text:
How can I check which CPU chipset do I have?
I want to check if I have a Snapdragon or Exynos chipset. How could I check this quickly? I need this info because I plan to root my phone, and it matters, exactly which chipset the phone has.
I have tried to find this info inside the phone, but no luck.
Do I need to install some app, or can I get this info without additional software, by reading it somewhere inside the phone?

You can use CPU-Z

The U.S. variant of the mobile phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, while Samsung's own Exynos 8 processor powers the international iteration of the phone.
http://www.techtimes.com/articles/144278/20160326/galaxy-s7-snapdragon-vs-exynos-speed-test-which-model-is-faster.htm

First you'll need to find your device's Model Number.
You can find this in Settings > About Device, under the field Model Number.
It may look something like: SM-G930F.
If your device is in a state where you cannot navigate to Settings > About Device, please refer to the bottom of my post for alternative methods to lookup your model number.

Once you've found your model number, you can look up its chipset in my source, or in the tables below:
Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930
╔══════════════════╦════════════════════╦════════════════════╦════════════════╗
║ Country / Region ║ Cell Phone Carrier ║    Model Number    ║    Chipset     ║
╠══════════════════╬════════════════════╬════════════════════╬════════════════╣
║ Canada           ║ BELL MOBILITY      ║ SM-G930W8          ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ China            ║ ALL                ║ SM-G9300, SM-G9308 ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ Europe           ║ ALL                ║ SM-G930F           ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Korea            ║ KT                 ║ SM-G930K           ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Korea            ║ LGT                ║ SM-G930L           ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Korea            ║ SKT                ║ SM-G930S           ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Southeast Asia   ║ ALL                ║ SM-G930FD Duos*    ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ US               ║ CRICKET            ║ SM-G930AZ          ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ AT&T               ║ SM-G930A           ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ METROPCS           ║ SM-G930T1          ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ LTE RURAL VERIZON  ║ SM-G930R6          ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ C SPIRE WIRELESS   ║ SM-G930R7          ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ SPRINT PCS         ║ SM-G930P           ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ T-MOBILE           ║ SM-G930T           ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ US CELLULAR        ║ SM-G930R4          ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ VERIZON            ║ SM-G930V           ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ UNLOCKED           ║ SM-G930U           ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
╚══════════════════╩════════════════════╩════════════════════╩════════════════╝
* Dual-sim

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge SM-G935
╔══════════════════╦════════════════════╦═════════════════╦════════════════╗
║ Country / Region ║ Cell Phone Carrier ║  Model Number   ║    Chipset     ║
╠══════════════════╬════════════════════╬═════════════════╬════════════════╣
║ Canada           ║ BELL MOBILITY      ║ SM-G935W8       ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ China            ║ ALL                ║ SM-G9350        ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ Europe           ║ ALL                ║ SM-G935F        ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Korea            ║ KT                 ║ SM-G935K        ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Korea            ║ LGT                ║ SM-G935L        ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Korea            ║ SKT                ║ SM-G935S        ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ Southeast Asia   ║ ALL                ║ SM-G935FD Duos* ║ Exynos 8890    ║
║ US               ║ CRICKET            ║ SM-G935AZ       ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ AT&T               ║ SM-G935A        ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ METROPCS           ║ SM-G935T1       ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ LTE RURAL VERIZON  ║ SM-G935R6       ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ C SPIRE WIRELESS   ║ SM-G935R7       ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ SPRINT PCS         ║ SM-G935P        ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ T-MOBILE           ║ SM-G935T        ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ US CELLULAR        ║ SM-G935R4       ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ VERIZON            ║ SM-G935V        ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
║ US               ║ UNLOCKED           ║ SM-G935U        ║ Snapdragon 820 ║
╚══════════════════╩════════════════════╩═════════════════╩════════════════╝
* Dual-sim

If your device is in a state where you can't get as far as Settings > About Device, then you can resort instead to rebooting into recovery mode or into ODIN mode.
Recovery mode displays the model number SM-G930F like so:
Android Recovery
MMB29K.G930FXXU1BPHJ
samsung/heroltexx/herolte
6.0.1/MMB29K/G930FXXU1BPHJ
user/release-keys

And ODIN mode displays the model number SM-G930F like so:
ODIN MODE
Download speed: fast
Product name: SM-G930F
Current binary: Samsung official
System status: official
FRP lock: ON
Secure download: enabled
Warranty void: 0 (0x0000)
RP SWREV: B:1 K:0 S:0

Please install CPU-Z from Play Store. I had similar problem with my Samsung Galaxy NOTE4 N910C.
Link -> CPU-Z

Clearly fastest and safest answer. Thx


text:
Purpose of the "persist" partition
There are a lot of posts on the internet on how to fix or restore, but not many about what it is for or what is stored on it. What gets stored on it? Does the SIM unlock code go there? Or are values related to cellular functionality stored there (e.g., IMEI, CID, etc.)? In what way is it persistent?

Persist is partition mounted at /persist. It has ext4 file system. DRM releated files, sensor reg file (sns.reg), wifi and bluetooth mac addresses are stored there. -- edited by Moderator Firelord

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to backup my symphony v50 rom without pc?
I have a symphony v50 mobile. I can not go to
recovery mod when my phone was switched off.I was trying to go recovery mood by hold click
volume up+power buttons. But not go to
recovery. It goes to phone test function.
When I go to make a backup of my current rom
with rom manager i did not get the backup
option in the recovery mood. May I change the cwm recovery? If the
ans is yes please tell me how. Else how I can
make a backup of my current rom?

flash stock ROM that will fix ur v50 my phone is also v50

Sorry, but how does that create a backup? OK, OP wasn't clear what the backup should be used for – but I'd expect it's for extracting/saving some data stored on the device.

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


text:
How to install kitkat 4.4.4 over Android 4.2.2
In my SONY Xperia Z current version of android version is 4.2.2. I want to remove this OS totally (as we remove windows OS to install newer) and install new Kitkat 4.4.4 version. I have followed this post at lifehacker, downloaded kitkat, but things are not working for me. Can anyone suggest me any solution of a brand new OS in my Android phone (my phone already rooted)?

I would give this toolkit a try it might might things a little easier for you http://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-z/development/tool-flashtool-v0-9-10-1-windows-linux-t2229790


text:
Suspicious guest user activity and keyboard setting changes
A guest user is occasionally created on my phone and I don't know why. It consumes some mobile data, as indicated by Android's data usage report.
Another suspicious thing is that my keyboard's languages are regularly disabled, only leaving the default one.
How can I log this activity, so that the next time any of this happens, I can know what app is causing it ?


text:
How to I disable the DHCP function on Wi-Fi Tethering
I want to have a Static configuration for wi-fi tethering because there is no way to change the IP range.

I think you cannot disable the DHCP in the Hotspot. Instead try to set static IP address on clients(other devices which you are going to connect).

Connect the client to wifi hotspot.
Now check the ipaddress of the Client. It should be like 192.168.42.yy
Go to 'WiFi settings' on your client, long tap on the Hotspot's wifi
Tap on “Modify Network”.
Then select “Show Advanced Settings”.
Select IP settings from DHCP to ”Static” mode.
Fill the following

IP address : 192.168.42.<your desired ip>
Gateway : 192.168.42.yy
Net Mask : 255.255.255.0
         Prefix length : 24
         DNS 1: 8.8.8.8
         DNS 2: 8.8.4.4

Note: If your give IP address in 192.168.1.xx or 192.168.0.xx range, It will not accept.
If you are a nerd, See this to change  the coding of Android system itself to achieve static IP :)

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


text:
Can I change my payment account?
So I have to Google play store accounts. One has money on it one doesn't. Whenever I try to make an in-app purchase, it defaults and tries to make me pay with the account without any money. I have an ineffective PayPal account on the account with no money if that's the problem. Please help!

Also see this Google help

I dont know is it possible in Your Country, but in my Country it is possible to bind Google Play billing account with billing account of my mobile operator that is Orange Poland. So any payments from Google are added to my monthly fee in Orange. So I remove PayPal from my Google profile.


text:
Is there any Custom ROM for the Acer Iconia B1-710 Tablet?
I have an Acer Iconia B1-710 Tablet (codename B1-710) with Android v4.1.2 and the following:

Kernel: 3.4.0
Image: Acer_AV051_B1-710_RV04RC01_WW_GEN1
Cores: 2
CPU: MTK 8317T, 1.2 GHz
RAM: 1 GB
ROM: 8 GB
Stock ROM
Rooted with Kingo Root APK
Unblocked Bootloader

I would like to upgrade to a newer version of Android, but I searched in CyanogenMod, Paranoid Android, PAC-ROM, OmniROM, SlimROM, AOKP, Resurrection Remix, Dity Unicorns, XenonHD , BlissPop and MIUI without succes.
So, Is there any flashable custom ROM for my tablet?
If there's none, can I use the source to compile it?
Thanks.
EDIT: Haven't found yet a newer/custom ROM for B1-710. This is not a duplicate and this question hasn't been answered properly.
EDIT (2016-12-26):
Here is the DL link for Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) stock ROM (2013-06-10) for the Acer Iconia B1-710 tablet from the Mediatek site.
The following ROMs are not available at this moment for device Tablet Acer Iconia B1-710:

Replicant
OmniROM
AOKP (Android Open Kang Project)
MIUI
Aoikaze ROM
And all the others mentioned above.

The following sites/forums doesn't have custom ROM information about Tablet Acer Iconia B1-710:

XDA Developers (haven't searched throughly)
Android Central Forums
Samdroid Board
Shipped Roms

Google useful links point to XDA that points to Acer Iconia Toolkit (useless to me without custom ROM) and to LolliAcer ROM (not a real flashable ROM that mostly bricks the tablet and in the best scenario only changes its appearence and does not update the kernel or OS version)
Taken form Acer Community:

DannyK
Troubleshooter
Re: Iconia Tablets - Android 4.4 KitKat
12-23-2013 08:20 AM

I read about that here:
http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/530849/20131218/new-android-4-kitkat-upgrade-list-device.htm
Message 6 of 18 (30,529 Views)

 inuya5ha
  Die Hard
Re: Iconia Tablets - Android 4.4 KitKat
12-24-2013 07:11 PM

Acer Iconia B1 was released earlier this year (2013) and shipped with the obsolete Android 4.1.

Had I known in advance that Acer would leave all their tablet customers stuck with Android 4.1 I'd have stayed as far as possible from Acer tablets. No wonder why all these devices ended here in LATAM countries with cheap prices, no other country accepted them because they knew they were obsolete the second they left the factory.

[sarcasm]Great news to see that Acer won't release ANY updates whatsoever to a device manufactured this year and still announced in their tablets home page today. I'll always be a happy and loyal ACER customer and recommend their tablets to all my friends and family without doubt.[/sarcasm]

There is a toolkit that I found that I haven't tested out but there is one here for that table, I think this might work http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2240029

Acer Iconia Toolkit doesn't fit my needs but, in that page, there are 3 links to a system image (stock and rooted) for Acer Iconia B1-710 / B1-A710 and the Bootloader Unlocker. Thanks!


text:
Enable gesture (swipe) input (on Fairphone 2) without Google Keyboard
I have Fairphone 2 running Fairphone Open OS, and I'm making a quixotic effort to avoid installing non-free (as in freedom) software on it and to optimize privacy.
I want swipe input, but I don't want to install Google Keyboard, (LatimeImeGoogle.apk) By default, the OS has AOSP keyboard. I've also installed the wonderfully code-friendly AnySoftKeyboard (which also has awesome themes) and Hacker's Keyboard from F-Droid, but though they are useful to me, they don't have swipe input.
I've read this post which makes me think I have to get the source and compile the keyboard. I don't know how to do this at the moment, but I'm prepared to learn. I tried just replacing the library (by cheating and taking the correct library from the Google apk) mentioned in the post, and nothing changed (if I delete the library the keyboard stops working completely, so clearly I am making a system change by replacing it - it just doesn't do what I want).
I would like any of the following, in order of preference

a nice code-friendly FOSS keyboard with gesture input
a simple* way to enable gesture input for AOSP
confirmation that I do, in fact, need to build AOSP myself to do what I want
any other relevant advice(!)

Obviously, I have root :)
*I have an Ubuntu system to play with on my laptop if it helps...

Installing Google keyboard won't affect your privacy, unless you enable the sync features.

Here's a FOSS keyboard: https://github.com/AnySoftKeyboard/AnySoftKeyboard

You should be able to import that into Android Studio without too much of an ordeal.

@AndroidDev that's the one I use - it's great and has beautiful themes in the add-on, but no gesture input

@Zanna - Oh geez... completely missed that in your question. Lol. In that case, yeah, you'll probably have to build from AOSP source.

@AndroidDev I figure :( And AOSP is so ugly... when will AnySoftKeyboard have gesture input sigh ?

@Zanna - Uh-oh. See this comment: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/33127671/android-soft-keyboard-need-android-soft-keyboard-source-code-aosp#comment55129990_33127984

@AndroidDev I think it's ok, there's a small change to make in the code and you just have to drop in the library from the google keyboard apk (thinking of it as a blob). It looks pretty simple, I'm just lazy and would rather there were a more attractive option

@Zanna - But then it's not FOSS anymore

@AndroidDev close as it gets :(

The problem
The default AOSP keyboard does not ship with swipe. It will not appear in the settings.
The easy (but awkward) reason is that Google considered this feature to be too "secret" or so to release it in the open source code and thus they ship it in a proprietary library.
The solution
If you want, you can push that library to your device after the ROM installation (and each update!). It is named libjni_latinimegoogle.so and needs to be put in /system/lib.
For me (Android 7.1, ARM) this lib was a really small (944 kB) and oldish (updated 2008) thing. (sha256sum: 442a2a8bfcb25489564bc9433a916fa4dc0dba9000fe6f6f03f5939b985091e6)
Detailed guide

Download the correct Google Apps from http://opengapps.org/. (although I guess the lib may be the same for some versions, but well… just download the correct one)
Now get into the ZIP, respectively extract it. In the Optional dir you'll find another archive swypelibs-lib-arm.tar.lz. Extract that and you'll get the libjni_latinimegoogle.so file.
Now have your phone/device ready in recovery mode. Make sure to mount the /system partition in a writable way. In TWRP you have to go to "Mount" -> (if needed, uncheck) "mount /system in read-only" and then mount it by checking the box for "/system".
Now just push to file to your phone (adb push /path/to/libjni_latinimegoogle.so /system/lib) and restart.

It should work!
OTA survival
I said you need to do this for each update. You can, however, also create a small OTA survival script, which backs up the file when the system is updated.
Here is my (currently, experimental) proposal:
#!/sbin/sh
#
# /system/addon.d/95-latinimegoogle.sh
# During an OS upgrade, this script backs up /system/lib/libjni_latinimegoogle.so,
# /system is formatted and reinstalled, then the file is restored.
#

. /tmp/backuptool.functions

list_files() {
cat <<EOF
lib/libjni_latinimegoogle.so
EOF
}

case "$1" in
  backup)
    list_files | while read FILE DUMMY; do
      backup_file $S/"$FILE"
    done
  ;;
  restore)
    list_files | while read FILE REPLACEMENT; do
      R=""
      [ -n "$REPLACEMENT" ] && R="$S/$REPLACEMENT"
      [ -f "$C/$S/$FILE" ] && restore_file $S/"$FILE" "$R"
    done
  ;;
  pre-backup)
    # Stub
  ;;
  post-backup)
    # Stub
  ;;
  pre-restore)
    # Stub
  ;;
  post-restore)
    # Stub
  ;;
esac

Also available on GitHub: https://gist.github.com/rugk/a4c9fa11c5c031faf45602d6bf922a1c

Just save that file, push it your device into the /system/addon.d dir (adb push 95-latinimegoogle.sh /system/addon.d). (Yet again, you have to make sure /system is mounted.)
And make it executable: adb shell into your device, go to the dir via cd /system/addon.d and: chmod +x 95-latinimegoogle.sh.

The destination folder needs to be /system/lib64 if you‘re running on a ARM64. Took me a while to figure out since there‘s still a /system/lib around. Of course, the path has to be adjusted in the OTA survival script, too.

Your instructions unfortunately don't seem to work when Magisk is installed: after a reboot, the file is gone again. Solution: after copying the file to your SD card, boot into recovery (TWRP), mount /system, and then use e.g. the built-in file manager (Aroma) to copy the file. After rebooting again, gesture typing is available.

PS: "oldish (updated 2008) thing" – don't be fooled by that. The one for 8.1 has the same timestamp, but is larger (1.1M instead of 944k). Seems like the timestamp is always set to the fictive "birthdate" of Android. // "Download the correct Google Apps" – seems like the smalles package (pico) is sufficient for that.

The OTA survival script/configuration fragment hack stopped working on the OnePlus 3T after the last OEM firmware update from OnePlus.  (Even though the final OEM firmware update for the OnePlus 3T was relased by OnePlus in July 2019, I feel compelled to still write this because I have not seen anyone mention this so far.)  I think this is because the LineageOS maintainers of oneplus3 started using digest files and this verifies system components against some set of signing keys, which will always cause the phone to vanish the custom OTA survival script.  So, this means you are limited to the "top" half of the solution from rugk.  So, according to my experience with the phones I have, I think the "bottom" part of the solution only works on either: older 32-bit Android devices (such as the OnePlus One/bacon) or any 64-bit Android devices with LOS builds that do not use digest file checking.  (I do not know how to check for this on arbitrary LOS-available devices.)

The libjni_latinimegoogle.so hack requires TWRP as your custom recovery to work.  Since LOS 17.1-18.1, Lineage Recovery has been offered for any device with LOS builds.  However, do not use Lineage Recovery if you use this libjni_latinimegoogle.so hack.  For some reason, if you have Lineage Recovery, the /system/lib64 directory simply does not exist, even when you mount the device storage via Lineage Recovery.  This was observed on a OnePlus 3T/oneplus3.

Based on what I have read, I infer that this libjni_latinimegoogle.so hack will simply not work on any custom ROM that properly implements verified boot via relocking the bootloader.  As of May 2021, CalyxOS and GrapheneOS are 2 ROMs which use verified boot.  So, dropping libjni_latinimegoogle.so among system files will probably be prohibited.  Even if this gesture typing library hack was hypothetically possible, I feel like that would be an extremely bad security practice/move.  Instead, if your use case/threat model allows for open source third-party keyboards, I would recommend FlorisBoard, which has recently implemented what it calls "glide" typing and is available on F-Droid.  (Just to be clear, I am not affiliated with CalyxOS, GrapheneOS, or FlorisBoard.)  AnySoftKeyboard promised some sort of glide/gesture typing, but that was back in 2018 and ASK never fully implemented this feature, back when I tired ASK once in 2020, IIRC.

Update for Lineage OS 17.1 (Android 10.0)
Based on this Reddit, step 4 of rugk’s detailed guide differs as follows (using TWRP since pushing the file with adb didn't work):

transfer libjni_latinimegoogle.so onto your phone (/sdcard)
start TWRP, check under "Mount" that system is mounted and "read-only" is not checked
launch the command line under "Advanced » Terminal" and enter the following commands:
mv /sdcard/libjni_latinimegoogle /system/product/lib/
chmod 644 /system/product/lib/libjni_latinimegoogle
cd /system/product/app/LatinIME/lib/arm/
rm libjni_latinime.so
ln -s /system/product/lib/libjni_latinimegoogle.so libjni_latinime.so

The above solution works like a charm with a Samsung S5 Neo (s5neolte/SM-G903F) and Lineage OS 17.1 (Android 10).
As mentioned above, you can extract libjni_latinimegoogle.so from Open GApps. Concerning the download options, it doesn't matter that much which Android version you choose. It seems the file hasn't been changed at least since Android 7.1. I used the following settings:

Platform: arm
Android: 10.0
Variant: nano

A simple pre-built solution is now available in the form of OpenBoard with Gesture Typing, a fork of OpenBoard which I believe just adds the proprietary swipe library. Also AnySoft Keyboard does now have gesture typing, though I've not found it to be as good.

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


text:
Playing offline YouTube videos with screen locked
I am using OnePlus Two and I want to play the offline videos from YouTube in the locked screen.
The solution mentioned in the below link does not work:
Lock screen while playing YouTube video
Is there any way that it can be done?

what did not worked? Can you be more specific?

In the answer, it mentions that the videos can be opened via MX player. But I was not able to open.
Is there any steps missing that I should have followed?

You can try using SnapTube. It let's you download videos (or just the audio) from a number of sources, including Youtube. If you download only the audio, you can just use any standard audio player (or the built-in one) to listen to it with the screen off.
Disclaimer: not sure how this fits with Youtube terms of service, you may want to investigate that before using it on Youtube.


text:
Where did the lock screen ring go to with Lollipop, and how to get it back?
Up to Android Kitkat, there was the lock screen ring:

Lock screen with activated unlock ring
One could define up to 4 apps to be directly started from here (plus the option to simply unlock). This seems to have changed with Lollipop: there's only the phone symbol in the lower-left and the camera icon in the lower-right corner which one might redefine. When I discovered that on my first LP device I thought it might be due to the specific ROM (CyanogenOS 12.1) – but after having another device updated to Lollipop, I see it's the same thing there.
Two shortcuts are simply not enough for me – so I ask myself whether I've missed something (e.g. didn't find the corresponding setting), or if it's really gone for good. I want the ring back – so how to achieve that? Two possibilities which are not a real option: third-party lock screen apps (which usually want access to a bunch of things to work properly), or the Gravity Box XPosed module (doesn't work with CyanogenMod: device becomes unstable and behaves weird).

Pretty sure it's just gone, because they decided to change the whole lockscreen to be a giant notification area. Your options outside of third-party stuff are probably pretty limited, if any exist at all.

Thanks @eldarerathis – I was afraid of that. And exactly that notification stuff is the second thing I strongly dislike, wanting it back the way it was in Kitkat and before. I tried some 3rd party tools, but up to now all failed: with GravityBox the device didn't even start up cleanly, using a 3rd party lockscreen app caused the device to freeze every night. Quite disappointing. Just wonder that nobody complained about this before (I did a quick search before posting), or I must have missed it. Also miss weather and next appointments on lock screen …


text:
I cant reboot it
I keep volume button down and keep power button my htc desire goes to reboot menu but non of selection ( reboot,reset factory.wipe through cache,...) works and it writes NO Command. what should I do?

Check related questions maybe? As you neither specified what device nor what Android version you're using, it's hard to give specific advice. ASUS_T00J zenfone 5 recovery mode shows no command looks like a good match, though.

Did you root your device ?
With an application by any chance ?
Some applications will root your device, But won't unlock the boot loader !..
This can be a serious problem if you edited your SYSTEM Partition and caused the initial error ...
   - If this happened.
Try going to HTCDev.com and sign up for a developer account and start the Unlock process on the site !


text:
How to restore deleted Viber chats?
I lost all my viber chats & calls when I tried to migrate to a new phone. Thought transferring over the entire Viber folder to the new phone would do the trick but after activating Viber it didn't restore anything.
The problem is because I used the same number to activate viber it somehow deactivated viber on my old phone. I obviously activated it again but it deleted everything :(
Is there a way to recover all my old viber chats?

Have you tried this link? https://support.viber.com/customer/portal/articles/2443290#.V4GpK3UrLQo it has instructions on how to do it.

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

Hector, please do it this time as well: you know you can always [edit] your posts, do you?


text:
Problems after restoring nandroid backup
On my Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F, Android 4.4.2) I made a nandroid backup of "everything" (boot, cache, recovery, system, etc.) about six weeks ago (using PhilzTouch recovery). Yesterday I tried to restore it, and it seemed to work but when Android had booted up I started getting force closes all over the place.
I tried wiping cache and data, but it didn't make any difference. I had a look at the log for one app when it crashed, and it was due to
java.io.IOException: open failed: EACCES (Permission denied)

I have not changed anything on the SD card since I did the backup (sent the phone in to repair a dead pixel but they wouldn't do it on warranty, so I got the phone back the way it was).
One idea I had was that something was messed up with the file permissions, so I tried Fix permissions but that didn't help either.
I then thought I'd try to flash Lollipop using FlashFire. Everything went well, and I was really surprised to see that now all the apps were working flawlessly! So to get back to KitKat (which is what I want), I then tried flashing the KitKat ROM (BTW, these are all official samsung ROMs from SamMobile. Now it didn't even boot properly, it got stuck on "Android is upgrading - Starting apps...". Tried wiping data/cache again but nothing worked.
I have since tried repeating the but without flashing Lollipop (i.e. flashing the same ROM as the one in the nandroid backup, directly from the restored nandroid backup state), but it always gets stuck on the "Android is upgrading" screen.
So it seems that I CAN restore the KitKat nandroid backup, but it's unusable "as is" because of most the apps force closing. However, if I flash Lollipop "on top" of the backup, everything works.
Can someone explain this, and possibly provide a solution? I'd really like to have this phone exactly as it was when I did the nandroid backup.


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Phone only works with busted battery
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3. A few days ago I noticed that the phone shut down on it's own, but when I plugged it to a charger it showed that the battery still had 20%. When I removed the battery I noticed that it is slightly swollen. Those look like signs of a busted battery to me.
Now, I bought a replacement, put it in, but the phone doesn't start or charge (not even the red diode is lighting). I've taken my phone to the store where I bought the replacement thinking that I got a broken battery, but the seller tested 2 other batteries (one no-name brand and one original Samsung battery), but neither worked. What does work however is the busted battery. I want to continue using my S3, but I'm at a loos as to how to fix it.
My best guess is that the battery level meter in the phone got decalibrated by the busted battery and the voltage levels on the good ones way too different for it to work.
Any advice?

So I found out why my new battery isn't working, it had a transparent sticker on the power pins (and only on the pins). It was virtually invisible in broad daylight and there was no indicator on the package anywhere that there is such a sticker there (much less that it needs to be removed). It was only when I looked on the battery at a certain angle with electric light that I noticed it.
I'm not an expert on mobile phones and I change phone batteries pretty much never, so maybe that sticker there is common knowledge for everybody else, but the funny thing is, the guy at the shop where I bought the new battery didn't notice it either (and he should have been an expert).

Haha, wow. They should definitely make it more clear that that sticker is there.


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Link2sd, partition unmounted itself, can't mount back
I have Sony Xperia M2 (D2303), and i have had Link2sd for quite some time.
A while back I created a partition in Minitool and mounted it as ext4 in Link2sd. Sometimes it crashed, but usually waiting or restarting would help, because all it needed was to link lib, obb and dex files. However couple days ago i set up Sleep as Android, and before i woke up a family member took the phone for a while (Facebook, Candycrush - which heat up the phone a lot). So when i woke up and tried to shut down the alarm i couldn't, Sleep app kept crashing.
After that I rebooted the phone, only to find out i have 10 installed apps showing, apps showing crash messages, even if i didn't have them in the background. On top of all there is an alarm icon below the clock which i can't turn off because Sleep app is not showing in app drawer.
After 2 days I figured i might flash SuperSu again from twrp, because it wouldn't update binaries.
Tried turning Link2sd into a system app to mount ext4, it only shows some grey screen for a second, nothing changes.
In settings there is Sdcard present with similar space i had before(1 GB more space- probably just app data wiped)
In Link2sd there is Sdcard, as well as the second partition which is showing as unmounted
In DiskInfo app i see partition by its name and allocated size(mmcblk1p2)
I see Sdcard in computer when plugging in usb.
However, I don't see it in Minitool, Disk Management or when running cmd - "diskpart" - "list disk" commands
SDHC card is Kingston 32 GB class 10. Total commander app allows exploring Sdcard which is not appearing in Minitool. Not only is partition missing but Sd card as well.
Thank you.

I dont use Sony Xperia M2 but I had similar problem with Link2SD after upgrade to Android version 6.0.1 on my Samsung NOTE4 N910C.
The reason is - from my point of view - fact, that Link2sd is not longer supported especially for new versions of Android.
I used Apps2SD: All in One Tool[ROOT] (cost aprox 3,5 USD in my Country). Link
-> Look here
Sorry it is in Polish language but of course You can switch to Your language.
This app is still under develop and has more features than Link2SD like working properly recreation of mounting script

I have seen some thread on xda about Android M functionality. I missed to write that i had kitkat 4.4.4 yesterday which i now updated to lollipop, because i thought i messed up the kernel as every time I put in sd card and tried to connect to pc, device would restart. Is there any way to regain the lost partition to try with Apps2sd seeing as it is not even visible in partition managers such as Minitool. I thought that memory controller was fried, but then it appeared in Minitool for a while, and even in Diskpart, when i tried running chkdsk phone restarted. Could this be a malware problem?

Under Linux - there is no problem. Try to use https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2fsd/ that is EXT2 filesys driver for Windows. You will be able to read content of EXT2,3 and 4 filesys under Windows.

I tried it shows C and 500mb system partition. Same as MiniTool. I cleaned the sd card contacts, i blew inside the slot. I can see my files in Windows explorer and phone explorer albeit it loads slower than before. 2 days ago everything appeared in MiniTool and then was gone. Could the problem be because i took a 32 GB SD card(29 GB effective) and made a 5 GB partition out of it. Is it too much? Did i damage it. Also now that i updated to lollipop unintended(because of Sony PC companion) could the ART run time make things worse as i had barely 900 Mb left out of a 5gb partition.


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Phone (Moto G) stuck in fastboot screen. Nothing works!

Stuck at this screen
I am on a Mac OS and was intending to unlock the bootloader when I accidentally bricked my phone. I followed all instructions. Downloaded Motorola drivers, Android SDK and also fastboot.zip. After I typed in the command to get unlock data terminal showed: waiting for device. I got impatient after five minutes or so and unplugged it from my computer only to find out that it's frozen. Won't reboot after holding down the power key. Also tried Power+Up/Power+down. Also tried the fastboot reboot command but it says "device not found". I have no idea what to do as most XDA threads I found are using windows systems. Help/suggestions/links/video guides anything would be much appreciated. Please keep in mind I have a Mac OS and know nothing about ADB commands or fastboot other than what the sites told me when I was about to unlock the bootloader.
Edit: When I run ./adb devices no device is shown. Does this mean my computer doesn't detect my phone?

Here's what fixed the issue for me. I removed SD-card and the sim cards and held the power button for 10-20 seconds. It rebooted the device :)


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No Data 3G or 4G
I live in India with a 3G data connection with a non rooted Yu yureka.From yesterday afternoon Mobile data does not work.Only those uparrow and that downarrow no H or LTE. So unable to connect to the world Please Help.

Try Switching airplane mode on or Off
check u have Data left.
contact your service provider and they could give u the configuration messages again. and try changing the apn names(Goto>Setting>More>Mobile networks>Access Point Names> select any of the one)
best of luck

1)Airplane mode(nope, didn't work).  (2)Data Left(2.4Gb more).  (3)Apn(Reset to default then rebooted still no help). (4)Contact Aircel(I will try)

I checked the sim in my fathers mobile it worked.But not in my mobile.

Please tell me what the people of aircel  told u to do.

they said it is handset problem


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Samsung Note 4 power saving mode problem
I am using Samsung Note 4. When I turn to power saving mode I cannot get back to normal mode. I don't know what to do. Recently I've updated to the latest version. Can you please help me to switch it to its original settings.

Related but cant link them as they dont have an accepted answer.  https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/187352/how-to-solve-unfortunately-launcher-has-stopped-galaxy-note-4

I use NOTE4 N910C. I notice the same issue (and many more) in MM 6.0.1. The workaround I use is to install Avast Battery Saver and other apps from Avast (for free). It is possible to define profiles (like "Night profile") and it reduce battery consumption dramatically. And wait for bug fixing from $amsung


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How to install Play Store on Jio Lyf LS 4005?
I have recently bought a Jio Lyf 4005 which has Android 5.1 Lollipop running. But it does not have Google Play Store, instead it has Lyf Store (provided by the ISP) which has only a few apps available. Is there any way I can install Google Play Store on it?
I have already tried following and failed:

Downloading and installing Google Accounts Manager, Play Store and Google Play Services APKs. It keeps showing the message "Unfortunately, Google Play Services has stopped." When I try to open Google Play Store it shows the "Cannot Connect to the Server [RH-01]".
I have rooted the phone and tried to copy GApps files to system folder but I am unable to paste anything there.

Any help is much appreciated.

Please see our google-apps tag-wiki, which has some instructions on this. After reading that, also follow up to How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, …) on my Android device?

I have finally figured it out. You can install Play Store on Flame 6. See this blog entry and follow steps: https://tanninpower.wordpress.com/2016/10/28/how-to-install-google-play-store-on-reliance-jio-lyf-flame-6-ls-4005/

Be welcome to answer your own question with the details you've found! As a link might die, please make sure to directly include the basics. Thanks a lot!

I don't have 15 reputation on this site! Can you un-protect it?

Seeing the amount of spammy/low-quality answers we've already had to remove here, I'd prefer not to. You're only lacking 2 points. A single accepted edit would suffice, be it a question/answer here or a tag wiki. Feel free to ping me in chat to approve the edit, so we can speed up things ;)

Finally I have figured out how to do this. To install Play Store on Lyf Flame 6 follow these steps:
Download required APKs and play_store.zip files from TanninPower.

Download required APKs and play_store.zip files from TanninPower, put them on your phone.
Install KingoRoot and root your device.
Install SuperSU
Uninstall KingoRoot
Install Flash Fire, load play_store.zip file in it and flash it. It may take some time and phone will restart after it.

Play Store should now be installed. You can uninstall SuperSU and FlashFire, it will not affect Play Store installation.

Looks like you have done so much. Seems like they have cut the server connection between Google PlayStore and they use their OS. Only possible thing for you to do is flash a custom rom. To do it,

install Clockworkmod or TWRP mod.
Find an appropriate Custom Rom made for your phone.
then install Gapps if they dont have it.

all the best

I have tried searching for custom ROMs for this phone. Do you think that custom ROMs can be available for such phones? Can I use some other phone's ROM on this one?

@DDC No, ROMs are device specific. Is there custom recovery for your device (TWRP or CWM)? If so, backup and move the backup to a safe location, then flash a basic gapps package from opengapps.org


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WiFi port turns off randomly in Blaupunkt Cape Town 945
I use Blaupunkt Cape Town 945 all-in-one system in my car. That is audio, DVB-T, reversing camera, navigation, blue-tooth for phone etc, etc. This unit based on Android 4.1.1 Firmware version is 1011403920001_SW_20151223 + root + Google Play, the latest available.
My problem is that WiFi interface turns off always when WiFi source (like my phone with GSM/LTE to WiFi router tethering facility) disappears. It is important for me because I use it for example for on-line navigation, traffic jam info and so on. From my point of view - it is s/w bug. I want to find out workaround.
Is any possibility to keep WiFi interface always on even after lost of WiFi source? Maybe additional application must be installed from Google Play. Can anybody recommend me such app?
Blaupunkt support does not answer me for my question. So maybe somebody on this forum?
This unit is mounted and powered from car accu. So power saving facilities are not important for me.

other option is install app "Best WiFi Keeper".

Finally I solved problem. Generally it is work around not real solving problem but it is enough. What is needed:

root unit with init.d support (included in original firmware)
busybox installed (from Play Store)
crond installed (from Google Play)

Add line in cron configuration:
* * * * * /system/bin/svc wifi enable

Thats all!


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Toast message with Chinese characters, is it a virus?
I recently received some updates today from the Play Store. Every so often a pop notification, one of those bubble ones at the bottom of the screen with Chinese characters.
The most recent update I've noticed is the ES File Explorer. I wouldn't mind, but my device is rooted and so I am at risk. I have a screenshot of the notification.
My device is the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 9.7 and I have stock ROM installed.

What my question(s) are: Do I have a virus (it's not being picked up by Avast) and if I do, how do I remove it?

Please see this new article 2017/02/10 10 most useless apps and games for Android. Most prominent, but specifically named in the list: ES File Explorer (along with quote-Booster apps, Anti-Virus apps, and Task Killers-unquote)

Based on the information given, it's indeed caused by the latest update (9 July 2016) of ES File Explorer. From some of recent reviews,

This new version has a new issues, whenever I open the ES file explorer it's showing some errors in Chinese language. It's affecting other apps too... (link)

Latest was a series of Chinese toast notifications being displayed even when not using the App. (link)

new problem raised while using app some chinese lang messeges display which is distracted the main usage (link)

Latest update now causing messages in Chinese to popup near the bottom of the screen. (link)

and many more...

I don't think it's a virus. It supposed to be kind of "helpful" messages to the user (who can read it).

Loosely translated, "Started instrumentation/monitoring service"

Looks like debug info that was accidentally left in the release build.

Try to boot into safe mode, and then carefully scan through the app drawer, and active processes in settings and try to find anything that seems suspicious, or without a description. Personally i have never seen any app use these bubbly toast messages, unless modded. It would be easier if it were written in Latin alphabet, and not Chinese hanzi.

Safe mode is the worst thing to be in when scanning active processes, since it prevents any non-system app from running.

Yes, but with everything that is going on now with the android security these days, it wouldn't be unheard of if malware was trying to disguise itself as system app. Since this is Samsung any app could be disguised as one of those bloat apps. And OP mentioned he has root. Correct me if am mistaken.

You're correct. However, I would suggest listing all of the background apps in a normal session first, and then find whose of them are being developed by an Eastern developer.

@DeathMaskSalesman Couldn't he also just record which app sends the toast the investigate further?

@user145490 He could, but not many users are familiar with logcats.


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What is the cause of this toast message starting with 文件耗时?
Since this morning I have on my phone this weird toast message, that keep appearing.

文件耗时: 477 ms/number: 118

Does anyone have an idea what is this and how to remove it?

I managed to get those characters, and it seems "文件耗时" is a Chinese word for "Processed files".`

Related: Toast message with Chinese characters, is it a virus?

As I saw, it came from the app ES File manager

Provide more body on your answer. I still wouldn't understand why the app would bring this toast notification.

I dont understand neither, but since an update everyone who use this app have this toast message


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How to make WhatsApp store media on external SD card (instead of device storage)?
I have a lot of media files circulating between all my contacts and groups in WhatsApp. And all the media (images, audio, video) takes a lot of space on the device storage (internal). I have not found a way to change default storage path from internal memory to external SD card. Is it somehow possible for a user of no great expertise in Android to adjust it so that all the media will be automatically sent to SD card (smth like: sdcard/WhatsApp/Media/ ).

I have tried to manually create the following folder on SD card:
sdcard/WhatsApp/Media/

But anyway the messenger does not see it and it creates new folders on the device storage (inspite of my removing the folder on device storage).

Sorry, but that behaviour seems to be hardcoded into WhatsApp itself. If no one of the others have a better solution, the only way is to periodically move the folders yourself, or write a script to do so for you.

Use the FolderMount app to create a symlink.

Unfortunately, there is no way you can do this without root access. If you know what is rooting or if you have already rooted your mobile, then follow this answer. But if you don't know, please don't consider this answer. Rooting may cause potential problem to your device if you don't know what you are doing.

FolderMount: FolderMount is an app which creates a symlink to your sdcard or anyother directory when you specify.
XInternal2SD (Xposed Module): it is an xposed module in which you can specify internal storage path. For me, I have 32gb class 10 card, so I set my card my internal using this module. So whenever I newly install an app, it will be automatically installed to my SD card. So the media files downloaded are directly download to my SD card. There are several xposed module which does the same, but I'm using this module, cause I'm comfortable with it.
Link2SD: Using Link2SD you can partition your SD card and use it as internal. If you do this, it will work as same as XInternal2SD xposed module. There are plenty of tutorials available on internet on how to use link2sd.

Again I'm warning you. If you don't know what is rooting, don't follow this answer.

have you actually tried these?  foldermount did not work with whatsapp when I tried it

Yeah the bind mount in Apps2SD to FAT32 SD card doesn't work either.  It sees old images but new ones get lost somehow.

No I didn't folder mount.. I've heard from friends.. but perhaps I've got xinternal2sd.. I'm using it for almost over a year..


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Is it necessary to update Android apps?
Recently I got a new Android smartphone and I want to know if it's necessary to update Android apps frequently. The reason for asking this is

Does updating Android apps reduce battery usage?

Should I update my apps if I don't have much internal memory? Will it slow down my phone if there isn't enough internal memory?

Will there be any (real) performance improvement if we update apps?

I know that certain updates provide new features, bug fixes (I hope it means errors), and changes in the background/layout.
Without considering the added feature, bug fixes, and layout, is it necessary to update? Also, each update takes a good amount of internal memory in my phone as well as a lot of valuable mobile data.

maybe, depends on the update. 2) probably, but the low memory itself will impact the performance whether you update it or not 3) maybe, depends on the update. Certain update does mention "improve performance". In the end, it's up to the user to update or not, but if possible, update.

Just to add to your question: Some apps refuse to work, if you don't have the latest version installed, so updating is necessary for them to work.

If you use Mobile Data for update purposes, then it is better to update Google services and the messaging services only, but if you have access to WiFi then keep your apps updated.

Battery Optimization: There's a reason developers constantly update apps, and most of the time it's memory or battery optimization. Keeping your apps updated also means you have the best optimizations available. Likewise, delete old apps you no longer use, because these may be running background processes that chew up RAM and battery life.
Memory: The updated apps generally use memory efficiently in most of cases, though I don't think there would be much impact due to it. You can clear the caches or use softwares like 360 Security or Turbo Cleaner for that purpose.
Performance: Not always, but most of the time there is a improvement.

Stability: New versions of software also fix other, non-security-related bugs. For example, a new version could solve crashes you may be experiencing or make a feature work properly.

Just to know,did you ever feel an improvement in battery life by updating apps.And a question that pesters me is while updating most of the updates have a size equivalent to previous version of the app or greater.In that case if i am right what happens on updating apps  is that the previous  version is deleted and newer one is installed.Right?Or is it that new data is being added to the previous version (of course not.This would be dumb to ask but still) like updating antivirus applications on pc (where virus signatures are added to the previous one).

I'd avoid using memory booster apps. From my personal experience these apps(on low end devices)provide more of a mirage in terms of actually doing the job of cleaning RAM memory. They hog a lot of space limiting other apps. On high end devices sure, cause memory is plenty to go around but for standard devices not really

Also i updated all my apps.And it took 1gb of my internal storage.But that is a great amount.In that case after updating all these apps approximately 20 times  my phones internal would be left with nothing.....


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Dead spots on touchscreen: Could it be related to software corruption?
I have a Sony Xperia P running stock Android 4.1.2. A few days ago, my phone started misbehaving and I found some dead spots on its touchscreen. I can't click on some of the areas. Could it be a software problem? I've already tried a factory reset but it didn't work. I've installed CWM recovery image and taken a complete NANDroid backup. Before flashing a new ROM, I wanted to make sure if I'm headed in the right direction. I'm not sure if my screen digitizer is damaged or what. Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance.

First thing flash stock ROM to check the issue and most probably in these cases its a hardware fault as you described you have dead spots on touch they can be due to pressure of some kind which can also cause touch to get damaged too , to be sure flash with factory/stock ROM and see if things change or remain same

I've flashed the OEM version of Android on my phone but the problem is still there. I'm now convinced, it's a hardware problem. I don't know what happened all of a sudden. I didn't do any such thing that could damage the touchscreen. It started misbehaving one odd day. :(


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How can I use my Android 5.1 phone as an external USB Speaker?
I have a rooted android 5.1 phone and a Acer Apsire 7520 running windows Xp. Can I use the phone as a USB speaker. The laptop doesn't have an audio out or speaker (doesn't work). It does have WiFi and USB connection. But I prefer using USB instead of WiFi.

This android app should actually do this for you seeing that you have WiFi. Soundwire Install the windows program downloadable from their website run it and set what audio you want to output to your phone you'll be assigned a server address. Input this into your app on your phone and your golden.

I like your idea, but I have tried it and found it doesn't run parallel to the incoming sound. In other words sort of incompatible.


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Google contacts sync issue with Lenovo Vibe K5
I have Lenovo Vibe K5. I have several contacts in my Google account, and tried to sync them to my phone. I'm suffering from two issues.
Issue 1:
Contacts with same name (with possible permutations) were not syncing. Look at the examples to understand better.
Example 1:
In google, if I have these contacts:
Ram Kumar - 9876543210
Kumar Ram - 9876543211

then, only one of the two gets synced to my phone. I got only Kumar Ram synced in phone.
Even though, after syncing, if I delete Kumar Ram in Google contacts, and re-sync in phone, only Kumar Ram gets deleted and Ram Kumar doesn't appear though. It appears only after deleting the account from phone and re-add and sync again.
Example 2:
In google, if I have these contacts:
Rahul Sharma - 9876543210
Mirza Sania - 9876543211
Sharma Rahul - 9876543212
Sania Mirza - 9876543213

then, only Sharma Rahul and Sania Mirza gets synced.
Again, just deleting the Sharma Rahul in Google contacts, and re-sync in phone won't fetch Rahul Sharma to my phone. I need to delete my Google account from phone and re-add and sync again.
Note: All contact numbers are unique. Also, tried syncing in other android mobiles, it works perfect. The issue only happens in Lenovo Vibe K5.
Follow up issue:
When I add some contacts (similar to Issue 1 with such contacts) to my Google account from my phone, the contacts gets added, synced to Google accounts, but, got DELETED from the phone's contacts (under google account). It appears only in Google contacts website. Syncing again and again, but it doesn't appear in phone's google contacts area.
Add these two contacts in phone under Google account :
Ram Kumar - 9876543210
Kumar Ram - 9876543211

Sync now, and both gets added to Google. But, one among them or, sometimes both gets DELETED from phone (under google accounts contacts). [Issue 1's case again]
Case 1: Add first contact, sync, and then add second contact - now only one contact will be deleted in phone. (In the above example, Kumar Ram gets deleted.)
Case 2: Add both contacts, and then sync - now both contacts gets deleted from phone.
It will only appear in Google contacts web version. Never ever in your phone. If you remove the account from your phone and re-add and sync, then Issue 1 will occur.
This issue happens only in Vibe K5. Tried same Google account on other phones, it synced perfect.
How can I fix these?

Added examples for each cases. Please ask if you need more information.

Due to name similarities Google must be syncing the contacts thinking they are are duplicates of each other hence it's syncing only one. Try login to Contacts Google and check if they suggest to merge duplicates to you.

No, the numbers are unique. Google do not merge such contacts too. Also, this issue happens only in Lenovo Vibe K5 with their custom Vibe UI (dialer / contacts). Tried the same in other phones, but this issue doesn't happen.


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Multitasking Android 5.0
I have an LG-V400 running Android Lollipop 5.0.2. I want to be able to multitask in dual windows with apps that did not come with this device. When I try to multitask, I am given this prompt:

which only allows me to multitask with Google apps. How can I multitask with two completely different apps? (i.e. SoundCloud and DropBox)
(I am fine with rooting my device if that is what the solution requires, although I would prefer not to.)
Thank you!

There is an xposed module called xmultiwindow that will do the trick.  You need to root your phone and install the xposed framework.  I can't confirm if its compatible with your model though but try it out.

Thank you for your solution. I have already tried to install the Xposed framework (for a different purpose) but couldn't install the TWRP manager. I ended up accidentally factory resetting my device and nearly bricked it. Any other solutions would be helpful, but thank you for your answer.


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Tasker, how to append a string to a variable
Tasker is making this simple task complicated.
I am doing a "Send Intent" action within a task and I need the extra 1 and extra 2 to be a string concatenated to a number variable concatenated to another string.
In most languages it'd be something like
extra1 = "str1:" + integer + "str2"

It'd be easier if there were spaces between the strings; it'd just be str1 %integer str2, but there are no spaces to separate things out.
How do I accomplish this?

In which language does Tasker "scripts" work?

@DeathMaskSalesman Tasker scripts are Tasker's own special language.

@DanHulme Oh, I see. Then I can't help, sorry.

I found that Tasker supports javascript snippets, I opted to do most of my coding in that. Tasker's coding setup is painful at best.

Set a new variable with To field as %var1%var2%anyvarname


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how to restore mount points
i have a bricked device , after 20 hours of flashing and searching , i found that my device lost some mount points
here is the the mount points of my device

and here is the mount points of a working device (the same)

as you can see a lot of mount points are messing:

mmcblk0p5 (system)
mmcblk0p7 (data)
mmcblk0p8 (internal sdcard)
mmcblk0p6 (cache)

this is why my device is bricked, i cannot format/mount any of those partitions , and my device is stuck on logo , my friend own the device which is working fine , so how can i extract those from his devices and push them to mine
via adb pull and push commands ? or is there any way to restore my mount points
Note : my device is Mediatek mt6589t
thank you very much


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file transfer after encryption
I am a new Android user and I am considering encrypting my device for more security. My notebook runs Linux Mint and I have been transferring files to my Android (version 4.4) using the USB cable via Mint's default file manager Nemo. My question is: if I encrypt my device, will I be able to transfer files using the same method? And if I connect my device to other computers using the USB Mass Storage, will I also be able to see/add/remove files?

 Absolutely ! As long as you can unlock your device you can transfer files. Encryption works as usual but will encrypt the data but that doesn't mean you can't access it. Go for it ! Hope this helps !

Most android phones have encryption by default id recommend reading this first. http://www.howtogeek.com/141953/how-to-encrypt-your-android-phone-and-why-you-might-want-to/
id also recommend adding a password verbal  or using numbers on the lock screen keep usb debugging off unless needed and look into a app that can locate your phone or remote wipe it if lost. such as Avast

Thanks for the answer, but nor what you wrote nor the link you gave me address the specific question I posted above which is about the method of file transferring I am currently using.


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How do I remove what appears to be malware on my Nexus 5?
I have a Nexus 5 phone running Android 6.0.1 (security patch level 1 Jun 2016).
It appears that over the past few days it has become infected with malware.
Periodically (every 10-15 minutes) a transparent notification appears near the bottom of the screen that looks like this (the numbers will change, and possibly the non-English text).

Here's what I have tried so far:

Installed Malwarebytes and ran a scan but it couldn't detect it.
Installed a few Antivirus programs (AVG, 360 Security) and it didn't find anything out of the ordinary.
Installed OS Monitor to see if there are any suspicious processes running or network connections open but nothing stands out.
Closed all running apps
Rebooted the phone

The notifications keep popping up.  I'm a bit stuck here - this definitely looks like malware, but not sure where to go from here.  Obviously a factory reset is an option, but I'd like to expore other options first.
Any recommendations about how to proceed?

Possible duplicate of Toast message with Chinese characters, is it a virus?

Update
After 2 days, uninstalling ES File Explorer seemed to do the trick - I'm not seeing these pop-ups anymore.

After further research this appears to be caused by an update to ES File Explorer (see this question).  I have now uninstalled that app.

+1 for uninstall. If this is truly ES File Explorer-based, please update your answer after a few days to confirm. This would be strike 2 vs. ES File Explorer in a short time period, after their lock-screen advert incursion. Greater dispersion of this information is warranted in that case.


text:
Is there no basic mp3 player?
I use Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4. Previously I could play mp3 files with the "music" application. Now I have 10 players but the plain "music" player is gone and no builtin player can play an mp3 file from my memory card. Why? There used to be a player in the android that could do it. Instead I have google play which seems new.

It would help, if you add your phone's manufacturer and model, as well as the players you have install, to your question.

In most players you need to tell it where to find the music files or have the ap scan the device. i use Music folder player its free and does the trick

I found a good one (but it had advertising). I'm going to try and find a more basic player if I ask at software recommendations Q&A. Now it seems that there is no builtin audio player and that I must use a tool.

"In most players you need to tell it where to find the music files or have the ap scan the device." ??? Most music players rely on the media library, which the Android system takes care for (see: media-scanner). The only ones you might need to tell where your files are are those for FolderPlay & AudioBooks. And only very few build up their own library database (so that you must let the app scan the entire device).


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How to change razr d3 MAC address?
I'm trying to change the MAC address of my razr d3, model XT915, android 4.4.2, but I didn't have success.
In my last try I was using busybox and the following command:
busybox ifconfig wlan0 hw ether XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
The return is :
ifconfig: SIOCSIFHWADDR: Operation not supported
So I started to look for the nvram files and was able to find the file WIFI at /data/nvram/APCFG/APRDEB and edit my MAC address there. Unfortunately, it seems that the MAC address is set somewhere else.
Does anybody know if it is possible to change the mac address in this scenario and how?

Its not possible to change a MAC address every device connected to the internet has a unique MAC address which can not be changed. May i ask why you wanna change it.


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Disabling notifications from S Planner results in notifications that you have disabled notifications *facepalm
I have tried to disable my S Planner because I use an alternative calendar app. Now that I have turned off notifications I get the same notification constantly  (reappears almost instantly after cleared) informing me that I have disabled notifications.
Yes, a notification from the app to let me know I have disabled notifications. Face palm and wtf. Probably the most annoying thing I have ever encountered on Android.
The indestructible Message Reads:
"S Planner noti. not shown
To receive notifications from S Planner, tap SETTINGS, go to App info > Permissions, then allow the following permissions:
Calendar"
I have disabled everything all permissions, notifications, default settints, stopped the app, even restricted its use to wifi.
I have tried to do my due diligence and look for a post that answers this question but could not find it, if such a post exists kindly link to it.
Thanks


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Samsung working extremely slow
I unrooted my tab then did a factory reset, I then rooted my tab with Kingo Root, after rooting was successful my tab's performance became very slow. So I decided to boot into recovery mode then wipe data and cache. After that I noticed that the Samsung logo is slow. After booting my tab's performance is extremely slow, it takes time to go to the settings. So I went to look at CPU usage then I saw 98% of my RAM is being used. But the're only a few process on the list using a bit of RAM but they keep restarting. So I removed the root of my tab to see if that works, but it didn't.
After rebooting my tab it says "process system isn't responding"
Can anyone help me?

Reflash a stock rom and see if your problem is fixed.

Ya one click root apps can have funny side effects like that. since you can root i'd assume your bootloader is unlocked id suggest you use a program called odin on your pc and flash Chain fires auto root https://autoroot.chainfire.eu/
first do a hard reset deleting everything from the device. then flash the appropriate version on your device. i've used chainfire for a long time with no issues.
good luck


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Is there a way to move unmovable apps to the SD card in Android 6.0?
I recently updated to Android 6.0 and made my new 64GB SD card as adoptable storage. Unfortunately, as per here:

Apps can be placed on adopted storage media only when the developer has indicated support through the android:installLocation attribute.

This is problematic since I only have roughly 4GB of internal storage and some of these unmovable apps are quite large.
Without going into partitioning the SD card into 2 and using Link2SD/Apps2SD, is there a way to move these unmovable apps? My device is indeed rooted so that should hopefully help.
Edit: In reply to the user1871, and also I will add: I already put all those things on the SD card. Right now I have roughly 1 GB free in the internal storage. Also I do not want to uninstall anything. When I used DiskUsage to see what was using up a lot of the space, it was the data/app folder which contains a whole bunch of unmovable things such as base.apk, lib and oat folders.
These types of unmovable files is what concerns me since they will quickly add up and overtake my free 1 GB. I just want to find out a way I can move (or at least create symbolic links to those files after putting them into the SD card) without using Link2SD type apps. I'm leaving doing that as a last resort since formating an adopted SD Card will result in me having to factory reset my phone :(

You just need a free app to do this without root. Please note that this does not work for preinstalled apps (like Google Play Books, etc.)
App: APK Editor
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmail.heagoo.apkeditor&hl=en
Open the APK editor and choose 'Select APK from app'. Choose your app from the list that will appear and select 'Common Edit'. Change the 'Install Location' field to 'External Preferred'. Click Save and then Install. (you may have to uninstall it first.) You will now be able to use Settings/Apps or your preferred app manager to move the app to your SD Card.

This is the correct answer, so simple, does not even require root. But it's not well known.

Correction! This works to install, but WhatsApp (for eg) seems to detect it as a tampered version and refuses to work.

Play Store link is dead :(

Apps like Link2SD/Apps2SD can be falsely miss interpreted, apps once installed can have extra data moved to the sd card but a main portion of the app like the launcher will need to remain on the internal storage. there for a app cant be 100% on the sd card. you can set apps to auto install on the sd card but they still need a part on the internal. id suggest move any media pics,videos,music ect on the sd. uninstall any unneeded apps

Are you sure what you describe also applies to Link2SD? AFAIK Link2SD moves the entire app to the "special partition" and just creates a symlink in the original place. Same for Apps2SD (not to be confused with App2SD, for which what you wrote is valid).

Open the APK editor
Choose 'Select APK from app'. Choose your app from the list that will appear
Select 'Common Edit'
Change the 'Install Location' field to 'External Preferred'
Click Save (Working.... )
(you may have to uninstall it first.) Remove app and then Install again.
You will now be able to use Settings/Apps or your preferred app manager to move the app to your SD Card.


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Okay Google Everywhere options missing from Google Now
My question is exactly the same as the question in Wizek's post, which went unanswered, namely that I woke up this morning and all but one of my "Okay Google" options had disappeared. I contacted Google via Project Fi's customer service and they told me they would put an engineer on it and see if they could figure out what went wrong. Very helpful. However, I'm wondering if anyone in the community has managed to solve this problem (I have a nexus 5X)?
One thought I have is to do a nandroid backup and then completely reset the device using {fastboot format userdata}, but if anyone has any less nuclear ideas I would love to hear them!

Just flash Nexus GApps again. That should fix permissions or add possibly missing files which are causing trouble.

This WORKED. I used Open Gapps. I will let the Googler I opened a ticket with know! Thanks!

I knew that will work cause you cannot activate nuclear codes to destroy world by this method


text:
Using OpenVPN Connect in power saving mode
On a Galaxy S6 with Android 6.0.1 I use OpenVPN Connect.
It works properly when the device is not in power saving mode. However when I turn the power saving on, the OpenVPN connection immediately becomes flaky. The client connects to the server, but after a few seconds it loses connection and tries to reconnect.
I have explicitly turned off OpenVPN Connect in "App power saving".
Is there anything I can do except for turning power saving mode off?

Could be a bug or cause you turn on power saving mode it trys to shut down networks to save battery. power saving modes or app don't really save all that much so i'd just keep it off. Have you tryed a vpn app.

For hotspot shield I have turned off "restrict all background data" on settings -> battery -> power saving mode!


text:
Android suddenly pops up ad
Suddenly my Android always pops up this ad that always in that position, even sometimes a video ad, when I wake my phone from sleep. Anyone has idea?
When I open the recent used app, it displays the correct recent used app.
I have tried uninstall my but no luck:

FF Record Keeper
3rd party theme

Are you using a 3rd-party homescreen/launcher? When did this start happening?

I use 3rd party theme from Samsung store. I don't think there will be ad because of that? It was yesterday start happening when I went back to my country, even I was still inside plane turned my device on.

I don't know (I don't have Samsung device), you may want to check that on the Store. Anyway, it means that you're using a Samsung device on default TouchWiz launcher, but using 3rd-party theme? You may want to determine which app is drawing on top of other apps, or if it's okay for you, just uninstall that theme and see if it still happens.

I don't suspect ad to be the root cause because I have used it for some months. Anyway I have uninstalled my latest installed game FFRK and will update here later.

still the same..

Please check my updated post...

Perhaps this related question might help you. Otherwise, try this question

I advice you to try and find which applications are running by using a program that displays your current processes. One of those will be the adware. You could also try and install some android anti-adware blocker, or even cut out the banner with an image editing program, make an image search and find which program or advertisiment the image matches, then you will know which program it is and you can find instructions how to remove it.
If you install termux you can run the command ps -al|more and paste the output, then we will see which processes are running.

Do you have a suggestion of app name that can display my current process?

@Rendy We can try and install a "task manager". I need one myself. Or can try with termux and run the ps -al and see.

@Rendy Just open Settings › Apps and check the "running" tab. Focus on the apps you've installed last, those are the most likely candidates. Anything you've side-loaded (installed from a different place than Google Play)? This app would violate Playstore rules (by showing ads outside the app and not making the relation clear), so if you've installed it from there I recommend to report it to Google.

Well my last installed app is FF Record Keeper. I have tried uninstall it and will update here whether ad still pops up or not.

@Programmer400 termux is very hard to be understood reading its log from mobile..

Please check my updated post...

Not sure why and how, but the ads gone by itself in 1 week. I still believe this is a malware though.


text:
Samsung Galaxy Core Prime wont turn on
My Samsung Galaxy Core Prime wont turn on. It goes past the Samsung logo and then goes to the metro pcs sign, but it stays there vibrating until it dies.
It charges but wont go past the metro pcs sign. I tried to restart it, and did a few hard resets. I even took the battery out. I really need help with this.

Try flashing the os again.

Did you try to flash something or root it. sounds like your caught in a boot loop. if your boot loader is unlocked download the firmware for your device at http://www.sammobile.com/ and use odin for windows to flash it


text:
Why isn't all my storage listed in settings?

As seen in the above images, internal storage uses way more then by adding Apps and Cached data to each other. This could be the Android OS, but I think it isn't bequase on the first picture it is deprecated from the other entries. What could be possibly using the unlisted usage and can I reclaim that space (by moving it to my adapted SD)?

The first screenshot seems to show available partitions: "Android OS" corresponds to /system, "Internal storage" to /data and the last one to your external SD card. This is why Android is mentioned explicitly here. Still I agree the second screenshot looks incomplete: usually it also lists media files (music, video) at least, no idea why that's omitted here. I assume tapping the top entry simply launches some file explorer?

@Izzy Tapping the top entry (The big total usage one, right?) doesn't do anything on both screens.

Yeah, that one. Irritating. Anything related when you open the overflow menu (the 3 "stapled dots" in the second screenshot)?

It only shows "Migrate data". Pressing that option opens a window called "Move data now" which has the text "The move takes about 8 seconds. It wil free 83.25 MB on SD Card." I don't think that's what I'm looking for.

No. That sound as if you're using "adoptable storage" (i.e. using your external SD card as internal storage), and this would migrate your data "back" to the real internal storage so you could revert the adoption. OK, not sure why the other details are not shown; so you'd possible need a 3rd party tool to investigate that. You can find some candidates in my app list on Storage Analysis.

If you have large apps, then the total size of the app is not displayed: The extra files which the app needs in order to run itself, do not show up in the description of storage. That means the total size of your apps might be greater than 1.40 GB. This might be one of the possible reasons.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! This unfortunately doesn't answer the question "What could be possibly using the unlisted usage and can I reclaim that space (by moving it to my adapted SD)?" Also I'm not sure about your statement. Do you have some backing for it? Why should sizes of large apps not be displayed?

The extra files which the app needs in order to run itself, do not show up in the description of storage. That is why the depicted app sizes are lesser than the actual size required.

Why shouldn't they show up at all? They should be shown either as "app data" or at least as "others". Backing: See this screenshot and also this one. Note the difference?


text:
No background data on Gingerbread
When I launch GooglePlay, I get kicked out with error "Background data disabled / Google Play Store needs background data to be enabled". The official help page (https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1663315?hl=en) seems to be for newer OS versions, because I don't have such options in settings menu.
My Android version is Gingerbread 2.3.6
I haven't used GooglePlay in long time, I am not sure what changed/updated.

Found the settings under "Accounts and Sync" category.

@benjaminS You have to wait two days before accepting your own answer. Just have patience!


text:
Disable default Internet app on Android 6.0.1 on a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2
I'm trying to disable the default "Internet" app. I can't deactivate it via the app manager. I need it disabled, because the Tablet should not be allowed to use an internet browser, but other apps should still be able to connect to the internet. The device is hardened and only a few apps are allowed. But through the settings the user can reach the user manual, which opens the default internet app. Therefore I need to uninstall or disable it.
Has anybody an idea how to get rid of built in apps without rooting the device?
Thanks alot!

From https://www.xda-developers.com/uninstall-carrier-oem-bloatware-without-root-access/:

WARNING Uninstalling system applications can be dangerous so please know what you’re getting rid of before you complete these steps. Failing to do so could result in your phone becoming unusable until you perform a factory reset. Of course, by removing any given system application, another system application that may depend on it may also break so be careful what you remove.

Install the USB drivers for your device (Google has a list of some universal USB drivers here)

Download the ADB binary for your particular OS (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Extract the zip file into a folder that you can quickly access.

On your phone, go to Settings and tap on About Phone. Find the Build Number and tap on it 7 times to enable Developer Options.
4.
Now enter Developer Options and find USB Debugging. Enable it.
5.
Plug your phone into the computer and change it from "charge only" mode to "file transfer (MTP)" mode.
6.
On your computer, browse to the directory where you extracted the ADB binary.
7.
Launch a Command Prompt in your ADB folder. For Windows users, this can be done by holding Shift and Right-clicking then selecting the “open command prompt here” option.
8.
Once you're in the command prompt/terminal, enter the following command: adb devices
9.
You will see that the system is starting the ADB daemon. If this is your first time running ADB, you will see a prompt on your phone asking you to authorize a connection with the computer. Grant it.
10.
Now if you re-run the adb devices command, the terminal will print the serial number of your device. If so, then you’re ready to move on.
11.
Enter the following command: adb shell
12.
Execute the pm list packages | grep '<OEM/Carrier/App Name>' command to find package names.package list

ALTERNATIVELY: You can also easily find the package name of an installed system application by installing the App Inspector app on your phone. I prefer doing it this way so you know exactly what the app name is of the application that you are about to uninstall.

If you have App Inspector follow the steps below:
Step 1: Tap on "App List"
Step 2: Find the app you want to uninstall. (eg. "Compass")
Step 3: Find the package name under the App Name (eg. "com.huawei.compass")

Execute the command like so: pm uninstall -k --user 0 <name of package> command to uninstall a specific system application.

Shouldn't pre-emptive death warnings come BEFORE, so impatient people have to read it first? Last may be too late for some who like the ideas of following numbered instructions (in order, (always in order)).

@wbogacz Thanks for the advice. Will keep that in mind for the future.

Samsung Internet has the package name com.sec.android.app.sbrowser

After uninstalling, you can easily reinstall Samsung Internet from the Galaxy Store or Google Play.

Note that these commands disable an application, instead of completely uninstalling it.

You can go to Settings > Applications > Application manager and navigate to all apps tab then found your browser in this list and tap on it and then you see turn off button, when you disable it using this button, browser should disappear from applications menu. If this is not working for you, there is no other way, you will need to root your tablet.
Update:
After you root your device, you need to download root explorer, total commander or ESFile Manager and go to system/app where you should find browser and delete or cut it from here.
IF YOU DELETE IT FROM HERE, THERE WILL BE NO WAY TO RESTORE THIS WITHOUT REFLASHING ENTIRE ROM!
But there is a second way, which I recommend to you. With downloading Titanium Backup from Google Play Store and freezing your browser from this powerful app. After this you could restore it any time you want.

OP already stated: "I can't deactivate it via the app manager." So that only leaves the "root option". But rooting alone won't solve the issue; maybe you could [edit] your answer and include how to solve the issue if the device is rooted?

Thanks for your answer! I've already tried it via the application manager, but for the browser the "deactivate" button is not clickable. Do I need to root my device for using the Titanium Backup app?

Update: Root is needed for this app, but no option for me because the tablet is used for working purposes.

Download "Package disabler" from google playstore,open it and scroll down to find "internet" disable it,it automatically vanishes from your app drawer.You dont need to need root access.

Go to app manager, select Samsung Internet, then disable all permissions, you will reach a point where you are asked if you would like to uninstall all updates and to go back to the factory stock of the app, just click ok.  It will uninstall, and when you go to your default apps, Samsung Internet is no longer there.  Just did this!

Doesn't work for me, on Android 10.


text:
How do I block ads on YouTube in all WebKit based browsers?
How do I block ads on youtube on my android device? I have tried proxy websites - hide.me and plenty others, however, they work only on a windows machine, on android, they don't work, the webpage says "javascript not enabled". I have tried ad blocking proxy apps- adblock(no root), SEVEN adclear(non play store and play store versions), Adguard(non play store and play store versions). but it seems like youTube has found a way to bypass them all. IS this possible on android? if yes, how do i make it work?
PS: Or is there any free vpn app (not free trial) which blocks ads. I want this to work on all webKit (webView) based browsers

you want to block ads on YouTube Mobile app or from Mobile browser playing videos from www.youtube.com??

"I want this to work on all webKit (webView) based browsers" of course i want it to work on browsers, not the YouTube app.

There are some XPOSED plugins

You won't be able to block ads in the Youtube APP as long as you don't want to root your device. Blocking these ads requires changes to the DNS settings and you can't change these settings without root, nor can an app.
When you don't want to root your device the only option I see is just to use Firefox (or a similar Browser), install the Adblocker addon and watch your videos through the browser. Less comfort, but the only option remaining without root.

If you have root you can use adaway app. It's completely free and 100% working. You can download it here https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=org.adaway . This app blocks all ads in browsers, all apps and games and youtube too, it uses hosts file to do so.

Note that this app requires root.


text:
Sony Xperia M2 black screen when turned on
Yesterday, after having my phone in my pocket for the whole day, not checking it for hours, it just had a black screen in the end. At first i thought the battery had run out, so as soon as I was home, I plugged the phone in. It did not load at all, though, and there was no light telling me the phone was loading. I let the phone just lie around over night, thinking the charger cable was just damaged, and used another one the next day. It charged without problems, as normal. When it reached 66%, I decided to turn the phone on. Holding the power button resulted in a light vibration, as always, and the screen just going black (it showed the battery with the amount charged in it before) The lamp that showed me it was charging went off, too.
I had similar problems in the past, but those could be resolved without a problem with holding the volume down + power button for some time, which rebooted the device. This does not seem to work now, though.
As my PC won't recognise the handy beeing plugged in, I can't tell you what version my handy is on exaactly, but I can tell you that I only some days ago received notification about a software update, which I had not yet installed. Before that, the software was on the latest version.
Is this a known problem? All I could find where instances where this problem was fixed with holding the volume and power button.

If something is unclear or you need more information, just ask. I will probably take the phone to someone who specialises in phone repair tomorrow, if no one can help me.

I had a similar problem in Xperia E3 and couldn't wake the device So i just used custom Rom and it worked .This happened again and i had to flash stock firmware and erased user data during flash. This may happen as a result of kernel bug .
ps; If you go service center they you ask to change new chip-set worth 6000 rupees.


text:
WhatsApp is getting downloaded but not getting installed
I have Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 running on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. It had a problem with restarting by itself. As it restarted too many times at a stretch, it did a factory reset on its own. It did not delete any music or image file, but all the apps got uninstalled.
I successfully reinstalled all apps, except WhatsApp. WhatsApp was getting downloaded but it was not getting installed. I don't know why. I tried downloading it from Play Store and an app called Mobogenie. I even tried using ShareIt. The app is still not getting installed.
How to fix this and reinstall WhatsApp?

A phone should not factory reset itself. does your phone have enough free space. Also use Avast and do a virus scan

Download WhatsApp manually from apkmirror.com and try to install using that apk file and reason for your device getting restarted own its own can be the too many apps and phone ram not able to handle them properly and too many restarts (due to ram issue ) can cause reset


text:
Are offline google maps used device wide?
If you save an area on google maps on an android device, will other apps that use the maps api, pull data from this cache if it's available? Or is it separated and doesn't know that it exists?
I ask this question because of a reddit post that popped up about Pokemon GO:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemongo/comments/4s875y/i_wish_i_could_buy_this_guy_a_beer/

No. Other apps on your phone use the Google Maps API, not the Google Maps App itself. Therefore it doesn't have access to the content that is stored in your Google Maps local directory. In your above link, I also see people saying that "Pokémon Bio is loading much fast too" which doesn't make sense because Google Maps has nothing to do with it...unless the Pokémon Go app stores information of your local area. In this case, this would still be the Pokémon Go app, not Google Maps.

@MR04 Okay, I figured it may be legit if the maps api is integrated much more tightly into the OS. You should consider posting an answer

Unfortunately, there is no cross-app sharing of map information.
Firstly, there is a privacy concern - If Google allowed other apps to know your Google Maps offline areas (or infer them, for that matter), it would be possible for nasty apps to work out where you live and to sell that information.
Sadly, Google don't provide an 'offline maps' API to developers. I have found this frustrating when developing apps.
Unfortunately, Google have little motivation to encourage offline device usage - they make their money from their online services, especially advertising.


text:
Do permissions apply across users?
If I create a secondary user and install an app while using the phone as that user, will the permissions for that app carry over for the primary user?
For example, let's say I have a primary user, Foo, with a Google account foo@gmail.com. I then create the user Bar with the account bar@gmail.com. Whilst using the phone as Bar, I install an app with the "find accounts on the device" permission.
Will this allow the app to see the accounts I have registered with the primary account, i.e. foo@gmail.com? Will it even be able to find the primary user at all or are there hard boundaries between user "workspaces" (for lack of a better term), and as far as the app can see, there's only Bar and its registered accounts on the device?
I'm just generally concerned with apps finding out about my personal data, contacts, emails, etc, and would like to use a "dummy" account for any app I consider hostile in this regard. Would this work?
I have a Nexus 5X running Android 6.0.1.

How about changing your title to something like "Can a secondary user be used to sandbox an application and protect personal information?"? I think it may better reflect your actual question. Moreover there is a [tag:multi-user] tag which could also be appropriate here.

Google has documented both the multi-user feature itself, and the associated API which shows what an application could do with it.
Behind the scenes, the multi-user feature relies on SELinux multi-level (MLS, aka. multi-categories) system where each user is associated to its own SELinux category (see NSA's presentation SELinux in Android Lollilop and Marshmallow for reference, in particular slides 13 and 14). This provides a very robust and reliable separation between users, enforced at Android's kernel level and therefore hardly bypassable.
In this scheme, there are public and private resources. Public resources are shared between all users, while private resources are the own private property of each user and cannot be accessed by others.

Public resources include mostly installed applications and global phone configuration. Note that you can restrict the way secondary users may use the device, for instance secondary users can be prevented from passing any phone call.
Private resources include mostly local user's settings, local application and user's data.

Now let's see what are the concrete consequences of these statements (I reuse your convention of user Foo as the primary user and user Bar as the secondary one).

If I create a secondary user and install an app while using the phone
  as that user, will the permissions for that app carry over for the
  primary user?

Installed applications are considered as public resources, therefore if the user Bar installs an application then the same application will also be available for user Foo, even if the user Foo did never explicitly accepted the application's requested permissions.
However, user Bar will have no way to make the application run into Foo's profile, neither it will have access to Foo's private data. Moreover, except in the case of a badly buggy or downright malicious application (ie. an application which would copy private data into some shared location), both Foo and Bar can run the application, Foo and Bar's private data will remain safe (they can even use it at the same time if the application supports it, if it does not it will simply refuse to start or crash).

For example, let's say I have a primary user, Foo, with a Google
  account foo@gmail.com. I then create the user Bar with the account
  bar@gmail.com. Whilst using the phone as Bar, I install an app with
  the "find accounts on the device" permission.
Will this allow the app to see the accounts I have registered with the
  primary account, i.e. foo@gmail.com?

I just want to warn to not confuse the "Find accounts on the device" permission with the multi-user feature which is unrelated. Each user has its own list of accounts which is considered private information, and therefore not shared to any other device's users.
When Bar runs the application, only Bar's accounts will be available, whereas when Foo runs the application only Foo's accounts will be available.

Will it even be able to find the primary user at all or are there hard
  boundaries between user "workspaces" (for lack of a better term), and
  as far as the app can see, there's only Bar and its registered
  accounts on the device?

The users list seems to be considered as public information, most likely as a Unix world historical inheritance since I do not see any technical reason for this. Personally I would have appreciated if it wasn't the case (ie. users more as transparent sandboxes than standard Unix users, at least as long as applications are not granted some specific permission).
Anyway, the Android API documentation page linked at the beginning of this post lists the methods that an application can use to gather information about current and other users. Most of them do not seem to require any specific permission.

I'm just generally concerned with apps finding out about my personal
  data, contacts, emails, etc, and would like to use a "dummy" account
  for any app I consider hostile in this regard. Would this work?

Yes, I even think this can be a very good idea, just be sure to be in your dummy account when launching it since the same application may also be available for your primary user.
Usability notes:
The multi-user feature in Android systems still seems very young and not very mature. This means that there are impacting changes between Android version and compatibility issues.
For instance:

User types and authorization handling: how the primary user and/or a corporate central device administration platform may define or restrict secondary/restricted/profile/guest users rights in terms of functionality and applications they may use or install is subject to heavy changes between Android versions and underlying devices (while still running Android, tablets may offer different options than cellphones).
The same also applies to the way applications installation, permission requests, applications sharing and uninstallation are processed (they may be directly available, they may be displayed but marked "Not installed for this user", they may not be displayed at all while still leaving the APK available, etc.).
Some feature may come and go between the broken and fixed state between versions (the "Allow unknown sources" setting for secondary users has been reportedly unavailable for 5.0, fixed in 5.1, broken in 6.0, fixed again in 6.0.1).
Some applications may not work when using a secondary user (F-Droid for instance).

There are still what I consider to be missing features, for instance there is no proper way for a user to log out.

A good more recent link explaining the difference between users and accounts (and other things) is https://source.android.com/devices/tech/admin/multi-user#general_defs

The two accounts should be separate, both in terms of data and in terms of permissions.
From Ars Technica:

Permissions are unique to each user, so if anyone out there is actually using Android's multi-user mode, one person granting a permission doesn't affect anyone else.

And from the Android Developer guide:

Whenever your app saves user preferences, creates a database, or writes a file to the user’s internal or external storage space, that data is accessible only while running as that user.


text:
Route connections through VPN, then through Orbot
Currently I'm using "OpenVPN for Android", OrWall and Orbot in order to route connections through VPN, then through Orbot. So it looks like this:
App -> VPN -> Orbot
This is great, but it's not an optimal way to do it, because OrWall is outdated and is not being developed any further. It has some security issues and I'm sure sooner or later (perhaps with Android Nougat) it will cease to work.
Is there any other way to route apps through Tor / Orbot, but have them go through a VPN first, so as not to connect to Tor directly from the ISP's IP?

Not to familiar  with open vpn but if you have a integrated vpn then use tor that would work. http://www.howtogeek.com/135036/how-to-connect-to-a-vpn-on-android/

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


text:
What is tested in the Google Play Pre-Launch Security Report?
The Google Play store includes a pre-launch security scan in Pre Launch Report -> Security. I am trying to find out what it is actually testing for. Are there any resources that get into detail on what this scan includes?
The Learn More page doesn't say much other than “Each test summary includes the name and description of any security vulnerabilities found in your APK.”


text:
my samsung galaxy s2 wont charge what do i do?
I'm having trouble with my Samsung galaxy s2 I need some help on how my phone can start charging again. Every time I got to charge my Samsung S2 it seems not to charge. I need some help on how to charge it.

You can verify if your charger is faulty or not by installing Ampere app. If it not showing any in flow of mA after connecting, that means your charger is faulty. For the other way, you need to get your phone repaired.

i did download the app Ampere and it was not connecting so i guess i have to go get it repaired. but i dont think its my charger i think it is my phone because i have used several different chargers and they work perfectly for my family. do you know what else i can do?