Samsung Galaxy S III (S3) Won't Connect via USB with Android File Transfer with MacBook Pro - Mountain Lion I saw some similar questions along these lines with newer Samsung devices, but I will post a question here anyway in case an answer for me ends up being an answer different than that for someone else. I have not seen a post concerning my particular phone, Mac hardware, and Mac OS.

Problem:

My Mountain Lion MacBook Pro (10.8.3) doesn't recognize my Samsung Galaxy S3 (4.1.1) for file transfer over USB. I am trying to use Android File Transfer, having been promised that it would solve all my woes.

The Situation:

I've downloaded Android File Transfer, and, when connected with my device, the app launches, but it just continues to demand that I attach the USB cable and or restart my device.

What I've tried doing:

Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging

When set to on, nothing happens. When set to off, nothing happens either. I've turned it on, then on and off, then off, and restarted before, during, and after connection, and every combination possible. The result is the same: app launches and then gives error message.

USB Cable:

I've tried with two different new cables and the error message is the same.

Connected to a Windows device:

My phone is recognized just fine by my desktop PC running Windows 7. The phone is recognized and the SD card is recognized, and I can transfer files between them. However, my Windows device is not my primary computing device, and I am frequently away from home (otherwise, at this point, I would chuck the Mac and that would be that).

As with the person who posted a similar question about the Galaxy S2, please do not post answers suggesting the use of Kies, Bluetooth, Wireless, and the like unless they lead to me being able to use Android File Transfer via USB. I want my phone to work over USB and with AFT for a reason (speed, convenience, and better synchronization). Kies seems to be the default suggestion to solve this issue, but it is terribly buggy and it accomplishes file transfer much the same way that nuking my house would get rid of spiders. (Always good to have a little levity at this level of frustration.)

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4163985?start=0&tstart=0
Android File Transfer worked with S3 on Mac running Snow Leopard once I used the right cable!
I discovered I had 2 different type USB cables- one seems to just charge and so Android File transfer didn't recognize the phone at all. The other cable, bearing the Verizon label, was entirely different. Please see link above and go to my posting under Interpret for full explanation.

Post from linked site:

  As already mentioned, download and install Android File Transfer app . NOTE: To connect be sure to use the right cable- in my case, I discovered 2 cables - one is a USB plain one that just charges the phone. After much frustration I discovered there was another one (it has a Verizon label in my case.) They both seem to be USB cables but I discovered one works with Android File Transfer and not the other.

  When I connected the wrong one, Android File Transfer said: No Android device found. Please connect your Android device with a USB cable to get started. I wasn't getting any notification or option on my phone to switch any configuration menu.

  When I switched to the right cable however, I got a notification in the top notification area of the phone stating:

  Connected as an installer and a USB icon next to it. Swiping down the top notification part there was yet another notification stating Connected as a media device. Touch for other USB options. Tapping on that statement I got the following screen:

  USB PC Connection

  Connect as

  Media Device (MTP) box to check

  xxx explanatory text which mentions you can sue Android File Transfer on a Mac in this mode

  Camera (PTP) box to check

  xxx explanatory text (transfer to PC that does not support MTP)

  (Note that these options were not available and not displayed with the wrong cable. I noticed many users stating they don't see that menu, wonder if the culprit is the cable being used.)

  I checked off MTP box and voila, clicking on the Android File Transfer icon I could see  the files organized under Phone and Card and had access to them.


Difference between requiring an encrypted device password pre-boot or post-boot? I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 with device encryption enabled. I unlock my device with a secure password upon booting it, and then use a fingerprint afterwards. When I first enabled encryption (Lollipop), my device would ask for a decryption password as soon as it began booting. Since upgrading to Marshmallow, the phone boots up completely, but will not accept a fingerprint to unlock the device until the password is entered once.

The secure startup settings allow me to choose to require a password before boot (like it was previously), or not to require the password until the device has booted (the default now). The description on the settings page states:

  In addition to using your fingerprint to unlock your device, you can further protect the device by requiring a password be entered before the device starts up. This helps protect data on lost or stolen devices.

What is the difference, from a security standpoint, between the two options?

I at first assumed that data at rest would be encrypted the same for both options, but the description seems to indicate that a pre-boot password increases security. Since the setting is easily switched back and forth I assume no underlaying changes are occuring to the device encryption when the setting is changed, but something must be changing if security is improved.

The fact the phone can fully boot without my password seems to indicate the data on the phone is actually decrypted without my password, and the password is merely protecting my fingerprints and access to the phone. In this case, how is the device encryption functioning as anything other than a lock screen if the phone is lost while powered on?

If the phone boots up without asking for a password, it is most likely not protected by encryption in the way you would expect.

In theory, it might not be encrypted at all. But as you note, that's not plausible if you can change between the two options on the fly. More likely, it is encrypted with a default password, meaning that anyone accessing the phone's storage outside the normal UI login procedure (e.g. by flashing a custom encryption-aware recovery like TWRP or via ADB) can access your data. Your password is then only used to provide entry to the user interface – not protecting you from outside access to the phone's storage.

If you need to enter your password for bootup, it is that password that is (hopefully) used for encryption, meaning that outside attacks should only be possible by cracking your password (provided that Samsung's custom implementation is cryptographically sound). You can check that encryption is active by trying to mount your data partition in TWRP.

It is surprising that Samsung doesn't clarify the fundamental difference between the two options. But then, Google themselves are possibly even more careless in Android's default implementation as indicated in this blog post.

The author states that on enabling accessibility services, all you get is a cryptic message that "your device won't use your lock screen to enhance data encryption" before the encryption password is reset to the default password – effectively disabling encryption for all practical purposes and giving anyone with a bit of technical understanding full access to your data. The Android encryption documentation seems quite proud about the default password encryption being "resilient against off-box attacks", but attackers will likely not care as long as they can access your data "on-box", ie. with the storage installed in your phone.

Whether Samsung's implementation uses Android's default behaviour described above or a proprietary way of switching between encryption passwords, it is quite likely that only one of the two options provides any meaningful protection that goes beyond using a password on a non-encrypted phone.


Acer BeTouch E130 notification bar keyboard I've bought the Acer BeTouch E130 and updated it to Android 2.1. Therefore, I'd like to know if there's a way to trigger the Top notification bar from the physical keyboard rather than tapping on it (which works 10 times out of a 100 because of its size, and my finger's size...).

on the home screen ...
push settings button and use the trackball to chose "notifications"


Not enough fingerpints on the Galaxy S6 I have the Samsung Galaxy S6. I use the fingerprint method to lock my phone. For some reason Samsung has decided that no-one will ever want to use more than 4 fingerprints. The obviously never asked my opinion on the matter.

Fingerprints used:

Left Thumb (when I take it out of my left pocket)
Right Thumb (when I take it out of my right pocket)
Left Index (when it's charging on my wireless charger at work)
Right Index (when it's on my night-stand next to my bed)
Wife's Left Index (or any one of her fingers) in case she needs to use my phone

I can understand that Samsung would need to limit the number of fingerprints that are stored in not, but why 4? why not 5? 10? etc

So the QUESTION is: (without rooting) How can I get 5 (or more) fingerprints stored?

I'm not going to start using another method to lock the phone
I also want my wife to be able to use the fingerprint method
I want to be able to use both my thumbs and both my index fingers.

If you haven't already figured it out, here is how.

Tap Add Fingerprint.
Do your thumb until it reads about 50%, then just switch to your forefinger for the next 50. Heck, you can even alternate, it doesn't know the difference (but of course, it does). That's all. Maybe do your less used finger after the 80% point.

You can do multiple fingers under one name, but what I don't know for sure is one thing... if the finger scanner is dynamic. Meaning, the more you use it every day the better it gets (Fails less often). If not then I would limit it to 3 fingers per "print". If it is then you can do as many as you need.


unable to mount /data, /system and /cache on Android phone (Asus Zenfone 5 (501cg , t00f) I have Asus Zenfone 5 (t00F) model. It was working fine and suddenly it's UI has stop working.

I tried restart couple of times but didn't work for me.
I do already have the root and TWRP (2.8.7) installed into it,so I have done the factory reset from recovery mode.

And then after I am getting the error as:

can't mount /cache,
can't mount /system,
can't mount /data partition

I am trying to go to Stock ROM but in sideload mode also I am getting the same error.

I have also tried reformatting all three partitions but it is not working for any filesystem.(FAT,EXT2,EXT3,EXT4,F2FS)
More digging into 'adb shell':

# cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name
 179        0    7618560 mmcblk0
 179        1     131072 mmcblk0p1
 179        2       8192 mmcblk0p2
 179        3      32768 mmcblk0p3
 179        4       8192 mmcblk0p4
 179        5      32768 mmcblk0p5
 179        6     524288 mmcblk0p6
 179        7     196608 mmcblk0p7
 179        8      32768 mmcblk0p8
 179        9    1331200 mmcblk0p9
 259        0    5312492 mmcblk0p10
 179       40       4096 mmcblk0rpmb
 179       30       8192 mmcblk0gp0
 179       20       4096 mmcblk0boot1
 179       10       4096 mmcblk0boot0
 179       50   15662080 mmcblk1
 179       51   15655311 mmcblk1p1
# cat /proc/mounts
rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0cat /proc/mounts
rootfs / rootfs rw 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
pstore /sys/fs/pstore pstore rw,relatime 0 0
adb /dev/usb-ffs/adb functionfs rw,relatime 0 0
/dev/block/mmcblk1p1 /external_sd vfat rw,relatime,fmask=0000,dmask=0000,allow_utime=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,errors=remount-ro 0 0

# recovery.fstab
rootfs / rootfs ro,relatime 0 0 recovery.fstab
/sbin/sh: rootfs: not found

# cat /etc/recovery.fstab
cat /etc/recovery.fstab
/boot           emmc        /dev/block/by-name/boot
/recovery       emmc        /dev/block/by-name/recovery
/fastboot       emmc        /dev/block/by-name/fastboot
/cache          ext4            /dev/block/mmcblk0p6
/system         ext4            /dev/block/mmcblk0p9
/data           ext4            /dev/block/mmcblk0p10                   flags=encryptable=/dev/block/mmcblk0p3/userdata_footer
/factory        ext4            /dev/block/mmcblk0p3
/config         ext4            /dev/block/mmcblk0p5
/external_sd     vfat           /dev/block/mmcblk1p1                    flags=display="MicroSD";storage;wipeingui;removable
/usb_otg       vfat     /dev/block/sda1  /dev/block/sda       flags=display="USB-OTG";storage;wipeingui;removable

If somebody have any idea please help me.

Thanking you...

Had same issue with my 3.5 year old Zenfone 5. Tried almost everything to save it but nothing worked. It would not update the recovery even when fastboot flash was successful. Figured out it was failed EMMC and many other users faced the same issue in the same time period. Asus might had planted a uesd time trigged failure tech or something (Just guessing by the amount of similar failure in same time period of a month). Well i fixed mine by getting a ZF5(free :p) from a friend (his phone was not uses much as it had a broken screen maybe thats why it didn't failed) and then replaced my Motherbord with his.


How do I automatically save pictures to my SD card? (Samsung galaxy s3 mini) I just got a new SD card and I want all of the pictures I save (from Tumblr, screenshots, etc...) to automatically save into their respective folders that I made on the SD card. Can I do this, or do I have to move them each time I save?

Go to settings > storage then select default writing disk to sd card.


How to enable server in hotspot? I got the error while trying this on command line interface

  root@sabresd_6dq:/ # hostapd_cli wps_pbc
  Failed to connect to hostapd - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

How to solve this?

All you need is an unlocked bootloader and the latest TWRP recovery (I confirmed this works perfectly on the US Nexus 6 on Verizon).

Boot into recovery, go to advanced, and click mount and select system.

Connect your phone to your computer. Open terminal/cmd and run the following:

adb pull /system/build.prop

This will pull the build.prop onto your computer in the location where your terminal is open.
Edit that in your text editor on your computer and then add the following line:

net.tethering.noprovisioning=true

Save, and then run

adb push build.prop /system/

This puts it back on your phone, but the permissions might be funky, so run

adb shell
chmod 644 /system/build.prop
exit

Source


Galaxy S3 stuck on boot loop, Factory Reset didn't work My Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT-I9300) was rebooting itself for the past few days, randomly. Today, it did it again, but didn't boot back up. Instead, it is now stuck on an infinite boot loop - it gets as far as the splash screen (Galaxy SIII logo), then reboots, and this goes on forever, until I remove the battery.

The first thing I tried was to remove the battery, SIM card and MicroSD card for 5 minutes. I then wiped the Cache Partition through the Android Recovery Mode. I then did an Emergency Firmware Recovery through Samsung Kies. This didn't help - the phone is still on the same boot loop. I then tried a Factory Reset through the Android Recovery Mode. This also didn't help.

I tried to view the boot logs through the Android SDK tools, but of course, the phone won't stay on for long enough to connect via USB. I'm not sure what else to try. Is there any other way I could possibly access the device's logs? Or should I try Odin instead of Kies?

Update: my S3 was had the official stock firmware on it, with official OTA upgrades, it was never rooted.

Second update: I've now tried flashing with Odin3. I used the firmware version appropriate for my region and carrier. Everything was successful, but I'm still having the same problem. I'm guessing there's not much else left to try except bring the device back to the dealer? ...

I had same problem with logo loop.. I somehow screwed my EFS folder, but don't actually know how... Anyway I tried like 150 different thinks to fix it that I googled out but non of it worked for me..
Finaly I download orignal stock ROM but the old one with 4.0.4 android. Flashed via ODIN and only then get rid of logo loop and phone turned on normally (it took allmost 5 mins..) Then I restored my EFS folder. Than rooted the phone, installed CWM and made nandroid restore of my original ROM..
Not sure if this help, but saved my ass :) Wish you good luck


adb push not working on /system, read only I can do adb push to /sdcard/ location but not /system on my android device.

sudo adb push lib/audio.primary.gmin.so system/lib/hw/
failed to copy 'lib/audio.primary.gmin.so' to 'system/lib/hw/audio.primary.gmin.so': Read-only file system

I tried some suggestions online

user$ adb remount
dm_verity is enabled on the system partition.
Use "adb disable-verity" to disable verity.
If you do not, remount may succeed, however, you will still not be able to write to these volumes.
remount of /system failed: Read-only file system
remount failed
user$ adb disable-verity
Verity already disabled on /system

Even after this, remount fails

user$ adb remount
dm_verity is enabled on the system partition.
Use "adb disable-verity" to disable verity.
If you do not, remount may succeed, however, you will still not be able to write to these volumes.
remount of /system failed: Read-only file system
remount failed

running below command on PC also does not work

sudo mount -o remount,rw /system
mount: can't find /system in /etc/fstab or /etc/mtab

What should I do?

EDIT.

   which mount
    /bin/mount

adb version
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.32

The output of mount command is as below

user$ mount
/dev/sda6 on / type ext3 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
none on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)
none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,size=10%,mode=0755)
none on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev,size=5242880)
none on /run/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/user/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=user)
/dev/sda5 on /media/Data type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda2 on /media/OS type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,default_permissions,blksize=4096)

The sequence of commands that worked for me was

adb root
adb disable-verity
adb reboot
adb root
adb remount

If I don't reboot, remount does not succeed.


"Error while downloading . There is insufficient space on the device" When I am downloading the application from the Play Store, I am getting this message.

"Error while downloading <application_name>. There is insufficient space on the device"

I am using Sony Xperia C and I have sufficient space in the internal memory and in the memory card. This message is cracking my brain as it is shown for the application under 2 mb and I have almost half GB free.
I am not able to update the applications too.

Please help me to solve this issue. I am using android 4.2.2.

Clear cache of the apps which you don't use often, that will solve this issue. Also uninstall the apps which you no longer need.

Go to Settings --> Apps --> <App_name> ( scroll down ) --> Clear cache.


How to conect USB modem dongle to tablet AOC Breeze I have a tablet AOC Breeze model MW0712 with Android 4.1.1.

I want to connect with USB modem dongle Huawei E303C in order to have internet connection, but with no success results.

I try with this link (in spanish, because I'm peruvian and the APN settings is for my ISP), but I can't save any APN settings as I explain here.

I try with this widget, but always give me a "No driver found" message.

Then I try with this tutorial (rooting the tablet) and supporting me with this one (in spanish) that I think is better explained (but in both tutorials doesn't says that you need the BusyBox app installed). But I could also not connect.

Finally I try with this APP, but the connection is very unstable.

I spent a long time trying to UMTS Manager and XDA forum script, but I realized that when the app was active, the script runs fine (the ping give a good request), then I thought the script needed more time to connect so I make a little modifications to the file "system/etc/ppp/peers/conf-chat" replacing all the "TIMEOUT 3" by "TIMEOUT 0". Then in the GScript Mod app I change in the inet-ON script the sleeps in the for statement (that was setting in 3) for sleep by 5.

When I make these little modifications the tablet connects and surf in the internet like a charm!

Please, sorry for my english and for answer my own question in this way but I think could be another guy with the same problem.


How to backup Android system and Apps with their configurations? I ve been trying to find way to do a image backup then restore it back to a re-set device.

I dont think adb backup / adb restore can do this.

I installed all Apps and configured all settings for system and apps.
I did a [adb backup -all -f c:\xxx.ab] also tried other parameters. basically i backed up everything.
I reset my andriod back to factory state.
I did a [adb restore]
I dont see any app show up on my android and no system settings has been configured.

How can I do a whole system image backup with all apps installed? The whole point is i need to used this back to restore into other same devices, so i dont have to go through the whole app install process again and again.

Some more info, The reason that I am trying to do this is that we have 60+ android devices (MK902 Android box)need to be pushed out in our building, on each device, I have to root it, install all Apps, configure system and apps. it is painful to go through this process on all devices. So I am thinking if there is any way to make a whole system image just like what we do on windows, then I can put that image into rest of devices, and change the device name later.

I used RK batch Tool to load a rooted img file into device for rooting. this img file contains boot.img, kernal.img and so on. I was trying to install all Apps and configure everything then make a img pack. but looks like it is too hard for me....i dont find any easy way or software to make this .img file.....

So from what I understand, you managed to back up and restore the ROM itself (system partition) but not the apps. Basically I'd recommend:

Backing up the ROM with the backup option on recovery. I don't remember if it means your apps will be backed up as well but I think it does.
You can use Titanium backup or Hellium to back up your apps. The backups will be saved on your phone so after your backup, transfer the backup files from your phone to your computer and once you're done restoring, transfer those same files from your computer to your phone and use one of these apps (whichever you chose) to restore your apps.
Notice that you can backup system apps as well but it is not recommended as it might give you FC's (force close).


Is there any easy way to get GNU build tools on Android? If not... why not? With the growing number of Android devices in all sorts of different form factors (dev boards like Raspberry Pi/ODroid, Android-on-a-stick, etc), it seems like it would be great to be able to actually do development work on Android and not just simply for Android. For example, having the standard Linux build tools available would let me easily run a server.

In case you only need a cross compiling environment with the standard Linux build tools there is an easy solution already included in the Android-NDK:

In the subdirectory build/tools of the NDK you find a scrip named make-standalone-toolchain.sh.
using the parameter --install-dir= you can specify a path where to create the standalone-toolkit - for example as shown inthis call:

build/tools/make-standalone-toolchain.sh --install-dir=/tmp/android-stanalone-toolchain

Adding the bin directory of the created toolkit allows you to use the standard build process for compiling projects. Just make sure that you call the configure script properly for cross compiling:

./configure  --target=arm-linux-androideabi  --host=arm-linux-androideabi

Afterwards you can simply call make and then pray that the application you want to compile is compatible with ARM/Android platform.


Email app allows designation of priority and request for receipt I am currently using K-9 Mail on my Samsung Vibrant (Galaxy S) and I use squirrel mail on my computer.  When using SquirrelMail I can designate a priority for outgoing emails (low, normal, high) as well as request delivery and read receipts. Is there an app that allows me to set these designations/requests?

I don't know of any apps off of the top of my head. There is Issue #4664 in Google's Android code to add that feature to the base Gmail application. (I voted for it, but it hasn't been reviewed yet.)


Facebook app nagging about syncing. Can it be disabled? While only a minor issue, it is annoying. I've had a look at the settings for the facebook app, but even after disabling anything that did seem relevant to this message popping up, it still keeps showing. The app was not pre-installed on the phone, it was added by my own will, if that is any relevant information.

Is there any way to disable this, or is it a cruel "feature" added to the facebook app that can not be disabled?

By request from 'Dan Hulme' who replied to my question, I got the message to pop up again and managed to get the app-info. It turns out to be an app connected to the Facebook app called 'SNS'. I simply removed the tick from the "Show notifications" option. The message no longer pops up.

It can otherwise be found on "Settings -> More -> Application manager" Shuffle so you see the "All" list, then scroll down til you find the SNS application.


How can I replace the little camera icon at bottom of lock screen (no root)? Hi Android enthusiasts,

I have Xolo Era X1 running Android 6.0

My lock screen unlocks by swiping upwards. Now there are 2 icons at the bottom, one launches Google talking girl and the other opens camera.

Because I'm right handed I accidentally launch camera while unlocking.

How can I remove that camera launcher icon from lock screen? Or how can I replace it with Reddit icon?

go to Settings - > Lock Screen & Security - > info and app shortcuts

from there you can set which apps appears for each side

as somebody already commented, your other option would be installing a new lock screen app

edit: from the last page i screenshotted below, you could set the rt side app to be a browser with reddit.com as its homepage


What's the fastest way to logout GMail weblogins via an Android phone Sometimes I log into GMail on a computer and after leaving the computer I notice that I forgot to log-off.
In those cases I don't have direct access to a computer but I have my Android with me. What's the fastest way to log-out? (Not counting the time for the initial setup)

Using any browser open https://mail.google.com
Open the hamburger menu (3 bars on left). Scroll to bottom and select view Gmail in desktop
Go to the top right and sign out
Create a shortcut: If using Chrome tap the 3 dots menu and Add to home screen so that a shortcut is created on your home screen and you can jump directly to third step to sign out. On other browsers, this shortcut may be named differently


Data Recovery - How to Restore Deleted / Formatted Files on HD Micro SD Card Background:

I put in a friend's SD Card to format it because it was having problems. Then I put mine back in and I think my phone formatted my SD Card. I had a ton of pictures on there that are now gone! I put the card into the computer and there's only 2mb of cache files on there and none of the original directories.

I already tried the following freeware recovery applications:

Undelete 360
Recuva

Neither of them were able to retrieve any files.
Undelete took 1minute to scan for files and came up with 0 files.
Recuva took 10 minutes for their "deep scan" which doesn't seem thorough enough at all for this 8GB SD Card. I need something that's a lot more heavy duty.
I don't mind paying for an application to get the data back if necessary...

Questions:

Which application can I use to recover my deleted picture files from my 8GB HD Micro SD Card?
Why did Anroid format my SD card?
How can I tell if it's a phone problem, data problem, or SD Card problem?

Take a look at PhotoRec.

There are also similar question on Super User that may help:

Recover data from SD card
How do I recover files from an USB flash drive?

Here's the full list of Data Recovery Program links:

Easeus Pro
Data Recovery Tool a nice tool but it's not free
PhotoRec and TestDisk from CGSecurity
NTFS Undelete (works also with FAT32 unlike the name suggests)
WinHex
Active File Recovery
Scalpel


How to remove parental control on Amazon Kindle I have an Amazon Kindle Fire HD with parental control, but I have forgotten the code.

How can I remove it without losing anything?

I think it involves some kind of "reset", but I want to be sure I won't lose something from the device before I start and that I won’t have to spend a lot of time re-sending stuff to it.

I see something about de-registering, so perhaps it is not so difficult, though when I try to do it, parental control is blocking me, also it is blocking me from connecting to the Internet with Wi-Fi.

Look at this amazon help forum about this issue. I found this:

  This is a bug in the kindle. Don't reset your device people!!! Just go onto your amazon account and "manage your device" and deregister it. That resets the parental control password. Go to the device and hit resync. When thats done go into the settings gear, my account, and register it using your amazon account info. It will be as before, nothing lost. I just got off the chat with a helpful amazon tech rep who gave me this information.

Also take a look at this answer on a forum found at askville.amazon.com:

    If you forget your password, you can deregister your Kindle Fire from Manage Your Kindle (www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle) to reset the
    parental controls password. Deregistering your Kindle Fire will also
    allow you to keep any downloaded items on your device. Once your
    Kindle Fire has been deregistered, tap Sync from the Quick Settings
    menu on your device, tap More, then select My Account to reregister
    your device.

  If you're unable to deregister your Kindle Fire from Manage Your
  Kindle, you'll need to reset your device to the default factory
  settings to regain access. If you've added any personal documents,
  music, videos, or other content to your Kindle Fire, ensure it's been
  backed up prior to resetting your device. Resetting your Kindle Fire
  to the default factory settings will delete all content on your device
  and you'll need to register it again before downloading items from
  your Amazon account.

  To reset your device to the default factory settings:

  K6:

  Tap the Quick Settings icon in the top right corner of the screen, then tap More.
  Tap Device, then tap Reset to Factory Defaults.

  K9 / K9-HD / K10:

  Swipe down from the top of the screen, then tap More.
  Tap Device, then tap Reset to Factory Defaults.

  To ensure your Kindle Fire has the latest software update, visit:

  http://www.amazon.com/kindlesoftwareupdates

  Kindle Fire also supports Parental Controls for in-app items purchased
  through the Amazon Appstore.


What are the build.prop settings for a modern tablet? I want to install a tablet-only game via the play store, and I am at the build.prop file, only I don't know what to change the device to - does anyone know what values I can put in for the ro.product.name and ro.product.model for a new-ish tablet? something along the lines of a galaxy tab s for example?

You CAN'T just change the model number/name. What you have to change is the DPI setting of your phone for this specific app.

For that, follow up this explanation to do so with XPosed:
http://highonandroid.com/android-apps/how-to-run-apps-in-phone-or-tablet-mode-on-any-rooted-android-smartphonetablet/


Can't see Android Emulator when apparently it already is running I am trying to start learning how to develop Android apps, and I tried to make a new project and navigate through Android Studio. I tried using the Emulator by creating a new virtual device and running my new test project with it, but no matter what i seem to do it never actually does anything once I click the "Run" button on both the AVD Manager and the main one you see on the top right area of Android Studio.

I keep seeing this after i try to click the Run button again after not seeing anything happen. and i can't seem to delete any of the files this is pointing to since Windows keeps complaining its being used by another application even after I close Android Studio and terminate adb.exe
I've been looking around for an answer and i've found things like "Uncheck Enable ADB Integration", or "Changing the Emulated Performance Graphics to Hardware/Software", but a lot of these answers are from threads that are 3+ years old so I don't think these are applicable anymore. can someone provide some insight to how to get this working? I am using Android Studio 3.6.3
PS: I want to make it clear that even after i restart my pc and delete these so called "*.lock" files, this changes absolutely nothing
EDIT: As requested here are some screenshots that hopefully answers some questions I was being asked.
My PC specs:

Android Virtual devices i have set up so far:

my installed SDK Tools:

As for the BIOS Virtualization question, if "Intel Virtualization Technology" is the same thing then yes it seems to be enabled for me

following Robert's advice I opted to install a copy of Genymotion Personal Edition and linked it to Android Studio via the Genymotion Plugin that was available to install.
see here for installing: https://www.techbeamers.com/genymotion-emulator/
If you do not see an additional icon pop up like described in the page then you will want to (in the case of versions around 3.6.3) enable the Toolbar via View>Appearance>Toolbar
This seems to at least link up fine for me with Android Studio, but overall does not really answer the question as to why the emulator via AVD does not function.
If no one seems to be able to share that knowledge, then I suppose will pick this one as the best answer.
Thanks to Robert again for mentioning Genymotion.


'adb devices' is not listing my phone I am trying to do a full backup of my Galaxy Note 4.1.2 phone using the adb command. t says it couldn't connect to my device. Then I did a 'adb devices' and there where no listed devices. My Windows File Explorer shows my phone and I can browse its contents.

Any ideas why the device can't be listed?

The fact that you see the device from your File Explorer doesn't mean that is should work from ADB. Most phone support standard file transfer protocols such as MTP and/or mass storage.

To use ADB you need to install the USB driver that is associated to your device. For Samsung devices you can search for downloads related to your particular device but I guess installing Kies would also do it. Then you need to enable USB debugging from the parameters -> development screen.

After this is done you should see you device when running adb devices.


How to recover deleted photo album saved on internal memory - Note 3 I have a Samsung Note 3 and I accidentally deleted an entire photo album from my phones gallery. I didn't enable my device to sync with Gmail. I didn't manually backup any of the data. The images were saved on my phone, not on the SD card. Is there any way for me to recover this deleted photo album? I Google'd and came across SDrescan but that won't work since the images were not initially saved on my SD card.

Considering you phone is always writing some kind of data to your internal storage, it's going to be a very difficult to recover them - at least not all anyway.

Unless something like PhotoRec can do it (as mentioned in the comments), I'd say they are gone for good.

An alternative, and probably a very expensive one, is to take it to someone who specialises in data recovery. Search for 'mobile phone data recovery' on Google and see what appears in your area. It may mean sending your phone away.


Using USB for transferring files (MTP or PTP) to phone or charging using USB I had my Android phone power discharged fully. On fooling/trying to find the root cause saw the following as options in Android which I wasn't aware of before. This is in developer options though.

Transferring media files through MTP - This seems to be only one way from phone to PC and not the other way around :(
Transferring images or files through a PTP connection (guess it's a lower bandwidth connection)

Edit : Update - The target PC is running Debian Testing, not MS-Windows, sorry for not sharing that part.

Connecting MIDI devices
Charging.

What was surprising at least to me was you could choose only of the options and when one is chosen say charging the other options cannot be used.

Is there possibility of transferring media files through PTP from PC to phone or not anymore ?

Also were these options always part of android say 5.0 or it's a new development in 6.0 marshmallow ?

Permission denied while trying to copy some data from computer on to Samsung Galaxy J5

Its a new development in android 6, mainly the location of these options. The USB configuration of Android 6.0 marshmallow is slightly different than other versions.

  In Android 6.0, the options seems to have disappeared. It has in fact
  moved and you can only access it if you’ve enabled developer options.

The first option is to have a “Charging” only option which can be used to connect to a USB port to charge the device without any notification to the computer. This will be the default option for the device and hence the device will not allow to access the files unless it is explicitly changed.

MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)

When Android uses this protocol, it appears to the computer as a “media device.” A standardized protocol for transferring audio files (and other media) to digital music players using Windows Media Player and similar applications.

You can transfer media files either way.

  Android can choose the files it presents to you, and hide system files
  so you can’t see or modify them. If you attempt to delete or edit a
  file that can’t be modified, the device will refuse the request and
  you’ll see an error message

PTP Picture Transfer Protocol.

When Android uses this protocol, it appears to the computer as a digital camera.

  MTP is actually based on PTP, but adds more features, or “extensions.”
  PTP works similarly to MTP, and is commonly used by digital cameras.
  Any software program that supports grabbing photos from a digital
  camera will support grabbing photos from an Android phone when you
  select the PTP mode. PTP was designed to be a standard protocol for
  communicating with digital cameras.

It is generally recommended on a modern Android devices,  to use MTP rather than PTP  unless you have software that only supports PTP.

Note: It has been noted that you may need to physically remove the SD card after upgrading to Android 6, and putting it back in before you can view the files on your PC

If you're having issues transferring media in your upgraded OS, try troubleshooting using these options:

Make sure you have installed appropriate drivers

Connect your device to your PC and wait. If it doesn’t show up in file explorer, check to see if Windows is searching for drivers.

If it is, allow it to search and install any drivers it needs. This can happen even if you have connected your Android device to your PC under the same connection type. Do not disconnect the device and allow Windows to finish installing drivers.

Fix corruption issues on your external storage

Use an sd card adapter and insert in the slot on your PC, right click on the external storage device and go to properties, tools then check for errors, fix if necessary the re insert it in your device and check if problem is resolved.

Credits

How to Access Android 6 Marshmallow Files using USB to Windows
How To Set The Default USB Connection Type In Android 6.0
Android USB Connections Explained: MTP, PTP, and USB Mass Storage


Can App Ops run on 4.4.4? I have installed and tried several of the "App Ops" starter apps from the Google Play store. When I run any of them, a dialog pops up saying "Unfortunately, Settings has stopped." and my only choice is to tap "OK". So, I still have not been able to get to the App Ops settings.

However, this app claims to work on 4.4.4.

I am running on the stock Moto G (2nd gen), Android version 4.4.4. Not rooted.

Are unrooted 4.4.4 users generally restricted from running App Ops or is there something wrong with my setup? If it is as simple as getting another app to run App Ops for me, can someone point to one that works in 4.4.4 without the error?

App Ops can be activated using Xposed Module, but for that you need to root your device. And an alternative to App Ops is XPrivacy.


USB Debugging is not showing in ADB devices I Enabled USB Debugging on CyanogenMod 11 for LG Optimus L7. The Device is showing in Device Manager.

But, it is not showing in ADB devices list. And there is no notifications for USB debugging.

I find solution for this problem..

steps:

Download Google USB Driver.
please find your device USB Driver from this link.
Then open devices in windows.
After that right-click on devices open property.
select update device driver.
Then select pickup from disk & select path of download Google USB driver.
Then type into command prompt at android-sdk\platform-tools
adb kill-server
adb start-server
adb devices

after all this you get your android devices.


Stock HTC got bricked by the latest OTA (4.20) The latest OTA on Rogers (4.20.631) rendered my phone unable to boot and stuck on the white Htc One screen.

I'm on stock recovery exactly to install OTAs, which worked with the last one (4.19?), but not this time.

Here's the logcat when booting up, the part that keeps looping. I can't find good keywords to Google.

Since I am with Rogers (631), there are no RUUs, and I'm reticent to wipe out all my data.

The problem your device is having is that it can't protect an area of memory. This causes ART (the Android Run Time, the system that runs regular Android apps) to crash, rendering your device unbootable.

If you haven't modified your ROM before the update (for example by rooting it, or installing a custom kernel), this was probably a bad update from HTC or the updating process failed somehow.

If it's not possible to downgrade to your previous ROM, you could try to reset all data. If this doesn't work or you don't want to do that, you should contact the store you bought your phone in or contact HTC support. They might be able to put a working software version on your phone. This might wipe your data anyway though.

If you really don't want to wipe any data, you might be able to "dirty flash" a custom ROM over the stock ROM. This replaces the system partition so that if the system was corrupted by the OTA, it would be bootable again using the custom ROM. The custom ROM has to be the same Android version to not require a complete wipe, and installing it requires you to install a custom recovery. This might also void your warranty.


Looking for a network monitor that can enumerate outbound connections I have a rooted Galaxy S2, and I want to block access for all apps whose primary function does not require network connectivity. I am using DroidWall and LBE Privacy Guard (both require root) to control application behavior.

Droidwall is an excellent firewall, but it doesn't provide a snapshot of currently active network connections. Is there an app that can do so, on a per app basis?

Update : Just realized I can simplify things by just saying I want for Android what I can achieve using netstat -b on Windows, but properly presented!

I have already seen a few - but they just wrap a commandline interface - as though they're calling netstat locally and then just piping output.

Opensource Network Log (Play) app does exactly that. The features are:

real time log display
hostname resolving
per app view
filters based on app name, hostname, port

It needs root and busybox.


How to prevent automatic aggregation of contacts I have more than 3000 contacts and maintain the master copy on my PC.
I regularly create a CSV file from the master and then copy the data to the Contact Manager on my Samsung S3.
I have done this for years, with a Blackberry and then an iPhone.

Android Contact manager arbitrarily joins contacts together. People who work for different companies with the same name, people who live at the same address with different names, etc.
The result is that I cannot find them in my address book, and phone numbers get mixed up. Without separating the joined entries I cannot tell which phone number belongs to which person when I try to call someone.
Equally, when someone calls me, the wrong name is displayed.
I have tried using different ways of moving data to my phone (a Samsung S3). Using Kies or VCF files.
Surely there must be a way to turn off this destructive 'feature'.
It would take me days to go through all my contacts and separate them manually each time I copy from the master.  Synchronizing rather than delete/copy makes it worse. Entries that I have previously separated join together again!

As an Android Developer, I know, that it can be done programmatically in an app:
https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/ContactsContract.AggregationExceptions

However, I don't know if there is any contact app having such behavior.

I know one app that has so-called "private" contacts feature - that's contacts that it does not share with Google. It might help you but you'll have to use it instead of the default one:

https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Contacts

Here, for a very small price (half a dollar in September 2019) https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.contacts.pro

Here, for free:
https://f-droid.org/packages/com.simplemobiletools.contacts.pro/


Is it possible to repair an accelerometer? First of all, my device is a Moto E. It has fallen two times, both from bed height. So after the second fall, I noticed that my screen orientation stopped changing. I checked the "rotate screen automatically" option on settings and it was correctly set. I rebooted the phone hoping it would fix it but it didn't work.

I downloaded several apps to show the accelerometer's values, and they all show the same results: x and y are okay, but z, pitch, and roll, are stuck. Pitch and roll are stuck on 0, while z is stuck on -1.998.

The camera app is the only app that changes orientation, I'm guessing it is because it only reads x and y values.

I did a factory reset, but it didn't fix anything. I've seen some people suggest on forums that I reinstall the ROM or use a different ROM but I'm sure the problem it's hardware related.

So as it was caused by falling, there's no warranty for this. Is there a way this could be fixed? From what I've read, the fall could've caused the crystals in the accelerometer to break

So is replacing it the only fix? I know there are apps to force orientation changes, but that's not the point here.

I had the same problem. making sure my cover was secure, I dropped the phone from 3 feet onto a carpeted surface directly on the "5:00" corner (lower right side corner). It unstuck the accelerometer and it's now working normally.


How can I view only one star ratings in Google Play Store? I find it quite annoying that there is no easy way to sort the reviews of an Android app:
- neither can I search for certain keywords that may appear in a review.
- nor can I change the sort order, i.e. I can sort by rating, but if I want to see the 1-star ratings. I have to scroll all the way through thousands of higher ratings.

I am feeling quite tricked by Google. Of course it is obvious what they want to do - hide the "bad" ratings from the users. But seriously, it's not very customer friendly :(

Are there any web apps or sites that offer detailed sorting options for the Google Play Store?

I've uploaded a user script on GreasyFork that will allow you to filter app reviews based on their rating when accessing Google Play via a supported browser.  See my answer on webapps.stackexchange.com for more details.


Change combined inbox account colors I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
I have 3 email accounts set up in the email client and I would like to change the colors assigned to each of the accounts.
Is it possible? I haven't been able to find any setting to do it. In this question they say it's not possible in Android 2.2, but how about 4.1?

I've tried on my Galaxy S3 and I couldn't find a way to do this.

Searching on the web returns nothing more (aside of trying to delete/recreate an account until it's given the color you want, which I didn't try).

You can use another mail client than the one pre-installed on the GS3.

I've tried the following ones:

MailDroid: great one, possible to choose the color for each account from a palette, free version is ad-based
AquaMail: good one too, you can choose the color for each account from 8 predefined colors, free version has no ads
K-9 Mail: possible to choose the color for each account from a palette, no ads, but looks a bit old


What is the approximate battery discharge rate of Google Pixel 3XL phones when turned off? I am considering purchasing a new Google Pixel 3XL Android phone, primarily for photography.  I don't believe those phones have been manufactured for 2-3 years, so I am concerned about the battery health.  If the phone has been sitting in a box for 2 years with 0% charge, my understanding is that it's likely the battery will not function well.
For this reason, I'm wondering: What is the approximate battery discharge rate of Google Pixel 3XL Android phones when turned off?
(Also, if anyone happens to know how approximately much battery charge was present when the phones were placed in their box, that will be helpful.)

The answer starts from what you asked towards the end of your question.

Li-ion battery's are charged to around 40% while storing. That's about the charge level (give or take few % points) you'd see when you take a phone out of box for first time. Reason

Lithium-ion must be stored in a charged state, ideally at 40 percent. This prevents the battery from dropping below 2.50V/cell, triggering sleep mode.

Sleep mode is a protective mechanism to prevent deep discharge and you can't charge the battery conventionally when it enters that mode.

But batteries do self discharge and the typical rate of Li-ion batteries is about
2% per month (Table 3). But this does not mean you get a fully discharged battery say after 2 years. That's because

There is virtually no self-discharge below about 4.0V at 20°C (68°F); storing at 3.7V yields amazing longevity for most Li-ion systems

But yes, your battery would suffer a capacity loss as you can see in Table 2 of link quoted in above point. If you can get a new battery from OEM, which is manufactured recently, this risk can be mitigated and you can use it for long.
But if your use case is only photography, I guess you need not change battery at all.

This is generally applicable to all Android devices and  your specific model should not be an exception.


How can I save contacts on the SIM card alone by default? Using ICS, is it possible to store and use all my contacts on SIM only?

If it is possible I don't really want to copy all my contacts to the phone and I would prefer all the new contacts to be stored only on SIM card.

You haven't mentioned which phone you use.

Unsure about ICS, but on Gingerbread, go to Contacts - press MENU > MORE > SETTINGS > SAVE CONTACTS to - SIM

This is available on newer versions though, YMMV.


How do I make the camera app save photos to the SD card right after taking them? I know how to move photos and videos to the SD card, but I want to have it save photos and videos to the SD card in the first place, instead of the internal memory. I need that because I have very little internal storage space, only 1.72 GB, and 1.3 GB is already taken up by apps. (Mysteriously, it says apps are consuming 1.9 GB, but I know that at least 600 MB of apps is on the SD card, which has far more space), and when recording a long video, I have to do it in sequences because otherwise, it runs out of space rather quickly while recording, and stops the recording. Then I have to go into the settings app, tell it to move garbage, go back into the camera, and record the next sequence. No time for that? Too bad...

Bottom line, can I set the camera app, or basically anything that wants to save photos, to save the pictures or videos to the SD card in the first place?

There's a setting for that in the Camera App, which lets you toggle the default save location. You need to scroll down for it, though, and that's not very obvious. But, there is a setting for that.


Suspicious link on android I accidentaly clicked on http://127.0.0.1:5555 this link on my android phone what should i do? i don't know anything about coding so please write with simple words to me

127.0.0.1 is the address of your phone itself. Therefore everything that can be loaded have to be generated by an app or an system service of Android on your phone. If there is no app listening on port 5555 then nothing will happen, the web browser will simply show an error page.
Therefore you don't have to worry.


Is there any benefit to rooting the new T-Mobile G2, and what are the legal issues? Possible Duplicate:
  I've rooted my phone.  Now what?  What do I gain from rooting?
  Are there any risks to rooting a device?

Given that the new T-Mobile G2 based on Android 2.2 (and so called 4G network) attempts to address much of the reasons people rooted previous phones, is there any benefit to still find a way to root this phone?

Other than potentially voiding warranty, what are the legal implications (e.g., DCMA ban on technical workarounds)?

Rooting your phone, in and of itself, is not illegal (although, there have been some issues surrounding jailbreaking of iPhones...but that's a whole other discussion). Android as a platform is open source and installing a custom mod, or messing around with the internals of the operating system isn't a problem.

Now, as you pointed out in your comment to Bryan's post, there is some software that is licensed. As such, you are governed by the license that you agreed to for those applications (typically through purchase of the phone).

The real legal ramifications that come up would revolve around what it is that you do with your phone once it is rooted. Some would argue (and I don't necessarily agree) that using tethering with a rooted phone is illegal because you haven't paid for it (of course you have paid for the data...but...again, I digress). The phone service providers would most likely tell you its all illegal because they want to lock you in. By locking you in, they guarantee a revenue stream.

So, all-in-all, I don't particularly see a problem. However, I am not a lawyer, so I would ask one if you are truly concerned about the issue.


Can video recording on an Android smartphone be paused? I've got an HTC Wildfire with Android Froyo 2.2.
When I record videos with it, I want to be able to pause the recording, in order to pick up recording at the exact place where I paused.

This is not supported by the built in video recorder. Is this common for Android phones, or are there phones out there that support pause in video recording?

It looks like this is either specific to the hardware of the camera or even the software the manufacture using on the device.

I have a samsung galaxy s (Vibrant) and I can pause and resume video recording. My previous device, the HTC Dream (ADP1/G1) could also pause and resume (from what i can remember).


How to stop a website from referring to it's app/play store? I'm trying to use Prime Video as a desktop website on Chrome (Galaxy S9+). The PrimeVideo app would not let me view any better than 720p, which is ridiculous. But the website always refers me back to the app or the play store's download page.

Is there a way around it, or any other way to view at least 1080p on my S9+?

You can open the website in incognito mode.

It will not redirect you to the Play Store


Watch dog and grooveshark I'm using 3G Watchdog to track my 3g traffic and noticed that it does not monitor my Grooveshark app. Do you know why? Got a Sniffer that works better?

Grooveshark might not be using that much data; it keeps a cache of songs you have listened to recently so it doesn't have to re-download them each time. So if you're listening to the same songs all the time, they will probably only be downloaded once, same with offlined songs. To see if the app really sees what data Grooveshark is pulling, go to Grooveshark->Settings->Clear Song Cache. Then go listen to a playlist or two and see what happens :)

P.S. You can also edit the size of the cache on that menu!

If all else fails, i use Phone Usage, and it tracks Grooveshark pretty successfully:


paste text to bluetooth? I'm using the PasswordSafe app and am looking for an easy way to send passwords from my phone to other computers. I can copy the password to the clipboard but what then? Is there an app that will have the phone claim to be a Bluetooth keyboard and 'type' whatever is on the clipboard?

It uses WiFi, rather than Bluetooth, but other than that it sounds like you could use an app like ShareText?
From ShareText's description:

Share text with wifi on pc or other
device using your Browser.
Copy/paste between phone and pc. You can copy the
text from pc to phone, from phone to pc,
from this phone to another phone, from
phone to any browser.


how to set up lockscreen and quick acces to apps Back in the day, I had a phone which I rooted and got a custom rom. (An Xperia X8, with the GingerDX custom rom using android 2.3.7)

When I turned on the phone, I got the sliders for calling, messages, silent mode, and a custom app. But since I ALSO had the pattern lock activated, just after sliding for either optin, I got the pattern lock screen, and after entering my pattern, I went to whatever app (quick access) I chose.

Now, I got a new phone, a Motorola RAZR XT919 with out of the box Jelly Bean (4.1.2), but now I see that if i choose to have the pattern lock screen, I no longer have the quick "slide" screen for quick access to common apps (calls, messages, and camera). Is this how it is always been for native android? Or there is some hidden option to have both functions? Or are there apps to achieve that?

I really never knew if that feature was specific for the custom rom I used with the other phone because it was my first android phone and i never compared it to others, but since it feels so natural, I expected it to just do the same for other newer android versions.

Wrapping up, I'd like to be able to have the shortcuts on the lockscreen, and then (if enabled) to be asked for the unlock pattern, so I can have the best of the two (immediately choosing and app and protect the phone with the pattern)

Any thoughts or ideas?

There is an app available from Google Play Store that does just that, you select the APP you want to load, the lockscreen appears, you unlock the phone and you're on the selected app.
Active lockscreen
by: Celltick last updated on July 24, 2013

Description
Active lockscreen brings together fast access to your favorite apps and full personalization features for your Android phone.
Your favorite apps, your latest contacts, your photo gallery, are available within just one click.
Active comes with hundreds of themes and appetizers available to download that let you flip through your social and news feeds directly on your home screen.
After installing, you can use one swipe on your new lock screen to:

Call your favorite numbers, recent contacts or open the phone’s dialer
View and access your personalized photo gallery
Launch recently used apps or predefined apps
Stream social media updates on your locked screen
Send text messages or communicate through Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Email and Gmail
Launch your camera or any picture related apps such as Instagram, Mobli and more
Read personalized content that are streamed with a preview


Google play store does not show all persmissions at app install So recently, I was searching for a news app that needs few permissions as possible.

I found an app called Flipboard. Google play said I need to allow the following:

Identity
Photos/Media/Files

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

I was satisfied with those permissions (left screenshot) and installed the app. Then I went to Privacy Guard (right screenshot; I have CM installed) to check if the permissions match.

The permissions not only not match but there are additional that I would never allow, like reading my SMS or Read Calendar information.

Another strange thing is, that on the google play web page there is another set of permissions:

This app has access to:
Identity

find accounts on the device

Photos/Media/Files

test access to protected storage
modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Other

receive data from Internet
full network access
prevent device from sleeping
view network connections

I know there can be additional permissions added with updates, but I never updated the app.

To me it seems google/apps are misleading users and it seems very illegal to me.

Am I missing something here or is my complain justified?

Yes, you are justified and they are being sneaky. Once a set of permissions is allowed, it can install new permission into that same set without getting approved on update. But you can retake control.
If your rooted, you can download the Xposed Framework installer from the XDA forums.
Xposed Installer
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/xposed-installer-versions-changelog-t2714053
"Xposed is a framework for modules that can change the behavior of the system and apps without touching any APKs. All changes are done in the memory."
Must be rooted

PlayPermissions Xposed module
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/playpermissionsexposed-fix-play-store-t2783076
"This module aims to fix this problem for users who care about permissions.
It'll do the following:
1.Make the Play Store show you all of the app's permissions.
2.Require you to manually update apps with new permissions (regardless of the category)."

XPrivacy module
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xprivacy-ultimate-android-privacy-app-t2320783
"XPrivacy can prevent applications from leaking privacy sensitive data. XPrivacy can restrict the categories of data an application can access. This is done by feeding an application with no or fake data. There are several data categories which can be restricted, for example contacts or location. For example, if you restrict access to contacts for an application, this will result in sending an empty contact list to the application. Similarly, restricting an application's access to your location will result in a set location being sent to the application."

modules require Xposed framework to be installed to function properly.

UPDATE

As of now, the only way to view all permissions before downloading from the Play Store is with the PlayPermissions module. Photo was included to show module in use.
Please don't confuse permissions with services, activities, or broadcast receivers.
As far as legality issues, this is NOT the right forum. Get in touch with Google if you feel you have been wronged or your rights have been infringed upon


Page up and page down in web pages and elsewhere I can't figure out a usable way of scrolling page by page. I'm using Android 4.1 (stock Android from Google). I have root access if needed. I want this especially in the default browser, but a solution that works in all applications would be better.

I've found three ways to scroll down by one page.

Set my finger down at the bottom of the page, drag it to the top in a vertical line, raise my finger. This is clumsy because it requires a long finger gesture.
A flicking motion in the up direction. This is clumsy because it requires flicking by the exact amount, otherwise the text scrolls by more or less than one page. I just can't manage that much precision.
A sufficiently forceful flicking motion, then set my finger down when the text has reached the point where I want it to be. This requires more finger strength than I would like and a lot of visual concentration; my finger-eye coordination is nowhere near enough to succeed with reasonably high probability.

Given how common the “page down” task is, there must be a better way that I'm missing. What is it?

For the goal to be achieved precisely we need Xposed Additions Pro and Tasker installed, where the former requires  root access and Xposed Framework (stable build) installed.

Once you install the Xposed Additions, you'll be asked to activate its module in Xposed Framework. Activate it.

We'll be using Xposed Addition's ability to intercept a key-press and would provide a condition and action to be performed  for that key-press. We'll use Tasker to circumvent Xposed Addition's limited set of options.

Note: All sections tested on Android 4.4.2 and 5.0.2.

Instructions for Xposed Additions

Launch Xposed Additions → tap Buttons
Tap Add new key
Press the device's button to be used as a keyboard's  ↑    key
I chose Volume Up/+ button
Tap the entry for the button you chose earlier
Tap Add new Condition
Tap Load Applications List
Select the app where you want Volume Up button to simulate a keyboard's  ↑    key
Tap your previously selected app's entry
Check the box to activate Click
Tap Click
Choose DPad Up aka Directional Pad Up -- it's a KeyEvent

(Click image to enlarge; hover to know details)

(Order of images: Follow images from left to right in each row)

Now create an action for Volume Down/- button in aforesaid manner but choose DPad Down at final step.

It is time you launch the app you selected in the said steps and try pressing Volume Up and Volume Down buttons. They will work as a keyboard's  ↑    ↓   directional keys.

Note that contrary to a physical keyboard where if you hold a directional key the system will continue to scroll up/down, this is not the behavior you would observe if you long-press your (aforesaid selected) device's buttons.

Also, in place of choosing DPad Up and DPad Down, choose Page Up and Page Down to simulate a keyboard's Pg Up and Pg Dn key or assign them to a different action listed in step 10.

And, don't bother about ringtone or speaker sound level since they would be managed by long pressing those Volume Up and Volume Down buttons. This behavior is valid when your aforesaid selected app is launched.

I've tested successfully the aforesaid solution on Chrome, Firefox, and some text editors. So far so good!

Nope! The said solution is not good for all applications. We want to cover all applications, so why limit to web browsers and text editors only.

Unfortunately, there are apps on which the said solution doesn't work. The KeyEvents we used there seem to have no effect on apps like Foxit MobilePDF, WPS Office, BetterbatteryStats, and more in the wild.

Let's focus on a new solution now. Android allows sending swipes using input command; Xposed Additions allows using a custom shortcut as an action; Tasker can create a custom shortcut to use input swipe.

Instructions for Tasker and Xposed Additions

We first need the swipe's start and end (X and Y) coordinates to use them in input command.  We can record it using Getevent command.

Setup adb in your PC, plug the device into PC, enable USB debugging in device, launch a shell on PC, and enter:

adb shell su -c 'getevent -l'

It would show some lines and then would wait indefinitely for output.
It is time you decide the length of your swipe as an alternative to DPad Up / Page Up.

E.g. The arrow length measuring a swipe in the two images is an alternative to scrolling length of DPad Up/Down and Page Up/Down respectively.

When you would make a swipe on the screen, the shell on PC would show output like:

/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_TRACKING_ID   0000044c
/dev/input/event0: EV_KEY       BTN_TOUCH            DOWN
/dev/input/event0: EV_KEY       BTN_TOOL_FINGER      DOWN
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_POSITION_X    00000300
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_POSITION_Y    000006de
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_PRESSURE      000000c0
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_TOUCH_MINOR   00000004
/dev/input/event0: EV_SYN       SYN_REPORT           00000000
/dev/input/event0: EV_SYN       SYN_REPORT           00000000

...

/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_POSITION_X    000002fb
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_POSITION_Y    000004e3
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_PRESSURE      000000cc
/dev/input/event0: EV_SYN       SYN_REPORT           00000000
/dev/input/event0: EV_ABS       ABS_MT_PRESSURE      000000c8

After making an upward swipe of specific length, press Ctrl+C in PC to stop the command.

In its output note the first ABS_MT_POSITION_X (00000300) and ABS_MT_POSITION_Y (000006de), and last ABS_MT_POSITION_X (000002fb) and ABS_MT_POSITION_Y (000004e3) entries. They are the start (X1,Y1) and end (X2,Y2) coordinates in hexadecimal form. Convert them into decimal form (try a converter here).
In the shell, if you enter:

adb shell input touchscreen swipe X1 Y1 X2 Y2

(replace X1, Y1, and X2, Y2 with the now converted decimal coordinates) you would notice an upward swipe on the device effectively simulating scroll down. Manipulate those coordinates until you get your ideal scroll down.

As an alternative of using Getevent, you can try a more friendly approach.

Enable Pointer Location under Developer options. Once you enable it your device's status bar would get covered with a bar showing some coordinates which would change with the movement of your tap/swipe on screen.
Time to record your swipe length. Touch and hold your finger on screen and note X: and Y: shown at the top. Start swiping up the finger to the desired length; stop but don't release the finger and note down the corresponding X: and Y: coordinates.

Those are the X1, Y1 and X2, Y2 coordinates for your up swipe. They are in decimal form, so you can directly use them in input command.

You can choose to disable the Pointer locations now.

Instructions specific to Tasker

We would now create a shortcut to simulate the swipe we manually performed in the last command, for the purpose of automating it.

Launch Tasker and enable it. If its icon above Profiles tab is lit, then it's already active. Note that everything in Tasker is saved by pressing the back button, which would also change the active window.
Create a task under  Tasks via + (at the bottom) → name it (say Scroll Down).
Create an action in it through + →Code → Run Shell, and enter these details:

Command: input touchscreen swipe X1 Y1 X2 Y2

Replace the X1, X2, and Y1, Y2 with the coordinates you noted earlier. E.g. input touchscreen swipe 768 1758 763 1251.
Check Use Root
Store Errors In: %sd_err -- this step is optional.

Create a new task named Scroll Up, and create an action in it by following step 3. For swipe down simulation simply interchange the coordinates, so it would be input swipe X2 Y2 X1 Y1, and optionally use %su_err to store errors, if occur!

Instructions to use Task shortcuts in Xposed Additions

This is the final phase of the solution and would  use those custom shortcuts in Xposed Additions.

Follow the steps 1-11 in the first section dealing with the usage of  Xposed Additions
Choose Shortcut instead of DPad Up or Page Up
Choose Task Shortcut → Scroll Up
Choose 3x3 square boxes icon at the bottom
Choose an icon and come back to Xposed Additions.
Repeat the aforesaid steps 1-5 for Volume Down and select Scroll Down in it. You get the idea by now what to do every time.

I've compiled a video showing the whole answer in action. Here it is. Mind the quality because it is heavily ripped from 100MB to 7.1MB.

Cheers!


Uber Driver app using too much resources So, I'm working a bit as a bicycle courier for Uber Eats. For this, I have to use their app Uber Driver.

Problem is, my phone battery (which still holds charge well) is draining very, very fast when using that application. It can run only a handful of hours. Furthermore, discharging/recharging the battery that much would quickly impact its lifespan...

So I have to carry several powerbanks and always have one connected...

It would be so better if the app could just use less resources. Probably some things are badly coded in the app and could be improved, but I'm not a web developer at Uber...

So I'm asking out of desperation, is there anything I could do to make this app use less resources?

(Xiaomi Redmi 5A - LineageOS 15.1)

So, after some use of this Uber app, some elements for answering:

The app keeps the screen on, so I can improve the situation by turning off the screen when I don't need it.
I'm considering upgrading to a phone with a more energy-efficient CPU (from 28 nm to 12 nm), it should help a bit.
I'm having a "lipstick powerbank" plugged in the more possible, to wear it off instead of the phone battery.

I guess that's the best I will be able to achieve…


Sync _all_ music in Google Play Music to local storage This might sound a little crazy, but I'd like to sync my entire Google Play Music collection to my external SD card on my Galaxy S5. Is there a setting in Google Play Music which will sync everything? I know I can specify where I'd like things to go, but is there a global sync all setting?

If I have well understood your question, I will recommend you to have a look at this question where I have explained how to do what you want : sync your music on your local storage.


Block A Number From Leaving Voicemail? I keep getting spam calls from a number every night at midnight. I've blocked it, but now it just goes to voicemail and I have to delete the voice messages every morning. It's annoying. Is there an option to block it from leaving voice messages, or just automatically answer then hang up? I haven't found one in Android itself (my phone has ICS). I've also tried Mr. Number, which I thought would do this, but it doesn't. It does work, see update below. I've also talked to my carrier about it, but apparently I'd have to add "smart number blocking" or something to my plan for about $5 a month. If possible, I'd rather just get an app answer & hang up than have another fee to pay.

Delayed Update: I followed the directions eldarerathis provided below for Mr. Number and it does what I was trying to do; I must have just done something wrong before. The phone will still ring for a few seconds though, so it may be best to silence it if the call comes at a consistent, inconvenient time like it does for me.

Not for Ice Cream Sandwich, but in Marshmallow, the stock call blocking also deletes voicemail.

Phone->Menu->Settings->"Call Blocking"

  Calls from these numbers will be blocked and voicemails will be automatically deleted.


Android rooting security considerations I know this question has been asked many times, but I didn't see a clear answer to it from security experts, or it is from several years ago and things might have changed.

My question is double:

first of all, nowadays, how does the process of rooting an android phone work (please detail if there are various alternatives) ? Does it rely on a security hole, or is it a kind of attack (such as physical access to the device) that is not part of the security perimeter of android ? In the first case, why is it that it's not fixed, as there are open bounties for the android system ? Note that I'm just talking about the android system itself (such as a Nexus Phone), with the latest patches.
Second related question: What would be the security risk of rooting an android phone ? If I am not mistaken, these could be grouped in at least two issues: the rooting process itself, and the aftermath.

a. Regarding the rooting process, is there any open source procedure (or at least closely reviewed) to root a nexus phone that could guarantee that there's no malware installed in the process ? (see also first question)

b. From what I understand, having a rooted android is no different than having a linux OS with a root account. Are there any (free, open source?) apps that can monitor (what commands have been launched, etc) and prevent apps from getting access to the root account without my agreement ? (so that it is linux OS where any account that requires root privileges must go through 'sudo' and ask the user to enter their password).

First of all, nowadays, how does the process of rooting an android
  phone work?

By using an exploit in the Android system, a binary file which is named su is added to /system/xbin partition. When an application wants to execute a command with root privileges, it executes the command with an su at the beginning of it. This sends a call to the binary file. Binary file reads a text document generated by the GUI application. If in this text file there aren't any specific information about the app that asks for root access, then the binary checks another text file (again, generated by the GUI) that shows how it should act by default in such a case. Normally in such a case, GUI app will prompt you about an app asking for root access and will ask you if you want to grant it. Depending on your decision, the GUI app will tell the binary to whether or not should it grant that app root access.

Whole process is pretty much that. However, methods of rooting are so many, that I can't fill them all in here. Because they mostly vary across manufacturers.

  What would be the security risk of rooting an android phone ? If I am not mistaken, these could be grouped in at least two issues: the rooting process itself, and the aftermath.

Well, we can do so if you want.

For the rooting process itself:

First of all, it voids your warranty. Other than that, even though it is hard to completely brick the phone when only trying to root it, it is still possible when one is not careful enough. But the most common case is usually bootloops, which is not that much of a big problem in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing.

For the aftermath

A rooted phone is pretty much the same, only with more customization for a person who knows what they are doing. But every now and then there are some guys who corrupt their IMEIs, delete the Telephone app or sometimes completely brick their phone by messing up stuff in /system. Also, giving root access to an app with bad intentions, might not (and probably will not) end well.

  a. Regarding the rooting process, is there any open source procedure
  (or at least closely reviewed) to root a nexus phone that could
  guarantee that there's no malware installed in the process ?

Well, I don't know about Nexus a lot but I don't think a rooting process might actually end up with malwares in your phone. Most su binary creators share their codes at gitHub already. And the popular ones (i.e. Chainfire from XDA) are trustworthy developers that have the trust of the community.

  b. From what I understand, having a rooted android is no different
  than having a linux OS with a root account. Are there any (free, open
  source?) apps that can monitor (what commands have been launched, etc)
  and prevent apps from getting access to the root account without my
  agreement ? (so that it is linux OS where any account that requires
  root privileges must go through 'sudo' and ask the user to enter their
  password).

Know this: Apps can make use of the exploits on their own and gain access even on a non-rooted phone. However, the GUI apps like SuperSU or Superuser come with their own su binary that act only as ordered by the GUI app. So if you don't let them, they don't have root access.


How to turn off the beep sound when pressing volume up/down buttons on Lenovo s660? Here is the sound on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-H5ZOVelLEw
The sound video was uploaded by a person who has the same problem as me, though he has a smartphone of another model. In general, there are not few people asking the question but the solution still has not been found. I would like to place the links to the people's questions but I don't have enough reputation to put more than 2 links here.
I checked the /system folder and /system/media/audio/ui folder particularly and found the sound fallbackring.ogg only in the latter. But this is not the sound produced by the volume buttons (as I have learnt it is an input call sound playing when the Bluetooth is turned on and used).
Then I have found the page http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2378177 where the screen unlock system sound is replaced. The sound is situated in /system/framework/framework-res.apk. So I copied the framework-res.apk file and all the .apk files from /system/priv-app (as in the folder there are .apk files whose names sound like system: SystemUI.apk, Settings.apk, IputDevices.apk and etc. on my smartphone) to my PC, converted them to ZIP and searched there for any .ogg, .mp3 and .wav files. I have found some .ogg and .mp3 system sounds but not the volume button system sound and I have also found files like open.wav, open_bluetooth.wav, success.wav and failure.wav but I managed to play them with VLC media player neither on Windows nor on Linux and, still, their names have nothing in common with the volume button.
So here is my small investigation. Could someone, please, give me a tip where the annoying beep sound can be kept? Or, maybe, is it produced with hardware of the smartphone? I will appreciate any help.

Just some clarification, the tone is not a media file that's played. It all done programmability as seen here: https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_frameworks_base/commit/3c786740240d8cc3b7615e36b6fad698bf79a825

After looking at your device, you probably won't be installing Xposed & Gravity Box as I couldn't even find TWRP available for the S660. Upload your SystemUI.apk and I'll have a look at it.


Trying to flash CWM but fastboot hangs at "writing 'recovery'..." I'm trying to flash my Coolpad 8865u (Vodafone Smart 4 Turbo). I unlocked fastboot
and fastboot oem device-info confirms this. However when I try to flash CWM the prompt on my shell hangs at "writing 'recovery'...". When I unplug and replug the USB to get it unstuck it stays "Failed (status read failed (No such device))".

However when I force a reboot it works fine.

Also I don't know if I'm doing this correctly but when I try to get into fastboot mode by pressing the power button and the +/- volume buttons the text "OFFICIAL" is displayed at the bottom of the screen and the phone vibrates but it does not get me into fastboot mode. It just reboots and keeps rebooting until I release the buttons.

Volume up and Power does get me into recovery mode though but there is no option to go to fastboot from there.

Finally I am also not sure what CWM image I should be using. I found a recovery.img on a portugese forum and they said it worked fine so that is what I am trying to use but I'm not sure if that is what should be used for the Coolpad 8865u.

BTW the whole point of this is that I'm trying to root my device. I don't know of any other way that works but would be open to suggestions. I already tried cyndia impactor and it says none of the bugs were found.

Use towelroot.apk to get root this app isn't available on the play store though. fastboot can be activated by simply removing the battery and pluging the USB in but is only really needed for flashing a new rom but once flashed you need a pc with adb to access the recovery menu to do a factory reset or your fone will fail to start the latest kitkat rom can be found on the yulong site but you'll need to translate the site as it is in Chinese and root is possible with kitkat 4.4.4 but I've found the rom for this phone to be a bit stuttery really I want to reflash 4.4.2 as it runs smoother and can clock down to 300mhz where as 4.4.4 only goes as low as 787mhz there is flashing software for this phone provided by yulong but can't remember what its called


Missing 2G only on my Galaxy s4 I9505 on lollipop I have a problem with receiving calls and text messages due to a weak 3G signal, now I want to make my phone and force it to work on the 2G mode only, but since I am on lollipop 5.0.1 I don't have this as a choice. I tried using this code: #*#*4636#*#* but it doesn't work with me. I also tried a few apps from the play store (e.g. Toggle Network Type 5.0 which was specifically made for Lollipop) but nothing works.

My phone is rooted.

Some Samsung devices require root access to launch the hidden testing menu. The normal code will not work in the dialer; even with ADB, you don't have access to the menu.

Since you have root access, just type the following in a terminal on your phone and the hidden testing menu should appear:

su -c "am start -n com.android.settings/com.android.settings.TestingSettings"

It may be easier through my app Root Essentials that can do this and more. You can find that test menu under "Device Info".


Remove google-account from older smartphone I gave my sister my older smartphone without removing my google-account.

How can I remove that permission without removing her settings completely, or how can I remove that certain android device from my google dashboard?

If possible, it would be great if I could do it remotely (via my google dashboard).

If you are using Google Two Step authorisation, then you can revoke the one-time password that you assigned to the phone remotely from your Google account's settings, I don't think that this is possible unless you are using the Two Step authorisation.

Go to your Google Account Settings page, click the Edit link beside "2 step verification", click "Manage application-specific passwords", look down the list for the password assigned to your old phone and click the "Revoke" link. Next time the phone tries to access your Google account, it should be denied access and your sister will see a warning asking her to enter the new password.

If you haven't set up the two step authorisation then, to do it directly on the phone, as long as the phone is running Android 2.1 (Eclair) or newer, then you can go into Settings -> Accounts and sync -> then select the account and you should have a Remove account button at the bottom of the screen.

Once you've done this switch the phone off and on again (just to make sure that no apps are running that have already logged in), and it should be removed.

Note that this won't remove all of your old data from the phone, it will just remove some of the Google synced data, and stop anything new from coming down from (or going up to) your Google account. To be sure that all of your old data is removed from the phone, you will need to wipe the phone with a factory reset.


Cannot delete or rename file? I have a file that cannot be deleted or renamed in my internal storage. The file is 0.00 byte, and says Last modified 1/1/1970. When I tried to open it, it said the file doesn't exist. What should I do? It also couldn't be cut nor copied. Thank you very much.

It can be kind of error done. I dont think it is creating any problem for you. Still you can do root and try deleting it from root explorer


Install/Update Apps gives "Insufficient Storage Available" error, although I already cleared the cache and other data Whenever I update some app(listed below), I am getting this Error.

Insufficient Storage available. I have a Sony Xperia ZR. I have about 3.46 GB free. And the application I am trying to updates are in MBs.
I have 4.3 Jellybeans installed
I tried

I installed App Cache Cleaner App, and cleaned all the cache. Didn't help.
I deleted the app data for all those apps, whose updates weren't getting installed.
I connected my device to computer. I deleted all the data in Android/data folder. Didn't help
I uninstalled all the big apps, didn't help
I unistalled whatsapp(which was one app in the list), and tried to reinstall it couldn't reinstall it.

I have not rooted my phone, which I don't want to do, as I my phone is still under warranty. But I very troubled. Please help

The list of apps I am not able to get updates for

Google Chrome,
Google Search
Google Drive,
Facebook,
Youtube,
Whatsapp,
Xperia Link

I had this same problem and this fixed it

go to "/data/app-lib/APP-PATH(that has this error)/lib" and delete.
install/update the apk app.

If this doesn't work try going to "/data/app-lib/APP-PATH(that has this error)" and delete all the folder (but you must begin by their sub-folder then the folder itself, because you cant delete the folder of this APP-PATH directly without deleting their sub-folder first

The reason for this is that for android 4.2,+ google create a new lib folder for the apps in "/data called /data/app-lib/" and there is a symlink from "/data/data/APP-PATH/lib" to this folder which is the most culpable of this error.

I came by this knowledge here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2443267

Like I said it worked for me..


I've lost my IMEI (well, it's become 0) I've managed to lose my IMEI on my Moto X 2013/1st Gen/XT1052. I've tried the following things:

flashed stock ROM
removed SIM, flashed stock ROM, boot, power off, insert SIM
erased modemst1 and modemst2 partitions
fastboot oem writeimei (this replied "Restricted oem command")
restoring PDS partition from a TWRP backup from when it was working fine.

I can read the IMEI (getvar, or via barcodes) in fastboot, so it's still there somewhere, but the android system can't seem to access it. Any suggestions would be appreciated

I had the same issue upgrading from Android 4.4.4 to Android 5.0.2 on my Samsung Galaxy SM-A300FU.

The problem was, that I have rebooted the mobile into download mode and did not power off the device. Odin has successfully flashed the modem partition, but it was not really accessible. I had flashed a new platform build, but the baseband version was the same like before flashing.

Maybe there is a similar problem on your Moto. Try to shutdown your device, wait 10-20 seconds to get sure all caps has been discharged and try again to flash your modem partition.


How do I turn on my tablet? I have a Samsung SM-T110 (android tablet) and I was having WiFi problems so I decided to Factory Reset it. It shutdown and it booted into some different place where I wiped something (I wanted to wipe everything, so I probably did). Then I rebooted it into the bootloader and now it doesn't start. Maybe I deleted the OS too? I doubt it but I don't know... This is my problem right now but I know the WiFi problems will come back, so I need help.

I don't know what happened for it to stay that way. I was able to connect to the WiFi but the connection would be so slow that I couldn't do anything. An average image would take like 3 minutes to download. I had about 5 updates in the play store that never downloaded because it took too long. For some reason my tablet has always had problems with the play store... I have to uninstall its update or else it doesn't work or drains all the battery in 1 or 2 hours, but then it installs it again...

What do I do about the tablet not turning on? How do I solve the Play store issues forever?

Thank you.

When you're in download mode(bootloader), go to your pc and download a firmware from here: sammobile.com/firmwares/database/SM-T110

Follow the instructions on the site:

Extract (unzip) the firmware file
Download Odin v3.10.7
Extract Odin ZIP file
Open Odin v3.10.7
Reboot Phone in Download Mode (press and hold Home + Power + Volume Down buttons)
Connect phone and wait until you get a blue sign in Odin
Add the firmware file to AP / PDA
Make sure re-partition is NOT ticked
Click the start button, sit back and wait few minutes


How to set a Google Plus photo as a contact-picture? One of my Google Plus contacts has some great photos from a recent family reunion I was unable to attend. I would like to use a number of these as contact photos on my Android device (Galaxy Nexus GSM w/ CyanogenMod 10.0). I have the latest Google+ app.

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a way to DO anything with the photos, whether setting them as contact photos or saving them to the device. The Google+ app likewise does not show up as an option when setting a contact photo and choosing an app to select a picture with.

How can I set a picture from the G+ app as a contact photo?

I would like to set the pictures on the phone rather than from my computer because that way it keeps much higher resolution versions than setting them through the gmail contacts functions.

I know there are tons of UI differences between the Nexus and Samsung Galaxy S4. However, here's what works for the S4, in case it leads you in the right direction.

From the Google+ slide menu, go to "Photos" and tap the desired photo. Once open, tap the phone's hardware menu button, then tap "Set as..." --> "More" --> "Contact photo" and select the desired contact.

Apologies if your Nexus doesn't have the "Set as..." menu option.


Disabling Pattern Unlock when Power Button Pressed I've just downloaded and installed DashClock onto my Nexus 5. I really like the functionality - but I found its usefulness is diminished somewhat by the fact that the pattern unlock automatically appears. What I want is for all the information to be there when I press the power button and my phone is locked and have to swipe up for the unlock gesture - not the converse as it is by default - swipe the pattern unlock down to see the full widget. How do I go about doing this?

Android's lockscreen widget by design comes minimized, and you have to manually maximize it.  There is no way to configure it otherwise.

That said, some custom ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod, AOKP) offer the functionality to enable showing the expanded lockscreen widget when the screen is turned on:

Of course, you will need to unlock your phone's bootloader and flash custom firmware in order to obtain this feature.


How to disable the camera sound on a Huawei G525? I have a Huawei G525 (Android 4.2 jelly bean). The Camera makes a sound when taking photos even when it's in silent mode. How do I disable the shutter sound altogether?

Search the settings inside the camera app there should be one to change/disable camera sounds. If there's no such option, I'm afraid the only alternative you have is to try alternative 3rd part camera apps.


Is there a way for a signature to be spoofed? What I'm asking is, can someone modify an app to make it malicious and have it retain the original signature? Not sure how app signing works so I figured you would know best.

Yes, it's possible, but it's cryptographically hard. Signatures involve multiple steps:

Hash the application/message/whatever to produce a digest
Sign the digest with a key such that the signature can be verified using publicly available information.

Cryptographic hash functions are specifically designed to have collision resistance properties to prevent someone from finding multiple inputs that hash to the same output. By specifying that the original signature be maintained, you are asking about what is called the hash function's weak collision resistance, whether it is difficult to find a collision for a specific input. This is weak in the sense that it is easier to achieve than strong collision resistance, which is a measure of the difficulty of finding any collision between any inputs.

For a perfect cryptographic hash function, you can do no better than try random inputs (or malware + random element) in the hopes of generating a collision. The probability of doing this is 1/2^n for one attempt, where n is the number of bits in the hash output. For large n, the amount of time it would take to have a reasonable chance of finding a collision is astronomical even with nation-level computing resources available.

For any real cryptographic hash function, there is the chance that very smart people in the future will find a systematic way of finding collisions. This is when people stop using the hash function (for example, MD5) for secure applications and replace it with more secure alternatives.

In short, this is not something you should worry about, unless the signatures are found to be using broken hash functions.


Can I wipe my phone even if I use it for 2-step verification? I fear that if I reset my phone to factory defaults I'll never be able to access my Google Account again, since I use the Google Authentication app on it to provide the 2nd step of the verification.

Am I right? Should I remain worried?

There are several ways to address your concerns.

First - you should print the emergency codes. Google has good directions on how to do so here. (reproduced here)

Sign in to your accounts at https://www.google.com/accounts/SmsAuthConfig.
Look for the “Printable backup codes” area.
Click Show/Generate codes.
If you are fine using the current set of backup codes, you can print or download them. If you believe this set of codes might have been stolen or you’ve used many of the backup codes, you can generate a new set by clicking Generate new codes.

Second - Even without backup codes, you should have supplied your phone number to Google at some point; this allows for you to have a temporary code sent to you in a text message. As shown in the following image:

Thirdly - You can disable 2-step verification while Wiping your phone, and re-enable it again after completion. (This requires you to set everything back up). Google Instruction Page to Disable 2-Step Verification (steps reproduced here)

Visit the Using 2-step verification  page under your Google Account settings. Sign in with your username, password, and verification code if prompted.
Click Turn off 2-step verification.
A pop-up window will appear to confirm that you want to turn off 2-step verification. Click OK.