Errors after MIUI ROM flashing with TWRP I'm trying to flash Xiaomi EU stable version of MIUI 10 on my Redmi Note 4 MTK.

TWRP: 3.0.2
ROM: Xiaomi EU MIUI 10 (HMNote4_V10.2.1.0)
Gapps: arm64-6.0-nano

After first flash with full wipe, it has stuck in Setup Wizard at SIM selection with Unfortunately, Setup Wizard has stopped error.

Java error message:

java.lang.IncompatibleClassChangeError: The method 'void android.telephony.SubscriptionManager.setDefaultDataSubld(int)' was expected to be of type virtual but instead was found to be of type direct (declaration of 'com.google.android.setupwizard.carrier.SimSetupActivity$SetSimDataFragment' appears in /system/priv-app/SetupWizard/SetupWizard.apk)
at com.google.android.setupwizard.carrier.SimSetupActivity$SetSimDataFragment.apply(SimSetupActivity.java:166)
at com.google.android.setupwizard.carrier.SimSetupActivity$SimSetupFragment.applySelection(SimSetupActivity.java:326)
at com.google.android.setupwizard.carrier.SimSetupActivity$SetSimDataFragment.applySelection(SimSetupActivity.java)
at com.google.android.setupwizard.carrier.SimSetupActivity.start(SimSetupActivity.java:93)
at com.google.android.setupwizard.BaseActivity.onNextPressed(BaseActivity.java:378)
at com.google.android.setupwizard.BaseActivity.onNavigateNext(BaseActivity.java:660)
at com.android.setupwizardlib

Then I re-flashed it without wipes. And another error emerged - Unfortunately, Settings has stopped

Java error message:

java.lang.RuntimeException:
Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.android.settings/com.android.settings.wifi.WifiSetupActivity}:
java.lang.lllegalStateException: You need to use a miui theme (or descendant) with this activity.
at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(Activity Thread.java)
at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(Activity Thread.java)
at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1100(ActivityThread.java)
at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.Zygotelnit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(Zygotelnit.java)
at com.android.internal.os.Zygotelnit.main(Zygotelnit.java)
Caused by: java.lang.lllegalStateException: You need to use a miui theme (or descendant) with this activity.
at com. miui.internal.app.ActivityDelegate.installSubDecor(SourceFile)
at com.miui.internal.app.ActivityDelegate.onCreate(SourceFile)
at miui.app.Activity.onCreate(SourceFile)
at com.android.settings.kg.onCreate(SettingsActivity.java)
at com.android.settings.wifi.WifiSetupActivity.onCreate(WifiSetupActivity.java)
at android.app.Activity.performCreate(Activity.java)
at android.app.Instrumentation.callActivityOnCreate(Instrumentation.java)
... 10 more

What do to fix this issue?

Do not install any Gapps over Xiaomi EU Stable ROMs. The ROM already has Gapps and installing another Gapps can cause conflict. Flashing the ROM without Gapps solved the problem for me.


Prevent app from knowing about root access (sandbox) I'm running CyanogenMod 12.1 on a Motorola Moto G3. When I tried setting up some app, it failed on me with the message that it won't run on rooted devices, even though I disabled root access.
Now I'm looking for a way to sandbox said app, to prevent it from knowing about the ROM.

Due to changes in the SafetyNet API, which is a mandatory part of Google Play Services, most apps cannot have the fact you are rooted, or modified in anyway (such as running CM), hidden from them. Most financial apps, Android Pay, Pokemon Go and others use this API to check and there is no known work around at the moment, and according to some developers this may never be possible anymore IF the app is using the SafetyNet API to check for modifications.

Until recently (early October 2016), it was fairly easy to get around this check, but today it is almost impossible due to changes over the last month. The only known work around is to go back to stock. Be aware than starting with Android 7, even having an unlocked bootloader with no other modifications will cause a SafetyNet API check to fail.

If the app is just checking for su or standard root calls, then RootCloak or Suhide should work, but most apps are switching to SafetyNet now that Google is actively updating and enforcing it.

http://phandroid.com/2016/10/06/safetynet-update-no-longer-hides-root/
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/10/19/safetynet-api-fails-unlocked-android-phones-android-pay-affected/

There are multiple other sources, but to see why this is nearly a foolproof method, or will be soon, see how SafetyNet works here.


Android keyboard and remapping the CTRL key I have an Samsung Galaxy 10.1 running Android version 4.1.2. I am using ssh to remotely connect to my main machine which runs Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Once I am connected I do all my work in emacs 24.3. I also have a bluetooth keyboard.

My question is about remapping the Caps Lock key to function as the Ctrl key. I do this with my main machine by changing a setting in the terminal options. I checked the options in juiceSSH and there appears to be no equivalent. Perhaps there is a general way to do this with Android or the Bluetooth Keyboard.

How can I remap the Caps Lock character to function as the Ctrl character?

If you need more information let me know.

I managed to remap the Caps Lock key to Ctrl using External Keyboard Helper Pro. It was really straightforward, just poke around in the settings and you'll find a way to create a custom mapping (Keycode 58 --> Left Control).


Change Navigation Language Google Maps I got a new OnePlus One recently and have noticed that the Google Maps Navigation Voice is in English (India) ( I bought the phone in India). This is very annoying and refuses to change no matter how much i change the TTS settings and delete the English(India) voice. It just redownloads and speaks in that voice. It is just fine English (US) on a Moto X I also bought in India (App not Updated).So my questions: a) Is this a "feature"? b) How do I fix it?
I would like the English(US) Google TTS voice to work.

You were probably nearly there and maybe missed one step. Unfortunately the easiest way to help you is to take you through the steps from the start. If you've already set something or downloaded the language, just move on to the next step, but check each step in order:

Open "Settings" and under the heading "Speech" tap Language & input>Text-to-speech output. This takes you to a screen logically titled "Text-to-speech output".

On that screen, to set the engine, tap the cogwheel by Google Text-to-speech which takes you to the "Settings" screen (not such a useful name). Set:

"Language" to English(US) instead of "Use system language". If this isn't available, it will be after the next two steps.
"Setting for Google TTS Engine" as you want (update and WiFi only)
"Install voice data" then on the next screen (titled "Google TTS voice data") tap English(US) and ensure you have downloaded the voice(s) you want. If not, download them and wait until download is complete. If you have more than one English(US) voice downloaded (Male/Female), select the radio button by the one you prefer.

Now back out one step to the screen titled "Settings". Check that Language is set to English(US) and not "Use system language". If you've downloaded and selected English(US) Male or Female in #1 above, this should now set it correctly.
Now back out one step to the screen titled "Text-to-speech output". The last item on this screen is "Default language status". This should now show "English (United States) is fully supported". If it does, click "Listen to an example" and you should hear the language you set in the gender you chose.

If you followed these steps please come back and let us know it worked - or not ;)


No way to clear the Monthly Data Limit on Huawei Mate 10 Lite, Android 7.0, EMUI 5.1 So, I'm in my 3rd month of ownership of my first (and last) Huawei smartphone and I have discovered yet another strange family of issues.

I have a 20GB monthly data limit from work so I rarely check my data usage. But I had a few extra charges on my last bill so I decided to check it out. (First time on this phone)

The first shock was that there was no Sum of the usage, just a graph with the daily peaks and that's it. So if it was say the 30th, then you would have to add-up 30 days worth of data to find out how much you have left. What a joke:

Anyway, so I figure that I should add a data limit and maybe that will Sum-up my usage. So I tap on the gear icon on the top right, then on Monthly Data Limit and enter 18GB. Voila, my total appeared:

From here on, the story gets even stranger.

I tapped on the pencil icon and for some strange, inexplicable reason, you can actually edit your usage. What exactly is the point of that??? So I enter a number and tap on OK to see what happens, and now the Used total becomes whatever amount I entered:

So I decided to revert to the ACTUAL total usage and I was confronted with yet another trademarked Huawei irritation. You cannot clear your own usage, you have to enter something in that box, otherwise Save stays disabled:

So as a last resort I thought that I should clear my data limit and be done with all this mess. Sadly I discovered that there is no way of doing that. It seems that once you enable the data limit, you're stuck with one. You can only change the number of MBs or GBs and again like above, you have to enter something in that box otherwise OK is disabled:

I tried Network settings reset but all that does is delete your stored Wi-Fi networks (thanks Huawei) and Bluetooth devices (thanks again !)

Any ideas?

Just clear the Phone Manager's cache and it will go bat to 'not set' if you don't want to clear its data, Setting → Apps and Notifications → Phone Manager → Storage → Clear Cache.


Beaglebone Black CPU speed I have a Beaglebone Black which runs Android. It has a 1GHz CPU. Bu when I read it's clock speed from adb I got 300MHz. I'm using following commands:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_cur_freq
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_max_freq
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/cpuinfo_min_freq
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_min_freq

All of them returns 300000. I'm using Android image from Texas Instruments. Is tehere a problem? Is my Beaglebone Black running on 300MHz or is it just a system error? I try couple of apps to learn my CPU speed. All of them says 300MHz. But i think they are reading those files too.

It was beacause I power it up via USB. It sets it's own clock speed to 300MHz. When I power it up via 5VDC power supply, It runs on 1GHz.


Add an app to the Google Playstore installed list I have recently have had to flash my GApps package on Cyanogen. As a result all the application that were previously listed in the installed apps section are no longer present any more.

Is there any way I can add them back there so that PlayStore will continue to track updates for them ?

You can use Titanium Backup's Market[sic] Doctor feature to restore your apps to the 'Installed' list in Google Play Store. Here's how:

Open Titanium Backup.
Press the Menu button on your device.
Select Market[sic] Doctor .
From the popup, select User apps or User and system apps depending on which kind of app isn't showing up on your 'Installed' list.
Select all apps from the list that will show up, or choose just the ones you want to show up in Google Play Store, then select Done in the upper-right corner of the screen.
Wait until the operation finishes.
Open Google Play Store's Installed list and your apps should be there.

Cheers.


what is the meaning of the output of the users list command I'm using the cmd user list command and this is the output I'm getting from the shell.

  UserInfo{0:Owner:13}

  UserInfo{23:shalevM:20}

what does the last variable means? the first one is clearly the user's id and the second is the user's name, but the last one is changing from time to time and I don't know what does it mean.

The structure of the output is as follows:

  UserInfo{id:name:flags}

Flags are basically bits of information describing the data model's level of access and/or permissions.

You can read some of the code comments on the flags defined in the UserInfo class here:

https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/core/java/android/content/pm/UserInfo.java


Can you dump the contents of your phone (os + apps + data) and run that in an emulator/Android Studio? Is there a way to dump the contents of your phone (OS + apps + data) and run them on a PC in an emulator of some sort?

I feel like there are security implications to being able to do this but with physical access to a device my experience has been that for the most part security simply disappears. I'm not knowledgeable about how custom ROMs etc are made but feel like there might be tools to do what I'm speaking of.

Backstory: Basically, my phone's screen died and I am in the process of pulling contents off of the phone. I'm using AndroidScreencast to interact with the GUI. This is a slow process as the update of Android Screencast is a bit slow. I'm using adb shell to simply cat files to the sdcard.
This process made me wonder if there was an easier way.  Is there a way to use dd (or some other application) to pull the entire ROM and then emulate that such that I don't have to use the android screencast?

The device in question is running an unrooted version of Android 2.3? (I don't have the device in front of me now so I can't post that.)  I have been able to get root access using exploid and that is how I've been sending files to the sdcard for retrieval.

To reiterate in a slightly different way, can you backup your os+apps+data via a dump and then run them locally on a pc somehow?

No, generally speaking there is no way to do this.  Your ROM is customized for your phone and is pretty tied to that specific hardware.

You could, of course, pull the apps and install them into an emulator, and then back up the data for them on the phone and restore that data on the emulator.  With root and 2.3, the simplest way to do this might be via an app like Titanium Backup.


Update from ADB option under recovery menu How does one typically use the "Update from ADB" option in the Recovery menu? Do I have to connect the phone via a usb cable to my laptop & provide the necessary update files?

Where on the laptop do I keep the update files & where will I download these files from?

In case my phone model helps it is a Moto G 1st edition XT1033.

IDK which Recovery (stock/custom) your device is running because in my device CWM 6.0 for Android 4.2.1 shows "Install zip from sideload" option. Anyhow, I've verified that both options points to same thing i.e. sideloading from PC.

This option will allow you to push a .zip file into the device accompanied by an automated installation of it. For a custom recovery this file can be any app, binary or system update. For a Stock recovery, you'll have to see what it allows to push. (I'm assuming you can only push signed system updates from them.)

The usage is simple. Choose the option in recovery which will show some output like:

  Send the package to the device with adb sideload <filename>...

Your device (as obvious) has to be connected into PC with ADB drivers installed. Issue the command adb sideload filename.zip where filename.zip is the .zip file you want to sideload. It will show some processing and eventually will install.


How to root Lava Iris 60? I have Lava Iris 60 running on Android 7.0 Nougat with Mediatek MT6737m chipset. I'm trying to root this phone.
I have tried many PC software for rooting, but none of them work. I have tried to unlock the bootloader, but it is not working. I have installed all MTK drivers. In cmd, it's not recognizing the fastboot device.
How to root Lava Iris 60?

To root the Lava Iris Fuel, you must disconnect your device from the Internet and then use Kingroot. You can download Kingroot and find more detailed instructions on the official Kingroot XDA thread.


How to add StackExchange podcast to Google Listen (on Android)? I'm trying to add the StackExchange Podcast to Google Listen.

I've tried searching for it within Google Listen. No luck.

I think: if you can find an RSS feed for it, you can add it to Google Reader, and put it in the "Listen Podcasts" folder.  That should make it magically sync on your phone.  I think.


Wi-Fi won't stay off I have a Motorola Droid and have just installed the latest update.

The Wi-Fi network at my workplace is temperamental, so I prefer to simply turn off the Wi-Fi and use 4G.

The issue is, when I turn it off (in Settings ~> Wi-Fi ~> move the slide bar to "off") it shows as off, however the next time I turn the screen on, the Wi-Fi is back on.

How can I stop this?

This is strange behavior, and one I have not actually seen before.

Do you by any chance have an app installed that could be turning the Wi-Fi on? Also, how long do you wait between sliding the slider and turning the screen off - it may not have had time to update.

I have only ever since this issue once, and I believe that it was a software issue.

If you cannot fix it, I would recommend 'forgetting' your works Wi-Fi network, so that Android does not automatically connect to it. You can do this by long pressing on the Wi-Fi network in the Wi-Fi settings menu.


Change default behaviour of date picker Is there any way to change the date picker of OnePlus 3t. I can only traverse only through months. imagine setting dob for a 30+ yr old guy.

Android 8.0
Oxygen OS 5.0.2

Just click on the year (showing on the top eg - 2001) then you can change the year It will show list of years like this:


Make whatsapp prompt security code each time The WhatsApp's 2 step security allows to set a code. So, whenever we re-register with the same mobile number, It will prompt for the code and will continue if it is correct.

Alternatively, WhatsApp prompt the code randomly. I mean when opening whatsapp sometimes, It will ask for the code.

But there is no specific frequency for that. It's just random.

So, my question is By editing any file, can I make WhatsApp prompt the code each time when I open WhatsApp.

Because I don't want other app lockers. If I am able to achieve this, it will work as an applock for WhatsApp.

Device : Yu Yureka (AO5510) Cyanogen 12 Official non rooted.

That code input shows to help you remember the 2 Step Verfication code and Yes it is random. So it can't replace your applocker.


Lost all my contacts after flashing custom rom (sg2) I got a Galaxy S2 as an upgrade from my HTC Hero around January this year. My phone contacts have always been synced to my Gmail account and the backup worked since I got all my contacts on my SGS2 from my HTC Hero. However, I flashed a custom ROM on my SGS2 and since then only 14 of my contacts have been retrieved. When I try to manually sync the phone with Google it still only shows the 14 contacts. I visited http://google.com/contacts and to my surprise I only have the 14 contacts there as well.

How can I fix this problem? Do I have to flash it back to custom rom or is there any other way?

Via your desktop computer, go to the Contacts section in Gmail. Click the MORE button and then RESTORE CONTACTS.

You'll be shown a dialog box where you can pick a particular time to restore to within the past 30 days.

That should restore your contact data.

After that just sync your device.


How to make incoming SIP calls work on Android 4.x? I have a SIP account which I entered into the "Internet Call Settings" of the native android phone app. I am able to place outgoing SIP calls, but no luck with the incoming ones. I am new to the SIP subject, so I was wondering what I am missing and a description how incoming SIP works would be a plus!

Info:

Phone: Nexus 4
OS: Android 4.3
SIP Provider: didlogic (sip.didlogic.net)
Google voice account: available

Feel free to ask for more info. I want to figure this thing out.

EDIT: I am on t-mobile $30 unlimited data and text plan, in case it makes any difference, but it still does not work when im at home on wi-fi.

EDIT 2: Let me ask this: How does the inbound SIP work? Does the phone or wi-fy needs to constantly listen for a signal at the port 5060 or is the phone does a simple alike keep-alive connection with the SIP server in the background?

On Android 4.1.x with enabled native SIP call stack:
Internet Call Settings > Enable Incoming Calls

If you set your DID account correctly and your SIP provider supports DID, then you will be able to receieve calls.


Samsung Galaxy S4: what application is responsible for "Time to home" notices? On my Samsung Galaxy S4, I constantly get notifications "Time to home XXX minutes". They are not only useless for me, but also apparently some app is accessing my location, internet, and is draining my battery.

I couldn't find out what is responsible for that. What app is showing that messages, and how to turn it off?

Google Now, you can disable in the settings of the "Search" app.


Questions about "Nandroid" backups I have a nexus 4 and I'm having issues with Android 5.0 so I was thinking to go back to 4.4.4, but first I want to backup the current state.

Before I do this, I have a few questions:

if create a full nandroid backup with Nexus Root Toolkit, then Flash 4.4.4 + unroot, then change my mind and restore the backup, will the Phone be in precisely the same state as before? Meaning Android 5.0, same apps installed, no lost config etc. ?
can i switch between backups as I please without any side effects? Like restore a 4.4.4 backup, then restore a 5.0 backup ...
can the contents from these backups be visualized on the computer?

thanks

Good Thing you don t have a Samsung (KNOX wont let you easily downgrade).

To answer you questions to a certain extent:

depending on how you did your nandroid backup
it won't be "precisely" the same (e.g. most users dont backup the Cache).
no, but maybe you don't want the "EZ-backup and Restore" procedure - Sounds to me like you would like a "dual boot" maybe? If so see this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-4/orig-development/mod-multirom-v24-t2472295
define "visualized", you could copy the backup to pc and see the backup files. is that what you mean?


Is there any way to check the phone before buying a new device My friend is buying xperia Z1. The actual price of the phone is around 40000 INR but he is getting it around 25000 INR. It has 1 year seller warranty with all accessories.He said the phone is imported. I dont understand why the price is so low.

The software bug can be fixed. But I am concerned about the hardware issues. Any idea on how to check whether the chipsets were original.

I planned to run a benchmark tool after he gets the phone. Also to check the service menu. Any other ideas to check?

Also I have the doubt on benchmark tool. Will it read the hardware correctly or it just read the phone name and based on it, it will produce the specs from the database?

What i fear is the clone models. I heard about them but I didnt get any chance to see them. Is it difficult to separate clone from the original.

Thanks in advance.

To start with, I don't think it's possible to somehow change chip on a phone. It would stop working because of incompatible drivers.

Price of the imported phone can be lower, for example Nexus devices are 1/2 more expensive in my country than in the US and it could be used too. Anyways you should check, if it'll work on your carrier if it's imported.

Finally, there are many benchmarks to choose from. I suggest using AnTuTu. It's been here a long time and is still one of the best. It really tests your device, cause I've used it on different ROMs on one device and I had different results.


How to meausre GPU performance in different Custom ROMs I plan to compare the GPU performance of different GPU powerscale policies.
GPU powerscale policies are found under

/drivers/msm/gpu/msm[or any other chipset name]/kgsl_pwrscale_XXXX.c

under the kernel tree,
where XXXX= trustzone, msm or any other policy I wrote. Based on these different policies I expect differing performance for frame rendering. SO for each policy let's assume there is a different ROM.

I know there are apps like GFXBench and Basemark 2.0 ES Taiji which can measure GPU performance directly. But I am looking to measuring performance of the GPU in low GPU intensive apps/workloads such as Home screen scrolling, Twitter or 2048 game.

What metrics can I take into account and how can I measure them?

Since I am using a 2nd Gen Nexus 7 and it's using a Qualcomm Adreno GPU, I can use the Adreno Profiler from Qualcomm to capture FPS when I scroll. But in apps like Twitter, the screen doesn't refresh unless you scroll, so there is no FPS measurement if we don't scroll. So what other metrics can I use

For low GPU workloads, the only sensible metric is power consumption. If the frame time is always less than 1/60 s, then changes in frame time won't affect the visual appearance of the app, so neither frame time nor FPS provide any useful information. You can't usefully measure power consumption from a user-space benchmark: you need either kernel hooks (such as are used by the Android battery use chart) or a hardware power probe.

Note that it's important to measure the power consumption of the whole system, not just the GPU. It's almost always possible to shift work between the CPU and GPU, and you may find that certain GPU performance techniques actually increase CPU power consumption, so you need the total power in order to see the whole picture.

Note also that you need to measure the power consumption over all time, not just while the frame is rendering. Consider two power policies: one always runs the GPU at full speed while there is work to do, but if the frame is quick to render, it's only for a very short burst; the other turns down the GPU speed to reduce power consumption such that the frame is always ready just in time. Sampling power use, or measuring it only while the frame is being rendered, will make the first policy look more power-hungry, but it might in fact use less power overall, because it can run in short bursts.

In short, power profiling is a big topic, and choosing the right workload is only a small part of it. You really need to understand what you're trying to optimize for, and that's not always frame time.


Apps won't install (silently fail after 100% downloaded) I have a problem with installing apps from Google Play onto my Samsung Galaxy S Plus phone.

It has Android 2.3.6. Yesterday I tried to download some apps. When I clicked 'Install', the app began to download but when it got to 100% it just disappeared and silently failed to install on my phone :\

I don't have an SD card and up to now I saved all my apps on the phone
and had no problems like this.
It seems to be some settings problem, but I don't know what to do.
any ideas?!

Someone already solved this without rooting the phone by uninstalling updates for Google Play Store app: Go to Settings → Applications → All (tab), scroll down and tap "Google Play Store", then "Uninstall updates".

Source: SamsungGalaxyForums


Too little memory in Android NAND ROMs. Cannot install apps! (I was about to ask it here, but since I found the answer I'll share it too)

After installing Android on NAND on my HD2, I found that the available system memory is too little for everyday use. It's around 180MB and after a few applications I need to move everything (manually) to SD card.

I would like to have more space for system, especially if I have a large (say, 8GB) SD card.

The answer is data2sd
What does it do?
It basically tells Android to use the ext2 partition (once available) on the SD card as internal storage, together with HD2's internal memory. This way you can get up to 4GBs.
How to install?
As specified in the forum, you can grab the recovery zip (check topic if link goes down) and install it in recovery. It's not that straightforward. If that's your first time, I suggest to:

Make a backup of the SD card on PC, laptop, tablet or cloud, because it's going to be wiped
Insert the card in HD2, boot in recovery (keep HOME down during HTC logo). Some ROMs allow you to reboot in recovery, some apps allow you to with one click: choose your favourite option
From Clockwork recovery, choose the option to partition SD card (Advanced -> Partition SD Card), and choose your partition size. With card >= 8GB, I recomment 4096MB
Once finished, power off, remove the card and copy the recovery zip you downloaded on the card. Also restore your previous backup
Insert the card, boot Recovery again and choose the option to install a ZIP from SD card, then choose that file and confirm
Reboot Android. You're done!!

How does it work?
When you partition the SD card, Android creates a swap partition (that works like in Linux, don't forget it's just plain Linux kernel) and an ext2 partition of the size you just chose in the end of the card. The first part of the card is partitioned with a FAT32 partition for easy interoperability, because Windows and other OSes only mount the first partition in a removable drive, if they can mount it.
Data2sd is basically an init script (running on system boot) that mounts this ext2 partition as the /data directory of the system.
Credit to user Anurag pandey@xda-developers


Does uninstalling apps leave any traces? I come from a Windows background where anything you install-uninstall usually leaves traces which are sometimes hard to detect and remove.

Does the same happen when you remove Android apps? I know there is no registry in Linux/Android, but is there any place where traces can still remain?

I have seen some apps creating folders on the SD Card, but that's easy to spot and delete.

Thank you.

On an unrooted phone, apps run as distinct users, and don't have access to any files created by other users or system files, i.e. they are 'sandboxed'.  Since they can't make any such changes, I would say the only thing they can leave behind is a little detritus on your SD card.

On a rooted phone, an app which has been granted root access can do pretty much anything that is possible in the hardware. Apps that have root permissions can write on non-read-only storage media (including modifying the bootloader), modify other programs' private data, modify system settings, modify system files, etc. A rooted app can also hide itself from the system, and pretend to be uninstalled while being perfectly well and alive.

Basically, rooted apps can do anything that the hardware allows

Updated to include Lie Ryan's info on rooted apps.


How to remove gunpowder virus? I have recently been having problems on my device which includes random apps appearing on my phone and some chinese app that somehow was "pre-installed". As i scoured the internet for answers, i  learnt that my phone had contacted a virus called gunpowder virus that attacks from Nintendo emulators. Can factory reset resolve my problem?

As long as the infected app wasn't able to gain root and/or infect the /system partition, a factory reset will fix it.

However, if it was ... it would require re-flashing the ROM.


TWRP app bricked my Huawei Y3 II phone and it refuses to be flashed again I have flashed my phone recovery mode official TWRP app with restarted the bootloader with ROM Toolbox Lite app, and then my phone didn't power up again and refused every single try to flash it with all the ROM on the internet. I went to authorization of Huawei and they said you will new a new board for the phone that will cost me the same as a new one. What should I do?

I fixed it by flashing every partition  alone while the battery is off the phone and then hard reset.


Does camera clarity vary with to the app? I own an old HTC Wildfire A333. I recently switched it back to the HTC Sense ROM and I saw that the quality of pictures taken with the default HTC camera app seem better. Not slightly. Quite a considerable amount actually.

I know that picture clarity is related to the camera hardware. I switched back to CM9 again and when I turned the camera app on, I could see the clarity was bad (without taking pictures, just through the app interface. I did take pictures though and the quality was bad. The settings were all accounted for).

Even when I used another camera app the quality was pretty bad. Sadly, I couldn't flash the HTC camera on the CM mod to see if that's what makes the difference.

Does software affect the picture quality? If so, how?

Yes, software tweaks have a massive effect on image quality, and the htc sense version was optimised for you sensor, whereas the cm app wasn't, this is the difference between a well optimised app written to play to the strengths of a specific platform, and a general app written to give a moderately good experience on average. This same thing can be applied to cm more generally, with apps that use specific hardware (e.g. dialer) often having a worse experience compared to stock.


How to tune Android to have dark colors in all menus? I bought brand new Xperia Z1 compact for my girlfriend, but she complains she don't like light colors in all menus (like settings). Personally I don't like it either in my Xperias.

Is there any tool or other method which allows switching theme of the colors in menu to light letters on dark background? I am not interested in rooting the phone and invalidate warranty.

No, you can't do this without rooting or installing a custom ROM. Some apps allow you to select from predefined themes within the app, and you can install a custom launcher to change the appearance of the home screen and app drawer (the list of apps), but you can't change the appearance of all apps.

If you could, there'd be no way for app authors to know what the app would look like on users' phones. For example, if an app had light-coloured background artwork or photo, with dark text, and you changed the text to light, it would no longer show up against the background image. People already complain that Android apps look less polished than iOS apps, and this would be even worse if app authors had to worry about text colours being different on different users' devices.

Samsung phones have an accessibility feature that colour-inverts the whole screen, in all apps. Even this doesn't quite do what you want, because of course if the app started out with light text on a dark background, it would be inverted to dark on a light background. It also makes the device pretty useless for looking at photos or other artwork, and makes colours ugly in all apps.


How to answer phone calls in another phone via Bluetooth? I have two Android phones which I wanted to set up one as the one that answers calls for the second that could stay in the backpack. Is it possible to use a Android phone as a Bleutooth accesory, like a hands-free device?

According to the answer to this Stack Overflow question: you can't. (It is possible for land lines though.)

Or you can forward your calls from one phone to the other, either by changing the settings in your phone or downloading an app that does it all for you.

The alternative solution that comes closest to what you're after is to install mysms mirror, which is an app that tells you when your other phone receives a call or text message, and lets you call back.  See their blog.

Google Voice might also work for you. It's mentioned in the answer to this question: Answer my phone on my Tablet?


How to change the frequency of Google Play update checks? Every day I get a notification on my Inc2 that there are app updates available in the market.  Is there a way to change the frequency of these update checks?  I see no reason to be prompted to update my apps on a daily basis and this is a little annoying.  I would like to be able to only have it check for updates weekly.

You can turn off automatic update checking by pressing menu and than settings in the play store. You can then manually go to my apps to update them. This will not greatly increase the work you have to do, because even if there is a notification once a week it would still require you to confirm the updates. There is no option however to change the frequency of the automatic updates.


Meaning of Samsung bootloader codenames? I realized that you cannot install firmware with older bootloader version than the one in the device.
To do things more correctly and safely, I want more fully understand the bootloader codename meaning.
Here are diffrent bootloader codenames, that appear in different three Build Numbers.

Build Number: G965FXXU7DTB4
Bootloader Codename: U7D

Build Number: G965U1UES7DTB2
Bootloader Codename: S7D

Build Number: G965USQU6CSI2
Bootloader Codename: U6C

I understand  that the digit between the two letter indicated the bootloader version.
Therefore, the bootloader version is the same for U7D and S7D and the U6C is older.
However, it is not the same codename.
What is the difference between U7D and S7D?
I'd love to know what the diffrent letters means?

What is the difference between U7D and S7D?

First, the difference between U and S:

The x is either a U or a S. U updates tend to have actual updates and/or new features. Or simply bug fixes. S updates tend to be strictly security-related.

Secondly, the meaning of 7:

This is the bootloader number/fuse. What you need to know: You cannot rollback to a version that has a bootloader fuse lower than the version you currently have. As such, if you have a 3 BL fuse, you cannot go back to a 2 BL fuse. But you can go forward to a 4 BL.

Finally, the meaning of D

is the software upgrade version. The first version is always A. When there is a major update, such as a feature update or an Android upgrade, this letter goes up. Note that for official beta versions, the letter is always Z.

All the above quotes are from How to read build versions.


bootloader boot loop I got a new Pixel 2 and wanted to load an TWRP backup from my previous Pixel 2 (with stock ROM) onto it, instead of setting it up freshly. So I

booted the new device
clicked through the settings
entered developer mode and oem unlock
rebooted
unlocked the bootloader
booted into TWRP (using fastboot boot)
copied my old /sdcard contents to the device using adb
used TWRP to restore the old backup (partitions boot, system and data.

At that point I hoped I was done, and could just boot into my system. But unfortunately, it always just boots into the bootloader.

What did I do wrong?

And what do I do now?

I tried to do a factory reset by using fastboot flashing lock, and it claimed it would reset the phone, but it doesn’t.
I tried to enter recovery from the bootloader, but it just boots into the bootloader.
I tried to flash an official image from https://developers.google.com/android/images#walleye using ./flash-all.sh but it fails to update the bootloader:

Sending 'bootloader_a' (38692 KB)                  OKAY [0.155s]
Writing 'bootloader_a'                             (bootloader) Updating: partition:0   @00002000 sz=0000B000
FAILED (remote: 'Command Flash Error')
fastboot: error: Command failed

and then fails do do more:

--------------------------------------------
Bootloader Version...: mw8998-002.0059.00
Baseband Version.....: g8998-00008-1902121845
Serial Number........: …
--------------------------------------------
extracting android-info.txt (0 MB) to RAM...
Checking 'product'                                 OKAY [0.000s]
Checking 'version-bootloader'                      FAILED

Device version-bootloader is 'mw8998-002.0059.00'.
Update requires 'mw8998-002.0076.00'.

fastboot: error: requirements not met!

I tried to boot twrp again, but that does not work:

$ fastboot boot twrp-3.3.0-0-walleye.img
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [  0.115s]
booting...
FAILED (remote: Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error)

What else should I try?

It seems that the script at https://forum.xda-developers.com/pixel-2-xl/development/tool-deuces-bootloop-recovery-flashing-t3704761 was able to apply a system update.


Will updating the kernel reset the phone memory? I updated my OnePlus One phone to the company-owned system, Oxygen OS. The battery now is miserable - it depletes within 5 hours. I am looking for a solution to fix that without wiping and reinstalling another OS. I read that installing a different kernel can solve such an issue. I flashed many ROMs on many devices previously, but never updated a kernel. What I will lose if I did it?  What is the best way to update the kernel?

If you're directly writing the kernel with fastboot then it shouldn't touch the user data.  If you're flashing it through recovery it should also be OK, but it's possible for the update.zip file to perform other actions that could wipe data.


What will the "last seen date" on WhatsApp be shown when a user uninstalls the app or deletes their account? I have a WhatsApp user on iPhone with last seen date 5 days ago. I wonder if the user has uninstalled the app, removed their account, or just simply not connected to the internet.

I have read:

Still visible after I deleted my WhatsApp account
Whatsapp - last time seen online - what does it mean?
WhatsApp FAQs with "delete" keyword

but still unsure. I assume the user didn't block me since I can see their last seen date.

What happens with the last seen date if the user uninstalls WhatsApp or deletes their account? Do I see the last timestamp that the user became online, or is it visible at all?

If a user uninstalls WhatsApp, the last seen date will be the last time they use the app.

If a user deletes their account, then the account itself will be nonexistent. The user's name will disappear from the user's list itself (just like contacts who don't have WhatsApp aren't listed)

Since the last seen date is shown, the user hasn't blocked you. From WhatsApp FAQ,

There are a couple of indicators that you may be blocked:

You can no longer see a contact's last seen or online in the chat window. Learn more here.
You do not see updates to a contact's profile photo.
Any messages sent to a contact who has blocked you will always show one check mark (message sent), and never show a second check mark (message delivered).
Any calls you attempt to place will not go through.

If you see all of the indicators above for a contact, this could mean that the user is blocking you. However, there are other possibilities. We have made this intentionally ambiguous in order to protect your privacy when you block someone. Thus, we cannot tell you if you are being blocked by someone else.


How to make sparse image file from original firmware? I accidently erased /system partition and now have my Gionee S10C phone bricked.
I downloaded original firmware, but I can see series of system image files.(This firmware is to be used by Qualcomm Flash Image Loader)
system_1.img, system_2.img, ..., system_53.img

When I'm trying to install the original firmware using QFIL by putting the phone in EDL mode, I get sahara fail error. (Same error in here and I tried most of the fixes I can find, but nothing works)
Now, is there any way to use the above 53 system images to restore my phone using fastboot flash command?
I'm sure only system partition is needed to be restored to get my phone working again, because I haven't modified any other partitions.

concatenate files with dd seek=$offset from xml and then sparse with img2simg
rawprogram0.xml contains
- partition name:    filename="system.img"
- partition size:    num_partition_sectors="8388608"
- partition offset:  start_sector="1312768"

rawprogram_unsparse.xml contains system_1.img - system_53.img
- file name:         filename="system_1.img"
- file size:         num_partition_sectors="262160"
- file offset:       start_sector="1312768"

Note: we don't want the offset so we will subtract from start_sector
1312768 - 1312768 = 0
- file name:         filename="system_1.img"
- file size:         num_partition_sectors="262160"
- file offset:       start_sector="0"

1576968 - 1312768 = 264200
- file name:         filename="system_2.img"
- file size:         num_partition_sectors="16"
- file offset:       start_sector="264200"

1581024 - 1312768 = 268256
- file name:         filename="system_3.img"
- file size:         num_partition_sectors="256048"
- file offset:       start_sector="268256"

Now use the dd seek parameter to paste junks into proper offsets
(sparse is filled with zeros)
bs=$SECTOR_SIZE_IN_BYTES
seek=$start_sector
count=$num_partition_sectors
dd if=system_1.img count=262160 seek=0       bs=512 of=system_ext4.img
dd if=system_2.img count=16     seek=264200  bs=512 of=system_ext4.img
dd if=system_3.img count=256048 seek=268256  bs=512 of=system_ext4.img
...
dd if=/dev/zero    count=0      seek=8388608 bs=512 of=system_ext4.img

the result is mountable ext4 partition image
mkdir system
sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop system_ext4.img system
ls system

finally this file can be sparsed with img2simg
sudo apt install -y f2fs-tools android-tools-fsutils android-sdk-platform-tools-common
img2simg system_ext4.img system.img

GNU bash script with sed
#/bin/bash

shopt -s extglob

bs=512
label=system
input=rawprogram0.xml
output=rawprogram_unsparse.xml

source <(sed -nr "s,.*\s(filename=.${label}\.img.)\s.*\s(num_partition_sectors=.[0-9]+.)\s.*\s(start_sector=.[0-9]+.).*,\1; \2; \3;,p" "$input" | head -n1)

out=$filename
off=${start_sector:-0}
end=${num_partition_sectors:-0}

printf '%s\n' "${label}"_+([0-9]).img | cut -d. -f1 | sort -t_ -k2n | xargs -n1 -I_ echo _.img | \
while read -r file
  do
    source <(sed -nr "s,.*\s(filename=.${file}.)\s.*\s(num_partition_sectors=.[0-9]+.)\s.*\s(start_sector=.[0-9]+.).*,\1; \2; \3;,p" "$output" | head -n1)
    dd if="$filename" of="$out" bs=${bs:-512} count=${num_partition_sectors:-0} seek=$((start_sector-off)) status=none || exit 1
    echo "filename=$filename num_partition_sectors=$num_partition_sectors start_sector=$((start_sector-off))"
done

dd if=/dev/zero of="$out" bs=${bs:-512} count=0 seek=$end status=none || exit 1
echo "filename=$out num_partition_sectors=$end start_sector=$off"

file "$out"
e2fsck -n "$out" | grep clean || exit 1
mv "$out" "${out%.*}.raw"
img2simg "${out%.*}.raw" "$out" || exit 1
file "$out"
echo "Done."

exit 0


How to query/change the default gateway via bash on CM12? When i do a 'busybox route' on CM12 i get this:

localhost / # busybox route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.100.0   *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 wlan0

There is no default gateway defined. Practically there must be one as internet connection works properly (it is also set in Android WiFi settings). Other users seem to have the same routing table behavior (like here). It seems that this behavior started with Android5 as i can see standard "linux style" routing tables (with default gateway) on previous Android versions (like KitKat) on several places on the net.

Anyone know how to query/set/change the default gateway on CM12/Android 5 via shell/bash (not just adding another route with 'route add' - it's more about the specific one that is already set)?

Took me a while to find this answer, so sharing here...
Lollipop uses different routing tables with rules per user and/or interface. Here is a sample when I'm connected on wifi:

root@hammerhead:/ # ip rule show
0:      from all lookup local
10000:  from all fwmark 0xc0000/0xd0000 lookup legacy_system
13000:  from all fwmark 0x10063/0x1ffff lookup local_network
13000:  from all fwmark 0x10064/0x1ffff lookup wlan0
14000:  from all oif wlan0 lookup wlan0
15000:  from all fwmark 0x0/0x10000 lookup legacy_system
16000:  from all fwmark 0x0/0x10000 lookup legacy_network
17000:  from all fwmark 0x0/0x10000 lookup local_network
19000:  from all fwmark 0x64/0x1ffff lookup wlan0
22000:  from all fwmark 0x0/0xffff lookup wlan0
23000:  from all fwmark 0x0/0xffff uidrange 0-0 lookup main
32000:  from all unreachable
root@hammerhead:/ # ip route show
# As in your example, there's no default route here
192.168.0.0/24 dev wlan0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.0.42
root@hammerhead:/ # ip route show table wlan0
#But here you find it in the wlan0 table
default via 192.168.0.253 dev wlan0  proto static
192.168.0.0/24 dev wlan0  proto static  scope link

Routing tables are read by priority (the first column in the ip rule show display), using the first match.

You may alter a given routing table by adding 'table table_name' at the end of ip route ... commands.

And thus to get the first available default gateway:

for a in $(ip rule show | grep lookup | sed -r 's/.* lookup ([^ ]+).*/\1/'); do ip route show table $a | grep ^default | cut -d ' ' -f 2-5; done | head -1


Problem with updating CyanogenMod - Phone will no finish booting up TL;DR Updated CyanogenMOD with ROM Manager and when it rebooted it is stuck on this screen:

I have an EVO with cyanogen 7. The ROM Manager app notified me of of an update. I clicked through everything to proceed with the update and everything seemed to be going fine; it shutdown, started back up, then showed a screen with a lot of text and an Installation Progress bar. Once that finished, it rebooted, showing the initial white EVO 4G screen. It then goes the screen above where it has been stuck for more then half hour (the blue arrow is still circling in the circle).

Does anyone have any suggestions on what went wrong and what I can do to fix it?

Ok so I found the solution. It was stuck in a bootloop. Instructions can be found here.

Bootloop problem

Pull your battery ( If you're already in your recovery skip to step 3)
Use your hardware buttons to boot your phone into amon-ra or clockwork recovery (google to find out how if you're unsure)
Use your hardware buttons to boot your phone into amon-ra or clockwork recovery (google to find out how if you're unsure)
Download your rom (update-XX.zip) onto your pc - this will probably still be on your SD card
Place the rom (update-XX.zip) on the root of your SD card. This can be done through your recovery by selecting "mounts and storage" from the "home" menu of the recovery. Then selecting "mount USB storage"
From recovery select "install zip from SD card" Select it by pressing your trackball/ action button
Select "Choose zip from SD card" (this may vary depending on the recovery used)
Select it by pressing the trackball/action button
Locate the rom (update-XX.zip) you placed on the root of your SD. Select it by pressing the trackball/action button, confirm your selection.
After the install is completed successfully, hit the back button to the "home" menu of your recovery
Choose "Wipe data/factory reset" Select it with the trackball/action button, confirm your selection.
Once the wipe is complete. Use the menu to reboot your device.

YOU WILL NEED TO REINSTALL THE GOOGLE APPS SUITE (MARKET ECT)


Galaxy S6 Edge clock issue I just bought S6 edge and it seems there is a problem with clock. When I go to clock app to set the alarm it is just blank and I can't set anything. Thankfully I can set the alarm I need using the Google now. Then I tried setting the scheduled Do not disturb mode. When I click on the Start time or End time fields it says "Setting stopped working". I am not sure how to fix it. I tried few tricks and finally I had to do Factory reset, but that didn't solve my issue either. Does anybody know how to fix this issue?

Here are the screenshots:

If you are not running a custom ROM and you haven't modified the phone in any way, and a factory reset did not help, you should hand it in if it's still under warranty. This kind of behavior after a factory reset could be caused by a hardware issue.

If you are out of support, you might want to try rooting your phone to check if this behavior goes away on other roms.


Why can't I use su to run under another app's permissions? It's well-known that every Android app is its own user. I have Android Terminal Emulator installed as user u0_a5.

u0_a5@android:/ $ whoami
u0_a5
u0_a5@android:/ $ groups
u0_a5 sdcard_rw sdcard_r inet all_a5

Under adb, any attempt to use the su command to log in as Android Terminal Emulator only partly succeeds. As the following adb session shows, the permission groups that Android Terminal Emulator belongs to aren't inherited, except for the default user u0_a5 group.

root@android:/ # su - u0_a5
Unknown id: u0_a5
1|root@android:/ # su - 10005
app_5@android:/ $ whoami
u0_a5
app_5@android:/ $ groups
u0_a5

As user 10005 I can delete files owned by user u0_a5. But I can't execute commands that require special Android permissions, such as "busybox wget protocol://some.uri", which requires an app to belong to the inet group.

So is there a way to impersonate and run an app under its specific permissions environment? Or is running with full root permissions my only (non)choice?

Yup using root is the only way to go.

All other groups or username are locked in userland of Android by a technique known as sandboxing. This is security feature implemented at the core so you will need to rework  Android if you still want to succeed.


Is there a way to make a link to a specific page of a PDF file *on the desktop*? Like, how a lot of application shortcuts let you link a particular shortcut within the application on the shortcut - like how the Dropbox Android application allows you to set shortcuts to particular Dropbox folders on the desktop.

I use ezPDF and I can set individual bookmarks within the application, but I'd also like those to be available on the desktop if at all possible.

Technical answer: Yes.
Practical answer: It's hard.

You'll need:

"Manual intent shortcuts" app to add really custom shortcuts on the desktop ( https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.cwfk.ig88.intents ).
Plus: Knowledge how to generate a specific intent that does exactly what you want to do (install above app and see what information it wants, you have to know exactly what to do).

PS: I had a look at ezPDF and it seems to allow to launch a specific .pdf file by an intent at a given page, so your problem is solvable, but requires deep knowledge of ezPDF and Android's intent subsystem (intent extra data: path, page).

EDIT: Sample for ezPDF, alas jumping to the page doesn't work, but the correct file is opened

Shortcut Name: test
Action: android.intent.action.VIEW
Category:
URI: file:///sdcard/test.pdf
Component Package: udk.android.reader
Component Class (FQDN): udk.android.reader.PDFReaderActivity
Extra Key: page
Extra Value: 14
[ ] Broadcast

Regarding how to get those values:

Use a file browser to open the 'test.pdf' file you want to open by the shortcut later.

adb logcat -d | grep -i ‘test.pdf’
You should see some line like this:
I/ActivityManager( 123): Starting activity: Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW dat=file:///sdcard/test.pdf typ=text/plain cmp=udk.android.reader/.PDFReaderActivity }

Manual launch via adb:
adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW -n udk.android.reader/.PDFReaderActivity -d file:///mnt/sdcard/Books/Effective.Java_2.Ed_2008.pdf -ef page 2


Want to upgrade 4.2.2 to 4.4 (GT6060) I'm using Samsung Grand Neo(GT9060) with 4.2.2. Now I want to upgrade it with 4.4.But there is no update available. Is it possible to upgrade??if so then how??

Hello Nini

Some phones only uses its original Android Version (Stock ROM) because of some hardware incompatabilty. Like the mainboard, RAM and Processor, they may not be ready, or it can't support the next Android Version.

And if you want to taste the new flavor of Android Versions, Yes and it is possible but it also come into unsupported devices and your phone maybe one of them. Try searching for your device model on how to install Custom ROMs or you may want to read  this  thread.


Why does my Samsung Galaxy S crash ("Not enough space in music database") when sorting by artist? Had my Samsung Galaxy S for a week or so, and my new micro-SD card arrived a few days ago, loaded all my music onto it, listened to various albums no problem.

Now when I go into the built-in Music Player app and select the "Artists" tab at the top, Music Player closes with a "Not enough space in music database" error in the notification bar with a red warning triangle sign.

All the other tabs (All, Playlists, Albums & Genres) work with no problem, but as soon as I hit the Artists tab it crashes out. It's a 32GB SD-card with about 25GB of music on it, the internal SD card is almost empty with no music on it at all. On the PC I'm a SqueezePlayer and Last.Fm user, so I'm pretty sure all my tags are setup right (Last.FM lets you know in your feed if you've got incorrect artist/track info, and SqueezePlayer lives or dies by the quality of your tagging).

Searching for this on the web, all I can find is other people with various sized music collections and SD-cards (8, 16 & 32GB) all having this problem and the only suggestions are to download different music apps from the Market. No one seems to have a real solution. That can't be right can it? I previously had an HTC Magic Android phone with a full 8GB micro-SD and much of the same music with no problems playing.

There must be some way to get the built-in music player app working properly? Does anyone know what file/where is this database and whether wiping/clearing it would help?

Found this thread on the Vibrant section of the XDA Devs forum: Not Enough Space in Music Database? (pretty sure the Vibrant is a US carrier-specific version of the Galaxy, with this weird obsession US networks seem to have for making up alternative names for devices).

  Maybe it has something to do with how
  the app handles various artists and/or
  unknown artists.

  I added all my music, then deleted
  tracks from various artist albums
  until it worked again. I then put back
  the various artist album track and it
  didn't work, as expected.

  I thought this was artist based, but
  when I got it working again--by
  deleting the track mentioned
  above--and then added a track for a
  various artist album by an artist that
  already existed, the app crashed too.

  I then thought it might be song based.
  So I removed that song and then added
  a set of songs. However, it
  unexpectantly worked.

  The difference with the set of songs
  added above is that they weren't part
  of a various artist album. They were a
  new artist, but the main album artist
  wasn't Various with a Contributing
  artist of the actual artist name.
  Instead, the Album Artist was the
  artist name and the contributing
  artist was left blank (or had the same
  name).

  So, it is that the music app doesn't
  understand how to handle various
  artist albums?

Plugged SD card into my PC, did a search for files named *.mp3 with "various" in the artist tag, moved all of them off the card. Plugged card back into Galaxy again, waiting for media indexing to finish, I can now view the Artists column without the app crashing. Still can't Search in the app without crashing, but I have a few more compilation type albums so will try spotting and removing all of them to see if it helps.

Update Nov 2010: The Music player included in the official Samsung Froyo (Android 2.2) update, seems to have fixed this problem, or at least made it so that I can have the majority of my tracks on the phone without this problem showing up.


Disable application update notification How can I disable certain application's update? I'm using Brut Google Map v4.6.0.4686. Since there is a new version in the market, the update notification will appear from time to time. How do I disable it?

I don't think there's a way to disable market update notifications for a single app right now.

In order to disable update notifications for all apps in the Market, open the market app, press the MENU button, choose SETTINGS.

In the Notification drop down, select DO NOT NOTIFY ME.


Problems rooting Samsung Galaxy S: SuperOneClick stops responding at step 7 I am having an awful time trying to update my new Galaxy S to ICS. I found a well rated ROM .zip on code.google.com but first I need to root the phone so I can unlock the bootloader. I have been googling all week and read lots of posts saying SuperOneClick is the way to go, but it keeps freezing. It gets to step 7 and stops. There are many threads out there where people say they have the same problem as me, but there is no answer to these posts, or the response is 'well it worked for me', which isn't much help. I also thought of giving Odin a go, but I do not believe my ROM is compatable (doesn't have PDA, CSC etc. elements to select). There must be something I'm missing or the tutorials I've read have left out. Or something else stopping SuperOneClick from finishing it's task.

I get no error messages during the rooting process. SuperOneClick just plain stops responding.

Samsung Galaxy S i9000
Android Gingerbread 2.3.6
Bootloader 3e
ROM ICS_4.0.3_MR1-RC4.2_I9000.zip from code.google.com (http://code.google.com/p/ice-cream-sandwich-sgs/)
SuperOneClick version 2.3.3

As recomended by CE4 above, I just followed the steps laid out in this tutorial.

Samsung Galaxy S: Full Update Guide

You can download the ROM from get.cm here (original Samsung Galaxy S variant) or here (Samsung Galaxy S (B) variant), note these are only for i9000 (not i9001 or i9003).


How to check my phone hardware specs on Android terminal emulator I was wondering if there is a command to check the hardware specs of my phone. I just installed the Android terminal emulator. I've tried the 'lshw' but it does not work. Thanks in advance.

You can enter getprop to get info about device. Or, you can do cat /system/build.prop

If you've root access then you can enter su and then  dumpsys | less to get the name of the services which can give more info about some specific things such as battery. See this answer to know more.

On a non-rooted device, you can do adb shell dumpsys | less provided that adb is running in wireless mode and your device is connected locally in loopback mode. See this answer for more info.


Can I switch owner and secondary status for two profiles? I have a tablet with an owner and secondary profile. Can I switch them so that the owner becomes a secondary, and the secondary becomes the owner?

Suggested tag: secondary-profile

From my (cursory) checking right now - I would say no.

From the Owner Profile, the only options present for Secondary Profiles are to Remove the Profile and set whether they can Make Phone Calls/Send SMS.

From within the Secondary User Profile there is only the option to rename the profile.


Why Angry Birds App doesn't load / open? I have a Prestigio Multipad PMP3370B and for some reason I can not play the Angry Birds app on it.

I have downloaded the app from the Google Play Store but when I try to play it the screen goes blank for approx 3-4 seconds, as if the game was loading but then it just returns to the home screen of my device.

I have uninstalled & re-installed the device several times but to no avail.
I have even done a factory reset of my device but again no luck.

This tablet was bought for the specific purpose of playing games now that the kids favorite app does not work there are two very disappointed children at home.

It sounds like your device cannot cope with the native code being run by the Angry Birds app.

Developers can include native C/C++ code in their apps, and these are compiled per processor.

If part of this native code crashes, or cannot run, then the app or game closes - without a force close. This is what is happening here by the sound of it.

I have looked up the specs of your tablet, and it looks like you have a good processor - Angry Birds should be able to run well.

THe first thing you should check is that you have enough RAM left on your device to run the game - go to System Settings->Apps->Running and ensure that the Free RAM value is relatively high (30MB or greater). If it isn't, then you should remove some memory hogging applications.

If the RAM isn't the issue, then you should uninstall the game, and reinstall it. If that fails to work, then you should contact the maker of the game with your devices logcat data.


IFTTT custom android notification sound I added a recipe that sends notifications to the IFTTT app on my android device. Right now the notification sound is the same as for an incoming SMS. Is there a way to either change the IFTTT notification sound, all notification sounds, or just the SMS sound (Galaxy S4, Android 5.0.1) ?

No obvious way at this time. This feature has been requested for (literally) years without resolution.

https://twitter.com/ifttt/status/631963245750845440?lang=en


Help. Can't downgrade from EMUI 9.1 with dload I used the dload method to upgrade my dual sim p20 lite ANE-LX3 C605 with bootloader locked from EMUI 8.1 to 9.1, it is actually the first time I ever do something to this phone so I am not completely sure how this works I think my phone was rebranded to C432 because the name of the firmware I downloaded is Huawei P20 Lite ANE-LX1 ANE-L01 ANE-L21 hw eu Anne-L01 Anne-L21 9.1.0.132(C432E5R1P7T8) Firmware 9.0.0 r3 EMUI9.1.0 05014YWN 05014YXX. EMUI 9.1 works like a charm but I want to downgrade to EMUI 8 in order to have an earlier version of google play services, I have download a few different firmware from androidhost.ru,

Huawei P20 Lite ANE-LX3 ANE-L23 claro la Anne-L23 8.0.0.152(C605) Firmware 8.0.0 r1 EMUI8.0 05015ATQ
Huawei P20 Lite ANE-LX1 ANE-L21 hw eu Anne-L21 8.0.0.150(C432) Firmware 8.0.0 r1 EMUI8.0 05014YWN
Huawei P20 Lite ANE-LX1 ANE-L21 hw eu HLRCF Anne-L21 8.0.0.180(C432) Firmware 8.0.0 r1 EMUI8.0 05014YXX

With 1. and 3. it says software install failed please get help from emui dot com
With 2. it says that the software package is not compatible with the current version .

I have attached a couple screenshots with info on version adn build number as seen currently.

Any help with this matter would be much appreciated, thanks in advance.

I read about that, you need to downgrade one by one. Emui 9.1 To Emui 9.0, then Emui 9.0 to Emui 8.0.


Samsung Galaxy S having internal sd card problems I have Samsung Galaxy SLCD having android 2.2.1 which is around one and half year old. Around one month back my it started showing message in notification bar 'internal sd card removed unexpectedly' and after that sometimes phone hanged and I got black screen with samsung written like we get at boot time and sometimes there is multiple 'force close' pop-ups of different apps on phone. Whenever phone gets hanged or it automatically shutdown I am able to restart it only after removing battery and putting it back again and it takes long time to boot up every time I restart.

Now from last 3-4 days I am having following problems that were not there earlier-

If I install an app from market or through eclipse and I restart phone the app is not there.
If I uninstall an old app and I restart phone the app is not uninstalled, it is still there.
If I copy a file it does not show up or if I transfer a file through Bluetooth it is gone after restart of phone.

However I am able to open old files or app. I don't have external SD card on my phone. Is problem with internal SD card of phone or some other OS or phone related issue. Anyone know how to solve above problems.

Thanks in advance.

Anuj

I have the exact same problem with my Samsung Galaxy S.  You can also get it going again by holding the "On" button for about 15 seconds.  It has been happening now for about 2 months and it was only today that I happened to be looking at it as it hanged and I saw the message about the internal SD Card, before that I thought it was a corrupt operating system or faulty battery.

The frustrating thing is that when it hangs I lose all my contacts, my text message history and my customised settings like shortcuts to certain apps on the desktop.

It also loses the default setting for connecting to the Mobile Access Point set by my mobile provider. Sometimes when it reboots people can't ring me, they think it rings once but I don't hear it ringing at all and I get no missed called.

It's funny, I notice that this post is dated December 27th and this is roughly when my phone started giving trouble, my phone is about a year and a half as well.

The advice given here by Izzy is probably the best advice for this situation but I just wanted to contribute some content here that might help more people with the same problem to find this post because unless you are looking at the phone when it crashes you will never think that the internal SD Card was at fault.  It is more likely that you will find that your phone has switched itself off or has just hung.


Load only small subset of messages I have thousands upon thousands of text/picture messages on my Samsung Galaxy S 2, ice cream sandwich. When I go to open a conversation, the phone stops for a good 30 seconds, even after a fresh reboot. I don't want to delete my messages, but I'm sure if I could somehow limit it to, say, the last 100 messages by default, it would load much quicker. Again, I don't want to delete them, and I still need access to most of the messages, but only on demand

Try using an alternative to the stock SMS app like Handcent SMS. A cautionary note - turn off the auto delete option (the option to auto delete messages older than X days).

An additional note - since your SMS store seems quite precious to you, I'd also recommend SMS Backup & Restore. It can backup your SMS at scheduled intervals and also email /  upload them to Dropbox if need be.


Preventing device from accessing open WiFi networks How can I prevent my son from accessing open WiFi networks that do not require a passcode? I have my router restricted for adult content and I have my mobile provider set to restrict porn sites. But open WiFi networks are everywhere, and there is no way to prevent him from accessing these sites on other networks.  Does anybody have any suggestions?

This is not possible unless you restrict access to the device's Wifi itself, which is not possible on current most popular OS's(not without unofficial modification atleast) Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

There are apps that can control accessibility of porn websites(Apple has its own) on the device itself(thus it will deny requests to porn websites from the router), but if your kids really want to, there's always a way around the filter.

Maybe it's time to think that censorship isn't a modern solution to these kind of things anymore.


Usb Speaker with External Power supply? S ll I'm using a 2x3W yenkee usb speaker with my phone through an usb otg cable and it's working fine, but when I turn the volume up the speaker turns off.I assume it's because of the high power consumption, because if I plug it into my pc it works even when i turn it all the way up. I was wondering whether an external charger would solve the problem, that way I could plug the usb into the charger and the jack into my phone.I'm not sure though if it works. Do you think it's a viable solution?

Okay, so I tried to power it with pluging it into a common charger and I'm happy to say it worked and didn't cut out .Considering the external charger use the same method to give power it really should work. Although I haven't had the chance to try it yet but I'll definitely grab one so i could max out my speakers volume anywhere I am.

Adam


Can downloaded Android emails be backed up? Helpfully the nice chaps at TalkTalk accidentally deleted my mailbox. They are in process of trying to recover it but is not looking promising.

I have a snapshot of some of the emails downloaded to my android phone using the standard email app and was wondering if anyone knows of a way to backup or archive these so if I were to update my phone I wouldn't lose them and could still access them moving forward.

I have looked into several email backup apps but they all seem to require a connection to my mailbox which is not currently possible. Presumably the downloaded emails must be stored somewhere on my phone to access and backup. Rooting confuses me slightly but assume this may be the only option if someone could guide me through this or advise an easier way that would be great!

Many thanks in advance.
Shaun

Well for this thing you have to go through two methods:

1) Rooting your device

2) Backup your email [Need Root].

For Rooting Your Device:

1) Download Framaroot app from Play Store and Install it on your device.
2) Open the app -> In Specify Execute type-> Install Super SU.
3) You will see some exploit character will appeared, click any of the exploit.
4) You will see a message popup- "Success, SuperSu and su binary is install". Reboot your device. That's all your device is rooted.

Source : http://menonjats.com/root-or-unroot-android-using-framaroot/

OR incase above method not work.

1) Search "Root Genius Software for PC", Download this software and Install it on your PC.

2) Connect your phone with PC using USB Debugging.

If you don't know how to open USB debugging below link will help you :

http://www.samsungsfour.com/tutorials/how-to-enable-usb-debugging-on-galaxy-smartphone-on-kitkat-4-4-2-or-higher.html

3) Open Root Genius Software and Press - Root.

Source : http://androidxda.com/download-root-genius

For Email Backup :

You can use adb for this:

adb backup -noapk -noshared -f gmail.ab com.google.android.gm

would backup all data of the GMail app to your PC, storing it in a file named gmail.ab in the current working directory. A restore of that snapshot then is as easy as running

 adb restore gmail.ab

Note that this will include all the settings of the GMail app.

If you prefer doing the same via an app on your device, take a look at Helium Backup.

Without root, it's not possible to access the corresponding folder on your device directly (which would be found below /data/data/com.google.android.gm and be owned by the GMail app, which forbids access for other apps/users, including the shell user).

Original Source : Backup gmail emails offline


How do I know which version of Google Play Services to update to? I have an Android 5.1 system on a Doogee X5 phone, but this question is a bit more general.

Suppose I want to update my "Google Play Services" manually, without having a Google Account of any kind. This question tells me where to go to get the APK, but - how can I tell which APK I need? Wouldn't there be different APKs for different versions of Android, and possibly different vendors (who may provide modified Android versions)?

You could use OpenGApps.  I believe it is sanctioned by Google and allows you to easily select the latest version for your device architecture and Android version, customizing the package by which apps/services you want.

The Doogee X5 has a MTK6735 chip, which is 64-bit ARM.  So you should select the ARM64 platform version and 5.1 Android version, and then decide which app package you want from there.  Once downloaded, you can flash it via Recovery (recommended).

It is also possible to extract the apps for a manual upgrade.  I just tried it this way on OSX (should also work on Linux):

Extract your downloaded zip file (to, for example, ~/gapps)
Run the following commands:

cd ~/gapps/Core
lzip -d *.lz
find . -name *.tar | while read line; do tar -xvf $line; done

You'll now have some folders with the APK files.  The ones of interest to you are probably:

gmscore-arm64/nodpi/priv-app/PrebuiltGmsCore/PrebuiltGmsCore.apk
gsfcore-all/nodpi/priv-app/GoogleServicesFramework/GoogleServicesFramework.apk


Desire stuck in Boot Loop After mod install I installed an Audio Mod 'BeatsAudio' through clockworkmod recovery on my HTC Desire. After i rebooted it just keeps looping the boot logo over and over. I have tried removing the battery, sim and SD card, and also no luck there.

I've also tried wiping the data and cache partition but that doesn't help. I can get in the HBOOT menu but unrevoked doesn't seem to recognize my phone.  I have tried ropening a stock boot rom to see if that would install it but it tells me its not compatible with my 64Bit OS.

I have no idea what else to do.

You installed Mod to system, so you need to reflash ROM from recovery.

Erase user data (hard reset) will not help you.


How do I know that TowelRoot worked I'm trying to root my old android phone (Samsung Galaxy pocket Duos GT-S5302 with Gingerbread). I reset the phone to factory settings and then installed TowelRoot v3. But when I tapped the "make it ra1n" button, the phone just blinks and nothing happens. Does this mean it worked?

To check whether a rooting procedure went successfully, there are two main ways.

Root checker apps

If you prefer simpler things, you may choose one among the many root checkers. The list has been compiled by the trustworthy @Izzy, and I'll redirect you to it because I'm too lazy to reinvent the wheel today.

Manual procedure

If you don't trust in root checkers, you may also choose to install a Terminal emulator. Once you open it, enter the su command, followed by enter. Next, enter the whoami command, followed by enter as well, and examine the response: if it's root, then you're rooted indeed. If it's anything else, then the procedure failed.

Off-topic footnotes

From personal experience, TowelRoot usually congratulates if the rooting procedure was successful, so it may have failed in your case. If it has indeed failed, you may try your luck with the modstrings.


Can I safely delete .facebook_cache folder if I don't have a Facebook app installed? I have noticed that there is a folder named .facebook_cache in /storage/emulated/0/

I have never had the Facebook app or the Facebook Messenger app installed on the device and I don't intend to. At first I thought it must have been put there by the Facebook website, which was concerning, or been set up as default by the Android OS. After reading around I assume it was imported as a backup from the Google cloud from an earlier device which had the app installed.

Can anyone confirm the reason that it exists on this device and if it is okay to delete the folder without causing any issues?

Quoting from Mathew Read's answer here

  Cache is temporary files. One example might be thumbnails for contacts in a social media app. These can be cleared without any major effect — the app can just download them again when it needs to — and if space is low the Android OS may remove cache files itself.

You don't even have the app installed , so it can do no harm

The reason for it being of likely the Google Backup, since you never installed the app

You can also use the SD maid app mentioned here, which I find very effective in removing corpses and cleaning system How to clean up related files from deleted apps?


How to backup photos from a broken screen galaxy S4? Help! i have the same problem of many users here :-(
My s4 has fallen and now the screen is broken: touch is black and not responsive, no way to revive it.I have tried with adb and installed Samsung latest usb drivers:
so adb is able to see my phone and it displays a serial with numbers and letters with "recovery" near it; i am able to make copies of folders(sdcard for example) with "adb pull" from phone to my pc but something is wrong cause they are all empty! Can anyone give me some help??

You might want to try more stuff on the command-line side using ADB, I think you can definitely recover them. Link here for the appropriate documentation. You might also want to try Kies from Samsung to recover stuff. But, most of all, you should install Google Photos if you really care about your pictures.


Why is com.google.android.gsf.login warning me that I need to install Google Play Services? This is a Nexus device running the latest stock OS version (v4.4.2), I already have Google Play Services installed (v4.2.43 according to the App Info in settings). Why is some unknown app asking me to update it? (I realise that the com.google.android part of the package name indicates that this probably an app made by Google that is probably part of their Google layer on top of AOSP Android, but why the odd error message and lack of proper app name)?

  An application requires installation of Google Play Services
  Requested by com.google.android.gsf.login

What is com.google.android.gsf.login and why should I do what it is asking? It doesn't have a store page and it doesn't appear in my apps list with that name. A bit of investigation with Android System Info's more detailed Apps view shows that Google Services Framework is com.google.android.gsf and the Google Account Manager is the com.google.android.gsf.login that we're looking for.

Clicking the notification from Android's notification bar takes me to the Play Store's page for Google Play Services where the latest version mentioned in the "What's New" section is 4.2.42, which is older than what I've already got installed, and I don't have an Update button (which suggests I'm already running the latest version).

I have had a similar issue on my Nexus 4 device, here is what I did to stop the issue:

Go to your 'Settings' menu, then go to 'Accounts'. Select 'Google' and check which google service has a sync issue. If you cant see any apps with sync issues, you will have to do as user 'Laural H' mentioned above: disable them all, and re-enable them one by one, checking that it syncs properly (before enabling the next one). When you find the app with sync issues, open the problematic app and login with your google credentials.


Is there a way to use a different account with YouTube? I'm having problem using YouTube. I use different Gmail accounts for email and YouTube and I would like them to be separated.

Is there a way to tell YouTube to use a different account from the "system" one?

Yes, add both your account to Settings > Account, then you can choose which account to sign in to on the YouTube app.

Make sure to sign out first

Swipe left, and tap on Sign In

You should be presented with an account chooser


Lock screen stuck in landscape mode on Galaxy Tab 10.1 I rooted and upgraded my Galaxy Tab 10.1 to Jelly Bean 4.1.2.

One mild annoyance is that the pattern lock screen is stuck in landscape mode. I can't find any option to rotate it to portrait mode.

How can I stop the pattern lock screen from being always in landscape?

If possible, can I force the pattern lock screen to always be in portrait mode?

This is due to the fact that the lockscreen recognises that the device is a tablet, and therefore makes it stay in landscape mode.

There is an easy way to counteract this, however it does require the use of a third party application called set orientation, which allows you to force apps into any orientation you wish.

Just open up the app, and set the drop down to 'Automatic'. The screen will then rotate when you rotate the device.


Unable to download update to Lollipop I am using a Samsung Galaxy Grand 2. I'm unable to download the upgrade to Lollipop. While downloading via Wifi it says "Unable to Download...."

You can also update with Samsung Kies on your computer.


Answering Machine on Android Playing audio to telephony uplink is possible, but the microphone input data is also transmitted.

How to switch off microphone on Android devices?
Is there a possibility to play audio to telephony uplink while call on mute?

I have been developing my own answer machine application and hit two major stumbling blocks. One is that setMicrophoneMute(boolean on) simply doesn't work. And the other issue is playing an audio greeting down the phone line.

This isn't possible due to hardware restrictions and it doesn't even work if the microphone is switched on and the audio is played through the speakers.


Motorola Milestone Android - Bluetooth Issue - Paired but not connected im using a Motorola Milestone. I have tried to connect to various bluetooth devices (laptops/other android phone) with this phone but none of them work. I can pair them But after pairing it says "Paired but not connected" I have tried all normal steps: Soft reset, Hard reset etc and the phone is running the latest OS 2.2.1

Intrestingly, If I download the application "Bluetooth File transfer" by medieval software - I can succesfully pair and connect via this application to my macbook and send files. However, for my purpose I need to use the bluetooth SPP profile off the phone (Which it claims to support).

So the question here is, Is it a software/hardware issue?

-Seems to me like a software issue, because It doesnt connect with my macbook with the official bluetooth settings menu, but works through a third party application?

any fixes? - I called motorola, but no luck as Im not in the states.

Mohit

On a PC, it's often a driver issue. I followed these steps with mine last night:

Before doing this, disable any processes using bluetooth devices

Download the 'Windows Mobile Device Center' ( current version is 6.1 ) which you can download it from here
this works for both Vista and Windows 7. I've tried it on both.
Install the downloaded software but it may not look like it worked on Windows 7 PCs. Vista automatically configures the settings on the bluetooth devices but for those who have Windows 7, here are the things you should do:
Go to 'Device Manager' from 'Control Panel' -Or- just right-click on Computer Icon and choose 'Properties' and then click on 'Device Manager'.- You'll see 'Bluetooth Peripheral Device' under 'Other devices'

Right-Click it and click on "Update Driver Software" -Or- anyway you find it easy to bring up the Update driver window.
Click "Browse My Computer for Driver Software" button.
Click "Let Me Pick from a List of Device Drivers on my computer".
Select 'Bluetooth Radio' from the list if it asked you to select and then in the next window, it will show a list of drivers with Company Names in one list and Drivers in another. In the Company List choose 'Microsoft Corporation', not only Microsoft.

(From the drivers list there may be one or more drivers with the name "Windows Mobile-Based Device Support" with different driver versions. Select one or the latest. )
Ignore any warnings and keep pressing next and then Finish at last. If all goes well, the last screen will show the message that device driver is successfully installed. ( Click 'YES' in the box )

Now, after manually updating the driver for your bluetooth device, in 'Device Manager' when you click on 'Bluetooth Radios', it should display one more item which will say 'Windows Mobile-based device support'.

After you do this, restart all processes using bluetooth devices

i got this process from here, refer to it if you need help.

Good luck!! :)


How do I play Flash websites on my Samsung Galaxy S3? Is there a way to use flash-based sites on Android? A browser? Radical app? I want to play videos on this site:
http://www.onf.ca/explorer-tous-les-films

OS: 4.1.1

There's a HowTo at MakeUseOf.Com describing how to install Adobe flash player on JellyBean. Excerpt:

Enable unknown-sources on your device
Grab the .apk for flash player from XDA-Developers and save/copy it to your SDCard
Use a file manager (such as e.g. ES File Explorer File Manager), navigate to the place you've stored the .apk, and tap the file once. This starts the installer.

Once the installation is finished, you should be able to play flash again. However, not every browser might support it. The very same article mentions how to enable flash support in Firefox:

  Open Firefox, tap the menu button and open Settings > Plugins and choose Enabled.

That way you should be able to use it with your favorite websites.


Why is phone storage breakdown not adding up When I go into the internal storage menu,  the subsections (only apps and cache because I use adoptable storage) do not add up to the total internal storage space used. What is not being shown?

Edit: so I have kept looking around, and I hoped to get to the bottom of this with a storage visualization app, but they always seem to show the wrong partitions. Does anyone have any input?

The Android operating system itself and other programs that come pre-installed on your phone are also saved to internal storage. This is why the available storage will never equal the advertised storage capacity on any new phone.

Some bloatware can be uninstalled and some cannot.


How to transfer a Clash of Clans Village into an old Android device without Google Play services? I can't install Google Play services on my old device. I tried a lot, but I can't.

Is there any way to transfer the game data onto an old device?

I have tried to transfer the app+data using Titanium Backup, but the old device just generates a new village.

Is there any other way? or any app?

Read this, the bottom half is for android users, https://gamesupport.supercell.net/hc/en-us/articles/421682-Can-I-transfer-my-village-to-a-new-device-
This doesn't require Play Services, but does require G+. You should be able do this w/o Google Play Services

Good luck!


Getting "Downloading... Do not turn off target!" when trying to boot into recovery mode I just installed Cyanogenmod on my Samsung Galaxy S2. I want to
install Google Services app ZIP. For that I have to reboot the phone in recovery mode. But it is only showing

  Downloading... Do not turn off target!

What should be done?

You have rebooted to Download Mode by mistake. You needed to reboot to recovery mode. To do that, follow these steps:

Press the Power button until the phone reboots normally.
Switch off the phone as normal.
When the phone has been switched off, press Power and Volume Up together until the Samsung logo displays, then release.

Alternative:

Reboot to system
Find the "Advanced Power Menu" option under phone customization settings, and enable it.
Press the Power button to get the power menu, and choose "Reboot → Reboot to Recovery".

That's it. I think you have a custom recovery installed and can find your way about it.

Edit:

So you don't have a custom recovery installed and have the stock recovery. I have no idea how you installed Cyanogenmod without a custom recovery (so please include the process of how you did it in your question), maybe through ODIN? If so, flashing a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP is similar in process to the way you flashed CWM/TWRP. I'll point you to a guide on how to do this here.


Is there a way/browser plug-in available that can turn off and on Airplane Mode without using the physical button? I want to quickly turn off and on data on my S3 while I read long articles on the web which I noticed saves a lot of battery.  But the physical button is too worn off already and I don't want to exit whatever I'm doing to off the data.  Is there a way to off and on Airplane Mode from the status bar or a plug-in I can install in the Chrome browser?

OS: 4.1.1
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S3

Several, I'm sure. There's the simple Airplane Mode Widget for one. Then there's the way more complicated, but way more powerful Tasker for another (since it's capable of creating widgets to execute any of the tasks you define).

Oh, wait, the title said widget, but the question says status bar. On my S3 (also on 4.1.1), I can pull down the notifications, slide the power switches to the left a little bit, and there's the switch for Airplane mode. Does that work on yours?

If you haven't got the Airplane mode switch in your status bar, then the easiest solution would probably be SwipePad with a shortcut (not widget) to toggle Airplane Mode. This is the combination I use to turn on my LED flashlight (with TeslaLED). The reason you want a shortcut instead of a widget is because it saves you steps. If Airplane Mode Switch does indeed use a shortcut instead of a widget, then you're golden without having spent a dime. If it doesn't, then you can still buy the WidgetPad add on for SwipePad and use a widget, or buy Tasker and use it to create a shortcut which toggles airplane mode.


Can I connect android through headphone jack to car stereo's USB? Basically I want to be able to stream music (Youtube / Spotify) from my smartphone to my car stereo. Android outputs audio from its headphones female jack and my car stereo has a female USB port. Could I use something like this http://www.ebay.ie/itm/USB-2-0-to-3-5mm-Jack-Audio-Aux-Plug-Cord-Headphone-Earphone-Cable-male-To-male-/302373272893?hash=item4666d9fd3d:g:BFYAAOSwxH1UKaBm to connect both?

Most likely not, but it depends on the technical details of the components in question.  Most importantly, Is the adapter simply a passthrough wiring change?  Or is it an active device that actually requires a USB host?

If it's a passthrough wiring change:

Does the car stereo accept analog audio from the USB jack?

It might, by internally disconnecting the USB hardware and connecting some line-input hardware instead.  Or it might not.

If it's an active device:

This is most likely the case because the description on eBay says it goes in a PC's USB jack, which I know is USB-only.

It probably announces itself as a USB soundcard, providing "speaker" and "microphone" capabilities to the PC.  In that case, there are two relevant questions:

Does the adapter have a "straight" pinout, or is it a "crossover"?

A straight pinout would be designed to plug into something that expects a phone on the other end, not into a phone itself.
A crossover would be designed to plug into a phone directly, but with the odd arrangement of a stereo mic/line-in and a mono speaker that is very quiet.  (basically a mirror-image of the phone's specs)

Does the car stereo even accept a USB soundcard?

Again, it might, but it may only accept a flash drive with audio files on it.

Technically, it might be possible to make a device that announces itself as a flash drive with one file on it and delivers a live stream as that file's "contents", in which case it might work with a flash-drive-only type of player.  But somehow that seems unlikely to me.


Access data on phone with broken screen (Samsung galaxy S5) I'm trying to retrieve data from my poor dead phone. I can turn it on, but the screen doesn't work, so I'm not even sure it is at the lock screen. Anyways usually I use a software called Android file transfer to download and upload data, but it won't access the phone because it's locked. The screen doesn't work at all, any solutions?

I had the same problem with my poor S4 with a screen lock sometime back. To remove the lock, I used the Google app Find my Device to reset the password to a keyboard typable one (you can't just remove the password through it), then after that I used a USB OTG adapter with a USB keyboard to type the password in.


Asus Fonepad 7 Tablet stuck on boot logo, and can't be booted into Recovery mode My Asus Fonepad (k019/FE375) running stock Lollipop suddenly won't get past the Asus (boot logo) loading screen.

I've tried draining the battery and turning it on again, but the issue persists. I also can't access the Recovery mode.

I have done nothing -- no rooting or flashing.

How do I resolve this issue?

Can you enter the droidboot mode by pressing the volume up and  power key, simultaneously. If yes, than you can install the firmware by using either   asus flashtool or adb command or using IntelAndroid- launcher.bat.

If you are unable to enter the droidboot mode, than you need to used the xfstk tool.


TWRP: Failed to mount '/preload' (Invalid argument) With TWRP, on almost every operation I get

  Failed to mount '/preload' (Invalid argument)

My device currently can not boot, and this may have something to do with it, /preload is currently in /etc/fstab, I can see the entry here with

/dev/block/mmcblk0p16 /preload ext4 rw 0 0

When I try to mount it, I get

mount preload/
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p16 on /preload failed: Invalid argument

Is there anyway to fix this problem?

From my recovery.log, I have

/preload | /dev/block/mmcblk0p16 | Size: 0MB Used: 0MB Free: 0MB Backup Size: 0MB
   Flags: Can_Be_Mounted Can_Be_Wiped IsPresent
   Primary_Block_Device: /dev/block/mmcblk0p16
   Display_Name: preload
   Storage_Name: preload
   Backup_Path: /preload
   Backup_Name: preload
   Backup_Display_Name: preload
   Storage_Path: /preload
   Current_File_System: ext4
   Fstab_File_System: ext4
   Backup_Method: files

I'm trying to flash LineageOS, but I'm really just curious about resolving this error message.

I have this problem too, but I can install treble roms, I installed Lineage 17.1 without problems but sometimes I see the message / preload invalid argument, size of partition 0, I am looking for a solution but this error does not disturb my device at all

in xda i encontered this =>
All you need to do is go to official download page, download your official latest rom and flash
Download the most recent firmware and flash in Odin. (There is instructions on how to download the correct firmware in the post)


How to recover a broken userdata.img? My userdata.img probably became partially corrupt because I created it with cat while the phone was running, instead of in recovery mode :-(. Due to this, when I flash it, the phone doesn't boot and logs several messages related to not finding things on /data over and over, since it couldn't mount /data.

I can put back an older userdata.img just fine and boot the phone, so my methodology works. I'd guess the new userdata.img isn't entirely rubbish as a hex editor shows data.

Attempts to explore (loop-mount) or unpack (unyaffs) on my laptop or on the Android phone itself have failed without much explanations, for the new image as well as for the (known-good) old image. Notably, running the unyaffs2 coming with the latest yaffs2utils tells me it wants to unpack 147 objects but nothing ever shows up.

How can I recover?

It's impossible, because FS has huge corruptions at different places. You can to use file repare utilities to try repare some data, but mostly it's broken by write to FS at the same moment, as dump process.