Malicious hidden in root partition Hello everyone :) excuse me for creating a new thread but i couldnt find any info on this matter.

As a gift, my parents brought Samsung galaxy s4 from someone i dont trust who sells it. I factory reset the phone thinking its enough to clean everything.
After a while i feel unsafe because the person knows things out of nowhere and i found out many $py software are more advanced now that its installed via root and very stealth.

I read wiping the partition and flashing the rom could help. But limited to only boot, data, cache, system while other such as /misc, /recovery remain the same?

What if its hidden in there. i want to make sure just to be safe. On a side note the person is a techie and also know im careful and observant.

Whats your suggestion on this?

Please help. Any inputs will be very much appreciated. :(
Thank you in advance.

You'll need to "flash" the firmware on the phone to stock firmware to overwrite everything (including system files) that you had on it before.

Go to http://www.sammobile.com/ and enter your device model number. You'll be directed to a long list of each country variant of every Android version made for the device. If you have a preference for version, (AKA you hate 5.0 Lollipop), then download 4.4 Kitkat. This is a good 3 hour download, and you may have to download it multiple times before you get a perfect download (MD5 matching file). Also, sammobile requires you to sign up before you download. It's not a big deal, I used my real e-mail.

You will then download Odin v3 from XDA onto your computer as well as the Samsung USB Drivers (Official link) and install each.

Boot your phone to Download Mode (by pressing Power + Volume down) and hook it up to your computer. You'll then click on the PDA button in Odin and find your .tar file. If your download is a .zip you'll have to extract the zip. If you're below Windows 7, the zip extraction wizard will appear to have frozen for about 10 minutes. It takes much longer than usual with a single .tar file.

Make sure all the checked boxes are as so:

..And flash!

When finished, it may or may not boot right up! If not, go into stock recovery (by pressing Power + Volume up) and "Clear Dalvik Cache". Now, your phone should be up and running. If not, clear data as well.

Hope this helps!


How to find out what is causing hang My phone (Huawei P8) is hanging. It is hanging when it's not "in use" (at least, not by me or anyone else).

When it hangs, I have to hold down the power button for 10 seconds. When it restarts it works fine. I can single press the power button to put it to standby and return from this state as expected.

I then leave the phone for an amount of time (10 minutes, 30 minutes... whatever it is) and when I return, it has hung.

It still shows the lock screen when I single press the power button.

How can I find out which app(s) or hardware is causing the issue?

Keep using the device as there is a good chance you'll see a notification that a given app has stopped responding. This will then give you the opportunity to configure/update/uninstall etc


Can I access my Android's Micro SD card through Bluetooth? I just got my first Android about a week ago; so I'm hoping to learn a thing or two about it.
One thing I've been curious about is if there's a way to access my phone on my computer through Bluetooth. I was hoping I could reformat the Micro SD card that's in my phone (because I don't have an adapter..)

Can I even do that..? If so, can I go even deeper into my phone to do other neat things?

I have the ZTE Score running Android 2.3

If your only goal is to format the SD card, you can go to Settings -> SD card and phone storage -> Unmount SD card and then Format SD card. This should standard on all phones, at least it's on my Galaxy S.

You can use bluetooth to send/receive files to/from your phone after pairing it with your PC but not format.


How do I install CyanogenMod on Sony Xperia Z1 Compact? I have rooted my compact device, but I'm not able to use ROM Manager because the app says my device isn't supported. I am trying to download CyanogenMod on my Z1 Compact. Since ROM Manager doesn't work, how do I install CM?

Follow the instructions in the official CyanogenMod wiki for Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.


Trouble Unlocking Bootloader on Android Device (RCA Voyager Tablet) Okay, so I've figured out how to set up ADB on Mac OS X and I've followed all the instructions on how to get to Fastboot from ADB. The last command I use is:

  fastboot oem unlock

This command in ADB is supposed to unlock the bootloader.  On my device, it asked for confirmation to unlock the bootloader, volume up is yes and volume down is no.  Well, the "no" option works perfectly fine but then the "yes" option does absolutely nothing on the device or the terminal window.

Does somebody know what's going on? I can seem to figure it out, even though I've searched all over the internet.

Some sites say that you have to take the device off of the charging cable before booting into fastboot, but I've tried this and found it unsuccessful.

My device is running Android Lollipop.  All the developer settings are enabled like they're supposed to and ADB commands all work until the point where I get stuck.

EDIT: I'm attaching a screenshot of what my developer settings page looks like.  I can't find the OEM setting anywhere.Image

Do you have the USB DEBUGGING CHECKED BOX ON. I know USB DEBUGGER has to be on. Theres also a box about ADB/ADT make sure that is checked along with the setting install from unknown locations has to be on for 3rd party apps other than the ones from google play. It sounds like that is all that has to be on in your settings under Accessibility and under Developer options in your Settings menu.
Your other question about your volume up and down button. You need to shut your phone off then hold down on volume button and power button at same time until you see the Android bootloader settings pop up on screen then let go, somme samsungs you also have to be holding down on the menu key as well as power key, volume down.all at same time till bootoader then hurry let up


How can I tell if my installed Android version, not CPU, is a 64 bit or 32 bit one? As long as a 64 bit CPU is supposed to execute 32 bit programs, it is sometimes hard to know which one do I have installed on my device.

There are programs that require this knowledge, like the Xposed Framework installer.

What could be considered the proper method, whether be it ADB, command-line or software?

I used to do on desktop Linux:

 sudo uname -a

Maybe there is some equivalent for Android?

Further data:

Some programs that should inform about this are not clear enoguh for me. This is a example of some AIDA64 report. Even when it shows 32 bit, is this info about the operating system? I would say it is just about the hardware:

(Click image to enlarge; my AIDA64 is in Spanish)

  Question extended to this other

uname -m will display the architecture of the running kernel.  This is different than whatever your hardware may be capable of running.

Unfortunately, you have to know which architectures are 32-bit and which are 64-bit. But you can easily find this out.

For example, my m7 displays arm7l. A quick search confirms that this is a 32-bit architecture, meaning that my running kernel was compiled as a 32-bit executable.


Removing "yo" from my autocorrect I'm using Android 4.4.2 on my Galaxy S4 and using keyboard layout Icecream Sandwich.  I want to program my phone that when I incorrectly type yo that it autocorrects "to".  I don't recall when it stopped doing this, but it is very frustrating to be saying yo all of the time because of fat fingers.

You must have accidentally disabled the auto correct option under your keyboard settings.
Go to Language and input --> select your preferred keyboard and goto its settings --> search for the auto correct checkbox and mark it to true.


How can I get the market place to allow me to download games compatible with my installed OS? I've flashed my HTC Hero with android 2.2 but market place will still only show me apps compatible with the official firmware (I think 1.6) and can't download new games.

How can I get the market place to allow me to download games compatible with my installed OS?

Unless you still have the build.prop file from your 1.6 ROM somehow, I don't think the OS version is the issue.  I would guess it's blocking based on your device or carrier, not the OS.

Check out the answer to this question to see how to view and edit the build.prop file.  You can report a different device/OS version through that.  If you want to change your apparent carrier, try the MarketEnabler app.


Huawei M2-802L Cannot making call! i have a Huawei Harman/kardon M2-802L tablet. i want to make calls using sim card. there was no default calling app. i downloaded one, but the device showing :"your device is unable to make calls" when i try to open it.

anyone please advice. thanks in advance

doing a simple search on the web you find that your tablet only works with voip. Sim card is only for data. You can not call or receive a call.


High CPU usage and no sleep after upgrading to 4.4.4 I have a Sony Xperia E3. I recently upgraded to Android 4.4.4 from 4.4.2. I don't know if that is causing my issue, but it didn't happen before that.

I recently started noticing that my phone becomes very hot during normal usage (talking about 50-60 degrees Celcius, and in particular near the top of the screen, where the CPU is). When I looked into it I saw that I was using about 80% CPU under no load and that the device had been constantly awake in the past 24 hours, even though the screen was off most of the time.

It used to also be constantly using internet, but after I removed a certain app, that went away. It also improved on the heat a bit, but it's having the same problem again.

I ran a virus scan, and nothing came out.

I installed a task killer just to find out what app was using all the CPU, and it's the Android System. (I am aware that a task killer is unnecessary.)

What could be causing this, and how do I fix it?

Edit: I disabled Media Storage as described here and I am going to see if it helped. Looking at the CPU usage right after I disabled it, it didn't.

Edit: It worked after a few hours.

You could disable the Media storage app, which solves the issue, but also breaks the stock Gallery, video, and music apps, and completely breaks ringtone selection, even if you use another app to select one. If you could live with that, disable the Media Storage app. You will need root for this. If you don't want that, you can install Advanced Permissions Manager, and remove the permission Keep Device Awake from the Media Storage app. You will NOT need root for this, and everything will keep working, and the MS app will not keep the device awake all night.


Frequency band mofications for Samsung Galaxy S4 I recently purchased a used, unlocked Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-I337M (for the particular model see here). The phones native bands don't include the 1700/2100 AWS required by the cell phone provider (WIND mobile). However, the phone is able to get both talk and data as desired. The previous owner told me that he modified the phone to allow these bands.

I'd like to know

Why was this possible? Is it because the phone has the bands but Samsung suppressed them or is the phone being hoodwinked into working without having both bands?
Whether there is a chance a firmware update or factory reset will undo this feature?

Background: I'm a bit familiar with unlocking AWS bands using qcn files

Ok then, let me begin by answering in order

This is possible if the previous owner flashed their own hybrid modem onto their phone, which allows phones that are physically able to use a  certain band (1700/2100) in your case, but the company does not allow it on their stock modem (for many different reasons). The hybrid modem basically overwrites the old modem that in short, says to the phone, "Hey, these are the only bands you can use", while a hybrid modem tells the phone, "Go crazy", and unlocks all or certain bands at a cost of battery life (more bands, more battery is needed to power it.)
Most probably, yes.  A factory will wipe out the hybrid modem and replace it with the stock. So only update if you have a copy of the hybrid modem, and know how to flash it. (ODIN)

I hope this answers it for you.


Play Store keep crashing while updating apps on Nexus 5 Ok so, I have a Nexus 5, stock, updated to last Android version.

When I update apps, some of them, while downloading the update, make the Google Play Store crash to home.
I start again the play store and I start updating them again: this time, no problem.

It's not a big deal, but the randomness is kinda annoying me.

Anyone has any idea on why this could happen?

For some reason Nexus devices have an ongoing problem with playstore funny thing is Google are aware of it but dont seem to be able to fix the issues. I've had an similar issue with a Nexus 4 but I just downloaded an app called Aptoide to get my apps from and avoided the Play store altogether. Hope this helps.


Disable 'OK Google' recognition without completely disabling Google app I find the 'OK Google' always-on voice recognition to be creepy and intrusive.

At the same time, I find the voice entry for GBoard keyboard to be very useful.

If you completely disable the Google app, 'OK Google' recognition is disabled, but so is the voice entry for the GBoard keyboard.

Is there a way to prevent Google from always listening, without completely disabling the Google app?

I believe this website has a guide to the solution that you're looking for.

Edit: I was asked to summarize the site (Yes, I did just copy and paste the instructions for the most part):

Google Now has a neat ability to listen for the “OK, Google” command to automatically launch the app and get you into Search as fast as possible. But, you may not want Google Now to listen to that prompt or hotword for some reason or another. Good news–it’s super easy to turn off!

Turning off the “OK, Google” hotword: To turn off the hotword detection, open the Search app. You can find this in your App Drawer, and you can usually access it by holding down the home button as well.

Next, at the top left there’s a hamburger menu. Tap it and head into Settings > Voice.

Next, head into OK, Google Detection. From here, you can toggle it on or off.

Keep in mind that, even if you have it off, you can still head into Google Now and tap the microphone on the right side of the Search bar to use your voice. It’s certainly not as convenient as using the hotword, which gets you into Search right away, but still enables you to use your voice to search.


Samsung galaxy 4 smashed screen i have a samsung galaxy 4 with a  smashed screen, i really need to get my contact numbers and calendar from it (currently using a friends old iphone but will be borrowing sisters old s4 soon. Phone charges and light flashes at top when turned on but unable to see anything due to the damage. Desperate for help please!!!

Assuming you have logged in your Gmail account on your galaxy 4. Your contacts & calendar are already backed up to Gmail server. You can easily get access to them by logging into your Gmail account through your PC and click on Gmail icon at top left of your screen -> select Contact. For calendar click on square tiles at top right of screen and select calendar.

You can get the contacts and Calendar details on your Iphone also by logging the same gmail account to your IPhone which you had used in your broken S4.


How to remove ONE account from Google Maps I have several Google accounts in my phone.

I want to use only ONE of those with Google Maps.

I must have accidentally used another one a few times, and now I keep getting notifications about it, should I do some more reviews and whatever.

I've tried time and again and never managed to come any close to disabling Maps for some specific accounts without removing the account altogether from the phone…

Is there a way?

I had the same problem and this is what I did.

Open google maps on your phone.

Slide right to see the menu.

On the top you will see both accounts

Choose the account you don't want to use and go to Notifications and turn everything off

Then go to sign out. This will sign out all accounts.

Then go to sign in and sing in only the account you want to use.


Samsung 6 edge stuck When I plugged in my edge it made a couple of funny noices as if the charger doesn't make proper contact, then it just freezed on a blue screen with a down arrow, underneath it says "Downloading Do not run off target". No matter what I do it is stuck on that screen. I took a photo of the screen -

You are in a so called "Download Mode". You should hold your power button until your phone reboots.


Searching for alternative solution for Contact Picker for taskser I am using Tasker scences. I have a text-box. I want the user to enter contact phone number into the input-box in the scene.

I am searching how to let the user pick a number from the contact list.

Tasker don't have any plugin that show contact picker.

Do you have any other solution for that?

I found a solution by using Automate.
Automate  is like Tasker but it also has  Contact Picker.

I can start automate flow from Tasker, then the flow can pick a contact and copy the contact number to clipboard. Then Tasker can take the number from the clipboard and do whatever I want.

Hard, but it is working!!!

On the way, I found that Automate is much better than Tasker (Automate can run Tasker's tasks and plugins either)


If I deleted photo from gallery made backup before flashing, will I get that photo in the backup? My phone is Samsung Galaxy Grand. If I delete a photo from the gallery and make a backup before flashing, will I get that photo in the backup?

That very much depends on the type of backup you are talking about. As the photo was deleted, none of the usual backup approaches would cover it: a backup only takes what is there, not was was deleted.

How to recover that photo (if possible) depends not at last on where it was stored:

external SDCard: safely remove it from the device, and use a card reader to check for deleted files with your computer and an application like PhotoRec
internal SDCard: not that easy. You have to clone that partition (a nandroid backup usually does this), transfer it to your computer, and analyse it with an application like TestDisk or Scalpel

Details and further hints can be found e.g. in our data-recovery tag-wiki. See e.g.:

How can I recover a deleted file on Android?
How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card


Getting "operation not permitted" error when trying to symlink a directory After installing a custom ROM (Onecosmic's ICS 4.0.3 rc1) on my Samsung I9000 Galaxy S, the external_sd symlink is broken. So, I wanted to get this symlink back. I used the following code in Terminal Emulator (yes, I am rooted with SuperUser):

su (superuser asked for rights, allowed)
cd ./mnt/sdcard
ln -s ./mnt/emmc external_sd

But I got the following error:

  Operation not permitted.

How can I create the symlink now?

What's the partition format of the SD card? FAT does not supports symlinks, although I believe it should be possible to create a symlink in ext3 that points to a FAT directory.

Also, there are operations that even root are not allowed to do, such as writing to a read-only drive or writable drives that are mounted read-only. What's the output of 'mount' command?

Also, your command looks fishy; try using absolute path (i.e. do not prepend the path with ./, instead prepend with /):

$ su
# ln -s /mnt/emmc /mnt/sdcard/external_sd


Samsung Galaxy Grand Running Slowly After Upgrading to Android 4.2.2 I am using a Samsung Galaxy Grand for 8 months now, which was originally running Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. Recently I got a Firmware Update and upgraded my mobile to Android 4.2.2. After this update, my mobile is running slow, and even RAM usage is too high.

Please help me how to solve this Issue.

I'm thinking a factory reset could do the trick for you. Make sure do backup your things with something like Titanium Backup.


Disable "Close all incognito tabs" notification on Chrome for Android Recently, Chrome for Android changed a feature to add a notification on the lock screen and on the notification bar any time there are incognito tabs open.
I don't want a large notification on my lock screen telling everyone I have them open.
Is there a way to disable this?

If you go to the Application Manager in Settings and find Chrome, there should be an option to disable notifications. Doing so will block all notifications, even the important ones. You may even forget to close your pages.


Cannot add Outgoing COM port for any android device My problem is that I need to add outgoing com port to my android device (Nexus 4) Windows 8 x64 connected via Bluetooth.

This is usually done by using Bluetooth settings on the PC and then from "COM ports" tab yo "Add" -> "Outgoing port". However, when I try to add my device it shows me error "The device you have selected does not have a serial port service running". For Incoming port it work fine, but that's not the option I need.

I've also tried to connect Samsung Galaxy S3, Nexus 7 and rooted Nexus 4. Both on Windows 8 x64 and Windows 7 x32. Nothing worked. Then I connected an old phone which uses Symbian 8(?) and it worked fine. Of course the devices are paired before I try do add COM port.

I did good search on Google, but I did not find a way to "turn on serial port service". There's an app (Serial Port API Sample) which supposedly should help with my problem, but it doesn't - I can't get it to work, always showing an error.

I need the outgoing port so I can control my device like a modem by using Matlab.

This is just based on a bit of research, not my own experience:

Android phones, unlike your Symbian phone which worked, do not expose a Hayes-command modem as a built-in externally accessible service. There may well be such an interface internally for communicating with the “baseband processor”, but in order to control it from another computer you will have to install an Android app and/or modified OS which forwards the commands it receives from an external source. I don't know whether such an app already exists.

(Further questions on how to get the scheme I described working might be better asked over at Stack Overflow as they would be essentially about programming Android.)


GPS issue on Galaxy S when abroad I live in the Netherlands and own a Samsung Galaxy S running Froyo. Last week I was in the U.S and to my surprise, I was unable to get a GPS fix there. At home I usually get a GPS fix within a minute or so, but last week, I tried multiple times to get one for 10 minutes or longer without any success. Has somebody else encountered the same problem? Is there a solution/fix, so I can prevent this from happening in the future?

I've found the GPS Status app to be good for seeing what’s happening with the GPS sensor. It can also manually download AGPS data to improve the time to get a GPS fix.

According to the Wikipedia article on Assisted GPS, you need up to 12.5 minutes of continuous, clear signal to get a GPS fix without AGPS. It’s pure speculation on my part, but maybe your phone doesn’t download AGPS data automatically if you’re roaming and don’t have wifi.


Will CyanogenMod run on the HTC ChaCha, and is it stable? Has anyone tried to install CyanogenMod on the HTC ChaCha? What is the level of compatibility I should expect from it with with CyanogenMod?

You cannot just install CyanogenMod on any rooted device. It has to be one of the supported devices. There a lot of differences between builds of android and cyanogenmod for each device. They have different chipsets, gps, cameras, etc. They are always looking for other people to help support new devices though.


Default USB MTP for Android 6.0 I would like to have MTP selected by default (instead of charging) when I plug an Android 6.0.x device to a PC through a USB cable. What should I add or modify in the build.prop file of my rooted device to make this happen? I know that it's not possible to do that without root access but the device is rooted.

Google changed the USB protocol for Marshmallow to always default to charge.

The reason for this change because they brought back the ability to make external storage (SD card) become internal storage. Creating a new storage type called "Adoptable Storage".

Originally google removed the ability to swap storages because they viewed it as a huge security vulnerability.

Adoptable storage

In order to achieve your end goal it looks like you might have to compile marshmallow from source. Find the MtpService.java and then with updateDisabledStateLocked() change mMtpDisabled to false.

MtpService.java


ghost key and unpressable keys issue on android HTC desire Z On my screen the area where the letters "w e r" and "a s d" seems to press itself on its own, to a point most of my apps are inaccessible. If I have to write a text message or dial a number, I have to be really creative to achieve that desired goal. Also, the letters "e" and "d" are not pressable, as in when I press them, I get any of the letters surrounding it but not that specific one.

I cleaned my screen, recalibrated my screen, and reconfigured my keyboard, and have tried to google the issue. Are there any fixes or workarounds?

As per the OP's comment above, well, once or twice, meaning, yes it was exposed to water!

Rain is water. Could have gone in between the bezel of the handset or moisture residue got built up.

Get it checked out hardware wise... would not be surprised if the moisture build up is interfering with the touchscreen's recognition of touch.


On Galaxy S3 with Jelly Bean, how can I make long-pressing the home button activate Google Voice Search? I have a Verizon Galaxy S3 with Jelly Bean on it.

What I want is to long-press the Home button and hear a beep to prompt me to provide a voice command.

I had it set up this way before I installed the official Verizon version of Jelly Bean.  I had Cyanogenmod before.

I know that I can long-press the "Menu" soft-key to open up Google Now, but that's not what I want, especially since it doesn't even activate the voice search.

You could install an alternate launcher like Nova and assign the buttons to do different things. Alternatively you can flash a ROM that has the home button going to Google Search by default.


Forgot Pattern/ Android Device manager not prompting keyboard I have forgot my pattern and locked the my sony z3 compact using the Android Device Manager. Unfortunately when the screens prompts the "Locked by Android Device Manager" i have no option to enter the code. There is no keyboard popping up or anything. I just have a black screen with the above message.

Does anyone know how can i input the password?

Press the home button or back button. The soft keyboard will pop up.


Gmail app: how can I change the sender address? I'm using Gmail for all mail related stuff, but the main address I use is not my "real" Gmail address, but something like myname@mydomain.com.
I have set up that adress as a sender in Gmail, so every mail that I send from the Gmail web app looks like it's coming from myname@mydomain.com (instead of myname@gmail.com).

So my question is:
Is it possible to use this sender adress in the Gmail Android app as well?
All mails sent by the Gmail app are sent from myname@gmail.com by default and I can't find anything in the settings to change that to my alternate address.
(as I said, it's already set up and working in the web app...the Android app just needs to access this information somehow...)

My phone is a HTC Wildfire with Android 2.2, and version 2.3 of the Gmail app, if that matters.
Thanks in advance!

When composing the "From" is a dropdown menu.  It has all the accounts you've added via the webmail interface, and it's had this feature for a long time (you shouldn't need to upgrade).


What is this system icon (looks like upside down Signal strength)? Does anyone know what the left-most status icon is here? The one that looks like an upside down signal status.
It only shows up randomly from time to time, and I've tried toggling on/off different settings (such as night light) to try to make it go away, but nothing has been successful.
Rebooting my phone gets rid of it, until the next time it randomly shows up in a few days or weeks.
Moto G Power running Android 10, with all current updates.

I'm seeing it when running Blockada ad blocker vpn. Turning it off removes the icon. If I pull down the notification bar, it changes to the normal key icon until released. Only started seeing it in the last week so maybe Blockada is tapping into this icon with a recent update.


How to connect Bluetooth keyboard + bt mouse to Android smartphone to work in parallel? re.:
How to send carriage return + newline from Bluetooth keyboard connected to Android smartphone running shell emulator ?
followed answer links to similar questions
like
How to create a newline on keyboard
and
shift key + enter key pressed
just moves cursor in terminal mode one space to the right
on another, mini bluetoth keyboard, entering Fn + Esc did the new line trick, only once
Shift+Space opens the locked phone and Enter pressed, opens Shell Terminal Emulator
but another Enter press does nothing
upper left "Esc+ Enter pressed, escape Terminal, so Enter button works fine (new keyboard)
Not sure if External Keyboard Helper Demo could help me to test keyboard layout .

Problem solved.
Another Shell Terminal application from Play store supports Enter key.
Only keyboard by Logitech is supported since ASCII keys input mismatch for mini keyboard


Samsung Galaxy s3 4.3 update failing I am trying to update the firmware of my Galaxy S3 from 4.1.2 to 4.3. The update package gets downloded, but the installation fails at 31% everytime. I tried to updated using KIES also, but no success. What can be the reason and how can I resolve this issue?

The Error message is "Failed to update the firmware. Try again with Kies or contact Samsung".

Those of you who had tried OTA (over the air) or used KIES to update - and failed. My recommendation is FLASH your smartphone using software. I went to an authorised Samsung dealer who flashed my phone - and didn't have to backup either - and it took only 10 - 15 minutes, in total. Flashing uses proprietary software.


Android lock screen audio controls (8.1.0) I'm using Hi Locker screen locker because my Moto G5 was pocket entering the lock pin (super annoying). I use Audible extensively. Now the issue is it is pocket jumping through chapters and pausing my audiobooks from the lock screen audio controls. I've looked for hours and see no way to turn these audio controls off (Android 8.1.0). Is there anything I'm missing that will turn off the audio controls located on the lock screen? The Galaxy S8 has a setting for Facewidgets. I need that. It appears to just be an S8 thing. Note: Turning off all notifications does not accomplish this.

Too many generic search terms to search for this issue. Can anyone recommend a screen lock app that requires a pattern to unlock, and no controls work until I actually enter this pattern? Or an app that disables the lock screen audio controls like the Galaxy S8 Facewidgets settings?

You just get all kinds of unrelated stuff trying to search for this.

I'm almost thinking about getting an S8 just for this one issue. Thought I would ask on here first, though.

Thanks,

Apparently, after changing some of these settings, they do not take effect unless you reboot your phone. Days after turning off a bunch of stuff and still having the audio controls on my phone lock screen, I must have rebooted and now the audio controls on the lock screen are gone. The frustrating thing is that I turned a bunch of things back on when turning them off did nothing. And even though I turned all notifications to the lock screen back on, I am getting zero notifications for any app. I have to get into my phone to see notifications.

But at least it quit pocket skipping chapters forwards and backwards in my Audible books and pausing it due to the stupid audio controls on the lock screen.

Still thinking my next phone may be a newer Galaxy that at least has a built in menu option to do this.


Meaning of notification LED colour for Samsung Galaxy S III? I have a Samsung Galaxy S III running Android 4.0.1 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Is there any meaning to the colour of the LED indicator?

It sometimes lights as red, green or blue. What do each of these colours indicate?

Red when plugged in - Charging

Green when plugged in - Charging complete.

Red when not plugged in - Low battery warning

Blue - Audio is recording or you have a notification waiting.


error sending message to whatsapp I am member of a whatsapp group. My name is present in the group member's list. Nobody has removed me. But when I send any message I get the error not a member of this group cannot send any message. Friends also confirm that message has not arrived. Strangely though I can read new posts in the group but cannot see the group icon. I have no clue about how this can happen.

Inform the admin of the group to remove you and add again.
This will works.
And then you will able to send and receive messages.


Mount PC folder on my android, then serve audio/video through my Android to my TV via USB? My plan would be to allow me to connect my Android to my TV by USB, and then be able to play videos/audio from my Computer that is mounted over wifi on my Android. Is this currently possible, or is there a better way that I can accomplish this task (using only a USB cable/wifi and not having to copy files to my Android)

Thanks for any advice :D

There are definitely Android DLNA clients and servers which will allow you to share or receive videos or other media over a wireless network, see these previous questions:

DLNA enabled media player?
What can I do with DLNA on an android smartphone?
Can I get DLNA on my Droid?
What is the Android Answer to Air Video Server?

If you have a TV with a USB port, you should definitely be able to mount your phone's SD card as a drive and play the files on it (assuming they're encoded with codecs that your TV understands).

Also if you have a phone with video or HDMI out functionality you can play videos direct to the TV over a video or HDMI cable.

But, I don't think you'll be able to do things quite the way you describe. I don't know of any TVs that will mount a USB device as anything other than a mass storage device (USB drive) or a network adapter (normally only specific manufacturer approved adaptors), and it sounds like you want to stream movies via your phone rather than just play them from its storage. One problem you're going to face is that on an unmodified Android phone the moment you mount your phone as mass storage to one device (eg your TV) it's no longer accessible to other apps on your phone (such as whatever's receiving it from your PC).

TL;DR three realistic options:

Plug phone into PC copy movies onto SD card, unplug phone, plug into TV play as files
If your phone has TV-out, video-out or HDMI-out, plug your phone into the TV that way instead of USB and then either play from its storage, or from a streaming video client
If your TV is network connectible, use a DLNA client on your phone (see above question links) to push the movie from a DLNA server on the PC (eg Windows Media Player on Win 7, or Twonky server) to a DLNA compatible, network attached TV (or media streamer box attached to TV).


Can't find other options in the "Ok Google" detection settings page I have already re-installed the google app, factory reset my phone, but I still can't find more options fron the 'Ok Google detection' page.

This is what I see:

Click image for larger version

My Phone: Sony Xperia C3 Dual

Android version: 5.1.1 (lollipop)

Not all phones support hotword detection being on all the time (i.e. "OK Google" from any screen). The phone needs a lower-power co-processor, to avoid running down the battery by keeping the processor running at full power all the time just processing sounds. It's up to the system integrator (the people who compile Android for the phone) to set whether this option is enabled or not. From other users' reports on Google Product Forums, it looks like the Xperia C3 doesn't support this, and Sony removed it in the update to Lollipop.

Most likely you could get this working with a custom ROM, but the cost would be that it would run down your battery - which is presumably why Sony removed the functionality in the first place.


How to detect filesystem type of un-mounted partition? These commands won't work:

fdisk -l      #outputs nothing...
su; fdisk -l  #nothing..
sudo fdisk -l #sudo not found...
parted -l     #parted not found...

Is there any app that shows that easly?

EDIT:

For now I had to attach the sdcard to PC and let Linux mount it, I found the partition was ext3 and not ext2 that I thought! All I read says partition must be mounted to know its type. I think we must create a path and mount it with automatic detection and see mount output to know the partition type.

Have you got the file command available? This question on SuperUser says that's the way to go.


File Transfer on LAN using wifi User 'Logos' stated the following in another question's response:

  If you just want to transfer files while on your LAN and you're using wifi, Samba Filesharing works super well. You can just browse to your phone's SD card like it was a regular network samba share from your desktop.".

I'm using Ubuntu Lucid on my desktop and Cyanogen Mod 7.2 on my ZTE Blade phone. Could anyone define the steps required to do the above?

Silly me for not noticing Enable on the Menu options. I'm now getting on Samba Filesharing 'Title' screen: Enabled - Running,\192.168.1.4 (i.e. correctfixed ip address assigned by router using phone's MAC address), \ANDROID, Wakelock Active. But when trying (in Nautilus) to 'Connect to Server' (with parameters of SSH & 192.168.1.4), I get popup displaying 'Could not display "sftp://192.168.1.4/", because the host could not be found.'. Router's admin shows that phone is not attached! I can ping phone from PC. but not vice versa. Tried using Terminal Emulator to ping PC from phone: tested first by phone ping itself but don't know how to stop Terminal Emulator as no Ctrl key on soft keyboard. ATP does not kill it!

There are 2 options:

Root your phone.
Install the Samba Filesharing app, or any other Samba server for Android.
Install samba on Ubuntu, or any other Samba client (there are some on Android too). This should do: sudo apt-get install samba, or any other equivalent command on another OS. You don't need this step on a Windows machine.
Optional: Install an app on your PC to make it easier to configure samba on your PC. apt-cache search samba should give you some good results (or anything equivalent).

The point is that this Android application will let your device show in the "My Network Places" of Win XP, and the "Network" of Win Vista/7 and Ubuntu. From there you can browse to smb://ANDROID/ (or \\ANDROID for Win) in your file manager.

Make sure you set the WORKGROUP correctly on the Android app. And if you face some problems with accessing your phone, try using the IP address instead of the name (ANDROID by default).

Otherwise, if you're not rooted for example, you could install a file manager app with support for Samba shares (like ES File Explorer or File Expert for example), or any other samba client (like AndSMB). This way you could access shares on other computers on the network (but not share your own SD Card, you need a samba server on your device for this to work).


High frequency noise from headphones when connected to cellphone I am having a problem with my phone... when i connect headphones(any headphones) to the 3,5mm jack and play audio, there is a tiny high frequency noise in the background. However, this is only present when there is sound playing.. if i stop playing sound the high frequency noise stops after a few secconds... I am thinking that it must be the processor of the phone generating the noise, and the sound card is not filtering it out...

The cellphone is an LG Optimus 4X HD

Attempting to Force Stop MediaServer might help if the problem exists within videos too.


How to get rid of Google Play Store has stopped message I keep on getting this message: "Google Play Store has stopped." I have tried deleting the Google Play app and could not install it from the web. The next day it reappeared. I keep getting this message:

How do I get rid of it?

Thanks.

Try clearing the app caches and app data of

Google Play Services
Google Services Framework
Google Play Store

If that doesn't solve it, try this

Settings->Apps->Google Play Store->Uninstall Updates->Ok

now restart the device and launch Google Play Store app.


What can an app do with the "USE ACCOUNTS ON THE DEVICE" permission? Can such an app freely read my emails/calendar/message/docs/etc.?

The "USE ACCOUNTS ON THE DEVICE" permission is also known for developers as android.permission.USE_CREDENTIALS.

Example of such apps: WhatsApp, MightyText.

Android has a centralized system for managing credentials for online services (such as your Google account). One component is called the AccountManager. Some apps can "act as an account authenticator". This means that they understand how to log into a particular online service, and can log in to that service for the AccountManager. Other apps want to use that login information to identify you or perform actions on your behalf, without you having to enter your password every time.

Example: logging into Google

Your phone has a built-in app that "acts as an account authenticator" for your Google account. It knows how to log into Google, and it has the email and password you entered when you set up the phone. There's also a YouTube app, which wants to log in to show your favourite videos, and to let you comment, but without having to enter your email and password again.

This YouTube app talks to the AccountManager and asks if it has any credentials for a Google account. Asking this question requires the "find accounts on the device" permission. The AccountManager has a list of authenticators installed on the phone, which it consults to answer this question. If it does have any credentials, the app will then ask for what's known as an authtoken for the Google account. This request requires the "use accounts on the device" permission.

The AccountManager then asks you if you want the requesting app (YouTube) to be able to use the requested account (Google account). This might be in a dialog that appears over the app, or in a notification. Alternatively, the app can choose to do nothing if you haven't already answered yes to this question: it might want to ask later at a more convenient time. This step ensures that an app with the "use accounts on the device" permission can't immediately use every account without asking.

If you say yes, the AccountManager forwards the request to the authenticator (the built-in Google app). What happens next is up to the authenticator and the particular service you're logging into. You might need to log in if you haven't previously done that, and logging in might require a username and password, a photo, an SMS, or something else entirely. Whatever the authenticator does, it can either fail, or give an authtoken back to the requesting app.

Further checks

The authenticator and the online service can also control what actions the requesting app can perform. For example, when you connect an app to your Google account, Google lists permissions the app needs (such as "upload videos" for YouTube). Thus, the app can only do the actions listed. However, some services might not have anything like that; for such a service, once you've allowed the app to use your credentials, it can take any action in your name.

Once the requesting app has obtained the authtoken, it can continue to use it to perform actions in your name without any further interaction from you. That is, once you've agreed that Dan's Twitter Client can post to your Twitter feed, it might run in the background and post further tweets without you knowing. You should only grant the app access to your credentials if you trust it not to do that.

Summary

An app with the "use accounts on the device" permission can, once installed, ask you to access an online service (such as Google, Facebook, or Twitter) in your name. You can choose to let it access the service or not. If you do let it access the service, what actions it can take on your behalf might be limited by the service (it's up to the service), and the service might let you revoke that permission later (usually through a list of "connected apps" on the service's website).


How to change file type on renaming? I have Android 4.0 for Galaxy Note 10.1.

How  do you rename files to change the file extension?
For example, if you have a text file extension .xml how do you rename to .txt

Almost all File Manager apps support renaming extensions. Install one from Play Store. Some best ones are: Solid Explorer, ES File Explorer, Astro File Manager, Root Explorer.


Is there a video player that supports the orientation flag? My camera takes videos that save the orientation of the video. I'd like to have them play with the correct orientation on my phone. Is there a player (paid or free) that does this?

I'd say all videos players, but in doubt I tested :

AOSP Gallery : works.
The new "Photos" app that comes with Google+ : works.
MX Player (free) : works.


Reply to an SMS and send it to someone else Sometimes when I reply to an SMS, I also want to send that same SMS to another person. On my previous non-android phones this was easy, every SMS was a single message, as opposed to the threads in Android. I could just add another receiver there.

When I answer an SMS in Android, I do not have the option to add another receiver. Is there any workaround?

(Android 2.3 on a Samsung Galaxy Gio)

You could long-tap the message, select "Copy message text", then paste that into the input field of a thread with the new recipient.


How to disable weather notifications from Google app? I cannot find a way to disable weather notifications from Google app. Every a few hours I get in the notifications list "How it is like outside" - temperature and clouds.

I searched all over the place and couldn't find a way to disable that.

Open the Google app and press the menu button.

Settings => Google Now (click to the left of the toggle) => Scroll down and toggle the weather off


SD card and internal storage I've been having problems with my two storages. I can't move some of my installed apps to SD Card. My internal storage is full. I can't move an app from internal storage to SD card.  There's nothing in my SD card.  I've tried everything , formatting SD card as portal. Have no clue what that means. Again, I tried everything, nothing worked for me.  Have an awesome day.  Thank you for your help.

This works only on marshmallow and newer versions. Most of OEM's doesn't offer in gui option for adoptable storage. So you have to do it via ADB. Here is how click

Here it is:
NOTE  all data on your SD card will be lost.

Make sure USB debugging is enabled in developer options under settings and then connect your phone to PC via USB cable.
Open terminal or command line on PC ( make sure you have ADB installed if not then download minimal ADB and fastboot, you can find it on Google click ) type command "adb devices" to make sure phone is detected, then type "adb shell"
3.Type 'sm list-disks' to list the disks available, the result should be something like "disk:179:160"
To make SD adoptable use command "sm partition disk:xxx:xxx private" where xxx:xxx is replaced with result from previous command, in some cases there is _ instead of : so watch out for that. If you want to use only half of SD as adoptable then use this command "sm partition disk:xxx:xxx mixed 50" and that's it.

If you want to move your data (pictures, videos etc) you can go to settings>storage>SD card>more and you will have there option "migrate data" hit it and let it go.


Reducing Android power usage I have an Android app that accesses the camera and sends SMS messages. My problem is that the phone will be charged by a battery, so the power usage has to be the minimum.

I realized that the screen consumes most part of the battery. Is there a way to open the camera with the screen blanked?

I also thought to remove the display, but I read that Android performs a hardware test in the boot. The system will boot without the display?

What other ways to reduce power usage in Android do you recommend me?

Any tip will be very helpful,

Thanks

Displaying blank screen won't help you because Even if you display a blank screen, the screen is still consuming power.I guess you only want to use camera feed in your app and you have the control of your android phone as well, so saving battery is one thing that you can manage only with your app though you can't control the most of the apps although there are are couple of things that might come handy.

Try to use marshmallow which automatically helps you to save memory (if you have control of device).
You can disable wifi network and other connectivity services to save battery (look for code online but every code won't work on every version).
For wifi ,

WifiManager wifiManager = (WifiManager)this.context.getSystemService(Context.WIFI_SERVICE);
wifiManager.setWifiEnabled(status); // pass false to shut it down

you can create your own customize rom(cyanogen mod is most popular ) which can be modified just with minimal number of required system apps and platform apps so that there will be less number of app to manage and which automatically lead you to less number of system resources requests hence longer battery

Hope this will help.Good luck


How to enable device administrator for specific apps using Tasker? I would like to make a profile in Tasker to enable device administrator privilegies to "Android Device Manager" when a text message is received. This way I could keep Device Manager disabled, while I can re-enable it remotely (by a text message for example) in case I lost my phone.

Is there any way to do that using Tasker?

Not sure why would you want to do that but you're gonna need root access for sure if you want to enable Android Device Manager as Device administrator in background.

I tried combinations of intent broadcasts to avoid device reboot but with no success, so note that my method requires a reboot.

All the enabled Device administrators are noted in the file /data/system/device_policies.xml. Simply add or remove an app's entries from it, reboot the device and that app would get enabled/disabled as Device administrator.

Any app which shows up under Settings → Security → Device administrator has a receiver meant specifically to meet the requirements of using the Device Administration API and requires the permission BIND_DEVICE_ADMIN. You can check the receiver's name in the Manifest of the app. It is this receiver which is mentioned in the device_policies.xml file.

The simplest way to get the app's device admin receiver's name and the flag is to enable the app as Device administrator, look for the app's entries under device_policies.xml file and then revoke the Device administrator privilege .

For Android Device Manager (ADM; managed by Google Play Services), the entries are:

<admin name="com.google.android.gms/com.google.android.gms.mdm.receivers.MdmDeviceAdminReceiver">
<policies flags="28" />
</admin>

Now, let's make a task to add those entries in the said XML file whenever needed.

Note: First, Busybox is required for the task, but you can do away its need and use Tasker's inbuilt functionality for sorting if you look closely at the action I proposed to enable ADM. Second, my solution is tested on Android 5.0.2 and 5.1.1 but it should work on other Android releases as well with little tinkering.

Create a task named "Enable ADM".
Create the following actions in that task:

Code → Run Shell,

Command:

if [ "$(grep -o '</policies>' /data/system/device_policies.xml)" != "</policies>" ]; then sed -i 's/<policies setup-complete="true" \/>/<policies setup-complete="true" \/>\n<admin name="com.google.android.gms\/com.google.android.gms.mdm.receivers.MdmDeviceAdminReceiver">\n<policies flags="28" \/>\n<\/admin>\n<\/policies>/g' /data/system/device_policies.xml; fi; if [ "$(grep -o 'com.google.android.gms/' /data/system/device_policies.xml)" != "com.google.android.gms/" ]; then sed -i 's/<\/policies>/<admin name="com.google.android.gms\/com.google.android.gms.mdm.receivers.MdmDeviceAdminReceiver">\n<policies flags="28" \/>\n<\/admin>\n<\/policies>/g' /data/system/device_policies.xml; fi

The command may look a bit incomprehensible at first, but it's plain and simple in reality . The whole command consists of two simple conditions and actions. The first if condition is checking whether </policies> string is available in the file or not. If any app is enabled as Device administrator then the app's receiver and flag would show up between <policies setup-complete="true"> and </profiles>. If none of the apps is enabled then </policies>  would not show up so we can easily append ADM's entries into the file.

The second if condition is checking whether ADM is already enabled or not. If not, then add the entries to enable it.
Check Use Root

Code → Run Shell,

Command: setprop ctl.restart zygote

This would soft-reboot the device.
Check Use Root

Instead of soft-reboot, you can opt for normal reboot from System → Reboot → Type: Normal

Create an event profile from Event → Phone → Received Text and set,

Type: SMS
Sender: Choose a number or leave it blank
Content: Specify what should be in the text to trigger the task such as "Yo boy!". Alternatively, you can avoid this stage and leave everything pretty much global but use an action or more in a task for more complexity as well as flexibility.

Assign the task to the profile.

That's it. You can test your profile now. It should work flawlessly. If it doesn't, then I'm not at fault! Keep troubleshooting since you know the concept now.


Automatically turn on/off data when downloading MMS With my Galaxy S3, my girlfriend's Galaxy S4 and her mother's Galaxy Core, we cannot download MMS automatically. We have to turn on data before doing so.
This problem is not happening with her sister's Galaxy Ace: whenever they receive a MMS, data is automatically turned on, and then off once the MMS is downloaded.

Now, this isn't a real problem most of the time (more of an annoying one), but my girlfriend's mother has a very low data plan (100mb) and often forgets to switch off data once the MMS is received, so she often maxes out her data plan.

I have tried something I found here: copy the existing APN and setting only "mms" as APN type, but it doesn't work.

My girlfriend and I are Orange (France) and her mother is Bouygues.

Thanks for your help!

Again something tasker is able to solve (and maybe one of its "free alternatives" such as llama as well – but as a Tasker user, I can better describe it for that):

Both apps can act on events, and execute tasks. So let me construct a fake-profile (use it as "guide", not literally):

Condition:

Received Text (Tasker does not differentiate between SMS and MMS here)

Task:

Mobile Data → On
Wait → 1 min (set a time frame sufficient to connect and download the MMS)

Exit-Task: (optional)

Mobile Data → Off

The Exit-Task is optional. By default, Tasker restores the "before-state" automatically.

So what would this do? Whenever a message (SMS or MMS) is received, it would turn on mobile data for a minute to download the text, and then automatically switch it off again.

As I'm not sure whether an incoming MMS would even be signaled with data off, let's have a "Plan B":

Condition:

State→Mobile Network is On

Task:

Wait → 10 min (adjust time frame to fit your needs)

Exit-Task:

Mobile Data → Off

This would be a kind of "don't forget me" timer: If your girlfriends mother turns on data to receive the MMS, and forgets to turn it off again, it would automatically be turned off after the configured time-frame. Here the exit-task is mandatory, so Tasker does not restore the "before-state".


How to use diffrent modes at same time on a phone for different callers For two different callers call on a phone, Is it possible that phone is on vibrate mode for one caller and on ring mode for different user?

My question is in terms of making an application. Is it possible for two different caller when they call at same time on an phone for one the phone is on vibrate mode and for other it will be on ringing mode. Like what i am thinking is to start a service that run in background, So when a call is coming from a particular number it will switch it to vibrate and for different no it will switch to vibrate.

But again the thing is service can listen only one number at the time. So the phone can either work on Vibrate or its in ring. Can it be possible that two mode run simultaneously for two different number?

IF so then hows it possible?

By default you can set different ringtones for each contact by hitting the menu button form the contact window and choosing options.  To add vibration into that mix you can use an app called WhoIsIt, that among other things lets you set different vibration patterns for each contact.

Another way is suggested in this answer.

A more powerful but complicated way to get this done would be to set up different profiles for each caller in an app called Tasker.


Can PowerTutor app measure exact whole power consumption of device's GPU? I'm developing face detection app using OpenCL for heterogeneous devices with CPU-GPU. My app uses CPU - GPU simultaneously, so I want to measure app power consumption, comparing only GPU version which most calculations are executed in GPU kernel.

I found PowerTutor app. It measures power consumption of each app. The PowerTutor app measures about utility of CPU, LCD, 3G, WiFi respectively and weighted average of power consumption.

Can PowerTutor app measures exact whole power consumption of devices which uses GPU?

As already mentioned, Power Tutor doesn’t display power for the GPU. Power Tutor is a very cool app, but it's based on research that was done in 2011. It uses modelling to estimate power consumption. No actual power is displayed. Power Tutor is surprisingly accurate when it is run on the phone that was used to create the model, but that phone (the HTC Dream) was released back in 2008. According to Google Play, the Power Tutor app hasn't been updated since April of 2013.

On my Samsung Galaxy Note 3, Power Tutor only reports LCD and CPU power and both are very inaccurate. The actual power consumption of my device when idle is 528 mW. Power Tutor says it's 623mW to 818mW. That's an error of up to 55%. The per-rail estimates are off even more. On my device it shows the GPS uses up to 400mW. That's an order of magnitude off. It shows my audio power usage is around 350mW, which is also way too high. Power Tutor shows my screen uses a little under 600mW. That's too high. It shows the processor uses around 0-150mW. That's too low. On my device the per-rail WiFi doesn't work.

It's true that Android has power profiles, but those don’t appear to be accurate either. I can provide more details if anyone cares.

A better way to measure total system power is an app called Trepn Profiler. It doesn't estimate power. It reads the actual current and voltage from the power management IC and converts that to into power. Because it runs on target, that does make readings a little higher than they should be, but it’s a very useful tool for this who are lucky enough to have a device that reports accurate battery power.

If you have money to burn and you want to measure accurate per rail power of the CPU (Cores 0-3), CPU (Cores 4-7), Graphics (GPU), LCD Backlight, Front Camera, Rear Camera, System Memory (RAM), Internal Memory/SD Card, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, Sensors and USB, you could get a Snapdragon MDP tablet from Intrinsyc. I don’t want to provide more details here because I know this isn’t a commercial forum.
In the unlikely event that you are willing to share both versions of your app with me, I’d be happy to let you know what the power consumption is of each. You could also get a Monsoon Power Monitor and measure this for yourself.

Disclosure: I’m part of the team who produced Trepn Profiler. Trepn is free in Google Play. We’re working on a new app that will be released later this year that will also show modelled system power on the most popular mobile processors. Sorry for the blatant plug. I only mention this in case some of you would like to Beta test this app.


Android P, Total Silence I installed Android P once it got released for Google Pixel phone. But they changed how you mute your phone. Now there is the option to put your device on vibrate/mute on the bar that appears when you change the volume and then there is the "do not disturb" option.

In Android 8 you had as option to change the "do not disturb" option to "total silence". How do you recreate this?

When you have "do not disturb" on stuff like YouTube, it still plays sounds; same for the Whatsapp message sound. Muting on that bar thingy still lets calls through and both together seem to work out but i cant be sure. I don't want my phone to go off in meetings so I hope someone can give me some insights.

Eric

Looks like Google has removed this feature in Android P. There is a feature request open here -> https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/80089859

You can go and Star that ticket to show your support for it.


How can I clear out unneeded files - like cache, tmp et al? Are there any Bleachbit like software for Android?
Software that cleanes all the tmp, cache, unneded files..

As far as I can tell, Android doesn't keep around a lot of cached files for the OS.  Your phone's recovery mode should also have a "Clear cache" option that would do the trick, and you can clear individual app caches from Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications.


All emails under K9 -app? Android requires at least one-working Gmail that is apparently tied to the default email. Now I would like to have that email under K9 but I cannot because Android instructs me to hard-reset my device if I remove the Gmail from the default Gmail. Now the problem is that I get two notification from Default client and from K9. So how can I have all emails under K9?

You don't need to remove default Google Account or factory reset to ditch double notifications. Use any one of following methods which suits you best:

From Settings ~> Accounts & Sync, choose the default Google Account & turn off Gmail Sync. After that, you'll receive notifications from K-9 Mail, ONLY.
In some Android versions, if you turn off all sync options listed under a Google Account, a Sign Out button is appeared. All you need is to tap it. Go ahead to try it.
If you are rooted, delete /data/system/accounts.db file & restart the system (On Jelly Bean, its /data/system/users/0/accounts.db and the location can vary with Android versions). Next time, you'll be asked to add Google Account again.


Synchronize contacts of a Google Account with an Apple Account I have a lot of contacts on my Google Account and I want to have them on a Mac.

Is it possible to synchronize them with an apple already existing account? The apple account haven't the same mail of the Google Account.

You can add your Google account to your Mac, and enable the option to sync your contacts.  To learn more about adding your Google account, take a look here.

or

From an iPhone, follow these steps to set up contact syncing with Google Contacts:

Go to Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add Account > Other > Add CardDav Account.
Enter the following information in the fields:

Server: google.com
User Name: Enter your full Google email address
Password: Your Google account password
Select Next at the top of the screen to complete the setup.
After you have completed the setup, open the Contacts app on your device. Syncing should begin automatically.

Note: Make sure that SSL is enabled (under Advanced settings), and that the port is 443.


Android v7: Import close to 8000 complex contacts in one shot I have close to 8000 vcf files in a directory on the usb stick. I attach the stick to my phone and all files are perfectly visible. In the contacts app I choose import, select the stick, and it shows me all the contacts, so I choose "import all".

Unfortunately only first few dozens get imported.

Apparently Android v4 had the same problem as the following question explains: Transfer and import .VCF Contacts

It seems to me unlikely that so obvious contact app error remains unfixed for years.

How to make the contact app import all of them?

Please note that some of the contacts (actually quite few of them) are fairly complex with a lot of data - such as for example multiple, long "note" fields, multiple phone numbers with different attributes, sometimes custom-defined, very long company name fields, multiple addresses (private / business / branch office list, etc.) and so on.

Unfortunately most of the apps I tried expected one large VCF file and/or rejected VCF files with a lot of additional information, such as multiple "note" fields for one contact, too long "company" field, multiple phones with various attributes (primary/private mobile/business mobile/etc.) and so on.

After some searching and trying a few apps I found the following solution:

I have imported the VCF files to old Nokia Symbian based phone - Symbian has excellent VCF importer.
I used this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.madajevi.android.phonebook.transfer to transfer the contacts directly via bluetooth.

App advantages:

imports all contacts, even the most complex ones without skipping user defined attributes nor multiple repeated fields

App disadvantages:

very slow (it took the whole night to transfer nearly 8000 contacts)
asks for strange, unnecessary permissions (I kept refusing, forgot exactly which ones)
synchronizes NOT with the local address book but with Google Contacts which means that your contacts actually are seen on the Internet - important security breach, do NOT use the app for confidential data
full-screen user interface with no exit button - after finish you need to kill the app via task manager


Calendar Bug in Android 1.6 on LG GT540 On my Wife's LG GT540, the calendar has 2x 3rd of April, as you can see in the following picture:

As funny as it is, it isn't very helpful...

I'm wondering if anyone else has heard of this and/or knows a solution?

If your phone is still running Donut, did you know that an Eclair (Android 2.1) update should be available for that phone, Eclair starting rolling out to the Middle East in September and the rest of the world should have had it by the end of 2010. See the official GT540 update guide on LG's website. You should be able to download the necessary LG Mobile Support Tool software from here.

I would hope that such a glaring bug has been fixed in the updated calendar/widget.


Transferring data from SD Card to Internal Memory and vice versa I have a Smartphone; Sony XPERIA SP with Android 4.3 (updated). While recently updating the apps on my phone, it told me that the Internal Memory was close to full. So I inserted a 2 GB microSD Card (which I found on my drawer by luck) after which my phone prompted a notification to transfer some data to the SD Card. I clicked on the notification and the data got automatically transferred! (I had to select just a few things) After few days someone gifted me a 32 GB microSD Card and so I was thinking of replacing it with my current card. But then to do so I need to transfer the data from my current SD Card to the phone again and then re transfer the data back again to the new SD Card. But how am I suppose to transfer data to the phone again? I found no option to do that. Also is there any other way to replace the new card with the existing one so that no files get deleted or misplaced?

There is no automatic way that you can do this. However if you really want to do it, you will have to connect both memory cards to computer and transfer the files manually by selecting all. And if you don't have computer you cant do by app, es explorer which is freely available in play store this transfer by first placing the files in your sd card and then insert the new sd card and if the system prompts you about the storage full, then you have what you want.


How to gain S-OFF on HTC Salsa I want to root my HTC Salsa phone. According to this link I need to gain S-OFF on my Mobile.

There is nice article to gain S-OFF.

But my Question: Is there an alternative way, without using any hardware to gain S-OFF ?

the Salsa is supported by the official HTCdev bootloader unlock process

While this does not make your phone S-OFF (which would allow overwriting things like the radio software), it does make enough of the partitions writable to install custom recoveries like ClockWorkMod, root the device (by installing rooting packages like superuser or SuperSU), and install custom ROMs that don't need updated bootloaders (the vast majority).


Clean update/install of new Android version (non-nexus) I don't have a Nexus device (I have a Moto G2 2013).
Today I received the OTA update from my manufacturer (6.0 Marshmallow).

I want to do a clean install/update on my device. For example, when upgrading Windows it asks me if I want a clean install. I found out Android doesn't give me the option.

What is the cleanest way to upgrade my device?

Factory reset my device (going back to 4.4) and then hop versions (OTA to 5.0 and then 6.0)?
Look for an ISO from my manufacturer and flash it?

I don't think a factory reset would revert your device back to 4.4, I'm pretty sure it would still be on 6.0. A factory reset would wipe all user data on your device without touching the OS.

If you some want to wipe all installed apps (bar system apps) and user data then a factory reset would do. If you want to wipe the OS too then you would need to find a full device image.


How to send a text to multiple recipients with personalised details filled in from their contact information? Is they a way to send a text message to multiple recipients but include details taken from their contact card and have them automatically inserted into the text when it's sent? Something like the following:

  Merry Xmas [contact name]!

Where the name of the contact is filled in automatically. I'm aware that there are apps that allow mail merging of e-mails but I couldn't find any similar functionality for texts.

I am not aware of any stock messaging apps amongst any of the ROMs that will do that, but it looks like there are a bunch of apps in the market that will (Like SMeSsaggia bulk customized SMS or Group SMS, or Group SMS and Scheduler.)


Transfer LINE account from a phone to another without losing friends and chat history LINE is a messaging/call application.

I bought a new Android phone, and want to transfer LINE friends, chat history, call logs, groups, groups chat history, from my former Android phone.

How to do?

Warning: LINE only allows one active phone, and will destroy data on the old phone as soon as you log in on the new phone, so be sure to correctly perform this procedure BEFORE logging in on the new phone.
Fast procedure (requires rooted phones)

If you don't remember your LINE PIN code, now is the last chance to change it, LINE will ask for it after you switch. Even if you never set one, it will ask you so better set it now.
Make sure Letter Sealing is disabled in Line settings on your old phone (you can re-enable it after this is complete).
Root both of your Android phones, old and new (absolutely required)
Install Titanium Backup (free) on both phones.
On the old phone, make sure LINE is not running, launch Titanium backup, and backup LINE (App+Data).
Copy the Titanium Backup folder (typically /sdcard/TitaniumBackup/) from your old phone to your new phone. It should contain 3 files or so.
On the new phone, install LINE (don't start it yet), launch Titanium Backup and use it to restore LINE (App+Data). Press "Done", do not start it yet.
On the new phone, install Root Browser, and use it to copy /data/data/jp.naver.line.android/databases/naver_line to your /sdcard/, then transfer it to a desktop computer (via ADB or email)
Open this file in SQLiteBrowser, go to the Execute SQL tab.
Type delete from setting; then press the Execute button. Click "Write changes" then exit, and copy the modified file back to /data/data/jp.naver.line.android/databases/naver_line
Start LINE on the new phone and log in. When Line asks you about restoring the chat history; say no. Even though Line warns you about loosing your chat history, just go head; all of your data will be just like you left it.

This restores your friends, chat history, call logs, groups, groups chat history.
Note about Letter Sealing: if you forgot to disable it in step 1, new incoming messages will show up as an error and you won't be able to send messages. To fix this problem, just:

Disable Letter Sealing.
Use Root Browser to remove all files that start with "e2ee" in /data/data/jp.naver.line.android/databases.
Re-enable letter sealing.

Thanks to TechGravy for the procedure.
Thanks to YandereSan for the Letter Sealing fix.
Slow procedure (no rooting needed)
If you are unlucky enough to have a phone that can't be rooted (the old one or the new one or both), then your only option is this:

One-by-one for each chat conversation, go to the conversation settings and backup it (Backup all) to the SD card (or email if you prefer).
Move the resulting files to the new phone in a folder called /sdcard/LINE_Backup.
Log into LINE on your new phone. This will destroy all history from your old phone, so only do it when all conversations have been backed up.
For each of your friends, go to the conversation, chat settings, and tap Import chat history, confirm.

In total this will take about 1 minute per friend if you are fast, for instance about 3 hours if you have 200 friends.
Warning: Groups chat history can not be restored by this procedure. This only restores friends, chat history, call logs, groups. Also, it loses any media older than a couple of weeks.


Disconnect a Google/Android account from a phone number I recently lost my phone for a few days and tried to sign into my Gmail account to let acquaintences know. Gmail wouldn't allow me to sign in, as it was an unfamiliar location, and the only ways I could confirm my account involved my phone and my phone number. How can I disconnect my Gmail account from my phone number to make sure this doesn't happen again?

Instead of deleting your phone number I advice adding an additional recovery email.
But if you want to delete your phone number from your Google account, you have to go to myaccount.google.com and then select access and security, then select recovery phone. Finally enter your Gmail password, press edit and delete the phone number.


How do I unlock an Optimus T? Is there a "vanilla" firmware I can use? I'm an experienced iOS developer, and I just bought my first Android phone, used, on eBay. The phone is carrier locked and I'm looking to swap in my iPhone SIM card. (I have an adapter.)

The phone is carrier locked. Is there a way to root or erase the firmware to unlock it, or must I use an unlock code? If so, what are my options for obtaining said code?

Unfortunately it appears your only option is an unlock code, I've just done a search.  This XDA thread has a couple ways to get into the unlock screen so you can enter the code.

Your options for get the unlock code are to ask the carrier the phone is locked to -- they might give it to you if they're feeling nice -- or to buy it online.  There are no reputable sellers of unlock codes online, of course, but you could search around and find someone whose experience seems reliable and use the same service that they did.


How to use an USB-attached wired Ethernet adapter through USB-OtG on an Android smartphone? Due to my profession I use to have to connect to wired-only LAN-attached devices (like managed switches, routers, set-top-boxes etc) frequently to access their configuration interfaces via Telnet/SSH/HTTP. And I am totally tired of carrying a bag with a laptop with me wherever I go.

I have just bought a Samsung Galaxy Ch@t B-5330 (Android 4.1.2) smartphone (almost the only modern model with a physical QWERTY on the market today, certainly the only QWERTY by Samsung) and an USB-OtG ("USB host") cable for it.

It would simplify my life significantly if I could connect it to wired Ethernet networks.

Is this possible? Where do I even start?

It seems to be no custom firmwares like Cyanogen Mod available for my particular model but I am most probably going to root it.

I've got a USB NIC based on ASIX AX88772 chip (which is detected by Ubuntu out of the box and is said to be compatible with XBox, PS3 and Apple Macs so it seems to be a very standard kind).

Also, I have not even found a single USB device (I have tried an USB flash drive, a keyboard and a mouse) which would work with the Android phone. It seems that they don't even receive power from it. Perhaps it (USB host mode) should be switched on somewhere in settings? I couldn't find where.

According to GSMArena, this phone doesn't support USB-OTG. That would explain why none of the other devices you've tried worked.

In that case, there's nothing you can do to make USG-OTG work, and you can't use a USB ethernet adapter.


Android keeps rebooting I have a ZTE v9. I flashed it with CynogenMod7 from here. I have installed ClockworkMod recovery 4.0.0.2. Then I rebooted phone from recovery. Now, the phone keeps restarting.

I can't get into recovery mode using power + volume down button (earlier I could). I have a backup of previous rom. How can I restore it?

NEVER EVER FLASH ANDROID ROM WITHOUT WIPING DATA / CACHE WIPE DALVIK CACHE
FORMAT SYSTEM (optional, but requires for some rom)

Always read instructions carefully before flashing any Rom / Mod and reverify whether its for your phone model only.

Anyway, as you said you are not able to go to Recovery mode, therefore there is no use of having a backup. Try to reset your phone, (ie, press power button for approx 7 - 10 sec). If nothing works, follow below instructions:

Take out the battery. Put on the back cover.
Hold both volume + and volume - while plug in the USB cable to a PC. It will automatically get into FTM mode.
Then flash generic 2.2 firmware on it.
After flashing, it may stuck in the FTM loop. Put in the battery and flash again.
After 2nd flashing, take out the battery for 10 seconds. Then put it back.
Press and hold both Power and Volume + to boot into Android.

I have no experience with ZTE v9, so i can't hand on step by step tutorial . Hope your phone gets well soon.

Sources:

Modaco: ZTE bricked
AndroidForums: ZTE unbrick manual


Samsung Galaxy S3 Internal Storage Issues? My Samsung Galaxy S3 has a range of strange problems.  I'm running CM11 but they started well before I moved away from Stock.  I rommed my phone in hopes of fixing them, assuming it was software related.

Issues in order of appearance:

While recording videos with the camera, the picture will often lock up momentarily, then come good.  This same stutter is then visible in the recorded video.  Shooting video direct to an external SD did not fix this
When pressing the stop button to end a video recording, the camera interface locks up for up to a couple of minutes before I then see the slide out thumbnail to indicate that the video was saved to my storage.  It seems the longer the video, the longer I wait.  10 seconds can take up to 30 seconds.  Other times it can just be instant.
App store updates or installs fail occasionally for no apparent reason, but work on retry.
Screen suddenly goes blank, but the phone is still responsive.  If I press the home or power button I get illumination on my buttons, as it does when responding to touch on the lockscreen.  I've left my phone for up to 15 minutes to see if it comes good but sadly only a battery-pull does the trick.
Dialog box appears while receiving a call to say the Contacts has crashed.

I've been trying to find a way to scan for file system errors on my internal storage using fsck, but I can't seem to find exactly what I'm after. Surely there is a way to do a humble "check disk" on an Android device?

As I wrote in my comment on the question, I rather think it's a defect in the controller – which is nothing you can fix yourself. Still, you might wish to at least check things. So I'll try to explain:

Preparation

To do all that manually, some pre-conditions must be met. You will need:

a terminal app. Terminal Emulator for Android would be a good choice: open-source, and available on Google Play as well as on F-Droid and on Aptoide.
alternatively: ADB to access the command-line of your Android device directly from your computer via USB. Much more comfortable, as you have a real keyboard and a big screen. If you want to go this way, see Is there a minimal installation of ADB?
optionally: root-access will definitely prove helpful, as this would also allow you to repair things.

Step 1: Find your "drives"

In a first "operative step", you need to evaluate what partitions there are, and which file-system each of them uses. Open your terminal (or run adb shell) to get to the command-line, and invoke the mount command. For what to expect, let me steal a screenshot from this post:

Example output of the mount command (click image for larger variant)

Now, not all entries are relevant to you. Check Android Folder Hierarchy to pick those you're interested in. For your case, the one holding /data/data will be of special interest. The example screenshot has it in the line with /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc.0/by-name/userdata, and we see it is using Android Folder Hierarchy as file system – more specifically: EXT4.

You might also wish to check other partitions, but make sure to stick to those with "real file systems" – and skip things like rootfs, tmpfs, sysfs, cgroup, etc. Basically, all those partitions you're interested in will most likely use either some extfs, or (for the SDCard) some FAT.

Step 2: Check the "drives"

Now that we know what we have, we can pick the matching tool. Our example uses ExtFS, so we need some fsck for that. As you assumed, from your collection e2fsck would seem the closest match here (though, if there's something specific to ext4, I'd check that first in the given example). Most parts of the different ExtFS versions are somehow backward-compatible – at least when it comes to "basic checks": EXT3 is, in easy terms, just EXT2 with a journal added – drop that journal, and you're back to EXT2.

Now how to run the check? Again, we already have answers for that – see e.g. How to check filesystem (/sdcard) for errors?, which gives us (for a read-only check run doing no repairs)

e2fsck -n /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc.0/by-name/userdata

If that finds errors, and you have root access to your device, you can replace -n ("no, don't do anything") by -y ("yes, please repair all issues you find if you can"). This might report (and optionally fix) some "bad blocks" which may have caused your issues – though the OS should attempt that itself on startup (boot). With root-access, however, it might interactively prompt you for things it didn't dare to repair automatically, so you might have a chance to improve your situation.


Limited internal storage, how to shift stuff to sd card Total Available Internal storage on my Sony Ericsson is ~412MB. This is really low but many apps apparently need to be installed there and others still need a footprint even after being shifted to SD card.

What's the best way around this if I want to install more apps?

It's a shocking bit of design to be honest, unless I'm derping and completely missing out on something easy.

There are many "*2SD" methods, and they generally involve root access.

My personal favorite is Link2SD. It uses symlinks, which take up (practically) no space. The actual program, data, libraries, etc are stored on a second partition on your SD card. This comes with the downside of actually having to create two partitions on your SD card (meaning it will have to be formatted).

If you have root, you likely have a custom recovery installed that can automatically partition your SD card.

The upside of multiple partitions is that you can mount your sd card when plugged into a computer without causing the apps to disappear from your device. This is because only one partition is actually unmounted from android and mounted on the computer, and the other partition holding your apps is never unmounted.


ezPDF reader: settings to correct jerky page scrolling? On the ezPDF Reader, is there a way to make the scrolling from one page to another smoother and less jerky? Some settings, perhaps? The jerky/jumping scrolling on ezPDF reader when one page scrolls to the next page breaks the flow of reading a little. Thanks for any insights.

I just received an email from the developer, Don Choi. Citing it here in its entirety as an answer:

  The continuous scroll feature is in our big  TO-DO list. It will
  eventually implemented later.We do not have a open forum. However,
  http://www.facebook.com/ezpdf is a good start.

So more nifty things are on their way for this application.


Persistent lines on screen This morning I noticed my phone has several light grey horizontal lines on the display, that don't go away when I change applications, or restart the phone. They don't rotate when I rotate the display - it reminds me of when we were warned about images "burning" into the display of PCs, hence screensavers.

Last night I went to bed with Winamp running while the phone was charging, and I have noticed it doesn't always seem to go to screensaver/black with Winamp. But the lines don't seem to correspond to anything in the Winamp UI, so...I have no idea.

What else should I try to get rid of these lines?

Sounds like a hardware problem (assuming the lines extend all the way across the screen).  Could just be a bad connection.


My Galaxy S has had a software upgrade and now it only types digits on the 3 x 4 keypad I have tried a factory reset and messed with all the settings, no luck. I even tried an external keypad app. It just keeps texting numbers when I use the samsung 3 x 4 keypad even when its on the ABC setting. Please help!!!

Go into:

Settings
Language & Keyboard Settings
Samsung Keyboard
Keypad types, tap that

There is various styles , 3x4 keypad is probably selected, the one you need is Qwerty Keyboard.


Will WhatsApp verification delete my contacts & messages? I have a WhatsApp account in my old phone, but I have put my SIM card in my new phone. Now when I opened WhatsApp in my old phone its asking for verification. Will verification delete my contacts & messages?

I don't think verification will delete anything, usually it's just an SMS verification code that has to be entered into the app. 2FA ( Two Factor Authentication )


What is Fast boot in HTC One X? I have HTC One X running Android 4.1.1 and Sense 4+. Under Settings > Power I have an option of Fast Boot. The text under it says "Start up and shut down quickly". How will my device be affected if I turn on/off this option?

"Fast Boot" is basically analogous to the hibernate or possibly S3 (STR) sleep functionality on regular PCs (HTC isn't very clear on what precisely it does, but analysis of its claims and action suggests it's one of these).  Rather than fully shutting down and restarting, the OS resumes where it was after a shutdown, allowing the system to get from "off" to "ready to use" much faster.

As mentioned, some apps don't play nice with this, such as the case is in this SO question.

Unless you're regularly needing to shut off your phone for some reason and want it to start back up faster, I'd personally just leave it off to avoid the potential for weird issues.


Issues after using SD card as internal storage in Android Marshmallow I got an update for Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and there's an option to use the SD card as internal storage. I did that and am now able to install apps, etc to it. But the problem is, all the apps which needed an SD card stopped working (e.g. Camera, Whatsapp, etc.)

Any workaround for this, like enabling this app to use the internal memory instead? Couldn't find such an option anywhere in the Settings.

The card can only be used as internal storage. If you try to eject the card and read it on a computer, it won’t work. All data on the card will also be erased, so you have to take back up anything important first. So there is no way to revert back.


Will a nandroid backup save me from a bad upgrade? I have a Rezound on 4.03, and verizon has pushed an update to it today. I have delayed the install because there's little information about it. What little I have found claim it make the phone unstable.

I made a nandroid backup, with the default options. That means:
[Boot], [System], [data], and [cache] were selected.
[recovery], [sd-ext], and [.android_secure] were not selected.

My question is, if this OTA update does make my phone worse, will simply restoring the backup pretty much guarantee a seemless "undo"? Or is it possible the update could change something that I can't revert?

An update might include a new radio-firmware (see: What is radio firmware?; basically you can think of it as the "hardware-layer" or an API to give the installed (Android) system access to the hardware), which is not included with a Nandroid backup. It could also include a "recovery-image" (see: recovery-mode), which you did not include with your backup.

For the latter, you could simply include it with your Nandroid backup. The radio-image is a different thing: I know of no method to extract/backup it from a given device. You could, however, check which radio version is currently installed with your device, and see if you can get a "RUU" (Radio Unit Update) specifically for that.


Does Whatsapp notifies if my security code has changed to people I don't have in my list of contacts? I know Whatsapp gives you a notification when someone change their security code (eg: when they change their smartphone) I am wondering if this is also the case when that person doesn't have you in their list of contacts.

To make it clear, for example, if I am in a group and I have only some of the members added to my contact list, and then I changed my phone, will they all be notified or only those I have added?

If you're in a group and your security code is changed then every member of that group would be able to see that notification. I'd observed this many times even though neither me nor them knew each other or had each other's number saved. They would see your number in the notification (not technically a notification), not the name.


What is special/different about CyanogenMod's kernel? (especially compared to. DroidX GB kernel) In an Phandroid article announcing the first successful attempt to run CyanogenMod on DroidX thanks to cvpcs's breakthrough, I noticed the following quote:

  CyanogenMod 7 will unfortunately be limited to running on the DROID X’s stock kernel.

Assuming that this is accurate, what (if any) of the main features of CM7 would be missing compared to normal phones' CM7?

In other words, which features of CM7 depend on CM7's own kernel code as opposed to non-kernel?

CyanogenMod is a tweaked kernel. Because of this it's faster, since the team that make it work pretty hard to make Android more faster and stable as possible and also it's already rooted, so you don't need to go all over the process of rooting again.

I highly recommend you to check the CyanogenMod Wiki


Device rooting fails, but doesn't brick? I've was trying to root my Vodafone 858 Smart (Froyo) using super one click but it stopped in the middle of the operation and the program was non-responsive so I closed and it was closed while installing super user and it couldn't install it due to low phone memory.

So I tried rooting it again after clearing some phone memory it roots but I don't have super user or busy box but I can access super user capabilities from adb so how can I root my phone properly?

You can install Busybox from the market too: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=stericson.busybox&hl=en

And to your other question

  i just wanna know what does busy box do?

taken from market description:

BusyBox is a software application that provides many standard Unix tools, much like the larger (but more capable) GNU Core Utilities. BusyBox is designed to be a small executable for use with the Linux kernel, which makes it ideal for use with embedded devices. It has been self-dubbed "The Swiss Army Knife of Embedded Linux".

The official BusyBox website about page has some more info about what it is too.


Data connection keeps turning on in Alcatel One Touch? I have an Alcatel One Touch. The data connection is turning on by itself in the past couple of months.

I went to see Bell today, and the guy said it could be an app that's turning it on?

How do I check this? I really do not want to delete my apps or loose all my important texts messages. Is there an app that I can check which  is turning on my data connection?

Introductory: Have you tried going into Settings >> Mobile Data and de-selecting Mobile Data? Normally, when you install apps from Google Play, the App Permissions will tell you what apps have network access. Having said that, it could be any number of applications turning on your Data.
Second Possible Solution: You may also want to try disabling automatic connection by pursuing the following action. go to Settings >> More Connections > Mobile Networks > Network Mode. Make sure that none of the modes have automatic connection enabled.
Answering Your Questions: As far as I'm concerned, you can download Permissions Explorer to see what apps are capable of accessing your Data.
Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.


Can I create a WiFi hotspot using Incredible HTC phone? I'd like to create a WiFi hotspot using my Incredible HTC phone.  What software do I need to add to do this or can it be done with the built-in software?

I got this to work by rooting the phone and installing CyanogenMod 7.  The WiFi hotspot for tethering other devices is built into the operating system.


How can I run continuous Logcat in the background? I want to run a continuous logcat in the background to capture everything happening on my phone.

This needs to be written to disk line by line without delay. I want to capture the cause of random reboots.

You need root for this (where I was making mistakes).

So, in a terminal:

su

logcat V > /sdcard/logcat.txt

then, without killing the command, just press home to keep the terminal running in the background.

V means verbose (the highest level of detail)
D means debug

and there are other less detailed levels.

Exercise caution when sharing D and V level logs; they contain highly sensitive information.


How to install any app as a parallel app in OnePlus 6? OxygenOS in some OnePlus devices allows its users to create a clone of an existing app using a feature called "Parallel apps" under Settings app. The problem, however, is that only a handful of apps are listed as "eligible" to be run in parallel. As a result, the user has to resort to third-party apps to run an app of their choice in parallel. To make a case here, "Firefox for Android" cannot be installed as a parallel app!

I'm looking for a workaround for this superficial limit of only eligible apps to be run as parallel apps.

Note: I am using a OnePlus 6 running OxygenOS 10.3.2 (Android 10) with Magisk and Riru.

The solution is quite simple. Setup adb and issue this command:

adb shell pm install --user UID PKG

where:

UID: the uid of the "Parallel apps" user. To get the UID, you would have to create the user first. Find Parallel apps setting in your Settings app, enable any of the eligible apps (as that would create the user in the background), then disable that app you just enabled.

Ordinarily, the UID might be 999, but OnePlus can change the UID in future. So to ensure the UID of Parallel apps user, run the command:

adb shell pm list users
adb shell cmd user list      # alternative command

Example output:

Users:
    UserInfo{0:Owner :13} running
    UserInfo{999:Parallel Apps:4000030} running

The numeric string before ":Parallel Apps" is the UID of that user.
PKG: the package/app you are trying to install

Lo and behold, you have an app running under Parallel Apps.

Tip: you can install any app, regardless that the app is installed under the primary user or not. You can also install a third-party client for Play Store or an altogether different market app to install/remove apps from Parallel apps user conveniently. See this XDA thread for more details.

Issues:

The "Parallel apps" setting under Settings app would not list these apps.
If your parallel app is indeed a clone/duplicate of an app running under primary user, than removing the primary user's app would automatically remove your sideloaded parallel app too. So, if Firefox is installed as both primary and parallel app and you happen to remove primary Firefox app, the other one would be nuked too.
User beeshyams mentioned that TWRP backup/restore functionality breaks if "Parallel Apps" user exists.


Phone reboots when I navigate past Falkirk Occasionally when navigating, my phone will freeze (the display and also the music, if it's playing) then reboot a few seconds later.  I realised today that while it's happened in other places, driving past Falkirk seems to trigger it.

My question is: Given that I'm away from my PC, and it doesn't happen very often, how can I diagnose the (general, rather than location-specific) issue?  I've got an HTC Desire running CM7 and I'm comfortable using a shell.

Try turning off wifi completely then driving past Falkirk several times.  I'm surprised this happens with CM but my experience so far with Gingerbread on the Galaxy Note is that it's very stable so long as you don't have wifi enabled or use an SD card.  (I am trying to remain objective)


What acts as the internal storage of an android device? Just like HDD/SSD act as the internal storage for a PC, what exactly acts as the internal storage for an android device?

It's a flash memory chip on the mainboard of the phone. Usually it has the same electronic interface as an MMC, just soldered onto the board instead of in a socket.