text:
Whatsapp's "WhatsApp Video" folder not visible from my PC
I'm using Whatsapp on Nexus 5 (Android 6.0.1) and several folders used by Whatsapp are not visible when accessed from a Windows 10 PC (connected through USB in MTP, file transfer mode).
From my PC "Whatsapp/Media" shows:  while when accessed from the phone itself using my storage explorer I see 4 additional items:

.Statuses
Whatsapp Animated Gifs
Whatsapp Audio
Whatsapp Video

No .nomedia files inside those directories. Any suggestions?

Settings -> Apps -> tap the 3 vertical dots in upper right -> Show System -> scroll down to Media Storage and tap it -> tap Storage  -> tap Clear Data, and tap Clear Cache.
Then do a full power down reboot of your Nexus.  After it comes up wait a few minutes before connecting to your PC to allow the file system to be re-indexed the file system.
please try this :- Whastapp path has changed, it's now Android -> media -> com.whatsapp -> whatsapp

Life saver answer!

Found the issue! It was a problem with "Google Photos" definition of media directories excluded from backup. All the missing folders were excluded from the backup definitions in Google Photos and when included (see image below) the directories became visible from the PC.
This seems to be a bug or some inconsistent situation, as removing them again from the backup definitions didn't cause the problem to return.


text:
Disable Chromes "articles for you"
The Google Android Chrome browser (which is the default browser on lots of Android devices) is displaying "suggested" news items on every new tab "articles for you".
There doesn't seem to be an option to disable this feature.
Can the new tab page be customized / configured?

Tldr:
Disable the #enable-ntp-remote-suggestions flag in Chromes Dev settings.
Long version: Follow the steps described in here https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/04/27/customize-chromes-terrible-new-tab-page/

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Stock OS vs Custom, Proprietary Camera
So i no stock manufacturers, roms have the blobs drivers for full potential of the camera.
Does this only apply for the stock camera app say from Samsung? if i download third party apps while on stock rom do they also make use of the proprietary drivers? if they don't then is the quality the same as it would be while using lineage os for example?
Appreciate all answers.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

The short answer is that like custom ROMs, it depends on which phone model.
The camera driver in the ROM implements Android's standard Camera2 API, which is common to all phones. Any app can use this API to access the camera. As you've pointed out, on some phones this requires having a binary-only camera driver in the ROM: without the binary part, only some modes may be available (e.g. lower resolutions), or the camera might not function at all. But if you have the binary driver, any app gets the full functionality of the Camera2 API, which is usually the full functionality of the camera.
The answer's not quite a flat "yes" because some phones have extra features. Phone manufacturers like to add extra camera features that aren't present in Android's API (yet). This mainly applies to the flagship phones from the big names like Samsung and LG, who compete on extra features not in stock Android. These extra features are only present in the manufacturer's own camera app, and they might use a special API to communicate with the camera driver, as well as Android's API.
These extra features will only be available from the manufacturer's camera app, and usually only on the stock ROM. Third-party camera apps will still be able to use the full functionality of the Camera2 interface: they just won't have access to these added features.
Note that image quality isn't just a property of the drivers. Many camera apps (both stock and third-party) do some amount of post-processing to make the image look better. You might find that a third-party camera app produces worse images just because its image processing isn't as good as in the stock camera app. Or you might find that a third-party camera app produces better images, if it uses an algorithm or technique that the stock app doesn't use.

Cool so it kinda sounds like your saying on roms like lineage os or aosp and the like that don't have a binary driver as only stock does, they can use camera2 api if you set that up correctly. In this case third party camera apps can function to the same full potential of picture quality as they would if they were installed on any stock rom that had the binary driver, is that accurate? also does the binary driver on stock only specifically effect the companys own camera app and has no effect on third party apps using camera2 api, as the binary drivers benefits and the companys own api's sound

completely different to camera2 api in general. Not all third party apps use camera2 api some still use camera1 api. Thanks.

No, I'm saying it depends on the phone and the ROM. The binary driver is what implements the Camera2 API.

Hmm that confuses me, as lineage os and aosp ect they all don't have a binary driver, yet there's magisk modules to get camera2 api working for things like google camera ports. Yet there's no binary present at all they lack those drivers?

So how do third party camera apps on lineageos nonstock roms with camera2 api enabled compare to stock? the fact they don't have the binary seems camera2 api and binary drivers are separate?

Some builds of ROMs incorporate the binary driver from the stock ROM. Some phones have an alternative open-source driver, possibly with less functionality. If the camera works at all with that ROM, it's because there's a camera driver, and every app can use it via the Camera2 API.

Yeah exactly, that's what i'm getting at all open source roms lineage os aosp a dozen more, don't have that binary driver, because it's proprietary closed source, they can't use it. Only custom roms based on stock will have it. The open source drivers they use obviously aren't that great compared to the closed source ones, so with that in mind would third party apps on open sourced roms that use there own drivers take photos through those apps in the same picture quality that you would get if they had been on a stock rom that had the closed source binary? this is why i don't believe third

party apps really use the closed source binary driver and perhaps instead just rely on camera1 and 2 api's instead, ontop of that all open source roms lineage os ect they don't even have camera2 api working when you install them! they have working cameras but you really gotta go out of your way to get camera2 api installed and working so all third party apps you install work without camera2 api unless you no to manually install it. Hope your seeing where i'm going with all this now.

Lots of people avoid open sourced custom roms, that don't include the binary driver as it's common knowledge image quality, is subpar i've never seen any post suggest anything different. Note that image quality isn't just a property of the drivers, google camera ports which are regarded as the best camera you can use looks good on an open source rom, then it looks amazing on stock with the binary driver does it benefit from that driver we don't know.

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


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how to transfer files on pen drive in phone to laptop?
I need to transfer data to the laptop but none of the USB ports work. As my pen drive is dual compatible, it can be connected to mobile. To transfer data from mobile to laptop I generally use airdroid app but this app is not showing data of external pen drive. Can anyone help in accessing the pen drive files(connected to mobile) from laptop?
Thank you

If the file size is not large you can upload it on drive and access from the laptop.

Can we upload documents from pendrive (connected to mobile) to google drive?

Some file managers have an "Access from PC" option that allows you to access your device's storage over Wi-Fi (using FTP).
For example, you could use the "Access from PC" option in the free app File Manager + (I am not associated with the developers of this app).
Alternatively, if your device is rooted, you could use ADB over Wi-Fi found in the also free app Kernel Tuner (that I am also not associated with) and then press the "ADB over WiFi" button (found in MISC > ADB over Wifi or its widget), then run
 adb connect (enter IP address here)

(It will tell you what IP to enter after pressing the button).
Then, use adb push and adb pull to send and recieve files from your device.
If your device runs LineageOS (tested on LineageOS 14.1 (Android 7.1.2)), you can also edit the Quick Settings menu (the menu above the notifications) to have an "ADB over Wifi" button (so no third-party app is needed).

I want to access the pen drive storage connected to mobile. Can file manager plus does this? Thank you

@TomRiddle I just tested it and the FTP part only works with internal storage and your SD card. So to use that you would need to put the contents of your USB drive on an SD card to use that. :( But ADB Wireless works.


text:
Why does YouTube volume fade when visiting certain sites?
I use split screen YouTube and Chrome on my phone, but when I visit e.g. bbc.com the video volume fades to a much lower level.
What causes this and can it be prevented?
This is a OP3t with Android 8.0 in case that matters

Most times this is caused by an video-ad on the website. It shouldn't happen on websites without any ad.

Strictly speaking, "on websites that does not emit sound". Notifications also cause a brief fade in volume.


text:
Stop Google Photos from Retaining Deleted Photos
If I take a photo using my phones stock camera app, and then delete it using the stock gallery app, it doesn't get deleted from Google Photos. How can I change it so that deleting photos on my phone causes them to get deleted on Google Photos as well?
I'm using a Galaxy S9 with a stock ROM.

If you are using Google Photo to backup your photos, you should also use it as your "gallery" app on your phone to manage photos.
When you delete a photo in the Google Photo app, it will delete it in Google Photo's online storage as well. Actually, it places it in Google Photo's "Trash" folder, where it is held for 60 days unless you manually purge a picture or the entire folder's contents.
To my knowledge, this is just the way it is and is by design, there are no options to do anything differently. It is designed to be your "recovery" for photos in case you lose them by any means... How is Google Photo supposed to know if you deleted that photo purposely, or by accident.

So your answer boils down to the fact that it's not possible?

@Reubend Not as you describe in the stock gallery app, that's correct.

To elaborate some, you have to first give Google Photos permission to modify media on your phone.  Then, when you use the Google Photos app to delete photos, those photos will be deleted both from Google Photos and from you phone.  Additionally if you use Google Photos from a PC Web browser to delete photos, then initially those photos will not be deleted from your phone, but the next time you run the Google Photos app on your phone, it will ask you if you want to review "out of sync" changes, and will give you the opportunity to have those photos then deleted from the phone.


text:
ES File Explorer - Remote manager read only
I have just installed ES File Explorer on my Samsung, and started the Remote manager
I opened a FTP client on my PC and could connect to my tablet.. But I can't write files only read? Is this a bug or do I have to pay to get write access?

AFAIK all features like these for Android are read-only (I use a different file manager with a similar feature that is also read-only).

can you come across this with root?

Not necessarily, I have the same setup on my devices using both MiXplorer and ES explorer. The ftp server runs fine with read/write access (even on non-rooted device).
Perhaps your OS doesn't allow anonymous logins to have write access, in which case you need to configure a password authentication on your ftp server:

Under remote manager, go to settings → Set manage account → Current user
Input you new username and password
Run the ftp server and enter the configured password on the target PC to access the files, and see if you have write access.

If you still having issues to access the files, then I recommend you'd use an alternative ftp client e.g WinSCP for Windows or Fillezilla for linux


text:
Running apps that require unrooted system?
I am trying to run Standard Chartered's app in android-x86, but I get the error:
This application is not supported on rooted
devices. Please restore or update your device.
(code: 4)

Since I am running 8.1rc1 updating is not really possible, and since this is a brand new installation, restoring the device does not really make sense.
How can I either unroot the device or at least make the app think the device is unrooted?

Do root-hiding apps like Chainfire's SUhide make the app think your device is unrooted?

From the description SUhide only works on ARM and ARM64.

Magisk Manager comes with hiding root feature. Otherwise, you can try RootCloack xposed module. Both are available for x86.


text:
Meaning of: Delivered, Received, Tap to chat
Snapchat shows a kind of status under each contact's name in the chat list:

In the screenshot above it is "Tap to chat", but sometimes it is "Delivered" or "Received".
Question: What are all possible statuses, and what is the meaning of each?

Seen this?. I don't use Snapchat so can't confirm but it's in line with WhatsApp

@beeshyams: That external webpage is outdated, the terms have changed.


text:
Redmi Note 4. ADB pm uninstall some packages, Stuck in Reboot
So I wanted to remove some apps pre installed.
I connected to my Redmi Note 4 ( Nougat ) via adb shell.
Used pm uninstall -k --user 0 <name of package>
Removed the following packages.
com.android.browser
com.android.email
com.google.android.apps.tachyon
com.google.android.music
com.google.android.play.games
com.google.android.videos
com.miui.cleanmaster
com.miui.cloudservice
com.miui.cloudservice.sysbase
com.miui.securitycenter
com.miui.weather2
com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad
com.xiaomi.mipicks
com.xiaomi.oversea.ecom
org.wordpress.android

According to me, I did not remove any system apps.
However now when I Reboot I am stuck at Reboot Screen (bootloop) with adb devices showing as connecting
I am able to boot into fastboot mode. Dont know how to make use of that here. Also I have a Ubuntu machine, so I am not able to use official MI tools which are mostly for Window users

You can't get to adb to enable anything again, so your only choice is going to be a factory reset unfortunately.

Do you have a custom recovery installed on that device, e.g. TWRP? Not sure if it works when running from there, but TWRP offers ADB access.

@Izzy No I do not have any custom recovery installed :/ ADB does connect though occassionally. Then it goes into connecting state again. When I was able to connect I tried doing adh shell pm install, but that gave me package service not  found error.

@acejavelin  ADB does connect though occassionally. Then it goes into connecting state again. When I was able to connect I tried doing adh shell pm install, but that gave me package service not  found error. Want to make sure FR is the last option I got

pm install needs the name of the APK file, not the package name. So you'ld need to know where that resides (most likely somewhere below /system/app), then pass the full file name (e.g. /system/app/Music2/Music2.apk for com.google.android.music on a device I just checked) to pm install.

thanks @Izzy . yeah I did give the /data/app location of APK. But it was not able to find the service 'Package'

Flash a fastboot stock rom, fastboot rom even has a option to flash without wipe.
If you have a linux i could guide you further on how to do that.

It would help if you tell us how to flash a fastboot ROM.

Okay for starters the fastboot file has a .tgz format while the recovery rom has .zip . You'll have to extract the tgz file and select the .sh script which says to flash only /system and run the sh script.


text:
Touch screen on tablet suddenly not working
This seemingly related question isn't relevant, as it concerns a replaced screen, and this question involves an intermittent problem.
My tablet suddenly stopped responding to touch. I haven't dropped it or otherwise damaged it. It does respond to a USB keyboard, although it is extremely inconvenient to do so.  I factory rest it, but he problem persists.
It's a no-name, and not worth having it repaired. Can anyone think of any software options which might get it working again?

Is the touch screen completely dead or are some regions still work. You can use a touch screen test app. If some parts still work cleaning the screen may help you (see manual how to do so).

It is completely dead

Related: My Google Pixel 2's touch screen suddenly quit working--how can I fix it?

Try force restarting it at least for 2-3 time... if it still doesn't respond, then use a clear bag by filling it with raw rice and leave your tab in it for a few days.

I know of the rice tip when a 'phone is dropped in water, but this was not. And it works perfectly when controlled by keyboard.

Then there could be a fault in any of the boards present in it.


text:
Manually trigger MediaScanner to scan files on Internal Storage on Nougat/Oreo
I often manage my files in Termux with scripts that use the mv command to move or rename them. I want to manually trigger MediaProvider to scan my internal stroage (/storage/emulated/0) or a given directory in it with command line, on a phone running Nougat or Oreo.
When I use a GUI file manager application, all moves/renames are immediately reflected in other MediaScanner-dependent apps like Gallery, but changes done in a terminal don't, until a reboot. So I have to manually call MediaScanner to update my changes in the filesystem.
Before KitKat, this worked well on /storage/sdcard0 (a separate partition named glow):
am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///sdcard

The above command doesn't work now (/storage/emulated/0), obviously.
I also tried this, but it doesn't seem to be working, either.
am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE -d file:///sdcard

Just tested the commands again, they seem to be working on removable storage like /storage/sdcard1, /storage/usba or /storage/{volume id} (it gets re-scanned), but not my phone's internal (where /sdcard points to, or /storage/emulated/0).
Anyone have some insights? Rebooting my phone always causes a rescan but that's inconvenient in some cases.
Note: the commands are run as root, so no concerns about permissions.

Trigger a broadcast that the SD card was mounted? That implicitly triggers the media scanner as it needs to check for possible additions you made to the card. That's the first command you've mentioned. I wonder why this should no longer work. Have you tried? // Another idea: on some devices I found a corresponding entry in developer settings, letting you trigger a rescan. Worth taking a look.

@Izzy Not SD card, but internal storage. I guess it's internal storage that causes the problem (not scanned actually).

I don't know how to do this from adb, but I think you can go to Settings - Apps - All Apps, then tap the 3 dot menu and select Show System, then scroll down to Media Storage and open it, tap Storage, then Clear Data and after it completes reboot. That works on Moto devices with Nougat and Oreo, it might not be what your looking for but it should net the same result.

Even though it's internal storage (you really mean /data, or rather the internal SD?) – might be worth a try to broadcast storage mounted (take the internal SD then). Didn't say unmount/mount, just broadcasting.

@Izzy To clarify, I meant /sdcard which points to /storage/emulated/0 because I find that it behaves differently between /storage/emulated/0 and /storage/sdcard1//storage/usba.

Thought so. So you did trigger the mount broadcast, and nothing happened? I don't know why it shouldn't work. Question is just how the media scanner reacts on it. For the external SD card, it should still scan it (how shall it tell whether you replaced the entire content before it checked?) – just don't know if it acts differently for the internal SD card. Don't forget to try it with the real path (shown by mount). Might need root powers, though, as it could be "protected".

@Izzy I updated the question with more details.

I see, thanks. Then I'm out of ideas. Wonder how changes via MTP are dealt with – but I guess "per file received/moved/deleted", so no trick that way either.

This solution worked for me on newer Android versions such as Android 13 https://stackoverflow.com/a/77279718/2876645

Note: It is possible the following commands do not work out for you with just USB debugging /  shell (uID 2000) user. In that case, you must have root access to make them work.

Before KitKat, this worked well:
am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///sdcard

The above command doesn't work now, obviously.

This works perfectly well on my stock Android 7.1.1 (Nexus 6) having only Internal Storage. But starting since Oreo implicit broadcasts are not allowed, so you have to send an explicit broadcast to Media Storage. This can be done using the argument -n followed by component name or simply by -p followed by package name. In Android 9.0 (OnePlus 6), here's what worked for me:
am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///sdcard/ -p com.android.providers.media

I believe the above command would work for Android Oreo as well.
Note: shell (user 2000) cannot run that command, so you must elevate privilege to system (1000) or root (0). In short, run the command as root or it won't work.

I also tried this, but it doesn't seem to be working, either.
am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_SCANNER_SCAN_FILE -d file:///sdcard

Because that intent expects a FILE as data, not a directory (I understand everything is a file in Linux, but that's not the case for an intent). Provide the full path of a file and it would work. Furthermore, as stated above, for Oreo and above, make the broadcast explicit.
If you have multiple files and you intend to use this intent only, you need to get all the file names and pass them on to the intent recursively (per Aritra Roy on Stack Overflow). It may be possible to pass an array but I don't know how to do it with adb.
Furthermore, my Android behaved rather erratically for file names containing [].

In Android 10 (Huawei Mate 20 Pro), got error of Security exception: Permission Denial: not allowed to send broadcast android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED from pid=28279, uid=2000 when tried to run adb shell am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///sdcard/ -p com.android.providers.media

@pvd sorry for the late reply. Yes, I see that I also get the same error on OnePlus 6 running Android 10. However, running the same command with root access works fine. I have added a note in my answer to stress the need of root access, should the command fails to work. Thanks for bringing it to my notice.

This Solution worked for me with new Android versions such as Android 13 without root access
https://stackoverflow.com/a/77279718/2876645


text:
Routing call audio to HDMI
I have samsung S5 running android marshmallow. I have connected it to my TV via hdmi cable.  Whenever I make a  whatsapp video call to S5,    video is shown on TV but call audio comes only from phone speaker, not from TV speaker.
What do I need to do to route call audio to tv speaker ?
I have tried soundabout app from playstore, but it does not seem to be working. I have rooted it. Any command from terminal that could do the trick or any other app ?

My experience on S9 is this with WhatsApp and Duo. Really annoying.


text:
Oreo 8.1 - Trouble enabling ADB for system by modifying /system/build.prop in TWRP adb shell
I've followed https://gist.github.com/varhub/7b9555cdd1e5ad785ffde2300fcfd0bd and have doublechecked that the build.prop is indeed modified i.e. system was mounted in read-write mode.
Unfortunately after reboots, the /data/property/persist.sys.usb.config resets itself to just mtp (instead of mtp,adb).
Any ideas what I am missing? I have to do this via adb since I am working on a headless phone with a broken screen (touch/display not working at all).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get past this conventionally and no answers here either. I installed a LineageOS based rom via TWRP commandline and managed to get it to boot. It has ADB enabled by default and I was able to inject the adb key via the TWRP shell too.
Now I am stuck at a different problem of adding and connecting to a WiFi SSID via the commandline.

You can just supply a /data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf file with the right credentials and enable wifi using svc wifi enable.

@Zulakis I have already tried that, but unfortunately it doesn't work on my setup. I've raised a new question at https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/200285/connecting-wifi-via-adb-shell-oreo-8-1-lineageos
Waiting patiently for new things to try.

You could probably edit the /vendor/etc/init/hw/init.qcom.usb.rc file to achieve what you want. (That's what I did for a similar issue).


text:
Missing internal SD card in /dev/block, phone won't start
Yesterday my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 froze I'd say. The phone was locked and when I attempted to unlock it, it didn't respond (black display, just the led blinking). So I shut it down with holding power button until it stopped, then tried to power it up. The phone stucked on the Samsung logo booting part.
Currently I can't even get there cleanly, my screen is stucked on the battery image e.g. when you plug in the phone when charging, but the logo is frozen (normally there is a gif showing a charging battery). When I go to recovery and choose to reboot the system (to normal mode, not recovery), I can get pass the battery image, but I'm stuck on the Samsung logo again.
I have Samsung's stock Android 4.4, rooted, with CWM recovery. I can get into the phone when in recovery mode (power+volup+home, ClockworkMod Recovery v6.0.4.3), but even through the recovery menu I get only Can't mount backup path. or E:Can't mount /sdcard when I try to e.g. backup the phone (at least to show whether the damn thing mounts). When I go to the section in CWM where I can attempt to mount (there is format also, but I haven't done it yet, most likely even won't work because of the mounting) these:

/efs
/system
/cache
/preload
/data

on each of the options I get only: Error mounting <...>.
When I try to wipe the cache, I get this:

E:format_volume: make_extf4fs failed on /dev/block/mmcblk0p12

When I try wiping dalvik cache, nothing appears in the log.
On each try to actually do something in CWM I get this in the log:
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/log
E:Can't mount /cache/recovery/last_log
E:Can't open /cache/recovery/last_log

I can reboot to bootloader, but (perhaps obviously) adb doesn't connect to the device because it's not even showing in the list nor able to get it via adb usb.
I can get into the phone with adb only when in recovery mode, so I checked the default locations e.g. /data/data, /sdcard, /system and everything in there seems dead, nothing is mounted.

/

boot                 fstab.smdk4x12       sbin
cache                init                 sd-ext
data                 init.rc              sdcard
datadata             internal_sd          seapp_contexts
default.prop         lpm.rc               sepolicy
dev                  mnt                  storage
efs                  preload              sys
emmc                 proc                 system
etc                  property_contexts    tmp
external_sd          recovery             ueventd.goldfish.rc
file_contexts        res                  ueventd.rc
fstab.goldfish       root                 ueventd.smdk4x12.rc

/dev

HPD                    input               ttyGS2
__properties__         ion                 ttyGS3
akm8963                keychord            ttyS0
alarm                  kmem                ttyS1
android_adb            kmsg                ttyS2
ashmem                 link_pm             ttyS3
binder                 log                 ttySAC0
block                  mali                ttySAC1
bus                    mem                 ttySAC2
bus_dma_throughput     mobicore            ttySAC3
console                modem_br            tun
cpu_dma_latency        mtp_usb             tzic
device-mapper          multipdp            uhid
display_frequency      network_latency     uinput
dun                    network_throughput  ump
dvfs_response_latency  null                umts_boot0
ecryptfs               pn544               umts_csd
exynos-mem             ppp                 umts_ipc0
fimg2d                 psaux               umts_loopback0
fmradio                ptmx                umts_ramdump0
full                   pts                 umts_rfs0
fuse                   random              umts_router
graphics               rfkill              urandom
i2c-0                  rtc0                usb_accessory
i2c-1                  rtc1                vcs
i2c-12                 s3c-mem             vcs1
i2c-14                 s3c-mfc             vcsa
i2c-15                 s5p-smem            vcsa1
i2c-17                 snd                 video0
i2c-19                 socket              video1
i2c-21                 srp                 video11
i2c-22                 ssp_sensorhub       video12
i2c-3                  sw_sync             video16
i2c-4                  tspdrv              video2
i2c-5                  tty                 video20
i2c-6                  tty0 - 63           video3
i2c-7                  ttyGS0              xt_qtaguid
i2c-8                  ttyGS1              zero

~ # ls /dev/block

ls /dev/block
loop0       loop4       mmcblk0p12  ram11       ram15       ram5        ram9
loop1       loop5       ram0        ram12       ram2        ram6        vold
loop2       loop6       ram1        ram13       ram3        ram7
loop3       loop7       ram10       ram14       ram4        ram8

mmcblk0p12 is a /cache partition, however it's sometimes missing. I don't see the device (mmcblk0) there anyway, so perhaps it's just some quirk from CWM. I can't mount it to /cache or custom folder too:

~ # mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /testfolder

mount /dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /testfolder
mount: mounting /dev/block/loop0 on /testfolder failed: Invalid argument

I tried to investigate where is the device I'm looking for (mmcblk0) and its partitions (mainly mmcblk0p16 i.e. /data) via dmesg:

dmesg output(too long for question)

~ # cat fstab.goldfish

cat fstab.goldfish
# Android fstab file.
#<src>                                                  <mnt_point>         <type>    <mnt_flags and options>                              <fs_mgr_flags>
# The filesystem that contains the filesystem checker binary (typically /system) cannot
# specify MF_CHECK, and must come before any filesystems that do specify MF_CHECK
/dev/block/mtdblock0                                    /system             ext4
      ro,barrier=1                                         wait
/dev/block/mtdblock1                                    /data               ext4
      noatime,nosuid,nodev,barrier=1,nomblk_io_submit      wait,check
/dev/block/mtdblock2                                    /cache              ext4
      noatime,nosuid,nodev,nomblk_io_submit,errors=panic   wait,check
/devices/platform/goldfish_mmc.0                        /storage/sdcard     vfat
      defaults                                             voldmanaged=sdcard:auto

~ # df

df
Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                   923748        48    923700   0% /dev
tmpfs                   923748         0    923748   0% /storage
tmpfs                   923748         0    923748   0% /mnt/secure
tmpfs                   923748         0    923748   0% /mnt/fuse

~ # mount

mount
rootfs on / type rootfs (rw)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,relatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,seclabel,relatime)
selinuxfs on /sys/fs/selinux type selinuxfs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /storage type tmpfs (rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=050,gid=1028)  # this folder is empty actually (bad)
tmpfs on /mnt/secure type tmpfs (rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=700)
tmpfs on /mnt/fuse type tmpfs (rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=775,gid=1000)

~ # cat /etc/recovery.fstab

# Android fstab file.
#<src>                  <mnt_point>         <type>    <mnt_flags and options>
                            <fs_mgr_flags>
# The filesystem that contains the filesystem checker binary (typically /system) cannot
# specify MF_CHECK, and must come before any filesystems that do specify MF_CHECK
# data partition must be located at the bottom for supporting device encryption

/dev/block/mmcblk0p3     /efs                ext4      noatime,nosuid,nodev,journal_async_commit,errors=panic    wait
/dev/block/mmcblk0p13    /system             ext4      ro,noatime
                                 wait
/dev/block/mmcblk0p12    /cache              ext4      noatime,nosuid,nodev,journal_async_commit,errors=panic    wait,check
/dev/block/mmcblk0p14    /preload            ext4      noatime,nosuid,nodev,journal_async_commit                 wait
/dev/block/mmcblk0p16    /data               ext4      noatime,nosuid,nodev,discard,noauto_da_alloc,journal_async_commit,errors=panic    wait,check,encryptable=footer

/devices/platform/s3c-sdhci.2/mmc_host/mmc1     /storage/sdcard1    auto      defaults      voldmanaged=sdcard1:auto
/devices/platform/s5p-ehci                     /storage/usbdisk0   auto      defaults      voldmanaged=usbdisk0:auto

# recovery
/dev/block/mmcblk0p8            /boot                           emmc
defaults                recoveryonly
/dev/block/mmcblk0p9            /recovery                       emmc
defaults                recoveryonly
/dev/block/mmcblk0p10           /modem                          emmc
defaults                recoveryonly

~ # cat /etc/fstab
  ~ # cat /etc/fstab

cat /etc/fstab
/dev/block/mmcblk0p12 /cache ext4 rw
/dev/block/mmcblk0p16 /data ext4 rw
/dev/block/mmcblk0p13 /system ext4 rw

I attempted to make a backup via CWM to the external card, but it failed I think on the first/fourth step:
/storage/sdcard1: Checking
/storage/sdcard1: Mounted
SD Card space free: 14983MB
Backing up boot image...
Error while backing up boot image!

Obviously the folder with the backup remains empty.
So to my questions:

Is there ANY way how can I recover data from the internal SD card and/or from the (mounted) /data folder? I don't care what happens to the device, I only care about the data.
Less important one. Is there any way how to recover the actual system to a working state even without recovering the data mentioned in 1.?

Edit: Any ideas?

Seems to me like a lot of mmcblk0p* special files are missing under /dev/block. I'm not sure on it, but it seems like your internal flash storage is broken.


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Change user name which I see in adb
 ./adb shell pm list users
Users:
        UserInfo{0:*********:13} running
        UserInfo{999:XSpace:800010}

./adb shell dumpsys user
Users:
  UserInfo{0:*********:13} serialNo=0
    Created: <unknown>
    Last logged in: +39m10s436ms ago
  UserInfo{99:Airlock User:10000010} serialNo=1001
    Created: +386d6h17m29s394ms ago
    Last logged in: <unknown>
  UserInfo{999:XSpace:800010} serialNo=11
    Created: +540d9h24m8s349ms ago
    Last logged in: <unknown>

I would never set such a user name I've hidden behind the star symbols.
I couldn't find where it can be set in settings.
It's not a Wi-Fi AP SSID, not a bluetooth name, not a Lock Screen owner name.
How could that be? Even if someone took my phone, unlocked it with password, how they could do that? I'm puzzled.
Phone is Xiaomi Redmi 4 Pro with MIUI 9.

Did you cross-check that name with that reflected under Settings  -> Users? Alternatively,  in some devices the Contacts app permits setting up a Contact card which works as User name as well.

@Firelord I couldn't find neither Settings → Users nor this mystic username in my contact...


text:
FLAC files getting corrupted on microSD card
Whenever I put a FLAC album on my phone, after a few days some of the tracks get corrupted. They show errors when I bring them onto my PC and use the command line function flac -t *.flac. While most tracks result in an ok, some result in errors such as FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_LOST_SYNC or FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_ERROR_STATUS_FRAME_CRC_MISMATCH. I am using LineageOS 15.1 (July 23 build) on my SM-G900P with a genuine SanDisk 128GB Extreme PLUS microSD card formatted as adopted/internal storage. I read somewhere about a LOST.DIR folder being used as a recycling bin for corrupted files or something like that, but I don't seem to have that folder.
Is this an issue with Samsung, Android, LineageOS, Poweramp (my music player), or my SD card? I really hope it's not an SD card issue because I don't feel like spending so much time formatting/moving a ton of data around.
Thanks.

Have you compared the original file(s) with a corrupted one to see what the difference is? On Windows you can use the integrated comand-line tool ' fc.exe -b file1 file2`.

I suggest performing extensive file-system checks of the sd card from a PC. fsck and smartctl are your friends if you're on linux. Look for filesystem check apps and SMART readers on windows.

This is almost certainly an SD card issue, especially since initially the files are fine and not corrupt, and get that way over time. Your device and it's applications will only read the data from the SD card, not change it or write to it anyway. There is a very slim chance that the card reader in your phone is defective, but I think a safe bet would be the card itself is failing.
This is the most definitive answer I can offer with the information given.
I am not normally one to recommend a specific brand here, but my personal experience with SanDisk has been very disappointing in terms of reliability in multiple product lines they carry. I would recommend moving away from SanDisk and trying perhaps a Samsung EVO+ series card.

It seems like I had this issue with my previous Extreme PLUS 32GB card, so you could be right.

Actually, my files could've been corrupted as soon as I copied them to my phone, but I just didn't know it.

@Pete The test would be to transfer them to internal storage, if they are corrupt try copying them to Google Drive (or your favorite online storage) and then to the device.

I meant my files could've been corrupted as soon as I copied them to my phone, but I just didn't know it until I played the files. I just copied an entire FLAC album to my SD card using the USB connection from my phone to my Win10 laptop. I then copied the entire album back and tested it and a couple of songs were messed up. Re-copying only the affected songs to the phone's SD card seemed to fix the issue, but I didn't copy the entire album back for testing, so I'm not sure if other files weren't affected by the re-copying. This could be an issue with Win10 copying stuff to Android phones.

Just copied the entire album in question from my phone to my laptop and tested it. No errors. I'm still kind of paranoid that the files will eventually somehow become corrupt over time, but it looks like my SD card is fine and this is just a USB file transfer issue that that easily (but tediously) be worked around.


text:
Is Kingroot/Kinguser reliable for Android 4.3+?
I recently rooted an Android (Yuntab K107, Android 5.1), with Kinguser (KingRoot). So far, it has worked well (except for a hanging Busybox command), but I got this warning starting Titanium Backup:

Is Kinguser (KingRoot) reliable for Android 4.3+? The app (KingRoot( says it works fine for Android 5.1.1-, but Titanium Backup says it's only reliable on Android 4.2.2-.

I recommend replacing it with SuperSU for Android 5.

Most Android Enthusiasts would say that King(o)root is not reliable on any device, as it almost always installs spyware/malware. Use a proper rooting method like SuperSU or Magisk.

Apart from what was said (and I fully agree with @acejavelin here): Unless you have any issues with TiBu, you can safely ignore that warning. I do so for years, as TiBu says that for a lot of Superuser solutions. Guess SuperSU is what Joël (the author of TiBu) uses, so that's what he can check with himself.


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stuck at "updating partition details" while installing magisk
so I have a moto 4 plus running android 7 that I am having trouble with running twrp. I am following a guide to root it by unlocking the bootloader, flashing twrp (temporarily) and then flash Magisk-v16.0.zip. this is where I found this guide:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-e4-plus/how-to/root-twrp-motorola-moto-e4-plus-xt1775-t3791064
I have one identical phone (I think they have identical build number) that I can do this without any problems. The other phone that I have problem with, twrp keeps getting stuck at "updating partition details." This happens when I try to do a back up so I have to skip it and try installing magisk.zip again and it got stuck again at "updating partition details." I am afraid if I try to turn it off now I may brick the phone.
I tried asking this at the forum where I got the instruction from but had no luck getting any answer. I am hoping to receive any guidance on this matter. Many thanks!

please wait for sometime, i have seen it take about 2/3 minutes to start install rom zip(with project treble ) in my redmi 3s.

thanks. but it has been like this for 4 hours now. also the same way when i tried to back it up. it can never get past that

As u mention: if the "Updating partition details..." take more than 4 hours: You have a problem.
As it's noted on the XDA OP, have u flash the "no-verity-opt-encrypt.zip" file ? Apparently it's necessary to completly disabling the forced encryption on your phone.
Try to flash directly the Magisk uninstaller zip, reboot in TWRP, and try again to flash Magisk v16.

thanks. so shut off the phone now? does it matter if i only flash twrp temporarily? i didnt want to flash it permanently because sometimes twrp hangs at the logo screen. what do i do first? flash the no encrypt.zip or magisk uninstaller first? many thanks again

Ah u have only flashed temporary the twrp img file ok, so u should backup your stock recovery, install permanently/temporary the twrp img file, flash the no encrypt.zip file, flash the Magisk zip file and see if any error(s) occured..

many thanks for your quick reply. i wish i found this forum first. you meaning backing up in twrp? i guess i have to flash no encrypt first because twrp will hang during backup (also at "updating partition details"). in fact i think anything that involves "updating partition details" by twrp will hang (not sure if it will happen during no encrypt installation as well). sorry i dont mean to ask so many questions. i rather ask questions first but was not able to get any answer early on. please bear with me. thanks.

so update: I cannot get past "updating partition details" on anything. However, it looks like magisk is successfully installed because I now have root. So I am just wondering what does the  "updating partition details" really do. Many thanks again.

So if your Magisk installation is OK it's done for you, about the "updating partition details", it's generally when TWRP unmount partition, close files opened by any process,.. It can help if the installation script is in a "test stage", but Magisk isn't a test version :)

many thanks for your explanation. so the backup created by twrp is also good despite not getting past "updating partition details"? is there a way to fix it so things can get past that? thanks


text:
How to delete Google account from a factory-resetted phone?
I have an Android 5.x smartphone ("phone 1"), which was using my Google account. Recently, I've started using different one, so I've (pretty confident that I've) dropped Google account on "phone 1", and then after having all things set up on "phone 2", I've made a factory reset on "phone 1"
However, when my son is now trying to begin using "phone 1", the initialization procedure REQUIRES him to use the account that was used on this phone before !! I presume this is good for protection against thieves, but how can I allow him use this phone ? I don't want to login under my account on that phone again

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! I've just added the factory-reset tag to your question. What you're encountering here is called "Factory Reset Protection" (FRP). Please check our factory-reset tag-wiki for the corresponding section.

How did you reset the device? I mean was it from the recovery or from within the Android system?
The devices I've used have only thrown the FRP thing when I wipe the device via recovery, just how a thief would do because he won't have access to the Android system.

When you enter your Google account information to remove the FRP, it doesn't add the account to the phone until you tell it to. You can enter your account information to remove the lock without adding the account to the phone.

Possible duplicate of How to bypass "Verify your account" (Factory Reset Protection)

(I've done reset via some hardware menu, it had such items as wipe device, etc.)
After asking the question:
I've logged into Google Accounts as that user on a desktop, and removed that device from a list of "my devices"
It did not change anything.
Then I've logged on THE DEVICE as that user. Then I was provided an option to login as a different Google account, as I did. So that solved my problem.


text:
What are my options to recover data from my water damaged phone?
My phone(Wileyfox Spark+, rooted and on COS 13, TWRP recovery) fell into water, and i got it out a few seconds later. I immediately took out the battery, sd card, sim, and lid, and left them in the sun to dry for two days. The SD cars is still functioning perfectly, the battery seems to be completely dead though.
These are my observations:
With another battery from an Samsung S Advance, this is what happens when I try to turn on the phone:
Buzz, light gray screen for a few seconds, then the screen turns off and stays off
When connecting the phone to a PC:
Windows connect sound, a few secs, disconnect sound, screen turns gray, then black, then gray, connect sound, black screen, then the charge indicator turns red/yellow. Disconnect sound when removing the battery again.
Windows says it doesn't recognise the USB device.
I'm not sure what happens, the screen turns gray now and then, but with a wavy pattern flowing over it. I don't think it'll be able to display anything useful anymore. It doesn't seem to be stuck in a bootloop, but i can't see if i can get into recovery mode.
EDIT: The phone is working with the original battery now when keeping it plugged to power. Both windows and the phone make a sound acknowledging that they're connecting and disconnecting when I plug or unplug the usb cable. The phone also reacts when i'm pressing the power button by lighting and dimming the screen, still in gray. The device is showed as a phone/music plater in win explorer, but no folders or files show up upon opening it. I didn't have a lock code or pattern on the phone.
What are my options to retrieve data from the interal storage? Is there a possibility/programs to access and recover it?

Qualified technical intervention is recommended. Unless it's hardware is inspected and found working you can't be sure of any method working

Possible duplicate of My android device has been splashed/soaked by sea water

@beeshyams That may be the most effective option, but i'd like to know if i can attempt to retrieve data myself. I've found a few programs that offer that service, but unfortunately only for samsungs. I was hoping that i could access the phone via the download or recovery mode.

Does adb work?

@confetti I think so, i did enable it once and trusted my pc. Usb debugging should also be enabled. The lockscreen can be unlocked with a swipe, so i think the usb connection just doesnt work. Or is there something else that must be done on the phone to make adb work?

As long as it's enabled and the phone unlocked it should work. There's probably too much damage if adb devices doesn't report anything.


text:
How does Avast Anti-theft Survive a hard reset
So, I came across Avast Anti-theft a few days ago, they flaunt a feature of surviving a factory reset, how is this possible without having root access ?
I looked up a few threads and could not find a good explanation, can someone tell me how it might be able to do that ?

Yes, I meant factory reset and are you sure ? Although it seems logical that as factory reset wipes everything it will definitely get rid of the application.

Here is the link to the article   Avast Lost Phone Experiment

I had seen that article earlier but a) won't believe unless it is from independent source not app manufacturer b) It is known that android doesn't have viruses ( malware , yes )but their app says anti -virus. Aside, it is not impossible - there are instances you can easily see from Google search where malware survives factory reset. Theory is that they acquire elevated privileges on an unrooted device and lodge themselves in /system partition which isn't affected by factory reset. If their claim is true, they would be probably adopting the same mechanism//

// which isn't difficult for them given that they are in this business. However, I am not aware of the mechanics and could be another question

@beeshyams I think it would make a good answer if you convert your comments into an answer. I would suggest you don't mention impossible without root but mention, as you did in the comments, the app would certainly (conceptually the only way) require elevated privileges to remount system partition in rw mode and copy itself in it. Whether the elevated privileges are root or system is not really our concern.

@Firelord. Thanks. I thought of that but this needs more understanding. If the app / malware mounted /system as rw it would trip safety net and OTA updates too and the app would be blamed for that. They wouldn't want that and neither a well designed malware. If you have more insights please do share. I don't have the time to research but this actually is a good conceptual question. If you agree and and form a question, I will be happy to place a 100 bounty on it

Hello I have been the author of Theft Aware, the core technology that later become Avast Anti Theft (my company was acquired). Yes it was possible to survive a hard reset, on rooted devices. I even built a root installer that did the hard work for you. Unfortunately this was not a mainstream feature so after I left Avast they decided to remove it - so now its not there anymore. Hope that helps.

While I cannot verify your credentials, I searched for the problem and came across some forum posts which mentioned that the app had this feature for a while and it was listed only on rooted devices.


text:
Can't access filesystem from PC anymore
Starting a couple of weeks ago.. I can't access the file system from my PC on my Samsung tablet..
When connecting the tablet via USB to my PC I never get the dialog box where you choose whether  or not the PC can have access to the file system
When connecting my Samsung phone on the same USB port and using the same USB cable it works fine!?
Have also tried to reset the tablet..

Have you checked the notification center if there's any that reads "USB connected for charging"?

When I plug the tablet I can only hear the system sound when charging starts and the battery icon changes to "charging state".. There are no notifications

Try another cable. The data pins in this cable may have disconnected.

as said.. the cable works fine with my phone :)

Things to try 1. Blow dry the port of  2 Change ports. 3.Uninstall all  USB drivers from the PC, reinstall and reboot

Did you try adb?

what do you mean by adb

@clarkk  If you have USB debugging enabled you could use adb push and adb pull to get/send files to your device (you will need Android SDK to get adb).

Have you ruled the possibility of faulty MTP drivers eps if you using Windows 10?

I had the same issue with my phone. The USB cable was fine (I checked it with another phone like you) but when I tried it with my phone, it only charged my phone without showing any option for connection. It turned out that the usb port (usb connector) of the phone was damaged. Out of the two usb data wires (not the power wires), one was broken. I would therefore  suggest you to get your tablet's usb port (connector) checked.

Are you pulling down your notification bar, clicking the notification then hitting the "Connect USB storage" button? You can also get to this by Menu > Settings > Wireless and network > USB utilities and hit "Connect storage to PC". In this case, you will plug in your phone after you hit the button.
If you're doing this, the last thing I can think of is your computer has a USB driver issue or your cable went bad.
source: https://forums.androidcentral.com/sprint-galaxy-s-ii-epic-4g-touch/154789-cant-access-my-files-phone-computer-anymore.html
You asked same question there. Do you solved your problem?


text:
How to get the captive portal's URL which I am currently connected to?
I just connected to a WiFi network which uses captive portal login page. I would like to view the captive portal's URL or IP address.
How do I do that?
I have tried clicking forget network on the WiFi in order to get the login page again, but it just connects without triggering the login screen, I think it saves the login info upon correct login.
The second thing I have tried is to wipe the cache and data of the CaptivePortal app from system settings, with no luck.

From this answer on Stack Overflow, Captive Portal is triggered only when you're trying to make a request.
So the answer is: Open an arbitrary web page in your favorite browser, and you'll get redirected to the Captive Portal login page.
From my own experiences, I recommend that you visit a website that does NOT use HTTPS, as encrypted connection may interfere with the redirection (Captive Portal redirection is in fact a man-in-the-middle).

Didn't work: The browser just opens the page.

@BabkenVardanyan Try using another device or change the MAC address of your device. Such login systems recognize logged-in devices.

Finding nowadays a website that does not use HTTPS can be quite complicated. In such case you can use http://neverssl.com

Genius! I didn’t know the ssl could be a problem. Just try to open localhost and should open it

This is the correct answer for me. Explicitly typing http://google.com solves it


text:
Samsung S8 messenger saved images
I cannot find my saved facebook messenger images on my Samsung Galaxy S8 photos, i looked everywhere, in all my albums, pictures, downloads files etc.tried looking everywhere for my messenger photos, no luck what should i do.  help

In case of FB Messenger you have to 'Save' image.

Click on the image in the Messenger app.
Click 'more' in the lower left corner of the screen.
Tap 'Save'.

Now the image is saved to your device and it can be seen in Gallery.
Dedicated folder:
   Internal Storage/Pictures/Messenger


text:
How do I sign in to google without compromising password?
I've got a Lenovo Solo VR headset. I've got a long, randomly generated password for my google account that is pretty much impossible to memorize without an eidetic memory. If you remove the goggles to look up the next few characters, the login process resets (this is pretty much the exact same problem on Android phones where switching apps to copy the password restarts the login process). It goes without saying that trying to type this in using the simple hand controller is a PITA (possible, but not fun). In order to use the Google Store, I changed my Google password to something far simpler (as simple as possible). Great, now I'm able to login, but when I change my password back to a long, complex, random password, Google Store kicks me out.
Other than creating a separate google account with a simple, easy-to-type password just for my VR goggles, is there any way to login to Google without a password? Or not have it log me out when I change my password?
If anybody from Google reads this, it would be great if Android or, at least, Daydream could just do what a bunch of other apps do and show me a short code in the headset, then I can visit a page on my computer where I log in as the account I want to activate and then type in the code.

Have you tried setting up 2FA for your account? That's how I ideally  use my Google account. A simple password + the 6-digit 2FA which is either a text/SMS OTP on the phone or a OTP generated by the authenticator app.

Yes, I use 2FA, but I still prefer the more complex password.


text:
I have a Lenovo android pad with voice commands that will not display @ sign. When I say at sign it displays "at sign" only
How do I display the @ sign using voice command.


text:
Is there a common Android option that keeps call logs as long as there is space on the phone?
I think the question says it all. I was wondering if I can make my android phone never delete call logs. That's it.

If your device is rooted and you have the Xposed framework installed, you could e.g. use the Unlimited Calllog module to achieve this.

Honestly it really depends greatly on the phone OS (i.e. skin) on whether you will have certain options. As far as I know, there is none, although I rarely have problems with call logs being gone. I suggest one of the multitude of call log apps that will back up said calls regularly.


text:
New to this sort of thing: Attempting to figure out a long lost Google account on Android
I am very new to this sort of thing and I am really liking the possibilities that are achievable with Android. I wasn't really at all familiar with this until a few days ago and some of the things that you guys are doing is really pretty neat!
Okay, so I want to get started by saying I have a pretty big problem, and that problem is going back around this time last year.
I had used my android device to download a couple of applications through the Google Play Store, and I cannot remember for the life of me what the account in question was. I have tried to wrack my brains to figure bits and bobs out but I am only really able to achieve the dates the applications were downloaded and their times. Not what account was associated with the said applications, If I could figure out the account not just the password, that would be half of the battle.
The tricky bit is that I know that I removed the account from my device at some point and attached a new one that I use on and off, but I am in need of getting back into the prior.
I have been looking at the forums up and down, trying to scour for answers, looking at posts about Databases and rooting etc and I even attempted rooting my device today, but of course as a Newbie, what I really do not want to do is erase any of the data from the applications, or any data at all really that is on the root level. I pretty much just quit after a bit but I am trying to get myself familiar with the basics of this.
Because it was such a while ago I have been really skeptical about how long it will have been stored in any said databases etc, whether is has been replaced etc, all in all I might find nothing, but at the end of the day I just want to get to the bottom of this mess so that I am able to hopefully try and retrieve a lost account.
I have been picking up a few things on using 'Odin' and using the 'Teamwin' tools, as I said I was about to root my device using 'Magisk' but I eventually sort of gave up as I was unsure on about backing up my data and not having enough space on my device.
So, what would I do from here, at this point I am just a sitting duck, I am sort of in bits at the moment and I am all over the place trying to figure things out.
My Specifications on what device I am using are as follows:
Device: Samsung S6 /
Android Version: 7.0 Nougat /
Build: G920FXXS5EQL5
Thank you for your time!


text:
`Wipe Cache` option missing in Google Pixel 2! (A/B device)
I am not finding the option Wipe Cache in the recovery mode of Google Pixel 2.
can anyone tell how could i enable it if it is disabled by default and is it there in this device or not?

Your device doesn't have /cache partition
Reasons

/Cache partition is not required to be as big  on devices which have A/B partition catering to seamless updates since it doesn't need to store OTA updates which are done seamlessly

The cache partition is no longer used to store OTA update packages, so there is no need to ensure that the cache partition is large enough for future updates

As further explained in Implementing A/B updates

A/B devices do not need a recovery partition or cache partition because Android no longer uses these partitions.
For non-A/B updates, the cache partition was used to store downloaded OTA packages and to stash blocks temporarily while applying updates. There was never a good way to size the cache partition: how large it needed to be depended on what updates you wanted to apply. The worst case would be a cache partition as large as the system image.

Pixel 2 like my device MiA1 follow this system and they probably decided to do away with the entire partition instead of keeping it small

/Cache is also used by Google Play downloads as explained here What is the /cache partition?. I am assuming that is handled by /data/cache

Edit: Thanks to BoLawson, who pointed out that app cache is on B partition. See APK Caching|AOSP. Note that this is only applicable for popular apps / apps on the device out of the box.

Adding to that, if you install a custom recovery like TWRP on such devices that use the A/B paritioning schema, the Wipe Cache button actually does nothing at all, due to the absence of /cache.

So how does one wipe cache on those devices without root – considering this is sometimes a good advice when some things start misbehaving, e.g. due to broken files in cache?

@izzy No way I know of... You can't wipe

@beeshyams If you refer to my comment from "15:31", I don't get it. Maybe it's because I didn't follow the link? No, that doesn't describe how to "wipe cache" :)

@Izzy : I was drawing your attention to the fact that it can't be cleaned as stated earlier but yes edit being an interesting tidbit thought of tagging you. Sorry for the delayed response, Saw only now


text:
Google Response Sound (Ding sound) on clicking google mic or saying Ok google
Why after turning off all the accessibility services the sound is disabled  and immediately after enabling accessibility of any third party app or inbuilt app ,this sound is enabled.
I (perhaps everyone , I tested 3 phones at my home ) am facing this issue since two year.
This is not an OS issue  as it occurred in Marshmallow, Noughat as well as in Oreo.
I have found only one solution on the internet reagarding this & it is "Turn on Accessibility fpe at least one app"

Could you [edit] your question and clarify it, please? As it stands it's not at all clear what the problem is. Describe the steps you took, what you wanted to happen, and what actually happened.

I am saying about the sound which Google gives on saying "OK GOOGLE".

https://www.androidpolice.com/2017/10/17/tip-get-ding-sound-ok-google-command-enabling-one-accessibility-service/


text:
Using multiple devices with the same cloud accounts
I bought a new phone and everything is now up and running, and the old one has been disconnected from the Internet since I set up the new one. Now I'm considering using it as a backup phone for situations where I could lose or break down the new one.
Is it ok to connect both phones to the Internet at the same time or will that mess things up? I'm thinking of problems like different versions of an application writing configuration info or metadata in different formats, and messing up one another.

AFAIK it doesn't make any difference from my experience. Application version related changes are specific to the device on which they are installed . Backup of apps to Google is not affected as you can always choose which device to back from (in case you buy a third device). Only exceptions I can think of a) apps like whatsapp which are single device use b) Single device use paid apps

As for the Google accounts, see Can I use multiple Android devices with a single Google account?. For other cloud accounts, I agree with @beeshyams

It is very unlikely that such a setup messes anything up. The only possible scenario where this could happen would be a badly coded app.
In most cases, your apps would only allow you to log in from one device. Once you login on another device, you get logged out on the first. For instance, WeChat works like this.
Other chat clients like Skype or Google Hangouts push your messages to all other devices that are connected. Email clients should work in the same manner.
Cloud storage apps like Dropbox or Owncloud synchronise your files. Unlike messaging apps, they allow modifying and sharing of files. In rare cases, synchronising errors can occur. To solve such conflicts, the cloud server creates a duplicate. This would only happen if you try to edit a file from two or more devices at the same time.
Apps that include an editor (such as Google Sheets or Simplenote usually allow only one version at the same time. That means, even if more than one person edits the file, there won't be any synchronising issues as changes are made instantly. If these persons delete each others changes, data loss would also be instant and can be reversed using the history function of the app.


text:
What are the tiny superscript numbers on home page buttons?
What is the number "2" in the button below that shows up on the home page?

Opening up the Play Store and looking around does not show anything obvious as to what that number means.
When this number shows up on the YouTube button, opening up the YouTube app shows that there are new videos in my feed, so I am extrapolating and assuming that other apps have new information for me to view. But that is not the case for Play Store.
If I knew what these things were called, I could easily do a web search to find out what they are and how to get rid of them for specific apps (presumably by viewing the new information that the app has to show).
I want to call these things 'notifications', but that is does not seem correct.  I believe that 'notifications' are something that shows up in a tray in Android, not a number that is associated with some button on the home screen.
This is on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3 tablet, model number SM-T820, running Android 8.0.0 with April 1st 2018 patch level.

It is called a Notification Badge which is a feature that became available in Android 8.0:
https://developer.android.com/training/notify-user/badges

You should be able to manage each app's notification behavior under
Settings->Apps & Notification->[App Name]->App Notifications

Android 8 (Oreo) does have notification badges. But phone manufacturers and other launchers have supported badges even before that, and they work differently then the way Android 8 works. Here are the differences, that I can see:

Android 8 notification badges count the number of notifications in your notification drawer. If you clear a notification, it will also disappear from the badge in your home launcher.
Other home launchers, like the old version of Samsung's home launcher, will show badges on certain supported apps. For instance, on the WhatsApp icon, it will show a badge counting the number of unread messages. If you clear your notifications from the notification drawer, the badge will remain unchanged, because it is not tied to notifications. The badge will disappear once you have read all your messages in WhatsApp (in the case of that app).


text:
Android SMS/MMS not getting deleted
I've tried many different things to delete my SMS/MMS messages but nothing has worked. Things I've tried so far
History Eraser https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mobi.infolife.eraser&hl=en_US
tried deleting them manually one by one.
and I tried creating an Android app and getting the following line to execute
mContext.getContentResolver().delete(Uri.parse("content://sms/"), null, null);

But no method was successful. Are there any other options worth a try? I don't want to do a factory reset or root my phone.


text:
YU Yureka stuck at Cyanogen logo
My YU Yureka is stuck at the Cyanogen logo. I was just using Chrome with very low battery when it suddenly restarted and got at stuck at the Cyanogen logo. I don't have any backups.
I've been trying to start the phone in safe mode but none of the methods I've tried have been working.
Kindly suggest a way to start my mobile. If you can't help me I'll take it to a service center, would they be able to recover all data completely without any losses?
Kindly suggest solutions/sites/videos that may be helpful to me.
Device model: AO5510
Cyanogen OS version: 12.1
Android version: 5.1.1

Try booting into TWRP if you have it installed, if you don't have TWRP installed on your device you can follow the instructions here:   https://twrp.me/yu/yuyureka.html
In TWRP you should be able to back up your data onto a computer. When your data is safe you could either go to a service center and see if they can fix your phone or you could try flashing a new ROM and see if that fixes the problem. You can find many tutorials on how to flash a ROM with TWRP online.
Cyanogen download can be found here:
https://cyanogenupdatetracker.com/downloads/

I don't know what I was thinking while editing my answer, I forgot that you can't access you settings. It seems like the only way is to use TWRP.

Remove the battery and don't charge it for one day. next day try to connect with the charger
else
just try to remove battery and keep away for
3 hour
I hope issue will be solved...
This is happened because the yureka does not works properly with usb
Sometimes this happens because of overheating or hardbrick or old device not able to handle load or any bug

This problem is cased due to your recently installed application.
Can solve this problem through remove that app.
first open your mobile in safe mode and then remove the app in settings -> app
Note: Open your mobile in safe mode by pressing the both Volume plus and minus button at a boot time.


text:
How can I make my phone synchronize data more reliably?
Problem
My phone, Sony Xperia Z5 Compact, doesn't like synchronizing my data.
Sometimes it takes hours for my email and chat notifications to go through, and if I take some photos, it is very reluctant in sending them to Google Photos even if my Wi-Fi is enabled with good reception and the battery is fully charged.
Additional data
I noticed that the problem generally disappears if I plug it into the charger, but I fail to find a setting that throttles Internet usage. The phone fails to sync even if it's fully charged and the wi-fi is on. Google Photos specifically will sometimes start syncing the very moment I open the app. The STAMINA and the Ultra STAMINA modes are off. The problem persists with all Wi-Fi networks I've tried, and when wi-fi is enabled during sleep.
The phone used to work normally, which makes me think either one of the software updates about a year ago caused this problem, or there's something wrong with the hardware.
Question
I'd like to know what I can do to make my phone sync more often and more reliably.

Does Settings > Wi-Fi > (turn on) > Menu > Advanced > Keep Wi-FI on during sleep > Always fix the issue?

@Zackary It is already set to "always". Thanks for the suggestion though.


text:
E3004: This package is for device: gts210vewifi; this device is
I'm trying upgrade a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 9.7 Wi-Fi (2016) AKA gts210vewifi from a LineageOS 18 April 2017 to a 30 July 2018 build, but it fails printing this in TWRP:
E3004: This package is for device: gts210vewifi; this device is .

What does this apparently broken error message mean? -- Someone suggested that perhaps I "need to upgrade the firmware".. how would I need which version this new build requires?

OK, so this means that you have an outdated version of TWRP which, apparently, does not correctly report the device model name (it's empty).  --
Updating TWRP from 3.1.0-0 to latest is 3.2.2-0 solved this problem!


text:
LG G4 ghost touch and swipe when data is turned on
Odd problem with my LG G4 phone, on Monday I check my whatsapp and the screen starts ghost touching itself randomly in different places?  I lock the phone to stop it and reset a couple of times, but it’s still noticeable.
At the same time that started there was a issue with my rear camera, a message kept popping up saying “unfornately the camera has stopped working”.  I eventfully got that fixed by removing the battery for a bit, no other standard troubleshooting was able to fix it?
Before I fixed the rear camera I had identified that if I switch the data connection off then the screen is fine, no ghost touches ever happen when data is off.
So I’ve been keeping my data off now until I need it, but when I turn it on the ghost touching starts near instantly.  And if it’s on, but there is no signal then it’s fine, but the moment it gets signal the ghost touches start again.
I also notice that sometimes the whole screens frame rate drops way down, almost as if I’m only viewing a remote access view of my screen??
I’m planning to do a factory reset after I get a backup setup, but looking to see if anyone has any ideas.
I haven’t installed any apps that weren’t on the play store, and I haven’t modified the OS is any way.  And it doesn’t happen when connect to WiFi

Finished the factory reset and now the ghost touches are worse than ever. Now happens whether data is on or off. It must be a hardware issue, or the screen protector??

I may have found a solution?...  Before, I was exclusively using fast-charging.  I stopped that completely and went back to normal charge 2-3 days ago and the ghost touching has not re-occurred since!
My battery also lasts noticeably longer after a normal charge, so I think I’ll stick to this regardless.
If things change I’ll post a comment

The voltage is usually the culprit on most ghost touch cases: How can electromagnetic interference from a USB charger cause a capacitive touchscreen to malfunction?


text:
Resetting phone to one big internal disk?
My phone has 32GB internal storage and 128GB external (SD-card). Internal has 20GB to use for data and apps, of which 19GB is used. TomTom Go uses 6GB of internal storage. I can't move it to external storage.
I've heard that with Android 8 you can merge internal and external storage, but it needs a complete reset of the phone, removing all apps, data and settings. I'm prepared to do this, but I can't find the proper manual how to do this.
I got this phone with Android 7, then upgraded to 8.0 and I heard that when you start out with 8 it is the default setting. So is resetting enough?
Now what happens when my SD-card crashes? It has happened before. The SD-card is gone of course, but what will happen to the phone? What happens when I eject the SD-card? Does Android keep the base system safe, so most important apps on the internal storage?

That was in fact introduced with Android 6 and is called adoptable storage. Please take a look at our adoptable-storage tag-wiki to make yourself familiar with this. AFAIK it does NOT require a complete reset.


text:
android 8.1.0 - unable to reinstall apk
Pixel 2, Android 8.1.0
I have an .apk which has been signed by a developer on our team. The first time I install one of the builds, it installs fine. If I uninstall the app and try to reinstall it again from the .apk, this is what happens:

I have tried clearing the data/cache of the Package Installer app as has been suggested elsewhere on google, but it did not help.
Any tips/ideas?
I should note that I am not an android developer, and our android developer does not know what's causing this or how to fix it. He is also a remote dev, so I can't just have him come have a look. I am not able to physically connect my phone to my computer, as it is a USB-C phone and I don't have a USB-C => USB-A cable.
EDIT
As requested in the comments, I am uninstalling the app by long-tapping the appicon and dragging it to the top of the screen where it says "uninstall". I have also tried uninstalling it from the app settings to the same effect (Settings -> Apps & notifications ->  -> Uninstall)

I've removed comments that are speculating on the business organisation and people's motivations outside the question. Let's keep things focused on solving the Android problem, not on blaming when we have none of the details.


text:
What is the lock in bootloader?
I know how to unlock. It's through fastboot oem unlock.
I know why the manufactures place a lock. It's for security reasons.
But what is the lock? Is it a file in the system, saying "Hey, the bootloader is locked! Delete me if you want to unlock!", or a registery key, or an appsetting?
Or is it possible to unlock without running "fastboot oem unlock", can I send the unlock command by myself without using "fastboot oem unlock"?

It's a flag in the bootloader itself, which tells the bootloader to verify the signature of the image it boots. It's stored in the bootloader's own storage, which isn't accessible from Android. On some phones, the bootloader also has some digital fuses as write-once flags. Unlocking the bootloader blows one of these fuses, so even if you subsequently re-lock, the phone is forever marked as having been tampered with.

can I send the unlock command by myself without using "fastboot oem unlock"?

You could make your own replacement for fastboot, which sends the same command to the bootloader, but it wouldn't change the behaviour. It would still wipe the userdata partition when you sent the command.


text:
Will this "SIM Free" Android phone for sale near Osaka (Japan) work in Europe and North America?
Will this "SIM Free" Android phone for sale near Osaka (Japan) work in Europe and North America?
Hello,
So my phone recently went temporarily out of order and then I saw this Asus ZenFone 3 for sale in a second hand shop near Osaka (Japan).
It says "Sim Free" I think but do you guys think it would work in Europe and North America as well?
Vesa

This is the JP/TW variant of ZenFone 3 Max - detailed specs here.
From the listed LTE bands, it's missing the crucial Band 20 (wide coverage) for European countries and main bands for major carriers in the US. You will likely get less-than-stellar LTE coverage out of the device as a result. 3G will still work and likely suffice for most use cases.

So if I am somewhere like in Saigon (Vietnam) where the ISP provides 4G LTE (I think), will it automatically switch to 3G if the phone cannot handle 4G LTE? Or will it not work at all?

By "cannot handle" I mean it will receive weak or no LTE signal - it will then fall back to 3G.


text:
Disable headphone physically in rooted phone
I want to disable my headphone jack in my rooted Android phone because it is physically damaged. How can I do it? Is there any way in build prp file or any other way so that it is "physically" disabled it?

What are you trying to achieve? If you just choose not to use the headphone jack, will that help?

I assume the physical damage is causing the phone to think there's something plugged in - preventing speaker audio output - even though there's nothing but air in it.


text:
Clone phone with TWRP (Galaxy S4 mini)
I have two identical* phones (Samsung Galaxy S4 mini), both with TWRP installed. I want to clone one to the other so that all applications, data, settings etc are preserved.
How I did my backup:

First, I backed up all partitions except Cache to my SD card.
Then, I copied /data/media/0 to the SD card
I cloned the SD card to another SD card (both identical hardware) and inserted it into the other phone.

How I tried to restore it:

Sadly, TWRP didn't show my backup in the restore list
I then made a backup of the bad phone to generate folder name and replaced its content with the good backup (someone on Reddit suggested that)
Recovery showed that backup, but the list of partitions was empty
After this, the folder with the backup was not present on the SD card anymore

Is there a way to make TWRP accept backups from other devices? Are there other ways to create backups but not bound to a single device?

*With identical, I mean hardware-wise. They run different software: The one I want to clone runs vanilla Android, but I flashed its recovery with TWRP by booting into Download mode. On the other one, I additionally used TWRP to install LineageOS as I was told here.

I did something similar long time back on Note 2. I took a complete Nandroid backup of first device and restored it as it on second device  (using the Nandroid saved on ext.SD and transferring that to second device except for EFS partition (which has device specific info). It worked. Try this ONLY if the models of both phones, version of OS, type of OS is identical. If  security updates  is different , don't restore /system to be on the safer side

Software wise, both phones are completely different: the one I want to overwrite has already been flashed with LineageOS and the other is still vanilla Android as when I bought it.

Then you can't clone in one shot. You will need to backup apps,  using Titanium and restore on other. For call logs and contacts also you can use Titanium. see the tag and wiki. Not recommended at all with Nandroid OR flash stock on the second device to bring it up to same level OR flash Lineage on first if you want to go Nandroid way

I tried to avoid Titanium because the phone hasn't been rooted yet. I thought I could do an image backup on one containing every information bit by bit and restore it on the other like I'm used to with computers. Why do they need to be the same Android version if the backup is supposed to contain the ROM too? Or have I missed something?

See my edit for some clarification. When I start Titanium I get the same (but translated) screen as in the beginning of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuw1_UW-rlc


text:
Tool to find duplicate files and hardlink them
Where might there be a small program (possibly statically-linked binary) like fdupes or rdfind, to help me find duplicate files within the same partition/mount--checking only specified directories--and hardlink them?
My architecture:  armv8l
root@localhost/storage/emulated/0/TitaniumBackup 2018-08-02,12:12:26# (16) uname -a
Linux localhost 3.10.108-ga044406f3ee #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jul 15 02:16:25 CEST 2018 armv8l

Assume I already have root shell access, with Busybox installed.
Filesystem               1K-blocks     Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs                       944236      500    943736   1% /dev
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /mnt
/dev/block/mmcblk0p3         16048     2320     13728  15% /efs
/dev/block/mmcblk0p21       197472      428    197044   1% /cache
/dev/block/mmcblk0p23     11588512 11507720     80792 100% /data
/dev/block/mmcblk0p18         8080       92      7988   2% /persdata/absolute
/dev/block/mmcblk0p4          3952      548      3404  14% /cpefs
tmpfs                       944236      452    943784   1% /sbin
/dev/block/mmcblk0p20      3023760  1258796   1764964  42% /sbin/.core/mirror/system
/sbin/.core/block/loop08    157152   110660     46492  71% /sbin/.core/img
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/etc/permissions
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/priv-app
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/app
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/app/FaceLock/lib
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/lib
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/framework
tmpfs                       944236        0    944236   0% /system/vendor
/data/media               11588512 11507732     80780 100% /mnt/runtime/default/emulated

I doubt that there are many duplicate system files. What do you want to achieve - shrinking an Android system image or getting more space on your Android device?

Mainly concerned with stuff in /storage/emulated/0, away from the core system. Unrelated 3rd-party cloud/backup tools overlap too much (Lucky Patcher, SMS B&R, Titanium, etc) tripling+ old apk's & historical user data files not vital to operation. Except that left alone they eat too much damn space, causing wide Android failures routinely.

SD Maid can help you find duplicates. You need to buy the pro version to unlock all features though (in the case of duplicates, deleting them from the app).

Lots of apps can do that, eg. http://www.it4nextgen.com/duplicate-file-finder-apps-android/ , some of which I already had.  Thanks, but the question is specifically about hardlinking (a sysadmin app or shell program that finds and knows where to run ln).

Dammit I should read better. Don't know about an app, but if you want you can use fdupes and ln as commands in termux

Unless you know better, I've already looked around for an fdupes binary, and don't mean to try and deploy build-essentials or compile it myself, for armv8l.   However, I might just write a shell script to scan file sizes and checksums, then link matches, schedule it after space hoggers finish, etc.

termux has its own repository, you can do apt install fdupes from the app to install it from termux's servers

https://github.com/termux/termux-packages/tree/master/packages -- That's a list of all packages termux provides to download. fdupes is one of them

Good tip @SSS, but after I did pkg install fdupes, I find it is not upgrade-able to a version that begins to support creating hardlinks (-L argument).  Currently the termux repo offers only v1.6.1

Until a better tool comes along, this script will find and hardlink duplicate files filtered out by extension, under given directories.
It's far from ideal, but others can customize it to their needs.  As practically a one-liner I hate that it's incomprehensibly concise, but I had to deal with a few hurdles in a rather limiting BusyBox environment.

(cd /data/media/0/; (date; set -x; mount; df; fdupes -nAS1 -o time -r  TitaniumBackup SmsContactsBackup; df) |tee fdupes.log |grep "\.apk" |sed 's/[][\\ ()]/?/g' |awk '{system( "ls -l "$0); system("touch -m "$2" -r "$1" &&  ln -vf "$1"  "$2 )  }' 2>&1 |tee duphlinker.log)

The available fdupes for termux doesn't hardlink.  So I only use its output identifying similar files.
Starting under /data/media/0/ (not /storage/emulated/0, since in modern Android that's a virtual mount not supporting filesystem links), I chose to recursively scan only directories TitaniumBackup and SmsContactsBackup, where I happen to know large duplicates form after their corresponding apps run.
I filter out all but .apk files.
Since some file paths contained escaped spaces--nasty when whitespace is needed as an unconfigurable delimiter later--with sed I replace all "\ " with the single-character wildcard "?".  This allows a tiny risk of linking mismatched files, if they are improbably similarly named.
In awk I set the mod timestamps to that of the oldest file, then force form the hardlink, freeing disk space from the newer file.

The higher-level apps don't notice, and self-clean after uploading to my cloud eventually (if they have such features).
Now I'll just put that into crontab for Magisk, at about 4am daily.  It runs in under a minute.


text:
how can I forward all calls except one?
because i have a small business I get lots of calls, but sometimes I want a day off... so on these days I would like to be able to forward all my calls to my office, BUT allow ONLY my office number to call me in case of an emergency...
so how can I forward all incoming calls to my phone, but exempt a single number so as to allow it to be able to ring thru to my phone?
does the phone have this capability, or is it possible with an app?   Thanks

For starters, call forwarding happens at your service provider, not at your phone. For most services, to forward calls that you don’t answer, first dial *71+the 10-digit number to forward calls to. To turn off call forwarding dial *73.
Now, step two. Do a search on the play store for “white list”. There are a number of apps that will only allow the numbers that you have entered into the white list. In theory, all others will get forwarded. I haven’t tested it but it should work. Good Luck.


text:
Disable harmful app
System update shows "disable harmful app", but it keeps coming up. I have a Micromax Canvas Infinity HS2. What can I do?

Micromax was just finding ways to make more money from its phones. So, what it starting doing was to throw ads and auto-install certain apps without the user consent. This backfired with many users complaining against them.
All this was done using the application which also checks for and provides phone system updates. While system updates are important, it will be too much to expect from them.
All this app is doing now is to show ads on your phone's various areas. That Play Protect warning is straight to the point. You should uninstall it, but even in case you fail to, there will be a disable button. Just disable it and get rid of annoying ads and this notification as well.

Uninstall it unless you know what you are doing, the app seems to contain adware/malware.

You should uninstall that app, unless it's integrated in system in that case you won't be able to uninstall it, but since it's prompting button to uninstall than it is probably uninstallable. It is probably Micromax bloatware.

If you buy phones of the grey market, these are the sort of pop ups one could expect to see.
I would recommend downloading the norootfirewall app. That may help perhaps with your issue.

System update / Updater application notifies only when an OTA update for the device is available. I have never seen such a message from stock system update app.

Do you remember that, you have installed any third party app named system update? Or any bloatware app (eg: battery management like app).
Some times opening a adware/bloatware website may have a chance to happen like this.
Some devices have Security application that notifies to free-up space, uninstall unused apps, remove battery draining apps etc. But, those app definitely have name schemes with Security / Cleaner words in it.
Solution: Please check all apps and uninstall apps which found to be unsecure. Install apps from a secure source like play store.


text:
Open with %APP% Always option not remembering
I have a intranet webpage that has a button that launches a barcode scanner app, basically by calling the app through a link to the company's webiste:
Scan Sales Order

When one clicks on this link a modal pops up with 'Open with Barcode Scanner' and the Just Once or Always buttons.
If I click 'Always' it never remembers. Anytime we click the button to scan, it always asks. How do I override this, or just force it to use the default app without prompting me?

Can you check with Settings -> Apps -> Barcode Scanner -> Defaults, and see if it is set to Always ask?


text:
Adopted external sd card as internal storage - but storage space is not available
On my Xperia XZs with Android 8.0 I formatted the external SD card to be used as internal or adoptable storage. I had to use ADB to get this working. The system sees the storage, but I can't use it.
Total Commander only sees the internal memory, which is 20GB of 32GB internal memory. The 128GB external SD shows up as 256GB of which half is used.
How can I get the SD card showing up as internal storage?

It is setup as internal device storage... if it wasn't then there would be a separate entry called Portable Storage and the SD card would be listed that way. Once it is adopted, apps should not see as uniquely separate from the rest of the device (you can no longer select SD card or internal separately). What size/brand of SD card do you have?

It's a 128GB sd card, brand shouldn't make a difference. This card has been used on this phone for the last year, so it works. So why doesn't Total Commander see that 128GB extra? It's only seeing 20GB.

If it is a 128GB card and is now being seen as 256GB (per the picture attached) then the card is likely failing. I can't explain why Total Commander sees things differently, I am not familiar with that application and only use Solid Explorer on my phone. SD cards used as adopted storage have a rather common issue of failing due to very high write usage, which is why many OEM's have disabled that feature in their devices. And although brand shouldn't make a difference, it can... it was a simple request. Remember that sd cards from less than reputable sellers are often counterfeit.

Samsung 128GB micro SD EVO Plus UHS-I 80MB/s

I stand by my earlier statement, if it is a 128GB card and is now being seen as a 256GB, something is wrong. Backup your data, convert it back to Portable Storage if possible, or zero the card and adopt it again. Card failure is very common with adopted storage

Same here with a 32GB SD Card just bought at a Samsung store. "87GB used of 128 GB" when the phone has 64GB + 32GB from SD is 96GB.

How to free Internal Storage by moving data or using symlink / bind-mount with Adoptable Storage?

Thanks for the link - good to know and it might be useful with another phone. But that is Android 9, and that system has storage already merged. I have 8, and no merge.

"already merged" and "no merge" don't make sense. It's you, the user, who decides whether to use merged (Adoptable) storage or Portable. And technically it's not "merged". Both filesystems are mounted independently at different mount points.

First of all, open SD card from screen displayed on screenshot in your question, than tap and hold recents button in nav bar or tap 3 dot menu if it's displayed, you will get various options one of them is migrate data tap on that and it should be fine.
Now because total commander see only one storage it is good, it is same case on my phone, and it works fine. Also adopted storage doesn't appear as internal storage it stays under same name and as external storage, but thing is that you can open app options in app manger in settings and choose to move to external storage in that case app will end up on adopted SD card.
When did you adopted SD card because it's already half full and as you said it didn't work as intended, when SD card is formatted as adoptable all data from SD card should be deleted.
Since it's showing 256 instead of 128 you should repeat process of adopting since something went wrong.

Uh.. I want to start using adopted storage instead of internal storage, and I don't want to migrate any data to the SD card - this defeats the whole purpose of what I am trying to do.  How do I get it to start using adopted storage without migrating everything and using up all the space on adopted storage???

And in my case, as soon as it was adopted, it claims that the "USB Drive" (it's an SD card on the USB interface) is "32GB of 32GB used (by system)" even though it's a 16GB card!


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How to connect to PEAP MSCHAPv2 Wi-Fi using system certificates in Android 8.0 Oreo?
This is in followup to a similar question about Android 7.1
How to connect to PEAP MSCHAPv2 Wi-Fi using system certificates in Android 7.1 Nougat?
In there is said:
"Android 7.1 has introduced some changes to Wi-Fi connection interface. In 6.0, when selecting PEAP MSCHAPv2 in Wi-Fi connection interface, there were no CA certificates available (unless some had been installed). In 7.1 one can Use system sertificates and Domain input field appears."
But in 8.0 it seems its back to no certificates, just "Select CA certificate" and "none" and hitting "Select CA Certificate" does not do anything, and it doesnt let you continue with the setup.
Anyone know how to connect to a PEAP MSCHAPv2 Wi-Fi using a certificate in 8.0?
I've exported the cert from a windows machine connected to it and imported it as a user certificate for wifi, and still nothing happens when you click "Select CA certificate".
Thank you!


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How did my application database end up on the SD card?
I have a question regarding database location on Android devices.
We don't specify where to install the app(no installLocation in manifest), but we see that ./data/data/{package-name}/databases are ending up on SD cards. On the Android doc it said that "When your application is installed on external storage, the .apk file is saved on external, but all private user data, databases.... are saved on the internal device memory."
My question is:

If the app was first installed on internal and the user decided to move it, does the databases and other user data also get moved to external SD card?
If no, then is there any other possible scenario as to why the database is now in external?

Any help/insight is appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Well, afaik you can't install app on external storage completely yes on some phones you can move some apps to external storage but as I saw it only move a part of app which is still not readable by non root user, so sensitive or security interested files should always be on /data, so it must be flaw in app or particular os/device. Sure when you adopt SD card app can be installed on external storage but in adopted storage case it is not readable like when they was on internal. Is this question about development because that is considered as off topic here, maybe you should ask elsewhere..

Although the question is asked by a developer, IMO it's still relevant and potentially interesting to end users too.

Hi, thanks for the input. Yes I'm a developer, sorry if it's off topic, I didn't know that this was end user facing. Thanks!

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје