Is there any way to find/remove duplicate tracks from Google Play Music? I have my music from CD in both MP3 and FLAC format.  Unfortunately, the Google Music uploader insists on uploading both formats, and so I have duplicate tracks.  Is there an app/tool/method to find and remove these duplicate tracks from the cloud?

From a PC running Windows 10 x64 (64-bit):

Install the latest Python 2.7.x version. (I used Python 2.7.10; Do not use any Python 3.x.y version -- I couldn't get it to work with this script.)
If using Windows, install the Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler for Python 2.7. One of the dependencies of gmusicapi requires it.
Install the Google Music API for Python. You should use "pip" (Python's built-in installer script) to install it. On Windows, pip is not added to the PATH environment variable. The quick, lazy workaround is to invoke it specifically:

C:\Python27\Scripts\pip.exe install gmusicapi

See footnote if you're having issues. LibAV or ffmpeg are probably not required for our purposes.
On the right side of the Google Music Dupe Killer page:

Click "download ZIP" → Extract the ZIP → Rename kill-dupes to kill-dupes.py → Right click → edit with Notepad (or Notepad++, or anything similar) → Ctrl-F ("find") for "username".
On line #89, you'll see this (line numbers added for ease of reading):

88. api = Mobileclient()
89. logged_in = api.login('username', 'password')
90.
91. if logged_in:

Replace the word username with your Google username, and the word password with your Google password. Leave the single-quotes ' as-is. Save the file with the edits you made.
Allow less secure apps to access your account via Google. If you don't do this, Google will email you telling that they blocked someone accessing your account the first time you run the script. In that email, there is a link to change the setting.

(Note: you may wish to change it back after you are done with this script.)
Put the modified kill_dupes.py script somewhere you can find it. I put it in C:\Python27\.
Open the Windows command prompt. (Win+R opens the Run dialog, cmd is the command prompt. Press Enter.)

You'll see a Window with this written:

C:\Users\YourWindowsUsername>

Run Python with the script you made:

C:\Users\YourWindowsUsername>c:\Python27\python.exe c:\Python27\kill_dupes.py

Press Enter to run the script:

Successfully logged in. Beginning duplicate detection process.

The program prints a list of the duplicate tracks it found. Type y and press Enter to remove them, or n to not remove them.
kill_dupes.py and maybe its parent program gmusicapi crash on Unicode characters like つんく♂. Here is the bug report. Oddly enough, by running the script from IDLE, it worked fine. IDLE should be included with all Python installs.
IDLE (Python GUI) → file → open → kill_dupes.py
IDLE (Python GUI) → run → run module
If you just see a blank window, you probably forgot to allow less secure apps to access your account. See step 7.

(Optional) Forbid less secure apps from accessing your Google account.

I used the answer by neves to develop this answer.

Footnote: Installing LibAV

This probably isn't required, but it's what I did the first time I did this. I have since successfully removed duplicates without LibAV, but I did have ffmpeg in my PATH already. The reason I say this step isn't required is because the Google Music API website says:

  If you’re going to be uploading music, you’ll likely want Libav’s avconv installed and in your system path, along with at least libmp3lame.

Update 2016-01-09: The site now says:

  The only time avconv or ffmpeg is not required is when uploading mp3s without scan-and-match enabled.

Use your judgment as to whether or not installing LibAV is needed.

Download the newest (sort by date modified) "nightly-lgpl" x86_64 variant of LibAV. It's linked from the site given in step 2.
I downloaded libav-x86_64-w64-mingw32-20150524.7z → extracted the .7z file → added the /usr/bin folder within the extracted libav folder to the PATH. (The steps are explained in the link in step 2. lat ays to add (Python's built-in installer script) avconv.exe to the PATH. So my computer now has D:\Downloads\libav-x86_64-w64-mingw32-20150524\usr\bin added to its PATH.


Can I track my phone if the thief has reset it? My phone was stolen by thief. I called but they obviously had taken out the sim. They've logged out all my google accounts, Twitter, Facebook, Viber, and I think that they did a factory reset! Is there anyway I can track my phone? It was a Redmi Y2.

No, there isn't. There are third party apps that were able to do this with root (unless the thieves flash a completely new rom/firmware). However, you would have had to install that beforehand.

And why there isn't? I think it's for privacy concerns. Basically, Google/Redmi cannot know if the phone got stolen or just sold. So tracking the phone might be in conflict with local law. Also, sometimes the law values privacy concerns higher than simple cell phone theft. Therefor, even in that case it would be against the law to track the phone.

So again: no, it's not possible. Unfortunately, there's nothing more you can do.


Automating a widget launch I'd like an ability to automate launching a widget. Specifically, what I'd like to do is link the Ustream's "Broadcast Now" widget into an automation app like Tasker or Automate (preferably the latter).

I've looked around and a lot of things (like the AutoShortcut app for Tasker) claim to be able to do this, but I've had no luck as yet.

Is it possible to do this?

Popup Widget 2 can help. See my answer for How do I launch a widget from a shortcut on Home screen? for its know-how.

Once you're done adding your widget in that app, in your automation app, there should be an option for you to launch a shortcut. Choose Popup Widget 2 shortcut → your widget.

You can also use Short Launcher app to treat the Popup Widget Shortcut 2 as an app which may help in automation.


How to check what apps are running in Android 6.0? I used to be able to view what apps are running in the background under settings/apps for 5.1, but in 6.0 you can only see what apps are installed in the same location. Does anyone know where to view running apps?

This is now in the Developer options area of your device settings, under the "Running Services" menu item:

Note that if you cannot see the Developer options at the bottom of your settings, it is because they are hidden by default and need to be manually enabled.


What could cause large discrepancies in reported data use? On my Galaxy s3, 3 different reports on (cellular) data usage are giving me 3 wildly different answers.

My data counter widget reports 1.26GB transferred, up and down total.
Android's internal data usage screen says 1.46GB transferred.
And my carrier (via their app) says 1.332GB transferred.

What would cause these to disagree to this extent?

your data counter widget most likely summed-up the exact amount of data transferred. i.e. for a transfer of 33 kB, and another of 17 kB, it would count 33+17 = 50 kB
your carrier more likely sums up blocks of 10 kB. So given the same example, he calculates 40+20 = 60 kB
not for real, but it looks like Android's internal takes both and makes an average, so for our example it would come up with 55 kB. Makes absolutely no sense (and I doubt it's true), but rawly matches the numbers given in your question...


With headphones plugged in, set incoming call ringtone to play through speaker I use my phone to play music at work.  When I wander away from my desk, I often leave my headphones plugged in.  If someone calls my phone when the headphones are plugged in, the phone rings, but only through the headphones and I end up missing the call.  What I would like is to be able to set different audio to play through different outputs: my audio player through my headphones and my ringtone through my speaker.  I've looked through the sound settings and haven't found much that seems incredibly useful.

Are there any apps that currently support doing this?  Does the android api even support multiple audio output targets?

Phone info:

HTC Evo 4G (Rooted)
FreshEvo 3.5.1 (based on android 2.2)

I had a similar issue at work. What i ended up doing was turning the "Vibrate" setting on in Settings/Sounds. My phone was bugging everyone else in the office before (which is why i started using headphones) but with that setting, the phone vibrates on receiving a call as well as ringing in the headphones. I didn't have to disturb anyone, and i still got calls when i forgot about my headphones!

Don't know if this would be practical for you, but it worked nicely for me, so i thought i'd share!


Capture stock rom from samsung galaxy s3 I'm about to flash CM10 to my friends S III. However, if it doesn't work properly, I want to be able to get back to stock rom, so how would I capture it, as I have only found Verizon and A&T roms, and we live in finland, where's nothing like this.

Easiest way would probably be to use Clock Work Mod or TWRP or some other recovery to create a snapshot of his phone as it is now. Then you can simply flash back to his phone as it was.

This will back up his current ROM with all his apps, settings, etc. If you want a clean factory image, then do a factory restore on the phone and then back that up with a recovery.

You might want to do both:

Backup as is now, with apps, settings and all, then factory restore and backup again. This way you can restore either to his phone as it is now, or to clean stock. But that's up to you.

A very good tool for managing all this is JRummy's ROM Toolbox (there is a lite version also, not sure what is left out in the lite version).


Cloud music apps won't sync from device to computer? I have a free Spotify account and can very easily sync music files that are on my computer to my Android device via wifi. But I can't find a way to sync files that are on my Android device back to the computer.

I've looked for a way to do this using Google Music and can't find it. Same with Amazon MP3.

If I download an MP3 on my phone, I'd like to add it to my computer's library and be able to easily sync it and then play it with Spotify, Google Music, Amazon MP3, etc., regardless of where I'm playing it.

Is there some reason the various cloud services allow you to sync from computer to device but not from device to computer?

Any suggestions on easy ways to accomplish this with some other software? Or am I missing something?

It isn't possible to DIRECTLY upload songs from your device to Google Music, but there's an alternative way I can suggest you. Advice: is kinda a long process for something so simple, but, hey, Google's fault.
You need Dropbox, Dropsync (free for one folder on the market https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.dropsync&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50dHhhcHBzLmRyb3BzeW5jIl0. but we don't need the PRO key for this, even if it's a great program and I suggest you to use it :P) and, sadly, a PC with Google Music Manager and Dropbox installed. It kinda defeat its purpose this way, but it's the only automatic way to do this, as far as I know. Otherwise you'd have to manually transfer every song from your phone to your PC.
You simply start installing Dropbox and getting it to work. When it's all set up, you open Dropsync and select the folder with your song inside and a folder on Dropbox, which shall contain only your music files. Done? Now you fire up your PC and launch Google Music Manager. Select the folder you synced with Dropsync and check "Automatically upload new song". What happens now? Everytime you download a song in your device, in the folder you selected, Dropsync copies it on your PC, which triggers Google Music Manager to upload it to its servers. So yeah, Google Music should implement a way to do this, definitely, but here's this workaround ;)


android 9 sdk compatibility with jdk 8 Is android 9 sdk installation not compatibile with jdk 8 for running avd ?
I tried running but got error of;

"emulator: ERROR: ANDROID_SDK_ROOT"
emulator: ERROR: This AVD's configuration is missing a kernel file! Please ensure the file "kernel-qemu" is in the same location as your system image.

It is compatible with jdk 8 (which is what I have in my setup). Perhaps you need to setup its path correctly in System Variables.

Not sure what the result of this was, but I have encountered the same error when I first ran android 9 on standalone sdk manager. What I did in my case was to upgrade the emulator, which altogether solved the issue, perhaps is the same scenario, firstly try upgrading the emulator and see if it solves the issue.

You can also try editing image.sysdir.1 value to a full AVD path e.g image.sysdir.1=C:\androidsdk\system-images\android-28\google_apis_playstore\x86\  as suggested by Akintunde

(I see some suggestions that you should rename kernel-ranchu to kernel-qemu in the system image folder but this didn't work as I hoped, the AVD screen just went black.)


Is there a way to backup contents of internal SD, while preserving the file's modification date? I'm having problems with my internal flash storage (namely not being able to create folders in root, which prevents some apps from working, plus periodic unmounts), and I have tried unsuccessfully to run fsck on it, so I figured I would back up my data, format the internal flash storage, and restore. Running adb pull /storge/sdcard0 will, however, replace the files' modification date, which will be an issue with photos, for example, since the Gallery depends on those dates to sort pics. My question is if there is a way to preserve that data.

Try using the -a option to copy all file attributes:

adb pull -p -a /sdcard/

(The -p is for progress indication.)


How do I root Micromax Canvas 2 A110? I want to root Micromax Canvas 2 A110 having Android ICS 4.0.4. How do I root it?

The following instructions are from androidforums.com site.

The summary of the rooting procedure (just copied and pasted - credit goes to sagarwep the poster of the procedure) is as below:

Enable USB debugging on your device. To do that, go to Settings > Development > USB debugging.
Connect your device to any PC/laptop. The drivers will be installed automatically.
Download Bin4ry for Root A110 By sagarwep.7z and unzip.
Run RunMe.bat from the extracted location.

A command prompt with weird green letters will pop-up on your screen.
Follow the onscreen instructions carefully. To start off, you willl need to type in a "1" and press enter. [Note: If you ever want to Unroot your Micromax A110, follow the above steps till you reach this one and then, instead of typing "1", type "x" and hit enter. Follow the instructions that appear on the command prompt after that.]
Your device will reboot during the process after which Bin4ry will copy some files to your device.
With RootChecker you can verify whether the phone is rooted or not.


What's a good app for managing media files? I prefer to manually organize my media (music, podcasts, video) on my SD card using a file manager (as opposed to letting the media player organize it all by tags, because it mixes music with podcasts and doesn't organize untagged files).

I've been using the "File Manager" app which works fine, but the problem is when I select and play a file with it, it will play in the player of my choice but when I 'minimize' the player the audio stops.   It seems that when I manually select a file to play it's not opening the file and letting it run in the background while I multitask.

Any tips or app recommendations appreciated !


Allow only specific apps to use cell data, only when on 3G I use Tasker to sync every 30 mins when on 3G. I'm on a limited data plan, and the only apps I use constantly are browser, a Twitter app (Echofon) and Whatsapp. Is there a way to allow only these apps when on cell data, and allow access to all on wifi, either with Tasker or otherwise?

I've seen similar questions here, but they're mostly outdated (pre ICS) and/or involve restricting access using DroidWall, which does not differentiate wifi and 3G.

I know of no way to restrict an app to the 3G network (as opposed to 2G/4G), but there are several solutions to restrict apps to either WiFi or mobile networks (or keep/allow them from/to both). Examples include DroidWall - Android Firewall1 (which you already mentioned, but which is discontinued), its successor AFWall+2, its fork Android Firewall3 (gone), and -- last but not least -- LBE Privacy Guard4 (no longer updated; go here for it's "big brother"'s English version). As below screenshots show, all four of them support separate settings per app for WiFi and mobile data respectively.

As the comments state, some of them might have issues (e.g. do not install LBE from the playstore if your device runs Android 4.1 or higher, as this will leave you with a boot loop -- check this XDA thread instead). But one of them should do for you, I hope.


new account for GMail only I added a second account in the GMail aplication, in order to be able to send/receive mail using that account.

I realized that the account has been added not only for GMail, but the Market (Play Store) also sees both accounts now.

Is there a way to keep the second account only in GMail?

You can't do this because:

There's only one Google Services Framework running for all accounts.
Google Accounts credentials are stored centrally from where Google Apps authenticate.

But, there's a way to solve your issue: Turn on IMAP from Gmail settings. And, use IMAP in default Email app or K-9 Mail app. Done!
Play Store can't see it..


Size a Wallpaper for Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Possible Duplicate:
  What is the default resolution of a wallpaper that fits the homescreen exactly in an Android phone?

I want to be able to design my own Wallpaper for my Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. I have read on various websites what the resolution is via pixels, when I try to design for these resolutions i have to "crop" my picture and once I "crop" it, it looks blurry as if it set the quality lower as well.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0":
http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxytab2/7.0/index.html?type=find

Resolutions:

1024px x 600px
640px x 480px

So, I guess my main question is. What is the correct resolution for this device? Why is it cropping all my images, even if they are set at 640px x 480px?

The screen size is 600 x 1024 pixels in portrait mode.  That's not the same as the wallpaper size, since the wallpaper is bigger than a single screen (try scrolling your homescreens left and right to see this).

Usually you need to double the width, and from what I can see online this seems to be the case for the Tab as well.  So use 1200 x 1024.


is there a less cluttered version of the Swype keyboard? I am new to Android.  I really like the Swype keyboard but wish I could remove certain keys on the bottom row (e.g. SYM, the "EN" language button, etc) so that the keyboard is less cluttered.

Is this possible?  Are their any Swype equivalent keyboards that aren't as compact?

Thanks!

Try FlexT9. It's a bit pricey, but has the same functionality as Swype, with some great added features (Dragon speech support and trace input) and a better layout (in my opinion, let me know what you think of it ;) ).

Here's a screenshot from the app page:


Methods of checking bootloader status Just curious if there's any methods to check bootloader state besides using fastboot. I ask because on my device, even after unlocking successfully, the bootloader still shows that its locked when using the fastboot OEM device-info command. I know it was actually unlocked because I installed a custom ROM. I relocked after install but since it seemed to be inaccurate before I want to make sure it's locked.

Yes there is...

Step 1 : Open your device’s dialer (App where you enter telephone numbers to call someone).

Step 2 : Dial the below code, it will automatically open a new windows. (if it doesn’t open a service information window on your device, you can often only access the status via fastboot)

*#*#7378423#*#*

Step 3 : Now in that window go to Service Info >> Configuration, and see if there is :

Bootloader unlock allowed - Yes
Bootloader Unlocked - Yes

Summarized from : How to Check if your Bootloader is Locked or Unlocked


Android Several Hotspots Connection It is possible to connect to several Android HotSpots at the same time ?

You cannot connect your android to two wireless connection at a time, as of now. You can do so in your PC or Mac using USB WiFi Adapter.

But if you have mobile internet and a WiFi connection, you can combine both using an app called VideoBee. But as the name suggests, this app is only meant for streaming videos. Learn more about VideoBee here

Hope this helps.


How to sync with iTunes acting as an iPOD Is it possible, and what is the best / best free way to sync iTunes to an Android device, having all the music transferred that would be transferred to an iPod?

Is it possible to have more transferred?

The main purpose is to transport the files from a mac to  a windows machine so we can process it there, playing experience on the device is secondary.

We have music from many sources, in many formats, inside/outside of the library folder.  Some are not stored but streamed from the Internet when we play them.

(When we try to burn CD's, or export with some app, typically only a few files are exported)

DoubleTwist lets you sync your phone's music library with your music on your computer from iTunes (and Windows Media Player as well, I believe) either by plugging it into your computer's USB port, or by syncing wirelessly over-the-air (though the wireless feature costs a little bit). You can find it at http://www.doubletwist.com/ and in the Android Market at https://market.android.com/details?id=com.doubleTwist.androidPlayer.

Another option is to sync your collection wirelessly using Google Music, though you can only stream your music using it, or download it and play it only using the Music app (cannot be played by other media players on your phone). Google Music is free (for up to something like 20,000 songs) and it backs up all your music that you have on your computer (or that you purchase from the Android Market) both to your phone and your computer.


How can I create a rule in Microsoft Outlook for Android? How can I create a rule in Microsoft Outlook for Android?

In the Microsoft Outlook web interface (OWA), I can do:

Creating and managing rules from the mobile apps is not currently supported. You can vote for this request on Outlook's UserVoice if you'd like to show your support for it.


How do I get wireless hotspot (tethering) working on an SGH-t999L with Andoid 4.3 LUVUBMK4 I have a galaxy s3 SGH-t999l which is the t Mobile G3 LTE version. I'm rooted using the root 66 MK4 stock recovery tar in odin. I'm running TWRP recovery as well.

The problem is that I cannot get wireless tethering/hotspot to work no matter what I try- here are the things I've already tried-

Wifi Tetherr Treve Mod - I've tried nearly every version of Wifi Tether as well, with  nearly every possible setting. Tried setting it up with s3 profile, with galaxy nexus profile, etc.
All this ever does is start with errors, tell me to check the log and then when I do tell me that there is no log file.

Native Hotspot mod - this is an odin tar that is supposed to work, but there's no version for my baseband (Mk4), just MK3 and all that does is make android hang at boot to where I have to reflash android back to the t999l root66 MK4 stock.

Wifi tethering 4.3 enable- there are a number of these, from zip files to install in cwm to directions on what files to edit and how in the android system. Nothing has worked.

I got this app Wifi Tether Router that supposedly worked, but while I can get it to actually start up without any errors, as far as I can figure wlan0 doesn't exist. When I do a netcfg in terminal no wlan0 entry appears, at least.

I can currently use FoxFi to tether with a usb cable and pdanet, so I'm not that pressed I'd just like to figure out how to get it to work.

I'm gonna answer my own question here.
Apparently, something I did enabled the built in wifi tethering... before, it would fail when it attempted to validate it with T-Mobile, but now it goes through that part just fine. . When it makes the hotspots, it is named foxfisomething-or-another so foxtrot MIGHT have something to do with it, but I think it was one of the flashable zips. . When I figure it out for certain, I'll update this answer.


Black rectangle on CyanogenMod (AOSP) browser with Quick Controls enabled I have fallen in love with a browser built in CyanogenMod 12.1, but there is a problem with a black rectangle which has shown about 3 days ago and it do not disappear after rebooting the device

I discovered that the black bar is visible when I enabled Quick Controls, but I do not want to disable it, because it is a major advantage of this browser.

My device is Motorola Moto G 2nd gen (x1072).

Screenshot

This problem has known. You must disable all accessibility service in accessibility setting. But this is bad because the developer didn't fix this bug till now


How to move installed apk from phone memory to sdcard on android 6.0.1 without root Move installed apk from phone memory to sdcard on android 6.0.1 without root and install new apk to sdcard.
My device is Samsung Galaxy J5 (SM-J500H os updated to 6.0.1). Phone's memory is too small to use install big applications and games. I installed asphalt 8 but cache files are too big for phone memory. What can i do?

Basically, unless your OEM did something very nonstandard, you can't.

Marshmallow has no facility to move apps to the SD card as that feature was removed in favor of adopted storage in the core operating system. In adopted or internal storage mode, the SD card is essentially "adopted" or brought into the internal storage as if it is built into the device. This method is not without drawbacks though, your SD card will become encrypted and can only be read by that device (not in another phone or computer) and it will put significantly more wear on the card which is a concern because SD card storage has a finite number of writes before becoming unusable. Adopted storage is also slower than standard internal storage in general.

Even with adopted storage you don't chose what to move, the operating system does that... And some apps cannot reside on the SD card even with adopted storage.


Is there any Netcat like application available in Android OS by default, like most of the Linux systems? In most Linux systems Netcat is installed by default. Is any Netcat-like application installed by default in Android OS?

Not natively. You first need to install a Terminal application like "Termux" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.termux&hl=en then "Busybox" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stericson.busybox&hl=en. Here is some info on all of the tools included in the Busybox package https://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html

There are also several other Netcat style applications available from the Google Play store - https://play.google.com/store/search?q=netcat&c=apps&hl=en


Recent Apps shows app contents even though when its locked I am trying to figure out how to hide an app from being seen when you hit the recent apps button.

I use ZDBox's app lock to hide my apps and files when needed but noticed that when I hit the recent apps button the app is perfectly visible in its last viewed state (resulting in not so much privacy).

Has anyone found a solution for this?

Update : Still haven't found any solution for this yet :( Below are some discussions I bumped into while searching for it on the web

Is there a way to hide an application permanently from Recent apps history in ICS?

We've encountered this problem on a previous project I was on, a big banking application.

For added security we made the app to automatically log-out after five minutes of inactivity. We found it disturbing for the user that Android OS would still show your personal account info in the Recent Apps overview. This would be visible until you really closed the app, rebooted your Android or returned to the app and exited it on a screen without any banking info.

After quite some research we found out that Android (since ICS, so Android 4.0 and up) is using the internal screenshot feature to capture the screen for use in Recent Apps. There seemed to be no user option available to prevent this, only the developer of an app can restrict this.
You can ask the devs of ZDbox to include this feature in their app or options by contacting them at service@zdworks.com

Just a heads-up: If a dev does this, then the screenshot goes full black. We decided to offer a placeholder image instead, so it doesn't look bugged to the average user, see bottom app in screenshot below.

Hope this info is still usefull to you! :)


Why does Android keep APK files of installed apps? Android keeps APK files of installed user apps in /data/app directory and system apps in /system/app directory.

Does it mean Android extracts the dex files from the APK files every time the app is launched? If not, can I safely delete the APK files and still run the app?

An Android APK usually contains these things.

assets/
lib/
META-INF/
res/
AndroidManifest.xml
classes.dex

Upon installation, the APK file is copied to /data/app, and classes.dex is extracted and "optimized" by running dex2oat on it (on Android 5+ lib/ is also extracted). Result of the optimization is stored in /data/dalvik-cache/ so an app needs to be optimized only once per installation or update. Everything else is kept inside the APK. So the first answer is very clear: Things like assets and res that's required by the app must be provided, and they are inside the APK. The APK file is kept for supporting purposes. If you delete an APK, the app definitely won't start at all. (App: Where's my assets?)

Second, Google Play added support for "Delta Update" very long ago. In the delta update procedure, the difference between the old package and the new package is calculated. Then GP downloads the "Delta" and applies changes to the original APK to yield the updated APK, thus reducing download size.

An APK is always signed. This can prevent malicious modification to the package. You definitely don't want to install a modded app without knowing what is changed, or whether a virus has been injected. The META-INF/ inside the APK works for this purpose. Unofficial changes will result in non matching signature, and the Android system will refuse to install the modded app.

Also, when you update your Android OS, all dex files are "optimized" again so that you don't need to re-install them one by one. As is said above, optimization requires classes.dex file from the original package.


Google Play refund a purchase? On Google Play, I ordered an app with my Discover Gift Card, and I refunded it within 15 minutes. According to my Card balance, I have not been refunded yet. How will I know when I will get refunded?

Did you get an email from Google Play that a refund was made? If yes, you should be all right.

Sometimes, it takes time before refunds (or anything) shows up on PayPal or your credit card statement. Try again in a few days.


Is there a way to select multiple files in Astro File Manager I want to delete multiple files with astro file manager. Is there a way to select many files at once? (like holding ctrl+click in windows)

Press the "Multi" button and then select the files/folders you want, as explained on their help site:

  To select multiple files in ASTRO you simply click the "Multi" button.
  Then, you choose the files or folders you would like to work with (you
  will know they are selected because the names will turn orange.  If
  you want to copy or move files, go to the location you want those
  files and press the Copy or Move buttons.  If you want to delete,
  simply press the delete button and they will be removed.


Can I download apps via my Linux PC then install them on Android from there? I have a Motorolla Citrus smart phone.
I have Linux Mint Nadia Cinnamon

I am a total newb to smart phones and don't understand much of the terminology and what can be done.

I am temporarily out of data/an internet connection on my plan.

Is it possible for me to download an app from the google apps "store" to my Linux PC, then to transfer it over to my Android/Citrus?

If so is there a guide that explains it in baby steps?

If not, my phone is a "3G", how fast would it take to download an app?  I could probably go to a Starbucks or somewhere with a WiFi connection.

Thanks

You can connect your device to the internet (using Wifi) and continue to use it just as you would with a plan.

So you can download as many apps as you want to your device using Wifi.

You don't need to be connected using the cellular network to access the Play Store (but do need the internet).

There are certain alternative App stores that are trustworthy, but be wary of downloading APKs directly off the internet.  There is no guarantee these are safe - generally, use the same caution you would use downloading software to your computer on your phone.  Only install from reputable sources.

You can actually pull an APK (Android App Package) off one device, and put it on another (using your Linux box), but this is not a task for a newb (you would need to install and use the developer tools)


Only owner can enable Bluetooth on CyanogenMod I'm using an LG GPad 8.3 (v500) with CyanogenMod 12.1-20151007 and on this device only the "owner" is able to activate Bluetooth. There was a similar bug in CyanogenMod 10.1.

Is there a workaround to allow other users than the own to use Bluetooth? It would be ok, to create another "owner", but this seems to be impossible.

I'll say because CM based ROMs have Cyanogenmod as the base plus extra features in them. So you might wanna check them out. It will have all the base CM features.
One good option to go with is Paranoid Android.
Some other ROMs : Bliss Pop , Resurrection Remix.
Try them and tell me what you find !
Good Luck !


How can I prevent the Google+ app from showing the wrong thumbnail before I share a photo? When I go to the Google+ app to share a picture I've taken on my phone, it shows the wrong thumbnail.  I select the thumbnail anyway because experience has taught me that I can trust the date, and I when I share the picture the correct picture is shared.  This is incredibly frustrating, however, as I'm effectively "flying blind" when I share photos with the Google+ app.

I've developed various coping mechanisms for dealing with this problem.  I go into the Gallery app and delete all but pictures I want to share on Google+ and count the number of pictures I want to share.  Then I select the first few pictures (say, four) and share them on Google+.  Even though the thumbnails are wrong because I've already done the legwork to know which picture is which.

I've sent feedback to Google about this multiple times (it bothers me that there is no public record of this) and have been updating the Google+ app regularly, but the problem persists.  As of this writing I'm using version 2.3.0.240337 of the Google+ app on Android 2.2.

I don't think this has anything to do with how I manage pictures on my Android phone, but I'll describe that anyway.  Every so often I put my phone in USB mode and import my photos into iPhoto.  Then (after safely ejecting the device), from the phone I do a "select all" and "delete all" of all the pictures.

Ok, I think this might be helping, but it's an odd fix. . .

After reading the answer to another question on this site I tried the following:

Settings | Applications | Manage Applications | All | Media Storage | Clear Data
rebooted phone
opened Gallery app (nothing there, but I should have seen one picture)
took a picture (now pictures started appearing in the Gallery app)

And now the Google+ app shows the correct thumbnail. . . for now at least.  This is a pretty serious kludge and not at all user-friendly.  I hope it helps someone.


How to get an alarm / warning when it starts to rain How can I be alerted if the weather changes? For example, if it starts raining, I will receive an alarm / warning?  This would obviously be based on some local weather feed, rather than actually detecting rain.

It would be useful because sometimes I have windows open for drying clothes and stuff, and from the room I am normally in one does not notice immediately when it starts raining.   It would be very useful.

This isn't an Android solution, but I think it will work for you.

This IFTTT Recipe will send an SMS if the weather condition changes to "Rain".

Trigger (Weather channel)

Current condition changes to rain

Action (SMS channel)

Send me an SMS message


How to reinstall Android on Polaroid PSPT350 Some months after i bought my cellphone it begans to download many apps by itself and now it simply doesn't work. Every time I turn it on, a think called "Mlhiw" don´t let me use it and turn off my cellphone. So I want to reinstall Android on it. It have Android 4.4.2. And I have no idea about how to reinstall it.

You don't need to reinstall Android in order to "clean" your device.
You just have to go to settings>Back up and reset>Factory reset the device (the names may vary from device to device) but are like this.
So when you do this, what really happens is that the device is restored to a new device (just as you bought).

Take in mind that all your data will be erased, so back up your data first.


How to handle maps in google maps app? I am having some trouble with some easy stuff on Google Maps and was wondering if anyone could help.

I am running Google Maps on Android 4.4.2. When I click on the menu icon in the upper left and select a map the selected map becomes the current map and I can then see places saved to that map. However, on Android

How do I rename a map?
How do I get Google Maps to display a list of all places (which appear as yellow stars) which have been saved to that map?
What is the difference between a star on the map and a red circle with inverted red "drop"-shape on top?
When I click on the blue-on-white GPS icon, a map of my surroundings is displayed, with a blue circle with BLUE ARROW indicating my position. But what does the aforementioned bluearrow do (suppose I'm just pacing down the street and the sky is clear).

Thanks.

If by rename you mean give it a proper name instead of the ugly co ordinates google maps shows its not possible currently. People have said that changing the name by going to the desktop version applies to the app also but it did not work for me.
Press the 3 parallel lines button and then press "My Places"
-
The arrow points towards the direction you are suppose to be travelling in. It shows only in the realtime navigation view. However sometimes it may point in the opposite direction (probably a compass error). But if you are moving it usually shows the correct direction.


Highlight autocorrected words I've been using my Android phone for typing more lately, and decided to turn on autocorrect to try it out (it was off by default). While it's handy, as the entirety of the internet already knows it's frustrating to have an autocorrected word change to something completely different, and then have it be a total pain in the ass to try and get it to type what I meant to type.

For example, I was searching for 'Wifi Direct' recently, but it kept being changed to something like 'whifflefart' or something else completely wrong. Tap-holding the autocorrected word didn't give me any options, and I eventually had to type 'direct', move the cursor back, and type 'wifi', so it wouldn't consider the two words as one word. This is the most egregious one, but it's happened fairly frequently, especially for unknown terms.

The solution I'm imagining is having each autocorrected word highlighted similar to how urecognized words are, with the word being squiggly-underlined in blue or green or something. This would help you notice words have been autocorrected so you can check them before sending, and then you could tap-hold the word to get a list of other corrections or have it revert to what you typed.

I've tried to search for an app or utility that does something vaguely like this, but haven't found anything remotely relevant. I'm not really sure what this type of app would be called, though, which hasn't helped in my search... if it even exists in the first place!

I'm using Android 4.1.2, rooted, and the default keyboard.

Thanks for your help!

As far as I know, there is no such app. But you can still solve your problems. There are many keyboards available to try out whose auto-correction features are totally acceptable.

You can try these from Play Store:

Swift Key
Fleksy
Swype


How to write « and » in Galaxy A30s? Oftentimes I write texts that require the usage of a combination between ', " and «. Yet I have to copy from anywhere « anytime I want to use it and that's not the nicest experience.
This is the variations the keyboard offers

So, the only keyboard key that looks closer to « is 《 which is not really the same. I did long press some of the existing keyboard keys but none revealed the «.

My take was to search for "keyboard"

Go to "Manage keyboards"

And activate Gboard.
Now I can simply long press "

And that opens up a modal with the « and ».


there is a built-in feature that limits apps from background processing, where is it? So one night I got crazy and installed tons of apps that have background processing on my galaxy tab 8.0, they were draining its battery really fast. Android itself suggested to limit some of them to improve my battery life on the notifications tab, I tapped on that notification and limited some of them.

Now 2 weeks later I've found that my individual alarm app that I use doesn't ring anymore, I need to get access to that limiting feature  again to see if I have limited my alarm app or not, but I don't seem to find it anywhere in the settings. Googling doesn't help either because it only finds those articles that are advertising some background process limiting app indirectly.

I know uninstalling and reinstalling my alarm app or some other usual routines can fix the problem, but I need to know what exactly is causing its alarms to not go off to prevent it in the future, I can lose my job if I oversleep again.

Update : I've found out that it's a Samsung feature called "App optimisation", I'm guessing tab 8.0 isn't supposed to have that feature, so they have removed its shortcut from the settings, but not the actual feature from the os, and they forgot to disable the notification alert whenever there are a lot of apps with background processing, so that's why I had access to this feature earlier.
Now my question is, are there any other ways to access "app optimisation" other than through settings under the battery tab? Because it's not there for me.

Update #2:It alerted me again so I took a screenshot before closing it.I haven't found any other way to get access to this feature yet.

This is an option under Developer Options. To enable it:

Settings
About Device (may be under More tab)
Tap the Build Number 7 times

Once enabled, you can find Developer Options in Settings. If you scroll down near the bottom there should be an option for Limit Background Processes. Usually, there is no limit, but this might be your answer.


How to root Gionee M5 mini Good day,  please I want to root my Gionee M5 mini without swapping roms I.e changing the rom, please any solution?  I've used almost all rooting softwares both PC and phones... And what Is the oem feature?

It's a Mediatek device, powered by MT6580 chip, so rooting should not be difficult. Most one-click rooting softwares are able to do that.

You should try KingRoot desktop version, worked for a similar phone weeks ago.


How to transfer contacts in my outlook pst to Samsung Galaxy S II (or - any android phone)? I am having my contacts backed up in my outlook and now i will be able to export it to .pst and from that is it possible by any means to bring the contacts to my android phone (Samsung Galaxy S II) ??

Please help..

Kindly give me all the possible options

The process is pretty straight-forward.

In Outlook, export your Contacts into a coma-delimited text file (.CSV).  Depending on the version of MS Outlook you are running, the location of this feature may be under a different menu item.
Open up a browser, go to Gmail and login with the same Google account you use on your Android phone.
Click on the "Contacts" link, then click on the "More actions" button and select the "Import" option.
Now navigate to wherever you have saved the CSV file from step 1 and select it.
After the import process completed, your Gmail account should now have all of your Outlook contacts.
On your Android phone ensure that your Google account is set to synchronize the contacts by going to Menu -> Settings -> Accounts & sync, selecting your Google account and ensuring that there is a checkmark next to "Contacts".
Also make sure you are allowing background data and auto-sync on the Previous screen.
Again tap on your Google account and un-check/re-check the box next to "Contacts" to force an immediate sync.
Wait several minutes and check the Contacts app - all of your exported contacts from Outlook should now be on your phone.

Keep in mind that this is a one-time, one-way sync.  If you want to have any changes you make in Outlook to automatically sync to your Android phone, you will need a 3rd-party application on your Windows machine that will auto-upload your changes to your Google account.


Lock screen doesn't show notification on Android Lollipop After my Samsung S5 has been updated to Lollipop (5.0.1), notifications re. new mail, text, facebook, etc. don't show on my lock screen. The only thing showed is my network operator.

Now I have to unlock every time to see why my phone made a beep/sound. Any way to bring the info back?

Go into settings and then into Sounds and notifications. There should be an option called "While locked". Tap into that option and select from the list to show notifications on the lock screen.


Why can't I copy files between the external & interal SD on an Android 4.2 tablet? When I insert a micro-SD card into the tablet, I can open the graphical "file manager" in the apps and view which files & folders are on the internal-SD and the external-SD. However I can not discover how to copy a file from the internal to the external SD or vice-versa. The File Manager lets me create a copy of a file in the same folder, but there was no hint given as to how to copy or move a file from one folder or storage medium to another.

The tablet I am trying to work with is apparently a FAST-TOUCH (??) which is running Android 4.2.2. I think it may be this 10" tablet, or at least it is very similar to it.

I did not purchase the tablet and I definitely do not have "admin" access. I have tried to locate a user manual, but I do not think one exists. It seems to be rather common for Android devices to come with little or no useful documentation.

I would normally never bother to ask about this since I always considered simple file ops to be very trivial procedures. But I have never used an Android tablet (or phone) before and, frankly, I do not find using it to be as intuitive as I think others assume it to be.

A Note About Edits

This question previously focused on asking about documentation. I have stripped most of that out and repurposed the question to ask only about how to do a simple file copy with the File Manager on the tablet.

Before I posted the question I attempted to locate previous questions about basic Android documentation, but failed to find them. For some reason, I only seem to be able to find the questions I am looking for if I first create and post a duplicate question.

I am posting links to the general documentation questions I found below for possible future reference since, frankly, I doubt my ability to find them again.

Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions?

Where can I find a thorough introduction to Android?

Android Jelly Bean help or user manual

I use Total Commander for this kind of stuff. You can use the second button in the bottom bar to move files.
Total Commander lets you open two locations at once, which makes copying between those locations even easier.


Wet phone, charge symbols shows, but won't turn on My Galaxy S6 got wet and I dried it out as much as possible. When I plug it in, the charge symbol shows up on the screen and it shows that it's fully 100% charged, but when I press the power button, it doesn't turn on.

What's the possible cause and how to remedy it?

Not going to beat around the bushes here - take it to a repair shop as soon as you can.

The problem with water damage is that it's impossible to diagnose the extent of the damage by just seeing what the average user can do (ie. turning it on and off). It needs to be opened up and inspected by someone who knows what they're doing so they can let you know if it's salvageable, if parts need to be replaced, or if it's a goner.

If the battery icon shows up on screen but doesn't turn on, that tells me that there could be some damage to the board. Best case scenario - it can be saved if the internals are dried out properly (it may need to be taken apart for this). Worst case - the main logic board has some irreparable damage to it from the water and it's either a hefty repair bill and loss of data, or you may want to look into replacement options.


Audible Caller ID on Galaxy S3 Every time I recieve a call or a text message my phone audibly says out the name of the caller/sender.

How can I stop this?

It is a configuration that must be active to give you that information, usually it is used when you're driving, to prevent accidents:
Turn off the voice notifications:

Go to settings menu
Click on "Voice input and output" option
Select the option "Text-to-speech settings".
Uncheck the Driving mode setting.

From the user's manual
Driving mode: Activate Driving mode to provide audible notifications for incoming calls, messages, or event details.

Change alerts on call settings:

Settings
Call Settings
All calls
Alerts on call
Change from "voice" to "vibration" or "off" etc


Does the carrier matter when flashing custom roms? I am getting the lg g6 tomorrow and i saw that there was twrp and lineage and a couple others. But xda also has a thread that is specifically tmobile and thats where im getting my phone. but the tmobile thread had 0 developement going on. So will the carrier matter?

Yes and no. Most times probably not, but there are some carriers which not only apply software modifications but also obtain specific hardware configurations from manufacturers (AFAIK Verizon is one of those having done that in the past for some devices at least, and T-Mobile was mentioned in that context as well).

Which means, there's no "generic answer" to this question, but you must check for each device separately. If the hardware matches, the carrier should be irrelevant concerning the custom ROM – as the latter then again matches the hardware.


Lock Screen Wallpaper I don't know how to have a lock screen wallpaper on my phone. I'm using an Android 5.1 Lollipop (Omega HD3, Cherry Mobile). Where can i find the setting to set my lock screen wallpaper on my device?

Go to the gallery, find the picture you would like to set as Lockscreen wallpaper.
When u have the picture opened, in the menu ( 3 dots - usually) there is Set as..

Just click it and it will ask you for " Set as Homescreen wallpaper / Set as Homescreen wallpaper and lockscreen wallpaper  /  Set as lockscreen wallpaper"

Now select your option.


Can I input a video signal into my HTC phone to use it as an external monitor of a camera? I'd like to use my HTC Evo 3D as an external monitor for my Canon 7D camera. The Canon 7D has a HDMI output. It also has an USB port, naturally.

I was wondering whether this would be possible. I think the USB/MHL port on HTC Evo 3D is for output only and it cannot receive any signal inputs. Is that right?

That would leave the USB port for this. But I still don't know how to achieve it.

I want to achieve something like this:

If your HTC phone has OTG support. You can use one of these USB OTG adapters. Then you can plug your 70D using a mini USB cable and then plug it in to the OTG cable and plug it into your phone. Then you can download an app such as DSLR Controller and you should see  live feed of your 70D on the phone.


Block all incoming calls I need to use internet, but without being able to be called. So basically just block all incoming calls.
I used to enable flight mode, but doing so, I'm not able to connect to the internet.

Is there an alternative?

Some Samsung devices have a feature called "Blocking Mode", which allows this. You can check if your phone has it from Phone -> Call settings -> My Device -> Blocking Mode -> Disable incoming calls.


Lost Android phone , Google is Forcing to Change Password but how to remote wipe it I lost my phone today and I tried to do the remote wipe several times because phone was off and I was impatient.
Now google says there was suspicious activity with my account and I must my password. This is the dilemma for me now.
If I change the password, I may not be able to get the remote wipe but there were 6 notification emails in my mailbox confirm remote wipe has been requested and then google locked me out.
Please help.
Thanks.

Well, if the thief connected to the internet, it would surely work.


Something is blocking ads and I don't know what it is I am not complaining, it's awesome, but strange. I have a rooted Samsung a5, sm a500h, android 6.1.

Few weeks ago I installed adaway, and removed it because it couldn't block youtube ads.

And now the vast majority of apps don't display ads anymore, with the exception of musixmatch and youtube. I browse webpages using chrome, i see no ads on any website, including forbes.com and it let me in without complaining about an ad blocker, on tumblr, the ad space says "couldn't connect  to server x"

I did clean my device multiple times, using the likes of clean master, I did restart it multiple times. Is it possible that adaway did all that?

Somebody gone borked up their hosts file

Luckily, it's an easy fix. Your going to need root, and a root file manager (Like ES file explorer)

In your file explorer, go to /system/etc, and look for a file called 'hosts'. Open it, and remove EVERYTHING except the top line to disable the AD blocking. If you want to, of course

But why?

AdAway and similar apps use root auth to write to the hosts file the locations of ads. This then blocks them due to what said file does (it's a blacklist, essentially)


Android custom factory apps I want to protect my phone in case of stolen, so i want add an app which will install after factory reset. I have root acces. I want to that app be automatically installed, and factory reset won't remove it. What do i need to do?

Basically what you need to do is to install a custom rom on your phone. Tweak the rom so that your app is included as a system app. If the user does a factory reset, the systems apps go back to their default state.

You'll want to test it out, though. I don't know if a factory reset wipes all the data for system apps (clean slate) or if it resets it to how the app was when the rom was installed.

On top of that, though, a user who steals your phone may install a rom of their own. In that case, you are out of luck. As far as I know, there does not exist a custom recovery that can be password protected (to keep people from installing another rom).


Apple Notes alternative for Samsung device I am looking for an free and ad-free solution which is comparable to Apple Notes, which I used some years ago on an iPad.

I want to be able to take simple plain-text notes, and access them both on a computer (on OS X) and on a Samsung S7. I don't need fancy features (Evernote-like), in fact I much prefer simplicity.

The Memo app that comes with the phone is perfectly sufficient for my needs, and looks like just what I want. Except there's one big problem: I can't figure out how to access the notes on a computer.  Syncing with "Samsung Cloud" is turned on for Memo in the settings.

I don't expect to be able to find a third-party app that provides such functionality for free, as whoever provides the service will need to pay for server costs.  But I did expect Samsung to provide such functionality, given that Apple has had it for a long time ...

I'd say 'Google Keep' is one of the best ones to use:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep


Samsung Grand duos not visible in Mac Finder but visible in DDMS I have eclipse installed and can see my device DDMS tab. Debugging also works normal. But oddly, I dont see my device (both internal memory and sd card) in Finder. I am unable to transfer to-and-fro my Mac. My Android OS version is - 4.1.2 (Jellybeans)

Solutions already tried:

1) Rebooting both device and system multiple times.

2) Select/unselecting "USB Debugging" in developer options.

3) Connecting device as "Media Device(MTP)" and "Camera (PTP)"

4) Installing Kies and trying to access device from there. I get a perpetual "Connecting..." message.

5) Plugging/Unplugging device from Mac. I get the message "Try reconnecting or restarting your device."

The device is definitely getting detected by the system as its shown in DDMS. But what could be the possible cause of not letting me access the storage?

P.S.: Device works fine in Windows, both storage duly pops up in the "Computer" section.

Disabling 'debugging mode' did the trick for me.


Is Mobdro only for ARM now? I'm trying to use Mobro on the Android SDK emulator.  It only seems to install on ARM images.  Is this a Mobdro limitation?

There is a universal architecture (armeabi-v7a + x86)  available at APKmirror repository (Mobdro Version: 2.1.4 (21412604)). This variant is larger in size (33.22 MB) than the arm counterpart.

For interest sake, I downloaded it and installed it, it is working fine on my x86 virtual device (API level 22):

This was uploaded on May 10, 2018, I guess you could be right that it is now being developed only for arm architecture, if you desperately need to run it on x86 then grab it on this repo. This is just a speculation


Read every file stored on device or SD card? Flash storage devices (NAND cells) are nutorious for slowly losing charge over time.

Many USB sticks have automatic data retention when idle, but I doubt that MicroSD has automatic data retention.

How do I read every single file saved on the mSD card?

One possible way is installing an Android terminal emulator such as Termux or jackpal.androidterm (which I have).

cd /storage/extSdCard/
cp -R -v . /dev/null

-v adds verbosity and shows which file is being read momentarily. “extSdCard” might be ####-#### (hexadecimal characters such as 0612-2FA5).

/dev/null is a black hole in Unix/Linux based operating systems. Everything put in there is gone. But what the command does is copying all the files into nothing, hence the source files stay the same, just getting read.

Alternatives:

grep -R "Any Text" #if working directory is already selected using the “cd” command.

Or grep -R "Any Text" /storage/[path to MicroSD card]

This will quickly search every file recrusively for text, causing all data to get read.

You can also redirect the output of the command to >>/dev/null or >>/dev/zero.

Another alternative is using a hashsum generating command (md5sum needs the lowest processing ressources for the same amount of data), but that's less efficient because it needs to generate a hashsum. This process requires additional system ressources.


How can I add a shortcut to a particular Google Drive document to my Android homescreen? How can I add a shortcut to a particular Google Drive document to my Android homescreen?

This is the Android analog to this question.  Using a URL doesn't work, since I don't want to open the browser and I want to directly access a Google Drive file I have made available offline.

Could QuickShortcutMaker be used?  Looking through it briefly, (see here) it doesn't look possible because the "intents" used by QuickShortcutMaker don't take arguments such as a filename.

You should be able to do this natively.

Android 3.0 (and below):

In your launcher, press and hold on a blank area and click "Shortcuts". Select "Drive Shortcut", then your document, and it will create a link for you.

Android 4.0 (and above)

Open your app drawer and jump to the Widgets section. Swipe until you get to "Drive Shortcut". Long-press and drop on your desktop. Choose the account to use (if necessary) then select the document.


Activate Voice Actions from Lock Screen Is there a way to activate Voice Actions from the lock screen?

I've abandoned the iPhone world, and only miss this one feature. On my iPhone I could press and hold my home button to activate Siri. From there, I could run all kinds of voice commands... The way I see it on my lg-nexus-4 is that I have to unlock the phone and swipe up. Then say "google" to activate Voice.

I wanted to do the same thing but the long press feature seems to be locked down by Google. My work around was to install Headset Button Controller and bind three button presses in a row to voice search which works great. There is a trial version but I was happy to pay a few Euro for the feature.

Incidentally, the app also fixed the headset button not responding sometimes when the screen was locked by enabling Prevent sleep mode while the headset is plugged in. Its in the advanced settings area.

I am using a Galaxy Nexus on 4.2.2


Android App 30 day expiry I downloaded an app that had a 30 day trial about 5 months ago and never used it, so uninstalled it. I have downloaded it again and it wont register as it 'sees' it has being installed on the device before...... any thoughts on where the App is getting its information?

Since you have already downloaded the app once it will keep track of your 'Device ID' or even the 'google account' that you used to download the app.


China copy of Samsung Galaxy Note II Possible Duplicate:
  Can I install Android on my non-Android device?

My uncle recently bought a China copy of Samsung Galaxy Note II. It does not have Android. Is there any way to install Android OS on it?

Practically, there is no way you can install Android on it. As the device has a software (from my knowledge of China-copy phones) which is just a copy of Android's UI. Also, the hardware is nowhere near the original device (Note II in this case).

Theoretically, Android can be installed on most phone's hardware. There are mods available for iPhone as well! However, there are no mods available (AFAIK) for China duplicates. And like I already mentioned, the hardware of such devices also not capable of running "real" Android OS.

So unfortunately, I don't see a way for you to install Android on this device.

See this question for further information.


Can't install apps through Android Market website? When I try to install an app from the Android Market website, I get this error:

  "There are no android phones associated with this account. Please sign in with a different account."

I tried fixing it by following this, but it didn't help. I can see the list of apps that are already installed on my phone though.

Did anyone else encounter this problem? Any hints on how to fix it?

thank you!

made it... after going to market account -> settings -> edit, i chose "show in menus" and now it works.


Using a phone without data plan for multiplayer game dev I would like to try out android programming and specifically try my hand at some multiplayer development, but I no longer have an active phone plan for my android phone.  Is it possible to just use wi-fi without having a 3g data plan?  There is no need to make calls, only access my wireless network.

[Edit] The phone is a Galaxy S Mesmerize if that helps.  I'm at work, so I can't take a look at the phone to see if it needs a SIM card.  It was from US Cellular so I don't think it needs one.  Not sure tho.

Depending on the model/carrier - your unit could block the access to the UI (past the "Emergency calls only" screen) without being activated. If you can root the unit - this can be easily bypassed.


How to open winmail.dat file email attachment? My boss can't open attachments in his Lenovo K3 NOTE and all he got was a winmail.dat file. What settings should I use to get rid of winmail.dat file and open the attachments?

Microsofts Outlook e-mail program sometimes sends e-mail attachments as "Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format" (TNEF). This attachment is usually named "WINMAIL.DAT".

You should install the Winmail.dat Opener(1.7mb) or Free Winmail Viewer(6.9mb) app from the play-store. Opening the file will reveal you multiple files packed into it just like a zip file.

  How to open a winmail.dat file?

  Select Winmail.dat Opener from the context menu of the winmail.dat attachment.
  Start Winmail.dat Opener and use the built-in file dialog to select a previously saved winmail.dat file. Once you are at the
  contained files list, you can long click a file to open it or select
  files and click the "save" icon from the action bar to save all
  selected files to the sdcard. All files will be saved to a directory
  called "winmaildatopener".
  After successful export of a file to this
  directoy an open file dialog will enable you to start further actions,
  like open, share on the exported files.


Will my apps still auto-update if I root? I'd like to root my Nexus 4 with rasbeanjelly because I heard it increases battery life. If I do that, will the apps that I have installed still auto-update from the Google Play Store like they do now?

Yeah they'll auto update as long as you have enabled it under settings in Play Store.

Keep it in your mind though, rooting or installing custom ROM will void warranty.


Where is "Back up my data" stored? Can it be edited? Anybody know how to get to it? It's not on the Google Dashboard, or linked to from the developer docs. I've even dug through the code, but it's confusing. Anybody know a way to download it, and better yet, upload a replacement?

For context: My phone sometimes starts acting weird (random hangs and/or reboots), and one theory is that some part of my backup is getting periodically corrupted, because even with a hard reset some problems persisted, but went away when I cleared "Back up my data" before doing another factory reset. Now that things have started to get weird again, I'm wondering if I could download that backup data and keep just certain parts of it.

There isn't any way to get to it. It is basically turning on and off a developer facing backup feature. Each app can write what it wants to into a certain amount of space, and Google takes care of sending it back to the app when it is reinstalled.

Even if you were to write an app for it, you'd only be able to access the storage linked to that developer key, not the other apps that use the service.

For more info on what that option does, see my answer here.


Method to monitor home electricity supply interruptions I am looking for a way to find out, in a day at what timings electricity supply was interrupted. I guess if we keep our android device on charging all day we should be able to find power interruption by just knowing the current charging status of the device. So is there any app or method which can help ?

Battery history: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.psw.batteryToast&hl=en
This app may help, you can access the ‘unplugged/plugged log’ through the ‘charging’ button, which is on the top left of the app interface. It should be able to tell you when its ‘unplugged’ when it stops charging.
It’s ad and purchase free, but the downside is that the interface seems to be quite confusing and messy.
The below image is one of the app’s image preview on the play store.


Gmail Notification stopped working on Nexus 4 I have to press the refresh option in Gmail just to get new messages.

I have checked the application and the notification setting is on. I stopped it and then again started it but still it is not working. Is anyone else facing such issue? Android version is 4.2.1

In my accounts it is showing that "Sync is OFF". Has this something to do with this? I always see this option like this and have to go inside it to change Gmail, Currents, Photos, etc. to sync.

On stock Android 4.2.2 on my Galaxy Nexus I had the same problem of gmail notifications not working. I checked that in Settings>Data Usage "Auto Sync" was turned on.

Then I went to Settings>Accounts>Google, hit the email address and you see everything that is being synced or not.

Weirdly for me it Gmail sync was inactive after I had recently updated my rom.

This should take care of this problem.


Remove the "Change keyboard" button in lollipop The button interferes with typing. My hand accidentally hits the button constantly prompting a pop up. Very annoying.

The button is in the lower right corner:

It should only show up if you have more than 1 keyboard active. Deactivate one or more keyboards.


Map HTC Logo on HTC One Is there any way to have the HTC Logo on the HTC One (between the home and back buttons) to be used as a multitasking button AND press and hold for a menu button?

There are custom kernels supporting the HTC logo as a button. You might e.g. want to check tbaldens kernel @ XDA, which is available in different variants underlying the logo with different features:

HOME2Wake and HTCLogo2Sleep
HOME2Wake and HTCLogoMenu

Watch the videos over at XDA-Developers to see how it works. It is not the combination you asked for, but maybe that one was added later as a variant (another dev continued with a fork in this second thread, which lists a few more details), or you can ask the dev to do so.


deleted drafts remain in conversation chain In the gmail app, I keep finding conversations that display multiple draft versions of replies that have long been deleted via the drafts folder. Is there a proper way to remove drafts from all conversations, or perhaps a settings available to fix? v2.2.1, Samsung Charge.

Only way I found around it is to find the conversation in the normal gmail web interface, scroll all the way to the bottom where it says "n deleted messages in this conversation. View messages or delete forever." where n is a number and press "delete forever". Certainly not a satisfying solution.


S10 draining over 10% battery per hour while idling My phone is less then a year old and I had my Screen replaced by Samsung about 2 months ago.(they also changed the battery and aluminium body).So the battery is almost new. About a week ago something happened to my phone while i was using google maps and and it started daring battery at extremely high rate. it's was using almost 20% battery per hour with no use at all and it was getting hot while idling. Since like 4 days ago phone wouldn't even charge to 100%, it would get stuck at 70-80% because it was discharging faster then it could charge.(maybe it was getting too hot and stop charging). I had to revoke alot of location related permissions to slow the discharge to get battery to 100%.
It's not as bad as before but it's still completely discharging from 100% to 0% is less then 10 hours with no use at all. It used to last almost 2 days with quite high usage before this bug.
here's what I tried so far.

restarted the phone,
put every app to sleep and deep-sleep,
disabled allow location to apps even when location is turned off (same for Bluetooth and wifi)
turned off Bluetooth and wifi scanning even when they are turned off
disable the google app and google play services app.
did a settings reset.
factory(data) reset the phone.

non of this fixed the issue. Even put the phone on medium and maximum power saving and the did nothing, discharge rate is still exact same about 10% per hour while idling.
I took a few bugreports and viewed them in battery historian (online version). I don't know what I should be looking for. Is it safe to post bugreport file here, i don't know what kind of info is in it.

Sent it to Samsung for repair and they changed the whole motherboard. it took over two weeks for repair because they didn't had the motherboards at the repair center. The issue was mostly due to the bad repair they did when they changed the screen battery and the body.


Possible to remap `Esc` key to `Caps Lock` on a bluetooth keyboard Samsung Galaxy Note 9 with any old bluetooth keyboard. How do I remap the Esc key to Caps Lock? And remap the Caps Lock key to Esc. Swap them basically.

I need this to make it easier to use Vim on Android. I prefer not to root.

In Android 4.0 you could do this easy, you would need root permissions though. You most likely still can with root. Just checked can do easy with root. /System/usr/keylayout there are a couple files in there with keyboard layouts that you can edit with root permission. You can veiw but not edit in fx file manager, there are other files that control the same types of things in there.


Find out what causes freezes of my phone My phone (Elephone P9000 lite) behaves really strange since some time: Every now and then it freezes for about 1-2 seconds.

There are two different types of freezes:

The touchscreen does not react to a tap on the screen (e.g. when playing a game, there is still movement of units, etc)
Full freeze - input not working, audio stops, app "paused" (e.g. when playing a game, the movement of unit stops)

I can't identify a specific cause for the problem, i.e. it can happen when I play a game, watch a video, or listen to music (also occurs when the screen is off).

So my question is: Is there a way to find out what causes this problem?

Bonus question: Should I worry about the problem (i.e. could it indicate a hardware/software problem that could lead to a bigger issue)?

Phone: P9000_lite
Android: 6.0

Thanks in advance!

The question is very general but I can give you some common reasons why phones freeze and some troubleshoot steps.

Do a restart by holding the power button and then press restart.
Find out which apps are using the most system resources and unistall them, then check if that fixes the problem. (Common apps like this are Facebook and Facebook Messenger). This app can help you fix RAM issues.
If you see any errors during the crashes post them in the comments or edit the original post
Last option would be to factory reset the phone but as the website says, all described operations you are doing at your own risk.

p.s. also, its not a good idea to post your build number on a public forum.


Changing SD Card Just a Simple Copy & Paste I'm migrating to a larger SD Card and I'm wondering if it is just a straightforward copy of the data from one card to the other in Windows?  Specifically, can I just copy the card using Windows Explorer and paste to a temporary folder, then copy the contents of that temporary folder to the new card and have the phone be non-the-wiser (so long as I preserve the directory structure)?

Joel,

I've done this before, and I've had mixed results. Make sure you have Windows set to see hidden files and folders, then drag everything over. Your phone may refuse to remember the SD card-stored apps you have (as in, you've moved an app to run off the SD card), but it may also work. App settings, as far as I remember, seem to come over. I'd say it wouldn't hurt trying.

I know it'll preserve the link to Gallery pictures and videos and music and such.


How is an "average use" defined in terms of battery life It is common to see better battery performance being touted as a selling point, when phones are announced and when they but the market. And the claim typically goes like "lasts xx hours on average use" or variations of "average" but conveying the same meaning. Implied, of course, is reduced frequency of battery charging and longer battery life.This is encountered in phone reviews also.

What I am trying to find out from an academic perspective:

a) Is there something defined as "average" use

b) Is there an accepted standard which profiles, say an "average or typical user" or "heavy user"

Both questions are interrelated and what perplexes me, is the freedom of misuse by companies to make claims that in no way can be verified. Logically, there should be standardized way but googling did not yield any result.

Only reference which I could find when researching screen power was Analysis of Power Consumption in a Smartphone. Section 5.4 of the paper talks of user profiles, but it seems to be hypothetical, not being backed by any reference.

"There is no profiling of usage", is also an answer if it is backed by authority or standard.

I am aware that this question may not really belong here (not sure where else to ask), but being a end user concern, trust it will be permitted and more importantly answered

Findings on the battery-life claims made by manufacturers

Note that this answer can't cover every manufacturer and/or device. Information about this topic is not well documented and I had luck to find the following links and sites. If you encounter new Information then please edit this answer or leave a comment with the source of your new found information.

After searching for reasonable information it came to my mind that the new Sony M4 Aqua is advertised with 2 days of battery life.

To back up their claims they add the following lines at the end of the site:

  **Battery life has been measured against Sony Mobile Communications AB’s smartphone usage profile, defined in September 2014 to represent the typical smartphone user’s active condition, including but not limited to a range of usage scenarios (calling, texting, web browsing, social networking, game playing, music listening, picture taking, picture browsing, online video watching, video recording and playback).

If you're following a few links you'll find yourself on the battery information page. At the bottom of the page you'll find exactly the statements that raised your question.

  Based on multiple battery performance tests conducted between July and September 2014 in a laboratory under active use conditions reflective of the Typical Smartphone User by Sony Mobile Communications AB. Get the full story on our test results page.

So let's look at the mentioned "results page". Here we'll find some more information about the company which measures the battery-life.

Some interesting statements in my opinion are:

based on results from tests conducted by Strategy Analytics, an independent global company specialising in market analysis
verified at the time of testing
we cannot guarantee that all claims are still valid as you read this

In my opinion this sounds like "We hired a professional company to measure our devices battery-life but don't take our words as a warranty." This is speculative though. Atleast we know that Strategy Analytics is testing the battery-life for sony devices. When we head over to their website and search a little bit we can find that they do test other devices aswell.

They've also did a big technical benchmark test and a test on Smartphone Battery Performance.

  where the battery performance of flagship smartphones from Apple, HTC, Huawei, LG, Google, Nokia/Microsoft, Samsung, and Sony was benchmarked, SA found that the smartphones with the largest battery capacities did not provide the longest battery life – i.e. bigger did not mean better.

Additionally we can find some testing criterias from review magazines and blogs like CNET or PCMag.

So I'm still trying to answer your question

  a) Is there something defined as "average" use

Probably - but it depends and differs on who is testing the product and what criteria they are setting. I have not found a single guideline which focusses on WHICH aspects should be respected when doing a battery test.

  b) Is there an accepted standard which profiles, say an "average or typical user" or "heavy user"

Generally I would say this also depends on the tester and the product they are testing. It came to my mind that different screen sizes are suitable for different usages also. On a big screen it is more enjoyable to watch a video or a movie than on a small screen - you'll probably play more demanding games on a bigger screen and so on. Take the Samsung Galaxy Beam as an example. How would you compare an average use on this device (using the beamer for 2 hours a day) to a Galaxy S6 e.g. (using the display for 2 hours a day). I think you can catch my drift. It's hard to compare because they are built for a different audience with a completly different use case. Sony e.g. says this for their devices:

  Typical Smartphone User usage profile involved using the device for approximately 5 hours in a 24-hour period, for a range of typical usage scenarios (calling, texting, web, social networking, games, camera, music and video).

Please note that I'm not affiliated with the company or the websites I've linked to. I am sharing my reasearch on this field from a neutral perspective.


How to revive my android phone? So my phone is dead or whatever it is. It just show the logo screen showing that it will boot into recovery but after all it just turned off. The boot loader is locked so I had nothing to do. I removed the battery for 1 hour and insert it again then press the power button but nothing happens. Connected this to my laptop but still can not be recognized. I also connected it to my laptop without battery but it just shows up the logo then shuts down.

So this is what happens before all of this. I root then flash cwm using Flashify and reboots into recovery and it all started here. Stuck in a logo screen for infinite time. I tried to repair it to a phone repair centers but they can not do it.

Now for the last time before I will consult it to the manufacturer, is there any solutions that I can do ?
Well I have the stock ROM for this phone which is 5.0.1

Can I flash the ROM in this situation ?
Can I access the internal storage in this time ?
Or any other suggestions, easy or very difficult steps ?

Hoping for your help, Thanks !

You can try installing fastboot drivers on your computer, then try unlocking the boot loader and flashing a new recovery. But all data will be lost.


Is CyanogenMod Installer compatible with my Note 2 after updating it to Android 4.3? Can I install CyanogenMod on Samsung Galaxy Note 2 after I updated it to Android 4.3? Will knox interfere? How can install it using the installer of CyanogenMod or with the conventional way?

Some people have successfully installed CyanogenMod on top of 4.3 (with Knox).

Refer to the official installation guide, which includes installation on the phone and on the PC.


Block mobile internet access except portable hotspot without rooting my phone I've seen many articles and tried many applications like 'mobiwol' 'droidwall' 'avast antivirus' 'foxfi'.

What my problem is that I've a very limited mobile data and I want to use it with my laptop with wireless/usb tethering without any android app accessing internet.

I was thinking to block all android application to access internet and just allow portable hotspot to access mobile data, then I'll connect via portable hotspot and use the data in my laptop. I found application like 'droidwall' or 'avast antivirus' which requires a rooted device, but I cannot root my device as it'll void warranty.

Then I found 'Noroot firewall' or 'mobiwol' which creates a virtual VPN to block internet access. That's exactly what I want. But I want to allow portable hotspot to access mobile data which is not possible see 2nd last answer here. So basically I'm struck.

Can anyone please suggest what should I do? or simply how can I use internet in laptop via android device without android app accessing mobile data?

Note: My device - samsung tab2 3100, android version 4.1.2

Go to Settings>Data Usage
Check 'Restrict Background Data'

(It will prevent apps from using Data)


Where is the location for old WhatsApp database? In my internal memory, I found the WhatsApp database folder, but it only contains a few files, a maximum of 6/7 days.

Where can I find my old WhatsApp database files? Where would I get the previous days' or months' chat database?

if you start what's app without restoring previous data it gets deleted and if you are talking about encryption you can eaisly access it by scanning the qr code in other device


lock dock icons on ADW launcher Does somebody knows how can I lock the ADW launcher dock icons so with that I can't move or delete any of those?

Why I want that: Because sometimes I click on an icon on the dock and ADW moves it out of the dock. The same behaviour like I was holding that icon, but without holding it. It's very annoying.

I don't think this precise behavior exists in ADW at the moment. However, you can lock your desktop entirely if you want to, which prevents you from moving any of the icons or adding new icons (or widgets). You'll have to unlock it whenever you want add widgets/icons but it's only three clicks (Menu button->More->(un)Lock Desktop).


Karbonn A52+ automatically turns off constantly I'm using a Karbonn A52+ running Android 4.2.2. I have been facing a problem, many times, in fact, most of the times, when I'm using my phone, it automatically turns off (Not when the phone is not in use). Then when I try to switch it on immediately, it doesn't.. It switches on only if I try after a while. Sometimes it even requires the charging of the battery, even when it has a decent amount of charge remaining. Sometimes, even such a thing happens:
Phone has 90% battery, it switches off, I reboot, it has 1% of battery. I take the battery out and reinsert, it again has 89-90%. I found an article on the net saying if the phone's testing mode says the battery is healthy (which I did confirm in my phone), most probably it is a software problem.

I tried uninstalling recently installed apps, problem persisted
I removed the SD card, phone worked fine for 10-15 minutes, again switched off
Now when I run the phone WITH sd card, it goes off almost immediately after booting.
I even tried disabling quick boot (which I don't remember when did I turn it on), problem persisted..

I went on and performed a factory reset, phone worked fine for a day (or perhaps less) and the problem started repeating..

So I'm unable to make out whether it's a software or hardware problem..

Shall I go ahead and flash my stock ROM or buy a new battery?

P.S. I have once flashed my stock ROM due to a soft brick around a month or two back..

I think it's a battery issue.

If you think battery is OK, try recalibrating the battery stats. (Requires root)

If that doesn't work, yes, the problem is with the battery. Go change it :)


How can I get a LogCat? Possible Duplicate:
  How can I view and examine the Android log?

Sometimes I get asked for a LogCat.

What is this?
What is it supposed to do?
How can I get it?

What is a LogCat?
A "LogCat" is for debugging applications / Android system. When applications / Android crash the output the "explanation" for the crash, the Exception Stacktrace, to a Log. This log can be saved and help developers to fix the crash.

What is it supposed to do?
It will help to solve your questions, if your asked for a LogCat it is always useful.

How can I get a LogCat?
This isn't hard.

Prerequisites:
Linux, Windows or Mac
USB cable for your device
Android Device

Instructions:

Install your device driver for using adb. Everything you need will you find here
Download adb executable for your OS (Download: Windows | Linux | Mac). Paste it somewhere.
Connect your android device.
Verify if "Settings > Developer options > USB debugging" is checked, if not, simply check it.
Open a command promt (windows) or terminal (linux / mac). How to do it: On Windows: windows + r > enter "cmd" (without quotes) > click enter | On Linux: You don't know how to open a terminal? LOL | On Mac: Type Terminal into Spotlight and open it
CD to the directory where the adb executable is located. On Windows: Go to the directory where you downloaded the adb executable, Shift+Right Click and select "Open Console" (or similar) | On Linux / Mac: Rightclick in the directory and select "Open Terminal here" (or simply CD into the directory)
Type in your cmd/terminal: adb devices to verify your device is properly connected.
If your device is properly selected, type in adb logcat to show the mighty and magic logcat aka stacktrace.
Reproduce your error (or whatever) on your device.
Right after, paste the whole cmd / terminal window into a paste-service like http://pastebin.com/ and send it to us.


vcast media manager huge log files: safe to delete? Device Info

Phone: Samsung Galaxy S7
Carrier: Verizon Wireless

My issue
My phone is low on available space, so I wanted to delete some things. I noticed that the path Android/data/com.vcast.mediamanager/files/instabug/logs is taking up 1.47 GiB of just .txt log files! What is generating these, and is it safe to delete them?

Instabug is an app component for bug- crash- and app performance-monitoring.
Therefore it should be safe to delete this file.
I would also send a bug report to Verizon as com.vcast.mediamanager is their
Verizon Cloud app. May be they forgot to decrease the logging verboseness which leads to such a big log file.


I have an Archos 55 Platinum. How do I turn off vibrate when I'm typing? I've turned 'vibrate' off in a couple of places, but it still vibrates when I'm typing an sms message. It's really frustrating.

By default, pressing the touchscreen creates a vibration. This functionality is available in two parts: general interface and virtual keyboard. To completely remove vibrations of this type the option must be deactivated in both sections in the Settings app.

From Settings > Sound , uncheck Vibrate on touch.

From Settings > Language & Input, in the section Keyboard & input methods, press the settings button next to Google Keyboard (or the 3rd party keyboard that you are using) and uncheck Vibrate on keypress.

Information available on: Archos FAQ Home


Mobile internet doesn't work on browsers with VPN turned off, but it works in some apps, and works via Wi-Fi in all apps I cannot use any browser with VPN turned off using mobile internet, but I can use other apps, such as BBC or Viber. I also can access the internet via Wi-Fi with VPN turned off. I have resetted APN settings many times, but it will not work. I cannot turned off proxy because there is no such an option. The proxy section is blank. When I fill in the blank with some random letters, and then blank it again, the internet begins to work, and after a few searches on the browser stops. Actually, when I change some other sections of APN the internet starts working, but then stops. Tell me please what is wrong. I am clueless about whether or not the problem is with the tablet or the mobile data provider. Because when I put a SIM card from a different provider into my tablet, it worked. And when I put my SIM card into another device, it also worked in that device. I called the company for help. They say that my APN settings was out of order. They sent me new ones. That also didn't solve the problem I have even resetted the tablet to factory settings. To my chagrin, it hasn't worked.

Navigate to settings>system>reset options
click on "Reset Wi_fi, mobile & bluetooth.

This will however reset your your phone network settings

I had experienced a similar situation and this was the only solution that worked for me.

Did this work for you?


Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 stuck at Samsung boot logo after rooting it with Kingo root app I rooted my Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 via Laptop using Kingo root app. I did everything correct but my  tablet won't turn on now. It is stuck on the logo screen. It won't load past the logo screen. I took it to a repair shop, and they cannot fix it.

Can my tablet be fixed? What should I do to fix it? Would I have to buy a new device now?

Do you have recovery on it? Example: Clockworkmod recovery?
If answer is yes, try booting to recovery with key combination: Volume down+power+home and after 2 seconds keep holding volume down+power but stop pushing home.
You should download a custom rom designed for your phone, which is a zip file. Then on the recovery install from SD (must have SD card) and pick the zip file.

EDIT:

I had the same issue than you, service center couldn't help. Lastly I took it to the electric shop I bought it from, they helped.


How can I root my Sony Xperia u? I have used several one-click methods but none of them worked for me.

Can anyone tell me the correct process?

Android version: 2.3.7
model number: st25i
build number: 6.0.B.3.184

As far as I've found so far there's no known way for GingerBread (2.3.7) except bootloader unlock, which wipes the storage clean on the phone.  ICS is a different matter.


How can you tell if you've been a victim of the recent sms bug? How would one know if their phone was or is afflicted by the recent bug (sending sms to the wrong people)?

From this post, it seems that only very specific conditions seem to trigger this bug. Also, AFAIK, this only seems to affect the default Messaging app, using a replacement like Handcent seems to be the way to go. More info on the bug here.

  Specifically, there is something about
  certain email-to-SMS messages that
  corrupts Android's SQLite database,
  causing unpredictable results
  thereafter. The most commonly cited
  offender is alerts sent by Bank of
  America, though SMS alerts sent by
  LinkedIn and T-Mobile are also cited.
  It's possible that any SMS where the
  sender is an email address will do the
  trick, or it's possible there's
  something else these specific senders'
  messages have in common.

  To be clear: if you've never received
  one of these corrupting messages, you
  will never be able to reproduce the
  bug. That's why it's only affecting a
  small group of Android users.

  If you have fallen prey to the issue,
  you should be able to fix it by
  performing a hard reset (wiping all
  data) and then blocking the offending
  sender(s) from sending you texts in
  the future.


Disable Screenshot Security Some apps don't allow screenshots so how can I still take a screenshot?

It is my phone and I should be able to do whatever I want with it so why is there even a feature to disallow screenshots?

Android 5.0.1

Why apps prevent screen capturing, and how to disable the restriction
Some apps present sensitive data (e.g. banking apps) or copyright-protected content (e.g. video streaming apps). App developers can opt to use the Android platform’s FLAG_SECURE setting to prevent the screen from being captured, recorded, or shown on “non-secure displays” such as the recent apps view. There are a couple of ways to disable this flag:

Smali Patcher module for Magisk. Magisk is officially supported on Android versions 4.2–11.0.
DisableFlagSecure module for Xposed. Xposed is officially supported on Android versions 5.0–8.1.

The Smali Patcher method requires you to connect your phone to a PC and run a Windows program to actually generate the module. Note that Magisk on Android 4.2 does not support MagiskHide.
The Xposed method has a big caveat: many banking apps use Google’s SafetyNet platform for checking device integrity, and prevent the application from being used on devices that have Xposed installed. This renders the module useless in SafetyNet-enabled apps, and there is currently no way to hide Xposed from SafetyNet.
Use these modules with caution, as they disable the flag system-wide.
Taking a screen capture of your phone on your PC
If you can’t or don’t want to disable FLAG_SECURE on your phone, you can also use scrcpy. It lets you mirror your phone’s display to your computer, and then you can just use a screenshot software of your choice on your computer to capture the phone’s screen. This requires you to turn on ADB debugging from your phone’s development settings, but beware that some apps restrict their functions when they detect that development settings are enabled. Scrcpy works on Android versions 5.0–11.0.


Gmail app not displaying status bar notifications I recently got an Samsung Galaxy S3, and I prefer the GMail app than the default mail client (the one with the red seal).

The default mail client seems to autocheck for email and displays a notification in the top left corner, but I can't get the native GMail client to do the same. Any suggestions on doing so?

Open GMail, and open its Settings. Click your username@gmail.com, and make sure Notifications is checked. Then, click Inbox sound & vibrate and click Turn Gmail sync on. Configure the Notifications at the bottom as you like.

In Settings, make sure Sync Gmail is also checked.

With regards to GMail sync frequency, see this question: How to set gmail sync frequency?


Android 7 TV wireless keyboard language switch not working I've got a Sony X900E TV model with Android 7.0 installed, with Logitech K400 Plus keyboard connected to it. My issue with them is the fact that it is impossible to switch the language.

The only way to get the language that I need is to go into
Settings -> Keyboards -> Physical keyboards -> [select language], but this cannot even be considered a workaround because these steps are required every time you switch the language, as it only works until you switch the language with Win+Space(which actually toggles between virtual keyboards), after which it restores to defaults (English) and you have to go through all the steps again.

PS: I've tested the keyboard on Xiaomi MI5s (Android 6), where Ctrl+Space works perfectly. Moreover, Android 6 had the feature to select multiple languages for physical keyboards and toggle between them, which apparently was removed in Android 7, because you either leave the defaults, or select only 1 specific language.

Is there by any chance a feasible workaround (or maybe a real fix) for this kind of problem?

So I found the answer in installing a separate App called External Keyboard Helper (which has a pro and demo version), have set the language switching shortcut in its options and it worked perfectly fine for me.

However, I still consider it a workaround, and that this needed to be a feature implemented into Android 7.


Advanced camera settings on Nexus 5 I have a nexus 5, with android 4.4.4. How can i change advanced camera settings? (iso, shutter speed etc...)

The stock camera app doesn't allow such manual adjustments, so you'll probably need a 3rd-party app such as DSLR Camera Pro $3, Shot Control $3 with a free demo or Camera FV-5 $5 with a free demo. This will let you manually adjust the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, etc like a DSLR.