text:
Troubleshooting google maps history
Google maps history worked perfectly with my old phone.
Now I have a new one and maps history worked for the first few days, then it started to behave randomly: when it works the data is correct, but most of the time it does not track anything.
If I open maps and use the gps it finds my position immediately, but even doing so the tracking is not triggered.
I already tried to deactivate and reactivate it and google play services, as well as clear the cache both for maps and play services.
I checked battery optimization and set maps and google play services to manual mode, setting them in the most active status possible.
It seems that if I restart the phone for a few hours the tracking is correct, then it stops.
I already contacted the phone manufacturer (Huawei) and made all the suggested steps (clear cache) I did not perform the factory reset that they suggested as last resort because the phone has less than 2 weeks.
I think that some battery optimization on the phone (p20 PRO) kills some process needed for maps history, that's why restarting the phone fixes the problem for a few hours.
Can you suggest me some further troubleshoot step?
I also considered to use tasker to force the execution of some process in order to keep alive the needed services but I would need some advice about what to call to keep alive the history.

I noticed a similar behaviour, and wondered if it was a change of precision coming from Maps itself, since now I mostly see my start point and arrival.  Did you get any solution?


text:
ADB: Phone is not recognised but Ubuntu 18.04 recognises it
My LG G3 phone (phone is rooted; OS is Android Fulmics) is recognised by my laptop when I plug it in. The laptop is running Ubuntu 18.04 and I can easily copy data from and to my phone.
I have recently installed the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) (sudo apt-get install android-tools-adb). Then, I wanted to reach my device and typed adb devices.
When functioning properly, it should return something like this:
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *
List of devices attached
5200d6fd904b2200    device

But when I tried it, it returned this:
List of devices attached
* daemon not running. starting it now on port 5037 *
* daemon started successfully *

So, List of devices attached appeared first and no device was listed.
When I type adb devices again, I get this:
List of devices attached

I have also tried to use sudo adb devices instead of adb devices but the results were the same.
When the ADB would work, I would try to use it for data recovery purposes as described here. Maybe the pull command can do what I want.

Have you checked with the solutions on How do I get my device detected by ADB on Linux? and ADB on Ubuntu does not recognize Nexus 4? Pointer: UDev rules, adb.ini.

Screenshot. “Entwickleroptionen” = “Developer options”, “USB-Debugging-Autorisierungen widerrufen” = “Revoke USB debugging authorisations”, “Debugging-App festlegen: Keine Debugging-App festgelegt” = “Set debugging app: No debugging app set”, “Auf Debugger warten” = “Waiting for debugger”.

According to the screenshot, USB debugging is turned off. Without that turned on, ADB cannot see the device.

But how can I turn it on? It seems to be impossible.

Does the toggle not work? Then I'd recommend making that the question (ask a new one along the lines of "cannot turn on USB debugging"). Sounds like a bug to me, though, if that toggle is really grayed out / deactivated.

This has helped me a lot. I hope I can figure out the rest now.

Oy… Sure one has to activate USB debugging before plugging the cable in. That was too obvious for me to think it might be the issue. Glad your problem solved that easy – and thanks for self-answering!

This has solved my problem. I could not turn on USB debugging because the phone was connected to my computer. You have to unplug the phone first, start the USB debugging and plug it back in. Then, adb devices worked.

For one plus 6 I had to switch off developer mode
-> connect USB  to phone
-> switch on developer mode
-> switch on debugging mode
-> a prompt appears to allow pc to connect
-> select yes

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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I need help identifying a feature
I have been using an app called Foodpanda that is able to show a button on top of other apps and, on the home screen.
It makes this little button which I have marked in the screenshots below with an arrow. Observations:

The app does not have any special permissions
The button appears only when a support chat is active on the app
The button takes me into that view and disappears when that view is active.
The button cannot be hidden if there is a chat active in the background.

What is this feature/functionality called? Is there a way to disallow it?

I found out that the feature is Draw over other apps. Funnily, this is not a permission that needs to be granted.
I've confirmed this. When I disable that permission, the app cannot draw that button.
Also, it is a long way down from the other permissions.

Another interesting thing I found is that it cannot show anything on the permission screens- both the general permission and the advanced one for drawing on other apps.

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


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how can i access All application which is using INTERNET in Android
i want to access all application which is using Internet at the background of our mobile phone kindly help me how to find applications which is running on Internet at background.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Your question is somewhat unclear. What do you want to achieve? What do you mean by "access"? Something like you find in Settings › Data Usage (where foreground and background usage is listed explicitly)?

It can be found in Settings > Data Usage.
Below the data usage graph, you can see all the applications that have used Internet for the last month.
If you tap on an app, you can also see how much of its the data it used was in the background.


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Facing issues in gallery
I'm using one plus 6 and I'm facing issues with my gallery. If I save pictures from Facebook, Snapchat or any other app it doesn't show up in gallery. Only screenshots and camera pictures are showing
I've tried almost everything clearing cache, uninstalling installing apps, force stop, .nomedia (It wasn't there )

Did you check the storage permissions?

Is google photos detecting the media files?

When you say you "save pictures from Facebook", what are the actual steps you take? Please be specific.

The possible reasons are :

The app is built in a way that it only reads media files from some directories like DCIM>CAMERA, Pictures>Screenshots, main directory, Internal>Videos etc. It will not read the media files from the folder named with the application names like WhatsApp, Facebook, Snapchat(some popular applications).
The Apps like Facebook, Snapchat will change the encoding of the image by reducing the size(still it may be in JPEG format). This encoding can't be read by the gallery apps.
Hidden files are also can't be detected by some gallery apps(saved media from popular apps are not hidden but all thumbnails are hidden).
Some apps give file names as a random character without file type like
dfasvssvd56 rather than dfasvssvd56.JPEG but may or may not be encoded differently. This will result in not detecting the image.


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How to disable sending all sensible information to the cloud?
Recently I found, that my Samsung Galaxy S7 was sending all my photos to Samsung without my explicit permission. I would like to ban any such activity from any application. Is it possible to do this centralized?

I can't search for dozens of allications, I need some centralized solution.

Sending all your photos to Samsung? Do you have an example/proof of this? It may be helpful to see if this is also occurring on other similar devices.

If you want to ban any such activity, you either need to turn off your Internet connection completely – or use a custom ROM without any proprietary components/apps. The behavior you describe for photos is known e.g. with "Google Photos" (which automatically backs them up to Google servers). You could check if there's a similar Samsung app, and disable it.

Yeah everyone with Samsung device just received your pictures. It is called backup if you don't want it just disable it in app that is responsible for that eg Google photos. And if you want to ban sharing any info to internet than get rid of all smartphones/smart devices and computers. Also terminate internet connection and you are good to go. Optionally you can build Faraday's cage around house or use portable one to bring with you everywhere.

@Izzy I need something less radical. Some application, which looks for it, some "antispy" tool or some cheklist document.

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје please don't There is no rational reason to send my pictures to Samsung by default, it is just spying and I need a tool to prevent it.

@Dims unfortunately there isn't anything "less radical" if you really want to prevent it completely. Many of those "spy apps" come pre-installed with the device and are deeply integrated with the system (so even "disabling" them doesn't prevent them from spying in the background). Root access provided you can certainly minimize the risk, but not disabling it completely. The companies behind this are "valuing" your privacy (i.e. they make money out of your private data).

It's not sending pictures to Samsung it's backup for god's sake. Look every app, every site you visit online collect your data deal with it or not, if you have Facebook or any Google app you shared everything already. So just disable that backup and enjoy.

Option One:
Turn off that specific app's ability to sync to the cloud.
Option Two:
Disable app
Option Three:
Disable internet connection for device
Option Four:
Get rid of all internet connected devices.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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How to turn off Hindi Language prediction in Google Chrome mobile?
When I search something in google, I get a suggestion from google about its meaning and details in Hindi Language. I don't know whether it is based on some geo location or something. I neither know Hindi nor wanted to learn it.
Is there some ways in which I could turn this feature off? I don't know why google is suggesting something to me which I don't even know.
What I have already done:

Went to My Account
Under Language and input , selected English ( UK ) and My mother tongue ( Malayalam )
Saved the preference.

Open google website. At the bottom you will see setting.
Go to setting / search setting / region setting / change it to United States. Then you will not get Hindi version.

Is this issue you face on the browser's site? Or app? You could always change the language from bottom...guess you've already tried this but wth hope your issue gets resolved soon

Please open Google app
Tap to more button (right)
Tab to settings
Tab to search language
Select or change your search language

Exuzme, I speaking English is weak .


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My android device doesn't show up when I do ADB Devices but DOES show up in my Chrome developer tools
Really not sure what's going on because it seems to be detected by chrome when I plug in but ADB doesn't know whats going on.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! We will need much more information to give good recommendations here. Please [edit] your question and include at least: The device you're using, Android version it is running, the OS on your computer, what steps you've been performing, whether USB debugging is turned on. Also check and update the tags you've used to match your issue (what got Chrome browser on Android to do with it?).

Since you've got Chrome Remote debugging working, just make sure that Chrome debugging isn't running when doing things with adb on the command line.
I believe that Chrome has its own version of adb-server so that would conflict with the one used by Android Studio/Android SDK tools.

Thanks this has annoyed me for years. I was randomly un/replugging my device until something worked. What seems to fix it: let ADB connect first, then adb devices finds it, then launch chrome://inspect. (Or, just close the Chrome inspector for a minute and let ADB figure it out, re-open Chrome)


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Is Wear OS the way to go for a programmable watch?
I had a hard time finding the right Stack Exchange site to post this on but here it is.
I have a Polar watch, the problem is its lack of customizability. I am therefore looking for a programmable watch that has GPS capabilities. This would let me take control of the watch's interface.
I have looked into Wear OS and it looks promising. I not sure however which watch is compatible with this OS...
I have found this watch Zeblaze THOR PRO. If I come to buy this watch, will I be able to program my own app and implement it on this watch?

All I can find about the device is that it is running Android 5.1 not Android Wear OS or Samsung Tizen. While you could program Android on that watch it would probably only have phone APIs. You may have better luck asking in one of the resources listed in Where can I ask questions that aren't Android Enthusiast questions?


text:
How to disconnect a Wifi connection instead of using "forget" connection
Suppose I want to disconnect to Wifi connection 'A' so that I can connect to Wifi connection 'B', how do I go into doing it without using the "Forget" connection for Wifi connection 'A'?

There is a simple way to achieve this.
we have two cases in our hands.
Case A: When The Wifi connection 'B' is already in the Remembered (Saved) List in your Device, then you have to just Open the Wifi -> Just Click on the Wifi Connection 'B' from the list. and it will automatically get connected to it.
Case B: When The Wifi connection 'B' isn't already in the Remembered(Saved) List in your Device, then Open the Wifi -> Just Click on the Wifi Connection 'B' from the list, and you will be asked for the password and then If the Signing process goes well. you are now connected to the Wifi connection 'B'.
Hope this helps you.
Izzy's note:  Whenever you connect to WiFi B while a connection to A is active, the latter connection will be cancelled (disconnected) automatically as there only can be one WiFi connection active.

Background: whenever you connect to WiFi B while a connection to A is active, the latter connection will be canceled (disconnected) automatically as there only can be one WiFi connection active.


text:
can't use instagram's 'boomerang'
I downloaded 'boomerang' and I pressed the button to take a video but then it said ' something went wrong please try again'. I have reinstalled this app, but still got this problem. I have also been having an issue with logging in to snapchat, here can't log in to Snapchat - Problem connecting to the server
would this be a problem? is there something wrong with my phone? should I consider factory resetting  my phone??

well I just factory resetted my device. didn't have much on it. home it works

For login to snapchat use VPN maybe your problem is fixed.


text:
How can i mount all partitions of harddisk in android x86?
i installed android-x86-4.2-20130228 as a live but does'nt read my partition of my hardisk
i tried with Paragon UFSD Root Mounter but not work good in 4.2.2 and  es explorateur does'nt read any partition

i think that you could mount your partition from your hard disk with the mount command.
Usually all partitions are avalaible in /dev/block/.
So you could check what is mounted by typing "mount" in a terminal emulator app or through adb (computer).
After that, u could comparring the partitions names with an ls -al /dev/block/ command.
After that u could have a better idea of wich partition name is your hard disk.
Usually, and depending on how you have connected your hard disk to your android-X86 (SD or USB or by other method(s)), the partition block have "mmc" is it name.
Finally, you could mount your partition with theses followed command:
mkdir /hard-disk-partition
mount -t FAT32 -o rw /dev/block/partitionname /hard-disk-partition

-t argument is used to define the partition filesystem
-o argument is used to define the access type

-r is for read only
-rw is for read and write
-rwx is for read, write, and execute
I think that -t and -o arguments are sufficients for your usage.
Ah, and before i forget, it's possible that you have to install an "all-in one toolbox" like Busybox or Toybox, because maybe that some applets commands aren't installed on your Android system (/system/bin and /system/xbin/), it will be usefull if u have to use commands like egrep, sed or awk for exemple.

When i use mkdir /hard-disk-partition it show me : mkdir failed for /hard-disk-partition, Read-only file system
and when i use mount -t FAT32 -o rw /dev/block/partitionname /hard-disk-partition
it show : mount : no such file or directory

For the first command output, it say that your system partition is mounted in read-only mode, because / is a part of the system partition. You could try to reboot in a custom recovery mode as twrp for exemple to be sure to be able to mount your partition, or u can create the new folder in /sdcard/.

I didn't find how can i install twrp in android x86

Have u a smartphone device with Android and x86 processor or it's an vm with android-x86 installed ? In case of the device, please say the manufacturer and the model.

i installed android x86 daul boot with windows

Peace be with you!
I have tried a lot search on Google and then at last I successfully done it.
Now I tell you how to do it.
Let's begin!
1)Open the terminal
2)Give following commands
su
mkdir /mnt/windows
ntfs-3g /dev/block/sdax mnt/windows
Note: x is the number of your drive which can be 1,2 or 3 etc.
3)Now open File manager named Super File Manager.
If you have not installed then install using the link below:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.superfilemanager.esexplorer.exfileexplorer
4)Go to settings, scroll down and check Root Explorer
5) Navigate back from the settings and there a tab will appear named /Root .Click this tab and find /mnt directory there.Open it and find folder named window within this directory.
Open it also and there you will find your ntfs drive of windows environment.
Tell me if any problem!


text:
How to always show the status bar?
All is in the title: I want to always show the status bar, even in fullscreen mode (basically, I want a deactivation of the fullscreen mode). Ideally, I would like to display it in portrait mode when I am holding my phone in landscape mode.
The reason is because I have a notch and I do not like it visually, so I would like to use it as a permanent status bar.
I searched on the Internet, in the play store, but I found nothing so far.
For information, I am using the oneplus 6 with android 9.
I read this question: Always Show Navigation Bar Nougat / Disable Immersive Mode but it is about an older version of android.
EDIT: the latest Android version (10) made it worse. Now this isn't even possible to keep the bar black.

https://9to5google.com/2018/03/07/how-to-simulate-display-cutout-notch-android-p-developer-preview-1-android-basics/ Is this settings helped you?

@RahulGopi This article explains how a developer can simulate a notch.

"I would like to display it in portrait mode when I am holding my phone in landscape mode." - that would require a massive rework of how the statusbar / notification panel works, since the panel will now have to come out from the side of the screen. As for disabling immersive mode permanently, I'm sure it can be achieved by moderately modifying Android source, but for a built ROM, if even Xposed can't get it done, then I guess there's no way out.

For information, there is no standard way to even keep the bar black on the current android version. For people like I who do not want to see the notch, the "Nacho Notch" is a good app!


text:
How to access the full file system in Android 7 and higher?
I am running Android Nougat x86.But in Android Nougat, one of the adverse changes is the inability to even view the files. They are invisible, apparently even to root app.
I already tried root explorer in the VM. But that failed. /storage/emulated appears as empty, despite there is a directory called /storage/emulated/0.
How do I show all files to the file managers?
Update: The terminal emulator in superuser mode actually shows these hidden files.

Use a different file manager, e.g Solid Explorer, Es File Explorer, Asus File Manager or Root Explorer.


text:
How to install TWRP after Magisk?
How to install TWRP after Magisk?
I have a OnePlus 6 running Oxygen OS 9.0 and I managed to install Magisk by obtaining the stock boot image and using the magisk manager app to patch it to include magisk, then I flashed the patched boot.img using fastboot and ADB.
The reason I did it this way is that every time I tried to boot with twrp.img in order to flash twrp.zip, I would run into a screen saying Qualcomm CrashDump Mode and TWRP wouldn't boot.
Now I want to install TWRP and I was wondering if there is any way of doing it by using Magisk, so I wouldn't have to boot twrp.img.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

There is different method from Android 9 and later.
For Android 9 and 10 devices, ensure to disable dm_verity by flashing an empty vbmeta before flashing magisk patched boot. Some devices most especially those using Unisoc chipset require that you generate your custom signed vbmeta.
Sorry, I don't know more but only this difference about Android 9 or newer.

Had a similar issue. The problem is that regular twrp (current version 3.2.3) does not work with Oxygen OS 9.0.
The solution is to use blu_spark twrp, which does work. You can find the download here:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/devdb/project/?id=27466#downloads
(twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.86_op6.img and twrp-3.2.3-x_blu_spark_v9.86_op6.zip)
linked to from the main Oxygen OS 9.0 oneplus 6 thread on xda-developers:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/official-oxygenos-5-1-5-ota-oneplus-6-t3794232


text:
How to identify I already own a paid app which is on a 100% discount offer period?
Google Play Store recently got updated in my device to v11.8.xx. I'm used to buying paid apps gone free (PAGF) [free for a limited time]. In v11.7.xx or earlier, if I bought a PAGF, the view used to change from image 1 to image 2, as shown below. In v11.7.xx, even if the offer period was over, or a new offer period emerged I would always used to get Image 2, which visually confirmed me that I already owned the app, and I needed not to install it.

However, in v11.8.xx, whether I had earlier bought the app or not, as long as there is an offer running on the app, I get the following image. The striked-down text below the Install button confuses me, because visually I can't get to know whether I already own this app or not.

Why is this a problem? Can I not just tap on that button and get along with it? Well, once in a while, yeah, I can do it. But. I'm habitual of going on a PAGF installation spree everyday (I use PAGF app and App Sales app to find such apps), and every extra click bothers me. It's more than the click. It is the confusion surrounding it.
How do I fix this?
I thought of going back to v11.7.xx but Play Store automatically updates me to latest version. I also tried setting immutable bit onto its APK (v11.7.xx) but it didn't work for me. I know, I can go to Account → Order History, but finding an app out of 100s of owned paid app is not efficient and is quite irritating too.
I'm using a stock and rooted Android 7.1.1 on a Nexus 6 with Xposed Framework.

In the PlayStore web site you can see a small green check mark on owned apps if you are on the page where multiple apps are displayed (e.g. as a result of a search engine). The PlayStore web site has an API that retrieves a list of all apps you own and then displays this check mark.

@Robert. Consider this case. I bought an app on 100% discount which is visible in my order history here. But when I use Play Store's search engine to find apps with similar name, the app does show up but that check mark of purchased is not listed against it. See this. I'm not sure why though. Is it because the app is still in offer period or is it a  caching issue? But the argument remains. It is confusing.

The screenshots are from the app. Try the PlayStore web site in a webbrowser instead  - preferred in desktop mode.

Yes, it works on the website.

@Firelord looks like caching issue. Saw that for one app (not marked purchased), cleaned cache, restarted and it shows up

I haven't paid attention to this aspect in previous versions of Play Store but with the current version I see no confusion
If you don't see offer period (as in your first screenshot) you can install or you own the app as you say

Discount offer not availed

Discount offer availed app installed and uninstalled

The strike through pricing is only shown for the duration of offer. See

  About sale price annotations
  Earn more revenue with the right monetization options

Here's an app that I bought on sale many months ago and it seems to have an indefinite offer period and it shows discounted price

Bottom line - ignore the strike through pricing. You are good as long as you don't see the offer duration notice


text:
When I click "enable secure and erase" in Find My device it says "request sent", but nothing happens
I'm trying to enable remote locking and wiping for a phone. When I go to https://www.google.com/android/find  and click on “enable secure and erase” then it says "request sent", but I see nothing on the phone, no notification.
The strange thing is I can ring the phone via the web interface, so it reaches the phone, but I cannot enable lock and wipe, because I get no notification on the phone after "request sent". Why can this be?

Is find my device enabled in device administrator apps? Search your settings for device administrator

@beeshyams  yes, find my device is in device administrators and enabled

Obvious but asking - is your phone connected to Internet?

@beeshyams yes. I mentioned in the question that pressing the "play sound" button on the web interface does make the phone ring and there is even a notification then on the phone saying "find my device found your device". So there is a connection from the web, ringing works, but pressing the "enable&secure" button does not bring up a notification on the phone.


text:
Access files or ADB on locked Galaxy S7 with broken screen
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930F that is fully functional with the exception of the screen and probably the capacitive buttons too.
All I really need to do is to access my files. As a minimum, I need to access the files in /storage, but it would be nice to get all the application data as well.
The phone has no custom recovery, only stock recovery and it isn't rooted; the worst part is that USB debugging is disabled. I also tried to enter my pin by plugging a keyboard and mouse to the phone via OTG, but neither device was recognised, and even if the mouse were recognised, I can't see anything on the screen.
How would I access the ADB, turn USB debugging on, remove the pin, or at least get the files from the phone using only stock recovery?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you checked with our broken-screen tag-wiki already?

This is a tough one, and I cannot comment on your question as such since I do not have enough reputation for that, but here's a couple of suggestions that may help you; (Desperate measures call for desperate means.. These are 'longshots' but may be some of few possibilities?)
This is assuming that you do not want to just physically repair the device.
I'm only throwing this out here because I do not anticipate a simple, quick or easy solution/answer.

Borrow or get access to a similar device. Start from boot on both, run in parallel and try to get to USB Debugging or other 'endpoints'. For instance the PIN parts will be difficult. I'm assuming both that you know the PIN as well as the touch input for the screen works here.
You MAY be able to access the device with cable from PC without using ADB. You could try a terminal emulator like RealTerm to access the device as a virtual COM port and possibly use either the AT (ATtention) command set or other means to access the device, assuming you get a response on this level.
This would require a lot of facts digging if at all possible.
(Especially with this one I'd go for the repair option before spending all the time needed here which will probably end up with a fail.)

Thanks. The touch doesn't work, I've already tried to enter the pin using a screenshot of the unlock screen from google images and I don't get haptic feedback from touching the screen. Thanks for letting me know about the AT command set, I'll look into it.


text:
After flashing TWRP, device no longer boots
I just got a device running Android 7.1.1 (an BQ Aquaris X5 Plus to be precise). Fine device, and all – unlocking the bootloader was as easy as enabling bootloader unlock in settings, and running fastboot oem unlock. As I like complete backups and other features custom recoveries provide, I flashed twrp. Woked fine, could boot into it – but then, the device no longer boots up into Android itself – it simply gets stuck on the boot screen.
Things I've tried:

wiping /cache and /data (via TWRP's advanced wipe)
performing a factory reset via TWRP

No dice. What could that be, and how to solve the issue?

Searching the web gave me a clue: While before Android 7 one could easily flash a custom recovery without fearing side-effects, starting with Android 7 the system enforces DM Verity. That is, at a very early stage in the boot process, the system checks whether any partition was "tampered" with – which in my case meant the /recovery partition. As far as I could figure, in such a case a warning should be shown to the user and asked whether to continue anyway. In my case, there was no such thing.
So what to do to fix it? Actually, it is the boot image requiring a fix – namely, the verify option must be removed from the entries of affected partitions. The following options exist for this:

adb disable-verity is mentioned, but it isn't a good solution because it cannot be issued in TWRP and it requires the ROM to be a userdebug build or an engineering build (it doesn't work on user builds).
Manually disabling dm-verity in the boot.img describes how to modify the boot image (i.e. change the fstab file removing the verify option). That requires extracting the boot image, modifying it, repacking it, flashing it back. Can be done using SuperR's Kitchen – which is available for Linux, Mac and Windows. Should definitely work, but is quite a bit of work itself.
LazyFlasher offers a flashable ZIP (no-verity-opt-encrypt-6.0.zip) which should do the trick. Should be fine for those who want avoid to root their device for one reason or the other. It will disable forced encryption along.
Flashing SuperSU did the trick for me: SuperSU detected that DM-Verity was active, extracted the boot image, patched it accordingly, and flashed back the patched version – which then also includes SuperSU itself.

So after flashing SuperSU, the device booted up normally again – issue solved for me. You might chose one of the other approaches (feedback welcome then).
Note that these two (SuperSU and LazyFlasher) are just examples. As iBug correctly points out, "SuperSU is dead" – so you'd better use Magisk, which in this context does the same: flashing itself systemlessly and disabling DM-Verity.

SuperSU is dead. Flash Magisk instead. It also disables DM-verity.

Yes, sure. It just had issues on a custom Lineage build on another device. For me this was rather a proof-of-concept check; this weekend I planned to flash Lineage anyway, and that would have booted (unless I really broke something, which I doubted and now proofed). So you'd go Magisk even on Lineage, @iBug? I run it on another device (on a stock ROM), so I'm familiar with it. Still arguing with myself which to pick (SuperSU or Magisk). If it matters: It's LOS 14.1 (Nougat), LOS 15 is not yet ready for "gohan". I'll need Xposed, but that goes with both.

I flashed Lineage from 14.1 to 15.1 and I use Magisk all the time. It works perfectly well on Lineage.

Thanks, @iBug – did that yesterday, looks good so far. Updated my answer accordingly.

Wanted to submit another answer, but seems like this one is comprehensive enough that there could be little room for another one.

Thanks for the edit, @iBug – especially the details on adb disable-verity! I didn't try that one, so I couldn't tell ;)

In fact, that detail is available in adb help :)

@iBug I didn't check that either. At the moment I wish adb restore would work on my N device …


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Controlling phone and making calls remotely
I'm wondering if there's a way to connect to my phone via, say, ssh and be able to make calls and send texts remotely.
Use case would be for when I'm abroad but have internet, I'd be able to contact people without roaming and whatnot.

https://community.teamviewer.com/t5/Knowledge-Base/Connections-From-Mobile-to-Mobile-Devices/ta-p/280

If you have internet, why not using a SIP solution? Plenty of them available, usually providing calls and texts. And for the latter, there're also messengers. No need to remotely access a home device for that.

I suggest Teamviewer app for remote control


text:
Syncing Firefox Android downloads in Dropbox
I use an Android phone. I use Firefox and Chrome as browsers on it. I want to set the download location for Firefox to a location on Dropbox installed on my phone, such that all my downloads are directly synchronized to a folder which I can even access on my PC.
I am unable to do so. I have tried doing the instructions posted here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1028808
The other option is dropsync. Is there any option which doesnot involve using Dropsync?

The solution in the link worked on my Pixel 2 with Android 9, using a fresh install of Firefox 62.0.2. But it wasn't on my first attempt. It turned out I was too confident when entering the value of browser.download.dir.
Let's say I wanted to change the download folder from "Download" to "Music". So I put in the value /Music, since I thought I didn't need the help of a file manager to get the path of such a simple directory. But nothing happened. Files were still been downloaded to the "Download" directory.
When I actually used a file explorer (specifically, "Total Commander"), it turned out that the actual path to the "Music" directory was the oh-so-memorable /storage/emulated/0/Music. So when I changed browser.download.dir to that value, it worked.


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xt1527 in boot loop with usb debugging disabled
a couple days ago my xt1527 started acting weird. Gapps started to crash out of nowhere. Today, every app that I tried to open crashed 2 seconds after, so I turned my device off to reboot and see what happened. Well, nothing happened. First it was stuck in the motorola animation but then I turned it off and on again, and it got stuck in the motorola logo (before the animation) and I couldn't turn it off at that point cause it rebooted all the time. When the battery died I charged it for a while and then I was able to enter the recovery mod (actually I think it's the fastboot mode and from there you can access the recovery). I really don't know what to do because literally everything requires adb and hence usb debugging as well. I couldn't find anything to do that didn't require that, I have already downloaded the stock firmware in order to flash it with a script that I found in xda but it clearly didn't work (even though I had already used it with a moto g 1st gen that didn't have usb debugging enabled either). My question is: is there anything I can do to turn the phone on without enabling usb debugging? If not, is there any way to enable usb debugging without turning the phone on? Thanks

consider this device may be physical damaged because of emmc wear-out / end of write cycles


text:
Disable Bluetooth auto connect for specific devices
The info
Android version: 8.1.0
Phone: BQ Aquaris X Pro.
The phone ships with almost-stock Android. I am using Nova Launcher (not sure if important)
The situation
I have a Bluetooth headset on my motorbike's helmet wich supports both Bluetooth connection with the smartphone, and direct connection with another headset, but not simultaneously. So if I turn on my headset while my phone's Bluetooth is on, it connects automatically to my phone, before it connects to my partner's headset.
Until now, I was just fine disabling Bluetooth on my phone when needing to pair with another headset. But I just got an smartwatch, and every time I disable Bluetooth on my phone, when I enable it again, the watch connects to my phone and starts a painfully long a-gps updating process.
The question
How do I tell my phone not to connect to the headset automatically?

I recall there being a file somewhere within the kernel files or other data file within root directories where you can (with root, I assume) change the priority of devices through a numeric value.  You might have to go down a rabbit hole to find it, though, gl!

Unfortunately, there is no explicit setting "do not autoconnect" for a Bluetooth device (wish there were). However, there is a workaround (as mentioned in askvictor's answer):

In Settings, open the list of Bluetooth devices, and click on the cog icon next to a device.
The detail screen should show a list of all types of connections the device supports, such as "Phone calls", "Media audio" etc. (these represent the supported Bluetooth profiles).
Now disable all profiles.
The phone will no longer auto-connect to that device, though it will still remain paired.
The setting will persist even after restarting the phone or switching the other device on/off.

If you do want the phone to connect, open the list of Bluetooth devices, and tap on the device (not on the cog). It will then reconnect, with default profiles. This setting will also persist, use steps above to disable autoconnect again.
Tested on Android 12, but probably works on other versions, too.

In the Bluetooth settings for the headset, try selecting disconnect. This should disconnect it, until you connect again manually (I think). If that doesn't work, try switching off 'phone audio' in the Bluetooth settings for that device; but I'm not quite certain if you need to reenable that every time you want to use it.

It doesn't though. Whenever the bluetooth device gets powered on, android reconnects to it.

This answer has the right idea, but could need expansion. I added an answer that should work, thanks for pointing me in the right direction!


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If I have a phone contact and I sync my contacts to my google account then will the contact see my email address in his contacts?
If he has a google account too and I sync my contacts to my google account with his phone number then will google notice that we are in phone contact and therefore show my email contact to him in his contacts?
That is, does google reveal additional public information for connected people when it makes a connection between two people?

Yes, it does, especially if you or the other person uses Google Contacts app

Details for updating contacts and adding people are based on

Suggestions could come from a user’s Google profile, Maps, or a corporate directory when in an enterprise environment
Suggested contacts to add: You’ll now see suggestions to add contacts you frequently communicate with across Google’s products (Gmail for instance)

I have observed suggestions to add a Gmail address for a contact who corresponds with a different mail address with me.
Another source could be if you both linked Google + profiles


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How to stop getting sound of another phone call
have a Samsung G7 and am getting much problem with the call waiting...
I want to know if it is possible when am on already on a phone call and another person phones and the person with whom am taking is getting the sound of the another one phone call. Thus I want to know how to remove the sound when the another person is calling..

You can disable "knocking" at all – so that the second caller gets a "busy" signal, and you a "missed call" notification. If that's what you want, depending on your device the setting might be in the phone app:

open the phone app
tap the overflow icon (the 3 stapled dots in the upper right corner)
select Settings
chose Advanced Settings

There you should find the option. If it's not there, an USSD code can toggle that:

open the phone app
pretend you want to make a call to the number #43# (enter that code and tap the call button)

Now it should be turned off. If you want to turn it on again, use *43#, to check the status *#43#.

+1. Didn't know this and maybe carrier /device specific but I got a notification that says Call waiting disabled / enabled

@beeshyams on some devices I have the option in the dialer (up to MM). On my latest (Nougat) it's gone, hence the USSD codes. They work device independently.


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What does Smallest width in Developer settings mean?
I was stumbling upon the "Smallest width" settings. It seems increasing this value will make everything show up smaller on the screen and vice versa.
What does it mean and what's its function?

The propery smallest width is inversely proportional to the PPI setting (called ro.sf.lcd_density) that is specified in the file /system/build.prop. Meaning higher numbers for smallest width correspond to lower numbers for ro.sf.lcd_density.
The property ro.sf.lcd_density specifies the UI 'density': for lower numbers, it will render the same UI element using fewer pixels, making it smaller.
The upside of rendering the UI smaller is that it's just like using a higher resolution (or lower DPI setting) on a desktop computer: you have more space to put everything because smaller things means you can fit more of those things on your screen.
The downside is that the smaller UI makes it harder to read for people having difficulties reading small fonts or discerning small details.
Another downside is that your touches need to be very precise to hit the smaller UI elements. Unfortunately the resolution of the hardware touch-sensors doesn't scale along, so very precise touches are not that easy to achieve consistently, thus putting a lower limit to ro.sf.lcd_density for what you can comfortably use daily.

Here is the relevant excerpt from https://developer.android.com/training/multiscreen/screensizes.

The "smallest width" or "minimum width" screen size qualifier allows
you to provide alternative layouts for screens that have a minimum
width measured in density-independent pixels (dp or dip).
By describing the screen size as a measure of density-independent
pixels, Android allows you to create layouts that are designed for
very specific screen dimensions while avoiding any concerns you might
have about different pixel densities.
The smallest width qualifier specifies the smallest of the screen's
two sides, regardless of the device's current orientation, so it's a
simple way to specify the overall screen size available for your
layout.
Here's how other smallest width values correspond to typical screen
sizes:
320dp: a typical phone screen (240x320 ldpi, 320x480 mdpi, 480x800 hdpi, etc).
480dp: a large phone screen ~5" (480x800 mdpi).
600dp: a 7” tablet (600x1024 mdpi).
720dp: a 10” tablet (720x1280 mdpi, 800x1280 mdpi, etc).

Remember that all the figures for the smallest width qualifier are
density-independent pixels, because what matters is the amount of
screen space available after the system accounts for pixel density
(not the raw pixel resolution).


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gboard disable multilingual typing
I have just bought a nokia 7 plus and I can't disable the multilingual typing. I tried going into settings for gboard under "text corrections" but the option to enable/disable multilingual typing isn't even there. How can I disable it? Please help!

Go to settings for Gboard → languages ↠ English (or the language you are having trouble with) and deselect "Multilingual typing"


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Unpinning apps when using Gesture-based system navigation
I've recently acquired a Redmi Note 5, and I quite appreciate the gesture navigation. (Settings -> System & Device -> Full screen display -> Full screen gestures) However, I also like using app pinning when friends borrow my phones.
Traditionally, to unpin an app you have to hold Back and Overview at the same time. But in gesture mode, there is no navigation bar to press buttons in.
As it currently stands, I have to reboot the phone to unpin an app, which is impractical for various reasons.
Is there a way to unpin apps using gestures? (Or perhaps unpin with the fingerprint sensor or something like that, anything not involving the navigation bar. Or maybe even disabling gesture mode when an app is pinned)

Force-stopping the app or running am task lock stop works for unpinning any app. The problem is that I cannot use either of them without root access. As long as Android is rooted, you can use a Gesture control type app to setup a systemwide gesture, which when activated would kill the front-end app or run that command.

I am using a Huawei Mate 20 Pro, using gesture navigation, and I have found that to unpin an app you have to swipe from the side, as if you were going back, but hold it instead of releasing it. Then it will take you to the lock screen. Hope this helps.

Hey there! Thanks for the suggestions. Sadly in MIUI long-hold the back swipe only causes it to behave like long-pressing Overview, which would erstwhile swap to the previous active app.


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Airtel 4g network not working on certain apps
So I am using Vivo V7 on an airtel 4g data connection and every time I try to open apps like swiggy or foodpanda I get a message saying "there was a problem" "please try again later. However when I open these apps on a wifi they work fine. What is going wrong here??

It may cause due to of bad connection low signals or due to data roaming is off.
Steps to fix step:-

Go to settings and find cellular settings.
Open them and turn on data roaming.
Now change network mode 4G or LTE only depends to various device.
Save them turn of data if on.
Reboot your device.
Turn on data might fix it.
If above-mentioned didn't work go to step 3 and select 3G Only mode and perfom other steps same as mentioned

Simple: Go to APN settings and set APN protocol to IPV4 only from IPV4/IPV6 and save.


text:
Can I manually reattempt restoring SMS messages from backup?
I have a Nexus 5X updated to the latest Android version. I did a factory reset and chose to restore everything from backup. But my SMS messages are gone. I'm pretty sure the SMS backup was activated in the settings - after all, everything else got backed up and restored just fine. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there some manual way for me to reattempt the restore from backup?

I'll skip the basic parts where you know that a factory reset wipes the phone and address to what I believe to be the core of the question -

Is there some manual way for me to reattempt the restore from backup?

I'm not totally sure if you ended up with an upgraded version of Android (from what version to what) or if you 'chose to restore everything from backup'.
Depending on the details here you could face the issue where you, even if you have a backup of the SMS database it may not be directly usable by a different Android version.
The SMSes are stored in a sqlite database, typically a file called
mmssms.db. On my phone it is located at the following location (a typical one) - shown for me by this command on my Android;
find / -iname '*sms*.db' 2&>/dev/null
/data/data/com.google.android.gms/databases/icing_mmssms.db
/data/data/com.google.android.gms/databases/ipa_mmssms.db
/data/user/11/com.google.android.gms/databases/icing_mmssms.db
/data/user/11/com.google.android.gms/databases/ipa_mmssms.db
/data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
/data/user_de/11/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db
1|herolte:/data #

The key file here is
/data/user_de/0/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db

Even if you may not be able to use this db on your (possibly newer/different) Android, you can always see/extract the messages inside using a tool on a PC for instance. Search for 'sqlite browser'.
You will have to decide if you need assistance with handling the SQL tables/format, but it should be easy enough to browse read-only.
(And, of course, always back up stuff before trying out changes.) That you do have a backup is very positive.
You could also (less manually) search for tools/apps that possibly not only backs up the SMS'es, but perhaps are able to restore from your backup. Also in this case case may the key file in question be the file mentioned above.


text:
How to deal with dm-verity on a Samsung S7 Edge when installing a custom recovery like TWRP
I'm just starting to explore how to customize my Samsung S7 Edge and I'm interested in moving an application over to the system partition. It's currently running Android 8.0. I've been doing a lot of research on the process before I just dive in and I feel like I have a good understanding of the process using ODIN, installing TWRP for my particular device, and using TWRP to move the installed app into the system partition.
However, what I'm struggling to find detailed information on is dm-verity and if/how it would impact what I want to do. I know my device utilizes it, but the sources I'm reading boil things down to "download and install this file using ODIN" and provide a handy link to the file without talking about the file at all or otherwise explaining what is being changed. I struggle to find those sources trustworthy since the file details are completely unknown.
I'm assuming I'll need to circumvent dm-verity in order to utilize TWRP. Is this assumption correct and, if yes, what are the detailed steps to do so?

For a Galaxy S7 Edge it is possible to root Android 7, and 8. It just apparently takes an engineering bootloader to do so. And I don't even think it is a REAL ENG Bootloader.
I agree with you however, most people in the XDA community that releases anything for a newer-ish samsung device gives little to zero information about what it is their files are even doing to your device.
Like seriously. Chainfire quitted working on Samsung Devices, and now all the big whig samsung devs, WILL NOT divulge their information to other devs.
Because some of the big devs will never own my device, but I can't work on my device because other devs won't share their knowledge, "because if they aren't going to do it, then no one is", apparently.
I had a real eng firmware for the Galaxy Note 5. The same thing they used on the Galaxy S8, but all those same devs laughed at me, and then stole my idea.
I will say JRKRUSE has some good, legit files for you to use on XDA, just don't expect him to explain anything at all. He keeps all his information to himself. Kind of like the S8 devs. Always general information, nothing specific.
But so far TWRP hasn't been officially flashed to a USA Galaxy S7/Edge device. And I think it is because of TWRP itself being so configured for default AOSP Android and not Samsung Android.


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WhatsApp messenger
Can a number that hasn't been registered on WhatsApp appear on other people's WhatsApp contact list as registered and available?
A friend of mine uses two numbers, one of them is active on WhatsApp and as such the other wasn't. I then found out a couple of days ago that his other  number appeared on my WhatsApp chatable list which got me surprised. After I asked him about it, he said he never had the number registered. I know for one that if anyone, under normal circumstances, was to have a number registered there, an OTP  would be sent to the number which is to be used on it to verify or complete the process.

Please give your question a more suitable title. "WhatsApp messenger" is extremely general.

Can a number that hasn't been registered on WhatsApp appear on other people's WhatsApp contact list as registered and available?

No. If the number was never used in WhatsApp, it will not appear as registered.
It's possible that the person who had your friends number in the past, (phone numbers get recycled) made a WhatsApp account, and never deleted it, therefore it appears as if that number is registered to WhatsApp.


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Stream audio from a smartphone to another smartphone over a Hot-spot based network
The quandary is how! I want to play the audio from one phone to all other phones within the network (or even one of the phones). It is totally fine if I will have to download some application on all of the devices.
What I tried so far is BubbleUPnP. This did the job just fine (from my Huawei P20 Pro to my Y5 II), save that the interface is awful and the limitations arr endless of an amount--with maximum 16 songs in a playlist and maximum uptime of 30 minutes streaming per app launch.

After a couple of hours of additional research, I found the solution myself. From everything that I've tried, SoundSeeder (mobile application) seems to be the best. It's super advanced (including delay compensation).


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Google Maps "copy to clipboard" via share menu
Samsung S9+ user here.
On my old S6 I used to be able to enter a location in Google Maps, click the 'share' button, then click an option 'copy to clipboard.'  This would copy a goo.gl link to the clipboard that I could then easily paste into messages.
On the S9+ this is no longer available.  This is a problem.
I send anywhere from 50-100 text messages per day to my staff and each one has a Google Maps link... I can no longer just copy and paste this link, the only way I can do this is to 'share' the link via SMS to a random contact, cut the link, delete the excess text, then go to the staff SMS, and paste the link.  It doesn't sound like much, but over 50 messages it's A LOT of work.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Copy to clipboard option only appears if you have Google Drive installed. Alternatively, one can install "clipboard" apps available on Play Store for this purpose
Installing Google Drive fixed the problem as confirmed by OP


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IP Address changes when using SSHDroid
I want to transfer files wirelessly between my android phone and Linux computer (XUbuntu 18.04).  It works when I use SSHDroid as an SSH server on my phone and connect to it with sshfs to mount the phone's files as a disk on my computer.  But in order to create a script to regularly mount my phone as a disk, I have to enter the IP address of the phone in the options to sshfs.  The problem is that the IP address of my phone changes sometimes, so I have to keep changing the command to mount it every time.
Can I keep the IP address of my phone the same?  Or are there any other ideas to work around this problem?  I don't want to store my files in the cloud, I just want to sync them between my phone and computer.

Configure your wireless router's dhcp server to assign static IP to your phone (provide MAC address). Or when syncing data, create hotspot on phone and connect Linux machine to this access point. Phone will act as a router and will have a fixed IP (usually 192.168.43.1).

Thanks, assigning an IP address using my router worked.  (I would accept that as the answer, but I can't since it's a comment.)
A hotspot isn't an option for me because my computer doesn't have wifi, and anyway creating one requires turning off the phone's wifi connection.  (Sorry I wasn't that clear: when I said "transfer files wirelessly" I meant "transfer files without plugging my phone in with a wire".)

Two of the easy possible solutions:

Configure your wireless router's dhcp server to assign static IP to your phone (provide MAC address).
If you don't need internet connection when syncing data, create hotspot on phone and connect Linux machine to this access point. Phone will act as a router and will have a fixed IP (usually 192.168.43.1).

Related: Static IP Configuration


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Recover chrome tabs from tab_store0
I usually have a lot of tabs open in my android's Chrome. Today i've opened Chrome and instead of it loading all my tabs it just displayed a new blank tab.
I'm trying to recover them. Most of them were opened a long time ago (>1 year) so it is unpractical to scroll through history to find all of them again.
I've read on this post that i can try replacing tab_store0 for an old "tab####" file. Indeed in data/data/com.android.chrome/app_tabs/0 there was a tab2131 file that is 104kB so it probably holds my lost tabs.
The thing is that even after closing chrome (force stop/kill cached process) and renaming tab2131 to tab_store0whenever i open Chrome it displays just a single "new tab" and the 104kb file is gone. (I have a backup, of course)
Questions:

Is there any way i can make Chrome actually read my tabs from that file?
Is there a way to decode that file? I tried opening it but it is unreadable.

What i've tried to decode the file
I've seen in this post how can i export the list of open chrome tabs some commands. But i'm new to shell/bash and all this commands stuff so i'm a little bit lost.
after running LC_ALL=C grep -a -o 'http[[:print:]]*' tab_state0 on the adb shell i get no output and opening the file it is still unreadable.
This answer suggests a command to decode the file but i'm not sure how to ru nit. I saved it as a "tabScript.sh", put it on the same folder as the tab_state0 file and ran sh tabScript.shbut got a lot of errors
...
: not foundh[19]: while
: not foundh[19]: }
: not foundh[19]: do
 ,0()
: not foundh[19]: done
(repeats)
...

i've also tried the sed -i "s/.\{6\}http/\r\n\r\nhttp/g" tab_state command and it runs normally but the file is still unreadable

did you figure this out?

I found out after further inspection that my files were indeed corrupted.

And is it somehow possible to recover  chrome tabs (in my case closed by accident) from chrome data?


text:
Why are there 2 silent mode icons on this phone?

Why does this phone have 2 silent mode icons ??

I believe the other on is"Do not Disturb Icon"

The left one (a circle with a dash) is the icon for DND mode (Do Not Disturb), while the right one is in fact "silent incoming call".

Never was this feature on this phone b4. What does silent incoming call mean exactly????? Second phone line on one phone ??

Or does it mean certain calls are blocked??


text:
What are the technical reasons behind the difficulty in using an SD card with Android 4 or later?
When Android was new, you could easily put what you wanted on your SD card.  Pictures, apps, data, etc.
Progressing through Android 4, 5, and 6 (what I am familiar with), Google implemented various seemingly antifeatures to make things difficult for a user who wants to use the SD card for main, but still removable, storage.
What are the stated reasons behind this?  What problems are they trying to solve?  Why was this considered a good solution?
A great answer will have technical and nontechnical explanations.  For example, how do you explain to Aunt Suzie that she can't use that shiny 200GB SD Card she got on sale from Amazon?

A slightly old but good source for the current state Android storage is a series of blog posts, especially the one on Removable Storage made by Commonsware.

That's good info.  I'm not clear on you you linked to archived versions though.  The main website seems alive.

You forget that Google has implemented the "Adoptable storage" feature that allows to use an sd-card seamless like the internal storage. However the device manufacturer are removing this feature to sell devices with more storage.

@robert that was implied when I said "...who wants to use the SD card for main, but still removable, storage."  That feature formats the SD card in such a way that you can't pop it out and read it in an SD card reader to get to the files.

When I posted my comment, Commonsware's site was down, now site is live again. He did write a set of updates to the earlier blog posts in the series: The Storage Situation: Internal Storage, External Storage,Removable Storage His blog is geared toward developers.


text:
How to disable "Verify HUAWEI ID" notification?
How to get rid of this reminder if I do not have any HUAWEI ID, and have not ever used HUAWEI cloud?

Device: HUAWEI P20 EML-L29 8.1.0.164
EMUI: ⠀8.1.0
Kernel: 4.4.103+

If you go to Settings - Accounts, do you have a HUAWEI or Huawei Cloud account there? If so, have you tried deleting it?

I do not have any account on this phone. However, following the instructions from the answer by Vivdo got rid of this stupid notification immediately.

If you pull down the notification bar and slide the notification message to the right you can access the notification settings via the cog symbol.
Alternatively this notification comes from the Huawei 'Files' app, find it in apps and notifications and kill that app!.


text:
Permission Denied on injected /sbin Scripts
I have an android device.. and Honor View 10... L04 version (US).  I have a set of tweaks I am injecting into my kernels ramdisk, that all fire off without issue when I adb shell in and manually run them.
The issue I am finding, is when I setup the services to run in a *.rc file, I am getting a "Permission Denied" error on all of them.
12,8553,14938568,-;[pid:1,cpu7,init]KEVS LATE-INIT Tweaks Fired - Turned of ZRAM and Swapinit: starting service 'kev_swapoff'...
5,8559,14939392,-;[pid:379,cpu4,init]audit: type=1400 audit(1538398511.359:3): avc:  denied  { transition } for  pid=379 comm="init" path="/sbin/kev_swapoff" dev="rootfs" ino=3170 scontext=u:r:init:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:shell_exec:s0 tclass=process permissive=0
11,8560,14939422,-;[pid:379,cpu4,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_swapoff'): Permission denied
14,10535,16594177,-;[pid:1,cpu7,init]init: starting service 'kev_rib'...
14,10536,16594696,-;[pid:1,cpu7,init]init: starting service 'kev_wl'...
14,10537,16595275,-;[pid:1,cpu7,init]init: starting service 'kev_tweaks'...
14,10538,16595642,-;[pid:1,cpu7,init]init: starting service 'kev_initd'...
11,10562,16627655,-;[pid:651,cpu2,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_rib'): Permission denied
36,10565,16628234,-;[pid:426,cpu2,logd.auditd]type=1400 audit(1538398513.047:39): avc: denied { transition } for pid=651 comm="init" path="/root/kev_rib" dev="rootfs" ino=3171 scontext=u:r:init:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:shell_exec:s0 tclass=process permissive=0
11,10579,16643981,-;[pid:654,cpu2,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_initd'): Permission denied
11,10580,16644195,-;[pid:653,cpu7,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_tweaks'): Permission denied
11,10581,16644348,-;[pid:652,cpu0,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_wl'): Permission denied

My *.rc file contains:
# Kevp75s Tweaks
on early-init
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - Set Governor"
    write /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy0/scaling_governor "interactive"
    write /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpufreq/policy4/scaling_governor "interactive"

on boot
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - Set Governor Settings"
    # force system to be the owner
    # this section is too long to post here...

on late-init
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS LATE-INIT Tweaks Fired - Turned of ZRAM and Swap"
    start kev_swapoff

on property:sys.boot_completed=1
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - Cache Tweaks"
    write /sys/module/dm_bufio/parameters/max_cache_size_bytes 71061504
    write /sys/module/dm_bufio/parameters/peak_allocated_bytes 40079360
    write /sys/module/fuse/parameters/max_user_bgreq 1022
    write /sys/module/fuse/parameters/max_user_congthresh 1022
    write /proc/sys/vm/swappiness 0
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - Networking Tweaks"
    write /sys/kernel/ipv4/tcp_rmem_def 1048576
    write /sys/kernel/ipv4/tcp_rmem_max 2097120
    write /sys/kernel/ipv4/tcp_rmem_min 524288
    write /sys/kernel/ipv4/tcp_wmem_max 4194240
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - RIB Applied"
    start kev_rib
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - WL Applied"
    start kev_wl
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - TWEAKS Applied"
    start kev_tweaks
    write /dev/kmsg "KEVS Tweaks Fired - Init.d Started"
    start kev_initd

service kev_swapoff /sbin/kev_swapoff
    class main
    user root
    group shell
    oneshot
    seclabel u:object_r:shell_exec:s0

service kev_rib /sbin/kev_rib
    class main
    user root
    group shell
    seclabel u:object_r:shell_exec:s0

service kev_wl /sbin/kev_wl
    class main
    user root
    group shell
    seclabel u:object_r:shell_exec:s0

service kev_tweaks /sbin/kev_tweaks
    class main
    user root
    group shell
    seclabel u:object_r:shell_exec:s0

service kev_initd /sbin/kev_initd
    class main
    user root
    group shell
    oneshot
    seclabel u:object_r:shell_exec:s0

I am assuming my seclabels are incorrect, but I'm not 100% sure about that.
What can I do to fix this, so my scripts run properly?
UPDATE
Changerd the seclabel to seclabel u:r:init:s0, and now my error log changed... so I think I'm getting on the right track....
12,8545,16210571,-;[pid:1,cpu6,init]KEVS LATE-INIT Tweaks Fired - Turned of ZRAM and Swapinit: starting service 'kev_swapoff'...
11,8549,16211151,-;[pid:378,cpu7,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_swapoff'): Permission denied
14,10451,17738830,-;[pid:1,cpu5,init]init: starting service 'kev_rib'...
14,10453,17739257,-;[pid:1,cpu5,init]init: starting service 'kev_wl'...
14,10454,17739593,-;[pid:1,cpu5,init]init: starting service 'kev_tweaks'...
14,10455,17740356,-;[pid:1,cpu5,init]init: starting service 'kev_initd'...
11,10477,17763122,-;[pid:627,cpu2,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_initd'): Permission denied
11,10505,17765930,-;[pid:624,cpu2,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_rib'): Permission denied
11,10509,17775024,-;[pid:626,cpu2,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_tweaks'): Permission denied
11,10510,17775634,-;[pid:625,cpu2,init]init: cannot execve('/sbin/kev_wl'): Permission denied
14,10527,17795806,-;[pid:1,cpu4,init]init: Sending signal 9 to service 'kev_rib' (pid 624) process group...
14,10529,17796386,-;[pid:1,cpu4,init]init: Sending signal 9 to service 'kev_wl' (pid 625) process group...
14,10531,17822357,-;[pid:1,cpu4,init]init: Sending signal 9 to service 'kev_tweaks' (pid 626) process group...

Yes they seem to be due to SELinux context enforcement. Simple is to test after setting selinux permissive. Scripts should work then. To avoid SELinux denials in enforcing mode, you need to modify sepolicy using supolicy tool.

Stock kernel.   Wont be able to make it permissive... unfortunately, sources are broken as well, so the best I can do is modify the seperated ramdisk

I'm going to start playing around, probably later today...  going to see where this leads me: https://forum.xda-developers.com/apps/supersu/patching-sepolicy-issues-honor-emui8-0-t3732319

This can be helpful: https://su.chainfire.eu/#selinux-policies

aye.  hopefully Magisk has that as well.  Pretty sure Chainfire announce he's given up development :(

Yes but basic concepts remain same

yeah, none of the supolicy changers do anything but error out


text:
How can I get ViewRanger to keep recording my track on my tablet even when the cover is closed?
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 running Android 7.0 and have ViewRanger 9.0.6 (3rd September 2018 update) installed.  The tablet is in a (3rd party) cover.
ViewRanger has no problem showing me where I am as I wander around, but recently I've gotten interested in having it record my track.  However even in track recording mode it seems that as soon as I close the tablet's case ViewRanger stops tracking my position.  It'll re-find me again when I reopen the case, "Swipe screen to unlock" and enter my PIN to get back to the app... but it has no information on where I've been while the tablet has been closed up and ViewRanger will consequently just show a not very useful straight line between the points it knows about.  I'd like it to keep recording the track my position even when the device is closed up.
I've read ViewRanger's documentation here and here.
In ViewRanger's GPS settings I have "GPS Mode: Continuous" and "GPS Auto Disconnect: 30s" (although docs claim this is ignored while recording a track).
In the device settings, Location is ON with method "High accuracy" and in the Device Maintenance’s Battery section Viewranger is in the list of "Unmonitored apps" which won't be put to sleep.  Power saving mode is OFF.
I'm puzzled as apps like the BBC Radio Player seem to have no problems continuing to stream and play audio while the tablet is closed up.  What do I need to do to get ViewRanger to keep accurately record a track while the tablet is closed?
Bear in mind I'm pretty much an Android n00b.  Lots of desktop/laptop/server experience but mobile platforms are relatively new to me (and I'm probably missing something obvious).
Update:
I queried ViewRanger's support about this and got a swift response:

This will be some form of power saving setting on the tablet,
  affecting either ViewRanger or Location services.  The power saving
  varies quite a bit between devices, versions and manufacturers, which
  is why I can't be more specific than that.
Also check for any power / task management apps — these used to be a
  common problem, but are not so common now that manufacturers have
  power saving in their main Settings apps.

Investigations continue (although it's quite hard to research this one sitting indoors at a desk... after you change something you have to go out and walk around a bit to see if it's made a difference!)

I got track recording to work while the device is closed:
In the device Settings app, go to "Apps" and on the "..." menu select "Special Access" then "Optimize Battery Usage".  Use the drop-down to make "All Apps" visible and then switch OFF the slider next to ViewRanger.
Source for that is here; it's the manual for a different mapping app.  The page opens with

More and more users have been reporting issues with losing GPS signal
  during track recording when their device goes stand by...

and includes instructions on how to rectify the situation for various vendors and Android versions (the manufacturers all seem to have different ways of exposing this to the users).


text:
How to fix "Notification access is not available" on Android Go?
I have a TECNO Spark 2 running on Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition). Every time I try to install apps that require notification access, it says that the feature is not available.

How to fix it?

Currently, the only known solution is to revert to the full-fledged Android (may need root access).
There have been many reports regarding the issue:

I can't enable notifications icons badge on Moto E5 Play (November 2018)
Android go notification access issues (December 2018)
How do I enable notification access on Android Oreo Go edition? (March 2019)
AutoNotification Paid version, bought Android Go Edition that doesn't have Notification Access feature & have rooted phone, any ideas/workarounds to let AutoNotification to access notifications (June 2019)
Is it possible to enable notifications access on Android Oreo 8.1? (October 2019)
Android go notification access problem (December 2019)
Notification access not available on this device (December 2019)
Notification access - This feature is not available on this device (January 2020)
Notification access for apps not found how to fix it ...
Grant notification access via ADB & GRANT LAWNCHAIR NOTIFICATION ACCESS VIA ADB (March 2020)

Due to the restriction that is put on Android Go, the notification access is disabled (for more information: Why is the Android Go's performance better?)
The only known solution is to revert to the full-fledged Android: Disable Android Go?

There's a mention of successfully using App Ops to enable Display Over Other Apps which is also disabled feature on Android Go, though someone said that it didn't work for Notification Access. Your mileage may vary.


text:
LINE lite app - "All account information has been deleted as this account has been registered with the same phone number on another device"
I can't find a way to backup my chats on LINE lite. I understand there is a way to backup and restore LINE chats on the regular LINE...LINE lite though, i am not finding ANYTHING on. The methods discussed on this site and elsewhere (such as here, here and here) do not seem to be applicable with LINE lite because the file needed (Naver_line) is not present.
So what i've done is make a backup using Titanium Backup - my phone is rooted. To simulate what would happen if i later tried to restore it on another phone, i uninstalled LINE lite from my phone...clearing the cache and the data, as well as force closing the app before hitting uninstall.
I then installed it again from Google play and signed in using my email and password (same backed up  account). It then asked me to put in my number. I did that, entered the code i received through text, and logged in.
Then i went to Titanium Backup and restored only the data (3 options: App only - Data only - App+data). I go back to LINE and sure enough, my chats are all there just the way i backed them up. But seconds later, i get a pop up message saying "Sorry! All account information has been deleted as this account has been registered with the same phone number on another device" (even though its the same device - but thats not the point) and the only choice i'm given is to tap "ok".
I tap ok and i'm logged out. I have to then log in all over. When i log in, i don't see the chat. I repeat the processes with Titanium Backup, but the same thing happens. If i restore "app+data", i have to log in...and then the same thing.
Anyone has a solution for this? How can i backup and restore my chats on "LINE lite"?

Line lite app is associated with Android ID on your device.
In case you want to back up the line lite app and its data, also you will have to get the android ID from original phone.

Get the Android ID on ADB console with root account by typing the following command.
In this case, the "aabbccddeeff" is the Android ID of original phone.
# settings get secure android_id
aabbddcceeff

Backup all the data of line-lite (such as with the Titanium backup app + data and /sdcard/Android/data/com.linecorp.linelite directory) into your PC.
Modify the Android ID of target phone to original one.

How to change the android ID of target phone is as follows:

login the shell console with root account by ADB on target phone;
type the following command with Android ID that you get from original phone (for example aabbccddeeff);
# settings put secure android_id aabbccddeeff

reboot the target phone;
move all of the backed up data from your PC to the target phone ;
on the target phone, restore the line-line app + data by using Titanium backup app and /sdcard/Android/data/com.linecorp.linelite directory;
launch the Line Lite app on your target phone.

Now, you will see the chat history with line lite app on your target phone.
I think the  points are:

same Android ID is required both original phone and target phone
App+Data of line lite app by Titanium backup
/sdcard/Android/data/com.linecorp.linelite directory

I hope you will succeed in the backup and restore the all data (including chat history) of line lite.


text:
I need to turn my phone off through a computer. Help, please!
I need to turn my mobile device off through my PC and currently I can't access my mobile phone. My sensor was bugged, and any calls made via messenger, viber or whatsapp would mean my mobile's device turning black. If I could restart my device, or even just turn it off, the problem wouldn't persist. Please help!

Do the volume and power buttons still work?

@HEWhoDoesn'tKnow Yes, the power button and my volume button works, but unfortunately my phone can't be restarted just with those. Or can it? I really need to turn my phone off, help!!

It could, on some phones. What kind of phone do you have?

@HEWhoDoesn'tKnow Well, I have a "Oppo F3" and even when it was working, pressing my "Power Off" button would just display a "Swipe to power off" fucntion. Long pressing the power button would not result into anything specific, as it does in so many other devices. Virtually, there was no way I could restart my phone, cuase as it seems, there just isn't a restart function in my phone! I've tried many stuffs, but will I be able to power off my device? Help!!

Posted an answer @Craman

Force restart your phone

Firstly, unplug the charger if your phone is connected to a charger.
Press and hold both the Power and Volume Up buttons for at least 8 seconds, until the phone is turned on.

Remove the phone case if there is one to avoid phone buttons being stuck.

If you cannot force restart your phone, plug in your phone with the original charger and let it charge for up to 30 minutes, then try again.

Pictures, settings and paths might differ from those of your phone, but that do not affect the description in this article.

Reference Link


text:
Does my stepdaughter have a way to tell I'm using Find My Device?
Similar to this question for Apple, is there anything that my stepdaughter can look up or turn on that shows her I am currently checking her location using Find My Device such as notifications, a log, etc?

Yes, there is a notification that will appear when you locate the device.
WARNING: This could prevent other notifications from appearing.

To disable the notification, navigate to (Version 8.1.0, may be different on older versions)
Settings -> Apps & notifications -> See all X apps -> Google Play services
Under Other, disable Uncategorized

You should also be aware that there are applications that can fake the location of the phone, and that will effect Find My Device.

Is it the defaulted behavior to do so on the phone? Or do you have to enable the notification?

@pstatix The notification appearing is default behavior. As far as I am aware, there is no other way to disable the notification. I tried a few other ways, but nothing worked other than the remarks in my answer.

@pstatix if this answers your question, please mark it as such. If not, what more can I add to the answer for you to be satisfied?


text:
android oreo , /system, /data and /sdcard for media
I am in need of a new mobile and the new kid on the block is Android 8.0 .  From what little I could garner it seems there are three partitions by default which happen in an android phone. I come from unix/linux background so would be using comparison from a linux layout
/system = / (or root) where all applications/binaries will be installed . ext4
/data = (probably /home but not sure as that is unclear.) ext4
/sdcard = something akin to /home/$username or better yet /media but (fuse fileystem FAT32 or something equivalent.
I know that in android 6.0 users could copy and paste media/music etc. from their system to the mobile phone and back. This feature was taken away in 7.0 series. Is this back ?
Also can somebody share if my comparison is correct or incorrect. I am not sure exactly as to what /data is used for.
I don't see the concept of swap, does it take from / . I do know that most phones do come with RAM 8GB
 and en onwards
.

As you reference SD card, see my comments to a somewhat related question: What are the technical reasons behind the difficulty in using an SD card with Android 4 or later?

The root directory / is a concept that's found on Android as well. It is recreated anew during each boot, and hosts *.init.rc directives read by Android every time it boots.

The /system partition is something special: system binaries live under /system/bin and /system/xbin, so this is probably what made you compare this partition to /bin, but there's much more.
/system/app and /system/priv-app, for example, store the apps preloaded on your device by the OEM, while the /system/framework and /system/lib are core to Android, because they house .jar classes and .so libraries that are shared between apps.

The comparison between /data and /home is quite accurate but, once again, there are some differences. Here, you can find all sorts of things, from apps you installed yourself to a listing of the access points you connected to, along with their WPA keys in plaintext.
Of particular importance are: /data/app, which houses the .apk files of your installed apps; /data/data, which stores the apps' private data; /data/misc/wifi, where access point data can be found; /data/system, which is perhaps the most important of the bunch, as it houses the packages.xml file, in charge of keeping trace of every app and permission in your device.
Last but not least, we have /data/media/0, which is the real internal storage of the current user. This is the directory that gets isolated from the others via FUSE, making it akin to the /home/$username directory on Linux, as you noticed. There are a number of symlinks that point to this restricted directory, the most known being the ill-named /sdcard and /storage/emulated/0.
It's worth mentioning that the entirety of the directories I mentioned cannot be accessed without root permissions, aside from /sdcard and /storage/emulated/0.

To conclude, I'll spend a few words on the concepts of swap and data transfer.
Swap, as far as I know, is not a concept that belongs to Android; support for it, along with zRAM, can be added via the use of a customized kernel.
File transfer from a computer to an Android device has always been possible, if I remember correctly. Android uses the MTP interface to restrict the directories the computer can access, though, so you'll need the necessary backends. Moreover, only /sdcard and, optionally, an external SD card can be accessed.


text:
Android Venmo App - Top Friends Algorithm?
I'm a heavy venmo user and I'm wondering how they determine your so called "top people" when you start to make a payment. I see people I haven't sent money to in close to a year, people I'm not friends with anymore, and people I've exchanged probably a dollar with. Meanwhile, my roommates and girlfriend are so far down the list it's not even worth scrolling, so I just type their names every time.
I don't think it's by:

Most recent transactions
Amount of money exchanged
Largest single transaction
Likes or comments

That's just judging based on my personal knowledge of my friend list.


text:
Missing auto-rotate icon
About 6 days ago my auto-rotate function icon disappeared on my old cheap Moto E.
Is there somewhere in the menu structure which talks about auto-rotate? I just cannot see anything.
I have looked around online and short of downloading another app and switching on and off, have not seen anything relevant.
TIA Steve

This may help https://android.stackexchange.com/q/187678/131553

Thanks for the thought. Don't think it is exactly on point but, finally, I have found it.

Auto rotate IS there but in Accessibility - somewhere I had not thought of looking.
Inevitably found this on Google. I had tried a hundred different questions but finally found the right one,
Hopefully this will be useful for someone in the dim distant future.
If this fixes your problem please up vote.
(PS The presence or absence of icons depends on usage so it might go missing again but now you know where to find it I hope!)


text:
Menu button for very old apps in Android 7
I have Lenovo TAB4 10 Plus tablet with Android 7.1.1 and I'm unable to change settings for some very old application because of missing menu button for them.
In Android 5 there was floating menu button (with 3 vertical dots), and there was also a possibility (in general options of OS) to change the behavior of the task button - long press on it opened the application menu.
But now there is no floating menu, no possibility to change the behavior of task button (nor home button, nor back button).
I tried the long press / double tap on all three buttons (home, back, task) but without success.
Is there some way to display menu for such old applications?
Edit:
It's not a duplicate of the question
How does one use apps that place a menu on the system bar when the buttons are not in the screen?, because I tried using both answers in the question  but without a success - neither recommended procedures, nor the recommended application Menu Button helped me. The last one created the (new) menu button, but it opened Android settings, not the active application's menu.

Have you checked your device's settings? There might be a possibility to assign the "menu" action to one of your navigation keys. I e.g. did that for double-tapping the "home" key.

@izzy, thanks, but I wrote in my question that I already tried it.

Even nothing like that? I've just literally translated from my German settings – where it is the last item in the "device" section, after "user" and "motions" (and before "location"). Holds things for the nav-keys like duration of background light, how the on/off button or the volume keys should behave …

@izzy, I have different menu items - "Locations" is in the "Personal" section, "Memory",  "Battery", and "Users" are the last 3 menu items in the "Device" section. Thank your very much for your effort to help me, I think that I browsed all thing in Settings but found nothing similar to your advice.

Sad – but if it's not there it cannot be used of course. Cleaning up comments a bit then. Good luck then with a non-root solution (though I doubt there is one)!

This might help you: Xperia/AOSP NavBar Buttons. A pre requirement is root access and Xposed. I found only this alternative way for your device for the menu bar, but it might not worth.
Or try Custom Navigation Bar.

Is there something without need of rooted? Both your recommendation need rooted device and mine is not (and will not be).

2nd app Custom navigation bar doesn't required root so try it other xda will help you for sure.

From Custom Navigation Bar: "This requires a permission to be able to modify the navbar. You will need either root or a pc to grant it."  - I don't know how to grand that permision from PC. Do you know?

U want to root your device?

Did u give it permission from setting/Accessibility/custom navigation bar and turn switch on their to give permission to access it

I have not such option in Settings/Accessibility, nor in other section of Setting. Is there other possibility for grand that permission?

No, I don´t want to root my device.

Is their was menu button before in your device and i thought u could Grant permission with adb with pc but im not sure but will try to help u.


text:
Can't find SuperSU on Google Play
I rooted my phone with SuperSU ZIP, and I want to update the app, but I didn't find it on Google Play. I also tried manually creating this URL but it returns 404.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.supersu

What should I do?

As of October 1, 2018, SuperSU has been removed from Google Play. However its pro key (US$3.99) is still available.
The latest version of SuperSU is 2.82 SR5, you can find it on this XDA thread. However, as Android evolves, SuperSU is no longer the best choice for rooting. Instead Magisk is recommended for Android 5.0 or newer. SuperSU is still good for Android 4.4 or older systems.

@DeathMaskSalesman another point pro Magisk even on LOS is: when you have to flash the device again (e.g. a non-delta update), all your "systemless changes" to the system stay intact: root, the hosts file, "removed" apps… It's not just "systemless root", it's rather more even "systemless system", so to speak :) Plus, Magisk is still maintained while SuperSU is not. I've followed iBug's advice and flashed Magisk after flashing LOS to my new device. I'm not disappointed.

@iBug I have a last question to bug you with: since I run microG, there's a support library (MapsV1) distributed as flashable .zip I need to install, otherwise a particular app refuses to run. Is there some way to install this support library systemlessly?

@DeathMaskSalesman I think it doesn't matter if that package is flashed to system. If you really want it systemless maybe take a look here.

@iBug After a clean flash, Magisk works flawlessly. I had to change the kernel because the stock LOS one didn't have the mount namespace feature backported, but even MagiskHide does its job as advertised. Needless to say, your answer got an upvote. I'll start to flag obsolete comments for deletion now.


text:
TWRP Not Flashing Correctly on Note 3 (SM-N9005)
I'm trying to install the TWRP Recovery on my Note 3 SM-N9005 (which currently has stock ROM running Android 5.0) using Odin v3.13. I have downloaded the TWRP 3.2.3 (hlte) .tar from the official TWRP website and I have imported it on the AP section of Odin. Despite the fact that Odin says that everything went ok, when I'm going on the Recovery Menu, the stock recovery appears. I really don't know what I'm doing wrong, any advice would be helpful.

Solution by @beeshyams that worked in my case:

On Odin in the options tab; Uncheck the Auto Reboot option.
When Odin finishes the flashing procedure; use the suitable key combination to boot into TWRP Recovery Mode.
From the TWRP menu; boot into system.

Tip : In some cases, if a problem occurs try to flash an older version of TWRP
From TWRP

Note many devices will replace your custom recovery automatically during first boot. To prevent this, use your preferred search engine to find the proper key combo to enter recovery. After typing fastboot reboot, hold the key combo and boot to TWRP. Once TWRP is booted, TWRP will patch the stock ROM to prevent the stock ROM from replacing TWRP. If you don't follow this step, you will have to repeat the install.

Hope this solution help others too.

Tip, if it malfunctions at times, try using older versions of TWRP

Added all comments on the answer:)

+1. Thanks  and hope to see more contributions from you


text:
Does an adblocker defeat the tracking part of the ad module, or just the display of ads?
Related, but different than, these two questions, I'd like to know if the usual ad blockers on Android do anything to prevent user tracking from ad modules.  Those questions are several years old by now and things have changed substantially.
If I use Ad Block Plus (with no whitelist), AdAway, uBlock Origin within Firefox, or other popular ad blockers, do these do anything for the ad modules in the OS/APK from sending private data to the ad networks and/or app developer?
Presumably, a HOSTS based blocker would prevent at least some data exfiltration like this, but I'm not up to speed how the other blockers work.
If it matters, I'm currently using OctOS L, based on 5.1.
Tangentelly, on a desktop browser, there are tracking prevention tools like Disconnect, Ghostery, Privacy badger, and various cookie management mechanisms that I use in conjunction with an ad blocker.

@beeshyams OP mentioned AdAway. That's a root app which just manages the /system/etc/hosts file, and thus not "part of user tracking" (I use it myself). It doesn't check what hosts you connect to. So we need to differentiate here – as for AdblockPlus you might be right ;)

ABP blocks "intrusive ads", but doesn't let you decide what's intrusive and what's not (rumors have it that's decided by who pays them). uBlock is strongly recommended in Firefox. I use it, it works quite well. And the dev has a good reputation. uBlock uses a mix of host lists and "cosmetical filtering", like ABP ("element hiding"). But I'd trust uBlock 1.000 times more than ABP.

Oh, and I'd take my fingers off Ghostery. It's quite obvious they are able to track you, even the Firefox addon's settings are in the cloud and not local.

tl:dr;

Tracking can be done by an app without showing ads. By merely blocking ads you are not preventing tracking
Hosts based ad blocking is better than browser ad blocking, since it does not reveal PII (Also see Izzy's comments) Browser based adblockers can track as shown, so it is a privacy risk
To  prevent tracking , ad blocking needs to be in conjunction with other methods of plugging Privacy breach or PII breach. The only tool available is Xposed module XprivacyLua for Android 6.0 to 8.1. It is a successor of Xprivacy module that runs on earlier Android versions

I'd like to know if the usual ad blockers on Android do anything to prevent user tracking from ad modules

What is user tracking ? This needs to put in context first.  It can be anything that fingerprints an user  for instance (Also, see this article from Izzy's blog
Network Information

WiFi you are connected to (SSID)
Country network identifier, telecom operator you are connected to,

Device Information
Device information – Build Properties

Device build user,  build type, build time, build  tags, build serial, build radio, build manufacturer, build ID
Advertising Client ID
Google Services Framework (GSF) ID
In case of web browsing more information – see Browser leaks and Webkay
Analytics (Fabric/Crashlytics, Facebook app events, Firebase Analytics, Google Analytic, Mixpanel, Segment)

This list is illustrative and not exhaustive . For instance, SIM information, IMEI information, Sensors on the device etc may also be used. For more details on other  privacy elements see XprivacyLua Github
Now, coming to specifics in your question . As you rightly surmised Hosts file based ad blockers just do that, block access to listed domains and are more effective than browser based adblockers as you can see from iBug’s answer and Izzy’s comments
So if your primary aim is to block ads is the way to go compared to browser based plugins, which may leak PII information (It does leak in the case of Ad Block Plus, haven't tested others)
But the question to be asked is  Am I stopping being tracked? for which the answer is emphatic NO , unless you use tools in addition to prevent privacy breach and this is where XprivacyLua comes in

If I use Ad Block Plus (with no whitelist), AdAway, uBlock Origin within Firefox, or other popular ad blockers, do these do anything for the ad modules in the OS/APK from sending private data to the ad networks and/or app developer?

NO, in the case of Adblock plus
I am not discussing the relative merits partly because I haven’t used them all and partly because it is secondary to the thrust of my answer. However, I installed Ad Block Plus and restricted exposure of  elements that facilitate fingerprinting, as an example
Screenshot below shows the actual values and the values exposed to the outside world to prevent breach. For instance the first shows the operator information as 40445 (no secret here) and what is revealed is 00101 and the last shows while I am using a Xiaomi device , make is not revealed ( I have chosen specific portions of log (needs Pro version) which anyway don't reveal too much). So Adblock plus is revealing all your build properties!

(Click to enlarge)
In addition it is also revealing your Android ID, advertising ID, GSF ID as you can see from the notification

(Click to enlarge)
So, you set out to block ads and while doing that revealed information that can be used to fingerprint you :-(
To sum up you need a wholistic approach to guard your privacy and the best available for that is XprivacyLua
Please note that while this module is very powerful, it has certain limitations like restricting access only if the app uses Java Code and not native code or restricting tracking on browsing if Webview is used and not a browser like Chrome. That said, it’s the best weapon in the arsenal to protect privacy. In addition to the hooks (restrictions) provided by the developer others have contributed custom hooks and being open source you can write / modify your own hook. To top it, the developer is ever available and responsive on the XDA threads

Notes: If host-based blocking is in effect, no data flows to blocked hosts, also no PII. // "Yes, ABP" should be "No ABP" (question was if they prevent exposure). Agreed on "do not use ABP". I use AdAway on Android and uBlock Origin on the desktop (Firefox/Waterfox). The former just manages the hosts file, and the latter is recommended by a security expert I trust (Mike Kuketz). Readings on my site: What’s it all about those modules apps contain?, Android Identifiers.

It depends.
Some ad blockers block the display of the app, and ad blocker addons for browsers are mostly of this type.
Some other ad blockers, as noted by Izzy, alters your hosts file and blocks the connection between your local apps and the ad servers. This kind of blockers effectively disconnects your device from the ad services and usually disables ad modules from tracking you.
The one I like is Lucky Patcher. It disables ad-related Activities with pm disable, and fully stops relevant code from executing. This is, I believe, the most effective and safest way, since some ad providers may try to track you even if it can't connect to its server.

LP is discussed controversly, and it needs to patch the .apk files of apps. I prefer a combination of AdAway (which just modifies the /system/etc/hosts lists, redirecting bad-host-queries to localhost and thus effectively disconnecting related services) and XPrivacyLua (which disconnects/disables Analytics and prevents access to your PII); though the latter isn't supported on Android 5.1 (only 6+).

@Izzy LP has always been able to patch the .odex (.oat) files in addition to patching the APK directly, and you call pm disable as "patch the files"!?!?!?!?

Ah, so it seems to have improved in this context. My last use of it was years ago. Reading your answer again I see you mentioned pm disable for related activities (and no, of course that's not "patching APK files"). I just wasn't sure whether that's all. From "back then" I remember LP having produced patched APKs (just found those half a year ago on a cleanup session on my PC). But that long ago, I don't remember what actions have produced them. LP is quite feature rich ;)

Slightly off-topic, but I fear that places like XDA hate on Lucky Patcher needlessly, even if it can be used for legitimate patching when alternatives to it don't exist.

@DeathMaskSalesman I understand that. XDA is a forum for developers while the primary use of LP is to reduce developers' revenues, including but not limited to free iAP purchases and disabling ads. Ethically this is wrong but it's just as prevalent.

@iBug unless you remove license checking without having paid (or to obtain other paid features you haven't bought), I tend to say it's "digital self-defense" – especially the removal of trackers, where ads belong to (next to analytics). But, </OT> ;)

Which one of the myriad of domains is the Lucky Patcher that you're referring to?  BTW, such a name sounds shady AF, and sounds like it will exfiltrate your data back to the mainland #justSaying.  Are there other tools that do the same thing?

@YetAnotherRandomUser I've added link to Lucky Patcher's offivial site. Yeah, name is kinda funny, but this app is being supported for 7 years already. I think it's unlikely, developer is going to do something like that. Considering other tools, you may check my answer here https://android.stackexchange.com/a/205293/32571 about MyAndroidTools Pro