text:
How to transfer files from Galaxy s7
I had a galaxy s7 until i dropped it and the LCD broke.  The screen is black but the phone is on.  To repair it is $250, Id rather not pay that.  But I need my files from my phone.  Any ideas???

Sorry to hear that. You can connect your phone to a pc or Mac to transfer files from your phone.
You can find it below.
https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/2840804?hl=en
Hope this helps.

I tried that, everytime I plugged my phone into my computer, my computer couldnt find my phone.  My computer would say to plug my phone in using a USB cord.


text:
Lock screen notifications rearrange themselves for seemingly no reason
Ok, I'm going to try and describe this and I hope it makes sense.
When I turn on my screen (while my phone is locked), I see all my notifications. For example, I will have some gmail notifications, some text message notifications, some calendar notifications.
While I'm looking at these notifications, or about to swipe them away, they rearrange themselves. It's not because I get a new email/text message. It's seemingly for no reason. While I'm looking at an email notification which is originally below my calendar notification, or about to swipe it away, maybe it'll shift locations to be above the calendar notification. And then it'll switch back. This behavior is especially prevalent when I "expand" a notification such as an email so that I can read part of the message from the lock screen. It happens seemingly randomly, and can cause me to swipe away a message that I don't mean to because it swaps locations when I'm not expecting. It's also terribly annoying to be reading a message and have other notifications going above and below it intermittently.

Does anyone know how to keep notifications from rotating positions on the lock screen? (when no new notifications are even appearing)
Is this a bug or is this the desired behavior? If it is the desired behavior, what purpose would this be for?

Does anyone else notice this happening to them? I wish I could capture a gif of this behavior to make it explicitly clear what I'm talking about.
I'm using Android 7.1.1 on a Pixel.

What device/Android version you using? I must admit I've experienced this on my 6P on 7.1.1. Very frustrating when you swipe away the wrong notification because of it!

Coming from LineageOS with Android 7.1.1 on Nexus 5, I also experienced this for the first time. As far as I remember, it didn't happen on Android 6.

Just an FYI... I see this in my Moto X Pure edition since the Marshmallow (6.0) update as well, but it did not occur on Lollipop (5.1.1). Quite annoying sometimes.

It autos based on the last notification app I.e. if I had 20 or so YouTube notifications at the top (fun fact - that's how 8pm looks to me) and then an email at the bottom, if I got another email They would jump to the top INCLUDING the old email.

Oh and it started in Lollipop, although becoming much more obvious since Marshmallow, and samsung had it since ICS. Tested on some devices I got lying around.

@DanBrown in response to your first comment--the rearrangement happens actively even when not receiving new notifications, and the reordering goes back and forth.

Oh? Ok. Fair enough then, I was just going off what I know. If I find some documentation, I'll let ya know :)

That started free months ago with the update of I-dunno-which-app (because I did not updated the OS). This is making the whole notification section almost completely unusable! Can't read them, can tap them just in fractions of a second and they keep swapping and rearranging. That's a serious usability issue; do I have to stay with the bug or is there any solution to get a normal functionality back?? I want to come back to few months ago when this ridiculous behavior wasn't happening!

It does not appear to be possible to keep notifications from rotating positions on the lock screen in Android 7 Nougat. See explanation below, and the way to disable this action in Android Lollipop.
This appears to be desired behavior. See explanation below.

Priority notifications rise to the top. See http://www.greenbot.com/article/2854634/master-notifications-in-android-lollipop-with-notification-priority-and-downtime.html and use ctrl+f ('Search on Webpage', for Desktop) to search for "Priority Notifications" (tried to find a better Source, welcome an edit) .
To change priority notifications in Android Lollipop (setting does not appear to be present in Android Nougat):
Swipe down Notification Bar, tap Settings Cog, hit "Sound and Notifications", hit "App notifications" (near bottom) - choose an APP to control individual APP's ability to rearrange itself.
Individual apps may decide for themselves to rise to the top by rerequesting to be first, like an "Arms-Race" or butting into line, such behavior is usually impolite and unwanted; it's use is discouraged, but what to do.
The Priority of individual Programs can be altered in rooted Android Devices (Phone or Tablet), that would result in obsessive Programs running slower and last; but ultimately running and performing the unwanted 'Notification Area spamming' eventually. Complaining about and/or boycotting such Programs is another avenue open to the User.
Here's a Programming example with a discussion about implementing this correctly (and politely): https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6189817/pin-notification-to-top-of-notification-area .
Android 'O' has better control over the Notifications (Dev version available) and there are APPs that allow more control. This Video provides a Demo of one claiming the same features as Android O: https://youtu.be/_Aj61Quj1Uo .

I'm not seeing the individual app's control to rearrange itself in the menus under the notification settings. Can you be more specific about where it is? I'm using 7.1.1 stock android. The article appears to be written for android lollipop and not nougat.

While this answer provides a link to the history of the behavior in question, it does NOT provide a working answer to point #1 in my question for the software version in question. It should not be awarded the bounty.

When you pull down the Notifications are in order of occurrence, then they 'realized' that they should rearrange and do that; if they were to subsequently 'discover' that they had expired (or they are a Download, for example, and had completed) then they would update. Every applicable Thread is not ran and each Process tested prior to it's presentation - another way of phrasing that is that the 'Spell Checker' is a separate Program that is used after (often during) the writing of the Book. If that doesn't address the point you referred to please specify exactly that point alone.

Thanks for the attempted explanation. This doesn't explain the behavior of an app notification rearranging itself, and then, without any new notifications or changes, un-arranging itself. To use your spellcheck analogy, it would be akin to opening a static document, and seeing a word underlined, and then without any action by the user, the word is no longer underlined. And then it is underlined again (again, with no action by the user).

You say: "... without any action from the User". - Yes the Programs run in their own Thread, on their own until they, you, or the OS decides to terminate them. - It's an "Arms-Race" to be first; politer (or non-obsessive) Programs keep their place. - A programming example: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6189817/pin-notification-to-top-of-notification-area - There's one Code example and some explanation. After a timer goes off it refreshes itself and kicks the others out of place. - It's like butting into line if you prefer that example. Thanks for requesting further clarification.

Ahh... I see. So the apps are programmed to refresh their priority, and if multiple apps are doing that, then they will just keep switching places? It seems like this should be forbidden if multiple app notifications are doing this simultaneously to prevent the constant notification swapping! Rob, can you edit the gist of your last comment (including the question you referenced) into your answer so that it's more comprehensive? Then i'll accept.

Done. Writing on a Phone's tiny Screen sometimes makes for terse answers, writing that I'm pecking this out on a Phone would have been more verbose and no more helpful. :) - I left out the Programming example and suggested adjusting the Notification Priority as that works on my Android 5 Phone, one rearrangement and that's it (except for wanted updates like 'Download Progress' or new wanted Info). Depending on what you run and how hostile it is you can end up with a Cage Match (Boxing / Wrestling / Martial Arts). If the answer needs an additional tweak it's OK to say.

@Spacetyper, I've updated the answer.

Awesome! Thanks for keeping this answer up to date.

Is there any way to resolve or disable this poorly designed feature? Or is there any way to debug and find the culprit applications so to open a tracking issue for resolution?

@Kamafeather It's fixed in Android Pie (and Oreo) or at least I don't see it on my phone (nor does use spacetyper continue to complain). If you could write a new question with your phone's name and OS version we can resolve your difficulty personally. A short answer is: use an APP such as a usage monitor to find out which apps are running (if you don't want to (or can't) longpress on the Notification and choose "Details").

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Nexus 5X bootloop, recovery mode doesn't exist
Yesterday my Nexus 5x froze and  started bootlooping, it did start twice since yesterday but only for a couple of minutes. I tried going into the recovery mode, but as soon as I click the power button to enter the recovery mode, it goes back to bootloop. Also tried going into safe mode once, but that didn't help.
I have already tried flashing the device with the Nexus root toolkit, but the problem still exists.

I'm facing the same issue right now, I did all the steps successfully from here, https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz6x7k-VkpUJam5Mc1hKa09PVGc/view were you able to solve your problem?

TechTimes reports that:

LG is currently unable to repair Nexus 5X smartphones affected by a so-called "bootloop" malfunction, so it's issuing full refunds to make up for it.

so I don't think there's anything you can do to fix it.

I had the same problem today.
I tried multiple times to

re-flash TWRP
flash older versions of TWRP
flash older versions of the factory image (without the internal storage part)
flash the latest factory image (without the internal storage part)

Nothing changed, but this procedure worked for me (only once):

Start the phone in fastboot mode
On the PC, rename latest TWRP in recovery.img (I think it isn't required, but that's what I did)
On the PC
fastboot boot recovery.img

I backed up everything I needed from the internal storage (via adb) and then rebooted the phone.
I was expecting to do a full wipe, but everything started as usual.
EDIT: Sadly this procedure works every now and then. I noticed that leaving the phone boot loop, for example during the night, brings it back to a bootable state, but if you reboot the device the boot loop sequence starts again.

After many hours of screaming and shouting (not really), I finally found a fix.
There are some boot images out there that should fix it, but in my case they didn't. So I decided to find a way and apply the fix myself.
You'll probably lose all your data with this
I used Ubuntu 18.04 for this. Since one of the packages I used required Linux and I'm not hipster enough to buy a Mac.
Since applying the fix yourself requires you to unpack en repack the boot image, I used the GIT repository at https://github.com/cfig/Android_boot_image_editor.
They tested it with the original Nexus 5x factory image, so I decided to download it (MDA89E). (https://developers.google.com/android/images#bullhead)
Step 1. Download Factory Image and unpack it (also unpack the zip file within in (containing the actual factory image)
Step 2. Acquire the Android Platform Tools.
sudo apt install android-sdk

Step 3. Acquire Java
sudo apt install default-jre

Step 4. Clone the repository mentioned above
git clone https://github.com/cfig/Android_boot_image_editor.git --depth=1

Step 5. Follow the instructions! (You'll need Android Studio too)
Step 6. Open the bootimg.json file and make sure the following commands are present in the info > cmdline value.
"cmdline" : "console={** other commands are here **} androidboot.hardware=bullhead boot_cpus=0-3 maxcpus=4 cpu_max_a53=1632000 cpu_max_a57=0",

The boot_cpus command is probably already present. change its value to 0-3 and make sure the maxcpus=4, cpu_max_a53=1632000 cpu_max_a57=0 are present.
Step 7. Repack your image (Follow instructions!)
sudo ./gradlew pack

Step 8. Move the boot.img.signed file to the unpacked factory image (The actual image mentioned in step 1). So you should overwrite the existing boot.img with the newly packed boot.img.signed (rename it to boot.img and throw away the original)
Step 9. Start ADB server (Maybe reconnect your devices afterwards)
adb devices

Step 10. Make sure your device is connected and visible for 'fastboot devices'. That means it should be in the fastboot mode (Power button + Volume down while booting)
Step 11. Let's go! (All these files are (now) present in the freshly downloaded factory image.
fastboot unlock flashing
fastboot erase userdate

fastboot flash bootloader {bootloader-image.img}
fastboot reboot bootloader
fastboot flash radio {radio-image.img}
fastboot reboot bootloader

Step 12. Flash the rest
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata.img
fastboot flash vendor vendor.img
fastboot reboot

Hope this helps anyone.

Try to use adb from pc, with the prompt commands

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How can an Android phone acting as a local hotspot show how many people are connected to the hotspot?
Can an Android phone do that? Or even better, ask for permission whenever a phone tries to connect to the hotspot?
This is because with iOS, Mac, or other devices, they may "connect to this hotspot" as free Wifi, and transfer or download 500 MB, 1.2 GB of data as they please. But the hotspot uses cell phone data transfer (LTE or 4G), which means 1 GB of data will cost US$10 to US$15.
This is especially serious with Apple devices, because if you use one iPhone / iPad to connect to this hotspot, then all your other Apple devices will also get this hotspot (or Wifi) password through iCloud, and all automatically connect to this hotspot, and download the 3GB of app updates, system update in the background, and so all of a sudden, the 1.2GB of software update should have been free, but now is US$12. Multiply by 3 computers / iPhones and 2 times a month and that's like $80.

Yes, my phones (Galaxy S5, J5) do that. Every device is listed with its MAC adresses, which can be edited and replaced with a name.

@esQmo how are you able to see that?

The system provides those informations

It is very useful

You can even deny access to non-registered devices

Using terminal type ip neigh it show the clients connected to hotspot and their addresses

Yes it will tell you what devices are attached. You also set the security settings, including password, for the hotspot so only devices with the password can connect.

so I think the question is: where can you show that?


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Using your smartphone as Laptop and Desktop with a DisplayLink-Setup (with S7 for example)
I want to buy an Samsung S7, but I also want to use it as a laptop and desktop replacement. What I have in mind is a workflow like seen in this youtube video. After some researching how this could be done with the S7 I found out that it hasn't MHL (which might be problematic), and that what is done in the video might not work. Luckily I came across the DisplayLink technology.
So I want to buy a compatible docking station, for example this one. And as I read with USB OTG the phone could not charged I would use a wireless charger. Then some mouse and keyboard (bluetooth or usb with the docking station) and I would be happy. Also I would buy me a portable display and a power bank.
But before I go and buy it, has anybody experience with such a setup? I find it rather difficult to find information on these setups. I found this post here, but it is from 2011 and so not very up to date. So will this setup work? What solutions have you guys for such a setup?
If it might not work, or might be problematic, please feel free to offer alternative solutions, also suggesting different phones, as despite the S7 is my favorite up to now I am still open for other options that do what I want them to do.
EDIT: At the end of this post a user confirms that the Lenovo's DisplayLink (AN9017A1) works with the S7.

Not having MHL is not problematic.

Most recent Android phone will be able to act as host and therefore talk with a docking station with DisplayLink technology inside.
You simply need the app and an OTG cable. You are correct that the USB standard, until Type-C, only allows a device to be charged, not the host. However, some phones do charge whilst being host. They are not compliant, but in this case it may help you! It means you can find non-compliant cables to do that, which may not work with your phone model.
Android stock only allows you to have 1 external display in mirror/clone. The mouse is handled on one display properly. Android stock does not allow you to have an extended desktop because the launchers need to be modified to ask where to launch the app, and the mouse pointer also needs to be handled. DisplayLink, my current employer, has shown it is possible by modifying the launcher/OS. It just needs a manufacturer to embed that in their image...

Here are my recommendations on this. If you use it at a desk and not mobile, I would use a USB travel adapter plugged in to a standard monitor. This will allow you to plug to any conference room/hotel TV to display videos, presentations, show photos to family on their TV... directly from your phone.

If you wish to have a mobile office, the mobile monitors are very nice. They are also quite interesting for trade shows as light and not requiring a power adapter. Still, driving the display and the back-light needs juice! Your mobile phone may not be able to provide all that juice directly (and even if it does, you may not want it to :) ). Some of these monitors come with a USB Y-cable. You would plug one to the OTG, the other cable to power bank.

Personally, I use a USB-C to Type-A adapter and a miniRay projector from my Oneplus 3 phone.
I hope this helps you see a bit more clearly what's possible!
Thanks,
Alban

Thanks for the answer! First, it might be basic but what is a USB-Travel Adapter in this context? Something to charge a device by usb? I cannot see what usage you want to suggest here... Second, the miniRay sounds interesting, maybe can you be more specific on your setup (again what kind of travel adapter??)... and lastly, I opened a somehow related post here: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/169761/here-is-display-mirroring-by-usb-cable-with-the-s7-but-the-s7-does-not-supports Maybe you want to take a look :)

use chromecast.
The setup would be:-

A chromecast connected to a display by HDMI port
the phone connected by bluetooth keyboard and mouse(Something like Logitech K480)
the phone charged by usb.
Phone's display mirrored on the chromecast

Thanks. But Chromecast requires a host wifi (or at least you need a third device to set up a hot spot). But that is not practical when I am traveling for example. I tried miracast, this works but is laggy. So I would prefer something less laggy (which might be cable-based necessarily..)

Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter. It sets up its own adhoc wifi and from what I have read, it has very less time lag. And as S7 and S7 edge don't have MHL, it is very diificult to have a wired connection. Some wired connections do exist but they work over adb but they are very laggy. You can find these cables on eBay.


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What app uses this notification icon?

It looks like a partial alphabet a in black color over a white circular background.

If this is an application icon, rather than a system-driven one, it will appear on the left side of the notification bar. Pull down the notification menu and the notification can be long-pressed to bring up the AppInfo button. Press the AppInfo button to take you to the page for the relevant app.

it's most def an app notification icon I just stumbled upon in the Internet and I'm curious what it stands for

That is a notification icon from Podcast Addict. See this screenshot for an example.
It's not the icon you see when content is playing or paused: I think it's the icon you see when the app wants to tell you there is new content available.

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


text:
I got a Samsung Galaxy 3 lite from a friend I don't have the Google accounts info and don't know the password to unlock
Samsung Galaxy 3 lite
Please I got it from a friend that moved away. I don't know the Google accounts info or the password or pattern to unlock it. What do I do??

You stop stealing people's locked and probably encrypted phones

Just ask your friend. Is it that hard to do so?

There are thousands of tutorial on how to bypass FRP on Samsung devices. If it is not the FRP, just reset the phone to the factory.

This all depends on the IMEI number written under the battery !
Give me that number and I'll see if i can help !


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How to turn off Wi-Fi 15min after it had been turned on?
I seek help creating a Tasker profile/task to turn off the Wi-Fi 15min after it had been turned on.
Is this possible in Tasker?

I am not familiar with Tasker , in Macrodroid  it is Trigger : WiFi state change> connected, Action: wait 15 minutes, WiFi configure > disable WiFi

I am not familiar with Tasker , in Macrodroid another versatile automation app:
Trigger : WiFi state change → connected (choose network)
Actions:

Wait 15 minutes
WiFi configure → disable Wi

Constraints: None (Run always) or set up your Constraints under which macro runs


text:
How to restrict some tracks from playing in 'Shuffle tracks'
I have some audio tracks on my phone that I want to be excluded from general music playing.  For example, I have some meditations, which I love, but only want to play them when I explicitly choose them, not during shuffle at a party :p
I've just transitioned from iPhone. In Itunes, there is the option on each song to include in playback or not.
Is there anything like this the music app on Android?

That's not a standard feature of Android. However, you can place these meditation tracks in a separate folder and use a third party folder play apps from Izzy's list

Related question where Mort Music Player worked for OP

I put all of my non-music files in to their own folders.  I use 'My Files'  to copy a '.nomedia' file from some folder (ie: from anki or whatsapp), and paste it in to the non-music folder.
This stops the media files from showing up in 'Music'.
I then use Mort Music - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.stohelit.folderplayer  to listen to the audio-books and meditation folders.


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NFC on S4 doesn't work at all
I have an S4 with which I try the Yubikey Neo with NFC on. I also tried another tag but I can't get any response from the phone whatsoever. Not even a beep. NFC is turned on for sure.
I bought an (relatively) expensive original battery (not from any suspicious ebay dealer) and it says Near Field Communication on it, as I understand the antenna is located ontop of the battery.
Does anyone have any ideas why it doesn't work? Is there a way I can test if the NFC is completely dead, or some logs I can look into? I have tested various apps for my tags but can't seen anything.

There is nothing related to NFC marqued on batteries, original or fake! What you bought seems to be a fake, even though it was expensive. And what do you mran by the antenna is located obtop of the battery? Didn't you find any option in the settings about NFC?

Well, as I understand it, the NFC antenna for the S4 is located on the outside of the battery. Have a look at http://static.trustedreviews.com/94/000029781/1f6a_orh500w750/Samsung-Galaxy-S4-Battery.jpg . It clearly says "Near Field Communication" on it.

I can see a rectangular pattern on my battery so it seems the antenna would really be there.

The antenna is located on the back cover. Not on the battery itself. Check if there is an option related to NFC in the Settings.

You mean the plastic case? I highly doubt that. Could you refer to some source pointing to that that is the case? First of all, there are no electrical connections to the cheap plastic cover.

I don't own an S4, but never heard that phone manufacturers place antennas on [removable] batteries.

Please google it.

I did, and found nothing  related to this. Except one thread on XDA where it is mentioned on the battery itself.

http://i59.tinypic.com/8x9e93.jpg

You are right on NFC being on battery, it is the RFID which is on the reader. AFAIK,  battery logs or other logs do not provide view of NFC circuit working. My best guess would be faulty battery, syncs you have tried multiple tags / apps. Unfortunately, expensive doesn't mean original +1

This is the second battery not working though...

You can use apps mentioned here and in comments to confirm if the NFC functionality is working on your device from sensor perspective http://android.stackexchange.com/q/120232/131553 . Of it isn't there is little one can do except expensive hardware trading replacement

Can you let me the serial number on the battery? I mean the model number printed on it- it should be same as that of original battery

Also how many terminals does it have? Did it work fine with original battery?

Ser#: AA1H721WS/2-B   ...Maybe it worked. Many batteries since I last tried. 4 terminals.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Luckily a friend of mine has an S4, here its  back. See the 4 gold metallic pins? Those are  the NFC  antennas connectors
The antenna is on the back cover, not visible on the photo bellow, his back cover is not an original one, so no NFC antenna.

It doesn't make sense the NFC antenna be ON THE BATTERY ITSELF! Despite the fact  is it written on the battery. My S5 battery also has Near Field Communication writing on it.
If NFC doesn't work, you should check if your back cover has something similar to this from my S5:
EDIT:
Effectively, the  battery contains a built-in NFC antenna. And it is recommended to handle the battery carefully to avoid damaging the NFC antenna, may be that's what happened to you.

Could we get some clarity into this subject? Someone?

I suspect one of the terminals are for charging: https://www.technobezz.com/how-to-add-qi-wireless-charging-to-the-galaxy-note-2/

I wonder if it can also work as an ordinary NFC antenna?

http://www.andytags.com/blog/can-you-use-nfc-and-qi-wireless-charging-or-is-there-incompatibility#.WKxJUFf8tpg

Which one is for charging? The connectors in the right are for the NFC.

Which ones do you mean?

The 2 at the right side, above SIM card slot. Below R1 mark. (Check the first image)

It turns out that you were right. On some models, the NFC antenna is really located on the battery. I Just looked closely to an S4 battery and there you can clearly see the antenna.

It turns out it was the battery that didn't work. I tested with the battery of another phone that worked -and then it worked!
The battery that worked had serial#:

YS1DC02FS/2-B

While the battery that didn't work (fresh from the store):

AA1H721WS/2-B

All the batteries that didn't work started with

AA...

Someone else hinted me in that direction in another thread. Now what's up with batteries whose serials are starting with AA? It says NFC on them and the antenna is visible through the decal. Why don't they work? One of them had original laser markings that I read none of the fakes usually have. What's going on? Someone?
something


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Samsung: Backing up messages fails
I am trying to back up a Samsung S5 mini (SM-G800F, running Android 5.1.1) using either Samsung Kies or SmartSwitch.  With either program, the backup stalls for a very long time when it gets to backing up messages.  When it finally recovers, it announces that backing up messages has failed (the rest of the items are fine).

The following categories have failed to back up due to an error.
Messages — Device not responding.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?  What could be the root cause?  Is there anything I can do on the phone itself to correct this, and allow messages to get backed up as well?
In the past backup has worked correctly with the same phone.

Have you tried omitting the messages in the main backup and using a different app like SMS backup and restore to backup your messages?

@asloss Thank, you, this is useful (if incomplete: it does not restore MMS). No, I was not aware that there are other ways to backup messages. If there is no other solution I can find, I will consider this one.  I have not tried skipping message backup, but I always assumed it would avoid this error.   My main question was how to fix message backups.

It's worth giving a shot. You might have a weird message in there somewhere that is triggering a bug. Let me know. I personally don't like kies for backups. I do everything manually so that I can actually check to see if all the files are there.

@asloss Why?  Did it ever silently fail on you (i.e. claim that everything is backed up, even though it wasn't)?  If yes, that would be very disturbing. I have never had to try restoring backups ...

Yah I've had it fail on me before lost a bunch of stuff. All it ended up backing up was settings :(. Not the first time I've had a mainstream backup service fail on me. So now I make sure I have everything manually. Could just be bad luck. I also think doing it manually is faster. Just copy internal and SD card onto computer and then use SMS backup and restore for messages and  all done :)

I had the same problem for month, I updated to the last version of smart switch today and have reboot my s8 yesterday (I have almost 25% of free space on the phone)
I gave a new chance to the backup with smart switch today and, after being stucked for almost 2 hours on "backing up message" at 18%, it finally went to the next step of the backup!
So my advice is : patience (and use an usb 3 port!)


text:
Eject OTG Storage with ADB Command
When I plug in an OTG cable with a flash drive attached to the other side, the system automatically mounts the drive.
How can I eject the OTG drive with a shell command? (Not Settings->Storage->Eject OTG)

Did you try umount command?

Did you read this thread yet? https://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-2086313.html

@esQmo Of course I've read that thread and given it a try but to no avail.

@GokulNC umount only detaches the mounted filesystem, but never ejects the drive.


text:
Restore Whatsapp
I have formatted my phone, but I made a Nandroid Backup before.
I then installed Whatsapp again, expecting it to download the chats from the cloud. It didn't. I then deleted Whatsapp and the newly generated /data/data/com.whatsapp, extracted it from the Nandroid Backup and put it on my phone, and reinstalled Whatsapp. However, it immediately crashes. It starts and just closes again.
If I copy back the newly generated com.whatsapp folder without my messages, it starts but my chats are gone. If I copy the folder from the backup, it doesn't even boot.
How do I get my chats back? Can I "mix" the working folder with just the msgstore.db from the old one? I don't want to mess more up ...

I did re-flash the phone again, this time first copying my old folder back, then installing the exact same version of Whatsapp, it still doesn't boot. Logcat seems to indicate permission issues? http://pastebin.com/qtVmN8hr Why? Can I fix this somehow? I haven't yet created a new com.whatsapp folder after the re-flash. - Whatsapp seems to want toread from /data/user/0/com.whatsapp instead of /data/data/com.whatsapp ..

As a side note, /data/user/0 is a symlink to /data/data.

To restore WhatsApp's functionality, you need to uninstall and reinstall it again. Then, open a terminal and issue
su
ls -l /data/data/com.whatsapp

, noting down the content of the third and fourth columns. The third identifies the file owner, while the fourth is the group.
After that, restore your backup and, in a terminal, issue
su
chown -R <owner>.<group> /data/data/com.whatsapp

, replacing <owner> and <group> with the data you previously noted down. This procedure sets the correct ownership for WhatsApp data, letting you effectively restore your backup.

Reason behind the failure
I was finally able to reproduce the issue.
Your phone has SELinux installed, and set in Enforcing mode. Now, SELinux is able to limit even the root user, and it does so by enforcing certain so-called contexts. The appropriate context for app data is u:object_r:app_data_file:s0, while the context of the backup was u:object_r:system_data_file:s0. This can be seen at line 13 of your log, which reads
02-22 11:38:10.673  7269  7269 W SharedPreferenc: type=1400 audit(0.0:909): avc: denied { read } for name="com.whatsapp_preferences.xml" dev=mmcblk0p12 ino=73372 scontext=u:r:untrusted_app:s0:c512,c768 tcontext=u:object_r:system_data_file:s0 tclass=file permissive=0

(tcontext is the file's context).
Basically, SELinux denied WhatsApp the right to operate any changes under /data/data/com.whatsapp despite ownership and permissions, because the app isn't allowed to edit anything belonging to the abovementioned tcontext.


text:
How do I set up Slack to send notifications to my Android phone?
I must have missed something, but I can't get push notifications working for the Slack app on my Android phone.
In the settings of the app, I've set the Send me push notifications for option to Activity of any kind, with a Push timing of As quickly as possible. I also deactivated the Do not disturb feature just to be sure.
The Slack app is authorized to send me notifications in the OS settings.
What did I forget? Is there a hidden option in the Slack web application that I'm not aware of?

It is a Huawei related issue. The OS is configured to optimize battery use, and therefore forbids Slack to run when the phone is deactivated. For a reason I don't know, some applications are, as soon as they are installed, allowed to run in the background, that's why I got notifications from them (facebook, gmail, whatsapp, snapchat, etc.)
Here is a copy/paste of the procedure to fix the issue (source) :
Step 1: Go to settings --> advanced settings --> battery manager --> protected apps, then find the app you want to see notifications from, and protect it. This is "whitelisting" the app so Huawei's overeager software doesn't shut it down for no reason.
Step 2: Go to settings --> apps --> advanced --> ignore battery optimizations, then find the app and ignore it. Don't be tricked by the misleading wording, "ignoring" the app actually means to let it run, because you're telling the battery optimization function, aka Doze, to "ignore" that app.

You might have different settings for each channel, so that the channel you are testing with, does not send mobile notifications.
With a channel selected in the sidebar, click the Notifications icon (the bell), and check the settings for the channel you are viewing:

In the Mobile push notifications section, make sure you have not selected Nothing. And make sure you have not checked the Mute this channel option:

I just checked every channel, everything is set to Activity of any kind and the Mute this channel option is never checked, so the issue comes from somewhere else

If so, it looks like this is an Android problem, and you're probably better off posting your question at [android.se]

The fact is that push notifications on the other apps work fine (facebook, gmail, whatsapp...), the problem is only focused on Slack. As I said, in the Applications settings of Android, the Slack app is authorized to notify me. Is there another option to be aware of?


text:
What is preventing my phone from staying locked?
Normally, when I press the power button on my phone, the screen turns off and when I press it again, I'm presented with the lock screen.  (I don't have a password or pattern, so it's just the "Swipe up to unlock" screen.)
In the last month or so, my phone has started exhibiting the symptom that I press the power button and the screen turns off, but when I press the power button again, it's not at the lock screen, but whatever the front application happens to be.  Sometimes I'll note that about 20 seconds after I press the power button to lock the screen, the phone will emit another sound from the speakers that sounds a lot like the "I've just locked" click.
This doesn't happen all of the time.  At a guess, I'd say that about a third of the times that I wake from a black screen, I get no lock screen.  Also, I'm not sure if pressing the power button to lock vs. a timeout makes any difference.
It seems to me that there must be some application that's keeping the phone from locking, but I think I've uninstalled all the applications that I installed shortly before this started happening.  I'm guessing that it's an application that had been recently updated, but I don't know how to track that down.
I don't really want to uninstall apps one-by-one, as I can't reproduce the problem.  It never happens when I want it to.
Does anyone have any ideas how to track down this problem?
This is on a Nexus 5 running 6.0.1, rooted.  (I never do anything with root, though, and it's preventing me from upgrading, so I should really undo it.)

There's a setting is Settings - Security - Screen Lock settings - "Automatically lock" is a timer, and "Power button instantly locks" is on/off, are either of those set?

@RMarkwald: I don't see those settings.  The only screen lock settings I see are Screen Lock (None, Swipe, Pattern, PIN, Password), Lock Screen Message (None), and Smart Lock (disabled).

Is there a gear icon or anything on Swipe to adjust its settings at all?

@RMarkwald: Nope. No icon; long press just selects; three dots icon on that screen is just "Help & feedback".  Remember that it works as I expect about two-thirds of the time.

Since you suspect this to be app related, install wakelock detector which should help you identify the wakelocks that are holding the screen awake. Read the Screen Wakelock section
Once the culprit is identified, Googling for that would lead you to the app, if the app name is not evident ( You may need to monitor over a few hours repeatedly, since the behaviour reported is not consistent)
Edit: Remember to monitor when the phone is not being used. Charging the phone to a fixed percentage like 90% before retiring for bed would be ideal monitoring time

I'll give that a shot. My concern is that I've never seen this prevent the screen from locking; it seems to force it to unlock after it's been locked. Hopefully my concern is unfounded.

That is exactly what an errant Wakelock does. It can affect the screen or CPU . See this to know better http://android.stackexchange.com/q/34969/131553

Good to know. Thanks. I'll post positive results when I have them or negative results in a few days.

All the best. Please see the edit

Turns out that Wakelock Detector doesn't record information while the phone is charging.  Now that I know, I'll leave it off the charger tonight.

It's been longer than a few days because ever since I installed Wakelock Detector my phone has been acting weird.  One time the pulldown settings text changed to something bizarre that I don't remember (instead of the date and time). Wireless settings and such kept changing themselves. Bluetooth is now disabled every time I reboot. It just rebooted itself for no apparent reason. One thing it hasn't done is fail to lock. (to be continued)

The first few days WLD showed me that Draw! had performed a wakelock. I can't imagine why a drawing app, especially one I hadn't been using, would do that, so I uninstalled it. I then checked the reviews to see if anyone else had reported anything, but then I noticed it had just been updated.  So I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.  I'm going to uninstall WLD now and see if I'm still unlock free.

It could just be a poorly developed app or a bug in the app. Uninstalling WLD will not make a difference as it only monitors wakelocks . Anyway, hope your problem gets resolved


text:
Unable to sideload a file to One Plus One. What are my alternatives?
I have a oneplus one which had CM 13 installed on it. The recovery is TWRP. Last day I tried to install Kali Nethunter ROM on the same from recovery. However things got messy and the phone didn't boot. To make things worse, I by mistake wiped everything on the device.
So I now have A device with NO OS and NO Data.
Then I booted the device to recovery and tried to use sideload. However the device wasn't getting detected on my laptop. Following commands resulted no positive results.
adb devices [no devices connected]
adb push [failed]
adb sideload [failed]

Since the device is not even getting detected as an unknown device in the USB port, I tried installing the universal adb driver available. That also didn't help.
What could I be doing wrong?

You can flash the phone in fastboot mode.

First you need to unlock the bootloader (if it wasn't done before):

Power off your phone then boot into fastboot mode with power button + volume up button.
Connect your phone to your PC via usb cable.
Open a command prompt
Check your fastboot connection by issuing this command: fastboot devices
It should return your device serial number, if not you need to make sure your drivers are installed correctly.
Once you've confirmed your fastboot connection issue this command:

fastboot oem unlock
The device will now go through the automated unlocking process, just let it do its things.

Done

Flashing thee Cyanogen OS Fastboot Images

Download the latest stock images
Reboot your device into Fastboot Mode (power + volume up) and connect your phone to your PC via usb cable.
Unzip the file you downloaded and put its contents into your fastboot folder.
Open a command prompt.
Issue these fastboot commands (Every line ends by hitting enter):

fastboot flash modem NON-HLOS.bin
fastboot flash sbl1 sbl1.mbn
fastboot flash dbi sdi.mbn
fastboot flash aboot emmc_appsboot.mbn
fastboot flash rpm rpm.mbn
fastboot flash tz tz.mbn
fastboot flash LOGO logo.bin
fastboot flash oppostanvbk static_nvbk.bin
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot flash cache cache.img
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
fastboot flash system system.img
fastboot flash userdata userdata_64G.img

or

fastboot flash userdata userdata.img

(if you have the 16gb model)

Reboot your device with this command:
fastboot reboot
Done.

Let me know if something goea wrong.


text:
"Restrict background data" keeps turning off after a while
I have Android 6.0.1, original Samsung version on my Galaxy S5 Neo. Since I'm not on any mobile data plan and have to pay every MB I use, I'd like to restrict background data - once and forever! However, it keeps turning itself off after a while. (I don't know after what time - I often only notice it a few hours later.) So quite often, I don't notice that it's disabled again, then go online, and tons of stuff are downloaded, every single bit of which I have to pay...
What might be the cause of this? (It's not rebooting - it happens without any reboots in between.) How can I make sure background data is simply always disabled?
(I know there are some firewall apps that might help, but they either need the phone to be rooted, or they route your data through some VPN. I don't like either solution.)

The VPN it uses is local VPN.. So it's kinda safe and fast too.. I don't see a reason for not using it.   =)

I have the same problem but I know what causes it. When I display current active tasks I accidentally touch "Background data restricted" which causes it to be cancelled - but I don't notice I have done it at the time.


text:
How do I update Google play services when I can't open the play store
I didnt update my Google play services and now I can't open any apps that needs play services

Google Play services should update automatically in the background, you don't need to do anything. Connect to WiFi or a good mobile data signal and wait a while and try the store again later.

Or, if you are brave, it is available by direct download from APKmirror. (I usually trust these especially since the link is given via AndroidPolice.com). This is the last article I can find at AndroidPolice where Google Play services was newly uploaded

You can easily download a package of a newer version from a 3rd party source and install it directly. It's safe to do so as Android surely doesn't allow a modified package to be installed as an update (signature mismatch).


text:
In Google Voice, do all SMS messages have to be transmitted via a data connection?
If someone is using Google Voice, do they need a data connection (cellular or WiFi) to be on in order to send/receive any SMS messages?
This seems to be a big limitation, as keeping data on all the time can really drain the device's battery (and can get expensive with all of Android's background data).
Also, signal strength for a functional data connection generally has to be stronger than the minimal signal required to send/receive traditional SMS messages.  Inside buildings, it is commonly hard to get a data signal, but SMS messages can often still be transmitted/received.

If you are using the Google Voice or Hangouts app, then yes it must have a working data connection, but it's data usage will be extremely minimal. (Do people actually turn off mobile data anymore?!?!) But in Google Voice you can setup your SMS messages to forward to email or an actual SMS number if you prefer.

@acejavelin Thanks. Regarding your last sentence, do those incoming SMS get duplicated within Google Voice (or Hangouts), or is it a true forward where they only appear within your cellular SMS?

I haven't used anything but he app in years... I honestly don't remember but since I have no SMS messages on voice.google.com in 3 years but have them in my Hangouts, I assume it is a true relay/forward and not a copy.

Since my comments seem to have answered your question, I will add an answer.

If you are using the Google Voice or Hangouts app to send or receive messages using your Google Voice number, then yes it must have a working data connection, but it's data usage will be extremely minimal.
In Google Voice you can setup your SMS messages to forward to email or your actual carrier's SMS service if you prefer. You can replay from either email or carrier SMS via both methods as well.

No, if you're using Google Hangouts to send message then only it will use data(or when you're calling someone via Voip).
If you SMS to someone on your contact list(only phone no.) using hangouts app it'll use your service provider to send message.

Thanks.  I'm confused by your answer.  The first sentence seems to say that the Google Hangouts app uses data to send SMS, but the second sentence seems to say that the Google Hangouts app will use the service provider to send SMS.  Can you clarify?

I down voted this answer because it is very unclear... there is a distinct difference between your carrier's cellular SMS service, and Google Voice's SMS service. The carrier's SMS service even if managed by Hangouts will not use data, but sending/receiving SMS via the Google Voice number using Hangouts or Google Voice app does require and use a data connection.


text:
Naming a folder
I recently bought a coolpad note 5. In CoolUI when I made a custom folder, there was no option of naming it. Means other already made folder had naming in them but when I tried to made a folder by myself &naming them then there was no option of naming it.

Here you can see that SYSAPP was made since the time I bought this smartphone
Now I made a custom folder of my own (link given in comment sction)
This folder consist of 2 apps setting & coolmanager but you can see that no name is created & also when I click on the  space next to SysAPP. Nothing happens.
See it is like this on home screen

can anyone please tell me how to name a custom folder in coolpad note 5.
Specifications are
coolpad note 5
android version-6.0.1
Build number- V029

the folder which I made was http://www.coolpadforums.com/data/attachment/forum/201702/22/061732q5jdpeq3ypczd8d5.png

Seems like your default launcher doesn't permit the renaming of folders.
The only way to do so is by installing a third party launcher.
I'd suggest you Nova Launcher.


text:
My yu Yureka is bricked now I tried installing nougat with cm-14 but there is a error being displayed while installing cm 14 (comparing tz version)?
error 7 looks like the both the firmware's are not compatible(googled). now the only solution available online was to flash with twrp recovery which needed the phone to start which is not possible for me.
P.S  currently i have installed  CWM recovery
i  have attached a picture or the error.
so is there any other easier solution to this problem?
can you please also mention the steps?
thanks

Ain't this obvious already? New ROMs require new base components. You need to update your stock firmware first, so that TZ can be updated as well.

no for me it isn't that's why i came here.
so what you are saying is i can't go from cm 11 to cm 14 i need to install 12 or 13 to get to cm 14?

Not even 12 or 13, you need to flash a newer stock firmware first as a base for anything new. That's not something you can just skip.

thanks for the reply. but i am still confused.
my phone came with  cm11 and 4.4.4 kitkat 32bit. as i have understood u are saying i have to reinstall this base kit(as these files got corrupted during brick) before i do anything else.
P.S u have to understand i am not a techie. so please mention clearly as it would make things more clear for me

Well I don't own this phone myself so I can't get it down to the details, but I meant you to install the latest factory firmware available. For Yureka, that's Cyanogen OS 12.1, not CM11.

thanks now i understand i was directly jumping to the last step.
last question,
now the thing is my phone is bricked means i can't start it(it was on kitkat cm 11 at that time), if it was working i would have installed the latest factory firmware as you said. so now to unbrick it i have to install cm 11 with kitkat 4.4.4 32 bit, then i would have to install Cyanogen OS 12.0(because 32bit to 64bit jump) only after that can i install Cyanogen OS 12.1, or can i directly install  Cyanogen OS 12.1 in order to unbrick it.
i read many articles online about everything so not everything is clear.

The link I gave you offers fastboot packages. With proper driver installed you should be able to flash it directly via fastboot, but it does require a PC.

I'm moving this to an answer for future reference.

The error

Comparing TZ version TZ.BF.3.0.R2-00034 to TZ.BF.2.5.2-00005
assert failed: cm.verify_trustzone("TZ.BF.3.0.R2-00034") == "1"

is quite obvious: it means this ROM requires a new version of TrustZone. You will not be able to install anything sufficiently new until you update that.
Such base components can be upgraded via flashing a factory firmware. For Yureka, the latest Cyngn offers is Cyanogen OS 12.1. Flash it via fastboot using the guide offered on YU's forum. After that, flash a custom recovery again, then finally load the custom ROM you wanted.
Additionally, I have downloaded the package and verified that it does have the TZ component inside:

... and the version is right:

thanks a lot,
i was able to somehow start my phone last night by flashing it with cm11 as it was bricked, yes i could have just flashed it with cm12.1 which i understand now due to ur answer. currently i am downloading the cm12.1 and will flash my phone with it. Forgive me my knowledge about all this stuff is just 24 hrs old(i started yesterday morning). There are so many fake videos out there saying it could be done directly from cm11 which were the cause of my confusion.
thanks again for clearing all that.


text:
How to factory reset my phone via my pc when i cannot get a start up logo on the screen on my phone
When I dropped my phone the screen showed some weird colours on upper right corner. I replaced the screen.  Now by using the recommended three button sequence the led in upper left corner comes on for a few seconds as well as the home button and the other two lights up and then go out. I call the phone and it vibrates but screen remains black. Can I reset the phone using my PC? How can this be done when I cannot get any response from the screen OR is the mother board at fault?

A factory reset won't do you any good. This is hardware damage somewhere else in the phone and it needs to be brought to an electronics repair shop or sent to the manufacturer.


text:
How to add devices to the LineageOS github repo?
My phone isn't currently supported by lineage, and many other phones that either my friends or I have. So I would like to know, how to add a new device tree and kernel for any self-builder to use out there.

So do you have such a repo locally you made yourself as a dev, or are you just a regular user looking for support?

First, you need to visit the Community page of LineageOS, which will guide you on how to contribute to LineageOS. If you are a developer, then this page will send you to Gerrit to do online code reviews about LineageOS.
Once you are familiar enough with how LineageOS works, you can actually go to GitHub and contribute until you are confident enough to ask to be a member of LineageOS' team.
Then, you can create a new repo under LineageOS' name which will use the codename of the device you want to add and start developing on it.


text:
Lenovo S60 Bootloader Damaged
My phone (Lenovo s60) got off while I was restoring it, and now I can’t even turn it on. Only a red light is flashing when connected to charger and it can’t be connected to computer, there are no drivers matching to connect the device with pc, later I found a driver named Qualcomm to connect the device and it connect the device with the computer but I can’t do anything else.
 Please help me to restore my device

You'll find most people won't bother to strain their eyes trying to read a question that's all-caps. You're more likely to get a useful answer if you [edit] your post.

You can try the following method. This is the convectional way of installing/upgrading firmware on most android devices:

Download official firmware (correct version) preferably on PC. Extract the download you should see a sdfuse folder

Depending on contents of the compressed file you may not find the sdfuse folder, in this case;

create a folder in your external sdcard and rename it as sdfuse
extract firmware zip and copy qsb firmware "the file vit extension .qsb" to sdfuse folder or it may have the .inb extension.

You will need to transfer sdfuse folder preferably using a micro sd card Adapter or card reader from the PC  to the phone.
Make sure phone is off completely. Then press and HOLD the POWER+VOLUME DOWN buttons simultaneously until the service menu appears.
Using your Vol+/Vol- buttons navigate to sd update and the installation should begin. Follow the instructions carefully to successfully re-install the firmware.

(Your phone must have at least 50-80% of battery charged )
Credits:

Lenovo S60-A Flash File (Stock ROM) zip


text:
There is no System Updates when I go to About Phone, please help?
recently I bought YotaPhone 2 from Aliexpress, and I wanted to update its android which is currently version 4.4.3, and when I go to Settings and About Phone, the first thing from the top is Status, and there is no System Updates option, my phone's processor is Qualcomm MSM8974PRO-AA. please help me.

The system updates differ from country to country or varies place to place. Same phone from one place may be provided with an update whereas same phone from another place cannot be updated. The reason for you not getting might just be this.
But please recheck :
According to GSM ARENA you phone can be updated to 5.0.
Also update is the must the flashing a custom rom is also an option.

Thank you so much for your info, yeah I think it might be reason of that, but if so, what is an alternative way to update my Yotaphone? I'm from Kurdistan of Iraq, and as I know the update is not available for my country, and the update is available for my phone in other countries.
What is flashing? can I update my phone with that? thanks


text:
Mass setup Android 6.0 phones
We are ahead of a task to setup 100's (hundreds) of Android 6.0 phones.
Is there a way this task could be made easier?
Basically every phone when you turn it on asks you things like: language, WiFi, Google account.
And we would like to make that task easier/quicker.
Also we would like to install an app on the phones as well. (Play Store app).
Any ideas?
Regards
Elemer

Wouldn't the google accounts all be different?

Yes, definitely a new account for each user/phone. - This will be a tricky one as well, last time we had a similar task after a few new google accounts were setup google made us click "I am not a robot" , I presume because they were having a lot of new accounts created from the same IP address which raised some "eyebrowes" .

The fact you have separate Google accounts is going to make this really tricky.


text:
No "None" Option For Lockcreen
When I go to disable my lockscreen, there is no "none" option. This is really annoying as I am unable to get a custom lockscreen with the stock lockscreen overlapping with it. I've looked through multiple forums and tried all the suggested solutions but they don't work. The none option isn't even greyed out like people have reported, it's just not there. I'm running android 6.0.1 on an LG X Power.

Click image for larger version

Use this video as it seems exactly like your problem, try it then comment if it works https://www.youtube.com/embed/LV_7APlAvvc
So, basically what you need to do is :-

Go to settings and remove your pin/passwords if you have any.
Go to `settings>security' and at the bottom of the page you should see "clear credentials" tap on it and clear your credentials.

3 Now go back to lock screen settings settings and you should see the "None" option waiting there or you.

Nope. Didn't work. Still doesn't have the option greyed out or even there. The thing is that when I clear my credentials, the option is still there not greyed so I can click it multiple times. Does that help at all?

I dont think so, Maybe it is how it is. Dunno man.


text:
Corrupt framework-res.apk causes boot loop in KitKat 4.4.2
My device is soft bricked due to a corrupt framework-res.apk, it’s stuck in a boot loop but it can be put in recovery mode.
In recovery it gives the option to install updates via adb sideload and the SD card. Also it has the fastboot mode.
I flowed some tutorials and created this update.zip file with the original framework-res.apk

updater-script
ui_print("Installing...");
show_progress(0.1, 0);
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "mount", "/system");
package_extract_dir("system", "/system");
show_progress(0.1, 10);
show_progress(0.2, 0);
show_progress(0.2, 10);
set_perm_recursive(0, 0, 0755, 0644, "/system/framework/framework-res.apk");
ui_print("Done!")
run_program("/sbin/busybox", "umount", "/system");

Running adb sideload update.zip from my computer transfers the file to the device but after that the device shows a message saying Error and "Installation aborted" without any detail of what could be the problem.
With fastboot update update.zip it shows
ERROR: could not clear input pipe; result e000404f, ignoring...
ERROR: could not clear output pipe; result e000404f, ignoring....
archive does not contain 'android-info.txt'
error: update package 'update.zip' has no android-info.txt

The device seems to be a MT6572 MediaTek (http://mundomint.com/mint-140/)
These are the ROMs that I've found for similar devices but haven tried any yet.

Mint 135
Mint 145

Is your recovery custom or stock?

@DeathMaskSalesman stock

On most devices, stock recovery won't install ZIPs that are not signed by the OEM.

@DeathMaskSalesman I see, I'll try to find a compatible custom recovery


text:
Is the Android default calendar open source?
I did a little of research and found nothing.

All Android git repos are here https://android.googlesource.com and the Calendar one is here: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/apps/Calendar keep in mind that this is the stock AOSP calendar, not the Google Calendar however they function the same. Here is another open source calendar: https://github.com/Etar-Group/Etar-Calendar that is probably closer to Google's implementation rather than the AOSP one.


text:
Android 6 Home screen sweep right (stock)
(in stock Android, no any UI gadgets installed)
At home screen I can sweep to right direction
(screens right of home screen) and more screens appear to put my icons...
In old versions of Android I could also sweep to left direction
to put icons... but now appears a google search screen...
How can I configure Android get the old behavior...
same as saying... sweep to left and appears a empty screen to put my icons...
Thx

That's how Google Launcher is intended to work, so if you wish to swipe left/right to have available screens for widgets and icons, you'll want a third-party launcher to do that.

"(...)in old versions of Android I could also sweep to left direction
to put icons... but now appears a google search screen(...)" ...

don't want to use 3rd party launcher... just want to solve problem with default launcher.... thx

If you are swiping left to right and getting Google Search with various cards,  that is how Google Launcher is intended to work, and they updated it to do this a while ago.  There is no setting within the Google app to change this behavior.

If has no way to re-config back old behaviour (which I think was more productive) I think that is a strategic error from Goolgle... too bad... Thx anyway for the info dude !


text:
How to set a blank property
I'm trying to configure Android M
I would like to set erase a persistent property like
getprop | grep dhcp
.../...
[dhcp.wlan0.domain]: [acme.com]
.../..

I would like this property became like this :
[dhcp.wlan0.domain]: []

I tried the setprop command with a blank argument and I got an error message :
 setprop dhcp.wlan0.domain
usage: setprop NAME VALUE

Sets an Android system property.

setprop: Need 2 arguments

I tried [] as argument and the property has been changed like this :
 [dhcp.wlan0.domain]: [[]]

I believe this last  property is occurring error
Thanks for you help

To pass an empty value, you need to pass an "empty string" – which is usually specified by two quote marks with nothing between them. For your specific command this would look like
setprop dhcp.wlan0.domain ""


text:
Can't check 'Phone Audio' setting for a Bluetooth headset
Somehow, suddenly I can't hear phone calls with my Bluetooth headset - I don't know what happened.
I tried to check the Phone Audio option under the device's 'Use for' settings, but it is impossible! It can't be checked.

I found this fix/workaround: Go to Settings, then Bluetooth. Turn off the Bluetooth and the screen should show a link for the scanner settings. Click the link to turn off "Bluetooth scanning." Then it works...
I copied it from here: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/forums/v3_1/forumtopicpage/board-id/MotoG4thGen/thread-id/16482/page/4

I would upvote you a million times if I could. Been struggling with this but found nothing online.

You can also get to this setting directly by going to Settings > Location > Menu > Scanning > Bluetooth scanning

I have to go to Settings and search for "bluetooth" to find it, on my Pixel 2 running Android 9.  Big surprise to find screens that I can find no other way to reach!  Regardless, just turning Bluetooth off and on again fixed this for me.


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Broken device after uninstalling King Root
I uninstalled the King Root app after rooting my phone. Now my system isn't working correctly.
Symptoms:

When going in Settings->Storage it says "System Used : 16.00GB" (All my storage). I do not have an SD card and because of this I can't take pictures or download files.
When connecting my phone to my computer (Ubuntu 16.10) a folder pops up but it is empty.

I tried reinstalling KingRoot but I can't download the app since I have no storage space.
I'm willing to do anything (ex. reinstall os) if necessary. Please just explain how.
Phone model: BLU studio M HD
Thanks in advance

Have you tried a factory reset?

@EthanZ the factory reset worked

As @EthanZ said the factory reset solved the problem. Press the up volume key and power key when the device is powered of to get to the boot menu. Select Factory Reset. Done! Thanks EthanZ.

While a factory reset isn't always an ideal option, it's usually easier than identifying the root issue.


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Alternative Android Date Picker (for Dates of Birth, DOB)
I was wondering if there is any way to call the date picker that the contacts app uses, as oppposed to the date picker that chrome uses.
We've found users struggling to identify how input their birth year, due to the year picker appearing too much like a label.
The implementation in the contacts app, with the three exposed wheels, we feel is a much more intuitive way for a user to input their date of birth.
Apologies I'm not a dev but any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

Are you developing the app or not? Development questions are considered off-topic here. I'm also slightly annoyed by the new date picker too, however, and if you're looking for a way to replace it on the user end, I'd gladly keep an eye on this.

I didn't realize you could tap on the year to select the year as I had tried it several times with my fat finger and nothing has popped up I actually came here to ask if I was seriously expected to step back one month hundreds of times, but thanks to your screenshot I tried again and was able to get the year picker to pop up


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My phone uses excessive data 0
I have a sansung s7.  It is gobbling up data.  I've disabled as many programs as i dare from running in the background but no help.  Is there anything i can do about it?

That's not good to hear! If your Samsung S7 Edge is rooted then I would suggest running an application such as AFWall+ and setting custom rules to block applications communicating to web-servers etc.
You did not mention how much data you have to play with, but you could go ahead and install an application such as 3G Watchdog to view what applications are using an excessive amount of data. (This can also be viewed in Settings --> Data)
I would suggest you ensure your accounts are not set to sync frequently, and that apps are not updating over 4G.
Lastly if that all does not help, here are some good forums:
Android Authority - Android OS destroying my Data!
Samsung Forum - OS Application using extensive data
Reddit - S7 Edge using heaps of data
All the best.

Try disabling background data and also stopping sync services like photo backup. Sometimes cloud storage services provide the option of keeping the cloud files on the device. Which means if this facility is on, any large file may be downloaded to you device from the server to keep sync.


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Does VLC for Android show the true bitrate of m4a files?
I downloaded an audio file in m4a format, which in all other apps (eg. BlackPlayer, Phonograph) shows a bitrate of 32 kbps. But VLC shows 1.4 mbps!! What is going on? Does VLC somehow decompress the M4A music and then shows the original bitrate?
As you can see in this screenshot, the file size is barely 992.4 kb, so how can it have a bitrate of 1.4 mbps?? (https://i.stack.imgur.com/fe02b.png)


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Is there a way to replace the Android system file manager with a third-party file manager?
I'm using an OnePlus 3 with Android 6 (Marshmallow). For me the standard Android system file manager that opens when you want to send a photo or video via WhatsApp is just horrible.
It's slow and you have to click several times to reach your desired folder.
So, is there a way to make a third-party file manager (SolidExplorer for me) open instead of the system file manager? I know I can open the file manager from the system file manager (bottom of the sidebar) but I would like to skip this two clicks.
Does anyone has a clue on how to achieve this?


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Locate a lost phone that is being used
My android cell phone was lost an year ago. But I can see someone has started using it, and that person has not yet removed my email ID. I am looking for a way to turn ON the location services of the device to get the approximate location of the phone.
Is there any way to turn ON the location services of the device remotely?
I thought of using OLA can app. But it is too heavy, I am looking for a light weight app available on play store.

This may be helpful if you can not find your phone back but want to avoid your google account id to be used on that phone: With this link https://myaccount.google.com/device-activity you can choose which devices can access or not to your google account.

Yes i am using same for loacting phone... but i somehow want to turn ON gps so as to get accurate results...

Maybe Android Device Manager could be helpful.
I hope it can help you.

Already used it a lot...  But it need GPS turned on to show the location

It should show an approximate location from the last network it connected to... if that help's

No it is not showing approximate location when the GPS of device is OFF.


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Google Messenger : Moto g4 / g4 plus does not show links in SMS
As shown in the screenshot (sorry it's in French), Google Messenger does not display links under phone numbers on my Moto G4 Plus (Moto G4 has the same problem).
In this case I was expecting (like my previous phone) an hyperlink on '555507', allowing me to directly call this number.
The same SMS within the same app on another phone (Fairphone FP1U or HTC Desire 500) shows the link.
How can I configure Messenger or Moto G4 to have such links ?
Update after contacting Motorola customer service:
They say it's related to the quotes, but I am not sure at all. I have seen in my history many numbers that do not have quote, and still they are not hyperlinks. My opinion is that they link only when number has more than 7(?) digits.

Long shot- see if entering your mobile number (if not present) helps; Messenger App > Settings > Advanced > field for Phone Number

@beeshyams I have just tried, but it is still not working. Thanks anyway.

Just wanna double check, did you download this from the play store or is it the sms app that came with your phone? If it's the one from the play store then maybe a reinstall will work.

@Nano no this it was already installed when I opened the box

Read your update - if the number is the problem, you could try changing the number format using AAP's - once such app. I have never used such apps but may help

@beeshyams Will this app really change numbers inside sms text ? Moreover it should be triggered for each incoming SMS. Thanks for the suggestion.

I had the same doubt but thought if it changes the contacts directory and numbers are picked from there, it may help- long shot


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Can I wipe EVERY records/traces wo/ factory reset on android?
I' currently using LG V20 and an anciant Samsung YP-GP1.
I'm aware that IceCream Sandwitch doesn't have it's own built-in
encryption unlike modern devices, and want to keep
internal records/traces that stored inside the device's
memory deleted so my activity of the past would be remain secret even if
the device got lost/stolen without screen lock.
**To be specific, I want to delete records regarding external SDcard mount/unmount
activities, file copy/delete log if there's any.**
I know there's a Logcat, but is it really the only record that kept inside the device?


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How to get back stock recovery when wrongly flashed twrp recovery?
I have Videocon Delite 21 V50MB phone running Android 6.0. The stock recovery was not working well(showing "No command" always) so I decided to flash TWRP recovery via adb and fastboot. My phone model was not listed in the TWRP website so I downloaded a random recovery.img file and flashed after bootloader unlocking using commands:
fastboot oem unlock

fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

It showed completed on CMD but when I rebooted my phone its getting the videocon logo disappearing and again appearing(bootloop). I cannot run on the stock recovery either. I am also not getting any stock rom for my phone model on the internet. Please help me what to do next?

Well you do need the original image - if you haven't backed that up then you need a factory image, and if that doesn't exist either then you're stuck.

I have not backed it up but still I have another smartphone of same model. So can you please tell me how to backup recovery.img file from that 2nd same model phone without rooting and unlocking bootloader? That's my friends phone so I want the safest way to backup without doing any harm to his phone. @andy yan

"without rooting and unlocking bootloader" - not one I know of. The dd command is the common way of doing partition backup, but unfortunately that requires root.


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How to boot on android if on windows 10?
I got a myphone my51 tablet, it has a dual boot feature for android and windows 10.

I was able to boot easily from android to windows, but could not get back to android. Is there any command I can do to reboot the tablet to boot on android instead of windows?

use this application, it is needed to switch between the different OS's


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With a rooted mobile ,Can I free up some internal storage (ROM) after delete some google apps from system
With a rooted mobile ,Can I free up some internal storage (ROM) after delete some google apps from system. After deleted that's apps is there any problem to other google apps like play store, google ply games and other apps in my system ? . is there any problem to my phone or system ?

No. Deleting apps from the system does NOT free up usable space. System applications are stored in the /system partition which is not usable space to the user, you will not gain any usable space this way.

If I delete some Google apps is there any problem to other Google apps or other apps

Depends what you delete... some things like Play Services are the core to everything else, without it none (or few) of the others will work. In general, there is no need to actually delete anything, disable in the App settings or use Titanium Backup to "freeze" the apps. Deleting them is not reversible.


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Here is display mirroring by usb cable with the S7, but the S7 does not supports MHL and DisplayLink is also not used. So how does this work?
In the Youtube-Video Samsung Galaxy S7 Android 6.0 phone Mirror Link for Joying Android 5.1 lollipop 1024*600 car stereo  he shows how to connect his Samsung S7 just by a USB-cable with an external monitor (in this case in a car system).
But how is this possible, as I read the S7 does not supports MHL, and the other option is DisplayLink? But in the video this is not mentioned, he does not installs the DisplayLink app which requires this, instead some "USB MOB driver".
So how is this realised, and is this also possible with other displays?
Remark: This question is closely related to this recent one from me.

There is no driver in this video. MOB stands for mobile.
It is using screen mirroring through debugger. Both systems are full Android machines, it's not just a display. MHL is to connect just a display.

Thanks, but what kind of debugger? Could you please be a little bit more specific on that?


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Home button or recent won't work
I have a Blu vivo XL and I just upgraded to 6.0 and now my home button and my recent apps button won't. The only thing that works is the back button they were working before. I don't have a clue could  have messed up during the download not sure or could it be something that doesn't require resetting the whole phone

Since you performed upgrade it's probably it's fault. Try clearing cache and dalvik, if that doesn't help than you'll have to perform factory reset. Factory reset is in most cases necessary when upgrading phone from one version to next one.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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How to Emulate hardware menu button
I have the Sound Manager app . The app dates back to Android 2.2 and needs a hardware menu button  press to launch its menu .
Can I emulate the hardware menu button on my KitKat 4.4 device , so that I can see the menu?

Usually on Android 4.x above, there is a menu soft-button on lower right (beside "recent apps") for apps without Action Bar (read also the official Android blog about this)

@andrewt Does your suggestion mean that if I simply recompile the sources with a recent SDK, without patching them, I will be given a soft button in the bottom right?

That's what I've been experiencing with legacy apps on newer Android. If you feel comfortable with compiling code, then updating the min\target SDK will either give the soft-button or even add the Action Bar (with overflow menu). But I can't guarantee if it will always work like that.

@andrew-t Thanks I will try that. Pls make your really helpful comments into an answer

On my Samsung SM-J100H (Android KitKat 4.4.4), I can get the effect I want with a long press on the App Switch hardware button. I tested it in two apps:
On Sound Manager app, the menu slides out from the bottom of the screen.
On the Stack Exchange app, an 'Ask Question' button pops up across the bottom of the screen (but only in portrait orientation.)

Apps that could either customize the navigation bar or generate another way of navigation would get it done; however, I've yet to seen one emulating MENU key without requiring root permissions.
LMT Launcher is the app of this type I've been using - it hides a pie-shaped control tray into the edge(s) of your screen that you can activate by swiping from the edge, and contains not just regular navigation keys like BACK, HOME, MENU but also custom keypresses (e.g. POWER) and actions.


text:
Home shortcut on Apple bluetooth keyboard
I'm using an Apple Bluetooth keyboard with my Android 7.0 tablet. The software keyboard I'm using is Swiftkey. I use Swiftkey because it's one of only two keyboards capable of typing the Maltese language (the other being Multiling keyboard). There's no Maltese layout in Android.
Everything works fine, but I cannot find a shortcut to go to the Home screen. I've searched on the web and most sites suggested that the Esc key should do that, but in my case it functions as a Back button.
I tried Fn + Esc, Cmd + Esc, Alt + Esc, Ctrl + Esc to no avail.
Any suggestions?

I found out which shortcut key corresponds to Home. It is cmd + return. It seems that the cmd key corresponds to the search key in the list of shortcuts available in the Physical keyboard settings.

What is the ' at sign'  shortcut that separates email recipient and domain?

It is alt (right) + 0.


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LineageOS fail to update
I've a wileyfox swift (crackling) and I've installed LineageOS 14.1-20170213-NIGHTLY-cracking + GApps through TWRP 3.0.3.
The problem is that when I try to update it through the UI or manually (downloading the .zip file from https://download.lineageos.org/ and installing it from the recovery) TWRP returns an error (status error 7).
I tried to downgrade TWRP to the 3.0.0 version but nothing changed.
How can I update my phone without wipe everything?

lineageos feb 20 build has error 7 on most devices, today's build also had same error(feb 27), but solved by a image file called boot.img by nightly developer. you don't need to downgrade twrp. Flash the best build, until the problem solved.

The last update is ok. Now the sysem is updated and everything works.
I think it's magic or someone has made an error


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Dangers of ad modules in apps
Nowadays, I see apps containing up to 10 ad modules (maybe even more). While most of them might just be an annoyance, some of them carry a privacy risk, like inMobi ¹ or RevMob ² (for some background, take a look at Beware those snooping mods! on my Android website).
While I know about a few (as listed behind that link), there are hundreds of different ad networks with their modules. One hardly can know them all. So my question is:
How can I tell if an app contains an (ad) module dangerous to my privacy, or otherwise agressive (remember Airpush, do you)? Preferably before I install it?
At least I can check which modules are part of an app if I look it up at Appbrain, where they are listed (if they are available at the Google Play Store that is). But while Appbrain also links to details for each of them, those only include statistics, but don't mention the dangers associated. Yes, there are some apps to Identify Ad-Modules – but most of them haven't been updated within the last 2-3 years. Apart from which, they can only scan apps I've already installed.
So what approaches would you recommend the privacy-concerned user to protect himself against those intruders, and avoid them?
PS: I'm not asking about ad-blockers here, so please do not focus your answers on those.
PPS: As I still didn't find any viable solution, I started a spin-off question on our sister site to build my own: API to access details on modules in Android apps. Input welcome!

¹ inMobi requires access to Internet and Network state – plus uses your location, microphone, calendar (read and write) and more, if accessible to the host app
² RevMob has full network access and reads your device identifiers

Could the "Scan & Google Play" feature of AppBrain Ad detector (: https://www.appbrain.com/app/appbrain-ad-detector/com.appspot.swisscodemonkeys.detector ) help you?
On your Android devices this feature allows a little overlay on top of Google Play so if you click a link to Google Play you can see the ad detector stats already before you install the app.

Thanks Matthijs, I'm aware of that. One of the apps I mentioned not having been updated lately (last version is from 2014-09), so I'm not sure how up-to-date the details on the networks are. After all, it's the very same app used to collect that data whenever an app is installed, AFAIK.

Just noticing: didn't we exchange some mails over the past few years? Maybe an update to your answer would be that while the app itself wasn't updated, its "signatures" are (so it should also find new-comers)?

More than a year later, adding to the topic: Exodus Privacy offers to scan apps for trackers – as long as they are available at Google Play for free. You can search for apps interactively, and request to scan what is not yet there (or no longer up-to-date). Results are shown per app version. You can also check the list of trackers known to Exodus.
This at least helps to see whether an app has trackers and which. Unfortunately, there are no details on the trackers, e.g. detailing on what evil things they do. Fortunately again, Exodus even offers API access (you have to request an API key though, but it's free). That way I was able to integrate it with my app listings (showing which evil trackers an app might have), combining it with facts I've collected on some libraries. The API currently is read-only, i.e. you can query existing results – but to submit an app for scan must be done manually.


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Where is the IMEI located on a Motorola phone?
I have two motorola phones - One that I fastboot erase all'd 'accidently' and lost £300, so I was wondering if I could just transfer the IMEI from one phone to another?

What Moto device? It varies... Inside back cover, silkscreened on bottom, on SIM tray, maybe more. In the newest models it isn't, it was determined that electronic was good enough.

Don't ever try doing that - isn't that even illegal in some regions?

@AndyYan Yes, in some countries it is... Although in most it would be OK to transfer the IMEI from one phone to another, provided when you're done only one device has that IMEI number, meaning you have to remove the IMEI from the "donor" device or destroy it.

Why not just find out the original IMEI of the phone you have and put it back on that device? Your carrier often has it in their online service portal, it's on the device, on the box, etc...

@acejavelin ...which, from the tone of OP I don't think he's willing to do. Also, I don't think anyone (well maybe other than service centers) could just "write" EFS stuff back, or else countless EFS wipe mistakes would be saved easily.

@AndyYan True, and actually transferring or writing an IMEI to a Moto device isn't easy, you have to have a complete PDS partition dump for an identical model, modify it by hand in HEX with the desired IMEI, then write the entire partition, so you need an identical model donor device and not many people are willing to give up that partition because it also clones the MAC, serial number, and other unique information (or so I have heard, I haven't done it personally)

Writing a new IMEI is near to impossible, if not impossible itself. If anyone can give me suggestions I can try to fix my phone, I would be very grateful thanks

No, you can not move one IMEI to another phone.  That number is a lot like MAC address of every device that we use now a days. In theory, and with the help of root. Yes you can change the IMEI. However, that is alot of work.
The IMEI is unique to each phone and is how the authorities can help locate missing phones or even in many cases missing persons.
As for where you might find it. Look in your battery bay. or on the covers. if you have any of the documentation or even the box still.. you can also locate them there.

I know exactly what my IMEI number is. I just don't have it in my phone, because I deleted it accidentally.

but what i am suggesting is... look for it on the phones physical shell. a lot of times that info is written on the label. just like the mac is.

You can reset or change your IMEI number without rooting your android phone.
Just follow this tutorial -> http://crazytechtricks.com/change-imei-number-android-mobile-phone-without-rooting/
Note: But, The risk is yours. There may be anything gonna happen.

The method on the page seems to be only for MediaTek-based devices.


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Does anyone know what this android emulator call is?
I've been looking at the network traffic for an Android emulator using mitm proxy.  I have noticed large amounts of traffic going to google's servers.  Does anyone know what this request would carry or a good way to find out?
Had to put the file on my server because it was too big to add to this post.
android_emulator_post.txt

That's 30k of data, the vast majority of it hex. What do you expect? People reading hexadecimal numbers as if it were English?

kinda hoping someone from google is on this that knows the endpoint or someone else is familiar with why the heck google would need to send so much log data.  I would bet that most people are using hex interpreters and not reading like english, lol


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Galaxy S5 screen won't turn on, how to factory reset with Odin?
So, my mom has had a Galaxy S5 phone for awhile, but I went into her room today and found her old Galaxy S5. She claims it's not working properly, so I offered to try and fix it. I spent a few minutes messing with the phone and I noticed that I could not get the screen to turn on, but the phone vibrates when I plug it in, and my PC makes the device connected sound. I'd like to know how to reset the phone to factory settings, but also flash a custom ROM onto it. (In this case, I want to flash Resurrection Remix) My mom will be okay with this since she doesn't use the phone I'm trying to work with anymore. The phone is of the AT&T variant.
Edit: I asked my mom about the screen problem. She stated that the top of the screen started to dim and within 48 hours the screen wouldn't turn on at all.

You're gonna need quite some blind operations to get that done... esp. if you want custom ROMs, since the de facto go-to recovery (TWRP) is fully touch-oriented.

Follow this guide for restoring stock rom
https://www.idroidspace.com/official-stock-rom-for-samsung-galaxy-s5/
Follow this guide to install TWRP which is a custom recovery which is needed to install any custom rom.
http://www.droidviews.com/install-twrp-recovery-samsung-galaxy-s5/


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Do hotels send out wifi signals that place you there?
I need some clear cut answers to a question that gave birth to a divorce after 15 years of marriage. My ex husband's phone( Samsung Galaxy 6) would show him at many questionable places that he says he was not while he was supposed to be "at work". For example it showed him at hotels and he told me he didn't know why it would show that. Then gave me the reply that if you drive by a hotel they send out wifi signals that place you there just by driving by there. Now I have driven by a lot of hotels in our area and they never pinged me at any of them and we had the same GPS location feature. Mine always lined up where I went that day and his would be at all kinds of places.I asked around and no one has ever heard of this and I really want to know is this true???

Yes, WiFi is a major part of location services and is used to locate Android devices. It provides a coarser location fix much more quickly than GPS. It's accuracy is usually ~50m or better, but there are examples of it not working properly, so take the entire history into account and not single location fixes.
If you drive by a hotel while you are supposed to be somewhere else and your phone locates itself using the hotel WiFi, you were still at or near the hotel. WiFi signals by design do not travel very far, unless you specifically setup special directional antennas, which definitely do not come with Android phones.

Thank you so much for answering my question. I feel better knowing this information.


text:
Disable root auto login in GNURoot Debian
I don't want to work with root account in GNURoot Debian.
I know to change the user from root to user1 by:

su - user1

However, I still want to disable root auto login; besides, I want to use build-in vncviewer or an extra vncviewer to connect the GNURoot Debian with normal user user1 NOT root, I have no idea to how to config this?


text:
Add Play Music's download folder to the library of Samsung Music?
I use a Galaxy Note 4 (Android 6.0.1), and I like the default music player more than Play Music's player, however, I enjoy to have my music everywhere, and managed by Play Music. I'm looking for a way to manage my music using Play Music and play my music using Samsung Music, however, files downloaded through Play Music don't appear in the library of Samsung Music.
Is there a way to add the following folder to Samsung Music's library folder?
/external_sd/Android/data/com.google.android.music/files/music/
I even thought of a symlink of some sort but it doesn't seem possible to do that without root. Also, my phone is not rooted and I won't root while still in warranty.


text:
Google Now cards not loading
For the last week or so, whenever I go to the Google Now page (swiping right from the home screen with the google now launcher), I don't get any Google Now cards. No weather, recommended news, etc.
If I try to reload the page by pulling the screen down, it loads for a while but nothing happens.
I've already tried reinstalling the launcher, deleting the Google Now cache and deleting the card preferences.

I was able to fix the issue by deleting all data for the Google App (including search history).

Google now is not supported everywhere.
Check these links:
See or remove cards in your feed
Turn your feed on or off
Here are few things:

Check what account are you signed in to google app. If your google account from an unsupported country then cards wouldn't show.
Cards also depend on your location. If you are in an unsupported country then, no cards!

If you want to enable now card in unsupported country then check below links:
Enable Now Cards: No ROOT needed
Enable Now Cards [Root Needed]

I live in Germany and until  a week ago I could see the cards, so I'm positive they are supported here.

Maybe you have to delete your entire phone cache data. It solved it for me.

Same issue here. I'm not in an unsupported area.. I'm at home where it always used to work. Started about a week or so ago.
If I restart the phone it works again.. but eventually stops. I'll try the cache suggestion.
BUG !


text:
How to use tablet-only apps on normal 5 inch phone?
I want to install an app on my phone, Yu Yuphoria. However in play store it says your device is not compatible with this version and its not available for phones, it is only available for tablets. Is there any way to use it?
I tried Market Helper but it is not working either.

Could've just download APK from a trusted site and sideload it.

Yes, there is a workaround you can use. You need to change the screen dpi to match that of a tablet.
•First of all you will have to install ADB. Download the tool from here.
• Enable USB debugging.
•Now connect your phone to your PC. If you get notification. Click OK to allow USB debugging for that computer.
•Now open command prompt in ADB tool folder; Shift + Right-click in the folder and then click on open Command Prompt.
•Now you have to check whether your device is connected and ADB can detect it. To check enter the following code in the command prompt.
adb devices

Check current DPI with DPI Checker
Proceed and change the DPI using the following command. In the following code the DPI is changed to 480. Change the value as you want DPI for your tablet.
adb shell wm density 480 && adb reboot

Just check the target DPI corresponding to a phone and use that value. In this example is 480.
•If you want to go back to previous DPI. Then enter the default DPI in place of the value previously changed.
Open playstore and see if you are now able to download the apps meant for tablet devices


text:
Userstyles in Firefox for Android
Originally posted on SuperUser, I have been redirected here.
Is there a sane way to use custom userstyles in Firefox for Android? I know Stylish has an addon, but I don't want to use it due to recent privacy concerns. On desktop I use StylRRR Barebone Userstyles Injector.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! I could cascade your redirect: if you're specifically looking for an addon, our sister site would be the better place. But as you've phrased it, it is well on-topic here – so don't feel "pushed off" :)


text:
My Nexus 6P just entered bootloop mode
While doing absolutely nothing, my phone, Huawei Nexus 6P entered a boot-loop mode (it's not going further than showing "Google" text). The only thing I can do is to enter secret menu, but when selecting "Recovery mode", nothing happens. OEM is locked, fastboot flashing unlock is not working because of this. Now I am trying to figure out what happened and I got nothing yet. Does this happened to some of you?

this happened to me you need to call android support and tell them your serial code and then you work with them from there if that does not work send it off to where it came from p.s make sure they are legit if you give them your serial code

Thank you for your response! In a way or another, the phone entered boot-loop while sending a photo through Whatsapp :)) Hopefully is not because of their app, because it's really weird. Anyway, this boot-loop thing is crazy, don't know if it is from the last update for Nexus 6P.


text:
Blackberry Priv won't connect to Windows 7 for file transfer
I can't get my Blackberry Priv to connect as anything other than charging via USB. My PC isn't recognizing that a device is connected. I've downloaded and installed the Tethering and USB drivers here. I restarted after installing them. On the phone, it never gives a notification that it has connected as a charging device, and I know that's what you'd normally click on to change to file transfer. Also, in the settings options, in Storage and USB, there is only information about device storage, nothing about the USB connection type. I've enabled developer options. In there, I've turned on "USB debugging" and "Allow USB debugging in charging mode". I'm at a loss as to what else would need to be done to get file transfer working, and honestly I'm completely confused as to why it's not showing up in the Storage & USB options. I'm having a hard time finding anyone else mentioning this issue.

This is answered here: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/194699/blackberry-priv-wont-connect-to-windows-7-for-file-transfer


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“There's been a change to your Google account” message and password prompt?
I got a message on my device yesterday (2017-02-23):

"There's been a change to your Google account"

along with a prompt to re-enter my password.
I follow good security practices and have regularly run through the security wizard at myaccount.google.com. I also use two-step verification.
Could someone be using my account or is this a known issue?

It looks like this is a known issue, and Google is on top of it.
From the product forums:

We've gotten reports about some users being signed out of their accounts unexpectedly. We're investigating, but not to worry: there is no indication that this is connected to any phishing or account security threats.
Please try to sign-in again at accounts.google.com and if you cannot remember your password, please use this link (g.co/recover) to recover your password. If you use 2-Step Verification, there may have been a delay in receiving your SMS code. Please try again or use backup codes.

Essentially the same message is currently displayed at the top of the Accounts Help: Can't sign in to your Google Account page.
Also, from @google on Twitter:

We know some of you had issues signing in today. Please try again now. Rest easy -- your account's security was not affected.

See also:

Information Security Stack Exchange: Google account verification request
Google accounts are on the fritz but nobody is getting hacked
PSA: If you were signed out of your Google account tonight, don’t worry
Google is having issues with account sign-in, resulting in errors with Android devices, OnHub, and Wifi
Google Users Unexpectedly Signed Out of Accounts

Thanks a lot for sharing this, Al – perfect timing! My wife had this issue this morning, and we were afraid someone might have hacked her account. On reading your post, I just remembered another fact: For hacking, that person had to access the account – in which case an email would have been sent (as the account wasn't accessed from "there" before). So not having received such a mail should be another indicator we can "stay calm" :)