How do I install DropBear SSH on Android? I would like to install DropBear SSH on my 64 bit Android 5.1 device, but it seems that all the installation tutorials and how-tos have disappeared or contain links to broken files/downloads.

Could someone please explain the proper way to accomplish this?

FURTHER DETAILS:

This question comes from this other: an attempt to install some SSH Server on a modern (September 2015 at least) Android device that has (nearly) failed with many tested apps. Command line installation of Dropbear is a different approach to the problem.

First as a side-note for other readers: We're not talking about "an app" here (those have already been tried and didn't work on that architecture), but about a command-line binary. DropBear sometimes is part of Busybox, or it comes as separate binary.

Now for the installation part. Binaries you install yourself best go to /system/xbin, which is in the $PATH but usually "initially empty" (Android's own stuff is in /system/bin and /system/sbin), so we run a very low risk of "collisions". So either adb shell or terminal to your device and make sure you're root. I further assume you've already transferred the dropbear/busybox binary to your SD card.

mount -o remount,rw /system        # make sure we can write to system
cp /sdcard/busybox /system/xbin    # copy the binaries to /system/xbin
cp /sdcard/dropbear /system/xbin
cd /system/xbin                    # switch to our target directory
chmod 755 busybox dropbear         # make sure we've set the correct permissions
busybox --install /system/xbin     # advice busybox to create all its symlinks here

Installation part done (skip the dropbear parts here if your dropbear comes with busybox – and vice versa, skip the busybox part if not needed.

Now, we need to make dropbear fly. I've never tried this myself, so I refer to an external script at Github for that. In short (and in case that link dies), again assuming the required files are already copied to your SD card:

# Creating a home-dir for DropBear
mkdir /data/dropbear
chmod 755 /data/dropbear
mkdir /data/dropbear/.ssh
chmod 700 /data/dropbear/.ssh
# Copy over our files
mv /sdcard/authorized_keys /data/dropbear/.ssh/
chown root: /data/dropbear/.ssh/authorized_keys
chmod 600 /data/dropbear/.ssh/authorized_keys
# Generate a hostkey, so we can use DropBear
dropbearkey -t rsa -f /data/dropbear/dropbear_rsa_host_key
dropbearkey -t dss -f /data/dropbear/dropbear_dss_host_key

An additional part if you want DropBear to auto-start at boot:

cat << EOF >> /etc/init.local.rc

# start Dropbear (ssh server) service on boot
service sshd /system/xbin/dropbear -s
   user  root
   group root
   oneshot

EOF

Note that this assumes your device supports init.d scripts. First check for the availability of that file to make sure.

Finally, don't forget to make /system read-only again. Either reboot at this point (so you also can check that DropBear starts as intended), or at least execute

mount -o remount,ro /system

for now, postponing the reboot. To start the service manually, it should be possible executing that block via some shell script (so you could e.g. have a tasker task for starting and another one for stopping the daemon, and even make shortcuts to those tasks on your homescreen for manual control). Again, I have not tested this part, so it's "pure theory".

Good luck with DropBear and BusyBox!


Samsung Social Hub: How can I view the sent folder running ICS? I have 3 email accounts under Social Hub, how can I view sent folder running ICS 4.0.3  on Samsung Galaxy S2?

When I was using Gingerbeard 2.3.6, it was very simple to move the other mail folder as well. But now there is no such option.

Is there a way to see other mail folder like send items/ draft / myfolder?

You can tap the 'Labels' button in Gmail's action bar. From there you can navigate to all labels you have in Gmail, including 'Sent' and 'Draft'.


I accidentally deleted all applications from my Android phone My phone is Samsung S4 mini CLONE GT-i9190 (CHINA)

Accidentally I have deleted all the applications, what I did is that

I installed V root on my pc, and through this program  I rebooted my phone.
I installed MoboRobo on my pc, and accidentally marked all applications for delete.
I went outside and when I came back and saw mobile screen was black, it was lighting (I think there is no any application and mobile has nothing to show that's why it is just lighting)
I put out battery and put back and try to turn on and showing Android logo and can listen start up tune, after that the screen is lighting (the display is lighting)
My friend told me to install the ODIN 3 program  on your PC and download firmware for GT-i9190 and install in the phone, but my phone is not debugging.

I think my mobile is empty. If you know solution please tell me.

Typically, you can reset your phone to its factory settings using this answer: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/77088/67135

However, that won't work: it will only wipe /data, restoring your phone to it's factory settings, not restoring the entire ROM.

The reason why ODIN did not work is that ODIN only works for genuine Samsung phones, with Samsung firmware.

You'll need to get a update.zip file for your phone to flash in recovery. Unfortunately, clones don't usually have these files available.


Trying to perform a system update crashes the Settings app I've bought a Lenovo A7 3300 16GB tablet running Android 4.2.2. I tried to updated my tablet to the last version of Android by going into Settings > About phone > System update, but when I tap on "System update" this message appears on the screen:

  Unfortunately, settings has stopped.

In addition, my GPS is not working properly. I can turn it on, but it doesn't locate my position on Google Maps or other GPS apps.

My tablet is not rooted and I don't want to root it. I've tried factory reset many times, just for the record.

Is there any way to fix these problems without rooting?
What causes these problems?
Is this a hardware problem or a software problem?
Should I bring my tablet back to the seller?

There a couple of things you can try out, in any order you like!

New Tablet? Surprising, try a factory reset if you have nothing on it. This should fix it for most cases.
A single application crashing could be due to some stale values associated with the data it has cached, you could try force stopping the settings application and then clearing the storage.

If this doesn't work, check for the latest stable build of a rom for your device from the vendor itself, you might have to flash it.

Edit:

Just saw Jeff Chang's comment, and my answer is similar to the one on the link he provided. If it works, you can ask him to answer it for you and award him the bounty.


Update Galaxy Nexus from 4.2.2 to 4.3 while keeping files and root I have a rooted GNex with stock kernel and stock ROM. Device is only rooted, CWM installed and unlocked bootloader.

I received the OTA update yesterday but haven't tried to apply it since I have a custom recovery installed. You should also know that I removed a file called recovery-from-boot.p to avoid the stock recovery from getting reflashed following the indications in this thread http://www.droidforums.net/forum/galaxy-nexus-development/189062-using-rom-manager-only-way-boot-into-clockwork-mod-recovery.html

I'd like to apply the OTA without losing my data and possibly not root. Losing root is not such a big problem but if you know a way of installing the 4.3 update from CWM without losing data then I'd be so thankful!

You shouldn't lose any data by flashing the OTA file. You can flash the ota file (see AndroidPolice for info and where to download it from) and as long as you've not changed any system files it should apply ok. Simply select the "apply update from sdcard" option and select the update file. You will lose root but you can simply flash SuperSu (the only superuser app that works on 4.3 at the moment) which will "re-root" your device. If you get a prompt about disabling recovery flash, select "No" as the new SuperSu uses this part of getting root access.


Android 10 and 11: Get new random MAC for same SSID without factory reset Here https://source.android.com/devices/tech/connect/wifi-mac-randomization is the MAC Randomization described and stated

Note: Randomized MAC addresses are generated per SSID and are
persistent.

I can confirm, deleting the SSID, rebooting and connecting again there is the same random MAC as before. However if you reset the device to factory defaults and connecting to the same SSID, the device connects with another random MAC address. So how can you trigger this behaviour without doing a factory reset?

The key related to MAC randomization is only generated for the first time.
And the MAC address is calculated by calling hmac_sha256 over the ssid with the generated key.
This key is stored in the /data/... on the device, and as far as i know, Android does not provide any API to remove it.
But when you perform a factory reset, all the data located under /data/... is wiped out,
that's why the MAC address changes after that.
Therefore, if you can manage to remove the key, you can trigger this behavior, which is not easy, in my opinion.


How to find out firmware How does one determine what firmware they are using? I've looked in settings -> about phone and can't find it. I know I'm using Android 5.1.1 and have CM.

It depends and differs by the mobile manufactures.

For Sony, Samsung and Motorola devices you can find in Settings > About phone > Build Number.

If you have a Samsung device you can also check the version of firmware you currently have by dialing *#1234#.

In HTC devices it will be under Settings > About Device > Software Information > Software Version. (eg. 3.16.401.9)

The firmware number consists of several elements, all of which are essential for the functioning of the phone:

- PDA: Android operating system and your customizations.
- Phone: the actual identifier of your device.
- CSC (Country Exit Code): the languages and country-specific parameters.
- Bootloader: the boot loader program that runs at startup to all unit processes.

 Screenshot - Click to enlarge image(Source - Ref)


Turning off vibration on Huawei P9 lite My Huawei P9 lite vibrates when it goes to sleep after a short period of inactivity. How can I turn off the vibration?

Try using the Do Not Disturb or silent hour mode of Android.

You will be able to set the window in which the phone will vibrate.


Galaxy Y - White Screen Problem I am using Samsung Galaxy Y. Yesterday my phone screen went white. I tried restarting, and the same problem occurred. I can receive phone calls and SMS but display fully disappeared - only white screen shows up. Can any one (if one has already faced this problem) tell me how to fix it?

I went to a service center but, he charges too much to fix this problem. So I decided to try manually to fix this problem but still didn't find any solution, not from internet either. I already tried rebooting, hard-reset (removing the battery for a while), and even factory-reset; but none of those solved the issue.

The possible reasons for white display are:

LCD is completely dead : In this case LCD or display replacement has to be done.
LCD connector is effected by carbon or dirt particle: If the LCD connector is surrounded by the carbon then it has to be removed.

There are simple steps which can overcome this problem and can help you in getting your Tab ready for the use.

1-     Switch off the tab and open the back cover

2-     Now  unlock the battery and remove it , it’s not a necessary step. Though it is for the convenience

3-     Get to LCD connector as it is locked, firstly unlock it

4-     After unlocking of LCD  connector , with the help of metal tool rub it to remove the carbon and other dirt particles

5-     Then  fix the connector at earlier position and lock it

6-      Place the battery at its position and connect their terminals

7-     Switch on the tab, now it ready to be used

Source

Check out this video for detail instruction.


Battery draining much faster I have rooted by Huawei Honor 3X using this procedure http://playfuldroid.com/how-to-root-huawei-honor-3x-tutorial/ , but it seems like my battery are draining slightly faster. Should I unroot my device, or could it be because of the live wall paper?

Rooting should not affect battery life, unless you have unlocked bootloader too and installed some mods/tweaks or whole custom ROM. You can check the apps with root access, if they're not causing the problem.


Applications: Rollback latest update I updated Winamp today from the market and now I'm having troubles playing shoutcast stations and some mp3's. Is it possible to rollback only the update I installed this morning? or am I out of luck?

no, you are pretty much out of luck. Once you update, you have that version and cannot go back.

I do not know your android knowledge, but, if you have the apk file for a previous version, you can "sideload" the application on to the device (unless you have at&t). But that is a bit more complicated if you never done it before. It requires the drivers for your PC, copy the file to the sdcard, and then "open" the apk file with an file manager, which will then launch the Package Installer.


Can I get an update that isn't for my phone yet? I'm on 4.1.2 right now and want to update to the latest version (I believe it's 4.2.3). When I hit 'Check for updates' in settings > about phone > software update it says there's no update avaliable.

Just because Google released a new version of Android doesn't mean that Samsung (or any other manufacturer) has implemented it for any or all of their devices or that your carrier has made it available OTA.

Samsung does not appear to have made any announcement regarding if or when the Stellar may receive an update to JB 4.2.

You may also wish to keep an eye on When will my device get the Android 4.2 update (Jelly Bean)?


How (where) do I browse to the /data/Tombstones (on the System Partition, I think)? Trying to delete some files from my System partition.
Someone suggested deleting /data/Tombstones
(I.e., what's the Path to it so I can browse to it)

Using Astro File manager I navigated from the SDcard0 up until I got to what seems to be the root. It has folders like:

acct
cache
config
data (which is empty)
...
firmware
...
tombstones (which is empty)
system  (is this the system partition), it does not contain a Tombstones folder.

If /data appears empty, the app showing that most likely has no root access ("root" in the sense of the privileged user, not the start of the file system). In order to browse that place, root is required.

Not all file explorers support this. For one, there are several specific "root explorers" around. I'd rather recommend ES File Explorer, which I use for years: it offers a lot of features you will welcome after solving your issue – and yes, "root access" is one of them. Provided your device is rooted.

And yes: what you're looking for is /data/tombstones, where "core dumps" of crashes are stored.


How to create a hardware shortcuts in Android 4.3? I have Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-i9500 running the latest firmware with Android 4.3.

I want to create "hardware shortcuts".

For example, if I hold volume up and home at the same time, then it'll open an application that I set, for example "Firefox".

As a Linux user, I know it's possible in Fedora and Ubuntu.

Is it possible with Android? My device has not been rooted.

From the description, it seems like Button Savior Non Root can do this (and Button Savior (Root) even more). I didn't try it, and the description is slightly unclear whether it only emulates hardware keys using a floating menu, or you can re-map hardware keys; so your feedback is welcome if you try it.

Alternatively, the XDA developers offer an app called ButtonRemapper. While this explicitly states Tool to remap the hardware buttons, it requires root.

Last partly alternative I can name is tasker. Here I know for sure you can remap at least the camera button. Not sure about others.


How to install SDK packages offline after download is complete? I'm trying to setup my Android development environment and for some reason I would rather do that offline instead of using SDK to download the packages. So far I managed to grab a list of packages from google's repository and download them all (5.2 GB in total). Here are what I've got:

android-XX_rXX.zip
build-tools_rXX-linux.zip
docs-22_r01.zip
google_apis-XX_rXX.zip
google_m2repository_r15.zip
google_play_services_3265130_r12.zip
google_play_services_6587000_r22.zip
market_apk_expansion-r03.zip
market_apk_expansion-r03.zip
market_licensing-r02.zip
platform-tools_r22-linux.zip
play_billing_r05.zip
samples-XX_rXX.zip
simulator_r01.zip
sysimg_XXX-XX_rXX.zip
tools_r24.1.2-linux.zip
webdriver_r02.zip

To reduce the size of list I combined its items using X notation. Now that I've got the list I search to find what to do with them next. This post suggests copying them into sdk-folder/temp and run the sdk manager. Which I did but nothing happened! Here's what my sdk manager looks like with having all the packages' zip files in temp folder:

Should I have done anything differently? Is there a way to install packages manually? (There are 70 zip files in total)

of course you can, use below link and Download Offline any package's you need :

http://downloads.puresoftware.org/files/android/

// i think your ip banned from Google.like IRAN Ip :) For Online packages download.

after Download :

Extract Folder, (Example : build-tools ) in : SDK Root Directory.
or if doesnt exist with this name, Create a folder with this name ( build-tools ) and then Open Sdk manager and now, you can see Added Package in List.

or you can Download Bundle :
All Android Studio Packages
(Not Recommended)

and Attend please, this is your SDK Root Directory :

/home/mehran/Application/Android/android-sdk-linux/

Extract all of this packages in this Directory.

also, maybe usefull :

Adding SDK Packages


Why does Google Search suddenly need a lot more permissions? I obviously have Google Search installed on my stock Nexus 4, however, a recent update for this app appears to require no less than 11 new permissions. Google does not appear to give any explanation for these new requirements. So, what is the reason for these new permissions?

Device & app history
Identity
Contacts/Calendar
Location
SMS
Phone
Photos/Media/Files
Camera/Microphone
Wi-Fi connection information
Device ID & call information
Other

Whenever I get a new update for an app, I glance over any new permissions and if they don't offer any explanation for why they now require these new permissions, I simply don't update the app. That is, after all, the reason why we are alerted to any new permissions - isn't it? Unfortunately, this means I have not yet updated this app. Should I?

Most of these permissions are used by Google Now and the new features they will be bringing out after Google I/O and the upcoming Android L Release.

I'm not sure about why they need a lot of these permissions, but I will explain the ones that I know about. Feel free to edit the answer to improve it. I have listed all the sub permissions as listed in the play store.

Device & app history

Retrieve running apps

This is for an upcoming feature where google search results will point/link directly to apps installed on your phone.
Read your Web bookmarks and history

This is for making Google Now suggestions based on your web habits. For example, I get updates about Fifa World Cup scores because I have searched for them on my phone before.

Identity

Find accounts on the device

Should be related to the feature mentioned in "Retrieve running apps"

It is also needed to log in with your Google account for the "commute sharing" feature, to access your web search history, and for app search, if you have any of these features turned on
Add or remove accounts
Read your own contact card

Contacts/Calendar

Read your contacts

Mainly for Google voice commands, such as calling a contact or sending them a message.
Modify your contacts
Read calendar events plus confidential information

For reminding you about upcoming events.
Add or modify calendar events and send email to guests without owners' knowledge

Location

Precise location (GPS and network-based)
Approximate location (network-based)

To provide location based suggestions, I get Google Now cards with places to eat nearby, weather reports, Photo spots nearby, etc

SMS

Receive text messages (SMS)
Send SMS messages

To send messages via voice commands
Edit your text messages (SMS or MMS)
Read your text messages (SMS or MMS)

Phone

Directly call phone numbers

Make calls via voice commands
Read call log

Photos/Media/Files

Test access to protected storage
Modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Camera/Microphone

Take pictures and videos
Record audio

Wi-Fi connection information

View Wi-Fi connections

Might be used for guessing when you're at home/work or maybe related to this

Device ID & call information

Read phone status and identity

Other

Send Gmail
Permission to write Sound Search matches
Preload results
modify secure system settings
receive data from Internet
choose widgets
download files without notification
Read Google settings
disable or modify status bar
contacts data in Google accounts
view configured accounts
adjust your wallpaper size
prevent app switches
Modify Google settings
set an alarm
run at startup
control flashlight
view network connections
prevent device from sleeping
install shortcuts
use accounts on the device
change your audio settings
read Google service configuration
modify system settings
full network access
pair with Bluetooth devices
access Bluetooth settings
set wallpaper
send sticky broadcast
connect and disconnect from Wi-Fi
read sync settings
control vibration


Use Google Play without any other Google apps installed I'm using Cyanogen Mod 10.1 and I wonder if there is any possibility to use Google Play without installing all Google apps. I don't need Gmail, Talk, etc. I don't want to link my device to google. Is there any way to just put in your Google account data for Google Play and not for the whole device?

I would imagine that Google Play is not reliant on the other apps like Maps, Talk or Hangout. Just to be safe though, here is what I would recommend:

Create a full system backup of phone
Delete any apps that you don't want and see if they affect your usage
If any apps affected your usage, restore your device and do not delete those apps.

Remember that it is always better to make a backup and not need it, than to need a backup and not have one =)


How install python interpreter on an android device I cant download the  http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/ because in my country is block this URL. Where can I install the python app for android

Check out QPython - Python for Android. This appears to be an IDE and Python script runner for Android.


What is the meaning to close Google apps source code According to the recent news, google apps are closed source and one cannot use it after forking android.

But, as I understand, I can fork Android, create my own OS and then install Gapps manually.

If the users can do it manually, theoretically anyone with any device can use Gapps, than what is the advantage of closing the source if it does not prevent Google from creating other Android alternatives, e.g Cyanogenmod?

EDIT: I am quite aware of the advantages of having closed/open source. The question is that Google wants to get rid of competitors and prevent Android fragmentation. People can fork Android and one day become major OS provider. OF course, forking android without google services has very little value for users and it is extremely difficult to write such services from scratch. So, Google tries to keep its leadership in Android market by closing its service.

But, if one can fork android, customize it, than use Google services (even if installed manually), than this does not help Google at all in reaching its goal, i.e. prevent competitors and Android fragmentation.The Google services still can be very easily used and everyone can have its own alternate Android. So, what is the point to close the services?

Besides this, again, what is the meaning to have Google approved devices?I can  manufacture devices and use their services without having the approval.

Technically, you are not allowed to "install Gapps manually" unless your phone already comes with them pre-installed.  The Google Apps package (that includes Google Play Services, Play Store, and several other apps) is Google's intellectual property, and nobody is allowed to distribute it, except for Google's certified partners that have passed CTS.

For example, CyanogenMod ROM does not include, host, or distribute the Gapps package. Instead, they have scripts built into their tools that back up Gapps that are already installed on your handset prior to  installation/upgrade, and restore them afterwards.  Any other ROMs and maintainers who do host Gapps packages are doing so illegally, and are infringing on Google's copyright.  For the most part, Google chooses to not enforce their copyright against small-time guys, but will not hesitate to unleash their army of lawyers when they deem is necessary.

To answer your question, Google's services are essential for their grip on Android's ecosystem. Only the big guys like Amazon or Samsung can afford to completely steer clear of Google's services with their own offerings. For example, not having access to Play Store on an Android handset is a huge drawback for a smaller manufacturer like HTC, Huawei, Motorola, etc., since the alternatives are usually lacking in both numbers, as well as (perceived) security.  Google uses this as both a carrot and a stick.


How unlock S6 Edge When The Finger Print Scanner is Not Working? My S6 edge was locked by finger print. It was working fine, but today while I was on bath my child was playing with my mobile and by mistake they tried finger print scanner, now my device is locked out.

Now my device asking for backup password but as the password was alphanumeric (12 digit long), I had also forgot it. I have searched a lot on Google and found that either Google account or resetting the device is only solution.

But I can't even use my Google account as my WiFi and/or mobile data was off when my phone was in lock mode. Now because of Google's security system I can't even enable WiFi or mobile data?

So, my question is:
1. Is there a way to make my device to ask for my finger print once again?
2. or is there a way to on my WiFi or mobile data on lock screen?

Because I don't want to reset my device, as I have unsaved data.

Thanks in advance

Best regards

Try pressing the power button, till it shows the options like,
power off,
flight mode,
restart,
emergency mode

then select emergency mode. Wait for it to enable. After that, it will ask again for your finger print.


Building LAN with android phone (Xiaomi Redmi 3s) I am trying to build a LAN using my phone. Have connected the phone via USB to the pc and switched on WiFi hotspot (so i can connect laptop, printer etc to the Internet). But i cant get them together, as i know my public IP provided by IPS, i cant get the local IP for my PC, and other gadgets as well. And my phone is not connected to any WiFi hotspots, as i use it as a hotspot itself.

If you have more information, I can help you.
The APP ES file explorer provides a LAN function.
If you want to route over the PC to a router or something do this.

1.)First, you need to enable routing.(Windows)

2.)You need an app that provides you with a terminal (terminal emulator etc.)

Example:
ifconfig usb0 192.168.0.2
route add default gw 192.168.0.1

Set your DNS server :

echo "nameserver 8.8.8.8" >> /etc/resolv.conf

or with BusyBox:

nano /etc/resolv.conf

3.)Under Windows you need to configure the path to your router.

route ADD 192.168.0.2 MASK 255.255.255.0 192.168.0.1


When will my device get the Android 4.1 update (Jelly Bean)? Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) was announced at Google I|O 2012 on June 27, 2012.

(You can review the high level changes in Android 4.1 at the official Android Developer's site.)

Of course, not all devices will get this update right away and others won't get it at all. Each manufacturer and carrier often choose to add their custom modifications which tend to delay the official release.

When will each device get Android 4.1, either officially or unofficially, if ever?

See also:

When will my device get the Android 4.0 update (Ice Cream Sandwich)?
When will my device get the Android 4.2 update (Jelly Bean)?
When will my device get the Android 5.0 update (Lollipop)?

This community wiki will list all of the known and rumored dates for devices. If you have an update make sure to follow the format that's been established, and the following guidelines:

Keep phones in alphabetical order listing the manufacturer and model
Specify if the date is confirmed or rumored and link to the source
If there is an unofficial release, link to the site where it can be downloaded

Note that devices that do not meet Google's Compatibility Definition will not receive a Google-sanctioned update. In the case of the major manufacturers and many others, that means they won't release an update at all since Google's certification is important to their business.
Phones
Asus
Padfone

Official: 2013-03-25 (confirmed)

Google
Nexus S

Official: mid-July (confirmed)

HTC
Desire C

Official: Never (confirmed)

One S

Official: unknown date (confirmed)

One V

Official: Never (confirmed)

One VX

AT&T: 2013-08-02 (announced)

One X

Official: 2013-03-07 (confirmed)

One XL

Official: unknown date (confirmed)

LG
Optimux 4X HD (P880)

Official: 2013-04-07 MyLGPhones.Com

Optimus G

Sprint: 2013-March (confirmed)

Micromax
A110 Canvas 2

Official: 2013-March (confirmed)

Motorola
DROID 4

Released to Verizon customers March 19, 2013 (confirmed)

DROID BIONIC

Official: 2013-04-16 (confirmed)

DROID RAZR

Official: 2012-03-07 (confirmed)

DROID RAZR HD

Official: 2012-12 (confirmed)

DROID RAZR MAXX

Official: 2012-03-07 (confirmed)

RAZR MAXX HD

Official: 2012-12 (confirmed)

Pantech
Discover

Official: 2013-07-31 (confirmed)

Samsung
Epic 4G Touch

Official (via Samsung Kies): 2013-03-28 (confirmed)

Galaxy Ace 2

available: 2013-05-15 (SamMobile)

Galaxy Nexus

HSPA+

yakju, takju

Official: 10-July-2012 (officially confirmed)
Unofficial: 28-June-2012 RootzWiki, XDA

yakjuxw, yakjukr etc...

Official: Unknown
Unofficial: 30-June-2012 XDA

CDMA

Sprint:

Official: 2012-09-06 (confirmed)
Unofficial: 2012-06-28 ACSyndicate

Verizon Wireless:

Official: 2012-09-21 (confirmed)
Unofficial: 28-June-2012 RootzWiki (ROM 1, ROM 2)

Galaxy Note N7000

Official: Unknown date
Unofficial: 2012-08-10

Galaxy S II

Official (Sweden, Norway and Denmark): November 2012 (facebook post via GSMArena)

Galaxy S III

Official (Verizon Wireless) 15-Dec-2012 (confirmed)
"Confirmed" 29-August-2012 (international models specifically)
Official (Sweden, Norway and Denmark): October 2012 (facebook post via GSMArena)
Official (Bell, Rogers, Sasktel, Telus, and associated brands in Canada): December 3, 2012 (twitter post)
Official (Mobilicity, Vidéotron and Wind Mobile in Canada) - December 14, 2012 (twitter post)

Galaxy Stellar

Official: March 2, 2013 (source)

Sony
2011 line up (Xperia Arc S, Ray, Mini (pro), Neo (V), ...)

Declined by Sony UK for the top model Arc S (source)

Xperia T, TX, V

Official:Feb-March 2013 (confirmed)

Xperia P, J, Go)

Official: End of March 2013 (confirmed)

Xperia S, SL, ion, acro S

Official:After March 2013 (confirmed)

Xperia U, Miro, Tipo, Sola

Official: Declined (source)

Xperia TL

Official: 1-Mar-2013 (confirmed)

Tablets
Acer
Iconia Tab A500

Unofficial: 30-Jun-2012 (confirmed)

ASUS
Transformer TF101 + SL101

Official: unknown date (confirmed)

Transformer TF201 + TF300T + TF700T

Official, unknown date (source)  (source, English)

Transformer Pad TF300

Official: 18-August-2012 (confirmed)

Lenovo
Thinkpad Tablet

Official: Never (staff post)

Motorola
Xoom

Official (Wi-Fi variant): 23-July-2012 (confirmed)
Official (3G/LTE variant): Q4 2012 (Motorola blog post)


TWRP API to aceess TWRP from the OS? Is there any documentation for TWRP's "API" which for instance can be used to flash an OTA update from the OS? I couldn't find any information on it, but my ROM (Lineage OS) is able to reboot my phone into TWRP, making it flash an OTA update and then reboot into Android without any user interaction.

My hope is to find some sort of API that would allow me to automatically create TRWP backups without user interaction.

I'm not looking for for any closed source alternatives that could do the job. I'm also not looking for normal backup apps. I need full backups like the ones that TWRP can produce.

It's possible by OpenRecoveryScript

Official command guide: https://twrp.me/faq/openrecoveryscript.html

Official TWRP App, TWRP Manager and Lineage OS Updater use this approach.


Using slow dns a VPN Over DNS Tunnel android app I'm looking for similar apps that i can use for free, setting dns and start the vpn to get unlimited internet without the silly 25mb of slowdns. thanks in advance for your help.

If looking for a free openVPN app, you can check this FeatVPN, and get the free openVPN bundles right here: VPNbook bundles.

These bundles have custom DNS therefore can bypass your ISP which may have been slow. Alternatively you can get DNS Overrider (if you are rooted)


Remove second shutter button from S10e camera app The stock camera app on my rooted Sampung S10e is working fine, but since a few days there is a second shutter:

I can move it, but it is useless and troublesome wherever I put it.

How to remove it? I only need the default shutter button.

If it was not there before, You can try clearing app data of camera.
Long press Camera app -> App Info -> Storage -> Clear Storage


Android adb: "device unauthorized" message, but can't boot device to confirm authroization I managed to get stuck in a boot loop after installing the Chainfire 3D driver on a Galaxy Tab 3.

I can boot into the recovery mode (and download mode) but when I try to establish a connection using adb shell, it says:

  error: device unauthorized. Please check the confirmation dialog on your device.

Of course, I cannot boot my device to confirm authorization.

How can I use adb without first being authorized?

Boot into recovery mode, and connect your device to your computer; then mount your device's internal memory/SD card and download the corresponding firmware for your device (ensuring that you have the correct firmware, or you will brick your device!).

After this, flash the firmware via the recovery, bearing in mind that it will wipe the current version of Android from the device.
Samsung devices are usually very good, as they keep personal data such as music and photos separate from the system partition, and so your personal data should remain intact. With this in mind, attempt to back-up your device first (your recovery function may have the ability to do this).

Try and establish a connection with ADB using the ramdump mode (usually Volume Down+Power+Home), and it may work.
Otherwise, ADB requires a fully functioning device to work (for security reasons).

Before installing something that modifies the way your device works (such as Chainfire's mods, Beats' sound driver, etc), always back-up your device first! Only you can be blamed for not taking a backup before you installed the mod.


Open unlinked URL in corresponding app How to open a link in an app if it's not available as a link but as a text, and it can't be opened in the app itself? Is there e.g. some app that can get link pasted from a clipboard and open it?

Example: I have a link to a YouTube video on a web page as a text and want to open it in YouTube app.

Any regular web browser including the default ROM one should be able to do this natively, provided you have said app set as default for that type of link. Unless I misunderstand what you mean.

Just copy the link text from wherever and paste it in the address bar of a (new) tab. If a default application has been set for this type of link it should redirect it there automatically.


Shortcut to enable / disable VoIP/SIP on Gingerbread? Gingerbread comes with a cool SIP / VoIP integration. However, this feature drains the battery quite a bit.

So I'm looking for a shortcut to enable SIP. So far, I always have to go deep into Settings to disable/enable it.

Is there a cool shortcut, widget or app which helps to enable/disable the native SIP/VoIP-Feature of Android 2.3?

As I did not find any suitable solutions I decided to write my own widget.

It's available on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.siebeck.sipswitch

I also made the source code available: https://github.com/robert7k/sipswitch


Samsung Galaxy S3 WiFi authentication error with A&TT U-Verse router My Samsung Galaxy S3 won't connect to my AT&T U-Verse router. I've gone through AT&T help and they say it's the phone. I've gone through Sprint (phone & service provider) and they say nothing is wrong with the phone. Samsung support also says nothing wrong with the phone.

It connects to unsecured networks no problem. If I turn security "off" on my U-Verse router, it connects no problem.

With security "on", I get an "authentication error occurred" error message on the phone,  even though the status bar on the phone shows it sees my router at excellent strength. I have verified the password with correct upper and lower case.

I've connected to several unsecured WiFi without issue.  The only secured network I have connected to is at work.  I know they don't have U-Verse, but I have no idea what the WiFi brand is. It connects no problem with security on and my office password.

The phone is running Android 4.0.4.

I've changed router settings to use channel 11 and power level 400. I've rebooted the router and reset the phone.

I can also see the phone's MAC address on the router, so I know they are seeing each other.

Easy fix.  Don't use your wi-fi password.  Use the Wireless Key #.  I have been trying over and over with my personal password and kept getting the same authentication errors everyone has been discussing with u-verse.  I pulled the paperwork that the installation guy gave me and just taking a last resort shot at it, I tried the Wireless Key # written on the paperwork.  It connected immediatley...

This reportedly also works with the Verizon branded Samsung Galaxy S III. Their 2nd level support only suggests factory resetting which won't help. Only the above mentioned technique does


How to install a language pack into a now-defunct 3rd-party keyboard? There's this keyboard I really love called 8pen. I made the mistake of uninstalling it without checking and then later realized that it had been pulled from the app store, and the developer seems to have ceased all activity since 2013 . . .
I have the app now (version 2.6.0.1), but it will no longer download language packs from the developer and therefore doesn't have predictive text, which was one of the app's original strong points.  Presumably it can't download the language packs because the download servers have been unplugged.

Is there some way to get into the app's file system and install a language pack by hand?  I would just want English.

Confirmed to work on Android 5.1.1 with 8pen version 2.6.1 and 2.7

Since mid-2014, 8pen ( is only accessible from your purchases in Google Play) language packs no longer install for the keyboard since the servers are no longer operating. Luckily, one of my roomates hasn't updated his phone since he downloaded the English dictionary.

Using Android File Manager I copied the original dictionary file

Android/data/com.eightpen.android.eightpen

and loaded it onto my Nexus 7 which has 8pen version 2.7 installed. After clicking to "download" the language pack, it successfully read the new files and the dictionary is operational.

Unfortunately while trying to figure all this out I uninstalled by 2.7 version and can't get it back... but the same method is working on version 2.6 on my Nexus 6.

While this is not the most elegant solution, you can download the file you need from here and copy the folder needed into Android/data. I've included a README with detailed steps. Happy 8penning!

(Now to figure out how to get version 2.7 back.)


In-app purchase on google play Lets say i have an app I've recently downloaded and have made an in-app purchase on this app, if i were to uninstall this app and reinstall later on will my in-app purchase still be available? ( also same situation if i where to reboot my device)

First, a reboot will never "revert" your completed IAP, and never should it (unless serious problems with hardware that causes data loss).

When you uninstall and re-install an app (or simply clears its data), then:

If that app supports cloud backup, your data will be recovered and nothing is lost or reverted
If that app has no backup then:

All consumable purchases are lost, so is your dollars.
All non-consumable purchases are also lost, but they are supposed to be restorable (not "recoverable")

See Consumable and non-consumable purchases.

Consumable purchases are like golds, gems and timed boosts that does not last forever.
Non-consumable purchases are like premium unlocks, special characters and coin doublers that lasts forever after purchase.


Can display apps damage AMOLED screen? I used app Screen Balance (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.uk.quickdoc.screenbalance&hl=sl) and one other screen app on my Galaxy S7 Edge and later (weeks or months later) I got some pink line and always on pixels. Is possible that this happened because of this apps? I like this apps because they can make colors on Galaxy S7 Edge display better (more cold) than original. Now I have new display on my phone and I am wondering if it is ok that I use Screen Balance and another screen app.

Thank you.

Bye

Amoled screens can burn up. In bright colored UI, but for your case screen balance only adds some screen warmth (red hues) and coldness (blue hues) on it not changing the entire UI color like pure black or pure light. I don't think that can be a reason to your spoiling of screen. That is a totally different reason it got burning pixels.


Samsung Galaxy Ace, data network mode keeps deactivating itself Every time i turn on my data network  it deactivates itself within 5 mins ,any ideas
anyone? i have a Samsung Galaxy ace.

Check to see if you have Battery Defender or some such app installed. You may have set data network to time out every 5 mins there (default is 15 mins).


Asus memopad7 170C, unlocking bootloader fails I'm trying too root my Asus memo pad 7 (170C), I've tried EVERY method, using KingoRoot, SuperOneClick, Frameroot, motochopper. None of them worked.

So I decided to do the rooting stuff myself, first I tried on Windows 8, the fastboot driver was not recognized, I installed the PdaNet, It recognizes the device now, the problem is when I run "fastboot oem unlock" or "fastboot oem unlock0x0b05" (ASUS VendorID), it returns : "FAILED (remote: unknown OEM command)"

I enter bootloader with "adb reboot bootloader" or by pressing Volume Up and Power.

I have also tried in Ubuntu 14.04, It doesn't even recognize the device in fastboot, and yes  I run fastboot as root, still no chance :-(
"fastboot devices" returns nothing, and "fastboot oem unlock" returns "Waiting for device"

I did run "usbls" command, and it was clear that the OS has recognized the tablet, but why the fastboot does not?

Here is some information of my specs:
ASUS MemoPad 7 (170C)
Windows 8.1 64bit AND/OR Ubuntu 14.04

Bootloader: DroidBoot Provision Os, DroidBoot Ver: WW_MeMO_Pad-11.2.3.28-20141230
IFWI Version: 64.25

PLEASE somebody save my life as I'm stuck with it for a very long time!

Ok, I searched for it a lot, tried everything and here is the final solution:

The propper rooting tool for ASUS tablets that use a x86 processor is "RootZenFone", the old fashioned way "fastboot oem unlock" and replacing the the recovery with something else DOES NOT WORK (As the time being).

If you have bricked your tablet (as I did!) you can perform a full recovery by following the instructions in this page. (Remember to install the USB drivers, provided in the same page)

If you are encountering the "Unfortunately Asus Demo has stopped" over and over again (even after a full ROM recovery), you need to run the RootZenFone (I tried version RootZenFone-1.4.6r.apk and it worked) after a fresh ROM recovery (using the link I provided above).

And it's really important to remember to "Forget each WiFi network" And "Disable the WiFi".
If you are getting "Unfortunately Asus Demo has stopped" error, you NEED to disconnect the USB cable before you proceed to root the device using RootZenFone.

Just follow the instructions and you are good to go :)


Using alsa mixer (root) to boost sound in an intelligent way I'm looking for a way to boost the headphone output of my Moto X (2013). I have rooted it and installed Alsa Mixer so I should be able to run shell scripts and modify it.

The thing is.. I can't find any good guides for this.

What I'm trying to do:
- Boost the volume using a compressor (like radio stations tend to do)
- Maybe apply a limiter after that just to be sure I don't blow up my headphones.

Can somebody help me plz?

My suggestion is to install Viper4Android. You can increase output by (as I recall) 8dB, and besides that, you will get a lot of options to adapt the sound to get the best output. Using it for a couple of years and still haven't found a better alternative.


Nexus 5 with cracked screen - Screen is always off when in a call I cracked the screen of my LG Nexus 5 (running Android Lollipop 5.0.1). This seems to have made the proximity sensor go haywire. Now, whenever I make a call, the screen immediately goes black and stays that way. Hitting the power button makes it come back for a fraction of a second sometimes but not reliably.

I've enabled 'power button ends call' just to have the option of ending a call, but calling automated services to top up my phone credit or pay a bill is impossible since I have to use the on-screen keypad to which I have no access.

I have used the ProximityScreenOff-Lite app before upgrading to Lollipop and it was working. After the upgrade, however, no matter what settings I use it doesn't work any more. Is there a way to force the screen to stay on during a call in stock Android 5.0.1? Are there any other apps to try? Anything to just completely disable the proximity sensor since its useless as it is anyway?

Proximity Fix app helped me on Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and in the reviews, fixed it for Nexus 4 as well. Maybe it is worth a try?

EDIT: Disable Proximity Sensor AOSP thread may give a pointer on disabling proximity sensor by echo command.


WiFi authentication problem I have got my android (Lenovo Vibe P1M) and for a couple of days my WiFi worked smoothly.But when i tried connecting it yesterday it says authentication problem.

While my family members can use the WiFi with their phones, I can't.

What I've tried so far:

1. turning my WiFi on in Airplane mode.
2. clearing data from google services framework.
3. going far away from my router and trying to connect.
4. factory resetting the phone once
5. Forgetting access points and resetting passwords.
6. restarting my hotspot several times
7. restarting my phone several times

nothing worked.

NOTE: I see this question has been asked before here but that doesn't solve my problem.

Does it mean there is a problem with my device?

In my case it was a full memory - deleted Gigabytes of photos -> worked


How come my free ram keeps getting less and less? I have a Samsung gs3 gt 19300 running on cyanogen mod 10.2 stable version, so far it has been smooth other than the  ram problem (which I also encounter when using stock ROM)

Whenever I restart, I often have around 300 + MB of free ram (after recent apps are all cleared)  however, a few days later, I find that my free ram drops to less than 100 MB (with all recent apps cleared as well)

Well I checked the list of running services on the background and their sizes, but there were the almost the same compared to when the first day after restart, but if the running services are the same, how come the free ram drops that much? What is the problem? Is it memory leak by apps? What's the best way to handle it?

Do not worry about your RAM being full as in a Linux OS it is not a bad thing. The system tries to fill up your RAM as you open applications and whenever you open an App again it is loaded from the RAM which takes fewer resources then loading the App from scratch. Letting an App stay in RAM does not take a lot of resources and the system is smart enough to only keep the most frequently used Apps in RAM.

So unless you are experiencing severe performance issues you do not have to worry about the RAM being full.


Is it possible to configure optical trackpad (trackball) to switch on the phone just like iPhone? I find the power button hard to press with one hand. Pressing an optical trackpad (trackball) would be much more convenient. Are there any hacks for this?

I think turning on from shutdown is not possible without messing with the hardware.  I have a nexus one which is basically the HTC desire and using cyanogen mod i've been able to use the trackball to wake from sleep etc.  You will need to root etc and probably will void your warranty whatsoever.

Try the following link for more info:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=690477

also google  cyanogen mod (i can only post one link at a time)


nexus 7 volume keeps muting At completely random times the on screen volume slider appears and mutes the sound. Also the slider just stays on screen over anything I'm doing (as it is now) and will not disappear. Sometimes touching the volume rocker switch will work, often it doesn't. So even if I don't need any sound the slider is on screen interfering with whatever I'm trying to look at.

Rebooting doesn't help. This occurs whether any apps are running or none and there is no way of telling when this will happen.

Also if I do want to listen to something the slider will just appear and return to mute, so if I try to turn the volume up with the rocker switch it just immediately slides back to mute.

It's happening more frequently, pretty much all the time now. I had hoped the recent KitKat upgrade would resolve it, but no luck. I have taken it out of its case so there is nothing pressing on the buttons. This is the old style nexus with one camera.

What could cause this, and how can it be solved?

As said in the comments it looks like your volume button could be broken. A good way to check if this is the case is to disable it. There are some great threads on how to do this so I will list a few here that you can check out. If the case is that the button is broken, let me know in a comment (on this answer) and I will help you out.

Threads:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-g-pro/284907-how-disable-side-volume-buttons.html

http://androidforums.com/droid-support-troubleshooting/33602-disabling-volume-button.html

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2125810


Is there a setting to allow folders to be uploaded from a PC/Mac to an Android phone via bluetooth? Reason I ask is because I get an error message saying that the type is not acceptable/supported when I attempt to drag and drop a folder into the window on my Mac showing the contents of my Android SD card.

Using Astro Bluetooth on Sony Z1 Compact, latest Android. Mac OS Mavericks.

Looked around here on SE but couldn't find an answer that addresses this issue with folders.

I use an app called AirDroid which allows me to upload folders/files to my Android phone. It is not done via bluetooth, however. It's done through my 4G connection.


How can i Downgrade my Lg G Flex 2? Is it possible for me to downgrade to kitkat... If it is can someone please tell me how. I am on a Lg G Flex 2, currently running on Lolipop 5.1.1..il leave further specs below.

Specs:

Lolipop: 5.1.1
Kernel: 3.10.49
Build: LMY47S
Software Version: V15c- TWN-XX
Model Number: LG-H959
Hardware Version: Rev.1.0

No you simply can't. The phone is released with Lollipop (5.0) as its initial version. And even if there was once KitKat available, chances are you can't downgrade to it due to bootloader restrictions.


Disable automatic screen turn-off during call I use Gingerbread.

My Android phone has feature, that turns off display during call when I put the phone to my ear. However, the sensor is probably over-sensitive in my device, so it often turns off during call even when I don't keep it next to my face.

This is an issue if I want to use keyboard during call when the screen turns off. Can I disable this feature?

Plug in a headset. It's the only answer!


Port forwarding during USB tethering How can I enable port forwarding during USB tethering?
I know there are plenty of apps available for this. but i want to know is there any method available to perform this without installing an app and also without rooting the device? Target machine is running with Android 4.0.4, obviously not rooted. Thank you.
P.S. I am trying to host a server on a PC connected to internet via Android device(USB tethered). I want my Android device to forward incoming TCP requests to particular port on the host machine.

There are 2 adb commands:

adb forward
adb reverse

As you mentioned in the comment, you are probably looking for adb reverse which works like this:

adb reverse tcp:<remote> tcp:<local>

Where <remote> will be TCP port on your Android phone and <local> the TCP port on your host computer.


How can I use browser userscripts on my Android phone? I am a passionate Stack Exchange user and I have a lot of userscripts in my desktop Chrome browser, installed with Tampermonkey. I want to use them on my Android phone, is it possible?

Google Chrome on Android so far doesn't support plugins, of which Tampermonkey is necessary to run userscripts, so here I recommend Firefox for Android. You can install Tampermonkey addon in Firefox and then start with your favorite scripts. Note that all userscripts are not compatible with Tampermonkey such as  SE-AutoReviewComments for which you need
USI- Unified Script Injector addon.

Where can I find scripts to play with?

Stack Apps is a Q&A site for apps, scripts, and development with the Stack Exchange API. People discuss about developing around SE, and publish their projects there. You can find a lot of userscripts in the scripts section.

One of my scripts isn't working

beeshyams asked me this question before, but I wasn't a Firefox user then, so I installed Firefox fresh and installed that userscript, and found nothing wrong.

When you encounter some issues with userscripts, try removing and reinstalling them, as well as clearing/resetting your Firefox addon, and see if the issue resolves by itself. Usually this solves 99% of them.


How to remove/delete files from my shared folder in Google drive? How can we remove or delete files from shared folder in Google Drive as I can't see any remove/delete option there. See the screenshot below:

Here I want to remove ymusic-latest.apk from my shared folder. How do we do that?

You should have the Remove options as shown on the first image below. If not (as is your case), then long-press on the file, a menu should appear as seen on the second image. You can then click on the trash/bin to delete the file.

I used version 2.19.392.02.35 of Google Drive.


SAMSUNG GALAXY S DUOS 2 (GT-S7582) turning on for 2 second only my SAMSUNG GALAXY S DUOS 2 (GT-S7582) turning on for 2 second only and then switch off again.
I already check with other charge battery but same problem occur.

I also try to root phone by holding VOLUME DOWN+HOME KEY+POWER KEY TOGETHER but same issue.

I'm not identify that is hardware issue or software issue.

Please advise me and give solution.

Thanks!

I found a solution - I just cleaned the battery node and it's working 100%

After removing the battery, on top you will find three battery charging points (nodes), take a pin or any screw driver (or similar) and scrape on the three points and then clean the surface.

Now insert the battery on mobile then switch ON.


Android Wear Offline use of Audible? Is there a way to sync Audible audiobooks to Android Wear for offline use in a similar manner to how I can sync Google Play music?  I would like to be able to listen to a book while out for a morning jog without toting my phone along.

I've asked Audible and they said their app is not available in Android Wear yet, but encouraged me to submit feedback requesting support for it. Which I did.


What will happen if I tap "Fix Now" in Device Maintenance? In Settings > Device Maintenance, Android says that I can tap Fix Now to improve my tablet's maintenance status.  What is Android actually going to do when I tap Fix Now?

I don't want to press it until I know what it is going to do.  I'm running Android 7.1.1 on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A (2017).

Details from app manual

  View the status of your device’s battery,
  storage, memory, and device security. You
  can also automatically optimize your device’s system resources

Further, it says optimise instead of fix

  Quick Optimization

  The quick optimization feature improves device
  performance through the following actions:

  • Identifying apps that use excessive battery power
  and clearing unneeded items from memory.

  • Deleting unnecessary files and closing apps running
  in the background.

  • Scanning for malware.


OpenVPN with Android 2.3.x - security concerns I need to use my Android 2.3.x phone to access an OpenVPN server. I have CM 7 with built in support for OpenVPN and tun. My main concern is that I don't know where to put the keys in. If my phone gets in the wrong hands, I'm leaving the keys out in the open and I can't have that.

If I had an ICS phone, I'd have full file system encryption and I'd be safe(r). So is there an alternative or some technique I'm not aware of that can store the certificates and the key securely on the phone?

If you maintain the OpenVPN server, you can generate keys that require a password to be used. The technique is described at http://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/howto.html#pki.

Scroll to the section titled Generate certificates & keys for 3 clients. You will want to use the build-key-pass script to generate a password-protected key. This will prevent your key from being used maliciously if your phone falls into the wrong hands, though I am not entirely sure if CM 7's OpenVPN implementation supports it.

If you don't have the ability to use build-key-pass to generate and register your own keys, then there is really no practical way to ensure the safety of your key without full-device encryption.


Files synced with BTSync not visible to all apps I have a brand new, rooted Moto G with stock Android 4.4.2.
Being new to Android, I was looking for a painless way to push music to my phone from various computers. I opted for using BTSync, pointing it to my phone's Music folder (that is /storage/emulated/0/Music).

Now, when I put stuff into a synced folder on my Macbook or my Linux laptop, it automatically gets synced to the phone's Music folder by BTSync. Works like a charm.

The issue is that certain apps on my phone do not 'see' these synced files.

For example, OI File Manager, AntTek Explorer and VLC see them and I can play back all the audio files with VLC.

But Play Music (from Google) or Pimp My Music just show me an empty playlist. Also, when I connect the phone via USB cable and use Android File Transfer on my Macbook, the Music folder is empty, even though the aforementioned file managers, VLC and BTSync show the files as existing and, as I said, VLC can even play them!

What's more, when I launch Play Music directly, e.g. from within OI File Manager, it will play back the resp. selected audio file too.

What am I missing here?

The missing piece of information is that Play Music (and most other music apps) don't go round looking for music files. It would be a waste of battery if every app had to scan the storage for files! Instead, there's one built-in app, the media-scanner, that looks for music files and makes a database of their metadata: that is, the app reads the ID3 tags from each file and stores the track name, artist, album and so on. Any app on the device can access this database to find music files. (It works the same way for videos and pictures.)

The app has to know to update this database, so when an app downloads new files, it has to tell this media scanner the new files are there. Obviously BTSync isn't doing this.

On older Android versions it used to be possible for an app to just tell the media scanner to scan everything. This was a useful workaround for when apps like BTSync didn't do their duty, but it also meant some lazy app authors did this instead of telling the media scanner what files to scan, wasting the battery. For this reason, it's not possible to do this on Android 4.4.

In the first instance, you should ask BTSync's author to tell the media scanner when it downloads a file. Then there won't be any problem at all. Until they fix their app, you should try one of the workarounds in this question.


Why the Galaxy has 25GB instead of 32GB I just purchased a Samsung Galaxy S3 32GB, when I check the storage I have only 25.5GB. Where is the other 6.5GB?

Usually this space is taken up by various things that come with the device, like resources for the OS, built-in apps, and just disk information. Even formatting an 8 GB SD card will only get you 7.49 GB. That same logic would leave you with 30 GB, the rest is most likely the OS, and various system resources.


Do favorite Dropbox photos automatically download to my Android? When I tried Dropbox on the iPad, whenever I Favorite a photo Dropbox will automatically download it and it will show up in the Photos app's gallery.

Is this the same behavior for Androids? I have a Galaxy S2 and I have Favorited a bunch of photos, but they do not show up in the Gallery. I can only view them by going to the Dropbox app. Is this correct?

Thank you.

UPDATE: I did a little experiment. I Favorited a picture out of the Sample album and sure enough it downloaded and showed up in Gallery. Then I powered off the phone, and turned it back on, and it is gone from the Gallery even if the file is still in /data/com.dropbox.blabla/files/andsoforth. Ideas?

It is the same. At least in my setup (HTC Desire S). The image I favorite end up in a gallery folder with the same name as the Dropbox folder they are in.

Edit: The gallery app might play a big role in this. On some systems they are known to take quite a while to update etc.


Is there a way to disable the automatic decrease in volume when I put an AUX cable/head phones in? Phone specs:

Phone: LG G3
Android Version: 6.0
Software Version: D85230e

Situation:

I use an AUX cable to listen to music from my phone in my car. The only way to get the volume to the appropriate level is to turn my phone volume up to the maximum then adjust the car volume accordingly. Unfortunately, I have to repeat this process every time because if the volume was at max the previous time I used the AUX cable I get the following warning:

Question:

Is there a way to disable this automatic decrease in volume so that when I plug the AUX cable in the volume will already be at the previous level (maximum)?

You can setup a macro on macrodroid that does exactly this (not quite sure how to disable that setting itself but maybe a dev option). When you install the app, add a macro with "Headphones Inserted as trigger and "Volume Change" as the action. Now it will automatically set the media volume to your choosing when you insert headphones.


How do I shut down or reboot my LG G6? I've been very happy with my G6 so far. It has one feature that's a bit odd - there's no power button, instead you double-tap the screen to wake it and double-tap it on the launcher desktop to put it to sleep.

How do I reboot the phone, if I need to? And how do I turn it off? It'd be nice to do that before removing the sim card (which is on the same drawer as the SD card.)

The fingerprint reader on the back is exactly the power button. Hold it down for 10 sec and your G6 will reboot.


Android device with 240x320 resolution and soft buttons We are designing an application, its bottom part currently gets cut by bottom bar with Android Navigation Buttons (back, home, recent) which are called "soft buttons" (because they are on screen).

I will add that this only happens with 240x320 screen resolutions.

We can reproduce this only on Android emulator which lets us choose resolutions and soft/hard buttons.

After a small research I doubt that this combination is possible in reality (240x320 device with "soft buttons"), even for old rooted phones? right?

Thanks

I'm pretty sure there's no phone with that resolution and on-screen buttons. It should be theoretically possible, but no one in their right mind would do that.


Can't update the Walmart app on ONN tablet I have an ONN tablet that was sold by Walmart.  It comes with the Walmart app built in.  But whenever I try to run the Walmart app, it says I need to install an updated version.  But when I try to install the update,  it tells me that the new version is not suitable for my device.
As I understand it,  ONN is the house brand for Walmart.  So I would expect any updates to the Walmart app to be supported on any ONN tablet.
I've tried getting support from Walmart via their website,  but no luck.  Can anyone suggest a workaround?

I had the same problem with my 10.1" ONN tablet.I couldn't even access the Walmart web sight through chrome because it will revert you back to the app. So what I did was go into settings/apps/Wamart. Then disable the Walmart app. On my tablet this eliminated the app symbol on my home page. Now I accessed the Walmart websight homepage through Chrome, bookmarked it and put it on my tablet hompage. Works great.


Phone stops using 3G when Wifi hotspot nearby I have a HTC Desire with the latest legit firmware.  I have Wifi and 3G enabled, and it's usually fine; at home it connects to my (WPA2 protected) router, and when I go outside it switches to 3G.  But sometimes, as I pass other Wifi hotspots it stops using 3G so I lose data.  I've disabled the 'tell me about open wifi' option. I'm not sure if these Wifi hotspots are open or encrypted but really I'd like to only use Wifi routers I've entered the details of (such as my own).  Is this possible?

If you didn't explicitly configure your device to automatically use "open" and unprotected networks, it will only connect to those you explicitly tell it to -- so you needn't worry about this.

As for your "3g turning off" issue: That's very strange. Something in your device still seems to think that, as soon as some Wifi is near, you're going to use that. Probably you can avoid this by turning Wifi off. You needn't do that manually everytime (you might forget, and you might be annoyed when it's not on when you need it) -- but rather let Smart WiFi manage this for you. This app remembers Wifi networks you connected to. When you get disconnected, it will switch Wifi off. As soon as it detects you get close to it (it remembered the cell towers near, so this is it detects the area where you've been connected to some Wifi), it switches Wifi back on.

It just could get weird with "mobile Hotspots", if you connect to another Android device's Hotspot functionality in the middle of a desert, it would always turn Wifi on at that place, even if nothing's around. Oh, well: No cell towers close? So this won't happen :)


Xperia SP looks like it's charging, but it doesn't charge My phone is Xperia SP, it's on CM 12.1, unofficial build (because the official one is buggy due to bad kernel). It has been bought second-hand, so I'm not sure about its history (the phone was in a good state).

So, the problems started gradually, but the symptom is this: when I connect the phone to the charger, the phone goes into it's charging state, the battery icon shows the charging symbol, the LED shines red, but the phone doesn't actually charge, and the battery percent actually actually descends. I would usually just detach the phone, and reconnect it, and it would actually start charging. However, this happened more often as the time passed, to the point where it is completely empty, and it cannot be turned turned on, or charged. When I connect it, the LED goes red (the usual charging behaviour), but then it goes into booting the system, instead of going into "offline charging" mode. It fails to boot the system, because the battery is empty. It then turns off, returns to the red LED state, and from time to time it boots into recovery, which is quite unusual, since by default one has to press volume buttons to enter recovery. While in recovery, usually it would display the battery percentage, but now the place which should show the battery percent is empty.

Are these the symptoms of an faulty battery, or a more severe issue? Did anyone experience anything similar?

I had a similar problem a few years ago with my old HTC EVO 3D which was also running cyanogenmod at this time. I tried flashing different roms and kernels but the problem was persistent. Because my battery was empty as yours is at the moment, I charged it by cutting a USB Cable and applying "+" and "-" to the battery directly. It looked really bad to be honest but it worked and I was able to go back to stock. But that didn't help. The point is - I could make sure that the battery is not defective because I was able to charge it. In the end the problem was the usb port of my phone which had to be replaced. It worked but to make sure my phone does not turn into a torch I also replaced the battery.

What you describe could be the usb charging port - there might be a faulty contact which prevents the battery from charging but this is just guessing. Bottomline: Try to charge your phone by a usb cable (please be very careful while doing this) or visit a service center.


What is the difference between formatting sd card via pc and phone? Almost every question about problem with sd card have answer "format sd card by your phone". So what is the difference when I format sd card by PC or by phone? (file system is fat32)

None really.

I suppose the biggest reason why people make such recommendation is because an end user could easily end up formatting the card with an incompatible filesystem, like NTFS.

This in turn will cause further confusion to the user and additional forum posts.

It is safer to just ask them to format the card using the phone's interface.


Can I turn my Android device into a webcam? If so, how? Could it be implemented via a USB, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection?

IP Webcam (Turns your phone into a network camera with multiple viewing options.)

(alternate direct link)

EDIT: fixed link


How to set custom dialer as default on Nexus 5? I have a Nexus 5 with root permissions. Google Dialer annoys me. I installed ExDialer & Contacts. How to set this Dialer as my default dialer?

I will welcome any advice.

This isn't hard.First,you need to disable phone by defaults.go to "manage app",select phone...clear defaults.then go to the menu,remove the phone icon and replace with the exdialer...then i think it should be easy from there on....any where you get a prompt select the exdialer


Access data on an unencrypted SD card Having recently gotten a drone with a camera, I find myself wanting to drop the SD card into my device to grab / share some raw photos / images, intended of just screen shots. The problem that I am having is that my android device is encrypted, and is asking to encrypt my drone's as card every time it is inserted.

On insert - I am prompted with the message ( would you like to encrypt this device ) to which I answer NO, the next toast message is SD card unmounted.

Every time I click mount, I am again prompted to encrypt the card, and if I click no it is automatically unmounted.

  The card is a standard FAT32 format - how can I mount the card and view my footage without reformatting / encrypting the card?

I am running an LG G4 (VS986) running Android 6.0.

You could try connecting the sd card through a usb card reader and otg cable, but I'm not sure an encrypted android install will mount an unencrypted sd card. It introduces vulnerabilities which kinda defeats the purpose of encrypting your device to begin with.


Galaxy s2 4.4 totaly stock rom? I am looking for 4.4.x rom for my galaxy s2. I have installed beanstalk 4.4.2 rom, but what I don't like about it is that it is very "custom". I am looking for rom, similar to super nexus - absolutely stock google android experience. Can anyone recommend something? Thanks!

Did you take a look at CyanogenMod? It is not absolutely stock Google Android experience but absolutely stock AOSP (Android Open Source Project) experience. It means that all Google proprietary additions are not included (for legal reasons), but you can install them easily using a package called gApps. In the end you have something very close to a Nexus experience plus very little additions that are all useful.


Reasoning behind built in songs made by the android device manufacturer I noticed my Huawei device comes with a built in song called "Dream It Possible".

Quick search revealed the song was made by the company itself. Didn't  look into it, but pretty sure other companies did and do the same.

What is the reasoning behind this? The song isn't an advertisement to the company. What benefit does it give them?

"Dream It Possible" is the official Huawei Consumer Brand Song.

Therefore it can be considered as Huawei advertisement even if the song itself is not directly related to Huawei.


How to install stock android on Huawei P9? As you may know, Huawei ships its devices with their very own Emotion UI. I recently received such a device and was shocked someone willingly destroyed such a great phone with such a bad UI. It especially hurt, since I was coming from a Nexus device.

Due how extensive the problems are, there is no remedy other than installing stock android. But, is it a working remedy? Am I able to find stock android installation, which supports fingerprints and double back camera?

willingly destroyed such a great phone with such a bad UI. It
  especially hurt, since I was coming from a Nexus device.

  Due to the above, there is no remedy other than installing stock
  android. But, is it a working remedy? Am I able to find stock android
  installation, which supports fingerprints and double back camera?

Your best hope is that some one creates a AOSP-ROM for your device. But looking in http://forum.xda-developers.com/p9 forums there is none. Since you say you came from nexus device I can only hope next time you make some  searches in XDA or get.cm where you can find most popular devices. For the moment P9 has some ROMs in xda but not as clean as AOSP.


Android Studio doesn't detect my LG G Stylo Thanks to help from this group, I was able to turn on USB debugging on my LG G Stylo phone. Now When I plug it in, Windows 8 detects it. Thing pops up asking me to choose what happens when the phone is plugged in, but it does not appear in the choose device dialog. It is empty, the device is not there.

I checked the device manager, and under portable devices it has it listed with the driver working OK, saying it came from Microsoft.

Check out a site like. This [http://androidxda.com/download-lg-usb-drivers] and find a usb driver for your phone then install and try again. Because windows default drivers arent for debugging if I recall correctly


Get to data without touch access The screen of my Nexus 4 has a crack and touch is not working anymore. I'd like to get to some of my data using adb, but can't authorize it because I can't click/touch the authorization dialog.

Is there a way to authorize adb without touch access?

Is there another way to get to the data? It's a rooted phone and can boot into ClockworkMod Recovery

You have luck that you have a rooted phone with CWM!

You can enable USB-OTG by applying this patch to your phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/orig-development/usb-otg-externally-powered-usb-otg-t2181820

Then you can plug a mouse and/or a keyboard and control your phone with it.


How to secure phone for repair shop? I've been an android user for many years and so far I've been lucky enough not to need to have a phone repaired by a shop, so I'd never considered this problem until recently. I had to give my Galaxy S8 to a shop for repair. Since it's running Android 9.0 I thought I could use guest mode to keep my info private, but it turns out Samsung disables multiple accounts on the Galaxy. (WHY?!)

This is like handing the keys to the castle to a complete stranger. Having my phone with the lock screen unprotected is as good as having full access to my email accounts, my Google Drive repository, my social media accounts, and another dozen other apps with private data. Disabling them all and then reenabling them later would take almost as much time as just doing a factory reset and restore later.

Is there a reasonably simple way to give my phone to a repair person and have my data remain secure?

Doing a factory reset and full storage clean is the way to go here. Service will not fiddle with kiosk apps or the like. To my experience, they wipe your device anyway – so make a good backup and wipe it yourself.

Don't forget (to backup and wipe) your internal SD card – and simply keep the external with you.

For details on how to achieve that, please see: How to make a complete factory reset, without anyone being able to retrieve my data – asks for a different reason (selling a device), but with the same goal (protecting (or rather completely wiping) your personal data which resides on the device). And while the answer there gives detailed background, here come some points for the doing:

backup whatever you need (and can be backed up)
if you've got an external SD card, simply take it out and keep it. What they don't have they cannot look at.
as you want all data on internal storage gone, just wipe that completely. Easiest way for that probably is:

remove any Google Account you might have configured, to avoid tripping FRP
perform a factory reset, then
turn on full device encryption. Let it encrypt the entire device.
optionally, copy some files to it
perform another factory-reset, turning device encryption off

By toggling device encryption on and off again, the entire storage should be overwritten (without you requiring root permissions to do so explicitly). This makes data recovery very hard – actually, nearly impossible; though Forensics might have their ways, that would be far too expensive for someone simply curious unless that someone knows there's something of value to be found.

PS: All that of course assumes you are still able to perform those steps. If e.g. the device no longer turns on at all, chances are rather low to achieve any of those details.


Why doesn't my Evo bring up the Hacker's Keyboard? I have an HTC Evo, which is still on Froyo. I've installed Swype and Graffiti, and while I mostly use Graffiti (I used to rock a Palm III), I switch as I need.

I heard of the Hacker's Keyboard on the Android Market and I jumped at it. I have ConnectBot on my phone and I sometimes use it to get a command line on both my home and work machine, and it seems like the right thing. But it isn't showing up as one of my choices. Just Swype, Touch Input and Graffiti.

I see "Gingerbread" in the description. Sprint hasn't pushed out Gingerbread yet. Is that the problem?

Newly installed third-party keyboards need to be enabled in your settings before they become selectable. Make sure you have it checked under Settings->Language & Keyboard after installing.


Bluetooth Tethering on Galaxy S4 I have a galaxy s4 and a tethering data plan and I can tether via wifi (Settings| Connections tab| More Networks| Tethering and portable hotspot| Mobile hotspot). I don't see any options for bluetooth tethering. Do I need a special app for bluetooth tethering?

Before and after turning on Mobile Hotspot (click images for larger variant)

Bluetooth tethering is a native function supported by Android. You do not need third party apps.

To tether your internet via bluetooth on your Galaxy S4:
Go to home Settings ► Connections ► More networks ► Tethering and portable hotspot ► and check Bluetooth tethering.

As explained in this answer, you can tether two mobile devices easily by pairing the devices and enabling data on the first device.


Is it possible to install the unofficial Froyo on a Samsung I5800XXJG3 android phone? I know the official Froyo has not been released, but I see here that you can Install it on samsung phones: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-lite/251507-update-android-2-1-eclair-2-2-froyo-your-samsung-gt-i5800.html
But there it mentions

I5800XXJPF
I5800XXJPB

but does not mention
I5800XXJP3

so is it possible, if so, how?

I can confirm that It is possible with the I5800XXJPF update with the 4 (out of 5) separate files and the Odin multi downloader tool.

here are the instructions of how to update 2.1 Eclair to 2.2 Froyo.


Why I am getting a strange DNS server in my dhcp client android phone? Sorry for bad english.
I have a DHCP server router with IP 192.168.0.254
Everything goes well, but my phone and my tablet gets a very strange DNS 1 server: 80980492081

Here is a screenshot:

This is very strange and is getting me mad. I don't know where that strange DNS 1 server comes from. My DHCP server settings are right.

My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5

Does anybody know what is happening?

Thank you.

An IPv4 address is a 32bit number. The common way to print an IPv4 address is to split it into 4 8bit blocks and separate them with a dot.

However an IPv4 address is also valid in it's decimal/integer representation. This decimal representation is used for your DNS IP address: 80980492081.

Converting the number in the common IPv4 address format ends up with the IP address: 218.208.63.49.

https://www.vultr.com/resources/ipv4-converter/?ip_address=80980492081


How to manually replace ones RIL Is it possible to manually replace the RIL on a Samsung Galaxy S2?

I had previously flashed my device with CyanogenMod but lost my stock RIL due to careless use of the GetRIL app, so currently have no carrier network.

I have the details for the RIL (md5sum 163ecafa01912637fe344ec1f8264d70 for baseband I9100XXKE7) but it is not in the GetRIL database so I can't get it back.

I was wondering if it is possible to get the RIL that comes with CyanogenMod and install that on my phone to avoid having to reflash it.

See my related question: Samsung Galaxy S2 drops carrier network

This question depends on the firmware you've got installed.  If you've got CyanogenMod installed, then you should also have ClockWorkMod (CWM) installed, which is a utility for flashing your phone, among other things.

First you'll need to download the RIL to your phone as a zip file.  They should come packaged this way.  Save it to an sdcard, preferably in the root directory for easy access.

This page lists the different ways to access CWM depending on your phone model.  For the SGS2, turn the device off, then hold Vol+, Home and Power buttons until the screen flashes, then release them and wait for CWM to display.  From there, use the volume buttons to scroll and the power button to select, as touchscreen is disabled.

Select "install zip from sdcard", then navigate to the zip file and select it.  (Protip:  scroll up to skip the huge list of folders)  Wait for the installation to finish, then select "reboot system now" and you're done.  Enjoy your new RIL.


Is there an empty/clean version of Android for tablets? All I want is a tablet that only runs one application (developed by me) on startup.
Is there a "clean" version of Android that I can use for this? By clean or empty I mean an OS without all the unwanted features.

Basically, my app needs to connect to the Internet, access the camera within my app, and send and receive data from sensors and other external devices.

You can install Cyanogenmod or any number of custom roms, but it sounds like you'll need to develop a specific rom for your situation.

If you only want the user to run a single app, I would imagine you'd have to develop an app that declares itself as a Home Screen/Launcher, and have your ROM only include that app as the main Launcher.

This is basically how Barnes & Noble made the Nook Simple Touch. Their own Launcher is very limited and doesn't let you install apps or see anything that looks like Android. As soon as you get root via an exploit, you can easily install your own launcher that gives you access to the standard android interface and turns the Nook Simple Touch into a fully fledged (if limited) tablet.

A specific implementation is outside the focus of this stackexchange site, but you can get programming advice at stackoverflow.com


Why can't Android Media Storage detect my new Ringtone file? I have had this problem on both the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 (of all phones).

I have a file, it is the same ringtone file I use on all my phones, it is an edited mp3 of a song I like.

I put this file in the "Ringtones" folder of my device.

When I go to change my ringtone, my new file is not available as a selection in the Android settings.

Rebooting the device does not cause the new file to be detected.

What I end up doing EVERY SINGLE TIME I have to add this ringtone file (I wipe my device occasionally) is finding the "Media Storage" app on my device and clearing its memory. At this point the phone thinks there are no ringtones, but then once I reboot, all the old ringtones are there along with my ringtone which has been in the same location the ENTIRE TIME.

So I have a workaround, but can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?! This is driving me nuts! Is anyone else seeing this problem?

I have to be missing something simple because all the internet forums I am reading are all straightforward "just put the file in the ringtones folder and it works like magic" which is very frustrating.

EDIT: Some additional info, I have had the file there for a couple days now, just to see if that makes a difference. Rebooted the device over a dozen times in the last couple days. The file still is not available as an option.

EDIT 2: See comments below. Seems to be something to do with how I am placing the file there, but still strange that media scan does not pick it up on reboot. Anyone know anything about media scanning? Maybe it is optimized on boot to skip folders like the Ringtone folders since those shouldn't change frequently...?

What solved it for me - I had a hyphen - in my OGG filename, changing it to an underscore and restarting the phone (Nexus 5 KitKat) made it show up


How to prevent the OTA Jellybean update on Droid RAZR Maxx I have a Motorola Razr Maxx with ICS (4.0.2) on it.  It went and downloaded the JellyBean upgrade, which I do not want to happen.  Each hour the phone prompts me to upgrade.  How can I keep this from happening?  Can I delete the new files for JB and stop the hourly message?  Thanks in advance.

(1) If you have root, you can use Titianium Backup, and uninstall "Device Management 3.0" (or some other version).

(2) OR, [also needs root], remove dmclient.apk, dmclient.odex, cmclient.apk, cmclient.odex from /system/app. Back-up these files first, in case you want to update in the future; you will need these.


Do I have to root Samsung Galaxy S4 Verizon before I install CyanogenMod 11? Device: GS4 NC5 SCH-1545 Verizon
Android: 4.4.2

I don't want the all the stock apps that you can't delete normally.

Yes, because you need to have root in order to install a recovery; which you will, in turn, use to flash CyanogenMod.


AndrOpen Office opens SD documents in read-only on Lenovo A7600-F I've got a fairly new Lenovo A7600-F, which has updated to Android 5 since I purchased it.  I'm also fairly new to Android, having gotten my first device (Galaxy S4) five months ago.  I wouldn't call myself a power user.

Because I write on my tablet, and on my home computer (Kubuntu 14.04.2 LTS, kept up to date), I searched for a method to directly edit the ODT files from LibreOffice on the tablet, and found AndrOpen Office.  Aside from font availability limitations, this has been working pretty well, except for one thing: when I connect the tablet to my computer, I can only access files on the SD card, and then only write to a single folder (LOST.DIR), and files stored there open in AndrOpen Office Writer as read-only, even after formatting the SD card in the tablet.  I've tried moving the AndrOpen Office app to SD storage, and that failed, but Android gave no indication (that I've seen) why.  Opening a document from internal storage and using "Save As" to put it on the SD card also fails; though I didn't note the exact error message, it said something about "nonexistent object" and "nonexistent file".

I'm able to install other apps directly to SD card when I've selected the SD card as primary write location via Settings.  I'm able to copy files to and from the SD card using the File Browser that came pre-installed on the tablet (I'm not sure if this is part of Android or something Lenovo installed; my phone is a Verizon device, and they modify the OS a good bit, making it uncertain to compare built-in apps between phone and tablet).  This makes me confident the SD card isn't mounted in read-only mode.

How can I save documents from AndrOpen Office directly to the SD card, or open documents from the SD card in editable form (i.e. to save back to the original file)?

Go to 'Other cloud storage' and your external sd card will be listed there, somewhere on the bottom left. Navigate to the document and you will be able to open ït in read/write mode.


Android: Change Samsung Galaxy Ace default message type to text (160 charactors ) My Samsung Galaxy Ace default message is multimedia type messages (70 characters) and is costing me a fortune, over 10p a text (UK).  How do I change this to normal text (160 characters) which my phone company gives me 200 free text making it cheaper for me?

AFAIK the stock Messages app always sends a SMS unless you've added an attachment (picture, video, audio), or if you are typing a very long message (the latter depending on your settings). If there is an attachment the message will show the number of used KB instead of the number of remaining characters.

That being said, you should check if the message centre number in your SMS settings is correct. To check start the Messages app, click Menu > Setting, scroll down to the SMS Settings section.

Also on the same screen there is a setting that may convert long text messages automatically to MMS, so you might want to turn that off.


Launcher with long middle dock button One thing I miss about HTC Sense is that their launcher button had an elongated middle button for the dialer. Is there a launcher or dock that replicates this kind of UI?

(I'm using CM 7.1 RC1 on an HTC Desire.)

CyanogenMod uses ADWLauncher by default, so one option would be to simply use a Sense theme for ADW.


Missing voice input button on the standard keyboard - Lollipop Posting and answering this to help others experiencing the same issue as me. This was also asked here.

If only one keyboard is enabled, i.e. Google Keyboard - English (US), the keyboard shown whenever text input is needed sometimes does not have a microphone icon (or any option to select voice typing).

Some things that may not show:

Microphone icon (in older Android versions, this was beside the space bar on the on-screen keyboard)
Pressing and holding space bar does not trigger the input selection screen (that normally would have featured voice typing as an option).

Please refer to my own answer below
https://android.stackexchange.com/a/104896/198

Try installing the Google application from the Play Store.

I disabled the Google App on my phone and the voice commands were gone from the keyboard. When I re-enabled it, the microphone icon was back. Hope that helps.


K-9 Mail - Pushing mail only when interacting with app needed With K-9 Mail, could you please advise if it is possible to have these mail fetching settings:

1) Polling every hour, both when interacting with the app and when running in the background.

but also:

2) Pushing all folders only when interacting with the app, but not when the app is just running in the background.

The reason for this is that I like push to update folders promptly when interacting with the app, but don't want to have unnecessary push connections open in the background.  However, I still like to poll in the background to be notified of new messages periodically.

I am using a Gmail IMAP account on a tablet running Android 5.0.1.

I have read through the documentation and been through the settings but would just like clarification on the above points.

No it's not.

It is not possible to configure the push service to only run while the app is open.


Tethering internet over wifi Consider if am using WiFi hotspot(authenticated with password) for internet in my mobile.Is it possible to tether that connection to another device via any wifi,usb or blutooth?

Let me be clear for example:

  I have a wifi modem through which i can access internet in my
  phone,now my question is now whether i can tether my mobile wifi / usb /
  bluetooth so that i can provide connection to another mob.(here
  internet source is wifi modem)

Is there a option ?also whenever i enable wifi portability,the current connection gets disconnected

Yes, you can share your phone's WiFi connection which is connected via any wifi source to more phones, tablets and computers using Bluetooth so other devices can access internet. Here's how to share your Android phone's WiFi connection over Bluetooth.

Here is a clear explanation to share your wifi over Bluetooth.

http://www.androidpit.com/share-wifi-over-bluetooth


Installing Nexus Images on other devices I am absolutely noob in Android hacking, though I am quite good in doing techie stuff.

Now I have got my first mobile Karbonn A5+. It has 1GHz processor and 431 MB ROM+RAM. It runs Gingerbread. As usual it doesnt get updates.

I really want to taste JellyBean on it. So while googling for the same, I found this thread. It instructs to install clean nexus images from here. Can I able to install the same on my mobile following the same instructions?

You can only use images specifically made for your own device. Unlike common Linux Live CD images, Android images usually comes only with the drivers for the particular device it was intended for to save space. It's highly unlikely you'll be able to run an image designed for another device well, unless the hardware on the device is extremely similar to the original device.

Many modders compiles from source code and spends a lot of time figuring out the compilation flags that excludes the drivers they don't need while making sure it includes the ones they need, and tweaking the settings to optimize it for the device; this may be difficult on some device if the manufacturers don't release all their source code or if they didn't publish the settings they used in their own images. Some modders swaps compiled modules from another device with similar hardware into a base image that is known to work on their device; this is essentially trial and error though because there's no guarantee it will work at all. In some extreme cases, there has been times where modders felt that the manufacturer has done an extremely poor job on certain driver and rewrite the entire driver from scratch.

In any of these methods, you need to be very familiar with both kernel and the hardware on the device. It's generally easier if the manufacturer released vanilla images and/or their compilation settings.

Unlike the compiled binaries, APKs are generally interchangeable though, because they are compiled in Dalvik instead of ARM. Often it's possible to get a sneak peak of later device's feature by side loading the right APKs. This is why it's often possible to install newer launchers and keyboards on previous versions of Android.


Is it possible to update HTC desire to 2.2 with unrooted? I bought a new HTC Desire (will arrive in a few days).
The phone is not branded (or unbranded) will arrive with version 2.1, and I want to update to 2.2.

After a lot of reading I realized I need to create a goldcard. So I bought a 2GB microSD card and I will create the goldcard when the phone arrives.

I also read about rooting the phone, which means (from what I understood) to flash the phone's ROM.

What I want to know is do I have to root the phone in order to update to 2.2 ???

Thanks a lot !!!

HTC provide OTA-update to 2.2 for HTC Desire. You don't need any special (root or goldcard) to update your phone. Just connect your phone to Wi-Fi or 3G


Will my geographical positions be tracked and stored in the google location history when my internet connection is temporarily interrupted? I'm about to travel to a region where I will not have Internet connection.
I'm going to activate the location services during this time.(switch GPS on and allow position tracking). Will my GPS positions be recorded and my Google location history updated as soon as I reconnect to the Internet, or do I need a location Logger app?
If I need a separate app, is it possible to add the recorded tracks to the Google location history later?

So, after my vacation I know for certain that it is possible to record the positions without an open internet connection.
As soon as an app requests a position (in my case an offline map app)  this position will be stored (cached) by the location services from google.
The positions will be transferred to google as soon as an connection has been established.
I have no details about the number of positions that will be handled this way.


Set Chrome to use desktop version of website How can you get Chrome to always use the desktop version of websites?  I am on a Jelly Bean tablet and I can't see any reason to use the mobile versions at all.

You could try adding a chrome-command-line file which causes chrome to load sites in desktop mode by default. The only way to stop this however, is to remove the file.
See here

Or you could install the Chrome UA Switcher app although this requires root access so may not be suitable if you're not rooted.