How do I see current average battery statistics on Android 5.1.1 & Nexus 5 I want to see what my current, calculated standby and daily battery life statistics are before Android M is available on my device, so I can see if I've actually an improvement.

Is it possible for me to see such stats on the phone itself?

The simplest method of doing this would be to install GSam Battery Monitor. It gives a clear representation of what functions are draining the battery very precisely and does not "package" battery consumers as the stock monitor does. (Packaging being taking separate processes and representing them as a single entity in it's consumption.

Google play services is one of the big offenders of this. Stock will usually give a 15x larger burden to GP services when in fact battery drain may just be pinned on it from the kernel or system.

Here's a nice snapshot comparison.

Stock:

(Click image to enlarge)

Standby is not even listed as an entity on GSam, but is instead delegated to each offending process.

(Both screenshots are taken at 80% charge. Be aware that GSam just scales the used amount to 100% while the stock does not.)

GSam Battery Monitor (Google Play Store):

Personally, the stock monitor seems to be a bit buggy and unreliable anyway. 1% for screen? Really?


Is there anyway to upgrade to jelly bean while internal memory and resetting I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with ICS. I want to upgrade my phone to Jelly Bean OS, but I don't have a good enough WiFi connection or enough knowledge, so I want to take the phone to a phone repair center to be upgraded. I have lot of sensitive files on it. I cant remember where some of them were in My phone. Is it possible to upgrade it to Jelly Bean while factory resetting the Phone, because the repair people should not have access to internal files ?. I can do this in my old phone by completely removing everything but I don't know about Android phones.

If you ever give your phone to a repair person or a rep at a carrier store you should assume your data can and will be looked at.  Unfortunately, I saw this all the time while working for Verizon.  We had reps that couldn't wait to get their hands on a phone and start looking through pictures and other private files of customers.  I've actually seen reps save customers pictures to their own device!  It's one of the many, many reasons I quit.  Bottom line: Anything on your phone can potentially be accessed and seen.


Google+ not signing in in Clash of Clans I have tried to install the last update of Clash of Clans, it always failed, so I uninstalled it and installed it again. Succeeded.

Now I have to login to my village, I used Google+ before, so after I started the game it loaded then there's little G+ Sign in button, I tapped it, it loaded and then there was a blue button to sign in, I tapped it and it loaded for a while and then restarted the game

Now whenever I click sign in it shows that loading icon and then nothing happens, the game continues to show the tutorial

I have tried to clear Google Services Framework/Play Services/Play all with no luck

I have also tried to clear Clash of clans data without luck too

I have tried to continue the tutorial and creating new village and then signing in but meh

I am now very frustrated I want to restore my kingdom in Clash of Clans

Pleaee help.

Well the problem was a bit weird

Actually the problem was that there was a newer version of the game, they difference was in the minor release number

Neither Google Play or the game itself prompted me for the update, I downloaded the APK fro. third-party websites and sideloaded it and now it works pretty good

Also if you're are in the one of the blocked countries by Google, try some VPN app


What is Motorola Camera app's Photo naming convention? The Images are saved as IMG_yyyyMMdd_kkmmssSSS.jpg

Here, the yyyyMMdd part in filenames matches the first half of the photo's EXIFDate/Time data.

Can anyone please help me out with figuring out the rest of the file name and how can I extract this from the photo's EXIF data?

The format follows the pattern used in DateFormat class from Java/Android. It's:

IMG: constant prefix for Images
yyyyMMdd: date

years (4-digit)
months (2-digit)
days (2-digit)

kkmmssSSS: time

hours (2-digit in 24-hour format, from 1-24)
minutes (2-digit)
seconds (2-digit)
milliseconds (3-digit)


Root or upgrade to 4.4.2 first? I've just received a new Android phone (an LG G2 D802 32GB). I haven't put my sim card in, or signed into Google yet. I know there is an OTA to upgrade it from 4.2.2 to 4.4.2.

Should I root the phone and then start setting it up, or is it best to carry out the OTA first?

You can do either way.

The safe method is to update and then root the phone.

But You can also root and then install the ota update. But ota will fail if you have

custom recovery
modified any part of the system like removed bloat, xposed, etc

Still there is  a post in XDA to update ota with custom twrp recovery.


Spontaneously deleting e-mails from Galaxy III I've had a new galaxy S3 (from Verizon) that spontaneously deletes the contents of my e-mail (Comcast) without my input at random times during the day.  Exchanged for another phone - same issue.  Does not affect my gmail or Yahoo accounts.  Verified by Comcast that POP3 is necessary.  My Droid X nor HTC Incredible nor HTC Incredible 2 never did this.

Ideas?  Maybe the S3 isn't so good after all.  Samsung tech support ( 4 calls) don't seem to care.  Verizon Tech support is stumped.

POP is primarily a client-based protocol, meaning that the default behavior is for each client (your phone in this case, perhaps Outlook on a PC at home) to download messages from the server. This means that the first client that connects to your account with take all email messages it sees. Then, subsequent checks by other clients won't be able to find anything on the server because all those new messages are now stored only in the first client. POP clients can be configured to "leave a copy of messages on the server," which is highly recommended if you want to use POP on multiple clients/devices.

This sounds like you've got one or more clients connecting to your account that aren't set to "leave a copy of messages on the server," which means they're stealing messages out from under your phone. From your phone, this would look like they're disappearing. The easiest way to test this is to change your email account's password, then only put that updated password in your account on your phone. If the mail stops "deleting" then you can use a process of elimination to identify the culprit client.


Cache more tabs to preserve the content when there's no internet connection in Firefox for Android I've installed Firefox on my Android smartphone. I want to store many opened tabs, but Firefox stores a little number of tabs.

Looks like Firefox only stores a few tabs (about 5 of 25 total), so when I navigate to another tab, Firefox will use the internet connection to load it again. Thus, when there's no internet connection, I will get a connection error page instead. (btw, Opera Mini easily stores about 50 tabs opened)

I've tried to work with about:config settings like browser.cache.disk.capacity and browser.cache.check_doc_frequency but with no success.

I think the problem is with browser.cache.disk.capacity, but:

it's difficult to click too many times (current value is 30720, but I need 100000)
the browser sets browser.cache.disk.capacity back to the default value after some time

What do I need to do to avoid annoying reloads of the page?

According to a blog article by Geoff Brown, the developer of Firefox for Android, looks like you need to disable "smart sizing" feature in Firefox because it sets the cache size dynamically.

I'm now using version 37 and I still don't see any progress in functionality though.


Android smartphone battery suddenly drained twice as fast than usual I own an Android smartphone that I'm very little using (even to phone!), so since I got it (about one year) I use to be notified for charging it only once every other day.
(the only notable service permanently active is probably the wi-fi scanning)

But suddenly, four days ago, I was notified of low level battery about 24 hours after its previous complete charge.  The next day I was notified after only 23 hours... and today after only 19 hours!

I'm pretty surprised, not only because this happens suddenly, without having changed anything in my way of using it, but also because looking at the Settings > Battery usage I find something like this:

Screen: 15%
Android system: 13%
Android OS: 7%
Idle phone: 3%

...and nothing else, so the total is only 38%!
I'm pretty surprised because in my mind, depending on how to understand the list meaning:

If the list presents the consumed parts compared to the whole battery power the total should be equal to 100% - the reported battery state; in the current example, battery state was 13% so the total should be 87%
Or the total should merely be 100% if the list presents the part of each component compared to the current consumption.

So here are two indissociable questions:

What might be the cause of the sudden increase of consumption?
What is the correct interpretation of the battery usage information?

If it'd be helpful: my smartphone is an Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3.
It was recently updated from Lollipop to Marsmallow (6.0.1), but this happened about 2 months before I suddenly face the issue related above.

Next day, seems that all works fine again, apparently due to one of these two simple actions (but I don't know which one, or both, are the real remedy!):

Just after the most recent charge I temporarily (see below) turned the device into Economy mode (using Settings > Battery | Top right menu > Economy mode).
Having looked at several related questions here in AE, I wanted to try clearing the system cache, but inadvertently missed the double press power+volume so I ended merely turning the device off then on, instead of processing clear cache; then I gave up for the moment.

The unexpected (but fortunate!) result was that the battery level remained > 90% during the next 12 hours, so I decided to deactivate the Economy mode and wait to see what happens.

Now, about 24 hours later, the battery level is still 62%, and the chart shows a prevision of 4 days availability before to be empty: four times better than when I noticed the issue, and even twice better than it used before the issue appears!

EDIT: 10 days later, I can confirm that the improvement is real and persists. But there is more.

A very interesting (although unexplained!) point is that not only the battery stopped emptying in less than a day, but now it takes about 4-5 days before reaching 10%: in other words now the battery life cycle is more than 2x better than ever since I got the device!


How to reboot a frozen Android device? When an Android device locks up, and does not respond to holding down the power button, is there anything you can do to reboot the device besides removing the battery?

What do you do if the battery is not removable?

Although it does not always work, Windows has the three finger salute (Ctrl+Alt+Delete) which helps get around this situation.  Is there anything similar in Android?

I did find this question, but it does not refer to a device that is frozen.

Different Android devices may have different force-reboot methods, so you should refer to your device’s documentation. To reboot frozen device you should usually press and hold the Power button + Volume Down button (or Volume Up button - it depends on device) for at least 7~10 seconds and stop holding those buttons once it’s started the reboot process. You could try to press and hold just the Power button itself for at least 30~45 seconds.


Paid app accidentally deleted and now can't re-download: says I "already own" the app I paid for and downloaded an app from the Play Store. Afterwards, I accidentally deleted this app with Titanium Backup instead of a different app that I intended to delete instead.

Now, when I go to Play Store, it shows the deleted app as installable, and I try to install it again. It prompts me for payment info, which I enter, even though I paid for it once before (I don't mind paying twice, if I have to). But then, Google rejects my installation attempt and says that I "already own" the app.

I'm stuck, because now I can't re-download or re-install the app. How can I tell Google that I want them to either (1) accept my second payment and let me install the app again, or (2) make the APK available to me again because I already paid for it?

To be clear, I am quite willing to make a second payment. This is not about the money. I just want to re-install the app that I accidentally deleted.

Well, I figured it out ...

Go to https://play.google.com/apps
Log in with the same credentials that are used on my device
A list of all my installed apps is shown. Find the deleted app and click on its icon
An "Installed" button shows up. Click on that button
A window pops up with an "Install" and "Cancel" button. Click on the "Install" button.

This caused my device to start downloading and installing the app. Now it has been successfully re-installed.

Problem solved!

PS: It would be nice if Google allowed us to perform this same function from the Play Store app on our devices, so we don't have to go to a browser and access https://play.google.com/apps.


How can I access veryfit app database on my device? I have installed VeryFit2.0 app on my mobile.I want to see previous days heart beat data but there is no option.Is there are way by which I can get in to the database of the app as I know its an offline app ?

Responding about the database location:  The database on the sd card looks like a backup of sorts.  The real database is found in the system : System/data/data/com.veryfit/multi
I found it using android studio.  However if your phone is not rooted you can't access the directory.  But if you use adb you can create a backup of that folder on your computer: adb backup -noapk com.veryfit.multi
Once you have the backup.ab you need to unpack it.  I used Android Backup Extractor .  That will give you a .tar file that you can open and explore the database using sqlite3
Links where I found this info:
access data inside data/data/  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13006315/how-to-access-data-data-folder-in-android-device

extracting an ab file  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18533567/how-to-extract-or-unpack-an-ab-file-android-backup-file


What is the difference between the Tag Buddy and Face tag stock Gallery options, and where is the related info stored? I would like to know what the difference is between the Tag Buddy and Face tag stock Gallery options (as available on the Samsung Galaxy SIII stock Gallery application).

Also, why is one option activated via a sliding-button and the other one via a check mark as opposed to both looking the same. I guess the only difference is that with the sliding-button one can also click on the text on the left-hand-side of the entry to view more information (in this case some descriptive help information), whereas this behavior is not available when an entry text is followed by a plain checkmark.

I also don't understand, if the Tag Buddy features are all enabled (Weather, Location, Person, and Date), then why can't I view any of these by clicking on the Details menu entry when viewing a picture with the stock Gallery app? Where is the weather information stored, I've installed the EXIF Tag Editor (Photo) app, but none of these are showing up in the EXIF info, and if I include a photo note or a sound file to the picture, these aren't showing up there either? Where are these pieces of information stored, and how do I access them and make sure they are copied when the picture is copied to another storage location?

The following screenshot shows these two entries under the Tags heading.

When the Camera app takes a picture:

The date and time the picture was taken is stored in the picture's EXIF data.
The GPS coordinates will be stored in the picture's EXIF data (but not the place name) as long as the Location tag's camera setting is set to 'On'.

However, why is the Tag Buddy feature in the Gallery app instead of in the Camera app? After all, if I take a picture:

wouldn't I want the weather information to reflect the time the picture was taken, and not the time the picture was opened in Gallery?
wouldn't the location information have to be the one corresponding to the GPS coordinates at the time the picture was taken, and not at the time the picture was opened (after all the user of the camera may choose not to store EXIF GPS info in the picture)?

Finally, if Face Buddy is enabled and the list of people is stored somewhere, then how can I view such list of people as a list stored on the device?

Thanks for clarifying these issues.

Tag Buddy lets you store information along with the photo (though as Andrew T. noted, this might be stored on the device and hence won't necessarily go with the photo when the photo is copied to another device).  It allows you to tag:

Weather
Location (though GPS should be in the EXIF and might be)
Whom you are with
Date (though this is in the EXIF)

The 'whom you are with' is just a list of people.

Face Tag, on the other hand actually tries to recognize faces in the photo so you can tag them, you can see that Facebook, for example, has both of these features, the ability to tag faces in photos versus being able to list 'With who..' for a photo.

Face Tag also allows you to click on the tag and do things like call or message the person.  I'm not sure if Tag Buddy has this ability.

I believe Face Tag is an Android development and Tag Buddy is a Samsung addition, which might explain the somewhat overlapping functionality, not to mention the slightly different interfaces (such as check mark versus slide)


Shaky, drifting compass an inevitability on Samsung Nexus S? I bought a Nexus S off eBay and found that the compass direction wanders even with the device laying still. Likewise, the display in Google Sky shakes around even with the resting on a stable surface, and it often doesn't align correctly with the stars. SkEye reports "Warning: Strange Magnetic field!". Calibrating using Advanced tools doesn't fix the problem.

I'm running ICS 4.0.3.

Doing some searching, I've found mention of other problems of the sort with the Nexus S. It's not clear whether these are just anecdotes suggesting that I have unit with a defect. Or perhaps there is a hardware or software design flaw and nothing wrong with this particular unit. Where does one look to determine if there is a pervasive problem with a given model and OS version? Anyone know specifically for Nexus S and ICS 4.0.3?

Had a Nexus S and experienced the same issue, which wasn't present in the Nexus One.

Though my online research, the unofficial stance was that this is a hardware defect in the product line that Samsung and Google either didn't notice or noticed too late to do anything about.  The most appropriate place to complain about this would be the Google Product Forums.  Here's a thread where this issue is being discussed.

http://groups.google.com/a/googleproductforums.com/forum/m/#!topic/mobile/8ODgVdPy5Wk

...an alternative would be the call Samsung up and see if they will acknowledge that its a hardware flaw.

Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any fixes for the issue, and have found that although the work around (calibration) helps, the problem either doesn't completely go away or recurs soon after.  Just to confirm, the behavior I noticed was:

In programs that display compass data (like Marine Compass) rotating the phone results in a partial rotation in the sensor data, followed by an unexpected 90 degree phantom rotation, according to the phone.  This puts the displayed barring out of step with the true direction the phone is pointing.
In programs that try to display the full orientation of the phone including the direction it's pointing (like Sky Map) the display is shakey, and seldom provides a true indication of where the phone's actually pointing.  Smoothing options result in slightly less shake, but the difference is marginal.
In spite.of this, games that depended on changes in orientation alone (like those games with the metal ball-bearings you need to guide through a maze--Labyrinth, if I'm not mistaken) worked flawlessly.

I decided to upgrade to a Galaxy Nexus, and noticed that the compass works like it should, and Labyrinth games continue to work. Sky Map, however is still jumpy.


Flashed ICS i9020T image onto AT&T I9020XXKI1 baseband phone now intermittent WiFi I flashed a Nexus S i9020T Android 4.0.3 package image onto my AT&T Nexus S.  The flash was a success, but the wi-fi is intermittent.  It will come on for a bit, but then lose connectivity.  In the top notification bar, the wi-fi icon goes away, but the system says that wi-fi is still on.
Could the wi-fi problem be caused by my not flashing the correct radio image after I flashed the ICS ROM?  This warning/error message is showing up in LogCat every 1 second.

01-31 09:49:18.824: WARN/wpa_supplicant(2202): wlan0: Failed to initiate AP scan
01-31 09:49:18.824: ERROR/wpa_supplicant(2202): ioctl[SIOCSIWPRIV] (cscan): -1

As that's the wrong stock image for your phone there's something in it that doesn't work correctly, such as a baseband or radio image that's incorrect.

You may have luck updating the drivers: http://code.google.com/android/nexus/drivers.html#crespo


Android (Galaxy S8) not showing Bluetooth "Available Devices" screen My Galaxy S8 is no longer showing "Available Devices" screen when I enable Bluetooth. I used to be able to see a list of available devices when I enabled Bluetooth.

Can this be fixed? Thanks in advance.

https://www.techjunkie.com/samsung-galaxy-s8-and-galaxy-s8-bluetooth-pairing-mode/

The problem is still there of not getting the auto-pop up, but I am closing this since you can still work around it by going to Settings > Connections, and clicking on Bluetooth (next to its On/Off toggle) to see the list of available devices.


Cannot synchronize contacts on Huawei Honor 8 I just acquired the new Huawei Honor 8 from China (international version), but I have a few issues with the contacts. When I synchronize the contacts from my Microsoft account, I only retrieve 16 contacts in my list (whereas I have 300+ contacts). I checked the parameters, they are not hidden, it just managed to synchronize only 16 contacts.

I decided to migrate my Microsoft account contacts to my Google account, so I can try to synchronize the Google contacts on my phone. Once I managed to do it on the Google website from my computer, I found a bad surprise in the contact app : there is no option to synchronize Google contacts. HiCloud, Outlook, Facebook messenger, Linkedin, Skype and WeChat are the only options here. Have I missed something ? Do I need an extra app to do this ?

I'm wondering if this issue could be related to the Chinese ROM shipped on my phone, would you recommend to install a new ROM ?

Edit : I have installed "Google sync contacts" by directly downloading the APK. Now i can see the Google account in the list of the synchronized accounts in the contact app. But, after having double checked that the synchronization is activated for this account and a reboot, still 0 contact from Google in the list.

You have to go on the app list look for Google sync contactstrust the app and give the app access to contacts, after a restart you will have access to your google contacts.


Audio playing only on right side on my Galaxy S3 I'm using Cyanogenmod cm-10.1.0-RC1 on my Samsung Galaxy S3 (at&t US version)

With either a headset or bluetooth, I'm only getting audio from the right side. It doesn't matter which output device I use - all are only playing on the right side.

Is this a known issue with CM RC1 or is something else causing this problem?

The getprop("ro.bootloader") checks are all failing for the nightly builds, so updating after RC1 has been problematic. However, if RC1 is the culprit, I'll take extreme measures to update to a different CM version.

Thanks for any advice.

I had the same problem with google music. If you move the music slider to a different position, it will output sound on both sides, but the bug appears again once it changes track.

I believe this is a bug on Cyanogenmod 10.1 RC1. I just updated to RC4 and the bug seems fixed. Yay!


Is it OK to remove this SaleTracker app? I was going through apps I could uninstall and discovered this app called "Launcher" which lives in /system/app/SaleTracker.apk. Googling for the APK name suggests this is some sort of malware (checking with MalwareBytes didn't seem to confirm this) and should be removed, but I'd like to have a second opinion before removing a system component.

It isn't any vital Android component, as I don't have it on my OnePlus One, so you could go ahead and either freeze or remove it and see after a restart if that poses a problem. If so, you should have a backup ready to put it back to its former place.


How to access the internal memory if the screen is blacked out? I dropped my Samsung Note 2, and the screen is now completely black. The phone opens & touch the screen seems to be only partly responsive because I can see the white previous & menu icons appear on the lower half of the phone.  I want to access the internal storage of the phone and store it in a different Note 2. How can I do that?

Turn on the phone, and connect it to your computer via USB cable. It will get recognized by the PC as an MTP device from wich you can copy files.


Tasker: How to disable profile while phone is locked guys, I have started using Tasker,and I absolutely love it.

I figured out I could write a recipe for me to start Google Now bt simply shaking the phone, and it worked.

One problem, though. If the phone is locked and the display is off, shaking the phone won't start the app, obviously, but if the phone is locked but the display is on - in lock screen -  if I shake the device, it won't unlock, fortunately, but I hear the Google Now beep,and as soon as I unlock my phone, Google Now is there, open, and I have to cope with constant beeping while I'm running listening to music,or receiving a whatsapp text (what makes the display on while it's locked sometimes), and I always have to close the Google Now app, cause it will launch as soon as I unlock my phone, even if I accidentally shook the device even when it's locked.

What I want to do is have this profile disabled when the phone is locked, regardless of wether the screen is on our not. I have explored all the apparent solutions, and I have come to a conclusion that it can probably only be solved with a var (which I can't write).

Any ideas?

Here is a fairly simple solution that does not require the use of a variable.

You will need to set up two additional profiles and also ensure that you name the profile you created to trigger on your shake context.  To name your existing profile, if you haven't already, long press on the profile and then touch the A on the top bar to name it - let's use 'Google Shake' for this example.  In order to control the status of a profile through a task action it must have a name.

The first new profile you need will trigger on Display Off.  The associated task should set the Profile Status (find this under Tasker in actions) of your Google Shake profile to Off.

The second new profile you need will trigger on Display Unlocked (rather than Display On).  This will ensure that it only runs when the device is actually unlocked rather than the display turning on and remaining on the lock screen.  The associated task should set the Profile Status of your Google Shake profile to On.

That's it!  Test it out.  Note that it may take a second or two for the Google Shake profile to be turned off and on when the two triggers happen so don't shake too quickly after turning the display off and/or unlocking it.


i cant enter recovery mode; how do i install my ADB driver? Here is my issue. I have an LG g Stylo 3 Plus, (T-mobile). I can't get into recovery.

Here's the situation:

my screen is broken and I have a semi picture. However its unresponsive.
I had no need to root this phone before. So device is not rooted.
I enabled knock code. So I have important calls and texts that I am not receiving.

So I need to use ADB to unlock my phone and also side-load a mirror to pc apk.

I am familiar with ADB commands and have tried everything within my knowledge. I have also done extensive research and yes, I did also using the search bar.
Any ideas how to make this show up in adb without entering recovery mode?
so just to make this clear. I'm completely lost.

If you display is at least partially usable, you may use a USB/micro-USB adapter to simply plug a computer mouse to your smartphone. From there and depending on your screen damage, you may more easily interact with your device.

Also, remember the screen rotation settings : if your ROM allows 360° rotation (i.e. 90°, 180°, and 270°), you should be able to see any part of the screen by turning it on the sides, and/or upside-down.


Location broken on Nexus 5 with CM11 I have a Google Nexus 5 device. In the beginning, I was amazed at the GPS performance; most of the time I had a fix after at most 5 seconds. A few months ago I installed Cyanogenmod CM11, and as far as I can remember GPS still worked great after the flash (I registered for CM's "find my phone" service, and that worked well).

Now recently I have found that location in general doesn't work any more. I can't get a GPS fix even after waiting for a long time, and even WiFi and cell network based location don't work – I get a location, but it's off by about a kilometer, and that in a large city with plenty of WiFi hotspots and cell towers. It doesn't even recognize my home location any more, even though I have clear WiFi reception from my own router which previously was clearly associated with my street address.

I am not sure what could have triggered this problem. At some point I tried to share as little information with Google as possible (out of privacy concerns) so I configured "Location mode" to "Device only" and I also disabled and deleted location history. I guess it is possible that at some point while doing this, I accidentally "broke" location altogether, though I don't know how. In any case, after noticing that GPS doesn't work any more, I re-enabled "High accuracy" mode, but with no effect. It's also conceivable that a CM11 update caused this, but I believe that when I installed CM11 it was already at the current state M11. I never installed nightlies.

My questions are:

What could have broken both GPS- and WiFi/cell-based location? Is there a known issue with CM11 (M11) on hammerhead? I couldn't find anything. Is it possible that I inadvertently disabled some system service that needs to be running? Nothing under Apps / Disabled looks like its location-related.
What can I do to get location working again? Re-flash? Install a nightly? Hope that at some point CM11 M12 is released? Delete some system file? I'm open to any kind of idea.

Just curious if you use Google device / location manager(s)?

I have had some of theses issues come up on CM11.

Try going to Google.com then click maps as your search criteria/engine and type ' my current location ' as the search, and also in the map click the little circle in the bottom right corner (its the circle above the blue direction circle ....its the location target eye image , black and white) .....you should be asked if you would like to allow Google to access your location by now.  because if not it could just be a settings thing.

I suggest using Google chrome when / if you do this.... I had better luck when I did... which makes sense since chrome is a Google entity.

I am not saying this is a fix, but I am curious about the results because this may help myself and others to get an understanding of how your devices current state due to how it handles the request(s).

CM11 hasn't treated me too well in this respect either.


Half of touchscreen is unresponsive. How can I make Android only use the top half (rotated by 90 degrees) So I have a broken LG G2 and a near-empty bank account, so buying a new phone isn't exactly an option right now.  The bottom 50% of the screen doesn't respond to touch.  Right now I am running BlissPop which allows 180 degree screen rotation, and that is currently my workaround.  But I'd like to use the top half of the display only.

I've tried using:

adb shell wm overscan 0,0,0,960

but it breaks most apps (probably due to the weird resolution)

so what I'd like to do is use the top 50% of the screen, but rotated so that the 1080 pixel wide side is oriented up/down and have a shrunken phone in that top 50%.

This is what is going on right now:

And this is what I'd like to do:

Basically, what I'm asking is how to get Android to assume my screen is rotated 90 degrees and only spans the top half.  I'd prefer if the resolution was 4:3 so I could use more of my screen, but if 16:9 keeps better compatibility with apps, I will do that.  Thanks in advance!

Perhaps you could try out something like Assistant menu's cursor facility,

  Unfortunately, I am not sure where you could get one though.

It's you phone's hardware that is not working right? If so, you could just make all touch events in upper half with such a software and emulate that touch occurred in lower half somewhere? You would (most likely) need a rooted phone for installation of such a software though.

The one with Samsung's phones can be accessed from settings/accessibility/dexterity and interaction/assistant menu , I am not sure whether stock android has such a facility. You can then use the lower half screen by scrolling the cursor down, A bit cumbersome , it would be for sure though. You should search for such an app. Which (most likely) be a system app as it has to be available all the time.

Hope this proves to be helpful.


Google Voice Search requiring internet access even when offline speech recognition pack is installed When installed, the Google app includes Voice Search.

In the settings for Voice Search, there is an option to install Offline speech recognition packs.

Despite doing this, Voice Search is still requiring internet access to perform speech recognition for simple tasks like writing messages or loading an app (both of which are offline tasks).

Although this Android SE question is specific for Jelly Bean, offline recognition should also be working in KitKat.

For Android KitKat, how do you fix this issue?

Figured it out:

Go to Android Settings, and select the Input (sometimes called Language and input) page.
Within the Input page, enable Google voice typing.

Now offline speech recognition should work.


Detect Android device from BLE device (How bluetooth works ?) I would like to know how bluetooth works with Android : when you turn bluetooth on, is it broadcasting data that other devices can detect ? If not, is it possible to detect from a BLE device if a specific Android with the bluetooth turned on is nearby ? And how ?
Thanks.

It would be possible with "classic" Bluetooth, but not with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). In BLE, the peripheral device (the beacon, keyboard, or whatever) broadcasts adverts. The central device (the phone) just listens for those adverts.

The central device only sends anything when it wants to connect to a particular BLE peripheral. You can detect that using a BLE sniffer device, but not with an ordinary BLE peripheral (other than the one the phone is connecting to), because the BLE hardware itself filters out packets that aren't intended for that peripheral.


Are wireless chargers specific to model numbers? I found this charger on eBay:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Qi-Wireless-Charger-for-Samsung-Galaxy-S3-i9300-S4-i9500-Charging-Pad-Receiver-/200962957683?pt=US_Cell_Phone_PDA_Chargers&var&hash=item2eca536173&_uhb=1

However, the model number of my Samsung Galaxy S4 is SGH-I337, which is not what's specified on the ad.

Does the model number matter for wireless charging pads? Will the receiver for S4 i9500 also work on SGH-I337?

Thank you!

The model doesn't matter, but the protocol does.

The currently dominant standard is the Qi standard (pronounced "Chi") developed by the Wireless Power Consortium.  This is the standard used by the Nexus 4, 5, and 7, as well as the Galaxy S4, and several HTC, Motorola, and Nokia devices.

Other less used standards include Duracell's Powermat system and the Touchstone system used by Palm and HP.

None of these protocols are intercompatible.

As a general rule, anything Qi should work with anything else Qi, however it may not work well.  There are numerous shoddy charging pads on the market and the one you linked is probably one of them.  It appears identical to one I purchased and it does not function well.  The range is poor (It won't charge through a case of any kind) and it charges very slowly.  I can't speak for the quality of the receiver they offer though.


Moto G 3rd generation only savings contacts info locally - not showing up on contacts.google.com I was saving contact notes on the contacts app of the Moto G 3rd generation.

I haven't checked the desktop https://contacts.google.com/preview/all in a while, and when I went there, I found that my contact notes wasn't being saved.

It remained local to the Moto G.

I exported the .vcf from Moto G to Google Drive.

Importing a .vcf wasn't available yet for the new Google Contacts (contacts.google.com), so they showed steps to go to the old Google Contacts.

After importing, I merged to get rid of the duplicates.

After doing this, changes on Moto G were reflected on the desktop https://contacts.google.com/preview/all, and other mobile devices.

I don't think I changed any sync settings on the Moto G to get it to work, but it's possible that something else solved the problem, instead of importing from Moto G to the desktop Google Contacts.


Disabled app notifications getting automatically re-enabled I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 running Android 4.3.

There's an app I use frequently, but don't want notifications from. Under "App info" I unchecked "Show notifications", and initially this does dismiss the app's notifications. After a few days, I get a notification from the app. Returning to the "App info" page I find that "Show notifications" has become checked again.

It's happened about 5 times in the last month, using the app a couple times per day. Automatic updates are disabled, and I have not updated the app recently. I've checked and verified that notifications do not get re-enabled every time I launch the app, or after a reboot, but otherwise I'm not sure what specific condition precipitates it. The app crashes occasionally on startup, but I don't know if this correlates to notifications getting turned out, especially as the app only sends occasional notifications, imploring me to use it more.

Is there a way to prevent notifications for this app from getting re-enabled?

EDIT: It seems to be getting re-enabled every time I reboot. Will test further to see if  I can reproduce it with other apps.

Here's the solution that worked for me. When 4.3 came out the first thing i did was place all my apps on the SD card which was great for freeing up space on the phone. Unfort. all app notification settings reset upon reboot as you described which was super frustrating. Specifically i'm talking about the app notification check box you see in every app when in android settings. I took 2 games in particular that kept waking me up at night with notifications and moved them back to phone storage which fixed the problem. Did 2 reboots in a row and it worked perfectly. Boxes are still unchecked

Hope this helps.

Source : Android Central


Disable "Get google play services" message So I have a rooted Lenovo P780 with VibeUI 2.0 KitKat, without google play services.

Some apps give the "Get google play services" popup, but don't actually need it.
It's a bit annoying and I remember seeing an app someone made that disables that message.
I remember seeing it on the xda-developers forums, but can't find it.

Does anyone have any idea where I could find it, or something similar?

I'm aware that such an app wouldn't fix anything, I just want to disable the message so I don't have to dismiss it every time. Especially since it pops up without warning, so I sometimes accidentally click it.

Here's one way that you can try and remove the Google Play Services dependency using Lucky Patcher. Install lucky patcher (a simple search should give you it), give it root permissions, and then you can do one of the following next:

Create a modified APK file which has the dependency removed
Or directly patch the app

Creating a modified APK file

Open up Lucky Patcher. Find the app you want to patch, tap on it, and select Open Menu of Patches. Select Create a modified APK file, then APK without licence verification. Near the bottom of the list there should be an option labelled Remove dependencies. Make sure that only it is checked (ie: all others are unchecked), and then select Rebuild the app at the bottom of the dialog. Wait until it's finished (it may take a while), and voilà, you'll have an APK which shouldn't require Google Play Services. With this method, chances are you'll have to uninstall and reinstall the app with the custom APK, thus loosing all data (unless you somehow back it up).

Directly patching the app

This method is (probably) simpler and doesn't require you to uninstall or reinstall anything. First, if your app has been moved to the SD card through the normal method through settings, move it back to internal storage. Next, open up Lucky Patcher like the above instructions, and find your app. Tap on it, select Open Menu of Patches, then select Remove licence verification. You'll want Auto Modes here, so select that. Now check the Remove dependencies box and make sure any others are unchecked (however, if you want to, you can select Backup APK file in case something goes wrong, because then you'll have something to revert to). Select apply, wait for it to finish (again, it might take a while), and there you go, you should be done.


Turn off the notification sound at system level - Android Marshmallow I have an OPO 3 and I was wondering if there is a possibility to turn off the notification sound for all app, but I would like to retain ringtone sound as well as vibration.

Normally on Samsung S6, there's a possibility to do this when you press the Volume rocker key.

My device is rooted and have Xposed installed. I tried Ringer & Notification Volume unlink xposed module but that doesn't seem to work.

This is something that I miss very badly, it's tragic that google didn't encompass this feature by default.

Automation is the preferred option. Many apps are available. I prefer using MacroDroid , since it is free (upto 5 macros) and easy to learn. To understand how MacroDroid works and required settings,  my answer here

Your macro would look like this

Macro : Kill Notification (name of macro )

Trigger:  Application Launched ( choose from the drop down the apps for which you want the macro to run)

Action: Notification Sound  ( select none, since you don't want any)

Constraints: None ( which means this macro always runs whenever chosen apps are launched)


I lost my Android smartphone. Play Store tells me that someone has inserted a SIM card. How can I find out the phone number? I lost my Samsung Galaxy S, which was signed into Google Play.
Now, Play Store has identified that someone has inserted another SIM card with a different service provider.
Is there anyway I can find out the phone number of the inserted SIM?

Sorry to see you losing your phone. Have you seen the question "Can I remotely launch an app on my android phone?" in which @jlehenbauer has answered mentioning an app called AndroidLost.  You can try this if you are sure you have your lost phone still uses your Google Account.


Change functionality of Navigation bar in Android M I want to edit the functionality of my Navigation bar. I would like to change the "app switcher button" to "Switch to Last App" and long-press to be "app switcher button".

I know this is doable with Xposed Framework and modules, but I am running stock Marshmallow on my Nexus, so that's not an option.

I believe I can edit System UI to do this, but not sure how or where to go from there.

Because you are running a STOCK rom, you can use xposed on your nexus.
Xposed doesnt works on heavily modified roms, since nexus use AOSP and doesnt put intermediate layers, it is your best option.

Just go to xposed page on xda site
Download the framework (xposed-v80-sdk23-arm) and flash it
Then reboot and install XposedInstaller_3.0_alpha4.apk normally
Open it and in downloads section search for Xstana and XtendedNavbar
Install them and tick then
Open the modules in modules section
Customize your navbar
Reboot
Vualá


Change temperature unit on Total Launcher I'm using Total Launcher, from the makers of ssLauncher. It has a weather widget that uses OpenWeatherMap. The default string is %4.1f° and the widget shows Celsius.

I tried every letter in the alphabet in place of the f but most of them said invalid format and none of them gave an expected value.

Is it possible to change the unit to Fahrenheit?

Go to the Total Launcher Options screen, then select Behavior. Towards the bottom is a checkbox to Use US customary units.


Samsung Galaxy s5 receiving MMS as group messages? I have a new Samsung Galaxy s5 which I like however when a single contact decides to message me an MMS (picture/video) my messages start a whole new message thread as a 'Group message'.

I just want the single message thread to continue with the same person when I received a MMS (picture/video) from that contact. Is there a way of making this happen via settings or something?

Much Love!

I recommend you change application to another is the simplest thing to do. You can find them on google store, one of the best is Textra (in my opinion).


How to get root access for Android Emulator running Android 7.0? I am trying to get root access to the Android Emulator running Android 7.0. I found a nice description at the end of this thread:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5095234/how-to-get-root-access-on-android-emulator
However it doesn't work.

adb root does not give me root access.

The following  adb remount returns:
Not running as root. Try "adb root" first.

Help is appreciated!

Thank you!

The issue is because you are using an adb server version not matching the emulator version (client). In other words the adb version on your system is different from the adb version on the android sdk platform-tools.

So try this:

Navigate to the platform tools folder (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Android\Android-sdk\Platform tools\)
Open command-prompt (or teminal) by right click + shift
Disconnect any USB cables and close other instances of emulator devices.
Now try adb devices and make sure it lists the emulator device and is not blank.

Note: If this fails first run adb kill-server

Now run adb root command
Root your virtual device as per instructions


I got a Samsung Galaxy 3 lite from a friend I don't have the Google accounts info and don't know the password to unlock Samsung Galaxy 3 lite
Please I got it from a friend that moved away. I don't know the Google accounts info or the password or pattern to unlock it. What do I do??

This all depends on the IMEI number written under the battery !

Give me that number and I'll see if i can help !


Installing cert files and connecting to wifi network on Touchpad running CM9 Hi everyone I am trying to connect to my university wifi eduroam using the settings below:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/it/wireless/technical.html

How can I achieve this? So far I've tried saving the crt file in the root folder of the SD card and installing it via Security > Install from SD card but I'm not sure how to take it from here.

Would appreciate any help on this matter.

I connect with my Samsung GSII with CM9 to my eduroam network in the university of alicante. Here you have the link with instructions in english I followed on how to configure the wifi network:
http://si.ua.es/en/wifi/eduroam/peap/eduroam-installation-for-android.html

However, the issue is simple, you have to go to wifi settings, and add a new network manually, ssid will have to be "eduroam" and you will see that if you choose "802.1x EAP" security setting, more settings will appear where you can insert the info provided in the link of your question. Of course you will have to choose as CA certificate the one you installed already.

I hope this helps.
cheers


Adding a new account to Gmail/Youtube shows a Password Error I recently goy myself a Moto G3, that is running Android 5.1.1.

I have 3 e-mail addresses, all of those I wish to keep in my Gmail app (I did that in an older phone I had), so I go to "Add Account" in the Gmail app, click "New Account" and...

I'm taken to a "Confirm your Password" screen. And there, I type my password... Only to see a "try again" prompt. And no matter how many attempts I do, all I see is a "try again" prompt. My research led me to know that a "2 step verification" can be the issue, but turns out it's deactivated on ALL 3 OF MY ACCOUNTS!

I also can't add other accounts to my Youtube app, which I need since I need to publish videos while away from my PC. Here's an image of that confirm your password screen. If anyone has any suggestions, I'll be thankfull (just a warning: I'm a noob, so I'd appreciate "simpler" language if possible).

Also, if it helps, the main account is my personal e-mail. I'd like to add 2 "workplace" e-mails to the Gmail app, and one of those is linked to a Youtube Account.

Click on it for larger version

At least for me, it was actually the device password - used to unlock the phone. So basically it asks for the device password when you try to add a new Google account for some reason. I formatted my phone thinking something else was the issue - but if you enter the device password, it then asks for the account name as normal.


Phone will no longer connect via USB after bad ROM I have a phone that was flashed with a bad ROM. It no longer has a system, so actually getting into the phone is a no-go. It can, however, boot into recovery and download mode. I planned on flashing to a stock ROM, but I can no longer connect via USB: Windows simply cannot recognize the device.

I've gone through various driver installations, but to no avail. I figured I'd give up on the USB and just put a stock ROM on an SDcard and install it through recovery. Would this work, or do I need to do it through USB?

With these things there are always exceptions and a few clever work-arounds, the below is general advice.

Only flash a ROM for your exact device model

You can't flash something not 'stock' through the stock recovery, attempting to do so will cause signature errors. The opposite; flashing stock ROM through a custom recovery will also error. So you will not be able to restore to stock first (more than likely anyway.)

However, since you don't immediately need the phone on stock, then you can copy any ROM compatible with your device onto the SD card and flash that through recovery. At least then you will be have a booting device, and can deal with the USB drivers issue.

Installing in recovery would usually involve the 2 main steps below:

Wipe the device
Install from zip

And then install any other zips you may need (e.g. google-apps).

You could attempt to mount the SD card in your recovery but I'd guess you've tried all those options.

Also as Izzy has pointed out you may need a new radio-firmware flashed on the device to allow "low level interface" connection, so the kernel has nothing to connect to.

Once again ONLY flash something for your EXACT device or you will have a shiny paper weight!


My (other) Moto G3 won't update to the latest Android version I have two Moto G3 phones (XT1541), the older one is on Android 6.0.1 and the newer(!) one is still on Android 6.0. Why is it not updating to 6.0.1 ?

The phones are international versions and the only difference I can think of is that the older phone is a 8 GB variant and the newer is a 16 GB variant...but the size of internal memory shouldn't matter, right?

It seems that the updates to some units are just VERY late:

https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/MOTO-G-3rd-Gen/Moto-G3-not-updating-from-Android-6-0-to-Android-6-0-1/td-p/3386562

I think that these were my last Motorolas now that even Samsung is better with updates.


Brightness changes too frequently after I updated to 4.2 I have a Nexus 7 and after the update to Android 4.2 setting the brightness regulation to auto I noticed that it changes way more frequently than it used to do in the previous version of the operating system.

Is there a way to have automatic brightness regulation less aggressively?

Unfortunately it is a known bug introduced on Nexus 7 with Jelly Bean 4.2. In previous version 4.1.2 auto-brightness was criticised as slow in reaction on light changes and now in 4.2 it is just opposite, over-reactive. From one bad to another bad. But I agree with you that even previous not so good behaviour was better than what we have now. Someone cure it by sticking small semi transparent tape over light sensor. But it is only temporary and ugly workaround, we can hope for correction in the next version, or downgrade to previous 4.1.2 version.


How do I merge contacts based on phone numbers? I have been using 2 SIM cards in 2 separate phones and until recently I bought the Alcatel OT-918N Glory, a dual SIM Android phone.

Since I had 2 phones before, I am expecting to have duplicated contact numbers. I will be importing numbers from my 2 SIM cards and I need to know the best way to handle duplicate numbers in Android.

Is there a way to merge contact numbers based on the phone numbers?

If you can pull both sets of contacts into the Google Contacts app on the phone, and let them sync with Google, you might then be able to merge duplicates via the web-based contacts page: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#contacts  Click the "More" button, then choose "Find and Merge duplicates".


16GB memory card, ive used 2GB and yet have 14GB of free space, how can i use that 14GB and why is it saying low of space on sd card??? im using my 16gb memory card as to store all my apps on etc.. as my internal memory is too full so i chamged my sd card to default storage, but now as i have been using it it says storage space is getting low... but when i check it i therefore have 14gb left in total space i can use but it wont let me ... that's heaps of space I can use, I've tried moving apparently from sd to phone but internal is too full so I can't... I don't see how I need to do that anyway as I've only used up 2gb on sd and yet have 14gb I can use but why is it saying low on storage space on my sd? And how can I go by using the other 14gb ?

This may be expected, depending on what phone you are using.  The original standard of SD card readers had a 2GB limit on them.  These readers could read cards that had more space, but only had enough memory registers to read the first 2GB of them.  Sometimes a firmware update can increase this from 2GB to 4GB, but it's extremely rare.

From the wikipedia article on the SD standard:

Capacity
SDSC (SD): 1 MB to 2 GB,
   some 4 GB available.
SDHC: >2 GBs to 32 GB
SDXC: >32 GB to 2 TB,
   some 32 GB available.


My Galaxy y s5360 is not detecting the sd card? I am using the Galaxy Y (S5360) with Gingerbread.

A few days ago my mobile stopped detecting any charger or usb. After some time it started working again but it still wouldn't connect via usb to a PC so I can't access my SD card.

I have reset my mobile also but I am still having the same problem.

Did you check if you card in working on your computer. If your card is detected on your computer without any messages then there must be something wrong with your mobile.

Else if your computer detects your sd card and gives you any message to scan/format before using it...then consider running scandisk on your card once your computer detects it...

Hope this helps...


Does swiping from recent app screen kill the foreground service? I have read certain posts and done by myself and i found that on my device android kitkat 4.4.4 when i swipe the app from recent screen the foreground service doesn't stop, So does this behavior present on every version of android os or in some version foreground services are killed ?

Yes, this clear the App from the RAM(memory). This is valid from the Android 5.0+.
The foreground services are definitely stopped if executing. Same does not affect any background services if any running.


Specs/Stats displaying on Homescreen on Galaxy S II 4.0.4 Having the following showing up on all home screens in the background. Any ideas why?

Check out your Live Wallpaper. Does restarting help?


How do i fix optimus zone/dynamic storage? The problem is, there is no "move to sd" option when you try to switch over an app. This is a problem because the internal storage is 1 GB and phone storage is about 200MB. This is not enough to install more than a few apps depending on what they are. In the app manager, there is a button for "move to phone" or "move to internal storage." But there is no move to sd. Plus the phone won't read apps off of the sd card anyways. Last, there is no option for choosing default storage area and even if there was there is still the above mentioned problem that the phone would not read the sd card apps.

I would look into apps such as App2sd in the play store. I think they create a symlink in internal storage that is linked to the actual app data on the sdcard.

I used this on my old phone. It worked pretty well.


Android Weather / News stopped working claiming it doesn't know where I am Today I noticed that my Google Weather no longer shows me a weather forecast.  Instead of each day showing a weather condition and a forecast high/low temperatures, I just shows "--" in each day's slot.

When I tap on it to bring up the app, it doesn't show me anything either.  Instead, it says:

You have no local sections. Sign in to add local
sections or turn on location services to see news
about your current location.

But when I tap on the side bar to bring up settings, it clearly shows that I am signed in.  Also location services are already turned on!

I tried switching to a different account, and this caused news and weather to show up.  But all the news was at least two weeks old, and whenever I tap on the weather to try to bring up details it says "News & Weather has stopped"  When I refresh everything goes away and I see the above message again.

What's going on here?

Google has stopped supporting "Google News & Weather" in favor of the new "Google News" product.  Once the switch happened, the app itself does not make it clear what has happened.  You have to tap on the "Headlines" tab (which is unintuitive), at which point the only top story is "We're no longer supporting Google News & Weather".

It also says, "Tap to switch to Google News" but in my experience tapping on this doesn't do anything.


Nexus 4 stuck in boot loop Yesterday some guy has changed my 3.5 mm jack in nexus 4. Old one was broken. After that I could not turned on my phone. I saw infinite boot. I had android 5 in that time.

Today I install android 4.2.2 (JDQ39) with help fastboot. Nexus 4 has booted now. But there is one problem. If I am updating nexus to android 4.4 or android 5, I see infinite boot again.

Also I tried to install CyanogenMod 13. The problem is same.

How to update my phone to android 5 or cm 13?

It seems, that the problem is bad position of rubber gasket in proximity sensor.

https://youtu.be/AZDAIgwbXk4?t=8m22s


A hub's USB-C port doesn't allow the phone to transfer files When I connect my phone to my laptop with the original cable, I get the option called transfer files. Now, I have Huawei Matedock 2,

and when I connect the phone to its USB-C port, I don't get the option. It's just charging the phone.

Is it possible to charge and transfer files using this hub on USB-C?

Looking at the Matedock 2.0 on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Huawei-Matedock-Matebook-Devices-Connection/dp/B075MWC9VS/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

It seems like that USB-C port is kind of unclear on what functionality it supports or doesn't support.

I'm probably wrong on this, but my first thought was that since the USB-C port is right next to the VGA and HDMI outputs, it could be that it's only meant to be used for video output (with a USB-C to HDMI cable or something like that). I'm not even sure that could be the case technically speaking though, as USB-C should transfer data indiscriminately, I don't think it can be "video-only" like HDMI or displayport are.

It's more likely that the dock is just built cheaply, and doesn't support the proper data bandwidth necessary for data transfer on your phone (or at least, as much as Android would like. Android can be really picky with what data connections it accepts over USB, as I've seemed to notice). Also could be that your phone or USB cable has problems with data transmission over USB 3.0, which is sometimes the case with regular USB-A 3.0 ports/cables - I know I've had trouble connecting some of my android phones to USB 3.0 ports on my computers before, and they worked fine as soon as I switched them to a different 2.0 port instead.

I would suggest you try using the USB-A port on the back of the dock instead. Get a USB-A to USB-C cable and use that to hook your phone up to the dock, and then the dock to the computer's usb-c. The problem might just be with some kind of weird miscommunication along the signal path between the computer's USB-C port, and the dock's USB-C port.

EDIT: Also, try a few different USB cables. You may just need a higher-quality USB cable in order to get full data transfer capability. A lot of the time Android will refuse to connect with data transfer if it doesn't like the particular USB cable you're using. It is weird that the one you have won't work through the Matedock if it would otherwise work plugged directly into the computer, but it can't hurt to swap it out anyway and see if a different one fixes your problem.


Using other block device when conecting Android device to computer as USB storage When I connect the device to computer, it makes sdcard available to it, as in card reader.

How to make it share not sdcard, but other block device or file?

On my device (Sony Ericsson Xperia X10) it is, for example:

echo /sdcard/debian.ext2 > /sys/devices/platform/msm_hsusb/gadget/lun0/file

After it the content of file becomes available on the host. Can write to sdcard file without unmounting it from android.


Opening .memo files from Samsung default memo app I have .memo files on my PC from the default memo app on a previously owned Samsung phone. When opened in Notepad, the files do not contain plain text. How can I recover the contents of the memos?

By using VLC player or downloading Samsung Note for PC as mentioned
here

Related methods mentioned here for export - see Husni's answer of zip file solution and others

How can I export Samsung memos?


Is there anyway to bypass the Geo-IP restriction when trying to stream movies outside US? I have an Amazon Kindle fire, I have an Amazon Prime subscription, and I am living outside the US.

Every single time I want to enjoy Amazon streaming video service reserved for the Prime membership, the Amazon Geo-IP check stops me from doing so ("this service is unavailable in your region" ).

Any idea to bypass this Geo-IP check?

To answer my own question. Yes it is possible, by using VPN or DNS service.


Merging whatsapp database of two different accounts So, I have two WhatsApp accounts A and B. A has chat history only till December '19 while B's chat history start from January '20. I want to have one account with mobile number that of A, groups of B and chat history combined. For that I plan to

Somehow introduce A's chat history to account B by modifying Whatsapp databases.
Then doing a change number of B to A. (This step will delete old A account)

I want help with the first step.

PS: I have looked online on how to merge Whatsapp databases but they all address merging databases of same account here I have to different accounts and also all articles on it are really old.

Merging two different account in whatsapp is not possible, when you change the number, all your groups will remain same but it can not merge two accounts. Whatsapp backup or restore the chat on the bases of phone number only,when you start new number, it can not recognize it as same account.


Android tablet not connecting to Wi-Fi while previously did I have three devices:

Tablet running Android 2.2; (WPAD)
Tablet running Android ICS; (Samsung Tab 2)
A laptop. (Dell Studio 1558)
Wirelss Router: WRT120N (Linksys)

Wireless Router access is protected with WPA/WPA2 PSK. I can confirm that password given is correct.

My laptop (3) and Android ICS tablet (2), both connect fine to the wireless router.

But my other tablet (1) doesn't connect, it keeps "Scanning" and then disconnects. This tablet used to connect to router earlier, but now it does not. I have also observed that after a few seconds the wirless network is shown as "Not in Range, secured with WPA/WPA2 PSK" and then comes back with message "Remembered, secured with WPA/WPA2 PSK". So I am also not sure whether it is the problem with the tab!

Android ICS (2) is my new Samsung tab 2 tablet, so I have no idea whether this is caused due to new connection or not? To ascertain this, I have tried connecting only the first tablet (1), but still not working :(

The wireless router is connected to ADSL router provided by service provider. The ADSL router settings are password protected, i.e I cannot view ADSL router settings through web browswer.

Any thoughts on what could be causing the tablet to be losing the connection?

I have resolved this issue myself. Here is what I did to resolve it:

Accessed wireless router's settings. Please remember I do not have access to ADSL router which is connected to the internet.
The linksys wireless router setting has "Wireless" menu. Under this menu, click on "Wireless MAC Filter".
Click on "Enabled" radio button.
Click on "Prevent listed computers from accessing the wireless network" radio button. I saw a list of MAC addressed in this list. One of the MAC addresses was that of the tablet which was not connecting. I removed this from this list and VOILA!!!! my tab was happy :)

(I still don't know how it got into this list!!)


Android OS on VirtualBox very slow mouse I am running Android x86 on Virtual Box 5.2.0.
After disabling mouse integration and setting up Pointing Device to PS/2 Mouse, I have a mouse when I start Android OS but it is so slow that it is impossible to click on any icon.
Is there any solution?

Thanks, T

I have the same issue from Android x86 6 upper version in VBox. It runs in a MacBook Pro Late 2013 with 16GB RAM. I tried to set different size of CPU/RAM/VideoRAM but no help.

When I installed it in VMWare, there is no such issue. So it looks related to VBox.


Re-run 'matched contacts suggestion' I have a hTc Evo 3D, with hTc sense. Sense has a great little tool that matches contacts from different accounts, so that all the details for a particular person are linked. i.e. Facebook, Twitter and Phone number are stored together, under a common entry.

Does anyone know how to force this to do a re-run over all my contacts? I ask because I was in a hurry the first time it ran and only accepted a few of it's suggestions and now I want to match up the remaining contacts.

Thanks!

I don't know the exact answer, but you can always manual link contacts, which is a workaround I use,

In Contacts, open one contact, then click the broken clip icon in the top-right corner (I am using Sensation XE).
In the pop up screen, choose all contacts
Search for the one you want to link to and click it

Then the two contact items are linked if you click Finish. You can click Cancel if you don't want them to be linked.


Is there any way to update I have bought Solid Explorer from the playstore. I've recently bought a LYF Flame 6, which doesn't support Google Play Services, but has playstore and works just as it is supposed to. But, still I if I download Solid Explorer, it shows that only the trial version is supported. I tried manually installing a pro apk, which doesn't give updates directly from the play store. I can't download the apk each and every time a new update is released. The app doesn't show in the list of "My apps". Is there anyway to force Playstore to show Solid Explorer in the list of my apps?

An app downloaded outside of the Play Store can't   be updated using Google Play update mechanism, it  won't appear in the downloaded list as well simply because not  your Google account that downloaded it.

An app downloaded from Google Play may not modify, replace or update its own APK binary code using any method other than Google Play's update mechanism.

The paid version isn't showing up may be because the developer has put restrictions regarding your country or your Android version, etc.

Update:
Try downloading your apps from a third party market such as Monogenie or Aptoide, you'll be notified whenever an update is available.


How can I block Android apps to send emails on my behalf? In some Android apps there is a "Login with GMail" option. I often login with that.

Some apps are sending emails on my behalf to my GMail contacts, as I saw them in my "Sent items". I want to know how can I stop those apps spamming my friends? This is very irritating.

To stop the spamming I logged out from my device but still there are sent mails. If I uninstall the app there is no more sent mails, but I don't think this is the best solution available. Are there any better solutions?

You will need to go into your Google Account settings and revoke issued permissions for any app which you no longer wish to have access to your Google account.

You can review connected apps at https://accounts.google.com/b/0/IssuedAuthSubTokens?hl=en


Google “Play Music” app constantly running! Why is Google Play Music constantly running on my galaxy s4? I don't use any music app.

NOTE this has been previously posted but the answer given does NOT work

Go to Settings→Apps→Manage Apps
Go to the All tab
Scroll the list until you find Google Play Music
Tap the entry
On the screen which opens on the tap, you'll find a button labeled
Disable -- push it.

THEN it asks you to press OK or Cancel, pressing OK, then it says "Do you want to replace this app with the factory version?
A little bit of a merry-go-round, the s4 for is so full of crap that you CAN'T remove its a real JOKE - samsung are fools for thinking anyone would use have the space wasting crap on an otherwise great phone

Well, it looks like your only option is to root the Samsung Galaxy SIV and delete the google play music app and other bloatware from your service provider.


How can profile (log the charging and discharging current for some time period) my battery? As the question reads, I want to log the current in milliAmpere or Ampere (both charging and discharging) over a period of time.

Please note I am not asking about charging or discharging rate, but rather on the current. I am aware of the app called Ampere which displays the current, which is good but I want them logged over a period of time.  I am also aware of the app Battery Log, which logs the details but not the current.

Device info: Nexus 5 rooted, running stock 5.1.1. Ready to install custom kernel but stock ROM only.

Edit: Based on a comment from Firelord, I could see a file in /sys/class/power_supply/battery/current_now which at the moment of writing had a number 835910 and after a second it became 695229, then 673163. All these values were during the discharge phase.

When plugged in, it showed 412190 and the Ampere app showed 160mA.  It seems this is the current, but I guess I have to average it out to compare it with Ampere's output.

Interestingly, there is another file named status which has values charging and discharging.

I also happen to know another question in this site.

This is not as in-depth as FireLord's answer, but I found a few apps that might be useful.

These all appear monitor current and have a log feature:

Current Widget: Battery Monitor by RmDroider
Battery Utility Free by SUXD
Advanced Battery Monitor by Codeka
Battery Monitor Widget by 3c
Battery Spy by Vertiform Technologies

These are more general system monitors but they appear to include battery stats and logging:

Elixir 2 by Tamás Barta
AndroSensor by Fiv Asim


What does "Device connected - Updated usage information for some apps" mean on Play Store? I would like to know what this means inside the Google Play Store:

  Updated usage information for some apps.

The following screenshot shows on Google - My Activity at different times.

    Google Play Store

    Device connected
    Updated usage information for some apps

    Details
    [September 24, 2019 @6:05am]
    Google Play Store
    [LGE LG-K373 ]

What does this mean?

You probably share usage and diagnostics information of that device with Google. In this particular instance, It means that Google Play Store was connected to its server and as stated "Updated usage information of some apps". The information can be when last you used the apps, how long, etc.


Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 - how to connect device wirelessly to computer? I should first explain that the Tab connects wirelessly to my modem\router, and thence to the internet.
Also, it connects to the computer via USB cable.
However, I cannot get it to connect wirelessly to my computer, or any other of the five desktops and laptops that make up my home network.
I must be missing something basic.
Anyone have a suggestion?
BTW: All the PCs but one are W7 Ultimate 64bit. The other is W10 Enterprise.
All are connected via gigabit hub and are fully shared with each other.
Galaxy model is SM-T800. Android is 6.0.1.
Thanks for reading.

You cannot just use a local WiFi connection to transfer the data. It has no way of knowing you want it to. There has to be a third party of some sort telling them both to talk.
I would recommend checking out apps like this.
Or, for Android to Android, this.


Rooting A Nexus 5 and Concerns Regarding Over The Air Updates? I am planning on buying a Nexus 5 for Christmas, to which I intend to Root it, so that I can use Rooted Apps eg Titanium Backup which would otherwise be unavailable to me.

If I root the device, but do not flash a custom rom or kernel, and instead keep stock android KitKat 4.4. :-

What happens when an OTA update occurs from Google ie to 4.4.1?

Do I lose Root and Rooted Apps ?

(Correct me if i'm wrong, if I Root the Nexus 5 and flash a custom rom, then the OTA updates would come from the XDA Developer for the specific custom rom you are using, rather than from Google).

If you root the device on the stock ROM, it will still offer to do OTA updates, but they won't work. OTA updates only apply to a completely clean system image that hasn't been rooted.

To apply an upgrade to your rooted device, you have to download the ROM image from the official Google site and follow the instructions there to flash it.


Is it possible to read IMEI from emergency call dialer? I am looking for the method to read IMEI from emergency call dialer, before the phone is activated. When I try *#06# it says that this is not emergency number.

No. The system does a check against a list of numbers (provided by system property ril.ecclist/ro.ril.ecclist; by detecting the current country or locale) and if that doesn't match with the available numbers, it doesn't proceed with the dialing and informs the user.

Related read: Do all Android phones come with emergency call (power button pressed thrice) feature?


How to remove this annoying mobile data pop up? Whenever I toggle off mobile data, this pops up. Does anyone know how to remove it? It occurs every time I toggle it off.

You could use a package disabler app, find out the name of the package(some apps will show the packages, use adb, or by Google Search) and then disable that message. Most package disabler apps require root but some don't.


How do I change the Umi Super's shortcut button to take screenshots? I have a Umi Super (rooted) device with one shortcut button (press it, and it opens an app of your choice)

I want to remap the key to take screenshots.

I have tried Button Mapper - but it takes to much time to take the screen shot, or sometimes it does not even take it.
I am open to any solutions, exposed modules /root apps / etc

Install Xposed edge module (see the help and support section on basics of how to use this module)
Select Keys from main menu and tap to reveal the next screen which has hardware keys listed (You can also add hardware keys if not listed). In the corresponding drop down menu you have actions of click, double click and long press. Map the action to taking screenshot (full screen / selected region)


How can I change the order of local bookmarks in the stock browser The local bookmarks on my stock Browser are in an inconvenient order. The first is one I added recently, then there are a dozen which came with the Android OS, then come the bookmarks I added over the course of a year using this device.

How can I change the order of these bookmarks?  Ideally, I'd like them to be in some order of most recent use. Or, I'd be happy to be able to move the bookmarks around so that I can choose the order myself.

By "local bookmark" I mean the bookmarks I get in stock Browser -- menu -- Bookmarks -- pulldown "Local".

I'm running Android 4.0.3 "Ice Cream Sandwich", which is an over-the-air upgrade from the "Gingerbread" version which came installed on the device. The device is a Samsung Nexus S, unlocked, and used mostly in Canada.

The bookmarks are kept in an SQLite database. There is no stock tool to modify them directly. I did, however, find an app that can rearrange the order of your local bookmarks: Bookmark Sort & Backup

An issue has been opened about this in Allow User To Arrange Bookmarks In ICS Stock Web Browser.


How to change my Google+ connection in "Me" contacts When I set up the social connection in Me I picked the Google+ account that I share with my spouse.  How do I change it to my own google+ account.  In messaging, it picking up the photo of the two of us from our shared Google+ account. I want it to pick up the photo from my personal google+ account.

Thanks.

A Google+ account is tied to a Google account. So what you can do is using your own account on the Android device instead of the shared one.


Can't see 'My Maps' in Google maps app According to this, I should be able to see 'My Maps' from the main google maps app in android.

Open the Google Maps app maps.
Touch the menu  >Your places.
Scroll down to see your maps.
Touch one to show it on the map.

However, when I scroll down (3), there are non of 'My Maps' shown.

Does anyone know why that might be?  Do I need to enable something?

Download My Maps and then check Google Maps again.


Will factory resetting my device remove the Android upgrade? I have upgraded my phone to Android 2.1. I need to reset my phone but I don't want to lose the upgrade. Is it possible to do this? How?

Don't worry, a factory reset will not change the version of the OS installed. You'll have the same OS version after the reset. However, as I'm sure you are aware, you will lose all your data.


How to determine maximum capacity of a battery in mAh? - received fake battery Is it an increasable value ? I think its not.

I just bought an extended 3890 mAh battery for my Galaxy S4 GT I9500. The original Samsung battery is 2600 mAh.

This is my second purchase from a different seller, after discovering that the 1st was a fraud.
In Android tools, the new battery capacities say 2600 mAh only as maximum capacity.

I complained to the seller, and he suggests to do full charge cycles, re-calibration. However, that did not increase the capacity.

The seller is trying to prove that calibration can increase the capacity of the battery he has sold me to 3890 mAh as advertised. However, this doesn't look like it's gonna happen.

Most trusted tools for Android, CPUZ, 3CToolbox also say that the capacity is 2600 mAh only.

Battery calibration is a myth and definitely will not help you in any way. For details see my answer Bought a new battery. Do I need to calibrate it
3C Toolbox (and maybe other apps, not sure though ) read the battery information from the ROM files and not from the battery you have. This I learnt when I sought a clarification from the developer, when the app was showing battery capacity as 4000 mAh whereas the battery is 3100 mAh (Huawei Honor 6). To quote from 3C Toolbox developer mail

In Android, one can get the stock hard-coded battery capacity from battery profiles, an hidden API in Android. That’s the one of the 2 sources the app uses.
The other source is in the kernel, usually under /sys/devices/power_supply/battery/charge_full_design (On my device path is different). To know the path on your device, from 3C Toolbox, tap request support from Help and support menu. An email will be generated to the developer having information about your device, including battery_info.txt. This file amongst other things specifies the path of second source

When you change your battery and replace with an extended battery, the ROM information is not updated. To adjust the capacity of the battery manually (from Battery Manager → Tap the 4 small square icon → Adjust Capacity or use Configuration Wizard). This change is for this app usage only
How to measure actual capacity using 3C Toolbox  Your concern is on verifying the actual capacity ( which was mine too). This can be done by using the current sensor of your device. If your device doesn't have a current sensor, it derives from voltage sensor and may be less accurate (Edit (in 2020) , in recent Android versions most devices are required to have a current sensor, so you needn't bother checking if your device has a current sensor or not - they have it as a rule).
Here is the relevant portion of reply from the developer that should help you.

So in the end the only fully reliable way to verify capacity would be to pin the battery to an external meter. Less reliable is to use the current sensor when available and using my app you can get the actual capacity derived from actual measures of the sensor. For that the best is to use a 1 minute monitoring while charging, as sensors are often updated every minute using an average value (for the past minute). Sensors often provide very accurate results.

See snapshot below highlighted portion shows charge in 28 minutes.
(Battery Manager →Markers →  Choose plug state chargers→ Tap on the notification and set up monitoring settings)
Discharge your battery to say 10% and charge fully-you will know your battery capacity using this method

Hardware Measurement: If you want to rig up a testing circuit, this would help you How to measure capacity of a Lithium-ion battery or Li-Ion Battery capacity tester (Lithium power tester

Edit:  Neither does OEM description of the phone or apps like CPU-Z,  Hardware Info tell you whether your device has a current sensor  . You will need to spend time in searching if it has a current sensor. It is better to avoid that search, since we are looking at approximate capacity to determine if it is a fake. Hence, in 3C Toolbox settings, you could
set
Battery Manager →Markers →  Choose plug state chargers→ Tap on the notification and set up : Record all the time (on); mA retrieval method (automatic, if your device is not listed), Recording Interval -every minute while charging (accurate mAh calculation)

Edit:  For more details , please see Where are the battery capacity files located


One purchased app stuck at "Starting download..." but others download fine I purchased an app from the Android Marketplace and the download will not start. It is stuck at "Starting Download..." and none of the suggestions on the support
site worked. I can download other apps just not the one I purchased. My credit card was charged for this app -- it was charged twice in fact (I think that could be the issue maybe?)

I emailed Google support, and they responded with the following:

  Cancel and restart the download(s)
  Reboot your device
  Sign in and out of Google Talk repeatedly to restore connection to our servers:

  Go to your device’s app launcher, and press the Talk app
  If you’re already signed into Talk, press Menu, and then touch Sign out
  Launch Talk again to sign in (if you are unable to sign in, please let me know)

  Clear the Market cache (Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage applications > All > Market > Clear cache)
  Clear the Download Manager cache and data (Menu > Settings > Applications > Manage applications > All > Download manager > Clear
  cache and Clear data)
  Ensure there is at least 20MB of free space on your device
  Try your download(s) using both WiFi and network (3G/4G) connections
  Try to initiate your download from the Web (market.android.com) instead of the device
  Ensure firewalls are not blocking access to ports required for Android Market (TCP and UDP 5228)
  Confirm that there is strong connectivity on your device, and contact your mobile service provider if you aren't connected
  Uninstall Market updates by visiting:

  Settings > Applications > Manage Applications, selecting "Market"
  under the "All" tab or filter and touching "Uninstall updates"

I tried all of those things and responded that none of them worked. Their second response told me to perform a factory reset!

Before I do something that drastic, what else can I try?

UPDATE: I went ahead and did a factory reset and I still cannot download this app... any other suggestions?

I am not sure why this happened... I suspect it was due to my open issue with the Android Market team... however I suddenly got an email that my order for this app had been canceled:

  Hello JOSHUA,

  Your order has been canceled and you have not been charged.

  Reason: Other (describe below)

  Comments: We could not complete your order in a timely fashion. Your
  order has been automatically canceled. Please retry your purchase.

I was then able to purchase and pay for the app again, and this time, it downloaded!


ADB pull fails to pull folder that exists I have a folder I am trying to pull from my G3. Specifically system/etc/wifi/

When I pull that specific folder in adb it gives me an error

remote object 'system/etc/wifi' does not exist

But yet I can pull the entire etc and it copes all files and folders EXCEPT wifi.

The permission on the folder are rwxr-xr-x just like the rest of them.

Here is the output to prove that wifi is a folder and that I can pull from etc

C:\Users\Andrew\Desktop>adb shell
shell@g3:/ $ su
root@g3:/ # cd system/etc
root@g3:/system/etc # ls
More files/folders..
ppp
..
wifi
More files/folders..
root@g3:/system/etc # exit
shell@g3:/ $ exit

C:\Users\Andrew\Desktop>adb pull system/etc/ppp
pull: building file list...
pull: system/etc/ppp/ip-up-vpn -> ./ip-up-vpn
1 file pulled. 0 files skipped.
307 KB/s (5344 bytes in 0.016s)

C:\Users\Andrew\Desktop>adb pull system/etc/wifi
remote object 'system/etc/wifi' does not exist

Output of ls -l on system/etc/

drwxr-xr-x root     root              2016-03-13 18:32 wifi

I can pull ppp just fine, but not wifi

Edit

Trying to move the folder to sdcard then pulling it

adb shell su -c "cp -R /system/etc/wifi /sdcard

adb pull /sdcard/wifi

C:\Users\Andrew\Desktop>adb pull /system/etc/wifi
remote object '/system/etc/wifi' does not exist

C:\Users\Andrew\Desktop>adb shell su -c "cp -R /system/etc/wifi /sdcard
cp: /sdcard: File exists

C:\Users\Andrew\Desktop>adb pull sdcard/wifi
remote object 'sdcard/wifi' does not exist

Why is this? and how can I pull this folder off.  I have granted root permissions to adb.

I want to post this answer for future reference in case anyone experiences this problem. I was unable to pull the folder system/etc/wifi/ using adb with root privileges until I booted into recovery.

I was using TWRP 3.0.0-0 and I was then able to access adb in TWRP and then pull the folder in question. I am unsure of why the folder was not pullable in the first place but pulling it from recovery works.

Commands successfully used in recovery

adb pull system/etc/wifi


How to make automatic SIM card selection for specific contacts? Everytime I call someone I change SIM card to one of them and call from that SIM card. Is it possible to assign a SIM card for each contact, so that when calling a contact the phone select the SIM card automatically based on the settings?

Even if a contact is saved in first SIM card but currently second is active, phone uses second to call.

For lollipop versions, Goto

Settings -> Sim Cards -> Call settings -> Phone account settings -> Make calls with ->

Under this you will have three options

Sim 1
Sim 2
Ask First

Select Ask First option from that menu and when you call someone from the contacts, you will be shown the Sim 1 and Sim 2 option. Select the Remember SIM for number checkbox and select the sim card you want to associate the contact to. The next time you call that contact it will automatically call using the sim you configured as default(It wont show you the sim selection iption). Do remember that you can always switch the sim cards while connecting to call by clicking Change sim option.

Update:

For Kitkat,

First you need to enable this feature in

Dual SIM settings -> Call settings -> Automatic SIM selection.

The  setting for Dual SIM settings->Call settings->Making calls should be set as “Ask every time I make a call”.

Dual SIM settings -> Call settings -> Making calls.

Select Remember SIM for number and then select either SIM 1 or SIM 2 to make the call. The next time you  make a call to that contact it will automatically call using the sim you configured as default based on the call history.


Can I use an external WIFI adapter with my Android Head unit I purchased the Pumpkin 2 Din Universal Car Head Unit (see product image below) and I want to know if I can use an external long range WIFI adapter via one of the USB/3g ports on the back? The device runs Android 4.4 and has built-in support for 3G and WIFI already. Device specs say "Can't support portable hard drive" – but that doesn't necessarily mean no OTG support I guess.

I can't seem to find a manual for the unit (the website doesn't properly link to the "Manual&Download" section from the header, and the "Support Center" link doesn't do anything at all), and since it doesn't mention anything about a WiFi antenna adapter, it's hard to say one way or another with any level of confidence.

That said, it may be possible.  It seems to contradict itself in a couple of places referring to a "WiFi/3G/Mic Cable" before later calling it a "3G/USB Cable+Mic Cable".  The "3G" actually requires an external modem to function, so I'm guessing it's just two USB ports.  It will probably accept a USB WiFi device, but it's questionable if the OS will support the hardware.  It does have a built-in WiFi modem, but I'm not aware of any USB antennae designed to connect to a separate device.

NOTE: IF YOU FOLLOW THE SUGGESTIONS BELOW, IT MAY A. VOID YOUR WARRANTY AND B. BRICK/RUIN YOUR DEVICE. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK, I ACCEPT NO RESPONSIBILITY

If you were to open up the case, it may be possible to find a place to connect an antenna to that built-in adapter.  If that's the case, you can probably get an extension cable that would let you then place a long-range antenna somewhere more appropriate.  I know my Samsung Galaxy S4 has two little connectors for external antennas, but I don't think either is for WiFi.


How to extract data from an .APK file? I want to extract or copy every detail that .apk contain, like for example extracting data from whatsapp.apk or linked-in.apk or twitter.apk.

Please note that I dont want to extract my personal data from any installed app on my phone instead I want extract the data and images which the app developer had added while making the app.

As suggested earlier, Apktool is a good option,

Requirements:

Java Runtime Environment
Windows wrapper script (Right click, Save Link As apktool.bat)
Apktool.jar

(For Linux and Mac OS the files and installation instructions are also available:  Installation for Apktool)

Usage

Copy the apktool.bat and apktool.jar files to a folder preferably with no spaces eg inside the  C:\ directory. (e.g C:\Apktool)

Open command prompt by pressing shift and right click simultaneously.
In the command prompt type apktool d [apkname.apk] (e.g apktool d WhatsApp)
Find the extracted apk in the folder with the apk name (in this case (C:\Apktool\WhatsApp)
You can now browse through the folder to find all resources of the app e.g manifest.xml and PNG images in res folder or doing a search.

Acknowledgements:

Apktool a tool for reverse engineering


Battery percentage inaccurate I have a rooted Galaxy Nexus (maguro) runnung an AOSP 4.4.4 rom and Franko.Kernel r396. I also have Gravity Box installed and have replaced the battery percent icon with the circle battery. As far as I can tell, these are the important factors relating to my issue. I have an app that shows battery voltage next to percent, and at 50% the voltage is 3600, but from what I've seen 3600 is supposed to be zero. If my battery falls below 50%, I have to keep my screen off or the phone dies instantly with no warning.

Let me simplify since I see we have debaters.

You should calibrate your battery:

After you use your battery, as low as it will go, below 20%. Plug it into A/C Power until it is definitely fully charged. Wait an extra 20 minutes to make sure that it is fully charged. Then you need to:

1) Remove the battery stats file:
rm /data/system/batterystats.bin

This will prevent you from seeing any discrepancies in the usage of your battery & the battery stats.

2) Wipe the dalvik cache:
rm /data/dalvik-cache/*

You stated that an app is showing your voltage levels as being correct, so you may need the app's cache cleared.

3) Then Reboot:
reboot

This is what causes the kernel to re-calibrate your battery, when the phone is rebooted after a full charge.


unwanted text message when unable to answer a call When I am unable to answer the phone, sometimes it will tell the person I am busy or at the movies.  How do I stop this from happening?

Open your Phone/Dialer app and go into its Settings.  Look for "Quick Reply" or similar and you should be able to disable it or remove the entries.


Unable to see system navigation gesture setting It appears that I don't have all the setting for gestures on my Android tablet.
So that's how it looks on my tablet: https://imgur.com/DCpWWZa
That's how it should look like I believe: https://icdn3.digitaltrends.com/image/digitaltrends/android-10-gestures-how-to-turn-on-2-1080x2160.jpg
When I was setting device up it proposed to choose between 3 button navigation and gesture navigation.
The tablet is Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab.
Thanks for any help.

Gesture navigation is available starting in Android 10 (API version 29).
Your phone is setup with gesture navigation because it is running Android 10+, but your tablet might be running Android 9 (based on your question tags).
Check to see if there's a system update for your tablet, otherwise you'll either have to;

Wait until Android 10 becomes available for your Lenovo Yoga Smart Tab.
Find an alternative launcher app you can install that contains gesture navigation.


Recipients complain they receive Text Message from me with a half hour delay I have a G2 w/ Android 2.2 on T-Mobile and Some of my friends complain that they receive Text Message with a half hour delay. One friend is on T-Mobile and one is on ATT so I'm not sure if it's a network, sim card issue, phone issue, android issue, or if it's just their phone....

How can my friends fix this issue? New SIM card?

There was a point a couple of years ago where I had persistent problems with SMSs not being delivered, or being delivered hours late to one particular person. That person was my girlfriend at the time, so you can imagine how well it went down that I seemed to be ignoring her all the time. After much backwards and forwards with the network they ended up issuing us both with new SIM cards and we never saw the problem again.

SMS was never originally designed to be used the way that we all use it today, and is unreliable, but if this keeps happening bug your network and they may be able to do something to help.


Where does shared prefrences data are stored in Android device? I want to know where Android stores the data of SharedPreferences in actual Android devices?

In PC I found this data under /data/data/pkg_name/shared_prefs/pkg_name.xml

Well, the path is right. It's

/<datadir>/<pkg_name/shared_prefs/<pref_name>.xml

Where <datadir> is usually /data/data


How to forbid my location only for Viber on my Android phone? I want to know how can I switch off the location service ONLY for Viber on my Android phone. I know there is an option to do that on iOS, but is there any way to do it on Android phone?

Unfortunately, when you get an android phone out of the box, no, there is no way to do that.

However, if you're willing to root your phone, then you can use apps like "Apps Ops Starter" which essentially launch the hidden settings for you to use which would allow you to find Viber (or any other app) and see its permissions and deny them one by one.