be tracked? recently lost samsung s4 mini, which had sim and phone blocked. Tried to remote lock it using Androis manager, but said device was offline. Does this mean that they can get at my data even though I put that lock on?

If this is installed then you can locate it .Go to google.com/android/devicemanager and see if your phone is picked up. Outside of that, reporting it stolen to the carrier and police is your next bet if you didn't install any software with remote capabilities. For more derails you can also refer Samsung India site.


HTC showing a weird screen? Recently my HTC showed a weird screen. I wasn't on my phone at the time, but when I went to look at it, the screen was out of wack. I've never seen this in my life. I don't know if my phone is hacked or what. I wasn't able to get an actual photo of the screen, but it looked something like this: http://prnt.sc/emdogr . The screen was also animated. After this happened my phone sometimes turns on by itself. I'm hoping that it's something normal?? Is anyone else dealing with this or am I being hacked?

What you saw is likely the HTC Dot View. It's an interface that works with certain protection sleeves, that shows time, notification and other info through a stylish, easy-to-read "dotted matrix".

However, if your phone isn't wearing such a sleeve when it happens, it's advised that you check for magnetic sources around it, which could trick the phone into thinking it's paired with such a sleeve. You said "After this happened my phone sometimes turns on by itself" - further reinforced my speculation that it's some (unstable) interference from a random magnetic source around.


Not able to access the service menu on my Galaxy S3 I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 from US Cellular and I'm trying to use it on a different carrier. I added the new SIM Card and I tried all the possible options to access the service menu and it always says "Mobile network not available". My phone model is SCH-R530U. Thanks.

Is your Samsung Galaxy S3 from US Cellular locked for US Cellular only? If YES, you won't be able to use a SIM card from a different carrier with it. You'll have to unlock the phone first so that it allows SIM cards from other networks.


Is it possible to increase the RAM on Android devices, like a phone or tablet? I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2 32GB (SMP900) tablet. I love the tablet. However, the RAM seems inadequate.

I use the tablet to do lots of movie streaming, playing games, digital artwork and I transfer my photos from my cell phone to the tablet (sometimes - most of the time I send them to Google+ cloud account.)  I really want to make use of the great features on this tablet and would appreciate any advice.

I always close down programs I am not using. I empty my cache and browser history frequently, but seem to be running out of RAM quickly. I am using Clean Master (also has a speed booster and cache cleaning program with a virus/malware protection program). But to do the types of things I really want to do with this tablet it seems I need more RAM.

Is it possible to add RAM to these tablets?

On phones and tablets, RAM is part of the device hardware and generally not user-upgradable (despite jokes to the contrary). A quick check of the galaxy Note Pro shows it has 3GB built-in- quite decent actually. I'd suggest uninstalling that "speed booster" app or other "virus" and "task killer" apps-- Android isn't Windows.

It usually doesn't need extra stuff like that. Decent security/malware detection is already a part of Google Play, and those listed "features" raise alarm bells for me. I also saw reviews saying it contains spyware.

The truth is, you are making this harder than it should be.  A normal Android user typically should never be concerned with manually quitting programs you are not using as new Android devices very efficiently manage their performance and kill background apps automatically.  Similarly, you should generally NOT be emptying app caches manually, ever, unless a particular app is giving you problems- and certainly not "regularly".

In short, the stuff you are doing thinking you are improving performance is best left to the system, which can do it much more effectively and efficiently than you can.  Android devices should be VERY easy to use with minimal maintenance-- please beware many 3rd-party apps that may lead you to believe they are necessary for improved performance.  Task-killers and such may actually degrade overall performance as they waste memory and processing time interfering with thigns that Android itself is finely-tuned to do.

Perhaps the best "speed up" tip I can offer: disable/uninstall apps you don't use (some of which may be running in the background), especially bloatware and adware that are shoehorned onto your phone by unscrupulous wireless carriers.  An even better alternative-- look into bloatware-free aftermarket ROMs if they are offered for your phone (the best ones cost nothing, by the way) or root your phone and remove that bloatware entirely from the system.

(Note: Originally posted this as a comment, but by request expanded it into an "answer")


How to change my phone's firmware nationality? For some unknown reason the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (GT-I9195) I bought in Switzerland is actually a Polish version, i.e. that's the default locale which I cannot uninstall and that's why only today I was offered an OTA to I9195XXUCOD3 instead of I9195XXUCOA2 back in February. While my question basically boils down to

  can I simply download the Swiss firmware image and flash that via Odin?

I'd prefer a general (not device-specific) answer for the following points:

How to figure out whether the firmware and device of two different countries are compatible (e.g. is the hardware sufficiently identical/compatible)?
how to modify the device's nationality, i.e. is it sufficient to replace the firmware or are other steps required?
does having the device rooted help/hinder?

For Samsung devices (unbranded ones) the answers are pretty simple:

As long as the model is the same (exactly the same, even the characters after the numbers), the ROM is compatible. (Usually the bare models without any special characters after them have more international firmwares).
Yes, it's enough if you flash an international/regional firmware on top of the old one. Sometimes it needs a factory reset but usually rebuilding the dalvik-cache is the case.
It doesn't matter if your device is rooted. You may be able to flash using Mobile ODIN if you are rooted (no PC needed then) but root access is usually not needed if your bootloader is unlocked (usual case).

So in general you can flash any ROM that suits your device model.


How to re-activate android device (with another email address) I have an android device (registered to my gmail account), which I want to give to someone else.

What steps do I have to take, so that the device is no longer activated/registered/linked with my email address, and can be re-activated with the other person's gmail account?

What happens with any apps installed on that device (bought using my account)? Should I remove them manually?

You need to do a factory reset via Menu -> Settings -> Privacy -> Factory Data Reset (this may be under a different menu on newer versions of Android.)  Factory reset formats your device, erasing all 3rd-party installed apps and their settings.  It also dis-associates your accounts (Google, or any others you may have added) from the device, removing any synced contacts.

You may also wish to format your SD Card if you are giving it along with the phone.

Apps, books, music and videos that you purchased via Google Play Store are tied to your Google account.  You will be able to re-download them to your new Android device after signing in with your Google account.


I need to access the internal sotorage I was changing the ROM on my phone (Samsung Galaxy S5 SM G900P) when I deleted the OS. Now I know I can flash a new one by adding a zip file to the SD card or Internal storage.

The problem is that I can access either one of those since all i can go into is recovery and download which doesn't enable the usage of File transfers via USB. I need to know some way for me to get access to the storage, any help is welcomed.

In this you have one option of sideload in recovery. In this case you need custom recovery. If you don't have a custom recovery them you need to flash it using odin in download.
Now boot in recovery mode. Go to install > Install from sideload (in cwm) or advance > sideload (in twrp).
Now when you open it, open terminal / command prompt. Type command
adb sideload your_rom.zip

It may seem that nothing is happening. You must have to wait and don't touch usb until work is done. Any interruption may hard brick your device. Even though it is safe.

  For this you must have required adb tools ( for this you can search ).


Hotword detection of google now / search not woking After switching to a new ROM I restored Google Now using Titanium backup but however I no longer have hotword detection enabled neither do I have the option to enable it (It is simply missing)!

It used to say Search, or say "OK Google" but now it only says Search

However, speech recognition in general works fine!

Other relevant information:

Using Samsung Galaxy SII
Using Vivek ROM but experienced same problem on CyanogenMod

Solved it!
I realised that I had set Language to 'English(UK)' (under 'voice' settings of the Google Now app) and apparently hotword detection currently works only with English(US) (In my case, the offline voice recognition package I had installed was 'English(US)' , but language was English(UK) )!
Solution:
So a simple switching of 'Language' to English(US) will do the trick!
It is a little funny, who would have guessed English(US) and English(UK) are considered completely different languages!
By the way:
I tried downloading and installing English(UK) as my offline voice recognition language and then switching the Language as well to English(UK) BUT it didn't work, hotword detection stopped working again. This means Hotword detection only works with English(US) irrespective of whether you have other offline voice recognition packages installed as well!


Is it possible to install an newer version of android for an old android device? I've got a phone with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean installed on it, and it doesn't have a 'Software update' button. Is it possible at all to somehow install a newer version of Android on this device?

I also looked at a possibility to install CyanogenMod on this phone, but it doesn't have my phone in the list on http://get.cm. The model is the Lenovo A830, so it's not a conventional phone. Is it possible to install some kind of 'generic' version of Android on it?

Alternatively, can I install a mod that uses a more recent Android version?

Yes, It is possible to install newer version of android on an old device but if any custom ROM exist for that device.
Matter of fact Cyanogen is one of popular custom distribution of android also there are many custom distributions for android that may support your device.
My advice to you is checking xda developers forums to find any possible ROMS for your device.
XDA


Which older version of YouTube for HTC Hero? I just put CM7 on my HTC Hero. Now I'm in the process of isntalling all the apps and the problem is that the YT app that's on the market is not compatible with HTC Hero. Does anyone have a clue which is the oldest supported YT app for Hero, and where I might get it?

What you need to download and install is called GApps, which is a package with all the Google applications that come built in with Android, but those are flashable and you can't just install them.

I suggest you to take a look at [ROM] Hero CyanogenMod 7 Nightlys-Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread (2011-02-27), download the GApps provided there(gapps-gb-20110120-signed.zip) and flash that using the Install update.zip on your unlocked bootloader menu.


Galaxy S3 mini only boots to recovery - how can I fix it? I was installing CyanogenMod when something went wrong and now my phone will only boot to recovery mode. I had made a backup but it somehow got deleted, I don't know why that happened. My computer doesn't recognize my phone when I connect it.

My phone is the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and I used ClockworkMod recovery. What can I do now, to fix my phone?

You're probably not in trouble, you can go ahead and follow this link, follow the directions, and get the stock rom back on the phone.  Would probably avoid rooting the phone again if I were you.

Flash Stock Rom

Requirements:

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini GT-I8190 ( N / L / T )
USB Data Cable
Windows Laptop / Desktop
Odin3 v3.07
Stock Rom ( Main / Mirror )
Stock Recovery ( CWM / Odin )

1 Install Recovery:

CWM =

Copy File onto sdcard
Place sdcard into Phone
Boot phone to Recovery Mode ( Hold Vol Up + Home + Power )
Click Install Zip from sdcard
Find downloaded file on sdcard
Click Install this Zip
Wait till completed install
Click Reboot Device

Odin =

( DO NOT LOAD PIT FILE IN THIS METHODS )

Extract Zip Folder's
Boot up Odin
Ensure that the RE-PARTITION is unchecked, only the AUTO-REBOOT and F.RESET TIME are both remained checked.
Place Phone into Download Mode ( Hold Vol Down + Home + Power ).
Plug Phone into Laptop / Computer via USB
Wait till get Connection Sign.
Press PDA and select downloaded recovery ( .tar file )
Click START
Wait till get a PASS.
Boot up Phone

[2] Install Rom onto Phone

Single Package =

( DO NOT LOAD PIT FILE IN THIS METHODS )

Extract Zip Folder's
Boot up Odin
Ensure that the RE-PARTITION is unchecked, only the AUTO-REBOOT and F.RESET TIME are both remained checked.
Place Phone into Download Mode ( Hold Vol Down + Home + Power ).
Plug Phone into Laptop / Computer via USB
Wait till get Connection Sign.
Press PDA and select downloaded Rom ( .tar file ).
Click START
Wait till get a PASS.
Boot up Phone

Multi File Package =

( DO NOT LOAD PIT FILE IN THIS METHODS )

Extract Zip Folder's
Boot up Odin
Ensure that the RE-PARTITION is unchecked, only the AUTO-REBOOT and F.RESET TIME are both remained checked. Image 1
Place Phone into Download Mode ( Hold Vol Down + Home + Power ).
Plug Phone into Laptop / Computer via USB
Wait till get Connection Sign.
Press PDA and select the .tar file associated with a name CODE after the build number example ' CODE_I9300xxxxx_xxxxx_.tar '
Press CSC and select the .tar file associated with a name ‘CSC’ after the build number example ' CSC_XXX_I9300xxxxx_xxxxx_.tar '
Press PHONE and select the .tar file associated with a name ‘MODEM’ after the build number example ' MODEM_I9300xxxxx_xxxxx_.tar '

Image 5

Click START
Wait till get a PASS.
Boot up Phone


Contact app with selective sync? I am using a Xiaomi Mi5 and the default Contact app sync ALL contacts with Google which creates a huge redundant list of any person I ever emailed. There is no option to select which Group/Folder to sync.

I thought I would find a better Contacts app that sync only the 'My Contacts' folder from Google to my Phone to alleviate this issue but that's a very specific criteria and I'm not sure how to look it up.

Please help,
Thanks.

I downloaded the App Contacts+ from Play store which, eventhough it has ads which are a bit annyoing, did allow me to select the 'sources' of contacts from both my personal and professional Google accounts.
You can research articles on the best Android contacts apps, in my case this one suited me. Still have my eyes open for a better solution though...


I'm trying to figure out what the symbol on my main screen on my s3 means I was wondering what the symbol on my top screen of my phone was it kinda looks like a sun with a smaller sun in it and it just spins and pops on an off

It looks like a GPS icon from what you've described. You can check the official list of icons for a Samsung device to be sure.


Can't connect Samsung Note 3 to Windows 7 I am having problems connecting my Samsung Note 3 to Windows 7 64bit on my laptop. I have installed Kies and drivers already and still nothing. Under device manager it is still labeled "Unknown Device". When I plug in my Note 3 in it will attempt to install device driver but ends up saying "Device unplugged".

I tried both of my USB port on laptop and none of them works. However when I plugged it my desktop it work straight away. Also the weird thing its that the first time when I plugged my Note 3 into my laptop it actually worked for a while. I could access the files in my phone but all of a sudden it just stopped.

Any someone give some advice?

What i would try the following:

Remember to try to connect to the laptop between each stage and if it still doesnt connect, go to the next step.

Doublecheck that your phone can connect to another computer, since my list assumes that the problem is on the pc, and not any settings on the phone.

Use a short usb cable without extenders, and use the best usb port to make sure that your phone gets enough power and speed for the connection. If you have a blue usb port(USB3.0) in your laptop, use that one And use the stock usb to micro usb 3.0 cable.
Make sure your phone is up to date by going into "Settings"-> "General"-> "About device"-> "Software update" -> "Update"
In early stages of new samsung updates, you need to do it via Kies. Check for an update via your other PC(desktop). Open Kies -> "Tools" -> "Firmware upgrade and initiation"
Reinstall Kies and make sure Kies is up to date(under "help"->"check for update")
Reinstall the USB driver. Open Kies -> "Tools" -> "Troubleshoot connection error"
Reinstall the USB driver manually. http://developer.samsung.com/android/tools-sdks/Samsung-Andorid-USB-Driver-for-Windows


How to install cyanogenmod on LG P690 optimus net: how to know which ROM? I would like to install an android 4.x ROM on my Optimus Net (P690) Android 2.3.4.

When I go to the CyanogenMod downloads page at http://get.cm I see various phones but not mine. However this youtube video shows that such an installation is possible. Alas this page does not show where to get the ROM image from.

Could anyone suggest where to get it from?

The YouTube video refers to an XDA page as shown below:

That XDA page gives further details about the CM9 ROM, GApps and instructions.

Your LG P690's hardware seems to be a close match to my LG P500. So, if you are not satisfied with the ROM mentioned, you can give a shot with LGP500's ROM - the chances of getting it working in your P690 is good. Please search this site for details on knowing from where to download ROM for P500.


Why can't apps connect to the internet? Running on both WiFi and mobile connection, the browser can connect to the internet ok but apps can not connect.

What can cause this?

Samsung Galaxy S

Sometimes the culprit is much easier to solve: If accessing secured websites (https:) via the browser fails as well, make sure your date/time settings are correct -- otherwise certificates will fail. Best explained using an example:

Say, today the date is May 28th 2013 -- but your device's date/time is set to January 1st 2010. Now you visit a secure website, which is using a certificate issued on June 1st 2012 -- valid vor 2 years. Your browser won't accept that certificate, as it must assume it's a fake -- issued in the future. Same would apply if your browser's date were set too far in the future, e.g. December 31st 2014: the certificate would look "expired" to the browser, which again would not accept it.

Same applies to your apps, which often use a secured connection (hopefully!). Just unsecure connections (not using certificates) would work fine -- which explains why your browsers work on many sites.


How to solve the "APN settings are not available for this user" issue? After upgrading my ASUS Zenfone 5 to Android Lollipop, I am unable to access HSPA/3G data. In Brazil we have to manually input APN settings, and when I try to do so, I receive the following message (in Portuguese, here tentatively translated into English):

Access point Name settings are not available for this user.

As my phone is rooted, I have tried solutions proposed by this topic and also by this. None gave me results, even provided that I followed every step without any errors or warnings (chmods and chowns were all effective and edits to content://telephony/carriers were persistant). I also tried to re-generate telephony.db file by deleting it (thus forcing Android to populate it again). A factory reset (as suggested here) had no effect as well.

So far I have nothing to celebrate. My only access to internet is Wifi at home and at work. No mobile data access, and I know it is available (this week I had a try with CM12.1 and data connection worked perfectly. Unfortunately had to revert to stock ROM because CM12.1 is still too buggy). No better suggestions came from googling around other sites and forums.

I hope someone can give me some light over this issue, as I should rely on my mobile internet access to perform various things when commuting or away from wifi.

Heads up: the bounty was automatically awarded by this site yet the problem was not solved. Still awaiting a valid response.

Final update: please refer to my answer a the bottom of this page. The problem is (finally!) solved by the latest (v. 3.23.40.78) released by ASUS.

After hours of experimenting, found the reason for this, (it works for me).
Nothing too technical about this post in contrast to what these posts suggest.

Step 1 : WiFi turned on, and be in the range of a known WiFi network.
Step 2 : Reboot the phone (may need to reboot several times, if it doesn't work the first time)
Step 3 : When the phone reboots, it should connect to WiFi network.
Step 4 : Go to APN settings and see that you can, now edit APN settings.

Reason : When phone is turned on, if it's not connected to WiFi, it will try and connect to mobile network thus disabling you from editing APN settings. However if you try the above steps, your phone connects to WiFi instead of Mobile-data.


Can't access filesystem from PC anymore Starting a couple of weeks ago.. I can't access the file system from my PC on my Samsung tablet..

When connecting the tablet via USB to my PC I never get the dialog box where you choose whether  or not the PC can have access to the file system

When connecting my Samsung phone on the same USB port and using the same USB cable it works fine!?

Have also tried to reset the tablet..

I had the same issue with my phone. The USB cable was fine (I checked it with another phone like you) but when I tried it with my phone, it only charged my phone without showing any option for connection. It turned out that the usb port (usb connector) of the phone was damaged. Out of the two usb data wires (not the power wires), one was broken. I would therefore  suggest you to get your tablet's usb port (connector) checked.


Android update on Samsung Galaxy Nexus I have Samsung Galaxy Nexus running on Android 4.2.1. When I run system update it outputs "Your system is up to date". How can I update Android to 4.3
EDIT:
Device's model: Galaxy Nexus (maguro)
Product code: yakjuxw
I'm considering to install CyanogenMod. Can you recommend good backup software.

You have to wait until Samsung lets out their update with their added components, or flash a custom ROM onto it. I don't know how to do that, so I won't provide a recommendation. Depending on what network you're on, it may be a little while yet.
An article about that.


How can I use my Galaxy Nexus as an external USB storage drive? I just got the Galaxy Nexus and learned that it does not support USB Mass Storage mode.  It only supports MTP and PTP. I regularly use my phone as a USB flash drive at work so this is a problem.  I can transfer files back and forth with MTP however I need to edit files directly on my phone.

I'd like to find a way to continue to use the phone as an external drive and be able to access the files on my phones storage directly without transferring the files back and forth however I have several constraints:  The network at my work isn't connected to the internet, it doesn't have wifi, and the computers do not have Bluetooth and this is not going to change.  Ideally I would not have to install anything on the computer, but if there are no other options I'd consider this.

Are there any hacks or workarounds that will allow me to use my Galaxy Nexus as an external flash drive in the way I described?

Can I create a separate mountable FAT partition on the phones storage that I can access from a Windows XP computer a well as through the Android OS in the way that's possible with other devices that have external storage cards?

The Phone: It's a rooted & unlocked Galaxy Nexus on VZW and currently running CM9.

Short Answer:
Currently, you can't make use of your device (any device that relies on MTP) to act as an MSC, due to the protocol specifications!
Elaborating
As to clarify, Galaxy Nexus uses one massive partition for the entire device, it's like saying that: system, data and sdcard are all together.
MTP was selected for Galaxy Nexus because it allows the use of this large storage area, that from a system point of view, insures a better communication with files, provides a more secure file system and gives less trouble to maintain.
Why you can't do it the way you want:
There are no separated partitions in Galaxy Nexus, only one large storage area. Even emulating a fat32 file system, one would still need to be able to translate between fat32 and ext4 at a low level. This is practically impossible.
If the Galaxy Nexus had a partition, you could have block-level access and thus you could have mass storage access.

Long boring version:

Short background
The Mass Storage Class (MSC), commonly know as USB Mass Storage (UMS), that we are all used to use on our devices, is a protocol that allows a Universal Serial Bus (USB) device to become accessible to a host computing device, to enable file transfers between the two. On the golden days, one just needed to plug in the phone, hit "USB mode" and start moving files, editing files, etc...

Media Transfer Protocol (MTP)
Things have changed a lot, when we talk of the new transfer method that's being used on your device, the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP):

1 Introduction see page 15 zip below
Media Transfer Protocol, or MTP, is a protocol designed for content exchange with and command and control of transient storage devices. It was been developed as an extension to PTP, or Picture Transfer Protocol, and is targeted primarily at Digital Still Cameras, Portable Media Players and Cellular phones.

While the introduction still leaves margin for doubt, this protocol was developed and implemented with a very specific purpose: to facilitate the transfer of media files and associated metadata between devices:

1.1 Purpose see page 15 zip below
The primary purpose of this protocol is to facilitate communication between media devices that have transient connectivity and significant storage capacity. This includes the exchange of binary objects and the enumeration of the contents of that connected device.

File Types supported?
At this point, we already know that this is for media files and media based devices, but one question that I've seen on the comments remains: Can we copy files other than media files (audio/video)? Yes we can:

1.3 MTP Object Model see page 15 zip below
The term "media" in "Media Transfer Protocol" is used to identify any binary data, and is not restricted to audio/video formats to which it is commonly applied. Some examples of non-audio/video objects include contacts, programs, scheduled events and text files.

What about "live edit" ?
Your question specially concerns the usage of your device (Galaxy Nexus) as an external USB storage drive. Why it can't be done? The MTP protocol limits data to a unidirectional operation, also latter explained that the device storage is used by the computer as a local file:

4.2 Unidirectional Data Flow see page 29 zip below
The data flow in MTP is always unidirectional. When initiating an operation, data flows only from the Initiator to the Responder. When responding to the requested operation, the data flows only from the Responder to the Initiator. During the binary data-exchange phase, data may flow from the Responder to the Initiator or from the Initiator to the Responder, but never both. Bi-directional, binary data exchange must be performed by multiple operations.

Advantages vs Drawbacks
Advantages
The MTP does carry some advantages with it, mainly concerning the security and integrity of the user data:

When a USB host computer has mounted an MSC partition, it assumes absolute control of the storage, allowing for example, the file system to get corrupted or reformat to an unsupported type.
Meanwhile, the MTP overcomes this by making the unit of managed storage a local file that can either be written or read.
Drawbacks
The MTP isn't treated as a traditional removable drive, so, no recovery tools can be used to save the day.
The support is still underway, some operating systems still require third-party software.
MTP standards (as mentioned earlier) don't allow for direct modification of objects. Instead, modified objects must be reuploaded in their entirety.

References:
I hope this clarifies as to why MTP is good (improvement), but OTOH bad (user will have to change habits).
Here's the reading material used to synthesize the answer:

usb.org :: Media Transfer Protocol v.1.1 Spec and MTP v.1.1 Adopters Agreement .zip with pdf files
Wikipedia :: Media Transfer Protocol
Android Central :: MTP - what is it, why use it, and how to set it up
Microsoft :: Media Transfer Protocol Enhanced Specification
Microsoft :: Media Transfer Protocol Implementation Details

The above answer is credited to the contents and authors of these reference links.


What do the "Sync Internet" and "Sync Instant Upload" options do in Jelly Bean settings? What do the "Sync Internet" and "Sync Instant Upload" options do in Jelly Bean settings?

Instant Upload is a feature of Google+, which uploads the photos you take with your camera to a private photo folder on Google+ for easy sharing. This option allows you to enable/disable this feature, but it can also be controlled from other Google apps like Google+ and Google Settings. More info

Sync Internet means syncing your browser history, bookmarks, form input data and other settings on Chrome. This requires that you use the same Google account on all instances of Chrome that you want to sync. I'm not certain if this feature syncs the data also to the stock browser, but it's possible.


wifi connectivity issue I have issue connecting my wifi
It shows error as refuse to connect with chrome but if i search it display content but as i go on any content gives me error
Even youtube not working even
Playstore  home page only gets loaded but when i select any app shows check your connection and try again
Also whats app and fb working fine
But
None of the app apart from this works
I am using samsung on 7
With 5.1 version  and rooted by king root previously working fine
And the same exact error was also in my previous phone  and it gets resolved automatically and happens randomly some time

Only on my phone not working reset all phone working fine on even pc not instagram  as on insta i could only see pages being loaded but not images displayed
And also operamini 7.2 version works fine even i can completley browse but cannot download
My phone is rooted  i was using adblocker i uninstall it even adaway i qas using uninstall it
I tried changing dns as 8.8.8.8  google still same

Reset the router if that doesn't work forget the wifi and the re get it


Clicking a checkbox to an app using a script I need to automate accepting a terms & conditions on a 3rd party app installed on the Android device. I just need to click a checkbox on that app's T&C UI. Can someone please guide me how I can do that? I assume I need to write a script??

Any advice would be highly appreciated.

You can simulate touch event with an adb command: adb shell input tap <x> <y>, where x and y are the coordinates of your checkbox.

More about input:

$ input
input
usage: input ...
       input text <string>
       input keyevent <key code number or name>
       input [touchscreen|touchpad|touchnavigation] tap <x> <y>
       input [touchscreen|touchpad|touchnavigation] swipe <x1> <y1> <x2> <y2> [duration(ms)]
       input trackball press
       input trackball roll <dx> <dy>

To the adb you have to enable Developer settings on your device and accept your computer's fingerprint.

With this you can write a script to tap on the box.


I inadvertently locked my HTC 1 via "find my phone" (wrong phone). I "found" it but cannot access it. I use this phone for my TV. Earlier I had mislaid my regular phone and in a bit of a panic, I thought I locked it via "Find my phone", but actually locked the HTC 1.  I now have both phones in my hot little hand, but cannot access the HTC 1 due to the lock.  I can find no entry point for the password -- or anything else --.  Can anyone help?
Richard Archer

This should be the screen you should see on your phone when you remotely lock it using Google's 'find my device'

Simply drag the lock icon in any direction and that will direct you to a page where you can enter the code that you have set when remotely locking the device. On newer devices, it will ask you to enter the regular code that you use when unlocking your phone.

If the above is not what you see on your screen, then restarting your phone should bring it up.


Whatsapp local backup I recently installed again whatsapp in my new smartphone android but the local backup doesn't work automatically. Today I pressed back up for the google drive backup and it also included the local backup. But for the past weeks whatsapp never did the local backup automatically. Do you know why?

Most likely your phone is a bit aggressive about killing the background tasks. So, WhatsApp is unable to wake up the phone at its usual 1-2AM slot to perform a backup. A lot of phones are doing this to ensure a better battery backup and standby.

Do note that notifications may still flow even when WhatsApp is not allowed to do tasks related to backup in the background. But most of the times, they are either delayed or only show up when you first turn on the phone display in the morning.


How to share contact via sms on Android 4.4.2? I'm using Moto G with stock android running 4.4.2. I would like to share contact detail via SMS. I don't want to use 3rd party app for this basic functionality. Was this functionality available with previous versions?

Kitkat has only 3 defaults for this:

Bluetooth
Email
Gmail

Other options can be added with 3rd Party software, e.g. ES File Exploere adds "Share over LAN".

As per  the Google products page this is a know issue.

  I too am annoyed that this issue is happening with the Nexus 5.I can only hope that they will have an update that will resolve this issue.I work in the transportation industry in which I often have to send forward a contact phone number to another driver and at this point is very cumbersome not to be able to quickly Share a recent calls number with another driver.I've been checking the Play Store to see if there is an App dialer that will resolve this issue for me.

From  this Android Central thread  it confirms that this feature is missing and the solution is to copy and paste, or install 3rd party app.

Without installing a 3rd party application, there is nothing you can do for now.


Turn notifications on and off based on time periods Is there a way to configure Android to turn off notifications at a specific time and turn them on at a specific time? Pretty much I don't want to hear notifications at 3 AM from anyone or anything.

There are several automation apps in the playstore which deal with this kind of subject. Some of them are simply time-based (which would match your question), such as e.g. Timeriffic1 -- others additionally can react on other conditions like location, calendar and more (e.g. MyProfiles2). The top end of flexibility can be reached with Tasker -- there's almost nothing this app couldn't do. It needs some time to get used to, and costs some money, but for sure it's worth it.

There are a lot of more apps like the mentioned ones, so just take them as examples for further "investigation" in the playstore. There also is a German listing on AndroidPIT (Automatisierung -- Profile-Switcher & Co -- Google Translate Version) to give you a faster start looking for alternatives.


Google Nexus 4 weird sound problem Are there any solutions to the Google Nexus 4 weird sound problem? This is how it sounds.

Will Google replace the phone?

I am in Singapore and bought this phone through a friend in the US.

There is no proper support information for this phone from Google / LG. I tried calling '855-83-NEXUS' but they are closed for the day. I will try calling them tomorrow.

Answer from vi.su. in comments (to make it clear for other users)

  Found out solution to this problem. In fact, this is not a problem at
  all. NFC device in the nexus phones is the source for this sound. When
  placed near a RFID / smartcard, it actually tries to read it aloud.
  Galaxy Nexus NFC Weirdness


Rooting the Samsung Galaxy LITE (SGH-T399) I have recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Lite (SGH-T399). I am having trouble rooting it. It would be easy if I had a Windows PC, but I only have one Mac and one Linux PC. Instructions on how to root the phone would be helpful.

There is really easy ways to root your device from linux/mac using heimdall which is an open source alternative of odin PC.
I will put two methods one auto root ,and an other one to root using heimdall choose the one that suite you best.

First I should say : in my opinion self rooting apps are not really secure ,since you will root blind when you have no custom recovery ,which makes it really hard to get back to a working phone if something goes wrong specially for your device ,like you may noticed on XDA there is a lot of bricked phones without solution. if you still want the auto root follow method 01 ,if you don't method 02 is for you.

Method 1: using impactor (Mac OS and linux)

Get Cydia impactor for your OS Mac OS X , Linux 32bit and
linux 64bit
Depending on you OS for mac OS install the software and run it ,for linux extract the archive somewhere where you have the right to execute then open impactor.
a window like the figure below should appear.

Leave the window open and grab your phone ,GO to settings > developer Options > activate USB debugging also see if there is an option called Verify apps over USB if there is unchecked it.
Now go to settings > security and check unknown source.
Plug the phone to your PC.
On the window of impactor click on start (make sure your phone screen is on it will show an authentication pop-up for adb accept it) and wait if the process succeeded you will be asked to reboot your phone ,if not this method will not work for you go to method 02.

Method 02 : using heimdall on linux (ubuntu and it's variants)

like you said in the question :

  "It would be easy if I had a Windows PC"

We will do the same method but we will use heimdall instead of Odin

Pre-required : :

Download CWM or TWRP (both odin version choose one of your
liking) and save it on your PC then extract it you will have a file
named recovery.img put it somewhere safe.
Download UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.00.zip and put is on your phone's SDcard we will need it later

in my example here I will be using ubuntu ,the method remains the same for other ubuntu variants and the same for Mac OS except for the installation part (see method 3 for info).

install heimdall and heimdall-frontend using this command

sudo apt-get install heimdall-flash heimdall-flash-frontend
Once the installation is done launch heimdall-frontend

sudo heimdall-frontend

This is what heimdall looks like :

Power down your phone then Press and hold Volume down + Home button + power key until the warning screen appears Press Volume Up to go into download mode.
Now Plug your phone to PC.
On heimdall front end go to Utilities tab

click On detect ,you should read device detected on the console at the bottom.

Now that your device is detected we are going to get your current partitions information as a .pit file.
stay on Utilities tab ,click on save as then choose where to put the .pit file once done click on download

Now switch to Flash tab

Now click on Browse and choose the Pit file we saved earlier.

Now the Add button (on the right) should be click-able click on it.
click on partition name on the left ,a roll down menu should appear choose recovery.

Click on Browse under the partition ID (not the one under PIT !) then choose recovery.img we extracted earlier.

Now that we are all set , make sure the repartition box is not checked ,that the partition name is set to recovery (look at the above screen-shot) if every thing is right ,click on start at the bottom right.
while heimdall is flashing don't unplug your phone ,don't close heimdall ,don't open other programs ,don't touch the pc or the phone until heimdall show the message flash successful and your phone reboots ,if it doesn't click and hold power button until the phone shut down.
Boot into recovery (power + home + volume up) , (optional : Do a full backup might be handy in case something go wrong) then  flash UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.00.zip we downloaded and putted on your phone earlier.
Now reboot your phone ,you are rooted and have custom recovery installed

Method 03 : On mac OS

replace the first step by this :

Download and install heimdall and heimdall suite ,follow the rest of the steps just like ubuntu method.

References :

heimdall french ubuntu doc (couldn't find english version)

heimdall installation and compilation cyanogenmod wiki

heimdall prebuild downloads on github

heimdall source code


How to switch input method quickly on Android? Since I need to use many different input methods at the same time so I wonder if there is a way to switch input method faster than pulling down the notification bar and clicking select input method?

If you are running on version 4.x you can change it from the notification bar or if your running on 2.x you can hold down where you are inputting the text and change it from there.


how to download pictures from sd card to phone? I have a droid turbo and i bought a sd card reader to plug in an sd card from my game cameras into my phone so i can see these pictures without bringing my laptop to my cabin.  But i cant find anything on any file manager that can move these pictures to my phone from the sd card?

Try connecting another card reader and/or SD cards from a different manufacturer, it seems to be a frequent problem with Droid Turbo. AFAIK Kingston SD cards work more often then not.


How to swiftly hide on-screen keyboard with a gesture? I'm using an ageing Nexus 6 with stock and rooted Android 7.1.1. The problem I have with most multi-featured keyboards is that they don't hide timely with my pace of app usage. So, with animations disabled, when I swiftly switch to an app and the keyboard was opened in last used app, it would not hide out with a breeze. Often I find a gap of one or more seconds which is irritating and unproductive.

Using Back key doesn't really work in such cases. I tried Hackers Keyboard while looking for a lightweight keyboard and while it provides a swipe action to hide keyboard (which reduces the severity of the issue here) I have productivity issues with the low and rigid width of its space bar which I have discussed here. Furthermore, it lacks predictions which is another disappointment.

Ideally, I would prefer to use my Gboard or any alternative but competitive app but the competitive ones I tried, such as TouchPal, Swiftkey, Google Indic, suffers from performance issues on my device. As such, I'm looking for a way to hide any keyboard with a gesture and swiftly.

I tried to look for Xposed modules but to no avail. I also looked into GMD Gesture Control to my utter disappointment.

Install Xposed edge module (see the help and support section on basics of how to use this module)
In preferences gesture on soft keyboard is enabled by default. Disable that (optional)
Choose an edge and the desired trigger (single tap, double tap etc from the 6 options) and action as soft keyboard → hide soft keyboard


Change dictionary together with input language in Motorola Moto G I have a Motorola Moto G with English set as the default language, but I also selected Polish as an alternative input option. However, when I change the keyboard input to Polish, English dictionary is still used for input correction and hints. How can I fix this?

You can fix the input text prediction by following:
Adding a new spell-checker to Motorola Moto G

You can't add Polish to the list of Spellcheckers, but too be honest I am not sure where these are used. Google keyboard (which needs to be installed to use the text prediction in this language) lets you download a lot of dictionaries.


Is there a way to remotely access my desktop and transfer files over the net to my S3? I have Win 7 Pro on my home desktop and a 4.1.1 OS Samsung S3 phone.  Is there a simple tool or something I can use to move around and transfer files directly from my desktop to the internal drive on my Android phone?  It would be good if I can stream videos to my phone too.  I have no knowledge of how to setup ports etc.  too so something simple.

Edit: I need to fransfer files that are like 700MB.  Desktop is in another city so wifi won't do.  And, I need to be able to set it up on the desktop by just a simple software download because someone else who is not conputer savvy has to setup the desktop while I do my Android.

To transfer files you can try AirDroid. But it is free only when the device are on the same wifi network. Access via mobile data is limited to 100 MB/Month.

For video streaming, you can try Emit. The free version puts ads on your stream and you can stream to your phone even when not on the same network, but you'll need to mess a bit with ports.


Move WhatsApp media data to SD card My WhatsApp folder (/data/media/0/WhatsApp) and in particular its media folder has grown very much. So I want to move it to my SD card. I have rooted my Samsung Galaxy S4 and created an ext4 partition on my SD card for the Link2SD app. However, when I use Link2SD to link WhatsApp to the ext4 partition, it only moves the WhatsApp app but not its data folder with the media which contains most data.

I have also tried to move the WhatsApp folder in a terminal app and softlink to it. However, then WhatsApp stops working and crashes on start.

Is there a way to move the WhatsApp data to an SD card?

You need a rooted phone for this.

Download FolderMount.
Create a new folder in the external memory where you want the media to be stored.
Open FolderMount and add a new entry. Give it any name you like. Whatsapp media here.
In the source, specify the path of default whatsapp folder of your internal memory.
In the destination, specify the the new folder you created in your external memory card.
Done. Also, select 'exclude from mediascan' if you don't want duplicate items to be seen in the gallery or music player.


Android "Internal Storage" used but not reported As an owner of a Nexus One running Gingerbread, I'm continually fighting to keep free space in my phone's Internal Storage. Today, I noticed something odd.

The bottom of Andorid's "Manage applications" screen shows a bar graph that reports the phone's "Internal storage" (I have 29M free). When I click into an app, I can see storage for the "Application", and for the app's "Data". The application, in most cases, is stored on the SD Card. The application's "data" is stored on the phone (I presume).

What I'm finding is that I'm not seeing the whole picture of what is taking up Internal Storage.  For example, I have 29M free in Internal Storage. The Angry Birds app, which is stored on the SD card, is 3.14M. It's Data is 4.0K. I then delete the Angry Birds (gasp!), and my free Internal Storage jumps up to 31M. So it looks like it's freed up 2M, when I only would have expected it to free up 4.0K. Any idea what's going on here?

The free space difference can be accounted by three relevant factors that may end up giving you some misleading information about the real space available on your internal storage:

The Free space reported

The free space reported at the end of the "Manage Applications" screen is rounded to MB, and it gives you a general free space estimation based on the moment you opened said screen, and it gets updated from time to time (by my tests about every minute).

I've mentioned "rounded" because if you access the "Storage Settings" panel, you'll get a clear picture regarding the free space available, down to KB.
The App Allocation

As already mentioned by t0mm13b, an application may be entirely moved to the SDCard or leave a portion behind, this issue is more related with the development of the application itself and there's no standard rules to follow.

I've performed an exercise with "Angry Birds", and while the download mentioned 20MB, after installed it consumed 24MB. After moving it to the SDCard using the option for this end under "Manage Applications" screen, 1.85MB were left behind on the Internal Storage, plus 4KB of data.
Temporary System Files from other applications or running services

While I was writing this answer, the free space reported varied between 2MB, this tells us that the OS is constantly creating and freeing up space depending on the stuff running.

There may exist other factors that concern the ext4 File System specifications used by Gingerbread , but I don't believe they better account for the 2MB difference.

By the three points mentioned above, while performing an exercise with the application you've mentioned using a device with a stock Gingerbread ROM, I've managed to account for 2MB of difference, just like the space you've mentioned.

Determine Internal and External Space Occupied

Following up on the comments, regarding a way to accurately know how much an app occupies on the device, and being able to view it by external or internal storage, the most accurate application I'm currently using is SanDisk Memory Zone by SanDisk Corp. available for free from Google Play Store.

Open the application
Select the desired storage
Check the details about it


Flash CM on encrypted phone running stock Android My Nexus 4 is currently running an encrypted Android 5.1.
Now I want to flash CM12. Can CM access my Data after flashing or do I need to remove the encryption before flashing?

In short, you will most likely lose all your data, because:

You have to unlock your bootloader when you install a third party ROM. Unlocking the bootloader will erase all your data.
The new installation might not be able to decrypt your data.
Even if it would work, it is still not recommended to keep all the data when installing a different version or make of a ROM.

You should make a backup of all your data, then format your phone.


Trying to use Xbox controller on Nexus 7 I just got the Asus Nexus 7 and I am attempting to play the N64 emulator (Mupen64 plus, AE). I have my wired xbox 360 controller plugged in to the otg cable, but the light does not stay on the controller and the Nexus is not reading it. Only when I press it does it flash for a second. Help?

This very comprehensive article entitled "Guide to Game Controllers on Android" published on 9th May 2012 maybe greatly beneficial to you:

http://www.pocketables.com/2012/05/guide-to-game-controllers-on-android.html

You may also be interested in this video (approx.45 mins duration) entitled "Gaming On The Nexus 7 With A PS3 Controller"

http://revision3.com/hak5/how-to-bluetooth-a-controller-to-nexus


Asus EEE Transformer never gets a GPS fix unless I reboot it I have an Asus EEE Transformer (not the prime) that has unreliable GPS performance. I usually just fire up Google Maps in my car and use the navigation but the tablet always gets stuck with "Searching for GPS". This can go on for over 30 minutes in which the tablet either won't get a signal at all, or might get one every once in a while, update the map, and then go back to "Searching for GPS".

I have tried the following things:

Done the same navigation with my Nexus One in the same car and it has no problem receiving a signal right away and finding it's location so I'm pretty sure it's not environmental conditions.
I tether the Transformer to my Nexus One for internet so at first I thought using the "Use wireless networks" for location was just trying to get the location from the phone but toggling the option on or off doesn't seem to make it work worse or better one way or the other.
The amazon reviews don't seem to indicate an overwhelming problem with the Transformer with GPS.
I have tried the tips in this forum thread on the transformer forums.
I've tried installing GPSfix and using that tool but it doesn't seem to help.
Android version is 3.2.1, GPS version is 5.5.8, and Build # is: HTK.US_epad-8.6.5.19-20111107

So far the only reliable means to get the GPS working seems to be to shutdown the tablet and fire it up again, at which point the GPS and Google Navigation works right away, which leads me to believe that it's a software or configuration problem rather than a hardware issue.

It definitely is a software configuration. There are 2 possible reasons for this problem:

Servers its contacting - When Google Maps on your tablet/phone contacts the GPS satellites, its done through a special set of servers. Sometimes, the manufacturer might have set the system to connect to a set of particularly busy servers. It has been shown that connecting to other servers with lower traffic can give dramatically faster lock on times.
Possible bug in the initial configuration - when the manufacturer was setting up the initial build configuration, an unintended bug could have been introduced.

The solution to both can be done I believe through a simple fix in the gps.conf file but that would require root access. When I was running the stock firmware on my Asus Transformer, I was having the same problem. Now I am running a Custom ROM and I have no troubles with lock on in Google Maps.


Disable DropBox's PDF reader I have been seeing recently that DropBox opens PDF files stored in it through its own reader. I would like to open all my PDF files through Adobe, no matter where their location is. I do not want to use this extra functionality provided by DropBox.

How can I disable this option in DropBox? I could not find any option to disable PDF viewing. Is it a feature that must be added in future by DropBox?

I don't think the built-in PDF support can be disabled. I would suggest exporting and downloading the file instead, so that you can open it with and PDF reader of your choice.


How can I access the emulated sdcard for another user on a rooted nexus 10 Is it possible to access other user's emulated sdcard storage on a rooted Nexus 10?

I have 3 users set up. If I log in as the primary user, I would expect to see /storage/emulated/10 (and 11) as well as 0 (and emulated), but I can't (even from a root shell created in ConnectBot).

If it is not possible, how does it work? Is a separate filesystem mounted, or what?

Yes, it is possible.

Need a File Manager w/Root

First, you need a file manager that has root access.  Personally I use ES File Explorer.  Within ES File Explorer, you will need to enable Root access (it's under the Tools part on the left menu).

All users will need to have signed in

All users must have had to signin at least once to create their partitions.  Else, you won't see them.

Browse

The exact location is:

/storage/emulated/*  # Android <= 4.4.3
/mnt/shell/emulated/*         # Android >= 4.4.4 (actually, it may be 4.4.3 too)

Where * is the userid.  I am not sure how to get the user ID, but on my tablets with 3 users it shows up as:

/mnt/shell/emulated/0  # owner account
/mnt/shell/emulated/10 # first user I created
/mnt/shell/emulated/11 # second user I created

From what I gather for userids, it goes in order that I created the users.  0 = the first original owner account.  Then each account goes up from there (10, 11, 12, etc).

NOTE: If your file manager does NOT have root permissions (meaning the app itself must request root access), then when you enter one of the directories above, they will be blank.  This is telling you that your file manager doesn't have root access - you need a file manager that knows how to request Root access.


How to autorun apk on android by plugging usb? I have an APK file and i have a 4GB usb stick that could be plugged into an Android phone via USB-OTG  and a PC.  I've been wondering how could i plug the usb into the android phone and have the apk be auto installed without doing it manually. I'm asking for something like the autorun script we use on PC but I need one for android. I'm interested in having it work on Lollipop in particular, if that makes a difference.

It's not possible to install packages automatically, and there's no feature like AutoRun. AutoRun was a huge security problem on Windows systems, so it seems unlikely that a similar feature will be added to Android. You just have to put the APK file on the USB stick and install it by opening it with the package installer.

It would be possible to make an app that listens for USB connection events, scans for APK files, and asks the package installer to install any APK files it finds, but the app would have to be already installed on the phone, and the user would still have to click to accept the installation of the new apps.


How do anti theft apps deal with the thief simply turning off phones? https://bestidtheftcompanys.com/2014/top-20-free-apps-to-protect-your-android-device/

There are so many anti theft apps and devices out there, however, all of them can be defeated by a simple trick—just turn off the phone. Any apps that make the phone scream when stolen will just be silent. How do anti theft apps work with turning off phones? Do they make the phone scream when being turned off while being locked?

Yup! :) , you are right about this.But in XPosed Installer there is an app known as APM+ ( Advance Power Menu Plus ). This has a feature known as Fake Power off. By this your phone can pretend to be off, but in reality it would be working stealthily and every approach from real owner can be done.
Like this there are also other option which comes in handy.

As requested:
Anti-theft Helper™
Note: Actual effect of anti-theft is NOT guaranteed.
• Stop anyone from turning off your phone, enabling airplane mode, etc. when the device is locked by hiding any power menu items when the device is locked. In this way no one can stop device trackers like Android Device Manager from locating your phone by turning off the phone, disabling mobile data and so on(removable battery not taken into account)
• Show a warning to deter thieves.
• Fake Power Off - When you have this option enabled, trick your thieves by "apparently" turn off the phone, but the phone leaves running so you can still track the device (various options and strategies available for fine tuning the effect. Result may vary on different devices)
• Password protection - Lock power menu items and/or the app itself with a password. Apart from thieves, it is also ideal when your phone is on display.

Xposed Module Repository For APM+


How to factory reset without data loss and undue pain? I ran into a serious SMS bug, which knowledgeable users seem to be saying means the SMS message database is corrupt (source 1, source 2).  This is consistent with my current experience.  In my case I lost all ~1000 messages and still have some issues after that.

So I want to factory reset my phone.  While I have not rooted my phone, I have performed significant customization, and have somewhere around 150 apps installed, including a few paid apps (UltimateJuice, ...).  What things do I need to explicitly backup?  What can I do to minimize the pain?  I don't care about save points in games.

Surprisingly, I cannot find any good documentation of this using any obvious Google search terms.  (I am aware of How do I perform a full pre-rooting backup of an Android phone?, which doesn't really offer an answer to my question.)

For Google cloud things such as contacts, do I need to backup the cloud version just in case, so the phone doesn't wipe them from the cloud?  Fortunately, most of my personal notes are stored in cloud applications like Catch and Evernote.  I presume these should be unaffected.

As far as I can tell the BackupMySettings option is not available for my phone (Samsung Epic running 2.1).  My paid apps come back from Market anyway, right?  I guess I could pay $4 for MyBackupPro if it really made things simpler, but there would need to be some way to NOT backup the corrupted SMS database files.  Also I am assuming carrier-bundled apps such as Swype will automatically work.

P.S.  I have Marigold Android Backup and backed up to the SD card (except SMS/MMS).  I also have mIQ but I'm not sure I trust that to do a restore.  Factory resetting the phone will not affect the SD card, correct?

P.P.S.  I have AppBrain.  Is that automatically remembering all apps I have on the phone, so it will suggest installing all of them if I just install AppBrain?  Or will it only do that for apps installed through AppBrain?

AppBrain will make it easy to restore your apps. After the reset, install AppBrain first(ish) and use it to get back all the apps you had before. (Sync before you reset.)

Market will remember your paid apps so you'll be able to get those without having to repay.

Your Google app data (e-mail, contacts, calendar) are backed up to the "cloud" already, so you shouldn't have to do anything special with them. If you REALLY want to you could export them to a CSV file, but you shouldn't have to.

You probably don't need to, but I would copy the contents of the SD card to a temporary location. Just in case.

As for other apps that keep data only local...I can't speak to those. I know that for myself everything important has a backup somewhere else. (Yay Dropbox!)

Unfortunately (or, actually, fortunately), I don't have any personal experience with a factory reset. Everything I've read says that it's really not that bad, excepting those apps that don't have dynamic storage strategies.

Good luck!


How can I fix the Wi-Fi button or prevent Wi-Fi errors when turning it off and back on? Sometimes after I shut off Wi-Fi using the button inside the notification bar drop-down, I can't turn it back on with that button.  Hitting the button does nothing, it's not even highlighted.  When I go into Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings the status under "Wi-Fi" shows Error.  If I click "Wi-Fi" to turn it on from here, it usually turns on without any problems.  Occassionally I have to reboot to fix it.

Is there a fix I can use to make the TouchWiz Wi-Fi button work the same as enabling/disabling the Wi-Fi in Settings?  Or, ideally, is there some way I can prevent the Wi-Fi from getting into an error state when I turn it off and back on?

I have a Galaxy S Vibrant running 2.2, but this has been reported on other Samsung phones as well (example).

I've had the same thing happen to me on my LG G2X running CyanogenMod. So I don't think it's related to your specific device or software. Moderate success has been reported using the "FXR WiFi Fix And Rescue" app, and it's been tested on the Vibrant. You can also try WiFi Fixer.


Can you connect USB devices to an Android phone? I have an HTC Desire and would like to connect USB devices to it, for example an external USB thumb drive to transfer files or a USB keyboard.

Is this at all possible?

You want USB host mode, which requires Android 3.1 (and up) and hardware support.

Android before 3.1 does not support USB host mode. i.e. you can't connect things like USB Thumb drives, keyboards etc.

However, for the Nexus One, someone has managed to modify the Android kernel to hack USB host support to the Nexus One running Android 2.2 (although apparently this hack will also work on 2.1):

Nexus One USB Host driver

And similar instructions for the HTC Desire:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=702742


How to recover deleted photos on Nexus 4? I accidentally deleted photos on my Nexus 4. There was no auto backup. I searched and found some software to recover photos, but none of them seem to work. Is there a way to get them back?

Please note: It is advised to follow this method only if you know what is ROOT and agree that you are doing this at your own risk. I do not hold credit for this technique as this method has been taken from here and 100% credit goes to the respective author.

Requirements:

A Rooted Android phone.
BusyBox installed on your device.
Cygwin installed to [c:\cygwin] with pv and util-linux from the repo. Make sure to open Cygwin once to make sure that the /bin folder is created. Also, I made a folder at [c:\cygwin\nexus] to put the exported .RAW file.
Netcat (download the ZIP file and extract nc.exe to [c:\cygwin\bin]).
ADB (make sure adb.exe is in your path).
Enable USB debugging in your device.
For Android 4.0 and above do it from: Settings > Developer Options > USB debugging.
For Android 2.3 and below do it from: Settings > Application > Development > USB debugging.
VHD tool Put the VhdTool.exe file in [c:\cygwin\nexus].
Piriform Recuva or your favorite data recovery tool, (it appears Recuva only finds the more common file types like images, videos, etc. Those were the file types in which I was interested. If you are after more exotic file types perhaps you might share the software you used).

The process in short:

This has been tested on Samsung Galaxy Nexus though this should work for ANY phone with Internal Memory.
We will be using a Windows 7 machine to:
back up the entire internal memory partition to your computer as a single, massive .RAW file, convert the .RAW file output to a VHD, mount the VHD as a disk in Disk Manager,
scan the attached VHD volume for files that have been deleted and recover them.

Actual Work to do:

It is recommended that you choose to recover your entire memory block instead of just the data partition. In this case that is mmcblk0. For our purpose here we are seeking to recover the userdata partition: /dev/block/mmcblk0p12
Turn on your phone.
Connect the phone in ADB mode.
Unlock the screen.
Open a Cygwin terminal and enter (This assumes your BusyBox installation is at [/system/bin/busybox]. It may be at [/system/xbin/busybox]):

adb forward tcp:5555 tcp:5555
adb shell
/system/bin/busybox nc -l -p 5555 -e /system/bin/busybox dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p12

Open another Cygwin terminal and enter:

adb forward tcp:5555 tcp:5555
cd /nexus
nc 127.0.0.1 5555 | pv -i 0.5 > mmcblk0p12.raw

For 16GB or 32GB internal memory this process is going to take 2 to 3+ hours respectively.
We need to convert the .RAW file to a virtual hard drive. VhdTool.exe basically just puts a VHD footer on the end of the .RAW file. Open a Windows command prompt, go to [c:\cygwin\nexus], and type:

VhdTool.exe /convert mmcblk0p12.raw

Now we need to mount the VHD in Windows. Select the Start button-->right-click Computer-->select Manage.
Select Storage-->Disk Management.
In the menu select Action-->Attach VHD.
For Location enter [c:\cygwin\nexus\mmcblk0p12.raw] and select the OK button.
Right-click on the name (e.g. "Disk 1") to the left of the Unallocated space and select Initialize Disk.
Select the GPT (GUID Partition Table) radio button and select the OK button.
Right-click on the Unallocated space and select New Simple Volume...
In the Wizard select Next>, leave the default for the volume size, select Next>, select a drive letter (e.g. K), select Next>, MAKE SURE to select the 'Do not format this volume' radio button, select Next>, select Finish.
A box will pop up asking you to format the drive. You DO NOT want to format the drive at this time.
Right-click on the RAW space and select Format... MAKE SURE to change the File system to FAT32. Set the Allocation unit size dropdown to 'Default.' MAKE SURE that the Perform a quick format checkbox is CHECKED. You do not want to overwrite the entire new drive with all zeroes (0's) and destroy your data. Quick Format means that it will only attempt to destroy the index for the drive by establishing a new index. Without this box checked the Windows operating system will write zeroes (0's) across the entire volume, potentially destroying your data. Select the OK button.
A box will pop up saying that Formatting this volume will erase all data on it. That would be doubly true if you actually didn't check the 'Perform a quick format' checkbox. Double check that you actually did check the box and select the OK button. (Don't worry. This essentially leaves the volume in the exact same state that your phone's internal memory is living in right now: there is data on the drive...you just can't see it. It's coming back, I promise!)
Open the Recuva application. In the wizard select the 'Next >' button. Select the 'Other' radio button and select Next >. Select the 'In a specific location' radio button and enter: k:\ (assuming K is the drive letter you chose...) Select the Next > button. Select the Enable Deep Scan checkbox. This is the magical setting that finds files that have been deleted...but not really deleted. Select the Start button.
Finally the application may take about an hour to do the 'Deep Scan.' It's time for more laps around the house! Once the application has returned its results you can choose which files to recover using the checkboxes. Select the 'Recover...' button and choose the location to which you wish to output your files.

OLD ANSWER:
It was about restoring files via Yodot Android Data Recovery software.
This DOES NOT WORK for Nexus 4 or any such devices which use MTP for managing files on PC.


Recover photos from Google Photos cache About two months ago (just over 60 days so they are no longer in Trash), I manually deleted thousands of photos off my Google Photos account due a problem I had with duplicate files. I had a back up of all the photos on SD cards which I needed to clear. I moved the photos to an external hard drive. Later, I discovered that Windows had somehow decided to not copy about 1600 of the files.

The only trace I have left of the missing photos are the cached images on Google Photos on a broken android phone (LG G3) which I've turned on without any access to the internet. Even if they are low quality, I am desperate to recover these photos. Does anyone know how to access the cached photos (or thumb nails) of Google Photos?

My plan, if I can access them, is to create a wifi hotspot with another android phone without access to the internet and use something like airdroid to move the images to a computer. I could also maybe put an SD card back in the phone and move the files there instead?

The phone is not rooted. I've looked around using the file manager but have not been able to locate them. Does anyone have any suggestions?

You're best option is to try recovery software such as Recuva or EaseUS Data Recovery on one on the SD cards which once contained the deleted photos. The chances of recovering your data this way are slim, as even just a few missing kilobytes can corrupt whole photos and videos.

Android stores cached images in the following locations:

  /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails
  /data/data/com.google.android.apps.photos

If you're not rooted, then refer to this guide on how to use ADB to pull the data from the Google Photos application.

If all else fails, then your last two options would be to try contacting Google Support to see if they still have the files on their servers. Hardware data recovery could restore your photos at a price.


How can I shoot a 60fps video? I have xiaomi redmi 5 plus/Note 5 that have the option to record 1080p60fps but actually the result would be 30fps .. So i have rooted and enabled camera2 api .. But I still have the same result even with google camera .. So I want to record with at least 720p60fps .. Any help ??

Disclaimer: Haven't tried out this proceedure since my device is not current supported.

Requirements:

Magisk (or TWRP)
MIUIcamerav2_whyred (magisk module)

Since you have a rooted device I'm assuming you have magisk installed already, if not then install it, as it will make the work easier.

Basically you need to download the module MIUI Camerav2 port (from Mi A2 series) and flash it in recovery/via magisk manager.

  Notes: For  MIUI based ROM, the packages are a simpler version
  because there is no need to install another camera, stock one is
  already MIUI Camera v2. The mod just enables more functions in the
  stock app (you can see from the function list what is enabled and
  what is stock). Depending on the MIUI version there are more function
  like
  60fps available.

If camera don't start check permission, try to clear app data (it will reset permission too).
If still not working wipe cache and dalwik from TWRP.


VMware View and Workstation 8? I was wondering how you can use VMware View on my Nexus 7 to access Shared VMs on Workstation 8.

Do you need to go via Vsphere or is there a way of just accessing it across the wifi network?

Anyone any tips or ideas how it can be done?

PocketVM

Pocket Cloud

One of these should help you


How can i get apps on my phone from ONLY my other phone, and not my tablet? I am going to get a replacement phone and i only want apps from my old phone to be downloaded to the new one, and not my tablets apps. i know there is "google play-my apps-all", but that includes my tablets apps too. they are all on the same account. (the reason for this is my phone has very little storage and i dont want my tablets 3GB apps taking up my phone.) my phones are both on android 4.0.4 (sony xperia tipo) (ICS). i do not want to root but i will download any app (no apks please, sorry). thanks in advance!! :D

Use the Helium app to backup your phone and then do a restore on the new one.

I am not affiliated with developers of Helium in any way, only a regular user.

Helium is just a (sophisticated) frontend to adb backup, so if you feel adventurous, you can achieve similar results using just adb.


APN not saving with EE Orange UK SIM on Kitkat I have an LG G2 rooted, running Android 4.4.2. I've put my existing EE Orange UK SIM in, and there are no APNs listed. Whenever I try and add the EE settings and then save them, the APN list remains blank. How can I add my carriers APN settings?

I have tried:

Installing APN backup & restore app, setting as a system app in Titanium Backup and moving to the priv-app folder. Then deleting all APNs, resetting the phone. Still can't add an APN.
Creating a basic APN record, without all of the settings. That saves so that I can see it in APN list screen but when I update the record to include all of the settings it disappears again.
Looking at the apns-conf.xml file. There are loads of settings in here, but I'm not sure what this file does.

There is a service provided by WDS (Wireless Data Services Ltd, a Xerox company) where you can enter your model details and phone number, and it will send an SMS to setup the EE/Orange APN.


How to allow apps to delete SD card content I have Android version 5.0 on two different devices and on both, if I delete any user content (e.g. photos, music) stored on the SD card it appears to be removed but moments later reappears exactly as it was.

I am led to believe that this is part of the new OS version enhanced security but is there any way that I can stop this so that when I delete something, it stays deleted! Currently I can only do this via USB from my PC.

Since 4.4 the "WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" permission no longer grants WRITE access to the secondary(external) sdcard. (This is a simplified explanation, 4.4 did not force this change.)

The necessary permission to do so ("WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE") is only avialable to system apps.

Since 5.0 it is possible to gain write access through Androids storage provider system, this must be implemented by the developer though.

The native file manager app should be able to write to the external sdcard, check if it requests the "WRITE_MEDIA_STORAGE" permission.
SD Maid will support deletion & renaming with the next update (3.1.2.0+) through the systems storage provider.
I don't know about SandDisk Memory Zone.


How to type fractions like ⅝ in keyboard? My boss had accidentally wrote it down but doesn't know how he did that. It would be pretty helpful to find out.

For Gboard: Just enable longpress for symbols in Gboard settings. Than find textbox and in lower left corner of keyboard switch to symbols, than longpress on some numbers will give you fraction or exponent.


Prevent Google Play from reinstalling apps after factory reset I've got multiple Android devices and have a plethora of apps.

I've just done a factory reset on one in order to use it for development purposes only, however there are a couple of apps that I need that I've already paid for.

If I attach my Google account to this device, by default, the device will begin downloading all of my apps.. and while this is a good feature for some, I don't want all that crap on this device.

How can I prevent my device from automatically downloading apps when I attach my play account?

If you've already allowed Google Backup to backup your apps, then changing settings before you do the factory reset won't make any difference.

After the factory reset, when you next start the device, it'll go through the first-time setup steps again: where it guides you through connecting to a Wi-Fi network and signing into a Google account. On the screen where you sign into your Google account, there's a checkbox there to automatically restore your apps and data onto this device (I forget the exact wording).

Uncheck the checkbox at this point, and no apps or data will be restored to your device. You'll still be able to install any paid apps you previously bought. If you later turn on Google Backup on this device, it'll start a fresh set of backup data. Once it has backed up to this fresh set, next time you factory-reset this device, the restore will be from this fresh set. (If you factory-reset again before making any changes, or before it's had a chance to back up, you'll still get the old set.)