Suspicious GPS behaviour Sometimes, when I wake my Acer Iconia Tab A500 up, I see blinking searching for GPS icon near the clock, which disappears quickly. I already noticed something like this on other devices. The questions is: what is it?

It's impossible to pin-point such app without closer information. But there are several helpers available to narrow down the list of candidates. Easiest way is if
Your device is rooted
and running Android < 4.1 (i.e. up to 4.0.x). In this case take a look at LBE Privacy Guard: Set GPS to "always ask" for all apps and see which one is touching it. LBE would then pop-up a dialog box and ask you to confirm/deny, optionally also to remember this decision. For all legitimate candidates, simply confirm and let it remember; for unwanted candidates reject and remember. If unsure, just don't let it remember. Along these lines, your candidate should reveal its presence.

With Android 4.1+, don't even try to install that app (your device would be locked into a boot-loop). Instead, head to XDA, where they have localized versions of its companion (e.g in this thread). It's quite bloated, but might help in your case.
Your device is not rooted
This makes it a little more tricky. No fancy popups helping you out here (to my knowledge). But you could use a permission scanner to narrow down the list of candidates. One possible candidate would be AppBrain Ad Detector – with the side-effect to also detect apps with dangerous ad modules in installed apps (SpyWare and the like):

In the first example screenshot (just click the image for a larger variant) you can see "May share your location" listed in "concerns". Which means the app displayed uses location and network. To not have to open each app separately: the second screenshot shows you can list apps by permission.
Alternative helpful candidates include Guardian Droid and Permission Explorer:

With some luck, your investigation leaves you with only a few candiates (with great luck it's just one, and you've found the culprit). Now you can see if you can (temporarily) disable those, and whether the problem is gone this way. If so, enable them one-by-one until the problem re-appears – which is after you've re-enabled the app you're looking for.
PostScriptum
Above described steps can similarly be applied to other permissions as well :)


Google Contacts - only My contacts, not Others I have Samsung Galaxy Note II, Android 4.3

I have synchronized it with my Google Account. The problem is that when I search for a name, it also searches all the contacts I have ever send an email to. I want it to search only My Contacts (the name of default group in GMail of contacts I have saved manualy), not Other Contacts. Is it possible? Thanks

EDIT:
I'm not looking for how to display only certain group. I'm looking for how to search only in certain group.

On my phone (moto x) I had to go to the People app, touch the three dot icon, and touch "contacts to display" option. Then select the "back up assistant" option instead of any other option in order to only display those contacts that are stored on my phone.


How can I uninstall a device admin if the Deactivate button doesn't work? I am trying to uninstall CM Security. It's a device admin, so I go to Settings, Security, then Device Administrators, and try to uncheck the box next to CM Security, then a screen comes up listing the privileges the app has. The options are Cancel and Deactivate. When I click Deactivate, the button depresses, but it does nothing. I can click it as much as I want, and nothing happens. How can I deactivate a device admin when this problem occurs?

Try booting your device into safe mode.

You can do this by holding the power button until the shutdown menu appears, and then hold the "Power off" option until your device asks to boot into safe mode. There will be a watermark on your screen when you boot into safe mode to show you it worked.

When you boot into safe mode, only system apps are allowed to run. You should be able to deactivate the device admin from there, because no app can prevent the process from running.

Warning: all non-Google sync accounts are reset when you boot into safe mode (no idea why). This means you might need to enter your dropbox/onedrive/other account credentials.


My tablet is stuck on "no command" screen. What can i do? I've a Lenovo Tab A8-50 which received yesterday an OTA update.

After the update it didn't restarted correctly.

It now only show the "no command" screen. When I click the power button it shows this additionnal information

Android system recovery <3e>
A5500F_A442_000_027_141207_ROW

followed by a list of recovery options

Apply update from ADB
Apply update from sdcard
Apply update from cache
wipe data/factory reset
wipe cache partition
backup user data
restore user data

The problem is I never tried to connect that tablet to my computer using any kind of debug mode, only using standard USB mass storage driver.

I have one microSD card I can use, but it seems this mode doesn't allow me to push firmware from the microSD card to the Android machine.

So ... the question is simple : how can I restore/reinstall a working version of Android on that tablet ?

One additionnaly point is that, as far as I understand, Lenovo doesn't provide any link to the full firmware for that tablet on their support site. So where can i get a working version of firmware, and how can i reinstall it ?

I had the same problem and I spent hours working on it.

Excerpt from this article which helped fix my problem.

When flashing TWRP, do not reboot (into system) since the default "recovery.sh" file replaces TWRP on every boot. So I guess you need to flash TWRP again

So next time you flash TWRP,
1) power off (preferably by pulling battery if nothing else works)
2) enter bootloader or fastboot mode by holding particular button combinations (Google your phone's model to find out)
3) boot into recovery (TWRP)

NOTE that the first time you boot into recovery twrp will ask you wether you want to make changes to the system... Choose "yes"... And then you will have proper recovery (TWRP) working.


What is the proper way of using GPS Test Plus to update GPS data? Do you need to click the Clear AGPS button, then click the Update AGPS button, then wait for its home screen to update the list of satellites it finds, before closing the app?

Or is clicking the Update AGPS button sufficient?

The help file describes what these buttons do, but there doesn't seem to be any best practice for using the app (or when is the best time to close the app).

  Clear AGPS Button. Pressing this buttons clears the AGPS aiding data from your phone. Do this if your GPS takes a long time to get a
  fix.

  Update AGPS Button. Pressing this button requests the download of AGPS aiding data. The AGPS aiding data can become out of date, so
  requesting an update will get te latest version.

Updating is sufficient. I think clear is for cases where you are offline and can not update.


No Internet Available, sometimes One week ago, my phone suddenly grew a very annoying problem with the Wi-Fi. Pretty much what happens is that my Samsung phone is working like normal for ten seconds. Then, the Wi-Fi disconnects and says "No internet available". If I manually reconnect it by tapping the Wi-Fi in settings and press connect, it connects back to the Wi-Fi. Then the cycle repeats ten seconds later.

Also, the cycle is not constant. Sometimes I have internet access for a few minutes, sometimes only for three seconds, but on mostly ten seconds.

Another thing, it's not my phone. My phone can connect perfectly well to all other Wi-Fis. It also not my router, for all other devices connect perfectly well to it. It has something to do with the specific connection between this phone and my linksys internet.

On a side note, I have a roomba connected via schedule to this phone. It hasn't automatically vaccummed since my internet-phone connection acted it.

EDIT 1: I have tried using the Wi-Fi fixer app and it did not work as desired. When the app is running, the same cycle occurs as described above. With the exception that every time the Wi-Fi disconnects, Wi-Fi fixer automatically reconnects.

This is a great step, as I get a somewhat more reliable internet connection. However, this means that every 20 seconds the "connected to Wi-Fi" pop up appears. It also means my internet goes in and out constantly. I also imagine the constant reconnecting to the internet causes a smaller battery life.

Wifi connects for sometimes then disconnects and then never connects

This question seems to be similar to your situation. OP reported that the problem was solved by using this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wahtod.wififixer&hl=en

EDIT:
Taken from Wifi keeps disconnecting and reconnecting frequently

1.Dial *#0011#

2.Then press the menu button and select wifi

3.You'll notice an ON button

4.Turn it Off

5.Restart phone

p.s.: When you restart your phone, recheck if it's still OFF, if not repeat til it works.

Alternatively, you may want to try the possible solutions listed here: https://www.connectify.me/blog/fix-internet/how-to-fix-android-wifi-disconnect/


Hide music from list of alarm, notifications, and ring tone files How to keep my music and alarm files separate suggested I could nut an empty file named .nomedia in my top Music directory to prevent Music files from being seen by the Alarm app when I create a wake-up alarm. Well, that does not work and when I set an alarm and wish a non standard alarm sound, I must scroll through over a thousand music files to find the Alarm sound file. Same happens with ring tones and notifications. How do I prevent Music files from appearing on my OnePlus 7pro w/ Android 10?

I had the same problem on my OnePlus 7. It's irritating that the Oxygen OS pick menu doesn't have a  search () option.
To over come this I use Ring Tone Maker. You search for a tone, long press and from 3 dots menu on right, choose to set it as a ring/alarm/notification tone. Drawback of this approach is that you can't find default tones in this app. If your device is rooted, you could locate those files and copy in some folder that would show up on this app


Boot animation upside down after new ROM I have a Wileyfox Spark, for lovers of it, you surely know it comes with CyanogenMod13 OS as it's stock. But you know very well how one might want a more decent Nougat or Oreo based CM14 or CM15 or even AOSP7.x.x. I have all the ROMs I need in the device and a ready TWRP 3.2.0, a full backup of the stock images from boot.img to userdata.img. Installing the new ROMs work fine despite the fact that on any custom OS I have tried, the device boot's up with the boot animation 180° rotated. This continues to bootup and it only returns normal if I turn display off and on. Flashing the stock boot.img solves the issue of rotation but since the ROM isn't stock, it just Bootloops infinitely. I'm not a Kernel developer and neither do I have enough knowledge on how to do. I suggest somebody with a workaround for this issue. I don't like the stock OS which I'm forced to return to.

If you can bear with having to turn screen off/on once the device had booted up, and just want the bootanimation to look normal, that's quite easy - just edit the bootanimation itself to make it upside-down.

Grab and extract /system/media/bootanimation.zip.
Rotate every extracted image by 180 degrees.
Recompress the extracted files, keep the structure (compare with the original if necessary), and choose "storage" when asked about compression level (any actual compression will prevent Android from reading the file).
Place the modified file back to where it was and set proper permissions.


Transferring pdfs from computer to android When trying to transfer pdfs from computer to Galaxy Note II, Samsung Kies reports 'No App to read file'. I have several pdf readers including adobe for android and downloads direct to Note 2 work fine.

There are multiple ways to copy files between your computer and your Android device:

simply connect the two using an USB cable, and mount your Android device's storage to the computer -- then deal with it like with any other drive
create "shared folders" on your computer, and use an Android app which can deal with them, like e.g. ES File Explorer File Manager
Use an app which can share your Android device to your computer, for even more manageability -- like e.g. AirDroid
use cloud services like e.g. Dropbox or Google Drive which are accessible from both, your computer and your Android device, to share documents between the two
lame, but also listed for completeness: Send the files to your Google Mail account, and then save the attachments from the GMail app

Far from being complete -- but it should give you an idea of what's possible.


Why does the new Chrome update want the permission to use my camera and audio recording? Seriously, it specifically states that it can use the camera and audio recording any time it wants, whether or not I wish it to. Why is Chrome on Android requesting those permissions?

Should I be concerned?

(Emphasis my own.)

The Chrome page in the app store says this about the new permissions:

  This version requests two new permissions, Camera and Modify Audio Settings, to support WebRTC, an experimental feature under development.

WebRTC itself is designed to expose your camera and mic to the browser, so that web-apps can implement video-conferencing and other multimedia solutions in-browser.

The WebRTC people have at least nominally considered the privacy implications, by adding an info-bar to Chrome:

Chrome on Windows is said to have access to your camera and mic. So if you use Chrome on Windows (and soon Firefox too) then you are implicitly trusting the vendor of those programs to not take pictures of you when you don't authorize it. The same is true for Android. One hopes that they don't introduce security flaws that allow unauthorized access to the camera/mic by malicious websites.

As to what you can do about it, on a rooted phone you can uninstall Chrome or install a permissions-control app that denies permissions to installed apps. You can switch to a different browser that doesn't support WebRTC. Otherwise you're stuck with what Android provides. If you decide that you trust Microsoft or Apple more than Google, you can switch. Or maybe you trust an open-source Android variant like Cyanogenmod. For myself I consider the fact that Google already has a bunch of apps on my phone which have access to my camera and mic, so if Google wanted to spy on me they already can. Heck, they could build that right into the OS and just not tell anyone.

Google Apps that can access the camera/mic:

Search
Voice Search
Plus
Translate
Drive
Shopper
Goggles
Youtube Remote
Youtube

Not to mention the camera app which is built-in to the phone.

Edit: The question was updated with a screenshot of what the phone shows when you are prompted to update the app. Unfortunately at this time there doesn't seem to be a way for app developers to document why they need particular permissions, except in external sources. For example, this Chrome update states why it needs the permission in the "What's New" page. However, if you don't look there and just see the scary warning, you are left wondering what is going on. As an app developer I wish we could add help text to the permissions page to explain to the user why we need the permissions and how the privacy policy protects the user. Google could certainly make this more usable and less scary.


GPRS/Data only starts after reset I have Karbonn A9, Android 2.3.6.
The GPRS/Data does not switch on occasionally, but once I reboot the phone I can start it.
After deactivating GPRS/Data I have to reboot the phone get either data or GPRS to connect again. What could be causing this?

Backup your data and factory reset your device. If problem is intact, its firmware issue. Fixing it isn't easier than flashing new ROM.

The best way to work around: Disconnect Mobile Data by renaming APN. No need to factory reset or to flash new ROM. You don't need to rename APN manually. Install Widgetsoid and use its mobile data toggle widget. In settings, make sure toggle method is APN renaming. Done!


How to delete an app that keeps the phone from successfully booting up? I need to delete an app but I cannot access anything with out it restarting every 5 seconds (this is an infinite restarting process, so the device never fully powers up to become usable). How can that be achieved? Is it possible to do so from the recovery menu?

As I've pointed out in my comment on your question, this rather is an XY problem – your real issue is to delete that app.

That's what safe-mode is intended for. You can find a detailed tutorial at HowToGeek, describing how to enter safe-mode, and what steps to take from there. I'll try to sum it up in a short list here:

Usually you'll find an option to boot into safe-mode when invoking the power menu (long-press the Power button while the device is operating in "normal mode" – not an option for you, as your device is stuck already. Refer to our safe-mode tag-wiki for alternatives: usually it's long-pressing power to switch it on, and as soon as the logo appears press vol+ and vol- simultaneously. Hold them pressed until you see the text "Safe Mode" appearing in the lower-left corner of the screen
While in safe mode, none of the user-apps will be executed – they will be disabled. So your app should not be able to "intervene" here
System stuff is still fully operational, so go to Settings › Apps, scroll to your app, open its entry, and from that screen uninstall it

Problem solved – hopefully :)


Disabling skype messaging sound on Nexus 7 It seems you can turn off all notifications and alerts, but I like getting text notifications.

The spammy sound that comes by default is most certainly annoying, and there doesn't seem to be any option to disable that without losing text notifications too.

Does anyone know how to disable just the Skype sound, whilst keeping the text notification?


efs problem (emergency calls only) I used to do a full factory wipe then flashed a stock firmware with Odin, that helped me get back to having access to my mobile network then I flashed to Resurrection Remix 5.5.3 and lost access to my mobile network (Emergency Calls Only) I checked my IMEI and it appears to be valid. I didn't backup my /efs I didn't do anything to it. What seems to be the solution? I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 (I-9300)

Back when I owned a Samsung phone this too would happen to me. I would have to flash a stock TW based rom and see if the network connection comes back. If so, I would boot into recovery and make a backup of EFS. Then reflash the custom rom, Then restore the EFS backup after you flashed the custom rom.


Block Google Play installing certain applications I want to block the Google Play Store from installing a certain list of applications or only allow the Google Play Store to install that list of applications.

Is there any way to write a program to do that?

Your specific question is:

  Is there any way to write a program to do that?

Yes, it would be hard for the Android programmer novice, but it can be done. It would be a lot easier to do with root permission as well. For a long time companies liked to stick with BlackBerry because they were easier to 'child lock'. More and more, I am actually seeing people with IPhones now having this 'company child lock software'.

I'm sure companies out there are making software for Android devices that inhibit the use of certain apps and prevent downloading them all together. You could probably pay to get this software onto a device but it would probably be very expensive.


Detailed instructions for replacing KingoRoot's Superuser with SuperSU KingRoot's Superuser, while effective at its main purpose, is throwing up adware lockscreens.  I'd like to replace it with SuperSU but have had difficulty finding instructions detailed enough for my low level of knowledge.

I tried just installing SuperSU from the play store but that failed.

When googling, I see results for kingroot, kingoroot, and I don't even know if they are the same or not.

The Superuser package on my device is com.kingouser.com version 2.1.6.8 (2168). The device is an Azpen A746, the world's 2nd cheapest tablet.

Detailed information on replacing this SuperUser with SuperSu would be greatly appreciated.

TL;DR - skip to the STEPS section

Kingroot and Kingoroot are two completely different apps, made by two completely different group of developers.

Kingroot, while it is probably the leading app for "1-Click-Root" solutions, also installs a ton of bloatware and annoying services that you may or may not know about.

Kingoroot I can't really speak too much about, considering there have always been many other solutions to achieving root including Kingroot.

Okay so I've used this method dozens of times and it works 99% of the time. The only time I haven't had it work was for a Verizon HTC One M8, since Kingroot only gives (at least at the time) temproot it took a few tries to get it working properly. I give all credit to w0lfdroid to finding it, and the original guide can be found here http://www.w0lfdroid.com/2015/05/How-to-Remove-Replace-KingUser-KingRoot-with-SuperSU.html

WARNING

This may leave your device in an unrooted state, if this happens then just run Kingroot again and it will fix itself.

STEPS

Download the following three items:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jackpal.androidterm&hl=en

--(Terminal Emulator App / Alternatively you can just use ADB shell)--

http://tiny.cc/1a5lyx

--(Zip archive containing necessary files / v1)--

http://tiny.cc/fo78zx

--(Zip archive containing necessary files / v2)--

The two zip archives contain the same files, but if the steps don't return the desired result using the v1 files, then repeat the steps using the v2 files.
Extract the "mrw" folder from the zip archive and place it anywhere in "/sdcard". For convenience let's just say you're not using a computer and instead doing this all from the phone you're wishing to switch from Kingroot to SU. Downloading the files will put them inside /sdcard/Download. So navigate to there using the built-in file explorer (or Root Browser if you don't have one), extract "mrw" from the zip, and proceed to install Terminal Emulator.
Open Terminal Emulator and type the following commands:

su

sh /sdcard/Download/mrw/root.sh

This will return a ton of text and quite a few errors, don't worry about it, I've never had it not return some errors. When finished it will install SuperSU automatically and open the app, asking you if you'd like to install the necessary binaries. Tap "Yes" and choose the option that is NOT to install in recovery.
At this point it will go one of two ways: either the binary installation will fail, at which point you'll have to re-root with Kingroot and repeat the steps using the other zip files; or the binary installation will succeed and you'll need to reboot the device. Upon booting you will see Kingroot and all associated files have been removed, and replaced instead with SuperSU.

If neither of these methods work there is a paid app in Play Store called Super-SuMe that's supposed to be specifically made for removing Kingroot and installing SuperSU, although despite purchasing it multiple times I have never once had anything happen besides either a reboot, force close, or the app hangs.

Best of luck.


Retrieve the original content of a webpage that was browsed in Chrome? I browsed a post on Craigslist in Chrome in my Android phone, and after a few hours when I checked the post again using the same URL, the webpage says that the author of the post has deleted the post.

Is there some way to retrieve the original post, for example, from the browser of my phone?

I also googled the URL of the post, but Google only shows the first sentence of the original post in the search result, and the search result doesn't provide a "Cache" option. Is it possible to see the entire post in Google server's cache?

Follow the instructions on View webpages cached in Google Search Results

The gist is:
1. On your computer, do a Google search for the page you want to find.
2. Click the green down arrow to the right of the site's URL.
3. Click Cached.

There also are other sites that do that for you, for instance http://cachedview.com/


Repeat notifications for users on-call? For people who are on-call and use android phones.  What's the best way to repeat notifications until acknowledged?

If an alert comes through at 4AM I may not hear one beep.  But it would be nice if the phone just kept beeping until I acknowledged it.  Is there a way to do this without an extra app?

There is no way to do that with default android and you will need to find applications in order to do that. For example in regards to text messages you can use an application such as GO SMS which has the option to set up a reminder that will set off a different ringtone/alert until you acknowledge the message.

I am sure there are different apps out there that will do this for other notifications such as email if you need it but it might take some work to find the apps you need.


Can I make a web site continue running when in standby? I am developing a simple web application which will be used for tracking GPS position. The general idea is that every couple of minutes it'll send the GPS location back to a server with an AJAX request. Note the device will be connected to power permanently.

We ideally need this to keep running in the background when the screen is turned off. I've put together a test with a Nexus running Lollipop and Chrome and had limited success. The requests keep sending for 5-10 minutes after the screen is off, then they stop.

Oddly there still seems to be occasional requests. For my testing I'm doing a 10 second request interval, in the real world it'll be more like 5-10 minutes. Some sort of queue? If this is a thing and I can figure out how to work with it reliably it might work.

Is there any way I can get them to keep sending indefinitely? Settings in the OS/browser, or different browser (or both) maybe?

HTML5 ServiceWorker seems to support what you need via BackgroundSync / PeriodicSync feature. However, since ServiceWorker is still an ongoing effort, I'm not sure what features are currently implemented in Chrome. I couldn't find any good demoes of this, only proposals: https://github.com/clelland/BackgroundSync/blob/master/explainer.md

Cordova has recently added support for Background sync: https://github.com/MobileChromeApps/cordova-plugin-service-worker-background-sync, but this requires you building an Android app.

Without browser's explicit support for such a feature, all your ad hoc efforts will be a waste of time, since your code will be guaranteed to work only when the browser is in foreground. Otherwise, the browser itself can be killed by the OS, and won't be able to continue executing your page's code. The periodic sync feature provided by ServiceWorker implies that the browser would schedule periodic jobs using the corresponding Android services, like you would do in a Java app.


Why can't I save apps into my SD-card? I have a problem with my lenovo S750.
When I want to download something the system says:

  Memory Full, Not enough storage space

It's really frustrating since I cannot use the android at all!

My phone is rooted, and I already tried to use Clean Master to move all of my apps to the SD-card, but it only moved 5 apps for me, but other than that, there is no apps on the SD-card, only photos and few videos.
The rest is probably still on the internal memory.

Internal storage is full (1GB)
micro-SD card is half empty(2GB)
phone storage is empty (1.55GB of total 1.64GB free)

Since internal storage is full, no apps will be updated due to lack of storage.

Furthermore, how can I take advantage of the phone storage?

You have to wipe your cache partition. It is the partition where Android stores downloaded .APKs and some other system data and you cannot see it with a file manager.

Step 1

Turn off your Android device. Reboot the phone or tablet into Recovery Mode. The process is specific to the device model. For Lenovo S750:

Press and hold Volume Up and Power Button at the same time.
Release all buttons when the Lenovo S750 screen flickers and in a few seconds the Recovery screen will appear.
When the Android image appears press Power shortly

Step 2

Press the “Volume-down” button to scroll to “Wipe Data/Factory Reset.”, select it.

Step 3

Scroll to and select “Wipe Cache Partition.”

Step 4

Highlight and select “Reboot System Now.” The phone restarts.

DO NOT make "Factory reset". You will loose all your data on phone.


Will I lose any apps / data if I upgrade my phone's OS? I'm planning to upgrade my Galaxy S2's OS from android 2.3 to 4.0. This is an official upgrade from Samsung.

It sounds like it's an easy process. Just download the Kies program from Samsung and follow the instructions. But as I've never done it before on an android, would I still have all my apps and data? Or will I have to redownload them all again?

Is there a chance that something could go wrong?

Is there a chance that something could go wrong?

Yes, always!

There's a reason you should always keep up to date backups of anything that is of importance to you, because things do go wrong.

That said, I didn't have any issues what so ever upgrading my Galaxy S2, it just worked.


Galaxy On5 not compatible with Adoptable Storage Samsung Galaxy On5 (MetroPCS)

  Android OS: 6.0.1 Marshmallow
  Status: Rooted
  Recovery: TWRP
  Framework: Xposed v85.1 (Wanam build)
  Model: SM-G550T1 (on5ltemtr)

I had installed Root Essentials a couple weeks back, and while fumbling through it, I came across "Adoptable Storage".

In a nutshell, that's when you format your External SD Card & combine it with your Internal Memory for more space

After hours upon hours of research, forum trolling, YouTube videos, contacting Samsung, etc..., I've found no working method to allow Adoptable Storage to work on my On5.

Samsung made all their newly released phone's running MM "incapable" of this feature, while all other company device's running MM have full access to it.

There's a loophole for Samsung phone's to obtain Adoptable Storage by way of ADB and Fastboot commands. I've tried that method and followed it step by step, down to the final period. FAILURE. Galaxy S7 & S7 Edges can obtain it by way of ADB/FB along with other Samsung device's, except the On5.

My question after a short-story rundown: is there a 100% working method for the On5 to obtain Adoptable Storage or should I stop searching & close this book?

Great to read you gave Root Essentials a try! We have just updated Root Essentials with a renewed approach to handle those difficult phones just like yours. Version 2.3.1, released on Google Play / XDA / APKMirror, contains this new code.

Feel free to try and do let us know the results! Thomas, dev. Root Essentials.


Which app specific prevents moving to external storage? Subject. I'm not asking what I will lose if I move app, but rather about how system detects if app is "movable" or not and enables/disables corresponding button in "App Info" activity accordingly. Hope I made myself clear, if now - please comment and suggest better terminology.

Okay, this is related to App Install Location and behavior in question controlled by application manifest, specifically, by android:installLocation attribute (NB: by default system assumes internalOnly).


How can I update the Market app on my device? I have an HTC Desire S with Android 2.3. After I purchased my phone Google released an update for the Android Market, but I haven't receive this update. How can I update to the new version of the Market?

New versions of the Market are rolled-out by Google automatically (and there is a slight chance that you never see the new Market, but I don't think that this is true for the Desire S). So the best thing is to wait.

If you really can't wait you could try this market.apk, but I am not sure if it's the latest. Make sure that you have "Unknown sources" enabled. Source


How can I delete Hotmail emails when using the Gmail app on my phone I use the Gmail app to read emails on my Android phone. I defined two accounts, a Gmail account and a Hotmail account. The Gmail account works w/o a problem, for syncing, reading, writing and deleting emails.

However, when using the Hotmail account, reading and writing emails work fine, but whenever I delete an email (with any of the various standard methods), the email is removed from Inbox, only to re-appear next time the account syncs (of course, when doing this from the web interface, it works just fine).

I tried a few solutions, including changing the Outlook options and changing settings on my phone, but nothing seems to work.

How can I make my deleted Hotmail emails really disappear?

What do you know... Shortly after posting this, I found a thread in the Gmail help forum with a solution that worked for me, by user Nico P.

Quoting here, for reference:

  If you look at your folders from your outlook account you'll notice
  that there is a folder named "Trash" (or another equivalent) and
  another folder that is the actual folder for deleted emails.

  Try to delete this "Trash" folder , it will move it to the actual
  trash folder (you can then safely deletethis "Trash" folder from here)
  and sync your Gmail app again. You'll notice that the "Trash" folder
  is now gone.

  Then retry to delete an email. It should work and appear in the
  "deleted elements" folder.

  I think Gmail is programmed to automatically identify the trash folder
  and when this "Trash" folder is present it's messing up with the real
  delete action as the "Trash" folder is actually an artefact and not
  the real one.

  Hope it helps, this solution solved my deletion problem.

Note that you don't need to delete the Trash folder. You could just rename it to get the same effect.


What is the name of android's equilivent to UEFI? Sorry if this is a dumb question. I'm having the hardest time finding the name of android's analogue of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface.

Maybe they are specific to each manufacturer? I am specifically looking for the one used with Samsung galaxy phones.

Is there an opensource specification for interfacing with android phone hardware, similar to how UEFI and BIOS works?

The closest thing I have found is Replicant OS. The description says "Replicant is a fully free Android distribution running on several devices". If it can run on many devices would that mean its using the same firmware 'interface' across many devices?

The firmware is more related to hardware (and hardware type/architecture) than to software/OS. OSes must support that hardware/firmware but the firmware is not part nor exclusive of the OSes.

ARM is the typical architecture where Android runs and yes, it varies a lot by manufacturer.

Replicant OS is geared towards ARM based hardware and, according to their FAQ, is currently supported in few devices and some of them only partially, I imagine because getting support for a specific device depends on how "open" the manufacturer is about it. And there are limitations because there are lots of proprietary stuff that's needed for full support, there are features missing without non-free firmware. Definitely not as easy as your typical PC.

However, a discussion about the specific devices you're interested in - Samsung Galaxy phones - is off-topic here - https://superuser.com/help/on-topic - but it's probably a good question at https://android.stackexchange.com/ .


Is ARM EABI v7a System Image and Mips System Image important? I noticed that what makes installing SDK packages so slow is because these two packages take too long to be downloaded and sometimes it hangs on these two. Do you really need to download these two packages on every API version in the SDK Manager.

These system images just enable you to run Android emulator with processor of some architecture (depending on system image version; for example, Android 4.0 supports x86) and Android SDK doesn't require these images at all. If you use your phone (or some real device) for android development and don't use emulator at all than you don't need to install them at all.


Why USB Tethering goes off after a while? I use 3G, Android 2.2, LG P500 phone. I've tested it on Windows 7 and Windows XP, the result is the same. After several minutes the connection dies and I need to switch off/on the USB Tethering option to restore the connection.

This is most certainly due to network restrictions.

For instance 3G connections on Orange (UK) are dropped if you hit it with "too many" requests in a short period of time. This is very easy to do with a PC, just open a dozen tabs on a browser and the 3G connection is dropped.


Can lack of update cause screen distortion? I have an LG X Power running on Marshmallow. I have not installed the latest security update, as it causes problems not only with my favorite game, but also an app I NEED to sign into my work email. (I know this because I had another phone exact same type that screen cracked so I replaced it)

About a week after I got my new phone tho, the screen started doing weird things. It at first just goes a little blurry, then it looks like it is almost doubled. The worst full distortion is a bunch of lines all over the phone, with the screen still usable and visible...sort of....but everything looks blurry/doubled and it also messes with the correct placement of things.

Is this screen distortion possibly because of the new update? Should I just return the phone under warranty?

Please - any help is appreciated!

I'm not sure if I understand you, did you allredy sent that phone to repair or you bought new phone? However here is the thing: update or lack of update shouldn't mess up screen like that, the simptoms that apeared is 99% hardware issue, screen or gpu is dying. But just to make sure that isn't up to Android system you should perform factory reset before sending it back since it's under warranity, or you can try applying update if possible to see what happens.


Automatically modify bluetooth settings when launching an app Here is my use case: my phone is connected to my car via bluetooth, with only the Phone audio enabled.  Media audio is off, so I can keep listening to the phone's GPS and the car's radio at the same time.
But from time to time, I'd like to listen to Spotify directly through the car's audio system, which means I have to switch the bluetooth connection's Media audio back on.

Is it possible to automate that ?

  While connected to the car's bluetooth, if Spotify is launched, enable the connection's Media audio.

Perhaps with Tasker or IFTTT, but I couldn't find how to do it with IFTTT, and I couldn't find a way to try Tasker for free.

Depending on Bluetooth device, routing audio through it may only be possible using SCO. Try automating it with Automate (free), it has an Bluetooth SCO set state block.


Can't install USB driver for Zopo zp300+ on Win7 64 When I enabled USB debugging in settings, an unrecognized device appeared in device manager: H9000+
Then I followed this: http://www.zopomobileshop.com/zopo-rom/how-to-install-driver-for-zopo-mobile-phone-step-by-step-instruction/

MT65XX Preloader replaced with "MediaTek PreLoader USB VCOM Port (COM3)", then it disappeared.

I unplugged USB, turned on the phone and plugged it back. No new drivers were installed. H9000+ is still unrecognized.
Eclipse says: No compatible targets were found

I used a wrong driver. H9000+ means you need ZOPO MTK6577 DRIVER from http://zopomobile.cn


Is there any trick to set ADBD to work on TCP/IP on a non-rooted device? What I want is to control a device from remote:

turn display on/off,
launch a specified application (clock),
open a website.

On a rooted device, I've installed a SSHD app, then I logged in to the device:

su
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
stop adbd
start adbd

Then I can launch adb on my computer, connect to the device and perform various adb commands.

Can I do this on a non-rooted device? I've found that setprop requires root access.

Or, is there any app, which have TCP/WWW interface to do such things? (I've installed an IP camera app, which have URL interface for turning the camera LED on/off, beside usual camera functions, e.g. make snapshot.)

You can try this command, it restarts adbd on the android device after setting the tcp/ip port to the value you want (5555/tcp is a default) :

$ adb tcpip 5555


How can I download the latest ringtones? How can I download the latest ringtones?

I'd highly suggest Zedge for awesome ringtones! Everyone in my family has been using it for quite a while, and finding some pretty sweet stuff :)

They have ringtones in the following categories:

All Categories
Alternative
Blues
Bollywood
Children
Christian & Gospel
Classical
Comedy
Country
Dance
Electronica
Entertainment
Games
Hip Hop
Holiday
Jazz
Latin
Message Tones
News & Politics
Other
Pets & Animals
Pop
R&B/Soul
Reggae
Rock
Sayings
Sound Effects
World


In a dual sim phone, must both sims be used? I'm looking at getting the Xperia X Performance. It has two slots for SIM cards. Will the phone work alright with only one normal SIM and will all the apps still work ok? A long time ago I red most apps don't work for dual sim, but I'm not sure if this has changed. (if this question is too specific, feel free to answer it for any phone)

You won't have any problems if you insert only one SIM into dual SIM phone, i have dual sim phone myself with only one SIM in it and it work without any problem. Phone will work even you don't have any SIM in it.


How do I start/join a G+ Hangout? Possible Duplicate:
  How to start a Google+ Hangout from android/mobile phone?

I recently got a Galaxy Nexus. The commercials for it tout the ability to do Hangouts with G+ Friends. When I start up G+ Messenger, a few things:

I don't see any list of online friends from my circles. How am I supposed to start a chat with someone if I don't know who is online and who is offline?
I started a conversation with a friend (who ended up being offline even though I couldn't tell). He later replied to me. I couldn't figure out how to start a Hangout with him. I've seen screenshots where there is a video chat icon at the top in conversations. But I don't see this icon in my Galaxy Nexus...
Should I be able to see a list of hangouts that I can join somewhere? If my friends started a hangout, how would I join it unless I was specifically invited to it?

It seems like this shouldn't be so complicated. The interface certainly isn't complicated, so maybe I'm missing something?

Make sure you have updated to the newest version of the G+ app.  You should have version 2.3.1.242969 that came out yesterday.

From there you need to go to messenger and find the person you want to hangout with and send them a message.  Once you send them a message you will see a hangout icon appear in the top right corner.  See here for more information.


fastboot: usage: no command Basic information: Windows - Android SDK - fastboot.exe
As the title says.. fastboot won't work in my cmd and fails with the output: fastboot: usage: no command. The android-sdk is located in the root directory (C:\). I also add the pathvariables in the system environment. I don’t try it with an android device, I only test if the command responds, but yeah it did not...! So I actually do everything like it's described in the tutorials, but can't find my mistake.
Did anyone have this problem or does know a solution?

Use fastboot --help instead. This is a kinda standard way to get usage help in Linux world. However sometimes writing only the command name also works as you expect.

Reference:

if (argc == 0) {
    usage();
    return 0;
}


Play music app doesn't find transferred mp3 file in library I transferred an mp3 file from my PC using SHAREit app to my Android phone. It stored the received file it's own directory (SD1\Android\data\com.google...\files\SHAREit\audio\ on SD card. However I copied that file to another but already existing directory on SD card. Later I removed the file from the SHAREit path.

Now I can play this mp3 by directly going to the current directory and tapping on the file name. But this mp3 can not be seen or played by "Play Music" app.

Can you help me?

Thanking you
Shashidhar

Thank you for your reply. However immediately after posting question, I just tried rebooting the android phone. After re-booting, the mp3 file in question was seen and played by the "Play Music" app. So this worked for me. But I didn't understand what .no media file is.

Thank you anyway.
May God bless you
Shashidhar


Device not allowing the use of non-English for the screenlock password I am facing very unclear behaviour on Motorola devices w.r.t. setting its password in non-english language (Hebrew).
Let me explain scenario:

Settings -> Language & input -> Google Keyboard -> Input Language -> under 'Active input methods' -> Hebrew checked.

Now, Move back to Settings -> Screen Lock -> password -> choose your password -> Password contains illegal characters. (After typing few Hebrew words, so unable to set password)

Settings -> Language & input -> Language -> Set 'Hebrew' as phone language.

Now (All in Hebrew language), move back to Settings -> Screen Lock -> password -> choose your password -> Password contains illegal characters. (After typing few Hebrew words, so unable to set password)

I am not getting why it's showing me this behaviour. In fact, after changing phone language, I should be allowed to set password based on my desired language.

In fact, after changing phone language, I should be allowed to set password based on my desired language.

Your assumption here is wrong, at least for stock Android.

Based from AOSP source code that handles the password input for lock screen, ChooseLockPassword.java, inside validatePassword(), here is a snippet that will show the "illegal character" message:

// allow non control Latin-1 characters only
if (c < 32 || c > 127) {
    return getString(R.string.lockpassword_illegal_character);
}

It means that the input only allows characters with code between 32 and 127 (exclusive). They are A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and basic punctuations.

taken from http://www.asciitable.com/

Other than those characters, Android won't accept the password and notify the user there is an illegal character.


Firmware upgrade gone wrong I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 (SPH-D710) and was trying to do a firmware upgrade through Kies and the upgrade encountered an error (I think the usb cable came loose and lost connection). After that, when I tried booting the phone a screen appears with a yellow triangle with an exclamation point in the middle, a phone to the left of it and computer to the right with the message "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again".  I tried doing the emergency firmware recovery in Kies but that seemed to freeze at 64%. I wasn't sure how long it was supposed to take so I let it sit there. Eventually the battery level went low enough that the recovery failed and now the battery is too low to boot into download/recovery mode. When I plug the phone in to try to charge the battery the "Firmware upgrade encountered an issue. Please select recovery mode in Kies & try again" screen flashes and it doesn't seem like the battery is charging. Is my phone completely screwed? Is there anything I can do at home to fix this or will I have to take it somewhere?

Thanks

Yes,  turn off the phone and try to charge from a wall charger,  and when battery is full,  try to do firmware recovery,  this time use a good usb cable, and ensure a good Internet connection.

Keep battery level above 80% or keep it full.

And if all fails go to service center.

Vote up if I helped ;)


How to set up fingerprint unlock on Honor 6A? Could please someone name the exact checkboxes I need (not) to tick on Honor 6A to have it unlock with my fingerprint? Fingerprint is configured and recognized in the settings, but the phone keeps asking for PIN every time.

Basically you have to set up a pin (or password) before you can enable
  fingerprints on the device, and you will be always required to enter
  the pin/password when you first boot or the first time you log into a
  protected user account.

After that point, if you have the fingerprint enabled for unlocking, you can use the fingerprint to directly wake and log in if you are using the default lock screen.

Many users have observed that  if you have installed anything that overrides the lock screen, this will stop working, and you will need to use the PIN again.

References

Use fingerprint to wake screen without PIN?


Be notified of an update to an app that is not installed Is there any way to receive an update/new version released notification from the Play Store for an app that is not installed in my phone? I'm using 4.3 on a Nexus 4.

With Changelog Droid being currently "out of order"1, let me mention an alternative:

App Watcher claims to do the very same:

  App Watcher notifies you about updates of applications from Play Store even the app is not installed currently on your device and provides quick access to the "What's new" section.

App Watcher (source: Google Play; click images for larger variants)

1:  (according to a comment from winchendonsprings); by a response I've got from the dev, he's quite busy with other tasks at the moment, but did not abandon the app – he still plans to update it, but cannot give an estimate.


Why NFS mounting works with XBMC/Kodi on stock Android? I have tried to mount NFS shares on my recently rooted Nexus 5 (Mahdi), and found that the CIFS manager app doesn't work, although it claims that I need a rooted device. I also noticed that XBMC/Kodi used to be able to read data from NFS shares without a problem. It was not creating mounts, I understand, but it didn't have any problems even on stock Android. What's the difference here? What am I not getting?

XBMC does not mount NFS shares, you assumed it did, it can read and even write and delete files and folders in a NFS share, so can a lot of file explorers like ES file explorer (my favorite).
To mount a NFS share, thats a whole different story, it means it will emulate and mount a NFS like a usb OTG or SD card. Cannot be done in all devices, look in XDA and maybe there is a rom or modules you can load and finally mount a NFS share.
Good luck.


Samsung G S3 Mini: UK Apps 'not available in your country'?: in UK, with new UK phone from UK provider! Just got my new Samsung Galaxy s3 mini, from t-mobile UK.

Trying to download UK apps (e.g. BBC News) from Google Play, but getting the "app not available in your country" messages....

Am in the UK, using UK wi-fi and EE, my google account is and always was registered to the UK. There's a bit written about moving country, but nothing that has worked to resolve my issue.

Can anyone help?

Have you tried turning it on and off again? If it doesn't work, take it back to the shop.


Is there a way that lets you lock your screen during YouTube My son likes to watch a specific YouTube video in the car sometimes, and he always touches the screen and stops the video. Is there any way to prevent this while keeping the screen on?

You may want to install the Touch blocking App such as Touch Blocker.

How this works?

  Touch Blocker prevents unintentional touch interaction with the touch
  screen of your device by blocking touch input. When you disable touch
  input while watching a movie you don't have to worry not to skip
  scenes by accidentally touching the screen.

So, as soon as you begin to watch YouTube video, Enable touch blocker: Just need to touch notification icon to enable it.

And when you are done with Video watching, you can disable the touch blocking. The Touch Blocker app which is mentioned in above link has many different ways of unblocking the touch, such as pressing Volume Up button on the device.


Why is my Galaxy Nexus always force quit every apps or page I'm currently on? Lately my phone have been force quitting out of any apps or pages I'm currently on and i have no idea what is causing it. I did recentl update to android 4.2, I'm not sure if that is the reason for causing the problem.

It also happened to me after 4.2.1 updates. I just reset to factory settings. Now, it's working fine for me.


Google Talk not working over Corporate Wifi. What can I do? Whenever I'm connected to our corporate wifi, google chat goes offline (i.e. the contact list fades to grey).

I think this is due to a port setting. As far as I know only 80 (http), 443 (ssl) and ftp (21) are allowed from inside my company.

The problem is, that my android device automatically turns off the 3g connection as soon as wifi is available.

I tried to find a setting for the Access Point, but couldn't find one. Likewise, I don't know if there is any setting in Google chat.

Android 2.2, LG-P500, Firmware V10-OCT-01-2010, Kernel 2.6.32.9

Do you have any suggestions?

The problem is, that my android device automatically turns off the 3g connection as soon as wifi is available.

Why don't you shut off Wi-Fi?

Since you can't control port forwarding or anything at work, there's not much else you can do.  Although, you could just ask and see whether they'd consider opening the Google Talk ports (443/5222/5223).


Can't read my SMS on my Android phone An update fixed my problem. It was - as I suspected - just a bug.

Recently I upgrade my Samsung s4, and now every time when I get a message via SMS, the text - and background - all white?:

(Click image to enlarge)

I tried messing with the settings, but still my messages won't show up?

How can I read my SMS messages again?

Phone Info

Samsung S4(GT-I9505)
Android version 5.0.1.

Try a third party messaging app, such as Google Messenger or Handcent SMS to see if the problem is duplicated. If so, verify you're running the most current software version with Samsung Kies. If you are, try a factory reset and see if that works. There's a possibility that the Lollipop update for the S4 has some bugs that will hopefully be patched rather quickly.


What is the difference between USB Mass Storage and USB Debug mode? I am familiar with USB Mass Storage mode .
How exactly is USB Debug mode different from it  ?

An Android device in "Mass Storage" mode behaves just like a USB flash drive: It presents itself as a block device that can be mounted (i.e. "used") by the host PC. Just like a USB stick does.
Additionally "USB Debug Mode" can be enabled, which creates a new USB endpoint for the Android Debug Bridge (adb). This allows a user to get in-deep access to the connected Android device and furthermore it allows the debugging of apps. This is the reason why you should never attach an Android device with Debug Mode enabled to an untrustworthy PC. As USB is able to provide more than one endpoint per USB device, these "services", Mass Storage and adb, can be used simultaneously.


battery charge stops at 99% My phone is Kyocera Hydro Icon, running Android 4.4

After using it for almost a year, recently charging its battery stops at 99%, indicated by the battery icon and the corresponding LED staying red instead of turning green.

Is it normal or there might be some problem?

Thanks.

Is it normal or there might be some problem?

It is not normal but it is not a cause for concern as long as the battery performance is not visibly degraded

Li Ion batteries have different stages of charging as shown in Fig.1. What is probably happening in your case is that the required voltage levels to fully charge the battery are not being attained despite prolonged charging. As a result the LED and battery levels are not reflecting fully charged condition. This is probably due to the charger/ cable combo not delivering voltage/ current as required. This can be verified by changing them.
It is not a cause for concern, since it is not a good practice to fully charge . Quoting from same source

  Li-ion does not need to be fully charged as is the case with lead acid, nor is it desirable to do so. In fact, it is better not to fully charge because a high voltage stresses the battery


Weird Screenshot and downloads I have a Samsung J3 something... Its thru virgen.

At least once a day my phone freezez then the screen turns black then comes back to normal. Then when I go to my gallery a "file" or "cache" is visible with what looks like a screenshot of my screen. I also have every sticker icon from facebook stickers downloaded into my gallery. I end up having to delete all these icons.

CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHATS GOING ON? Am I hacked? Is it a glitch? Any feed back will be appreciated.

Screenshots (click images to enlarge)

Your phone is not hacked. Try clearing cache and reboot your phone. It should then act normally.


Force 720p Resolution on InForce 6540 I'm working with an InForce 6540 board that has 5.0.2 Lollipop installed.

I am trying to connect a display device that has a max resolution of 720p at 60hz. I am using a micro HDMI connection.

The 6540 detects the display as a 1080p dislplay and uses that resolution.

I tried to change the resolution with adb root.

adb shell cat /sys/devices/virtual/graphics/fb1/edid_modes
( to check which modes the display device supports)

adb shell setprop hw.hdmi.resolution 13
(or other supported number, checked the .cpp file to see what each number means for resolution.)

adb shell stop

adb shell start

This did not work, and I tried it on a different display device that supports more resolutions, and it did not work either.

I have also tried the command wm, but that only resizes the amount of screen it is currently using. (It scales versus changing actual display resolution)

My display shows static on the bottom half, and on the top, it shows the whole display but cut. The right side of the display is cut and displayed on the left with everything shifted to the right.

Any help would be appreciated. I know this is not a normal problem.

I'm running an older version, 4.1.1, on a cheap tablet. On this unit, it's
Settings-->HDMI-->HDMI Resolution.

HTH


Can you change unlock pin after encrypting your phone? I'm using Android M and would like to turn on encryption.

Am I going to be able to change my screen pin in the future after I enable encryption?

Yes. You can. Changing the PIN in turn changes the encryption password

From Android Security Internals: An In-Depth Guide to Android's Security :

  Android doesn’t have a dedicated setting to manage the encryption pass-
  word after the device is encrypted, and changing the screen lock password or
  PIN will also silently change the device encryption password. This is most
  probably a usability-driven decision: most users would be confused by having
  to remember and enter two different passwords at different times and would
  probably quickly forget the less frequently used, and possibly more complex,
  disk encryption password. While this design is good for usability, it effectively
  forces users to use a simple disk encryption password, because they have to
  enter it each time they unlock the device, usually dozens of times a day. No
  one wants to enter a complex password that many times, and thus most users
  opt for a simple numeric PIN (unless a device policy requires otherwise)


Phone not updating Market to Google Play? I have the TELUS Samsung Galaxy S2 X (T989D) running Gingerbread (v2.3.5). Today my friend (who has the Samsung Galaxy S2 (TI9100)) told me that they changed the Android Market to Google Play. I opened my Android Market to see if it would update to Google Play and all I got was a message asking to accept the terms of Google Play, which I pushed "Accept". After trying the following to have it updated to Google Play, still no cigar:

Deleting data and cache
Removing and reinstalling all previous Market updates
Turning off WiFi and using only 4G
Rebooting phone (several times)

I dont understand why its just not updating like everyone elses is? Maybe it has to do with the model of my phone?

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I am in Canada.

From the official announcement on the Android Developers blog (emphasis mine):

  We’ll be rolling out Google Play to devices in a phased OTA update, starting today and continuing over the days to come. With the update, the Android Market app will upgrade to the Play Store app and the Music, Videos, and Books apps will upgrade to Play Music, Play Movies, and Play Books. This update is for devices running Android 2.2 or higher, and users on other devices will continue to have the same access to your apps as before.

Just give it some time to work. For what it's worth, I got the upgrade almost immediately after I read the blog, and the new Google Play appeared in the apps instead of the old Market. It's pretty much the same as the previous Market app, bar the new branding. Also, check the version of your market app -- Google Play is version 3.4.6 or later, the old Market is 3.4.4.


How to set lock screen wallpaper in OnePlus 2? OnePlus 2 doesn't have the head of 'Themes' under 'Settings' menu. Nor is it giving an option of lock screen when choosing 'Set as' for a photo.

Soon this option will get added through OTA update! probably it will be releasing in 2-3 days. It's oxygen version 2.1.2


How do I decrypt files on SD card that I encrypted on a different device? I encrypted my phone and SD card on my Note 2. I broke that phone, but recovered the SD card. How do I decrypt the SD card to get all files out (I do have password for it) with the new phone?

You are asking the same question that you can find at How can I decrypt an encrypted SD card (HTC Evo 4G) on a different device? - In summary of that answer, you can't. Your password only decrypts the key that is used to decrypt your files. The key is stored on the device and is NOT the same as your password.


How can I disable the Wi-Fi connection of my Android phone from my laptop? Is it somehow possible to control the Wi-Fi connection of my Android phone from my laptop to disable (not only disconnect) the Wi-Fi connection of my phone if both my phone and my laptop are connected to the same network?

USB-Debugging is enabled on this device.

The following is non-root method:

Create a dummy app in Android Studio. [Credit]

MainActivity.java, put right after setContentView(R.layout.activity_main):

WifiManager wfm = (WifiManager) getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
try {
    wfm.setWifiEnabled(Boolean.parseBoolean(getIntent().getStringExtra("wifi")));
} catch (Exception e) {
}
System.exit(0);

AndroidManifest.xml, put before <application:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE" />

Enabled USB debugging settings, plug USB cable to your phone,  press Shift+F10 to run the app which will also install the app.
In your phone, navigate to Advanced Wi-Fi and get the IPv4 address.
While USB cable still plugged, issue adb shell command,
Issue pm list packages command to find out the package name if not sure. For example package:com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly, remove the prefix package: is your package name. Or you can simply get the package name in AndroidManifest.xml, e.g. package="com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly".
Issue setprop persist.adb.tcp.port 5555 (credit) command.
Ctrl+D to quit adb session.
Unplug your cable. Reboot your phone now.
Assume your phone automatically connected to wifi on reboot, and your laptop connected to the same wifi network. No need any USB cable now.
Issue adb connect 192.168.11.5, in which this ip get from step #2 above.
Issue adb shell am start -n com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly/.MainActivity -e wifi false to disable wifi. com.blogspot.diannaoxiaobai.dummyonly is the package name get from step #4 above.
You can remove the port 5555 set from step #5 above with adb shell setprop persist.adb.tcp.port "" command. (Credit)


Touch sensitivity problem I'm using glaxy grand (I9083). I was facing this touch problem. For example, if i touch and hold letter 'e' on my keyboard to enter number 3, it will type bunch of letter e's (eeeeee). First I thought it was some software problem(touch driver). But today I found out that if I remove the back cover and use the phone, problem goes away. Weird right?. Anyone know how to fix this?

Might be because of static charge accumulated during charging. Use the stock charger if currently not using also there are many tips to remove that static charge off your screen. Try those and tell us.


Transfer Files Though USB to PC Browsing my android device though USB shows very old files.
Someone else has had this issue.

I do not wish to reboot my PC or phone every time I want to get files from my phone. I also do not like the idea of having to ssh into my phone though usb.

Is there a simple way to transfer files though USB to PC from android?

I have a Moto G on 4.4.2 and my PC is running Windows 7.

The files and folder you see via USB (or to be specific through the USB MTP protocol) can be different from the files and folder that are really in the sdcard section on your device.

In my case a lot of files and folders in the sdcard section were invisible via USB.
After executing the app Rescan SD Card the files and folders visible via USB were exactly the one that exist on my sdcard section.


Google Play Services only recognizes deleted account; cannot update any apps I got my Samsung Galaxy J7 in September and signed in using my primary, personal Google account ("A"). In early November, I downloaded Skype for Business for my job purposes, and created a new Google account out of habit ("B"). I DID NOT DOWNLOAD ANY OTHER APPS USING THIS ACCOUNT. A few weeks later, my boss informed me that a Google account is in violation of company policy, so I apologized and permanently deleted the account.

After the account was permanently deleted, I got an unclear-able notification saying "Account Action Required." Going to Google Play Services (which I didn't even know existed until then) led to a screen which "prompted" me to sign in with account B, but highlighting the email address does not pop the keyboard up. I have no choice but to sign in to that account, with predictable results.

Now account A is experiencing issues, which I'm positive are linked to this problem. I cannot check for updates, updates in general seem to have been disabled, and my list of installed apps appears to be blank, even though they all show up in my library. Again, all of these apps were downloaded on account A.

Does someone help me resolve this issue? Thanks in advance!

This could be happen because you deleted your account permanently from the web but that account still saved in the device and triggering a force sign in to identify you.

Follow these steps:

For Samsung specific-

Open Settings》Cloud and accounts 》Accounts》Google.
Now click the account that you have deleted permanently.

Tap 3 dots on the upper right corner and choose Remove account.

It must work.

Else last option would be a factory reset and set up device again.


How can I use userscripts on Firefox for Android? As of October 2020 I can't seem to find a working add-on/extension for Firefox on Android. Tampermonkey's page says the add-on is not compatible with Android, but I think it used to work fine a while back. Is there any way to install userscripts on a current version of Firefox for Android (including beta or developer editions)?
If current versions don't support such extensions, and the only way is to install an older package (not recommended due to potentially unpatched vulnerabilities, I know), which is the latest package version I can use Tampermonkey (or a similar) extension with?

End of August Mozilla has pushed a new major version of Firefox for Android that bases on a new web engine.
For an unknown reason for this new version they only allow a very small set of hand selected addons. May be the engine changes were so big that most of the addons now have problems?
It seems like the developers at Mozilla are trying to bring back the full addon support in the next version which is scheduled for October 22th. According to the Mozilla blog the current Firefox Nightly version should already include the mentioned full addon support. May you give this version a try - hopefully it will be able to run Tampermonkey addon again.
As you have already pointed out installing the old Firefox Android version is a bad idea because of a extreme severe vulnerability which allows to remote control Firefox by any device in the same subnet. Therefore the only chance I see is to try out the nightly version or wait until October 22th for the final version.


Prevent disable power saving while charging [root] When I plug my phone to solar cell cpu optimisation turns off and the speed of discharge increases severalfold.

How to prevent cpu always on when phone charging?

Phone: Rooted Samsung Galaxy S III GT-I9300 Android: 4.3

same question:
How do I keep CPU off when charging?

I found out that some cpu optimisation disables when phone connected to devices that suport data transfer (netebook for example (even sleeping), or my solar cell), so i use usb cable that not support data transwer.


How to enable drag status bar from lock screen? I have an ICS phone, the problem is on the lock screen I can't pull the status bar down in any type of lock screen (slide, pattern, PIN, etc). My question is how do I enable status bar dragging on lock screen? I know almost all ICS phone out there have this feature, strangely my phone doesn't. Please help.

I don't know if any setting available for notification bar dragging. but notification dragging bar is enable/working only on screen lock made by slide other than this is won't work like PIN,Pattern,Password,etc.

If you want work notification bar. Go To-> Setting->Security->Screen Security->Screen Lock->change to slide.


how to disable gmail notification sound samsung a50s I have a Samsung A50s. It is making some sound each time an email arrives in inbox. I am not able to find out how to disable these sounds?
How can I do this?

Swipe down from the screen so you see the notification in your notification center. Then, hold down on the notification so that it expands. You can edit the notification settings there. Change the priority so that the sound does not occur anymore (if I'm not mistaken, medium or low priority disables the sound)

https://www.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/xScreenshot_20180228-111409.png.pagespeed.gp+jp+jw+pj+ws+js+rj+rp+rw+ri+cp+md.ic.jxvpjJzLUN.png

The show silently switch would help here.


Recovery mode doesn't work I've followed these steps to try to root my phone. Then, I continue following this guide but I'm stuck where it says "Paso 2":

I'm trying to access the recovery mode in my PC with the adb reboot recovery command but my smartphone shows the "No command" message and icon on the screen and after I while, it just restart normally.

I just wanted to install Magisk so I did.

C:\adb>adb reboot-bootloader

C:\adb>fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
sending 'recovery' (21104 KB)...
OKAY [ 0.491s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [ 0.235s]
finished. total time: 0.736s
C:\adb>fastboot reboot
rebooting...

finished. total time: 0.010s

and then I was expecting to be able to enter the recovery mode, but I've tried all the possible key combinations and I can

Actually, before the "No command" screen I get a warning message asking me to visit: g.co/ABH saying that "your device software cannot be checked for corruption. Lock the bootloader. PRESS THE KEY POWER TO PAUSE BOOT. Your device will boot up automatically after a while" and it just restarts normally

I also found this file: /system/recovery-from-boot.p I've read this is preventing me from entering in the recovery mode, but as I'm not root, I can't find a way to delete it or rename it...any suggestion, please?

More info about my phone:

Also, my goal is to install Magisk, so if there is any other way to do it, it will be welcome too.

When you are in fastboot mode you can directly start the recovery image without installing it:

fastboot boot recovery.img

Alternatively if you want to start the installed recovery rom execute

fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot reboot bootloader

and then select Recovery using Vol-Up/Down buttons + Power button to start the recovery ROM.

Note that some stock firmware images will replace the recovery ROM back to the original one once you start the main OS. This is automatic "updating of the recovery ROM" is part of the boot process.


How can I see the number WhatsApp is dialing instead of the name? How can I see the number WhatsApp is dialing instead of the name?

My friend Erwin has two mobile phones, one in Switzerland and a new one in Vietnam. Yesterday he called me from Vietnam by WhatsApp. Simple-minded as I am, I added this number under the same contact "Erwin". Today I wanted to call him back by replying his last WhatsApp call from yesterday (I selected his WhatsApp call from the call protocol). However, WhatsApp obviously connected to his Swiss number (as he's registered there as WhatsApp user), and nobody picked up, of course, because it was switched off. In such cases it would be very helpful to see the number WhatsApp is using. How can I make this number visible?

You can't make the number visible, as the developers of the Whatsapp hasn't add that functionality.

You can however check after the call

  Go to CALLS tab -> Select the Contact -> click on Message icon ->
  Select the View Contact from Menu -> About and Phone Number will show
  the Contact number


How to set up a socks5 with Android cli? I found articles how to set up a http-proxy. But can't find any info, how to set up a socks5 proxy. My goal is to route all traffic from apps, etc throught this proxy. Is this possible? How then programs like Drony work?

Android does have HTTP(S) proxy support built-in that can be set through Settings UI and/or command line, but it isn't global, so regarded by proxy-aware apps only. However there is no built-in support for SOCKS. So if an app - unlike web browsers - cannot be configured to use SOCKS proxy, there is no way to set SOCKS5 proxy from adb shell or terminal emulator without using a third party tool / app. See details in How to set Wi-Fi HTTPS proxy, not HTTP, via adb shell?

HOW PROXY WORKS?

See this answer for HTTP(S) proxy.

SOCKS proxy - a complete handshake protocol - creates a tunnel at lower level than application proxies (http/s) in OSI model, so UDP traffic can also be transported. However the connection isn't secure like https and the security depends on initial authentication during handshake. socks can be used by individual clients or can be set system-wide i.e. to transparently forward all traffic. A common application of latter case is encrypted SOCKS tunnels like SSH dynamic forwarding, Tor, shadowsocks, stunnel, ssf, sshuttle, obfsproxy and so on. A VPN is also an encrypted tunnel but it operates even below SOCKS, therefore able to carry all IP traffic and forward every port.

HOW TO SOCKSIFY:

Apps force all traffic towards a SOCKS proxy in two parts:

Establish a connection between client device and proxy server

Proxy can be a standalone server or secure tunnel. In latter case the proxy is running usually on the client device itself or on local network. E.g. Ki4a has a builtin interface for SSH login to create a Dynamic Forwarding tunnel that acts as a local SOCKS proxy. Shadowsocks and Orbot (Tor) are two more examples of encrypted tunnels. Both listen on SOCKS5 as well as transparent proxy ports. Drony and Postern can also create shadowsocks tunnels. And the list goes on.
Redirect traffic from whole device or specific apps towards proxy

Every app doesn't have built-in support to use SOCKS proxy, only a few apps such as web browsers have. So we need third party apps / native tools which use different approaches.

Two common methods are redsocks + iptables and tun2socks + VPN/routing. ProxyDroid uses first approach. In latter case root is not required because apps  (like SocksDroid, Orbot, Shadowsocks and many other firewalls / sniffers) use Android's Java VPN API. Drony and Postern use Java based similar methods. Ki4a provides both options.

See this answer for other proxification methods.

Just as a reference, Shared library interceptor is a popular hack in Linux world (used by socksify, tsocks, torsocks, proxychains etc.). When a dynamic binary is run for some network communication, LD_PRELOAD variable is used to force load a specific dynamic library in memory before any other shared libraries. Dynamic linker searches for required symbols in this library first. This library is modified to offer the same functions as the OS socket layer, but transparently translating plain connections to proxied connections by effectively taking control of functions/syscalls related to networking (socket, connect in particular). Proxifier and ProxyCap do something similar on Windows.

Though this approach is more relevant to native libraries and not Android's Java stack (where apps run), apps can be hacked to start with specific LD_PRELOAD values. Android's linker does support LD_PRELOAD, see Termux-exec for instance. But I haven't seen a practical example of this approach for proxy on Android.

SETTING SOCKS PROXY WITH CLI:

While executing both above mentioned steps through command line isn't impossible, it's too complicated to be feasible for a common user. redsocks can be configured with iptables while tun2socks requires creating a tun network interface as well as configuring RPDB / routing table (that's what VPN API does at back end). SSHuttle is also similar project that's based on SSH and makes use of iptables NAT, TPROXY or routing. ss-redir (shadowsocks) also uses iptables NAT/TPROXY. Plus, all methods require root access.

For a redsocks+iptables working example, see How to send all internet traffic to a SOCKS5 proxy server in local network?

CONCLUSION:

So to use SOCKS proxy on Android is best achieved using an app. SocksDroid is simple, free, open source and has no ads. Or you can use an app specific to a protocol e.g. Tor or Shadowsocks (I have no affiliation with any apps mentioned in this answer). But the selection depends on multiple factors like protocols / methods and one important being the UDP (particularly DNS) support.

SOURCE:

Comparison of proxifiers


Why my Galaxy Nexus display is unable to present solid colors? Whenever there is a non-black solid color block in any application I can see tiny "watermarks", a pattern, and I don't even need to get close to see that.

The effect is more visible in lighter colors. The dark spots have more than 2 pixels in each dimension and they appear to be blue-ish.

Is it because of the Pen-Tile LCD configuration? Is my device defective?

It's likely the matrix which you are seeing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenTile_matrix_family

The Galaxy Nexus uses the RGBG matrix just like previous galaxy, however it's much higher resolution than many other pentile displays.

Here's a magnification of another, similar screen from a different samsung phone. http://www.droid-life.com/2011/09/28/samsungs-super-amoled-hd-screens-bring-back-the-pentile-matrix/

If that's not what you're seeing then it may be a hardware issue.


Is it possible to simulate a gyroscope using the camera? The title says it all. So, basically, I want to know if it would be possible to use the camera as a gyroscope, similar to how panorama mode works in most android devices. That's also the kind of quality I'd like. Not too impressive, and not completely horrible.

I'm not looking for alternatives. Don't suggest anything other than what I asked for.

Thanks for any help you offer.

Possibly, but would likely require quite a work-around as the gyroscope is gravity-based and has more physical attributes. You would either need a sort of "reference point" for the app to use like a light source, but then you run into image recognition technology. I'm not much of a programmer, but if I was limited to just a camera, I would have the user calibrate the app first or at least the room they're currently in. It would go something like this:

Center your head, and keep it as stable and forwards as possible.

Now, look up when prompted on screen.

Now left,

Then right,

And down.

Now rotate your body 180° clockwise, or counter-clockwise.

Room calibration is now complete!

The issue you have with this however, would be that this would differ if the room changes, or if the user moves to another room. Something of this magnitude would be akin to taking a panoramic photo like you stated, but instead using the images as a reference for the app to know where the user is looking. This is quite a predicament. I would also take into account the range of quality in mobile cameras, as this will indefinitely have a substantial impact on performance. I also advise including a sort of disclaimer telling the user that their devices camera may not be up-to-par, or limit the apps availability to higher-end devices. Your best alternative would probably be an accelerometer, but it sounds like your aim is for a more common piece of hardware. Hope this is helps.


Where to modify the pseudonym used to rate Android apps? I am currently rating android applications that I downloaded with the username firstname.lastname where firstname and lastname are mine.

However, I would like to put a pseudonym on it because my real name reveals to everybody the device I am using, which should be private. Currently, my rating looks like this one:

firstname.lastname on May 22, 2012 (Samsung Galaxy S2 with version 1.0)

I looked into my public profile of Google+, but I cannot find something which looks like firstname.lastname.
I looked on the Google Play website, but I did not find related preferences.

Where can I change this name? Is it in the device itself or what?

Change your nickname in your Google account settings.


Why is a suspicious program draining my battery with GPS usage? Phone : nexus 5 version 2013
Android version : 6.0
Kernel version : 3.4.0-g2aa165e
Build number : MRA58N

For the last few days, 10118 has been draining my phone's battery. It drains battery by using GPS. I typed 'ps' in a terminal emulator, and there was no application with PID 10118. I don't know what exactly 10118 is. My guess is that it's one of recently installed weather apps.

How can I fix this?

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

It's the UID of a removed app.

For such a number like 10118, it is the Unix UID for a user app (u0_a118).

There must have been a power-intensive app like a big game and you uninstalled it. Then there's nothing but its UID left, which is used in system logging.

Android does not log by app (for user apps), but its UID instead. So when you view battery usage, Android tells you the list by process UIDs, which contains one that has no app associated to it. Android cannot determine what app that UID is for, so it chooses to give you the UID directly, and that's the number you see.


Websites that focus on widgets I see a lot of sites that focus on apps, but where are the sites that focus on widgets?

For example, I'm trying to find an agenda widget that doesn't hurt my eyes, but it's really hard trying to sort out everything from a Google search. A widget gallery type of site would be nice.

Maybe not entirely what you're asking for, but have you tried using AppBrain? It usually does the trick for me in finding any sort of app, widgets included. The screenshots are helpful.

To the secondary (not quite asked) question, I find Android Agenda Widget to be very easy on the eyes and highly themeable.


Email won't stay deleted (IMAP) Phone: Samsung Galaxy S4
App: default mail app (Android or Samsung, don't know which)
Issue: I have an IMAP email account and when I delete an email and then check for new messages later, or at the scheduled sync frequency, those emails reappear in the account - they won't stay deleted.

I can't use K-9 mail as it doesn't support Exchange Server and I have an Exchange account as well. The problem account is set up as IMAIL. I don't see any options anywhere to change server settings for deleting emails on the server as well. Any ideas?

In my opinion there is an issue with the default mail app on the Samsung Galaxy phones.
I have recently switched from iPhone to Galaxy Note 3 and was really disappointed with the mail app not properly deleting emails from the server using imap. I know what I am doing and have it successfully working on other DROID and ios devices.
My work - around is to not use the trash can icon to delete mail but instead to use the move icon and choose to move the mail to the INBOX.trash folder.
Or you could just use Maildroid as there is much more control over what you want to do.
I am back on the default mail app now and happy with my work - around as the samsung email app works best with the Galaxy Gear smart watch.


Adobe flash for Samsung Galaxy 551 with Android 2.2 There is any way to view flash animations on web with a Samsung with Android 2.2???

I already tryed to install the Adobe flash apk from market but it is disabled for my phone.

You don't say what model your phone is? Is it on the Adobe's list of supported devices at: http://www.adobe.com/flashplatform/certified_devices/ ?

If you look at the Adobe's published minimum requirements for mobile Flash, they list Android 2.2, a Cortex A8 (ARMv7) processor, and a Hardware Vector FPU (floating point maths processor).

I'd have thought the two processor requirements are probably going to be more of a problem than the processor speed requirement, as they mean that Flash is going to be trying to use hardware instructions in the CPU that won't be available in older/lesser specced CPUs, this would definitely stop Flash working. Do you know what processor your phone has?

EDIT: According to this Wikipedia CPU page the Galaxy 551 has a Qualcomm MSM7227 chip which is ARMv6 compatible. As Adobe state you need an ARMv7 compatible processor, it looks like you won't be able to run Flash on your phone.


Once you have Ubuntu installed on a Nexus 7, how do you get back to stock Android? I currently have a Nexus 7 with the default "out-of-the-box" Android Stock OS (as of this post JB 4.2.2).

From what I've read online, Ubuntu has made a mobile version of their OS. Usually, they specially demo their mobile OS with Google's Nexus devices.

I would like to try Ubuntu on my Nexus 7, but don't want to do it permanently. Though, I still want to have the experience as if Ubuntu runs the tablet, and not Android (Just to try something new and a change of pace).

I wanted to know that if I were to permanently to install Ubuntu on my Nexus 7 device, if and how would I get my device back to the stock Android OS that came with it "out-of-the-box"?

In other words, I know you are able to install Ubuntu on Android, but is it possible, once you have cleared Android off, and only Ubuntu exists, to go from Ubuntu back to Android?

Maybe I don't know enough about what happens when you install Ubuntu on an Android device, but if there is some detail that you feel is missing, please feel to fill in the blanks of my stupidity.

Directions taken from OMG! Ubuntu!. I’m assuming you backed up your data.

Download the corresponding Android image from Google.
Extract the downloaded ZIP.
Connect your Nexus 7 to the computer with the USB cable.
Open a Terminal window and type: adb reboot-bootloader, this will reboot the tablet into the Android bootloader.
In the terminal, use the cd command to enter the folder created after you extracted the previously downloaded ZIP, for example, Desktop/<name of extracted folder>
Once there, run the shell script: sudo ./flash-all.sh and wait for it to complete.


How to apply the latest security patches on Nokia 3.1? I've a Nokia 3.1 with build number 00WW_2_680_SP02. When I run Check for updates, I have the message:

Your system is up to date
Android version: 8.1.0
Security patch level 1: 1 February 2019

But when I look at the official page Nokia Smartphone Security Maintenance Release Summary and that I select Nokia 3.1, I can see that there is two security patches (00WW_2_760 and 00WW_3_180_SP01) and one maintenance releases (00WW_3_180) that have not been applied.
My question is: How can I applied these missing security patches and this maintenance release.

Getting the latest update can be a bit trick on some Android devices. There are devices known where the "Check of updates" does not every time really check for updates, on such devices hammering the "Check of updates" button 10-20 times can help. I don't know if this also applies for Nokia 3.1.

Another "update blocker" is if your device is branded by a Mobile Network Operator (MNO). In such a case the MNO also has to release the update which can take weeks to months. Therefore IMHO buying a MNO branded device is a bad idea.

Third online updates are never rolled out to each and every device at the same time. Consider a new release that requires the download of ~300 MB that is released for 1 million devices. If all devices would start download at the same time or within a short time frame this would cause a denial-of-service attack against the download server. Therefore updates are usually released step-by-step to the devices. If your device belongs to an "early" or a "later" update group is invisible to the user.

If Nokia provides a PC based update software you may be able to update your device using it. Such a PC based update mechanism is usually not restricted to certain devices as it is not widely used.


"A Better Camera Unlocked" question I'm using a Galaxy S5 Android with version 6.0.1. I like the app called "A Better Camera Unlocked" but it is baffling me because sometimes it saves photos to the internal storage of the phone and sometimes to the micro-SD card, which is where I want them ALL saved. Any idea how to get it to save ONLY to the SD card? TIA for any help.

I tried this app，It can set the file save path，in the main activity，click the arrow ，and than click more settings--save&share，now you can set it。


How do you force the default mail app to resync it's folder list with exchange? I've got a Kyocera Duraforce that appears to have it's folder list out of sync with our exchange server. A large number of folders were created and shortly afterwards deleted and the deleted folders weren't ever deleted off of the device, as a result looking at the all-folders list to find a specific folder is tedious at best. How can I force the phone to resync it's folder list with the exchange server? I'm using the default mail app.

In the end, the only solution that I was able to find was to delete the account from the phone and recreate it. Also, after testing the phone had a number of other issues related to folders on that account so it appears as if the account had gotten corrupted in some fashion.


Do hotels send out wifi signals that place you there? I need some clear cut answers to a question that gave birth to a divorce after 15 years of marriage. My ex husband's phone( Samsung Galaxy 6) would show him at many questionable places that he says he was not while he was supposed to be "at work". For example it showed him at hotels and he told me he didn't know why it would show that. Then gave me the reply that if you drive by a hotel they send out wifi signals that place you there just by driving by there. Now I have driven by a lot of hotels in our area and they never pinged me at any of them and we had the same GPS location feature. Mine always lined up where I went that day and his would be at all kinds of places.I asked around and no one has ever heard of this and I really want to know is this true???

Yes, WiFi is a major part of location services and is used to locate Android devices. It provides a coarser location fix much more quickly than GPS. It's accuracy is usually ~50m or better, but there are examples of it not working properly, so take the entire history into account and not single location fixes.

If you drive by a hotel while you are supposed to be somewhere else and your phone locates itself using the hotel WiFi, you were still at or near the hotel. WiFi signals by design do not travel very far, unless you specifically setup special directional antennas, which definitely do not come with Android phones.


Why does fingerprint sensor not work when phone is charging? I often face this issue. The fingeprint sensor does not work and sometimes the touch also misbehaves when phone is charging.

Why does this happen  and how to fix this?

I experienced this  issue with Mi Note 4, as well as Redmi 4A.

As requested by OP posting answer, in response to my comment (now deleted) based on my experience

  Having a clean power supply, using original charger + USB cable, setting up finger prints again are the common things that work...

I am not  sure as to why touch sensor  works only with original charger but posting as it may help, as it helped OP


Does applying an OTA update remove rooted apps? I rooted my HTC One X just to get FM and other AT&T blocked apps installed in /system/app directory. Now there is an OTA update and I'm sure it will unroot the phone. My question is will the FM app stay and work after the OTA? Thanks.

As eldarerathis already said in his comment, this very much depends on how the OTA is performed. First, some OTAs might even fail to execute, as rooting modified the /system partition and they check the CRC sum which then no longer matches (I had that with my HTC Wildfire/Buzz more than a year ago).

If they don't care about CRC, the answer still is "yes and no": Some OTAs are just "incremental" (replacing/adding single files); those wouldn't touch your root-apps, and root would be retained. However, full updates (and this includes most "version bumps", e.g. from Android 2.2 to 2.3 to 4.0) are completely "replacing" the /system partition; in this case root is gone along with all the other system apps.


path for echo binary location I am unable to find the "echo" binary in the /bin path (supposedly the path for storage of essential binaries) on Galaxy S2 on which I am working on. And yes, the "echo" command is perfectly working when I tried it on adb shell. I have also tried looking into sbin, xbin and other such directories.
Does somebody know where else I can find it?

Yepp, in the shell. echo is a built-in command, see Why is echo a shell built in command?, Wikipedia: Shell built-in, and The echo command. So you won't find any "echo binary", as it is contained in the sh command.


How to prove an Android device is hacked? Retrieving logs from recovery booting I'm having trouble with my new branded Vodafone Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

How can I get a copy to the full logs (and other files), without rooting, for places I do not have the required access? I can read the logs in recovery booting, but how can I transfer digital copies of these logs as text to for example my email?

I would try a good file explorer app for your device. The link in a good one for non-rooted devices and it's free. Also, you can remote access your file system on another device. I don't think it will be in real-time, but a way to monitor or link to someone that can help you with this.
I would also hook your device up to a computer if you have access and make sure you have all your settings right on your device (refer to this YouTube video). At the very least, copy the entire file system. Even if you cannot make heads or tales of it, someone can.
I would also download a system cleaner app (after copying the files) like SD Maid. Clean up your cache, history, passwords, etc. Then change all passwords. Run cleaner again. Re-hook up to the computer make another copy of everything save to compare later. Extreme, factory reset your device in recovery if you can. Re-setup your device the way you like it, even the exact same way through your Google account, and make another copy. Then make a copy every now and then to see to have on file.
Ideally, I would root your system for the benefits of having some third-party APKs.


no option to add an APN I brought a new phone recently (Blackview A60 Pro) and while calls and texts work fine, I can't access the internet. I spoke to my network provider (Talkmobile) who said that I need to add an APN.

However, for some reason, the option to add one is missing from my phone. There is no + sign and the 3 dots doesn't bring up an option to add an APN. The current APNs can't be edited as well. I've attached screenshots as well.

I downloaded myAPN but it didn't work on my phone and I'm not sure what else to do. Would really appreciate any help with this as I'm quite stuck and have tried everything.

.

Have had the same problem. Thought it was the Blackview (A80 Pro) but when tried a different network's sim it worked perfectly. The APN's should get populated when the network is selected. In my case TalkMobile it did not populate the APN's. Put an EE sim in and it worked instantly. Have ordered a new sim so we shall see.