How to create a backup image (*.ab) of Android Device that is not booting up? I am just a usual android user, owning  9-10 android devices. My Mom's Android device automatically turned off yesterday and while booting up again, it was stuck in the company Logo

and was not turning on. The device is "10.or E" exactly this  model.
My Mom had some very important files in her phone storage that she cannot compromise with. So, she came to me and asked me if I could turn it on without losing her files. I tried turning the phone on using the combination of the three buttons together (Power Button + Volume Up + Volume Down Buttons). This didn't do any good but yeah, it was able to turn off the mobile. Then I tried to go to Recovery Mode (in this device it is done by the combination of Power Button and Volume Up button) and check if there is an option available for making full device backup like my another device. Unfortunately, there was no option to create a "Full system backup" on SD-Card. It had some other options. See these images:

  .

Now, as there was no option to create a full backup using only the concerned device, I opted for my PC to do the same. I have SDK(s) installed  of all the Android Versions form Lollipop to Android 10 (don't know it's name). I switched off the phone and connected it with my PC using USB-Cable (not sure if USB-Debugging was on or not). After connecting I tried to give the adb command for backup  but it could not establish the connection with the device. Whereas, in the list of my devices I see a device named as Qualcomm HS-USB QDLoader 9008 (COM5)

which means that the device is detected by the computer. Although the device is detected by the computer, I am not able to create a backup using adb commands.
I don't know any PC Backup method other than the sdk-cmd-adb method.

So, as this is a very big problem because my Mom's Data is extremely important to her and she cannot afford to lose that data, I really need a working method to get her Android Device's Backup before flashing new firmware or Factory/Hard/Soft Reseting it. There are so many Android Enthusiasts over here that may also have faced this problem before or may face this problem in future so, if any of us could help me in this issue will not only be helpful to me but to all of the faithful Android Stack Exchange Members.
Please help me, I am left with no other option.

Thank You So Much in Advance ❤❤❤

The approach you are taking is not worth it for you simply because:

USB debugging needs to be enabled beforehand for using any adb command on a device. Since your mother probably would have never felt (and why would she anyway?) the need to enable it, assume it to be disabled.
Since debugging can only be enabled either manually by the user under Settings app, or by using a custom kernel, or by using a custom recovery to make changes in data partition, your chances of enabling it are zero.
Even if debugging is enabled the two most important processes are either not started or not fully functioning for enabling and approving backup via adb. One is the activity manager which is required to seek approval for backup via UI, and the other is the backend backup service which nobody can tell (without logs) whether it is started or not because of the boot issue.

In short, dump this approach because it is futile and a waste of time in your case. All I can suggest is to find out a way to either load a custom recovery somehow without deleting userdata. I've never tried that, so that's all I can offer.

You can try looking for Qualcomm chipset flashing type tools. They may be able to help you load a custom recovery/kernel so that userdata partition can be accessed.   Beware with such tools though. They sometimes don't list partitions for selective partition flashing and flash every partition in wholesale, including data partition which is of prime importance here. Good luck!


Zoom factor of offline maps on Google Maps Latest Google Maps allow to download some areas as offline, so it's possible to use navigation. The trick is that the area you can choose is quite small (hopefully it's just the default).

In my case it would be Berlin. I don't care about the required space because I have quite a lot of free space on my SD card.

So the question is if it's possible to download the maps for entire city?

Yes, it's possible (why don't you just try it?). It was even possible before the latest update. Go to Menu - > Offline areas - > "Plus" button.
Map of Berlin takes about 300 megabytes.


Memory card is not working .! I have bought Sandisk 32 GB MicroSD class 10 for my Lenovo Phab Plus . I am facing a problem . Card is need to be format Everytime I insert it after I connect it with my PC . It's working fine in PC , I have a old phone which even does not have  JAVA , It is working in that phone also. Sometimes it is not detectable .

When I re-inserted it I found this .

What should I do ?? I've already  replaced memory card once from Amazon . But same problem .
Moreover My device does not show as Media Device on my PC .  When I was using 8 GB SD card , it used to connect as Moung SD Card but now its not working .

Have you confirmed if the device supports a 32gb memory card, try using an 8gb memory card, if it persist, you might need to do a backup and then a factory reset.


Is there a way I can use a Galaxy Note on Virgin Mobile? I want to know if it is possible to use a Samsung Galaxy Note on Virgin Mobile's network.  If so how would I go about setting it up?  Virgin doesn't currently offer the Note, so I can't just buy it from them.  So would buying an unlocked version and calling Virgin's customer service to activate the phone on their network work?

Not in the USA. Virgin Mobile USA's network is CDMA, while the Galaxy Note is a GSM phone.

Virgin Mobile UK is a GSM network, so Galaxy Note will work on it.  Although depending on whether the phone and the carrier use the same frequencies for 3G, you may only get 2G speeds.


YouTube link preview not showing up in WhatsApp Using WhatsApp version 2.20.207.12, YouTube version 15.47.36 on my Samsung Galaxy A30s with Android 10.
Previously (I remember this working in November) when I shared a link from YouTube in WhatsApp I'd get a preview containing an option to play the video

and clicking play would just play the video there

Recently, anytime I share a link from YouTube in WhatsApp, the message sent will only contain a link. This also happens if I use WhatsApp Web

I'm ok with not being able to play directly in WhatsApp, but how could I get a preview with at least a title pointing that the message is a video and showing its title?

The best solution I could find was to adapt the URL copied in the share button

https://youtu.be/bDPczGUovzE

to

https://youtube.com/embed/bDPczGUovzE

This is basically substituting youtu.be with youtube.com/embed leaving the last part (in this video, bDPczGUovzE) untouched.
So now we can see already a preview before even sending

Once sending it we'll see

Edit
As of today this issue is already fixed and Beta users of WhatsApp can already take advantage of it.


Parted says external SD card has no partitions, but Android can still read it I have a 16GB external SD card that I'm currently using for my music collection. Android reads it just fine, and CWM mounts it perfectly. I'm on Gingerbread (I have my reasons).

I opened up adb shell and used mount to figure out where this SD card was mounted. It listed the SD card as being /dev/block/mmcblk1p1:

I opened this device up in parted (parted /dev/block/mmcblk1p1) and used print to find out what the partitions were on the device. To my surprise, it says there are... none:

How is this possible? Android can mount it and read from it just fine, but parted apparently thinks there are no partitions on it. I get the same results when it's unmounted.

you're just running parted wrong,
instead of

parted /dev/block/mmcblk1p1

it's

parted /dev/block/mmcblk1

and at the (parted) prompt

(parted) print all


Which CM9 ROM for sony ericsson x10i? I was about to download a CM ROM file for my phone, here

Now when I use that (first) uploaded link, it showed me a folder, in which there are a bunch of different versions, such as

anzu
aoba
mango
etc

and many more.

How do I determine which would be the correct version for me?

My Phone is a Sony Ericsson Xperia x10i, if that is of interest.

I hope this was not asked before, I was searching around for a while.

Thanks for any help!

I do not think there's any support for the x10 from CM for the v9 release.
For reference:

Xperia Arc => anzu
Xperia Neo => hallon
Xperia Pro => iyokan
Xperia Mini Pro => mango
Xperia Ray => urushi
Xperia Mini => smultron
Xperia Arc S => ayame
Xperia Neo V => haida
Xperia Active => satsuma
Live with Walkman => coconut
Xperia Neo L => phoenix

Edit:
CyanogenMod is a ROM that targets a lot of handsets. A souped up/bloated version of the Stock Vanilla AOSP Android (the ones found on the Nexus series handsets)
The FreeXperia project was founded by jerpelea who (unofficially works for Sony, gets freebies and contributes to porting CM for that handset etc). Also, FreeXperia project is officially merged into the CyanogenMod tree. Not all legacy devices are supported using the CM ROM, especially for the newer v9 and v10 (ICS and JB respectively.
If visiting this Get CM you will actually find that CM is not supporting the legacy devices!
Have not tried FreeXperia, but have heard it is not 100% stable, as some things are broken on it (If anyone wants to correct me, feel free to say so in the comments) :)


Micromax-P701 bricked, MT6735 Micromax-P701-MT6735, Deleted All Partiton, also bricked recovery and fastboot, All MTK Drivers are installed but its continues connecting and disconnecting(the device manager is flashing but not showing mobile) so i cant flash phone. even mobile does not power off, keeps rebooting please help!

Actually Emmc of your phone gone to read only state and you r trying to flash phone and also prealoder got damage and cant turn on your phone prealoader is responsible to turn on phone and it get got damage also emmc is read only state so you can flash prealoder from working phone but it will not affect it so just replace emmc and reinstall firmware in it


Report bug for any app on Google Play Is there a bug report feature which can be used to report bugs with any app hosted on Google Play?

I'm thinking that most developers will welcome feedback on their apps, so would expect this mechanism to be built into the Play platform; or at least for a service to be available for this purpose.

I've found options to report issues with Google's own apps / the Play platform itself, and obviously some apps have built in a feedback feature, but for many I can't find any way to feed back to the developers.

The answer to your question is no, the Google Play Store does not include a built in bug report feature.

In order to submit a bug report, you should first check the developer website to see if such a function is provided.  If not, your best option is to email the developer or, if the issue concerns other users, post a public comment.


Sony Smartwatch compatibility with regular headsets I bought a Sony Smartwatch and I wonder if it can be used with any bluetooth headset to take the calls. I know there is a Smart Wireless Headset pro but it costs almost as much as the watch. Can I use the smartwatch with a regular bluetooth headset like Samsung HM1200?

The official Sony answer for my question (I didn't alter it):

  In regard to your question about if the smartwatch that you purchased
  if can be use with any regular blueatooth headset and im going to use
  the same example that you put the Samsung bluetooth headset, it might
  be compatible but is not warranty that is going to work with every
  single fuction of it do to the fact that the smartwatch is build to
  work with sony devices.


Device stuck in bootloop after enabling ART I activated the Android Runtime (ART) instead of Dalvik and after that my phone rebooted but it seems that it's stuck in a bootloop.

Will the first bot after choosing ART take some extra time? How can I tell if it's stuck in a bootloop rather than just booting slowly?

My device is an HTC Explorer running CM 11 beta 4 build.

The first boot after swapping to ART generally takes a little longer to boot. After that it then recompiles every app using the new runtime before you can actually use the device. During this stage the device actually displays a message with it's current progress. If it never gets to that stage then there is a decent chance that Android is stuck trying to boot.

If it's stuck in a bootloop, you should see your phone continually swap from the HTC boot logo to the CM boot logo and back again. If it's stuck on just the CM boot logo then there is a chance that it is actually booting and just taking a long time.


Root Nexus One without wiping? I have a Nexus One running Gingerbread (2.3.6), completely stock and unrooted. I would like to root my phone, and try installing ROMs like Cyanogen. However, as far as I know, the official way to do so, fastboot oem unlock, will wipe my phone, causing me to lose all of my data.

Is there any good way for me to root my phone without wiping, so that I can use something like Titanium Backup to back up all of my data before I unlock my bootloader and thus wipe my data?

If not, is there any good, automated way, to back up as much data as possible without root, and give me some indication of what could not be backed up? I don't want to have to go through every application and figure out if it has some way of exporting its data.

This XDA thread provides a method for rooting without unlocking, though I don't know if it will still work for 2.3.6.  Worth a shot.  If I doesn't I think you'd need to downgrade your firmware to avoid unlocking, which would wipe your data anyways.

As for backing up without root, see How can data on an unrooted phone be backed up?


What is the cause of a "No network connection" banner? This banner randomly appears, persists across mobile and WiFi networks, and then randomly disappears, and I don't know where to begin to search for the issue.

In my case the bar is gray and at the bottom. The bar is drawn over all other apps and is always visible.

To check which apps have this capability:

Open the Settings.
Navigate to Apps (under the Personal section).
Open the configuration by tapping on the cogwheel icon in the top right.
Open Special access (under the Advanced section).
Open Draw over other apps.

This already made it much more apparent which apps are candidates for this issue. The next time the issue appeared, I closed apps one by one until the bar disappeared.

In my case, the app causing the bar was Office 365 Admin.


YouTube Offline video issue Iam going to perform a factory data reset on my phone but i don't want to lose my 8.45 GB of youtube offline videos , What do I do now??

There is no way to restore offline videos as its location is in the app directory which cant be accessed so one possible way is to just try to login on a different phone if it shows your videos then ok otherwise sorry for the loss!


Add Location to Photos I know this is possible with third party applications, but is it not possible to add location to an image using the standard Google Photos app, either from the website or mobile app ? Just realized I had the location turned off on my Camera app after a trip, and would like to be able to search the pictures by location.

I have seen this question which suggests there is a way, although I believe this is an older version as I cant find that option anywhere.

I'm afraid it's not possible using the standard google photos app, you would need to use some photo-processing software to set locations for photos after they were taken (Picasa comes to mind). Alternatively, you can use the G+ page https://plus.google.com/photos/yourphotos to edit the GPS information, but then again i'm afraid you can only do this one by one. Maybe it's best to just turn on the location feature while taking the photos and you're done


How repair sd-card locked read-only mode? Its probably file system error I have alcatel onetouch pop with jellybean 4.2.2. I put into 32 Gb sd hc card. Card did not work correctly.  Sometimes (specialy when i tried write more that one file) card has blocked with something like read-only mode. In that sitiation I used to connect my phone to computer (win 8.1) and run disk checking from properties. thats usuly had fix problem. Now my friend have switched on developer mode on my phone and my computer stoped seeing phone. I can't switch off dev mode, and I don't know how to repair sd card. Sorry for my English. Anyone can help me?

First, stop letting your friend mess with your phone. :) Dismount the card on your phone (or shut the phone down), remove the card, and use a compatible USB card reader to mount the card on your Windows computer.

At that point I would strongly suggest you copy off all the files from the SD card to your computer. After that reformat the SD card, using either the official utility at https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ , or by putting it back into your phone and having it reformat it. (I strongly suggest the first option!)

If you encounter problems with any of this, chances are your card has been damaged beyond repair, perhaps by the flash memory write cycles being exhausted. Grab what you can and get a new one.

All of this, by the way, assumes you really have a micro SD card, or a full-sized one that you've verified the write lock tab is set properly.


signal strength *send* by my phone When I get a call, I often can hear the other side just fine, but they don't hear me. This happens so often that I wonder if the problem could be my phone's sending signal strength. (There are tons of apps showing the received signal strength, but this is not my point.)

Is there a way to measure or configure this?
Is this a possible explanation at all?

Edit: should have added that the call is often dropped some seconds after I become inaudible. I hear the other side crisp and clear complaining about me not audible and then it drops.

Further I discovered the Settings -> About Phone -> Status -> SUBS Status (my translations from German) where I see that the connection is difficult in these situations (UMTS at -95dbm to -103dbm).

The model I am envisaging is that the receive (from cell) and send channels (to cell) are slightly asymmetric, due to walls, buildings and other obstacles, such that the phone software underestimates the necessary sending power by a few percent.

Sending strength:  Modern digital cellphones are set to utilize the minimum power to maintain a connection.  So the fact that the connection isn't dropping completely tells you that you have sufficient RF signal strength to make and receive calls.

Talk Volume:  As for them telling you that your voice is not loud enough I would suspect the microphone itself.  Like maybe pocket lint got into it or it got poked with something.

If it is an older phone it is possible that some part has failed or is in the process of fading.

In order to properly diagnose this, I would want to know 1) Did this start suddenly, or has it been a gradual change?  2) Can you send texts?  (They require sending power to connect), and 3) How has the phone been treated?  Has it been dropped or anything like that?

With the little information you provided I would look closely at the phone itself.

And you can rest assured you are getting enough sending power.  Digital is not like old phones where it can connect but you have to yell because of bad amplifiers in the central office.  With digital, you can either connect or not, period.  If the circuitry canperform their internal handshakes that maintain the connection then you are fine.  If the error rate goes up, your phone will automatically raise its signal strength until the celll network is happy enough to maintain the connection.

That is enough diagnosis to determine your signal strength is sufficient.


Google play services stopped Error Google play services stopped Error popping continuously, tried with downgrading google play service and renaming the folder in "Android/data/com.google.android.gms-1.apk" but still this error popping. please help

If you have installed a non-stock ROM, you probably need to install a different version of play store apk.
Try this guide http://spinyourfire.com/fire-phone-tips-and-tricks/turn-fire-phone-into-android-phone/

or try to reset your device.


How to get in samsung galaxy s6 actve I had made a password for my Samsung galaxy s6 and I forgot it a few hours later and I don't know how to get into my phone and the thing where it say to sign into google is no working either i have been locked out for 3 hours it is a very stressful problem to have because all I wanted to do was get into my phone so someone please help me (btw I have the active)

I made a video for a similar model -- https://youtu.be/_onTYkSUbr0

If this method doesn't help you I have tons of videos for many models, try looking at a few of my other Samsung videos and see if any of they help you. Feel free to ask for help on my channel if you get stuck.


How to solve the short battery life with galaxy s4? I bought Galaxy S4 in just half year. However I found some wrong with the bettery, my phone shutdown automatically recently with over 20% battery. I can only use the phone for two hours after my phone charged full. How can I solve it? Should I change my bettery? Or some thing wrong the software?

If you still have the warranty left it is best to change the battery , but the problem could be because of overcharging and discharging of the battery it has happened to a friend of mine who had a samsung galaxy s3 and after 3 months after purchase he had his battery replaced by warranty.the reason they gave was that he was using the charger on for too long and it had affected the battery.

personally it doesn't occur a lot but if it does its better to check it at a service center and get to know the problem clearly instead


How to root OnePlus 3 / OnePlus 3T / OnePlus 5 (A3000 / A3010 / A5000)? The questions are simple:

How can I root my OnePlus 3?
How can I root my OnePlus 3T?
How can I root my OnePlus 5?

Device: OnePlus 3 A3000
Device: OnePlus 3T A3010
Device: OnePlus 5 A5000
Android Version: Stock 6.0 / Stock 7.0 / Stock 7.1
Status: Out-of-the-box

Disclaimer: By attempting ant of the processes listed below, you accept full responsibility for your actions. I will not be held responsible if your device stops working, catches fire, or turns into a hipster and claims to have been modified before it is cool. Make sure you read the whole article and fully understand it BEFORE attempting it.

If you are experienced in unlocking & flashing recovery & rooting, here are the resources you need.

  Things you should download:

  TWRP Recovery for OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 (Choose the correct one for your model)
  SuperSU flashable ZIP (Same across all phones)
  DM Verity and Forced Encryption Disabler (Same across all phones)

Let's start from scratch.

1. Unlock Bootloader (Skip if unlocked already)

First make sure you have installed adb and fastboot on your PC (or Mac). Ensure that your phone has at least 60% battery remaining, and that your PC is plugged in and won't shut down spontaneously during the process. The procedure doesn't take very long , but it‘s best to have enough charge in case something goes wrong.

Backup (Optional): Unlocking the bootloader will completely wipe all data from the device. This includes apps, settings and even the contents of the internal sdcard (pictures, music, etc.). Copy all important files off the phone onto a PC or upload them to a cloud.

USB Debugging: On your phone go to Settings > About phone > Tap on Build number 7 times. This will enable Developer options. Now go back to Settings > Developer options > Enable USB debugging

Enable OEM Unlocking: On your phone go to Settings > Developer options. Then enable the OEM Unlocking option. Also,a free advice, make sure that from now on, OEM unlocking option is enabled before you reboot. Because sometimes it might get disabled itself. Yeah that's weird so be careful.

Enable Advanced Reboot: On your phone go to Settings > Developer options. Then enable the Advanced Reboot option.

Turn the phone off. Then boot it into fastboot mode by holding volume up + power or select reboot to bootloader if advanced reboot is activated via developer options. The phone will display "fastboot" text indicating that it has successfully entered fastboot mode.

  Warning: By proceeding this step, you will lose ALL data on your phone, including apps, games, musics, photos and everything else! Make proper backup before proceeding. Your warranty may also void, depending on your local law restriction and EULA.

Plug the phone into your PC, then open a command prompt (or a terminal on Mac/Linux) and run

fastboot oem unlock

You would be greeted with a Unlock Bootloader Warning page, Hit the Vol button to select Yes and turn it Blue and Hit the Power Button to Execute the selection

Your device will reboot, showing you a Secure Boot Warning. Reboot into stock recovery and wipe all data. Once done, your phone will reboot into the OS. Continue to the next step to install Custom Recovery.

2. Install TWRP

Download TWRP (.img) and SuperSU (.zip) from the top of this article if you haven't had them yet. Place them on the phone internal memory or a USB stick as per convenience.

Enable USB debugging, OEM Unlocking and Advanced Reboot again as instructed in Section 1.

Reboot to fastboot mode again. Grab the command prompt and enter (replace your-recovery.img with the actual file name of the image you downloaded)

fastboot flash recovery your-recovery.img

Hit enter and wait for completion, then boot into recovery. Do not use fastboot reboot because it will boot into OS instead of recovery. Use volume keys instead.

3. Rooting

You will reach the screen asking you if you want to allow system modifications.
By swiping right, you will trigger DM-Verity, and if you don't follow the next step you will be unable to boot!

If you are going to root your device and follow the rest of these steps, then it's safe to swipe right and enable modifications.

Select your preferred language, tap “Never show this screen on boot again,” and swipe to allow modification.

PS: Flash DM Verity and format data only if you want to stay unencrypted, else you may just skip and continue with flashing SuperSU.

Without leaving TWRP, transfer the no-verity-opt-encrypt zip to your device over MTP and flash it or select it from internal as placed before, or use a USB stick (via OTG) and flash it (This will also allow you to use Format Data to completely disable your encryption if desired).

Go to “Wipe” section and tap “Format Data”, and type “yes” (If you want to mount internal storage).

Navigate to Install ZIP and select the SuperSU zip file to root OnePlus 5.

Swipe to install SuperSU and reboot your device.

Bueno! Congratulations! Your OnePlus 5 now has an unlocked bootloader, has a custom recovery installed and is rooted. Enjoy!!

Credits: This post is mostly copied from the original post on XDA Developers Forum. I changed a few details so that it fits better on Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. Thanks to the original author (Funk Wizard on XDA)!

Original post: OnePlus 5: Unlock Bootloader | Flash TWRP | Root | Nandroid & EFS Backup & More !!


Bluetooth Watch that can control the music playback of an android device? I know shopping questions are kind of offtopic here, but for the life of me, I cannot find a bluetooth watch that can control the music playback of the phone.

I've seen watches that sync the music from the phone to the watch and all that, but I don't need that! I don't want music in my watch, I want to be able to leave my phone connected to some speakers, and control the music from the watch.

Most bluetooth earphones can control this, so it should be deadly easy to create an app that does this from the watch!

I'm pretty sure that all Android Wear watches can control a music player. I own a Moto 360, and whenever i launch GPM to play some music, a card appears on my watch to control it. This should be the case with any music player available on Android.


How can I control which apps are able to use the data connection while roaming? I am planning a trip to abroad and need to use my Android phone while roaming.

But i couldn't disable all data roaming because i need my company emails.
So i want to disable WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Play Store and etc; except Exchange.

Is there any way to achieve this?  My device is rooted.

Give a try to Onavo Count - it can block certain apps to use only WiFi, cap data usage, provide alerts on data hogging apps, has widgets and more.

Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onavo.android.onavoid

Overall, it's a very handy app for data management. It also comes with a companion app Onavo Extend to save on data usage: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onavo.android.onavoics

I would also suggest to keep data turned off as a pre-caution, and turning it on periodically - even if you use Onavo. Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks and tick off the "Data roaming" checkbox.

Enjoy your trip!


Change Google Play password without changing Google Account password Is this possible? I want to just change my Google Play password without changing my password for every other Google product.

Basically I want to allow a friend to log-in to some of my mobile game accounts, but not give them access to my entire gmail/google account..

Quick Answer: No

Your Google Play store account is tied to your Google Account if you'd like to share it with someone you'll have to share your Google Account. There is no such thing as a Google Play store account only a Google Account.


Rooting introduced adware; how to get rid of that (if needed including unroot)? I have Lenovo Android tablet and I rooted using Kingo root. After rooting my device I started getting unwanted ads. So I unrooted the device using some Google references. But still I'm getting the same ads in my device.

Please help me getting rid of those.

By rooting the smartphone usually only an app (like SuperSU) to manage these rights installed is installed. However, the apps do not display ads.
However, Kingo root might install additional apps during the rooting, which might then display ads.
In a first step, you should uninstall all (Not system) apps that are not used.
If the advertisement is still displayed, further apps should be gradually excluded, for this they can also be uninstalled.
If this is about in App advertising, it may be because an update has added advertising. To remove this type of advertising, an adblocker can be installed.


How can my company logo appear on other people's phones when I call them or they call me? When I have called some companies their logo or photo automatically appears on my phone as a contact. How can I do the same?

Install Truecaller and add your contact image.

Alternatively, fill up your Google or Facebook profile with images. The Google Dialer/Contact software will pick up the image you had provided in your accounts.


Not receiving any calls on my Moto G 2 (recently upgraded to Lolllipop 5.0.2) Usually I use use this phone only for surfing internet. One day I thought of calling my number from a friend's cell, it rang once and then sent a busy ringtone. I am not able to figure out what the problem is. It was working fine with Kitkat.

First go to settings > Sim cards and check the whether sim is enabled,
If disabled then enable the sim.
if the problem happens again try to reset the phone


Why would the TRWP Nandroid backups of system and vendor partitions be different between backups? For background info, I just picked up a Xiaomi Mi 9 Global version and am running the latest weekly Xiaomi.eu Pure MIUI ROM on it (if it matters, the latest Xiaomi.eu weeklies for the Mi 9 are Android 10 based).

I've started taking full backups using TWRP and I noticed something strange. For reference these backups have compression disabled and no encryption to try and rule out any variables.

When I check the sha2 hashes of the various partitions, I've noticed that all of the various partitions (boot, recovery, modem, efs, etc) have the same sha2 hash between backups (meaning the images are exactly the same). However even just from one night to the next morning, or even from one boot to the next as I tested today, the hashes of the vendor and system partition backups are different. I don't have any custom system modules or kernels installed that could be modifying those partitions, though I am rooted with Magisk.

I used adb shell to browse around the system and vendor partitions and all of the date stamps of the folders and files are either "1969-12-31" (basically meaning the date is 0 since that's the beginning of "unix time if you take into account my time zone) or "2019-09-06" which is the probably the date that the ROM or it's base ROM was created (the original Xiaomi ROM they made the Xiaomi.eu version from). I even used the find command from an adb shell to search both the system and vendor partitions for any updated files (any file with a date newer than "2019-09-06") and there are none.

So my question is this: if I haven't flashed a new ROM or installed anything in the system partition, why would two backups be different?

I would think that only the data partition would change as I use the phone. I thought that since the system and vendor images are the ROM itself, they should never change unless I change ROMs. I was under the impression that even system settings are stored on the data partition because performing a factory reset essentially just wipes that partition...so I don't see why the system and especially vendor partitions should ever change unless I specifically flash a different ROM or update the ROM which would obviously write to those partitions (or at minimum the system partition)

Are there some kind of auto-generated files or folders in the system and vendor partitions that change slightly on ever boot or something?

I would just like to understand this better so I know whether for example it's ok to just do regular backups of the data partition and only back up system and vendor when I do a new ROM update.

Hopefully someone with more Android ROM experience can shed some light on this.

Answer to your question is dm-verity:

  The dm-verity feature lets you look at a block device, the underlying storage layer of the file system, and determine if it matches its expected configuration. It does this using a cryptographic hash tree. For every block (typically 4k), there is a SHA256 hash.

So /system and /vendor partitions are always mounted read-only because mounting R/W causes changed hash values of the partition/filesystem (at least some inodes belonging to filesystem structure may change even if you don't touch a file), thus breaking the security feature. To make any changes to them, we need to disable dm-verity which must be your case.

TWRP creates backups in two ways. boot, recovery etc. are just dumped (dd) as a whole, so their hashes don't change because those aren't mountable filesystems. /system and /vendor are either dumped as images to retain dm-verity as discussed above. Or otherwise a tar archive is created to keep the backup size minimum. In second case even the filesystem is unchanged, a new archive file is created every time you do the backup. If the files aren't changed and are read/written by the archiving utility in the same order, using same options/parameters every time, then created archives should be identical. But even a minor factor e.g. compression may cause a different hash value every time.

So you must have dm-verity disabled, and therefore you will keep on getting changed hashes. But the contents don't change (if you don't change yourself or Magisk/GApps don't put some addon.d script), so a regular backup of both partitions isn't required. In fact only /data backup is enough, boot, /system, /vendor are already part of flashable zips.


How to multiboot 2 Android-X86 distro? (for instance PrimeOS and Bliss OS) How to multiboot 2 Android-X86 distro?

I tried to make a dual boot with Bliss OS and PrimeOS.

I installed Bliss OS to its dedicated partition on my hard drive.
It was perfectly booting and working.
Then, I installed PrimeOS.
It was perfectly booting, but it changed the GRUB config and made it only possible to boot Prime.

I reinstalled Bliss OS, same thing.

I edited the GRUB config files, as mentioned here: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/492587/add-prime-os-android-x86-x64-to-grub-menu/519867?noredirect=1#comment1090351_519867

It seems only one of the occurrence of an Android-X86 ISO is able to boot in a given system.
How to fix the config file to boot several of them?

The way android_x86 treats EFI GRUB config is buggy or misunderstood. No matter what android_installation you choose from grub it will just boot the first found android system on the hard drive (and it seems that device.map that causes the pain).

Anyhow here is a workaround that I did to get stuff working:

I wiped 1 of my laptops for that (MacBook Pro 8,1 320GB hard drive)

Installed Linux (Kubuntu) choosing the whole hard drive as one part + efi

NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 298.1G  0 disk
├─sda1   8:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
└─sda2   8:2    0 297.6G  0 part /

Installed PrimeOS choosing sda2 (DO NOT FORMAT),
ignore EFI installation (optional)
Booted into Linux again and renamed primeOS installation folder

sudo mv /android /primeOS

Installed Bliss OS the same way as PrimeOS + choose /system to be rw
Booted into Linux again, renamed Bliss OS installation folder

sudo mv /blissos_x86.xx.xx /blissOS

While still on Linux added both Android installations to GRUB by adding the following lines to /etc/grube.d/40_custom

submenu 'Android' {
    menuentry 'primeOS' --class android  --class android-x86_64 --class gnu-linux --class os {
        set root='hd0,gpt2'
        linux /primeOS/kernel root=/dev/ram0 SERIAL=random logo.showlogo=1 androidboot.selinux=permissive quiet DATA= USB_DATA_PARTITION=1
        initrd /primeOS/initrd.img
    }
    menuentry 'blissOS' --class android  --class android-x86_64 --class gnu-linux --class os {
        set root='hd0,gpt2'
        linux /blissOS/kernel root=/dev/ram0 SERIAL=random logo.showlogo=1 androidboot.selinux=permissive quiet DATA= USB_DATA_PARTITION=1
        initrd /blissOS/initrd.img
    }
}

Updated GRUB on Linux sudo update-grub, and made sure the tail of /boot/grub/grub.conf contains the Android entries
Rebooted and chose one of the Android installations and I meet an error telling me hd0,gpt2 not found bizarre o.O ,  after a bit of googling it says that it happens when running grub-install before generating or coping device.map to /boot/grub!
To fix that I had to go back to /etc/grub.d/40_custom and change hd0 to hd1 in my case

NOTE for small hard drives like mine it's better to use one partition (ext4) shared between Linux and Androids, from all systems you enjoy the full free space.


Decrypt my Micro SD Card I have been looking every where for an answer to this.  I had a Razor MAX with an encrypted card in it.  Well I dropped that phone and it died on the spot.  I now have a SG3 and the micro sd card works fine but the files that were encrypted are still that way and I can't open them.  Any ideas on how to decrypt just those files??

Without the encryption key, you won't be able to decrypt the files on the SD card. Your only option, in this case, is to format the SD card and start over. The idea of encryption is that nobody can access your files without the encryption key. In the case of Android, your encryption key is NOT the password you use to unlock the device. That password is just a password of a password.


How can I edit the title of saved/starred places in Google Maps Android? In Google Maps Android 5.10 you can save a place by clicking and starring the place. However, the name of the saved place is automatically generated by Maps, and can't be edited.

Is there a good way to edit that title, to show the correct/actual name of that place for example?

Googling I only found a solution involving editing the starred place in Google Bookmarks webapps. Is there a better solution?

Update 11 Jan 2016
In latest Google Maps Android (version 9.18.2 2015) there is now an "Add Label" feature/command available when you view a saved/starred place. See Give a place a private label for detailed instructions.

Old workaround (no longer necessary)
After starring a place in Google Maps Android, you can open Google Bookmarks webapps to display your bookmarks. Sort by date to show your latest bookmark and clicking on the Edit button allows you to edit that place bookmark title. The new title would display in My Places (now shown as Your Places) on Google Maps Android. Not an ideal solution, but a workaround involving additional webapps.

Update 13 July 2015
Unfortunately latest Google Maps Android (version 9.11.0 2015) doesn't show the place bookmark titles that you have edited in Google Bookmarks webapps.

References:

Google Maps Support - Google Maps Mobile - Give a place a private label
Arstechnica - Google Maps for Android finally adds custom names for places - 22 July 2015
Android Forum - Google Maps - Label Starred Locations? - 9 April 2010 - provides three workarounds: #9 add suffix "(Title)" to address in Google Maps webapps before starring (not editing on Android); #11 use Google Bookmarks to edit title (solution I chose above); #14 add to contacts and edit contacts names (will search each time use the address in contacts).
Google Mobile Android Forum - Why can't I edit the name of a "Starred" place on google maps? - 1 June 2011 - mentioned bookmark & contacts solutions above, also registering an address as a business place, then can edit the title.


Id3 Tags not properly recognised I have so far tried a number of applications to listen to music on my Android phone, and I'm for now settled with Google's Play Music. However, it has the same issue of every other app I've tried. Let me try to explain with a real issue: I've got Anouk's Together Alone album. All the songs have the same album tags. However, Play Music likes to show 2+7 songs (9 songs in album) as 2 different albums, as seen in the below screenshot. How do I fix that?

The only fix I know is to delete the tags from both albums and then re-tag the songs from the two albums. Unfortunately that will need to happen manually.


How to change SD Card after moving apps using link2sd I haven't used link2sd yet to move apps, because there is one thing I'm confused about. Currently i have a 2 GB SD card on my phone, but I'm thinking to buy another 8 GB card later.
What will i have to do if i want to transfer all the apps (linked/moved using link2sd) to my new 8 GB SD card?

I tried copying the SD card to a folder and then to the new card. I used Linux Mint 17 running Nemo as root. If you don't have Linux installed, I would recommend a Kali Live disc, since it runs as root. Everything seems to have copied but the first boot of the phone gave me an inconsistent UID message. It was gone at second boot. Some apps worked, some worked after reinstalling, and others lost all of their data. If you try this, move the stuff you really don't want to lose back to the phone. Starting a game all over again when you were at level 200 really bites. Facebook and Messenger store everything on servers so they could be easily reinstalled


Transferring contacts, calendars and applications from one device to another I am completing my contract on my EVO 4G and replacing it (with a Galaxy SII Epic 4G).
Both are Android - I am wondering what is the best way to transfer my contacts (a few thousand) and calendar (a few dozen) from the old to the new?

Also, I assume I have to install all apps one by one on the new device, any better ideas.

Assuming you're using Google calendar and that the contacts aren't being stored on your SIM card, all you need to do is set up your new device with the same Google account that you used to set up the previous phone(s).  If you are storing the contacts on the SIM, there is an option in the contacts to move them to Google contacts.

As for installing your apps, any apps you've paid for will automatically download and reinstall from the Android Market (again, provided you use the same Google account on both devices).  You can also use services like AppBrain to create lists that you can then use to mass install apps on another device.

I would recommend using Titanium Backup to back apps up on one device to your SD card, then either transfer the SD card to the backup files to the new device, install Titanium Backup on the new device, and then restore from that.  That way you get too keep you settings for the apps, too.  Don't backup the system settings though, as going from one device model to another may be problematic.


Application to take and share pictures automatically Are there any applications that can take a picture and upload to several different services automatically, like Facebook, Twitter (using a third party service), a WordPress blog, etc?

On June 2, 2012, PicPlz announced that they would be closing permanently as of July 3, 2012

PicPlz.

Not only does it give you a number of effects you can apply to your images (like Hipstamatic) but also automatically posts to  Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous, Foursquare, and can backup to a Dropbox folder.


Why can't I download anything on my phone? I can download and install apps from Google Play but I can't download any zip file, 7z file, Google Drive website file, mp3, torrent, etc on my phone. I haven't changed any settings as far as i know and I can't download anything from any trusted site. Even the bittorrent app's downloads turn red and stay at 0 despite being known good files. This happens when I try to download files on 4g and also wifi. How can I fix this without doing a factory reset?

Check for Restricted Background data. If it is enabled then you will have problems while downloading irrespective of it being 4G or Wifi. Go to Settings -> Data usage -> Download Manager --> restrict background data option (disable).
You could try any downloader like Download Accelerator Plus (works for me). All you need is to open your website in its local browser or provide download url in the app. Below is screenshot of the app Browser where you need to search in order to download. Then save it in your sdcard or internal storage when you see download option.


Streaming radio in Android I like a couple of Internet radios that I'm currently able to listen to using CorePlayer under Windows Mobile, VLC and WMP on PC. I own the .m3u files for both www.radio21.ro and www.vibefm.ro, but when trying to open with different players they won't get played. NSWPlayer crashes, RockPlayer says the file can't be played with System Player.

Any tips?

try TuneIn Radio, it has both stations, and it's great (and free)!


How to upgrade Android on the Samsung Galaxy Ace I have an Samsung Galaxy Ace that came preinstalled with Android v2.3.4 (Gingerbread I believe)

I've searched the internet everywhere and couldn't find a way to do so that gave clear instructions on what to do.

But I would also like to ask, if I was to update to say 4.1 (the latest I believe) would the phone then start to lag as it is not such a powerful phone. (800MHz CPU + 300MB RAM)

Thanks heaps!

You certainly can upgrade your OS, although the process isn't without risk.

There's an entire board devoted to the Galaxy Ace at xda  - here's a good post which should get you started.  From the quick skim I've done over a few posts there seems to be a massive warning of not to use ROM Manager (a popular tool in the ROM community) as it'll brick your device.

Once your device is rooted you can then install a ROM - here's a link to a Cyanogenmod 10 based ROM for the ace running Android 4,1, I think.  Be careful to read the instructions and take note of the stuff that doesn't work. If you get stuck - there's lots of help out there

Good luck.


adb device doesn't listed on cmd {Lenovo K8 Plus} I am trying to root my Lenovo K8 Plus after unlocking bootloader. I try to install TWRP and somehow the TWRP recovery doesn't open and the phone is struck in the bootloop.
I then fastboot the device and connect to PC and open minimal fastboot cmd. The phone wasn't listed in adb device, but listed in fastboot devices.
I think usb debugging is not turned on because the system doesn't restart (maybe there is no ROM).
What should I do?

Common mistake these days people do not read the instructions.
Here is a example Warning from TWRP site:

This device uses dm-verity!
This means that swiping to allow system modifications will prevent you from being able to boot if you are using the stock kernel. In order to bypass dm-verity's boot prevention, you will have to install a kernel that has dm-verity disabled in the fstab.

Go back to the Tutorial where you have downloaded TWRP and read, i am pretty sure there is something you forgot to flash.
Universal DM-Verity ForceEncrypt Disk Quota Disabler
Another common mistake after flashing TWRP you must not boot into android. Reboot straightforward into recovery right after flashing, otherwise your custom recovery will be replaced with stock recovery
/system/recovery-from-boot.p


download several files to tablet from drive I would like to download approx. 100 pictures from google-drive to my tablet.
I found only one way, only one picture by one.
Is there a way to "download all"?

From this page you can zip and download all Drive files

  Google drive has the ability to download a bunch of files and folders in a zip file.

  To do so , just select the files and folders and select More > Download > Download from Google Drive

  The files will be zipped and it will take some time for the process depending upon the size of the files and folders. You can either wait with that window open by looking into the estimated time or you can click 'Email when ready' which will send you a email with link to zip file onces its done.

Note the max zip size is 2Gb.

An alternative would be to do the following:

Sync the files to your computer using the google drive client app:

Install the google drive app on your computer
On drive.google.com, drag the folder shared with you from "Shared with me" to "My Drive"
Now all the files should automagically appear on the "Google drive" folder on your computer


Problem with ADB on my Nexus 4 (unauthorized phone) When running adb devices in cmd, it says that my phone is unauthorized. It appears that it has something to do with the RSA fingerprint prompt. I don't remember ever getting such a prompt. Yes, I am running in PTP mode and debugging is enabled. I tried, after looking around on internet for multiple hours:

Enabling/disabling debugging mode repeatedly
Uninstalling and reinstalling my drivers for my phone or ADB
adb-killserver and adb-startserver
Restarting my phone and unplugging/replugging in multiple ways

I did notice that in my (user)/.android/ folder, I don't have a file called adbkey.pub (which is apparently the file that's supposed to have my key). Anyway, I don't think I've ever received the prompt about RSA fingerprint and I can't make it appear in any way.

Do you guys have any idea what I could do at this point. I tried about everything on these forums and around on the Internet but maybe there is something else I could do. Should I reset my phone to factory settings at this point to make the prompt appear again?

There are two possibilities:

Update your pre 4.2.x SDK to the latest version that includes RSA auth.
If I'm right to assume you're running Linux (user/.android/). In case of Ubuntu/Debian: The 'android-tools-adb' package provides the adb binary which is preferred to that of the SDK. If it is installed, it must be recent (>4.2), because RSA authentication isn't integrated in earlier versions. You can manually download that of Roaring and install it on 12.xx, i have tested this already and it worked. Or just use that from the SDK. Be sure to kill the old adb server instance after upgrading/fixing the version.


Default user after reboot in multi-user CM 12.1 I setup a new user on my tablet in order to use it as a wall tablet with some smart home informations und buttons.

Unfortunately after reboot the Owner is always the user who is started first. So I have to change to another user in order to run the information app after every reboot.

Is there a way to change the default user which the CM is starting by after reboot?

I found a solution which is ok for me. I execute the following line using Script Manager App on Boot. This switches the user to the one with ID=10.

am switch-user 10

User ID's can be found with this command:

pm list users

Both commands have to be run as root.


How to see if Knox is tripped on Samsung S6 Edge? I would like to check whether the Knox counter is now 0x1 on my phone.  I booted into download mode, but I see nothing there to tell me.

How can you check the state of your Knox counter on a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge for Verizon?

Turn off the device.  While device is off, Press the Power button, Volume Down, and Home buttons and hold until you see a Warning screen, press Volume Up (continue).  At the top left of the screen you'll see "Knox Warranty Void: X (0x000X)" where X is the number of times Knox has been tripped.  Your screen will say Do Not Turn Off Target, to reboot your phone safely at this point, hold the Power and Volume Down keys until your phone screen goes black and starts to reboot.


Moto X Battery Question I'm new to android and the Moto X.  (iPhone 4s previously.  don't judge.)  I purchased my Moto X a couple days ago (2/15/14) and overall I'm very happy.  The battery life has me concerned though.  Last night before I went to bed I checked the battery and when I woke up I checked it again.  I slept for about 6.5 hour and my phone died went from 63% to 47%.  16% for being idle for 6.5 hours seems like a lot to me.  Previous phones would maybe lose a percent.  Any thoughts or suggestions?

Not for sure what 'Android OS' includes it is pretty vague.  It would be nice to see exactly what is causing the drain of 55%.

Overall it says 17h 39m 3s on battery at the time of this post.  I unplugged it around 2pm yesterday afternoon.  Very light use of the evening and like I said 63% went to bed.

** Update **
Over the past hour or so I've been searching the web looking at screenshot similar to those above.  100% of them have 'Screen' as their highest percentage and 'Android OS' at a much lower percentage.  I must have something turned on that is causing Android to use more CPU time?

I'm running on AT&T with a KitKat 4.4 build.  Still waiting for the 4.4.2 push.

This issue gets pretty clear by the second screenshot, which I will repeat here:

Battery usage (click image for larger variant)

Please pay attention to its lower half, just below the graph, and let me point out some details:

Mobile network signal: This bar has no black, which means the radio was on all the time. Further, the colors indicate a relatively weak signal (see my answer here for details), which most likely caused the device to permanently watch out for a "stronger signal source", powering up the radio for that, and consuming energy for this task.
Wi-Fi: again, a continuous bar, so WiFi was turned on the whole time, consuming energy again.
Interim result at this place: With all sync on (as it is by default), the device would also permanently synchronize your data (in intervals, of course) – contacts, calendars, etc.pp. – which again consumes battery.
Awake: This bar clearly shows your device was not in "permanent standby". You always find "blue spots" on it, even during your sleep period (which most likely is, where the Screen on graph is black but there are blue spots on the "Awake" graph – i.e. most of the "last third")
Charging: Continuous black, so no charger was connected. Guess where the juice had to come from then :)

Conclusion: Pretty normal behaviour, though I cannot speak precisely how much battery-use would be normal (that depends on too many factors unknown to me, as e.g. apps installed, sync intervals, "consumption specifications" of device components, and so on). If you feel it should last longer, consider switching to airplane mode at night (or turning at least WiFi off). There are even tools available which would automate this – some of them e.g. mentioned with my above linked answer.


Samsung galaxy S6 is secretly recording my phone calls and the environment around me Verizon is my service provider. I have a folder on my phone called VZMedia under device storage. Within this folder are more than 10 recordings. The file format of these recordings are .amr. These recordings come in two types. first, some of these recordings are phones calls I have recently made. Second, some of these recordings are of noise around me. for example in some of the recordings I can hear conversations I've had with friends or a TV program I have on while I am at my apartment. the folder continues to be populated with new records every couple weeks. I reached out to Verizon and they said that folder and what it is doing is not associated with them. My guess is one of the apps I have maybe be the cause of this. But this seems like a serious breach of my privacy. I Google search has yielded no help with this issue.

This is funny, because they have an article about it, related to the S6
http://www.verizonwireless.com/mobile-living/tech-smarts/how-to-record-audio-smartphone/

The phone apparently has a pre-installed app for audio recording which may be malfunctioning


How to simulate cell signal loss? The program (CSipSimple) seems to work not well when cell data network is unstable. It works OK hovewer if you manually switch it on and off.

How to simulate bad network connectivity (e.g. going by underground train) for testing the application?

It should be mobile network, not Wi-Fi.

Are there any programs or hacks (in software, with root access) for this or I should resort to wrapping the device in foil?

Try those electrostatic-proof bags like you get hard disks in - you can press buttons too. Need more attenuation? put it in more bags. Go walk testing around the office.

If you put it in Airplane Mode or the other 'tricks' suggested - the mobile signals a DETACH to the network - it is a controlled clear down - not at all like driving into a tunnel. We use that to force DETACH/ATTACH cycle without the long wait of rebooting the phones.

Usually, the only way to force an uncontrolled loss of signal is to take the battery out - not much use for app testing.

Engineering mode might do it - but all phones are different and may not be available. Maybe the receiver can be told insert a load of attenuation or reduce gain or something.

In my day job have a RF shielded box (Ramsey Electronics) with mesh gloves for manipulating the device in the controlled RF environment... alone it is probably not suitable for controlling the RF to the mobile alone. But then, I have direct connection to my own private mobile network with base stations, adjustable attenuators and my own SIM cards and everything...


Possible to share mobile internet (tether) while connected to existing wifi network? I have an existing wifi network and a Google Nexus 5 (un-rooted, stock android) with 3G data connection.

I would like to tether my mobile to share internet to all devices in existing network which have a custom route or proxy, maintaining default route for all other devices. This existing network also has another fixed connection (default route).

This means Android should effectively connect as a guest to existing wifi network, maintaining 3G/4G data connection and allow data to traverse through its mobile network while providing Gateway / NAT function for any devices which have an appropriate route / proxy set.

Configuration for the other devices (setting routes or configuring proxy) can be managed by hand (manually) as I am a capable network administrator.

As this is typically a consumer device, is this possible? and can anyone provide suggestions on software / howto's / information for this? Technically, my knowledge of computers networks and linux tells me this should be 100% possible, and relatively simple to achieve.

The cost of data here is not in question, I understand that connecting a mobile to an existing network could use a substantial amount of data and may impact my contract and data allowance.

Maybe I am not understanding correctly, but you could set your phone as a Mobile Hotspot and configure a wireless router as a bridge between your existing network and the hotspot. In this scenario, all devices on your network would be using the wifi signal of the router and only the router would need to be configured to reconnect to the hotspot.


-24 Google Play Error on installing eBay Whenever I try to install the eBay app from the play store I get a -24 error code: "unknown error when installing application". I have googled the error and I cannot find anything relating to this. Anyone know what this error is and how to fix it?
I can install other apps. I have an S4 on Kit Kat (4.4.2). I have forced stopped the play store and cleared the data on play services and play store.

Use a root explorer, then go to data/data (of your phone not the sd card) and delete the folders of apps you want to  install and reinstall those apps from playstore.

If you dont have root, a factory reset will do.


.nomedia file not hiding newly created images. Solution? Note 5 running 5.1.1

Here is my issue...

A .nomedia file placed in a folder that automatically downloads album art will only hide the images from Gallery if they were in that folder before the .nomedia file was created or modified. Any newly downloaded album art is visible in Gallery. Clearing the cache, data, and force stopping both Gallery and Media Storage apps, as well as shutting down and restarting the device does not correct the problem. The images downloaded after the creation/modified date of the .nomedia file will be visible no matter what.

Perhaps this is how .nomedia files work and I just never really understood them, but I thought they would hide all media files in the given folder no matter when those files were added to the folder. I didn't think the date of the .nomedia file had any bearing on it.

If anyone else has experienced this and found a solution I'd like to know! And I do not consider installing alternative gallery apps that can hide images a solution to this.

I'm having the same problem in android 6.0 but only in the pictures and movies folders and subfolders. My solution is to remove a recreate the .nomedia after each new download! However if the folder is anywhere else it doesn't happen!


How can I increase the brightness of photos on the HTC Wildfire S? I just moved from a Sony Ericsson C510 to a HTC Wildfire S.

Although the Wildfire as a flash and the C510 doesn't, I was able to take pictures in dim rooms better with the C510 than the Wildfire. Even using the flash creates dark pictures.

For example, in this picture you can see in the reflection in the picture glass in the lower left that I used the flash but the flash was so weak that it didn't seem to make the picture any brighter than without the flash.

What settings can I change on my HTC Wildfire S to help make pictures taken in dim rooms brighter?

You can access advanced options to better configure your photos outcome and maybe improve them on that particular environment.

Open the menu panel to access and change camera settings:

To open the camera settings, while within the Camera application, press your device "menu" button.

Available Options:

Image adjustments

  Slide your finger across each of the slider bars to adjust the
  exposure, contrast, saturation, and sharpness.

White balance

  White balance enables the camera to capture colors more
  accurately by adjusting to your current lighting
  environment.

ISO (photo mode only)

  Choose an ISO level or set it back to Auto. Higher ISO
  numbers are better for taking pictures in low light
  conditions.

Auto enhance (photo mode only)

  Select to reduce noise when using a high ISO setting and to
  automatically adjust photo brightness.

These are the most relevant settings to play with in order to obtain better results to your current scenario. You can read all about this and the remaining available settings on the users manual for your device under page 86.


How to use XMPP/Jabber while switching between networks? When running a Jabber client what happens (or what should happen) when switching networks (or when losing connectivity and the GSM/UMTS modem reconnects)?

Can a mobile Android Jabber client (e.g. Jabiru) be smart about such situations?

Worst case scenario I can imagine: Client does not care, TCP (over TLS) connection to the Jabber server is lost, the Jabber status (displayed remotely) is bogus and there is a time window where messages (from buddies) are lost.

I observed such a worst case for example with a stock Jabber client on a Laptop using an unreliable UMTS connection.

When using a Laptop I can easily shield my Jabber session like this:

connect via autossh to a system with a stable network connection and directly run screen -Rd
start a console Jabber client inside screen

Thus, when losing the mobile internet connection the connection to the Jabber server is still fine. And autossh automatically reconnects and re-attaches to the running screen session when a new mobile connection is up.

Is a setup similar to this necessary when using Jabber on an Android device?

Or are there Jabber protocol extensions for mobile clients that actually help to avoid losing messages etc. in network on/off situation (while being connected to a Jabber server)?

Not sure if this question is on-topic on Android Enthusiasts. But I work with XMPP and Android, so here is my answer:

As Lie Ryan already stated, a handover from one mobile cell to another is almost always transparent to the TCP stack on Android devices. But there are situations where the IP of your Android device will change. This are typically GSM/UMTS <-> WiFi switches, which will cause the TCP connection to become unusable by the XMPP client.

On Android the standard XMPP library that most clients use - besides having their own proprietary one - is (a)Smack: Clients that use (a)Smack with the default configuration will not notice a connection change in a timely manner. But there is hope: XMPP Ping support is in Smack trunk and will be shipped with the 3.3 release. Most aSmack apps already use an aSmack version that has support for it, and just need to implement according measures.

On the other side it's the XMPP servers job to set your presence to unavailable (offline) after a (server defined) timeout for reaching the last client of the JID in question.

So it is not necessary to build workarounds if you are using a proper XMPP client, but you may have to live with ghost status situations that should resolve after a few minutes.

There is a nice XEP (XMPP Extension) that would be the silver bullet for mobile XMPP Connections: XEP-0198 - Stream Management. You can read about it in Ge0rg's Blog.

It's being worked on for (a)Smack. But it will take a while until it's stable and you need also server support for XEP-0198.


samsung s4 extremely hot Hi I have a samsung galaxy s4 that is less than a month old

The s4 when idle is around 28°Celsius and around normal usage it's around 32°

The maximum the phone has ever got is 36° by using the street view on Google maps for 5 minutes

Normally when I keep the phone on while charging it gets quite hot so I keep it off it gets hot near the camera/earpiece not the battery

But today by accident I kept it on and after 10 minutes it got so hot that as soon as I held it for more than 2-3 seconds it felt like my hand would burn

The temp app read 39.2°c the hottest it's ever got

Now what I'm worried about is that could the phone getting so hot that it feels like it would burn your hand have done any damage to the phone already

After it cooled down I tested everything and it worked ok

Still worried things could be damaged inside

Unless you know for sure it became hotter than what it is designed for, I doubt you phone is damaged. One thing you didn't mention is where this temperature reading comes from ? If it reads the CPU temperature, 40°c is not that hot at all, a typical CPU can usually raise close to 90°c and I'm pretty sure the same is true for a phone CPU.

From my experience, the issue I have encountered on some occasions is that it looks like an application is stuck while using all the CPU resources without the user being aware. When it happens, I'm not using the phone at all and it is just using the battery and getting warm until I notice the heat. Then I usually need to reboot for this issue to be resolved. It doesn't look like my phone was permanently affected by these issues.


When I send or receive a call, the person on the other side can't hear me When I make a phone call, people on the other tell me that my sound is like I am speaking in a huge water pot or something like a pot.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S3.

Check the microphone of the device. On the S3 I believe it is the little hole on the right side of the charging port.  I have seen this issue numerous times and on occasion, it's a clogged or semi clogged mic port. If the issue is intermittent, the aforementioned possibility is less likely. Other times it is network related, app related or, worst case, a failing microphone.


Why do I have to uninstall apps twice? On my LG Aristo, I uninstall an app by dragging it to the uninstall interface at the top.

But then when I go on Google Play I find that the app isn't uninstalled, only disabled. What gives?

I'm not talking about system apps at all. I download an app from the play store and uninstall it.

I believe you are running into a situation where the launcher doesn't know what constitutes a system app.  System apps are those that are pre-installed, or bundled with your particular OS.  These are apps like Clock, Calculator, and whatever else OEMs like LG has decided to install on the device.

When you drag an icon to the "uninstall interface" at the top of your screen, this is your device's launcher app providing a convenient way to call the Action Uninstall Package Intent

Since you can't uninstall system apps normally, the launcher instead issues  an intent that essentially "disables" the app - the next best thing the system can do besides actually uninstall.


Galaxy S4 Not Showing in ADB I want to root a Galaxy S4, yea I know it's an old phone, but perfect for what I want to do. Problem is, once I do adb restart bootloader, the device is no longer on the adb devices list, so I cannot unlock the bootloader.
Any suggestions? I am somewhat new at this so I don't know exactly what to do. Step by step would be nice.

When you are in the bootloader mode, the device no longer communicates via adb, if you want to now unlock your bootloader, you have to use fastboot.
Also, the Samsung Galaxy S4 (except for AT&T and Verizon versions) don't have a locked bootloader, all you have to do is flash a custom recovery via Odin, then you are all good to go.
TWRP is a good option for custom recoveries these days, you can go to their website and download the .tar version of their recovery, then put the .tar file into Odin's "AP" slot and hit "Start", your device should now be loaded with a custom recovery.
Here's the link to all the information required: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/i9505-orig-develop/recovery-twrp-3-2-1-0-t3742880


WhatsApp keep loosing internet connection After I force stop it, and restart whatsapp, every thing works as expected. in five minutes again, it stops working. If I do force stop and restart it, it again starts working.

I do not change anything or even touch the phone, no other apps are running, even I did factory reset and installed only whats-app, nothing else, but the behaviour is the same, I changed sim card, or wifi network, but nothing seems to change, even as last resort system update to 8.1 didn't change the behaviour, it works and suddenly stops and start working after force stop.

only that behaviour is consistent.

my question is, how to diagnose this ? or solve this ? all ideas are welcome including changing the damn phone. :)

Troubleshooting

Most connection issues can be resolved by doing the following:

Restart your phone, or turn it off and on.
Update WhatsApp to the latest version available on the Google Play Store
Open your phone's Settings > tap Network & Internet > toggle to turn Airplane mode on and off.
Open your phone's Settings > tap Network & Internet > Data usage > toggle to turn Cellular data on.
Open your phone's Settings > tap Apps & notifications > App info > WhatsApp > Data usage > toggle to turn on Background data.
Open your phone's Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > toggle to turn Wi-Fi off and on.
Try connecting to different Wi-Fi hotspots.
Make sure Wi-Fi stays on during sleep mode.
Reboot your Wi-Fi router.
Contact your mobile provider and make sure your APN settings are configured correctly.
Upgrade your Android operating system to the latest version available for your phone.
If you're having trouble connecting to WhatsApp while on a Wi-Fi network that you don't normally connect to, contact the network administrator.
If you're on a campus or corporate Wi-Fi that has firewall restrictions in place, contact the network administrator.

  WhatsApp isn't designed to be used with proxy or VPN services, so we can't provide support for those configurations.


Is there a way to prevent specific apps from using geo-location functionality/permissions when not running in the foreground? Is there a way to restrict an android app from using permissions when running in the background?

For example, news broke recently that MoviePass is tracking location before and after movies (source)

I'm OK with using geolocation when the app is in the foreground... but not when I otherwise think it's off/closed.  Is there a way for permissions to be more granular?  I've heard that Apple devices can/do limit location services to apps running in the foreground.

Yes and no.

Some versions of Android allow control of a background activity manager.  In Android 9, the Adaptive Battery function can be used to force certain apps not to run in the background.  There are also 3rd party alternate apps which can provide the same functionality.  This means that there is a way to prevent geolocation whenever the app is not in foreground.

However, if you need to keep the app running while in the background, or if you are specifically interested only in a permissions based solution, the answer is no - not without root.

With root an app such as Tasker could be set up to run a task that modifies another app's permissions every time it is triggered.  See for example this Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/tasker/comments/79yjrl/change_other_app_permissions/


Is it possible to have the Auto rotate feature turned on or off by app? I'm sick of having to turn on auto rotate every time I use Google Maps for navigation. I don't know why it's not just automatically landscape like apps such as Youtube.

Is there a way I can have it turn on auto rotate JUST for google maps and not for any other app.

Is there an app that would do this or somehow program it in Tasker?

This solution requires Tasker installed and enabled. Tested on Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2, 5.0.2 and 5.1.1.

Create a profile with Application → Maps
Create an action under Task of the above profile as + → Display → Display AutoRotate and Set it to On.
Enable Profile and Tasker.

Open Maps and orient your device in landscape mode, Maps will follow you. Close the Maps and device will fall back to Portrait.

Enjoy!

OR

Edit start: 06/06/2015

There is a way you can force the system to go into Landscape mode by changing a value in settings.db. (Tested on Android 4.2.1, root required only under this edit.)

Create a profile with Application → Maps.
Create an action under Task of the above profile as + → Code → Run Shell, and enter the following details:

Command: settings put system user_rotation 1
Check Use Root.

Create another profile with inverse of Application → Maps.
Create an action under Task of the above profile as + → Code → Run Shell, and enter the following details:

Command: settings put system user_rotation 0
Check Use Root.

Enable both Profiles and Tasker.

The Maps will now automatically go into Landscape mode irrespective of  manual orientation of your device. Once you close it the device will come back to Portrait mode. (Note that OP has Auto-rotation feature off so it should work.)

This edit is meant for users like me who on slow devices have to wait for the app  to follow their orientation. :)

Enjoy!

OR

The shortcoming in the last method is that on some devices the app will first open in Portrait mode and then will force shift into Landscape mode.
However, the app can be directly launched into Landscape mode by using an app shortcut. Tasker allows it and we'll use it.

Go to your default launcher → Widgets and choose Task Shortcut.
Select New task → name it.
Create an action as + → Code → Run Shell, and enter the following details:

Command: settings put system user_rotation 1
Check Use Root.

Create another action as + → App → Launch App → select Maps.
To change th icon of the shortcut, tap 3x3 square icon (at the bottom of Task Shortcut window) and choose the icon.
You'll now see a shortcut with icon you selected in step 4 and name chosen in step 2.
Create a profile in Tasker with inverse of Application → Maps.
Create an action under Task of the above profile as + → Code → Run Shell, and enter the following details:

Command: settings put system user_rotation 0
Check Use Root.

Enable both Profiles and Tasker.

Now enjoy the forced auto-mode!

Edit closed: 06/06/2015

For folks who're new to Tasker

Launch Tasker. (Note that once you're done changing something in Tasker, tap Back key once. Tasker will change/close the active window and  would save the settings.)
Under PROFILES tab tap + → Application → choose Maps → New Task→ name it something and tap right icon.

Some Android versions might ask you to enable Tasker's accessibility service. Do it by following the instructions there and come back to Tasker.

This step would create a profile that will be triggered whenever Maps is launched by the user.
We're now under the named task (inside TASKS tab). Tap + → Display → Display AutoRotate → choose On below Set.

We're creating an action here which will be executed once the profile is triggered.
Come back to main screen of the Tasker and you'll see a profile with Maps app name and marked as On.
Minimize the Tasker and you'll see its icon in the Notification bar. It will say No active profile. The message will change once you launch Maps.
Well, launch Maps and see the magic. You orient your device and Maps will do the same. You close the Maps and device will come back to Portrait Mode.
You can always stop this behavior by disabling or deleting the profile in Tasker. You can also hide Tasker's notification icon through its settings.

Enjoy Maps now!


Why can I no longer share a URL to Brave or Chrome? Within the last couple of months a change in Brave had affected my typical article reading workflow. This also affects Chrome, so I'm assuming it's a change in the underlying shared codebase.
I use Pocket to manage articles to read, and I would typically open an article in the Pocket app, click the share button, and then share the article URL to the browser. Recently this stopped working. Brave (and Chrome) no longer show in the list of all of the apps. Edge, however, does still show in that list.
I originally thought that Pocket had changed the way it was sharing, but I get the same results sharing a URL directly from one of the browser apps (though that app's Print action does show in the share options). Sharing from Pocket goes directly to the full app list, while sharing from the browser shows just the top options, then your have to scroll right and click More….
My new workflow is to use the copy action (which includes the article title as well as URL), and then paste it into the browser, and then delete the article title so it's just the URL, then navigate.
Is there something I can configure to get this browser sharing feature back? Does anyone know what the underlying change was for?

Open Chrome, type: chrome://flags/#chrome-sharing-hub
Set it to Disable. Restart Chrome. After restarting, you will have the normal sharing sheet.

The process should be the same with Brave.
Note: Google may remove the flag in future releases of the app.


Where can I obtain an SQLite 3 command line binary for Android? When I read documentation such as examining SQLite 3 databases from a remote shell I get the impression an SQLite command-line binary should exist on my phone. Sadly I can't seem to find it on my phone (but I'm running a custom ROM).

I've read a few other posts that either allude to the existence of such a binary or mention how it is only available in the emulator, but there is nothing definitive.

Is such a binary available anywhere?

Other references:

Re: SQLite3
Using SQLite from Shell in Android
Why does the SQLite 3 command using the Android ADB shell return “permission denied”?
Android – How to poke around the sqlite3 databases

Your best bet would be to use ADB and pull it off the emulator, or pull it from another ROM. You will then have to put it on your device, but you will have to have root to put it in the directory with the other binaries.

sqlite3 does not come on most of the devices. I think it only comes on the developer phones, like ADP1/ADP2, and Nexus One/Nexus S. I know it is not on the Samsung Galaxy S devices such as the Vibrant (I am guessing it's on the Nexus S).


Host not recognizing my USB devices I bought a Romanian Android tablet, EvoTab3, with Android version 4.0.3 and kernel version 3.0.8+. I want to connect some devices such as a mouse and flash memory to this tablet that will be the host station, using an OTG cable (mini to USB A). I did the following steps:

USB debugging is ON
Download an app USB host controller that display the info: "S3C USB Host driver not found" " Root hub present, USB Host mode is active!"
I followed the steps from the post Android USB host and hidden devices.

I did not get any results, connected devices are not detected.
Please help me with this problem.

You have to request the correct driver from Evolio for your device, i think this is a pure driver issue.

http://evolio.ro/en/tablet-pc/evotab-3-tablet-pc.html


CAN a Simple Mobile SIM card be unlocked? I have a unlocked Blu Pure XL. I've used T-Mobile and GoSmart SIM cards in it.

I purchased a Simple Mobile SIM card because I like the plans. However, I find out later i can't use it has a Hotspot service.

Is there a way to get around this problem?

To use a device with a Simple Mobile sim card as a mobile hotspot, you have to purchase their 8GB data plan, which I believe is $60/month.


Does data reset wipe batterystatus.bin? Does data reset delete batterystats.bin?

Location of batterystats.bin file is /data/system/batterystats.bin.

Note: NVRAM also remains in data partition but data reset does not wipe IMEI.

Can I calibrate the battery without rooting the new custom ROM?

If you wipe data/factory reset in ClockWorkMod or TWRP recovery, then it should remove it. The stock recovery probably will wipe it.

In general, to access recovery, turn off your phone and pull the battery (certain phones have a mode where they "hibernate" instead of powering off...)

Hold the volume up button and then hold the power button. When the phone vibrates release the power button but keep holding volume up.

Note: Factory resetting in Android may not remove this file. A research project by Cambridge University showed that there is a security flaw in some Android devices where not all the files are wiped...

This is because the recovery formats the data partition, so it will certainly be deleted.


Using Android phone without battery Some Android phones have removable batteries, and others are non-removable. It is the battery capacity that makes the device alive for hours. Also, the device can be used while charging.

For an Android device with removable battery, is it possible to use only in charging mode (wall charging with the device's charger/USB charging) after removing its battery?

(For example, a laptop can be run by direct plugging, without battery)

AFAIK, no.

The fundamental reason is usage and the design that evolved based on it- mobile phone, as the name suggests, is meant to be used whenever and wherever, with periodic charging, unlike laptops, which are designed to work with/without being plugged into power.

It seems technically possible to work without a battery if you build an electric circuit that simulates a battery in all respects (including the battery health pin which is usually the third pin on battery) as you can see here. Whether such a circuit will work across OS versions and devices is not certain.

Android considers battery to be an integral part of the system rather than an accessory and OS evolves in safety, the longevity of the battery, user-friendly features, that support this - witness Battery Saver, automatic shutdown at low battery percentage as examples. If the electronics (SMBus) detects that it is not an actual battery source, this circuit may fail

Views expressed in comments are valid pointers, in addition to mine


why does my GPS not work in Italy without WiFi? Currently travelling at the moment with my Asus Transformer tf300tg.

I don't have a sim card in it, but whenever I have WIFI access, I'll download the Google Offline maps and this is convenient cause when I need it, I can just load up the maps and use GPS to pinpoint exactly where I am.

This is at least what I've been doing in Slovenia and Croatia which has worked fine.

However, I've recently entered Italy and for some reason, although my Offline Maps are still there, I cannot use GPS to pinpoint my location anymore. It just keeps saying my location cannot be resolved.

Why is this? How exactly was my tablet resolving my GPS in the first place? It had no sim card and I was in some fairly remote places so it's safe to say that I wasn't using any mobile towers to detect my location. If that's true, then it's using pure GPS from the satellites, then if that's true, why has it suddenly stopped working once we've entered Italy?

The GPS should eventually work without wifi, the further you are in distance and time from the last GPS sync, the longer the startup time will be.   Perhaps in Slovenia and Croatia you used it enough that the startup time was reasonable.  (Wifi access can shortcut the process by giving the GPS a hint as to your probably location).

I would suggest putting the tablet somewhere stationary with a clear view of the sky and giving it a good while to sync, it will probably eventually sync up.


Can I install applications in memory card in Samsung Galaxy 3 Possible Duplicate:
  How to install APK files on SDCARD.

Hi ,
   I ran out of phone memory installing various applications . Looks like there is no obvious way to install apps into my memory card ?

Is there any way to do so ?

You need Android 2.2 to install applications to the SD-card.


My adoptable storage is full. How can I move the data to a bigger MicroSD card? I've got a Moto G 2014 LTE running CM13. When I found out about the whole 'adopt SD card as internal storage' thing, I was quite excited, as the actual internal storage on this phone is tiny. I set up a 16gb micro SD, the biggest I had at the time, and have been using it with minimal problems.

Fast-forward to this day, and I now have a 64gb micro SD that I want to use instead of the 16gb one. However, I'm at a loss as to the best way to copy the data over onto the new one, or if it's even possible. The ideas I've got so far include:

Titanium Backup all [system] apps, factory reset, format new SD and then restore (should work, but a massive pain)
NANDroid the SD card onto a USB OTG stick, then restore to the new one (pretty sure this is a bad idea and won't work, but...)
Copy all the stuff onto my computer via my phone through a file manager of some sort (I have a linux/linux/windows triple boot, so file format isn't a problem), format the new SD into phone, and copy back (can't be that simple, can it? Hidden/inaccessible files?)
Copy the files onto USB OTG with a root file explorer app, reformat the SD as portable, format the new one as adopted, and then copy them back (could work, except for the point below)
Format the 64gb SD card as internal through an OTG card reader with the command adb shell sm set-force-adoptable true, use a root browser to copy all the data over from the old SD, format the old SD as external and remove it, and take the new SD and put it in the SD card slot (seems overly complicated, and also suffers the below pitfall)

The other thing that worries me is mount points: will the apps with externally-stored data know to look at the new SD card for it? Will I have to remount it in a specific location with the shell each boot (or use an init.d script perhaps)? I suppose that it can always be accessed through /sdcard or /storage/emulated/0, but I'm not 100% sure what goes on behind the scenes.

I've got recent NANDroid backups, so if anyone can eliminate the options that definitely won't work (or say which one[s] probably will), I can try them and report back in case someone stumbles across this question in the future.

EDIT: So, my phone further bit the dust and got to the point where it got into a pretty major bootloop. Ended up having to flash a whole new ROM. As such, I probably won't be able to test the full image/decryption/etc. method that I was originally planning. However, I will write up what I've discovered so far in case anyone wants to take up this particular method in the future:

Image the old SD with dd as follows: sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=~/SDCardBackup.img, where /dev/mmcblk0 is the location of the sd card as obtainable through lsblk
Restore the image you just made to the NEW sd card : sudo dd bs=4M if=~/SDCardBackup.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 (you may have to unmount it first)
From here on in, I was following this (thanks @beeshyams!) tutorial, which explains the next steps way better than I ever could have done. The plan was to decrypt the storage and resize the main partition with gparted. I had no idea whether it would work or not, but I felt it was worth a try. However, when I came to run the actual decryption command using the key I'd extracted, I got an error (which I believe was my shoddy linux skills more than anything).

As I say, I have no idea if the above method would work or not even if everything did go to plan. Also, feel free to correct any of my commands above if I mis-typed them (I'm on Windows currently, so this is all from memory.) If this info helps anyone, then good. But until then, @faidherbard's comment should work fine.

Thanks,
Jackdafish

Having a similar issue, I read through the comments to your question and ended up doing the following based on a hint suggested by Barleyman:

Go to Settings > Storage & USB › Internal Storage, click on "Migrate data" to move your data back to internal

In case you do not have enough space left on internal to move everything back (which was my case), here are some additionnal steps:

Connect the phone to a PC via USB and back-up the contents of the old "adopted" SD Card
Manually delete enough data from the old SD Card to be able to do the move: typically pictures and videos that you can easily restore afterwards
Click on "Migrate data" in  Settings > Storage & USB › Internal Storage
Check that the old "adopted" SD Card is now empty (or even format it back to "Portable") then eject it
Insert the new SD Card and set it up as "Internal storage" and agree to move the data to it
Eventually reconnect the phone to the PC via USB to restore manually deleted data

Reference: Answer to "How does the "Format as internal storage" feature work in Android 6.0+?":

  You can reverse the process by opening "internal storage" from storage settings and there's "migrate data" that will copy everything back to internal nvram.


HTC One M7 Keeps Restarting Itself I have recently bought a new HTC One M7.
Since the moment I turned it on it's performing random reboots. At the begining it was every few minutes but now its every time I unlock the screen.
I've performed 3 factory resets - didn't help (I think that even made it worse)
I've entered "safe mode" - still rebooting
I've tried to enter recovery mode but the phone got stuck on the loading screen (exclamation point icon)

Anyone might have an idea what's going on?
Is the phone defective? Might it be a hardware issue?

As I said, the phone is new, so no custom ROMs or strange apps installed

Thanks

At the end the problem was with the internal thermostat.
Had to replace the device.

Thanks for all the answers!


What does the usage data access permission allow I only just now became aware of the "Apps with usage access" preference view. However I'm irritated.

The permission was deemed important enough as to warrant a separate setting view to provide control and summary to the user, while at the same time there is almost no explanation as to what it does. On my OnePlus, there is not even a help page.

So, exactly what kind of access does an app get if it requests (and receives) usage data access? And if usage data I would really like to know what kind of usage data.

Android version is 8.1, should that make a difference.

Not a developer here

Apps granted this permission have access to data pertaining to usage of other apps, like in my case Better Battery Statistics, Macrodroid (automation app) and  such apps that need to know this

App usage statistics

  You can now access app usage history on an Android device with the new android.app.usage API

  The system collects the usage data on a per-app basis, aggregating the data over daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly intervals. The maximum duration that the system keeps this data is as follows:

  Daily data: 7 days
  Weekly data: 4 weeks
  Monthly data: 6 months
  Yearly data: 2 years

  For each app, the system records the following data:

  The last time the app was used
  The total length of time the app was in the foreground for that time interval (by day, week, month, or year)
  Timestamp capturing when a component (identified by a package and activity name) moved to the foreground or background during a day
  Timestamp capturing when a device configuration changed (such as when the device orientation changed because of rotation)


When to 'force stop' and it's effects I have read over many q and A's regarding the 'force stop' option for most apps. All explain what it's function is, but aren't too clear on when it is really necessary to go thru my list of apps and force stop them (EVEN ONES THAT ARE NOT CURRENTLY IN THE LIST OF RUNNING APPS?!?!?)
That was and still is a bit hard for me to understand also. If my phone says the apps are not currently running what I'd it that I'm forcing to stop? And will it effect the function or start up of the app when I need to use it?

The answer is easy: Under normal circumstances you never need to "force stop" any app.
Android automatically handles which app should be stopped in case the system is running out of free RAM.

Anyway even if you force an app to stop it usually should be able to start again at any time. Note that "starting an app" may even happen without user interaction based on certain events like change of battery level, a new Wifi was found, or simply because another app has triggered the app to run in background.


How to make Samsung Galaxy SL I9003 play AC3? I have a film in the .AVI format, with an SRT subtitle file, and an AC3 audio track.

I used the S/W decoder function.

The film can be played with/without the subtitles, and the AC3 file itself can be played. I have tried MX player (not PRO) with the ARMv7 codec and VPlayer with the ARMv7 codec. I have the same problem on my Nook Color. If I stop the film and try to select audio, I have the only item which means embedded audio track.

The solution.

I ended up preferring films in the .MKV format and using mkvmerge for merging audio tracks and subtitles into a video file.

However,

for those who want to watch films with an embedded AC3 audio track, this solution could be useful. It worked on my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 10.1 SM-T530NU, and I'm sure it would work on any other device.


Marking notifications as unread (I use CyanogenMod 9.)

Here's something that bugs me.

Say that someone sent me a few text messages or left a few missed calls on my phone. I see them as notifications, which is great because it draws my attention to them as something I need to take care of.

But, once I tap the notification to see the text messages or the people who called, the notification is cleared. Sometimes I just want to look at them but still leave them for myself to deal with later.

The way this is done in emails is to mark emails as unread; you can read an email, then mark it as unread so you'll know you still need to handle it. I'd love to have something similar for Android notifications, or any other good solution to this problem.

Its worth upgrading to cyanogenmod 10+
With it you can expand notifications to 'preview' the contents of the text or missed call, straight from the notification drawer. To do this, you simply pinch the notification and it will expand down. Try searching youtube for a video demonstration of this, it is a cool feature that will appear to solve your problem.