Titanium backup and TWRP, custom ROM I'm trying to install a new custom ROM on my smartphone and first I need to make a backup. I was wondering, if I use Titanium backup do I need to make TWRP?
I got a bit confused researching online and watching and reading all those tutorials.

I know that to use Titanium Backup I need to root my phone first (I know how to do it), then backup all the data and then do I just install the ROM?

Titanium Backup is a backup utility for Android that backs up your system and user applications along with their data on external storage of your choice. It is a leading Android application that uses root access to pull all your important applications and data from the system partition and stores them for future restoration. Whether your phone is corrupted or flashed with a custom ROM, Titanium Backup can save the hassle to get your phone loaded up just like it was before.

TWRP is an open source, community project. We also have a large support community with many people who are willing to answer questions and help people with their devices either through our IRC channel or on forums like xda-developers.

A custom recovery is used for installing custom software on your device. This custom software can include smaller modifications like rooting your device or even replacing the firmware of the device with a completely custom "ROM" like OmniROM.

A custom Android ROM refers to a phone’s firmware, based on Google’s Android platform. Android is open source and therefore any developer can edit the code, recompile it, and re-release for a wide variety of devices. Users can install ROMs to change a device’s appearance and behavior. ROMs are developed by the Android community, often times by a group of core developers who do this purely out of passion for modding. This means that most are completely free. Custom ROMs are available for phones, tablets, media players, smart watches and almost any type of device running Android.

Notes

You don't need to root for installing twrp and custom rom using twrp, but sometimes required to unlock bootloader to flash twrp. For a complete access and customisation, it requires root access on any ROM.
You can backup all your user app(apps installed from play store) data to any android version, and can restore using titanium backup app, which requires root access. For system apps, both should be in same android version is possible.
many custom roms are available on open source forums like xda. Search the one for your device. Look for some official builds like Lineage os, pixel experience etc. Developer will releases updates as nightlies, which resolves initial bugs, and makes more stable in future.
Gapps for any custom rom can be downloaded from open source platform like opengapps.org.
Rooting may voids your device's warranty. And you must be careful at each step. Because, any mistake can lead to make device brick. Device bricking means, it will continue in repeated on/off state
(Bootloop), won't turn on, boots to recovery only etc, repeated app crash while usage.
You can perform this ,
If you're going to use titanium backup app , then backup all your user app data using titanium backup to SD card or USB stick through OTG. Flash twrp and custom rom. On booting to custom rom, install titanium backup, and restore app data.

If you are using twrp method, you can backup your current rom using pressing backup part in twrp. After flashing custom rom, you can restore data backup which is done by twrp (nandroid) using titanium backup.

A backup of current rom using twrp is recommended, if anything happens in between, you can return to current os without losing any data. Back-up to SD card or USB, don't do it on internal storage, which may get erased.

Source:

Titanium

twrp

Custom ROM


What is Android InCallUI? What is Android InCallUI? I keep seeing it under apps I've used.

I googled it and I keep seeing it related to this xPrivacy Pro software. I have an Android ZTE Z812 phone and am wondering how I find out if this software is installed on my phone and how to access it?

InCallUI = In Call User Interface.  It handles the display when you're in a call; it has nothing to do with privacy software and you can't uninstall it since it is a core system app.


How do I open .pls files? I downloaded a .pls file for an online radio, but I can't open it. Winamp, VLC player all fail when opening, and A Online Radio which according to the description can open this type doesn't show up in the "open with this" list.

What are my options?

Just tested and ServeStream can open .pls files to play online radio (looks like DeadBeeF Player and Stream Furious can as well.. When you click on the .pls link it should be an option to open with after it is installed.

Opening a web-linked .pls:

Then ServeStream opens the .pls file:


WiFi network not detected (Nexus 4) My home WiFi network is not detected at all on my Nexus 4 (lollipop). I've got no problem connecting with my laptop.

What could be the reason?

I had the exact same issue with my Nexus 4 after the Lollipop update.

Rebooting the phone will fix this temporarily, but only for a few hours from my experience.

So far there is only one thing that has resolved this issue for me - I replaced the stock Lollipop with Cyanogenmod, using these instructions:

http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_mako


How can I use the stock Android settings app on an LG G2? I've upgraded my LG G2 (AT&T D800) to Lollipop 5.0.2 and have been wanting to try out some new settings/features of the settings app. In particular I've been wishing I had the search feature to find a setting. But alas, LG has some custom settings app that seems to be missing some settings or just has things organized differently so it's hard to follow instructions for changing Lollipop settings.

Does the regular stock Android (AOSP) settings app exist on my phone? Or can I install it somehow?

Short answer: You can, but you shouldn't. Install a custom ROM instead.

Long answer: Some features in your stock ROM may be dependant on that ROM's Settings app, because it might contain some preferences that affect them. Your Settings app may be missing some Lollipop settings simply because the ROM doesn't support them. You can try to install the AOSP Settings app, but there's no guarantee it will fully work because of those two issues. A solution to that would be to flash an AOSP (or AOSP-like) ROM, such as CyanogenMod, probably the most popular one out there.


Adding a Contacts Group on Android doesn't sync to Google Contacts I've created a contacts group on my Android phone, but this hasn't appeared on Google Contacts.

I was under the impression my phone and my Google account would sync each way.

How can I get my Android contacts group to sync with my Google account?

Try going to the phones settings > Account and Sync, click on your email address and uncheck sync next to contacts.

Next go back to settings > Applications > Manage Applications and select the "all" tab. Scroll down and click on Contacts Storage. Then click on clear data.

Finally go back to settings > Accounts and Sync. Click on your email address and select the sync for Contacts which will start to resync.

Give it a few...let me know if that helped.


Android Studio (Windows 7) does not detect ASUS Zenfone. Cannot run my app So, I will list the problems one by one. Please help.

I plug phone into laptop's USB using Phone's own data/ charger cable. Everything is ok. Phone is in MTP mode.
Android Studio does not detect the phone when I try to run my app.
Device Manager shows an exclamation mark on ADB Interface, but my ASUS is connected as a portable device. (I downloaded the exact drivers for the phone, however, manually trying to select those driver to update the ADB interface fails)
ADB Wireless (No Root) is installed on phone, but my computer fails to do a detection with the adb commands: devices, tcpip 5555, and usb, giving the message Error: device not found.
As some solutions suggested, switching to PTP mode does not help either.
The ASUS phone always wants to install a Share Link software when it's connected. Is this what is blocking a simple USB data connection?

Question: What might be the problem, and the workaround?

You need to turn on the USB debugging for ADB to work.
To turn on USB debugging:
Navigate to Settings > About Phone > scroll to the bottom > tap Build number seven 7 times. You'll get toast saying that you're now a developer. 2. Go back and now you can see  the Developer options in settings, check 'USB debugging' and click OK.
Some times you may need to install drivers for your phone. You can download it from manufactures website.


How to setup screen sharing for business meetings? I'm wondering if it would be possible to use android-based tablets (or ipads) in business meetings.

The idea would be to have each person in the meeting, with its individual tablet, see what a "meeting-leader" is seeing on his own tablet, navigating through the web or using apps.

I see some solutions that seem to be mostly directed into remote-control, but what I want is just to screencast in realtime to multiple receivers, privately. The ability to let some other person take control would also be nice, but not mandatory.

How could I set this up?

You may use join.me for this. The organizer installs the client on his/ her machine and rest everyone may join in through their web browser.


cannot scan QR code for login whatsapp web version using 3 inch display phone, cannot scan QR code for login. any idea to solve this?

Problem is you can't do it with a display that is smaller than 4 inches... Normally, the built-in scanner in Whatsapp has an "OK, got it" button at the bottom of the instruction screen that blocks the camera. On my 3,5 inch model, this button is cut off, so I can't remove the message.

No Chance.


Would Nexus 4 bought from UK work in India? I bought a Google Nexus 4 LG make from UK, will it work in India?

I'm pretty sure there is only one model of the Nexus 4. It should work with no problems.

On the off chance that there are problems, there were also different radio images released for different areas. Almost all of them (if not all) can be found over here, on XDA Developers. The version for India is 0.54.

If needed, these images can be flashed using fastboot or possibly using a custom-recovery.

As long as your carrier in India uses a frequency that the Nexus 4 supports, the hardware itself isn't locked to any geographical location.

From GSMArena:

2G Networks:

GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

3G Networks:

HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
HSDPA 900 / 2100


What is this icon on status bar? I just realized there is new icon in my status bar on left of sound icon

I don't have clue what is that icon, thus I also can't search information about it.

Anyone has advise?

It's the Battery Stamina Mode (Two hands holding the battery).

  Battery STAMINA Mode builds on the same technology as Extended
  Standby Mode. You can turn it off if your dont want it in the
  Power management Settings page.

  Starting one minute after the screen has been turned off, data traffic
  is automatically blocked and background activities are prevented from
  waking up the system.

  When Battery STAMINA Mode is running, you will also get power
  management tips to help you save even more energy, and keep your
  device going even longer. For example, if Battery STAMINA Mode is
  turned off and you leave your device with the screen turned off for
  six hours or more, you will get a recommendation in the notification
  bar to turn on Battery STAMINA Mode. You will also be notified about
  apps that consume a lot of power. [Ref.]

You can also White list some imporatant apps, thus allowing them to run in the background.

Read More on How battery Stamina Mode works?


How do I move apps to SD card on Android 7 I'm getting tired of deleting apps to install an app. Right now I need every app I got but also need to download another app. I got no more space left. I've searched high and low for a way to move my apps, completely, to SD card but to no avail. And I don't want to "link" them to SD. I want to "move" them to create space.
Can anyone point me in the right direction please? Thanks!
Android 7 | Rooted | Moto C Plus

You can not move all apps to SD card. You can install some app to SD card. Part of the app also install on internal memory.
You can use SD card as internal storage. You can add SD card and choose as internal storage not as portable storage.


My phone galaxy GT-I9003 is stuck in flight mode and not able to detect Sim card. I want to disable the airplane mode in order to return to normal state. After a long press on power button, I do have the "device options", however nothing happens when I press Airplane mode (airplane mode enable). I am stuck in airplane mode

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

Go to SETTINGS > WIRELESS AND NETWORKS and uncheck AEROPLANE MODE from there.

If that doesn't work, remove the battery and SIM card, wait 1 minute and re-insert SIM + battery and restart.


Problem adding web app shortcut to home screen on Galaxy tablet I have a Samsung GT-P7510 tablet running Android 4.0.4 and I want to add a bookmark to the home screen so I have one touch access to the web app.

Previously this same tablet was running an earlier version of Android (3.x) and I had no problem adding a web app to the home screen. I would first add the page as a bookmark and then long press the bookmark to get a menu. On the menu there was an option to add the bookmark as a shortcut on the home screen. When I did that then I am pretty sure it allowed me to specify a name for the home screen shortcut. Once I added it then it went to the home screen automatically and I could see the shortcut icon.

I recently upgraded the tablet to Android 4.0.4 and tried to do the above operation. When I do, I see these differences. When I long press a bookmark and select "Add shortcut to home" nothing seems to happen. No dialog box comes up asking me what name I want to give the shortcut. When I go to the home screen I don't see my shortcut.

Why isn't this working???

Could it have created the shortcut on a different page of the home screen? Be sure to scroll left and right to check every page.

If you still can't get that working, there's another method that should still work. Go into the app drawer (the list of apps from the home screen), then go to the Widgets tab. There should be a widget there called Bookmark. Hold it to pick it up, and then drag it to where you like on your home screen.

If you need more flexibility than that, my app Showr lets you create a resizable home screen shortcut with a custom icon or image. You can use any picture you like for the shortcut, and have it open the web page you set or launch an app of your choice. It can even update the picture from the web automatically: for example, if the web app is a bug tracker, and it offers an image showing how many bugs are open, you might want to use something like that as the shortcut.

Download Showr for free from Google Play


I cancelled SIM unlock and now I cannot unlock the device When I inserted SIM card into my phone I tapped the "cancel" button, assuming that it would be possible to unlock it later. But I fear that my assumption was wrong.

The device is a Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8.

Sadly I cannot find anything in "Settings" to unlock the SIM.

I have tried removing and inserting the SIM card several times, but it doesn't help. Somehow the devices remembers that I selected cancel. I'm not seeing any prompts related to unlocking the device.

I can see that the APNs page is empty. There is no Add button on it.

Settings -> Wireless & network settings -> Mobile network settings -> Access Point Names

Mobile network state
Disconnected

Firmware version
2.1-update1

Build number
2.0.1.A.0.47

Model number
E15i

Is it hidden in another app or is there something I have overlooked?

Finally solved it.. I have found this ansewer by yy502 on cyanogenmod

1) you've missed the PIN prompt when phone starts up. no phone calls.
2) go to "location & security settings"
3) go to "set up SIM card lock"
4) un-tick "Lock SIM card"
5) enter your PIN as required
6) your phone will now connect to the mobile network. full bars!!
7) re-tick "set up SIM card lock" if you still want to protect your phone using SIM card PIN
8) enter your PIN as required


Network disconnecting after returning from flight mode Device: LG G4 with android 6.0

When I turn flight mode off, after a few seconds I get reconnected to my mobile carrier network. After a another few seconds though, the network disappears (showing 'searching for network' icon in notification bar) and I have to wait for a minute or so in order to be able to make a phone call or something.

The phone came with android 5.1.0 and I think this started happening after the first OS update (to 5.1.1 if I can remember correctly).

Why is this happening? Is there any way to fix it?

For some reason this had to do with my service provider. When I activated 4g the issue was resolved! (don't know why and how this is related to 4g activation but it really stopped when I called the company and told them to activate my 4g)


Charger with long usb cable I have ASUS ZENFONE 2 with model no ASUS_Z00LD and type ZE550KL.
I need a adapter and charging cable of at least 2 metre length.
Google is not showing relevant results.
 How do I get one?

If you cannot find a reference to one on the Asus website, then Asus does not make one. Also, longer cables cause loss of current and hence your phone will charge slower.

Most companies these days don't even sell their chargers and cables in open market. They are only bundled with the products and available via authorized service points. So, if you have an Asus point nearby, go check in there.


Change existing contacts from 'phone' to 'gmail' When the contact items (or several) are set to 'phone', how can they be changed to 'gmail' in order to sync?

In the post Contacts Sync problems: phone contacts not syncing to Google,
it says that contacts set to 'phone' will not sync. So, how can they be changed?

You need to export your phone contacts in to vcf format and then again import it into Google contacts.

Steps in Android 4.2:

contacts -> settings > Import/Export -> Export to storage.
contacts -> settings > Import/Export -> Import from storage. - This will ask you to select your Google account to save.

Edit/Delete or remove duplicates in http://contacts.google.com. Thats easy.


Some questions about storage After weeks of trying to understand Android's storage management I'm left with more questions than answers.

I've already figured out how to force-move apps to external SD card, and to convince newly installed apps to directly install to SD card. But I'm still not sure who's against who. Of course, the fact that "SD card" is confusingly used to describe both the phone's own "hard disk" and external cards that you stick in doesn't help. Questions:

All the dozens tools that promise to force-move apps to SD card, one can assume they all mean "external SD card", correct?
Some parts of every app MUST remain on the internal storage, as far as I understand. Some basic core files. Which means: no matter how intensively you move apps to the external SD card, at some point your internal storage will run out of space. You may have an external 128-GB SD card in, but no tool in the world is going to save you from filling up your 5-GB internal storage sooner or later. Correct?
When Play Store tells me "not enough storage", which storage does it mean? How come I try to install a 50-MB app while having much more than that free in the RAM, the ROM, and the internal storage, and I get refused? (I understand that sometimes erasing cache and RAM solves this, but is it always so?) Is there a Store add-on or something like that that makes it all a bit more transparent, showing which downloaded file exactly doesn't fit in which type of storage?
I've heard that some elaborate games weigh 3 GB (never dealt with one myself). How would I theoretically go about installing such a game? I certainly have no such amount of any type of storage, except for the external SD card. Where will the files even be downloaded to?

Thanks!

Many questions in one, but …

No. They all mean whatever the system sees as "primary external storage". If you've got an "internal SD card" and an "external SD card", this usually means the internal.
Nes. Depends on. Without root powers, this is correct. With root powers there are ways around – see e.g. our link2sd tag-wiki (for a broader intro, also see our app2sd tag-wiki)
the devices internal storage (i.e. /data/data)
if you don't have that much internal storage left, you don't deal with them at all. Initial download goes to internal storage, so no way1.

1: note that with Android 6+ you can adopt the SD card as internal storage to work around this limitation, on the cost of other limitations


find out when was my memory card removed from Samsung J5 My memory card of my work phone got stolen and i want to find out when was it stolen.

Using the Android SDK. Connect your device (with USB-Debugging enabled) and, at a Terminal enter the following:

$ adb logcat -d > logcat.txt

The -d option tells adb to copy the entire File Log from the Android System. Because you seem to know how UNIX Systems work, I won't explain the rest of the command.
A second option (if you are rooted, that is) is to install a Terminal Emulator on your Android device. Open the Terminal Emulator and enter the command:

$ logcat -d > /sdcard/my-log-file.txt

This will do the same as above (except you don't need a computer, and the file saves on your device/SDcard. Feel free to change the " /sdcard/my-log-file.txt " part to anything you like, but I strongly recommend you save it to either your external or internal storage - so in short: Save it to a location you can accsess without # (superuser) permission!

Answer courtesy of @Ankush


What is com.mgoogle.android.gms? While checking the installed packages in my device through adb. I found two packages, com.google.android.gms and com.mgoogle.android.gms. I know the former is related to Google Play Serivces.
What is com.mgoogle.android.gms and its significance?
Should I remove it?

Based on quick research of the package name com.mgoogle.android.gms, looks like it is a MicroG package used by YouTube Vanced.
The installation of this package is suggested by the official YouTube Vanced for non-root users if they want to add and login with a Google account.

Download & Install MicroG!
Download and install MicroG for YouTube Vanced in order to be able to connect your google account with YouTube.
If you don't install MicroG package, "add account" button will not work.

The renaming of the package is to prevent any conflicts with existing Google services.


Rooting using Windows Application or APK Firstly, I'm so curious about Application one click root, they said in their homepage, they can root with just one click within single Apps. For Samsung Devices which we know cannot using fastboot through ADB (bootloader locked), so we need to install custom recovery through Odin/Heimdall. (for beginner is such a confused things).

So, how they can rooting any devices without Odin/Heimdall and CWM/TWRP custom recovery?

And after several doing research on internet, I've found that some Android Application have ability to rooting device. I know rooting devices doesn't need to install custom recovery.

how APK can root devices without gain root access? How it can be done? and can you refer some application code or snippet code that purposed to root devices?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Some devices need that thing(custom recovery/pre-root) to "set the road" to the root application. Take in mind that rooting a device is exploiting a system bug to gain root access.

Because of that I don't think that would be possible for an app to root the device just for one app. It's the entire device what is rooted, not just an app.


Phone connected via bluetooth to car audio system: media audio works, calls don't I have been successfully using my Motorola Moto G3, 2015, with Android Marshmallow 6.0, to connect the phone to the audio car (Toyota) system for months.

A few days ago, I received a whatsapp call (media audio) while the phone was connected via bluetooth to the car, and I successfully used the audio car system for the whatsapp call.

Since then, unfortunately, whenever I connect the phone via Bluetooth to the audio car system, only media audio (e.g. youtube videos, mp3, music, whatsapp calls, etc.) is transmitted, whereas calling another telephone I do not hear anything via car stereo.
The phone works because if I disconnect the Bluetooth, the call is active and I can use the phone to speak/hear.

I tried to remove the Bluetooth phone device and add it again, and to disable transmission of media audio via Bluetooth to the car system, but the problem does not disappear.

Any help?

Thanks!

I removed the phone/device again from the bluetooth car audio system and linked it again via bluetooth, after changing the phone bluetooth name.
It did not work.

I then turned off and on the phone.

Now it seems to be working, not sure how/why though!

UPDATE: it happened again, and only a complete power off and then power on of the phone solved the issue.


How can I add a filter to my screen? Say I'm bored of my screen looking as boring as it normally does, is there a way to add a filter to all the colours on the screen (like an Instagram filter or even something simpler like a red light filter)?

Original

Filtered

After some digging around, I unearthed some interesting developer settings that significantly jazz up my homescreen. The added benefit of this in-built solution is it doesn't block app installs :)

There's also the colour inversion option under accessibility settings

I'd post a screenshot of my new homescreen but it seems the filter isn't reflected in screenshots.


Samsung Galaxy S3 not connecting via USB Since about a week, my S3 doesn't connect anymore via usb to any computer.
I don't think it's driver related as it was working before and I didn't change anything on the computers.
It now runs Jelly Bean but it didn't happen right after the update (only after a week or so it stopped working).

The S3 doesn't even show the notification with the usb icon nor the possibility to switch between PTP & MTP...

I tested with 3 different usb cables, on vista, win 7 and mac os x.
Tried to activate / deactivate usb debugging, restart the phone and event done a hard reset, it's still not working.
Phone is not rooted

Maybe it's hardware, but the phone didn't fell or anything like that...

Do you have an idea ?

I just had the same problem tonight.  All of a sudden my pc wouldn't recognize my S3 when I connected via the USB.  I tried the USB debugging first and restarting...didn't work.  I popped the battery out and restarted, and the USB icon showed up. Hope that helps.

Thanks for all the helpful troubleshooting ;)


Is it possible to output audio from the speakers while a Bluetooth headset is connected? In iOS, this is achieved by double-tapping the home button, swiping right twice, and selecting the speakers.

Can this be done in Android?

You can accomplish this by disconnecting the stereo audio (A2DP) profile from your headset. This still keeps your headset paired with the hands-free profile.

You can do this by opening Bluetooth settings, long-pressing your attached device and unchecking Stereo audio.


How come I get "This is a 'espresso10wifi'" when I try to flash recovery? I'm trying to adb-sideload a new recovery (Philz Touch Recovery n5110) I get,

This package is for a 'konowifi.5110.GT-N5110.konawifixx' devices: this is a 'espresso10wifi'.
E: Error in /tmp/update.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.

The Samsung N5110 is the Galaxy Note 8.  The "espresso10wifi" is a Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (your device).

It's not flashing because you're flashing the wrong file for your device.


Compression of files on whatsapp when i try send a vid whatever the size it reduces to 16mb, does the application compress files and to what extent.
Also how large a file can i send on the application?

https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/20964587

Send an existing video

Tap Choose Existing Video to share a video from your Camera Roll or Photo Albums. You will have the option to preview and add a caption to your video before sending it. Existing videos are limited to 16 Megabytes, or about 90 seconds of video on most phones. If you choose an existing video that is larger than 16 Megabytes, you will have the option to trim the length of the video before sending it. Videos may be automatically compressed to ensure quick delivery.


What information is available to an app from the magnetometer? I would like to know what other functionality is provided by the magnetometer inside android devices besides allowing applications to display a compass. Can an app do anything else with it besides display compass functionality?

Magnetometer reports the magnetic strengths on the three axes of the phone. Can work as compass , metal detector and can also be used to increase mapping accuracy.


Xiaomi becomes buggy after I restore tons of apps from titanium backup? Should I just restore user apps instead of systems apps and data? I also want to restore the grouping of my icons.

What files I can just delete from titanium back up?

What would be the solution for the problem in the title?

This may be related though not the same
Titanium Backup: How to restore user apps and data without system apps and data?

I didn't restore to the new MIUI version. I upgraded MIUI from 7.0.x to 7.1.8

I have 3 solutions.

1. Compelement with Xiaomi own back up feature

First, the one I actually used. This will also be useful if you use titanium backup for moving to another ROM. Just restore completely. And then uses your ROM normal back up feature.A

For no matter what, everything is backed up. That is all I care. So I created xiaomi backup. I found out that I can see the back up files at MIUI/backup/all backups

You can see more explanation here http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=237526&page=2#pid4417978

In general, when in doubt, uses some file explorer that allows you to find large file. I think I am using ES File Explorer but I forget.

Now that I know the location of the "local" backup that will be reflashed when I flash the ROM, I simply copy that to my computer and copy it back after reflash.

2. Backup only apps and not system apps

You can do this too. But then you will not have that security settings and icon placements, and accounts restored. So you can do that and try to figure out latter what exactly you should restore .

The thing is, until today I have no idea, which titanium backup restore settings I want (like security settings, account settings, and icon settings). I also do not know which titanium settings causes those bugs. Perhaps they intersect. Perhaps security settings will cause bugs if you restore but is necessary to restore those settings. This is not the solution I used. So you can ask around.

3. Install only apps. Then tweak your own settings

Settings are easy to reproduce. You can also rearrange icons yourself after backing up your apps.

4. Uses Xiaomi own back up feature from beginning

The reason I used titanium back up is because I have no idea how to move xiaomi backup from my phone to computer. Look solution 1 to solve it. It seems that helium and titanium backup is useful only if you want totally different rom. If you just want to upgrade from MIUI 7.0.x to MIUI 7.1.8 it would make sense to uses xiaomi own backup feature.

Notice that the back up WILL be deleted when you reflash (I didn't know that. I thought it's in some safe partition. Which is why I am left with titanium back up as my only backup). Also notice that xiaomi didn't tell in what directory the back up is. So I got to ask around here. http://en.miui.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=237526&page=2#pid4417978

Actually xiaomi also have MI PC suites to back up your data to computer. My problem is that the MI PC suites is buggy and I cannot connect my phone there. That is even though I can easily moves xiaomi backup using regular file explorer in windows.


USB power supply notification Whenever I am charging my LG G5, it shows the notification. But the problem is even if I'm not charging or connecting with USB, it keeps on notifying and vibrating... Can you please help what the solution for this is?

A damaged USB cable may trigger such reaction. I had this problem with my Android phone before until I change a new USB cable.


What are the Pros and Cons to running CyanogenMod? Can anyone that's used it list the relevant benefits and drawbacks?  I'm actually more interested in the drawbacks and limitations because its not hard to find praise for it.

Edit: Ooops, I forgot to mention, original Droid currently running Android 2.2

Your mileage with Cyanogen Mod (CM) depends on the phone you are running. If you have an HTC phone, you will not have any HTC Sense running or installed at all. So HTC widgets will not work. This is a hurdle for many HTC phone users that enjoy some of those widgets. Personally I've been able to find adequate replacements to them. So that wasn't a barrier for me.

If you are not using an HTC phone there probably won't be a lot of cons. Again though you might not be able to use any stock widgets that came on your phone. But you might have a different dialer and contact app then what you are used to.

Do you connect to an email system at work, such as an Exchange mail system? I do and that was one of the reasons for me not using CM. Not that it didn't work, but there was some functionality I was missing, a few settings and I didn't like the way the contact app managed the Exchange contacts. Whatever HTC uses for their builds worked better IMO so I use an HTC based ROM.

As Saboogu states, hardware will make a difference too, but CM team is good about refining their ROM and working out kinks so that it functions well even on older phones.

If you are already rooted make a NAND backup first. Follow this guide I wrote keeping in mind it was written for an Evo, but most info still applies to other phones. Once you have a backup then wipe and flash and go from there. See if you like it and the feature set. This way if you hate it you can easily restore your backup.


Is it possible to install a ROM on /recovery instead of /system? I am not going to do it, but I just wonder whether it is possible to install a ROM to /recovery and TWRP to /system, so one would normally boot into TWRP and only boot into Android when one performs the key combination for recovery mode. Is this possible somehow and would it have any negative side effects?

TWRP normally installs to recovery; kernel for the OS normally installs to boot; /system is another thing entirely where the majority of the files of the OS goes.

Doesn't change the conclusion for what you want to achieve though - yes, you can swap boot and recovery so it boots to recovery by default and boots to the OS when choosing "reboot to recovery" or using the key combo. At heart the two booting processes are both simply booting a kernel image. Note that this doesn't touch /system.


Integrating outlook and android I currently use Outlook on the desktop and I am trying to integrate my outlook data with my android phone. Samsung S5. I don't sync with the cloud with office 365 as I have my own domain. The old days allowed for a USB sync between the desktop and the device. This would appear the best way to do it given my circumstances. There are a couple Microsoft apps but they do not sync all data with the Android system. They keep the data within the app, and not all data is available like contacts. Situations like this make we think about apple products again, which goes against my grain.

You can easily sync your desktop Outlook with your Samsung phone using the Samsung Smart Switch software.  You can find the program at http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/.

The only thing I do not like about it is there is no way to just sync your calendar from Outlook to your phone.  It insists on syncing in both directions.  The contacts can be forced to just update from Outlook to your phone which is what I like.


Home, Menu, Back Buttons are not clickable in android emulator I have noticed that in some of emulators mainnavigation buttons (Home, Back, Menu) buttons are not clickable. If the emulator's device is something which has a higher resolution this is mostly happening if I have observed it correctly. Does anyone know why is this and any solution for this?

Thanks,
Madhura

You'll need to modify the Device Definitions. To do this, find the "Device Definitions" tab in the Android Virtual Device Manager and double click on the device you're using.

Make sure the Buttons are set to Hardware.

Don't forget to update your device settings:

Source: Stackoverflow


How to boot system-as-root device always as rooted? I have a Samsung S10 5G device that is actually a system-as-root device. I have rooted it by following the instructions given here.

As the system-as-root devices have no ramdisk in boot.img but in recovery.img so, I have to always boot the device with a recovery combination to get the root access.

Is there any way to achieve the root on a normal reboot?

I have a full ROM image of the device so, I believe there should be some way. Please share your thoughts.

If you go through How Magisk works and How to manually root a phone it would be easy for you to figure out why it's impossible to achieve what you are looking for.

init is the very first process started by kernel, which at its early stage sets SELinux enforcing (if it's not already enforcing). Before that happens, we need to modify SELinux policy so that it doesn't restrict the root daemon (magiskd) from running. Also init.rc needs to be patched to inject magiskd service.

A simple option is to patch /sepolicy and modify /init.rc when rooting the device and save the files on device. But on system-as-root devices both files are on system.img (and possibly vendor.img), not on boot.img. So modifying them would break "systemless" approach and other related things, in particular dm-verity and OTAs.

Another option is to run a process even before init which patches SELinux policy and changes init.rc on the go. And the easy way to achieve this is to replace original init file with Magisk init so that kernel executes the latter. However on SAR devices init is also on system.img, so we can't replace it. But we can always boot to recovery mode which does have a ramdisk where Magisk's init can be placed and executed before any other process. On A/B SAR devices recovery ramdisk is in boot.img, so Magisk always boots to recovery by forcing kernel to ignore skip_initramfs cmdline parameter received from bootloader.

  Is there any way to achieve the root on a normal reboot?

On non-A/B SAR devices (like yours) there is no ramdisk in boot.img, so the only option to retain systemless approach is to place Magisk init in recovery ramdisk on recovery partition, and always boot to recovery mode. From there system.img is mounted at /system_root by Magisk init, contents of ramdisk are then copied to / cleaning everything previously existing, files are added / modified in rootfs /, /system_root/system is bind-mounted to /system, and finally [/system]/init is executed for normal boot.

However things have changed with Android 10, now system.img is mounted at / but the files to be added / modified like /init.rc and /sbin are overlaid with bind mounts as tweeted by Magisk developer.


Network stack broken after uninstalling AFWall? Since uninstalling AFWall and rebooting, I "connect" to LTE/3G/2G and wifi but there is always a little X on the icon and never any network access (can't actually access anything with browsers or apps). GSM voice and SMS works normally.
No connectivity problems via LTE and wifi prior to today. I was messing around with AFWall, applied some rules and enabled/disabled it a couple times. Rebooted once or twice and decided the firewall wasn't blocking/allowing traffic reliably and wasn't logging and showing notifications accurately so uninstalled AFWall and rebooted.
I've had this phone (Zuk Z1) since 2015 and it has been solid. It has been running LOS 16 android 9 for the past 2+ years or so without issue. I've had this same SIM card and provider for over 2 years also.
Troubleshooting already tried:
SIM in other phones works fine
cleared dalvik
cleared SIM tools cache and data
rebooted a couple times
reset APNs
Questions:
Am I missing something obvious? Any suggestions welcome.
Is there an equivalent to "netsh int ip reset" (in windows) for android?
Can I somehow reset iptables to LOS "factory"?
Should I try re-installing AFWall? (if yes, then what?)
I will flash another ROM if necessary, but I'd like to try all other  options first
Thanks for reading!

I wanted to mention that there also exists an option in the reset portion of the settings menu to reset the wireless adapter.
I would have been curious to know if that made a difference.


Music volume turning off when headphones moved around I have an LG Lucid with Android 2.3.6 and I have a big issue with my music. I'm not sure if this is an Android setting or a LG one, but I'm hoping to find a way for this to stop happening.

I use my phone a lot to listen to music, and one of my biggest issues is if the headphone jack gets moved even the slightest, the music automatically pauses and reduces volume. I usually have my phone in my pocket and listening to music while working out, jogging or doing housework. This feature has basically made the music playback feature of my phone useless, as I can not do any of these things without the music constantly pausing and lowering in volume.

This happens in my car as well, with my wireless FM transmitter: even the slightest bump or movement of my phone on the car seat and music stops.

Please, tell me there is a way to fix this: it would be greatly appreciated. Also, like I said before, I'm not sure if this is an LG or Android thing, so if anyone can verify that I would also appreciate it.

Sounds more like a bad connector problem.

Try cleaning the headphone plug using a rough-ish cloth to clean up the (probably unseen) oxidation layer.

Spray the plug using a contact cleaner, then while it's not yet dried, plug it into the jack and do some left-and-right rotation. Unplug, and let the plug dry. Then replug, and do the rotations again.

If the above does not fix your problem, there's possibility that the solder contact between the jack and the phone's mainboard has cracked; you need to bring your phone to the service center (or someone skillful enough to perform cellphone repairs).


uninstalling a self built app, which was created in two copies accidentally I built an app through android studio but two copies were created and I could uninstall one copy but the other says that the app is not present in the list of installed apps, but the icon remains.. How to remove it?

Can you access the folder of apps from your computer by plugging it in via usb, and then delete all folders from that app there?


Automating adb commands is there a way to run adb shell commands via windows?

I would like to run a batch script such as this

adb shell
mount -o rw,remount /system
exit

Currently when i run the batch script it only runs the first command adb shell

Wrong syntax :)

adb shell "mount -o rw,remount /system"

would do in your case (i.e. passing the command you want to run on the device to adb shell in double-quotes; the "exit" is not needed here as it is "implied"), provided your device's ADB daemon runs in root mode. You can even run multiple commands at once this way, e.g.:

adb shell "mount -o rw,remount /system && echo 127.0.0.1 foobar.com > /system/etc/hosts && mount -o ro,remount /system"

Commands connected with && here, meaning: only execute the next command if the previous one succeeded. If you don't want that dependency, use ; instead to connect them.

For how to use a multi-line command (so called "HEREDOC") with Windows (or any other OS), SuperUser is the better place to ask (in case the Wikipedia entry is not sufficient ;)


Can't turn on Tunnel Bear VPN on my Galaxy S4 I used to be able to to turn on Tunnel Bear VPN on my Galaxy S4. But now, whenever I get the prompt that says I trust this application, it won't let me select the check box. So, I can't connect.

Figured it out: I had a screen filter on, and for some reason, this was blocking me from hitting accept.


Some Emails Not Pushed to Gmail App I have 2 accounts within Outlook 2007 - work email through Microsoft Exchange and a Gmail IMAP account. I have a rule set where email sent to the work account will also be copied to the Inbox of the IMAP account. On my phone (Galaxy S3) I have two Google/Gmail accounts set up - personal email (let's call it G-X) and the one that gets a copy of my work email (let's call it G-Y).

Up until a few days ago I had no problems with receiving emails and notifications on the phone for either Gmail account. Now now if an email is sent directly to G-Y, I am notified through the Gmail app on the phone that I have new mail, but if an email is sent to the work account, where it gets copied to the Gmail IMAP in Outlook, there is no notification, even though the message is displayed as unread/new both in Outlook and gmail.com.

Can anyone shed light on this? I want to be able to get notified when new work email comes to (gets copied to) the Gmail account set up for it.

They are most likely there, just you aren't looking in the right label.
Outlook screws up your GMail folders/labels and causes very annoying GMail sync issues. That's why i quit using outlook with my gmail.


What are the command line options of Genymotion's player Can someone give me a list of the cli options of Genymotion's player command.  I see that I can get a  list of the devices via VituralBox's command:

$ VBoxManage list vms

Then I can start the desired device with:

$ ./player --vm-name "Samsung Galaxy S2 - 2.3.7 - API 10 - 480x800"

Now I'm looking for player command option to start the Genymotion from the last run state.  In other words have it resume where it was when the device was closed.

There's a chance the option might be in one of the possible cli arguments.  I've searched for a list, but so far my results are to how to start a VMS but not the full list of options that are available.

I also used -help and --help as a parameter, but it just gives and error.  Not the full usage options of the player command.

This is the list that I have compiled so far (found by running player without argument):

--vm-name
--quiet

It may be that those are the only options of the player command.  If it is I'd appreciate knowing so that I can stop searching.

When you use player inproperely it writes help info into the log file. Eg.

siciarek@siciarek ~ $ ~/bin/genymotion/player --help
Logging activities to file: /home/siciarek/.Genymobile/genymotion.log
siciarek@siciarek ~ $ tail -n 6 /home/siciarek/.Genymobile/genymotion.log
2018-01-18T18:28:13+01:00 [:8281] [debug] Usage: player
2018-01-18T18:28:13+01:00 [:8281] [debug]        --vm-name|-n <device name>
2018-01-18T18:28:13+01:00 [:8281] [debug]        [ --no-popup|-s ]
2018-01-18T18:28:13+01:00 [:8281] [debug]        [ --poweroff|-x  ||
2018-01-18T18:28:13+01:00 [:8281] [debug]          --startadb|-a  ||
2018-01-18T18:28:13+01:00 [:8281] [debug]          --stopadb|-z ]
siciarek@siciarek ~ $


Galaxy S3 turning on and off repeatedly even after factory reset I have a bricked samsung galaxy s3! It is shutting off and on again and I need to remove the battery to make it stop. I have tried the following...

-tapping out stuck power button

-options in recovery menu (reboot, wipe cache, wipe data and factory rest)

-I have wiped and installed fresh from Odin, which was difficult because my charge port is apparently not working great.

Once I reset with Odin my phone booted up nicely and walked me through setting up my phone. Once i got to the main screen my hopes and dreams were promptly crushed and the phone started shutting  down and restarting again..

Thoughts?

Reload your BOOTLOADER because that is what will be stopping your device from booting sincerely it works a bit like BIOS. I, sadly, dont have any tips on how to do so though. Google search maybe?


Avvio 792 4.2.2 Jelly Bean - ring time too short Very new at Android, sincere apologies if asking incorrectly, just joined.

Ring time for incoming calls is only 15 seconds.  Just enough time to go to voice mail by the time I dig phone out of backpack or break my neck running to get it, let alone find it.

Can apparently only be reset in 5 second increments up to 30 seconds by dialing 61*local provider voicemail code30#.

Service provider is Claro in Colombia.  Appears to be due to no MMS available.  Is this due to phone itself, or due to local service provider?

Can this be reset on the device itself?  Is there anything in the code that can be modified?

Thanks!

Can this be reset on the device itself? Is there anything in the code that can be modified?

It is possible to extend the ring time, but you have to deactivate voice mail and call forwarding/divert for no answer (i.e. missed call).

  Is this due to phone itself, or due to local service provider?

I found that Claro Colombia is one of GSM network provider. It seems there is a "standard" for GSM network to have 30 second divert 'rule'1. Most telcos will follow such rule, although some may ignore it. From Wikipedia,

  In some networks there may be a limit of not more than 30 seconds before forwarding (i.e. "XX" can only be 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30; all greater values, like 45 and 60, will result in the forwarding command being rejected and an error message returned).

Without voice mail and call forwarding/divert, the limitation will be gone, although most telcos still only allow ring time up to 40~60 seconds.

The most direct solution is to contact their service and ask if it's possible to extend the ring time before the call is diverted. A friendly suggestion is to put the phone at easier-to-reach place. Worse, you might need to find another provider that is suitable for you (off-topic here).

1 Based on research on many forums/articles such as this, though there is no legit reference.


Are there "end of life" plans for Android? I am wondering if there is a schedule for Android versions or devices to reach end of life some day? The term end of life refers to a state when developers decide to stop supporting a certain software version with updates. I was reading a related article on androidcentral.

So, currently Android 4.x is pretty common and rumors say 5.0 might come out in may, are there any end of life plans for any 2.x versions? I got a HTC Wildfire S with Android 2.3 and a Toshiba AC100 with Android 2.1. (Is the support bound to major version numbers or rather to devices?)

Update: I never asked at any point for speculations. I'm a software engineer and used to end-of-life or end-of-support plans. I'm am new to Android and I noticed my devices are equipped with pretty old versions, according to the link in the first comment: 3 years old, which is a pretty long term in a software life cycle (for example normal Ubuntu releases got only 18 months lifetime).

Is the support bound to major version numbers or rather to devices? Are there any end-of-life plans for Android or does that just happen if some version or devices does not get enough attention on the mobile markets? My research on this topic was not very effective. That's why I'm asking the community.

I've got no intention to seed rumors or speculations. A "no" would be a valid (but poor) answer.

For android devices the answer is: 18 months is the maximum supported lifetime.

I found this in the Google Android FAQ. It is said that the 2 year old Galaxy Nexus does not recieve an Update to Android 4.4 "KitKat":

  Galaxy Nexus, which first launched two years ago, falls outside of the 18-month update window when Google and others traditionally update devices.


Identifying an Android device by its hostname Every Android device in our network has the hostname android_[some-hex-number].domain.local. I do have one device which requested 10 IP addresses (different MACs, but always the same hostname). Is there a way to get IMEI or serial number from that hostname?
I found different information about the hostname:

http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/269827-identifying-androids-and-iphones-in-dhcp:

It appears that the name scheme is Android_<IMEI number>.

https://superuser.com/questions/408539/how-to-set-friendly-network-name-of-android-computer

it's the VID (Vendor ID Code)

but none of them seems to fit.
PS: MAC addresses are all from "InPro Comm". Maybe there's a way to narrow it down from this side?

If net.hostname was not preset by device manufacturer during production then Android would use ANDROID_ID to generate the unique android-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX host name:

    // setup our unique device name
    if (TextUtils.isEmpty(SystemProperties.get("net.hostname"))) {
        String id = Settings.Secure.getString(context.getContentResolver(),
                Settings.Secure.ANDROID_ID);
        if (id != null && id.length() > 0) {
            String name = new String("android-").concat(id);
            SystemProperties.set("net.hostname", name);
        }
    }


How to get imei number galaxy s5active My phone was left in a friends car and I need the imei number

You can visit https://www.google.com/settings/dashboard from your Desktop/PC.

Provide your Google Account details to sign-in(username and password) that you used while setting up your Android device.

You need to expand the Android tab. Here you will see List of all Android devices that are connected to your Google Account and it will list the IMEI number of your phone as well.

Below is the example:


Is in-app purchase still exists on the device if buyer's account is logged out? Background :
I want to buy the full version of Cytus and Deemo games using my friend's credit card, so what I thought is he have to login using his google account and then after purchasing is complete, he logged out his account.

My question :
Is the purchase still saved on my device even if my friend account already logged out of my device? And is it possible to restore the purchase again if someday I reinstall the games after I delete it?

Thank you.

If you are logged in with your Google account, the app will be in the list of all your apps and you will be able to re-install it on any device conected to your Google account.


Keeping important apps alive even on overheat I recently updated my Samsung Galaxy S4, and it came with some new features and also some new problems. Since the new update I have been getting warnings on my phone telling me it is overheating. The phone also has the ability to kill apps that are using a lot of processing power in order to get the phone to cool down. This has proven to be not only inconvenient, but actually dangerous. On several occasions the app that was closed (which, in truth, likely contributed to its overheating) was Waze. This usually happens on long trips, while i'm going 60mph, forcing me to pull over on the side of a highway just to let my phone cool down so that I can open the app again. I have not gotten into an auto accident yet, but I would much rather not be in that situation to being with. For others, there can be an even greater danger in just getting lost.

Is there a way to put certain apps, such as Waze, or any other navigation app, on a system whitelist so that they don't get shut down mid-use, potentially creating an extremely dangerous situation?

I don't know if this will work in your situation (and I can't test it myself) as in your situation it seems the killing of processes is done for safety reasons and not just to free up memory but it could be worth a try.

The app is called MinFreeManager (requires root) and there is a good guide here. Taken from the link to the guide, here is an overview of what the app will do;

ActivityManagerService.java looks at the 'importance' of running processes; foreground apps, services, content providers etc, and prioritises them for close order in an oom (out of memory) situation. Each process is assigned an oom_adj value. The lower the value, the less likely Android is to close the app when it starts to run out of memory.

These values are managed by Android at runtime so a processes oom value can and will change as it changes state, from foreground, to background to idle etc.

The app can adjust a processes oom_adj values to your own custom values so you can try and manipulate which apps Android will close first and at what stage of low memory on the device.

Like I said, this is just a very basic overview. Follow the link to the guide and you will find all the information you need to give it a go (Could go on for pages if I tried to explain in full detail).


Some folders and files not showing up on PC when connected via USB My phone doesn't have an SD card in it right now, so all storage is on internal memory. I have a bunch of folders in my Pictures folder that don't show up on my PC when I connect it via USB (but most folders do appear). I know they're there because they appear in my phone's file manager (in both the native Google one and a third-party one). How come I can't see them?

This is a known issue. Go to app manager and find 'external storage' and 'media storage' and clear data and cache for them, then reboot, and wait up to 10 minutes and then connect to PC via USB.
Sometimes media scan apps from play store help if you don't want to reboot.


Synchronization does not work HTC magic
Android 1.6

A couple of weeks ago the built in sync of mail, contacts and calendar stopped working. Sync is activated for all three and it seems to sync sometimes, but not all the time as it is supposed to do (it did). E.g. mail and contacts synced at 2:34am and calendar synced at 7:30am (but it's 10:11pm now).

Any ideas?

Solution:

I went with mlevits advice. I removed my account from the phone via the trick I described now in How can I remove the default Google Account on my phone? (the "clear-all-data" trick did not work and I did not want to factory reset the phone). After I reentered my account data the syncing works again. Thanks a lot mlevit!

From my knowledge of the Sync functionality on the Android it only syncs when it has something new on one of those services. It uses Push technology to send you the latest updates as soon as they become available.

If however new items are appearing in your mail, contacts and/or calendar and it's still not syncing then I would recommend you remove your Google account and re-add it again.

NB. I did have an issue with Sync once where it just wasn't pushing any emails to my phone... it fixed itself after a couple of days.


How do I turn gray wifi icon to blue? I have been searching for answers and some suggestions doesn't seem to work.  I can connect to WiFi but I am not able to use it, (Facebook, Play store, Etc.) because the WiFi icon seem to turn into gray. What will I do??

This, at least for me, happens when my device connects to Wi-Fi, but with wrong parameters. I fix this by entering the Wi-Fi settings, choosing "Static IP" instead of "DHCP", and then editing the network parameters manually, like this:

These settings may be different on your router, so check that if it isn't working.

IP adress: 192.168.1.xx (replace xx with any number, avoid 2, 3 or 4, because there may be devices already connected with that adress)
Gateway: 192.168.1.1
Prefix lenght: 24
DNS1: 8.8.8.8
DNS2:8.8.4.4


Dictionary not learning new words Since the last firmware update, my Android 4.3 phone is unable to learn new words.  It is not suggesting to me any new word that I previously typed, so I deduce that new words aren't being added to the dictionary.

From googling around it looks like it's a common problem, but I haven't found any solution so far.

here you would find the same issue:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/sprint-samsung-galaxy-s4/364298-samsung-galaxy-s4-keyboard-can-t-remember-added-new-words.html

The solution is in the same post. I would cite it here:

  I think I may have found a solution. I recently had the same problem w/ my samsung galaxy s4 Active. I went into settings. I then hit the settings tool icon beside samsung keyboard. Made sure predictive text was on. I actually clicked it off then back on. Then I clicked on the word predictive text and under personalization there are a few learn options. I clicked learn from messages and learn from contacts. I just sent a message and it seemed to fix it! Please let me know if this helps any of ya'll!

Hope it help


How to display calendar events on lockscreen in Oreo? There are similar questions for previous Android releases.

Is it possible in Android 8 Oreo on a stock Nexus 5X to customise the lock screen to display upcoming calendar events? Google Pixel 2(XL) allows this.

(the image is of a home screen, but the question is specifically for the lock screen)

Calendar notify does a great job showing the agenda using persistent notifications.

If you'd like a more stock look, and if you are willing to root your phone and install the xposed framework (after it is released for oreo), then EventLock (disclosure: it's written by me) is what you are looking for.


Alternate (keyboard) task switching method for CM9 I frequently switch between a terminal and a web browser/kindle while working on the device with a bluetooth keyboard.  The method I used on the stock 3.2 (with TouchWiz) ROM:

press the home key on the keyboard
down-arrow, which selects the top-left icon on the current home screen (generally the terminal)
arrow to the app I want
press enter on the keyboard.

CM9 foils this method by putting the focus on the search bar and voice search stuff at the top of the homescreen; I can't arrow-down from there to the icons I'm interested in. (EDIT: if I remove the search bar, focus still does not go to the app shortcuts.)

I use both the Logitech Tablet Keyboard for Android 3.0 and Samsung's own keyboard/dock.  At least on the logitech, holding the home key has only the effect of delaying the 'go to home' action.  It has Fn-keys for mail, web, calendar, music.  I really only need a quick method for three apps.

What are my options for task switching on CM9, using a keyboard?

Misfeatures of a method:

Tasks are presented with changing order.  This means that I have to examine the screen to make a choice - it foils muscle memory.
Tasks are linearly presented. This wastes three of my arrow keys, and - already, with just three tasks - creates an artificial distance between the first and the third task.  I'd like to create my own sense of distance between tasks - as I did in the 3.2 method above, by having terminal first, kindle to its right, the browser just below it, and then secondary apps arranged elsewhere.
Every recent task is presented.  I generally don't want to switch back to Settings - or to the app I just tested, am now rebuilding,  and will launch as part of the installation process.

My 3.2 method does work with CM9, and the default launcher (Trebuchet), with these adjustments:

Go to Settings->Launcher->Homescreen->Search Bar, and remove it.  Keyboard focus will default to the apps button (the ::: icon) at the top right
Arrange icons on the right side of the screen instead of on the left.  Down-arrow, from the apps button, will go to the top-right icon in the same way as it used to go down to the top-left from the search bar in 3.2

Other launchers are also an option (Go Launcher EX duplicated the old behavior, although it forces phone UI elements), but this is the shortest path if you're otherwise content with Trebuchet.


Galaxy S3 won't turn on I have a Galaxy S3 and if my screen won't turn on but it vibrates when I press the power button does that mean I have a dead screen? Or is there someway that I can fix it? I've tried it over and over and over again but it won't do anything but vibrate when turning on. The first few times the LED light would turn on but now that won't even work. I even tried the rebooting process and the screen still won't turn on. Anytime I plug it in to a USB or charger it just vibrates 4 times.

Usually when this happens to me, my battery is dead and has really zero power to even turn on. Give it some time in the charger.


How do I boot my Samsung Nexus S into safe mode? I have a Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3.

I somehow managed to set the Zoodles application to start up with laucher. As a result, whenever I boot my phone, I see the Zoodles app and cannot close it or access any other applications.

I searched and understood that if I can boot the device in safe mode, I can remove the Zoodles app. How do I boot into safe mode?

Try booting the phone while holding down the power button during boot. I have also read people saying that holding the menu button during boot works.

Once you are in safe mode, you will see "Safe Mode" at the bottom left of the screen.


Play video with 2x speed in MX player kindly help The problem is that I have to watch some MIT OCW video lectures on my mobile device and I'm using MX player to watch these videos. The catch is that I want to watch 50 minute lecture in 25-30 minute but I seem to find no way out to do this on android. I know I can play those videos on VLC media player on a laptop at 2x speed but the problem is that I don't have a laptop.

Suggest me what can I do. How can I watch them at 2x speed?

P.S. I use an android device version 4.1 jellybean. Also I'm not streaming the videos I have already downloaded the videos and now want to watch them offline.

Kindly help.

Thank you.

I just realized that when you move two fingers up and down the left side of the screen (like when you adjust brightness, but with two fingers) the playback speed adjusts accordingly.


Change rendering mode of chrome Aosp browser rendered text and pictures a lot differently then chrome.

It would white box what is rendered while the cpu and stuff catches up.  Chrome seems to freeze when CPU strapped.  Is there a way to fix this or revert to the old behavior at minimum?

Alternatively is there a way to install the original browser in android 6?

Not to mention this http://cdn.androidbeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/sunspider_benchmark1.png

I can't guarantee that you'll get a quick fix by trying this out. But I can tell you that it will change your browser for the better. You'll just have to try one option after another and or together because there's about 30 or 40 options you can enable but here you try . ( Chrome://Flags ) type that into your Chrome browser and start ticking off the flags that look like they may help .


How do I set up a VPN from Android 2.3 to my home Ubuntu desktop? I want to configure a VPN from my Nexus S (2.3.4) to my home Ubuntu desktop.

Has anyone tried this yet?

I would deeply appreciate tips on which VPN server to use (e.g., is openVPN support native on Android Gingerbread?) and pitfalls to avoid.

The way I did it was to install dd-wrt on my home router and enable PPTP VPN.  Then I just put in the user name and password in the VPN settings in Gingerbread.


System Files Edit Without Root? can I change system files on my android without them being rooted. And does changing the files mean my phone is now rooted ?

Most system files are protected in different ways.

"system files" viewed as "managed by the Android system"

everybody can read them, but only root1 can modify ("read-only" for all non-root)
only root1 has access to them at all ("invisible" for all non-root)

So no: without rooting the device, you cannot modify them directly. Nevertheless, some of them can be modified indirectly, using the appropriate "activities" implemented in the Android GUI – which you might know as "Settings screens".

"system files" viewed as "located on the /system partition"

Here the entire file-system is mounted read-only – and only root can make it writeable.

The second part of your question is answered implicitly: root being a requirement to edit those files would implicate your device is rooted when you're able to modify them. But before drawing wrong conclusions, you should be sure the file you've modified really is a "system file". To find out whether your device is rooted, there are better means: "root checker".

1: sometimes there are dedicated system processes with elevated privileges, able to "trigger a modification" – this is how those GUI elements (in Settings) work.


Magnetic compass correction After updating to Android 4.4.3 the magnetic compass deviates by 90 degrees. This is more than a lttle bit and recalibrating did not help.

Q1: Is this a common problem?

Q2: Is there a fix or workaround?

I have seen some other reports avlbout 90 degree compass deviations, and they were reported on android 4.4.3.

Now that was an extremely short lived version.

On 4.4.4 the problem vanished. So I am still convinced that this was a 4.4.3 problem.


Samsung GT-s6312 USB issue connecting to USB My samsung GT-s6312 phone does not connect to PC. Even after connecting USB cable, it gives an error to download software.

I found that most of the time such type of problem are solved by this link.

STEPS : (for Windows specific instructions):

Ensure phone is not connected to PC.
Uninstall KIES from PC. Reboot your PC and Reinstall KIES after that. Just for great measure... open KIES, go to Tools | Troubleshoot connection error. Follow instructions and wait for it to finish the troubleshooting procedure.
Reboot your phone (or turn off and then on your phone again). Do not connect it to your PC just yet.
Once rebooted, go to your phone's dialer, type *#7284# - A configuration window will appear. In that window's USB section, if it's default to PDA, tap MODEM, then back to PDA, (if it is MODEM in the beginning, change it to PDA) then press the back key to exit. Most importantly, it must set as PDA when you exit.
Turn off USB debugging in your phone.
(Optional) Set your phone's screen timeout to a lengthy time. (minimum 1-2 minutes - recommended 5mins to 30mins) its found in Settings | Display. You can change this back later on.
Connect the phone to your PC with USB cable and let windows load your drivers... and wait for the drivers to get reinstalled.
Once reinstalled, disconnect the phone off USB. Switch USB debugging back on in your phone settings, and reconnect the phone back - you'll see windows load another set of drivers for your phone. Wait until it is completed. (This step is a precautionative measure to ensure your phone is identified with all the necessary drivers)
Once complete, unplug your phone, and turn off USB debugging... This is to ensure MTP will initialize. Also, press the phone's home key until your homescreen is displayed. Only after doing all that, reconnect your phone back to PC.
Test and see if MTP works using Windows Explorer. You'll see your phone's USB storage and SDCard contents if it does.

Hope it will help you..


Can I configure my device or computer to stop trying to install software when I connect them? When I plug my HTC ONE into my computer via a USB cable, it always wants to try and install a bunch of random things on my computer that I really don't want nor need. Just plugging it in with the current drivers installed, it shows up fine in my Portable Devices list on Windows 7, as seen here:

Even with it working perfectly fine already, it still insists on installing other stuff. It wouldn't let me capture a screenshot of the User Account Control dialog:

Do you want to allow the following program to make
changes to this computer?
Program name: TL-Boots Application
Verified published: HTC Corp.
File origin: CD/DVD drive

Is there any way I can configure either my phone or computer to stop trying to install all this crap ever time I plug my phone into the computer? It's really annoying always having to click No on that popup every time I plug it in. I really don't want all their excess software that I'll never use on my computer. I can't seem to find anything in the USB settings that mentions auto-installation. Last time I installed this junk it made my simple storage access through My Computer stop working (my phone stopped showing up in the list when connected). That's literally the only feature I even use, so that was rather inconvenient.

Don't have a windows machine handy but look in the microsoft site advises, (for windows 7):

  AutoPlay lets you choose which program to use for different kinds of
  digital media, such as music CDs or pictures from your digital camera.

  Show all To turn AutoPlay on or off

  When you turn AutoPlay on, you can choose what should happen when you
  insert different types of digital media into your computer. For
  example, you can choose which digital media player is used to play
  CDs. When AutoPlay is turned off, you are prompted to choose what you
  want to do when you insert digital media into your computer.

  Open AutoPlay by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start
  button, and then clicking Control Panel. In the search box, type
  autoplay, and then click AutoPlay.

  Do one of the following:

  To turn AutoPlay on, select the Use AutoPlay for all media and devices
  check box.

  To turn AutoPlay off, clear the Use AutoPlay for all media and devices
  check box.

  Click Save.

N.B. It is almost always a good idea to turn this off as it stops malicious code on CDs/DVDs/USB keys/etc from being able to run.


CM12 Samsung Galaxy Note 3: Unable to encrypt I am using the latest nightly of Cyanogenmod 12 (not 12.1) on my Note 3. I wanted to encrypt my phone but whenever I start the encryption process the phone shows a wireframed android and restarts. After that my external sd-card is not mounted. Another restart fixes this. There is no progress bar.

Are there any logs I could check? Has anybody experienced the same problems?

Thanks for any help!
Alex

I came across the same issue. It has to do with permissions. You should set SELinux to permissive before starting the encryption. To do that, access shell via adb shell or terminal emulator and type the following;

su
setenforce 0

Now if you go to about section, it will show SELinux as permissive instead of Enforcing. Now go to security -> encrypt and follow along the wizard. It will work.


Irritating noise from Galaxy Note s% How can I find out which program or app is causing the 'bottle opener' sound on my Galaxy Note s5?

I'm assuming there is nothing showing up in the notifications bar to let you know what wants your attention.

I would open up a system monitoring app (like OS monitor) and check to see what has recently accessed services.  If an app doesn't jump out on its own, you can then sleuth backwards with Permissions Explorer and see what is tapping the service to give you the notification.


Stuck in Encryption Mode I have an Android 4.0.1 10" tablet. I started encryption last night around 5:30pm. It is now 7:40 am the following morning and I still see the "green" Android icon on the screen. I had just bought the tablet three days ago.

How long does it take for the encryption process? Is something broken? Is there a way to fix it? I have about twelve to fourteen apps on my device, nothing more.

Please help...

Thank you

This is overly long, and something is most likely wrong.

I would say pull the battery, and then wipe the userdata. You may not need to wipe the userdata, but if the encryption has failed at some point then it will be necessary.


Reason SD cards come FAT formated instead of Fat32? I found my SD card to be FAT formated instead of a modern filesystem (at least fat32).

This comes with the disadvantage of large allocation unit size (32kb) whilst most of the files are less than that.

Is there a reason behind that and can I safely format sd cards to be fat32 in order to use another allocation size (8kb or less) ?

Phone: Xperia Neo V

Generally FAT is used when possible simply because it's compatible with more (older) devices.  While this is not much of an issue today, it probably continues out of (1) very slight market advantage and (2) the fact that factory machinery is set up that way and it would cost owners to change it.

In any event, Android can certainly read FAT32; if it couldn't nobody would be able to use SD cards larger than 2GB.  There should be no problem with Android being able to read your card after a format.


How to give root permission for app even after unrooted? I'm using 4.4.2 so ES explorer can't write to SD card. I intend to give the app root permission permernently (like system apps) and then unroot the device. Is it possible to do so?

Well,I think the answer is no. If you got your device rooted then is rooted for all apps. Well, virtually all apps. Superuser is the app that avoids that any app use superuser permissions. If you unroot then nobody can access root


Would Energz Gofit or Intex Fitrist work without smart phone? I am not sure if I am asking question at correct community, if yes please guide me. However, my concern is I am thinking to buy Energz Gofit or Intex Fitrist and I have Android phone with Andoid 4.0.4 so will it be compatible or even better if I can use it on my laptop's bluetooth to store data ?

Thanks

EnergZ Gofit is compatible with Android 4.3 and higher and bluetooth 4.0

FitRist Band is compatible with Android 4.4 and higher

So it's time for a new phone. If they have a program for your laptop then you might be able to get by but, just get a better phone before buying one of those.


Is there a sound picker app with file browser and audio previews? In android (at least in Xperia) when you want change a ring-tone (SMS, call, ...) it show you a list of all available audio files in your mobile and SD memories. Choosing a ring from a list of thousands of files is not easy at all. Some apps make it a little easier but not prefect.

Is there any app that:

Let me choose ring-tone via a file browser
Audio clips can be previewed quickly in its file browser.

On Samsung Galaxy S II (and possibly other similar phones) the stock Music Player app can do this. Just open the MP3 in any file manager, choose to play it with the stock Music Player, hit menu and select Use as... and Ringtone.

Another option is to use doubleTwist Player to show the music by artist/album and long-press the song you want, then select Use as ringtone. This way you don't have to select from one long list, but the downside is you can't use your file manager to browse, you're stuck with artist/album grouping.

Also, you could check out Ringtone Maker, you can browse files in menu -> Browse.... This also has the ability to play, chop and edit volume/fade.


List of broken apps on Android 5.0 I had some apps installed on my Sony Xperia Z external SD Card.

Now the SD card is damaged for some reason, and my mobile won't show those apps.
Instead of each app icon, I get a green Droid icon with a little red sd-card icon on its top left corner. Obviously meaning that those apps are missing and can not be loaded from SD Card.

Is there a way to get a list of those apps, so that I would re-install them from Play Store? Even groupId would be enough (e.g. com.example.foe) and I will do the search manually to figure out all those missing apps.

Thanks!

Alright, found what I was looking for.

All apps that were stored in the SD card, are located inside this file:

/data/data/com.sonyericsson.home/shared_prefs/home_external_storage_apps_pref.xml

Thanks for all contributed comments!


Where can I find stock Android apps that are not normally in the Market? I downloaded a custom ROM for my Samsung Captivate phone that is a variant of 2.2.1.  Its version of the Camera allows me to use the power button to take pictures.  I decided I want the stock camera without this feature.  Is there a site from which the default camera.apk is available for 2.2.1, or for that matter, other apps?

So I just looked at the firmware for my Samsung Vibrant, you don't actually need to mount the image -- I was thinking of the recovery image or a nandroid backup.  The firmware (ROM) should be in a zip file, which you can open up and go to /system/app/ and grab the camera.apk.  I'd put it on your phone's SD card, then use Root Explorer or similar to copy it into /system/app/ on your device and overwrite the current one (which you may want to back up first).

You can check out my answer to another question for info on mounting, but you shouldn't have to do that :)


Files (used to) appear on smartphone but not on Windows Explorer I had a couple files missing on my Windows Explorer, despite being able to play files on the device itself.

One tutorial told me to update my MTP driver, through Device Manager, I did, no changes.

I decided to solve this "discussed and known issue" by doing what everybody (here on Android SE) said solved it for them. So I entered into the Apps, and purged cache of two system applications, External Storage and Media Storage, then rebooted.

Allegedly after reboot, I had to leave my phone alone for about 10 minutes, for it to "rebuilt its cache", so I did. After it rebooted, I put it into my pocket, not giving it any extra data, after some 2 hours. I attached my Android to computer, the entire drive is empty, only customized-capability.xml was visible.

Smartphone also lost touch with the SD card, to the point where the music application forgot last played music (understandable) and doesn't detect music from various folders (atypical). I need to use external app called File Commander (which is somewhat comparable to Windows Explorer) to manually navigate to the SD card, after tapping music it will play, so no data is lost, but it is inaccessible to even my own device now.

Windows Explorer and File Commander tell me that there's only 3GB left (which makes sense in my scenario), but Windows won't display the files.

How do I solve this? How can I get phone and my computer to recognize the files?

Android 7.1.1
Sony Xperia Z5

P.S.: Yes, I did look thoroughly, there's no hidden files here.

Make sure External Storage and Media Storage are running .
Rescan SD Card! Add the path to your SD and scan (Usually something like /sdcard or /storage/****-**** ). Reboot...
If second doenst work you could try: adb Guide or adb Driver :

On your phone:

Enable Developer Options on your phone -> Enable
 USB-Debugging -> Plug-in USB-cabel

On your PC:

Windows: Windows Key + R -> cmd ->  adb devices:

List all available devices:
Something like:

List of devices attached
9cc74efc        device

If you see your device :

adb root && adb shell

am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///sdcard

Source


Can we connect VGA from PC directly into android I want to use google cardboard as VR monitor from PC with my phone. So I want to know is it possible to just connect from my PC VGA to android USB port and override android screen

I don't think its possible through VGA cable, But you can try Desktop steaming apps.


is there any way of getting all the music I downloaded in the past from Google Play on an old device? I want to know if the hundreds of songs I downloaded in the past on an old device that was stolen or broken can be recovered somehow? do I have really have to download all that again?

You may hope to recover something from a broken device you still have access to, nevertheless it depends on the kind of malfunction or damage. Anyway, it wouldn't be probably worth the effort.

But I cannot even imagine a way to retrieve some songs from a stolen device that would be easier and faster than merely having them downloaded again.


Google Currents vs Google Reader They appear to perform the same functionality... only difference I see is that Currents layout is more like a magazine.  And I can import my Reader subscriptions to Currents.

What's the difference between the two? Is there any reason to use one over the other? Does Currents replace Reader?

Google Reader is a cloud-based feed reader service. On top of this service, there are many apps as a front-end to user. E.g.- Official Google Reader apps (Web, Android), Feedly (Firefox, Android) etc.

Google Currents is a front-end digital magazine/ newspaper delivery app (with cloud sync) available to Android and iOS (no web interface yet). Google Currents can read feeds, but it wasn't designed for that. Google has a vision attached with it: Real digital magazine/ newspaper delivery which is beyond normal feed reading! See the differences:

Feed publishers don't have control of content display in end app, but Currents publishers do have. They can divide their currents in sections, sub-sections. They can decide the layout of this digital magazine etc. Its not just nice looking magazine interface.. its more than that. Feedly, which sync with Google Reader, also provides magazine interface, but its not really a magazine. Think about your real-world magazine reading experience.
Currents can be premium. Current publishers can charge you which is not possible with Google Reader. While there's a concept of premium feeds (which is rare), Google Reader can only subscribe it. But, Google Currents can be marketplace for that.

Google Currents can't replace Google Reader because its different thing. If you don't have special interest in those hand-created digital publications, go for Google Reader. You can use it on web, Windows, Mac, Ubuntu etc along with tablets and smartphones (all in sync for read/unread status, starred items). You can have thousands of interface choices thanks to Google Reader API. And yes, you can always mix feeds in Google Reader to create your own feed DJ (which is not possible with Google Currents).


How do you extract the boot.img from a samsung g4? I don't image the adb command is able to access that sector of the device but for the record, when I connect, I can see the device but

C:\Users\Brad2\Downloads\adbUnzip2Cdrive\adb>adb kill-server

C:\Users\Brad2\Downloads\adbUnzip2Cdrive\adb>adb devices
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *

List of devices attached

51cfe754        offline

I can connect to the device with Odin in download mode, but I do not see a 'pull' or extract feature on Odin, only push.

What is the trick to extracting the boot files from the device?
All drivers and sdks are installed and using the current adb.

getting the proper adb version and also using Linux instead of windows AND screwing with the usb debug feature until a proper RSA key exchange finally occurred. The combination of the 3 corrected the issue.....


User can't download my app after Google Market Update I have a user that is trying to download my app from a Samsung Vibrant running 2.2. But when she gets to the app page in the android market, there is no download button there for her to download! What's weird is once she resets her phone back to factory setting, she was able to download the app, but once the phone is automatically upgraded by Android, my app no longer is available for download again!

Have others encountered similar problem? I have been searching the web for similar issues, but am surprised to not be able to find it. Seems like a pretty major problem!

Some more background - my app does require 2.2 (which she has), permission wise, my app only require the following:

NETWORK COMMUNICATION - FULL INTERNET ACCESS
PHONE CALLS - READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY
Hardware controls - control vibrator
Network communication - view network state

Any help is appreciated!

Make sure that your application manifest isn't making any requirements for hardware capabilities that the device doesn't actually have. It's possible that some capability that you were requesting was taken away in the device's firmware update; if you are requesting any capabilities in AndroidManifest.xml via uses-feature, make sure that you set required="false" for anything that you can use but don't actually require for operation. Common culprits are trackball and certain classes of multitouch support.


How to bypass/authorize ADB RSA key with broken touch AND screen? I've tried everything I could find on the internet (mostly on StackOverflow).
These I've already tried without result:

Page not found - Stack Overflow
shell - How to solve ADB device unauthorized in Android ADB host device? - Stack Overflow
android - running adb devices showing unauthorized device? - Stack Overflow

Both screen AND touch are broken so I can't see nor touch a thing. (So the OTG mouse option can't be used in my case.)
The device is a Huawei Ascend P7 L10, Lollipop 5.1.1.

It's rooted.
It has TWRP recovery.
USB Debugging is enabled.
I'm using the latest ADB version, updated from Android Studio.

I entered recovery mode, done adb push adbkey.pub /data/misc/adb/adb_keys and rebooted, after reboot adb keeps saying devices isn't authorized.
I entered recovery checked if the file copied on the device was still the same as the one in the .android folder, and it was the same key.
If anybody has any idea I'm all ears. Thanks in advance.

The only other thing I could find is for you to use adb kill-server and check again with adb devices. You seem to have done everything you can. :(


My dialer's in-call experience is sideways Okay... something really weird that just started happening.
Before getting into the details, my phone is an AT&T Galaxy S3.
I'm running AOKP build aokp_d2att_jb-mr2_milestone-1.

The in-call experience, and the "answer call" screen on my phone are "sideways", for lack of a better word. Normally, the in-call experience should look like this:

However, my in-call suddenly started looking something like the following image:

I have no idea how it got that way, or how to turn it back. Can anyone tell me how to reset the orientation of the call experience screen?
The same thing happens on my "answer call" screen, but the actual DIALER screen, to place a call, displays normally.

This may be solved by clearing the cache and data of the dialler app.

To do this, go to Settings › Apps › swipe to All › select the Dialler application from the list › Clear Cache and Data.


"Show notifications" is greyed out for some apps. What's causing it and how do I change it? There are some apps for which "Show Notifications" is greyed out, thus effectively barring you from changing the notification policy of that app.

Why or when does it happen?
I've noticed this issue for system apps only? Does it mean that only system apps can have this option greyed out?
How do I change the notification policy for such apps?

(Click image to enlarge)

I have a rooted Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2 and 5.0.2. I'm aware of changing the notification policy in Android 4.2.1 and 4.4.2. You may move the focus to Lollipop, only for third point.

With root access, there are some apps such as 3c Toolbox that allow you to change the notification settings for any app. App Ops is another one that gives you control over all apps' general permissions.

You can actually manage all app permissions from the command line with root access. In Android 5.x, appops was added. It gives control over general app permissions.

Find your app's package name by looking through the list generated by:

# pm list packages | sed 's/^package://'

Get a list of permissions and their mode (allow/ignore/deny/default) for a particular app:

(Note that get parameter is not available in 5.0.2 or earlier Lollipop releases, but was introduced in  Android 5.1.0)

# appops get <package_name>

Set a particular app's permission:

# appops set <package_name> <permission> <mode>

To accomplish the same thing as unticking the "show notifications" box in the application manager:

# appops set <package_name> POST_NOTIFICATION ignore

From my experience, using deny as a mode can break appops so that permissions can't be accessed or changed from an app, so I recommend using ignore, which is what the system uses.

If in some case, you end up breaking access to app ops through something like the application manager, you can reset the permissions for an app:

appops reset <package_name>

For more control over detailed permissions, you can use pm in the terminal. This works with older Android versions.

Find your app's package name by looking through the list generated by:

# pm list packages | sed 's/^package://'

Then list the permissions for a particular package:

# pm list permissions <package_name>

Find the notifcation permissions:

# pm list permissions <package_name> | grep NOTIF

Grant or revoke a particular permission:

# pm grant <package_name> <permission>
# pm revoke <package_name> <permission>

The permissions listed with package manager are very detailed. Using a capable app to manage them may be a more practical route.


How to change the account for Android Market? I use two Google accounts and add them to . Let's say acc1 and acc2. When I try to buy an app in the Market, it chooses acc1's Checkout account, and I don't see an option to change to acc2. Can I use acc2 to pay this? And I still want acc1 as the main account for other purposes. (i.e. Talk, Mail, contacts)

Possibly related question: How Do I Know Which Google Account is Used for the Market?

As of mid-2011 the Android Market supports multiple accounts.

  To add another account... Press menu button –
  select settings – Accounts and Sync – tap on “Add account” and add
  your another gmail account. To activate or use another gmail account
  in the market, open the new market app (v 3.0.26) and select
  “Accounts”. A list will pop-up showing all your gmail accounts that
  you’ve added in “Accounts and Sync”. Select the one of your choice and
  you’re good to go.

From http://www.theandroidsoul.com/multiple-accounts-sign-in-logins-supported-in-the-latest-android-market-v3-0-26/


Can a locked phone's data be accessed when being repaired? I had an HTC One S device which suddenly turned off and refused to start. On giving to the service centre, it turns out the device needs replacement of an item 'PCBA-MAIN BOARD WITH SKU ID MS' which alone is costing me Rs 10000. I chose not to repair it with them. So i plan to visit a local phone repair shop and give it to them to repair it.

My query is, that the phone had some important private stuff (phone was locked though) before it went kaput. Now this local repair shop, can it in any way access this data while/after repairing the phone in anyway?
HTC service centre would not do that because they are bound by legal terms.
Please advise.

Anyone with physical access to the device can potentially do that. If the device was completely encrypted, that would be pretty tough to do (and hence really unlikely) – but all unencrypted stuff can be accessed. After all, you expect them to dis- and re-assemble the device – so put in easy terms, they could also "plug" the storage into "some of their readers" and copy all the content – no screen-lock or whatever prevents that. And a little more hardcore: those tech-guys should be expected to be able handling a JTAG device.

So the question is less whether it's possible (it perfectly is), but how easy and how likely it is. If you feel your data being more sensitive than your trust is high, that poses a problem.


This account already exists on your device - Huawei Nova 2S I bought a Huawei Nova 2S while in China.  Installed Google Play Services 14.3.66 (com.google.android.gms_14.3.66_(090408-213742215)-14366030_minAPI26(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a)(480dpi)_apkmirror.com).

I then downloaded many google apps (Google, Drive, Music, Gmail, Sheets, Keep, Maps, Hangouts, Youtube) but not all of them.

** Problem **: After downloading Google Contacts I cannot use the app.  It asks me to sign in and when I attempt to do that I get "This account already exists on your device"

I have now upgraded to (com.google.android.gms_14.5.73_(040408-219655168)-14573021_minAPI23(arm64-v8a,armeabi-v7a)(480dpi)_apkmirror.com) but still no luck.  I am going to post this on Google's contacts support website so will update this if a solution is found.

-I also checked the permissions for Gmail, Play services and Contacts.  I selected "Trust this app" for all three to avoid any possible permission problems.
-Cleared app cache & data for Contacts. Re-started the phone but still no luck.

Some of the resources I've visited:

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/GO4l2n3k-1o;context-place=topicsearchin/gmail/This$20account$20already$20exists$20on$20your$20device$20contact - same issue but never solved.

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail/USU0RXKwNds - again, unsolved

Next update:
Removed google account, was able to sign in to contacts, but once in it didn't sync any data and acted like I never signed in at all with the sign-in button appearing at the top of the menu again.

I FOUND THE ANSWER!!!!

I needed to download Google Contacts Sync, which I got from apkmirror.com.  It asked to manage my google account and access and modify contacts, which is exactly what I wanted.

I really hope this helps those other frustrated people who are experiencing the same problem (perhaps who bought a phone in China :-))