Adding a new account to my Samsung phone I wanted to change account on my phone so I removed it from Accounts (it was the only google account on my device).

Now when I try to add a new account the Settings application is closes itself (force closes?). I've tried clearing the cache of all Google related apps and signing in to Google and Chrome apps.

There might be a third party app that's in your way. Therefore, try adding the account while in safe mode. Because while you're in safe mode, all third party apps are disable, so they can't make any trouble.

To go into safe mode, turn your phone off, and then turn it back on while holding down on the volume down button. When the phone turns on, it will say safe mode on the bottom left of your screen.

Now try adding the account while in safe mode. Go to settings → accounts → and account → Google....


What differences are there for an "international version" phone? (Galaxy 4s) I want to buy a Galaxy S4 without a new contract, and I noticed that the "international version" is slightly cheaper.

Are there any cons to owning the international version in the US?
For software/firmware, would there be compatibility differences (such as when installing different ROMs)?
For hardware, would I still be able to use Verizon's 4G LTE?

Often times, one of the main differences between Android phone models is the supported frequency bands. This can be because they simply use different antennas for different bands, or because they support completely different network standards (e.g. CDMA and GSM versions). It is not uncommon for devices to be released with completely different names on different networks, in fact, when they are essentially the same device. For example, the original Galaxy S had a number of named variants on different carriers: the Captivate, the Vibrant, and the Fascinate.

There can also be other hardware differences between variants as well. In this case specifically, the i9500 international version of the GS4 doesn't have an LTE radio, although the i9505/i9506 does. In the GS4's case, this is because they are built with entirely different systems on a chip: the i9500 uses an Exynos whereas the others use Snapdragons. Significant hardware differences like this are, from what I've seen, not generally as common (although I have no hard numbers), though some changes to less essential things like the camera or NFC support could exist as well1. The spec sheets for each version should outline this information, though, so it is worth checking since there is no real way to "generalize" these differences.

The international versions will work on AT&T and T-Mobile USA's 2G networks, as well as AT&T's 3G and certain T-Mobile 3G areas (ones using the 850 MHz band), but won't support LTE on either. They will not work at all on Verizon, because they don't support CDMA networks nor do they support Verizon's LTE band. Even if they did, Verizon will typically not activate non-branded phones on their network. If you're going to use Verizon, you need to buy a Verizon phone. Can I use my device on a different carrier? has more detailed information on how to make these determinations.

A ROM for one phone will not typically work on other variants, or if it does it will be somewhat broken. For example, running a ROM for the GSM Galaxy Nexus (maguro) on a CDMA variant (like toro) would often work since the hardware was largely the same, but you couldn't make phone calls or access 3G data or the like. In this specific scenario, I would not expect a ROM for the international GS4 to run on another variant at all. They use completely different systems on a chip.

In most cases, the only real "con", as such, to owning an unlocked/off-network phone is that you cannot get official support for the device through your carrier. They will often be willing to provide some kind of equipment protection plan or insurance, but if you go into a store or call customer service for technical support they will not be able to help you.

1With Samsung it may be slightly more common, because of the nature of the situation. They designed the Exynos chipset, which is why they use it in their devices in place of Qualcomm's Snapdragon, but they did not have an Exynos SoC that supported LTE at the time. Thus, in markets where they intend to support LTE, they sometimes go with entirely different chips (like Snapdragons).


How to connect android device to projector? I have galaxy note 2 ( N7100). I want to know is there any way I can give phone output to the projector.

I don't know even, if it is possible.

Yes. As the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 supports MHL for video output, this is possible (with a special cable) if the projector supports MHL input, or with a bigger adaptor if it doesn't. See my answer on How does MHL work? for more details.


simcard not found emergency calls only I am using samsung galaxy fame. When I flashed cm12 my phone is unable to detect simcard when i dialed ##4636## i cannot even turn on radio there. When I chose option of preferred network it shows unknown.
The main problem is my phone shows imei number but unable to detect sim card .please help me and give me solutions over it .its my request.

Make sure your flashed it without getting erros and with compatible custom rom.
How can you turn of radio anyhow if it doesn't have any connectivity(radio off) ?
3.Same, how can you even search networks if there is "no sim found" message?

Solution is flash it again and check that you are flashing with compatible rom.
Enjoy! This


How do I disable the "app has been given root permissions" toast message? I have installed an app which needs root. Whenever the root manager gives it root permissions, it makes a toast popup that says "[app] has been given root permissions".

My problem is that it shows this popup every time the app is used or opened. This is annoying. How can I disable this toast notification so I don't see it anymore?

That's part of the SuperUser app's settings. Looked up on my Milestone² running Gingerbread:

Open your SuperUser app on the Android device
Hit the "wrench" symbol in the upper right of the screen to go to its settings
Scroll to the "Notifications" section
Uncheck "Notifications"

On ICS and up, the wrench symbol might be no longer. At least chainfire's SuperUser has a Holo GUI there. If that's the case for you, there should be a "Settings" tab visible instead, so use that.

Edit: Here's a screenshot I've found at AddictiveTipps:

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

Note the last item displayed, that's where you can trigger it in ICS and up.


Forgotten the pattern and phone not showing the "forgot pattern" button. I upgraded my Moto G2 to Android Lollipop using over-the-air upgrade. It was awesome but I set a pattern lock which I forgot. Usually after 5 wrong attempts it shows the "forgot password" button but it is not showing that button even after 100 wrong attempts. How to unlock the phone?

Well, I would say I don’t think you can’t do anything about it because the forgot password button isn’t available with the Lollipop , now what you are left with is you can try unlocking your device with the help of your Google account i.e. Log yourself over the Google account you are using over Laptop/PC once done head over to the Android device manager  and using it try unlocking your device remotely, also in order to do that your device must be connected to the Mobile  Data or Wi-Fi network. And if you don't have the access then I guess you are locked out and the only thing you can do now is factory resetting your device by holding the Power+Volume down button.


Samsung Galaxy S3 Battery dies extremely fast My SGS3 had an extremely nice and pretty long battery life until a week ago I used a music download app to download some music. After this I get common notifications like this. And it's scary cause it's true, my battery is draining annoyingly fast. In 10 min of using 10% of battery goes bye bye. This is absurd. (i have not yet clicked on the button)

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

After this, I checked and most of my battery goes into "android system" rather then screen or something else you would expect.

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

Stop running unnecessary applications in the background. For example: Bluetooth should be off when not in use and it can be turned on per usage like for example get a call then turn it on or make sure if turned on always plugged in to a charger.

Make sure you get titanium back up; you don't need pro. Go inside play store and download it. Run it and then save them to your ad card make sure it's the sd card.

Then remove any duplicate apps you don't need in your applications menu -- make sure you don't remove system files, just 3rd party apps from any Internet site or the Google playstore. Erase them and make sure you don't run them in background when Android starts or while running because Google play store app doesn't really need to be started with the phone powering on, it is a per usage application.

Make sure any app that you're not on constantly is not running. Shut them off with the task manager, you can also get an application to automate this for you with one click and schedules.  (I'll have to get back to you soon on the exact app)


Can't access internal SD card on my phone I recently upgraded my phone to android lolipop with cm 12 while doing so i first cleared all the data and also deleted my partition, now after installing lolipop i Can't access my internal storage on d phone but I can see it in the file manager .Next when i download apps from play store an error shows insufficient storage available, but I have ample space on my device,internal SD and ext sd. And when I tried to create a SD card partion via cwm 6.0.5 , the option of SD partion was not there in advanced option.please help
I have a Samsung galaxy note n 7000

You may need to change the USB settings on your phone.  I found the answer here.

  After you connect your Nexus to your PC/Mac via USB, swipe down on the
  Notification shade, and select MTP there from the USB options shown.


Stay connected to specific Wifi which has no internet I have a Nexus 5 with Marshmallow and another device with a built-in 5.8Ghz WiFi which is used for transfering videos from it. When I connect to this WiFi it keeps telling me, that it has no internet connection and thus obviously disconnecting automatically to find a better one. How do I keep the connection?

Some things I already tried:

set the freq to 5Ghz only
delete all the other known Wifis
manually add the wifi

Unless the connection is stable, I cannot connect to the device with its corresponding app. Are there any apps which could achieve that?

EDIT:

Logcat prints the following when the device disconnects:

12-23 20:29:09.368: D/IpReachabilityMonitor(777): clear: iface{wlan0/21}, v{4}, ntable=[]
12-23 20:29:09.377: I/wpa_supplicant(4270): wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=00:e0:5d:91:1b:ec reason=3 locally_generated=1
12-23 20:29:09.381: D/WifiStateMachine(777): WifiStateMachine: Leaving Connected state

What I found out so far, is that this might be a kernel problem. However, I have not found any references to android in this case.

I found a possible solution for my problem.
I simply set the DHCP settings to static, give the devices an appropriate IP and Gateway, and left the DNS preset as it is (8.8.8.8) by following these instructions: Is it possible to assign a static IP address without a DNS?
Afterwards it still complains about the missing internet connection, but this time it keeps the connection.
I tested it on both my Nexus 5 and Nexus 9, and it seems to work.


Can I disable e-mail notification sounds streamed to a bluetooth hands-free car radio Is there a way that one can automatically turn off the email notification when one is connected to a bluetooth-enabled car radio, ie. while driving, and only respond to incoming call notifications? Once the bluetooth connection is broken, the suppressed e-mail notifications should then be delivered.

Alternatively, if the e-mail notification is sounded, the phone should not maintain a bluetooth streaming mode status to the hands-free kit and the radio should revert to whichever audio/radio mode was previously in use.

The phone is from the Samsung Galaxy range.

You could use an app like Tasker. Next to Location and Time, Tasker can also act on certain system events. I use this e.g. to "switch to night mode" when I place my Droid2 onto its docking station, turning it (amongst others) into "silent" mode. Similarly, you can have it react on "Bluetooth connected", and have all volumes adjusted to your convenience -- e.g. notification volume to 0, but media volume to 6 (for some music). Many more possibilities wait there...


adb backup dosen't work even with allowBackup=true I noticed that for some system apps (for example chrome, which is preinstalled by default on my device) I can't do adb backup . Doing so results in the 47 bytes dummy .ab file. I checked in manifest they have allowBackup="true".

Eg for chrome this is:
allowBackup="true" backupAgent="org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeBackupAgent" extractNativeLibs="false" fullBackupOnly="false".

Why this is happening? How can I backup such apps' data without root?
PS: Helium backup doesn't show system apps.

I found the reason in logcat while performing an backup:
BackupManagerService: Package com.android.chrome is key-value.

By default for abd backup keyvalue backups are disabled:
"/system/bin/bu" (the command that is called on-device by adb backup) help text:

 -keyvalue|-nokeyvalue: include apps that perform key/value backups.
     (default -nokeyvalue)

Therefore you need to include the -keyvalue option to create a chrome backup:
adb backup -keyvalue -f chrome.ab com.android.chrome

This creates a backup file that contains only the chrome settings (no cache files, cookies, local data ...)


Is there a list that explains the risks involved with each granted application permission type? Usually an installed android app will request permissions such as

Phone calls
   read phone state and identity

or

System tools
   prevent phone from sleeping

But the actual consequences from a privacy stand-point is often a mystery to me. Is there a resource that explains the risks involved in these permissions in a greater detail? Especially regarding privacy and personal information security.

(Pros would be such as one with practical examples, analysis, pitfalls, providing complete a lists.)

General information
You might want to take a look at What do the permissions that applications require mean? -- our "community wiki" which hopefully becomes such a ressource one day. Next to that, you might want to take a look at App Permissions Explained – What Do They Really Mean?, a blog article at AndroidPIT giving at least some short explanations.
TechPP's article Use Permissions to Secure Your Private Data from Android Apps goes a little deeper into details (recommended reading!). Another nice overview is provided by BinaryDroids.
Edit: I've tried to sum up information from all kind of sources I could find, so the probably most comprehensive collection can be found at Android.IzzySoft.DE: Permissions. Don't be afraid of the ".DE": it serves its content in English as well. (Disclosure: I'm the owner, creator, and maintainer of that site.)
A last direct recommendation is How App Permissions Work & Why You Should Care -- and for more, please visit our good old aunt Google :)

Edit: I could not resist to add more valuable hints, as this is a very sensitive topic. So I will continue updating my answer:

Android permissions explained, security tips, and avoiding malware, a very thorough article on more than just permissions (seemingly similar article here)
What Can a Zero-Permissions Android App Do?
Android OS: Malicious apps can steal permissions (including a chapter on How permissions work)
The ins and outs of scary Android App Permissions (a general introduction into permissions and the "abouts")
Not directly an answer, but an interesting ressource on our sister-site: Studies on Android users' attitude to security. Names a lot of further sources, studies, etc., including "permissions"
How to find those permission-grabbing add-ons in Android reveals another interesting fact I was not aware of, as obvious as it might look once you know it: advertising networks get the same Android-permissions as the installed app they’re associated with. Ouch! A paradise for profilers... and, There are more permission-grabbing add-ons...
Smartphone apps: Is your privacy protected?
Use Permissions to Secure Your Private Data from Android Apps (while already from 7/2010, it still has good explanations on permissions existing back then -- and still there today)

Advertizement inside apps
Also keep in mind that many permissions some app requests might not be required by the app itself -- but rather by some ad module that app uses. So according to TechRepublic14, MobFox and AdMob, two of the biggest ad networks, require the following permissions: INTERNET, ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE, ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, and READ_PHONE_STATE (so they can know who you are [READ_PHONE_STATE: phone number, IMEI/IMSI], where about you are [ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION], what networks you are connected to [ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE], and whom you are communicating with [again READ_PHONE_STATE, while in call, for the "remote number"]). Does this look a bit too paranoid? That doesn't mean nobody's after you, see Deep Dive Into Ad Network Behavior on Android.
Which means: if you don't feel well with some combinations, you might simply check if the app on your wishlist also has a paid version -- which might do without those permissions, as it does not carry the "ad module". Speaking of this: Addons Detector will help you figure out which of your apps carry such a module piggyback. In this context, also consider: as trustworthy as the app developer might be, (s)he might not be aware of and has no influence on what those "ad modules" do with your data. Remember: advertising networks get the same Android-permissions as the installed app they’re associated with.13
On this topic, also read:

Android apps and advertising: A bit too cozy
Android ad networks found accessing users’ private data
Free Android apps often secretly make calls, use the camera
How to Curb Aggressive Mobile Ad Networks (interesting to read for users, recommended reading for developers!)
Android Adware abusing permissions, Collecting more than they need
Reports Show Aggressive Mobile Apps Want Many Permissions They Don't Need
Mobile Ad Networks Accused Of Invasive Apps (with a "real life example" -- or rather "live example"?)
Top Mobile Ad Networks: Check out the networks on what permissions they want, how developers rate them, and more

Was this shocking news for you? Did I infect you with some "paranoia" -- and now you fell "left alone" with your bad feelings? I won't leave you without some recommendations. First, you might want to know which potential "data thieves" you already invited to your device, unaware of those risks. It's usually no bad intention of the developer (you know: "No money, no honey" -- the devs have to make a living as well). So having identified some "bad guys", you might want to confront the dev and give him the option to switch to a different, less "dangerous" ad provider (after all, the dev might have been unaware of the risks involved as well). If he's unwilling, you can still decide whether to kick the offender from your device. Or to "go pro", if there's a pay version available which comes without an ad module inside -- and honor the dev's work while safe-guarding your data, which I'd say is a typical win-win situation.
So: What options do you have? I will give a few examples below.

Addons Detector knows a lot of those modules. High rated (4.7 stars at more than 3,000 ratings), it not only detects ad modules, but also analytics, development, and licensing modules
Lookout Ad Network Detector -- nomen est omen -- concentrates on the ad modules. Its additional value is the ability to tell you exactly what data is being collected, and by whom. Comparable rating (4.4 at > 3,000 ratings)
TrustGo Ad Detector offers comparable features, and also gives you details on the ad networks' behaviour and backgrounds. Currently 4.5 at ~ 2,000 ratings.

"Root users" might also have heard of several ad-blocking apps (e.g. Adaway, Adblock Plus -- the latter not even requiring root), some of them able to not only "block by host/IP", but directly de-activating the ad modules. Well, those are no longer available on the playstore, as Google has banned them. But you certainly will find them in other places on the web. Make sure to select a trustworthy source, if you plan to make use of those. I recommend F-Droid, which has its own "market app" with the same name, so you get updates as well. All apps there are open source and thus free of charge. And no, obviously no "hacked pro versions for free", all fully legal and lawful :)


How to remove an app from recent apps list? We have had the recent uninspired idea to let a SmartPhone upgrade itself to the "Pie" Version of the "Google" "Android" Operating System.

Now, although everything went smoothly, we have discovered to our utter amazement that we are no longer able to close a Mobile Software Application at once. We are able only to close all of the running Mobile Software Applications at once.

No matter how much we have been searching so far, there is no obvious individual "Close" Button for each Mobile Software Application in this Latest Version.

Does anybody know how to close them individually, in a gentle way? We are not referring to any Forced Closures by means of terminating them.

As mentioned in the comments the way to close individual apps in the Samsung One UI is to simply "swipe" that app away.

The two gestures I have here are swiping up on the app to close it or swiping down to maximise it.


How do I manually configure the DNS of my tethered connection? In my new moto E, tethering my internet connection isn't working. I configured my nexus tablet to use my mobile phone connection. Everything looks fine, it looks like it is connected, but I can't access anything.

Using a terminal app, I can successfully ping a domain with numbers: ping 8.8.8.8, but when I try to point a domain name (Google.com), it fails.

I've tried with other devices and the result is the same.

How do I manually configure the DNS of my tethered connection?

Any other suggestion to fix this problem is welcome.

Some tests that I did:

I tested tethering with two android devices, and both had the same problem.
These devices used to successfully "theter" in my old Moto G.
The problem happens in wifi and usb tethering.
A few apps work fine, like WhatsApp. I believe they use the IP Address directly.

The moto E has Android 5.0.2.

I've installed the DNSet app and it solved my tethering Moto E bug. The pro version allow you to configure any DNS server, but it wasn't necessary.


Copy pictures to Windows with some files broken/corrupt I want to backup my pictures from my Android 4.4 phone to my Windows PC but I'm struggling to copy them the normal windows copy way. It seems that at some point many of the images have somehow corrupted and since I have hundreds of pictures on my phone, finding the images one by one in File Manager (CyanogenMod) is a real hassle.

The normal windows copy mode fails when I try to copy the files off the device through USB which actually crashes the entire Windows Explorer process and I have to restart it from task manager.

Then I thought trying to copy in segments by going in to the Camera folder and copying piece by piece. But windows fails to fully read the directory (probably due to corrupt files) and again crashes Windows Explorer.

I also tried creating a zip file from the folder on the device but it seems to also fail making it.

How could I copy the folder to my windows pc even if it has some files corrupt/broken?

Sounds like the Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) isn't working right on your phone. In that case, you have two options:

transfer wirelessly using an app
transfer manually with debugging enabled

Wirelessly
This is the more straightforward method. Using an app like AirDroid, you get a GUI for transferring files from your phone to your computer wirelessly.
ADB
This is significantly more involved. You've got to install Android Debugging Tools on your computer, enable USB debugging on your phone (after activating developer mode), then install the relevant drivers (google!). Following that, you do something like:
adb pull /storage/sdcard0/DCIM

to transfer all the contents of DCIM to your computer.


How to reject call on HTC desire Z? Is it possible to reject call somehow when screen is locked as the same moment I unlock the screen, I acctualy accept the call?

Just to answer this question in case future users have it.

I believe in HTC Sense when a call comes in and the screen lock is there it should say slide up to reject the call and down to answer.


Galaxy S and Skype - Why am I getting an "Insufficient memory" error? Galaxy S running 2.2.  try to install SKYPE but get the error - "insufficient memory" when there is loads on the phone and i can install any other app quite normally.  Any help appreciated.

I'm guessing Skype installs to the SD card by default, in which case you should check out this question: What does the 'Failed to move application. Not enough memory' error mean when choosing 'Move to SD card'?


Samsung Galaxy Note 4 won't get out from recovery booting I got a problem with my Samsung device and now I've no idea how to fix this, hope anyone want to help me in fixing this problem.

So this thing started yesterday when I just went in to Recovery Mode to "Wipe Partition Cache" and turn my phone off.
1)When I tried turning my phone on, it doesn't go to normal boot but it go to "recovery boot" I dont't know why, restarted, unplugged the battery and turned on my phone again but it won't make my phone get out from recovery boot.

2)Now I'm trying to flash my phone with Odin, when I tried to flash it says "There is no PIT partition", "There is no PIT Binary", how to fix this ?
I've tried to download and used the pit file but it didn't worked.

please help

You can only get out of this if you were on custom recovery where you shall look for the official boot.img of the phone and flash it into the recovery partition. There it will boot. If you're sure the boot partition is not damaged, you can use the dd command to extract it. In simple. Using TWRP Terminal:

dd if /dev/block/[msdcblockname]/by-name/boot of /sdcard/boot.img

This will dump boot.img at internalsd. Use it to flash the recovery partition. Note: the folder reffered to as msdcblockname above varies with device so research path to boot for your specific phone model.

But anyway if you're on stock recovery, either get a full OTA package that is made for full system update, not the incremental one ADHD flash it by apply update from sdcard or ensure the ROM you downloaded for Odin is specially for your device model and it has all items in it. Because Odin is the only hope you're left with


Can't sync or even access contacts of Moto G4 / E4 and fresh Android 7.1.1 tl;dr I can't access or sync my contacts on two phones with freshly installed Android 7.1.1 while I can access and sync them without problems on third phone, with Android 6.0, connected to the same Gmail account.

Whenever I try to access contacts on my Moto E4 or Moto G4 with Android 7.1.1 I see following:

This process is endless. It last 12+ hours so far.

I have no problems accessing my contacts on my Moto E3 (Android 6.0.1), which is connected to the same Gmail account as my Moto G4 is.

It seems that contacts are inaccessible due account not being able to sync them:

As you can see (left screeenshot - Moto G4 / Moto E4), the Peoples details item cannot be sync for past two days (since getting this phone) and I don't even have Contacts sync item on the list.

Everything is OK on Moto E3 (right screenshot).

Steps taken so far:

phone restart,
removing Google account and adding it back again,
checking on different network access type (i.e. LTE instead of WiFi).

No luck so far. What else can I check or do?

As I was suggested (in some other source), factory-reseting the phone might do the trick. And it did, but source of problem was different and factory-reset only revealed it.

It turned out that for some reason the Calendar Storage application was disabled on both phones:

It is a system application, so you must tap on ⚙ > Apps > ⋮ > Show system in order to see this item.

After enabling back of this application everything started working with a snap of finger, without even a need of restarting the phone.

I figured this out after factory-reseting of the first phone mentioned in question, so I managed to fix the problem on the other one without need of factory-reseting it as well.


Pictures music and videos not showing I am having this issue from last 1 month. Whatever pictures I am receiving or videos or music I am downloading is not visible to me in the gallery or the video or music app. But it is visible in the file explorer. My phone does not support SD card. It already posses 16 gb memory.

I don't know what I have done. May be I have deleted some important cache files or something like that. Only the pictures I am capturing is visible in the gallery. I scanned my music app as well but it does not show me the new songs I have added. Same problem with the video app.. Every time I have to visit the file explorer to see these things.
Please help me out

Make sure your photos/videos/music are not inside android folder of your phone. Those places are usually skipped by the scanner. Power cycle your phone if possible. If nothing works you might wanna reset your phone from settings-> backup and reset


My yu Yureka is bricked now I tried installing nougat with cm-14 but there is a error being displayed while installing cm 14 (comparing tz version)? error 7 looks like the both the firmware's are not compatible(googled). now the only solution available online was to flash with twrp recovery which needed the phone to start which is not possible for me.
P.S  currently i have installed  CWM recovery
i  have attached a picture or the error.

so is there any other easier solution to this problem?
can you please also mention the steps?
thanks

The error

Comparing TZ version TZ.BF.3.0.R2-00034 to TZ.BF.2.5.2-00005
assert failed: cm.verify_trustzone("TZ.BF.3.0.R2-00034") == "1"

is quite obvious: it means this ROM requires a new version of TrustZone. You will not be able to install anything sufficiently new until you update that.
Such base components can be upgraded via flashing a factory firmware. For Yureka, the latest Cyngn offers is Cyanogen OS 12.1. Flash it via fastboot using the guide offered on YU's forum. After that, flash a custom recovery again, then finally load the custom ROM you wanted.
Additionally, I have downloaded the package and verified that it does have the TZ component inside:

... and the version is right:


Where can i find my Model numbers Just wondering how do I find which model number my galaxy s4 is? I see people writing Gt- numbers.  I can't find anything like that. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks

Note that not all S4 models start with "GT" - see a not-so-complete list of variants here.

You could either see it under Settings - About phone - Model number (in this example, SCH-I545):

Or on the sticker underneath the battery (in this example, GT-i9505G):


“Cyclic dependency not allowed” error on Android Emulator I'm currently using an Android emulator KOPLAYER (v1.4.1049) and installed the app Topps KICK on it and have been using it for a month. When a new update for the app came, and I tried logging in the game, this error came up:

  Cyclic Dependency not allowed.

I also tried contacting the TOPPS guys but to no use. I have tried the app on MEMU, Nox and BlueStack emulators too, but I get the same error.

It works fine on my Xperia Z and iPhone 6 Plus. The problem is just with Android Emulators on my laptop.

Any help I would get will be much appreciated!

It seems an 'on the fly' compiling error. If so, nothing you can solve. Probably will soon arrive the update of the update.


How to backup my rom without pc? I have a symphony v50 mobile. I can not go to recovery mod when my phone was switched off. When I go to make a backup of my current rom with rom manager i did not get the backup option. May I change the cwm recovery? If the ans is yes please tell me how. Else how I can make a backup of my current rom?

Try to install TWRP recovery and full (or partial) backup can be done to additional SD card plugged to Your phone.


Where are OneDrive offline files stored on galaxy s8? I offlined synced a folder using OneDrive, trying to find it's physical location on the device storage. I wasn't able to locate it browsing through the dozens of folders on the device.

The offline files are cached in folders using the path:

  /android/data/user/0/com.microsoft.skydrive/no_backup/stream_cache/userid......

source: OneDrive local cache on Android


How do I convert a NANDroid backup into an update.zip file that works in the stock recovery mode? For this case, consider a phone stuck in a bootloop (not fixable through data wiping or USB jigs) with no CWM Recovery and no adb or fastboot access. Only an SD Card, the stock recovery mode, and Qualcomm's QPST serial port debugging interface.

Relevant files available are a handful of NANDroid backups of the same phone (made previously via CWM Recovery) and an "update.zip" from the provider/manufacturer that contains an OTA update.

Goal is to restore a NANDroid backup using the stock recovery's "apply update from external storage" feature.

Update: I've dug around, and as far as I understand, my stock recovery mode requires properly signed .zip files. I've made numerous .zips up on my own using various scripts and toolsets I had found, and some by tampering with the OTA update .zip I had mentioned. Attempting to apply either of them results in the exact same output that follows below. (The only one going past that point is the original OTA update.zip, whose instalation dies after the message "file_getprop: failed to stat "/system/build.prop": No such file or directory", but this is certainly part of the bigger problem with the device)

-- Install /sdcard ...
Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
Instalation aborted.

Is my case hopeless without having the manufacturer's private key on hand? Can you think of any workarounds or alternatives? Could I be making a mistake in the zip-making process?

Most stock recovery modes require proper, officially signed update.zip files. There are ways to convert NANdroid backups to update.zip files or even directly back them up as such but the hard part is actually signing the update file (there are a handful of tutorials for doing these on the Internet, and in part in the official Android documentation). The signing requires official keys which can only be generated by the manufacturers. Getting them is nigh impossible unless you have inside access or very very cooperative support.


Can't Disable Chinese apps on Samsung Note 3 A relative picked picked up a 'Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9006' on his trip to China.

It was misbehaving so I did a reset. When it booted I noticed a few Chinese icons on the Home screen. Opening them takes me to a bunch of Chinese porn sites!

I removed the icons and an app called ChatOn but now I have 4 new Chinese apps that have been downloaded and started automatically!

When I Stop and Disable them they come back.

So what do I do? I don't trust the device as it is. What are my choices?

Root it and try to clean it that way? I don't even know how they are being downloaded. Can I trust the factory ROM at all?

Install a different ROM on it?

Thanks.

Device Info:
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N9006
Android 4.4.2
Baseband: MT6582
Build: JSS15J.N9006ZCUBMI5

Chances are the factory ROM has the preloadinstaller.apk, and will reinstall any app that isnt installed, forget if it is every reboot or only on the first one. But I would root, install a file browser that supports root, Search for preloadinstaller.apk then rename/delete it. Then remove the apps. That should stop the apps from reinstalling once they are deleted. Hope this helps ya.


I was recording and video on my phone when the battery died, how can I recover the video file? I read the other questions I could find. This is completely different. My question is NOT about finding the file.

The file is on my phone. It is the correct size. It shows as an mp4 with the right icon on windows. It has an mp4 suffix. It's 22+MB so it's there. It will not play in MS Media Player or with VLC player. It doesn't show up on the phone itself in the gallery, but it's there when I connect the phone to my laptop.

I was recording the video, my battery died, the phone shut off while I was recording.

There are many programs on the internet that claim to fix video files, but I'm afraid to download any of them because I do not want to get a virus.

My phone is an HTC EVO 3D. My carrier is Sprint. My laptop is a Samsung running Windows 7. I recorded it regular mode not in 3D mode.

How do I play this file? How do I fix it? What should I do? If there's a piece of software I should download to my laptop to fix it, what is a good reputable site where I won't get malware/virus?

I had the same promblem. A solution which worked for me was an app "MP4Fix", which you can get in google play for free. It repaired my video in a few sec and placed it in different folder (it kept corrupted video in the same place and also created new repaired one).
I know this info might be too late for you but it might help some others.


Samsung galaxy S2 can't upgrade to 4.0 Possible Duplicate:
  When will my device get the Android 4.0 update (Ice Cream Sandwich)?

i have Samsung galaxy s2 with android 2.3.6 and when i try update it with Kies to 4.0 (ice cream sandwhich) it shows that I9100XXKL1/I9100OXAKL1/I9100XXKL1/I9100XXKL1 (KOR) can't be updated.

This is old phone, broken android or i should wait for update?

Just wait, it takes a few weeks before everybody gets the update... And it was first released two days ago... So if you don't have it in two weeks, write back :)


In spite of sync is disabled, sync icon is shown in notification bar forever! I am talking about Samsung Galaxy Ace Duos2 (GT-S6802). The undesirable thing is that Sync icon is always shown in notification bar. I checked Accounts and sync settings many times to make sure Auto sync is disable.

In above screen-shot you can see that Auto sync is not enabled. However, Sync icon/symbol is shown at notification area.

I also tried after enabling and re-disabling Auto sync options, restarting many times but sync icon at notification bar po-pups sometimes (1 min) after booting and remains forever.

So, Why this is happening and How do I get rid of it? (Is there any thing I'm missing?)

Note: I also tried turn-off data connection and background data as well but not succeed.

I recently had the same issue - I have an old Samsung Galaxy S with Android 2.3.6.  I think somehow an app got updated when I was on WiFi, but I didn't know what it was. I noticed a "sync" icon appeared and would not go away.

I finally realized I could go to Settings → Applications → Battery Use, and find out that YouTube was the culprit.

Then I could force stop that app and the icon went away, but it came back after a reboot, so I also uninstalled YouTube app updates.


Is there a way to force my application to run at the background This is not a duplicate of this question - Is there a way to force an app to remain running in the background no matter what? because it mention about Android ver 4 and also about lack of memory.

My question is is there a way to force a particular android apps for Android version below 4 to run in the background when the phone is sleeping? Also, I should be able to call those android apps that I specific to run in the background to come to the foreground for me to interact with.

The problem is that some apps, they stop working when the phone when to sleep (due to power saving). Some apps even prompt errors. However, I need them to run in the background. Also, I know that I can use 'Force close' to force a apps running in the background to stop but I just could not find a way to make a particular android apps to run in the background whenever I needed.

It's up to the developer of an app to specify what it should do in the background. Apps have two kinds of component. (Actually, there are more kinds, but they're irrelevant to the question.)

The first, activities, can display on the screen, and can only run in the foreground. However, when you leave an activity with the home key, it gets an opportunity to save its state, so when you next run the same activity, it can appear in the same state you left it. (For example, an email app might display the same email you were looking at before, instead of going back to the inbox.)

The second kind, services, run in the background, and don't display on the screen. They have to be written in a different way to activities, to make sure they don't run down the battery, and they have some control over when they start and stop running.

If an app doesn't save its state, or gives an error when you come back to it after using a different app, you should report that to the developer of the app, so they can fix the bug.


what's this symbol mean ( square with 3 curved lines) The leftmost icon(rectangular) on above screen shot showed up yesterday. I don't know, where or what app it's for but I would like it gone.

This symbol is of "Cast screen" found in Android which is used to cast your screen to a television. This symbol in the status bar means that your phone screen is being casted to a television or cast screen is active:

If you want to get rid of it, just go to settings and disable screen casting.

More info:
Google Support


How to share pictures from Photos to Instagram I am on an older Android phone (Motorols Droid Turbo 2), and want to share an album (or even just single photos) from Google Photos to Instagram. I went through the steps of sharing on Photos, but Instagram is not an option to share to. Please let me know if there is a way to add Instagram as a sharing option to Google Photos on Android. Thanks in advance for your help!

If you can't find the photo when you are uploading from within the Instagram app, it's because the photo isn't saved to your device.

Open Google Photos
Navigate to the photo you want and click on it.
At the top right, there are 3 dots that you must click, then click "save to device
Open the Instagram app, start the upload process.

The only problem I could imagine you running into is that it won't be the first photo available. Depending on when the photo was taken you might have to scroll down to find it.


How to put bluetooth prompt on notification bar when receiving files [incoming file no option to select yes or no]? Okay, I'm not sure how to phrase this question but what I am trying to achieve is to have a bluetooth transfer prompt right on the notification shade instead of having to pull down, then tap on the transfer request.

I think images will work best to describe what I'm trying to achieve. Here is how it appears on my primary device (Redmi Note 4, MIUI 9):

I want it to appear on the notification bar like this:

Basically I want the accept or decline prompt right on the notification bar, rather than tapping the notification first. (Any methods welcome, I have Tasker if its needed) or even third-party apps are okay.

This was more of a ROM issue, couldn't bother to find a workaround but it was fixed in later versions of the MIUI ROM:


Why isn't there any encryption application on GSM calling? I just wondering the reason why there is no encryption tool for GSM calling in android.

Is it legal or technical problem?

Thank you

There are two levels of technical reason why this wouldn't work.

Not all mobile phones allow the software to control the audio that gets sent over a voice call: the microphone feeds directly into the cell radio. This is the same reason that apps to record calls or play sound over calls don't work on every phone.
GSM lossily compresses the sound signal using methods that are specifically designed to work with voice. If you were to try to send arbitrary data (such as an encrypted signal) over GSM, it would come out garbled at the other end.

If you want to make a phone call that your carrier can't eavesdrop, there are apps available to do this, but they work over wireless Internet, not over GSM (i.e. they use data not voice).


How do I change my debit card details in Google Play? How do I change my ATM card details in Google play as my old card has been damaged and I cannot purchase anything from my Android phone?

As Dan has detailed in his answer you can change it via the Play Store on your phone or you can manage your payment methods via the Google Wallet site. This should allow you to remove your old/damaged card and add a new payment method.


How to make Hangouts stop sending me SMS messages? I've tried out the SMS feature of Hangouts app, which allows you to handle SMS within itself instead of the default one.

I didn't like it for certain reasons, so I disabled it.

However, for some reason, almost each time anyone sends me something via Hangouts (from a PC for example), I get it in both Hangouts and via SMS (with phone number that looks like "1000274" ). That's right - I get 2 messages - one for hangouts and one is an SMS message shown on the normal messaging app.

Why does it happen? How can I stop it from happening?

I hope it's a bug and that it will get fixed soon... :(

NOTE: I have Android 4.3 on a Galaxy S3 I9300 device.

Go to

Settings -> Under data usage tap More
Tap Default SMS app and select your SMS app

Source with detailed instruction: http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-57613499-285/manage-default-sms-app-on-android-4.4-kitkat/


Delete group in Viber I made a group in Viber by mistake. The other members complain that their phone number is made known to uknown people.

Can I delete the group?

I read that "When all participants leave a group, it will automatically be deleted". How someone can leave a group? There is not a choice to "Leave group".

Everyone can leave any group in their own


Multiple Androids with one bluetooth keyboard Is there some software that simply lets me use one bluetooth keyboard to type on several different android tablets in front of me?

Provided:
The keyboard supports pairing with multiple devices, and it is paired with all of my tablets.

A solution to this problem should ideally give a way for me to choose which tablet is currently receiving keyboard input using only the keyboard; in other words, I shouldn't have to touch a screen in order to switch to another tablet.

No. Although the keyboard can pair with multiple devices, it can only be connected to one at a time. You can't fix that with software that runs on the tablet.


Service for sharing list of installed apps I'm thinking of web app for sharing lists of installed / recommended apps with people.
Optional comment for each app on how/when/why it's useful. Something a bit similar to usesthis.com, but for sharing Android apps and open to everyone. Is there such a service?

AppBrain.

Generically, a user's app list will be at http://www.appbrain.com/user/{username}/apps-on-the-phone.

You can also create other lists to share with the world.


Download error, passing the 100% mark I'm from India and tonight (friday 20 june 2014) at around 10:58pm a sight happened to my downloading notification bar. I was downloading ESPN FC FOOTBALL AND WORD CUP app and suddenly after reaching 100%.
And time 0 seconds left the download kept on going and as it passed the 100% mark the time started to go in negative and this continued for about 6-7 minutes.
Please let me know if there is a problem in my android device or it's an error from the play store.
After some time it ultimately installed the app but it kept on closing automatically. I uninstalled it and when I tried to install it again from play store it downloaded but after reaching 100% it said 'a fatal error occurred 961'.
I was using a MOTO G XT1033, non-rooted.

Here are the images:

Error code 961 appears when there is a misconfiguration of system files on the Google Play store. It is happening when downloading,
updating and upgrading mobile applications for
Android Operating System.
To fix this issue, follow these steps.

Go to settings
Apps
All and clear the cache
Clear data for google play store
Go to settings
Accounts and sync
Remove all the synced accounts
Open google play and register your id again

If this won`t work, you could do reset for Google
Play Store. Here how it do.

Go to Setting
Click Application or Apps
Click Manage Application
You will see downloaded, running, all, on SD
card.
Select All
Choose Google service frame
Choose force stop,
Clear data.
Restart.

This will reset the Google Play Store and you can
start downloading Apps as normal again.


Does the lock screen on a encrypted device provide different security than an unencrypted device? I am wanting to encrypt my phone and SD card. I have been reading around about it all week and still don't understand a few things. I though that the encryption was like blackberry encryption, where you put the password in every time you turn the phone on to the screen lock. After a bit of reading, I understand that the "decryption" is only done at boot up by putting the password in once. After that, you have to put the same password in at the screen lock simply because of a limitation of Android not allowing two different passwords. I do know that there are new ways to use a different password on the screen lock, and even a pattern lock, that's not my issue.

Here are my questions....

If the device is technically decrypted after boot up, is the screen lock the only security on the phone once it's turned on?
Does the screen lock of an encrypted device have any stronger security than that of an unencrypted device? If not, it seems like the phone is just as vulnerable to data theft as an unencrypted device if someone steals it while it is turned on.  I understand that it will encrypt again if they turn it off, but if it's on, what good is encryption?
If someone pulls the SD card out (which is encrypted) they can't read it with a card reader, but if they put it back in the phone while it's still on, won't the decrypted phone just mount it again so they can read it from the phone?
Finally, on a Blackberry, a wipe is performed by erasing the encryption key. This makes an almost instant wipe of the whole phone and SD card. I know an encrypted device has to be wiped the same as an unencrypted device, but is Android programmed in a way that the encryption key is wiped first, in case someone pulls a battery or forces a phone off during a wipe? I know that's far-fetched, just curious about how it works.

Not sure if it makes a difference, but I am using a Razr Maxx HD, rooted on OTA 4.1.1

Yes, the lock screen is the only barrier on an encrypted but booted Android device; Android keeps the encryption key in memory and transparently decrypts all files read by applications in the background.

Of course, that is far from ideal (iOS uses a much more complicated scheme, where some classes of encryption keys are dropped the moment the screen is locked), but it is a very simple model which is still fairly effective against many kinds of attacks.

You can find more details on the implementation and the threat model on SE crypto.


power consumption by application? Since cellphone application software requires extra power for processing. Is there any application software that indicate power consumption by particular application?


What is an android ROM? I know this question is answered all over the web however I don't understand why its called a custom ROM.

Isn't the android OS partition stored in read/write memory? but just classed as read only memory by android so you cannot modify it with regular user permissions.

If so, a custom rom isn't actually modifying read only memory, so why isn't this referred to as flashing a custom os?

As mentioned on Android Police,

  By the way, the word ROM means Read Only Memory, but has migrated in the modding community to mean an actual custom OS image that you install into the ROM area of your phone.

For me, the reason I still use the word ROM is that the image you flash contains the entire contents of the read-only system partition which would be called the ROM.


What is the scope of Google Play Protect's scanning? Even though I don't recommend relying on it (because it is not very effective), I know quite a few people who only use Google Play Protect.

Does Google Play Protect only scan apps installed via the Google Play Store or does it scan all installed apps?
Does it scan APK files on the device that are not installed?

From experience

  Does Google Play Protect only scan apps installed via the Google Play Store or does it scan all installed apps?

It checks for all apps installed on the device irrespective of source (barring systemless installs using Magisk). For instance V4A (Viper for Android) flashed through TWRP triggered this warning

  Does it scan APK files on the device that are not installed?

No, it does not scan APKs. I was transferring APKs of old versions of apps which I prefer over current version and inadvertently copied Lucky Patcher APK. Since I didn't install it, it passed checks


Incompatible / error connecting as MTP device after unlocking and rooting Nexus 4 I unlocked and rooted my Nexus 4

it shows as connected
it shows in my computer

But when copying a file, it gives me an error stating "device is unavailable or may have been removed"

What should I do?

Are you able to replicate the same error on other computers and OSs? If it's just your computer, remove all drivers and related software and then connect your device and add them again.

Otherwise, you can attempt to ftp to your device using Solid Explorer. It does not require a cable; you'd be able to transfer files over WiFi (albeit a little slower).


Get the internet from my PC I only have Internet connection from LAN through Linux PC.

How can I connect my Android 2.1 to the Internet though USB cable?

If you're rooted you can use this...

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jasongong.tether.usb

There are other apps out there that do the same, but that one looks reliable and is free.


Error 1240: Boot certification verify on LG Optimus Exceed 2 I've a LG Optimus Exceed 2. It won't turn on. When I plug it into my computer and try to factory reset it is always good to the LG start-up screen. But then in the top right corner it says "error 1240" and shows a boot certification and some thing about verification.

Is there any possible way to get this fixed?

Yes there is. Its fairly simple.

YOU WILL NEED A COMPUTER OR LAPTOP TO DO THIS.

You need to go to the LG Exceed 2 Resources at AndroidForums, and download the "LG Flash tool 2014" plus a matching KDZ file.

Once you download ask the files you need, open the lg flash tool 2014 out it's pretty much self explanatory... where it says kdz file you select the kdz file you downloaded at the link I posted earlier. Out will be a fairly large file just so you know.


Samsung Galaxy Pop got stuck while updating to Jelly Bean My Samsung Galaxy Pop (GT-S5570) got stuck while updating to Jelly Bean with Cyanogenmod 10.1. It sticks at the Samsung logo at the start. What can I do to get it working again?

I would go to the forum section of your device with whatever site you use and find the links for Odin and Samsung's official Kit Kat release for your device and flash that using Odin. Then you will be stock once again then accept the update and all should be fine.


Remove "Software Update" app from device I have an android device, with which I am facing this spam ad notification issue since quite a few months.

See below screenshot for reference.

Initially I used ignore them and close them by swiping them out of the notification area. But when the frequency of their occurrence got really high, I decided to get rid of the culprit app.

So I googled and found that by pressing for few seconds on the notification we can see the App Info menu appear in the notification area as shown in the below screenshot.

I hoped, that I would be able to uninstall the problematic app, but it wasn't to be. Clicking on App Info led me to below shown app.

As you can see, there is no option to uninstall the app. I am not sure from where this app came and is it of any use. I just want to remove this app and eventually the ad notification, as sometimes there are some ads for adults only and with my kid playing games on my device its obviously not good.

Force Stop doesn't help, neither does clearing data and cache, as the app gets started again after some time. Once you Force Stop or clear data and cache, the app appears in the All Apps section instead of running.

But after few minutes or hours it start running again causing the troublesome ad notifications.

I tried searching for removal of this app but my efforts were in vain.

If your mobile is rooted, use System App Remove tool from play store & remove the system App.

If mobile is Non-rooted : I don't think that voonik advertise is generated from your software update as it is a pre installed system app, but still you can try to clear cache & force stop and check if advertise is still popping up or not. If it is still popping then check other apps you have downloaded...

Last option should be factory reset..


Moto 360 Allow Wear Debugging I have enabled UDB Debugging for my moto 360, but when I connect it to my computer, I don't get the "Allow Wear Debugging?" dialog.

How can I get this to show up?

First of all become a developer on Moto 360 and enable Debugging.

Launch Settings
Select About
Tap on Build number until you become a developer :-)
Above will enable Developer options in Settings on your Moto 360

Enable ADB debugging and Debug over Bluetooth.

Under Developer options enable ADB debugging and Debug over Bluetooth
Launch Android Wear on your phone/tablet
Press settings (gear) icon
Turn on toggle button Debugging over Bluetooth
Connect your phone via USB and make sure USB debugging is enabled
Run adb devices from the command line.
If device called “localhost:4444” is listed, you are already paired and can continue at step 13.
From command line run adb forward tcp:4444 localabstract:/adb-hub then run adb connect localhost:4444
Launch Android Studio. When you launch your app your device should be available in the list for debugging in Choose device dialog under Choose a running device checkbox.

Hope this helps.


Ringtone set from a file reverts to default after reboot When I set a ringtone from a file ("More ringtones"), after reboot it reverts to the default ringtone on the pre-set list. How to fix this?

When I choose a ringtone from the pre-set list, it does stay (does not revert to the default one).

The file I select is in Phone storage/Ringtones.

I tried Zedge to set a downloaded ringtone, same effect: after reboot, it resets to the default one. As a workaround, maybe there is an app that would check the ringtone after reboot and set its own one if it has reverted to the default?

Android 5.1 kernel 3.10.65, model Polariod P5025A, not rooted.

The phone has other issues, such as after reboot some downloaded apps (not always, but Opera almost always) disappear from the desktop, so that I have to bring their icons to the desktop again. The downloaded apps are on SD card (probably that's why), but my old phone (Android 4.4 on Samsung, a great deal better than 5.1) did not have any of these problems.

Apps such as Tasker can definitely set the ringtone after device boot.

Profile: Event → System → Device Boot
Task: Audio → Default Ringtone:

Type: Ringer
Sound: tap lens icon → choose File Manger app -> select your sound file.

File Manager app should be such app which allow a sound file to be selected as a ringtone. I'm aware of Solid File Explorer and ES File Explorer providing such feature.

If you don't get the option to use the File Manager app, then clear the defaults of Media Server from Settings → Apps → All apps (or three dots line → Show system) → Media Server → Open by default → Clear defaults.


Lg Optimums L3 (e400f) Continuously Syncing Problem My Lg Optimums L3 (e400) Is Always continuously syncing, from when I boot up till I shutdown, even when the setting is turned off. I think this started happening after I used the inbuilt power widget to turn automatic syncing off and since then I have been unable to get the icon to disappear. How can I Fix this problem?

After a factory reset, I had found out that Google play services was the culprit, the reason that the icon stayed up there was because I had stopped the application once while it was syncing, and since then the icon stayed up.

I still don't know the reason why it did that.


Whats the best way to uninstall an app on 7.0 Nought? When uninstalling apps on 7.0 nougat, is it best to use the App Mgr. or uninstall it directly from the screen dragging it to the uninstall area?

AFAIK, using "drag to uninstall" and uninstalling from app manager area is one and the same thing - only the the former is a shortcut to the latter.

Here is why:

Consider an application dragged to be uninstalled:

It still accesses the built in uninstaller from App manager

When directly using the application manager to unistall:

The difference, is when you "drag to remove" or when using a completely different uninstaller from third-party developers.

Hope this helps


An Android phone on my network keeps connecting to a malicious site My wifes phone keeps reaching out a malicious site (udmserve.net), and it is being blocked by my router's Trend Micro network scanner. I ran Trend Micro's virus scan, as well as Clean Masters, but there are no results on her phone. Any idea of how to fix this? I enabled real-time protection from Trend Micro as well. It's a Samsung Galaxy Halo, which is a low-end Galaxy.

It sounds like the phone is infected by some kind of malware. You could do a factory reset to try to get rid of it. Doing a factory reset will remove all data (photos, sms, files, apps etc)! Don't forget to back up your data if you want to keep it.

After the factory reset, only install trusted apps (use your instinct / google) or you might end up getting the malware again. Not everything on google play store is safe.

You could also try to identify the malware and delete it if you think you are capable. You could try to look for apps installed on the device that have the internet permission (since the malicious app is trying to reach that website, it must have the permission) and use google to see if the app is known malware.


iRola DX752 does not charge after a while The iRola DX752 purchased for Christmas does not charge. It worked for a while, but then does not work when plugged to an outlet either.

Is this a known hardware failure? If it isn't, are there any suggestions?

This was my Christmas present to myself also.  It only charges with the 2.5mm plug on the AC Adaptor that was supplied with the tablet.  The mini-USB port and the supplied cable works well with transferring data, but cannot be used for charging.  I've tried different mini-USB cables, different AC wall plugs, but the mini-USB will not provide a charge.  At least the supplied AC charger works, but if it ever breaks, good luck in finding a replacement, as the Chinese manufacturer is hard to reach.

I have seen a car-charger adaptor kit from Radio Shack for $20, that will do the job from your car's cigarette lighter port.  Those are the only two options I've found so far.


How can I add and edit bookmarks within a PDF on Android? I use my Android tablet to read long PDF files.
How can I add and edit bookmarks within a PDF on Android?

Direct editing of PDF content is something hard to achieve. As far as I know, the only solution for this is Qoppa PDF Notes. However: bookmarks (create & edit) and annotations (also create & edit) are possible.

The best eBook-Reader on Android, also known as Moon+ Reader Pro, supports this not only for PDF (Pro only!) -- but also for EPUB and other formats (Pro & Free). Another popular solution (PDF only) is ezPDF.

For more solutions, you might consult the Playstore, and check with the descriptions. The keywords are "bookmark" and "annotation".

Another Q&A here which might prove interesting to you is: Is there any software for Tablets to edit PDF or PS -files?


Is Samsung Galaxy S II rear camera Gorilla Glass too? is Samsung Galaxy S II rear camera Gorilla Glass too?

It sticks out a little above the case, so I would like to know if it's durable enough not to need to buy special case which, obviously, makes the phone thicker.

Thanks!

Yeah it's not , have seen scratches on a friends GSII rear facing camera myself.


Yuphoria bricked and stuck in bootloop My Android device YU Yuphoria is currently bricked and stuck in a bootloop. What I tried to do to cause this was that I first rooted the phone and installed TWRP. Then I installed Android Nougat on it, which was a success for the first few days but later got corrupted somehow. Now I'm stuck in a bootloop. Whenever I try to flash its stock ROM, it gives an error message "E: failed to mount". Infact, whatever I try to do in the Cynogen recovery mode, it gives this same error message. Can someone help me out of this?

You should try flashing the phone using a computer.

Download any firmware from this link. - all are for model Y5010a, since you didn't mention which model.
Unzip it and you'll find drivers,  flash files and the flashing instructions.
Install drivers then follow the instructions for flashing.

Your phone should work fine now.

UPDATE:

I thought it would help if I reproduce all flashing steps here

First download the Firmware, Flash tool and driver from above link
Extract the file  (zip files) to desktop (You need to  install winrar software or 7zip to Extract)
Open Driver folder and install Qualcomm_USB_Driver_Setup.exe file and wait until finish installation.
Open QPST.WIN.2.7_Installer-00430.1 folder,  install setup.exe
Now open QFIL from the "C:\Program Files\Qualcomm\QPST\bin" path.
Tick on Flat Build option
Go to Programmer Path and click on Browse.. button and choose prog_emmc_firehose_8916.mbn file
Click on Load XML... button and choose rawprogram_unsparse.xml file and then choose patch0.xml file from the Firmware folder
Now connect USB cable to the phone while holding  volume up + volume down buttons.
Drivers should be installed. Just Click on Download button on the programm and wait until finish procedure.


Connect to iOS iMessage Messages Chat iMessage uses an internal messaging system (similar to WhatsApp) that is independent from SMS so you can chat from iOS to iOS without SMS and without having a SIM card inserted.

Is it possible to chat from your Android device with someone on an iPhone that only uses the iOS iMessage Chat client?

iMessage automatically uses SMS messages for contacts who don't have an iPhone, so the answer is yes: you chat with them by sending an SMS message.

Apart from using SMS, there's no way for non-Apple users to get messages into iMessage. The protocol is closed and Apple does not have clients for other platforms, nor an interface for other apps to communicate with it. They designed iMessage not as a chat system in itself, but as a way to quietly redirect iPhone-to-iPhone SMS messages to use their servers instead of the SMS network.


Can't find low battery threshold setting (Samsung Galaxy S3) When the phone's battery reaches ~20%, I get the message to connect my charger on the lock screen. Is there a way to lower the threshold for the notification -- similar to the setting for a laptop?

For clarity, I want to change the settings so that the "Connect your charger" message appears when my battery is at 5%, instead of its current threshold, ~20%.

I should mention that I'm looking for a setting that's on the phone, without the need to modify back-end files. Also, I've actually gone through the whole settings section looking for the option and didn't find anything. Hopefully, I didn't overlook it.

There is no setting available in any Android ROM that has the battery threshold setting.

From the previous answer given, it is built in.

Only course of option is to roll your own Android build, with the hard-coded value adjusted, but, and is a big but indeed, it is not the recommended route to take, as the code behind Android to handle the battery mechanism varies from chip-set to chip-set and to each and their own manufacturer.

By adjusting it, there could be invariable damage to the battery as a result, since the threshold is specified, by "tweaking" it could affect the battery in the long run and possibly end up shortening the battery life also.


HTC EVO Does Not Sync Google Calendar I'm an experienced Android user and recently my Dad picked up a HTC EVO. I set him up with all the Google services and apps like Gmail, Contacts and Calendar. I exported all of his contacts and appointments out of Outlook to CSV and uploaded them to Google so they can sync down to his EVO. Unfortunately when I go to his Google account sync settings, his phone does not show the option to sync his Google Calendar. The exact option I'm talking about is under (from the home screen) Settings -> Accounts & sync -> your Google account. The phone shows Books, Contacts, and Gmail but the option for calendar is missing. Is this the case on all EVO's?

I have a screen capture of my phone (HTC Incredible) that has the option below that I'm talking about. His HTC EVO does not have it for some reason. Is this a Sprint restriction? Any ideas on how to add it?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Matt

I'd make sure that he's done something with Calendar through the web interface, such as add a custom calendar, and then try to add the account to the phone again. To do this you need to clear the data for all Google apps -- Accounts and Sync, Gmail, Google Framework Services, etc. -- and then re-add the account.

I don't believe this is EVO-specific, it seems sometimes Google just doesn't correctly link the accounts sometimes (for example, this question has the same problem except for Picasa: Why can't I Sync Picasa Web Albums?).


how to sign Android device out of Google account temporarily How can I - from my Android device - temporarily sign the device out of a Google account?  I'm running Android 6.0.1 on a Galaxy Note 4.

If I go to Settings > Accounts > Google > tap specific account > three dots menu - there is a "Remove Account" option.  But I don't want to remove the account from the device, I just want to sign out of the account temporarily, and sign back in later.  I suspect that "remove account" does a lot more than just signing out of the account.

I can do it from my PC - myaccount.google.com > "device activity & security events" > "review devices" > click specific device > Account Access: REMOVE button.  This  does not remove the account from the device.  It just signs the device out of the Google account.  It takes one tap to sign the device back into the Google Account.

In android removing the account is equivalent to that of logging out in PC. As lots of data is being synced from your google accounts to your phone therefore if you remove the account from your phone the data which is already synced won't be affected, But you won't be able to use any google related services in your phone.

Apart from that there won't be any problem.


Force screen to be always on We're using Samsung with Android 4.1.2 as a scrabble timer - via the default Clock application. It would be much more comfortable if I could force the phone screen to be always on so that we can see the time remaining. I found no setting or downloadable program to achieve that.

I need some workaround tip - any ideas?

You should be able to do that using Tasker. Set up a profile with a "time" condition (specify the time frame you want the screen kept alive, e.g. "from 9 am to 6 pm", and for the task itself select "stay on". Make sure the option is disabled before starting this. tasker will then take care for it: Switching the option on at 9 am, and returning to the previous state at 6 pm (which is why you should have switched that option off to begin with).

Optionally, you could also define an "exit task" to explicilty switch that option off again − regardless of what it was set to in the beginning.


External SD card problems - how do I go back to device storage? On a new phone with Android One/10 I mounted a 256GB sd card. I formatted is and added it to the system as internal memory (device storage), which is 128GB. Now the system reports a 512GB SD card. I let the system move data to the sd card, and that data is now gone. I can see thumbnails of photos and videos, but can't open or play them. I have a backup, so can restore, but I need to know what is happening and find a way to undo this mess.

After unmounting the card I cannot make photos anymore. It reports too little memory, with about 100GB free on the internal storage. Reformatting the sd card results in a message to choose what to do with it. Choosing external storage and formatting gave the 256GB card back, but internal storage (/sdcard) is gone. In Total Commander, I cannot open it and get an error. The camera app won't open anymore. Evernote refuses to work. Etc etc...

There are hundreds of websites with instructions on how to add internal storage, but none about undoing it.

How can I get the system to use the device storage again?

There is an option "forget SD storage" in Settings > Storage. Clicking that restored device storage, and all seems to work normally.


Proxy setting applies to internet browsing only ( on Galaxy S II ) I have done the setting for proxy server on my Galaxy S II. It works for internet browsing only. Other applications that use internet, do not work. Anyone has got that working?

It's up to the app to fetch the proxy settings from the system prior to making the first connection. If a app does not do this and your local firewall prevents outgoing connections without the proxy, it will not work.

You should contact your app developer about this problem and ask him to fix this.


Change system language from Chinese to English? So I bought an Android phone that is shipped from China. The default language is Chinese. All the preinstalled apps are in Chinese. I live in the US and do not know Chinese and would like to know if there is any way to change this. When I dial a number there is a row of Chinese letters on the screen. I want to switch the language to English.

Try this :

Go to Settings [app look like "Gear" Sign]

Go to language and Input [Find "A" sign icon]

Change the Language, usually the top option is used as Changing Languages

You will get a list of languages, select your appropriate language, That's it!

Original Source :

https://rumorscity.com/2014/12/25/how-to-change-the-language-on-android-from-chinese-to-english/


Will Software Upgrade wipe data I have a Motorola E2. I am considering the Marshmallow system update,  but I have a few questions to ask (the system update is officially offered by motorola).

Questions

Lets say I rooted my phone and made a normal app into a system app, will the upgrade wipe the system app.
Will the latest version of all Google apps be flashed.
I have an issue ever since unrooting where I cannot log into Google account. Will the upgrade be likely to fix this issue.

Any anwsers will be well appreciated.

If you are rooted, you will not have any chance to get OTA updates. Only after complete unroot or reset makes device Official again.

You are required to do the process again(to make user app as system app).
Google apps for that android version will be provided by the manufacturer(Motorola).
Simply unrooting won't make it official again. That's why you have got some problems on Google account


Is it possible to retrieve a password stored in OpenVPN? I reinstalled my Mac and forgot to backup my username and password to my VPN provider.

The good thing is I also have VPN installed on my android where it works fine and logs in automatically. So the password exists on one of my devices. The problem is: How do I recover it?

Yes, it should be possible.

If your Android phone is rooted, just use a root explorer and inspect the app's data under /data/data/[com.your.vpn.app's.name]
Use "adb backup" (Win/Linux app here) and extract it with ADBExtractor
Use Helium (an adb backup frontend), it produces the same backup type that's extractable with ADBExtractor like above.

You can determine your apps internal name by finding it on Google Play and looking at the the URL: E.g., OpenVPN for Android has de.blinkt.openvpn as internal name


How can I install a system app that I uninstalled? I used a backup app to first make a backup of the .apk file of the system app, and then uninstalled it. When I try installing it again, I get "application not installed".

How can I go about that? I don't know in which place the .apk was stored originally.

Usually, you put the APK back to where you deleted it from. As in your case you didn't check that (but used a backup app to extract it), that "original place" usually is /system/priv-app. Check the structure in that directory (it differs between Android versions), then place your .apk accordingly. After that, don't forget to reboot – as only after that the APK will be loaded.

Note (you know that but others might miss it): in order to write to /system you need to mount it read-write first:

su
mount -o remount,rw /system
# do the copy here
mount -o remount,ro /system

As you have to reboot anyway, you can skip the last step as the boot process then takes care for it.


Insufficient space on my Vivo Y22 I know this question has been asked many times, but I couldn't find a suitable answer... My Vivo Y22 has 3.62 GB for the external storage, but I only have 2.56 GB for my system space. I didn't know what I did; I only had the phone for just a few months. But then there was a notification saying that I have insufficient space whenever I launch any of my installed apps or Chrome. Since the phone storage only offers 1.06 GB, I have bought an SD Card that could store up to 14.6 GB so I can store my pictures and songs. I've already tried moving all my files to the SD Card, deleting videos, pictures, uninstalling unused apps and also used iManager and App Cache Cleaner to clean away the unnecessary files that I don't need. But my system space stay being occupied by 50.89 MB of something. It gets really frustrating because I couldn't update apps that I really use and need. How do I fix this problem? :( Any suggestion is really, really appreciated.

As the other user suggested, If you have a rooted phone you can make SD Card your primary memory. As for your problem I can only suggest using Very less apps. Some apps like Whatsapp eat lot of your internal storage. Try uninstalling it and check if everything works.


Restoring apps and files after flashing a custom ROM I recently flashed Adnroid 5.0 custom ROM by NamelesROM on my GT-i9300 S3 Samsung. I did backup my ROM by TWRP and the ROM i installed now (NamelessROM android 5.0) worked fine and i am happy with the work. but now i want all my apps and files i had in my previous files into the new ROM that i have now. I don't know how to do that, any help would be greatly appreciated.

There can be multiple solutions for your question. One such is mentioned here in this answer. Quote:

I once extracted single apps and apps data using a normal archiver explorer in my Arch Linux system. In Windows, 7-Zip FM or Winrar should do the trick.
Obviously it is quicker done if you restore the full backup all at once with a custom recovery (but I believe you already merged the archive parts the backup is done in), but I once made a backup after the system launcher went to a systematic crash, so I couldn't do anything, and doing a full restore would led to the very same problematic, so I had to get back the data of the apps I wanted to restore that way.
Just open the .tar files, they are compressed archives. data.tar contains what the data folder contains in your Internal Storage: upon all the folders, data/app contains the apk of the applications you have installed, and data/data their saved data, which is you may want to restore. Inside that folder, every app has its dedicated folder (e.g., data/data/com.google.android.apps.maps for Google Maps). Copying it in your data/data folder in your phone with a root file manager will restore the data for that app.
Again, for a complete restore, just copy the whole packages (supposing you left them untouched) in the directory they were (to find out which it is, do another backup and you will see where it is created), boot into a custom recovery like CWM Recovery and do a full system restore, pointing to where the backup is located in your phone.

The other method I found is to use an app like Nandroid Manager *Root from Play Store. It can help you extract the apps and the data from the recovery backup. There are several apps available here.
Otherwise, you can always do the following:

Take Nandroid backup of new ROM;

Restore Nandroid backup of old ROM;

Take Apps+Data backup through apps like Titanium Backup or Helium;

Restore Nandroid backup of New ROM;

Restore Apps+Data backup in this new ROM by using apps from step 3.

Note that this doesn't concern with your data in Internal/External storage. Nandroid backup possibly didn't took the backup of this data and if your new ROM wiped these storage(s), then you need to look for Data Recovery.


Can an unlocked Nexus One without a carrier be used as a standalone device? I'm interested in playing around with the new open android open accessory development kits but don't want to pay a monthly fee for having a cell-phone. If I buy the Nexus One/S unlocked and forgo getting a wireless carrier, would I still have access to the full set of phone features minus 4G/Calls/Texting? In the past, cellphones minus the carriers were crippled from doing anything useful. I'm wondering if this is still the case with the newer smart phones. Essentially it'd be an android-powered iPod Touch.

Yes, it works fine for me without SIM-card. I can still use WiFi for accessing Internet.


How do you get the permissions popup to come back? We have Nexus 5X running Android 6.  We are using a dongle to connect the USB C plug to a USB A device and when we did it for the first time we got a permissions popup to allow us to use the USB device.  However, when we try it now the device is not working and no matter what we do (unplug and replug, restart) we can't get the permissions popup back to allow us to the USB device.  Any suggestions?

Settings - Developer options - Revoke USB debugging authorizations.


What are the benefits of "Restore Android ID from a backup" after a factory reset? As far as I can tell Titanium Backup is the only application that has the ability to restore this ID but there's no explanation of what it is or why one would restore it.

Without restoring I'm able to access the Play Store and restore apps and settings without issue and all the apps work fine.

Why should the Android ID be restored?

Some developers use the Android ID as a way of verifying who you are. So if you don't restore the Android ID, you will have to re-validate certain apps.

For example, Google Play Music and Netflix will see a new device tied to your account (source). Google Play Music limits the number of devices you can have attached, so people who wipe their phone multiple times to try out new roms may have problems trying to sync with Google Play Music as they reach the 10 device limit (source). You can deauthorize devices if you have reached your limit.

In practice, it's generally best to restore the ID if you are going to also restore apps via Titanium Backup. There is no upside to keeping a new ID, and there are potential downsides if you don't restore.


How can I uninstall updates to Google Play Services? The buttons are greyed out I'm trying to uninstall updates to the Google Play Services app but the Force Stop and Uninstall updates buttons are greyed out.

"Android Device Manager" was set as a device administrator but I've unchecked it and it hasn't helped.

If you have the Android Device manager app installed then this can also make the force stop/uninstall updates buttons be disabled.

If you uninstall the Android Device manager app and disable "Android Device Manager" as a device administrator then those options should be enabled.


Download Zip file attached on gmail I recieved an email with a zip file. But I'm not able to download even having some installed apps that can open zip files.

Is there any way to enable the zip file download?

I'm trying to do this on a Motorola Xoom 3.0

The gmail app doesn't support downloading attachments. It does support viewing a limited amount of mimetypes.

If you want to download the zip file, you'll need to go to gmail.com using the browser on the phone and download it from there.

Another alternative is to use another android email client. K-9 Mail works well with Gmail accounts and can both download attachment to the SD card as well as open them from the mail itself.


Playing an mp3 (from my phone) through my internet radio On my old Samsung Galaxy Ace running Android 2.3.6 or so, there was a Samsung system app called "allshare". I really really loved this app. It was simple and unpretentious, and it did the following amazing thing: when I was in my kitchen, with my phone connected to my home wireless network, and my internet radio was also in my kitchen, also connected to my home wireless network, I could play an mp3 on my phone and direct the output to the internet radio. It was simple and it worked, and I used it a lot.

Woo hoo! I now have a sparkling brand new HTC one mini, running Android 4.something large. I went straight to google play to download my allshare. But I can only find "Samsung Link" (formerly Allshare Play, which might well have been the app I was using) and it is incompatible with all my devices (possibly for the reason that they are not samsung devices).

I want my functionality back! I am assuming that if Samsung can get this to work on an old 2.3.6 phone, it must be possible to get my HTC one mini doing it, right?

AllShare is a Samsung specific product, which might not be available to devices of different brands. However, as it's basically a DLNA server/client app, you might want to take a look at some of the many alternatives available. A very good choice would be BubbleUPnP, which acts both as server and client (so you can stream from your device to other DLNA/UPnP clients as well as the other way around):

  BubbleUPnP is a full featured UPnP/DLNA Control Point, UPnP Media Renderer and UPnP Media Server. Play easily your music, videos and images on your phone and devices on your network (DLNA TVs, XBMC, WMP, ...), from your external UPnP Media Servers. Play your phone/tablet media to those devices.
  Browse and play your local phone/tablet and cloud media from other devices (PS3, ...).

  BubbleUPnP can also be used as a standalone music player, even without any network connection.


Sending single SMS message to multiple contacts causes MMS I'm experiencing an annoying (and costly) problem on my HTC Desire X. (Android 4.1.1) Every time I send a single message to multiple contacts at the same time, the message will be sent as MMS rather than SMS, even though it is a normal text message (not too many words).

I am using Facebook's messenger app to send 'normal' messages as well, but I don't think it has anything to do with it.

EDIT: okay, so after some testing I noticed it has to do with Facebook messenger's app. I went over all settings but can't seem to find anything that disables MMS for group messaging?

This is an easy problem to fix, I believe @BryanDenny already mentioned it.

Go to the stock Android messaging app.
Click the Overflow menu button down in the lower left hand corner (it looks like three boxes stacked on each other).
Select "Settings" from the pop-up menu; should be the first option.
Under "Multimedia (MMS) Messages, uncheck the item that says: "Group messaging- Use MMS to send a single message when there are multiple recipients".


Adding current word to dictionary I recently upgraded to Lollipop on my Nexus 5.

I use the stock keyboard for typing. Say I that while typing an email, I just typed a word that isn't in my dictionary, say qqqwwweee. I want to add it to the dictionary. How do I do that?

The only way I know how to do that is to type space, then backspace, then click the entry for the word above the keyboard, then "Touch here to save". These are 4 steps, and up to the fourth step you don't even know whether the word is in the dictionary or not.

Is there a sane way to do this?

I just figured it out. Lets just say, there is a word like " qpoacx ". When you type it and press space, it ll show you the word with red underline.
Tricky part comes here.

Remove the space.
You ll get the word you are typing in the suggestions.
When you click on it, you ll be shown add to dictionary above the alphabets.(Not a drop down menu)

-- I ll add Screenshots in a while(in case if you didnt understand the content)


News & Weather Widget Not Updating I have a news & weather widget on my Nexus S home screen, set to show the weather for my current location. In its settings, I have it set to update once an hour along with automatic location tracking. Neither of these things work anymore since about a month ago (possibly the 2.3.4 update?). I have background data enabled, sync enabled, and I don't have any battery saver style programs.

I solved this myself after trying a few things. I deleted the News & Weather app's data by going to Settings>Applications>Manage Applications>All, Tapping "News & Weather", and then "Clear Data". I needed to delete and re-add the widget and set my refresh settings again, but now it works.


Phone favorite - remove picture icon due to screen real estate Using a new Nexus 4 with OS 4.2.2.

I've pulled my contacts onto the phone (from Exchange/OL using Companion Link) and they are synchronized to the phone's Contacts (people?) app.  I can see them from both the Google People app and from the phone app.

I have over 3000 contacts, and am trying to set up my favorites for people I call regularly (a list of about 20 contacts.)  This was very easy to do on my last Android phone, and the favorites would show me a list of contacts.

On this 4.2.2 phone, the favorites area is displayed with the contacts' pictures as a huge tile, with the contact names at the bottom of the tile.  I do not maintain pictures for my contacts, so I do not want to take up all of this screen real estate for non-existent pictures.  And, even if I had pictures, I wouldn't want them to appear as these huge tiles when I'm trying to look at a list of contacts.

How can I do one of the following things?

Force the phone/people apps to not show the picture tiles in lists.
Remove the picture tiles altogether.
Ensure that the picture tiles do not appear when there is no picture.

Beneath those tiles will be a simple list labeled "Frequently Contacted", and they're listed with a much smaller photo (if one exists). So, as you use the phone, it will automatically build that list up for you of the people you contact the most.

Otherwise, there's not a way to change the layout of the app. Even if you were to create a contact group for those contacts, the group contact display uses the same sort of large photos.

Your other option would be a third-party app.


How to disable Settings & Google Play in a restricted profile? Using the new 4.3 restricted profile feature I'm able to remove most apps from a restricted profile.

How can I remove the remaining icons (Google Play & Settings) from the App Drawer and the Quick Settings menu? This would be ideal for a complete kiosk mode.

Whilst the Play Store icon is still available, it doesn't seem to work on a restricted profile - pressing it on my Nexus 7 results in:

  You don't have permission to use Google Play Store.

Note that Google Play Store doesn't even appear in the list of apps you can enable.

The Settings app is still there, as it allows the user to force stop running apps, etc.


Is my phone encrypted with my password? I have a Galaxy S5 running LineageOS 14.1.

The device settings state that the device is encrypted.

I set up a password, and select to require password at boot.

I then set up a PIN for unlocking the screen, but did not select to require PIN at boot.

When I boot the phone, it does not ask for the password to boot and only the PIN is required for unlocking the screen.

Is my phone encrypted with my password?

You device is encrypted, but PIN is used for unlocking master key.

From

I set up a password, and select to require password at boot. I then set up a PIN for unlocking the screen, but did not select to require PIN at boot.

we can assume that you wanted different lock screen && encryption passwords.

Because you are using LineageOS, acquiring root for ADB is not issue.

For achieving what you presumably intended 1st define lock screen password or PIN - select Require password/PIN to start device. Lock device && do a power cycle - not every1 will agree with this procedure, but I tend to verify.

After successful bootstrap, for different encryption password you should either change password via ADB or terminal or purpose built application -
SnooperStopper or Cryptfs password manager

If you preffer ADB or terminal, while in shell, issue

adb root && sleep 2 && adb shell "vdc cryptfs changepw password [curent PIN/password] [new password]"

and hit return; if terminal is only option for you, issue only vdc cryptfs changepw password [curent PIN/password] [new password]

You should always verify PW with

vdc cryptfs verifypw [PIN/password]


I want to split one MicroSD card into two parts: part adoptable storage, and part normal storage. How can I do this? I don't want all my storage as adopted storage, so I was wondering how I can split it into 1 part adopted storage and 1 part normal file storage (what Android calls "portable storage").

You don't need to root your device but the device i done this with is rooted

You need to enabled Developer Options.
Enable the USB Debugging option.
Make sure your SD card is formatted as portable, then get the adb executable (see our adb tag-wiki for details).
Connect your device to your PC and run the adb devices command. If your device is connected correctly you will see your device listed in the output.
Run adb shell sm list-disks adoptable. This will show you the list of disks that can be used for what we want.
For my device it showed me disk:179,128 so i ran adb shell sm partition disk:179,128 mixed 80 on my 32 GB AS card. It gave me 5 GB as adoptable storage and the rest for other uses. (This will format your SD card.)


Lenovo s860 Bricked, Recovery Crashes, No OS The following things happened, leading to the "bricking" of my phone, lenovo s860 with android ver 4.4.2:

1) I got a virus, associated with an app from the play store.

2) The virus was inside the FirewallService, thus unable to be blocked or uninstalled

3) The only decisions I found online included rooting of the phone, because even after complete data wipe/format this virus still survived http://forums.androidcentral.com/ask-question/621569-firewall-service-keeps-showing.html

4) So I tried with the following rooting method, which did not work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnZE7knrNVw

5) I followed all steps carefully but when I finally restarted the phone and downloaded the Root Verification app it said that the root has failed

6) Tried with other apps, all said that the phone was not successfully rooted

7) The virus was still messing with my phone, it even started installing apps

8) Then I did the amazingly stupid thing to go into recovery and wipe System, without making backups

9) When I tried to restart, a message followed "Are you sure, there is no OS installed"

10) Connected to PC, re-installed recovery using the same video, but now recovery shows a flashing picture instead of going to the menu

Please help me, I really need the phone for work and I can't afford waiting a month or two for Lenovo service

I managed to repair it.

1) I installed the following android verion http://www.needrom.com/download/lenovo-s860/, but it upgrades to a chinese Vibe 2.0, which is very customised and has no Google Play Store, as weall as all other Google apps.

2) So I used the "Upgrade Firmware" option on the PC program (SP Flash Tool) instead of the "Download" one to install http://www.needrom.com/download/rom-stock-4-4/ (this site contains very precise instructions, check it out before doing any of the steps)

3) Now phone works perfectly, but it has IMEI connection problems - IMEI Invalid - Lenovo S860, rooted android 4.4.2, nothing works

4) KingoROOT seems to fix the IMEI problem

5) Phone up and running perfectly


Allow auto-update of only a single app Is it possible to auto-update selectively? For example, if I want to allow an anti-virus app to update, but no others. Can this be done? Android 4.0.4

Yes, it's possible, but very time-consuming.

Open the Google Play Store, go to Menu -> Settings.
Tap on the "Auto-update apps" and select one of the two "Auto-update apps" options to enable it.
Go back, then go to "My apps" section, locate the app you want (e.g. anti-virus app that you mentioned) and tap on it once.
Now tap the Menu button and the first option should be the "Auto-update."  Ensure the checkmark is present for this app.
For all other apps that you have installed, you will need to follow steps 3 and 4, but this time disable the "Auto-update" setting by unchecking it.


Root Phone Without Unlocking Lockscreen Is it possible to root a phone without knowing a the phone's pattern/pin/password? This question isn't because I need to root a phone without a pattern/pin/password but because I was curious and thinking about the process. I'm assuming that you would have to put the image on an external SD card and then load it from there.

Short answer: Yes, it is possible. Different techniques can be used for this purpose (some of them are described e.g. in Andrew Hoog's book Android Forensics: Investigation, Analysis and Mobile Security for Google Android). It especially gets easy when USB Debugging is turned on.

Long answer: Please forgive me if I don't give this. Just a hint: There are exploits, and there are custom recovery images...