Galaxy S5 Freezes Constantly I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 from Verizon, bought a little over one year ago. As soon as the one year warranty was over the device started acting up. Right now it is in an unreliable working state.

Symptoms:

The device freezes almost constantly at a rate of at least once an hour (4 times in the past 3 hours).
There is not one app in particular to cause the freeze, that I can trace to. It seems that any time I do something which requires it to work a little, like loading a web page, brings the device to a freeze.
Sometimes it just restarts.
Sometimes it says "Start Up Failed" when booting up.

What I've done:

Removed the SD card completely.
Reset the device to factory defaults multiple times (about once per week). After this, it works good for a few days then goes back into freezing mode.
Uninstalled most of the apps, especially the once I don't really use daily.
Disabled all the pre-installed Verizon apps (the once that I could).
Disabled auto updates.
Took the device to the local Verizon shop and they didn't do anything to help, besides trying to get me to buy something else.

Any idea of what else I could do to fix this issue?

EDIT

The device got to a point where it became impossible to perform any operations. If it wasn't constantly restarting, it would restart at the very first operation. Any attempt to do anything on the device sent it into restart.

I was able to talk to a few technicians from Samsung and they determined that the problem sits with the hardware, perhaps the motherboard. Therefore I ended up sending the device to Samsung for repair.

As a method of starting to debug this, Linux keeps a log for the kernel. I'm not sure if /proc/last_kmsg is there or not, but you want the kernel log.

I'd start by replacing the stock recovery with TWRP. Whether or not you want to Flash to a different rom. TWRP has a file browser. It should let you save the kernel's log either way. You want to pay attention to two files:

/var/log/boot.msg (useful in the state after the failed boot)
/var/log/syslog (useful in the state after the crash, and the state after the boot)

You'll want to thoroughly examine these files and paste the contents up here. It's possible the problem is hardware though. I'd flash CM13 (because it's all around better), and see if that fixes it. If problems persist on a fresh CM13, you know you've got a hardware issue.


How can I store Android apps on my SD card? I just got my 3rd Android phone, the problem is that I must reinstall all my applications every time I get a new phone. Is there any way to store the apps on the SD card so that I can insert the new card and all my apps are there?

I would prefer solutions that don't require rooting the phone.

This is a feature that requires Froyo, so unless you have a Nexus One you'll need to either root your phone (which you've already said you don't want to do) and install a Froyo ROM or wait for your manufacturer/carrier to issue you Froyo in an update.

Either way, moving apps to your SD card is pretty straightforward. Go into Settings, then Manage Applications. There you should have the option to move your apps to your SD card.


How to choose where to install an app either to sd card or device? I have a samsung galaxy tab 4, i have already changed the download location to sd card, but i want to download an app and it says it can't be downloaded on the sd card, that it must be on the device. how can i revert it to download on the device, without taking the sd card out? Help its annoying to take out the otter box cover out, everytime.

You can  unmount the SD card from the settings. To do this: Go to Settings -> Storage -> Unmount SD card.

Removing the card  physically is not needed.

You can later remount the SD card whenever you need it back by using the settings again, still without actually removing and inserting the SD card.


How can I tab in web forms? I'm looking for a method of tabbing between web fields in the Android browser, similar to how one would with the Tab key on a PC.  Is there a keyboard or another app that will enable this?

If you have a device with a D-pad like the Droid it will allow you to jump from element to element on a website like the tab button on a computer keyboard.  I believe the devices with a trackball like the N1 also allow this.  I've seen some apps that offer an on screen "virtual" D-pad but I can't seen to find them now.


Auto downloads for sdcard/astrid I have suddenly started getting lots of downloads from sdcard/Astrid/auto.
They are adverts.
How do I switch them off ?

Download a terminal.
In that terminal type cd /sdcard/Astrid/
Then run the command chmod 000 auto

That should do it!


How do I enable push notifications for Facebook for Android? I'm currently running the latest stable release of CM7 for the HTC Droid Incredible and Facebook for Android 1.6.4 (released on 20 August). According to Facebook, push notifications are enabled for devices that support them. Since I get push notifications from other applications (such as Google+), I know my device supports them.

I've read about various problems with them, but I haven't found any definitive solutions (or a definitive lack of a solution). I would assume the setting for push notifications would be in the application's Settings menu. I have a number of options for various times to pull notifications down, but I don't see an option for push notifications in the app or on the Facebook website.

Is this just a broken application or am I missing something?

Funnily enough, as I just noted here I believe that the app is just buggy and unreliable.  There's no reason for the individual device to determine whether the application can do something like push notifications.  Android's cloud to device messaging requires 2.2 or higher, and the Facebook post notes that that's what they require as well, so I assume that's what they're using. C2DM works perfectly fine for other apps so the only reasonable explanation is that the Facebook app doesn't work properly.

The app was updated recently and does work better for many users, though, so make sure you have the latest version.

There are no settings related to push messages in the app or in the Accounts and Sync settings.  Regular sync is every 3 hours at most, which seems infrequent to me — my BlackBerry allows updates every half hour.


Why is "insufficient storage" wrongly reported when installing an .apk via adb? I have an HTC Desire running Froyo. It is not rooted, nor have I installed any custom ROM.

I get an "Insufficient Storage" error when I'm trying to install an app via adb/eclipse. The .apk is only 300KB, and the phone reports 14MB free of internal storage, and 2.2GB free on the SD card. (I have just uninstalled a few large apps to make sure there's plenty of room.)

It is obviously completely wrong. There's easily plenty of room in the 14MB of internal storage for my 300KB app.

What can I do to fix it?

At least on my phone, it seems you need way more available space thanthe size of the app you are actually trying to upgrade. In my case it seems I needed to have at least ~13MB free space to upgrade anything at all (even for 500KB apps).

Some tips to free space:

Go to Settings, Applications, Manage Applications, click "Move to
SD card" on the ones that have that option.
In the same list, also click "Clear Cache" on all your apps.
Your browser cache can not be cleared here, so open your browser, go to Settings, and click "Clear cache".

In some cases I have also been able to manually update apps one at a time when "update all" fails due to insufficient storage.


What happens when bluetooth headphones run out of battery while playing music? I have a Motorola Xoom 3G with Android 3.0 and use it with a bluetooth headset. I'd like to know what happens when the headphones run out of battery? Does the music just stop in the same way it does when I unplug wired headphones?

I go running with my Motorola Droid and a bluetooth set of headphones (Motorola ROKR S9-HD).  When the headphones die, my phone will stop playing the music.  So it basically acts the same way as removal of normal headphones.

Do note, that this does depend on the app's behavior as the developer has to actually code in the listener for headphone removal. I know this because I have had to do it myself when writing a music app (radio reddit). But most music apps I've seen have implemented this behavior in their apps.


Does software update in ICS allow to move apps to SD card? I'm using Samsung Galaxy S Duos - ICS 4.0.4

Since ICS 4.0.4 doesnt have the feature of moving apps to sd card, does Software Update help me to do that?
If i update the software, can i move the apps to sd card then?

Thank you for the replies! Help will be appreciated..

As Ross already stated in his comment, the inability to move apps to SDCard has nothing to do with Android ICS (though several manufacturers claim exactly that, it's simply not true: AOSP1 supports this since 2.2-froyo and at least up to 4.3-jelly-bean. Only with the "security change" of completely disabling free write access to SDCards with 4.4-kitkat, this feature became unavailable.

So whether an update to a higher version of Android brings back this feature to your device, depends on several factors:

if the update is provided by the manufacturer (stock-android), question is whether the manufacturer re-decided and left the option in – with the exception of Kitkat ROMs, where they are unlikely to do so.
if you're planning for a custom-rom, it's unlikely that will ship without this option. It might even have brought it back to Kitkat (the fix required to do so is not that hard to achieve) – but you might void the warranty of your device that way.

1 Android Open Source Project, i.e. the Android code basis ROMs are based on


Can I know who is changing Android's media volume? Recently my phone's media volume will be changed to a fixed value in period automatically. I guess there's a bad app running in background or by alarm doing this, but I have no idea which one is the convict.

Is there a way to let me know who is changing system media volume? My device is an HTC Butterfly 3 running Android 5.0.2 official ROM – and power saving is not turned on (in case it matters). Thanks!

In my COS12 (Android 5.0.2), I noticed that whenever the volume was changed an intent was broadcasted with action android.media.VOLUME_CHANGED_ACTION and that was all I was able to see using dumpsys or logcat. The extras in that intent did not contain anything useful to trace the app.

Anyhow. Following is what I can recommend as an approach and as of now:

Install aSpotCat1, uncheck Ignore system apps from its settings and under List apps by permission browse the  section Audio Settings. This app missed some system apps which my answer here took care of2.

(Click image to enlarge)

I suggest you check View app's full package name? and find out the package name of all the apps listed by aSpotCat. After that, uninstall all the user installed apps involved. Since removal may not be a preferable option for you, you can consider hiding/blocking them. Setup adb in PC and do:

adb shell pm block PACKAGE # for KitKat
adb shell pm hide PACKAGE  # for Lollipop

PACKAGE should be replaced by package name of the app. In short, the effect observed from that command is akin to removing an app from your OS with major difference that the app's data and UID would remain preserved.

To reinstate the app, replace hide by unhide and block by unblock in aforesaid commands.

You would have to wait and observe if the volume is getting changed. If yes, hide/block/remove those user installed apps singularly or in bulk and then go into observation mode again. If all the user installed apps are removed yet the change in media volume can be observed then a system app is involved in the process. If you've a custom recovery installed or you're ready to factory-reset the device, only then you should consider hiding/blocking/disabling a system app listed by aSpotCat since the stability of the OS can be affected.

As you would have guessed by now, this is a messy solution, relies on trial and error and doesn't guarantee much that you would be able to pin-point the app. However, I don't think there is any way to easily pin-point the app affecting the media volume.

1 You may try any permission checker app. The helpful list maintained by user Izzy on his website may come handy.
2 Input the permission android.permission.MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS.


Stop Gmail notifications when receiving email from particular sender Is there any way to stop the Gmail app from popping up a notification if you get an email from a specific sender?

My specific case is that I get a lot of emails from a careers site that I'm not usually interested in reading immediately so don't need to be notified about them. There's a related question on the site but this is asking for the opposite.

From the Gmail web interface, create a rule to give it a label of your choice and skip the inbox. Then, from the Gmail Android app, change the settings for that label to not notify you.

In more detail, the first part is:

Log into Gmail in a browser, and click the settings button (gear icon).
Click the Filters tab, then Create a new filter at the bottom.
Set the settings for the filter: in this case, use the From field.
Click the search button (magnifying glass) to check your filter, or go straight to Create a filter with this search.
Put a tick in the Skip the inbox (Archive it) checkbox, and another in Apply the label and choose the label you want or create a new one from the drop-down.
Click Create filter.

Then, starting from the main screen (folder view) of the Gmail app:

Click the overflow menu (three dots in the top-right)
Choose Manage labels
Choose the label you just set in the filter
Make sure Label notifications is turned off.


Is it possible to decrypt msgstore.db.crypt8 file I am having a file msgstore.db.crypt8 that is actually backup file of whatsApp. I don't have a rooted phone so is it still possible to read this file ??

If yes then how can i do that ?

I tried to download some software that extract a key using phone but this process required rooted phone that i don't have.

PREREQUISITES:

  O/S: Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
  Java - If not installed: Download Java
  ADB (Android Debug Bridge) Drivers - If not installed: ADB Installer
  USB Debugging* must be enabled on the target device. Settings -> Developer Options -> (Debugging) USB debugging Android device with Android 4.0 or higher

  *= If you cannot find Developer Options then please go to: Settings -> About phone/device and tap the Build number multiple times until you're finally declared a developer.

  INSTRUCTIONS:

  Extract "WhatsAppKeyExtract.zip" on your computer maintaining the directory structure.
  Browse to the extracted folder and click on "WhatsAppKeyExtract.bat". Connect your device via USB**, unlock your screen and wait for "Full backup" to appear.
  Leave the password field blank and tap on "Back up my data".
  The "extracted" folder will now contain your "whatsapp.key", "msgstore.db" and "wa.db".

  ** = If you have never used USB Debugging before, you may also need to verify the fingerprint.

Source: [Tool] WhatsApp Key/DB Extractor | OFFICIAL | CRYPT8 | NON-ROOT | UPDATED APRIL 2015


Can I install Ice Cream Sandwich on my HTC Wildfire? Possible Duplicate:
  When will my device get the Android 4.0 update (Ice Cream Sandwich)?
  Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

Please, I want to install Ice Cream Sandwich on my HTC Widlfire, can I do?
If I can, how?

Thanks so much.

I doubt it, but take a look at the new CM9 release of CyanogenMod and see if the Wildfire is supported. I have the HTC Desire and haven't bothered checking as I'm happy with CM7 (Gingerbread) but I think the Desire is missing some needed hardware features and as the Wildfire is lower specked than the Desire it is probably not going to be supported either.


Android web market always gives error I am getting error for almost all the apps while I am trying to install from web android market (market.android.com), it gives error "This item cannot be installed in your device's country.". But same time If I tries to install same application from my mobile then it installs successfully. So does anybody have any idea why it's giving this error ? (Note : I had installed new market and then uninstalled it. This problem starts after installation of new market only).

Mobile model : Samsung Galaxy 3

Country : India

This is because the device location is detected from the SIM card in use.

I'm not sure how the web market location is detected. Perhaps look at using a proxy.

But if you wish your change your SIM location check this out:
https://market.android.com/details?id=ch.racic.android.marketenabler


How can one run an app made for a more recent version of Android on an older Android Device? How can one install an app made for Jellybean and use it on Gingerbread?

Let's take Google Keyboard for example. Google Keyboard is meant for use with Ice Cream Sandwich and up, but say I want it on my phone running rooted CyanogenMod 7.2. Is this possible?

Technically, one can override the version requirement by cracking open the .apk file and editing the manifest.xml file and setting the  android:minSdkVersion attribute in the <uses-sdk> element to your sdk version (or simply remove that attribute altogether, in which case it will default to "1" and assume it will work on any Android version), then using your modified .apk file to install it.

However, this is almost always a bad idea.  The developer of the application presumably set that requirement to the value it is because they actually do need something introduced in that sdk version.  If they didn't, they'd set it to something else or omit it .  Trying to make the app run on an Android version missing those features it needs is likely to cause havoc, crashes, force-closes, and other unhappiness.

In the case of Google-made apps, I would assume they knew exactly what functionality their app uses and when it was introduced and that it would definitely break in some manner without that functionality when they set the minSdkVersion for their app, and thus trying this trick will almost certainly fail.

But if the developer is just a lazyish type who insisted upon setting the attribute (probably to the current version) without much thought about whether it's really needed (i.e. "I don't feel like going through my code and checking what functionality I actually use and when Google added it to Android, so I'll just set the minSdkVersion to the current version of Android"), it might just work.  Or the missing functionality might only be used in some part of the app you never use, and thus the brokenness is irrelevant to you.


How to format SD card that has been formatted as internal storage for Android? I have tried clean all command in Diskpart and it took an hour to be completed but at the end nothing has changed. I think the SD card is locked and when I try to format or re-partition the disk, either it will show a successful result or it will return "Windows was unable to complete the format" error. I have tried to format it in Linux (this answer) and Android as well but no luck. Is there a way to reuse my SD card as a portable storage?

UPDATE: GParted details when I delete the partition

GParted 0.30.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2

Delete /dev/mmcblk0p2 (unknown, 59.46 GiB) from /dev/mmcblk0  00:00:08    ( SUCCESS )

calibrate /dev/mmcblk0p2  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/mmcblk0p2 (partition)
start: 34816
end: 124735454
size: 124700639 (59.46 GiB)
delete partition  00:00:08    ( SUCCESS )
libparted messages    ( INFO )

Input/output error during write on /dev/mmcblk0
========================================

Delete /dev/mmcblk0p1 (unknown, 16.00 MiB) from /dev/mmcblk0  00:00:01    ( SUCCESS )

calibrate /dev/mmcblk0p1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/mmcblk0p1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 34815
size: 32768 (16.00 MiB)
delete partition  00:00:01    ( SUCCESS )
========================================

GParted details when I try to format:

GParted 0.30.0 --enable-libparted-dmraid --enable-online-resize

Libparted 3.2

Format /dev/mmcblk0p1 as fat16  00:00:01    ( ERROR )

calibrate /dev/mmcblk0p1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )

path: /dev/mmcblk0p1 (partition)
start: 2048
end: 34815
size: 32768 (16.00 MiB)
clear old file system signatures in /dev/mmcblk0p1  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )

write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 0  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 512.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 16252928  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 4.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 16711680  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
write 8.00 KiB of zeros at byte offset 16769024  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
flush operating system cache of /dev/mmcblk0  00:00:00    ( SUCCESS )
set partition type on /dev/mmcblk0p1  00:00:01    ( SUCCESS )

new partition type: fat16
create new fat16 file system  00:00:00    ( ERROR )

mkfs.fat -F16 -v -I '/dev/mmcblk0p1'    ( EXECUTING )

Failed to execute child process “mkfs.fat” (Input/output error)    ( ERROR )
========================================

Format /dev/mmcblk0p2 as fat32

Results for zeroing:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=8192

dd: error writing `dev/mmcblk0`: No space left on device

7795969+0 records in
7795968+0 records out
63864569856 bytes (64 GB, 59 CAB) copied, 3824.26 s, 16.7 MB/s

Results for amd64-stdtool status:

[+] Found RCA for /dev/mmcblk0: E624.
[+] Card CSD: 400E005A7B590001DED48F700R808006.
[+] Write protection state: Off.

You may go to Settings > Storage. Then go to the more button at the top right corner. There should be an option "Format as portable". Would that work?


Why are there 2 folders SDCard and SDCard2 on a ViewSonic GTablet? I see that there's a folder named sdcard and another named sdcard2 on a ViewSonic GTablet.  If I put the SD card in my PC, the sdcard2 folder is recognized by the PC.  If I connect the tablet to the PC via a USB cable, the sdcard folder is recognized on the PC.  Neither way allows me to copy any file to the root folder of the tablet (i.e. the folder named /).

Please explain as I'm kind of lost.

According to this thread /sdcard is the internal storage of your device. It is so named because Android counts on a FAT/FAT32 filesystem at that mountpoint for data storage. The optional external sdcard mounts to /sdcard2 and is evidently not available via USB from the tablet. These are the "user serviceable" locations in Android. To work with files outside these paths you will need to have root access on the device and use a 3rd party file explorer.


How do I get scrolling wallpaper through google wallpaper app on Galaxy J7? I use Google's Wallpaper App for new wallpapers everyday. However, I am not getting scrolling wallpapers. I have gone through the complete settings of my device but it didn't find anything interesting?

I've seen on this video an app that allows you to do that, called Landscape Wallpaper

I believe there are other apps that also allows you to do that, like this and this. You can be free to choose (I, particularly, don't use any of these).


Which factory image to download? I have a Nexus 5 (LG-D821) 32 GB and am currently on build LMY47D, I want to upgrade to latest version of Android 6 ATM the latest version is 6.0.1 but there are like 4 builds for this version. Which one should I download?

According to comparisons on the internet, they are the same, but updated versions (OTA) of each other. They are the smaller updates that you might witness sometimes when you are informed of a new software update.

In the webpage you provided, they are ordered chronologically, so MMB29V should be the newest. I recommend downloading MMB29V as that seems to be the latest OTA update, last updated 3rd March, 2016, and reportedly contains some security fixes as well. If you have stock recovery however, you might be able to update OTA with an earlier version.


How to configure and Enable WiFi Hotspot through terminal without ROOT How can i configure and enable/disable the WiFi Hotspot by using terminal command without ROOT? Also I want to kick user from my hotspot using terminal command

Setting and enabling hotspot (software access point) is possible by calling methods setWifiApConfiguration and startSoftAp of wifi service. But at least since Android 8, the former requires permission OVERRIDE_WIFI_CONFIG while the latter requires NETWORK_STACK. Both permissions have Protection Level signature, not to be used by third party apps. Neither adb shell has any of the both permissions. So it's not possible without root access.

A workaround is to simulate taps and keyevents using adb shell input command, though it's not a commandline solution in true sense.

RELATED:

How to create a WiFi hotspot from the terminal?


GPS app to follow a prepared itinerary I am preparing a 1-week bicycle trip. We can't use high-traffic roads, so I am preparing a quite complex route on small country roads, using Google Maps.

With my phone saddled on my bicycle, is there a GPS app that will "guide" me using the itinerary I crafted? Turn-by-turn would be ideal, but just writing the itinerary as a map overlay would be better than nothing.

Note: My phone is WiFi only so I will need an application that can cache a lot of maps, like AndNav2 or Maverick. Also, I am stuck with Android 1.5

Here is what I ended up doing, it works well:

On your computer's Firefox, install the GMapToGPX bookmarklet.
Prepare your itinerary with Google Maps Itinerary.
While still on the Google Maps page, click on the GMapToGPX bookmarklet. It opens a GPX conversion dialog.
Click on the blue tab buttons to make them read like this: "Route Track Points About". It will not work otherwise.
Copy-paste the XML text in a new file, for instance myitinerary.gpx
On Android, install Maverick.
Copy your GPX file to /sdcard/maverick/tracks
In Maverick, select the track file
Scroll your way along the route at appropriate zoom levels to store the tiles in the cache.

The free version of Maverick allows 3 tracks files.


Why root cannot access ".android_secure" directory on external SD card? I have an Android 9 tablet, rooted by way of Magisk. It has an external SD card mounted as sdfat on /mnt/media_rw/1234-5678 which is mounted on four other mount points, all as type sdcardfs, with some variation in owner and group.

From a terminal window I type ls -al /storage/1234-5678. Lots of files and directories are shown with one error message:

ls: permission denied: .android_secure

I try as root. I get the same result. Using /mnt/media_rw/1234-5678 and root, I can see the entry for .android_secure. I'm told that .android_secure itself is empty.

The external SD card is FAT32.  Anything on it has the same set of permissions.  How is .android_secure different from everything else on the card?
Even if .android_secure has different permissions from the other files in the directory, why is that stopping me from displaying the directory entry?
I become root and I still can't even display the directory entry for .android_secure. How can that be?

I tried stat. I tried lsattr. Still: permission denied.

I have read What does /mnt/asec directory contain? but it doesn't answer my questions:

If I have the permissions needed to list some directory entries, how am I being forbidden to list a specific entry in that directory?
How is it ever possible to deny root the ability to list a directory entry?  (And then change the protections on that entry.)

I can accept that the magic filesystem and/or SELinux makes it possible to have different protections on one file.  I just can't understand root being unable to even see what those different protections are.

A quick search reveals that there exist similar unanswered questions (this, this and this). Let me try to demystify it, starting with brief history.

WHAT IS .android_secure DIRECTORY?

In order to solve the problem of space shortage in internal storage, app2sd (Move to SD Card) was Android's native feature up to Lollipop. With this method .apk files (or whole /data/app/<pkg>/ directories) are moved as encrypted .asec files to .android_secure folder on external SD card or internal sdcard partition (mounted at /mnt/sdcard/ or /mnt/media_rw/sdcard[N]/). On every boot .android_secure is bind mounted to /mnt/secure/asec/ and the (ext4) filesystem containers (.asec) are decrypted (using dm-crypt) and mounted to individual directories (named after package names) in a temporary filesystem mounted at /mnt/asec/ by vold. Symlinks from /data/app/<pkg>/ and possibly /data/data/<pkg>/lib/ are pointing towards /mnt/asec/<pkg>/ and /mnt/asec/<pkg>/lib/.

WHY ACCESS TO .android_secure IS RESTRICTED?

From the early days of Android, access to android_secure folder (which later became .android_secure) was restricted. The commit states:

  In order to protect the /android_secure directory on VFAT removable media from being mucked with by 3rd party applications on the device, we hide the directory with a read-only, zero-sized tmpfs mounted on-top.

Later in Android 4.4 when FUSE was started being used for emulating SD cards from original mount point (/mnt/media_rw/sdcard1) to user accessible path (/storage/sdcard1/), the zero-sized tmpfs functionality (Ignore attempts to access security sensitive files) was shifted to sdcard daemon which was used to mount FUSE. In Android 6 the app2sd method was abandoned in favor of Adoptable Storage (also filesystem UUID was included in mount points).

In Android 7 sdcardfs support was added in parallel to FUSE and the "Always block security-sensitive files" functionality was added to sdcardfs in kernel. In Android 9 FUSE was completely removed (from sdcard daemon) but the sdcardfs still blocks creation/deletion of .android_secure directories in the root of emulated filesystem. However as you noticed, it's possible to access the path through original non-emulated mount point i.e. /mnt/media_rw/[UUID]/.android_secure.

For details on filesystem emulation, see What is /storage/emulated/0/?

WHY ROOT CAN'T ACCESS A DIRECTORY?

  How is it ever possible to deny root the ability to list a directory entry?

root is nothing but kernel's dear user. Kernel doesn't stop UID 0 from doing any harm or good. But there are things which are dearer to kernel than root. It includes SELinux 1, Linux capabilities 2 and obviously the filesystem restrictions like we see with FUSE 3 and sdcardfs 4. And like root cannot delete a file with immutable attribute 5. It's possible to remove any such restriction or add more by modifying kernel source.

1 See explanation and example.
2 A simple demonstration:

~# setpriv --bounding-set -sys_admin -- sh -c 'id; mount -o ro,remount /'
uid=0(root) gid=0(root) groups=0(root)
mount: permission denied (are you root?)

3 FUSE documentation:

  "No other user (including root) can access the contents of the mounted filesystem"

4 UID 0 is checked after filename (.android_secure) is checked.
5 Why can't I delete this file as root?

RELATED:

Android's Storage Journey
How to save files to external SD card?


Do I have to calibrate my battery after a reinstall? When I installed Cyanogen Mod 7, I 'accidently' clicked 'Wipe Battery Status' even though my battery wasn't fully charged.

Now I have no idea what this exactly does (even more reason I shouldn't have clicked it), but I'm wondering whether the phone has anyway of knowing when or if the battery's full.

So should I calibrate my battery and if so, how would I have to do this?

Your battery status may be off for a while, but will return to normal as you use the device.  In general it's good to do several consecutive full discharges and full charges, which will restore the stats about how long the battery lasts.  There's nothing you can do beyond that.


Eight seconds after powering on, my phone goes dark and becomes unresponsive. What can I do? I have a Samsung Galaxy S Relay. (This is kind of like a Samsung Galaxy S III plus a slide-out physical keyboard.) It's running stock Android 4.1.2, rooted using TWRP and SuperSU.

I was using Spotify yesterday when things started to go wrong. Soon, I saw only blackness and the phone's buttons stopped working — even the power button was useless. Also, when I connected my phone to my computer using a USB cable, the computer's lsusb command reported that there were no USB devices plugged in, and the dmesg command indicated that there had been nary a peep from the phone. Maybe the phone was off.

I had no choice but to remove and reinsert the phone's battery.

When I reinsert the battery, the phone seems to start working again, but only for eight seconds. I can take advantage of these eight seconds in different ways:

I can attempt a normal boot. I see the "Samsung" logo screen, then the Galaxy S Relay logo screen, then everything goes dark.
If I press certain buttons, I can enter Download Mode very briefly before the screen goes dark.
If I press other buttons, I can ask the phone to enter recovery mode. I see "Samsung" and "Recovery booting...." before everything goes dark.
If I connect the charging cable and the battery at the same time, I see the usual graphic telling me to wait for the charging status display software to load and start itself. But the screen goes dark, and the charging status display never appears.

Once the screen goes dark, it stays dark. Even if I hold the power button down for 30 seconds, then let go for a bit, then hold it down for another 30 seconds, nothing happens. If I want to make the phone work for another eight seconds, I must first remove and reinsert the battery.

I don't think the battery is empty. My multimeter says that the battery is at about 3.9 volts. For a lithium-ion battery, 3.9 volts means "90% full".

What troubleshooting steps can I try next?

[Edit: This post is basically a verbatim copy of a Reddit post of mine.]

I have owned several Samsung galaxy devices (including an S3 which is somewhat similar to your phone). Often I find that the battery becomes faulty after 2 years of usage. The symptoms you mention also sounds like battery related problems. The key giveaway is that you unable to sustain download mode before your screen goes dark.

Troubleshooting

Try replacing the battery. This will eliminate the possibility of a
faulty battery. After replacing the battery, see whether your phone
will stay on for more than a few seconds.
If you unable to acquire a second battery,  try booting your phone whilst in the charger. It should be noted that using the phone
whilst charging isn't usually a good idea, however for
troubleshooting it should be fine.
Check your charger, wires should not be frayed or worn. Worn
chargers can affect your phone's battery.


Fully Wipe Nexus Device I have a Nexus 7 2013 WiFi-only (flo) device. I rooted it and just generally messed around with it. Now I want to put it back to complete stock everything (bootloader, recovery, ROM, etc) AND COMPLETELY WIPE THE DEVICE. When following the tutorial detailed here: Tutorial, an inspection with TWRP file manager (ON A NON-ROOTED DEVICE) shows that under '/', there is still a directory called 'SuperSU' (evidence that I rooted). It's clear that wiping the device in this way is not incredibly thorough. How can I put my Nexus back to COMPLETE, wiped stock (as though I had literally just opened the box from the factory)?

Many Thanks.

You can download and flash a factory image from here: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#razorktu84p it also includes instructions at the top on how to do it. This will restore it completely to stock.


Is there a faster version of Skype for Android? The latest version of Android is painfully slow - on my Sony Z3 it is nearly impossible to use. The previous version were also annoyingly slow and took up a lot of space.

Is there an alternative version of Skype that is more convenient to use?

Yes there is! In February 2017 Microsoft introduced a new version of their app called Skype Lite, which is a lot faster. According to the official page the new version is:

  Lightweight, battery-friendly and runs smoothly on new and old Android mobile devices.

Since sometime in 2018 it became available to all users worldwide, so you can install it directly from the Play Store.

NB: I do not work for Microsoft and have nothing to do with the development of this app.


ii cant get into my gmail account forgot password I have a gmail I forgot my password and google won't help. I've reset my tablet but did press backup is there anyway I can get this important gmail

You can try to follow these steps to reset your password: https://support.google.com/accounts/troubleshooter/2402620?visit_id=0-636165652605527813-2656708135&p=ar_other_problems_username&rd=1

If none of them work for you, you probably can't regain access to your Google account.


Angry Birds and other games force close (crash) on startup when using Simple2Ext (S2E) I'm running CM 7.03 on my HTC Desire (GSM) and have successfully partitioned my SD card with a 512mb ext4 partition. I installed S2E and it moved my apps to /sd-ext successfully, but certain apps now crash at startup. Angry Birds, Cut The Rope etc will force close as soon as they're launched. Other apps work just fine. I'm assuming it's apps with native code that have issues, as pure Java ones seem ok.

Has anyone else experienced this problem, and if so, how did you fix it? If I can't find a work around, I will have to delete my partition and just put up with small storage space.

I would try backing up the data for one of the apps, then clearing it and seeing if it works afterwards.

You could try just restoring /data/data/com.rovio.angrybirds/files/highscores.lua and see if that works.  I don't have Cut the Rope so I don't know how its files work, sorry!


How do I get my rooted Incredible to install the latest Verizon update? Leaving aside the question of whether the update is a good idea or not -- I'm tired of seeing "update available. Install?" show up every other day. I click "Yes", and it tells me rebooting in 10..9..8...1 ..... only it never reboots.

This incredible forum post suggests that being rooted is why it won't install. But.... is there some way to force it anyway?

Or do I have to unroot, update, re-root?

Are you running the stock ROM, only rooted?  If so, you have a few options.

RUU to the latest OTA & reroot.  Available Here.  (Requires Unrevoked 3.22)
Install a pre-rooted ROM.  Available Here.

If you're running a different ROM, you should be able to do a build.prop edit to keep from seeing OTA notifications (and burning your battery, redownloading the OTA constantly, etc.).  This post describes what needs modified.

Finally, you can flash a ROM based on the latest OTA.


How to setup a PPP connection between an Android smartphone and a Linux computer? For testing purposes, I need to connect an Android smartphone to my Linux desktop computer to enable communication between the phone and some servers on the LAN. I can't use Wi-Fi so I'm stuck with IP over USB.

So my question is: How to connect the smartphone to my computer?

If you know something else than PPP, please let me know. This is what i've tried for the moment:

root@desktop:/# adb ppp "shell:pppd nodetach noauth noipdefault defaultroute /dev/tty" nodetach noauth noipdefault notty 10.0.0.1:10.0.0.2
root@desktop:/#

As you can see, this command doesn't output anything...
I guessed I should see a new ppp0 interface show up on my destkop if it worked (am I right?), but nothing happens actually.

So I thought it could be because I was lacking the root privilege, and I tried the following:

root@desktop:/# adb root
adbd cannot run as root in production builds
root@desktop:/#

FYI, when I run the adb shell command I'm not logged in as root:

root@desktop:/# adb shell
$ whoami
whoami: unknown uid 2000
$ su
# whoami
whoami: unknown uid 0
#

EDIT: I tried on a phone running CyanogenMod 10.2: the adb root command is successful, but adb ppp ... doesn't output anything. No ppp0 interface shows up on my computer.
I also forgot to say I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 on the desktop computer if it can help finding the problem.

So, what's next? Do you think I need a different kernel? Did I miss something regarding the way to bring up a PPP connection?

Try this:

adb ppp "shell:/system/bin/su -c 'pppd nodetach noauth noipdefault defaultroute /dev/tty'" nodetach noauth noipdefault notty 10.0.0.1:10.0.0.2


Where can I see if a developer responded to my comment on the Google Play? Possible Duplicate:
  Google Play allows publishers to respond to users' comments?

It appears that Google is allowing some developers to respond to Google Play application comments.

Here is a blog post explaining the feature.

Let's assume I posted a comment on an app and the developer responded to me.

How does it look like ? How can I acknowledge the fact that he responded ?

Do I get a notification ? An email ? Nothing ?

OK, I came across a similar question.

It looks like you will get an email if a developer responded to your comment.


I have lost my Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 days ago, I misplaced my Samsung Galaxy Ace in my room. I had woken up (It charged the whole night so it had 100% charge), and put it somewhere in my room. The thing is, I think I turned it off. Even if it was on, none of my sounds were on. Also my GPS isn't turned on. Any help?

If it's turned off, you most certainly can not turn it on remotely, do there's no helping you.

If it's turned on, you could try activating an alarm from Google device manager, if you didn't deactivate it earlier. Go to Google device manager and click "alarm"; the sound may help you find your phone. The GPS data indoors is very inaccurate so it is of no use; it would only tell you it's in your room, which you already know.


Is rooting possible on an already encrypted device My device is already encrypted. It is not rooted.
Note 2 GT-N7100.

I made an attempt to root it earlier a few months back and it tripped the KNOX counter and void the warranty. But it didn't root the device. The SuperSu would crash and it won't allow to apply the update from the play store.

Now I am AGAIN trying to root it and install TWRP recovery, using ODIN 3.9. It just restarts and when I try to boot into the bootloader to check its the same Samsung recovery, no TWRP.

P.S: ODIN shows the "PASS" successfully and has all the indications that the TWRP has been installed.

In short: Yes, you can root an encrypted device, because "encryption" only encrypts /data and not /system.

Are you sure you are using the correct settings in ODIN for your device and following all directions completely on whichever tutorial you are following? Please cross-reference your tutorial with the XDA Guide (highly recommended that you follow this guide; I can post the instructions here for permanent refernce upon request).


Can I change the date range in the Lollipop "cellular data usage" chart? In Android 4.x I was able to change the date axis on the "cellular data usage" chart to show (for example) what I used in the past 24 hours. In Lollipop, the date range is locked to a static data range. Is there any way to quickly look at a specific date range as in 4.x? How? Thanks!

I couldn't either, but after setting a data warning and limit threshold, the option of changing the cycle appeared!
lollipop its a little mess of 'hidden' settings


How to Block Third Party Apps from Creative Spam Shortcuts on Home Screen? It's either I had virus on my phone or some apps I installed lately started to add shortcuts on my home screen. These shortcuts look like apps and will take me to the download page of the apps. I like to block this behavior but I don't even know which app or virus is doing this. I like to know if there is a master switch to turn off this feature or if there is an app where I can monitor such activity. Thanks.

Unfortunately INSTALL_SHORTCUT is not the only permission an app can use to create shortcuts on your home screen - especially if your shortcuts take you to "the download page of the apps." INSTALL_SHORTCUT usually only run once, but permissions like WRITE_INTERNAL_STORAGE can give an app unlimited power to run however many shortcuts on your screen - and direct you to ads to boost the developer's revenue. This is often seem for some non-playstore apps because they do not have to obey the rules from Google.


SSH server that can be configured to only allow connections over wifi hotspot interface I shelled out for SSHDroid Pro and am quite disappointed that it can't be configured to allow connections over the Wifi Hotspot interface without also allowing connections from the mobile data interface (i.e. the open Internet).  Is there another SSH server app that can do this and is otherwise relatively feature-complete?

I use Servers Ultimate Pro to limit my server's (SSH/FTP/WebDAV) accessibility to Wifi hotspot's subnet (I use it on wlan0 or rndis0). The server cannot be mapped from internet in this way. Its very easy to use, even a newbie can setup a server on it.

About Servers Ultimate Pro

★★Run over 60 servers with over 70 protocols!★★
Now you can run a CVS, DC Hub, DHCP, UPnP, DNS, DDNS, eDonkey, Email (POP3 / SMTP), FTP Proxy, FTP, FTPS, FTPES, Flash Policy, Git, Gopher, HTTP Snoop, ICAP, IRC Bot, IRC, ISCSI, Icecast, LPD, Load Balancer, MQTT, Memcached, MongoDB, MySQL, NFS, NTP, NZB Client, Napster, PHP, Lighttpd, PXE, Port Forwarder, RTMP, Remote Control, Rsync, SIP, SMB/CIFS, SMPP, SMS, Socks, SFTP, SSH, Server Monitor, Styx, Syslog, TFTP, Telnet, Time, Torrent Client, Torrent Tracker, Trigger, Unison, UPnP Port Mapper, VNC, VPN, Wake On Lan, Web, WebDAV, WebSocket, X11 and/or XMPP server!
Start a server easily on the 'Simple' tab or go advanced and add users, allowed IP's, start/stop rules and more! Multiple servers can be run at the same time! No root needed


Why does my Nexus 4 not support WMA audio files? My LG Nexus 4 (Android 4.2.2) does not play my .wma audio files. However, my generic/budget Android 4.0.3 tablet plays the same .wma files just fine.

Why?
How can I get my Android device to play .wma files?

It seems that ICS does not have native support for WMA files.

You can use an app like MX Player (or its Pro version) to play WMA files.


Huawei P20 Pro charging in USB host mode I'm seeing several related questions here. However, most of them are ancient (as in 2012) and refer to micro USB and maybe the USB-C standards are different with regard to host mode charging.

I'm using my P20 Pro as a tactical flight computer with two connected devices.
The first one is a single row mini usb keyboard and the second a flight vario which sends position and elevation data to the software.

   P20Pro
     |
mini USB-Hub
  /     \
KBD     Vario

What I'm missing in this setup is how to power the phone.

I would need something like this:

   P20Pro
     |\
     | \Portable Power Bank
     |
mini USB-Hub
  /     \
KBD     Vario

This is just some background info. The question could also be How to charge the P20 Pro while a usb keyboard and mouse is connected?

Basically (at least according to Huawei's online chat support) the device supports charging in host mode since their MateDock 2 adapter also charges the phone.

However, the MateDock 2 would be an overkill since I don't need a HDMI/VGA port.
In addition I'm not sure what the MateDock is exactly and if it also redirects non standard USB devices.

Another solution would be wireless charging but the P20 doesn't support this technology.

So what is the the 2018 answer to charging in USB OTG host mode ?

I managed to achieve this (and use an HDMI monitor) by using a USB C Power Delivery hub, and a PD charger. The hub included as well an HDMI output, but it's cheap (around 30€).
I think I used this one here.
I bought two different ones but the second one does not seem to be available anymore on Amazon and the link does not work anymore.
The charger I used is an USB C PD 41W charger from Auckly.


Can I "clone" my credit card using the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus's NFC chip? If not, why not? Can an android app read my credit card's NFC data, store it and then send this data to a contactless pay point (PayPass)?  Thus I would use my Nexus to pay for my coffee, conveniently.

If yes, is there an app for this? If not, why not?

No, you can't. To oversimplify - wireless payments (NFC, RFID chips on cards, etc) aren't a simple 'what's your card number' transaction (because that would be insecure beyond belief), they are more of a 'here, encrypt this block of data with your secret numbers and return it' type of thing.

The block of data to be encrypted changes for each transaction, and there's (supposed to be) no way to get the device to spit out it's secret numbers.

So you can't EASILY clone your cards onto your phone (if you could, then so could anyone else who walked near you).

That's not to say it can't be done at all (if, perhaps, you found a flaw in the way the crypto works, you could perhaps deduce the secret numbers of a device), but it's not something you're going be buying an app for.


Cannot interact with Android VM - VirtualBox I am trying to create a simple Android application to better learn about the Android platform. The first step was installing Android studio. Unfortunately, though, using Android Emulator was impossible, because my CPU has not VT-x support.

In order to overcome this, I chose the other path I had available: I installed an Android system on a virtual machine using VirtualBox. And here's where I met my last problem: After the installation, which went OK, I rebooted the system, and now I am stuck in a panel where I have to choose the language, because I cannot seem to be able to do anything using my mouse or keyboard. The first thing that came to mind, was  that I needed some kind of touch input, which I don't have on my laptop... Any advice to solve this in order to be able to use Android in the VM?

You might try Andyroid.  It is a virtual machine that hosts Android and the wrapper is specialized to accomodate for the idiosyncracies that arise from using a virtual hand-held device.  I had issues with rotation using Android in VirtualBox and solved it like this.  Andyroid has a toggle switch that enables/disables the use of VT-x, so it is possible on a CPU without it.  One advantage Andyroid has over a regular VirtualBox solution is that it is tuned for Android.


USB debugging on Samsung Galaxy Tab -- How do I prevent it from resetting debug setting? I have a Samsung Galaxy tab that I'm using for development purposes.  For some reason, when I choose 'Enable USB Debugging' in the settings menu, it turns off after a random period and drops whatever USB connection I have.

I'm debugging on a Macbook Pro, and have one coworker who has similar problems.  Other coworkers don't have this issue.

I also see this. I doubt it's the USB connection or the rest of the setup because I can develop & debug for hours with a Moto Droid connected to the same system. Galaxy Tab drops out of USB mode spontaneously after about a minute. Only way to get it back is to unplug the cable, re-enable USB debugging, and reconnect.

One way to keep the Galaxy Tab connected is to click the entry with its serial number in the Devices pane in Eclipse whenever it goes grey. That's only a little less annoying than cycling the USB cable and the debug setting on the Tab because if you wait too long, the Tab disconnects and its entry disappears from Devices.


Where do I get my restored contacts from google? I managed to restore my contacts as per the last 30days but I just can't seem to find where they have been restored to. Please help.

You are not able to access those data directly on your device (unless it's rooted). There's a system app taking care for them, storing them in a database below /data (usually /data/com.android.providers.contacts). Apps like your contacts app or the telephony app interact with this via a corresponding service. To be permitted, apps need to declare the READ_CONTACTS resp. WRITE_CONTACTS permission in their Manifest file.


How to I undo deleted shortcut from chrome new tab in android? Currently my android google chrome new tab looks as follows,

It used to show twitter as well. I made the mistake of long pressing twitter icon and removing it. Since then I'm seeing times of India shortcut, as seen in the above image. I've visited twitter multiple times after that, but looks like chrome is brining it back. On desktop, I can use Edit shortcut and change the url. But how do I do similar thing in android?

Note: I'm on Android 10 (Oxygen OS v10.0.1). I don't have root access.

If you have root access, open the file /data/data/com.android.chrome/app_chrome/Default/Top Sites in an Sqlite editor. In the table top_sites, you would find many columns. The relevant colums are url and rank. Rank starts from 0. Chrome for Android show only top 8 ranks as top sites on new tab page.

If your twitter row/entry is not there already, than add it and make sure to give it a rank between 0-7. Further make sure that no other row conflicts with your specified rank. At last, make sure you do all of this when Chrome is force-stopped using Settings app.

This, however, does not guarantee that the changes would persist for long. As you would interact with Twitter and other sites in the future, Chrome would tweak the ranks again per the interaction it analyses and processes.

Tested on Chrome for Android v76.0.3809.132.


LorDModUE - How to configure I have installed Lordmodue* to under volt my android device by downloading the .zip, booting into recovery mode, browsing the sdcard and selecting the .zip file.

The install was successful and under my phone settings it says my kernel is the LordmodUE kernel.

How can I actually set the settings for this kernel though, how can I set my under voltage settings?

*HTC DesireHD running Cyanogenmod 7.2 and Clockwork recovery mod

Looks like all you need is here; http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1085725

There you can download the kernels, and the scripts and Lordmodue app to use them.


How can I block a group chat in Whatsapp? I want to block a group chat from my Whatsapp, but I have no option on my Samsung Galaxy S5. Does anyone have any solution to this problem?

Unfortunately, WhatsApp doesn't allow you to block a group per se. You can however, exit the group. And/or mute it.

To exit the group, click on the conversation header to show "Group info", then Exit Group


Android M : Application doesn't require any special access I have doubt with Runtime Permission Model on Android M . My app requires Location ,External Storage permission .
Above permissions are supposed to be requested from user as required i.e. just before the code which required these permissions.

Now , when app is installed I get a screen which say App doesn't require any special access . Is it the correct behavior ?

http://developer.android.com/training/permissions/index.html
Your app is asking for permission which may hurt/effect user, but also it does not mean that your user will not be able to execute your app if he/she does not does'nt allow permission and also if you code properly.and it is also the reason thats why it is not listed while installing app, you will need explicitly handle that stuffs.


Nexus S bootloops after trying to apply OTA update I have a Samsung Nexus S which I bought off my friend. A system update popped up and I hit accept without even thinking about it but the phone said I had to charge it so I did and left it for an hour or two. When I came back and went to turn it on it just went midway through the reboot and turned off again, then without even touching it it would repeat this process over and over. I have absolutely no clue what to do - how can I get it booting again?

I'd suggest you start here:

GUIDE Factory Images (JB-ICS-GB) (XDA developers)

  Requirements:

  -Android SDK
  -Java JDK

  -Platform-Tools

  -Unlocked bootloader ("fastboot oem unlock" pay attention, wipes everything, also SD card)

  -experience with adb and fastboot

  NOTICE: If you never used the sdk, the jdk, fastboot and adb, before installing the factory image YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW this guide in order to get sdk and unlock bootloader.

The part that is relevant to you, assuming your device wasn't running a rooted custom ROM before, is 4B:

  If you are coming from another stock rom (official older OTA unrooted), this doen't wipe your data/cache:

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-crespo-********.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio-crespo-********.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot update image-********.zip

  if you want relock the bootloader (not necessary, only for warranty)
  do also these two step:

fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot oem lock

Tried to include as much as possible for posterity, but the files you need and so on are in the forum thread anyway so this doesn't really apply if the forum thread would go down.

If you have any questions, please comment and I'll update my answer.


Find serial number of Samsung Galaxy S7 edge How can I find out the serial number of a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge without the sticker on the phone / box?

I've tried a few 'secret codes', but nothing happens when I type them in:
http://geekofreak.com/2013/01/all-secret-codes-of-samsung-mobile-phone.html

I've tried downloading Kies on my computer, but it says my phone is unsupported and I need to download SmartSwitch. I've installed SmartSwitch on the phone but it doesn't seem to be for verifying the phone.

I would suggest you try using Phone Info Samsung. It is a very versatile app and gives you a lot of information on Samsung devices (many may come as a surprise). I have used it for four years on my previous devices. Developer has an active thread at XDA

Play store  snapshot claims that it displays serial number too. It did that on my old Note 2


Camera is not working in ASUS Zenfone2 While opening camera in my asus zenfone2, it shows a black screen and suddenly exit from camera application (The device got authorized service from asus twice, and after second service, the problem arised. May be due to camera driver errors). Everything functions perfectly except camera. So, I am trying to root the phone and need to install cyanogen-mod in my device. Does this operation solves camera error? Please, tell me how to root and install(TWRP) recovery in asus.

Backup is important

flash Stock ROM again.
Root the device, install a custom Recovery(TWRP), and install a custom ROM(Eg: Cyanogenmod or mokee or aicp etc) URL to XDA is descibed below :

XDA Zenfone2

How to Root and Install TWRP is described on this link.

How to flash:

Check for any firmware file required, before flashing ROM. Otherwise, your device will get bricked.

a. Install latest TWRP recovery on your device.
b. Make a backup of your current ROM.
c. Wipe system, data, cache and dalvik.
d. Flash ROM and Google apps.
e. Reboot system.
Custom ROM is installed.


Filesystem format used for SD Card by Galaxy S3 When I remove the SD Card that was formatted by my Galaxy S3 from it and put it in a MacBook, fdisk shows its sole partition as having partition ID 0C, indicating that it is a Fat32 LBA partition.  However, OSX is unable to mount it, and Ubuntu appears to be mounting it as an exFAT partition.

What is the filesystem used on this partition?  Could a discrepancy between the partition ID and the filesystem used on the partition be preventing OSX from mounting the partition?

The reason is, at least with Samsung devices and cards larger than 32GB, Samsung or Android formats the card with the exFAT file system, but incorrectly identifies the partition type as "FAT32 (LBA)", or partition type "c" or "0c" in the card's partition table.

If you format the card with exFAT using Windows or the Android partitioning app Aparted, it will correctly declare the partition type as 7 or "07" for "exFAT" (HPFS/NTFS/exFAT) in the microSD partition table.

I have struggled with this same problem, and just confirmed the above information by formating a completely blank, unpartitioned 200GB microSD card on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 with Android 4.4.2, and in Windows, and using Aparted on Android.

If you are trying to recover data from a card that was formatted with exFAT, but whose partition is incorrectly identified as "FAT32 (LBA)" or "c" or "0c" in the partition table, I believe you will need to force the recovery app (e.g. Testdisk) to identify it as HPFS/NTFS/exFAT or "07".


Install loop Android 4.4.2 Galaxy Core II Yesterday I recieved an update for my Samsung Galaxy Core II(SM-G355HN). I downloaded the update and tried to install it. At about 94% I received an error code [6] in cache/fota/update.zip. I tried to do a hard reset, but I can't get into recovery mode. When the installation fails, my phone will reboot twice, once with just the screen that says Samsung Galaxy Core II, powered by Android. The second time it shows that as well, but then tries to install the update again, then it fails and reboots again. My phone is in a loop since last night.

I wonder whether someone knows how to fix this, because I can't use my phone.

Already fixed it. I downloaded an Android 4.4 ROM for my phone(SM-G355HN) and flashed it with Odin while my phone was is download mode.


Installing CyanogenMod 11 on Karbonn A52+ I need a little help in installing CyanogenMod 11 in my rooted Karbonn A52+, though it's running the stock recovery & I haven't been able to install CWM as it isn't compatible with my device.. So could you please guide me in installing CyanogenMod 11 on my device?

Device details:

Android Version: 4.2.2 Jelly Bean
Root Access: Yes
CPU: 1.2 GHz Dual Core Mediatek
RAM: 512 MB

your device is not officially supported, and I did not find an unofficial build. also there is no custom recovery available. if you really want to use cyanogenmod, buy another phone.


Default email app is always on Before Android 2.2, the default email app would only show notifications if it was "off". That is, if I used Advanced Task Killer to kill it.

After Android 2.2, the default email app will show notifications regardless of me killing it.

Is there a way to get the old functionality back?

I want it to always show notifications, but only when I tell it to be "on". I know that I can change the notification settings, but that's annoying and clunky.

If there is a good alternative email app that provides this functionaly and can sync with Exchange, that would work.

In my samsung i5500 I use a 'sync shortcut' placed on the home screen.

It is a one click on/off sync. You can add the power control widget by long pressing the home screen>Add widget>Power Control

Or there are some such one click utility in the market.


Apps missing after upgrading sd card I have been searching for how to properly upgrade to new sdcard, and I did as this posts suggests. How to upgrade / swap SD card without losing data and installed apps?.

But when inserting the new sd card several apps (not all) are missing. I had about 80 apps installed, could that explain why I am having this problem, while no other seem to have it?

Could it be, that there are two partitions on the original sd card, one being used for apps when internal memory is full; and I have then only copied the part not in the 'simple' partition?

Using Gingerbread (2.3.3).

I found out that all the apps missing have an .asec file in the .android_secure folder on the sd card, however the .android_secure folder itself is there.

On Linux I wrote:

cp sdbackup/* /media/disk -r

It copies all folders, and their content, recursively. Except for the hidden folders in sdbackup, e.g.:

sdbackup/.android_secure
sdbackup/.doubleTwist

Hidden folders in the hierarchy are copied however.

So now I managed by subsequently copying each hidden folder:

cp sdbackup/* /media/disk -r
cp sdbackup/.android_secure* /media/disk -r
cp sdbackup/.astro* /media/disk -r
etc

And now everything is fine.


Can all or any smartphone manufacturer ship their phones with the stock, unmodified version of Android besides Google? Can other smartphone manufacturers beyond google sell phones with stock android?

Depends on what you mean by "stock Android". Android itself is open source (see Wikipedia: Android Open Source Project (AOSP)). But that doesn't include the Google Apps. If they want to ship those, they need to sign the Mobile Application Distribution Agreement (MADA), which comes with a set of rules (which Google apps they must install, which must be placed prominently on the home screen, and more). It also requires them to get their devices "certified" by Google.

If they are willing to take that burden, they of course can. Many manufacturers still chose to ship devices with their own modifications of the user interface, to make their products "more outstanding", and also include a bunch of bloatware of doubtful value (often duplicating what the Google apps forced upon them by MADA terms already provide).


/sdcard/alt_autocycle - what is it? I have an empty folder called /sdcard/alt_autocycle.

What creates it?
What is it used for?
Can I delete it?

This folder is created by CQA-Test. It has a service called com.motorola.motocit.alt.altautocycle


Is it possible to disable logcat logging for an application? Is it possible to disable logging to the logcat for an application (APK) in  Android entirely.

Since i make heavy use of my logcat output, I'd like to see only bits that are relevant to me but there are a lot of apps that write to the logcat, it is quite cluttered.

I would simply filter the output but it seems that the logcat entries only have the PID for deciding what the application is and the PID is something that changes everytime a process is restarted.

You can use filtering to include only the selected app's messages by the tag(s) used. Use the syntax adb logcat YourTag:I *:S to show logcat output only from YourTag and hide all others. You can have multiple tags also, just separate them with space and have the *:S entry as last.

If you need to get all messages from multiple tags in the same app, you have to fish out the PID. If you use Linux/OSX, you can use the command:

adb logcat | grep `adb shell ps | grep com.android.example | cut -c10-15`

or you can check out proclogcat and use:

adb logcat | proclogcat


I deleted too many system apps but I made backup.. My tablet stuck on android logo A virus similar to monkey test that I almost solved the problem with Titanium Backup app until I deleted too many system apps. Now my tablet stuck on android logo. However I backed up all apps with Titanium and copied it to my computer.

Please tell me there is hope. I almost solve three month problem by following steps with Titanium but I overdone it. I hope there is still a solution  with the backup I made. I really don't care about the data my problem always was that I never found a ROM for my device but I am no expert. It could be there and I did't not see it.

The virus was similar to the monkey test but it wasn't the same. That's why it was hard to follow steps latterly. Whatever it takes to get my device back it is so important for me. I will right the build number for the tab and upload all apps images and a video  for its settings ,model number and virus apps, only images was after deleting obvious virus apps. I really appreciate any help.

Build number: rk_30 android 4.1.1 sdk v1.00.00 bsmart bs101 v1.0 20130316.

[Video showing all info][2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC-Km8pdOf8

i spent the past time trying to learn more about adb ,and i found this video when searching it could be the solution for my problem and i hope it is helpful video for others. i don't want to make the same mistake twice so i'm waiting for your advice before continue in these steps, also i put an image after i did the first step only to make my computer reed my tab on adb

If you backed up the apps you removed, you should be able to just adb push them back to the device OR copy/paste to the system app directory if that's available from Windows/Linux (etc) file explorer. Assuming all you did was delete some apk's.

If you didn't and you can find a stock rom, you might be able to do the same but instead getting the apk's from the rom.

Its possible that doing so may not work (depending on how the rom is set up and what you have available) and that you need to (re-)flash a rom (even just a dirty flash of the same rom or newer should get you back in).

But what you should have done was a full backup via adb, made sure there was a rom available for flashing, or installed a recovery and made a full backup before messing around in the system section. BACKUP backup backup!

A more direct answer may be obtained from the device thread on xda website where multiple people likely know the device well enough to get you through it.


Pass through ODIN MODE I have a Samsung J3 6 (2016), I'm trying to hard reset (PIN loss).

I found out that I should hold Volume Up+Power+Home for several seconds. Then I am warned that downloading a costum OS might be dangerous, I continue by press Volume Up.

I finally get stuck with a big droid and "Downloading... Do not turn off target !!" and also

ODIN MODE
SECURE DOWNLOAD: ENABLE
MOM DOWNLOAD BLOCK: 0
PRODUCT NAME: SM-J320FN
CURREN BIN: Samsung Official
SYSTEM STATUS: Official
FAP LOCK: ON
USB Init Start!
USB core reset done!

It's the same screen since 6 hours, is there a way to make the download complete?

This happend to me on J3  2017, I left it for more than 48 hours but nothing. Then phone batery ran out, so phone reseted and firmware was deleted. I needed to download new firmware with Odin to phone  from https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/. It took me 8 hours too download it, becaose that site  has Premium with normal download speed, but you need to pay for it.

ODIN DOWNLOAD
Put file in Odin and start downloading.
That process will fail hidden(it should fail) and you need to make a last step manulay. Link for official Sammobile tutorial :https://www.sammobile.com/forum/threads/35929-SOLVED-firmware-flashing-FAIL-after-hidden-img

I do not know if is this going to help you, but you can reset phone with this method to a state before you start this. And if you do everything good you wont loose your data.

And for PIN reset you can just make hard reset :Volume Up + Home + Power button for a couple of seconds and navigate with Volume button to hard reset. It will wipe all of your data to factory settings(if you have Samsung Acc. backup everything will be safe), including PIN code, but you need to input your gmail pasword (if you have gmail on phone) to unlock it,or phone will be locked.


How to Run a script or get adb devices from machine 1 to mobile device which is connected machine 2? I am attempting to run a Script from Machine 1. [Script would be calabash or Appium]. In machine 1 i didnt connected any device and In machine 2 I have connected 2 Android devices.

  Machine 1 and Machine 2 are connected via LAN. so I can able to ping machine 2 from machine 1.

Now My question is
Is there any posibility to Access devices via adb which is conneced in Machine 2. So that i can able to run my Script ?

I am using two windows machine.

Yes, you can do that using adb connect REMOTE_MACHINE_IP:XXXX .

where XXXX is the port of the remote machine.

Sources:

http://www.41post.com/5003/programming/android-adb-remote-emulator-access

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13278429/how-to-set-up-adb-for-remote-machine-development-and-local-device-deployment


Rooted phone - sending SMS message via command line I have a rooted Droid (Sholes), with ConnectBot installed.  I can ssh into it via dropbear copied to /system/xbin, and/or also the instance of Debian installed on it via the "Linux Installer" application.  I'm in portable Linux bliss.  But...

I would like to send an SMS message via the shell.  Something like

 sendsms 8005551234 "This is a text."

Anything like this out there?

You should be able to call the messaging intent with

am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW "sms:numberhere" -e "sms_body" "hello"

Using the intent command as described here:

http://learnandroid.blogspot.com/2008/01/run-android-application-from-command.html

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4967448/send-sms-in-android


How To Install Custom ROM In LG GT540? I rooted my LG GT540 now I want to install custom rom but don't know how to do, so I am looking for some easy steps to do this and also share which custom will be best for this device?

Backup your phone

this is important if you wish to keep any data from your phone. You will have to restore backed up data (such as apps) after you update. The only way to update to the latest software is to erase your device, so backup whatever you do not want to lose.

Extract the .zip file, which you can download from this AndroidForum thread or this XDA thread. Open the folder and install MSXML 4.0 SP3 Parser (msxml.msi).
Once that has finished, install LGAndroidDriver_WHQL_ML_Ver1.0_All_Win7.exe which are the drivers so your computer will recognize your phone. Windows XP Users download this driver, extract the contents anywhere (e.g. desktop), right-click on the 'android_usb.inf' file and click 'Install'.

Now you have set up your phone to connect to your computer correctly. From here on, it depends on which ROM you wish to install. This is an excellent video tutorial that covers installing custom ROMS and rooting, and as said in the UPDATE, many ROMS with instructions can be found on XDA.

Bricking is always a possibility when modifying software that doesn't come directly through the intended channels

That said, the methods here have been proven to work and your risk is significantly less if you perform these steps correctly.

Let us know if you need any help!

UPDATE: this is a method to install updates to your phone. as far as specific ROMS to install, XDA and google can be very helpful. As soon as you find one you like, go for it :)


Graph of Android API distribution over time? Google of course provides their snapshot of the current API situation. I'm curious to know if there is somewhere published a line graph showing the distributions and their change over time.

Here is a site that automatically updates to the latest data from the android.com Dashboard, and which has three graphs showing different aspects of it.


How can I delete synchronized Google data? (contacts, app data etc) Apparently Google synchronized various data without my explicit permission. I don't want Google (and any parties that will ever have access to their data) to fetch any of my personal data without me allowing it!

Now I would like to at least transmit to them to delete it. How can I do that? I didn't find anything in the Google Dashboard. And there's no option to delete under Settings->Accounts->Google where I expected to find such a setting.

Back up your contacts on phone using any app from play store ( see Restore: Any Solution?)
(also note the contacts app has an export and import function built-in, so you won't necessarily need any 3rd party app for that)
Do the same for other synchronized data you want to keep (e.g. calendar; no built-in solution here, but you might pick an app from Izzy's list)
Disable Google Sync on your phone Setting → Accounts → Google including Gmail ( on Marshmallow, may vary on other versions)
Go to https://www.google.com/contacts/u/0/?cplus=1#contacts and select all for deletion
Repeat that for other affected data (calendars etc.)

Remove Gmail account from your phone and use web version of Gmail from Chrome or any other browser to prevent Gmail contacts getting synced again ( In earlier Android versions you could selectively stop contacts from syncing but I have noticed that contacts sync even if you specifically don't want them to )

If you disable backup (under settings) - none of the apps you installed will be backed up adding to cutting off from Google.

To prevent the mishap in future times, see e.g. How to prevent Google from “synchronizing” my personal data after a factory-reset, adding a new Google account or software updates?


How do I know if a replacement screen is dead on arrival? I dropped and broke my One Plus One's screen and subsequently replaced the screen/digitizer. However, there is a vertical strip on the screen where touch is not sensed properly. Before I replaced the screen, the areas where touch did not work was completely different on the original broken screen. What would be a way for me determine if this is an issue with my dis-assembly/assembly or if the replacement screen I got was already broken (dead on arrival)?

The replacement screen was this one.

I tested the screen by plugging it in after disassembling my one plus one but not using any of the adhesives yet.


Navigation app is on filesystem, but cant find it on Android I have an Android navigation Navon Platinum Explorer with Adroid 4.0.

I reseted it to factory settings, and the navigation software, iGo Primo, disappeared from the list of applications.

However it is still on the filesystem.

How can I "recover" the application, so Android will see it?
I cant just reinstall it because of specific license files.

I backed up the filesystem to my computer and then downloaded and installed the original iGo Primo .apk file.

That did solve the issue.


How to hide Vibrate status bar icon on CM12? I just got my OnePlus One, running on CyanogenMod 12.1. This phone is great... However one thing bugs me, the vibrate status bar icon.

2

It just makes my phone ugly! How can I hide it? Thanks.

An alternative would be to use a different theme's status icons. You're using Hexo theme's status icons as it seem at first glance. You can choose to change the whole theme or just the status icons by an other theme's status icons under Settings → Themes. This answer should help you out.

Try the icons of System (Android) theme or download others themes using Themes app (a system app).

(Click image to enlarge)


Does Android poll for APN availability? I am waiting for my carrier to set up private APN for my company. I have already configured my Android device with settings provided by them. Currently packet transmission is not working. Will it work when carrier finishes his job? Is device restart needed? Or disabling and enabling packet transmission?

A reboot might do it, or reselecting your network provider, but I've often found that a factory reset is needed for Android to properly pick up APN settings automatically.

However, since you have manually entered the information it should work pretty easily.  I would reboot, but turning Airplane Mode on and off should be sufficient.


Change file permission in BlueStacks player qwerty.kl I want to edit BlueStacks '/system/usr/keylayout/qwerty.kl' to add few more key map to this file, but I'm not able to edit this file due to permission issue. Any suggestions on how can I change file permission in BlueStacks. Any hacks for changing the file permission?

Res: https://getsatisfaction.com/bstk/topics/change_bluestacks_system_file_permission

You probably need to root it to gain access to the protected "/system" file system.

XDA Developer's has a (probably) outdated thread how to do it here.

After you suceeded, you can take the usual steps to mod it (remount /system read-write, copy your edited file over, etc.)


LG Optimus 4X HD - unlock bootloader? I have just rooted the LG Optimus 4X HD using instructions I found at How to root the LG Optimus 4X (LG-P880)?

I now need to unlock the bootloader, but for some reason the command adb reboot oem-unlock does't seem to do what it should. All it does is reboot the device, and it boots normally again. Apparently it should boot to a screen asking if I want to unlock the bootloader.

Any ideas why this is not working for me?

That was my post (actually, with the JB update, rooting got even easier) – so maybe I can help you a second time:

Initial note:

IMPORTANT: Unlocking the bootloader on the O4X only works with Firmware V20 (approved for V20A and V20B; as OP hjust upgraded using the official tools, most likely V20C works as well). To check what firmware you're on, go to Settings › About Phone › Software Information – last entry there should read "Software version", starting with "P880XXY". If XX is a 20, you're fine; if it's a 10, you'll need to upgrade your device first.

Official approach

XDA Developers has a post describing the procedure. Requirements are similar to the ones in my "rooting answer", so you should already meet them. According to that "official LG procedure", the steps are as follows:

fully charge your device to 100%
connect your phone in LG software mode (or simply enable usb-debugging)
run: adb reboot oem-unlock

Alternative approach #1

As that failed for you (and not only you, others report that as well), let's look for an alternative approach. In another thread, XDA features an unlock tool for our O4X. I just found this now when looking for a different post – and wondered about the "relock" part: AFAIK, the O4X uses FUSEs for the lock status. Once blown, there's no way back. Obviously, that XDA member found a way around that (using a boot-loader hack): "by using this program you have 16 chances to unlock relock bootloader before all fuses blown".

Alternative approach #2

That's rather a "last resort" if everything else fails: Blow all the related FUSEs directly. Again described in an XDA thread (note the original/initial post has some errors, so here's a corrected version):

open a terminal (or use adb shell)
make yourself root (run su)
get the actual FUSE state by executing cat /sys/firmware/fuse/odm_reserved > /data/local/tmp/odm_reserved
in the created file, change the line 0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000040000000c8
write it back: cat /data/local/tmp/odm_reserved > /sys/firmware/fuse/odm_reserved

While this directly blows the FUSEs, it has one advantage over the "official method": No data lost, as no factory-reset is performed – a fact it most likely shares with "alternative approach #1" ;)

Check results

Whatever approach you took: You can check the results in "Hidden Menu" (dial 3845#*880#).


How can I control which device gets downloaded apps on the Google Play website? I have two devices, a Note 2 and a Nook HD Plus. I can download apps to each device with their Google Play apps with no problem. but I don't know how to choose which device gets the app download on the Google Play website.

When you click the "Install" button on the app on the Play Store website, you should be prompted which device you want to use.

If you're not seeing that, then I suspect you're using different Google accounts on your devices.


My Phone wont detect controller without 3rd party apps My phone is Xiaomi A1.

I am using OTG type C -> Controller to USB adapter -> PS2 Controller

alot of online guide i read, i only need to plug it in.

But i need to use previous version of USB/BT Joystick Center 2019, for my phone to detect it.

The problem is this apps treating D-pad & Left Analog as same input,same as face buttons & right analog.

And it detected my USB adapter as PSX adapter.

Are there work around, or alternative apps for it?

*** SOLUTION -> press analog button between analog sticks and it will work properly ***
--- ALSO WORKS WITH MANY MANY MANY different controllers which have mode/home/analog or some strange additional button u normally dont see on anything else ---
+++ for example Genius MaxFire Grandias 12 have mode button which by default is glowing in green and its in digital mode but after u press it it turns red and its changes to analog mode +++
That is most stupid thing i experienced with controllers and i have like 14 different ones already (for pc) and tested twice more i believe but as i see issue exists even on phones.
I was looking for something else and i found this question by accident. Solution is on top and reason why it happens is that 99% of controllers with analog sticks have 2 mods:

Digital
Analog

in digital mode u can have only up down left right and in most cases left stick is adapting dpad while right is adapting face buttons just for sake of giving them some functionality in that mode, but for some controllers its like analog and dpad works as dpad but face buttons loses functionality and right stick is taking it over i have no idea why but in like 90% of cases right stick works as face buttons but face buttons work properly
as for Analog mode ur both sticks have 360° of movement dpad still have up down left right and right stick becomes another 360° stick and now face buttons works just fine


How to Enable Android Opera mini browser off-road mode? Recently I found that, enabling off-road mode in Opera mini browser is a great way to hide my browsing data from ISP. So I installed the version 24.0.2254. But I couldn't find the option in enable the off-road mode. Seems like this option is available in old versions but not in latest ones. Is off-road mode is obsolete now or is there any alternative options available?

In newer versions of Opera Mini, Offroad mode is automatically enabled. If you are concerned about your browsing data (Privacy), you can use a VPN.


Can I turn my Android tv box into a NAS server? I've got a MXQ Pro 4k TV Box and a 4TB hard drive that I rarely use and I was wondering if there was any software I can use to make it a server.

The MXQ box has 1GB RAM, a 2.0GHz quadcore chip and ethernet, usb and hdmi ports.

Do you think it would be easier for me to put linux on the box and run it from there? Also would there be a way for me to set up a segment of this drive as a time capsule?

Thanks :D

It'll surely be easier if you set up a GNU/Linux system on the box.

There's a very popular NAS software on Linux named "samba", and is available everywhere from built-in repositories, i.e. you can install it with sudo apt-get install samba or sudo yum install samba. Bunches of tutorials about it are available on the Internet. However that good job does not have an Android port :)

For setting up Apple Time Capsule, I used to learn that it's possible but I don't know if it's still possible now. You should search online instead of asking here – it's blatantly off-topic on Android Stack Exchange. Maybe you want to ask on Ask Different?


Explosion proneness of my Samsung Galaxy Note 7 device It's all over the news currently about the Samsung smartphone devices being a fire hazard, exploding, and there being a pertinent recall of such devices which have already caused property damage and has also physically burned people in some cases.

As per Samsung Will Replace or Refund 1 Million Galaxy Note 7 Phones in the U.S. post. . .

  Samsung Electronics formally recalled 1 million Galaxy Note 7
  smartphones sold in the United States, replacing or refunding the
  flagship phones, whose susceptibility to catching fire.

  Earlier this month, Samsung said it would recall all Note 7
  smartphones equipped with batteries it found to be fire-prone.

  source

Questions

How do I check if my device is affected by this issue?
How do I check the eligibility of my device for the recall/defect?
What else do I need to know or consider?

Galaxy Note7 Safety Recall

  Samsung Galaxy Note7 Battery Safety Recall and Exchange Program

  Samsung has announced a voluntary recall and exchange program on
  certain Galaxy Note7 devices in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer
  Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The affected devices were sold in
  the U.S. before September 15, 2016. Since the affected devices can
  overheat and pose a safety risk, if you own a Galaxy Note7, it is
  extremely important to stop using your device, power it down and
  immediately exchange it using our U.S. Note7 Exchange Program.

  Through the U.S. Note7 Exchange Program, you can:

  Exchange your current Galaxy Note7 device with a new Galaxy Note7 as
  approved by the CPSC available no later than September 21, 2016; or
  Exchange your current Galaxy Note7 for a Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 edge
  and replacement of any Note7 specific accessories with a refund of
  the price difference between devices; or
  Contact your point of purchase to obtain a refund.

  Customers who exchange a Note7 device will also receive a $25 gift
  card, in-store credit, in-store accessory credit or bill credit from
  select carrier retail outlets.

  Note: The battery cell issue applies only to the Galaxy Note7 sold in
  the U.S. before September 15, 2016.

  Eligibility

  Please follow the steps below to determine if your Note7 must be
  replaced through this program. This program only applies to the Note7.
  You can also use Samsung+ which will automatically check your device.

  How do I check my device?

  Go to the Eligibility
  section and. . .

  The IMEI or Serial number will be used to indicate if your device
  should be exchanged.
  Find your IMEI or Serial number by going to "Apps > Settings > About
  Phone or General Management > Status > IMEI information or Serial
  number" or check the back of your phone.
  Enter your IMEI (Serial # for devices without IMEI) number without
  any spaces below:

  and then press the Check option there.

  Exchange

  Galaxy Note7 owners can contact the carrier or retail outlet where
  they purchased their device. If you bought your Note7 from
  Samsung.com, you should contact us at 1-844-365-6197 and we can help
  you. If you have any questions or concerns, contact us directly at
  1-844-365-6197.

  Carrier/Retailer: ATT

  Website: http://www.att.com/esupport/
  Contact: 1-800-331-0500

  Carrier/Retailer: Best Buy

  Website: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/clp/
  Contact: 1-888-237-7289

  Carrier/Retailer: Sprint

  Website: http://newsroom.sprint.com/news-releases/
  Contact: 1-888-211-4727

  Carrier/Retailer: T-Mobile

  Website: https://explore.t-mobile.com/samsung-galaxy-note7-recall
  Contact: 1-844-275-9309

  Carrier/Retailer: U.S. Cellular

  Website: http://www.uscellular.com/about/
  Contact: 1-888-944-9400

  Carrier/Retailer: Verizon

  Website: http://www.verizonwireless.com/smartphones/
  Contact: 1-800-922-0204

  Frequently Asked Questions

  Is it okay for me to continue using my Note7?

  Your safety is our highest priority. Since affected Note7 batteries
  can overheat and pose a safety risk, if you own a Galaxy Note7, it is
  extremely important to stop using your device, power it down
  immediately and participate in the U.S. Note7 Exchange Program.

  What is the problem with the Note7 phone?

  We have identified an issue with certain Note7 battery cells. Your
  safety is our highest priority. Since affected Note7 batteries can
  overheat and pose a safety risk, if you own a Galaxy Note7, it is
  extremely important to stop using your device, power it down
  immediately and participate in the U.S. Note7 Exchange Program.

  If I want to participate in the U.S. Note7 Exchange Program, what do I do?

  To participate in the U.S. Note7 Product Exchange Program, you should
  contact your carrier or retail outlet. If you purchased your Note7 on
  Samsung.com, you should contact us directly at 1-844-365-6197.

  Are there any other Samsung phones impacted?

  No. This issue is only related to the Note7.

  When can I buy a new Note7?

  Our first priority will be to provide exchange program participants
  with a new Note7 as approved by the CPSC. New Note7s will be available
  at your carrier and retail outlets no later than September 21, 2016.

source


What specifically prevents OTAs from being taken on modified /systems, and why can't it be shut off? I have had a constant nightmare with not being able to take OTAs on any of my (rooted) devices. They boot into TWRP, complain about the build fingerprint, and won't install, so I have to wait for a full .zip and flash my systems manually.

What is it that is preventing the OTAs from installing over a modified /system partition, and why can't it be defeated or disabled?

If it can't be defeated/disabled, why can't my modified /system lie about its build fingerprint to fool this validation into allowing the OTAs to be installed?

OTA files work by patching files rather than replacing them will a full copy of the new version of the file. This means that it has to verify that the existing files are exactly as it expects or the patching process won't work (or could cause the file to become corrupt). If you were to fake the fingerprint and force the OTA to apply you might end up with a device that can't boot due to some files being corrupt.

Android 5.0 (i think) switched from verifying just the files it was patching to verifying the partition as a whole so any modification (even to a file that is not being patched) will cause this to fail.


Keeping passwords/credentials out of the cloud Under what circumstances will a current Android sync or otherwise send passwords off the device? The credentials in question are for:

WiFI
Non-Gmail email accounts accessed through the stock Gmail app
Other apps, eg. Twitter

This question is on behalf of a family member looking at acquiring a Pixel 3, but concerned over how such is handled (including whether apps are able to read each other's data). I've been able to find details of how the Gmail app works with credentials for Gmail accounts, but for other email types and the other cases the details seem more fuzzy (or the answers more than five years old).

It is of course expected that for email protocols such as POP3 the client will need to submit the credentials off the device to authenticate with the service; this question is about whether they might get sent somewhere else as well, for whatever reason, and whether this can be controlled.

The Wifi credentials are automatically synced to the Google Cloud if you have enabled the setting "Backup to Google Drive" (Android settings).

Regarding the credentials (e.g. username and password) used by other apps there is no way to say something in general. Those apps may or may not store the required credentials in a secure way. Modern Android systems (Android 5 and newer) provide some relative secure mechanisms for using encryption keys that are maintained by Android itself. Those keys can then be used for encrypting the credentials before saving them to the flash memory. But using encryption the correct and secure way isn't easy. A lot of app developers use the easy and sloppy way and store credentials more or less in plain text.

Also the automatic backup into the cloud comes into play - if the app developer has not configured it correctly the stored credentials are backuped/synced into the Google cloud (if enabled system-wide, see first section).

Last but not least the is your question about the possibility to detect if an app sends credentials into the net. Unfortunately the only answer is: If the app developer wants to do so the app can do it. Additionally this can also be done by any development library the developer includes into the app (advertising, tracking, ...).


Is there a real solution for "can't connect to camera" issue on 4.3? I upgraded my Galaxy Notes 2 from CyanogenMod 10.1 to 10.2 (= android 4.3). Unfortunately the camera has continous problems - I end up twice a week or so with a cannot connect to camera popup when trying to shoot a picture.

Many people seem to have this issue. A similar question some time ago did not get any answers. I even found a somewhow-working-workaround in the form of a permission-setting app (I cannot find the source anymore but will look around if someone is interested).

All this make the camera app more or less unusable.

does anyone know about a working solution?
would there be a way to install the previous version (which worked without any problems), without downgrading to 4.2.x, obviously.

In my case was just an app. "Lantern" - flashlight using LED. After uninstalling that app the camera was OK again.


Can I use two different messaging applications? When you have a new phone, before setting preferences, actions that have more than one application capable to fulfil that request, present you a popup with those applications for you to choose; for instance, if you receive an sms with a link and you tap on that link, a popup may appear with chrome and firefox for you to choose which application is going to open it and show the associated web page. That is an example of non set preferences.

I want to send messages to different people with different applications.

For instance, if I open contacts, choose person A and tap the envelop icon besides the phone icon, I'd like the system to show me popup with options of application to send the message with.

Or, I want to set a preference that program A handles messages to contact A and program B handles messages to person B.

Is that possible?

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S4
Android version is 4.2.2

I know that it's possible to use two messaging programs in same time (like two browsers), but i don't think it's possible to one program handles messages from one person and other program handles for other person.