Using "Bluetooth device with earphones" and headphone jack simultaneously I have Sony Xperia SL and have a bluetooth headset (SBH20). I can play music from SBH20 when I connect it but then if I connect another earpohone to my phone's 3.5 mm jack, the audio from bluetooth device gets disabled. Only one thing works at a time, either phone's 3.5 jack or bluetooth device. Is it possible if both works simultaneously so that output can come from 2 earphones at the same time.

I have tried doing the exact opposite thing (Forcing Audio to go through bluetooth instead of device speaker) so it definitifely is possible to play at least different audio through different streams (Media, Call, etc.) It set it inside of tasker to "Media" stream and it came out of my phone, so it might be possible to get it working. The app needs to support playing Audio through multiple streams. I don't know if there is an app for that that does split it up.

Sorry for posting it as a answer, my reputation isn't high enough yet to comment...


816G (indian dual sim) no rom installed, only cwm-recovery I searched for a solution to this problem since yesterday, but without any success so far.
My situation is the following:
I bought a HTC 816G (MT6592) with no rom installed. Only thing accessible is CWM recovery.
When I want to charge the phone, it shows a battery icon idicating that it's being charged and then reboots and shows it again. It does this over and over again with seemingly no progress in the charging process.
When I unplug it and try boot it normally, it shows a "Mi.com" icon, but then reboots again and again.
The only thing I can do is booting to recovery. Even though it does not seem to be charing, I can still operate the recovery mode without it being plugged in to a charger.
In the recovery it says "rua1 CWM v.5.5.0.4 for HTC Desire 816G d" at the top of the screen and "CWM automade 03.01.2016 01:12:51" at the bottom of the screen.
From there I tried installing roms which either failed to install or did not boot up properly after successful installation.
In the recovery menu under "advanced" and then "show log" it says:

ro.hardware=mt6592
ro.revision=0
ro.emmc=0
sys.usb.vid=0BB4
init.svc.recovery=running
sys.usb.config=mass_storage.adb
service.adb.root=1
init.svc.adbd=restarting
sys.usb.state=mass_storage.adb

I appreciate any advice, I just want to have this phone operational.
Many thanks in advance

I found the solution here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/desire-816/help/816g-indian-dual-sim-rom-installed-cwm-t3302234

Basically, the backcover needs to be removed and the battery needs to disconnected in order to prevent a bootloop when connected to the pc via usb cable.

Flash this rom (http://www.needrom.com/download/htc-desire-816g-dual-sim/) using the SP Flash Tool for mt6592 (for example this tutorial: http://bm-smartphone-reviews.blogspot.de/2014/05/mt6592-flashing-tutorial.html)

Good luck


Auto-sync killing battery all of a sudden on S3? I have had my S3 for a good long while, ever since they were new with Verizon. Almost immediately, I bought an extended battery and all was good. In the last week or so, the battery has begun discharging rapidly. 50% in a couple of hours. I had extra batteries, so I switched out thinking I had a bad one. Same deal.

Looking around, I read that killing the cache should fix it. Nope. Then someone suggested turning off auto-sync. That did it. Battery drain want back to normal. Why? Why all of a sudden? Then, the Gmail app doesn’t want to manually sync… Annoying. I was hoping to avoid a factory reset, but would that be my next course of action? I’m wondering if the Gmail app is bad. Definitely going to dump that and re-install.

Any thoughts?

I hava a Samsung S5. Before I charged my phone once per 24 or 48 hours and since a few days suddently the battery lasted only 4 to 8 hours. After several test I discovered the cause was a few corrupt images. I deleted the corrupt images and the problem was solved. I used this app to find the corrupt images.


How do I send this explicit intent from Tasker? This adb command from documentation causes a CAPTCHA to succeed in my favorite alarm clock app:

adb shell am start -n com.urbandroid.sleep/.alarmclock.AlarmAlertFullScreen --ez captcha_result_success true

I tested this command, and it has the expected result. However, I am having trouble achieving the same result from Tasker.

I use the "Send Intent" action with the following settings:

  Action -> blank
  Extra -> captcha_result_success:true
  Package -> com.urbandroid.sleep.alarmclock
  Class -> AlarmAlertFullScreen
  Target -> Activity

Unfortunately, this doesn't do the same thing as the adb command above. The CAPTCHA screen opens, but it doesn't get dismissed. I'm not sure what is wrong. The Tasker documentation says that the colon syntax is how extra boolean variables are passed.

I've tried a couple of variations, but nothing has given the same result as the adb command.

The adb command is documented here: http://sleep.urbandroid.org/cs/documentation/developer-api/captcha-api/

Here is how I fixed it.

Package -> com.urbandroid.sleep
Class -> com.urbandroid.sleep.alarmclock.AlarmAlertFullScreen

You must fully qualify the class and use the part of the package before the slash.


Tasker to programmatically uninstall apps I would like to setup a tasker profile to check every predetermined time for any apps not on my approved list (BaselineApps.txt) and uninstall them.
I am a noob to shell scripting and tasker.
This is what I got so far, it might not be the most efficient way to do it.

I run the following command via Termux Task plugin.

pm list packages >/storage/emulated/0/Apps.txt
diff --unchanged-line-format= --old-line-format= --new-line-format='%L' /storage/emulated/0/BaselineApps.txt /storage/emulated/0/Apps.txt | sed 's/^[^:]*://' >/storage/emulated/0/NewApps.txt

Read file NewApps.txt to variable %Apps
ArraySet %Apps value %Apps
For each %eachapp in %Apps()
Run Shell pm uninstall %eachapp
End for

For the most part it works, except it errors out sometimes. Can someone help me?

So I figured out my issue. I had upgraded to Android Nougat. Pm list packages is obsolete. The proper command is pm cmd package list packages.

Here is my setup:

    Diff
    A1: Run Shell [ Command:cmd package list packages Timeout (Seconds):0 Use Root:On Store Output In:%tempapps Store Errors In: Store Result In: ]
    A2: Write File [ File:Apps.txt Text:%tempapps Append:Off Add Newline:Off ]
    A3: Termux [ Configuration:Execute ~/.termux/tasker/DiffApps.txt  Timeout (Seconds):0 ]
    A4: Wait [ MS:250 Seconds:0 Minutes:0 Hours:0 Days:0 ]
    A5: Read File [ File:NewApps.txt To Var:%Apps ]
    A6: Array Set [ Variable Array:%Apps Values:%Apps Splitter: ]
    A7: For [ Variable:%eachapp Items:%Apps() ]
    A8: Flash [ Text:%eachapp Long:On ]
    A9: Run Shell [ Command:pm uninstall %eachapp Timeout (Seconds):0 Use Root:On Store Output In: Store Errors In: Store Result In: ]
    A10: End For
    A11: Variable Clear [ Name:apps* Pattern Matching:On Local Variables Only:Off ]


Nexus 5 full disk encryption stuck 12 hours in? I have loved my Nexus 5 since it was released with KitKat, and last evening I decided to enable full disk encryption, which I expected might take around an hour or so.  It's now about 12 hours in with no visible change.  All I see are the Marshmallow four animated dots.  I've never seen any progress display on encrypting the disk, and of course I'm trying to avoid rebooting the phone for fear that the disk will be a jumbled mess and I could either lose my data or even brick the phone.

What is the best course of action at this point, and possible consequences?

Could it be that your device is rooted? If yes, google a bit, there are some tutorials which could help.
In that case killing or deactivating SuperSU (or similar) could bring success.

Here is what sometimes seem to work (answer is from aikidork):

Install Busybox (I have Stericson version), RootExplorer file manager, a terminal Emulator (or enable USB debugging), and SuperSU (no promises about this working on other root managers!)
Set up a fingerprint lockscreen. Configure ALL your fingers you want to use ahead of time since this won't be configurable later!
Using Root Explorer, copy/backup the following files to external SD:

/data/system/locksettings.db ,

/data/system/locksettings.db-shm ,

/data/system/locksettings.db-wal
Kill all running apps.
Launch command prompt in ADB or Terminal Emulator.
Execute su so that your prompt changes from "$" to "#" (you are now root)
Kill the SuperSU daemon to temporarily disable root mode (lasts until reboot):

pkill -KILL daemonsu
Your root daemon will kick you out of privileged status during shutdown, changing "#" prompt back to "$" (root is temporarily disabled).
DO THIS STEP IMMEDIATELY without rebooting or launching more apps!
Go to the default security screen and select Encrypt Device. Set up
a password lock screen as required (8 digits with at least one
number). Plug in to power if not using ADB. Confirm the encryption
operation.
If everything is working well, you will see the encryption screen,
 a soft-reboot splash screen, and then a progress indicator counting
 up to 100%. If it moves beyond zero, congrats your encryption is
 working! Wait for this to finish.
Now, to restore the lock screen, unlock the phone and launch your
 Root Explorer again.
Restore the three files you backed up earlier to their exact
 locations, overwriting the replacement ones that the encryption
 setup created.
Wait for phone to lock (or reboot once more) and confirm that you
 can unlock the phone with fingerprint.

PS: I currently have the same problem but none of the mentioned solutions helped so far.

UPDATE: This seems to be a common issue when an app is still holding open files. However, there is no official way to determine which process is causing these issue so far and it is recommended to have a chat with the support.


Shortcut for .mp3 .jpg .docx files Is it possible to have a shortcut on home screen for  .mp3, .jpg, .docx etc  files . As I need to access few documents every now and then , for this I have to go through folders in my ext memory.

Yes. File Short cut App will help you to create short cut for files.

It is an app to create a shortcut to open the file.
You can choose any files such as images, videos, or PDF.
Note
- You need a separate application that corresponds to the format so you can open the file.
For example, PDF files can not be opened without PDF readers such as Adobe Reader.

Supports
mp3, mp4, jpg, png, gif, html, pdf, txt, doc, xls, ppt


Where are Chrome Settings Stored in Android 4.4.2 I am configuring a lot of devices and one thing we have to do is turn off Autofill in Chrome. Is there a way to drop a settings file in a folder that contains this setting or do we have to manually go in and turn it off through Chrome settings?

I'm sure this will require root access but is there a settings.xml file or something where this information is stored?

I finally rooted a device to determine the exact location. There is a Preference file located in the following directory.

/data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome/Default

This Preference file stores the settings. Unfortunately, you can't write to it without Root access.


How do I change the default phone number? The phone is a Galaxy S 2.2.  I set up the phone for my wife using my SIM card.  Now she is using the phone with her own SIM card, but the phone still displays my phone number in the system settings and sends SMS as my number.  There seems no way to remove this number.

We have edited the profile in contacts.
We factory reset the phone.
We have removed my number from contacts.

So far our first Android experience is very disturbing as too many aspects are blocked. There seems no way to remove the registered number in the phone system.

I constantly switch SIM cards between a few of my Android phones and have never seen this issue come up. As far as I am aware, the phone gets the information on the phone number from the SIM card directly.

A SIM card (short for Subscriber Identity Module) is what holds the information such as the phone number and the information to activate it on your providers network. You mention when she sends text that your number shows up. "Cloning" a phone number is not easily possible (if at all) so you definitely need to contact your service provider as they should be able to shed some light on what's going on with your SIM.

Not that this makes a difference, but if you remove the SIM, turn the phone on and go to your system settings and the number should be gone. This will show you that the phone gets the info from the SIM and not stored in the phone anywhere.

I'm sorry to hear that your first Android experience has not gone well, but I'm fairly confident that this is an issue with your SIM/Provider and not the phone itself.


how to arrange icons in TSF Shell? I'm using TSF Shell, which allows you to drag your application icons around in an overlapping manner. But how do I tell TSF Shell to automatically arrange my icons neatly in rows using a grid?

You can use the 'lasso' option for that. It works real cool.


How to install TWRP or root device I'm trying to install TWRP but it says (boot image with correct signature or disable verified boot)

My device is (Umidigi power)

Or root my device
I have try with this:

UniversalAndroot
Framaroot
Magisk Manager
Magisk v20
KingoRoot

Can someone help me with this?

Note 24/1-2020 17:31

step 1: adb reboot bootloader
step 2: fastboot flashing unlock
step 3: Volume Up

Follow the guide here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=79819558&postcount=8

SP_Flash_Tool for magisk_patched_boot.img in boot sector in SP_FLash_Tool

Install Magisk Manager V20.3 new version. and here we go. thanks for all imput :)

Follow these steps carefully (It's almost same for every android devices):

  Install ADB in your PC. Update the drivers of your device.
  Boot your phone into recovery mode. (Make sure you turned on USB Debugging and OEM from developer options).
  Open the ADB in your PC and check your phone is connected by USB or
  not. If it shows your phone in terminal then proceed further.
  Reboot into fastboot.
  Then unlock the bootloader (fastboot oem unlock).
  After unlocking the bootloader flash the TWRP recovery's img file (Be careful becuase TWRP recovery isn't same for every phone. You've
  to go tho their website and find your phone's. If it's not available
  in their website then don't worry you'll find it in unofficial
  websites).
  Now boot your phone into recovery mode. This will open TWRP recovery now.
  Now you should use ADB sideload method or use your phones internal or external memory to store magisk zip and flash it using TWRP.

You don't need to use KingoRoot to root. Magisk is an amazing tool to root any device.


App not loading content on WiFi I have a problem with an app not loading content on WiFi. If I switch to mobile data it works normally. I disabled battery optimization for it, set the WiFi network to be treated as unmetered but with no success. It works whenever it wants. I didn't disable any important system services or apps (chrome, wellbeing, files go, google, lens, moto help, moto notifications). I have a Motorola One. My last phone, LG G6 had no trouble with it, I am using the same router/network. It's misbehaving on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.

Firstly, check the performance of other devices on your same WiFi. Are you getting the intended speed on it? Might be an internet issue at its core.

Secondly, there might be other WiFi from your neighbors that "overlap" with your WiFi and causing the issue. Use an app like this and see which networks are the same channel.

Depending on how overlap, just change the WiFi channel in your router and see if it does the trick or not.


Galaxy Note 9 stutters on QHD resolution I notice that when I have my Note 9's camera resolution set to QHD, 60 fps (the highest), when the camera app comes up and I see the video on the screen, ready to record, there's about a 3 second pause (the entire screen freezes as if it's too much to handle), then the video resumes, and this happens every 6 seconds or so.  Every 6 seconds, the video would just pause for a few seconds like it's trying to catch up.  When I record using QHD, I notice the same behavior when playing the video back.  The video stammers, but the audio continues seamlessly.  When I switch to a lesser resolution, the problem mostly is resolved.  What can I do to fix this?

Please refer to this link: https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-note-9/help/note-9-camera-lag-freezing-t3834632/amp/

It seems that clearing G camera cache can help temporarily. It seems to be phone issue and I would suggest that you should raise this issue in Samsung forum or seek help from Samsung service center.

Quoted from the link above

  Dear trebills and others in this thread, This is Cole from Samsung Electronics’ North American offices. We would like to further discuss this issue with you. Would you be willing to provide your contact information in a private message so that one of our technical support agents can get more detailed information about your difficulty?

Thus best way would be to contact Samsung support. It seems they are also trying to debug the issue.


When I block somebody in Viber can he still see my online status? When I block somebody in Viber can he still see my online status? Or will he still receive "delivered" icon?

From VIBER themselves:

What happens when I block a contact?

When you block a contact, you prevent them from contacting you via one-on-one messages or calls to your mobile device on Viber. You also prevent them from adding you to a group conversation.

A few notes about blocking contacts:

You will not be able to send messages or make phone calls to contacts you have blocked.
Your profile information will be visible to the blocked contact if you were saved in their contact list before the block, but they will not see any changes made to that information. If you were not saved in their contact list at the time of the block, no profile information will be visible.
Your online status will not be visible to a blocked contact
Unblocking a contact will not restore messages or calls they sent while they were blocked.
Calls and push notifications from blocked contacts may still be received on Viber for tablets, Viber for Desktop and Viber for Windows 8.
Blocking a contact will not delete previous message and call history.
Blocking a contact will not prevent you from seeing messages they send in a group you are both participating in.
Blocking a contact will prevent this contact from adding you to a group chat.
Blocked users will see a "Sent" message status for the messages they send you.
The message status will never say "Delivered" or "Seen"


Queue up episodes in Play Movies & TV In Google's native "Play Movies & TV", the app that plays your movie and TV content purchased from the Play Store, is there any way to queue up something to play next, or an option when watching a TV series to have it automatically play the next episode?

Maybe I've been spoiled by the Netflix app, but I was playing a TV series I had downloaded for my son on the Chromecast through a Nexus 7 tablet, and I kept having to manually select an episode to play once one was finished.  Sort of annoying since each episode was only ~10 minutes long.

I couldn't find any option for what I want but maybe I am missing something?

Use the YouTube app. Within the YouTube app under your account you can find purchases. Within purchases are playlists of seasons of TV shows which you can queue up to play in a row.

Netflix still does it better as it checks on you occasionally so you don't binge every episode.


ABNT2 keyboard for Android x86 2.2 r2 sparta "distro" I'm using Oracle Virtual Box to emulate an Android-x86 device. I installed android-x86-2.2-r2-sparta.iso to a virtual HD. Then I changed config to put it in Portuguese (Brazil) language. It is ok until that point.

But in keyboard options there isn't ABNT2 keyboard layout, so some keys are missmatch the machine keyboard (e.g. "ç", "{", "}"...).

How can I solve that?

I would suggest looking at alternative input methods (keyboard apps) that specifically support Portuguese language.

I personally used AnySoftKeyboard, which does have a Portuguese language pack.  There are many other similar keyboard apps on the Market as well.  You might need to get them elsewhere though, since your build most likely doesn't have the Android Market access.


Fine-tune/calibrate system-wide tap vs swipe detection I've had to replace the screen and touch assembly on a device I have but now the new hardware is too noisy: most of my taps end up being recognized as swipes or flings, making for a very frustrating experience.

What can be done to fix this? An ideal solution would be to fine-tune the gesture detection logic to be less restrictive on what is considered a tap, interpreting fast short-distance flings as taps instead.

Any solution that involves root, xposed or recompiling the OS with suggested tweaks is welcome. The device in question runs LineageOS 15.1, based on Oreo.

There are many apps that target this specific issue available through the Play store, and many of them do not even require root access. The search term I would recommend that you use would be "screen calibration" or similar; due to the sheer volume of them, I won't suggest any in particular but I have tried multiple myself throughout the years (while exercising common sense, e.g., checking reviews prior to downloading) and they seem to do the trick perfectly. Some are targeted toward mobile repair technicians and come with multiple utilities and test functions (such as for other sensors and screen functions), I tend to find these more "trustworthy" in that the targeted consumers are able to leave more competent and detailed reviews.

Edit: @And0réCarini I know some of them do work, typically the type that has you tap a target within four quadrants of the screen, and it typically does not require root.  However, please note that 1) dependent on the cause, sensitivity might not be the issue or what needs to be adjusted, and 2) depending on your device model, there could be other variables at play (e.g., Samsung Note devices have two separate digitizers, one for the stylus and one for finger touches).

It may benefit you to first activate developer mode and enable the show screen touches option to see if there are any visual clues as to what's going on.  You can also access your device's diagnostics mode (aka, [advanced] test menu, example) to see if the touch test can help identify any further details.  And, if on the off-chance it is due to a faulty / damaged digitizer, as a temporary measure there are apps available that allow you to custom set boundary areas on your screen that will block touch inputs, which can mitigate unintended input behavior (assuming it's stemming from a contained localized area).

Finally, I was able to find this post (root required) in regards to a potential method to adjust your touch sensitivity, but please note this is specific to the Pixel 2 XL so YMMV.

On a separate note, it seems that the minimum distance for swipes to activate are determined by the application's code (see here and here); as the distance is predetermined, I would infer another possibility aside from a sensitivity issue may be a multi-touch issue causing a false swipe input to be registered; my above suggestions may help confirm or eliminate that possibility.


How can I set the correct SELinux / SEAndroid policy for an App? I am using the free SSHelper SSH server on my phone to get SSH access. However, the application is not behaving correctly under SELinux when set to Enforcing mode, but seem to be OK when using Permissive mode. This is not surprising as it was developed under CyanogenMod, making the author unaware of these issues for later SELinux Enforcing stock AOS's.

The problem occurs when the App is trying to allocate a /dev/pts/N pseudo-terminal, during SSH connection. This fails and the resulting shell is essentially useless for development. After having spent considerable time trying to track down this problem as documented HERE. Where I found the following "errors" in the /data/misc/audit/audit.log file:

audit(1401291488.480:203): avc:  denied  { setattr } for  pid=11441 comm="sshelper_sshd" name="0" dev="devpts" ino=3 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:untrusted_app_devpts:s0 tclass=chr_file VE=SEPF_GT-I9195_4.2.2_0022_M
audit(1401291488.480:203): arch=40000028 syscall=15 per=840000 success=no exit=-13 a0=beffd438 a1=190 a2=27da a3=c0000000 items=1 ppid=8499 pid=11441 auid=4294967295 uid=10202 gid=10202 euid=10202 suid=10202 fsuid=10202 egid=10202 sgid=10202 fsgid=10202 tty=(none) ses=4294967295 comm="sshelper_sshd" exe="/data/data/com.arachnoid.sshelper/bin/sshelper_sshd" subj=u:r:untrusted_app:s0 key=(null)
audit(1401291488.480:203):  cwd="/"
audit(1401291488.480:203): item=0 name="/dev/pts/0" inode=3 dev=00:09 mode=020600 ouid=10202 ogid=10202 rdev=88:00 obj=u:object_r:untrusted_app_devpts:s0

However, since I have no previous experience in SELinux and its mysterious protection mechanisms, and could really use some help. I don't even know if this is the real issue, just guessing. Checking the permissions of the above file gives:

# ls -alZ /data/data/com.arachnoid.sshelper/bin/sshelper_sshd
-rwxr-xr-x u0_a202  u0_a202           u:object_r:app_data_file:s0 sshelper_sshd

But this context doesn't seem to correspond at all to what was shown in the log.

How can I fix these permissions to play well with SELinux when in Enforcing mode?

(Also, what tools and file are available in Android to fix this?)

I think the problem could be the default "unconfined domain" the binary gets executed when no policy is specified.
An attempt I'd try would be to move the sshelper_sshd (I think it's the sshd server?) somewhere on the /system partition (/system/sbin/?)
I think the best and updated document to read to deal with SELinux implementation on Android (SEAndroid) is How-To SU.
Here an extract from Chapter 5.4.4. Android 4.4.3

A good example of the unconfined domain not being all-mighty, is executing files from /data. Starting Android 4.4.3, this will no longer be possible from the unconfined domain (see #74082 and #78801).
The established practise of including binaries and scripts in your APK, extracting them to /data/data/[package]/files/ or placing them in /data/data/[package]/lib/ and executing them from there through a su call will no longer work out-of-the-box. While there are other work-arounds possible (like copying to and executing from rootfs), one solution is switching contexts to a context not in the unconfined domain (like u:r:untrusted_app:s0, the context the rest of your app is likely to run as). You will need to do extensive testing to see if all the calls you want to make still run in the context you choose, though, and you may have to try some different ones to get the capabilities you want.
Note that executing files in /data will still work as expected from your app if you are not trying to run it as root.


Unable to download/ install font apk I made a font, but I didn't build it, instead I used this website to do it. The apk install seemed fine. I wanted to try it out on SG2, so I sent it to my Gmail account in an email, I tried to download it and the file install couldn't go through because of the parse error pop up. If its an apk file, why isn't this working? Is there something wrong with the font? (Lookout scanned and said it was a safe apk).

I even put it on my 4shared account and tried to download it that way, still get parse error. Did Gmail corrupt it perhaps?

The web app hasn't built a correct APK.

To install a font, you don't need font-to-apk converters. Just put ttf file on sdcard and use a Font Installer from Play Store. For this, rooted device is required. If you aren't rooted, font-to-apk converters are useless.


Undo or reverse YouTube update on my Samsung Galaxy S4 I recently updated YouTube on my Galaxy S4 and I don't like the changes. Can I undo the update or return my android to a couple of days ago? Or do I have to live with it as it is? Thanks for your suggestions. BTW, please give me directions step by step. I'm technologically illiterate.

If it's a system app, you should be able to uninstall updates by long pressing the icon, dragging it to "App Info", tapping the overflow menu at the top right, and tap the "uninstall updates option"

Next, go to settings>security>unknown sources and check the box.

Finally, go to APK Mirror, search for YouTube, and download the 2nd most recent apk (choose ARM Varient) and open it.

Enjoy the older YouTube version.


Setting the default app When two applications are competing for the same task, how do you turn one to be the default?

For example I downloaded a Snap camera app and I'd like the stock camera app to be the default.

What do we do to set the default apps for the different tasks on the system?

Are there centralized settings on Android?

what do we do too set the default apps for the applications running on the system?

I assume you meant to ask how to set default apps for certain actions/tasks, such as taking a picture, writing an email, opening a web page etc.

The answer really depends on which version of the Android OS your device is running, and also to a lesser extent, who the manufacturer of the device is.

If you consider a Google Nexus device running the latest version of stock Android (4.4 KitKat), the OS presents you with a picker dialog to select which app you would like to launch to complete the task. In the screenshot below, I attempted to launch a camera to take a picture:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

You can select one of the options and then select "Always" or "Just once". As the buttons indicate, your selection will either persist for future tasks or you'll see this picker-dialog every time.

If this list changes because you uninstalled the app that you had marked as "Always" or if you installed new apps that can handle the same task, this dialog will be presented again.

Certain device manufacturers (or OEMs) may choose to modify this behavior as part of their "skinning/customization" of Android. HTC famously changed this behavior for some of their devices (for a slightly technical explanation of their change, read here). You can also see how this dialog picker has changed historically here.

  what do we do too set the default apps for the applications running on the system?

You need to perform an action that multiple apps on your device are capable of handling so that the above dialog presents itself. It's hard to know when this dialog will present itself since apps and their capabilities change all the time. For example, if you installed a new camera app, you can make it the "Default" camera app by trying to launch the camera from elsewhere in the system or other apps (like hitting a button that says "take a picture").

  is there a centralized settings on Android?

Short answer: No (but as of Android 4.4, you can set a default "Homescreen" app from the Device Settings-> Home. Note that you will only see this option if you have multiple Homescreen apps)

However, if you did set an app as the default handles for certain tasks, and you wish you no longer keep it the default, you can navigate to it's "App Info" page (Device Settings->Apps->pick your app) and hit the "Clear Defaults" button.


My space used and free space doesn't add up See pic - the numbers don't add up!

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

This is a 16GB Nexus 7
The listed items only add up to a little over 9GB. So 4GB worth of files are missing.

How can I find those missing files?

If the displayed detailed would be complete, you'd be correct: 1.28G + 7.28G + 200K + 282M + 762M = 9.6 GB total space -- while the summary says 13.24G. Explanation is easy: The details list is not complete. It e.g. misses Cache, temporary files, log files, tombstones, and probably some more.

Where to find those? In the file system, and for completeness this requires root. For some more details, please take a look at corresponding questions by following the tags internal-memory and storage. A good source to start with is the question Something is secretly eating up my tablet memory and I need help finding it.


Do we have to pay to install custom rom? So I want to root my Android and I was wondering: Do we have to pay for installing a custom rom or is it free?

In general, Custom ROMs are FREE. To date, I am not aware of any custom ROM that is paid (at least for the custom ROMs I have used for my Samsung Galaxy S2, S4 and Nexus 7). However, you can donate to the developers if you wish.

Rooting and installing the custom ROM yourself is free, assuming you accept all the risks, which includes bricking (or destroying) your phone.

If you are not confident enough to perform the rooting and installation of a custom ROM, you can ask an experienced person to do it for you. Of course, they may or may not request for payment.


Resolving Credential storage issue On Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 SMP600 when I try to to add a VPN I'm prompted for credential storage password. I have tried all the other solutions on SO and none of them worked. I have PIN code on the lock screen as well and I cannot clear the password as the option to do so is greyed out.

I talked to Samsung and they eventually told me I had to factory reset of the tablet! I want to know how to fix this once and for all. My device is rooted running stock ROM Kitkat 4.4.2.

This is a non-conventional solution (which might/might-not work for everyone) but can be helpful to others having the same issue.
Answer gathered from androidforum and google product forum
What we are trying to achieve is to Set-up a pin and fail to enter it deliberately to access recovery using  gmail address and entering the VPN settings directly after google sign-in.

Steps to achieve this:

Add a pattern lock and other information that goes with setting up a pattern-lock recovery.
Reboot phone and when the screen presents itself asking for lock pattern enter 5 failed attempts.
When theprompts says to wait 30 seconds, press OK and find the recovery button where you enter google account info.
After signing-in go straight to VPN settings and enter a new pattern-lock/pin.

If the above mentioned steps does not solve your issue go ahead with the alternative method.
Alternatively you can make use of 3rd party app called QuickShortcutMaker and follow the steps as mentioned here


How to fix “Unfortunately Contacts Has Stopped” or Very slow contact loading I have Huawei Honor 3c. Android v4.4. When I open my contacts list I get the Headers but no content. It may take 4-10 minutes before this refreshes. Once I get the list selecting an individual contact repeats the delay. In some cases once I get the contact selecting "dial" repeats the process yet again.And many times i'm getting the error Unfortunately Contacts has stopped working

I've been selectively uninstalling apps to see if one of these has caused the problem. Previously when I had this issue the only advice huawei could give me was to reset my phone to factory defaults. This worked but then the pain returns once system updates occur and apps are installed. Any suggestions? Are there any tools available the show CPU and/or memory utilization so I can see who the hogs are? This might give me a better indication of which processes are sucking up all the resources.

This is very likely to be caused by a bug in an update, but check with other people who have the same phone to be sure. Assuming you want to keep your system updated, I suggest you move to another contacts app like Contacts+, which offer more options than the stock contacts app.
You might use CleanMaster to see which apps are causing the phone to go slow.
Meanwhile, I would suggest contacting Huawei (if you haven't done so already) so they will fix this issue in a later update.


Which version of clockwork recovery creates backups as a tar files? I have used several versions of CWM recovery on my Motorola Droid 2.
One of them was able to back up into a .tar (cache.ext3.tar, data.ext3.tar nandroid.md5, recovery.img, system.ext3.tar) as opposed to the .img files that I am getting now.

Now I can't seem to find that version anymore; can someone tell me which version was able to do that?

(Currently running v5.0.2.0 from http://www.clockworkmod.com/rommanager)

There is no incompatibility for backups/restores between CWM versions 2.x, 3.x and 4.x. Both the filenames and the contents of the backup files will be the same.

With the CWM version 5.x:

It can read and restore the backup files created by all the older versions of CWM.
If you create a backup with 5.x, an try to restore it in one of the older CWM versions, two issues come up:

File formats:

The contents of /data and /sdcard/.android_secure are now in tar files instead of the old yaffs2 image files.
Filenames:

The backup filenames have changed from partition_name.img to partition_name.fstype.ext.

To answer your question:

Since you have files like the partition_name.fstype.ext, they refer to a backup from the CWM version 5.x.

e.g., your file system.ext3.tar is from the partition system, using file system ext3 and backed up within a .tar file.


Can I adjust a car radio volume by Bluetooth? I have a Bluetooth radio on my car but the volume wheel is broken. I am wondering if there's a way to make my Android act as a remote control for the radio, allowing me to increase its volume. I don't want to play music from my phone, only control its volume.

It depends. Usualy when you would pair a device to you car audio player, the player would only want the files on it. But that depends on the player and what type of connection it makes with it's paired devices. So basicaly I think you will have to try and see if it works.


Will flashing a custom fix lag on my Android? I have a 1 GB RAM tablet running a pretty much vanilla Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 and it's been running very slow. Apps startup time have been slow, noticeable lag exists while scrolling between the home screens, and apps crash sometimes. Browsing on the Internet has scroll lag and I have many more problems. I know that 1GB of RAM is more than enough to run Jelly Bean smoothly without any lag. How will rooting my device or flashing any custom ROMs help? I am new to the Android world, any suggestions are welcome, thanks.

Im not sure about the hardware of your tablet ,so might not be that powerful .That could be the reason for the lag
About rooting and custom roms they are not assured to remove lag  ,some roms might help while some may be even slower, it depends on the rom You use .But that said generally custom roms are made to be lightweight ,fast and fluid.


How do I root Android Lollipop developer preview? How can I best root the new Android Lollipop developer preview? Chainfire's original SuperSU binaries don't seem to work:

(Click image to enlarge)

  There is no SU binary installed, and SuperSU cannot install it. This is a problem!

  If you just upgraded to Android 4.3, you need to manually re-root - consult the relevant forums for your device!

Right now the only officially supported devices for the developer preview are the Nexus 5 & Nexus 7 (2013).

Chainfire has issued updated SuperSU binaries that allow rooting, but the recently updated developer previews seem to have broken this, resulting in the SuperSU binaries not being recognised.

Fortunately, Chainfire has responded with a quick fix: flashing a custom android kernel.

Simply flash the modified kernel in fastboot then the SuperSU binaries zip and your device should be rooted.

EDIT: Some users have reported issues with the kernel Chainfire provided. Try flashing this one instead.


Is it possible to disable Google Play indefinitely? I have an HTC Desire. This phone sadly has very limited internal memory although plenty of memory card memory. Since owning it I've become accustomed to moving any apps I download onto the SD card and using the internal memory as little as possible. Unfortunately some applications insist on being installed in the internal memory. Some of these applications (Adobe Acrobat and Google Maps for example) have become larger and larger as more updates have come from Google and I've had to uninstall all updates for them, settling for the basic versions which came with the phone and cannot be uninstalled. (In the two cases listed these versions are far leaner and better anyway).

Unfortunately Google is working against me in my crusade to continue using my phone. A year or so ago they forcibly upgraded the simple Market app (which took up very little space) with the 10Mb "Google Play Store". I had sufficient space for this until they also forcibly installed "Google Play Services" which uses a further 6Mb. This now causes my phone to be unusable every morning (low disk space) when the update happens and every morning I uninstall it again before I go to work.

Does anyone know if it's possible to disable the updates for Google's own market place? The old Market app does still work very well once you've uninstalled Google Play but I can't find a way to make that permanent.

With ICS and up (i.e. Android 4.0+), or if you consider rooting your device, there is something else you could do:

Freeze the MarketUpdater using Androids Manage Applications (ICS and up) -- or, before ICS, e.g. TitaniumBackup
optionally uninstall all updates to the Playstore app

Alternatively, maybe even better (depending on the version of Market/Playstore app pre-installed on your device) -- but requires root (as the Legacy Play Store needs to be installed as system app):

Freeze the MarketUpdater as above
Freeze the Playstore app along =:-0
Install Legacy Play Store instead :-)

No more updates (as that Legacy Play Store won't be updated -- it's an older version of the Playstore/Market app, patched to be used in parallel to the recent version; it has some features which were removed from the current versions), and a less-overloaded Playstore app are the results.


Find My Device says "can't reach device", but I can make it ring I'm having a bizarre issue with the Android Device Manager. Basically when I try to look up my Nexus 9 tablet, I cannot see its location, and it looks like this:

As you can see, it somehow does display the charge level and the name of the WiFi network it's connected to. More importantly, when I click the play sound button, it immediately starts ringing.

So this is clearly not true. How can I fix this and make it so that I can track my tablet's location again?

Managed to figure it out. Apparently this happens when location services are turned on, but fail to produce a location.

In my case, the tablet's location mode was set to GPS only, but the GPS sensors are busted and don't work. Switching to battery saving mode in Settings → Location solved this issue.


Asus zenfone 6 E:failed to mount/ cache Phone stucks on boot loading.

wipe data/factory reset  gives
E:failed to mount/ cache error

wipe cache partition
also fails.

abd sideload also give
E:failed to mount/ cache
Can't open vs..

Many same post suggest TWRP but i don't have it. Did not understand how to install it on a phone can't open.

Many more says EMMC chip is dead. I hope it is not. I know it is very likely but i want to try other options first if i can.

I think EMMC chip is dead. only fastboot commands working.

Sometimes you need to accept inevitable.


Display contacts birthdays on stock Samsung calendar app I'm using a SM-G920V Galaxy S6 with Android version 6.0.1.  When I open the calendar app that comes with the phone, tap "More" in the upper right corner and then "Manage Calendars", there's an option to turn "Contact's birthdays" on and off.  To me, that would indicate that it has the capability to display your contact's birthdays on the calendar app.  However, I've got it set to "On" and only a few of my contact's birthdays are showing up.

Can anyone tell me how to get all my contact's birthdays to show up?

You probably figured it out by now, but the calendar of birthdays only syncs with the Samsung account.

The fastest way to link a different account to the Samsung account I could find without re adding contacts was by adding a relationship to the contacts you want to set up.

I did this by going to my  Contacts app, clicking on my own profile, and under the relationships section adding a relationship. I did it with my family members and they started showing up right away.


40GB of thumbnails in a 16GB device I just found that my /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails folder grew to more than 40GB. Two .thumbdata3 files each large 20GB.

My Galaxy S3 has only 16GB of internal storage. These files prevent me from backing up my sdcard to SFTP.

I think I can safely delete these files, but where do they come from? And how to check if there are any strange ghosts left?

The problem was ultimately fixed by ignoring the whole /sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails directory in the synchronization.

Deleting the sparse thumbnails was useless as they will grow again but are basically waste. Another interesting point should be telling FolderSync not to sync hidden directories (all caches are hidden) but that will not save directories such as Boldbeast Recorder's .BBRec folder or, in general, any data folder incorrectly marked hidden by the creator app.


Make phone running Android 2.3.3 re-download configuration settings from ISP When I first inserted my SIM into my phone, it prompted to download configuration settings for things such as Data, MMS etc... It worked fine for about a year but I have started having problems such as:

After putting phone on flight mode and off, switch data on and off etc..., after scanning for and meddling with Mobile Networks, I managed to make it temporarily work with 2G, but then it automatically switched to 3G, even when having Manual Network Selection on. I also realized that a prefix has now appeared before the original network name.

Is there anyway to re-download these files (preferably the newest versions) without having to fully format my Android? I really appreciate any help ASAP as I am a little stuck without a constant connection.

Thanks.

PS: My provider is SRI Etisalat.

According to this page you can obtain your provider settings by sending an SMS with just the word "Five" to 2211. Most providers have a number you can send text messages to in order to receive the settings again.

If that fails, you can try to manually configure your access point to use the following data (taken from this page):
Navigate to Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks > Access point names, then press the menu button and select "New APN". Then enter:

Name:      Etisalat
APN:       wap
Proxy:     *not set*
Port:      *not set*
Username:  *not set*
Password:  *not set*
Server:    *not set*
MMSC:      *not set*
MMS Proxy: *not set*
MMS Port:  *not set*
MCC:       413
MNC:       03
Authentication type: None
APN type:  default,supl
APN protocol: IPv4

Then press the menu button and select save.

If that doesn't work either, you can find a lot of alternate configurations on this page.


How can I answer a call using the HOME button in CyanogenMod 9? Just flashed CyanogenMod 9 RC2 on my Galaxy S2.

While I appreciate the enhanced customization and loads of options as well as the removal of some bundled Samsung bloatware apps, I do miss certain functionality - the ability to answer a call by pressing the physical HOME button.

Is there any way this functionality can be added via some setting that I've missed or via some 3rd party app?

Go to Settings > Accessibility > Answer calls with home button.


Reacting to Bluetooth Disconnection I have a problem where disconnecting from various bluetooth devices switches my phone into Silent Mode. This is causing me to miss important calls and messages. There are quite a few different devices that I connect to and disconnect from throughout the day (car, headphones, bluetooth adapter connected to stereo, etc.)

It's being suggested to me that Tasker might be a solution to this issue. But I don't see that Tasker can be set up to listen for bluetooth disconnection events. Can anyone help me with this?

Basic goal is to listen for any bluetooth disconnection event. When such an event fires, I want to switch the Sound Mode to 'Sound'. Can this be done?

I'm using Android 7.0 on a Galaxy S7.

You can use Tasker to accomplish this, but since we need a bluetooth disconnect as event instead of state we need to create a dummy entry
task then move the actual task to exit so that it corresponds with bluetooth disconnect event.

Profile Context

Go to Profiles Tab and click the "+"
Event ➡ State ➡ Net ➡ [BT Connected (Name: name of BT device, Address:Input MAC address of BT device)] For multiple devices don't input anything in these fields
Tap back to exit from this window

If using BT name seems not to be working try using the MAC address of BT device instead.

Entry Task

You will notice as soon exit, you will be prompted to link this to a Task
 Here we just create a Task wait action as dummy

Scroll all the way up the Task list select "New Task + "
You can just keep it anonymous or give it a name
Click "+" to add new Action
Task ➡ Wait  ➡ 4 seconds
Tap back all the way until you exit this task

Exit Task

Create a new Task (name it anything)
Click "+" to add new Action
Audio ➡ Silent mode: Set Off
Tap back to exit from this task

Once you're done, Tasker should now automatically turn off Silent mode upon disconnection (exit) from your selected Bluetooth devices.


SDcard in lollipop still readonly using EZPDF I finally got my lollipop upgrade. Seemed fine but I have still issues with EZPDF. Let me explain.

I just upgraded from kitkat and therefore, I cannot write to the SD card as we all know. After the upgrade, two of my apps "File Expert" and "MX Player Pro" asked me to grant access to the SD card. I did and both work fine.

The issue is with EZPDF. I cannot find any way to grant the same permission in order to be allowed to write an annotated PDF into the SD card. The file list still marks the SD files as "Read only".

Any hint?

I really appreciate any advise with this.

Although the new Lollipop update allows apps to write to SD Card, it requires the user to grant the apps access, like you've stated above.

For apps to gain access they have to call the new API introduce in the   lollipop which allows user to grant app permissions.For the apps to call this API, the devloper of the apps have to write code into their app to do this.

As I was saying above, the devloper needs to write some code to do this, for which the particular app you want to grant the access SD Card does not have.

I am sure that their are ways to forceable do this, of which I don't know of, that would probably require root, phone modification and technical know how to do.


Changing default stoarage I am a lenovo k3 note user.i was initially using android lollipop.Now i updated my phone to  android 6.0 marshmallow.Earlier in lollipop ,i was able to change my default storage in to SD card.But in marshmallow that option is not available.what should i do ??

Marshamallow SDcards is Adoptable as an internal storage

Android has had limited support for removable storage in one form or another since the beginning. With Marshmallow, the new Adoptable storage feature lets you turn your removable SD card option into a more or less permanent (and no longer removable) part of the device.

The whole thing is simple, really, and most of the confusion surrounding Adoptable storage is easy to clear up. There are a few things to keep in mind so you understand how it works and what it's doing.

If you want to read more, visit Android  Central


Application backup/restore - for saving resources I was thinking I could completely backup apps to the SD card, and then restore them when needed.  This for saving system resources.

Is there some efficient way to do this?

There are numerous options available to you:

Titanium Backup
For ICS upwards, Settings > Backup & Reset > Backup my data/Backup account
For GB, Settings > Privacy Settings > Backup my data
Last but not least, adb backup

In that order of "user-friendliness", from a android application that requires rooted access, in reference to Titanium Backup, to the least, using the command line adb backup.


Insufficient Storage with new sd card I have a ZTE N817 and I bought a 16GB sd card for it and when I try to download something, all it says is that there is "insufficient storage on device". What should I do to get my phone to register that I have am sd card full of untouched storage?

That is because your device downloads data in your device internal memory by default and you don't have sufficient space on your device internal memory  .
In this case you can transfer some data  to your sd card such as media files or change download location to sd card.


Google Play says "You don't have any devices" I tried factory resetting so I need to enter my Google account again to my device however it's been more than an hour now and Google Play still says "You don't have any devices". Any ideas how to fix this?

Try following (Worked in my case)

Remove Google account from settings
Clear data of play-store and Google services framework
Restart phone Now access play store again.


S note are disabled in Galaxy note 2 i have galaxy note 2(GT-N7100) with  Android 4.4.2(updated)
S note program is good for taking notes
but when I remove the S Pen this program is not running
also I can not find program in Menu
i go to application   manager but see that program is disabled and can't run it again

how can i re-enable it

you said :

  when I remove the S Pen, this program is not running.

Download the Latest Version Of S-Pen And S-Note, then install.And check results.!

or you can try factory Reset.


Is there a way to get a disk image of the user storage space on modern Android devices? I want to know if it's possible to get a "disk image" of the storage space on Android devices when they don't use external storage like SD cards.

I'm mostly interested because my kids factory reset my Kindle Fire HDX and I was hoping I could get a disk image (using something like dd in Linux) and then try to recover some of the user data like photos and videos (using something like PhotoRec, http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec).  I've done this lots of times with SD cards and hard disks by simply mounting the storage device in a desktop running Debian, and executing something like:

# dd if=/dev/sdb1 of=image.iso

Then you can use PhotoRec and/or TestDisk, depending on what you want, to get useful stuff out of the image file.

Even some of my very old Android devices seem to allow mounting a storage device in this way (without removing SD card from the phone) and following this process.  Unfortunately, it looks like many new devices that don't have removable storage (like my Kindle Fire HDX and my Nexus 5) only allow you to interface with a computer using Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) and Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP).

Can I use these protocols to get a bit-by-bit copy of the storage in the device?  Is there a way to add the older storage device capabilities to new phones?

After doing some more research, I think I've found a partial solution here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2450045

First, you need to get ADB set up on your computer.
In Linux it's pretty easy.  Something like running
# apt-get install android-tools-adb
or downloading and extracting a directory.
Find your partitions.
Run something like:
adb shell
cat /proc/partitions
There are other options in the link for how to find and identify all the partitions.
Copy the data
The dd tool should be available.  You can run something like
dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p9 of=/sdcard/image.img

Unfortunately, I have two problems with this. The first is that the permissions on partition devices might require root access. The second is that the Kindle Fire HDX and many other modern devices that don't have "USB Mass Storage" also don't use SD cards. So there is no easy location to write the image you want that isn't already used for something else on the device.

I'm trying to find a way to mount network devices or transfer data over USB between the device and computer (adb push and adb pull won't do what's needed as far as I can tell). I'll update this if I can find a good solution. Otherwise I'll ask some other questions about it.

Edit: This page has a great description along the lines of what I have above: http://www.df.lth.se/~jokke/androidfilerecovery/

As noted below, root is necessary, but there are usually lots of ways to get that easily. Unfortunately, I was working with the Fire HDX 8.9. Halfway through my copying data to an image file, the thing auto downloads an update to 4.1.1. Next thing I know, root access disappears and I don't think there's an exploit out for it yet. I probably lost any recoverable data after the update was written to the internal storage anyway. I'm so frustrated with Amazon lately...


System UI Tuner not enabling How do I enable System UI Tuner on my Lenovo Vibe K4 Note.
It is not enabling on long press of quick settings button in the notification panel.

if you are on marshmallow long press the "GEAR" icon for 5 seconds

(you should see a prompt that says ui tuner enabled)

then go to settings and you should see the ui tuner in the settings.

Link with tutorial here http://gadgetguideonline.com/android/android-marshmallow-guide/how-to-use-system-ui-tuner-in-android-marshmallow/


How do I know when updates are available for my phone? I've got an Optimus T, and being new to the world of Android, I'm confused as to how I'm supposed to update my operating system.

The phone is carrier locked to T Mobile. Does this mean that I can only get updates from them? Can I tell the phone to look on another server? How can I tell if I have the latest build of Android that's available for my device?

To check for phone updates, go into Applications > Settings > About Phone and tap System updates or check for updates. However, if a new update comes out, then you should get a notification informing you so and giving you update instructions. If you root your phone, then you could install unofficial updates that are not from T-Mobile. There are instructions at http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-mobile-optimus-t/43138-how-root-lg-optimus-t.html if you want to do so.


Apps take up space but do not show up on app list I'm developing applications using Icenium (new IDE for hybrid app development), I have been testing all day without any problems, deleting the apps from phone, rebuilding the apps, etc.

At some point during the night, my apps stopped being displayed on my phone when I compile them, the apps take up space but don't actually show up anywhere on my phone.

Things I tried:

Reboot
App Cache Cleaner (app)
Fast Reboot (app)

I only managed to free up a couple of MB though (right now I have 15MB out of 153MB free - even though I have very little apps installed!!).

What can I do to delete these application files and hopefully being able tor rebuild my apps again?

EDIT:
Also, when I try to move apps from SD card to phone - I get the "Not enough storage space" error, even though it should supposedly fit (app is smaller than 15MB).

Install Titanium Backup.  Hit menu key on device.  Under storage option click clean dalvik.  Might not free up much, but maybe a little


Why Android says that I am using a lot of storage in pictures and videos? If I see the Internal Storage, it says that I am using 4.7 GB in "Pictures, videos". However, when I do click in it, I see the gallery, where in total I am using 93.98 MB!!

How is this possible? What is wrong? How to fix it and get more free space?

My phone is a HUAWEI P6-U06 with Android 4.2.2

Maybe the pictures and videos are hidden from the gallery.

Install "Total Commander" or another app to search on entire disk for files *.jpg, *.avi, *.mp4, etc.

Ensure you delete WhatsApp photos and videos.


Google Play Services and Play Store crashing I have very little internal memory (user memory 150mb), so after the auto update of Play Service and the Play Store, I took a back up (using ES File Explorer). I have root access, so I pasted those back ups in the /system/app folder. After that I restarted my phone, and that's when the problem started. The Play Store opens but can't see a thing, and Play Services crashes every time.

What I have done:

I installed 3 version of the Play Store. No positive result.
Installed the latest version of Play Services. No positive result.
Searched many blogs. They say it might happen as not com.android.gapps, but I can see the service running. However, after installing Play Services, both Play Services and gapps are crashing.

What can I do?

Ouch...

So, I'm unclear on what exactly you meant by "took a backup"...

This sounds like a Google Play Services mismatch - either mismatched with the Android version you're running or different app versions installed.

I'm gonna need more info to troubleshoot it, but just a couple shots in the dark here:

Play Service and Store don't like being messed around with. Just, in general. That's why they're usually installed via a recovery zip file.
If you moved the latest version of Play Store (vending.apk) and Play Services (gms.apk) from userspace to /system/app, that's most likely what caused this.
Hopefully, you backed up the versions in /system/app. The Play apps usually rely on library files (.so files), which are sometimes updated in userspace. You're probably getting a mismatch between those.

If you backed up the previous copies, recovering from this is simple. Just restore the backups. If you didn't, this may be more difficult. What device are you on? Also, what Android version, and are you running stock or a custom ROM? (if you don't know the answer, you're probably on stock)


How to access manually to google sync? I wanna know how can I access my data on google sync. I mean my synced contact, calendar, note data, picasa, people details, chrome bookmarks etc.
please help me with this issue!

Once you have added your Google Account to your phone, do this:

Open your device's Settings app .
Tap Users & accounts. If you have more than one account on your device, also tap the one you want (if you don't have an account, you can add one tapping +).
Tap Account sync.
Tap More -> Sync now.


How do you open an embedded hyperlink in a PDF on an Android device? I have PDFs with hyperlinks (linking to other pages in the document as well as external websites) and would like to be able to use the links provided.  The Adobe Reader app and other apps I've tried (VuDroid, droidreader, android PDF reader) don't have this functionality.  I did find ezPDF which should work, but it is not free (only 99 cents).  I am looking for a way to do this for free because this is for an app I am writing that will need to display a PDF.  It will be much more appealing to the client - though still not perfect - if their users only have to download a free PDF reader, for example, to use with my app rather than requiring them to purchase a PDF reading app (even if it is only 99 cents).

Adobe Reader can follow hyperlinks in PDF documents.

The problem (currently, 2014-09-17) is that the default application associated with PDF documents is Quickoffice, and Quickoffice doesn't have this implemented.
Installing Adobe Reader allows you to choose (and optionally remember your choice) what app to use.


Nexus 7 doesn't have sdcard folder when connected to PC I've just bought a Nexus 7. When I plugged it into my laptop, it shows the media folder, I'd like to access the sdcard folder just like the other devices. How to transfer files?

I think "adb push" is not a good choice.

Nexus 7 doesn't support UMS (USB Mass Storage) out of box. But, it supports file transfer by MTP (Media Transfer Protocol). MTP allows you to push and pull any type of files from sdcard, but it doesn't allow you to edit files directly on sdcard (like you do with UMS mode).

From your screenshot, it looks like your Nexus 7 is connected with PTP (Photo Transfer Protocol), also known as Camera Mode. Switch to MTP mode and do whatever you want. Also make sure your PC OS supports MTP.


Is there a way to disable telephone control (answer call, call) from bluetooth headphones? Is there a way to disable telephone control (answer call, call) from bluetooth headphones? I just want to listen to music.

Go to Setting - Bluetooth and find your headphone device in the list and press the settings gear next to it. Uncheck Phone Audio or similar entries related to phone/telephone (may vary by Android version or OEM).


Can my Android phone detect when it is in the shade? Is there any way I can get my Android phone to tell me when I am in the shade? These days the sun is pretty damaging for my skin and was curious about how I could measure this.

Maybe if I put it in a transparent pocket somehow?

Yes, You can do this with your phones' Light sensor(usually located above the screen). It measures the light falls on your phone.
There are some apps in the play store which  provide data about the light falls on you phone and you can  save it.

Such an app is Lux meter.And there are plenty of apps to do this. Search for similar apps in Play store.


How do I set up Google Voice as the provider for an unactivated phone? I've got this Droid X, it's not activated, and I'd like to use Google Voice as the provider (this means it will be Wi-Fi only; that's OK.)

Problem is, Google Voice needs the phone to have a number before it will let me use it as the provider. I already have a Google voice number set up, but I can't figure out what to do next.

What I'm envisioning is:

The phone's dialer will make the calls through Google Voice (absolutely essential)
Voicemails will work (would be very nice)
I can text from the native texter (not critical at all)

What do I need to do?

Check out the free version of 'GrooVe IP Lite' in the Play Store. The Free version utilizes Google Voice over WiFi only, but that's all you're asking for so you should be golden.


How to have Google Music playlists in shuffle by default? When I open a playlist in Google Music and press the "play" button, it reads from first to last in the playlist's order - as expected.

My question is: is it possible to change this "default behaviour" to shuffling (instead of "1st to last")?

Thanks by advance!

From the Google Play Music App, open up your Playlist section. Find the playlist you want to shuffle, and tap on the three vertical dots on the lower right. Choose Shuffle on the popup.

You can turn on Shuffle mode by first starting song from your playlist, and while it's playing, tap on the banner at the bottom that displaying  your currently playing song. This will bring up Google Play Music's player interface, which has the song name scrolling at the top, album art in the middle, and the play/pause buttons at the bottom. Next to the play/pause button, in the lower right,is an icon that looks like two crossed arrows. That's the shuffle button. Tap to turn it orange and it's on. It will stay on even if you switch songs/albums/playlists.


Change Device Name on Family Link Device I'm wondering how to change a device name for a device/account supervised by Family Link.
I've changed the actual device name in the devices settings but the device name that shows up in Google / GooglePlay / FamilyLink is controlled by Google Play. To change THAT name you need to do it on the settings page of Google Play. This only works on the Google Play website. If I try to access the supervised account via a browser it says this account must access play through the app only. I assume this is because store restriction can really only be handled through the controlled app?. Either way the device list is not available in the play app and thus there is no where to rename the device.
Any advice? Is there anyway I could access the web version of the settings page through the play app?

It seems that you're able to rename the device from Find My Device page. Log in with your child's account on a web browser and then modify the device name.


Will an Asus Transformer Prime bought in the U.S. work in Portugal? I live in Portugal and I'm going on vacation to the U.S. in a few months.
I'd like to buy an Asus Transformer (Prime or 300) while in the U.S., but I don't know if the Wi-Fi or 3G will work in Portugal.  I only know for a fact that 4G doesn't work.

Can anyone help me on this one?

The tablets in Asus Transformer line (including TF 101, Prime TF 201, and Pad 300) do not have a cellular modem, so they will only work on WiFi.  WiFi is a universal standard and will work just fine in any country, provided that your router supports the 802.11 b/g/n specification.


Clock / Weather widget does not display on the home screen I accidentally deleted my clock/weather from my home screen on my Samsung Galaxy S3. I downloaded a new app but when I add it to my home screen it just stays small, when I tap on it it just gives me "important information" on how to add it. It is added, it just won't open! Help!

Go to the app drawer. At the top, you should see Apps and Widgets.
Click Widgets, and scroll through the pages. Look for the weather widget.
Once you find the widget, long-press on it and drag it to your home screen.

EDIT #1: Here's an example. In this case, I am using the Accuweather app. AND, I'm not using the default launcher, but you should find something similar.


"Cannot download, not enough space" when "Phone Storage" clearly lists enough space I just installed Android 2.1 on my Pandigital Novel.  Anytime I try to download an app (via WiFi), I get this error: Unable to download.  Not enough space on phone.  However, the phone lists the free space as being 125.57Mb, about 25 times the size of the file I wanted to install.

I took the APKs I was trying to download and put them on my SD card.  I was able to install them to the device from there proving it does indeed have space.

What should I do?

This doesn't answer why it doesn't work, but...

As a workaround, if you have an SD card, you can insert it and it will automatically download to the card instead.


How to Disable Auto Silence My Motorola Electrify M keeps auto-silencing the ringer.  How do I disable auto-silece?  My phone is running Android version 4.1.2.

It seems to go on silent when I have meetings scheduled.  It wouldn't be so bad, except that it never re-activates the ringer, so I keep missing calls!  Any thoughts on how to disable the auto-ring silencer would be great.  If it makes a difference, I'm also using the calendar app aCalendar.

The Motorola Electrify M comes with a set of functions called Smart Actions, which can be deployed. A sample from their User Guide is the silencing of the ringer when inside meetings. See the User Guide here to find help in refining the criteria triggers, so that the ringer is restored. Look for \Control and Customize\Smart Actions\Help.Like most trigger-based actions, each comes with some downside, so either some refinement, or complete disabling will solve your difficulty.


Internet is not working on Moto G2 Sim B I have 2 SIMs from BSNL and TataDoCoMo. Tata Sim is inserted in Sim A where Internet works very well in home and roaming. Couple of days back I purchased BSNL Sim and inserted it in Sim B but Internet did not work. After all the self  troubleshooting & help from BSNL helpline, nothing worked but when I swapped the sims, Internet worked without any hiccups on BSNL sim but stopped working on Tata SIM. Please help....................

This is because Only Sim A has the 3G support , Sim B is not 3G supporting for Moto G2. However you can use 2G in your Sim B


Galaxy Nexus ICS Does't remember wifi Passwords - ICS 4.2.2 Anybody else have this issue?  It's freaking annoying as every time i revisit somewhere and want to use their wifi, i have to get the password and enter it in again.

Any suggestions on how i can resolve this issue?

Likely the wpa_supplicant file is corrupted. If you are rooted, you might be able to use an app like Titanium Backup to wipe the data for it. If you aren't rooted, I am not sure what all you can wipe. You can try and wipe the Settings database (Settings -> Apps -> All -> Settings -> Wipe Data, which might include the file, but I don't know for sure (this will obviously erase all your Android settings)..

But you should be able to fix it by performing a Factory Reset/Data Wipe (Settings -> Backup and Reset -> Factory Data Reset). Google should remember your apps and automatically install them once you type your password back in, and all your sdcard content should stay untouched.


Cannot download "Office 365" because it is not compatible with Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 I have Office on my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, but I cannot upgrade it to Office 365. I can't download it from Google Play Store because it tells me that

  Your device isn't compatible with this version.

This is a high-end tablet, so I expected it to be compatible.

Is Microsoft still going to support this issue out, or do I, in fact, already have 365 without knowing it?

Based on my memory and this article, there was an old "Microsoft Office" app that was replaced by individual Microsoft Office apps:

Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft PowerPoint
and more...

However, there are no "Office 365" apps. "Office 365" is a subscription plan that enhances the user experience of individual Office apps with advanced mobile features.

For this particular case:

Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 was deemed as "not compatible" by Play Store. The exact reason cannot be known because there are too many possibilities. However, the download is only prevented on the Play Store. You can still find and download the APK file from credible 3rd-party sources (e.g. APK Mirror) and try to install it, and see if it's compatible (working properly).

Regarding the status of your "Office 365", that depends whether you have subscribed to it or not previously. But the migration from the old Microsoft Office app to the newer individual Office apps didn't affect the status of someone's "Office 365" subscription plan.


How can I have 'Next homescreen' and 'Previous homescreen' buttons in ADW EX on the dockbar like LauncherPro? I'm using ADW EX (purchased in the recent 10 billion, 10 day sale). How can I have buttons for next homescreen and previous homescreen on the bottom dockbar like in LauncherPro Plus?

Currently using ADW 1.3.3.56

I know this question has been asked a while ago, but on the CyanogenMod 7 version of ADW, you have to go in ui settings, then set the dock size to 3 or less and enable "Desktop dots". I think there's similar option on the original version...


"there is insufficient memory on the device" Well my dad just bought some phone for me "x-touch ocean" and I've beeeeeen trying to download apps but it keeps saying "insufficient memory on the device" I tried deleting apps I already found in the phone but still.. I got a new memory card with nothing in it but it still says the same thing over and over.. I haven't downloaded anything at all by the way. And I tried to move apps to the memory card but none of them can be moved unfortunately. Please some one help  #frustrated 15 year old #

Google 1tap cleaner free then download and install it. Clear cache using that app. Then try to download any all from play store again.


Unable to download update for Yureka YU I have downloaded more than once yureka upgrade to cyanogen 12 based Lollipop 5.1 but my OS is not being updated. I have tried rebooting the phone after download but to no effect. I am still using old version. Unable to download new version. Please suggest how to resolve this issue?

below are not be done before you upgrade:
Rooting, developer mode on, phone memory full - if this is exist then you cant update and the downloaded file must be kept in phone/download not on sd.

If your downloading from OTA then this are not to do list: and to make you simple download from google and place it on the download place in phone memory then you give it a try if this helped you fine else tell me were have you done mistakes so that clearly I can suggest you. as of mine updated and running smooth.


Google Calendar notifications not working I loved how I got SMS messages from Google Calendar.

Then they removed that, I installed the Mobile App, but I get no notifications. How can I get notifications from Google Calendar Mobile App? Is there a checklist of what do I need to check to have notifications?

I have:

Samsung Galaxy S3
Android 4.4.2.
Google Calendar app up to date

You can set notification type and time while you are creating event or you also able to modify already created events:

(Click image to enlarge)


How do I remove a custom MIUI lockscreen via adb or other means? So I downloaded a lockscreen for MIUI from the themes app but apparently it doesn't go well with my phone and it just displays the wallpaper without the actual lockscreen. The problem is, now, I can't unlock the phone as there is nothing to drag on the screen. My phone is also secured by a pattern. How do I remove this problematic custom lockscreen and revert to the stock one?

Obviously I'd either have to do it via ADB or something. Can anyone help me out? I can restart the phone and all but that's really all I can do since everything else is behind the lockscreen.

Fist you need to know MIUI package name

adb shell pm list package -3

This command will display all the third party installed apps. If MIUI lockscreen does not show up here use :

adb shell pm list package -s

OR

adb shell pm list package -f

then copy the package name and use this command :

adb shell pm uninstall <your app package>


Why does Kies tell me that my Galaxy S has no updates? Why does Samsung Kies tell me that my Galaxy S GT-i9000 has no OS or firmware updates even though there are downloads available on the internet?

If by "downloads available" you mean a OS upgrade, that is because those are not official releases, and since Kies is an official Samsung application they do not provide unofficial releases.

Currently, the last official release for the Samsung Galaxy S is Android 2.2 Froyo.

If you are referring to "official releases" and your OS is < 2.2, then you can have some variant system, for which there is no firmware upgrade, or you can have some problems with a not-up-to-date Kies version.

Also, check this thread out!


Why do Android phone manufacturers describe RAM in powers of 1,000 but not 1,024 (as PCs do)? For PC RAMs, when a manufacturer say they produce a 4GB memory bank, they are producing a memory bank with 4,294,967,296 bytes (4 GiB). The same applies to CPU cache, i.e. a CPU with 2MB L3 cache means 2,097,152 bytes (2 MiB) of L3 cache.

For hard drives, flash drives (USB drives, SSDs, eMMCs and UFSs) and optical discs (CDs, DVDs and BDs), manufacturers use powers of 103 for B, KB, MB and GB, so a 4GB USB drive has roughly 4,000,000,000 bytes.

According to my observation, Android phone manufaturers use the latter kind of units when advertising RAM. That does not sound reasonable to me because PCs' RAMs aren't advertised that way.

Edit: I am an experienced Android user. I have investigated the kernel and made sure that other components' sharing RAM does not affect my observation.

tl:dr:  Android memory is more in line with hard disk memory and uses the SI or decimal standards unlike PC memory. Standards support this

Basing my answer on What is the advantage to using a factor of 1024 instead of 1000 for disk size units? - Software Engineering Stack Exchange and bringing out only the key aspects. Details can be referred in that question

In the case of PC's, quoting  from the accepted answer binary addressing was adopted

  It is kind of convenience and optimization for getting the most usable, addressable space between the two considerations of addressing and physical platter size

For Disk drives SI units were adopted. From Bobson's answer

  The disk drive industry followed a different pattern. Industry practice, more thoroughly documented at Timeline of binary prefixes
   and continuing today, is to specify hard drives using SI prefixes and symbols in their SI or "decimal" interpretation. Unlike binary-addressed computer main memory, there is nothing in a disk drive that influences it to have a total capacity easily expressed using a power of 1024.

(Emphasis Supplied)

That explains in brief the reasons for binary and SI

Evolution of Mobile Phones and Standards

The earliest commercial model phone  DynaTAC 8000Xappeared on the scene in  1983. It couldn't do anything more than basic calls so RAM doesn't come into play
By 1987 hard drives were marked in SI units as can be seen from the binary timeline linked
Feature Phones: IBM Simon was the first feature phone in 1994, which had 1 MB of RAM and 1MB of storage expandable to 2 MB - you read that right :) So, when the feature phone cane out , SI standards were in vogue

So, likely reasons :

SI standards were automatically applied to mobile memory as they were more viewed as storage elements rather than computational requirements
Fact that memory was / is not based on platters (see accepted answer ) ,  adopting binary system made no sense . Instead of having separate nomenclature for storage and RAM, SI units were adopted for both. But in the case of PC's legacy continued, though one could argue that it is incorrect. Mac OS since
has since version 10.6 (Mountain Lion in 2011) shown hard drive size using decimal prefixes and continues to do so
By 1998

  IEC     introduces unambiguous prefixes for binary multiples (KiB, MiB, GiB etc.), reserving kB, MB, GB and so on for their decimal sense

By 2001 Linux Kernel (used in Android) adopted IEC standards


How can I track my days activities on Android (Similar to Track and Share on iPhone)? There is a app called "Track and Share" available for iPhone.

This app helps us track as to how we spend our day, doing what activities and doing what category of activities.

I wonder how I could do the same on Android. Maybe a similar app exists?

There are many for Android, this two seem to perform the tasks mentioned by "Track and Share" (additionally, you can check the left column from Google Play Store for related apps):

Time Recording - Timesheet App

  Timesheet manager - easy to use, highly adaptive. Manage your timesheet.

  Check in & out
  Task assignment
  Daily & detailed notes
  Overview of day, week, month
  Data export & email as CSV, HTML or XML
  Integrated backup & restore

Check the Lifehacker review.

Daily Task Tracker

  Keep track of your tasks that you repeat on a daily basis.

  This app allows the user to keep track of daily tasks that are important to them. Add each task and then throughout the day or at the end of the day check off the ones that were completed.


Install Android APK as Mac OS X app Is there a tool to package a particular emulator/SD configuration + APK as a Mac OS X application so that it can be distributed and run with a simple double-click? Something like Fluid for web apps... applied to Android apps on Mac OS (or Windows).

BlueStacks for Mac is currently in "alpha" testing, and is probably your best option at this point, although I don't believe it provides any kind of simple per-app packaging.


How to open locked Samsung Galaxy S5? Can anybody help me how to open locked Samsung Galaxy? I do not know, I had a fingerprint showing up and the alternative password. I had a keyboard showing numbers and alphabets. But now, it's totally different. it shows only numbers the problem is my password has alphabets?

You can crack your screen password with this app of Dr. Fone. Visit this Link and download the app that matches with your Device Model. You don't need to root your device or enable USB Debugging, neither any custom ROM. Just download the app of your device's model and connect it to PC then do whatever you want. Also you don't need to backup as it won't wipe your data.


How can I factory-restore a Samsung J5 (2015) SM-500FN? What I have:

I have a Samsung J5 (2015) SM-500FN which ran out of storage and basically hung itself up. There is no data I want to recover, but I want to install either a stock ROM or (preferably) something else like Lineage - I just want to get a usable phone again.

My problem:

I have tried to download many stock ROMs from reputable sources like SamMobile (for this specific phone, but trying different release dates and country codes) but every single one of those ZIPs is corrupt, even when downloading from a different computer.
Flashing with ODIN anyway gives a FAIL result and a device that cannot boot, not even into recovery: It gives a green screen with the text: An error has occurred while updating the device software. Use the Emergency recovery function in the Smart Switch PC software.
Ironically, the Smart Switch software just says this device is not supported. The older Kies3 software lets me enter the exact model# followed by the serial# - but then it says this device is not supported. So neither Samsung software is usable, but I can still use ODIN.
Even with the phone in this broken state, I can install TWRP again. So it is not completely bricked. I boot into TWRP and copy a LineageOS ZIP file to /sdcard, but when I try to install that, the TRWP console says: E3004: This package is for device j5nlte,j5nltexx; this device is . Note it doesn't appear to recognize that this device is indeed the model j5nlte!
Android.SE says that "E3004" means my TWRP is too old, but I use twrp-3.1.1-1-j5nlte which is currently the newest version for this phone.
I would also like to try a factory reset, but that requires the stock recovery which won't boot (see step 2 above).

My question:  How do I get out of this catch-22?

It seems that if I could just get around that E3004 then I would be fine. But I have found no ways to trick the installer into ignoring that error.

A friendly forum user pointed me to this updated version of TWRP which I could install using the already installed TWRP.

After upgrading the TWRP itself, I was then able to install the ROM I wanted. Problem solved!


Android Device Manager password reset doesn't work I accidentally forgot the password for my Galaxy S3 Neo (i9301i). People suggested I make a new one by locking it from Android Device Manager. However, when I send a new password to my device, the Samsung logo appears, similar to booting but faster. After that when I try to use the new password it rejects it. How should I proceed (I'm not rooted btw)?

If you have forgotten your password then the phone should display a forgot password option if you enter the wrong password. Look closely. It will let you reset it with your email.


How to download a specific part of any online streaming videos on Android phone? I'm using an Android phone. I watch action movies online in it. I always want to download only some particular scenes of the movie. But I don't know how. So I download the complete movies which are very large in size and I cut specific parts of it using softwares. But I want to download only some parts of the online videos which are very small in size as compared to the whole movie. So my question is, is there any way to download parts of online streaming videos on Android. I'm not talking about YouTube videos. I'm taking about videos from movie websites.

You can use different Screen recorders for your requirement. Just start the recording where you wish to, and stop it when your are done. This way you can get your required length of video.
I'll try to list my top picks for the same.

AZ Screen Recorder: AZ Screen Recorder is the gold standard for screen recorder apps. It's light, easy, accessible, and cheap. It doesn't require root, has no watermarks and no time limits.

DU Recorder : It records your phone screen with up to 1080p/60fps quality. The app also works in 20 languages, has a decent UI, and a video editor built-in. It's all entirely free to download and use. It does have problems, though. Tablet support is a bit flaky and some people found bugs. Still, for free price, it's one of the better screen recording apps.

Vysor: Vysor is a fun little app that allows you to cast your device to your computer screen over USB. From there, you can use it on your computer or screen record it on your PC if you’d like to. It tends to work pretty well although you will need to fork out a little bit of money in order to get HD quality. This app doesn’t record anything on its own so don’t expect any options to do so. You’ll have to record it on your computer on your own.
Hope this helps.


What is meant by locked bootloader? Everyone complains about locked bootloaders on phones.  From reading the bootloader seems to be code stored on the partition which /boot is mounted.  Once the phone is rooted why couldn't one just delete what's on /boot and put their own stuff there.  When you do an OTA and it update the boot loader I assume it just writes files to this partition.

In a Linux distro I can replace grub which is stored in boot with LILO or whatever by simply replace the files in /boot and write the PBR to the head of that partition to then boot into LILO.  When the PC boots it looks at the MBR which tells it to look at the active partitin (persumably the one with /boot), chain into that and read the LILO code at the head which then does stuff with all the other files in /boot.

How do android devices boot differently that prevents that?

The bootloader is not generally on the /boot partition, it's on a separate one, although that's not really the crux of the issue.

The problem occurs when the bootloader is cryptographically signed, which is intended to prevent you from replacing it with your own. The device will check the signature of the bootloader at startup and refuse to boot one with an invalid signature. After that, the bootloader checks the signature of whatever is in /boot, refusing to boot that if it's not signed validly. Therefore, you can't overwrite either partition without rendering the device unbootable.

When a bootloader is unlocked, it will not check the signature of the other partition images, which is why you are able to install custom ROMs. This means that you don't need to replace the bootloader in order to modify /boot, you just need to unlock it so that it skips the signature check on /boot. If the bootloader is locked and signed, then you're essentially stuck, barring an exploit that allows you to bypass one of the signature verification steps.

This also means that locked bootloaders, in and of themselves, are not necessarily a problem. The real problem is signed bootloaders that do not provide an unlocking mechanism.

The process is (more or less) analagous to UEFI Secure boot, although it's probably not exactly the same architectural implementation. Incidentally, going with your example of Linux, one of the primary criticisms of UEFI Secure boot is that it could potentially be used to prevent installation of alternative OSes on traditional PCs via the same signature checking scheme.


Does encryption, factory reset, encryption make a safer used phone? I recently purchased a used Moto X. I know the person I bought it from so I'm not terribly worried but here is my idea to shore up the security on a used device.

Don't put in your SIM card or log into any accounts
Factory reset
Encrypt device
Factory reset
Encrypt device
Install SIM, log into accounts
Enjoy

This seems like a solid way to make sure the device is completely wiped out... except for the boot loader. I'm not sure how the comes into play, or if this method even makes that big of a difference. The process I outlined isn't difficult, it just takes a few hours.

Is it worth it?
Can it be improved?
What about the boot loader?

Factory-resetting twice is pointless. The first factory reset will already wipe all user data: the second won't delete anything that wasn't already deleted by the first. Encrypting the device is also a waste of time, because you've already factory-reset the device.

It might make some sense if you were the seller of the phone, and you wanted to overwrite the internal storage several times to make sure the buyer couldn't recover your data, but that's the opposite of what you want. A single factory reset will delete all the user data, giving you a clean slate.

If you're worried about the previous owner having left a backdoor in the OS, then ensure the bootloader is locked and flash the stock ROM yourself. This way you're sure to have a clean OS.

If you suspect the buyer has enough skill to backdoor the bootloader so that it will also make changes to the new OS as you flash it, and also disable signature verification so that it will still boot but looks like the bootloader is locked, then just don't buy a phone from them. If you think they're that good, and that desperate to get hold of your data, then they'll find a way around whatever you do. You just can't trust the device at all in that case.


Paranoid Android Custom Rom For Galaxy s3 i9300 Instructions I want to put paranoid android on my galaxy s3 i9300, I have tried and been unsuccessful

Here is the link to where I got the download from;
XDA Community

Can someone give me clear instructions as to what exactly I have to do to put this custom rom on my phone please, Thanks

A signature error is often caused by trying to install custom firmware (the ROM) with the stock revovery.  The stock recovery will only install a factory image for the device, signed by the manufacturer. This means you can only install stock firmware with it. So you need a custom recovery, something like Clockworkmod or TWRP recovery.

Note: do at your own risk, and ensure you have the correct device model for this!

Downloads:

This is the link to TWRP for the Galaxy S3.

This is the link to Clockworkmod (CWM) recovery for Galaxy S3

How to flash a new recovery with Odin:

Step 1: Prepare Odin for Flash

Make sure Auto Reboot and F. Reset are checked, then click the PDA button and load your .tar file.

Step 2: Go into Download Mode on Your GS3

You can do this by powering off your phone, and power back on by holding Volume Down + Home + Power.

If you are on a custom ROM, do not do this by holding the Power button, select Reboot, and select Download Mode. It can cause issues in certain models in Odin.

Step 3: Flash TWRP

Press the Start button on Odin. Then watch your phone do its thing and reboot.

That's it, you now have the latest and greatest recovery available for the Samsung Galaxy S3.

Before installing a new ROM ensure you make a full nandroid backup in your new recovery.

After you install the recovery, boot into it like before, then wipe Cache / Data and install your new ROM.


How to listen iTunes podcasts on Android I found a language learning website. They offer their podcasts for free but only an iTunes link is provided. So iTunes for me, downloaded them all and put in a nice playlist to go through one by one and listen and learn.

I don't own an iPhone but I own an Android phone, a Google Nexus S.

How can I get all these podcasts in a playlist on my phone?

I am on Mac-os-x Lion, I think.

If you don't want to be shackled to iTunes for downloading/syncing the actual episodes, you can right-click the podcast in iTunes, and select Copy Podcast URL. It will copy the URL to the podcast feed to your clipboard.

Use this URL on your Android device to subscribe to the podcast there.


Galaxy S3, 6.5GB but Insufficient storage available to update Preface - I originally posted this on stack exchange, which is where I found the question in my first link, but I was directed to post here instead.

NOTE: I have already looked at the following link but none of the answers solved my issue. https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16818049/insufficient-storage-available-even-there-is-lot-of-free-space-in-device-memor

I should add that I recently freed up a bunch of space on my phone as I described here: http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-galaxy-s-iii/262892-storage-space-running-out-3.html#post3477534

So my issue is that I recently was low on space and found how to clear a lot of files I no longer needed, which gave me a lot of space. But fast forward to now, Twitter and Candy Crush want to update, but they tell me that I have insufficient space. But, I have ~6.5GB free on my internal memory, so that can't be the issue.

Because I am on a Galaxy S3, I am unable to move apps to my external card (which is dumb, but whatever), but I don't see how that could be an issue, since it is reporting so much free space on the internal memory.

I am on a custom ROM (Carbon) which is CM-based, so trying the special codes in my dialer don't work, and I can't find a /data/log directory, as I saw suggested in another answer (the data directory exists, but there is no log folder). I have tried uninstalling Twitter and reinstalling it, but now it won't let it install either, so I'm stuck for now without twitter on my phone unless I use my browser (not that I use twitter much, so no big loss). I have also tried clearing my cache and dalvik cache via CWM recovery, and that didn't fix the issue either.

I'm wondering if the device for some reason still thinks it has less than a GB of space, as it did before I did as described in the second link above, even though it shows 6.5GB free in Settings -> Storage.

Note that I am able to install some apps (I installed the terminal emulator, for instance, but that's tiny), but specifically Twitter didn't want to install or update, and Candy Crush won't update (I haven't tried reinstalling it because I don't want to lose that game).

Is anyone else experiencing a similar issue, or better yet, has anyone fixed a similar issue?

I was having this problem on my Verizon Galaxy S4 (i545). I could not figure it out for two or three days straight. Finally, I looked into my /data folder and saw a folder located at /data/app-lib which contained some data from Candy Crush. The folder was the same as the apk title: com.king.candycrushsaga-1
After deleting this folder (you may want to back it up first), I was able to install Candy Crush again with no problem. Hope this helps!


my samsung galaxy plus battery draining quickly some time it is showing 50% but immidiatly 0% my samsung galaxy S plus battery draining quickly some time it is showing 50% but immidiatly 0% so please help me to solve this

ITS GINGERBOAT MODEL GT-i9001
yog

Not a lot of information but to venture a guess -how old is the battery? Batteries don't last forever.  What radios (GPS, Bluetooth and so on) are running?