text:
Backing up Google Drive files to a file on a USB key
I am running Android 12 on a Realme 8 5G phone.
I would like to back up my Google Drive files in their entirety to my USB key.
How can I do this from the Google Drive app, if possible.
If not how can I do this (and can I do it all quicky, and in one go (perhaps even by issuing a command in Google that produces a backup)?
Thanks.

You have two options 1. Manually select each folder/item in Drive and download to USB 2. Use an app like folder sync to sync your drive on schedule or on demand


text:
Google One app: sharing with others, using this to make sure files are not deleted
On the Google One app can I make use of feature found on the web as in the following image:
"Share with you to 5 others"

It is saying I can share my account.
Therefore, if I create another second account, and only I know the password to the second account, and some files are deleted from the primary account, I am able to recover the files from the secondary account.
Is there a Google One feature that works this way?
If not, it wouldn't it be good if it were implemented?
Is this possible, at the moment, and, if not, how could support for this be added?
Thanks.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


text:
Why does Pandora start automatically at random?
My relatives and now I too have an issue with Pandora starting automatically at random. One has a Samsung Galaxy S20, another has a Motorola, and I have a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
On all three phones, at random times of the day/night, the app will automatically start playing music. Usually happens when charging, but not always. Just happened now with it in my phone pouch on my hip. It also happened the last 2 nights around 4 am, waking me up. And the occurrence for all three of us is getting more frequent. One already uninstalled the app, and another is going to uninstall it too. I have been waiting patiently for a fix, but I'm about to give up on it as well. Can't afford for it to wake me up at 4 am all the time.
When this happens, the phone says there are no running apps and thus I can't close it or stop it normally. I have to "force stop" the app every time. The Bluetooth is turned off on my phone, but I can't say for sure about the others.
We have tried removing it and re-downloading a fresh start, didn't help. We have tried powering off the phone for 15 minutes, didn't help. We have searched through forums and found many people with the same issue, but no one has a fix or even an acknowledgment of an issue that's being worked on.

When talking about a third party app please always include a link to the app in Google Play Store.

Welcome to the Q&A site Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. There's an existing question about the same issue: Pandora starts playing, un-prompted, in middle of the night. However, no one really knew the cause. Meanwhile, you might get some hints by checking the log when it happens.

From the comments on that question,  the top possibility is faulty headset or ear buds. You should ask their support as well.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
How to use symbols instead of fractions for the number row?
For Gboard, the default symbol when you long press a number in the number row is to show fractions. Is it possible to change this behavior to symbols instead similar to a normal keyboard where 1/!, 2/@, 3/#, 4/$, 5/%...etc. I know these symbols are already present when you long press the letter keys but I just want to know if there is an option for this.

Some languages have a PC keyboard layout that allows long-pressing the first row (e.g. numbers) as quick access to its Shift modifier. Otherwise, there is no option to add alternative keys to the existing keyboard layouts.
Steps to change the keyboard layout:

Open Gboard settings

Android Settings - System - Languages & input - On-screen keyboard (steps may differ depending on the device model and Android version)
Tap the cog wheel icon from the Gboard keyboard directly

Select Languages
Select an existing language, or add a new keyboard
Swipe the layout options to find the PC layout.

Note that this layout hides the pop-up character hint on the keys, so the user must have already remembered the characters to use them efficiently.


text:
What app is this notification for?
1. List item
What app does this notification icon belong to? It was sent to me in a screenshot from a Samsung Galaxy s22

Welcome to the Q&A site Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. Sorry, since there are millions of Android apps and more for notification icons, the community can't help anymore in identifying a specific icon of an app.


text:
scrcpy freezes after few seconds when connecting a samsung S23 Ultra
I'm trying to use scrcpy on Ubuntu 22.04 with a Samsung S22 Ultra connected wirelessly via ADB. However, when I run the command from the PC's terminal, the program starts, and everything works correctly for a few seconds. Then, the transmission pauses without any error message in the terminal where the process is running; the video simply freezes (if I interact with the smartphone's screen, it works correctly, but the screen changes stop being displayed on the PC).
After this error occurs, when I run a command like 'adb devices,' the device is now listed as 'offline.' The only way to reconnect to the device via ADB is to restart the PC and the device.
This issue only happens when using this particular device. When I use any other phone (e.g., Nokia 2.3 with Android 11), the connection works correctly both wirelessly and with a USB cable.
Furthermore, this error only occurs when the ADB connection is wireless. If I make an ADB connection via USB, scrcpy works correctly on the same PC.
On Windows, the program works well both wirelessly and with a USB connection.
My PC, where I encounter this problem, is running Ubuntu 22.04. The device in question is a Samsung S23 Ultra SM-S918B with android 13.
The scrcpy version is as follows:
scrcpy 2.1.1 <https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy>

Dependencies (compiled / linked):
 - SDL: 2.0.20 / 2.0.20
 - libavcodec: 58.134.100 / 58.134.100
 - libavformat: 58.76.100 / 58.76.100
 - libavutil: 56.70.100 / 56.70.100
 - libavdevice: 58.13.100 / 58.13.100
 - libusb: - / 1.0.25

Ubuntu Version:
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS
Release:    22.04
Codename:   jammy

kernel version:
6.2.0-33-generic

Any suggestion is welcome. Thanks


text:
How can I get more information about Work Profile of my phone
Google describes Work profile as something that the organization manages, but my question is how can I make sure that my organization (or whoever else) does NOT have access/control to the work profile on my phone?
I have my personal Pixel phone, and as far as I remember the only work-related stuff on it is a Google account (our company uses Google Apps) and Google Authenticator app - both added by myself. I don't think I ever had a work profile until now when I installed a Shelter app. So I assume that in my case the Work profile is not actually controlled/accessed by anyone except myself. Is there any way to confirm this?


text:
Redirect Android HTTP traffic through OpenVPN UDP connection
I have set up a server with OpenVPN and Squid, by making my computer connect to the server's OpenVPN (TUN interface UDP connection), we are in the same LAN network, and Squid on this server allows my computer to surf the internet by its proxy function, simply by setting computer's Chrome proxy to 10.200.0.1:3128.
I have set up my Android phone with the OpenVPN client, it can connect to the server too (Although I can not ping Android IP - 10.200.0.2 from the server side, which is weird to me).
However, I see no Android app has the same proxy setting as what is in the computer's Chrome. All my HTTP traffic still goes through the WLAN interface rather than the TUN interface.
I am not sure if the OpenVPN Android client's proxy setting can help. I tried it, but the OpenVPN client prompted an error message:

option_error: can not connect via TCP-based proxy because no tcp server entries exist in profile.

Does it mean I should use a TCP OpenVPN connection to fix this error? or should I find another way to redirect the HTTP traffic through VPN channel?

The easiest way to do so is to connect your phone to the computer and run adb in the command line.

adb shell settings put global http_proxy ipaddress:port to set your phone's global proxy to the IP address.
adb shell settings put global http_proxy :0 try this to turn off the global proxy.

Very unfortunately, the connection was shut down by GFW during last Friday night. An obfuscation method must be employed to counter this issue. I have no time for this, so it leaves me with no choice but to buy a ladder.


text:
Phone stays connected to WiFi even when out of reach
As the title says, when I get out of home, my phone keeps the connection to my Wi-Fi even when it is out of reach. This results in a Wi-Fi icon with an "X" and thus not using mobile data and not having internet.
Normally when I get out of home it usually disconnects the Wi-Fi and switches on mobile data, but now I need to disable / enable the Wi-Fi so it disconnects and have access to internet again. Any ideas ?
Phone is Asus Zenfone 9 with Android 13

May help-in developer options enable wifi scan throttling

Does the Wifi come back when you return home? I would try to reset the Wifi chip by shutting down the phone completely and keep it of for a minute or two (not reboot, really shut down).

@Robert Yes it comes back, but rebooting the phone does not change anything since it ran out of battery yesterday and the problem persists

@beeshyams Already on

My guess is that the "Direct wifi" option is enabled but not sure. Maybe you could try another wifi or SSID to make sure it's not a bug.
Do you know when or why the phone does not behave as it used to ?

@beeshyams I think you misunderstood, my problem is not that it won't connect, my problem is that I can be 10 km away from my wifi (literally), and the phone still keeps that connection even out of reach, instead of switching to mobile data

Well... If I knew why, I would not post the question :) Wi-Fi direct is not enabled, and that happened just after moving out in my new home with a new router if that can help

I would try two things

Forget that Wifi connection and then connect again.
If that doesnt work then reset network settings.

Tried it and it seems that it resolved the issue, many thanks but still wondering why that happened...


text:
moving whatsapp data from Android 4 to Android 13
As you probably know (https://faq.whatsapp.com/1150261202542208), Whatsapp is not going to support Android 4 phones from 23rd of October this year; the minimum supported Android version will be 5.0
I want to move and merge all my conversations and files from my old Android phone to my newer one (they both have been used with the same phone number).
Unfortunately, I don't have any Google Drive backups on the old phone. Also, I hadn't done any other transfer/migration to my latest phone. I remember that when I'd installed Whatsapp on my newer phone, the application stopped working on the older phone.
Old phone:

Android 4.2.2 (Samsung Galaxy S Duos GT-S7562)
Whatsapp 2.21.17.23 (installed from here);
no Google Drive backups;
WhatsApp is no longer working (only on the old phone), since I'd installed it on my latest phone;
at some moment I had to install the Google Play Store 25.2.27-16 for the Whatsapp to continue running (installed from here; more here); it now displays "Your phone date is inaccurate! Adjust your clock and try again" (but the date displayed is correct)

New phone:

Whatsapp 2.23.14.79
Android 13; OneUI 5.1

Thank you very very very much!

I'd just noticed there are a set of new versions (from 2023) for Android 4.1+ so I will try installing one of them (maybe https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-2-23-7-81-release/)

Do you still have access to the old phone and its WhatsApp data? If that's the case, then perhaps WhatsApp doesn't prompt to restore from local storage might help for the new location of WhatsApp data in Android 11+. Also, perhaps copy them to somewhere else (not on the phone) for additional backup plan.

I'd noticed a latter WhatsApp version is available supporting the Android 4.1+ (thus supporting my Android 4.2.2): https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-2-23-8-72-release/
I had installed it, over 2.23.7.81 which was installed over my previous version

@AndrewT. my older phone has Android 4.2.2 not 11+


text:
What adds "Translate" item to selected text's context menu and how to get rid of this
I am trying to figure out which application or which application's setting is adding "Translate" button to the selected text's context menu in Wikipedia app:

Wikipedia mobile app's developers says that this is not their problem and that this item comes from some other place, not from their app.
I do have Google application installed. I don't have Google Translate app installed. I have never used translate functionality out of Google app (to be honest, until now I wasn't aware that there is such). And certainly I didn't enable such damn thing intentionally.
My gear:

Phone: realme GT 5G (RMX2202)
Android: 13 Kernel version 5.4.147-qgki-ga616720f33728

Can someone tell me, if it is possible to turn this thing off?

Two options to try:

Uninstall the Google app. If this is not possible,next

Disable the Google app

These were suggested since Google Translate is baking itself in the option menu.
The second option worked for the OP

I can confirm that the Google app added this feature. On my Pixel 3a, the "Translate" context menu is overloaded by 3 apps: Google, (Google) Translate, and a 3rd-party Chinese dictionary app.

However, there should be an option buried somewhere to disable such behavior.

@andreszs unlikely, and it's a known fact that it's not possible to modify them either (ref: How to set which options appear on the text selection toolbar?, How to edit the Android context menu?)

@andreszs "There should be" -- yes! "There is" -- no! (it this particular scenario thanks goodness, it is; in most others no). It's a Google world. You, the dully user are too stupid to know what you need or want... #loveGoogle.

And certainly I didn't enable such damn thing intentionally.

Of course you didn't. Google keeps adding + enabling useless features endlessly, as you can see in the dedicated Google entry in the Settings menu. If you are lucky enough, such setting can be disabled somewhere here. Good luck finding the relevant option though.

I only keep the Google app for its QR scanner and camera translation feature, so disabling it would be quite an extreme option. Other people may use it for 99% of their daily tasks including searching and browsing from the app's crippled, built-in webview that disguises itself as Chrome, something which I did manage to completely disable (for now). As a side note, I'm probably the only Android user that browses the web with Opera and not Chrome nor the Samsung Browser.

Well... I have QR scanner and camera translation feature provided by 3rd party solution, but I must keeping Google app since uninstalling or disabling it is not an option under my gear! :) #loveGoogle


text:
Can broken screen and USB cable in data transfer mode influence each other?
This sounds so weird that I can't believe I am asking about this.
I have two exactly the same Redmi 11S (same in terms of purchase date and software installed). One of them has fallen a couple of times and has about 25% of the screen broken, though still fully usable. The second one has screen intact.
Each time I connect an USB-C cable in data transfer mode, the phone with broken screen gets wako:

I cannot start photo app from the lock screen, I cannot draw an unlock patters, I cannot even unlock it, screen is totally unresponsive.

When I unlock the screen before attaching an USB-C cable and only then I attach it, then screen gets wako; "something" is randomly changing launcher pages and touching icons, the phone lives on it's own.

When I connect the very same cable in charge mode (i.e. attach it to the wall socket charger instead to the PC) or connect the second Redmi 11S (using the same cable), the phone operates normally.
Tested on both Redmi 11S, on two different cables and three different USB ports on the same PC.
What am I missing. How can a broken screen and USB cable influence each other?

Thank you for all your time and very impressive research. Though this is a guessing game, I still would suggest that you turn these comments into answer. Thank you again.

Note: This answer is an educated guess based on my understanding from Guide to USB-C Pinout and Features and anyone with a better understanding is welcome to improve

From a historical perspective USB standards evolution is as depicted

Since USB Type-C is the de-facto standard, the answer is based on this standard.
Figure below shows the configuration of USB-C receptacle (plug is similar with minor changes)

OP says that both devices charge fine with a wall socket charger. VBUS(A9) and GND(A12) are responsible for this charging so it's working fine.

Without getting into technical details, what is of relevance here is Alternate Modes
This mode of operation allows us to implement third-party protocols, such as DisplayPort and HDMI, using the USB Type-C standard. All Alternate Modes must at least support a USB 2.0 and USB Power Delivery connection
DisplayPort & HDMI are highlighted because the problems faced by OP are around this. especially with the broken screen. If we analyze this further:

The document linked talks more in detail about Alternate Modes. They can be unidirectional (One side deciding the source or host) or bi-directional. But when side is connected to PC, PCs always run in host mode.

With the PC in host mode and undamaged device connected , it works fine (implied in the question)

With the PC in host mode and damaged screen device connected the behavior is   wonky and changing cables, ports doesn't make a difference.

Conclusion: The broken screen HDMI(maybe digitizer damaged too) is the culprit and needs to be repaired for it work normally. Unable to open lock screen or if the lock screen is open but exhibiting unpredictable behavior are at best symptoms of the underlying root cause.

Electronics SE could have provided a more technically valid answer but I am not sure if you can cross post there, given it's been answered here but I surely would like to hear them experts

After spending more time in figuring out the documentation, I am fairly sure of my conclusions (though not 100%sure) // In any case getting the broken screen fixed is worth it if plan to use it (no idea of cost comparison vs new device)


text:
How can com.google.android.documentsui be missing in Android 13?
I cannot run my favourite MP3 player on my Redmi 11S and Android 13, because the com.google.android.documentsui is missing.
How it is possible? App author claims that is an essential system component that must exist, exists by default in Android 11+ and is only gone when user tries to debloat the phone which I personally didn't do.
Is there any other reason for com.google.android.documentsui for not existing? Has Redmi removed it intentionally from their Redmi 11S' version of Android? Can Family Link be blocking or removing this file?

Possibly related: How to hide or unhide app in MIUI drawer?

Thanks for all the answers and suggestions. I'll try to double check this in the evening (when I get my hands back on those two phones). I'll report findings here, if there will be anything worth to report. Thanks again for your time and trying to help.

@AndrewT. No, this is just partially related or not related at all. I don't want to add DocumentsUI to the drawer. I want to enable it and make sure that it is launched each time Android 14 restarts on my Redmi 11S. Plus, I am reluctant into believing that I will be able to use ADB on Google Family Link-guarded phone.

Documents UI describes what this app does:

The DocumentsUI module controls access to specific files for components that handle document permissions (such as attaching a file to an email). This module is updatable, meaning it can receive updates to functionality outside of the normal Android release cycle...The DocumentsUI module (com.android.documentsui) is delivered as an APK file and is available for devices running Android 10 or higher
(Emphasis supplied)

Hence, it is an essential app and on Pixel 6a it is a system app as it should be with your device also.

There are multiple reports like yours with various versions of Redmi and suggested solutions are listed in order of priority.

In the apps section of your device, enable system app search and try to locate this file. If it is disabled,enable it and reboot. You should be able to use the MP3 player. Some reports say you need to enable as described after every reboot. YMMV.

Use any [activity launcher] 2 from Play Store and search for com.android.documentsui. Create a shortcut for com.android.documentsui.files.LauncherActivity to launch it or directly launch it. You should be good to go but, being Redmi you may be unpleasantly surprised.

Assuming that this app got somehow disabled for the user you can try to reinstall com.android.documentsui using the command (source)

adb shell cmd package install-existing com.android.documentsui

As a last resort download Files by Google and pray that it solves your problem

Curious. What worked?

First of all, thank you for all your effort and a fabulous answer. Second of all, as I wrote in the comment to the answer below, first of all I am puzzled, if enabling it will solve my problem with not working audiobook player, since it (the answer) clearly claims that DocumentsUI is descoped in Android 14 and as such must be disabled system-wide.

Third of all, so far I only managed to check your first advice and failed completely, because my app list is totally empty. I will try to work the second advice today. For the last one -- I am not sure, if I'll be able to use ADB on Google Family Link-guarded phone?

@trejder 1. I believe enabling it will solve your problem since (as I mentioned in my comment to the other answer a) I still have it running on my phone Pixel 6a released with 12 and now on 13. If it was descoped it should not have been there in the first release b) Documentation is strangely silent on what the alternative is, if it is descoped (Android 14 is around the corner!) c) Developers need to be told what to use in it's place, I find no reference to it. Plus your own MP3 developer who should know better insists it should be there. IMO, it is at best a statement of intention//

With no time line. For example, Google promised to introduce hardware (TEE) based integrity checks long back, yet their own Google Wallet does not have that implemented that

Next, your app list being empty is under a different test condition. I don't use MMS so can't say what should be the behavior. I would still recommend you to try the first option with the phone being in normal state not MMS test conditions

I haven't used family link either but if adb does not allow, you can disable family link, do the adb but and enable... That's also one reason it is ranked lower in order of priority. The last one should be the easiest to try as it's only an app from play store ( Interestingly, since my device is rooted, I saw it has two files app (same name) one with the package name we want to install and the Play Store one having a different package name but

I installed that as it can do few useful things like scroll through screenshot before deleting, locating bug reports, cleaning up photos trash etc.. Anyway, all the best!

Thanks for all your comments. I'll do my best to perform as many tests based on your suggestions as possible. If there will be anything worth to report, I'll report here.

As you can see in the DocumentsUI reference:

Important: Starting in Android 12, file browsing through DocumentsUI
is disabled.

Which means that even when installed, your MP3 player won't be able to browse files with such library. The author must fix this by using a new API to browse your MP3 files in the device.
Go to know why Google decided to block file browsing with it, probably due to ill-use by developers, as they did when disabling the SMS receive API that was a serious privacy threat.

I did see that but a) there is no alternative option mentioned for Android 13 so I assume it is being in use for 13 too. b) I am on Android 13, Pixel 6a and I see com.android.documentsui as a system app

Thank you for your answer. I must admit that I am completely puzzled right now. App's author claims that DocumentsUI is the new and mandatory way of accessing files and as long as I don't enable it, I won't be able to use that app. The beeshyams's answer above (with many valuable ideas on how to workaround the problem) also in my mind supports the idea that DocumentsUI is a must have in all modern Androids. Which leads me to a conlusion that something is wrong with my phone.

Now, come you and says (and has a great proof) that this is completely opposite. That Documents UI is old and descoped* was of accessing files. And that everything is fine with my phone, since it has it disabled (probably following the guide you have cited).


text:
How to install an app from unknown source when the phone is protected by Family Link?
Due to some essential system component missing in my Android 13 / Redmi 11S I have to install customized version of my app. I need to execute .apk file from Downloads folder.
The thing is that this phone is protected by Google Family Link.
When I try to uninstall the app, an information box appears telling me that this operation has been blocked by the system administrator. When I went ot corresponding section of the settings, I can clearly see that removing such system administrator is impossible.
What to do in this case?

I never used family link,, but this may help //If it works please make it into an answer yourself!

From Google support site: https://support.google.com/families/answer/9204736

@MorrisonChang I believe that the information provided under this link won't help, because it says about accessing account data only. It seems it doesn't say anything about device administrator apps (which are the key in this question).

@beeshyams From a very quick take-a-look it seems that solution provided under your shared link should work. I'll double check in the evening and do as you suggest, if you truly works. Thanks.


text:
How to use WiFi and Ethernet connection simultaneously on Android 12?
I have an Orangepi5b running Android 12. I want to use Wi-Fi for internet connection and Ethernet to communicate to other network devices connected to it simultaneously.
I've read a lot of questions about it but there were no answers, or answers are outdated:

Connect Android device to Wifi for internet and ethernet simultaneously
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63499840/android-9-ethernet-and-wifi-simulataneously
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18143534/android-ethernet-and-wi-fi-at-the-same-time?rq=4
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/28991965/getting-wrong-network-interface-in-android?rq=4
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31713781/connect-to-lan-and-internet-at-same-time?rq=4
How to make Ethernet work on Android over OTG?

I  connected my Ubuntu laptop to debug connection. I used static IP on Ubuntu and configured static IP on Android for Ethernet connection.
In Android terminal I can ping my laptop
ping 172.XXX.XXX.XXX

After that I connect to Wi-Fi, I'm able to ping sites like Google but can not ping my laptop. But I can ping my Android device from my laptop. In my opinion it means that this is problem with routes in Android
I've checked routes on Android:
busybox route

And this is the output:
Destination       Gateway     Genmask        Flags  Metric  Ref   Use  Iface
172.XXX.XXX.XXX   *           255.255.254.0    U      0      0     0    eth0
192.XXX.XXX.XXX   *           255.255.255.0    U      0      0     0    wlan0

It seams that routes are configured properly.
If I want to ping my laptop I should explicit use interface for that:
ping -I eth0 172.XXX.XXX.XXX

I can use
su
ip route add 172.XXX.XXX.XXX dev eth0 table local

After that I can ping my laptop and use internet from Wi-Fi.
But it not works when I reboot the Android device. If rebooted I need to disable Wi-Fi, connect to Ethernet, after that connect to Wi-Fi and add route again.
Is it way to save routes to work after reboot, or may be another way to add route to work permanently?

Android 13 has introduced a possibility to be connected to multiple networks at the same time, but I don't know if this has an effect on a Wifi/Ethernet set-up, as usually the only concurrent networks are mobile and Wifi.

Unfortunately orangepi5b is coming with android12, and there is  no option to switch. The only way to switch is to build custom android from source. But I have no experience in this(


text:
Share to app: Remove suggested people to share with (non-rooted Android 14)
When you want to "share" a file to an app,
a line of "recommended people to share with" appears above the apps:

Problem: I often need to perform demos on my phone, and for privacy reasons I do not want my friends to appear there.
Question: How to disable this feature, meaning that only suggested apps will appear?
Or at least, how to clear them or remove them one by one?
Notes:

My phone is not rooted, Pixel with stock Android 14.
I also post screencasts several times per day, so going very fast is not a solution. Editing each screencast is not realistic either.
Introduced in 2015, this feature is called direct share, and the contacts listed come from a variety of apps, such as Messenger, LINE, Whatsapp, and many others. When I long-press a friend, the only possible action is to pin them.
On rooted phones this might have worked before Android 10: https://github.com/stefansundin/android-disable-direct-share
Apparently on Samsung and LG, direct share can be disabled (unfortunately Pixel has no such setting):

I am not a developer but what I could gather that user's can't remove contacts added to share menu, while developers seem to be getting better and smarter ways to do it (see links at end of the answer)

Way back, there used to be Xposed modules, rooted apps and other Non-rooted apps but they all seem to be have vanished except sharedr with a caveat

Sharedr will stop working as default share menu on Android 12.
Find out more here: https://sharedr.rejh.nl/#notice

Google has decided to block 3rd party share replacement apps in Android 12 from responding to the share event... (My Note: That's probably why all those apps including Non-rooted ones vanished!)

After seeing your question and this being the only app that is available, I decided to try it on Pixel 6a, Android 13. In short:

It works by showing only list of suggested apps and doesn't show any contacts

Takes some efforts to set it up but not difficult

How to set it up

Don't get intimidated by the start-up screen, it's only telling you that it won't work as default share app

Say from Chrome share menu tap on the ⚫⚫⚫ more on the top panel which has apps while the bottom panel has actions like copy  link, long screenshot etc

and scroll through the list of apps , find sharedr, long press and pin Sharedr

It will now appear like this

Click on the sharedr icon and it will reveal all aps that can receive shared content. Tap on any icon to hide or reset from the 3dots menu

All set, no contacts shown, only apps shown!

Google pleasantly surprises (rarely)
On Google photos ver 6.53, I am allowed to remove contacts!

References that tell me users can't remove share options:

Provide Direct Share targets

Direct Share to an Android app

Google Photos may soon adopt the Android 14 share sheet

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

My solution for now: Pin some official accounts until the row is full and your friends have no place to appear.
I pinned a phone utility, a delivery service that everyone uses, a government account, etc. None of these are privacy-sensitive. I never actually send anything to them.
I am still looking for better solutions that would completely remove that bar, giving some screen space left.


text:
Who or what can trigger an app installation from Google Play Store?
I was more then sure that my actions in the Google Play Store (either mobile app or through website) are the only way to trigger installation of some app.
My phone was lying alone and dark for the last hour, I did nothing:

around Google Play Store website on my PC,
around any app or phone in general

in the last hour or so. But, when I have just unlocked it, I have found out that to my extreme surprise, it started installation of Microsoft Teams.
This is the first time in my 10+ years Android history that something like that has happened.
Who (or what) beside my can start installation of some app on one of my devices?

Are you talking about a new app or an update for an already installed app?

Any app that asks for REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission //How do I find that out?  Install PMX from GitHub or Play store, give it permission for adb (read help) and in the search menu, enable deep search and find out from app ops which app has this permission and disable /ignore that permission for that app

This app is developed by our valued contributor here Irfan-Latif

Google Play Store allows compatible devices to receive an install instruction from ANY device which is linked to your account. If you visit a Play Store App Page, note that the Install button can have a pulldown, which lists linked devices. Any device there can initiate an install somewhere else. Say you have 2 phones, A & B, with A on the install page, BOTH A & B can be selected on the button and receive the install (or even forced to B alone - It can be disconcerting).

@Robert No, a brand new app, as I don't use mobile version of Microsoft Teams at all. Frankly saying, I don't use any Microsoft-related mobile app on my phone except for Microsoft Edge.

@wbogacz Thanks! I am aware of that. But still, in your scenario any kind of input from user side must be done, right? And as I mentioned -- I was doing nothing. No access to Google Play Store from any device. After an hour of letting my phone rest on the shelf, I picked it up and unlocked to check the time. It was completely accidental (and very surprising) to learn in the same time that something has triggered installation of Microsoft Teams on my phone and that this process in around 25% in progress.

@beeshyams Can we consider a completely separate app (Microsoft Teams) a package? Can we assume that some app can make use of REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission without any input from user side (see above comment)? Plus: I have never seen a request for enabling this permission for any app.

@trejder The REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission may not be used to perform self updates, modifications, or the bundling of other APKs in the asset file unless for device management purposes. All updates or installing of packages must abide by Google Play’s Device and Network Abuse policy and must be initiated and driven by the user. //So on it's own it can't install BUT... Contd

Microsoft is not above cheap stuff... If you can establish that's Microsoft is the culprit raise a Big stink.. Links are in the answer

Is it the device with broken screen problem? Wondering if the user initiated installation part is a part of whacky behavior?

@beeshyams No, this is a completely different device and case. Thanks for the information and link to "Report a Policy Violation". Since this was a one-time situation so far and since my account was not accessed by someone else (probably, see the comment below) I'd rather say that this was some kind of technical glitch. However, if the case repeats, I'll surely make use of "Report a Policy Violation". Thanks.

If it was a Google app instead of a Microsoft's one, I would bet it was triggered by Google itself, since they firmly believe they have ownsership of every single Android device ever made.
But in this case, someone may have accessed your Google account and installed it from the web store, which allows installing apps on all your devices, including Android TVs. Just in case, change your Google account password and logout from all devices.

Thanks for your answer, however you keep adding a guessing-answers which are prohibited here. This s probably why your answers gets downvoted. I think it is impossible for someone else to access my Google account as I have 2FA enabled and must manually (from the phone in question) approve each login attempt to my account using... Google app. Plus, I get an email from Google about each such login (even for each and every my own logins). Which is a bit frustrating, but useful. None of such things happened for this particular situation, so I assume that nobody has accessed my account this time.


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Move factory apps and services to SD card in Android 5
I've got this non-rooted BLU Energy Diamond with an absurdly long lasting battery that I use at work for testing apps on old devices, however, it only has 4GB of internal memory and a 16GB SD card.
As we all know, Google absolutely forbids moving its apps and services to the SD card, while endlessly increasing their sizes for no reason, in an effort to render all phones obsolete as fast as possible. The minute I enable Play Store + Play Services, internal memory is maxed out, without a single third-party app installed nor updated.

Manufacturers only allow bloatware uninstallation after facing lawsuits like this in China. I managed to remove bloatware without a lawsuit by using  the adb shell, however, this is not nearly enough. Is there any hope of effectively moving Chrome, Webview, Play Store, Play Services and all to SD card? I don't care if there's a risk of rendering them useless, because as is, the phone is already useless if nothing can be installed when Play Services is enabled.
I understand there was a hack to use SD card as internal memory on phones without that option, but I'm not sure if this was ever available to Android 5 or if requires a rooted device.

Hi, this site is not a forum. Please remove the rsnts and adk s clear single question. By the way, your assumptions ate faulty. For starters, Google doesn't write most of the apps.

Find a ROM with no Google stuff (example:LineageOS or any that is still supported for you device), root your phone, install that ROM and move your apps to ext. SD// For a phone of that vintage you'd need to search for all these steps on your own.. XDA is a good starting place

@beeshyams thanks I will certainly try that, you could have posted it as a reply because it's a reasonable answer. ;)

Thanks but it's at best a suggestion for me unless I tried it. Once you try and succeed you can make that into a far better answer that would help others! Ping me for an upvote when you do so!


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How to set custom boot logo On Samsung a52?
I want to set custom boot logo (Not boot animation) on Samsung A52 (SM-A525F) powered with Qualcomm Snapdragon. There's no logo.bin or splash.bin in my official firmware.

That would most certainly require rooting the phone to get started.
Be noted that rooting the device and messing with the OS could have certain implications like your device failing to pass the Play Integrity API checks. This new API is used by developers and manufacturers to determine if your device is trustworthy and unmodified, which is always a good thing.
As an Android developer I advice against rooting the phone or messing with the OS in general, and specially not for changing a screen you probably haven't seen in months.


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Play Store doesn't update apps
I have a Xiaomi Pocophone F1. Today, I noticed that regardless I have a very good internet connection (Wi-Fi), the apps don't update. I didn't face the problem previously, when I clicked "Update all", it updated all apps. I cannot even install new programs.
When I click "Update", it waits for a long time. After that, it shows me an error that the app cannot be installed or updated. I say that the problem is not due to an internet connection because each time I check the connection speed, it is over 100Mbps.
I tried these methods, but none of them worked:

I cleared the cache on the Play Store
I cleared all data on the Play Store
I rebooted the phone many times
I check internet speed using a speed test program (the speed of connection is over 100 Mbps)

Please suggest to me the ways to fix it.

How much flash memory is free on your phone?

You have tried the right options. Next you have these.

Revert to factory versions both Play Store and Play Services. Restart and wait around 10 minutes for them to auto-update.
Remove your Google account and clear data from the previous apps. Restart phone, re-add your Google account, and retry.
Permanently disable the Play Store auto-update feature and manually update apps.


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How to stop Google from eating event texts
I am using Messages version 14.5.20.5. After the most recent automatic Android update (One UI 5.1), Google is eating texts that contain event links. An "add event" button briefly appears and then disappears. About 30% of the time, an event is added to my calendar but it doesn't contain any useful information (not even the link nor the name of the sender). So basically these texts are lost.
Presumably, Google was trying to implement a feature that would generate a useful calendar event from texts. I don't need such a feature. How can I turn it off? (Also how did I give Google the indication that I wanted this feature turned on in the first place?)

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Based on checking the app version, looks like this is Samsung's stock Messages app, not Google Messages. Thus, it's very likely that Samsung added the feature, not Google.

@Andrew You're right, it appears to be a Samsung app. (Given that this is the case, why would an Android update cause it to start the Add Event behavior?) In any case, your solution appears to work. Thank you!

This Samsung UI feature of creating events from SMS was discussed here last year.
Based on a quick look, it appears you can (and should) disable it from the Settings > Advanced Features > Smart suggestions screen.
For a moment, I assumed there was an SMS standard that includes events in a Calendar-useful format, but it seems to be a simple script sniffing your SMS contents and trying to guess if this is an event-related text.


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How can I make sure my phone info is correct?
When I check my S23 Ultra phone settings it says it's a 512G Memory and 12G RAM, but when I check it on imei.info website it shows 256G storage and 8G RAM! As I bought it as a renew from Amazon and came without the original box, Which info is correct? Should I return the phone?
I also would like to know if the phone is US version but don't know how can I do that if I don't have the original box?

Install this app, it will give you all the details you are looking for and more

To check

Goto Settings

Battery and device care

Look at Memory and Storage
It may be that imei shows the default build.

Most certainly you shoud not return the phone based only on the info shown in an unknown site such as that. A (mostly) trusted source of phone specs is GSM Arena, which says that your S23 comes with these Memory variants:

256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 12GB RAM

According to the exact model number (shown somewhere in the Settings > About Phone secreen) you can Google its specs in any more or less realiable website.


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Modern Android phones and Project Treble/GSI
I am looking to upgrade my phone and want to run Lineageos or similar, but in the last 2.5 years it seems support for new devices has dried up.
I see that there is are "GSI" version of ROMS of interest which seem to rely on project treble - assuming my understanding is correct.
My quretion is this - Do all Android phones which come with Oreo or newer - and realistically Android 12/13 and a bootloader that can be unlocked support Project Treble/GSI ROMs?
If not, is there ant list that can show what devices are supported?  (I'm likely looking at a Samsung S24 but could not find anything about Project Treble/S24 on it (but it looks like it does have an easily unlockable bootloader)


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Why is my Tecno pop2 is unable to install YouTube?
I am trying to install YouTube. It directs me to Google Play store afterwards it shows app failed to install what can I do to install it?

What is the error message?post a screenshot of that? How much of free space is on your device? [edit] to add details, as also your device details and Android version

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

Can you install other apps or this happens with any Store app?
If no apps install and you are 100% sure there is enough free space, you may have any of the endless Google Play Store+Play Services errors. Clearing app data for both and restarting the device usually fixes that. If not, stop and uninstall updates for both apps, restart the phone, leave it around 10 minutes idle to allow Play Services to update itself and the store app, then retry the installation.
Soon someone will appear suggesting to manually downloading or updating Play Services or Play Store; you are better off ignoring such idea. I've been using Android since 2.3 and I've had all kind of phones with all the Play Store problems you can possibly think of, manually updating services is a bad idea as long as the OS was not modified or messed up with in any way.


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Cast VLC audio to DLNA device
It seems that VLC on Android is able to cast to a ChromeCast device, although I don't have one to actually test that.
Is it also possible to cast (audio) to a DLNA device? If it matters, it's an AudioCast M5.


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How to quickly change screen timeout
My screen timeout is set to one minute, but there are cases when I temporarily want to change it to 30, which is the maximum value apparently.
The fastest way I found is to create a shortcut to the Display section of the settings app. I still need to close the app I'm in, click on the shortcut, then click timeout, then select 30 minutes.
Is there a faster way?
Ideally, I'd like to have an option to completely disable screen timeout in the quick settings dropdown, but I think it's up to the device manufacturer what's in that menu?
If it matters, I have a FairPhone 4 with Android 12

Possibly related/duplicate: Is it possible to temporarily disable the screen timeout?, How do I prevent Android from going to sleep?

You can use Caffeine app which will provide a convenient tile in quick settings to indefinitely extend the screen time.
Available on Play Store and F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/info.zwanenburg.caffeinetile/

Exactly what I had in mind, thanks

You could try with the Screen Timeout Widget app. It creates a small icon (widget to be correct) in your home screen and allows changing the screen timeout directly. It says that it can also be shown in the notifications panel, but strangely there are no screenshots with such feature.
From the author:

Switches screen timeout from homescreen, notifications, quick
settings. Lightweight and useful widget for switching timeout of the
screen. For every added screen timeout widget you can select one or
any of this sequentially switchable interval values:

1 second
5 seconds
15 seconds
30 seconds
60 seconds
2 minutes
5 minutes
10 minutes
30 minutes
Never switched off


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Leaving USB drive plugged in to android causes battery drain even when sleep
If I accidentally leave a USB drive in my samsung galaxy S7+ it will drain the battery in a few hours even if it's not being used and the android goes "sleep".
Why is this and and how to prevent it? E.g., I don't need to use the USB port when I'm not using the tablet 99.9% of the time.
Also, the USB port seems to use a lot of battery in general even if I'm just playing a video off it or reading a pdf.

USB flash drives always draw power even in idle mode. How much depends on the flash drives. Some draw 0.5 W others up to 4W. This known to be a problem with laptops and of course even more with smartphones as their battery is even smaller. As the drawn power is a hardware property there is nothing you can do against except from disconnecting the flash drive

If your device is rooted, possible to limit

@Robert It is not a hardware problem to disable the USB port when the tablet goes to sleep. They can easily disable power to the USB port even if the drain is a "hardware property". (e.g., this involves an 0.0001c mosfet).  If the USB is not being used it shouldn't require power and the OS knows if it's being used since it is using it. Even if the hardware itself isn't designed efficiently this doesn't mean the hardware on the tablet has to go along with it.  As long as the power to the USB port can be controlled in software there should be a fix.

But before removing power Android would have to safely unmount it. And I am not sure if automatic unmounting is a common function. Usually it is the users choice when a disk is unmiunted. As only the user knows if the drive will be used in the near future or not.

As far as I know, there is no built-in option for that.
However, you could try the 7-day trial of Tasker, which automates any possible task you can think of as long as there is an internal API for it. In this case it would be turning off USB OTG while the screen is off.
Remember that your phone's battery is suited for devices with a very small power drain only, you may be able to connect an USB espresso machine with the OTG adapter but that doesn't mean it's a good idea at all.


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Pixel 7 Android 13 - what could cause wlan0 to change to wlan1?
I have an FTP server on my phone that auto-starts with Tasker to perform unattended backups.
Recently it stopped working. As I debugged the issue I found errors in the log of "unable to connect to wlan0".  The Wi-Fi connection was fine, so I was puzzled. I finally re-created the SFTP server profile and discovered that wlan0 doesn't exist. The Wi-Fi connection is now wlan1.
That fixed the problem, but I'm curious why wlan0 would suddenly change to wlan1? No OS updates or new apps have been recently installed.

The interface changed back to wlan0 after a month. This broke the SFTP server again and I had to manually re-configure. I still have no clue what could cause the change in interface name. Apparently I'm the only one? Or maybe nobody else is even aware of their wlan interface name? I see this because I run an SFTP server only when their phone is on a specific Wi-Fi network (with the help of Tasker)


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Pixel 7 Pro on Android 13 does not natively recognize exFAT-formatted 4tb Crucial X10 USBC SSD
Title says most of it. I have a Pixel 7 Pro and a Pixel Tablet. I just got a Crucial X10 4TB portable SSD, which advertises as compatible with Android. I have Solid Explorer installed, and when I plug the SSD into the tablet or phone, Solid Explorer sends me a toast saying it's preparing the USB drive. Except it never appears or enumerates. Solid Explorer can't see it, nor can Android Files. Neither recognize the existence of the drive. I can mount it on any of my Windows machines, as well as Chrome OS. (Interestingly, Chrome OS shows two devices on this drive, one called "USB Drive" which has no FS, and the other called "X10 Pro" that has all the files there. Not sure what's up with that, never seen it before).
I have installed the Paragon exFAT app and Total Commander, and that combination uniquely lets me interact with the drive, and only via Total Commander.
I read that Android 13 added exFAT support, and I've used exFAT USB flash drives on my Android devices before, so I am not sure what is going on with this.
I have a 2TB BeeDrive that I can connect to natively on Android and Windows without any utilities, and it is also formatted exFAT. What's going on here? Is the 4TB X10 too big or something?
Any help is appreciated.
**EDIT:**I realized that the X10 and the BeeDrive were different disk formats, BeeDrive is MBR and X10 is GPT formatted. Time to play with disk manager and see if that's the problem

Are you sure that the SSD gets enough power from the phone to operate correctly?

Yep, tried via a powered hub as well. Turns out Crucial in their infinite wisdom had two partitions. The first, which Android attaches to by default, was only 15MB and had no file system or partition structure. I nuked it in diskpart and recreated the GPT record & one single partition, now it works

This was dumb. Crucial put a 15MB unformatted, locked partition at offset 1024k that has no partition/fs data. Android hooked that first, useless, partition and ignored the second. I went into diskpart and was able to rebuild with one partition
DISKPART> LIS DIS
  # My problematic drive is Disk 1
DISKPART> SEL DIS 1
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # My main data partition & the volume are on Partition 2
DISKPART> SEL PAR 2
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # Partition 2 is mounted at Volume 6
DISKPART> SEL VOL 6
DISKPART> DEL VOL
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # After deleting the volume, diskpart got rid of the corresponding partition
  # If you still see your partition in this list, run the next step, otherwise skip
DISKPART> DEL PAR # SKIP if diskpart removed your partition for you
DISKPART> SEL PAR 1
DISKPART> DEL PAR OVERRIDE
DISKPART> CLE
DISKPART> CON GPT
DISKPART> CRE PAR
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # There should only be one partition listed for the full drive size
DISKPART> SEL PAR 1
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # You should see a volume with an * next to it, with a RAW FS and the size of your disk
  # If you see the volume but there is not a * you need to select it (replace 6 with your volume number)
DISKPART> SEL VOL 6
DISKPART> FOR FS=EXFAT LABEL="X10 Pro" QUICK
DISKPART> LIST VOL
  # The selected volume should now have a Label and an exFAT filesystem
DISKPART> ASS
  # This will assign a letter to the volume and mount it in Windows
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # Verify that your new volume has a letter under the Ltr column. If so, done!
DISKPART> EXIT

**To verify correct partition setup**
DISKPART> LIS DIS
  # Note which number is assigned to your disk (2 in this example)
DISKPART> SEL DIS 2
DISKPART> LIS PAR
  # This should only have ONE partition, if it has more then something went wrong
DISKPART> SEL PAR 1
DISKPART> LIS VOL
  # Ensure that the selected volume (denoted by a *) has the expected Ltr, Label, FS, Type, and Size
DISKPART> EXIT

And that's it. Stupid formatting from the factory.
EDIT: This seems to completely break the Crucial Storage Executive program from recognizing this disk. My guess is that the micro "partition" causing problems was actually a chunk of metadata or memory-mapped interfaces for I/O with the control software.


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How to keep "Battery Saver" mode enabled, even when charging
How can I keep "Battery Saver" enabled, even when my device is charging?
I travel a lot on multi-day excursions where I don't have access to power, so I charge my phone with a battery bank. It seems silly that Android automatically disables "Battery Saver" mode when my phone is charging. Just because my phone is charging doesn't mean I'm not interested in saving power.
How can I force "Battery Saver" mode to remain enabled, even when charging my Android device?
Ideally I'd like to do this without installing any closed-source software.

Note this is distinct from Persistently or aggressively enabling Battery Saver and Set Battery Saver Always On as I don't just want it to be re-enabled after charging is finished. I want it to remain on, even when charging.

If your device is rooted, this Magisk module claims to do what you are asking (not tested by me)

How can I force "Battery Saver" mode to remain enabled, even when charging my Android device?

Apparently, this is not possible.. You are trying to make changes at a system level by creating an option that doesn't exist (always use battery saver mode), whereas other answers that you quoted in comments were only invoking existing options under some conditions). Hence, what you are left with is the option of making battery saver more effective by clubbing it with other options like doze etc.
Quoting from XDA thread Meet Buoy, a FOSS battery saver configuration tool!

Sticky Low Power

Buoy also enables something called "sticky" low power mode. Usually, when the device is plugged in and unplugged, the low power mode is then disabled. However, sticky mode re-applies low power mode afterwards to continue saving battery.

(Emphasis supplied to highlight why it is not possible)

Therefore, it is better to customize the battery saver state to maximize on battery availability while reducing charging duration

Buoy is open sourced with a bunch of features that make battery saver mode behave from typical to aggressive, thereby increasing your battery life and reducing your charging time.

This appears to support only upto Android 12 but a developer has forked it by building upon it and naming it Saver Tuner (download from GitHub Releases/F-Droid)
Screenshots show the amount of customization possible


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Question about Region setting in Redmi note11
Yesterday I wanted to change the language in my Redmi Note11, but by accident,  I saw Region setting set as United States(system).
I want to ask that, I live in Thailand, bought this phone in Thailand and never been to USA. If I leave this “region” setting as USA instead of Thailand, Does it affect to

My Security and Privacy
My mobile data charge and cost
My Wi-Fi Security and Privacy
My phone feature

It doesn't affect any of those items. It is for time settings, date format, default keyboard, etc.
I would change it to Thailand, none the less.

Thank you very much for your information.


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How to connect mouse to Android phone via ADB?
I want to play an Android game on my PC but since my phone can play it better, I've hooked it up to my PC using USB with scrcpy and a bluetooth keyboard, however unfortunately, I don't have a bluetooth mouse. I also want to charge my phone with my computer while playing the game.
I use Mantis Mouse Pro to run the game with my keyboard but the scrcpy mouse doesn't appear natively so it can't be mapped. Maybe if possible, I'd even connect my USB PS2 Joystick.
Therefore, I wish to forward the mouse input directly via adb to my phone instead of using scrcpy's Windows mouse. Exactly how you would connect a wi-fi adapter to an Ubuntu VM installed in Windows.
How do I forward mouse input so it appears natively on my phone (with a black cursor)?
Thanks in advance.

Android is not a VM, there is no USB forwarding protocol.

I figured a way out how to do it with https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy/blob/master/doc%2Fhid-otg.md#physical-mouse-simulation:

Get scrcpy from your package manager
Connect adb
scrcpy --hid-mouse or scrcpy -M  for short

ADB can't do that. It has no protocol for redirecting USB connections. It can redirect TCP/IP connections, but a USB mouse does not use TCP/IP. A Bluetooth mouse seems to be your easiest solution.


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How to connect microSD card or external USB hard drive to Redmi 10C
I've only ever had Redmi smartphones. First a 4A, then a 6, now a 10C. The first two both used microUSB and the new one uses USB-C. The 4A was a Chinese version and the later two are both international versions.
On one or both of the old ones I was able to connect an external hard drive and microSD card using a USB-OTG (on-the-go) adapter along with either a USB hard drive cable or USB to microSD adapter. I thought I had connected one or the other to my new phone but now I'm not certain.
Currently I can't figure out any way to get my Redmi 10C to recognize any external storage I connect. I've tried with the cable that came with my Seagate hard drive, and with two different microSD cards and two different microSD to USB A adapters via a USB A to USB C adapter. All these cables, adapter, and drives are verified working on my laptop.
My phone is in developer mode and USB debugging is enabled. I downloaded an app that claims to check if an Android phone is OTG-compatible and it says the phone is compatible.
I believe that USB-C includes OTG so that unlike with microUSB, no special OTG adapter is needed any more.
I have updated the MIUI and Android versions on the Redmi 10C at least once and I think twice since I bought it a bit over a year ago. I've looked through all the settings
Am I missing something? Do I still need a special OTG cable even with USB-C? Does the Redmi 10C not support OTG even though the app says it does? Could one of the OS updates have affected it? Could it be a difference between the international version of MIUI vs the Chinese version?
Does someone have a definitive answer? Are there some steps I can follow to narrow it down to fewer possibilities?


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How to obtain the Kernel Module Interface for my Android kernel?
I'm running Android 13 via crDroid 9.8 on my Pixel 7 Pro.
I want to try KernelSU, but in order to download the proper version, I need to know my Android kernel's KMI ("Kernel Module Interface"), and I don't know how to obtain this KMI value.
On the "Android version" page in Settings, it says that my kernel version is 5.10.157-ga88edbe37d3a, but as far as I know, that isn't the KMI.
There are several KernelSU versions on the KernelSU site referenced by KMI's which start with "5.10.157", and I assume I should choose one of them. But without knowing my kernel's KMI, I don't know which one of those I should try.
How can I figure out my kernel's KMI?
Thank you in advance.
UPDATE: To be clear, the KernelSU docs say that the kernel name should match the following pattern:
Version.PatchLevel.SubLevel-AndroidRelease-KmiGeneration-suffix
Then, the KMI would be Version.Patchlevel-AndroidRelease-KMIGeneration-suffix.
However, my kernel name is only this: 5.10.157-ga88edbe37d3a, and it has no AndroidRelease field, and there are several KernelSU images there with "5.10.157" in their name.
This is why I'm posting my question here.

The Pixel 7 Pro device shipped with the android13-5.10 kernel. So you should pick the KMI associated with that kernel version. If the KernelSu KMIs are stable, then you should be able to pick the latest 5.10.*-android13-* and it should work.

Thank you! That's exactly the info I've been looking for!


text:
How to unhide Phone and Messaging apps
I have an embedded device running Android and using SIM card for data connectivity. For whatever reason, the Phone and Messaging apps are hidden. I can see them in the System Apps list and Messaging app will appear if I send an SMS to the number that is associated with the SIM that is inserted into the device. Is there a way to actually show the Phone and Messaging apps in the apps list? The main reason is so I can use the Phone app to top-up my account to ensure that the data package is always current.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Since the apps can be accessed even if hidden, then they don't seem to be disabled/"uninstalled". Thus, could you install a 3rd-party launcher app (or any 3rd-party app from the Play Store/using APK)? This is based on my knowledge since we have had a similar requirement to hide some apps from the UI by developing a custom launcher app that filters out apps based on their package name.

Or use an activity launcher to create short cut to the app(s) // See. https://android.stackexchange.com/a/253276/131553

How to see package names, just in case you need


text:
Having problem building Android 13 for Pixel 6a
I'm trying to build Android 13 and flash it to my device, Pixel 6a.
I followed the documentation, https://source.android.com/docs/setup/start and https://source.android.com/docs/setup/build/building.

mkdir aosp
cd aosp
git config --global user.name Your Name
git config --global user.email you@example.com
repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b android-13.0.0_r50
repo sync
source build/envsetup.sh
lunch aosp_bluejay-userdebug
m
cd ~/aosp/out/target/product/bluejay (contains all imgs like boot.img, system.img)
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flashall -w

When it finishes, it remains at fastboot screen, so I click start. I goes to Google logo, then reboots to bootloader.
My fastboot version is 33.0.1.
Does anyone know why it's rebooting to after Google logo? Is there a log that I can look at like dmesg or logcat?
Thanks


text:
Can't recover Storage Taken By Linux Deploy
I used the Linux Deploy app to install Linux on my phone using root Access. It seems to make a partition on my device to install Linux which took up some storage on my Phone.  Now I want to recover that storage but I find no option in the app.  Uninstalling it also does not help.

Sorry but it is not clear which app you were using. When talking about third party apps always include a link to the app, best to Google Play Store. In general your device seems to be rooted, so you can delete the Linux partitions and resize the user data partition using the common Linux tools.


text:
What is this rectangular icon (Android 11)
Android 11, Motorola G8 Power. Maybe I'm going senile, but I don't recall seeing this rectangular icon to the left of the wi-fi icon. I added a yellow arrow.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Same icon: Strange status bar icon on Samsung devices after using Developer Options

Does this answer your question? Strange status bar icon on Samsung devices after using Developer Options

Enabled autorotate (had not knowingly disabled it); icon now gone. Thanks everybody.


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I can't send captured screenshot on Redmi 11S
I have two copies of Xiaomi Redmi 11S. On both phones I have a weird problems with sending captured screenshots when mobile data is off. And with the system in general.
In Redmi when I capture a screenshot, it appears for approx. 10-15 seconds as a small overlay in one of the corners with "Send" and "Scroll" buttons below. Second one allows capturing a screenshot bigger than the current screen / viewport. First one does what it says it does.

On one of these phones, when I press "Send" nothing happens. No share / compose message, no nothing happens. To send any screenshot I must open up any file browsing app, locate the screenshot and send it from there. Second phone has no problems with this.

On both phones I cannot send screenshot (nor any MMS) when mobile data is turned off. I have a constant, stable and fast Wi-Fi connection in parallel, able to stream even 4K videos efficiently, but I can't send and MMS. This is as weird as it can be for me.

On both phones I have a completely empty list of applications. I can change any application settings (i.e. enable, disable system app, uninstall some 3rd party app) only if I manage to find it through settings' search. Because all the tabs in Applications → Manage Applications are all the time empty.

Both phones are guarded by Google Family Link, but the described behaviour appears all the time, irrespectively of the fact whether Family Link is active or I disable it using Parental Access option.

Note that:

Enabled state of the "Scroll" button is misleading. The button is enabled, but tapping it on one of the phones does nothing.

Error message given by Messages app is also misleading. I have found not option in the settings that would correspond to using mobile data for sending MMS messages (or actually no mobile data-related option at all).

I was 100% sure that my phone simply gets wako and I must do the factory reset + clean install. But then I found this question and also beeshyams has provided this fabulous answer to my other question. All these information put together suggests me that nothing is wrong with my phones and that Redmi 11S can be unpleasantly surprising to its end user.
So, my question is, if this is normal (and can be observed on other phones) that the app list is all the time completely empty and that sending an MMS requires mobile data even if device has Wi-Fi connection to the Internet?

MMS (multimedia) is an extension of SMS (text-only); thus, it uses the mobile network, not Wi-Fi (AFAIK, unless I missed the news about related technology).

See if installing this app help in locating apps

Not really related but this came to my mind since I answered it yesterday

My first comment was actually an answer here //pm commands at the end of the answer may be useful too

@AndrewT. See my comment under answer for more info.

Part answer

(Does) MMS requires mobile data even if device has Wi-Fi connection to the Internet?

Quoting from SE Software Engineering Why do MMS require "mobile data" to be sent/received?

Yes, by way of explanation see IMSoP's answer (as also other answers)

MMS was conceived as a way of adding multimedia capabilities to SMS, not as an internet messaging platform. It uses a set of technologies which made sense in the mobile ecosystem of the time, but are definitely not how you'd design it today

In particular, it is built entirely on top of WAP, an internet connection protocol that has otherwise been completely superseded. Every part of the process is standardised around handsets connecting directly to their carrier's servers over WAP, not via any other internet connection.

While it would be possible to build an "MMS over TCP/IP" protocol, there would be little motivation to do so: the expense for the carriers is maintaining the complicated services which store, forward, and re-encode the messages, and the original protocol would still need to be supported for older handsets.

There have been attempts to replace both SMS and MMS with a more modern protocol, notably RCS, but it is hard to compete with services like WhatsApp which don't need the investment from carriers to implement.

OTOH, Samsung help MMS NEEDS MOBILE DATA?

MMS does require a data connection. It always has.

If your carrier supports Wifi calling and it is enabled on your phone, MMS may use that connection instead of mobile data.

So my conclusion is that you need mobile data to send MMS unless carrier permits to send it over Wi-FI calling. On my Pixel 6a, I have RCS feature available (which can be sent over Wi-FI or data) but it doesn't work maybe because of Google limitations or carrier or both,

I accept your answer, because it is comprehensive and backed by many sources. Though, I still don't understand how (from SMS/MMS app perspective) sending data through mobile channel and through Wi-Fi can differ. In perfect world, any app shouldn't even know (be interested in) from which source it has Internet access, as long as it has it. Data transfer is a data transfer and at this (application) layer it should be no different whether you use mobile, Wi-Fi, USB etc.

I would totally understand, if it would need mobile network to be enabled (which I has enabled in this scenario). I.e., if it would require some non-data, celluar-network-based protocol. But... data is a data. I am not disputing with you, just expressing my very high surprise here.

@trejder the details is explained thoroughly in the Wikipedia that MMS depends solely on the mobile carrier. Not sure I can't explain it better than Wikipedia, except to add that WiFi is going through an ISP, not a mobile carrier (different protocols).

@trejder thanks for accepting. This was news for me as well! Another answer covers what AndrewT said


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Port 53 open when scanned
Why is my phone showing a DNS port as open? Wouldn't that mean someone has spyware on my phone and that they are connecting through port 53?

Are you talking about TCP port 53 or UDP port 53?

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

When you make you phone a Wi-Fi hotspot, it runs a DNS server so that clients can forward their DNS queries to it.

Are you talking about TCP port 53 or UDP port 53? –
Robert
I think its UDP


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adb-sync along with rsync for fastest way to backup gigabytes of media & photos file to HDD disk regularly
I have a 512GB Android phone with 150GB+ 15k+ photos and videos.
Step 1. On my Macbook, I used better-adb-sync with a USB cable and debugging enabled to copy a large amount of files from my phone to my Macbook's disk...DONE
adb-sync -Rdt /sdcard/DCIM/ ~/Documents/phone/AndroidPhone/DCIM

Step 2. Now after a month or two, I want to sync the phone with the disk again for the additional new photos. Now, I don't want to use the cable and turn on the debugging, etc. as the number of files is not much, so I want to use the rsync tool over WiFi with SimpleSSHD.
The problem:
On the Macbook terminal, when I run the rsync command below,
rsync --delete -azuvPe 'ssh -p 2222' 192.168.1.3:/sdcard/DCIM/ ~/Documents/phone/AndroidPhone/DCIM

Instead of finding the incremental of new files in the phone quickly and copying them to disk, the output is showing to be copying all the files again which already exist on disk and even the date-time stamps of files are exactly the same.
This syncing is taking hours and hours to complete.
This thing, I believe will be happening the first time only and may not happen the 2nd onward incremental backing process from phone to disk.
But I want to know what is happening and why.
I expect rsync to compare and diff the 2 folders and determine initially what new files to copy from the phone to disk and delete from disk what has been deleted from the phone based on size and timestamps (pre-processing), and then simply copy the new incremental extra files even if it is the first time of processing the rsync command.
How can I make this work the above way?
Any flags I can pass to ignore some parameters, etc.?
Please Guide.

I think you should use the same tool each time. Abd test with a folder of files first. Why would you trust it without testing?

try solution here// rsync -a --delete <source><destination>

hi @beeshyams i don't have any issues with the command failing. it works fine...but it takes too much of time to diff and shows copying the files which already exist with same size and timestamp.

Try the --size-only commandline option on the rsync client.
rsync's "quick check" algorithm only updates files if the size or last-modified time (mtime) do not match.  For various reasons, the mtime may not be set the first time rsync copies the file (because -t isn't specified, or because OS security policy doesn't allow the mtime to be modified), so the mtime will mismatch even after the file has been freshly copied.  --size-only will cause rsync to consider any files with the same size to match.  This can cause it to miss some updates but will avoid unnecessary work when the mtimes are not synced.


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How to have app names be spoken aloud on a new notification?
How can app names be spoken aloud on a new notification? For example: if I receive an email, I'd like to hear the word "Gmail" spoken aloud.
I could use TalkBack for this, but then the entire notification is read aloud (including parts of the email's content). I want to hear just the app's name. Also, I'd like it to work even when TalkBack is off (I use TalkBack intermittently because of my visual impairment).
Is there a way to do this?
I'm on Android 13 if it matters.

MacroDroid is a free ( upto 5 macros) automation app
Create a macro as below (name it whatever and save  it)

If you want to vary the speed or pitch of reading out, change it here

Be warned that it may get to be annoying if you get many notifications or it's bothering those around you. In that case, go to the three dot menu at top right and Disable macro or decrease volume level.
You can also create a short cut to this macro from your launcher settings and select MacroDroid short cut.
Tested on Pixel 6a, Android 13.

Edit in response to comments (now deleted), but self-explanatory

The shortcut as mentioned earlier in to only easily access the macro if you wish to toggle it on/off.

You can create another macro and add it as a shortcut on your home screen to enable/disable the macro. I named it simple toggle with a reason. You can add IF conditions to flash a text message and read out if the macro is enabled or disabled state (home work for you, if you want)

It (the first macro) will NOT override DND. If you do not wish this in the constraints section of the first macro add Priority mode/ DND → Not in mode

To exclude apps like Twilight etc which are constantly in monitoring mode and are announced because of this macro - in the first macro trigger section instead of selecting all Apps choose only those you wish to be notified for. Similarly in the While/do loop select the apps you wish instead of all apps

Thanks! Experimenting with this now. Could you please explain why the While/do loop is needed at all?

Simple-as long as a notification from the selected app is present, read out the apps name. IF loop can also be used, but this is more elegant and gives you more configurations if you look closely when you set up a while loop

In other words actions are performed conditionally. While loop describes those conditions

I see! In my case, I don't need the loop - I just want to have the app name spoken once - when the notification first appears. Seems to work well so far, so I'm marking it accepted :)


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How to debug Android permission denied at the file system level?
Something is basically pretty messed up on my phone. It looks like everything is running. But sometimes I can't open something or something crashes. The logcat shows a lot of permission denied.
A simple example is com.oneplus.calculator:
I don't notice anything wrong when operating it. But in the Logcat I see:
09-25 14:42:35.662 29331 13606 E libEGL  : error opening cache file /data/user_de/0/com.oneplus.calculator/code_cache/com.android.skia.shaders_cache: Permission denied (13)
09-25 14:42:35.675 29331 13606 E libEGL  : error opening cache file /data/user_de/0/com.oneplus.calculator/code_cache/com.android.opengl.shaders_cache: Permission denied (13)

When comparing the DAC (Direct Access Control) with a healthy phone, I don't see any differences:
drwx------ 4 u0_a153 u0_a153 3488 2023-09-25 10:05 com.oneplus.calculator
    drwxrws--x 2 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache 3488 1971-12-27 23:26 cache
    drwxrws--x 2 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache 3488 2022-01-03 14:49 code_cache
        -r-------- 1 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache 113084 2023-07-10 15:31 com.android.opengl.shaders_cache
        -r-------- 1 u0_a153 u0_a153_cache  45136 2023-07-10 15:31 com.android.skia.shaders_cache

dumpsys package com.oneplus.calculator: userId=10153
ps -A | grep calculator: u0_a153 27212 993 6770376 106716 do_epoll_wait 0 S com.oneplus.calculator
In some cases it helps to simply delete the file in question. If it is recreated automatically then logcat is clean. Since DAC looks the same afterwards, I am assuming there is something else preventing the access.
I am quite lost when it comes to checking file/ambient capabilities, MAC and further permission control of the Android framework.
How can I debug this? Is it possible to get more detailed information exactly what permission is denied?
Android 13,
OnePlus 8 Pro IN2023
Any help would be appreciated, many thanks,
Zweikeks

Here's what I found out so far, correct me if I'm wrong.
File permissions of Android 13 on data partition
Permissions are stored in the inode of a file or directory.

ls -a and the like lists the traditional permissions.
lsattr is used to view the attributes. lsattr und chattr have been present on my OnePlus 8 Pro
with Android 13 in /system/bin. (They only work with a supported file system, otherwise error
'Inappropriate ioctl for device'.)
getfattr is a general tool to look at the extended attributes - XATTR. (There are more specialized
tools for specific attributes like getfacl, getcap, ls -Z etc.)
Within Termux pkg install attr to get the tools getfattr and setfattr.
(setfattr works only with a supported file system, otherwise error 'Operation not supported on
transport endpoint'.)
The use of getfattr is a bit clumsy. Per default it shows only the user namespace. To display all,
the recommended way is
getfattr -d -m ^ -- file_or_dir
getfattr -d -m ^ -R -- file_or_dir      recursively
(-m ^ matches start of any string without need for escaping the parameter, double dash -- is
needed as a separator in case the filename or directory starts with a dash)

Linux implements a whole range of different permission concepts.

DAC, Discretionary Access Control, is the traditional Linux security with the rwx bits plus the
more advanced features setuid, setgid, sticky.
No differences compared to a working system. No change in behavior when I chmod 777 files and folders for testing.
ACL, Access Control Lists, as far as I read, are supposedly not used on Android.
However, I had lots of ACL labels attached as XATTR. Only at /data/media/0 and below. Samba, while not configured
to use ACL, labelled the top directory of the share with system.posix_acl_default. This has been inherited by all
the files and directories below.
setfattr doesn't work recursively by itself. So I used 'find' which also shows hidden files. I have deleted all the
useless labels with:
find 0 -exec setfattr -h -x system.posix_acl_default {} ;
find 0 -exec setfattr -h -x system.posix_acl_access {} ;
Not related to my problem, though.
Ambient capabilities are set in the /system/etc/init/*.rc for boot processes and services.
They determine which processes can execute which functions and which resources are allowed to use.
The content of /system/etc/init is identical on both systems. I don't think that this has anything to do with my
problem.
Attributes attached to files.
The man page of chattr lists all possible attributes. On the data partition there are mostly E (encrypted), I (indexed),
N (inode data present), sometimes e (block extents). These are all characteristics how the file is stored, not
typical permission control. Large amounts of files have the same attribute combination set.
Only on four files I saw V (fs-verity) set.
I didn't notice any relevant differences to the working system.
File Capabilities as XATTR attached to the files.
A process's access rights are checked by the kernel against caps assigned to a file. File caps are stored in an encoded
form. getcap can decipher it to a human readable form. They are stored in an extended attribute named security.capability.
On my data partition I've not a single security.capability, though.
What I have and where the value looks a bit like an encoded cap are attributes like:
user.inode_cache=0szRUAAAAAAAA=
user.inode_code_cache=0szhUAAAAAAAA=
user.inode... is only attached to every app directory in /data/data and /data/user/0, nowhere else. I don't know what it is.
The sequence of characters is different for every directory and different to the working system.
Other interesting stuff:
user.serial="0"   attached to /data/data, /data/misc_ce/0, /data/system_ce/0, /data/system_de/0, /data/user/0, /data/user_de/0
user.extdbsessionid0 and user.uuid attached to com.google.android.providers.media.module/databases/external.db in /data/data and /data/user/0
user.extdbnextrowid0 and user.extdbsessionid0 attached to /data/media/0
All the IDs are different to the working system.
MAC, Mandatory Access Control of SELinux, checks processes and file access based on central policies in /system/etc/selinux.
The file context is attached as XATTR. To see with getfattr or simpler with ls -Z.
cat /proc/kmsg | grep avc: displays SELinux log messages. These are routed to dmesg, and as far as I read, to logcat as well.
cat /sys/fs/pstore/console-ramoops-0 | grep avc: supposedly displays messages from the previous boot.
In my logs I have seen extremely few avc: messages. And none related to the error messages/crashes in the first post. Although
setting the correct SELinux file context helped against the 'permission denied' error messages.
There are a lot of differences in the file contexts to the working system. So I started out to correct individual folders and
files e.g. with
setfattr -n security.selinux -v u:object_r:app_data_file:s0:c153,c256,c512,c768 com.oneplus.calculator
I figured out that I get the same result by using restorecon. It is used to correct wrong contexts. It restores the default context of
files and directories based on the central SELinux policies.
As of the documentation restorecon should actually work recursively with the -R parameter, but it did not. A construct with 'find'
does the job:
find com.oneplus.calculator -exec restorecon -v {} ;
With that the permission denied errors no longer occur.
On top of all this we have the manifest-based permission control of Android apps in the Java
framework. Stuff like ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION.

So in the end, setting the correct SELinux file context helped against the permission denied errors in my original post.
I'm still investigating this. Until now, I have not been so bold as to run restorecon over the entire data partition.
Best Regards,
Zweikeks


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Why did my Pixel 4a 5G on CalyxOS stop tracking mobile data usage?
I am using CalyxOS on a Pixel 4a 5G. My phone did not track mobile data usage during the last three weeks.  In the screenshot below, we can see that it counted 8 MB.  But I used my entire monthly allotment of 5 GB between Sep 3 and Sep 26.  According to my math, that means it counted .15 percent of the actual data used.

The results of a preliminary web inquiry tell me that there is no user option for disabling the data usage counting feature.  It is supposed to just work.  Does that sound correct?
Any thoughts about how this could happen?  Any ideas will be appreciated.

Maybe setting data warning or limit would help

Could also be a bug. Did you check in developer forum?

@beeshyams  In the screen shot we can see that the data warning was set to 2 Gb, but a warning was never issued even though I used the entire 5 Gb allotment of data.

Do you know or remember what has used them up to 5 GB?

@AndrewT.  The 5Gb data was consumed by normal media downloads.  Probably mostly videos.  It's a new phone and a new service plan.  I set the data warning and limit, then just relaxed.  I wasn't concerned about limiting my data consumption because I figured that I'd get a warning well in advance of using my entire monthly allotment of data.


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Sound coming from ear speaker only on Samsung S22
My Samsung S22 currently has a weird issue since a few days ago where any sound is currently only output via the ear speaker. During calls the sound output is very quiet on the ear speaker, people's voices are almost inaudible, while music and video sound are output via the ear speaker at the highest volume. There is no sound coming from the regular speakers anymore at all.
I haven't (knowingly) messed around with any of the audio settings before this happened. Outputting audio via Bluetooth speakers works just fine.
What I've tried to solve this, but to no avail, is the following:

Restart phone (several times)
Connect and disconnect Bluetooth speakers
Turn mono output on and off in the accessibility settings
Use a Speaker Cleaner app
Carefully shake phone to make sure nothing has come loose
Started device in Safe Mode, but no audio playing from speakers either

I am very careful in handling my phone, it doesn't have any scratches, dents or whatsoever, because I never drop it. It's not the result of dropping the phone or hitting it hard against something.
The phone is running on

Android 13.0
One UI 5.1
Build number TP1A.220624.014.S901BXXS6CWH6
Security Patch from September 1st, 2023

What could be causing this? Is this a software or hardware issue?

I'm not talking about external speakers, the problem is with the built-in speakers of the phone.

I am aware of that. The problem is with the built-in speakers and I only tried Bluetooth to check if it's some volume setting. Also, enabling and disabling Bluetooth speakers was an attempt to reset the audio driver to use the built-in speakers.

I've also tried the safe mode, but no audio is playing in safe mode, either.

Yes, that's my assumption, too. I still have a warranty on the device with my mobile provider. If this doesn't get solved and a software issue is ruled out in the next days, I'll request a replacement device. Thanks for your input.

It's a hardware defect, the device will be replaced as it's still inside of the warranty.


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Is there a way to install guest additions for Lineage OS VirtualBox
I want my lineage os virtualbox be able to resize the screen and also to use my mouse where ever I want (host os or guest os) without being stucked into one so that I will be able to copy & paste and drag & drop from host to guest and vice versa.
I was able to get those functionalities on other operating systems by installing guest additions. So I wonder is there a way for android also to do the same.
It would be a great help.

I am not sure if dynamic resolution changes are supported by Android at all, as this can not happen on Android devices. Automatic capturing/releasing the mouse is AFAIR implemented by a kernel module of the virtualbox guest tools. If the used kernel supports modules you would need the mouse kernel module compiled for the used kernel (x86?). Clipboard: I think the Android clipboard works a bit different than a clipboard on Linux, so I don't think VB guest tools would work here. Same for drag & drop.


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How to add a monitor as an external/secondary monitor of an Android device
I have an app on my Android device that does a remote desktop connection to a computer, so I am able to see the computer's screen on my phone. The problem is the remote screen resolution is automatically set to my phone's resolution, so I am seeing very little of that screen. What I hope to get is to cast this remote desktop app to a normal-sized computer screen and see the remote desktop with the resolution of this monitor. I want the monitor to act as a second monitor acts when it is added to a normal computer, ie. the OS detects the new device and its resolution and applies it to the image displayed on it.
I tried using an HDMI cable to connect the phone to a monitor, but the image on the phone is just stretched on the monitor without applying the resolution of the new monitor.
Any ideas on how I could achieve this?

Samsung devices have the DeX mode which allows to use an externally connected monitor and show a UI similar to a common desktop OS. Android itself also seem to contain some sort of desktop feature but to my knowledge this feature is hidden as it not yet an official feature: https://devsjournal.com/android-12-desktop-mode.html


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I can not get access to /proc/sys/kernel/hostname file
After following the Anon Uimik's instructions to get root access here:
How to make Termux obtain root access?
I'm trying to get the value of the file /proc/sys/kernel/hostname but I'm getting Permission denied. Any help?
~ # cat /proc/sys/kernel/hostname
cat: /proc/sys/kernel/hostname: Permission denied

proot is pseudo (fake) root. It won't give you root privileges in real environment.


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How can I change the fallback font on Android in Japanese?
I have a Sony Xperia 10 V that was sold in Japan, and is set to use Japanese as the primary UI language. In a few places, text in the Latin alphabet looks awful. Here's an example from the Amazon app, where the input at the top is fine but the results are bad:

This also happens in the Wikipedia app, but not in English articles - only to English text in Japanese articles. I believe it happens in other places as well, but I don't remember them all.
I believe that either this is because the default Japanese font has awful Latin alphabet glyphs that are being used, or a bad fallback is configured for those glyphs. How can I diagnose what is happening and fix it?


text:
How do I hide the network name from the notification bar on Fairphone?
I recently switched my phone carrier and the new one has a network with a pretty long name. It shows in the top left of the screen, in the status bar. Since the name is long, it pushes other notifications to the right and they get cropped (my phone has a notch for the front camera).
The best solution for me would be to limit the size of the mobile network name (using ellipsis ... if it's too long), but it seems to not be possible. As a second-best solution, how can I hide the network name?
I use Android 12 on a Fairphone 4, so it's pretty close to stock Android.

On Fairphone 4 (Android 12), the network name can be hidden in Settings | Display | Other display controls. You can toggle the setting Network name to control the visibility of the network name in the notification bar / status bar.
Please note however that this setting may be non standard according to comments. It may not be available on all phones.

On Android 13, that setting doesnt exist, so I  cant verify your answer to vote. If you included a screenshot of it  then everyone would know at a glance that this was the correct answer

@RohitGupta Thank you for the feedback, I included a screenshot. Your comment gets me slightly worried: I hope that configuring this setting will still be possible on Android 13.

@Demurgos Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Appreciate the self-Q&A, though looks like this is a customization done by Fairphone (/e/OS ?), not a common setting in Android. Just for the info, there's no such option on Google Pixel 3a (Android 12) and Samsung Galaxy M12 (Android 13).

Thank you for the precision. I assumed Fairphone did not apply any customization, but I am no expert. Thanks for editing the title to mention Fairphone explicitly; I also updated the answer to mention that it's not standard.


text:
Is there a way to conditionally connect to specific Bluetooth devices?
My devices involved are a Sena (Bluetooth receiver / speakers for helmet), the built in Moto Guzzi MIA (Bluetooth media module), and a Pixel 7 with Android Version 13.
To play music / handle phone calls from my phone, over the Sena speakers, and allow it to be controlled by the handlebar controls, both the phone and Sena connect to the motorcycle, but not each other.
This works fine, until I turn off the engine to refuel, or walk into a store for a couple minutes. During this time I would like the phone to automatically connect to the Sena to continue playing music / minimally interrupt a phone call, and once the motorcycle is on again, switch back.
Is there a way to handle this automatically, such that the phone only connects to the Sena if the motorcycle is not available, and once the motorcycle becomes available, will disconnect from the Sena before connecting to the motorcycle?

I don't have your kind of set up to verify but using MacroDroid try creating a macro //In the first action configure Moto Guzzi and in second one Sena//Save the macro and experiment with confidence levels//If it works fine post it as an answer yourself (it's encouraged)


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Nokia C01 Plus - is there a way to disable the "Emergency Number"
I have a Nokia C01 Plus running Android version 11 - this is Android Go.
For some reason, it pocket dials the number which is shown as "Emergency Number"

This is not something I stored, but it came with the phone. It's not editable. Or deletable. It's also not part of the "Emergency Information" stored in "Settings -> About Phone".
That is blank in my case

So I want to disable/delete/edit the "Emergency Call" number. Is there a way to do this? I know about Call Confirm apps, but I don't want to use it because that would enable "Confirm" for every number - which I don't want. I don't pocket-dial any number except this one. And it happens 5 times a day.

Multiple presses of power button seem to trigger it //Also explains how to disable

@beeshyams I think you are right but my phone doesn't have any way of turning it off - I don't have an "Emergency & Safety" option in settings at all

Well, I would think of putting the phone in a different pocket /position /or with a folding screen protector to avoid accidental press

Does the Android Settings have a built-in search? If so, anything returned when searching for "emergency"?

@AndrewT. only the emergency Information setting for which I have given the screenshot


text:
Charging and using Otg simultaneously with hub on Android 11
does anyone who has a powkiddy x18s (Android 11) know if it is possible to use a hub with a PD that charges the device and can use a mouse at the same time (simultaneously)?
because I connected a usb 3.0 hub with pd (charging) and it cannot use the 2 outputs (pd and usb) simultaneously.
Either it charges, or it uses the USB output (in my case a connected mouse)
Does anyone know the reason? I have a Redmi Note 8 Pro (Android 10) and it can work correctly with this PD+USB hub, whereas the X18s with Android 11 does not work with both outputs simultaneously.
I enabled developer mode on Android and turned on USB debugging mode, and it didn't work. I also changed the USB default mode to "file transfer" and it didn't solve the problem.
Has anyone managed to solve this yet?

My guess is that the Redmi Note 8 Pro supports charging via USB PD, where as the powkiddy x18s only supports regular charging (no USB PD support).


text:
How to fix the problem of power button stuck a bit inside and not working?
I accidentally dropped a cell phone (Honor 8) over and over again, and now the power button (the small one on the right side, below the volume button) seems to be pushed inside a bit and stuck there. It now stops working no  matter how hard I push it. Is there a way to fix it?

How to fix the power button: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_hhtT5rNU Or just go to a repair shop.