text:
Find what is creating folders on SD card
I got two useless folders on /sdcard/ (baidu and baiduMapSDK) and even though I delete them, they will generate automatically. How can I know which application or which process created these two folders?

@Leng The only way to know is delete the folder and use app one by one and see each time which app is creating it. If any app is doing so you don't have to worry as its a general rule for that app which need this empty folder to work on.

Baidu is the Chinese competitor of Google. I can't but notice your nickname Leng sounds Chinese as well!
So my bet goes to your phone having Chinese apps, including one related to the Baidu search engine.
These folders are definitely being made by this app.
These folders also might not be empty; content which starts with a .dotBeforeName is hidden, and won't show in most file navigators.
My recommendation is to leave those folders be. If you want to get rid of them, you'll also have to uninstall these Baidu apps.

Rather than being the Chinese version of Google, they're a Chinese competitor to Google. Google China is the Chinese version of Google.

Yeah, by version I meant clone. These chinese guys have censored everything and then made clones of it.

I didn't install any baidu related apps and these two folders are empty. I hate baidu, so I want to get rid of them, but I do not want to uninstall all the apps in my phone to test which app create these two folders.

Do you have any chinese apps installed?


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Video output on audio port
I've seen phone that are able to output video from standard Android audio port or jack.
Given this, I am thinking of what are the possibilities of doing an android app that can output video from the standard Android audio port?
I am not sure but maybe those existing Android phones have video out hardware interfaced to the microphone part of the audio port (just assuming), and I am also assuming that the Android phone microphone input is not capable of outputting signals in any way we tweak it.
So I am thinking of outputting video signal through either the L or R audio port. If this is the only feasible solution, what are the things that should be considered?

Some devices has 3,5mm AV connector, 4 wires: ground, sound left, sound right, video. In some order. It should simply push current screen contents out through video wire.

You can't drive it through audio as video signal requires several MHz carrier and most probably those audio chips will not even near MHz. This means you would need audio stream with at least 12000000Hz sampling rate for video signal.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Galaxy Note 3 requiring pin for lock-screen due to e-mail account
After syncing my work email with my new Samsung phone I received an on screen notice that in order to have the account synced with my phone I was required to have a password on my lock-screen.
This is very aggravating to me to constantly have to enter a pin over and over. Is there anyway to have both the email account but no required pin? I have gone to settings>Lock Screen> Screen Lock but can not seem to find what I am looking for..
Any advice would be appreciated.

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


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Google Play store issue security breach
My daughter got an Samsung Galaxy 3 7" tablet for Xmas. She also got some Google Play gift cards. My husband put in a credit card to buy a game for her. The next day there were 4 games downloaded that she did not pick - and not to her tablet. We had to cancel the credit card. Now her Google Play app will not connect to the internet even though she can access it via typing in from internet. Games she did buy are not showing up on her tablet. Google Play, Amazon and Samsungs reg site who up on her tablet as having bad certificates???? I have searched the google play site and can't find a place to access her gift cards to see if they have a balance or have been used.


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How do I move apps to a SD card on Android 4.3?
On Ice Cream Sandwich, I used to use an app called DS Super App2SD but it doesn't work on Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. I'm using Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 running on Cyanogenmod 10.2 nightly (Android 4.3.1)
I already tried the adb shell pm set-install-location to SD card location. It made everything worst by thinking my empty 32GB micro SD was full. So I set it back to 0.

In my case, I am on android 4.2.2 so things should not be changed much on your environment. However, what I do, From Settings>application/apps I get my all applications installed on my device. So, if any application supports to be moved on to SD card, i can simply move it by pressing the Application icon>move to sdcard.
If it doesn't help. Try using Link2SD. This should do your job.

There's no Option like that to move apps to SD on 4.3. DS super Apps to sd used to rely on your method but it doesn't exist anymore.

you could partition your SD on a PC with one for the user area and the other for apps, copy /data partition to the app section on the sd  then edit the mount points by finding out the partition id of the app section on your sd then mounting /data on it.

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


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updated HTC one mini screen black
I just updated my HTC one Mini and the bottom half of the screen is now black. Why? I have not done anything to it

What exactly do you mean by 'updated'? We need more information to be of any help.

it happens.Don't worry, its just a minor brick. you can recover it. What you have to do is, you have to flash your htc mini with a new firmware(either stock/cyanogenmod/any custom rom). But proceed by your own risk. Now follow up how to flash custom rom/cyanogenmod/ stock rom on htc mini on google. You should find your answer.
Good Luck!

But before that, just go to recovery mod and do these wipe data/factory reset and wipe delvic cache that may also solve your problem.


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Can't remount /system in rw
I'm trying desperately to push an app with adb  on the /system/app folder (to install the PlayStore on my low cost tablet).
So I tried to remount the /system partition with root rights:
mount -o remount,rw /system

But it gives me the same response every time:
mount: Read-only filesystem

And I also tried with command:
mount -o remount,rw -t ext4 /dev/block/actc /system

but it's the same thing...
And I really don't understand why, even with the root user, I can't modify this...
So if someone has an idea, it could save one person in distress :p

I have the same problem with Android 4.4.2, Nexus 4. When I make this command kernel adds the folowing message in dmesg: EXT4-fs (mmcblk0p21): re-mounted. Opts: (null). Why (null)? I explicitly requested rw!

did you ever figure this out? I'm having the same problem. Using a samsung galaxy tab.

@JacobMinshall and @Dmitry, if you're still interested, try running `/system/bin/mount explicitly, rather than implicitly running the xbin one. That worked for me.

The syntax of mount command usually requires you specify the target:
mount -o remount,rw /system /system

This output could be useful for us to better understand your problem:
cat /proc/mounts

As a last resort, as you have root you can try saving raw image of system, mount it on your box and push the app there, then flash it back on your device. To save raw system image:
dd if=<block device mounted on /system> of=<output file>

If you go that way make sure you keep the original system image in case something goes wrong.

hope I got dd command in the stock rom ...

@Wang I've never seen dd missing but there are probably some incomplete system images on some devices, in that case you can use cat /block/device > output-file

Of course all commands shown in this answer require root permissions, so you have to execute them with prepended su command.

For me...nothing was working and finally this worked:
adb root
adb remount

"adbd cannot run as root in production builds"

I'm not sure how generally applicable this is, but I had the same problem and found that this reddit comment solved it for me (on Android Lollikat, which is cm11):
http://www.reddit.com/r/cyanogenmod/comments/2m9t61/how_do_i_remount_system_rw_on_cm11_m12/
Basically, I had to remount by explicitly using /system/bin/mount -o ... rather than just mount -o .... I'm guessing that at some point the version in /system/xbin started taking priority and for some reason that version fails silently. (I say "at some point" because link2sd didn't start complaining about RO until recently.) It looks like it should be possible to edit the PATH to fix this so as to not have to use the command line every time I or an app needs to do this. I'm not sure how yet, though.
FWIW, here's the actual script for my device (s5360 on cm11 / LolliKat). It runs from anywhere but I ended up storing it in /system/xbin so it's globally available to shells.
#!/system/bin/sh
echo "Remounting /system as RW (read/write)..."
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system
mount | grep yaff

That last line is just to give quick feedback as to whether it actually worked or not (since my internal partitions are yaff2). The line before it could be made more explicit as any one of these, but on my device this isn't necessary:
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system /system
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /system /system
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw /dev/block/mtdblock8 /system
/system/bin/mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock8 /system

mount -o remount,rw /system  worked for me. My device is Nexus 5 with Android 5.1.1 LMY48B

Do you have an insecure kernel (boot.img)? Write access to the system partition is usually blocked by the kernel at boot. You may need to flash a modified kernel to be able to obtain write access to /system with adb.
Can you mount /system as r/w in the OS? Then you could push the file to the SD card using adb or just normal USB (MTP or Mass Storage depending on the device) and then copy it to the proper location and set permissions using terminal on the device or a root-enabled file manager. Then reboot and it should be there and installed.

I think when we try to access /system that means it is not rooted yet. They whole point of using root adb shell is to push something like su to /system to root it.

@Wang the OP clearly stated that he already had root

I had a similar problem.  I had success when I used Busybox (not to be confused with the Toybox system app):
busybox mount -o remount,rw /system

I found I could mount the system in rw using TWRP's Recovery mode, hitting "Mount" and selecting "System", making sure "Mount as read-only" is unchecked. Then I could copy APK's to the system/app folder using TWRP's built-in file manager.
All my other attempts at mounting as rw using ADB or terminal emulator failed. Didn't try using BusyBox.
From memory, that has worked for me in the past.

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


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Multiple rom booting
Is there any way to dual boot on the international GT-n7000 phone ?
I have no tried the CWM backup / restore to switchbetween two ROMs but I would guess no issue with that to be encountered. Just that it would be too cumbersome.
Thanks

The answer to your question is extremely complex and (in my opinion) not material for SE since there are a lot of files that you'd need to download and cannot be hosted here. Fortunately, XDA has a thread for multi-booting on the GT-N7000. I also found this tutorial on YouTube so that you can see how its done.


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K9-Mail keep email open
When switching back to k9 mail using the app-icon on the homescreen, a previously displayed email is going to be closed and the list of emails is going to be displayed instead. This doesn't happen when using the 'Last-App'-function.
As I don't have the 'Last-App'-button in my bottom bar I don't use it in my workflow (tbh, I prefer it like this anyway).
How can I stop emails from being closed when opening the app from the homescreen?


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Samsung Galaxy S3 camera light keeps flashing
Ever since I updated the software on my Galaxy S3 the camera light flashes randomly all day, it also flashes when my alarm goes off.
I cannot find anywhere in my settings how to disable this annoying light. My flash notification is not checked off. Please help!

S3 users have reported similar issue while receiving calls and alarm going off at AndroidCentral forums here.
The solution posted there is to go to Settings > My Device > Accessibility > Hearing > Flash Notification
Un-check Flash Notification.
Even if the flash notification box is not checked, check it once and un-check it again. It should solve your problem.

Was annoying, but has stopped, by doing the following:
Go to: Settings > My Device > Accessibility> Hearing> Flash notification
Select flash, close out, return and deselect flash.
Working properly now!

This phenomenon could be due to some rogue app that is using the permissions of the camera to take pictures or activating flashlight without your intervention.
Check with some app like F-Secure App Permissions, applying the advanced filter CAMERA, FLASHLIGHT (applying OR operator as shown in the screenshots).
In the resulting list, look for any suspicious app (mainly a game or another app that should not be using those permissions) and uninstall it (you can uninstall apps directly from F-Secure App Permissions by long-tapping its name in the list and tapping Yes in the confirmation message).

I found it was a flashlight app I had downloaded. It had permissions to override various functions. After uninstalling the app, the flashing is gone!


text:
Multiple tabs browsing?
I like using many tabs when browsing. It's a bit annoying to click links and open them as a tab on Firefox. It's annoying to close and switch between them too (Next tab so I can read VS pull a list and click the next one).
I tried Firefox and the default web browser. I tried looking up Android Firefox for gestures or some way to handle tabs better but it looks like I can't open tabs easily on it.
Are there other recommendations?

Yes, Firefox wastes too much space (especially when showing open tabs), maybe they fix that someday. In the meantime, have you tried with Chrome for Android? It has new gestures to switch between tabs:

In Chrome for Android, you’ll be able to:

Swipe horizontally across the top toolbar to quickly switch tabs.
Drag vertically down from the toolbar to enter into the tab switcher    view.
Drag down from the menu to open the menu and select the item you want    without having to lift your finger.


text:
Backup and Restore with Holo ( ADB ) from N4 to another N4 - some questions
I am soon receiving a replacement device for my Nexus 4, that got some problems charging now and then.
Some questions regarding Holo Backup:

It shall be no problem to restore a "Backup all without system apps" and sdcard from N4 to N4 both running the exact same firmware and stuff, right?
Does this option also backups alarms, ringtones set for certain things and sdcard0?
Anyway to save my widgets and stuff placed on default homescreen?

//EDIT
my replacement just arrived. Gonna answer these questions soon.

Restore via Holo Backup didnt worked at all. Nothing happened on my phone no matter what kind of backup i tried to restore.
Restore via adb from commandoline worked... well not the full backup!! it stucked at an app called "Tasks".
But backup only from app and system data worked fine! So i just let google restore all my apps.
Apps and Folders on the Homescreen were restored. eMail ringtone too (hangouts sms not).
alarms were also restored.
I just pulled and pushed my whole sdcard0 folder manually.


text:
Why is a random app being opened when I exit an app with Back button?
On my Nexus 7 G1 (4.4.2 KitKat), sometimes, when I press back button to exit an app, a random app is opened instead of Home Launcher (Nova Prime). Sometimes, this random app is opened temporarily (then, Home Launcher becomes visual). And, this random app isn't chosen from my Recent Apps list. Means, this happens even when the app never appeared in Recent Apps list before.
What's going on? How to fix it?

It's most likely related to how the task stack works.
In Android, an application can open an activity in another application, but the task stack still belongs to the first application instead of the second.
For example, if you open a YouTube link from Firefox then the back button will take you back to Firefox. The task stack may often cause apps back button to appear to behave strangely especially if you don't understand how the task stack works; most strange behaviors with the back button is caused by users that don't understand back stack, but sometimes strange back button behaviors may be because of a bug in the application, or because of application developers that don't understand the task stack and tried to work around it rather than with it (causing grief for people that do expect proper back stack behavior).
The task stack is also the reason why the Recent apps list may show an app that belongs to say Firefox but shows a Screenshot that appears to come from the Youtube app, and clicking that app will bring you to a Youtube activity instead of to Firefox.
The recent apps list shows both the app name and a screenshot because both are needed to decide which app to switch to. If you want to go to the Youtube app to start a new task, you should switch to the app that is named Youtube, instead of any apps that have the Youtube app screenshot.  But if you want to return to the video you watched before that email come that interrupted you, then you want to go to the one that shows the right Screenshot, which may actually be named with your browser or newsreader.
I used Firefox and YouTube as an example but this works similarly in any properly written apps.

I have already mentioned in the question that this happens even when my Recent Apps list is empty...

@Sachin Shekhar: an empty Recent apps list means nothing.  The back stack still works as it's supposed to, when implemented correctly. Some apps don't implement back stack correctly though and may cause strange behaviours.  You should identify which pair of apps is guilty and push the app developer to fix it.

How can an app be in back stack If it was never in Recent Apps list?

I also see this occasionally too. It's been happening on my Moto devices ever since 4.0. As @user3303 said, it's completely random, and I've even seen it get into a chain of apps. (I recognize it pretty quickly now and just hit the Home button instead.) But the apps that are opened are completely random from all of the apps on my device, not in any way related to what I've used recently. For example, I just closed Pokemon Go, and Google Earth followed by Battle.Net Authenticator were launched - neither of them have been used since last reboot.


text:
How to set a distinctive tone for SMS or phone call from a particular user/ phone #?
I find that I'm getting "alert fatigue" and ignore most of them, even thought I've disabled all but SMS and maybe a couple of others.
If I am out doing something like riding my bike/skiing/etc.  I want to ignore all but ones from my wife or kids.
I'm on Motorola Razr-M w/ Android 4.1.2

Open contacts, tap the name of the contact you want to set the distinctive ringtone, then open action overflow menu (the three dots) and tap "Set ringtone", select a ringtone different to default one and tap OK.

would it change ringtone for calls, SMS or both?


text:
Adding a new spell-checker to Motorola Moto G
Does anybody know how can I add a new spell-checker to Motorola Moto G (it runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean)?
I have the spell-checker for UK version, but I also would like to use Polish spell-checker.

The following is the way I enable additional spell checkers on my Galaxy Nexus which runs on vanilla Android 4.3, I hope it will be the same for your Moto G:

Open your app drawer and go to Settings > Language & input
Scroll down to Keyboard & Input Methods section: If your Google Keyboard is enabled, tap its settings button, if not, enable it first.
On Google Keyboard Settings screen, tap Input languages

On Input languages screen, scroll down and enable Polish. Then tap Back.
You should be on Google Keyboard Settings screen again: Scroll down to Text Correction section and tap Add-on dictionaries.
On Add-on dictionaries screen, scroll down and tap Polski (which it should say it is available).

Now it should appear a button to Install this dictionary: tap it and wait until it is installed.
Now, the Install button will be replaced for a Delete button, and the dictionary status will say Installed. Exit settings screens.
Now you can use the Polish spell checker in the phone. Just toggle the language by tapping the Globe key to the left of Spacebar in Google Keyboard until it says Polski and you'll be ready to use it.

I had to install Google keyboard first, as there was only Android keyboard by default (AOSC or something similar), but then your guide is perfect. Thanks!


text:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 not working with Android SDK
I can not get Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 to be seen in Eclipse Android SDK. I believe the problem is related to the usb device driver.
I loaded Samsung Kies and it sees the device fine, just not Eclipse.

Does the phone say 'USB debugging' when you plug it in? Have you tried changing the mode from, for example, camera to MTP (or vice-bersa)? Does running 'adb devices' show the device? Have you got the latest drivers? What version of the operating system are you on? Have you updated the Android SDK and the Eclipse plugin?

Kies includes the USB drivers for the device. Try running Eclipse as Administrator if you are using Windows. And all the advice above, do all that. We need more information really.


text:
how to view your accounts google play store money
I bought a nexus 7 in 2012 and it came with a $20.00 gift card. When I went to install apps from the app store, it asked me to sign into my google account. I signed into my gmail account and received the $20.00 for the play store. I purchased one or two items but I'm positive I still have a good $15.00 left. Where do I go to check how much google play store money I have left on my account? I went to wallet.google.com and it asked me to create a payment method, but I know for a fact that I still ahve a good $15.00 left on that gift card... Do the gift cards expire?

According to the TOS, Google Play gift cards never expire.
You can view your balance by opening your Google Wallet page (you can also view your transaction history here to figure out where your money went) or by contacting Customer Care at 1-855-466-4438.

That Google Wallet page actually did show me when my credits expire. Thanks.

@MGOwen Interesting, I don't see when it expires anywhere.  Where do you see that information?

Gift cards expire after a year of not being used, I think.
To check their value go to buy an app, and on payment methods, the card will be displayed with the value underneath. Then cancel out of buying the app.

This information is contrary to the answer provided by @Compro01 above.


text:
Where is default navigation app (Blue Arrow) in custom ROM?
I recently installed the Hyperdrive Android custom ROM version RLS12 on my Samsung S4 and cannot locate the blue arrow icon for navigation.  I do have the Google Maps installed.  Is this something I failed to check off in my install options or is this just gone in RLS12 (I had it in an earlier Hyperdrive release from around October 2013) or is it just hidden and I need a pointer?

Navigation has always been a part of the Google Maps application. The icon was essentially a convenience shortcut, but not a separate app, and was removed around July 2013 in the Maps 7.0 update. It's possible you still had the old version of Maps on your other ROM. Either that, or the ROM author added some kind of shortcut "app" to re-create the old Navigation icon or something of that nature.
If you want to use your phone to navigate somewhere, open Google Maps and type the address in the search bar, then hit the button in the bottom right (the exact text/icon may vary depending on distance).

If you really want the separate Navigation icon, you could possibly downgrade to a version of Maps earlier than 7.0. A custom launcher could also let you create a shortcut directly to the Navigation activity on your desktop, but probably not in the app drawer. Apex Launcher, for example, can create a shortcut on your home screen by long pressing on an empty space on one of your home screens, then selecting Shortcuts -> Activities -> Maps -> Navigation.

Does the new one include voice to text specification of the target address?  What about directions for biking, walking, and public transit?

@WilliamKF: I'm pretty sure it has all of the same navigation features that it's always had, unless Samsung did something different with it (but I do not think they did). Again, it's literally the same exact app. It previously had two icons, one that took you to the main Maps screen and one that took you to directly to the Navigation screen. All they took away (AFAIK) was the second shortcut icon.


text:
Android E-Mail App: How to limit contacts for new email to contacts of specific account?
I am using the native E-Mail App on an Samsung Galaxy 4 Mini with Android 4.2.2. I use the app to read and send business email with my outlook exchange account. For other emails I use gmail app. When composing a new email in E-Mail app and start typing in the "To:" field suggestions of email addresses occur. So far so good. But:
Most of the suggested addresses are old gmail contacts or otherwise private contacts. This expands the list to a near unusable length. Is there a way to tell the app to only list contacts from the account entered in the E-Mail App?
If not, can I store addresses I often use in a favorites list or such (I was hoping this would happen by itself over time, but after month of use the app still does not remember anything of the sort)?
Please when suggesting a solution also understand that I do not what to general limit contact sync on my phone to the outlook contacts.
Any tips would be appreciated.
Monica


text:
Internal storage space running low after rooting and deleting unwanted apps
I am currently using a Samsung Galaxy GT-I8190 (S3 Mini) running Android 4.1.2 and I rooted my phone in order to get more internal memory to my disposal. It worked, but only for a little while. Then the memory started getting full and pops up a "warning" to say that the storage space is running low. I have an app installed by the name of "Clean Master" and I frequently clean the "junk" files on and clean it at the advanced side too. I also do a memory boost, but nothing helps to clear out memory space. I also cleared out my clipboard of everything I had copied and I unrooted my phone to see if it would help, but the memory just got fuller again so then I rooted my phone once again to take away the unwanted apps. I also have a 4GB external memory card in my device and I've moved all the apps (part of them that could move) to the memory card, but no positive results to my liking as yet. What can I do to clear up the memory? Because I can't even update my current apps because of the lack of space. Please help! Thanks

Did you try getting rid of some apps? Or removing any downloaded content, i.e. films, books etc.

What is taking up all the space? Get a disk manager and see what is so big. Some apps (for example Bard's Tale game doesn't remove the 3.5Gb of additionial files when uninstalled and needs to be manually wiped). It's impossible to know otherwise.

Yes, I got rid of some apps, like I said, I rooted my phone so that the unwanted Google apps could be deleted. @Peanut

@RossC - I do have an app on my phone that allows me to delete all the empty files on my phone after a certain app leaves something behind - its called "Clean Master" and I cannot download any more apps as the internal space on my phone is not enough to do so.

I also only have the apps that I use normally and only one game (Candy Crush) - all my pictures and music and videos are on my external memory card. I've had this phone for just over a year now and it's the first time ever it pops up this message.

My Google Drive and my Gmail apps wouldn't even refresh to load new emails or any other content because of a lack of internal storage space


text:
Trouble with certificates
I have a Samsung Galaxy tablet model GT-P3110.
I keep getting a message on my tablet each time I go to my Hotmail and Outlook email that there is a problem with the security certificate for these sites.
All the reading I'm doing so far would indicate that it might be a fault with my tablet.
I have already lost access to one email account, and while I cant be sure it was because of me ignoring the security certificate warnings, but I do not want it to happen again.
Can you please help. My date and time seem fine when I go into my settings, is there anywhere else I should be looking? Will I need to do a full factory reset – and if so how do I do this?


text:
Updated Galaxy Note 8 to 4.2.2: can't pair with Bluetooth devices afterwards
With the previous version, 4.1.2, no problem to discover and pair with my Bluetooth speakers. However, after 4.2.2 upgrade, the Note 8 cannot find them when scanning. My phone, a Galaxy S4,(version 4.3), can however discover my Note and the speakers.
Note that the "multi-window" option was also greyed out after the upgrade, and only a factory reset could get it activated again.
Can't find a similar question on this forum so are there any ideas before I revert to a previous version.

In fact, the problem was resolved by doing a second factory reset. Looks like it's wise to do the factory reset several times before declaring the problem. Do this before setting up your screens with your widgets etc. organised and make sure you have a backup.


text:
How to automatic alarm birthdays contacts
I have listed mostly of my contacts with with the birthday dates and I con regularly view it in my google-calendar widget, but I have no idea on how to get a snooze on that day.
I use a fantastic Nexus4 (LG e 960) with android 4.4.2 (kitkat)

While I don't know any built-in solution, there are several birthday reminder apps available on the Playstore promising exactly that, e.g.:

Birthdays (including widgets)
Birthdays (puts them in your notification bar when due)
Birthday Reminder (again notifications)
many more

The 3 example apps I've picked above use your Google contacts to check for birthdays, so you don't need to manage a separate list. Others might use their own databases, so check their descriptions. There might be "privacy issues" when those apps have access to your contacts (which is needed for the birthday reminders) and full internet (e.g. for ads) at the same time, which you might wish to keep an eye on while picking a suiting app.

I want to use google contacts database, I do not want to share/duplicate info

I thought so, that's why I've picked those 3 examples which do exactly that: using Google Contacts, not duplicating them.


text:
Confusion about photo-backups Android 4.4
I have a Nexus 5 with Android 4.4.2, but I am confused as to where photos get backed up. First of all, in the Photos app (which is actually part of Google+), there is an option to set up Auto Backup. Now, in the settings under your Google-account syncing there is also an option to sync Google+ Photos. What is the difference?
Also, where are the photos stored? If you delete a photo from inside Photos or inside Gallery on my phone, does it get deleted from both places, from the web (if backed up), ...?
Also, what is the difference between the Gallery-app and the Photos-app?
Edit:
Doing some tests with the auto-backup feature inside Photos, I've concluded:
If you take a photo on your device and force auto-backup, it's available online as well. Removing it on your device keeps the picture online, and it is not shown in the Trash. Removing it online however DOES make it show up in the Trash, both online and on your device.
Deleting an auto-backuped picture online puts it in the Trash as well, ths making the image available twice on your device (in the Camera and Trash). Deleting it from the Trash still keeps the image in the Camera. Backing up the library does not upload that image again online, and the Cloud-icon remains.
Of course once you think you know the system it gets more complicated. Using Hangouts also puts those images inside a separate folder online, and for some reason some pictures only show up there and NOT inside the Auto-Backup folder. Perhaps because I've been messing around trying to figure thing out, I'll keep better note and force auto-backup in the future.
I guess it could be me, but this system is VERY complicated for a user. The cloud-icon would suggest to me that it's available online, but it's still there even after deleting the image online. Of course deleting it online means you don't want it.
Also it's not really syncing if the images on the device are not the same as online. There can be images on the device but not online and vice-versa. And now I still don't know the difference between the sync of Google Photos and Google+ Photos...

The Photos app and Google+ app, while deeply connected, are different applications on your phone. The Photos app is designed to replace the old Gallery app by providing more editing and sharing options. Both Photos and Gallery show you pictures stored on your phone and stored on Google's servers under your G+ account. If you're using Photos you can ignore Gallery.
Both the Photos app and Google+ app have Auto-backup settings and both are talking about the same thing: backing up pictures you take to a private album associated with your G+ account on Google's servers. You can turn on Auto-backup in either Photos or Google+.
You can delete or recover pictures that were backed up to G+ easily within the Photos app. From Photos you can also delete pictures that were taken with your phone's camera but not backed up to G+. Pictures that were locally stored on your device or were not backed up to G+ cannot be restored once deleted. Pictures that have been backed up to G+ with have a small cloud icon in the bottom-right corner of the thumbnail.
You can remove pictures just from the device by going to the upper left and clicking on the "Photos".  That should bring up a menu, where you scroll down almost to the bottom to get to "On Device".  Bringing up that list is just the photos on the device (instead of all the photos that G+ knows about), and when you delete there it only affects the device storage, not the backed up version.  See https://support.google.com/plus/answer/3453521?hl=en for a (very) little more detail.

So if an image is taken on the phone and auto-backuped to Google/Google+, deleting it on the phone will cause it to go to the Trash, giving you the option to restore it. I'm still confused though - in my account sync-settings I have both Google Photos and Google+ Photos sync option, as can be seen here: http://imgur.com/e95NJ7K What's the difference here?

Doing my own tests with google+ auto backup, I have found that photos that have been backed up (in some cases for a very long time) will disappear from the phone (no trash), as well as from the online "backup" (again not found in the trash) when the photos are deleted from the phone using the default gallery app.
I'm not sure why this is the behavior since the backup should be just that... a backup.  Syncing my phone's gallery is not an actual backup. Syncing is a different process, and I would not consider it a backup.  What happens if I get a new phone and allow the backup to run before I've gotten a chance to restore all of my images?  Do the missing images get removed from the online "backup" and disappear forever?
There are a lot of questions here, and I don't have any good answers just yet. I do know that I have lost pictures due to the backup automatically deleting them if they were removed from the phone and not storing them in the trash where they could be recovered.

I'm in the exact same boat. Finally decided to understand the relationship between local storage, Google+'s "Auto Backup", and how the new Photos app navigates between them. Like you, I've got a ton of unanswered questions - way more of them than answers - popping up as I spend more time with it. Just as an FYI, I'm running Android 4.4 on the Samsung GS4 Google Play Edition. Auto Backup settings are to back up over network and WIFI and to exclude local folders.
At one point I took a test picture and, once it showed up in the "All" tab of the Photos app, I deleted it to see what would happen. The photo disappeared from local storage and the "All" tab and popped up in the trash. Not so on Google+ in Chrome. The photo remained, and the online trash stayed empty.
Upon restoring the photo from local trash and refreshing everything, I tried again. This time, the photo disappeared from the "All" tab AND Google+ in Chrome, but remained in local storage. It appeared in the trash on both systems.
Another strange thing to note is that the "All" tab includes both photos that have been backed up automatically to Google+ and photos that only exist locally in folders such as "Screenshots" and "WhatsApp". Because my Auto Backup settings specifically exclude non-camera or Hangouts photos, nothing but photos existing in Google+ should show here (hence the "Download" option available upon selecting a photo in this pane) according to Google's official description of this feature:

These are the photos & videos you've uploaded to or shared on Google+. If you have Auto Backup turned on, this section may include items taken with your device's camera, photos saved from the web, or photos saved by other apps.

It looks to me like Google rushed this app out the door, and has done a very poor job getting their code to match their description. What's worse, the functionality is so convoluted and confusing - to the point of seeming broken - that trying to organize photos stored locally (on the smartphone) and in the cloud (Google+ via Auto Backup) is nearly impossible.
Any help/thoughts on this?
EDIT: I can't say I've experienced anything like Ryan, fortunately. That sounds like the last straw for using Photos until it gets seriously overhauled.

Google wants to integrate everything into G+. This started with SMS and Hangouts in Kitkat (where by default, there's no longer a separate short-message app). What you see here are preparations for the gallery: the Photos app is integrated with G+, but the Gallery app not yet removed.

So if you are content using Photos, Gallery won't really add any features and thus can be ignored? Any idea about the multiple backup-options?

No idea. I refuse using G+ (and all the other "big data collectors"). My backup is simple: Sync the image folders with their counterparts on my PC when logged into my home WiFi :)

Don't know much about Gallery but figured out about Photos. If auto backup is set up in Google+ on the phone, then photos get backed up in in the cloud in Google+. In the Photo app one can see Albums, Photos etc. If one deletes a photo in the phone it moves to trash both on the phone and on the web. This works the other way round. If a Photo is restored from Trash then it re-appears in the Photo App.
Why there is a Gallery App, I have not been able to figure out.


text:
Is there any way to sync wifi between devices?
Are there any apps or methods to sync saved wifi between Android devices? Basically it would remember the wifi name and password if you logged into it once from one device on all devices synced.

This question over here seems to imply that Android does this already.

@dotVezz Sure. But Celeritas might wish to do that without involving Google services, e.g. for privacy reasons (remember: Google stores WiFi APNs unencrypted, and you cannot even delete them from their servers).

Wifi credentials are actually not stored very securely at all, (plain text!), but in a system folder, meaning that only a rooted app could access it. Google's backup is your best bet.
It's stored in the data/misc/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf file, for the record.
If your phone is rooted, there are apps like Wifi Key Recovery  and Wifi Password Recovery that can get you the keys, but I know of no apps that will automatically sync these as well.

In newer versions of Android (probably 8+), the file that stores passwords (in plain text) is now /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml

This feature is built into Google Services, although my experience is that it sometimes struggles when moving to a new device or if you have multiple devices.
On the device that has the Wi-Fi Settings you want to keep, go to Settings -> Backup & reset there is a Back up my data option which includes Backup application data, *Wi-Fi passwords*, and other settings to Google servers.
Other applications might have a hard time doing this as I would expect Wi-Fi credentials to be securely stored, like passwords.  That might mean root enabled applications can do it but I do not know of any.


text:
What could cause this drop in photo quality?
The recent photos I've tried to take with my phone look like the one on left compared to older photos that look like the one on the right.

I haven't (knowingly) changed any of the phone settings, and as far as I can see I should be taking the highest quality*/resolution photos possible.
But as you can see all the newer photos are coming out as though they are taken through a rain storm or on a very cloudy day (which isn't the case). Even photos taken indoors with the flash are very poor quality - so poor I deleted them as they were useless for recording the event I was at.
Is this a physical problem with the lens or something in the software I can improve?
* By "quality" I mean lowest compression etc. not a comment on the artistic quality (or otherwise) of the photos.

Give a try by playing with different camera settings. Or reset the settings to default.

It looks like this is a physical problem with the camera - either the lens or (more likely) the glass that covers the lens.
On a close inspection of the camera I can see a lot (for the small area) of dark specks on the inside of the outermost lens element.
I don't know what's caused this, but it's this that's causing the reduction in quality of the images.


text:
Swipe animation during back/forward navigation? Where is it?
I've come to heavily rely on Safari's back/forward animation, which allows me to not only navigate quickly between visited pages, but also reveals the content of the previous/next page while on the current page without refreshing, thus greatly facilitating comparisons and plain-old reading. Once you experience this, there is really no going back -- it's like reading a book.
It is shocking to me Google have still (v4.3) not implemented this fantastic memory-aid and usability feature in Chrome. Since no other Android browser I tried (Dolphin, Opera, Firefox & Puffin) has such gestures by default, is it at all possible to have swipe navigation/animation on Android?

There are tons of browser apps for Android. Maybe you should keep trying. Is it possible? Probably. A developer just has to see the need for it.

Give a try to Opera mini. I think you will find similar navigation in it too.

Opera mini does provide on-screen back/forward buttons and going through history is fast, but there is still no swipe navigation. UC Browser Mini is the only popular browser I've found to do this even though not very smoothly.

UC Browser is the only popular Android browser I've found to support swipe navigation (i.e. one-finger dragging from left or right side slides to previous/next page without refreshing). Swiping only works adequately in fit-to-screen mode, but even though it's not as smooth as Safari, it does the job. :)


text:
Auto Wifi logout
When I login to my home wifi network through my LG G2, the login page dies as soon as I minimize that window. I have tried logging in with chrome, firefox, opera but the same problem persists. The login page should be active all the time, otherwise it logs out after 30minutes. So how can I keep that login page alive in the browser ? The system works fine in my laptop and even in my nokia phone, which allows me to minimize that login window, but android phone doesn't. Kindly tell me the solution.


text:
Empty /data/log folder
I have Galaxy Sii s9100 with CM 10.2 (android 4.3)
I am encountering the bug that fill the folder /data/log and display the notfication "Storage space running out"
I can see that the problem is coming from the log folder using DiskUsage (1741Mo)
The problem is I can't succeed to empty this folder, I tried :

DiskUsage (it says that I can't delete log files)
ES Explorer (the folder looks empty)
Dial *#9900# (got an error IHM not valid)

Any other ideas ? Or any ideas why I can't use these methods ?

Using a terminal app (or adb shell), making yourself root (su), and then running rm -rf /data/log/* should do the trick. But instead of permanently shooing stray dogs out of your house, why not close the door? I mean, try figuring out what is filling the logs permanently, and fix that.

Did you ever figure this out?  I'm in exactly the same situation, but I can't even use adb shell as my usb port is non functional.

Automated solutions could involve tasker: Make a job running in intervals (e.g. all 3 hours), with the task to shell-execute rm -rf /data/log/* as root, should keep the folder clean. Tasker has a "run shell" command, where you can tick "use root" – that's what you would need.

I had the same problem on i9000 and CM9. So I run adb shell
su
df
# /datadata was almost full
cd /data
ls -la
# /data/data -> /datadata
cp -rp /data/data/* /data/data2/
rm /data/data
ln -s /data/data2 /data/data

You may also want to have a look at "[CM7/9] /datadata/ low storage notification fix" or "CM9 datafix".


text:
How can we see deamon proceses in Android?
How can we see all the daemon processes with their statuses on our android device?
Reason for asking is that recently I came to know that adb (Android Debug Bridge) is a daemon process running on our Android device. Whenever we install the Android SDK adb server is installed which interacts between the client (IDE or the shell) and the daemon process running on Android (correct me if I have mistaken). So specifically, I want to view this daemon process's status and find more details about it like what port it is listening to.
My device is running Android 4.0.4 (ICS). Device is rooted of course. I have installed terminal emulator and busybox.
Any suggestion/help is appreciated.

There are several process monitoring tools available on Google Play. One of them is OS Monitor, which is very likely to help you out with your issue:

OS Monitor: Process list, list of open ports (souce: Google Play)
As the two screenshots visualize, you can see all running processes as well as network connections including used ports and current status.
Of course, you could also make use of command-line tools like ps (to show running processes) and netstat (to show open ports) from within your terminal app (or via adb shell). Together with grep, that might be even faster, as you can filter out unwanted entries (e.g. netstat | grep adb).


text:
Google Nexus 7: I can't manage my device administrators
Can someone please help me?
I've installed the McAfee protection on my tablet and later changed it to Kaspersky. When trying to deactivate McAfee as device administrator it didn't work. Therefore now I can't uninstall the app.
I've also noticed that I can't deactivate any of my device administrators.
I've tried to Force Stop the application on the Installed Devices menu, but the option isn't available.
I don't want to reset my tablet and loose all the data. What should I do?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

As an end-user, you should be able to activate / deactivate device administrators. Unless, of course, you have a rogue app that is preventing you from doing this. Contact McAfee and ask for some assistance. Or, restart your device and try again.

I had the same issue. Unfortunately if you have tried to check\uncheck more than two or three times you will end up resetting your device. Explained here
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=53130


text:
I have an SD card and it still says that error in sufficient storage
When I upgrade an Android application from Google Play, it gets downloaded, then the upgrade stops with the message

Error: Insufficient storage available.

I have a 32 GB SD card so I want to download to the SD card but it only puts apps on the internal memory. How can I get apps to install to the SD card?

One of our eternal questions :) I've just re-tagged yours. Please see our insufficient-memory tag-wiki for first aid – and don't forget to check back and let us know if you've solved your issue.

Dang so the Sd card does not help? Well i eraese the apps and clear cache then it only takes like. 10 mb from it . There r some apps that i dont use wich take up alot of internal memory but i cant erease :( can u please help me out more And thanks for the first part that helped me understand scouple problems

Let's agree on "just plugging it in" does not help. Having it in, and doing something with it explicitly is a different thing: you can move some apps there, thus freeing up some internal memory. Advanced options, however, require root. Some hints are pointed out from the tag-wiki, e.g. What can I do to manage my phone's internal storage? Also make sure to always check the linked/related questions, which e.g. brings you to How can I free up more space on my Android phone? and others ;)

@user49515 Please give the OS ,Device details. Without these details I cannot help you with a perfect answer which shall solve your problem

@AlE. Not really. Unlucky phrasing, but OP asks: "How can I get apps to install to the SD card?" – so it's rather a dupe of How to Install Android Apps to the SD Card by Default ;)

I am not sure what device you have or whether you  have rooted it so I'll show you a few options.
This should work for Samsung devices that still have the sock file manager.
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-1772970/set-default-download-location-card.html
This app will work if you have rooted your phone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=frank.tools.defaultinstalllocationchanger&hl=en
If neither of those you should be able to do it this way but it may be  a tad tricky if your not very tech savvy
http://getandroidstuff.com/install-android-application-sd-card-mod-install-location/

It is an Acatel 4010

you can go to settings-applications-preffered install location and change it from internal phone memory to SD card and yo apps will download just fine though if u remove the card,they will disappear....
the second option is quite long but its something to do with a software that allows you to allocate some of your memory card space to internal memory for example you allocate 5gb of your  memory card to internal memory and then u will have plenty of space to download your apps...Google about it

authors: Сергей Пухляков


text:
How can I load a Video Player App on my Nook Color without google play?
My son's nook color is incompatible with google play, and the default video player app wont play local video files I've uploaded to his nook's harddrive via usb-cable. How can I download a new video player app to his nook 'without' google play?
I am using software version 1.4.3 and am not interested in solutions that involve rooting the nook, or rolling back to a previous version of the software.

Do you have .apk of the "new video player"? If yes than just copy paste the .apk file to storage and using file explorer of nook run that .apk file in order to install.

After testing many different apps and many different versions of said apps, websites listing what apps work and what apps don't, and more than a few other things, I have reached the conclusion that, You cannot load 3rd party video players on the Nook Color. My reason for reaching this conclusion, is when I finally found an app and its correct version to work for the nook operating system, and used the correct working file manager app to run the .apk file the message my Nook Color gave me was;

Install Blocked: For security reasons, only apps purchased through the NOOK Shop can be installed.

wait, read my answer before giving up

Download/get the .apk file of desired application.
(Example: MoboPlayer from this link.)
Pass it to the android device.
Use any file explorer to open this .apk file.
Install the application.

I'm getting a message after the attempt that the app was unable to install...

Download the latest version of MoboPlayer take the .apk file, copy it to your NC, open the file through on NC and installed it.

My nook says that file is in an unsupported format.

Try to open the apk file from File Manager rather than Downloads list. Let me know if that does not work

I have to get a file manager that works from barnes and nobles, ill get back to you. currently the one I just tried is giving me issues. I think my cache is full.

I'm getting a message after the attempt that the app was unable to install...

if your smartphone can download this new video player app download it on your smartphone and then transfer apk file to your son's smartphone, using this application share app.Best lucks..

I do not own any smartphones, this question is about a nook.

Well if you are unable to play those video I would recommend download Mx Player from this link. and then copy it to your nook colors' sd card/storage. Then from the file manager of your nook, navigate to that mx player.apk file and click on it. It should prompt to install. Just install it. And play whatever you want. For any detailed information, like step by step procedure follow this link
hope that helps.

that link takes me to google play. This answer is not helpfull.

well then, wait for a while,till I get the direct download link. :)

here is direct link for downloading mxplayer. hope it solves your problem

Here is some information about good media player on Nook Color: http://drippler.com/barnes_noble/nook_color#!560253
You can try VLC nightly build for ARMv7:
http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/android-armv7/

According to this article you can enable app sideloading in the following way (text in italics is mine):

Enable unknown sources
There’s a hidden settings menu on the NOOK Tablet that lets you
  install apps from unkown sources. You can’t get to it just by
  navigating through the settings, but xda-developers forum member
  lionclaw has provided an easy way to open the settings menu from your
  web browser.

Fire up the web browser and visit http://comptonsoft.com/test/
Click the “Download TGPS_launcher” link. (They have changed it for "Download AppMenu" link, you can use this)
You should see a notification in the lower left corner of your
  device.
Click the notification and tap the entry that says tgps_launcher.apk download complete. (Now it should mention AppMenu.apk)
If you try to install the app using the Package Installer, you’ll be
  whisked away to the screen shown above, where you can check the box
  next to unknown sources.

Once you have enabled this option, you can follow the steps described in Keshava's answer

UPDATE:

Fortunately/Unfortunately, the menu wasn't hard to find - all the user
  had to do was to try to install an app from somewhere other than B&N's
  app store voila! - the menu was triggered and the option could be
  enabled. That lasted about a month. Calling the ability to find and
  enable the option a "bug", B&N sent out an update that "fixed the
  problem" shortly before Christmas. Ever since then, the only way you
  can get non-B&N apps on the device is to either root it or use a
  dual-boot card.

(Source)
Therefore, your own answer is the correct one. I'm sorry I couldn't help you to solve your problem as I would have liked.

I will attempt this, thank you for the first realistic answer this question has received. I will be in touch with news of my success or failure.

I'm afraid this method ends in the same result mentioned in the answer I posted, I receive the message that 3rd party apps cannot be installed. Is there another way to reach this menu?

I'm sorry to read that. Well, at least we tried. Let me research a little more about that, maybe there is something more we can do.

Unfortunately this option has been disabled by manufacturer. Read more details in an update I made to my answer.

Hey, I'm telling you because your the only user I've seen so far that has a realistic amount of rep, you guys seriously have moderation problems here. (Android.SE) I don't know how much staff (10k mods) you have here, or even regular users such as yourself, but I can say that in Arqade the nightmare that was this question never would have happened. Every single answer I got other than yours was basically the exact same thing. Your mods are slackin, HARD. Just wanna say, my experience here has been sub-par, I hope it's isolated to me.

@Ender Thanks for the bounty and for your nice words for me. The effort required to validate the answers that people post here in AE is shared between the moderators and us, regular users. Much of review activities don't provide reputation points (being just taken by true Android Enthusiasts), and as this site is for community, it is up to us to assume those tasks, only sending to moderators those posts which require special and additional efforts or privileges to be dealed with...

... Because reputation is earned mainly by answering questions, some users just post one-line answers with links for the first Google results they find, showing a lack of research efforts. Maybe that doesn't happen in ArQAde because that is a site for gamers, and the research needed to answer correctly a question is made mainly by playing the games (it is the best kind of research, if you ask me), let's just say things are a bit different in AE. On the other hand, AE moderator activity is intense, as you will see in our Meta site.


text:
How do I refund a purchase made through Google Play?
When I purchase an item from Google Play, I get the following message;

This message seems to indicate that I can somehow get a refund for my purchase by performing an action on my device within a specified time frame.
What exactly is this message implying I have to do in order to get a refund? How do I refund a purchase made through Google Play?

If you open the Play Store on your Android device and go to that app's page within the refund period, a refund option is available to tap. I'm not certain if this is available in the web version of the Play Store (It isn't, as far as I can tell).

All of the details on refund/cancellations are here on the Google Play support site:
You can do the following:

Within 15 minutes, open the google play app and click refund
Wait 2 hours and don't download the app.  It will auto-cancel
After 15 minutes, sign into google wallet, select the transaction and contact the seller. They have the option to refund or not at the sellers discretion.

If it has been more than fifteen minutes of purchase, you cannot refund an app via an Android device. [Well, you can but via the desktop version in a browser.]
Go to the Google Play Store, click the gear [settings] icon and select "My Orders" You have the option of then requesting for a refund, even if the app was bought a year ago [I've tried].


text:
Why does Google Location History stay in the same place when I go out?
What's happening is that I go out and about and at the end of the day I check the location history and it says that I've been at my house all day when I've been out. I take my phone with me and it stays on, the GPS is on.
I do have a tab that stays at home but there's no location settings allowed for it, there isn't even a glimpse of the location to out of my house. It looks like it's tracking my tab but it's not set for location data to be used for apps. I do not have any apps on the tab that would need my location anyway, but the GPS is off on it so it wouldn't be able to track it besides using the WiFi location.
The location simply does not move, it might go out on the street but there's no indication whatsoever I went anywhere other than my house.

Same problem here, location history updates on more recent android with samsung phone seem to be many hours apart. I would prefer something like 5 minutes or less between location history updates.

If you are using Google Latitude than sorry it has been retired
Instead use Google+ from here

So it doesn't work anymore? If so what are the incorrect location marks for? Also, my friend still uses it and it works for him.


text:
Why must my device be compatible with a certain ROM before I flash it to my device?
This it the explanation telling me not to install a custom ROM without checking the device's compatibility. "Now, be careful as each custom ROM comes with a version that is suitable only with one device; you can’t install the same variant of firmware on all the Android devices as the same is not compatible."
But, I'm using a HP Slate 7, there isn't an official thread for this device on XDA Developers, and the furthest I can go is to root my tablet. Other than that, there are no custom ROMs specifically for this device.
My question is, why can't I install a custom ROM if I follow all the correct processes for flashing a custom ROM, even if my device is unsupported? Is it purely because of the bootloader? Or the kernel? I'm fairly new to Android, but I've been reading up on new terms, so can I have some guidance?

Related: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/general/info-to-instal-windows-ios-linux-t3763961

No long explanation needed, the reason is quite simple: Different devices come with different hardware components, such as the camera or sound "chips". Those require special drivers, which are in most cases proprietary and not part of AOSP (which is the "Android base code").
This means, each ROM must include device specific code, and thus is specific to the device it is created for.

In order to understand why specificity is important we must understand the structure of a device, both software structure and hardware structure. Different devices have different structure. Two devices having different models don't have similar hardware and even the slightest of difference in hardware is enough for the software to cause compatibility issues. An operating system (or a kernel) has code specifically written for particular hardware, and it shall never work on another hardware.
Now, from a software point-of-view, a device has a kernel and some middleware which provides an interface between hardware and software. You may have noticed different partitions of your device, like recovery, and firmware. These partitions vary with devices as well. If you flash incompatible software, you will most likely end up with a bricked device.
That's why it is advised to use ROM from a nearly-identical device (hardware) when porting ROMs.

As far as my understanding goes when you say you are flashing a new custom ROM onto your device you are essentially changing your android version flavor(whatever goes into your /system partition) and most importantly the kernel(/boot contains kernel and bootloader).
More on Android Partitions.
Now when you flash a ROM onto your device you generally use a application installed on your machine. Then you enable USB debugging on your device, connect it to your machine and run your application to flash the ROM. First thing here is that the application must recognize the existing ROM/Kernel so that it can replace it with corresponding custom ROM(Eg CyanogenMod). So your device must be in the list of devices supported by the flashing application. If you have a STOCK ROM than generally all application recognize it and should not be a problem. But if you already have a custom ROM and trying to flash another then it might be a problem.You may wan to read How to Pick the Right ROM for Your Device?
Is it purely because of the bootloader?

As far as CyanogenMod Installer in concerned it does not care if your bootloader is locked or not. It will unlock it for you. Other may require rooted device(How to root your Android device? ).
Or the kernel?

This should not be a problem either because finally it is a Linux kernel on which the android runs(As long as versions are same).
So what is the problem then?

This is my personal understanding. Please correct me if I have mistaken. Kernel is that piece of code that interacts use programs with the device hardware. Now it is very much possible that you have an old device(outdated hardware). Now if you say I am flashing the new ROM that has come to market... it will have a kernel that may require upgraded hardware(Not all things are backward compatible). So even if you flash it on your device some functionality wont wonk. Worst case your phone may get bricked. Hence it is essential to do some research about the ROM you are flashing whether it is compatible with your device.

“/boot contains kernel and bootloader”: I don't know of any device where bootloader is on boot partition. “because finally it is a Linux kernel on which the android runs(As long as versions are same)”: kernels are very device specific.


text:
'last seen 'for whatsapp contact not showing anymore?Am I being blocked?
Is there any reason that I am not able to see a whatsapp contact's last seen time anymore?Such as some kind of bug but not being blocked?

It all depends on which version of WhatsApp you currently operate

In the previous versions of WhatsApp you had to block a specified
user in order to avoid your last seen, display picture be seen from
an annoying person.
If you have been blocked by a person then after few days you will
not be able to view their dp as well as last seen.
In the latest version(s) WhatsApp provides more privacy
settings. These are available via Settings > Account > Privacy (in both Android and iOS).
Hide display picture-If you select this option then urs as well as
other display picture will be hidden (i.e your dp will be hidden from others as
well as you cannot view other's dp as well).
Hide last seen-If you select this option then your last seen will
not be visible to anyone as well as you cannot see other's last seen.
How ever if you are not sure then better wait for few days(1-2)
after which you can yourself identify whether you have been blocked
by some person or its your settings.

If you can't see "last seen at" stamp it could mean you've been blocked, but if a contact has blocked you, you should also not be able to check the updates to the contact's profile picture and you'll no more see the second check mark ("message delivered") in the messages you send to that contact, Whatsapp will only print the first one (which is for "message sent").
If you don't see any of these indicators there could be many reasons: Whatsapp is vaguous on this point for privacy policy, i.e. Whatsapp won't let a contact be sure you have blocked him. In your case, you have probably encontered a temporary effect of this.

There are apps that deliberately block the 'last online' feature of Whatsapp. Most don't work but it is at least possible that the person is using this also.

Actually the new whatsapp update provide user to hide the last seen stamp. In Settings->Account->Privacy you will find option to hide. But if you enable this option you cant see other peoples timestamp too


text:
Android permission and ProtectionLevel
How Do we find what level of Android permission is required for a specific permission.
Lets say we have android.permission.SET_ACTIVITY_WATCHER(docs)
What permission group does it fall into?(docs)

Regular
Dangerous
System or Signed
Signed

Is this a development question?

@dotVezz not necessarily. The protection level of a permission also tells you whether the app gets access to those permissions when installed as user-app (e.g. system-or-signed does not in those cases).

You usually get some first-aid help with issues checking their tag-wikis, in your case permissions tag-wiki will get you started, and tell you to take a look at What do the permissions that applications require mean? – where you will find exactly the answer to your question.

Protection Levels might differ between Android versions (and even devices/ROM versions). More pointers: https://android.izzysoft.de/applists/perms – you can use e.g. Android Census to check for those differences, e.g. https://census.tsyrklevich.net/permissions/android.permission.WRITE_USER_DICTIONARY


text:
Unable to flash official Indian JellyBean ROM on Samsung Galaxy Note GTN7000 SHV-E160l
I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Note GTN7000. When connected it to Kies it shows as galaxy note SHV-E160l.
I tried to flash Indian Samsung official JellyBean 4.1.2 update to it via ODIN. I have sufficient drivers (actually I went through a video tutorial). But ODIN shows fail.
When I bought this device it was running JellyBean 4.1.2, but I have serious heating issues, camera problems etc. That's why I decided to install official JellyBean. But failed.
How can I proceed and get it working?
Model number-gt-n7000
Base band version-N7000LXKJ8
Build number -JZO54.LXKJ8.F2A238.2JIA68

Maybe you [edit] your question and add some more details: Exact steps taken, exact error messages. In case you really just got an "update package", the reason might be easy: your device is already running the very same version, so the pre-conditions aren't met – and the update aborts to prevent failure.

Infact your phone is not the international Note 1 GT-N700.
You have the korean version SHV-E160L which is converted to N700.

Maybe you should try out Heimdall? Unpack the package, select files and flash.
There are many video tutoritals about it.
My phone didn't work with Odin, I tried Heimdall and it didn't show any fail :)

download root checker.. from the play store.. and then you will come to know your phone version.. if Korean or international version.. maybe you got cheated.. while buying.. or you didn't pay attention/check it out properly! if it is rooted you got no help with Samsung.. as far as I know.. but you can give it a try! and also leave the flashing to professionals! take it some mobile repair centre.. which you trust! :) hope it helps.. even I am getting heating issues on my SHV-E160L! :(


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Google play paid apps not working on daughters tablet
My daughter received an ASUS Memo pad 7 for Christmas, I set myself up as the main 'owner' and added her as a user and set up her own separate gmail account so she can download apps, etc.
I downloaded several free apps for her on her user profile that have all worked fine, however the paid apps that were downloaded on her user profile using her google account will not open. As soon as I touch the icon the following message appears: 'unfortunately Temple Run: Oz has stopped' with the options: 'Report' or 'OK'. All apps whether paid or free work fine in my user profile on the device.
The only reason I can think of is that I used the same credit card that I use on my own Google account. Ive paid for two apps; Temple Run: Oz and Minecraft PE.
Can anyone help?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! This won't have anything to do with using the same credit card. Could you please [edit]  your question to include information about which apps, including the names of the apps, don't work?

Have you tried to uninstall then redownload the games? Or maybe even restarting the device?

Have uninstalled and reinstalled and restarted device.

Could you elaborate the "will not open" part? Do you just press the app icon and nothing happens?

Have edited my question.

You will get further details of the issue if you hit 'Report' and then 'Preview'. Most interesting is the stacktrace part of that view.

you say you've set it up as you being the main owner, maybe that's what's confusing it, can you buy top-up cards, so that your daughter can pay in her name instead, & try doing a restore back to factory settings, &  THEN downloading the games. lori


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External storage media setting
I have a samsung Galaxy S4 with an external 64Gb class 10 micro SD card. How can I set the settings to have all media (photos, movies, music) stored automatically in the external card when a pic is taken or files are downloaded?

There's no global switch for that. You'll have to do so in the apps you use, e.g. the camera app(s).

incredible, apps like wassapp don't even have a setting for this

[ROOT ONLY]
A third party solution would be the App FolderMount. That way it is possible to move all the media folders one by one to the external SD Card and mount them on top of the internal folders.

As I already shortly pointed out in my comment to the question itself: Android has no centralized setting for that, it has to be configured for each app separately – provided the app supports it. Unfortunately, such a setting is not even featured by all apps, so for some it might be impossible.


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How do I automatically turn off my android tablet when battery is low
I'm having problems with a android tablet that freezes when the battery runs low.
Is there an option in android or an app that could turn off the tablet when the battery is below a certain % of power left. Or that will turn the tablet off x minutes after last usage ?

There are several approaches possible. Some devices already ship with some kind of power management, which just needs to be enabled (check in Settings).
Apart from that, specific power management apps are available in the Playstore. E.g. Battery Life Saver can be configured to take actions on "battery low", like switching off WiFi, BT, and others (not sure if a power-off is included here as well). Big Battery promises to allow a shutdown at battery-low in its donate version.
And then there's always tasker to do things like shutting down the device at 20%, or shutting off WiFi etc. at 30%, and so on. As a free alternative, AutomateIt can do the same. But I'm afraid in both cases, this will require a rooted device.

"You're afraid it requires a rooted device" <-- it's better if a device is rooted and it's free to do. So not something to feel sad about

@barlop sure thing to you and me (I start rooting my devices even before unboxing :) – but not everyone shares our feelings ;)


text:
Some magic to remount /system
First of all:
Phone's model is Alcatel One Touch Idol Mini / 6012X
Chipset model is MT6572
The short version:
The device is in boot loop and to resolve this I must rename a file. The problem is that the file is in /system and I haven't granted ADB superuser permissions (So ADB simply hangs on "su", even when running scripts through ADB. Also "at" is not installed). Another problem is that I haven't installed a custom recovery and, more importantly, I haven't even unlocked the boot loader.
I can't manage to install custom images via SP Flash Tool (SP Flash Tool doesn't find the device although the VCOM USB drivers are installed).
What's worse than this? Alcatel doesn't provide a way to reflash the stock ROM.
So, my question:
Is there some kind of magic to force "su" to execute through adb without adb being granted permission by SuperSU?

I doubt that. That would render the entire security system useless if it were possible.

According to this thread, your device is rootable using framaroot.
As you only need a temproot, the first thing to try would be to:

extract the temproot binary used by framaroot and push it to /data/local/tmp or any folder where you can set permissions
flag this file as executable then run it
$ chmod 777 filename
$ ./filename

if successful, you have temp root and can remount the system read/write
# mount -o remount,rw /system /system

I'll mark your answer as correct (although I've managed to "update" the phone via the officially provided tool - thank god it doesn't check versions prior to updating)


text:
htc desire z keeps restarting on its own
My HTC Desire Z keeps restarting on its own continuously, how do I stop it and how can I switch on my phone now? I tried removing the battery but that didn't work.
Can anyone help?

We will need some more background to help you: When did that problem start? What were your last changes (app installs, settings)? Does it boot up at all, or are we talking about a "boot-loop" here?

@Izzy Two days ago I updated candy crush. I was charging my phone 5 hours ago and it started force closing all my apps. I restarted it, but it didn't switch on, it's in a boot-loop. Also before I restarted it, it said that I was running out of free space

Thanks for the update, Rinki! I just re-tagged your question to reflect the news. For first aid, please visit the boot-loop tag-wiki, that should get you out of misery. Don't forget to come back and let us know how it worked out: either [edit] your question to say where you're still stuck (and what you've tried), or answer your own question if you've been able to solve your issue. Good luck, I bet for the latter :)

@Izzy Thanks for the information. I tried the recovery but it didn't have the 'wipe the dalvik cache' option. It didn't work. Is there any other way, or will I have to do factory reset and lose all my data?

"Wipe Dalvik" usually is only available with custom recovery (ClockworkMod, TWRP, etc.). Have you tried the safe-mode tip? Just removing the updated app then might already solve the issue.

@Izzy I tried but I can't enter safe mode on my phone, those key combinations don't work

According to XDA: Press down the keyboard "S" key (yeah S for Safe mode) at HTC logo during boot. As I have no Desire-Z, I cannot test myself; so please report back if that works, so I can update the tag-wiki accordingly :)

@Izzy the "S" key didn't do the job, safe mode didn't happen :(

I couldn't find any other clue either. Maybe you give the HTC service a call and asking them how to achieve that (and let us know the answer, too)?

@Izzy I sent them an email yesterday, they didn't reply yet. I will let you know when I find a solution. Thanks for the help :)

Pull the battery, put it back in press volume down +power , it will boot into Hboot, then use volume to scroll down and select recovery, then restore a backup or flash rom again.

"Flash a ROM" is a nuclear option, and not generally advisable unless the OP wants it, or if there are no other options.


text:
Unable to confirm installation on program from unknown source
I have a few programs I want to install that come from "Unknown sources" (The latest Humble Bundle to be precise).
When trying to install the application, I get the normal "Do you want to install this application?" followed by the list of permissions required.
At the bottom, I can either "Cancel" the install, or proceed by pressing "Install".
Unfortunately, in my case, the "Install" "button", is not a button at all. It's a completely inactive text, and no matter if I tap it multiple times in different locations or long press it, it reacts in any way at all. Cancel works fine.
I've tried disabling the setting allowing installation from unknown sources and re-enabling it, and I've tried restarting the phone. Neither helped.
I've tried several of the humble bundle applications, and the issue is the same with all of them. Since the confirmation dialogue is a part of Android, I assume the issue is unrelated to Humble Bundle.

what is the application you are trying to install?!

I had tried "Aaaaaaaaaa!", "Anomoly 2". Trying "McPixel", which is from an earlier bundle, that worked! I'll investigate further.

Since you're downloading those apps from sources different than Google Play, the validation of compatibility with your device may not be taking place (BTW, what brand and model is your device?). If the apps you try to install are not compatible with your device, Android will not let you to install them.

I'm using a nexus 5. Same issue again, now with IITC. http://iitc.jonatkins.com/?page=mobile

Turns out this was caused by Twilight, which had an option that can fix the install issue.
With "Auto-pause in specified apps" ticket, and "APK Installer (button fix)", the problem goes away.

Thanks! I only installed twilight recently and had no idea it would mess things like this.

Me neither, but as you can see from when I asked the question, I've used it for a long time, and this is the only issue I've ever noticed with it.

My problem was fnally solved after i downloaded an app permission manager, and disabled the draw-over permission in an app called solver for pad (no shame :) ).

Please link the app from play store


text:
Why would a tablet not have Google Play?
I have a Polaroid tablet.  It does not have Google Play. I called Cust. Svc, they don't know why.  I know that Play is closed source, but still free.  Other Polaroid tablets do have Play. Why on Earth would a company make a tablet that does not feature Google Play?

Company's are fully allowed to make devices running Android that don't have any Google apps or services on them. If Polaroid's own customer service doesn't know why Polaroid have done this, then I don't think that we have any way to know either.

The answer is most likely that your Polaroid tablet isn't licensed to use Google Play. There are a number of requirements that must be met before Google licenses its app store for use on a tablet. Some of it has to do with software compatibility tests that pass or fail for the device.
This is from the Polaroid tablet FAQ:
http://www.polaroid.com/faqs/tablet-faqs/i-cannot-use-google-play-store-why
It says: "Our tablets are not licenced with GooglePlay store as of yet..."
I'm not sure how old that FAQ message is, though, as it goes on to suggest that tablets don't need Google Play but smart phones do. Weird. It also says that you can use Amazon's app store.
There's also this link which goes over how to install Google Play on a Polaroid tablet. I don't know how good it is, but it might work for you...
http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2012/04/07/how-to-install-google-apps-gplay-etc-on-polaroi-pmid701
I'm not sure why any Android device manufacturer wouldn't include Google Play. My guess is it requires a fee to license it from Google. But supposedly it costs nothing to run their open source compatibility test to prove their devices are compatible with Google Play. There may also be other legal issues, especially with regards to different regions, content distribution and encryption.

Does it have other google apps like gmail, google maps, etc?
If not then the tablet is stripped off the google apps. If you find other apps then you might want to confirm if the app has not been disabled in settings.
Settings->Apps->All


text:
How do I share apps between users in Android 4.4 KitKat?
My kids received the second-generation Nexus 7 tablet as a gift.  I'd like to be able to purchase apps from one account and share them between the various users on the tablet.
Some articles about the topic indicate adding a different user to the play store, but I see no such functionality in Android 4.4 KitKat.
Is there a way to share apps between users?

KitKat does indeed allow having multiple accounts use the Play store in a single profile.  First, create a new "shared" Google account.  Then add this account to each of the kids' profiles on their tablets.  When adding this account to the device profiles, do not sync any of the email, calendar and other Google services for the account.
From the Goole Play store home page, you can select which account you'd like to use to purchase apps.  To prevent unintended purchases, make sure to adjust the settings so that a password is required for every purchase.
Select the shared account and purchase an app.  Then, on a second device, select the same shared account and download apps that were purchased on the first device.
While there a little extra initial setup, this has been a great solution for sharing paid apps between the kids' devices.

One alternative is "Multi-User App Share", which is available from the Play Store.

You can share an installed app with other users.
Data from the app will not be shared.
Shared paid apps will most likely not be validated when used, provided your tablet has a network connection.
You will need root to be able to do this.

What are the effects of a shared paid app not being "validated?"

@Feckmore If the paid app implements Google's method of app license verification, it could mean that the app will not work. I have tested at least one paid game myself, but I do not know if it uses the license verification.

I've used this for over a year and it works pretty well. I can buy kid's and spouse's apps all from one account. Never had a  problem with validation. UI could be a little better.

Google Play's Family Library with app and game sharing goes live July 2, 2016.
From the relevant post on the website Android Police:
Family Library and sharing have been a long, really long, time coming on Google Play. In his different app teardowns, Cody has repeatedly discovered strings pointing out to the feature coming to Play Books, Play Movies, Play Services, the Play Store, but up until recently, the only Google entity that had benefited from any kind of family sharing was Play Music and its Family Plans.
But at this year's Google I/O, Google announced that Family Library was coming to Google Play app and games purchases with the new changes taking effect on July 2nd.
What has already changed though are the terms of the Google Play Developer Distribution Agreement. A new section 5.4 explains how a family group, with one manager and different members, can purchase the product once and share it with other members of the family. So starting July 2, any purchases you make on the Play Store will be available for sharing with your other family members.


text:
what is error 909 in play store? I am unable to insall any application
When I am downloading any application from play store, I am getting error 909. And I am unable to install any app. So please help me with this issue

Try 1
Clear Play store App's Data & Cache (fix for most of the app related issues).
Try 2
1. Remove the Google account
2. Reboot
3. Re-enter your Google account. Takes a couple of minutes.

It could be your data connection is lost.
- Try to pull out the battery in your phone.
- take your sim card out and re-insert it back in.
- turn your phone back on and try your download again.
This works for my S3 TMO

Logout from playstore , take out battery and sim from your device let your device be switched for 5min and switch on .
It works on every device

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Please note that this is a Q&A site , not a forum and it is recommended to give an answer with technical reasoning and link to sources to back your claim.

None of the steps are making any sense here. Care to explain (in detail)?


text:
Nexus 7 and ethernet connection
In places where there's no wi fi, wired internet connection is sometimes available. But reading around it seems there's a bug in my Nexus 7 (2013) - Android updated to 4.4.2 - that prevents an ethernet connector from working.
Is this correct? Has there been any response from Google about it - a firmware fix? I'm not really up to doing my own patching.

Many people have reported that Plugable's adapter works.


text:
Open Facebook links with Facebook app?
When I receive a http Facebook link, I have the option to choose my browsers but not the Facebook app, is there a way to force it? Is it the normal behavior?

Do you have the official Facebook app installed?

Yes, I do. I thought it would show as option like the browsers.

It has never done this for me. Twitter, Google+ etc do, but facebook always went to the browser. Just tried it on Galaxy S4, Nexus 4, HTC Desire X, HTC One and a Nexus 7 now and the same on all. Fresh installed and logged in Facebook app too.

I'll try some third party apps to see if it works like that. Why wouldn't Facebook links open in Facebook app. I don't see a reason.

Tried some apps and no one was capable to open urls... Seems like Facebook doesn't want us to open its links in a app.

Facebook doesn't care. This is very annoying. Pretty much every app can open links related to them regardless of schema. Except Facebook with devs who are stubbornly expecting everyone to use a non-standard schema, rendering almost all http-based Facebook links in the web unopenable on the app. /rant

Is it normal behavior?

Facebook app only handles specialized URL scheme fb:// and nothing more, so any standard HTTP/S Facebook links (http:// or https://) will be ignored by the app. So, yes, unfortunately this is normal.

Is there a way to force it?

As of current writing, until their developers implement a filter to handle HTTP protocol, there is no way to do that from their apps.
It might be possible for a 3rd-party app to fix this with a workaround (e.g. Open Link in App app, as mentioned from this answer, but it seems currently it's not working, possibly due to change in FB protocol).

The Facebook app on Android now supports deeplinking. So your http:// and https:// should work. Within the Facebook app as well as from other apps.

What do you mean?

@ADTC Tap on any Facebook link, and the OS will open it in the FB native app (if installed)

No it doesn't do that. The link only opens in the browser, as if there is no app installed. (I have the Facebook app installed.)

Works for me on Android 6 and 7 both. On Galaxy S7 and Pixel, both.


text:
Remove OS from Multirom & install ubuntu touch properly
I have Nexus 7 2012 model. I have installed MultiRom Manager & tried to install Ubuntu Touch Saucy. I tried twice & both failed. As a result now I have 3 options at boot including two Ubuntu, none of which works.
The error I face in running
Path /realdata//media/0/multirom/roms/ubuntu_sauc1/data.img not found
Failed to find boot file: /realdata/media/0/multirom/roms/ubuntu_sauc1

I guess the problem lies with the fact that, TWRP stops in the middle of some finishing work, when I reboot from android just after installation through manager & as I press power button it starts with MultiRom choices. TWRP crashes as soon as any button is touched. That's probably the reason its failing.
I assume its a lot of questions at a time, but any sort of help is highly appreciated.


text:
Where do you download the current firmware for the Galaxy Note II?
I bricked my phone via the official Kies update function and now I want to restore it with Odin. However, I find no place where you can download the current firmware files, most of the sites are only for registered users or the file is taken down... Does anyone know an official firmware repository or something similar? My model number is GT-N7100.

You may wish to include the model number of your Note II. Also, take a look over here and see if your model number is included. (Make sure you match the model number, not just the carrier).

@dotVezz My model number was included there, however I can't download because of an 'nginx error'...

See Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device? I think the Samdroid link there is probably the best bet for you.

@GAThrawn I don't think so, I have not found any valid stock ROM on these ones.

I'm seeing several firmwares for the N7100 on sammobile (linked from the mentioned reference question).  Just go here, select "smartphone", "Android", "GT-N7100", and your country and carrier.  Downloading the firmware requires registration, but that's free.

After a long search all over the net, I've finally found one at one of the sites mentioned at http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/17152.


text:
How can I disable voicemail notifications?
I have a prepaid T-Mobile line that I use for development purposes only. I do not really use it for calls. However, some 800-number company has been calling me constantly (which I have already added to a "block" contact which directs all calls to voicemail via Contact app menu option). However, they leave voice mails which creates this notification on my phone:

Click the image for larger variance
But I cannot swipe away this notification. It is a constant and persistent notification.
Is there a way I can either:

Never show voicemail notifications (without having to call T-Mobile and disable my voicemail box)
Swipe to remove the notification or hide the notification (via an app or similar?)

I am rooted on a stock Nexus 5.
I would have just used Google Voice as my voice mail box but apparently T-Mobile prepaid lines cannot have call forwarding so I can not use that option.

I'd say this is a bug in Android. Or the operating system is being abused by the carrier. A notification you can't dismiss is malware.

Ten years later, and they are still doing this in Android 12. Voicemail notification cannot be dismissed and the Phone Services app which generates them has greyed out the toggles for disabling voicemail notifications. Only the clear data option of this app gets rid of it. You have to do it everytime, and it shows a scary warning too.

You can install and configure T-Mobile's own Visual Voicemail app. You will get notified about your voicemails through it instead of the system's Phone/Dialer app, with the ability to dismiss that notification. As a bonus, you can also listen to and delete your voicemails without having to dial in and waste prepaid minutes.
Be aware that this app needs to be able to send and receive one SMS message in order to enable its functionality.  If you are using Voice+ feature of CyanogenMod custom ROM, you will need to temporarily disable it.

Hm, I didn't think about trying T-Mobile's Visual Voicemail. However.... when I try to install it (via web), it says that "No eligible devices for app install." Does the app require it to be a T-Mobile branded device? I'm using an unlocked Nexus 5. I also can't find it searching the Play Store on the device.

I had problems finding it on the Play Store as well, I had to go to My Apps because I remembered having installed it in the past. I am running it on an unbranded Galaxy S4 Google Play edition, so that can't be the reason (it also shows as installable on my Galaxy Nexus and AT&T's Galaxy S2.)

According to a not very helpful post by T-Mobile CSR, it could be because it's not compatible with KitKat yet.

@BryanDenny: FWIW, I've been using T-Mobile's VVM app on my N5 without any issues. I just had to sideload it, since like you said, you can't install it via the Play Store. I got an apk from this XDA thread.

@eldarerathis thank you for sharing that! Just installed it and it works perfectly! I think this will be the solution to my problem, I'll try it out for a few days. Thank you!!!

Too bad I can't downvote T-Mobile :-/

The only thing that worked for me is to stop the Phone Application. It restarts itself again, so you don't have to worry for missing calls or anything.
Steps:

Settings -> Apps -> ALL -> Phone.
Click Force stop

Source:
Clear Voice Mail Notification Icon

I used "clear data" instead of "force stop" and the icon vanished. It was a few minutes ago, so I still don't know if it'll come back when I restart or by its own will. Device is a Galaxy S4.

Clear data didn't work for me. Moto E2. Neither did force stop, though...

I am in the same boat as you.  Since I found no way to actually disable voicemail notifications on my Nexus 5, I instead configured the longest possible voicemail greeting the T-Mobile system would allow, which consists of complete silence for 3 minutes.  I have not gotten a single voicemail notification since.

Funny stuff :)  I'd upvote if this was comedy.stackexchange.com  ;)

Playing stupid games (forcing malware notifications on us) wins stupid prizes. Love it !

I fixed this problem by simply removing my sim card and putting it back in.
Evidently dis- and re-connecting to the cell carrier was enough to do it.
I'm running Android 5.1 on a Moto E2.

I think aside from calling your carrier, there are only so many [few] things you can do.
I've been reading, and it seems like you can change your Voicemail number in settings so call forwarding would be an option.
http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/276901-there-way-turn-off-voicemail-notifications.html
And a very helpful YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eXN-8wxtk8
From the video: force stopping the Phone application will clear all notifications from the Phone application, including the voicemail notification.

Unfortunately, I cannot use call forwarding as an option as T-Mobile doesn't allow it with prepaid accounts. Otherwise I would just forward it to my Google Voice mailbox and let the spam voicemail die there.

Can you contact your carrier, then? You can tell them to disable your Voicemail Feature. Or you can go to your T-Mobile app and they may have the option there. Did the YouTube video not help, though?

Yes but wanted to contact T-Mobile as a last resort as I'd rather not waste time on the phone with their customer support. Force stopping the phone application does work (via video), but I'm called 5+ times a day with a voicemail left every time so it isn't a very feasible solution. There is no option in the T-Mobile app. Only to change password or to turn password on/off.

Also, please try to give some information when you post a video. You could have easily wrote to force stop the Phone application, no need to watch a minute video.

True, you're right; but then I don't think there's a way, sorry Bryan. I hope I'm wrong for your sake, because I know how annoying it can be. But as of now, don't think there's a way out. Perhaps look on Google Pla for a call blocker that WON'T send the call to Voicemail? I remember a while back they had something like that, but I never had use for it. Your query "Voicemail Block" or "Call Blocker" but look for the Voicemail blocker as your key feature.

I had a similar issue, but it was with visual voicemail notifications.
Easy fix for this instead of calling T-Mobile is to:

Login to your T-mobile account > plans > services
Unselect the free visual voice mail service
Go into your phone and go into apps > running apps and disable all the T-Mobile services (apps labeled in pink)

Since then, I don't see notifications for visual voicemail.


text:
The Keyboard Freezes, App Crashes
I'm running on CyanogenMod and in the middle of typing, the keyboard would freeze heavily and crash/minimize and I can't get it back up. This lasts for about a minute.

Which version? Did you flash the correct version of gapps for your version of CM? (Upgrading from 10.1.3 to 10.2, for example, without updating gapps, might well cause this).

If your screen blinks and/or keyboard freezes, go into
Settings --- > Developer options and make sure the following are checked.
Disable HW Overlays and
Force GPU Rendering
Now it should be blink/flash-freeze-free

Holy moly, so much smoother. Why is this not the default? Is battery consumption affected in any way?