text:
I have Huawei P20 pro, and cannot receive WhatsApp messages unless I open the App
I have a Huawei P20 pro, and cannot receive WhatsApp messages unless I open the App.
A few points to note. There is intrusive data collection by many Apps and also usage of completely unnecessary network data - in my opinion.
So I restricted the default Network access. Huawei P20 Pro has (I assume other Huawei models + Andriod in general) a "Data saver" option. This restricts data access. However as a subsetting of this you can make an exception for the Apps you want. Using this path;
Settings => Wireless & Networks => Data usage => Data saver (On|Off) => On=>
Here choose for "Installed Apps" and "System Apps"
WhatsApp (and few others) selected for exemption, but still no messages unless I open the App. Any ideas?

Perhaps you need to enable Google Play Services background data too


text:
Where is clone Apps data stored in Realme 2 Pro (Color OS 5.2)?
Generally, WhatsApp data and media are found in the WhatsApp folder created in the file manager.
When we enable Clone Apps for WhatsApp in Realme 2 Pro (Color OS 5.2), where are cloned WhatsApp data and media stored and where can I find cloned WhatsApp data and media in file manager?

Cloned apps work under a different user account. /sdcard is actually /data/media/0 where 0 is the UserID of default user accout i.e. the owner of the device. So the data of cloned WhatsApp must be at /data/media/[UserID]/WhatsApp but you can't access that path without root access. You should clone a file manager to access the files of cloned WhatsApp. Both apps would be working under same user account then.

Open File Manager → Choose Phone Storage → defaults folders will be visible, select Search icon/text area and type 999 and click enter, you will be redirected to 999 folder with following pre-defined folders:

Android
DCIM
WhatsApp

Click on WhatsApp → Media, and find your relevant files like images, profile photos, videos, animated gifs, documents, etc.

Install FX File Explorer on playstore app
Go to Setting and allow hidden files
Go to internal storage
There is a small letter written "storage/emulated/0/", click on this and replace 999 to 0
Tap OK

First, install any other file manager such as Xiaomi's file manager and then search 999, you will find the data and media of cloned WhatsApp.

Eureka! Found a way and it can work wirelessly.
Follow my tutorial, Just discovered it and currently backing up my WhatsApp folder.
So, First → Get the Filezilla client version.
and MiXplorer Silver - File Manager . Paid Version. But you know what to do with the paid version , Won’t link the links. But go for it,
and obviously know the file path of the DUAL APPS folder in my case it’s /storage/emulated/999/WhatsApp/……….
Now, open Mixplorer and then to the right top corner click on the options and then click on Servers.
Next, click the edit button and set the path to the location of your Dual app /storage/emulated/999.
Now, click start server.
Next, Create Hotspot → Connect your Laptop/Desktop (using a dongle or inbuilt Wi-Fi) to the network then, Open Filezilla → You’ll need the location of your FTP server. As in our case, the server we created using MiXplorer,
Note## You’ll find the FTP address in the Notification menu of your phone by MiXplorer, Now in Filezilla Hostname will be the IP address mine was 192.168.XX.X
and port (If you’ve created your port in MiXplorer) else leave it blank and Boom Now, you’re provided with the Storage screen and Just copy whatever you want from There.

And obviously, it’s efficient for any kind of file transfer using FTP i.e. Wirelessly.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How to enable USB debugging in LineageOS 14 on Moto G2014?
I want to build LineageOS 15 from source following the titan image build guide which requires the transfer of vendor specific files and thus an adb connection after enabling USB debugging.
I didn't find a LineageOS-specific guide on turning development tools including USB debugging on, so I went with my Android knowledge of tapping 6 times on the build number in the phone settings. This shows a screen with my home screen background and the LineageOS emblem. The emblem responds to taps anywhere on the screen by changing it's styling, but nothing else. I can go back and use the phone including repeating the journey to the emblem screen.
I get that these settings should be hidden for non-dev users and don't need to be reachable very intuitively, but that's covered by hiding the function behind the 6 taps on the version item. After that the proceedure to enable development features can be intuitive again.

Just a side note on building (which is off-topic on this site, so not included in answer): don't follow the official guide on vendor blobs, instead add TheMuppets to your local manifest for known-good extracted blobs.

I went with my Android knowledge of tapping 6 times on the build number in the phone settings. This shows a screen with my home screen background and the LineageOS emblem.

Despite what you claimed, you've tapped the wrong place. Tapping "Android version" will show a big N; tapping "LineageOS version" will show you the LOS logo; tapping the actual "Build number" item, which is the second-to-last item in the About phone menu, is what you should go for.
On top of that, it should be tapped 7 times, and each tap should notify you about needing more taps to unlock Dev Options.

I tapped something else than the build number. There's a lot of room for improvement here, unfortunately, LineageOS developers don't care about suggestions of improvements in their issue tracker.

It's unreasonable to blame LOS for misreading / mistake on your part, unless it's because you're not using English and got mislead by translation.

The showed logo made me think which is always a bug. I can't discuss this with the LineageOS devs because they refuse input on this because of the automation of their issue tracker. It's reasonable to complain about this - especially if I accept the outcome of this discussion or its postponing no question asked.

The GitLab issue tracker is just that, a serious place for discussing issues, with concrete proof (usually logcat). For lighter discussion you should've used their official subreddit instead, which is way more open. Maybe also offer video proof on where you tapped and what popped out, because I had/have dozens of LOS devices and I know well how it works.

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


text:
Samsung s10e screen protector
I have scratched my screen, however, when I look at it real close, it looks like a screen protection was pre-affixed to it... but to confuse matters, unlike other screen protections I had in the past, this one demands much force to be applied in order to slide a nail under it - so much force that I stopped trying for fear of breaking some kind of "integrated screen protection".
This feature is maybe 1/4mm thick, follows the contour of the top speaker, about 1mm under it, and follows the top edge of the plastic sides, roughly 2mm from them, and has a circular hole roughly 8/9mm around the front camera.
Can someone tell me if there is an "integrated (and not removeable) screen protection" on s10e phones, that looks like what I described, or if, for some reason, there was a screen protection affixed to my phone though I never asked for one?

I finally managed to slide under it, there was a screen protector, and so I am relieved that's not my screen I deeply scratched in 3 days after receiving the phone :)
So for anyone wondering, s10e might have a protector straight out of the box, and it's damn hard to remove!

From the Verge's article Samsung will include preinstalled screen protector on Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus:

Buyers of the new Samsung Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus will find a preinstalled plastic screen protector on their device when they unbox it beginning March 8th. Samsung has confirmed that it’s shipping the S10 with a protector on the display, meaning you won’t have to immediately hunt for something that’s compatible with the ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor on day one. Now, this is just your very basic screen protector — similar to what OnePlus does with their phones, if I had to guess — and it isn’t glass, so it’s bound to scratch over time. The included protector thus doesn’t have any sort of warranty on how long it’ll last.

The Galaxy S10E won’t have this screen protector included since it will work with many screen protectors with no problem. Samsung seems to be purposefully doing it on the S10 and S10 Plus to give consumers a quick solution out of the box.

If yours has one pre-installed, maybe they forgot and install one ;)

From what I saw(1, 2), it does seem that Sammy went ahead and installed the protector on all S10e's anyway.

@AndyYan Very kind of them.


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Nokia 7.1 / Android 9 can't connect to specific local IP
My setup

Raspberry Pi running Pi-Hole on static IP 192.168.0.2
TP-Link Archer C7 router

IP - 192.168.0.1
2.4GHz and 5GHz bands using same SSID
DHCP setup

Default gateway - 192.168.0.1
DHCP range 192.168.0.100 - 192.168.0.199
DNS - 192.168.0.2
Subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Wireless AP isolation is disabled

I got a new Nokia 7.1 running Android 9. It connects to the wifi just fine (receives an IP like 192.168.0.103, DNS settings are set correctly) and can access the internet as well as certain local IPs such as the router admin page and other devices connected to the network, for example a Synology Diskstation.
I noticed I was getting ads on some web pages so tried to access the pi-hole dashboard to check things out. When I tried to access http://192.168.0.200/admin, I receive

This site can't be reached
http://192.168.0.2/admin is unreachable
ERR_ADDRESS_UNREACHABLE

so that explains why I was getting ads but I cannot for the life of me work out why the phone cannot access this one specific local IP address.
My laptop which is on the same wifi network can access the pi-hole dashboard without issue.
This is my first Android 9 device so I might be missing a specific networking setting. Previously I had a Nougat phone that did not show any problems like this.

Update
Noticed the WiFi on the phone was constantly switching between 2.4GHz and 5GHz. Changed the router to use different SSIDs for each band which seemed to work well for a day but it's back to not connecting now.

Another update
Noticed whenever I'm having trouble with LAN connections, there's a TV.b wifi network which appears to be my Chromecast which means it too does not have a connection so this is looking more like an issue with the router.

Did you check Private DNS settings introduced in Pie? It's DNS over TLS (DoT) which uses port 853 instead of 53. I suppose 192.168.0.200 is listening on port 53. Did you try to ping (ICMP/TCP/UDP) 192.168.0.200 from Nokia phone or tried to access listening port(s) with nmap?

@IrfanLatif Private DNS is on "Automatic" but DNS shouldn't prevent me from hitting a direct local IP. 192.168.0.200 operates DNS on port 53 but also runs a web dashboard on port 80. Not sure how to ping from the phone

You can use ping, traceroute, namp from adb shell or terminal emulator app like Termux.

Make sure the subnet mask you get via DHCP is 255.255.255.0 (not limited to the DHCP IP range).

That is the subnet mask, sorry forgot to include that in the question


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How do I transfer text messages from iPhone 5 (running iOS 10.3) to a Galaxy S5 (running Android 6) for free?
I love Android and I'm trying to get my friend to transfer to an Android phone from their iPhone. I can use iCloud and other apps to transfer contacts and other things, but I can't figure out how ton transfer text messages to the Galaxy S5. These are the things I've tried and some reasons that they don't seem to work:

Google Drive (requires iOS 11 & phone can't update to that version)
iCloud (doesn't include text messages until iOS 11.4 & phone can't update to that version)
DrFone (seems to just hang)
ATT Transfer App (doesn't seem to work)
iSMS2Droid (went down March 18th, 2019, and isn't available anymore in app stores. I was able to make a backup of the iPhone using iTunes, but I can't find any app/program that can convert the text message database to an Android one).

Thanks so much!

So the main question is not "How to transfer SMS" but "How do I extract the SMS data from my iPhone". Therefore the main "challenge" is located in iOS - this makes it mainly iPhone related but not Android related.

Actually, @Robert, you can extract the sms database with iTunes, but since iSMSDroid is no longer an option, I'm unsure of how to convert it to an Android SMS database - therefore, I would say it's mostly an Android related issue especially since it involves migrating TO an Android phone.

I think there is typo in iSMSDroid, the name is iSMS2droid right? Based on the package name org.faked.isms2droid there is an old version of this app available on ApkPure.com.

Awesome!  Thank you @Robert !


text:
How do I safely flash a new rom on an infected android phone?
Is using a live cd a good idea? Will it keep the rest of my computer including storage and installed OS safe?

Flashing ROM on an Android phone doesn't necessarily need a PC. What have you tried so far or how do you plan to flash new ROM? What kind of infections do you have on Android phone?

A live CD has access to all HDDs on your PC unless they are encrypted. Therefore a live CD has only a security benefit if your HDDs are encrypted or if you disconnect  them (e.g. the SATA cable) prior to booting the live CD.

It seems you are having a hard time here. I recommend you acquaint yourself with the functioning and rules of this website. [help] is a good place to start. I'd like you to note that posting duplicates is not okay. Unlike forums, our site permits the original poster to edit their post to fix mistakes or add information to make it more clear. Since this was a duplicate, I marked it as a duplicate. What you can do is, read the help centre, then go back to your original question and reduce its scope. This is a win-win for everyone. :)

Well, I think you should further tighten the security up more, my suggestions are:

Get into Safe Mode (if you are using Windows OS)
Fire up VM software, and do the process in there

The best is do it on Linux OS. Even though imho the malwares from phones are different from the PC ones.

Flashing from within a VM via USB is theoretically possible by redirecting the device into the VM, but based on my experience USB forwarding is usually not that stable enough for flashing.

You are right to be cautious.
Android malware cannot directly run on a Windows PC. Android malware CAN be used as a dropper for Windows malware, however, and this is why you should be careful about hooking up your phone. But there is one method of restore that should be safe:
Fastboot
Boot your phone into Fastboot mode (sometimes called 'bootloader' mode) and use the fastboot command on your PC to either:
a) Flash your new image directly (usually only works for OEM images)
b) Flash or tempboot TWRP and use that to wipe your phone COMPLETELY (remove /system, /data, cache, Dalvik cache, the works) and transfer and install your new image. (usually works for custom ROMs). You can use ADB safely here as well.
Even root-access malware cannot mess with fastboot, and by extension a booted-from-fastboot recovery partition, so you should be safe restoring your phone like this.


text:
adb shell push image to recent or downloads folders not on sdcard
I want to push images to one of this folders:

with shell command. But file only appears on sdcard folder
My last tries was:
adb push C:\Users\User\Pictures\girl.jpg /data/media/0/Pictures/
adb push C:\Users\User\Pictures\girl.jpg /sdcard/Pictures
adb push C:\Users\User\Pictures\girl.jpg /storage/emulated/0/Pictures

Recent is not a folder, just a list of files recently opened. Dawnloads is /sdcard/Download or /storage/emulated/0/Download.


text:
How can I reenable Gmail notifications after disabling them through Inbox?
I used to have both Inbox and Gmail installed. This meant duplicate notifications. Inbox had the option "Turn off Gmail notifications" which I had selected. Since then, Inbox has become defunct and I haven't been able to figure out how to undo that.
Crucially: all of my Gmail and Android settings turn notifications from Gmail on, but they still won't show up. Does anyone know what Inbox did and how I can undo it?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you tried clearing Gmail cache? Clear its data?

I could have sworn I tried this... I tried again and it works ♂. Thanks!

Should I write it as an answer?

Please do, and I'll accept!

You have removed Inbox app, but the issue remains. If Inbox did modified Gmail settings, then you have to tried the "usual" steps:

Clear Gmail's cache.
Clear Gmail's data (this step also clears the cache): It will reset the app to default. You will have to login again to your account as you did the first time you used the app.
Remove and re-install Gmail (if it was not installed by default like in some custom ROMs).
Remove all Gmail updates (it will allow Gmail to return to the state it had when you bought the device).


text:
Where Recent Apps specific files are stored?
Android 7.1. Messed up with «Eternal Process Lock», the xposed module. Activated its features, but forgot to activate the module. Now recent apps stopped working, reboot doesn't help, activating/reactivating module/features too. However, I can ask the community who use the same model to share their system files. Thank you in advance.

Xposed modules do not make permanent changes, so you should be able to fix this problem by removing that module using a custom recovery. See https://android.stackexchange.com/q/131236/96277

I tried to disable xposed completely – it didn't help. Unfortunately, I have bootlocked phone, so I can use only root options without recovery.


text:
Google Maps - requests to reviews places I've never visited
Google Maps insists on asking me to review places that I've never visited.  I've tried both "Dismiss" and "I haven't been here"" but they keep coming back.  It's very frustrating especially when the places I have visited and I do want to review get lost in the seemingly endless list of places I've perhaps gone past but never visited.


text:
Updating google apps on stock Nexus 5 causes bricking
I was on my Nexus 5. I hadn't updated google apps for a long time. Then one day, i thought "why not update hangouts" so I tried to get it through google play. Google Play updated itself. Then updating the rest was a bad mistake. It froze and now won't boot. I used these instructions: https://gist.github.com/deloz/6a9663ca7052fc4acf9c but for hammerhead m4b30z
and could back to stock. But everytime I try to update google apps through wifi, it dies and won't work. I thought I could just live with un-updated google apps, but now, every few days, my phone just freezes up.  Any suggestions would be helpful?

Enable debugging you your device and connect your device via USB to your PC and check adb logcat while a boot that ends up in a freeze. May be you see a useful error message on logcat that helps you to understand what is going wrong.

Thank you @Robert I will try that.  Looks like the end of my Nexus 5 as a daily driver.


text:
I cant get my GBoard back to "normal"
For some reason, my keyboard now looks like this, and I cant get it back to normal with normal shift key function and auto correct and word suggestions. Yes, I went into the keyboard options and turned these things on. Still not working.

You are accidentally on the PC version. On the keyboard, just follow these steps and you'll get back your previous version.

Click on the setting option on the left corner
Click on languages (image 1)
There you have keyboard languages and layouts click on the English US (PC) (image 2)
First click on qwerty if not checked and select done (image 3) after checking it then swap to the right you'll find the PC double click it and touch done on the bottom right (3rd and 4rth image)
-Your setting changed now to the previous one :)

here are the screenshots


text:
Note9: Can you sync DIFFERENT calendars on google calendar and samsung calendar at the same time?
I have personal and business calendars from completely different accounts and I don't want them to show on both apps.
When I select specific calendars for Google calendar for Android, I can't prevent Samsung Calendar from showing the exact same changes and vice versa.
Can you select only Calendar A from Account A on one calendar app and only Calendar B from Account B on another on Android?

As strange as this may seem, it is not possible to do that. Any calendars you enable/disable in the Samsung calendar will be reflected in the Google calendar.
However, you can get two separate installations of the calendar by using secure folder. I am a fan of this solution because it keeps all of your business stuff separated from your personal stuff.

Enable secure folder by finding the icon on the phone's dropdown menu (above the notification drawer).
Launch the secure folder app.
Sign into your business Google account in the secure folder settings menu.
Open the Samsung Calendar app which should be in secure folder by default, or add a copy of Google Calendar to the secure folder and use that.

You now have two separate calendar apps on your phone and neither is aware of the other's existence.

Do you mean this? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samsung.knox.securefolder

@Rhyknowscerious Yes. It should already be installed on your Note 9. You have to enable it via the options on your notification drawer.  Drag down from the top of your screen and you'll see buttons for wifi / bluetooth / etc.  Expand that list and find "secure folder".  Once you enable that option, then an app called "secure folder" will appear in your app drawer and you can install a 2nd version of any app in there.

Candl Apps makes two calendar widgets - one called Calendar Widget: Month and another called Calendar Widget: Agenda.
You can add calendars to these widgets which will not automatically change the visible calendars on other calendar apps.
Here are the links to the play store:
Month
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.candl.chronos
Agenda
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.candl.auge


text:
How can I reset the "password attempts" counter on the S6
guys! I'll admit it, I was trying to unlock my mom's phone she let me borrow, and it closed for inactivity, and I didn't want to bother to go ask her, so I tried the password. Now I only have two more attempts until it resets itself, and I'm terrified of her finding out I tried the password. Is there a way for me to reset the counter so she doesn't see the message? Thanks in advance!

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! You already know the answer. Give the phone back to your mom!!! She knows the password and the problem will be solved immediately.

@ReddyLutonadio I know, but I don't want her to know!


text:
Does manual firmware update needs boot loader unlocked?
I tried manually update my phones firmware but I didn't get any notification after I put zip file to root directory of internal storage.
So does it need boot loader unlocked?

Depends upon what you mean manual here? Which phone and Android version is it? If you are trying to flash using fastboot or a similar low-level environment, bootloader needs to be unlocked. Since firmware updates are official usually, they can be flashed using stock recovery but without unlocking bootloader. Although, you might be talking about inbuilt system updater option in Settings app.

Manual means official firmware updates but not with inbuilt system updater just download zip from official website that's manual.


text:
Reinstall system app which is uninstalled for the current user?
I have already posted this on Reddit, but I might reach a better audience here.

I "uninstalled" Google Play Games using this guide by XDA. Now I need to reinstall it. This is the command, how I should be able to reinstall the app: adb shell cmd package install-existing <name of package>. But there is one problem: My phone is on Android Lollipop, and the command doesn't exist there. I manually tried to install the apk back, with adb and with the normal package installer. The Settings app always says something like "Not installed for user" (translated from another language).
So I have 2 questions:

In which Android version was this command introduced?
How can I get this app back?

PS: I have root access, but would prefer a non-rooted solution.

@Firelord dumpsys (Play Store): https://pastebin.com/bCApNT0S path (Play Store): package:/data/app/com.android.vending-1/base.apk
dumpsys (Play Games): https://pastebin.com/2r9y7kQp path (Play Games): (Empty)

My apologies. I got confused with Play Store. Instead of using system app path, can you try with this: adb shell pm install -r --user 0 /data/app/com.google.android.play.games-1/*.apk. I tried this approach on Google Calendar app on Oreo and it worked, that's why I am suggesting this.

@Firelord it says 'Success', but still 'Not installed for user' in Settings. Damn, I got a headache from this. Screenshot here.

Last resort would be a factory reset. But looking at the help of the cmd command, it might be worth trying adb shell "cmd package compile --reset com.google.android.play.games". Also, though I doubt it works it cannot hurt: pm enable --user 0 <pkg>, pm unhide --user 0 <pkg>.

In XDA developers forum, I found that the command adb shell cmd package install-existing <name of package> can reinstall an uninstalled system app for the current user. But, when I tried it in my Android 7.0 smartphone, it showed an error that the command install-existing could not be found. Can this command be modified to get some result?

pm enable --user 0 worked for me! thanks!

for me cmd package install-existing inside adb shell worked

First, enable the package by using pm enable --user 0 <pkg>, and then install it by using cmd package install-existing <pkg>.


text:
What actually gets backed up, how many times?
Say I have a photo A taken by the phone camera. It is stored somewhere, but can be seen in the stock Gallery app as well as the Google Photos app. Q1:Are both apps using the same physical copy or are there two copies?
Then, say, my WhatsApp has a photo B I received in a conversation. It is I presumed stored in /WhatsApp/Media/whatsApp Images. It can also be seen in the Gallery and Photos apps.
My WhatsApp has backup set to Back up to Google Drive Daily using Google Account X. Q2:Is this a special arrangement between Google and WhatsApp, because I cannot see anything regarding this in https://drive.google.com.
In the Photos app, Settings, Back up & Sync, the BACKUP ACCOUNT is Y, my other Google Account I have configured on the same phone. In the Back Up device folders details, WhatsApp Images is enabled. Q3:Does this mean that my WhatsApp photo B is backed up to my Google Drive in account Y as well as the special WhatsApp backup in Google Drive in account X?

Q1:Are both apps using the same physical copy or are there two copies?

They are both the same copy. Both apps scan the location the photo is stored, and the location contains only 1 copy of the file. If you have 5 copies of the same file, in the same folder, both apps will show you 5 photos, not 10.

Q2:Is this a special arrangement between Google and WhatsApp, because I cannot see anything regarding this in https://drive.google.com.

I presume yes. On Android, WhatsApp uses Drive for backups, while on iOS, it uses iCloud.

Q3:Does this mean that my WhatsApp photo B is backed up to my Google Drive in account Y as well as the special WhatsApp backup in Google Drive in account X?

Yes. Although the accounts are differents, both apps have been configured to access the same folder (in this case, WhatsApp Images). Thus, when backing up files, they both backup the same files in both accounts.

Q2:Is this a special arrangement between Google and WhatsApp, because
I cannot see anything regarding this in https://drive.google.com.

There is close collaboration between WhatsApp Account & Google Drive - You can read the details for this in the FAQ of WhatsApp for backup
The major motive behind this is You can back up your chats and media to Google Drive, so if you change Android phones or get a new one, your chats and media are transferable.

Q3:Does this mean that my WhatsApp photo B is backed up to my Google
Drive in account Y as well as the special WhatsApp backup in Google
Drive in account X?

To determine which Google Drive account is used by WhatsApp You can do below steps - Tap Open WhatsApp & then go to Menu > Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
In this screen you should be able to see the Google drive settings that also displays you the name of Google Drive account used by WhatsApp


text:
Smallest screen size without issues like scaling
In the Android Compatibility Definition Document it says the support for smallest screen size is 2.5 inches diagonal but which aspect ratio is this for and what would be the smallest size be for 16:9 aspect ratio?
Also how small do you think apps can support before problems occur ?

Using the Screen size calculator, choosing 16:9 as the aspect ratio, and entering 2.5 inches as the diagonal give the result:
Width: 5.5 cm / 2.2 inches
Height: 3.1 cm / 1.2 inches

Also how small do you think apps can support before problems occur ?

It depends on whether the apps' developers have coded them to Support different screen sizes or not. If they have not, then going below 2.5 inches will become problematic.


text:
How can I disable the little preview on Youtube (to save mobile data)?
I am running on mobile data on my Galaxy S7 Edge on Oreo, and was wondering if you can disable the little previews. They take a lot of data, and I only get 3GB of data before it slows down to 2G. The reason they take a lot of data is cause they play at highest quality, but I watch Youtube at 144p on mobile data to save. Does anyone know how to disable them?

Android: YouTube now shows video previews in the Home panel, which uses up data and is otherwise just annoying. Happily you can turn them off.
Just tap your profile picture at top-right, then tap Settings > Autoplay. Turn off the “Autoplay on Home” toggle, as shown above, and you’re done.
It makes sense that YouTube would add a feature like this, because it gives users a very clear idea of what the video in question is going to be, but at the same time I understands why users might find this annoying. Happily it’s easy enough to turn this off.
Thanks to my friend Nancy Messieh at MakeUseOf for pointing this out to me.

Thanks! I set it to Wifi only to save data. On a low data plan you gotta save.


text:
Low flash memory in Android ZTE phone
In my Android ZTE, I'm trying to upload things. Let's say, I'm uploading a resume, I will get a message saying it can't be delivered due to low memory.
I have deleted things like games and pictures that I thought consumed my memory, but still, I get that message.
How do I increase my phone's free flash memory?

Upload fails when destination storage limit exceeded, which is most likely not related to your storage. Anyway, there is no way to increase flash memory.
Without root permissions you can "clear cache" from app settings. youtube and chrome are good candidates.
With root access you can do a little more, but at least external MicroSD Card is required


text:
Phone call recording apps only record one side of the conversation
I have a Sony Xperia XA1 running Android 8 and it doesn't matter which phone call recorder I install, it only records one side of the conversation either me or the caller. All the apps do the same on my HTC Desire too.
I'm not sure if it is the app at fault as they all seem to do the same thing, and this didn't start happening until I updated the Android version towards the end of last year.
Does anyone know of a solution to this issue?

Rooting is the only solution. See my answer here

in Android, during a call, There is no way to access audio data of call directly. So what most of the app do is they record the audio from your Speaker.
Let me be clear

When you speak app directly record your audio with mic, as you are speaking at the higher sound it will be clear enough to be recorded the microphone which is near your mouth.
As the App can't access audio calls data so App record audio from your speaker (from where you are listening) and the microphone and speaker has almost distance of 8cm, so if your speaker's volume is high then only app will be able to record audio of the other side's person. Otherwise only your voice will be recorded.

few apps on the playStore provide better phone call recordings but they ask for Root access, if you are really interested in rooting your phone you can follow this article to have some idea "How to root an Android"
Thanks

this sounds like a design flaw in the Android OS.  Does iOS have this issue?

I'm not sure if this answer is accurate.  I've used Android apps to record calls in the past, and the quality was very good.  I suppose it's possible that they were recording the speaker, but I honestly think it sounded too good for that to be happening.  Note that some brands of Android phones commonly sold in some countries do not have great call audio recording quality, but many of the less common Chinese brands have excellent call recording quality, and even come with call recording apps.

@beeshyams I just noticed... you may have accidentally deleted your comment to both me and Afflospark.  It was a helpful comment with a link to your answer in the other related QA.

@RockPaperLz-MaskitorCasket sure.. All the best. You can always a question, there are lots of competent people! Yes,  I deleted the comment because it isn't correct. I misread the question, it talks of Android 8, while my answer talks of Android 9 and beyond. Therefore, the answer is valid for 8, but not correct since call recording works. Anyway linked the answer

@beeshyams You are invited to chat! https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/116758/the-beeshyams-and-the-lizard


text:
datadata is full - and doesn't let me remove files
A really old Smartphone having Cyanogenmod on it provides only about 400 MB space for data/data.
Now this space is full. df shows 0.0K of free space. The homescreen doesn't even appear, only errors appear on this smartphone.
It is a rooted phone (cyanogen) so I opened adb, got into an unused directory - whatsapp directory to be exact, it's already uninstalled but all data is left there - and tried to remove files to recover some space. I used a really large file with many MB.
First try
Sadly when I remove a file using rm I get Directory not empty.
This is disturbing because I don't remove a directory but a single file. The file doesn't appear any more but df still shows no free space.
Second try
On a website I found I better don't rm the file but empty is using the command
> filename = write nothing into the file.
I did - the file appears with size 0, du -sH tells me a different usage of this directory but df doesn't change.
Both doesn't work
After both tries I rebooted because who knows, perhaps things are rearranged after a reboot. But it's getting stranger - all files are back and have their original size.
Whatsapp is uninstalled, thus can't hold any references to the files.
What's going on here? It looks like my changes are kind of cached and don't affect the actual filesystem.
How can I get out of this and free some space in /data/data?
Btw I had this before. Then it helped to remove something unimportant from data/data and after the system rebooted without problems, I uninstalled unused apps and the whole thing went fine again.
Trying to delete files from other directories in /data/data/ also will not work.
Later...
I thought why not keep doing > filename for a while. Perhaps the filesystem needs time to spread the changes to all it's modules? (Stupid idea but I was desperate enough to try)
After some more large files I really got a change not only with du but finally some free space with df too.
After booting - the same as before. But I got curious what happenes if I do that for even more files. Wow ... after I freed ~100MB (of 400 - quite much) I noticed Trebuchet came back to work!
Space keeps beeing free after booting and I am able to remove the no longer needed folders in /data/data with rm -r.
But the initial question still is the same. Why did this have no effect after I started it for only a few files, why was everything reset after booting?

Do sync after rm.

please update post with phone model and OS version. some roms have selinux enabled. changes (even with root permissions) may silent rejected. in this case set selinux permissive before rm

It's an old galaxy, not present with me in the moment. Don't know the OS version, sorry. I could try to get this information and post it here. I already tried sync but that had no effect.


text:
How to use my phone as a WiFi adapter for playing lan games
I just want to play lan games and use wireless apps because my pc doesnt have WiFi so I want to use my damaged display phone as WiFi for lan games in pc
And also use pc remote from my other phone
-WiFi adapter
-lan games (pc)
-phone
-pc have no WiFi
Hope you understand
Any help will be appreciated

Using a phone as Wifi adapter for gaming is IMHO a bad idea. First it is very complex and error prone and second it adds extra latency because the data as to be first transferred via USB (multiple conversions) to the device which sends the data then via Wifi to the router. Buying a cheap Wifi adapter with external antenna and using an USB extension cable is the more simple way.

https://www.amazon.in/Cost2Cost1-Wireless-N-Receiver-Adapter-300Mbps/dp/B07F6FFR39?tag=googinhydr18418-21 will this work to play lan games and apps

I would not use such a micro Wifi dongle - the antenna is very little and can not be positioned. I prefer adapters like TP-Link N150.

As Robert said it's not the best idea but if you still want to do it first turn off mobile data and connect to WIFI then connect your phone to the pc then on your phone go to network and internet then tap hotspot & tethering and enable USB tethering.

Tried every thing stil not recognizing after entering the ip


text:
How to force audio output?
I'm looking for a way to force audio output when i call someone :
I have a galaxy S7 connected to a bluetooth earphone and a bluetooth smartswatch.
When I call someone with the smartswatch, the output is the smartswatch, but i'd like to have the sound automatically on the earphone without having to switch it on the phone.
Any solution ?


text:
Using Google Play Music on Galaxy S6 WITHOUT starting subscription
This is so annoying. I am trying to add music to my mothers Galaxy S6 and play it with the default player: Google Play Music. But despite getting all the files onto the phone in the music directory, I CANNOT GET Google Play Music to do  ANYTHING but show an invitation to start subscription (besides looking into the settings).
Can anyone confirm that it is possible to use the player without a subscription - and possibly how to do this?

it's really designed to be a service; use a different music player instead?

It's definitely possible. I do it every day.

I have tested the steps below with Google Play Music version 8.19.7938-1-M:

Clear Google Play Music's data. Restart the app.
It will show some subscription plans (Individual and Family). Select "No Thanks".
The app will then ask the permission to access your media files. Click OK.
You will then be asked "Get unlimited, ad-free music". Select "No Thanks".
On the menu select "Music Library". All your music will be listed based on playlists, artists, etc and can start playing/listening to them.


text:
Stolen Android Tablet
If a tablet has been stolen, the sim card removed and been factory reset, is it possible, at all, to have it tracked?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Please also see these answered questions on the topic.

You can contact your nearest police station about the theft and they can track your phone by it's IMEI number. Otherwise, I think there's no other way.

If it's been factory reset, there's not much you can do. Assuming your google account or samsung account has been removed from the device, there is no way to track it.


text:
No Internet Available, sometimes
One week ago, my phone suddenly grew a very annoying problem with the Wi-Fi. Pretty much what happens is that my Samsung phone is working like normal for ten seconds. Then, the Wi-Fi disconnects and says "No internet available". If I manually reconnect it by tapping the Wi-Fi in settings and press connect, it connects back to the Wi-Fi. Then the cycle repeats ten seconds later.
Also, the cycle is not constant. Sometimes I have internet access for a few minutes, sometimes only for three seconds, but on mostly ten seconds.
Another thing, it's not my phone. My phone can connect perfectly well to all other Wi-Fis. It also not my router, for all other devices connect perfectly well to it. It has something to do with the specific connection between this phone and my linksys internet.
On a side note, I have a roomba connected via schedule to this phone. It hasn't automatically vaccummed since my internet-phone connection acted it.
EDIT 1: I have tried using the Wi-Fi fixer app and it did not work as desired. When the app is running, the same cycle occurs as described above. With the exception that every time the Wi-Fi disconnects, Wi-Fi fixer automatically reconnects.
This is a great step, as I get a somewhat more reliable internet connection. However, this means that every 20 seconds the "connected to Wi-Fi" pop up appears. It also means my internet goes in and out constantly. I also imagine the constant reconnecting to the internet causes a smaller battery life.

Wifi connects for sometimes then disconnects and then never connects
This question seems to be similar to your situation. OP reported that the problem was solved by using this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wahtod.wififixer&hl=en
EDIT:
Taken from Wifi keeps disconnecting and reconnecting frequently
1.Dial *#0011#
2.Then press the menu button and select wifi
3.You'll notice an ON button
4.Turn it Off
5.Restart phone
p.s.: When you restart your phone, recheck if it's still OFF, if not repeat til it works.
Alternatively, you may want to try the possible solutions listed here: https://www.connectify.me/blog/fix-internet/how-to-fix-android-wifi-disconnect/

The app did not work. Further details on EDIT 1 in the post.


text:
Drunk galaxy j7+ storage
Well my situation doesn't seems good, my phone is kinda drunk, 32 GB of storage and having 500 mb only, in fact when I delete a 60mb file I free up 1.69 gb
BTW  it says 21.8 GB taken by apps
Answers?

I'm going to assume you are referring to Internal Storage and not the SD Card, in which case it would be good to wipe all of it. More specifically, a reset of your Android. Before you do this, you're probably going to want to back up important files to a computer or upload them to an online drive.
Here's a link to a guide that will help you reset (skip to step 3): https://www.wikihow.tech/Erase-Internal-Storage-on-Android
Alternatively, if you're not willing to reset, then it may be preferable to delete every single one of your apps until you're at a point where you have lots of space. My Android is also really silly when it comes to evaluating remaining space: I check the settings and go to storage and it tells me I have 500 MB left, yet when I connect it to my computer it says I have 0 bytes of free space in internal storage.
It could also be a problem with the drive itself (a physical hardware issue) in which case the only solution is buying a new phone unless you're willing to go through the trouble of changing that one part (the drive). My advice to you: clear up the apps, the photos, the videos etc. until the storage can reorient itself. Just do a general cleanup, and then it should do a better job of telling you how much space is left.

Well, I learned that you should never put your phone next to a tequila bottle

@Dhia is your problem resolved? Did one of my provided solutions fix the situation?


text:
E1001: Failed to update System image latest Onplus 5T and other
I downloaded the latest LineageOS for my latest Device, from Dumplings SF.
firmware, recovery, vendor files.
What I get all the time is that error message "E1001: Failed to update system image" and that he can't mount the vendor partition.
Any ideas ? PS: I can't even flash back to latest Oneplus ROM (or even older roms)....
Update:
Meanwhile I use TWRP from "cheeseburgerdumplings" for 8.1 on what lineageOS and the "/vendor" partition is no more tried to be mounted.
What I figure out as well, is that if I go with adbs command to know if the filesystem is encrypted or not:
adb shell getprop ro.crypto.state

tells me "encrypted"
Now the big question, which filesystems are encrypted, all ?
And which partition or FS does not have to be encrpyted?
Here is the "recovery.log":
https://pastebin.com/raw/tKMStdSF
Screenshot:

Hi, have you tried to reboot Recovery before flashing ?

I faced the same issue and solved it by setting the settings flag Unmount System before installing a ZIP to false. This is not documented or recommended anywhere, however.
For me, it was LineageOS+MicroG image serrano3gxx. If someone else finds this to solve this error, please leave a note so we can report it accordingly.

Solved!
Update to the latest official Oneplus 5T Oxygen OS, and use the official recovery and image, and everything goes without any problems.
Update must be done in "offline update mode", as online update server is no more available.


text:
Revoking Bluetooth permission from all apps?
I noticed that my phone silently enables bluetooth when screen turns off. When phones remains inactive for few minutes and I click unlock button I can see bluetooth indicator showing up for around 1-2 seconds, then it disappears and Bluetooth is disabled. I have suspicions that some app enables bluetooth programatically when screen is off.
Can I revoke bluetooth permissions from all apps? (eg. using adb) Or at least check recent bluetooth activity events?

Run the following commands:

adb shell
for package in $(pm list packages -3 | cut -f2 -d":"); do pm revoke $package android.permission.BLUETOOTH; pm revoke $package android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN; done

That will list every installed third party application then revoke both permissions android.permission.BLUETOOTH and android.permission.BLUETOOTH_ADMIN.
If you need to apply this to all installed and enabled applications, use -e instead of -3.

You can go to System settings⋙Apps, then click on the 3-dots ⋮ icon at the right-top corner of the title bar. Then, click on Reset app preferences, then click on OK.

There's no explicit Bluetooth permission in Android permissions settings - how could this operation help?

Yes, that is true, but the operation can revoke all permissions from all apps. You can give it a try.


text:
Are Foxfi and PdaNet+ simple usb tethering enablers?
I Was just thinking why the FoxFi on play store is a little bit expensive.Does  it just enables the USB tethering from  settings does it have something special or a simple USB tethering?

FoxFi enables WiFi Hotspot on your Android phone, with no tethering plan or rooting required.
Recently FoxFi has been merged with PdaNet+ and still offers extended features to enhance tethering. it is also equipped with additional features such as Bluetooth mode and Wi-Fi direct options in addition to USB tether.
The reason its unique is that it enables users to bypass tethering block especially with certain ISPs such as Sprint Boost Mobile or AT&T without needing root or complex workarounds and such features don't come out cheap.

You can connect your tablets, computers or game console with WPA2
  security. FoxFi usage is covered under your phone's existing data plan
  and secured with WPA2.

If you don't have any tethering block, I guess there is no need to purchase it, rather use the built-in option to tether, or find some alternative gratis software

Inbuilt teathering


text:
Unlocked bootloader, but still cannot boot or flash partitions
I just had some luck unlocking the bootloader on my Nokia 8.1. But it looks like I've accomplished nothing still. Previously when I attempted to flash a partition via fastboot or boot a boot image, I used to see:
flashing is not allowed in locked state

Now that I've successfully unlocked the bootloader (I can confirm via deviceinfo command and also via the 5 second warning before boot), I am encountering another roadblock:
flashing is not rooted for fused device

It appears to be some sort of additional check. The device does show on screen (fastboot mode) that fuse = enable. Looks like this is some additional check for devices which have been unlocked  to prevent unauthorised use. I do not have any idea how to disable it. It probably comes from the Kernel level or probably somewhere else. Can somebody guide me to a direction which I should take next?
There should be some way to disable fuse.


text:
Recover cached website data
I went to settings then sites and downloads then manage website data and deleted cached info. Can I restore that info? in Samsung Internet browser on a Samsung tablet?

The short answer is No.
The web browser cache is part of the app-internal data of the Webbrowser app. Unless you made a backup the deleted data is gone.
Data recovery on Android is very complicated as you first require root permissions and then need a tool that is able to parse the used file-system of your device and find deleted files. I case of some deleted JPEG images there is a small chance to find them back, however a webbrowser cache comprises of several apps and is most likely saved to dozens of fragments in the flash memory which makes a recovery very unlikely.


text:
pm clear not logout apps like twitter
I'm doing:
pm clear com.twitter.android

And expecting to be log out from twitter app. But it is not working. I also tried to clear every app package with pm list packages -f, in case twitter store login key in some other system app.
But this didn't work too.
I tried also to remove all folders from /data/data/com.twitter.android
And I still logged in

So if you open the Twitter app after clearing it's data you are still logged on? Have you tried to delete the account in the account list?

@Robert yes, I still logged in. I tried also to remove all folders from /data/data/com.twitter.android

@Robert what is account list ?

Android settings -> Accounts -> Twitter account

@Robert oh, yes... Is this possible to remove it through the adb shell ? I tried this:
https://blog.shadura.me/2012/05/07/removing-accounts-from-android-devices/
but I don't have .db file in /data/system/

The post is from 2012 - Google changes Android way too often. Therefore I would recommend not to directly alter the database. This approach seems to be better and works even without root: https://github.com/KazuCocoa/DroidTestHelper

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


text:
Battery charge drops very quickly while internet connection is on
There are many questions like this, but mine is slightly different from those.
I am facing these weird problems with my phone, which are beyond my calculations:

My phone's battery charge drops very quickly when the mobile data connection is on.
Suppose, I am using my phone normally, the discharge rate is about 0.5% per minute. But, if I keep the mobile data connection on, then the discharge rate becomes about 5% per minute!!!.
Suppose, I am using my phone while I can see that the charge is 30%. Suddenly, I am notified of 0% battery and the Android OS shuts down. When I plug in the charger, it boots up and again shows 30% charge!!!
See this screenshot:

Suppose, I pull out the battery when the charge is 50%, after reinserting the battery, the charge either becomes 70% or as low as 20%, which are completely different from the previous observations.

All these happens when the mobile data remains on. I know that internet connection requires more energy, but according to me, it shouldn't be so much, isn't it?
I have two screenshots regarding this issue, where there are sudden sharp drops in the battery monitor graphs:

I had already factory resetted my phone and uninstalled every suspected battery draining programs, but it didn't solved the issue. Why does this happens and how to solve this issue? Please help me.
Note : My phone's model is Micromax Bharat 3 Q437 with pre-installed stock Android 7.0.

Please mention your device name and model

Please see my edits.

If the device goes off at 30% there are two possibilities: Android initiates the shutdown or the voltage suddenly breaks in so that the CPU stops working and Android crashes. In the latter case the reason is a bad battery. If changing the battery for your device is possible with a reasonable effort you should replace the battery.

Can a 2000 mAh mobile battery get degraded within 1½ years?

Currently, I noticed that my phone's battery is holding just about 60% of charge. When I put the phone to charge, the charge raises from 40% to 80% within just a few minutes. And, while using the phone, it switches off at 40% charge. Sometimes, the charge drops from 60% to 20% very quickly. All these indicates that the battery is holding just about 60% charge. How to get rid of this?


text:
Would it be theoretically possible to do a block-level backup of /dev/media without root?
I have nothing against root except eFUSE. Whose ever idea eFUSE was . . .
As far as I understand:
Because of amateur users and clueless minimalists who don't know how to utilise tools that are intended for power users, the development team of TWRP has controversially decided that their NANDROID backup does not include /data/media.
More information and sources in these comments:
  1. Best practice for backing up /data/media?
  2. Best practice for backing up /data/media?
What I want is a block-level image backup of the entire phone, so that I can return to the exact spot later on.
I want that block-level backup to include the /data/media partition.
Now, I have found out it is possible via ADB, but that requires root. If there is really no other way, I would consider taking the risk of rooting the phone after doing any other possible backup method (adb app backup, file backup, etc.)
But my question is:
Is it technically possible to do a block-level (dd) backup of the /data/media partition without root?
Had the developement team of TWRP decided to include /data/media, pleasing power users and maximalists instead of minimalists and amateur users, would it actually have been possible without root?

First of all /data/media is not /dev/media. Former is a directory of userdata partition which is mounted at /data. So in a sense you want to backup the whole block device of userdata partition. That's possible without rooting your actual OS. But you need an unlocked bootloader to boot in TWRP. From there you can dd out any block device, even the whole flash memory chip. But why do you want a block level access? A simple tar of /sdcard is sufficient in most cases.

@IrfanLatif Thank you for solving my confusion. The best thing is a block-level backup of /dev/block/mmcblk0.

@IrfanLatif Block-level access means that it can be flashed back bit by bit to it's original state and the confidence that absolutely nothing is missing from the backup.

The first thing to do when buying an Android device is making sure the bootloader is unlocked. I'm looking at you, Google Nexus. (their locked bootloader has been troublesome to me at some point). Samsung fortunately usually ships without crippled bootloader.

Block level access is usually required when you have to deal with inodes or filesystem journal, such as to recover some deleted data or do some forensics. /sdcard (which exposes /data/media to us) is an emulated filesystem with a subset of filesystem features. E.g. you can't change permissions and SELinux context of files, those are fixed. So they even don't need to be backed up and restored. Filesystem attributes (such as immutable flag) are supported on /sdcard but can't be backed up with tar.

Extended attributes (and hence ACL's) are not  supported (except security.selinux), but they don't matter a lot on Android. However if you are backing up and restoring /data/media directly (with root access), you should take care of file permissions and SELinux contexts. Tar supports backing up a lot of metadata; permissions (including owner and group), timestamps (including mtime, atime, ctime) and extended attributes (including ACLs, SELinux contexts and file capabilities). Interestingly, TWRP also creates tar backups of filesystems like /data, /system, /vendor etc.

in Open GApps a full featured gnu tar binary is included, it support --acls --xattrs --selinux flags

Why even bother with partitions? Why not just dd the entire disk? Don't even worry about partitions, just a full backup of the underlying media and that will copy every last bit or everything. Unless there are more than one disk (chips) in the phone, that should be it. How does one do it?

Is it technically possible to do a block-level (dd) backup of a file? - Yes
Is it technically possible to do a block-level (dd) backup of a folder? - No

/data/media is just a folder as @death-mask-salesman already stated in your linked duplicate

Also from /dev/block/mmcblk0?

@neverMind9 mmcblk0 is a block device file, which can be backed up by dding out (provided that you arrange to provide enough space for saving file). But that's unnecessary. If your device is no more bootable, you won't be able to restore that backup. So overwriting partitions related to bootloaders (like sbl, aboot etc.) and telephony (like modem) is never recommended. Normally you should backup (and restore) only filesystems (data, cache, system, vendor) and kernel (boot). But do keep backup of other partitions as well just to be on safe side.

But it is useless if device is encrypted. GNU tar is strongly recommended. at least we need a custom recovery, or rooted device for  this. some stock recovery do full dd backup of whole data partition (chinese brands). some stock flash tools can make a full dump. adb backup has a -shared flag. but easiest "stock" way is just copy /storage/emulated/0 via MTP, the file permissions are not a big mystery for /data/media and can be ignored

@alecxs MTP has been horribly unreliable and unstable in my experience, with every phone I have ever owned.

@alecxs If the device is encrypted, no problem because I know my lockscreen credentials. I guess if I mount the image in Linux, the OS will ask me for it.

Android encryption is hardware-bound (Arm TrustZone). userdata can only decrypted on the source phone itself. EFS (or METADATA) partition is wiped on each userdata format (thats where encrypted key is stored) - encrypted backup becomes useless

@alecxs What a headache.

@alecxs Oh wait, Apparently, Samsung's bootloaders are locked by default too and the FramaRoot/ActiveRoot/PassiveRoots thing was just an exploit. Oh well…

you should read careful the whole artice http://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/06/extracting-qualcomms-keymaster-keys.html


text:
Security question incoming calls
I've got an Nokia 6 with Pie! How do I stop others from answering my calls, or more correct, how do I stop incoming calls from opening my phone?? Everytime there's an incoming call, all security settings are set aside, and anyone can answer or have access to my phone.

An incoming phone clall should only bring the phone app to front but your phone remains locked. If not this is a security issue and you should report it to Nokia and/or Google.

Don't think I will go through the hassle to report this, since there is no obvious way to report such matters (not to me at least). From their point of view I believe ignorance is bliss and I doubt they will address the issue!?

As I suspected! I got a mail in poor english (I know mine's not perfect but..)
We understand that you have been looking for the way to turn off the function that opened your phone automatically and another person will be able to answer your phone call.
We do understand how frustrating that could be. We have checked on the application, even set the password, pin code on your device you can pick up a phone call without unlock the device. Thank you for your feedback, we are appreciate your opinion and hope that an update in future the function will be better. Please stay tuned!"

Thanks for the ideas but having to install an app to maintain basic security feels kinda off? All you have to do, as it seems, is to steal a phone you know the number to, give it a call and it's wide open. All security will be set aside! I know tons of people that have their name on the start screen, in case they loose the phone. And honestly, how many times haven't you called your own phone when you have lost it? All the thief have to do is to wait for a call... How many phone models have this issue? This is a HUGE security issue! A MAJOR fupp uck!

You can use Incoming Call Lock. When you start the app:

This application will protect your phone's Incoming call to be picked by some one else. This application will not allow any one to see the caller's number, name or any other details as the password input screen will be up on the screen.

Give the necessary permission.
Set a pin or pattern to unlock the phone when people call.
Enable the lock.

When you receive a call, before answering, you will need to enter a pin or pattern.
Note: In the settings, you can fine tune how the app should work. You can block all incoming calls or some, allow to view the number that is calling or not, etc.
Important: @Izzy has pointed in the comments that the app has severe privacy issues due to several trackers incorporated to the apps that may transmit your data to 3rd parties. Plus some permissions look suspicious. See his comments below.
Disclalimer: I am just a current/former user of the app(s).

Keep in mind that this app comes with several trackers: AdMob, Firebase and – worst – Facebook. The latter is known to siphon data from every app it's integrated into. So you might involuntarily transmit to Facebook who calls you and when, including contact details (the app has the permission to access your addressbook). Further suspicious looking is that an app for incoming calls has the permission to initiate calls itself. I'm not accusing, just mentioning possible security/privacy issues, as the app description does not mention them.

There is a Secure Incoming Call. It's an app that can lock your incoming calls by setting a password or a pattern. You can customize which calls you want to answer without lock. You can select all contacts, specific contacts or all unknown numbers. Just try the app!


text:
Apps won't close on Huawei MediaPad M5
Usually on Android, there is a button to show what apps are running the background - this isn't a list of system processes (nor system apps), but user started applications (games). After we press the button to see the list of apps, there is often a button which closes all open apps. This should be familiar to everyone who uses Android!
The problem I have is, my daughter's Hawaei MediaPad running Android Version 8.0.0 doesn't persist the close. When we press the square button, we can see all running apps. If we close each individually or one at a time, return to the home page and then press the square button again, all the apps remain.
I tried with an app called Advanced Task Killer from the Play Store. By clicking boost (which means close apps), a progress bar was displayed showing it was killing each task, but again as soon as I open the list of running apps, instead of seeing an empty list which is what I expected, I see the same list of applications.
The only thing that kills the list is a restart of the machine.
Is there anything we're doing wrong?
Update
I've played with this tablet a little more. Some times when I choose to kill all, they all disappear. If I return to the list, it remains empty (great). if I start another app and return to the list, instead of having only that recent app, it is listing all of them!
When I kill the apps, it sometimes shows a message showing how much memory I've freed up.
I also should point out, this machine is my daughters and as such has Family Link. I'm not sure if that has made any impact.
Edit
When I say it still running, I mean, with state. If it were a list of recently used apps, then when I clicked on one, I'd expect the application to start (restart). In this case, the application is able to resume.
For example, I open a game and get half way through level 1. I then press the square icon to show all running apps, click the bin icon to shut all running apps. Now, I press the square button again and I can see the list of the recently closed apps. I click on the game, and it resumes from half way through level 1
The game:

All running apps and the option to close all

All apps have cleared (apparently)

Press the square button again and see the apps are still running

Click the game and note the game is still in progress

(sorry, with a 2mb limit, I can't upload a 7mb animated gif showing the issue in an animation)
Edit 2
Force close does what I expect it to do. It makes the app close. Even though it still appears in the background tasks (I'd guess that's expected), when I click on the app from the list of background tasks, the app starts from the "beginning", it does not resume. This means, I have a work around but this is not ideal.

You do not confuse the list of last recently used apps with "currently running", do you?

That is a great question @Izzy, how would I know? I'm suspecting currently running because when I click on any, it returns me the application or game. If it was recently used, I would suspect it to have to load the game/intro  from the start and we'd see the applications splash screen etc

To give you a clue: How do you get to that list? Via a bunch of menues (like Settings › Apps  and select "Running") – or by the simple tap on a button below your screen? The latter is "recently used" (and from your description this seems what you are referring to: a button next to the home button?), the former is "running". And Task-Killers are not for freeing space – but just to stop malfunctioning apps that cannot be stopped otherwise.

Ah... It may well be recently used! I wonder why then, after I click it, it tells me how much memory it has freed up :S @Izzy

I have the exact same problem! It's not you, I'm in IT, it's not like I don't know what I'm doing. The only thing I'm not sure about, it's whether it's due to the fact that it's a managed account using Family Link, for my son, and I noticed that in your case it's also for your daughter. Maybe that is the problem? I cannot install Google Play either on this tablet for the same reason. Did you find a solution?

My youngest daughter is now old enough for a tablet. She is on family link, set up same way. No issues with her Lenovo tablet....

What happens when you go to System > Apps > select your app and force close it?

Force close does that I expect it to do. It makes the app close. Even though it still appears in the background tasks (I'd guess that's expected), when I click on the app from the list of background tasks, the app starts from the "beginning", it does not resume.

Usually there is an X to remove apps from Recent apps list. Your device doesn't have one? You can also swipe the listed apps left or right (or both depending on the device) to remove them from the list.

Swiping and the x does the same thing

There is some applications that have some services that persists even if the app is closed. Theses services will listen for different actions as when the device started or a service that receive push notifications even if the app is closed.
I suggest using ADB to check that. If you need more information how to do that, I will create a community wiki as answer.

Sorry but what is ADB?

Android Debug Bridge is a tool to connect to the phone using USB with the PC.

The applications that are available on the Play Store will not kill Apps as they use the permission GET_TASK which is deprecated from API 26 (Android 5.0) and there is no equivalent for recent Android versions unless if it's a system App (came installed with the phone not from the Play Store).
The solutions to kill the background app is to use an app that came with Huawei system or simply use developers options which can let you kill the background services and processes.
For the second solution, please follow the steps bellow:

Go to Settings > System > About phone on your phone.
Keep tapping Build number until the message "You are already a developer" is displayed.
Go to Settings > System > Developer options > Running services.

You can find a list of third party apps running services. You can click on the App that you want to kill then select "Stop" this will definitely kill the app until you open it again. If the wanted App does not appear in the list you can click on "SHOW CACHED PROCESS" (Top right corner which is not recommended unless you know what are you doing) and it will list all the services and processes.
References:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#GET_TASKS
https://developer.huawei.com/consumer/en/doc/quickapp-open-developer-option


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Chrome - unprompted auto-download of files after opening the browser - bug or something else?
Upon opening google chrome on android, it suddenly downloaded (unprompted by me) a jpeg, as well as a "seed" file.
After scanning both files with the mobile version of kaspersky, i opened the jpeg file and noticed that i knew the picture from somewhere.
Upon searching, i found it, along with the seed file in the download folder (from within the chrome app). Both were however said to be downloaded in 2017.
In contrast, in my own download folder inside the file manager the files are said to be downloaded today.
Now, what could have caused said (re-)download? Was this simply a bug, or might there be something else wrong with my phone?

First of all, I would recommend running a scan with Lookout just in case it is a virus that is initiating these downloads (I do see you've used Kaspersky so it should be fine if it didn't sound any alarms). However, it's likely a glitch with the Download Manager; I've been getting random redownloads of files that I've downloaded before through Chrome as well. A reinstall of Chrome and clearing the cache of the Files app may help, as well as a restart of the Android device.
Just the other day my Download Manager decided to "redownload" everything in my Downloads folder, yet it didn't download them in the sense that it retook them from the Internet. I think it was just reloading the files because there were no duplicates. It's likely nothing you need to worry about.


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Acidentally uninstalled Google app on Android phone
I accidentally joined the beta program for the Google search app on android, in ordered to leave the program I had to uninstall the app and re-install it. When I did this, everything seemed to be working fine. But now when I open my Google assistant by holding the home button, it opens the Google app instead of the google assistant. So I  went to my device settings and tried to change my assistant app, it was set to Google as it was before and as it should be. I remember though that my phone (A Samsung Galaxy S5) came with the Google assistant pre-installed, so I looked for it on Google Play and found it uninstalled, so I installed it. Upon opening it told my device wasn't compatible and I need to be running a Google app that was 6.0 or higher, well, after checking I found I'm running 9.66 so I should be fine.
I don't know how a simple re-install would have broken my Google assistant so bad.
My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S5 running Android 6.0
I still haven't revised an answer to this question but I need it fixed, if I'm not clear enough or someone has a question PLEASE speak up.

According to me, uninstalling a pre-installed app in Android isn't possible without root. Is your device rooted?

@PuspamAdak No, my device is not rooted, maybe this is different for newer or older android versions though.


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How do get SMS messages off a damaged Android phone (Samsung J2 pro)
I dropped my Samsung J2 Pro and damaged it this morning. Only part of screen responds to touch commands now. So it's almost certainly time for a new phone, but I'd like to get photos and SMS messages backed up first.
Photos were easy; I have uploaded all my photos to my computer via the USB. I'd like to do the same for my SMS text messages, but can't find them in the file system.
I downloaded the app "SMS Backup & Restore", but cannot run it because the "Get Started" button is near the bottom of the screen, and pressing it does not work (groan).
So is it possible to directly access my SMS messages via the USB port, without running a special app? Or is there some other app which makes them visible?

I found Vysor, an app to control the phone from my computer. I had to change settings on my phone to allow Vysor access, but fortunately that part of my phone screen worked! Then using Vysor, I could run SMS Backup & Restore.

So my problem is solved; I might delete the question unless other think it might be useful.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Good that you find a solution. Can you write it down as answer with the steps you followed. Your answer might be helpful for others who might have the same problem.

It's been suggested I post what I did. Note this is for a partly working screen (i.e. some regions detect touch, some do not). There are answers for a completely broken screen here: How do I backup data (SMS/contacts) from a device with a broken screen?
Anyway, what I did:

Download Vysor to my (Mac) computer. (And "Android File Transfer" if it's not there already). Start up Vysor.
Vysor needed USB debugging to be on. For that, on my phone I went into: Settings -> About Phone -> Settings, and pressed Serial Number several times "to become a developer". Then I could go into Settings -> Developer Options, and turn on USB Debugging. In both of those cases, I was lucky in that I could find a part of my screen which worked to select those options. The link above has a away to do this for a completely dead screen.
Plug USB cable into phone and press "Allow" to allow data access to it. Again, I was lucky that "Allow" was on a part of my screen which worked.
Click "Find Devices" in Vysor, and select the phone. I had to repeat steps 3 and 4 a couple of times for some reason, but eventually it found the phone properly, and an emulator started up on my computer.
Then, using the Vysor emulator to control my phone, and I was able to get my SMS's by downloading and running SMS Backup & Restore on my phone.


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Require password for each application to install
Since I will be lending my phone to someone else, I want my phone to ask my Google account password (or alternative authentication) each time an app is installed.
If I go to Google Play -> Three bars menu -> Settings -> Require authentication for purchases, the options are:

For all purchases through Google Play on this device.
Every 30 minutes.
Never.

The first option seems to be what I am looking for.
Nevertheless, I am not asked for any authentication for installing apps.
Can this be done? How?
Using a Samsung Galaxy J7, with Android 6.0.1.

Apps that are free don't have to be purchased -> no purchase means no password prompt.
I see two possibilities for you:

Delete your Google account from the device. Google apps usually sync everything to the cloud, therefore by re-adding the account everything will be restored.
If the device has the possibility to create a guest user account set a difficult password on your primary account and create a guest user. Guest users aren't allowed to install new apps, however they can use every app that is already installed and the app data is stored in a separate directory therefore the guest can use the apps but don't access your app data.

I understood that "purchase" included apps, regarded as being of zero cost.
I never tried purchasing a non-free app, so I cannot confirm I am seeing the expected behavior in that case.

No, have a similar problem, my 5 yr old son grubs it when i turn around and by the time its locked 10-20 "free" apps have been installed...

A bit extreme, but consider that Google will not allow you control over installations...
Disable google play.... It wont be uninstalled, and can be re-enabled from settings, but its one more extra step at least...

When the Google Play app is disabled, then you won't get update notifications, see https://gadgetroyale.com/disable-google-play-store/  So when you disable this app, you might miss a security update for one of your apps.

There is an app for that! Applock will give you that functionality. To require passwords for select apps, thus allowing you to share yet protect sensitive data, or in my case, finance or $ portfolios. On Android anyhow it's called Applock.

AppLock can lock Facebook, WhatsApp, Gallery, Messenger, Snapchat, Instagram, SMS, Contacts, Gmail, Settings, incoming calls and any app you choose. Prevent unauthorized access and guard privacy. Ensure security.
AppLock can hide pictures and videos. Hidden pictures and videos are vanished from Gallery and only visible in the photo and video vault. Protect private memories easily. No pin, no way.
AppLock has random keyboard and invisible pattern lock. No more worry people may peep the pin or pattern. More safe!"

Hope that helps you! This is what you need.

Guest account is the best method.
If your phone does not support guest user account feature:
Then probably check XDA developers - find model number of your phone-root it-
Install the stock Android - then you should get a lot of options that are better than factory installed ROM.


text:
Any protected firewall available
is there any protected firewall available? I have tried many & the problem was as follow:
- it works very well but ANY user can simply uninstall it!! how didn't they put this into consideration.
- i used a program to hide it, and when I hide it it becomes disabled.
I used AFwall+ (root), Netguard..

Try making them device administrators. I know that AFwall+ can be set as device admistrator. I have not used Netguard except for testing purposes in the last year but I believe it is also possible to set it as device admistrator.

Thank you, but AFwall+ not either any other firewall can be put as a device administrator.

I don't understand the comment. Are you unable to set AFwall+ as device administrator?

it seems there is one version of AFwall where you can activate it in device administrator..
Thank you all, I will get it .

If and only if the answer is satisfactory, you can mark it as accepted. See how to do it here.


text:
How do I switch google play accounts
My Wife tried to do an in app purchase but instead of her gmail showing up her twin's did instead and needed her password as well how can it be switched so only her email and password can be used ?

There should be a page in the settings app called Accounts. All the accounts stored on the device will be listed there. To remove an account, tap on the account name and then tap the remove account button
See this link for more info Add or remove an account on Android

On the Google Play app menu, the account from which you are logged in is showing click on the downside button an from there you can switch accounts.


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Sony F5121: Forgot Device Encryption Passwort, locked bootloader
I forget the device encryption password for my F5121 (locked bootloader). Is there any way to hard-reset the device, so I can use it again (I don't care about the data on it)?
I already tried some combination with Power Button + Volumne Up/Down, but I don't see any options popping up.
Also, unlocking the bootloader does not seem to work (probably I should have enabled oem unlocking in the android settings before), it says:
FAILED (remote: 'Command not allowed')

Same error, when trying to flash TWRP.

You can use the Talkback by-pass of FRP i can not post the steps and i am not the author of this, so please find a tutorial here
https://www.techeligible.com/2018/03/10/bypass-google-account-sony-xperia-android-8-0/

Thanks for your reply. However, please note that I cannot even start/boot android. I am locked at a boot password (encryption)

please add a picture of this

Good idea, I updated the question :-)

as i can see you use the full disk encryption, so android can not boot without password. which android version you have? if it is Marshmallow it should be possible to hard reset

I can't believe it. Entering anything (but the password) for 30 times resets the phones.
I also stumbled upon this (later on), it looks like there is default password in AOSP based ROMS: How does Marshmallow encryption work technically?

Good  another way is perform a  software repair using Xperia Companion. if FRP is activated you can pass it with your google account


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Android 9 set volume keys to adjust ringer by default
I have a OnePlus 3T, and recently updated it to LineageOS 16, from 15.1 - however I imagine this applies to any device with Android 9.
I realise that Android 9 has changed the default behaviour of the volume keys, to adjust the media volume by default. Whilst I can appreciate that some users might find this useful, I much preferred the ringer volume being changed by default and the media volume changing when media was being played. It seems like now there is no way to change the ringer volume using the hardware keys.
Is there any way to undo this change in defaults and make the volume keys adjust the ringer volume by default? Essentially I want to do the opposite of this question. Ideally I'd like not to have to install some questionable app to do it, I have root access so can use that if there's some command that I can change.
Or at the very least, is there a way to stop the ringtone from playing when I change volume from the "Sound" setting menu? Typically when I am changing the ringer volume I'm trying to reduce the amount of noise I might make, but changing the ringer volume through the "Sound" menu causes Android start playing my ringtone, which is very annoying.

I was very frustrated when Android 9 changed the volume buttons to control the media volume all the time so I developed an app to fix this and make the volume buttons control the ringtone and notification volume as it used to. It's free and you can install it from here: [https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.softstackdev.volumeFix ]
Let me know if you need any help to use it.

Thank you for the app, it appears to work. Another detail that you may want to add is the ability to adjust ringer volume in small steps instead of the current large steps in Android 9.

@HugoSALINASALIAGA, unfortunately my options are very limited but I will see what I can do.

You might be able to use MacroDroid to change modes triggered off another setting.  I just installed it for another purpose and haven't explored all the possibilities
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.arlosoft.macrodroid


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Android won't connect to WiFi without Internet connection
The title says it: Android mobile phone won't connect to a WiFi network that doesn't have an Internet connection.
Our clients can't connect to a SoftAP network that our device creates. They see the SoftAP network, try to connect to it and are immediately removed from the network.
When I connect to the same SoftAP network, there is a warning that the said WiFi network doesn't have internet access. I then have to approve being connected to the said network. After I approve it, the application we use works fine.
Our clients are from Austria and we are based in Serbia. Don't know if this has anything to do with it. Also, almost all of our Android test devices are in developer mode. Again, don't know if this has anything to do with it, just trying to give as much info as possible.

Have you tried giving "real" DNS and a default gateway to the network (but allow no real connections to the outer world, dropping them silently) - I seem to remember, that this tricked earlier Androids into using such a network.

I'll ask them to try it now. Will post results when they do. Thanks


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Replace the system font family on Nokia
Is possible to replace the system font (Roboto) to San Fransisco font without rooting my Nokia 6.1+?
for example:
Roboto-Regular.ttf to SF-Regular.ttf
Roboto-Bold.ttf to SF-Bold.ttf
Roboto-Heavy.ttf to SF-Heavy.ttf
and so on...
I have done it successfully on rooted devices

You will naturally need root to replace a system font. Because without root, you cannot write to the partitions where the fonts are stored and loaded from.
So, in order to answer your question - No, it is not possible.
That said, we do hear that Android Q will have support for font changes. If the feature makes its way to the final Q builds, you will be able to do font modifications when it hits your device in the coming months.

Btw, is it replace the Font Family or just a single font style?


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How do I make my Samsung Galaxy S8+ use wifi first before my provider network?
I have weak network coverage in my office.  My phone is connected to our office wifi.  I'd like my phone to use the wifi first, rather than the network connection

If you open up Settings app and scroll down to About, tap the option for Software Information and the find Build Number. Tap Build Number 7 times in a row and it will unlock Developer Options back in the main menu of Settings (scroll down). Open Developer Options and then scroll down about halfway to find some options related to Wifi and Cell signal. There is an option there to prioritize wifi signals over network signals, "even if the signal is weak". This should work for what you need, though if it doesn't please feel free to respond and I'll give you some other options.

Thank you for the help.  I followed your instructions and now I do have developer options.  However, the option available was to prioritize the network over wifi rather than my desire to prioritize wifi above the network.  Thank you.


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What is this permission group?
When I ran adb shell pm list permission-groups one of the groups was: com.google.android.gms.permission.CAR_INFORMATION.
I've never seen this before in system settings and I can't find anything explaining what it is for.
Why does Google have a permission relating explicitly to cars?

Ever hear of Android Auto? Check the manifest, this permissions group has been around since Nougat, it includes getting information like fuel level, mileage, vehicle speed, etc. Many apps besides Android Auto itself are AA compliant, not an unusual permission at all for apps like media players, navigation software, messaging apps, etc.

Ya, I know about Android Auto, but I don't know why it's part of google play services and why this is the only such special case.

@Deoxal it's a part of Play Services because it's not a part of Android (AOSP). Google is providing this proprietary service as a third party app developer. Any app can define its own permissions.


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Play Store downloads failing for subset of apps
I have an issue where Google Play Store will not download updates for a specific subset of my installed apps. I'm using a Sony Xperia Z5 with Android 7.1.1.
When the problem apps attempt to update in the Play Store, the download percentage goes past 100% for a bit at which point it resets to zero and starts downloading again. It tries to download each app three times and gives up. This suggests to me some dodgy cached data somewhere? It also appears like my phone may be having issues downloading the "Google Play security information update" (although I'm not certain of this) as I will often see a notification that this file is being downloaded, pop up, appear to complete, and go away, and then straight away pop up and download again. This suggests to me that it is doing the same thing as the apps in Play Store?
I have tried nearly all the recommended actions for fixing Play Store issues. I have cleared cache and data, and forced stop on Google Play Store, Google Play services, Download Manager, and then restarted my phone to no avail.
I haven't removed and re-added my Google account (which is another recommendation for Play issues) as I'm not sure how much of a pain that will be to re-add?
I tried updating to the latest beta version of the Play Store but that didn't fix the issue and it has been happening for around two months now.
The one thing that has managed to work, temporarily, is to uninstall updates on Google Play Store. This takes me back to a very old version of Play Store but all downloads then work correctly. The problem I then have is Play Store insists on periodically automatically updating itself at which point all the same apps stop downloading again! I'm not sure what triggers Play Store to update itself or how to stop it. Sometimes it happens quite quickly after rolling back sometimes it takes a couple of days.
My only "solution" at this point is to uninstall updates on Play Store each time it re-updates itself. If I happen to miss that this has happened, my phone will sit there happily trying to download the same app updates over and over using tens of gigs of data over a day or two (luckily only on WiFi). Each time Play Store reinstalls itself it also automatically turns "auto-update" (which I have disabled) back on!
The fact that it is the same subset of apps that fail each time is weird too. They are a diverse range of apps, some games, some utilities, some educational so this suggests that it's not the apps themselves that are the problem but some kind of corrupted data/cache issue? Some files that Play Store or the download manager uses that aren't removed when you clear the cache or uninstall Play Store? I feel like if I could just check a log file somewhere as the Play Store fails on a download I should be able to work out what is going on but I have I non-rooted phone so I think my diagnostic options are limited?

I have found a partial answer to this issue. It appears to be related to a Google Play error reported as error 963 elsewhere online. I'm not sure how you get the associated error number as I get no message or sign that anything is wrong other than the download being attempted three times and stopping on the third try?
After looking through endless sites suggesting the same old solution of clearing cache and data and uninstalling updates, I came across a site that mentions the issue is related to the app being stored on the SD card.
Following these instructions worked for me. Basically, all the apps that were not updating were stored on my SD card. After moving them all back to internal storage, I could once again successfully update them.
The only remaining issue I have is if I try and move them back to the SD card (either via the app storage preference or via the auto "you're running out of internal storage move apps to SD card" thing that pops up from time to time) then the next time the app gets an update, it fails to complete again and I have to move it back to internal storage to get it to update.
I can only surmise that for some reason when the app is on the SD card, Google Play doesn't have the required permissions to update the data. Having said that it is strange that uninstalling updates on Google Play also fixes the issue as that suggests that the factory version has the required permissions and this bug has been introduced at a later date.


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Disconnected WhatsApp, can't reconnect!
my wife moved back to Android on a Galaxy S9+ from IOS and wanted her WhatsApp messages transferred. Its not straightforward, but followed an article that setout the process and managed it in the end but but had to do two key things that I'm struggling to reverse.

Disconnect WhatsApp from Google Drive. This is done in Google Drive
settings/Manage Apps.
Install an older version of WhatsApp. Apparently the latest version
of WhatsApp will not automatically pickup a local backup.

Consequences now are:-

That WhatsApp on her phone will no longer auto update. Trying to
update manually in Playstore says its already installed.
WhatsApp will only backup locally and won't back to Google Drive
I can't reconnect WhatsApp to Google Drive - its isn't in the list in Google Drive / Settings / Manage Apps.

The article I followed just said that WhatsApp can be reconnected to Google Drive later, but didn't say how.
Anyone any suggestions on how to resolve this please?

I had the same issue and have now found the answer! The answer is that the version of Whatsapp which you used for restoring chats is not automatically reconnecting nor updating from the play store.
First of all, make sure you have made an internal backup of your chats, easy because backup to Google Drive no longer works.
Now uninstall Whatsapp - no worries, your content is backed up on the device.
Go to the Play Store and select Whatsapp. Install it.
Whatsapp will go through all the motions and find the local backup. It will ask to import it - allow that.
As a last step, the new Whatsapp will ask to connect to Google Drive for periodical backups - just answer what you prefere here.
Go have a look in Google Drive and see Whatsapp now appears once again in the list of connected apps.
All done!

Thanks, yes, forgot I had raised it here. I did exactly that. When the recent Whatsapp vulnerability was announced we just decided to go for it and as you say the local backup was found and everything worked ok after that. Appologies for not posting, like I say i had forgot that posted here because it didn't get a reply until recently.


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Disable part of a touchscreen from taking phantom touches
I have a 10.Or G android Oreo device

Resolution: 1080x1920
Density: 480

This question follows up from here
I'm having problem with lots of ghost touches in the very top 5 mm bar of the screen where touches will register almost 20 times in a minute. Doing the overscan doesnt help at all, because touches will still register, so I am looking to resize my screen with:
adb shell wm size 1080*1820

I dont know what to do from here because I'm receiving error:
Error: bad size 1080*1820

Help will be greatly appreciated.

You need to use x not * in the command.

You can use the overscan subcommand instead of size for achieving your objective.
The syntax is adb shell wm overscan left,top,right,bottom, where left, top, right and bottom are the coordinates relative to the actual edges of the screen.
So, in your case, you should write adb shell wm overscan 0,100,0,0, to get a resolution of 1080×1820, as you have mentioned above.
Explanation: This will set your device's screen bounds to 0px from the left, 100 px from the top, 0 px from the right and 0 px from the bottom. See this image:

Thank you, the command is working, but this command reduces my screen size evenly from the top and bottom halves, after applying 1080x1820, the screen moved down by 50px from top and it moved 50px from bottom. since the area that causes the phantom touches is the top most part, is there a way to just restrict the top 50px , and save my screen real estate?

That is quite normal. The screen size will get distributed evenly across the bounds of the screen. See my edits for the solution.

I have used the exact overscan command you have mentioned (you can see the attached link in question) but the overscan did not stop the phone from taking touches, that's why i was inclined to stop the top 100px from taking any touches. Again, help will be appreciated.  Please refer to the question link given in my question.

Here is the picture of what I've encountered https://imgur.com/a/csiw0h8 notice how the top bar takes touches.. if you'll provide with a solution/any solution, I will be very thankful

You can try increasing the top co-ordinate of the command. You can write adb shell wm overscan 0,200,0,0 and check whether it's working or not. Because, the Phantom touches may be extending to more than 100px from the top.

Or, you can use the command adb shell wm size 1080x1720. As you can see, that by using this technique, you need to sacrifice 100px from the bottom of the screen as well !!!

You are getting the error Error: bad size 1080*1820 because it should be x and not * which is also mentioned when typing adb shell wm:
  size [reset|WxH|WdpxHdp] [-d DISPLAY_ID]
    Return or override display size.
    width and height in pixels unless suffixed with 'dp'.

So, the correct command is adb shell wm size 1080x1820 which won't result in any error. You can find out more using adb shell wm which returns:
Window manager (window) commands:
  help
      Print this help text.
  size [reset|WxH|WdpxHdp] [-d DISPLAY_ID]
    Return or override display size.
    width and height in pixels unless suffixed with 'dp'.
  density [reset|DENSITY] [-d DISPLAY_ID]
    Return or override display density.
  folded-area [reset|LEFT,TOP,RIGHT,BOTTOM]
    Return or override folded area.
  overscan [reset|LEFT,TOP,RIGHT,BOTTOM] [-d DISPLAY ID]
    Set overscan area for display.
  scaling [off|auto] [-d DISPLAY_ID]
    Set display scaling mode.
  dismiss-keyguard
    Dismiss the keyguard, prompting user for auth if necessary.
  set-user-rotation [free|lock] [-d DISPLAY_ID] [rotation]
    Set user rotation mode and user rotation.
  set-fix-to-user-rotation [-d DISPLAY_ID] [enabled|disabled]
    Enable or disable rotating display for app requested orientation.
  tracing (start | stop)
    Start or stop window tracing.

You will most likely have to combine this with the other answer mentioned here about overscan to find a fix for your use case.