text:
Manually selected mobile network changes when signal strength drops
Although this might seem quite unusual, it is essential for me. I live in a border area and I have two SIM cards in my phone (however, I think this problem also affects single SIM devices):

SIM 1 is from a French operator
SIM 2 is from a Swiss operator
The SIMs should be connected only to their home countries and should be unavailable if the network of the operator is unreachable

So if I am in Switzerland, only SIM 2 is active, if I am in France, only SIM 1 is active - and if both operators are available (= I am near the border, 80% of my life) both are operating.
I have an ASUS Zenfone 2 Laser ZE500KL, stock Android 6 without rooting (and I would like to keep it that way if possible). The behaviour described above is the default thing that happens on a Windows Phone and that's why it really grinds my gears why Android tries to be so creative. Basically, this happens:

Selecting the network provider manually is OK
However, the signal is lost sometimes (e.g., in the garage) so the Swiss card starts roaming in a random French operator's network
The phone only switches back to the Swiss operator if the "random French operator's" network is unreachable (or if I do it manually)

I know that this is an edge case, but it is really essential to me. Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to try it on other Android phones (according to my colleague, he has the same problem with a Samsung "god knows which mid-range model with Android 4.4").
I am looking for a solution/workaround which does not involve regularly pressing a setting or changing SIMs and preferably does not need rooting. APN Lock for me did not work.

+1 for edge case  .  I think it is not possible. Signal strength even for a single network at the edges varies significantly and frequently for a stable measurement to act upon. Even changing the orientation of phone affects signal strength received

That shouldn't happen: when you select a network manually, the device should stick to that. That's basically what I often used when going abroad: instead of sending the device to airplane mode, I've manually selected the network to avoid roaming. Always stuck. Bug in the device/ROM/radio? If you're still running the stock OS and are in warranty, I'd contact the service.

Somewhat similar. You can try the solution here https://android.stackexchange.com/q/189450/131553

It seems to be a problem with Android 6. I have a similar problem with SONY XPERIA XA. My behaviour:

SIM1: Manual on Sunrise (CH)
SIM2: Manual on TIM (I)

After rebooting the phone:

SIM1: Manual on Sunrise (CH)
SIM2: Automatic (it select the power operator May Swisscom, TIM, or Orange).

So, after any reboot, you should select the network manually (if available).
Don't know how to create a BUG request for Android. I already tried to contact SONY, but no way.

I have the exact same problem (France/Switzerland, with work exactly on the border) with my Archos Diamond Plus phone, running Android 5.1. I choose a network manually, it stays on it until the reception becomes weak (e.g. due to entering an elevator), making it connect to a roaming network. I then have to once again choose the network manually, which can take up to 10 minutes of searching.
On my old phone, a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini running Android 4.2, if I chose a manual network, it was permanent. The phone would never connect to any other network until I actively told it to.

I think Automate, or Tasker with AutoTools (paid app) will be able to solve the issue. I know it is the default in Windows Phone, but this is really a corner case.
You can use GPS-based rules to use appropriate SIM.
INMHO, this is the best way to select a SIM card.
If direct option is not available, try toggling "Airplane Mode".


text:
An old unconnected htc one x+ recently stolen
The phone wasn't connected to my network,  I was just using it for music. But, if connected through wifi, I was able to go online. My phone company is aware of the theft and red flagged it.
 Can these theives still break into my accts and find info on me?  Can they assume my identity and request password resets to get into my accounts?

The short answer is... maybe.  Did you have a pin or pattern set on your phone to prevent anyone from opening it?  If you had something as simple as a pattern lockscreen or a 4 digit pin, it's highly unlikely (although, not at all impossible) that anyone is going to invest the time and effort it would take to break that security.  If you left it wide open with no sort of lockscreen protection, then anything you have saved on that phone is open game.  If you saved logins through apps on your phone... all they would have to do is connect to wifi and have access to whatever apps you have saved logins enabled for.  Your google account, at the very least, could be compromised easily (since they already have access to it- I feel certain if you're worried about this then you dont have 2FA enabled). I would recommend changing password to any services you used on that phone as a precaution, especially if you didn't have a lock feature enabled.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
duplicate an android display on a non pc, stand alone, powered display
I haven't yet seen my exact question asked (but many close), so forgive me if it has been already answered. is it possible to duplicate an android display on a non pc, stand alone, powered display ? and if so, how ? and are there multiple ways ? thx

Please provide a few extra details about what display you are using and what device you're using if it's not a PC.

Same for your device. Some devices ship with different capabilities pre-installed. So the combination of devices is relevant here :)

Hello & thx. My phone is a HTC One M7. I don't have the display yet, but I would like to get one that can be connected directly to my phone via cable(?, which kind, ie mini hdmi ?) I understand there is software needed, but not sure which, to make it work in this manner. And would like to power the display off the 12V car outlet...if possible ? thx

There are various ways to accomplish this (assuming that your display has an HDMI input), you can use a Chromecast device or directly connect your phone using an HDMI cable (again assuming that your phone supports that.)
If the above options are not suitable for you, you can make use of a raspberry pi to act as a bridge between your phone and the display.
Please provide more details about your phone and the display.

Hello & thx. My phone is a HTC One M7. I don't have the display yet, but I would like to get one that can be connected directly to my phone via cable(?, which kind, ie mini hdmi ?) I understand there is software needed, but not sure which, to make it work in this manner. And would like to power the display off the 12V car outlet...if possible ? thx

anybody know how to make this setup work ? TIA

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


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Where does the code pertaing to fastboot mode reside?
Is it in the primary-bootloader (on the mb), or the secondary-bootloader(on the emmc)?
My motive behid the question is to understand what other codes are executed before system can get into fastboot mode
(Recently, I've been tinkering with a lot of different android devices and have tried to read up whatever comes up upon web-searches regarding "fastboot", "bootloaders", "primary bootloader", "secondary bootloaders". But this is one question I can't find any definitive answer about.)

Any details needed?

I will be blunt. It sits on its own partition, and can only really be touched by special programs. Download partitions viewer, it may show you what you need.

My motive behid the question was to understand what other codes are executed before system can get into fastboot mode.

fair enough, though no idea how to answer your q.

You can try asking in the aosp email thread.

@Fabio Do you mean to suggest mailing to AOSP or ask on their forums?

AOSP forums, or even better now that I remember there's a lot of developers with deep knowledge of android internals on http://forum.xda-developers.com/. I don't know much about those details but it's possible that you need to narrow down the question/answer to a specific phone model/android version.

Thanks for the link; it just didn't occur to me i could ask it there?

Look, what I found: " fastboot mode can start on your device even before Android loads (and can even run when Android isn't installed at all), fastboot mode is useful for updating the firmware quickly, without having to use a recovery mode. In fact, it's frequently the preferred way to initially install the recovery image on many devices. "https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Doc:_fastboot_intro

Fastboot mode is in the bootloader and usually resides in a /dev/block, none of this is open sourced.


text:
Is it possible to add the NFC to the phone which does not have it?
My phone is a Motorola Moto 2g LTE (xt1072). It is really good phone but there is a one problem, it does not have NFC. Is there any solution, to add NFC to the phone which does not have it – and would Android be able to use it then? If yes to both, could you provide some links to such existing "equipment" as proof that it's not only "a nice theory"?

NFC SD and SIM Cards seem to be an option, but I don't know much about them

@beeshyams I searched through the net but I did not find any market in which the NFC SD card is sell. Could you provide me with a link?

Checking the link @beeshyams gave, that text exists at least since 6/2012 – yet I couldn't find any such SD or SIM card up to today (ie. more than 4 years later). Looks like there were some start-up productions back in 2010/11, though – well, they've produced microSDs with NFC. But the article doesn't state if and where those were/are sold. At least Amazon doesn't have any.

related: Does NFC enabled phone means the phone has an NFC tag inside?https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/108776/does-nfc-enabled-phone-means-the-phone-has-an-nfc-tag-inside?rq=1

Sorry to say this, but it seems to be a long way off before truly turning a NON NFC into NFC phone (as pointed out by Izzy in comments, there have been some efforts but no progress)

NFC SD and SIM Cards claims that Both SIM and SD cards can be equipped with NFC chips can be used to enable.
Toshiba has come up with NFC SD card last year, but the catch is that it requires NFC enabled device to work with. All it does , is enabling seeing the contents of SD card without physical connection
NFC-enabled SIM cards launched a couple of months back in Singapore for paying for rail travel- but they work only with NFC enabled phones

Could you provide me with a link to such a NFC SD card?

click on the link above ! it shows Amazon prices too

I want to enable NFC with SD card. Not to have SD card which I can enable with NFC

that is not possible as I said in the first line of the answer

Turning Non NFC phones into NFC by using SD cards/ SIM is not a reality- so there os no way you can turn your device into NFC

What means "it requires NFC enabled device to work with"? (Why would a device that doesn't have NFC be "NFC enabled"?)

@JinSnow Only to emphasize that you can't use them on phones that don't have NFC


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When changing SIM card what needs to be copied or transferred from the old SIM card?
I'm changing to a new SIM card with my phone. I know Contacts are able to be stored on the SIM card, so I've copied them across (I used an import as described here).
Other than Contacts, is there any other data stored on the SIM that might be important to export or copy, and how would I do it?

Sims are not a recommended way of storing any data, they are too disposable... Use the cloud,  Google is supported on all major platforms. If you keep everything backed up to Google, about the only manual thing you need to move is SMS messages.

SMS if saved on SIM card- some phones have that option, beyond that nothing

@acejavelin I agree, however some of my data found it's way onto the SIM anyway (4 Contacts, and 1 SMS)... I don't know how!

@beeshyams that's half the answer I wanted... the other half is how to move the SMS's off the SIM. If you can put both those things in an answer I'll accept it :-)

As requested, posted

@acejavelin Cloud is not a recommended place to store sensitive data. Use the "Export to SD card" option of the contacts app instead – and then the "Import from SD card" option on the new device :) // I however agree on not using the SIM for that. Too limited storage, size-wise and details-wise: contacts with multiple phone numbers are not supported, neither are many of the additional details.

Related: Transfer everything to new phone? // How to migrate accounts and data from one Android phone to another?

Exactly What Information Does My SIM Card Contain About Me? mentions what is stored in your SIM card , with a caveat that some of the information is carrier specific
SMS, contacts are of common concern and since you have already transferred the contacts, what is left is SMS, which this app SMS Mangaer claims to do ( I haven't tried it). Another app Easy Backup & Restore , recently updated, also claims to transfer call history, if that is of importance to you

A SIM card typically has 8k to 256k of memory which stores MNC, ICCID,
  IMSI, Authentication Key (Ki), Local Area Identity (LAI), and
  Operator-Specific Emergency Number. The SIM also stores other
  carrier-specific data such as the SMSC (Short Message Service Center)
  number, Service Provider Name (SPN), Service Dialing Numbers (SDN),
  Advice-Of-Charge parameters and Value Added Service (VAS)
  applications.
Most SIM cards will orthogonally store a number of SMS messages and
  phone book contacts. The contacts are stored in simple "name and
  number" pairs: entries containing multiple phone numbers and
  additional phone numbers will usually not be stored on the SIM card.
  When a user tries to copy such entries to a SIM the handset's software
  will break them up into multiple entries, discarding any information
  that is not a phone number. The number of contacts and messages stored
  depends on the SIM; early models would store as few as five messages
  and 20 contacts while modern SIM cards can usually store over 250
  contacts.

Source

The SIM card has a special file where the SMS are stored, the file has
  several "slots" in it, each slot holds a message. The number of slots
  is finite, i.e. a SIM card can store 20 or 25 SMS (depending on the
  capacity, newer cards have more slots). When all the slots are filled,
  you have to delete an old SMS before you can save a new one.

[Paraphrased] Modern phones do not use this storage normally, but all SIM cards have this capability since it is part of the GSM standard.

Source

SMS and Contact management are handled by applications on your device, in an Android this is typically your Dialer or Contacts application, and for your SMS messages this is handled by your Messaging application. This seems to be a thing of the past now though, as many apps do not include support for storing or retrieving user's SMS or contact information from the SIM card. SIM Manager is an example of one application that can help you manage the information on your SIM card.
Also note, your carrier may insert information such as a welcome message as an SMS message, or contacts such as their customer service, billing, or repair service numbers.
So the answer to your question is that both SMS and Contacts can be stored to the SIM card, but it's limitations likely mean the use of it for backup and transferring to another device in modern smartphones is extremely limited.

You should copy all your contacts to phone or you can use cloud google storage which supports all the major platforms of devices.


text:
Broken Note3 screen with password and debugging mode off need to transfer date any soluations
Broken Note3 screen with password and debugging mode off need to transfer date any solutions,
i need to transfer Avery important date from my mobile, my computer recognize it but no data shown as i use password, i need to open the password to take my date
i know my password but i cant even type it the screen is dead
pleasssssssse help me
any smart solution?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you already seen our broken-screen tag-wiki? We've collected some first aid there.

Custom recoveries have ADB on by default, all you need to do is mount the partitions in recovery and pull data.
My bet is to flash a recovery image via Odin (CWM preferable, because it accepts hardware key control), boot to said recovery (only requires hardware key combo), connect to PC and use ADB pull to pull whatever data out of its misery.

please can you explain more as i do not get you well

@Amira It's natural that you don't understand me well, because this is going to be a very hard process. Unless you understand ADB usage well and can operate blindly in a custom recovery, I suggest sending the phone to someone else capable instead of risking it yourself.


text:
Auto block contact but unblock it after a couple days
Is there any way to automatically block a contact after a received call and unblock it again after a given time?
The problem I have is that my mother just can't leave me alone for more than a day. I tried to talk to her about this countless times but she just ignores me and keeps calling. So the idea is to block calls from her automatically after a received call for 2 days and then unblock it again.

Try Root Call Blocker, but your phone has to be rooted. Root Call Blocker has many options you can set (im not sure if timing of auto block and auto-unblock is available though). Even while the person is calling, there is a swipe button right next to the swipe green button, and you can end the call and block the person then and there.
If your phone is not rooted, then you can use AFirewall
This is also feature rich with options, check to see if there are any auto-block and unblock timers.


text:
recover internal storage data from soft bricked phone (No custom recovery, USB Debugging option NOT turned ON)
I have an YU Yuphoria (5010) running on stock rom cm12 which it came with and was working perfectly until yesterday I rebooted the device. Now when it powers up it goes on a boot loop.
I have some photos of my newborn cousin in it which i really need.
My problems are as follows:

USB debugging not enabled. Which means my phone is not detected by adb and I can't mount or pull data from my phone through adb commands.
No custom recovery has been installed and the phone is not rooted. So no way to mount internal storage through CWM or TWRP as the don't exist.
Fastboot works fine but no option to access internal storage from it and unlocking bootloader will wipe all my data.

I tried all sorts of solutions but nothing worked because of problem 1 and 2. I really need those photos. Please help me out
Thanks

Raw idea: There seems to be TWRP for this device. Extract the .img file and boot (not flash!) it: fastboot boot twrp.img. That doesn't install it on the device, but uses the image as kind of "live disk" (it's gone when you reboot the device). TWRP comes with built-in ADB enabled, so while it's booted you'd have full root access to the device – if it works. Worth a try. Please report back whether you succeeded with that.

@Izzy Thanks but I am getting error saying: FAILED (remote: unlock device to use this command

I do have an option of adb sideload will that work?

Thanks for the feedback – that filled the one gap I had in my knowledge here (i.e. that fastboot boot also requires the device to be unlocked, which perfectly makes sense from a security standpoint). As unlocking would wipe the device, that's not a good option. I'm unaware of another way then – though it might be worth checking our broken-screen tag-wiki, as in that context the situation often is similar).

@Izzy Thanks for your support but a miracle happened which I cannot figure out how. I decided to press wipe phone data from the stock recovery and it successfully booted up. Then i checked gallery and there was no photos in it which was obvious. then i plugged the phone to my computer and selected the file transfer mode on my phone. Then the internal memory shows up on my PC and I opened it up and saw the unexpected. All the files and folders including the app data was there as it is. I couldn't believe what i was seeing. It had all the photos that i wanted and some that i deleted long back.

Glad to read that, Hari! May I suggest you post that as answer (and accept that answer afterwards) – so other folks with a similar issue see there's a possible solution? Thanks!

Thanks for your support but a miracle happened which I cannot figure out how. I decided to press wipe phone data from the stock recovery and it successfully booted up. Then I checked gallery and there was no photos in it which was obvious. then I plugged the phone to my computer and selected the file transfer mode on my phone. Then the internal memory shows up on my PC and I opened it up and saw the unexpected. All the files and folders including the app data was there as it is. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It had all the photos that I wanted and some that I deleted long back.

Not working for me, all data lost, don't try this.

@preachers This wasn't a solution actually. This is what happened in my case, which might not work in yours.


text:
Screen Overlay Permissions
So I downloaded Skype recently and ever since, all my apps have the prompt popping up asking for permission to use things such as gallery and camera. But when I press allow, it makes me go into an endless loop of turning off overlay apps. I have no clue how to stop this and allow the permissions. The app I am trying to use my gallery on is Instagram.

Permit the question: Did you download Skype from an official source? I'm not aware that (or why) Skype should use overlays causing other apps to ask for permissions. First upcoming suspicion is it's "something else" that came along.

In order to turn off permissions of overlay apps, go to settings --> apps then click  the gear icon on the top right. Next under advanced, chose "Draw over other apps." Then you can turn off all the overlays you chose or tap "Enabled" in the top and switch it to "Disabled".

You can also uninstall the apps which are causing the overlay. For me, I had blue light filter installed and it didn't let me press allow since I had that on. Hope this helped!


text:
please how do i remove the other accounts from the phone
When I decide to download an app in the Google play
I will see some information written it reads authentication is required sign in to you
Google account.

can you post a screenshot? I don't quite understand where the problem is and a picture might help... Are you already signed in with a google account? Check your settings > accounts > google account

Are you talking about "Permission dialog"? It seems the app you want to download is utilizing Google account for some features to work. If it's, then you just need to accept that dialog. Else, cancel it and find another app.

Check to see how many google accounts you actually have under Settings > Accounts > Google. if you have more than one. select the rest and remove them.
If you only have one google account under there, then remove it and add it again so that it re-authenticates.


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How to remove Android/Trojan.Agent.gc infection?
My local brand phone running KitKat is infected.I've tried various removal tools but of no use. Malwarebytes detects it in  /system/app/FileExplorer.apk but I am not able to uninstall it.
How can I remove it without root? I've tried factory reset and hard reset.
ROM : xolo_era_SO14_25092015,kernel: 3.10.16   Device : Xolo ERA

if it is in /sys, there is nothing you can do but flash a new ROM, Problem will be in getting a custom ROM or original stock ROM. Please edit your question to include the device model, in the hope some one can help

You have mentioned the ROM but not the device. Anyway here is the guide for rooting Xolo Era 4k. If that is not your device, please search XDA on how to root it . But before doing that, search if Custom / stock ROM is available- else rooting will be a wasted exercise

@beeshyams Either OP confused /sys with /system, or you do (or both): /system is where the OS resides, while /sys is a virtual file system (sysfs) created on boot. As for your second comment: OP didn't ask to root the device, but how to remove that Trojan without root. // It might well be a "false positive" by Malwarebytes. Otherwise, if it really is a malware that managed it into the system area, re-flashing the stock ROM would be an option.

@Izzy: I assumed it meant /system. Thanks for clarification. Second comment was in-line with this understanding , given that he tried various removal tools and it infected the system partition. Thanks again

@beeshyams Yeah, I was irritated as well initially :) But still, as OP doesn't want to root, to me it seems re-flashing the stock ROM (of course downloaded from its official source, together with instructions and possible software to flash it) is the only way out that's left – provided it's really a Trojan, and not just a false alert. I've never heard of a malware placing itself into sysfs – which makes me think of either a false alert or a misspelling in the question :)

@Izzy @beeshyams Yes I Checked it is in /System/app/filexplorer.apkso what option is left.

@MuditKapil File Explorer? I doubt a real trojan would sit there. Try grabbing a second antivirus. See what it throws up.

@Dan B I tried Norton antivirus & Internet security,It results that device is safe.

I never trust any software that calls itself "anti virus" for a system where no virus exists. Those apps are often causing more trouble than they're solving (incl. false positives and opening new vulnerabilities on the device – just check what permissions they want to become suspicious). No guarantees, but as I wrote before, it might well be such a "false positive". A Google search for ""android.trojan.gc" filexplorer" doesn't yield a single result. For "android.trojan.gc" there is a single result: this page here. Raises at least an eyebrow, right? ;)

@MuditKapil Izzy is right. Not only is Malwatebytes throwing a false-positive, and its questionable if antivirus apps are worth downloading in the first place.


text:
how can I get into download mode of Cube Talk7x (U51GT-W)?
I tested all 4 methods in this article. But I still cannot get into download mode.
The second method get me into a factory mode:

SECOND METHOD

Power phone off
Plug USB into Computer
Plug microUSB into phone
Hold pwr + vol up + vol down
When Batt icon goes away, release pwr, still holding vol up + vol down
Yellow /_\ (triangle, Downloading, Andy shoveling, Do not turn off Target!!! symbol)

You should now be in Download mode.

Edit:
turns out there is no such mode. The adb shell default is root shell. To root the device, I can simply adb pull <system partition>, then mount on PC to add su and other stuff, then just flash it back.

Download mode is a Samsung exclusive partition that only exists on these devices to allow Manual ROM installations from The ODIN PC client. Other devices do not use the download mode you are talking about, including the device you are using this method on.
To elaborate,
ODINs a samsung-only partition that allows form the installation of ROMS and bootloader updates via PC. It can serve Installations to many, many devices at once via bulk download (Which can support 50 at a time, I think. Of course, you probably do not have 50 USB ports) It is primarily used by Samsung when flashing new ROMS for shipping (the software was made by Samsung, after all) and Samsung users who want to root their phones and tablets in a "technical" way (even though the hard work is done by the the Root package Devs, mainly Yabbot, who is better known as Chainfire)

Most Android devices have download mode, HTC, Huawei, Asus, Moto.... It is very rare to find a device do NOT have this mode

@Wang Ah, yes. Apologies. I tend to get Download and odin mixed up, aince they both technically mean the same thing.


text:
Why failing to get notifications of Stackexchange app in Notification Bar of Andoid 6.0?
I receive no notifications of Stackexchange -app in Android 6.0 and/or CyanogenMod 13 in Notification Bar.
Confirmed that the bug is existing also in Android 6.0 [MarkCh].
Characteristics

not phone dependent because I can reproduce the problem in two CM13 in two different phones
OS independent, since occurs in stock Android 6.0 and CM13
likely Stackexchange -app specific
not internet gadget specific (Pebble, Xiaomi Mi Band 2)

Fig. 1 Stackexchange app in App Notifications, Fig. 2 Notification Access view without Stackexchange app, since I cannot install it

I contacted the developer of the application by email. I also voted with one-star the application to raise awareness about the problem, which has been now more than one year in the application with Android 6.0.
Phone: Oneplus 2, Samsung Galaxy S4 gt-i9506
OS: Android 6.0, Cyanogenmod 13 official nightly, CM13 Temasek's Rom

Here's a guess since your version of CM is buggy as seen from many questions - perhaps notification generated by app is not shown for whatever reason. With Macrodroid, use Trigger: notification received, choose this app, any text ; Action: Vibrate Enable Vibrate on, display notification- notification from this app, text to give you a warning that you have missed a notification from this app. This may help you in two ways 1. Identify of it is a ROM problem, if so report to dev //

As a crude workaround to know that you have missed a notification from this app , so that you check the app to see what is the notification

I don't believe you are the only one. I don't get stack exchange notifications on 6.0 stock.

I, as well, experienced this problem. CM13 official.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this issue is specific to SE Android app which is more suitable on Meta.SE (although, the development for mobile apps have been halted since long time ago).

Bug of the application with some hardware in Android 6. Update OS to Android 7 or 8 which are better supported.


text:
Hotspot: how to allow only vetted devices on Android Marshmallow
Issue
I recently updated to a phone that could use Android Marshmallow.
I was setting up the mobile hotspot, and I could not find the option to set the hotspot so that "only allowed devices can connect".
This was an option that I used to be able to do with my old phone, which was Android version 5.0.1.  (I think that's Lollipop, right?  I cannot keep up.)

I also changed phones & services.  I suspect it's the OS, but here is the comparison of the two phones' details, for completeness.
Before (where I could set the "only allowed devices can connect" option):

Samsung Galaxy S4 (model #SCH-I545)
Verizon wireless service
Android version:  5.0.1

Baseband version: I545VRUGOF1
Kernel version: 3.4.0
Build #: LRX22C.I545VRUGOF1

Hardware version: I545.06
Configuration version: J12.SAM.SCHI545.0

Now (where I cannot set the "only allowed devices can connect" option):

Nexus 5X
(Google) Project Fi service
Android version: 6.0.1

Baseband version: M8994F-2.6.32.1.13
Kernel version: 3.10.73-gf215204
Build #: MTC19Z

Hardware version: ?? (Cannot find it)
Configuration version: ?? (Cannot find it)

Function
Using the "only allowed devices" flag made my phone's hotspot hidden to others, so that only my validated machines can connect.  In this way, I didn't have to worry about any other machines logging on and bogging down my phone's puny hotspot (as well as any security concerns).
So, IMHO, this is a fairly powerful feature.  I use the hotspot often, and it's always within a population dense area (e.g., a train or bus).  If this is something that was stripped from the OS, what is the best way to let Google know that this is an important feature?

I believe this is a Samsung specific feature, I have not seen it in other devices, so it is probably a "Samsung Exclusive" feature, although I have seen lots of devices I cannot say for certain Samsing is the only company that has this feature. In the current pure AOSP Marshmallow code base (such as Nexus or Moto devices), there is no option to hide your SSID, limit to specific devices, or other advanced WiFi security, you are limited to only setting the SSID, the encryption off or WPA2-PSK, a password, and in multi-band devices you can set the specific band to use.

But if you have a password on the hotspot network, no one else can join, except your trusted devices? Isn't that really what you're trying to achieve?

@JohnRamos No, it isn't exactly what I'm trying to achieve.  With the way that I had described, my phone knew the MAC address of my computer, and would broadcast its name only to that computer.  So, (1) I didn't have to provide a password to join the network, and (2) no one could even see it was there.  I did have a password most of the time, to be safe.  But it was just a much more convenient way to stay more fully hidden.  And since I was typically using it in very crowded locations, being more secure was worthwhile.

my phone knew the MAC address of my computer How?

Well, sounds like a TouchWiz feature.

@AADAndroidEnthusiasts Sorry, I wasn't clear.  Upon setting up the "hidden mode" of the hotspot, you first let your machine onto the hotspot network.  When it is on the network, you then say that the currently connected machine is allowed.  At that point, it's "fingerprint" is known.  Sorry, I'd give exact details, except now I cannot remember all of them any more.

@JohnRamos yeah, it seems like you're right.  I didn't realize it at the time.

I'm not sure, but this might be what you're looking for: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.hotspotcontrol&hl=en

Also, what if you made your SSID something innocuous (i.e. "Linksys" or "NetGear 2.4GHz_Ext") then made your password super-long and complicated, wouldn't that do the trick?

@JohnRamos Thanks for the app link, I'll try it out!  Regarding the naming & password, you're absolutely right (although I never like overly generic names).  It's not as if I don't have a solution.  I simply was hoping that the "hidden hotspot" feature was something that vanilla Android Marshmallow had.


text:
Reset the password of multiuser account with root
my daughter changed her password on out multi user tablet to a complicated PIN and afterwards forgot the PIN :-O ... My other daugther did this already with her account but used a pattern which she forgot. This was at least no problem because I could reset the pattern by the android recovery feature "too often wrong pattern - did you forgot your pattern, enter your google account" !!! No Problem, BUT with the PIN - this dialog does not apear .... you can enter es much wrong PINs as you want - the recovery button ("forgot PIN") does not appar on this device !!!
Anybody help? I've root rights with the main account, but what to so?

GOT IT - very easy:
Using your favorite Root - Only File Manager, navigate to /data/system/users
and the propriate users subdirectory (10 , 11 , 12 ...) and there just rename or delete the passwort.key file
After doing so - the account can be unlocked with easy finger wipe !!!
Hope that helps also others !!!

If this worked, please mark it as an answer (as soon as you can). Open ends are not favoured here.


text:
Cant connect Oneplus 2 to Mac via USB
Ok, I have Oneplus Two, with the latest OxygenOS 3.0.2 (android 6.0.1), not rooted.
First sad thing is that there is no option in "Developer Options" to do "ADB over network", seems like developers removed it, which is really frustrating for me, because I have a lot of trouble connecting the phone to my Mac.
By lot of troubles I mean I cannot do it. I tried everything that google offered, hell I spend whole day trying to figure it out and nothing.
Literally nothing happens when I plug in the phone to Mac (phone is charging).
system.log dump: kernel[0]: 006676.874534 HS01@14100000: AppleUSB20XHCIPort::resetAndCreateDevice: failed to create device, disabling port
adb devices yields empty list of devices, android studio same.
I checked my adb_usb.ini, it cotains this id 0x2a70.
I can't even root my phone to use 3rd party adb over wifi to start developing.
Anyway I can get the usb connection to work with my Mac?

Did you make it working? I also have OnePlus 2 (OxygenOS 3.6.0), Android version 6.0.1. I have enabled Developer Options and also enabled "USB Debugging" in the phone. Whenever I connect my phone (using original USB cable) to my Macbook, it just charges and shows nothing about debugging? Any clues?

No, I end up drowning my phone and bought OP5

To enable Developer mode, go to Settings, then About phone and click on Kernel or Build number several times until you will become a developer.
Now you should have OnePlus Drivers mounted where you can find Mac app for file transfers and shell script for ADB configuration.
If you still having trouble connecting via USB, try to use the original cable.


text:
Is there a default "dark" theme (i.e. black background)?
For the majority of its life Android has had a dark UI (color text on black background), then it switched to light background on Android 6.
Android 7 will feature a "night mode" which will permit to restore the black background, having the standard UI in reverse colors.
While waiting for it, is there a "dark" theme for Android 6 that would have the same effect?

Themes are plenty, although the majority of them are available only for custom ROM users.

I'm not looking for a standard dark theme. I'm looking for the default Android UI (or at least something very similar) on black background.

@dr01 You can't theme stock Android. Also, this post seems to be off-topic for Android Enthusiasts, as it is asking for software recommendations.

Apparently the "night mode" promised for Android 7 hasn't been implemented after all, but there's a High Contrast Theme by Samsung for Android 7 that works in a similar way.


text:
How to root Acer Z630s?
I'm trying to root my new phone, it's an Acer Liquid Z630s (T04) running Android 5.1.
I can't find anything useful online, Google is filled with auto-generated pages that just give a link to some one-click-root app. I've tried a couple of them (Kingroot, Kingoroot and OneClickRoot) and they all say "no root available at this time".

Try "Baidu Root". That one might work! :)

@RyanNoles I can't really find the download page and the sites linked on their main page don't load. Do you happen to have a link?


text:
Stop vibrate for incoming calls and text messages from certain contacts
For certain contacts, I want to silence vibration for incoming calls and SMS messages.
I am not asking about silencing the audio notification and ringtone.  This is already well documented.

Automation is the preferred option. Many apps are available. I prefer using MacroDroid , since it is free (upto 5 macros) and easy to learn. To understand how MacroDroid works and required settings,  my answer here

Your macros would look like this

Macro 1: Kill Vibration (name of macro )

Triggers:

Call incoming → Select contact →Choose from contacts
SMS received → Select contact →Choose from contacts

Actions:
Vibrate Enable/ Disable →  Set Vibrate and set Normal (Vibrate off). Click OK
Constraints: None (leave blank)

Macro 2: Enable Vibration for others (name of macro )

Triggers:

Call incoming → Select contact →Choose from contacts
SMS received → Select contact →Choose from contacts

Actions:
Vibrate Enable/ Disable →  Set Vibrate and set Silent (Vibrate on). Click OK
Constraints: None (leave blank)
Explanation

Your question explicitly asks only for vibration to be silenced (but ring tone would be heard)
Macro 1 does that for both incoming calls and SMS for selected contacts
Macro 2 does the opposite for contacts other than selected in Macro 1 (you have to choose others- if you don't reverse Macro 1 action, vibration would be off for all)
Tested on Moto X Play Marshmallow (6.0.1)


text:
Can't sign into android
Few days ago i updated my Samsung galaxy j5 into marshmallow version & now I'm unable to sign into google account, it gives an error
- "Sorry, there seems to be a problem. please try again"
I've tried hard reset, factory reset, other gmail accounts but i always get same error again & again. Please help me

Logcat output might help here.  You could also try flashing OpenGApps.

Can you sign into the other Google Account?
If do, your google account is wrong
but If not, maybe I guess, your phone is crashed (such as /system) while android updating.
-> You should go to Samsung A/S center
If I have wrong thinking, Point out please


text:
How to access GNURoot Debian executables from outside the app?
I've just setup GNURoot Debian and I could install Python 2.7.
However, I'd like to run Python 2.7 outside of the GNURoot Debian Terminal Window.
For example, if I ssh into the device, I'd like to be able to simply run Python.
Here's what I've naively tried so far:
root@odroidc2:/data/data/com.gnuroot.debian/debian/usr/bin # ls python*
python     python2    python2.7
root@odroidc2:/data/data/com.gnuroot.debian/debian/usr/bin # ./python2
sh: ./python2: No such file or directory

Any hints on how I can use Python 2.7 via ssh ?

You can't usually execute anything from the data partition.  You could try copying them to /system/xbin/ or something like that.

Thank you, I didn't know that. I've tried creating a symbolic link, but I get a Read-only file system error:
ln -s /data/data/com.gnuroot.debian/debian/usr/bin/python /system/xbin/python
ln: /system/xbin/python: Read-only file system

Any tips on how I could get around this ?

mount -o remount,rw /system.  Must be done as root.  I'm not sure if a symlink will work but it's worth a try.


text:
How to "merge" syncs?
This is my problem: I had a tablet, and it was never synced to its Google account. I broke it, and I bought a smartphone, on which I activated the sync on the same account. In the meanwhile I got the tablet repaired, and now I would retrieve all the old data.
The question is: if I sync the tablet, the data on the tablet (whatsapp conversations, calendar events, contacts etc) will be deleted or merged? And if they will be deleted, how can I merge the old data to my new smartphone?

At least for contacts it's easy: the contacts app offers "export to SD card" (resulting in a .vcf file) and "import from SD card" as well. I'd do that first anyhow, so if something goes wrong you still have that.
The calendar app unfortunately doesn't offer a corresponding option – but there are some calendar backup apps which should be helpful (check that page for other backup apps as well to cover things you might have forgotten to mention).
WhatsApp will be trouble here I'm afraid.
Apart from the above, calendar and contacts should merge fine if you use either Google sync or your own DAV resource. Still, it cannot hurt to have a separate backup :)

Whatsapp can't be merged. I had to make a Google drive backup and apply it to the new device, but new conversations are lost.

Confirmed, @MarcoSulla – I had a lengthy exchange with WA support on that issue. You've got to decide between pestilence and cholera here: either losing you old history, or losing the new. Shameful for such a popular service that their users end up at that door. I'd expect better. Whom do they protect those data against, one might ask…


text:
Proxy Requests Only for Specific Hosts/IPs
I have a rooted device that whose network requests I currently debug using ProxyDroid and mitmproxy by applying a global site, and listing the addresses that bypass the proxy. For one of the apps I'm trying to debug, I'd like to instead allow requests to all but one address to bypass the proxy.
Is there any tool that allows one to explicitly specify the addresses that need to be proxied?


text:
Still can't change Google Play country
I've tried:

updating my Google wallet (UK credit card & billing/home address).
setting default home address.
changing postal code on Gmail.
forcing stop and clearing cache on Google Play app.
clearing the browser cache (both on the phone and on the PC).
using a GPS spoofer + setting localisation to GPS only.

I live in the UK, but I bought my new phone back home (in the Faroe Islands).
This is my first Android device, so I'm new to the https://play.google.com.
The only thing I can think of that is causing it not to work, is the fact that I cannot purchase things in the Faroe Islands (in Google Play as well as https://play.google.com) Since all suggestions online say that I have to "buy" an app, then clear the cache, etc.
Any suggestions?
My device is not rooted and I'm running Marshmallow.

Just curious, why do you need to change your Country in Google Play?

Because I can't access paid apps, and most apps in general; Because the Faroe Islands is not properly supported. I live in the UK atm, so I just want to change the country of my Google Play in order to get past this limitation

I tried all these steps earlier today. I rebooted as well. It has been about 6 hours and it finally started working. Also, something else to note, I browsed the google play store and looked at paid apps. Not sure if that matters. But finally, while I was browsing, my countries apps appeared.

I tried some solutions to change an old country to a new country but I couldn't do it so I finally restored my android phone then the problem was solved.

@Kai, I just stuck with my UK store, until recently, when they decided to support the Faroe Islands. So this is no longer an issue for me :)

Method 1 (Requires 2 Phones signed in with same google account):

Phone 1:

Open Google Play Store and Download HotSpot Shield or Zenmate.  Once
you have downloaded.
Clear cache and data of Google Play Store by going into Settings ->
Apps -> Google Play Store.
Now open VPN app (Zenmate) and Change your location to UK and connect
the VPN. Open Google Play Store and Accepts the terms.
Accept the terms.
Now Move out of Google Play Store.
Do not exit the app from the background.

Phone 2:

Now perform the following steps on Phone 2.
Clear cache and data of Google Play Store on Android Phone.
Open Google Play Store. You don’t need VPN on this phone.
This time, accept the terms and rules. It will take you to UK’s
Google Play Store.

Phone 1:
Disconnect from VPN and Head back to Google Play Store.

Method 2: (Same thing on a single phone, but you will need VPN everytime you use Play)

Install the VPN app provided by your VPN provider on your Android
device.
Choose a VPN server belonging to UK.
Establish a VPN connection.
On your Android device, go to Settings -> Apps.
Under “Downloaded”, search for the Google Play Store app.
Click on it.
Press “Clear Data” and “Force Stop.”
Exit settings.
Relaunch the Google Play Store App.

I have tried Method 2, it worked for me.
For both methods, you need a VPN which provides a UK server(free/paid depending on you).
Set server locations where you want your Google Play location to be, most of the VPN's provide free access to US servers.

I had a similar issue moving from Germany to the UK and spent over an hour on the phone with Google support.
In addition to what others already wrote above, I had to do two things:

Cancel any Google subscriptions you have on your old profile (I had to cancel my Google Play Music Family Plan)
Make sure you not only add a new country profile on pay.google.com, but also add a payment method from the new country

It takes between 24-48 hours for the Google system to process the new profile and to authorize the new payment method.
Only after waiting that long could I do what the others described: cleared cache and storage of the Google Play app (under Apps & Permissions on Android 9) and the new profile finally appeared under Accounts. It is crucial that at this point you need to have an IP address locating you in the country of the new profile, so you might need to use a VPN.
If none of this helps, the support also recommended to sign out of the Google account on your phone and sign in again.

I had the same problem when I moved from the US to India a week back. Here are the steps I used to resolve this issue.
Go to Google Payments and create a new profile for the UK

Go to https://payments.google.com, click on your current profile, and click on the edit option (symbol of a pen) available next to your listed country.
Now you will get an option to add a new profile for a different country

Go to Google Play Store and change the profile

Click on Settings and select the Country and Profiles option.
Here you will be shown both the countries corresponding to your profiles which were created in Google Payments
Select UK and start using Google Payments. Do remember that you can only change the country once every year.

I also had more than 20 dollars in my US profile, so I first spent the money on some useful apps to bring it below 10 dollars and then switched the profile. You need not do this if you don't have money in the old profile. Also, you don't need to buy anything from Google  Store, just to change countries.

For me this was the most helpful answer, although the last steps were a little different. To change to the new profile, I went to hamburger menu -> Account -> Country and Profiles. I had the second country listed with a checkbox next to it, I clicked it and that was it.

Go to Google Payments and create a new profile. Enter new country and other details. (you can go to Google Payments by clicking payment methods in the menu in the Play Store. Then choose more payment settings)

Force close Google Play Store and 2 other Google Play services in apps in your phone settings.

Open Google Play Store. Go to account. You'll find countries and profiles.

Google is making it easier, as reported today, to change the country to a different one. From Android Police on 2018/03/20:

Now, Google appears to be taking one teeny tiny step toward making the switch easier for some people. If your Play Store country is set to country A (whether you lived there or, uhm, fooled Google into thinking you did because you made a purchase with a valid payment method and to a valid shipping address in that country), and the Play Store detects that you've moved to country B (likely based on your IP address), you'll get a new option in the Account settings: Country and profiles. There you'll see which country your Store account is on and an option to quickly switch to the new country - provided you have a valid payment method there.

There are some caveats to this:

Keep in mind that this Country and profiles option won't be there for everyone and won't let you switch to any country you want. It appears to only show up when it detects a discrepancy between your setting and your IP address.

What if I has no payment profile (no payment method) yet? What country is bound to my account?

@Suncatcher the original one. This answer is not correct (and Google is lying), because without a Payment Method from the intended country, the new country will never appear as an option. Source: me, since 2016 to 2024.

the original one ok, how to check the original country in the settings?

I had the same issue and the easy answer was that I had to change the country in my https://pay.google.com, that is where it was taking the wrong country from.
After I changed the address associated with my payments, the change country option became available in the Google Play profile, and I could change from Hungary to Spain.

First, log in to the browser by the URL https://payments.google.com
Select the menu, create a new payment method, fill in details in the fields, save it, and log out of your Google account.
Open Google Play Store, go to the menu, account, and select your newly added country.

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


text:
How to mirror an Android Screen on Laptop
My Android device screen touch is not working, it's just damaged, so I have done the hard reset on it. But it still doesn't work. And now when I start the device I'm not able to proceed further from the Language Select option due to touch not working. So I need help, if someone can tell me how I can mirror my screen on laptop in this situation, if possible.
Thanks in advance

You would need USB-Debugging for any tool that could mirror your display.
As you have reset your phone, USB-Debugging is not active.
But anyway, what do you want to achieve with a broken touch and a resetted phone?
You could restore a ROM backup where this USB-Debugging is enabled, if you had any. But even then you would need to accept the new fingerprint.
Try an OTA-cable and to use a USB-Keybord, maybe this can help a bit.

You can use this Chrome plugin to mirror your Android screen to your laptop:
http://www.vysor.io/

Requires (at least) debugging mode to be on, but he had already done a hard reset.

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


text:
Does Android 3.2.1 support auto-complete feature?
When I type with a keyboard in any app on my older Acer Android Tablet, I don't get any words automatically suggested (above the keyboard), although auto-correct does work. I can't find a setting for this feature either. Is this feature not supported in Android 3.2.1?

Is acer using the Google Keyboard application or its own? The google keyboard app can be installed from the play store and should come with this feature and always be up to date since google moved it to the playstore.

I have no proper access to Playstore (and thus - to Google keyboard) after resetting the tablet to default configuration (password authentication issue that would not go away). Interestingly before the reset, auto-suggest was working. I recall, it started working after I had installed ^some^ updates shortly after buying the tablet, but then stopped again after doing a hard reset (and now not sure how to bring it back).

No idea what went wrong there as I've never had a device manufactured by Acer. You can still give the google keyboard a shot by installing its APK file. You can download it from here. Make sure you can enable Installation from unknown sources insides your settings > security. Then install this app and try it out ;)


text:
Unable to add Rediffmail account in Gmail app
I was trying to add my Rediffmail account to Gmail app. After choosing any of POP or IMAP, it says unable to connect server.
I have other mail accounts in the app and all of them are working fine.
How to add Rediffmail account in Gmail app?

Select POP3 → In POP server address, type pop.rediffmail.com → in SMTP server address, type smtp.rediffmail.com.  Then you are all set.

smtp.rediffmail.com doesn't work. I keep getting authentication failure error, although I made sure I am typing correct password

Once you reach final stage where it asks for SMTP details, just prefix with smtp. and click on next. You are done.
I did it on my own and it worked fine.


text:
Problem with device storage, incompleted files take up space
I am using Lebovo S860. I have quite a big problem with my device storage. Sometimes I try to move a large file to the device (it has 16 GB built-in memory, no slot) and it fails, but the storage is now taken as if I have 80% of the file on my phone. But since the file is not full - problably temorary somewhere, I can not find and delete it, leaving me with no file and no storage.
Example - I have 3.2 GB free and I try to move a 1.8 GB file to my phone - works well until 90%. Then it says not enough storage and fails, which leaves me with 1.6 GB free memory and no files transferred.
Does anyone know why is this and how to find and delete the temporary files?

Open up settings in your device and go to storage option. Select miscellaneous files and you'll see temporary files sorted by size.
Or install fx file explorer application and set your device storage files sorted by date. Or size! Then you'll see which files have taken your storage.

I tried, but Misc can not be clicked on my phone. Apps and Media open other menus but not the Misc category. Do you know any apps that can do what you said instead of the built-in explorer?


text:
chmod failed "Unable to open FILE: invalid argument"
Device-info:

Phone: Sony Xperia Z1
Model number: C6903
Android version: 5.1.1
Build Number: 14.6.A.1.236
Rooted

In order to solve another problem on my phone I want to change permissions of a folder and subfolder recursively:
chmod -R 777 /data/local/mnt in the Terminal Emulator app in su mode.
The folders under mnt are another linux system (with typical folders like dev,etc,home,mnt...)
After executing chmod (like above) I get some Error like:
Unable to open /data/local/mnt/usr/include/pnglibconf.h: No such file or directory
But pnglibconf.h exists and it is not just one File which cause the error. So if I execute chmod -R 777 /data/local/mnt/dev I get the error:
Unable to open /data/local/mnt/dev/video39: Invalid argument
So such an error Unable to open /path/to/file/ nearly happens to every subfolder I execute chmod on.
So what causes the error and how to fix it?

First, try updating BusyBox.
However, I doubt it will help you much, because you are trying to modify very internal Linux "files" that may not even be files or block devices, or be in another filesystem (like ext4 while your phone may use f2fs etc.), or be corrupted. Maybe it's problem with file owner, I don't really know.
What I know, however, is that it's not good idea to run chmod -R 777 on Linux internal files

BusyBox is up to date. It could have something to do with the filesystem of /data/local/mnt which is ext4. I will read the notation why its bad to do so.


text:
WhatsApp sends messages before I've finished typing
I've had a BQ Aquaris M4.5 phone with Android 5.1 for months and have never experienced any problems. However, since last week and without having changed anything that I know of (and not having installed an update from WhatsApp), my phone sends the message before I finish writing it on WhatsApp only. I can only write one or two letters before it sends the message, without me pressing the send button. It continues doing this until I close the app and open it again, but it happens dozens of times throughout the day and I have no idea why. I have erased the cache, used cleaning apps to clean the phone, etc., but nothing solves it. I installed yesterday the latest update and the problem seems even more frequent now. I have searched online but I can't find users experiencing the same problem.
I've thought of doing a factory reset for my phone, as I would like to do it anyway for general cleaning. However, if I have a Google backup and another backup on my SD card, will everything be exactly the same when I restore the phone? Will I actually clean it?
Thank you

1.In whatsapp chat settings option Enter is send has a tick box . If it is enabled, it sends message as soon as you send, if disabled , it allows you to enter a new line in message. Maybe, it is enabled and every time you intend to add a line, you hit enter and the message is sent instead? 2. One Question at a time is preferred in this site but doing a Goggle backup and restoring in most cases will NOT bring it back to current state as far as apps/settings go and certainly not all your data. Only way out for that is to root and take a [tag:nandroid] backup (Press that tag to read more)

Thanks for your help but no, I don't have the Enter is send option enabled and anyway it's not that problem. I only have time to type one letter or two before the message is sent automatically. The same happens with emojis, I type one emoji and the keyboard is therefore not showing and the message is sent on its own.

wild guess- tried changing the key board?

Yes, I did, still nothing :(

Funny enough, changing the keyboard while the problem is occurring solves it (until next time it happens).

As @beeshyams suggested, the problem was not WhatsApp but my keyboard (I am using TouchPal). I don't know what exactly was causing the problem, but uninstalling and reinstalling the keyboard solved it completely.

uninstall touchpal app and all other touchpal's keyborads if any on yr mobile app and just try, i have same problem which is now solved in whatsapp after doing above.

I was experiencing the same problem and finally found the solution!!!
Here is what you have to do:

Turn off your phone
remove battery, sim, sd card
put them back
Turn on your phone

It should solve the problem... It worked for me.

Thank you for your help, but this didn't solve my problem. The solution is already posted.

If you downloaded and installed a key pad from the google play store, just uninstall and its done.
You can install any other key pad if the earlier one behaves the way it did or stick to your original key pad. It worked for me. All the best
Conrad, Ghana

Thank you for your help, but I already gave this as a solution. Cheers


text:
Can't activate nor deactivate any administrator permissions outside of safe mode
I just upgraded my Nexus 5 from 4.4.4 all the way to 6.0.1 and ran into a problem: I can't change any administrator settings outside of safe mode. I wanted to activate it for a screen lock app but the 'activate' button and 'cancel' button don't respond to touch, the same with any app in the list, whether to activate or deactivate. Screen orientation does not matter. In safe mode I can only see the apps already activated, none of which I now dare deactivate fearing I won't be able to reactivate them.
Can anybody help me with this?

If you are using an app such as Facebook Messenger, CF.lumen, Lux or Twilight that draws over the screen, you'll need to stop them doing so in order to interact with secure settings pages such as the device administrator activation/deactivation pages.
For example, in Facebook Messenger, you would either close all chat heads or go to the Facebook Messenger settings and deselect 'Chat Heads', or in CF.lumen you would disable the overlay by pressing 'Disable' in the persistent notification.

That indeed was the issue, force stopping Lux enabled me to change the settings.


text:
Pop ups in Chrome trying to have me install an application, how to find the root cause?
Recently I have seen a lot of these:
This is not the typical "fake pop up" trying to have you tap on it and redirect you to the Play Store. This pop up actually replaces the tab I'm browsing, and is trying to have me go to the play Store to install one specific app.
Everything in this phone comes from the official Play Store, and the phone is not rooted.
For SEO sake, here are the domains used in this scam:
eu.sustainable-49.xyz
samsung.giveaway-deal-com.xyz
us.east-85.xyz
Here are a few screenshots:
The text basically says that my phone is infected and I NEED to install those applications, or that I have won something and I need to something (I didn't follow in that case..)

In one case, this leads to this application, which contains this comment (from yesterday):

Hi, thanks for your feedback. We’ve found that some ads/redirected pages may be malicious promotion from unknown channels, slandering us on purpose. Would you please be so kind that next time you come across the pop-up ads, please send us the link/spam/redirect pages or a screenshots to our Email: cleaner@duapps.com. Thanks a million.
I'm not sure whether this is a local attack on my smartphone, ie an app which would somehow mess with Chrome, inject some code in the pages, or an attack on those websites, or a compromised ad network. It's a bit hard to tell exactly when this is happening.
Could you suggest a method to capture this behavior next time it happens so that I can understand why this is happening ?
Here is one example:
1/ click on Google search result
2/ now I am on some domain on forum-actif.net
3/ redirect to android.earix.com
4/ some data containing this url: go.onclasrv.com/afu.php?...
5/ redirect to onclickads.net
6/ us.east-85.xyz -> virus notifications leading to some Play Store App

Another example
1/ m.wikipedia.org
2/ orange.com-getprize.net

1/ bfmtv.com (French news TV website)
2/ redirect to eu.sustainable-49.xyz/fr002rd/redirect.html?model=Nexus%205&brand=Google&browser=Chrome

This leads me to think that the attack could be from a malicious app on my smartphone, because there is no way this is happening because of a compromised ad network on wikipedia.org.

Seeing them all originating from .xyz domains I'd say you visit too many spammy sites (no offense meant). Administrating a mail server for multiple domains, I've noted a lot of spam for/from those domains, too. Those popups are most likely Javascript from the sites you visit. So to get rid of them, don't go to those sites – or disable Javascript for them, or use an Ad Blocker (or a browser that has such integrated).

@Izzy Unfortunately, this weird behavior occurs on my smartphone on news.google.com and some other reputable news sites.. I just don't know how to really understand what's going on. See my edit.

That makes one of the cases listed in the answer of pzmarzly a likely cause then.

If there is something malicious between your device and the site you are trying to reach, try surfing by 3/4G vs Wifi. If it doesn't appear in the former but only in the latter and only on your home network - you have problem at home.

You can also share your network from the device and have a computer connect. There you can surf to the same site with some dev tools on and look for anomalies.

Cause of your problem is probably:

DNS injection in your network (check other devices, try setting DNS to 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4)
Man in the middle attack in your network (check other devices, try enabling Data saving in Chrome settings)
weird unknown Chrome data corruption - try going to Settings->Applications->Chrome->Clear data & Clear cache
Google Ads script injection - try disabling ad personalization as described in provided link
virus - use Malwarebytes Antimalware for Android

You can try:

using other browser
entering sites with HTTPS - try for example typing https://new.google.com/

EDIT: How to capture redirections using Chrome Developer Tools?

download Google USB Drivers & ADB on your PC
plug your phone in
run adb devices, it should say your device is unauthorized
on your phone, you will get a window, select "Always trust this computer" and Yes
open Chrome on both your PC and phone
on PC, open Developer Tools on any page (f.e. about:blank)
select (hamburger)->More tools->Inspect devices...
make sure USB is checked
your device should appear on the left
run https://www.google.com on your phone (or any other working site)
on PC click on your device and select Inspect on your working tab
go to Network tab and select Preserve log checkbox
select Doc tab
navigate on your phone and see every HTML document your browser loads (it sometimes may go to Other tab)

Good listing! Add one item: manipulation of the data flow by the network operator. Some of those have been known to inject ad urls in the past, see e.g. Website-Targeted False Content Injection by Network Operators (find more).

Could you suggest a way to find why the URL of the current tab is suddenly changing without my intervention ? I can find the new location in the history, but I don't know how to debug that on in Android Chrome.

@alecail I've added it in my answer


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Is there any way at all to skip the setup process after factory reset on an android phone with an unresponsive touch screen?
I have an android phone with an unresponsive touchscreen. I, at first, thought it might be a software problem and did a factory reset with power button and volume up button as given here.
The reset went fine and i rebooted the phone. It rebooted to the initial setup screen where you have to select a language. Now, the touch screen is still not working. Probably a hardware defect. And i am stuck in this screen unable to proceed.
So, is there something, anything i can do about it without needing to take to a repair shop.?
The phone is an honour h6

Question is, what does it help you to skip the wizard if you cannot use the screen at all? You'll have to see a repair shop anyway. And as you already did a factory-reset, there's no data to rescue I guess? // Pointer: Take a look at our broken-screen tag-wiki, you'll find it useful (e.g. the "second use" section).

Since you're talking about a mobile phone (and I'm assuming that you're not rooted), then, unfortunately, no there is no way to skip the setup screens if the touch screen no longer works.
I was thinking that maybe you could pair an external bluetooth device (mouse and/or keyboard) but you have to get past the setup screen to do that.
You could try using an OTG cable with a USB mouse and/or keyboard.

I know this question is an year old, but I also faced this problem recently on my Lenovo Vibe phone. For me, tapping multiple times (may be 4-5 times) on the screen did the trick.

You know what unresponsive touch screen means right? As per your answer it seems, your phone is quite responsive


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having internal storage problem
After rooting my lollipop5.0 with kingroot then after some time my internal storage became zero, I cannot install any app,please if anyone has a solution please help me out:

User apps / system apps (click images for larger variants)
Also storage is not visible from the storage page in settings,it shows only calculating:

Storage and DiskUsage (click images for larger variants)

Use an app like DiskUsage to see what is occupying space and delete uneeded stuff

I checked it I have a lot of free space,but my issue is that my internal storage has become zero,in the system application manger page,it shows the size of every app as 0.0,please help me

Please post screen shots of the app showing disk usage and app manager page by editing your question

If anyone has any solution please help me

It would be great if you could paste result of "mount" command. If you have Terminal installed, just type "mount". If not, enable USB debugging, install Google USB Driver on your PC, install ADB on your PC, connect your phone with USB, accept new PC on phone, open adb folder in cmd.exe, then type "adb shell mount"

What do you think the problem is?

Is it understandable or should I join them


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Is there a system level way of emptying the clipboard?
I have a question about how clipboards are cleared in Android.
Now I know about the conventional methods of clearing the clipboard like rebooting the device, using third party apps, manufacturer modifications. Putting those aside, I would like to know of a way to clear the clipboard that is device/manufacturer agnostic and works with all android versions, assuming the device is non-rooted.
Thanks.

There's no 'clear the clipboard' button built in to Android. You'll need to download a third-party app.

@Josh How about in root?

You'll still need to download and install something - assuming you're happy with that, I doubt you need root to clear the clipboard, since it could be done just by selecting a space character and pressing 'copy'. This app seems like it might do the job, and this question may be relevant.


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My J5 refuses to update to 6.0.1
It says: "The latest updates have already been installed."
I have 5.1.1 and I'm pretty sure I can update to 6.0.1...
Fix?

What is the exact model number of your phone?

SM-J500F/DS ...

Looking at the single-SIM variant, many regions have not received 6.0.1 yet: link. Just because a region have it doesn't mean you can get it on your phone by OTA.

TL;DR: With F/DS model you are out of luck. Better stay with 5.1
In case of Samsung devices, there is a system called Customer Sales Code (CSC). It allows Samsung to provide updates sooner or later, depending on this code. For example, if I bought my phone in Poland, my CSC = XEO. It ends with "O", meaning Open. However, it's not that simple when you got your phone from carrier, because most of them have individual CSC to provide their bloatware. For example, if I get a phone from Orange Poland, I would get CSC = IDE. In that case, it would be my carrier that decides when I get an update, so even if entire world would already have 6.0, I may have to use 5.1 because someone at carrier HQ would be too lazy to confirm an update.
However, it's not a lost cause. With this app you can check your CSC (and many telemetry data used by Samsung, like how often you charge you phone, how many times you used headphones, etc. (they are almost worse than Microsoft)). Then check this list to see if it's Open version (it will have an asterisk). If your CSC is not Open and you see another CSC for your country that is Open, remember that CSC. If your country doesn't have Open, check neighbouring countries' CSC. If they also aren't open, google if any carrier in your country provides 6.0 update and google its CSC. Or even use CSC from Germany or Poland, it's not recommended but many people do it.
Then, when selected CSC, you have to either:

find ROM with selected CSC - this way you won't lose your warranty, but with F/DS model you are out of luck. You can browse http://samsung-updates.com/ and http://www.sammobile.com/ and compare your firmware IDs with the ones on website, but I don't guarantee they work. Then use Odin to install it.
install Cyanogenmod - F/DS=nope
root your device with KingoRoot apk so it won't trigger KNOX, and then: a) use CSC Changer app (go there and search for "S4"), b) use Root Browser or ES File Manager and do like this tutorial says (scroll to ES File Manager and follow up to point 8). Then after reboot search again for updates. If somehow KNOX triggered and you've seen triangle during boot, use TriangleAway and try searching again.


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Cannot edit, delete or copy any file from /sys directory in Android?
I can't edit, delete or copy any file from /sys directory in Android. How can I fix this? I have root access. I made /sys readable and writable using Root Explorer and Root Browser but that didn't solve the problem.
When I attempt to edit a text file, I just receive "failed saving text".
According to @DeathMaskSalesman, it appears the /sys partition is made uneditable at boot. So I suppose I should edit the files while in recovery mode. How can I do that exactly? Or does someone have a better idea?

The /sys partition is made uneditable at boot. I wasn't able to edit most of the files but two.

@DeathMaskSalesman Thanks for the useful information. Then, what should I do?

/sys will not load at recovery. Why would you want to edit it anyway? As for the question itself, the only thing I've seen that "edits" /sys stuff is init.d scripts that run at boot time, so you might want to look into that.

@AndyYan Thanks for the comment. How exactly should I use these init scripts?

I have added additional content as a answer, please check it out. I don't guarantee this to work, but worth a try as long as you back up properly.

Continuing my comment above. This is getting long so I'll just post it as an answer entry.
You will need to enable init.d if your ROM does not support it, for example with this tool: LINK: Google Play
After that, read up on Linux scripting and write the script doing what you intend to do. Put the script in /system/etc/init.d and set permission to 0755 (rwxr-xr-x) to allow execution. Reboot and see if it works.
Check this XDA thread for more info, as well as an example script which you can refer to.

Thanks for the answer. I checked out your XDA thread. I edited my init.d file... Here it is: #!/system/bin/sh echo 1200000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq But, after a reboot, it doesn't edit the text file. Do you know the why?

I'm currently running a stock ROM, but I already had a init.d file

If you're just trying to modify the top freq of a CPU (within the kernel limit), apps like Kernel Adiutor will do the job properly.

This was just 1 simple example. Unfortunately, I can't modify anything...

Can you provide help?

Unfortunately not further. I've been using the same method to modify button light behavior on some devices and it had always worked for me.


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Last ditch recovery for soft-bricked Galaxy Tab 10.1 possible?
Looking for some "heroic measures" advice here.
Some weeks ago, my Galaxy Tab2 10.1 (GT-P5113; Wifi only) suddenly threw itself into a bootloop frenzy that I have so far been unable to recover from.  Here are the facts, symptoms, and the measures I've attempted already:

running stock ROM 4.2.2; no root
there had been no recent update: when the bootlooping began, the tablet had been on all night but suddenly froze when I started to use it and began bootlooping
automatic app updates had been disabled, so I don't think any apps had updated recently
device reboots all the way into Android, but freezes and reboots within 30 seconds of achieving the Home Screen
booting into "safe mode" still results in bootloop
changing system variables do not persist between boots (e.g. enabling USB debugging; changing system volume; turning Wifi on/off)
entering recovery always includes message "Installing system update... NO COMMAND" with Andi lying down and exclamation mark symbol
"wipe data/factory reset" appears successful, but system reboots to previous state (NOT factory reset)
"wipe cache partition" terminates in "Error!" message with Andi and exclamation mark then reboots into the loop

I'm able to start into Odin mode and stock Android recovery, but am UNABLE to make any changes to the system in those modes:

attempting to flash TWRP or CWMR using ODIN or HEIMDALL appears successful, but upon restarting into recovery the stock Android recovery <3e> is there with the "no command" error
using either HEIMDALL or ODIN, trying to flash downloaded stock ROM appears successful for cache.img; SBL1.bin; recovery.img; but fails about halfway into system.img.  Same behaviour whether or not PIT repartition is selected.  Reboot shows no change.
Using Kies:  Kies just searches for the devices and typically fails, or takes so long the tablet is already rebooting by the time it briefly connects
trying to install the stock ROM from SD card fails (no useful information provided by the system)
dabbled a little with creating a bootable SD card, but the tablet just seems to ignore it
have tried mounting the internal storage to investigate the disk's health, but not even sure if this is possible?  Ubuntu 16.04 is "unable to mount MTP" and Windows 10 Explorer just doesn't show anything there.

I suspect a physical corruption of the internal storage, but with apparently no means to mount the drive, flash the recovery, flash the system, wipe the data and/or cache, I'm pretty much out of ideas.  Maybe the internal storage has become "read only" or has corrupt sectors?  Is this even possible?
As far as I'm concerned the device is basically bricked, so I'm willing to try any riskier ideas to kick-start this guy back into life...
(Yes, I understand this is an old device.  I like the big screen!)
Thanks,
Matt

About PIT repartition... did you surf the web searching for the appropriate PIT file?

Hi DMS. Yes, I found and used a downloaded PIT file that was identified as the one for my tablet...

Huh... bad situation. As last resort, you may want to try the "NAND Erase All", coupled with "PIT Repartition" to repartition with the .pit you found. Then, flash the stock firmware, and let's see what happens.

Yuh, that mirrors what I'm thinking, too. Trying to PIT repartition so far seems to have no effect. The only thing I haven't tried is the NAND erase, since I don't know enough about it and all what reading I have done suggests there are tygers and dragons and other awful beasts there! I'll do a bit more reading and give it a go. Thanks for the suggestions...

Yes, the NAND Erase is not to be touched in regular circumstances. It blasts anything on the eMMC.

Update: tried "Nand Erase All" with PIT file & repartition selected.  It fails after a couple of minutes with "Complete(Write) operation failed".  No change: same bootloop.  Even my personalized home screen picture remains, so the erase operation didn't occur. Tablet still won't stay booted longer than 30 seconds.  With this additional info, I changed some search terms and found more info, e.g.:

http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/84277/samsung-galaxy-nexus-bootloop-cannot-format-or-write-data

Summary:  eMMC is apparently pooched.

Condolences, then. At least, we tried anything we could, software-wise.

Any update? My galaxy tab 3 has a similar problem. I tryed many firmware but problem persist


text:
List main CPU consuming processes since boot
How to list the 10 main CPU-consuming process, not in instantaneous CPU usage %, but rather in CPU usage since boot ?
i.e. :

a process that peaks at 50% CPU during 10 seconds won't be listed
a process constantly using 3% CPU during hours would be listed

I have a rooted Android 4.2.2, BusyBox, Terminal.

Not exactly what you are looking for but closely aligned solution that can help
Download 3C Toolbox. Amongst the tons of features it has, there is an option to record CPU usage, accessible from Settings →Recorder, where you define recording preferences. For your purpose choose

Time-frame and Rate → 1 minute, every second (warning-heavy battery usage so I selected 1 hour , 1 minute)
Enable Start Recorder on Boot
items to Record → CPU frequency, All processes, Battery information and whatever else you want from options
CPU Utilization can be selected for processes to show from 0.001% to 20%. Select what suits you - I chose 10%
Based on above enable Hide lowest consumer

High Level View: You get a recording of CPU utilization with processes contributing to it .This recording can be analyzed for the duration selected (with different zoom factors) and high level usage processes can be identified.  These processes can be individually selected to show color coded display as below. In the bottom panel of utilization, other factors of interest like battery status, temperature,current etc can be alternatively displayed by tapping on the lower graph

Deep Dive: Your question is asking for specific time and utilization parameters for which you need to get raw data. This is available in .txt file in the location which you choose to save the recording (typically DCIM folder). You can extract relevant process data from the file and export to Excel worksheet and should be possible to filter per your needs ( I haven't tried that bit of exporting to worksheet) . Small extract showing frequency and process init1 below (Also,note that though I had selected recording option of 1 hour,1 minute, file says data is recorded 10 millisec)
3C Toolbox Pro (data multiple of 10ms) Refresh Rate: 6000 Start: 1469856508888 Total Recording: 264000 Frequency7 -23 : 99840|0|0 111360|0|0 111360|0|0 99840|0|0 111360|0|0 /**init 1** : 0|692|0 3|692|0 1|692|0 8|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 4|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 4|700|0 3|700|0 4|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 6|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 4|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 4|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 3|700|0 6|700|0 2|700|0 3|700|0

Couple of other apps which are of use in monitoring app performance are detailed in answer here
Developer of 3C Tool Box is very responsive and can be contacted from within app Settings →Help and Support → Request Support or at XDA thread


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Can Gmail be set to do send/receive email rather than synching
I seldom use my cell phone for emailing but want to be able to do so occasionally. I know how to add non-Gmail email accounts to the Gmail app, but I want to set sync to "never" for them so that my battery isn't continually being sucked unnecessarily. But I can't figure out how to tell Gmail to do a receive on those few occasions that I need to check email on the phone. Is there a way? Or do I need to find a different email app?


text:
Remounting a part of external SD card
Context: I've now spent more than 6 hours reading all articles / possible solutions I can find about the ".nomedia" file bug of Android 4+. See bug report here or also here or possible solution here. In short : for users with more than 10k media files on their microSD card (i have a 128 gb µSD!), the phone will be very hot at boot during 20 minutes / overheat / high cpu usage / fast battery drain ! Reason : Android 4+ doesn't care correctly about the ".nomedia" file like it did in Android 2.3, and the media scanner tries to browse all the files!
I'm looking for a workaround for this problem. Question :
Is it possible to remount a specific folder myfolder of my external SD card to /mypersonalfolder/ and hide it from /mnt/extSDcard/myfolder .
Or
Is it possible, after boot, to chmod a specific folder from external SD card so that the media scanner won't be allowed to browse it?
I have  a rooted Android 4.2.2

Remounting will work, but hiding not. You may try to rename it to .myfolder (a dot indicates hidden) 2. chmod is not available on fuse, FAT or any other file system especially for external SD cards on Android (a custom kernel with explicit ext3/4 may work, but only when not using fuse)

.myfolder : already tried : doesn't work, the media scanner still parses it. 1. how to remount ?

depends, usually mount --bind /path/to/myfolder /path/to/mypersonalfolder. But remember, it's available at both  locations.

@GiantTree : hum then... I'm stuck again...  Here's what I need to do : /mnt/extSdCard available as usual to user uO_a26 (that owns the media scanner : android.process.media)   but /mnt/extSdCard/myfolder NOT  available to uO_a26 .

@GiantTree : Nota Bene: drwxrwxr-x system   media_rw          2016-07-30 03:07 extSdCard

That's not possible because of how the file system works. fuse simply relays the file system (FAT32) with a common user and group. FAT32 does not store any information about owner or permissions.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


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How to add my device (Galaxy s6 edge) to connected devices?
I am new here and it is my first question.
I downloaded Android Studio from official website then when i debugged the application ( Hello world) i can't find my device , and the device is connected to PC...Also troubleshoot "VT-x is disabled in BIOS" so i will be glad for you if you helped me.
Thanks..
Photo from my PC...my android version is 6.0.1

Have you enabled the developer mode and USB-Debugging on your device?

I  don't think so.. How to enable them?

ok thanks...it worked now
Settings/About Device/Software Info/Build number << click on it 4 times

Then Settings/Developer Options/ Enable Debugging mode = true (Checked)

If you've solved your own problem, post an answer and then accept it, so that other visitors can see the problem is solved.

I am new be too.
Check your phone (Settings - Developer options(maybe You can not search this option, Settings - About Phone - touch more 5 build number) - check usb debugging.
The other word, Enable USB debugging options.
and also you must install USB Driver on your PC.


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Droid Explorer Error: SystemInvalidOperationException
I have a Samsung S5 Active, SM-G870, Android 4.4.2, rooted Stock ROM, correct BusyBox of Stericson is installed and up-to-date. I can connect via WIFI, my phone is correctly recognized but I get the following error right after clicking on the phone picture

I am wondering why it uses E:\ Drive? I don't have an E:\ drive and maybe that's just a virtual drive used by Droid Explorer?
Anyway, after several tries, Droid Explorer 0.9.0.4 now opens correctly but I can't explore any sub-directories. I read the post about it and made sure that I have the correct BusyBox (Stericson) - newest version.
Any help would be highly appreciated.

Instead of marking it solved as one would do in some forums, this being a  Q & A site follows a different method- you are welcome to post the solution as an answer to your question and accept it 48 hours later (clicking the green tick mark below the answer). This will help future visitors with similar problem and also you as your answer may get upvoted helping you grow in this community

It seems the culprit must have been BusyBox. At least after updating BusyBox, it works now fine!

Please take beeshyams' comment as a guidance, not as a complaint. As it has been mentioned, this site is a bit different that the usual forum, as it's a Q&A site. Also, you probably need to merge your account so you can get the ownership of this question back and accept your own answer.


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Moto Voice implementation without root?
The new Moto G4 and Moto G4 plus made by Lenovo,  unlike the other Android Motorola phones, is incapable of texting for you and answering your calls while driving, unlike the predecessors Motorola Turbo 2,  Motorola X pure,  Moto X etc etc. I've tried finding apks online that will install a different version of the app as what can be found in the Turbo 2 but they never installed successfully. Does anybody have any insight as to how I can get the full features out of the Moto apps that are not found in the G4 but are found in most other iterations of the Motorola phones? These features are why I wanted to get another Motorola phone and I was disappointed to find that this is the only one that does not support it.


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Can't change lock screen to a non-password option
This is on a Galaxy Note 3.

On Kitkat, in order to access work email we had to install MobileIron, which is a horrible suite of supposedly secure apps. As part of the installation I had to define MobileIron as administrator, and also to encrypt the phone. At that point I used a PIN lock on the lock screen.
Recently the Lollipop update became available. To install Lollipop I first had to decrypt the phone. During decryption it asked me to define a high-security password (alphanumeric, not PIN).
After decryption it no longer let me change the lock screen back to PIN (all the other options are grayed out, saying that the option was disabled by administrator, encryption policy or credential storage).
I tried encrypting it again, it didn't help.
I decrypted it back.
I removed MobileIron from the administrator list, and then also uninstalled all of the apps in the suite.
I installed some more updates following the Lollipop upgrade.
I restarted the phone after each step.

Nothing seems to help, all options but the password are still grayed out. What can it be?

Well, reading this "app"'s reviews in my country tells me that this app changes relevant files, which are not reverted to their initial state upon uninstalling. I won't test this for you, but I fear that only a factory reset might suffice.


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SD card used as internal storage not showing any file
I am using SD card as internal storage in Marshmallow. After few days one day suddenly it stop showing any file on my phone. When I have checked the storage position in phone it is showing the memory used but no files are showing zero. I have tries connecting the phone to PC but then also no file is showing in the internal storage, also it is not creating any drive and hence no card repair tool is working in PC. When I have used the card with adapter in PC it is not at all detecting the card (which is probable due to card formatted as internal storage in marshmallow)
Now I am not able to save any single file,application on my phone because it gives error 'No enough space left on the memory'.
Anybody please advise what can be done.


text:
See Windows shared folder in Android
I have shared a folder named myfolder in Windows, the computer name is MYPC.
I installed FolderSync on Android and I would like to connect to this shared folder via SMB.
What's the relevant share address with smb:... ?
smb://MYPC/myfolder

or
smb:///MYPC/myfolder

or
smb:\\\MYPC\myfolder

I tried all these options, but it did not work.

Can you add the Play Store link to the app? There seems to be many apps with that name, causing ambiguity.

STEPS to create a SMB account in FolderSync:

Open the app, go to options and select 'Account'
Select 'Add Account' ('+' symbol), click 'SMB/CIFS'.
Enter a name.
Server Address: enter the local IP address of the Windows Computer where sharing is enabled.

Format: smb://local_ip
For example, smb://192.168.0.3
(You can easily find your computer's local IP by ipconfig command in Command Prompt)

Then enter the login credentials of computer if Windows Sharing is password-protected, or use Anonymous login if password-protection is switched off..

Now you're ready to create the syncs you need.

Alternatively, you can also use ES File Explorer.
Goto Options(3lines at top left)-> Network-> LAN.
Search for devices there, or add it if you know the correct address..

Thanks! I'd like to use FolderSync... (of ES File Explorer does sync as well?) Oh we just discussed this morning on Xda forum about your wondefffffful UMS enabler ! :)

Lol, nice to hear :) BTW, I'll add the steps for the foldersync app after I install and use it

Solution : in FolderSync app, one should not write the shared folder in the URL, but just the IP :
smb://<ip address or hostname>


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Defect in updated Marshmallow
Recently, i updated Samsung galaxy J5 to Marshmallow,Today when i tried to change lock screen password,like type previous password then enter new password and then confirmation of new password.I did these all steps and all goes well as they should be but when i lock my phone and try to enter password again it does not accept my new password it says password is incorrect.Then when i try old password it is accepted.What is this? Why phone is just stuck to one password and does not change password.By the way this old password was also in previous Lollipop version.
I have done "clear cache partition" in recovery mode but still the issue is same.
I googled this problem but there was not any matter of this kind.
Have you people any suggestion for this?

Probably a permissions issue. That's why you do a full wipe after upgrading the OS. You probably need to delete the .key files in /data/system. This requires root permission or a custom recovery.

I don't want to root device.There are many folders and files at back end and i don't know where is this key.Actually i found this system folder but there were many sub folders like "app","bin","lib","framework" etc.Now where is this key?Also i don't want to full wipe it after that it take much time to manage all apps again.Only option is key,can you provide full path of this key.I use ES file explorer to open system folders.

So the key files are at /data/system not /system. But unless you root your device, you are unable to do anything with those files.

Friend,rooting device is not appropriate for me i still remember when i rooted another android device,after rooting my phone become completely exposed to adds.Adds irritate too much.Although i removed root but adds remain.So,i will have to do full wipe.Let's see what will happen.

The ads don't come from rooting (unless you use some shady auto-root tool). But a full wipe should do the trick.

A big problem occurred,i made factory reset(wipe all data) then when phone  restarted again it asked me to enter previous e-mail address and password.Well i don't know previous e-mail address and password i just thought that i will made another google account after reset.I have another device kit kat it does not ask for previous e-mail and password when we perform a factory reset.I was not aware of this new security.Actually J5 is not my phone it is my father's phone,they don't use gmail account.They just use it for calling family and business.They even don't remember what is password.So now?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Let me give another clear answer with steps. It is based on this you tube video
I updated Samsung J5 to Marshmallow but there was problem then I did a factory reset to make it right but after reset it asks me to enter your previous e-mail and password. Well ,this phone belongs to my father. He didn't know password .Then I searched on Google and finally found a solution.Key steps are:

Download Odin software from here
Download Samsung J5 firmware.You have to download firmware whose date is before September 2015, from here
Download Bypass app
OTG cable is required.

After downloading these three, grab your phone. Power it off then after few seconds press Vol down+ home button+ power button. After this a caution sign will appear,press Vol up button.Now your phone will go in downloading mode.
Connect your phone to PC via data cable,now launch Odin software on PC and click on AP button and select firmware which you have downloaded.It will say you to wait...then a message will appear as "Leave CS". When message appears ,click on start button. Firmware will now install to your phone,you will see loading line on phone and PC.When it completed android icon appears on phone. Now,remove data cable,after few seconds your phone will switch on.Now press few next button or skip them.When you reach on "verify your account" it will ask you to enter your e-mail.Since we *don't have email or password  save Bypass app in a USB and connect OTG cable to your mobile,after connecting OTG you will see that phone file manager will open USB on phone, install Bypass app (enable app install from unknown sources).Open this app,now you have access to settings, there go to factory reset and perform reset.Your phone will restart.Finally Google verify account has removed,after few steps your phone will switch on again.
Note :   Every thing works fine except two things:

Skype app does not connect to server network
You will not be able to do Software update

Thank you for adding steps, please delete the earlier answer. You can accept your answer after 48 hours by ticking the green mark below the answer

Thanks for editing and correction beeshyams. It looks better now.

You are welcome, you may like to edit your question also to make it look better and in future would be able to present better questions and answers. Please delete earlier answer


text:
bootloop when trying to flash xposed
so I used twrp to flash xposed-v86-sdk22-arm64.zip and then it got in a bootloop. I really want to have xposed on my 5.1 Samsung s6 can someone please help me

please note I'm a newbie when it comes to phones

The details you've given are extremely vague. Let's start by what rom you're running. Since you mentioned that you're a newbie, do share with us what link / tutorial you followed to get up to this point.

For Samsung devices you need a custom xposed build: http://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/unofficial-xposed-samsung-lollipop-t3180960

Have you made sure you chose the right zip for your architecture? Thats also very important to get it runninf