Skype randomly crashes on Android 2.1update1 After upgrading to Skype 2.8.0.920... it randomly crashes (I mean just Skype... I just suddenly hear that Skype is logging out..randomly, AFAIK it crashes..)... BUT WHY?? I can revert to an older version of Skype... My phone is a LG GT540..

There is no way to know for sure unless you view logcat. Use adb which comes with Android SDK and execute the command logcat.

I usually do the following steps to find out what causes an application to crash:

Enable USB debugging (Settings -> Developer Options -> USB debugging)
Plug in USB cable to your phone and connect it to your machine.
Run adb logcat
Run the application and try to make it crash while viewing the logcat.


What are my most frequently used apps? As I want to optimize my workflow, how do I determine my most frequently used apps?, so I can put them on start screen. Of course I guess the 3-5 most frequently used apps by myself, but as there space for upto 16 icons on the first screen, it's hard to tell whether some apps are frequently used or not. As for SMS, MMS there are apps generating statistics, is there someway I can determine the most frequently or often used app?

Spare Parts does this. It's included in CyanogenMod and some other custom ROMs, but the Market version should work as well, I think. One of the menu options on the main page is "Usage statistics" which  you can then order by launch count, time used, and app name:


Can't Pull Bar to Mount Storage I don't know what's wrong with my phone. Things are breaking left and right ...

To mount the phone so I can access files on it (I don't have an SD card), I:

Disable USB debugging
Enable Mass Storage Mode
Plug the phone in
Go to the home screen
Drag that bar down on the top of the screen
Click on the USB item
Click "Mount Storage"

Viola,  I can access my files. The problem now is that the bar at the top doesn't drag down. I fear that it's a hardware issue (is there some way to disable/enable it from the software side?)

Having said that, how can I now mount the storage to transfer files onto my computer? I have several (100ish) 1.5MB images I need to copy over.

I have a Samsung i7500g running Android 1.6.

I wrote my own app, which can trap events on the top bar part of the screen; it seems that it's only the home page bar that doesn't allow me to drag it down. Is there some setting I'm missing?

Edit: Even stranger, sometimes, the pull bar works perfectly.

When you're done transferring these files, it is more important that you eject the device from the computer than it is for you to unmount the SD from the statusbar.

Once your computer says the device is ejected, the problem should be resolved after you unplug the phone--

If not-- you can transfer files via adb without 'mounting' the sdcard.
In this case, you would not disable the debugging option (Which you don't really need to do in the first place, btw).

=D


Simple exit to "downloading don't turn off target " downloading mode As a curious newbie I went into downloading mode in my Samsung Galaxy S3 by pressing Vol down+center Home+power button. After that I got options to press Vol up key to continue and Vol down key to cancel. Out of sheer curiosity and thinking I can exit anytime I pressed Vol up key and the very infamous "downloading do not turn off" screen sits with the green Android logo.

All this was done without any cable attached to my computer since I don't want to root or flash my ROM. I just was curious as to what happens next. Now the screen just waited for Odin to connect, however I did not since after connecting I am unsure if there is no direct exit option from Odin without flashing ROM and not doing anything (in other words a simple exit from Odin with no rooting and no flashing and nothing happens).

Next I tried to go into recovery mode and tried all combinations of keys to exit this "downloading" mode but I failed. The power naturally went down as I was reading through many help articles and I put in another battery and now the phone doesn't turn on at all now; there is no reaction and it does not go into recovery mode either. Now I am in a soup as I want my photos and messages to be recovered (no external SD storage used)

I wish to know:

If I do manage to go into recovery mode, then selecting option "reboot system now" will simply reboot my system and phone will work?
If this does not work then does recovery mode option, "wipe cache partition" delete all user photos and messages? (I am absolutely sure factory reset option does delete all user data.)
If my phone waits on "downloading don't turn off target screen", then how do I simply exit this mode? Should I connect to Odin (highly risky) and exit? (I don't know what will happen.) Does connecting to Odin necessarily mean that I have to flash my ROM?

I enquired and found some answers to this problem.

1) If you press the exit button in the recovery menu, the phone will reboot and regular app screen should be seen.

2) as answered earlier wipe cache does not delete user data, (only system cache files are deleted)

3) to exit the download mode (when not flashing anything to the device) is to either pull the battery or long press the power button (which simulates a battery pull).

Anyways what I did was take the device to support center and they told that IC power chip needs to be changed and was charged abt 27$ or so. No data was deleted at all.

Thanks to everyone who helped and especially Golfdriver97.


How to have the alarm audible when on vibrate or silent? I have an issue with my Android 4.4 Nexus 5. When the phone is on either silent or vibrate modes, the alarm is also either silent or just vibrates, which does not wake me up.

I need the alarm to be loud even though my phone is set to vibrate or silent. Currently I'm turning the volume up on my phone just before I go to bed, but that annoys my wife because text messages etc. then wake her up. This is annoying as this is my first phone after coming from iOS for several years, where this wasn't an issue.

I have tried an app to fix this (Persist), but that didn't work. I can probably set a tasker profile up to turn volume on at 6am in the morning, but that seems overkill for what should be a simple fix. I've had very mixed results with third party alarm apps. Lollipop will help in that I will have a "do not disturb feature" again, but that still requires me to ensure my phone is set to ring so I get my alarm to go off properly.

Am I missing something?? Should it be this hard to get an alarm that wakes me up? What do people recommend?

Edit: When I go to Settings > Sounds > Volumes, if the Ringtone & notifications volume is down, the "Alarms" volume is automatically turned off, and I can't change it. In fact the alarm icon even gets a cross through it. So it looks intentional, but I can't for the life of me work out why that would be desired behaviour.

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

Are you using the stock Clock application? If so, have you unchecked "Vibrate" from the alarm settings?

Go to the stock Clock application.
Select the (leftmost) alarm tab in order to configure or add new alarms.
Uncheck "Vibrate."

This should solve the problem. I have the same device, which I usually keep in silent mode, and my alarm is audible.

As a side note, you could put the device in Airplane mode at night so that texts/calls don't come in. Either way, the alarm will still sound normally.


Can't format my SD Card in my Android I'm having this weird issue that I can't find any solutions online. A few days ago my SD card was showing that it was corrupted and I had to format it to get it to work, losing all my data (which was fine). It worked well after formatting (I formatted it on my phone itself). Today it began to show as 'Corrupted' again. Every time I try to format it shows this java.util.concurrent. TimeoutException: Thread Binder:2980_4 gave up waiting for partitionPublic after 180000ms error.
Can anyone help me fix this? It's a Samsung 16GB card and I've been using it for almost 2 years without any issues until now. Also my phone's a Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime. OS: Oreo 8.1

Got similar problem a few days ago after upgrading to LineageOS 17.1.
Best option to be sure if your card is corrupted or not : Put it in your PC (Windows, Mac or Linux, doesn't matter) and try to format it. If it fails from computer, consider SD card is corrupted.
If you do not have a computer or an SD card tray in your computer, try to root your phone and format the card using Aparted app (available from Play Store, but requires root)
Good luck with this


Is battery calibration important for Android phones? I heard that battery needs to be calibrated for a first few usages. I heard that battery needs to be calibrated every 40 charge cycles. I heard that i must not let battery get too low and not overcharge it. I heard that i must recharge battery at the end of every day until morning.

Is this all true? If i only have 1/4 of battery charge, should i place it on charge if i really need or wait until it depletes? I heard that when battery is fully charged, power adapter ceases to charge it but still emits green light. If that is so, then i guess there is no problem leaving it on charge for a long time?

Android handles battery calibration.

Your battery life will be better if you keep it between 20% and 80% charged, and only charge it while it's off.  This is true for all Lithium Ion batteries.  It may not be realistic to adhere to that 100%, I sure don't.  You don't need to charge it overnight.


SMS/MMS database location? I'm trying to pull SMS messages from an old Nandroid backup, but need to find the database before I can. I found an article listing its location in Kitkat, but can't find anything for Nougat/Oreo. (Or even Marshmallow for that matter.)

Anyone happen to know where the files for SMS/MMS messages are actually stored?

While for Android 6 and 7 the DB with SMS data is located under

  /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony

on my LineageOS 15 (Oreo) the file has been moved under

  /data/data/com.android.messaging

and renamed to bugle_db

Oo


Does disabling stock apps cause problems with phone on Android 6.0 So I disabled all the stock apps and other apps I don't use or need in my phone and I am just curious if that could cause issues with the phone where audio eventually breaks.

I've been on support with verizon and after several resets I've ran my phone without any apps installed and the issue came back and the only thing I've done was use blue tooth with my car and disable stock apps.

I'm trying to convenience them that my Refurbished Droid Turbo 2 is a bad phone and while the issue seems like it would be software I can't explain what is triggering the issue software wise that even makes sense unless it was a bad firmware/software upgrade from 5?

The weird part is even if audio breaks, if you blue tooth up to the car it works just fine.

EDIT:

There are many stock apps which you defenetely shoud'nt disable as it can problems to your stock frimware behaviour. I also once disabled lots of packages as i thought it will save battery and ram but it turns out there are extensions or side apps which are required by other apps to get/run their content. for example there is an sideapp called media storage which scans and stores media changes in your storage locations i.e. if you disable your music players like play music,phonograph,musixmatch,etc.. wont work and will show previous catched files insted of new files or currwent files. same way you may be facing same problem here. Just check which app does your audio player needs to run audio smoothly. re-enable it and restart your phone..this should solve the problem.


How can I auto rotate in Samsung Galaxy? Coming from a Huawei P9 Lite, I recently moved to a Samsung Galaxy A30s.
While on my other phone it had an Auto rotate icon, I can't find one at the moment.

I've gone to Settings and searched for the term "rotate" but no results were found.
So, when I'm on a webpage

And rotate it, notice that it appears a new icon in the bottom right

And I need to click in it to actually rotate

During the first days, this was kind of ok, but now I'm tired of having to click always in that icon and waiting for it to appear (sometimes even requiring to do the rotation movement multiple times).

Where it says "Portrait", clicking in it changes to "Auto rotate"

and then auto-rotation gets active.
Notice that if the phone is rotated using the method mentioned in the question, then one won't see "Portrait" but "Landscape"


Copying applications between phones? Is it possible to easy copy applications between phones (eg. two HTCs via bluetooth) and get them running fine? Or apps just need to be downloaded from AM each time because of some installation routine that comes right after downloading?

Android 2.2 introduces the App Sharing app which is installed by default. I think this might be what you are looking for, however you will need a FroYo device.

For earlier versions you could use the app "Bluetooth File Transfer" to share the APK files, if you have these available on your memory card for example.


How can I block all incoming connections to my phone? Ok, so maybe I'm just a lil paranoid lately, but I'm trying to block any - and ALL - connections to my phone. PERIOD. I have the paid version of Android Firewall.

If I select Black list from the drop down box and check WiFi, Data, Roam, VPN, LAN, & Input Chain for (Any Application) will that accomplish the goal I'm getting at?

I don't know how Android Firewall app worked, but it's simple to achieve with iptables; thanks to Linux kernel. Since Android uses default policy ACCEPT, drop any unwanted packets:

~# iptables -I INPUT ! -i lo -m conntrack ! --ctstate ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j DROP
~# iptables -I FORWARD -j DROP

This will also block incoming connections from tethered devices on hotspot network. You can exclude those, see this: Is There A Mobile Hotspot App With A Firewall to Block Incoming Connections?


Why does Android Wi-Fi not get disabled? I have Android 2.3.4.

I have noticed that even When I turn off Wi-Fi, I still keep getting notifications, like - Gmail, Gtalk and Google+ notifications. If I open the said App then it says that it is not connected to internet.

So, my hypothesis is that maybe when I disable Wi-Fi, Android does not terminate currently established connections. It only denies new connections. But this does not explain why in this case the notifications are usually delayed, sometimes, by few hours or a full day.

What is happening and how do I actually disable the Wi-Fi?

PS: I use the "Status Switch" widget to turn/off the Wi-Fi.

UPDATE: the phone doesn't have a data plan, so data isn't coming in that way.

I belive it is because you gained the data during the period Wi-Fi was activated, so when you swithced off your Wi-Fi, there was still some unread data  you hadn't seen (in the form of mail and G+ notifications). Also I recomed, if you are seriously worried about this, and it perseveres, to turn off Wi-Fi via wireless communications in the settings app.


Can traffic be inspected through WiFi? Possible Duplicate:
  If I use free WiFi in a hotspot, can data be easily sniffed?

Let's say I am browsing an HTTP accessible web site (i.e. NOT HTTPS) , is the traffic encrypted through the WiFi connection?

In other words, is there "data privacy" functionality over WiFi regardless of higher layer protocols?

Your traffic is encrypted if the routers setting allow it. This can be WEP, WPA, WPA2. However with all of these the key is known by everyone on the network so it is possible to decrypt the  traffic.


Need to add custom script as service in init.rc for Android 10 I am trying run shell script in device boot-up time.
Steps:

Created shell script and placed into /system/bin/usbmountd.sh

Added test.sh in inir.rc.
service usbmountd /system/bin/usbmountd.sh
user system
disabled
oneshot

Add a new Domain “usbmountd.te” in the location of device/broadcom/XXX/sepolicy/treble/ usbmountd.te
 type usbmountd, domain;
 type usbmountd_exec, exec_type, file_type;
 init_daemon_domain(usbmountd)

Add the Label "/system/bin/usbmountd.sh" to device/broadcom/XXX/sepolicy/treble/file_contexts
 /system/bin/usbmountd     u:object_r: _exec:s0

Added in device/broadcom/xxx/sepolicy/xxx/file.te
 type usbmountd_exec, system_file_type, file_type;

Error:
[ 81% 747/921] build out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows
FAILED: out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows
/bin/bash -c "(ASAN_OPTIONS=detect_leaks=0 out/host/linux-x86/bin/checkpolicy -M -c             30 -o out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows.tmp out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/policy.conf ) && (out/host/linux-x86/bin/sepolicy-analyze out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows.tmp neverallow -w -f out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/policy_2.conf ||           ( echo \"\" 1>&2;         echo \"sepolicy-analyze failed. This is most likely due to the use\" 1>&2;            echo \"of an expanded attribute in a neverallow assertion. Please fix\" 1>&2;           echo \"the policy.\" 1>&2;            exit 1 ) ) && (touch out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows.tmp ) && (mv out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows.tmp out/target/product/xxx/obj/ETC/sepolicy_neverallows_intermediates/sepolicy_neverallows )"
device/xxx/xxx/sepolicy/treble/usbmountd.te:3:ERROR 'Duplicate declaration of type' at token ';' on line 60116:
type usbmountd_exec, exec_type, file_type;
type usbmountd, domain;
checkpolicy:  error(s) encountered while parsing configuration

The error is 'Duplicate declaration of type'
The problem is step 5 in which you declare
type usbmountd_exec, system_file_type, file_type;
You already declared that same type usbmountd_exec in step 3. So remove the duplicate declaration.
Also in step 4 it should look like this:
/system/bin/usbmountd.sh     u:object_r:usbmountd_exec:s0


Unable to make phone calls or send text message because of "call barring" There is nothing wrong with my sim card nor the providers of it. However I am unable to call anyone or send text messages to anyone but I am able to receive calls and text messages from anyone.

Whenever I try to call someone I get the following message "Can't make outgoing calls while call barrng is on"

What I have tried: entered phone app -> Settings -> Supplementary services -> Call barring -> Voice call. Everything is unchecked! If I check everything, nothing changes about my situation I am still unable to call people

I am on Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus

Back up all your important files and start a new. Create a Smart switch back up and factory reset. Smart switch could possibly be backing up the file that's giving you fits. Maybe don't backup anything phone related too.


How can I view my facebook email address? How can I view my facebook email address?

I managed to get to this screen

from there I scrolled down, and got this screen

Then I chose account settings

then I get this screen

and none of these options open up.

I just can't see where i'd be able to see my email address.

added explanations

Those screenshots are from my Android Phone, in the Facebook App. (not from a web browser, i'm not logged in in any web browser, and as mentioned I don't have the email address)

From your last image, click General, it contains your basic information, like name, email, phone number, networks, and inactive account management person.

The full path to this from the Facebook app is press the 3 line hamburger menu, scroll to the bottom section and find Account Settings, then General.

The way to access this information is exactly the same in the mobile web page.

If they are not opening up, refresh the page or try a different browser.

Also, if you have the Facebook app installed, go to Settings, Accounts, then Facebook, the email address associated with your account is right at the top of the page.


How to really disable the screen when the phone is on my ear? I have a Sony Xperia with Android 8.0.0 Oreo.

When I speak on the phone, I first turn off the screen with the side button, then put the phone on my ear.
When the phone is on my ear, the screen often turn on and my fingers or my cheek or whatever touch the screen and do not-so-funny things.

How can I force the screen to remain off, or the touch-screen off until I use the side button again to turn it on?

edit: no "double tap to wake" option on this phone

It seems to be an issue with proximity sensor malfunctioning. Instead of forcing the screen to be off, you can try :

There are many apps on Play Store, search for "Proximity Sensor". Proximity Service seems to be a good choice. It has a good rating, has been updated last month and doesn't have any trackers (no privacy issues). If this doesn't work, try other apps.
You may want to go the automation route as explained here Screen turns off during call due to problem with proximity sensor - Xperia Z3 compact (case there is opposite of yours, so it needs to be tweaked)
Per this blog (though for a different model of Xperia) , you can test and reset proximity sensor by dialing *#*#7378423#*#*


How can I unlock my s6 Edge Lock Screen w/o having to factory reset it? Given how sensitive the fingerprint sensor on this phone, the 5 tries were used and the phone was asking for the backup password after. The problem is that i cant even remember the PW. I can unlock it using my google account But I can't even enable my WiFi or MD.  What's the best way to do?

PLEASE HELP!!
THANKS IN ADVANCE! :)

Try enabling wifi using ADB and than sign in.
As per this answer
Enable using below script.

adb -s $PHONESERIAL shell "svc wifi enable"

You can also refer other Answers


Do apps that claim to increase SD card performance really work? Strain on card? I was recommended an app today that supposedly increases the r/w cache on the SD card. By default it's set to 128kb.

I'd imagine this works in a similar fashion to a BufferedReader (in java).

My questions are:

Does this really work as advertised? Will I see increased I/O performance?
What effect, if any, does this have on the SD card? Can it cause premature failure?

Below is the Android Market description for SD Speed Increase
:

  SD Speed Increase

  This application allows you to make more powerful the using of SD Card. This is changing a parameter in a file system (thus the need of Root access) that manages the size of the cache on the memory card. By default, this value is set to 128 (kb) but it was found that changing this value in 2048 (kb), the performances are optimized, making read-write on our external memory faster. Many thanks to brainmaster, XDA Member that discover this.
  Note that if you reboot/turn off your device, you lose the setting that you did, so you can click on the dedicated box to allow this app to set on every boot the value that you choose.

  This function may be not work.

Device: ZTE Blade. Rooted and running CyanogenMod 7.0

Here's the original XDA thread.

Basically, it shows a fairly significant improvement for some devices.  2048 kB might not be the best setting for your particular device, so you might want to experiment.  I'm running it on my device and noticed a minor improvement; it certainly wasn't harmful.  I'm not 100% sure but I would think it would not increase wear.


How do I access files on an Android device from a LAN connected computer? My connection configuration is, my modem,  connected to a LAN router, connected to several PCs and also connected to a wireless router.  When I use WiFi on my android device, I can access files on the PCs using ES file explorer.  However, I can't access my android device from any of the PCs.  I tried using File Expert, but failed (I suspect it's because it is from LAN PC trying to connect to WiFi).

I also have the same problem if I want to transfer files from my WiFi connected laptop to any of the PCs (in this case I cannot find any of the PC at all from my laptop).  I tried to google a solution but can't find any case which is similar to mine.

It's simple to share Android files to Windows PC. Install ES File Explorer in Android device. Go to Tools and select Remote Manager then you can see turn on. Press on it. And you will get an address like ftp://192.168.1.24:3721/ enter it on your PC file explorer and you can access to your Android phone from PC.

You can change settings of remote manager to get SD card and phone memory.


Disable LiveWare manager I have rooted my Sony Ericsson Neo V by downgrading to .42 and using Zergrush, without unlocking the boot loader. Now I want to remove the LiveWare service. NoBloat and similar apps don't show it. How can I delete or at least disable this serivce?

Look in /system/app/ for com.sonyericsson.extras.liveware.apk or similar.  Remove it and any .odex file with the same name if present and that should get rid of it.  (Note that I have no idea if this is required by the system or will otherwise screw up your phone, so do it at your own risk.)


Using a cell phone to make calls without signing into Google account. Possible? I intend to close my Google account for personal reasons.  No part of it will I leave operable.
But, I use an Android phone.  I am not asking about Google apps here.  I am asking if the phone will still work for making phone calls.  Mind you if I have it my way there will be no Google account for me to login to.
I am dumping Google in it's entirety.

Yes, you can use it only to make and receive calls and text messages. Equivalent of not signing into a new device but inserting SIM.
I have seen people do this (without signing into Google account) , using it like a non-smartphone.
Somewhat related Can I use an Android One device without a Google account? Isn't there a compulsion?


Increase Multi-touch points I have an Infocus M2 running Android 4.4. It supports only two finger multi-touch, which causes problems with some games. Is there any way to increase the number of touch points it can recognize?

You cannot increase touch points as this is related to your hardware (screen) not the software. You would need to purchase a new screen for your device that supports multi-touch features.


Adding web shortcuts with icons similar to chrome's new tab thumbnails I have a Droid RAZR MAXX, and there are a few shortcuts to web pages on the screen. They have been there since before the phone got ICS.

Under GB one could long tap the screen, add a shortcut, and choose a web site rather than an app. This created a shortcut with the name of the site, and the icon looked like a screen capture of the URL that the shortcut targets (like the chrome new tab page).

However in ICS I can't see way to do it, I can add a bookmark to the home screen through the browser, but the icon is different. I tried adding a bookmark through each browser, chrome, default, firefox, opera, dolphin. None of them produce this icon.

Anyone know how to do it? Or is this something that Moto threw in to the software, but didn't keep in ICS? (Though in that case why do the old icons still work?).

Can't see how to get an individual bookmark with a thumbnail screenshot of the webpage, but there are a couple of similar things you can do with the default browser in ICS.

In the screenshot above the top row are bookmarks added to the home screen by going into the browser, opening the bookmarks list, long pressing on a bookmark and selecting "Add to Home Screen". These appear to be the using the site's "Favicon".

The next two rows are the "3x2 Bookmarks" widget, that just lists the contents of my browser's bookmarks folder. Add that by opening your apps list, selecting the Widgets tab at the top and then long pressing to drag the "3x2 Bookmarks" widget to a home screen. It then gives you a chance to pick a folder in your Bookmarks to show (you could create a new folder in bookmarks beforehand and fill that folder with only web pages that you want to show on your home screen).


How do I change the time zone (which is disabled) in Honeycomb on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1? When I first turned on my Galaxy Tab 10.1, I told it to automatically set the time.  Unfortunately now the time zone is set to GMT+00:00 in the Date & time settings, and is disabled (so I can't change it).  How do I enable the time zone setting so I can change it?

I downloaded a free app called TimeZone Changer to fix this problem. Still don't understand why Samsung disables this.


How to update rooted S3 to 4.3 using only OTA? I unrooted my phone to get OTA update but while updating in the boot screen, it stopped at around 25% with the red triangle and the Android bot then reboots automatically.

I have tried many times with no luck.

How should I go about this?

Since rooting changes the system image, the OTA update won't apply. You need to download the ROM (e.g. from sammobile.com) and flash it by hand (using Kies).


Why do we need Kies (ADB driver) in Windows but not in Linux? Why do we need an ADB driver in Windows but not in Linux?

I have been working on Android for the past few months in Windows. To run my project on my Samsung device I had to install Kies first. Similarly for my LG device there is a LG ADB driver, and another for HTC.

But when I shifted to Ubuntu Linux recently, I didn't require any other drivers like Kies and ADB. I was able to debug directly without any third party driver. Why is that?

I know it is something very common, but I haven't found anything which explains why this is the case.

Chor WaiChun mentioned this on a locked question you posted on StackOverflow:

  I've seen somewhere stated that this behaviour is because both android
  and linux run on same kernel, and same situation goes to developing
  android on mac. Both OS runs in very similar OS kernel with Android,
  that is why they don't need any drivers. These are just something I
  remembered seeing from other threads, can't give 100% sure

UPDATE #1: The Android site also mentions this:

  If you are developing on Windows and would like to connect an
  Android-powered device to test your applications, then you need to
  install the appropriate USB driver. ...

  If you're developing on Mac OS X or Linux, then you probably don't need to install a USB driver. To start developing with your device,
  read Using Hardware Devices.

UPDATE #2: There's a comment on StackOverflow regarding libusb. I think this may be the reason why Linux does not need additional drivers.

  Actually adb under Linux accesses USB devices using libusb without any
  specific kernel driver. Also adb has a list of vendor IDs which it is
  allowed to use, but this does not explain the problem in question,
  because vendor IDs for both phones are the same. And in case of
  permission problems due to missing udev rules adb devices clearly
  shows “no permissions” in the list, so this is also not the cause of
  this problem.


Any way to set profile pic using FB  for Android App (1.8.1 on ICS)? I've resorted to the FB Mobile site which isn't a bad compromise really, but I was going a little crazy trying to find the option within the FB App, just wondering if it exists?

Yes, there is a way to do so in the mobile app.

I am using Facebook App Version 1.8.1 on a Motorola Droid 3.

The process I did to set a picture as my profile picture was as follows:

Started Facebook
At the top left there was an icon with 3 horizontal dashes that brings up the different sections of Facebook, I browsed down to the "Photos" section under Apps.
I selected a photo out of my list of Photos (It would not let me select the option on anyone else's photo; so I assume it must be one uploaded into your account).
I used my phone's physical Menu button to open the Facebook menu.
I hit the "More" arrow button to list more options in the menu. One of these extra options was to "Make profile picture"

It  may be slightly different on your device; however it is possible to do this in the latest Facebook version on the desired photo.


Bricked my Asus TF300T? Manual JB update First, my device failed to get the OTA Update because I deleted some system apps (see my original post).

Then I found this post where another user restored original APKs in /system/apps and managed to manually update to JB by downloading the dlpkgfile in this post.

So I proceed, restored my /system/apps (with 755 permissions), rooted with OTA RootKeeper and SuperSU, placed the dlpkgfile and command files, restarted to fastboot (Power+Vol Down) and entered Recovery mode.

The green android with the blue progress bar went for over 10 minutes, then ... the android with the RED TRIANGLE appeared

After a minute or so the device restarted, an ASUS logo with a blue progress bar ran, but then it got stuck in the ASUS logo.

I'm still able to restart to fastboot (Power+Vol Down), where a message appears:

Android cardhu-user bootloader (1.00 e) released by "US_epad-10.4.2.9-20120809" A03

, and where I have 4 choices:

  RCK: Recovery mode, when I select this the Red Triangle appears again.
  Android: Normal android boot, gets freeze right away
  Fastboot USB download protocol: Tried using ADB, but don't really know what it is. Here's an image of how the device appear in my
  Windows PC
  Wipe Data: Already done this, seems to wipe user data, but still gets stuck on ASUS logo

Some pictures I took of my device:

I also tried downloading .30 firmware from ASUS website and placing the Zip contents in my SD card, then booting recovery but no luck.

It's pretty awful that everything went so bad, I'm hoping there is a solution.

Anything would be really appreciated!!!

Thanks!

UPDATE!!!

OK, I found this tutorial about flashing ASUS firmware with fastboot: http://www.theandroidsoul.com/how-to...back-to-stock/

The problem is that the following commands:

fastboot -i 0x0B05 flash system blob
fastboot -i 0x0B05 flash system US_epad-user-9.4.3.30.zip

both produce the error: "Signature mismatch"

I guess it's because my fastboot has newer version, since it was actually installed during the JB update, but I'm trying to flash a older .30 firmware.

I guess I will have to wait ASUS releases the new firmware for manual flashing it.

Just guessing...

More info here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1846661

Solved. ASUS released the new firmware in its website.

Flashing it unbricked my device:

Download the stock firmware from ASUS’s official website. On the website, select Android in the OS drop down menu, then select Firmware, and download the latest firmware.
Extract the downloaded firmware file. You will get another archive file. Extract this one as well to get several files. One of these files will be named “blob”, which is the one we need to use.
Install Android SDK for Windows.
Shut down the tablet. Hold Power + Vol Down buttons until a message appears saying “Press Vol. Up to enter RCK (5s)”. However, DO NOT press the Volume Up button. Instead, wait for 5 seconds till a new menu appears. Then, in less than 10 seconds, press Volume Down once to highlight the USB icon, then press the Volume Up button to validate.
Open Command Prompt on your computer from Start » All Programs » Accessories (or open Start menu, type cmd and press the Enter button).
Now, type the following commands in command prompt to flash the stock ROM, pressing Enter after each command:

> cd C:...\Path-to-Andoid-SDK\platform-tools\

> fastboot devices

> fastboot -i 0x0B05 flash system C:...\Path-to-blob\blob

> fastboot -i 0x0B05 reboot

Source: http://www.theandroidsoul.com/how-to-restore-asus-transformer-tf300t-back-to-stock/

More details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1846661


Why does phone reset to Gingerbread instead of the version of Android that came with the OS when it was purchased? When I first purchased an Android phone over a year ago the installed OS was Android 2.1 (Eclair). The OS has been updated twice by the carrier since then and now runs Gingerbread.  However, I had to restore my phone to factory settings recently and the OS that was reinstalled was Gingerbread. I was expecting it to restore back to 2.1 (Eclair).  Is this expected behavior and was the phone reset properly to factory settings?  I followed the hard reset instructions here and everything looked correct. However, this was not the factory restore I expected.  If this was correct does anyone know how the Gingerbread OS "replaced" the OS that was installed from the factory?  I thought the factory settings were "read only."  Thank you very much.

This is all from a stock Android phone that has never been rooted.

Resetting to factory settings removes all personal settings, data and installed apps from the phone.

It doesn't uninstall operating system updates and doesn't remove apps that your manufacturer or service provider have included in the system.

It also (normally) doesn't delete data from your SD card.

Installing operating system updates on an Android phone overwrites the previous version of the Android operating system and doesn't keep any of the old OS files. It's the same as if you upgraded a Windows Vista PC to Windows 7, you can't go back to Vista on that PC without finding the original install disks, as it has overwritten and deleted the old Vista files. The only way to go back to the previous version is if your manufacturer/network has made a copy of the old OS files public that you can download and install.


Locked out of Galaxy S Duos - Failed lock pattern I have Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 which is now locked with too many failed pattern attempts. I don't remember the pin for it.

I've changed my password for Google account from laptop and I wanted to login from the locked out phone but it says wrong password/username.
But I can log in on laptop. I'm using mobile data connection to sign in to google account.

Please someone help me as I don't want to hard reset, I have important data on it.

Try all the methods in a similar question on here: Izzy's Answer on Unlocking Android Devices via Google, ADB, and Recovery - Android Enthusiasts

There are almost 10 angles to work from running 3 pages long, it is too much to quote here and all credit goes to Izzy for spending a lot of time working up that answer.

If none of those work, please revise your answer to include any errors you encountered and whether your device is rooted, knowledge of installed Android version, build number, etc.

Hope this helps,


What can I do to save my Samsung Galaxy from a bootloop? I have a relatively old phone that I would like to make some use of again. It's the GT-I9000, and it's currently stuck in a bootloop.

I'd like to install CyanogenMod on it. I've already flashed it with the CWM, however, I'm experiencing problems when trying to finally put the actual mod on the internal sd card.

First off, when I execute:
adb push cm.zip /sdcard, ADB complains that /sdcard is a directory... Of course it is!

So, I've tried to be a bit more specific... adb push cm.zip /sdcard/Videos - I didn't expect any significant change, but there was. It now complained about the permission being denied.

I overcame this on Linux by becoming root, and executed the command again...

Then, it complained about not having enough space...

I used the CWM recovery to navigate internal storage, and noticed that it really was crammed with all my data.

In order to get more space, I tried factory resetting, data wiping, and partitioning. The first two finished successfully, but didn't delete any of my files, and CWM recovery couldn't partition the thing.

After that, I noticed that ADB can provide a shell connection, so I tried adb shell.

On both Windows and Linux, this is the error:

link_image[1963]:  2950 could not load needed library 'libm.so' for '/system/bin/sh' (reserve_mem_region[832]: OOPS:  2950      prelinked library 'libm.so' mapped at 0x40008000, not at 0xafc00000)CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE

So I suspect it has something to do with my Android phone, not my computers.

And the best thing is: my phone cannot read external cards for some reason. What a great combination!

How can I wipe internal storage without a shell connection?

First, if your source is a file, adb push requires the target to be a file as well. Hence, the correct syntax would be:

adb push cm.zip /sdcard/cm.zip

Second, a factory-reset usually doesn't touch the SDCard (internal or external), unless there's an option offered to do so and you checked that.

As for the link error: That looks like something on the device is screwed up. You're probably in recovery mode when trying this, and (just a guess, but a good one) the partition holding the required library file was not mounted.

I don't know what options are available for your device specifically, but there are generally several ways to flash a device, as e.g.:

update.zip via recovery (which is what you're just trying)
side-loading via adb sideload
using fastboot
using a device (or manufacturer) specific flash tool, in your case kies, odin, or heimdall

I'd suggest the last mentioned method: you could e.g. first flash the latest official ROM via Odin/Heimdall, so it is able to boot correctly again. After that, you would have a working device again, and could cleanup your SDCard to use the update.zip method for flashing your CM image.

Another way to free some space: If you know some of the "big filenames", you could try using adb push to overwrite them with "small ones". Say, if there's a video file with 500 MB size in /sdcard/Videos/bigmovie.mp4, you could take an empty text file empty.txt ( 0 Bytes ) and push it over the video:

adb push empty.txt /sdcard/Videos/bigmovie.mp4

This should set enough space free to finally push your cm.zip to the card.


Location of files: Main Storage versus SD card I'm trying to figure out what is stored where on my Android phone (an unrooted Samsung Galaxy S8 with an SD card).

I can examine the phone's contents either via any of the several file manager apps I've installed, or by mounting the entire phone as a network drive on my Windows 10 machine.

My File Manager App shows me the contents of "Main Storage" and the contents of "SD Card".

The contents of "Main Storage" show up on the network drive in a directory called /sdcard.  The contents of "SD Card" show up on the network drive in a directory called /storage/0000-0000 .

This is very odd, since the directory called "/sdcard" on the network drive is the opposite of the directory called "SD Card" in the File Manager app.

The File Manager app shows 57 gigs total in "Main Storage" and 256 gigs in "SD Card".  This suggests to me that the former is the phone's built-in memory and the latter is the actual SD card.  But I'm thrown for a loop by the fact that the former is called "/sdcard" and the latter is called "storage/0000-0000", which seems backward.

I could, of course, pull the SD card out of the phone and examine its contents directly on another device, but I'm squeamish about handling the card.  And no matter what I learned, I'd still be curious about the odd naming conventions.

So:

Question 1:  What's going on?  What's in which directory?

Question 2:  If I want to back up all of the data (but not the system files or software) on my phone, does it suffice to make copies of /sdcard and /storage/0000-0000, or are there other places data might be stored?

Additional Info:  The App X-plore confirms the odd naming, in that it shows me two directories, one named both "Phone Memory" and /sdcard (it shows the former in bold and the latter in roman, both labeling the same directory) and another named both "SD card" and /storage/0000-0000.

What's in which directory?

/sdcard is the so-called "internal SD card" (internal-sd, on "internal storage" and not physically removable without breaking the device, hence also referenced as "Main Storage" in your case), while /storage/<card_id> is the physically removable external-sd.

are there other places data might be stored?

There are. Without root, you e.g. won't have access to where your apps store their data (/data/data/*). To perform a real full backup, you'd need a custom recovery like twrp to perform a nandroid backup. The closest you can come to that is adb backup – but even an "adb full backup" is incomplete (especially as apps can "opt-out" of that, so they won't be backed up by adb backup).


Device stuck in a "bootloop". Resolved after re-inserting battery A Customer of mine has a Casio V-T500 Tablet on which he runs our app. For a few days it started to be stuck in a bootloop which could be broken by removing the battery, wait a few seconds, and then putting the battery back and starting the device. It's running Android 4.0.4 with an special Launcher by Casio.

Does someone ever have/had this kind of problem? How can this be resolved? Is this a hardware failure? After about 9 Months of "work"?

I got stuck in a similar bootloop last Sunday on my Samsung GS4 (i9505G), except instead of rebooting, it would power off.  Pulling the battery did not resolve it.  I had to plug it in to a charger.  The battery was at about 25% at the time.

Sadly, I do not know why that resolved the problem, but I wanted to post my reply in case it helps someone.


Can I route a call via SIP based on a phone number using native SIP android? My Android 4.x phone supports SIP.

However, the options when to use the "Internet calling" are very limited: "For all calls", "Only for Internet calls", "Ask for each call".

I would like to use Internet (SIP) calls based on phones number (e.g. all international and long-distance calls should go via SIP, all phone number starting with +395656 xxx and local calls should go via my regular voice account).

I don't want to use any application like csipsimple, I want to use native support.

If you don't want to use 3rd party apps, this is currently (as of Android version 4.4) not possible.


Virus on Lenovo P1M? My phone, a two year old Lenovo Vibe P1M, has been acting weird for a while.

It was damaged six months back in an accident, and the screen was somewhat cracked on the top. As a result the touchscreen got kind of faulty. But there were no performance issues.

For about a month, though, I've been experiencing huge problems!

Extreme lag and freezes.
The phone started randomly opening apps and messing around with them.
I found several audio recordings made without my knowing.
I found a lot of "empty" folders on the internal storage, and when I deleted these it freed up about 500 MB. One such folder was called "diaxin." I also got alerts from my CleanIt app asking me if I wanted to remove residual junk files. When I hit yes, it showed me a huge bunch of files with Chinese names. Needless to say, I had not downloaded any of them.
Worst of all, every few seconds, the phone opened the toolbar containing the icons for my WiFi, Data Connection, etc. Somehow it kept turning on my location. I tried scrolling up to hide the toolbar but no luck. Every time, I had to switch the phone off and on to get rid of this annoyance.
The touchscreen often stopped responding at random times, including when I tried to unlock my phone. Right now it takes me 5-7 tries to even get the phone to recognize my attempts to draw my pattern.

I tried to connect the phone via data cable to Ubuntu so I could backup the data. It just froze when I did so, and froze my laptop as well. I had to restart both devices.

What kind of malware infestation is this? I'd like to do a factory reset but can't because my contacts etc are on the phone (and it's not letting me back them up: see 5 and 6).

Try rebooting into Safe Mode. If its a 3rd party app messing with your phone then it won't work on Safe Mode. Then try backing up your data and resetting the phone.


SD card formatted as internal storage Recovery Data I have a problem. I formatted uin SD-Card with a smartphone with Android 6 and asked me to format it as internal memory, I accepted, with only one clause, if I moved the SD on another device this did not recognize it.
Now, I have formatted the smartphone and I reinserted the SD-Card, in the same, only asking me to reformat it so I will lose all the data I have.

How can I recover them?

Through Gparted I noticed that the sd-Card is divided into two partitions.

There is no way to enter the partitions or to recognize the sd at the same smartphone?

I do not think I understood the reason. that is, if I had not restored it to the factory settings, I could recover the key and be able to use it to enter the SD card.
Can not recover the key from the SD card instead of the smartphone?

PS. sorry if I wrote here, I can not find the button to reply.

This question appears to be a  duplicate of How to decrypt Adopted Storage?
in many regards, but if I understand it correctly, the following things happened and one step makes it unique:

You adopted the microSD card as internal storage
You removed it from the device (reason isn't relevant)
While the microSD card was removed, you factory reset (formatted) the
phone
You re-inserted the microSD card after the reset was complete, and
the data is unreadable

If this is the correct summation of your situation, then I am sorry, but your data on the microSD card is lost permanently, and cannot be recovered.

When an SD card is "adopted" as internal storage, it is encrypted with a random encryption token (a digital "key" so to speak) so that data can only be read or written to by that device for security and privacy. Any data recovery attempt of the information on the card requires the encryption token from the device, which is generated randomly when the storage card is adopted, if you formatted the device the token was permanently erased like all other transient device data, and the storage cannot be decrypted or recovered by any known means.

Your only real option now is to reformat the card and start clean, and unless you really need the space as internal, use the card as external (portable) storage.

For more clarity in to why this is impossible, and what is necessary for the data to be recovered, you can reference this question.


Enable lock screen widgets, 4.4.2 Kitkat on Samsung Mega 6.3 LTE When I try to enable lock screen widgets in my Samsung Mega 6.3 LTE with Kitkat 4.4.2 from Settings > Security it has no "Enable widgets" which was the solution in How do you add widgets to the lockscreen in KitKat? and How do I add a widget to my lock screen?.

How do I enable lock screen widgets in my Samsung Mega 6.3 SGH-M819N?

Samsung's TouchWiz UI does not allow you to add lockscreen widgets in Kitkat as far as i know. My Galaxy Note 10.1 has the option named "lockscreen widgets" under settings, but its not anything like the stock Android Kitkat concept.

You have to install a custom ROM if you want that functionality.


Charging speeds between USB C/USB C and USB A/USB C I just bought the Anker power core 20100+ and it came with 2 cables.One Usb C to Usb C cable, and One Usb C to USB A.

I am just wondering which one would give me better charge speeds for my Nexus 5x or if it wouldn't matter at all.

Your device comes with USB Type C which is equipped to handle higher power for charging and hence that is recommended over using the USB C to A conversion

USB 3.1 – Type-C Connector

  ....Rather than using four-pins as in the classic type-A and type-B, the type-C connector has 24 pins and is reversible, meaning it can be plugged in either way. It supports 900mA and, on command, delivers 1.5A and 3.0A over a 5V power bus while streaming data. This results in 7.5 and 15 watt power consumption respectively, as opposed to 2.5W using the original USB (current times voltage = wattage)

Also see a decent comparison of  Type C Charging


SSH to Ubuntu desktop I've setup an SSH server on my Ubuntu desktop at home using a dynamic DNS service (NOIP). I have a wi-fi-only Android tablet running Android version 4.4.2. On my tablet I can connect to other SSH servers, such as my college's server. However, I cannot directly connect from my tablet to my desktop; every attempt times out. But I am able to connect to my college's server and then SSH into my desktop from there. Is there something I've not set up correctly in my sshd_config file possibly? I'm able to ping the public IP. But I'm at a loss to explain this behavior. I've used both JuiceSSH and ConnectBot to no avail. Thanks!

Do you have port forwarding or access list set on your router/firewall allowing only SSH from particular IP's?

This could explain why it works from a known location.


Backup gmail emails offline I have an Android 4.1 phone. When I typically login into my gmail app, even if I am offline, I can see / read already downloaded emails. So, I have those two questions:

Where are those emails saved locally on my phone? Is there a way to access this folder within Android or through a PC?
Is there a way to backup all emails downloaded / stored on the phone, while still remaining offline?

You can use adb for this:

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

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

adb restore gmail.ab

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

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

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


Cannot find packet data in Samsung Galaxy S Where can I can find 'packet data' on my phone, and how can I use internet when I'm on the road?

You must be referring to Mobile Data. Take note that using mobile data on the road will incur data charges per minute or per data size (consumption), depending on your plan.

In the Samsung Galaxy S4, mobile data can be enabled in Settings > Connections > More networks > Mobile networks > Mobile data. You can also find a Mobile data quick-switch in the quick settings section of the notification panel. See if you can find something similar for the Samsung Galaxy S. With this checked, you can now surf the internet using your phone.


My Nexus 6p keeps turning of when connected to wifi or cellular data I have a 5 months old nexus 6p and whenever i turn on wifi or cellular data it reboots itself. it works perfectly fine if not connected.
pls help

Please try running device in Safe Mode. Running device in safe mode will stop third-party apps from functioning. This will test if it's caused by a third-party app.

To run device in Safe Mode:
1. Press and Hold Power button
2. Touch and Hold Power off prompt on your screen
3. You should get a notification on your phone to reboot device in Safe Mode, then hit OK
You will notice that there's "Safe Mode" at the bottom of your screen once it reboots.

If it works in safe mode, then try uninstalling your apps one by one as this might cause the issue. If not, I'd suggest Wiping cache partition or Factory Resetting your device.


Re-Installing google play I got my google play and google play services deleted from my rooted phone.I had moved all the apps on internal apps to my partitioned sd card,which got corrupted.Tried installing google play apk and services from other sites but they would not install.
Phone model:Galaxy Y S5630

Need your help.

Reflash gapps from recovery. This will install all the necessary google applications that have been deleted.

You can find all gapps on Goo.im, you just have to choose the ones relevant to your android version.


prevent apps from changing status bar color never cared much for this one way or another, until Firefox last update changed the status bar to white, of all colours.

now it really bothers me. my Firefox theme have darker navbar, like the branding on the desktop. they used white navbar on android now for the misguided reason of stealing chrome's look. I think the older darker navbar differentiates the browser UI from the page, and thats good from a usability point of view.

the correct fix for this will be for themes to select what Firefox paint the status bar too, so it doesn't look too weird with status bar in white with address bar in black.

but until then, is there any option to disable apps setting the status bar colour? (doesn't matter if per app or globally. consistency is good UX)

Yes, there are apps that allow you to override the status bar completely. I had the same issue with Firefox's horrid new UI choice and was able to solve it with the Status app. I can't say if it's the best app for the job, it's just the first one I tried. So far it seems fine although it took some time to get it set up how I wanted. If that doesn't do it for you there are plenty of other apps on the store that seem to do the same thing.


What is this icon depicting a phone and Wi-Fi together? After I factory reset my Nokia 6, this icon appeared. I've never seen it before. What is this icon in the highlighted part?

This is WiFi calling icon or VoWiFi. Disabling that WiFi settings removed the icon as confirmed by OP

It is used for making voice calls over WiFi, similar to Volte ( more so when signal connectivity is poor). On some phones, it is slightly different with the solid triangle replaced by traditional WiFi icon as shown here


How can I prevent long hold backspace from deleting everything? If I am holding down backspace to delete several words, if I hold it down for more than about a second, it will delete everything until the beginning of the line. I would rather it just keep deleting words at a constant pace. I feel like I am working around this "feature" more often than I am using it, ie, I want to delete everything except the first word on a line, and I end up holding backspace for just under a second, waiting, holding it again, waiting, holding again, etc.

The most common occurance is when I want to delete everything after a slash in a web address.

This is not possible without using a 3rd party keyboard, specifically SwiftKey

  .. If you continue to hold the backspace key it will speed up.When Gestures are enabled:As well as the same functionality as above, you can additionally delete the last word you type by sliding your finger across the keys from right to left.

Source - SwiftKey support


Can I force clients of my phone's Wi-Fi hotspot to use my DNS? My phone is a Mi A1 with Oreo 8.1. It is not rooted.

I am offering WiFi using hotpsot .

I discovered that devices connected to my hotspot do not inherit the DNS server from my hotspot.

Questions: is there a way to push DNS to clients connected to my hotspot?

I have two custom DNS, self made, with public IP. And I would like that people using my wifi could use these DNS.

No you can't. Each connecting client identifies using its own IP address BEFORE being granted internet access, This means that it does not need to clone address or servers after connection, it can continue sending and receiving packets along its establish (independent) route, identifying as it's own device.


android 5.1.1 wont install apps I have a Alcatel onetouch model 50540 running android 5.1.1 as in the title. it is rooted and began uninstalling pre-installed bloatware on my device. I do not have a complete list of uninstalled apps because I had only kept track after the first few, but ill list the ones I do know about

Download Manager
Downloads
Talkback
Hangouts
Cricket Wi-Fi Manager
Camera
Email
Onetouch Launcher

That is the essence of what I did. I do have an edited hosts file as a makeshift adblock.

Play store gives me an error code 0 to which I removed app data and tried again, same problem.

I have tried installing local apps which brings up an "app not installed" box.

Lastly I have tried do directly extract the app into /data/app and rebooting which didn't work.

I figured it out, I uninstalled Google talk which led to all the issues.


How to fix Galaxy S4 stuck at boot screen despite factory reset? I am new to all of this, and I am having trouble with my Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 SCH-I545. I am on a Mac, but can also run Windows 7 in VMware Fusion.

A couple days ago, I successfully rooted my phone, by flashing it with odin.
Several days after that, I successfully installed Safestrap Recovery, but did not do anything with it. Then I tried flashing a ROM for TWRP, and thats where my troubles started.

When I rebooted my phone, it constantly got stuck at the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen.

I tried wipe data/factory reset and wipe cache partition, but to no avail.

I can boot into the stock recovery (Safestrap got removed when I wiped my phone), and I can boot into fastboot.

When I boot it into recovery, it says

  E:failed to mount /system (Invalid argument)

Then I tried flashing the stock ROM with Odin and it kept failing. (I may have done this wrongly, because I did not get a PIT file with my Stock ROM download, and therefore had to use a different one that I found for the I545)

I also installed SDK tools for Mac, and used terminal to sideload a ROM, but once it hit 100%, my phone says

  E: footer is wrong
  E: signature verification failed

So here I am now: Terminal will connect to my phone when I select Apply Update From ADB in recovery,

 adb devices - shows my phone
 fastboot devices - shows nothing
 adb shell - gives error 'closed'
 reboot bootloader - gives error 'closed'

I have tried using the following to fix the error 'closed' but again, to no avail.

 adb kill-server
 adb start-server

Whoa, hold the phone! Had this problem and thank God I didn't do factory reset. Have a Galaxy S4, my carrier is Sprint if that matters. It's rooted, otherwise stock. My fix, hope it works 4 u:

1) Pull battery, wait 10 secs, put it back in, don't turn it on.
2) Simultaneously press vol down, button below screen, and power.
3) When it powers up, immediately release only the power button, keep
   holding the other 2 for a few seconds.

Boot up normally and you're done, but backup your data now...


My device can't play .m4a files I've a Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro.

When I put some .m4a files on my device from my computer, I can't play them. I always have to convert the files from .m4a to .mp3 and then I can listen to them.

How can I solve this problem?

Try third party players such as MX player or VLC for Android for playing m4a files.


How do I root my Android device? This is a common question asked by those who want to root their phones. How exactly do I root my Android device? Are there risks involved?

DISCLAIMER: ROOTING YOUR DEVICE WILL PROBABLY VOID YOUR WARRANTY FROM BOTH THE CARRIER AND THE MANUFACTURER. IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO ACCEPT FAULT FOR ANY ADVERSE EFFECTS OF ROOTING, THEN DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. HERE BE DRAGONS.

Questions?

Before rooting, you might have some questions about it.  Fortunately, they've already been answered!  Refer to the handy list below:

What does "to root a phone" mean?
What is the difference between: Rooting, Jailbreak, ROM, Mod, etc.?
Are there any risks to rooting a device?
What do I gain from rooting?
Do all applications run as root on a rooted phone?
See the sidebar to the right for more potentially relevant questions!

How do I do root?

Note there is no known method that will root all devices, nor is there any guarantee that any mentioned program or method will actually work. This is because there are many variables at play and device OEMs have no incentive to make the process easy.

A final caution: Your warranties may be voided, you may screw up your device, and there may also be other adverse effects. If you do not want to risk it, stop now. If you are not confident in what you are doing, please do not deviate from the guides and read carefully.

The easiest way to root your device is via "one click" methods, most of which are developed for more popular devices. Examples include applications (.apk files) you can run on your device, or software you have to run on a PC while connecting the device with USB. Other methods may involve many steps or manual editing of files.

Methods typically vary between models and even between firmware versions of the same model. Check your rooting method is compatible with:

Your device model/brand (e.g. Samsung Note)
Your Android version (e.g. 4.4 KitKat vs 5.1 Lollipop)
Your firmware version (e.g. European vs. USA vs. Verizon telecom provider)
Your hardware version (e.g. 32GB model with antenna vs. 16GB without one)

Rooting Guides Index

These are links to questions on this site that have been asked for specific devices.  If the question for your device hasn't been answered, don't post a duplicate — you can attract attention to the question by offering a bounty on it, sharing the link, posting in our chatroom, etc.

Acer

Iconia A100
Iconia A500
Liquid Mini
Liquid Z630S
Liquid Zest

Amazon

Fire TV
Kindle Fire Version 6.x / 10.x
Kindle Fire 5th gen (aka 2015)
Kindle Fire HD

Archos

Archos 70 Xenon Color (Android 5.1)
Archos 97b Platium HD
101 XS Tablet

Asus

Eee Pad Transformer
Fonepad 8
Fonepad K004 (post deleted (aka ME371MG))
Memo Pad HD 7
Nexus 7
ZenFone 3 Max
ZenFone 5
ZenPad S 8.0
Zenfone 2 ZE551ML

HTC

Amaze
Desire 300 (aka "Zara Mini")
Desire 500
Desire 625
Desire
Desire Bravo
Desire Z
Dream (aka G1)
Evo
Evo 4G
Gratia
Hero
Incredible 2 (Verizon)
Incredible S
Legend
Magic
myTouch 4G Slide
myTouch Q
Nexus ONE
One S
One V
One X
One XL
Salsa
Thunderbolt
Wildfire

Huawei

Ascend Y330
Ascend Y530
G330D U8825D
Mate 8 (aka Ascend Mate8)
Mediapad S7-301U
Nexus 6P
P1 U9202L
PLDT Telpad QS S7-961WD
STREAM X GL07S
U8160 (Vodafone 858)
X3 U8510
Y210

Karbonn

A7 + Smart Tab 7 (possibly same for A5)
Titanium Mach Two S360
Titanium S5

Lenovo

A660
A1000 Smartphone
A7000
S920
Thinkpad

LG

Escape
G2
G3
G4
Motion 4G
MS 330 (aka K7)
MS 690
Nexus 4
Nexus 5
Optimus 2X
Optimus 4X
Optimus L7 II - P713
Optimus L7 II - P715
Optimus L70™ LGMS323
Optimus Logic
Optimus M
Optimus Slider VM701
P500

Micromax

A089 Bolt
A25
A65 Bolt
A87
Canvas A1 AQ4501
Canvas A116 (Canvas HD)
Canvas 2 A110
Canvas 2 Plus A110Q

Motorola

Defy
Defy XT
Droid 3
Droid Maxx
Droid Razr
Droid Razr M
Droid Razr Maxx HD
Droid X
Droid X2
Fire XT316
Flipside
Moto G
Moto G XT1032/XT1033
Moto G 2014 2nd Gen (XT1063, XT1064, XT1068 and XT106)
Moto X stock Kitkat
Moto X Play

Nook

Nook Color
Nook HD

OnePlus

OnePlus One
OnePlus 3
OnePlus 3T
OnePlus 5

Prestigio

MultiPad PMP3670B
PAP 7500

Samsung

Admire R720 (Also known as Samsung Vitality)
Captivate
Epic Galaxy 4G (SPH-D700)
Fascinate
Galaxy A3 2016 (SM-A310F)
Galaxy A5
Galaxy Ace Plus
Galaxy Ace S5830i
Galaxy Alpha SM-G850A
Galaxy Attain 4G
Galaxy Chat B5330
Galaxy Core i8262
Galaxy Fit
Galaxy Grand Duos
Galaxy Grand Quattro
Galaxy Note 2
Galaxy Note 3
Galaxy Note N7000
Galaxy Player
Galaxy Precedent
Galaxy S
Galaxy S Advance/S II Lite i9070
Galaxy S2 GT-i9100, GT-I9100P, GT-I9100G
Galaxy S2 plus
Galaxy S3 i9300, i9305
Galaxy S3 Duos3
Galaxy S3 Lite (S6790)
Galaxy S3 Mini GT-i8190
Galaxy S4 GT-I9500 (Android 4.4.2) (build XXUBMH1)
Galaxy S4 GT-I9505
Galaxy S4 Mini GT-I9195
Galaxy S4 SCH-I545
Galaxy S4 SGH-I337
Galaxy S4 SGH-M919
Galaxy S5 SM-G900V (Verizon) on Lollipop
Galaxy S6 / S6 Edge / S6 @ Sprint / S6 Edge @ Verizon (S6 Edge is S6 but has curved screen)
Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge (us carriers)
Galaxy SL GT i9003
Galaxy Star Duos S5282
Galaxy Star Pro (S7260)
Galaxy Stellar
Galaxy Tab
Galaxy Tab A (SM-P550)
Galaxy Tab 10.1
Galaxy Tab 3 10.1
Galaxy V
Galaxy Young 2 (SM-G130HN)
Infuse (i997)
Infuse 4G
J5
Nexus S | on Gingerbread
Spica
Xcover3 (SM-G388F)

Sony

Xperia Arc S
Xperia J
Xperia Mini ST15i
Xperia Mini Pro SK17i
Xperia Neo V (MT11i)
Xperia P
Xperia Play
Xperia Pro MK16a/i
Xperia Ray ST18i
Xperia S
Xperia Sola (MT27i)
Xperia SP (C530x)
Xperia Tipo
Xperia Tipo Dual
Xperia T2 Ultra Dual
Xperia T3
Xperia U
Xperia X8
Xperia Z1
Xperia Z2
Xperia Z3

SpreadTrum

SC6830
SP8810 (Wynncom G1)

Xolo

Xolo One
Xolo Q1010i

ZTE

DL 800
Fury
Score
Optik
Origin
Prestige
Zinger (Z667T)

Other

Alcatel OT-997D
Alcatel One Touch Mini Idol 2
Android Emulator
Arnova GBook
Azpen A727
Casio Commando
Celkon A95 Pro
Chinavasion TechPad
Cruz Tablet
Dell Streak 5 / Mini 5
Doogee Voyager2 DG310
Emdoor EM79 c
EPad MX1014
Freelander PX2 tablet
General Mobile e-tab 7b
Gionee P5W
HP Pro Slate 12
Innos A35
Kyocera Echo
Lava Iris 504q
Mpie MP707
Oppo N1
Pandigital Novel
Pantech Crossover P8000
Prizma VSGK845
RealPower MT65515-C910
TCL Idol X (S950)
Teac TC-7120
Teclast tPad
Toshiba AT100
Viewsonic gTablet
Xiaomi Mi A1
Wileyfox Swift
Yarvik tab 411

Methods/Apps

Chainfire's CF-Autoroot (follow link for a list of supported devices). Supports plenty of Samsung devices, plus some Motorolas and the Nexus line
Droid X Recovery Bootstrap (Motorola Droid/Droid2/Droid X, probably Android 2.x only)
Framaroot - One-click rooting and unrooting; supports a number of devices using Qualcomm, MTK, Exynos, Omap and other SOCs (Android 2.x to 4.x)
Gingerbread exploit app - Works on 2.1 and 2.2, as well as early 2.3 releases (hence the name).
Gnex Toolkit - Software for rooting and handling your Galaxy Nexus phone.
Google Nexus 7 Toolkit - Software for rooting and handling your Nexus 7 tablet.
iRoot a One Click Root (see here for supported devices
Kingoapp Root: Pratically roots most androids in 1-click and supports Android 4.1 to 6.0. Even unlocks some bootloaders. Also see Wikipedia.
KingoRoot: Android 6
Kingroot: Easy to use and fast rooting. Works on almost every Android phone.
Magisk: requires custom ROM to be installed. Also see this guide at AndroidPolice.
Ready2root collected a lot of available rooting methods
Root Many Android (ICS/JB devices)
ROOTx supports a selection of devices produced prior to 10/2014
SRSRoot One Click Root for Android (SuperUser) lists supported devices on their page. Download is an .exe file, so it probably requires Windows. Android 4.1 to 6.0 (?)
SuperOneClick
Towelroot should support all phones with a kernel built before June 3, 2014
Universal Androot - Read the page to see what devices are supported.  Mostly pre-2.2.1 versions of Android
Universal One Click - Make sure your device is support by reading the whole first post (probably not, last release was 10/2010 – so most likely 2.x devices only)
Unrevoked: some older HTC devices only
vRoot: Android 2.2 to 4.2
XDA Developers: The biggest resource for rooting, mods, etc.
Also check out the CyanogenMod wiki for other ways to root your device.

Here is a guide on how to root Android without a computer, naming each of the apps listed above and in-depth guides on how to use them.

I've rooted my device. Now what?

We have another question about that!
If you have another method or know how to root a device that's not listed, feel free to add it to the list!  Just follow the same format.


AndroidOS draining battery massively on Android 5.0 I have an ASUS Zenfone 2 with Android version 5.0. All of a sudden today it started draining the battery rapidly.

I have made multiple restarts but it didn't help.
I tried to scan the phone with Norton and Kaspersky to identify any possible risks, but got nothing.
I uninstalled all latest apps that I installed in previous few days.

Even while it is connected to a power source, it is still not able to increase the battery charge level. I know according to the usage battery consumption can be high but only Wi-Fi is running and I'm not using the phone. And 115% usage is really very high.

(Click image to enlarge)

The first thing I'd look for is one app that's using an extraordinary amount of resources.

Go to settings>apps> [choose an app -- I'd start with Chrome or any other browser that you use]

Then do a "Force Stop" on the suspected app.  See if that helps.  If there are any apps that you rarely use you can keep them stopped -- so you know they aren't using any battery.

It could be a hardware problem.

Disclaimer: I'm not familiar with your phone but have used 5.0 quite a bit.


Cannot upgrade Galaxy Y GT-S5360 with new firmware using Kies Whenever I try to click "upgrade", my phone suddenly disconnects from Kies but the download prompt still runs. After the download process completes, Kies suddenly closes and there are no changes with my phone.

If the answer to my comment is No, then update Kies, and try again.

If the answer to my comment is yes, then try the following:

Place your phone manually into download mode, and attempt the update again.
Kill all Kies processes using the task manager, and then open the program again.
Ensure your USB cable and USB port are working properly (sometimes a weak connection can cause issues)
Erase all the data on your android (do a factory reset) and try again (I put this last, as you lose all your data, so should only be tried AFTER you have tried everything else you can think of).


How to stop Samsung Galaxy S20 vibrating on resuming and entering lock mode? My Samsung Galaxy S20 vibrates every time the screen times out and enters lock mode and vice-versa when I press the right button to exit the lock mode and start using the phone.
How do I remove this behavior?

Someone here has same problem - https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/mobile-apps-services/need-to-disable-vibrate-on-lock-unlock/td-p/1849864
It is different phone but I guess you can try. It is basically suggesting to turn off NFC.
Usual method - Settings>Sounds&vibration. Find settings related to vibration and keyboard feedback. Tweak settings to your liking.


Smart Lock unreliable/not working with NFC tag? I’ve been trying to get Smart Lock to work on my Android device (OnePlus One on Cyanogen OS 13.1.2, i. e. Android 6.0.1/“Marshmallow”).
I’ve configured an NFC tag as a trusted device and want to use this NFC tag to unlock my phone instead of having to type my long password every time.

The problem is that unlocking using the NFC tag is really unreliable. Most of the time, when I activate my NFC tag on the lock screen, nothing happens, even though the pulsing circle around the lock icon at the bottom of the screen is present (indicating that Smart Lock is active).
Sometimes, however, the NFC tag is recognized and unlocks the phone without problems.
I haven’t really figured out the circumstances under which it happens.
For example, when I turn NFC off and then on again in the settings and lock the phone then, unlocking using the NFC tag once always works without problems, but the next time, it won’t work again.

What could be the issue here? Am I somehow using Smart Lock incorrectly? Does Android perhaps turn off NFC or the process responsible for Smart Lock after a while when the phone is locked (Doze mode)? If so, how do I prevent this?

Note: Also tried on someone else’s phone running Android 7 (“Nougat”), same thing: after setup, unlocking the phone using NFC works exactly once, but immediately locking the phone again and then trying to unlock doesn’t work.

This is a known issue, https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/phone-by-google/DyxZwJpsOwY & https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/62268615.

In addition, the NFC Smart Lock feature has been removed from 7.1.2 (I think that was it) and is still gone in Android 8.0.0 Oreo.


Can I make Home folders close on click? So, say I have a folder on my home screen. In it I have a bunch of shortcuts. If I click one of those shortcuts it runs the program. Now when I come back to the home screen the folder is still sitting there open. Most of the time I want to go to something else on the home screen when coming back to it, not something in that folder. To that end is it possible to make it so that upon clicking a shortcut in a folder, after launching the app (or before, doesn't really matter) it would also close the folder, so that when I come back to the home screen I am actually AT the home screen without needing to manually close the folder?

Running rooted, but otherwise stock Galaxy S Captivate.

I haven't tried it myself, but from what I am reading in forums, etc, Apps Organizer is a free app that does what you are looking for. When you select an app in a folder, it closes the folder.

EDIT: update - I just tried out Apps Organizer. It does close the folder when you select something. The only problem is that it appears to only allow app shortcuts - not bookmarks, widgets, etc. There appear to be other apps (Folder Organizer) that are able to hold bookmarks, however.


C7 SM-C7000 pit file analysis I got a C7 SM-C7000 from China. Now I'm trying to install a Hong Kong firmware on it and of course got the partition size error in Odin. I searched around and found one pit file for my model Hong Kong. I'm attaching the file however I'm concerned about it being the right file.

My Phone

Model - SM-C7000
Variant - China
Storage - 32 GB

Can anyone tell me if I can flash the attached pit file or link me my phone's Hong Kong pit file?
Thanks

Pit file I want to flash

Edit 1:
PIT contents: pastebin(.)com/FncY05pg

From what I've been told the pit file for HK and China versions are the same.

I am experiencing the same problem as you and am hoping for a solution.. see here:
https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35053&page=2


Value for "Global auto (prl)" to fill default_preferred_network on build.prop My Smartfren Andromax A with LineageOS 15.1 can't send & receive SMS unless I set my default preferred network to global auto (prl) and then perform a hot reboot.
I have an idea to edit my build.prop to make global auto (prl) as the default preferred network but I don't know what value I need to fill, not much luck when I check on include/telephony/ril.h.

Add ro.telephony.default_network=10 on build.prop, it will make the device uses global auto (prl) as the default preferred network.


Unlock Bootloader from EDL mode via MSMDownloadTool Problem

I'd like to know the proper process of "hacking" emmc_appsboot.mbn in order to flash already an unlocked bootloader from start.
I didn't want to ask for a file from an already unlocked phone because I'm interested in the process and how it works.

What I did

I tried myself editing with a hex editor the line after ANDROID BOOT! and changed the hex from 00 to 01 but the phone was perfectly bricked :D and I had to spend some times with the drivers (Qualcomm 9008) and learning how to put it in EDL mode with the phone not even fastbooting, afterwards I was able to "msmdownload" it again reflashing everything. I can now in fastboot and recovery.

I also tried replacing the recovery, with twrp, and actually it failed when going to recovery because of the md5 checksum.

I hex-edited both md5.img and md5sum.md5 files replacing the md5 of recovery.img with the one of twrp (renamed recovery.img of course) but still, it failed nonetheless the md5 checksum.

I suppose there is some other file where these hash's are stored and are checked during boot.

Is it safe to assume that emmc_appsboot.mbn as well is checksumed and if it fails it doesn't load at all?

What's the correct process in:

1) Editing emmc_appsboot.mbn in order to unlock the bootloader

2) Making the system actually boot and work after we edited those files (probably security checks / hash's are involved).

IMPORTANT:
Please do not suggest "how to unlock the bootloader" with usb-debugging etc, the well known methods that are well known, kindly

Reference : You can download here the MSMDownloadTool with all the ROM / OP3 related files.

Here’s what anyone should do if it’s in a similar situation:

Do a full unbrick method 1 from here

Download OxygenOS 4.0.0 (Android 7.0) , OnePlus3Oxygen_16_OTA_035_all_1612310359_e10cadfb2af7.zip.

adb sideload the file above when in recovery. Why this version? Because it’s vulnerable to CVE-2017-5626 and CVE-2017-5624.
    Weirdly enough, my phone turned back from the dead after this; however if it didn’t work (as I was expecting) , I would go into fastboot mode and unlock the bootloader from there with:

fastboot oem 4F500301

Which will completely bypass the oem mechanism and will unlock your bootloader even if you can’t boot the system and go to the developer menu.

This backdoor was removed by OnePlus with OxygenOS 4.0.2 (“patched”).


Galaxy Note 2 custom roms - Google Apps crashing I wanted to move from the default 4.2.1 kernel on my Galaxy Note 2 to customized ROMs, primarily to fix some issues with Bluetooth.

I first tried CyanogenMod 10.2 (Android 4.3) with gapps-jb-20120726-signed.zip. This worked for some time (and my BT issue was fixed) but since I have not done a full wipe prior to this first flash and recovered applications+data via Titanium Backup, the stability was not great.
I decided to start from scratch.

I reformatted the /sdcard in recovery mode (not only wipe), reinstalled CM 10.2 + gapps --> most of the apps now crash at startup (clock, keep, even the keyboard)

Since the issue seemed to come from gapps (the ROM alone works fine), I tried several gapps packages (reformatting every time). Same issue.

I then gave up on Android 4.3 and looked for a stable 4.2.2 version - SlimROMs seemed to be a good choice. I took the latest stable version, formatted, flashed and ... same issue (Google apps crashing). The account is set up but most of the apps crash sooner or later (Contacts for instance is not populated at all, even though the synchronization went through).

I would like at all cost to avoid reverting back to the original TW ROM. My questions are:

Could you recommend a stable custom ROM for a Galaxy Note 2?
What should I do to completely clean the phone so that there are strictly no leftovers (I format /sdcard, then wipe data/cache for good measure)?

I finally managed to sort it out last night. Some of the steps are redundant.

boot in recovery mode
format all paths visible in boot & mount (possible redundancy here)
back to first level of menu, wipe factory clean, erase cache (redundant IMHO)
go to Advanced -> clean Dalvik cache
install the latest nightly of CyanogenMod (for lack of a more stable release)
install their gapps (even if the Note 2 is not in the list of supported devices - if I read the table correctly)

I have done bits and pieces of the points before - but only all of them put together allowed me to have a working phone (like I said before, there were lots of leftovers from previous experiments).


Can we delete /storage/emulated/0/tencent/MicroMsg/03a...df5/sfs/avatar.block.00008? What does this file do? It's part of wechat but is it just a cache of avatars? It's 256mb.

According to the info provided by this thread on XDA, any data contained within tencent/MicroMsg and its subdirectories, does not consist of chat backups and/or relevant data.

Instead, the folder tree contains several large cache files (for avatars and chats), and media files (pictures, music, video) sent to you by other users. This theory has been supported by the fact that, backing up the tencent/MicroMsg folders, uninstalling WeChat, reinstalling it, and then restoring the backed up tree, does not restore neither your previous chats, nor your old session.

Still, the app does never accomplish any maintenance on its cache, so that's a duty that must be carried out by the end user, while WeChat contacts and chats are stored within internal sql databases on the /data partition.


Can Android 4.1 Jelly Bean open MS-office and PDF files? I want to buy a HCL tablet that have Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. I want to know if it can open MS-office and PDF files.

No, you can't open MS-Office and PDF files directly from Android.

You have to install a third party app.

A few nice apps available in market for this:

WPS
Microsoft Office Mobile


Pushing to TWRP, adb shows "adb: error: connect failed: no devices/emulators found" When I try to push my rom to /sdcard/ with TWRP, I get

adb push myRom.zip /sdcard/
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
adb: error: connect failed: no devices/emulators found

How do I resolve this error. Things seem to work with  adb sideload but the rom doesn't boot. The LineageOS install instructions say specifically to use with adb push.

Try killing the process and then retrying:

adb kill-server
adb push myRom.zip /sdcard/


OTG support for Samsung A3 Nothing happens when I plug a USB stick to my Samsung A3 2015 (SM-A300FU) with an OTG cable (on-the-go).

How to enable OTG support on this device?

PS: I previously had a 5.0.2 original, unrooted. I now have a rooted 6.0.1 Marshmallow (Build number MMB29M.A300FUXXU1CRA3, Kernel version 3.10.49-12877970, Fri Jan 12 20:48:03 KST 2018).

What seems after looking at the your device specifications and descriptions is that it doesn't come with USB OTG support out of the box.This is a problem with many of the OEM's nowadays. Some clear it out in their specifications, some don't and it gets back to the user who has to figure out himself. I would still suggest you to confirm whether your device possesses this feature, just download an application from the Play Store called - USB OTG Checker.This will let you know if your device has OTG support.

Since this thing is kernel dependent and, your device doesn't support this feature out of the box, then the most probable solution you can do is root your device and look for a custom ROM with a kernel that supports USB host or you can even just change the kernel in case you don't want to change the ROM.


How to add Google Now On Tap in a ROM? I have ROM which doesn't have Now On Tap on Long Pressing Home Key. How can I add it?

First of all you have to set up Now On Tap in Google Now settings. After that you go to settings and find the "Buttons" section (usually on main settings screen or in rom tweaks section) and then for "long home button press" select "Open Google Now" or "Google Now On Tap" (whatever it is called there).


Nexus 7 (2013) stuck at Google's logo after downgrade to factory image 4.3 (JSS15Q) I have a Nexus 7 (2013) shipped with Lollipop 5.1. I downloaded the 4.3 factory image from https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images and flashed it on the device. But after reboot, it just stuck on the Google's logo screen. I tried to search the solution, but didn't find one.

Please help. Thanks.

Updated 1:
Just for test, I downloaded another several different factory images after that, which are 4.4, 4.4.4, 5.0 and 5.1. Finally, I found all images below 5.0 can't work on my device.

I flash the image just by running "flash-all.sh"

Updated 2:
I also noticed there're some errors in the recovery mode. Here's the screenshot

I discovered there's a similar question with me Nexus 7 Error: Failed to mount /cache. I tried with "fastboot format cache" and "fastboot erase cache", but doesn't work for me.

I was able to successfully resolve a very similar problem with my 2013 Nexus 7. However, I have not actually confirmed that it works with an Android 4.X stock ROM yet.

I discovered that my system default fastboot command (located at ~/bin/fastboot) was a symlink pointing to an executable fastboot-mac from the CF-Auto-Root package. (I must have made this change a long time ago for some other purpose and forgotten about it.)

The solution was to change the symlink to point to the proper fastboot executable located in my android-sdks directory. I then flashed a 6.0.1 stock ROM (MOB30X specifically) using flash-all.sh, and after 10 minutes of the Marshmallow boot animation, it successfully booted into Android. (Flashing the same stock ROM using the same procedure had not worked previously.)

I have a bit of evidence that suggests that this change was actually important, in addition to the fact that it worked this time. In the previous flash attempts with the old fastboot-mac executable, the flash-all.sh log messages included the following:

erasing 'cache'... OKAY
rebooting...

However, they did not mention that the cache partition was actually rewritten at any point. The new fastboot includes the log messages:

erasing 'cache'...
OKAY [  0.026s]
sending 'cache' (10984 KB)...
OKAY [  0.375s]
writing 'cache'...
OKAY [  0.466s]
rebooting...

which explicitly says that the cache has actually been rewritten.


Problem with TWRP 2.8.7.1 on Wileyfox Swift I have a Wileyfox Swift. I installed TWRP 2.8.7.1 on it before. Now I want to install LineageOS on my phone. It shows an error:

unable to find partition size for '/recovery'

After that it shows a successful message for installing, but it reboots to recovery again.

So I wanted to change TWRP, but I can't install another version, because adb doesn't recognize my phone now.

Now, I just have a recovery menu only without any OS!!

How can I change the TWRP, or make the PC recognize the phone, or install another OS on my current TWRP?

Tnx!

You will need to update your TWRP: AFAIK LOS13 already requires TWRP 3.0+ – and you are probably speaking of LOS14 even. You're on 2.8.7.1 – the latest available version is 3.1.1 as of this writing. So here's what you will do:

Download the latest TWRP for Crackling to your PC
connect the SD card to your PC using a card reader, and copy the .img file to the card
safely unmount the card from your PC, and put it back into the Swift
boot the swift to recovery, tap "install", browse to where you placed the .img file and select it
perform the install
just as precaution, reboot to recovery once more (you've got no other choice anyway without a valid OS installed)

Now you can go forward to install LOS again – same way as described above. Cannot hurt to perform a proper wipe before (to be on the safe side: data, cache and system).


Push notifications are being sent only from 5 apps I have bought yesterday a Xiaomi Redmi 3S. For some reason I get push notifications only from 5 apps: Whatsapp, Facebook, Allo, Gmail and Outlook. I don't get push notifications from any other apps.

What can I do?

Turn on auto start for apps.
Go to Security  - > Permissions - > Autostart.
And select apps that you want to get notifications.


Can't hard reset samsung and forgot the Pattern I have Samsung Galaxy Duos Grand Prime plus running Lollipop. I forgot the pattern.

If I keep entering wrong pattern, the phone won't prompt me to enter
the backup pin
Volume up + home + power isn't working, the phone will boot normally. Volume up+ power isn't working either.
Volume down + home + power takes me to the downloading updates screen and it get stuck there forever.

What other possible ways are there to remove the pattern?

On my phone, I need to draw 5 wrong patterns, before the phone asks for the pin code. But I noticed, that pattern consisting of few points (I think less than 4 points) do not count.

I hope this observation helps you. You need to draw 5 complex patterns (four or more points) in order to be asked for the pin.


Extreme lag with Sony Ericsson WT19i after update to 4.0.4 I have updated my Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman to 4.0.4 from 2.3.4 and now the system lags horribly. I have to wait for a considerable time for an application to exit. Even the in built basic applications like phone and contacts take about 5-7 secs to load.

Has anyone faced a similar problem? What can I do that would cure my system of the lag?

Yes, Sony made the ICS upgrade a horrible experience which does slow down the handset and lag.

Two choices:

downgrade to Gingerbread 2.3.x
Try switching to custom ROM called LegacyXperia to use JellyBean.

The experience is more satisfying and smooth. For that to happen:

need adb, fastboot binaries
if your bootloader can be unlocked, check Sony Warning if yes and proceed to do so, you will lose your data
you would need to backup your apps (there is other questions on this site about this topic!)
download the LegacyXperia ROM, extract boot.img from zip, flash it to bootloader
reboot and toggle volume keys to get into ClockworkMod Recovery
choose wipe data/cache
choose install from adb sideload, CWM will wait,
adb sideload name_of_zip_file, CWM will start loading and installing the ROM.
reboot and enjoy JellyBean.


Hangouts Google Play Services problem Everytime I update hangouts I get this message whenever I open the app: "unkown issue with google play services". What is the cause of this problem? And how to solve it?

This problem can be caused by a old version of play services.

To update the version manually open this link on your android device and click update if there is an update.

Hope this solves your problem

===============================

EDIT:

Hope this way works for you. Keep in mind that setting names can be different from brand to brand.

Go to Setting > Security > Device Administrators
Un-check Android Device Manager
Go to apps and uninstall updates to Google Play Services
Go to Hangouts, it should show a message saying that you need to 'update Google Play Services'. Click update.
After updating, Hangouts should not show the error message
Go back to Settings > Administrators and check Android Device Manager


How to capture video stream from Android phone screen and show it on laptop? Possible Duplicate:
  How do I project the screen of my android phone for a presentation?

How to capture video stream from Android phone screen and show it on laptop? I've got Android 2.2 device.

I need this to show how my application work on the conference in real time. Something like IPhone presentation on Mac World.

I don't think this one is mentioned in the question Al linked to above, but I've used Droid@Screen to demo things at my office with pretty good success. It probably only gets around 10-15 FPS or so if I was going to take a guess at frame rate, but it appears a bit more smooth than the other options I've tried (including Android Screencast and a VNC connection).


How can I make the browser remember login credentials for Google mobile sites? The stock browser forgets the username and password when logging into mobile versions of Google sites such as Google Search and Google Tasks. Setting Menu -> Settings -> Privacy Settings -> Remember form data and Menu -> Settings -> Security settings -> Remember passwords in the browser has no effect. Checking the "Remember me" checkbox at the sites' login forms has no effect either.  How can I get this to work?

I use a Nexus S running Android 2.3.6.

Webpages can opt out of autofill; intended to be added security for banks and other sites requiring higher than normal security. There are ways to circumvent this in firefox, chrome and IE but I haven't figured out how to do it for android. Whats the origin of the android browser code base? That might be another place to look.


What is system/bin and system/xbin in android M? I have few noob questions about the system/bin and system/xbin directory in Android M.

First, what is the file inside this two directories?

Next, in system/bin, the is some file looks like

-rwxr-xr-x root     shell      117136 2008-12-31 11:30 test-platform
lrwxr-xr-x root     shell             2008-12-31 11:30 time -> toybox
lrwxr-xr-x root     shell             2008-12-31 11:30 timeout -> toybox
lrwxr-xr-x root     shell             2008-12-31 11:30 umount -> toybox

I know toybox is the app like busybox, a collection of unix command, but what does the -> means here?

Third, I am getting the error /system/bin/sh: busybox: not found, is this shows that busybox is not installed? I thought toybox already serving the same function as busybox?

Appreciate if anyone could clarify my questions, thanks!

the -> indicates this is a symbolic link. That's how Busybox (and similar apps) work, so other processes can refer to them by the "full fledged name" of the component they need to call.
There are different "busyboxes". The original Busybox has a binary called busybox – yours has a binary called toybox. That won't matter if one of those symlinks is addressed – but if some process tries to call busybox directly, it of course cannot find it if it's not there. To work around that, you could create another symlink to toybox: ln -s /system/bin/toybox /system/bin/busybox (in order to do that you need root and mount the /system partition read/write).


Uninstall MirrorGo Keyboard I installed the MirrorGo (Stream & Recorder) app from the playstore to try but uninstalled it over privacy concerns in my android 10. Everything looks fine but recently I discovered it still left some traces in the device. When I checked the virtual keyboards in Language & input settings, I found the MirrorGo keyboard is still available. I tried checking the list of all apps on the mobile and couldn't find anything related to that. How do I remove that from my device?

Device: Pixel 3;
Android Version: 10 / Android Q;
Device status: Unrooted;

Long click on the keyboard, and it shall show an option to remove the keyboard. In your Apps section in settings, there should be apps like MirrorGo Connector, which you can simply uninstall. However, for a full clean you shall require root.


Nexus 4 end of support I think I've read that Nexus 4 will not receive monthly security updates any more. But I couldn't find the official information, other than this general page. Can you help me with this ?

Nexus devices will also receive updates for security issues documented in our Public Nexus Security Bulletins for at least the following periods:

Three years from when the device first became available on the Google Store

Or, 18 months after the device stopped being sold on the Google Store

Source
As Nexus 4 was released on November 13th 2012 it is outside this time frame and will likely not receive many more monthly updates.