Android Antivirus Software (solution and battery life relevance) Is there a security solution for Android that's vastly regarded as "the best" one at the moment or is it like in the PC world where there are 3-4 which are "the best"?

Also, what should I expect to happen to the battery life between charges if I were to install an antivirus?

Note: I am running Android 2.2, soon to be updated to 2.2.1.

An antivirus app will have a major effect on your battery life. A friend with an HTC Desire couldn't understand why he could never get more than 4 or 5 hours out of his battery, even turning most things off, until he remembered installing one of the AV apps to try it out. Removing that brought his battery life back up to what it should be.

When the first Android troojan virus hit back in August last year, similarly to the recent Geinimi trojan, in both cases the affected user had to willingly install an app that was from a third-party source, and go through the permissions screen where the app specifically asks for permissions that it shouldn't really need.

An attentive and careful user can protect themselves from these kind of threats just by taking care to only install apps from trusted sources, and to read which permissions an app asks for as it installs, and stop to think whether it really needs to do things like read your contacts and send SMSs.

The real problem will come when a virus learns to either break out of its app's sandbox and into another, or learns how to give itself root access, or take advantage of the root access that someone else has installed. This is what the iPhone worm of about a year ago did, when it took advantage of the fact that the most popular iPhone jailbreak app left all jailbroken phones with the same root password by default, and most users never bothered changing the password. No Android virus has yet been shown to be able to do that.


How do I see if my Android Nexus received the latest security updates? I'd like to check the patch level of my Nexus. I'm using Lollipop 5.1.1 build LMY48I. Under 'System updates' in 'About phone', it says 'Your system is up to date'. Should I assume that includes security updates?

In Marshmallow (Android 6.0) there will be an additional bit of information on the 'About' screen showing the "Android security patch level". This should show the date of the last security update that your phone has. How you will know that this is the latest available is unclear though.

Source

As for pre-Marshmallow the best suggestion I have is to look at the factory images page and see what the latest build number is for your device. Depending on which device you have there should be a newer version than LMY48I, most likely build LMY48M.


Google Keyboard settings occasionally reset to defaults From time to time, Google Keyboard settings are reset to default with no apparent reason. It is frustrating and time consuming to set those settings again and again. Especially if you use device for multilingual communication.

I'm using Samsung Secure Folder (Knox) for some apps like mobile banking, and each time I opened Secure Folder and returned back to other non-secure-folder apps, the settings of Google Keyboard were reset. In my case selection of languages was reset to default system language, while I needed to use several different keyboards for different languages.

The solution to this was to add Google Keyboard to Secure Folder and setup the keyboard twice, on both the "normal app" list" and in the "secure folder".

To add Google Keyboard to Secure Folder:

Open Secure Folder
Click on "Add"
Find and check Google Keyboard on the list
Click add
Open Google Keyboard inside Secure Folder and setup the keyboard
Exit Secure Folder
Find Google Keyboard and setup the keyboar again

Hope this will help save you time, as it took me several weeks to figure this out.


What is Acer Liquid Metal maximum SD card speed class? I want to buy a new sd and I'd like to get best bang (and speed) for the buck...
But I can't find this information...
Anybody knows?

There's no reason a class 10 card wouldn't work.  The card being faster shouldn't break anything.  I can find no evidence that the Acer Liquid Metal detects and behaves badly with a fast card, or does not use the SD card specifications properly, or anything like that.


Application incompatibility I recently tried to install microsoft groove but the play store said, this app is incompatible with your device which is strange because. Im using Android 5.0.1 with all the latest updates.

Is there a way around this.

I have the same problem.

I did some digging, you can download the app from Aptoide or you can use a better app called CloudPlayer.


Changing Screenshot format from PNG to JPEG? I want to change the screenshot function to take screenshots using JPEG rather than PNG. The JPEG should also have time & date info. Are there any apps/magisk modules that do this?

Root methods prefered so as to still have the system screenshot functions

I don't know about Magisk module that can do this but here is an app alternative

Touchshot is an app I use

Hover button (overlay)
JPEG / PNG - JPEG quality 80 /90 /100 and resolution can be varied from 640 x 360 , 1280 x 720, 1920 x 1080
Date and time stamped screenshots for instance 20171229_140953.jpg for a screenshot just captured


How can I make silent mode affect media volume too? Silent mode is simple to toggle quickly and easily, but it only effects ringtone volume. I want it to work for media volume too, so I can use it to quickly toggle off game audio in public places. Is this possible? Or is there another simple solution? I have a Google Experience phone, so manufacturer-custom UI elements are no help.

RealSilent may do the trick for you:

Battery-friendly background service that will automatically mute
the media volume on your phone when you change the ringer to silent.

Features:
- Ability to mute on silent mode, as well as vibrate.
- Ability to restore media volume to what it was before going to silent/vibrate.

There's a bug report for this issue, but it hasn't been acknowledged by Google.


Can't mount /system as read/write, even though I'm rooted My phone is rooted, and I tried to remount the system partition in a terminal emulator like so:

mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system
mount -o rw,remount /system

Both commands gave the output:

mount : read-only file system

Because of that I can't install Busybox, Xposed, etc. I'm using Android 4.4.2.

Apparently under the new AOS, in non-root you may have certain things mounted in one way, but when doing su you get it mounted (or not at all) in a diffrent way. This is proably due to the new SELinux protection schemes. For example, to resolve unmonted SDCards you have to do su -mm, when using SuperSU. In addition the toolbox supported mount command is a bit crappy at times, so you're better using busybox. Make sure you use the latest SuperSU as it is the only reliable way to get proper root credential under the new SELinux systems. Then try each of the following:

su -cn u:object_r:kernel:s0 -c "busybox mount -o rw,remount /system"
su -cn u:object_r:init_shell:s0 -c "busybox mount -o rw,remount /system"
su 0 -c "busybox mount -o rw,remount /system"


How to transfer data from android device using MTP and having the ext2/3/4 file format to computer on Windows XP I'm trying to learn. I have an android tablet from Kocaso. Apparently to transfer files from my computer to the tablet you need to use MTP.

This seems to imply that I need something for Windows XP to detect the file format ext/2/3/4 of the device so I can transfer stuff like a good old usb key.

So what do I need exactly?

This is one of the reasons MTP was introduced for: independency of the file system format used "behind it". You can compare it to using "standard SQL" to retrieve data from a database via an ODBC driver: your application does not need to know whether there's a MySQL, Oracle, PostGreSQL, or whatever database behind it. As long as it sticks to standard SQL commands, it simply works.

Similar issue with MTP. Other than with using UMS, your computer doesn't access the file-system directly, but uses a kind of "command layer". On the Android device, MTP then plays the role of our above ODBC driver, translating everything to the underlying file system.

So as long as your computer knows how to deal with MTP, you don't have to even think about what file system is used. It should simply work.

But on the other hand, MTP has proven tricky sometimes: it requires extra drivers on Windows, and doesn't work out of the box on MacOS or Linux systems (also extra installs and adjustments required here). So there are alternatives you might wish to take a look at for file transfer, such as using apps like Airdroid, FTPServer, DavDrive, or similar.


Does rooting a device and installing a custom ROM SIM unlock it as well? I'm a bit confused about this topic. I have a T-Mobile myTouch 3G which I've recently replaced with a Nexus One so it's kind of standing there. I was contemplating rooting the myTouch and installing an alternative ROM but I also wanted to unlock it so it can be used with other carriers.

Now, the real questions:  When rooting and installing a custom ROM, will that also unlock the phone so it can be used with other carriers? Or is that a baseband feature?

No, rooting your phone will not let you use it on other carriers. If you have a good standing account with tmobile, and I believe you have to have been a customer for like 9 months (or something like that), you can call them and tell they you are going out of the country and want to be able to use an international sim card. they will give you the code you need to unlock your phone so you can use it on other carriers.

You will not get 3G data speeds unless the carrier uses the same bands that tmobile does. for example, AT&T does not use the same bands, so you will only get EDGE.


Is there an Android known issues database? Does anyone know if there is a Known Issues Database for Android,
or some tool that one could search for known issues based on the version of some parts of the code such as the kernel.

The official issue database for bugs/features/etc. of the Android OS can be found here.

Copied from Bryan Denny's answer to another question.


Cannot connect to a data connection on Sprint HTC One M8 Firstly, I am running CyanogenMod 12.1 on my HTC One M8, but this is an issue I also experienced running stock Android (e.g. Lollipop).

The issue I am experiencing is that my device appears to be unable to reconnect or "get back" on the Sprint data network. For example, yesterday, I was in NYC (obviously somewhere that should and is covered), but I was unable to get a data connection anywhere in the city. I was only able to send SMS (not send/receive MMS) and make voice calls.

In the past, when I had this issue on Sprint, being the helpful individuals they are, they told me to restore my phone and reinstall Android. I did that, which helped for a while, but it wasn't long before I ran into the same issue on stock Android. After a while, the issue seemed to "resolve" itself magically. I never found out why or how.

More recently, I rooted my phone and installed CyanogenMod 12.1 on my M8, and I am running into the exact same issue I had before. Ideally, I don't want to have to restore my phone again, because not only do I not think this is the "fix-all", but it seemed like Sprint's lazy answer for not wanting to actually troubleshoot my device.

This is becoming increasingly apparent when I travel as I am unable to get GPS directions, send MMS messages, or do anything over data like normal when I'm off of a WiFi network. Despite having "bars" on my screen, CM will display a small "!" over my data icon, which I assume is an indicator that it is unable to connect to the mobile network in some way.

Is there anything I can do to better troubleshoot my mobile data connection?

The same thing happened to me after I rooted and installed CM.

I seem to have just solved it by going into the Access Point Names menu, opening the 3 dot drop down menu and selecting "Reset to Default" and rebooting the phone. I then went back into said menu, clicked the add (+) button and entered a new APN with the settings as follows:

Name        : Sprint
APN         : cinet.spcs
MMSC        : http://mms.sprintpcs.com/servlets/mms
MMS Proxy   : 68.28.31.7 6
MMS Port    : 80
MMC         : 234
MNC         : 15
APN Type    : Internet + MMS
APN Protocol: IPv4

I left every other field blank, saved it, selected it from the previous menu and restarted. Everything seems fine now, I've got full LTE where I had sporadic 3G (mosty no signal) in this same spot just moments before. Granted it's only been an hour so time will tell.

Source (and steps for some models): 4GTricks - Sprint APN Settings For Android, Samsung Galaxy, HTC One, Xperia, Motorola Moto, LG G1


Error retrieving information from server.[BM-PPH-02] I am trying to subscribe to Google play music to be able to have a monthly plan, but it keeps showing this:
Error retrieving information from server. [BM-PPH-02]
please help.I've tried everything.

You need to change your country so then it won't come up anymore. I used
https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/play/QXdA_Q3V1o8 this website. Dave was very helpful

Hi all,

You can update your home address whenever you want, including changing to a different country. If you're representing a company, enter your business address.

Sign into your Google Payments account at payments.google.com and click the Settings icon in the top corner. See screenshot:
Click Edit next to the "Home Address" listed and update the address (please note this is different from the "Address Book" which holds shipping addresses).
Open the Play Store and navigate to any item available for download.
Click to begin a download until you reach the "Accept and buy" screen (no need to complete the purchase)
Close the Play Store, force stop and then clear data for the Google Play Store application (Settings > Apps > Google Play Store > Force Stop then Clear Data) or clear your browser cache
Re-open the Play Store. You should now see the Play Store that matches your default payment method’s billing country.

Note that if you don't immediately see the Play Store that matches your default payment method's billing country, it may take a few hours for this to take effect.

If you haven't yet added a payment method to your account for the first time, add a card directly from the Play Store with a billing address that matches your intended country location. Then, follow steps 3 through 6 to show your intended country's Play Store.

Some things to note...

For legal reasons, you'll need to sign new Terms of Service if you change your home country.
If your Google Play balance is higher than these amounts, you won't be able to change your home country. If it's under those amounts and you change to a country with a different currency, you won't be able to see or use your remaining balance until you switch back to a country where that currency is used.
If you have a Payments Balance higher than USD $10, or a Checkout Merchant account, you won't be able to change your country.

Hope this helps!

David


Is there cryptsetup android binary One thing I badly need on android is support for opening Luks volumes. Is there a cryptsetup / cryptfs binary so, I can execute it from terminal on a rooted phone to mount luks volumes.

Please donot suggest apps for opening luks volumes , like Luks Manager. Im having rooted phone on android 5.0.2.

I wish the functionality is built into the kernel itself.

I use LUKS Manager's binary on the command line.


Merge two Google play/apps accounts into one list Is there a way to merge two Google play accounts into one or at least have two common lists?

I have two Google accounts I routinely use on Android. One for business and one personal. That said I wasn't always consistent in my usage. Now when I add a new android device, I need to pick through both accounts to load the android apps I consider essential.

I'd be open to a onetime merge, even if it involves exporting and reimporting.

You can't merge two separate Google Play accounts per Google (link to Google).  Apps purchased on one account cannot be transferred to another account, etc:

It isn't currently possible to merge separate Google Accounts.


Is the Gallery app scanning my photos? The Gallery app is now using face recognition on my images. Is this sending my images to the Samsung server? Is Samsung stealing my pictures and uploaded them to their server? How do I uninstall this app?

Here is the settings view per request below.

It will NOT send any picture to server, it is feature to easy you task in contacts and social platforms but some times quite annoying.
System apps cannot be uninstalled on Non-Rooted phone.
So to uninstall app you need to root your phone and use any other third party app manager. However rooting voids your warranty , as far I am aware of Samsung.
And there must be option to turn off Face Recognition.
Solution:-

Go in gallery
Open a picture
Open drop down /Tap menu key/ open setting
Tap on facetag
Turn it off.


Is there a way to know the actual permissions of an app now before installing? I'm not a fan of the current so-called "simplified" permissions in the Play store, and would like a way to check the exact permissions of an app before installing. This need not be a tool that does the installation itself, I just need a site or app that helps me look up the exact permissions from the app before I install it. Is there such a tool available?

You don't need an external tool for this. On the versions of the Play Store with the new "simplified" permissions dialog, you can still find a full list of permissions from the app's store page (the screen with the icon at the top, description, screenshots, &c.). Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Under "Additional Information" you'll see "Permissions" with a link "View details". Click this link to see a dialog with the list of individual permissions.

However, if you do want an external tool, AppBrain is an alternative web front-end to the Play Store, and lists the permissions individually for each app. From there you can click through to install the app from the real Play Store. Not all apps appear on AppBrain, but many of them do, especially the popular apps.

There's also a resource offered by Izzy, a good friend of this site. His website offers a curated list of apps, searchable by permissions. It also gives a fuller description of each permission, and highlights interesting combinations. Because apps are added to his site by a manual process, it's a very small list compared to the huge number of apps on the Play Store, but consists of a good range of recommended and popular apps in different categories.


How to check supported Bluetooth Profiles on Android device How do I know which "Bluetooth Profiles" are available on my Android device?

Is there any terminal command to list all "Bluetooth Profiles" supported by Bluetooth Stack present in Android device?

Have you tried sdptool. This link has "sdptool" command syntax . You can issue the command even from ADB shell on your connected Android phone. But I guess this quires the other Bluetooth devices. But this will be good starting point for you.


Can I add metadata to a jpeg in Android? Does anyone know of a way to take jpegs imported from my camera onto my Android tablet then add the metadata properties that Windows calls Title, Tags (I assume, possibly wrong, that this is Keywords in EXIF terms) and possibly Subject so that they are there when I eventually transfer the photos to  Windows PC?

Any help appreciated.

There are several exif editors in Google Play. One of them is EXIF Tag Editor (Photo).

As suggested by Izzy, there are also gallery apps that can do this:

JustPictures!
Photo Mate

Note that the latter two apps are no longer available on Play Store.


How to safely activate LTE on S4 mini (GT-i9195) running 4.2.2? I'd like to activate LTE on my device: S4 mini with LTE (GT-i9195). There seems to be ways of doing this, but they seem rather "scary" and experimental at best:

http://www.androidauthority.com/community/threads/how-to-activate-4g-lte.16160/
Do you know other Android keypad commands (dialer codes)?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2734094

Is there are a better or "official" way of activating LTE on this device??

Call the Service Menu : with *#0011# and then hit (menu) Back and then (menu) Key Input and enter Q0000 and wait.

Select UMTS -> Debug Screen -> Phone Control -> Network Control -> Band Selection -> Automatic Done.

May be restart the phone.


Unable to change display language in Twitter app on S4 I want to change the laguage Twitter is displayed in from English to German. I can easily do this from the laptop web version. However the Language is still in english on my app.

Some notifacations bubbles that pop up on my phone are auf Deutsch.

Is the display language for the App always default to your location?

Thank you.

The Twitter app language match the current phone's language. With a English US phone, my app is set to en-Us.


LG G3 Restart and Shut down automatically I have LG G3 (D855) and running stock firmware, Someday back my phone start showing invalid sim then i tried same sim with different phone and its working. Now i know there is some fault in phone, i was keep trying then after few minutes my phone restart with awkward loud beat and then shut down/restart to boot. To boot i need to take out battery but it still restart or shut down automatically.

I flashed my phone to stock KDZ successfully but still i am facing same issue. My screen sometimes stuck to LG logo or LG logo disappears and shut down (Need to take out battery to start my phone again), Boot sometimes to home screen then turn off. I flashed to D85530e_00_0927.kdz , which is stock i was using before any issue in my phone.

Please help me to fix my phone

Lots of LG phones are showing up bootloop issues. The issue you are facing can be closely related to other bootloop issues seen in LG phones. And if it is, I dont think you can do much to fix this issue.

You may however give a try installing a light weight OS like lineage OS. I had faced similar situation with Nexus 5x. Installing Lineage OS helped a bit(restarts/sudden shutdowns became less frequent). In my case replacing motherboard solved the issue for me.


Samsung A20 SM-A205W stuck on download mode I have a Samsung Galaxy A20 and I was attempting to unlock the bootloader and also install TWRP. While the bootloader was unlocked successfully, while doing the TWRP part I had to use Odin and used an online tutorial to see how to do it. I ended up putting it in Odin's AP section and flashing it....
and that was the last time I saw my A20 working normally...
Now I can't switch it off (unless discharged) and it stays on all the time.
What if I try to switch it off? When switching off is attempted, it shows me the standard Samsung boot-up screen but with a yellow triangular warning sign and red text at the bottom saying "This phone is not running Samsung's official software. You may have problems with features or security, and you won't be able to install security updates." And then I'm back to the download mode screen.
I cannot go to the recovery/bootloader. I have tried pressing the buttons on the phone all at once (i.e. power; volume buttons) with no results.
In the Download Mode screen it shows:
In the middle of the screen: A big download logo with the text "Downloading..." below it and below that, "Do not turn of target". After some blank space below it there is the text "Volume Down Key + Power Key for more than 7 secs : Cancel (restart phone)".
On the top left: There is text in three lines and has a really small size.
Note: A ? indicates incomprehensible letters due to screen layout and a @ indicates unknown number of letters that cannot be viewed there

?ecovery: Error validating footer. (@)
CUSTOM RECOVERY
VBMETA A205WLS2ASG1, 25128537R

By the way the device region is either VMC, VTR or XAC.
Thank you

It sounds like a soft-brick.
To unbrick your device, download stock firmware for your device from sammobile.com and flash it using Odin. Make sure you download the right one for your region.

For more details: See this


Can Material design be backported to older Android versions? With the introduction of Material Design in Android Lollipop, a consistency in app design was received quite well by the user community. However, most of these apps are showing their Material designs only when the Android version is 5.x. Is there any way to make these display the same way in Android 2.x to 4.x?

I mean, can't the design libraries be backported to older Android devices by embedding them in-app, so that the consistency is maintained across all Android versions?

I have heard about apps or more specifically, Xposed modules like Monster UI which theme your device to look like so, but System Apps aren't affected. Can't such libraries be included in pre-packaged System Apps?

For example, a normal app uses the Holo theme in Android versions 4.x, and the Material theme in 5.x. Can't it be made to use the Material theme in older devices?

Yes is it possible. You can design your application with interactive material design using v7, v13 and v21 appcompat support libraries. These support libraries provide you backward compatibility of your material designs. For Backward compatibility read here https://developer.android.com/training/material/compatibility.html


How can I change default timer ringtone I have a samsung galaxy note 4 and I am wondering how can I change my defauly ringtone? Thanks

On a note 4, you can call on the menu button by long pressing the recent apps button on the bottom left of your phone.

(source: here, and personal experience)

So just go into the clock app, go to the timer tab, and long press on the recent button. You should now have the menu that you're talking about. If it doesn't come up, it's most probably because Samsung disabled the option.


Random headphone/icon bug? LG G3 running Sprint Android Lollipop 5.0.1 Last night, when I was attempting to use my headphones, the first 3 times I inserted them, they were detected by my phone as an Auxiliary Cable. The 4th time, however, it correctly detected them as headphones. I've plugged my headphones in 6 or 7 times since then, and the issue hasn't happened again; I was just wondering if this is a common bug, or if I should be worried about the headphone jack failing.

Basically, the Linux switch driver will raise the event to Android. I suspect that your headset jack insertion circuit failed.


I hate the analog time picker, can I force apps to use something else? I really dislike this:

I would love to be able to force all of my apps to use this:

I realize that everyone has their own opinions about good vs bad UX.  I don't want to start fights, I am just wondering if there is a way to force my phone to always use the digital time picker rather than the analog clock face.

As a developer, I'm not even sure you always get analog/digital time-picker on all apps. If I remember correctly, these time pickers are implemented and used only on Google's apps. The rest of 3rd-party apps will show this type instead:

I'm afraid it's impossible to force using the time picker you want since each app has its freedom to use any picker that the developer want. (As reference, there is a 3rd-party library that implements the digital time picker from previous Google Calendar, but it's only useful for developer).


Samsung Sm-A500H: Google Play reports "This app is incompatible with all of your devices" How can I install an application which was previously installed on my device? I have a Samsung Sm-A500H.
I want a way how to do this without rooting.
Google play-store always says

"This app is incompatible with all of your devices."

You don't need to be rooted to do this. You can try to search the application file on google. You have to accept installation from unknown sources in the security option menue in your phone settings before.
Just search for "Your desired APP name.apk" - make sure to grab a relativly new version of it and try to install it manually.

But to be clear: Don't download any paid app this way. Also: This file may modified in some way so do this at your own risk. Updating it via the PlayStore won't work too. I hope this helps you.


How do I change my "Vendor Class ID"? My device's "Vendor Class ID" is dhcpcd-5.2.10:Linux-3.0.8-gb55e9ac:armv7l:herring.  I don't know what Vendor Class ID is, but how do I change it to something else?

My question is not related to programming.

The Vendor ID that @MatthewRead mention is used for the PC drivers. What you are talking about is a DHCP Vendor Class Identifier.

From Microsoft Technet (not android specific, but has the same meaning)

  Can be used by DHCP clients to identify their vendor type and configuration. When using this option, vendors can define their own specific identifier values, such as to convey a particular hardware or operating system configuration or other identifying information.

To answer the question if you can change this, I do not know of any configuration settings anywhere within android that let you change this. Based on the one you put in your question, it looks like android creates the VCI from the following:

<dhcpcd and version>:<kernel and version>:<processor type>:<device board type>

for the board type, you have herring, so if you opened up a shell and typed getprop ro.product.board I am willing to bet that the value that is output is "herring". Can I guess that you also have a Nexus S. I believe the Galaxy Nexus has a board named "tuna".


Google's photo sphere functionality for Samsung TouchWiz phone? My vanilla Android tablet (4.2/4.3) has this very fun feature in the camera app, that allows easily creating StreetView-like 360° composite pictures.

My Samsung TouchWiz phone (4.2) does not have this same feature in camera app. Is there a way to get it?

Yes. Just download the Nexus' camera app onto your Samsung device and install it. You'll end up with 2 camera and gallery apps. They all have different icons, though, so you can visually see which one you want to open.

See the following link for a download link and instructions.

Use the Google camera app to create photospheres. Note that to view the photospheres, you must also use the Google Gallery app (which is also installed).

http://www.intellectdigest.in/how-to-install-photosphere-on-samsung-galaxy-s4-without-rooting-on-touchwiz-ui-3529/?ModPagespeed=noscript

Direct download: http://d-h.st/tK6

Camera Icons

Gallery Icons

In ADW, I created a folder called Camera and changed the icon names for the two camera apps to help distinguish between the two. I don't know if TouchWiz can created folders or change the icon labels, though; I installed ADW Ex as soon as I got the phone.


Samsung Smart Switch - Do I need the same version of an app on both phones? I mean to transfer only selected apps from my J7 2015 (Phone #1, P1) to my new J7 Prime (Phone #2, P2) using Samsung Smart Switch (SSS).

Some of these apps are already installed in P2.
Since different versions of an app may use a different file structure to handle its data and work, I conceive that SSS is not smart enough to be aware of this (it would be too much asking from SSS), and therefore that the switch requires first to have the same version of the apps to be switched in both phones, for the transferred data to be operative in the new phone.

Is that correct or not?
Can anyone provide authoritative answers/links?
Did anyone had specific experiences with different versions of apps (which app/version in each phone)?

PS: At first, I had a non-updated version in my old phone, and SSS was not going through (and not throwing any error or warning message). Then I updated SSS and it worked. So at least SSS requires some degree of "similarity" in its own versions.

PS2: In some apps, I can confirm that login info was not properly transferred, and I had to login again in the new phone.

For many of the applications that I transferred, only the app itself is transferred, not the data, so it becomes irrelevant if the versions are the same or not.

I do not know if this is always the case.


How to reduce number of screens on HTC Sense android phones? I was wondering, is there a way to reduce the number of screens available with HTC sense phones to say 5? Just I find that 7 screens is excessive for my needs, and I heard I can get a decent performance / battery boost from having less screens.

So is there a way to reduce the number of screens without using a custom launcher (which I think gets rid of HTC sense?)

Currently I just have my two side screens blank, but that looks off when you zoom out, however I have found that even that has produced a noticeable improvement on my Desire HD

Thanks!

Unfortunately you can't change the number of screens and still use the HTC Sense UI. At least not in any of the versions I've seen.

You can uninstall it or turn it off, but then you won't have free access to all of the HTC widgets, if you like those.

If you really want the performance kick you'll get from less screens in total, and therefore using less RAM, you'll have to go back to Vanilla Android.  Simply using less widgets, as you've done, will certainly help somewhat.

I feel you pain too, I really only need 3 screens for my favorite widgets and folders, but I kind of like some of the HTC widgets.


Trying to vacuum all databases under /data with sqlite3, but fails with error 14 I would like to vacuum all my database files under /data, to achieve somewhat better performance so I ran the following script:

for i in $(find /data -iname "*.db"); do
#echo $(basename $i);
sqlite3 $i 'VACUUM;';
resVac=$?
if [ $resVac == 0 ]; then
    resVac="SUCCESS";
else
    resVac="ERRCODE-$resVac";
fi;

sqlite3 $i 'REINDEX;';
resIndex=$?
if [ $resIndex == 0 ]; then
    resIndex="SUCCESS";
else
    resIndex="ERRCODE-$resIndex";
fi;
echo "Database $i:  VACUUM=$resVac  REINDEX=$resIndex" | tee -a /data/vacuum.log
done

As you can see this script vacuums and reindexes each database file under /data. REINDEX works fine, but VACUUM does not. It returns "Error: unable to open database file". (error code 14)

I am dealing with /data. So, it can't be a mount problem.

Unlike REINDEX, the VACUUM command needs to create a new temporary file to work in. It then replaces the database file with this temporary file. This means that it needs write access, not only to the database file, but also to the directory it's in.


Is there a web browser for the 1st generation Kindle Fire that uses TLS1.2 or higher? Various websites are starting to fail to load in the built-in Silk web browser, and I've tracked the issue down to the fact that Silk uses only TLS 1.0.

TLS 1.0/1.1 is outdated and insecure to such an extent that major websites have begun refusing such connections outright.

I asked Amazon support if there were any solutions or workarounds, but since the 1st gen Fire is no longer supported there really isn't one. I looked at sideloading a different browser like Firefox, but the APK refuses to launch (I'm assuming my version of Android is too old.)

I'd rather not throw out a device that still works perfectly if I can reasonably avoid it.

Firefox 47 can be installed on the 1st generation Kindle Fire. It supports TLS 1.2.

Download link: Mozilla's official FTP.


How to hide the carrier name in status bar? I'm using MIUI rom and in the Philippines, the carrier name is pretty long. "Globe Telecom-P" and it takes up a lot of status bar space. Gah. Is there a way to hide this?

Phono is able to replace the carrier's name with a logo:

Phono (source: Google Play; click image to enlarge)

Take a look at above screenshot. See the T logo in the upper left, on the notification bar? That's placed by Phono. It additionally offers a bunch of widgets to show you network strength and other things, plus some shortcuts (as shown in the screenshot).

I used Phono successfully on HTC stock ROMs as well as with CyanogenMod. Though your seem to have issues with your current Beta-ROM, those might hopefully be fixed with an update, so Phono will work on that, too -- otherwise it might still help you in case you decide to switch ROMs :)


Answer without unlocking in android 5.0 I recently upgraded my nexus 4 to android 5.0 (Via OTA update).  Now, for some reason, when I get a phone call the screen is black and I have to

press the power button
ress/swipe the lock icon on the screen
enter my password
swipe right to answer my call.

Before (android 4.4) all I had to do was slide to answer.  How can I get the old functionality back?

Try resetting the screen lock on your phone. Worked for me. I have a nexus 4 too.


RSSI range for WiFi icons What is stock RSSI range for the WiFi indicator icon in notification bar?

I didn't look back through older versions, but here's information accurate as of Android 7.1.2.

The code that performs the transformation from RSSI to signal "level" is found in the WifiManager.calculateSignalLevel method:

public static int calculateSignalLevel(int rssi, int numLevels) {
    if (rssi <= MIN_RSSI) {
        return 0;
    } else if (rssi >= MAX_RSSI) {
        return numLevels - 1;
    } else {
        float inputRange = (MAX_RSSI - MIN_RSSI);
        float outputRange = (numLevels - 1);
        return (int)((float)(rssi - MIN_RSSI) * outputRange / inputRange);
    }
}

...where MIN_RSSI is -100 and MAX_RSSI is -55 (source). The input range is "dynamic" in the sense that its based off of how many resource files are available for the WiFi icon, but in AOSP this value will be 5 because it has icons for 0-4 bars. Using the above logic and values, the ranges come out to approximately:

-55 or higher: 4 bars
-56 to -66: 3 bars
-67 to -77: 2 bars
-78 to -88: 1 bar
-89 or lower: 0 bars


Turn Bluetooth on so it stays on even when trigger app is closed Hi Guys I am trying to make a profile to turn on Bluetooth when I open Spotify. That works but as soon I switch the app to browse something while playing the music Tasker turns the Bluetooth off ;(.

So I want an Event when Spotify is opened turn on Bluetooth even if I delete Spotify it should stay on ;)

Does anyone know a solution?

Thank you guys ;)

You can add an exit task that will turn on Bluetooth. And being that Bluetooth is already on, it will stay on till you manually switch it off.

To set an exit task, long press on the task and select "add exit task" there, select Bluetooth on as the task.


Old contacts show on my partner's phone despite erasing it on mine My partner  tells me that number and names of contact I have deleted keep appearing as soon as I log on.
I do NOT have these numbers and names in my contacts.
How it is so? How can I fix that?
Do I need to delete my account?

It is possible that you have deleted your contacts on your phone, and not on your Gmail account.

Log on to your Gmail account at google.com, click the button at the top right, and then click more, then contacts.

From there you should be able to delete all of the contacts you no longer wish to have. Afterwards restart any devices, and refresh/sync any affected accounts. It might take a day (guessing) before the change is represented on every device.


Does Dropbox use local phone storage when set to display photos in the gallery? As the title suggests, I would like to know if syncing my Android Gallery to Dropbox and changing the Cloud Dropbox setting to "Pictures - View pictures from Dropbox in Gallery" will use local storage space?

For example, I can set it to view my Dropbox images in my Gallery. However, if there photos are already on my phone, will this take up twice the space? OR does it pull the photo as and when required?

Another example, If I have a new phone with no storage being used and I set this option, will local storage space be used to view these images?

The reason I ask is because my wife is running out of space fast on her Android device and I have suggested using Dropbox to store all of the photographs and videos but she would like to still see these in her Gallery. Would this resolve the issue or would it use all the space again when I enable this setting?

The photos will not be stored doubled. They will be downloaded every time you want to see them (and may be temporarily stored in cache).


How do I fully charge my emulator battery? It bothers me to see half charged battery.

Anyone knows how I can fully charge it?

You can open a telnet connection to the AVD:

telnet localhost 5554

then once connected:

power capacity 100

or

power status full

Source: Android Developers: Using the Emulator


How can I use Enter to send from a bluetooth keyboard? I just purchased a Logitech K760 Wireless keyboard for my Nexus 4.  I have the keyboard paired properly to my phone, but I am unable to send from the keyboard, when sending IMs via Facebook, Skype, etc.

I also have SwiftKey installed, and have tried using both SwiftKey and the default Google Keyboard, and both behave the same way.

Is there a configuration option, or add-on app I can use to control how this works?  My ideal configuration would have ENTER send, and SHIFT+ENTER (or similar) insert a newline.  But I would also be willing to map the send function to one of the F-keys or something else, if that's what I must do.

I am using Android 4.4.2.

This behaviour depends on the application you use, and so, on the way developer(s) programmed their applications.

The application may provide an option to use enter as send, but if it doesn't, then I think you can't do much about this...


How can I receive phone calls through Wi-Fi on an Android phone? How can I receive phone calls from a landlines/cellphone when I have Wi-Fi connectivity, but no cell phone service?

You could signup for Skype and get a Skype "Online Number" (this used to be called "Skype In") and then install the Skype app on your phone.

This would give you a real phone number that anyone could ring from a normal landline or mobile, that would ring through to Skype on your phone (or any other device) over your data connection.


Moto G 3rd Gen - SD Card stopped working This morning my SD Card suddenly stopped working. As soon as I removed it and reinserted it, nothing happens. It does not even tell me to format it. I also tried to insert it in my PC but it says that it is corrupted and needs format.

If possible I'd like to avoid to format it since I've got all my photos on it.

The SD Card is a Samsung EVO 32 GB one, and it's also pretty new, since I bought it 2 months ago.

Does anyone have any clue of why this happens and a way to fix it?

Unfortunately I only have the answer for the first part of your question. There are many reasons why an SD Card can go corrupt. (e.d. Physical Damage, not removing it properly etc.) As far as the latter is considered, Android has the option to eject the SD Card in Settings before you physically remove it from the phone. This option exists only to serve this one purpose, to stop things like this from happening (e.d. getting your SD Card corrupted).

I don't think there is much you can do at this point but reformat it, which of course as you probably know deletes all of your files.

HOWEVER do NOT reformat it still only because I am not familiar with any options of restoring it to proper function. I have heard of different types of software that claim they can do the thing for you, BUT be careful! As they are many of them that come in a form of some malware.


Does Samsung Galaxy S Indian ROM (latest DDJP6) has Bengali support? I've read in several forums that Indian version of Samsung Galaxy S (I9000) supports Hindi language. Some of them mentioned it should support Bengali/Bangla also.

Can anyone here confirm that-
1) The latest Froyo firmware DDJP6 for Samsung Galaxy S supports Bengali? I don't need IME/a Bengali keyboard, just ability to render Bengali websites (like, Bengali Wikipedia) properly would be great.

2) If it doesn't support Bengali out of the box, does installing a Bengali fallback font serve the purpose? Please note that merely showing Bengali characters won't help. As this is a complex language, a proper shaper must be present in firmware to render kar/matra and conjuncts correctly.

Update: I have recently bought a Samsung Galaxy series device. Yes, its Indian ROM has Bangla shaper, only replacing DroidSansFallback.ttf with a Bangla font will do.

Here's a workaround using Opera Mini.

Download and install Opera Mini (OM). Try accessing a site like the one cited above - http://bn.wikipedia.org

If it doesn't work out of the box, do the following:

In the address bar, type opera:config
Navigate to the option Use bitmap fonts for complex scripts and set it to YES

The fonts and script lettering should now be visible, albeit as images instead of text. That'll make content visible, but unlike text non-selectable.


Is Android vulnerable to the BlueBorne attack found in Linux? I recently discovered there's an attack called BlueBorne against the Linux bluetooth functionality: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/392001/how-to-secure-linux-systems-against-the-blueborne-remote-attack

If I'm using an Android system with a bluetooth keyboard, should I be worried, considering that Android is based on the Linux kernel? Do I need to patch all Android systems in use with an over-the-air update to fix the vulnerability?

Any Android device with a patch level prior to September 1st 2017 will be vulnerable, yes. Google patched this vulnerability in the September 1st update which has been released for Nexus and Pixel devices. Other devices will need to wait until the manufacturer releases an update containing these fixes.

An official test app has been released to the Play Store which you can use to test whether your device is vulnerable.

Source


Unable to flash recovery image into the device I am trying to flash recovery image into my HTC Explorer phone.

The issue is i keep getting waiting for devices message when issuing fastboot command. the CMD is running with administrative rights leaving the only possible reason be the drivers not installed. However i have also done that.

And when i boot my phone normally the device shows totally ok in device manager but when into fastboot mode the device manager shows a yellow mark on the device.

even if i try to install the drivers from there it says drivers already upto date.

Why is this happening and how can i solve this please help?

Check that you have USB debugging ticked in developer settings.

If that doesn't work I would uninstall all the drivers relating to your phone and start again from scratch. Note that the drivers that are needed while in fastboot can be different to the drivers needed for normal data transfer. I've had all kinds of problems relating to this a with my HTC One X.


The "OK" button is deactivated in creating new AVD although I have provided all details. So what is the problem? The "OK" button is deactivated in creating new AVD although I have provided all details as below:

It is something to do with the CPU type you have chosen (Android Wear) and the Skin? Do Android wearables really support up to HVGA screens?


want to replace cwm recovery with twrp on lenovo k3 note I want to replace cwm recovery with the twrp recovery on my lenovo k3 note. Can anyone share the step by step procedure to do this?

I have flashed CWM to TWRP by using a App called "Rashr". You should make your K3-Note root condition because Rashr needed root permission and put your unzipped TWRP image file into SD card open Rashr flash recovery image directly! It is a easy way to change recovery from CWM to TWRP.


Does android save a log of its own IP addresses? I have a Wifi network to which I connect at work. The IP address has always been DHCP, but today the DHCP server is down. If I can figure out what IP address I had, I can set it statically (after checking to make sure another device hasn't already taken it, via ping from my desktop).

Does Android have a log anywhere of the IP addresses it is leased? I have root and thus can look at any file on my phone.

If you have USB debugging turned on, you can see the DHCP activity in the logcat. Unfortunately, without a working DHCP server, you're not going to see anything.  And the logcat doesn't stick around long enough for you to see the previous day's successful negotiation. You can also see the currently-assigned IP address in Wi-Fi settings under the advanced menu. But again, this is only when everything is working right.

Without some inside knowledge about the subnet, you're reduced to guessing. Try 192.168.1.xx, 10.0.0.xx, 192.168.0.xx, etc. But you could also just check with one of your IT people.

If this happens often, I suggest checking your logcat or the settings menu when it's working and making note of the address. This will get you prepared for the next outage.


How to re install rom on blank htc desire? I have installed rom in the memory card of my htc desire bt unfortunately i have lost my memory card. Now my ph is not working; everytime it just shows "HTC" and then restart. Can anyone please suggest me stable rom with proper configurations?

I am using HTC Desire A8181.

You can follow This Link depending on your HTC, your phone model is HTC Bravo you can download your roms here your

Edit: Official RUU 3.14 Desire Gingerbread---[v1.2/1st/August/2012] this is best rom it also give you more then 100mb free space. i used it for my device too


Unexpected behavior after rooting I Just rooted my phone (Motorola RAZr D1) in order to allow aditional space for instalations. I could not find a proper way to root this device on XDA fórum so I went to internet. I got root acces by instaling Kingsroot app but since then the phone is showing strange behavior like consuming more batery, auto enablig data of the SIM, and not allowing some aplications to be installed (espacially those related to security like SuperSU and some AV), etc.
I suspect the phone was hacked so I perform factory resset via the system management tools. But the malware is still there...
And if I try the reset via initialization tool (power+volUP) the options are all in chinês which I am not able to understand....
what can I do to recover control of my device?

UPDATE:

I have android 4.4.2 (KitKat) installed in which Framaroot does not work.

I want to get superSU installed on /system and set it as the default root manager but kinguser (that is the malware, I am almost sure) doesn't prompt for authorization with other superuser applications of android market (like superSU in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNrny2A6g1g or superuser).

Some apllications got autorization now (like root explorer and Avast) but not the terminal which could also de helpful.
How to make it?

Are you sure that you have malware, not just wrong settings in kinguser? (Ones that revoke and run in background using battery)

Please take look at this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl8z37PhEe0, each screen is viewed

Pause the video on each screen and match the screen up to yours (since in Chinese), taking note of settings - placement of options should be the same between languages.

Once understood and set right, follow this guide for properly rooting your device (start 8/27/2013). This guide is from the XDA developer chrono_s3rge and in English.

How to Root Motorola Razr D1 XT914:

Download the latest version of Framaroot, from XDA developer alephzain
Install and open Framaroot (you will have to enable unknown sources)
Select "BOROMIR"
Reboot device
Enjoy

Check application list for SU to confirm that root worked. Update the binary, then once up and working, uninstall kingroot.

Always perform a backup, in case of issues and for data replacement.

Rooting your device is potentially dangerous, security issues arise, and other problems that could brick your device - making it unusable. Please know that you and you alone assume responsibility from rooting your device. That being said enjoy responsibly


Contacts not synced where WhatsApp Contact exists I used tine20 via MS-Exchange to sync contacts to my android device
I added WhatsApp. Some contacts are from both (tine20 and WhatsApp). All is fine.
I removed (accidentally) tine20 account from android device
Added tine20 again
Contacts which don't have WhatsApp are synced perfectly
Contacts which have  WhatsApp are not synced. Information from tine20 is missing. Via tine20 web interface I can see that all contacts are in tine20

What can I do to get all contacts from tine20 on my device again?

Solved it myself this way: since I hardly use WhatsApp. I just removed it from the contact sync accounts.

After some minutes all contacts from tine20 where visible on the android device again. I am happy.

Better solutions are still welcome :-)


How to install app from command line (terminal)? How to install app from command line (terminal)?

I would like to start a terminal window and do the apk installation from command line (shell script)

EDIT1: within the phone.
Also is it possible to install from Google Play from URL, instead just a local path?

I didn't get answer, how to install Google Play app from command line.

Given enough privileges (ADB, root, system application) you can use simple terminal commands to install apps:

On a PC:

Run the simple command

adb install <path to .apk file>

and the app will be installed.
This requires adb to be installed and debugging mode enabled.
The file has to be located on the PC.

In adb shell or a terminal on the device:

pm install <path to .apk file>

This is basically the same as the PC method but requires the file to be placed on the phone.
Additionally privileges to install apps are required (ADB shell inherits them from the system, other terminal apps require root)


How to load a preset list of Tasker profiles into another user's installation of Tasker I'm new to both Android and Tasker. I have two Android devices, and have created a bunch of Tasker profiles/scenes/tasks on Device 1 and would like to have those same profiles/scenes/tasks on Device 2, but don't want to enter all of them in again. Is there a way to do this automatically?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I believe Tasker has the ability to perform a backup and export. If not, find the directory in which the above are stored and copy them to the other phone?

Try reading this blog: http://almost-a-technocrat.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/how-to-export-taskers-projects-profiles.html?m=1


How to add a new button to the button bar in Total Commander for Android? I got Total Commander on my Android phone.

I need to check the directory size for a folder and the solution is:

Add a new button to the button bar, and then..

I understand that but my question is how to add a new button to the button bar?

Tap on icon (arrow). You get a +, add details as per link - you can see the button with KB, on the first line


How do I remove an incorrect word from autocorrect? To begin with, I've tried in futility to search everywhere else on the internet to fix this, so I'm asking here now.

I have a Nexus 4 running Android 4.4. Sometime within the past year, DONT started appearing as a word in my autocorrect options. IIRC, it began appearing immediately after an OS upgrade (I'm thinking the 4.3 release).

Screenshot:

I do not have DONT in any user dictionaries on the device. I have exhaustively searched all user-level language/dictionary settings and cannot find this anywhere. It's really annoying because it takes over the default correction of don't, so I just end up looking stupid.

(Here is my personal dictionary listing [one item redacted]):

If DONT were here it would be between Catan and Dropbox

Is there some other/hidden location where dictionary/replacement text gets stored? And/or does anybody have another suggestion for how to get this stupid word removed from my device?

I fixed it! The trick was to clear the cache and data for Google Keyboard.

Settings => Apps => ALL* => Google Keyboard => {Clear Data, Clear Cache}

* Be sure to go to ALL instead of RUNNING. The instance under RUNNING will not give you the correct data clearing options.


How to automatically enable WLAN when an app requests location info? I currently have WLAN enabled all the time for triangulation,  even when I'm not near an access point I can use.  Is there any way to automatically enable it whenever an app requests location information, like it is done with the GPS?

As far as I know this is not possible. IMHO, it contradicts Google's incentive to have an as best as possible geolocation service.

Some background information:

Google maintains a huge database for its geolocation service ("Access coarse location" permission). It consists of:

Wifi access point mappings: Wifi MAC address resolve to a geolocation
Cell tower mapping: Cell tower ID's resolve to a geolocation

This database is "community" crowd-sourced by the huge Android user base, aka. everyone that has Google's location service enabled (see below)
Google is interested to have a high quality database, i.e. convince you to opt in to allowing your phone to be part of the crowd-sourcing
Hence: If you want to use 'coarse location' services from Google you opt in to constant data mining as long as it's enabled

PS:

Disabling Wifi only cuts you off from one of the possible information sources. Having Cell tower ID's will still give you coarse location, but with lower accuracy
Some may recall the Skyhook vs. Google dispute where Google seemingly pressured Motorola and Samsung to prefer Google's own geolocation service over that of Skyhook (out of fear for losing part of the crowdsourcing community if those two big players would have used the 3rd party Skyhook service). Source: TheVerge


How do I replace an uninstalled system application I mistakenly uninstalled my Download Manager 4.4.4 in my Samsung Galaxy Grand prime G530H. A system application. I tried replacing it with a Download Manager 2.3.5. I did that by using a file explorer to place the 2.3.5 in the system folder. Then I rebooted the phone. It didn't work. The phone doesn't recognize the 2.3.5. Looking through the file explorer I can see the  Download Manager 2.3.5 is still in the system/app folder and I tried deleting it but it won't delete.
I need help on how to get the original Download Manager 4.4.4.

Okeke,

Refer to MANI's answer regarding resetting the device, this may assist you, but as far as I am aware a reset does not touch where the applications are actually stored.

What is a ROM?

Read Only Memory. Essentially just a new firmware/software for your Android Phone. For a more detailed explanation and information on a ROM look on this website.
If unsure if you should do this process, read on How To Geek about the "Top 5 Reasons to install a Custom ROM"

Process for your Phone

Here is an example of how to install a custom ROM on your phone (including Drivers, links to ROM etc.)

Here is the Xda Forum for your phone. Covers troubleshooting, ROMS etc. I would suggest you look here also.

Other Resources

Refer to this question on SE that provides a detailed answer (thanks @Izzy)

Hope this helps you. Undoubtedly a Factory Reset could assist, but I am not 100%. The steps for a Factory Reset on your device are located here.

Regards

Mike


Original ROM for Samsung Galaxy S i9000 I've put a custom ROM on my Samsung Galaxy S I9000 and now I want to go back to my original ROM. I was wondering if there was a way to get the original ROM, that came with my device, from an official site somewhere.

I've searched this websites and other forums but the links were old and not valid anymore.

In a way, the answer is Yes. Although, I would not consider any of the sites where you would get the ROM from to be "official".

What you need to do is download ODIN3 (or hemidal) and use that tool to flash the Stock ROM on the device. Doing so will most likely require you to completely wipe the device to factory state.

I found a couple sites that do have the Stock Firmware, but I don't want to link to the ROM directly for a couple reasons. One, I don't know the legality of linking to a the Stock Firmware and if the file is no longer valid in the future, I do not want this post to be "out of date".

If you google "flash i9000 odin stock" you will likely find a couple different sources that have the files needed to flash back stock. When I did this, the first site had the 2.3 XXJVU release for the i9000, and the .pit file (which is also required when going back to stock, and the drivers. It also is a tutorial on how to flash it.


Are apps device dependent? Are all Android apps device dependent ? Like for example if two different devices run the same version of Android can I interchange the app apk files ? Like the camera app ? Can I take the camera app of device A and install it in device B ?

Are the apps made by manufacturers or are they a part of the Android OS ? Like would it be possible for me to the get the Gallery apk of the Jellybean OS if I downloaded their SDK from Google ?

Not all apps are device dependent, but many are. One particular example is, indeed, the camera app, which is often dependent on OS revision, the actual hardware, and the framework the OEM is using (such as Touchwiz on a Samsung device). Many are reliant on the version of Android, although typically this only impacts using on an older version, up to a point.

As well, apps can be either developed separately or part of the system. Just depends on how the manufacturer wants to handle it. But they'll typically, these days, update them separately which then replaces the system app (really it just covers up the old version which remains), so the answer tends to be "a little of both." But if it's something made by the device manufacturer, they WILL lock it to their devices.

However your particular example, of the Gallery app from Jelly Bean, would probably at least partially function on a newer OS. That's based in AOSP, so not device-dependent. Only possible issue is whether it has any conflicts with newer apps on a newer OS.


How do you save a contact onto the home screen? I can't figure out how to save a contact shortcut on the home screen for easy dialing (Ice Cream Sandwich on Galaxy Nexus).

Long-pressing on the home screen prompts me to choose a wallpaper. Long-pressing on a contact in the People app has no effect. I can't find any menu option to do it.

How do you do it?

Found it. There's a Direct dial widget you can add from the Applications/Widgets menu. When you select this, it prompts you to choose a contact.

There are also shortcut widgets for Direct message, Open contact, etc.


Auto retry failed SMS Sometimes an SMS fails to send but I would not notice it as I already put the phone in my pocket?

How do I set Android to automatically retry sending failed SMS?

unfortunately this isn't an option on the stock android ROM's, regardless of the version. After doing a little research, it seems that if you wish to root your phone and install a new ROM that the Desire flavor of ROM's (I don't know if it is available for your model of phone since you didn't specify the model) has this feature built into the ROM itself.

After some more research (this was harder to find than I expected) there is an app that has built in auto-retry of failed sms messages. Please see This XDA Forum Post for details about it. It is a replacement messaging client for your android phone which includes this feature.


Does OnePlus support removing NetFlix? I noticed that my new OnePlus 7 Pro has Netflix preinstalled. This is awkward being the phone is so much more than prior models, and OnePlus has always prided itself on not shipping bloatware. Is it possible to remove Netflix from the app-list and as an installed application without rooting the phone? I have the option to Force Stop and Disable, but neither of them give me the ability to uninstall,

I see Netflix and OnePlus announced a partnership in 2019. Does that mean we're locked into having Netflix stuff installed on OxygenOS?

That screenshot suffices to say that the Netflix app is a permanent bloatware. A permanent bloatware has Disable option instead of Uninstall option. Furthermore, it is not the only bloatware. Many folks consider Google apps as a bloatware too. Regardless, your only choice to get rid of that bloatware permanently is to root the device and delete its APK. Otherwise,  because Disable option is available it should work for non-roted users. However, If you are keen to uninstall the app without root, you can use adb but do know that the app would return after a factory reset. Follow the link here for that method.


Recover data from bootlooped phone I have a Samsung Galaxy S Plus (GT-I9003) that is stuck in a boot loop. It is running the stock Samsung firmware (Android 2.3.5). I want to recover the data (specifically of the Memo application) from the device. I can boot into recovery mode and then connect via adb shell, but I'm not allowed to read /data:

$ ls -l /
(...)
drwxrwx--x root     root              1970-01-01 00:00 data
$ id
uid=2000(shell) gid=2000(shell) groups=1003(graphics),1004(input),1007(log),1009(mount),1011(adb),1015(sdcard_rw),3001(net_bt_admin),3002(net_bt),3003(inet)
$ su
su: permission denied

How can I backup /data from this phone?

I was able to copy the data by first rooting the phone. After routing, I can boot up the phone in recovery mode, connect via adb shell, and use cat /dev/mmcblk0 / cat /dev/block/stl10 to get the interesting data from the phone.


Phone restarting nonstop My phone started rebooting all by itself all the time after I did 2 things with it. Installed Snapdragon BatteryGuru and put it on learning mode (for an estimated 3 days I guess) so that I could start saving battery by the app learning my behavior, and cleaned RAM with CleanMaster. These were the only changes I've done, I don't remember which was first but soon my phone started rebooting whether I was handling it or not at random intervals.

I've also noticed the phone was hot all the time, the Note 3 runs into some hot period with some frequency but not with that frequency. I've uninstalled both apps and it didn't work, wiped cache and it didn't work. The phone was still rebooting even on safe mode. After I wiped Dalvik with the help of TWRP, I thought the problem went away but when I hit the power button to turn the screen off, the phone rebooted and it will now always reboot when the screen turns off, even if it's just from the phone being inactive. It doesn't boot-loops, it just reboots, then after a random time, can be seconds, can be half an hour, it will reboot again. Note 3 SM-N9003 VJUBMI6.

Solution 1

This may be a dumb question but have you tried a factory restore?

I had the same issue happen on my HTC Inspire a long time ago.  Even after I uninstalled an app, the random reboots would still happen.  It wasn't until I did a factory restore did the issue finally go away.

Not sure what exactly in the factory restore would have fixed the issue for me, but you may want to give that a shot.

Solution 2

Have you uninstalled the Snapdragon BatteryGuru? I know you uninstalled CleanMaster. The battery running hot could be due to BatteryGuru running the phone at MAX (fastest possible processor speed, etc) and causes the overheating.  Internal safeguards then causes the phone to shut down or reboot.


What does it mean when I see "Throttle limit exceeded" in Dialer? I made a call to a local pizza place by dialing their number on my Nexus 5, running ParanoidAndroid 4.2 Beta 4.

The normal behavior that I would expect is the following:

Dial, then do all those phoney-things that I'm not interested in like connecting. (I just want pizza)
Conveniently(?) do an internet lookup of the phone number, then display the business name in my dialer so I know who I'm calling.

However, something weird happened today. It apparently tried to do the lookup, but failed. Instead of displaying "Blah Blah Pizza" in the Dialer, it displayed "Throttle limit exceeded". Everything else worked fine.

There's also a screenshot I managed to take very quickly.

Is anyone else seeing this? What's causing this? More importantly, how can I fix it? I'd rather not see "Throttle limit exceeded" all over my call history.

The dialer may have hard-coded the API key for the lookup service. The error occurs when too many requests are sent using a single API key in a short interval.


how to use ext partition in my android? I partitioned my MicroSD card and created 1GB ext3 partition.

What is the next step so I can use it to make the performance of my android better? It seems to me that it is mounted into /sd-ext
What are all the options I can use ext for?

CM7 on HTC Desire

As discussed, you can store apps on the ext3 partition which will free up internal phone memory. There are also apps like Swapper2 which allow you to put your swap file on the SD Card.

Be warned, that this will degrade the life of your SD Card and will also chew up battery due to frequent read/writes to the card. Weigh the potential of additional free space in view of this.


Andiodine DNS Tunneling - Connects to server but unable to browse. No internet connectivity I have an Iodine (DNS Tunneling) server running on my VPS and have tested and confirmed DNS Tunneling is working by connecting using the Iodine client from my local Linux machine.

When using the Andiodine app (https://f-droid.org/packages/org.xapek.andiodine/) on Android however, it connects but i have no internet connectivity.

I've done extensive searching and am unable to work out what the issue is.
My Android device is a Nexus 5 running Android version 6.0.1.
Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any remediations or other things to try?

Without other steps this is expected. AFAIK your iodine setup only enables the client to send packets to the server, not to any other IP. Internet browsing would require some configuration on your VPS.


wifi only when traveling; also necessary to turn off packet data? My son has a Galaxy S3 and is travelling to Russia. He'd like to be able to use his phone for Internet use, and Skype, when connected to Wifi. Otherwise, he doesn't want to incur extra or roaming charges for voice, text, or data.

I thought I had this figured out. The instructions I got were to

1) go into airplane mode, and then

2) turn Wifi back on.

However, I just called ATT, to verify my approach, and the person said he also has to go to

3) Applications -> Settings>  -> More Settings -> Wireless and Network -> Mobile Network -> Use PacketS Data

and uncheck "Use Packet Data"

I Step 3 necessary, even after having done Step 1 and Step 2?

Thanks,

On android devices, when you turn airplane mode on, it automatically disables Packets Data usage and any other network functionality.

After, you can turn wifi on without any extra cost issue.


wifi problem with android Hey all this might not be some programming problem rather a usability problem. I am new to android world. I have bought an android mobile [Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510] couple of days ago. I am trying to connect it to internet with wi-fi connection. But the problem is that normally when i connect my laptop to that router i need to repair the connection to get proper ip address like 192.168.1.2 etc. other wise i got 10.38.132.90 or rather something like this. And in that case i can't access internet. That's why i normally repair the connection on pc.

I am also using this router's wi fi with nokia E5 mobile and it gets proper ip address after 2 or 3 attemts (enabling and disabling wlan scanning)

But with android the ip address remains the invalid one i mean 10.38.132.90; not the correct one like 192.168.1.2 etc. So how can i repair or set static ip address with this phone.

Please help.

Thanks in Advance

You could try to use the "static IP settings":

Go to Settings -> Wireless and network -> Wi-Fi settings
Press menu button, select Advanced
Check Use static IP
Look for your PC's IP address, and enter a similar address for IP address (e.g. if your PC's one is 192.168.1.2, try 192.168.1.3).
Enter your router's IP as Gateway (usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.178.1 etc.)
Enter 255.255.255.0 as the netmask.

It is important that the IP address isn't already used in your network.


Receiving Chinese blocks of texts in the Messaging app My wife is getting some weird text messages as replies in middle of conversations with her friends. The messages are blocks of Chinese characters. She gets these in the stock messaging app from friends that use Samsung phones and iPhones. She is using a Nexus 5X on AT&T. (N.B. Other users have asked the same question about the Samsung Galaxy S7, so it's not a phone-specific issue.)

Here is a screencap from today from an iPhone user, and translating the text does not make sense (though I did image translation): :

(Click to see the image in full size)

Here is one from a Samsung phone and from their end:

(Click to see the image in full size)

Does anyone know why this is happening? Is it some weird thing when someone with a weird texting app replies with some emoji/GIF/image?

Cause
It's likely caused by either/both character encoding incompatibility and/or wrong character encoding, resulting in mojibake (garbled text):

Character encoding incompatibility
SMS, or text message, in general supports either text-only (e.g. GSM 03.38), or Unicode (e.g. UTF-8, UTF-16, UCS-2). Emoji, a character that resembles an image (not to be confused with emoticon, "a pictorial representation of a facial expression using punctuation marks, numbers and letters"), is supported in Unicode (UTF-16), but not in GSM 03.38.

Wrong character encoding issue
For some reasons, the original character encoding is wrongly interpreted somewhere (e.g. by app, or by text provider), resulting in different character encoding. While in some cases it doesn't affect the text, other cases may result in totally garbled text (refer to Microsoft Windows "Bush hid the facts" bug).

In this case, it's likely that one of the encoding that is used in SMS, GSM. 03.38, which uses 7-bit per character, is interpreted as UTF-16, which uses 16-bit per character due to emoji.
Solution

Recipients
Try changing the messaging app. If it doesn't fix the issue, then it's probably caused by the text provider itself. However, you can still try to recover the text (e.g. using online service such as http://string-functions.com/encodedecode.aspx): set encoding to UTF-16 and decoding to UTF-8.

Senders
Avoid emoji at all, or make the messaging apps send it as text-only (e.g. in Google Messenger, there's Simple characters only in Advanced settings to convert special characters in SMS messages when sending it)

Further reading:

now.sms: Emoticons and Emoji in SMS Text Messsages

SwiftKey Support: Why do emoji on Android take up more than one character?


Managing Multiple accounts for apps My wife and I just bought new android phones for the first time, and are new to the google play store, and I am wondering the best way to manage app store purchases.

Occasionally I'd like to have an app that she has purchased and vice-verse.

Currently we both to manage our own google ids on each devices and make separate purchases on each id.

In the event I wanted both devices to have the same purchased app, is it advisable to switch the google account in google play store, install the app in question, and then log back in with the primary google account? Will this mess with anything important? Will updates still work, etc?

Note that Google Play Terms of Service prohibits sharing of accounts by multiple person (it allows sharing between multiple devices owned by the same person).

With that said, the Play Store does support multiple accounts, however multiple accounts means that you will also share Gmail, Calendar, etc, which means you probably will have to create a third account specifically created for sharing.


Can you read a USB flash drive from an Android phone? I have a Samsung Galaxy S (i9000) with Android 2.1.

I am wondering if it can read a USB flash drive. It will be really useful to copy files across USB drives so you don't have to carry laptops around.

I think if there is a cable/converter to plugin a USB into the phone and there is an app to read the connected USB drive, I don't see why it can't be done.

The problem is do the cable and app exist?

Yes and Kinda.

You're talking about USB On the Go (OTG) and Android is capable of it but it's not officially supported.  I couldn't find any apps in the app market that handle it but here are a couple people that got it working:

http://sven.killig.de/android/N1/2.2/usb_host/ (this guy basically turned his Nexus One into a whole work station)

http://www.tombom.co.uk/blog/?p=124

That second tutorial tells you to hack a cable but you can actually buy an OTG cable so this isn't necessary.

Also, I've seen some phones claim they are going to come out with USB OTG a while ago but I don't recall anything ever materializing.


Where to find diagnostic information as to why mobile data won't turn on I've had a Samsung Galaxy S3 for a little over a year now and not had too many problems with it. This afternoon, however, it's decided it won't connect to mobile data at all. I've had similar things on this and previous android phones, so I've tried:

making sure wifi isn't on
checking that mobile data is enabled (!)
checking the AP settings (these are actually locked down by my network provider - O2 UK)
turned on & off airplane mode
restarted
powered off & on
powered off, removed the battery and powered it back on

In all cases, I get no mobile data icon (so it's not even trying to connect from what I can tell) and I get no connectivity. Phone calls and wifi are working just fine.

Is there anywhere diagnostic information is kept around the status of the mobile data connection? If there's an error occurring, that would certainly be useful!

I did drop the phone a few days ago, but the mobile data has been working fine since then... but I guess it could still be related somehow. Even if that is the case and there's a hardware fault, the same thing applies - where is the diagnostic info?

I'm on the O2 UK stock image by the way - 4.1.2 / JZO54K.I9300XXEMC2

While in this case it turned out to be a carrier issue (and solved on the carrier's end, see this comment), in other cases one of the test menus might prove helpful. for a starter, you can find a lot of "secret codes" in this list for the SGS, together with a short explanation. But use them on your own risk :)


Mark Gmail as read when archiving from notification The most recent version of the Gmail app as the great feature where
you can choose between archiving or replying to e-mails directly from
the notification.

My problem is that, if you archive it from the notification, it
remains unread (instead of being marked as read). Is there anyway to
get around that?

I'd like for any e-mails that are archived directly from the
notification to be automatically marked as read.

Did you say Google Script?

Marking Gmail read with Apps Script

The idea behind this script is to mark as read any message that is not in the Inbox (i.e., has been archived).

  Head to script.google.com to start a script.
  Choose to create a script for Gmail in the little popup.
  Delete all the sample code it gives you.
  Replace it with this (written using the API reference):

function markArchivedAsRead() {
   var threads = GmailApp.search('label:unread -label:inbox');
   GmailApp.markThreadsRead(threads);
 };
  Save the project with File > Save.
  Add a new version using File > Manage Versions and enter "initial version" then submit that.
  Do a test run using Run > markArchivedAsRead and be sure and authorize the app when it asks you to.
  Add a new trigger using Resource > Current Project's Triggers and choose to run the above function every minute.
  Save the script again and exit.

I don't know that it's necessary to run it every minute, but as long as you run it regularly.

This isn't a direct answer to your issue, and if you have reasons to have unread messages that aren't in your inbox this won't work for you.


Truecrypt on Android 2.2? Has Truecrypt been ported over to Android yet?  If yes, where can I get it from as I can't seem to find it in the Market unless it's named something different.  If no, is anyone developing it? If no again, any reason why no one is developing it?

A lot of people are asking that question. Here's one.

Some people are offering bounties. Like at XDA-Developers.

Some people have suggested alternatives. AxCrypt looks like an alternative, and there's an alpha product that works with it (and Dropbox) called BoxCryptor.

But I've not found an actual port of Truecrypt to Android, nor any information about plans to do so.


Clear cache and data of Download Manager Google says to clear cache and data on Play Store and Download Manager when experiencing download problems. I can't find Download Manager on my Android device.

See if you have something like this:
System settings > Application Manager > All > Downloads


Can't connect the camera- what to do? I am using Xiaomi Redmi 3s prime. I have an issue came up recently. After clicking 2-3 photos an camera error occurs and it says that "can't connect the camera". Then I need to shut down the camera and then have to try after sometime. How to resolve this issue? Is it a problem of software or hardware? please help. Thanks.

There could be two solutions for it:

Other Programmes might have been using the camera. Uninstall or force stop that app and try restarting your phone. It should work.
Check whether You have given all permissions to camera in security option in settings or in the home screen. Since i had a miui ROM so i know permissions in miui is very hard to handle.


Removal of the wonderlandads.com pop-up virus Would anyone know how I can remove the wonderlandads.com pop-up virus from my Nexus 5 mobile - it appears in my Chrome browser.

While there are many sites dedicated to the manual removal of the virus from PCs, despite several searches I am at a loss to find a suitable alternative solution for Android.

I have installed the free versions of AVG, Avast and Kaspersky to no avail, and I am wary of those sites which suggest SpyHunter, etc as a solution, for a fee. Any help, advice or suggestions would be much appreciated.

I managed to successfully identify the cause of wonderland pop ups, this pop up was annoying me for sometime, my PC, two mobiles, a tab was infected and inspite of multiple reset from the scratch didn't work
I realised to look at my router and found a tempered DNS, I validated this with my broadband provider and updated correct one.....this works with me and would work for you as well
Regards
Neeraj


Issue with Lollipop upgrade on Micromax Yureka: calling interface I could not record the call while I'm talking. To record, I need to go to many options before recording the call. It was good in kitkat and to record the call with one button click. And the interface of the calling is not good in Lollipop.

Use Call recorder. I'm using Yureka and have upgraded to v5.0 and it works, as expected.


Nexus 5x won't use custom ringtones/notifications Just got the 5x, and loaded it with my favorite tones. Did the same thing I usually do with Android phones to set different tones for different app notifications, alarms, etc.

Phone either plays stock tone or no tone + vibration.

The files were pulled directly from my Samsung in .wav format and will play on the 5x via VLC just fine.

I had this issue, but only with the Alarm media files.

Use a file explorer, like ES File Explorer:

Using the ES File Explorer, navigate to the folder you have place your custom alarm media files.
Click on the file you want, and in the "Open with" prompt select "ES Media Player"
Open the menu in the top right, and pick "Set ringtone" (the entry with a bell icon)
In the dialog that appears, pick "Set alarm"


How to get rid of "Battery not charging dialog"? I have a Sony Xperia ZR phone with Kitkat 4.4.2 and when I watch HD movies on non-MHL TV connected to the phone using a HDMI-miniUSB cable with external power source auxiliary cable, I often see a message during the movie.

  The connected power source is not sufficient. The battery is draining faster than it is charging. Please connect your phone charger.

I don't mind that the battery is discharging. I tried 1.5A power source and it is still not enough. Someone suggested the phone might be overheating, so I am now cooling it down, still didn't help. I can't get rid of the auxiliary power cable, because the MHL then won't work. My TV is not MHL enabled.

I want to get rid of that dialog at least temporarily. Is it possible?

I disabled similar thing in Xperia Z1 with GravityBox as I remember, it is a module for Xposed Framework, you will need to be rooted to do those things..


I have a problem with typing Sometimes when I am typing the keyboard suddenly vanishes and the blinking line at the place where I was typing also disappears. Even after persistent tapping it doesn't respond (right when I was typing this very sentence it happened). It doesn't matter what keyboard I use, be it Swiftkey or Stock Android keyboard.

Can someone please help me. I really want to see my phone the way it was before.

When mine does this I am able to double-tap on the input field and the keyboard re-opens.  (To clarify: regular tapping does nothing for me...I could tap it all day long and it just stays closed.  It's the act of doing a solid, clean double-tap which seems to instantly being it back.)

I have no idea why this happens, but maybe this will help you too.


Forcing apps to install/download on SD I have a HTC Desire, which has a limited space in the phone. Therefore I want to make all apps install to the SD card by default.

However, I can't make it work. I have tried the pm set-install-location 2 command, and I can also confirm that it is set to 2, but I still can't download apps that takes more space than available.

I have it rooted, and installed 4.1.2 on it.

This will only allow you to install apps automatically onto the SD card if:

They have set the app to install onto the SD card 'Auto'
They allow you to install onto the SD card

Most likely, the app(s) you are trying to download does not have an auto setting for SD card install, and it cannot be installed onto the SD card.


Chrome update on android makes the application freeze. I need help transporting its hundreds of tabs Chrome updates are the worst. I've lost my tabs before when it updated, and the whole thing deleted my tabs after several times of lagging a minute after opening the app.
I fixed it by reverting to the old version, disabling updates, and being happy with the base app, along with disabling the google play services since I don't grab any other apps. But recently I had to acquire an app for something at work, and I forgot to disable google play services in time.
Now the update is causing it to lag again. I open it, I can't go to multiple tab views because it's loading, and when it finally loads, the whole thing freezes and crashes.
I have a few options I think, none of them quite certain, but beggars can't be choosers, if I want to preserve the many many tabs I have.
1: disable flags. Figure out what flags were added by the update to chrome, and disable them. Maybe this will make it bloated and less likely to crash and freeze, because the old chrome was sure just fine with the amount of tabs I had.
2: find a way to transfer/save all of my tabs before resetting the app (because the bookmarks and active tabs will all disappear when I revert updates and reinstall the old chrome.
So far, I've found this: https://dev.to/piczmar_0/when-you-never-close-tabs-on-your-mobile-chrome-browser-2boj
But I am having a LOT of trouble figuring out how to follow the instructions. I have no experience coding, and I don't know what they mean by "adb" or "bash". I've managed to set the phone to develop mode and download the android studio application, but that's the extent of things. I am just utterly confused.
Can anyone help guide me how to do it?
EDIT: I am using a windows 10 laptop.

Go to chrome://history/syncedTabs on another computer. All of your tabs should show.


What are some steps to diagnose what is slowing down my LG G2 D800? It just took me 40 seconds to switch from Facebook to my SMS.  (I got a message while I was in Facebook App, and I clicked on the SMS pop-up and it took good 40 seconds to make the switch)

While thankfully not everything takes this long, I am curious to try to diagnoze what could be the issue.  I have no idea where to begin.    Most other things take anywhere from good 2-5 seconds, like app switches, email send-offs, etc.

Can I have some troubleshooting steps I can use to make some steps towards speeding up my phone?

Factory Reset does help, but I have done 3 of those in the last 1.5-2 years and I would rather do something else now.  Maybe figure out what the issue is rather than just postponing it again via Factory Reset.

1) Try to free internal memory! Delete apps that you don't use, transfer photos to your pc, etc!

2) Disable unwanted apps! If you want, you can root your phone to remove bloatware, too! That helps a lot!

3) Use (one time per 15-20 days) a clean up app like cleanmaster, ccleaner etc! Delete it then, because daily usage it's not good for smartphone!

4) Clear cached date from apps that you use!

5) If all else fails, factory reset!


Using OTG cables when connecting to PC Can an OTG cable, micro B male to USB A female, be used with the cell phone if connecting to a PC either with a USB A Male to Male lead or with a standard A Male to Female lead plus a standard A Femal to Female adapter?

no, the OTG marks to the phone it's OTG and not normal cable

the easy way is just to use a normal cable


Tasker profile always get loop im new to tasker and want to set a profile. I made a profile when 8pm to 10pm + open android central app, will run task to launch filter app. In the filter app run shell to hit on button and hit "back" button to AC app. But when back to AC app my task always loop and open filter app again. Any suggestion how to make this profile stay untill im done using AC app? Sorry for my bad english.

Two possibilities: set the Cooldown Time for the profile to greater than two hours. Or, have the task which controls the filter app set a variable when it's done, set the profile to ensure that variable isn't set, add an exit task to the profile that clears the variable.


My icons in the homescreen are not showing up (galaxy s6 edge) I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and I bought it about 2-3 weeks ago. Its performance has been weakened lately, first snapchat stopped working and every time I open it crashes. And now none of app icons are showing in the home

Homescreen - Click to enlarge image


"Your Phone Companion" only works on unlocked phone I do not know if this is a bug or a feature, but it does not make much sense.
I have a Samsung S9, and I managed to connect it to my Windows 10 laptop. I can only start apps when my phone is unlocked, and this is annoying:

If I need to pick up my phone anyway to unlock it, I might as well just use that, instead of my laptop
Why should I waste electricity on two screens?

Is there any solution?

when laptop accessing some data from your Samsung galaxy mobile. Your mobile should be unlocked. Security features hinder access of phone. You can temporary disable screen lock.
And reduce brightness of the mobile so less battery will be used.


Why can't I move apps from internal storage to SD card on my new Android 7.1.1 device? Just bought the Moto E4 Plus. Installed a 64gb SD card to hold all my apps so they don't hold most of my 32gb of internal storage. I'm running Android 7.1.1 and I can't move any apps to the SD card. Even ones that I was able to in previous Android versions. Why is this?

It can be because of manufacturer-integrated changes - some manufacturers like to disable Android features of their choice like does Xiaomi in their MIUI, for example.


change action of headset button I recently buy a samsung galaxy s dous 2.

when i connect my headset and press the button on headset, it play/pause music.
I there any way to change this action?

actually I need a voice recorder app that when I press the headset button it start recording and after hitting it again stop it.

is there any solution for this kind of issue?

There are a bunch of "headset button controllers" out there in the wild, several are even going by that name. A search for "headset control" will give you a list of candidates. Some are generic ones, some are specific to a given headset manufacturer (but still working with others). Don't let yourself be disappointed if the first one you chose doesn't work exactly as you wish, simply try another (I found mine on the third match): it's not that your headset is "incompatible", it's the combination of headset, device, and app to make the perfect match which might need a couple of tries.


Easier to root, Samsung or HTC? I have had an HTC One M7 for a while, and I have wanted to root it but am afraid to brick it (I'm on Verizon). So I bought a Samsung galaxy s3. I would like to know which one is easier to root. I plan to use Cyanogenmod for either one. It is easy for me to change which phone is on the network, I just move the SIM card. They are both verizon phones. I dont really know what unlocking the bootloader is, so i cant say if either of them have the bootloader unlocked. Any help is appreciated.

Samsungs are generally easier to root in my experience. The samsungs do not require s-off compared to htc's and thus, it is much harder to brick. The popular models like the s3 usually get a lot of support from the developer community compared to something like the HTC m7.

Here are some guides:

S3 Root

HTC m7 Root


Outlook Style Android App I use 2010  Outlook running on a PoP3 server.  I just bought a Galaxy  Note and love it.  But I need an e-mail app like outlook that will allow me to setup folder and rules to move specific e-mail in their correct folders.  I don't care about syncing with Outlook on my window x64 O.S. because my server handles that for me.  But I need the portability  of my note with a sort of sophisticated folder/rule e-mail app.  I don't mind paying for it, as long as it just doesn't delete my mail after 30 days.

Try Touchdown. Their feature list includes "Email Folders" and allows for rules/filters (per this thread). If you like it, make sure to buy a licence before the 30-day trial is up.

I'm not an Exchange-on-Android user myself, but of those I know who are many prefer Touchdown.


How to debug "wlan_wake kernel wakelock" on an unrooted device? The question is as short as the title. I've a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 & it has started showing issues where the CPU remains in lowest possible frequency (250Mhz) and it doesn't go to deep sleep.

I tried uninstalling all the apps that I installed in last 2 days but I can still see the issues.

Searching on google isn't helping either. Most of the posts that get in search results are the posts where people paste the betterbatterstats output. On the official wiki, https://github.com/asksven/BetterBatteryStats-Knowledge-Base/wiki/wlan_wake , it's mentioned that a sniffer should be used to debug.

I saw that most of the sniffers actually require root. So, how do I debug this wakelock without rooting my phone?

This is mostly caused by "scanning always available" under Advanced Wifi Options.
Disable it and you shall see this reduced significantly.


How do I automatically turn off my android tablet when battery is low I'm having problems with a android tablet that freezes when the battery runs low.
Is there an option in android or an app that could turn off the tablet when the battery is below a certain % of power left. Or that will turn the tablet off x minutes after last usage ?

There are several approaches possible. Some devices already ship with some kind of power management, which just needs to be enabled (check in Settings).

Apart from that, specific power management apps are available in the Playstore. E.g. Battery Life Saver can be configured to take actions on "battery low", like switching off WiFi, BT, and others (not sure if a power-off is included here as well). Big Battery promises to allow a shutdown at battery-low in its donate version.

And then there's always tasker to do things like shutting down the device at 20%, or shutting off WiFi etc. at 30%, and so on. As a free alternative, AutomateIt can do the same. But I'm afraid in both cases, this will require a rooted device.


Netflix: Is there an app yet? Is there an app to play videos from Netflix and Hulu for the Android?

Yes there is!

Today Netflix released an offical App.

Netflix Blog post about release.

Currently Netflix playback is supported on the following phones:

HTC Incredible with Android 2.2
HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2, 2.3
HTC Evo 4G with Android 2.2
HTC G2 with Android 2.2
Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3

If you don't have one of these devices but you do have an HTC or Samsung device you can try this method here to make the Netflix app work on your device.  I have not tried this myself as I have one of the supported devices.  Try this at your own risk


Is there a folder system viewable by applications is there a folder system view able by application android, i.e. if i put a music file for example in it, I can see it from the music app??

I have android 5 on a tablet.

A music application will look in certain places for MP3 (or other format) music files, and show them in whatever graphical browser the application has built in.

Conversely, a file manager will show you the file and folder structure of your Android system (well, as much as is allowed by root/non-root permissions).


how to add / sync google calendar? I have a Xaomi Redmi Note 4G and have installed PAC-ROM-asrupesh-UNOFFICIAL-PORT.zip from XDA - [ROM][PORT] PAC ROM UNOFFICIAL for Redmi Note 4G Single Sim. I followed the steps from the forum to install the ROM.

Now I do not have my Gmail Calendar. If I go to Calendar -> Settings I can see my Gmail account but no other calendar. If I hit Add Account there is no Gmail account.

If I go to Settings -> Accounts -> Google Account and click my Gmail account I want the calendar to be in my mobile, but I cannot see an option to sync calendar. It is not there.

Any idea how to add the Gmail Calender to my current ROM?

Have you checked calendar app is installed in your phone or not? I mean have you checked calendar app under Settings → App → Application? Search there and  if you find it there then start its service. You can than access it.

Read this Google support article: Sync problems with the Google Calendar app