How to disable dm-verity on Android with "user" build type ROM? I have One Plus 6T Android device which has a ROM of build type user. This device is rooted with Magisk and I want to disable dm-verity on this device. I have tried to run adb disable-verity but I got an error saying verity cannot be disabled/enabled - USER build

Is there any way to disable this?

Goal: Want to place customized sepolicy file under system_root directory. I have tried to do it with following commands:

C:\Users\GPU-Test>adb shell
OnePlus6T:/ $ su
OnePlus6T:/ # mount -o rw,remount /system_root
OnePlus6T:/ # cp /sdcard/selinux_policy_modified /system_root/sepolicy
cp: /system_root/sepolicy: Permission denied
1|OnePlus6T:/ # cp -f /sdcard/selinux_policy_modified /system_root/sepolicy
cp: /system_root/sepolicy: No such file or directory
1|OnePlus6T:/ # ^C
130|OnePlus6T:/ # exit
130|OnePlus6T:/ $ exit

C:\Users\GPU-Test>adb disable-verity
verity cannot be disabled/enabled - USER build

Also tried to disable Preserve force encryption and Preserve AVB 2.0/dm-verity checkbox but still the above commands have same result. Also on reboot these check-boxes enables again automatically.

I'm going to give a general overview of how dm-verity and related things work on Android according to my limited knowledge. Situation might differ on different devices and ROMs.

HOW IS DM-VERITY ENFORCED?

dm-verity (Verified Boot and AVB) as well as dm-crypt (FDE) are targets of device-mapper feature of Linux kernel. dm-verity verifies the integrity of each block as they are read from block device; enforced by init_first_stage as per fs_mgr_flags set in fstab (1). On system-as-root devices (A/B and non-A/B), kernel is patched to force verity while mounting /system and /vendor if verify/avb flags are found in fstab device tree (dtb).
dm-crypt decrypts/encrypts data transparently when read/written from/to block device. FBE is based on a different kernel framework fscrypt; but both are managed by vold (which runs as a native service) if fs_mgr_flags contain voldmanaged.

WHERE FSTAB IS?

fstab has traditionally been a file on Linux to specify filesystems to be mounted on boot. It's a core component of fs_mgr functionality on Android.

On pre-Oreo releases fstab was in ramdisk. With Treble it was moved to /vendor (or /system/vendor) while the fstab entries for system and vendor (and odm) are moved to Device Tree Blob (dtb). Kernel exports dtb fstab entries in device tree directory at /proc/device-tree/firmware/android.

Some OEMs also put fstab in odm or nvdata partitions.

Source: Android Storage Device Configuration

WHERE DTB IS?

Device Tree is a data structure for describing hardware which is not discoverable to kernel. Device Tree Source (dts) can be converted to dtb (binary blob of DT) and vice versa using dtc. DTB is loaded by bootloader at boot time and passed to kernel so that it can discover hardware and create device nodes accordingly.

DTB is either:

Appended to kernel zImage or Image.gz in boot.img (2). It can be split from gzip archive using split-appended-dtb (sadtb).
Or in dtbo partition as some OEMs do. This can be checked with:

~# ls -l /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/dtbo*
~# grep -C5 PARTNAME=dtbo /sys/dev/block/*/uevent | grep DEVNAME | sed 's/.*=//; s|^|/dev/block/&|'

Or at the end of boot.img after 2nd stage, or in odm partition (rare, some OEMs do).

Also if the device is non-A/B, dtb (from boot.img and/or dtbo partition) is also added to recovery.img in DTBO section after header, kernel, ramdisk and 2nd stage (3). However this doesn't matter for normal boot. But if the device is also system-as-root, Magisk needs to be installed in this recovery partition as the boot.img contains no ramdisk (4).

In case if DTB is not appended to kernel, dtb(s) are converted to dtb.img using mkdtimg. Same tool can dump back the image.

Source: Implementing DTO

HOW TO DISABLE DM-VERITY?

On userdebug ROMs, dm-verity can be disabled using adb. It modifies magic number of verity metadata block (5, 6) which is written after the last filesystem block on block device (system or vendor) (7). Quoted from here:

  the absence of this magic number will halt the verification process

In case of AVB, adb modifies vbmeta header to disable hashtree image verification (8, 9). Quoted from here:

  if the AVB_VBMETA_IMAGE_FLAGS_HASHTREE_DISABLED flag is set in the top-level vbmeta, then androidboot.veritymode is set to disabled

On user builds ro.debuggable is 0 and adbd isn't running as root. Also there are other differences like that of ALLOW_ADBD_DISABLE_VERITY, so adb won't disable dm-verity. Other approach is to remove verify or avb (10) flag from fstab. Quoted from here:

  To verify the partition...
  ...
      In the fstab for the relevant entry, add verify to the fs_mgr flags.

Similarly to remove encryption, forceencrypt=, forcefdeorfbe= or fileencryption= need to be replaced with encryptable=. However encryption cannot be removed without factory reset (FBE too?), so unchecking Preserve force encryption in Magisk app will do nothing.

Some OEMs also use support_scfs fs_mgr flag and ro.config.dmverity=true property on devices with dm-verity enabled.

There are also some exploits discovered in bootloader and adb implementation of some OEMs which can be used to disable dm-verity on affected devices. However such security flaws usually get fixed over time with updates from OEMs.

OPTION 1
Set options in configuration file before installing Magisk:

~# echo 'KEEPVERITY=false' >/cache/.magisk
~# echo 'KEEPFORCEENCRYPT=true' >>/cache/.magisk

If installed, after unchecking Preserve AVB v2.0/dm-verity in app, Magisk needs to be reinstalled. Quoted from here:

  in Magisk Manager, “Uninstall > Restore Images” to restore the images, check “Preserve AVB 2.0/dm-verity” box in Advanced Settings, then reinstall Magisk via the app.

OPTION 2
Use some dm-verity disabler zips like this.

OPTION 3
Figure out where the fstab entries of /system and /vendor are on your device.

If in ramdisk (pre-Treble):

Extract ramdisk, modify fstab and repack.
Or patch ramdisk directly:

~# magiskboot cpio ramdisk.cpio 'patch false true'

If in dtb:

If appended to kernel:

Extract boot.img
Split appended dtb(s)
Patch dtb(s).
Append dtb(s) to kernel
Repack boot.img

If in dtbo partition or in boot.img after 2nd stage, patch dtb.img and write back to partition or boot.img.

How to Unpack / Repack Boot or Recovery image and Ramdisk?
Use AIK or magiskboot.

How to Patch dtb?
Patch directly using magiskboot or manually convert dtb to dts, edit dts with any text editor to remove dm-verity flags, and convert dts back to dtb.

RELATED:

How Magisk works?
Android Device Partitions and Filesystems


Prefer 5GHz over 2.4Ghz without disabling 2.4Ghz I have a DualBand WiFi router, and a DualBand WiFi repeater. Both use the same SSID, both have 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands enabled. But my Android devices mostly connect the 2.4GHz band – even if I stand next to the router or repeater, and thus the 5GHz signal is quite strong.

I want them to prefer the 5GHz band if available (and strong enough), but use the 2.4GHz otherwise.

using different SSIDs for each band is not an option
fixing the device to 5GHz is out of question, as then they'd never use 2.4GHz even it its the only one available. Furthermore, not all devices have that option (usually found in Settings › WiFi › (tap the 3-dot overflow menu) › Advanced if available).

Router as well as repeater have "band steering" enabled, so it doesn't look like there's something to force it from that end¹.

So is there anything that could be done on the Android devices? Most of them are rooted (and the one that's not is using 5GHz most of the time), Xposed is available as well if it helps. Modifying wpa_supplicant is acceptable though not the preferred way, as is using a 3rd party app².

So any suggestions?

¹ in case it's relevant: Fritz!Box 7390 and a Fritz repeater 1160
² which then preferably comes via F-Droid. Apps with Google dependencies (Firebase, Analytics, License check etc.) are not acceptable.

You can take advantage of  the experimental "prefer 5 GHz" feature from WiFi band – or Smart WiFi Selector, which offers that as well:

WiFi Band / Smart WiFi Selector (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)

Unfortunately, WiFi Band comes with AdMob and Firebase, thus not fully meeting the requirements.

Disclaimer ahead!

I haven't really tested all these applications, so I'm not sure if they fall into the acceptable criteria (firebase, google dependencies etc) besides my device comes with this feature already:

Acknowledgements: How to change from 5GHZ to 2.5GHZ frequency on Android N

In terms of potential 3rd party apps, the closest I have come across is WIFi 5, which is dated , but offers such functionality. It specifies the signal level to switch to a 5Ghz access point and displays a notification showing the available bands.

WiFi 5 was last update 2012, unlisted from Playstore in 12/2017, and thus is only available via ApkPure currently. Not sure whether to trust that site.


Disable notification sounds but keep SMS Sounds Device: Galaxy Ace Duos 6802

I want to to turn off all the notification sounds, but keep the SMS sounds when I get SMS, WhatsApp messages, Skype messages, etc. It is very frustrating having to hear my SMS ringtone everytime my phone is updating an app, or when the battery is fully charged. However, I don't want to miss out on any Whatsapp messages I get.

A partial solution is to create a silent notification sound and use it as default, and then set custom notification sounds in each of the apps you use, assuming that the apps allow you to choose your notification sound. Most stock SMS apps and WhatsApp allow this, but the latest version of Skype does not.


How do I set Google Chrome to close when I swipe away the last tab? On another device, when I swipe away chrome's last open tab, the whole app closes. I don't know how I got it to do that.

On newer Chrome versions, to get the app to close itself when you close tha last tab, setting homepage on is not enough. When you set homepage on, you get to choose between:

Chrome's homepage
(enter custom web adress)

The trick is to select the second option and leave it blank!


Can I override the HTC Sense "slide down to answer / slide up to decline" screen locker? I can't be the only one who has this problem: my touchscreen reacts to the cotton of my jeans. I carry my DHD upside down in my pocket, and on an incoming call, when I drag it out of my pocket, it interacts with the jeans tissue and slides the bar up, thus declining the call.

I tried such apps as "Easy answer button," "Advanced telephone," "Full screen caller ID," but they simply overlap what's already on the screen, and while they do work (i.e., I press instead of swiping), either the result is very ugly, or the caller ID is partially invisible — not to mention I would like to swipe left/right (as in vanilla Android), rather than just press, as this is also not jeans-proof.

Custom roms will be the only way to do this. WidgetLocker changes the lock screen, but i don't think it handles incoming calls. This Gingerbread rom changes the lock screen as well as how it answers calls, changing it to the Android swipe across system, but like all roms, it requires a root and a wipe. It is a great rom though, and will do exactly what you need.


How do I install an OEM's launcher in my device? I can easily install launchers available in the market like Nova launcher and others but not the launchers made by many OEMs (e.g. TouchWiz, Optimus UI, Xperia UI, Sense UI, Emotion UI by Huawei, MIUI by Xiaomi, Zen UI by Asus, Color OS by Oppo and the Cyanogen).

Anyone having a device made by those OEMs should be able to upload the APK of their launcher, so why it is not possible to install them? As an example, see How to download and install Samsung TouchWiz launcher any Android device?

A good detailed explanation would be appreciated.

The apps made by OEM are specific to their devices and ROMs.

The apps may depend upon external libraries that the phones don't have..

  Anyone having a device made by those OEMs should be able to upload the APK of their launcher, so why it is not possible to install them? As an example, see How to download and install Samsung TouchWiz launcher any Android device?

You can directly install the APK, but it won't work.
Because, you need to place the lib files in the /system partition necessary for that app.
That's what flashing the zip file does :)

The only way to get it working on other devices is porting the app by editing and linking the necessary library files.


How to delete a file (e.g. malware app) that cannot be even removed with root access? I have root access in my device, but there is a malware in /system/app/ that I can't delete. This malware installs TimeService, MonkeyTest, and also some other apps like DR battery and privacy guard, and also shows ads.

I'm  using ADB shell & I have tried Root Explorer in Android. Dr.Web also  can't delete it. When I tried to delete without root access, it gives the following error message:

rm failed for <filename>, Permission denied

With root access, I got the following error:

rm failed for <filename>, Operation not permitted

Is there a Linux command to delete this kind of files? Should I install BusyBox first?

Most likely this files attribute is set to "immutable". Which means nobody will be able to edit, rename, move or delete it. (Not even root)

You can check this in linux with the command: lsattr file

If this output shows an "i" my assumption is right.

The immutable attribute can be removed by chattr -i file. After doing this you should be able to delete this file as root again.

As far as I know the android toolbox does not include these binaries. You need to cross compile(your device is ARM based?) busybox for your device and take care that both binaries are included or take a prebuilt busybox binary from a trusted source which includes them.


Clear app data and maintain logins As the title says, is there a way to clear all the data of a specific app leaving untouched it's login, settings and other personal information ?

There are tons of garbage files that a cache cleaning won't clean.

Android system clears all the app's private data when clear data is selected. Since all the app specific data(preferences, database,cache) stored in app's specific folder, everything will be deleted. if you still wanted to maintain that data, you can store the login information in either server/some other location on the device.


How long will battery last, assuming no usage Short question:
How do I find how long my battery will last, taking into account the current settings (Airplane mode, Battery saver, etc) I have enabled, and assuming I do not use it?

Detailed question:

When I open the Battery usage app (?), I am given 3 numbers...

Usage on battery
Estimated time remaining
Last 3 h of usage

I understand what #3 means.

What does #1 mean?

The time given by #2 does not make sense. I currently have 2% remaining, with Airplane mode and Battery saver mode turned ON, and it tells me I have 14 minutes remaining. But it has said that for the past 30 minutes. (Note: I have only used my phone a couple times to quickly check on the battery in the past 30 minutes.)

I did some searches, and the closest questions I was able to find was here and here. But neither answers my question.

Phone is a LG Tribute HD with Android version 6.0.1

That usually refers to the impact on battery given by a single app.
If you expand you are supposed to get a list of your apps running, ordered from the most costing ones in terms of battery usage.


Preventing a single app from updating from Play Store I have a single app (ES File Explorer) that I want to prevent from updating and I don't quite understand what is happening.

Removed the app from My Apps in the Play Store
Turned off my network connection
Uninstalled the new version
Side loaded the old version
Immediately unchecked the auto update within the app  (maybe about 30 sec later)
Turned my network back on

If I now check My Apps, there is an update for the app waiting and if I turn auto update back on, it will update to the new version.

If the app is not listed on My Apps - All (and I rechecked) and auto update is turned off within the app, what is causing this app to update and how do I prevent it?

If you search the app on Play Store and open the app detail page you'll see three dots on upper-left corner (overflow menu).

Click on it. Then uncheck 'Auto-update'

Click image for larger version


I want to restore my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Factory settings? As my question suggests I want to restore my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to factory settings.  I read this previous question and it tells me how to do it and I will follow these instructions, however....

I am giving the device to a non-family member and need absolute assurance that all apps I purchased (free or otherwise) and that all log-files and personal information will be removed.  Will the reset instructions in the previous question achieve this and is there any thing else I need to do from a privacy perspective other than the described factory reset?

Provided you haven't rooted the device, a factory reset will reset the phone to the state it was in. Note that sometimes, some extra content that was added by the manufacturer (like some bundled music/images) later may be wiped.

Obviously, if you're bundling along the same SD card that you were using earlier, format it and also run it through shredder programs.

Ideally, don't part with the same SD card - either give the next owner a new card or avoid it altogether.


Already S-Off, need root on HTC One M8 Verizon I'm relatively new to Android and I'm just trying to get root on my HTC One M8 Verizon device. I've successfully used the SunShine utility to S-Off, but I'm just really confused about what to do next to get permanent root. I don't care about custom ROMs and I'd really prefer not to have to install TWRP if I don't have to. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

FWIW, I've got the Android SDK and associated tools (adb, etc.) installed, and I am successfully able to connect to my device. Just don't know what to do from here.

Found the answer. There's a support channel, #sunshine-support on irc.freenode.org. Just go in there and type !info ring, and one of the devs pretty much instantly responds. Or, you can just type !info getroot directly and let them get some shut-eye. Anyways, that will provide you with a link to an apk called SUInstaller. At the time of writing it's at: http://theroot.ninja/apks/SUInstaller.apk. But, if it moves, follow the instructions I just gave to get the current one.

Anyways, you install this app and it will reboot your phone (installing su in the process). Then, just download SuperSU from the Play Store and follow the prompts. Reboot when it tells you to and then give it about five minutes after the phone boots up for everything to finish loading. Then, you can use something like Root Checker (also available on the Play Store) to verify that you have root access.


Opening compressed file attachments from GMail using Total Commander On a newly configured Android 9 tablet, I installed Total Commander which can open most of the known compressed file types (zip, tgz, etc). I want to open such a compressed attachment directly from the Gmail application without first saving it. However, when I tap to a zip attachment in a mail, only a list of other installed applications that can handle the zip file are shown, but not Total Commander. How can I add Total Commander to this list?

The Total Commander app can only work with saved ZIP files. This is defined in it's AndroidManifest.xml:

<intent-filter>
    <action android:name="android.intent.action.VIEW"/>
    <data android:mimeType="application/zip" android:scheme="file"/>
    <category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT"/>
</intent-filter>

As you can see there is only an entry for the file scheme, but no for the content scheme.

On Android users can not modify which app can handle what file format. Hence without a change by the author of Total Commands you can't do change this behavior on an unrooted device.


Can I waked a sleeping Android without an app installed? I am aware of Wake on LAN, but that has been ruled out as it requires a device to have an app installed (doesn't it?).

A friend wants to develop an access point and wants to be able to wake any sleeping devices in range.

I don't think that that is at all possible, but would be happy to be proved wrong.

In fact, I don't see how he would even know that a device was in the area unless it was using his access point or was open for BlueTooth pairing.

Can what he wants be done? Note that these are random, passing 'phones, so we cannot expect them to have any app installed.

No. If you could do this it would be a huge security flaw. You could use it to run down the batteries of all phones in range of your device by continually waking them up.


Moto E - Auto switching off/on I have a Moto E which is only a few days old. It keeps switching off and on all day, automatically and usually around 20 times each day. It supports up to 32GB memory card, and I'm using a 32 GB card (if this might causing problem).

Most likely the culprit is an app. Try safe mode. Press the Power button and when the menu pops up tap and hold on the Power off option and then tap OK. If you don’t experience any random reboots in safe mode then we can assume that one of the apps you’ve installed is responsible for the reboots.

Read more: 10 tricky Moto E problems and how to fix them | Digital Trends


What is the default CPU Freq governor of the SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 GT-I9500 Octacore version? I have been playing around with CPUFreq governors of the octacore version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and I forgot what was the default governor device was configured to operate at by Samsung?

The default governor on the GT-I9500 is called "ondemand-sec". I'm running the XXUEMJ9 firmware (Android 4.3). It's a modified version of the ondemand governor. Here is a listing in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq:

root@ja3g:/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq # ls -al
drwxr-xr-x    5 0        0                0 Nov 14 12:38 .
drwxr-xr-x    9 0        0                0 Nov 14 12:38 ..
drwxr-xr-x    2 0        0                0 Nov 14 12:38 iks-cpufreq
drwxr-xr-x    2 0        0                0 Nov 14 12:38 ondemand
drwxrwxrwx    2 0        0                0 Nov 14 12:39 ondemand-sec

root@ja3g:/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq # cat scaling_governor
ondemand-sec

Frequency Mappings

As for which frequency activates which cores, I can't remember if you can query it through sysfs, but I do remember:

Below 600 Mhz, only the A7 cores are active, and they run at a 2x factor. For instance, at 400 Mhz, the A7 cores are actually running at 800 Mhz.
Above 600 Mhz, only the A15 cores are active, and they run at a 1x factor. For instance, at 1.2 Ghz, the A15 cores are actually running at 1.2 Ghz.

The frequency mapping can be found in the kernel sources at drivers/cpufreq/exynos-ikcs-cpufreq.c, around line ~56:

#define ACTUAL_FREQ(x, cur) ((cur == CA7) ? (x) << 1 : (x))
#define VIRT_FREQ(x, cur) ((cur == CA7) ? (x) >> 1 : (x))

The first line finds the actual frequency of the core. If the current core is an A7, then we perform a bitshift on the "virtual frequency" by 1 to the left. This is in effect a multiplication by 2.

Much of the rest of the code deals with querying the supported CPU frequencies of each kind of core and merging them to give you the resulting cpufreq table (see cpufreq_merge_tables function around line 197).

More info on how this can be found on this set of slides by Linaro.

Core Status

You can check which cores are active using a device node at /dev/bL_status.

root@ja3g:/dev # cat bL_status
        0 1 2 3 L2 CCI
[A15]   0 0 0 0  0
[A7]    1 1 1 1  1

The above output indicates that only the A7 cores are active.


Media sync (MTP) not working on LG G2 LS980 I recently did whatever possible to run "Google Now" on my LG G2 LS980. I updated Google App, installed Google Now, fiddled with don't-remember-how-many settings.

I made it (but not as expected). But as a side effect, the Media Sync (MTP) is not working on the phone. Means, whenever I connect my phone to a PC / laptop, my phone doesn't show up in the Windows Explorer.

Just in case, the settings are as under :
Settings > PC Connection > Select USB Connection  Method > Media Sync (MTP)

My phone is a rooted one, running on Android 4.4.2 custom ROM.

Any help please.

Uninstall LGE Mobile USB Composite Driver (don't forget tick Delete driver software).

Plugin your LG Phone via USB then click "scan check for hardware changes"
Then,,,enjoy ;)


Nexus One overheats/restarts when connected to car dock or car charger Whenever I connect my Nexus One to the official car dock, my phone heats up rapidly, and eventually restarts.  Obviously, the phone is restarting to prevent it from damaging itself.  So the question becomes why is it over-heating (the phone can draw too much current for its own good?) and how can I prevent it from happening.  As a side note, I have never observed this happen while I had the phone charging in the official desk dock, although most of that time I was asleep, and it has happened infrequently while I was charging it and still using it.

Thanks in advance.

Can you check with the GPS turned off for a while?
I've heard reports of heating and restarts most of which refer to multiple things being active increasing current demands from the dock.
Here are a few references,

N1 heat issue while charging + GPS? at the nexusoneforum
Nexus One is overheating in car dock, becoming unresponsive (google android forum)

here is a quote from the second link,

have use car dock overheat problem before, But I solved the problem now! The car dock 12V to 5V adaptor it can provide max. 2A current maximum, the phone voltage is 3.7V, when you use this adaptor direct connect to the Phone Car Dock, the phone begin charging, the charging current supplied by car adaptor, if you at same time your phone operating like navigation (GPS, Data) or video streaming and just not the screen off , this time the phone's power provided by car adaptor through the phone itself, therefore the current = charging current + operatin current provided by car adaptor.
This probelm very easy to solve, you just need to buy USB car adaptor  from car accessories shop, the USB car adaptor maximum supply current not more than 1A or less, and then buy a micro USB cable connnect to the car dock body, the overheat problem have been solved.


PDF reader with highlighting and bookmarks Is there any way to read PDF books with highlighting texts and adding custom bookmarks?

I would like to read a book having about 500 and more pages and I would like to highlight sentences and words and then create bookmarks for these pages in order to find them later without need to list through the entire book. If it could read docx as well it would be great. I don't mind if it is paid.

You can use Adobe Reader to highlight your text while you read and add bookmarks.

There is an app called iAnnotate PDF as well. But it seems tat the bookmarking frature is not available for this APP.


TWRP loop after factory reset from stock android on moto m I just used the factory reset from the android backup and reset option to reset my moto m. But there seems to be a problem.

It automatically restarted into TWRP, so I did a factory reset from there from the wipe section. But after all this, I cannot boot into the OS. I have stuck in the twrp loop.

What I have understood is that the OS is looking for a return code from the recovery after which it can boot up but the custom recovery is not able to return that code which could earlier be returned by stock recovery.

And the phone does not even power off now!
Please help me

Thanks in advanced.

it loops because it does not supports TWRP as the default android recovery of mobile. so try to flash the stock recovery image of your mobile after if you want to restore anything. and don't do any factory reset after flashing.


Adobe flash for Asus Transformer TF700T Does anyone know if the Adobe flash player will be available for Android devices any time soon? I have Android 4.0 Ice cream sandwich. On ASUS Transformer TF700T. I can watch movies, videos and only play some games that don't require Adobe. Someone, Anyone. Please Help!

Adobe Flash fot Android has been discontinued and all official methods of installing it have been removed. This is mainly due to problems in security, performance and stability, but the rise of HTML5 has also played its part. You can find more info from here or here.


What is the format of Android M1 Initial Preview system.img? I download Android Emulator M1 Initial Preview from https://github.com/google/android-emulator-m1-preview/releases
Inside the .app file I found api30-gphone-arm64-v8a/system.img which isn't a yaffs2 nor sparse file:
./unyaffs2 /tmp/android-wip/system.img /tmp/android-wip/system-img/
unyaffs2-0.2.8: image extracting tool for YAFFS2
image size (3232759808) is NOT a mutiple of 2048 + 64

operation incomplete
files contents may be broken

simg2img system.img.ext4 system.img
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Failed to read sparse file

So what is the format of such file?
Updates:
Based on the direction from @Robert, I can see that the file is an fdisk image:
$ fdisk -lu system.img
Disk system.img: 3,1 GiB, 3232759808 bytes, 6313984 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 41F73643-DBCB-41A1-A27E-9FDB53578618

Device      Start     End Sectors Size Type
system.img1  2048    4095    2048   1M Linux filesystem
system.img2  4096 6311935 6307840   3G Linux filesystem

Now, it's unclear what format of the partition inside, because mount it as a regular linux partition fails:
$ sudo mount -o loop,offset=1048576 system.img /mnt/android-1
mount: /mnt/android-1: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop17, missing codepage or helper program, or other error.

gparted also doesn't understand the partition:

wrong offset, partition start at sector 4096. you can use kpartx instead
newer android running dynamic partitions. the super partition can be unpacked with Dynamic Partition Tools
furthermore partitions are flagged as read-only, therefore mount -r flag is required
sudo -i

git clone https://github.com/AndroidDumps/Firmware_extractor.git
PATH=$PATH:$(realpath Firmware_extractor/tools/Linux/bin)

mkdir -p /mnt/android-1/system_root ../extracted
kpartx -av system.img
lpunpack -p system /dev/mapper/loop2p2 ../extracted

mount -t ext4 -o loop,ro,noexec,noload,noatime ../extracted/system.img /mnt/android-1/system_root
thunar /mnt/android-1/system_root

(or whatever kpartx tell you 2nd partition is mapped)

in case you need to make ext4-dedup/logical partition writeable, increase partition first, then duplicate shared blocks
cd ../extracted
dd if=/dev/zero bs=1G seek=1 count=0 of=system.img
resize2fs system.img 1G
e2fsck -E unshare_blocks system.img

you should be able to mount -w afterwards

re-packing requires new vbmeta signature with avbtool.py stored in first partition system.img1 start at sector 2048 (which goes too far here)
superrepack third-party cross-platform tool for easy unpack/repack system.img2 is recommended to automatize the whole re-packing process
you can however do it manually with lpmake (requires all partitions to be unpacked into ../extracted see above step lpunpack)
source
resize2fs -M system.img
e2fsck -yf system.img
lpmake --metadata-size 65536 --super-name super --metadata-slots 1 --device super:3229614080 --group main:2369171456 --partition system:readonly:787050496:main --image system=system.img --partition vendor:readonly:83619840:main --image vendor=vendor.img --partition product:readonly:1366814720:main --image product=product.img --partition system_ext:readonly:131686400:main --image system=system_ext.img --sparse --output super.img


Delete purchased application from the list I've bought some application and I feel that I don't want to use it anymore and I've uninstalled it. However, when I opened Downloads tab in the Market, it is listed there even though it's not installed. So, how do I remove it from the list?

If you did not purchase the app (i.e. it was free), it should be gone.  If you did, then it's always there because you have purchased the right to download it.


How can I control video playback on another device? I'll be taking a long car trip, and I'd like to be able to control video playback on an Android device in the back of the vehicle from the front of the vehicle.

Specific requirements:

2 devices

Player device that will be playing the videos. Should run Android and can be a phone or a tablet.
Control device to control playback on the player device

Solution should not require physical interaction with the player device
Solution should work without internet connectivity on all devices
Solution should not require a 3rd device of any kind (e.g. wireless hotspot)
Solution should maximize battery life on the player device (for example, I think streaming from the control device to the player device would use more battery than if the videos were stored on the player device)

My first instinct was to use a bluetooth remote to control the player device, but it would require me to set up a playlist on the player device ahead of time, it limits the ability to play specific videos, and it won't let me control the volume.

Instead I came up with a solution using another Android device as the control device:

Copy videos to the player device
Install Kodi to the player device
Install Kore to the control device
Start portable hotspot on the display device

Settings > More > Tethering & portable hotspot > Set up Wi-Fi hotspot
Get password
Back > enable Portable Wi-Fi hotspot

Connect the control device's wifi to the player device's hotspot
Open Kore on the control device and follow the instructions to enable remote control on the player device. The instructions are also here: Kodi web server

That's enough to enable controlling playback on the player device. However, if nothing is playing on the player and the screen turns off, starting playback from Kore won't turn the screen on. Here's how I worked around that:

Set the display of the player device to never turn off. Based on the answer from here, install Automate and use the flow provided to keep the screen on.

Alternatively, what I did is I created a flow that detects when Kodi is running, and if it is it 1. disables the wifi 2. enables the wifi hotspot 3. turns the media volume all the way up (the volume can be controlled from Kore using the volume buttons) 4. keeps the screen on.
Set up a screensaver on the player device to blank the screen to maximize battery life

Kodi > Settings > Interface settings > Screensaver > Screensaver mode > Black

Other than higher battery use due to the display workaround, the only other downside I've found is that Kore doesn't support playlists, so you have to create a new queue every time.


Accidentally turn on silent mode On my LG-ally, I keep accidentally turning on silent mode.  What exactly am I doing to cause this, and is there any way to disabled whatever the action is?

Are you perhaps using the volume control and going all the way to the "bottom"? That turns on silent mode in my Droid.

Are you hitting the wrong option on the menu when you hit the power button?

I'm not familiar with the LG Ally, so I don't know if they might have added an extra feature to make it easy to get into silent mode. Did you check the manual?


How to install xapk, apks, or multiple-apks via adb? xapk, apks, or multiple-apks is the new standard for apps that is basically one folder and multiple apks in it.

I know there are apps like apkpure or SAI that can do it, but I want to know how to it manually.

I know we can use adb install-multiple to install signed apks but if they are unsigned how can I do it if I have the root?

I used to be able to copy and paste single apk to /system/priv-app/${folder} to bypass the signature check but simply copying and pasting multiple apks under the same folder doesn't seem to work in this case.

For those who are trying to install XAPK files through adb because their XAPK Installer does not work on their Android phone, I've got you covered.
You must have Android Debug Bridge (ADB) set up and working.
XAPK files are basically ZIP Archive files (described by their PK header at the beginning of the file)
This means we are able to open/extract those files using any ZIP tool that we have (I prefer 7-Zip)
Once we have extracted the files from the archive, we are only interested in .APK files.
Open the Command Prompt/Terminal in the folder where you've extracted the archive,
and type the following command: adb install-multiple "AppName.apk" "ConfigA.apk" "ConfigB.apk"
Notes

The order of files in the command does not matter.
AppName, ConfigA and ConfigB are examples, they will differ depending on the package.
There might be more APK files, make sure to include them all.
If there are several APK files with different architectures, make sure to check your phones CPU architecture before proceeding with installing the APK.


Changing vibrate length of default email app on galaxy s2 I have connected the mail app from the galaxy s2 to my email (exchange). The notification (which I have set to vibrate) is just a very short vibrate. It seems very likely that I will often miss this notification (unlike the gmail app for example which vibrates for a much longer time). Is it normal for the vibration of the default mail app to be very short? And if so, is there a way to change that?

There are two methods you can use to adjust the vibration duration:

System Configuration

Tap your device "home" button;
Tap your device "menu" button;
Tap "Settings";
Tap "Sound";
Use "Vibration Intensity" to adjust the duration.

This may not be available for all devices/Android versions

Custom Application
There are a few applications available from Google Play Store that you can use to adjust vibration timers.
Vibration Notifier by j4velin allows you to set a vibrate interval and additionally alows you to specify the duration of each vibration:

Let your device vibrate every X min. when you missed a call / received an eMail


Android Tethering DNS Problem I am using a Sony Xperia Go mobile device with Android Gingerbread (2.3.7).
Whenever I try to use Tethering (USB/Mobile Wifi Tethering), I could not immediately access website using my laptop.

However, I know that there is an Internet connection because I can access websites using their IP address in my Google Chrome in my laptop. I tried nslookup in command prompt several times, trying to query Google's DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) and 192.168.43.1 (my phone).

I always get the error DNS request timed out.

However, after several restarts, turning on/off Data and mobile hotspot, it would suddenly work and all the DNS requests through command line would get responses. But there is no definite number of restarts. Just today, it took me about 30-45 minutes doing this routine of restart-turn off hotspot-turn on-turn off mobile data-turn on.

Every time I do this, I can use my mobile phone to access the Internet. So, that is not the problem. The mobile phone can connect to the Internet.

I also use AirDroid. AirDroid is also working normally and I could access it in my browser. So there really is an established connection between the phone and the laptop. It's just DNS requests are not pushing through. I have tried this for both mobile hotspot/USB tethering.

My mobile provider allows tethering and I have a mobile data plan. Can you help me determine what is causing the DNS problem? This happens almost every day.

I ended up manually changing my DNS server to tether Internet from my mobile phone. My phone uses a local DNS server from my mobile carrier which I was able to trace using CompruebaIP.

Any other DNS server is blocked by my mobile carrier (Globe Telecom). I reckon that my phone's DNS service is not properly working. When tethering, the DNS provider should be my phone which serves as proxy when connecting to my mobile carrier's DNS servers. Thus, I had to set them manually on my laptop.

I am using Windows 8 and my phone is an Android Gingerbread 2.3. So basically, the problems are:

My mobile carrier is bad. They are blocking other DNS servers and are monopolizing DNS requests. This isn't good because their servers aren't that good.
My phone's DNS service appears to be broken. This means my laptop could not connect to the DNS service of my mobile phone which then forwards DNS requests to my mobile carrier's DNS service.

Fortunately, after two months of despair, I was able to resolve this. This is what I did:

Find out what the actual DNS servers are my mobile carrier is using through CompruebaIP.
Manually set my laptop's DNS servers to the one used by my mobile carrier.
Even better, I retained Google's Public DNS server 8.8.8.8 as my primary DNS server and used my mobile carrier's primary DNS server as my alternate DNS server.

So, now, I can use my mobile phone as my Internet provider for my laptop whenever I am not at home or at work without having to change anything every time I use it.


Failed to start emulator: No such file or directory Alright So I downloaded the android SDK bundle for linux because I want to start making some apps, but i've ran into a couple of problems here.

when I tried to create an emulator through the AVD Manager, and I tried to run it, i got the following error message:

Starting emulator for AVD 'AVDTEST'
Failed to start emulator: Cannot run program "/home/luke/adt-bundle-linux-x86_64-20140702/sdk//tools/emulator": java.io.IOException: error=2, No such file or directory

If you look, you will see that there is an extra slash before the tools directory, so I'm asking if anyone knows where I can go to change that path.

Also, the bundle didn't seem to come with any documentation. Am I just missing it or is it all online somewhere?

UPDATE: I tried running the emulator explicitly from the command line, but, even though I can clearly see that the file is there, and I am now providing the correct path, I still get the no such file/dir error.

Change the sdk directory path from eclipse settings to the root of your sdk path. Also, chmod the files to executables


Landscape lock screen CM12.1 My lock screen is always portrait. Is there a way to make it match whatever rotation the phone is in? Weirdly, if I'm in landscape mode and lock my screen a landscape lock screen shows for a second occasionally but always flips to portrait. Can't see anything in CM settings.

Note 4 - CyanogenMod 12.1

Ultimate Rotation Control forces any app - even those that don't support a certain orientation - into any orientation. It also supports setting on a per-app basis.

If paid stuff isn't for you, GravityBox should also have such options, though you'll need to also install Xposed framework.


What is the DNS entry for the Google Play store? What is the DNS entry for the Google Play store?

I ask because I could not get anything to update or install.  After trying everything, I could not get anything to work.  Then, I turned off wifi, and it updated on the 3g/4g connection.
I found a post about DNS entry.
After changing the DNS server, it now downloads.  So, what is the DNS name of the Play store?

The Google PlayStore app mainly the following URL:

https://android.clients.google.com

Additional servers may be used for login or downloading the description and images shown within the PlayStore app.

Also the actual download URL points to one of a large number of servers in the Google Content Delivery Cloud (actually you can say it is more or less random from your point of view).


Flashing English ROM on Korean Samsung Galaxy S3 I got my Samsung Galaxy S3 (SHW-M440S) but it was bought from South Korea. At first, it was all Korean. But after some time (or some tweaks), I managed to set it to English. (No, I am not a Korean).

Can I flash the firmware to a real English version (using ODIN or any other software)? I entered the model number because I might do something wrong but everything is in Korea (SHW-M440S firmwares).

Another problem on my phone is, it will only send an SMS if it has 80 or less characters on the message.

I wouldn't advice this, you can see other questions on here about people asking if they can use different model numbers on their phone and everyone says no.

A suggestion to you would be the following, go on the XDA website here link and type in your phone AND model number into their search bar. From there you should be able to click on their forum for Android Development, from there you can select a Custom Rom to flash to your phone

As you said you are new it is required to firstly root your phone before flashing a new ROM, as you haven't provided your Phone Model I cannot give you a direct link on how to root your phone, if you can update this detail I could find you a link afterwards.

Also if you decide to root your phone flash a custom rom please note that it is your risk, doing so will void your warranty and if you end up with a bricked device(not working) I or anyone giving instructions in any links you use cannot be help responsible.

With regards to the problem with only Sending a SMS if it's 80 Char or less, I am not 100% sure as I haven't experimented with various different Custom ROMS but there may be a option that you can select to try and fix it, personally I would post another Question on this website just for that issue

All the best


Replacement for ability to "send tab to remote device" as removed from Firefox 29 Firefox 29 removed the ability to "send tab to remote device".
Namely, you could send a share intent from any other app (select "share", select "Firefox", select any other Firefox Sync device you want to send the tab to) and a few seconds to minutes later it would appear e.g. in your desktop Firefox as a new tab.

That was my main use of Firefox on Android. How do I get exactly that back?

That is, I want send tabs from an Android share intent to Firefox on the desktop! Not the other way (I do have FoxToPhone, but hardly ever use it).
It should be a one-click operation, I don't want to copy/paste URLs, I don't even need a target device selection (although I would be okay with the two-click operation required in Firefox 28), because I always want to send to the same device.

This should work even when the Android device is offline (plane), in which case the tabs should simply be queued and sent when the network comes back (that's exactly what Firefox 28 did).

The use case is everything I spot on mobile (from emails, interesting stuff while browsing, reading articles on Pocket, etc.) but that maybe doesn't work on mobile (Flash), requires more screen estate or just requires some kind of action from me, which I don't want to perform on mobile.

Sorry for the trouble this is causing you. We initially removed the feature because we didn't know how well it was being used and the UX around it seemed confusing. We intended to improve the feature and release it again soon.

That said, with feedback like yours, and many others, we are reconsidering the decision and will try to get a version of the feature back in Firefox as soon as possible.

You can track some of the discussion here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1002628


My htc 826 Desire got stuck in bootloop the thing is I didn't even try to root or change its recovery, the phone switched off on its own and when I connected the charger it turned on but never went past the HTC logo and keeps rebooting,I have tried a few methods that I found out from a few forums but it doesn't seem to work, why is it still not able to boot properly ?

Update your HTC device, or try to hard rest if nothing happen after trying all your methods. i would say first look to update your HTC Firmware. before updatin firmware make sure you have removed your SIM and SD Card to avoid data lost


Play Store not updating some apps On my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 running LineageOS 16 with Opengapps, some apps are not being updated to the latest versions. In particular there is Google Meet and Sheets. Meet is stuck on a version dated August 2020 whereas my phone offers a version dated November.
I tried installing Aptoide apk store and it offered updates to both of these apps (and some other too). I installed them and they work, so it is not a question of incompatibility with my system. However, I would like to stick to the Play Store.
Why is this happening? And what could be done to get the latest versions?

On Android the app developer can upload different app versions for different platforms.
Therefore it can happen that on your smartphone you have an Google Meet version from Dec. 2020 but on your tablet the latest version is still Aug. 2020.
This can even happen if both device are using the same Android versions. Just the fact that the one device is a tablet and the other a smartphone is enough so that they get different versions of an app.
If you open the page of an app in Google Play Store app and there is no "update" button then you already have installed the latest version that has been released for your current device.
Other criteria that may lead to a different version are:

Android version
Supported ABI of the CPU and OS (armv7 = 32bit and/or armv8 = 64bit)
Screen size
Country
Mobile network provider
Device name
Installed libraries (some manufacturer add special libraries that are required for certain apps)
Available hardware features such as NFC, fingerprint sensor, ...


How can I watch movies offline on my Android tablet? How can I watch movies on my tablet (Asus Transformer tablet with Android 3.2) offline?

I recognize that this is a very basic question, however, I can not find any step-by-step instructions on this site or online. It is also not clear if any popular sites such as Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu support offline viewing. I think that it would be useful to have step-by-step instructions.

If I had the tablet in my hands, I would probably be able to figure something out - even though it is a new device and my first experience with Android. However, my wife has taken it and the children on a trip, and would like to use it for entertainment on the flight home.

Android comes with a basic video player called "Movies", although it might not show in the application list for some devices. To use the built-in player, you need to use the Gallery or a file manager to invoke the Movies app on the movie file you want to play.

Alternatively there are many alternative movie players on the Market. Here are a few threads to get you started:

MX Video Player
MoboPlayer
RockPlayer
QQPlayer
VPlayer


Battery drain on Cyanogen OS 13.1 I have a OnePlus One running stock Cyanogen OS. Before the upgrade to 13.1, I was getting 24-48 hours of battery life, but now I'm only getting 6-8 hours.

Wiping the system cache doesn't help. Hard reset doesn't help. What can I do?

This is a bug in Cyanogen OS 13.1. Go to Settings > Personal > Apps, open the three dots menu and select Show system. Find Google Contacts Sync in the list, select, and tap DISABLE.

I am not sure as of yet whether this breaks any functionality.


If i changed my phone battery will the data be erased from my phone? My phone's battery has a problem and I need to replace it. I have a lot of important data in my phone and would like to whether changing the battery erases the data on the device.

No,changing battery doesn't erase phone data.The data won't be erased.
Just switch it off before you remove the battery and insert a replacement battery.


No status shown below display name When I look at the list of my Viber contacts, I see three different statuses which are online, offline and last seen at. However, there's one particular contact which doesn't have any of it, I mean nothing is written under the name on his contact profile on my phone. What does it mean?

He can't have uninstalled Viber cause his account looks recently refreshed. He has updated his photo along with his Line App. So what does this really mean?

Viber has a privacy settings where you can hide that status

you can find that by clicking the "more" button... that is the three stacked horizontal lines, then choose settings then privacy. you get something called "Share 'Online' Status" you can untick that if you want to hide it. Note that you can change it once every 24 hours


How can I get both sound and vibration at the same time on my Samsung S4? Need some help. I must have pressed something on the settings on my Samsung S4 because when I receive a chat or SMS the phone doesn't vibrate unless I turn off the sound.

So right now I have to choose to eıther have vibration OR sound and I want both at the same time.

In the Messaging app, click the left soft key and open Settings. Under Notifications, make sure Vibrate is checked.


Receiving "Message board service started" randomly Randomly on my Android Galaxy S2, I'm receiving a message nag "Message board service started".

It can happens in an application, in the app drawer or anywhere randomly.

I'm unable to find any sources talking about this message.

Do you have an idea?

Android 2.3.6

Found it ....

Message Board service started
BlueLocate service started

Here is the app causing theses messages : Connectdroid


Android 6 on screen keyboard not enabled When using the Android 6 (Moto G2) only the voice option was given for user input.
A device reboot failed to fix the issue.

In Device, Apps

In an effort to save space the user had disabled Google gboard in error as well Google Hindi Input, Google Korean Input etc


How notifications work with multiple users? When there are multiple users in an Android device, how the notifications work?

The notifications are simultaneous for all users?
There are only notifications for the active user and notifications for other users are disabled until the other users log in?

Notifications appear for all accounts of a single user at once.
Notifications for other users do not appear until they are active.

Source: Supporting Multiple Users


how to block a specific URL without root? i want to block a specific URL (a .json file on a webserver)

i dont have root
it should run on ANY modern android device AND FireTV ;)

would be nice if we find a way ;)

The only option to block one specific url is using a HTTP proxy. Some HTTP proxies also support HTTPS decryption after installing the used root certificate into Android (AFAIR this is limited to Android up to Android 7.0).
Also this only works for apps that use only Android system method for checking the server certificate (no certificate pinning in the app implemented).

There are some on-device proxy apps available, however I don't have much experience with those and don't know if you can configure one to block a specific URL. However it is possible.

What definitely works when using Wifi is to use a HTTP proxy on your PC (Fiddler, Burp, Zed, Charles, ...) and redirect the traffic from your Android device to your PC and the proxy running on it. The proxy on the PC can be used to inspect, modify or block certain requests.


Automatically replace app after opening APK If I download an APK and open it, I get a "Not Installed" error if the app is already present on the device. Is there any way to automatically delete the old version?

(Note I'm not trying to avoid opening the APK, which isn't allowed for security reasons. I'm just trying to avoid manually deleting the old app.)

As eldarerathis already pointed out in his comment on your question: If the app is already installed, and the certificate matches, you will be prompted whether you want to replace it. If the certificates differ, there's a conflict: The app cannot be updated due to the mismatch, and it cannot be installed along as the package name is already in use (apps use an internal package name, which e.g. is shown in the URL on its Google Play Store webpage). If the package is corrupted, you again get another specific error (telling you it is corrupted).

So most probably, the .apk you try to install manually has been tampered with. If it wasn't you doing so, I would refrain from using it. If it was you, and you know what you are doing -- or you know the source to be trustworthy (e.g. the developer of the app provided you with an unsigned testing version), you have to first uninstall the original app before installing the "tainted" .apk.


How to lock phone without pressing power button? Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question, but how can I turn off the display without hitting the physical power button on Android 10 (Pixel 4a)? On my old phone I could customize long-press home or double-tap within launcher to do this. I enabled 3-button style but can't seem to find the settings for customization or for the Pixel launcher behaviour. I also couldn't figure out how to do this with gesture / swipe control.
Thanks!

If you're okay with apps doing this for you, then you could try this app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lsc.lock You tap on it and it'll lock your phone and turn off your screen as well.


recover whatsapp conversation after hard reset i just installed nougat on my galaxy s7 forgetting to backup whatsapp conversations.
Now is all blank,sd and memory, can i recover them?

The new feature of WhatsApp allows users to take backup in Google Drive. There are chances that you will be able to Restore your backup from Google Drive.


Why does the Play Store need access to NFC? In xPrivacy, I can see that the Play Store asks for getNfcAdapter.

What does it need it for?

The Play Store app has two main features regarding NFC, both of which require the NFC permission.

It registers intent filters such that when you scan an NFC tag with a market:// link or a link to play.google.com, you get the Play Store app instead of a browser, the same way you would when you click such a link. This doesn't require calling the getNfcAdapter function, but it does use the same permission.
It uses Android Beam. If you look at an app's page in the Play Store app, then bring another Android device to NFC range, you can send that app link to the other device.


Can I globally set all Android apps to prefer WiFi for data? My cellular carrier just alerted me that we've exceeded our data usage. They show that I used more than 500MB at once a few days ago at a time when I was at home in bed, and the phone in range of my WiFi. I assume the phone downloaded an update automatically, but there was no reason for it to use cellular data when WiFi was available.

The device is a Nexus 5 and it recently updated its OS. I don't have it nearby or I'd check the version.

Can I set an Android phone to always use WiFi, for all apps, if its available?

Android does this by default. If you have a connection to the internet via WiFi this will be used by all apps. Android Lollipop added the ability for it to revert to cellular data if the Wireless network you are connected to does not have a connection to the internet. This is signified by an exclamation mark (!) on the WiFi icon in the top right. More information on this can be found here


Is it possible to mount on a PC an SD card that has been encrypted by an Android Marshmallow device? I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 duos with stock Android Marshmallow, and I'm considering encrypting my SD card to prevent access to its contents in case I lose my phone. The main reason of not doing this is that I'm not sure if there's a way to mount an encrypted SD card on Windows (or other desktop OS's)

When I encrypt the SD card on my Samsung Galaxy S5, is it using a known implementation of encryption, or is it something that only works on Android (or perhaps Samsung) phones?

I do not want to use USB connection to my phone to access my SD card, it's terrible. Mounting the SD card is much easier and faster and less annoying.

EDIT: just to clarify, I am NOT talking about adoptable storage. I want a portable encrypted SD card that can both be read on PCs and Android phones (i.e. I want to be able to remove the SD card from my phone, plug it into my PC, provide a password to decrypt and read/write it like any other SD card)

Marshmallow has two ways to treat the external SD card :

Portable Storage : In this the entire memory of the ext.SD card is available for use, if it is not encrypted (natively) and you can mount it on your PC to read/ transfer contents
Adoptable-storage: In this the ext. SD is treated as a part of the phone and when you encrypt the phone, the ext. SD card is also encrypted. Once it is encrypted, it can only be read through USB and cannot be read independently by using a card reader to mount on your PC. You can read more on this at adoptable-storage tag and it's wiki has questions to answer the common concerns. So, for all practical purposes encrypted ext. SD card cannot be read on PC independent the device. However, if your device is rooted, you can try the method suggested here How to decrypt Adopted Storage?
Full Disk Encryption details different encryption modes on Android Marshmallow. Whether OEMs implement it with additional security features is not known and surely won't be shared on public domain

Edit: Answering OPs query in comments and edit to question

See How does Samsung implement SD card encryption?

Samsung implements proprietary encryption as evident from the question and also this
Reasons for full disk encryption differences between Nexus & Samsung
Encrypted card cannot be read without the device as on the first question linked

So, it would be not possible to read the card on your PC, by mounting it via card reader on your PC as you propose to do. To clarify further, it can be read if you connect your device using USB

Edit: For a technical understanding, see the excellent answer here How does Marshmallow encryption work technically?


Galaxy Nexus always rotates a picture - portrait instead of landscape and vice versa A pal of mine says his Galaxy Nexus always rotates a picture - takes it portrait instead of landscape and landscape when set to portrait. Any ideas why does it happen and how to fix it?

I have not faced such a issue with my GNex yet(running stock Android 4.2.2)

The orientation of the settings also depend on the orientation is set. Suppose he wants to take a photo in portrait, ask him to take the phone in portrait mode and then make the setting as portrait mode.


Use Tasker to swipe lock the screen for 10 mins then require password thereafter i'm looking for a way where i can use the power button to turn off the screen and activate the swipe lock. If the phone is left untouched/unswiped for 10 mins the password lock should come on.

There is one difference between this and similar posts i have seen, my Phone is encrypted so i cannot turn off the password as part of the method of doing this.

At the moment the power button turns off the screen but can be unlocked at the push of any button which often results in unintended phone calls in my pocket, after a certain amount of time left untouched the password lock kicks in.

I've heard an app called Tasker can do something like this, will it also work with encrypted devices?

All i would need it to do is activate a swipe lock on pressing of the power button

Thanks

You are correct: an app called Tasker can do this. The feature you want to turn off/delay is called Keyguard: turning this off disables the password/PIN lock screen. So you could setup a task turning that off on the condition the screen is turned off, then wait 10 min, and re-activate it again.

Additionally, you might want to take a look at the Secure Settings addon for Tasker, which gives you some more fine-grained options towards this (and plenty of other benefits). Using this addon, you could e.g. have your device require the PIN/password unlock only once, and then not asking for it anymore (useful e.g. at home).


Will "Contacts" permission allow reading contacts list on SIM? I denied "Contacts" perm of obvious reasons for an app. It won't work. I reached its developer and he said I am paranoid, that "Contacts" means just basic info about phone owner, like name and email, not contact list. But it says "Contacts", not "Basic owner info". Who is right? How to give app "Contacts" permission but hide contacts list from it?

Who is right?

I think you are right because "Contacts" permission - quote:

  Allows an application to read the user's contacts data.

You can write an abuse to Google about this application if you think they use "Contacts" permission unreasonably and Google may check that application more accurately.


How does Nokia automatic backup work on the new Android One devices? My girlfriend recently got a new Nokia 6.1 device with Android One. Her last device got damaged and data was lost so I'd like to make sure this one is optimally backed up.

I'm used to backing up my iPhone to my desktop via iTunes as well as into the cloud. Is there a similar official desktop software for Nokia devices? I could find Kies for Samsung devices but no Nokia equivalent.

The Nokia 6.1 User Guide has an entry that explains how to enable automatic backups in Settings - but no further information as to how it works. You can choose a Google account to associate the backup with but this seems optional rather than required.

Does this mean that the backup data is by default stored with Nokia and just somehow linked with her Google account? And if I set her Google account as the "Backup Account" then the data will only be stored in her Google Drive?

Finally, if you choose this automatic cloud backup option would the only recovery option be another Nokia Android One device? Or would it be possible for her to get a new phone that's for instance a Samsung and restore to that device?

Any advice would be much appreciated, I'm new to how things work with Android.

I'm not an expert with this, but here's what I know.
Nokia 6.1 as with all Android One phones, runs stock Android. And the backup/restore options that you see are all part of normal Android and you will see them across nearly all Android smartphones be it Android One or not. So, the backup that is on a Google account can be restored on any other device.

Other OEMs do have a better backup/restore setup and I recommend that you ask her to do a better job at backing up stuff.

The backup setup in Android One is a barebone setup and you'll barely recover anything beyond your list of installed apps and your contacts (inc SMS and call history). Apps which automatically backup to their server or to Google Drive (like WhatsApp) are an exception. For everything else, such as files, documents, photos, videos, music, you need to back them up yourself.

Google Photos is a nice way to keep your photos from the camera all backed up. You can also consider using Microsoft's OneDrive app. For the other items, you need to either sync them to the cloud manually or use a USB cable to copy them to the PC regularly.


Droid RAZR - Is there any way to clear the numbers from the screen when using the dialer? When I need to check my voicemail, I have to enter my password, of course.  However, when I do, it displays it in big, clearly visible characters across the top of the screen for the duration of the call.  I think this is incredibly stupid.  Is there any way to clear it after entering it?

EDIT:
I do realize there is the option to hide the dialpad and input box during the call.  However, whenever I need to use the dialpad again I need to make it visible, which then shows my password still at the top.

EDIT: I do realize there is the option to hide the dialpad and input
  box during the call. However, whenever I need to use the dialpad again
  I need to make it visible, which then shows my password still at the
  top.

That is an indication of proximity sensor, when the handset is near the ear, the screen blanks out, when you're pulling the handset away, the screen comes back on and can see the dialpad, along with the numbers entered!

  Is there any way to clear it after entering it?

When you make a check to voicemail, you're dialing the number, then enter the password, then after checking the voicemail, you hangup, does that not clear the dialer?

In certain dialers, you can actually long press on the dialpad's top screen to bring up a menu, to select all, then cut... OR long press on the keypad's backspace button

Maybe, if this does not suffice, then the only thing that comes to mind, is to either shield the screen from prying eyes or, use an alternative dialer.


Format memory card with NTFS I have a Galaxy SIII and 32GB memory card. I want format the memory card with NTFS just to get rid of 4GB size per file restriction. How can I format the card with NTFS and even if I format it with NTFS will I be able to use it with Galaxy SIII?

You can format the SD as exFAT, removing the 4Gb restriction from old FAT filesystem. You can format it from Windows (or Linux/Mac) without any third party application and the phone will recognize it without problems.


are there more special characters on my phone keypad such as "#"? I get frustrated with Android because I can't find all the special characters on it for passwords etc that I have on my windows 10 computer.  Is there a trick to finding more special characters?

Yes there are. For example try holding letter F it will show $ € £ ¥ ¢ . Try other letters as well.


Retrieving my google contacts My smart phone kept turning off and wouldn't power back up or stay on long enough to use it much unless I had it plugged into an electrical outlet; so I cancelled my cell phone service but continued using it too look up my contacts so I could call them on a landline. Is there a way I can retrieve my cell phone contacts saved on google by using my computer?

As your contacts are synchronized with your Google account, you can:

get them in Google Contacts or
use an export tool to select just the contacts you want and export them to a CSV file.


How to check HTC desire is off without turning it on? Is is possible somehow to distinguish between the phone being off or sleeping without turning it on in the process (this happens when pressing the power button)?

I appreciate that I can just use silent or airplane mode rather than turning it off, but was  interested to see if there was a way.

This is for the HTC 1.  You'll have to see if it works for you.  The charge light is red when the phone is off, and orange when it's on.  Obviously, that's with the charger connected.


Is there an interactive calendar widget that allows me to switch between agenda view and calendar view? I'm looking for an interactive calendar widget that allows me to switch between agenda view and calendar view.

The Go Calendar widget is really useful allowing you to scroll through the agenda and also select the calendar view which allows you to easily create an event for a given date.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a calendar widget that offers similar features and usability.
I'd like to change my default launcher but don't wanna lose the useful widget.
Anyone know an alternative?

Agenda Widget Plus allows a user to do this easily.

As far as full scale calendar app replacements go, give the excellent Jorte Calendar a try - it too has loads of widgets and many customizable settings.


Prevent device administrators from being installed My company has some Android devices that are available for our customers to use. Customers have nearly full access to the devices, and unfortunately a customer recently installed Android Device Manager, added their Play account, registered the device to themselves, and then disabled the phone.

I was able to recover the devices by factory resetting and logging in with one of our existing play accounts, but I'd like to prevent this from happening in future.

Is there a way to prevent device administrators from being added to an Android device? I know I can create an administrator app and set it as Device Owner to ensure it's always an admin, but I don't think this will prevent this scenario from occurring again.

Physical control is total control.

If they have full physical access, if they try hard enough (and that customer obviously didn't do that by accident) they'll always be able to mess with the phone.

You can, however, make this much harder. As @Dan Brown suggested, you can lock the settings away with a password. Something else that comes to my mind is creating a new user on the phone (that is possible if you have at least Android Lollipop or a custom ROM based on it), again locking the main account which has administrator access away behind a password and then giving the phone to the customer with only access to the restricted user. Again, if they try hard enough they will still be able to break this if they have the device and enough time and knowledge. But a seperate account should be one of the easiest built-in ways to make this harder. You can also try some apps which offer parental controls - these apps need admin access but in turn can lock many rights away. But they often cost money and/or don't always work right.

I'll do a bit more research on this and edit the answer in case I find a better solution


Flash player issue on CM 10.1 I recently flashed my HTC ONE X ATT with CyanogenMod 10.1 and noticed that Flash Player is not installed. I tried to find it on Google Play, but it says that Flash is not compatible with my handset.

How can I install Flash Player on my handset, so flash content works on all my browsers (Browser, Dolphin, Firefox and Chrome)?

I manually installed Flash Player 11.1.115.36 for Android 4.0, but it's only working on Firefox.

Download flash from here: http://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/archived-flash-player-versions.html.

The stock browser is best but if you can't use that Firefox is 2nd when it comes to


Opening PDF drawings with comments On some of my PDF drawings the Engineers review stamp block is covering a portion of the drawing.  I am using Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 -7.0 with ice cream to view this drawing.  I did not have any issues viewing the same drawing with the same "Engineers approval" stamp on my Windows 7 desktop. Can someone tell me if there is a solution or if this is an issue with Adobe Reader 10.2.1?


Help understanding the integration between Google Voice, Hangouts, and Messenger I've had Google voice with Sprint since day 1, I love everything about it. Hangouts added some great features like MMS but to search the body of old messages I still have to use Google Voice.

This makes me believe that Google Voice is the parent service for my Google number/Sprint integration and Hangouts is just an app that intercepts new messages and updates Google Voice records.

Now there's Google Messenger. When I launched the app today I saw some but not all of my Hangouts messages and when sending a text, new messages were not updated in Voice or Hangouts.

Why did only some old messages show up in Google Messenger?
Why didn't new messages sent from Messenger show up in Voice/Hangouts?
It's important for me to keep all my old voicemail/MMS/texts as well as logging new ones so, should I not use Messenger and instead keep using Hangouts?
If Messenger isn't integrated with Voice, why did I get a message in Hangouts saying I should switch to Messenger? Is it just to pull people who don't have Voice over to an app that's specifically meant for local texting only?

Messenger is an SMS application. It can be used to send SMS. Every SMS that are sent from your device are stored somewhere. Other SMS apps can read and write them.

Phone is a phone app. It is used to make phone calls. Every calls made from your device are logged somewhere. Other phone apps can read and write to this list.

Hangouts
is a messaging platform. It uses your
Google+
account to send messages to other Hangouts users via their
Gmail
address. You can also make video calls with it. It is very similar to
Skype.
However, it is also an SMS app! It can send SMS via your phone number and receive messages from other phones.

Hangouts Dialer is a phone app that acts as a plugin to Hangouts. It enables Hangouts to send calls to other phones via your phone number.

The interaction is simple : Your SMS are logged somewhere on your phone and only your default SMS app can access them. This is why some, but not all, messages are displayed in Messenger when you actually sent them from Hangouts.

If you want every messages to be inside the same app, the obvious solution is to keep Hangouts as the default SMS app. However, don't forget to link your contacts infos in
Contacts.


Running sh script non rooted I am not a developer and I have an application that I need to run on my Samsung 10+ which uses a plugin developed for the app to receive sensor data from a separate android device via Bluetooth connection. The Samsung 10+ is typically connected to the sensor via the Bluetooth MAC address. As the sensor data is received it is displayed on a map overlay on the Samsung. I don't have the actual sensor, as I don't need it for my purposes, but I have a script which can be run which is supposed to output representative data so that when I connect the two devices I should see the data displayed. What I need help with is identifying how you actually run a script on an android if you are not a superuser. Thanks for any assistance.

For executing scripts there are two possibilities:
Via Android Debug Bridge (adb)
ADB is usually used when the device is connected via USB to a PC. But for trusted Wifis there is a also a possibility to run ADB over Wifi (but the connection is play-text like terinal which may lead to security problems, therefore the limitation to trused Wifis). Then you can execute a script that is e.g. saved in /data/local
Use an app like Termux
Apps like Termux provide an environment similar to a Linux distribution with packet manager and execution environment. You don't need a connected PC. However as Termux is an app the Android permission system applies you may get a problem accessing the Bluetooth hardware as Termux as far as I remember does not requests the Bluetooth permissions on installation.


My Samsung galaxy s GTI9003 stuck in flight mode I want to disable the airplane mode in order to return to normal state. After a long press on power button, I do have the "device options", however nothing happens when I press Airplane mode (airplane mode enable). I am stuck in airplane mode

I tried restarting, SIM change, removing battery ....but nothing worked.

Have you experience this? Is it a known bug? How can I disable airplane mode.

I had the exact same problem since yesterday, but my mobile is Galaxy S2,this post was the solution: http://www.inflightmagazine.co/?p=351

I am not sure if it will work on galaxy s, but wouldn't harm to give it a try

The author refers to two steps to solve the problem, I would add the following steps between Step 1 and Step 2

Install BusyBox from the play store
Open BusyBox after rooting, grant it superuser permissions
Click install on the left bottom corner of the screen
You'll be asked to use Smart Install vs Normal Install.. I chose the first option, not sure if it makes any difference if you pick the second one
Proceed to step 2


Remove notification bar in Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Is there a way to remove the notification bar on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3?

You need a launcher app to do such things. Try using launchers available on PlayStore, like Nova Launcher. Launcher will give you access to hiding notification bar, configuring desktop grid, playing around with doc and so on.


How to ensure dalvik-cache and lib are linked to SD on boot? Recently, I upgraded my htc-desire with a bigger SD Card with a partition of 512Mo on it.

I installed link2sd to place apps on SD card ext4 partition.

Then I had to create by hand, the mount script to have my partition used by link2sd. (certainly due to write access on /system mountage)

What I wander is if there is a way to ensure that on reboot, linked apps create their dalvik-cache directly on SD. What is happening on startup is that I need to open link2sd, select all my apps, and relink everything.

Is it a feature included in the mount script?

Or is it simply the way link2sd works?

PS: what is anoying is that the dalvik-cache takes too much place and can prevent some application from starting correctly.

Unlikely to be possible in this context, as Dalvik cache has a fixed system-wide location (/data/dalvik-cache). So you cannot have "linked apps place their dalvik cache directly on SD". Either all or nothing. Take a look at the app2sd tag-wiki for alternative approaches which might allow to move the entire dalvik cache to your SDCard. But a selective move IMHO is impossible.

Remark: An exception to this general rule are odexed ROMs, where the .odex files sit in the same place as the app, at least for system apps. So there might be a way to do the same for "user apps" which I have missed.)


Some application require 'root access', what is it, what is the risks, and how can we make it available? Possible Duplicate:
  Are there any risks to rooting a device?

I download the screenshot to use on my Nexus One (N1) but it can not run and said it requires root access. What is it, how can I allow that and what risks/notes to take when letting them the "admin" access like that?

Please see my related questions/answers here and here.

In short:

Root gives you full administrator access to your phone to do things that it normally cannot do (take screenshots, [free] wifi tethering, overclocking, etc).
You will void your warranty (but you can typically unroot your phone to a previous state that makes this point moot).


How is a Nexus device "provisioned" when you buy it from Google? I noticed during checkout for the Nexus 4 that you are given the option to have it provisioned:

  When purchasing a Nexus device from Google Play, you'll notice a 'Link this device to my Google account' checkbox appear in your cart just prior to checkout. When you link a Nexus device to your Google account, we'll automatically send your name and username to the device when you first power it on. You'll just need to input your Google account password to get started.

I'm not sure if this is cool or creepy.  How does this provisioning happen?  I'm not concerned with what Google is doing on the server side so much as:

What is sent to the device?
Is it encrypted?
How does the device receive/process the message?

Is there a special service that sends my IMEI to Google and then receives the info back, or something?

I saw this, and also looked into it briefly.

Basically, as you are using your Google Account when buying the device, Google will link your Google account to your Nexus device at the factory, and send your details to your email address.

This means that the Google account setup is already complete when you receive the device, so you can download apps as soon as you turn it on and enter your password.

It is unlikely to be encrypted, however as the password has yet to be entered no sensitive information such as emails or card details can be access should someone else receive the device.


Android OS on old nokia phone Is it possible or has some one devised a way where we can update old nokia phone like nokia 6630 to android OS?

Nokia 6630 runs on Symbian, which is a totally different OS to Android. You can't install Android on Symbian - It's like trying to watch TV with your dishwasher.


LG Escape 2 - bricked I tried running a script that I got online. I downloaded the whole file which included the .bat file. I tried running the .bat file while forgetting that I needed to download the drivers (from the same website). I canceled the script, got the drivers and tried running the script again - all the while messing around in developer mode (I hadn't known of the feature).

It ran successfully, but since it was running on my old family PC with Windows 7 running, it froze in the middle of installing the drivers, and I had to install them a second time. This time, the installation finished, but a notification popped up saying that the drivers were not successfully installed.

Since then, my phone will not move past the black start up screen, and I have to take the battery out in order to turn it off. I would like to return the device in any condition, whether it be data free or not. Thank you for your time.

May be your phone is bricked.

Try downloading the StockRom or some CustomRom that is compatible to your phone and flash it. This might help you.

If you are wandering about all these terms Bricked, StockRom, CustomRom and flash. Here is a good article that might help you to understand.


Android phone starts freezing when hot I have a strange issue with my phone.
It's an octa core 1.7 Ghz running Android 4.4.2.

When I go outside and it's too hot, the touchscreen starts to not respond when woken from sleep (or in other words, unlocked). If I put it in sleep mode and let it rest for a while, it starts working fine again after some time.

When I return home, the phone isn't so hot and it functions normally. This problem is quite rare, though.

Is this a software or hardware problem? What can I do?

Since there is no specification of How hot, I would answer based on some assumptions.

The phenomenon you face is quite normal. Whenever the temperatures of the components in the device get hot, to the point of possible hardware damage, the phone CPU goes into throttling. Have a look at this post about thermal throttling.

Basically, thermal throttling is when the CPU of the device reduces its power (clock speed and voltage). And due to this the device starts to cool down.

When its too hot (like well around 70 degrees Celsius). This will cause the device to throttle and slow the clock speed. Which in turn causes lag (or dropped frames) this affects the whole of the device (touch screen, GPU e.c.t.) and will speed back up once normal safe operating temperatures are reached.

Thermal throttling is controlled by the kernel. SO by using a modified kernel throttling can be turned off, but is defiantly Not recommended. This is a feature to prevent permanent hardware damage to the device.

This also explains why your phone functions normally when it cools down since that is when the processor returns to its "normal" mode.


Make Android to handle a hardware keypad properly I got the following phone for Christmass: GuoPhone N2 (also sold under the names Swell N2, Landrover N2, Cube1 T1C, ...). It has a build-in hardware keypad and runs Android 6.0. However, writing messages is quite cumbersome since there is no special software keyboard (like LG keyboard for LG Wine Smart) which would handle the keypad properly. I would like to be able to do the following:

Write "." by pressing 1 instead of searching through the list of characters.
Write space by pressing 0 shortly instead of holding 0.
Write numbers 0,1,...,9 by holding the corresponding buttons.
Switch input modes (capitals, numbers) by pressing # shortly.

Can I achieve this by changing the configuration files (e.g. /etc/system/usr/keylayout, /etc/system/usr/keychars) or do I need a special keyboard app? If there is no available solution of my problem I will consider downloading the source code of the Android keyboard from here and trying to modify it. However, it would be a lot of work for me as I don't have any experience with programming for Android. Is here anybody who finds this task easy and could give me any instructions?
Thank you very much for any help.

P.S.: I tried Swift Keyboard, Google Keyboard, etc... but they cannot even handle typing letters by multiple clicks so I can write just numbers with them. Only the preinstalled Android keyboard can handle multiple clicks.

Solved by installing Traditional T9 Keypad IME.


Auto-rotate setting disabled permanently on Toshiba AT100 About a week ago, the setting for auto-rotate on my Toshiba AT100 (running stock 3.2.1) got permanently disabled somehow, and I am unable to change it. It says it is "on", but the setting is grayed-out, and the screen does not rotate with the device.

Does anyone know how to re-enable this setting?

Based on this do you have some switch near volume button? If yes, try changing it.


How to root my Epic 4G on mac? Hello i am trying to root my samsung epic 4g (galaxy s) with my macbook air. I was going to use superoneclick but i cant find a version for mac, does anybody know how i can easily root my phone using my mac?

There's an article over there at the XDA Forum, titled Epic 4G Touch Root on Mac or Linux using Heimdall!. I'm not sure whether these steps apply to your device (not having the "touch" mentioned) -- but as there was no real answer yet, I thought you might give it a try.

The linked article includes a video tutorial, which you might want to watch first. Described steps are as follows:

Put your Epic 4G Touch in Download Mode by holding down Volume Down button and Power button together for about 10 seconds then hit Volume Up button. Connect your phone to your computer via a USB cable.
Go download the appropriate binaries for your Mac (OSX) or Linux 32-bit or 64bit at glassechidna.com.au
Get the file with "Binary" or "Binaries".
For Mac, you will get a .DMG file you can install and for Linux, you will get a .deb file you can install.
Install these files and open up a command prompt and type:
heimdal
You should get a bunch of syntax stuff, if so that's good, you have heimdall installed and working.
Go download a rooted kernel, I recommend Zedomax Epic Touch Kernel v3:
Download Zedomax Epic Touch Kernel v3
*Note - You can also download any other kernel .tar file of your liking.
Browse to the directory you've download the tar file by using command "cd":
cd /home/myusername/Downloads
Untar the tar file:
tar xvf SPH-D710_Zedomax_EpicTouchKernel-v3.tar
Double-check you have a zImage file in the directory by typing:
ls -l
Type the following to flash:
heimdall flash --kernel zImage
Reboot and you can check that you've rooted your phone by going to Settings->About phone and see "ZedomaxEpicTouchKernel" in Kernel version.
Also you will see a new app called "Superuser" in apps.

Congrats, you've been rooted with a Linux or Mac.

Several more methods are described at How To | Epic 4G Touch Root, and may be even more up-to-date. So please make sure to check them as well before you start. When done, we (the community) of course appreciate your feedback which method(s) you tried and how you succeeded.


How to fix phone always booting into recovery even when system exists I installed CM 14.1 on a Nexus 6 and the first update booted into TWRP automatically to install but failed.

I manually installed the zip from the cmupdater folder and rebooted.

Now every time I try to reboot my phone or power it on from powered off it goes straight into TWRP.

Currently I have to boot into the bootloader and choose the Start option to get into my system.

Tried clearing dalvik/cache & internal storage in case something was cached somewhere. No dice.

Mammuth's comment
points to a very simple solution that worked for me, once I adjusted it. Here's what I did:
Go to TWRP recovery terminal commands, and enter the following:
First navigate into /dev/block/platform/soc/:

cd /dev/block/platform/soc/

Now take a look at the contents of that folder by typing:

ls

If all is well, there will be a subfolder named xx.sdhci, where the xx is a string of numbers, e.g. 7464900.sdhci.
Now issue the following command, taking care to replace xx.sdhci with the folder name found in the previous step:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/platform/soc/xx.sdhci/by-name/misc

Finally reboot by typing:

reboot

This fixed it for me. I hope it works for you as well!


Root with Kingo root; stuck at turn on screen This morning I root my phone with Kingo Root. This night my phone suddenly turned off and restarted while I was browsing with Chrome. Then it permanently stuck at one of the turn on screen.

I tried factory reset by - Home + Power + Volume Up but my phone has no response. But restart by Home + Power + Volume Down works.

I am using a Samsung A7. Does anyone experience this before? Anyone providing other suggestions?

Thanks,
Simon

Based on the information you provided, your phone is Soft bricked.
You can make the phone working by flashing a stock rom to the phone(unrooting).
The process of unrooting is a thing that you should do very very carefully. Once your phone is hard bricked, in no way, you can get back your phone.
Since you didn't explain the scenario completely, I found a procedure to do an Unroot.
This website http://trendblog.net/fix-soft-bricked-android-device-first-aid-guide/ (listed first in google search), describe in detail the process and you can do what they said based on your situation.
They are providing solutions for soft-bricked devices in different scenario like if stock rom is available in memory, if not etc. etc.
The full procedure is so long and do it carefully
Don't forget to take a look at : XDA Developers


Lollipop 5.1 doesn't automatically connect to wi-fi After I upgraded my Nexus 5 to Lollipop 5.1, it does not automatically connect to wi-fi because Google is blocked in China and then the phone treated it as no network connection.

I have tried the solution here: How to disable captive portal detection? How to remove exclamation mark on Wi-Fi or signal icon in Lollipop?

However, it only removed the exclamation mark besides the wi-fi signal symbol, but the phone still won't connect to that wi-fi automatically.

I had the same problem with Android 5.1 upgrade on MotoX.

What worked for me
- switched off WLAN > restarted the router > switched on WLAN

Hope it helps.


Prevent HTC Tattoo from losing its mobile broadband connection My HTC Tattoo loses its mobile broadband connection after a couple of days without a restart. Calling and SMS still work but no data connections. Disabling and reenabling the mobile data connection does not help. Only with a restart the data connection can be used again. Is there a solution to this problem?

I do suppose you went to Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile network settings and have "Enable always-on mobile.." checked on?


Problems with bluetooth pand on rooted android 2.3.1 device I have a tablet Aishuo A820, rooted. I tried to connecto to my GSM using PAN network with following commands:

pand --connect <device address>
ifconfig bnep0 up

and it worked. Then I had to stop testing and later I tried the same commands but it never works. logcat shows:

E/pand    ( 3255): Connect to <device address> failed. Connection timed out(110)

I can't understand what's different this time. I used sshDroid to connect over wifi both times. I tried under some consoles with wifi off - same result.

I tried to re-pair devices. Then I start pand again with --connect. The phone asks to give access. I answer allow and again timeout. I also tried "always allow" so the phone don't have to ask for permission. Nothing works! How did it work the first time?

I can't specifically answer your question, however, what I've found BT paring my Nexus 7 (JB 4.2) to my (rooted) Motorola Defy phone (Froyo 2.2.2), using standard setup panels, is similar. That is, it works the first time. On subsequent attempts, I see a 'connecting..' message then the BT Paring/Connection panel quickly returns to 'waiting for user input' with no connection.

In order to 'fix' it I have to reboot the Motorola (phone).


Android device manager won't reset the password So, here is the problem.
My girlfriend changed her numerical passcode on her Samsung Galaxy S2 and she forgot the password. She had installed Android device manager before on her device but I still cannot reset the password. After reading some advices and forums I realised that you need to PERMIT ANDROID DEVICE MANAGER TO START WORKING ON THE DEVICE ITSELF.

So, is there a way to confirm that permission remotely? Otherwise, Android device manager is useless for things like that.

Thank you, Regards

No, you can only activate Device Manager on the device itself. This is for security reasons. The idea is that you activate it before losing your phone or forgetting the password.

Normally you don't need Device Manager to deal with a forgotten screen lock pattern, PIN, or password. After entering it wrong several times (usually five), the lock screen should offer you the opportunity to log in with the primary Google account attached to the device, or to factory-reset it. That might not work if you have a device administrator installed, such as a corporate email account or VPN credentials.


What is the name of this activity? I've seen it being used by some Google apps, as well as some others, always at the first opening of the app. It usually presents instructions about how to use the app (in a high level) and its features.

Navigation consists of swiping left/right and, when on the last screen, an 'Ok' button appears to end the widget's presentation.

What is this activity's name, and is it implemented in any android UX library?

Not implemented as a UX library, yet.

3rd Party Solution: https://github.com/apl-devs/AppIntro

DIY: You can create your own UI and can leverage ViewPager for the effect.


Remove Account Without Resetting Phone I have a Galaxy Nexus. However, I know someone that is having the exact same issue that has an older Android phone.

The account I want to remove is not the Google account. We have Lotus Notes Traveler installed. Recently there was an update and that's when the problem started. I am unable to uninstall the app because of the account it uses. When I try to remove the account it says that I cannot remove it without factory resetting the phone.

Neither one of our phones are rooted.

Is there some way to remove the account without resetting the phone?

Short answer: No.

The app dev must have made it like this. You could email the dev, to ask them to sort it, but otherwise there is no option.


How can I know the exact number of downloads for an app on Google Play Store? I need to know the exact number of downloads (count, not range) for my app hosted on Google Play Store, is it possible?

In order to see a number of downloads, you need to login to Google Play Developer Console. All information is there.


What's the difference between the various lost phone apps? I want to get a security app for my phone. I mostly need something in case my phone gets lost or stolen.

Researching this I have found several apps:

iTag
WaveSecure
LookOut

I am sure there are more out there too.

My question is why would I choose one of these over the others.
How do they differ? Does anyone have experience with wiping or finding a lost phone using one of these devices?

Thanks!

I suggest LookOut.  I use it and it's quite good.  It also has the virus scanner and backup of data.