text:
Temporarily lost phone, what to do about Signal backups?
I've lost access to my phone, with a Signal installation with a lot of old messages I'd rather not lose. I know that most likely I'll get the phone back within 6 months though.
I would also like to be able to access my old group chats and number in the meantime, on my new temporary phone.
I've understood that if i transfer my number and account to my new phone, my lost phone shouldn't lose its messages, it should just "stop all messaging and calling on your old phone" https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007062452-What-do-I-do-if-my-phone-is-lost-or-stolen-
But when I get the lost phone back, will I be able to reactivate that installation and not lose the history? If not, would I at least be able to create a backup from it, to be able to reinstall and recover the backup? The documentation doesn't clarify exactly what a "deactivated" account is able to do.
When going back to my old phone, I'd be fine with losing the short history on my temporary phone.

I think this is off-topic here as Android has nothing to do with this.  What will happen is determined totally by the developers at Signal.

Careful: There is a difference between linking another phone to your Signal account and transferring your account to a new phone.
Linking another phone:
If you just link another replacement device, you can go back to your original device and re-link it without the data on your old device being lost. The data of the replacement device will not be synced to the original device. This works only if you have NOT uninstalled the app on your original device.
According to Exallium (Signal Developer)
Transferring to another phone
Transferring consists of the following steps on Android:
On the new phone, install Signal > select Transfer or restore account > enable permissions > select Transfer from Android device > Continue. If you have transferred to a new device you won't be able to access the data upon reclaiming your original phone!

Currently, we only support phones as primary devices, which means only one can be registered (this has to do with key generation and a bunch of other crypto stuff that is beyond my knowledge).

When a device becomes unregistered (because it was offline for a long time, or because the number was registered somewhere else) we don't delete the data. I'm pretty sure I hit this scenario at least weekly via testing. If you do a device transfer, then we do clear data on the old device after the transfer is completed.

Do a backup on original device if version allows
Also note that Signal v 5.44.3 as well as v 6.19.9 allow you to backup, even after the device is no longer registered
Version 6.20.6 does not allow you to backup after unlinking, as the options to make a new backup are greyed out:

Thanks, but all these suggestions assume I still have access to my old phone, which I don't.

But that reddit thread you linked to is very interesting, thanks!

sorry, I thought you had only temporarily lost it and knew you were going to get it back. Good luck though

I will get it back, but by then I don't need advice anymore, then I'll just use that phone.


text:
How do I learn an external bluetooth device's Vendor and Product IDs?
Recently, I purchased an external Bluetooth keyboard (Rii i4) for my unrooted AYN Odin device, running on Android 10. I wish I read the reviews beforehand. Said keyboard's keyboard section does not work on certain Android versions, only the trackpad and scroll wheel work. So text input is impossible.
Upon learning that the manufacturer released a firmware update, I headed to their site, only to see the necessary firmware removed from the download section. However, it is still accessible through either a direct download link or the Wayback Machine. I applied the firmware update... And the keyboard got bricked. Doesn't turn on, only the red charging LED works. Contacted the manufacturer, send the bricked device back, and purchased another one.
Now, in an obscure corner of the internet, I found another user telling me that the real problem is a .kl file found in /System/system/usr/keylayout. The user said to find the file starting with vendor ID, ending with product ID, and to rename it to i.e. .klbackup, and the problem will be solved. I don't know if what he/she says has merit, but I would like to try it, at least. Because the keyboard section actually works, too... When the device is turned off and back on, until the message on screen "i4 connected" appears, you can actually press the keyboard letters and they register. But that's just for a few seconds at best.
I don't want to brick this one too. The app called "External Keyboard Helper Pro" wouldn't help. Can anyone help me, please?

"I found another user telling me" could you link the source to this? Is it for the same device?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Back up/restore /data on a device with forced encryption and no TWRP support
Back in the days before forced encryption, I was able to back up my entire filesystem (or rather, the /data partition, including all non-system apps and app-private storage) using TWRP and restore it. I even migrated my data from one phone to another using this method.
Nowadays, modern devices have their data partition encrypted by default. The one in question is a Fairphone 4, which has no official TWRP support yet (and the unofficial one to date does not support access to an encrypted /data partition) – so no way to simply back up the data partition from TWRP, and I am looking for a replacement.
Environment constraints and requirements:

Must back up and restore the entire /data filesystem transparently, without changing or even looking at the data – including user apps, app data (system and user); internal shared storage is optional
Device runs LineageOS and is rooted with Magisk
Must work without Google services
Backup must be stored on the device itself (internal storage, SD card or external USB storage), a Linux PC via USB or a server under my control
Any extra software needed for this (recovery, backup tools, server software) must be FOSS

Any options?

"TWRP does not support that" - huh? maybe not on your 10 yrs old Nexus S because they simply forgot, but TWRP works fine even on FBE + metadata encryption. btw ever heard about Migrate? ;)

@alecxs the old Nexus S (btw, how did you know I had one?) and the OnePlus One did not encrypt their data partitions, so that was never an issue until I got the FairPhone 4. I didn’t get to try out TWRP on the FP4 as they don’t seem to support it. Great to hear that TWRP can decrypt /data, but that won’t help me until my device is supported.

As for Migrate, it seems it works in a manner similar to Seedvault, NeoBackup and others: it backs up apps with settings, data and APK (the latter only for user apps), not on the filesystem level as TWRP does.

...and here’s where I got the TWRP info from: https://forum.fairphone.com/t/twrp-for-fairphone-4/79634 Issue is that TWRP doesn’t officially support the FP4 yet, and the unofficial builds so far can’t decrypt the FP4’s /data – things look different on fully supported devices.

guess they are working on it. fstab looks like FBEv2 metadata encryption

Not a complete answer yet (better ones are encouraged), but here are some pointers.

LineageOS 19 and up includes Seedvault, which claims to restore apps and settings, and some report it even works for transferring data to another phone. It is also available as a standalone app. It can back up to internal storage, USB storage or cloud storage (which can be self-hosted). I am not sure, though, how selective it is about the data it backs up, so the first requirement may not be fulfilled.

On a rooted device, you can install an SSH server such as SimpleSSHD. In order to get full access, the SSH server must support root mode – SimpleSSHD allows this by setting the su binary as the login shell. You can then access the entire device via SFTP, mount it on a PC and run the tools of your choice on it. Caveat – I found SFTP to be about an order of magnitude slower than MTP (~500 kB/s vs. ~5M/s), thus a full backup takes long. You’ll want to limit your backup to what has actually changed. One way to do that is to mirror files with Unison – that way only the first backup (and full restores) will take long. As the data will not be compressed, you will need the equivalent of your phone’s storage in available space somewhere.

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


text:
Android Auto: "<app name> doesn't seem to be working now"
When trying to run the application from the Android Auto car screen, from time to time, I'm getting the info:

app name doesn't seem to be working now

For example:

Spotify doesn't seem to be working now
VRadio doesn't seem to be working now
etc. It basically happens for each app.

Versions:

Android: 12 SKQ1.210908.001
Android Auto: 8.7.630264-release

Running application from the mobile helps in the most cases, but doesn't help in general.
Any ideas how to solve it?

When this happens check if your app got an update... If it updates automatically while AA is running it can have bizarre effects. I had to turn off auto updating due to issues like this and it stopped.

@acejavelin: I have automatic updates turned off.


text:
Displaying scheduled text messages and icon widget on home screen
I am running Android 12 on a Realme 8 5G phone. When using the SMS application, it is possible to schedule a text message (for instance, it might be night, and you don't want to wake the receiver up, so you schedule it to be sent automatically during the day).
However, it may be, that the phone powers off, and, then, the user is asked whether to send the message when powered on or if it is sent automatically if not too late (as configured in the global app or per message settings).
However, you can do better: on the lock screen, you can display an icon saying that a message is to be sent, so, that the user, may not disconnect the phone from the charger, play a video that sucks out the battery, place the phone on the sofa, and then the message is sent late. Instead, if an icon is placed on the home screen, the user will not view the video, and the phone will stay connected to the battery charger, (and, in the morning, when the time to send the message comes, the message will be sent, unless there is a power outage).
Next to the icon, there should be a queue scrollable horizontally, but for this purpose, where you can also view the exact times when the message is pending (and, decide, this way, whether to disconnect the phone from the plug and view a bit of video far away from the plug in the wall, or not).
In this case, if the phone has an LED, you may want to leave it on during charging or change its color (and the screen could be blanked instead of turned off with an icon displayed, but this could be configured in the app (which would need to be given a special Android permission to do this).
Is this functionality available in Android?


text:
Newbie to android needs help transferring texts from iPhone to new Pixel 7 after setup
all. My only smartphone experience is with an old iPhone 6S someone gave me. My 92yo MIL's landlline went down and won't be back up for a while (we're in the country--things take forever), so we decided to get a cell phone for her, and one for my husband while we were at it. We got Pixel 7s because that's what came free with the two new lines. Then we decided I would get one of the Pixel 7s and give her my old iPhone because the iPhone is less complicated to use. Android has been a huge learning curve for us after using iPhone for so long.
Our carrier is T-Mobile, and the phones were set up at the store. Needless to say, some data was not transferred to the Pixel 7 from the iPhone and the setup process is now "finished". How can I transfer text messages from iPhone to Pixel 7 at this point? I would like to get all my data off the iPhone so I can clean it up and give it to my MIL. She lives along and I don't like her being without a phone.
I may be a newbie to Android, but I have done some computer programming (enough to be dangerous) and capable of following directions and not (too) afraid to do so.
Please don't tell me to do a factory reset. I have spent a fair amount of time downloading apps and making sure I can log into them again.
Thanks in advance, everyone, for your assistance.
--Elizabeth

Welcome to the Q&A site Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange. We have some older questions about the same situation: How do I migrate my SMS (text messages) from iPhone to Android?, How do I migrate my SMS (text messages) from iPhone to Android?. Perhaps you might want to have a read and consider the existing solutions from there.

Thanks, Andrew. I'll take a look at those.

Thank you, Andrew. It took a bit of trial and error but the iSMS2Droid app worked!

Glad to hear that! Since one of the answers solves your issue, I'll close this question as a duplicate of the existing question to indicate that the issue has been solved.


text:
adb push/pull as root
adb pull and adb push can be used to transfer files from and to the device via the ADB connection.
However, even on a rooted device, these commands seem to operate with user permissions. I can access anything on /sdcard, but when I try to push to, say, /data, the operation fails due to lack of permissions.
Of course, I can push the file to a different location, then adb shell into the device, run su to become root, and then copy the file to its final destination – but that is a kludgy workaround, not a real solution.
Also, I can install an SSH server on the device which runs as root and use SSH to copy the files over, but I am wondering if ADB offers something similar natively.
Is there any way I can get adb push/adb pull to operate with root privileges on the device?

The reason for this behavior is that adbd is by default compiled in "secure mode" which means it is started with root permissions but after start-up it drops it's root permissions. So the only way to change this is to replace or modify the adbd binary included in the installed ROM.

I see that adbd runs as a non-privileged user, as does any process it spawns. That includes shell sessions – however, if enabled on the device, I can then run su from that shell session to obtain root privileges. So you’re saying that adbd does not have any built-in functionality for doing that and/or the ADB wire protocol lacks the means to specify whether an operation is to be carried out in privileged mode?

Yes, adbd runs as non-privileged user, but it is started with root permissions (which is then dropped after start-up). ssh is running always with root permissions and if a user connects the shell process is executed as the user which has logged-in. adbd can not do somethin similar because it has dropped root permissions after start-up and also adbd is not designed to run a shell or a file-transfer session as a different user, so adb always has the permissions adbd runs with.

If adb root works on your device, it'll make adbd run with UID 0.

you can use exec-out or exec-in with su -c flag, similar to this. or push files to /data/local/tmp and then move them

a workaround not requiring intermediary copies: https://stackoverflow.com/a/74666297/191246


text:
Set navigation buttons back to old layout on Samsung tablet Android 13
I have two Samsung Galaxy A8 Tablets.
One runs Android 13, the other one 12.
How do I get the navigation buttons on the bottom (not sure what they are called) back to the Android 12 layout?
I don't need the quick start apps options in the middle.
I want the navigation button there and not on the right.
Android 12 (this is how it should be)

Android 13 (Quick start apps & button on the right, this should be the same layout as the image above)

The thing is called "Symbol/Task bar" (Translated from Germany, not sure if its correct)
Settings > Display > "Symbol/Task Bar"


text:
Links redirecting to Google Play store instead of app
I have this annoying problem where when i open a link, that should direct me directly to an app, it opens the app in Google Playstore like i haven't downloaded it. When i then press "open" on the app in Google Playstore, because i already have downloaded the app, it seems like it has forgotten the link, and i get sent to the frontpage of the app instead of the specific thing, the link originally linked to.
Can anybody please help me with this problem? It's so annoying thay i can't open links.

example link please

Welcome to the Q&A site Android Enthusiasts. We have an existing question about the same situation: Link redirects to Play Store when I want it to open in app. Does any of the answers help?

This could fx. be a link to a tik tok, where i can't open it in the app and therefore i cant whatch it


text:
WhatsApp crashes after restoring messages
My phone is a Moto G7 with an adopted 64 GB card. My WhatsApp constantly shows a message about something went wrong with your chat history, and I mean constantly, almost daily.
I do the trick of restoring and stopping the process when it reaches 35% and it worked fine...until now.  After restoring, it immediately shows the same message again.  Sometimes it complains about not having enough space. The restoration creates a lot of zero bytes video files. If I delete them, the process continues.
I have deleted the data, uninstalled it, and reinstalled it. Nothing works. If I reinstall and stop the process, it asks for my name, shows the initializing, and crashes again. If I let the restore run until the end, I get the well-known message about not being able to complete it.
The only way to have it running again is to omit the restoration which it's obvious what I don't want since like most of us, I have important messages.
I've read most questions about the problem but have been unable to find an answer, as AFAIK this bug has existed since forever on WhatsApp.
Any ideas on how to restore my messages?
Edit: After omitting the restoration, I put my phone on plane mode so it does not receive any pending messages

guess MicroSD card is the culprit

It crossed my mind @alecxs but everything but whatsapp is running fine. The backup could be indeed corrupt, but I've tried with three  different ones with the same result. I forgot to tell that once, only once, whatsapp started but apparently when the first message arrived, it crashed again. AFAIK whatsapp stores media and backups in the external storage, but the "main" data is written in the internal one

Solved. I won´t post it as an answer since I´m not sure if it will work again (I also hope not me nor anyone having the same problem) and also I was just guessing (in mexico we say "dar palos de ciego" strike with a blind man stick)
1.- Reinstalled
2.- Restored (stopped at 35%)
3.- Tried 1 and 2, plane mode, but same result, crashed so...
4.- Name it divine inspiration but after restoring I waited about ten minutes to open whats and that did the trick
P.D. I could tell when it won´t work since it didn't start to receive messages

I am facing the same issue... i don't get your solution..is it just waiting ten minutes after restoring then open the app.?

That worked but if it doesn't , try this: after restoration, switch to Whatsapp. If it is frozen, return to the previous screen and force termination again. Wait a few seconds, open and check if its is receiving messages.  A lot of them could arrive making it crash again, so I suggest terminate and opening in intervals until you see that no more messages arrive, then make a backup ASAP


text:
bypass frp on motorola moto e20
Before christmas I bought a motorola moto e20 for my grandparents.
I set it up but for some reasons I didn't write down any credentials and account information and I forgot everything.
So I though I'll factory reset it only to discover the thing that's frp.
Is there any way to bypass it?
I already contacted motorola support and waiting for a reply.
I still have the original receipt and package with the IMEI on it so I can really prove that I legally purchased the phone.

This question has been asked and answered (usually with the link above) a hundred times here... If FRP was easy to bypass, it wouldn't be worth anything at all. It is extremely difficult to bypass and requires specific exploits on a phone by phone basis (often limited to specific software versions) if it is even possible at all. I would say bypassing this is realistically impossible in 99% of cases. Sorry, but if you can't figure out the account and how access it, you may just have a brick.

while all what acejavelin said is true, there is one other solution: send the phone back to motorola with prove of purchase. According to their support, they are able to fix (for a price, still waiting on a quote)

I wish you luck with that... not sure where you live but in the US I haven't heard of Motorola doing this unless it was under warranty, and even then it often took just getting lucky and most people just get told, "sorry, buy another one".

I think somebody should reopen the question because I have found a solution:
Motorola is able to reset FRP.
I just got my phone back and it worked, but it costed quite a lot (almost 130CHF in switzerland, which is more than the phone itself, so not a very economic solution, but a ecologic one, thats why I did it)

This question is a duplicate, and your experience is highly unusual... I know in many markets this isn't an option. I am surprised you were able to get this done. The answers in the question marked as a duplicate are about bypassing FRP yourself and not via the manufacturer.


text:
How do I flash a custom kernel on Pixel 7
I built a custom kernel for my Pixel 7, to include the NFS kernel module. I'm struggling to flash this to my phone and get it loading.
After I flash this to my phone, the Google text appears, but not the G animation that follows. It dies with the following message:

Android Recovery
google/panther/panther
13/TQ1A.221205.011/9244662
user/release-keys
Use volume up/down and power.
Cannot load Android system. Your data may be corrupt. If you continue to get this message, you may need to perform a factory data reset and erase all user data stored on the device.

[x] Try again
[ ] Factory data reset

To recover from this I flashed the stock panther-tq1a.221205.011.zip/image-panther-tq1a.221205.011/boot.img back.
The only thing I could find is where the boot log /sys/fs/pstore/console-ramoops-0 has the message:
[  11.517099] [E] [DPM] check header failed
[  11.517105] [E] [LNXDBG] vendor combined_checksum must be 0x62352e30 but 0x620d2e30

I thought this was related to Android Verified Boot 2.0. To test this out, I tried to flash the stock image and stock vbmeta.img, with AVBv2 disabled:
$ fastboot flash --disable-verification vbmeta vbmeta.img

This also surprisingly results in the above boot loop. To recover I have to flash vbmeta.img without this flag:
$ fastboot flash vbmeta vbmeta.img

I tried to patch vbmeta.img flags at offset 0x7B to be 3 (aka AVB_VBMETA_IMAGE_FLAGS_HASHTREE_DISABLED | AVB_VBMETA_IMAGE_FLAGS_VERIFICATION_DISABLED). I flashed this, and the same boot loop occured.
My phone is rooted with Magisk.

This may not be exactly answering your question but is very similar. I wanted to flash KernelSU to my Pixel 7, and this is how I did it.
THIS WILL WIPE ALL DATA
First, make note of your build number. To find it, go to settings, about, then at the bottom is "build number". Mine is TQ3A.230605.012. Go to developers.google.com/android/images and download the image for your device. Make sure to download the file under the correct device heading, the build number may be used for multiple devices.
Unzipping this file then unzipping the image-*.zip gives a bunch of .img files. We now need to enable developer mode and USB debugging by repeatedly tapping the build number, then going into settings, system, developer options and enabling USB debugging.
Before we can flash a custom kernel we need to disable verity and verification. There is a good description of what these are here so I won't rehash it. To disable them, we need to reflash vbmeta.img which will erase all data on the device. To do so, reboot into fastboot
adb reboot bootloader # Alternatively shutdown, then hold vol-down and power

sudo fastboot flash --disable-verity --disable-verification vbmeta ./vbmeta.img

Sudo is used here due to my udev rules, it may not be necessary for you.
Now once the device boots it will be at the setup screen, feel free to set up the device here, that's what I did.
The next step is to prepare the kernel image. There are good instructions provided in the KernelSU installation guide. I downloaded Android-Image-Kitchen, unpacked boot.img, replaced boot.img-kernel with Image (Image becomes boot.img-kernel), then repacked the image giving image-new.img. Note: If like me your kernel is android13-4, the AnyKernel zips for android13-5 will work just fine
We can then flash our new image by rebooting into fastboot (see above) then running
sudo fastboot flash boot ./image-new.img

Once the device reboots, KernelSU should now hopefully be available. Make sure to download their app and enabling su in your terminal emulator so you don't panic when termux complains about no su binary.

If your device is bootloader unlocked and running a GKI compatible kernel (which the Pixel 6 and 7 devices are), then it's possible to update the core kernel without wiping user data or disabling verification if you don't change the core kernel ABI; however, since several kernel modules live on the vendor_dlkm dynamic partition you can't update those drivers on the dynamic partition without disabling verification since the hashtree footer is verified against the vbmeta_vendor partition (Refer to Note2).
To do this, you need to:

Add an AVB hash footer to the boot.img. Refer to https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/build/+/50333e298a0f02e7e64ef315f0825884cebd3acb/build_utils.sh#627

Set the security patch level (SPL) to be equal to or greater than the existing platform SPL on your device. I recently added this to the kernel build tools -- https://r.android.com/2795723.

If you use the latest kernel build tools (https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/build/+/refs/heads/main) to compile your kernel, then you should be able to flash a custom boot.img on Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 devices. Take a look at https://source.android.com/docs/setup/build/building-pixel-kernels for instructions on building custom Pixel kernels and https://source.android.com/docs/setup/build/building-kernels if you only want to build the core kernel (not Pixel drivers).
Note: Disabling verification is only needed when you update a custom dynamic partition that expects the AVB keys to be in the vbmeta_* partitions. If you are only updating the boot.img and it has a valid SPL with an AVB hash footer, then you don't need to wipe or disable verification when the bootloader is unlocked. By the way, a change like [1] will allow you to update the system_dlkm and vendor_dlkm partitions without needing to disable verification when your device is bootloader unlocked.
Note2: If you really want to update the drivers on the vendor_dlkm partition without wiping your device, then you can just add the updated module (and it's dependencies) to the vendor_kernel_boot image (make sure to include it in the module.load file there as well) to load it in first stage init. During second stage init, the original module on the vendor_dlkm partition will simply fail to load, but shouldn't cause any issues.
Note3: These steps are only applicable for android11-5.4, android12-5.4, android12-5.10, android13-5.10, and android13-5.15. Kernel branches before android11-5.4 are not GKI compatible with Android vendor kernel modules on the same kernel branch. That means the kernel ABI is not stable on those branches. For android14-* kernels (like the one shipped with Pixel 8), even though the kernel ABI is stable due to GKI, the introduction of protected GKI Modules has created a dependency between the boot.img and system_dlkm.img. That means if you update the core kernel (boot.img), then the existing GKI modules on the system_dlkm partition will fail to load which may cause your device to not be able to boot. At the minimum, updating the boot.img without updating the system_dlkm.img will remove critical device functionality like Wi-Fi. Until a change like [1] is merged for your device, which will let you update the system_dlkm and vendor_dlkm partitions on unlocked devices without disabling verification, you will have to wipe your device or move all of the vendor_dlkm modules that depend on GKI modules to the vendor_kernel_boot partition.
[1] https://r.android.com/2795415


text:
Weird black spots when taking pictures with the camera
I recently noticed there are black spots on the camera preview screen as well as the final picture saved by the camera. When I zoom in the spopts are not static, that is, it is possible to zoom to the centre of the screen while in camera preview mode, and the spots will move eventually move out of view.
This is a picture taken using this camera:

This is what it looks like when this picture is zoomed in (zooming in on the top spot above; each spot looks different):

The spot also appears on the camera preview screen:

However, in the camera preview screen this spot is not at a fixed place and moves when zoomed out. Here is an example of what happens to the top spot when zooming in at the centre of the screen:

These spots are also seen when using a different camera app (Open Camera). The screenshots above were from the default camera app. The phone is Samsung Galaxy S7 (SM-G930K) with Android 8.0. The screen looks normal otherwise. This problem is not seen on the front camera.
What is going on here? Is this a problem with the camera hardware? Is this just a loose wire or something, or is this fixable?

Considering that the spots are fixed in position but follow the zooming, it may be a cracked lens or small particles blocking the lens? You might want to open the back cover and check the lens if you're feeling adventurous (you can refer to the guides on iFixit).

@AndrewT. By just looking at the lens (without removing cover) I don't see any cracks, but I don't know enough about it to say for sure either. Is it possible for such cracks to be invisible to the naked eye? I am guessing that a dusty lens is a lot less serious than a cracked lens

Come to think of it, yeah, I think cracks won't look like that. Possibly a dirty lens.

@AndrewT. The biggest spot recently moved out of view, so the dirt theory seems to be correct. There are still two smaller spots on the screen, but I am hoping they are just much smaller dust specks stuck to the lens which cannot be moved by simple shaking, and not anything more serious. I guess now it's just a matter of getting motivated enough to open the thing up.


text:
Cannot enable Huawei Wallet fingerprint verification — "Unable to apply for certificate"
A friend of mine has a Huawei Nova 9 SE and wants to his bank cards in the Wallet app so he could pay directly with the phone.
Every time when we try to add the card, it says we should enter the PIN to enable the Fingerprint verification for payments. Fingerprint unlocking is already enabled and it works.
After entering the PIN, we get the following message:

Unable to apply for certificate.

I tried:

Restarting the phone
Clearing HMS Core and Wallet cache and data + Phone Restart
Having a different Payment PIN from the default Phone PIN
Setting the current date/time manually.
Switching to Mobile Data, instead of Wifi

None of these worked.
Is there any alternative to Huawei Wallet that we could install and would work smoothly? What is the actual cause of the error?


text:
Samsung Galaxy A3 - stuck on empty battery boot screen after total battery drain
So, the battery on my Samsung Galaxy A3 drained completely. Then I plugged in USB cable, and the empty battery logo appeared - and nothing else, to graphics to indicate it was charging:

I left the USB plugged in for some 15-20 minutes, then I unplugged it.
Now the screen STILL shows an empty battery logo, even after some 15-20 minutes after unplugging.
I had kept power button pressed for more than 30 seconds, nothing happens.
I had kept Volume Up + Power button pressed for more than 10 seconds, in hopes it would reboot to recovery, nothing happens.
I would have taken out the battery at this point, but this damn phone does not allow the battery to be replaced.
What do I do now to get this phone working again?

Found here: Fastboot Mode SAMSUNG Galaxy A3 Core - HardReset.info https://www.hardreset.info › devices

hold down Volume Down and Power button to turn off the smartphone

That is what I did: help Volume Down and Power button pressed together for about 10 seconds, and the phone turned off (the empty battery icon disappeared), and then it rebooted normally to system - I quickly plugged in the USB cable when I noticed it was rebooting to system, and now it is charging. Phewwwwwwww.....

Interesting, what is "Volume Down and Power button pressed together" supposed to do? It didn't help with the problem I have here https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/252095/samsung-j5-stuck-in-boot-up-switch-off-cycle


text:
How to restart an app on a Philips Android TV?
It happens every now and then that an app crashes on my Philips 65PUS9006 Android TV.
The problem is that I haven't found a way to restart the app from the Philips TV Remote.

Is there a way to restart an app on a Philips Android TV with the help of the TV remote only?
Alt, is there a way to completely restart Android on a Philips Android TV with the help of the TV remote only?

I don't want to have to pull the plug out of the power outlet (like I have been doing so far), just to be able to restart an app that is not responding anymore.

With the help of @Snostorp answer I actually found a solution that works.
Here's how to force close an Android TV app:

Long press the Home button on the TV remote.
This will bring up the Apps Gallery, which shows all the Android TV apps installed on the Philips Android TV.
From the Apps Gallery, Highlight the app you want to force close.
Long press the Select button on the TV remote.
This will bring up a Popup Menu.
From the Popup Menu, Select "Information".
This will bring up a side menu with all the information regarding the app you want to force close.
From the side menu Select "Force stop".
You will now be prompted to confirm the force stop, Select "Okay" to finish.

Congratulations, you have now succesfully force closed an Android TV app installed on a Philips Android TV.
How To Force Close an Android TV

I'm sorry to say, but it doesn't seem like it's possible to do with the current version of Android on Philips TV.
From Philips Support:
What to do if an app in a Philips TV does not work?

I'm not certain this support issue is for Philips Android TV.


text:
Disable browser auto-zoom in desktop mode
I do some of my works using browser in Desktop Mode. But on every browser I tried, when I click on an input field on the website while in the desktop mode of the browser, it zooms automatically, which makes me not able to do my intended work easily. Is there any browser or browser settings to disable it.

Is there any browser or browser settings to disable it. -- don't think so. This is pretty much hardcoded in app's manifest and I don't know if this can be overridden during runtime. If it can be, it is not something a browser would offer as a customizable setting unless multiple users report that it is causing a problem. This behavior is actually desirable in general, hence a need might not have been felt to provide an override for this.

I prefer to have that option, because I use mobile browsers with desktop mode on for some of my works. But, seems to be not possible. However, Thanks for your Reply.

Go to settings >> Accessibility >> Set Text Scaling to Minimum (in my case 50%). You won't experience any auto zoom.


text:
How can I get totally anonymous from an app on android & bluestack
I am using an app on android
I have confirmed that :

if I clear the app data or even reinstall the app from google play, the app does have a specific behaviour
if I install the app on a completely new device (I'm actually using bluestack android emulator), the app does have a different behaviour

=> hence, what is the data specific to an android install an app can access? how can I change this data without reinstalling the entire os?

Are you using the same Google account on both?

Could you mention the app and clarify the behavior difference? There are many factors that may affect app behaviors, ranging from device model, Android version, screen resolution, locale, RAM size, etc.

I am using the same account. I want to keep the app private but it offers a different feature set. the image I use from bluestack is the same, so the difference should be a version number generated during install of the OS and not a hardware detail.
Hence my question: can we know every external information an app can access?


text:
Built-in Sound Recorder app | Nokia G50
I have Nokia G50, running Android 13
I can not find any built-in sound recorder app. I am not referring to call recording app but one that can record audio that doesn't originate from the device.
Does anyone have an idea of such app comes with this model?
Is it an app that is provided by the OS or the device manufacturer?

There is a related article on Nokia Support - How can I record a voice clip on my Nokia smartphone?

You can use the pre-installed Keep app to record a voice clip. Alternatively, you can search for third-party apps in the Play Store.

Nokia relies on Google Keep for voice recording, but it doesn't have an independent sound recorder app.
While the AOSP has SoundRecorder app, the manufacturer can and do customize their Android ROMs, including removing AOSP apps.


text:
Why isn't Android's Google Assistant multilingual?
I have configured Android with English as my system language but wanted to use Android Assistant in multilingual mode.
When speaking to it, it should be able to use Google Translate's language detection system (because, I might want to use the system in English, but talk to TalkBack in the language I have on my mind at the moment I open it.
Here is an example of my session:

I clicked the Google Assistant button.

I said, aiutami ad usate TalkBack, which in Italian means, help me use TalkBack.

TalkBack opened with YouTube video results with the question: are you tell me Lucera TalkBack.

In order words, TalkBack did not translate my question (and I don't know whether there is a way to configure such behavior).
Why doesn't Google support this behavior, and how can I enable it?


text:
Android system fonts and other fonts and dyslexia
I would like to know whether Android fonts are optimized for dyslexia. Because, to my understanding, dyslexia users read better when specific fonts that have gaps and unevennesses in the spacing and shape of each letter are used.
I wonder whether the current Robot fonts use this (and if not, whether there is a system setting for dyslexia users).
Thanks.


text:
How executable binary can be signed?
On most Android devices, the bootloader checks following bootloader/software sign, right? Chain of trust. Signing technically means that the file must be encrypt with one (private) key and decrypted with another (public) key.
The software is compiled to executable binary and if we then sign/encrypt it, it's a mess (not machine code); so how can execute it after verifying the sign?
How an executable binary can be signed?

Please claify the problem you are trying to solve. What you mean by the words "binary" and "software"? Are you talking about the bootloader unlocking?

What you mean by signed executable? example?

@alecxs I think OP is asking about how a bootloader verifies the integrity of the next stage bootloader before running it. But it's not evident from the question.

"Signing technically means that the file must be encrypt with one (private) key and decrypted with another (public) key.". This is not correct. Signature verification means that the hash of the file is encrypted with a private key. The encrypted hash (signature) is made available with the public key. The latter can be used by anyone to decrypt the former (and verify it against the newly calculated hash of the file). Signature and public key are usually distributed as an X.509 certificate. In case of bootloaders the certificate of a bootloader is appended to the bootloader binary itself.


text:
Huawei, 'OEM unlock' missing from developer options
I want to unlock the bootloader of the Huawei phone. There is no 'OEM unlock' in the dev options.
When I go into bootloader: fastboot flashing unlock I get a message "command not allowed".
What can I do?

Possibly related: Cannot unlock bootloader on Vodafone Smart Mini and Huawei P8 Lite, Can we consider Huawei phones as unrootable?

Yes, it gives possible solution....


text:
Is it possible to see why my backup with adb is not working?
I play some games by a developer and there is no cloud save so most players would use adb to back up and move their save files. Lately though when trying to back up the game, it's just producing a 1kb file, which from my understanding, usually means that they have backup allowed set to disabled. However, in the game's discord I asked about this and the developer says that the allow backup flag is still set to true.
Is there any way on my end that I can see why the backup isn't working as expected? The command I'm using for backup is:
adb backup -f "C:\myPath\backup.ab" com.default.name

I am using a Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G (SM-G986U) that has not been rooted. Thanks!

You should name the real package name of the game you want to backup. Even if backup is allowed on modern devices adb will fail if the app uses a certain targetPlatform. Which means that adb backup will not work for most of your apps as you phone has Android 12 or even 13.

I think it does @Robert. Sounds like adb backup just isn't possible anymore on newly updated apps. That's a shame, but thank you!

you can backup with Samsung's transfer app. or ask the developer of the app for android:debuggable (as linked by @Robert)


text:
lpmake error "Partition should only have linear extents:"
I'm trying to extract the content of super.img, modify some elements then repack it again. I followed all the steps correctly to extract the contents of super.img file.
When running stat '%n %s *.img for all images, I get the following sizes:
super.img 9663676416

For the partitions within super.img, I get the following:
mi_ext_a.img 4096
mi_ext_b.img 0
odm_a.img 755478528
odm_b.img 0
product_a.img 2827481088
product_b.img 0
system_a.img 644575232
system_b.img 0
system_dlkm_a.img 98304
system_dlkm_b.img 0
system_ext_a.img 503472128
system_ext_b.img 0
vendor_a.img 1484333056
vendor_b.img 0
vendor_dlkm_a.img 37294080
vendor_dlkm_b.img 0

I noticed that the sum of the partitions is 6252732416 which is less than the super.img size (don't know if this is the problem)
Now, without even modifying any partition content, I wanted to use lpmake to re-create the super.img again, hence, I created this batch
lpmake \
 --metadata-size 4096 \
 --super-name super \
 --metadata-slots 2 \
 --device super:9663676416 \
 --group main:6252736512 \
 --partition system_a:readonly:644575232:main --image system_a=./system_a.img  \
 --partition system_b:readonly:0:main --image system_b=./system_b.img \
 --partition system_ext_a:readonly:503472128:main --image system_ext_a=./system_ext_a.img  \
 --partition system_ext_b:readonly:0:main --image system_ext_b=./system_ext_b.img \
 --partition system_dlkm_a:readonly:98304:main --image system_dlkm_a=./system_dlkm_a.img \
 --partition system_dlkm_b:readonly:0:main --image system_dlkm_b=./system_dlkm_b.img \
 --partition product_a:readonly:2827481088:main --image product_a=./product_a.img  \
 --partition product_b:readonly:0:main --image product_b=./product_b.img \
 --partition vendor_a:readonly:1484333056:main --image vendor_a=./vendor_a.img \
 --partition vendor_b:readonly:0:main --image vendor_b=./vendor_b.img \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_a:readonly:37294080:main --image vendor_dlkm_a=./vendor_dlkm_a.img \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_b:readonly:0:main --image vendor_dlkm_b=./vendor_dlkm_b.img \
 --partition mi_ext_a:readonly:4096:main --image mi_ext_a=./mi_ext_a.img \
 --partition mi_ext_b:readonly:0:main --image mi_ext_b=./mi_ext_b.img \
 --partition odm_a:readonly:755478528:main --image odm_a=./odm_a.img \
 --partition odm_b:readonly:0:main --image odm_b=./odm_b.img \
 --sparse \
 --output ./super.new.img

Yet, I'm getting the below error:
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition system_a will resize from 0 bytes to 644575232 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition system_ext_a will resize from 0 bytes to 503472128 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition system_dlkm_a will resize from 0 bytes to 98304 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition product_a will resize from 0 bytes to 2827481088 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition vendor_a will resize from 0 bytes to 1484333056 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition vendor_dlkm_a will resize from 0 bytes to 37294080 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition mi_ext_a will resize from 0 bytes to 4096 bytes
lpmake I 02-07 20:36:57 3610213 3610213 builder.cpp:1012] [liblp]Partition odm_a will resize from 0 bytes to 755478528 bytes
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
Invalid sparse file format at header
Invalid sparse file format at header magic
lpmake E 02-07 20:36:59 3610213 3610213 images.cpp:320][liblp]Partition should only have linear extents: odm_b

Regardless of changing the order above, it keeps giving the same error for the last partition in the script.
Any idea how to get it properly configured?

The command is not completed to check if the super.new.img works or not. I'm stuck in the error

try with metadata 65536

Tried it. Same error

what is the origin of lpmake

try this https://blog.senyuuri.info/posts/2022-04-27-patching-android-super-images

I checked the build log and found the part of building the super_empty.img includes the full lpmake command, but with 0 sizes for all images. I changed the size of the images of all a slot to fit the new sizes of the created images, and the below code worked as a charm. I noticed also that the order of the partitions makes a difference.
lpmake \
 --metadata-size 65536\
 --super-name super --metadata-slots 3 --virtual-ab \
 --device super:9663676416\
 --group xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a:9659482112 \
 --group xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b:9659482112 \
 --partition odm_a:readonly:1327194112:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition odm_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition product_a:readonly:1524256768:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition product_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition system_a:readonly:965316608:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition system_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition system_dlkm_a:readonly:348160:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition system_dlkm_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition system_ext_a:readonly:457531392:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition system_ext_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition vendor_a:readonly:1512812544:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition vendor_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_a:readonly:13971456:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_a \
 --partition vendor_dlkm_b:readonly:0:xiaomi_dynamic_partitions_b \
 --sparse --output ./super_new.img

It really doesn't matter the size of --device super: in the third line of the code as long as it's bigger than the total of images which I found to be 5801431040.

It means that odm_b cannot be at the end of the statement. You need to order your statements according to how the images expect to be treated inside the super.img They are referred to as extents.
imjtool should be able to give you information like this, but i was not able to get it running properly.
Debug through https://github.com/rumplestilzken/lpunpack somewhere inside at the end of read_metadata
and find out how it should be ordered according to LpMetadataPartition.num_extents and order accordingly.
Additionally the super:[SIZE] should always be larger than the total sum of its parts, ideally you would set this as the maximum size of the devices super partition.
I had a problem like this crop up and by moving the issuesome statement to the top of the list (as it had 0 for num_extents) i was able to create the needed super.img. I don't have the device the super.img belongs to and am relying on external testers to test in the future, but i was able to create the super.img.
This should set you on the right path to getting where you need to be.
EDIT: Your metadata size looks a little low, the device i'm working with has 65536

I'm using lpmake built from this repo: https://github.com/LonelyFool/lpunpack_and_lpmake
Maybe it's a bug of source code. I print some log trace, and there is a vector overflow:
AddPartitionImage vendor_b ./vendor_b.img size:7 index:7 type:0

You can just comment the check, and lpmake works well.
// if (extent.target_type != LP_TARGET_TYPE_LINEAR) {
//     LERROR << "Partition should only have linear extents: " << GetPartitionName(partition);
//     return false;
// }


text:
How to completely remove Google from an Android device?
So tired of Google running in the background even when I block it. Installing unauthorized apps. Monitoring and snooping. It's involved in many places and not security minded.
I am for privacy and I want a secure system. I have begun using F-Droid. I have secure browsers and now I just want a secure Linux-based OS.

Installing unauthorized apps.

No, Google does not install unauthorized apps.

secure Linux-based OS.

Android isn't exactly a GNU/Linux based OS if that's what you mean. Android uses the Linux kernel, but has a totally different OS core from what you normally see in so called linux 'distros'

How to completely remove Google from an Android device?

The best alternative remains flashing an AOSP based custom ROM that doesnt bundle with GSF (Google Services Framework) and Google Play services.
The next best thing you can do right now is using ADB. Download it from here
⚠ You haven't mentioned your phone's OEM, OS, Version, etc so I can't exactly know how your device might behave once the below command(s) are executed, things might break.
The command to uninstall an app would be (even if that's a system app)
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user <user id> <Package name>
For example to remove Google app for user 0, it would be
adb shell pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

Incase your fork of Android restricts Google app from being removed using ADB, i.e., if an error pops up upon executing that command, try disabling it via ADB
adb shell pm disable-user com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox

Similarly, for Google Play services and Google play store, the package names should be com.google.android.gms and com.android.vending
Google Services Framework is com.google.android.gsf


text:
Why is my internal storage space constantly so low on my Samsung Galaxy A12 phone when I use an SD card?
My Galaxy A12 is always notifying me to delete unused files to avoid running slowly\apps not working correctly due to low internal storage space. I've moved any\every thing that's able to move to my mounted SD card. I still have low space & all of my music, pics, and certain apps are moved off my internal storage to external storage. I've tried Files By Google which seemed to help a little but I can't get my internal space low enough to download again.

delete Android/media/com.whatsapp (you will lose all pictures and media)

How disk space is used on Android device?


text:
Powerwashing Chromebook duplicates the device entry in the Family Link app
I powerwash (factory reset) my Chromebook 4 times, then 4 devices showed up in the Family Link app on Android. It is just 1 physical device, but 4 devices coming up in software.
Any ways to resolve this?

is that one device for each power wash?

yes, one device for each power wash


text:
How to disable power button turning on flashlight while screen off in Android?
I have a galaxy S20+, and multiple times per day, when I pick up my phone or pull it out of my pocket and turn the screen on, the flashlight comes on too. It's very annoying.
The flashlight is supposed to turn on if the screen is off and you hold the power button. But often it happens immediately when tapping quickly to turn on the screen, instead of waiting for holding the button.
I don't know why or how this happens. If I try to make it happen, I can't. When I try to replicate the problem, the flashlight won't turn on unless I explicitly turn off the screen and then hold the power button for a second or so, like it's supposed to. The problem just happens when I don't want it to and I can't figure out how to fix.
Half the day my flashlight is on without me realizing, because it happens so much. When I'm at the gym I will often see the flashlight on through my pocket. It's so annoying. Often it shines into my eyes and hurts.
I've looked through all the system settings intensely many times. I can't find any setting. Nothing in the side key has any effect.
I disabled Automate and Button Mapper, but still it happens, so it's not caused by those apps.
I looked through Firefds Kit and Gravity Box, but no setting is there. After months being annoyed by this and unable to solve, I'm coming here in hopes someone can help.
Button Mapper can remap my volume key to do the same thing, so I really just want to fully disable the power key from turning on flashlight while screen off, to solve the problem.
How can I do that? I'm rooted and willing to try anything.
--
Update I found out that it happens only when the phone has been sitting or in my pocket and is picked up and try to turn the screen on at the same time, and it turns on the flashlight. Haven't figured out how to solve it yet.

"The flashlight is supposed to turn on if the screen is off and you hold the power button." for those who are not familiar with Samsung devices and their customization, did you mean there is a built-in setting for that? Also, are you using a custom ROM?

I'm using the factory Samsung ROM that came with the phone (OneUI). I do believe that this is a built-in feature. I don't recall enabling it and if I did, I have no idea where it was created. I did do a bunch of customization when I got it, but I can't find anything.


text:
Extremely Low Volume with Bluetooth Headphones
Currently, when I connect my bluetooth headpones to my phone, the volume is extremely low, even when the volume is set to the maximum level.
For reference, I am using the following:

Bose QC 35 II headphones
Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra

The sound issues seems to be present in audio apps (i.e., Spotify, Audible, etc.). Audio during phone calls does not seem to be affected. Initially, I thought that it was something wrong with the headphones. However, when I connect another set of bluetooth headphones (a pair of Westone earbuds with the bluetooth cable), the same issue is present. I have also connected the Bose headphones to my wife's phone (same model) and the issue is not present. I have also connected the Bose headphones to two different laptops and, again, the issue is not present. This leads me to believe the issue is with my phone.
The question is whether or not there is some setting that has been altered to cause this issue. I am aware of the "Disable absolute volume" setting that is mentioned in various blog posts. This setting is currently enabled but seems to have no affect on this issue.
I figured I would ask here before performing a system reset to see if that helps in any way (which is kind of a pain).

@Robert - As mentioned above, I have already tried altered the "Disable absolute volume" setting but doing so has no affect on the issue.

Correct. When reading your question I thought the setting had a different name and thus missed that you already mentioned this option.


text:
Why is my chrome password manager and other apps take 2+ minutes to open?
Galaxy S20 5G
This started happening a few months ago. Not sure if it was an android update or not.
When I try to open password manager in chrome it spins and I have to wait 2+ mins- it eventually does open.
I've noticed this with other apps like youtube as well.
I don't think my phone is under load.
Could it have been a recent update? What is the best way to troubleshoot this kind of thing? My phone isn't crashing, while it spins my pod cast app continues to play audio without hiccups so I don't think its the OS lagging.
Its like it just wants to wait several minutes before loading some apps.

If this happens with apps from Google the used Google account may have problems. Check Android settings -> Accounts -> Google account when it had been synced successfully the last time.

Could it be that some connections to Google domain/IP addresses are blocked by something, and thus waiting to timeout? Have you tried with other internet connection?


text:
Final steps to repair corrupted F2FS SD Card - How to fix "can't read superblock"
[I modified the question to reflect the progress]
The TLDR version is, the card is adopted storage that says corrupted f2fs.
I used the process detailed Here but when I tried to mount the decrypted SD Card
I got "system call failed: Structure needs cleaning".
#mount -t f2fs /dev/mapper/crypt1 /mnt/1/
mount: /mnt/1: mount(2) system call failed: Structure needs cleaning.
When I tried to use fsck, I got "Error: In use by the system!"
#fsck.f2fs /dev/sdc2
Error: In use by the system!
Below is the info that may help you help me.

I'm not a linux expert, is this something I can correct?
After fsck.f2fs /dev/mapper/crypt1; mount -t f2fs -o ro,norecovery /dev/mapper/crypt1 /mnt/1;
I get:

many more like this

I'm not sure what to do next; if I restore is the lost directory on the corrupted drive or the main drive?

fsck.f2fs /dev/mapper/crypt1; mount -t f2fs -o ro,norecovery /dev/mapper/crypt1 /mnt/1;

Thanks Alecxs,  I've added the results.  What do you think, is the data recoverable?

Now I get:
mount: /mnt/1: can't read superblock on /dev/mapper/crypt1.

all I found is some explanation that you may face Wandering Tree Problem but the suggested attempt to cut out a certain offset from the header in order to realign super magic at offset 0x400 didn't solve the problem https://unix.stackexchange.com/q/371627


text:
Why is the "mark as unread" button greyed out in some emails in my Gmail application?
Why is the "mark as unread" button greyed out in some emails in my Gmail application?
Example;

I use Pixel 6 + Android 12.

I am still interested in this question.

Any idea is welcome.


text:
How to make voice recognition keep steady when traveling?
My Android 10 phone's voice recognition for English works extremely well, but when I travel to India it switches to expect an Indian accent, and I can barely get it to take my dictation that way, even though I can adapt to speak the local accent some of the time.
Can we tweak some settings to avoid this change in the underlying machine learning model so that it keeps interpreting my English dictation as either UK or US accents of English, thus retaining its existing, pre-travel, levels of accuracy?
I really rely on voice dictation quite a lot.
When referring to voice recognition, I primarily mean the voice typing feature available through the Google Keyboard's microphone icon, but I suspect that the same underlying components also handle the "Hello Google" stuff.
When I go outside of India, it clearly does revert back to expecting US or UK accents again, as if over-adapting to the geography rather than remaining loyal to the user that's already using it.
Actually, at least one person native to India who speaks the Indian accent and dialect of English has mentioned the same issue to me, which they only experience in reverse ― voice recognition accuracy plummets for them when they travel to other English-speaking countries.


text:
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN on one of many
I have an issue with one Android device accessing the local web server. We have about ten of the same devices, but one refuses to connect.
It always returns the following error in any of the browsers used on the device: DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. I have checked the server IP and DNS name settings in local DNS servers, and everything is set as it should be.
I am really puzzled, and do not know where should I start. Even if I enter the IP address directly, it doesn't work and returns the same error.
I suspect there might be something in the device settings, but I can't find what. We tried returning to factory settings, and nothing.
What is the possible cause and how to fix it?

What "browser" are you talking about? Different browsers can use different DNS implementations (e.g. Firefox). Check the device if it uses private DNS (see Android network settings).

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. We have some existing questions mentioning DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN. One of the recent questions has comments for troubleshooting the DNS resolution, you probably want to check it.

Browser is not the right tool to troubleshoot network issues. Use Termux or ADB shell to find if name resolution works and the host can be pinged. What DNS server is resolving the domain name of your local web server? What's the Android version?

Thanks for replies. I tried Chrome, SeaMonkey and Samsung browser. The DNS that resolves local server name is local. We have three, two are connected and domain controllers and one separate failback one that has manual setting. Not sure the version, but I updated to the latest available (don't have the device just now). I understand I have to use Termux to see what happens with DNS and will do that. When I enter server IP directly it also gets translated to local DNS name so to me it seems DNS resolution works.

I installed Termux and checked the ping / nslookup: I can ping the host normally, but when I use nslookup for local names (only on internal network), I get replies from 8.8.8.8 - I checked the DNS settings in the system / WiFi properties, and there it is set OK through DHCP. Is there a setting somewhere else that sets the 8.8.8.8??

@mrmut please see How does Android do DNS name resolution?, How to configure DNS? and Accessing local computer using hostname.

Also How to make Termius look for hostnames on the local network first? and How to ping a local network host by hostname?

Thanks. Will have to dig and test! Will ping back.


text:
Samsung DEX in Bulgarian Phonetic
I am trying to type from my computer on the connected Samsung Cell Phone (in Viber) in Bulgarian.
There is Bulgarian Phonetic both on the phone and the computer.
The Bulgarian that comes up when typing is not Phonetic but BDS.
Is there a way to use Phonetic (maybe with Russian) while typing with a connection DEX ?


text:
How can the power saving feature on Android phones be set not to kill tracking apps?
Those who choose a simpler cyclometer consisting of only a speedometer and distance display, but that does not include a GPS tracker can use their Android smartphone quite nicely with one of many tracker apps. At the limit a smartphone + suitable mount can act as a cyclometer.
If you leave one such app, Strava, running on iOS/iPhone, "out-of-the-box" and without any special adjustments iOS will not kill the app, despite that it uses an unusual amount of power for the GPS sensor.
But some Android phones, in particular Samsung Galaxy phones, reportedly kill Strava after a few minutes, which precludes tracking rides.
How can the power saving feature on Android phones—specifically on Samsung Galaxy phones—be set not to kill tracking apps?

Link-only answers are frowned upon (for good reason) on Stack Exchange sites, but for every rule, there may be exceptions.
And when there is a long-standing canonical site with all the answers you likely need, I think that's going to be a good exception.
Samsung devices are notorious for aggressively killing apps when they really should not.  Some speculate they do this to make it look like their devices have longer battery life than they actually do.
To delve into all the gory details, go to https://dontkillmyapp.com/samsung
Read everything there.  Read everything twice.  Enjoy your new knowledge.


text:
full adb restore not restoring [unencrypted] .ab file to bootloader unlocked Lineage device
This is a follow-up troubleshooting question to this one here in this very same forum.
After repeatedly confirming the connection through both of adb devices -l and fastboot devices -l tantamounting to at least ~5½ of overall sessions for the restore command of a 7.95GB-heavy backup file, whenever there's a successful prompt after proper command-execution of the following:
adb restore <filepath>
But I managed to notice the constant: The restoration always gets stuck on com.qualcomm.timeservice quite oddly till time-immemorial, since I understand that I might be at fault somehow, somewhere — but in spite of that, if the latest builds of so-called AOSP do not support alarm-ringing during device shutdown [not caused by battery-drainage], I can safely conclude that the alarm did work during switch-off state of my device at least once. Doesn't that translate to the package working fine, instead of having gone corrupt by the time I created the .ab file?
More details for those who un-stereotypically can digest in-depth  text, they may get better context over there with some back-citation to key comments in that preceding question over here.
But other than the exact package which gets stuck, I should also note that I did try adb push <PC's .ab filepath> <device's root-directory path> after 1-2 trials-&-errors to determine which one is exactly it. It went upto 100% in ADB Enabled recovery mode, and then.. Failed to be stored by the time I booted the device last-time I clean-reinstalled the latest-build[ as I originally send this] of LineageOS 19.
The rest of the context is summarised there, except that I haven't tried bmgr of adb shell 'cus using bu help wasn't much of a help, so it slipped my mind to try creating backup through that method — nevermind restoring.

com.qualcomm.timeservice is an internals service you don't need to recover. I would extract the backup data using abe, delete the data for this package, rebuild the backup file and try again to recover the data.

Ahh.. Hey, Mr "@Robert"! Here we 'meet' a-gain. Hope you're doing well. No I am asking with utmost sincerity.⏎Alright.. So I guess back to my irregularly-accessible PC then? (Since the apps like jackpal.androidterm function properly on rooted-devices only, no?) Also, is not locking the bootloader [as of] yet — a good-thing, no? Is it insignificant/immaterial/irrelevant? And do I have to create a newer backup-file and necessarily wipe the cache and system partitions, if not necessarily a wholesome clean-reinstall for the 6½th time?

P.S. Okay, Mr @Robert .. I had to struggle since past innumerable hours in innumerable sessions, since it turns out, in ascending-order of my misery: A) The adb.exe, a-gain download as part of standalone SDK platform-tools kit, had gone wholesomely corrupt but unlike the in-depth explanation at XDA, it hadn't reduced to "0KB" or anywhere remotely-near it. B) If it helps, frighteningly, turns out the very same case was with my .ab file in question — but I managed to 'miraculously' recover it full-&-proper when I regained my composure. C) One bad, one good — you say? Not that soon, ...

...given my jinx, after all. It turns that the PC I'm able to irregularly access had been deemed as "high-tech" as it is ancient( quarter-past-11-years as I "add" this) had been thoroughly rid of Java®, so I couldn't access any .jar file — as mandated by your tool. So I tried to install that "bestest-ever, open-source Java" programme from that .net official-web but in spite of installing the certificate separately, I still couldn't get it to installation. So we went to the OGs, ~~Sun® Microsystems~~ Oracle® and after having expended twice the amount of time and more importantly, the

bandwidth-allowance for a single, ubiquitous step in the ongoing voyage. C) After having installed it, it took my devraj m several tens-of-minutes to learn how to deploy the abe.jar[ through Windows® PowerShell® from the "Downloads" folder"] within the hostile/unhelpful environment taking the toll on my mind, and when I finally managed to do so i.e. convert that successfully-recovered .ab file, your recommended-tool turned-out to be profoundly useless for editing .tar aka, a misnomer of sorts. Since the conditions weren't conducive to me, I didn't have umpteenth hours to go find...

...and learn if there's some way either of cmd.exe, the former or Java® could help in editing .tar folders as pre-installed freemium WinRAR® was oh-so-surprisingly appeared cruel towards us in that month. So I had no choice but to put my research-skills into motion yet a-gain, and finally found a sorta-reliable tool going by peazip.exe which did the trick through one of the 3 baffling deletion-types, since the rest of 2 were about deleting the whole .tar in and of itself which I had managed to extract after so much chore. D) So I managed to repack the updated .tar into .adb after

since minutes of trial-&-error( did I miss nothing that useful-enough PeaZip® was showing all folders as literally of “0KB” of size vis-à-vis utterly-useless WinRAR.exe, including but not limited to the com.qualcomm.timeservice one you overtly asked me to delete( there were other com.qualcomm.[…] folders which I've no qualms to admit, was I significantly inclined towards ridding of them all but I guess to enhance my misery further down the order, I stuck to only-&-only "following down the orders like a robot/institutional-drone of neoliberal world-order. But waiiittt..! This was no-...

...-thing halfway through the mission. E) as the events summarised in point ‘A)’ kicked into action and restarting/shutting-down the PC didn't help it at all. F) Now I've installed the Android® Studio's .exe given the recurrence of Access is denied. errors with platform-tools only SDK, and after downloading and installing about fucking ~1GB of a file, turns out it was a mere shell( not necessarily in IT connotations) as I had to install discretionally needed "plugins" for total 3 so-called AOSP [sub-]releases given both of my phones, for starters. It took additional several-hours since

the whole carefully-selected once-&-all combo installation was of fatherfucking ~6¼GB in total-size, thereby bringing the total bandwidth-allowance spent for this last-resort tool to — by all conservative-estimates, quarter-past-7GBs alone. And for perspective, dare I remind that considering the timeline of this saga which started over from XDA® Developers' message-board to the here-&-now, a simplistic number-crunching still won't be able to di y quantifiable justice. Now I'm indescribably more-than-done with this, if this adb restore is not good. To fuck with brothafucking cockknuckle

Sorry, but I stopped reading after your 2nd comment. You are writing way too much and with too many fill words and irrelevant side facts. Please keep focused and your problem and the commands you executed.

My aplogies for your bother, then. All of the relevant commands have been already churned-out. But given your intolerance for proper-contextualisation, I guess I can offer you nothing besides that once a-gain, downloading-&-installing-&-then-repeat-cycle-for-3-AOSP-releases Android® Studio meant running PowerShell-7.3.2-win-x64.msi in-folder within the platform-tools sub-folder hidden inside Android folder of hidden root-folder AppData came across like the Best choice. And it was quite more helpful in suggesting corrections than MSDOS-era Command Prompt ever has been. Nothing else, IG?

running powershell.exe v5.1 in-folder within the sub-subfolder platform-tools, itself under the sub-folder Local within the folder Sdk of main-folder Android within the hidden AppData root-folder came* There! FTFM ♂ Nothing latest except the fact that in cookie-cutter length, that I've created a single .txt file of .\adb.exe logcat with the added-bonus of -v -time suffixed-in there, for at least the last 2 restoration attempts. Thought given my STML-addled memory, think I could give an idea as to how USB link suddely disconnects-&-immediately-reconnects that way.


text:
Cannot add new Certificates to Android Device
Using a Pixel 6a, running Android 13.
I am trying to install certificates from a private CA I have established on the internal network. I was able to install the root certificate by doing the following:
Settings > Security & Privacy > More security settings > Encryption & credentials > Install a certificate
From there I am able to select the ca.crt file I had copied from the CA server. I can see this new certificate when I hit "Trusted credentials" under the "User" section.
When I try to repeat those exact same steps to add a server specific cert, it's never added as I can't see it under "Trusted credentials". There is no error NOR a confirmation that this certificate was applied successfully.
Edit: When I successfully install the CA cert, I get a small tooltip/popup saying it's been installed successfully. When trying to install the non-root certs, I get no confirmation, and am simply returned to the previous UI view.

If you have installed the root CA certificate you don't need to install the server certificate, too. It is already trusted by the installed root CA cert. Note that user installed CA certificates will by default not affect most apps. Only a few like Chrome will accept it as a user certificate.


text:
Adblock detection even after uninstallation of Adguard (Android)
I once installed the Adguard for Android. I'm a non rooted user. I had installed the CA certificate for it.
Now I have uninstalled it and removed CA certificate completely, some websites are still displaying disable adblock. Why is this happening?
I have tried to bypass adblock detection but that didn't work either. So now I want to allow ads so that those websites work for me. How do i do that?
How do i remove those adblocking files completely which are in roots of phone even after uninstallation of Adguard?
I'm currently using Redmi note 5 pro Android phone.
Thanks in advance.

The the apps use a WebView (some sort of "mini-Chrome" running inside the app then this WebView has created a cache like all browsers do. This cache my be the problem. Try to clear the cache of those apps that don't behave correct.


text:
App Search doesn't open in Play Store
I recently got an update on my phone to Android Version 12. Before this update, when I would scroll through my Apps I had a search bar on top where I could text-search through my installed Apps. If I typed in the name of an App I didn't have installed, it would offer to search through the Play Store for me.
This behavior no longer occurs. Instead, now when it can't find an installed App anymore, it automatically changes to a Google Search, but not without emptying my Search query entirely first.
Is there a way to get the old behavior back?
Model and Hardware: FP4
Manufacturer: Fairphone
Build number: FP4.SP1Y.B041.20230109

If you recently got Android 12 then your phone is not from Google and most likely dos not run plain Android or use it's default launcher app. Please edit your question and add manufacturer and exact model name of your phone. AFAIR the behavior you describe is determined by the launcher app which can be replaced by simply installing a different from Play Store.

@Robert I added manufacturer, model and build number. I never changed my launcher, I don't know where I can tell which one it uses by default, but I am using the default launcher my phone came with

Also posted on Fairphone Forum, just in case it gets responses: https://forum.fairphone.com/t/app-search-doesnt-open-in-play-store/93378


text:
"WiFi sync" over VPN
While attached to a VPN, many apps (including Google Photos) will not sync, as they are waiting "for WiFi". Is there a way to make Android treat a VPN (or even better, a VPN running over WiFi) as WiFi for the purposes of syncing?


text:
Stream video on VLC Player Android over SFTP with SSH key authorization
I would like to connect via SFTP with public/private key encryption with VLC on Android (both on my Chromecast TV and Android phone).
I have installed Termux, configured my keys, and can access the SSH server via Termux. How would I supply my ssh keys to VLC?


text:
Possible way to flash a rom to an android device that don't connect to usb-otg or pc?
Phone Mi 10T, has crashed during a custom ROM flashing.
The problem is it can no longer connect to PC via ADB or MTP,
and also can't read any type of USB via OTG and can't also boot to System; can only boot to OrangeFox custom Recovery.
Any help or interaction I will be thankful.

In recovery mode there is usually an adb sideloading mode which allows you to install a new ROM using adb sideload <imagename>.

you can always connect in fastboot mode and flash another recovery that is properly adb enabled


text:
How to set up PingID 2FA with third party OTP app
I would like to be able to generate pingID 2FA keys from a generic OTP app such as freeOTP for Android, authy for windowsOS or an OTP app of a smartwatch.
The service allows me to enrol 2 devices and at the moment I have a device with the official "pindID"  client.
To enrol the 2nd device the admin page generates a QR and provides a key/string
Updated:
Originally I was using the default QR or the 13 numeric string to enter manually.
But I've discovered that it is possible to generate different ones through selecting "authenticator. Then, this QR is recognized by 3rd party apps and the string is 32digits alphanumeric.
Now the device appears as paired in the pingID/pingOne console.
However,the device generated code is not working on pingID auth prompts.
BTW, there are differences with pingId client:
PingID client requires to log with a 6 pin password and code/token is renewed after seconds
generic OTP apps, don't require app and the code/token is renewed after much more time
3rd party apps tried:
Android: (freeOTP, freeOTP+,Aegis)
WIndowsOS: Authy
Smartwatch one (not android)
pingID=pingidentity from https://www.pingidentity.com

Updated, now i can paid 3rd party apps but the generated token is not working. This is not an android issue, but someone moved my original question from Superuser, probably because in the text there are android apps.

We can close the question on Android.SE so that it will be migrated back to SU, but please note that the question will stay closed there. You might need to edit and clarify the question there to avoid misunderstanding. Do you want this question to be closed?


text:
Can't turn on dev mode
Have gone to about device and do 7 taps on the build number but didn't work couldn't even get close to doing it. did tons of research as a noob on these stuff, by the way this is my device: TB X606F Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus. Anyways it said "Action not allowed" "If you have questions, contact your IT admin." I don't know my IT admin so can't contact. I tried everything went to xda and made a account for the first time, same here and it's getting annoying and even tried Lenovo forums but I'm speaking days apart to the guy from different countries.

While you may physically have your device, you are not the owner as it is under Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) / Mobility Device Management (MDM) control. Until the IT admin unlocks the developer mode, you can't use the device they way you want.

If an app is registered as local device admin it also can deny developer mode activation. As Morrison mentioned this is usually don't by MDM client but technically every can request device admin permission. Check your Android settings which apps have device admin permission.


text:
Google image backup sans moving photos off phone
Prior to recent phone dying, I had found out that Google's photo backup strangely (or at least sans a setting I was missing) MOVES files off your phone that they backup. Once I realised that I excluded all new folders created from this "backup". Of course when I get a phone replacement, and choose to recover the old phone's stuff, don't expect those to be there.
So that I don't end up in the same situation again with the next phone, with Google photos backup is there any way to retain a copy of everything backed up on the phone?

The question didn't mention the device model, but if you're using Pixel devices, the Files app may automatically clean up backed-up photos.

This process usually only happens when the user uses the "Free Up Space" feature. It is likely that this process was run on your old phone. For example, this could have been initiated as simply as responding to a notification. You should avoid using this feature if you want to retain the photos on your phone. The feature exists so that less space is taken up by media on people's phones (whilst, the media are still accessible in the Google Photos app, as they are instantly downloaded via the internet when the user opens a photo or video).
If you really want to store your media on your phone, after it has been taken off, consider the following (other than tapping on photos individually). You could download the media on a computer, and transfer them to your phone via a USB cable.

Evidently should have mentioned, I am not a user, but 20 years in IT. No notification was selected that elected this, nor using the Files app cleanup,  and I scoured the settings looking for a way to turn the default move off. I see I didn't mention, but photos are not still accessible when in a dead zone of wifi or cell data, as I sometimes am when in need of some photos. Finally, how does taking photos off to a PC, then back onto phone, solve the backup-to-google-photos-by-copying (the ideal, given it is automatic) desire?


text:
ADB Connection via Mobile Hotspot
How can I connect my phone to my Mac via ADB while using my Mac that is connected to the phone's hotspot?
The port is already open on 5555, on a normal WiFi connection I can just connect via the IP that's shown in the WiFi Settings
I've tried connecting to the IP that ifconfig gives me but the connection remains unauthorized and no Popup got on my phone

the connection remains unauthorized - if you're seeing this than fix this problem in isolation. Connect device to Mac using USB cable and authorize Mac in the dialog shown in the device. Now switch to hotspot, get the phone's IP address for hotspot network and connect to it using adb. The default gateway provided by hotspot to your Mac is the IP address of your phone. Connect to that and share your observation here.


text:
How to play remote mp4 file through HTTP on Android TV
This is something that I've been able to do easily on a PC or an Android smartphone, but there seems to be something in Android TV (at least in version 9) that prevents it. I have video files in a remote computer and they are available for download through a HTTP server.
On the PC or the Android smartphone I just enter the full URL (http://.../files/video.mp4) in a web browser or in VLC player, it buffers for a few seconds and then starts playing.
But on Android TV this can only be used with small files. For bigger ones, it seems to be trying to download them completely (I see that by looking at the upload data rate on the server network interface). In a local network I would Chromecast it to the TV but they are in different networks.
I tried:

both with the builtin web browser and with apps like VLC and MX Player, all of them try to download the whole file first
Different file formats, including MP4 with H264+AAC which I know that the builtin web browser can play
Different HTTP server programs
HTTP and HTTPS
serving the files with MIME types video/mp4 and application/octet-stream

Is there anything more that I can try or is this impossible to do on Android TV?
EDIT:
This is an example request from the TV web browser:
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: 192.168.1.133:9991
Connection: keep-alive
Upgrade-Insecure-Requests: 1
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Andr0id 9; TPM191E) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/77.0.3865.120 Safari/537.36 OPR/46.0.2207.0 OMI/4.20.3.56.Typhoon.59 Model/Philips-MT5599
Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,image/webp,image/apng,*/*;q=0.8,application/signed-exchange;v=b3
Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate
Accept-Language: es-ES,en-US;q=0.9,en;q=0.8

What HTTP server is used? May be it lacks a feature (like chunking ) that is expected by the player on AndroidTV?

@Robert Couldn't remember exactly but I tried a few of them again and finally this server worked perfect with the default web browser: npm install http-server -g && http-server .


text:
Access iptables logs on Android
I'm attempting to diagnose a packet forwarding issue on my Android 9 phone.  I've added a -j LOG rule to my FORWARD chain.  How can I access the logged messages?
According to this guide, I first need to alter the syslog configuration file which is either at /etc/syslog.conf or /etc/rsyslog.conf.  However, neither of those files exist on my phone.

Android has a different userland and indeed doesn't use these log files (even modern Linux desktop distros don't use these files usually). So, that guide is wrong today (even if it claims it was written not a month ago!)¹ for desktop Linux and wouldn't have ever applied to Android to begin with.
Now, iptables is not the usual way the Android userland interacts with netfilter / *btables in the kernel. So, it's unknown how that logging is exactly implemented – chances are that whoever built the kernel modules for the logging chain in the netfilter kernel side modified them.
If, however, the logging code itself is unmodified, then the packets will be logged to the kernel log (the thing you can read using dmesg on a desktop Linux). Now, it's unusual for an Android Linux to have the dmesg utility. Not that much of a problem – you can just read /proc/kmsg yourself.

¹ Hint: when you find a guide on a basic technology and it is from some random "tech advice" website, and especially if it claims a recent modification date, chances are it's machine-generated or cheaply-without-understanding-anything-copied-together content :( That's the sad state of the internet: Content generation from unquoted sources for the sole purpose of traffic maximization, hoping to scrape the bottom of the advertisement revenue barrel :( These clutter the top search engine results very reliably. Let me tell you (shakes walking stick at cloud) back in my day, searching the internet was actually better.

How does Android typically interact with netfilter?

through the netlink kernel interface, just like the iptables program does internally.

Oh, you mean like creating AF_NETLINK sockets?

https://netfilter.org/projects/libnftnl/index.html

"back in my day, searching the internet was actually better."  In my day, an "internet search" meant using AOL keywords.

@AugustVrubel :D not saying those were not the days, but honestly, Google's utility in finding technically accurate content has sharply dropped recently, especially since they default to "yeah I can just choose to ignore parts of your query, the search algorithm knows better than you" instead of "if a result doesn't contain all words from the query, it's not a result".


text:
Galaxy S6: It just won't wipe
So, I have my old, and broken Samsung Galaxy S6, and I have some plans for it, but I need to get it to a "factory status" in terms of user data, meaning that I need to wipe everything but system.
Right now I'm in a weird position, since the screen is partially broken, meaning that I cant see but I can touch. Luckily for me, that isn't a barrier, since I was able to connect to ADB and use scrcpy to navigate the phone.
The thing is that the phone dosent wants to be wiped. I dont know what could it be. At first, I tried on the stock ROM. Went to settings and looked for the factory reset menu, did all the confirmations and proceeded with the supposed wipe. After giving it some time, I noticed the phone was dead cold, and I thought maybe it had shut down instead of rebootng. After I turned on the phone on back again, I was greated with the old lockscreen, meaning that nothing at all was wiped. This was with the stock recovery, since flashing TWRP and booting into the system would re-install the stock recovery. I tried many many times, and also tried to unplug the USB after seeng the "rebooting" text, thinking that the usb could be triggering the charging screen to be loaded instead of the recovery.
Since I was totally unsuccesfull, I went ahead and with no screen, installed Resurrection Remix OS. After manually adding the ADB key.pub to the corresponding path to the phone and enabling usb debugging by editing build.prop,Ii was able to set up the phone using scrcpy, and immediatly after doing so, I went ahead and tried to wipe the phone again, just to find out that it also wont do any changes. Since I cant see the screen, I dont know if some "confirmation menu" is being displayed, so I'm stuck at this point.
And, to add to the problem, the openrecoveryscript present on the latest official version of TWRP is lacking the format data command, and also, wont allow me to do wipe sdcard.
My last thought is to manually wipe partition by partition the hard way (without openrecoveryscript) and hopefully free all that used storage. Since probably not so many people have tried to wipe partition by partition using adb shell, I wasnt able to find any info on google, so I thought I might as well ask here.

in TWRP you can format data from cmd line with mke2fs. you can double check current file system type with df
adb shell
df -t ext4 /data
umount /sdcard
umount /sdcard
umount /data
mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/15570000.ufs/by-name/USERDATA
reboot recovery

the official cmd line is
adb shell twrp format data

https://twrp.me/faq/openrecoveryscript.html

As I said, the latest twrp version available for the galaxy S6, dosent have the twrp format data command. Also, how can I be sure that the filesystem is ext4?

adb shell df -t ext4 /data


text:
what happens in logcat when content is copied to clipboard?
I am trying in vain to identify if and how, in logcat, the events such as "text copied to clibboard" are logged.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Have you tried it out? Simply use an app that copies something to clipboard and then check the different logcat logs.

I did and was unable to identify the right strings among the "million" of ones passing by every second, that is why I asked for help. :-D

All we can do is also look at logcat and check if there is an entry. As logcat always includes the time you can execute the copy to clipboard at a special time you remember and then check the logcat entries directly after that time. In the logcat main section I don't think you will find anything clipboard related unless the app itself logs it.  There is a higher chance in logcat events to find something on clipboard usage. If not then clipboard usage is simply not logged at all.


text:
Attempting to extract .img files from a Samsung Rom, how?
So far i have extracted the files out of system.img and cache.img, but the others dont work, they dont seem to be ext4 or something, i tried 2 roms of different phones and tablets, i was able to extract system.img using simg2img and ext2explore, but the others say Bad Magic when attempting to use simg2img on them, 7 zip doesnt work either for any of them nor can i mount any inside Linux.
system.img - success
cache.img - success
hidden.img - extracts nothing
boot.img - bad magic
recovery.img - bad magic
SPRDCP.img - bad magic
SPRDDSP.img - bad magic

boot.img is not a file-system it is the boot image containing the kernel image. AFAIK recovery is similar to boot.img just that it in addition contains a very minimal OS, the recovery OS.

Spreadtrum Core Processor / DSP baseband are proprietary and cannot extracted https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseband_processor#Security_concerns


text:
How to disconnect SIM from network on schedule
I have a 2-SIM phone and need to be able to unregister one of the SIMs from the network each Friday from 16:30 to 20:00. The reason is that this SIM is a duplicate of another SIM which my friends use to stream a series of lectures every Friday. The SIMs have unlimited data, so I want to use my copy for data during the rest of the week.
Both of the SIMs cannot be connected to the network at the same time because then the behavior is unpredictable and we do not want any interruptions in the stream. I could physically pull the SIM out every Friday, but I might forget and it's a hassle to open the phone every time.
Is there a way to schedule a disconnection of the SIM from the carrier network on schedule?
(There may be an app for that, but I couldn't find one. I am a software developer, so I can even write my own if there is some way to accomplish this, but I'm not sure whether there is an API that would allow this. I have a Fairphone 3, so I can even root the phone as well.)

Here's a community favorite: Tasker! It is very straightforward to set up a profile to exist that is triggered based on a day of the week and time, as you specified.
Disabling the SIM appears to be possible, and will require either:

A rooted phone
Enabling ADB Wifi each time you reboot your phone

Assuming you've done one of those, there's an excellent video demonstrating this task setup here on Youtube.
The steps are as follows:

Create a new Profile based on "Day"
Change "Month Day" to "Week Day" and select Friday
Click the back button at the top right
Select "New Task" and give it a title
Click the "+" button to add an action and search for ADB Wifi
In the "Command" line, paste the following: phone.setSimPowerStateForSlot(0,0) where the first zero is the SIM number (change to '1' to disable the second sim) and the second zero is the power (0 for off, 1 for on)
Go back and add an exit task to turn it back on with the same ADB Wifi command entered as phone.setSimPowerStateForSlot(0,1)
Go back to the profiles screen and long-press on the "Fri" and choose "Add"
Choose "Time" and set the time you'd like the SIM to be disabled

Is there any open source alternative? I neither have nor plan to have a Google account and while I would happily pay a few bucks for Tasker, it's not possible without Google.

The creator has listed some older versions for download on their website (https://tasker.joaoapps.com/download.html) and it appears the current version is available from the creator via APK Mirror (https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/joaomgcd/tasker/), but as always, be careful with installing apps downloaded outside the Play Store.