Device freezes after trying to reboot with bootloader I have been trying to unlock my bootloader as per the instructions found here. I already have installed the drivers from Google USB driver folder that comes in Android SDK "extras" folder. However, when I try to start my device into the fastboot mode with cmd, it freezes.

I type "adb reboot bootloader" to the terminal, as instructed. It seems to be trying to restart my phone, yet it freezes before it can actually start up, stuck on the initial HTC screen.

Has anyone ever encountered an issue like this, or may anyone have an idea for a solution to this? I would manually enter bootloader menu and get my phone to fastboot if I could, but holding down the volume down and power buttons (as instructed here) won't help me at all. Pressing volume down and power simultaneously will simply start my device with a regular boot (and I have no means to "deselect Fast boot" - I simply don't have the option in battery settings).

I am on Windows 7 laptop and my phone is HTC Desire 516 using Android 4.3.

try different button combinations. i m using HTC 626 and this happened when i was trying to boot in recovery mode by holding power+ Volume up and that was not working but i was able to boot in recovery by holding all 3 buttons.make a try


Issues while accessing system files with su in Chinese make Tablet. (Android 4.0.3) I have a cheap chinese tablet with Android 4.0.3.

I'm a linux enthusiast and of course I wanna explore the Android capabilities deeper.(I own Nokia N900 and without rooting its nothing).

So my tablet is WM8850.

The interesting is that I can browse in the /, but when I ask for root
privileges  su , it says that:

I'm not allowed to access prompt with su priviledges.

UID XXXX not allowed to  su.

So do I need to do the all rooting process or I just have to install the super user package?

You will need to get root privilege. Merely installing Super User won't do anything.
EDIT:
SuperUser must be placed in /system (made a "system app") in order to work, which is not done by "merely installing it", and cannot be done without aquiring root privileges


Re-install app without losing personal data How do you re-install an app without losing personal data?

In this case its Plants vs. Zombies 2 that hangs when loading the game. I thought a re-install might solve the issue. But I don't want to need to redo everything I've done so far.

For the following procedure you'll need adb installed on your computer (if you're not already have that, see: Is there a minimal installation of ADB?). Alternatively, a terminal emulator app should do as well.

Android apps are managed by the "Package manager", which has a command-line interface called pm. So here's what you can do with it for your case:

# to use ADB, first get a command line
adb shell
# now tell the package manager to uninstall the app, but keep its data
pm uninstall -k com.YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME`

(Note this won't work with a terminal emulator app on device (at least with none I know of) except with root permissions, as "normal apps" lack the required privileges/permissions.)

Of course you have to replace com.YOUR_PACKAGE_NAME with the package name of the app you want to deal with. Easiest way to find that is visiting its page on Google Play, and take a look at the URL: the package name follows the id= parameter there. It's the -k parameter telling the package manager to keep the app's data.

Now, when you re-install the app, its data is already there (was not removed).

All this does not require root (at least as long as we talk about a user-installed app).


How do I clear clipboard contents on Samsung Galaxy Tab S? I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab S tablet running the official non-rooted ROM based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat. Sometimes i copy-paste sensitive data (like passwords etc) that i would prefer to disappear from the clipboard once i'm done using it. So i was looking for a way to clear clipboard contents on demand.

I've tried looking for existing answers to this question, but most of them share the same misconception: that clipboard can only hold a single element, and one should copy something new into it to clear what's been there before.
It's not true in my case. For example, look at the screenshot from my device, it shows something i would call a "clipboard panel" that contains eight of the most recently copied elements. This panel appears to be the only way to actually clear the clipboard contents, i.e. the 3rd party apps like Clipper or Clipboard Contents can only clear their own copies of clipboard but never the system one.

Unfortunately, getting access to the clipboard panel is a somewhat convoluted process for me. It can be accessed via Samsung Keyboard (which i don't use in favor of SwiftKey) or via some other apps, but not in a straightforward way.

So my question can be summed up to two items:

Is there a way to clear the clipboard contents other than with help of the clipboard panel?
If not, then is there a way to access the clipboard panel directly, e.g. via a shortcut on the Home screen?

Thanks!

Long click on the search bar (from google for example) as if you were pasting ...pick the clipboard...pick edit...delete what you want by clicking the trash can on the images or material.

.


Can an android phone be converted to SDR using its radio hardware interfaces? I have recently been reading about SDRs and based on what I have understood so far SDR consists of a radio hardware capable of transmitting and/or receiving radio signals within a given radio spectrum range and a software backbone to control its radio operations, so I thought it should be possible to achieve similar operations using an android smartphone therefore I tried to search for projects in the internet and the closest I have found is SDR Touch which requires an external dedicated hardware. Now since a smartphone has so many radio interfaces (Cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS etc.) is it somehow possible that I can make a project (using root or whatever) that utilizes smartphone's radio components and why isn't there any project that exists performing such functionalities?.

It is very hard because usually radio drivers are proprietary

But there is Nexmon project that turn nexus 5 into SDR


My wife shares her Google calendar with me. How can I see her events on my Android device? As what I described above, my wife shares her calendar to me, I can see her events on Goggle online calendar, but on not my Android device. How can I sync that?
My phone is Android 4.1
Thank you

I encountered this problem too when trying to get my Facebook events and shared Calendar events (which were appearing on desktop) to appear on the mobile app. I solved it via the Calendar app's settings:

Go to Calendar->Settings

Find the email address the shared calendar is associated with

Select the shared calendar (if it isn't appearing click 'Show More')

Click on the 'Sync' slider to enable that shared calendar

The shared calendar events should now appear

Guidance screenshots:

Click image for larger versions


Downloading music tracks I have tried to download (sync) music tracks from Win10 to Android & it seems to go OK but I cannot find it anywhere on my Phone (marshmallow).Where do I look please

find / -iname *.mp3

or esfileexplorer and the like have a show by type feature.


How to restore files on SD Card that was protected by Vault app? I changed my Android mobile phone from one carrier to another. I installed Vault app from the Google Play store, and placed the old SD Card from the previous phone into this new phone. After installing the vault software in the new phone, I am unable to restore data (photos, videos) from old SD card.

What might be the reason for this? Is there any way I can recover the files from my old SD card, which was protected by the Vault app.

Here's a wild guess. The Vault may have encrypted the protected files to be used only with the previous phone. So if you try to open them in another phone (assuming you have installed the Vault with the same Google account), the new phone won't be able to access them.

I have emailed help@nq.com regarding this issue. Hopefully, they will reply. I will then update / confirm this answer. If not, it's safe to say my assumption was right.

Update #1:

  Thank you for contacting NQ Mobile Customer Support!

  You would not be able to show pictures on your SD card in another
  phone. Once you put them in Vault they are encrypted in the phone and
  would not be able to be seen. The Vault application is specific to
  each phone unless you transfer the application to another phone.

  Thank you again for contacting NQ Mobile Customer Support!

  Adam Schalk
  NQ Mobile Customer Support Team

Possible Solution

What can do is put back the card into the old phone, and remove the protection from the Vault. I'm sure you can un-protect pictures, like in other apps. After you've unprotected all the pictures / files, put back the SD card to your new phone. You should be able to read the files. After that, you can protect them again using Vault (on your new phone).


Manually Updating Galaxy S3 Firmware I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 (SCH-I535), Stock ROM, rooted, running android 4.4.2

For a while now, since updating to 4.4.2 through OTA, I have had horrible battery life. Android System constantly uses 20%+ of the battery life, and can get to upwards of 40% for no apparent reason. I made an attempt to factory reset, but I messed up the backup process, and lost a lot of data. I decided to root the phone and explore other options for saving the battery. The factory reset hasn't worked, and although using some root-worthy apps like Greenify and others, nothing has helped significantly.

I asked a question on Android Enthusiasts a while back about this battery issue, and a user replied saying he experienced the same issue, but he fixed his by doing a manual install (through a PC connected to the phone with USB). Apparently the OTA update can get messed up somehow. I want to try this but I'm running into some issues.

When installing the Samsung Desktop Update Utility (or whatever it's called), it installs, but will not run. As soon as I run it, WerFault.exe also runs, and then they both close a few moments later. So this option is out.

Now, I moved on to Kies. I installed this program since it was said I could update this way. But, I see a lot of people saying that Kies is unreliable. The alternative is a program called ODIN.

TL;DR--

What could my issue with the Samsun Update Utility be?
Is Kies a reliable way to do this process? Or will it brick my phone as I so often see?
Is ODIN a reputable and competent alternative?

Any help is appreciated, and I can provide whatever extra information is needed!

Is Kies a reliable way to do this process? Or will it brick my phone as I so often see?

I only install Kies for the USB drivers.

  Is ODIN a reputable and competent alternative?

I need Kies for ODIN to detect my Samsung Device. So yes, ODIN is a reliable alternative.

As from what I read, you already messed up your files, so there are few files left to backup. Backup those files.

Method 1:

You can do a manual flash. Guide

My steps:

(Disclaimer: Do at your own risk.)

Download a Stock ROM (.tar or .md5 file) for your Samsung S3 and ODIN 3.07 (I frequently use).
Install Kies. Make sure that you have installed Kies. Then terminate all processes that have linked to Kies.

heck your Task Manager > Processes > Look for processes with the Kies name in it (e.g. KiesTrayAgent.exe).
Make sure your device is charged, around 80%-90%. Power off the device.
Boot into ODIN mode (press and hold Volume Down + Home + Power keys together). a new screen will show up. Then press Volume Up key.
On your PC open ODIN, then plug-in your device. There will be change in ODIN, like this

Follow the options on the picture. Do no change anything. Then click PDA and locate your Stock ROM file.
Hit Start. Let the devices do the work. Do not power-off and/or interrupt the PC and Device as  this may cause the device to get brick.


Flashing Custom Recovery (TWRP): Are there risks involved beside the usual? I am looking to flash twrp on my device. Are there any risks involved in it, beside the bricking,etc.

I understand that the bootloader will be unlocked, but is this any risk of something such as a privacy issue?

Twrp is supported on my device which is a Samsung Galaxy note 10.1 2014 edition smp605.

The risks that are commonly mentioned, as RMarkwald said, are bricking your device and not being able to receive OTA updates. In my opinion, though, if you install a custom recovery such as TWRP, is because you want more control and flexibility than those provided by a stock device.

Regarding privacy... it must be said that, very often, a mere combination of keys and physical access to your device are required to start the recovery, thus enabling a potentially ill-willed user to perform malicious operations.

Now, on a stock (3e) recovery, the possible operations are very few, the worst being a factory reset. From a custom recovery such as TWRP, though, one could:

sideload and install unsigned ZIP packages;
format only selected partitions;
push and pull files arbitrarily;
change file permissions and ownerships;
convert user apps to system apps;
features both a terminal and a file manager.

May this serve as a general overview. Thanks to @DanB for the reminder.


Prevent Gmail from adding calendar events from emails Every time I buy a plane or train ticket, gmail automatically creates a calendar event relative to the flight/train. I would like to disable this feature; I've already tried to do so from the google calendar options, but that didn't stop the calendar events from being created.

I suppose it's the Gmail app on my phone that does that, but I can't find an option to set to make it stop.

Gmail scans emails and automatically adds reservations to the calendar to remind users of the upcoming events.

To stop reservations from being added to the calendar, you must follow the steps described in Events from Gmail

  Open the Google Calendar app.
  In the top left, tap Menu Menu and then Settings.
  Tap Events from Gmail.
  Switch off Add events from Gmail.


Dialer is very slow between dialing the number and getting into the call: spinning wheel for 5-10 seconds I have a Nexus 4 with CM (latest version). For the last few months whenever I dial a number it takes anywhere from 5-10 seconds for the actual call to start.

I checked Android SE and didn't find anything except for this: Dialer app becoming too slow and less responsive.

However, my case I believe is different. The question above asks about the actual dialer start-up time.

In my case, the dialer is very response: whenever I tap on the Phone icon in the tray, it shows up immediately (the stock Android dialer that comes with CM): I can switch between favourite contacts, recent contacts, search contacts and the dialer with no issues.

However, once I find the contact I need or dial the number and then tap to call, the screen goes black with a spinning wheel in the middle:

.
Spinning Wheel After Dialing a Number/Contact (click image for larger variant)

This takes about 5-10 seconds like I mentioned.

Once that time passes, it goes to the actual call where I can see the phone number, the contact picture (if available), the drop-call red button, etc.:

The Actual Call Screen after the Spinning Wheel (click image for larger variant)

What I've tried:

Tried using a different dialer thinking maybe it's the issue with the stock dialer: no difference. Tried exDialer and some other, results are same: the dialer itself is snappy, but after tapping the call it goes to the spinning wheel on the black background.
I don't think it's a memory issue as I have 2Gb I think. In any case, with all the text messages I have (I don't delete any), all the contacts I have (including hundreds of Google+ random dudes I follow), the Phone app itself is snappy: everything works very quick.

Any suggestions are welcome as it's getting very frustrating! Thanks

I had the same issue.
So, after a lot of work and tests, I've discovered that what was causing the issue was the Prey app. Do you have the Pray app (or similar) installed on your device, perhaps?

After I've removed it, the dialer came back to work normally.

Hope it helps.


Screenshot with Galaxy Note 4 I'm having difficulty taking a screenshot my galaxy note 4.

I'm doing the power button + home button method.

I press and hold the power button slightly before I start pressing and holding the home button.

What this does is brings up the google voice command screen (as if I've just held the home button).

Any suggestions for resolving this?

Put the side of your hand on the left side of the screen and swipe to the right. That should do it.


Find out ROM version I just got a Galaxy Nexus and I want to revert it back to it's original condition for starters ( I'm talking about the software ). I noticed I have ClockworkMod installed, does that mean I have a custom ROM installed?

ClockworkMod is a custom recovery software. If you want to revert to the original ROM, then you can download the official ICS ROM for nexus and flash (install) it if you donot have a backup taken previously of the phone. And AFAIK, you can still root your phone again on ICS and then the phone will again be at your command (you can even install custom APKs). Also you can try a file manager like, Astro File Manager which I personally haven't used it but you can get it from marketplace and use it to install non-market apks by simply transferring the apk over usb to sd card and tap on the apk.


Nexus 5 in Recovery mode not detected in ADB but another Nexus 5 gets detected I think I soft bricked my Nexus 5.

I was planning on wiping all data from Nexus 5 and installing Cyanogenmod 12.1 following the normal procedure in the Recovery Mode but the wiping got stuck at Wiping Cache for very long and I ended up rebooting the phone.

My phone has ever since been showing "Unable to mount /cache" error.

To fix everything I thought of installing a Stock ROM image from ADB but my phone does not get detected under the devices list when I run "adb devices"

I have installed the drivers and to test I connected another Nexus 5 which did appear in the list but my phone does not.

Any ideas on how I can proceed to fix this issue.

Any suggestions or help would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

I got it to work. The problem was with my USB cable. It intermittently disconnected my phone from the laptop and that ended up in windows thinking of my phone as an unrecognized device.

I manually installed the drivers for ADB Composite Device and then fired "adb devices" and it showed up.

Thanks Firelord for your help.

Really appreciated. :)


How can I limit the input languages? How can I limit the number of input languages on the keyboard? I would only like to see the 3 I use. I have a HTC desire S.

I have a HTC Desire, but I'm assuming the menus/behaviour should be similar:

  Settings -> Language & Keyboard -> Touch Input -> International keyboard

Select the languages you want to use. That should restrict the keyboard list to the ones you have specified.


Dialer app doesn't show dial button When I tap a number in Chrome Mobile my default Dialer app opens and shows the below screen. I struggle finding out how to actually dial the number, there is no button for that at all. I've been scratching my header of this for a while now. Is it a user interface bug? Or is it me?

I'm running Android 5.1.1 + Cyanogen OS 12.1 using the Mono Tropicalgreen theme on a Oneplus One.

Screen1:

I can either create a new contact or send an SMS, but there is no 'dial' button. Pressing the back button brings me back to Chrome.

Screen2:

The options panel doesn't give me a 'dial' action either.

Screen3:

The other panel doesn't give me a 'dial' either.

It's aa problem of Theme,Change the Theme


Using mouse to simulate touch on Android I installed Android-x86 on my netbook. However, I noticed when I play some games, the mouse doesn't work. (I can only control Android with a mouse and keyboard). I can move the cursor, but clicking doesn't work.
Later, I have done some research and found that the mouse's pointer does not have the size, while touch has. That's why I cannot use the mouse in some games.
Is there any way to use a mouse as a touch? Or any app to simulate touch?

This is a special case of Android, since it's not exactly the same build that most people interact with and uses hardware that most Android devices don't use (ie. touchpads designed for laptops, ethernet cards, etc.). The only useful thing I could find is from Android-x86 Project's Supported List:

  Touch pad works as a touchscreen. Hard to use but not impossible

You may be best served by contributing your findings/bugs to the project through the above linked list, and perhaps the project developers can offer something more definitively helpful.


Nexus 10 Instantly Lost Battery Charge I had my tablet at around 90% charge with nothing running on it and went to bed. I wake up in the morning to find it will not turn on. When I plugged it in the battery icon would appear showing it was charged, and would not display any charging animation. I tried holding the power button for up to a minute including with the volume keys and nothing would work. After letting it charge for an hour it finally came back on displaying 0% battery and the charging animation finally started after I turned it back off. I checked my battery stats later when I turned it back on to see that the battery instantly went from 90% to 0%.

What could cause my battery to drop from 90% to 0% as shown in the link below (click image to get to the gallery with connected screenshots)?

Basically I just want to know if I have a defective unit or battery (this has only happened once in the 3 weeks I've owned it) or if it's a known bug, or simple a glitch and not to worry about it.

If it happened only once, it might have been a battery calibration error. This seems to be a defective battery. I would send the device back, if I were you. The drop seems to be too steep to be from a continuous drain (like WiFi).


Headphones controls not working with xperia ray I have Marshall minor headphones with microphone and control buttons for music.
I am using these with my Sony Ericsson Ray but I am unable to use the microphone on the headphones.
When I plug the headphones into my phone it comes up with accessory not supported.
So I have to use an adaptor/converter but this only allows me to listen to my headphones, not use the controls on them? How can I fix this?

The Ray's 3.5mm jack only supports sound. It isn't a microphone jack.


Smart e Machine tablet stuck on "Boot into recovery..." screen So I finally got my first android tablet, some cheap brand "Smart e Machine". It has android 4.0 on it. They just barely have a website and no type of support pages or anything, and apparently the phone number listed is for the company that designed their web page.

But anyways,

It was working fine, but I decided to do a factory reset anyhow. Then it rebooted and got stuck on a "Boot Into Recovery..." screen. Let it sit for a long time, and still nothing. I can power it off and on again, but it does the same thing. If I try to boot into recovery manually by pressing the vol up and down and power buttons it asks me if I want to boot into recovery and to long press power to do so. I do that and it freezes on the same screen. Even if I do that but then don't long press power to confirm I want recovery mode, it still freezes on the same screen.

It does have a pinhole reset button, and pressing it seems to just reboot the machine. Tried holding it down for a while, and tried holding it along with the power button, but it doesn't do anything different.

It has a usb port, but it looks kind of round. A usb mini cord fits in just fine, but I get no response from my computer and the charge light doesn't come on either. I'm not sure if it can charge through usb, it came with a standard power adapter and no usb. I'm also not sure if it just isn't booting into a mode where it can connect to a computer yet.

I have not been able to get the back cover off to try and pull the battery, I need to get a new screwdriver so I'm going to try that tonight.

I cannot get into the recovery menu.

If anyone has any ideas or has encountered something like this before I would love any advice.

Thanks

I actually got this working again!!

After opening up the case and googling some of the different numbers printed on chips and the circuit board, I found out that this particular type of tablet can have its firmware flashed by putting the right files on the root of a micro sd card. When it boots up it will automatically check for said files and perform an update all by itself. When it finishes it asks you to remove the sd card and then automatically reboots itself.

It took me a few tries to get a good firmware with the majority of features working. Some were unstable, some wouldn't boot, some would boot but had no touch screen or soft button support, no camera, gyro, wifi etc. I finally found one that seems stable and has most features working, minus the camera. I have a few more left to try and see if I can get the camera working, but other than that it works great!


How do I unlock my Nexus 5 without touching the screen to back up my pictures and videos before re-setting? My touch screen won't work at all and if I have to replace the screen,is it going to reset my phone. OR I just might buy a new phone, but to get my pictures and videos, I need to get my phone unlocked.

Get a USB OTG cable, and connect a standard USB mouse to your phone. You can use the mouse on the lockscreen; no need to enable anything in advance.

I tried this with http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B009DFCCKO and it worked perfectly with my Nexus 5. It took a few weeks to arrive from China, but luckily I wasn't in a hurry. I'm sure it's possible to get something similar sooner if you pay a little more.

To answer the other part of your question, there's no need to reset a device just to replace the screen (I changed the screen on my Nexus 7 without resetting it). But if it was me, I'd feel happier about sending it off for repair if I had all the photos safely backed up, just in case.


Samsung S screen turns off while calling during a call, the screen turns off and I become not able to click(touch) any button on the screen. PLEASE help if there is any solution cause it makes me crazy. Thanks.

This is normally face detection that turns the screen off so that you cannot press buttons with your cheek.  If moving the phone away from your face does not turn it on, then you should be able to turn it on with the power button.


Power draw from GPS - Does granularity affect amount of power drawn? We all know that GPS draws a considerable amount of battery power.  Does anyone know of any studies that test the "granularity" of a GPS signal with how much battery is consumed?

I'm not talking about the device-GPS vs cell network triangulated GPS either, the applications in Android can select a distance (1 meter, 5 meters, 500 meters, etc) at which they will be notified of a changed location.  I imagine that regardless of what this value is set at, the GPS is actively getting a new location very rapidly, and only notifying the app as soon as it wants.

Does anyone know of any studies for power draw with different GPS settings?  Thanks!

GPS is a passive technology - it doesn't get notified of a new position, it works it out by listening to the GPS signals it receives and doing some maths.

The options in GPS apps that allow you to choose the minimum distance are there to make your location appear more stable - small variations in your calculated location would otherwise make for lots and lots of waypoints on your track (if that's what you're recording), making for a much increased filesize.

Depending on what your app does when you change position, you might get some power savings by increasing this value, but that would be down to the app doing less with the position once it has it, rather than by getting your position less frequently.

The Glympse app, for example, continually sends your position to the Glympse servers.  If you could choose how often to update that position you could maybe save some power, but you wouldn't be saving any power on the GPS side of things.


How to create a custom boot animation? How to create a custom boot animation for my Android device?

My device is an HTC HD2 with Cyanogen Mod 7 installed.

A boot animation is a series of images (frames) in a folders (parts). There is a text file (desc.txt) that defines the parts, the frame rate, and how many times it loops.

A desc.txt looks like this:

480 427 30
p 1 0 part0
p 0 10 part1

The first like is the height and width, then the number of frames per second
the next 2 lines define the parts that will "play".

the "p" indicates the line is a "part"
the next digit is the number of times to repeat, 0 = infinite
next is the pause, this is the delay before it starts the next "part" (or frame if looping) after the last frame in the part completes.
finally, is the name of the part (the folder name where the frames are)

inside each part your png images will "play" in order, so what ever you name them, just make sure they are ordered how you want them to "play". For example, frame001.png, frame002.png. I added the extra 0's because if i have more then 10 frames, the order may be mixed up.

The boot animation is then put in a zip archive with "store" compression, with desc.txt at the root of the archive.

The file is named bootanimation.zip, and placed in /system/media/ (you need to remount as rw) or you can place it in /data/local on some devices (should work on CM7).

When the boot animation is in /data/local, it will take precedence over /system/media, this way the "default" can stay on the device unharmed.


Removing active notifications on Marshmallow So I always try Googling first and didn't find anything with any term I used. I'll try to be as specific as possible.

I just got a new phone the other day a Moto G4 Plus with Android 6.0.1 the phone plan I have is a Talk & Text only with Rogers. It includes unlimited MMS as well but I require data on to use this. So I restricted background data and set the data limit to 0 Bytes per month, then enabled data. I can now send the pictures I like.

The issue is that there's now two permanent notifications on the phone that I don't want there. One says "Background data restricted. Touch to remove restriction." and the other "Cellular data limit reached. Data paused for rest of cycle." I want to remove the notifications without removing the restrictions.

If there's a setting I've missed or an app out there that can help with this or a way of doing it without an app, that would be great.

With Marshmallow, long pressing the notification will bring up notification settings from there you can disable notifications for the specific app that's causing the persistent notification. Since you are working with the 'system' app you are not able to change any notification settings unless you are rooted. So in short without root permission you will not have access to change notification permissions on any app located in /system/app


WiFi ICON is gray on my kitkat ONLY at home and ONLY with a specific device I have noticed that when I'm at home, the WiFi icon is always gray, so I cab still have access to the internet but notifications from apps like whatsapp, Facebook, etc doesn't, work. When I connect to another WiFi network like the one on my job, the icon turns to blue and notifications work as expected.

I think the problem may be on my internet at home, but how can I fix this?

UPDATE
There are some strange things i noticed: It's only this specific phone that does not receive push notifications. I tested with my brother's phone and with one of mi friend and they both receive push notifications... so the problem happens ONLY at home and ONLY with this specific device.

You probably dont have great service in that area.


How can I enable usb debugging on a broken phone? My android mobile is accidentally broken. And the usb debugging is set to off. If I can enable it I could use it through visor in PC. But can't do it now. :( I don't have OTG supported too. My android version is 7.0 Nougat. The manufacturer is Symphony LiteTel. Model: Symphony LiteTel - LT4502 Is there any way? :(

you can't do much because device has locked bootloader
well. so spoken, you can't do much wrong and can try something stupid ;) basically adb can be enabled by modifying boot or system partition. but locked bootloader means no modifications allowed.
some older devices have no protection for flashing modified partitions, only avb/dm-verity will deny boot in such case.
however, Magisk is able to by-pass dm-verity in some cases. most likely you will brick your device with this method, but give it a try (you can repair it by restoring official partitions)

download latest platform-tools

get a flash tool for your device. for Spreadtrum/Unisoc chipset it's SPD Upgrade Tool (make sure you download latest version)

install Spreadtrum USB drivers

download stock ROM according to your current android version / build number (you can check from fastboot)
fastboot devices
fastboot getvar all

in UpgradeDownload.ini (SPD_Upgrade_Tool) change the following flags
Repartition = 0
ShowOtherPage = 1
CanEdit = 1
CanSelect = 1

extract the stock ROM and find the boot.img (you will patch) and the userdata.img (you must delete) in SPD ImageFiles/_DownloadFiles

1. Magisk root + enable usb-debugging + by-pass dm-verity

unpack the boot.img with any ramdisk tool
(i recommend AIK unpackimg.bat)

modify default.prop to enable adb
(use Notepad++ for correct line ending LF)
ro.secure=0
ro.adb.secure=0
ro.debuggable=1
persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb

repack ramdisk/kernel and copy image-new.img to any android device (android 7.0 recommended)

install Magisk Manager and patch the image file with settings "keep AVB/dm-verity" and "keep force encryption"

goto settings - about device - tap build number 7x (seven) times and enable usb-debugging in developer options

open cmd.exe, navigate to platform-tools folder and copy magisk_patched.img back to PC
adb devices
adb pull /sdcard/Download/magisk_patched.img

2. now comes the tricky part. you must flash that file to your broken device (boot partition). that is untested and may fail

open SPD Upgrade Tool - Settings - Main Page. uncheck all entries that do not apply to boot partition

especially make sure all entries related to "Erase" or "UserData" are removed. you only want to flash boot (not to confuse with uboot)

select magisk_patched.img from platform-tools folder and replace the original boot.img in the proper entry

Power off your device. connect your device. start the flashing process

finally, reboot your device and check adb connection
adb devices
scrcpy

if no adb connection that means the bootloader does not allow modified partitions and your device is bricked now
unbrick by flashing the original boot.img (see step 2)
make sure never flash userdata you will lose all data


can automatic update work when app is not installed from android marketplace? or how can i auto update an app that is not installed via
android marketplace. it is useful in scenario where many of our customer uses custom built of android device ( which not yet registered to android ) , and we want to make sure that changes to our app propogate to device ?

This sounds like it might be better asked on stackoverflow.

The autoupdate is a feature of the market. If users haven't installed the app with the market you'll have to implement your own update feature. In Android 2.2 you could potentially take advantage of the push notification system for updates.


Device file for USB controller/joystick not created I've got an Android 4.1.2 device (OUYA) and a PSX-USB-Adapter with two Playstation controllers attached. Attaching it to the USB port makes the device show up in dmesg:

<6>[  331.002934] usb 2-1: new low speed USB device number 13 using tegra-ehci
<6>[  331.039183] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0810, idProduct=0001
<6>[  331.046013] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
<6>[  331.053437] usb 2-1: Product: Twin USB Joystick

Unfortunately, no device files in /dev/input/ like /dev/input/js0 are created.

Who/which part of android is responsible for detecting that an USB device is a joystick and creating the corresponding input files?

Btw, the controllers are detected fine on a standard Linux (Ubuntu 14.04).

It turned out that the necessary kernel modules were not compiled in (I checked that in /proc/config.gz).

See http://cweiske.de/tagebuch/ouya-usb-joysticks.htm for information about compiling your own kernel with the modules.


How do I remove Trojan horse virus from my android smartphone? There is a virus in my android phone named com.wgjvp.idck and I tried every possible solution to remove it but couldn't find any solution.
What I did:

I hard-reset(factory-reset) my phone twice but this virus suddenly comes out.
Installed Security-Master but that also unable to resolve this
problem

This virus creates a pop-up over ads due to which I am unable to perform anything.
Even after successfully uninstalling this app when I lock it and open it, this virus is present already.

Two things takes place:

After `uninstalling' this app, it automatically gets installed.
And
USB-Debugging gets checked every time automatically.

This virus also switches-off the phone at certain interval. In setting inside apps virus name displayed as com.wgjvp.idck though on home screen the name is Nolcans.

I think possible solution could be disabling the developer option permanently or doing something due to which it should not be easily gets checked. and second is to block a particular app from installing in my phone with particular bundle-id or app-id like com.abc.xyz but I don't know how to do that.

So what should I do to completely remove this Trojan horse virus from my phone? Thanks!

It seems that the virus has violated the boot area of the smartphone. It seems that treatment is difficult in factory initialization. Therefore, you need to directly download the new genuine official firmware and reinstall the firmware.

All data is deleted, you can install genuine firmware and return all things to the initial state.

Even though one can do it without difficulty, in case it is difficult get the help of the official repair center.


How to know which email address was registered to my lost phone? My phone (Samsung Galaxy Note 2) is lost.
I want to delete data from it, especially my personal photos.
I don't remember my Play Store account which was associated with my Note 2.
I tried to contact my local carrier, but they can just issue my SIM again, which I did.
Through IMEI they can't do it.
I'm from Saudi Arabia.
Here they can't do it.
So is there anyway to this or any international assistance from Samsung?

If you can remember that you had used (doesn't matter which) a Google account on your lost Note2, you could go to accounts page of the play store in a computer.  You can see the devices that are attached with the account with its registered and last used date.

Since you have multiple Google accounts (that's what I understood from your question) you have try logging in with each and try the above said in a computer. With the last used and registered date you can identify which account was last used in your lost Note2.

If you are confident that the lost phone is still switched on and connected to Internet, you use AndroidLost to get into the process of identifying it or manage your stuffs.


update failure galaxy core 2 well first of all, my phone is rooted. the phone notified me about an update I accidentally pressed update and now its in an endless loop where it will update then fail and update again. please help, I'm getting desperate

The update should have stopped as soon as it found that the phone was rooted and not updated it. (Boot-looping is one of the mildest problems if you update a rooted ROM with a non-rooted update that hasn't been modified to update the modifications done to the rooted one.)

Go to SamMobile Firmwares and find the stock ROM for your device (use the model number, not "core 2")
Download Odin and install it on your computer
Download the ROM to the computer (you'll have to create a free account on SamMobile to download anything) and flash the stock ROM to your phone.
Then update it. (If the latest stock ROM is a couple of versions old, you'll have to update more than once to get to the latest version, and you can only update once every 24 hours.)

Flashing the ROM is simple:

After installing Odin, unzip the downloaded ROM.
There will be files starting with AP, BL, etc. Load the files into the appropriate slots in Odin (the AP file goes into the AP slot, etc.)
Plug the phone in and one of the boxes at the top of Odin should show COM and a number after a short time. (You have to have the SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones installed in the computer.)
Once you see that (the number doesn't matter) and you have the files, run Odin and wait for the phone to restart.

If the ROM isn't the latest version, you'll start getting "there's an update ..." notices. If you want the update, press OK (make sure the battery is up to at least 75% and keeping the charger plugged in isn't a bad idea either) and the phone will download the update and install it.

If that's not the latest update (some are cumulative - they include all changes since the version you have, others aren't and you have to update a step at a time), you'll get another notice the next day, and so on, until you're current.

Then root the updated ROM.

The next time you want an update, you're going to have to do the same thing - revert to stock, update, root. (If being rooted is important to you, make sure there's a current rooting method for your phone for the updated ROM version before you update.)

By the way, the 0.95MB update is probably the "get the phone ready for the next update" update. They do that every so often - some things have to be changed before an update. Or it may be a minor bug fix.

In any case, if the phone is rooted, something wasn't where the update expected it to be, so the updated software is crashing. It's possible to successfully update a rooted phone, it's also possible to hard brick it (it acts the same whether there's a battery in it or not - like a brick). What happens depends on what happened while the phone was rooted and what the update does. Since there are so many variables that winning every throw of the dice in Vegas is a sure thing by comparison, the updating process checks 2 things - that the ROM is the stock one and that the phone has never been rooted. If either test fails, it's supposed to stop with an error message (to the effect that the update failed, even though that's not really true). Evidently, for some reason, yours failed to stop.


My Phone isnt working I havent used my LG Volt phone for a couple of months because i bought a ios phone. My ios phone broke and i tried charging my LG Volt phone over night and turning it on no response. I tried taking my battery out and holding power button nothing happened. Tried holding volume down and power button nothing happened. Just a black screen somebdoy help me please.

I suggest you get a new battery. Leaving a phone unused for a while drains the battery completely.
Replacing it might be the only solution here.

Good luck!


Galaxy Nexus - How do I start adding strangers' numbers to "auto-reject"? I regularly get phone calls from people trying to reach an old folks' home and I want to outright reject those automatically (without any "send to voicemail" ideally).

This was fairly painless on the Galaxy S: from the Call Log, tap-hold on the bad number, menu pops up, select "add to auto-reject". [Auto reject was enabled in the phone's settings before]

How do I achieve the same thing with the Galaxy Nexus?  I'm figuring the same feature should be available from the stock ICS somewhere.  If not, I'm open to lists of auto-reject apps.

If it's the same people ringing you regularly what you could do is:

Add them as a contact, under 'Ignore1', 'Ignore2' etc. whenever they
ring
Go to Contacts -> Select 'Ignore1' -> Options (or action menu) -> Select 'All calls to voicemail'

Or if you don't like this method then you could try:

Mr. Number: Text, Call & Block
(free)
Extreme Call Blocker Droid  (paid)


How to root Android with Samsung Odin How to root A Samsung mobile phone or tablet using Samsung Odin?

Android rooting is not an uncommon term using tech nerds anymore. It is very common and everybody at least heard the term. So why we do this? As my opinion, we already have enough control over our device. Don't you think? that's how the less than half of the population of the Android community keep their devices without unstable it. But the other half sees the situation completely different. They root their devices to flash new ROMs, gain more control by customizing download unauthorized apps and modifying default functions in the system. So to do this you have o download rooting tool that most suitable for your device. For a Samsung user, it is not any software other than Samsung Odin. So let's talk about how to root with Odin.

What is Samsung Odin

It is a free utility that serving a wide range of devices and specially created for the Samsung devices by Samsung itself. With the time the software is updated so you can see there are several versions for the same tool. Select the best one for your device is your responsibility. This one-click rooting method is not like traditional root tools available out there. The flow starts with flashes the root package and then root it through the computer. And do not waste your time for searching direct rooting methods for Samsung Odin, because there isn't.

Compatible list

As I mentioned earlier there are different versions of Odin for the different operating system. So check the list below and select the suitable version for your device.

v. 1.85 - GingerBread and Ice Cream Sandwich
v. 3.09 -  Jellybean and KitKat
v. 3.10.7 - Lollipop
v. 3.11.1 - Marshmallows
v. 3.13.1 - more latest versions

Android rooting with Samsung Odin

Preparation

Samsung Odin is only compatible with windows. So install necessary
drivers to the PC and make it ready.
It's not hurt be ready to whatever happens. So backup all of the
mobile phone for more security.
Enable USB debugging on the device. (Settings --> about --> Build
number --> Tap 5 times --> You are a developer now --> USB debugging
--> enable)
The process could not be continued. So keep a sufficient battery
power.

Let's start the process of Android rooting

Go to this site and download the suitable root package. Check your device name, model number, Android version, and build number beforehand.
Now extract the downloaded package in a new folder.
Power off the device and boot it into download mode. To do this press and hold  Power Key, Home Key, and Volume Down Key simultaneously.
Open the Odin file in the extracted folder.
Connect the mobile device with the PC using a USB cable.
The software will automatically detect the device you will see "Added" in the lower left panel
Click the "AP/PDA" button and select the extracted file.
Then click "Start" button
Now the rooting will start. After it completes you will see the message "PASS"
The device will be rebooted for one last time. There will be SuperSu installed already on the device if the root was a success.

**Wrap up*
Odin is an application specifically created for Samsung smartphones and tablets. But it does not say it limited to that brand. It can serve various brands like HTC, LG, etc.*


Connecting 2.1 A charger instead of 850 mA I have a Sony Xperia SP model with a 2370 mAh battery.
The original charger I got with it was of 850 mA.

My question is can I use a charger with output of 5V-2.1A which is also from Sony?

thanks and regards

TL;DR:

There's no danger in plugging a USB device into a charger with a higher amp rating than the one supplied with it.

For mobile devices that use USB chargers, the difference between using chargers with different amp ratings in most cases is that the device will charge faster or slower, in direct proportion the the amp rating. In some cases, the device may simply draw less current than the charger's amp rating. In no case (except a malfunction) can the charger deliver more current than the device can handle.

The details:

The underlying issue to understand here is that the current draw is not an intrinsic property of either the power source or the connected device. It is a function of the voltage of the power source and the resistance of the device, per Ohm's law, which states current = potential / resistance, or in unit terms, amps = volts / ohms.

The current rating of a USB charger is the maximum current it can deliver*. If your device has a resistance of 5 ohms, and you connect a 5 volt charger, the device it will draw 1 amp of current. If the charger has a 2.1 amp rating, that means that it can deliver up to 2.1 amps, to a device that has a resistance of 2.38 ohms or less, but there is no way it can force 2.1 amps on a device with higher resistance.

The only time you need to worry about damaging the device is if the voltage of the power source is too high, in which case it can deliver more current than the device's circuitry can handle (see the footnote). However, the voltage of USB chargers is standardized (at 5 ±.25 V), so you never have to worry about damaging a USB device by plugging in a cable of the wrong specs.

However, most mobile devices have a low enough resistance to draw a 2.1 amp current. Most likely, Sony supplies 850 mA chargers because they're cheaper, not because that's the maximum current the device can draw (at 5 volts). I think you'll find that if you use a 2.1 A charger, it will charge the device more than twice as fast as the original charger.

* The amp rating of a device, if there is one, means something a little different. It's the current at which the device operates best, and the current that it will draw if connected to an outlet of the right voltage.

For example, if you have a vacuum cleaner rated at 12 A, that doesn't mean that it's a property of its circuitry that it "sucks out" a 12 A current from the outlet. It means that it should operate at 12 A, and will draw a 12 A current from the kind of outlet it's intended for. So, a 12 A vacuum cleaner sold in the US has a resistance of 10 Ω, and draws 12 A if plugged into a 120 V outlet. Take that same 12 A rated vacuum cleaner and plug it into a 240 V outlet, and it will draw twice the voltage, quadruple the wattage, burn out, and possibly start an electrical fire. On the other hand, if the voltage is too low, the vacuum cleaner won't run at full power, or won't run at all.


How does the Linux filesystem on Android get mapped to "Computer\PhoneName\Phone" on Windows 7? I am trying to figure out, when I use adb shell I see a filesystem with directories such as /storage/emulated/0. When I connect my Android phone to Windows 7 I see something like the following folder: Computer\JohnDoe(GT-I9301\Phone.

I would like to understand how the Linux filesystem gets mounted under Windows. Does Windows mount only a specific part of the filesystem or does it reorganize everything into a new view?

By default, when connecting your device it gets mounted via mtp. Our mtp tag-wiki gives some details on this; basically, only parts of the device's storage is exposed – usually only the SD card(s).

In easy terms, you can think of this as something similar to your "Windows Shares", where you define directories to be available over the network (with the latter being an "USB network" using MTP): Android would "hand" it the SD card as "mount point" (in case of multiple SD cards, like one internal and one "physical", that would make two items). According to the protocol, everything below that should be shown as-is, like when mounting a remote drive. I don't know how Windows is supposed to name the "entry points", but it shouldn't re-arrange things below them. Your Computer\JohnDoe(GT-I9301)\Phone entry most likely reflects your internal SD card (/storage/emulated/0).


Is it possible to allow user only installation of certain apps? Is it possible in Android to prevent users from installing any app that is not explicitly listed on a firm based whitelist?

It is possible, there are apps available that are designed for enterprise use such as SureLock and MobiControl (go to Device LockDown Policy on this page) that will restrict users to allowed applications only.


Add a digit to every contact My city is adding a new digit to its number to increase the number of combinations possible. I have over 300 contacts, editing them manually is not really a good way to do that.

98% of my contacts is on the + XX ( country code ) + XX ( state code ) + XXXXXXXX ( the number ) format.

I need to add the digit 9 to every number, so after running a program script whatever every contact should be +XX XX 9XXXXXXXX .

Bonus : I have contacts from people of other cities who must stay the same if possible I would like a solution like this : if state number is XX then skip it. But is better to manually change this group of contacts than all the contacts from my city so it's OK if that's not possible

Only thing that I can think of is:

Go to the web interface for Google contacts, click on export (it should redirect to the older version of contacts)

In the older interface click on 'other' (or something similar) near the icon to add contacts

You will see the voice 'export'. Click on it

Choose the group 'personal contacts' (should include only the contacts from the address book of your phone)

Then choose 'format CSV for Google' as the export format

Open this file (Excel, Calc or similar will do) and use the function 'find and replace' this way:
Search for the two digit that identify the city and replace them with XX9. Pay attention to the numbers which include these two digits in other places. You may want to edit them manually and the rest with find-replace. (There may be even easier ways to do it, but I'm not very good with Excel.)

Once you are done, go back to the web interface and this time choose import and the file you edited as the file to import.

This should help.


How to replace system font of a Galaxy Tab 7.7? How do I replace the default system font on a Galaxy Tab 7.7, by a .ttf font?

The app Font Installer will allow you to install a font and set it as the system font. As with anything that modifies a system file, you will need to be rooted to do this.


Can I flash a custom ROM and a separate custom kernel after? I currently use a Galaxy S3 Neo and have recently flashed the latest Resurrection Remix ROM (android 5.1.1 based on cm 12.1). After doing this, I have experienced multiple random reboots which I found to be caused by kernel panics. For this reason, I did some research and some people suggested flashing a new kernel as a solution. Would it be safe to flash a kernel which is not associated with the resurrection remix ROM to a device using this ROM?

Yes, flashing a kernel is mostly safe. The worst thing that could happen would be a boot loop aka soft brick, which can be fixed by flashing another, proper kernel.

Remember that the kernel in your case has to be CM (CyanogenMod) compatible because Resurrection Remix is built on CM. There are many different kernels, so look for the one that matches your needs (performance, stability, battery life).

XDA developers helps with titles (look for [KERNEL] in the title) and the XDA DB gives you a quick and easy way to find kernels and ROMs you want.


When do apps need storage permission? I thought that each app can always freely manage its directory in /Android folder. AFAIK code is in app/ and data in obb/ folders.
But many apps (e.g. games) display a message about needing local storage permission to download additional data.
Why do many apps need to ask for the generic storage permission - the one that says Files, folders, photo, video?
Are there some restrictions on the data an app can use without asking permission?
Just to clarify: I am NOT asking about file/photo manager apps, for them it is understandable that they need to see the whole filesystem.
Btw i found 2 possible duplicates, but their answers seem to contradict each other: 1 2
Does the storage permission allow reading the whole Internal storage? Or only the FAT-formatted external SD card?

Storage permission is needed by apps that will read/write files onto the storage especially files accessible by the user.


Photo Goo App to squeeze and twirl the camera input Is there a way to use the camera on Android like the with built in Photo Booth app on iOS?

Photo Booth can apply effects on your photos like mirror, squeeze, twirl, kaleidoscope, light tunnel and stretch:

Nexus Camera Beta has nearly the same features like the iOS Photo Booth


How do I change my Gamertag in games? I need some help or clarification on if I can change my Gamertag in the few games that I play on my Android Device.  For example, my First Name last Initial shows up along with my Picture in all the games when I log in.  However, I would like it to show the picture but have a gamertag or use a different name other then my own.

Real Racing 3 is a prime example.  There are a ton of users using Gamertags/Avatars, however, you can only login using Facebook, some chinese website and Google +.  There is no where in there to change your name.  I have looked everywhere.

Also if you look at your trophies I would like it to show my NEW USERNAME.
Does anyone have an answer or suggestion?

Can I create a second Google+ account and not lose all the points I have acquired?  I have searched everywhere for months actually as the answers to most questions are usually found with a simple search.

If you want to change your name for Google Play Games and it's related leaderboards you will have to change your Google+ name. There is no way to transfer your Google Play history and points to a different Google account.


Pixel 3a Live Caption I have bought a pixel and I update the phone to Android 10 but I can't put the live captions the option isn't there any help?

This feature is not yet available. It will probably be available with the new Pixel 4.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/30/20891465/android-10-pixel-4-live-caption-accessibility-feature


Clock Replacements for Motorola Droid Docking Station I have a Motorola Droid (v1) and a docking station. When the phone is docked, it automatically runs the Clock app, which isn't very configurable. Are there any alternatives to the Clock app, or is there any way to configure the phone to run a different app while docked?

After you install an app that takes over the Dock intent it will ask which one you wish to use as default.

The one I use is called Gentle Alarm which has a nice Dock display and some additional alarm features.  It is however a paid app.  I know there are several free apps out there as well.


Open PDF files directly in Chrome for Android I am writing from my Android. On my laptop, it's pretty simple to choose to open a PDF file directly in the browser rather than opening it in an external program.
The problem comes when I try to open it on Android. I am usually asked to download it and it will open with PDF Viewer. I would like it to open directly in Chrome because - moreover -- I'd like to get a link to the PDF file.
Usually, on Android, you can link the website and then the receiver will have to download the PDF so that he can view it. I would like to be readable directly in the browser.

You can use a Google Docs page to view PDF files in the browser. To do this, visit the page https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://yourfile.pdf, where http://yourfile.pdf is the path to the PDF file you want to view (credits to this answer).
Unfortunately, there is as far as I know no way to do this automatically in Chrome (you can always paste the URL manually every time you want to open a PDF file but that's not very practical). However, if you use a browser that supports extensions, it's possible to use an extension to automatically redirect PDF files to this URL. Unfortunately, you can't do this on any well-known browsers (Chrome and Edge for Android don't support extensions at all, and Firefox for Android only supports a very limited set of extensions), but there are less well-known browsers where you can do this. The one I use is Kiwi (I have no association with its author).
Once you've installed Kiwi (or another browser that supports Chrome extensions), install the Redirector extension (I have no association with its author). Next, click on the three dots on the top right, scroll down, click "Redirector", then click on the "Edit Redirects" button, and then click on "Create new redirect":

That will open a popup with five text boxes and two checkboxes. Enter the following information:

The first box is just a description, you can enter whatever you want, for example Open PDF in browser.
The second box is an example URL to a PDF file, you can enter the URL to whatever PDF file you want.
In the third box, enter (^https?://[^?]+\.pdf($|\?).*$). This is a regular expression that matches URLs of PDF files. If you know regular expressions, you may want to note that the parentheses that enclose the whole regular expression are necessary to capture the whole URL so that the $1 in the next box works as expected.
In the fourth box, enter https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=$1. This is the URL that PDF files will be redirected to, $1 represents the URL of the original PDF file.
Check the box labelled "Regular Expression".
The last box is just another description Again, enter whatever you want, for example, Redirects PDF files to a Google docs page that shows the PDF in the browser.

When you're done entering all that, it should look like this:

Now click Save and you're done. Now all PDF files will be opened in the browser like this:

To get a link to the original PDF file, copy the URL from the title bar and remove the https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url= part from the beginning.


WiFi continually turns off and on Sony Xperia Compact (Android 8.0) I have a Sony Xperia Compact running Android 8.0.0.

Recently I noticed that the WiFi constantly turns off and on. That is to say, I turn on WiFi, it searches for signal, shows a list of available networks and then turns off again by itself. It will then turn itself on again, and the cycle continues.

If I have airplane mode on, this sometimes allows me to hold a WiFi connection - but not always.

I am at a loss as how to approach this problem. I've tried resetting the network settings to default, which renders the same problem. I've tried running the phone in safe mode, to see if it was a 3rd party app, which also did not solve the problem.

Downgrade to nougat. Tried everything (reset router, delete network settings, software repair via companion etc etc.) nothing worked except the downgrade.


What codecs does the 2.3-Gingerbread Internet calling (SIP) use? I am looking at the internet calling options in 2.3-Gingerbread. Does anyone know what codecs this dialer uses?
Can the codecs be configured?

From a packet capture, the codecs are:

GSM-EFR 8Khz
AMR 8Khz
GSM 8Khz
G.711/PCMU 8Khz
G.711/PCMA 8Khz

Here's the tidbit from the RTP packet capture:

m=audio 22728 RTP/AVP 96 97 3 0 8 127
a=rtpmap:96 GSM-EFR/8000
a=rtpmap:97 AMR/8000
a=rtpmap:3 GSM/8000
a=rtpmap:0 PCMU/8000
a=rtpmap:8 PCMA/8000
a=rtpmap:127 telephone-event/8000
a=fmtp:127 0-15

I couldn't find a way to configure the codecs either.


Disabling email notifications from Android Hangouts app. I have Hangouts on my Android Phone (S3) and I get emails of my incoming messages in my corresponding email associated with the same account as my Hangouts. It seems unnecessary and hard to turn off. I'm also not sure if this is a random thing that might have been left in for some reason, can't find anyone else with the same issue.

I figured this out myself and I'm posting the instructions below in case others have trouble as well.

Login to your Google Voice account.
Click on the cog near the top-right of your screen then select "Settings" from the drop-down.
Click on the "Voicemail & Text" tab.
Under the "Text Forwarding" header, uncheck "Forward text messages to my email:"
Click on "Save Changes."


How can I monitor and visualize the current resource usage (CPU, Memory, etc.) caused by the running Apps? I am looking for typical per app/process resource usage information (CPU, Memory, etc.). This information is often useful to find and identify misbehaving apps.

How can I monitor and visualize the current resource usage (CPU, Memory, etc.) caused by the running Apps?

There are several ways to collect this type of information, I'll be speaking about two that I use on a daily basis as to oversee what's going on with my devices:

Terminal

Using a terminal application, you are able to run Linux commands like top or ps that provide information about the currently running processes:

ps

  ps (i.e., process status) displays information about a selection of the active processes.

top

  The top program provides a dynamic real-time view of a running system. It can display system summary information as well as a list of tasks currently being managed by the Linux  kernel.

The terminal I most use is called Android Terminal Emulator by Jack Palevich available from Google Play Store.

Application

There are several applications with the sole purpose of providing you with real-time information regarding the processes being executed, detailed information about apps and their system resources usage, system logs or system monitoring:

Android System Info by ElectricSheep available from Google Play Store.

This app presents information divided with 5 tabs:

Dashboard

An overview of you device important information: battery usage; Internal Memory used/free; SDCard size and free space; RAM; etc.
System

All system information is presented here: OS; Buildinfos; Battery; Memory; Telephony; Networks; Wifi; CPU; Screen; Sensors; Features; JavaProperties; and many more. Just tap over each one to unfold the detailed information.
Tasks

Shows the total CPU load and CPU load/memory used for each process. You can tap a process to get more details about it; kill the process or switch to the process.
Apps

List of all installed apps, providing means to stop or uninstall an app. If you tap over an app, you have several options like: launch; Manage; Uninstall; etc. Additionally, you are able to see all the useful information about the package itself and in relation to your system, including all permissions he uses.
Logs

Provides you with your system logs. If you press "menu" the logs will be saved to your SD  card.


How to set the DNS server on Nexus One? The ISP I use on my N1 doesn't allow me to open facebook. Using a PC, I can use Google DNS server (8.8.8.8) to by-pass them but on N1, I can't find where to put the stufff.

Please help if you know how to.

While you're on Wifi, have a look in Wi-Fi settings > menu|Advanced.

It looks like it's easier when you're on Wifi than when you're on a celular signal (3 or 2.5g).I've found a blog post here that seems to do what your asking, but you may need to have rooted the phone, or at least be comfotable with editing a few system bits and bobs.


How can I share my Google Play wish list with other people? I've got a birthday coming up, and people ask me what I'd like to get. Among other things, I have a few items in my Google Play wish list, and I know that I can see it at https://play.google.com/wishlist (thank you Martyn). But that's a plain URL without user information. I can't share that to others.

I am looking for an URL or feature that lets my friends see what I've put my wish list.

You can use Changelog Droid app which featured one touch functionality to import your complete wish list into so called observed apps category and then you can export your observed apps to SD card (Preferences, Export/Import, Export/Import observed apps) and sent this file (/sdcard/cd_observed.json) to your friends which can import your observed list into their Changelog Droid. Yes they should install this app too, but this app is so good that they will be glad to use it anyway :)

For a few items in a wish list it is an overkill, but I have over one hundred apps in my wish list so in such a situation Changelog Droid is the acceptable way to realize sharing my complete wish list.


How do I transfer files in ClockworkMod between my phone and my computer if my phone doesn't have an SD card slot? So the phone can only boot to "ClockworkMod Recovery" due to unknown reason.

Is there a way to transfer files between my phone's internal memory and my computer? There is no SD card slot on the phone.

I don't have any other ROM in my phone which means I can't flash anything but the official ROM (through download mode) which I think will remove all the files.

This suggestion assumes familiarity with connecting to the phone via ADB

I had a similar situation on my previous phone. I was able to pull the important stuff over ADB when the phone was in recovery. In my case I had to mount some of the filesystems to access everything I wanted to retrieve.

I'm not sure if it is dependent on the phone whether the ADB service is available in recovery. On mine it was available in both recovery and download mode.

If ADB on your computer recognizes and can connect to your phone you should be able to retrieve and save any files you need.

If you aren't familiar with ADB this is a good place to start: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/all-in-one-guide-to-adb/

If you need any help with it let me know, ADB is a whole other topic so keeping it simple here.


Send message to telegram bot via Google Now voice command When I tried to use Google now (OK Google) and told them "Send message via telegram to Home" (Home is my telegram bot name).  Google didn't find bot contact name (see picture). When I use regular contact it worked well. I tried creating contact with a bot name but it also didn't work ...
Maybe someone can help?

It's not possible out of the box[1]. When you tell Google to send a message via some app, it looks for the contacts in your contacts list - where bots doesn't exist.

[1] Maybe it's possible with some extensions, such as those apps that let you set more voice commands for some actions. Haven't tried it.


Connect with adb to device via network I want to do some android theming, but I have a question on what the best way is to set up the system.

I have 2 computers here at home. So i was thinking of having the following setup if that is possible.

One one computer I want to set up the whole android SDK plus eclipse and run a device in an emulator. And on the other I want to set everything up so I can push and pull from the other pc. The pc's are connected via ethernet.

Is this type of setup even possible?

Yes.  On your second PC, set the environment variable ADBHOST to the IP address of the first PC and run the adb server and client.  Related steps (more detailed) are here.

Although you're not connecting to a physical device, it is apparently also possible to do so over the network without using USB.  Instructions for that are here.


Misc. files that I can't find but that take up about a half of available storage I have the following problem: about half of my phone storage is filled by files that grouped as Misc in Android Storage app. The problem is that I can't find these files. If I open the Misc. category there is no files displayed that can fill up that much space (the same thing goes for ES File Explorer SD card analyst).

So the question is how I can find this files.
(I have a suspicion that it's some kind of remnants from BOINC application,  but this is not helping me in any way)

Storage screenshots (click images for larger variants)

Here should've been another image to illustrate the situation with analysis from ES File Explorer SD card analyst, but I don't have enough karma for that.

You can try DiskUsage app (free), it shows detailed information about memory usage and also gives you option to:

Scan internal or external SD and graphically display space occupied by directories/ sub directories
Choose files / sub directories / directories for deletion
Re-Scan after deletion so that you can free up desired storage space


Volume buttons unexpectedly started waking the phone from - how to disable? When my phone is locked and the screen is off, I could usually wake it up only by pressing the home or power buttons.

Now, the screen also wakes when I press a volume button.

This started happening for no reason that I remember, and is extremely annoying since I use the volume buttons for controlling audio while the phone's screen is off (an option in Apollo).

Now when the screen goes on, the volume buttons have stopped changing the songs, but instead just increase the volume - which is quite a traumatic experience when you're trying to change a song on the go.

It also results in my phone's screen being on most of the time because I like to change the volume a lot.

How can I disable this?

Running:

Android: 4.2.2
CyanogenMod: 10.1.3

Some versions of CyanogenMod have the “Volume rocker” option in Settings → Display; if this option is selected, volume buttons will wake up the phone.

There are also other ways to get this behavior (e.g., the GravityBox module for Xposed has the “Volume rocker wake” option in the “Navigation keys actions” screen).


Change default font and remove bloatware without rooting the phone I have Lenovo S90 and I want to change the system default font and to delete some pre installed applications as well. Based on my initial research, the only possible way on how I can do what I want is by rooting my phone. My system is already running at Android 5.0.2 Lollipop. I was reading online tutorials about rooting this device and found them really troublesome and complicated as I am not a "techie" type of a person.
Is there a possible way that you can suggest with regards tot his matter?  Would appreciate your response a lot. Thank you.

Changing the System font is may be an option without root. A quick Google Search will help with that.

As for removing (or "deleting" as you put it) System Apps, you must have root, this I can not stress enough. Like @Frank said in the comments, you can disable and app, but this is still on your System and it still takes space.

My advice to you:

    If you don't feel safe about rooting at this time, don't do it.
    If you hate the pre-installed apps so much (my main reason to first root)
    Make a backup and root away! (Keyword: backup)!

Why you need root:

Mostly to protect the system. Suppose you could uninstall system apps without root. What happens if you mistakenly remove an important part of the system? You now have a broken Android - And imagine if everyone had broken Androids! People would claim Warranty and that cost money, time and effort. That is part of the reason Rooting (as far as I know) will void your warranty.


Use Android Phone like an iPod Touch (without SIM) I'm using a Motorola Atrix 2 for testing at work, don't want to use my SIM with it.

When I startup the phone I get an emergency calls only page and I can't get past it.

I have had a look at this very related question:

Can I use a Motorola Atrix without a SIM card?

but I seem to have a different experience than the suggested solution says I should.

When I try to boot with the volume down button pressed down and then press the volume down button again, I never end up seeing "Boot Android (NO BP)". The top of my screen only ever says "AP Fastboot Flash Mode (S)". Any suggestions?

I don't have a Motorola Atrix 2 at hand, but as far my memory goes, you can go past the
"No SIM/Emergency Dial Only" screen if you boot the phone while holding the camera button pressed.


Nexus 5 with android 5.1 has battery life issue I have Nexus 5 with android 5.1. The phone is fully discharged per day. Although I only make a few calls per day. How to fix it without downgrade to adnroid 5?

Go to Settings > Battery and see which app or service is the culprit. Touch on the app that is using an unusual amount of battery and you can FORCE STOP or REPORT it from there.


Transparent notificationbar/statusbar for Android 4.3 How can i make the notification/statusbar for Android 4.3 transparent, i know launchers like Dodol Launcher, Smart Launcher and Go Launcher has a transparent bar option. But i want it to be like it is in Android 5.0's notificationbar, so if the bar is light blue the statusbar becomes a little darker blue color.

i don't mean to do it in like Youtube, i mean if you can program it into an Android app, like this import system.ui.transparentbar

If your device is rooted you could install Tinted Statusbar (Xposed). This will do what you want.


Unable to locate SDK when starting Droid Explorer When I launch Droid Explorer, I get an error message that states Unable to locate the Android SDK tools, please reinstall the application.

I installed the Android SDK tools from the SDK Download Page.

Note: I am the lead developer of Droid Explorer. I am posting this question as I get a lot of bug reports for this issue. I am trying out using Android Enthusiasts as somewhat of a support Q&A for Droid Explorer. I will monitor any question tagged with droidexplorer.

Droid Explorer, at its root, depends heavily on the Android SDK. It communicates with your devices via ADB.

When Droid Explorer launches, it does some system checks to make sure the tools that it needs are accessible. These mainly include adb and aapt. There are some other tools that it uses, but these are the main ones that it needs to communicate.

There are 2 types of errors that can happen with the SDK not found:

Registry Error

If you see the following error message:

Unable to locate the SDK Version in 'HKLM\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DroidExplorer\InstallPath'. Try reinstalling the application.

When you first install Droid Explorer, it will ask you for the location of your Android SDK. This value is stored in the Registry.

32bit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\DroidExplorer\InstallPath

64bit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\DroidExplorer\InstallPath

Under this location, you will see a value called SdkPath. This needs to be the location of the root of your Android SDK.

Make sure Droid Explorer is closed.
Open Registry Editor

WIN+R
Type regedit
Press Enter

Navigate to the location explained above
Set the value of SdkPath to be the path to your sdk: My location is d:\android\android-sdk\.
Close the Registry Editor.
Launch Droid Explorer

If you still are getting a registry SDK error after following these instructions, Ask a Question and add the droidexplorer tag.

File System Error

If you see the following error message:

Unable to locate the SDK tools. Try reinstalling the application.

This error usually happens when you install the Android SDK, but do not run the SDK Manager and add the required packages to the SDK.

As a rule of thumb, you should follow Step 1, at a minimum, for what packages should be added to the SDK.

Source

  1. Get the latest SDK tools

  As a minimum when setting up the Android
  SDK, you should download the latest tools and Android platform:

  Open the Tools directory and select:

  Android SDK Tools Android SDK
  Platform-tools
  Android SDK Build-tools (highest version)

  Open the first Android X.X folder (the latest version) and select:

  SDK Platform
  A system image for the emulator, such as  ARM EABI v7a System Image

Your SDK Manager should look something like this:

If you still are getting a file system SDK error after following these instructions, Ask a Question and add the droidexplorer tag.

Extra information about how Droid Explorer looks for these tools:

It will look in 3 places for each tool that it needs to use.

[SdkPath]/tools/
[SdkPath]/platform-tools/
[SdkPath]/build-tools/[latest-version]/

Older versions of Droid explorer looked in [SdkPath]/platforms/[latest-version]/tools/ but this path is no longer valid in the SDK.


How to utilize those Market QR codes? Once in a while I see a description of a program that is to be installed via Android market. It is often accompanied by a two-dimensional barcode looking like a QR code that I guess somehow contains a link to the right Market page and the process of using it should be very easy.

I've searched and the closest thing I found is this question about reading QR Codes which makes me think it shouldn't be that hard and so I can't see whether that question is about the same usecase I'm asking about.

How exactly to make use of such barcodes? What's the way to proceed from the QR code on a web page to Market page?

I have installed the application "Barcode Scanner" from here https://market.android.com/details?id=com.google.zxing.client.android

To install an application, I open the "Barcode Scanner" application and hold the phone up to the barcode. It scans and decodes it automatically and then gives me the option to "open brower". I click on that and it eventually leads me to the Android market when I am given the option to install the application.


How to measure the charge left in a dying battery? This question is not relative to a specific phone model, even though I will cite my P1000.

My P1000 is 3 years old, and it is often suddenly turning off (no shutdown sequence, just goes dead) out of the blue while the battery marker is at the 31ish percentile. If I try and turn it on right away, it goes dead again during boot sequence. If I plug the charger, the charging icon shows some battery left. Turning it on with the charger plugged shows the 31-ish percent on the charge indicator. If it is left on standby, it goes below that threshold without dying, but dies soon after.

The battery is almost dead, that is sure. Now the question is,

How can I measure how much energy the battery really have left before dying, and is there any app to tweak the display of battery charge so I can have a new "zero" at this dying point?

You would need to re-calibrate the battery.

I would suggest reading the answers on:

How frequently is it okay to let the battery discharge fully or as low as possible?
Looking for a consistent answer about battery calibration
Is there an efficient way to calibrate the battery than using some apps?


Very frequent Wifi disconnection while being in China I'm having an issue on my Nexus 4 (Stock Android 5.1.1).

It keeps disconnecting from my Wifi. When I go back to connect, it says "No Internet access, automatic connection impossible".

I currently live in China so my guess is that Android checks if internet is available by querying a Google server, which is blocked in China so it then concludes "No Google = No Internet" and disconnects me from my Wifi.

I can't find any way to disable that Auto-Disconnect "Feature".

I know this is an old thread, but I found the solution. Enable airplane mode, then enable wifi. It will show the internet connection is down, but wifi will still work. Then you can disable airplane mode and it will stay connected to the wifi (until you leave the coverage area, then you'll probably need to do it again when you return).


Tasker - If at least one context is true How do I make it run the tasks when at least one context is met?

For example, when either the phone cell or GPS context is met, it activates...and only runs the exit task when both are not met.

From what I can tell you can't create a profile that will trigger when 1 of 2 conditions are met. To achieve what you are looking for tasker would have you create 2 separate profiles that choose the same task to active when the condition is met. If this doesn't answer you question dead on please provide more details since the example seems to imply you have another question.


Cyanogenmod 13 get rid of Google bar I recently updated my Galaxy S5 to Cyanogenmod 13 and have this annoying Google search bar on the top of my home screen. I used to be able to get rid of this in CM 12 but can't find how to do it in CM 13. Is there any way to remove it?

Using Trebuchet (the default launcher)? Long press empty space on homescreen, tap the little up arrow on the bottom, then find this and turn off.

Screenshot captured on my own Nexus 6P with CM13.


How to put a big message on my home and lock screen? I want to put a big message on my home and lock screen. Something like "don't screw up your diet". You get the idea. How can I do that?

One way is to just make an image of your wallpaper with the words printed on it and then select the new image as your wallpaper. Like this:


Update to Froyo -=> reboot loop on Sanyo Zio I have a Sanyo Zio.  It was happily rooted and working until last night when the OTA update to FroYo arrived.

Now, it boots, gets to the desktop, and freezes.

It looks like it's still running, as I can follow the log with adb (something I just learned about).  The log continues to accumulate entries if, for example, I touch the screen.

Otherwise, it is just completely paralyzed and unresponsive.  It has the wrong date and time (currently 11:12PM on November 10) and doesn't connect to its network.  It does, however, show the charging icon if I plug it in.  It is alive in there somewhere.

What do I do?

Do a factory reset (here are instructions).
Grab the update from here (dead link) and re-flash it.  You may need to put it in the /sdcard folder and name it update.zip, or use Fastboot through adb (you need to install the Android SDK on your PC).


How do I determine which A2DP codecs my phone supports/is currently using? Bluetooth's Audio Profile A2DP supports multiple codecs.  All devices have to support SBC (subband codec), then they can support additional "optional codecs" like MP3 and AAC, or "non-A2DP" codecs like apt-X.

Of course these codecs can't actually be used if the receiver doesn't also support them, in which case both devices fall back to SBC.

How do I find out which codecs my hardware/ROM support?
How do I find out which codec is currently in use?  (Maybe this depends on the track, too, if it passes MP3/AAC files directly without re-encoding, for instance)

On my Cyanogen 10.1 phone (AOSP 4.2.2), it is possible to enable a capture of bluetooth traffic. You can then load this capture into Wireshark and look at the negotiation phase to determine which codecs the paired audio output device supports. Not sure what OSes support this: when I first ran across this method it claimed support only from 4.4 onward, but clearly not the case with CM on a Doubleshot. :-)

Assuming you have the requisite setup (rooted ~ 4.2.2 or later), these are the steps:

pair your phone with the A2DP device of interest
disable bluetooth on your phone
edit this file:  /etc/bluetooth/bt_stack.conf, changing the BtSnoopLogOutput setting from its default value of false to true.  For this I use ES Note Editor, launched from ES File Explorer after enabling its "Root Browser" setting.
start CatLog, with all logging types enabled
enable bluetooth on your phone
after it pairs with the output device, play a snippet of audio
with your player of choice (I use Apollo). Ten seconds or so should
be plenty.
disable bluetooth again
stop CatLog's logging and save off its log file to your SD card
[IMPORTANT!] edit bt_stack.conf, changing BtSnoopLogOutput back to false.
copy the BT capture from your SD card (/sdcard/btsnoop_hci.log),
 along with the saved CatLog file, to a computer with a current copy
 of Wireshark installed.
load the capture file into Wireshark and set a Wireshark
 display filter of "btavdtp" (no quotes).  You'll now see a few
 packets only, look for the output device's reply to the AVDTP
 GetCapabilities query and you'll have your answer.

You can also line up the capture timestamps with the CatLog log's timestamps to look for suggestive log entries. I found a couple and cleverly forgot to include them in the notes upon which this post is based.

Once I have some more time am hoping to reduce this rather lengthy set of steps down to an app, but not sure if it's possible and won't have the time yet for a while anyway. Meanwhile, suggestions to improve on the above process are welcome.


How can I convert my music to show up OGG Vorbis tags? What command with FFmpeg should I use to ensure that all of my metadata (Currently, most of the Artist tags are ignored) and music will play perfectly on Android? (Preferably using Ogg Vorbis!)

I'm running the latest stable version of CyanogenMod (7.1) but the majority shows up under "Unknown Artist" on my device, but shows them on the computer. I just use Banshee to sync the music, as I'm a linux user (so DoubleTwist is not a solution ;__;)

Ogg is supported by default.

Supported Media Formats


How to remove the confirmation step in the PIN unlock screen? I’d like to remove the need to press OK or ✔ for a faster PIN-unlock, the confirmation step doesn’t add any additional level of security since it seems the PIN length is always 4 digits.

I have currently have Android 5.0.1

As a side note, I’d like to know if having a PIN longer than 4 digits is useful somehow. I’d bet the great majority of users use 4-digit PIN numbers. Also discovering the length of the PIN because of the confirmation step being removed shouldn’t be a problem because entering the wrong PIN number several times should trigger some alarms in the operative system to do something like wiping all the data or reporting the incident to someone. Maybe that's why ATMs use only 4-digit PIN numbers, if you want more than that there should be an additional option for alphanumeric passwords and that should be it, I mean not for ATMs but for mobile devices.

Stock android does not have the ability to disable this feature, as such it requires you to confirm the PIN every time you enter it. Depending on your phone, the version of Android on your phone may support this functionality.

I believe this functionality is also part of CyanogenMod (It was when I ran it a few years ago).

Also, PIN's aren't always 4 digits long, stock Android requires PIN's of at least 4 digits. Automatically confirming the PIN after x digits would kinda defeat the purpose of a longer PIN because you could find out the correct length in one attempt.


Disable Google Voice typing automatic language detection I have been a fan of Google Voice typing for a long time.
I use it for 2 languages, English and Italian.

On the Android Keyboard I can switch the language of the spell-checker by pressing the "World" icon. Until a few months ago, that would also change the language of Google Voice typing, i.e. when I pressed the microphone icon and start speaking, Google Voice typing would interpret my words in the language I had selected in the keyboard.

Right now instead, Google Voice typing got "smarter" and doesn't care about my keyboard setting, it just automatically detects the language I'm speaking. Of course it gets it wrong most of the time, and that is very frustrating, in particular because when I speak Italian (my mothertongue) it often thinks I am speaking English instead.

So, does anybody know if I can disable this automatic language detection and revert to the old behavior?
Or do you have any suggestion on a workaround?

Unfortunately at the moment it is impossible to disable automatic language detection and force the speech to text to interpret spoken words with the language set manually in the keyboard.


How to root honor 9 oreo? I updated my honor 9 to oreo few days ago and I'm trying to root it but i can't find a twrp version for it or another method to root it
I tried an alpha version of twrp and flashed it using fastboot but when i boot into recovery mode i find the stock recovery instead of twrp

The solution is to root using magisk manager via twrp or adb
Checkout this thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-view-10/development/magisk-root-honor-view-10-mate-10-pro-t3749280/amp/


Send a SMS for every Android notification (goal: get notifications on Garmin Edge 1000) I am wondering if there is a way, or an app, to send a SMS for every notification the Android phone is getting.

My goal is to try to find a way to send all the Android notifications to my Garmin Edge 1000 device. That device does receive SMS and Phone notifications, but nothing else.

So I was wondering if some feature or app could do that for me. It could send an actual SMS, or it could create a SMS event without actually sending one (not sure if possible).

Any ideas?

In fact, the best way I found to do that for any kind of events that can occurs on the Android phone is by using the Tasker application.

That way, I can choose what notifications will be sent as a SMS, and then the Garmin device will be promptly notified.


How to copy files from tablet to PC - Not all files show up in PC When I connect my Xoom to my PC via USB cable I get a Xoom "Portable Media Player" showing up in my Windows Explorer.  When I browse the drive, I can only see half the folders compared to if I browse the SD card directly from within Astro file manager on the Xoom.

Why aren't all files and folders showing up?  In Android (3.2), I've tried copying a file from a "hidden" folder to a folder that I can actually see on the PC but the file does not show up.

Someone suggested it was because it didn't get mounted as "USB Mass Storage".

How can I copy the files?

(same functionality works fine from my HTC Desire)

you may try install the android SDK and use adb-pull under command-line.


Google Account Sign in atempt prevented! Cannot sign in to play store I cannot sign in to a Google Account for enabling Play Store in my Device(Galaxy Y duos GT S6102). When I try to add a Google account, it says that my Username & Password don't match. Then when I opened my gmail from my PC, I found a mail from google which said "Sign in attempt Prevented from an app that does'nt meet modern security standards". Once by mistake I uninstalled Play Store & now I have reinstalled it. Is this the reason for not meeting modern security standards? What can I do to overcome this problem?

Try heading to https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps and seeing if you can turn on access to the application.


Does moving apps to internal sd storage move the app save data as well? I am just wondering. Lets say I move the game "Cooking Mama" to the adopted internal SD storage. The game is says 73.21 mb after the move. Does that include the game saves and downloaded content or just the original app and all my save data are in my phone still.

Game saves are usually in the /data partition and will not be affected by app storage movement.

Downloaded content are usually in Android/data or Android/obb in your storage and is likely to be moved as well.


Disabling Samsung Calendar on Galaxy S4 mini I'm trying to disable my Samsung calendar so that I don't get two notifications of events on my Galaxy S4 mini.
In settings I don't seem to have any options to change application settings.

The best solution is,

  Goto -> Settings -> Apps/Application manager -> Find Calendar

and then do Show Notification to Disable or tap for disable.

and also after find the Calendar in Apps, you can disable it or Clear cache or anything you want.

hope this helps.


using your android phone as a proxy server I wanted to use my android phone as a proxy server, meaning that I wanted to be able to use the IP on the phone as a proxy, so all request and response are received on the phone and forwarded back to the original requestor. How do I do this?

If you're just interested in setting a proxy up over your Wifi, you can do that with Servers Ultimate quite easily, but I don't know why anyone would really want to do that. A much more useful option is to use mobile data, but as @Kevin said you're going to hit a lot of headaches, namely at the ISP level (Verizon, AT&T, etc). Chances are you won't get them to change their NAT policy for you.

It's hard to use your mobile data as a proxy because all incoming connections are blocked. But, if you have a laptop connected to wifi, and your phone connected to your laptop via adb, one option is to run a command like this:

adb forward tcp:6400 tcp:8080

This command forwards all TCP connections sent to your host (laptop)'s 6400 port to your phone's 8080 port. Next, set up a proxy server on your Servers Ultimate App running on port 8080. No root required!

Now, any requests to your laptop over port 6400 will be forwarded to your mobile data! Test this by opening firefox, going to settings, Networks, and using 127.0.0.1 and port 6400 as a proxy. You can open your router up to access over public wifi using this port, although I recommend setting up some kind of security policy.

There are tons of tutorials for enabling developer options and adb on your laptop, it's easy.


Nexus 5x stuck on Google logo First time that I've been lost about how to fix an android device. In short, I tried updating the my device to the latest cm13 nightly but that ended up causing the Google logo loop (wouldn't boot into animation). I tried various fixes that I know of (tried reflashing with new Gapps, tried flashing a stock ROM no luck).

My issue now is that I can't use 'fastboot' anymore as my device isn't being recognised and so wondering if there is a fix that can be applied from twrp recovery itself.

Also must mention that device has been rooted (though not sure if it still is as I can't boot into a ROM) & has an unlocked bootloader (which can't be locked either).

Thanks in advanced.

Get into Recovery, if you flashed a CM13 you probably have a custom recovery installed. Do a factory reset from your custom rom. Alternatively, you can wipe Cache, Data, System individually.

After this, try rebooting to bootloader and connect your phone to a different PC if your's doesn't recognise the phone. It is preferable if the PC has Linux as it doesn't get you in device driver hassles. If anyway you have no option other than a Windows system, install universal naked drivers if your own device's official drivers doesn't work. Reboot your system and connect your device again to try getting Fastboot mode.


How can I see in the App store whether I am working secure I wanted to buy some small application from the app store, it asked for my credit card information, but I was unsure whether we were working in secure mode.

How can you see, during payment, whether your are working in secure mode or not ? (like the green colour in Internet Explorer).

Assuming you were purchasing through Android Market (App Store is iPhone), credit card payments are handled by Google Checkout.  (More info: http://market.android.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=105916 )

Google Checkout API is secure even though you won't see an HTTPS indicator like you would for SSL-enabled sites in a web browser (e.g. the green location bar in Internet Explorer).