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Insufficient Storage Available
I have a Nexus 4. Whenever I try to install any app, no matter how small, it says "Insufficient Storage Available".
I have aggressively deleted photos, uninstalled apps, cleared the app cache, and now I have 315 MB free (according to Settings > Storage).
But it still says "Insufficient Storage Available" when installing from the Play store. (For any app; I have tried with dozens.)
I cannot even install the apps that I removed two minutes before. (WTF?) I have restarted several times.
What can I do to fix this erroneous error?
(Note: I don't have any SD card.)

I've just added the insufficient-memory tag to your question. You might wish to consult its tag-wiki for some hints.

You didn't mentioned it's a rooted device or not.
When I face similar issues I manage to fix this issue in this way. This is a permission related issue. I guess you face this issue when you're trying to update or install previously uninstalled apps.
When you are uninstalling app, it remain some leftovers in "data/app-lib" directory. Therefore, carefully check app that you wish to install leftovers are in this folder and delete those folders.

Go to "/data/app-lib/APP-PATH(that has this error)/lib" and delete its all the sub folders. Then delete APP-PATH folder.

If its not work you can factory rest your device to fix this issue.

I get a kick out of people suggesting downloading an app when the problem is insuffient storage and you can't download anything because of INSUFFIENT STORAGE.
The only solution is to factory reset and even that doesn't work when you start up again and everything is restored presumably from Google Servers.
I have done factory resets and cannot get my tablet back to factory out of the box condition. You can still use it but cannot download anything.
It can also be used for cutting onions and tomatoes.

Also can't root because the device is not being recognized by your desktop computer.Android devices are sent to test us.


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Install WinXP/7/8 on Android Device
I know that it's possible to install WinXP or other Windows versions to an Android device, but I don't know how.
I tried BOCHS but it doesn't work on my Xperia Z1 or I don't know how to set it up correctly.
Is there some complete tutorial or something?
Remark: I don't want to replace Android on the device. I want to run Windows "on top of it" (e.g. in a VM).

What are you trying to achieve? Running Windows in a PC emulator on your phone is almost certainly not the best way.

You might be able to use a QEMU based app like the one from MotionCoding, but I can't see it running on anything other than very high end Android devices.  Even then, I doubt a VM will work very well...

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Replacement for ability to "send tab to remote device" as removed from Firefox 29
Firefox 29 removed the ability to "send tab to remote device".
Namely, you could send a share intent from any other app (select "share", select "Firefox", select any other Firefox Sync device you want to send the tab to) and a few seconds to minutes later it would appear e.g. in your desktop Firefox as a new tab.
That was my main use of Firefox on Android. How do I get exactly that back?
That is, I want send tabs from an Android share intent to Firefox on the desktop! Not the other way (I do have FoxToPhone, but hardly ever use it).
It should be a one-click operation, I don't want to copy/paste URLs, I don't even need a target device selection (although I would be okay with the two-click operation required in Firefox 28), because I always want to send to the same device.
This should work even when the Android device is offline (plane), in which case the tabs should simply be queued and sent when the network comes back (that's exactly what Firefox 28 did).
The use case is everything I spot on mobile (from emails, interesting stuff while browsing, reading articles on Pocket, etc.) but that maybe doesn't work on mobile (Flash), requires more screen estate or just requires some kind of action from me, which I don't want to perform on mobile.

According to the Mozilla Firefox release notes, they have completely removed the "Send tab to remote device" feature.
You can use Pushbullet. It's an Android app that helps you to view Android notifications on the PC. And you can also push files, pages, URLs from the Android app to the PC.
TODO:
1. Install the Pushbullet App on your phone.
2. Install the Pushbullet extension in your browser (supports Chrome and Firefox).

Awesome, just what I was looking for! And Pushbullet actually supports Firefox, too! (I submitted an edit to your answer to clarify that.)

Offline functionality isn't perfect. There's a notification with an error message appearing which you have to keep around and then manually trigger a retry when network is back. You can't remove the notification, or the push will be lost. But I love some of the other features.

I'm not aware that Pushbullet also supports Mozilla. Because I used it in chrome. Thanks for the clarification.

Sorry for the trouble this is causing you. We initially removed the feature because we didn't know how well it was being used and the UX around it seemed confusing. We intended to improve the feature and release it again soon.
That said, with feedback like yours, and many others, we are reconsidering the decision and will try to get a version of the feature back in Firefox as soon as possible.
You can track some of the discussion here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1002628

Thanks for commenting here. I have to second what Tom Lowenthal said there: it's never end user-friendly to remove a feature 'temporarily', which you anyway intend to bring back. If you don't plan to get rid of the feature in the long term, then don't 'disable' it, fix it first.

Besides, I wish you were linking to your Bugzilla bugs in your release notes. I also spent an hour or two today, trying to figure out what happened to this, and I couldn't find the issue for one reason or another. That would certainly also help: to communicate the changes you're making, rather than just having a "oh, we removed X. good luck!" line in your release notes.

If it's removed, why does my Firefox for Android still have the little paper airplane I can share to, still pop up my computer name, and still say "Your tab was sent!" when I send it? But it never shows up. Both my firefoxes are up to date. It didn't stop working till I enabled the new Firefox Sync.

@Noumenon Firefox restored the feature and it's working again for me. Your issue seems unrelated to the (temporary) removal of the feature in Firefox 29, so you should probably open a separate question with more information on the specific issue you are having.

@hheimbuerger Opened the new question at http://superuser.com/questions/965773/firefox-for-android-send-to-device-stopped-arriving-at-firefox-on-my-laptop

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


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SuperSU Errors when rooting Galaxy S3
I recently managed to root my Samsung Galaxy S3 by following this previous answer.
However when running the SuperSU app that was automatically loaded after rooting, I get the message:

The su binary needs to be updated. continue?

Then when I click OK, it gives the error:

Installation failed!

I wondered if the version of the SuperSU app installed by the rooting software on my PC was old, so I did this:

Opened SuperSU app
Went to Settings > Reinstall [cleanup for reinstallation from Google Play]
Went to Google Play, then  installed this version of the SuperSU app.
But running the new version then gave the same error message.

I'm not sure step 2 worked because it says: "If cleanup succeeds, this app will close automatically in a few seconds. Afterwards, please reinstall SuperSU from Google Play. Are you sure you want to continue?" But then it never closes.
I know the phone had root because I downloaded a root testing app and it confirmed it.
What am I doing wrong?
I tried a number of links (like this one) and couldn't find anything else that made sense to me. Please could someone suggest what I should be doing?
Thanks

It turns out I simply had to download a more up-to-date file (which included the Odin executable which runs on the PC, and the .tar that it uploads to the phone) from here, using the table to look up the appropriate file for my device.
For my Samsung Galaxy S3 (GT-i9300) The file was CF-Auto-Root-m0-m0xx-gti9300.zip available from here.


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LG P880 Screen stays awake whilst charging
I have a phone that when I plug it in it turns the screen on and the doesn't go to sleep until I press the power off button.  Is there a way to make the screen go to sleep automatically like when you just leave it normally and it goes to sleep after 30 seconds?
I have googled and tried most things i have found like checking the developer options to make sure the stay awake when charging box is unchecked and using the original power cable but nothing seems to work and as my personal phone automatically turned off I have got used to just plugging it in and leaving it to charge.
The problem with this new one is that when the screen is on whilst charging, it is so crap that the battery actually goes down rather than charging.  I hate the phone but can't get rid as it's a work phone


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Stand-alone Google docs and sheets apps vs Quickoffice
is the addition of the stand-alone Google docs and sheets apps an approach from Google to remove Quickoffice from the base Android build? What is different in the Stand-alone apps vs. the existing Quickoffice?

You will have to ask Google as to their reasoning for having multiple apps for the same functionality (Quickoffice Vs. Drive Vs. Docs Vs. Sheets, or Messaging Vs. Hangouts.) Any answers will be pure speculation on our part, and as such not a good fit for this site.

@Chahk Just because you don't know doesn't mean no one on the site knows. There could well be an official statement from Google, or hints from someone on the inside in a blog post or interview.

@Chank Thanks for the feedback. I'm not trying to create speculation. It is two simple stated question: 1) Is Google removing Quickoffice from Android build? 2) Difference btw Quickoffice vs. stand-alone apps. I haven't found any documentation or official statement and that is the reason why I posted the question. I made changes to the question removing my own personal opinion. Hopefully that's better.

From self testing of the Drive, QuickOffice and the new Docs apps and an official Google blog posting, it seems like the strategy will be:

Google Drive app to view and organize your files
QuickOffice to open MS Documents
Stand Alone Google Docs apps (Docs, Sheets, and eventually Slides) to open Google Doc Files

Some testing I did shows (Moto X 4.4.2 with Docs v1.3.144.12; QuickOffice v6.3.1.041; Drive v1.2.563.21):

The QuickOffice app ONLY Opens Microsoft Format files; I am unable to load native Google Documents
The new Docs app ONLY opens Google Doc Word files; I am unable to load Microsoft Format files

A Google Blog post has a statement that leads me to believe their strategy is to remove document editing from the Drive app itself, and just have it open the stand-alone apps for Google Doc files, and QuickOffice for MS document files:

If you don’t have time now, over the next few days you’ll be prompted
  to download the apps when you go to edit or create a document or
  spreadsheet in your Drive app. And of course, you’ll still be able to
  use the Drive app to view and organize all of your documents,
  spreadsheets, presentations, photos and more.

We also may be in line for a new Google Drive update soon - which removes in-Drive editing. The iOS version of Drive has stripped in-Drive document editing (in favor of the external apps) and added a Pin Code to allow you to encrypt local documents. (Source)
Edit: The new Google Drive app has been released, which removes in-Drive editing, and will prompt you to download the new Docs and Sheets apps.

you rock!! Awesome response. Everything makes sense!


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re-program back-key S Advance
I've replaced the screen of my S Advance, but now the back-key doesn't work anymore so that's really frustrating.. I'm wondering if it's possible to program the menu-key as back-key. It is not a software bug because I just accidentally teared a flex cable partially.. I hope it's possible, and if not, what would be the best choice for an on-screen buttons app?
Thanks for the help.
EDIT: Like changing key values in /system/usr/layout/generic.kl or something. It's possible to disable them there, so maybe it's possible to change their values or would that mess up my phone?
2nd EDIT: I switched the actions 'BACK'and 'MENU' from key values 139 and 158 in Generic.kl and now the menu-key functions as back-key.. question solved within half an hour.. better do some more research next time haha

You cannot remap hardware buttons without root, but if you don't want to root your phone there are some soft key apps which "work" (they look bad to me, but if they are satisfactory I guess it would work). For how to do remapping or use better soft keys look below:
The first step in this process will be of course to root you phone (the linked instructions are just one I found on Google, feel free to look for others).
From here you have two options, either use soft keys or remap your hardware keys.
Soft Keys:
-You can either grab an app to do this for you, or install a custom ROM (for example CyanogenMod) that has the feature built in. Just google "android soft keys" for some app options.
Hardware Keys: ButtonRemaper
Look for hardware key remapping on Google for more options.
Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for your help! i'm rooted already and i've modified build.prop to show softkeys(added line:qemu.hw.mainnkeys=0), which work, but i'm curious if it's possible to change the mapping of my home and menu button. Your HWkeys solution look like a good one so i'm gonna try that. hope it works..


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Notification LED's generic power consumption
I know that all phones got different hardware, and that leads uses just a little power, but:

What if I set my LED notification frequency to high (like the light will pulse faster)? How much would that chew off my battery?
What about "always on"? How much would that eat? Would it damage the LED in any way?

(I know LEDs are supposed to be durable, but the phone switches them off-on for a reason.. I guess.)
What I'm looking for is a generic answer, like "it's not noticeable", or "a couple of percent drop".

Even after ma battery is fully drained and switch off, the led still blinks when I press power button.

The power consumption isn't noticeable. Even a tiny watch battery can run a small LED for a few days continuously.
Increasing the blink rate won't change the power consumption at all: what makes a difference is how long the "on" part of the blink is compared to the "off" part. This is called the duty cycle of the LED.
Most LED controllers use the duty cycle to control the brightness of the LED (because LEDs aren't sensitive enough to voltage), so even when the LED appears to be on continuously, it's actually blinking faster than you can see. You can see this by waving the phone around in a darkened room: instead of tracing a continuous line in the air (like a sparkler or torch does), it looks like a dotted or dashed line. If you can keep the waving speed constant, and measure (or estimate) how long the dashes are compared to the gaps, you know the duty cycle.
The only reason for the LED to blink is a human one: to make it more eye-catching, so you can see when you have a message (or whatever).

Thank you. For now I will just use ALWAYS ON. Charging light is always on anyway, so it should not be an issue for the LED. I just hate this blinking thing, as I developed a habit of looking at the phone all the time.


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How to share Internet from Android via Ethernet
The Situation: I've got Android running on my Cubietruck. Now I want to share the existing Internet Connection (Wifi) with my Win8 Desktop PC over Ethernet, so the stream would be
Internet –wifi→ Cubie –ethernet→ PC
I just found a thousend tutorials about making this the other way round. Is there any way to make this possible?

@Izzy Yes, thats right. So the stream would be Internet --wifi-> Cubie --ethernet-> PC.

How to make Ethernet work on Android over OTG?

I'd suggest using iptables. You can find more about theme here - definitely take a look into simple usage example. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Internet/ConnectionSharing
The only one problem is that iptables binary isn't really built-in into Android.
But hey, they came up with solution already http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=444004
So you can even use the example from Ubuntu help now!

Ok this is what I "THINK" you can do because I was thinking the same thing.
You need an wifi extender with ethernet port connection.
send your phone's hotpot data to the wifi extender then connect to your router than you can do anything you want. Hope this work!!

A phone can't receive and send WiFi at the same time I think. But if the WiFi router/extender receives the signal it can share it on ethernet and WiFI. So then a phone can pick up WiFi while PC ethernet.

@Emil some can do both like me Samsung Galaxy S8, but there aren't many with that capability

Wow, with stock rom? That's pretty cool. I've never seen a non-dedicated device that could be even "hacked" to do this. So in other words you can setup your phone as a WiFi repeater meanwhile using the phone itself to browse internet?

There are a couple of ways to use your Android device as a wifi receiver.
Android setting
Some Android roms have a setting that allows for sharing the internet via USB. This setting doesn't care where the internet is coming from, even though the setting is usually in the "tethering" menu, if you are connected to WiFi, it will share the wifi with whatever is connected to the "USB" port, even if it is an Ethernet dongle.
PDA.net APP
PDA.net (Also known as the companion app foxfi which still works on legacy devices) is a good choice. But that requires an app to be installed on your other device before you can use it. I use it all the time to give my PC internet from my android phone.
Your other option is to use software that shares the internet across the USB port via ADB.
Gnirehtet
This free open source project called (gnirehtet) will allow you to do all kinds of tethering of your android phone to a Mac, Linux or Windows computer! The minimum version of android is 5.0 (Lollipop)

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


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Did I broke touchscreen or touchscreen and LCD?
I was trying to repair my broken touchscreen glass. I was going to use the touchscreen like that shown here, but every of them is transparent inside.

That would be absolutely OK, but after heating the touchscreen with hair-dryer and peeling it off it seems that there's not such black layer. The LCD screen is kinda silver.
Now take a look how my glass actually looks like.

I don't know if some polarization magic takes place here, but is that possible I peeled off some black layer from not only the touchscreen, digitizer, but from the LCD screen as well?

Modern touchscreens consist of two parts:

The digitizer: This is transparent and detects the touch events.
The LCD: This is the screen and its kinda silver.

The digitizer and LCD are glued and are difficult to separate cleanly. It appears that you've removed a chunk of the LCD as well. The LCD and the digitizer are also sold as a single unit, glued together, so that they are easier to assemble.

authors: الشيخ صالح عبداللة النهمي


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LG G2 proximity sensor
I found a big issue in my LG G2 proximity sensor. During a phone call the screen doesn't turn off and the automatic screen lightness doesn't work. This problems happened many times a day. I also tried to do an hard reset but I got the same issue just after the reset reboot (without any app). Sometimes also the gravity sensor holds (screen doesn't turn), but this not so often as proximity sensor problem.
I installed a sensor test app and this app doesn't work too (sometimes got data sometimes not).
What can it be?
Firstly I thought about an software problem, after the hard reset I thought an hardware problem, but it is very strange all this trouble on a 2month old phone. These problems started 2 weeks ago.
Is there in android a system log or something like this?

Had similar issue with G2 after display replacement. Unfortunately this could be solved only by replacing the proximity sensor itself (via warranty repair). From the information I found out on the web
The most disturbing issue was that I could not unlock the phone in dark light environment (the screen immediately turned off when I tried to go past the lockscreen).

I tried to replace the sensor, but the problem still happends

If you're still experiencing the issue, I am making the assumption that you have an international LG G2 (D802) so you should try and diagnose the issue as you said by looking at some sort of log or even a test.
Open the dialer and type this string into it and a service menu should appear.
3845#*802#

After this, click on "HW Device Test" and then "ALC Proximity Text".
Let us know how you get on from there.

From this test I get "no data" and no way to change it...

I had proximity detector issue when I replaced my LG G2 VS980 LCD and screen.  I found that disconnecting it and removing it was a great solution for me.  If I need to hold phone to my ear I simply push the power button to turn off screen.  The other thing I noticed is that phone does not know its orientation but that will not matter for most people because, although phone does not know "what way it is pointed" it knows "where it is" so GPS works fine.  Using apps to identify things in the sky like planes and stars will likely not work though.

Voiding warranty by manipulating the hardware is not the best solution – especially when it removes other device features. I doubt this is the OP's intention.

my screen also bugs on my G2 D802 , on random unlocks and on all callls i cant open screen to end calls .
mike i will reply , the proximity test on what you said is NEAR with yellow letters and light is 0.00
***my temporary solution is this :
plug ANYTHING to your phone ! i usually go aorund with headphones so i am ok , but when not , i have a small jack ( 2 inputs 1 output ) and just plug it to open the screen :)


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Data over mobile network switching on behind my back - what could be doing it and how to stop?
Alcatel OneTouch 983, Android 2.3.7
I normally have "Enable data access over mobile network" switched off so as not to drain my phone credit, only switching it on when I want to do something quick on the Internet and don't have wi-fi access where I am.
However, a few days ago, for no apparent reason at all, this setting began switching on at intervals without me doing anything.  Tried switching my phone off and on, tried killing most of my running services, has made no difference.  Generally, a few times a day I find that it has switched on.
Have installed AVG Antivirus Pro and it found nothing.
Any clue of what it could be that's doing it - and more importantly, how to get rid of whatever it is?  I hate to imagine how much of my phone credit it has drained!

What other apps do you have installed?

Agree with @1990clb it is important to mention at least the apps that you installed or changed around the time the problem started or other setting that you may have changed. Another general piece of advice is that when it comes to Android, Antivirus softwares are misleading as there is no concept of viruses in Android at the most there are badly coded apps and even apps designed to perform maliciously! Also please mention if your device is rooted

I don't remember installing anything new around the time the problem started.  Usually I update apps I installed when I'm told an update is available, but avoid updating system apps unnecessarily in order not to clog up the internal memory.

But the apps I have installed: 1Tap Cleaner, Adobe Reader, FastConnect (which I haven't managed to get to work), Mail.com, National Rail Enquiries, StopWatch & Timer, Wikipedia (which I might uninstall as it's no real improvement over the mobile version of the website), and various games (none of which have any reason to access the Internet except for when I choose to download new puzzles).

@reubenjohn And no, it isn't rooted.  What do the likes of AVG Antivirus for Android do, if not protect you against viruses?  Should it really be called AVG Antibadlycodedapp or AVG Antiappdesignedtoperformmaliciously?

@Stewart haha you don't seem convinced I am partially at blame since I hadn't provided any references so here is one by one of the most popular android antiviruses Lookout-reference specifically under the section Is there really such a thing as an Android virus? where they make it crystal clear. Another thing please reference the person when making comments so that they will be notified!

@Stewart Also none of the apps you mentioned seem suspicious especially since you said you hadn't installed anything around the time. I would suggest a system bug. Or a workaround would be to use an app that automatically controls the network state according to your customization (I suggest Juice defender whether you have such a problem or not)

authors: ΣΤΕΛΙΟΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΙΔΗΣ


text:
Can I transfer my Injustice game data from my iPhone to my new Android phone?
I currently use an iPhone 4, and I'm eligible for an upgrade. I'm considering the Note 3 and the Galaxy S5.  I've been playing Injustice for some time now and I'd very much like to not have to go through all the trouble of re-earning all of the characters I've bought or won in challenges. Will logging in with my WBID on my future phone automatically let me transfer over my game data? If not, is there something else I could do?
Also, if you have any other suggestions for what I should upgrade to please feel free to suggest it.

Man, you're out of luck. Versions of Injustice for Android and iOS differ greatly. the iOS version generally gets updated months before Android. This affects what characters you can buy, what challenges you can complete etc.
I thinks it's safe to say they're incompatible. And from my experience the Android version performs rather poorly compared to iOS.
Considering all of the above I would recommend sticking to your iPhone for playing Injustice.


text:
Find bluetooth version on Galaxy S3 running 4.3
Every answer I've found to this question says that under Settings -> About Phone, I should see Bluetooth Version listed. I don't even have About Phone. There's Settings -> More -> About Device, which shows me the android version and kernel version, but nothing about bluetooth. If I then click on Status (on the About Device page) I get my bluetooth address, but again, not the version. Help?

The option you are citing is the very same. Whether it says "About phone" or "About device" is usually dependent of whether it's a phone or a tablet. Obviously Samsung "thinks big".
To your main issue: You might be able to use a Bluetooth device scanner on your PC to give you details on "devices in reach". Details should at least give you clues, so e.g. "EDR" is not available before BT 2.0, SSP was added with 2.1, etc. (see Wikipedia on Bluetooth).
On the other hand, checking the S3 specs at GSMArena.Com (first address when looking for device specs) shows:

Bluetooth: Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR

Which should answer your question.


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How to send few specific contacts to my old basic phone?
I am having a Moto G and Nexus 7 (2012, WiFi only) devices which have my contacts synced with my Google account.
My Moto G suffered a hardware issue because of which I am using a very basic phone for my calling needs. I have given the Moto G for service and it would take a week for them to fix.
My basic replacement phone (Nokia 1800) does not have Bluetooth, no WiFi, No packet data support. Since my SIM and the new phones are devoid of any contacts,I could not see who is calling me and to make calls, I resorted to pen and paper method.
I am just wondering whether there could be any means of sending few of my contacts from my Google account to the SIM via SMS.
Another way I could try is to use someone else Android phone to access my google account and copy selected to my SIM. But I see that's too much of trouble to others as they might not be willing to lend.

Here is a relatively simple description of the desired process:

Download your contacts from Google by following the simple instructions here
Open your e-mail program and start a new e-mail message.
Enter the cell phone number in the To: box using the format number@teleflip.com, where "number" is the phone number of the cell phone to which you're sending the message. For example, to send a text message to cell phone 123-456-7890, enter 1234567890@teleflip.com.(in this case you want to enter your own cell number) Please see source for more information
Type a message of up to 160 characters in the message box and then click Send (in this case, attempt to attach the contacts file that you exported from your Google account instead of a message!) .
Congratulations! Your message will shortly appear on the cell phone.
Hope this helps! Good luck

Thanks, my operator (BSNL,India) seems not to have any such way to send an email and receive it as a SMS.

Not even "your_number"@teleflip.com works?

Attempts like 91mynumber@bsnl.co,in, sms.bsnl.co.in, .bsnl.in, .sms.bsnl.in and the same combination with absense of country code 91 tried. All resulted in bouncing email. Sending to 91mynumber@teleflip.com and mynumber@teleflip.com does not bounce, but no reply nor sms.


text:
my phone was stolen last day and its switched off now , is there any way to get my contacts back?
my phone was stolen last day and its switched off now , is there any way to get my contacts back ? There is a screen lock with numbers, can anyone access the phone without formatting the phone . If they format all the datas will be lost right? And als can I block my memmory card by an means ?

If you have your phone linked to your Google account, your contacts are, by default, saved to your Google account, and you can access them through gmail. Even better, if you get a new phone and link it to the same account, it'll have all your contacts again.
If it is linked and your phone is turned on you can find it's location through Google's Device Manager or remotely wipe your phone.
Keep in mind that if it's linked and they manage to get in somehow, they'll be able to access your Google account as well, so if you don't intend to locate the device you should unlink your device from your Google account, blocking their access to your account.
Unfortunately, if your device is not linked, or you chose to save contacts locally instead of the default location, there's no way of getting your contacts back, unless your manufacturer offers a way for it and you have enabled it. I believe HTC has something for it if you link your HTC account.


text:
Internal storage
I have samsung galaxy music duos S6012 mobile. according to the specification the internal storage is 4GB but physically my phone shows only 2GB. So, please help what do I do in this manner. I know that my device having fully 4GB storage but it is hidden undauntedly. So pl z help me.

Manufacturers always specify the size of the chip here (4 GB). As that's the bigger number, it's also the better seller – and it's not a straight lie, as it is "internal storage". But the fact they don't put in big letters is, that this storage is split – and only a part of it is available to the user directly.
Details are described in Android Folder Hierarchy here on our site. A short abstract, concentrating on your issue, and for that simplified: "physical internal storage" is split into multiple parts, including...

/system: read-only during "normal operation". This is where the OS is stored, and this is also where all the bloatware is installed (which is what makes it so hard to remove). Especially with Samsung devices, this part often takes up half of the "chip" – which might already explain where your missing 2 GB ended up.
/boot and /recovery: two special partitions for technical reasons. Their names already indicate their usage.
/cache: again a speaking name.
/data: This is what is shown as "available space" to the user. Here you can install apps, and they can store their data here.

There's basically nothing you can do to gain additional internal space – unless you want to risk voiding your warranty, and have enough knowledge to "act behind the scenes" (root the device, re-partition internal storage) – which then might prevent system updates (as they might check for the correct partitioning), so you're on your own with those.


text:
Identifying an unknown Android tablet through adb/shell without relying on build.prop
I obtained a cheap unbranded tablet from a friend, without a box or anything and I need to figure out what kind of tablet it is, through software.
What I've established so far is that the tablet is an Alwinner A13, but unfortunately there are a lot of A13s and this one seems to require some non-standard touchscreen drivers.
There are a few more threads about identifying devices, but this case is slightly different, in that I can't trust anything Android tells me about the tablet.
The tablet is currently running the official Novo 7 Legend firmware, which "works" but unfortunately is not the right firmware for the device. I still have full access to the system over adb and with a mouse over OTG, however the device's build.prop is wrong.
Unfortunately build.prop is also what defines the tablet's type/name in the Android "About device" section and all Android log output I've found.
I've checked dmesg as well as the output of adb bugreport, neither gave me what I'm looking for.
tl;dr:
I do not have the original firmware nor do I have the box and the hardware is very generic, so my question is, is there any (software-wise) way of identifying the tablet, that does not rely on build.prop?
I have full (root) adb access and full access to Android.
Update: I have opened up the tablet and checked the board (and lost the power button in the process), on it was a more specific name, but still very generic. I did manage to get some rom working on it thanks to it (albeit with an inverted touchscreen), but I still haven't been able to identify it. I've given up on it for now (I got it for tinkering purposes anyway), if I get new suggestions here I'm still more than happy to try them out however.

I'm not sure how to determine where a system info app obtains its information (except the app desc says so, or you asked the dev). However, a list of possible candidates might be found here: System-Info Tools. If you found the one you're looking for, feel encouraged to answer your own question, so others might benefit of your discovery :)

Wups, sorry, forgot about this question. I have used some of the apps on that page, but they all either read build.prop or only list the hardware (which I already knew), so unfortunately that didn't solve the problem

Have you tried these:
adb shell getprop ro.product.device
adb shell getprop ro.product.model
adb shell getprop ro.product.name

EDIT: Upon re-reading the question, it seems that my suggestion is not applicable.
I trust that you have a stock recovery? If so, connect it to PC while in recovery mode and do the following over ADB:
adb shell
cat default.prop

If default.prop still does not give you what you want, I'm really sorry but I can't think of any other solution than to look for a stock firmware.

Sorry for the late reply, unfortunately I got the device with a generic Allwinner A13 CWM installed, so that didn't help either. Thanks for the suggestion though.


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CyanogenMod and soft buttons issue when in fullscreen
I've recently been having a problem with my android phone. After rooting and installing cyanogenmod, I started applying a few themes.
Now, fullscreen or landscape APD appear to mess up the soft buttons. I can't press them properly either. Even after restoring to the system theme, the problem still persists. Here's a screenshot to show you:

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)

I'm attempting to edit in the screenshot but I don't have the permissions to view it - could you re-upload it to imgur? I'd also suggest mentioning what sort of phone, and what specific version of cynogen mod you're using in case the error is specific to that combination. Finally android phone questions are OT here - this may get migrated, but in future you may want to ask other questions of this sort there.


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Recovery Mode: Backup options not showing
I want to put a custom ROM on my LG G2.
I have successfully applied root permissions using IORoot v25. However I am unable to create a backup of the stock ROM.
I have tried several ways using the ROM Manager app (v5.5.37):

Go to ROM Manager > Recovery Setup > [Install or Update] ClockwordModrecovery. Then tap Reboot into Recovery. The phone reboots into the recovery menu, but no options to back up are listed. (So I choose option to reboot).
With CWM Recovery still set, I tap  "Backup Current ROM" (underneath it says the backup directory will be /mnt/shell/emulated/clockworkmod/backup. Again, it boots into the recovery menu without any backup options so I select reboot. Yet nothing appears in the /mnt/shell directory.
Configure ROM Manager to use TWRP recovery. Then in ROM Manager, tap  option to go to recovery mode. Yet again, no backup options are listed, so yet again I choose option to reboot.
With TWRP Recovery still set, I tap  "Backup Current ROM" (underneath it says the backup directory will be /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/0225b99d9a5159f0. Surprise surprise, no backup options, and no directory /sdcard/TWRP.

What am I doing wrong?
From what I understand, what I am seeing is the "stock" recovery [program/menu], and neither the TWRP nor the CWM recovery menus are showing. Perhaps they're failing to install, or failing to be run or something? The logs in the app SuperSU which handles root requests do not give any hints - I can find no mention of CWM or TWRP recovery.

I was correct - the stock recovery was not being substituted for a custom recovery.
I have since tried a number of things:
First I tried installing the "FreeGee" app. Trying to install a custom recovery resulted in the error "Your devices specific software version of D80220d is not currently supported".
Second, I tried following this guide resulted in the error:
Loki tool v2.1
[-] Loki aboot version does not match device.
1|root@g2:/data/local/tmp # exit
1|shell@g2:/ $

What eventually worked was downloading the AutoRec .apk for the LG G2 D802 and installing it using adb:
adb install D802_AutoRec.apk
I downloaded the .apk from here. TWRP recovery was installed successfully. More information on AutoRec is here.


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How to unlock Google Device Manager remote lock?
I have a rooted Samsung S4 mini with the latest stable CyanogenMod installed (cm-10.2.1.3).
I was playing with the Google Device Manager (https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager) and tried to lock the device.
When I tried to unlock I found out, there is no keyboard or input box to enter the password into.
The screen looks exactly the same as my lockscreen - I'm using the pattern lock which I remmember perfectly - besides there are just words: "locked" and the message I typed into the web remote lock. I can also see there is Android Device Manager running in background (icon in top left notification corner). Wherever I click or try to draw my pattern lock, the device does nothing (but it is not frozen as I can open the Power button menu).
I also use a custom keyboard application and I removed the original CyanogenMod keyboard. Can this be a problem?

Is there any option at the online Device Manager to remotely unlock
the device?
The phone is rooted and I can connect via ADB in Recovery. Can I do something there - besides wiping
the device - to unlock the remote lock?

In the end I was able to solve the problem by clicking the "Emergency Call" button.
That enforced the keyboard to come up and after closing the Emergency Call screen there was a window to enter Google Device Manager password.

Open your terminal and type:
adb shell

Now enter these commands:
su
rm /data/system/cm_gesture.key
reboot

If a lockscreen appears after reboot, it should accept any pattern.

This may help when you forget your lockscreen password. But won't help for Google Device Manager remote lock.


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Multicast dns registers hostname based on IP address
I would like to use avahi/zeroconf to do ssh logins to devices which are connected to the local network by wifi. Since I do not have control over the wifi routers I cannot assign fixed IP-addresses to the devices. Therefor I set up a multicast dns server (on my android phone) which registers the device. Now I see the device using an avahi-browser on my ubuntu notebook. However the hostname is assigned based on the IP-address, which I cannot know in advance. avahi-discover displays:
Service Type: _udisks-ssh._tcp
Service Name: samsungtablet
Domain Name: local
Interface: wlan0 IPv4
Address: 10-0-0-101.local/10.0.0.101:22
TXT Data: empty

I would like to be able to do
ssh user@samsungtablet.local
or something like this in order to log in. It works now with
ssh user@10-0-0-101.local
but I cannot know this hostname in advance.
In contrast my Ubuntu notebook appears as
Service Type: _udisks-ssh._tcp
Service Name: einstein
Domain Name: local
Interface: wlan0 IPv4
Address: einstein.local/10.0.0.106:22
TXT Data: empty

Here ssh user@einstein.local will work.
Note that the hostname on the samsungtablet is set to samsungtablet using net.hostname. The multicast dns server I set up on the tablet contained in "servers ultimate" and the name there is set to samsungtablet as well.
Note that I am aware that SSHelper supports multicast dns as well, however I would prefere a solution where I can choose to keep my ssh-server.


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How to fix the recovery mode error?
I am trying to root my Samsung Galaxy Ch@t GT-B5330 (4.1.2) following this guide. I have reached the point when I am intended to use the recovery mode menu (that is reached by holding volume-up when turning the phone on) but here am I stuck: whatever I choose gives me the error icon

I am still able to boot the phone the normal way (though it has became a little bit slower than it was before flashing and starts Firefox on itself occasionally).
How do I finish the rooting process?

Hit the Volume Up
 and Power Buttons simultaneously ( Do not hold the keys).

Perhaps you are right but I had no chance to try it - I have reflashed the whole system already which has given me a different (and working) recovery screen.

By the way I have tried holding both keys (the same way like holding down for flashing ir up for recovery) with no result.

I recommend you to Flash Stock Firmware using Odin, but remember to backup your data first to a SD Card , when you flash the stock firmware , it will fix your recovery mode ...
Once you install Stock the firmware, download and install this software King Root
After downloading the Software to your computer , enable USB Debugging Mode you can find it in Developer Options in your Device.
Then connect your Device to your Computer and the device will be detected by King Root and you just click Start Rooting
Note

You have to install proper drivers required for the Software to detect your phone.
The best way to install the driver for your Samsung Device is Installing Samsung Kies

I hope it helped you

You have to find your ROM according to your model.. below is  the introduction
https://lifehacker.com/how-to-flash-a-rom-to-your-android-phone-30885281


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Configure custom AdBlock Plus filter lists subscriptions
Using a desktop PC version of AdBlock, I can subscribe to any combination of filter lists, and so I do subscribing to EasyList + Czech, Russian and German lists (I am a polyglot user using many languages actively) as well as EasyPrivacy, Fanboy's Annoyances lists, etc.
But in the mobile AdBlock Plus, I could only find a set of exclusive (choose-one) EasyList + a national list couples, not even featuring a Czech list at all.
Needless to say, I could neither find a way to set up custom filters of my own.
Any ideas?

With the Android version you can't have custom filters or subscriptions, you can only use what comes with the app.

Also, having a special filter set just for facebook would be awesome, where we can block out certain columns as well as have the ability to pick and choose what "we thought you might like this" areas of the page.

You might want to read about the site a little -- see here.  We're different from a forum in that we don't want people to chime in if they agree or disagree, that's what voting is for.  Q&A, not discussion or polls.

There's a feature request to Add custom filter (subscription) support (ticket #257), but it's not yet implemented at the moment.

That said, if your device is rooted, you can manually customize the filter (not the subscription list, but the filter itself). However, by doing this, you'll lose the automatic filter update.
The interesting file is located on /data/data/org.adblockplus.android/files/patterns.ini. Take note that it's quite a big text file, and I personally recommend to edit it on a computer. The file has some sections defined by square brackets ([...]), and the filter starts after [Subscription filters].
For the starter, you can mix'n'match the filters from main subscription list (look for url inside <subscription> for the filters). If you're an advanced user, or feeling experimental enough, take a look at Writing Adblock Plus filters.
After you're done with the customized filters file, I recommend to backup it somewhere safe (you certainly don't want to lose your hard work). Before overwriting patterns.ini, open Adblock Plus app and go to Advanced Settings, then set the Subscription refresh to Manually. Otherwise, the app will overwrite your filters.
Now, the AdBlock Plus should be using your customized filter!


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How to Refresh Gallery instantly?
I am using Kitkat 4.4.2 on my android device.
When I mount USB drive to my device then all the images,videos in USB drive are shown in the Gallery. After unmounting USB drive, images,videos are still there as a thumbnails.
Can't I refresh my gallery without rebooting?

The system itself AFAIK doesn't expose a GUI element to do so. However, you have multiple options to trigger the Media Scanner:

Reboot the device (not that convenient)
unmounting/remounting the SD card (via Settings; better, but still not convenient)
using one of the apps/widgets available in the app stores. One that's reportedly working with Kitkat is SD Scanner (see my answer here)
using ADB to trigger it (telling it the card has just been mounted – so basically we fake the second option):
adb shell "am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///mnt/sdcard"

Edit: Some ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod) seem to have a GUI element for it in Settings › Developer options › Developer tools › Media provider – where you can find a button labeled "SCAN SD CARD"

Thanks! I also needed to am force-stop com.android.gallery3d

I unmounted/remounted the SD card, then killed the Gallery app and restarted it. The photos have reappeared. Thanks.

Setting - app - gallery force stop and clear cache. Gallery will reload all those media.

Last time I did this, it worked though some of the thumbnails couldn't be loaded anymore.

This had no effect for me.


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Can android AVD emulator run within VMWare?
Hi I am running Windows 8 in VMWare Workstation 9 and I wanted to setup an android development environment, I installed Java the ADK and Android studio. When I create an AVD and try to start it it appears as a black screen with buttons pane. I think the problem is that I can't run an emulator within another emulator, but I just wanted to check in case anyone else has been successful.
The errors it shows are:
Failed to create pbuf surface for FB 0x3004
emulator: WARNING: Could not initialize OpenglES emulation, using software renderer.
extension WGL_ARB_make_current_read was not found extension WGL_EXT_swap_control was not found
I had difficulty searching for this because the results tend to be people trying to setup an android VM as a standalone, rather than running android development emulator in a Windows 8 VM like my setup.

Why are you doing it all in an emulator anyway? The Android development tools also run on MacOS and GNU/Linux.

I just wanted a separate place for my android development stuff that would be portable from my desktop. I just tried installing Android dev kit and JDK and to run the AVD emulator on my desktop outside VMWare and still had a black screen occur. I installed HAXM and it still wouldnt run. I found that if I choose "no skin" the emulator finally ran, but extremely slowly. I'm looking at setting up a dedicated android x86 VM because the emulator seems pretty bad based on this experience.

Using two separate VMs would be just as portable (copying 2 folders instead of one is not a big deal) and eliminate the issues of trying to do virtualization under virtualization.

I've been able to run it in Windows 8.1 Pro within VM Ware 10. This was when I was used ADT though for eclipse. When I switched over to Android Studio I haven't been able to get a AVM to start yet. Granted I've spent about 30 minutes working on it, so I haven't exhausted all options just yet.
I imagine speed will always be an issue though. While the overhead for windows within VW Ware Workstation is sleight given the shared architecture it's enough to introduce some slow downs. Still for the most part I've been able to use the AVM for my purposes. (Really just making sure the app can start and doesn't crash) from there I put it on a real device.


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How to Block installing another app in android devices?
I want an Android device like mobile phones with no mobile features in it like no camera,no calling facility no sound nothing...
I just want a touchscreen device with android operating system so that i can install my own app and i dont want any other app should get install in it... only my app would be there...
can anyone pls tell me how can i do this....
or is it possible to stop all the services of our android cellphone so that when i switch on my mobile phone directly my app should be visible....
please reply .......

It sounds like what you're asking for is [tag:kiosk-mode], so I've added that tag to your question. Take a look at the existing questions with that tag and see if any of them help you. If they do, then either answer your own question with what you did, or flag your question as a duplicate of one of the existing ones, so future visitors can see what the outcome was. If they don't, just edit your question to say why the existing suggestions won't work for you, and we'll try to help.

"i don't want any app to get installed on it..."
Technically this is impossible, since there are system apps like SystemUI and framework-res that Android needs to actually function.
But if you are talking about non-essential apps only, then perhaps you can delete them with root. Go to /system on a file manager that supports root, e.g. X-plore and Root Explorer, and delete the apps that you think are safe to delete. Be careful though, as those apps are on the /system partition and not /data for a reason. Your phone might become unstable after this.
The list of safe apps varies per manufacturer, but remember, Google is your friend!
Good luck.

Wifi ONLY tablets fit your requirement of "no calling facility" but they have sound and some have camera.
Google is coming up with project ara, here is the link http://www.projectara.com
This project specifically targets people who wants to customize their mobile phones just like "assembling components in desktop pc". For example:- if you want to remove the camera, you can simply remove that particular module alone.
But Android might not be compatible with such configuration as of now. May be in coming months, probably in a year or two you might be able to do all that.
In some countries they have managed to remove google services and install their own yandex, nokia has done the same with one of their models, amazon has done something similar with android.


text:
Re-link installed apps to Play Store
After installing custom ROM and downloading most of my apps from PC and installing them offline, my Play Store account is peculiar. Some apps I uninstalled weeks ago but I can still see on Play Store desktop, many apps are shown installed on Play Store mobile but not on the desktop, and many unlinked apps.
So what can I do?

If your phone is rooted, then Titanium Backup app has a relevant feature that might work:

Tap the app you want to link from the list of apps on the titanium backup app
switch to the "Special features" tab
You will find "attach to market(forced)"

There's also an XDA thread about this.

I overcame this by clicking the install button on the desktop Play Store on apps one by one.
On my desktop, I go to Google Play then find the un-linked apps one by one and click on the install button. Then on my phone, I can see those apps are included on my apps list in Play Store app.

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


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How do I adjust audio balance of my Android phone headphones out?
My earphones are unbalanced - one  is louder than the other, so I need to adjust the sound volume balance to get it right.
How can I do it on Android?

Please provide more information! What phone do you use? Is the phone rooted?

It is Samsung Galaxy Ch@t GT-B5330 (Android 4.1.2). Rooted, yes. I just thought there is to be an official generic way to do such an essential thing like this.

Possible duplicate of Altering left-right sound balance on Android 6.0.1

There is a possible quick solution, depending on the phone in consideration:
Go to Settings->Sound->Music Effects and depending on the phone, you may by default have an app that controls the music effects within which you should easily find your desired setting.
But if your phone is rooted, a more reliable solution would be to install the music effects app/driver:     Viper (basically a 3rd party audio driver for android) which can be  turned on or off at will.
The app, in addition to being able to fix an unbalanced stereo has a powerful and wide spectrum of amazing sound enhancement options which is a must have whether you have an unbalanced stereo or not!
In fact I can't enjoy music with it turned off anymore :( - - - - ;)

There is no such menu like "Music Effects" in my phone. I have also installed an app called "AudioManager" but can't find balance there either.

@Ivan Extended my solution in response to the extra information you provided.

So. It took some time but I have rooted the phone finally and installed Viper. So how do I use it to change balance? I can see equalizer and other stuff I don't think I need but no ballance so far...

This is a bit old but for the record in response to @Ivan, you have to go to Menu -> UI Settings -> Expert for Viper to show you the setting to change the balance. You then have to scroll all the way down to Master Gate (Limiter) -> Channel Pan to change the balance. Unfortuntely, it only has a predefined list of ratios in increments of 0.1 which, in my case, it slightly inaccurate causing the audio to still be slightly unbalanced, but it's better than nothing. Sound like an issue to report to the developers :P

There seems to be a working way without installing third party apps to do this. On a rooted phone, edit /system/etc/mixer_paths.xml, in <path name="headphones"> edit or add <ctl name="RX1 Digital Volume" value="83" /> <ctl name="RX2 Digital Volume" value="83" />, changing the default 83 where needed. RX1 appears to be the left channel, RX2 the right one. Based on the source file.

jaxrtech's comment must be added to the ansewer.

System > accessibility > Hearing
I am using LG G2

This isn't a stock Android feature unfortunately, so the Hearing controls aren't available on many (most?) phones.

Doesn't exist on my Razer Phone 2

Stock Android 10.
Settings -> Accessibility -> "Audio and On-Screen text"
There you have the option between Mono Audo and Audio balance.

Device: Google Pixel 2XL

All I can do is turn Mono on or off, there doesn't seem to be any other settings on my Razer Phone 2.

Depends on the version of android Pixel is stock android so can't comment on Razer.


text:
want to downgrade my operating system on galaxy s3 GT-19300
i have updated my galaxy s3 GT-19300 to android kitkat 4.4.2
now i want my earlier version back on my mobile
so what is the procedure for that

From your question its clear that your phone is rooted. So if you want to go back to CM 10.2 from CM 11 , you need to download stable build from Cyanogen Portal for your device and flash it using ClockWorkMod recovery or any other compatible recovery. Similar to how you done with CM 11. You can backup App Data. But its recommending a clean install.


text:
Cannot find HTC One in ADB, SD card not mounted, incorrect kernel for installed ROM, no backup
Pretty much what the title says. I have messed up big time. Because I am switching carriers, I have to switch back to the stock ROM. It is stuck at the loading screen, most likely because of a kernel issue. My stupid self didn't remember to make a backup.
Because of this, all I have access to is the boot loader. I cannot side load anything because ADB does not recognize my device.
I am in the biggest pickle I've ever been in with electronics. Anyone who can fix this is going to win the entire internet.

Which recovery are you using?

Somehow I have messed up my Recovery. Now the only thing I have access to is the bootloader/fastboot.

If using TWRP you can sideload from within recovery.

Boot into TWRP.
Go to Advanced > ADB Sideload and slide to start.
Plug USB cable into PC.
If your device is not detected, manually add standard Google driver.
Then type adb devices and you should see: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx        sideload
Type adb sideload <filename.zip> and it will be flashed automatically.

I can't even access CWM recovery right now.

I recommend you download latest TWRP img file for your device, reboot into fastboot, and flash with fastboot flash recovery openrecovery-twrp-2.7.0.1-xxxxxxxx.img, then follow instructions in answer.

C:\SDK\adt-bundle-windows-x86_64-20140321\sdk\platform-tools>fastboot flash reco
very TWRP.img
target reported max download size of 1509371904 bytes
sending 'recovery' (9834 KB)...
OKAY [  1.248s]
writing 'recovery'...
(bootloader) signature checking...
FAILED (remote: signature verify fail)
finished. total time: 2.219s
When I try and load recovery, it opens the bootloader again.

You probably relocked your phone and you will need to unlock bootloader again to flash another rom. Is your goal to be stock/unlocked/rooted? or stock/locked? If your goal is to be 100% stock with locked bootloader, go here and read this thread very carefully.

Before I can follow that thread, I need a way to get s-off through fastboot, still can't get ADB to work. I wasn't kidding when I said I was in a pickle.
If I dug myself into a hole I cant crawl out of, so be it. I don't want to waste too much time of kind strangers. Is it FUBAR?

I don't think your phone is hard bricked, however troubleshooting this goes a bit beyond the scope of the format here. I recommend you join the xda forum and ask for help there. Good luck.


text:
Device rooted by Seller?
My nephew parents had bought their son a new tablet, and while I snooping around his device and checked about tablet's information, I saw under kernel version option, it has:
root@tom-desktop #116

Does this mean the seller has rooted the device?

what kind of tablet?

@nullmem some unknown brand tablet known as "Smart"

It is perfectly normal for a device (usualy import models from China) to have a kernel version such as "kernel version-- 3.4.0 root@tom-desktop#1" etc. and this has nothing to do with "rooting" a device. If I am not mistaken the "tom-desktop" is the default hostname when building a kernel.

I got myself a tablet imported from china, but just surprised it don't have anything else stated in kernel version. But I guess your right. +1 up


text:
How to protect data after unlocking bootloader?
I am to root my Nexus, so I have to unlock it first. But I worry that once done, some one may boot with customized recovery to copy or modify my files. Any idea?

there is nothing that can be done to address this concern, just as there can be no gaurentee that an adversary with physical access to the device can unlock it themselves to do the same. The Nexus root toolkit has a "relock" feature, that makes android believe its on a locked partition, but in reality, once unlocked, the device cannot be locked again, so don't count on the little open-padlock icon to tell you if someone who had your device didn't root it done their business, and then relocked the device.

@FrankThomas I may misunderstand your words, I feel sorry if I do. Unlocking an unrooted devices require data swiping, how can my adversary unlock my device, access my files and then relock my device? Without unlocking and third-party recovery, I know no way to access files. What I worry is that once I unlock my Nexus, someone can access my files while I don't know what's happened.

@Noverull - Which is the point Frank made.  Once unlocked the partition cannot actually be locked again, it says its locked, but its actually unlocked.  Its sort of like a paper padlock on the door.

@Noverull, you are correct, there will be dataloss immediately after unlocking, but the stock recovery system allows the attacker sufficient ability to back up your content, that they could restore your old apps and data such that you would not likely notice.

The main takeaway here is a very old adage Physical Access == Root Access. Period.  So, all the above said, since there is nothing you can do about it either way, I'd recommend unlocking your phone if that will give you functionality you want (and you don't mind voiding your warranty). The main point of locking from a data protection standpoint is bad apps. as such, be more concerned about what apps can get superuser, rather than what an adversary with physical access can do.

@FrankThomas Get it! Thanks. Why not post an answer?

@FrankThomas Is there any reference to bakuping my content using stock recovery?

I'm not sure I'm following you, but my point was simply that if an adversary had your locked/stock device for any real period of time, they could backup your content, unlock and root your device, do nefarious things, relock it, and finally restore your content. It would be quite difficult to know anything had been done to it, unless you looked rather carefully. This seems to be the concern you had about unlocking your device in the first place, so it makes little difference as to whether they can copy or modify files on the locked partition.

@FrankThomas You've explained it very clear. Thanks again for your kindness. I'm now just curious about how it happens to backup content in one phone with stock recovery for I've searching but eventually found nothing.

I find an app named BootUnlocker which allow rooted device have bootloader locked/unlocked without swiping data.


text:
Does any app allow schedule voice record except Cinixsoft recorder?
I have installed cinixsoft. It can schedule time recording. However, it will randomly stop and then resume. For example, a 2 hour record may cut into 15 mins, 40 mins, 20 mins, 40 min etc. During every cut, it will lost around 3 mins of data. In other words, I will get around 105 mins out of 120 mins of recording. Does any other software do the same thing, but without that problem?

Voice Recorder can schedule recording at any given time for a predetermined time.

Why is this down voted? It fits the OP's requirements, right?

@Power-Inside It's a link-only answer.

@damryfbfnetsi Link only? He posted the link and did mention about the feature(s), albeit being short.

@damryfbfnetsi, I don't think any more addition is required to this answer. Any way screen shot added.

Try PCMRecorder. From the app description:

This is a simple voice recorder. It records by high quality(PCM/WAVE).
Records in 8000,11025, 16000, 22050, 44100 and 48000Hz - 16bits -
Mono.
Recordings are stored on the SD-card ('PCMRECORDER').
Record:

Records by background
16bits/Mono
Records no time limit

Playback:

Playback by backgroud
Rename
Send mail

Settings:

Sample rate(8000,11025, 16000, 22050, 44100 and 48000Hz)

Permission:

record audio
wake lock (to background recording)


text:
Android keep saying "SD Card is mounted, do you want to change your default storage"
About two days ago, I received this notification. At first, I just click on "Change",and in setup, set default storage to SD Card. I'm using Android 4.2.2.
But, this is happening in every half hour... I rooted my phone about 2 mounts ago,installed link2sd,and created second partition on my 16Gb SD Card. Both partitions are marked as Primary and both are FAT32. It's worked very well until 2 days ago. When I receive notification about SD Storage, my whole second partition stop working. Every apps on second partition is "unreachable" and I must restart my phone.
Do you know how to "fix" this, because, my SD Card is ok,it's seems that android unmount and mount SD Card and show this notification automaticly.
EDIT:
I forgot to mention, when I format whole SD Card,and delete second partition, this notification is not showing,but,again,when I create second partition, notification is shown on my home screen,and keep asking me to change default storage.

do u still have this problem.? Did you get solution for this.?
If yes, just share how you solved it.
If no, then this following FAQ page 21th question will help you to find the solution.
They have said try to update your Link2SD app. That will solve your problem.
http://www.link2sd.info/faq

I have temporary solution, WakeLock keeps processor to minimum,and this message is not showing. But,every time when I reboot phone, and forgot to start wakelock app, every app on sdext2 is not working. Im trying to find permanent solution.

Do you update Link2SD to its latest version.?

Yes,it's on automatic updates list. But I'll try to reinstall the app. When i check FAQ last time,this question was not exist. I have this problem for more than 8 mounts. I'll try with reinstall,maybe the newer version will finally fix this.

Hope that will solve your problem and make my answer accepted. If still have the problem, reply me.

Try to set your SD card second partition as Non-FAT (ext2, ext3, ext4 or f2fs) file system. Because you mentioned FAT32 as your file system in question that dose not supported in UNIX (POSIX compilant) file system permissions. That will cause security breakdown of apps private data.


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No "/data/logs""directory. Is it hidden? Not on my version?
I am having the "INSTALL_FAILED_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE" error when trying to do some app development. Googling around and looking here I see a lot of advice saying to empty the "/data/logs" folder.
Only I cant find that anywhere.
I have looked with the normal file manager (with rout permissions), as well as trying a few tools like SD Maid and Disk Usage. But no sign of it. Ditto with terminal and manually looking. The data folder just does not container a "logs" folder. And nor does data\data for that mater.
I am using CyanogenMod M10.0.0 Beta 1 on a HTC Legend. Android version 4.1.2
Is this folder not on my version? is it somewhere else?
The behavior seems to match. I was just constantly using usb debugging and sending my own app over from eclipse to test, my own app being tiny (well under 1MB). Then I started getting "INSTALL_FAILED_INSUFFICIENT_STORAGE". So I assume something is building up/wasting space from the dozens of compiles and crashes I have had today.
Thanks for any help,
Thomas


text:
How to turn off the LG Optimus L5 screen magnifier?
That is the problem. I've already made a hard reset (press power button + vol. down key then pressing the home key) without luck. The screen is stuck magnified and I can't do anything.

Screenshot (click image for larger variant)
What can I do to get it back to normal?

Sorry I didn't mention it but I've already googled for this and I don't seem to find related issues or similar problems. I bought it like this so I don't know what the previous user installed or did to it.

Since you already did a factory reset, then I think that the problem lies in the /system/build.prop.
Are you rooted? If so, connect your phone to your PC, make sure you have ADB, and do this in a terminal:
adb pull /system/build.prop

In the build.prop file you just copied from the phone, look for ro.sf.lcd_density.
Change the number to something low, like 160 or 240. Save the file, and do this in a terminal to put it back onto the phone:
adb push build.prop /sdcard/build.prop
adb shell
su
cp /sdcard/build.prop /system/build.prop
chmod 0644 /system/build.prop
reboot

If you're not rooted, then you would probably have to do a firmware reflash; although I'm not familiar with LG's way of doing that.

Thank you very much! I didn't check the anwers until today so I ended up completely reinstalling the ROM but I checked your solution and it was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you again!


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Why is quiet mode not abiding by the scheduled times?
Ever since my phone upgraded itself to Android 4.4.2 a couple of weeks ago, it has trouble turning quiet mode on or off at the set times.
I have it set for quiet between 10 pm and 8 am, and the indicator by the "Schedule Settings" is blue indicating that the setting is on, and the moon icon with the timer remains in the top bar, but it either doesn't switch into quiet mode or if it does happen turn on at the scheduled time, it doesn't turn back off.
If I cycle the "Schedule Settings" switch, it does go into quiet mode for that night, but does not always do so the next evening.
Is this a bug that was introduced with the upgrade, or is one of my apps intercepting the quiet mode setting and overriding it?
I'm using an LG G2.

This seems to have been fixed by LG's latest patch to 4.4.2, which came out around 9/25/2014 or so.

I had the same problem and found a workaround by going to settings->sound->quiet mode and repeating toggle "turn quiet mode now" until I see the notification on the notification bar. After that the scheduled quiet mode will work, but you had to do this after every restart of the phone.

I will try this out.  Glad I'm not the only one, thanks!

As an experiment, I checked tonight and the "moon with timer" icon notification was in the bar, but the quiet mode was not on.

Those of you owning a LG G2 running Android 4.4.2, my roundabout is as follows: go to settings, then apps find the settings app, and clear cache then force stop the settings app. This procedure enabled my quiet mode toggle to work normally.

It's a widespread issue that doesn't look like it's going away anytime soon (or later). I just downloaded a free app called Silent Time and I htink that overrides the issue. It looks good and I have seen others in other forums do this to correct it. I hate that LG pretends it's not an issue. If Silent Time sucks I will post later but I think it's good and it has a good rating.

Can you link that app?


text:
Pop up warning your flash player maybe out of date
In my office, it seems the router is infected by malware. So when we access google.com and other specific sites, it always show pop up "warning!your flash player maybe out of date", then it will redirect to flash download page. I already downloaded it, the file is setup.exe. And because of my stupidity, I tried to run it. I don't know whether my phone  now is infected by this malware or not. And most important thing, if it is infected, how to fix it?
I read on internet, to fix the trouble we have to reset the router. But tjis is to fix the router. How about our phone? Is it already infected ? And how to fix it?

If all you did is download an .exe file, you've nothing to worry about. It's a program for Windows, and it can't run on your Android phone. Just delete the file you downloaded to make sure no one copies it to a Windows computer by accident.
But if your router is infected by malware, don't use it at all. It can intercept and impersonate every website you use and visit. It can steal any login details you enter on websites and pretend to be you.

Hi Dan, but even I not connected to the router, I also cannot access google.com. It always redirected to flash page download. I use firefox browser.

As temporary solution, you can use startpage, it make google research via ixquick's servers.

If your computer do the redirect, it mean it's infected.

Ok, I've found the solution..after I cleared private data of browser, I can browse google properly now.


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Samsung Galaxy Player 5.0 won't turn on after messing with build.prop
I went to mess with my build.prop to do some stuff and then my device wouldnt turn on. I tried looking everywhere for ways to fix it but none will work because it keeps ending with when im in cmd with the adb stuff, when I type the commands it says "operation not permitted".
Heres the tutorial I was looking at (the wndows one) - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1927198
I was able to get to the very end until I had to do "chmod 644 build.prop" which then resulted in the "operation not permitted".
I also have a copy of my original build.prop in my device sdcard folder however Im unable to pull it out (or im just an idiot)
Please help, ive been sitting here for 6 hours straight trying to fix this!

Have you tried sudo chmod 644 build.prop? The error message you report sounds like you're not in "root mode", which sudo should fix.

I did however nothing seemed to happen.

So no error message? Then you should have succeeded :) try ls -l build.prop. It should list the permissions as -rw-r--r-- (which corresponds to 644 for a file).

Actually nvm, the sudo did get an error msg saying "sudo: not found"

What should I do then?

Oh, forgive me... It's simply su on Android. Full day working on Linux, so I messed up, sorry. So could you try with su chmod 644 build.prop again and state whether there was any message, plus the result of above ls for verification?

the command repeated itself and then when I went into ls it said -rwxrwxr-x

So it did not work.

So no error message, no change, nothing? Sorry, then I'm out of ideas.

Are you sure you're rooted?
If so, have you tried su -c chmod 0644 /system/build.prop? Or you can also try entering su first and then the chmod command next.
To pull the build.prop: adb pull /sdcard/build.prop
Or maybe you can just replace the one in /system with the one on your sdcard:
su
cp /sdcard/build.prop /system/build.prop
chmod 0644 /system/build.prop


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I have htc desire s and it can not access sd card which worked in it for a long time
I have an HTC Desire S, and it cannot access SD card – which worked in it for a long time. The card works perfectly fine in another phone.
If I restart the device it works for several minutes. But then I receive an error message: SD card unexpectedly removed.
Any idea what I could do to solve this issue?

Possibly related: Asus Memopad sd card unexpected removed / SD Card Unexpectedly removed error

It might be due to a problem with the seating of the SD card in the slot. If you're sure it's firmly seated in the slot and the problem still exists, then your slot may be broken, per se.
Send it in for repair.


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Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini (E10i) stuck on boot logo after installing a custom ROM using CWM Recovery
I was trying to install a custom ROM on my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini (E10i) by flashing the ROM with the .zip file in ClockWorkMod Recovery, but after installation the device doesn't boot. It hangs on the Sony Ericsson boot logo.
What can I do to recover from this situation?

Did you unlock bootloader and flashed kernel?

Can you still boot to recovery? If so, a first step would be wiping cache and Dalvik. If that doesn't do the job, a factory-reset can be issued from the same place (which of course would delete all your apps and data, if they were still present before that).

If you unlocked your bootloader and flashed a custom kernel, try:

Hold Home and Power button, phone will restart.
Press back button repeatedly, phone will boot into recovery.
Now
wipe data,
wipe cache,
dalvik chache,
dalvik battery status. In mount n system:
format data,
format system,
format cache.
Now flash your rom zip and after successful flash, reboot the phone.

Note: Always flash the kernel which is given along with the rom

Try to install the stock ROM. Download (stock ROM) FTF file from here and flash it using Flashtool.

I had this too but it was because I forgot to clean dalvik cache. Go into recovery> wipe dalvik cache> install zip from sd card. Then it should work

authors: ชัยวัฒน์ ศิลา


text:
How to swap UI of a custom rom with other rom?
I have a custom rom which has Xperia like UI. It's very fast uses very less Ram. The other rom has Kitkat/Jellybean like UI but it has low performance as compared to Xperia UI like rom.
I was wondering if I could change UI of Xperia rom with the other Kitkat rom. is it possible?
I want to change Notification bar, menus , locker, Popup windows, buttons etc.
I use custom launcher and keyboard so no need to change that.

Xposed Framework will help .... Install it http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/versions-changelog-t2714053 Grab some modules http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/xposed-modules-android-rom/ and HOLLA you are the one with awsome phone ... 3;)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/mod-customizing-statusbar-modding-apks-t2332575

If your ROM has Theme Chooser integrated into the system, I would recommend just switching to an AOSP theme, like this KitKat theme.
You can check if you have Theme Chooser by doing any of the below:

Android 2.3: Check if there is an app in your launcher named 'Theme Chooser', with an icon of the Android robot colored four different colors
Android 4.0+: Check if there is any theme-related menus in Settings.

If your ROM does not have Theme Chooser, then you would have to get your hands dirty with manually themeing system APKs. Go to xda-developers for more info and tutorials on that.


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What are the pros and cons of allowing Google Play store to automatically update apps?
Automatically update apps on my Android phone:
Upsides:

Apps get new feature, bug fixes, performance improvements, etc.

Downsides:

The UI layout or some features that I am already used to changes. Sometimes I am regret to update the app due to this.

So I set Google Play to not update the apps automatically on my old phone. Now I am getting a new phone. Are there any other pros and cons to these settings, and what are some ways to mitigate my concerns?

Apart from being automatically updated, and even if you apply updates manually, you only know about possible disadvantages once the update was done. So my recommendation goes in a different direction, namely: being able to restore the state before the update was applied, so you can "roll back".
For this, I recommend using AppMonster (or rather AppMonster Pro, as the Pro version can do all required stuff automatically in background, so you cannot forget it). This app automatically creates a backup of each app's .apk file whenever the app is installed or updated. It also takes care about only keeping a configured number of backups, so you don't risk running out of space. If you don't like an update, you then can simply launche AppMonster to restore a previous version.
I'm using AppMonster for years already, and can heartily recommend it. And as to your original question: I have auto-updates turned off, so I can manually decide which updates I want and which not. For some apps, I prefer the version I'm currently using for reasons like removed functionality, less overhead, and more.

Depends on how you wish for your phone to operate. System updates is pretty much the only updates that are needed, app updates depend on what apps you use. If you let every app update at will, you will get a few issues. The first is battery life. If updates are frequent, it will pull a little extra battery. If you use cellular network, you use up your mb's, or simply drain your wallet if you don't have a locked speed\payment service. If you are using the phone while it updates, you are also likely to notice some delay or sluggish performance during the updates.
While you can select what apps update automatically, and what apps do not, I suggest it's better to simply create some sort of weekly routine to update the apps you use most. It only takes a minute or two, and if you want, you can usually select "update all" to just get it all done. Tho that is best to be done on wifi network, as cellular network can be costly.

If you are always on internet and have wifi everywere you should.
Else it is just a waste of your mb\s.
But on 3g it is impossibile because of the high costs.

Question was not about costs, but about updates rather being a step backwards from the user's point of view (removed features, new bugs).

most updates fix bugs but also add bugs. there are no bugfree programs as big as apps for your phone

Agreed. But what does that have to do with "waste of MBs" and "high costs"?

the money you spend when using 3g


text:
Installing SDK on Windows 7
I have downloaded the SDK from Andriod site on a system where 32bit Windows XP is installed. Now I am trying to install this on system where 32bit Windows 7 is installed and this pc is without internet access.
The installer is not doing anything on double clicking on SDK Manager, no SDK Manager related Service is running on Task Manager. Can you please suggest me, what I need to follow to install Andriod on Windows 7?

First of all, try to download and install the SDK on a machine which is comparable to the target machine. In this case, install the SDK on a machine with Windows 7, and not with XP (Also, because XP is risky due to end of life)
Then copy the android-sdk-Folder to your target machine.
Then you should siply be able to launch it with a double-click on the SDK-Manager.
However, if this doesn't work, try to execute the SDK-Manager as "Administrator"
Also, if this fails, try to connect the Windows 7 computer to the internet and then download it properly as described here: https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
If this is also impossible, try to give aditional information (where do you have the SDK from? Is it the latest version? Where did you put it on the Target Machine? etc.)

Thanks, I did the same, downloaded it directly from https://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html in Windwos 7 and it worked. However root cause is unknown behind the issue.


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How to transfer Viber message history to a new phone
Since Viber currently doesn't offer backup and restore functionality, I resorted to using Titanium Backup for transferring message history to a new phone.
However, after the restore, when launching viber, the message history appears for a second and then the activation screen pops up for confirming the new device -- and after the device is confirmed (via incoming call or sms), all the history vanishes!
Any ideas?

I don't use the app  but I suspect you're able to see that confirmation because after restoring the app data the account wasn't restored explicitly. Accounts has to re restored separately in the device.

What method did you use to transfer Viber messages to your new phone? I just switched from Galaxy S6 edge to S7 Edge so looking to transfer Viber chats to my new android. So far I tried these instructions about transferring Viber chats from old Android/iPhone to new Android/iPhone with some app: http://www.easyphonerecovery.com/transfer-viber-messages-from-one-phone-to-another.html It worked and I could transfer 20 Viber messages with attachments to my S7 edge. Now, it’s asking me to pay $19 if I want to transfer all the chat history. Is there any free solution? Else I’ll buy this software.

You can do it without root access
Requirements:

Install ADB and OpenJDK 8 (I had nothing to do with security extension) by following adb backup guide on XDA
Download adbextractor

Then do
sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jre-headless
sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

Now, do the following

Connect the old mobile, create backup with adb backup (disable WiFi and data and forget the old phone)
sudo adb backup com.viber.voip -f /home/user/Downloads/viberoldphone1.ab
sudo java -jar abe.jar unpack /home/user/Downloads/viberoldphone1.ab /home/user/Downloads/viberoldphone1.tar

Install Viber on new phone and activate Viber, connect the new phone and create backup with adb backup
sudo adb backup com.viber.voip -f /home/user/Downloads/vibernewphone2.ab
sudo java -jar abe.jar unpack /home/user/Downloads/vibernewphone2.ab /home/user/a/vibernewphone2.tar

Open TAR archives in an archive manager (found Archive manager for GNOME 3.14.2 on my Lubuntu LiveCD). Copy files below from viberoldphone1.tar DB directory to vibernewphone2.tar

viber_data
viber_data-journal
viber_messages
viber_messages-journal

Repack to .ab and restore data to phone
sudo java -jar abe.jar pack /home/user/a/vibernewphone2.tar /home/user/Downloads/vibernewok.ab
sudo adb restore /home/user/Downloads/vibernewok.ab

Works like a charm. I have just tested on Android 4.1 and 5.0. I run into problems on Win7 with adb so finally used Lubuntu.
You can try to edit Viber DB files with SQLite editor. Probably DB files could be restored directly but I had no time to test
References:

http://dbremes.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/how-to-get-a-backup-of-your-android-applications-database-in-windows/
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2078710/android-adb-access-to-application-databases-without-root

The most easy and straightforward way. Without any root and permissions stuff.

Works perfectly! I noticed a few extra files in the backup of my new Viber install which weren't in the backup of my old Viber (files like viber_data-shm and viber_data-wal). I just ignored these, followed the instructions as stated, and it worked fine.
Why is every command prefixed with "sudo" though? I ran these without sudo, so long as you own the directory you're saving backups to it should work.

Links are always good for Extras info.

First of all thank you very much! These instructions didn't seem to work for me, after some testing and realizing the way the "tar" created the tar archive threw BackupManagerService off giving "java.io.IOException: Illegal semantic path" and other errors. To circumvent this I've followed the instructions at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2011811 to created the tar without trailing slashes and in the exact order of files (by listing the files from the new phone backup), using "pax" as the archiver.

Works like a charm. Just don't forget to copy the /viber/media files from the old phone as well to get the missing photos/videos. Mine happened to be on the external storage so copying it was easy.

I tried this in MacOS but the archives are basically empty.... I'll try again later using Ubuntu 16.04.

Anybody still succeed with this on Android 7.0 Nougat?

Overview:
To completely migrate Viber, you will have to copy your message databases from old device and set them to Viber's own on new device. In addition, if you want to have all photos and videos from your conversations, you must migrate them too.
How to:

You need both devices rooted
On both devices install some Root File Manager (further "RFM"), like Total Commander or ES File Explorer.
On the new device install Viber and activate your mobile number. You message board will be empty for now.
Lets backup your user photos and videos:

On old device go to directory, where Viber user data files installed. In most cases it will be your Home directory, such a /storage/sdcard or /mnt/sdcard or /storage/Emulated/0, etc. In most cases it is in your Internal memory, but if someone chose to move Viber to SD card, then he/she have to go to /storage/extsd or/mount/sdcard2 or whatever it named in his/shes particular system.
In this directory Viber directory will exist (with "media" directory inside, just for proper identification). Directory Viber contains all downloaded user photos and all images and videos from your conversations. As many videos you send and receive, as big it will be. You will need to backup this directory.
If you have external SD slot, use it for copying mentioned directory to SD card. If you do not have such, use any other method allowed by chosen RFM - send it by FTP to your PC/new device, send it by e-mail to yourself, share it to Google Drive etc.

Lets copy message databases from old to new device:

On the old device open RFM and go to /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/. There you will find 6 files (in 3 corresponding pairs); you will need all of them, so copy them all to your external SD or so, as I mentioned before.
Well, we finished with old device. It's up to you now for not pollute our planet throwing it to the trash mindlessly and consumingly.
On new device go to the same directory and see the same files there. 3 of them (those without .journal extension) will have permissions rw-rw---- (or 660), and the rest 3 - rw------- (or 600). You may see permissions right after file name, or you must get file property - it depends on RFM. Remember those "permission map".
Choose any current file and get his Properties in chosen RFM. You will see UID/GID (Owner/User and Group ID) of it either in form of owner name (like Viber) or system name (like u0_a92) or user ID (like 1092). Remember this UID or write it down.
Now you can copy all 6 "old" files from SD (or whatever else place you copy them before) to current location (/data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/) on new device.

Lets set proper rights to message databases:

Some of RFM (as Total Commander) allows to do group operations with permissions and UID/GID. Select all 6 files and get Properties of them. If your RFM allows you to set now Owner/Group or permissions, you lucky man; if not, you will must do next steps repeatedly for each single file.
Now you will need correct UID you remembered/written down before. If you thought you should easy remember u0_a92, but you don't, and now you are in doubts about correct UID, don't panic. Parent directory (/data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/) have the same correct UID, so cancel, go one level up and get it in it Properties.
For all 6 files in /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases directory get it properties and there set correct UID, which you remembered before (instead of current "root", set during copy by RFM). Probably you will be pushed by RFM to choose from a (long) list of existing UIDs, instead of writing down user ID manually.
For the same 6 files set the same correct GID as in previous step.
In file properties (for each fileset of 3 files) set correct permissions, as you remembered before (according to "permission map").

Lets restore your photos and videos:

Go to the Viber installation directory on the new device (usually /storage/sdcard if there is internal memory) and copy there Viber directory, you backed up in Step 4.

Go to Settings -> Applications -> Viber and Force Stop it.
Start Viber and enjoy your migrated conversations, with photos and videos, as nothing never happens.

P.S. I really do not understand why Viber have no will to implement this easy procedure.

I tried following your instructions to the letter, but can't get this thing to work. I'm transferring from a 4.0.4 Xperia Ray (which doesn't seem to support adb backup option) to a 5.1 Cubot X17, both rooted. I tried copying all the six files or only four (as per above answer). I also tried setting file permissions (with ES) to what they were by default before overwriting and to what you stated in your replay, but all for naught. Once I restart viber it will simply show no messages and no groups. If I clear data, groups come back, but they are all empty. Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Oh dear, one of those facepalm moments. I tried opening these recovered databases in SQLite browser and it appears there are no messages in the corresponding database. Which makes me think that these messages may have been deleted when I used the export option. Or I cocked up something badly when copying.

I also had many problems with this issue, but finally I managed to import Viber messages from other phone.
Steps:

Use Titanium backup to backup Viber on old phone
Restore Viber by Titanium Backup, but do not start it (no activation!)
Make a save from Viber with Titanium Backup on new system (Backup/Restore page - Viber)
Activate Viber (and loose all messages)
Go back to Titanium Backup and Clear data of app (Viber)
Make a restore data with prev. saved data
Run Viber, and your messages are OK!

None of the responses I have read on the web has worked for me.
But the following very simple method works perfectly:

On your target device, install and activate Viber
Using a file explorer that allows access to the whole device (e.g. ES File Explorer), navigate to /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases on your source device, and copy the file viber_messages to the same location on your target device.

Note: I did this as follows:

Started ES File Explorer's FTP server on my target device
Using ES File Explorer on my source device, copied the desired file from my source device to my target device's download folder using FTP (I couldn't see /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases from the source device)
Using ES File Explorer on my target device, copied the desired file from the download folder to /data/data/com.viber.voip/databases/
Restarted Viber on the target device

You should point out that this requires both, source and target device, to be rooted.

I recently upgraded from Galaxy S6 Edge to new Galaxy S7 Edge and like OP I didn't want to lose my old Viber conversations. I successfully transferred all the Viber messages along with the photos, videos, and other attachments from my old Android device (S6 edge) to new Android device (S7 edge) with the the help of a paid third-party software called Android Viber Transfer mentioned in this guide.
It costs $19 but I guess it’s the only tool to transfer Viber messages from one phone to another (Android to Android and iPhone to iPhone) because on Google I found 3-4 websites that are talking about this tool. Free version lets you transfer only 20 messages which is kind of useless. These are the steps that need to be followed in order to transfer Viber messages from one Android device to another:

Launch the app on your computer and connect your old Android device
with to your computer via USB cable. Make sure USB debugging is
enabled on your device.
Tap ‘Back up my data’ on your Android and you’ll be able to see all
your Viber chat history on the UI of this program.
Right click on your Android and choose “Backup Messages” to
backup your Viber messages to the local database on your computer.
Move the SIM card to your new Android device,    download the Viber
app on your device and verify your phone number.
Finally, connect your new Android device to your computer, right
click on the database that you’ve created and choose “Restore
Messages”.

I tried this on my non-rooted S7 edge running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and it worked for me. I hope my answer will help the folks those who are looking to transfer Viber messages from their old device to new device as currently there isn’t native/official solution for this.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work anymore on Android 7 and above.


text:
Images are not being scanned in Kitkat
I have nexus4 with Kitkat 4.4.2. I added .nomedia file in DCIM/Camera folder. After restarting the phone, Gallery didn't show any of the pics from that folder. I removed the .nomedia file from the folder, but the gallery doesn't show any images. After rebooting the phone couple of times and trying few media scanning apps, it shows new images which I took from the camera. But it doesn't show any old images.
What could be the problem? What can I do so that it shows old images too?

Many media scanner apps do not work as expected on KitKat. After trying couple of such apps i found that the media scan function in FX file explorer app works 100% every time you use it. It successfully updates your gallery with the changes.
Get FX file explorer from here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nextapp.fx
Open this app, go to 'Main Storage' & run 'Rescan Media' from menu.
Tested on Nexus 5,
Android 4.4.2