text:
Disable or prompt VoIP calling on Android Whatsapp
I recently updated my Whatsapp on Android. I noticed that it allows voice calls with the new version. There is a contact that resides in the same city as me that I would like to place a call to. However, Whatsapp doesn't give me the option of making a normal call when I press the call button from within whatsapp, rather than Internet call. I would have to exit the app and call with the normal phone app. Is there an option to disable this or at least prompt which app to use?
I appreciate that Whatsapp coming up with new initiatives, but please allow users choose between Internet or carrier call. Is there a new version that allows this or do I have to wait for it?

Go to the contact. Open a message thread by tapping,  then tap on the nam/number to view contact. At the top right (on Android) is the menu button. Tapping it brings up the option to 'view in address book'. This is the only way to do it right now.

Just looking at the FAQ on Official WhatsApp site for placing a call, it seems that there is no provision at this moment to place NORMAL phone call via WhatsApp.
Because WhatsApp may want to promote their NEW feature (VoIP Calls), they may not have included an option to place NORMAL phone call.
Earlier, since WhatsApp did not have VoIP call feature, it was OK for them to take user to PHONE App and let them place a NORMAL call, but now since WhatsApp itself supports voice calling, they don't want users to use ANOTHER app (Normal PHONE app for ordinary calls).
Just on same note: Check Google's very own Hangout App. When you try to use it for voice calling, it too don't take you to PHONE app to place NORMAL call, neither it gives user option to choose an alternate APP. It simply places a voice call using VoIP!

But then again, they did not think about times when we don't have data coverage. Its just stupid not to have fallback features.

AFAIK, No VoIP app (including Google Hangout) allows user to place NORMAL Calls. It's just that earlier WhatsApp did not have voice calling feature, they might have kept an option to place Normal call. But with introduction of VoIP in WhatsApp, I doubt if they will allow normal calling!

In the developing world, the majority of people have prepaid cards. When they are empty or there is no data network, they can't receive a voip call, but can receive normal calls. If I'm urgently trying to talk to someone and the checks doesn't became marked, I usually call them. Now with this terrible feature, it isn't possible.


text:
How to completely remove Clean Master?
I am having some troubles with my android phone. It's a Nexus 5 running CyanogenMod 11.
I once installed Clean Master from the Google Play Store and decided (non long after) to uninstall it.
The problem I have is that CleanMaster seems to be still installed as I can sometimes see some popups claiming that "CM Game Booster" could free some RAM/space whatever or even that my android phone is too hot (which is wrong).
I used the app '/system/app mover' from F-DROID to see if something was installed but I couldn't find anything (from user and system apps) related to Clean Master.
The problem is I gave CleanMaster root access (for '15 minutes') when I installed it.
How can I uninstall CleanMaster ?
Thanks
UPDATE
The strangest thing is that CleanMaster was installed 3 months ago, uninstalled 1 week later and I only noticed those popups last week. As the popups doesn't disappear untill I quit it (or press clean.. which I don't do) I'm quite sure the problem was not here before last week and nothing was installed last week or the week before..

It is possible that CleanMaster installed an app, when you allowed root access to it. Search for apps and sort for installation date, then search for suspicious apps and uninstall them.

I know but there really is nothing that seems to be suspicious :/

Have you looked at system applications? There is usually no install date but looking at the last modification time of the related files in /system/app and /system/priv-app should give you more information.

As said in the post I used an app from F-DROID to investigate in user and system apps. Nothing relevant found but to be honest I don't know a lot about all those system apps which names are often not meaningful to me

Could you provide the download link to Clean Master that you downloaded and uninstalled? (there are some apps that have similar name, and I wanted to experiment with it)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cleanmaster.mguard

Have you cleaned dalvik-cache since then? Sometimes things will remain, they don't get cleanly uninstalled. Did you also remove the entry for CleanMaster from the Superuser app? Can you please provide a screenshot of the popups? Also you don't mention where and when the popups occur (what apps are being used and your activity).

@FromBabylon Can you find cleanmaster with Titanium Backup?

@jonvon73 if you're the same user as FromBabylon, I suggest you to request for account merging.

I'm not jonvon73.
I didn't clean dalvik-cache after uninstalling CleanMaster. I did remove it from superuser
I won't be able to provide any screenshot as I've erased all data of the phone. Thanks for your help

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Can I use the CyanogenMod installer on Samsung Galaxy S3 (EE)?
(Note: EE is a british phone service provider.)
I was wondering if I could use the CyanogenMod installer on my Samsung Galaxy S3? It's in the supported devices list.

I can't think of any reason why you couldn't try it, because it should either work and install CyanogenMod or it won't manage to install anything.  It doesn't always work with my SPH-L710 S3 despite my being able to flash with Odin just fine.
Just do not install the wrong firmware on your own.  There are over ten different revisions of the S3, and going against what's showing on http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/SGS3FAQ for which specific model you fall under (most are considered d2lte now, but not all!) will likely end in a bricked phone.  The differences between the international and the primarily US-only versions are somewhat notorious for bricking the careless.

Yes you can, but I would advise you not to install CyanogenMod, because some parts of your device may not work (WiFi, Bluetooth, camera flash).

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


text:
Return my S4 Mini 4.2.2 Jelly Bean to stock firmware
I want to return my S4 mini 4.2.2 Jelly Bean to stock firmware, but can't find the specific ROM for baseband version I919XXUAMDE/ build numbber JDQ39.I9190XXUAMDE. You could help me a lot if you told me the way to install it - I want to install it from cell phone because I can't use USB cable.
Technical details:
Model nr : GT-I9190
Android version  -  4.2.2 // Kernel Version : 3.4.5 whl@server0-br#1
Software version -- V86.08
baseband version I919XXUAMDE
build numbber JDQ39.I9190XXUAMDE

If you do manage to find it, to install it you'll need to download it to your phone, boot into recovery, make a backup, wipe your /system, /data, /cache, and dalvik cache (NOT internal Memory or your SD card if you have one) then flash the file you downloaded.

But the problem is that I CAN'T find the appropriate stock ROM for my S4 mini ! ! !   That's why I need your help. - You could tell me where to find it.

Can I use a stock rom of a similar baseband version???


text:
Why is the battery usage graph so useless?
Is it just my phone (Nexus 5, 5.1) or did the battery usage graph become useless in Lollipop?
I've attached a graph from today that, at first (and second) glance, makes no sense at all. This is after about an hour of sitting idle with the screen off.

If someone could please explain what's going on I'd really appreciate it.

What happened to the other 97% of usage?

Also, I did ask for someone to explain what's happening. So if you know what's being shared in the image you should be able to provide an answer, correct?

The percentages do not refer to actual battery use, e. g. on your device, those 1% marks don't mean that specific application has used the 1% of the battery.

Yes. It has become rather useless. You can't know how many hours passed since you unplugged it, and now the percentages do not add up to 100% (as they should in any rational universe)

Related: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/106921/battery-percentages-per-app-nowhere-near-total


text:
Are applications from "Unknown Sources" restricted by permissions?
I know that Google Play applications cannot do anything that is not spelled out in their AndroidManifest.xml and will be blocked from doing so. I want to know if non-Google Play applications are locked down with the same security measure.
Will Android tell me what permissions they require before installation and block functions that use permissions not noted in the manifest of non-Google Play apps? Because Google says:

In the event that an application attempts to use a protected feature which has not been declared in the application's manifest, the permission failure will typically result in a security exception being thrown back to the application. Protected API permission checks are enforced at the lowest possible level to prevent circumvention. An example of the user messaging when an application is installed while requesting access to protected APIs is shown in Figure 2.

Does this apply to non-Google Play apps?

An app has to declare all its permissions requirements, because they are granted to it at installation.
See the section "Using Permissions" here: http://developer.android.com/guide/topics/security/permissions.html

So then the benefit of the Google Play store is the simple fact that Google is controlling it and watching out for exploits. Whatever internal security Android has for Google Play apps still applies to apps outside of the store.

Pretty much, yes. It's also why you should always always always check the permissions.

Will it tell you which permissions are required for the app (should I make this a separate question)?

Google Play will tell you what permissions the app has declared before you install it. Installing from an .apk will show you the permissions at the beginning of the installation process.

Zero day exploits still can attack users from Google Play until they are removed. It's basically just regulation. Amazon's store could be just as secure. Even noting the permissions, hackers could find some vulnerabilities.

Will Android tell me what permissions they require before installation?

In general, yes. In most (if not all) Android devices, there's a system app called "Package installer" which handles the installation/upgrade of an app. When you install an APK file from unknown source, this app will run and show all permissions the app requests, which looks like this:

Package installer on KitKat

Will Android block functions that use permissions not noted in the manifest of non-Google Play apps?

During installation, Android doesn't check/test if a function requires specific permission to run. In other word, user can still install the app. However, the app will throw SecurityException (that may crash/behave unpredictably/do nothing, depends on how it's handled) when running the function that needs a permission, but is not declared in the manifest file. This applies to all apps, regardless from where it's installed.
Example: doing network operation without declaring <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" /> will crash the app with stack trace:
E/AndroidRuntime(18698): Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: Permission denied (missing INTERNET permission?)

.


text:
Can anyone explain Android storage space?
My Hannspree tablet running Android 4.4.2 has 3 distinct storage locations:

Internal storage - 1GB,
Internal SD card - 12GB,
Removable SD card - 32GB.

What's the point of the internal SD card if all the apps insist on using the Internal storage of 1GB? Most of that 1GB is occupied by Google apps I can't delete.

More information:
I thought I had moved all the apps that were possible, but I found a few more. Available space has now increased from 119MB to 190MB. With one exception, all the Google apps do not have that option and also many of the others including many of the real space hogs.
There's a trick I have found useful but its effects are temporary. What I do is uninstall all the Google app updates and that free up around 400MB. When the updates are reapplied, there is still an increase in space. Uninstalling and reinstalling apps like Firefox also has a useful result.
There seems to be some sort of software level sensor which says that space cannot be allowed to fall below about 100MB. Installing a new app with size 2MB or updating an existing one can fail when space left is 100MB. Perhaps you are familiar with Zinio. It quotes available space as 12GB and then puts data into the 1GB partition?

How disk space is used on Android device?

You can always resize your partitions (if you have root). I've doubled my /data partition (the place where apps are stored), by reducing the emulated SD card and enlarging the data partition. It is not the easiest task, but it may be worth your while since I think that your device is not much usable otherwise.

The first partition (Internal Storage 1GB) is the actual block of system memory. Things like the OS are stored here. The second (Internal SD Card 12GB) is an emulated SD card, but still technically part of your system memory. Most apps want to install to what they see as the system memory by default, which in your case is partitioned into a 1GB chunk. Have you tried moving your apps to the internal memory/SD card?

Jason, didn't you mess up /system and /data partitions? The former is where "the OS" (and system apps) are stored, and is read-only in normal mode. /data is where the user-installed apps go to, and that's a different partition. For details, see our storage tag-wiki ;)

Open ES File Explorer and under download manager select "enable ES download manager". ES download manager has the 12gb SD card as its default location. If it's not the default you can set it to be.
Big apps are now downloading onto the 12bg partition.

This'll work for downloaded files, but certainly not for apps installed.

authors: Ирина Курыщкина


text:
Is there a way from where I can keep watch on other mobile screen?
I really would like to know if I can keep a check on other android mobile devices.
Scenario is I have Android application Developers team with me and gave them phones and tablets for testing and development.I want to keep track of their work and would like to see their screens anytime I want.
If anyone have answer to it please let me know.

Here's an article showing some options if you have a PC:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/mobileblog/entry/mirroring_an_android_device_screen_onto_your_desktop
In my limited experience, realtime viewing is tricky.  If screen snapshots are OK, I'd recommend Teamviewer as I've always found their products robust:
http://www.teamviewer.com/en/products/mobile-device-support.aspx

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. Otherwise, your answer becomes useless in case the link dies. For further hints, please see: How do I write a good answer.


text:
How to root Micromax Canvas HD A116 device running Android 4.2.1?
I have never rooted a phone before & did some primary search on xda forums for Micromax Canvas HD A116.
I found a link to root the phone but the steps listed on it are a little incomprehensible to me.
Can anyone please provide a detailed step by step procedure to root my device from the xda forum link or your own method in simple, specific steps?
My phone is running Android 4.2.1. If any other information is needed about my phone, please leave a comment.

Have you tried rooting it the way TechxcyT shows?

The link shows rooting with Motochopper Root Tool.

You can root it easily by using the Framaroot application. Here is a link to the XDA thread, where you can find more information on the app http://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/framaroot/root-framaroot-one-click-apk-to-root-t2130276

Thanks, but could you post (edit) the steps for how to use Framaroot as well. In case the link goes down and the reader managed to download the .apk from some other source, the steps would prove to be  helpful.


text:
how to install android untivirus and instert an external SD card for storage purposes
My android has been hit by a virus and I can't recover my space even if I delete some files it still says I have 0 B and when I insert an 8 GB memory card its not reading what should I do

Ok first, antivirus in the classical sense is almost useless on android. Due to the strong security sandboxing, antivirus apps can only detect malicious apps based on signatures but cannot stop or remove them. So you need to take care yourself to get rid of the malware.
Second, viruses in the classical sense also rarely exist on android, so please provide more infos on what exactly your malware is doing. If I got you right, you have some problem with blocked/filled up storage.
Third, just to exclude something completely independent of malware activity, did you ever use the newly inserted sd card in an android phone?  You may need to format the card before it can be used, see storage settings.
Summary: please check if your sd card is properly formatted and also provide more details on your problem and the malware you assume you have on your phone.


text:
Motochopper root failure message
I want to use Motochopper to root my Samsung Galaxy Fame, but I found this failure message at the end. Does anyone know how to fix this?
[*]
[*] Motochopper: Android root exploit (Linux/OS X version)
[*] v1.1
[*] by Dan Rosenberg (@djrbliss)
[*]
[*] Tested on the Motorola Razr HD, Razr M, Razr Maxx HD, and Atrix HD.
[*] Supports lots of other devices as well. ;-)
[*]
[*] Before continuing, ensure that USB debugging is enabled and that
[*] your phone is connected via USB.
[*]
[*] WARNING: This will likely void the warranty on your device. I am
[*] not responsible for any damage to your phone as a result using this
[*] tool.
[*]
[*] Press enter to root your phone...

[*]
[*] Waiting for device...
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
[*] Device found.
[*] Pushing exploit...
5268 KB/s (1283460 bytes in 0.237s)
[*] Pushing root tools...
5932 KB/s (366952 bytes in 0.060s)
5410 KB/s (1867568 bytes in 0.337s)
4336 KB/s (1578585 bytes in 0.355s)
    pkg: /data/local/tmp/Superuser.apk
Success
[*] Rooting phone...
[+] This may take a few minutes.
[-] Failure.
[*] Cleaning up...
[*] Exploit complete. Press enter to reboot and exit.

Details:
Computer: OSX
Device: Samsung Galaxy Fame GT-S681OP
Android Version: 4.1.2
The problem: I get the failure message just before cleaning up and this is the run.sh file:
echo "[*]"
echo "[*] Motochopper: Android root exploit (Linux/OS X version)"
echo "[*] v1.1"
echo "[*] by Dan Rosenberg (@djrbliss)"
echo "[*]"
echo "[*] Tested on the Motorola Razr HD, Razr M, Razr Maxx HD, and Atrix HD."
echo "[*] Supports lots of other devices as well. ;-)"
echo "[*]"
echo "[*] Before continuing, ensure that USB debugging is enabled and that"
echo "[*] your phone is connected via USB."
echo "[*]"
echo "[*] WARNING: This will likely void the warranty on your device. I am"
echo "[*] not responsible for any damage to your phone as a result using this"
echo "[*] tool."
echo "[*]"
echo "[*] Press enter to root your phone..."

read -n 1

echo "[*]"

platform=`uname`
if [ $(uname -p) = 'powerpc' ]; then
        echo "[-] PowerPC is not supported."
        exit 1
fi

if [ "$platform" = 'Darwin' ]; then
        adb="./adb.osx"
        version="OS X"
else
        adb="./adb.linux"
        version="Linux"
fi
chmod +x $adb

$adb kill-server

echo "[*] Waiting for device..."
$adb wait-for-device

echo "[*] Device found."

echo "[*] Pushing exploit..."
$adb push pwn /data/local/tmp/
$adb shell chmod 755 /data/local/tmp/pwn

echo "[*] Pushing root tools..."
$adb push su /data/local/tmp/
$adb push busybox /data/local/tmp/
$adb install Superuser.apk

echo "[*] Rooting phone..."
$adb shell /data/local/tmp/pwn

echo "[*] Cleaning up..."
$adb shell rm /data/local/tmp/pwn
$adb shell rm /data/local/tmp/su
$adb shell rm /data/local/tmp/busybox

echo "[*] Exploit complete. Press enter to reboot and exit."
read -n 1
$adb reboot
$adb kill-server

Here is the problem:

echo "[*] Rooting phone..."
$adb shell /data/local/tmp/pwn

echo "[*] Cleaning up..."
$adb shell rm /data/local/tmp/pwn
$adb shell rm /data/local/tmp/su
$adb shell rm /data/local/tmp/busy

so $adb shell /data/local/tmp/pwn is causing problems, but how to fix? Anyone knows?


text:
Custom Alarm tone in 5.1
I am aware that by creating folder named Alarms, Ringtones and Notifications and placing audio files inside them will list those audio files as appropriate custom tones. However in my rooted stock Nexus 5 running Android 5.1 the alarm tones does not show the media files while it works perfectly for notification and ringtones.
Is this a bug in Android 5.1? I was able to achieve this in KitKat.

This worked for my 5.0:

Stored the files in the Alarms folder (don't think this will be necessary)
Go to file with ES Explorer (or other file explorer)
Play the file with the built in media player of ES
Tap on settings
Set as ringtone and choose Alarm
Go to Clock > Alarms and use your new music file as wake up alarm

Probably there is a option (just once/always) for choosing a ringtone in the Alarm menu. I think, I clicked on always by accident. (clearing cache/setting did not worked out) But this will be a pretty simple work around ;)

I am glad that this worked in my case as well (5.1).  Interesting ways to solve an issue - that's the power of community.

Just wanted to chip in to say, that the audio file needs to be in the Alarms folder.

Plug your phone into PC.
Open folder → go into internal storage → alarms. File type that has worked for me is Mp3 and M4A.

I have not found any other way for this to work. If you want to stay native to the phone and not download any apps then you have to use a computer.


text:
Reverse Tethering not working in Android phone vis usb
I went through this tutorial http://blog.mathieu.carbou.me/post/60454997009/reverse-usb-tethering-with-android-2-2 to reverse tether my android phone to use PC internet via USB.
Using following commands I am successfully able to create bridge br0.
sudo ifconfig eth0 0.0.0.0
sudo ifconfig usb0 0.0.0.0
sudo brctl addbr br0
sudo brctl addif br0 eth0
sudo brctl addif br0 usb0
sudo ifconfig br0 up
sudo dhclient br0

br0 has ip address : 172.16.138.102
My android phone is showing rndis0. I used following command using adb shell as root.
netcfg rndis0 dhcp

rndis0 was assigned ip : 172.16.138.109/24
Then I added default gateway for rndis0 interface.
route add default gw 172.16.138.102 dev rndis0

Still internet was not working on android. I tried several other tutorials but same info was mentioned everywhere. Am I missing something or I need to do something more for running internet?


text:
My Samsung Note 8.0 GT-N5100 is stuck in a boot loop. I want to retrieve data ... is there any hope?
I am about to press "wipe data/factory reset" on the recovery menu, but have found this place and you are my last best hope!
I hope to rescue data from S-note and other apps, plus loads of photos and videos (although these are mainly backed up on google+)
I am not an expert but can and will follow difficult instructions if you explain them slowly!
Thank you for your time.

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts, Louise! I've just fixed up the tags on your question to make a better fit. Please check with their tag-wikis for first aid: boot-loop would be the one to start with; if you've solved that part, the other part should be much easier (or even become obsolete, as your problem is gone then). If you still need it, the data-recovery tag-wiki should get you started. Please let us know your progress, and good luck to you!

I have read throughthe bootloop link but am still unsure what to do .. here are my option:

reboot system now ... this makes no difference. - apply update from ADB ... - apply update from external storage ... - wipe data/ factory reset ... - wipe cache partiltion ... apply update from cache.

so nothing that ressembles the commands suggested apart form thre factory reset, which I am avoiding for now ...

Louise, you're talking about the recovery menu – while the boot-loop stuff talks about safe-mode. Please follow the latter link for more details, and combine that with the corresponding text from the boot-loop tag-wiki.

thks, Izzy - so I have tried many combos of power/vol up/vol down/home and still no safe mode. I get a Custom OS screen from power+vol down, with a warning (can cause critical probs) and choice: continue/cancel. I've cancelled each time. Otherwise, that and the recovery menu (described earlier) are all I get. It powers up to the id screen then twirling design and tune, then a pulsating blue-white SAMSUNG sign which remains til I turn it off. (At this point the back and menu panels each side of the home button lit up, it vibrated and the screen/quill pen appeared) Battery charge also shows.

Please check with the Samsung help pages: How do I start my Samsung Galaxy Note® 8.0 in Safe mode?

yeah I did that already and have just tried again, I can't get past stage 2 as the lock screen display doesn't come up :(

OK, I'm out then. Hopefully someone having a Samsung Note can be of further assistance.

what would happen I wonder, if I select wipe cache partition?

really grateful for your input, Izzy!

Nothing that hurts – go ahead and try. As the term "cache" implies, this is redundant data. Might even solve your problem, in fact.

oh well. I tried. nothing changed.  so I plucked up courage and wiped data/ factory reset.

Nothing has changed. Looks like I have a broken device. And now I need to find the receipts and get it back to Tesco's where I bought it nearly a year ago. sigh. thanks for everything, everyone!

spoke too soon ... left it for a few mins and there's signs of life! so the rest worked ... :)

So wiping cache did it? Glad to read your issue is solved! Would you make it an answer (describing what you did so it solved), and accept this answer then? That would help others with a similar issue to find your solution. Thanks in advance!

no, wiping the cache did nothing. I decided to go ahead and reset it to factory settings. sad but better than having a broken device I suppose. there seems to have been no other way out.

That was a rather quick decision. Of course a factory-reset solves it – but now all your data is lost, which could have been prevented. Nevertheless: as it solved your issue, you should make that an answer :)

I tried various suggestions to get past the bootloop but could not even get into safe mode. All I had to work with were the options on the recovery menu. Clearing the cache partition seemed to make no difference, so I eventually gave up and selected wipe data/factory reset.
This also seemed top have no effect. However, the device unexpectedly closed itself down and when I restarted it, there were signs of life and it booted up again for the first time for weeks!
I went through the start-up procedures carefully and selected "restore" for any google/ Samsung data and applications, even though it said I had not backed any up ... and it seems that all my data has not been lost after all! I already knew that my pics and vids were on google+ so was not too disappointed to find quite an empty gallery, but was delighted to find ALL my S-note docs were restored, and a number of my apps.
Some - quite a few - are missing - all my kindle ebooks for example, but I will see if these are transferrable, and there are apps I can find again if I need them.
I would recommend anyone with a Samsung device to have a Samsung account and enable "back-up" - also to save as much data as poss onto the micro sim card.
Thanks to Izzy and everyone for helping me through this traumatic afternoon!

If I'm not mistaken, for pics and videos, I believe you should be able to plug it into a pc using a USB cable and move the folders you want to a backup directory. For App data it may be hit and miss, some you may be able to find, but some will not be recoverable.
Here are links that may be helpful to finding S-note related files:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1423592
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1455282
Mind if I ask what caused the boot loop in the first place?

Thank you for this ... when I plugged it into a laptop using USB it did not register ... I thought that may be because it had not booted up and could not be recognised by the laptop.

I fear that it may have stopped booting because I had let the device's memory get too full ... is that likely? I have tried swapping in an empty micro-sd card in case it could find more memory there to get started but this is probably just highlighting my ignorance!

Was the device on when you plugged it into your computer? It should register if your in the recovery menu. Are you using stock recovery?

I have tried again, and made sure it was on and in Android System Recovery (which I reached by pressing on and vol up simultaneously) and this time on the desktop computer, and still it did not appear on My Computer. Not sure what stock recovery is ...

@LouiseOwen Excellent to hear you got it working again, sorry I was unable to help further. Backup is always the best choice when working with electronics. Nandroid (the "n" is intentional) back up is the official unofficial method for android users, as it creates an EXACT copy of your phone in its current state. (apps, app data, contacts, text messages, pics, literally everything.) The only downside is this requires setting up a custom recovery.

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


text:
Odin Write Operation Failing on GT-N7000
My phone appears to be in a bootloop as it is stuck on the Samsung Galaxy Note GT-N7000 Screen. I cannot access recovery mode, I can only access Downloading Mode. It started when I used Rom Manager to flash CWM to my device and do a backup. I have tried flashing a stock ROM to my device but ODIN (v3.9) gives me the following error:
<ID:0/003> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> N7000XXLT9_N7000XXLT3_N7000ORALT3_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/003> Odin v.3 engine (ID:3)..
<ID:0/003> File analysis..
<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/003> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

And shows a FAIL at the top in red.
Does anyone have any suggestions? Any help would be much appreciated.
Is trying a PIT file a good idea in this case? Where would I get one?
Thank you.


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Bugs w/ SMS w/ Iphones
When in a group chat with iphone users I often get:

Messages that are received late
Messages that send late
Error messages stating a have received a "multimedia message" from one
member of the group chat, when no message was sent

I understand that imessage and iphones don't play nice in general. But are there any steps that I can take to reduce these issues. Any advice at all?
(Using Nexus 6, but have experienced this problem on the 5 and Galaxy Nexus. All T-mobile.)

It seems when iphone owners deactvate imessage you can send and receive sms to/from them without problems. It seems lollipop cannot read sms because it seems an imessage and not a sms. A clear bug.


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keyboard will not show up using play store
I have a Note 4 and when I use play store to shows the mic, if i move over to the left and touch the screen the keyboard only pops up for a second. I did a reset still the same, hope someone can help

Try disabling Google Voice typing. For this, goto Settings>Language and Input


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Samsung Galaxy s5 android update
What is the star icon mean beside the WiFi symbol for the Samsung Galaxy s5. It appeared after I downloaded the new update.

I am assuming you have updated your mobile to lollipop.
If so the star icon basically notifies you that you will be notified of priority interruptions.
Go to sound settings and check for an option called interruptions and then select "Always Interrupt".


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Downgrade samsung galaxy Note 3
I have samsung galaxy note 3(sm900)
Recently i updated my note 3 from kikat (4.4.2) to lollipop (5.0) via ota
Due to this my phone became very laggy and slow and often app crashes
I wish to downgrade my phone from lollipop to kitkat
How can i downgrade it

I tried searching on google but there was no specific answer to my query thats why i posted over here.

Why go back??
Try a factory reset. I have a note 3 Exynos  on lollipop and it works really well.
IMO the mobile is faster than it used to be on kitkat.
However if you want to downgrade, the download the latest version of kitkat and flash it using Odin.
Edit: Take the downgrade as a last resort since there is no sure way of knowing.. Sorry.

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


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No notification of new email received on SGN4 lock screen
Can anyone please advise on how to activate a function that will allow me to view lock screen notifications when an email is received just as I can with missed calls and sms messages etc.
The only way I become aware an email has been received is by noticing the addition of a status bar icon once the phone has been unlocked.
If it helps I am currently using the stock email client and run with kitkat 4.4.4.
To date I have tried all I can to find this facility but to no avail. Many thanks in advance.

Before you get the Lollipop OTA upgrade, your only option is to use a third-party lockscreen. Some good ones are:

L Lock screen by Lucky Coin
CM Locker by Cheetah Mobile

You may want to be careful about recommending Cheetah apps based on a new report out about Cheetah, and Google Play actions against them. See this: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-bans-600-apps-play-store/.

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


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How do i change the way contacts display?
My contacts are in list form but my favorites are a thumbnail with a picture, etc. How do I get my contacts to change to this display?

It isn't supported by default in the stock Contacts provider. However, you can use a third party contact management application that allows thumbnail view. One good option would be Contacts+.


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USB Debugging in Brick phone
Is it possible to enable USB Debugging in a bricked phone? my phone is not started so for Fastboot mode it requires usb debugging mode enable. but i didn't enable it. Is it possible?

You shouldn't need USB debugging for fastboot, as Android isn't even involved in the fastboot mode.

Its impossible...
Everyone should enable debugging mode....
Otherwise if anything happens to your  phone its impossible to recover.

"If anything" is a broad term. USB Debugging would help as long as you can enter Android OS, fastboot doesn't need it enabled, and Recovery mode doesn't need it too. Also, for devices up to Android 4.2, having that option enabled can be troublesome since unlike 4.3+ debugging isn't authorized by user.

Additionally: how do you back that impossibility? Without giving some background, that's not really convincing. You should at least name the reasons. In this specific case, as Arch already pointed out, it would not even be necessary to enable USB debugging; so how does your answer help the OP?


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How to stop erase of data after clicking erase option mistakenly in android device manager
I have lost my motog2 mobile and mistakenly pressed to erase the data after using the option lock of android device manager.And later on got to know that the option deletes total data and I will not be able to atleast track my mobile location.so I want to stop the erase option to perform, before my mobile got internet connection and got data erased.please suggest a way for this.

Unfortunately, if you issued the command to erase the phone, there is no taking it back.
If the device you sent the erase command to does not have service, it would not receive the command; but then you would not be able to track the disconnected device either.
Once it gets an internet connection, and receives the command to erase, it will start.
If you happen to find the device prior to it receiving the command to erase, you may be able to remove Android Device Manager to prevent loss of data.


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Installing CM10.2 - Stuck on Download Mode
I have a Galaxy SIII (GT-i9300) and I'm following the instructions for installing CyanogenMod on it here.
However, when following step 4 of the first part:

Boot the Galaxy S III (International) into download mode. Hold Home, Volume Down & Power. Accept the disclaimer on the device. Then, insert the USB cable into the device

I get stuck in the (in)famous Downloading... Do not turn off target screen. I don't even know if this is expected and if I should wait it to download something (download what? I have no idea). If this is not expected, what should I do to go on with the process?
I have checked other questions, but I couldn't tell if my case is the same, since other people state that they got into download mode by accident

Why are you installing CM10.2 from download mode. just use recovery mode

as far as I recall, I've always flashed my CM roms in recovery mode. then when the update feature came out, I just used that


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Can I charge my tablet with a plug that has different output voltage and current?
Can I charge my tablet with a plug that is for an old fashioned mobile phone? The plug has a different output voltage and output current.

I wouldn't try it with a different output voltage.

What are the output specs of the charger?
With a different amperage, there's no risk unless the amperage is very high. A different voltage might cause problems. Modern devices need 5V and anywhere between 500mA to 2A. Don't try something like 9V. Also, using high amperage to charge is not good for long term health of the battery.


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How can I keep my mobile data connection up when establishing a non-internet capable WiFi connection?
I'm using a Raspberry Pi to stream music wirelessly inside my car. The Pi has a wireless network without real a exit to the outside world. I want to connect to that 'internet-less' network and still be able to stream music with my mobile LTE connection. The PI works perfectly with iPhones. I set a static IP on the iPhone without specifying DNS and works as intended. I can't achieve that with my Nexus 5 (Android 5.1). As soon as I connect to the Pi network, the LTE network is gone so I cant stream Pandora, GMusic, nothing.
How can I achieve this in Android 5.1? Is it possible?

Related: How do I connect to a wifi ap and 3g network simultaneously? / Route Application through Mobile Data when on Wifi. Note the two seem to contradict: the second one describes the general rules, while the first gives a possible solution nobody here confirmed yet.


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How can I trigger a WiFi passwords restore?
I know that when you first setup a new phone you can choose to restore your WiFi passwords and installed apps from your Google account. I've even tried that a few times and it sure works. However this time for some reasons it didn't restore anything. The checkbox for restoring them is checked, but nothing is restoring.
Is there a way to manually triggering this restore process? It would suck if I'd have to retype all the passwords one by one, by hand.

You are connected via 4G or some other non-WiFi network, correct? Also, did you enable backups first?

@JoeSewell I'm connected to the internet via WiFi. Also I did enable backup.


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How can I add a Google Now card from corresponding search result card?
I am interested in exchange rates for some currency pairs. So I would like to see updates for them in my Google Now. Google search result for query usd eur gives nice card (as shown in the picture below). Is it possible to somehow "convert" it to Google Now card? And with updates?

Click the image for larger variant

It's not possible to do that, no. You can add each currency to your interested stocks by opening the Google Now menu > Customize > Stocks, but I don't know if that will do what you're looking for.

This is technically the correct answer, though based on my experience it only shown stocks, but not forex (although you can add it).


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Can i restore the backup directly from pc . without enabling debud mode... or how can i fix the problem with black screen
my device is totally bricked after flashing stock rom with sp flash tool .. it start up with start sound but display show black everything else work well but display is the problem .. i have CWM backup of my own phone and i have scatter file too .. plzz is there any solution regarding my problem .. can i restore the backup directly from pc . without enabling debud mode... or how can i fix the problem with black display ... plzz healp me to solve ..
thank u.

Can you get into Recovery mode?  (Please put some effort into formatting and spelling, this is hard to understand.)

You're probably going to need to specify exactly what model phone you have, because not all phones bootstrap the same way.
In general, however, if you can't get the phone to go into it's equivalent of Download/Odin mode (where it simply doesn't do anything except listen over USB for an upload of a firmware file) with the majority of the phones on the market, you're done.  There's pretty much nothing else to do that wouldn't require special hardware.


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Nexus 5: /storage/emulated/0 not mounted
Everything was working fine, and then one day I noticed some errors coming from Google Play store and I couldn't access any of my media. It seems that my external storage in /storage/emulated/0 is not mounted and that applications are looking for data there and not finding it.
I'm using MultiRom, so I flashed a new CyanogenMod 11 ROM and the same thing happened.
I tried CyanogenMod 12 ROMs but they don't seem to boot at all.
I also noticed that my date and time were not right and Whatsapp kept on telling me my date and time are not accurate even though I set them correctly.
I also installed Ubuntu on my phone using MultiROM and for some reason it appears to still be working fine so far so for now I'm using that.
Can anyone help me with this?

OK, so I finally fixed this problem.
I wiped my phone completely after backing up my data and I used fastboot to flash an all new recovery image and installed a new ROM but still the problem persisted.
Then I noticed that in the recovery I keep getting: "error mounting /persist".
I found and followed this link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/general/guide-to-fix-persist-partition-t2821576
And the problem was fixed!

try rebooting to recovery mode(assuming you have custom recovery installed) and mount data from there. hope it helps.

How will that help it be mounted when the phone is booted into the OS?

I booted into recovery mode and used adb shell to ssh into the phone. I saw that all my files were stored under /sdcard (although there is no sdcard in my phone) and I used adb pull to back them up to my computer. I'm pretty sure this is a software problem, so at this point I think I should just wipe the device and reflash a ROM.


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Galaxy S5 - Exchange email - How to sort by sender or by date ascending?
Galaxy S5 - Exchange email - How to sort by sender or by date ascending?
The sort option is removed.
The filter option does not allow options for sender.
I want email oldest on top, newest on bottom and can't reverse it.
Help? Please/Thanks.

It is apparently not an option in that particular app. However, there are plenty of third-party alternatives for email. I personally recommend Boxer.


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if I know nothing about Android, is it crazy to have a rooted phone?
I bought my first Android phone off ebay, a Samsung Galaxy S4 after always using Windows phones.  It was supposed to be unlocked and a "store demo", but when I started playing with it, I was getting warnings that it was rooted and couldn't update in the regular way, etc.
I tried to update using Samsung Kies, which gave me a ton of errors, I had to do it four times.  This was the error message I kept getting:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q161/Arylkin/1%20error.jpg
Then I got an error that I needed to do "emergency firmware recovery":
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q161/Arylkin/error%202.jpg
I finally got it to work (I don't know what kind of update it was, because it's still running the same Android version after it).  I got it to work by just ignoring the emergency recovery message and hitting continue (or something).
I am apprehensive about keeping this phone, since while I really do like it, I am worried about having some fiasco and it refusing to update down the road.  Also, every tutorial about rooting and "flashing roms" (whatever that means) and doing anything to a rooted phone says, "WARNING- YOU MIGHT JUST BRICK YOUR PHONE!".  Needless to say, this worries me.
The seller is willing to take it back, but now I've already bought a otterbox case for the S4 as well as additional batteries, so I'm kind of roped in to having an S4.
What would you do, return it and try to find another person selling an S4 that is stock?  I really don't know anything about Android, and even after reading tutorials, I'm not really comfortable doing a bunch of stuff to the command line of my phone or whatever, particularly since there are 1,000 warnings that doing so might totally break it.
Even video tutorials on rerooting or whatever have a bunch of comments like, "Now my phone is broken!  Thanks a lot!"  Everything I read says how rooting is the coolest ever, but I really don't want to break it since I will not be able to replace this, financially.
I'd appreciate any words of wisdom!

Some relevant posts: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/236/what-does-to-root-a-phone-mean?lq=1, http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/1/ive-rooted-my-phone-now-what-what-do-i-gain-from-rooting

You might wish to see our rooting tag-wiki and root-access tag-wiki for that – they contain the related information, or at least the links to it.

If it's rooted, leave it be. It's very unlikely for the S4 to receive many (if any) more Android OS updates officially since it's now a couple of generations old. I use a rooted S4 myself, and love the fact that I can remove bloatware at will and make backups of everything.
With that being said, some more info from your device might help us direct you to info on your particular ROM if you have one, and how to lock it back down if you still so desire. Go into Settings>About Phone and see what Android version you're running and the build number for starters. All of those scary warnings in forums are there for a reason: with root you have unrestrained access to the very innards of your phone. If you start changing things in certain areas you can mess things up. However, it generally takes more than doing everyday tasks to do it.
Armed with the information from the About Phone section, head over to the XDA Forums to find out just about anything you'd ever want to know about that phone, along with some generally very knowledgeable and helpful people.

Thanks, I feel a little bit better. I'm running 4.4.4 and with build KTU84P.M919UVUFNK2 (model number SGH-M919).  I would just be sad if I couldn't get the lollipop update, or any  future update, whenever it comes out.

If it's already rooted, I wouldn't worry about it.  I wouldn't let it do any OTA updates, though.  I rooted my first phone without knowing much about it, and it was fine.  I use root mainly for apps like Titanium Backup, which is just great.  You can backup and save all your apps and app data, as well as remove any bloatware that normally comes with the phone.  You can actually get rid of all the apps you don't want/use.
When I rooted my S4, my phone stopped getting the OTA updates.  If it's important to you to have the latest and greatest version of android, then yeah, you might want to get rid of it or unroot it.  If you don't want to deal with the hassle and like you phone the way it is, I would keep it.
I would definitely check out these forums here.  Who knows, you might find a new hobby.


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Android 5.1 update stuck on "Waiting to download..."
My Nexus 5 prompted me to update my Android to 5.1. When I clicked download, the process is stuck on "Waiting to download..." and there after nothing happened. I waited for almost 10 minutes, and then restarted my phone yet again it stuck on same phase "Waiting to download..."
Edit: It took more than 15 minutes to initiate the download. So please wait patiently :D
(I am leaving the question open so that other users can share their answer on what they did to overcome this issue.)

Faced the same issue , nothing special I did except waiting :)

Got the OTA update for Nexus 4 today, same issue. It took about 10 mins to initiate download.

I waited for a while. Then just plugged my phone into the wall, and it started immediately. Coincidence? Possibly.

My N5 didn't show the progress of the download, it showed waiting for download the whole time, then installed the rom correctly. So I would say to wait.

It does take a long time to download. Make sure you are connected to wifi if possible and have your phone plugged in to your charger. I was able to schedule mine to happen overnight.


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Phone uses 3G even when connected to WiFi
I've a Moto-G XT1033. When I connect the phone to WiFi, it connects fine, shows the WiFi icon but uses 3G for internet. H+ or E is shown over mobile signal icon and an exclamation mark on WiFi.
Here's a screenshot:

I've to manually disable mobile data to force the phone to use WiFi. Then it works just fine.
Here's with data disabled

Also, this problem appeared only after I upgraded from kitkat to lollipop official ROM. Now I've switched to CM12 but the problem persists.
My WiFi uses proxy to connect to the internet and this problem is only on WiFi networks that use proxy.
Any idea what causes this or how to fix it.

Just disable captive portal detection. In the terminal, or in adb shell, issue the command
settings put global captive_portal_detection_enabled 0

and reboot.

my device api is 15  and when I try this I get this error sh: settings: not found


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Missed call notification shown even in auto rejecting or deliberate rejection?
I have a Galaxy Note 8.0 N5100 tablet which is updated to the latest version of Android (4.2.2) using the following official ROM from SAMMOBILE.
My problem is even when I deliberately reject someone's calling, there's a notification shown like this:

This is really annoying for me because I have put someone in my auto rejection list, but whenever he calls, this notification is shown.
I did factory reset, and now the problem is fixed. But can anyone help me pointing what was wrong? Is it because of the Android update?

Problem is fixed. The answer is I had "Any.do" app on my device. I feel like a fool now because instead of thinking about uninstalling an app, I thought that it may be a software bug so I updated my Android version.


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Can't adjust volume on USB Headset
I've recently purchased a Male Micro-USB to Female USB adapter (OTG).
Now, I've connected my USB Headphones (w/ Microphone) but I can't adjust the volume.
When I try, It either mutes it completely, or plays at 100% volume.
Also, the Microphone doesn't work.
For some reason, the 'beats audio' doesn't work either.
I have a HTC Butterfly,
Android version: 4.3
HTC Sense version: 5.5
What could be the reason for not being able to adjust volume?

Beats Audio will not work with external USB headsets, since they contain their own DAC (Digital to Analog Converter).

@onik Alright, but how about the volume control? The 'lower' button mutes it, and 'higher' at max. Also sliding does the same. Is the DAC the same reason for that aswell?

That I can't answer, unfortunately.


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Where's the auto-replace function of the keyboard
I've looked in the whole parameters of my Nexus 5 (Lollipop 5.1) and I can't find the way to customize the auto-replace function.
What I want to do is simple, I want some abbreviation like asap to be automatically changed for as soon as possible, or swag to be replaced by NEVER USE THIS WORD MORON

This functionality is covered by the operation of the Personal Dictionary. Settings > Language and input > Google Keyboard > Text correction > Personal Dictionary. Select the language to which you would like to make the addition.
Finally, the '+ Add' button allows you to define a word or phrase, and, optionally a shortcut.
So for your example, Word = 'As soon as possible', shortcut = asap.

It  doesn't work!

You may have to install the Google Keyboard or Gboard from the Play Store if you don't see it in “Language and input”.

It works for me, it was just moved, in the current version, it's directly to the main Settings menu, just open the Settings > Dictionary > Personal dictionary, choose if you want to define it for all languages or just a specific one and there, you can add words or phrases and their shortcuts.

What @prab2112 said: It doesn't work.  It doesn't replace anything.  At most, it shows a "possible correction" after you type.  But if you want it to replace the illiterate constructions i or u or U (which apparently are in its dictionary!) with I or you, it doesn't work for that.

April 2017
This works in Note5, Android 7.
Settings
Language & Input
Virtual Keyboard
Samsung Keyboard
Predictive Text (click on predictive text)
Text Shortcut
Hope this'll help you. :-)

download thumb keyboard from playstore.
link  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.beansoft.keyboardplus
 in keyboard settings go to text substitution and add  words of your choice.
I am using this keyboard.

On my phone, you go to Virtual Keyboard, not Google Keyboard, then to Gboard > Personal Dictionary > English > then click the + symbol in the top right.


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Phone wont boot
Yesterday I got an Acer Liquid Z410. After installing some apps and checking out the phone, I charged my phone fully. Then I was trying to acces my phone again but it was off. So I tried to access it by turning it on, but it wouldn't start. I even tried the power button + volume up button and power button + volume down. The phone does charge and I kept it on the charger for a full night. I cant get in recovery mode. I dont have much more information except for that I cant seem to find the solution anywhere. Not the manual, nowhere.What is going wrong and what should I do? I dont know my android version but I do know I have Android.

If it has a removable battery: did you try taking that out for a couple of minutes, and re-insert it? If the battery is not replaceable, there's usually some "reset hole" you could stick a needle in for a few seconds to reset it, with a similar effect.

@Izzy Yes I tried that

If it doesn't switch on at all, I'm afraid it's a case for being turned in to service. Might well be a hardware issue (e.g. broken power button or the like).

@Izzy Yup I did that. I'm getting a new one. Thanks.

Please consider to answer your own question – especially if you get some feedback from service on what the culprit was. Might turn out helpful to others :)

Anytime – and thanks for posting your solution as answer (+1 from me for that) :) Enjoy your new device!

I went to the store and it had to do something with the hardware. I am getting a new phone and all is settled. Al though the store said they've never seen or hear about it happen before.


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"INSTALL_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR" when installing an app on BlueStacks
I need some help with installing an app that I want to use using the BlueStacks App Player. I've downloaded the APK and I have a problem when I was trying to install it. I tried deleting it and install back a new one but it didn't work.
The error message says:

Apk Installation failed: INSTALL_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR

Can anyone suggest me some ways to fix it?

Based on this bug report, it seems it only occurs on emulator with wrong time set. Have you set correct date & time and timezone on BlueStacks?


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What happens when you connect an Android phone to another Android phone?
I've just connected my HTC Butterfly to a Galaxy Note 3 (micro-USB to female USB -> Male USB to micro-USB)...
And nothing really happened. What is supposed to happen? Am I able to view the other phones' storage, and vica versa? It did say something regarding keyboard(s), assuming it thought it was a keyboard?
I've been doing a couple of tests, using file manager, trying to transfer files, play music, etc... But nothing seems to work.
Is it possible to transfer files like that? (Not that it's handy; I just want to know if it's possible.)

Yes, it is possible to transfer using an OTG cable. But you require at least one of the phones to support OTG, and it is better explained here. The phones mentioned in the post are Xperia and Micromax. I am sure it will work with the rest of the OTG-supported phones too.

Thank you very much. I'll be experimenting a lot, trying to charge other phones etc with this. Pretty amazing in my opinion. Thank you again!


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CyanogenMod for Samsung Galaxy S Advance. Which version?
Which version of CyanogenMod should I use for Samsung Galaxy S Advance and where should I download it from? I'm interested in CyanogenMod 11 but maybe there is a better choice? I wouldn't like to download wrong version so I'll be grateful for exact link. Thank you.

The Galaxy S Advance is not officially supported by CyanogenMod. They provide links to several unofficial ports on their wiki, however:

CyanogenMod 10
CyanogenMod 10.1
CyanogenMod 11

Since these are not officially provided by the CM team, they may not contain all of the features/changes in a supported build, and you would need to contact the developer of the build directly if you experience issues.


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Why does the Play Store's download percentage never reach 100%?
I've owned two Android phones so far. While both are HTC ones, I've used several customised ROMs on the older one, so the following does not seem to be specific to one maker or installation.
I've noticed that whenever I download an application from Google Play Store, the percentage never reaches 100%. It's usually between 40% and 60% when the progress bar disappears and the status changes to "installing".
I considered the possibility that the system begins to install the package before it's fully downloaded but, besides that being a bad idea, many times the installation takes a much shorter time than the rest of the download would have (assuming constant speed).
It seems that, instead, the percentage reported is wrong, and that the file is in fact fully downloaded while the screen shows 40%. Does that happen to others as well? How is it explained?

possible duplicate of Why app updates download entire app instead of only "Updates"?

Though the question sounds much different, its answers are full matches (keyword: "delta updates"). One might also argue that the 100% are shown "to short to register" – no need to let the user wait some seconds just to see the number: if it's "installing", it's clear the download was complete :)

I honestly couldn't call this a duplicate. Even if the answer is "It's because it only downloads delta updates, but the percentage is based on the full package's size" there is no way that the answers to the other question convey this information.

Does this occur only when updating an app, or to all downloads? If it's the former, then it's really delta update. If it's the latter, I'd say that the view is not updated in realtime, so it might jump from 60% to 100% then directly installing it. Play Store can't start the installation if the download is not yet finished, since the installation is generally done only with 1 APK file.

It does seem to be because of delta updates, I confirmed that the download notification shows the correct percentage. I can't accept any of the answers though, as none of them say that's the reason.

This started happening at the same time that Google introduced the concept of "delta" updates.  This means that only the portion of the app that has been modified is sent over, as opposed to the entire app.  However, they never changed how the Play Store app calculates the download percentages - it's still taking app's full size as the base 100%, instead of the size of the delta update being downloaded.  It simply never bothers to check with the download manager (which works correctly, as reflected in the notification tray) for the correct size of the delta.
This is why you are seeing the percentage stop at random times - the difference in sizes of the full app and the delta is what's making the play store think the download is larger than it actually is.  For example, if an app's full size is 10MB, but the update is only 5MB in size, the Play Store will still think it's downloading the full 10MB, and will stop at 50%, when the 5MB download completes.

Don't worry, this is not a problem with your device.
You can see the actual download status in the notification tray.

That is a hiccup in the Play Store application. Swipe down to reveal the notification tray and you'll find the actual percentage progress. And as far as downloads taking less time, it might be possible that your ISP caches popular play store downloads. Mine does. So I know what you mean.


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Micromax A110Q - SD Card space becomes 0 bytes in few hours
I have formatted my SD Card many many times and when I format it - I get the full space of 7.5 GB and after few hours of using the phone - getting images from whatsapp and other content - It becomes full and space comes to ZERO BYTES even though the images are just a few MBs.
What's the issue here?

Try plugging the card into a computer to see what is really on there taking up all the space?

Hard to answer without more details. Please follow the advice of Anti Veeranna, and then [edit] your post with additional information.


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nexus 5 android 5.1 installing
I am trying to upgrade my Nexus 6 with version 5.0.1 (Build number LRX22C) via OTA to Android 5.1.
The OTA update is downloaded successfully and after pressing "Restart & Install" I see a dead droid with the message "Error!".
The phone was rooted and I unrooted it via SuperSU. Did not help. Wiping cache partition also did not change anything.

You've specified N5 in your title and N6 in your question. You should probably clarify this. Your other question also references the N5, so it's not clear if you were trying to post two different questions or the same one got posted twice. If you were trying to post two different ones, then the fact that you are seeing the same exact behavior on two different devices would seem to suggest that this issue is not device specific, so combining them might be the best choice anyway.

It probably is about the Nexus 5, taking like a majority vote : Nexus 5 : 2 Titles, 1 Question; Nexus 6 : 1 Question. So, @shamim AKHTAR , please specify which Nexus model you have, the 'shamu' Nexus 6 or the 'hammerhead' Nexus 5.

Since Android 5, OTA installs verify each partition as a whole so any changes will result in verification failing even if the file is not changed by the update. You said that you unrooted via SuperSU but it is likely that there is something that has changed in the system partition. Usually the error message will indicate the file that has caused it to fail.
Therefore, your options are to restore the system partition to the 'stock' state (removing any files you've added, reverting any changes to files and re-instating any deleted files) and flash the OTA or flash a factory image using the steps in this answer (using the 5.1 file names in place of the 4.3 ones in that answer)

authors: Евгений Шалаев


text:
Sony Xperia Z3 (Compact) Battery life after update to Lollipop
If you already updated your Sony Xperia Z3 (Compact) to Lollipop, what is your experience (and what we can expect) with the battery life in Stamina mode while the phone is idle?
Xperia can have couple of days of light use when on Stamina mode and Hangouts/LocationHistory off in KitKat.
Is it comparable, does it get noticeable better or worse after upgrade to Lollipop?

Screenshot (click for larger variant)

That's quite impressive; I'm assuming you've got Ultra Stamina mode enabled to get that? (so, Wifi off when screen is off etc etc).
I've not seen any noticeable difference myself after the upgrade, but I only have Stamina mode enabled with 'Extended Usage' and 'Queue Background Data' turned on.

Yes, I ask about the Stamina mode, where is the biggest advantage of the Xperia prolonging the battery life when you don't use the phone often. If you have an experience with Stamina Lollipop, feel free to answer below. I would also appreciate to see a screenshot of your battery stats, if possible.

I can't speak to Stamina mode since I don't use it often, but I had great battery life in regular mode on KitKat. With light talking, texting, and browser/FB use, I could easily go more than 24 hours without recharging my phone. Since upgrading to Lollipop (4-5 days ago), my phone goes from 100% charged at 7am to 7% charged at 5pm -- with very little use -- terrible!  I hope there's a patch for this, b/c I am so disappointed. No real visible upgrade to Lollipop, so frankly, I'd rather go back to KitKat.

I would like to downgrade to kitkat as well. The question is how to do that?

My battery life started to deplete very quickly after upgrading to Lollipop. I experimented with Stamina mode to try to get back to the battery life I used to have on my Z3C, but it actually made it worse! Google play services was keeping my mobile radio active almost 100% of the time. I moved back to regular mode and I'm getting about 15-20 hours of battery with normal use.
Google play services still consumes the most battery on my phone, but it seems to be at least reasonable now. Definitely looking for a patch or some sort of fix - very disappointed.

I have the same problem for xperia z1 compact

My friend saw a huge decrease in battery duration after making the Lollipop switch. The battery would not last a whole day with light usage.
Her workaround is to disable location services when not using them. This prevents Google Services from activating, which apparently is a currently a huge power drain in this build. Now she is back to at least a couple days between having to recharge.


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Get rid of toast message when Spotify Track changes
I am trying to figure out how to get rid of a toast message that pops up whenever a family member changes tracks in her Spotify app on her Galaxy S5 (Android 5.0).  It seems that most of the time when the track changes (either because the song ended or because she changed tracks), she would usually (but not always) get a toast message that says: MP:com.samsung.MusicPlayer.playstatechanged
I would appreciate any advice on how to get rid of this toast message.

Are you by any chance using Simple Last.fm Scrobbler app?

@Andrew I don't think so, but I will ask to make sure.

@AndrewT. UPDATE: I stand corrected, she said that she does indeed have the Simple Last.fm Scrobbler app installed.

From the toast message,

MP:com.samsung.MusicPlayer.playstatechanged

and comparing to a source code, it seems that the user is using Simple Last.fm Scrobbler.
The app also supports many music players, such as

Supported apps: Android Music Player, HTC Hero/Sense Music Player, Google Music, PlayerPro, Meridian Player, MixZing, Archos Music Player, Rhapsody Android, Vanilla Music Player, bTunes, ³ (cubed), WIMP, Zimly, Just Playlists, PowerAMP, Winamp, myTouch 4G, RockOn, jukefox, DAAP Media Player, Folder Player, GoneMAD Music Player, MIUI Music Player, ServeStream, Default Sony Ericsson/Xperia Music Player, Neutron Music Player, Music2Dance2, Rdio, DeaDBeeF, Music Pump XBMC Remote (Beta), JRTStudio Android Music Player, Music Folder Player, Apollo, LG Music Player, Now Playing, Shuttle Music Player, My Cloud Player, SoundSeeder, Amazon Music, more...

Uninstalling the app will remove the toast message when playing musics with listed players.

There are some things that I need to clarify: 1) I still cannot understand why the toast message is related Samsung default music player even though the user is using Spotify. 2) I'm not sure if it's possible to remove the toast message without uninstalling the app. Perhaps setting "Notify now playing" to off might work, but I can't get this app work, so I need confirmation for this.

as I previously stated, she does indeed have this app installed.  I have already asked her to send me a screenshot of the app settings and had suggested that she tries disabling that setting or changing how often it updates, even before seeing this message.  I will let you know if either of those options solves the problem.

No prob, take your time and thanks for informing me. I just want to know if there's another way other than uninstalling it :)

Thank you for your patients, she hasn't got back to me yet.  I am trying to avoid that as well, as she says she has used both apps for years without any problems (We recently upgraded to the S5)


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How to use Tasker to answer a private number, play an audio file to the caller and hang up?
I would like Tasker to answer any private number (without the audio playing through my phone's speaker) and play an audio file (an MP3 that says, "this phone does not accept calls from private numbers") and then disconnect the call.
Can someone help me set up a Tasker profile for this?

As an alternative you could do a search in Google Play for some call blacklist or call blocker app (they often include the option to block private number calls), I don't give you any names because I don't want to be downvoted.

@FranciscoAlvarado I have a call blocker app at the moment and it does its job. What I want is a little different: answer, play mp3, then hang up.

Very few, if any, devices supports playing sound directly to the phone (voice) call audio stream.
Try playing a sound in Tasker using the Play Ringtone action to the Voice call audio stream, to see if your device support it.

how can I find out if mine does?


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How can I remotely start an application on my android phone?
I have an older phone (Android 2.x) that I am not using as a phone.  I am using it in a carboard projector.
I would like to be able to use my desktop computer to instruct it to play a youtube video.  I tried Airdroid, but it doesn't seem to have this functionality.
Any ideas?

You can try AndroidLost app, the premium version of which has this facility.


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How can I be notified of updates for apps that I do not have installed?
What is the best way to be notified of an apps' update that is not installed on my phone? Is there a site place such as the Play store, Playboard, Aptoide or elsewhere that I can get an rss feed, email or another way of notification?
For example, I do not have Google Camera installed, but I may want to install it when a new feature I'm looking for has been added to it.
I am aware of the defunct app, "Changelog Droid" which is no longer maintained since January 2014. "The app is currently not maintained. There is an (unlikely to be fixed) issue with paid apps. Please don't contact me in this regard." So an alternative solution beyond that would be greatly appreciated.

@AndrewT. that answer isn't outdated, but still valid – I just was about to recommend the very same solution. Thanks for pointing to that question! // I notice a comment there says "no longer maintained", but that's not completely true to my knowledge. Last I've heard from the dev is he's currently busy on other tasks, but still plans to continue the app.

PS: I've placed a second answer on the question linked, with an up-to-date solution :)


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Calling scp invokes sftp
Hi guys when I try to call scp from terminal emulator it invokes sftp, I have scp installed (along with ssh and sftp) in /system/bin folder.I know it's working correctly because typing just scp gives me the usage info but calling

scp file user@ip:target

Gives the error sftp: illegal option - -x
Please help!

What is the exact command (with options) that you're trying to execute? The error suggests you're passing a -x option, and I've never seen an implementation of scp that had such an option. If you're not passing that in explicitly, then perhaps the file name is causing problems.

It's from a script to test if it's working code is
touch testssh.txt
scp testssh.txt root@192.168.1.103:/home/testssh.txt
echo done

this issue is caused because the "terminal emulator" app does not handle scp transfer (as far as im aware) upgrade to "better terminal emulator pro" app and the issue disappears.


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Screen mirroring with Chromecast on apps that disallow it
I currently have a Chromecast and a Sony Xperia Z3
The problem that I am having is using some apps with screen mirroring; 4od and Sky Go. If you are not from the UK then these are apps for watching television.
When I use the Chromecast app and try to mirror my screen whilst using these apps I get a message that these apps don't support screen mirroring.
I have done a bit of research and I have found that an app called #MirrorEnabler that I think would do the job, however it would require rooting my phone which I don't really want to do.
Does anyone know a work around for this? Maybe a different screen mirroring app that the 4od and Sky Go won't detect?

The only other method I know of is using Xposed modules, but obviously that requires rooting as well.


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Data Recovery on non-rooted Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v
a friend has deleted some photos from her Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1v (GT-P7100) using the Gallery app. While the app's automatic backups were activated, she had never used the Google+ app before, so my understanding is nothing was saved in her Google account.
I tried to use a data recovery utility, namely PhotoRec, but from what I have gathered it is unable to see the device's internal memory (no SD card in the GT-P7100) as a disk, as the Galaxy Tab 10.1v does not connect as USB Mass Storage but uses the MTP Protocol. So, no luck using such a tool directly.
I found a guide on XDA-Developers that deals with this problem: here. It extracts a full disk image from the device, which could then be analyzed. However, the guide requires your device to be rooted (it is not atm), and rooting on this particular device requires the bootloader to be unlocked: galaxy tab 10.1v rooting. Bootloader unlocking requires internal memory wipe, and I'm worried that this operation could undermine the data recovery.
My questions are:

Does anyone have any experience using data recovery tools with a MTP-only device? How would you go about it?
Will wiping the Galaxy Tab's internal memory undermine the recovery operation? My guess is yes, and I'd rather not root the device at all if my chances to recover anything are grim.

Thanks everyone!

Android version?

4.0.4 is the version.

This might or might not work. Insert an SD Card, preferably more than 4GB.
Boot into android stock recovery.
Power + Home + Vol. Up

Scroll down to backup internal data.
Remove the SD card.
Go through the steps of unlocking the boot loader but don't flash a custom recovery yet.
Reboot into recovery(stock) after unlocking the boot loader. Restore user data.
Flash a custom recovery. Root your device. Then go about what you we're trying to do.

No SD Card slot on this model, unfortunately. If there was, your procedure would be a very nice idea: thank you anyway!

You can instead do this on the internal storage itself. Copy the backup to your computer then unlock the bootloader

The thing is, I would like to do the least amount possible of writing on the internal memory, as it could overwrite the memory containing the lost photos. Also, I have doubts that the doing a backup of the "internal data" would save the unset (free()-d) bits that contain the photos.

Have you tried checking out the Google+ photos app? There might be something backed up

I tried firsthand to login to her account, nothing is saved there unfortunately.


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Is it safe to uninstall Google Play Services App?
I am using Andriod 2.3.6 Gingerbread for the last 3 years. For the last 2 months the "Google Play Services" app is taking too much memory, Now I want to uninstall it. Is it safe to do so? Does it affect other apps and/or the phone's basic functionality?

It is time to upgrade your software

@Rafi for some (old but still very good) phones, this is not possible (at least without rooting or other hacks)

Instead root your phone and uninstall preloaded unwanted apps.

I can understand your condition bro. I went through the same. In that case we have no option but to remove it (unless we buy another phone). Saves a lot of space. And most of apps work fine. The only problem is that you cannot install new apps or update the old ones.

Whilst you can uninstall it, it will automatically be re-installed on your device as it is an extension of the Google Play ecosystem and Google automatically updates Google Play services on all supported devices via the Google Play Store to ensure API consistency across devices and versions, and to deliver fixes and new features in a timely fashion.
Some apps may require Google Play services to be present and up to date in order to function correctly (or at all).

"Some apps may require Google Play services to be present" - e.g Youtube

Many new Google APIs are made available via this app.  Plenty of things will break without it.

According to Google

Google Play services provides you with easy access to Google services and is tightly integrated with the Android OS.

And from the description in the Play Store

Google Play services is used to update Google apps and apps from Google Play.
  This component provides core functionality like authentication to your Google services, synchronized contacts, access to all the latest user privacy settings, and higher quality, lower-powered location based services.
  Google Play services also enhances your app experience. It speeds up offline searches, provides more immersive maps, and improves gaming experiences.
  Apps may not work if you uninstall Google Play services

I wouldn't recommend removing it.

How to disable its growing "Data" size ?

If you open the App info for Google Play Services, you can press [Manage Space]. This will allow you to clear some of the data to a more manageable size

Please explain where to disable OR limit growing size ?

You can't disable or limit the size, only clear it once it has accumulated.

Quote copied directly from the Play store decription:

'Google Play services is used to update Google apps and apps from Google Play.
  This component provides core functionality like authentication to your Google services, synchronized contacts, access to all the latest user privacy settings, and higher quality, lower-powered location based services.
  Google Play services also enhances your app experience. It speeds up offline searches, provides more immersive maps, and improves gaming experiences.
  Apps may not work if you uninstall Google Play services.'

I would leave it.

All of the present Google Apps are heavily linked with the Google Play Services app. Uninstalling it will affect all of these apps, and, if you can't stay away from Google for a long time, I wouldn't recommend doing so. As mentioned in the other answers, Google Play services is the backbone of many apps currently on the Play Store. Many (I mean MANY!) apps are dependent on it.
Instead of trying to limit its usable data, you can occasionally try backing up all your data to a safe place and wiping/factory-resetting the phone once in a while. This will automatically cleanse your phone, and will definitely help on Android Gingerbread.

I have uninstalled google play services from my Galaxy Ace running Gingerbread, due to running out of internal memory space, and it does not appear to have made any difference to the operation of the phone. I can still install apps, access Gmail, etc. I don't sync any data from the phone, other than Gmail. Phone runs much better now, much more internal memory and ram available. Phone is set not to update / install apps automatically and so far so good.

Removed it! Saved around 30 mb internal memory which matters a lot because my 5 year old device just has 100 mb of it. There are no issues whatsoever, Gmail sync works & I can even update the only I app use i.e. Whatsapp. Already did once, no problems.


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Media isn't displayed in the gallery or sound player, but are in My Files
I just woke up this morning and my photos and music weren't displayed in their respective apps. I can find everything still there on my phone under My Files and can view / play them. When i take a new photo it shows up in my gallery, but other than that the gallery is completely empty.
Can anyone help me solve this? I have a Galaxy S4

Have you installed any new apps lately?  Any 3rd party picture apps?  Any OS updates?

Actually thinking back, I installed an app to hide files

Still i'm not sure how to resolve this issue

Have you uninstalled that app to see if it resolved the issue? It could be that the app is hiding files to that your media and music apps cannot see the files. No harm in giving it a try

I've uninstalled it, restarted my phone, taken out the battery etc. Nothing has worked so far

When viewing the folders on my PC, it says the folders have 0 files and 0 bytes.

I have the same issue and I was messing around with a lot of things and don't know which thing did it :/

possible duplicate of Images have disappeared from gallery, but still in "My Files" (Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, 5.0.2)


text:
How do I take a full image backup of an Android device?
I am trying to do a full system image backup of a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.
It is unrooted at present, and is running Android Kitkat 4.4.2 . I have no desire of rooting it as of now.
I have tried creating a full image backup of the device using the ADB (Android Debug Bridge) method (adb backup -apk -shared -all -f C:\backup.ab), which looks like it works, but when it completes, no backup files are created (Although the backup process is shown as having been completed).
Can anyone either offer advice on why the adb method doesn't work, or present an alternative solution to this? The end result should be a full backup image (including all apps and data) that I can use to restore the device back to its exact backup state.

The adb backup command that you used doesn't create an image. A system image will contain a '.iso' file extension. Looks like you were creating a '.ab' which is a type of system snapshot. Basically, these will contain a list of refs to different resources plus instructions to download / install them. The difference is quite significant. In fifteen years, when the "linked list" (pun intended) is just a bunch of null ptrs to nothing, the iso should still run.

Yes, you can, by taking a full NANDroid backup. This takes a backup of everything, including the app data, the accounts, the system, etc. with the exclusion of the files stored on the SD cards (both internal and external).
Such NANDroid backups are usually taken with the help of a custom recovery, like the CWM (ClockWorkMod) recovery and the TWRP (TeamWin Recovery Project) recovery. If any custom recovery such as the ones mentioned here, or any other custom recovery based on them; is installed on your phone, then, you can proceed to do so.
For more information, and some helpful resources you might want to see, please visit here and here.

i don't have either of them install, and i was under the impression that root was required for NANDroid. and root is certainly required for TWRP.

Yes, root is definitely required. Installing custom recoveries would definitely benefit you in one way or the other, so I would do it if I were you. Root is highly required, but if you have issues like tripping the flash counter or the Knox counter, you might ask for help on XDA-Developers or any such website. You can perform a clean unroot after you root, and Chainfire's 'Triangle Away' app might be of some help here.
Having said that, do remember that taking a NANDroid backup is actually the best way of backing up, and I would highly recommend doing so before you do anything else.

as i said, i don't want to have to root 100+ devices.

You have never mentioned about 100+ devices anywhere in the question ...

the number is irrelevant to the original question, as i clearly stated i didn't want to root. you edited my original to change the wording as well. i never said the word "desire".
it appears you chose to ignore the fact that i didn't want to root and provided an answer that required root. not very helpful at all really.

Online articles be like: "NANDROID saves literally EVERYTHING! Name it and it is there! Literally EEEEEEEVEEERRRYYYYYYthing!" [size=0.001]. . . .with the exception of user storage. [/size] What? I thought NANDroid backs up everything!

I don't think root is actually required for Custom Recoveries. You can boot into recoveries without flashing them. I've seen it done before. I don't know how to do it but Google can surely help you.
A Toolkit is available for my phone which let's me boot into TWRP or CWM without flashing them and can easily do full NANDroid Backups.

i installed TWRP and the moment i opened the app is said root was required.

@chenks No, I didn't talk about the 'app' TWRP. The app is just an install of TWRP recovery. I said that there may be a toolkit for your phone model that allows you to boot into custom recoveries without rooting.

i have no idea what any of that is then.

@chenks You would need a TWRP recovery image designed for your specific build and you can find root kits for some builds that include a handy toolkit like the one in the following example: http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/root-nextbook-ares-8-twrp-recovery-t3133165 you would just skip the su user install, do not install any su, sudo, or super user stuff to avoid rooting the device and don't install the boot image either. See here for officially available images https://twrp.me/Devices/ You  will need an adb shell and fastboot preferably linux or apple.

Since, you do not want to root your phone. ADB backup are closest to the Full Backups.
I recommend using Helium Backup for taking backups to your Phone's SD card or PC.
More information can be found here.

An ADB backup isn't an image is it?

Depends on what youare trying to backup. A system backup is always an image. While apps and settings backup can be text and/or archive.

Rooting would be no issue if there wasn't something disgusting called "eFuse".

@Rahul Bali Wrong. A system image is an actual image file, as in you could overwrite it with a photograph. and store that instead. There are MANY differences, but the most important one is DEPENDENCIES. An .ab file only tells you where to download your apps. So running it just asks Google Play to try its best to set up an environment that resembles yours. Also, if you have an ab of android 6 env and try to install it over v 10, think again. You already know that they arent giving you 6 back...


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Image and Video Files not showing up in Gallery
I am using Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean OS Smart Phone, All the images and video files present in My Files(default file browser app for android) are not showing up in Gallery(default app), and Other Apps(e.g., MX Player) are also not able to detect the media present in devices internal storage. Please help me to fix this issue, and Does this behavior, drain my phones battery ?

I found that when I charged via computer USB all my photos were in the folder \Phone\DCIM\Camera.
All I did was move the photo files to a folder in the computer then copy them back to the camera folder and all of them could be seen again. Took about 2 minutes for 400 photos.

I am having this issue as well.
I have no idea why this works, but if i copy the folders to my computer, delete the ones on my phone, then copy them back, they all appear

Make sure there is no .nomedia file in the folder or in the parent folder (Sdcard). This prevents media files to be shown in the Gallery. Be aware that .nomedia is an hidden file, so you won't see it until you activate shown hidden files in your file browser.

I spent one hour with T-Mobile tech level 2 (supervisor) on this same issue. I followed the advice above, enabled Show Hidden Files and, sure enough, all the way at the bottom was a .nomedia file. As soon as I deleted that, the photos and videos started showing up in the Gallery.


text:
how can i get back vold.fstab ,i accidently deleted it due to usbox was not responding after i edited it,plz help
i had rooted my phone-sony xperia e c(1504) and then edited vold.fstab but then after i saved it the us box stopped responding so i deleted the file unknowingly .after that storage access is lost ,only phone memory is working ,how can i remount my internal Sd and ext sd card by any method which is having a stable output.

what do you mean by us box ?

Ask for the the vold.fatab file of the same phone model to someone who has it. Then copy the file to your /system/etc/ and set the correct permissions.


text:
Increase the efficiency of charging
Is there a way of increasing the efficiency of charging an android device without switching the device off?
I am not talking about using different cables, chargers, hardware etc, I'm interested in methods of decreasing the amount of time it takes to charge using only software or applications.
For example, undervolting your device will mean it uses less power at specified CPU frequencies, so the device will use less power while charging, right?

Check this link : https://www.androidpit.com/charge-android-phone-faster


text:
How do I undo the "enable lock & erase" on android device manager?
I clicked the "enable lock & erase" button on my mac because my phone has either been lost or stolen by mistake! I don't know how to undo this action because I already have a password so I don't want my phone wiped because I have all my pictures on there! My important pictures are on the sd card but I read somewhere that it wipes the sd card, too. Please help. This is URGENT! : '(

Once the command has been sent, you can't recall it, as soon as the phone as connectivity it will execute the command.

In your phone, go to the settings, then go to lock screen and security, tap on other security settings, in there you'll find Device administrators, tap on it, then you will find the option "Find My Device" you can turn it off or on.
This settings path may be OEM-specific; other devices may have slightly altered terminology, though Device Administrators is generally well-marked.

thanks.  mine is "biometrics and security" -> "other security settings" -> "device admin apps" -> "find my device"

If you end up finding your phone, and if it is not turned on, do not turn on! You should immediately remove your SIM card, and move the phone to a location where it has no Internet access. Boot the phone up, backup your data, and let it connect to the Internet, so it can initiate self-wipe...and then you can reinstall all your apps, and restore your data.
Unfortunately, you can't recall the lock&wipe request. You can, however, salvage your data before they are lost forever.

This happened to me and below are the steps I took

Make sure your phone is not connected to the internet (turn off your phone, remove your sim, and or go somewhere you are sure not to connect to any network)
Power on your phone and go to Settings > Google(under Personal) > Security(under Services) then switch the "Allow remote lock and erase" option to off.

This is the tricky part!

There's a possibility that this option is on off because you are not connected to any network, connect the phone back and immediately switch back to the security page to turn off the "Allow remote lock and erase" option

since my device is not my actual phone it had no sim card and was turned off at the time i clicked on the "Enable Lock & Erase" option in ADM, so i left my office where it automatically connected to the wifi, turned the device on, confirmed it was not connected to any network, ensured all my back up options were on, went back on the ADM and chose the "Ring" option, my phone then  started ringing (it had automatically connected to a free network in my office building), luckily i was on the security page and noticed the "Allow remote lock and erase" option was turned on (it was on the off side before the device connected to a network). Just to be safe, I am going to disable wifi connectivity and power cycle the device to be sure everything is ok.

So long as you haven't pressed lock THEN erase, your good. If you can, go to your google settings and disable the remotely wipe data thing ASAP. I would not risk messing around with the wipe data things. I hope your data is saved. I feel bro i almost wiped the data of of mine. :)

I had a samsung s6 and really wanted to keep data after clicking lock & erase.
Following the above advice I made sure NOT to allow it to connect to a network (remove sms) or online (disable wi-fi access or keep it off in those places its already connected) but then I got stuck!
I couldnt figure it out but did realise you can call samsung 24/7!
They got me to delete my google accounts from the phone
I went on the computer to accounts.samsung.com and logged into my samsung account and was able to delete that too.
Havent tested it yet but theory is when it connects now it wont erase and I'll be able to get stuff off it.

This also happened to me.
I accidentally clicked the "Enable Lock & Erase" on ADM. At that time, my phone wasn't connected to the mobile network data / wifi. I searched what to do and found this site. I did go to setting of Google but since I was offline, it didn't show the all the settings.
Then I go to Security Settings of the phone itself under privacy, and clicked the phone administrators. There showed that the activated phone administrator is the "Find my Phone app which I installed from Google Playstore hours before I accidentally clicked the enable lock and erase, not the "Find my Device" which is the one that ADM uses.
So, when I connected to the mobile network data, my files and data wasn't wiped.
I think if this also happened to you, you can go to Setting-Privacy-Security-Phone Admnistrators then uncheck the checkbox of the find my device.
I just don't know if it will still wipe the data if I will go back and make it as the phone administrator again.


text:
Are in-app-purchases applied after an app reinstall?
If I purchase an in-app-purchase (e.g., in-game currency or content) and I will remove the app and install it later, will the in-app-purchase content still be accessible?
For example:

Plants VS Zombie 2 Coins
Where's my Water additional content

As long as you use the same Google Account, you should be able to restore all In-App Purchases. Else the app is poorly written.

In general, yes. The content you purchased via an in-app-purchase will persist between installs (and even across devices). The purchase is tied to the account and will usually be restored upon installing the app again.
There may be rare cases, where the developer has not done this; but for the most part they do.


text:
Android phone keeps rebooting, how can I save my data?
I hope this question fits this site, as in my opinion the problem is caused by Android.
My problem is that my phone froze all of the sudden while browsing settings, and ever since the first freeze it reboots all the time. It boots just fine, but after a short period it freezes then reboots again, in a loop.
I tried to leave my phone until the battery drains, then take it out for a day, but the issue is still present. I wiped the cache partition from recovery mode, the reboot is still occurs even in safe mode.
UPDATE: Safe mode seems to be working, at least I can browse my phone without it freezing. However it freezes in safe mode if I go to the "Application manager" in settings, thus I can't uninstall any applications.
I've read that a hard (factory) reset would probably solve the problem, however I have important information on my phone (contacts, messages, pictures) which I don't want to lose.
Since I assume that the hard reset would solve my problem, my question is, how can I save my data from the phone? Is there any utility that allows me to directly copy from the phone?

Phone: Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 (i8160)
Android version: 4.1.2
Kernel version:  3.0.31-1106830

The phone is not rooted or tinkered with in any way.
I know there are already similar question on this site, however they did not receive a working answer, and I feel like my situation might be a different issue.

Data cable and grab files to PC?

Does not work, because the phone will reboot shortly after boot. Kies does not even recognize the device under this short time it's turned on.

I'm sorry, but at this point your only hope is a factory reset.
The symptoms sound like the data for one of the system apps has become corrupted. If you had any way to stop the reboot cycle, you'd have a shot at saving the data. Since even safe mode doesn't give you that, there's not much you can do.
I will suggest, for the future, saving all of your contacts, messages, phone logs, et al., to external servers, such as Google Contacts. That will also help when you upgrade your phone. There are several apps in the Google Play store to save text messages, phone logs, photos, videos, and the like to a remote server.

Please read my update, it won't reboot in safe mode, only if unlock the screen.

I saw that. In order to be able to save any of the data, though, you'll have to unlock your screen.