text:
One-Click-Root Failed On Samsung J7 SM-J700H
I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 running 6.0.1 marshmallow which i tried to root using One-Click-Root methods like desktop versions of "Kingroot" and "Kingoroot". However, "Kingroot" doesn't support my device type and "Kingoroot" gives "Root Failed" without showing any error code (as shown in the image below) . I have my phone's OEM Unlocked and USB Debugging on and I use ONE-CLICK-ROOT because it is believed to be the safest method (according to a quora discussion). So my question is, why is this happening ? And what could be a safe alternative to root my phone ?

Kingo root "is believed to be the safest method"? If I check our site for "Kingo root", it seems the safest method to get into trouble. Failing to gain root is even the best outcome. Alternatives include sudden adware appearance and certain apps being installed over and over, regardless of your removing them… Apart from that: No, I've got no Sammy, so I cannot help you obtain root on it. But you're welcome to check with our rooting tag-wiki.

I have rooted several phones using kingo(isn't the best but it worked fine) .. Maybe Odin would work better ?

Granted: if it works out fine, people are not coming here to complain :) As I wrote, I don't use Sammys. So I have to pass this one over to someone else. Good luck!

Possible duplicate of What is KingoRoot error code 0x15F6D5?

@PradanaAumars How can that be a duplicate when it is about a particular error code, and this question specifically says there is no error code?

One click root methods seem not to work on Samsung devices running Android Lollipop and above. They use an exploit that is already patched by either Samsung or Google.
So, the best method still the  Chainfire's CF-Autoroot. I root mobile devices daily and this method seems to work on every Samsung devices. The method consists of flashing a modified recovery by entering the device in Download mode, no ADB here but OEM unlock should be required.

Download this file
Download Odin flasher
Open Odin, click on AP/PDA and select the file you have downloaded.
Boot the phone in download mode (volume down + power button the volume up to confirm)
Click on Start and wait.

The developer has rooting files for  almost all Samsung devices from his site.


text:
Porting cloud account information from ES Explorer
I've been a pretty satisfied user of ES Explorer. When I wanted to add my MEGA cloud account I took the bait and paid for the pro version.
Problem is, their Google Drive (as well as DropBox) interaction is outdated. Google doesn't allow its authentication page to be loaded in a webview of another app. Now I can't add Google Drive to the new app.
The pro version is not an update up the ad-supported; it's another app. I still have Google Drive set up in the ad-supported app. How can I transfer the settings and account info from the old to the new? I do have root access and I've come across a file with the account information. I copied it over but it still doesn't show.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Have you copied the following file:Gdrive.cfg from /data/data/com.estrongs.android.pop/files/ (permissions -rw) from the old app o new app?, This  config file contains the login token. Howver I think additional files with gdrive name need to be copied as well e.g es_gdrive*

@xavier_fakerat Thanks. I had already copied the .cfg file and now I copied the es_gdrive files as well, to no avail. I even copied serverlistdb7.xml from the shared_prefs folder.

@xavier_fakerat Actually, it looks like that did indeed do the trick. It worked after a reboot. Exiting the app and clearing the state wasn't enough -- not sure why. Thanks.

No problem perhaps you can post this answer for other users who need to solve the same problem

What ended up working was to copy the *.cfg files from the data\data\com.estrong.android.pop\files folder, and the serverlistdb*.xml files from the shared_prefs folder. Then, after a reboot the accounts showed up.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

sort: votes


text:
I charge my phone 7 hours. I dont know why it is very slow to be fully charge
Honestly I use the wrong charger  but I dont really know what happen because it takes 7hours to be fully charged.

You use wrong charger as you say.

Honestly I use the wrong charger

Well there's your problem.
You most likely are using an underpowered charger. Find one that produces at least 1000mA(1A).

OP can use apps like Ampere to measure what current the charger is supplying to the battery and compare it with what current is actually needed to charge it healthily(which can be searched and found in internet). The fault may be in the charging cable too beacause aging and wear in cable provide larger resistance to the current through the cable.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Turning off true black pixels (#000000) for LCD?
Is there a way to turn off black pixels on LCD screens, similar to how AMOLED devices turn off these pixels?
I've tried those pixel-turn-off apps, but they turn off all pixels within a certain grid, while I wanted just the black pixels to be off.
Thanks in advance!

AMOLEDs power the pixels individually; LCDs use a single backlight source to illuminate all pixels from behind. Only until recently that some manufacturers are beginning to implement more granular LCD backlight sources (multiple blocks of light source that illuminates a chunk of pixels each).
What you want to achieve is simply not what LCD is designed for.


text:
How to root OnePlus 3 / OnePlus 3T / OnePlus 5 (A3000 / A3010 / A5000)?
The questions are simple:
How can I root my OnePlus 3?
How can I root my OnePlus 3T?
How can I root my OnePlus 5?

Device: OnePlus 3 A3000
Device: OnePlus 3T A3010
Device: OnePlus 5 A5000
Android Version: Stock 6.0 / Stock 7.0 / Stock 7.1
Status: Out-of-the-box

Possible duplicate of How do I root my Android device?

@jerrett7 Nope, the question you link to is an index of all the rooting questions for each phone.

@DanHulme Ah, my bad. I had simply assumed this was a duplicate. Thanks for clarifying.

Disclaimer: By attempting ant of the processes listed below, you accept full responsibility for your actions. I will not be held responsible if your device stops working, catches fire, or turns into a hipster and claims to have been modified before it is cool. Make sure you read the whole article and fully understand it BEFORE attempting it.

If you are experienced in unlocking & flashing recovery & rooting, here are the resources you need.

Things you should download:
TWRP Recovery for OnePlus 3, OnePlus 3T, OnePlus 5 (Choose the correct one for your model)
SuperSU flashable ZIP (Same across all phones)
DM Verity and Forced Encryption Disabler (Same across all phones)

Let's start from scratch.
1. Unlock Bootloader (Skip if unlocked already)
First make sure you have installed adb and fastboot on your PC (or Mac). Ensure that your phone has at least 60% battery remaining, and that your PC is plugged in and won't shut down spontaneously during the process. The procedure doesn't take very long , but it‘s best to have enough charge in case something goes wrong.
Backup (Optional): Unlocking the bootloader will completely wipe all data from the device. This includes apps, settings and even the contents of the internal sdcard (pictures, music, etc.). Copy all important files off the phone onto a PC or upload them to a cloud.
USB Debugging: On your phone go to Settings > About phone > Tap on Build number 7 times. This will enable Developer options. Now go back to Settings > Developer options > Enable USB debugging
Enable OEM Unlocking: On your phone go to Settings > Developer options. Then enable the OEM Unlocking option. Also,a free advice, make sure that from now on, OEM unlocking option is enabled before you reboot. Because sometimes it might get disabled itself. Yeah that's weird so be careful.
Enable Advanced Reboot: On your phone go to Settings > Developer options. Then enable the Advanced Reboot option.
Turn the phone off. Then boot it into fastboot mode by holding volume up + power or select reboot to bootloader if advanced reboot is activated via developer options. The phone will display "fastboot" text indicating that it has successfully entered fastboot mode.

Warning: By proceeding this step, you will lose ALL data on your phone, including apps, games, musics, photos and everything else! Make proper backup before proceeding. Your warranty may also void, depending on your local law restriction and EULA.

Plug the phone into your PC, then open a command prompt (or a terminal on Mac/Linux) and run
fastboot oem unlock

You would be greeted with a Unlock Bootloader Warning page, Hit the Vol button to select Yes and turn it Blue and Hit the Power Button to Execute the selection
Your device will reboot, showing you a Secure Boot Warning. Reboot into stock recovery and wipe all data. Once done, your phone will reboot into the OS. Continue to the next step to install Custom Recovery.
2. Install TWRP
Download TWRP (.img) and SuperSU (.zip) from the top of this article if you haven't had them yet. Place them on the phone internal memory or a USB stick as per convenience.
Enable USB debugging, OEM Unlocking and Advanced Reboot again as instructed in Section 1.
Reboot to fastboot mode again. Grab the command prompt and enter (replace your-recovery.img with the actual file name of the image you downloaded)
fastboot flash recovery your-recovery.img

Hit enter and wait for completion, then boot into recovery. Do not use fastboot reboot because it will boot into OS instead of recovery. Use volume keys instead.
3. Rooting
You will reach the screen asking you if you want to allow system modifications.
By swiping right, you will trigger DM-Verity, and if you don't follow the next step you will be unable to boot!
If you are going to root your device and follow the rest of these steps, then it's safe to swipe right and enable modifications.
Select your preferred language, tap “Never show this screen on boot again,” and swipe to allow modification.
PS: Flash DM Verity and format data only if you want to stay unencrypted, else you may just skip and continue with flashing SuperSU.
Without leaving TWRP, transfer the no-verity-opt-encrypt zip to your device over MTP and flash it or select it from internal as placed before, or use a USB stick (via OTG) and flash it (This will also allow you to use Format Data to completely disable your encryption if desired).
Go to “Wipe” section and tap “Format Data”, and type “yes” (If you want to mount internal storage).
Navigate to Install ZIP and select the SuperSU zip file to root OnePlus 5.
Swipe to install SuperSU and reboot your device.
Bueno! Congratulations! Your OnePlus 5 now has an unlocked bootloader, has a custom recovery installed and is rooted. Enjoy!!

Credits: This post is mostly copied from the original post on XDA Developers Forum. I changed a few details so that it fits better on Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. Thanks to the original author (Funk Wizard on XDA)!
Original post: OnePlus 5: Unlock Bootloader | Flash TWRP | Root | Nandroid & EFS Backup & More !!

after doing this will i still be able to enable and use OS phone encryption (settings > security & lock screen > encrypt phone)? is there a better way to encrypt the device? from your answer it would seem that the OS after root will be the same OxygenOS from oem. is that correct? if not is it possible to keep OxygenOS after root and OTA updates? i ask because i had cyanogen on a previous phone and did not like it, but do like oxygenos quite a bit.

@brnnnrsmssn Rooting does not change your OS. And of course, you can still opt-in to use /data encryption, which won't make anything wrong afterwards. If you update the OS via OTA, you must flash the SuperSU ZIP every time you update (but not the other steps like unlocking bootloader - those only needs to be done once).

so SuperSU manages root access for installed apps. unlocking the bootloader allows install of of custom images through twrp and the image is what is allowing root? did i get that all correct?

@brnnnrsmssn Unlocking bootloader allows you to flash a 3rd-party recovery like TWRP, and it's TWRP that allows you to flash custom images. Other than that, you got it all right.


text:
All android processes crash when booting device
Today I turned on my tablet (a Samsung Galaxy Tab A6). I was expecting to see the usual home screen, but as soon as the operating system loaded, I got a lot of process crash errors. Please note that I'm not opening any of these apps, the error messages are appearing by themselves.
All the error messages are overlapping.
Here are some of the processes that are crashing:
system
android.process.acore
android.process.media
External Storage
EmergencyProvider
LogsProvider
BadgeProvider
AutoPreconfig
Google One Time Init
Samsung Push Service
Bluetooth
Camera

These are just a few, the device suddenly reboots after a while (it doesn't always reboot automatically).
When I boot the tablet, it shows, behind the error messages, a welcome screen (the one that appears when you buy a device and boot it for the first time). This welcome screen is unusual, as I never formatted the tablet's memory.
Here's a photo, so I can explain better.

Without knowing how, I got to the main screen, requiring me to put the SIM Card code. As soon as I put the code, other process crash messages kept appearing, so it's impossible to go even to the Home Launcher.
I'm wondering if there's a solution to this big problem, and what it has been caused by (a virus, file corruption...).
Please, I need help. I don't know why I get these error messages, and I didn't find any solution to this problem on the Internet.
Thanks in advance.

You can try to put your device in Download Mode and connect it to Samsung pc program and restore the rom.

Did you try performing a factory reset? Seems like data got corrupted

I performed a factory reset. The problem is that now Google is asking for my account's phone number (a old number I had and I don't even remember it). Do you know any way to bypass this lock?

I finally managed to solve this problem. I just booted into recovery mode, and I deleted all data.
After rebooting, the system started working as usual, even though I erased all my data, which I successfully recovered since I made a backup some time before.


text:
Is it possible to reinstall S Notes after flashing Lineage OS 14.1 on Samsung Galaxy Note 8?
I'm a beginner with rooting, flashing and so on, but I'd like to try to flash Lineage OS 14.1 on my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 (GT-N5100). However I often use S Note for taking notes using the S Pen. Does anybody know if it is possible to somehow get and reinstall the S Note App after flashing the new OS? If yes, how?

S Note is tightly integrated with Samsung's framework and thus can't be ported to non-stock-based ROMs.
In the meantime, try Squid as an alternative. Lots of available pre-defined notes, export to PDF, and best of all it makes use of the spare button on the pen that LineageOS doesn't use.

Squid works well for me too. No issues on my Note8 N5100 tablet.

Just created an subaccount here to say that this is actually nicer than the stock... Nice suggestion. Loved it :) - And it even has official support for the S Pen, letting you choose what to do when pressing the button, etc


text:
Any 4 or 5 inch android phone that's easy to bypass activation?
I'm looking for a large phone (4-5 inches) to be used like a small wifi tablet.
The problem is, that one's I've tried previous are pretty insistent on activation.  They'll ask multiple times everytime I reboot, which makes them very difficult to use as a mini-tablet.  Is there a way to tell which phones can have this easily turned off before I buy it?  Or is there a generally easy way to avoid that screen on all Android devices?

Recommendations are off-topic. As for activation, what activation are you talking about?

I'm referring to phone service activation.  Like Virgin Mobile, or ATT.  Not the Google account.

I have revised my question, to remove the word "recommend".

I voted to reopen, but I have only used retail unlocked devices for years... and I usually only get the prompt to "activate" the SIM once when you go through the initial setup wizard... My retail unlocked Moto and unlocked Nexus devices have never asked me to activate the service again. I think this is something built into a lot of carrier branded devices. I use a Nexus 5 and Moto G for light "developing" and hobbyist play toys, and they never ask me to activate them repeatedly.

Thanks.  My last few VirginM devices usually asked me about 5 times, and after failing, it lets me through to the desktop.  So from what it sounds like, I've just been unlucky, and most other devices won't be so much of a hassle?  I'm just asking because I don't know how to tell before I buy.  I suppose my question is more along the line of "How can I tell before I buy?"  Or is there a terminology for this that I can Google?

+1 on what @acejavelin said. "(carrier) Unlocked" devices shouldn't nag you for activation stuff, just optional Google account log-in on first setup.


text:
Download internet pictures become low quality
I have downloaded a picture from internet:

But, when  I view it from gallery, it looks like very low quality. Its smoothness is completely gone:

I need to set a smooth picture as a wallpaper for my phone, and the downloaded version is too low quality to use. Can someone help me?
Edit: Looks like even my screenshot makes the web picture look blurry, anyway here is the link to the original picture:
http://picview.info/download/20150531/brown-shadow-background-black-1080x1920.jpg

please check the resolution and file size of downloaded image. It may be less than actual numbers, as it was downloaded from phone's browser.

@RahulGopi Can I download it in another way, like through a laptop then send to through bluetooth or something?

Yes. downloading from laptop/desktop have quality pictures. And you can share through bluetooth/USB. Also, keep in mind that its a Full HD image, which requires a Full HD screen for the best results.

I think it's to do with the resolution of the wall paper you downloaded - it's 1080 * 1920 image , which is not high enough to be scaled properly on your device without blemishes as noticed by you
Typical Hi resolution wallpapers which give a better result are in the region of 1240 * 2208. You could Google those for the solid colours you are looking for or use an app like Solid Colours ( I haven't tried that app but use a different app that gives jet black wallpaper )

Solid colors is nice, but of course that picture has that smooth transition, not a single color. Thank you nevertheless.

True, you would need to Google for such high res images. App description claims to provide textures and gradients - maybe you could try that out


text:
Every time I connect my Android to my Ubuntu it asks me to allow the connection, can I change that?
I have a Galaxy J7 and Ubuntu 16.04 on my Linux box.
Every time I connect the phone to the computer, it asks me to ALLOW the connection.
Is there a way to add an authorization for that one computer to connect automatically and without an ALLOW each time it connects?
I found a couple of answers to similar questions, but from like 2010 and 2012. The answers on those did not seem to make any sense for the J7.

Do I have to install something to get these "developer options"?

Ah, wow! Clicking 7 times... Ha! Ha! It says "Build Number" btw, I'll see next time and disconnect/re-connect, but that has been annoying me quite a bit! This time it asked me to authorized only once. Much better already.

Okay, so that solution works good enough. It looks like I just have to click ALLOW once. Before it would require me to click it over and over again until Ubuntu and Android were in sync. or something of the sort...

Revoking USB authorisation in developer settings (enabled by tapping "Build number" 7 times ) fixed the problem for OP and they needed to authorise only once and not on each time it was connected, as earlier
Probably it was because of authorisation being "forgotten" on the device or a handshake issue between PC and device

Yeah, most certainly a handshake issue with Ubuntu... Unfortunate. I hope it gets fixed one day, in the meantime I can use the developer mode.


text:
How do I unlink SuperSU from the Play Store?
I installed SuperSU by flashing the zip file from recovery. The Play Store picks it up and shows new versions of the app. The problem is, the newer versions of SuperSU causes my phone to go into a boot loop. I have already disabled auto updates for SuperSU but I want to go the extra mile and completely unlink it from Play Store so it doesn't show up in the list of apps with updates available. That way, I won't accidentally update it.
Titanium Backup has the functionality to do this but for some reason SuperSU doesn't show up in the app list on TB.

It shows up in TiBu - SU version 2.79

is that a different version? I don't see it on the play store

You see 2.82 ( Chainfire Super SU), mine was installed much before and I rarely update apps once installed ( unless they add a new feature which I want) so my updates are globally turned off. Maybe you can Google and download the earlier version and check if it appears in your TiBU

Here is a link https://www.supersuroot.com/download.html

Even if you manage to unlink it, it will show up (relink) again shortly (Play Services take care for that). So you'ld need a scheduled task unlinking it every 24h or so. We had that already as general question here a while ago, with exactly that solution, see How to get rid of update notifications for a given app in Google Play Store?

@beeshyams oh, that's what you meant, I've already downgraded to the version that works on my phone (which coincidentally is 2.79) but yeah, that doesn't shoe up.

@Izzy that's sucks, I didn't want to use Tasker. I'll check out the other solutions posted there. I didn't know the Titanium Backup method is no longer permanent.

@user400424 who said Tasker? TiBu has a built-in scheduler you can use for that. And it's already for quite a while that the "unlink" is no longer permanent, a couple of years at least.


text:
Display multiple clocks from multiple timezones on a Nexus 5X lock screen
I would like to display multiple clocks on my Nexus 5X running Android 7. I selected multiple cities like explanied here but it doesn't really work.
It should look like this:

Unfortunately, Google removed the option to add custom widgets to the lockscreen in Android 5.0 and didn't bring it back, for whatever reason.
The only option you have is rooting your device and installing xposed framework. There is a module called 'Lock Screen Widgets' which allows you to add custom widgets to the lockscreen (hence the name). Then, just add a clock widget with multiple time zones (if the stock clock doesn't support that, you might need to download a different one from Google Play Store)
Good luck :D


text:
How to remove persistent suggested URLs in Chrome on Android?
Whenever I click the address bar of an existing tab in Chrome, in shows a list of suggested sites, before I even start typing. That would be helpful if these suggestions were accurate, but there are entries I didn't actually visit that often compared to others. There is even one entry I removed completely from my History.
How to fix that?

Have you checked your settings?  There should be a checkbox to turn that off.

Nope... You can only completely turn off search suggestions, but I don't want that. I just want to remove the wrong suggestions...

That's problem associated with Google search engine.

@Biswa, thank you for your input, but do have any recommendations on how to solve it?

Possible duplicate of How can I clear recent searches from search bar in Chrome?

Press the arrow on the right of the suggested site that you want to delete and the adrress will be filled. You will now have the filled address and bellow some other suggestions from that site, but now, if you kepp you finger one of two seconds over the suggested site a pop up message will appear asking you if you want to delete the sugeste site. That it.

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


text:
Switch on Motorola Moto G
I have a motorola moto g, which power button has stopped working. My phone switched off, and now I'm not able to switch it on. I tried entering recovery mode but power button is needed, so it does nothing.
Also, when i connect the charger the screen switches on, and the percentage of the battery appears, also when connecting to PC.
Do any of you know any way to switch it on ?
Thanks in advance

Yes, but it does require a computer with the proper drivers loaded (if using Windows, Linux/Mac do not require special drivers) and fastboot installed (part of ADB package or mini-ADB & Fastboot)

Disconnect USB cable
Press and hold VOL DOWN and connect USB cable from computer
Continue holding VOL DOWN until the bootloader screen shows up then release button
On computer, use the command fastboot continue to boot the device

The device should go through it's normal start-up sequence now.

Wow that worked, i had lost all my hope!! Thank you very much


text:
How can i tell if a photo was taken from the phone or downloaded from somewhere else?
How can i tell if a photo from the samsung galaxy 7 was taken from the phone or it was downloaded from another app or site or sent to the phone

Check its EXIF info.

Go to the Gallery/Google Photos app, long press the photo and check the details. It should contain the required information.

Can you make this answer more detailed?


text:
Downgrade an app in Nougat
Well, simple. I want to downgrade an app that has been accidentally updated. I've already read this question but it didn't provide me with a straight instruction. I have the APK I want to downgrade to so that question is unhelpful to me. It's not a test package (saved from Google Play) so option -t doesn't make sense.
Things I've tried so far:

Run in a terminal (with root)
pm install -r -d old.apk
Use adb on a computer
adb install -r -d /path/to/old.apk
Brutally replace the apk in /data/app and manually run dex2oat to force compile it

All of above were to no avail. So I'm quite bothered about this.
I don't want an answer telling me uninstall the new app, then install the old one. I want to retain app data without backing up.

What happens when you try any of the above? Do you get an error message, or does the upgrade simply stay around?

This installs the old version without removing the new one:
adb install -r -d /path/to/old.apk
The -d flag is to allow a downgrade. -t allows test packages.
You can also uninstall the application, then install the old apk. This may be necessary, for example, if the application data has changed format in the new version and is not backwards compatible.

Use a backup app like oandbackup:

Back up application data
Uninstall the app
Install the older version
Restore data (not the APK) with oandbackup
If necessary, force stop the app once (from Settings > Apps) so it will work with the restored data.

Caveat: if the upgraded version of your app has changed its data format in a way that is not backwards-compatible, there’s no easy way to go back. You would have to figure out a way to convert the data back to the old format.


text:
I am having problems trying to get my hotspot to work
I have an at&t Lg V20 with Cricket: Unlimited Plan and CANT get my hotspot to work, I've tried to change my APN like I did with my G4 but it does not work and I've tried foxfi and a few others like it and still NOTHING.. Can you help me , Please?????

What doesn't work? There is no internet connection is being shared or the hotspot doesn't start? Can you be more accurate? And I don't remember a hotspot needs an APN...

@esQmo I think its carrier specific, carriers like Verizon block hotspot functionality where there is no data plan. Some workarounds involve changing apn type  to dun and I think that what OP is suggesting.

When trying to enable mobile hotspot what error are you getting? Your case is most likely to be carrier related. Have you considered contacting you carrier with the issue?

Hard to tell what your problem is but the only time I have a problem is when connecting a new device and forget I have to put the Mac address in the phone. Maybe that's your problem?


text:
Can USB Debugging and Developer Options be used to spy on me?
Can developer options and Bug Reports be used to spy on a person's phone use? For example by a spouse or parent?

No, they can't be used for tracking

If you have a specific concern, you should ask a more specific question. Vague questions only lead to vague answers.

Developer options and Bug Reports are tools that an android developer can use to test and debug ther app and get access to system logs and some other functions.
Here is a link to the Android documentation on development options:
https://developer.android.com/studio/debug/dev-options.html

The only option in this menu that has any privacy implications at all is USB debugging. It can't be used to track the phone remotely, but USB debugging allows a PC closer access to the phone when they're connected by USB (or on the same Wi-Fi network, if that is also enabled). In recent Android versions, each PC that wants to access the phone needs to be approved separately via a dialog on the phone.
If you do turn on USB debugging, and give a PC permission to access the phone, it can access the recent log data created by the system and by applications. Exactly what information is in the log, and how long it goes back, varies from phone to phone and from app to app. Some phones have a large enough log buffer for a few days' data, but don't store much in it; others might store more data in it but only for a few hours before old entries get overwritten. Some banking apps have been caught putting bank account numbers and/or passwords in this log, which is definitely a bug in the app; some apps don't put any data at all there. Data in the log might include:

The MAC addresses of Bluetooth devices that the phone scanned or connected to
The SSIDs of Wi-Fi networks that the phone connected to
Which apps are installed, and when they're updated
In-app purchases from some apps
Geolocations where you used some location-related apps

USB debugging can also be used to install apps, but only while it's connected, and the Install apps from unknown sources setting (which isn't a developer option) needs to be on for this to work.
Finally, USB debugging can be used to retrieve some files from the phone to the PC. This might include photos or videos you've taken, music that's on the phone, or sound files you use as ringtones. It won't include private app data unless the phone is also rooted.
I just want to reiterate that just showing the Developer options screen doesn't turn on USB debugging, which is another setting inside this screen. Even if it's on, it's always possible to turn off USB debugging again, or to Revoke USB debugging authorizations so that each PC will prompt again (on the phone) before being allowed to connect.


text:
How to install core GMS packages to use Google Play Store?
I am having an issue with my brand new phone Huawei Mate 9 EMUI 5.0 from China. Somehow, when I want to install WhatsApp on it, I get the following message

Install core GMS packages to use Google Play Store

Here is the screenshot

What can I do to solve this? I just got the phone and I am lost.

Your device probably iis meant for Chinese market and they need to install an app to have Google services as mentioned in this XDA post. You can try by downloading that app of emui version matches

Hello @beeshyams i landed on that before but they say then update your firmware to B135 but my current version is MHA-AL00C00B186

Sorry, I can't help with that - recall similar issue being discussed in Huawei forums couple of years ago when i owned a Huawei device. Their updates,  rollouts, lack of transparency,  customer service etc stink, IMO (Sorry for the rant ) but you would need to delve into their forums or wait for  regulars from China  to answer this @Andy Yan

This may be helpful Open Source implementation of Google Play Services

Xavier is right (I just wanted to recommend the same). microG reportedly is sufficient to have Playstore running (though you can also use e.g. Yalp instead, which is another front-end for Playstore), and AFAIR also for other GApps. I'm using microG here as I wanted to get rid of those sniffing GApps – but for that very same reason I obviously don't have those GApps running. And especially no WA or the like ;)

I can well remember that Huawei devices can be added with GMS by flashing a flashable GMS package.
You'll need to first find a compatible 3rd party recovery for your phone. IIRC TWRP is (unofficially) available for Mate 9, so you can take a look at XDA Developers Forum.
After flashing recovery, go to OpenGApps and download a package that's suitable for your device (arm64-7.1-pico) and flash it via recovery. Voila! You now have GMS and Play Store on your device!

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


text:
What exactly happens to a multi-core CPU when a device goes into deep sleep?
What exactly happens to a multi-core CPU when a device goes into deep sleep? Do all cores go to sleep or do the cores keep running at the lowest frequency?

Keep at lowest freq. , or your device will halt.

deep or not, some parts still need to be awake to receive calls/SMS

In a typical modern mobile CPU during deep sleep, all cores will be put to sleep (having their clocks suspended) and remain that way until an interrupt occurs which will wake the CPU up again. A typical Android device might spend the majority of its screen-off time in this state.
This wakeup interrupt might come:

from an on-chip Wakeup Controller, or an RTC. Before going to sleep, the kernel would program the time for the wakeup interrupt to fire, based on the next alarm time.
from the 2G/3G/LTE modem to indicate network activity like an incoming call
from user pressing a button.

Modern CPUs are designed to be able to wake from sleep extremely quickly.
The 2G/3G/LTE modem can still remain awake to receive network events and wake the CPU up. Modems are often combined into the same package as the CPU, but are quite logically separate. Modems will have their own sleep / hibernate modes, but the timing of when these are entered will not be as closely tied to user events such as screen on/off

For a layman's answer, while in sleep or deep sleep mode, the MC is instructed to turn off all non essential subsystem like the sensors in your device and run only the critical subroutines in a single core at the lowest frequency possible.
If you want the technical answer go here


text:
Why can't I run adb via udev?
I am writing a bash script that will run upon plugging my Android 6.0.1 phone into my Ubuntu 16.04 laptop. I am stuck at the point where the script runs fine when I execute it manually from a terminal session, but it fails when I try to have it automatically run via a udev rule.
The content of /etc/udev/rules.d/99-android.rules is:
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="04e8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="6860",MODE="0666", RUN+="/data/personal/backup/backup_galaxya5_start"

The content of /data/personal/backup/backup_galaxya5_start is:
#!/bin/bash
sudo -u marc echo /data/personal/backup/backup_galaxya5 | at now

The content of /data/personal/backup/backup_galaxya5 is a whole heap of things, but it essentially boils down to:
adb start-server
adb push /data/download/rsync4android/rsync.bin /data/local/tmp/rsync >> "$LOGFILE"
adb shell chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/rsync >> "$LOGFILE"
adb shell 'exec >/data/local/tmp/rsyncd.conf && echo address = 127.0.0.1 && echo port = 1873 && echo "[root]" && echo path = / && echo use chroot = false && echo read only = false' >> "$LOGFILE"
adb shell /data/local/tmp/rsync --daemon --no-detach --config=/data/local/tmp/rsyncd.conf --log-file=/proc/self/fd/2 & >> "$LOGFILE"
adb forward tcp:6010 tcp:1873
rsync -av --exclude .thumbnails/ "rsync://localhost:6010/root/sdcard/DCIM/" "$TARGETDIR" > "$RSYNCLOGFILE"

As I said, running this when the phone is plugged in from a terminal works without any problems. However, when I plug the phone in to have the script run automatically, the following happens:

The udev rule picks up the fact that the phone was plugged in and executes /data/personal/backup/backup_galaxya5_start.
That file uses the at command the schedule the actual backup script to run.
The actual backup script runs and starts the adb server.
The backup script is then unable to copy the rsync.bin file to the phone.
The subsequent adb commands are failing as well.

At some point I even changed the script to pickup the failed "adb push" command and then do a "adb kill-server", however this also did not help.
I would like to know what I am missing in order to make this script work when called from the udev rule.

I've given a try to http://www.joescat.com/linux/android_rules.html
but it failed to start adb server, don't know why
In "/etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules":
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="18d1", ATTR{idProduct}=="4ee7", ACTION=="add", RUN+="/usr/bin/rehtet"

/usr/bin/rehtet (nohup and & and disown won't work, "at now" work):
#!/bin/bash
echo "/usr/bin/adb shell ls >/tmp/rehadb.log" | at now

And the last 3 lines in the rehadb.log showed:
...
socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_IP) = 3
bind(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(0), sin_addr=inet_addr("127.0.0.1")}, 16) = 0
connect(3, {sa_family=AF_INET, sin_port=htons(5037), sin_addr=inet_addr("127.0.0.1")}, 16

Finally, I fixed it (maybe there are bad side effects):
edit "/lib/systemd/system/systemd-udevd.service", change "IPAddressDeny=any" into "IPAddressDeny="
run "systemctl daemon-reload"   "service udev restart"
to enable udev script (gnirehtet / adb) to access 127.0.0.1:5037

Hello. Can you tell how this answers the question? I don't think this constitutes even as a partial answer, but I may be missing something here.

Another possibility: "Consider using SYSTEMD_WANTS instead of calling (potentially long running or privileged) tasks from udev rules."

You might try adding adb wait-for-device after adb start-server in the file /data/personal/backup/backup_galaxya5. I have found that the script gets run by udev before the adb deamon can get started. Adding adb wait-for-device blocks until adb is up and your device is registered.


text:
Why do two smartphones connected to the same WiFi network show different speeds (one displays the link speed as 135 Mbps and other only 72 Mbps)?
I have two Android phones:

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3
Acer Liquid Z630s

On Redmi Note 3, the link speed is only 72 Mbps and the download speed hardly crosses 50 Mbps.
Whereas on Acer Z630s, the link speed is shown as 135 Mbps and the download speed has reached 90 Mbps on Speedtest.
On average, download speed on Acer has been 6 - 9 MB/s whereas on Xiaomi it has been only 3 - 5 MB/s.
This is quite surprising as Redmi Note 3 has a Snapdragon chipset and also supports dual band whereas Acer has a Mediatek chipset and supports only a single band (on using 5 GHz mode on Redmi Note 3, no WiFI signal appears).
What could be the problem and how can I improve the WiFi capacity of Redmi Note 3?

Just a quick comparison

Xiaomi Redmi note 3: Credits Gsmarena

Acer Liquid Z630s: credits: Gsmarena
The link speeds you mentioned are usually achieved only under ideal conditions which is not usually the case in situations where there is a lot of wave interference from other devices.
Additionally, the maximum speeds you see may depend on the wireless standard supported by the devices. I this case we see that the Acer Liquid Z630s supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, while Xiaomi Redmi note 3 supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, as well as dual-band.
Brief history of Wireless standards

802.11b: This was the first commercialized wireless standard. It offers a top speed of 11 Mbps and operates only on the 2.4 GHz
  frequency band. The standard was first available in 1999 and is now
  totally obsolete; 802.11b clients, however, are still supported by
  access points of later Wi-Fi standards.
802.11a: Similar to 802.11b in terms of age, 802.11a offers a speed cap of 54 Mbps at the expense of much shorter range, and uses
  the 5 GHz band. It's also now obsolete, though it's still supported by
  new access points for backward compatibility.
802.11g: Introduced in 2003, the 802.11g standard marked the first time wireless networking was called Wi-Fi. The standard offers the top
  speed of 54 Mbps but operates on the 2.4 GHz band, hence permitting
  better range than the 802.11a standard. It's used by many older mobile
  devices, such as the iPhone 3G and the iPhone 3Gs . This standard is
  supported by access points of later standards. 802.11g is also
  becoming obsolete.
802.11n or Wireless-N: Available since 2009, 802.11n has been the most popular Wi-Fi standard, with lots of improvements over the
  previous ones, such as making the range of the 5 GHz band more
  comparable to that of the 2.4 GHz band. The standard operates on both
  2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands and started a new era of dual-band routers, which accommodate two access points, one for each band.
802.11ac: Sometimes referred to as 5G Wi-Fi, this latest Wi-Fi standard operates only on the 5 GHz frequency band and currently
  offers Wi-Fi speeds of up to 2,167 Mbps (or even faster with latest
  chip) when used in the quad-stream (4x4) setup. The standard also
  comes with the 3x3, 2x2, 1x1 setups that cap at 1,300 Mbps, 900 Mbps
  and 450 Mbps, respectively.

Comparison between the bands
The 2.4 GHz band is a pretty crowded place, because it’s used by more than just Wi-Fi. Old cordless phones, garage door openers, baby monitors, and other devices tend to use the 2.4 GHz band. The longer waves used by the 2.4 GHz band are better suited to longer ranges and transmission through walls and solid objects.  However, because so many devices use the 2.4 GHz band, the resulting congestion can cause dropped connections and slower-than-expected speeds.
The 5 GHz band is much less congested, which means you will likely get more stable connections. You’ll also see higher speeds. On the other hand, the shorter waves used by the 5 GHz band makes it less able to penetrate walls and solid objects.

One thing worth mentioning is that a Wi-Fi connection takes place on just one band at a time. If you have a dual-band capable client (e.g your Xiaomi device) with a dual-band router, the two will connect on just one band, likely the 5 Ghz.
As a rule of thumb: The speed of a single network connection (one pair) is determined by the slowest speed of any of the parties involved. That means if you use an 802.11ac router with an 802.11a client, the connection will cap at 54 Mbps. In order to get the top 802.11ac speed, you will need to use a device that's also 802.11ac-capable.
Troubleshooting the issue
Having gained this bit of background, we can see there are factors which may affect the speed of connection :

Since you mention that the Xiaomi device cant use 5Ghz band, its most likely it is restricted to bands which much lower speed using ealier technology.
The congestion in the 2.4Ghz band may actually slower the connection as explained above.
Your actual router may not support the latest band offering such higher speeds which may be the limiting factor, causing your device not to utilize its dual band capabilities.
Also, transmit power, receive sensitivity, and antenna layout varies between the brands and models, and can have impact on overall speed output.
Another thing I suspect (looking at the chart), it seems your Xiaomi device will be restricted to use the a/b/g channels while the Acer device can utilise all the b/g/n which achieve higher speeds as the 5ghz on n channel is un-utilisable. (Note this is my reasoning and may not be conclusive)

Improving speeds?

If your Xiaomi device was made not to utilise the shorter waves which are faster, sadly there is nothing much you can do than buying a device supporting larger wide of wavelengths.
You may salvage a speed increase by opting for a router with latest standards matching the device.

Acknowledgements

What’s the Difference Between 2.4 and 5-Ghz Wi-Fi (and Which Should I Use)?
Home networking: Everything you need to know
WiFi standards explained: what you should know about the new 802.11 ad, ah & af standards
Why does same wifi gives different speed for different devices?


text:
WiFi turns off by itself
Whenever I connect to a network, my phone (Galaxy Note II running Jellybean 4.3) connects and establishes a solid connection, but then turns off the WiFi just seconds later. Restarting my phone hasn't worked and I'm not yet willing to do a factory reset unless its the only foreseeable solution to this problem.


text:
Galaxy S8+ and Apple Music downloads
I have a new Galaxy S8+ and Apple Music installed, but I don't have an SD card. Where the heck do the songs go when I click the download button in Apple Music? I'm tyring to get my music onto my (Generation 4) iPod. I have an iCloud account but there is no "Music" folder there.

I don't understand what you're trying to do. Are you putting the songs onto your phone or your iPod? How are these two things related?

I have Apple Music on my phone (Android) and I want to put the songs on my iPod via my PC. I click the download button within Apple Music, but I have no idea where they are stored or how to get them onto my computer. I know you can download them to an SD card, but I don't have one yet.

No one else has this problem?

Apple Music is a streaming music service and can't be downloaded as local files unless you convert the DRM-format songs to MP3 or any other DRM-free format. You can google "Sidify" and the info may help you solve the issue.


text:
Xiaomi. Unable to allow app run in background [solved]
I accidently disabled play market run in background. As result when display is turning off play market stop upgrade apps in background. I'm trying to enable again. But there no play market in list.
Upd 1.
Yes, it's Google play store. I has another locale and trying to translate in English all names :)
I followed next way:
Permissions / Other Permissions / There no play store here
Here are screenshots:

Upd 2.
Two more screenshots:

By play market you mean Google play store? Or another market?

in what list? add a screenshot if it helps to describe what you're seeing

I've updated my post

One more update

You could try uninstalling Google play store and then re-install it (you can also side-load it).
Sometimes this application comes as a system-core application and thus can't easily be uninstalled and the only option is unistalling the updates. In that scenario go for the latter option.

(This workaround is what solved the OP's problem )

Thanks for your response, but nothing helped me. Let's walk through all points. 1) don't have dev options at all. 2) the only advice which logically could help. However my phone is ignoring it, or the issue is referring to sth else. 3) don't have such notify option. And how it can help? 4) locked app, but also didn't help. 5) as I can see, it's the same as 2. 6) also dunno how it can refer to my issue. Anyway thanks for spent time on writing post

Sorry couldn't help resolve this issue, but how about unistalling Google playstore, then sideload it again?

Looks like my current OS doesn't allow me to do that. Maybe I don't know how to do that, but inside settings if I choose Play Store there is the only option to remove all updates. I tried to do that and it helped me! Magic, no less... Please update your post with suggesting to remove (and maybe as an option, remove updates), from my side I flag it as accepted.

Phew that's great!,  I updated post :)


text:
Download queued and stuck
I have Android 5.0.2. A notification showing in Line 1 "Downloading English (US) and Line 2 "Queued". I long touched on it and the text changes to Download Manager. How to get rid of this annoying notification?

Screenshots (click images for larger variants)

This issue could be because of Google Keyboard or Text to speech.

Go to your download manager and force stop it.
Clear its cache data. (You can do it by going to Settings -> apps)
Go to Google Text to speech from Language and input -> Text-to-speech-output and disable update automatically from its settings.

In case you didn't find any TTS then do the same with Google Keyboard.

Your solution is the correct one. I have already done that. I stopped the Google TTS, uninstalled and then reinstalled it. The notification disappeared. Thank you for your reply.

It was Google Photos for me. I do not use Google Photos so I disabled it and it went away.
Otherwise, I am thinking it is waiting for WiFi to download. Connect to WiFi and it will download and install and go away. The burning thing is that it attempts this without permission and I have not found a setting to disable the update in the app without disabling the app.

I think it's from Google Text to speech
Go to Settings - Apps/App Manager
Check for Google Text to speech app
Navigate to notifications section and turn it off


text:
Create an app shortcut to open it with restricted permissions
Is there a way to create a specific shortcut for an app that would open it with limited permissions that I specify?
For example, I want to create a shortcut to open Snapchat (an app which uses location a lot) with location permission denied, but if I opened it with the normal shortcut, it would open it with the normal permissions I've given it in settings. Currently, the only options I see are manually enabling and disabling location or battery saver, or turning off location access for Snapchat through settings. But both of these take more time than I'd like!
I tried looking through the settings menus and play store but couldn't find anything to do this. Is it possible?

Not natively. And not with any app on Playstore that I know of. There is, however, an app provided by "Backes SRT". That would of course require you trust them enough, as the app enabling that feature requires a lot of permissions itself (to handle the permissions for "caged apps"). IIRC, SRT AppGuard was the one. You could then create a shortcut to the caged app, and another one to the original app. In case I picked the wrong app, here are the others (UserControl sounds like it).

Let us know your success then :)


text:
Google Keyboard (gboard) adds word fragments on backspace
I have a strange behavior with my Google Keyboard on a Motorola Moto E (2nd Generation, LTE) with Android 6.0. Occasionally pressing the backspace key will result in adding word fragments. In the following GIF I only press the backspace button from frame to frame. This is really annoying because I try to just delete the last word and then have to cycle through this.

Is there somewhere I could file this bug? Is there any hope that this would be eventually fixed for my phone?

Try clearing cache of the keyboard app

I tried that, it happened again after that.

Gboard keyboard settings-> text correction-> disable auto correction.

This will of course get rid of this problem, but that will disable autocompletion as a while. I am quite happy with autocompletion, just not this particular bug in it.


text:
S7 Edge: Internet randomly stops working until reboot
My Samsung S7 Edge (Android 7.0) has lately developed the following problem: every once in a while, at seemingly random times, the internet stops working - in any app, and both on WiFi and on mobile. Connectivity is only back to normal when I restart the phone.
This occurs maybe once every 2 days or so, and is as you can imagine very disruptive. I've let it update the OS but even the most recent update did not fix (it may not even acknowledge) this bug.
Any ideas?

Does this happen in safe mode also?

I was going to try now, but I don't see a Safe Mode among my phone's options!..

It's not a built in option. Follow instructions here. If it is fine safe mode then it indicates that some installed app is the culprit

Did you tried cleaning cache and dalvik from recovery sometimes it gets messed up after OS update..?

Here are a few things to try: i) disabling ipv6, ii) switching to 2g/3g and back if the issue resurfaces. if it persists take  the device to service centre for inspection

Please advice me, if the mentioned points solved your issue, so I can put it as answer to help other users

The following workarounds have been shown either to temporarily fix the connection drop issues or provide long-term solution (because this problem has been suggested to be attributed to a bug in hardware that may need specialised repair)

Disabling ipv6 settings

Go to Settings >> Mobile Settings >> APN settings and edit your APN-settings. Disable/remove IPv6 and save it.

Toggling to 2g/3g to bypass  connection drops

As the issue has also been reported to have been attributed to a bug in LTE radio, changing the setting from lte mode to edge/hpsa mode can temporarily resolve the drop issues, and saves from rebooting device.

One user has also reported to have sent their device to service centre to get LTE calibration done, I have suspicion that it may be band incompatibility issue)
Other workarounds

reseting APN settings to default
switching SIM cards
send the device to service centre to get it checked and perhaps fixed.

Credits

Galaxy S7 LTE problems

haven't yet had time to try all of these but I think your answer deserves the bounty nonetheless, thanks!

Thanks for that!  Please feel free to post own answer if you find anything useful, remember you can always un-accept the answer if a better solution comes, BTW thanks for bounty!!

I had a similar issue with my s7 (non-edge) when I had data saver turned on.  Turning this off solved the issue for me.  If it is restricted to certain applications, you may be able to add them to the exception list and try.
The data saver setting is under settings -> Connections -> Data usage -> Data Saver.

many thanks for your input. unfortunately this wasn't the case here, as i never turned that option on..

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
I have a NEXUS 4 device, I am not able to unlock because some digits are not responding. Is there a way to remotely change password?
I have a NEXUS 4 device, I am not able to unlock because some digits are not responding because of touch screen issue. Is there a way to remotely change password?
I can pick a new password where the digits I press will respond.
I tried the google.com/android/devicemanager but it only locked, there was no unlock option.
Thanks,
Satish

I've just added the locked-out tag to your question. Please check with its tag-wiki, where we've already aggregated material on the topic. With some luck, one of those solutions fits your device as well. If not, please [edit] your question and include some more details, eg. whether USB debugging is enabled on the device (as some approaches would need that).

More of a hack, but I bought a micro usb to usb adapter, plugged in the mouse and was able to press on the buttons

Nexus 4 doesn't have native OTG function.


text:
net::ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT
The message in the title appears at the bottom of my screen every minute and goes away after a couple of seconds. It's very distracting when I'm trying to read and I can't for the life of me figure out what is actually timing out!
I can't remember exactly when it started but it's been at least a few weeks, I've been ignoring it but it's started driving me crazy now.
Google suggests it's a problem with Chrome. But even after making sure it's fully up to date, all tabs closed, force stopped the application, rebooted phone. Still does it! Even when chrome isn't running. So I'm not convinced it's a Chrome issue.
It continues to happen regardless of what app is in the foreground.
My phone has plenty free memory and storage and a good connection (I have a strong 4G signal, also tried on WiFi connection with a fibre line, the message continues regardless) these were things my Google search suggested to check, so I did just to rule it out conclusively.
How can I figure out what is causing this message to appear? I consider myself literate enough to follow complex instructions but I am not intimate with the android OS, so please be detailed with any debugging suggestions.
It conveniently appeared while I was getting a screenshot of my versions for this post.

I should note, for clarity, that I am NOT experiencing any connection issues. It's just this message appears every minute and I want to identify the reason.

Since you are not facing any connection issues, this toast message, on the face of it looks not related to connection .
As a first step, install toaster and notification history to find out the source of that toast. Second app covers system also IIRC, whereas first is only for installed apps.
Let's find out what is the source and next steps would follow - if it is an app causing it uninstall it - OP found the culprit app and uninstalled


text:
Created a Whatsapp group, then left did not get message to delete group
I created a group messing with phone, added half a dozen names then went to cancel it, I was removed from group but did not get the following message asking if I wanted to cancel it,  the group was called Lookers, I had not realised it would be so easy to create and I would have thought each member would need to accept membership to a new group, I have looked online how to delete this to no avail, as I have left it no longer appears on my phone, this has caused me much embarrassment and I need this group to be cancelled it was created on Wednesday 14 June I Do not even have all the names of members.

If you were the only group admin and you exit a group, a participant is chosen at random to become the new admin1. The new admin can then remove each user individually or the rest of the users can voluntarily leave the group like you did. You cannot do much at this point since you are no longer an admin in the group.

1. https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/s60/23721933#exit


text:
Unknown process in Battery usage screen
Recently I found this unknown process (shown without process name) is consuming substantial amount of my phone battery but couldn't identify what process it is. Can anyone throw me some light?
Phone model: LG G4
Android version: Android 6.0 (Marshmallow stock ROM)

Summary & Details (click images for larger variants)
I've tried @Izzy suggestion and here are some useful information from adb shell dumpsys batterystats:-
Estimated power use (mAh):
    Capacity: 3000, Computed drain: 598, actual drain: 1560-1590
    Unaccounted: 962 ( )
    Screen: 250
    Uid u0a80: 185 ( cpu=185 wifi=0.0612 )
    Uid u0i4: 72.7 ( cpu=72.7 )
    Uid 0: 39.4 ( cpu=39.4 wifi=0.00828 )
    Uid 1000: 19.2 ( cpu=18.4 wake=0.101 wifi=0.519 sensor=0.159 )
    Idle: 8.58
...
...
...
u0a80:
    Wi-Fi network: 588.83MB received, 24.68MB sent (packets 472809 received, 334341 sent)
    Wake lock *net_scheduler* realtime
    Wake lock *alarm* realtime
    Wake lock AudioMix realtime
    Wake lock *launch* realtime
    Wake lock Icing realtime
    Wake lock WindowManager: 28m 50s 822ms full (55 times) realtime
    TOTAL wake: 28m 50s 822ms full realtime
    Foreground activities: 2h 15m 20s 943ms realtime (6 times)
    Foreground for: 4h 1m 48s 378ms
    Active for: 4h 1m 49s 192ms
    Running for: 4h 1m 57s 92ms
    Total cpu time: u=1h 26m 41s 960ms s=23m 19s 760ms p=0mAh
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process7:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      1 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process6:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      1 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process5:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      1 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process4:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      1 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process3:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      1 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process2:
      CPU: 45m 52s 890ms usr + 6m 9s 660ms krn ; 0ms fg
      1 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process1:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      2 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:sandboxed_process0:
      CPU: 0ms usr + 0ms krn ; 0ms fg
      2 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:
      CPU: 23m 8s 490ms usr + 8m 20s 200ms krn ; 32m 9s 600ms fg
      3 starts
    Proc com.android.chrome:privileged_process0:
      CPU: 16m 21s 230ms usr + 8m 4s 380ms krn ; 0ms fg
      2 starts
    Apk com.android.chrome:
      Service org.chromium.chrome.browser.crash.MinidumpUploadService:
        Created for: 16ms uptime
        Starts: 2, launches: 2
      Service org.chromium.chrome.browser.download.DownloadNotificationService:
        Created for: 2h 0m 1s 303ms uptime
        Starts: 2, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.chrome.browser.omaha.OmahaClient:
        Created for: 551ms uptime
        Starts: 5, launches: 5
      Service org.chromium.chrome.browser.media.ui.MediaNotificationManager$PlaybackListenerService:
        Created for: 8m 56s 795ms uptime
        Starts: 18, launches: 18
      Service org.chromium.content.app.PrivilegedProcessService0:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 2
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService7:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService6:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService5:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService4:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService3:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService2:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService1:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.content.app.SandboxedProcessService0:
        Created for: 0ms uptime
        Starts: 0, launches: 2
      Service org.chromium.chrome.browser.ChromeBackgroundService:
        Created for: 433ms uptime
        Starts: 1, launches: 1
      Service org.chromium.chrome.browser.incognito.IncognitoNotificationService:
        Created for: 130ms uptime
        Starts: 1, launches: 1
  u0i0:
    Total cpu time: u=100ms s=80ms p=0mAh
    (nothing executed)
  u0i1:
    Total cpu time: u=50ms s=60ms p=0mAh
    (nothing executed)
  u0i2:
    Total cpu time: u=190ms s=30ms p=0mAh
    (nothing executed)
  u0i3:
    Total cpu time: u=120ms s=30ms p=0mAh
    (nothing executed)
  u0i4:
    Total cpu time: u=46m 30s 700ms s=6m 27s 600ms p=0mAh
    (nothing executed)
...
...

Maybe charging fully and rebooting followed by discharging will show up the process ?  A guess

@beeshyams Actually before this I've experienced similar issue and seen 2 or 3 processes without name before this and wonder if it's a malicious program..  Do you have any idea why does it showing up?

I can't say but there are questions on this site which have a process number showing up (no name ) - please search for them and see if they can help (see Battery and battery - life tags )

Also, try with other battery monitoring apps like Gsam , if they reflect the battery consuming app - if rooted, Better battery statistics does give good view

If you have adb available, you could check the output of adb shell dumpsys batterystats and adb shell dumpstate to see if they have some more details (recommend to redirect the output to a file, e.g. adb shell dumpstate >/sdcard/dumpstate.txt, for easier evaluation).

Thanks for your info @beeshyams and @Izzy! I would give it a try if I faced the same issue again next time since it's not showing up after a recharge today.

@Izzy I've updated my question with info from batterystats. Can you help me to take a look on it?

Your real killer is, corresponding to the screenshots, Chrome here. And your device eats 3 times as much battery as expected (Computed drain: 598, actual drain: 1560-1590). Now, your "unlabeled friend" seems to be Uid u0i4. To find more details on him, you could try ps | grep u0i4, and take a look at the last column shown (the first should have your u0i4). That's usually a package name (com.example.app), but as the name is not shown in the screenshot I'd rather expect some system process (/system/bin/something, zygote or the likes).

I see I see, really thanks for your help! I'll try it again since it doesn't show right now after a full recharge.. Really appreciate it!


text:
Save and hide notifications and then show them later
Is there any way I could hide notifications from certain apps entire, but then have them appear later at some specific time or event? Essentially, I'd like to contextually delay notifications intentionally.
I know there are plenty of apps that can log notifications, or even roll them up into a single notification. Theses are very close to what I want, except I don't want the notifications to be intercepted at all times, and I don't even want to see that notifications have been blocked until some predetermined time or I check on them myself.
I'm pretty sure I'd have to hack together a solution, maybe using Tasker to prevent some of these apps from working and hiding the notifications from these notification loggers.
I'm on a stock, unrooted Galaxy S8 (Android 7.0).

Please add device and OS version, whether rooted or not on your question by editing it

Never tried, but I'm pretty sure the right combination of notification tools should be able to achieve this. E.g. Notification Inbox can clear unwanted notifications, and you can watch them later with Past Notifications.


text:
How to Have Device Encryption With Magisk Systemless Root Installed?
I am currently owning a OnePlus 3 64 GB device rooted with Magisk v13.0 (96f8efc) and MagiskSU's systemless root, and using the following ROM, which is based of Android 7.1.2 (Lieanage OS): Resurrection Remix OS (version: RR-N-v5.8.3-20170624-oneplus3-Unofficial), and the build number is: Resurrection Remix Nougat 7.1.2_r17-NJH47B.
I have tried the encryption setting, but it didn't (possibly) go well, as I ended up having short (possibly) 30 seconds soft restarts with my phone after the encryption process completes, and the only way to end this soft bootloop was to do one hard reboot. I also saw some missing apps (such as Maps) after the (faulty) encryption process. Furthermore, and this is the most important and annoying thing I found, is that once I set a password/pattern/pin after the encryption, and add the option to require it after booting, it will not be changed later, even if I changed it later on and added the same option of requiring it on reboot, the first would still persist.
I would like to know if there are steps (and possibly better ROM suggestions) that I could do to achieve full security using device encryption, while still benefiting from Magisk's systemless root that has the option of Magisk hide (using MagiskSu)?
I don't want to expose my data to thieves, as booting into recovery mode would show all my personal information as if I am running the device on root, and with that, you can easily wipe the lockscreen password by deleting the password database.
Really appreciate any help on this matter.

I think TWRP can access your data even if encrypted... There is no way to maintain device security when you have unlocked bootloader, and you can't relock the bootloader if rooted or running a custom ROM in modern devices to my knowledge. For true security you must go back to pure stock and lock your bootloader.

In TWRP, I cannot access my files unless I provide the decryption password, that's why I want to know if such device decryption is possible without losing root possibilities and root hide!!

Fair enough... I am more used to dealing with adopted storage encryption which must be handled differently with TWRP.  I stand corrected.

This was an old problem with Lineage OS based ROMS, where the encryption just didn't work properly. The problem is that ones the encryption is set, it cannot be changed in the GUI. However, I had a success in the past where I changed my encryption key through vdc cryptfs changepw command that can be run on the Terminal app from the developer menu (or any terminal emulator) with a required root access, and you can only change an old password to a new password, an old pattern to a new pattern, ...etc, but not a pattern to a password, ...etc.
I believe the issue has been resolved in the latest Lineage OS (correct me if I am wrong), as I am using another Lineage OS dialect called Havoc OS that have this issue perfectly resolved!


text:
Meaning of numbers in files WHATSAPP VOICE NOTES?

I want to know how I cand find an especific voice note from de file ''WhatsApp Voice Notes''?
I thought that the numbers of the files means year,  months or something like that but I couldnt find it because I have thousands of voice notes
If I want an especific voice note from 18 February 2015 how will be named?
I have the file on my PC so I can't use my smartphone
Thanks

Short answer
On your PC ( or mobile ) do a wildcard search for PTT-20150218*.opus to get a list of all voice notes of
18 February 2015
Folder numbering is YYYYWW where YYYY is the year and WW is the week number of year - 201726 is the folder for voice notes created in the current week (at the time of writing )
Long answer
As per  How to get specific whatsApp voice note from your mobile which says

Whatsapp creates folders and names them as week numbers of the year. So folder number 201612 (in the example above) means that what ever voice notes I've sent or received  between 21st March 2016 to 27th March, should be saved in that folder

(Emphasis Supplied)
In this example, week 12 of that year covers 21sr to 27th March
So, you would need to calculate from calendar the week of year your date falls in and see the corresponding folder, which happens to be 201508 (please double check the week number of year - I did it in a hurry )

Edit: I just created few voice notes and the logic given above is correct.

Folder numbering is YYYYWW where YYYY is the year and WW is the week number of year - 201726 ( path /storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Voice Notes/201726 )
Within the folder, files are arranged in PTT-YYYYMMDD-WA000X.opus, where X  increases as created

WhatsApp audio format is like this AUD-YYYYMMDD-WAxxxx.opus/m4a/mp3/aac/amr which are saved in the folder WhatsApp/Media/Whatsapp Audio.
WhatsApp voice format is like this PTT-YYYYMMDD-WAxxxx.opus which are in folder WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Voice Notes.
WhatsApp voice notes may have sub folders which created based on voice note receiving week number(Example: 201726(26-weeknumber)).
(Y-year, M-month, D-date, x-numbers )

yes. I am also confused about this. Because I got a voice note yesterday and the folder like this 201726(yesterday's date).

Isn't yesterday falling in 26th week of year? I think it is so the logic as per that source appears correct


text:
Hide birthdays from MS Activesync calendar
I've a Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) with Android 6.0.1
I've added recently my Microsoft Live account to it as MS ActiveSync to be able to synchronize calendar (Samsung S-Planner).
The calendar is synchronized correctly, however I can't hide birthdays and national holidays.
I want to see only my appointments, and not all those community ones.
For other accounts on my phone I can control synchronization for events / birthdays / Contacts ..., however for live account there are only "Calendar" and "Task" options.
Everything is categorized under "Calendar" if it's on I see everything, otherwise nothing.
(in web access, or MS Outlook on pc I can hide birthdays and holidays correctly).
I've searched the web for a solution, however the advice for similar situations was always to go to settings and hide holidays, which option I don't have.

Is your device set in easy mode?  Calendar options are curtailed in this mode

@beeshyams: No, easy mode is not enabled. Also I see details for other accounts in the calendar.

Indeed, missing seeing that bit  In case you don't get an answer, alternative calendar like Sol may help. I used it long while ago and could do practically anything expected of a calendar

Have you got facebook sync as well? These notifications may be coming from other third parties sync, check if facebook is incuded

No, it's coming from "live" account. If I switch off my live calendar then also birthdays disappear (Everything is categorized under "Calendar" if it's on I see everything, otherwise nothing)

My suggestion is to do it in web outlook, sign in and disable the birthday calenders ans try syncing again


text:
Get Chrome to translate web pages
I'm using a Samsung Galaxy 10 tablet. How can I get Chrome to automatically translate a web page? My laptop will do so, either on its own or by right clicking. I have turned on Google translate, but it never offers to translate anything.

By default, Chrome offers to translate pages written in a language you
  don't understand.

If this functionality seems to be broken, then you can try some workarounds:

Reset translation preferences

In Chrome settings, go to  Site settings > Google Translate >
tap Reset translate settings.

In most cases you should be now getting the popup that asks if you would like to translate the page.

Using alternative browser with  Language translate add on

Browsers for example Dolphin browser have Dolphin translate add-on which support translation of other languages.

How to use this add-on:

Translate a word or sentence

Select a desired sentence on your current page and choose “More”

Translate the whole page

Select “Dolphin Translate” and choose your target language

Hope this helps


text:
White notification LED not working in Nougat
Somehow none of my notifications seem to trigger the flashing white LED on my Moto G5 running Nougat.
On my past Android phones I remember the white LED to be a convenient way to know I had something waiting for me (e.g. a missed call or a whatsapp message) especially when my phone was placed a bit far away.
Is there some global setting I must enable for the white LED to be active?
e.g. I checked Whatsapp and its settings do show "Light->White" as enabled under notifications.
Anything else I can check?
PS. Is the White LED setting granular? i.e. Can I control which notifications trigger the white light?

Go to Settings-> Notifications-> Tap on settings symbol on top.
Under Lights check whether notification light pulse is enabled or not.
Also you can set custom notification colors,
Goto Notification light section(down), Inside that, under General section, check whether notification light enabled or not.
Under Advanced section, tap on use custom values, which enables a + on top-right, click on it, select WhatsApp and enable a custom value for notification light.
(These settings from Nougat 7.1.2 )

Thanks! I tried  Settings-> Notifications-> Tap on settings symbol but that does not seem to have a "Lights" option at all. Does this mean the Moto G5 just does NOT have a LED light? I am wondering.

After searching, I found that Moto G5 Plus have a hidden led which can be enabled only after rooting the device, which may void warrenty.

Moto phones since roughly last three years have done away with LED notifications and have a white LED only to show Charging status

Same as other moto phones.  LED exists for dead phone to show charging, but not for notifications.

Also see this for Moto G first generation

Will the white noficiation LED light when charging? - Moto G 1st Generation?
Not always. The white notification LED only lights when charging and the battery voltage is not enough to power the display. If you see this light, press and hold the power button for up to five minutes until your device begins charging.

Unless you root your device, it would not be possible to convert into it into LED light as on other OEM devices ( I have Moto X Play and it is possible on my device after rooting )

Even G5 plus doesn't have LED - it's a Motorola thing


text:
Does Samsung J7 max use full disk encryption by default?
I have just bought a new Samsung J7 Max with Android Nougat. I have protected it using a fingerprint and passcode, but does it use any sort of encryption by default ? Either full disk or file based ? Because there is no option to encrypt or decrypt other than the sd card.

It uses file description as explained here https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/160016/what-is-direct-boot-or-file-encryption-in-android-n/160017#160017

@beeshyams you mean "file encryption"  ?

Yes it is file encryption


text:
Is it possible to use NOGAPPS and Maps API with Uber app (or apps similar to Uber)?
I have installed LineageOS 14.1 on a Wingtech 88047 (Redmi 2 Pro), without Gapps. I installed microG UnifiedNlp, and my phone finds its location correctly. I also tested some proprietary apps that I need (mostly bank apps), and they do work perfectly. However, I cannot use apps that need the Maps API.
For example, neither the Uber app nor an app by on of their competitors in Brazil will work (the app opens, but gets stuck and doesn't show the map).
I do have  NOGAPPS version of Maps API installed (version 0.5, which is the only release available from Github. But maybe there is an updated version? It seems that version 0.5 only covers MAPS API v.1, not v.2.
So -- is there any way to get apps like those (which need MAPS api) without installing Gapps?

Have you only installed UnifiedNLP? If so, uninstall it and install microG GmsCore (which includes UnifiedNLP, but also Maps API v2). It's available via the microG F-Droid repository, or alternatively directly from their Github page. Instructions can be found in their wiki.

Thank you! I installed UnifiedNLP and flashed NetworkLocation.apk mapsapi.flashable.zip. Do I need to remove those? How woudl I do that?

I suppose it's better to reflash the ROM and start over?

I'd start removing them before installing according to the instructions. Don't know why you flashed the old NetworkLocation.apk (I've never flashed that, even in the old days of NOGAPPS) – but it probably only placed the .apk file into /system/apps-priv or the like; so removing the file and rebooting the device should take care for that. Let the Maps APIv1 remain for apps needing it (there are some), as µG only ships with v2. Of course, starting with a clean ROM makes sure there're no conflicts and thus is the best approach, if that's an option for you ;)

Hm. IT seems that microG GsmCore needs Signature Spoofing. I have the Xposed installer working, but when I try to insatll it warns me that Xposed is not yet compatible with my CPU/architecture (armeabi-v7a). And also that it cannot link /data/user/0/de.robv.android.xposed.installer/cache/app_process because libdvm.so wasn't found.

Used Tingle, and it worked perfectly. Now I have signature spoofing (verified) and got microG Gsm core installed. Did all as per the instructions (except that I did not install Blankstore, since I already have Yalp). But the apps which use maps still don't work.

Isn't LOS 14 Android 7? XPosed doesn't (yet?) work with Nougat. But glad you found a solution! Mind to answer your own question then, with a step-by-step guide? As for Blankstore: I recommend to at least install Fakestore then – at least when the first app starts complaining it needs Google Services (that's what Fakestore is for, nothing more: making apps believe Playstore would be there).

Yes, LOS is Android 7. Anyway -- actually, I got signature spoofing and installation of microG GsmCore, but the apps don't work yet. One of them used to complain that it "won't work without Google Services"; now, with FakeStore, it complains that I "need to update Google Services" :-)  Anyway, I'm not sure this will work... I'll fiddle a bit more with it, but without much hope.

I'm running a similar installation for years now. The only apps (from those I use) that didn't work where those wanting to verify their license via Playstore (neither Fakestore, nor Blankstore support that, and Yalp cannot as it doesn't claim it were Playstore (package name). Not sure what maybe your app is needing that's not implemented in µG – somethings are not yet in there, others (like ads/analytics) never will be.

You need FakeStore for microG to be detected correctly and a recent version of microG GmsCore (you need to use the drop-down menu).
Check that you have at least the version 0.2.4-103 of microG GmsCore.


text:
Blackberry PRIV gets reset suddenly
I am mad and sad at the same moment when I saw that my whole phone got reset (blackberry PRIV). I lost all my personal data. It happened while as usual I was trying to play songs with out picking up my phone from my pocket using 'OK Google' feature. It played a song first but when I try again it didn't. I kept on trying for like 10 or more times. And just after like 5 mins when I checked the phone, it showed me a prompt asking whether I want to use Google launcher or blackberry launcher. When I selected blackberry launcher, it loaded the default apps. I was shocked and realised that my whole data is lost including installed apps.
Can someone please tell me what might have happened? And also I don't think there is any way but could I restore the data somehow?
Note: For each "OK Google" try, I need to press power button to wake up the phone.

Somehow I went under guest user account :/. Just switched to my account now and found all my data. TIL, we can have multiple user accounts on phone. Will delete this post after you guys take this as a lesson or a good laugh.

Please don't delete the post, because it might be helpful to other people in a similar situation. Write up how you spotted that it was a guest account and how you switched back, and post it as an answer to the question. A couple of days later you can "accept" your own answer, so that others can see the problem is solved.

Somehow (maybe because of mis-hearing of "OK Google" feature), I went under guest user account :/. Just switched to my account now and found all my data. TIL, we can have multiple user accounts on phone.
When I was in guest account there was no notification or anything explaining the same and hence my havoc of losing all data started. After asking the question here and when the device was asleep, I got a notification stating something related to accounts and that I am in guest account. That gave me hope and when I just swiped from top, I could see on top right, just adjacent to battery percentage, the guest's profile picture. When I just tapped on it, it showed me available user accounts. I switched to my user account and found my data.
Not related:
When I was in the sad state of belief that I lost my data, I first tried to ask on official site of Blackberry and even after finding the forum site, I couldn't able to find a simple "ask question" like similar button. I can't believe that a million dollar company like BlackBerry can't afford to have a intuitive / user friendly site which is the only primary touch by which people can contact with them. It is a shameful fact for such an esteemed organisation. Hope they read this at some point and feel ashamed. I have many complaints with Blackberry's site, as I visit it frequently being a Blackberry fan, but I do understand that this is not the place to talk about it.
I don't know where exactly else I could have taken out my frustration. Since, I only find this site as intuitive. Thanks!


text:
Alarms not going off during calls
When I am in a call, whether it be through phone, Skype, hangouts, etc... it mutes all system alarms, except vibration.
I know this is probably intended behavior but is there anyway to reverse this functionality?
I am running Android 7.0 on a Galaxy S7, using the system clock app for alarms

Probably it is designed that way. You can consider automation. Macrodroid is the automation app I use. Trigger : Call active; Action: volume change > set alarm to desired level

Re reading the question, you are talking of system alarms so in action above it should be system sounds set to appropriate level

@beeshyams I'm gonna give this a try and see how it works

I haven't tested it myself - should work unless it's an Android design constraint that can't be overcome

Another alternative , if it is only clock that is not ringing is to use a third party alarm clock like Amdroid - by default, unless you change it, it is meant to ring while in call

Were you able to try it out?


text:
Is it possible to retrieve app's local data after uninstalling it?
Background
I was playing a multiplayer version of a game, in which character progress is "automatically saved on the cloud" (as the app states).
However, I never had a Play Games profile, so when the game prompted me to use my Play Games account the first time I tried to enter the Multiplayer, I clicked "Cancel". However the game proceeded normally to the multiplayer. And so I played for weeks without any problems, despite not using any Play Games profile.
Last week though, I uninstalled and re-installed the app, using the same Google account (in Google Play) as I always used for this app. Then when I opened the game, it started all over again.
It's as if the "linkage" to my online progress was saved on a local file in my device, that was deleted when I uninstalled the app. However, I think that the progress is indeed uploaded to some servers somewhere, since I tried to use the same username when I started a new multiplayer testing character and I got a message saying that the username is already being used.
I contacted the support but they told me that there is no way to get my progress back for some unknown reason. I'm still waiting for an answer though.
Questions

Question #1: What's the usual practice for games that back the players' progress online? Don't they store the data to some private servers that they have complete access to (meaning having read/write access to the database)?
Question #2: Assuming the progress is already in servers that the company has access to, what could be a technical reason that getting my progress back is not possible? I suggested that they could replicate the data to a new character I make, or even changing a foreign key somewhere in a table that relates the saved progress with a Play Games account. Doesn't that sound reasonable? After all, the data is still there, they are not lost.
(Answered) Question #3: I thought that an app's data stayed on the device even after the app is uninstalled. Judging from the above experience, this isn't true. Or is it? If it is, is there any way I can get the lost files back? Could they be somehow.

Generally, what do you people think about the support's response to my issue? Doesn't what I'm asking sound feasible?
Thanks in advance.

Related. TLDR: The data is most likely deleted and not recoverable.

Answer 1
The usual practice for games backing up users' progress online is storing almost everything on the company's own private server, while storing a small "identity" file on device (much like Cookies in a browser), or use device's identifier / your Play Games identity directly. The company's employees (not all of them, but at least the development and support teams) have access to their storage.
Answer 2
Continuing Answer 1, there's no way for you to prove that you're the owner of the deleted profile, and the company don't want to get into trouble if you claim another player's profile. This is a bad practice because (probably) the game does not use device identifier.
Answer 3
As GiantTree has already pointed out in comments, you should check out this post.


text:
How Google Play programs family is updated?
In my previous question I asked about how Google Play Store is updated. And this question is sort of an extension to the previous one. What updates what? I know that Google Play Store updates other Google Services (like Google Games, Kiosk, Music itp.). Does Google Play Store update Google Play Services or does Google Play Services updates Google Play Store or do both of them updates themselves?

Google Play Store is the only one capable of downloading and installing apps. All apps including Store itself are updated via Store. As I've already answered, the update is automatically downloaded and installed as soon as it's detected by Store.

All of those other Google play apps (services, music, books, etc.) are just like any other app on your phone, when Google releases a update for them, Google play Store downloads the update and installs it when you are not using the app.


text:
PLEASE HELP Moto G4 fastboot broken
I wanted to fresh wipe my phone with a stock ROM, and well I really messed up. My bootloader was  unlocked, and like the stupid me I am, I believe I accidentally locked it again. Now, when trying to re-unlock it using
     fastboot oem unlock UNIQUE_KEY

I get the error:
     (bootloader) invalid boot state

That would be fine, if
I could boot up; when I boot up, I get a "start up failed" on my device. The absolute worst part is that I cannot flash anything, not even the stock ".img". When trying to flash anything, I get the error
    target reported max download size of 536870912 bytes
    sending 'recovery' (13798 KB)...
    OKAY [  0.468s]
    writing 'recovery'...
    (bootloader) Image recovery failed validation

    (bootloader) Preflash validation failed
    FAILED (remote failure)
    finished. total time: 0.530s

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I hope I can get my phone back and running again soon, thanks!

P.S. my fastboot getvar all returns :
    (bootloader) version: 0.5
    (bootloader) version-bootloader: moto-msm8952-B1.05
    (bootloader) product: athene_13mp
    (bootloader) board: athene_13mp
    (bootloader) secure: yes
    (bootloader) hwrev: P2A
    (bootloader) radio: 1
    (bootloader) storage-type: emmc
    (bootloader) emmc: 16GB SKHYNIX HAG4a2 RV=08 PV=E4 FV=00000000000000E4
    (bootloader) ram: 2GB SKHYNIX LP3 DIE=8Gb M5=06 M6=03 M7=00 M8=1F
    (bootloader) cpu: MSM8952
    (bootloader) serialno: -----
    (bootloader) cid: 0x0032
    (bootloader) channelid: 0x8d
    (bootloader) uid: BC936D0100000000000000000000
    (bootloader) securestate: flashing_unlocked
    (bootloader) iswarrantyvoid: yes
    (bootloader) max-download-size: 536870912
    (bootloader) reason: Volume down key pressed
    (bootloader) imei: -----
    (bootloader) meid:
    (bootloader) date: 10-30-2016
    (bootloader) sku: XT1625
    (bootloader) battid: SNN5970A
    (bootloader) iccid:
    (bootloader) cust_md5:
    (bootloader) max-sparse-size: 268435456
    (bootloader) current-time: "Mon May 23 20: 8:35 UTC 2016"
    (bootloader) ro.build.fingerprint[0]: motorola/athene/athene:7.0/NPJS25.
    (bootloader) ro.build.fingerprint[1]: 93-14-4/4:user/release-keys
    (bootloader) ro.build.version.full[0]: Blur_Version.25.201.4.athene.reta
    (bootloader) ro.build.version.full[1]: il.en.US
    (bootloader) ro.build.version.qcom: LA.BR.1.3.6-01710-8976.0
    (bootloader) version-baseband: M8952_70030.25.03.62R ATHENE_RETUSA_CUST
    (bootloader) kernel.version[0]: Linux version 3.10.84-ElementalX-G4-1.04
    (bootloader) kernel.version[1]:  (aaron@bella) (gcc version 4.9.4 201506
    (bootloader) kernel.version[2]: 29 (prerelease) (crosstool-NG 1.20.0 - L
    (bootloader) kernel.version[3]: inaro GCC 2015.06 - Cortex-A15) ) #1 SMP
    (bootloader) kernel.version[4]:  PREEMPT Sat Mar 11 14:16:55 EST 2017
    (bootloader) sbl1.git: git=MBM-NG-VB1.03-0-ge433b40
    (bootloader) rpm.git: git=a970ead
    (bootloader) tz.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) hyp.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) keymaster.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) cmnlib.git: git=119e5b2-dirty
    (bootloader) aboot.git: git=MBM-NG-VB1.05-0-g8a1de8c
    (bootloader) qe: qe 0/1
    (bootloader) frp-state: no protection (75)
    (bootloader) ro.carrier: retus
    all: listed above
    finished. total time: 0.206s

Your "Invalid Bootloader State" is because your device is already unlocked. You cannot unlock it again.
Moto devices do not support downgrading officially. Preflash Validation is an error that means the images you attempting to flash is older than what is already installed. You need to flash an image that is at least version NPJS25.93-14-4 or newer. A good source for Moto firmware images is firmware.center at https://firmware.center/firmware/Motorola/
Inside the image is a file called flashfile.xml which will contain the steps necessary to properly flash the image with fastboot.


text:
Installing android firmware from default recovery mode via sd card
I have an extra phone i.e samsung sgh i997 at home. A while back i installed clockwork recovery and installed cynogenmod rom on it. Then somehow out of stupidity or accident it went back into the recovery mode and everything on the phone was wiped. It even deleted clockwork recovery and i guess that even the factory firmware isn't there anymore.
Now everytime i turn on the phone, it automatically goes to the default recovery mode with 4 options

reboot system now
apply update from sd card
wipe data factory reset
wipe cache partition

I have tried switching it to download mode and connecting it with my laptop but the drivers are not recognized. I also tried installing kies, which i thought would help with the driver issue but it didn't. I guess there isn't any firmware inside that the driver would connect to.
Now the only way left to somehow copy something to the phone is via sd card. I tried copying several different android firmwares and mods to the sd card, but i think the default recovery mode doesn't use the external sd card but the phone's internal sd storage, which i why everybody is using clockwork recovery instead of default.
I am really tired searching for any solution to this issue, if anyone out there has done something similar or can somehow show me how to go into the shell i might be able to find my way. Thanks in advance.

If you can connect it through adb then install modified 3e recovery from this post.
After it you can also install cwm
But if you are unable to connect via adb then download stock signed zip of stock rom and place it in your sd card the try update from sd card.
Edit: you can try placing cwm update.zip in sd card and update from sd card. I know this can look weird but in some old Samsung mobiles I have done it because they did not check signature of zip while flashing.


text:
How to show the recent apps in the Overview button?
On Android KitKat v4.4.2 that came with my phone the Overview button (the button that is not Home nor Back) is showing the home screen settings:
How can I change the button behavior to show the list of recent applications instead?

My old android 4.4 phone had me press and hold the home button, while that third button would pull up a menu. I believe that was how things worked in Android 4.4 days.


text:
Volume down no longer silents call
On my LG G3, the volume down button no longer silent incoming calls for some reason. Does anyone know how to re-enable it?

@beeshyams It's very strange that the volume down key suddenly answers calls rather than silencing them.

@beeshyams Really? All of my other phones silent the ringtone on incoming calls with the volume down key as well. How does yours do it then?


text:
How can I bypass the pattern lock screen of a Samsung Edge S7?
Summary
My cousin passed away last week and my aunt is asking me to unlock his Samsung Edge S7. He had the fingerprint scanner enabled but his phone hasn't been unlocked for more than 24 hours so it requires the pattern to be entered. I've tried several of the patterns and I've also tried both Samsung find my phone and Googles device manager. Neither of them allow me to unlock the device. They only allow me to lock the device.
Questions

How can I bypass the pattern code?
How can I figure out what pattern my cousin set his phone too?
Can I flash a custom recovery partition to have root access?
Can I root the phone without access to the phones internals?
Are there any other options?

Do you need access to the data in the device? or you just want to unlock the device???

@AnuragThakur Either one would work. I believe my aunt wants to see his most recent calls and texts around the time of his death.

well If it was easy to unlock a device, there is no point of adding a screen lock. According to me there is only one way to unlock the device: Factory Reset from recovery, which sadly deletes all the data from your device but unlocks it.

you could have flashed a custom Recovery but doing it requires unlocked bootloader and unlocking the bootloader formats your device.

I got the answer. As per your question you have access to Android Device Manager which allows you to lock the device. Simply click on lock and enter the new password. It will replace the current password and you will be able to unlock the device via the password you added.As simple as that. There are more methods Here