Is there a way to enable USB debugging from fastboot? I have a Nvidia Shield Tablet that froze on me. After powering down it hangs on the nvidia boot up screen when I try to boot it up. Nvidia support says it is a 'soft-brick', as I can't get into recovery mode from fastboot. I am trying to get a recovery image on the tablet. However, the bootloader is locked and I'm pretty sure USB debugging was not enabled ahead of time. Therefore, I can't perform an unlock using adb, and so can't flash a recovery image. When trying to access through a platform-tools terminal, it doesn't show in a list of adb devices.

I'm pretty confident I have the correct drivers installed on my windows PC, which is connected to the tablet via USB.

Nvidia Shield Tablet Wifi (2014 version)

Any help is appreciated at this point, I can't think of anything else to try. Sorry in advance for mixing up terms etc. I've just been researching the past few nights and trying to find a solution. I'm far from an expert.

I've tried these links, here and here but they seem to require USB debugging enabled or ability to access recovery mode from fastboot.

Thanks,

adb and fastboot are different modes. you can enter recovery without usb debugging. Press and hold Power + Vol Down. This is the bootloader screen. Now navigate to recovery with Vol Keys, Power to confirm. Wait a Moment. When the android symbol appears, press Vol Up + Power to enter recovery. Now do Factory reset.

If device is locked you may not be able to enter recovery. you can unlock it from fastboot and try again. Unlocking will factory reset your tablet. Download platform_tools from google. Enter fastboot mode from bootloader screen. Connect the usb cable. Install the drivers. Open the cmd.exe as administrator. navigate to the folder. check with fastboot if the serialno appears. unlock.

fastboot devices
fastboot oem unlock

then boot TWRP and see if partitions can be mounted. at least /system and /cache should be mountable, otherwise something is wrong. /data is encrypted but should be mountable too. for more info see here. Do not flash TWRP to recovery partition, first backup stock recovery!

fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0-shieldtablet.img

in twrp, there is a option reboot recovery which should you bring to recovery mode. if not, you still have to option to backup/wipe partitions from twrp. start with wiping cache. if phone is still not booting, reboot into twrp and format data. if any error occurs, you can pull the log from adb at any time. post the log file in the twrp support thread and ask for help. try another twrp version (3.1.1-0) depending on your android version

adb pull /tmp/recovery.log C:\Users\Admin\Downloads\platform_tools\recovery.log

if you need to enable usb-debugging from recovery, you may modify /system.
(but also the other methods you linked above should work)

pull the /system/build.prop and edit the following lines with Notepad++ (make a copy for backup)

persist.service.adb.enable=1
persist.service.debuggable=1
persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb

mount /system writeable, then push it back to phone. if you don't want to modify /system you can try to push it /data/local.prop (but i guess it is not supported on this rom) or do create a file /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config (i don't have exactly read this posts above)

adb push "C:\Users\Admin\Downloads\platform_tools\build.prop" /system/build.prop

Now place the RSA-Key somewhere on the phone and merge it into adb_keys

adb push "C:\Users\Admin\.android\adbkey.pub" /tmp/adbkey.pub
adb shell
mkdir -p /data/misc/adb
cat /tmp/adbkey.pub >> /data/misc/adb/adb_keys

if root access is required, you can change ro.secure=0 in build.prop too (but not recommended)


Can whatsapp be accessed by websites? I was wondering if it were possible for websites to send messages through my whatsapp without my permission, even if I mistakely clicked on an advert?

I read about whatsapp's API but it does not say much about this?

Any wisdom on this?

No.

There seems to be no possible way for any website to do this without having your WhatsApp "security token".

What can a website do?

There is something called WhatsApp URL which lets websites build a custom link that upon pressing will redirect you to WhatsApp so you can share their content to any contact you select manually.

(See more on WhatsApp FAQ).


Does the Samsung Galaxy S II come with an unlocked bootloader? Does the Samsung Galaxy S II come with an unlocked bootloader as earlier promised by Samsung?

XDA has reported that the bootloader is unlocked, and custom kernels have successfully been flashed to the SGSII.


How to find an app is compatible with Intel based Android device or not? Intel based Android devices are in the market now and I am drooling over new Asus Zenfone series (which packs Intel Atom processors). However, I am concerned with app compatibility issues.

If an app is developed using SDK, it'll run on Intel based devices, but if it's developed using NDK, it'll surely not run on Intel based devices as instruction sets are different.

Before purchasing any Intel based device, I want to see my favorite apps/games are compatible with it or not. How to get this info without really testing those apps in a virtual machine?

Bluestacks emulator running on a computer with Intel processor, is a good way to test, Intel processor(x86) based app or game compatibility.
https://www.bluestacks.com/

Genymotion emulator is also a good alternative
https://www.genymotion.com/


How to use Titanium Backup to keep stuff through factory reset? I'm looking to factory reset my Nexus 4, which is currently running CyanogenMod 11 M7, because of an issue inside the ROM that requires a reset (Themes Provider crashing on every launch). I have Titanium Backup, and have created a backup. How do I now back up (or put onto a computer and then return to the phone) the backup and restore it once I've resetted? Or is there a better alternative to keep all my stuff through the reset?

Yes, I'm quite a noob at ROMs and rooting, before you say.

TiBu stores its backups in a folder on your SDCard (either the internal or the external, depends on what you have and how you've configured it). So you can simply copy that entire folder over to your PC before applying the factory-reset. Just check the root of your SDCard(s) for a folder named TitaniumBackup.

After the factory reset, the folder should still be there (unless your device is one of those including the card with the reset – hence the copy to PC, which in this case you now can simply copy back). Launch TiBu, and restore what you want to have restored.

One thing to keep in mind: I don't know what's causing your trouble, but restoring the entire backup completely might bring it back if the troublemaker was included there, so take care ;)


How can I redirect a call, incall I want to get a call from somebody and after talking with him redirect that person to another number, on my charge, like call-centers do. Is that possible and if that's so, there is any application that can do that?

Thanks

I guess you could do this using the "Conference Call" trick on android (natively!).

The screenshots below are for vanilla Froyo (Android 2.2) and may vary with your version/dialer app.

During your call (Don't hang up the call), after talking to that person, press the "Menu" button on your android. Press "Add Call" from the menu.

Dial and call the number you wish to "redirect" for him. (on your charge! (which is what you asked for right?) Means you will lose money for this call as if you are calling it)

Now press menu button again when call connects. Press on "merge call".

Finally, Press the menu button again and click on "mute" to make them think you have terminated your call. (you mute yourself but you can hear the conversation between him and the "redirected" call)

Remember, while doing these, you will be charged for 2 calls simultaneously!


How can I determine the hardware video file decoding capability of my android phone? I have many video files. I want convert all the files to a playable format for my phone... would H264 or xvid work?
I just want to convert to a hardware decode-able format to save my phone battery.

http://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html

Some devices may play more formats, but these are supported by every phone.


Can a lost rooted/unlocked phone be decrypted by a thief? Someone stole my One plus 7 Pro.

It was rooted and had TWRP and Magisk 19.x ( latest subversion before 20.x dropped). I had a passcode and fingerprint set up on my phone. It was stolen at a technical convention for students. Assuming the thief has knowledge about Android can my phone's encryption be broken to give access to my files?

TWRP requires the passcode to be able to decrypt the storage, so does the phone on boot.

Any input is appreciated.

TLDR;

  Phone got stolen at a technical convention
  Thief might have knowledge of Android
  Running Stable Android 9 latest firmware before Stable 10.0.1
  Running Magisk 19.x (Latest before 20.x dropped)
  Running TWRP 3.3.1.x
  TWRP requires the pin to decrypt

My concern, Can it be hacked/cracked to give access to the storage inside?

Thanks in advance

EDIT: My passcode was 5 digits long.

If your phone is encrypted, then it cannot be decrypted without having access to the decrypt option in Settings. And since you have a fingerprint lock set up, as far as my knowledge goes, you are safe - no one will be able to access your data, even if you are rooted. Decrypting the phone externally should require extensive hacking algorithms and knowledge about the phone architecture, and I doubt anyone will spend that much time.

If, however, the thief wipes your phone (factory resets it) from TWRP, then all the data will be lost, which again means that your data will not be available to the thief, and you are still safe.


How to limit bandwidth usage Can anyone suggest a suitable way to limit internet bandwidth? I am using 3G mobile data.

I know how to limit the maximum data usage but I need to control the bandwidth so that my mobile data allotment doesn't get consumed too quickly.

What I'd like is a way to control the following situations:

Sometimes we don't need the whole body of an webpage, hence it is desired that we can stop loading the page further when we wish. But on a high speed  connection you cannot stop loading the page before it gets fully loaded.
Some websites with embedded do not have an option to stop loading the video, hence sometimes leave me no option but to close the tab to limit data-consumption.

Opera Mini has options to enable loading images and also to specify the quality of images, if they are loaded.

If you are rooted:

Installing a firewall(like DroidWall) helps to prevent unwanted apps to access the network.

Installing an adblocker(like AdAway) will prevent ads from loading, and in turn reduce network usage.


Accessing Gmail Password from Android Device Remotely I was using a Nokia 5 and I lost it over the weekend. I have the gmail app stored there that has sign ins to 3 of my emails
s*****@gmail.com,
r******@gmail.com &
r1*****@gmail.com

Unfortunately I have no access to the last mailing address because apparently I forgot the password. It was a fairly new account so when I try to recover the password, google cannot verify its my account. The account is linked to my local bitcoins account therefore I cannot log in and have access to my bitcoins.

I have the following question, if I get a new phone and restore android, will the gmail app appear with the accounts logged on? and if not, is there a way for me to find out the password? I am not sure if this is allowed but I will spare some few bitcoins to the person who can help out.( if not allowed, I will edit and remove this part)

If i get a new phone and restore android, will the gmail app appear with the accounts logged on?

When you log in on your new phone using some account, only this account will be present on this device. To read mail from other accounts, you will need to sign in to those accounts as well.

  Is there a way for me to find out the password?

When you log in, your password is sent to Google servers, and they check if provided password is correct. If authentication passes, the server returns session token and no password is being stored on your phone. So no, there is no way to find out the password.


Run an android Virtual Machine on an android phone I haven't been able to find an answer for this so I figured I would ask here.

Is there an app or method I can use to create and run an Android Virtual Machine on my Android Phone?

I have a personal phone I want to put my work email on; however, my work email requires Microsoft Intune which requires that I give permission for my company to clear my phone at any time without warning.  The reason they do this is in case I have company secrets on my phone and I if I become a risk they want to wipe my phone.  I wanted to work around this by putting an android virtual machine on my phone.  This way the company can clear my phone if they please but they will just wipe my VM not me actual personal phone.

I saw an article that VMWare was doing something like this but I couldn't find any documentation on it.

Does anyone know of a way to put a Android VM on an Android phone?

You can run Android emulator on an Android phone using VMOS, exactly what you want.


Can I share my Android's VPN connection over a Hotspot? I recently purchased a Chromebook which doesn't support my companies PPTP VPN. As a workaround, would it be possible to connect to the VPN on my Android (4.4) and share that connection over a hotspot? If so, how?

Unfortunately the stock Android tethering application does not work with VPNs. This limitation is an oversight in the software and not a system limitation.

However there is an application called ClockworkMod Tether that will allow you to tether and use a VPN at the same time. In fact it makes use of the standard tethering application and then fixes up the routing information to make it work.

This application does not require you to root your phone but you do need to run software on the computer that you wish to connect to your phone. Also this only works for USB tethering at the moment.

There are other alternatives to ClockworkMod Tether, if you wish to try them, including PDANet.

Hope it could help


Possibility of flashing a new ROM to a stolen Nexus Last weekend a Parisian pickpocket stole my Nexus 5X.

Not rooted
Locked bootloader (not modified in any way)
Fully encrypted (and backed up)
Locked (fingerprint/pattern)
Updated to Oreo and current security patches
USB Debugging turned on [MTP] (unfortunately)

Aside from the pattern lock and enabled USB debugging being weak spots, what are the chances of him successfully wiping this device and flashing a new ROM to it? In the real world, how useless will this stolen phone be to him?

It is possible to use the phone without flashing a new rom, or a bootloader unlock.

The thief can reset your phone using the recovery mode

Recovery mode can be entered by powering down the device and then pressing the volume down and power button simultaneously.
then he will have an option to wipe data/factory reset the phone.
Upon reboot he will be greeted with Factory Reset Protection.
The FRP can be bypassed on 8.0 oreo using the method here


Improve Nexus 4 Vibration Intensity This is basically the same question as posed here: Increase vibrate strength

I thought there might be a different answer for the Nexus 4, however, seeing as how it's a different manufacturer and the OS has changed slightly.

I came from using a Nexus S which had a really good vibrate. With the Nexus 4, however, even with nothing else in my pocket sometimes I can't feel it. I'm used to being able to get a slight buzz or something if I set my phone down on my desk but with the Nexus 4, the best I can hope for is a slight buzz if it's on a hard surface. Touching papers or something else? Better hope you were looking at the phone, otherwise you're going to miss incoming calls.

For other Nexus 4 owners, is this a noticeable issue with your phone? Maybe mine is slightly defective. If not, is there any way to boost the intensity or strength of the vibration through settings?

I've seen that the Galaxy phones have a vibration setting that can be adjusted but I can't seem to find something similar on the Nexus 4.

There is an app called Trinity Kernal Toolbox. It helps to adjust Vibartion intensity in Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4(only).
But the thing is your device should be Rooted. And its a paid App.

The app supports the following:
- Adjusting of CPU Min/Max Frequencies
- Selecting of CPU Governor
- CPU Governor settings
- Selecting of I/O Scheduler
- Adjusting of Max Screen Off Frequency (Galaxy Nexus only)
- Adjusting of all CPU Voltages
- Sound control: High Performance toggle + Volume boost (Galaxy Nexus only)
- Color control (Galaxy Nexus + Nexus 4 Only)
- Contrast control (Galaxy Nexus Only)
- Adjusting of Vibration Strength (Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4 only)
- USB Fast Charge Toggle (with plug check)
- Thermal Throttle Toggle (Galaxy Nexus only)
- Smart Reflex Autocomp Toggles (Galaxy Nexus only)
- Wifi PM Toggle (Steadier stream or better battery) (GN + N7 only)
- Menu with utility functions to make common tasks easier.
- Reboot Widgets to access common options from Homescreen
- CPU Temperature Widget (Galaxy Nexus + SGS3 + Nexus 7)
- Statusbar Temperature display on select widgets (GN + SGS3 + Nexus 7)
- Restores trivial settings on boot
- Frequency/Voltage settings restored on boot if chosen
- Crash Recovery (To get you out of boot loops)
- Optimizes system independent from init.d (Great for stock roms)

May be it will help you to solve your issue. Don't blame me for recommeding a Paid App

If you are interested just flash this Kernal to support it


How to replace KingrootSU with Superuser Elite? Just rooted my new Chinese tablet - an adventure for me. I used Kingroot apk. It uses KingrootSU app as GUI manager for superuser permission. I want to use my Superuser Elite instead though. How can I do so?

Just use this tool and this guide. I used it myself on LG G3, because Kingroot was my last resort for rooting.

It definitely worked, but there was one Kingroot app left over, called Purify, which I guess was added to Kingroot after the script was made, so I would suggest adding the following lines to the script:

am kill com.kingroot.purify
pm uninstall com.kingroot.purify
rm /system/app/purify.apk >/dev/null
rm -r /system/app/purify>/dev/null

Or, what I did was once I had supersu installed, to be totally sure that Kingroot was gone, I installed TWRP, then completely erased the normal partition and installed Cyanogenmod 13.0.

good luck!


Need help unbricking my Google Pixel (sailfish) I was trying to downgrade my phone from android 10 to android 7.1 (stock firmware). I have done this before and it always worked, except this time the flash-all.bat tool stopped while extracting the system image. I tried switching USB ports, running the commands myself and this is when it stopped working: I flashed the bootloader, restarted it into the bootloader but it tried booting to system and failed. Now it's hard bricked. I did not lock the bootloader.
After I did some digging I found out I can use an EDL cable to force it into QEDL mode. However, i have never done this before and saw in YouTube videos that you need a processor specific .mbn file. I cannot find them anywhere so far (there was an arabic website with no download link to their unbricking tool).
TL;DR -
My phone hard bricked with the bootloader unlocked and I need help on flashing Qualcomm MSM8996 Pro SoC firmware. My PC still detects it as Qualcomm HS-USB QDloader 9008.

I found this tutorial, but it needs the firehose programmer file, which I can't find anywhere, not for sailfish (https://www.leakite.com/collection-qualcomm-emmc-programmer-files/) Here's the link, in case anyone needs it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z90cQ1whiSE . If you find it, please reply to this and I'll add it. Good luck!
Part 2:
So I finally found out about "Driver Binaries", files Google provides on their site, although no instructions are provided. I downloaded both of the files for 7.1.0 nde and ran the .sh file. Read the agreement and typed "I AGREE", after which the shell created a folder called vendor. Inside are BoardConfigPartial.mk, device-partial.mk and "proprietary" folder.
From what I searched, these are Makefile extensions to build the actual firmware, and all source code is stored in the proprietary folder found earlier. There seems to be a rampatch .img and a dedicated msm8996_camera.xml, and even more interestingly, another folder called lib64 which contains gps.default.so, libwifi-hal-qcom.so. Lots of files inside but I'm not going to go into details. The purpose of this comment is to let anyone more experienced with compiling and building software from raw code hopefully compile all of this into a single flashable .mbn.


How to read contact details sent from iphone? When someone with an iPhone sends me a contact, it appears as a blank MMS message. I found that this happens because group chat is on on their end, but these people are not always my friends, so I can't tell them to turn it off.

Is there a way to read these messages?

Some Android devices does not have support for handling MMS or SMS vCards in their native texting app. That is why you see it as "content not supported" or even blank message.

You can use third pardy app to handle MMS vCards if your Android device does not support it by default too. Search on Google Play. I've created such an app bizCard Manager. There are plenty more that handle SMS vCards but I've not found any that has MMS support.


How to make my phone vibrate when a text or an email is received when in vibrate mode? Currently, when I put my phone into vibrate mode, it only vibrates for calls. It does nothing for texts or emails, however, so I don't know when I've received one. Does anyone know a way to enable vibrating when a text or an email is received? My phone is an HTC Eris rooted with Cyanogen Mod if that helps.

You can enable vibrate for SMS from Messaging -> Menu key -> Settings -> Notification settings -> Vibrate. Not sure about Email since I use K-9 (in case you use it too it's in the app, Long-press the account -> Account settings -> Notifications -> Vibrate).


"Show CPU Usage" not an option Nexus 5X, running build number NMF26F, rooted.  "Show CPU Usage" is not an option available in Developer options.

Unfortunately the current solution (running 7.1.1 build NMF26U on Google Pixel) was to completely remove the option, as the feature was broken in 7.0

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=213571


How to move 7GB ext4 partition on external SD card to 30GB partition on another SD card? I had rooted my Android Lollipop 5.1.1  phone and installed Link2SD and linked installed apps on ext4 7GB 2nd partition of external SD card of 16GB size . The apps installed occupied 6.5GB space and I am getting low space now. I got 64GB external SD card and want to dedicate 30GB.

I created image of 7GB 2nd partition of external SD card through following command:

dd bs=4k count= if=/dev/block/mmcblk1p2 | gzip -5 -c > /storage/sdcard1/sdcard2root.img.gz

Now whats the way to clone this image to a 30GB partition?

It's easy to achieve on a Linux PC:

Attach both SD cards to PC.
Dump 2nd partition from old SD card to new one. It's also possible directly from Android device. See Creating Partition Dump.
Resize filesystem size to 30GB (the new partition size) using resize2fs.

COPY WHOLE FILESYSTEM:

The above approach works on Android too if you are able to attach new SD card through USB OTG SD card reader, while the old one is inside phone.

Or you can do it in 2 steps, as you are already trying:

Create partition dump:

~# gzip -9ck /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 >/storage/sdcard1/sdcard2root.img.gz

You can use dd or cat or even cp. Make sure you have enough space on primary external (physically internal) storage to save dumped (and optionally compressed) image of SD card's 2nd partition.

Compression is useful only with sparseness. To avoid copying freed filesystem blocks (of deleted files) use e2image -rap. Or discard logical to physical block mapping using fstrim (on mounted filesystem) or e2fsck -E discard, and drop page cache using sync; echo -n 1 >/proc/sys/vm/drop_caches.
Insert new SD card and do partitioning using parted or gdisk or fdisk.
Write partition image to new SD card:

~# gzip -dck /storage/sdcard1/sdcard2root.img.gz >/dev/block/mmcblk1p2

Maximize filesystem size to partition size:

~# resize2fs /dev/block/mmcblk1p2

COPY FILESYSTEM CONTENTS:

Another method is to only copy/move filesystem contents (files, directories etc.) and not the whole filesystem structure. But files' metadata needs to be preserved, or things may break (since the partition is to be mounted inside /data). It includes timestamps, permission mode, owner, group and extended attributes, particularly SELinux contexts. Some executable binaries (in /system) might also have file capabilities set (saved as extended attributes) but that's usually not required for user data. Other metadata like ACLs (also saved as extended attributes) and file attributes (inode flags) are not generally used on Android devices.

On Linux tools like rsync (or even cp) can preserve the required metadata. For reference see this and this answer. On Android (to move the contents in 2 steps) tar is a good choice:

~$ cd /path/to/old_sdcard/mountpoint/
~$ tar --create --preserve-permissions --selinux --verbose --gzip --file=/storage/sdcard1/sdcard2root.tar.gz .

Insert new SD card, do partitioning (if required), and create filesystem using mkfs.ext4 (by default it takes whole partition). To restore backup:

~$ cd /path/to/new_sdcard/mountpoint/
~$ tar --extract --preserve-permissions --selinux --verbose --gunzip --file=/storage/sdcard1/sdcard2root.tar.gz


How to remotely share Motorola Xoom screen Is it  possible to remotely share my Xoom screen over the Internet?  For example, say I was at my house and wanted to share the screen with a friend in another town.  How would I got about it?

You can try Android VNC server on your tablet, it should do the work...


Tethering using bluetooth via Galaxy Nexus to Galaxy Tab 7(P1000) tablet Here is the point there is a secured WiFi connection - which password I don't know - but there is an device - Galaxy Nexus smartphone which is already connected to that WiFi and my Galaxy Tab tablet.
There is any change to set GN as Bluetooth modem, to tether WiFi connection, for Galaxy Tab?

Android 4.0+ officially supports bluetooth tethering in both directions (and allows bridging to whatever the internet connection is (wifi/usb/3G)).

You need:

1x device as tether host running Android 4.0+ that has wifi/3g/usb internet
1x client device running Android 4.0+
both devices are bluetooth paired
enabled 'bluetooth tethering' setting on the host device:
settings => wireless & networks: more => tethering & portable hotspot => bluetooth tethering

You then can connect to the tethering profile:
settings => bluetooth => paired devices/GN => profiles/Internet Access

The GNexus fulfills all of that, however your P1000 cannot officially upgraded to Android 4.0 though, so you're out of luck or you have to install an aftermarket firmware (e.g. CyanogenMod9, which is based on Android 4.0.4)


How did my device know where I am located even though my GPS was turned off? So I was testing some functionality levels with Facebook Check-In feature on an Android device (Galaxy S2) and I noticed something strange. Even though my GPS was turned off, When I Checked-In on the Facebook App it showed my current location (along with a pop-up asking me to turn on GPS for more accurate reporting).

Why and more importantly how did my device know where I was located with my GPS being turned off?

either through trianglation or through Wifi if you where connected

trianglation - sends ping requests to Access Points

Wifi - In window 8 it can give a location based on surrounding Wifi network althought I am not awear of android using this


Add Smart Lock screen security options to Amazon Fire HD 8? Smart Lock is present in vanilla Lollipop 5.* but isn't included in Amazon Fire HD 8, which is based on Lollipop.

Can Smart Lock be added/enabled on Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet devices?

Only a few devices support Smart Lock(mainly Motorola and Samsung)

If you are having trouble finding Smart Lock, try

Go to Settings > Security > Screen lock > Set the Pin Lock
After setting the Pin Lock go back to the Security Menu, at the Bottom of
security menu you will find Trust Agent
Go to Settings > Security > Trust Agent
Enable Smart lock ( Google )
Select Smart Lock


How to stop display turn on and consuming battery power, when using Headphones remote control or volume button? I don't know if this depends on the music player (I'm using mort player music) or standby screen (I have widgetlocker app as lockscreen), I don't see any options in these apps to change this. In Android 2.3.4 (rooted) I have set turn off Display after 30 sec.

When I jump to next/forward song via remote control button of my headset, every time the display turns on for 30 sec. For the volume buttons the same.

Is there a way to stop this behaviour and save battery power. E.g. only turn on screen when pushing HOME or POWER button when in standby? Any apps like tasker able to manage this?

I believe it depends upon the music player app. Have you tried using another music player?

In my case, I didn't encounter this issue. I have used Samsung Galaxy 3 with several music players including stock player and also with a Bluetooth headset.

I think the app itself is the cause for this, which is causing screen wake-up on next/previous, and in my opinion is a poor implementation.

I don't know of any apps which allow to change the screen on behavior like this. It may be available in Cyanogen-mod perhaps.


Clear Android Market Search History? Any thoughts on how one might clear the Android Marketplace search history?
For instance, if I recently searched for an android app in the marketplace, the marketplace search maintains a history list of which apps/keywords that I have recently looked for.

Thanks in advance!

From the home screen go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications > All > Market then choose  "Clear data."

This will erase your market search history.  When you go back into the market it'll be like your first time.  They will ask you to agree to the terms and condition again and then it'll be just like it was before without your search history.  Your app Downloads and Purchases list will still be there because that list is stored online in your Google account.


Quick Key Problem HTC G2 I have a Google G2 and for some reason the keyboard has set itself to open apps with almost every letter I push. For instance when I push the letter e on my keyboard it opens the email app. How do I turn this off?

The slideout keyboard comes with Quick keys which you can assign to quickly open an app or an item when pressed.

Open the slideout keyboard.
Press and hold Shortcut key #1 to assign the first Quick key . Press and hold Shortcut key #2 to assign the second Quick key .
Tap OK
Tap Apps or Shortcuts, and then tap the app or shortcut that you want to assign to the selected Quick key. If you are assigning a shortcut to an item on your phone, follow the screen instructions to proceed.
Press the Quick key you’ve assigned. The app or item opens.

source: http://www.htc.com/help/www/howto_iframe.aspx?id=18599&type=1&p_id=325


Deleted hosts file (can't connect to internet) i have a rooted device (Lenovo A3000-h) , and i had this issue of having my hosts file filled every now and then with additional lines (that sometimes blocked me from logging into my google play account) , and i used to manually edit the file and just erase these extra lines (keeping the 127.0.0.1 line intact)

so yea everything was fine till this morning , i tried to access my google play and i couldn't so i tried to edit the hosts file one more time (as usual) but i noticed that the file size became 2.5mb although it has always been less than 0.5mb (170kb-250kb). anyways when i tried to edit it , the file wouldnt open giving me the message (not enough memory)

long story short i deleted the file and i noticed i had a hosts.bak file so i copied it and tried to connect but its taking forever and it's not connecting to the internet anymore.

hint : i took a copy of the file from my friend's "Samsung galaxy mega" phone and still it wouldn't connect

You shouldn't need a hosts file to connect to the internet. It's used to map custom (private) IPs to a hostname. Deleting it shouldn't prevent your device from connecting to the internet, but I can think of one instance where it could. I have to explain some background info first to help you understand.

DNS is the protocol used to map a FQDN (fully quantified domain name) like play.google.com to an IP address. Android is Linux based, which uses a config file called resolv.conf to send DNS lookup requests to. If your cell carrier is populating that file with a FQDN instead of an IP address, the IP address of that FQDN would need to be listed in the hosts file so your phone will know how to look it up.

Look at the contents of /system/etc/resolv.conf. You should see one or two lines that begin with the word nameserver. If the data that comes after that word looks like a FQDN, then a corresponding entry needs to be in the hosts file too. If it's an IP address, then the cause of your connectivity issues is something else entirely. The first step is making sure your device can reach the internet. I usually do something like ping 8.8.8.8 to do this as 8.8.8.8 is one of Google's public DNS servers. If you can hit that server, then your issue is DNS related. If you can't, then there's something else unrelated to the hosts file preventing you from reaching the internet.


Is there any way to parent proof a phone from themselves? My fathers phone is an absolute mess every time I look at it. When I passed him the phone, there was one home screen, and the default thing on the bottom launcher bar like phone, messages, browser.

Now, there are something like 8 home screen with numerous duplicates of apps, numerous folders with even more duplicates of apps, folders on the launcher bar, I don't even know where the phone dialler is hidden at this point. Of course, there are all the strange apps that now inhabit the phone as well that promise to "clean" the phone and speed it up and various other apps of that sort. He also manages to disable GPS, disable WiFi, and disable cellular data from time to time among other things.

When asked about it... well... he alleges that he never touches anything.

I'm sure others have been in this position before. Is there any app out there that can do the following:

1) lock all settings like GPS, WiFi, Cellular Data, etc.
2) lock all icons on the homescreen etc. so that new shortcuts/folders can't be created
3) lock new apps from being installed

All of the above can be temporarily unlocked with a password or something like that. It doesn't have to be one app to do everything, even 2 or 3 would be fine... ideally free, but this is absolutely something I'd pay for.

Ironically what you need is a parental control app. There are many on the play store but the only one I’ve ever used is Kid's Place. They are all designed to do exactly what you are asking… Lock everything from GPS settings to installing app.

You might also try educating your father with regard to touch screens. He is most likely handling the phone when the screen is active, unaware that every touch is changing “something”.


Unified way to manage annotations and bookmarks in Android and PC I usually read my books using an application called Mantano on Android. They have a cloud based sync mechanism that syncs annotations across various mobile devices.

My problem is I want to keep all my books in Dropbox (or maybe Calibre) and want to keep all the annotations, bookmarks in one place (preferably within the book itself) so that if in future I want to change the reading software on any platform, I have the annotations right there.

Is there any solution for this? I mainly read epub and pdf books. A single reader is the best option but if not possible I can use two readers (one for pdf and another for epub). I want to stay away from dedicated readers like kindle, nook etc.

Two options:

backup Mantano's database (or the whole mantano folder)
use Adobe Digital Editions to extract the annotations

The first option will keep you locked in Mantano. The second in ADE, which more applications use it, but it's not as pervasive as one would like. The main problem with .epub is that annotations aren't part of the standard, thus every application that supports it has to implement annotations in their own way, which usually means storing them out of the file.

For PDFs, I use Repligo, which stores the annotations inside the PDF. But many others like ezPDF accomplish this.


String of jumbled text is appended to every incoming SMS with Project Fi I just picked up a new Honor 8 (running EMUI 5/Android Nougat) and I'm having an odd problem when receiving SMS messages.

Whenever I get a message, an odd string of text with a length of 16, starting with a tilde~, like ~l/Adk/ljAdADFWjlk, is appended to it. This is regardless of my SMS app (I've tried the preinstalled one, Pulse, and Google's Android Messages).

Here's an image of a conversation:

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

How can I stop that random string of text from appearing after the intended message?

Edit: For extra details, my carrier is Project Fi (reduced to just T-Mobile on the new GSM-only phone) and the issue occurs regardless of sender, be it an iPhone or Android phone.

It looks like there's something wrong in your carrier's SMS router. You should contact your carrier and ask for support.
There's no encoding issues in this case, so I disagree with @beeshyams . The appended text is a stream of base64-encoded data, which after being decoded, resembles a stream of 11-byte data. According to my experience, it is very likely some metadata of the SMS message you received. You can safely ignore it.
Edit: Merged information from comments.
This is a general phenomenon of using Project Fi's service on a non-Fi phone. Discussions are here and here. A solution is to use Google Hangouts for text messaging.
Appendix: Decoded info from image (re-formatted manually)

$ base64 -d | hexdump -Cv
q/Pj/QAHwY+Jhgg= : AB F3 E3 FD 00 07 C1 8F 89 86 08
jaT2JQAcd3EM7Ag= : 8D A4 F6 25 00 1C 77 71 0C EC 08
BMXciQANmWXBLQg= : 04 C5 DC 89 00 0D 99 65 C1 2D 08


Samsung Galaxy S2 black screen My Samsung Galaxy S2 turned off suddenly and it is not turning on any more.
If I put it for charging, it will heat up the device and not able to power on. All data stored in internal memory. Is there any way to get data back from device . USB also is not detecting.

I think your battery is broken or there is another hardware problem. You can do this; try to borrow a similar battery as the one used by your device, use it on your S2 and see if it turns on. If it does turn on then do a backup immediately.  If it doesn’t turn on then try connecting the device to your laptop and see if it is recognized. If it still doesn’t get recognized you better go to an authorized repair center but, there is still no assurance that the data can be recovered.


How to turn off duplicate email notification messages? Recently bought a Samsung Galaxy 2.

There's a built-in app for both Gmail and general e-mail. I've been using the general e-mail app.

I'm finding that I'm getting notifications from both apps for the same new Gmail e-mail that comes in.  Is there a way to turn off the Gmail app notifications?  (I tried deleting the app outright but it seems Samsung won't let me do this. It's not an option in the manage applications menu, whereas it is for other 3rd party apps.)

In the settings of the gmail app there is a setting called "Email notifications".  Uncheck that setting, and you should stop getting notifications from it.


If I root a Droid ( Razr M) does it get factory reset (erasing all installed apps, etc.)? I'm considering rooting my Razr M.

If I do that but don't install an alternate ROM, will this erase anything on my phone or simply "unlock it"?

If you need to unlock the bootloader first (I could not find that in the instructions; you might check the script for the term oem unlock, usually done via fastboot), this includes a factory-reset, which would mean "all clean up delete", i.e. all data and your self-installed apps would be gone.

Otherwise, if no bootloader-unlock is involved, the rooting process itself would usually not delete anything.


How to use computer internet on android phone using bluetooth? I already how to use mobile internet on another android phone through Bluetooth but what I don't know is how can I use window PC net without USB tethering but by Bluetooth tethering.
Whenever I try to connect my android device to pc using Bluetooth, it shows it only as Bluetooth device but I am unable to use my pc's internet.

Note: I have read all other available replies regarding this question but of no use yet.

Yes you can use windows PC net using Bluetooth tethering using following steps:

You have to pair your mobile phone to PC
Then go to setting, click on More there you will get Tethering & portable  hotspot click on that.
You will get an option BT tethering click on that.
On your PC, there Appear a Bluetooth icon click on that you get Join Personal Network Area click that.

(If BT icon is not coming then you can search using WINDOWS+S and type Device and Printers)
there you will get List of All paired devices, Right click on device from which you want to tethering.
Click on connect using direct connection.

And here you are connected....


Why do I get the message "device connection disrupted" when I connect my phone to the computer? I have a Samsung Galaxy mini gt-55570. When I try connecting my phone to the computer, I get the message "device connection disrupted" and " Kies has stopped working". What is the problem and how can I fix it?

If you have an SD card in your phone try, removing it first and try again. If it works, then good.


Is there a way  to schedule hibernate/shut down on an HTC Desire HD? I'm planning to get SleepPhones, a sort of comfortable headphone which I plug into my HTC Desire HD. I would play music which puts me into sleep (hopefully) for up to 60 minutes.

Is there a way hibernate/shutdown the phone say after 90 minutes or perhaps at 2am every day to save power?

You should be able to use either Locale or Tasker to setup a condition (i.e., at 2 am) to do something (turn volume down, stop media player, or turn off wifi or other services).  But as far as I know, neither program will let you shut down your phone.


what would happen if there as a rooted device from the factory? Would it be feasible to see some manufacturer of devices launching a device that comes rooted from the factory?

If the user of said device accepts the responsibility and the power of getting a rooted device would that work?

Who can be against such products?
Would Google care about it?

The problem with shipping rooted device by default is that it may increase the load of customer support for the device manufacturer and possibly on other user support forums. If the manufacturer are willing to accept that, then there's really nothing really bad with shipping rooted device by default.

Google really wouldn't care about it. They may have their concerns based on security risks, but ultimately if the user is willing to accept the responsibility and risks, they shouldn't have any issues with it. The extent of Google's objection to this is that they may reject the device as non compliant according to Android Compatibility Document and therefore refuse the device from running Google Play services. It probably would be possible for manufacturers to side step this issue and still comply with the Compatibility Test Suite (and therefore eligible for Google Play), by allowing the user to easily switch root mode in developer setting, like CyanogenMod did.

The application vendors that would be the most staunchly against such this would definitely be vendors that uses and develops DRM applications and media. Their business model relies on hijacking the user's device to prevent the user from having full control of their own device.

Regular application vendors shouldn't have problems with it. They may have concerns if the security of their apps depends on the restrictions their apps will not be able to protect the user's data properly. Ultimately though, since applications vendors manages user's data, if the user is ok with it and the user accepts the risks and responsibilty, they shouldn't have any real objections.

The companies that may be wary of preinstalled root are companies that requires that their employees installs a device adminstrator service in their devices. They may simply decide to ban such device from being used in their company network.


Google map, not updating based on current location / position Had used Google maps on Nokia E72 sometime back, and it used to autoupdate/refresh the map keeping the current location/position updated.

However, used Google maps on Android (latest version of Maps on this device, checked on Google-Play), but the the blue triangle kept on moving on the static map image, and then it went off-screen. It recentred and came back to screen, only once I hit "my location" again. This kind of defeats the purpose. Am I doing something wrong or using the app incorrectly ?

First of all make sure you have turned your GPS (if available) and data connection turned on. This helps the device to get your precise location easily.

When using the app, make sure that you don't touch your devices screen by mistake. This often happens even without you knowing it and causes the map to tilt, losing the automatic center alignment of your current position.

Now open the app and press . Then the map will center to your current location. Then tap the location icon again. Now the location icon should move with you. Tap the location icon again and then it will look like .

Now you should get a more driver friendly view with your location icon moving smoothly. Happy driving!


Get rid of 'battery-low' popup after some delay? I'm using an Android phone (a Motorola Defy+ running CM9) with OsmAnd as a map solution mounted on my motorcycle (it just shows the map and a gpx-track as a driving hint).

It's not connected to a charger yet and I don't mind when it runs out of battery (I have spare ones).

However there's this "battery low" message popping up at 15% downwards. It covers a huge part of the map and stays there until you hit the OK button which does not work with gloves on and during the ride at all.

That remaining 15% still give >1h runtime which I want to enjoy withouth nagging popups!

Is there a way to hide it completely or get rid of it after some seconds automatically?

That is hard-coded into the framework am afraid.

Look in frameworks/base/core/java/android/os/Power.java

public static final int LOW_BATTERY_THRESHOLD = 10;

The alternative is to roll-your-own ROM to do this, there's a broadcast intent for battery low warnings (ACTION_BATTERY_LOW) but that's only for system signed apps AFAIK and cannot be intercepted.

The alternative is to listen for the ACTION_BATTERY_CHANGED broadcast and perhaps using Tasker, just to mute the battery warning sound...


By what metric does Spotify decide whether a device is a phone or tablet? Granted, the line between "tablets" and "phones" has been blurred for years, and there is no universally agreed upon distinction.

However, I am curious what metric Spotify uses to decide whether to call a device a phone or a tablet.

Most people would call my OnePlus 7 Pro a "phone", yet Spotify identifies it as a tablet:

What metric is used here? And why?

Found this answer in a Spotify Community post:

Free account on a tablet only allowing shuffle play
Solution

Spotify classes a tablet as anything 7 inches or greater. Anything under this will only have shuffle play in a free account.

Spotify needs to identify each tablet using its ID in the build.prop of your tablet. If you are using a lesser known tablet it may be that it has not been matched in the database. Please contact support using the contact form here and let them know your device model, Android version and display size stating that you only have access to shuffle play.

Source: Spotify Community - Spotify doesn't recognize device as tablet


Adding more widgets in 'Widget' Lock screen style of HTC One X I have HTC One X with Android 4.2.2 and Sense 5.

In 'Settings > Personalize > Lock screen style > Widget' when I click on 'Settings' button I have options of Gmail, Google Now, Google+ posts, My Tracks, Tumblr and Wunderlist. I can add only from these widgets which would be displayed on my lock screen.

How can I add more app widgets to this list?

The only way to add more widget is to install an application that allow their widgets to be used on the lockscreen. Developers need to specify if their widgets can be used on the launcher, the lockscreen or both.

So, if a widget is available on the launcher but not on the lockscreen, I'm afraid that you can't use it on the lockscreen. (But you could mail the developer so he makes his widget available on the lockscreen).

As said in the comments, a Xposed module is available for rooted to user that enable all widgets on lock screen : GravityBox


Does Android use a VPN in background when connecting to Exchange? i use Android 2.3.6 stock. I am new to Android.

At work we have a MS Small Business server, it has Exchange for e-mail.
With my laptop (Thunderbird), i can only connect to IMAP if i have a VPN connection to work.
But my android phone can get my email without a VPN connection. But that is not allowed in our firewall! How can it be?
Now the VPN has the same credentials as the email itself. This is probably the way it always works on MS small business server.

I am guessing that Android is so smart that it tries to make VPN connection with the given email credentials when the connection fails initially.

Is that so?

Android doesn't do that (nor do iOS and others).

IMHO it's not smart to automatically try to do such a thing. It's just a coincidence that your credentials are the same for both those very different things.

Exchange credentials and VPN credentials should really be not the same to begin with (for obvious security reasons).


Viber's sticker bought will be owned once or permanently? On my Android smartphone Google Samsung Galaxy, I install Viber app and intend to buy a sticker.

My question is whether I will have to re-buy the same sticker on another phone (using the same Google account of course) or it will automatically restored?

Stickers can be synced to other devices. So YES, it's permanent.

Source: How do I sync my stickers across all devices?


keep recording audio even if camera takes photo How can I take a photo without having to restart recording audio? I have a lecturer who's handwriting on the board must be deciphered after class, but I don't want to bring two devices to class, one for audio and one for photos. The stock software basically crashes the record app if the camera is started. I think my old flip-phone might have better multitasking...

Device in particular is a Samsung Galaxy Note 3, but I am curious about android devices in general.

On my Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III with a Android 4.1.2, I use Camera Zoom FX (non-free): it can take pictures without stopping recordings done by Android's native voice recorder (unlike the native camera application).


Missing Tethering Option I just got my Galaxy Tab 3(SM-T110). I want to tethering my tab to my pc, but I can't find the tether option under more settings. Please Help!

Search it properly under the more settings option or use the wifi tethering app to tether your device.


Using a custom Lock Screen does not unlock the SIM (PIN) When using Hi Locker as my lock screen, my Android Lollipop device does not prompt me for my SIM PIN upon boot -- and leaves the SIM card locked (therefore providing no service).

Details:

I'm running a rooted stock Android Lollipop 5.0.2 on an Xperia Z1 compact (firmware build number 14.5.A.0.242).

I replaced the system lock screen with Hi Locker, i.e. Settings -> Security -> Screen lock is set to None and Hi Locker is enabled with "password" (it's also a PIN, but to avoid confusion with the SIM PIN, let's refer to this as password).

The device is not encrypted.

When I reboot the device, no mobile service is available and the notification bar shows "SIM card is locked. -- Emergency calls only."

I am not prompted for the SIM PIN at any point during or after boot, even after unlocking (and relocking) the device with the Hi Locker password.

To double check, I have done and found out the following:

I can get the SIM PIN upon boot as long as Hi Locker is disabled.
If Hi Locker was enabled during boot, I can get to the SIM PIN prompt in the following way (without rebooting):

disable Hi Locker
enable system Screen Lock (with security, 'Swipe' alone does not work)
lock device
upon next unlock, SIM PIN is required

Note: I have searched both on Google and here, but have found no reports of similar issues. So either this is a weird problem, or most people don't use PIN locks, or my search terms were too far off the mark.

Question:

I would like to keep my SIM PIN enabled for the added security.

Is there any way to make sure the PIN is prompted and the SIM unlocked upon boot, even when using a custom lock screen?

The system lock screen needs to be enabled in order for you to be prompted with the SIM pin. Unfortunately, 3rd party lock screens won't work with this feature unless the system lock screen is also enabled. One workaround would be to find (or write) an app that uses the 'disable your screen lock' permission constantly to ensure that the system lockscreen never appears but remains enabled in Settings, thus allowing you to use the SIM lock.


I don't have flashlight icon on notification page I just got lolipop on my note 4 bit it doesn't have the flashlight on the notifications quick page.  What's  up with that? is there a way I can get it?

Try looking for it in the widegets section and add it from there.


Which apps cannot be disabled (without root)? I need to know more about disabling built-in apps. Some apps can be disabled, but there are some which has "disable" button disabled.
Is there any way how to find out which apps cannot be disabled? (I know that disabling some of them (e.g. settings) doesn't make sense, but some apps look OK for disabling and it is not possible for them too). Is there some other problem with disabling them? (I heard that some of them enable themselves with restart of phone).

Thanks a lot for answering.

I think you cannot disable "system apps". A layman definition of system apps can be ones those are installed when you install the ROM.

there can be a few in custom ROMs and UIs that companies provide because they think it is useful.

if you have something like ESExplorer, I think you can see which apps are system apps and which are user apps.


What method does Monospace use for encryption? This application has the ability to encrypt.
What method does Monospace use for encryption?

Looking at the decompiled source code I would not call it "encryption".
Instead "encrypted" texts are simply the markdown text encoded using base64 plus the SHA-256 hashed password appended to it:
From com.underwood.monospace.main.MainActivityFragment.encryptText() :
 this.mEncryptedText = Utils.base64Encode(new SpannableToMarkdown(
    new WeakReference(getActivity())).toMarkdown(this.mEditText.getText())) +
    "\n" + this.mHashedPassword;


How can I slow down my phone? I know it seems like a silly question, but here is the situation: I'm debugging an app and my users have reported a bug on slow devices that I can't see on my fast device.  Is there anything I can do to slow my device down so that I can see the bug for myself?

One option - if you have root and a proper custom kernel you can use something like SetCPU to underclock your processor. CyanogenMod also has this functionality built in since at least CM7, don't remember if it's in CM6. That can be found in Settings->CyanogenMod Settings->Performance IIRC. Without root access, I suppose you could try to run some kind of "expensive" process in an attempt to occupy CPU cycles, but its probably not the best of ideas or an accurate portrayal of a slower device.


Is internet tethering possible on Android phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi? I have HTC Desire and I use different Wi-Fi networks with it, but I don't have mobile internet access. My laptop is usually connected via a mobile modem.
Is there a way to share the laptop's internet access via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth?

Lorenz Blog has an article which explains how to set up a Wireless Hosted Network specifically on Windows 7.
To do so, the easiest way is to install either Virtual Router or Connectify

(source: londatiga.net)

(source: londatiga.net)
These programs will set up your computer to pass through the Wi-Fi connection
Then on the Android device:

Go to Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Wi-Fi Settings
Open Advance settings menu
Tick the Use static IP option
Enter your desired IP address (ex: 192.168.2.2)  into IP Address field
Enter your IPV4 Address (ex. 192.168.2.1) into Gateway field
Enter 255.255.255.0 into Netmask field
Enter your internet connection’s DNS server (use ipconfig /all command to get DNS info) into DNS 1 and DNS 2. As an alternative, you can use Google Public DNS: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Connect to Wi-Fi using your password
Disable and Enable Wi-Fi (in case if it won’t connect)
Check the connection using browser or other application.


Why am I getting shopping trolley notifications about local store savings? I am getting "Shopping Trolley" notifications appearing regularly.
The notification looks like this:

The notification is about "Store savings" at a local supermarket and that is it!

Is this notification from Google Maps or another application like Google Assistant? I'm struggling to find the specific setting to disable the notification.

I am also interested to know if this notification could in any way be targeted advertising generated by the store. My marketing preferences with the store are opt-out and this strikes me as very dumb advertising. Surely Google isn't doing this? Is there a means that a store can generate notifications like this? Could it be targeted if they have my email address?

These are pain and I want to understand why they are spamming me and disable them without disabling everything else.

I can see various options under Google Maps, settings, notifications. Which setting would apply? Could it be "New on maps, Get occasional updates about new features in your area"? I can't see what setting to suppress!

Thanks for all help.

This notification isn't from Google Maps at all, but from Google Assistant a.k.a. Google Now. All the notifications with the G icon are from that app. It's not controlled by the store or targeted to you: it's just about the place that Google thinks you're at. The location update rate isn't very fast (to save energy use), so sometimes you only see the notification after you've already left, or just if you go past the place.

To control it, start the Google app or swipe your homescreen left to open the Google Now page. Then press the "hamburger" icon (looks like ≡) to open the navigation drawer, and choose Settings. From there, scroll down to Your feed and click that. On the next page, scroll down past Get notified about to see a list of all the types of Google Now card you can get notified about. Places is the one about nearby places. You can also turn off all the notifications at once on this page.

Note that turning off the Places option will also hide the similar notifications about restaurant and bar reviews, timetables when you're in a bus or train station.


"force allow apps on external" on EMUI 5.x not toggling on so i've been trying to force allow apps on external storage by ticking the option: force allow apps on external
 under the developer options segment of the phone but it just doesn't seem to work. Every time I try to  toggle this setting on, it just refuses to turn on it goes back to its original greyed out state.
Please note that I have set my Default Storage" to SD; Could this be the reason ?

Thank You,
Wael

Huawei has disabled this function. It won't work unless you root the device.

Source: Huawei support website.


Change screen rotation sensitivity I often find myself in the wrong screen mode (landscape vs portrait) and I find the switching delay quite annoying. I would like my phone to be much more responsive when I rotate it (iphone-like)...
Do you know about any apps/tweakings to achieve this?

I have searched for the same thing, and unfortunately, have not come up with much of anything. What I have settled for is turning off auto-rotate, and only using it for apps where I really need rotation. I do recall there being an app which allows setting auto-rotate on and off on a per-app basis. I believe it is called Smart Auto-Rotate.


the operating system on your device has been modified in an unauthorized way? While trying to update my device I get:

"the operating system on your device has been modified in an unauthorized way"

I get this message. My device is also rooted. What should I do?

Galaxy Tab A (SM-P550)

As explained in the comments, the updater checks that the system partition matches what it expects (i.e. that the checksum is of a previous version of the system). Rooting the phone changes the system partition, so that it no longer matches. The updater detects this and fails, to avoid possibly bricking your phone by leaving it in an inconsistent state.

You have two options:-

Don't install the update.
Download a stock ROM for the phone (either the old version you already have, or the new version you're trying to update to, and flash it to the phone from a PC. You can get Samsung stock ROMs from SamMobile, and you use a tool called Odin to flash the image.
I know I said two options, but this is really the same as option 2. Instead of flashing a stock ROM, if you still want your phone to be rooted, you can look for an already-rooted almost-stock ROM, and flash that to your phone with Odin the same way. The XDA Developers often has such ROMs, so you can search there for the right version for your phone. See also Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?


Where does Android ICS store the cursor graphic? If you plug in a mouse to an Android device, a cursor shows up. I was wondering where that cursor graphic is stored? I'm a root user and want to know in case I wanted to modify it in the future.

Mouse cursor graphics can be located in the framework-res.apk. Specifically, res/drawable-x/pointer_arrow.png inside the APK file where x (suffix of drawable) is pixel density class of your device.


Accessing work profile exchange Outlook calendar via android calendar widget I have the following issue:

I want to be able to see my work calendar as a widget  in  Note 9
android.

My company  provides exchange Outlook  access via  work profile  in android  using  Intune portal.

The problem is i don't see any widgets from work profile to add a calendar widget.

Access has been cut off  via GMAIL to add the exchange server details so that i can synch the calendar.

Is there a hack around this?

There's a simpler work around for this:
Go to your personal calendar >
Settings > add calendar > subscribe to calendar (ask for permission to subscribe to your WORK calendar) > grant permissions from your work email
You now can sync your work calendar content to your personal calendar, hence showing it on your widget.


How to export bookmarks from default android browser? I am using LG P500 phone, running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

I want to export bookmarks from default browser of my android phone.

Can any one suggest me how to do that?

I have checked settings of default browser but no clue..

There are apps that can backup your bookmarks, e.g.

GMarks or TitaniumBackup (needs root).

You could also sync the P500 bookmarks with Google (by default on) and also set up sync for a regular desktop chrome browser (very prominently accessible in the settings).

You should be able to export your bookmarks then.


My phone suddenly shows an SD-card notification My Sony Xperia J phone was in my pocket and I wanted to read an ebook, so started my reader application. It showed a black screen and when I checked the shelf, all my books were gone.

I noticed a new notification icon that looked like a folded SD card. I checked its message that said: SD card is empty or its file system is not supported.

What? Half an hour ago I was using it.
I tapped the message and a question appeared: Do you want to format your SD-card? It'll erase all data from it.

What?? All my ebooks and media are gone just like that?

I restarted the phone, still no SD-card. When I got home, I removed the card and reinserted and fortunately now it works.

How does that so-called OS dare to lose my data? And the "recovery" solution is to format the card?

What could cause this?

One of my family members had the same problem, SD card misbehaving, then working for a few days, on and off. After a week or so the phone did not read the card at all and neither did the PC. Fortunately I backed up the content of the card after the first problem. The card worked for about a month after formatting, but died eventually.

I do not know what causes this.
I do not know how to stop it.
I know what you should do: a backup.


Android phone file structure seems corrupted when connected via USB so I have a Sony Xperia Play, and it's worked for awhile, but now I'm finding that sometimes when I plug it into my MacBook through USB, and try to copy files from the EasyVoiceRecorder folder onto my computer, I will get

"unknown" -39 errors
- Sometimes the file I copy is starts to copy over but then replaces itself. Example: Copying Recording 256. You see Recording 256 start to put itself on the desktop, but at the last second it becomes Recording 44 that's ACTUALLY put itself on the desktop. To fix this (SOMETIMES THIS WORKS) I put Recording 44 on the desktop and THEN copy the Recording 256, and it works.

Other things like that.

What's happening and how can I fix it? Do I need to reinstall the app maybe?

Also, I modify/delete the audio files in EasyVoiceRecorder directly from the directory, not from the phone. Could that've messed with the structure?

Thanks!

I'm not sure about doing this on a Mac, But if you have a windows PC, preferably a windows 7, try the following:-

Connect your phone via USB to the PC with the SD card. Turn on file sharing.
Go to My Computer, find your SD card "drive", right click > properties.
Go to Tools tab, under "Error Checking", click on "Check Now".
Any SD card related file system errors should get automatically fixed.


Does Android support the Exchange ActiveSync policy "Encrypt storage card"? Without middleware, without Google Apps, does Android support the Exchange ActiveSync policy "encrypt storage card."?
According to Wikipedia, Android doesn't support the ActiveSync command to encrypt a storage card. I'd like a second opinion, with a reference.
PS: I've seen Samsung claim the ability to encrypt storage cards, but unless it's through ActiveSync, it's not what I'm looking for.

Prior to Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), Android did not natively supported encrypting local storage at all. Android 3.0 introduced the ability to encrypt the local device, and to enforce device encryption by Activesync policy.

Other than the Galaxy Nexus, every phone currently on the market is running either a 1.x or 2.x version of Android, none of these support device or removable media encryption in the Android OS, it is possible that some manufacturers may have added encryption, but this isn't a standard part of the OS available to standard ActiveSync implementations.

For Android 4.x phones (currently only the Galaxy Nexus) full device encryption (and the relevant policies) is brought to phones but this still doesn't seem to include removable media.


Contacts from removed Google account still appear in Phone app - Android 9 I am currently using a Xiaomi Mi A2 (andoid one) with Android 9.
At some point I added another google account to the phone, just to view some mails.
After removing this account, the contacts saved to it were removed from the Contacts app, but still appear in the Phone app.
I have tried force stopping the Phone app, and clearing the cashe and the storage and also resetting the permissions.
Does anyone know what I can do?
Is there a way to find out if any contacts are stored in the internal storage do that I can mass delete them?

Ok so, moments after I posted this I found the answer and I am posting it in case someone else struggles for some days like I did. I went to the Contacts app, and on the menu I selected All contacts. This way everything appeared and I could just select all that I didn't need and delete them.


S Memo home screen shortcut How can I add a S Memo note as a home screen shortcut? When I first got my Samsung Galaxy S3 there was a shortcut which I deleted.This was not  a shortcut for the app but for a saved note.Now I can't find a way to do it

Go to "Widgets" folder, there should be an S Memo widget in it. Push and hold it. It will give you an option to move a generic S Memo note onto one of your home screens. Once you've done that, you can open it and choose between making this shortcut an existing note and creating a new one.


Is some of my internal memory missing? I have an HTC Wildfire (the original, not the S version). It is supposed to have 512MB of memory. When I check my free space in the app manager I noticed I have around 185MB. Why is this?

I am using CyanogenMod which is around 80MB, if this wasn't accounted for there is still a lot of space missing. Why is my phone reporting so little?

ok. here is the thing. The space is there, the problem is that it is not accesible for applications.

Android systems have several partitions as explained  here. Doing an df on my device I get:

Filesystem              Size      Used      Available Use%    Mounted on
tmpfs                   156.5M     32.0K   156.4M     0%    /dev
tmpfs                   156.5M         0   156.5M     0%    /mnt/asec
tmpfs                   156.5M         0   156.5M     0%    /mnt/obb
/dev/block/mtdblock3    250.0M    119.0M   131.0M     48%   /system
/dev/block/mtdblock5    175.1M    157.2M   18.0M      90%   /data
/dev/block/mtdblock4    40.0M      1.3M    38.7M      3%    /cache
/dev/block/vold/179:1   3.7G      2.8G     952.5M     75%   /mnt/sdcard

the space I see in the app manager is the same allocated for /data, the rest of the space is used for the cache and the android system (in the /system and /cache partitions).

A solution would be to find out how to resize the partitions in the internal memory of the phone (there is a procedure here). Another solution (which seems easier) is to put they regularly used apps in the /system partition along with the default applications so that all memory is used (root is needed)


Is a phone's ROM and Firmware the same thing? I have heard of Custom ROMs and Custom Firmware, are they the same thing?  If not, whats the difference?

It's probably the same thing although ROM is supposed to be the area / location where stuff is only ever written once (during manufacture / initial flashing).


The name "Alicia Han" appears to be calling! I think there's a bug in Android where some Alicia Han appears to be calling. This happens some times if you hang up on someone calling you, or you have a missed call. The name appears in the instant before the correct name of the caller appears on the phone. To be specific: In the interim between the phone screen turns on and the content is loaded on the screen.

All relevant hits I get on the subject is this tweet. So I'm not crazy!

Have any of you seen this, and do you know what happens / who Alicia Han is?
This has happened haphazardly since I got my HTC Sensation XE a year ago.

Edit: I think the problem might be that there is a standard Label text for a Person entry (such as the ones in the Persons list) that is set to 'Alicia Han' and the label text is replaced when the Person information is fully loaded.

Edit: The bug is reproducible (at least for me) by hanging up an incoming call. The name Alicia Han appears for a few milliseconds before the real name is loaded.

I've been looking for the answer to this question since I read it a year ago. I searched several times and I always find the same question in many forums, but no answers. The only certainty is that it is not a bug of Android as such because it only happens for users of the HTC brand, but I've never found anything productive that comes out of HTC staff in this regard. This question was asked over a year ago and still there is no answer, so I'd like to be the first to give an answer, even if it is a guess.

What I can conclude from the comments on this and other forums is that "Alicia Han" is a placeholder for contact name which the HTC developers put to be replaced for real contact data when you receive a call (in the same way this placeholder could be "John Doe" in English or "Fulano de Tal" in Spanish), although it seems feasible according to the comment of @qdoe (being HTC a Chinese corporation), I don't know how random can be that choice of name, it could be even a co-worker's name as suggesteded by @Propeller, or maybe it is only to sound less chinese, given that "Alice" is a western name.

The problem is that, likely due to a bug in programming such functionality, the placeholder is shown instead the real data when lockscreen is active, or when hanging up an incoming call. Probably by this time the bug has already been fixed, that's why HTC offers free "repair" of the phone, as happened to @Siebe.


Android mount external sdcard obb to internal SD card succeed (I posted this question on Stack Overflow before(https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42738392/android-mount-obb-to-external-sd-card-failed), then I found here may be a better place to post this question.)

I want to move a game's obb(1GB) to SD card.
Copied the obb file to SD card, and symbolic link by:

su
ln -sf /storage/sdcard1/Android/obb/com.game /sdcard/Android/obb/com.game

but failed with "function not implemented".

I googled it, and got "some filesystem doesn't support symbolic link".

So I tried to use mount by command:

su
mount -o bind /storage/sdcard1/Android/obb/com.game /sdcard/Android/obb/com.game

but I found only root can see the files in the folder.
Then I do:

cd /system/bin/
chmod 4777 ./toolbox #make anyone can use mount(in toolbox)
su u0_aXXX #the game's uid
mount -o bind /storage/sdcard1/Android/obb/com.game /sdcard/Android/obb/com.game
ls -l /sdcard/Android/obb/com.game
$ -rwxrwx--- u0_aXXX sdcard_r com.game.obb

But when I

cat /sdcard/Android/obb/com.game/com.game.obb
$ cat: /sdcard/…ame.obb permission denied

I'm using android5, any solution?
Thanks.

(If you're finding how to move obb to external sdcard and mount it back to internal, here's the right place!)
Finally I found the solution of this question by myself!
The app can't access the obb by itself, it requires media_rw to access it.
Found by lsof:

sdcard 340 media_rw 15 ??? ??? ??? ???
/data/media/obb/com.game/com.game.obb
sdcard 340 media_rw 17 ??? ??? ??? ???
/data/media/obb/com.game/com.game.obb
com.game 26335 u0_a266 36 ??? ??? ??? ???
/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/com.game/com.game.obb
com.game 26335 u0_a266 37 ??? ??? ??? ???
/storage/emulated/0/Android/obb/com.game/com.game.obb

So I have to mount the external sdcard folder to two places and each has to have its right owner:

owner    folder
u0_a266  /storage/emulated/legacy/Android/obb/com.game
media_rw /data/media/obb/com.game

But if I mount /storage/sdcard1/Android/obb/com.game to those two places, it will become:

owner    folder
u0_a266  /storage/emulated/legacy/Android/obb/com.game
u0_a266  /data/media/obb/com.game

Then I found if I do:

mount -o bind /storage/sdcard1/Android/obb/com.game /storage/emulated/legacy/Android/obb/com.game
mount -o bind /mnt/media_rw/sdcard1/Android/obb/com.game /data/media/obb/com.game

I found this works fine, because the mount command's source and destination is their original owner.
The app can run very well!


How can my lost phone disappear from my Android device manager device list? I lost one of my phone 2 months ago. I've sometimes checked Android device manager to locate it and try locking it, but recently my lost phone disappears from the list ! How it can happen ? Does a person know the way to skip this link in order to use or to sell the lost phone ? I still have the original box of this phone (with its IMEI).
Please help, thank you.

When the playstore is logged in from a new account,your previous account will notify that the device is removed from the playstore device list. so it will not show your old phone.


How to lock network operator or to never go on roaming, or get out of roaming as soon as possible I work really close to a country border, and I do NOT want my phone to connect to other operators than mine.

Sometimes the operator from my home country will be unavailable for a brief period of time, and the phone will go on roaming. (and it's useless. no phone, no sms, no web. pointless)

When I'm back in a zone where my home country operator has coverage, the phone will stick to roaming for a good while (hours), and I have to notice it and manually select my operator.

Unfortunately when the phone reboots the "choose automatically" option is re-set, so if I reboot the phone (or when it reboots itself), I have to do this again.

I have tasker, but didn't find a way. I am also ready to root the phone if needed.
I just don't know how to select a network operator and prevent the phone to switch to "choose automatically" at every reboot. It's not about apn and roaming charges, I just want it to never go on roaming ever ever ever.

Any suggestion?

(device info: OnePlus One, android 5.0.1, cyanogenmod cm12)

It seems that Android M Marshmallow does fix this bug.

I am now running Android 6.0.1, CyanogenMod version 13, and the operator does not revert back to automatic-selection anymore after reset.

The exact CyanogemMod version I am running is: 13.0-ZNH2K-20160430-STABLE-Sultan-bacon.


Yellow Triangle at bootup A few days ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2. But, at phone start up under the Galaxy S2 Logo I see a strange Yellow Triangle. I read a few forum posts found on google, but I have some doubts about this. To be more precisely, what that means? Ah, and yes, at first start up I didn't see this triangle, he appears after I tried to update the phone software from samsungapps.com

You just got case of failed update. Try to have look at this article and see if you can get it sorted


How to import contacts from galaxy s3 to nexus 5? How do you import contacts from a Galaxy S3 to a Nexus 5?
They're both Android devices, so is it a simple process?
Do I need to save them to a SIM card?

Several ways actually. The most simple way I found was to sync all your addresses to a Google Account. If you don't have one create one. On the S3:

From Settings Scroll down and choose Accounts and Sync.
Choose Add Account.
Choose Google.
Choose Existing to add an existing account.
Type in the email id of the account.
Fill in password and sign in.`

On the other device, simply sync to the account again. All your contacts will be pulled in.


Game won't update: difference between Play Store and manual Install ? (Plants vs Zombies 2) my "Plants vs Zombies 2" won't update (it never did).

I wonder if the reason is that, for the rush to have the game, I probably installed it manually downloading it from the internet.

BUT, Play Store says the game is already installed, and won't update it.

Do I have to manually remove it and then install it ?
How do I have to backup my savegame ?

My guess is that you have to remove it, then reinstall it from the Playstore. It will probably see the installed file on the phone, but your Playstore account doesn't know about this, and won't activate the update.

You can use Titanium Backup to backup the game, if your phone is rooted. Titanium Backup can backup apps and their data, and restore either of them separately. If the phone is not rooted, I don't know how to do this if the app doesn't have an export function.

But... probably it won't overwrite your personal data. I can't give you any guarantees, but you probably won't lose your personal settings.


Unlocking Android phone immediately after reboot I have an Android phone (version 5.1.1) with cyanogenmod (version 12.1). And after rebooting I cannot immediately unlock my phone. If I try to unlock my screen (lock style = pattern) immediately after rebooting I always get the message: "try again in x seconds" where x is counting down from 30 to 0. I find this very annoying,  is there any way to disable this?

Edit: I just found out that I can actually unlock my screen before it asks me to enter my pin for unlocking my sim card. But when I do this it locks again as soon as it a asks me to enter my pin for unlocking my sim, and again have to wait 30 sec.

Note: This is a workaround.

Some users have posted about the bug (saying this bug is present from long time)
 in reddit and oneplus forums.
Since it is a bug, there is no definitive solution to this.

One possible work around is to simply turn off the screen by pressing  lock button
and turn back on by pressing  lock button  again, and enter your pattern.


Is allowing an OTA to install after rooting a good idea? I have a rooted phone with the stock ROM/Kernel. I only use the tethering hack outside of the stock ROM. I was prompted with "System Update" this morning. Should I stay away from this update, or would it be ok?  Thanks!

A system update will most likely un-root your phone, but if all you have is the tethering hack, I would recommend updating, re-rooting, and reinstalling the hack, after making sure the the hack is supported in the next version.


How to view the files from /root/data folder? I want to see the files from /root/data/data folder. Is there any application/trick which can do this?

Short answer
You cannot do that without having your device rooted, as the file permissions won't allow you to list contents there. You will be able to change into /data/data, but you will not see a single thing there.
Longer explanation
While one might be able to access /data/data without root (i.e. change into that directory), permissions are set to forbid listing its contents:
shell@android:/ $ ls /data/data
opendir failed, Permission denied
1|shell@android:/ $ cd /data/data
shell@android:/data/data $
shell@android:/data/data $ ls -l /data
opendir failed, Permission denied

This is what happens on a device without root (output created just now on my Cat Stargate 2 running Android 4.1.1). Repeating the same on my HTC Wildfire running CM9 (Android 4.0.4) and having root access enabled looks a little different, and should give us the wanted details (output cut to the necessary stuff):
adb shell
root@android:/ # ls -l /data
drwxrwx--x system   system            2013-02-27 02:01 data

As it is clearly shown, /data/data is owned by the user system group system, with this user and group being the only having full read/write/execute access. Everybody else only has execute permission, enabling all processes to change into that directory. This is necessary for the apps to access their data: They know their package names, and such an app named com.foo.bar can directly jump to /data/data/com.foo.bar which it owns and has full access to.


Is there any way to erase personal information from my phone that has already been stolen? My phone has been stolen. I do not want the thief to have access to any of my personal information such as calls, texts, and information saved in the phones contents. Is there any possible way I can get this information erased from my phone?

As long as your phone still has battery power left and is still switched on and connected to the phone networks, you can use one of the phone wiping apps that specifically advertise that they can be remotely installed and used after the phone is stolen.

From a quick search of the Android Market, there are PlanB that is designed for this purpose:

  Plan B is the 'find my phone' app that
  you download AFTER you lose your
  phone.

  Plan B is your last resort to find
  your missing phone.

  This is the first and only 'find my
  phone' app that you download AFTER
  you've already lost your phone. Having
  Lookout on your phone is the best way
  to protect your phone and find it
  fast, but use Plan B if you have
  already lost your phone and didn't
  have Lookout installed.

And Phonelocator Pro is one that advertises this:

  Can be installed after the phone was lost. Install this application to your
  phone from the web Android Market
  remotely. Send the "PLlocator" word to
  your phone, in a text message. It will
  respond back with the phone position.
  The word is case sensitive, so be sure
  you send this exact word "PLlocator"


email me when a charger is connected? I want to be able to leave a device with charger plugged in the socket, and have it email me (or call/text me on my another device) as soon as it gets power (ie when the charger is technically  or officially plugged in)

Scenario: I plug the device and leave it. There's no power. Power comes, the device emails/calls me.

With Tasker, you could try this:

Condition: State → Power
Task: Send SMS

(Note that Compose Email / Compose MMS / Compose SMS only open the dialog and let you edit, so you would need to use the Send SMS option to have it automatically sent).


How to encrypt full device on Android Nougat? I have an LG V20 but I can't find the setting for full device encryption. There is a setting to encrypt the SD card. However, I'd like to also encrypt any memory on the phone itself.

Is this possible in Nougat?

Head to Settings > Security > Screen Lock and tap your current screen lock. If “require PIN to start device” is an option, you’re running full-disk encryption.

If you’d like to convert to file-based encryption, you can do so by enabling Developer Options, then heading into Developer Options and tapping the “Covert to file encryption” option. Keep in mind that this will erase all of your data, effectively factory resetting the device!

Here is the full tutorial from howToGeek.


How can I change the default browser on MIUI 10.x? I've read this question:

How can I change the default browser?

but the instructions there don't fit my Xiaomi phone, which has the MIUI 10 interface. How can I change the default browser there?

In your Settings application, navigate to System Applications Browser.
You get a prompt saying:

  Set as default browser?

  MIUI Browser is really great blah blah blah
  blah blah blah blah blah blah.

  No Thanks | Set

Tap "No Thanks".
Make sure "Set as default browser" is in the off position (grayed dot, not blue dot).
Open some application with web links.
Click a web link.
You will now get the dialog for choosing the app with which to open the link.
Tap "Remember my choice" or some equivalent wording before choosing your new default browser.


App Permission and Force stop Hello everybody :) I would be very grateful if you could answer my questions.

1- If the app has as a permission : Read and send text messages (SMS or MMS). Does it include  whatsapp and viber messages ?

2 - If I force stop an app, does it mean that the app's permissions are also disabled ?

Thank You

SMS and MMS are general, system wide messages available through the Android API. Messages by any third-party app are independent from that and cannot be retrieved without reading the original database files containing those messages. (Which basically means it involves a rooted device/root permissions)
If you force close an app it is shut down and doesn't run. It does not remove any permissions what also means that another app may launch that app and that app may read your messages then.

Apps that don't run are not doing anything but the permissions persist. Using an application that is able to manage those permissions can revoke those permissions permanently.


Google play website shows all Apps under "My Apps" as "Installed" even uninstalled ones I am looking at "My Apps" in Google Play Store and Google Play website.

In Google Play Store, it marks properly the apps that are currently installed as "installed" and the apps which have tried earlier and uninstalled shows up with a "x" mark that deletes the selected app from "My Apps" list.

But in Google Play website, it shows "installed" for all apps under "My Apps".
Is there any option to see the uninstalled apps in google play store?

Encountered the same here. From my limited research it seems that it has to do with 'syncing' to Google Play when an app is uninstalled.
Your device just looks at which apps it has in the internal memory. Google Play website needs this info being synced to it.

So when you install an app it shows correctly on both platform. When you uninstall it and have a working internet connection on your phone, it also shows correctly on both platforms.
Now if you install an app and for example hard reset your device (or your device is by other means unable to sent to the server that an app is no longer on your device), then it still shows as installed in Google Play website. As far as I know, there is no way to make your device 'resync' the installed apps. Only way would be to install the app again and uninstall.


Why my (unrooted) /data partition appears to be empty? I am having some issue with my /data partition. Among other things, when I browse its contents with the Astro app, it appears to be empty. The phone has never been rooted and it has been factory-reset at least three times in the last hour, so I would expect it to be at least minimally functioning.

Why is the /data partition empty? When factory reset, is it not supposed to contain something? Is this the cause of my inconsistent (maybe they are not inconsistent: they are MISSING) UIDs?

PS: I am putting the unrooting tag even if the phone was never rooted, since I would like it to go back to its original state :-)

Without root Astro doesn't have permission to view the contents of the /data directory. It probably displays it as "empty" in an attempt to handle it gracefully, I would guess (but that's mostly a guess). It seems like a fairly sensible alternative to other solutions, though, aside from perhaps giving you a message that says "Permission Denied" or similar.


Location for custom Ringtones/Alarms/Notifications that hides them from Play Music? There seems to be a lot of misinformation about the proper location and format for custom Ringtones, Notifications, and Alarms in Android and I'm wondering what is correct.

I've read that the path could be any one of the following:

/sdcard/Ringtones/
/sdcard/ringtones/
/sdcard/media/Ringtones/
/sdcard/media/ringtones/
/sdcard/media/audio/Ringtones/
/sdcard/media/audio/ringtones/
/sdcard/Notifications/
/sdcard/notifications/
/sdcard/media/Notifications/
/sdcard/media/notifications/
/sdcard/media/audio/Notifications/
/sdcard/media/audio/notifications/
/sdcard/Alarms/
/sdcard/alarms/
/sdcard/media/Alarms/
/sdcard/media/alarms/
/sdcard/media/audio/Alarms/
/sdcard/media/audio/alarms/

Any of the Ringtone and Notification paths seem to work but nothing seems to work for Alarms.

Regardless of where the files are, Google Play Music still adds them to it's library unless a .nomedia file exists.  The .nomedia file however hides the files from the Ringtone and Notification lists.

Is there a correct location for the 3 media types that will make them show in their respective lists and hide them from Google Play Music?

I'm running Lollipop 5.1.1 on an unrooted Nexus 4.

Just create a new folder/directory in internal storage of your phone with name 'Notifications' and place all your notification tones that you have downloaded in this folder.

Finally go to settings > sound > notifications > you'll find your tones there, select and enjoy.


Is the external storage size limit hardware or software? AFAIK, All phones I know have a SD Card size limit. Is this hardware, or software ?

If this is hardware, what changes between, let's say a 32GB card, and a 64GB card ?

If this is software, is this just an arbitrary limit, or the system really won't be able to read it ? Is this changable (Custom ROM, Kernel) ?

As I know, this is a software limit. The communication protocol of a 32GB, 64GB or even 128GB SD card is exactly the same. Only the old non HC or XC cards of 2GB or less uses a different communication protocol. The reason that some devices doesn't support 64GB or bigger is due to the use of the exFAT file system on cards of 64GB and larger. Although, if you reformat this cards to the older FAT32 file system you can use in a device that officially supports up to 32GB cards (only in very rare cases it still doesn't work). My experience is that a 128GB card formatted in FAT32 works without issues in a Samsung Galaxy S2 that officially supports up to 32GB.


Rooting the Micromax Canvas A1 Android One Phone (Micromax Canvas A1 AQ4501) Can anyone share experiences rooting the Android One device Micromax Canvas A1  (Micromax Canvas A1 AQ4501)?

I am looking for a trustworthy way, as far as possible.
Please don't say rooting is inherently risky - I know that. I am still looking for relatively safe technique(s) and using third party software, if that's required, that is known to be generally reliable.

If any one has rooted this device, were you able to upgrade to the latest Android version after rooting? (It runs Kitkat 4.4.4 by default)

Thanks.

I hope you haven't rooted your Micromax A1 till now. I have Xolo Q1010i and i've rooted it using Kingroot. I am not sure it will works the same for you but anyways you can always give a try.

I have gathered some information from droidviews for your solution to root Micromax A1.

Requirements and Precursors

Download Minimal FastBoot tool from here and extract the contents to a folder of your choosing.
This will help you in setting up fastboot quickly and counter the need for installing the full Android SDK.
You’ll have to have ADB drivers setup on your PC. Refer to this guide if you don’t have them already setup.
Once ADB and FastBoot are setup, you’ll have to install your device specific drivers by connecting it to the PC via a USB cable. The drivers specific to your device will be automatically installed to your PC if you have a working Internet connection. If a problem arises in driver installation, just download these drivers and manually install them by pointing your PC’s Device Manager to them.
Enable USB debugging on your device in the Developer Options menu.
Download SuperSU installable.

NOTE: Remember to backup your personal data and charge-up your Canvas A1.

Unlock Bootloader

Connect your device to your Computer after enabling USB debugging from the above-mentioned steps. If the first time you connect your device to the PC and a pop-up like this appears on your Canvas, click on ‘Always allow’ and then OK.

Now, open the FastBoot folder and right-click on an empty space while holding down the SHIFT key, and then click ‘Open Command Window here’.
Next, in the Command prompt, type  the following code:

         adb reboot bootloader

Your device will now reboot into fastboot mode.
The bootloader can now be unlocked by entering the following simple command

        fastboot oem unlock

        fastboot format userdata

That’s it! your bootloader is now unlocked!

Install ClockWorkMod/TWRP/Philz Touch Recovery

First and foremost, download the recovery you want to install from the below link:

ClockWorkMod v6.0.5.1

Now extract recovery image from the zip file to the fastboot folder.
Open cmd command prompt and enter the following command:

        fastboot flash recovery recovery.img

        fastboot reboot

Done! Your phone now has a working recovery.

Root Micromax Canvas A1

Start by copying the SuperSU installable update.zip to your device.
Now, to boot into recovery, just open the command prompt and type:

         adb reboot bootloader

And now comes the time for the good old method of flashing SuperSU via recovery by browsing to its zip file. For this, go to ‘choose zip -> /external_sd’ and go ahead with the install.
On reboot, you may or may not get a warning similar to ‘su may have been removed’, ignore that and click ‘No’.
Once this is done, you’ll be sporting a rooted device!


Is there really no spell check on the built-in keyboard? I am a new Motorola Droid4 (Verizon) user (from a blackberry). Moto is telling me that there is no spell check on the built-in keyboard, only on the Mutli-touch keyboard.

Is that right?

If you have your keyboard input method set to Multi-touch Keyboard, then you should continue to get word suggestions even when you have the hardware keyboard open and are using it. If you have your keyboard input method set to Swype, you won't receive suggestions.


Nexus 5 only emergency calls call are allowed by device owner I am new to Android and I am not the owner of the current device (LG Nexus 5) I use. I come across this problem: I am not the owner of the device. Instead, I am the second user. When I want to call someone, it prompts an alert box saying that

  only emergency calls are allowed by the owner.

Similarly, when I open the Messenger app, another alert box prompted:

  this app isn't allowed by the device owner

so I set Hangouts as the default SMS app, but SMS is disabled and not be able to enable.

Other features work fine. The reception is full. Cellular data works. I can even accept calls, just not be able to calling out or sending SMS. Do I have to contact the owner, for them to unlock the calling and texting features?

when your phone is under guest it wont allow you to have access to everything. switch to original owner and your phone will work again!


Autoboot LG Android Phone How can i setup my LG Sprint Phone Model LGLS885 to auto-boot when plugged in. there is instruction on the web to modify the lpm file, but there is no lpm file in system/bin.

look for possible file, like charger_monitor (some lg systems use it) or any file contains the word "charge" or "lpm". change it's name and try to turn off the phone and charge it. if there is not an usual battery animation - that's the file!

if it's not the file, don't forget to rename it.