Most frequently used contact is muted but mute isn't checked, how to unmute/demute? I mainly use my phone to contact one person. Recently the contact's texts got muted so no notification sounds. In the conversation view the little mute icon shows but in the menu the mute option is not checked/ticked.

This happened before with the same contact and I had to delete the contact and recover the conversation from a backup. It's very strange that it has happened again. I'm seeking a simpler solution if there is one.

Does anyone know how to unmute notifications (demute notifications or reactivate notifications) for a single conversation or contact that has been muted but isn't muted in the menu.

In particular I've tried:

using the menu to mute, then unmute
using the menu to mute for a set time, on the hope it would then be unmuted
set the "ringtone" for the conversation to default
set the ringtone for the conversation to a non-default

There is no problem with the contact when receiving calls, texts from all other contacts are notified (none of them show as muted).

The phone runs Android 4.4.2 as in an Acer E380. It's on Three network in UK; contacts are synced to Google manually but I've checked on the Google end and can't see any settings that are relevant. Contact is in a group but other members of the group sending texts causes notifications to sound as normal (and they're all set to the same default "ringtone").

Thanks for any suggestions.

I had the same exact problem. I pocket muted my girlfriends notifications. I found the solution however! Go to your messages with the person who has a mute symbol next to the conversation. Then look at the spot that had their name at the top left (with a phone number right under) click the drop down arrow on the right side of the name. And it will say notifications. Then click on. (: good luck. (Galaxy s6)


Ads popping up in front of other apps Hi I have a Galaxy S4 on Verizon. I,ve been getting ads popping up in front of various applications like messages, browser, email and a couple others.

What's the first thing I should look for to find the culprit?

Look up what creates those popups. Typically if you long-press the home button the bottom-most app is the one on top and it should indicate which app is creating those popups.

If it says something like: The website at "http://..." says then it's a popup created by a webview in the running application.


Why are my messages hidden under the keyboard in the Hangouts app? Whenever I respond to an SMS or a gTalk/Hangouts message, it is hidden under the keyboard. Afterwards, if whomever I am talking with responds, their message is hidden further below. This is causing me to constantly scroll the conversation up to see what's the latest message is.

When looking in a thread, and pulling a keyboard to type something, everything looks fine. This only happens after initiating a conversation by sending a message.

My device is a Verizon Galaxy Note II running CyanogenMod 11.

Apparently, this is also an animation issue. According to an answer for my dialer app, setting the animation to .5x fixes a lot of spacing/hiding issues on the phone.
To fix it, do the following:

Go to Settings > Developer Options
Change Animator Duration Scale to 0.5x

Many props to Abid Rahman K for figuring it out!


What is the difference between the official and unofficial version of a ROM? The title pretty much says it all. What is the difference between the official and unofficial version of a ROM? From what I've seen, unofficial comes before official, for ROMs like cyanogenmod.

Rahul Gopi describes the basic concept of official and unofficial, but I'd like to add some important additions.

Unofficial is not necessarily different from official in sense of code and result. One can build purely from codes supplied by the ROM team without additions, and the result will be exactly the same as Nightlies, minus some fingerprints here and there that shows who built it.
Official is not necessarily better than unofficial. For many popular devices, both exists, and the developer for unofficial versions will add tweaks to differentiate, e.g. a custom kernel, slimmed down build (i.e. removed some preinstalled apps), themed to the developer's liking. This is what I'm doing monthly as a home compiler, by the way.
Official is not always perfect. Sometimes developers have unreleased patches that aren't pushed to upstream yet, or haven't been approved in code review for various reasons, leaving long overdue bugs in official builds. Devs can push out unofficial builds with those baked in when building locally, thus fixing the bugs.
When a new Android version releases, unofficial builds almost always come first. This is due to the strict requirements (e.g. what basic features should at least work) the ROM team choose to enforce on official releases. Contrarily, devs for unofficial builds are mostly concerned about bringing the version to the mass as early as possible as a proof-of-concept.

For those reasons above, you should not assume that "who builds it doesn't matter" - look carefully at the intro of the unofficial ones (because official ones rarely offers such intro), and decide if it has an edge you need.


Contact sorting in ICS? (Galaxy S alpha version) I can't seem to find the sorting options in the contact list. Currently, the contacts are sorted by first name and displayed as "firstname lastname". I'd like to change it to be sorted by last name and displayed as "lastname, firstname", but the option seems to be missing.

Is this really the case in ICS or just the teamhacksung's alpha version?

Is there something like:

  People app -> press the menu button bottom right (the 3 vertical dots) -> settings -> Sort list by


How can I mount a USB flash drive on my Acer Iconia? I have an Acer Iconia A500 tablet with Android 3.1. I cannot mount any USB flash drives. File Manager HD and other similar apps display "Directory is empty" in /mnt/usb_storage/. I have tried use a flash drive formatted FAT32, and my USB port works (I've checked with a USB mouse).  How can I get this to work?

You have to use File Manager HD and do the following Steps :

On the panel at the left tap Storage.
On the panel at the top right press the Up arrow until the first directory entry is asec.
Now scroll down through the directory and you should see usb_storage.

4.Tap usb_storage and you should see your data.

Hope i will help.

From : http://androidforums.com/acer-iconia-tab-a500/358421-iconia-a500-cant-browse-through-usb-flash-drive.html


How can I get my MK808 mini Android PC to output to my TV? I had this mini pc from a friend. But I cannot power it up.

When I connect it to TV with HDMI cable, the light is blue, but I got nothing show on the TV screen. I've tried some different HDMI cables, but it will not put a picture out to the TV.

Can anyone suggest what the problem might be?

Its the resolution setting. That or your tv/monitor doesn't support the default setting. I was switching mine to all the different sizes and switched it to one my monitor didn't support. Was a total pain to switch back as I flipped it to some off size. Just try every tv/monitor you can find until it comes up. I have noted on a few occasions, it doesn't seem like its booting up right away, I had to unplug and wait a minute, then retry.


Getting pictures off of old deactivated phone Can I hook up my old Galaxy S2 phone via USB to my laptop to find "lost" pictures in an unnamed file?  I just activated my new Galaxy S4 and for some reason, all pics that were on my old phone are now gone from the new phone. Not sure why these would be deleted from the phone during a simple phone swap. Not all of my pics are on the sd card. Most of them were saved to the phone because it had much more space available.

Customer service says it may take up to 24 hours for the transfer to be complete but the new phone already has all contacts & accounts transferred, plus I'm able to text & receive calls. I understand that during a transfer, pics are not usually included. But they should still be saved inside the old phone, right? The techs doing the swap shouldn't be able to do a factory reset or anything on the old phone, correct?

From your message I understand that you gave your old phone to a technician who did the transfer to your new Galaxy S4 for you. A phone swap is not necessarily a simple procedure and it all depends on what exactly the technician did. Apparently he moved all your accounts to the new device but like you I doubt that he moved all the files to the new device.

That being said, the pictures on your old phone will most likely still be there so there is nothing preventing you to connect your old phone to a computer and just copy those files to your computer or your new device. To confirm that the pictures are still there you can turn on the old phone and see if you can still see them. A deactivated phone only loses the actual mobile network connection but it should still be fully functional, even data with wifi.

And for your last question nothing is preventing anyone with your phone in their hands from factory resetting it. But I don't see any reason that would justify why a technician would do that after a phone swap.


Can I buy apps from the play store without having an Android phone? How can I buy apps from the play store with only a google account and no phone? Planning to buy the phone next week, but would like to grab the sale prices for various apps before they expire.

Generally, the answer is No. But there is a way to buy the apps first. Find a friend who is willing to let you add your account to his/her phone, then you can buy the apps under your own account.

Edit: Here's an article I just came across.


How to bypass 20 item limitation in clipboard? The Android clipboard by default has a limitation of twenty items.

How can this limitation be bypassed?

For dessktop PCs, there is Ditto clipboard. But for mobile phones, there is nothing like that, as far as I know.

Mobile phones are heavily restricted compared to desktop PCs.

There are plenty of apps  that can store far more than 20. Search forClipboard on Play Store . One such app which doesn't require extra / suspicious permissions is Clipper which I found to be very effective in organising clipboard

You will find plenty more apps in Clipboard Tools, from the curated repository maintained by Izzy , as he noted in comments . Also note that Izzy has pointed out better alternatives in his now deleted comments, needing fewer permissions:

  Clipper requires permissions to "test access to protected storage, modify or delete the contents of your USB storage, view network connections, full network access, receive data from Internet, receive cloud messages, run at startup". From a privacy point-of-view, all those network permissions should not be there as they are certainly not required for the functionality of a clipboard: Keep in mind you might copy sensitive information like passwords. Not saying the app intentionally does something bad here – but who knows what some integrated ad/tracking library might do (Clipper contains at least 3 of them)?

  So better choices would probably include:

  My Clipboard: only requests "run at startup, reorder running apps, draw over other apps". Not sure why it needs to "reorder running apps" – but at least it doesn't ask for network access, so the danger of transmitting sensitive data is much lower (if existing at all).
  CopyClip: only requests "draw over other apps, ACTION_MANAGE_OVERLAY_PERMISSION" – perfectly understandable, as it needs to draw its action buttons (for copy/paste) on top of the app you're copy/pasting from/to.


Privacy in Google Assistant The other day my phone upgraded from Google Now to Google Assistant. I was having a conversation with a coworker and noticed my phone vibrate. Google Assistant had recorded the conversation and tried to answer a question even though I never said "ok google".

My phone was in standby and in my pocket and I'm not ok with this. Is there a way to set it so I must launch an app to cause it to start listening, like some sort of widget? Is Google Assistant only supposed to record when you say "Ok Google" or does it not need any specific phrase? Does Google Now offer better privacy than Google Assistant? If not, is there a way to remove them both?

In very noisy situation Assistant may be invoked by mistake. If you do not want to happen this again then turn off OK Google Detection from any screen in the Google settings.


(Android 4.2.2) Sync my contact photos with Facebook? I'd like to add a contact picture to all of my contacts, but when I first installed Facebook I synced my phone to all of my Facebook friends. I quickly realized this was a mistake as I then had loads of contacts I didn't want, so I removed the Facebook account, and uninstalled the Facebook app. I then re installed the app and this time clicked "sync only my contacts", but this again synced with all of my Facebook friends.

If I change the settings to show only the contacts on my sim then I'm back to square one, and none of the contacts have pictures.

How can I resolve this?

Thanks!

Use the app "Sync ME", it saves the contact pics of your Facebook Friends to your contacts.


Android 6.0 - how to update rooted and tweaked MotoG 2015 Recently I got a notification update to version 24.71.2.en.eu. When I tried to install it I received error:

mount point :/system
location: /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/system ,
file system type: ext4script
aborted: Package expects build fingerprint of
motorola/osprey_reteu_2gb/osprey_u2:6.0/MPI24.65-33/36:user/release-keys or
motorola/osprey_reteu_2gb/osprey_u2:6.0.1/MPI24.107-55-2/2:user/release-keys;
this device has
Motorola/omni_osprey/osprey:5.1.1/LYZ28N/sultan04050349:userdebug/test-keys.
Proces Updater terminated with error: 7
I:Legacy property environment disabled.
Error while installing zip '@/cache/recovery/block.map'
Stopped executing script

Device: Lenovo/Motorola Moto G 3 2015 (osprey) XT1541
Current OS version: 24.41.33.osprey_reteu_2gb.reteu.en.EU reteu
Compilation no: MPI24.65-33
Root: Beta-SuperSU-v2.76-3-20160630161323 (replaced unlocked_logo to
remove unlocked warning)
Recovery: TWRP 3.0.2-r1
Xposed version: 86-sdk23

I know that there were many questions about updating rooted device and every answer provided a solution to flash stock system, recovery and boot images but what I want is to avoid reinstalling all software and starting from clean Android only just to install one update. I even found a solution to do that on rooted device but I did more: installed Xposed and removed unlocked warning.

What is the easiest procedure to install this update without loosing all data, apps and settings?

The issue here is that the installer is expecting the current build to be that of their retail ROM. Your method of rooting has been specifically marked for debug purposes (aka: rooted) and it doesn't want to continue.

Honestly if you want updates and support, either unroot your device or go to a custom ROM. As for keeping your stuff, use Titanium Backup to make a copy of all your stuff. You can restore it later if you go down the custom ROM route


Sending text messages to e-mail addresses on Samsung S4 I would like to send a text message to an e-mail address using Messaging on Samsung S4. I have already done it before as a test, but I cannot get it to do it any longer.

How to enable this feature again?

You have to enable MMS, (it's usually already enabled), and when you have done so, you can turn 4G on. Once that is done, and 4G/LTE, 3G is on, then you can type an email to send to.. type your message, and voila.


Enable/disable Background Execution Limits for all apps Official guide on Background Execution Limits (new feature introduced in Android 8 Oreo) has a note:

  Note: By default, these restrictions only apply to apps that target
  Android 8.0 (API level 26) or higher. However, users can enable most
  of these restrictions for any app from the Settings screen, even if
  the app targets an API level lower than 26.

I've looked through the Settings on Android 8 emulator and was unable to discover the option mentioned in guide.

Could somebody point me how to enable/disable Background Execution Limits for all apps in Android 8+ Settings?

It's displayed on the "Battery" screen for an app, in the "Manage battery usage" section, but only if the app is a "top [battery] consuming" app.

More info: https://commonsware.com/blog/2017/05/24/android-o-background-limitations-not-just-targetsdkversion-o.html


What is the right way to backup my whole phone? I did a factory reset last night, and I'd like to try to mod my G1 but I want to make sure I have a good, complete recovery image. Preferably one that will restore things like my K9 mail settings, in addition to my installed applications. If I went ahead right now with the modding I wouldn't need these things but I need to just use my phone for a few days, for which I'd like to arrange my settings.

I think I need to use nandroid, so maybe my real question is: are there caveats to be alert to in a nandroid backup?

If you only want apps/settings backed up, I recommend Titanium Backup.  It requires root.  Its backup will be saved to /mnt/sdcard/TitaniumBackup/, you can copy that folder to your computer just in case your card gets formatted.

If you use ClockworkMod / nandroid, do the same thing (copy the /mnt/sdcard/clockworkmod/backup folder to your PC afterwards).  The only real caveat is that you should flash the ROM you had when the backup was done before restoring the backup.  If the ROM you flashed afterward was significantly different, restoring without first reflashing the previous ROM can brick the phone.


entered recovery mode by mistake stuck in boot loop I have accidentally put my phone into recovery mode, and I cannot exit from it. Rebooting doesn't solve anything, it opens to recovery mode again.
I believe that, it happened since I hold the power button too long and accidentally pressed volume button at the same time.

I have checked a lot but couldn't find how to fix this. Since I haven't backed up my pictures yet, I want to know that if there is a way to exit from this mode without deleting my pictures(data)? I couldn't understand if installing from adb (I don't know what it does) or fastboot to reboot will delete my data? In addition, I haven't been able to install the latest update since my phone didn't have enough memory. Could this situation be related to that? Sorry for asking lot of questions but I am really worried since I don't have any service to have it checked up .

P.S:my volume button is not stuck.

Install adb  & fastboot drivers:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2588979

then plug in your phone and run in the command line

fastboot devices

*if it says fastboot cannot be found, then change directories until you are in the same directory as fastboot.exe, or add it as an env variable

if you see your device listed, run

fastboot reboot

that will try to reboot the device normally.


Restore SMS Messages with Titanium Restores then Deletes! I understand I /should have/ used a different app for backing up my messages.

I did not.  I used Titanium, and made full backup of apps and data.

I was apparently also using Android Messenger and not Google Hangouts to store my SMS.  This service was apparently deprecated in August.

I go to Titanium to restore my messages, and for a moment, it looks good!  I see all my messages.  Then they rapidly delete themselves before my very eyes!

I try again, I reload app+data, or data only, and the same thing happens---I see all my messages, then I watch it delete them one by one very quickly.

What is happening in this process, and how can I prevent it?  Where are they going?

About adb backups, not TitaniumBackups, but is this relevant (could I get my SMS back if I have an old ADB lying around?)?
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/3nrork/adb_backup_and_restore_not_all_its_cracked_up_to/

OK, here's the deal...

So, the issue was that Messenger vs Hangouts is controlled external to your application, and external to your google account manager, it's an OS-level setting.  So, the issue was I had to sign into messenger, agree to terms, declare it my default SMS manager, and then when I did the restore, it didn't automatically delete.  I guess prior to this, messenger and hangouts were in a fight somehow.

This is probably a one-off problem, I had not converted from the deprecated messenger to the supported Hangouts, my phone was kind of grandfathered in, while the default SMS program had changed.

If you are in this situation in the future, set your default SMS to messenger, and hangouts won't delete your messages.


Something is opening Spam URL in my Browser, how do I find out what did this? Sometimes, when using my phone, suddenly my browser (Google Chrome) opens up and tries to open a Spam URL. This will occur again and again, until I restart the phone.

It does not seem to be related with the app I am using at that specific moment, and it keeps happening even if I kill all running apps.

Now I wonder: Is there a way to find out what is making my browser open this URL? Is this logged somewhere, or can this be logged somehow?

Android Version is 5.0.1, device is a Samsung Galaxy S4.

If you use android studio, you can connect your phone and enable usb debugging, then simply filter the LOGCAT for "http://" and find your culprit.

Here's a URL on DDMS:

http://developer.android.com/tools/debugging/ddms.html


How to increase internal Application Storage? I brought a CHUWI v17HD, which has 8 GB internal storage. But application storage space available is just 1 GB.

I want to increase the size of the internal application storage. How to do so?

Short answer: You can't.

Long answer: You (probably) can't, but you can try.. if you don't mind potentially bricking your phone. You'll need root.


Initiate voice recording via Bluetooth dialling in car I drive a car with a built-in hands-free interface to a Bluetooth phone (it's a Volkswagen Passat).  From the "on-board computer" interface in the dashboard, I can select an entry from my contact list and dial that number to talk to them.

I often find that, as I am driving along, I have a thought that I would like to remember by recording a voice memo to myself.  The only way I know of doing this is to unlock my Android phone, start a voice recording application and hit the record button.  By the time I've typed my pin number into my Android phone to unlock it, this is already very unsafe while I'm driving along, so I don't want to do this!

Is there anyway I can set up my phone such that if I dial some "special" number (#*#*# or whatever) that, when I call it will just record my voice rather than actually dialling an external number?  I could then program this number in to my contacts list and access it via the buttons on the steering wheel of my car.

Ideally, when I hang up the call I'd like it to email me the recording, but that may be going too far...

This would also be useful on the motorbike where the phone is in my pocket, but I can dial numbers (when safe to do so) via the Garmin Zumo 660 GPS.  If I stop at some traffic lights, I can quickly dial a number on the GPS, but I certainly wouldn't have time to take my gloves off, unzip my jacket, take my phone out and run a voice recording application!

Set up Google voicemail. Call that number and record a message.


Will flashing re-lock my unlocked phone I bought an unlocked android phone at Amazon and it works perfectly. This phone in particular doesn't have any OS updates I could do (Motorola Defy), so basically I am stock with Froyo unless I flash it with a custom ROM with an newer android version.
The phone used to be locked to T-Mobile's network, so my question is: since my phone is currently "network unlocked" if I flash it will it re-lock again?

I appreciate any help and guidance. Thank you.

No, flashing a ROM on your unlocked phone will not re-lock your device.  I have several unlocked phones which I flash ROMs on to without any issues.  The SIM code which operators use to limit what SIM cards will work in your device has nothing to do with the software running on that device.


Infamous Marshmallow WiFi battery drain Yes, the infamous battery drain bug.

I've tried every fix in the book and I can't solve the problem.

I've got a Nexus 4 with Chroma (1/18/2016 build) and Hell's core(3.4.0-hC-b87-M) (Marshmallow). I rarely turn on mobile data and when I do, it's for minutes at a time. I have wakelock detectors and better battery stats, they show nothing peculiar (other than the wifi drain).

I've tried:

Turning WiFi and Bluetooth scanning off.
Turning my WiFi only to 2.5GHz
Turn it on and off again
Clearing app cache
Turning WiFi off during sleep.

Is it Chroma, Hell's core, an old phone?

Any help is greatful.

Not enough rep to comment... but I had this exact issue on my stock Nexus 7 and the only solution that worked was a factory reset.

I also have a Nexus 4 running Chroma and haven't seen issues with either the Jan or March build.  If nothing else works, you might try a full wipe and installing the ROM / kernel again.


Remove Menu Button from Title Bar in KitKat I have a Verizon LG G2, which I just updated to Android 4.4 KitKat. The G2 already has the menu button in its bottom navigation bar, but the 4.4 update, as expected, put an extra menu button in the top right corner of most apps.

I find this unnecessary, and it just takes up space and messes up my workflow. Is there any way I could remove the top menu button, either through settings or a 3rd-Party App?

Short answer is no, there is no way to remove the "Menu" overflow button from within apps in 4.4, even on phones with a hardware Menu button.  This was an intentional change by Google in KitKat to unify the interface across devices.

It's possible to remove this overflow button with some OS modifications, and many custom ROMs do offer a toggle for this.  However, it requires rooting the device, unlocking its bootloader, and installing a 3rd-party modified OS.


After Factory Reset - Please Sign in using one of the owner's account for this device - Asus Zenfone 2 I'm using Asus Zenfone 2 laser Android device. For a specific reason I did factory reset. After reset I tried to access my mobile. It asked me to use Google account which I used before in that device for sync. I did that too. But again and again i'm seeing "Please sign in using one of the owner's account for this device". I tried so many times using all my previous Gmail ids which ever used in my mobile. How to resolve this issue? I checked in Google and got results for some Bypass Technic which I don't want. I need the root cause and the proper solution.

Note: Before resetting my mobile I changed the password of my Gmail id and I used the updated password. I'm not sure whether it would be the reason. If so how to fix this?

This issue resolved in the next 48 hours of resetting my mobile. The reason for this issue was changing my Gmail password before resetting my mobile. If we changed the password we needs to want for 48 hours after resetting our mobile to Sign in using our already used account in our device.

Because device will expect our old password for 48 hours then the updated password will be acceptable for the device us to enter the Main screen of our device.

If any one changed the password and experiencing this issue, please wait for another 48 hours. Your issue will be resolved in 2 days ;-)


Best practice for backing up /data/media? Currently, TWRP backups don't include /data/media, and this doesn't appear to be on the developers' radar at all (the issue for it over at GitHub is just a bunch of +1s with no official response). Now that we have SELinux to contend with, simply copying the files back and forth is apparently no longer an option, and there are a number of different ways to access /data/media throughout the filesystem, each with different effective owners and permissions.

In excruciating detail, how should I approach backing up and restoring /data/media so everything is restored exactly as it was and my apps don't have trouble with the resulting permissions?

I recommend directly copying files from/to /sdcard.
The sdcard service will handle all the permissions and SELinux contexts for you.
The /storage/emulated/0, /mnt/shell/emulated/0 and /storage/emulated/legacy are all shadow reflexes of /data/media (typically /data/media/0). In the /init.rc file you can find out that the /system/bin/sdcard is a service that controls all of them, so you can just copy the files in /storage/emulated/0 with ease. All other directories like /sdcard and /storage/sdcard0 are symbolic links. They don't matter at all.


How to get the Enter (Return) key in Messaging (MMS) app - Jelly Bean I have JellyBean 4.2 and my friend also has the same.

I have been fond of using the "Enter" or "return" key while typing messages. I like paragraphs in messages. But I have a "Smiley" Button.

My friend however has the enter key. See the Screen shot:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

How to get the Enter button like in the screen shot?

press the shift key and see the change in the icon for the smiley. It changes to the enter key.


com.google.android.apps.gsa.binaries.velvet.app.velvet root application keeps stopping I have a Samsung galaxy J7 running on android 7 I've been getting this error consistently, nothing in particular seems to trigger this error and i can't find any application with that name.
is there any way i can fix this without factory resetting ?

I was facing the same problem until I updated the google (not chrome) to the latest version.
Try updating the google app once.


Battery getting charged with ultra speed and continuous at 1%charge for more than 9 hrs My neo v battery getting charged with in ten min from 0 to 100 percentage( Exponential growth graph ) with ultra speed and getting discharged to 1%( it also give alert showing last 1% left, keep charging)  with in 3 or 4 hrs. The last 1% charging is left for 9 to 10 hrs even then its not getting switched off.. Again i started to keep charging , charging process is started but Charging percentage shown 1% for the first 5 to 8 min. Later i removed my battery from neo v and kept again.. later after switching it on , it showed 46% already charged.. Again i kept charging , remaining 54 percent charged with in 10 min..

If we think there is a problem with battery.. The last 1% should not come for 9 to 10 hrs... and should not become 100% within 10 min.. And I also checked with one of my friend Neo V replacing my battery in thier mobile.. it worked normally and shown correct percentage of charging left  Similarly i kept their battery which is of 46% charge left in my mobile.. then it showed a decrease of 1% for every 1min.. But when i placed my friend battery in his mobile.. it showing 46% as it is which was earlier seen. So surely there is no problem with battery.

According to me the issue is with the battery indicator which is misleading me.. As it showing wrong percentages.

I read some of the blogs related to this issue.. Battery indicator is not a hardware related thing.. its a back ground service that is technically always running but is essentially always sleeping and using basically no system resources (because it doesn't do any polling -- it just sleeps and waits to be notified by the OS when something changes), then when the battery charge (or plugged-in status) changes, the system wakes it up and tells it what the new battery charge (and status) is. Then it takes just a few milliseconds to change its icon to reflect the current charge (and status) and goes back to sleep. So i think there is no hardware issue..

I also did software repair from sony pc companion.. But there is no change..

I am facing this issue for the first time from yesterday morning ..

Can u pls say what's happening to my battery.. And I bought this mobile last year March 4th 2012 from "The Mobile Store".. 1 year completed.. I have extended warranty of 1 year.

Is it a software problem or Hardware problem.

Is there any solution for this?

Try calibrating your battery, it helped me a lot. I had the same issue, 100%, immediately to low 7% again 70%, like that. Calibration means, it just removes battery_stats.bin from your /system/ and OS will regenerate another one. This will remove any miscalculations. After calibrating, it's recommended to drain your phone to the fullest and charge them back to 100%. If you have rooted your phone, this is one right way. :)


Does my stepdaughter have a way to tell I'm using Find My Device? Similar to this question for Apple, is there anything that my stepdaughter can look up or turn on that shows her I am currently checking her location using Find My Device such as notifications, a log, etc?

Yes, there is a notification that will appear when you locate the device.
WARNING: This could prevent other notifications from appearing.

To disable the notification, navigate to (Version 8.1.0, may be different on older versions)
Settings -> Apps & notifications -> See all X apps -> Google Play services
Under Other, disable Uncategorized

You should also be aware that there are applications that can fake the location of the phone, and that will effect Find My Device.


Nexus 5. Needs factory reset, no access to AndroidOS., can't unlock or grant permission I have a Nexus 5 updated to Android 5.1.1 just some days ago.

Today I have installed this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vanillasys.mikechang&hl=en

(I always only install really trusted app from well known developers or companies, but today I have done it, and I am already regretting it. So far I have lost everything in the phone -luckily I always have full backup enabled-)

I could not log in into the app as it even does not advise how to register, when I tried to exit the app, the Android OS entered a never ending loop of crashing the interface - displaying a message about the interface crash - crash again - message -crash - message .......

A) I rebooted thinking about not launching the app again and deleting it from the Google Play Store, and then even before getting to the PIN screen to unlock the phone, the loop crash - message - crash - appears again, not even displaying the on-screen numkey to dial the PIN. (the rest of the OS seems to work as I could hear the email warnings)

B) I booted in Safe mode, and again not even displaying the numkey screen, error loop again.

C) I can manually go into Recovery Mode and reboot bootloader (I don't know what this is for)

I booted in recovery mode and

1) wipe data/factory reset   -> reboot and same result as in A)

2) wipe cache partition -> reboot and same result as in A)

So I am desperate.

I am using XUbuntu Linux 14.04 LTS fully updated.

Then I am using this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7fhPYQSMQ4
I remember some moths ago about having done the clicking 7 times in the build number to enable developer mode. I also possibly enabled (very likely) the "USB debugging" ...

BUT as I have no access to the Android OS anymore I am not able to use the  abd devices command and get the phone to display the box asking for permision "Allow USB debugging?" (2:54 in the video), so I never get permission, and I can't either perform the command abd reboot bootloader (3:23) and even worse fastboot oem unlock (4:21)

I also try going into recovery mode and then to use the option "apply update from ADB" but as I do not have permission to access the phone from the computer I cannot do anything. I try abd sideload image-hammerhead-lmy48b.zip just to get notified of lack of permission.

What can I do? I can use windows, Linux or Mac. How can I unlock the phone's recovery mode and get permission to access it form the computer?

I would prefer not to use windows as It seems a pain to configure everything to get it to work with Windows, and also I have not used it for some years.

Info from my phone's recovery state screen:

Fastboot mode:
Product name: hammerhead
Variant: hammerhead D821(H) 32GB
hardware version: rev_11
Signing: production
Secureboot: enabled
Lock state: locked

Thanks in advance.

Alex

First, I want to clarify:  when you hold the volume button while turning on the phone, and get the screen with the big "Start" arrow at the top, that's not recovery mode.  That's the bootloader, also known as fastboot mode.  When you choose "recovery mode" from the fastboot screen and get a screen with a little droid and a red exclamation mark, that's recovery mode.  adb commands work only in the regular OS or in recovery mode; fastboot commands work only in fastboot mode.

You don't need to worry about enabling USB debugging from the settings menu; that's only for enabling it within the regular Android OS.  It's always enabled in fastboot and recovery mode.  Also, adb reboot bootloader is the same as just turning the phone off and then holding the volume button when turning it back on again.

The factory reset that you already did should have fixed the problem.  That erases all installed apps, files, etc. and leaves you with just the OS, which is in a read-only partition and shouldn't have been affected by any apps you installed.  If the problem persists after a factory reset, either the app somehow managed to gain root and modify the system partition (unlikely if you were running 5.1, assuming you hadn't rooted it), or it's a problem with the phone itself and the timing (after you installed that app) was just coincidental.  Maybe something went wrong while installing the 5.1.1 update.

Anyway, the best course of action now is to reinstall the factory image.  This is more thorough than a factory reset because it actually reinstalls the OS itself, rather than just erasing all the user data.  If the system partition is corrupted somehow, a factory image will put it right.

Go to Google's Nexus factory image page and download the 5.1.1 image for the Nexus 5.  At the top of that page, you'll find directions for how to install it.  In a nutshell:  put the phone into fastboot mode, then run fastboot oem unlock, then run the flash-all script included in the factory image package.

The fastboot program on your computer may require administrative privileges, so you should run it as root when doing fastboot oem unlock.  You should also run the flash-all script as root, since the script just runs several other fastboot commands for you.

Just to be clear:  installing a factory image will erase all user data stored on the phone.  Don't do it if you have any important data on the phone that you don't want to lose.  (But if you already did a factory reset, you probably don't have any data left on the phone anyway.)


Adding custom bootup script to Android-x86 Nougat I've been happy using Android-x86 Nougat on my system. Thanks to everyone who made that work.
I'm now trying to make one small change which is that I want to run a custom init script (a shell script) at bootup.

It seemed like a simple idea which I've done before on KitKat without problems. I modified init.rc and added a service to start my script.
But what happens is on bootup, I see:

04-17 13:16:14.823  1210  1210 I init    : type=1400 audit(0.0:6): avc: denied { execute_no_trans } for path="/system/bin/mystart" dev="loop1" ino=280 scontext=u:r:init:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:system_file:s0 tclass=file permissive=1

That error is a SELinux permission error so I then proceeded to try these solutions:

Disabling SElinux

write /sys/fs/selinux/enforce 0

And checked that this causes the system to be in permissive mode but at bootup, the same error still occurs.
Adding a custom SELinux policy, I added:

build/target/board/generic/sepolicy/mystart.te
type mystart, domain;
type mystart_exec, exec_type, file_type;

init_daemon_domain(mystart)

But this still doesn't allow the service to proceed.
Tried to run it as a post action:

on property:dev.bootcomplete=1
exec u:r:shell:s0 shell shell input log adb sdcard_rw sdcard_r net_bt_admin net_bt inet net_bw_stats -- /system/bin/sh /system/bin/mystart

This still hits the same avc issue.

Edit: This issue is for a boot script (not an ELF executable as in the other case) and furthermore, as I mentioned above, turning off SELinux enforce does not permit the script to be run.

The avc denial you have got states that:

  init is running with its context u:r:init:0, you want it to execute /system/bin/mystart (script, binary, whatever) which is labeled as u:object_r:system_file:s0. But init isn't allowed to execute system_file in sepolicy. However you have set SELinux permissive, so it's just a warning, not actual denial.

Therefore you don't need to do anything with SELinux unless you set it enforcing. There must be some other problem with your shell script. Put set -x; exec >/data/media/0/mystart.log 2>&1 at the start of your script to see what happens when it's executed.

RELATED: How to run an executable on boot and keep it running?


What is an easy method to test whether UDP traffic is blocked? What is an easy method for an Android device to tell whether a data connection (either WiFi or mobile data alone) has UDP traffic blocked? Many corporate and public access points restrict UDP access, and I am looking for a way to detect this manually. I am interested in this because real-time VOIP applications, for example, should not be expected to work with the same performance on TCP as on UDP.

For the purposes of this question, I would assume that the data connection is either:

using hole-punching or
blocks all UDP traffic that is not DNS-related.

Also, please assume the Android device is not rooted.

You can check if UDP traffic is blocked with this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=be.ac.ulg.mobiletracebox

It's free and it works on not rooted devices.

Just select UDP category and run the test.

To check if UDP traffic is blocked only on certain ports you can use "Advanced" to set Destination Port (along with other fields of the packet).

I'm affiliated with developers of this app, but frankly I don't know any "famous" app doing the same job.


remove google account from android device if i sync a google account account to my android mobile, all my gmail, contacts will be synced with the google account and i can view my mobile contacts, photos from a web browser in pc by signing in my google account right. now my question is simple. if i remove my google account from my android mobile, will i still be able to view the already synced contacts and photos from a web browser in pc through internet?

Yes.
If you have synced the account properly then you will be able to access all your content from browser even though you remove the account from android device.


Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread: Sort and do a cloud backup of photos I have a Samsung Galaxy Y and I want to sort camera pictures and do a cloud backup. Is it possible using the standard Gallery app and any other of it's factory resources?

I know Google Photos would do this in very simple and stylish way, but there is no version for Gingerbread devices (AFAIK, there is no way to upgrade this phone beyond 2.3.6).

Quoting from my commnets,

  Well, As I already pointed you can use your preinstaled Google Drive
  or Goolge Plus app for backing up your photos. Or you can use other
  cloud photo backup apps from the Play Store like G Cloud Backup, CM Backup or Dropbox etc.
  Also look for other cloud photo backup apps in google play store.
  Later you can do the sorting after backup.

Once you have stored your photos backed up in the cloud storage, the uploaded images will also have properties stored with them for each image file. So once you restore it to your phone or download it to your computer you can sort the photos based on the Date and Time filter from the file property.


How do I get Google Home Mini to play Apple Music? My boyfriend recently got me a Google pixel 2 but all of our music is on Apple Music. I downloaded the Apple Music app onto my pixel and have been listening to our music through the app. The free Google home mini just arrived and I need help figuring out how to play Apple Music through the Google Mini. Eventually I will get my music on Google Play but I am teaching a yoga class tomorrow and don't have time to figure how to switch my playlist over.

I actually found a way! If I connect my phone and the mini solely using Bluetooth then it plays YouTube videos and Apple Music.


How to specify where Samsung S5830's camera saves photos to I have a Samsung S5830 phone which has Android on it.

When I look at:

Task Manager -> Summary

It appears that my, small, sim card is being filled up with data whilst, my larger, External SD card is relatively empty.

I'd prefer the camera to save images to my SD card. Not the sim.

But, I have no idea how to tell it to do so.

Any suggestions?

Your device, Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830, should be running Android 2.3. If so, you can set the storage location while within the camera app:

Access the camera app;
On your screen should be what looks like a cog wheel, tap on it;

  for your device, while in landscape, should be at the left/bottom of your screen.

On the next screen, there's a scrollable list, make your way to part where you can set your storage location, tap on the prefered location to select.

The camera app should now store the photos taken into the selected location (Memory card or internal storage).


How to uninstall/disable system apps on Fire HD 8? I want to uninstall or disable system apps on my Amazon Fire HD 8 2017. How can I do this? The FireOS version in "System Updates" menu is 5.6.2.0.

There is a method to disable system apps on Fire HD 8 2017, on your FireOS version. (Discovered by myself, actually :D) You can see that XDA thread here. To battle possible link rot I'll also describe it here too.

I'm not going to add a guide on how to install ADB here, this page by Amazon explains it thoroughly, so you can follow it.
Download the APK attached in post #2, or if the link is broken download it from Dropbox. You can install it with ADB if you know how to, or just install it as you install other APK files.
This is one of most important but most ignored steps. Reboot your tablet.
The Amazon page explains how to run adb commands. Run these commands in order.

adb shell

run-as com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook

Run pm hide on every app you want to hide. (You might be thinking the difference between hide and disable. pm hide vs. pm disable was analyzed on here.) You can check the package name of the app you want to install by "App Inspector". You can download and install it from here and check the package name of the app you want to remove.

Example: pm hide com.amazon.kindle

Here are all the apps that are safe to remove. Removing any other all could cause unexpected bugs.

Good luck!


disable two startup logos on android devices startup There are two logos on my android device(s) showing while loading device.

How to remove them showing?

First one is general android logo
Second one is vendor specific.

I need either of them to be  disabled, without going to change them.

There has to be some option for this.

You need root and a root explorer like ES File Explorer. Go to system/media/ and delete or rename the file bootani.qmg if you want to get rid of the Android animation.

The vendor one should be named like samsungani.qmg or htcani.qmg.


unblock device with voice control command I'm curious if is possible to unblock the device with voice commands. I know about the "Ok, Google" but unfortunately doesn't work with display blocked.

I'm looking for the name of an app which can be used by persons with movement disabilities (paralyzed). Can you give me some names?

Yeah you can do it it's Known as trusted voice, it can unlock a phone simply by hearing its owner say 'OK, Google'.

'A warning advises that trusted voice unlocking is less secure than other options, but just a couple taps and you'll be able to unlock and execute commands on your secured device by simply uttering 'OK Google.''

Source


Why isn't my internal storage usage going down after adopting an SD card? I have an Honor 5X running LineageOS, and I'm trying to use an external SD card as adoptable storage. After migrating my data, my internal shared storage usage does not go down. Specifically, "Music & audio" shows up as 6.9 GB on both the internal shared storage and the SD card. There's also an unusual "-6.1GB" under "Other" when I look at the storage usage for the SD card.

I don't know if it's relevant, but the "Music" directory is being watched by Syncthing. Is there something I did wrong in setting this up?

The comment from Irfan Latif pointed me in the right direction. My "Music" directory was still on /data/media/0 as well as the adopted mount. I deleted it from /data/media/0, the directory still shows up in /storage/emulated/0, and the usage summary makes sense now. Down to half usage.


How do, or can you hide account contacts on the Galaxy S III? Okay, so I just upgraded from the Galaxy S Captivate to a shiny new Galaxy S III.

In both the stock TouchWiz ROM and the AOKP ROM I later ran, on my Captivate, i could set specific accounts to not show their contacts in my address book. Specifically, while I want to sync my Facebook contacts to get photos for people, I don't want all my Facebook contacts showing up in my phone address book.

Poke around as I might though, I cannot find any way to hide a specific account from the address book on the Galaxy S III. Is there any way to do this?

I should note, I am running the AT&T version.

Same issue here, That particular option was in CYM7.5 on my Dell streak. was a nice addition IMO.

Only thing I can suggest, unless there's some sort of third party app for it, is to install a custom rom such as CYM or any other AOSP ROM, I doubt any of the Customized samsung rom's will give you this.

You will lose all the official Samsung junk with an AOSP rom, but at least it'll be stock ICS rather than the crappy samsung replacement apps.

(I like some of the samsung mods such as palm swipe to screen grab, but the SMS app and Contacts app suck)


Can i still locate my samsung phone if it is reformatted? I lost my samsung phone but i registered it to samsung account? Can i still locate it if the person who got it already reformatted the phone?

The answer is no. As soon as your phone is formatted or factory reset, no information is left from previous use, and so the Samsung account is not connected to the phone anymore, making it impossible for Samsung to locate your phone.


Filesytem on Android I'm totally confused regarding Android file system and its relation to SD card.

While browsing my Asus Nexus 7 (2013) with file manager Astro from very root catalog I found directory sdcard. But there is also catalog /mnt/sdcard that points to the same location. Why do I need both of them?

I got mixed twice while browsing my rooted Samsung S4 Lollipop with external SD card. ES file Explorer. It has :

/sdcard/ with some information that is not on SD card. But why this directory is called SD scard?

Mount directory:

/mnt/
  /extSdCard/ with card information inside that can be visible on PC if I
remove it from phone and put to computer.
  /sdcard/ again pseudo SD card info.

Totally confused:

/storage/
  /emulated/0/ that contains /sdcard/ info
  /legacy/ the same like /emulated/0/
  /extSdCard/ linked to real SD card
  /sdcard0/ again pseudo SD card info.

What is idea of such strange file system organisation?

There are already answers for all parts of your question, so let me sum up:

Android Folder Hierarchy has some general information
Confused by the many locations of the virtual /sdcard/ should answer the last part of your question
The /sdcard direcory and other directory conventions: how is the Android filesystem structured? might also be helpful

If you take a closer look at /sdcard from a terminal (or via adb shell) using the ls command, you will see it is a symbolic link (the Wikipedia article explains it in detail), usually created for at least two reasons:

make it easier for you to find it
have a "canonical place" for it, regardless of where it is physically

There's of course more to it, but that would become too lengthy for an answer here :)


Deleting or listing least frequently played songs in Google Play Music I'm starting to hit the limits of my storage space. My device is mostly filled with music, so I'd like to remove songs I don't listen to anymore, without having to painfully scroll down the list and delete them one by one.

Does Google Play Music have some way to at least list the least frequently played songs, or is there an additional music management app I should know about?

No there's no feature in Google Play Music that lets you delete songs you don't listen to. AFAIK there is no app that does the same too.


Why is "search application provider" eating 90% of my Android CPU? According to the "OS Monitor" app, the core "search application provider" is eating most of the CPU on my HTC Incredible S.

There are multiple log messages with the following error : "Failed allocating fieldDir at startPos 0 row 10845" where the row value keeps increasing followed by another error "not growing since there are already 10846 row(s), max size 2097152".

I have disabled all search plugins and reset the cache, is there anything I can do to stop the "search application provider" eating my CPU and degrading the performance of my other apps (these errors coincide with jerkiness and slowdowns in other apps)

I believe the 'search applications provider' has something to do with google's internal phone data / app search apk

Either way:

Have you tried going into:

Settings > Applications > Manage Applications > Google Search

Choose 'Clear Data' and also 'Clear Cache'.

Also there is an app in the list called: 'search applications provider' linky , if your really struggling try uninstalling it. From the page linked it looks like other people have! (I've also read some other people back it up and freeze it with titanium backup ((i.e. it's like a safe uninstall)))


How to increase call volume on Nexus 4? I just bought a Nexus 4, and this is like my first Android phone. Can someone please help me to increase the call volume? It is really low on my phone. I tried to increase it but the maximum is too low for me.

Call volume can be adjusted by using the volume rocker buttons only during a call. If not in a call, it adjusts ringer volume and if a media is played, it adjusts media volume.

So, if you had mistakenly increased media or ringer volume then you might not have any effect on call volume.

Try making some calls and when it's dialing, press volume up to raise volume level.

I am just saying all this because you said you are new (though this is a common feature for other phones as well) to Android. If you had already done this and still you can't hear properly, I am afraid there are no further solutions to improve the volume. However, there are work around like using hands-free or headphones.


How can I remove apps from my "cloud"? When I delete an application from my Kindle Fire, it remains in the "cloud" in case I ever want to re-download them. Is there any way I can remove/disown these apps so they don't show up in the cloud?

In order to remove the book/app from your cloud, you'll need to visit Visit amazon.com/myk. Log into your account and find the book/app. Click the "actions" link to the right of the title. Under it you'll have the option to delete it permanently. After you do so, you'll have the repurchase the book if you want to read it again.


How does Whatsapp store the chats and contacts of any given user, and are they recovered if one installs Whatsapp on a different phone? I currently have a Nokia Lumia, with Windows Phone 8.1 installed, and an Asus Zenfone 5, with Android 5.1 Lollipop. Both of them are old and outdated, but the Lumia is horribly so. In fact, I almost exclusively use the Zenfone, and I've kept the Lumia because of one thing only: I do not want to lose my Whatsapp chats and contacts.

Now, though, after the launching of Whatsapp Web, it seems to me that these things are actually backed up on the Whatsapp cloud, and that it would be safe to toss the Lumia and install Whatsapp on the Zenfone. Actually, to be honest, I'm thinking of getting a new phone entirely, and leaving both of these obsolete devices.

My question is, should I get a new phone and install Whatsapp on that device, when I desperately want to keep all my chats and contacts that I have on my Lumia?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Your data is stored on the device and encrypted using either an encryption key that is also in the device or a key generated based on your account. The best advice is to do as whatsapp suggests and before you uninstall anything, you make from the Windows phone a copy/back-up on your cloud (google-account). It is under options/back up. Then (re)install whatsapp on the Android and import the data from the cloud. Confirm the number and done!

Or you can try exporting a database on an SD and then try to import that on the Android, but that is definitely not suggested. It seems to never work. There are some discussions here on the matter.


Why can't I find a CERT.RSA file in my Android APK? I need to view the certificate of an Android APK, however when I look in the META-INF folder, there is no CERT.RSA file. I know that somehow the APK must be signed, because I was able to put it on an android emulator and run it, and Android won't install any unsigned apps, so it must be signed.
I just really need to actually see the signature but I cannot find it.

I am using Android Studio.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Sometimes the "CERT.RSA" file is called something else. No idea why. I have often found the certificate file to be called something".RSA".

For example, when I decompile the "wp.wattpad" APK, it has its certificate saved as "BNDLTOOL.RSA"

My advice to you would be to find the file in the META-INF folder that has the extension ".RSA". It is probably the certificate.


My Nexus 4 says it's charging but it's actually discharging I plug in my Nexus 4 to a charger cable plugged into a wall outlet each night, and each morning I disconnect it.

But sometimes during the day when it's not plugged in, like today, it says "Charging - 95%", and later, it says, "Charging - 92%", and continues to discharge normally. The battery icon also shows the little lightning bolt symbol to indicate charging.

I've seen the related/similar questions but they don't match my device or situation, as far as I can tell. Since other devices have similar issues, is it a software problem?

Either the battery is damaged or it's a software issue. You should first try to reboot the phone. If it doesn't fix it, try a factory reset.


If I reset my phone, will it also TRIM the fragmented eMMC? I know that Android supports fstrim but it only works if the phone is idle for a long time while charging. I think my phone is too fragmented and is lacking performance so I want to reset it but I am not sure if TRIM will also run if I do so. Since TRIM is important to improve the SSD's speed, I'd really like to run TRIM on my phone.

Android supports fstrim but it only works if the phone is idle for a long time while charging

It's not so. On newer versions, Android runs fstrim with a daily schedule, provided that the conditions meet. Or it should run on a reboot if not run for 3+ days. See this answer for details and how you can run fstrim manually.

FRAGMENTATION ON FLASH MEMORY:

  I think my phone is too fragmented and is lacking performance

No, fragmentation doesn't exist on flash memory, or at least doesn't affect the performance. It's actually the filesystem which gets fragmentation (that's why newly formatted filesystem has 0% fragmentation), transferring the same to underlying physical storage. However underlying medium handle it differently.

Let's first take a brief insight into filesystem vs. storage media relationship. Filesystem interacts with Logical Block Addresses (LBAs), which are just numbers representing a unit of memory. Filesystem to LBAs mapping is irrespective of whether underlying media is HDD or SSD.

On HDDs, LBAs to Cylinder-Head-Sectors (CHS; rotating magnetic disks) mapping (1:1 / sequenced / linear) (1) is created during low-level formatting of disk drive when manufacturing, which never changes except if some sector is marked bad by disk controller firmware (in g-list from disk's defects table) and remapped to some spare sector. OS may also mark sectors bad in filesystem to exclude them for future use, as CHKDSK does on Windows during full format and e2fsck/badblocks do on Linux. So Operating system is aware of the physical geometry of the disk, which is propotional to the geometry of LBAs.

On flash memory (including SSDs, eMMCs, SD Cards and USB sticks etc.), LBAs to Physical Block Addresses (PBAs; silicon cells) mapping is fully controlled by Flash Translation Layer (FTL); a part of memory controller firmware. OS knows nothing about it, it can see at maximum the LBAs, not what's happening below it, not even the ECC of failed memory cells (just like bad sectors on HDD), and that's why we don't realize the bad health of eMMC unless it fails. Since a page of memory can't be just overwritten unlike HDDs, it has to be Erased first before being Programmed (written). A side effect is that a number of pages are erased/re-written and the physical mapping changes even if a small file is edited. On HDDs, files aren't physically replaced unless shortened or elongated. OS is aware of these physical changes on HDD, but not on flash memory.

So on HDDs, OS is aware of the physical fragmentation which is same as filesystem (LBAs) fragmentation, and defragmentation (as done by Windows regularly) occurs at physical level. But on flash memory, you can't simply do defragmentation in actual, rather good flash memory controllers do fragmentation purposely as a wear-leveling strategy. OS has no control over the actual fragmentation at physical level (unless you have some advanced tools to communicate with flash controller). However OS is aware of the fragmentation within filesystem. But if you defragment the filesystem, it won't defragment the flash memory.

Also as @Robert mentioned in comment, there is no effect of physical fragmentation on the performance of flash memory at all because there are no mechanical components in flash memory i.e. no seek latency because of head moving over different tracks as in HDDs. Filesystem fragmentation - as some experts think - may have somewhat impact due to increased number of I/O requests OS has to make to read/write scattered data.

Summarizing the above lines:

On HDDs it's the OS/filesystem which controls where the data is actually saved on physical memory, so it can de-fragment it.
On flash storage media, OS/filesystem doesn't know where the data is actually saved on physical memory, so it can't de-fragment it.

  Since TRIM is important to improve the SSD's speed, I'd really like to run TRIM on my phone

When an OS asks a filesystem to send TRIM to eMMC, it actually requests flash memory controller to do Garbage Collection - Erase the PBAs which map to LBAs which belong to deleted files. So the eMMC controller maps those LBAs to already/newly Erased blocks (PBAs). This won't do defragmentation. See above mentioned answer to know how often fstrim should be run.

DOES FACTORY RESET DOES TRIM?

   I want to reset it but I am not sure if TRIM will also run if I do so

Factory reset on Android devices format /data and /cache (2) partitions. So the question is whether formatting is accompanied by TRIM or not.

Well this can't be standardized. Formatting and TRIM are different things, so it depends on the formatting utility whether it sends TRIM command to eMMC or not. Formatting may involve partitioning but in most cases (particularly on Android) it's just the high-level formatting i.e. to  create data structures (e.g. superblocks, file tables, directories, inode/block bitmaps, journals etc.) used by the OS to identify the partition's contents.

If we go through the lines in source code of stock recovery which handles formatting of partitions during factory reset, we see no notion of TRIM it does wipe_block_device (3) which calls BLKDISCARD or BLKSECDISCARD provided that they are supported (4). Both ioctls are essentially TRIM on block device level (not on filesystem level). fstrim is only run by vold inside the main Android OS. Additionally one of the tools used for creating filesystem mke2fs_static does try to discard device before fs creation (5), but not the other tool e2fsdroid_static. So there are chances eMMC will be sent a TRIM/discard request during factory reset, but be aware of the past: Android phones don't completely wipe data when their factory reset option is run.


does this cable (hdmi cable for galaxy s4) works for Grand Prime or grand prime plus does this cable

works for Grand Prime or grand prime plus

P.S.   i have RROS 7.1.2 Rom Installed On My grand Prime And The OTG Function Works Properly

No. These cables rely on the phone supporting MHL (more than just OTG), which the Grand series, being low-end phones, clearly don't.


Any easy and free way to install One app Two times in Android I have seen some other way such as using Pro editor apk. or using root, but I want any other way which is free to install One app two time in my android device.
Thankyou Your answers and comments are highly appreciated.

I solved it using Shelter App. Shelter App created Work Profile on my Android 10.
Shelter is useful for creating an isolated space and utilizing the work profile feature on Android. And in that room, we can install or clone applications.


Your friend is on Instagram notification I have installed Instagram and now it notifies me:

  Your friend bob is on Instagram as bob123.

I don't remember giving it permissions to access my contacts and when I go to Android Settings > Applications > Instagram it does not have any permissions enabled.

How does it know my contacts and how can I disable it?

Note: I do not have Facebook connected. In fact it has a banner across the top of the app asking if I want to connect Facebook

The notifications indicate people who are friends with you on Facebook. If you used "Sign in with Facebook" option or used the e-mail address to sign up on Instagram that you used to sign up for Facebook too. Instagram is owned by Facebook, so they can know.


removing the frequently contacted list after new update in April 2017 After the new update, the frequently contacted list appears.  There is no favorite list any place that I can find.  How do you remove these frequently contacted people from list?

On a Galaxy S4 when you’re looking at the “Frequently Contacted” list, press the menu key (below the touch screen on the left) and select “Remove from Favorites” from the flyout menu. Check the check boxes on the ones you would like to remove from that list and then tap “Done”.


Does the Google Nexus 7 support external keyboards? Can I use an external keyboard with a Google Nexus 7? Will the Nexus pair with an Apple Wireless keyboard? Are there other companies that make compatible keyboards?

You can use an external Bluetooth or USB keyboard with the Nexus 7. For more information see the Connect to keyboards, mice, & other devices section of the Nexus 7 manual. Mike Elgan reports that the Nexus 7 also works with an Apple Bluetooth keyboard.


Install and update app without play store If I install an app on Android outside Play Store. Will it ever be updated? How so?

If you app is not available in any store app you are using there will be no updates. If you want to update it you have to install a newer version of the app's APK file manually.
If the app is available on Google Play or a different app store the situation is different:

On Android 7 and below there is only the Google PlayStore which can update an app. If the manually installed app is also available on PlayStore you can open it in the PlayStore App and install an available update. Once you have done this Google PlayStore will continue to include this app to the apps it will look for updates.

Other app store apps can also provide updates for apps, however the user has to manually confirm such updates (similar to a downloaded apk file that is installed).

Starting with Android 8 the user can configure which app is allowed to install other apps. Therefore alternativ appstores can provide an store app that can check installed apps for updates and install them accordingly.


Change desktop icon of an app (.apk file) I have an app that I like very much, I use it everyday, but I dislike its desktop icon.

How can I change the desktop icon of this app ? Should I do it directly by opening the .apk file (with which tool?) ?

You can try apk edit.

Launch apk edit.exe and load the apk file you need to change icon
The exe will display the app icon and name under General tab
You can change the icon and load the apk back to the phone

Note : This process will cause problem on update of the app.

When google play notifies the update, you can uninstall the app, install the app again and change the icon.


How do I get rid of two "viruses"? Yesterday I was looking at a sight and a message on my screen popped up on the incognito page;
An embedded page at s3.amazonaws.com says: MESSAGE! Congratulations Comcast Cable user, you have been chosen for a chance to get a enw iPhone 6s, MacBook Pro or iPad. Click OK to continue.

I can't get out of this pop up!!!

Then, this popped up:
www.launcer-apps.xyz says:
Droid Turbo System Warning (2) Viruses Detected!

I ran the Verizon security check and it did not show any viruses.
If anyone knows how to remove these from the Android Turbo, please let me know.  Thank you

Don't worry. These are fake virus scanners. They try to scare you by making you think your device is infected.

If you can't exit out of them simply close the browser tab you opened them in.

And if you rooted your phone you can download AdAway to remove the ads.


recent songs are showing up in files but not on music apps Recently when I download new songs onto my droid RAZR maxx they appear in my files in the music folder along with all of my other songs, but don't show in the music app. I have checked all over the internet to figure out what's wrong but have seen nothing. I cleared cache, I checked to make sure there weren't any weird symbols in the title, I refreshed music app, I uninstalled and reinstalled music app, I tried a different music app. Again the file can be played through file manager using the music app but when I look through the music app itself its not there, I have tried looking to see of it might be under a different name as well. I use the Google play music app.

I have the exact same problem, but I can't figure out how to fix it. I've solved the problem before by clearing all my music data (files and everything), and just replacing them, but that is a painful prospect, and really should only be used as a final resort.


Uninstalling versus disabling apps When I select the menu entry called "Uninstall/Disable apps" - from the apps drawer which can be reached from any home screen by tapping the 16-square icon in the lower-right hand corner - I can disable or delete any apps. However, clicking on an app disables it. I remember being able to uninstall apps by dragging them to a delete trash can icon. I cannot figure out how to delete an app on the apps drawer.

Also, while I realize this might vary from app to app, what would be some of the most common reasons/advantages to disabling an app?

P.S. I think the screens accessible by clicking the 16-square icon are what is called the app drawer, correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

I am on a Samsung Galaxy SIII (Android KitKat 4.4.2) and I am cussing the default TouchWiz launcher.

(I would have liked to attach screenshots but at the moment my network connection is slow).

In order to uninstall apps on touch-wiz, go to the apps folder then tap the left soft button. Now tap uninstall and touch the minus button for the app you want to remove. Finally, tap yes when it says "(App you chose) will be uninstalled". Here is a video showing how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYL6nYapr7I

  Also, while I realize this might vary from app to app, what would be
  some of the most common reasons/advantages to disabling an app?

The advantage of disabling an app over uninstalling it is that the app doesn't need to be installed all over again (from scratch using WiFi and the google play store.) Instead, you can find the app you want to use again and enable it. Think of it as a file in the recycling bin of a PC. It is not being used by the computer by any way, but can still be restored and put to use if you wish so.


How to factory reset android (4.1) tablet without boot menu? My 8-year old son have a Denver TAC-76001, he loves testing settings etc. After setting a pin-code password he cannot recall the code.

Since we cannot start the tablet I have tried make a factory reset without success. This is what I have tried:

Shut it down.
Press power and Vol + (or Vol -) until the boot android robot is displayed.

( at this point there is no (visible) boot menu )

3.1. Press Vol + (or Vol -) as if there was a menu and press on/off as enter-option. No success - pin-code needed.

3.2. Wait about a minute (which leads to reset according to a youtube-clip) until it restarts - pin-code needed.

3.3. Download firmware for the tablet, follow the instruction in order to format and re-install. No success - nothing happens when I try to format the tablet.

Now I am out of ideas...

New ideas, tools etc. are warmly welcome!

Regards!

I moved the problem from stackoverflow.com since this seems to be a more accurate forum.

According to the manual for your tablet, there should be a "Reset" button.  Try holding it while powering on the tablet and see if it boots into special mode (recovery) that lets you perform a reset.


AD's will popup on screen Each time when i turn on my WiFi, ads will popup and apps will get installed automatically. Some times WiFi switch's on automatically and junk apps gets downloaded.

It would appear you have some sort of malware. I'd consider one of three options:

Antivirus - May get rid of the virus without harming your legit files.
Fresh reinstall of the stock ROM - WILL get rid of any viruses...along with anything else you had on your phone. It WILL NOT fix any malware-esque behaviours that were built into the rom
Install a custom ROM - Like 2), will get rid of any viruses and the popular custom ROMs, for example Cyanogenmod, do not have any malware-esque behaviours. This option requires you to root your device and unlock the bootloader. Googling 'install cyanogenmod ' should tell you what you need to know.

I would try the solutions in that order to save on unnecessary lost data or technical ordeals.


Dictation with Android Wear Watch I know little about the Android Wear Watches, and want to know if I would be able to use it for dictation. Specifically I want to use it to quickly record ideas while I'm in the middle of something where it's not practical to get out my phone and do it.

Does it have a microphone, and would it be able to do speech recognition? And how quick/easy would it be to make it start recording/interpreting? I would probably have my phone in my pocket, paired by bluetooth, if that helps.

The Android Wear watch has a feature called: OK Google... your_command. To use it download Google Now on your android phone. You can talk to your watch anytime you want and use commands like:

set an alarm
set a timer for 10 minutes
call Steve
text Steve, how are you?
open <your_app> //example: open Google Maps
take a note, buy cat food at the supermarket.
remind me over 10 minutes, buy cat food at the supermarket.
hello //use this command to see a list of available commands.

Hope my answer helps you!


CyanogenMod 11 nightly on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (gt-p5100) I'm getting the set_metadata_recursive: some changes failed problem. All over the internet, it says to upgrade CWM to 6.0.4.5 or higher, but I'm using the latest for this device (6.0.2.7) according to the site, how do I get a later version? Or if I can't, how else can I get the latest CyanogenMod on the tablet?

Ok I was able to get it going by using TWRP instead of CWM. TWRP is much better!


Can I update my handset from gingerbread to honeycomb Possible Duplicate:
  When will my device get the Android 3.x update (Honeycomb)?

I am using  Motorola Fire XT. It runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Can I update Gingerbread to Honeycomb.

Because it very slow in streaming youtube videos
Some times it strucking.

I doubt it, since Honeycomb is only meant for tablet devices. You'd be better off waiting for Gingerbread updates for your phone, assuming you're not running the very latest version, or for Ice Cream Sandwich, which is meant for phones and tablets.


How can i tell if a photo was taken from the phone or downloaded from somewhere else? How can i tell if a photo from the samsung galaxy 7 was taken from the phone or it was downloaded from another app or site or sent to the phone

Go to the Gallery/Google Photos app, long press the photo and check the details. It should contain the required information.


Change the location of on screen buttons bar The on screen buttons bar "Back, Home, menu" are not convinently located at the bottom of the tablet screen as it is in close proximity of controls of the program being run.  Specifically I am using a SNES emulator and it's using that area for it's joypad control.

It would be very helpful if I can move the bar to the top of the screen, is there any program to do this?

As Romain Guy, one of the Android Engineers, stated in a Stack Overflow answer: No, you cannot move the Honeycomb status bar, either via a setting or programmatically (meaning it's not possible for an app to move it for you). You'd have to modify and build the Honeycomb source if you wanted to have any chance of accomplishing this.

You could, however, try to find an emulator that lets you move the controls to the top of the screen. I recall seeing one that had this option, but I don't remember which one (I think it may have been Snes9x, but I'm not positive).


How can I use Flash Player now that it's no longer supported? I know that Adobe Flash Player is discontinued for Android devices, but is there an alternative way to continue using Flash on an Android device?

I have the APK of Flash Player 10, but I would like to use the most recent version.

If the Play Store won't play ball, you can download the Flash Player APK from Adobe here.

Direct download links:

For Android 2.x and 3.x: Flash Player 11.1 for Android 2.x and 3.x (11.1.111.73)
For Android 4.0+: Flash Player 11.1 for Android 4.0 (11.1.115.81)

Warning: Those versions are pretty old (2013) and are no longer supported by Adobe. Therefore installing it may make your device vulnerable to attacks from the Internet.


Is Android susceptible to OpenSSL vulnerabilities? There has been a big vulnerability discovered in OpenSSL today, are android applications affected, and what can we do to get a secure version?

What about people with older devices (such as the HTC desire HD I have) that are on old android versions (2.3.5), is it possible (for example) to get a up to date browser that doesn't use the installed openSSl, or to get security releases to old versions of android?

Android devices are only susceptible to this bug if they connect to servers which have not updated their server-side OpenSSL components. If the server component of OpenSSL is secure, no data is leaked. Therefore the main focus of this vulnerability is to server admins, not individual users.

Most probably this can be fixed with app updates as a temporary fix, but it will be incorporated to future OS updates. The release of OS upgrades is impossible to predict yet and depends on the manufacturer and carriers.


Does Android send Wi-Fi probe requests to saved hidden networks? Let's put this scenario:
I manually add an existing Wi-Fi network that does not broadcast SSID. For some reason the encryption passphrase doesn't match, so authentication is impossible. Previously hidden SSID is now shown in Wi-Fi networks list.

Click on hidden SSID that is now shown and forget its settings. Click on the same hidden SSID now presented on the list and set a correct passphrase. Authentication is done successfully.

My question is if the network is still considered a hidden network on wpa_supplicant.conf?

In the future if Android client does not send a direct probe request for a specific hidden SSID and instead sends a broadcast probe, will it be unable to detect the network?

A hidden or non-broadcast WiFi Access Point remains always hidden i.e. it always sets SSID to null in beacon frames it sends. However once you manually add its SSID to a supplicant, it depends on the latter whether it explicitly scans the former in future or not. Android's WiFi client is wpa_supplicant, the same is most commonly used on other Linux-based OSes. From wpa_supplicnat configuration manpage:

  scan_ssid
  SSID scan technique; 0 (default) or 1.  Technique 0 scans for the SSID using a broadcast Probe Request frame while 1 uses a directed Probe Request frame.  Access points that cloak themselves by not broadcasting their SSID require technique 1

So scan_ssid=1 is usually the default behavior on most OSes. Also Windows built-in supplicant can "connect even if the network is not broadcasting".

  In the future if Android client does not send a direct probe request for a specific hidden SSID and instead sends a broadcast probe, will it be unable to detect the network?

Yes definitely. But scanning hidden networks is default setting up to Android 8. In Android 9 a new configuration was added to allow explicitly setting the behavior:

  My question is if the network is still considered a hidden network on wpa_supplicant.conf

In Android whole configuration is not added to wpa_supplicant.conf file but retained by Android framework. Since Android 8 it's stored in WifiConfigStore.xml files located under /data/misc* directories. According to user selection, scan_ssid=[0|1] - along with other configurations - is passed to wpa_supplicant process over HIDL - an Android specific IPC - or possibly over global ctrl_interface.

To summarize, yes Android (by default or optionally) sends direct probe requests to saved non-broadcast WiFi networks.


my phone is not booting or cant access to recoverymode I tried to root myGT- i8262 with many apps but it didnt worked and i tried using Odin,after i added TWRP it showed pass in odin window and when my phone was booting it showed a yellow triangle with an exclamation mark,so retried the procedure about 3-4 times and still it was not gone and i couldnt enter my recovery mode,and after searching internet i saw to recover from soft brick use recovery.tar using odin,i done that also and bow my phone doesnt starts ,when i hold the power button it showa samsung name with yellow triangle and screen turns off.please help me.

Download and install SamsungUSB drivers, if not already present.
Download and extract Odin zip file.
Download and extract ROMfile. You will either get multiple .tar.md5
or .tar files. Launch Odin Odin3 v3.07.exe asAdministrator.
Click on PDA button and browse file with PDA in its name (if there
is only one .tar/tar.md5 file then it is PDA).Click on Phone
buttonand browse file withMODEM in its name (Ignore if not
present).Click on CSC button and browse file with CSC in its name
(Ignore if not present).Click on BootLoader button and browse file
with BOOT in its name (Ignore if not present).
Make sure that only Auto Reboot and F. Reset time arechecked. Also
make sure thatRe-partition check box is unchecked.
Switch off and power your device into Downloading modeby pressing
and holdingVolume Down + Home + Power button and releasing only when
you see a Warning! screen. Then press Volume up button to finally
entering in downloading mode.
Plug in your device into PC using USB cable. If Odin detects your
device the ID:COM box will turn into light blue or green. If not,
then try reinstalling your device drivers or plug it into a
different USB port.
Once every step mentioned above is successfully completed,
press Start to begin the flashing procedure. DON’T TRY TO INTERRUPT
FLASHING PROCEDURE ANYHOW OTHERWISE YOUR DEVICE WILL BE HARD
BRICKED.  Flashing process takes time, so be patient.
Once flashing process is successfully completed, Odin will
show PASS. Your device will reboot to 4.1.2, first boot is always
very long so have patience.


Reenter the new password in configured Gmail account I have configured HTC Hero phone with my Gmail account (username and password), and it is configured successfully. I have recently changed the password of this account from the Gmail website, so at the same time I have to change the password on my phone, but I do not see where to do this.

Without reentering the new password, I am not able to get/send mail. How do I enter the new password?

Some options:

Try hitting Menu -> Refresh in GMail, there should be a notification prompting you to re-enter the password.  If it's in the notification bar, pull it down and click it.
Clear the cache and data for all Google apps on your phone: Gmail, Gmail storage, Google Framework Services, Talk, Accounts, Play Store, etc. via Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> All.
If your phone lets you, go to Settings -> Accounts and sync and remove and re-add the account.


Add contact via adb shell I try to add a contact using the adb shell:

content insert --uri content://com.android.contacts/raw_contacts --bind deleted:i:0  --bind data1:s:'Bla Fffff' --bind data2:s:'Bla' --bind data3:s:'Fffff' --bind mimetype:s:'vnd.android.cursor.item/name' --bind contact_id:i:1 --bind raw_contact_id:i:1

The console does not show any error, but the command returns no output. Nevertheless,
content query --uri content://com.android.contacts/raw_contacts
returns No result found.

Not specifying the contact id or raw contact id does not help either.

I am trying to mimik the insertContact method from https://www.dev2qa.com/how-to-add-contact-in-android-programmatically/ using the adb shell.

How can I properly add a contact using the content tool? I am aware that contacts can be added via sending an intent, but I'd rather not use the UI for this purpose.

I found myself needing to do just that. Here's how I managed to get the job done.

First, I create a raw contact by doing:

adb shell content insert --uri content://com.android.contacts/raw_contacts --bind account_type:s:SOME_ACCOUNT_TYPE --bind account_name:s:MY_ACCOUNT_NAME

This will effectively create a new Contact (you will be able to see a new contact in Android's Contact app) but with no extra information (phone, name, email, etc...)

Next, I add name information to the recently created contact:

adb shell content insert --uri content://com.android.contacts/data --bind raw_contact_id:i:1 --bind mimetype:s:vnd.android.cursor.item/name --bind data1:s:MY_CONTACT_NAME

After this, you will notice how the new contact now has a display name in Android's Contacts app.

Notice how, in this case, I need to pass the raw_contact_id of the contact I'm trying to set the name for. I used 1 just as an example.

You can query this information by checking the data from all contacts:

adb shell content query --uri content://com.android.contacts/raw_contacts

Or if you want the straight anwser:

adb shell content query --uri content://com.android.contacts/raw_contacts --projection _id --where "account_name=\'MY_ACCOUNT_NAME\'"

Finally, I add the phone information:

adb shell content insert --uri content://com.android.contacts/data --bind raw_contact_id:i:1 --bind mimetype:s:vnd.android.cursor.item/phone_v2 --bind data1:s:MY_PHONE_NUMBER --bind data2:s:SOME_PHONE_TYPE --bind data3:s:SOME_LABEL

And we are done! You can check Android's Contacts app and see a contact with a display name (MY_CONTACT_NAME) and a phone number (MY_PHONE_NUMBER).
There's plenty more information you can add but I guess this covers your needs or at least gives you a good idea of how to continue.

Bonus: I know it isn't exactly on topic but you can even run a little program to automat this using UiAutomator. For example:

InstrumentationRegistry.getInstrumentation().getUiAutomation().executeShellCommand("content query --uri content://com.android.contacts/raw_contacts");


Showing make not found on adb shell, How to install make on Android While installing a wifi usb driver on android, I run a shell command (sh install.sh) on adb shell but getting the following error

sush: make: not found Authentication requested [root] for make driver: sush: make: not found
Compile make driver error: 127 Please check error Mesg

I was trying to run it on the Terminal IDE but got the same problem. can anyone please tell me how to solve this problem (installing make on android)?

The install script you are trying to run is intended for use on a Linux desktop system -- it requires a compiler toolchain to be available.

It cannot be used on an Android device. Hardware drivers cannot generally be installed onto Android devices.


Whatever happened to VISIONary? A number of people on here have recommended I give VISIONary a try out on my HTC Desire HD. But I can't find it anywhere - has it been decommissioned?

It hasn't been updated since November, and was removed from the official Market, but as far as I know it's still around.  You can get it from http://android.modaco.com/content/software/320350/19-nov-r14-visionary-one-click-root/


Phone isn't detected via USB but still charges My Galaxy GT-S5360 is not being detected via USB when I connect it to my PC. It still charges however. It used to work and there was a prompt to connect it to the computer but now it just charges directly. I have downloaded Samsung Kies but it still won't connect.

A USB connector has two pins for 5V and two for the data signal. Seems like the first are still connected while the latter are not.

Have you tried another cable and restarted your PC?
It's also possible that the phone's socket is damaged or has connectiviy problems.
It's soldered onto the phone's logic board. Did you once drop it with the cable inserted?


Wi-fi is auto-enabling I don't know why but the Wi-fi on my Droid (Froyo) keeps auto-enabling. I can't figure out what is causing it and want to make it stop. I only like being connected to wi-fi at times of actual use so I don't waste battery.

Anybody think of applications/settings that can be configured to auto-enable wi-fi?

What about rebooting your device ?

I had the same problem solved like this...

[EDIT] Do you use a widget for the wifi: it can help you to disable it?


Does the HTC Droid Incredible Ship with Android 2.2 (Froyo)? I am just now ordering the HTC Droid Incredible. Will it come with the 2.2 version of the OS already installed?

Yes, the tech specs on HTC's site states that its platform is Android 2.2 (Froyo).


Internet access via wi-fi is ok, but just not financial apps I have hit the same problem with a couple of apps on an Android phone. The phone has no issue with Internet access using wi-fi. Web browsing and other apps run ok. However, two apps hit connectivity issues when the phone is on wi-fi. During the moments I am facing the problem, if I turn off wi-fi so that Internet connectivity switches to cellular (4G), the apps breeze through immediately.
It so happens that both apps are finance apps. One is a bank's app and the other is a payment app. Both are not related to telcos, ie they don't use cellular for authentication. They have been working fine on wi-fi all along until recently.
What could possibly explain this behavior?

Check WiFi device if you are the owner. Some adjustable features like QoS, priority or Gaming may affect some Apps.
Then check with the provider behind the wireless service. They might have blocked some ports or IP addresses, intentionally for performance or security reasons.


Will any Micro SD card work in an HTC Desire? I've bought my friend's HTC Desire off him, but it doesn't have an SD card. Should I buy just any Micro SD card, or do I need to get one specifically made for the HTC Desire? Is there anything else I need to know?

The spec is simply listed (on HTC's website) as such:

  Memory
  ROM:  512 MB
  RAM: 384 MB

  Expansion slot
  8 GB microSD™ memory card (supports up to 32 GB)

The above link is for the US Cellular variant, but the C Spire version has the same memory specs (the only real difference between variants is supported bands, AFAIK). GSM Arena also reports "microSD up to 32GB". Generally speaking, Android devices support any SD card that properly complies with the SD spec. There are no "special" cards for devices - any will do.


How can I close my current app via a keyboard shortcut? On Windows or Linux, ALT+F4 closes the application (well, window) that is focused. Is there anything similar on Android (9.0 Pie) ? I have a phone with a keyboard but without function keys. I find it hard to believe this is impossible yet I was unable to google it out.

In Android 9:

To go home you can press "Windows key" (if you have a keyboard for
Windows) plus "Enter".
Press "Win key" plus "-". Android will show you all shortcuts.
Other way, if you already have plugged your keyboard, go to
"Settings" and search "Physical keyboard", there you will find
configuration needed.


Why do apps on the Google Play Store have com. at the start? When you get an app from the play store, the apps are always given in this format (For example):

play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.king.candycrushsaga

I'm not interested in the main URL, and just the app name, so I get:

com.king.candycrushsaga

I know that this is the actual app name, that is not the friendly name shown on the app drawer or in the play store, but the com. part always confused me. I know what the other parts of the name are for (com.PublisherName.AppName), but what is the point of the com. at the start?

The naming convention is derived from the Java standards, and is comparable to an URL, but in reverse. The key here is that it has to be unique, that's why it's so specific.

In you example, com is the main category which is comparable to a Top Level Domain, which can also be com. Next is the company name king, which can be compared to a domain name, and finally candycrushsaga, which could be a subdomain. Since the names have to be unique, this naming schema is quite usual, but can sometimes be divided even further by adding a subproject name to the end. For example King could separate games from other apps they've created by using the name com.king.games.candycrushsaga.

According to Java standards, the first component has to be a valid top level domain (com, net, edu, gov, country-specific), but I remember also seeing package names that didn't respect the standard.


Is it possible use a different bluetooth codec than SBC on Android Lollipop? I've been having trouble with the sound quality of with my Motorola Roadster 2. Basically this is a bluetooth In-Car speakerphone that can stream incoming media audio to my FM radio, so I can enjoy listening to my music library in my car that has no 3.5mm jack.

I always thought that the sound quality was mediocre due to the FM remodulation, that is, until I connected an iPad to it and played some songs over it. The quality was absolutely better than that of my Android phone.

Apple has a different bluetooth stack for their devices obviously, so I've started looking into this. I've used this Stack Exchange answer to find out what codec my Samsung Galaxy S3 was using when streaming to the device. It seems that the Roadster 2 uses the A2DP profile and supports SBC as well as MPEG-1.2 codecs, but the phone chooses the inferior SBC after checking the capabilities for some obscure reason. Some research suggests that SBC is not recommended for music streaming because quality is not ideal, so my guess was to try using the MPEG-1.2 codec instead.

However, after some very thorough digging, I cannot, for the love of God, find any configuration to try and force the MPEG-1.2 codec with the Bluedroid Bluetooth Stack that is used with Android 4.2+ . The old BlueZ stack had an option in its configuration file (/system/etc/bluetooth/audio.conf) to enable a different codec, but it doesn't work anymore with the new Bluedroid stack. Is there a similar way to force a different codec than SBC?

I'm using Android 5.1 (Cyanogenmod 12.1 to be exact).

Looks like this question has already been answered:
How do I determine which A2DP codecs my phone supports/is currently using?

See the top most answer with a 3 score as of writing this answer.

Basically you can find out what codecs are available on your device as it comes down to what the hardware supports.  There are licensing and other fees so not every device has the capability to support every codec.


Bridge Wi-Fi through router > Galaxy S3 > desktop Windows I'm usually hooked up to a wall Ethernet port on my PC, but I'm away for a little over a week now and I only have access to Wi-Fi. The signal is just barely out of range. I can use Skype and whatnot with my poor connection, but can't browse the web.

I set up a mobile hotspot on my S3 and have a speed of roughly 5 Mbps (download), so that's wonderful, but I figure I'll run out of data quickly (I've already used 40 MB in the past minute) -- I'm unable to connect to Wi-Fi while my phone is a hotspot, so I don't believe I can continue using the hotspot without running out of data if it's going solely off of my data plan.

My phone has a better wireless card than my desktop, and can browse the web, etc perfectly -- since my phone has such a good connection, I figure I can bridge the connection from it to my PC and not have to use up my data plan. While researching why I couldn't use Wi-Fi and the hotspot at the same time, it turned out that since my phone only had one Wi-Fi antenna it couldn't handle both of them at the same time. I'm not sure if bridging the connection from my phone to my computer would require more than one -- maybe it will, maybe it won't. Is this possible?

Windows 7
Non - rooted Galaxy S3
Android Version 4.4.2

Simple solution, connect your phone to your computer via a good quality usb data cable.

Disable your computers wifi, connect your phone to your wifi.

Go to settings on your phone and enable 'Usb-tethering" (it will be in the same place as wifi tethering was. Wait a couple of seconds for your computer to recognise it, and you're done