Galaxy S7 Edge will not stay in software installation mode I've been suffering through this for a couple weeks now, hoping that an update would fix it, but now I don't know who to turn to. So, I develop apps for android and iOS. Typically I just test on my own phone, which is a Galaxy S7 Edge. When I got it, I looked up how to access developer mode and did that. I then turned on USB debugging, however, when I hooked up my phone, my Android Studio could not find the device.

I looked at my options under the "Use USB for..." menu and picked 'Software installation'. My Android Studio found my device and I started using it to test apps. It worked great, so I didn't ask any questions, until a couple weeks ago, after a security update I started getting a weird error. Every time I was connected to my computer and I set my usb mode to Software installation, after about 30 seconds it would change to File Transfer mode on its own.

I cannot be in Software installation mode for more than a minute at any given time, and when I am in File Transfer mode, my Android Studio won't register my phone as a debugging device. I downloaded the most recent update today, but that didn't fix my issue. I Googled the issue, but I can't find anyone who seems to have had this problem. Has anyone had this problem? Does anyone have a clue how to fix it?

Tl;dr: My phone cannot stay in Software installation mode long enough for me to download an app from Android Studio to test. I'm using 6.0.1

Sorry, not an answer but rather some information, too much to put into comments. perhaps this could help someone determine what could be hapening.

Scenario Windows 7, AS 2.1.2, Genymotion 2.8 (but initially using a 2.6 device API 22). Working fine for a few hours (actually a bit of a lie as had tablet plugged in as well but need to start somewhere in the viscous circle). Started ADM (Android Device Monitor) (better/easier feedback). Still OK (i.e just genymotion device visible).

1) Plugin in Lenovo A10-30 API 24 with MTP enabled but NOT USB Debug. All fine.

2) Switch to charging. No change in AS or ADM.

3) Turn on USB Debug. Immediately disconnects Genymotion Device and tries but fails to connect tablet (and less frequently, I think the Genymotion device). Log ADM extract :-

[2016-10-27 13:47:19 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:20 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:21 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:22 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:24 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 2
[2016-10-27 13:47:27 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:28 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:30 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:31 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:32 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:33 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:35 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:36 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:38 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:39 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:40 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:41 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:43 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:45 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:46 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:47:47 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1
[2016-10-27 13:47:49 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 2

Adroid Monitor in AS shows the following message frequently (Genymotion devices shows Disconnected) :-

01-01 00:00:00.000 0-0/? E/Internal: An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host

4) After about 5 minutes turn USB Debug off on Tablet.

Aprrox 3 minutes later, after :-

[2016-10-27 13:54:07 - DeviceMonitor] Adb connection Error:An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host
[2016-10-27 13:54:08 - DeviceMonitor] Connection attempts: 1

Genymotion device is now re-connected.

6) Turn MTP on (File Transfers on on Tablet), USB Debug still off.

Other than the windows dialog, nothing changes (AS and ADM show Genymotion device as connected).

7) Turn USB Debug on on the Tablet (from developer options)

Basically the same happens again. So I stop USB debug on Tablet and wait.

8) Revoke USB debugging authorisation on the Tablet and try USB Debug again. Allow it always.

Same Again. So stop USB Debug on Tablet and wait another 3 minutes or so for the Genymotion device to reconnect.

9) Stop the Genymotion device. So nothing is connected.

10) Turn USB Debug on on the Tablet. Tablet connects OK.

11) Start Genymotion device connects OK and tablet still connected.

12) Plug in an an HTC Sensation XL (Android 4.0.3) same again but disconnects both the Tablet and the Genymotion device. Disconnect the HTC phone and wait the obligatory 3 minutes or so. Both reconnect.

13) Stop the Genymotion device (tablet still connected) and try connecting the HTC phone. HTC phone connects and the Tablet remains connected.

14) Start the Genymotion device, it connects and the other 2 (Tablet and Phone) remain connected.

  A thought, is it due to the Genymotion virtual device? Perhaps a virtual device must be the last to be connected. Perhaps you may
  be using an AVD if so perhaps try disabling that and see what happens
  (I can't use AVD I think due to having an AMD chip).

Updated 23/11/2016
In brief I don't think that Genymotion is the issue but perhaps Android Studio.

Today I purchased another Tablet, an Onix 10.1 Quad Core. Pretty similar spec to the Lenovo. The main difference being a smaller screen (1024x600).

However, I have been experiencing similar issues connecting to it. That is the dreaded "An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host".

It appears to be even harder to get connected than the Genymotion devices.

My last successful attempt was made after numerous failed attempts and was when I closed and then restarted Android Studio. Hence why I now suspect that AS is perhaps the cause. If I look into this further I may update this with my findings.


Android viruses infected my phone (Tecno) My phone has been infected with viruses for nearly a year. At first it was just a virus in disguise called 'settings', but then it spread to my Chrome, opening a site called 'aiboo.com' SmartSite. I had to disable Chrome, and now there are 3 other viruses on my phone: One called Magic, which pops up ads on my phone screen, Lake worth ISD or something, Then one called System with the note saying 'Guerilla exe.' I use Eset Mobile Security to remove them, but every time I get access to internet, they get installed again. Sometimes they get installed even if I don't have network connection.

Someone please help!

If you do get a virus, you could perform a factory reset to get rid of it, but that means you’d lose all your data. Your photos, saved games, text messages, and everything else will be gone if you didn’t back them up. Obviously, a factory reset should be your last option.

There are also other malware removal tools without factory reset:
* Malwarebytes
* Bitdefender Antivirus Free


How can I turn off data when my phone's screen is off and only let data come back on once per hour or so to sync apps? I have been using an app called Doze which turns off data when my phone's screen is off. I'd like to find a way that would turn off data when the screen is off but would turn on data once per hour or so, sync all apps to get new messages, updates, etc, and then turn data back off. Is this possible or do I need to write my own app?

I found having the mobile data off more than doubles battery life.

Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) introduced new OS features called Doze and App Standby to improve battery life. Doze defers data usage to short windows while the Android device is stationary. App Standby reduces the resource usage of applications that you don't use.

Personally, I found the battery life improvement from Doze to be tremendous. I often take my phone out of my pocket when I am not using it to keep it stationary to take advantage of the doze battery savings.


Why do all the directories on my tablet have all these weird numbers? I have a Samsung Galaxy 10.1, running Android 3.2, which I've rooted.

When I plug it in by USB to my Ubuntu computer, it looks like this:

There's about 24 or so directories, all numbered as shown in the image. As far as I can tell, they don't correspond to any directories actually on the device, and I can neither find any files I think should be on the device or transfer any files to the device. (To be accurate: I can copy files to one of the weirdly numbered directories, but then I can't find them if I try to look for them from the tablet interface.)

What's going on, and, more importantly, how do I get a normal connection to my tablet so I can transfer files back and forth?

Update 1: I have learned this is probably "MTP mode". I can't seem to find any option to disable or change it.

Update 2: I have tried turning "USB debugging" both on and off, and neither way seems to make a difference.

Update 3: I've asked about this issue also on the Ubuntu SE site, in case part of my problem is on the Ubuntu side.

Update 4: Here's another error message I get if I try to use mtpfs to connect to the Android device:

It seems that you're connecting the tab in Media Player (MTP) mode. Try switching it to Camera mode, it usually gives better results. If I remember correctly, this option can be found in Settings -> Storage -> Menu button (top right) -> USB computer connection.


Huawei without Google Play: will I be forced to create a Huawei account? I wish to buy a Huawei P30 Lite phone. It's a phone without the Google services and play. Can I use this phone without a Huawei account? Only use F-Droid apps?

Google Play is available on Huawei P30 Lite.
http://storage.googleapis.com/play_public/supported_devices.html

Only Huawei devices that are produced after the Google Ban, which is 20 May 2019 do not have Google Play Services.

You will not be forced to create a Huawei account in order to use the phone. Huawei account is only needed you are using specific apps on the Huawei devices.


How to I disable the DHCP function on Wi-Fi Tethering I want to have a Static configuration for wi-fi tethering because there is no way to change the IP range.

I think you cannot disable the DHCP in the Hotspot. Instead try to set static IP address on clients(other devices which you are going to connect).

Connect the client to wifi hotspot.
Now check the ipaddress of the Client. It should be like 192.168.42.yy
Go to 'WiFi settings' on your client, long tap on the Hotspot's wifi
Tap on “Modify Network”.
Then select “Show Advanced Settings”.
Select IP settings from DHCP to ”Static” mode.
Fill the following

  IP address : 192.168.42.<your desired ip>
         Gateway : 192.168.42.yy
         Net Mask : 255.255.255.0
         Prefix length : 24
         DNS 1: 8.8.8.8
         DNS 2: 8.8.4.4

Note: If your give IP address in 192.168.1.xx or 192.168.0.xx range, It will not accept.

If you are a nerd, See this to change  the coding of Android system itself to achieve static IP :)


How do I make Adobe Flash work with Firefox? I have Adobe Flash Player 10.3 and Firefox 5.0 installed on Android 2.2. However Flash animations seem not to work in Firefox, although they do in the Android default browser.

How can I fix it?

Flash support was added in Firefox 14.0. Versions of Firefox Mobile earlier than 14 do not support Flash content at all.


How do I add a "skip backward/forward" button to my Kodi on-screen display? When watching DVDs with Kodi on my Android device, the on-screen display offers the following buttons (tried both pre-packaged skins):

|<: Skip backward one chapter
<<: Rewind
>/II: Play/Pause
>>: Fast forward
>|: Skip forward one chapter

I'd like the << and >> buttons to "skip +/-10 seconds" instead of doing an analog-style rewind/fast-forward.

How can I modify that behavior? My Kodi version seems to support that feature in general, since I can modify the skip steps in Settings/Videos/Playback.

(I'll be extra thankful if you suggest a solution where I don't have to fiddle around with a text editor on my phone, but I'm willing to accept that, if there is no other solution.)

So with the current version of KODI on android, I was able to swipe left or right with one finger to jump +/-10 seconds. If you swipe multiple times in the same direction it'll jump 30 secs, a min etc based on your settings in the video section (System>Video>Playback>Skip steps...)
Make sure to click Settings Level in the lower left hand corner to advanced or Expert to see these options.
Other touch screen settings can be found here:
http://kodi.wiki/view/Touch_controls

Or search "touch controls KODI" in google.
That site speaks of the text editing options for keymaps etc if you want to go that route for further customization of your Kodi settings.
I hope this helps!


Android affiliate programme I'm new to the Android world having lived in iOS for a long time. Does Google have an affiliate programme like the Apple store does with LinkShare?

If not, is there a reason why?

If not, is there one coming/rumoured?

Do site reviewing Android apps make no money on referrals at all?

Sorry for the multi-part question. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

No there is no affiliate program for the Android Market.

Some individual apps that need to be side-loaded or have a seperate sign up for paid service offer affiliate programs but nothing through the official market.  Lots of people ask about it at the Google support threads but Google has not announced any plans to start an affiliate program nor have they commented on why they don't have one.

I don't believe anyone is earning money for referrals if they are sending people to the Official Market, Appbrain, Cryket, AndroLib or SlideMe.  If they are a commercial review site they are probably making money with display advertising, which incidentally improves the credibility of their reviews (because their income isn't dependent on you buying what they reviewed).


How can I free up RAM automatically? I'm very tired of seeing my RAM used up by unwanted apps which I don't launch regularly, but they continue to appear in the taskbar. Every time I closed them and free the memory. After I restart my phone I have 200 mb of free RAM but after I start closing apps the free memory decreases. I used a task killer but it works the same way. Is there any way to automatically clear out my RAM periodically?

See also: How can I stop applications and services from running?

When you free the memory you're just killing the apps using it or that Android has stopped and put in the background.  The only real solution is to not use apps, or to accept that every time you switch apps your position in the old one will be forgotten.  You'd probably need a custom-built ROM that entirely altered the way Android does memory management in order to get around this; having something auto-clear the RAM would end up killing the app you're currently using.  Another alternative is creating a swap partition, though how to do so is a different question.


Screen timeout troubles My galaxy note 4 is only staying on for about 15 seconds before timing out. And every time I try to change it a pop-up says that it is set to 15 seconds and I cannot change it. I've turned off stuff and messed with my settings as much as possible and am still not able to fix the problem.

Check as suggested by wbogacz. If it still does not works, restore the settings to factory default. It is better to have default state before we proceed.


Picture always appears on Facebook as "on line" My picture is constantly being displayed as "on line" in Facebook even when I am not.  I have completely uninstalled the Facebook app from my Droid 3 and all related apps yet my picture continues to show me as available on Facebook through mobile.  How can I get my picture off.  I am already "off line" on the actual Facebook program - I can't see anyone, but everyone can still see me.  Please help...

Log out from Facebook app and Facebook messenger app before uninstalling them. I also had similar problem with early version of Facebook messenger.

Also in my case when my friends tried to send me message the chat box had info saying "Message will be sent to Mobile device" or something like this.


Displaying profile picture in Gmail App I've got an ICS device, when I send SMS messages, G+ messages or GoogleTalk message my avatar appears beside each email.

When I send emails through my GMail account in a browser my profile picture appears next to them.

Inside the GMail app a profile picture appears for each of my contacts but not for me.  The email address I send from is listed in my profile.

Can anyone tell me how to set this image?

I just ran into this same issue.  I think it's because I had a contact for myself in gmail that didn't match the capitalization that the gmail app (or maybe just android) uses for your personal email address (all lower case for me).

In any case, here's the steps I took that fixed it for me.  I am running Jelly Bean, so it may be a little different for you.

  Open the gmail app
  Tap the gmail icon in the top left corner and take note of the capitalization of your email address on the top left
  open an email that you sent
  Tap on the place where your picture would be (it should be a picture of the first letter of your first name)
  Tap on your profile picture in the popup to go to the contact details
  Choose "Edit" from the setting dropdown in the top right corner (the 3 vertical dots)
  Change your email address to all lower case (or maybe whatever showed up in step 2.  If one doesn't work, try the other.)
  Tap "Done" at the top left.

This fixed it inside my email.  In order to also fix it in the email list, I had to also do the following.

  Go to gmail's "App Info" page. (under Phone Settings -> Apps -> "All" tab for me)
  Tap "Clear Data" once the numbers finish calculating (and ok on the warning popup)
  Open the gmail app and wait for your emails to re-sync
  Enjoy your face you handsome devil.

Hopefully this works for you or anyone else that stumbles across this thread.


Why different pictures are loading on boot, and images disappearing, then reappearing on its own? I am using a non-rooted LG V20, Android Oreo I believe.

I am having a problem in which the phone randomly loads different "sets" of pictures - sometimes current photos disappear and older pictures reappear, etc. It's almost as if there are 2 root drives/internal storage that the phone randomly load.

If you see the attached screenshot below, there are 2 pictures folders of the same name under root/sdcard (Pictures and PICTURES -- I don't understand how there can be 2 folders with the same name so this is already strange).

When I open either of these folders, it leads to the exact same folder (see the screenshots below). Note the folder names are both "pictures" technically. I think this may somehow be related to the problem.

Some days when I boot, it will just load an "older" pictures folder w/ different picture count - pictures that I've stored in the past. When that happens, my current/recent pictures will all disappear and the older set is the only thing visible.

For example: right now it shows 14 files in Instagram, 3 files in Kakaotalk, 0 files in others as you can see in the screenshot.

When my older set loads, it will a whole different set of pictures, with no pictures overlapping from the above. (see below)

I can't seem to find the trigger that reliably reproduces loading of either set - although, once I remember the phone was suddenly not reading any pictures from the instagram's gallery function so I manually ran the media scanner, when the phone loaded the older set instead.

Anyone have any ideas?

I don't understand how there can be 2 folders with the same name

Android is based on Linux and Linux is a case sensitive OS (in fact the filesystem it uses) unlike Windows. So Pictures and PICTURES are different directories and they can coexist without any problem.

Some directories are created by Android itself on (first) boot and any app with permission android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE can create a folder in internal SD card.

  When I open either of these folders, it leads to the exact same folder

One can be a symbolic link or bind mount to other. See here for details. However I can't be sure unless I investigate that particular case myself.

  it will just load an "older" pictures folder w/ different picture count

Why their contents keep on changing, you have pointed out the root cause yourself:

  so I manually ran the media scanner...

It seems to be a problem related to Media Storage database. Some file explorers and gallery apps depend on a files database (MediaStore) built by Media Storage app (/data/data/com.android.providers.media/databases/external.db) as the process android.process.media is invoked by some app. If this database isn't updated as the files change, file explorer will show outdated / incomplete contents.
In order to force its updation, delete this file and run some media scanner app from Play Store (restarting phone may not update whole database though MediaScannerReceiver broadcast receiver is launched on boot). Non-root users can delete this file by clearing data of Media Storage app. But be cautious. It'll also clear internal.db which will make ringtones etc. unavailable.

Please note that the internal SD card we see is emulated from /data/media/ using sdcardfs (or FUSE in older versions of Android). Actual contents of internal memory can be seen directly from /data/media/ (root required).


Command or script to read a binary file and skip some bytes every X bytes I am trying to find an Android shell command that is able to read a file but that has the power to skip, for example 512 bytes every 1024 bytes.

Does such a command exist and is available for Android devices?

I have looked at dd documentation but couldn't figure out if it is possible to use dd for that purpose.
You can make dd skip bytes at the beginning of the file, you can make it read X bytes from a file, but I do not see how to get the feature that I described.

EDIT:

For my purpose the command/script should output to stdout, and the processing will read the output like a stream, so it will not be something like "cat a file, do processing, cat a file". It is like "while true; do cat a file; done | processing".

The list of available commands is here: http://www.busybox.net/downloads/BusyBox.html

You should try to use this bash script I wrote for you (require busybox on your Android):

put the script in a file called script.bash (change  with your own path) :

#!/system/xbin/bash
# sputnick 20120928 http://android.stackexchange.com/posts/30069

binfile=<THE PATH OF YOUR BIN FILE>
bytes=$(wc -c < $binfile)
c=0 count=0

while ((count < bytes - (1024+512) )); do
    dd 2>/dev/null if=$binfile bs=512 count=2 skip=$c
    printf '\n\n'
    ((count += 1024+512 ))
    ((c+=3))
done

Now, in a terminal on your computer (this is for linux, adapt it if you use Windows)

adb push script.bash /mnt/sdcard/script.bash
adb shell
bash
chmod +x /mnt/sdcard/script.bash
/mnt/sdcard/script.bash

edit

This is what the script does in-fine :

dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=0
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=3
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=6
dd 2>/dev/null if=/tmp/bin bs=512 count=2 skip=9
(...)


How do I disable Google App? I'm using Android 6.0 (non-rooted) phone. Holding home button opens up Google App which I never use.

I don't think that I can change the behavior of holding home button at least as non-root user. (If there's any way or work-around then don't forget to tell me!)

So, as I never use Google App and also want to stop opening Google App by means of home button, I want to disable it as it is a system application hence I can't uninstall it.

But when I opened Google App from system settings, I found disable button is disabled:

So, How do I disable Google App or there is no option except root?

By the way, it is also not being force-stop with the help of force-stop button!

You can change the behavior of holding home button even as non-root user (at least on my LG G Flex 2 with Android version 6.0.1):

Settings - Apps - Configure apps - Default Apps (in Advanced section) - Assist & voice input - here touch the text "Assist app Google app" not the icon on the right edge - here select None.


Moving Nokia content to an Android phone What is the easiest way to move Nokia (Symbian E series) content, such as contacts, inbox, photos, etc. to an Android phone? I can extract a backup from the Nokia but it's in .nbu format

By far the easiest way to transfer anything contacts related to an Android phone is via GMail.

When I moved from an old Nokia phone to my Android HTC Magic about a year ago, I downloaded and installed the Nokia Suite of tools for my phone from the Nokia website, installed them, copied my contacts into the Nokia Suite app on the PC, then did an export from the Nokia Suite contacts app to a CSV file. I remember seeing the Noklia-only NBU format as an optin, but if you're in the Contacts-only part of the suite it should also allow the CSV export (as this is also the easiest way to do a one-off import to other apps like Outlook).

At that point you can go into GMail, click the Contacts link, then at the top you should see an "Import" option, use that to upload your CSV file. All that you should lose from this is the contact's photos, but you can easily back up your contact's photos from the Nokia suite, and then just upload them to GMail one by one, or alternatively let Android on the phone sync with Facebook, etc and pull the Contacts photos from there itself.

You might find that if you already had some people in your GMail address book that you'll have a few duplicates now, just tick the relevant Contacts in Gmail and select "Merge these contacts".

For content, such as photos or music, which are probably just files on the Nokia's SD memory card, the easiest way is to attach the phone to a PC, select Data Storage/Transfer Mode on the phone, then open the SD card drive on the PC, drag all the relevant files onto the PC, then attach Android phone, mount SD card and drag all the content into the relevant folders on the Android's SD card.

As for messages, do you mean SMS/MMS text messages? As far as I know there aren't easy ways to transfer those between phone OS's at all (unless you're already doing something like sync'ing them to GMail).


Why can't I get root access from shell? > adb shell
sh-4.1$ su
Permission denied

I have rooted my phone successfully. I know this because I'm able to install apps on SD card and I have a program called SD Maid that is able to operate with root permissions.

From here:

You might need to activate adb root from the developer settings menu. If you run adb root from the cmd line you can get:

root access is disabled by system setting - enable in settings -> development options

root access is disabled by system setting - enable in settings -> development options
Once you activate the root option (ADB only or Apps and ADB) adb will restart and you will be able to use root from the cmd line.


Fix permission option removed from CWM recovery 6.0.3.6 I updated to latest ClockWorkMode recovery in my Galaxy S 3(AT&T,d2att).
New version is 6.0.3.6.
And noticed that Fix Permission option is removed from it.
I used that option when flasing ROMs.
I can't find why they did so. Will it affects flashing  new ROMs?   Is it not necessary?
Anyone knows reason behind that update?

It was removed because

  It's total placebo these days. I wrote it for dealing with the silly things that happen when we used to put apps on SD before Android supported it. Since then, it's been something of a sugar pill that magically fixes all problems without actually doing anything.

(Taken from the commit history, posted by Steve Kondik)


Why are preinstalled apps not registered in play store on new devices? This is the 2nd time I noticed this. Once with a new Samsung galaxy s3 (with newly created Google account) and now with a new Samsung Galaxy Note (also with a newly created Google account).

I've just registered 2 new Samsung Galaxy Note tablets. One with my personal, existing Google account. And one for a friend with a new Google account I just created.

On my personal tablet, all installed apps where registered in the play store and they all said "update".

On my friends tablet with the new Google account, there are NONE apps installed on the device, according to Google play. What this means is that I need to find each and every one of the installed apps in the play store manually and update them. Or else I wouldn't receive update notifications from those apps.

This is very annoying. Especially with the loads of bloatware preïnstalled on new android devices these days.

Is there any known fix for this issue? How can I have Google Play store register all apps installed on device and show them in the my apps section?

Thx in advance!

It's because Google can back up which apps you have installed on your Google account, and restore them when you associate your account with a new device. Since your friend's account is new, the apps have not been installed yet, and are therefore not shown.

As for why the apps are not shown as installed, it's because they're not installed from Google play, but from Samsung. If I remember correctly, Samsung has it's own Samsung Apps app, which handles updates for preinstalled applications unless they're associated with their Google Play counterparts.


Disable the "screen is pinned" toast notification not rooted tablet I want to disable toast "Screen is pinned" message.

You can setup adb and issue this command:

adb shell appops set android TOAST_WINDOW deny

You won't be having that toast anymore. However, this has the side effect of not being shown any toast that Android package would have displayed, so keep this under consideration.

You can replace deny with allow to revert the changes.


Locked out of secure startup Recently I encrypted my LG Tribute HD. I was doing something in recovery mode a couple days later, I accidentally hit the "wipe all data on phone" button. I pressed no. I rebooted my phone and all of the sudden secure startup was enabled and it had a password instead of a pattern. I tried a couple passwords but none of them worked. The attempts count only went down 1 time for some weird reason. I don't want to factory reset my phone. I just did a couple days ago, and I don't want to again.

Well I've ended in same place as you but with entering number in a dialer. White screen with only text box to enter password, and counter was going only to 29/30 tries left no matter how many times you enter password. This one?
One user said that this happened after he tried to clear dalvik/cache from stock recovery on LG (I think it was about K10). My guess that this action wipes the encryption key so when you try to boot after clearing it prompts you this, and you probably need to enter key which I'm sure you don't know for this user and me too factory reset was only way out.
See this and this and this


Must I install Google Apps again after installing a new ROM? When I install a new ROM (cm-10.1-20130213-NIGHTLY-mako.zip) using ROM Manager, I have the option of adding another ZIP during the same reboot -- this is probably meant for the Google Apps (gapps-jb-20121212-signed.zip).

What if I don't add that Apps zip? What will I miss?

Whenever there's a new build that I would want to install, should I always also add this ZIP? Or can I skip it because I already added it last time?

If you don't install the Google Apps package the first time, you won't have access to anything that relies on Google's services framework. This means things like:

Google Play
Google Talk
Google Maps
The Gmail application

...etc, won't function on your device because they will lack the libraries needed to run.

You do not need to re-install the Google Apps package every time you update CyanogenMod. It will essentially back up your current ones and then re-install them during the flashing process. Simply flash the updated ROM however you normally would.


Restoring the backup of an encrypted phone I had an LG G2, running LineageOS 7.1 with enabled encryption. I took regular backups using TWRP 3 (which can deal with encryption).

The phone broke. I now want to restore the backup using TWRP on a new LG G2.

How can I restore the backup from the old phone using encryption onto the new phone (no encryption yet)?

I tried to restore the backup as-is and it doesn't boot (black screen). Anything special that I need to do before restoring?

Should I first encrypt the new phone and then restore the backup? Or do I need to strip the encryption from the backup somehow before restoring it?

As it turns out, TWRP/nandroid backups aren't encrypted. The encryption layer sits lower at the level of the device.

You can therefore restore the backup on a new device like any other backup simply by using the restore function in TWRP. You have to re-enable encryption afterwards, of course.

This also means that backup data is not encrypted and therefore must be protected in storage. I've never read this anywhere; be aware of the security implications.

Edit: The reason for the above mentioned boot problem was unrelated to the backup. I had the wrong bootstack on the new phone and first needed to upgrade to the most recent stock rom.


SD card not showing files when connected to pc When my phone MOTOROLA G3(2015) is updated to Marshmallow, its not showing files when connected to PC. While connecting, it shows options as charing only, PTP, MTP, MIDI. When I select MTP, it shows the external card, but not showing the contents, where as internal memory is detected and all files are shown.

This is a well discussed and easy to fix bug... Disconnect USB cable, go to Settings, Apps, and Show System Apps and find External Storage and Media Storage and clear data and cache on each one and reboot, then give it 5 min after full boot up to rebuild media databases and connect to USB and select MTP. Should be good to go.

EDIT: In some instances where the SD card contains a large number of (media) files, it can take more than 5 minutes for the databases to rebuild. There is no way to see if the status of this database buildup in the phone itself, so sometimes you just have to be patient.

Also note that some users have stated that this is not sufficient by itself, but sometimes the system cache partition needs to be wiped and rebuilt. Official instructions for performing this operation from Moto are here. Note that this operation can take significant time... 5-15 minutes, occasionally even longer, do not interrupt the operation.


Move apps and games in Sony Xperia M to SD card How can I move apps and games in sony Xperia M? There is no Move to SD card option.

To move my apps and games to my SD card I use the app AppMgrIII. I have had no issues so far.


Commute to work on Google Maps tracking is innacurate My wife tracks me through Google Maps. I have no problem with that. However it keeps showing I stopped at certain locations when I never did. it shows several different routes I took to my job, I don't understand how to read this. I've done everything on all the forums to improve my accuracy. Also, both of our emails are on each others phones. Could the app be tracking two different phones at once? I was wondering if that could be an issue.

Firstly a possibility to the app is tracking two different phones at once is quite impossible. Even though you tried on all the forums already, I suggest you to do a simple way.

If you are using Android, go to "settings" -> find  "apps" -> click on "maps" and then stop it.
Restart your phone and open "maps" app again.

This has already happened with friends and instruction above was the solution for it.


How do I install a .apk on my Nexus 7 using the browser? I recently got an Asus Nexus 7 Tablet shipped to me, and want to be able to use all of the .apk files I have saved on my computer (all purchased/downloaded legitimately). Here's the issue:

I'm in the navy and underway, and will be for quite some time. I have no ability to connect my Nexus to a wifi/wired network (not allowed to plug it into a ship's network computer via USB), and I have no ability to connect my personal computer to the internet either, so setting up a Google Play account on the tablet is a no-go. My laptop is a Macbook, and I DO have Android File Transfer installed, but that's pretty much all I'm working with here.

When I plug my tablet into the laptop, Android File Transfer pops up, and I can drag and drop files onto the Nexus, HOWEVER, I don't have any file manager program to access the .apk files once they're on the tablet.

I have tried going to settings and checking the Unknown Sources box in the Security menu, dragged and dropped an assortment of .apk files into the Nexus root folder, and then have entered "file:///sdcard/xxx.apk" into the Google Chrome internet browser window ("xxx.apk" being whatever file path I'm trying to access). But when I hit "Go", the browser page just flashes, refreshes with a blank address bar, and it's like nothing happened.

Is there any hope for me, or is this Nexus 7 just going to be a very expensive paper weight until I finally see land (and wifi) again?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

The first thing worth noting that your original attempt at pointing your browser to the .apk directly should work (see the comments starting with Stephen Schrauger's). It's not really clear why this would not be the case for you, but you may want to double-check your Downloads app (in the app drawer) and your pathing. It could be that it's "downloading" in the background but it happens so quickly that you do not realize it.

If for some reason that really isn't working, then you can try a potential workaround. This is pretty ugly, but it does work. I've tested this on my Nexus 10, for reference.

Create a folder on your laptop that contains your apk files (we'll call it apkfolder for the purposes of this example), then within that folder create an HTML file (we'll call it apkinstall.html) using a text editor. Since you have an Astro apk, use this as the content of the HTML file:

Install Astro

Where Astro.apk should be the actual name of your Astro apk file.

Now copy apkfolder onto the root of your Nexus 7's storage using Android File Transfer. Make sure that all the apks copy over as well as the HTML file.

If you are using TextEdit on a Mac: TextEdit will attempt to treat things as RTF files by default, so even if you save it with a .html extension it may not work. One workaround I've found is to go to Format > Make Plain Text before you save the file. You'll know you're in the correct format when the rulers and such disappear from the TextEdit window. Then you can save the file and make sure you use change the .txt to .html.

Next launch your browser, and point it to file:///sdcard/apkfolder/apkinstall.html. You should get a mostly blank page, with a link that says "Install Astro". Click that link to install the Astro apk from your storage, then use Astro to install all your other apps. If you're using Chrome, then you'll probably need to pull down the notification bar and tap the "Download complete" notification to actually kick off the install.

In the more general case, if you didn't have a file manager apk, you could instead add a bunch of link entries to the HTML file - one for each app - and install all of them that way. In your case, this shouldn't be necessary.


Whatsapp Admin Messages Is it possible to delete the messages that come up in group admin with a blue background showing admin activity?  e.g: date, admin added phone no/name, or someone left.  When you tap and hold these messages you just get 'Message ...'
    'Voice call ...'
    'Video call ...'
I have streams of these messages on my phone from various groups and would like to get rid of them.  I have asked google several times and this site seems my best bet.

You can't delete them individually, but deleting the whole chat is a solution.


Unknown error code during application install: "-25" I uploaded an app to Google Play Store. But some users reported that they were able to download the app, but unable to install the app. They are getting the error

  Unknown error code during application install: "-25"

Why is this happening and what can I do to fix this error?

check to make sure that the versionCode of your new version is not lower then the one you have installed already.

For me this was what was causing the  "Installation error code: -25" error on samsung galaxy S3.


Samsung S5 mini supports Gamepad through OTG? I saw a video and some discussion where people just plug and play gamepads on to Android phones.

I've got a Samsung S5 mini (SM G800F, Android 4.4.2, not rooted). Bought a wire USB SNES Clone + OTG from ebay, plugged to my phone but nothing happened: tested on games, an app to debug gamepads, with a different and new USB Gamepad etc; I thought the USB OTG was damaged, because I tested with two different usb gamepads, so I bought a new setup ( http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301836055385 ) + a different OTG cable from a different manufacturer. It doesn't work!

Used this app to check for OTG support:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.btssm.doihaveotg

It's supported but no devices are listed / none found;

Devices tested:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-OTG-Android-Phone-Mobile-Retro-Gaming-Controller-Gamepad-Snes-Style-Pad-/291568165867?hash=item43e2d123eb:g:K10AAOSwVL1V~Rtn

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301836055385

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331719411548

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151860529835

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/262031124734

There is a fix for this OTG here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s5-mini/help/usb-host-otg-t2855675/page2 BUT you have to install a custom Kernel. I did this on mine and it means you cannot get the 5.1.1 update from your carrier. SO i had OTG working fin for a while. Then reset phone so i could update to 5.1.1 via KIES but now now OTG again. Not sure if I can use the customer Kernel with 5.1.1 , did it so long ago now id be no help helping anyone, but it is my 2 cents worth.


Stop WPS Office from recovering deleted files Occasionally, I'd see a message that says WPS Office has recovered a deleted file or something like that. I suspect often times, WPS just does it without even letting me know it has recovered files. I really don't like it doing things for me without my consent. How do I stop WPS Office from recovering files? I have gone through the settings in WPS Office and found nothing of the sort.

This is on a Huawei GR5 2017.

WPS keeps discarded and deleted files in case you need to save or recover them in the future. You are correct that there is no setting related to recovered/retrieved files. However if you are the "Recents" tab, click on the 3-dot then "Retrieved documents", you will be able to see them.

The retrieved files can be found in /path_Internal_Or_SdCard/Android/data/cn.wps.moffice_eng/.cache/KingsoftOffice/file/.recovery folder. Inside the folder, filenames are in base64 except for mapping.info file which contains their status (real filenames, whether a file was not saved or deleted, etc).


Enabling the accelerometer on android phones are the accelerometers on Android always on? or is it possible to enable/disable them? Does by chance activating/deactivating the setting "Auto-rotate screen" by chance activates/deactivate the accelerometer?

The accelerometers are hardware, thus always ON. When you deactive the settings that need them (your example Auto-rotate screen is a good one), you merely deactivate the reading of that sensor to control the activity. A good proof of this is to use the game app "Drop", which uses these sensors. While you may turn off Auto-Rotate, the sensors are still live for the game.


Samsung Galaxy S4 GT I9505 Cyanogenmod 13 6.0.1 Marshmellow 'Andoid starting loop' I have installed Cyanogenmod 13 6.0.1 from here: http://get.cm/?device=jflte
with TWRP recovery, i watched a video and it has alot of good feedback, i double checked everything and install Google apps successfully too. I am now in a android is starting loop, the booting logo of the rom keeps restarting and every ten minutes it says apps starting but it just keeps doing this. I tried formating alldata via the recovery but this doesnt work either. Any suggestions?

Please note that first boot always takes around 5 to 10 minutes to be sure that you've got boot loop on your device.

Before we go into the detailed instructions? Have you tried wiping dalvik cache? If not do it otherwise follow the steps below.

Here is how I would fix this issue:

Make sure that you've already installed USB drivers on the PC.
Also setup fastboot adb drivers. The minimal adb software by xda developer should work fine.
Hopefully you've got the ROM file, extract /unzip to get the boot.img file.
Copy it to the Fastboot drivers folder (Not needed if you've enabled site-wide adb commands, If you're not sure what I mean, I have written a guide on my blog)
Reboot your phone into custom recovery mode.
Run adb fastboot.
Type: "fastboot devices" make sure your device is listed.
Now type this command to flash the boot.img file:

  fastboot flash boot boot.img

Once done reboot your phone using recovery options.

This method has worked for a number of people and devices including Motorola, Google Nexus, LG , Sony and HTC. Feel free to let me know if you have further questions.


How does the S flip case work? I know that the magnets turn the phone on and off, but what about the time/date display on the case? Does the case somehow use the phone's battery to display those? If so, does it not drain the battery faster?

This data is attributed to an online manual for the device at this location:

http://gadgetguideonline.com/s8/galaxy-s8-led-wallet-cover-guide/

NFC powers the device, and is estimated to have minimal draw to the phone battery.

See the quote from the forum thread below the manual:

  No, you cannot turn off the display. The LED cover is powered through
  NFC. Once you snap the cover on, it will drain power. But power
  required is very marginal. It should not affect the battery life of
  the phone.


Lookout gives malware scare when initializing phone or after factory reset When initializing my new (not pre-owned) Samsung Galaxy S7 for the first time or for subsequent times after factory resets, the notification shade shows regarding the Lookout app: "Scan complete. 323 apps scanned - all safe. Get advanced protection today!" Tapping that notification makes it attempt to open a window, presumably for Lookout, but it closes immediately and then a grey bubble notification comes up stating: "Malware no longer exists on your phone." Regardless of whether this notification is tapped, Lookout triggers more notifications when other apps finish loading or have updates installed. For me, the next one is, "Scan finished: Google Play Store is safe. Click to activate total protection, or to change settings." Tapping these opens Lookout properly with a Lookout account login prompt. Does this mean malware is/was on my phone or was it merely a poor design choice of words for first-time initialization?

I tried this with 2 new Android LG phones that have Lookout preloaded and got the same behavior. It's not specific to the Samsung Galaxy S7. It's Lookout's poor design choice of words for first-time initialization.


Divert calls during a time interval How to set-up a phone so that the calls are diverted during a time interval (e.g. from 8:30 to 17:00)?

If it matters, I have a Huawei Ascend P2 running on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and on the UK's "3" mobile network.

I don't know about your device but on my HTC One I have a "Do Not Disturb" function which I can schedule for a particular time. However I think this will block everything; text messages, emails etc. If thats not what you want then I suggest you try Tasker. There is a call divert option in there.


Can the Netflix app be loaded on an Acer Iconia A500 without rooting? Acer recently released an official upgrade to 3.2 for the Iconia A500 tablet, but the Netflix app is still not visible in the market.  Is it possible to get the Netflix app on this tablet without rooting?

The hacked apk from here works: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=18058380&postcount=147


Is it possible to Chromecast a Google+ video from Android? I'm trying to Chromecast a video uploaded to Google+, using my Android phone (Sony Xperia Z). I thought this would be pretty straightforward, as video is already on the net, and it seems the Chromecast has a pretty simple way to just be forwarded an URL and playing it. However, no Chromecast symbol appears when clicking the video in the Google+ app. Anyone knows if this functionality exists or not in the Google+ app?

Chromecast support does not currently exist in Google plus.

If you would like to cast the video, try going to G+ in the chrome beta and opening the video in full screen. The chrome beta has support for casting some videos from the browser.


Can tablets advertised with Android 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3 be updated? I'm looking to buy an Android tablet, but most give specific versions of Android and of course I want the latest version. It seems odd to me why it matters. Can't I just update the OS to the latest once I get the tablet? The fact that companies always advertise the Android OS version makes me think it can't be updated. Is this the case?

Your tablet will come advertised with the version of Android it carries in the box. When they make it they don't know what versions will be released, obviously. The packaging and advertising will say Ross Tablet comes with Kitkat 4.4. That doesn't mean I won't update my hardware with a newer version of Android, but it means there is no guarantee I ever will.

There's nothing that says explicitely it CAN'T be updated, unless the hardware is insufficient to run a particular build. JellyBean was heavy on resources but KitKat is much lighter. It would depend on this also.

Either they didn't update their advertising and/or they didn't update the device. There is no hard fast rule.

Updates to Android itself are creted by Google, then released to the OEM. The actual updates to the device are dealth with by the OEM (manufacturer) and released by them IF they decide they want to. This is after they skin it (Touchwiz, Sense, MotoBlur etc), test it and make whatever changes they decide. This is why I have a HTC on 4.1 and another on 4.4 here.

Each manufacturer has it's own unique hardware, as does each device model. There is no concept of a 'generic' Android ROM across devices. The hardware and software for it (e.g. the OEM's camera) is closed source and ROM developers have to use their own Kernels and work arounds to get these installed on the various devices.

You would need to check on a device by device basis. Google should tell you the answer, but XDA Developers is also a great resource.


How to resize the Android partition on an SD card for the Asus Tinker Board or other SBC So, I have an Asus Tinker Board, and as of today, I have a stable running build of Android with Google Play that runs nicely, except for one thing. The img file I used does not expand out when writing it to my SD card, and thus I'm left with a paltry 5.69GB total from my 32GB SD Card.

My question is this: How can I expand the storage on the SD card?

Windows cannot recognize my SD card partitions for android at all, and apps like AParted from Google Play just seem to crash my TinkerBoard. Any suggestions? Or should I just live with the joys of a lovingly stable build, and add a USB thumb Drive for additional storage? (Admittedly, I'm only using 1.4GB of the 5.69GB after installing my crap so, it's livable, but still a bit disappointing.)

The tinker board SD card size issue when installing Miker´s Android with PlayStore pre installed: One has to perform a factory reset from the Android Settings /Backup&Reset. Wait 5 min to reboot and once it´s ready update Google Play Services.

For more details see this thread:
https://tinkerboarding.co.uk/forum/thread-1204-page-2.html


Preventing Apps From Accessing Images/Contacts/etc Is there anyway to prevent apps, like FaceBook, from accessing the things it wants to access?  I'd rather not let Facebook invade my privacy and take what information it wants.

You would need a custom ROM for that.

Currently this is going to be a feature in android M, but at this moment unless you are using a custom ROM, the only thing you can do is delete Facebook. If you're privacy minded, I would suggest not using Facebook at all. I understand why you are concerned. I don't want to mess up the answer, but they leave tracking cookies when you sign in that track your every move across the Internet. Tracking cookies are small files that are saved in the device viewing a webpage. Sites can look for these files on your device and use them to identify who someone is. In the case of Facebook, once you sign in there is a cookie left with your user ID. Have you ever seen those Facebook Like buttons all across the Internet? They have access to your cookies too, regardless of whether or not you click them. They them report to Facebook that you were on that particular site. Solution -> stop using Facebook entirely.


Nexus 4 and Android 5 I had my nexus 4 rooted , i have heard that rooted phone would not get updated over WIFI
so i Factory Reset my phone , will it now get the update or not?
no signe of update notification yet

If you have a rooted device, you most likely will not be able to install OTA updates (over the air). Factory resetting the device will not un-root the device so the best way of updating it is to do the following:

Get the factory image you wish to install (in your case, lollipop) from the Google developers website

Flash that image by following this tutorial or similar ones on the web.


Snapchat without Google play services? +other problems I have a rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 3. There's no Google Play services on it, and so no apps that require Google can work, and Snapchat is one of them. I tried downloading the Google Play services apk, as well as Google Play Store, but it gives me an error message that says "Google play services has stopped responding." In addition, I've tried using Casper for Snapchat and I got banned from my account for a day. Is there a different, simple way to get Snapchat or Google Play Store/services?

In addition, several apps don't work like YouNow and Atomas. It just says that it stopped responding. Is there a way around this too?

you should download the old version of snapchat, this doesn't require play service.
link: https://snapchat.en.uptodown.com/android/download/46825
you should sign in or sign up and after, update it. and it will work perfect. you can also try this with some apps that requires google play service. just download the first version on Uptodown store and update it after.


Moto Maxx with android 6.0.1 takes random pictures upon on/off button pressing: There is something prompting the camera of my cellphone to take a picture whenever I try to block it. The blocking does occur but a picture is taken.  I took a look on the system UI configs and nothing different is set. How do I check which actions are assigned to my on off/button?

Check under Display and disable the highlighted button. This is on Moto X Play and I think you should find it there in your device too


adb devices show phone in debug mod but not in fastboot mod When debugging mode adb devices , it will show my HTC magic.

But when the phone is in fastboot mod , I can't see my HTC magic in adb devices.

I am using ubuntu 10.10 ,
my /lib/udev/rules.d/11-android.rules

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0c01", MODE="0666", OWNER="<your user name>" #Normal HTC magic
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0c02", MODE="0666", OWNER="<your user name>" #Debug & Recovery HTC MAGIC
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bb4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0fff", MODE="0666", OWNER="<your user name>" #Fastboot magic

Have you checked that the idProduct value is correct? run lsusb when the device is connected in fastboot mode to see the vendor id and product id and check if it matches.

Also, I think it's not supposed to show up on adb devices when in fastboot mode, try fastboot devices instead.


How do I make the music player display on the lock screen? When I'm listening to music on my Android using Music Player, I want to see what song I'm listening to on my lock screen, and maybe even play/pause and go forward/backward on the playlist, but not change the playlist.

How can I get this kind of a setting? Do I have to write my own app?

By default, the stock player has the player controls in Android. Play a song from your stock music player app (the one which was originally included in your mobile) and play a song. When you turn off the screen and get back to the lock screen, you must be able to see the player controls.

You can also try Sony Walkman which offers a number of features including lock screen controls. You can also use an app like Simply Lockscreen to enable music player functionality to your lock screen.


Updated version number not showing I just installed an upgrade (to 22.46.12) on my 2nd gen Moto G LTE, that said it upgraded to Android 5.1. Before the upgrade I was on 5.0.2 and system version 22.41.24, and now I am on 22.46.12, but Android version in settings still shows I am on 5.0.2. In addition, when I check for software updates through settings it tells me my phone is up to date
Has the update applied, or only in part (in addition to the Android OS update it fixed the StageFright vulnerability), or not at all and the system version number is wrongly updated?

Edit: after a while on Motorola's waiting list, I received a message saying:

  We would like to confirm that your phone now supports the latest software version available for it

However checking for software updates still returns the "your devices software is up-to-date" message

Thanks in advance

I had this exact same problem on my Moto G 2nd Gen 4G where after the update my Android version stayed on 5.0.2 and did not change to 5.1 like I expected. I contacted Motorola about the issue and they confirmed that Android 5.0.2 Lollipop is currently the latest version of Android for the Moto G 2nd Gen. They couldn't however explain why I had received a false OTA update and promised to raise the issue. So from what I can tell, the OTA update is most likely to be an error on Motorola's behalf but this should be fixed when Android 6.0 Marshmallow is released for the 2nd Gen Moto G.

Hope this helps answer your question.


The contacts I save in my lava X1 grand gets automatically saved in another android Micromax canvas .. How to solve this problem? The contacts added or deleted in one device gets automatically added or deleted in the other .

If you logged in your google account on both of the devices. It automatically syncs your People details in both device.
If you add one contact in your lava it will automatically gets updated in all the devices which you logged in.
So sign out from the another device or turn off the sync.


GPS readings: why is altitude inaccurate by 50m, while longitude and latitude are more precise? I'm using the GeoTracker application to record position and velocity as I exercise along a track. I live on relatively flat ground, only shift up and down no more than5 meters at the very maximum, but while latitude and longitude readings seem quite precise, the program, which uses GPS (and IMHO does not use the pressure sensors / barometer to determine altitude) reports the difference between maximum and minimum altitude along the track to be about 50m. This is quite inaccurate it seems. Why is this?

Thanks.

It's likely due to the fact that GPS is simply not very well suited for getting precise altitude measurements, and never has been. Certainly not typical consumer-grade chips. Garmin suggests that variances of up to 400 feet are to be expected in their devices, for example. It's just a geometry problem.

With that in mind, I would doubt that Android has much of a meaningful impact here. Any GPS device will struggle to get a particularly accurate altitude reading. I suppose some apps may appear to be "more precise" than others by taking windowed averages of the altitude data or something (rather than directly surfacing the raw data to the user) but they'll all be getting the same values from the GPS chip.


Sophix tablet will not work without an SD card My Sophix tablet was working without the SD card, but now the camera will not work. I get the following error message:

  Insert a SD card before using.

A work around is to install a 3rd party camera app such as Camera MX or FX Camera.


Why is the NFC in the Galaxy Nexus battery? Why is the NFC in the Galaxy Nexus embedded in the battery?

Wouldn't it make more sense to separate the two things? Is there any hardware advantage of being this way?

Disadvantages I can see several, like replacing the battery with another, without NFC...

The NFC feature does not sit in the battery, only the antenna does.

NFC consists of:

an integrated chip (soldered onto the logic board)
an NFC Antenna that needs free view  to the phone's back side
(antenna signals from the sticker on the back of the battery only need to pass the back cover)

If you look at the antenna you'll notice how big it is. It's basically just a coil with 4 windings, see ifixit's teardown. NFC allows for passive devices (Credit cards and such) which need to be fed energy from an active device through the antenna. Some engineer decided its best fit would be as a sticker on the battery.

There's only 2 positions where you can place it:

Back of the battery
Inner side of the battery cover (like with the Nexus S)

My guess is this: By placing it on the battery, the expensive and big 2-point connector (as with the Nexus S) could be merged together with the battery contacts to make it cheaper (and/or maybe more robust).


Does android switch to a different APN when in hotspot mode? I've tried turning on the portable hot-spot mode on my nexus-one and got a message from my operator saying that my plan doesn't cover data traffic made through the web.operator.com APN, as opposed to mobile.operator.com (my "usual" APN). That made me curious. Does that mean that android switches APNs when the hot-spot feature is active? And if so, is this a built-in feature/configuration option or an operator customization?

Update No, the phone doesn't switch to a different APN, but I'm still not sure what triggered the message from my operator...

Update There's kind of a persistent rumor that European Nexus-One phones get tweaked OSes, see the xda-developers forum threads [1] and [2], or google nexus-one forums [1] and [2]. One of the most likely tweaks seems to be the tagging of hotspot traffic, in order to be able to charge for it differently.

Also see http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734138 for a discussion about how they might. Mechanisms other than APN change might include

Time to live
Request header
Data volume

Answer seems to be probably not.


How to show Math formulas on a website? I am reading (in Chrome or Firefox) Math blogs, like the n-Category Café, but finding it difficult because Android will not show the Mathematical symbols (like integral signs, sums, arrows... etc).

Is there something I can do to fix that?

I just tried opening "n-category cafe" using Chrome in my Nexus 5, and it works normally.
So it's probably just a problem with your browser settings.
Check if you are allowing sites to run Javascript by going to Settings -> Site Settings -> Javascipt in your Chrome browser.


Is it possible to reset the compass calibration to factory settings? My Samsung Galaxy S6 indicates constantly the wrong direction in Maps, compass apps, etc. as it shows the North always towards the left side of the phone. (This might be a long-term effect of the magnetic phone case.) Compass calibration is reported as "very good" and re-calibrating the compass by moving the phone in a 8-figure pattern doesn't have any effect.

Is it possible to somehow reset the compass calibration to factory settings?

Thankfully, it looks like removing the phone from the magnetic case and re-calibrating it fixed the issue.

I've thrown the magnetic case on the bottom of a closet and I'm never using it again.


Play Store not downloading app without wifi I have just bought Samsung Galaxy Grand phone featuring android jelly bean. I am trying to download some app using my mobile data. But, it doesn't download application, while I am not connected to wi-fi network. It downloads apps while I am connected to wi-fi without any issue.

Can anybody suggest me, what setting is restricting me to download without wi-fi network?

There are two things to check.

Go into Settings from the Play Store app's menu. At the time the question was written, the third one down is Update over Wi-Fi only. Turn this off if you want to download apps over a cellular internet connection.
In more recent Play Store versions, it's at the top of the list: it says Auto-update apps, and the default is Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only. You need to change this to Auto-update apps at any time. Data charges may apply.

Apps larger than a certain size (I think 50 MB) only download over Wi-Fi regardless of this setting. (The Play Store app will prompt you if you try to download a large app and you're not on Wi-Fi.) This applies to lots of games but not many applications.

The reasoning behind all of these restrictions is because many users pay per kb of data, or they pay extra if they go over a limit. The default behaviour is safe and avoids surprising users with large bills.


World Of Tanks Blitz is not on Google Play Store I am very new to Android ecosystem.  I can't seem to locate this game title on Play Store.  Should it be on Google Play Store?

According to the game's official website, it's available "exclusively on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch". The developer has chosen not to release an Android version.

They may do so at a later date. Often with mobile games, the developer will release on one platform first (usually whichever they're most familiar with) to test how much of a market there is for the game, before porting it to the other platform.


Fastboot flash recovery failed in adroid ZTE kis Q. Several methods tried I'm trying to root my android using adb from a linux distro. When I run

fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.0.2.0-blade.img
I get

>
sending 'recovery' (3768 KB)...
OKAY [  0.142s]
writing 'recovery'...
FAILED (remote: partition 'recovery' not support flash
)
finished. total time: 0.155s

I'm following this site http://rootearandroid.com/zte-kis/

I have looked the solution since a while but there are not specifics about my android, I guess adb is not working correctly. What can I do?

Download SuperSU (zip) 4 on your PC, if you haven’t already.

Connect and mount your phone USB memory on your computer using the USB cable.

Now copy/paste the zip file to your SD card. Make sure the file is in the SD card root (not in any folder).

In ClockworkMod recovery, scroll down to “flash zip from SD card” and press the power button to select it.

Press the Power button again and select “choose zip from sdcard”.

Now using your volume keys, navigate to SuperSu zip and select it using the Power button. Confirm the installation on the next screen and the installation procedure should start now.

After the installation completes, go to “+++++Go Back” and reboot the phone by selecting “reboot system now” from the Recovery menu. The phone will boot now and it might take about 5 minutes to boot on your first time. So, please wait.

RTeran.


Is there a way to root a Samsung Galaxy S4 running LineageOS 17.1? Following the "Samsung (System-as-root)"* instructions, I cannot get Magisk to patch lineage-17.1-20210304-nightly-jfltexx-signed.zip for a Samsung Galaxy S4 (SGH-M919). Magisk throws an "unsupported/unknown image format" error.
*since Magik says SAR=yes
Is there a way to root a Samsung Galaxy S4 running LineageOS 17.1?
cf. "root on 17.1?" r/LineageOS

It seems to be a Magisk 22.0 bug (issue #3949).
Rebooting into download mode (Home + Volume Down + Power) and running

heimdall flash --RECOVERY Magisk-v21.4.zip

rooted it!


Vibration not working on my android device Vibration not working in my android device. I am currently running on android version 4.2 Jelly Bean. My phone model is Lenovo a369i.

if you are comfortable with the disassembly of the devices, you might want to give a look at your vibration module. It might be possible that it is stuck or
oxidized.


Can I root my stock-Gingerbread Captivate without flashing a new kernel? I updated my AT&T Captivate to the stock Gingerbread a few weeks ago, and I've had nothing but problems since -- hangs, lockups, and that constant TetheringManager crash.  I'm about to do a factory reset, but I'd really like to be able to back it up properly first, which of course requires root.

I've done a little research, and SuperOneClick definitely does not work in my situation.  I've seen some people refer to flashing a new kernel, but a) I've never done it, b) it sounds a bit scary, and c) I don't need anything else out of a custom kernel, other than root access.  Is that my only way forward in this situation?

(I found this similar question, but people seem to have ignored the "how do I root" part once they figured out that the OP didn't need to in the first place)

Unfortunately for us (not so much for manufacturers and carriers,) Gingerbread closed the exploits that were previously being used to gain root privileges on older Android OS versions.  This means that tools like SuperOneClick and similar will no longer work.  The only way to get root on Samsung devices with Gingerbread is to flash a pre-rooted image onto the phone with a tool like Odin or Heimdal.

Forums like XDA-Developers and Rootzwiki contain detailed instructions for flashing such an image (kernel only, full stock system, or a completely custom ROM.)


How do I stop the lock pattern from being revealed after I got it wrong? I'm security-minded so my lock pattern is not displayed as I enter it.

By lock pattern, I mean one of these:

The pattern is revealed after a failed lock attempt. I've been through all the settings I can find but there is apparently no switch for this behaviour.

I am using a rooted HTC One S, LineageOS 14.1 running kernel 3.4.

Your device is rooted , so you could try Gravity Box Xposed module has to disable pattern error - thanks to Cool Guy's comment

That aside, since you are security minded

Pattern locks are inherently less secure than PIN locks. Why?

From Android Security Internals: An In-Depth Guide to Android's Security by Nikolay Elenkov** ( runs a blog here )

  .... the code for pattern unlock is entered by joining at least four points on a 3×3 matrix. Each point can be used only once (crossed points are disregarded) and the maximum number of points is nine. Internally, the pattern is stored as a byte sequence, with each point represented by its index, where 0 is top left and 8 is bottom right. Thus the pattern is similar to a PIN with a minimum of four and maximum of nine digits, which uses only nine distinct digits (0 to 8). However, because points cannot be repeated, the number of variations in an unlock pattern is considerably lower compared to those of a nine-digit PIN

(Emphasis Supplied)

**Screenshot of passage here

If you switch over to PIN , you can protect against smudge attacks by scrambling numbers as explained in my answer here either by using an app or Gravity Box Xposed module Marshmallow - disable unlock touch feedback


Install system.img on Android Phone I have made some modification in the android source codes recompile sources and now I have system.img, but I don't know how I can install that image on Android Phone. Have anybody do something similar ? Can anybody provide me some links or information how I can do that ? I am using HTC Amaze Phone.

If you have a fastboot-enabled bootloader then it should be pretty simple. Just put the system.img file somewhere on your PC, connect your device via a USB cable, reboot into your bootloader's fastboot mode and then:

fastboot flash system /path/to/system.img

If you don't have fastboot then you'll have to jump through some more hoops. One option would be to use something like unyaffs to extract the contents of the system.img (if it's an ext2/3/4 filesystem then just mount it) and then package it up as a zip file that can be installed from a custom recovery. There are some tutorials floating around that explain the syntax of the installer script file, but the easiest way to figure it out would probably be to download a custom ROM for your device, unzip it, and look at the updater-script file (should be META-INF/com/google/android/updater-script in the archive).

You may also be able to get away with simply using dd on the device, though I'd be careful if you decide to try it, and make sure you're booted into recovery:

adb push system.img /sdcard/
adb shell
dd if=/sdcard/system.img of=/your/system/partition

Alternatively, you can often build the source so that it creates a zip file instead of raw images, then install the zip from recovery. I'd suggest checking to see see if you have something like make otapackage available to you.


adb sideload lineage.zip yields adb: failed to read command: No error TL;DR
Trying to sideload Lineage, I hit a brick wall getting the following error:
D:\Setups\XXXXX\Lineage FP3\platform-tools_28.0.2(ADB_1.0.41)>
    adb sideload lineage-17.1-20210104-nightly-FP3-signed.zip
adb: failed to read command: No error

The phone displays Timed out waiting for fuse to be ready. simultaneously.
Setting:
I'm trying to install LineageOS on my Fairphone FP3+ using Windows 10. Through workarounds including first difficulties and exploiting the manufacturer flash all .exe, I was able to boot the Lineage recovery and start sideload. adb devices returns the following:
List of devices attached
A2XXXXXXXXX1    sideload

The phone display prints Now send the package you want to apply to the device with "adb sideload <filename>"...
Problem:
I now enter adb sideload lineage-17.1-20210104-nightly-FP3-signed.zip, paying attention on having the archive in the same folder as adb (that's the default way, even if about to change). The result was

either adb: failed to read command: Connection reset by peer with aparent restart of the recovery boot
or a adb: failed to read command: No error in the cmd, giving me Timed out waiting for fuse to be ready. on the phone. I don't trust that error as it doesn't time out by waiting but in an instant after sending the sideload command.

I also double checked and cross-switched the cable, USB port, downloads, software versions (Lineage and recovery/ADB), as well as un- and reinstalled all respective drivers.
More references:

Manage the bootloader of your FP3/FP3+
Manually install Fairphone OS on FP3/FP3+ (from part "Setting:", in the process leads to this link from above for Windows)

I also went through these possibly related questions on this site among others:

Android adb sideload command
adb sideload CM,it shows error

The solution in this very specific case seems to have been reinstalling the host OS (in my case Windows 10). I suspect it to be a driver issue of some sort as the reinstallation of everything used the exact same setups, files etc. I could guess into some of the multiple DisplayLink-ish software I tried to use for my tablet as secondary USB PC display. (Such as Superbrush, Super Display, VirtualTablet, WiredXDisplay, spacedesk and so on, I tried a few.)
While this is not a direct answer to the question, I hope, it could help other people stuck like me. The exact same procedure led to the desired, previously blocked resullt.
TL;DR:
Try a different host device or new installation (of the host OS) instead of giving up!


Backup my Android without my Apps, Settings, Config's, etc. As the title states,

Is there a way I can backup my phone, without including all the extras, that I would just prefer to pick and choose to install later.

feel free to read the whole thing, or just read the bold as the bold summarizes most of what I am looking for. As well as the bottom explaining my device & set up.

The best method I would think of, to do this, would obviously be to do this after a factory restore, and data wipe. But considering I am way past that point, I am trying to find another method.

I already backup all the applications I need, using Titanium Backup, so I don't want to backup my apps that will probably be different at the point of recovery, or will have certain apps I ditched before the point of restore, or have certain configurations I don't use/need/etc. I could go on and on. But the point Is I would just like to backup my stock rom, kernel, with my Super User privileges, without anything else. So I can basically use it as a factory reset, by just flashing my rom.

The main reason I ask this, is because I tend to get big into customization. Recently I used a font installer, form Rom Toolbox, and basically bricked my phone by getting caught in a boot loop. It would never pass to boot animation. So I had to use an old Odin Image with Clockwork Recovery. That was all I had. Luckily that fixed it, but I would like to make my own recovery images.

But, really the best thing I would just love, yet I am not sure whether it is possible, or as customizable, is it would be great if their was a way to just pick and choose what you want, or don't want to backup to a single image file.

Like an application that lets you choose certain things:

System
Root
Kernel
Applications with or without caches, data, accounts, and settings, etc.
System Settings
Account Settings

...you get the point...

Now there wouldn't happen to be something like this for backups would there? Or is that just a dream of mine?

Even though right now, I would prefer to just backup only my system without everything else, like apps. Maybe one day in the future I may like to be able to backup other things as well. Which is why I ask. Might as well use a "one backup to rule them all" method if it exists. But if not that's fine, I could always just backup the system itself, and continue to use Titanium.

Now that, that is covered, what are all the different methods of backups? Odin. Nandroid. Anything else? What do they cover, and how customizable, etc.

Ive been looking into this for the past week, but I am having trouble finding something that is relevant to what I am looking for. And all the information regarding backups seems quite specific to certain devices, and custom roms.
Which puts me kind of at a fallback, as I have a pretty uncommon device, with a pretty default rom.

I have a Samsung Conquer 4G (SPH-D600) With the FE16 firmware update, on a stock rom with root, with a slight mod of having ClockworkMod Recovery.

So when I press and hold the: "Volume Down, & Power button" it takes me to a "ClockworkMod based recovery mode" (according to what it says on the header on the screen.)

So that's what I am working with.

Any thoughts on this selective backup utilities I am thinking off? Any good resources I should look into on this topic? as well as any other information you may find relevant to this situation that you would care to share?

I would greatly appreciate any input on the subject, as android backups aren't a topic I know much of anything on, and cant really find any good resources on the subject myself.
So any and all help is appreciated. Even just links are great. I enjoy reading for myself.

Odin is not a backup utility, its rather more of a means to flash boot/recovery and the rom itself. So that's one off the list. :)

Use CWM to backup the entire handset to SDCard - this includes, boot, recovery, system, userdata partitions. Easy and much quicker to restore from! The latest Titanium Backup can do a restore from a nandroid created by CWM.

Can you include a screenshot of this "ClockworkMod based recovery mode" as that does not sound quite an official CWM and hence would be slightly concerned. Official CWM would have this as shown below! Note the lack of the wording 'ClockworkMod based recovery mode'.

To perform the backup, use the Volume down key to scroll down until you reach 'backup and restore' as shown:

Hit the Home key, to bring you to this screen, the highlight bar is on '-Backup' for some obscure reason, the screenshot failed on this one so no screenshot, hit the home key again to start the backup process.

When you do a restore, it will erase boot/system and userdata, and does the job in dumping everything back in place. As if nothing has happened next time by rebooting within CWM. Consider this as a equivalent of a Windows System Restore Point, cannot go wrong there.

But ultimately, what you're asking for, Titanium Backup does it quite nicely. See the screenshot below, where there is a list of apps and can choose which to backup/restore.

Here's a menu option to do the extraction from a CWM backup.

Ultimately, it is up to you how to do the backup, pretty much in the same way doing a backup on Windows, the strategy used will depend and vary, to each and to their own. Personally, as I experiment a lot with ROMs, I do a straight nandroid backup, then get down to flashing another ROM and if I don't like it, I can go back to CWM to do a restore.

As for Settings etc, I ignore them, as that can be a minefield which may cause a ROM's apps to force close so I disregard them and selectively choose which apps I wish to backup.

Using the two combined can be quite potent means of backing up.

Edit:
This question - how you managed to take a sreenshot of CWM? If I'm not mistaken, it is run at the boot point making it act like a "BIOS" in terms of PCs. So how did you do it?

The recovery is identical to Android's ROM running from /system, it has its own kernel, near identical to the one used when booting into /system. The recovery has the init.rc script heavily modified to not to start up the Android's services that makes up the standard familiar environment. In fact, if you were to peek into the init.rc, it executes one program, called appropriately enough recovery which is what you're seeing here.

When the bootloader runs, its like this in English pseudo-code

load kernel from boot partition at memory address.
If Volume Down key is pressed then
read from recovery partition's kernel and chain boot load mechanism (read recovery's kernel into memory address, and jump into the entry point of that kernel and start running, overwriting the previously loaded boot kernel) and execute run scripts to bring up recovery program a lá CWM and hence in recovery environment
else
continue to run as normal reading from system partition and execute run scripts and bring up services a lá Android OS and hence in system environment.
endif

So quite clearly, there is no difference behind the scenes, the kernel, shell scripts, etc.

As to how to obtain the screen-shots, that is a specialized script specifically for the Zte Blade and using the linux tools imagemagick command line utilities involving ffmpeg and mogrify, it is hardcoded to use the resolution of the screen for the Zte Blade, i.e. 800x480, and using adb to pull in the framebuffer, pass it into ffmpeg, and flip it over. IIRC, it does not work on any other resolution and depends on the kernel itself if it has framebuffers compiled in.

#!/bin/sh
adb pull /dev/graphics/fb0 fb0 && ffmpeg -vframes 1 -vcodec rawvideo -f rawvideo -pix_fmt rgb565le -s 480x800 -i fb0 -f image2 -vcodec png $1.png && mogrify -flip -flop $1.png && rm fb0


Find out which app is making notification sounds? I've got a samsung galaxy tab 8, and a few days ago it started making a notification sound but with no notification banner.. I don't know what app is doing it and I didn't install anything around the time in started..

Is there a way to trace this back to the source app somehow?

Thanks

You can disable your notifications by following these steps: (Depending on model of device and Android build these steps may or may not be exact)

Go to Settings -> Applications
Select Application and uncheck the 'Show notifications' box
When prompted to confirm -> click OK.

I did this manually, but there is an app in the Google Play store that can disable all notifications but it requires ROOT.

Here is the app in case you have ROOT access and decide to go that route:
Notifications Off


Moving app data from galaxy phone to tablet I want to transfer a game with my progress form my phone to my tablet. The game is in my Google play account but it does not show my progress when I open the game. Please help!

If the devices are rooted you can use a program called Data Sync

If it's not rooted, you can use a program called Helium


Device reboots into recovery after flashing CyanogenMod I'm retrying to install CyanogenMod in my cellphone after some time. I did the following:

I used the sideload method. Everything worked fine and I did precisely what is written in there. The problem now is that when I click on reboot system now, it reboots, turns the purple light on, vibrates and then get back to the recovery menu. The difference is that it returns to a different menu: The first menu was this:

(Click image to enlarge)

Now it's showing the same menu with this background: That is, the same menu with the laid down Android mascot. I don't know what is happening.

How did you get to the cyanogen recovery?
Did you flash it from fastboot?

Was the device bootloader unlocked?
(or) Did you go through some oem-unlock fastboot command?

I suppose it is related to oem-unlocking. If the manufacturer chooses not to boot unsigned images on a locked bootloader, then this is the case. Many recent devices fall into this. In such case, you need to do oem-unlocking following the instructions from your device manufacturer and then install any custom roms.


Making multiple files or a folder available offline in Google Drive Is there any way to make multiple files or a whole folder available offline in Google Drive at the same time? For the offline folder it would be nice if there was some way when a document is synced to it then the document would be downloaded automatically, is this possible?

I'm currently having to select each file individually and make it available offline which is tedious.

If there isn't the possibility of doing the above in the official Google Drive application are there any other clients available for Android that would allow this?

Select all files (automatically using the menu option), then slide the "make available offline" switch. It will keep all the selection on device.

You can select a folder but Google will refuse to "make available offline".  Instead go into the folder and select any number of files for syncing, and the parent folder will of course also now be created.

Finally there is an option to automatically make recent files offline, but I don't know whether those files are then permanently made available, or only for a couple of weeks for example.


Samsung Galaxy I939 Sim card not recognized after Cyanogenmod I just upgraded to CM 13 nightly from yesterday on my Samsung Galaxy S3 but now it shows no SIM card. Here is what I tried:

Clear system cache
Reboot (>20 times)
Verify the SIM card works by switching it to a different phone
Insert a piece of paper on top of the SIM card to improve connectivity

The phone can not call and say "No SIM card - No service."

Also, this phone came from China (Samsung Midas (I939) by China Telecom).

Thanks in advance!

Did you downloaded Cyanogenmod for I939? Cyanogenmod for I9300/I9305/I9300I won't work (I had those 3 phones, they all have different modem). If the ROM you've flashed is not for I939, go back to Samsung stock ROM. Otherwise...

Do you have /efs backup? If you do, restore it, should help. If you don't...

Well, I haven't found any flashable modems for I939, so you should go back to stock Samsung ROM (you can try getting it here (if you are in China you may need to use VPN) or just search it, or look for f.e. "I939KEDLK6_I939CTCDLK6_I939KELK6_HOME.tar.md5" file). It's flashable with Odin.

If it doesn't help, try:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pai4BH3AWq8
http://www.alfredivy.per.sg/blogger/2014/03/efs-folder-imei-corrupted/

If it still doesn't help, you'll need:

working /efs backup (nothing bad happens if 2 phones have the same IMEI afaik), then just restore it and you are done OR
working nv_data.bin file. Those aren't common in the Internet, you should look for other people with working I939.

If you have nv_data.bin, do as this Polish guide says:

go back to Samsung stock ROM
root it
(flash recovery if it got deleted)
install "18060]三星 I939 番茄花园 4.1.2 三网版 5.0" ROM from tomatolei.com
download Root Browser or Total Commander
(perhaps remount /efs as RW - download Terminal Emulator and run su -> enter -> mount -o rw,remount /efs -> enter) <- guide says nothing about it
remove everything in /efs (or better, move it somewhere else)
reboot your device
(perhaps again remount /efs as RW)
edit /efs/factoryapp/factory_mode contents: change "OFF" to "ON"
reboot your device again
(perhaps again remount /efs as RW)
put someone's nv_data.bin in /efs, overwrite existing file if any
reboot
create /efs backup (for example with "efs professional")
go back to Samsung stock ROM
root it
right now I'm not sure, if you IMEI is not correct, try installing "18060]三星 I939 番茄花园 4.1.2 三网版 5.0" again or Cyanogenmod

After this you should get correct IMEI number, if not then you'll have the same IMEI as someone else.

If nothing helps, go to service. Official Samsung service may refuse to help you, but you may find unofficial one with Z3x tools


How to disable sound from an app I have got a game I play (The Simpsons Tapped Out) that is based on time. (For example every 5 hours I get a coin).

But every time something is completed (like a quest) I hear from the speakers something like ("yeaho work is done!")

I would like to disable that sound, but there is no setting for it within the game.

Because when I am working I want to hear when someone is calling, not when the app is done doing something.

Is there a way to disable the sound of one app?

Or is there a setting in my phone that can disable that sound?

I am using Android 4.1.2 on an LG Optimus L5.

There are several possibilities:

manually setting all volumes to 0, except for those channels you want to keep (e.g. alerts, notifications, system). Issue: on some devices/systems some channels seem to be "locked together", so as soon as e.g. volume for calls is increased, some other slider increases automatically along. An app like Audio Control might help on that.
same thing, but use some automation tool (e.g. tasker). This might work-around the slider-lock.
disabling notifications from the app (might not work if the app doesn't count that as "notification")
if root access is available: replace/remove the corresponding sound file (credits go to Dan for this)
using a helper like App Override. Unfortunately this is no longer available on Google Play, so I linked to the original thread on XDA.


Calendar notification - no sound On Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 with MIUI 10, Android 7 there is no way to enable sound for calendar notifications, I get vibrations only. I have tried several calendar apps including Google, MIUI, aCalendar+, various settings including setting battery optimisation off but it never plays a sound, it only vibrates.

When I press TEST in aCalendar+ notifications settings it vibrates but makes no sound and provides no further help. Of course my sounds are on and I have even tried to turn off bluetooth. I have no SD card, all sounds are stored in internal memory.

Notifications form WhatsApp or Facebook messenger work well with the sound.

Any hints?

Finally figured it out by browsing and reviewing all available settings.

There is an entry Notifications and status bar under System & Devices menu.
There is an entry App notifications and I have enabled everything for aCalendar+ there. Now notifications come with sound finally.

Those settings are quite complicated especially for former Windows Phone users where such stuff worked out of the box.

A good article about the problem is here.


App´s won´t install even if I have the default writing location set to the SD Card I recently bought a phone with the horrible android 5.0 Lollipop. Now I regret I ever bought it. I have some major issues with the playstore and the gallery.

First of all I cannot download any app, I´ve got an SD card and have it set to be my defualt writing location, it has over 1 GB of free space left, all the big apps like facebook and whatsapp are on the SD card but it still will not let me download any app. Everytime I try download an app even if it is just
3MB in size.

Then the gallery.... I don´t know what they were thinking but they removed the almighty "move from album to album" function.... smart move..

Does anyone know how to fix these problems? otherwise I'm just going to downgrade to 4.0 which will feel like an upgrade in this case.

May be you need to update Google Play Services. You can do this through the Google Play Store.


Relation between Linux and Android kernel versions I know Android is a modified linux kernel, but does that mean there is any relation between the kernel numbers?

In other words, Is kernel number (for example) 2.6.xx of Android somehow based on or modified from 2.6.xx of Linux? or is it maintained separately?

Your first guess is correct: an Android kernel is a patched version of the mainstream Linux kernel with the same version number.


How do I search for .gif image on my S3? I want to find a particular .gif but I only have phone access.  Can Google images search for .gifs or just images?  I can't see an option to upload a.gif and try to find where it came from...is it possible?  I have a .gif and I want to find the source on my S3?

OS: 4.1

GOOGLE GOGGLE app can Help to upload a image
Google Search By Image APP

Open Google image in your Default or Chrome browser

1st Method

type filetype:gif [your query] or inurl:gif [your query] then Tap Search

result will be in .gif format

2nd Method

Open Google image in your Default or Chrome browser

then Tap More > Type > choose Animated


How to set up a host to IP mapping on unrooted Android? I've a website running on my computer, and I want to test it from my Nexus 7 tablet. I.e. over the local WiFi LAN. If I type in the IP address it connects, but shows the wrong web site, because I'm using named virtual hosting.

So, what I want to do is be able to type mysite.local in to Chrome/Firefox on the Nexus, have them convert that to 10.1.2.3 (or whatever the local IP address is), then call the 10.1.2.3 server giving mysite.local as the Host to request.

My Question: Does an Android 4.x tablet have an /etc/hosts files, or equivalent, that I can edit? (Without having to root the tablet, or anything like that.)

On my Linux computers I do this by adding an entry in /etc/hosts:

10.1.2.3  mysite.local

(Or Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts on a Windows machine does the same.)

BTW, this is a semi-duplicate of Manually set a hostname for IP address (i.e. /etc/hosts equiv.?), but that question was for Android 2.2, where apparently it was not possible. (One of the alternative ideas suggested there was configure DNS at the local router, but as far as I can tell my router does not do DNS locally so does not have that option. I could set up my own DNS server to do this, but that feels like a Big Job Solution.)

You cannot simply edit the hosts file on Android, as it resides on a read-only file system: /system/etc/hosts, see:

How to edit etc/hosts file
How to change the hosts file on android

Alternatives are:

use a DNS server like DNSMasq in your local network to take care for that "centrally"
use "root powers" to force-edit the system file as described above
install a "local DNS server" on your Android device to use that, e.g. DNS Server


How to fix "unfortunately , the process com.android.systemui has stopped" error? Recently, I flash cm-11-20140504-SNAPSHOT-M6-maguro.zip to my Galaxy Nexus GSM. And I flash PA gapps. And after that, I used Titanium backup to restore  all my applications. However, I met this unfortunately , the process com.android.systemui has stopped error sometimes. How can I fix it without doing a factory reset.

PS. If I enter the recovery and clear cache, it will be OK. However it is too annoying to do it each time. Is there other way to fix it. Or is it a bug in this version?

Refer:

Unfortunately, System UI has stopped
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2/help/process-com-android-systemui-stopped-t1110673

I have been experiencing this as well on the same build/phone.  A user on this thread claims that M5 may be much less error prone.

I haven't reverted to M5 yet myself.  When this error loop happens to me, I hold down the power button and try to select "reboot" between the times when I hit ok in the "Unfortunately... " box.


*Flickering* red notification light? I have a Droid 2 Global that I got a few days ago.  Today, its notification light started flickering red.  Not flashing or blinking, but flickering.  It will be dim and then get bright randomly, but never turn off.  The light is on when the phone is on, sleeping, and even when powered off - the only way to make it go away is to pull the battery.

Here's a quick video I took; apologies for the poor quality.  When it looks like it has turned off, the light is really just very dim.

Any ideas what's wrong?  I'm having a real WTF moment.

If it happens when the phone is off it's gotta be a bad hardware connection.  I'm guessing on of the leads just barely makes contact or something.  You may want to get a replacement.