Android to Android file explorer using wifi direct Is there a way to access files of an android device from another android device using wi-fi? I need like a file explorer.

Generally any good file explorer with FTP, SFTP, WebDav, SMB/CIFS capabilities can handle this task with ease or other wi-fi file sharing applications.

You can even browse through PlayStore to get the right one e.g Solid explorer, Total commander etc.

For starters you can run through Izzy's list of Filetransfer between two Android devices

For purposes of explanation I chose ES Explorer, it  has a lot of functions including remote browser:

You can use the following proceedure to access files in another device:

Install ES explorer in both devices if you haven't already done so.
Switch on portable hotspot and allow both devices to connect.
Using phone A, open ES explorer and go to remote manager and turn on,
see below

(click image for larger variant)

Copy the server details from phone A, you will need them in phone B

Using phone B open ES explorer and navigate to Network → FTP

Add a new server using the details you previously copied:

When setup is completed you can now browse the files of phone A from
phone B

See screens from both devices:

(click images for larger variants)


Can I customise (limit, reorder) Swype language choices? I regularly use three languages in swype. I can switch between them by long-pressing on Q, but they happen to be inconveniently spread across the list (one near the top, one in the middle, and one near the bottom).

Anyone know if I can (a) limit the list (e.g. by uninstalling specific swype language packs) or (b) reorder it? Or have another solution I haven't thought of?

As far as I know, Swype only comes in two sets: full (all languages) and a English/Spanish set.

However, there is a hidden feature: you can swype from the Swype key to the Q key to switch between your current language and the last language you used.


Has HTC Sync 3 dropped support for Windows 7 Contacts? I've got an HTC Desire and since I got it, I've been synchronising the contacts on my phone with the "Contacts" folder in Windows 7 using HTC Sync 2.something

I noticed HTC Sync 3 was available, so I uninstalled version 2 and installed version 3, but it only seems to support syncing with contacts in Outlook or Outlook Express.

Am I missing something massively obvious? It seems odd to remove support for a current feature (Windows 7 Contacts) while retaining support for a program (Outlook Express) that hasn't been current since Windows XP.

Quite possibly, the Contacts folder has been officially deprecated. It exists for Vista compatibility where it was introduced for the first time.
I have not yet tested the 3.0 sync app. I am still using 2.x and sync with Outlook.


Is there no option to turn off cell broadcasting messages in HTC Desire X dual sim? I searched lot on google but I didn't find any working solution to stop receving messages from "50"

I tried these solution but didn't work for me - Is there no option to turn off cell broadcasting messages in HTC Desire 500?

Does anyone really have a proper solution (have experienced).

Also please dont mark this question as duplicate.

Yes. Just remove the SIM from the phone. In the message settings of phone, it will show as disabled.

Restart the phone, and check and uncheck cell broadcast settings. Then insert the SIM in your phone. It worked for my phone, so hopefully it will work for yours as well.


Samsung Galaxy Core Prime wont turn on My Samsung Galaxy Core Prime wont turn on. It goes past the Samsung logo and then goes to the metro pcs sign, but it stays there vibrating until it dies.

It charges but wont go past the metro pcs sign. I tried to restart it, and did a few hard resets. I even took the battery out. I really need help with this.

Did you try to flash something or root it. sounds like your caught in a boot loop. if your boot loader is unlocked download the firmware for your device at http://www.sammobile.com/ and use odin for windows to flash it


Galaxy Tab 10.1" 3G locked? I'm on vacation in the UK and the Galaxy Tab 10.1" is coming out here the first week of August. I was wondering if the tablet is locked to one of the networks here in the UK or if it's unlocked and I can essentially take it back to Canada or on the rest of my European travels and use on any 3G network with that counties providers?

You should be able to get unlocked version, but most likely only from online stores just like handtec (if admin feel this can be advertising please remove link)


Find hidden folders/files/partition I connect my samsung galaxy ace 2 into my Windows pc, and there are 2 directories shown. My SD card, and the internal storage, named Phone. Both of these seem to be empty. the SD card directory, named Card Says that there is 3.57 GB Free of 3.68 GB, yet opening it shows Nothing. Phone says there is 1GB of 1GB free, and there's nothing inside. I have come to realise that what i have emptied out is just data the apps collect and use, not the apps themselves. All aps remain on my phone and work fine. Yet it says it is completely empty.

Now, what my phone says is a completely different story. It thinks the total space is 1.2 GB and there is 1.1 GB free, with 71.16 MB being used for applications and the rest for Misc files. There are only slight differences in the SD card, with 3.69 GB Total and 3.58 GB Free.

So, My Phone and PC contradict each other in pretty much all aspects. I have windows setup to show hidden files. But it isn't. I want to see all the files on my phone, from my computer. How can I acheive this? Searching for this issue on google doesn't help much from what I have found.

EDIT: The samsung website specifies the phone as having "Built in memory 4GB (2GB user memory)". So why is it I only get half of what i'm supposed to have?

if your phone shows up as a local drive (like a pendrive)

go to start type cmd then Ctrl+Shift+Enter(to open with admin privileges) then type

attrib -s -h /d /s [X]:\*.*

where [X] is the drive letter of the memory of the phone you want to see (dont type the "[]")


How to go back to MIUI from Cyanogen mod? I recently installed Cyanogen mod 14.1(7.1.1) on Mi5(gemini) and now I want to go back to MIUI (preferably MIUI global developer rom) and lock the bootloader. I have to tried to flash using the existing TWRP and also using the inbuilt fastboot mode, but was not successful. I can neither find a proper flashing guide nor the proper files required to flash. Is there something I am missing?

If you haven't saved a backup with TWRP you have to reinstall the MIUI.

First of all download the ROM here.

Then put the ROM in a USB drive or SD card (it has to be read from the smartphone outside its own disk).

Then, install the ROM.

You can follow these steps from How to Flash a New ROM to Your Android Phone

But if you have a saved backup with TWRP, go to restore and select your backup.


iMessage like group messaging My friends with iphones frequently group message me and I am never able to participate because when i hit reply it only sends the message back to the original person sending the message, not the whole group. Does stock android have a feature that allows us to group message other iphone users the way they group message one another?

If it helps I'm running an alpha version (albeit stable) of CM10.1 (android 4.2) on a Motorola Atrix.

I am on 2.3.5

In the basic "messages" app you can go to the message, clicknhold, view message details. There it shows all recipients.

There is a "reply all" option after you click and hold.


How to send notifications to an Android device from a PC via USB? I have seen Pushbullet, but it works over the internet

You can use adb shell and Notify4Scripts

source: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=69859668&postcount=18

date: 30th November 2016, 02:32 PM

Two years ago I was in need of a simple notification tool that could have been run by a command line in a script. So far the best I found was this thread and the tiny app made by corruptor64. That wasn't exactly what I was looking for so I finally decided to try to make the tool by myself. Starting from scratch (I am not an Android developer) in a few days of studying and developing I ended up with a working small app, that I named Notify4Scripts and I made it public only this past June, here on GitHub https://github.com/halnovemila/Notify4Scripts

Note that since the app is basically a service that has to be launched by the Android's shell "am" (activity manager) command, the Android system needs to be rooted first in order to be able to use such am command and have notify4scripts executed.


How can I root my Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet? Lenovo doesn't provide updates for the Thinkpad Tablet any more. I'd like to install a custom ROM and therefore need root.

How can I root my Lenovo Thinkpad Tablet?

The method "debugfs automated root" works for the latest official ROM of the Thinkpad Tablet. Like most other root methods, you need to have the Android SDK (or at least adb) installed and must be able to connect adb to your Lenovo Thinkpad (Enable debug mode).
Linux Users

Download the exploit from the XDA Post.
unzip DebugfsRoot_Generic_v2.3.zip
adb push debugfs /data/local/
adb push su /data/local/
adb push debugfsinput /data/local/
adb shell mv /data/local/tmp /data/local/tmp.bak
adb shell ln -s /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 /data/local/tmp
adb reboot
adb shell chmod 777 /data/local/debugfs
Now run the exploit: adb shell "/data/local/debugfs -w /dev/block/mmcblk0p3 < /data/local/debugfsinput"
Cleanup: adb shell rm /data/local/tmp && adb shell mv /data/local/tmp.bak /data/local/tmp
Install superuser: adb install Superuser.apk

Windows
Just run the provided RootDebugfs.bat


Android 4.1 unable to connect to Google Play but other wifi functions work - how to fix? I'm using a Rikomagic 802III running Android 4.1.1, connected to my TV.  Until today, I was able to connect to Google Play, and my widgets were showing data.  Now, when I open Google Play, I get an error, after it indicates "Connecting", "Cannot Connect".

I've got some other widgets, like Google Analytics that also say "offline".  However, I am able to browse online through Chrome, and my account is linked.  When opening my analytics app, I briefly saw some exception error but haven't been able to reproduce.

When I go to Google.com in the default browser, I see an error indicating" This certificate isn't from a trusted authority" but it all appears to have Google info:

Common name: *.google.com

I seem to recall some kind of Google certificate related issue on my desktop where I would see a similar error, and was told it had something to do with the system time.

Has anyone experienced anything like this and/or know how to fix it?

Turns out that the solution for this problem is the one I alluded to above.

The system date/time preceded the certificate's issue date, and I suspect that was causing the problem.

Setting the date to the correct date (or sometime between the certificate's issue and expiration date) seems to have solved the problem.


Omega ROM 4.4 bootloader/modem problems Hi I was wondering if anyone else has had problems with this ROM update

OMEGA ROM for Samsung Galaxy S4 I9505

I have followed the steps to flash the boot loader (completed successfully).
Flashed the model (failed) but once I booted into the ROM all was fine apart from I can't make any calls or receive calls. Or more specifically it will dial the call but the screen goes black like its froze/locked up. Has anyone seen this or a similar issue before that they may be able to help me with?

Before you flash a modem, try another dialer app, just in case it is at fault. Check if 3g/LTE/WiFi are working at all. Chances are that it is the modem that is causing the issue but it is easier to install an app or two before flashing basebands.
On the Samsung Galaxy S4 International LTE model: GT-I9505 you cannot flash a Modem through recovery. You must use Odin to do this.
Complete list of Modems for GT-I9505 and I9500 is here.
It is with noting that sometimes the first flash fails, and can even read as "Success" in Odin. Untick reboot and try it twice, then reboot the device.
You man need to try a couple of modems, but try initially to flash the one relative to your ROM (in your case XXUFNAD). However, the baseband (modem) can be different depending on your region/carrier/settings/ROM so a little trial and error is required. You may be using a 4.2 modem for example and this probably won't work. Most 4.3 and 4.4 modems will work fine in KitKat.
Edit:  This is the recommended modem with the NEW bootloader. This modem is XXUEMJ5 version. Try this first. Then experiment with others.
Flash it in Odin as below, HOWEVER, do it separetely without the bootloader option.

(source: omega-roms.net)


Check if Google Play Service is up to date I have a Sony Xperia Z3 compact, and when I trying to broadcast my video live on YouTube from Xperia , I sign in with Google+ account and I received "Error when trying to sign in, please check if Google Play Service is up to date",what to do? ... When I buy my phone I updated all applications.

As a workaround you could sideload the last Google Play Services app.

You can check your version under Settings > Apps > All tab > Google Play Services.

Here in the Google Play Store you will find the latest version number or alternatively here at Google with some more in-depth info.

As a resource you could try and trust (hopefully) androidpolice.com and search for Google Play Services, download the app, allow Unknown sources under settings and sideload (install) the app.
/Update: APKMirror is the 'new' service from androidpolice where you find all apk's. Search here.

But usually after a short time Play Services should update automatically.


D855 CM13 Nightly to Lineage 14.1 Nightly Upgrade I have the latest nightly build of CM13(cm-13.0-20161108-NIGHTLY-d855.zip) installed on my LG G3(d855). And I want to upgrade it to Lineage OS 14.1 nightly builds(for example latest right now: lineage-14.1-20170529-nightly-d855-signed.zip).

Is it possible to upgrade without wiping the data?

Found the Answer:

If you already have CM or an unofficial AOSP based ROM, you don't have to wipe your device - in the download section there's an "experimental" build that you can install over your existing AOSP based ROM and it will migrate you to LOS without needing to wipe (potentially - it may not work and boot loop, in which case you'd need to wipe anyway).

To install:

Download both the nightly/weekly/stable version of LOS 14.1 and the "experimental" image.
Boot to TWRP
Install the "experimental" build
Reboot

After a reboot, the system should load and a watermark saying "cm to lineage migration build" should be all over the screen. If this is the case - everything worked fine! Continue to the next step. If it didn't boot, just reboot to TWRP and wipe the device as per the instructions above and continue with the instructions in the article.
If everything went fine, reboot, go back to TWRP, install the regular image and reboot back to a fully working Lineage OS.

Reference:

In the following web page in the comment section by someone called: Oded Arbel · Software Architect at Greenfield Technologies Ltd

However, now I need to find experimental build which was removed from LineageOS download section couple of months ago.

Thanks anyways


Why are there 2 instances of each app on my phone? I must have done something while I set up my Lenovo K6 (android 7.0) because I see 2 instances of each app one of which has a small blue icon on the bottom  right. I also have 2 instances of Google Playstore and several system apps (see photo below).

I went to settings-->accounts and I found that I had created 2 personal accounts with the same email, one of which had all these apps with the strange icons under it. I proceeded to delete that account but these strange instances of the apps seem to still be there.

What are these duplicate apps and how do I get rid of them?

This seems to be dual app feature of Lenovo and some Xiaomi phones

This enables dual SIM phones to run two instances of an app say WhatsApp and the second instance has an icon as described in the question

You need to go to settings and disable that - Settings → Feature → Dual App Profile (this may not be the exact path depending on OS version but search in settings for dual app)


How to restore my phone, after replacing my systemui with a modded one? I recently saw a thread about a modded systemui on XDA here and downloaded it. I replaced my present systemui with this  one and rebooted my phone. I think that at first the replaced systemui didn't work so I got a systemui-less experience  (You can learn about my experience by reading the comment I made on SO here ).

Then I learnt that I hadn't set the permissions rightly so I changed the permissions of the new systemui to 644 as said at XDA and rebooted my phone.

After the reboot my apps were optimized as it happens after an update. But this time the new systemui worked  (probably) as I now have an all black screen after my phone boots normally.

I then tried to enter into recovery mode and wiped the data (factory reset option) and booted again, but that was of no use as the problem persisted.

What can I do now?  Will I have to go all the way reflashing my phone? Could anyone suggest a better option as reflashing seems to be the last option for me. Thanks in advance.

Phone model: Lenovo Vibe C, 16 GB variant, currently running Android Lollipop.

EDIT

It was all my fault as the mods were meant for Samsung galaxy alpha (I did not read the title at XDA before messing up)
I don't have a custom recovery installed nor do I have a NANDROID backup made before. I'm completely helpless.

Your best bet would be downloading your stock ROM from online, take the SystemUI.apk and put it back where it should be.


How to root a Galaxy SM-930U I've found varying amounts of information about this subject and I'm hoping that someone here can point me in the right direction.
I've never rooted a phone before and would like to know the correct procedure so I don't end up with a paperweight.
Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you

I don't have enough reputation to post comments.

Would you check this thead on XDA Developpers? The method uses TinySU an lternative for Chainfire's SuperSU or SuperUser or  MagiskSU.


Is there a way to set the IP configuration on a per network basis? I connect to multiple wifi networks. On some of the networks I have to use a static IP address. Most with DHCP configurations are without the option to use static IP addressing.

For this reason I want to be able to set specific IP settings for the networks with special settings. Is such a thing possible?

There is no way to do this natively in the settings of Android, as you've noticed.

However, there is an app on the Android Market called "Wifi Static" that should help you with what you're looking for.


Is there a free way of unlocking an Android phone from a particular network? I bought a cheap Android handset for development and it is an exclusive to a particular network.

I would like to unlock it so I can use an existing SIM card from another network. I've done some googling and it appears that there are many services online where you can get a code from supplying your IMEI number.

Firstly, can anyone elaborate on what the unlocking process involves, and secondly, is there any application that can do this process, or are you forced to pay someone to generate a code for you?

To unlock you phone for free you can root it. But it is at your own risk. I found this guide but don't know if it works for you.


How to get permission for directly writing files to SD card from a PC I need to manage my Android's files from PC with my mouse and keyboard, instead of do it on 5" and 7" touch screens. I did many tries with Google, but all options lead me to only one way:

From the PC, write the file to internal storage, (ex: Xender)
From Android, using an Android file manager (for example, ES File Explorer) to cut & paste the files to folders I want on the SD card.

The question is: "How do I set permissions to directly write to the SD card from a PC?"

I'm using Samsung Core Prime with Android 4.4.x (KitKat) and my PC's OS is Windows 7 64-bit.

Update:
I want to do it through Wi-Fi whenever I need instead of using a USB cable.
Below is a screenshot for clarifying my question:

Update:

Not only Xender, even ES Explorer can not write to extSDcard. Screenshot from my phone:

@LongTTH

First of all, I'm not on Kitkat, but on Lollipop, just in case...

You can copy files from you PC to your phone through Xender, it works perfectly.

But first you must get rid of the annoying message in web.xender.com (that you are showing in your picture).

In fact you must do the authorisation process in Xender ON YOUR PHONE, you can't do it in your PC's browser.

To do this, simply launch Xender on your phone, and go to Settings.
Then in the first Menu, set the destination to SD Card. It will ask you to choose which Folder you want to point at.
Simply choose SD Card, so all subfolders will be then authorized to work with Xender.

And voilà, you can now copy files directly from your PC to your SD Card, through Wifi and without any cable connection, and it's blazingly fast :-)


Delay in sending messages I'm Using G3 rom v8 by bountyman334 on LG e980. Message sending is taking a lot of time, delay in sending of about 5-10 minutes and sometimes fails. Tried to update Rom but nothing worked. need help.

This is About your Network, Not android.

  Network Busy or other reasons...

Contact with Network-Operator,

they can help you.


Why are heads up notifications not showing after an update in Samsung Galaxy E7? I've recently updated my Samsung device to Android 5.1.1 lollipop and as I have been playing around with it I noticed that I wasn't getting any heads up notifications. Is there a certain option to turn it on or I just don't have it?

Go to settings>sound and notification > notification on lock screen>show content hope it work for you


Can someone give me their Nexus 5 sbin directory? I'm in the process of trying to root my phone without the screen (dropped it in water). I went to copy the su binary to the /system/sbin/ directory and left off the '/'. So now I just overwrote my sbin directory with the su binary.

Can someone post me their /system/sbin/ directory so I can restore it?

Thank you.

Depends how desperate you are for the files. So here is a way to get the files yourself incase nobody else loads up the actual files for you.

You will need to do all this on a Linux box of your choice. Best way to approach this is to download your image file from google

https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images#hammerheadkrt16m

As you can see at the moment there are two builds for the Nexus 5

Once you download that file unzip that file until you find the img files. There will be one called system.img which will probably contain the files you need.

Unfortunately the img is compressed any you will need to uncompress that image first.

There is a thread over here that discusses this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1081239

Once you have the image that has been uncompressed you should be able to mount it on a loop back device

mount -o loop system.raw.img mnt <- Create the mnt directory first

Then that mounted directory should show you all the files


Application ROM Manager is uninstalled, but market wants to update it every day I uninstalled ROM Manager. Since I did so, I've received daily notifications from the Market saying there's an update.

I've logged into the market via the desktop browser and ROM manager is not listed as an installed application. (Though many I have uninstalled ages ago are listed, but that's another matter).

The notifications are annoying. How can I kill ROM Manager once and for all?

HTC Desire running Cyanogenmod7

ROM Manager shouldn't be a required Systems app to run CyanogenMod.  Take a look at the steps over here to remove a system app from your phone: http://oldwiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/Barebones

Something like:

adb remount
adb shell rm -f /system/app/RomManager.apk


Developer Options not showing up in LineageOS new build Some weeks back I installed the latest version of LineageO S: 14.1-20170209-UNOFFICIAL-onyx on my One Plus X phone. After playing around with it, there were a lot of issues in the new build. So I decided to uninstall it by opening the Developer Options and tapping 7 times on the build number, but nothing comes up.

Below are the things which are not working in the new build:

Tapping build number 7 times doesn't unlock Developer Options
No notifications at all. I can hear the sounds but no success to show notifications
Google Play Store updates & installation suddenly stopped
Reset everything option not working

How to open Developer Options so that I can activate the bootloader & install the stable ROM?

We have a potential XY problem here...

Instead of trying your utmost to get into developer options, just power off the phone fully, then use the key combo POWER + VOLUME_UP to boot into bootloader, from which you can start tackling the problem in ways you'd like.


Isn't Factory Reset exactly the same as wiping /data and /cache? According to this article,

  /data ... Wiping this partition essentially performs a factory reset on your device, restoring it to the way it was when you first booted it, or the way it was after the last official or custom ROM installation. When you perform a wipe data/factory reset from recovery, it is this partition that you are wiping.

What about /boot, /system, and /recovery, and /cache?

If Factory Reset wipes only /data, then I wish it were called something else, because if you've rooted your phone, it will still be left with whatever custom ROM you flashed even after a Factory Reset.

On the other hand, if Factory Reset does indeed wipe /boot, /system, and /recovery as well, especially /boot, what does it restore those from?  Do all phones come with stock images in a real internal ROM somewhere that it can re-flash those images from?

I can somehow imagine manufacturers not wanting be burdened with the extra cost that such a spec for hardware-recoverable images might have cost them, so it got left out of the standard and left out of most phones, which is why it's so easy to brick them.  So, instead, they give you the option to wipe /data and /cache only, and call that a "Factory Reset" because you're not supposed to be foolish enough to root your phone in the first place according to their way of thinking.

Since rooting my Android and reading hundreds of posts, I've found that many of the terms I learned and accepted as a Computer Science grad student in the 80's don't quite mean the same thing anymore so I have to verify what everything really means before I do something.

Comments to this post answer the first part of my question.

But they don't really answer the second part of my question which is really a complaint:  Why call it "Factory Reset" if it doesn't really restore your phone to it's stock factory state?

At this point, the question is merely rhetorical.  I think I already answered this in my question, unless someone can correct me.

On a non-rooted device we can group the partitions into two categories: the ones that can be affected by the user during normal runtime, and the ones that can't. The ones that can be are data and cache. The ones that can't are system, and boot. (Plus  recovery on some.)

"Factory reset" here means that the partitions that are affected by user activities are wiped clean. Thus when the user performs a factory reset, she is greeted with a phone that has no user data on it. If she updated her phone via official methods the updates are still there! So not even stock devices are reset to their factory state!

With the above in mind, let's look at custom ROMs. When you flash one, the updater-script wipes your system partition, then copies the contents of the zip there. What was previously there is now gone! There's no way you can get back to where you were before if you don't have a backup or an original system image.

Now, when the user boots, technically, most everything is the same. During normal operation she can still only modify data and cache. So if you perform a factory reset it only makes sense to wipe these. Remember the original rom is now long gone!

You're right that the terminology is confusing; blame Google! It's been this way since the G1.


Activate location for "Find my Device" When I go to https://www.google.com/android/find?u=0 (Find my Device), it says "Online" and "Location Turned Off" (under the device name) and the device is not located on the map.

I have checked the following on the device:

Settings->Security & Location->Find My Device: is "On"
Settings->Security & Location->Location->Use Location: is "On"
Wifi and mobile data are on (I have Internet connection)
The device knows its location (in Google Maps)
Find My Device can make my phone ring remotely.

Note: Sometimes the map shows the device (and the message becomes "Last seen ...") but this happens only rarely and under unpredictable circumstances (and a reload of the webpage makes it go back to "Location Turned Off" even if the phone was not moved and no settings were changed).

My device is an Umidigi A5 Pro with Android 9.

In addition to enabling location services, the "battery saver" mode must be off.

In battery saver mode, location services will be automatically deactivated when the screen is off (Android Help). Unfortunately, Find My Device is not clever enough to deactivate batter saver mode for determining the location.

I did not find a way to use Find My Device while at the same time being able to extend battery life.


Move App to SD in Jelly Bean There is no option in Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8, Android version 4.2.2 as "Move to SD Card" in Application Manager.

The other way of doing this is more simpler, the blog which was where I learnt this from.

adb shell pm getInstallLocation, the value returned is 0 is default.

0 is Auto, will by default Android OS will install it as it sees best.
1 is Internal, apps will get installed to the internal filesystem.
2 is External, apps will get installed to the external filesystem, by way of SD Card.

Now, to change that to external location

adb shell pm setInstallLocation 2, the changes will persist across reboots and any apps will get installed to the SDCard by default.

Beware: I am unaware if this will work in the newer later versions of Jellybean. As the latest I have is CM 10.1 Android 4.2 so the mileage may vary.

Amendment:

As per @Izzy's comment below, the newer Jellybean version and probably will remain for later Android versions from that point onwards the commands used above are, adb shell pm get-install-location and adb shell pm set-install-location respectively in place of the older commands as highlighted above. Reference found here


Samsung tablet gt-p5100 Firmware Upgrade encountred an error Nothing will make this message Go away This is after the device turned off half way though flashing.

Things i Have done.

Flashed With Odin 3.09 with Stock Fimware Downloaded From [sammobile.com][2]

Tried to use kies but the device is not shown and i have reinstalled the Drivers and rebooted.

Note: every other Version of Odin Fails to flash to the device.

Even after a Flash the Device will still Go back to Recovery Mode.

Odin 3.12 with flash error.

Unless it is a hardware faillure (damaged eMMC), flashing a full firmware (aka repair firmware or 4 files firmware) may solved the problem.

Download repair firmware from here then proceed as you did beforen but preferably try flashing with the latest version of Odin (v3.12.3 actually)

The zip password is: www.gem-flash.com

Remember this:

BOOTLOADER, APBOOT = BL
PDA = AP
MODEM = CP
MULTI-CSC, HOME_CSC = CSC


What is it about Android that allows an application to "hard-crash" a device? I have a never-rooted Nexus 4 running latest stock (android 4.4.4). It has been "hard-crashing" lately. By "hard-crash" I mean the screen goes black and either the device restarts itself (I see the same splash screen that is displayed during boot), or I have to hold the power button for a long time to get it to start (longer than for a normal boot).

After evidence pointing to it being caused by Google's own "Google Now Launcher" app (even after a factory reset), I began to wonder what it is about an apk file installed from the Play store on a non-rooted device that could ever cause the phone to "hard-crash". I would think that the sandbox in which apps run would prevent any app from being able to hard-crash a device.

Like on any OS, although the app code itself is isolated in its own process container, it's possible for the app to trigger problems in the OS itself or in the hardware. For example, if the crash you're seeing is caused by a hardware problem such as a damaged heatsink, then any heavy workload will make the hardware fail, and there's not much the OS can do to stop that. The least reliable part of most operating systems is the drivers, so if there's a bug in (say) the GPU driver, that could make the kernel hang regardless of which process caused the situation that triggered the bug.


Create shortcut to system apk that doesn't have a shortcut So I have a MTK Android Phone, the gps of which sucks. Only App that can get a fix is ygps.apk in engineering mode. I have to keep it running background so other gps apps can get fix. Every time I want to launch this app I need to go to engineering mode, although my phone is rooted and I know where the YGPS.apk is.

Can I create a shortcut for this app so i can launch it with one click?

Several launchers can do that, e.g. Apex and Nova. You pretend to create a shortcut, select "Activities", browse for the app you normally use to enter engineering mode, and see what activities it provides. Should have one for that YGPS if you normally launch it from there.

There are other tools available specifically creating similar shortcuts (if you don't want to use one of those browsers), e.g. Activity Launcher should be worth a closer look then.

In either case, you get a complete list of all available apps – regardless of whether they are shown in your app drawer or are hidden from it. So even if that YGPS is a separate app, it should show up here with its activities. If its an activity of some other app, it should show up there.


The process android.process.acore/com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again This morning I tried to turn on my motorola xt-532 and right after the boot I get this two errors:

"The process android.process.acore has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again."
"The process com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again."

I can't do anything, because as soon as I press "force close" they appear again and again..

Any idea?

Go To Settings and open your app manager, then click on the lower left button to open the menu. Click on "Reset app preferences" and the problem is resolved.


How to transfer WhatsApp conversations to a new phone? I recently changed smartphones from an unknown to Samsung, and I've lost my WhatsApp conversations. I want them on the new phone. I have reinstalled it on the new phone, and the msgstore.db.crypt files are there, but WhatsApp does not read the older conversations back.

What I would like to do is have WhatsApp appear as an unbroken list of chats so that the date that I changed phones is not apparent in the list of chats.

In case you didn't come right, I had the same issue.
Uninstall Whatsapp from the NEW phone (start blank)
Copy the /Whatsapp folder from your SD card to the new phone (I had to do this because Whatsapp on my new phone was installed to the INTERNAL card, not the SD card, so the upgrade didn't find the old store)
I also copied the android/data/com.whatsapp folder for good luck
Install Whatsapp on the new phone.
After account creation, it should detect the old messages and restore them.


selecting a chime in Caynax Hourly Chime In Caynax Hourly Chime when I select chime option a dialog with a Search button appears. But while I have some sound file in my SD it do not show them. How can I choose chime file in this app?

You need to place your audio files in the correct directory structure, as I explained in this answer:

There are special directories you can use to store your custom "noises". The "starting point" (root-of-noises-dir) may be different between devices (so this is rather a generic answer, as I do not own all of them) -- pick one and check if it works, if not, pick the next:

/sdcard/media/audio
/sdcard/media
/sdcard

In there, put the directories for the specific events:

┌───────────────┬───────────────────────┐
| directory     | description           |
├───────────────┼───────────────────────┤
| alarms        | for your alarm clock  |
| notifications | for... notifications? |
| ringtones     | for incoming calls    |
| ui            | keyboard click etc.   |
└───────────────┴───────────────────────┘

Then place your sound files into the appropriate directories. Done. Now you should be able to pick them in your configuration(s).

Alternatively, for an easy, non-techy way, you might want to take a look at the Ringdroid app (a Howto can be found e.g. at MakeTechEasier).


Remove recent texts from phone contact screen Nexus 6 Android 6.0.1. Somehow I managed to turn on a function that displays my most recent texts when I access the contact screen. I don't want that info displaying every time I access a contact. How do I turn it off? Thanks in advance folks!

I think I found the fix. Settings -> Apps & notifications -> App permissions -> SMS permissions.  Remove permission for it to access Contacts.  It's kind of backward thinking.  It looks like the Messaging app (default on my Pixel) was posting my recent text activity to the Contacts app.  My phone history is still listed under each contact as most apps do.


I'm on a WhatsApp call and the person can hear my audio from YouTube etc I'm using earphones and the person can hear my YouTube videos etc playing. Even blocked out the microphone. It seems the audio is being routed through the call. Any suggestions to stop this from happening?

Try blocking "permit drawing over other apps" in YT permissions !


How can I format my thumb drive so that I can be read by Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet I have a  Samsung Galaxy Tab with an usb adapter.
how can I format my thumb drive so that it can be read by Samsung Galaxy tablet when attached?
And it also need to be readable by Windows OS so that i can transfer files between my tablet and my desktop?

I have tried 'FAT32' but Galaxy Tab can't read that format.

Thank you.

Have you tried FAT16?

As far as I am aware, the standard format for all SD CARDS is FAT16, so it should work for tablets as well.

Also, could it be that the system that you use to connect your drive to your galaxy tab is broken?


Chat Bubble for WhatsApp Messenger I was wondering if it is at all possible to get chat bubbles(similar to the ones used on facebook messenger) for whatsapp messenger on my nexus 5. Is there an app I can download, or a process that will allow me to get chat bubbles like this for whatsapp?

These are the chat bubbles I'm talking about (the little heads)

You can install the app Whatsapp Chat heads I am not sure if it runs on Nexus 5, or that it shows Chat-heads or just the name of the chat.


Is there a Google play store apk available somewhere? Everyone keeps telling me that such apk has never been published by Google. Is that so?

I need to put Google Play Store on a Chinese mobile, but I cant root nor flash it with a custom recovery ROM. I wanted to use the Open Gapps zip but all of those require custom recovery. Any ideas?

Thanks a lot in advance!

I think they are wrong, since the .apk file are found on various apk hosting sites. You can grab one from APKmirror, and can always update it once it is installed.


Tasker - Play video using MX Player while another is currently playing I have an Android mini-pc connected to a television through a HDMI cable. I use Tasker to automatically start playing an mp4 video using MX Player when the device boots. MX Player then continues to play all the videos from the same folder in a random order and on a loop.

(the task contains one action - Open File - under File I have the path to the mp4 file )

The problem is I then have Tasker set to play another mp4 video (from another directory) using MX Player one hour after the device has booted but MX Player ignores this and continues to play the current video.

(the second task is the same as the first- it contains one action - Open File - under File I have the path to the mp4 file )

The reason why I need to use MX Player (instead of BS Player, VLC etc.) is because it has more options than the other players like the option to play all the videos in the same folder in shuffle and on a loop, resize the video so it fills the screen, play each video from the beginning and hide the video controls from the screen.

I have also tried using the Tasker action Send Intent

Action: android.intent.action.VIEW
Data: path to mp4 file
Package: com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad
Target: Activity

But this produced the same results - As MX Player was playing a video this task would run telling it to play a video and MX Player would ignore it and continue to play its current video.

Is there any way of getting Tasker to play a video using MX Player while MX Player is currently playing another video?

I cannot give my assurance for the mini-PC you've got, but the following works well on my Nexus 6 running stock Android 6.0.1 with MX Player v1.8.3.

Alright, so discard whatever actions you've setup and follow this simple one:

Code → Run Shell →

Command:

am start -n com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad/.ActivityScreen -d "file://FILE" --user ID --activity-clear-task

where,

FILE refers to the location of your media file in Android. E.g. /sdcard/Movies/lolcat.mkv, /storage/emulated/0/Prime_time/after_dark.mkv and so on.
ID refers to the ID of the user account currently active. For primary user, it is always 0.
--activity-clear-task is a flag which makes sure no multiple instances of the same activity are spawned.

Example command:

am start -n com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad/.ActivityScreen -d "file:///sdcard/Movies/The egg of the King.mp4" --user 0 --activity-clear-task

If MX Player is the default video player in your Android, for fun, you can replace -n com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad/.ActivityScreen with -a android.intent.action.VIEW in the said command.
tick Continue Task After Error

You can now setup a wait timer or anything that you intend to do after the execution of that action. In order to fire a new video, just copy everything from aforesaid action except of FILE which needs to be replaced with new file location.

In case Tasker doesn't work out, try with Automate. It has a neat block named App Start which is specifically meant to launch an activity of an app.

(Click image to enlarge it)


No decimal input on numeric field when using Google Sheets on phone In Google Sheets, when I add a number (e.g. 1.01) using the text keyboard and hit Enter, this numeric keyboard pops up as a default because the field is numeric. However, I do not have a decimal option, so I switch back to text keyboard, and we start over on every cell... or I could switch back and forth just to get the decimal, which is also insane.

On a tablet, in the white (extra options) the last one is the decimal point, but on the phone, it isn't there. I'm using Samsung Galaxy S3 and there is no decimal point on numeric keyboard.

How to input a decimal point with numeric keyboard?

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

There may not be an exact solution to the problem as you posted it, but there are possible workarounds. Android's primary strength is it's customizability and modularity, so if one (your stock) keyboard does not satisfy you, you're welcome to switch it out for another which does.

I know of 3 keyboard apps off-hand that have a decimal point in their numeric keypad. These are:

Google Keyboard - The officially recommended keyboard app for Android, and the default for Nexus devices and devices running Lollipop or above (as the AOSP keyboard). Very clean and doesn't deviate much from AOSP. Completely free.
SwiftKey Keyboard - a very popular keyboard replacement app (some might even say the most popular). Highly themeable. Free with in-app purchases.
ai.type Keyboard - Another very popular keyboard. Supposedly has very good text prediction, and also high themeability. Free with in-app purchases, Pro version removes ads.

I recommend these keyboard replacement apps to the OP as I have used them myself and know that they (when I used them) provided a numeric keypad with a decimal point, as the OP requires.


First time with Android, need help with adding media For Christmas this year I am getting a 16GB (really 10.6 GB) Galaxy Note II, which will be my first Android device after having a slew of iDevices. I have ~12 GB of music in iTunes and Google Music, and am looking for a way to sync it to my SD card (it doesn't fit in internal memory).

So far what I've looked at:

-dragging folders from my mac's Finder into the phone's raw file system

This would work, but when I get new songs it seems cumbersome to have to go back into the filesystem to sync them

-Google Music

This is what I was planning on using, until I found out that it only can save to internal memory (there's bad coverage where I live, so I can't rely on streaming)

-DoubleTwist

From what I've seen, DoubleTwist is an iTunes replacement, and doesn't sync from the iTunes application (so if I get new songs I would have to add them to iTunes then DoubleTwist)

Is there some amazing solution that I'm missing, or do I have to make do with one of these (and if so, which one would you recommend)?

I guess since no one else answered, I'll post what I ended up doing as an answer.

The solution that worked best for me was iSyncr. It's a Mac/PC app that acts as a middleman between iTunes and your device, so you can sync all your iTunes music, playlists, and song data.

It wasn't perfect or free, but it was what worked the best for me.


Samsung galaxy S3 continuously downloading on gprs My mother in laws phone continuously downloads from GPRS, seemingly even when wifi is available.  Usually the downloads are very small and in multiples over a short period.  occasionally they are much larger, up to 50MB.

The records from the provider indicate that some of these downloads are from Facebook and youtube, however she has not used these apps or logged in.

The downloads are occurring so often that she is getting warnings that she will exceed her quota (200MB/month).

She has set apps so they don't update automatically. Also she syncs three gmail accounts to the phone.

Does anyone know what these frequent downloads may be, and also if it is possible to limit them to only when wifi is available.

Thanks

If she does not use GPRS, then best is to disable mobile data usage

But if you do not want to completely disable GPRS, then here is an article which shows how can you limit mobile data usage.
disable or limit mobile data usage

here are couple of apps to monitor and control you mobile data usage
control mobile data app


Sending calls to voicemail when I am in a meeting If my aCalendar, or any calendar for that matter, has an appointment, I would like the phone to recognize that I am in a meeting and the call then vibrates or is silent etc.

For instance:

If I am in church, I want the phone to register this and then direct the call to voice mail.
If I am in a meeting, I would like the option to have calls come through or go to voicemail.

I do not want a blanket approach, but I would like to be able to set this on a meeting by meeting basis. I have looked at the Llama app and may try to Tasker app, but there must be something built into the phone that will allow this.

Using tasker you can accomplish this and more fairly easily once you know how to use it. To solve the whole phone ringing while you are in a meeting you have a few options with how to do it in Tasker. You can choose to silence your phone while in meetings, set it to vibrate, block all phone calls (probably not the best choice) or send them all to voicemail. I will go through how to create a profile for the latter.
First, Create a new profile:

Next select State, then App, and then Calendar Entry

For the Calendar entry settings you need to make sure to select No for availability and then you can click the magnifying glass next to Calendar to select which calendar it should be referencing. Then click the check mark.

Now to create a task to do during that meeting. Select New task and then click the plus (+) sign in the lower left corner.

For the action select Phone and then Select End Call and then the check mark

Once you have done that you can click the check mark to close and save the task. Go to the Profiles tab at the top, then click on your Profile you created and long press on the Context below it (the Calendar setting on the left). This should bring up a Context menu. Select Add and then Event.

From Events select Phone and then Phone Ringing.

Now you have a Profile to push phone calls to voicemail when you are in meetings.


can't mount /data while installing LineageOS I've rooted my Nexus 7 using the SO instructions How do I root my Nexus 7?.  I'm trying to install LineageOS using its instructions https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/flo/install#installing-lineageos-from-recovery.  But steps 4 and 6 fail (making a backup, and wipe / advanced wipe).  Both failures include the messages Failed to mount '/data' (Invalid argument) and Unable to mount storage.
So /data may be corrupt.

From adb shell, ls /data shows that it's an empty directory;  mount /data fails with the same error Invalid argument.

From adb shell, the Nexus 7's /etc/fstab mentions /dev/block/mmcblk0p30 /data ext4 rw 0 0.  But when I try to repair that device with e2fsck, it finds no superblock, even with -b 8193.

From adb reboot bootloader, the screen shows SECURE BOOT - enabled and LOCK STATE - unlocked.  From that fastboot screen, if I select recovery mode, I see the teamwin TWRP 3.1.1-0 splash screen for 30 seconds, then I "swipe to allow modifications," and then I see TWRP's 8 big buttons.

Well, the backup and wipe buttons fail, so just for giggles, I tapped the button Install (LineageOS steps 7-10), and chose the lineage and open_gapps .zip files that I'd adb pushed to /sdcard.  To prevent the install from working, checked the checkbox "verify zip signature" without copying over the md5 files containing the signatures.  Besides the expected failure to verify the signatures, I saw these errors:

Failed to mount '/data' (Invalid argument)

Unable to recreate /data/media folder

E:Could not create /cache/recovery/

Unable to mount storage.

Can't open destination log file: '/cache/recovery/log'

Unable to mount /data/media/TWRP/.twrps

E:DataManager::Output_Version -- Unable to make /cache/recovery

Again, /data seems to be the problem.  I probably shouldn't attempt a real install before taking care of that.

How should I recover from these errors, to install LineageOS or, failing that, to restore the device to factory defaults?  (If it helps, I have another Nexus 7, unrooted.)

These /data-related errors are likely because TWRP can't decrypt the current /data partition. This often happens with stock ROMs, since TWRP is only made to handle the encryption method of AOSP.

To work around it, in TWRP, choose Wipe - Format Data. This will wipe all data from the device, but at the same time remove encryption and allow you to start off fresh. You can then reboot to recovery again to check if there are still errors displayed, and if not (it shouldn't), proceed with any other flashing actions.


Galaxy S6 not seen by pc at all I have one week old S6 and now tried to use adb.

I unlocked developer mode, enabled USB debugging, connected to usb and nothing happened. adb devices shows empty list, lsusb on mac and linux as well as mac's "system information" app doesn't see any new usb device when I connect the phone. Nothing happens in dmesg too.

The phone displays "charger connected" notification. No mtp/ptp notification appears.

I tried to use different computers (two linux boxes and one macbook), different cables, nothing. Other android devices (such as old note2 and some noname stuff) works well.

I tried also other person's S6. Result it the same so I don't think it is some kind of damaged socket or so on.

What's going on? Am I missing something? Maybe some security setting prevents USB from working?

UPD

This doesn't look as a "driver" issue at all. lsusb shows all usb devices even if the system doesn't know how to deal with them.

I was getting very frustrated with my Samsung Galaxy S6 and my new Dell Precision M3800 and USB connectivity. Apparently the S6 is not fully compatible with USB 3 connections. I could not get it to connect (other than charging) to any of the 3 USB 3 ports on my laptop (no usb 2 on the new Dell). It connects fine to my older laptop (USB 2), so I decided to try connecting a USB 2 hub to my new Dell and the phone to the hub, and it works!
So, Samsung, please fix this!


35 mb in proc folder Possible Duplicate:
  My internal storage capacity is running low,  what can I do?

The phone memory on my HTC Desire is full, I already moved everything I could to the sd-card. In ES File Explorer I found a folder named /proc and it contains 35 MB of maps with numbers, does the phone need these or can I delete these folders or can I move them to the sd-card?

To answer your direct question:
Deleting stuff in /proc won't help at all, /proc is a virtual folder that doesn't occupy memory on disk. It holds information on running processes, various system data and stats and more.

Please don't randomly delete stuff (also not elsewhere) in hope to free up space for apps. Unless you know what you're doing. Android's file system is somewhat different to what people know from Windows.

Read more on Linux' (which Android is based upon) File system hierachy and its entry on /proc.


How to find which language the app is built? I have to find, which language the app is built on and I have ads data science tips into that.

You can be pretty sure, but you first have to know all the technologies that can output Android APK.

If you know, export the app as an APK and extract it with any zip tool. Then check its content:

If you see 1 class and /assets full of HTML content, then it's likely Phonegap / Cordova
If you see folders named like Appcelerator or Titanium, then it's Titanium Appcelerator
If you see something like a normal Android native structure, then decompile the APK using some online tool. When you do that, you'll be able to see if they used Java only or C++ (if you see a lot of .so files)
If you recognize Kotlin language, then it's Kotlin. You'll see that the code isn't Java
For other technologies, I am not sure but I'm pretty sure there must be something that identifies it.


Stuck on "verification fail" while Rooting Moto G 3rd gen I am trying to root my moto g 3rd gen.

I am following this guide:
http://theunlockr.com/2015/09/09/how-to-root-the-motorola-moto-g-3rd-gen/

I am completely stuck on Step 7: installing SuperSu on the device.

What I did:

Unlock booting
Start via command adb reboot recovery
Get past no command screen
select zip browsing the file system
push the zip using the command: adb sideload C:\...etc\...zip

The Zip I am using is this one:

https://download.chainfire.eu/696/SuperSU/UPDATE-SuperSU-v2.46.zip

The Result:

Finding update package...
Opening update package...
Verifying update package...
E: failed to verify whole-file signature
E: signature verification failed
Installation aborted

What can I do from here? Are there better ways to root this particular device? How do I get around this error?

It seems Moto G 3rd Gen is very tricky to root. I spent 2 days trying countless things and having countless problems every step of the way. I drove myself insane with it, however at the end, it worked and my Moto G 3rd Gen is rooted now.

For everyone else experiencing problems with rooting this device here is some info on what to do:

1. Bootloader Unlock

This first step of the process is already pretty tricky.

To achive it you need to closely follow the steps on this page:
https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a

Keep in mind:

The instructions on this page are potentionally (perhaps intentionally) misleading as to trip up unexperienced users. Some things to keep in mind:

on Win CMD you don't actually need to type the $ chars displayed in the instructons on this page. Its best to read some basics about handling cmd before doing this, like how to navigate in cmd.
you need to install Android SDK and JAVA and than run the program ADB in CMD prompt using admin. This is the path: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\adb
You need to install USB drivers. You can find Moto G 3rd Gen Drivers here: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/88481
You need to enable Developer Options on your device by tapping 9 times on "about this phone" in settings.
You need to enable OEM unlocking in developer options.
You need to enable USB debugging in developer options.
You need to be logged in in Motorolla Care in order to get a key, you will need to unlock bootloader, otherwise the form returns a 500.

2. Installing TWRP

This step is what ultimately tripped me up. The trick here is, that after installation of TWRP the system restores the old recovery program you want to replace and you always return to square one.

In order to make this one work we need to apply a little bit of trickery.

Download TWRP img file and put it somewhere in your windows filesystem
Connect your Moto G with USB and start adb in cmd as admin
execute this command: adb reboot bootloader
When the phone reboots into bootloader mode, execute this: fastboot flash recovery recovery.img make sure to replace "recovery.img" with the path to your file and the right name of the file. After this one is done, the next step is crucial, otherwise all progress will be lost.
Remove your USB cable from the phone
Boot straight into recovery without any reboots. To do use the volume keys to select booting mode, select with power button.
You should boot into TWRP interface, which is a touch interface with rectangles to click on. If you land on "no command" screen or "system recovery" DOS style screen, you probably need to repeat the installation of TWRP and try to avoid it being automatically replaced / restored to default by the system (this seems to be happening on reboot).
In TWRP click Install. Choose SuperSu.zip from your phone file system and install it. Once this is all finished reboot your device, it should be rooted. Use root checker app to check your root status.

Useful tutorial:
http://theunlockr.com/2015/09/09/how-to-root-the-motorola-moto-g-3rd-gen/

Only problem with this tutorial is, it doesn't mention that TWRP will be deleted by the system if you reboot. So you need to adjust that part of the tutorial as described here.


Why Android can't be just mounted? I read a lot about rooting android, that it is risky, that I can mess all and get my device completely dead and nothing can be done about it. So my question -- why all these phones can't be just mounted? If I mess up my system with root, I always can boot with live-cd or write disk image directly to /dev/sda. After all, I can just mount broken system and repair it.

Why android to not support it? Is it some real technical restriction, related to flash memory or something, that differs between phone and PC/Notebook?

The only reason you need to root phones in the first place is that the manufacturer has tried to prevent software choice on the phone platform. The PC design is pretty unique in that it has had a choice of software platform for so long that it's an ingrained feature, although with Secure Boot on Windows 8 devices this is likely on the way out.


How to re-update Android version 4.4 KitKat? 3 days ago, my Nexus 4 smartphone started to update its Android version from 4.3 to 4.4. During the update process, there was an internet problem. Because of that, I guess the new version 4.4 Kitkat was not completely installed. Some functions are missing; some of them are installed.

Can anybody tell me what to do?

What you describe can't happen. The Android updater downloads the whole update before doing anything. Only after it's finished downloading does it offer to restart and install, and no internet connection is required for the installation procedure.

Perhaps what's happened is simply that the Android update has completed successfully, and you're waiting for some apps to update themselves. New functionality like the Play Newsstand app is separate from the OS update, so you might have to wait a little longer for that update. Also, if you're expecting the new home screen, with a Google Now page and transparent effects, be aware that that also isn't part of the OS update: the new launcher is only on Nexus 5 devices for now, and you'll be able to download it from Google Play soon.

When you're trying to get help with a problem, describe the actual symptoms you're seeing, not just what you think caused the problem. We could give you much more specific answers if your question were more specific than "some functions are missing".


Force Uber app to launch when requesting Uber ride within Google maps? I am a fan of integrating ridesharing (Uber and Lyft) fare results into the travel directions interface of Google Maps, so that I may quickly compare the two companies to each other and to other forms of transportation.  However, I do not like having the entire Uber ride take place within Google maps.  I find the interface inferior to Uber's app (lots of info/options are missing), and I would prefer that the Maps app is available for other searches while riding in the Uber (e.g., looking up the exact location of a restaurant).

Is there any way to force Maps to launch the Uber app from within these search results?

The alternative is to

highlight the address
select "copy",
return to the desktop,
launch the Uber app,
clear out any Uber messages (e.g., rate your last driver),
paste the address into the Uber search (which doesn't work if you used something like "home" in Maps),
confirm that it's the same location on the maps you already found in Google (which might not be the case for overloaded place names),
confirm your current location,
and hit the "book"/"request" button.

Do-able, but inefficient.

You could just use the Uber app to use Uber rather than using Google maps.


Could a thief reset a stolen phone from its default config + screen lock? For this scenario let's assume the following:

The phone is stolen and locked. The thief does not know the lock combination and cannot determine it.
There is no external SD slot.
USB debugging is disabled.
The bootloader is locked.

In case it matters, the phone is a Moto G from Motorola (i. e. not the Google play edition)

Is this enough to hinder a smart thief from resetting or flashing my phone? If not, what else could go wrong?

Although difficult to generalize, in a pretty good number of cases, using a lock screen PIN/password is not going to be sufficient to prevent someone from wiping your phone and/or flashing it with a new ROM. It may be an effective enough deterrent to prevent them from accessing your personal data, but there are a few considerations that go along with that, as well.

Firstly, if the bootloader is unlockable, then there is effectively no way to prevent someone from reflashing the device. The fastboot utility will give them the ability to flash unsigned images once the bootloader is unlocked, and unlocking it will not be prevented by any userspace security (like a PIN/password or keeping USB debugging disabled). Nexus devices always have unlockable bootloaders, so those are a given. For other devices, you can typically find out if your device has an unlockable bootloader by visiting the development portal of your manufacturer's website. Samsung devices will use Odin/Heimdall instead of fastboot (excepting some outliers, like Nexus devices made by Samsung which also have fastboot), but you can generally find out if a Samsung device will accept unsigned images via a bit of searching (in many cases they will).

Some devices have other ways of accessing fastboot/recovery, some more esoteric than others. It's not terribly uncommon for there to be a key combination that will boot a device into its stock recovery system, which will provide some means of performing a factory reset, thereby removing any lock screen security that was configured on the device. Another complication can be if the device recognizes a factory cable. The Kindle Fire, for example, would let you flash an unsigned image with a factory cable, meaning you could actually get a custom recovery installed without wiping the device. This would put all of your data at risk if the attacker was properly equipped and technologically savvy.

There are probably other concerns that I'm not considering here, as well, but these are the basic ones aside from bootloader exploits and the like, which are not really predictable in the long-term. In general, though, there is a saying about security which Microsoft sums up as such:

  If a bad guy has unrestricted physical access to your computer, it's not your computer anymore

...and that's a pretty accurate way of putting it for an Android device. If your concern is securing your data then userspace security like a lock screen password, locked bootloader, and keeping USB debugging off are going to be great defenses. If you're looking to secure your device such that no attacker could make use of it, then you've got a significant uphill battle, and the odds of winning are going to be very slim (and quite possibly zero).

NB: For your specific scenario: the Moto G is supported by Motorola's bootloader unlock program. Therefore, userspace security will not prevent someone from resetting or reflashing your device.


Make new notifications beep every 5 minutes? When a new message arrives, my phone lights up the screen for 2 seconds and plays a notification sound.

If you miss it, you'll never know that you have new messages, unless you turn on the screen.

Is there any way to make it beep every 5 minutes or so?

For others reading this:

I found the option to do this hidden under Accessibility / Advanced Settings / Notification reminders on my Samsung.

(not the best place to put it, if you ask me)


What would presently be the best way (if any) to emulate older versions, like Android 2.0 Éclair, on a PC or mac? I'm not experienced in android development, so I was hoping for a straightforward way of just testing apks designed for 2.3 for example. I'm not sure if Genymotion offers virtual devices for versions below 4.4. I did find one called YouWave that looked interesting, but I am still curious as to what would be the best option. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Warning: performance on older pre-HAXM emulators was slow
My experience at the time: Android AVD not showing anything. only “ANDROID” in the middle of the screen
Do realize that any Google Services like Google Maps or even cloud based notifications for those older APIs probably don't work anymore.
If you need performance, sadly old hardware is your best bet as emulators had to do ARM to x86 translation in addition to mainly software based rendering.
If you are still serious about finding an old emulator see: Where can I download an older version of the Android SDK?
You will have to download the entire package and install the full legacy SDK.
Should you go down the legacy SDK path, please use a small screen size (640x480 or 800x480) as rendering fewer pixels helped performance.


make website offline available and browse later without 3G connection I have a Nexus 7 (wireless only) and no smart phone. How to make a web site offline (mirror) available that I later can read it without internet connection?

  example site http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch

I don't wish articles, I wish full web site with all articles. Tried several apps from Play Store, but they crashes when feeding with my URL.

I'm not aware of any app for Android that can mirror an entire website. However there are plenty available for computers. I don't have experience with any of them, so I can'T give you recommendations. A Google search revealed a few candidates that could do the job. [1] [2] [3]
These should download the individual pages and the necessary resources like stylesheets, images and javascript files.

After you've downloaded the site copy it to your SD card and use web server app to serve it locally. Just open up your browser and point it to the web server's address.


Easily tabbing to previous or next field I'm new to the Android UI and I'm looking to see if there's something similar to iPhone's 'next' and 'previous' buttons you see when filling out a form. Currently I have to hit close keyboard then tap on the next field. I tested this in both an app and in the web browser.

Android version 2.1 on HTC Hero.

Some keyboards have a tab button that shows up when you are filling in a form.  For example the Android stock keyboard has this feature (at least in 2.2+).  Additionally you shouldn't have to close the keyboard to click the next field, unless you are zoomed in very close.


What is this icon with a messaging icon enclosed by a SIM card's icon in status bar? Can anyone tell me what the chat icon on the status bar is and how I can access it. This showed itself after a recent security update. I'm not sure if it's a message that I have not opened yet. I have checked all my messages and found none. Also, received messages are usually on the left side of the status bar.

It's a SIM icon.

To change it, go to Settings → Connections →SIM card manager → choose SIM1/SIM2 icon.

(Tap to enlarge)


Where is the battery animation called? I have a tablet from China, it's a Q8H Allwinner.

It is rooted, and I've browsed the internal storage for hours to find the battery animation, I found them at framework-res.apk...

Now I want to find the file who's calling the animation, so I can add a line with the code "/system/bin/reboot", so the tablet boot up on charging.

Does anyone have a clue on where can I find it?

The battery charging animation is usually a series of images, displayed in the status bar. Assuming that you are talking about them (the images in the status bar), they are animated when an event is broadcast.

Giving some more detail, whenever a charger is connected, an intent is broadcast, which is received by the SystemUI to animate the status bar's battery indicator image. When a charger is disconnected, another intent is broadcast so as to stop the SystemUI from animating the battery indicator images.

All of this is handled by the file BatteryService.java in frameworks/base of the android source.

The other charging animation that you are talking about, is when an image is displayed on the screen when the screen is turned off, but the charger is connected. This is usually known as off-mode charging, which takes over the framebuffer, and draws an image over it, according to two conditions:
1. charger is connected
2. display is turned off

Answering the second part of your question, the former method, BatteryService.java is in userspace, and you can not do much about it; as booting up the phone with only one service, and it showing the charging images. The latter, if exists on your device, would be when your phone is turned off, and connected to a charger, it usually boots up into the recovery, where it is 'checked' at boot time init whether the charger is present/not, and usually, shows the charging images.


What could cause this drop in photo quality? The recent photos I've tried to take with my phone look like the one on left compared to older photos that look like the one on the right.

I haven't (knowingly) changed any of the phone settings, and as far as I can see I should be taking the highest quality*/resolution photos possible.

But as you can see all the newer photos are coming out as though they are taken through a rain storm or on a very cloudy day (which isn't the case). Even photos taken indoors with the flash are very poor quality - so poor I deleted them as they were useless for recording the event I was at.

Is this a physical problem with the lens or something in the software I can improve?

* By "quality" I mean lowest compression etc. not a comment on the artistic quality (or otherwise) of the photos.

It looks like this is a physical problem with the camera - either the lens or (more likely) the glass that covers the lens.

On a close inspection of the camera I can see a lot (for the small area) of dark specks on the inside of the outermost lens element.

I don't know what's caused this, but it's this that's causing the reduction in quality of the images.


Redmi 3 stuck on bootloop with no recovery mode access I have a Redmi 3 MIUI7 that I recently flashed with MIUI9 using TWRP. Right after flashing, I tried to boot it but it stuck on a bootloop. Since I haven't booted into the ROM and can't do so because of the bootloop, I have no access to enable USB Debugging AND TWRP recovery mode. No USB Debugging means the device will show as unauthorized when using adb devices, though I can Vol. Down+Power to get into Fastboot. I have flashed several ROMs before flashing to MIUI9 (Resurrect Remix and LineageOS, both Android Oreo and had root access).

I just need way to boot into TWRP recovery mode to a) flash my way out of the loop b) restore a backup.

If you have access only to fastboot you will need complete ROM (including BOOTLOADER and FULL SYSTEM) because ota upgrade can broke custom bootloader


Found a not-so-locked Moto G5S Plus - need help to unlock & return it I've been to a concert three weeks ago and found a Moto G5S Plus there.

I've waited for the owner to call - but they didn't.

The phone is not so locked. It has a (stock) screen lock, but it doesn't seem to be encrypted - I can reboot it and the apps start.

All I can see in the lock screen are app notifications, but with their content hidden.

I managed to check that there's a Google Play Services notification stating the Google account of the owner, but I've sent an email there without reply. My guess is they've just created the Google account for the phone, but use a different email address (if they check any, at all).

I see WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Behance, Messages & Uber notifications (there may be some others, I don't recall right now), but with their content hidden.

How can I unlock the phone to be able to access WhatsApp/Messages/Contacts to contact someone who can contact me with the owner?

I've tried calling their service provider, but they weren't able to find the IMEI on their users database. They've suggested me on the phone to try going to an actual store since they may have better info, but I didn't have the chance yet.

The phone doesn't have an SD card - so no luck trying to get something out of there.

There are no Emergency contacts set up.

I can access the camera without unlocking the phone. That allowed me to take a picture to a message stating a way to contact me, just in case there was any cloud backup setup - but I have not been contacted yet.

I was able to connect to a WiFi using the Camera to read a QR code. I wasn't able to connect to a password-protected WiFi network via the WiFi menu, but I could using the QR code. May there be any other QR action that I could exploit to help me?

It's a Movistar phone, from Argentina, if that makes any difference - but I'm expecting any workaround at the phone/OS level.

From the recovery mode, I could get the Android version is 8.1.0/OPS28.65-36-14/63857. It also says motorola/sanders_retail/sanders, if that helps.

I've just found in HIBP that the user e-mail was part of the Canva breach - but I couldn't find the actual leaked data on a really quick Google search.

Connecting via USB, adb devices won't show it. I managed to get fastboot devices to list the phone when I reboot it and stay at the bootloader - but I haven't found how that may help.

I also tried putting a working SIM card in the phone and calling it from another phone. The idea was to use the conference call option to try to access the phone's contact list. Even though the phone said it had cellular signal, the call didn't make it - so it may already be blocked at the telco level.

I'd appreciate any suggestions to try.

(Just in case: I really want to return it back to the owner. If I was trying to keep it for myself, I'd just factory reset it and call it a day. I also don't intend to violate their privacy - just to contact them)

It is possible that some useful contacts are saved in the SIM card, so I suggest you insert that SIM card in an another phone to access those contacts and attempt to contact them.


Google Now no longer working on Nexus 5x I am on a Nexus 5x running 7.1.1. Earlier today found no cards on the Google Now screen, just this message:
"New Version Available
A more recent version of the Google app is available for download".
So tapped the link which took me to the Play Store and the Google App. Where there is no update available, just options to open or uninstall.

Hitting open loops me right back to the above message.

Fixes I have tried:
Turning Now off and back on.
Deleting card preferences.
Uninstalling Google and the Now Launcher and reinstalling both.
Turning location services off.
Have also checked that Settings>account & privacy>Google activity controls>web & App activity is set to "On".
Oh, and switching my phone off and on again :-)
None worked. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just to let you know you're not alone.

too have exactly the same symptoms on a Nexus 5X running 7.1.1
I've tried:

Leaving the beta program, removing Google App (beta) and installing mainstream Google App
Google App Rejoining the beta program, removing Google App and installing Google App (beta)
Deleting all cache data for Google App
Rebooting the phone.

etc.

Nothing worked.

However, switching to an alternate Gmail account clears the problem. This account is not in general use and although registered on the phone was not active when the App was updated earlier on today.

I do not want to change the main account as I have a vast network of settings and content in the original, non-functional account.


Preparation steps for sending a phone back under warranty I'm sending my (unrooted) nexus s off repair under under warranty, and was just wondering if there any precautions I can take to limit the amount of personal info on the device, lest the engineers take a look through my contacts/emails etc.? (ideally without resetting phone to factory defaults)

Main ideas I've had so far are:

Associating the phone with a brand new google account and deleting the old ones
Moving all sd card content to computer
Clearing caches

Resetting the phone to factory settings (Menu -> Settings -> Privacy -> Factory data reset) and wiping the microSD card (after backing up its contents) should be all that's needed.

Factory reset dis-associates the phone from your Google account, removes any custom apps (installed on internal memory) with their data, and clears all the caches.

[Edit]
P.S. There is a good chance that the manufacturer (Samsung in your case) or whoever you are sending your phone to for repairs might send you a different handset.  Depending on their service terms, they may simply ship you a brand new Nexus S, or even a refurb.  So jumping through hoops to leave your installed apps intact might be a waste of time.


Remove root via update I want to remove the root, i.e. unroot the phone Nexus 4. The automatic factory image downloader using Nexus toolkit takes ages (for some reason). I also read somewhere that updating your rooted phone removes the root. So How do I update a rooted android in order to remove the root?

You simply flash a factory image. That overwrites the /system partition completely, effectively removing root.

For where to obtain those images, please take a look at Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?


Odin Flashable Backup Ok.  So, lucky me, I just got a galaxy s4.  Unfortunately it's the AT&T version, already updated to MK2.

It is rooted, and I've gone through and removed all the bloatware apps through Titanium backup.

My question is, now that I've got this basic stock system, how can I make a Odin flashable tar out of it?  I mean a complete one... bootloader, system, phone, etc...

Unfortunately since you got it with mk2 you can't just install cwm or twrp. You can make a stock nandroid recovery backup. If you want to be able to flash roms in the future though, your going to need to look into the thread on XDA for your phone named Safestrap. I know they were working on getting it working on 4.3 but I'm not certain. It was originally made for anyone who took the mf3 firmware ota update which locked down the firmware and patched the loki exploit. I'm still using the old mdl bootloader so I haven't checked the status of Safestrap recently.


How to watch videos with Hebrew subtitles? I've bought an adapter for watching movies and tv shows from my smartphone (galaxy s3) to the big screen tv.

For some reason, all of the video player apps I've tried so far have problems with showing Hebrew subtitles: either they become gibberish, or they have punctuations marks being put on the wrong places (for example "." in the beginning of the sentence instead of at the end).

Here's a screenshot of MX-Player app, showing a subtitle :

In Hebrew, the "." should be placed on the left of the sentence since you read from right to left. Same goes with any other mark (such as "?" , "!", "," ,...).

On a PC, it's hard to find any app that has such problems.

Maybe it's because it's an RTL (right to left) language, and Android doesn't support such languages well (on 4.2 i think the situation has changed though).

Anyway, is there anything one can do about this? Does it require a special video player to shows Hebrew subtitles well?

Gibberish in Hebrew subtitles is due to an unsupported encoding. You can use an app such as Notepad++ in your PC to change the encoding to UTF-8. In Notepad++, go to the Encoding menu and choose to convert the subtitle (SRT) file to UTF-8 without BOM. In case  your subtitle is embedded in the video, you can find open source subtitle extractor apps.

Regarding the misplaced period, after encoding, just open the file in a text editor and see if the subtitle text is correctly stored. Generally, video apps, just show the subtitle text as it is at the given timing without any formatting (except for some html formatting in some cases).

We have our own tiny, ad-free video player (iPlay SBS Player) intended mainly for VR and 3D videos. Some of our hebrew users who faced the same problem reported that re-encoding as mentioned above fixed the issue for them.

Affiliation: Developer, Non-profit


Where have "predefined SMS messages" gone in Android 5? I bought a Motorola smartphone two years ago with Android 4.4. Previously I had an HTC with Android 2.6. with which I could (and did) use predefined SMS messages (such as "Sorry, late, bla bla bla", "Hi, what's up?").

I couldn't find the option in 4.4 and in 5 either, now that I can upgrade my phone to Lollipop. Are those options gone?

For the sake of curiosity and thoroughness (and since the choice is offered to me) I tried selecting Hangouts as my "preferred" SMS app, in the hope another application, another set of options, maybe "predefined SMS messages" lie there... Not only did I not find what I was looking for but also selecting "Hangouts" as my favourite SMS app... disables SMS messages. Wtf? ( <-- that's me sounding perplexed). Go figure.

So have Google developers decided predefined messages were "so has been" or is there an option hidden somewhere?

You should look in the Phone/Dialer app, not SMS/Hangout app. This is from stock Nexus 6 Lollipop:

Open the Phone app

Tap the overflow menu besides the search box and tap "Settings":

Tap "General"

Tap "Quick Responses":

Edit your quick responses editing the text box that pops up when you tap on the list view:


Browsing PC through phone with adb shell I am connected to my phone from the laptop using wireless adb. After that, I connect my phone to laptop physically with a usb-wire. Now with the wireless adb-shell open, I want to find the wired "connection" and browse my pc through android-phone. (Like open a shared folder on the laptop with adb-shell)

Is that possible and if yes, how? (I want to replicate a similar scenario with my phone so I can connect it to my car-navigation system and browse through the system from my PC using adb-shell).

Not possible. ADB is a one-way channel. Excerpt from help:

When you start an adb client, the client first checks whether there is
an adb server process already running. If there isn't, it starts the
server process. When the server starts, it binds to local TCP port
5037 and listens for commands sent from adb clients—all adb clients
use port 5037 to communicate with the adb server.

To access PC you would have to set up an ADB server on your mobile device, which is currently impossible.


Android Market won't download apps and Google Talk won't sign in after changing to @gmail.com address I have tried the suggestions here and here with no results.

Google suggest changing back to @googlemail.com, waiting two days and restarting the phone, but that hasn't worked either.

Anyone had any luck with this?

I had this issue with my old G1. The only resolution I was able to find was to do a factory reset on the phone and re-enter the Google ID with the @gmail.com extension, as OS version I was running does not have the ability to remove your Google account.

Newer OS versions do seem to have the ability to remove your Google account from the phone and re-enter it with the new extension as I've been able to do this on Froyo at least.


Is it possible to merge contacts from different sources and upload them to GMail? I'd like to merge contacts from different sources -- i.e., imported contacts from phone, from sim card, and from my gmail account -- and upload the ultimate contact on my gmail account.

For instance, I know someone's mail adress using my gmail account, and I import his phone number from the sim card. My goal is to update the contact on the GMail account, in order to have also his phone on internet (it's the perfect backup).

Is it possible ? Is it native or should I use another app ?

I'm using a Galaxy S with Android 2.1, unrooted

Thanks for you're help !

This answer is based on comments from Niall C.

There are 5 phases in the process :

Select each contact, and then link them when relevant. The goal is to have 1 friend = 1 contact.
Export the list (Contact > Menu > More > Import Export > To SD Card), it will work even if you don't have any SD card.
Transfer the file to a computer (the file is quite light, even with GPG keys and user pics)
Open GMail, backup your contact by exporting them
Import the VCF file

And that's all ! Your contacts in GMail have now phone numbers ! Don't worry, GMail merge contacts becase their email adress is already known.

Source : How to move phone contacts to Google?


How to change my phone model if i have root access? I have rooted my phone and changed the os with CM9.X.

My phone name was Sony Xperia MINI sk17i. after installing of new os then model name has been changed.

So i want to change this this to that name. I have terminal app & have root access how can i do that, Please advice me.

WARNING: Messing with your build.prop file can have serious repercussions to your ROM. It is a very 'sensitive' file and can cause unforseen consequences. Doing any of the below is done at your own risk. ALWAYS make a nandroid backup before messing with a ROM. I learned this the hard way, don't do what I did!

This should work, though it depends on CM9:

Download Root Explorer for your phone.

Open root explorer, go to /system, and Search Build.prop
Open with text Editor
Search your baseband and device model
Don't edit anything except baseband, custom ROM and device model.
Reboot
Look in Settings → About

EDIT: Here is an alternative method for doing the same using ES file explorer. I haven't tested this myself, but it has more detail for a beginner. See XDA Developers forum.

EDIT 2: build.prop Editor is an app to modify your build.prop directly. I have NOT tested this either so use at your own risk. Link to source code in the description in the play store.


Init service not starting in user build I have an init service that is not starting in user build. When running a userdebug build it works fine but not in user build. Can't seem to figure out why it's not running. I don't see any errors about it in logcat either.
on property:myprop=1
    start mysvc

service mysvc /system/bin/mybinary myargs
    user system
    group system
    oneshot

My app sets this property when I want the service to start.
Any help here is appreciated.

The problem was the SELinux context that the process was running under. I was able to fix it by marking the seclabel of my init service.
on property:myprop=1
    start mysvc

service mysvc /system/bin/mybinary myargs
    user system
    group system
    oneshot
    seclabel u:r:su:s0


Power button broken and can't switch on phone I have HTC One mini. Power button is broken and can not turn it on. Phone is not rooted and unfortunately usb debugging is not turned on. Any ideas what to do? Or at least how to enable usb debugging?

I tried ./adb reboot but it can not find device

I am not sure if this will really help you out or not but it is worth a try.
Make sure you have fastboot and USB driver for your phone is installed on your PC

Connect the a USB cable to your phone and keep on pressing the volume down button while the phone is booting.
If you are able to access the fastboot mode then you are saved and you can try fastboot reboot command.

If your phone is not entering into fastboot mode then go to a nearby shop and get the power button fixed. I think there is no other way you can turn on your phone.


WhatsApp contacts doesn't merge with Google Contacts I can't really reproduce what caused the issue, but all my contacts show up separately, it's like I'm having two contacts with identical name, one in the Google account containing all his phones, emails including his WhatsApp number but not identified as WhatsApp, and another one for each WhatsApp number the contact has.

I thought about deleting all the WhatsApp contacts but I can't seem to find a way to do it.

Here's what it looks like:

I've tried merging accounts on Google and on phone and the system found no duplicates.

It looks like my WhatsApp contacts are stored somewhere on the cloud and needs to be erased then be re-obtained automatically staying as simple contacts, but I haven't found a way to clear all WhatsApp contacts (I have 900 - meaning erasing them manually isn't an option).
I've tried to filter only WhatsApp contacts then choose delete selection but it didn't allow me to do that.

I might be a little late, but still, at least for google.
I had the very same problem recently, some whatsapp contacts were separate from original (google / device / doesn't matter). Manual join did not work - phone said contacts joined but they did not.
After some fiddling I found a solution thet worked for me in all cases.
Problem was in phone number format in original contact and in whatsapp. It is possible to store the number either with or without spaces.
Here in Czech Republic these are

+420 123 456 789
+420123456789

in UK it is

+48 1234 567890

+481234567890
etc.

Solution was simple after realizing this, edit all your google contact numbers coresponding to whatsapp and either add the spaces in numbers without them or delete the spaces in numbers which got them.
After that I was able to join manually all contacts with whatsapp contacts.
Hope this helps
JirkaBitr


Problem tethering Android 7.1.1 phone Posting this for the benefit of others, after failing to find the problem/resolution on my own.

Yesterday (Oct 2018), my Samsung J5 2016 phone failed to properly enable internet-wireless tethering. It never had a problem in the past, and I am fairly certain that I used tethering since date of the latest OS update (Jun 2018), at least in conjunction with an iOS device (iPad). But as of yesterday, tethering my Microsoft Surface Pro stopped working.

What actually failed:

DNS resolution

Things I tried:

I restarted the Android device
I restarted the client (Surface Pro/Win 10)
I renewed the DHCP lease. (ipconfig /renew)

What worked:

Pinging the device.
Pinging hosts by IP on the internet.
Manually configuring the interface to use a DNS server (8.8.8.8)
Manually configuring the interface to use the device as a DNS server (192.168.43.1)

What I did to resolve the issue:

First, on Windows, I used ipconfig /all to determine the DHCP assigned IP address and DNS addresses. I noted these two were different:

IP Address: 192.168.43.161
IP Address of Gateway: 192.168.43.1
DNS Address: 192.168.0.1

The DNS address looked bogus to me.

On the Windows device, I used Zenmap (nmap) to discover available ports, and saw that for 192.168.0.1, ports 80 and 443 were available, but not 53. I then did a scan of 192.168.43.1 and saw that 53 (UDP and TCP) were available.

After trying some solutions (such as adding "dun" to the APN Type), I finally did a reset of all networking settings and rebooted the device. The next time I started tethering, I noticed that it also reset the SSID and password of the tethering setup. I then recreated the SSID, but forgetting the password, I entered a new password. On Windows 10, I could not seemingly change the password, and was therefore forced to "Forget the Wireless Network" and re-connect to it.

One of these two steps solved the problem. I recommend first doing a "forget" on the Windows client, and if that doesn't work, "Reset Network Settings" on the device.


Reset the password of multiuser account with root my daughter changed her password on out multi user tablet to a complicated PIN and afterwards forgot the PIN :-O ... My other daugther did this already with her account but used a pattern which she forgot. This was at least no problem because I could reset the pattern by the android recovery feature "too often wrong pattern - did you forgot your pattern, enter your google account" !!! No Problem, BUT with the PIN - this dialog does not apear .... you can enter es much wrong PINs as you want - the recovery button ("forgot PIN") does not appar on this device !!!

Anybody help? I've root rights with the main account, but what to so?

GOT IT - very easy:

Using your favorite Root - Only File Manager, navigate to /data/system/users

and the propriate users subdirectory (10 , 11 , 12 ...) and there just rename or delete the passwort.key file

After doing so - the account can be unlocked with easy finger wipe !!!

Hope that helps also others !!!


On Honor 6x camera is slow to start. Any solutions? It takes as long as 10-15 seconds at times. What gives?

UPDATE: New culprit identified. The official Google Search app (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox) - the one that activates Google Assistant on the device, appears to do something that brings 6x to its knees. Once completely disabled, it manifested in a huge boost in the responsiveness of the device - camera included.

And since, admittedly, Google Search app is often useful, there is a Lite version that does not cause any issues - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.searchlite

Original:

Located a solution on XDA that solves this issue on a wide range of Honor devices (https://forum.xda-developers.com/p9/how-to/slow-camera-t3476554/page6)

"went to Settings, Apps, Advanced, Ignore Battery Optimisations and then Allowed the Camera App.

This has made a world of difference on mine, opens up in about 1 second now where before it was the 2 -5 seconds like people were reporting. "

And also:

"Thanks to safc1978 this really annoying problem is mostly fixed. I do still get some lag though, and wondered if it was partly caused by the Gallery app being slow to pull the little thumbnail image of the last photo taken (bottom left of screen).

I used safc1978's theory, and allowed "Gallery" to ignore optimisations too, and it seems to have made another small improvement."