Stuck on detecting COM port when trying to upgrade Android using Smart Phone Flash Tool I have Goophone i5c (iPhone 5C clone, MTK6572 chipset, non-removable battery), and I'm trying to upgrade my Android.

I have installed:

Smart Phone Flash Tool
adb-setup.exe
MT65xx USB VCOM drivers

I still can't upgrade my Android. Most guides require to remove the battery, and I can't remove my battery as it's stick like the original iPhone battery. I also watched this video on YouTube and tried it and nothing happens, it's still stuck on detecting COM port.

As per checking my adb devices, it seems my device is detected.

I'll be answering my question.

I downloaded USBDeview and I deleted all COM ports that are open. I also did removing my USB controllers on my Device Manager. I restarted my computer to reload all the drivers; then opening the flasher generates a new COM port, clicking the upgrade and it worked.


Facebook version 3.5. - sort news feed I cannot find option for sorting News Feed by most recent:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

Device: Samsung Galaxy S4
Facebook: 3.5

Is this what you are looking for?


What is Samsung galaxy tab 10.1 usable screen resolution? The screen is 1280 x 800 pixels but the system bar uses up some of the vertical height.
So what is the screen resolution minus the black system bar at the bottom?

This is needed to configure an RDP client to exact screen dimensions.

My testing indicates a usable resolution of 1280 x 750


Complete action to open a file using different application "always" I'm running a Galaxy Note 3 with stock Android Lollipop. I'm aware how it has worked for years with Android when one can choose an application for a certain type of action or file type, and also choosing to just use it this once it always. And if choosing as always this can then be reverted by clearing the defaults of that app. However the case as in the following image is new to me.
In this case I'd like to use the native "create contact" always. How would I do that?
(Click image to enlarge)

As you can see I can't choose it together with always.

You have to choose the native contact app once, and the next time Android ask you, you will be able to set it as default


How do one know which folder is created by which Android apps? From my understanding, a majority of Android apps may have created some folders on either local storage or the SD Card.

So, how do I know which folders belong to which apps? (I know that some apps have settings that show you which folder that they have created but are there any solutions where one can easily find all the folder corresponding to their apps in a list similar like the one shown below?)

====================================
| Apps Name |   Folder             |
====================================
| ABB       | \sdcard\actionbb     |
| ZZX       | \sdcard\zoneX        |
|           | \local\zoneXconf     |
====================================

This is because, sometimes, when one un-installs an app, the un-installation does not remove these folders.

If you open a file as Context.MODE_PRIVATE, then the file is created in /data/data/app_packagename and is only accessible to your app. You can see the permission and owner of these files in command line.

adb shell ls -al

drwxr-x--x    1 app_28   app_28        2048 Dec  6  2011 com.android.mms

But files in sdcard is public to all user, so you cannot find out which folder belong to which app.

  Files saved to the external storage are world-readable and can be
  modified by the user when they enable USB mass storage to transfer
  files on a computer.

See this link for details.


What lurks behind these Gmail/GTalk permissions? I just stumbled upon some permissions which sound clear at first sight (noticed them already quite a while ago, just decided to dig deeper right now). Thinking about possible implications, I'd really like to know what features/data they give access to, as this might get quite personal/sensitive:

com.google.android.gm.permission.READ_GMAIL: often the reason given is "to access attachments" (such as PDF files to be opened with a PDF reader). But is that all? Or could an app equipped with this permission read the entire mail?
com.google.android.gm.permission.WRITE_GMAIL: could an app with this permission write and send mails on my behalf? Or even delete existing mails (including the "written-and-sent one", to hide its activities)?
com.google.android.gm.permission.READ_CONTENT_PROVIDER: one app describes its use as "read Gmail labels and get unread count". Another one writes "Used to update the unread email count on your lockscreen. Email content is not sent to our servers." Which suggests this permission can be used to access the entire mail content. And other contents?
In some source code I found the comment Permission required to access android.content.ContentProvider, which suggests a lot of content getting accessible this way if it means THE content provider, including contacts and calendars. Not being an Android dev, I cannot really tell without being told first.
google.android.gtalkservice.permission.GTALK_SERVICE: Yes, please?

I've "googled" them all (the above is already the result of my research). And of course I started with my favorite sources when it comes to permissions:

the permission reference at Android Developers
explained permissions at AndroidForums.COM
some framework source code at Github
more framework source code at Android Source
our very own reference at What do the permissions that applications require mean?

But the above is all I could come up with. Can somebody shed some more light on those? From a user's perspective, what can be accessed with those permissions, and what are the privacy implications? A "good cop/bad cop" play would be appreciated, naturally :)

More than one year later, and no answer here. I've done some research myself – and though there was not much found, I'll share what I've got so far:

com.google.android.gm.permission.READ_GMAIL: A good guess is this targets the mail content. Protection level switched from "dangerous" to "signature" about the time Gingerbread was released (with Gmail 2.3.5), see Android Census – so it's not available to third-party apps (anymore) – and thus not relevant unless we're talking about system apps.
com.google.android.gm.permission.WRITE_GMAIL: Permits an app to change your E-Mails in Google Mail. This includes sending and deleting.Assigned protection level differs between devices (dangerous/signature), so no general say on whether it affects non-system apps.
com.google.android.gm.permission.READ_CONTENT_PROVIDER: This is primarily for access to information on Mails in Gmail. Developers can use this content provider to display label information to the user.Protection level is "dangerous" – so unless that's changed meanwhile, this one definitely affects user-apps.
google.android.gtalkservice.permission.GTALK_SERVICE: I couldn´t find any documentation on this permission, which is connected to Google Talk resp. Google Hangouts.The protection level assigned seems to differ between devices – so again no clear rule here.


Recover pattern lock of moto g3 marshmallow (unrooted phone) gesture.key (permission denied for removing, backup, copy etc.) I have an unrooted phone.
It has facial recognition so I am able to unlock it and use.
I need to recover my pattern.
I have tried copying, backing up, removing gesture.key but permission is denied( no surprise there) I even tried to give reading/writing permission to gesture.key using chmod but again permission denied.... different errors 100700 etc.

So is there a round about root to open the gesture.key file...

Or where does the number of incorrect pattern store themselves and allow me if I can change its value so that I can guess my pattern. (Less than 500 combinations)

Thanks..
Again the phone isn't unlocked or rooted.

I don't know about this implementation specifically, but I would expect that pattern is hashed when it is stored (encrypted) - so that even if you could recover it, you would also need to de-crypt it.

Anything dealing with security will be purposely locked down, so users or apps can't abuse the system.

Even if the phone was rooted, I think you would still have problems recovering this information.


How to disable all "please rate our app" dialogues? I use a lot of different apps, and many of them prompt me to rate them in the Play Store. Some of them don't have a "never" button, so they keep bugging me. Some of them don't realize it even if I've rated them, so they keep asking me to rate them after I've actually rated them. Also, I want to rate apps on my own initiative, I don't like such reminders.

Is there a way to block/disable/hide all such "please rate this app" prompts systemwide?

For example, it could be an Xposed module that looks for dialogues with buttons leading to rating in the Play Store and then blocks/hides those dialogues.

I have Xposed Framework and root access.

Is there a way to block/disable/hide all such "please rate this app" prompts systemwide?

Apparently not possible as you can see from the same question answered on reddit by an Xposed module developer :

  There is no global rating dialog class that you could hook into, every app creates a standard dialog and adds their own contents to it, so you would have to decompile, analyze and hook every app separately.

Perhaps a developer here could add more by way of explanation, as to why it is not possible to employ a technique / tool that works across the board in disabling rating popups


Turbo charger, charges slow,why? My Motorola g4 plus has turbo charger when I charge in that it takes to charge full about 4 to 6 hours.But in Moto specification it was given that it will charge to 80% in 30 minutes.

Are you using the same cable that came in box? if so then it should charge fast not that fast 80% in 30 min... that's test lab results... in real life application those figures may differ... its pretty much normal.


Unknown "keyhole gallery icon" sometimes appears on lock screen? Sometimes on my lock screen, an icon with what looks like a keyhole and some sort of gallery-related image appears for a few seconds and then disappears. It happens randomly when I turn on the screen on my phone. It shows among the other notification icons in the middle of the lock screen, and it always disappears by itself after a few seconds even if I don't unlock the phone.

The phone is a Samsung Galaxy S10.
I can't find any settings or apps that seem related or that have this icon, and I can't find the icon when Googling either.

The mystery is solved - apparently it has something to do with the "dynamic wallpaper" feature.
I'll leave this answer here in case someone else sonders about this icon.


Clockworkmod Backup/Restore Feature So last week, I decided to flash a custom ROM to my 2 year old Desire HD. I used the all in one, one-step, "rooting" tool called AAHK (It doesn't just root the phone, it does a whole lot like S-OFF, Goldcard, etc).

My DHD is now running Jellytime R30. Everything is good.

Now, I would like to try other ROMS. I did a backup of my current system via Clockworkmod in Recovery.

Question: Is this a full "image" snapshot? I mean, will I be able to restore the entire system  including the ROM when I restore this backup? Or do I have to flash the ROM in the snapshot before I restore the backup?

PS: I'm new to this custom ROM thing but I've done my fair amount of research. :)

What ClockworkMod does is a so called Nandroid Backup. Basically, this contains an image for each of the file systems of the device (i.e. one image per file system) -- and thus it is a full backup/"image snapshot". The format of the snapshot might differ and depend on the device and ClockworkMod version being used; for my Motorola Milestone 2 most of the file systems seem to be captured as YAFFS2 image, i.e. the image uses the same file system used on the device. So it is comparable with using dd on Unix/Linux (see Wikipedia), at least in my case.

Newer versions of ClockworkMod Recovery (6.0 and up) also do "incremental updates" to save space on the backup medium and allow for faster backup (see e.g. this TechieBuzz.COM article). For this, you might also want to check our question How can I tell CWM to perform a full backup instead of an incremental backup?

More details you can also find by following the clockworkmod tag.


Bluetooth sbc parameters From http://soundexpert.org/news/-/blogs/bluetooth-audio-quality-a2dp, and How do I determine which A2DP codecs my phone supports/is currently using?, I can see that when I listen to bluetooth audio from my phone to my car, I am getting sbc with these parameters:

Middle Quality Joint Stereo
Samp Freq 44.1 kHz
Bitpool value 35
Resulting Frame length 83 bytes
Resulting bit rate 229 kb/s
Block length 16
Allocation method = Loudness
Subbands 8

Can someone share an equation of how these parameters relate to each other?  Does any sbc at 44.1 KHz and bitrate 229 kb/s have to have bitpool = 35 and frame length 83 bytes?

OK, I found my answer:

Direct link: https://www.bluetooth.org/DocMan/handlers/DownloadDoc.ashx?doc_id=303201

Alternative: https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/adopted-specifications and search for a2dp

The equations are in section 12.9.


How to lower the minimum brightness? On my Moto Z Play on the stock 8.0 Oreo ROM (rooted, of course), I find that the lowest brightness setting is still a bit too bright for my liking. This is in contrast with my dad's Galaxy S8+ which goes so dark. One solution that I liked was GravityBox. Unfortunately, that requires Xposed and Xposed breaks Messenger at the moment, and I can't live with the Lite version of Messenger. Xposed also isn't actively developed nowadays so the issue won't be fixed anytime soon.

I'm looking for something that will achieve what GravityBox does, that is, lower the minimum brightness value for my ROM. I don't want any screen filter app that runs in the background all day, that just sucks. It isn't as effective as actually dimming the display, IMO.

Can you guys help me out here?

If you need to do this by hand you can (with a root terminal):

1. Disable auto brightness

settings put system screen_brightness_mode 0

2. Set desired brightness

settings put system screen_brightness 1

Where the value must be between 1 and 255 (inclusive)


How can I view contacts that were on my now destroyed device My cell phone was destroyed. I tried to view my contacts info on my wife's LG but the list of contacts that I viewed were far from recent. I logged onto Google and found no help in reference to viewing my current list of contacts.

Your only means of accessing your list of contacts is through your google account (which is how I assume you tried to do so with your wife's phone). However, this is dependent on when you last synced your contacts with your google account on your phone before it was destroyed. So, it's possible that you didn't make a recent sync back when it was still working. You can double-check your gmail account and look at your list of contacts there.


Need only one icon in the top notification bar for multiple Gmail accounts I am trying to figure out how to have only one notification icon on the top notification bar for an incoming e-mail for any of my multiple Gmail accounts. This was the way Gmail worked on my phone prior to the 2.3.5 Gmail update.

Now, at any given time I can have up to four little Gmail icons on my top notification bar which is an pain.

Is there any way to change it to the way the notifications worked before?

That is, one icon for all my accounts, and if I receive an e-mail, it sends me to the main accounts page.

It is almost certainly a new feature, as there was a software update for GMail earlier today. I have gone through the settings, but unfortunately, I can't seem to find an option to get the previous one-icon notifications...


Shred an internal or system partition There are quite a few apps that lets a user delete the media or data partitions so it won't be recoverable - by re-writing "junk" data over and over again on the free storage space.

Still, is there any way (app, ROM, tool, etc.) that does the same process for the system partitions? (assuming that root or custom ROM/recovery image is required for such process)

Eventually I solved it by connecting the device to my pc, running adb shell and then running su in order to grant root privileges.

After that, to list all the partitions, I used the df command - and in each partition I generated a file big enough to fill all of the free space with random data (generated using the command dd if=/dev/urandom of=junkfile.txt bs=1048576 count=AmountOfMBs, as explained here).

Note that this method still doesn't shred the space that's currently in use on the device, so before going through this whole process I did a factory reset and then signed-in with a dummy account.


Windows mount android file system I want to edit some files on my phone but I can not access the root folder on my phone.

I'm using a rooted Google Nexus 5 running Android 5.0.  I can read/write to my /, and /system by Android's ES file explorer but not Windows' software.

How can I mount the Android system file in Windows, so I can read/write to the same places from there? If that's not possible on Windows: I'm also use Ubuntu. So, Can I mount my phone under Ubuntu?

I cannot answer the Windows part – but the Ubuntu part I can answer for sure, as I'm using that as well and mount my devices from my computer, sometimes with full r/w access. What I use needs ADB tools to be installed on your computer. If you didn't already install them, see e.g. Is there a minimal installation of ADB?

Prepare your Droid

First a basic requirement, applying to any OS which might run on your computer: To be able to get full access, the ADB daemon needs to be running in root-mode. This is not the case with stock ROMs, even if rooted, by default (though many custom ROMs have it enabled by default). So first check: If an "ordinary" adb shell directly brings you to the root-prompt (#) without invoking su, you're fine. Otherwise, you will need a helper like adbd insecure: Run it, and enable the "patched insecure mode". Optionally check the box to have that accomplished automatically on every boot of your device.

Prepare for write access to read-only file systems

Second, again independent from the OS on your computer: to read and write to file systems, they need to be mounted in read/write mode. You can accomplish that via adb shell anytime you need to write there (I don't recomment leaving those partitions in permanent read/write mode), e.g. issuing a mount -o remount,rw /system for the /system partition.

Mount your Droid

Now let's go for the specifics. I mount the Android file system via ADB, utilizing FUSE. The tool for that is adbfs-rootless. Compiling the code is easy given the instructions there; that done, copy the resulting adbfs binary to a directory in your $PATH. Then create a mount-point on your computer; in my example, I will use ~/droid for that. Now here we go:

# Mount the Android FS:
adbfs ~/droid
# Unmount it again:
fusermount -u ~/droid

To ease the process, I've created two aliases:

alias mdroid="adbfs ~/droid"
alias udroid="fusermount -u ~/droid"

You surely already have guessed: mdroid stands for "mount droid", udroid for "unmount droid".

A different approach to manually mounting/unmounting is using Midnight Commander with a specific VFS: mc-extfs-adb is doing that. A version I've spefically adapted for Ubuntu is available in the download area at IzzyOnDroid, where you can simply pick it (installation instructions included).

Both variants have their pros and cons: mc-extfs-adb takes quite a while on first access (while it caches the entire file system structure) – but then is pretty fast browsing the file system (as it is cached), only slowing down when you copy/edit files remotely. Using adbfs directly starts up much faster, but then always "hesitates" for a second when switching directories (as it does not cache the entire structure, but only reads on demand). I usually prefer the latter, but YMMV – hence I've given you both options :)


WiFi drains battery even if it's off On my Nexus 5, since Android updated to marshmallow, the Wi-Fi is draining the battery way too fast, even when disabled. See the screenshot:
(Click image to enlarge)

I've seen this question: Battery drain when wifi is off but since I've a very stable network, the answer doesn't fit my need.
I've disabled the Location, I doubt that the issue could come from here.
Where should I look next?
Edit:
The real question is in fact "How come that the WiFi usage bar is going from 100% until now even if Wi-Fi is Off?"

Okay, to address the points here:

Marshmallow doesn't have the option of Scanning Always Available as it was in Lollipop.

So, what to do?

Marshmallow still has these options, only now they are fragmented and redistributed. It is now under:

Settings → Google → Services → Location → 3-dot menu → Scanning → Wi-Fi scanning

Also, there are:

Settings → Wi-Fi → 3-dot menu → Advanced → Keep Wi-Fi on during sleep

and

Settings → Wi-Fi → 3-dot menu → Advanced → Network notification,

if you are paranoid about battery.


Can I turn on my Android phone from my computer? I have an Android phone (Moto Z) and for some reason the buttons stopped responding. This wasn't an actual issue until one night I let the battery die... the phone accepts the charger AND charges but since the buttons don't work I can't turn it on.

When I plug the phone into my computer, and I can see it as a USB device (lsblk). What now? Is there a way to issue a command to the device from my computer (Arch Linux) telling it to turn on?

I was in a similar situation where the button didnt work. I actually managed to clean the button and make it work again. It will require some patience, but in this state you got nothing much to lose.

The button consists of 2 layers of conductors where 1 layer is actually a sphere and when pressing it bends down, touches the other layer and its registered as a click.

What happened is that somehow dirt got between those layers causing the 2 layers never to touch. If you carefully open up your phone, and then open up the layers and clean the dirt, you can fix your phone yourself.

Ofc there is no guarantee that this is the actual problem or that the fix will fully work, but if you can't do anything else I think its worth a shot.


Rooting Sony Xperia xa2 ultra I permanently deleted my "DCIM" folder from my internal storage while connected to my pc using a usb cable, before unlocking the bootloader and factory resetting my phone and rooting my phone and doing all that stuff, i was wondering if im able to recover all those files from my internal memory?

By default modern device like your XA2 Ultra use an hardware encrypted user storage. This means a factory reset should not only delete your data but also delete the encryption key.

Therefore after unlocking, factory reset and rooting the encryption key has changed and your data is not recoverable.


Use AND logic on variables in Tasker I have Tasker speak texts to me if the phone is not in silent mode. (The task looks something like Say 'text from %SMSRN who said %SMSRB' if %SILENT ~ off, and it's run by a profile activated when a text is received.)

This works well except when I'm on a phone call and the text is read out while I'm in conversation!  Doesn't happen much but it's annoying. So what I want to do is have it read out texts when I'm not in silent mode AND when I'm not on a call.

I can set up a variable %INCALL to equal 1 when the phone is off the hook (and clear the variable when the phone is idle).

Therefore, I want texts read (if %SILENT ~ off AND %INCALL != 1).

I can't see any way to do an AND in Tasker logic. Is there an elegant way to handle this?

You can specify AND logic in contexts, not just tasks. Don't forget that you can have multiple contexts that must all be met (logical AND) before the task(s) run. Try adding the context State > Call [Any, Invert = YES]; this would mean the profile will only activate 1) when a text is received AND 2) no call is active.


Transfer "Criminal Case" game from OLD tablet to NEW one I have the game/app Criminal Case on my Tablet (Nvidia Shield). I recently got a NEW tablet (also an Nvidia Shield) and want to copy the game over to my new tablet (transferring over my game progress). I downloaded a new copy of the game onto my new tablet, but I need to transfer over my game progress somehow. The game does not require an internet connection, so I assume all of my game progress is saved somewhere on my tablet ... I just don't know where.

I've tried contacting the game's developer, but they have not responded to any of my questions.

Note: The game allows you to login through Facebook, and I assume that I could transfer the game over that way ... however, I never connected to Facebook via my tablet (nor do I want to). So, I'm looking for an alternative solution (where are the files saved on my tablet, and what needs to be copied over).

Look for the package name of the game in your internal memory>Android>Data folder.

Possibly copy the entire folder that matches the package name of that game to your new device (same location, same name).

I don't know about the game, but that's a possible location where the data maybe stored.

EDIT.

I installed the game just to check where it's files are, they are in your devices' /data/data/com.prettysimple.criminalcaseandroid folder

And to access that folder you need root access, so unless your device is rooted, the game data cannot be transfered by copying and pasting files, if there's some other way that game offers to sync data I don't know about it.


Replace lockscreen background image using adb I am using a Lenovo Vibe Shot phone, which has Android 6.0.1 on it. In one of the updates, the change lockscreen background feature stopped work, so I can't change the background, now, regardless of where I try to do it from: settings, gallery, Google Play or 3rd party apps that are made to do that or try to implement the functionality(trust me, if there was a normal way to do it, I'd have found it).

So I've figured out I could maybe use adb to replace my lockscreen background.

Basically, what I'm asking is if there are any special commands in adb shell to do this? If not, does anybody know the location, where Android 6.0.1 stores its lockscreen image? Or if that's not the case, does anybody know the file, which has the string/line that points to the location of the lockscreen background file?

Any of the above mentioned methods are good enough for me. As far as I can see, adb is basically a limited bash shell, or at least has a mode similar to that. So if I get the file location, command or string location, I'll probably be able to continue by myself.

I do not own a Lenovo device, but many individuals claim lockscreen images are stored here: /storage/emulated/0/.lelauncher/wallpaper.

You may want to check this Lenovo support forum: Custom picture for lockscreen


Can I remove a virus by flashing my android? Guys my android is rooted, it was working fine . One day when I turned on my android many notifican like "setting has stoped" began to come . I was redirected to homescreen again and again . To remove this virus I reset my android tablet but even after factory data reset my problem was not solved . When I connected to wifi then automatically new apps were downloaded and I also noticed that wifi and unknown resourses were automatically enabled . I decided to reset my android again but there was again no improvement and some kind of porn apps became system apps . I also did hard reset but that also not worked . Now I am thinking to flash my android through SP Flash tool . Will it work?

All this behaviour can occur if the application you used to root your phone installs some kind of malware or you get a malware at a later point. You cannot remove this by a factory reset as it does not remove root or system apps and does not rewrite the system partition. Your only rescue here is to download SP Flash Tool and flash your system image, as flashing a system image rewrites your system partition and will remove every unwanted app, but you will lose root. If you want to root it again use SuperSU with TWRP. It will not install any malware and your problem will get resolved.


How to Downgrade Android on Huawei I have a Huawei CE0682, which by default came with Android 5. I upgraded to Android 7, but the mobile internet has become very slow.

How can I downgrade my phone back to Android 5?

You can try to just install the 5.0 rom on your recovery. If that doesn't work you need to install twrp recovery. You may find them from xda developers website.


Is there a hidden trash can I can empty? I keep deleting things and clearing cache to try and clean up space on my android and it seems I just keep losing memory, as if it's all going to some huge trash bin and still taking up space. Is there a way to find and empty this trash?

To answer this question I'll need to get you to understand what deleting means.

  Deleting is basically telling the operating system, I'm done with this
  storage space, give it to someone else.

Think of it like a room where an app comes with his stuff then if it so happens that the app gets uninstalled, they leave the room there. So when android is installing the next app, it comes takes up the room. Just because the app was uninstalled doesn't mean the room was also demolished.

This would also explain why it's possible to recover data(through third party apps) even after having 'deleted' it. Now Android and I should believe all mobile phone operating systems don't have a native way of getting this data back. By native I mean you can't recover data by using the OS like the way you can use recycler bin in windows. This is due to the fact that memory is a very very precious asset on phones (it's very limited and the OS would rather have it stored for some other reason) and having a recycler bin would simply end up taking  crucial memory making it more expensive to manage the phone.

So no, android doesn't have a recycler bin; but that doesn't mean you can't recover data. As to what might be taking up your memory consider wiping caches of your apps.

  Cache is app data used on the go that is stored temporarily

.  Also some apps have a nasty habit of leaving behind files after being deleted. They do this in anticipation that you might install the app again and if so you can just come back from where you picked off. I would recommend clean master app from the google playstore as I've I'm used it before and it works superbly fine in determining which apps you don't need and finding out whether your storage is being misappropriated and by who. They also fully uninstall apps and bloatware not leaving any files behind.


Files and Data loss when sd card is changed from java supported phone to android phone I have changed my micro sd card from Samsung Star2 S5263 which is running on Java OS to a new android phone. Later I have connected my android phone to my PC to copy some files from the system.

And after copying, I have placed my sd card into my old phone (Samsung Star2 S5263) only to find some of the files, images and videos are missing. When I tried to open those, it says invalid file format.

Files which were absolutely fine a few minutes ago, now says invalid file format. When I have connected to the system, I haven't touched these files. Any reason why this happens? How to get the files back? (Those images are absolutely important!!)

Thanks

If you removed the micro SD card from a device (any device) while it was still in use, this can cause filesystem corruption. This can often be repaired by connecting it to a card reader on your PC and using a disk scanning tool (e.g. ScanDisk on Windows).


How do I migrate my home screen? My old Moto G 1st generation fell and broke, and I've just bought a new Moto E (2nd generation). It looks like the Motorola Migration app copied all my data. Almost my apps are being reinstalled (I've tried to delete some unused ones before migrating, but are being installed anyway).

The only thing missing is my Home Screen, with my icons organization and widgets. Is there an easy way to do it? Or I must reorganize everything by hand?

Unfortunately no, there's no way to migrate this between devices unless you're using the Google Now Launcher on the old phone, and the new phone ships with it as its default. It's designed to migrate layout, but the stock launcher that Motorola uses doesn't have this functionality.


Android 6.0 update - System UI not working I updated my Z5 to Marshmallow 6.0 yesterday. Worst mistake of my life.

It locked out my phone and wiped some SD photos (so I couldn't get past the keylock screen - on entering the correct code, it goes black momentarily, thinks about it, then returns to the lock screen on a never ending loop). Clicking any notifications fro the dropdown menu brings up the keylock screen again, and on inputting the correct keycode in, I get the error message 'unfortunately, system UI has stopped working' then it returns to the locked screen again.

I can receive calls, emails and texts...but I cannot access them, or send anything.

Worth noting that I already did a factory reset (and lost further photos from my sons 5th birthday), which fixed the problem last night...and this morning it return in the same manner as above.

About to do a further factory reset, but that's no way to live my life with a 3 month old phone....

Someone please help (And also any help on recovering my SD images would be welcomed!)

I have been to x2 O2 stores, with one Guru who couldn't' find a solution.

THANKS!
Maria

When this type of problem happens (I've seen it happen more than once where the unlock code stops working).  Go to Google's Android Management and change the code.  This has cured the problem twice for my clients.

There are a number of ways to get to Google's Device Manager.  One ways is:

http://play.google.com -> Click on the Gear icon at the top right corner of the screen -> Click on Android Device Manager -> Login -> Select your target phone (if you have multiple devices) -> click on Lock.  Follow the prompts to change/set your lock code.

So far this has worked to resolve the issue.  I'm not sure if something specifically has to be done to enable this feature, but since you are experiencing problems, you might consider testing the steps when you're not experiencing the immediate problem so that you can verify that it will be available the next time next time you need it.


revert back to android 2.1 in samsung galaxy 5 aka europa from cyanogenmod 7 gingerbread 2.3 I have installed android 2.3 gingerbread in my galaxy 5 europa GT-I5500 following this post
Now want to go back to 2.1, any dictation how to do that? Thanks for your help.

Is there something wrong with Cyanogenmod?

What you want is the stock version of android Samsung put on the phone, there is no revert as it was deleted when you put cyanogen. As you dont seem to have a copy I would go to Samsung support site or you will have to trust another source on the net and download it there. This would be another great community resource for your phone http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1156


Anybody can help? My File manager shows 2.46gigs but there are not many apps in it!!!!why? My android internal storage is 8 gigs totally. In the storage, it showes 2.46gigs for 'file manager' while there is not a considerable number of apps or any heavy app installed. The file manager app is 22meg but its data size is 2.43gig. I HAVE moved Most of the apps to my sdcard. Moreover, when I unistall an app, there seems to be no difference in its size. It looks like there remain some files in it that I cant see!

What if I uninstall the file manager or clear its data? What would I loose, doing so?

Thanks in advance!

No you wont loose any data rather than its own data . The memory you are seeing can depend on many factors your file manager might also showing the memory consumed by operating system which can take huge amount of memory. Try changing the file manager. Hope this helps.


Where have the megabytes from my downloaded game gone to? I downloaded heros call game, about 130 MB. All is fine -- but I can't find the 130 MB anywhere on my phone, just about 300 KB.

Where have all the megabytes I downloaded gone to? Probably something obvious, but it's driving me mad!

You could use DiskUsage to find your files. This app shows you a graph of folders and how much space they are using on your SD Card. It is designed to help you clean out folders that get large, so it would be perfect for your case.


Enable wallpaper scrolling for HTC Sense 4+ My htc one x just got updated to HTC Sense 4+.
Just yesterday, there was another update but I don't quite know what that update was for. Anyway, with sense 4+, the wallpaper doesn't scroll when I go to different panels. Furthermore, I don't quite like carousel either.

I thought the widgets have become a lot more stylish, though.

How do I enable wallpaper scrolling with sense 4+ now?
If that is not possible, how do I roll back to HTC sense 4?

I don't like Go Launcher because, I think, the widgets are not as good as the HTC ones; so I'd rather not replace sense with something else.

Is this somehow possible at all, please?
I am willing to root my phone, if needed, to get the wallpaper scrolling back.

Thanks.

I have a HTC One X too, and I hadn't noticed yet that wallpaper scrolling is not working anymore. After some searching in the settings, I haven't found the solution to your problem. So I think that I have to conclude that there is no option to restore this functionality.

Reverting back to previouse Sense versions is not an option as far as I know. Rooting is an option, but I guess that this will not fix the problem, though I cannot really say for sure it will or will not.


Can I use my ipod touch as a wireless camera over bluetooth or wifi and watch it on my droid x? Just like the title says. I need something to work like a wireless spy camera.

I think there is a Ustream live video broadcasting / viewing app for Android & iOS, though this would broadcast over the internets rather than directly over bluetooth or wifi.

The Qik app might also be an option.


Can I connect my android phone to the LAN, via an ethernet cable? I want to connect my Galaxy S2 HD LTE SHV-120S Android version 4.0 (rooted) to the internet via a LAN connection. I am sensitive to wifi and network radiation, hence want to make a line connection and keep my phone on airplane mode.
BobjGear mentions some tablets have the required settings, but no phones.
I have an OTG cable, a USB LAN adapter, and a usb cable. I did not find any ethernet drivers on Google Playstore.
Would CyanogenMod or Ubuntu OS have this support?
If it is not possible with this phone, which phones can be configured for it?

You'll need a USB-OTG adapter, or equivalently for newer devices with USB-C ports, a USB-C to USB-A adapter, to be able to physically connect a USB Ethernet adapter to your phone.  It'll only work, though, if the phone has a driver for the Ethernet adapter you're using.  That may vary from phone to phone.

This USB Ethernet adapter has worked for me on several Google-branded Android devices: a Nexus 5, Nexus 5X, and Pixel C tablet.  I've been told by a friend that it also works on the Wii U.  It's an older device (note, doesn't support gigabit) and apparently pretty widely supported.

However, other Android device makers may have removed some drivers from the version of the OS that they ship on their devices, so there's no guarantee that it'll work with every phone.


What is Hevar Android and why is it written on my phone? My S6 Edge phone's lock screen shows me the date, and below that two light bulb emojis surrounding "Hevar Android"

What is this? A Google search showed me that hevar is a Texas IT company, but nothing about Hevar Android.

Enter the settings app and click lock screen and security, then info and app shortcuts, and it's the owner information section.


Is it safe to delete nvram folder? I've got a Mediatek based phone (Meizu 7 pro plus) and I've lost the IMEI2 number. I mean that it is null into phone settings, but filled when I do *#06#.

I've tried many things, such as:

A Factory Reset and wipe out data.
Install an older official ROM (and wipe out data).

But each time:

When I use the phone for the first time (just after wiping it out, or flashing), the IMEI2 is filled and I can call, SMS, etc. as long as I don't restart the phone.
If I restart the phone (no matter how many times or the SIM slot I'm using), the IMEI2 is null and I can no longer use the mobile network.

I've tried to use softwares claiming to change IMEI numbers, but they doen't work.

I've tried to set it with the engineering mode (send AT+ command), but it refuses saying that the operation is not allowed on a "userbuild" (and yes, I've tried to insert spaces at many places between or after some symbols).

I've seen people recommending to delete the whole nvram folder (on many sources and people replying back that it worked for them). But I don't know what is the purpose of that folder (I do know what is a non volatile RAM, but I have no clue of the impact of deleting it on Android).

After a backup, I tried to delete the nvram folder (via adb root ; adb shell ; su - ; mv /data/nvram somethingelse). I do confirm that this folder is created from scratch when you reboot the device.

So the answer is yes, it is safe to delete the folder.


Do permissions apply across users? If I create a secondary user and install an app while using the phone as that user, will the permissions for that app carry over for the primary user?

For example, let's say I have a primary user, Foo, with a Google account foo@gmail.com. I then create the user Bar with the account bar@gmail.com. Whilst using the phone as Bar, I install an app with the "find accounts on the device" permission.

Will this allow the app to see the accounts I have registered with the primary account, i.e. foo@gmail.com? Will it even be able to find the primary user at all or are there hard boundaries between user "workspaces" (for lack of a better term), and as far as the app can see, there's only Bar and its registered accounts on the device?

I'm just generally concerned with apps finding out about my personal data, contacts, emails, etc, and would like to use a "dummy" account for any app I consider hostile in this regard. Would this work?

I have a Nexus 5X running Android 6.0.1.

Google has documented both the multi-user feature itself, and the associated API which shows what an application could do with it.

Behind the scenes, the multi-user feature relies on SELinux multi-level (MLS, aka. multi-categories) system where each user is associated to its own SELinux category (see NSA's presentation SELinux in Android Lollilop and Marshmallow for reference, in particular slides 13 and 14). This provides a very robust and reliable separation between users, enforced at Android's kernel level and therefore hardly bypassable.

In this scheme, there are public and private resources. Public resources are shared between all users, while private resources are the own private property of each user and cannot be accessed by others.

Public resources include mostly installed applications and global phone configuration. Note that you can restrict the way secondary users may use the device, for instance secondary users can be prevented from passing any phone call.
Private resources include mostly local user's settings, local application and user's data.

Now let's see what are the concrete consequences of these statements (I reuse your convention of user Foo as the primary user and user Bar as the secondary one).

  If I create a secondary user and install an app while using the phone
  as that user, will the permissions for that app carry over for the
  primary user?

Installed applications are considered as public resources, therefore if the user Bar installs an application then the same application will also be available for user Foo, even if the user Foo did never explicitly accepted the application's requested permissions.

However, user Bar will have no way to make the application run into Foo's profile, neither it will have access to Foo's private data. Moreover, except in the case of a badly buggy or downright malicious application (ie. an application which would copy private data into some shared location), both Foo and Bar can run the application, Foo and Bar's private data will remain safe (they can even use it at the same time if the application supports it, if it does not it will simply refuse to start or crash).

  For example, let's say I have a primary user, Foo, with a Google
  account foo@gmail.com. I then create the user Bar with the account
  bar@gmail.com. Whilst using the phone as Bar, I install an app with
  the "find accounts on the device" permission.

  Will this allow the app to see the accounts I have registered with the
  primary account, i.e. foo@gmail.com?

I just want to warn to not confuse the "Find accounts on the device" permission with the multi-user feature which is unrelated. Each user has its own list of accounts which is considered private information, and therefore not shared to any other device's users.

When Bar runs the application, only Bar's accounts will be available, whereas when Foo runs the application only Foo's accounts will be available.

  Will it even be able to find the primary user at all or are there hard
  boundaries between user "workspaces" (for lack of a better term), and
  as far as the app can see, there's only Bar and its registered
  accounts on the device?

The users list seems to be considered as public information, most likely as a Unix world historical inheritance since I do not see any technical reason for this. Personally I would have appreciated if it wasn't the case (ie. users more as transparent sandboxes than standard Unix users, at least as long as applications are not granted some specific permission).

Anyway, the Android API documentation page linked at the beginning of this post lists the methods that an application can use to gather information about current and other users. Most of them do not seem to require any specific permission.

  I'm just generally concerned with apps finding out about my personal
  data, contacts, emails, etc, and would like to use a "dummy" account
  for any app I consider hostile in this regard. Would this work?

Yes, I even think this can be a very good idea, just be sure to be in your dummy account when launching it since the same application may also be available for your primary user.

Usability notes:

The multi-user feature in Android systems still seems very young and not very mature. This means that there are impacting changes between Android version and compatibility issues.

For instance:

User types and authorization handling: how the primary user and/or a corporate central device administration platform may define or restrict secondary/restricted/profile/guest users rights in terms of functionality and applications they may use or install is subject to heavy changes between Android versions and underlying devices (while still running Android, tablets may offer different options than cellphones).
The same also applies to the way applications installation, permission requests, applications sharing and uninstallation are processed (they may be directly available, they may be displayed but marked "Not installed for this user", they may not be displayed at all while still leaving the APK available, etc.).
Some feature may come and go between the broken and fixed state between versions (the "Allow unknown sources" setting for secondary users has been reportedly unavailable for 5.0, fixed in 5.1, broken in 6.0, fixed again in 6.0.1).
Some applications may not work when using a secondary user (F-Droid for instance).

There are still what I consider to be missing features, for instance there is no proper way for a user to log out.


Can Anti-virus affect device performance? I have installed some anti-viruses on my device, and since then I am feeling that the performance of the device is quite slow, and when I uninstall them the device works fine, and the device starts heating so quickely. So is this because of Apps from the Market or this issue is with my device.

All antivirus applications on all platforms will impact the performance of the device.
This is because they intercept your actions and check them for unwanted effects.

You say you have installed anti-viruses - plural.  If you install more than one such application on any device they will start to check upon each other.  This will have a significant cumulative affect which will be immediately noticeable.
If you have installed more than one, then uninstall in the reverse order of installation.


How does one restore data to phone from Google drive? I backup my data from my Android phone to Google Drive. I then performed a full factory reset. I was given the option to exchange data with another phone, but not restore from Google Drive.

When I go to Google Drive from the app, I'm able to see the backup. I can view the files, but the only option I'm given is to delete them.

Is there something I'm missing? Why can't you restore incrementally from Google Drive? And how do I get my data back without having to do another factory restore? Finally, why wasn't I given that option when I perform the factory restore?

Here's a real-life case on someone who'd gotten Google Backup to restore indirectly without root: screenshot

As I recall, a manual trigger for the G Backup restore function was planned for the Pixel series, but this was over a year ago that I'd read about that so I'm not sure what became of that; at that time, an ADB command existed to trigger such behavior, but I'm unsure what the prerequisites and/or limitations are.

My post here also briefly touches on G Backup and other methods I'd explored to solve my own issue with restoring a backup file's data.  Note that there is versioning requirement for the standard restoration method(s) to work, i.e., you can only restore onto a device running the same or higher  of Android (if even then).

Finally, here is a guide I wrote (and fixes) for an Android game, but the same functionality can be applied to more general usages as well.


Restore/recover Supersonic Matrix SC-91JB Android tablet My friend brought me his granddaughter's tablet a couple weeks ago and it was stuck at the Android logo screen, just gray "android" text with white highlight moving across repeatedly.

I already had ADB from some stuff I was doing on another Android tablet some time ago. I was able to connect to the tablet using ADB. I searched around and found the adb shell wipe data command and that got the table working again. Gave tablet back to little girl and everyone happy.

He just brought me the tablet again, same problem, I tried the same solution. This time it did not work. After wiping data, the tablet still gets stuck at the Android logo.

This time I found echo -e 'boot-recovery\0' > /dev/block/nandf; sync, issued the command from within adb shell, rebooted, and got an Android on his back with a green triangle / exclamation point. I hit the Home button and got into the recovery menu, but the only thing I could do was to reboot. What makes this extra tricky is that this tablet has no volume button(s), only Power and Home.

After rebooting, I got the Android logo again. I can still get into adb, so there are signs of life, I just don't know how to proceed. Manufacturer support seems to be non-existent. Don't know how to find a proper factory image to restore the tablet. Don't want to just start hacking and brick it forever.

I don't really know anything about Android but I am a pretty good (i.e. old, haha) computer guy and have general familiarity with operating systems, UNIX/Linux/Posix commands, and hardware. I should be able to follow instructions if anybody out there can walk me through this.

Any suggestion is really appreciated.

P.S. Following is output from the wipe data. I do not recall if I received similar error messages a couple weeks ago when the wipe data fixed the tablet. I don't think the tablet has ever been rooted, etc.:

D:\Users\me\Downloads\Root_with_Restore_by_Bin4ry_v31\stuff>adb shell wipe data
Wiping /data
rmdir() error on '/data/system/dropbox' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/system/throttle' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/system/shared_prefs' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/system' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/backup/pending/journal-133428497.tmp' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/backup/pending' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/backup/com.android.internal.backup.LocalTransport/@pm@' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/backup/com.android.internal.backup.LocalTransport/@pm@.new' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/backup/com.android.internal.backup.LocalTransport' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/backup/com.google.android.backup.BackupTransportService' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/backup/ancestral' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/backup' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/system.notfirstrun' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/anr/traces.txt' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/anr' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/cfs.version' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_00' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_01' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_02' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_03' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_04' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_05' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_06' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_07' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_08' 'Read-only file system'
unlink() error on '/data/tombstones/tombstone_09' 'Read-only file system'
rmdir() error on '/data/tombstones' 'Read-only file system'
Done wiping /data

Playing around with "mount" and various commands, it looked like the /data file system was already mounted r/w. This left me with the option of trying to reload a "factory image".

The link you posted was informative and looks like a good resource, however I am a bit gun-shy about trying to load code that was not specific to the exact device in front of me, as I got burned on that once before (fortunately that one was resolved when the manufacturer finally made the correct stuff available).

I was finally able to get this one working without having to resort to trying a generic A10 image. I ended up using "echo -e 'boot-recovery\0' > /dev/block/nandf; sync", from within adb shell, connected a standard USB Windows keyboard from a PC, then issued "reboot" command still from within adb shell. Again I got an android on his back with a green triangle / exclamation point. I hit the Home button on the tablet and got into the recovery menu, and voila, the arrow keys on the keyboard actually worked to navigate the menu. I selected the option for wipe data / factory reset and used the Power button on the tablet as Enter, used the keyboard again to navigate the "are you sure" prompt, Power button again for Enter. The device showed that it was formatting /data and some other file system (I forget), then when it was done it went back to the recovery menu. I disconnected the USB keyboard and hit Power one more time to reboot, and this time we made it past the Android logo and back to a like-new out-of-box state! Back in business!

The concept of connecting a PC keyboard might be a breakthrough for anyone struggling with recovery on one of these tablets with no volume buttons, though I can't say it was entirely my idea. It briefly flashed through my mind at one point but I didn't actually try it until another post I read somewhere kicked me again. ;-)

p.s. I don't know if the exact sequence of connecting the keyboard etc was significant, but I figured I'd try to be specific just for the benefit of anyone reading this in the future.


On flashing TWRP: Custom binary blocked by FRP Lock Whenever I try to flash TWRP I get

  Custom binary blocked by FRP Lock.

I'm trying to flash with Heimdall.

On recent Android devices, when you have Factory Reset Protection, which is enabled automatically when you setup a Google account, custom binaries (the files that are not signed by the OEM) are blocked (custom recoveries, boot, etc) for security reasons as one can bypass that lock and gain access to your data.

So disabling OEM lock in the Developer Settings, which opens the bootloader to non-signed binaries, should let you flash any custom binary.

EDIT:

To recover your device, simply flash it with a stock firmware uing Heindall or Odin.


Updating Pixel after many months. Will I get all the missing monthly security patches? Not a duplicate of this
Are security patches only applied to the latest Android version?

I have a Pixel 4a, Android 11, running November security update. For various reasons, I do not wish to apply monthly updates, maybe do it once in a quarter or maybe even more (I know & accept the risk, let's not get into that).

I know I can update, whenever by full OTA or factory image. I prefer the OTA route because

This (OTA) has the same effect as flashing the corresponding factory image, but without the need to wipe the device or unlock the bootloader.

Accepted answer here, indicates that I can  update, for example in June 21,without flashing all (7 months) of images, which is good What is the difference between Factory Images and Full OTA Images on the Android download site?

My question now is that will the June 21 full OTA incorporate all the  intermediate security patches (seven months) ?
I searched a lot (fairly good at that) but couldn't get a conclusive answer.
I am looking for an answer with credible backing (it may change my update plan).

Thanks to the chat discussion with Irfan Latif, alecxs and Kulfy the consensus was :

The OTA update should in theory have all previous security patches applied.

Updates are not covered under AOSP documentation and it's left to OEMs discretion. Probably that's why there isn't documentation around this.

Therefore, reach out to Google for a conclusive answer.

I chatted with Google and this person had to take help of technical resource. The chat window is tiny but here is the conclusion

I've checked this with my resources and would like to inform you that once you've updated your device to the latest security patch so it should cover all the security patch features up till date.

Despite my request they couldn't offer any technical insight in terms of documentation or code,which would have been nice but then I got a credible answer!


Sometimes I need to sign in to my WI-Fi and other times I don't. How is it SUPPOSED to work? Is there a document somewhere that explains what I can expect with regards to logging on to wifi networks ?  IE: When will I have to log on, if I enter a password, will the phone remember it the next time I log on to that specific wifi network ? Things like that.

You'll normally be prompted to enter passwords on encrypted Wi-Fi networks (WPA/WPA2, WEP etc) or even WPS Wi-Fi networks.

Encrypted Wi-Fi networks usually have a padlock icon.

For open networks, you can connect without need of a password.  (These kind of networks don't have the padlock icon)

Once you connect to either type of wi-fi , these settings for that access point are saved automatically, such that you don't needlessly enter again a password upon reconnection (in the case of encrypted ones). Android can remember such access points.

There are other kinds of wi-fi networks, that require additional login steps on an ISP webpage (Captive portals), in this case the initial connection is automatic, then you'll need to enter login details (e.g email/id and access password)


Why "adb root" does nothing? I have a OnePlus 6T. It is rooted by TWRP and Magisk. I have set ro.debuggable to 1. But when I type adb root it does this:

I cannot even use adb pull on system files.

On production (user) build of a ROM, you can't start adbd as root unless ROM or at least adbd binary is rebuilt with required modifications. Reason is the ALLOW_ADBD_ROOT build flag (1, 2).
 That's why adbd Insecure was developed, which replaced the adbd binary with a modified one.

On a userdebug or eng build (or with insecure adbd binary extracted from any of these build types):

If ro.secure=0, adbd runs as root when enabled from Settings (Developer Options) (3). However adb root won't work (4).
If ro.debuggable=1, adb root will restart adbd as root (5, 6).

However adbd can be built from modified source code to skip all these checks. Additionally SELinux should also be taken care of, if in enforcing mode. adbd must be allowed to run in unrestricted superuser context: u:r:su:s0 (7, 8), which isn't the case for user builds (9, 10, 11). See this answer for more details.

Android properties can be overwritten using /data/local.prop on userdebug/eng builds i.e. if ALLOW_LOCAL_PROP_OVERRIDE build flag is set (12, 13). But this doesn't work for ro.* properties (14) and same is true for setprop commandline tool. However default.prop / prop.default file - which could be located under multiple possible locations depending on the device build configurations (15) - can be modified to change read-only properties (if not already set from some other property file or *.rc file). If the file is in ramdisk, boot.img needs to be modified.

Magisk's resetprop tool can reset the read-only properties even if they are already set. ro.secure and ro.debuggable both may have possibly been changed as a part of MagiskHide policy (16), which you can revert back to allow adbd run as root.

Another related property is ro.adb.secure, which controls public key authentification. By setting ro.adb.secure=0 on userdebug/eng builds, authentification is skipped (no device unauthorized message ever) (17, 18, 19). Related: Storage location of “adb_keys”.


How to get the "Encrypt external SD card" option to show (on a LG Optimus F6)? The "Encrypt external SD card" option doesn't show up under Settings -> Security on my LG Optimus F6, or my Huawei Y301-A2.
A microSD card, FAT32 formatted and empty, is inserted and recognized correctly. The "encrypt device" option shows up, but the "Encrypt external SD card" does not.
How do I get this option to show up? This is using Android 4.1.2

I don't know about those exact models, but on Jelly Bean in general, you must enable a password on your phone to encrypt external SD.

Security  -> Set up screen lock -> Password.

Then you'll need to set a password for the SD.

Step-by-step tutorial with images:
http://visihow.com/Encrypt_Files_on_Your_SD_Card_Using_Your_Android_Phone


Is it possible to overwrite the system factory reset option with my own backup? Please i need to know if it is possible to overwrite the system factory reset option with our own backup file. Basically, i am interested to tune the factory reset option with my own custom full system backup.

In other words, i want to restore my custom backup when i click on the factory reset option instead of restoring the original settings of the factory.

Note 1: I have already rooted my Android device (Huawei Honor 7 - PLK-L01).

Note 2: My objective is not restoring a backup. I know how to restore a full backup. I need though to understand if it is possible to configure the factory reset option with my own backup. I really like to understand the procedure to do that if it is possible.

Thanks in advance for your help!

When you start the factory reset in the settings it just runs recovery which the actual resetting is done by. Normally, recovery just wipes everything in /data and /cache in all (and /sdcard in most of) phones, since that is all a non-root user can modify.

So a factory reset is not a fresh install of the ROM. It is just the wiping process of every made-by-user change on the phone.

I want to stress it since as much as I understand you think factory reset does some sort of overwriting. It doesn't do that. Vice versa it wipes stuff. It, by default, doesn't restore, install, overwrite anything.


Welsh letters with circumflex: example - ŷ Can these be input via my Galaxy s4 keyboard?

The example is embraced by Unicode hex 0177 and its capital version 0176. The Welsh language is not amongst the language options on this device.

Did you try with Google's Gboard ? This keyboard has support for several languages including Welsh. Simply touch and hold Y : ŷ, Ŷ


fastboot flashall -w Halts I have a Samsung Nexus S.
I have erased recovery and boot pertitions using fastboot erase <partition>
and when I do fastboot flashall -w it stops on

sending 'boot' (XXXX KB)...

What might be wrong?

UPDATE:

I successfully managed to flashed my NS back to stock ROM.
Please refer to my own answer below.

Regards,

NOTE: attempting fastboot flash on ur device may cost you your data.
  So be careful

I figured out that I had an outdated Android SDK. I downloaded the latest one, and did:

fastboot flash boot

fastboot flash recovery

fastboot flash userdata

and in a couple of minutes I had the stock ROM up and running.


Using ADB to change the screen lock I am looking for a way to change the screen lock type from slide to password, and set the password via adb command line. I have a device with the setup I want, and one that has slide lock. I'm pretty sure this can be accomplished via sqlite3 "copy paste" of some fields, but not sure which fields, and how to do it. I'm open to pretty much all ideas except using adb shell input commands to accomplish this. Meaning - I can/know how to/am currently using commands input swipe input text input tap commands to change swipe unlock to password unlock.

edit1: clarified adb shell input, and yes, my phone is rooted.

edit2: relevant links:
How to change lock screen type
Pass encryption on android
According to the post in the first link, it should be easy to change the lockscreen type, the only problem is that I cannot find the lockscreen.password_type field in the database they refer to. Has it moved in 4.3? After reading through the article in the second link my idea became to use the salt number stored in the database to hash out a new password using the device specific salt, and override the existing (if any) password. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this.

Since Android 8.0 Oreo, you can change the lock screen using below adb commands

adb shell

athene_f:/ $ locksettings
usage: locksettings set-pattern [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL] NEW_PATTERN

   locksettings set-pin [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL] NEW_PIN
   locksettings set-password [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL] NEW_PASSWORD
   locksettings clear [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL]
   locksettings verify [--old OLD_CREDENTIAL]
   locksettings set-disabled DISABLED
   locksettings get-disabled

flags:
   --user USER_ID: specify the user, default value is current user

locksettings set-pin: sets a PIN
locksettings set-password: sets a password
locksettings clear: clears the unlock credential
locksettings verify: verifies the credential and unlocks the user
locksettings set-disabled: sets whether the lock screen should be disabled
locksettings get-disabled: retrieves whether the lock screen is disabled

And if you want to remove the password, just use below code:

$ locksettings clear --old old_password_put_here

Here is the reference link: The Android Soul - How to change or remove lock screen pattern, PIN or password via ADB on Android 8.0 Oreo

I have tested on Android Oreo device. It works just fine.


How to stop shuffle playing audiobooks and other non-music? .nomedia hides it from the player, but I still want to be able to play it. Just not with the rest of my music.

Continue to use the .nomedia file in your  audio book directory and use a separate audio book player like MortPlayer for listening to non-music audio files like audio books.

Personally I use MortPlayer for audio books, BeyondPod for podcasts and the built in music player for music and things go pretty smoothly.  I don't have audio books messing up my playlists and BeyondPod and MortPlayer have features better suited to listening to audio books and podcasts, respectively.


Offline dialer for android (Kitkat) I just purchased a Moto G. I can't find a voice dialer that works in places where there is no access to wifi/data.  The Google app just displays a message that Google can't be reached. The phone already has Offline language set to English(US).  Perhaps there is a different app out there that will work?  None of the apps that I've tried so far have helped with this problem (Utter!, Speak2call, I've tried a bunch).

I can't even believe this is an issue.  My old flip phone with no wifi/data capability had no problem voice dialing contacts on the phone's contact list.

Thanks for your help.

It's likely because most 3rd party apps as well as Google's own offering rely on Android's Text-to-Speech capability, which doesn't appear to be available offline on your device.

I understand you have set the offline language, but do just verify the following settings are set correctly:

  Go into the Settings app on your phone and navigate to Language & input » Text-to-speech output. Tap on the Settings button next to Google Text-to-speech engine and then on Install voice data.

Ensure that the correct voice data is downloaded


File Manager opens when connected to charger I am using Sony XPeria with Android 4.0.4. If I connect the device to an AC adapter/charger, the ASTRO File manager opens by default. How to stop the app from opening when the device is connected to the charger?

I believe this is because the Astro file manager sees it as a connection instead charge only.

When you connect the charger, pull down the top notification menu -> click on the USB icon -> change the settings to "USB charge only"

This should fix it


how to make swipe elite plus volte phone I have swipe elite plus and and want to make it volte but problem is there is no update from swipe and there is no custom rom available for swipe elite plus.
please help

Make sure your phone supports voLTE, in which case  the guide to activate it is found here: How To Enable Jio VoLTE calling on any Android Smartphone.

Alternatively, you can use  Jio4GVoice to make HD voice or video calls over 4g. For more information please refer to this website: Make any smartphone to support voLTE (HD voice and video calls with Jio4GVoice

Hope this helps


How to use USB debugging "by air"? On my PC is installed Android Studio and ADB. I can connect with Android via a USB wire. But in the settings there is a function

where can I write 0.0.0.0:5555 to connect to a PC by air?

0.0.0.0 is not a valid IP. Mobile carriers don't expose IP addresses for external connection.

Instead, connect to a WiFi network which your PC is also connected to. Then turn on the option, after which you should see a valid local IP address. On your PC, run adb connect your.local.ip.address:5555, and provided that the network is properly set up (e.g. no firewall rules blocking access), you will be wirelessly connected to the device via ADB. Use adb disconnect when you're done with it.

More general info about adb (and how to do it wirelessly even if your device doesn't have that option in Developer Options) is available here.


Tell app to lower volume Is it possible to tell a specific app to lower volume, using intents?
I would like to be able to use Tasker to tell the HEOS app to lower the volume.

EDIT:
Heos is a streaming system, controlled through an app. When the music is playing, and my phone is on the same wifi, I can control the volume of the system by opening the app and pressing the volume rockers.
But it is rather cumbersome to open the app each time, so I was hoping to create a custom widget to do this instead.

Volume is system wide and not application wide, unless an application has it's own volume management, meaning there won't be a bulletproof proof solution, only application specific solution.

System wide volume can be altered on settings.db.


How to set up a proxy on a Samsung Galaxy Tab? Dear all,
  Is it possible to configure a proxy server for Https web browsing in samsung galaxy tab?
What if I install an ubuntu on it?

Thanks in advance,


Often received call goes on mute on Nokia 5 (Android 7.1.1) Often when I receive a call, after a half or one minute my mic goes on mute. It only happens when I receive the call so far. When this happens, I have to unlock the phone, and select the ongoing call which is somehow gone to the background, and it is automatically unmuted. The first picture shows normal calling, when everything is OK. The second is when the mic goes muted (notice the mute icon in the upper right corner).

Click on the image for larger image

In "I have to unlock the phone, and select the ongoing call which is somehow gone to the background, and it is automatically unmuted." this line is confusing do you mean "it is automatically muted" ?


Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (AT&T) bricked while trying to root While trying to root Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 (SM-T337A), it now says

  System software not authorized by ATT has been found on your phone

Downloading the firmware through Odin didn't help.

Aside from taking it to the nearest AT&T or Best Buy, is there a way to fix this by myself?

The best way is to download your original STOCK rom and flash it through odin.

I need more info about your question. When you rooted it, did it sucessfully root? Do you know if the bootloader is unlocked?

Also, what kind of recovery are you using?


Trichromelibrary was suddenly downloading from Google Play Store From nowhere, my friend got a notification that com.google.android.trichromelibrary was downloading together with a progress bar.

Why?

From Shared Libraries on Android which explains
native code in Chrome on Android

Android L & M need ChromeModernPublic.aab
Android N, O & P need MonochromePublic.aab
Android Q needs TrichromeChrome.aab + TrichromeLibrary.apk

(Emphasis added)
Further down the page it explains what these packages do (in developer speak). So, it's perfectly safe and legit, as it is a part of Android Chrome - nothing to be worried about.


I want to uninstall Playstore I need to uninstall the Playstore on my Android device due to internal memory issues. All my updates are done externally. I want to inquire if it is safe to do so?

Yes it is perfectly safe.
But u should be rooted to remove it.

I have removed play-store on my Galaxy Fit a long time ago, reason being it always triggered the installation of Google play Services.


Adding Internet Icalendar Is there some way to subscribe to an internet calendar on Android without logging into Google calendar and adding it there?

This is not possible in normal way, but can be done with a bit tricky.

You can visits https://calendar.google.com/calendar/r/settings -> Left panel -> "Add calendar" -> "Browse calendars of interest" -> "Regional holiday" -> Select and Tick "Holidays in specific country" -> It will add to left panel under section "Settings for other calendars" -> Click it -> "Integrate calendar":

There are two methods:

The "Public URL" can be direct open in Android web browser and use its "Add to Home screen" option to make a shortcut on screen. The advantage is you can always get the latest date, but you can't get event notification.
The "Public address in iCal format" can be open in Android web browser and download as .ics file. Before open .ics file, ensure delete the cache/data storage of system app called "Calendar Storage"  in app settings first (Need to choose "shows system app/processes" to see that app). And you may also need to navigate in "Accounts" -> "Google" -> All Gmail -> turn off Calendar sync. After open the file with "Google Calendar" app, it by default will reside "Phone" OR "Holidays" category. Choose "ADD ALL" to add all events to calendar. Finally relaunch the calendar app, you should able to see the latest events added by .ics file up to next one year. If it doesn't showing, swipe the left panel and tick "Phone"(Huawei P9 Lite) OR "Holidays"(LG Nexus 5X) to shows. Note that upper right "refresh" option can toggle back Gmail events, it's up to you. The disavantage of this method is its event is fixed on .ics file and will not up to date without re-download and re-add. And I noticed I must clear "Calendar Storage" data cache (Gmail events) first or else it will popup a toast about incomplete to add all events. One thing you should know is the events timeline in Google Calendar app actually saved inside "Calendar Storage" system app data cache which can share to other app, not its data cache.


What are some general tips on improving overall performance of an Android phone? I was wondering if anyone could share some general tips on speeding up/ improving performance of your phone.  I have had my droid eris for about a year now and it seems more sluggish than ever.  I know the newer android releases give the phone better feedback but I was wondering besides the OS, what other options do I have to generally speed up my phone or other phones.  Are there some cache's or program info I can clear out?  If I remove some apps will I see an Improvement?  If I restore to factory and restore all my apps will that help?  Are there programs out there that might help speed/clean it up?  What Im looking for is to improve the overall performance of the phone.  Whats some tips I could use to accomplish this?

Leave some empty space in the internal memory. When there is less than 10 MB left in the internal memory, Android can become very sluggish. Leave at least 20 MB. In my experience, low internal memory is often the root cause of sluggishness (and random errors).

Use app2sd as much as possible, especially if you have small internal memory
Uninstall big applications that you do not use much.
(!) In rooted ROM, you can use pm setInstallLocation 2 trick to force installing applications on SD card (note that not all applications can be safely installed on SD card).
(!) When system applications are updated, the original version of the applications are not deleted so you can uninstall the update. This takes up valuable space; if you're rooted, you can remove the stock application entirely and reclaim this space. I do not recommended this unless you are already using a Modded ROM since you can no longer use "Factory Reset" to return your system applications to the factory version (at least not without reflashing a fresh stock ROM).

Choose fast applications.

Use Opera Mobile or Mini. The stock browser is a great browser, however it's also quite sluggish (even Google's mobile home page it is sluggish as hell). Opera's touch interface is a bit annoying to use, but it is much snappier than the stock browser.
Choose a fast Home Screen. Some manufacturers equips their phones with pretty, but sluggish home screen. You may want to use a simpler and faster home screen apps. Also, live wallpapers kills snappiness; if you want to use them, use the simpler ones.

Do NOT use Task Killers, especially the automated ones. You should not Force Kill an applications unless you are sure that the application has gone extremely wrong and the application is ignoring a more polite requests to shut down. Force Killing applications may leave dangling resources in system services that cannot be safely cleaned up. Leave the job of killing applications to Application Life Cycle.
You should not need to clean caches, caches are there to speed up applications. If an application's caching causes it to slow down, report that to the developer as a bug.

Cleaning out cache may temporarily help with #1 (low internal memory), however cleaning cache is only a temporary fix. The application will just generate the cache again, and your memory will fill up again. Some applications allow you to adjust the size of the cache, which is much more useful permanent solution than cleaning out cache. Generally you want to give applications as much cache as possible while still having a decent amount of space in the internal memory.
Applications that have big caches (e.g. maps) should cache to the SD card, file a bug report to the application developer if they don't.
Due to the nature of caching, there are times when cache may become inconsistent and this may confuse the application, possibly causing random crashes, slowness, ANRs, or other random behaviors. This sort of thing is rare, but it does happen. Generally, you should leave the cache alone unless you suspect there are erroneous behaviors that may be caused by bad caches.

Upgrading Android may bring performance updates, however higher Android versions tend to be bigger than the previous ones and may cause #1 (low internal memory). If an upgrade leaves you with much smaller internal memory that you cannot install all of your favorite applications and have some space left, you may want to stay at an older version.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) comes with a JIT compiler (Just In Time Compiler) that will increase CPU-bound programs by up to 5x (in my Spica, JIT raises Linpack's score from ~3 to ~9). Sluggish program is usually I/O bound, but helping with CPU-bound processes helps quite a bit.
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) have an improved task management, the Application Life cycle will kill applications that causes sluggishness and battery usage. Gingerbread also have concurrent garbage collector, which should reduce random stutters/pauses.

Some applications can slow down when they have a large amount of data or a large number of items to manage. For example, the stock SMS app on the Incredible gets progressively slower as it accumulates more messages. The only way to fix that is either replace the app, delete messages, or archive them off the phone (SMS Backup+ is great for this).

items marked (!) is potentially dangerous


resetting my Nexus 7 recently, I downloaded Android 5.0 on my nexus 7. I hate it, and want to reset my tablet. If I do, will that take me back to the original factory setting (4.1), and if so, can I upgrade to 4.4 kit kat?

No resetting will not put you back on any previous versions of Android. In order to do that you will need to flash whatever version that you want.

I suggest using Wugfresh Nexus Root Toolkit for downgrading. If you decide that you want to go back to stock, unrooted, and locked bootloader you have that option as well. This toolkit will be able to unbrick your device, if needed. It has all the necessary tools to do all the steps to flash another Android version. Plus it'll do the recovery, kernel, and bootloader as well.


ADB Sideload is stuck, can I flash zip manually instead? I'm trying to root my phone. I managed to unlock bootloader and flash TWRP. Next thing guide says is to boot into TWRP (which I managed too) and then enable sideload and flash SuperSU via adb sideload file.zip command. This is where TWRP gets stuck at Starting ADB sideload feature... ḿessage.
Do you have any tips how to make this work, or can I flash SuperSU via TWRP without sideload?

TWRP version: twrp-3.0.2-0-a16

Certainly. In fact, ADB isn't at all necessary.

First of all, to save you a lot of worries, I will inform you about FlashFire. It's easily the best way to install ROMs and other such things if you do have root. Download it if you have root.

If you don't have root, here's the non-root TWRP method To boot into TWRP differs from phone to phone, so I won't go into it here. I will, however, detail the rest of the process. Make sure the ROM's ZIP file is on the phone.

Make a Nandroid backup (optional): You should back your phone up in case something goes higgledy piggledy. Go to Backup and choose what partitions to save.
Wipe The Phone Go back to the TWRP homescreen, select Wipe and then swipe the bar. Your phone (but not it's internal storage) will be completely reset.
Install the ROM: Go back to the TWRP homescreen and select Install. Navigate to your ROM's zip file and select it. Swipe the bar to begin installing.
If you have a Google Apps zip, repeat Step 3 with it.
Reboot your phone.

That's basically how. Phones can be a bit slow on startup for the first time after the flash, but you should be fine. If something does go wrong, install from your Nandroid backup.


Will Android Lollipop be pushed to Nexus 7 device again I received a push update for android 5 and was not installed as selected later as the timing of the notification wasn't the right time.  My device now says the system is up to date

Just wondering, will the update to android 5 be pushed again and when is likely timing?

Thanks for help.

I think you will have to flash the factory image yourself. See the instructions and links to all Nexus factory images at https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images

Note that this procedure will not preserve your data as may be the case with OTA push updates.


How can I root my Verizon Galaxy Note 5? I want to root my Verizon note 5 what's the best way to without messing up my phone or regretting it? I have done it before and regretted doing it. I want the apps and I want to like my phone too

Unfortunately there is no root currently available for Verizon variants of the note 5. This is due to a completely locked down boot-loader and anti root protection from Samsung Knox.

It is conceivable that there will never be a root for this particular phone.

Source: http://www.xda-developers.com/root-twrp-available-for-samsung-galaxy-note-5/


Running ident on Android/HTC Our Business intranet uses ident to get user credentials for the different programs/modules. Our programmers say they cant/wont change this. I'm wanting to use one of the programs on my HTC Android phone, but it wont let me use the web page as it picks up my ident as "unknown" rather than "helen". I've tried various IRC apps which say they run ident, but none of them seem to work, unless I've got them set up wrong. e.g. Sock server ultimate.
Any ideas how I can get ident running on my phone?

BusyBox (requires root) includes fakeidentd, which is an extremely simple Ident service that just replies to everything with the same username.

127|root@X9076:/storage/sdcard0 # fakeidentd --help
BusyBox v1.23.1-Stericson (2015-02-06 13:50:32 EST) multi-call binary.

Usage: fakeidentd [-fiw] [-b ADDR] [STRING]

Provide fake ident (auth) service

    -f      Run in foreground
    -i      Inetd mode
    -w      Inetd 'wait' mode
    -b ADDR Bind to specified address
    STRING  Ident answer string (default: nobody)

So in your case, you would simply run fakeidentd helen from a shell on your device (such as with Terminal Emulator).


WiFi “Network Notification” greyed out I have a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact running Android 4.4.4 KitKat.

I am unable to un-check "Network Notification" under Settings -> Wi-Fi -> Advanced as its greyed out. Is there a way of un-checking that box?

Click image for larger version

You need to enable your Wi-Fi for that option to be available for checking or unchecking. Seems like a bug since I don't see any reason why the Wi-Fi should be enabled for the option to be available for toggle.


Question about Galaxy S3 Mini: Weird Problem So, the back story is, I had a keyboard loaded on my s3 mini and I received an update from Samsung. Like every one get excited I was also excited and update my device but after I update I head over to send an email the keyboard which I have been using just disappeared. When I head over to the settings to find Keyboard the Samsung keyboard wasn't there? Now I am unable to type anything can some one help me out in sorting this problem out?

There's a few options that I can think of.

Reinstall your ROM. Do it through Odin on PC or Heimdall on *NIX systems. This won't void your warranty, and will just install the ROM again. Ensure it is EXACTLY the correct one for your device / network. Check Sammobile for your firmware.
Extract the keyboard. Download your firmware zip and extract the keyboard.apk and install it manually.
Find the apk online (HUGE security risk IMHO)
Use an alternative keyboard.
Try wiping your cache in recovery and rebooting see if it fixes the issue.
Check if the keyboard is there at all in your 'all apps' list and force start, clear data, reboot.  (There probably isn't, but look for Google Keyboard as well, no harm)


Best way to auto-synchronise music between HTC One and PC got my new HTC One today and now i wanted to set up something that i can put all my desired music for the smartphone in a folder on the pc and then they get automatically synchronised on the smartphone.

is this possible? i often change my songs and i dont want to always copy them by hand, thats a pain...

Jottacloud has something in the right direction, but it isnt fully automated i guess

Playing with words: if you want a folder to sync, have you tried FolderSync? Should be perfect for this purpose. You can sync entire folders between your PC and your Android device, and also use different cloud storage services. Thanks to an integrated Tasker/Locale plugin (in the full version), you also can automate it to your wishes. But even without Tasker/Locale, it offers User specified sync interval or specific sync times.


Need help re-rooting my Sprint Note 3 running CM12.1 Nightly 5.1.1 I installed a Nightly build of CM12.1 earlier today, but a few minutes ago when I tried to install an app that requires root access it said I wasn't rooted. For some reason I figured this was a given because I just flashed a custom ROM, but I am no Android developer (yet) and have no idea why it's not rooted. The ROMs that I installed prior to this didn't have this issue. Or it was spelled out in the install for me and I don't remember re-rooting them after I installed them. Either way, I need help with a method of rooting my Sprint Note 3 now and believe I need to use a specific tool or app to do so, and do not want to have to remove CM12.1 5.1.1 to do it (if at all possible). I also didn't want to run the wrong tool and screw up my phone because it was the wrong version of Odin (or whatever app I need to re-root). I'm pretty sure I have to use something specific to 5.1.1 but again, I'm no developer or heavy ROM flasher. If someone is a pro with Cyanogen ROMs I could really use some expert advice here. Thanks in advance!

Enable developer options and in developer options menu you will find an option

  enable root access

If not download supersu zip file and flash it via recovery and you will get back root access.Flashing latest supersu willnot affect the data.So no need to worry about data loss at all.


In tasker, trigger when airplane mode is turned off Using Tasker, I'd like to send an SMS when Airplane Mode goes from 'On' to 'Off'.

I can see a state called 'Airplane Mode' however I can't work out how to detect the transition from 'Airplane Mode On' to 'Airplane Mode off'.

There are two possible ways to do this:

Checking the "Invert" tag on the Airplane Mode state, causing it to become active when Airplane Mode is off.
Using the Mobile Network state to detect when the device is connected to a mobile network (check all network types if you're not sure which to use).


How to deactivate backup apps on other phone remotely? I dont have the phone. Its my old phone but I am still logged onto my mail. How can I deactivate it from my actual phone? I dont have the old phone on me.

Assuming that you want to stop your Google account from syncing to your phone.

To stop Google from syncing to your device, you should sign out of your account. To do that remotely, go to this page, sign into the same account as the one on your old phone, scroll down to the bottom of the page, press on the name of the device, and press remove. This will remove your account from your old phone and will stop any new info from coming in. You'll have to sign back in, in order to resume sync.

If you want to fully erase everything that's on the phone, go to Android.com/find log into your account, and press erase in the pop-up press erase again. As long as your phone is on and has internet connection, everything that's on it will be deleted.


What is the purpose of "Tracing" settings in Google Chrome Canary? I use Chrome Canary and I found an option named 'Tracing' in Chrome > Settings > Developer options. The option doesn't exist in stable Chrome version and I guess it exists in Beta and Dev releases.

The option has 3 segments (see image)

Here are some checkboxes inside every option:

What is the purpose of this option? Maybe bug reporting or something else?

In software development, tracing is the process of logging information while a program is running or executed. It serves mainly to debug a program.
In case of Chromium (or Chrome I presume)

When diagnosing performance problems it can be valuable to see what Chrome is doing "under the hood." One way to get a more detailed view into what's going on is to use the about:tracing tool.
Tracing records activity in Chrome's processes (see multi-process architecture for more on what each process is doing). It records C++ or javascript method signatures in a hierarchical view for each thread in each process. This is a lot of information, but sifting through it can help identify performance bottlenecks, slow operations, and events with irregular lengths (leading to e.g. framerate variation).

This is just what is happening with Chrome Canary.
The categories selected are those the apps will log information, details while running that will help the developers diagnose potential problems with the app.


missing glyphs on web pages I have a rooted Galaxy Note Pro.

I'm annoyed at black blocks that appear instead of whatever symbol, when reading web pages.  I copied Code2000, Symbola, and the BMP Fallback ttf files to /system/fonts, but (e.g. https://en.m.wikiversity.org/wiki/Reed%E2%80%93Solomon_codes_for_coders#Finite_field_arithmetic ) I still see a block instead of the symbols for Real and Integer domains.  This test page shows lots of blocks in Firefox. The Android browser simply skipps them instead. I also tried Opera.

Is there something needed to register ttf files, other than copying them to the directory? ( Total Commander remounts the file system r/w ) and rebooting?

It's annoying that I can display Tamil, Myanmar-extended-A, and other things I can't actually read, but am missing symbols and marks that appear in pages I do wish to read.

Android keeps track of fallback fonts via a file at /etc/fallback_fonts.xml. After adding your fonts to /system/fonts, you can add a new family node to the XML file like this.

<familyset>
    <family>
        <fileset>
            <file>Custom-Font.ttf</file>
            <file>Another-Custom-Font.ttf</file>
        </fileset>
    </family>
[rest of file...]

Make sure to make a backup first, and you might need to reboot for it to take effect completely.


How do I enforce charging only on USB and disallow data? The US Federal Trade Commission now suggests consumers driving rental cars not plug in their mobile phones using USB, due to security concerns.

I understand for the security of my phone and data the physical solution is best; there is no way data can be transferred though the cigarette lighter, but this requires carrying additional hardware when traveling.

Is there a way to disallow data transfer over USB within Android? My primary concern is with unrooted Android 7.0 Nougat, but I am actually interested in prior Android versions as well.

I am aware of the "Use USB to" menu that shows up under notifications with  the following options:

Charge this device: Just charge this device
Supply power: Supply power to the other connected device
Transfer files: Transfer files to another device
Transfer photos (PTP): Transfer photos or files if MTP is not supported (PTP)
Use device as MIDI: use this device as MIDI

I am able to use USB debugging while "Charge this device" is selected, which is definitely sending data over USB and is in conflict with the description. Does this mean only explicitly allowed devices can send data over USB in "Charge this device" mode? Or are there other exceptions as well?

How do I enforce charging only for USB connections like a rental car and disallow data transfer?

First, don't leave ADB enabled except when you need it,  even though you have to authorize any device that uses ADB, as good safety practice... Other than that, Marshmallow and newer Android do not allow file transfer or other data transfer without authorization on a per connection basis.

In Marshmallow or newer, I think this is generally an unwarranted concern and usb connection in rental cars can safely be used. TBH, I doubt any legitimate rental company car is of concern at all.


What is the difference between File based encryption and Full disk encryption. Can someone explain in brief Can someone explain what is difference between File based encryption and Full disk encryption. I had gone through Android Developer Page but it is not clear. Can someone explain with examples.

File encryption encrypts the contents only.  i.e. the file name and permissions can still be seen by anyone (with appropriate permissions) and so the rest of the disk structure is also available for view.  Disk base encrypts all elements of the disk including file/directory structures including permissions, so nothing is understandable without first decrypting the disk.  Another difference is that file encryption is usually performed as a single action, each way as a whole action where as disk encryption is on the fly, i.e. only the part being accessed (i.e. sector of the disk) is decoded as its needed.
Hope that helps.


Samsung S4 mini - Android is optimizing app I have Galaxy S4 mini and it showed a message that the Android is optimizing apps, then it hanged at second app, later the phone is not able to boot/Start. Nothing gets displayed on the screen, it just shows a blank black screen. I tried the Volume up + Power + Home button but nothing happened except that the phone vibrated. I need to reset the phone, how do I do it?
I think the cache/RAM is overloaded.

If want to Hard Reset your phone Keep in mind that you will lost all your Installed Apps, Accounts and Messages.

Power off your phone by holding the Power key or taking the Battery out.
Then press and hold together buttons Volume Up + Home button + Power button, and release this when you see logo Samsung.
Choose using Volume buttons option "wipe data/factory reset", and confirm that using Power key.
Next confirm "yes" previous operation using Volume keys and Power key.
When this operation is completed, select option "reboot".