text:
Storage Problems on Android 4.4 Tablet
I have a cheap tablet with Android 4.4.2.

Manufactorer: JTY
Model: KT07B

I need some help understanding the Storage and how to organize it. Here is a screenshot of the "storage"-item in the settings:

The storage is divided into Phone Storage and Internal Storage
There is an SD-Card slot at the tablet, but there is no card inserted, so there is no "SDCard Storage".
My first question is: What is the difference between those 2 storage-types?
As you can see "Internal Storage" is pretty full. I tried to move every app into the "Phone Storage". But for almost every app, the option "Move to Phone storage" is disabled. So my second question is: Why is this option disabled?
When I try to install a new (big) app from the playstore, I get the error message, that there is not enough space. So my third question is: How can I install new apps to "Phone storage" where there is a lot of space left, instead of the almost full "internal storage".
Under "Default Write Disk" there already is "phone storage", but nevertheless every app that I try to install warns about the few remaining storage.
On the 2nd Screenshot you can see an example: I cannot move this (freshly installed) app to the phone storage...

EDIT:
This other link doesn't help at all. E.g. it does not explain, why I can't save most of my apps on the "phone-storage", but some few apps can be stored there...

Did you visit the wikis attached to the tags you attached to your question? At least storage and internal-storage have a number of attached questions devoted to their explanation. See the 'Info' hyperlink of each attained by hovering over the tag.

Possible duplicate of Internal storage, phone storage and SD card


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A Cardboard Performance Problem
I selected Sony Z1, HTC E9+ and Redmi Note2 for Cardboard App performance test.
Before this test, I supposed the Cardboard App could get the good performance on HTC E9+ (it has a high score on Performance Benchmark).
As below test result, HTC E9+ had the worst result of this test!!!!

Does anyone have suggestion for this test result?
What's the major factor for the Cardboard App Performance?

Test App Description:
Mojing:(Chinese VR App)
http://mj.mojing.cn/
VideoTheater:
This App is implemented by myself.
SimpleVideo Player(a Unity App):
Create a simple VR secne and play a video inside it
VerySimple VR App (a Unity App):
Same as "SimpleVideo Player" but remove the video player
Cardboard Example App@Unity:
Download from Cardboard Developer Web.
Cardboard Example App@Android:
Download from Cardboard Developer Web.
Thanks,
Tony

Newer phone = better performance (with a specific application)? I'd like to watch a drag race between 2012 Honda Jazz and 1967 Ford Mustang.

Ford Mustang is a cool car~~ OK, I understand your point. I need to correct the wording >"<.  I supposed HTC E9+ should get the better test result because it has a high score on the "Performance Benchmark". http://blog.gsmarena.com/htc-e9-performance-benchmarks/

I understand how you think and it is a fallacy called ceteris paribus  which means all else is same, but it is not! The difference between phones that can affect the results of your test varies from screen resolution to Android version, to chipset, etc. There are a lot. For example, if the phone's screen resolution was halved, it would run with much much better FPS since GPU would have half the work it did before.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How do I disable the power off warning for android?
This is NOT a programming question, just a user question.
When I hold down the power button to turn off my Samsung Galaxy S, I get a prompt to select power off, airplane mode, etc. Fine. I pick power off. THEN, I get a second prompt telling me "The device will power off" and I have to click "Allow". I just want the ability to turn off my phone quickly. Can I disable at least the second prompt? Or is there a way to just press one button and turn off my phone without all the nag screens?

Is the Android rooted? Which Android version are you using?

No, not rooted. I just accepted the latest update, don't have phone on me.

Without root chances are low. There are a lot of solutions – but as far as I can see, all of them require root.

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


text:
How do you change which app opens when USB is connected?
Regarding which app will be opened when I connect a USB ("OTG") device.
How do I change this setting. I do not wish any of the following apps to open:

Screenshot (click image to enlarge)
(The screenshot shows the situation when I connect a USB flash drive.)
I wish Android stock file manager  ("My Files") to open when I connect a USB flash.
A week ago I got problems connecting USB. Test apps for USB say flash disks are connected but I can not see them.
The only time they work is when Android stock file manager opens on connection. It always used to be like that but now "My Files" only opens automatically, occasionally.
It seems to work better for flash drives that have never been connected before. Somehow some apps have decided that they should open for certain defined USB devices. (I may unfortunately have replied yes to some questions earlier.)
I naturally looked in the application manager. I found a relevant setting for one of these programs but not for the remaining.
It is not practical right now to uninstall the programs or format flash drives.
How do I make stock file manager "My Files" open default when USB is connected?
Thanks
Android 5.0,
Galaxy Note 3
Edit
If someone else gets the same problem I can add this: The best file managers for USB/OTG that work even if Android can not see the flash drives seem to be:

Nexus Media Importer ($5)
Total Commander OTG plug in ($1)

With a modern good speed USB flash drive these two programs copy files with "reasonably" good speed.

If that screenshot is what you get to see in those cases: Have you tried tapping the "File Manager" and then the "Always" button (provided that "File Manager" is the one you want)?

The "File Manager" in the screen shot is not the one I want. The one I want is the Android stock file manager. It is called "My Files". It does not show up.

@ycc_swe This is doable, to launch your My Files app but there is a slight problem. Do you use USB OTG for anything other than accessing USB drives? If you don't then you can use Tasker or Automate app to listen to the broadcast with action android.hardware.usb.action.USB_DEVICE_ATTACHED and launch your My Files app when done receiving it. It works perfectly as long as I don't go attaching other type of USB peripherals, such as a mouse.

Thanks. I've downloaded the two apps. I haven't yet understood how to set one of them up to connect "My Files" to the broadcast. / It is definitely worth a try. But I would prefer to do it within the Android system without adding extra apps. If I start My Files manually it will not help the situation. / What is my main problem is naturlly to make the Android system see the USB flash drives. I am not primarily looking for an automated start of My Files. / I just notice that when Android starts My Files automatically my USB flash work. / I don't use other USB than flash drives.

In this situation, where Android has a problem seeing the USB flash drive, I would like to find the setting to stop all other apps from opening and have only My Files open when USB is connected. That was the original situation. I used USB long time like that and it worked fine. If I get back to that I hope USB will work. / It still works like that when I connect NEW usb drives. But somehow these apps have decided that they should open when my old USB sticks are inserted. I must get rid of that setting. These apps interfere somehow. I just can't uninstall them now. I need them.

I went one step further. I uninstalled the apps that open when my old flash drives are connected. But it didn't resolve the problem - Now nothing happens when my old flash drives are connected. But when new flash drives (that were not connected a week ago, when problems started) are connected, they work. ("My Files" open automatically and flash drives are seen by the Android system.)/ I need to erase the settings that make my phone recognize these old flash drives and treat them in a way that the system can't see them.

The problem seems to have almost disappeared by itself! I had problems with three flash drives. Another drive that hadn't been connected for a while, worked though. (I didn't dare test more drives.) / Today all drives except one works. (The faulty one was even formatted (not quick) in std Windows program. But still faulty). I also bought new that works. / One possibility is that the three faulty drives got a write error. The cable feels ok but maybe I change it anyway if connector is loose. / Today all works as before. Android "My Files" (and not the strange ES File explorer free version) ...

... "My Files" open. My theory that other file managers take over, seems incorrect, at least as the single cause. Today also the newly installed OTG managers open but all works fine. / I think somehow three of my flash got some strange write error. One file manager had problems deleting files on the faulty one today./ Well. In retrospect it is easy to say "The flash drive is often faulty" :)


text:
jelly splash started fresh even after restoring its data via titanium
I have backed up jelly splash's data with titanium.
I updated jelly splash to 2.22.2 with google play, I thought after restoring its data with titanium our progress should come back but it didn't, it started from the level 1 again !!.
I tried this to verify if titanium restore really worked : first I went to Settings->Apps I chose jelly splash, second I cleared its data, third I went to titanium and restored again, last I went back to Settings->Apps->jelly splash and there I can see the data was successfully restored(I can tell by size, it becomes from zero to 10 MB excluding the app size).
So Titanium worked perfectly, then why didn't jelly splash recognize that ? and is there a way to restore our progress, we reached around level 180 !!!!?
Note : downgrading the app and restoring data again didn't help

Sounds like the new ago isn't compatible with the old data.  You should install or restore an old version and contact the developer about the issue with upgrading.

@MatthewRead downgrading didn't help

Does this app shows up in Settings -> Accounts?

@Firelord No it doesn't


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Android adware lets me opt out: is it safe?
Recently my mom's phone running Android 5.0 has been infected with a piece of adware:

At first we thought this was caused by applications, but as you can see here, only the Google/METROPCS Internet browser is running.
In the photo, there is a button that reads 'opt out'. So I clicked on it and it took me to this link at http://tracker.tpc.re/optout/mobile/:

BUT both of these options smelly fishy. For starters, the manual app is not a download link in the play store but an APK, making it seem like a virus. The second (manual) as for sensitive information, which could harm me even more.
Which one of these options do I choose? Are they legit or do I have to do get rid of it another way?

Do you've Premium Wallpapers HD installed? Related: Why does this ad keep showing up below my notification bar and how do I stop it?

@Firelord Yes! I've also tracked the process down to com.sec.android.pagebuddynotisvc

com.sec.* is generally for Samsung proprietary apps, Googling shows that it's related to managing headsets.

That's very interesting.

You should absolutely not give them your information or install their app, only bad things can come of it.
You should check in Settings → Security (or Safety & Privacy) under Device Administrators and remove any that you don't want controlling your device (if present), and then see if you can figure out which app it is and then uninstall it under Applications (also in Settings).
If that doesn't work, try an anti-malware app from a respected company or follow the guide here.  In the worst case, you could also perform a factory reset (in the case of user app malware) or reflash the ROM (in the case of system app malware).


text:
Installing bootloader on completely wiped phone
My phone had an issue where it wouldn't leave the boot screen, so I reinstalled the bootloader and it didn't do anything. Then I formated the ENTIRE phone, including the repair menu, and now I have no tool that allows me to edit my phone.
What I need you to tell/teach me is how to install a bootloader here now, with what tool, and where do I get the files. My phone is a One Touch Star 6010X, and now is competely clean in memory.

If you've really wiped the bootloader and there is no backup bootchain, there's absolutely nothing you can do unless you have a jig/JTAG to write directly to the hardware or something similar.  It's a "hard brick".  How did you wipe it?

@MatthewRead what is a jig/JTAG ? I wiped it using the Smart Phone Flash Tool.

@RaKXeR See What is JTAG in regards to Android?

A jig is usually a simple USB connector that will force the device into a firmware download mode, and JTAG is a connector that can write directly to the chips.  So you checked off every partition in SP Flash Tool and blew it all away?  It looks like Mediatek devices might have their own JTAG-esque communication channel over USB, you could try this: http://devs-lab.com/2015/05/how-to-unbrick-mediatek-device.html

@MatthewRead I cant do anything on my phone with that program now, because when I try to use it the connection fails, giving me the error 5054 (Obtain DRAM Failed) (BROM ERROR: S_DL_GET_DRAM_SETTING_FAIL)

I see lots of results on Google for ROMs for this.  Most promising one: http://firmwares2you.blogspot.ca/2015/05/alcatel-one-touch-star-6010x.html (note that on the download page it links, the big blue button is the legitimate download link).  Did you install the VCOM drivers?

@MatthewRead the one you just found is actually the one I tried. by the looks of things, the issue is it doesn't come with the preloader file, which seems to be a must (probably the only reason it worked before is because the file was already on my phone, which isn't the case anymore since I nuked it). thanks for helping me out btw. searching for the file now, might take a while

@MatthewRead it worked.... it *** worked!!! I didn't actually have to download the file, it was already there, but I had to manually find it, instead of having it find it by itself. I will make an actual answer tomorow but I'm too hyped to do it. thank you for the help again ^w^

So, the issue here was that I did not have all files selected in SPFT when "downloading" (actually uploading) the files onto my device.
So, if you follow the steps here on a fully wiped phone, you need to get the ROM for your phone (the set of files that represent pretty much your future Operating System), select the .txt file to automatically find most files, and the manually search for the ones that can't be located by the program.

I recommend you to edit the answer by including the info provided by the link. This is because we may need to access such info in the future, and we have no assurance that the linked website won't be down when we'll need it.


text:
Strange icon with "N" letter in Note 5 phonebook
When I try to add new phone number to an existing contact, some kind of icon appears in phone number field. Please see screenshot:

Thus happens since upgrading to Android 6.0.1.  What is that?


text:
Does "fastboot oem lock" prompt to confirm?
I want to run fastboot oem lock (or fastboot flashing lock) on my Oppo Find 7 to see if I can reproduce the behavior in this post.
However, I don't actually want to go through with the bootloader lock; I don't want my device to be factory reset at the moment, since it would take a significant amount of time to back up.
So, do either of the above commands prompt you before going ahead?

Remember to that it is potentially unsafe to relock the bootloader without having stock recovery installed, I can't say for certain with the Find 7 but in the past some devices have hard bricked if they were not stock when relocked.

I cannot speak for other devices but Motorola Nexus 6 will show you a warning that userdata would be destroyed. The warning is shown both on the shell and on the device's screen. See screenshots:

It is to be noted that the warning would show up only when OEM unlock setting is enabled under Developer options. If it is disabled and you attempt to re-lock the bootloader, you would get an error on shell and an instruction to enable that option.
It should be further noted that not all the devices which support flashing through fastboot protocol have their bootloader programmed smartly. An example: How to re-unlock bootloader for OnePlus One?
Furthermore, it is very much possible that your device's bootloader is programmed to go straight with a reset instead of showing a warning.
A bit more info. Google on Factory Images for Nexus Devices has noted:

Locking bootloader will wipe the data on some devices. After locking the bootloader, if you want to flash the device again, you must run fastboot oem unlock again, which will wipe the data.

Google in the document Verifying Boot explains:

Changing device state
State changes are performed using the fastboot flashing [unlock | lock] command. And to protect user data, all state transitions require a data wipe. Note the user must be asked for confirmation before data is deleted.

The UNLOCKED to LOCKED transition is anticipated when a user buys a used development device. As a result of locking the device, the user should have confidence that it is in a state produced by the OEM.
The LOCKED to UNLOCKED transition is expected in the case where a developer wishes to disable verification on the device.

(Emphasis mine)

It appears that Huawei Nexus 6P also shows that warning. https://plus.google.com/+ArtemRussakovskii/posts/49VyN48ixDp


text:
I lost my Android, am I able to recover my contacts onto the new one?
I lost my galaxy s5 active a day ago and have a next generation phone being shipped. Is there anyway through android or through at&t that I can recover my contacts from my old phone even though it's since been lost and shut off?

If you were signed into a google account, all your contacts should be automatically backed up.  When you sign into the same google account on the new phone, the contacts will be there.


text:
Unbrick a device having broken volume rockers
A technician checked my phone's (TCL S950/Alcatel One Touch Idol X) hardware and broke the volume buttons. I flashed TWRP recovery, because I wanted to install the latest CyanogenMod. The latter in turn bricked my device since it doesn't get past the boot animation. The volume buttons to get into Recovery or Bootloader don't work and ADB doesn't detect the device either.
What can be done to unbrick the device?

It's possible that the rocker for the buttons isn't seated correctly and that they're working just fine, so you could open it up and press them or correct it.  You could also try a USB jig to get into the bootloader.  And it seems like you should make the repair shop pay for the damage....

Thanks for answering,i recently checked the phone and the volume cable is completely cut off.

Get that ribbon cable replaced! Don't make this an XY problem. You'll have to get the volume buttons working eventually. Check ebay for parts.

Since you cannot access fastboot without using the volume rockers or having access to adb: No, you cannot do anything else but repair your volume rockers or buy a new phone. If you want to repair the rockers, you can check on iFixit for a manual. They may have one for your phone.


text:
Show "battery so far" chart instead of the "projected battery life" chart in Marshmallow
After the update to Marshmallow, I notice the battery level chart is different that I had it with K. In KitKat, the chart was "last charge until now" long, but in Marshmallow it is "last charge until projected life" long.
The projected life is not really as useful as they might have anticipated it to be, its accuracy is questionable, and it only skews the scale of the chart. And it usually is not a small wasted space - on the contrary, usually it is much wider than the rest (currently 3/4 of the entire chart width).
Is it possible to revert to a KitKat style battery life chart?

I'm not sure if it's different that much, other than some small "wasted" space on the right if you think the projected life is not useful. But AFAIK, it's impossible to change that natively.

@AndrewT. - the part I really want to get rid of is the projected life. It is not really as useful as they might have anticipated it to be, its accuracy is BS, and it only skews the scale of the chart. And it usually is not a small wasted space - on the contrary, usually it is much wider than the rest.

Currently the projected part takes over 3/4 of the entire chart width.

I see, fair enough. Yeah, it's scaled to the last charge. Sorry I was biased about "small space" because I haven't charged until full for 1 day (the projected life is only 10% of the width), but AFAIK, it's impossible to remove that functionality. Perhaps someone has better solution.


text:
What is an easy method to test whether UDP traffic is blocked?
What is an easy method for an Android device to tell whether a data connection (either WiFi or mobile data alone) has UDP traffic blocked? Many corporate and public access points restrict UDP access, and I am looking for a way to detect this manually. I am interested in this because real-time VOIP applications, for example, should not be expected to work with the same performance on TCP as on UDP.
For the purposes of this question, I would assume that the data connection is either:

using hole-punching or
blocks all UDP traffic that is not DNS-related.

Also, please assume the Android device is not rooted.

nmap would be the easiest way, but requires root.  If you happen to have a server (on a different network) that you could set up to respond to UDP packets, an app like this one would work.

You can check if UDP traffic is blocked with this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=be.ac.ulg.mobiletracebox
It's free and it works on not rooted devices.
Just select UDP category and run the test.
To check if UDP traffic is blocked only on certain ports you can use "Advanced" to set Destination Port (along with other fields of the packet).
I'm affiliated with developers of this app, but frankly I don't know any "famous" app doing the same job.

Hmm. 5 reviews, installs: 100-500. Are you by any chance affiliated to the linked app?

@Firelord Yes, I am. Your comment raised a doubt in my mind so I preferred to check http://meta.android.stackexchange.com/questions/2212/user-suggesting-his-own-app-in-an-answer/


text:
Run downloaded shell command without root?
My phone is a Galaxy S3, not rooted.  I have "ES File Explorer" and "Terminal Emulator" installed.
I downloaded an Android build of 'wget', intending to execute it from the Terminal Emulator app.  The file currently exists in
/storage/sdcard0/Download (which is an internal partition, not a physical SD card) as:
-rw-rw-r-- root sdcard_rw 241974 2016-03-11 wget

./wget gives Permission denied.  chmod o+x wget gives "Bad mode"; this is apparently because Android's chmod only accepts octal digits; chmod 665 wget gives "Operation not permitted".  I can copy the file with "cp", so the filesystem is writable.
Other Q&A's here give several possible reasons for chmod failing on Android.  One is SD cards formatted with FAT which do not support permission bits; but as I say this is not actually an SD card. Another is the filesystem being mounted with "noexec".  My Android/Linux knowledge is way too lacking to check such things.
Is Android blocking me from executing wget by design? Is there a way to execute it without rooting my phone?

Use the sh command before invoking your script. See here: Android Enthusiasts Shell Script Permissions

@Chungzuwalla : If you want the wget command without rooting, you might be intersted by this busybox version of wget.

Thanks @AaronGillion, I tried using sh but since wget is a binary it just gives a syntax error.  It seems what @MatijaNalis wrote below about this is correct.

Copy it to the folder of your terminal application and then you can run it.

Yes, this is by design.  You can't execute binaries from the SD card without system or superuser privileges (and remounting it without the noexec option) because otherwise apps could just download and execute malicious code at will.  In older versions of Android the SD card also did not have emulated permissions so chmod would naturally fail.
Some devices/older versions of Android might allow execution from /data/local/tmp/, so you could try putting it there.  Otherwise, you'll probably need root.

Thanks! I had expected that it was the app permissions system that controlled what an app could do, so downloading and executing code would be fine if it didn't require any privileges above what the app already has.  Anyway I don't have /local at all, or at least I can't see it.  I think the structure of UN*X filesystems is going to remain a mystery to me for a long while yet.

Apps can execute their own binaries, though. Since u installed the terminal app, any binary of this app can be executed. Therefor, copy the binary into the app folder of the terminal app and you can run it from there. I tried it, it works.

@TJJ That's clever!

But yes, to my understanding it will be limited to the permissions of the 'parent' app, i.e. the terminal app. It requests internet permission, so wget will work. More sophisticated stuff might not. Other option is to write your own apk with all the permissions needed (afaik Terminal Emulator is open source on github).

Android, just as Linux, prevents any user but root, to change the permission bits of any file not owned by such user. That said, chmod is ineffective, unless you have root privileges.
By the way, even if you had such privileges, you wouldn't have been able to change permissions, as long as the target path is /storage/sdcard0 or /storage/emulated/0. This depends upon a security policy, which is implemented in the form of the FUSE filesystem, and can be circumvented by moving to /data/media/0 or /data/media/emulated/0, and chmoding the file from this position. Please notice that this procedure will let you execute a script only if you launch it from one of the abovementioned locations.
Lastly, it should be noted that the Android port of chmod does not support symbolic editing of the flags (+rwx and so on), so you'll be forced to edit them via their corresponding octal values. You'll also do need root privileges, in order to be able to access /data/media. Trying to cd to such directory by using user privileges results in a Permission denied error.

I think this is where I get really confused. So when I downloaded the wget binary (using some browser, can't remember which one now) it was saved as owned by root.  If I copy it with cp in Terminal Emulator, the copy is also owned by root. I can delete the copy. But the Terminal Emulator shell is not a root shell. There's plenty about this that confuses me. But that's a whole other question...

@Chungzuwalla Copying a file is an operation that's generally allowed, provided that the file to copy has not been locked (like the /etc/shadow on Linux). Changing permissions, though, is a dangerous operation, since, if perpetrated by some untrusted user, can forbid the access to almost any file (chmod 000).

first, to make file executable, you should do chmod 775 wget (and not 665)
but, you can only change modes of file if you are it its owner (or root). In your case, owner is root (and group sdcard_rw, as indicated by your ls -l), so only root can change permissions. As you are not root (you can check with id command, but as you say you haven't got a rooted device, so you can't use su to become root) you cannot change its permissions.
Also, modes can only be changed if filesystem containing file supports UN*X permissions. Your /storage/sdcard0/Download is probably FAT, which doesn't support it (you can check filesystem type with cat /proc/mounts)

Having said all that, if the file was shell script, you could execute it even with missing x mode with sh /storage/sdcard0/Download/script.
But if it is ELF binary (as it is the case with your wget), you are probably out of luck on Android (on desktop GNU/Linux system, you can execute ELF binaries indirectly via dynamic linker /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 /mnt/Download/wget, but I don't think Android allow the same with its /system/bin/linker - I could be wrong on that one, though)


text:
How can I enter into download mode on Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2
I tried to put ClockworkMod recovery onto my Samsung GT-7582 and install CyanogenMod but it doesn't enter into download mode when I use volume up + Home + power. When I try this I see "Factory Mode" but for testing not for resetting the phone. ;(
How can I install CyanogenMod?

Just to make things clear, on Samsung devices Vol Up + Home + Power boots the Recovery. Vol Down + Home + Power boots the Bootloader, also known as Download Mode or Odin Mode.

Android ADB Shell Commands would be one of the solutions.
To get into download mode, please use following command in a Windows or Linux terminal.
adb shell reboot download

On which Android device have you tested this solution? I'm asking this because in adb's help, I don't see any argument named download.

I edited my answer. Try again, please :)

@Joshua There's no such argument in adb. The correct syntax is adb reboot bootloader, for Samsung devices.

adb reboot bootloader yields "device not found".   Same if I try adb shell reboot download.   I'm in su mode.

You've just catched a clone of a GT-S7582 (There's no solution for it)

Please provide references.


text:
How can I add non numeric sms senders to my contacts (for custom alerts)
I get on call alerts via text messages from a non-numeric number, is there any way to add this as contact so I can set an individual alert tone for it?
Copying and pasting wont' work due to numeric validation and no direct "add to contacts" option exists in messaging

ADB should accept non-numeric contacts.
Download Terminal Emulator from Play Store, or hook up your phone to a computer with ADB drivers installed and USB debugging turned on.
Then enter:
$ am start -a android.intent.action.INSERT -t vnd.android.cursor.dir/contact -e name 'John Doe' -e phone 956-0987 <-- Replace with non-numeric
And/or:
$ am start -a android.intent.action.ACTION_INSERT -t ContactsContract.Contacts.CONTENT_TYPE -e ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.NAME John ContactsContract.Intents.Insert.PHONE 956-0987 <-- Replace
Both will still open up a "New Contact" window, but the information will be pre-entered.
If your Contacts app will not accept the data, you can actually solve your original problem using Tasker, a phone automation app, and setting up a profile Event -> Phone -> Received Text and playing whatever system ringtone, or personal ones saved in /sdcard/Ringtones by using Action -> Media -> Play Ringtone. Here's a screenshot of Tasker's UI:

Hope this helps!

Thanks for this - the need moved on & i'd forgotten this. Unfortuanly no acces to ADB for this device


text:
moving legacy app to new device
So I recently bought a new phone and there's this app I have on my old device that is not available in the play store anymore and that I should nonetheless like to move to my new device.
I'm confident that if I searched for it on the net, I'd be able to find the .apk of the app.
However, I also know that after installation, the app used to connect to a server to download additional files necessary for the app to work (once). That server doesn't exist, anymore. The data, though, must of course still be on my old device, somewhere.
Where do I find that data and how can I move the app?
Note: neither device is rooted.
Note: I cannot root the new device

Titanium backup and/or ADB backup. ADB backup definitely works without root, but you need 4.3+. You'll need to extract the app data along with the .apk. Ti+ requires root, but it can import ADB backups (.ab files) if you root the new device and the old device is 4.3+, perfect scenario. Look at this answer for details. You can try an adb restore on the new device from the old one to avoid rooting, but that will likely cause persistent ANR dialogs and maybe a bricked device.

I should add that I cannot root the new device because that would break a critical app that intentionally stops working on rooted devices.

Dang. Here's what I have in mind, then. Extract the apk and app data from the old device. If the data is on /sdcard, then you've wasted our time! Just copy it. Else, If you can root it without resetting it, then root and use Ti+ (older devices usually are open to one-click-root apps -- Framaroot, Towelroot, Poot, etc). If it's new enough to have Jellybean or better, use ADB backup and extract the specific app data. On the new device, install the app. If the data was in /sdcard, just paste it. Else, you'll have to mimic the server on your Wifi network (ouch). Mimic the IP address and files.


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Nokia here map data for Android - download on pc and move to phone
This question is very specific to Nokia Here Map on Android Lollypop.
I have installed the app on the phone, however my wifi is too slow to download the offline map using the app.
I am looking for a way to download the offline map data on my computer using ethernet and later load onto sd card and then app could point the same map.
the issues I am facing:
1) Can I download the map onto PC as raw map data file? I am looking for a trusted source.
2) Once downloaded,  where to copy on the disk, so that app can point to the location?
Please note that I do not want to switch to any other map, so kindly do not suggest the same.

Reverse tether from the PC to the phone?

@gyan, I could see you accepted the answer as a solution. Did you try copying the folders yourself or used any app? Explaining that as an update will help other users in future.

Hi Narayana, I did used Andy and able to download the maps. Then I moved those map files to android phone. The only challenge was that Andy is a still having lower version than the android release, so not sure if this workaround would still work with latest android.

I could suggest you to use an emulator like Andy. Using this will help you to use your computer's Ethernet to access Internet.
You can install the app on that emulator and download the map data. Then you can either identify the download area and copy them to your phone. If that's too cumbersome you can rely on apps like titanium backup to restore the data alone.
It would be helpful for you if you use the same Android version on both emulator and phone.


text:
Enable/Disable one Account sync only
Is it possible, using Tasker (or Tasker Plugin), to enable/disable the synchronisation for a specific account/app only, without changing the sync status for any other account?
e.g. only change the Sync enabled/disabled state "Sync Inbox" on my work Google Apps account.
I have been using Tasker and the Synker plugin, but this changes all the Accounts which existed when you setup the Tasker Plugin (e.g. if you change the settings from the Account Settings later, the next time the Tasker task runs the Synker plugin resets your changes) - unless those accounts didn't exist when you configured the plugin in which case it ignores them.

Can you precisely explain to us what problem you're trying to solve by asking this? It may be doable but at least we should know what we're trying to help you with so that we try to find alternatives means as well.

Basically I want to have multiple trigger actions which don't require a complex set of Synker profiles setup.
i.e. the syncs would be turned on or off as follows (and left unchanged when the condition stops being met)

Connect to SSID CorpNet - Work Email on, Personal Email Off
Connect to SSID "#CityFree", Turn work off, Personal On (i.e. left office)
Connect to Bluetooth "Pure DAB" turn all email syncs off
Disconnect from "Pure DAB" B/T Turn all email On (except work which should be left alone)

Then when I no longer want Play Music auto synching respect my change in Settings

(Sorry for the formatting, It's ignoring the Markdown)


text:
Limited Connectivity - Connected, no Internet
When attempting to connect to my school's wifi, I enter my username and password and connect to the network. Below the wifi name it says Connected, no Internet and the wifi icon at the top right of the status bar is there, but with an exclamation mark! I can ping the router, but not google. My Android device is a Samsung Galaxy S2 i9100 and I'm running CM13 (Marshmallow). I've tried rebooting, forgetting network, wiping cache, resetting network settings and also factory resetting. Any help appreciated, thanks!

What's your question? This is a problem with the Wi-Fi network, not your phone.

Hmm, other devices can connect with ease, my iPod for example.

Have you tried with changing IP Settings to Static followed by setting a static and correct IP address (shouldn't be in use), subnet and 8.8.8.8 as DNS? You may also have to tap the Wi-Fi's entry and choose Connect.

This is the exact problem I met. Since you cannot ping google I'd guess you're from China, just like me. My i9300 had the exact problem as yours. After downgrading to CM11 everything is fine.
Then I bought a Nexus 6P. Guess what? It has the same problem. After confirming with a friend who works in Huawei, this is actually a Marshmallow feature, or bug in our case. When you cannot connect to google service, Marshmallow would think that there is no internet connection.
Update: Found a possible fix which worked for me:

Create a new user via Settings -> Users
While it is trying to connect the network (which will take some time, or forever in our case), power off the phone.
Turn on the phone again. The "no internet" warning should be gone.
You may need to delete the newly created account.**

See here for a descent solution. Here is a Chinese version.

@FrankScience Guess you mean decent. My solution is crude I have to admit. Thanks for the link.


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Sony Xperia Z4 stuck at boot after upgrading to Android 6.0
A few minutes ago, my sony xperia z4 tablet noticed me to upgrade to android 6.0.
Now my tablet no longer boots. There is just a text "Error" and a little lying android man.
I tried to Reboot in Recovery Mode by Holding Power and Volume Up Key but it does not work. Nothing happens.
What can i do?

Download Sony PC Companion for Windows/Mac.
Shutdown your tablet and connect it to PC in recovery mode while holding down volume up/down key. Instructions will be shown on-screen if you're not clear with my explanation.
Click on Repair my phone/tablet.
Follow on-screen instructions afterwards. It'll take sometime to download necessary files.
If everything goes right you should disconnect the device and boot it up. Remember first boot takes more or less than 5 minutes.
Support link just in case if needed --- Repair using PC Companion [detailed].

That what worked for me last time I updated Sny


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Android Marshmallow internal storage problem
I have a Moto E 2nd Gen running Android 6.0.  In the Storage & USB menu it shows that I have used up over 4 GB of space, but it shows I have used only 2.5 GB for apps and around 100 MB of other data.
What is causing the discrepancy? Even clearing the cache does not help.

I tried DiskUsage. This is ascreenshot of my internal storage.

It shows System Data as almost 4GB. Is this normal ?

Please post a screenshot of what you're describing -- how do you know you've only used 2 GB?  In the meantime, see http://android.stackexchange.com/q/2065/1465

I have posted the screenshot as u told...

Thanks, that's much clearer.  I've re-opened the question.  Try the Disk Usage app mentioned in the link above, and see if it gives you any more info.

The /system partition occupying about 4GB is normal, as that is the Android OS. I'm not exactly sure about the storage discrepancy, though

I thought that Android OS already occupies 3GB of my 8GB internal storage.


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Change default music app to Spotify
Whenever I use Spotify over bluetooth and try to use my car's controls it, simply pauses the Spotify music and launches the default music player.
The Spotify music plays just fine, however, when there comes input from the Bluetooth, it pauses and starts the default music player.
Spotify is not listed in Settings -> Apps -> Default Apps -> Music, only Google Play Music and the default music player is listed on my Huawei P7.
I've tried using several softwares including Default App Manager, Better Open With, A2DP Volume and Bluetooth Connect and Play - however none work.
It would seem like when I click on the car's input it transmits it to the phone over BT, however, since the default music player is the default player it starts that app instead of Spotify.

Spotify cannot be your default music app, it can't play the appropriate file types registered as "music" files. I have had this problem on several phones. never did find a solution that was acceptable for using controls in the car for Spotify, always had to use the phone's controls.

So, I would have to use Google Music instead?

I didn't say that, I said controlling Spotify with your car controls is difficult (I won't say it's impossible, but I never found a solution) but if you want to use your vehicles controls, then apparently you need to use an app that can be set as the default music player, so whether it is Google Play, N7Player, PowerAmp, doubleTwist, BlackPlayer, or whatever, it doesn't necessarily have to be Google Play.

Here's your misconception: Spotify is not a music player app. It is an application that accesses its own database of music files and play them. It doesn't play any other sound files. So technically, it doesn't qualify as a music player.

Thanks SarpSTA and Acejavelin. I've decided to use Google Music until I found a workaround, even though I prefer Spotify. Thank you for your clarification :)

You can ask Google Assistant to "change the song". It works perfectly.
Start a random song on Spotify.
Say "Ok Google" and wait for Assistant to pop up.
Say "Play the next song"
And she does it.
Works like a charm, as long as your phone's microphone works properly.

Thank you. The issue was also resolved by upgrading my phone (and Android version).
But it was ment more for a car with a dash, so having to say it each time would be a little bit of a hassle.

Actually, tbh it works perfectly in my car. I guess it depends on the make of the car too. I press "seek" on my car and the song changes. I have a Hyundai. Considering its a two year old post...I hope the new Spotify/Android/Car upgrades would've solved the problem already

Yep. Android upgrade fixed it.


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Use WhatsApp for one-way communication to a group
I am a teacher. All my students are using WhatsApp. I want to create a group for my students, and hide the group members to see others' contact details except my contact details.
Also I can only post the messages and others will not post in that group. It will be one way communication for their assignments and quizzes.
Is it possible in WhatsApp Messenger?

Not possible AFAIK. It is always a two-way communication.

It is not possible. But you can use broadcasts as an alternative.

If you use a group this might not be possible. However, you can create a Broadcast list - in this way you can send a message in a shot to all participants and they will not be able to see the other members
On WhatsApp click on the overflow button (3 dots) and chose New Broadcast
Hope this helps


text:
How long do Nexus devices get updates?
It's been almost 1/2 a year since the launch of the nexus 2015, and a new one is coming. I want to know how often do android phones get supported with software updates until it becomes obsolete. It will ultimately decided if I should wait for this years model or buy last year's.
What version of Android did each phone in the Nexus line-up stop receiving updates?

Here is all the info, ordered by release date:
Device              Launch Version              Final Version         Lifespan
Nexus One           2.1   Eclair                2.3   Gingerbread     1y  1m
Nexus S             2.3.6 Gingerbread           4.1.2 Jelly Bean      0y  8m
Galaxy Nexus        4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich    4.3   Jelly Bean      1y  7m
Nexus 4             4.2.2 Jelly Bean            5.1.1 Lollipop        2y 6m
Nexus 7 (2012)      4.1.2 Jelly Bean            5.1.1 Lollipop        2y 8m
Nexus 10            4.2.2 Jelly Bean            5.1.1 Lollipop        2y 4m
Nexus 7 (2013)      4.3   Jelly Bean            current*              N/A: Launched 2013-07
Nexus 5             4.4   Kit Kat               current*              N/A: Launched 2013-10
Nexus 6             5.0   Lollipop              current*              N/A: Launched 2014-11
Nexus 9             5.0   Lollipop              current*              N/A: Launched 2014-11
Nexus Player        5.0   Lollipop              current*              N/A: Launched 2014-11
Nexus 5X            6.0.0 Marshmallow           current*              N/A: Launched 2015-09
Nexus 6P            6.0.0 Marshmallow           current*              N/A: Launched 2015-09
Pixel C             6.0.1 Marshmallow           current*              N/A: Launched 2015-12

*current version is 6.0.1 Marshmallow

So starting with the Nexus 4, devices have averaged 2.5 years between their release and final update.  You should add on a few months to account for the fact that there was some time between their final updates and when that version was actually obsoleted by the next.  And the 5 and 7(2013) have passed that mark, though they will probably not get Android N.
Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus and specific device pages linked there
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images

According to Google, 2 years.

Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 6, Nexus 5, Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 9, and
  Nexus 10 devices get the latest version of Android directly from
  Google. These devices will receive Android version updates for at
  least two years from when the device first became available on the
  Google Store.

And as far as what Nexus device got what versions, that information is easy to find online. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Nexus


text:
How do you get clean Android OS on Galaxy S7 or LG v10?
What is the path (or paths) to get a modern android phone with a clean OS?
Preferably something similar to what a Nexus provides.

Possible duplicate of Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

You have to hope that the manufacturer or custom ROM creators release an "AOSP" version of the software.  For instance: Oppo has recently moved away from ColorOS towards a more stock experience, and BlackBerry's Priv has minimal changes to the Android interface.
For finding such ROMs, see Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?


text:
Which system service apps could I disable to protect my privacy
I have a non-rooted Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with a Google account and would like to know what system, root and service apps I could disable. The purpose of this is, I want to stop or making it difficult for Google spying my phone data etc. As you can see I have already disabled some apps like Google Calendar Sync or Google Contacts Sync or Google account Manager

But I want to know if there are more apps to disable which are sending data to Google or other third-parties.

And an other problem is the Google Play store is'nt working anymore with my actual disabled apps. The only Google-Services I don't want to disable are that which are required for using Google Play Store, updating and installing apps via that. All other services and system apps with are not for using the Play Store required like Calendar or Contact sync and other syncroisations services for personal data I want do disable.
And I want not only Google syncronisation services to disable, also Samsung, Facebook and other apps which are spying my phone I want to disable.
So. I would be very grateful if you could list me all apps and services which I can disable without to waive the Google Play Store.
If you don't know specific to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 you can say it general for all android devices.

You need an active Google account to use the Play Store, so it's safe to say you shouldn't disable the account manager.

Thanks for the tip, therefore I'm asking what apps I can disable and whitch not!

Root the phone, you won't regret it. Unless you're on Verizon of course. Verizon hates modders and security enthusiasts.
The spyware apps you definitely want to get rid of are RootPA, Silentlogger, DT Ignite, and Carrier IQ (man, I hate those bastards.)
The rest is just bloatware for special features (ANT+ for S-Health, T-mobile/Verizon's ringtone apps, freemium services for watching movies, music, etc)
I forgot, since you have Samsung, there is a way to disable system apps without rooting. It's called Package Disabler Pro - Google Play and it only works on unrooted Samsung devices (some kind of device loophole per se). You can disable any system app from there that Settings.apk won't allow.
You can also use a VPN firewall without root, such as this one, to protect sensitive data from ever getting out there. Otherwise root and use DroidWall, more secure, doesn't rely on a third party VPN.

Just a remark, rootpa is definitely not a spyware, it's used for provisioning a secure storage space on device to store sensible information.


text:
Whatsapp delivered message a deleted message
I deleted a Whatsapp message that I sent while my phone was offline and the clock sign was there , I did not see the single tick sign (meaning that the message supposedly did not leave my phone). Still the message was delivered to the recipient's phone after I got back online. Why is that? what can I do to stop this in the future? What can I  do to stop a message from going to a group? I can not block the group nor can I leave it.


text:
Android system Webview installed but not used by apps
I downloaded and installed the latest version of android system WebView from the app store on my android tablet (running 5.0.2).
But apps still go on using the old webview version (39.0.0.0).
How can I get them to switch ?
For info, I've tried disabling the old one, and it get re-enabled when I open an app that uses webview.

Out of curiosity, how do you know which version of Webview an app is using?

I have been testing with several apps, such as Droidscript and WebView Browser and visited whatsmyuseragent

I've read through the Lollipop source, and this shouldn't be happening. It should use the latest unless the manufacturer has replaced the WebViewFactory class with their own. What exact device/model and manufacturer-supplied version are you running?

Hi Musafa why did you delete your answer?

I'm using low-cost tablets, and I tried on several brands (digiflip from flipkart, time2), I'm going to try on the lenovo TAB 2 A7 in the coming days

You can't change this without root.
The system framework is hard-coded to use a specific package for applications that request a WebView component. By default (in AOSP) it uses the value com.android.webview, which is the version that is compiled during the AOSP build process. On devices from manufacturers that modify this component, the package name may differ. Regardless, in order to replace the WebView that shipped with your device, you have to modify this value to instead be com.google.android.webview.
The "by hand" way of doing this would be to pull the framework-res.apk file from your device, de-compile it, and change the value of the config_webViewPackageName resource variable. It should be located at /res/values/strings.xml within the .apk. Once you've done this, you would need to re-package everything and push the new .apk to your device, replacing the old one.
An alternative method that you can attempt is to install the Xposed framework and then use the WebViewGoogle module. If you use a custom ROM, you may also be able to find a package that will permanently modify the necessary framework components (or it may be built to use Google's WebView by default).
My hypothesis would be that this restriction exists in part because the system relies on a WebView implementation existing in some form, so if it could be modified by a user it could break the system in odd ways. There would also be security implications to allowing apps to override the system WebView, such as a bad-actor attempting to provide a malicious one without the user knowing.
As a point of further explanation: the reason the System WebView is available in the Play Store to begin with is that Nexus devices (and possibly others) ship with it pre-installed, and configured to use it. It is, in effect, the system WebView for those devices.Thus, Google is able to provide WebView updates for these devices via the Play Store so that full system OTAs are not necessary just to update the browser/WebView. There are other components that Google has migrated to Play Store updating in a similar fashion, with the reasoning essentially being that it is faster. Phone and Contacts were two of the more recent ones, with the linked article providing some additional detail regarding why Google has taken this approach.

Thanks for this explaination.. but, what is the use of this android system webview app then?

@Clémentine Nexus devices (possibly others) ship with it pre-installed, and configured to use it. It is, in effect, the system WebView for those devices.Thus, Google is able to provide WebView updates for these devices via the Play Store so that full system OTAs are not necessary just to update the browser/WebView. There are other components that Google has migrated to Play Store updating in a similar fashion, with the reasoning essentially being that it is faster.

why are all tablets running lollipop or newer OS not using this as their default system WebView, sounds like a waste!

@Clémentine Google's control over third-party manufacturers is somewhat limited. They probably could opt to use Google's closed-source WebView just as Nexus devices do, but they may choose not to for whatever reason. I'm not sure of the specifics regarding how Google licenses their closed-source applications to OEMs, but those terms (whatever they may be) could be a factor in the manufacturer's decision.

Thanks for all this info. Shedding light on a lot of questions I had at the back of my mind. Will be looking for a tablet that has it pre-installed then.

Will your .xml editing solution work on Kitkat devices? If I can fake device identity to download "Android System Webview" from Play Store.

@AaronGillion I'm not sure. My guess would be that it will hinge mostly on whether or not Google's WebView uses APIs that were introduced in 5.0. If not, then you might have a shot at getting it work, but if it does then it'll crash.

@eldarerathis Webkit should be compiled in native C code, so I shall try. Your answer can be really useful not for Kitkat devices, but more like JB and ICS devices because their Webview is really outdated. App developers using Phonegap can highly benefit from this, if they've developed something Webview-based for a company, who suddenly need backwards compatibility.

I wish only the built-in apps were using the built-in-webview. Apps installed from the marketplace ought to be able to work with the updated webview -- and in some cased can ONLY work with the updated webview, leaving users stuck when only the out of date system webview is utilised.

Hi,I am also getting some issues with old webView, did anyone find any solution for that? I have a device but not able to debug it and it has no playstore(custome android)

I have followed @eldarerathis's answer and made a step by step guide on how to update webview on an Android 5.0 emulator. It probably works on Android 5.1 to Android 6.0 as well. Hope it will help anyone who wish to use a more recent webview on old Android devices.
https://gist.github.com/ppoffice/9ce9790708eeabbec1281467e25139e4
Tools

emulator (30.3.5) (via Android SDK)
adb (30.0.5) (via Android SDK)
apktool (2.5.0) and Java runtime
zip (3.0)
unzip (6.0)

Make sure you have JAVA_HOME and ANDROID_HOME environment variables correctly set.
Steps

Create a new Android Virtual Device (AVD) using Android Studio or avdmanager.
Here, I created an Android 5.0 device with the following system image:
Path                                        | Version | Description                                | Location
system-images;android-21;google_apis;x86_64 | 32      | Google APIs Intel x86 Atom_64 System Image | system-images/android-21/google_apis/x86_64/

The AVD name is
$ emulator -list-avds
Pixel_2_API_21

Boot the AVD and make its system partition writable:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/tools/emulator @Pixel_2_API_21 -writable-system

And the AVD starts, remount its system partition using adb:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb remount

Download the Android System Webview of your desired version from the internet.
For example, you may use Android System WebView 88.0.4324.93 (x86 + x86_64) (Android 5.0+) from apkmirror.com.
The package ID is com.google.android.webview, which is different from the default system webview
(com.android.webview).
Also, make sure your package has the same ABI as your AVD.

Extract the webview package using unzip and push it and the native libraries to
the system partition of your AVD:
$ unzip <path/to/your/webview.apk>
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell mkdir /system/app/ChromiumWebview
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb push <path/to/your/webview.apk> /system/app/ChromiumWebview/webview.apk
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb push <path/to/your/extracted/webview.apk>/lib /system/app/ChromiumWebview/

After this step is done, you should have the following new files in your AVD:
$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell ls -lR /system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib                                                            ✔

/system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib:
drwxr-xr-x root     root              2021-01-27 00:36 x86
drwxr-xr-x root     root              2021-01-27 00:36 x86_64

/system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib/x86:
-rw-r--r-- root     root        43360 1979-12-31 00:00 libchromium_android_linker.so
-rw-r--r-- root     root         3680 1979-12-31 00:00 libcrashpad_handler_trampoline.so
-rw-r--r-- root     root     78167008 1979-12-31 00:00 libwebviewchromium.so

/system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib/x86_64:
-rw-r--r-- root     root        44896 1979-12-31 00:00 libchromium_android_linker.so
-rw-r--r-- root     root         5104 1979-12-31 00:00 libcrashpad_handler_trampoline.so
-rw-r--r-- root     root     78545528 1979-12-31 00:00 libwebviewchromium.so

Restart Android services to let the Package Manager pick up our new webview package:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell stop
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell start
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell pm list packages | grep webview
package:com.android.webview           --> the built-in and outdated webview
package:com.google.android.webview    --> our new webview

Check if the package is registered with the Package Manager.
Make sure codePath, nativeLibraryPath, and primaryCpuAbi are correct:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb shell cat /data/system/packages.xml | grep com.google.android.webview
<package name="com.google.android.webview" codePath="/system/app/ChromiumWebview" nativeLibraryPath="/system/app/ChromiumWebview/lib" primaryCpuAbi="x86_64" secondaryCpuAbi="x86" flags="...

As the default webview package name used by the Android OS is hard-coded in older Android OSes
(https://android.stackexchange.com/a/139415),
you need to modify the Android framework to use the new package name.
First, pull framework-res.apk from your AVD and decompile it using apktool:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb pull /system/framework/framework-res.apk
$ apktool d framework-res.apk

Update the <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/res/values/strings.xml file to use your new system
webview package name:
--- res/values/strings.xml   2021-01-27 00:53:05.000000000 -0500
+++ res/values/strings.xml   2021-01-27 00:54:38.000000000 -0500
@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@
     <string name="config_appsAuthorizedForSharedAccounts">;com.android.settings;</string>
     <string name="config_defaultNetworkScorerPackageName" />
     <string name="config_persistentDataPackageName" />
-    <string name="config_webViewPackageName">com.android.webview</string>
+    <string name="config_webViewPackageName">com.google.android.webview</string>
     <item type="string" name="timepicker_circle_radius_multiplier">0.82</item>
     <item type="string" name="timepicker_circle_radius_multiplier_24HourMode">0.85</item>
     <item type="string" name="timepicker_selection_radius_multiplier">0.16</item>

Repack framework-res.apk using apktool.
$ apktool b <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>

There might be a few errors you need to fix before the package can be repacked.
For example, if you encountered the following error:
Error: String types not allowed (at 'APKTOOL_DUMMY_34e' with value '').

you should replace <drawable name="APKTOOL_DUMMY_..." /> with <item type="drawable" name="APKTOOL_DUMMY_..." />
in the <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/res/values-nodpi-v4/drawables.xml file and
retry.

The repacked framework-res.apk is placed under <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/dist.
Extract the resources.arsc file from it and merge it to the original framework-res.apk:
$ unzip <path/to/extracted/framework-res.apk>/dist/framework-res.apk resources.arsc -d .
$ zip -0 <path/to/original/framework-res.apk> resources.arsc

The original framework-res.apk you pulled from your AVD is now updated.

Next, replace the framework-res.apk in your AVD with our updated (merged) framework-res.apk from
last step and reboot device:
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb push <path/to/original/framework-res.apk> /system/framework/framework-res.apk
$ $ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools/adb reboot

Finally, check if the webview is switched to the new one:

Well this explains why is always easier to use the Store to update the Webview.. too bad emulator forbids usage of the Play Store.

Continuing the previous answer. For android 7 and up:  pull the framework-res.apk file from your device, de-compile it, and change file /res/xml/config_webview_packages.xml, add to it a new webviewprovider.
Example config_webview_packages.xml:
<webviewproviders>
    <webviewprovider description="Android WebView" packageName="com.android.webview" availableByDefault="true" />
    <webviewprovider description="Google WebView" packageName="com.google.android.webview" availableByDefault="true">
        <signature>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</signature>
    </webviewprovider>
</webviewproviders>

About signature. If webviewprovider.apk signed system signature then you can skip this attribute. If the signature is not correct, the webview provider will not appear in the list available through the device development settings. Don't change original signature of webviewProvider.apk - you won't be able to install updates.
Put framework-res.apk to device (need root).

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


text:
Can I get GPS coordinates without internet?
am I able to get GPS coordinates for my app with Google Maps API just with GPS and GSM (no mobile internet or Wi-Fi)?
Thank You!

Sorry, but I didn't found questions about gps coordinates. Just if GPS worked without GSM or Internet.

If this is a programming question, you can get more help on http://www.StackOverflow.com.

Yes, of course... You don't even need GSM service to get GPS coordinates, as long as your device has a working GPS chipset.


text:
Can we delete /storage/emulated/0/tencent/MicroMsg/03a...df5/sfs/avatar.block.00008?
What does this file do? It's part of wechat but is it just a cache of avatars? It's 256mb.

What's its extension?

According to the info provided by this thread on XDA, any data contained within tencent/MicroMsg and its subdirectories, does not consist of chat backups and/or relevant data.
Instead, the folder tree contains several large cache files (for avatars and chats), and media files (pictures, music, video) sent to you by other users. This theory has been supported by the fact that, backing up the tencent/MicroMsg folders, uninstalling WeChat, reinstalling it, and then restoring the backed up tree, does not restore neither your previous chats, nor your old session.
Still, the app does never accomplish any maintenance on its cache, so that's a duty that must be carried out by the end user, while WeChat contacts and chats are stored within internal sql databases on the /data partition.

Clear out your old messages and see if the file shrinks (assuming you are concerned with this because of the large amount of storage it is taking). If it does, it's the file that contains all of your messages. Otherwise, it could be a cache or data that was never deleted by the app when it was done with it.
If you want to get rid of it to save space, do the things I listed below. If you are merely concerned with what it is, it's probably the file that contains your messages.
If you are concerned with saving space: After deleting your old messages, if the file does not shrink, clear the app cache through settings-> apps->wechat->clear cache and see if the file disappears. If it doesn't, that is a data file for the app probably holding contacts and messages. Deleting and reinstalling the app will likely delete the file, but double check that your contacts are saved somewhere else before doing that.
I must note, randomly deleting files that are not part of a cache can cause the app to crash when it is restarted or destroy data that you do not want to delete.

We should also say that, often, messaging apps store their contacts and messages in their /data/data/name_of_the_package/databases. Are you sure that the mentioned file would be critical?

@DeathMaskSalesman If that file is all of the user's contacts and messages with no cloud backup, id definitely call that critical, but I see your point. Editing.

I was not suggesting an edit. Mine was mere speculation about the fact that no severe damage can be done by messing with internal/external SD files, as long as it doesn't involve the deletion of licenses.

@DeathMaskSalesman no severe damage, no, but extremely undesired behavior, yes.

It would be useful if we could analyze it.


text:
Google maps location working in app but not in browser
I am trying to use google maps to determine my location. When I open the app on my phone (Samsung Note 4), I immediately get location with an accuracy of about 10 metres, but when I access the website  in any of the browsers on my phone (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Android stock), I see a message saying that my location could not be determined, even though my gps is on and the gps sign flashes on in the notification bar just before I get the error message. I set my phone to allow location access to all applications and in every browser I clicked accept when it asked me if I wanted to share my location. Where am I missing something? Why can't the webpage figure out my location while the application can?

Google apps have a special setting of their own to enable location access.  Open the Google Settings app and change the Positioning Mode setting (under Location) to High Accuracy, and it should prompt you for permission.
In Chrome, go to Settings → Site Settings → Location and ensure nothing related to Google is being blocked.


text:
Methods of checking bootloader status
Just curious if there's any methods to check bootloader state besides using fastboot. I ask because on my device, even after unlocking successfully, the bootloader still shows that its locked when using the fastboot OEM device-info command. I know it was actually unlocked because I installed a custom ROM. I relocked after install but since it seemed to be inaccurate before I want to make sure it's locked.

Yes there is...
Step 1 : Open your device’s dialer (App where you enter telephone numbers to call someone).
Step 2 : Dial the below code, it will automatically open a new windows. (if it doesn’t open a service information window on your device, you can often only access the status via fastboot)
*#*#7378423#*#*

Step 3 : Now in that window go to Service Info >> Configuration, and see if there is :
Bootloader unlock allowed - Yes
Bootloader Unlocked - Yes
Summarized from : How to Check if your Bootloader is Locked or Unlocked

I'm on Cyanogen 13. Using that code at the dialer doesn't seem to work.

There are also some apps in the Play Store, like Hidden Menus, that may allow you access to the System Information menu... If not, it may not be included in CM.

Thanks for the reply. Nothing seemed to work so I took and a chance and tried to flash recovery in fast boot and I got the device is locked message so theres my answer.

Can you link the activity of what window because I see no window getting opened in my stock Android 6.0 either?

Actually I can't... I can find references to it online (Google search Android Service Menu and go to web or images, there are several examples) but I am unable to access it on any device I available to me at the moment, a Moto G 2015 (Marshmallow), Huawei Ascend Mate 2 (Lollipop), and an old HTC Aria (Eclair) and it doesn't work in any of them, all of which are stock(ish) devices. The code should invoke the hidden application ServiceMenu.apk which may be at least partially specific to Sony devices.


text:
Enable interaction with screen when running Android-x86
I am running VMware Workstation Player 12 (henceforth as Player) on Windows 7. I successfully installed android-4.4-r3. However, I can't interact with the screen. Keyboard works fine (I used it for partitioning disk, install grub and some other things).
According to this post, I should tweak input menu, but there is no longer an input menu in Player!
When I click on player, once screen saver is on, windows pointer disappear, and I could no longer have interaction with keyboard.
Am I missing the obvious?

That's rather an issue with your VMWare player than with Android (so I'm not sure if it fits here). As you already observed, we have no vmware tag, for good reasons (as your question seems to prove): VirtualBox is what's recommended for running Android in a VM.

I can create but I didn't bother to create a VMware product specific tag because I'm not clear whether this question would remain open. Anyhow, I think I may have ended up changing the intent a bit.  You originally wrote: "I can't touch the screen" which seems to suggest you've a touch enabled device. However, I changed the intent considering that you don't have a touch enabled device. Feel free to [edit] the question for required corrections.

This question looks totally on-topic to me, since it is about getting input to work for an Android install.  I use VMware as well so the answer would be interesting to me.

@Firelord your edition is fine, it cover my intend. Maybe virtual box is "official" emulator but I have seen vmware questions, and andydroid is able to use it fine. so I was wondering if someone could come with a solution. (comment edited to fix typos).


text:
Function of directory /Android
I just deleted the directory /Android from the external card. It gave me 20GB memory back. So far I haven't seen any bad effects. At least not during the first 5 min of testing including restart.

I have a similar /Android on resident phone memory. Can I wipe that one too without any bad effects?
What is the function of /Android?

My device is Android 5.0, Galaxy Note 3.
Edit:
After 10 min running, the extSdCard/Android has reappeared and is now size 95 MB. (I asked one dictionary-app to expand compressed files there. But right now it stays around 95 MB.)
My "maintenance" has been run by Avast since long time. It regularly claims to delete "unnecessary" files.

That directory stores your apps' external data. By taking Lucky Patcher as an example, its directory under /Android/data will contain its custom patches.

But I see no difference in function after restart and 15 min testing. Maps, login to email, YouTube, cloud services, Facebook, Stack Exchange ... work the same. (Knock on wood ;) )

Yes, they'll work without hassle. However, since this data could as well be downloaded by the Web (hence, again, the custom patches), cleaning these folders will make your apps download the data once more, thus increasing your data plan consumption.

Ok. So far it seems useful to wipe it. Still stays at only 0.5% of the original size!! I have a similar /Android (1.5GB) on Sd0. Can I wipe that one too? / So far it seems like a good idea to erase it from time to time. At least when you are connected. I don't notice any download of components, but I am not sure. Browsing, logins and the testing I have done so far is ok.

Browsing and logins wouldn't be affected, since that kind of data cannot be touched wo/ root privileges, or wo/ deleting the app's dara via system settings. Still, you should be careful if you have any app that requires a license. If the license is in the form of an .obb file, you'll lose it, if you delete the /Android/obb folder. As per your original question, you can delete /Android/data safely.

Will licences be downloaded again? I had a phone stolen and I think all Google Play licences were downloaded again to my new phone that had the same email address. / So on Sd0 I can delete other /Android files except the obb directory (which is small)?

Normally your apps keep their data at /data/data. However, some applications use /sdcard/Android for bigger data files (such as patches of games). The difference is here: All apps can reach only at their own data if it is stored under /data/data while any data at internalSD is open buffet. So sensitive data is most likely to be kept away from internalSD.

Additionally, to delete things to see what kind of difference they make, is usually how people screw their phones up. If you are not rooted you can't create big damage, but still, backup things before deleting them if you don't know what they are for.

I don't know if the licenses are automatically downloaded. Since they're related to your Google account, I guess so, but I've no proof of it. Again, if your obb folder is not empty, leave it be, and delete any other folder. If it is empty, then delete the whole Android tree.

I am not rooted. The problem is finding out the function of 30.000 different files  ;)

Is there any setting so I can ONLY have one /Android on external card? I would prefer that. I don't want any on Sd0.

I just wiped all except obb in Sd0/Android and restarted the phone. (Saved 1.4G memory) It seems like a good thing to do. Thanks for the comments.

So far I have only noted that the "recycle basket app" Dumpster seems to have been emptied, something which is no problem of course. I also had no apps installed on the external card. I guess you would just have to reinstall them if you had apps there and cleared extSdCard/Android folder. But the apps on Sd0 are not in the /Android folder, of course.

I try to reply myself based on the little I have found out from experience and comments to this question.
DO NOT TAKE THIS INFORMATION FOR GRANTED AND ALWAYS KEEP BACKUP IF YOU MANIPULATE THIS DIRECTORY.
This has not been thoroughly tested yet.

It can be useful to delete files in the /Android directory. You can save a lot of space.
The obb directory was small in my case and I did not delete it on phone resident memory. It contains APK expansion files. Among other data it may contain licenses for the apps.
Ad. But even if you delete obb directory and .obb files, it is still possible that licenses and necessary data will be downloaded again from Google Play, as long as the phone is signed in to the same account/email address. So you may lose nothing.
If you have asked Android to install apps on the external SD card and you delete /Android on the external card, the apps must be downloaded again.
If you delete /Android on resident phone memory (Sd0), apps will not have to be downloaded in complete again.
"Important" app data, like log-in passwords etc are not stored in /Android. (They are stored in /data/data.) So you will PROBABLY not lose this kind of information.
Data for apps can be stored in the /Android directories. But the data seems to be "less important" than passwords etc. When I wiped the /Android directories, I only seem to have lost few, easily replaceable data, see below.
If you delete the entire /Android directories or subdirectories, the system will recreate them.
If you plan to delete /Android on the external card, you can get an idea of the effects by testing the phone after unmounting/removing the external card (use the Android command under general>storage).
Before I wiped the /Android directory on Sd0, I backed it up (under another name) on the external card. I have now deleted the backup.

When I wiped /Android on both Sd0 and external card I regained 21 GB space. After restarting and using the phone for about less than a day I have only noted small changes: The recycle basket Dumpster was emptied. I had to download datafiles for two dictionaries again. I.e. only very small changes that were easily corrected.
After almost one day usage the /Android directories now occupy about 2G on my phone compared to 21G before wiping them.
If you try deleting /Android directory, it is definitely recommended to be on line so you can download missing components.
With my setup and usage, wiping the /Android directories seems like a good idea, to save space.
PLEASE NOTE! THIS INFORMATION IS ONLY BASED ON WHAT I FOUND BY TRYING ONCE! BE CAREFUL AND KEEP BACKUPS!

About .obb files, they are APK expansion files. They don't contain necessarily only licenses, but could be anything that are needed for the app to run functionally.

Thanks, Andrew T. I'll try to update my answer accordingly.


text:
Android x86 native resolution fails
Running Android x86 iso (5.1 rc1 or 4.4 r5) in my native resolution 2880x1800 fails with black screen with blinking cursor. Actually it is a prompt accepting commands but stops without any message or anything on screen.
Last commands visible on screen were:

I ran it with vga=ask parameter:
/kernel initrd=/initrd.img root=/dev/ram0 androidboot.hardware=android_x86 nomodeset vga=ask SRC= DATA=

And chose the offered 2880x1800x32: 357

Same if I run it with parameters directly in a command line either the vga= or UVESA_MODE=2880x1800 or tried UVESA_MODE=2880x1800x24 or UVESA_MODE=2880x1800x16.
If I choose 2560x1600x16, it works well, except for the resolution is low.
I run it in Parallels Desktop on OS X.
How to run it in a native 2880x1800 resolution?

I was having a similar issue running Android-x86 on VMware (Windows host). The solution was to force the virtual machine to load enough memory for the virtual graphics adapter upon boot.
In my case, I had to place svga.minVRAMSize = 536870912 manually in the vm settings file. For Parallels, I believe you should open up the VM's configuration, then in the Hardware section, under the Video group, change the Video Memory value.
The value is generally given in bytes, so 536870912 bytes = 512 MB. The rule of thumb to calculate how much graphics memory you need is to multiply display values (HRes x VRes x colors). So for a 2880x1800x32 resolution, you actually need 2880 x 1800 x 4 = 20736000 bytes which is a little under 20MB. You'd be wise, though, to set up more than that - like I did - to account for 3D graphics, multiple buffering and compositing, and other fancy GPU tricks inherent to Android (See Graphics architecture and Android Graphics Internals).
[Contribution from OP]: I tested and found that 64MB is the minimum amount of graphics memory necessary to run Android 6 at 2880x1800x32 resolution on the Retina MacBook Pro 15".


text:
Faster way to unmount the SD card?
I unmount my SD card a lot, and I find it annoying to have to navigate through the settings app each time to safely unmount the SD card. I would like some way or some shortcut that can do this as quickly and as simply as possible.
I'm running Android 4.4.4 and I am rooted and using Xposed Framework.

You can use the app QuickShortcutMaker to create a shortcut to the Storage settings activity of Settings app.
(Click image to enlarge)

Tap on a particular entry and choose Create to create a shortcut on home screen.

You can try a more direct path using vdc command but I don't recommend it since after a remount from GUI it gives some error when an unmount is attempted, at least in my KitKat. unmount  seems not to be working appropriately either.

Can you please tell how to unmount external SD card using the vdc binary? I'm nowhere able to get a proper documentation for that command. And, umount command doesn't work as you said.

You can ask that as a separate question. If you don't want to do that, I suggest you look into the source code of vdc command-line tool. There you would not get to know the arguments vdc requires for a successful unmount and mount.

Excuse the typo "not" in the last line.

The app Shortcut Creator works well. In the app, go to Shortcuts -> Settings -> Storage -> +
Maybe Tile Shortcuts also works.


text:
During Android Encryption, I lost my device keyboard and OS ask me to enter password?
I have Android phone with OS version 4.4, I start encrypt my phone and it started very well. After an hour and restringing several time the device prompt me to "Type password to decrypt storage".
Her is the problem begins, I suspect the system keyboard won't work because it was disabled in settings yesterday and set google keyboard for normal usage, and now I unable to enter password.
Can anybody tell me how can I enable my default keyboard or enter required password ?

You can try to do the steps Sonamor suggested in a similar case.

@ValentinKuhn, The Sonamor suggestion is not worked for my case because when I connect to laptop the mobikle is not connected in debug mode.

First, have a look at the answers to this question.
If none if them works for you and you have access to the recovery, I think you can only wipe data / factory reset your device.
If you don't have access to the recovery, you can still factory reset the device via fastboot with fastboot erase userdata.
Factory resetting your device will delete your data though.


text:
Sync of contacts without internet
If mobiles internert is off and i saved any contact on google account,then where it is stored actually before getting sync?

The location of the contacts database can vary between manufacturers. In vanilla Android I believe it is at /data/data/android.providers.contacts/databases.

It is /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases.


text:
Google Voice stopped transcribing messages after switching to a different carrier
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4. I recently changed cellular carrier from Verizon to Consumer Cellular and I kept my phone & my number, so it was "ported" over.
Prior to this change, I was using Google Voice, because it types transcripts of voice mails received in to emails.  I have a Google Voice number, but never used it to make calls.
Google Voice stopped transcribing messages on the day I changed carrier. The Voice mail setting on my phone is set to Google Voice, but I am retrieving voice mails through Consumer Cellular.
How do I fix this issue?


text:
Edit phone number associated with device / SIM
On my device, when I check the phone number through Settings > About Phone > Status > SIM Status, the phone number is incorrect. I ported my number over when I took out a new contract so I guess this is the number originally associated with the SIM. Is there any way to change this?
EDIT: Device is a Nexus 6P running M 6.0.1, no root.

A factory reset ought to fix this if it's not a SIM issue.  I'm sure there is something specific you could clear the data for rather than that nuclear option, but I'm not sure what it is.

I'm pretty sure it is a SIM issue. I've read that it can be "fixed" by using an iPhone or Blackberry as they have the option to change the number. I know you used to be able to on Android but the functionality seems to have been removed.

A SIM contains multiple phonebook sections. One of them stores your SIM contacts. Another section contains "My Numbers" (MSISDN) with a max capacity of 3 numbers, usually.
Unfortunately, my phones are too new to access "My Numbers", and my phones that are old enough (2005) to edit them are out of reach.
Fortunately, I had a spare SIM800 development board lying around. I hooked it up to my Arduino and started issuing AT commands.
Here's my conversation with my SIM card:
AT               <-- Check if we are live and communicating with the SIM

OK

AT+CNUM?         <-- Get own number

ERROR            <-- CNUM failed, we don't have an "own" number

at+cpbs="ON"     <-- Switch to "ON" phonebook: MSISDN (SIM own numbers)

OK

at+cpbs?         <-- Get capacity of current phonebook

+CPBS: "ON",0,3  <-- Notice that there's no stored number (0 out of 3)

OK

at+cpbw=,"+639950001234"    <-- Saving my number

OK

at+cpbs?          <-- Get capacity of current phonebook

+CPBS: "ON",1,3   <-- Number saved (now consuming 1 out of 3 slots)

OK

at+cnum           <-- Get own number

+CNUM: ,"+639950001234",145,,4    <-- CNUM OK

OK

AT

OK

Unplugged, then returned SIM to phone. After that, my phone now shows my number +639950001234 instead of "Unknown".

I have found only two solutions:

Get Xposed and then either the app above or this one: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/themes-apps/app-sim-changer-change-registered-sim-t2106490
Use an old Nokia/Alcatel phone to edit SIM phone number

How to do it with old Alcatel or nokia feature phones

Unfortunately I've had to join to answer this, so don't have the reputation to add a comment to Aloha's answer, but anyway... that answer is almost perfect. However, I was recently trying to change the my number using that method, but found that I couldn't access the "ON" phone book. It turns out that you have to switch to local phone books before you can access it ( presumably only on some modems or SIM cards. ) You do this using AT$QCPBMPREF=1 - after which the "ON" phone book is available. I found this info from the thread here.


text:
How to disable redirects from Google Search results to Android apps (different issue from 2014)?
This is no duplicate of the same titled questions from 2014: The list of recent "answers" of disgruntled users shows that this is a new problem that seems to have surfaced just recently. As the "answer" by @Greeble formulates it:

When I searched Google for the webpage you're reading right now, and
  clicked on it, it took me to the Google Play store and asked me to
  download the stackexchange app. A different search result to a problem
  forum resulted in me being directed to download the Tapatalk app.
  Interestingly, clicking "open in new tab" prevents this annoying
  behavior.
I have the same problem with the Dolphin browser, but it is more than
  just Wikipedia.

For me it is a Firefox latest version, while a stone-age Chrome browser does not have this problem.
My hunch is that it is actually Google's search results itself that are instrumented to link to their Play Store. Of course this cannot be checked on a desktop. I tried checking the page source with a Firefox extension, but this was all just javascript gibberish, hard to make sense of.
Is there any way to see the HTML on an Android similar to the developer functionality we have in desktop browsers?
Is there a way to get rid of this nonsense again?

Does disabling the Google Play .apk from Application Manager fix the problem? I would test but can't replicate the problem. (I currently have Download Manager disabled to prevent the Chrome update in the first place).

Don't feel like trying this, because it then wants to reset google play to the age old factory version.

"Is there any way to see the HTML on an Android similar to the developer functionality we have in desktop browsers?" should probably be a new question if you really care about the answer to that. (And the answer is, yes, there are several ways, or none, depending on which browser.)

It is suspected that this issue is related to Google's roll-out of the ability to install apps directly from search results.  The install links are supposed to be clearly marked, but that was not happening here.  At the moment, I believe this is fixed because Google results are showing separate Install links and I am not being redirected to any apps otherwise.
If it's still happening for you, there are a few half-solutions I've seen suggested:

Use a desktop view/user agent when searching Google (I.e., Menu → "Request desktop site" in Chrome)
Long press on the search result you want and open it in a new tab
Try a different browser and make sure you have the latest version.
Use a different search engine.

Indeed it seems to be changed/fixed now again. In firefox I don't see install links, but that is not important. The links work again.


text:
PC speaker pops like if someone is calling, but is not. Is my phone hacked?
I keep hearing sound pops on my PC speaker like if my phone was connected to the internet or if someone was calling, but it's nothing.
Is my phone hacked? Is it recording some surveillance audio records and then sending them online to someone?
The phone is Alcatel One Touch S'Pop

'sound pops on your PC speaker'? Why would your phone in any way affect your computer's speakers?

@MichelfrancisBustillos A lot of speakers will pick up the signal from mobile phones, it sounds like this.  The existence of a signal has no connectiong to "hacking", however. OP, if you have an actually reason to suspect an issue please explain.

Ah, now I understand what the OP ment. Thanks, @MatthewRead

My internet would be disconnected and I'd hear the popping. Then, I'd move the phone around the speaker and the loudness of the popping changed with the proximity of the phone and the speaker which means that it's something about my phone.

@Foxcat385, did you try doing the same with your phone in airplane mode?

Is your phone on Airplane Mode? If it's not, large cellular data packets will cause the same sound.
Shouldn't be anything bad, even if you specifically knew that your phone wasn't doing it before.
Automatic updates to Play Services and ConfigUpdater can change device behavior at any time, such as cellular radios (drivers).
It could also be a new cell tower in the area causing the change in behavior. Newer cell towers are taking advantage of the latest frequencies, so that could explain a change in behavior.
If your phone is on Airplane Mode, and the sounds are appearing, you might want to check your room (and nearby rooms) for other cell phones. If you have a reason to be worried, look for bugs also.


text:
How can I import new SMS into my phone without wiping the current SMS?
Situation:  Old phone broke, got a new phone.  Used new phone for a week and accumulated a fair amount of SMS (on a fresh new phone)
Decided to finally restore from previous phone backup that was a month old.  Restoring from backup wiped all the new SMS I have made.
Luckily I have made a backup of the New SMS before they were wiped by the old backup.
But now I want to import the new SMS (located in the new backup) into my phone without wiping the old SMS.
How can I do so?
I used MyBackup Pro to do the backup/restore.  It does not seem to have an option of "Merge" ...

Have you seen this?  I'm not sure if that suggestion requires manual editing or not.  If you redid those backups with Titanium Backup then this would be an option.

I was able to use this answer and an SQL Manager I downloaded from the Internet.
Essentially, using my mad SQL skills, I browsed into sms table, did an UPDATE on _id field as per table structure of rerware Backup Pro to avoid primary key collisions, then did the merges per the linked answer. I later uploaded the database back into my phone.
I'm doing a restore now.  If I don't come back complaining, it means it worked!
yep it worked.  I think I missed some SMS from a single person, but that was not related to the above machinations.


text:
How do I unlock my device after locking it with Device Manager?
I locked my phone using Device Manager because I lost it. It was returned to me, so now how do I unlock it?

Android Device Manager asked you to set a new password when you locked it.  Use that password.


text:
ES File Explorer shows empty /data/ folder
I'm looking for the whatsapp key file on my phone (which should be stored in /data/data/com.whatsapp/files/key).
Therefore I:

Rooted the phone Galaxy S5 (Android 4.4.2)
Checked the root status with Root Checker (it's rooted!)
Downloaded ES File Explorer
Opened /data/ folder in order to find the key file with ES File Explorer...

but the folder is empty!
Is that folder really empty or am I missing something?

ES File Explorer does not show /data on any of my rooted devices.
Not on my S5, not on my Note 2, or HTC One M7. I've heard other people easily using ES with root, but it never asks me for root permissions, just shows blank folders, like you.
I use jrummy's Root Browser on my S5, but any "root file explorer" will do.
ES File Explorer just doesn't cut it.
Hope this solves the problem.

I never liked ES very much (I use Root Explorer), so suggesting another app gets a +1 from me. If you still have it installed though, check out my answer and see if it works for you.

Yeah, that ticker works great for the /system directory on my M7. Everywhere else is spotty. ES is a great project, they really sealed the deal with the LAN features, animated GIF support, and gestures, but for root is not an ideal situation.

I'm possibly one of the lucky people for whom ES just works. Cutting across chipsets from MTK to QC to Tegra and Android versions from 4.2 to 6.0 . Common Denominator: SuperSU.

..I'm also one of the lucky people for whom ES just works, and I use SuperSu. Coincidence ? ES has tons of features, but there's other, nicer file managers out there. (I like the Cyanogenmod file manager, which, although somewhat feature-bare, works well. It also does root properly).

I get the same issue as with ES file explorer on my S7... the directory is empty. The Root Explorer option mentioned in the other answer is disabled for me so maybe that is the real solution regardless of the app used.

You have to configure ES to use root.
Menu → Tools → turn Root Explorer to "ON".

Source.

Didnt work for me :(

@AlbertoFontana : If you've browsed into /data/ without enabling that option and later, you enabled that option and provided root access, and then again browsed into same /data/, you wouldn't see anything. I suppose it has something to do with ES' cache. Force-stop that explorer app and then start again. If it doesn't show anything then clear its data. If it still doesn't show anything then either you're not using stable SuperSU or your device is not properly rooted. I'm giving my assurance  because that app works perfectly on my rooted Android 4.2.1, 4.4.2, 5.0.2, 5.1.1 and 6.0.1.

Didn't work for me either, just gave me some list saying choose from this stuff, and Iv'e no idea what any of it was.  All I want is to browse it the same way that I do with OI file manager, except OI can't see root so I'm going to try some of the other options suggested here.


text:
How to protect all my passwords saved in Google if I lost a phone?
I save many passwords in Chrome. I used Chrome in my laptop and my android phone. If I lose my phone, how I can protect my passwords?

If you had Android Device Manager enabled on your phone, you could simply log in online to the device manager and lock your phone: https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager

If I lose my laptop? How I can protect my password in laptop?

http://superuser.com/a/512470/379821 For PC

As Rexford commented, you should install and configure Android Device Manager on your device so that you can remotely lock it out.
You should also use full-device encryption, so that the passwords cannot be retrieved via physical access.
Finally, if your device's Chrome is set up to sync passwords, you should sign into that account on Chrome for PC and clear all of the saved passwords so that they will be removed the next time the device syncs: