Multiple db.crypt12 databases in the whatsApp Databases folder I'm trying to reduce space eaten by the whats-app application on my phone & PC
I see Multiple db.crypt12 databases in the whats-app Databases folder
This is probably due to me copying the app folders to my PC over the years for backup..
Is it possible to remove the least used once?
is it correct that whats-app is using only one of the databases?

These are just database backups. WhatsApp generates a backup and stores it to the WhatsApp folder on your storage. See the WhatsApp FAQ:

Your phone will store up to the last seven days worth of local backup    files.
Local backups will be automatically created every day at 2:00    AM and saved as a file in your phone.

Thereafter, if you have enabled backup to cloud, WhatsApp will also upload a copy of this backup to the Google Drive. If at some point you need to re-install WhatsApp, the app will restore your messages and data from these backup files.
Now coming to the list of databases that you see, notice the date in each of the database files, except the first. Every night when a new backup is generated, it is saved as msgstore.db.crypt12. The backup from the last day is renamed with a date in the name.
WhatsApp keeps a backup of 7 days + the current main backup. It keeps on deleting the older backup files as new ones are generated every night.
You can delete them all and that will have no issues on the functionality of your WhatsApp app. That said, it is kinda useless to delete as new ones will again be generated every night and within a week you'll once again have these 7 files saved in your phone's storage.
And as of now, WhatsApp does not give you an option to choose how many backup files to keep.


Changed exchange password - When will it prompt the cellphone? The company I work for is testing a department wide e-mail account (20 users that will share the same e-mail account on separate cellphones -- S2). The e-mail password will expire every 90 days and I'm trying to test what the prompt is like/how difficult it will be for users to edit the password.

I've tested this on my own e-mail account by changing my password to something else. I've checked my S2 and my S3 after changing my own exchange password and I'm still able to send and receive e-mails (45min later) without editing the password or being prompted.

I've tried rebooting the phone and still no prompt/issues sending or receiving e-mails. Any explanation/help would be appreciated so I can understand this before we are able to follow through.

Thanks for any help.

While I am not 100% sure, I do remember that this was a thing that would happen, either a function or "bug". The issue, if you want to call it that, lies within AD (active directory), or the authentication process of your account. Exchange server will get your credentials from AD, and AD might let you use your old password for a while after changing, before it finally will reject your old password.

Of course, this will likely boil down to what server systems are at play, but it is a known "bug" that we've experienced at work. It should however not be a security issue as long as the user is the only person who know the passwords.


How to make adb shell commands wrap single line to multiple lines by default? Let's say I have this long one-liner command:

am force-stop com.example.foo; am force-stop com.example.bar; am force-stop com.example.foo2 am force-stop com.example.bar2; am force-stop com.example.foo; am force-stop com.example.bar; ps|grep example

When I copy-paste into terminal, it doesn't wrap as multiple lines like ordinary terminal do, instead it keep single line:

As you can see, I can't view whole commands in single screen when the cursor move to the end by copy-paste OR press End. It only shows partial commands and not able to re-copy part of command easily.

Desired behavior:

Is it possible ? I learned that COLUMNS=150 can increase the adb command width from 80 to 150, but still I can't found a way to achieve this.

Note that I don't want to add \ manually which also not working when reuse the command:

My workaround is use busybox sh, but still I welcome any answer to achieve this in native way without busybox.


How can I purchase apps from the Amazon Appstore without downloading them? I've been procrastinating on swapping out my full 2 GB SD card for a 16 GB one I have, so I can't install many apps at the moment.  It's annoying to have to wait for a download and cancel the install that the Appstore attempts, and when updating other apps it only downloads one in the background (needlessly prolonging the experience, which leads to other issues).

Is there any way I can buy an app, or add the Free App of the Day to "My Apps", without downloading and installing it?  I can't just wait and do it another day, since the daily deal obviously won't apply then.

You can buy them from the website without downloading them. Any apps purchased through amazon.com simply get added to your account. I think that's the best you can really do.


Galaxy S Duos 2 - No OS installed currently Well I started with CWM to get Cyanogenmod 12 but all I did was remove any OS present.Now no OS is currently installed, and I cannot install any ROM as any installation fails with error 7. I tried to fix it with many possible solutions, none of which worked.

deleting assert,
updating binary file for patch,
replacing set_metadata with set_perm.

Now what to do? It will be great to get the stock ROM back.

You could try installing a factory firmware through ODIN. You can find instructions here.

For the latest firmware, you can look on SamMobile.


How do I disable background data in Ice Cream Sandwich? The option for "Background data" used to be under Accounts & sync in Android 2.3.  But on my Galaxy Nexus, the option is missing.  Therefore some applications are still using background data... How can I disable "Background data" in ICS?

(Click image to enlarge)

Settings / Data Usage / Menu button / Restrict Background Data

(Click image to enlarge)


Google play vouchers and redeem codes My friend lives in a different country but I want to send them a Google Play voucher or send the redeem code via Facebook.

Would the redeem code work if she lives in a different country and our currency differs?

I think you could tell your friend to use some VPN services to get access to US google play. By that way, your friend could easily redeem the code without any problem.


Are firmware updates secure? Now that mobiles are being used for payment systems, I'm more concerned about the security on my Android device.

I would rather not be the first to be vulnerable to some malicious code that happened to get slipped into the firmware update that the carrier is installing on my Android mobile.

I'm presuming they occasionally are sending fixes/patches over the air (OTA) without me having to give approval before they are installed -- perhaps I'm wrong on that though.

Are firmware updates secure and I'm just being paranoid?  Is there any way to block new firmware updates from getting installed right away when everyone else's is?

To detect tampering, firmware updates are signed and (if you're using the recovery program that shipped with the phone) the signature is verified before install.  After a mandatory confirmation from you that the installation should start, after a reboot, the recovery program will first verify this signature and only then install the new firmware.

Note that you will always get a prompt for a ROM update. Besides allaying security concerns and giving you a bit more control over the proceedings, this gives you the opportunity to:

Make sure the battery is charged or that the phone is plugged into the mains.
Back up any data you fear may be lost should the upgrade go wrong.
Do a bit of research into the improvements in this firmware version, and decide whether it is worth your time.

So yes, firmware updates are secure and even if you are concerned, an update to the actual OS will not be installed without your confirmation.


Alcatel idol 3 wont interrupt car radio with nav app directions When connected to car bluetooth, google maps or waze wont play on car while car radio is on. If device is selected on car unit then you can hear nav app turn by turn directions. But if radio is on, directions wont override radio.

Your car radio  is able to play sound depending on which input is selected. If it's radio then your car will play radio, if it's Bluetooth then your car will play sound from the paired Bluetooth device.
Your radio cannot play 2 different input devices at the same time.

Also when your phone is paired there exists two audio streaming options. Your phone can stream either media or call if your receiving Bluetooth device supports it. Everything that is not a phone call / Skype call / whatsapp call etc gets the media output.


Moto G3 (android marshmallow) not detecting SD card anymore Was stored as internal storage. The SD card when in the phone says "not inserted" and it's the card I've always used for it. The card shows up in another device and other cards show up in this device. I stupidly didn't have a backup so can't retrieve my images. I can't even access the SD card on my PC without formatting. Motorola told me that it's because the card is encrypted.

I think i'm going to end up formatting then trying data recovery software and hoping for the best. Because the card was treated as adopted (internal) storage I can't access any of my phone's contents via a USB wire either.

Please Help.

From what I have seen, it appears to be a known issue with the phone. I have had two SanDisk 32GB Class 10 MicroSD cards that have both had the same problem. However, I have seen forums that say the Class 6 cards work fine.

Forum where I learned about the problem
Card I found that will (hopefully) fix the problem

I have yet to test the new card, so I don't know if it fixes the problem, but I will update this post after testing it for a month or so.


gTalk status icon on the notification bar Instant Messenger apps such as Skype or Windows Live Messenger will display an icon on the notification bar with indication on the connection status. (I know gtalk is supposed to be always on after my first login, but there have been many occasions where it is not true. )

There is no status icon for Google Talk, in order to know my connection status I have to open the gtalk app and check it. Is there any way to have an icon always on the notification bar, other than using a third-party app? There are many useful features on the native client and I don't want to try various new apps.

Provided you have blue bars for your wireless and/or wifi connections and have logged into GTalk you should always be connected.

You have to sign out of GTalk or lose connection with the Google Servers (gray signal bars) in order to be offline.

Short story: as long as you signed in and have a data connection you are online for GTalk.

If that doesn't give you a warm fuzzy feeling then use a third party app like Trillian and use it for GTalk. Trillian might be able give you a notification icon.


Know the url of File being downloaded from App on Android phone This is the situation: I have an app named "ABC" installed on my phone. and it has some media files which can be downloaded.
when I click on files shown in the app it starts downloading and I can see in the download manager app which comes by default in the phone.

I'm trying to know the download url of the file being downloaded, but I couldn't.

could any body please suggest the way to know download url, so that I can use IDM/uget in the system to download in faster way???

One way would be to install a network packet sniffer app; there are some that do not require root, by acting like a VPN app.  You seem to be technically savvy since you mention IDM and uget so what you would also need besides the packet sniffer app is software to analyze the resulting capture.  Generally, once you capture the data you would transfer it to a PC then run a network capture protocol analyzer; such as Wireshark (available for Windows, OS X, and Unix) to analyze the traffic and you should be able to find the URL of the file.


Unknown status bar icon (Samsung Galaxy S6, Android 5.1.1) What does the following icon in my status bar indicate? And how do I remove it?

As far as I know I didn't turn any setting on that triggered it. I can't find the icon online. My first guess was that it was either VoLTE or VoIP or WiFi calling, but I do not have any of these as options on my phone.

EDIT 1:
The icon does not go away, unless I turn off WiFi. Below are screenshots of my full home screen and of the open notification panel.

EDIT 2:
The screenshot below is of my phone's "Call Settings". I have no 'Wi-Fi Calling' option. According to guides online, it should come after the 'Vibrate' option.

The screenshot below is the results when searching 'Wi-Fi' in settings. No call options come up.

EDIT 3:
It definitely is the Wi-Fi Calling icon (even though I do not have it as an option on my phone) -- I tested it now and I can phone my contacts when in flight mode.

In short, it indicates that for the mobile calls the wifi will be used, if there's a good wifi signal.
I have found it there:

Small phone with Wi-Fi coming from it
This strange new symbol shows your phone’s set up for Wi-Fi calling. It’s a new feature brought in by the UK’s biggest networks to help give you the best call quality. If your phone doesn’t have good reception, like when you’re indoors, it’ll make phone calls using an available Wi-Fi network instead.


How do I determine which process woke up the screen? The screen woke up at 4am or 5am at night, and had been on ever since.

How can I find out the process that was responsible for screen-wake ups?

The device is Galaxy S III running Android Jellybean 4.1.2.

Thank you

Download the GSam Battery Monitor (formally knows as Bad Ass Battery Monitor)  it will keep track of the number of times and for how long each app keep the device awake.

Open GSAM and go to the App Sucker view (icon on the lower left). Then change the view to Time Held Awake.  To see the number of time an app held the device awake press on the app.

(click to enlarge)


www.phoneerror-x00059f.tech virus I've recently been hit by what appears to be a virus on my phone. Whenever trying to access a web page, even just by following a link from a google search, I am redirected to a page with a pop up message that says:

"The page at www.phoneerror-x00059f.tech says:

WARNING!

Your Samsung Galaxy S7 phone is infected with a virus that can damage the battery!

The system has six viruses that cause serious damage to your battery and which must be immediately destroyed.

Do not close this page.

** If you exit you leave at our own risk **"

If I close this pop up message, the page behind it that appears to be a fake Google site still informing me of there being 6 viruses on my phone and wants me to follow the link marked "Destroy All Viruses", which no doubt will do just the opposite.

Does anybody know how to kill this thing? I have tried clearing the Cache Data for both Internet and Google, but to no avail. Any other suggestions?

Regards, Ben.

All fixed it seems. Found another option to clear the data from Internet (I swear that option wasn't there earlier today), and that seems to have worked. Or for now at least. We shall see...


Bootloader unlock failure "Command not allowed" of a Huawei Honor 6x I have followed all instructions to unlock my Huawei bootloader, until the last instruction in the command prompt.

Some maybe useful information:

My computer runs windows 10
My phone is a Huawei Honor 6x (title)
I am using a charging cable to connect my phone to my computer

What I did so far:

Registered a Huawei account, and got my access code
Turned on USB debugging
Connected my phone and computer with a charging cable
Ran adb and fastboot
Opened Windows Powershell (I couldn't find command in the adb folder) and typed the following commands:

adb reboot bootlader
fastboot oem unlock 2**************1

It produces an error message that says:

Also, my phone should say "unlocked", but it still says "locked".

Any ideas on why the command is not allowed?

It is because Huawei has completely terminate the unlock code application service on July 25th, 2018.
You can refer to the following link where Huawei has officially mentioned it.


Android Device doesn't have a Clock app So, here is my problem: One time, I am setting an alarm, but I noticed that my phone doesn't have a stocked Clock app. I also go to /system/app/ClockPackage_ESS.apk using ES File Explorer. I installed that .apk, but when I'm trying to install it, it says "File not installed."

Here is the screenshot (click to enlarge) of the App Drawer:

Also, here's the device information:

  Device Information:
  Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
  Model number: SM-G360HU
  Android version: 4.4.4 (Kitkat)
  Baseband version: G360HUXXU0ANL6
  Kernel version:
     3.10.17-388893
     dpi@SWDD6214 #2
     Thu Feb 5 16:44:31 KST 2015
  Build number: KTU84P.G360HUXXU0AOB1

Does someone know how to fix this problem?

Your phone does have clock if there's that app inside system/app as you told. Its not necessary that it must be shown on launcher, though normally clock apps are shown. I suggest you give a try to some third party launcher on store and see if that does some trick. On contrary, you should be able to access clock by tapping the clock in notification panel.

Also, if there's some app inside system/app, its already installed. And apps inside this folder are called system apps. You cant install them like normal apps by simply tapping and pressing on install (or rather they dont need to be installed like normal). You install them by simply pushing their apk file to system/app or system/priv-app depending on type of app and then setting their permission to 755 or rw-r-r with some file manager. So that "install failed" is justified. In other words, app is already installed.


Lollipop Easter Egg (AKA Flappy bird) is unplayable when using Arabic language I have LG G2 on CyanogenMod 5.0, and I set it to Arabic language. When I tried to play the hidden easter egg (Flappy bird), the flying robot is not shown when using Arabic language.

How to solve this issue?

It's a confirmed bug related to RtL (Right-to-Left) feature on Lollipop.

  The bug is to start the easter egg hidden in Google Lollipop, Flappy Droid or Lollipop Land depending on how you want to call, quit the game after a few seconds, enter "Developer options", check the "Force RTL layout direction", and then return to the easter egg.

(slight modification to correct the menu name)

Based on existing data, it seems it's still exist on Lollipop 5.0.2 (OP's case), but it's fixed on Lollipop 5.1 (based from my testing).

The fix is to update to Lollipop 5.1 if it's possible. As for the workaround, simply change the language to the one that is not RtL (e.g. English).


Sony Experia E5 microphone only produces static when I talk I noticed that in my last two phone calls noone was able to hear me talk. I tried to send a Whatsapp voice message. When I listened to it, I discovered that when I talk the only thing that can be heard is some weird static noise.

Is this a known problem or has anyone else experienced it? And if yes do you know how to fix it?
This happened out of the blue - my phone didn't recently fall or anything like that it worked fine until it just stopped working fine. The android version is Android 6.0 (Marshmallow)

Rub over the microphone hole with a magnet.

This will work if there is metallic dust stuck to your microphone, or if the cone is stuck inverted. The magnet can dislodge the metallic dust and force the cone to move.

If that doesn't work, bring the device in to a repair facility. It might be physically damaged.


I've rooted my Galaxy Nexus phone, but "/data/data" is empty As a follow up question, I rooted my Galaxy Nexus phone using Kingo, but when I tried to explore my phone using an application like ASTRO, I found out that the /data/data directory is empty. Why is it empty? Am I missing something? Where are application data stored?

To use "root powers", an app needs to explicitly request those from the system. To my knowledge, Astro File Manager does not include this feature, but e.g. ES File Explorer does.

For most of the newer/updated apps, you can tell that by their permissions: if those include android.permission.ACCESS_SUPERUSER, they request "root powers". Alas: as this permission is not "mandatory" yet, its missing does not necessarily mean an app will not request root access.

The feature you need is called "root explorer". Mentioned ES File Explorer offers this, but you may have to manually enable it in its settings. That done, it should show you everything in the file system.


How to remove apps from android market website? There are a few apps that even though I uninstalled them (through android market mobile app) still remain present as 'installed' when I go to my website market account (they are not on my phone any more).. I tried installing and removing them again, but it didn't help.. Did anyone have the same problem? Is there a way to fix this so that they don't show up any more?

Well, Now you CAN remove the unwanted apps from your market website as well as from the market history. All you have to do is delete from your all apps list.
Goto your play store app and select My Apps Then swipe the screen to your left to see the ALL apps list.
Just click the crossed circle icon (pointed with the green arrow) to remove the desired app.

Make sure you have uninstalled the app before removing. You can uninstall the apps directly from the All apps list as well.
Note: It seems that this list only contains market installed apps. (i.e. apps other than user installed .apk apps)


I want to install 2 WhatsApp accounts in my mi4 mobile I want to install 2 WhatsApp accounts in one phone, iam using mi4 mobile phone, so please let me know the procedure and settings which should be used for the process

There are many apps available on play store that help you install 2 whatsapp on a single android phone. You can try parallel space app from play store.


create-user "Error: couldn't create User" I tried creating multiple users on my Android TV dongle (based on RK3188 board). It should work, it's Android 4.4.2, but it returns an error:

root@rk3188:/ # pm create-user username
Error: couldn't create User.

And at the same time:

root@rk3188:/ # getprop fw.max_users
4
root@rk3188:/ # pm get-max-users
Maximum supported users: 1

You should edit your build.prop and add the following lines:

fw.max_users=2 #in case you want a maximum of 2 users

fw.show_multiuserui=1 # to show Users menu in settings

Save and reboot. You will then be able to add users


How to store 'adb devices -l' output to a text file? Is there any way to store the output of adb devices -l command to a text file?

Note: output of adb devices -l command is

List of devices attached
1101530abd5a234b       device product:j1pop3hjv model:SM_J110H device:j1pop3h

You can use > after any command followed by file name or file path where you want to save the file. It  would look like this:

adb devices -l > FILE_NAME


Will my alarm still go off if my phone is on airplane mode? I'm trying to save battery but I need my alarm in the morning. Will it still go off if on airplane mode?

p.s. I have an HTC Inspire.

Yes. Airplane mode (flight mode) only disables your phone's signal transmitting functions, not the functions that don't require a signal to function.

Your alarm will still work.


Why is "Samsung Push Service" using so much of my battery? Looking at the battery usage summary on my Galaxy Ace Plus (GT-S7500), I found that "Samsung Push Service" (v1.0.4) has used 29% of my battery. I'm having problems with the battery not lasting very long (about 1 day mostly on standby), so anything that extends the time a charge lasts will be valuable.

What does the "Samsung Push Service" do? Should I uninstall it (I never chose to install it, so it must have been on the phone to start with), or is there another way to reduce it's battery usage?

Edit: When drilling down into the Samsung Push Service from battery usage, I see that is keeping my phone permanently awake. This doesn't seem sensible!

I couldn't stop it (or do anything at all) from Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications -> All -> Samsung Push Service.

I opened "Samsung Apps" and it prompted me to upgrade. After that had completed, I went to Settings -> About Phone -> Battery Usage -> Samsung Push Service and chose Force Stop, as it still seemed to be running heavily.

Upon powering the phone off and on, the App started up again, but no longer keeps the phone awake. I see it's now running version 1.1.4, which may have fixed the problem?


Change user account in google hangouts samsung s3 mini I've just signed up to Google Hangouts but am using a shared phone, as my friend already has an account and is logged in I don't know how to add an additional gmail address to switch accounts within the app...is this possible? If so how can I do it? Any other way I can access my Google Hangout on the phone if not?

You can add a new Google account from the main Settings app on the phone. On Samsung phones, choose the Accounts tab, then Add account and follow the steps as they come up. Once you've done this, the Hangouts app will show a spinner (drop-down box) to choose which account to use.

You might also wish to check the sync settings from the account settings. By default, when you add a new account it will also sync contacts, gmail, calendar items, &c. to the phone. If that's not what you want, you can turn off those items from the sync settings.


Can "Magisk" hide bootloader status? I am planning to flash Lineage OS 14.1 on my Lenovo p1ma40 to give it a new life.

But I often have to do various payment and transactions using banking apps. As you might know , these apps check for safetynet status. But if I unlock bootloader to flash custom ROM, then the safety net status will be definitely tripped.

My question is:

I learnt that Magisk can hide root status.But if I unlock bootloader then will it be able to hide bootloader status and ensure that safety net doesn't gets tripped?

Edit NO
It cannot hide. Developer of Magisk says in his tweet, after the latest Google update

Q6: Is MagiskHide meaningless now?
A6: It depends on your expectation. MagiskHide is still effective to hide anything in userspace, but is no longer capable of spoofing bootloader/verified boot status.

To put it simply, we can still hide "root", but not the bootloader status.
(Emphasis added)
For more details see this XDA blog shared by Robert (thanks)
Also see Magisk will fail Safety-Net hereafter. Why?
Answer below is not pertinent, but retained for context

Safety-Net Vs Magisk is a typical cat and mouse game. But thankfully, most of the time Magisk is one step ahead. So, to answer your title yes, most of the time but not always
Safety Net being tripped is not just because of boot loader being unlocked. There is more to it. From Magisk and MagiskHide Installation and Troubleshooting guide by XDA developer didgeridoohan's excellent guide

What triggers SafetyNet?
There are two parts to the SafetyNet check, CTS Profile and Basic Integrity.
Examples of when ctsProfileMatch will report as false (failed):

Uncertified device (the manufacturer haven't applied for Google certification)

Unlocked bootloader

Custom ROM

Signs of system integrity compromise (rooting, etc)

Signs of other attacks (Xposed, EdXposed, etc)

Examples of when basicIntegrity will report as false (failed):

Signs of system integrity compromise (rooting, etc)

Signs of other attacks (Xposed, EdXposed, etc)@

@ EdXposed does not trip safety net. Guide has not been updated
This is where Magisk comes to rescue

Magisk can hide

Magisk and most modules (it depends on what the module does).

*MagiskSU

Unlocked bootloader.

Permissive SELinux (most of the time. There have been reports that a permissive SELinux triggers SafetyNet even with MagiskHide enabled).

Some prop values (see "Sensitive props").

The Magisk Manager (separate option in the Manager settings).

Magisk has an option of Magisk Hide. You need to select your banking and any other apps to prevent them from seeing root. Also from Magisk Manager, hide the manager to prevent apps detecting root.
Note: Some banking apps may detect root despite passing safety net. Refer to the guide for help to fix such situations. Ver 20.1 of Magisk has sophisticated techniques to prevent this, so such incidents should be rare
Magisk itself allows you to verify your safety net status as shown

(Click to enlarge)
Also see What Magisk can't hide for more information
Caution : It's best to keep  Magisk and yourself updated with Magisk Github developments so that you minimize the risk
(and your device threads on XDA) . I have been using Magisk and EdXposed on Android 9 and 10 but never faced the issue of safteynet being tripped YMMV
Another useful resource is Magisk Documentation by topjohnwu, developer of Magisk


Where can I find my device product ID using ADB shell commands? I want to unlock my device (Huawei G610-U20) bootloader but I'm unable to retrieve my product ID from common way

  *#*#1357946#*#*

Product ID is required by Huawei website to provide the unlocking code for bootloader.

I want to know where the product ID is stored in the android and is it possible to read it from adb shell? the device is already rooted.

I'm afraid that Product ID from lsusb is not what huawei is looking for.

I found this link after hours of searching and trying to unbrick my phone. Just type here https://imei24.com/ your IMEI number and it will show you all the info, hope it helps :)
BR!


Galaxy S not working with Home Cinema set I'm trying to connect my galaxy s (froyo, i9000) with usb to a Samsung Blu-ray Home Cinema system. Though, for some reason, the home cinema set won't recognise my phone.

I tried the samsung kies setting, the storage setting, and media player setting, but it just won't recognise it.

With someone else's blackberry it does work.

I would say that this would be somewhat of a "driver" issue. It seems that your Home Cinema system does not know what your device is and it cannot connect to it.

I would try seeing if there is a firmware update for the system (if it supports firmware updates).

It recognizes the blackberry because they have been around for so long, and they probably use the same driver to communicate with just about any blackberry.


Why does every application run as a separate user under Android? If it's for security reasons, so that one application cannot harm another, why is it not like that in the desktop Linux distros?

If desktop operating systems do prefer interaction between applications, why isn't it the same in the mobile ones? What's the difference?

What needs does a desktop Linux have that justify interaction between applications, that Android doesn't have?

Desktop and server systems have a completely different usage model, and they have system administrators to mediate access between users and applications (by setting appropriate group permissions, etc).

With Android there's no room for that kind of thing - your biggest target user base is completely non technical, and security is a must. So things default to high security - no app can fool with another's data. Further, mobile apps tend to be small, and focused on one task, so limiting them to just their own data isn't much of a hardship.


f-droid keeps downloading of apps that were installed from other stores f-droid again and again downloads updates for a app that is installed via another (namely play) store.
Obviously it cannot be installed because of different signatures.

How can i get F-droid to ignore foreign-store apps.

For these common apps-  In F-Droid, open the info page of an app in question, click on the 3-pointed menu and select to ignore all updates for this app.

Source

Edit: Thanks to input from BubullC this feature is incorporated in the latest version of F-droid. I haven't verified it but adding it for benefit of future vistors


Is it possible to use the camera without unlocking first? Is it possible with Android phones (like with iOS 5) to take photos directly from the lock screen without unlocking first?

With just the stock Android experience, no. That is, until Ice Cream Sandwich is released.

That's not to say that OEMs haven't added their own changes that do allow for launching the camera app without unlocking, or perhaps a clever developer making a change to the lockscreen.


Where did my purchased Apps go when I upgraded my Phone? I have read through many questions here and totally understand that when you upgrade your phone your purchased apps should be accessible for reinstalling at https://play.google.com/store.

I upgraded my phone yesterday from a Galaxy SII to a Galaxy S3 and I was given a guarantee in the shop that all the apps I purchased would be available when I log into to GooglePlay.  The fact that they are not there is the reason for this question.  I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and was using the same Google Play account to manage my apps.

Im guessing that because my Android platform v4+ and my old phone was v2.2 that some of my apps may not be compatible but I wasnt expecting not to be able to see them (after all they are apps I purchased).  Any help would be much appreciated, because the apps for my Galaxy Tab are not available either.  My login details for Google has been the same through out.

If you're using the same Google login - then you should be able to find them under My Apps in Google Play and they should be marked as Purchased. (On your phone - on the web you'll find them under My Android Apps).

You can also click on Orders and Devices at the bottom of the page - if they don't show up in that list. (And next to each you have "Report A Problem")

And worst case scenario, if these apps are paid for, you should at least be able to find them in your Google Checkout history - and contact Google to refresh your account.  HTH.


KitKat update has made Google Play and Gmail inaccessable The update to KitKat on my phone was done automatically, and since then I have been unable to access google play, or sign into gmail. I've gotten no notifications or e-mails since Nov. 23rd. I'm told I can't sign into Gmail, but when I'm prompted to try, I can't even get to the screen.

Yeah first please answer the question that which device you are using and did you get an official update from your manufacturer or did you manually install a custom ROM?
(Although by your post it seems an official manufacturer update but please confirm...)

IF:
1.Official update , then you can just do that update all over again and this time try it through PC software(if you had previously done an Over the Air update). Or finally contact your manufacturer's customer care or go to service center.

2.Custom ROM , then it may be problem with the ROM or kernel . Reach the developer for that. Or you can even replace the Google Apps. Just find an appropriate .zip coinciding with your Android version.

Hope this helps or ask again with doubts. :)


Cannot Reach Restore Progress Screen In Titanium Backup PRO On a Samsung Galaxy S I-9000, I just installed CyanogenMod 10 Stable and the latest Google Apps for CM10. TB Pro is version 5.7.0.1.

I started a restore (missing apps with data) and during the restore I accidentally hit the home button. The restore is in progress, as evidenced by the status bar at 37%, but it is stuck at 37%. It might need a TB password or some other information to complete the restore of some app. My problem is that I CANNOT access the restore progress screen via TB or via the status bar. If I try to reinitiate the restore it tells me there is an operation already in progress.

How do I get back to the restore progress screen so I can give it the input it needs to complete the restore operation?

I had the same problem on Cyanogemod 7.2.0 HTC Wildfire.
In the end I simply stopped the TB service through the android application manager and ran the batch operation again. It will continue restoring all the apps that have not yet been restored.

This is a workaround, not a solution since you should logically be able to hit the home button and continue the batch process by simply accessing the notification.


Unable to get Vodaphone GPRS settings for Samsung Galaxy Young GT-S6312 I am using Samsung Galaxy Young GT-S6312. I am unable to download anything through Vodaphone internet (error message displays). Whenever I am trying to get Vodaphone internet settings, I get the reply "Your handset will not compatible to get the setting". So, I download the Vodaphone live setting, but downloading is not possible, whether I am browsing all internet sites.  I am already done anything such as restore factory data, mobile restart etc.

I am also trying with Aircel & Airtel SIM, & I am got the positive service (do anything) through these service provider such as browsing, downloading & online playing.

Try sending a text message "VL" to 52586. If you get the same error message as a reply, you'll have to call the customer care and they'll guide you to set up gprs on your phone manually.
This happened to a friend of mine and he fixed it by calling the CC.


Unable to activate Lenovo tablet as a "secondary" Viber device I have been using Viber for almost ten years on many devices (including Blackberries, Android phones and tablets, Windows and Linux PCs). Lately, my old Samsung tablet started to fail, so I bought a new tablet (Lenovo TB-8505F 8" Wifi only). I tried to activate Viber on this tablet as a secondary device which is the way I had used Viber for years: mobile phone is always my primary device; tablet and PCs are my secondary devices.

However, it seems that this new tablet is treated like a mobile phone by Viber (although it is a WiFi only device). So, Viber tries to activate this tablet as a primary device only.

As a comparison:

On the old Samsung tablet, the "activation screen" which is displayed just after I enter my mobile phone number, shows the relevant QR code to be scanned by my primary device (phone). [This is the correct behavior].
On the new Lenovo tablet, the "activation screen" which is displayed just after I enter my mobile phone number, shows that an SMS or phone call activation will be attempted [wrong behavior] just like the tablet were a primary device only (which it should not). In case I continue with the SMS/phone activation, my primary device (phone) gets disconnected [as expected].

I want to activate my new Lenovo Tablet as a secondary device. Is there a workaround to force Viber to "treat" this device as a secondary device?

I contacted Viber Support several days ago. Eventually the answer came from Viber Support (Ian). The steps are like this:

Remove Viber from your tablet (I added this step).
Go to tablet's Settings  Display  Display size and change from Default (or anything else) to Small.
Reboot your tablet so its dpi will change.
Install and activate Viber on the tablet as a secondary device (now you will see the expected QR code).
Change the Display size back to whatever it was before.
To be sure, reboot your tablet and test Viber.

Note: Unfortunately, I cannot check the "Display size" of my old Samsung tablet, because I already did a factory reset on it.


Stop Applications Loading How can I stop so many applications loading, and slowing down the system. When I clear the Ram I usually see that at least 16 applications have been running. What for?

There are many apps out there which will help you know which apps are running in background and hogging resources with extra features from stock task manager. Few of good apps are

Elixir 2-Application Monitoring Manager.

Wake Lock Detector-Tells you which apps are keeping your phone in partial awake or in full awake state.

Advanced Task Manager-Will help you manage running processes.

Stay away from task killer apps they are no good and  drain out battery.


SGS2 running ICS 4.0.3 can't connect to home wifi I have a Samsung Galaxy S II 9100. I had no problem connecting to wifi while it was running 2.3.4 or 2.3.6 official firmware. 2 days ago I upgraded to official 4.0.3 and now it connects to all other wifi networks except my home wireless. I did a clean flash, wiped data, cache, dalvik cache etc. I'm using a Linksys WRT300N wireless-N router and all other devices are able to connect (my laptop, other Android phones). Also, before I installed ICS I tried MIUI 2.3.16 which is based on Android 4.0.3 and had the same problem. Can anybody help me?

I was having the same problem with this router + phone + firmware combo, I found that setting up a DHCP Reservation (using the mac address of your phone) on the router (Setup/Basic Setup/DHCP Server/DHCP Reservation) allowed my phone to connect successfully.


How can I take on-device screenshots of "secure" apps? As per this Stack Overflow answer, Android apps using FLAG_SECURE in their activities are protected from screenshots being taken by the system.  You get a blank file when using screencap and some other screenshot apps, and this error when using the hardware buttons:

  Can't take screenshot due to limited storage space, or it isn't allowed by the app or your organization.

However, this is not a hard guarantee.  In Android Studio, I can still take screenshots of such "secure" apps with the button pointed out in this SO answer.

I took a look through the Android Studio source code, and the screenshot is acquired through a framebuffer: request to ADB, which in turn uses screencap.  Before I go looking through source for more info on how this works for adb but not for a root terminal and a possible "developer" solution, I thought I should ask: Has anyone already figured out what's happening behind the scenes here and can an end-user make use of it?  Ideally, without needing a PC.

My device is rooted, so I'm open to apps/commands/etc. that require root (or having USB Debugging enabled).  I've tried a few screenshot apps from pre-Android-2.3 that use root, but none of them still work (presumably due to how the framebuffer is now protected).

As your device is rooted, you could use the Xposed module DisableFlagSecure:

  An Xposed Framework module that disables FLAG_SECURE on windows system-wide. This lets you take screenshots and do screen capture in apps that normally won't let you. (That said, you probably don't want to leave this on permanently).

You can of course also find it in the Xposed Repo.


How to get past stalled initial station search in NextRadio? I have a phone with an FM chip. To make use of it, I installed NextRadio. During onboarding, NextRadio is supposed to look up local radio stations. However, it hangs on this step, displaying a throbber but going no further and not responding to any input. How can I get past this step so I can use the app?

With data networks (cellular data, Wi-Fi) disabled, NextRadio's station search will fail immediately instead of hanging.

Try enabling airplane mode, then re-opening NextRadio. Instead of stalling and showing the activity indicator, it should give you a message that it couldn't find a station listing. Tap "OK" to proceed.

Now disable airplane mode, as it also disables the radio. Using the basic tuner, you can add stations as favorites to assign a name to them.


Suspicious notification from "Find My Mobile" I just received a notification from Samsungs "Find My Mobile" service, without having triggered anything. The same thing happened to my work mate today morning.

As I almost never use my Samsung account, and never even configured this service, I assume one of the following:

Someone hijacked my Samsung account
Someone hijacked the Samsung system, affecting multiple user accounts
The responsible api call is lacking a permission check
Samsung itself did a test which went wrong

Does anyone know more about this?

Samsung probably wanted to quickly refresh their internal user locations database ;)

https://twitter.com/SamsungHelpUK/status/1230430326687780865

  @SamsungHelpUK

  Recently, a notification about “Find My Mobile 1” occurred on a limited number of Galaxy devices. This was sent unintentionally during an internal test and there is no effect on your device. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers. ^LF

http://www.google.com/search?tbm=nws&q=find+my+mobile

edit: against some news, this notification was not the result of a Samsung data breach.

https://www.sammobile.com/news/samsung-data-leaked-mystery-find-my-mobile-notification

  Samsung has clarified that, while a data breach did happen around the same time, it's not related to the “Find my Mobile” notification. this technical error affected only Samsung's UK website and it only affected about 150 users in total.


error on "install and update" to lollipop 5.1.1 in nexus 6 I have nexus 6 with lollipop 5.0.1. There is setting to install and update to 5.1. I download and install. But facing error on half way. Showing android icon with error text. How should I do that?

I think you are running into the same problem reported over here by fellow Nexus 4/5/7 users on the google product forum page.

Error during updating to 5.0.1

Some of the suggestion found there,

Wipe cache partition
Factory reset. (Warning! This erases all data on your phone)
Unroot your phone if you are rooted.

But none of them seems to completely work will all other Nexus users. But you can give it a try if you are sure about each of the process. As the accepted answer posted by a Google Employee confirms that there is a bug and they are still investigating this issue,

  As several of you have noticed, a new update (still labeled 5.0.1) is
  currently being sent to the Nexus 5 that addresses this issue. If
  you've got a Nexus 5 but haven't received the update yet, please be
  patient as it should be available for your device soon.

  Please note that we're still investigating this issue for other
  devices (so far I've seen reports from Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 owners) but
  I don't have further updates or a workaround to suggest at this time.
  We appreciate your patience as we continue to look into this for other
  devices.


Recovering deleted pictures I recently deleted all of my pictures by mistake from my samsung galaxy s4.
I went into my files and documents and deleted not realising it would delete all my pics!

Is there a way for me to recover them?

My phone is not rooted. I have not taken any pictures since but have received pictures through whatsapp?

Especially for recovering JPEG files, I would strongly propose to try the recovery software PhotoRec. It was originally developed to do exactly that, recover not files, but JPEG photos, on the disk - not even looking at the file system. As long as nothing got overwritten, it should recover a large part I expect.

I did not need it myself yet, but the way it works makes very much sense.

Runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, licensed under GPL v2+

PhotoRec comes in one package with the related software TestDisc - the package file named testdisk-* should contain both programms: TestDisk & PhotoRec Download

Note on recovering other files than photos:
PhotoRec should work well for many other file types, the programm PhotoRec was developed to be good at recovering photos, but was soon extended to work with other file formats with some kind of predictable structure too.

Interestingly, the open source license has a real practical relevance in this case: If the card is not removable, and you can not get an image from it to be used in a PC - you could, theoretically, compile/port it for your phone, to run it there in text mode per ssh connection from a PC.


Are there any features/functions that appbrain.com has that the new market.android.com doesn't? Are there any features/functions that Appbrain has that the new market.android.com doesn't? If it does, what are they?

Features appbrain has that the Market site doesn't:

Ability to save lists and keep them private or share them
Appbrain reviews on top of market reviews
More sharing options
More filtering options for browsing
Lists of popular apps
App recommendations based on what you have installed
Shows the total amount you've spent on paid apps

Features the market site has that appbrain doesn't:

Two added categories: Widgets & Live Wallpapers
Ability to install to device from websites without having to have an addon app that you have to periodically reauthorize like appbrain
Easily choose which device to install to if you have multiple devices
Ability to buy apps from the site
Shows videos that the developers have added to their market page

These are all obviously subject to change.


Why to get Mobile Broadcast notices in OxygenOS 3.x abroad? I am abroad and get such notices about cell broadcast etc when in Baltics in Fig. 1. My SIM card settings are in Fig. (2-3).
Fig. 1 Broadcast-notice visible often in Baltics,
Fig. 2 Settings > SIM Cards > Sim Card 1,
Fig. 3 Settings > SIM cards > Sim card 2

I googled the [city] 14442 but could not find anything about it.
Perhaps, it is some piece of information about radio channels but could not find about it.
Some threads recommend to configure Call Settings (here thread Turning off cell broadcast in HTC Desire 816).
To turn them off in OxygenOS, you can go to Settings > More > Mobile Broadcast settings > choose there appropriately.

Turn off Amber alerts.

OS: OxygenOS 3.1 (Android 6.x)
Phone: Oneplus 2
Related: Examples of mobile broadcasts being used, Turning off cell broadcast in HTC Desire 816

Android 6 feature in some regions. I have not get them in default Android 7 anymore.


How can I root my Verizon HTC Incredible 2? I am technically inclined, I work as a IT technician and study computer science and engineering. Does anyone have a guide or guides, or can help me root my HTC Incredible 2?

Here a guide from XDA-Dev:

(If you like to learn visually and would rather not go through these steps, check out this YouTube video.)

  Some warnings:

  This is not a FULL unlock (S-OFF or to unlock your SIM card slot.)
  This WILL VOID your warranty.
  This will work with ANY version of HBOOT.
  This is a how to for WINDOWS ONLY.
  If you are logged out of HTC Dev at any time during the identifier period (1–5), just sign back in and don't click anything. It will automatically redirect you to the last page you were on.
  I am not responsible if you didn't follow a step correctly and your phone lights on fire, cracks into two, wants to destroy you, etc…

  What you are going to need:

  A computer
  Fastboot and ADB [API] ← These are applications to be use to flash ROM's.
  HTC Drivers ← Drivers HTC gives, couldn't find them on HTC's site.
  Android SDK
  microUSB cable, phone, and some time

  STEPS TO ROOT:

  You are going to want to head over to the HTC Developer site and make an account or sign in. Once you have done one of the two, you are going to want to click 'Unlock Bootloader,' then 'Get Started.' It will next ask you what device you are trying to unlock, click 'Droid Incredible 2 (Verizon)' then 'Begin Unlock Bootloader.' Then a pop up window will ask you if you are sure, just click 'Yes.' Then, another pop up window will appear, just tick the two boxes and press 'Proceed to Unlock Instructions.'
  Go to your phone. Take off the [back] battery door and remove the battery (don't hold the power button and make it a proper shut off, just rip the battery out. Then, put the battery back in. Once you have replaced the battery, hold the volume down button and the power button at the same time until a white screen shows up. You can use the volume rocker to highlight your selection, and the power button to select the highlighted selection. Right now, we want to highlight 'BOOTLOADER' and use the power button to select it. Next, grab your miniUSB cable and plug it into your computer to your phone.
  Next, make a folder on your computer in the C:\ Drive. In Windows Vista & 7, you can just go to Computer from the Start Menu and it will be labeled Local Disk (C:). You can name the folder whatever you want, I am just going to name it Android. Next, you are going to want to download my ADB, Fastboot, and ADBAPI .zip file and place all three files into the Android folder. After you unzip the ADB/Fastboot folder, you are going to want to (if you have not already) download and install the Android SDK manager. You will need to install SDK tools [and I believe a version of Android?] After you have installed everything, you can go to the Start Menu again and type in 'cmd' in the search bar and press enter. Then type in the following: (Or you could take the easy way of going to your C:\ drive and shift-clicking the folder and press 'Open Command Window Here…)

cd C:\Android

  After you have got into Command Prompt and are in the \Android folder, type in the following:

fastboot oem get_identifier_token

  You will then see a great big brick of random characters. Right click in the bottom right-hand corner of '<<<<< Identifier Token End >>>>>' and click 'Mark...' Hold down the left-mouse-button and select the great brick of text up until '<<<< Identifier Token Start >>>>' (don't highlight any of the 'INFO' things.) Then, right-click again and you will have the identifier token copied to your clipboard. Back on the HTC Dev site, it will ask you for your identifier; just paste the identifier in the box and it will send you an email with a .bin file (Unlock_code.bin) and just throw that into the folder with ADB and Fastboot.
  You are going to want to click the continue link that HTC Dev sent you as well to downloading the file. After you have finished downloading and put it in the folder, type in the following:

fastboot flash unlocktoken Unlock_code.bin

  Once you have done that and pressed Enter, your phone will change screens. It will ask you if you are SURE you want to do this. Just press the volume rocker up and press the power button. Your phone will reboot and take you back to Android. It's normal and it doesn't mean it failed... Your phone is fine and it should have went OK if you followed the steps. We are done with HTC Dev now, so you can close it.
  Next thing we are going to want to do is flash ClockWorkMod (CWM) Recovery onto your phone. You are going to want to download the .iso for CWMR and flash it to your phone (download link). After you are done downloading the .iso, place it into your ADB and Fastboot folder. Once your phone has finished starting up, take the battery out again and put it back into HBOOT mode (step 2.) You are going to want to go back into FASTBOOT (step 2, again) and flash the recovery by doing the following:

fastboot flash recovery recovery(press TAB)

  Once you press enter and fastboot says it has completed, it will just have the Fastboot screen. Just highlight 'Bootloader' and press the power button. Next, to make sure it worked… Scroll down to 'Recovery' (which is right under Fastboot) and select it. The HTC screen should show and then CWMR should come to life.
  This is where the real magic happens. We are going to install SuperUser on to your phone now. Reboot your phone into regular Android. Now, you can plug it into the computer and make it a disk drive or pop out the miniSD card and put it into a converter. Now, you are going to want to download SuperUser and put it onto the miniSD (I recommend not putting it in any folders so it is easy to find.) Now, put your phone back into CWMR (step 6.) Now, use the volume rocker to scroll down to 'install .zip from sd card' and press the power button. Now, find the SuperUser.zip (or whatever it is named) and press the power button. The 'yes' to install it is in the middle of all the 'no' options, use the volume rocker to select 'yes' and press the power button. Wait for CWMR to finish, and in the meantime... Just stare at your phone. After you have finished installing SuperUser, restart your handset into Android. Once it has finished restarting, go into the app drawer and find the SuperUser app. Press the 'menu' button and tap 'Settings.' Scroll down to 'Su Binary x.x.xx' and tap it. On the bottom it will say 'Update Binary,' just tap that and it will do its 'magic.' Once SU has finished updating Binary, you have a rooted DINC2.


Trying to install KitKat on xperia Ray My Phone is SonyErcisson Xperia Ray ST18i

I have Super Jelly Bean http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2135918 ROM installed, with kernel (from Status after I tried installing KK) 2.6.32.0-SuperFusioN-kk

I tried to install KitKat AORP http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2579054

I flashed boot.img from KitKat from zip,
When I tried to install KitKat ROM from recovery, I got this message:

  this package is for "ST18i,ST18a,urushi" devices; this is a "haida"

The reason for the error is, you have downloaded the wrong package. The downloaded package is not compatible for ray.

To download the original package and detailed installation tutorial, read my article given below:

How To Install KitKat 4.4.2 On Sony Xperia Ray

Hope this helps.


I need to turn over my new Galaxy Note 7 for recall and cannot find a way to remove or log off my gmail accounts I have the new Note 7. I have a few g-mail accounts, and have linked them all with my Note 7. Now, I've learned that I need to turn over my phone for the massive Note 7 recall, but have yet find a way to log out my g-mails without deleting these account, which I want to keep. I have changed my passwords to each account, gone into each account and scrolled down to details to remove the accounts from all other web activities, but the phone has not yet been "hardware swapped" back to my old Sprint phone, and I can still see all of my g-mail account and each email within each account. I can click on any email to do whatever I desire, and I can also still send emails - all without ever having to log in with the new password. All I want to do is remove the g-mails from that (my Note 7) so I can hand it over for the recall. I am simply confused as to the g-mails that will remain on the phone. Can anyone offer up some advise to this old gal, who hasn't yet begun to understand how this works? Thank you!

Please go to Settings>Accounts>Google. You can find all your Gmail accounts here.

If you want to remove it, tap on the email>Menu(Three dots on top right or more)>Then remove account.


Get rid of virus that downloads apk My android tablet, a zoom, has started to download apk's at random without any initiation on my part. I have the don't allow foreign apk's to be installed thing checked so they can't get on to the tablet. Has anyone else caught this? I don't see anything else on the internet about it and I have done a search with Avast to no avail at finding anything.

I suppose that the easiest way to remove it is factory reset. If I do that does google remember all my apps and download them instantly?

Anyway any I'm grateful for any information.

Go to Settings -> Backup & reset. Then check 'Backup my data' and 'Automatic restore'.
An alternative is to use an app like Ultimate Backup or Titanium.


Is incoming/outgoing call screen customizable? I'm looking for a way to change the incoming/outgoing call screen (that of my Sony phone needs replacement at least because when I press a button to turn on the screen and tap the "end call" button or to see the length of the talk, the screen is turned off in a second). I've tried a couple of dialer/contacts apps and those don't actually change that screen. Moreover, the comment here suggests that this screen may be changed only on a rooted device.

Is it so? Is this screen a part of launcher? A separate app? Is rooting required to change this? Where can I grab alternative implementations? A more detailed how to is appreciated since the phone is rooted already anyway.

PS the screen I'm talking about looks similar to this:

To do so. Root the phone. Extract, and recompile these apps:

/system/priv-app/TelephonyProvider/TelephonyProvider.apk
/system/priv-app/Telecom/Telecom.apk
/system/app/InCallUiNext/InCallUiNext.apk
/system/app/telresources/telresources.apk
/system/framework/framework-res.apk

And this file also:

/system/framework/telephony-common.jar

After changing their drawable elements, return them where they were and set these permissions.

chmod 0755 for folders
chmod 0644 for files

This will work very well for you but always keep a backup of them incase something goes wrong. This is for editing the app but if the dialer is freezing after ending a call, then what you need to do is:

 1. Open Settings
 2. Click Apps
 3. Press the options icon
 4. Tap Show System
 5. Clear Data and Cache for Dialer and Telephony Provider

If still this doesn't work if you have TWRP Recovery installed:

 1. Press Wipe
 2. Advanced Wipe
 3. Check Dalvik Cache and Cache partitions
 4. Swipe to clear them
 5. Reboot System

Note: The in-call popup never changes no matter what dialer you opt for. Deleting it for example means the Telephone Service is tampered with. And you won't receive any calls. All other apps can offer adress book, blocking and dialer but on call dialing is then commanded to Telecom app which then manages the calling services and renders UI for call until the end. It offers the native service that is for calling and communicating to the phone gsm radio. All other apps can't do this. Just like in a media player, a media decoding library or a codec, so is the Telecom app essence and purpose. It is the core handler of telephony. Unless you modify it or redevelop it by code. It's one of the essential apps alongside SystemUI and Framework. That's why it won't be a walk in the park replacing it. It is integral to many system apps

This will solve your issue very well. Please let me know if it helped you


Confused about whatsapp backup I have a google drive backup for my whatsapp, and I think it also includes media (Photos). But my phone is also filled with whatsapp photos and I want to backup it to google photos, Now I am confused as how the restore will work in case I lost my phone, will I only backup from google drive and it will include all the media? or will I have to synch it with google photos as well.?
please help
sorry for my poor language as I am not native speaker
Thank you

If you backup it to Google drive it will include all the media


Which is less insecure - mounting /system rw or disabling SELinux I recently upgraded my (rooted) Oneplus 3 to Nougat, and Adaway - which modifys the hosts file broke.

I have been unable to get symlinking the hosts file to work because SELinux gets in the way.   Unfortunately I appear to be unable to remount /system rw temporarily, presumably due to a large number of processes started from it at boot.

I believe I can hack the ROM to mount /system RW instead of RO, however I'm uncertain whether mounting /system rw or disabling SELinux is less secure.  If I disable SELinux, I need to do it permanently - otherwise the hosts file is unavailable.

I'm not an expert, but disabling SELinux is almost certainly more insecure.

Nothing that's not already in /system should be able to write there without root in either case, or an exploit that would let malicious code remount it anyways.  But disabling SELinux hamstrings Android's process sandboxing and access controls, meaning a malicious app could modify or steal data from others.


Will using a vpn also encrypt my 3G traffic? Just wondering, because I've just set my phone up to forward wifi traffic through my DD-WRT router. But I've no way to verify if my 3G traffic is also going through my router.

Does anyone know if 3G traffic also goes through the vpn by default (if vpn is properly configured on the phone of course).

Yes, 3G traffic will go through your VPN if it's set up correctly.  Whether or not your service provider supports that is another matter; some block VPN traffic (such as Verizon - see this thread).


Alcatel pop c1 soft bricked Hello guys I have a problem with my Alcatel pop c1 which is soft bricked stuck on a boot logo I can only boot in stock recovery I don't have twrp or any custom recovery and no access to a PC for the moment
Can I flash any rom with "apply update from SD card " i think I lost my system folder and I got no backup
I'm in a real mess please inform me if there's anything I can do
I have downloaded the stock rom but it says installation aborted

Have you tried the Mobile Upgrade software listed on their support page?

http://www.alcatel-mobile.com/global-en/support/product?id=330&model=POP%20C1


command line language for Android tablet (wget equivalent) I am a Linux enthusiast and probable expert, and using it since 1993 on the command line (today with zsh) (and Unix since 1987, SunOS3.2).

I personally have a Huawei tablet, details here. With an SD card.

I also have a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard case for that tablet.

I need to be able to read some PDF documents on the tablet without a working internet connection. (at my work at CEA/LIST - a quite bureaucratic organization since indirectly related to French nuclear warheads, I have a powerful Dell workstation with root access & Ethernet connection to the Internet under Debian/Unstable - so sometimes Xorg does not work properly -, but no access to the corporate Wifi; for the clips-rule-gcc project I prefer to read the CLIPS documentation on my BYOD tablet).

If my tablet was good genuine Linux Debian system, I would just wget http://clipsrules.sourceforge.net/documentation/v640/bpg.pdf when Internet is available, and later evince bpg.pdf when it is not, taking advantage of zsh auto completion facilities.

What are the equivalent on Android 8 ?

My AppStore is google, and I was not yet able to root my tablet. Dreaming of that every day.

Did you tried Termux?
The terminal emulator for android, this does not require any root access either.

Edit: to install wget type pkg install wget and press enter.

For pdf viewer use native android one such as Mu Pdf or, Google pdf viewer

Once installed you can try xdg-open filename.pdf
It will give you a list of the compatible app to open the file or else you can open the pdf viewer app to browse files of your choice.


Can I change the language for the Android Market website? I've just visited the android market website from my work computer and the website is displaying in German. For what it's worth, I have an Ubuntu box and tried in both Firefox and Chrome (both browsers have en_GB as the first language preference followed by en). I suspect the website tries to be clever and uses my IP address instead of the browser's language settings - all PCs at work (no matter which country) are set to a German IP range.

Is there a request parameter I can add to the URL (or something else) that will force the language to English?

Add the language parameter to the end of the url:    https://market.android.com/?hl=en&lr=lang_en


How to enter USB debugging mode in Cyanogenmod I just installed Cyanogenmod 11 on an HTC One, and now I'm completely unable to connect to it via USB from my Linux PC, so I'm unable to transfer any more ROM or applications.

How do I enable USB access, similar to the "USB debugging mode" seen in the stock Android ROM? I've looked through the settings, but there's nothing labeled USB.

Go into settings > about phone  Toward the bottom of the list, you'll see an entry for "Build Number"  Tap it 5 times and you'll see toast pop-up letting you know that the Developer Options have been enabled.  Go back to the main options menu and tap Developer Options and you'll see a tick box for USB Debugging about halfway down the list.


SMS not depleting or opening Huawei Y6 I know this question has been asked here before, but there hasn't been a solution besides to factory-reset the phone.

My phone recently reviewed a SMS/MMS with a title 'No Subject' from a number not on my contacts.

The problem is I cannot open or delete the message. Is there any thing I can do to get rid of this message. My phone is a Huawei Y6 2018

Thnx in advance

It could be possible that your current messaging app is not the default messaging app of the system, thus making messages cannot be removed. Check the default message app in the Settings, and head to the desired messaging app to see if it could be deleted.

You may also consider install the official Android messaging app from Play Store and perform deletions there.


Facebook Messenger crashing after update, persists after force stop and clearing data I updated Facebook Messenger to the latest version (44.0.0.2.51) via the Google Play Store and now I keep getting the following message on my screen:

  Unfortunately, Messenger has stopped.

I get that message, even though I did a Force Stop and cleared data via the App Info settings. I then reached out to Facebook Android Beta and their answer for any issue is same:

  Try reinstalling the app and if you still experience the issue, report
  it within the app. -Kevin

I'm not sure how reinstalling the app would solve coding issues, but just to be fair, I went ahead and reinstalled it anyways. Needless to say that did NOT solve anything and I cannot report the issue within the app as it keeps crashing and I can't even launch it.

Is there anything else I can do besides uninstall it?

Uninstall it for now, I have also gotten this last week and again today.  It appears to be an update with the app that causes this.  I uninstalled it today as well because it was constantly popping up.


SIM 1 Card Full notification on HTC Desire SV On my HTC Desire SV, a notification says

  SIM card is full Delete some messages to make more space.

I've deleted all my messages and it still won't go away. I've clicked on it and it leads me to a page that says

  no messages on the SIM card:

under the title that says

  SMS messages on SIM card.

so, I guess my real question is how do I get rid of this? how do I access the SIM card to where I can delete photos and/or messages off of it?

This is a problem with your phone, that it only shows the SMS on your phone, not with the SIM card. If you go into your SMS application and check  settings, you should have an option which says something like: "Manage SIM SMS". From there, you should be able to delete the SMS from your SIM card.

Another option is to insert your SIM card in an another phone (probably an older phone will have access to your SIM's SMS) and try it from there.

Yet another option is to try some SMS management application like GoSMS which may enable you to erase SMS from the SIM card, though I haven't tried such applications, as it's been a long time since I used SMS.


Android Accessibility: Click When Pointer Stops On Websites I have a disability that requires me to use the Interaction And Dexterity: Click When Pointer Stops accessibility setting on my Samsung Galaxy S9+. Unfortunately, this setting (in combination with the Assistant Menu) does not allow me to click on hyperlinks. While you can use Assistant Menu: Cursor to move a second pointer that does click links, it is virtually impossible to do this with any degree of accuracy.

Is there any way of using the same pointer for navigating the UI and navigating web pages? I have tried using the Samsung Internet and Google Chrome apps without success.

See: Assistant Menu

Firefox for Android allows you to use Accessibility: Interaction And Dexterity: Click When Pointer Stops to click on hyperlinks. Having tested a number of browser apps, I have found the following browsers do not allow this:

Samsung Internet
Google Chrome
Firefox Focus
Opera / Opera Touch
Microsoft Edge

I noticed that this accessibility feature does not work when the pointer is displayed as a hand.


Want to root Using windows which is on VirtualBox.How do i make it recognise the fone when phone is off? I want to root my phone (Micromax A52) and i got the procedure.

But I use Ubuntu for everyday use and now for rooting i need Windows.

I installed it in virtualbox. Now in vbox,the usb device is recognised only if the host recognizes it.

But with the phone off for the flash process, how can i make the guest windows recognise the phone as ubuntu does not recognise

If you have the ADB drivers on Ubuntu, try performing the tasks of installing busybox and su manually as detailed here - http://androidforums.com/a52-all-things-root/586982-how-root-any-android-device-manually.html

The author has used Nautilus on Ubuntu to perform the requisite tasks. YMMV, though upon reading through the thread.

As a workaround, perhaps you could use the root methods detailed in the relevant XDA thread(s) on a Windows machine.


Open YouTube's saved offline video (.exo file) My question is specific to YouTube app's new offline functionality.

I have saved some video from YouTube app on my Android phone. I restored my phone OS due to some problem. But I have files that were downloaded by YouTube app stored on SD Card. Now YouTube is not showing that videos in offline list.

Is there any way by which I can open those files in through YouTube app?

Append

I am just wondering whether youtube uses some config files to store list of downloaded videos. If so can we modify such config files and add those videos to the offline list.

No there is no way to open the .exo file since it is encrypted and the video file is split into chunks of .exo files. Even if you have one offline video stored in your phone you can find more than one .exo file under Internal Storage/Android/data/com.youtube.com directory. They are nothing but the encrypted exo files that can only be opened through the Youtube App. From the xda-developers forum post,

  1- Google is using EXO file format to save videos. This is apparently
  a file format used for system files and while we managed to copy these
  EXO files onto a computer, it can be apparently played only through
  the YouTube Android app.

  2- When you request a download for an offline video in the YouTube
  app, the video is downloaded in chunks. For example, a 3-minute file
  we downloaded was saved in five parts. It is possible that only the
  YouTube app for Android can make sense of these chunks and join them
  together.

  3- We also feel there is real-time encryption going on here. When the
  video is downloaded, not only it is broken into parts but is also
  converted to EXO format, compressed and encrypted in real time. This
  has several benefits, the one obvious benefit is that people can't
  copy-paste the video and share it indiscriminately. The compression,
  meanwhile, saves space on the disk. For example, the 3-minute long
  video that we downloaded actually consumed around 40MB data. But when
  stored on the phone, the video took only around 25mb space.

  4- When a user plays the video, it is decrypted in real time. It is
  possible that only YouTube's app can do this decryption.

  5- If you share the offline video using Bluetooth, instead of the
  actual file, a web link to the video is sent to the recipient.

However you may want to look into this Exoplayer Library on Github and see if that helps.

  ExoPlayer is an application level media player for Android. It
  provides an alternative to Android’s MediaPlayer API for playing audio
  and video both locally and over the Internet.


Lost Android with no internet connection I was concerned that I lost my phone earlier and accessed Samsung's Find My mobile. Having gotten a "not connected to network" message I was concerned. Luckily my phone was in an odd place but when I went back into Find My Mobile, I still got the same message.

After calling Samsung directly I was informed the error was caused because I wasn't connected to wifi. So what happens when I'm out, and not connected to wifi? Is there really no way I can find my device? Location services were enabled, and I was connected to my mobile network. Is there anything working without wifi and over my mobile data connection or just my GPS? I'm running Android 5.0 which had made most apps I find incompatible.

I may be misunderstanding your question so sorry if I am.

Most Android devices have Google Play Services preinstalled. If you have the Play Store, you have Google Play Services. Assuming you have Google Play Services, you can use Android Device Manager to locate your device. Android Device Manager works on Wi-Fi and Mobile Networks. It is also important to note that this can be enabled/disabled through the Google Settings app (or within Settings iteslf in Android 6.0+). I believe it is enabled by default, but if need be you can enable it by going to Google Settings > Security > Remotely locate this device (should be toggled).


What are those 2 parts on my tab's circuit board? Can anyone tell me what those two pieces on the following image? (colored with yellow)
i suspect its the CPU and the Wifi but im not sure.

my issue here is that the temps on my tab is pretty hot (since a long time)
i never had time to check but now this will change
The heat comes from the red area that i have selected but i dont see any other pieces that can cause the heat

idle temps are 40-50 (recovery mode) with my window open, cold air is comming into my room)
load temps are getting high as 91 (i got this when i was making a backup within the recovery mode.

My tab is an Samsung Galaxy TabPro 10.1

Thank you for your time.

The whole piece of circuitry near the top seems to be the logic board for your tablet. This contains the flash memory and (what seems to be) the WiFi receiver and transmitter on it. If the highlighted chip which you think is the CPU is actually the flash memory chip, that would make sense with it overheating when you're making a backup. There's nothing on the underside of the board itself which could create heat (there could be something touching it on the other side, however if it's heating up the board to 91 degrees it would have to be very hot), just to note.

I don't believe the CPU, or GPU in fact, would be located on the logic board. Replacement ones can be bought (replacement logic boards, that is), however they aren't cheap and it might be better to get a new tablet. Also, if you do purchase a replacement one, it will have a different memory chip, and therefore will not contain any of the original data or files which the old one had. If it's getting as high as 91 degrees, I'd be thinking something's beginning to go wrong.


How is the list of apps allowed to install another apps populated? On Android 8.1,

If I go to "Settings" > "Apps & Notifications" > "Advanced" > "Special App Access" > "Install unknown apps", what determines which app are in this list ?

On my phone, I see :
Chrome, Drive, Files, GMail, Messanger, WhatsApp.

Yet I have a lot more apps installed and running.

Just to add some related details to @ReddyLutonadio's answer, android.permission.REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES is the one which defines which apps would appear in the list you have mentioned, and it's required on Android 8+ to install apps from sources other than Google Play. But this permission alone doesn't define if the app is allowed to install unknown packages or not. It has protection level Signature:

  The system grants these app permissions at install time, but only when the app that attempts to use a permission is signed by the same certificate as the app that defines the permission.

It means that user apps will never be allowed this permission. The apps which are allowed in "Settings" > "Apps & Notifications" > "Advanced" > "Special App Access" > "Install unknown apps" are those which have AppOps operation OP_REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES allowed. You can also check from adb shell:

~$ appops query-op REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES allow

Results must be same as in Settings. To deny any of the apps:

~$ appops set org.fdroid.fdroid REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES deny

And it will appear as Not allowed in Settings.

Other permissions which are controlled with AppOps can be seen with dumpsys package | grep -A100 'AppOp Permissions:' | sed '/^$/q'.

RELATED:

How to grant an app a permission that isn't in its manifest?


Notification backup? How can I export my push notifications so they can be imported again on accidental deletion?

If I accidentally wipe out a notification or press the clear button, Android does not ask me for confirmation and just cleans up.

If you do not want to use any third party app, that can read every Notification on your phone then there is a built-in Notification log in Android.
How to enable:
You can see your Notification log under Settings shortcut widget.
Long press on home screen.
Select Add widgets" and select Settings.

Click on Notification log and a shortcut will appear on your home screen to launch Notification log.
That's it. Check details of every notification you missed.
You can't send them back into Notification tray.


How to find audio files from apps I have this app from Bungie, which is called Destiny, and it's a companion for their game.

The app has a really nice notification sound but I don't know how to find the audio in the file manager because the folder from /Android/data has nothing in it.

If it helps I also have 2 computers, one with Windows 10 and the other with Ubuntu 16.04.

My phone is a Samsung J5 2017 with Android 7.0

On your phone you can install Show Java or Dexplorer to decompile the apk. Usually such media files are kept in assets folder, but can vary on their development practices. On your PC you can use apk tool to decompile the apk and check the source there.


When will my device get the Android 8.0 update (Oreo)? Android Oreo was officially released on August 21, 2017.  It adds features such as picture-in-picture and AutoFill.

You can review the high-level changes at the Android developer website.

Of course, not all devices will get this update right away, even at release; others won't get it at all. Manufacturers and carriers often choose to add their own custom modifications, which tend to delay the official release.

When will each device get Oreo, either officially or unofficially, if ever?

See also:

When will my device get the Android 6.0 update (Marshmallow)?
When will my device get the Android 7.0 update (Nougat)?
How do I update Android on my device? (with links to all other versions)

This community wiki will list all of the known and rumored dates for devices.

If you have an update please edit this wiki here, but make sure to follow the format that's been established, and the following guidelines:

Keep devices in alphabetical order listing the manufacturer and model
Specify if the date is confirmed or rumored and link to the source
If there is an unofficial release, link to the site where it can be downloaded

Phones

Asus

ZenPhone 3: TBD confirmed
ZenPhone AR: TBD rumor

Blackberry

KEYone: TBD confirmed

Google

Pixel: 2017-08-21 confirmed
Pixel XL: 2017-08-21 confirmed

HTC

U Play: TBD rumor
U Ultra: TBD rumor
U11: TBD confirmed

Huawei

Honor 9: 2017-10-30 confirmed
Nexus 6P: 2017-08-21 confirmed

LG

G6: TBD rumor
Nexus 5X: 2017-08-21 confirmed
Q6: TBD rumor

Motorola

Moto G5: TBD confirmed
Moto G5 Plus: TBD confirmed
Moto G5S: TBD confirmed
Moto G5S Plus: TBD confirmed
Moto Z: TBD confirmed
Moto Z Droid: TBD confirmed
Moto Z Force Droid: TBD confirmed
Moto Z2 Force: TBD confirmed
Moto Z Play: TBD confirmed
Moto Z2 Play: TBD confirmed

Nokia

Nokia 3: TBD confirmed
Nokia 5: TBD confirmed
Nokia 6: TBD confirmed
Nokia 8: TBD confirmed pushed

OnePlus

OnePlus 3: confirmed pushed
OnePlus 3T: confirmed pushed
OnePlus 5: confirmed, unofficial on XDA

Samsung

Galaxy A3 (2016): never rumor
Galaxy A3 (2017): TBD rumor
Galaxy A5 (2016): never rumor
Galaxy A5 (2017): TBD rumor
Galaxy A7 (2016): never rumor
Galaxy A7 (2017): TBD rumor
Galaxy C7 Pro: TBD rumor
Galaxy C9 Pro: TBD rumor
Galaxy J1 variants: never rumor
Galaxy J2 (2016): never rumor
Galaxy J3 (2016): never rumor
Galaxy J5 (2017): TBD rumor
Galaxy J7 (2017): TBD rumor
Galaxy J7 Prime (OnNxt): TBD rumor
Galaxy Note 5: never rumor
Galaxy Note 8: TBD rumor
Galaxy Note FE: TBD rumor
Galaxy S6 series: never rumor
Galaxy S7: TBD rumor
Galaxy S7 Active: TBD rumor
Galaxy S7 edge: TBD rumor
Galaxy S8: TBD rumor
Galaxy S8+: TBD rumor
Galaxy Tab S3: TBD rumor

Sony

Sony Xperia XZ Premium (G 8141, G 8142): TBD rumor
Sony Xperia XZS (G 8231, G 8232): TBD rumor
Sony Xperia XA 1 (G 3121, G 3123, G 3125, G 3116, G 3123): TBD rumor
Sony Xperia L1 (G3311, G3312, G3313): TBD rumor
Sony Xperia X Compact: TBD rumor
Sony Xperia XZ (F 8331, F 8332): TBD rumor
Sony Xperia X Performance: TBD rumor
Sony Xperia X (F 5121, F 5122): TBD rumor
Sony Xperia XA 1 Ultra (G 3221, G 3212, G 3223, G 3226): TBD rumor

Tablets

Asus

HTC

Samsung

Other

Nexus Player: 2017-08-21 confirmed
Pixel C:  2017-08-21 confirmed
Smartron SRT Phone: 2017-07-10 confirmed


OnePlus One randomly soft-reboots after wipe This didn't use to be a problem until  I wiped my phone and reinstalled 05Q.
Now, approximately every hour or so my 1+1 spontaneously soft-reboots. It's not a hard reboot; my phone is encrypted and it never asks me for the encryption password. It just randomly reboots for no reason, sometimes when I'm using it, sometimes when I'm not.
Sometimes, after doing so, the start of the remaining battery usage information automatically resets to the time of the reboot. Other times, it doesn't reset, and just displays random blank intervals. The reboots are driving me nuts, since they recently made me miss an alarm.
It's not WiFi or Bluetooth or even data (I've tried disabling all of these)... for the life of me I can't figure out what it is. Before the wipe, I also had 05Q, but it had been upgraded from earlier versions. But after wiping I just installed it directly. It's obviously a software issue, since it didn't use to be the case until I wiped and re-imaged it. I thought it might be because I used ART after the reinstall instead of Dalvik, but the problem persisted after I switched back to Dalvik and cleared the cache.
I can't figure out how to diagnose it either; I don't know which log files to look at because it's a soft-reboot and not a hard-reboot.
Any ideas on how I can fix or even diagnose this? It's driving me nuts; I'm missing reminders because of it.oneplus

Edit:
Here's the data from adb logcat...
(...)
[ 07-22 14:15:12.668 15394:17283 D/LBSSystemMonitorService ] handleMessage what - 7
[ 07-22 14:15:12.668 15394:17283 D/Wiper_jni ] Send Passive Location.[ 07-22 14:15:59.998 15394:15589 D/PowerManagerService ] acquireWakeLock: ignoring request from android
[ 07-22 14:16:59.998 15394:15589 D/PowerManagerService ] acquireWakeLock: ignoring request from android
[ 07-22 14:17:56.398 15394:15589 D/PowerManagerService ] acquireWakeLock: ignoring request from android
[ 07-22 14:17:59.998 15394:15589 D/PowerManagerService ] acquireWakeLock: ignoring request from android
[ 07-22 14:18:38.408   213:  213 I/rmt_storage ] rmt_storage_connect_cb: clnt_h=0xf conn_h=0xb88b9fb8
[ 07-22 14:18:38.408   213:  213 I/rmt_storage ] rmt_storage_rw_iovec_cb: /boot/modem_fs1: clnt_h=0x1: req_h=0x17 msg_id=3: R/W request received
[ 07-22 14:18:38.408   213:  213 I/rmt_storage ] wakelock acquired: 1, error no: 42
[ 07-22 14:18:38.408   213:  620 I/rmt_storage ] rmt_storage_client_thread: /boot/modem_fs1: clnt_h=0x1 Unblock worker thread (th_id: -1198791904)

I think I figured it out. As described on /r/oneplus, it seems to have been due to me denying "Keep Awake" permission to Android System to avoid the annoying wakelock bug that drains my battery.

It seems that denying it to Google Play Services should be enough here.


Is it possible to temporarily disable the screen timeout? Often, during updates/downloads or backup operations I would like to temporarily disable the screen time ( found under the 'menu - settings - Display - Screen timeout' ) without having to navigate to the above menu setting .

Anybody knows of a good widget which does just that : either disable the screen time ( by just clicking the widget ) , or by setting it to a high value / back to short value ( also by just clicking the widget ).

Or is there any other easy way I have missed ?

I am running Froyo on Samsung Galaxy S.

If you are using a profile application to set your volumes in different situations, I guest most of them have the option of changing your screen timeout as well. In my case I'm using Setting Profiles and I can add a new profile that does exactly that in two key press.

In Setting Profiles, there is a widget to set profiles and you can even select a timer with the profiles you set, for instance, to enable the profile "no screen timeout" for the next 5 minutes.


How to disable rotation during zooming in the Google Maps app? I'm not talking about the feature for navigation where it rotates the map based on the direction you're currently driving. The problem is that when I zoom in and out using two fingers it sometimes happens that I rotate the map accidentally instead. I know I can press the compass icon to turn it back upright, but I would rather want to block the rotation completely. I've looked through all the settings and didn't find one, is there any way I can do this?

If I open the app, and make sure I first make a pinch movement with my fingers, it doesn't rotate the map when I rotate my fingers in the same movement afterwards.
So if you want to only zoom, it is best to first make a little pinch movement, to let the app know you're going to zoom.

If you on the other hand rotate your fingers first, it will start rotating the map.

If you only want to zoom in, you can also use the double tap option. That will not change anything to the rotation. But this is a little more work if you want to zoom in a lot.


How to install apps from one user to another I have a Nexus 10 set up with multiple users. My owner account has a lot of apps that I got from my Humble Library (so not from Google Play). I want to install these apps on one of the other user accounts, but right now I'm on a metered internet connection so I don't want to re-download these apps. Is there a way for me to transfer these non-Google Play apps from the owner user to another user without re-downloading them? Thanks!

Usually, with the MultiUser feature, apps are not downloaded again (but rather linked; let's skip technical details here). In your case the trouble is: your apps are not connected to Google Play, so I'm not sure how that would be handled.

However, here's a way you definitely could do so. But it would require you to install one app from Google Play to handle it:

Login with your "owner account"
Get yourself AppMonster Free Backup Restore via Google Play
Start the AppMonster, go into its settings, and check/configure the path it stores the backups to. For your goal, it should preferably be in a location accessible for the other users as well.
Now "back up" the apps you want to "transfer". You might wish to include AppMonster here as well.
Login with one of the "target users"
Use any file manager to navigate to the AppMonster backup directory
Now you can simply "start" the .apk files, and the installer should pop up.

As the backup directory structure might be a little confusing, you may wish to first install AppMonster that way, and use this app itself to install the other apps (after having configured the backup directory again).

Be aware this only handles the apps themselves, not their data.

Another variant, including the app data, could be utilizing adb backup and adb restore. To do this without a computer, you could use Helium - App Sync and Backup. Other than above variant, this creates backup archives (*.ab) of your apps, which then could be restored using the very same app. I've never tried that amongst multiple accounts, so I cannot guarantee it works. Helium is available for Android 4.0 and above; but as you already use the MultiUser feature, this should be no show stopper :)

Note, however, that you would need to install Helium also for the accounts you wish to restore to. And again: While I'm pretty sure the AppMonster variant will work, I cannot guarantee that Helium works in this context. But it might be worth a try if you want to include the data with your transfer.


how to downgrade moto g 2nd gen from lollipop to kitkat without root I am having a problem while gaming on my new android update on moto g (2nd gen). So, i want to downgrade the android version please help me out.

A downgrade (as well as an upgrade) can be performed by flashing the corresponding ROM that match your device configuration, that is  MOTO-G (2nd Gen.)

So, first thing is to find Appropriate ROM for your device MOTO-G.(2nd Gen.)
You may find more hints at this LINK.

Once you find the ROM, you can downgrade(or upgrade), as needed. Refer rom-flashing for more details and instructions related to ROM Flashing.


Finding the appropriate ROM - translating ROM names to something legible The Shipped ROMs site has a bunch of ROMs listed, but I can never make out which one is the one I am looking for. Using the baseband version is straightforward, but even then there are often a couple ROMs that fit.

Please excuse me if I should not be doing this, but I'll give you a concrete example:
In my case, I am looking for the stock ROM for the unlocked HTC Desire I bought in The Netherlands (I'm Belgian myself, but this makes little difference). So I looked at the Bravo page:
http://www.shipped-roms.com/index.php?category=android&model=Bravo

The baseband version is 32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27 so that gives me a list of 8 ROMs

RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.29.405.2_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_151783_signed.exe   Binary File
RUU_Bravo_Froyo_TELUS_WWE_2.25.661.2_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_151557_signed.exe     Binary File
PB99IMG_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.29.405.2_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_151783_signed.zip   Archived File
RUU_Bravo_Froyo_Vodafone_UK_2.33.161.2_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_157522_signed.exe   Binary File
RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_ARA_2.32.415.3_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_157343_signed.exe   Binary File
RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC__ARA_2.32.415.3_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_157343_signed.exe  Binary File
RUU_Bravo_Froyo_HTC_WWE_2.29.405.5_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_159811_signed.exe   Binary File
PB99IMG_2.29.405.5_Radio_32.49.00.32U_5.11.05.27_release_159811_signed.zip   Archived File

In this list, there are a couple abbreviations I do not know or understand, such as:
WWE, ARA, RUU.

Any help, general or specific to my case, is much appreciated.
I believe I know I will need a bin and not an exe file, and I can probably rule out Telus and Vodafone ones.

Thanks in advance

I'm pretty sure that:

"WWE" stands for "World Wide English"

"RUU" is "Rom Update Utility"

"ARA" means "Arabic" (which apparently is for "middle eastern devices")
"ARA" may mean "Aramean" and since it is in the same spot that "WWE" is I would guess that it refers to the localization or language like "WWE" does, so "Aramean" makes sense to me.

As you can see the RUU is an executable. You will run on your computer while your device is connected through USB.  The zip is usually installed via a recovery - however that is my experience with my HTC EVO and Hero.


How can I get my phone to find contacts by name *or* company name? I have an HTC Droid Incredible running Android 2.2 (Froyo). I keep my contacts in GMail, and they are automatically synced to my phone. The problem is, my phone's "Search People" app seems to search by business name/organization only if no contact name has been entered.

Is there any way to trick the phone into searching by either name or business name/organization when both of these fields are in use?

Alternatively, is there a better app for looking up contacts than the "Search People" app that came with the phone?

try using google search, works flawlesly on my magic to look for contacts in any way i like , you might need to update latest version from the market


foreign phone stuck at Edge I have Samsung galaxy j2 ( j200h/ds). Phone is supposed to connect to 3g but it never does. My current network is T-Mobile.

Use OpenSignal to determine if your area actually does have 3G coverage from T-Mobile. I suspect that your area does not, and that is why you are not getting 3G service from T-Mobile. If you do get 3G coverage in your area, removing your SIM card and inserting it back into your phone will likely do the trick.


Minimal .apks for play store Introduction

I just installed CyanogenMod 10.2 on HTC One X+ and I want to install ONLY the Google Play Store. I know there is Gapps, but I want to have even less apps on my phone than what is in that package. I searched already for a long time on the internet, but couldn't find a clear solution. I hope you can help me :)
(I know about F-Droid, also have that on my phone, but I wish to have Play Store too)

What I did so far:

I downloaded Play Store (cm.android.vending-4.6.16.apk) from Android Police: http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/03/13/download-latest-google-play-store-4-6-16-with-new-require-password-option-tweaked-ui-forced-self-update-and-more/
Got the Gapps zip for CM 10.2: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps
From Gapps I took the files "GmsCore.apk", "GoogleLoginService.apk" and "GoogleServicesFramework.apk".
I moved these 3 apks to my phone and relocated these 3 apks to the folder /system/app/
I installed the Play Store (cm.android.vending-4.6.16.apk)

Note

If you don't put "GmsCore.apk" on your phone, Google Play Store will start, but you will have no connection in the store.

The Problem

I can start Play Store and have connection with the store, but the moment I want to install an app or check for updates (settings --> Build version (4.6.16)) it says: "Unfortunately, Google Play Store has stopped." How to solve this?

Well... finding an old package, looking at those files I discovered the answer. Sometimes it takes very long to find it and the solution is simple.
Short Answer
You should also move "Phonesky.apk" to /system/app/ folder and then restart your phone.
Summary

Download the latest Play Store .apk (Try for example Android Police): http://www.androidpolice.com/2014/03/13/download-latest-google-play-store-4-6-16-with-new-require-password-option-tweaked-ui-forced-self-update-and-more/
Get the Gapps .zip for your system: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps
From this .zip, move these 4 files to your phone storage: "GmsCore.apk", "GoogleLoginService.apk", "GoogleServicesFramework.apk" and "Phonesky.apk".
Use a File Explorer (like File Manager with root right) to move these 4 files to /system/app/
Install Play Store .apk (for example: cm.android.vending-4.6.16.apk)
Restart phone
Done :D

Edit: WARNING 2015-05-16
Even though this works, I now recommended just installing the whole gapps. Just now I tried to update my cyanogenmod to CM 11, which failed, but when trying to set my backup back, all was reset to the state when you just flashed CM (although the data was still there, so smart apps recognize this). This was solved by 1 of the following 2 things:

First flashing a clean CM 10.2, then restoring my backup with TWRP (if did this the trick, you can ignore this warning)
Flashing Gapps for CM 10.2: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Google_Apps