text:
Installation aborted when trying to adb sideload to Nexus 7 for upgrading to Lollipop
I have a Nexus 7 2012 device and I am attempting to upgrade to lollipop.  I can get the right image from:
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
However, when I try to upgrade from 4.4.2, I run the command:
adb sideload lollipop.zip
The file gets uploaded, but the device then says:
Verifing the update package:
E: Footer is wrong
E. Signature Verification Failed
Installation aborted.
I tried both images for the 2012 Wifi and Mobile versions, same result. I also tried to do a factory reset.
Are the images wrong, or am I just doing something wrong?

The factory images provided on that page are not packaged for installation via Android's recovery system. You'll need to use the flashing instructions to install the images using fastboot. If your device's bootloader is not unlocked already, this would require wiping all of your data. If it is unlocked, then you can skip the wipe by flashing just the bootloader upgrade, the the system image, and the boot image:
fastboot flash bootloader
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash boot /path/to/boot.img
fastboot flash system /path/to/system.img

The alternative would be to incrementally apply the OTA updates for your device up to the latest version. These are designed to work in recovery mode, but need to be applied in order from earliest to latest since they are patch updates, not full system images. The Nexus 7 Wi-Fi OTA updates can be obtained from Google's servers using the following links:

KOT49H (4.4.2) to KTU84L (4.4.3)
KTU84L to KTU84P (4.4.4)
KTU84P to LRX21P (5.0)
LRX21P to LRX22G (5.0.2)
LRX22G to LMY47D (5.1)

For the GSM-enabled version, you can use these links:

KOT49H to KTU84L
KTU84L to KTU84P
KTU84P to LRX22G
The 2012 Nexus 7 GSM has not received a 5.1 OTA yet. You must currently use the factory images if you want to update to 5.1.

Additional OTA links can be found in this XDA thread, if needed.

It seems I was not using the OTA files, but the factory images.  I found one for the WifI version, but I am looking for the mobile version.

@KristyWelsh The GSM model of the N7 hasn't received an OTA to 5.1 yet, but I've added links that will get you up to 5.0.2. If you want to install 5.1 you'll have to use fastboot to flash the factory image for now.

I would just like any version of lollipop to be installed.

Sideloading the three updates in the second set from top to bottom would put you on Lollipop (5.0.2).

I get a failure in doing the first package: Failed to verify the whole-file signature When starting with the first one.

Are you on KOT49H currently? You should be able to find that in Settings => About device, I think. Aside from that, usually a corrupted download will give a signature error like that. You could try re-downloading it, perhaps.

This is defintely working for me. following the steps in sequence

Install ADB and boot loader from following link to PC
http://www.theandroidsoul.com/how-to-install-adb-and-fastboot-with-drivers-on-windows-quickest-setup/
The alternative would be to incrementally apply the OTA updates for your device up to the latest version. These are designed to work in recovery mode, but need to be applied in order from earliest to latest since they are patch updates, not full system images. The Nexus 7 Wi-Fi OTA updates can be obtained from Google's servers using the following links:

KOT49H (4.4.2) to KTU84L (4.4.3)
KTU84L to KTU84P (4.4.4)
KTU84P to LRX21P (5.0)
LRX21P to LRX22G (5.0.2)
LRX22G to LMY47D (5.1)


text:
How can I transfer apps from one profile to another on my tablet?
I have just bought a tablet to be used by the whole family.  I downloaded some apps and games, and then set up two more users. Neither have, nor want, a Google account. (In fact our son is too young for a Gmail account according to Google.)
I am completely new to Android, as I have a Windows Phone and Windows computers so please go easy on me.  I have a Wikipad with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
The apps I downloaded all appear on my user/profile and there is very little on my son's or my husband's (not even all of the pre-loaded ones, it would appear).
Do I need to download them all again for each user/profile or is there a way of making them show up?  One of them (a Flight Simulator game exclusively for my son) was a paid-for app.

I am on Android 14 but the answers below do not work for me. I also want to install some apps on my child's profile but I do not want to create a gmail account for him in order to access the Play Store. Is it possible to simply copy the app from the administrator profile to the child profile?

From the Admin/Owner account, go to Settings > Users > (user name) > Apps, click the little cog next to the restricted account, and you will see all apps permissions. You can give access to whichever app you like.
If you don't know if you are using Admin/Owner account, just head into Settings > Users. Under one user name would be shown "Admin" or "Owner".

If this is about a Child profile, login as the Admin/Owner account, go the Settings > Parental controls > Household profile > Manage child's profile > Add content > Share content, and then select whichever apps you want to share.
If you don't know if you are using Admin/Owner account, know that if you are not using a restricted profile / child profile, than you are already logged in as the Admin.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


text:
where can a generic application write on an SD card?
I have a tablet running KitKat and face the problem of not being able to write to the SD card (specifically with QPython). I cannot root the tablet (yet).
My understanding is that an application can only write to a special directory which is created for the lifetime of the application in /extSdCard/Android/data.
Indeed, I can see there a bunch of directories, some of which have names which are the ones of my apps (it looks like a Java style way of naming, I do not know Java but I saw some spectacular stack dumps which had that nomenclature).
Now, I do not see anything close to QPython, which brings the questions:

do all applications create by default this special directory?
if yes: how can I match the name of the app to the directory?
if no: is there a way for such application to write to the SD card?

Those questions is pretty easy to answer:

No, Android only creates those folders, if they are used. This is valid for both, internal SD and external SD.
There are many ways to get the package name (this is the internal name) of an app. The easiest way would be going to http://play.google.com(Google Play Store) on PC and opening the app's page there, then simply look at the last part of the url: e.g. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hipipal.qpyplus (the id= part). For QPython this is: com.hipipal.qpyplus.
Every application can write to its own folder. Reading or writing to other folders on the external SD card requires special permissions.

Thank you. Re: 1: "if they are used" means "when the application requests to create them"? In other words if they are not created upon the installation of the application, it will not have the ability to write to the SD card ever? My QPython installtion did not create /extSdCard/Android/data/com.hipipal.qpyplus - does that mean that none of the scripts I will write (and which will be run by this app, inheriting its access rights) will have the capacity to write to the external SD Card?

Android automatically creates those folders when the app first tries to write to that folder. Make sure QPython has all the required permissions to do so.

I tried to create the directory from within the application (failed) and to directly write to a file within this non-existant dir (hoping that it would appear by miracle - but this failed as well).

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


text:
How can I view only one star ratings in Google Play Store?
I find it quite annoying that there is no easy way to sort the reviews of an Android app:
- neither can I search for certain keywords that may appear in a review.
- nor can I change the sort order, i.e. I can sort by rating, but if I want to see the 1-star ratings. I have to scroll all the way through thousands of higher ratings.
I am feeling quite tricked by Google. Of course it is obvious what they want to do - hide the "bad" ratings from the users. But seriously, it's not very customer friendly :(
Are there any web apps or sites that offer detailed sorting options for the Google Play Store?

Came here looking for an answer, but it almost seems like you simply can't. I guess we're all one happy family in information security land. ;-)

No - not yet....
I'm restricting my reply to answering the question rather than yet more discussion about the pros & cons of ratings, filters and sorting.
For now there is no way to filter/sort "Android Apps" except by the following parameters:

Search query: What you type in the search box
Price:

All
Free
Paid

Rating:

All
4 stars+

That's the simple answer - for now!
If you want to know why I answered "No - not yet" instead of "No" - really? - you really want more details? Well, I don't recommend it, but for inquiring minds, read on....

However, it's obvious that if there is enough user support AND if it seems to the devs that it won't have a negative effect on user experience on the site, Google have made it easy to move to a more detailed filtering/sorting environment. Here's what they've introduced so far...
I'll use a simple example: the word "chat" in the search box and "Android Apps" selected as the "Results" choice (instead of "All results"). That last choice is because they've already introduced different filter/sort parameters for different result types (Music, Books etc). You can open the link below rather than make those selections and then play with it yourself.
If you do this search and make choices for "prices" and "ratings" rather than "All", you'll get something like this in the browser address bar:
https://play.google.com/store/search?q=chat&c=apps&price=0&rating=0&hl=en
Note that the parameters can be in any order. Strip the parameters out and you see three which aren't relevant to this:

q : Search query =chat which is what I typed in the search box.
hl : language =en which is my browser preferred language
c : Result category =apps meaning I selected "Android Apps"

The other parameters are more useful here. Try changing them in the address bar and the page will refresh with the different selections:

price : price filter =0

0 = All prices
1 = Free
2 = Paid
Any other positive (without "+") or negative integer is the same as 0

rating : rating filter =0

0 = All ratings
1 = Ratings 4 stars or more
Any other positive (without "+") or negative integer is the same as 0

So it's obvious to any html coder that all they have to do to satisfy your need is to add more options in the Price or Ratings dropdown and use parameters like the price ones instead of "on" or "off" like the ratings parameter. And they could add other dropdowns like "Ad supported" (or not) or "New" (with choices of how long the app has been out) or "Recently Updated" (with choice of age) or "Recently Downloaded" (allowing us to filter out apps which haven't seen the light of day for a while) etc. For the existing ones, they could change it with something like these examples:

Prices: 0= All, 1= Free, 2=
Ratings: 0= All, 1= 5 stars 2= 4+ stars, 3= 2+ stars etc and introduce specifics like 6= 4 stars (exactly 4 stars), 7= 3 stars... and ending with your own favorite: 9= 1 star and the one no-one mentioned which applies to all newly released apps: 10= "0 stars yet" :D

My point? The devs CAN. It doesn't need much work on the code. It doesn't produce a particularly noticeable extra load on the server or page serving time. And I am sure they will IF enough users like you ask them to enough times. Where can we do that? Interesting question! Sorry - can't find it. I'll come back and post if I do!
There is a little more information about ratings etc in the various Android developer help and advice pages, but it doesn't really touch on this specifically.

Is there an alternative? Yes. Other Android App sites! Here's a link I selected at random from a search 16 Android App Store Alternatives for those who hate Google Play. Just an example. I'm not advocating it - I haven't read it all yet because I've been having far too much fun trying to find a workaround to answer the question with a "Yes" until Google Devs get their act together! Unfortunately, I failed, but thanks for asking because it was worth trying :)
And if you really, really wanted to know all this, thanks for reading down to the bottom. You've earned a Lollipop because you already ate your KitKat! ;)

That is so pathetic and another reason why mobile OS are a total joke that can't do anything right. Laptops / desktops still rule supreme as they offer ALL the functionality without silly limits.

I've uploaded a user script on GreasyFork that will allow you to filter app reviews based on their rating when accessing Google Play via a supported browser.  See my answer on webapps.stackexchange.com for more details.


text:
Any way to kill a crashed app on a non-rooted CM11s device?
Every once in a while, I find my phone battery draining unusually quickly, and the 3rd-party "OS Monitor" tool shows some app running in the background, using lots of CPU when it's not supposed to. Sometimes, it's a music app actually playing audible music in the background, despite no evidence that the app is running - no notifications, and nothing in the recent apps list. Invariably, if I open the app info screen and click "Force Stop," it does nothing at all.
Certainly an enthusiast-friendly, developer-friendly system like CM has some way to kill a frozen app... right? Without rooting my phone, is there anything I can do other than rebooting when this happens?

Edit
Settings > Apps > Running
Once here, you can manually kill the app's processes. Also, there is a button at the top called "Show Cached Processes". You can also remove the cached processes from there.
Note: Removing the cached processes will kill the (cached) process of course, but the next time you launch the app, it will again call the necessary initialization functions to work, using more clock cycles. It is preferred not to kill the cached processes. But if you there is an app that's behaving weird, then go ahead and kill it!
Original Comment
open the app and hold press the back button... it should kill the app... also, why not disable the app that's draining your battery?

Interesting, I didn't realize that choosing a running app under "Settings > Apps > Running" gives different options then choosing the same app under Settings > Apps > Downloaded" or opening "App info" from the launcher or the notifications list. Stranger still that the "Force stop" button on the latter screen doesn't actually force anything, while the "Stop" button on the "Running" app info screen is more aggressive. Not the most intuitive design :)


text:
Can't find uploaded photos on Google+
I uploaded my photos on to Google+ via Auto upload. My phone died.
A few weeks later I was able to get a new phone. But now My Google+ account shows no photos. Where did they go?
First phone was a Motorola Droid Razor, now I have a Samsung Galaxy S3.

There should be a photos app which comes with google+ app. This app contains your uploaded photos.


text:
Bad experience with lollipop 5.0 version
I am facing lot of problems with lollipop version with my MOTO-G 1st Gen, after i upgraded to lollipop my mobile got very slow and frequently getting strucked at that time am able to see only white screen. and it is not allowing me even to switch off my mobile..
very bad experience with Lollipop 5.0 OS...

I would try a factory reset
There are many that have this issue after a major upgrade and generally a reset and starting over will clear out anything causing issues


text:
I don't have flashlight icon on notification page
I just got lolipop on my note 4 bit it doesn't have the flashlight on the notifications quick page.  What's  up with that? is there a way I can get it?

Try looking for it in the widegets section and add it from there.


text:
How to recover android
My android Tablet PC eklasse Spark 4.0.3 7" Black Model No:ES01120905934.
Unfortunately using cleaner app some system file are deleted.
Can any one give me a suggestion what can i do now.
i can't found ROM of Frameware file in web to reboot.

cc Cleaner. i dont know the karnel version.

If you have a Backup, just Restore it.
or, there is two way :
Use something like :  EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard Professional

//for Recovery...

or another way ;
Download the rom and flash it for fix.
Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?

i ve no idea where to find ROM for my device.


text:
Lenovo A859 touchscreen touches itself
For about 2 weeks my phone's touchscreen is acting weird.
It looks like it touches itself in the upper left corner of the screen. I didn't find any pattern, it does this randomly for a random amount of time, only when the screen is unlocked.
I did a factory reset already and I installed Avast to scan it and nothing came up.
Is it a software or a hardware problem?

It's probably a hardware problem and you may need a new screen. Yours may be damaged.
It might also be a battery pack that has expanded from frequent heavy usage. This can push against the screen from the inside resulting in a similar effect sometimes.
It's also possible it's a result of being flexed in a certain way such that there is extra strain on the corner. I'm speculating that the corners are often used to hold the weight of the device.


text:
How to disable android applications from running back ground automatically
My phone (Note3) has a large amount of ram, but there are always lots of applications that can run back ground which can easily consume  more than 90% of your memory.
It's really annoying to manually clean them time to time.
Can I set it up so that if I click home button then I will end current app completely?

Cyanogen (and probably other custom ROMs) have settings where pressing a button -- such as the back arrow for a couple seconds -- will completely close an app.

No, there's no setting to fully close an application when you press the home. It depends on how the program is built. Some stay running, some stay in memory but are inactive (not eating CPU but wasting memory in case you restart the program), and some just close as desired. Additionally, there are plenty of Samsung or carrier applications that run in the background full time and don't have an onscreen program to open or close.
There are several applications on the Google Play Marketplace that will automatically close all applications for you either on a schedule or on demand, but that's as close as it gets unfortunately.
Perhaps there are more technical answers that involve custom ROM's, but that's not applicable within the confines of a SU question/answer.


text:
How to find out currently running user name/ID from ADB
I am having Nexus 7 running multiple users. I am trying to find out which is currently running user using ADB. The best I could get so far was to check legacy directory linking which is either linked to /mnt/shell/emulated/0 or to /mnt/shell/emulated/1.
Is there more efficient way to find out which is currently running user? Also is there a way to find out user name of current user?

For Android 8, 9, 10, and possibly for Nougat too I suppose, run:
adb shell am get-current-user                # returns USER_ID of the foreground user
adb shell cmd activity get-current-user      # alternative command

Alternatively, do:
adb shell 'dumpsys activity | grep mCurrentUser'

You output would be:
mCurrentUser=0

0 is always the user Id for the owner (primary user). Any other number, say 10 or 11, would reflect a secondary user (including Guest user).
For Lollipop, enter the command:
adb shell dumpsys user

You would get something like:

Users:
  UserInfo{0:Owner_lol:13} serialNo=0
    Created:
    Last logged in: +1m40s308ms ago
  UserInfo{10:New user:10} serialNo=13
    Created: +1h1m15s438ms ago
    Last logged in: +6m2s390ms ago

In  {0:Owner_lol:13} 0 is the userID of the user having user name Owner_lol.
For each user you would see Last logged in: time. The entry having time closest to current time implies that the corresponding user is currently in focus on screen.
Given that you've root access, you can see all these details from the XML file of each of the user available under /data/system/users.
It is another matter that my Android 4.2.1 didn't give Last Logged in: time correctly.

Alternatively, in Lollipop, you can do:
adb shell pm list users

You would get something like:

Users:
        UserInfo{0:Owner_lol:13} running
        UserInfo{10:New user:10}

In my Android 4.2.1 I don't see the text "running", perhaps because it wasn't implemented in the code or because the device has single-user support.
Note that if multiple users are logged in then you would see "running" for all the logged-in users.

user (android.os.IUserManager) is the service which manages users in the system. dumspsys simply dumped the output queried from the service user.
You can alternatively query the service provided that you know which function to query. For e.g. In my Android 5.0.2 I can enter:
adb shell service call user 8

It gives me a hex-dump where I can at least see the user name and userID among other things, of all the users in system.
Number 8 is calling a particular function. See the source code of android.os.IUserManager for your Android release here.
Edit:
An another method is to peek into the activity service.
adb shell dumpsys activity

Look for the few lines after the line with text mStartedUsers:. You would see something like:
User #0: mState=RUNNING
User #10: mState=RUNNING

The numeral entry between # and : is the userID of a user.

Worked for me. List of commands for multiUser is provided in https://android.stackexchange.com/a/71456/154792

Please mark this answer as the solution.

I tried everything Firelord suggested, but non of it actually gave useful results. It always says that all users are "RUNNING", "Last logged in" doesn't update/reset when switching user accounts...
I ended up with this:
adb shell dumpsys activity | grep -E "mUserLru" | grep -Eo "[0-9]+\]$" | tr -d "]"

Returns the user id of the active user.
This works very well for me.

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


text:
Can I stop system upgrade notices on Nexus 7 5.0.2
I have a Nexus 7 2013 WiFi running Android 5.0.2, and I keep getting an update notification for 5.1.  When I try the update,  I get an error on install,  then a reboot, and I'm back to 5.0.2.
I'm happy with this OS,  and would like to silence the notifications,  or get more details of the error.
Can I do either of these things?

Are you rooted? Do you have a custom recovery?

I am,  but I sadly deleted my recovery by accident.  Did I ruin It? It's just a small annoyance now,  but will it get worse?

@MichaelChiasson if you're unlocked, it's pretty easy to use fastboot to put your recovery back.

Unfortunately, I deleted my recovery.  Is my device doomed?

What's the error?

If you want to just disable the notification, open the notification drawer, tap and hold the notification so it goes Black with a certain app name and an "i" at the end. Press that "i" and uncheck "Show Notifications" This will result in you not getting any notification from that app.
It's highly recommended that you update, so... to update, you need:

An Unmodified System (You can't have root)
Stock Recovery

I updated my (rooted) Nexus to Android 5 by unrooting via SuperSU, Flashing Stock Recovery, and Updating.
This may or may not work so the best way to update is to take a backup of your data, download the factory image from google and flashing it.
Flashing Stock Recovery

Android is designed to rewrite the recovery partition with stock recovery upon each boot, but installing a Custom Recovery patches the OS so it won't happen. If you deleted your recovery, meaning you no longer have a recovery, stock or otherwise, You might as well flash the update from a stock image. The Android Stock recovery screen is a dead android with an exclamation mark and might mislead you into thinking there's no recovery.
TL;DR: If you want to update, backup your apps and data, download the latest factory image from here and flash it.


text:
Contacts are mysteriously disappearing from Moto G (1st gen)
I have a Motorola Edition G 1st Generation running Android Lollipop 5.0.
I have contacts that have been synced thorough Google Contacts and are cross synchronized through 4 Google Accounts. Some of my contacts, specifically the important ones, have started to disappear for no reason at all.

Check contacts.google.com to see if your contacts are disappearing from the Google account or the phone itself.

I have the same issue with my Moto G (1st gen.). with just one google account, and FB, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc accounts, all my contacts suddenly disappear and the contact and other apps were really slow.
I resolved my problem completely, the solution was uninstall the Linkedin app, it was artificially multiplying my contacts in other apps and causing slowness and that the contacts did not show in other apps.

Did you mean "that resolved" instead of "not resolved"?

Ok, now I solved it !. The guilty app was Linkedin, it was multiplying my contacts, I had to uninstall it, then all the problems with my contacts gone.


text:
Grant root access without using SuperSU like utility
I wonder if it is possible to let every application work with elevated privileges without a utility (such as SuperSU or SuperUser) to manage such requests... :/

Yes, just don't use such an app and don't use a su binary customized to depend on it.

What is a su binary?

See Wikipedia: su (Unix)

So you mean that the apps that come bundled with SuperSU, are modified in a way that they depend on SSU for obtaining permissions?

It is possible as Matthew stated, 2) 1) is incomplete because app must request root privilege to work, 3) not using an intercepting app like SuperSU would be one of the most dangerous things you can ever do to compromise your device.


text:
How to combine two or more proxies?
I already use a proxy for my WiFi . Now, in order to use Adblock Plus, I need to change the proxy to localhost:2020 (as asked by adblock plus) .
How can I combine the two proxies ?
My phone is not rooted.

Directly from : How To Connect To Other Proxy
Developer said : Root NOT needed on 3.x or higher android OS.just try it.
Download SandroProxy (From Google Play)
Set Android OS proxy to point to SandroProxy :
Go to -> Android OS Settings -> Wifi - Long click on active wifi connection. Menu will appear. Choose Modify network.
On the bottom there is option Advanced settings. Turn it on. Scroll down.

Set proxy to manual, localhost 8020 for Drony or 8008 for SandroProxy.
Set SandroProxy to connect to other proxy:
Start SandroProxy and go to wizard if it doesn't appear. (Log tab -> Menu->Wizard)
Select Connect to other proxy
Set (tcpip or hostname) and port to proxy, username (domain\user or realm\user) and password

Don't forget to activate with Active checkbox and click on Set button


text:
i9300 bootloop and cannot install GApps?
I was trying to install Resurrection Remix ROM on my GT i9300 but I am stuck in a boot loop.
What have I done to my phone so far?

Rooted my phone using CF-AutoRoot
Installed CWM
Did a NANDroid backup
Factory reset from "Settings"
Factory Reset from CWM Recovery
Installed Resurrection from recovery (success)
Installed GApps from recovery (failed, status 7)
Reboot

I got the boot loader animation on reboot, an "Updating Apps" popup and then a bootloop.
How do I solve this?
I did try flashing Resurrection from Recovery again but it did not help
Update:
ROM VERSION:
[ROM] [5.0.2] [LOLLIPOP] [i9300] RESURRECTION REMIX 5.3.9[CM12-BASED]

GAPPS VERSION:
gapps-lp-20141109-signed

ERROR LOG:
Installing files...
Cleaning up and setting metadata...
set_meta_data_recursive: some changes failed
E: Error in /sdcard/0/gapps-lp-20141109-signed.zip
(Status 7)
Installation aborted.

This is on Other Resurrection Remix ROM's is normal.You're right, i had the same problem with that.But try this (i fixed with below after two try) :
Just like this ; (it maybe take a ten minute or more)

Download the latest build of Resurrection Remix ROM
Take a nandroid backup
Flash ROM usingrecovery
Flash Gapps (Latest build, availabe in here !)
Wipe cache
Wipe dalvik cache
Reboot
Enjoy.

But please remember, ask this question from Developer for Bug fixes or More information.
anyway, hope this helps.

Okay I tried TWRP. Installed CM11, reboot. 4.4.4 running fine.  GApps installs but don't show up in Menu.

downloaded Gapps incompatible with your Rom.if your Main Problem solved, accept or please ask a question or Follow xda developer topic for another reasons.

Thanks for all your help. I'd be glad to extend this conversation beyond Android.SE. Exchange email? (:

I've cleaned up the comments here a bit, please use [chat] (you can make a separate room) for extended back-and-forth.


text:
New phone : migrate pictures and videos?
Alright, I just got my new oneplus one (replacing my old samsung). To get startes, i just need to get pictures copied to my new phone.
Not as easy as i thought!
1) google plus does not "recover" images to my new phone. It just lets med see images from my old phone via the net. Not good enough.
2) most sync apps (i've tried about 10 og them) syncs files, but fails to sync timestamps. For images this is fine (exif data is used), but all videos appear as being filmed today on my new device.
How do i get images and videos to my new phone WITH timestamps preserved?

Actually it's not sth in your hand to modify easily, but i've found some tricky solutions you can use.
At first take a look at a pre-asked related question here.
The second way which is a kinda boring is to use File Timestamp to rewrite your own custom time metadata on any file you want.
hope it helps you!

It should be possible for you to connect your old phone to a computer, navigate to the photos directory and copy them over to your computer.
After that, connect your shiny new OnePlus One and copy the images over.
This should preserve all the EXIF data including the timestamp

Dragging files from one device to the other will not preserve timestamps..


text:
After upgrading my Nexus 7 from Android 4 to 5.1, it is so slow as to be unusuable. What can I do to make it usable again?
I've seen reports here and there online where users have reported similar frustrations. Has anyone had success fixing whatever issue is crippling the tablet after upgrading to Android 5 (Lollipop)?

I did a factory data reset and everything is running much more smoothly:
Settings > Backup and Reset > Factory Data Reset
I had to log back in and reinstall my apps. This wasn't too onerous in my case since my tablet usage is limited mainly to the Amazon Kindle and Pandora apps.
For a more nuanced approach, see this Tuning Guide for the Nexus 7.

I do not own a nexus 7. However, my moto g was slower when I upgraded to L. It seems that booting in recovery mode and wiping the cache helps a lot. You can google for the specific instructions for nexus 7. I just finished wiping cache on my phone. It definitely is snappier.
See this link for more info enter link description here

I did that cache cleaning on my Nexus 7 2012 - it didn't help. Both 5.0 and 5.1 are very slow.

I had the same problem and did the following. Switching back from a Material keyboard back to Holo drastically improved performance.

Open the Settings menu on your device.
Under "Personal," touch Language & Input.
Under "Keyboard & input methods," touch the Settings icon next to "Google Keyboard."
Touch Appearance & Layouts.
Touch Theme.
Select either Holo White or Holo Blue.

Changing your animation speeds may not be as effective as switching to a holo keyboard, but can slightly improve your tablet's performance: (whether this is psychological or not has yet to be proven)

Open Settings
Tap on About Phone
Find Build Number and tap on it repeatedly until a message which says "you are now a developer" appears.
Go back to the main menu in Settings
You will now have an option called Developer Options . Open that.
Enable Developer Options  by tapping the slider on the top right
Find Window Animation Scale in developer options, and tap it
Select .5x (or you could just turn them off completely)
Do the same to Transition Animation Scale and Animator Duration Scale


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Cannot take screen lock with password off
On my Samsung Galaxy S3, when I try to take off the password and change to swipe everything is greyed out so I went to clear credentials and that also is greyed out.
How can I remove the screen lock?

Click image(s) for larger version

Can you add screenshots?

How do I add screenshots?

Hold on power button... You should see Take screenshot option.

Try this... Navigate to Menu>Settings>Applications>All apps>Settings>Clear data & Cache.

Yeah I tried it and i don't have a clear data and cache settings under all apps.

Try this ones too...
* Settings -> Security -> Deactivate Administrators. Deactivate anything listed (including Android Device Manager, you can activate it later on).
After that...
* Settings -> Security -> Clear credentials.

Oh thank you thank you thank you so much! It worked!

Glad it worked. You can mark this as an answer by clicking on tick mark provided.


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g sensor not working at all
I have an Asus memo pad, All of the sudden its g sensor stop working, I tried accelerometer and bubble, they show that g sensor not working at all.
any help?

I find the solution, according to here, I turned off auto rotate and turned off tablet for about ten minutes, then turn it on again and now g sensor works!


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Unknown Baseband i9300 after flashing CM11?
I flashed my rooted i9300 to go from stock to CM 11. I used TWRP twrp-2.8.6.0-i9300
 to flash it. Previously, I did a nandroid backup using CWM but since CWM had problems with flashing GApps, I had to switch to TWRP.
Flash successful. GApps successful. However, I have:

"No Service" problem
"Baseband Unknown" in the "About device" section
I have a non-blank /efs folder. I read that a lot of times people have issues because the folder is empty after flashing.

Having gone over this XDA HOW-TO, I am guessing that I need to flash a modem for my particular phone. I even managed to locate a collection of modems on XDA.
But a couple of questions remain:

What modem do I flash? My stock was 4.2 bought in Saudi Arabia so I am guessing I will need a corresponding modem? but I have moved to India so what modem do I use? I believe the modem suffixes like JV, etc. have importance?
How do I flash that modem?

Official CM uses open source RILs so these Samsung RILs won't be compatible.
Galaxy S3 RIL + Modem CWM Flashable Collection
i can't test this one, but you can.
and also, read :

Do not flash these zips on leaked Android 4.2 Samsung ROMs unless you
delete the System folder inside the zip using a tool such as WinRAR.
Otherwise you will end up with no signal and you may have to re flash
your ROM to get the 4.2 RILs back.
XXEMG4 and later Modems will modify your efs partition(where your phone IMEI info is) making older modems incompatible with your phone.
In order to use older modems again you must restore an old backup of
your efs partition. So make sure to backup your efs partition before
you do anything.

This is for india :
 - DDEMB1

Android : 4.1.2 Date: 20/02/2013 Carrier-Country-Region: Unbranded -
  India, Sri Lanka, Nepal - South Asia RIL MD5:
  788BBF58812206981E4465966BA45BBD

Download : Mediafire
and as i said, if you have an backup, goto Recovery -> Install from Zip and install latest EFS From last rom.
P.S : Try to flash stock rom.if this problem exist Yet, you need z3x Box for baseband and fix this.
hope this helps.

Don't I need JKEMC1 Android:4.1.2 Carrier-Country Region: Unbranded - Israel - Middle East ?

you need for india right ? So, in your comment, this is for Middle East

That's the problem. The phone was bought in Middle East and now I am in India :-P

as i know, if efs doesnt work with these, you need Z3X box and inconvenience you with this phone :)

That's right.Option like: In TWRP -> Backup -> Backup from Modem or Efs.

stored under /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/<some number>/<date>/ right?

Also, do I need CWM or will TWRP do? The file you linked to has a "CWM" in it.

Question 1 : yeah, thats right. Q2 : as above link say it, you need CWM.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


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Clear a whatsapp conversation but keep the media
I have got a group conversation with a lot of messages. I want to clear the messages but want to keep the pictures and videos.

I typed that wrong. Corrected now.

Reply, Edit and Updated, thanks for your edit.

Last time (years back), I clear chat but the media is not removed, leaving many junks in my phone. I wonder if this has been fixed by whatsapp?

All Media, Stored in below Directory :

SDcard (Internal Storage) -> WhatsApp -> Media

For videos :
SDcard (Internal Storage) -> WhatsApp -> Media -> WhatsApp Video
For Pictures :
SDcard (Internal Storage) -> WhatsApp -> Media -> WhatsApp images
and copy or Move anything you want it in Backup Directory (like, save music in -> Extsdcard -> Music).
that's it.

Upload them to drive or google photos. Open the media in whatsapp and Long press on it you'll see the 3dot feature near top right corner of the screen, click on the 3dot which will give options, choose drive to upload your media.


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Should I charge phone overnight or let battery down to a minimum?
For many times I found myself in a situation, that my battery charge was about 25-30% when I was going to sleep. Since I was always told to not let battery down below 20% (correct me, if that's wrong) I was faced with two options in this situation:

plug phone to charger and let it charge for entire night,
leave it and let it down to about 10-15%, that is below wrong level for battery charge.

I was always wondering, what option is best for my battery's life and phone's overall performance.
Can someone provide information, which option is better in mentioned situation?

I'm always charging if it's possible. So when I'm leaving home or workplace, all devices are at 100%.

Never let it run down below 10% if you can help it. Running down to "absolute zero" harms your battery (and might even render it inoperable – which is why most devices shut-down before reaching that point). Modern LiIo batteries don't suffer from "memory effect", so ideally you'd plug-in a charger whenever possible: "trickle-charging" doesn't hurt them, low charge (less than 5% definitely) shortens their life-span.
For details, please check with...

our battery-life tag-wiki
What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?
Does constant charging harm my Android cellphone?
Wikipedia: Lithium Ion batteries
our battery tag-wiki
When should I start charging my Lithium battery?
How frequently is it okay to let the battery discharge fully or as low as possible?


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PC can't transfer files to android
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and Windows 7 operating system.
I'm trying to transfer files, specifically music, through USB to my phone but it's giving me an error. It's saying I do not have permission to create this item.
I'm not sure what exactly is going on. I have actually transferred music files from my computer to my phone before using the exact same method, but now it doesn't work anymore. I highly doubt it is the issue with the USB cable and computer not recognizing my phone, because it recognizes it fine. And I'm not going to download any software just so I can transfer music; because I've done this before and it worked so ....
If this involves UAC, then mine is on the lowest setting which means I don't need administrator permission, even though I am administrator.

I figured out the error. It turned out the music files I had, apparently I didn't have ownership over them so I couldn't transfer them ....

Just had the same problem, thanks!

Thought I'd expand a little if anyone has this. When I was logged in as a local account, I transferred a file from my phone to PC. Then I logged in under a domain account and tried to transfer the modified file back to my phone. Got the error. This happened because I was using a local admin. account when I transfered it, so the owner was just 'administrators'. I had to change the owner to my actual username on the domain, to successfully transfer to my phone.

I had a similar problem a few weeks ago (same phone, same OS).
I turned off the phone and took the battery out for about 1-minute.
Then put the battery back in and restarted the phone.
Not sure if it will work for you, but I figured I'd try to help.

I tried and this didn't work


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Smart Lock does not work anymore
Suddenly Smart Lock on my Nexus 7 (flo) unrooted/5.0.2 and on my Samsung GT i9300 rooted/pa 5.0.2 alpha does not work anymore.
My solution: I uninstalled the Google-Play-Service Updates.


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Deleting photos on Google+ doesn't delete them on local storage on my phone
I'm still getting used to the Auto Backup functionality in the Photos app. I turned this feature on and all my photo's are correctly synced to Google+.
When I delete a photo on my phone (Nexus 5) it also gets deleted on Google+. However, when I delete photos on the Google+ website, they don't get deleted on my phone.
Is this just how this thing works, or is there something wrong in my setup? I tried turning off Google+ photo sync in the settings, but that didn't change anything. When I delete it on the Google+ web page, it says the photos will also be deleted on all synchronized devices, so isn't that how it's supposed to work then?
It would make it a whole lot easier to delete photos that I don't need on a big screen like my laptop, and to have them automatically deleted on my phone to free up storage space.

** Google+ web page, it says the photos will also be deleted on all synchronized devices** doesn't mean that photos will be deleted from your device. It means when you login to Google plus in some other device it will not show that deleted stuff.

Plus the photos that you delete online will be moved to trash/bin folder. It will stay there untill you delete it again.

Yes this is how things work. Google+ does not sync photos, it backs them up online. It is a one way action from your device to Google+.


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Samsung Galaxy S5 Password
I inadvertently set a password for my Samsung Galaxy S5 that I cannot remember. I tried resetting it via google device manager (lock) option and I get the following message:
"Since google has verified that a screen lock is already set, the password that you entered won’t be needed"
Any ideas no how to log back into my phone without factory reset?
thank you so much for your help in advance!

I've just added the locked-out tag to your question. Please check its tag-wiki, which gives some background, first-aid, and useful links which should get you on the right track.

I suffered the same problem, and was locked out for full day. I used findmymobile.samsung.com to unlock. I dont think you need to be enrolled to use the faciltiy. Thank God my problem is resolved. Give it a try, ADM was clearly not working


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update xnph44s to xnph05q
the problem:
I am using a OnePlus One. Current CM version - 11.0 XNPH44S. I got the update notification to XNPH05Q and when i click "download update" it downloads the update(i dont know where). And when i click "install update" it reboots and automatically goes to CM recovery mode(i dont need to press the power and volume down button).
As most of the forums suggested, I do the following:
Apply update > choose from internal Storage > 0/
but i dont find the correct file to select. And so I simply reboot the system and download the file cm-bacon-5fa8c79c0b-to-5229c4ef56-signed.zip and put it in the internal storage.. then i do the following:
reboot (automatically goes to cm recovery)
apply update
choose from internal storage
0/
select the zip file
the installation starts...
Same problem has been posted here at xda-developers forums but no solution is given... also, i tried the instructions from the forum of oneplus one.
Note: i dont have much idea on flashing twrp, etc.... you can consider me a noob.
HELP!
My solution:
The problem lied in the ROM installed in my phone. So, I rooted the phone, installed TWRP recovery, flashed SU binary and then flashed the updated ROM.
The most easiest way to root is given here. After following the video tutorial, download the ROM you want to install then flash it using the TWRP recovery.

Go to Recovery mode, select Install,  look for the ZIP file and select  Install zip.

That is what I did if you read the question properly.


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how do i rename the video file after i export it?
I downloaded some videos to my android tablet from drop box. I then edited the videos together as one file and am ready to upload to a business site which the files are required to be named a specific way.  I cannot figure out how to rename the the completed file and meet the requirements of the site. When I click on the file in my video folder the only option I get is to delete the file. Can anyone help?

Use another file manager application like ES file explorer.

either try another file explorer if you are not familiar with the default one (usually either a "right click" or long hold to get the file rename option).
my personal favorite since it is double-windowed is total commander or you can try that ES file explorer (ad-supported maybe)...


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How can I block texts on android 4.4.4 (Moto G)?
I'm always getting spam texts and I am sick of regularly losing a couple seconds of my life to these assholes when I hear the message sound and check my phone.
How can I block them?  I would prefer not to use an app that requires access to a bunch of my info.
I looked online and I found some instructions that simply don't work:
http://www.mobiany.com/how-to-block-sms-and-mms-messages-on-the-motorola-moto-g.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Block-Android-Text-Messages
And my carrier can't do this for me.
Is there a built-in way?
Or do I need to download an app?  If so, which one is good?

If it's the same person just select the number, navigate to the contact section and there should be "block this number etc.", otherwise I'd suggest $15/year ESET as security and has a good sms filter rule.

Yeah there isn't.  I don't know why.


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Can you use somebody else's `/efs` folder?
So, assume that there are two Galaxy S3 phones (i9300)s. One of em has a "No Service", "Baseband Unknown" problem while the other works like a charm. Both of them are rooted and flashed with custom ROMs.  (CM11 and CM12).
So, if the phone with proper /efs makes a nandroid backup of /efs and then that backup is restored in the phone having issues, then this should technically work.
Question is, will it?

I'm pretty sure that partition contains IMEI information and you do not want to be duplicating their phone on the network.

@MatthewRead Is there a way to change just the IMEI so it matches the one on my phone? (under the battery)

You may be able to hex edit the partition, but before you start messing with it and definitely before you attempt copying one to the other, back up the original /efs (with nandroid or dd) and definitely check out the laws in your country to make sure such activity is legal.

@fattire have a look at EFS Pro. Using this, I can change the IMEI to my own, right?

No, this won't work, because there is cant be two phones with same IMEI codes and every single phone probably has special modem codes so efs from one phone won't work in other phone

Sometimes, when you have download a Rom, there is many files as you can see like :

PDA
PHONE
CSC

this is in ODIN.
So, you need Modem or CSC for flash.

(But this is for Flash on Stock Rom and need 3 file).and also, for
  get back and test for need or not need Z3X box, just back to
  Stock rom and tell us your problem is solved with Stock or not.this
  texts are, for more information.and help you for install Stock without
  this problem.anyway.

As i said in chat, take a backup from efs (from worked device) and install it with recovery.
technically, it will work.But, this is sometimes Harassment you and need money for solved with z3x :)
hope your problem solved with flash efs.


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after factory reset can nexus get lollipop through ota?
I use nexus 4 which got updated to lollipop on 27th Nov via ota . the thing is the phone got reset by mistake n it again came back to jellybean will it get the update again through ota ?? Or is there any other way? I don't knowto install it manually..

A factory reset doesn't downgrade Android. What, precisely, happened that caused your device to downgrade?

The play services stopped and the pop up started appearing now n then . I took it to the service center. The guy over there jus did the factory reset n gave the phone back. He didn't even inform me that he was gonna do that... So that's what happened n the phone came back to its original that's jelly bean, now what I wanted to know is will it recieve any update through ota? Or m I supposed to install it manually..

If your Current Rom Country (Or region) have Lollipop Update,
yes you can.
Else (Install manually) :

For find Frimware :

Where can I find stock or custom ROMs for my Android device?
Or download factory image : (developers.google)

How to Install :
( From android.stackexchange )

How to install Android 5.0 Lollipop on a Nexus 4
How to manually install Android Lollipop on a Nexus device


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Location broken on Nexus 5 with CM11
I have a Google Nexus 5 device. In the beginning, I was amazed at the GPS performance; most of the time I had a fix after at most 5 seconds. A few months ago I installed Cyanogenmod CM11, and as far as I can remember GPS still worked great after the flash (I registered for CM's "find my phone" service, and that worked well).
Now recently I have found that location in general doesn't work any more. I can't get a GPS fix even after waiting for a long time, and even WiFi and cell network based location don't work – I get a location, but it's off by about a kilometer, and that in a large city with plenty of WiFi hotspots and cell towers. It doesn't even recognize my home location any more, even though I have clear WiFi reception from my own router which previously was clearly associated with my street address.
I am not sure what could have triggered this problem. At some point I tried to share as little information with Google as possible (out of privacy concerns) so I configured "Location mode" to "Device only" and I also disabled and deleted location history. I guess it is possible that at some point while doing this, I accidentally "broke" location altogether, though I don't know how. In any case, after noticing that GPS doesn't work any more, I re-enabled "High accuracy" mode, but with no effect. It's also conceivable that a CM11 update caused this, but I believe that when I installed CM11 it was already at the current state M11. I never installed nightlies.
My questions are:

What could have broken both GPS- and WiFi/cell-based location? Is there a known issue with CM11 (M11) on hammerhead? I couldn't find anything. Is it possible that I inadvertently disabled some system service that needs to be running? Nothing under Apps / Disabled looks like its location-related.
What can I do to get location working again? Re-flash? Install a nightly? Hope that at some point CM11 M12 is released? Delete some system file? I'm open to any kind of idea.

Might I ask as to why exactly you're still on CM11?

Just curious if you use Google device / location manager(s)?
I have had some of theses issues come up on CM11.
Try going to Google.com then click maps as your search criteria/engine and type ' my current location ' as the search, and also in the map click the little circle in the bottom right corner (its the circle above the blue direction circle ....its the location target eye image , black and white) .....you should be asked if you would like to allow Google to access your location by now.  because if not it could just be a settings thing.
I suggest using Google chrome when / if you do this.... I had better luck when I did... which makes sense since chrome is a Google entity.
I am not saying this is a fix, but I am curious about the results because this may help myself and others to get an understanding of how your devices current state due to how it handles the request(s).
CM11 hasn't treated me too well in this respect either.

Thanks for your answer. Yes, I only used Google services. I did some research about alternative location services, but didn't find anything easily applicable. I think the problem is not about allowing Google Maps; I have granted that access. I tested what you proposed, but using Firefox. I was asked whether to grant access to location and granted, and after that the problem was the same; location was off by about 1 km. I'll try with Chrome when I find the chance.

Ok well please keep me posted. I wish I could be of more assistance.

IT's the gapps!! I has the same problem; GPS stopped working after two CM11 updates. I reverted back to Android 4.1 but still no GPS. I renistalled cm-11-20160424-NIGHTLY-hercules (I'm becoming a pro at this by now) but still no GPS. After an idea to reinstall gapps-kk-20140606-signed after the updated....GPS started working again. I tested it with Google Maps, GPS test and My trace.. Make sure Google Services is installed.


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Delay in sending messages
I'm Using G3 rom v8 by bountyman334 on LG e980. Message sending is taking a lot of time, delay in sending of about 5-10 minutes and sometimes fails. Tried to update Rom but nothing worked. need help.

This is About your Network, Not android.

Network Busy or other reasons...

Contact with Network-Operator,
they can help you.

Other people using Same rom are facing this problem.

try this Simcart on another phone and check the problem still exist or not and tell us ...

authors: محمدالعبدليے


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How to disable GPS if not in use?
Is there a way to disable GPS if not in use by any app – either provided by Android itself or, if that's not possible, by use of a third-party app?

GPS is automatically turned-off when not in use by apps. That said, apps can use GPS even if they work in background. So, I guess that your concern should be checking the apps that use GPS in the background, rather than turning it off completely.

Thank you Aleksandar! So, just to confirm: I don't have to disable GPS on this tile statusbar overview screen in order to conserve energy? Instead GPS is not consuming energy as long as no app is making use of it, correct?

That is correct.

As Aleks pointed out, GPS only "drains battery" when accessed – its battery use in standby is negligible (see my answer here for some statistics). You can see whenever some app is accessing it, as then the cross-hair GPS icon appears in the notification bar.
However, some (badly coded) apps might be "hammering" GPS for location details. If you encounter such an app (but cannot live without that particular one), there are some automation tools which can take care for that (see e.g. our tasker tag-wiki) – and e.g. turn GPS of as soon as that "waster" starts, or after a delay of say 1 min to allow it for one fix and not more.


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Chromecast performance differs between devices
I have a Chromecast in my bedroom and a dual-band router in the living room. The connection is solid enough that it will connect, and on my Moto X using the 5GHz radio can play 1080p video without issue or delay from Plex, YouTube, Netflix, etc.
However, when I try to cast these very same services from my Galaxy Tab 2 which uses the 2.4GHz radio, I notice playback stuttering in Plex and degraded video in Netflix and YouTube.
My question is this: why does the performance of my Chromecast differ depending on the device which is sending it requests? I thought it functioned much like a Google TV or Player where it would simply "open" (or be sent) an app and data request? Or is the information that it's playing coming from my Android device?
I feel like there's a clarity issue on Google's side, as I've found no documentation on this particular subject, and don't have the patience to sift through the developer documentation.
Update: I connected my Moto X to the 2.4GHz band as well to see if @Eldarathis' idea was correct, but the video still loaded just fine. I'm convinced that the poor performance of my tablet is somehow affecting the performance of the Chromecast.

Possibly it's because the Chromecast is 2.4 GHz only, so you're getting more interference on that band when it has to both stream and communicate back and forth with the Tab all on the same band.

@eldarerathis I've updated my post accordingly


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How to encrypt data on Android on per-file basis before backup to a cloud storage
I would like to automate file encryption on my Android device before sending them to a cloud storage.
I don't want to have a container encryption (like Truecrypt or VeraCrypt) since it will require a lot of data to be transmitted on each update, lots of resources to check changed blocks, and I don't see this is a good way approach to automation for such a task. So it will be better to have encrypted version of each file.
Moreover, I would prefer public-key encryption (asymmetric), not based on password strength. And most important - I would like to be able to work with files on different platforms (not only on Android).
I found that Encdroid is quite close to my needs (except that it is not asymmetric encryption): it is based on Encfs that works on different platforms and it is per-file encryption file system. The biggest drawback is that it requires FUSE module (filesystem in user space), which is not usually available on most Android distributions.
Another option will be to adapt GPG for that task, but it will require some scripting and probably other tasks that Android is not usually suits to. And I don't know if GPG works good on Android.
Do you know what are options to solve this task?


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why i can't use all my sd card space on Apps?
I have a Xperia E1 with 2Gb of internal memory. I had to buy an 8GB SD card to use good apps! The problem is that I can only use 2Gb of my SD card on apps! When I open the storage it say it has 6.90Gb free, but when I open from Apps settings and check on SD card it say 505Gb free.
http://s21.postimg.org/mtcj0r1s7/image.jpg
http://s21.postimg.org/ubvo9dt53/e1872b176fa9f6e9b46b2ef59e107b6d6f88ba4bb3ca610c.jpg

SD card it say 505Gb free. I don't even have a Hard drive of this much space! http://android.stackexchange.com/posts/103959/edit

It is because since older versions of android(i don't remember which exactly) its not possible to install or move apps to SD CARD without root.
All apps will be installed in internal memory by default however if you do root you can move them to your SD Card using apps(there are many) and at same time you will be able to delete useless pre-installed apps that is using your internal memory space.
Also i just noticed that u have 370MB of cache data, that data is near useless, since its just used to make things load faster but eventually it start to use too much space on your drive so you can safely delete the cache of all your apps, you can use apps for that...I use Cache Cleaner

I don't know what you mean by "since older versions of android," but it hasn't been that long. KitKat was the first version to make the SD card read-only (excluding some system-provided apps).

According to Sony's Xperia E1 specifications page, you're running Android 4.4, KitKat. As mentioned in numerous SE articles, KitKat does not allow the SD card to be used for app storage, including transferring apps to it. Sony's page does say you can add it, but unless they hacked KitKat, it won't work.

but i can transfer them to Sd card ! but they allow me to use only 2Gb of it on apps ! while it's 8Gb sd card

That's not standard for KitKat. Normally the SD card is replaced by a separate flash area internally. Sony must be doing something strange.


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Change Play Store (web) device order
My device order in Play Store web is currently like so:

I haven't even powered on the Nexus 4 in a month. How do I make Note 4 the default without disabling Nexus 4 altogether in Play Store Settings?

The list is sorted by last used date.
Go to the Play Store on your phone, maybe download or update an app, and the last used date should be set to the current date. And next time, it should be at the top.

Not true. I still shows my previous phone—which I have not used for more then 3 months now—as the default

As far I know, it can't be done. Google Play lists the devices in alphabetical order by default.

Isn't it possible to rename the device instead? Looking from the screenshot, I doubt Google named "Galaxy Note" as "Galay Note" instead.

That "nickname" can be changed by pressing "Edit" in the Store Settings (which didn't change anything), but now, for some magical reason, the Note 4 is actually back in the default position, and is showing "Last used: March 30, 2015". I guess it's just sorted by the usage date, and then by name?

@AndrewT. Samsung, not Google. Nice catch ;).


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My android's wifi is off and I am prompted for the passcode.
I entered the pattern wrongly too many times, and now it wants my google password. I now remember my pattern. How can I access it? (No online things please.) The original question's answers didn't work. Help! (please...?)

Check this: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/35847/can-not-unlock-my-android-device-as-have-no-internet-connection

Please elaborate on what, specifically, you have tried and why it did not work.

"The original question's answers didn't work. "


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OS Features missing after upgrade to Android 5.1
I just updated my Nexus 5 from Android 5.0 LPX13D to 5.1 LMY47I. Some components of the OS now seem to be missing. When I scroll with two fingers from the top of the screen I only get the notifications pane, not the quick settings pane, and I don't seem to get notifications at all. My phone vibrates but nothing shows up in the notifications pane.
Since LPX13D was a developer preview, I didn't have an OTA update available, so I downloaded the factory image of LMY47I from Google's website and flashed it via adb and fastboot. I followed the instructions on the nexus image page, although I already had an unlocked bootloader, so I didn't have to do that step, and I also changed the last line of the flash-all script from
    fastboot -w update image-hammerhead-lmy47i.zip

to
    fastboot update image-hammerhead-lmy47i.zip

Which, according to a blog I found, tells fastboot not to perform a factory reset when it updates the OS from the image. However, I'm thinking this must caused LMY47I to not be installed correctly.
I've wiped the cache partition and re-flashed the OS from the image on google's website, which doesn't seem to have fixed the issue. Any ideas as to what I can do short of a full factory reset?

I flashed the same image, but I didn't have the dev preview installed, and it works absolutely fine for the issues you mentioned. I did, however, factory reset. You could flash the file again, but maybe in sections, don't wipe it all and try to keep the data. To be honest usually a clean flash is the best way to go, but it's a bit annoying.


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Ideas on how to recover data from a screenless/headless Android device?
I have an unrooted Nexus 5—big mistake, I should have rooted it—due to some unfortunate circumstances my phone screen ripped off from the phone leaving the phone functional but “headless.”
I want to scrape off (download) my data and move off things from my phone. I do have backups on but the last backup was taken half a month ago since when I have only been travelling with 2G data on

It clearly has no screen.
The solution I tried.
I have an AirDroid account and using that am able to perform basic phone stuff make calls, read reply to SMS message. With screen mirror there is a possiblity that I can use the phone normally remotely and move my data and be happy. The dead-end: AirMirror requires root.
I tried to root the phone purely via ADB shell but the step will require flashing a templated image, which will destroy all the data on the phone.
The other solution is if I can turn on Wi-Fi via ADB shell, I can copy most of its contents I need via AirDroid. It won’t be feasible enough on mobile data.
Any suggestions?

What is stopping you just connecting it via USB and copying all data to your PC?

Until unless I unlock the device, it won't allow me access to its contents.

@bmdixon its NOT a duplicate, I explicitely want access to my data & device, just looking at screen won't help cause my touch is not working either..

do you have developer options enabled?
If yes try to backup using adb. you will not have to access Adb shell. just 'adb backup' command will do it. use appropriate options to backup your shared storage. (just type adb and hit enteryou will see the Adb backup options)
go to following link try the options in answer to access Adb backup. do not encrypt the backup.
If u do not have developer access, just replace the device screen, and u should get your device as is.


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Does Wifi P2P require *both* android devices to be 4.0+?
According to the android developer guide...

"Wi-Fi peer-to-peer (P2P) allows Android 4.0 (API level 14) or later
  devices with the appropriate hardware to connect directly to each
  other via Wi-Fi without an intermediate access point"

Does this mean that both devices need to be 4.0+, or can one be a 4.0 device while the other is a (rooted) 2.x device?

"Normal WiFi" and "WiFi direct" are separate things. If you want to use the latter, the answer is yes: both devices must be supporting it. If, on the other hand, your question is whether there's a way to directly connect the two: there's always the "hotspot" feature, which was introduced already before 4.0. So one device (supporting this) could act as a WiFi hotspot, and the other could connect there as to any other WiFi router.

Can this be done even if there's no connection between the device acting as a hotspot and the internet (either through cellular or wifi)?  I want to be able to communicate between the two devices offline.

Should be possible – though I've never tried. You could raise that as a separate question, though (after having checked it hasn't been asked already). And here's your candidate: Can my phone act as WiFi Access Point while Disabling Celluar Radio? asks for more or less the same.


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Lollipop Update Issue: Google Apps
I'm using a Moto G 2nd Gen, and I have recently updated to the new lollipop version. In the last day, I've had to restart the phone a dozen times, as after being powered on, it becomes completely unresponsive in about 10-20 minutes. None of my Google Apps work, the phone freezes, and it is impossible to use.
I wanted to do a factory reset but it won't even allow me to transfer or backup my recent files. It just freezes.
I've seen a few other questions with this issue, does anyone know any fixes?
edit: it occasionally gives me the notification "Google Apps is not responding" but I can't do anything as the screen is unresponsive.

As for Backup, you might wish to check with Full Backup of non-rooted devices (and our backup tag-wiki. Concerning the Google apps, you could try to clear their cache and, if that doesn't help, delete their data (via Setup › Apps › All, picking each related entry). Safe mode might help with that, if the device otherwise reboots too fast to get you done.

Boot to recovery, and remove gapps manually. You can also backup apps and their settings using adb backup -all -apk -nosystem

Uh. That would at least require the device to be rooted – which the OP didn't indicate having done (GApps are installed as system apps).


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Reset permissions of app versus Google Play Game Services
When installing an app using Google Play Game Services (GPGS) on Android and booting the app first time, we give the app permission to do this and that with the user's account (or similar) on GPGS. How can I reset that permission, so that when the user accesses GPGS from the app the next time (using the same account as first time), it will ask for permission again?

Within the GPGS service (leaderboard) inside the app itself, there was a button to access settings for the user vs the GPGS. I could disconnect the app from the account by digging around there. With that the permissions were revoked.


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Battery drains very quickly on Samsung Galaxy S5
I have purchased a Samsung Galaxy S5 from the store. I open it and I begin by charging it for the first time, but without turning it on. The battery was 61%, so I waited until 100%. After that, I turned on the phone and proceeded to set it up. The version of Android was 5.0 Lollipop (I don't know how this is possible as I thought I need to update it myself from 4.4.2 to 5.0).
While I was entering in the information for the first time, the battery suddenly fell from 100% to 95% in just 5 to 10 minutes, during the first steps where I had to create a Google account and set up my phone options.
I heard rumors that 5.0 Lollipop drains the battery quickly so I downgraded to 4.4.2 KitKat with the hope that it'll fix the battery problem. I downgraded successfully without error.
I have the same problem—the interesting thing is that I didn't download more than 5 apps. I only have Skype, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber and Instagram. All the other apps are from the phone itself.
Whenever I go to WhatsApp to check messages or chat (or anywhere else), the battery falls 1% after 3 minutes. All of the NFC options, location options and other unnecessary options are turned off. The brightness is also on low. In 15 minutes of use I notice that the battery falls from 80% to 65% or 60%.
I have already done a factory reset twice, whilst I was downgrading to KitKat 4.4.2.
I'm a new user of a Samsung Galaxy S5. Is this normal or abnormal? What is the problem and how can I resolve it?

Not sure how that language helps anyone. Read the [help] watch the [tour] and remember to Be Nice.

I used a combination of DS battery Saver(Aggressive mode option) and Greenify(paid) to mitigate excessive battery drain. To my surprise, I managed to get a lot of juice since then. Besides, I used Better Battery Stats to find out what was causing that excessive battery drain.

My device isn't from Samsung but I had similar issues and I questioned it with troubleshooting I did. Got some answers too. You may check them, could be helpful.

i'll take a try , lol the phone is new from the store , wtf is happening to it..
Thanks for advices

Could it be a defective battery?  Have you gone back to the store to get a new battery and/or phone?  I have owned my S5 for more than a year ..I have not downloaded Lollipop, which I have heard there are some battery issues and have not encountered the problem with 4.4.4.....

who knows i installed GSM battery monitor, so it says that for:
in 1h 10m has used 6% from my battery
5,1%/h - 29m 47s active (by just cheking instagram, browsing photos, and whatsapp) nothing else , and i didnt browsing or cheking for more then 4 mins, i just enter quit.

The phone is just original from store and is just 4 days old...

"....the battery suddenly fell from 100% to 95% in just 5 to 10 minutes"

That's perfectly normal and no cause for concern. Reasons for this are well explained in this XDA post  Your battery gauge is lying to you (and it's not such a bad thing). Summarizing from this post:

As explained at Battery University, "The time at which the battery stays at [maximum charge] should be as short as possible. Prolonged high voltage promotes corrosion, especially at elevated temperatures."

so

This is why many new phones will "lose" up to 10% within a few minutes of coming off the charger. The reality is that the battery was only at 100% capacity for a brief moment, after which the battery management system allowed it to slowly dip down to around 90%

so how do OEM's deal with this situation?

The phone manufacturers essentially have three choices:

Use older charging styles which actually maintain a full battery, thereby decreasing its eventual life
Use new charging methods and have an accurate battery gauge
Use new charging methods and have the inaccurate battery gauge

Option one has clearly fallen out of favor as it prematurely wears devices. Option two, while being honest, would most likely be met with many complaints. After all, how many people want to see their phone draining down to 90% while it is still plugged in? Option three therefore offers an odd compromise. Maybe phone companies think that users will be less likely to worry about a quick drop off the charger than they will worry about a "defective" charger that doesn't keep their phone at 100% while plugged in.

So, it's normal and have seen it happen in every phone (four of them) I owned in last four years

Try factory resetting the phone. (Ignore if already tried)
Another thing you might do is calibrate the battery. Drain out all the battery till 1% is left and put it on d original Samsung charger. Let it charge fully. Do not interrupt it while in charge. In this way the battery will calibrate itself.
My personal experience shows battery monitoring apps drain the max battery life.
Also, for once, clear all the data in the phone. I.e. images and songs so that the phone memory is not cluttered.

I think this is pretty standard. My s5 drains at about the same rate. Try turning your mobile data on only when you need it. You can also try flashing a different kernel (that works in your region) to see if that helps.

how is a kernel region specific?

I think it some can improve reception and battery life depending on your region based of memory. Maybe I read a dodgy post.


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How do I update app installed from 3rd-party with Google Play Store's version?
I want to update my WhatsApp to be able to use the calling feature. I've used a third party app to update WhatsApp till now. How do I update from Play Store, or will it only happen automatically and not manually?

The call feature is available in WhatsApp-2.12.5.
The Google Play Store should show you the latest version (If Notification Checked)

How do I update from Play Store, or will it only happen automatically
  and not manually?

This is only available, when the below option is enabled: if this option is disable, you need to download manually.

As you can see in above option, if there is an update it will be shown in a notification.

How do I update from Play Store?

Open your Play Store;
From the left edge of screen do a left to right swipe to access Play Store Menu;
Select My Apps - it will open a list of all apps installed from Play Store;
Find Whatsapp Messnger, select Whatsapp Messenger and you will be presented with a page of Whatsapp;
Otherwise, after "Step 1.", type in Search Bar Whatsapp, enter and select "Whatsapp messenger" from the list.
From there you can select Update option if it is available.

Will it only happen automatically and not manually?

On that Whatsapp page, press Context menu key (usually the hardware key left to Home key in the bottom panel of your phone), and check Auto-Update option. Otherwise, you can access Play Store menu, select Settings -> Auto-update Apps option and choose update option relevant to you.

Note:

I've used a third party app to update WhatsApp till now.

It is recommended by Google and many security vendors to not to use anything other than Play Store to install or update any app. Be cautioned about privacy and security issue when you use third-party clients.
Edit: I've incorporated Rohit Kabdwal's points here in this answer.

Upper Points are correctly given to update your WhatsApp application from play store, but if you want to enable the voice calling feature in your application then,

Find one person who already has the WhatsApp calling feature enabled in his/her application.
Ask that person to call you through his/her WhatsApp Voice calling feature.
Then receive that call (Note: your phone should be connected to the internet to receive the call)
When you end the call, you will see three different tabs in your WhatsApp application.

I know that you mentioned you would like to update the app from the Google Play Store, however when I checked if an update was available using the methods in the other answers, the Play Store said that my app was up to date.
With this in mind, if you navigate to the download page of the WhatsApp website, it will allow you to download the latest .apk which you can install manually.


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Control an Android phone remotely from the computer
I have a Nexus 4, I've had it for 2-3 years running in Cyanogenmod rooted with no problems. It fell many times but nothing bad ever really happened to it until yesterday.
It fell and had a tiny crack in the screen, then the screen was no longer responsive. I've seen many people with cracks in their screen able to use their phones but I guess that wasn't the case for the Nexus.
Now since there's nothing wrong with the phone beside the screen, is there a way to control it from my PC? I find a screen replacement would cost as much I bought it.

Have you tried the app called AirDroid?.

How to control your Android via PC - CNET is the key to follow.

@GulamMohammed I can't control the phone at all to install apps on it.

Well, Softonic provides desktop app of AirDroid

@GulamMohammed OK, I'm going to try airdroid. I'll update you to know if everything works. Phone doesn't work but usb adb is working so ill push the apk there.

airdroid does not solve the problem as it requires me to actually have set it up on the phone before installing and i've never installed airdroid until today. I can't set up airdroid remotely.

I have found another app called Droid Explorer on GitHub. Download the required setup (x86 or x64) and install it.
After installation, follow the video of ANDROID Controlled from PC (How-To Remote Control ANDROID Phone) by MobileTechVideos. The video shows the complete procedure of using Droid Explorer.
Requirement: Android SDK

This is a very nice solution, however, I also found a similar one here:http://marian.schedenig.name/2014/07/03/remote-control-your-android-phone-through-adb/ which got the job done  exactly as I wanted last night I used it on Linux and just had to modify the config file to my adb location which was /usr/bin/adb.


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Hangouts application not always suggesting my contacts when searching
I store all of my contacts under Google Contacts, which my Android phone uses/syncs (i.e., the Contacts application lists these, and only these, contacts).
I recently searched for "sergio" under the 2nd tab of Hangouts by clicking the "+" button to generate a new SMS message. I have at least one contact with this matching first name, yet Hangouts only suggests random strangers with this name, none of which are my contact.
After this failed, I used my Contacts application to find his record, where I clicked the sms/message icon. This redirected me back to Hangouts where an existing SMS conversation was loaded.  Subsequently when searching for "sergio", Hangouts now lists my contact under Phone Contacts, ahead of the random strangers it lists below that.
For other contacts, they just show up when I search. I can't find any difference between those contacts that don't show up and those that do.  Any ideas if this is a bug or a feature?  If it is a feature, how can I get all my phone contacts to always show up before random strangers when searching?

For those asking for a clearer, illustrated answer:

Click on the (+) New conversation
On the right hand of the search box, click on the really-nonobviously-a-modality-switch phone icon:

Search will now be limited to your Google contacts.

Presumably some designer made a bizarre choice to use a phone call icon to represent the phone address book.
Note:  When texting rather than calling, be careful not to click on the contact name rather than the small SMS icon on the far right as this will immediately initiate a phone call.  (credit to Dan Csharpster)

Wow! Thanks! That is really nonobvious and a terrible user experience! When in the hell would I ever want to start a new conversation with a random stranger with a google account? Way to think it through, Google!  I'd also note that clicking on their name immediately starts a phone call. You have to click on the tiny SMS icon to the far right to text them.  Sheesh!  Hangouts is ALMOST ALMOST a really great product, but some stupid UI choices really hamper it!

Instead, immediately after clicking the magnifying glass icon, and before typing in your search, you must then click the small telephone handset icon to search for a contact to call or text.  Then, enter the name to search.  This will then search your own contacts list and show your contacts with their phone numbers.

It's not clear where you are referring to. Could you upload a screenshot to show what you mean? Also, consider breaking your answer up into numbered steps to make things easier

Click in the search field then click the phone icon that appears after clicking the search blank. Then start typing the name and it will list only your contacts.


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Disabling Android Device Manager location notification on Galaxy S4
I have a Samsung Galaxy S4. When you use the Android Device Manager to locate your phone it shows a notification that it was utilized, which is stupid in my opinion as it tells the bad guys/gals what you are doing.
I went to Settings, Application Manager and All and tried to locate the "Android Device manager and Device Manager" to disable it as was indicated by another responder, however I did not see either to be listed.
I would like very much to know how to disable this notification.

The "location accessed" notification comes from Google Play Services. (You can find out what app a notification comes from by long-pressing it and then selecting "app info.")
To disable notifications from Google Play Services, open Settings > Apps > All > Google Play Services, and then untick show notifications, then accept the prompt.
Note: After disabling these notifications, you may not receive certain alerts from that app, like updating Google Play services.

According to Google's site

From your device's apps menu, open Google Settings .
Touch Security.
Under "Android Device Manager," move the switches next to "Remotely locate this device" and "Allow remote lock and factory reset" to the on or off position. Make sure you sign into your Google account on your device if you want to use Android Device Manager.

Make sure you're going to "Google Settings", not just the normal "Settings" menu.


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Where is Settings.apk on Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 (4.4.2)
I can't find Settings.apk file in /system/app directory. I use the latest stock firmware. Where can I find this APK on this device?

You can try to do an adb backup (with -system -apk of course) and see if the apk is in the backup. If it isn't, then I don't think it's in any accessible location.

Look also for /system/priv-app. I forget when that started to be used for system APKs, but it may have been there in 4.4.

@ChrisJester-Young : But that will only tell us that Settings.apk exists. How is it gonna tell us the location of it?

If your device is rooted (I assume that, since you can browse the /system/app folder), try file manager that has search feature, like ES File Explorer. When I searched it on Nexus 5 (Lollipop), it's on /system/priv-app/Settings/ just like the answer below... or Samsung doesn't name it as Settings.apk. Instead, could you explain a little why you want to find that APK?

You're right, in kitkat(and up) it maybe deleted from above address but,
I found this on Lollipop 5.0.2 in :

/system/priv-app/Settings/Settings.apk

Hope you can find it.

Edit : file founded in KitKat-emulator (API-19) with below address :

/system/priv-app/Settings.apk

Proof :

I've checked — the only related to Settings apk is SecSettings.apk in this directory.

check my answer please, Updated.

I believe you, but unfortunately my question is related to Samsung device, not vanilla Android. My directory listing looks like this: http://pastebin.com/H5WbnDKb

it was on 4.4.2 KitKat not vanilla... anyway, i find this and also : settings.jar in /system/framework. hope , it can help you.

Thanks, I'll check it. "vanilla" kernel/OS means "original", without any vendor changes. For example, Android SDK or Nexus devices have "vanilla" android :)

ok :) but, can i ask you why this file important for you ? if you cant find it at The future, try or flash stock rom and check it again, maybe this file deleted or something like that.but i already installed 5.0.2 and this problem not exist,(as i said, i find it) this is intresting on kitkat.


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


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Possible to Alter and Differentiate Between Media Audio/Sounds?
What I mean by this question is if it's possible to mute one app that plays sound/audio directly to the media stream(?), and keep another app that is directly affected by the media sound slider with its audio/sound?
For example: Spotify plays songs, but a video playing in Firefox is muted or independently altered to some degree.
Sorry if this sounds a bit noobish, I'm new to this.

Unfortunately, this functionality is not yet available in Android. There is currently no way to separate apps that use the media stream. Your best bet would be to go to the app's settings and find a volume setting in there.


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If an Android device is stole and wiped, does it stay connected to your Google+ Account/Dashboard?
I am asking out of curiosity. I think my phone may be stolen but I can't find it. I am wondering if a thief erased/wiped the phone would it "remove" itself as a listing on my Google+ account?

If the stolen device is wiped, then your phone will disconnect from your Google account and you will not be able to locate it. It will stay as an entry on Android Device Manager, but you will not be able to locate or access it in any way.
If you believe your phone has been stolen, you should contact your carrier immediately as they have your IMEI on record and can try to locate it. If that doesn't help, try looking on local Craigslist or eBay listings.


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Android not booting on Virtualbox
Im trying to use android on Virtualbox. 4.3. I downloaded an iso, and used this to help me download it. After following all the steps, it told me to remove the iso from the machine which i did. Now it shows this over and over again.

What are your machine's specs?  Do you have virtualization enabled?  Do you have any other virtual machine programs/services like vmWare or HAXM installed?

I use virtualbox only. 3gb ram, 286 gb hard drive, intel core 2 duo p8700 2.53 ghz win7  home premium 32bit @MatthewRead

That is very little RAM for running a VM, I would suspect that as the issue.  Even with more RAM you can expect very poor performance with that processor as well.

mk. thanks a lot. I was able to wing it in windows xp, since, well, it's XP. lmao @MatthewRead Thanks anyway!

I just followed the same tutorial and got to where you are. It took about two minutes of just letting it run before I got to the welcome screen. Are you absolutely sure you're stuck?

Mine ran infinitely long, stuck on the cool-looking android logo, freezing every min or so.


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My PC doesn't recognize my galaxy note 4. But it did when I purchased it.
My questions is just as titled.
When I got my new galaxy note 4 last month, I connected it to my PC and my PC showed my new note 4 so I was able to add video files.
But now  I connected my note 4 again to my PC to store all data from cell to PC cause it's full, my PC doesn't recognizes note 4. What should I do?

It might help if you could include some additional details: What Android version is running on the Note 4? Which OS are you using on your PC? Have you changed anything in the meantime (e.g. any updates made on the Note-4, or new installations on the PC)? Assuming you're using any version of Windows: Have you checked with your device-manager whether it shows any "conflicts" when the Note-4 is connected?

According to me the fix was to try different usb port

For me the solution was to use an USB 2.0 port instead of a 3.0. Sorry to put it here but I have not enough reputation to post an answer (though more than 7K on StackExchange!).

2 options , both worked for Me when i had the Same issue:
If u use your fingerprintscanner , make sure you unlock your Phone After plugging it in
Second is to try Samsungs Software Kies and follow the programs instructions

Had the same issue with my Note 4. Tried out various techniques/solutions found online such as installing drivers, activating developer options, using code *#0808#, resetting to factory settings etc. None worked. I eventually put the phone into download mode to attempt to root it (by powering off then pressing the home key, volume down button and power button simultaneously). I then pressed the volume down key to cancel the operation and restart the phone (without rooting it). Connected to my computer and now it's recognized.

I have the same problem but putting it in download mode and cancel did not help me. Neither the *#0808# settings.

I tried the download mode thing and that didn't work. I was using some random micro usb cord that I had laying around. I decided to try the factory cord and my computer immediately recognized the phone was plugged into it and I was able to access everything on the device.

I also tried a different micro usb cable and that fixed my issue.

So I couldn't get my Note 4 or Galaxy Tab3 recognized by my computer recently.
The real crazy answer is that it had to do with my USB PORTS!  I had too many devices hooked up to the USB ports on my computer and there wasn't enough juice to communicate!  Once I disconnected a bunch of devices and tried various ports again, it worked!  It must not have been getting a full 5V I'm guessing?
As long as you are in the right mode and USING the RIGHT USB PORT, it should work!

If you have a Note 4, Dial *#0808# and make sure you are in "MTP + ADB Mode" and hit OK.  For a Galaxy Tab3, you need to hookup to a Windows 7 machine and then when you see the USB connection on the phone, bring down the top menu and select it and then make sure the phone is in "MTP mode" and not "PTP mode".
Using a known working USB data transfer cable (be aware that some cables only charge and don't transfer data), connect it to the phone and then keep trying DIFFERENT USB ports on your system until at least ONE of them works!  And if all of them fail, start DISCONNECTING your other USB devices from nearby ports and try again.  If even that doesn't solve the issue, try a POWERED USB HUB.

And if all of this fails to work, then you need to test your cable and eliminate it and finally in the last case scenario, you might be the unlucky one who has a damaged or defective phone micro usb port which only charges but doesn't communicate with a PC!  This has happened on one of my Galaxy S devices so it is possible but unlikely.
This will drive you nuts and cost you a lot of time unless you know this.  I hope this helps someone!

Typing *#0808# and enabling MTP + USB did it. That's totally stupid though, it should just be a setting in Settings, not some hidden code. Weird. Sanmsung, don't do that again, hiding useful features.

I just waited there for a little long while, and eventually Windows started recognizing the phone. (After a couple of minutes of being plugged in.)
In the beginning the phone appeared to have no contents, but that was only because the phone was waiting for a confirmation from me as to whether I wanted to allow the PC to access the contents of the phone or not.  Once I agreed, the phone was not only recognized, but its contents were also accessible.

If you connect the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to your PC via USB, then it may happen that the device is not recognized as a media device. Thus it cannot be accessed the internal memory to copy images, music or videos. The Samsung Galaxy Note 4 isis only recognized by the PC as a camera module. If this situation applies with you, then we want to explain to you in this manual, how the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is recognized correctly as a Media Device from your PC.
For this purpose, the "USB debugging" option must be activated, which is located in the developer options of your Samsung Galaxy Note 4. If you do not already have unlocked the developer options on your Samsung Galaxy Note 4, then please follow these instructions.
After the developer options are enabled on your smartphone, you can now tap the button "Developer Options" in the settings. You will get a list of different settings. In the section "Debugging" you will now find the "USB debugging" option. Set a tick in the checkbox to enable this feature on your Samsung Galaxy Note 4. If it is already enabled, disable and re-enable it with the data cable connected to the pc.
This mode starts automatically once if your smartphone is connected to the computer via USB cable and is responsible for that the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is recognized as a media device by your computer. You can now access the internal memory of your smartphone and copy music, videos, photos etc.
You know now how to enable USB Debugging on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which makes it possible to detect as a media device.

please improve formatting


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Customizing charging animation in Asus Zenfone 5
I recently rooted my Asus Zenfone 5. When I looked at the system files using ES, I found that the animation used while charging the phone, when it is charging. I was wondering if I would ruin the device if I replace this. If yes, then would placing a similar folder in data/local help?

Is this referring to charging while the device is turned off and charging, or when it is on?

While the device is turned off.

No, provided you had the valid file, or else it wouldn't display during your charging (phone off, of course). And be sure to fix permissions (both on folder and the images). make a backup always of your stock images. It's just the same with with changing bootanimation and shutdownanimation. Be sure to rename your files (the images you're going to replace to your stock) with the exact filename with those stock images.


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Go to silent/vibration mode while listening to music
How can I listen to music and go to silent/vibration mode without having to stop the music? On older versions of Android you just pushed and held the power button and you got a range of alternatives to choose from, but now in Lollipop you only get power off restart etc. No volume options directly. Is there a fix for this?


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Media Partition formating error
I have a ONDA Vi30D, ICS 4.03.  While wiping the media partition, i get this error, "mkfs.vfat failed on /dev/block/avnftl* (1)".  Any help please.

Are you wiping the media partition via Recovery?  Also, why are you trying this in the first place? Is there a larger problem you are trying to solve here?

Yes via recovery. I am doing it because while factory data reset it automatically formats the /media.  In doing so it generates the error and stops. However the ICS is running fine. Except that it has errors accessing the media on its internal SD Card. It hangs. And after a restart it takes more than 10 mins to scan sdcard.


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my android phone keeps asking sign in to wifi network.
My android phone keeps asking "sign in to wifi network" I'm wondering because I have a signal but I can't access. Please help to fix this problem

This usually means that you've accessed the WiFi network, but you need to log in to some database for it to grant you internet access. Some form like this should appear once you click on the notification.

Screenshot of a captive portal (click for larger variant)

Okay. Thank you for that term. I didn't know that.

You have to be connected to that network, open your web browser and it redirect you to the sign in page where you have to agree to the terms and agreements of the network. Then, it should allow you access to the Internet.


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Can you reset private mode on a Samsung Galaxy S5?
I set up private mode when I first got the phone, but now I can't seem to remember the password; it's none of my usual ones. Is it possible to reset (read: wipe) private mode and start over, without having to factory reset the whole phone?
I have root, if that helps.

No you can't reset the Private mode password. Only way is to reset the Phone. Read more on this androidforum thread

@Lucky I don't mind about the content of private mode, I can reset it if necessary, but I would like to avoid to reset the whole phone... Maybe there's a way to do this? It's something different from just resetting the private mode password, as it would lead to the loss of the private mode content

I'm not surprised the only option is resetting the phone entirely.

Did you try to install Samsung Kies on your PC? Try to download it, connect your device and click the Backup/reset tab, and then click "Data backup".
The easiest way it factory reset. If you have any private data who you don't want to loose say what sort is it, there are numerous ways to backup them.

Is there a way to reset just the private mode content (and password) instead of the whole phone? I don't mind about the content I had previously protected, I have a copy of it, I would just like to be able to use private mode again

You'll be able to use private mode after factory reset. But there is no know solution to reset private mode without the reset.

Try wiping the Dalvik/ART Cache (as you are on root, you can boot into any custom recovery tool and perform this).
This resets the settings without wiping the data. So you can setup the private mode from the beginning.