How can I record touches? Is there an existing app I can install that will record my touch interactions in the background?  I just saw this and it made me want to play around with my touch data to see what it looked like.  Didn't turn up any likely candidates here or in the Market.  Google seemed to indicate that it is certainly doable if you write your own foreground app (which I have no interest in doing because I want to record my touches in the entire system), and that it might be possible using a custom-developed background app, which might be a fun project but I'd rather install an existing app if possible.

In Ice Cream Sandwich, I noticed a few cool features in the Developer options that are related to touches: Go to Settings -> Developer options.  There is the Pointer location option.  This shows an overlay of touch information such as coordinates and drag path.  There is also Show touches, which shows where your touching the screen.  The former might provide you some good information, but doesn't record the data for analysis later.  The latter is more for when you're recording a video so it's clear where the user is touching.


Are all the 2 amp Chargers are "Quick Chargers"? According to Qualcomm's website they use some modern technology which will result in quick charging and according to a blog on android police if you want to check a charger is a quick charger then check its ampere rating if it is 2 amp or not...So according to that all quick chargers are 2 amp chargers but is vice versa true?
Now why i am asking this? I have a xiaomi redmi 3s prime and i takes 3 hours to charge with a 2 amp charger(which came in the box) so is it because its battery is 4000 mah or is it because it doesn't support quick charging

All 2A chargers are not quick chargers and all quick chargers are not necessarily 2A (Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 is 3.2 V)

USB standard 3.0 in   lays down standards of 10 W: 5 V, 2 A  for smartphones and tablets
Power = Voltage multiplied by Current and this equation determines charging speed. When you use a 2A charger instead of 1A charger, charging speed increases . You can
calculate the charging time required using the Battery Charge Time Calculator ( choose efficiency of charging at 90 % if your battery is not too old ). Your device is probably supplied 2A charger since the battery is big and charging with 1A would take long. You can plug in the values in the calculator and see for yourself
Quick charging / fast charging of entirely different.  Basic principle is to increase the power supplied in charging by increasing power, either by increasing voltage or current or both. See this for more details How does fast-charge work?


Prompted to enter new password for Gmail on Android for no apparent reason In just one of multiple Gmail accounts on my cell phone, I noticed that an outgoing email sent while away from home (probably over 4G) got stuck on the Outbox without being sent. At first I attributed it to cell phone data coverage issues in the area I was in, but even after connecting to WIFI it didn't send.
When I tried to sort out what was going on with that account, it prompted me to verify it, and didn't recognize the password, having to enter a new one after typing the one that I thought was still valid to verify my ownership of the account. After that everything was good until it happened again twelve hours later (and again, everything went back to normal after changing the password, which at this point, I have changed multiple times from a PC to try and avoid being tracked).
None of the interfaces seemed out of the ordinary within standard routines within Google. The other email accounts worked without a glitch on the same phone.
I don't use 2-step verification for this particular account.
I looked for any POP or forwarding, or other sharing settings that could show that the account was compromised, but everything was fine. And I looked under the account activity, and all the changed password events were done by me.
There was only one thing unexpected under the Access tab: an address from out-of-state that I couldn't reverse ID:

Mobile United States (PA) (2600:1002:b117:ccd7:e506:e318:fc5c:a2cf)

I don't recognize this address, but it doesn't show like there was any password change done by this address, and there were no emails sent or received during that time. Critically, I did not received any notification of an unrecognized new device logging on to my account, and all the devices listed as having accessed my account are mine (under a separate tab in the Settings - not in the list of recent activity, where this IP address appear). In terms of the time, I could have accessed the account from my phone, and only from my phone, which appears elsewhere but not in that entry. One option is that the IP address changes when not using the home network WIFI - so it was possibly my activity using cell data. But that doesn't explain why I was prompted to enter a new password.
I checked my android for malware with no returned flags.
What could be going on? If the account was compromised, how can I prove it, and how can I find out what sort of access the intruder could have gained? And are the steps I took good enough?

I have all but confirmed through toggling my cell phone from Wi-Fi to 4G that the long address is indeed the network IP address (Verizon service) that my phone used to access my Gmail address when I was in transit (outside the Wi-Fi boundaries).
Although this is a partial reply to the question, and in truth I still can't figure out why I was prompted to enter a different password, there has been zero strange activity that I could detect, or that Google recorded on any tracking or notification system.
So what did I learn:

Cell tower IP addresses may not match the State you are connecting from under the Last account activity at the bottom of the Inbox on the Gmail display on a laptop.
Confirm this by going to Settings on Android, selecting System, About phone, Network, and watching the IP address change as the phone is switched from Wi-Fi to 4G.
On Android, go to Manage your Google Account under Settings, then Security, and check Recent security activity to make sure any password changes were legit, and there were no new devices signed in. Also check Your devices under the same tab to make sure all devices are recognized.
If not your phone (for 2-step verification) it is at least worthwhile to link the account to some other Google account, since the absence of notifications as to any attempt at logging onto the account by an unrecognized device is reassuring.


Thousands of NlpWakeLock entries eating through my battery when on WiFi, but Location Services are off I get several thousand entries a day of the NlpWakeLock under Google Play Services (I'm using Wakelock Detector Free). It's draining my battery significantly. I have found it occurs when I'm connected to WiFi (I'm certain about my home WiFi, will check with the university WiFi) and not when connected through mobile data or not connected to the internet at all. I have also ticked off all options in the Location Services sections in Settings. What do you think is going on?

Please, also note that I'm aware of solutions according to which you reduce or completely stop the wakelock. However, before doing that, I would rather try to figure out what's going on. Thank you.

UPDATE: I'm on Android Jellybean.

UPDATE #2: It seems like my download speeds on my phone are very low compared to other times. Just in case, I downloaded an antivirus to do a virus scan. It didn't find anything.

UPDATE #3: I tried disabling find my device, as well as re-adding my Google account and removing two other email accounts. The problem was not solved.

UPDATE #4: I tried the University WiFi, the problem remained.

EDIT: Added the wakelock doesn't appear when offline.

UPDATE #5: I tested it on a third WiFi network, the problem remained.

Well, I tried enabling some of the Location options in Location services, the "Google's location service" and the "Location and Google Search" option, to see if that would fix the issue. I enabled them and the wakelock issue disappeared. I disabled "Location and Google Search" at first and then "Google's location service" and the issue was still gone. All Location Services are now off and the nlpwakelock appears at logical rates. My download speeds are higher as well.


Is it possible to change the text bubbles on the s3? I just am trying to figure out how to change the backgrounds behind text messages. Is there a setting or some app which lets you do this?

Go to the Messaging app and hit the settings button. You will see Bubble style and Background style.

When you select Bubble Style you will see options at the bottom of the screen that you can scroll through (the top option is the look for your outgoing messages, the bottom option is the look for received messages).

When you select Background style there are a few options to scroll through at the bottom of the screen as well.


Easy way to rename an app? A non-technical friend has asked me to solve a problem for him.  He has bought an Android phone (Galaxy S5) for his daughter, but he's very nervous about giving her such unfettered access to the Internet.  So before he hands it over to her, he wants to install MobileSpy, so he can monitor her internet usage.  At the same time, he does not want her to know that this app is installed on her phone.  But MobileSpy is not a hidden app; if she would open the "Applications" menu, it would be sitting there, staring her in the face.  And that would be awkward.  So he wants to rename the app to something really boring and non-eye-catching.  Not just in the "launcher" home page, but also in the "Applications" menu.

Easier said than done.

I have Googled around and most solutions I found required rooting the phone; he understandably does not want his daughter's new phone rooted.  I found one site that claims to have a non-root solution, but the 3rd party apps that it relies on are extremely buggy, and one of them was identified by Chrome as malware when I tried to download it.

Most of the answers I found online are pretty old, so I'm hoping someone will have developed something a little more reliable for renaming apps.

I am not any kind of Android expert, so please don't assume any basic knowledge when you answer.

DISCLAIMER: I personally do not think this is a good approach to managing one's children's Internet usage, and I have said so to my friend.  He is nonetheless pretty resolute about this, so here I am asking on his behalf.  That said, let's keep the answers to the technical rather than interpersonal advice.

Thanks!

Some Launchers like Nova Launcher supports HIDE APPS and RENAME APPS

To Hide Apps in Nova Launcher:

Go To 'Nova Settings.'
Than Go to 'Apps And Widget drawer'.
Click on 'Hide apps' and Check the apps you want to hide.

Rename Apps in Nova:
* To rename app you have to long press the app you want to rename and than edit app option.


My Galaxy Tab 3 will only charge from the wall adapter from Samsung I'm going on holiday soon and we planned to take a USB hub to charge all of our devices rather than take several wall adapters, however when I checked that my 7" Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 would charge, I found that it didn't. After investigating, I found that my iPad charger wouldn't charge it either and in fact the only that would charge it was the USB wall adapter that came in the box with the tablet, even though the port on the USB hub and the iPad charger are rated at 2.1 A (5 V).

When I plug the tablet into to a non-Samsung adapter powered off however, the screen flashes lighter and darker but nothing else happens which seems odd behavior to me.

What is the reason it will not charge by any other means, and is there a solution?

There is more to an adapter than just the current, although kudos to you for knowing that much.  The problems arise due to the fact that the USB-2 spec is for a maximum of .5 A at 5 V without some extra handshaking to ascertain that the device wants and can handle more.  For Apple devices, this is done in a certain way according to their "standard", which is different than PCs.  So, for a PC, you normally need a driver, and it sets up the port for the correct voltages.

Most aftermarket USB chargers are designed to work with Apple devices, and seem to have some differences that make them either more or less compatible with Android devices, but usually require what's called a "charge-only" cable or adapter, that shorts together certain pins of the connector to make the device charge at the higher rate.  These can be bought on Amazon from companies like Mediabridge.  But it's not 100% certain if any particular adapter will work with a particular device.  Unfortunately, some Samsungs won't work at all with some chargers, and work fine with others (I have an 8" Galaxy Tab 3).

If the tablet recognizes the charger at all, it will probably work with the charge-only cable/adapter, I think.  I have one charger where it doesn't even register that it's connected, and it won't work no matter what I do.  But it does work with most adapters, including the one I use for my wife's iphone.

With the tablet powered down (not standby), it should charge at .5 A, which will take much longer.  I'd try the charge-only adapter if you have time to get one before you leave.  Otherwise, you may just need to bite the bullet for now and bring an extra one for the tablet.


Not recognising any of the items on sd card Good Day, my Sony Xperia "Go" froze earlier and so I held in the power button together with the volume up button which then rebooted the phone however once I got the phone on it is recognising the sd card but it doesn't pick up any of my photo's on the sd card, please help me

If you mean the files on your SD card are not coming up in any app that used to see them, you may have a corrupted SD card from the forced power cycle. Try mounting the SD card on a desktop computer and see what it says. Use scandisk or fsck on it, but not in repair mode. If it shows errors, but you cannot get to the files, try repairing it, copy ALL the files to the desktop computer, then have your phone reformat the card. Then go back to your desktop computer and reload everything.


How to undelete photos in a Samsung galaxy S4 active? How to undelete photos in a Samsung galaxy S4 active? I have deleted a folder on the phone with pictures in it and I would really like get them back. Not on SD card but in the phones memory.

recovery of deleted contents stored in the internal storage is difficult at the best of times and darn near impossible the rest. The issue lies in how you access the storage medium without root is impossible to my knowledge to access the storage space as a raw partition for use with data recovery tools. As with all recovery the more you use the device the less your odds of recovery are that said if you do not clear your cache often you should be able to at the very least recover some of the pics even if your not rooted by looking thought your high rez thumbnails sure the resolution is a major step down from the originals but it's better then nothing. Suggested reading https://android.stackexchange.com/a/84747/122342


How to use USB Keyboard and USB Mouse In Android Tablet Simultaneously My Android Tablet is having one Standard USB port and One Micro USB port I use Mini for 3G Dongle..... Tablet is not having Bluetooth. I want to know is it possible to connect mouse and keyboard from one standard USB port in Tablet ... Like we use headphone...

I am using this tablet http://bloggerplugnplay.blogspot.in/2012/12/bsnl-701c-penta-tablet-3gplay-store-not.html

I would suggest a cable hub.

You should be able to find one that takes only one USB port of device, and provides 2 (or 3) USB ports.

for example:
cable hub ,USB 2.0 3-port HUB with Micro 5P


update Android 6.0 to Android 8.0 on my RCA Galileo Pro 2 in 1 I would like to update from Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) to Android 8.0 (Oreo) on my RCA Galileo Pro 2 in 1, this model is RCT6513W87 it has a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor+, with WiFi and Bluetooth.
I would like to upgrade the WiFi to dual band 2.4/5 GB 802.11ac.

I am told that a way to upgrade is to use a Custom Recovery app like ClockworkMod Recovery (CWM) or Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP) both of these requires you to make a connection with a computer, using a USB cable.  My 2 in 1 only has one USB 2.0 port and one micro USB port for charging only. But I haven’t been successful with work with the root and app’s that give you root access.

If your wifi  chip doesn't already support dual band (2.4/5 Ghz), there is nothing you can do via software or firmware to change this - it's a function of physical hardware that was built in when the tablet was manufactured.
As far as an Android update - that is usually up to the manufacturer.  There is a menu item in settings to check for system updates.  Connect to the Internet and then select this menu item - if an update is available from RCA, then it will tell you and allow you to download and install the update.
The 2020 version of the Galileo Pro comes from the factory with Android 8.1 Go edition.


How can I free up internal memory space taken up by unmovable (to SD) and uninstallable apps? I have a Samsung Galaxy Luna phone, running Android 6.0.1.  It only has 8 GB of total internal storage space, with about 3 of those GB taken by the Android OS itself, and about 2 more taken up with stock apps I don't use/want.  That leaves 3 GB for me to play around with, and as you can imagine, that doesn't allow many app installs.  Most of the apps I have installed have been moved to an external MicroSD card, but there are still those apps whose developers have forbidden the option to move to SD.  And on top of that, every time an app updates through Google Play, it moves it back to the internal storage, forcing me to uninstall some apps on the internal, update one app at a time, move it back to SD, then reinstall the apps I had to delete in order to perform the time-consuming process.

My ultimate goal is to free up space on my internal memory, all of which is taken by apps (anything else that I am able to put on the SD, such as files, is on the SD).  Things I have tried to accomplish this:

Rooing my phone:  Rooting my phone would allow me to uninstall the stock apps I don't use as well as use an app like Link2SD to move
the unmovable apps to SD; this would perhaps be the simplest
solution.  However, the Samsung Galaxy Luna is an uncommon phone and
it appears there is no way to root the phone (yet).
Adopting the MicroSD card as internal storage:  Another simple solution.  This would not allow me to uninstall stock apps, but hopefully enough space would be made free from internal storage by allowing another 32 GB space of "internal memory."  But because this is a Samsung device, there is no option to adopt the SD card as internal storage.
Using ADB to force enable the option to adopt the SD:  Another post on this site explains how to use ADB to force enable the option to adopt the SD card as internal storage on Samsung devices.  But even after multiple tries, this method just simply does not work with my phone model.

These were the only methods I could find on the subject.  It seems that I am out of luck with freeing up any more internal space than I have.  I could try converting an app I would like to force move to an APK and editing it to enable the option to move to SD, but then I would have to repeat that process every time I want to update the app, plus I want having to hack the app to be my absolute last resort.

Is there any way to free up the internal storage on my phone, by forcing uninstall of the stock apps without rooting, by forcing adoptable storage using another means that I have not tried, and/or by forcing apps to the portable SD card using another method I have not tried?  And a sub-question:  is there a way to force Google Play to install updated apps straight to the SD card?

One last thing to try would be a junk cleaner, try the one made by Norton (it's the only decent Norton software) and running it. It will clear any cache files and should not affect your device.


How to root Nokia 8? I want to root my shiny and new Nokia 8 64GB, running mostly pure Android 8.0.

This will later become part of the "how to root" series we have as a CW, following the wisdom of this meta.

Update April 23, 2018: I just found it possible to unlock the bootloader for certain HMD Nokia phones, according to this post on XDA forum.

Do it at your own risk.

So far HMD Nokia is not root-able, that's because HMD doesn't want to let the bootloader of Nokia 8 be unlockable. Without an unlocked bootloader, it's impossible to root a device (let alone system vulnerabilities - that's an ancient thing).

Don't attempt with any "This Root" or "That Root" tools or tutorials found online. They won't work for a rather new Android version (8.0). On the contrary they may harm the system in unknown ways.

Here is a post on XDA Forum concerning about rooting Nokia 8. The result is the same: not possible so far.

I'll update this answer if things change.


Why do I have an SD card but still no storage space? I have a textbook android tablet and a SD card but when I try to download apps like Viber and other apps they say I have insufficient space and my tablet is saying storage space is running out some systems may not work

The storage used to store apps is internal storage ,android doesn't allow apps to be installed on the SDcard so no matter how big is your SDcard your tablette will install apps in the tablet's internal storage.
You can move apps to SD card using app2SD or in the phone settings but only apps that allows move to SD will be movable if the app doesn't allow app2SD you can't move it.

There is some advanced work around to use an ext4 partition on your SD card as a /data parttion but it needs to be anabled at the kernel level.


Can I update to the latest version of Android on a generic off-brand tablet? My question is related to this community wiki. I found an affordable white-label Android tablet for €99 a few days ago and I'm considering buying it. Its specs seem fairly decent for its price range, especially given that I'd prefer a 10-inch tablet. Unfortunately it's a very generic brand (IT WORKS), so I don't think that I'll get any OS updates.

Is it possible to install the latest version of Android on an off-brand tablet? I'm fine with vanilla Android or a popular custom ROM like Cyanogenmod. I'm asking specifically about off-brands because there's a big chance that the modding community doesn't have a ready-made solution for that specific tablet. The device comes with Superuser already installed, so I'm assuming that it is pre-rooted. I'm not familiar with the ROM flashing process and I've never done it before.

There's no special procedure that works with unbranded tablets. As the question you've already found describes, if there's no official upgrade from the manufacturer, you need to look for a custom ROM based on a newer Android version. Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? gives you some places to look.

There's only one feature peculiar to unbranded tablets and phones. Often, several apparently different unbranded tablets or phones will contain exactly the same hardware, because they're based on the same "reference design". In this case, it may be possible to use a ROM for another unbranded device with the same hardware. It's quite hard for an end-user to know whether this is the case: it's not enough that the tablets are all based on the same SoC, but if all the spec-sheet specs are exactly the same, it might work. Flashing a wrong ROM can have bad side-effects, potentially bricking the device, so I wouldn't recommend trying this carelessly, but it may be that you can find a post on a forum such as XDA developers from someone who has already found a ROM that works on your device.


Adoptive Storage on Galaxy S7 edge I have a S7 edge. When I plug it into my pc it reads 2 separate volumes under phone, 32gb for S7 and 128 for sd. I'm able to freely transfer data between the phone's internal storage and the sd card and the computer. Then I went ahead and turned on the adoptable storage on my device. I then plugged my phone back into the computer but now it only reads 32gb of internal(phone) storage only, not the additional 128gb=160gb. I unplugged my phone from the computer and went into the device storage. It showed that I had 138gb(22gb was already being used by the device). Then the phone asked me if I was ready to migrate data from the internal storage to the sd. I wasn't sure what to do so. I didn't want to migrate data then not be able to access them through my pc or laptop so I canceled then reformatted the sd card as a external storage. I want to turn on adoptable storage but need to know why when I first attempted to do so my pc only saw 32gb instead of 160gb(32gb+128)? Was I suppose to migrate data in order for it to read 160gb? Is it normal for my pc to only see 32gb on the device but will still be able to access ALL of my data through my pc or will it only see the 32gb and whatever the phone decides to store on the sd will only be visible on the phone. One final question...if I'm only able to transfer files from the actual 32gb on the phone will I be able to transfer the other files,data stored on the sd through NFC or Bluetooth?

It's because once the sd card is converted to adoptable, the pc will no longer see it. Only the original 32g will be recognized, but you will still have all of the extra space correctly. You'd have to transfer items to the main storage, then move them to the adoptable storage from the phone.


Get number of SMS notification Some services use SMS notifications. Examples would be Amazon and others for 2FA, some banks for TAN services and so on. Today I received an phising attempt via SMS for a bank account. It contained a shortlink (no, I didn't open it). I called the bank to notify them about those attempts and wanted to hand over the number, so they can try to take the account at its origin down. The problem was: I could not retrieve the number.

The device runs on Android v10.
Normally you can look up contact details by clicking on the senders name on top. This does not work for this kind of notifications.
It's not a Flash SMS. It's stored in the inbox permanently.

Note: I know this question sounds basic, but neither me nor other colleagues I ask (who also work in tech), could find out anything about this … not even an approach to take. So I thought to ask at the collective brain of technology: StackExchange.

Some SMS dont have number but only have header names like sms from google
You can google that header name to find source or since you have reported
banks contact ISP they will easily identify who sent you phishing msg to you


What is the fastest way to turn the phone into silent mode? The title kinda tells it all. Sometimes I need to turn silent for a meeting and the procedure is like:

Unlock the phone
Click on Menu
Go to Settings
Click on Sound
Enable Silent mode

Apart from (1), which can't be shortened (can it?), I want to minimize the remaining 4 clicks.

EDIT: I have a Nexus S, but I'm more interested in things that are not specific to models. Also, please feel free to add model-specific answers, as other people may find it useful.

Personally, I think that the easiest way (apart from sliding right to left, but that's not available on all phones) to put the phone into silent mode is to hold down the power button for a short period of time, then select Silent mode.


android: how to clear restrictive permissions on internalSD background - symlinking gone wrong from internalsd to externalsd on android 7, that makes the CrypticFolderName inaccessible to the app that needs it.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/apps2sd-partition-sd-card-link-apps-to-t3122919/page443

i'm at terminal via ADB i get:

cd CrypticFolderName
/system/bin/sh: cd: /sdcard/tencent/micromsg/CrypticFolderName: Permission denied

as SU:

chmod -R 777 CrypticFolderName
chmod -R 777 CrypticFolderName
chmod: No CrypticFolderName: Permission denied
:/storage/emulated/0/tencent/MicroMsg #

but if i do ls -la on the folder above in the tree, the CrypticFolderName is listed with the same permissions as the rest of the folders, that are accessible.

drwxrwx--x 26 root sdcard_rw 4096 2017-12-12 12:16 CrypticFolderName

what to try next? or - do i need to format the partition that the sdcard is on? which partition is it on? does TWRP wipe do a format?

not really an answer, but i ended up resolving the issue by reformatting the data partition on the phone and restoring the data on to it with the help of TWRP. the wrong permission / dead symlink / whatnot got removed and was not present in the TWRP backup.

this thread pointed me there:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/g5/help/please-xt1675-stock-fastbboot-firmware-t3692083/page2#post74872938


Android marketplace with PayPal support Are there any Android market alternative that support PayPal payment?

SlideMe supports paypal. but i dont know what their "inventory" looks like compared to android market. You could try to get the PayPal debit card and link that to a google checkout account, if you can...


for htc desire s: how to know your phone's region? i'd like to update my software from gingerbread to ICS, just want to make sure to get the right update for my phone.

You must have been confused by seeing too many files for the update. Actually there is only one file to update to ICS and hence it is the right file. The file is RUU, i.e. ROM Update Utility.

So from, http://www.htcdev.com/devcenter/downloads

Download

  Desire S  HTC  WWE  RUU  N/A  v4.0  404.0 MB  14.01.401.2

And yes the region is WWE for this case.


How can I remove 'Orange' apps? I have a bunch of complete crap apps on my phone which I can't move to the SD card, so they are taking up about 10mb of space on my phone, which is irritating when I want to update my phone as I need 25mb, so have to delete loads of apps.

I was considering rooting my phone, but this apparently doesn't allow you to delete them. So how do I go about this? I don't want to run a custom rom and am happy to stick with HTC's regular firmware, but I want to 'unbrand' my phone.

Any ideas please?

Rooting your phone without a custom ROM can be used to removed crapware. I have a french "Orange" HTC Desire, and here is what I did to remove the Orange apps:

use Unrevoked to root your phone (close Eclipse because it can prevent Unrevoked from detecting the reboot, use USB Drive Mode if you try to root on a Mac as they say it's more reliable)
once you're finished, reboot your phone in recovery mode (shutdown, press the - key and the Power button at the same time)
mount the /system partition as read/write (easy, it's a simple GUI)
open a shell on the phone with the command "adb shell"
get a root shell with the command "su"
go the /system/apps folder and remove whatever you want with rm (remove both APK and ODEX files that you don't need)
close your shell
unmount the /system partition
reboot

With this method, I removed the useless Tetris and other games demos that were on my phone.

I still don't know if rooting your phone will prevent me from getting OTA updates in the future, that's why I haven't got a custom ROM yet.


Using Moto G (Boost Mobile/Verizon) as a Wi-Fi device without rooting I'm planning to get a Moto G from either Boost Mobile or Verizon and use it as a Wi-Fi device. I read it that it's possible to bypass the activation and use it Wi-Fi only without rooting the phone. If it's true, will it be able to receive future OTAs? Will I be better off just getting a Google Play edition one?

I bought a Boost Mobile Moto G (2013) for the purpose of using it as a WiFi device as well. I have not rooted, so how I keep from having to activate it is I keep it in airplane mode.  I can still turn GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth radios on while still having it in airplane mode, so this works.
It will keep pestering you (once every day or so) to activate, but it will see that you are in airplane mode and can't activate. You click the button and it exits the activation and you can then use the device.


Difference between Linux containers and Dalvik VM in Android As far as I know, Linux containers are those that run on a shared OS kernel using a virtualization software. Is there any correlation to Dalvik VM which runs multiple apps on top it?

No, they're different types of virtualization.

The Dalvik VM works like an interpreter or just-in-time compiler: installed apps consist of Dalvik bytecode, but the CPU only knows how to run ARM or x86 machine code, so the DVM reads the Dalvik bytecode instructions and translates them into equivalent ARM or x86 instructions to make the app run.  It's similar to an emulator, except that term is usually only applied to instruction sets that have been implemented natively in hardware.  (There are no CPUs that directly understand Dalvik bytecode.)  The Java VM and .NET CLR work similarly, and this explanation applies to those as well.
Linux container systems, like Docker and LXC, aren't involved at all in the actual running of programs; they just set up boundaries to isolate programs from each other and control how they can interact.  The programs you run in a container are normal Linux programs that could also run on a normal Linux system without containers.

In short, containers virtualize the software environment surrounding a program, while a VM like Dalvik virtualizes the computer itself.


How can I change file permissions on Jelly Bean? My rooted Galaxy Nexus is on Jelly Bean (4.1.1) with a super user application. I want to install sinhala font into the phone, and for that I've tried to copy the font file (droidfallbackcens.ttf) to the font folder in my phone using the root explorer app. But it says that I have only read permissions on my phone.

I have googled this issue and tried several methods (most of those methods were about ICS), but I haven't been able to change file permissions to get "read write execute", can anyone help me with this?

You may need to remount your file system to enable write. I'm not sure how that's done with Root Explorer, but from the Terminal it looks something like:

mount -o rw,remount /partition/name/

You can get the partition name by typing mount without any parameters.


How do I install systemless SuperSU in Samsung? I'm currently using a custom Android 6.0 ROM on my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900. I need to put suhide in my device and it need systemless SuperSU to be installed, Google didn't help me at all. Any of you guys know how to?

If you are using stock Android 6 and newer you can only have systemless root because of security restriction. So if you root your phone running stock Android 6, you will have systemless root.

Because you are using a Samsung phone it might be a bit more tricky. It could be that your custom rom has it's own su installation in the system partition. Then it's not systemless. To have a systemless root installation it's required to install su in the boot image. This requires your device's bootloader to allow flashing the boot image.

On most devices you can somehow flash the boot image by unlocking the bootloader.

For more information about what systemless root is have a look here.


Root galaxy note without extern devices, software or internet Hi I wondering if I can root my phone (Jelly bean 4.1.2) without computer or else. I want to root it man manually by myself, in other words without any apps or something.

Also, if is possible to root without any zip-packs or additional downloads.

Now I have just a fresh installed andriod, no updates or apps installed, also no google account on it. Now I want to root it without anything or internet access.

Simply enough: no, there is not. You absolutely, positively will need outside resources. You will need outside tools downloaded to a computer, a USB connection to it, and data pushed to it. The bare minimum that would be possible, which is still not possible with the Note as far as I'm aware, could be rooting it from the phone with downloaded apps that exploit security holes to get through. But again, that would still require Internet and outside tools. There is no way in Android to root without that. It's not like straight Linux where you can visit a CLI and type a few commands and you're there. It's locked down to prevent that.


Unable to run fastboot commands: I want to unlock my Nexus 5. I cannot run any fastboot command however: the device is not detected. What I did:

Press VolumeDown+rightButton until arriving to this screen

Plug the phone
Run the following commands

though I appear to be in fastboot mode

# apt-get install fastboot
# fastboot oem unlock
< waiting for device >

Nothing is disaplaye after the last line.

PS: I am using Ubuntu 16.04

You probably don't have USB drivers installed. Download them and install, everything should work now.

Download them from here
Download Galaxy Nexus drivers here

Power on the device
Go to Settings > Developers Options > USB Debugging then enable it.
Connect the device to the computer, drivers should be installed
Open a terminal and check if the phone is detected: adb devices (Windows)
You should get some hex numbers as output
Then reboot to the bootloader: adb reboot-bootloader
Then check if the device is detected in Fastboot: fastboot devices
Finally proceed with the Unlocking process: fastboot oem unlock or fastboot flash unlock if the previous doesn't work.

PS: Seems like you use a Linux system, I'm not familiar with Linux. You should use Linux commands.


Show virtual keyboard when a physical one is connected on Android 7 Related: How to display the on screen keyboard when Bluetooth keyboard is connected

One of the answers under that question suggested an app called Secure Settings. It worked well on my old Android L phone but unfortunately it didn't work on my new phone with Android N.

I've gone through Settings and found a toggle named Show Virtual Keyboard under Physical Keyboards section, but that didn't work.

Any chance I can do this on N?

I had the reverse problem (Virtual Keyboard would not stop popping up) on My Galaxy Tab S3 running Android 7.0.  I didn't want to install many apps
so, discovered my problem to be the tablet's detection sequencing to be my problem.  I use my tablet almost exclusively as a laptop replacement. It sees my tablet, at virtually all times, connected to my Logitech K780.  I went into settings and turned off Show Virtual Keyboard, but the virtual
keyboard continued to pop up.

I realized that the tablet had lost the
physical keyboard detection and was able to force a fresh detection by
turning off bluetooth function and paired again with keyboard and
my bluetooth mouse.  Problem solved!. I think, Your problem may be solved by turning off your bluetooth that causing your phone to detect no physical keyboard and then your setting to show the virtual one might work.


WhatsApp Google Drive restore fails I migrated to a new phone yesterday (Nexus 5 -> Pixel 2) and wanted to restore my WhatsApp chat history on the new device. I've always used the Google Drive backup feature, so I thought this should have been relatively easy. However, during the restoring process, the progress bar gets stuck at 31%. Some minutes later, the app informs me that restoring the messages failed.

What can I do? The Google Drive backup file seems to be corrupted, so I also made a manual copy of the msgstore.db.crypt12 file, so that I could maybe use that in order to restore my history. However, the steps listed on the Whatsapp website (https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/20887921/) do not work for me, since it always tries to restore the backup found on Google Drive.

If your old device is with you

Delete WhatsApp backup from Google Drive. See steps from WhatsApp FAQ
Redo Google drive backup manually (Settings → chats → chat backup → Google drive) and restore

That will create a fresh backup  so corruption is ruled out, though would take longer

Old device not with you but you have copy of database file

Uninstall WhatsApp
Install Whatsapp and  on successfully activating it, immediately disconnect from Internet
Copy the database file into the same folder location from which you copied and restore


Can I dual-boot CyanogenMod 12 on 1st gen moto Gs? I have just found the CyanogenMod 12 and if I am not wrong it is modified android OS that has root access by default.

Can I just install it along with the system I have already and be asked what system I wanna boot like on a computer?

According to the Cyanogenmod site:

CyanogenMod is an enhanced open source firmware distribution for smartphones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. It offers features and options not found in the official firmware distributed by vendors of these devices.
CM is an alternative operating system intended to replace the one pre-installed on your smart phones and tablets. If you've got an older device that isn't getting updates anymore, or if your device seems unusually slow, or maybe you're sick of spyware, adware, and other unwanted garbage on your phone that you can't remove... Maybe your device is missing features or has been otherwise artificially limited in functionality. Perhaps you just could use a boost in performance... Or maybe you'd like to be more confident that your operating system has included some of the latest bug fixes...
If so, CM might be for you.

Essentially you are correct that it is a modified Android OS, with root access by default.
To install it alongside your current OS you would need to use a tool like Multirom which may not be officially supported for your device and can often be dangerous.
The Multirom thread even states:

It is dangerous. This whole thing is basically one giant hack - none of these systems are made with multibooting in mind. It is messing with boot sector and data partition. It is no longer messing with data partition or boot sector, but it is possible that something goes wrong and you will have to flash factory images again. Make backups. Always.


Google video hangouts on 2.3.5 Android phones? Can one use Google's video hangout on a 2.3.5 Android phone with front camera? My phone has both a front camera and a back camera.

Yes, any phone that has a front-facing camera and is running Gingerbread (Android 2.3.x) and above will be able to join and initiate Hangouts with the latest version of Google+ app.


Phone LED only flashes for a few minutes after receiving a notification My HTC Desire is set up to flash its LED lamp whenever I receive an email, SMS etc.

Only problem is that (without touching the phone) the LED stops flashing after 5 minutes or so. So if a message comes in while I'm not near my phone and I don't come back for more than 5 minutes, I have to turn on the screen to discover the message.

I've searched through everything, but there seems to be no setting for this.

Am I missing something, or is this by design? Is there an app for this problem?

Must be by design. Flashing the LED infinitely would drain the battery (even if only slightly). I don't see anything in Settings regarding lengthening the amount of time the LED will flash; you can only specify what things cause LED notification.

After some searching it looks like the "Missed Reminder" app allows for a lot of notification customization - LED interval, color, etc. Not sure how to link an app so just search for it in the market. Sounds promising. Hope it helps.


How can I add a reminder to a calendar event at a specific date and time? On my Samsung Galaxy S2, I can't add a useful reminder time. The calendar only offers 5 minutes, 10 minutes, ... one day, two days, ...

This is utterly useless. What I usually need is "19:15 the day before the event" or remind me 12:00 on the 13th.

How do I do that?

Create a new appointment and then click the green + sign under the REMINDERS section. At the very bottom of the list there's a CUSTOMISE option that allows you to specify the number of minutes / hours that you want the reminder to occur.

Certainly not as good as a fixed time occurrence but it certainly gives you a close workaround.


How to setup Adroid Chrome to translate highlighted text via the pop-up Google search How to set up the little pop-up bar down below the screen, which generates a quick Google search whenever a word or phrase has been highlighted, to automatically translate what has been selected. That was my original setup but I guess I have messed up some settings and now it doesn't translate. How can I turn it back on?

Open Google Translate's settings.
Select "Tap to Translate", then enable "Enable".
In Preferred languages, set "Your primary language" and "Language you translate the most".
Go back to Chrome, select a word, "Translate" should appear. Click on it to translate the word.

Update

Based on Vadim's comment that the method might no longer work, to get the translation back:

Enter chrome://flags on your search bar
Type translation on the Search flag box
Set Contextual Search translations to Enabled.
Then Relaunch Chrome

You should be able again to see the translation at the bottom after selecting a word as seen on the image below.

Remarks:

Touch to Search must be enabled in Chrome's settings (Settings -> Sync and Google services -> Touch to search)
There are times when it stops working. You need either:

a. pressing the 3-dot then Translate or

b. to restart Chrome, or


Changing OS completely on galaxy note SC-05D and galaxy s2 SC-02C I live in Japan and I would like to get these 2 phones but both of them is sold here with Google Android 2.3.7 Japanese OS.

I was wondering if it possible to change that into a regular English version?
If so, how to do that in detail, please explain as I am new to this.

No need to change - language can be changed within the OS. My only tweak was installing a better English keyboard from the Play store, since the stock Samsung one isn't very good.


Samsung Galaxy S3 i9300 Boot Loop Problem Problem: Phone battery ran out. Popped spare battery in and the boot loop began. Can only go so far where the screen says "Samsung Galaxy S3 i9300" and nothing further.

Tried with no success:

Flicking power button several times
Vol Up + Home + Power = loop persists
Vol Down + Home + Power, then Vol Up to select Continue and screen is just stuck in "Downloading.. Do not turn off target"

Please help :(

Sometimes getting into recovery takes several tries of the "Vol Up + Home + Power" combination and is pretty frustrating.

I know that for me, I generally hit the vol up and home button together, then while holding those hit power for a second and then let go again before hitting power again a few times and letting go of the original combination and doing that again.

Again, I've flashed several other phones before this where the combination always worked but somehow the i9300 is just weird.

Hope you get out of it!


Weird Octopus icon, Joy Launcher on Alcatel this weird thing happened today, an octopus icon appeared on screen. Alcatel. It's annoying. Linked to Joy Launcher, which can't be disabled.
Any idea how I can turn it off?
Not the same as other question about Joy Launcher

I went into Settings → Apps → Joy Launcher, and then pressed a little cog in the top right which resets Joy Launcher back to its default (original) state. But it also resets your home page back to default.


LG Optimus G Pro E985 - How to make pictures more colorful I have this phone and it takes good pictures, but they are too bland - there is no life in colors, and they are low contrast and too white-ish. How do I increase the colors presence?

Here is one of the images I've taken

If the colors are washed out even on automatic mode and good lighting, it may be a hardware issue. Best option might be to use a 3rd party app to increase the photos' vibrance. I personally use Perfectly Clear and Pixlr Express to improve colors on my Samsung Galaxy S4.


ADB PULL (of app_pocess) fails with exit code 1 I am trying to pull a file from my phone (Blackberry Key2 / And 8.1) and it fails with exit code 1:
[host] admin$ adb pull /system/bin/app_process ./ ; echo $?
1

I confirmed the source file exists, and I have have write permission to current folder, and to /tmp, but it always fails for file "app_process".  I tried pulling a simple text file from /sdcard/test/myfile.txt to /tmp  and that works.  So for some reason app_process won't pull!
I restarted adb daemon, confirmed phone is in developer mode (and all options permitted) , restarted the host (Mac), ran adb with sudo, etc.  No difference, and no error message.
I am running adb v1.0.41, version 30.0.5-6877784 on Mac OS
I saw this post that suggests it might relate to a symlink, but trying to pull app_process32 (which is a file) has same issue.
How do I solve or debug this?  (This command is part of the final build process so this command has to work)

The cause was surprising, but poor error reporting even more frustrating.  My devices is connected using USB, passed through to a VM.  It seems USB timing issues cause the connection to be intermittent or out of spec.  But not enough to cause an error in system log.
abd do not complain about the latency or loss of connection, just quietly died with error 1.  Switching to a TCP connection from USB resolved the problem


Difference between PDA MI3 and NB1 I have this message in my keis, telling me to upgrade which says

current firmware : PDA:MI3/Phone MI4/CSC MI3

latest firmware : PDA NB1 /Phone NB1 / CSC :NB1

I am totally new to andriod apps or tabs. So don't know what does that mean, does it mean it will upgrade my tab to latest 'Kitkat'? How can i read what does the PDA,Phone,CSC code and abbrv. means?

These codes are just Samsung's own version codes, and as far as I know, they have no logic, except that they increase alphabetically and numerically with each new release. You'll have to either install and check the version they correspond to, or search for news of new firmware releases for your device to see what they upgrade.

As for the PDA/Phone/CSC, PDA is the OS itself, Phone means the Radio firmware (GSM/CDMA/UMTS/LTE radio chip) and CSC stands for Country Specific Customization (or Carrier Specific Customization), which provides regional customizations such as carrier APNs, available languages etc.


Manually lock device without smart lock Since Android 5.0 there is a feature called 'Smart Lock', which allows you to access your device without entering your password, pin or pattern.

It is possible to lock the device via shell  by emulating a power button press:

adb shell input keyevent 26

Once on the lockscreen, Smart Lock can be temporarily stopped by holding down on the unlock icon (see question) ↓

How can the device be locked and require a manual unlock using a shell command (or script) with or without root access?

If you lock the device as an administrator this will require a manual unlock, and in fact will not accept fingerprints either. This is not root, whatever app you are doing this from just has to be on the administrator list and has to execute the lock screen command rather than just a button press.

I'm not sure if you can do this direct from shell or not, but a small tasker app could do it I think using the system lock action and you can code it into an app. There are already standalone apps that do this as well.

Making an app administrator

Practical instructions for adding administrator to an app

Command to lock the screen from within an app (if that's what you're making)


UsB host on a motorola xoom I have a MZ601 with android 4.1.2 and I try to run an app DslrDashboard for a Nikon camera. As it doesn't work, I ran the usb host diags and get the following message:

KERNEL
  claims support             yes
  device detected            yes
VERDICT
  os support                 yes
  3rd party apps             no

What does it mean? That USB host works, but I cannot run applications? The camera doesn't get recognized by the apps.

Is there any way to fix that?

i noticed all the rooted MZ601 roms, have poor OTG support in the kernal, or next to none, i had the same issues with eternal USB DAC, not been recognized since the 4.0.4 stock ROM, after spending weeks , blowing images, roms, went back to the stock ROM 4.0.4, seems OTG support is not on their high list to things to do, only external USB hard discs.

the USB DAC is only 4 months old, so its not some special kernel patch, as the 4.0.4 is over 2-3 yrs old and worked, try going back tot the stock rom.


How are the Android Market ratings (stars) calculated? I was looking at the reviews for an application which was rated as 3.5 stars in the summary.

From reading the reviews, there were few 5's a lot of 1's and very little in between. My "gorilla math" estimate is of the 50 or so reviews I read, it was probably averaged a 2.75 or lower.

How is this rating calculated? All reviews in history? Most recent? Some kind of bad review filter I cannot see?

You're missing the ratings of users who did not leave comments.  A large, significant number of users do not leave comments, but they do rate apps.

This is what a developer will see in their dashboard, a breakdown of all ratings of their app:

So I have an average rating of about 4.57 out of 331 ratings.

However, in the dashboard I only have 6 pages of comments, and each page has up to 20 comments.  So I have no more than 120 comments on my app.  So you'd only be seeing 1/3 of the ratings for my app in particular.


How to disable heads up notifications and immersive mode? I recommended purchasing android smart phone (moto e 2015 with android 5.0.2) to a non-technical savy friend of mine and he did. Few UI aspects of android always annoy newcomers.

One such is incoming call arriving as heads-up notification. I want to disable heads-up notifications for incoming calls or maybe system-wide. Is there any way to do so. The device is not rooted and runs stock android 5.0.2. I already tried this HeadsOff app and it doesn't allow me to select Phone app in free mode.

Also the device has on-screen navigation buttons alone, like in nexus devices. Whenever any app, say a game takes immersive mode the navbar is hidden and the user feels crazy. Is there any way to disable immersive mode for any or all apps? The device is not rooted and runs stock android 5.0.2.

For the notification issue, try running settings put global heads_up_enabled 0 from adb shell.

For immersive mode: If the device is rooted you could use the Xposed mode App Settings.  It has a Fullscreen setting where you can force disable fullscreen for apps.


How can I make a symlink (or equivalent) inside /storage/emulated/0? So, I have rooted my phone (GT-i9505 with android 5.0.1) and I would like to move my WhatsApp folder to my external SD card to save 3GB on internal storage. This is what I tried so far.

EDIT: solution found

So, after all the option #2 seemed to be the right one, but it needed some tweaks to make it work. As suggested by Irfan Latif , the problem was that the mount point has to be created in a global mount namespace, otherwise other apps will not see it, so the commands to use are:

su -mm
mount -o bind /data/sdext2/AppData/WhatsAppMedia /sdcard/WhatsApp/Media

But that may not be enough! It still didn't work until I made sure that the namespace of root was global. To do that I don't know any universal way, but what worked for me was going in the SuperSU app settings and uncheck the option mount namespace separation.

That really depends on the SU app that you have installed.

Option 1: symlink

The first thing that I thought was to make a symlink, so that was the command that I used:

ln -s "/data/sdext2/AppData/WhatsAppMedia" "/sdcard/WhatsApp/Media"

I had already created a second partition on my external SD card (ext4) that is mounted in /data/sdext2

However that returns operation not permitted when using the terminal emulator (yes I did su) and an error with any root file manager app that I tried.

After some research I figured out that for some reason, although /storage/emulator/0 is in an ext partition, it is treated in a differente way so that it doesn't support symlink inside (correct me if I'm wrong).

So, onto the next thing

Option 2: mount

According to this question, the following command should mount the folder on external SD card in another folder in the internal SD card, without the need for a symlink

mount -o bind "/data/sdext2/AppData/WhatsAppMedia" "/sdcard/WhatsApp/Media"

However, while running the command doesn't return any error the folder in /sdcard/WhatsApp/Media is still empty, so I don't really know how to handle this.

Option 3: symlink in /data/media/

I followed the instructions on this post and made the symlink in /data/media/0 instead of storage, so using this command:

ln -s "/data/sdext2/AppData/WhatsAppMedia" "/data/media/0/WhatsApp/Media"

This time the link is created! However ...

Although an ls in /data/media/0/WhatsApp/Media revealed that the link was successful, cd /sdcard/WhatsApp/Media returns a very irritating no such file or directory and that is confirmed by the file explorer that shows an empty folder with a blank file icon.

My thoughts

First of all, I now discovered that I really hate android. Now, stated this, here's what I think might help doing:

moving my sdcard files somewhere else: if the rest of the root filesystem supports symlink (which it seems like it does), I might even move the folder /storage/emulated/0 somewhere else and make a new link to it, but I don't know if that would solve the problem

That's it for now, I will update with more options when I think about them...

ANDROID STORAGE:

On Android 5:

/sdcard >S> /storage/emulated/legacy >S> /mnt/shell/emulated/0
/mnt/shell/emulated >E> /data/media

On Android 6+:

# USER-ID of current user in case of multiple users, normally "0"

# for apps
# VIEW is one of "read" or "write" and /storage to VIEW bind mount is inside a separate mount namespace for every app
/sdcard >S> /storage/self/primary
/storage/self >B> /mnt/user/USER-ID
/mnt/user/USER-ID/primary >S> /storage/emulated/USER-ID
/storage/emulated >B> /mnt/runtime/VIEW/emulated
/mnt/runtime/VIEW/emulated >E> /data/media

# for services/daemons/processes in root namespace
/sdcard >S> /storage/self/primary
/storage >B> /mnt/runtime/default
/mnt/runtime/default/self/primary >S> mnt/user/0/primary
/mnt/user/0/primary >S> /storage/emulated/0
/storage/emulated >B> /mnt/runtime/default/emulated
/mnt/runtime/default/emulated >E> /data/media

>S> for symlink, >E> for emulated and >B> for bind mount

In short, /sdcard points to /data/media/0 through FUSE or sdcardfs emulation. This is to restrict unauthorized access of apps/processes to private media on SD card. Read Android's Storage Journey.

SYMLINKS:

Now /sdcard is not a real but emulated storage which represents a FAT/vFAT/FAT32 filesystem (for backward compatibility and permission management) which doesn't support symlinks (and other things including *NIX permissions and ioctls like FS_IOC_FIEMAP). So the Option 1 and 3 of yours won't work whether you create symlink directly on emulated storage or try to emulate the symlink already created on ext4.

BIND MOUNT:

This is the commonly used alternate of symlink for FAT family of filesystems. What you have tried in Option 2 should work. This is what apps like Apps2SD do. But there is again a constraint: mount namespace. You need to bind mount in global/root mount namespace so that the mount is visible to all apps:

su -mm -c 'mount -o bind "/data/sdext2/AppData/WhatsApp Media" "/sdcard/WhatsApp/Media"'

On Android 6+ this needs to be bind mounted on each VIEW (default, read, write) separately for all apps to work.

You can make it permanent by setting Mount Namespace Mode to Global in Magisk or by disabling Mount Namespace Separation in SuperSU. For details see this answer.

RELATED:

What is "/storage/emulated/0"?
How to bind mount a folder inside /sdcard with correct permissions?


Home screen bottom bar buttons I don't understand why the Android 2.3 SDK docs show the home screen dock as beeing this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Google_Nexus_S_smartphone.jpg

And I have this, unchanged from 2.1 to 2.3.4 now:
http://blog.nimbuzz.com/files/2010/06/samsung-galaxy-s-android-launches-2.jpg

Is it a Samsung thing?
Is there an official launcher for 2.3 and the Samsung one?

Thank you.

Basically, yes. That's Samsung's UI/framework, TouchWiz. Other manufacturers have their own UIs as well, including HTC's Sense and Motorola's Motoblur. The Nexus S has the "stock" Android UI.


What do the app "usage" times in battery settings represent, exactly? I'm trying to figure out a way to track app usage on my phone without downloading an app that is going to share my personal data. At the bottom of Battery settings, there is a list called "App usage since full charge" which lists about a half dozen apps, each with a % to the right (I guess % battery used), and a "used for X minutes" line underneath. What does the X refer to exactly? Is that the time I'm actively using the app, or the amount of time when the app was using system resources (which I assume could include running in the background).

Version 8.1.0

Percentage of battery used - if you had charged fully and check when the battery is indicating 70 %, i.e., a 30 % drop and it says app xyz  used 10% it means that xyz had used 10% of 30% battery expended
Coming to your main question - it means the total power used by the battery whether in foreground or background , not the time you have used it. For instance, you can check your mail and when you go to another app, mail app goes to background and may continue to sync using battery. Same with chat or any other app which uses sync, scheduled background activities, Wakelocks or other processes. In Android 8.0 (Oreo) , if you tap the app on the battery usage section you will see clearly the actual usage while in active use and while in background as shown

What goes into app usage calculations from a developers perspective

  Total_Power_Consumed (mAh) = Bluetooth_mAh + WiFi_mAh + GPS_mAh + CPU_mAh + Sensors_mAh + Modem_mAh+ Wakelock_mAh + Camera_mAh + Flashlight_mAh


How to stop an ongoing download in HTC desire 500? I had started a download on chrome, but after sometime wanted to stop it. There is no option available for that either in chrome app or in the mobile download manager. What should I do ?

You can go to download manager and long press on the entry and delete the file from options menu.
Alternatively you can force airplane mode or switch off net/wi-fi to cancel the download.

In rare cases when its stuck in notification then go and force close the downloads app or clear data for download manager app.


How can I get more internal space for apps? I have read several places on this but the answers all seem to be the same. The problem is that I keep running out of space on my /data partition. The steps I've taken to fix this problem: move all apps that will function on sdcard to sdcard, also clear data on apps but the problem with this is that as soon as you open them again they act like a fresh install and then refill data.
My device stats 1gb /data partition 30gb 'internal' sdcard partition, Android 4.2.2 with root kernel 3.0.36+. Ideas I've had to fix this problem and the problems I faced attempting to use them:

Repartition some of the /sdcard space to /data, problem is I can't really find any specific instructions on how to do this and from what I have read I'm not really sure if I can because my "userdata" (/data) partition is at mtd6 and my "user" (/sdcard) partition is at mtd9 with "kpanic" and "system" at mtd 7 & 8 respectively, the guides mention mmc blocks instead of mtd which one seems to be an emulation of the other. I have seen other devices of the same model come from the factory with 2gb of /data storage.

Move the /data/data contents of an app to sdcard and bind mount that location, problem is these directories always contain a /lib link thats points to wherever the apps installed package location is and this link can't seem to be made, also not sure if I can make permissions right. As I understand it, when android installs an app to the sdcard it creates a small ext4 partition to contain the app package so I'm wondering if its possible to do something similar and then bind an apps /data/data assets to it.

On a device with such limited resources, your best bet by far is to eliminate as many apps as possible.
Any useless bloatware that was preinstalled might be able to be disabled.  This will prevent them from growing.
Any apps that connect you to sites that are accessible with a browser- use the browser and ditch the apps.
A great, small, very fast browser for such a mission is Lightning.
Lightning (Lightweight web browser) - https://f-droid.org/app/acr.browser.lightning


Restoring LG Optimus 2X P990 back to stock LG software I have flashed a lot of custom ROMs onto my phone, like CM7, kangs and such of CM9 before it's released, MIUI, and so on. I didn't want to wait till the third quarter of 2012 before I got some IC on my phone. Now that we're almost that far into 2012, I was wondering how I could restore my phone back to LG's stock Gingerbread software - the one that i had before I flashed CM7 - and unroot my phone.

I have lost my backup so I cant restore. I'll have to use smart or NVFlash or something like that. How can I restore my LG Optimus 2X P990 back to original LG software, so that I am ready for updating it to LG's ICS release?

There is a zip file that is posted in this video description that you can flash via Clockworkmod or your favorite custom recovery that will revert your device completely to stock (including removing the recovery image and such).

The video goes through the process step-by-step, for your convenience, but it's basically flashing that file via CWM, and then being happy :)

It also goes through how to unroot, if needed!


Changing the input language of physical keyboard on Android TV box I have an Android box TV with Android 9.0, and I would like to add a physical keyboard, but there's no option for that. When I press the "manage keyboard" option, it shows what's in the picture.

I have a Microsoft keyboard connected with a USB adapter WiFi to the box. When I want to write in Portuguese, the physical keyboard it's in another language, but the on-screen keyboard is in Portuguese.

I had a similar problem, my Android TV screen did not show the characters I typed on an external Genius Spanish Keyboard.
I wrote to the manufacturer asking for a driver but the answer was they do not provide support for Android OS.
After a trial and error research I found that
Logitech Keyboard Plus 1.3.0 (565k)
com.logitech.keyboard.look_ten
was the solution.
This apk is a Bluetooth driver but worked with my USB wired keyboard, I only had to set the keyboard language data.


I can't use the sd card to download apps I just got a new phone but when I try to download something it says insufficient space but my sd card has plenty. How do I fix this?

Your SD card can be as big as possible, but Android won't use it. It's not safe for Android to assume your external SD card is always accessible.
Depending on your Android version, your internal storage is shared with your device storage i.e: Applications will not use less storage even if you move them to your SD card.


Disable USB permission in Android 7.0 I have an app that connects to an external piece of hardware via USB and communicates using ptp.  In Android 6 this app would automatically start when connected to the hardware.  The very first time you opened the app a window pops up that asks "Choose an app for the USB Device."  I would select the right app and click "Always".  From then on the app would start automatically when connected to the hardware.

This behavior changed in Android 7.0.  Now the app no longer starts automatically.  Instead when I plug in the hardware a small USB icon appears in the top left of the screen.  After opening the notification drawer there is a notification that reads:

"Android System
Connected to USB Function Filesystem
Tap to view files"

Only after tapping this notification will my app open.  This happens every time I connect my hardware.  I want to disable this notification so my app continues to open automatically.  How can I disable this notification?

I have this issue too! I have not found a slight work around for my particular application by using tasker. While I know this is not a perfect solution, perhaps it can get you by until we know what the correct solution is.


Separate user accounts on one Android device I just bought a Samsung Note 2. My mom uses it when we are in India, but I use it when we are in the U.S. Is there a way to have two separate accounts so that our apps don't get mixed up? I'd like to have a completely separate set of app pages and saved data (eg. so I can have a different WhatsApp account on the same device than my mom).

There are a few options available, but the effective ones I came up with will require root access. And the second option may require an unlocked bootloader (I'm not sure if the Note 2 can unlock its bootloader or not).
Even if you have the most recent version of Android, Google has not enabled multiple users for phones; they figure people share tablets, but have their own phone. And there are some issues that come with multiple users on a phone.
Specific app profiles (root required)
There are apps such as Titanium Backup that let you create profiles for apps, and it works on any version of Android. You select the apps that you want to be multi-user. Then you add a widget to your homescreen that lets you choose which user you want to switch to. Titanium Backup will then back up the data for the current user and restore the backup data for the user you select.
If you're worried about one user getting text messages, you'll either have to insert a different SIM for each user (and thus change the phone to a new number), or set up each person with a Google Voice number. Then, have the Google Voice app be set up with multiple profiles.
Full Nandroid backup/restore - most effective (root required)
If you root it and install a custom recovery, such as ClockWorkMod (cwm) or TWRP, it would be a very simple process. Just do a full backup of the phone, then do a factory reset. Give the phone to your Mom, and she can set it up like her own phone.
Once she gives the phone back to you, do a full nandroid backup again in the recovery, then recover your own image. This will clear all her data (except anything stored on the SD card, such as images and other files) and restore your own. After you boot up the phone, it will be like she never touched it.


how do I use my motorala blur 3-G or internet full time when I not a wi-fi spot? I have a wi-fi connection at home. can get on internet, facebook and everything else, with my wi-fi connection. How do I use my motorola blur, that has 3-G full time?

Android devices' inherent behaviour is to opt for a WiFi connection over mobile EDGE / 3G / 4G data. In order to force a device to use the mobile data connection instead of the WiFi, just turn off the WiFi.

There are a number of apps like Llama / Locale / Tasker that can automatically enable/disable your WiFi connection depending on your location and other user-specified conditions.


Keep the screen from activating when the phone is in my pocket I usually use my phone without a lock screen, so I can start using it by just pressing a button. Problem is, the camera and volume buttons on my Motorola Milestone are really light, and are easy to press accidentally in my pocket.

Since it already has a proximity sensor, is there a way I can tell it to completely ignore key presses when the proximity sensor detects something? My intention is to keep it from activating the touch screen if I accidentally press one of the physical buttons while it's in my pocket.

EDIT To be clear:
I want the safety of not activating my phone when it's in my pocket, and I want the convenience of not having to go through an unlock-the-screen step when it's not in my pocket.

It might be asking too much, but I thought I'd give it a try. I've read that Tasker might be able to achieve that, but I don't really know how it works and have no idea if it supports that functionality.

Tasker can switch on/off the lock screen and can trigger events based on the orientation of your phone.

So you could set up an event in Tasker that enabled the lock screen when your phone is oriented vertically but upside down, then always place your phone in your pocket that way up.


What's the recommended procedure when you need to stop using the SD Card? I have a ASUS Zenfone ZE520KL which has a hybrid card slot.

I've been using one SIM card and one SD card for some months and now I need to use two SIM cards.

I need to stop using the SD card so I can use the slot for another SIM card.

My phone's memory can hold all data in the SD card as of today.

So apart from physical procedure to exchange them what I need to do with some apps data on it?

Camera photos go to there and I know where to change but some apps deliberate use the SD card for some internal purpose and I don't know how to safely start to use all this data without corrupt anything.

How to proceed?

If you didn't used your card as internal storage using adoptable storage feature or apps like link2sd than you shouldn't worry about anything, you just pull out card. But if your photos, and some other files are on sd card and you need it on phone than you should transfer it to internal storage via some file manager. Only trouble you can get is that some apps requires sd card and they won't work I think that world of tanks is one of them..


"Find my iPhone" for Android There are a lot of "Find my phone" type apps out there for Android and I am finding it difficult to find one that has the features I want without being too bloated. My wife and I are primarily looking for a solution to let us know where the other one is when we are out.

The most important thing for us is to be able to view each others location from our phones (Android, though iOS and Android would be great) and via the web. We would also like to find a solution that is as close to real time as possible so we could link up when we are both out.

Though not critical, it would be nice to find a solution that also would be able to lock/ring/wipe the device in the case that it was stolen. This way I could run just one program instead of several. I know it's iOS but "Find my iPhone" is an example of everything I want in this type of app ...

Can track/view devices from other devices and the web
Close to real-time updates
Can lock/ring/wipe device remotely
All in one program

However, I prefer Android to iOS. If there was a solution that worked for both iOS and Android that would be even better. Thanks for any suggestions.

P.S. I am running a VZW Bionic while my wife uses the VZW Galaxy Nexus

If you simply want to find each other, I would use Google Latitude, included in Google Maps, which allows almost live updates (about every five minutes-ish, usually), and gives all the options of Google Maps, including just a few clicks to see a map or use the built in turn by turn Navigation to find each other.

See this similar question for some other options for the latter options, but I personally use Android Lost. This is their website, and they offer a long list of options for lost devices, including, but not limited to:

Read SMS'es
Read the latest SMS'es from your phone and send them to your email.
Remote control alarm
Have you ever misplaced your phone which was put on silent mode? Now you may sound the alarm on your phone from your PC!
View on map
Find the location of your phone on a map. With AndroidLost you can find your phone with GPS precision. Even if the phone is indoor you will get a nearby location by network accuracy.
Send SMS'es from your PC
You can send SMS'es directly from your phone by typing them on AndroidLost. All replies will still go to your phone.
Lock the phone
You can lock and unlock the phone from the web. If you forget your pincode you can simply overwrite it or remove it by entering an empty pincode on the web.
Wipe the phone
Don't want your personal messages in the hands of anyone else? With AndroidLost you may wipe the entire phone so all SMS'es, contact and google setup is removed.
Pop up messages on the phone
Send a message to the friendly guy who have found your phone so you may let him know where to give it back.
Forward your calls
You can send keys to the dialer of your phone. That way you can forward your calls from your mobile to a nearby phone.
No battery use
AndroidLost will not use any battery since it does not poll any server to find out if it is lost. It uses the latest technology from google to send messages to the phone.
No pre installation required
You didn't install AndroidLost on your phone? No problem! You can push the AndroidLost app to your phone from google market and initiate the connection to googles servers by sending an SMS with the message "androidlost register" to your phone.
Read status
Detect how much battery is left, display IMEI, SIM card ID and much more.
SMS commands
You can set up a phonenumber which can control you phone, i.e. start the alarm by sending an SMS to your phone.
Erase SD card
Click a button and your SD card will be erased! Very useful if you have some naughty pictures on your sd card.
SIM card changed
When the SIM card is changed an email will be sent to the owner of the phone.
Hidden SMS
When the phone receives an SMS it plays a sound and displays an icon in the notification bar. But if it starts with androidlost it will not play any sound and not display any notification.
Call list
A list of incomming and outgoing calls will be sent to your email.
Camera
AndroidLost can take pictures with the front facing camera in case the phone is stolen. Only for android 2.3.
Tablets Honeycomb
I think I have fixed it so AndroidLost works on tablets. The call functions will obviously fail if the tablet have no phone installed.
Text to speech
You can make your phone speak out load. Suppose you have lost it on a café then you can make the phone say: 'I am lost - please pick me up!'
Multiple phones on the same account

NOTE: AndroidLost will do all of the things you ask in one application, but Latitude is simpler for your primary usage.


Which phones ship with manufacturer-provided root? I'd like to buy a phone that either ships with factory-installed su, or where the manufacturer provides official instructions/downloads for installing one. Do such phones exist?

If you buy a nexus phone, You get official instructions from Google on how to root the phone. I'd recommend you hold on a couple of months for the phone that will replace the nexus 4. I have had a nexus 4 for half a year and it's pretty good for the money I paid for it.


Music players that can import M3U playlists? OK, so it seems that (unbelievably) Winamp for Android is so extremely stupidly designed that it can't import M3U playlists.

So, I want a player that can import M3U playlists.  I'm running CyanogenMod 7.  I have copied some MP3s I want in a playlist to a directory on the sdcard, and used the "My Playlist Maker" app to make an M3U file that references the audio files inside that directory.  Does anyone have some ideas for good music or media players that can import this M3U playlist?

An additional requirement is that the player be able to set itself as the default player to be used with Bluetooth - Winamp, for example, has the "Control headset" (use Winamp to control the headset) checkbox setting.

OK, I'll answer my own question on this one because I just came across MortPlayer. It does EXACTLY what I want: it will load M3U files or just play all files in a directory.


Run windows 10 ARM on QEMU I have downloaded the Windows 10 ARM on my Android phone, but it stops when I press any keys to boot from the CD or DVD.

Click the images for full-size
This is my start.sh file:
#!/bin/bash
sleep 2
echo "Starting ..."
qemu-system-aarch64 \
  -M virt \
  -cpu cortex-a57 \
  -smp 6 \
  -m 1G \
  -pflash QEMU_EFI.img \
  -pflash QEMU_VARS.img \
  -device VGA \
  -device nec-usb-xhci \
  -device usb-kbd \
  -device usb-mouse \
  -device usb-storage,drive=install \
  -drive if=none,id=install,format=raw,media=cdrom,file=arm.ISO \
  -device usb-storage,drive=drivers \
  -drive if=none,id=drivers,readonly=on,file=drivers.vhdx \
  -device virtio-blk,drive=system \
  -drive if=none,id=system,format=raw,file=Hard.qcow2 \
  -vnc 127.0.0.1:2

And there it stops working. What can I do to make it go off successfully?

I think you must compile qemu-system=aarch64 by yourself, but go into the /arm folder of the source code. You have to go in the file virt.c and modify line has_el3=false to has_el3=true.
Microsoft Windows wants a trust zone, so we emulate it. It will compile, though it will have no GUI, and you have to start this from the command line back on Android, and then vnc into it.
The OS seems still experimental though.


Flash Galay S 3 Mini on Linux I tried to root my Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini (GT-I8190) to pull the boot.img to flash a custom kernel.

However rooting doesn't seem to be that easy for the Galaxy S3 mini. I was recommended to flash a custom recovery (CWM) to be able to install a random ZIP update file, which is rooted. (I can't believe, it's that difficult, but it seems like...)

So I downloaded all the necessary files (CWM and Update.zip) and looked for a Flashing software. Quickly saw, that fastboot didn't work (Seriously Samsung?!). So I looked for other tutorials NOT including Odin, since I'm working on Arch Linux. I finally found Heimdall and built it.

So I thought I could now flash the recovery. In my PIT, the Partition no. 20 (Index 19) and with the name "Kernel2".

So I tried to flash it: heimdall --Kernel2 recovery.img and heimdall --19 recovery.img. Both reported success, on both methods, the device download screen showed, that the download was complete and the device rebooted.

Still stock recovery

I even tried to flash the Android kernel (Index: 20, Name: "Kernel") with my compiled boot.img, which didn't contain a ramdisk (I don't care, if the device is lost. It's a test device). And it booted. With stock Android.

What's even wierder, is that my device shows:

CUSTOM BINARY DOWNLOAD: YES (5 counts)

CURRENT BINARY: CUSTOM

SYSTEM STATUS: CUSTOM

So it did in fact receive the images, but didn't flash them somehow.

Thanks for reading that question and even more thanks for helping!

Ok, I figured it out.

I had to run it with root permissions.

I don't know, if I've overseen the sharp in the instructions, or if it really wasn't mentioned.

Anyways. Here's my solution, if you're asking the same (in order to not be that guy )


How to debug an Android app's network traffic? I'm trying to listen in on the network traffic of a commercial app I've downloaded.

Ideally, I'd like the traffic to use my development machine as a proxy, where I'll have Burp or Fiddler waiting to forward requests to the web while I watch the traffic.

Is this possible with android apps? The app does not have the debugging flag set, of course. I've done no android development, so apologies in advance.

A proxy is a proxy. Unless the app is doing compression or some other protocol like Google Chrome you should be able to observe the HTTP traffic. HTTPS traffic will require certificate for man-in-the-middle to work.

Edit 1:

On the phone/tablet go into Settings->Wi-Fi. Long press on the connection to your Wi-Fi Access point and a menu should popup to modify the connection. Once that screen comes up look for 'Advanced Options', enable and you should now be able to set manual proxy.

When I refer to Chrome I meant their data compression option for Chrome for Mobile:
https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/data-compression

You'll have to turn this off to sniff traffic from Chrome.


How do I run network spoofer on S4? So, I got myself s4 and rooted it. I've tested the root access with several different apps, and all of those work.

But now I tried Network Spoofer. The app seemed to download and install successfully, but now, when I try to actually do something, I get this:

Screenshot: chroot: can't execute 'spoof': Permission denied (click image for larger variant)

How do I fix this?

The app's homepage at http://digitalsquid.co.uk/netspoof/ lists the requirements needed for the app to work:

  Requirements

  Network Spoofer runs on Android devices with the following requirements:

  Which are rooted (‘su’).
  Have an SD card (or internal storage) with >450MB spare space.
  Which has Wifi

So I'd start by double-checking how much free space you have on your device. Then it lists the currently supported (and unsupported) models:

  Supported devices

  Currently Network Spoofer has been thoroughly tested on these devices:

  Samsung Galaxy Nexus
  HTC Nexus One
  T-Mobile G1

  It is reported working on these devices, as well as working on most
  other devices:

  LG Optimus 2x
  Huawei u8150d
  HTC Hero
  Droid Bionic
  Samsung Galaxy S / S II
  Samsung Infuse 4G

  However, Network Spoofer doesn’t currently work with:

  Droid / Droid 2 / Droid X
  Motorola Atrix

  Many other devices should and probably will work, but please
  report any odd behaviour or crashes, so I can get this working
  with more devices.

Your device unfortunately isn't on the list of currently supported devices, which means that the app's author doesn't guarantee that it will work for you.

If you follow the bug reporting link there are ways there for you to provide the dev with more information, so that they can try to get things working on your device. But before you go there, have a look at Network Spoofer's FAQ page which does list some common problems, and some ways to get round them, or what additional information you can provide to help get the problem fixed.

Finally there is currently an open bug report about Network Spoofer not working on an S4, with the same error message that you're getting, that does list how the reporter of the bug got it to work:

  I had the same problem when trying to run bt5 on my phone using the
  Complete Linux Installer app, but solved the problem by changing the
  script from the file bootscript.sh (attached) to the combination of
  the 4 other files (installbt first, then startbt, and bt, then stopbt
  to unmount everything). The chroot command is located in the bt
  script.

That could be worth trying (you'll need to visit the bug report to see the attached files).


My Device Keeps Rebooting (LogCat attached) For some reason, after I changed my device's battery. It just keeps rebooting and here's a LogCat of the error:

E/JavaBinder( 1305): *** Uncaught remote exception!  (Exceptions are not yet supported across processes.)
E/JavaBinder( 1305): java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: length=5; index=6
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at com.android.internal.os.BatteryStatsImpl.updateAllPhoneStateLocked(BatteryStatsImpl.java:1907)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at com.android.internal.os.BatteryStatsImpl.notePhoneSignalStrengthLocked(BatteryStatsImpl.java:1937)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at com.android.server.am.BatteryStatsService.notePhoneSignalStrength(BatteryStatsService.java:211)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at com.android.server.TelephonyRegistry.broadcastSignalStrengthChanged(TelephonyRegistry.java:564)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at com.android.server.TelephonyRegistry.notifySignalStrength(TelephonyRegistry.java:325)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at com.android.internal.telephony.ITelephonyRegistry$Stub.onTransact(ITelephonyRegistry.java:95)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:338)
E/JavaBinder( 1305):    at dalvik.system.NativeStart.run(Native Method)

Almost everything in the full logcat is an error. I would suggest going a full wipe of Data & Cache and then reinstall your custom ROM. There is no way to know for sure that the part you posted in the original question is the one causing the reboot. They system rebooting may not allow the actual app that is causing it to write to the logcat.

You are hiving errors in everything from Telephony to the Installer. It sounds like there is something in the system that is causing a problem, See if clearing the Data and Cache fixes it, especially if you never cleared it before switching from one ROM to another.

Based on your comment that you have tried clearing the cache and data, i would suggest then to try and clear the battery stats. This can be done in Clockwork Recovery, I think there are apps in the market that can do it too, but I dont know if you can get to those as your device is rebooting all the time.

If that doesn't solve it, I would try a different battery because if you have cleared the cache and data and also tried multiple ROMs and still have the same problem, then it sounds like faulty hardware.


Phone becomes slow after updating to Jelly Bean My Samsung Galaxy Note-1 becomes very slow after updating it to Jelly bean...what should I do???
Please can any body help me??

Try the following solution from another website:

Method 1:
If your device is on stock firmware, that also means it does not have a custom recovery like CWM or TWRP not installed on it, do the following steps:

Pull out the the battery of your phone, wait for about 30 seconds and reinsert it to its place.
Boot your device into ASR (Android System Recovery) mode. The method involves a hardware key combination and varies from one phone to another. For Samsung phones, for example, the key combination is Volume Up+ Home + Power keys. The tablets which generally have no Home button, you can enter the Recovery mode by pressing and holding the Volume Up + Power keys simultaneously.
In the Android System Recovery, scroll down to “wipe data/factory reset” option using the volume rockers and select it using the power key.
In case, wiping the data factory does not help you, you should also try “wipe cache partition”.
When you have wiped the data/factory, go back to the main menu and reboot the device by “reboot system now” option.
The bootloop problem should be fixed now.

Method 2:
If  you have a rooted device with CWM Recovery installed and your phone is caught into a bootloop after flashing a custom ROM or mod, do as follows:

Pull out the battery, reinsert it after 30 seconds and boot the device into CWM Recovery: Volume Up+ Home + Power keys simultaneously.
Go to “Advanced”
Choose “Wipe dalvik-cache”
Now go to “Mounts & Storage”
Choose “Wipe /cache”
Reboot your phone
The bootloop should be gone now. If it still persists, do this.

Boot the phone again into CWM Recovery
Now go to “Mounts & Storage”
Choose “Wipe /data”
Choose “Wipe /cache”
Then reboot your phone.
Now the phone should reboot normally. Next time when you install a ROM, follow the instructions prescribed by the developer. Be more attentive to the warnings before experimenting with any third party ROM or mod. Always ensure what you are about to install is meant for your device.

If the Above Methods Do Not Work!
In case you are not able to get your device come out of bootloop, your final option should be to install or restore a previously backed up ROM by putting the device in recovery mode, or to install the official firmware/factory image to your phone your tablet.


How to configure custom quick app in Quick Settings with GravityBox? I am using Android Lollipop and my phone is rooted with the current version of Xposed framework and GravityBox is installed. I want to add an app shortcut with GravityBox, but can't do it. Here's the problem:

(Click image to enlarge)

Here is the screenshot of the GravityBox app:

(Click image to enlarge)

Now after adding the quick app shortcut I can't configure it.

Can anyone please help me with this? As I am on Lollipop I am bound to use third party apps to handle the situation.

You didn't configure the quick tile, but only enabled it. To configure it go to QuickSettings management → Tile specific settings → QuickApp tile Settings.

(Click image to enlarge)


Unlocked bootloader but cant root. (Mac) A few months ago I rooted my android phone which went all fine. I then accidently uninstalled my operating system. Finally I managed to flash omniROM on my device which  was as good as it got for me. The only problem is that I am not rooted anymore. My boot loader is unlocked but no root. When I run the usual commands on my computer (Mac) it just says access denied at the finish. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Also when I go on root checker on my phone it says. ACCESS DENIED. not rooted properly

You should be able to download the latest SuperSU from Chainfire and push it to your SD card and reboot into recovery mode -> install zip from SD -> select SuperSU.zip and it should install the SU binaries.  You should be good from there.


Apps don't see adoptable storage anymore My adopted storage Micro SD card (Samsung EVO+ 64GB) doesn't get detected by any apps anymore, but it has worked with that same SD and exact phone (Moto G3) before.

I don't see how it would work either, since the /storage/emulated partition (yes, I highlighted the wrong line) shows that it is in fact only 11.8 GB. The only partitions that are close to 64GB are the /mnt/expand/* directories and those are not accessible.

Is there some sort of "hidden option" that I turned off by accident?

I figured it out. In the "Storage & USB" Settings, click the SD card and in the top right corner there are three vertical dots. Click on those and then "Migrate data". This fixed the issue for me.


Why Whatsapp images and videos are not showing in my gallery? I have bought Moto G 2nd generation. I have Whatsapp installed in my mobile and it working very well. As you all know all Whatsapp images and videos will get displayed in gallery.

I decided to hide these images and videos. I have searched over net and found some useful links. Based on that, I have placed a .nomedia folder under whatsapp/media folder. After this, when I checked gallery, all images and videos from Whatsapp are gone. Eureka... Then I reverted the changes that I have made. That is I deleted the .nomedia file from media directory. But unfortunately, I couldn't find my Whatsapp images and videos in gallery.

So I cleared cache of Whatsapp via settings. Then I restarted my device. Still I didn't find my Whatsapp data in gallery. Now after getting some new images and videos through Whatsapp, I checked again. Now I can see those videos and images. But still the old images and videos are "hiding away" from gallery. Why?

I have checked Whatsapp folder. I can still see old images and videos in whatsapp/media folder and the new videos and images are added to the corresponding folders along with other images and folders.

How can I show all of my images and videos in gallery?

I believe the trick here is to somehow get the media scan to run again. I would normally expect a reboot to take care of this, but perhaps a more explicit instruction will work.

As per this answer, I'd suggest executing the following ADB command:

am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///mnt/sdcard

Also, be sure to check that .nomedia doesn't occur in any of the folders (or subfolders) of Whatsapp's media directories.