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Google Maps can't get my location
This seemed to just start happening recently but for some reason Google Maps can't get my location (just have a gray dot).  If I go into Settings -> Location and choose High accuracy or Device only then I will just get the gray dot.  If I change it to Battery saving I can get the blue dot but it's obviously not as accurate so I'd like it to use GPS.  At first I thought there was a problem with GPS with my phone so I downloaded a couple of GPS status apps and they were all able to get GPS signal immediately (even with poor conditions; e.g., indoors).  If I go to maps.google.com in my browser on my phone (either Chrome or Firefox) I get a blue dot.  I've also downloaded Waze and HERE Maps and they can get my location without problem.
In Google Maps app I can tap on the gray dot and I get a message saying it can't connect to Maps and I should try again in a few minutes.  There is also an option to report blue dot issues.  This has been happening for a couple weeks now and it's really frustrating as I use Google Maps all the time.
I was thinking that maybe there was some issue with Google Maps and Google Play services but I double checked and I have the latest versions of both (I'm on a stock non-rooted Nexus 5x).  Is it possible there is a bug in Google Maps that I seem to be the only one experiencing?  Any help narrowing this down would be greatly appreciated.

How long are you waiting for the location fix with the settings high accuracy or device only? If your other applications are using GPS only and getting a fix immediately indoors, this is probably not a new location fix, but a stored value.

I've waited quite a while.  At one point even let it sit for 30 minutes.  The other applications indicate they have live connections with multiple GPS satellites.

Exactly the same behavior, I detected this problem on my phone just yesterday. Several months ago I used Google Maps regularly with no problems. Maybe it has broken with some installed update.

Try installing GPS Status & Toolbox from the play store, no special permissions, it will tell you if your GPS is functioning correctly. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2

@acejavelin -- That's one of the GPS apps that I tried.  It shows GPS working just fine.  It seems to be an issue specific to Google Maps.

@JeffJones I assume you have gone to Settings-Apps-Maps-Permissions and verified that Location is enabled?

@peter -- I guess I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one with this issue.  Out of curiosity, what kind of phone do you have?

@acejavelin yes but thanks for checking on that.

Again, when setting location mode to battery saving it can lock on, but when using the other two modes it can't.  And other apps have no issue with getting my location (including those that directly use GPS).  So it seems to be a GPS issue specific to maps and the location permission isn't fine grained enough to only disallow GPS location.

@JeffJones Try turn off auto updates in Play Store and uninstall maps, it should revert to the stock version that came with the Nexus 5x, does it work? If not, try force closing then clearing data on the Maps application and reboot. If it does work, reinstall the latest version and test again.

@acejavelin Good idea.  I just tried it and it didn't fix the problem using the older version of Maps.  My guess is that there was an issue introduced in the latest Google Play Services that Google pushes out that only seems to effect Maps on a few phones I guess...

@JeffJones My phone is a Honor 3C. I use many softwares dependent on GPS (GPS Essentials, GPS Test, GPS Status, GPSLogger, MapFactor Navigator, even Google Maps in Chrome) and they all work well, just Google Maps and one another similar software, Czech Mapy.cz do not. The dot is grey in both softwares. I have noticed that sometimes it turns to blue, but only for a moment, less than a second or so. Peter.

@peter ah that is exactly what I see too.  Sometimes for a split second it turns blue.  This morning it was even blue for several seconds but then returned to the gray dot.  I also notice that when I switch to another app and then back to Maps it turns blue for a split second.  I think that something is not quite right in Play Services.

I have version 9.2.56 of Google Play Services for whatever that is worth.

I had the same problem; fixing it was as simple as enabling automatic date and time and automatic time zone.  Not sure what program turned those off but correcting that make the problem go away. (When I turn them off, the problem re-occurs.)

I was sure this was already enabled so I almost dismissed your answer.  But I double checked anyways and sure enough it wasn't enabled (like you, I have no idea why it was turned off).  Turning it on fixed it!  You may want to add a comment to that Google forum post that talks about this issue.  That might assist people there and hopefully get Google's attention to fix this (this is clearly a bug in Google Maps and/or Play Services).

Date and time. ....
Go to your device settings, Date and time. Check the automatic setting is on. If your device doesn't have auto setting for date and time, ensure your time is as accurate as possible. Should pop the blue dot up.
The Satellite connections seem to use this to assist your gps location. Without it, your position cannot be calculated and this will hamper route finding.
A recent update may have thrown this automatic date and time setting off. Curse 'em!


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Nexus 5 battery inaccurate
My Nexus 5 is very inaccurate with its battery life, it will usually die at about 90-85% but occasionally it goes to ~40% before dying. is there anyway for me to tell it "Hey! You have 0% battery, fix it!" and "Your battery isn't full yet, charge some more" without root?

Deleting my answer as it doesn't seem to match device

jut reakised theres a hidden logs thing...

nope, didnt work, just shows logs...

it shows like 5 logs with dates and 1 "Latest_Log"  when i hit the latest one and long press, nothing happens

i think im gonna close my post in a day or so if no one comes with ANY real ideas

That's your choice but expecting immediate workable solutions is wildly optimistic

There are a few things you can do. First wipe the cache partition. To do this, reboot your device into recovery mode, scroll to “Wipe Data/Factory reset” and click the “Wipe Cache Partition” option. The simple old-fashioned option to reset your battery is to let it drain completely, until it stops working. Then recharge till the point it's completely full. Repeat this a few times and this should re-calibrate the battery. If this does not work, it could just be that your battery is dying. The "your battery isn't full yet, charge some more" I do not recognize. This might suggest a faulty battery

Also, try another charger and see if you get the "your battery isn't full yet, charge some more" message still. If that doesn't help, try A PC as well.

found the issue, N5 batterys get "Mushy" and need replacement, replacing worked

Buying new battery worked, N5 batterys can get "Mushy" or "Swollen" so replacement is key.
Buying new batteries is easy off of amazon and theres a billion youtube tutorials.

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


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Google Messenger - Cannot search thread
My Google Messenger app will no longer let me search threads. One of the suggestions I found was to reinstall the app, but then I will lose the messages that I wanted to search.

Any recommendations?

I finally figured this out. Tldr: turn on permissions for services and google app.
Had to enable permission to contacts and sms for google services. Also would not work unless Google App had sms permission, but could turn this off after.

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If I can flash a ROM using adb or SP Flash Tool, is CWM (ClockWorkMod) Recovery really needed?
I have a general question about flashing ROMs and recovery. I've flashed stock ROM on my Asus Fonepad before using adb & fastboot when their last OTA update had issues. Similarly, I've used the SP Flash Tool too to backup and flash ROMs on my MTK6572 based mobile in the past.
However, I've been hearing a lot about CWM recovery. Of what use it really is? Is it just another flashing tool like the others?
edit
As explained in comments, I know what CWM Recovery is and is used for. I specifically want to know what extra benefit it offers that others like adb/fastboot and SP_Flash_Tool don't?

Possible duplicate of What is ClockworkMod Recovery and what is it for?

@bmdixon Actually not. I know what CWM Recovery is and is used for. I specifically want to know what extra benefit it offers that others like adb/fastboot and SP_Flash_Tool don't?

@PrahladYeri In the field of flashing something, one software generally equals another, as long as both are supported on a certain device. So, no, the CWM and TWRP are Recovery tools which are able to flash software, but that's not their main purpose.

Problem is, someone has to make the ROMs you want in SPFlashTool's format and sign it properly (?) for it to work. It also requires a PC by your side. Since it's restricted to MediaTek devices, people just go the universal route instead.

Rest of tools require a pc to flash but this CWM stays in your mobile and you can flash roms directly just using your own mobile.


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DiskUsage app showing system data using around 8GB out of the 24GB usable memory of my Phone [32GB internal]
I have used DiskUsage App. But in the grid, I get system data using around 8GB out of the 24GB usable memory of my Phone [32GB internal]
Application data is also mentioned separately. I can't figure out by what 8GB is being used. I have 32GB internal memory out of which OS has already utilized 8GB and now another 8GB is being used as System Data which does not include Applications installed and their data.
Please suggest? Not able to see what is occupied in that 8GB?

I'm not really sure this is an issue, as my Galaxy S6 running 6.0.1 has 8.04 GB taken up by system memory. This doesn't seem too high to me.

What do you mean by system memory, what does it store?
Yesterday my system data reached 8GB and today it's close to 9GB and it keeps on increasing every day, so one fine day all my internal memory would be gone
Here problem is there is already 8GB dedicated to OS and bloatwares. So the remaining 24GB out of 32GB is user usable memory,which means for users to store data or install apps. I don't have any data on my internal memory but installed few apps which utilizes 3GB including app data, but I can see only 12GB and this free space is decreasing and System data is increasing

Just going to chime in here that I also had this problem - "System Data" segment was consuming about 7.5GB of space on my 16GB Moto X. Often this can be caused by a rogue app that isn't cleaning up after itself.  I deleted almost everything extraneous I could think of and finally hit upon the solution (for this case, anyway).
In this case the culprit happened to be the default android Mail app when sync'd to an Exchange account. I was set up to sync only mail from the previous week, and indeed if you scrolled through the inbox only about a week of mail was there, but on a hunch I deleted the Exchange account and then re-made it. It synced up about a week of mail and otherwise seemed exactly the same as it was before but it freed up almost 5GB of storage space in System Data.
This is Android 6.0 - go figure that a core application would leak so badly.

So from this can I infer that system data should only take up agout 3GB?

@PaulMcCarthy For Android 6 (marshmallow), yes, about 3GB.  For newer or current Android versions the base disk space requirements are higher.  Note this question is five years old.

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Why is some application not supported by device with Intel processor
Pokemon Go is releasing today but sadly I saw somewhere in the Internet stating that Niantic has claimed that the app is not supported by devices with intel processor (in my case asus zenfone 5). So I wonder why the type of processor will be one of the factors determining whether the app is compatible for the device. Any help is appreciated. =)

Apart from portable Dalvik code, an app can provide precompiled libraries in a native format, compiled for a specific CPU architecture. Intels CPUs are all x86/x86_64 but some developers decide to only compile for arm/arm64 and leave users of devices with Intel CPUs with an imconpatible app (although there is a way to at least get those to work on Genymotion).

@GiantTree thanks for the explaination. But does that means that this is merely caused by compilation by developers? As I am a software engineering student I am interested in this matter and am worried if I had accidentally made my app uncompatible for certain devices just because the decision made during compilation.

It's also depending on the code/other libraries used. Depending on how the developers used native functions, some of them might not be available on x86. Sometimes the compilation for arm is already long enough, that a developer does not want to wait longer just because of x86. Also: Apart from the ZenFone, no major device uses x86, they all rely on arm.

@GiantTree sorry for disturbing you again but, is there any way for intel processor devices to run those apps which are incompatible to the processor like pokemon go? Will rooting do the work or any other suggestion?

You will need an ARM Translation package / libHoudini, but after some testing, the only way to get Pokemon Go working is to use an ARM image of the AVD. Neither Genymotion nor the x86 images work.

I also have Intel (ZF2). Didn't work for me either. After the Niantic logo, I just get a black screen. It works on my ARM Samsung, though :)

@Fiksdal yea same issue, the game is running without properly on my xperua z1. Hopefully new solution can be found or niantic can solve it asap for the sake of zenfone users

Note: This answer covers other apps than Pokémon Go, as Pokémon Go has been updated to work with x86 processors
Apps contain multiple architecture dependent and architecture independent parts:

Independent:

Dalvik code
Android resources
the Manifest

Dependent:

Libraries
Special assembly code in the Dalvik executable (rare but possible)

The major things are the libraries.
Those are shared objects (.so files) much like DLLs on Windows that contain bytecode.
They are compiled using the Android NDK (Native Development Kit) and are compiled for a specific architecture (like compiling Linux applications using a cross-compiler, ie. compile ARM code on an x86 machine).
In our example, this library can only be used in an ARM environment were the ARM bytecode is understood.
Some Android x86 devices (commercial phones/tablets, not the emulators) come with a special ARM Translation toolkit, aka. libhoudini. It basically translates ARM instructions to x86 instructions.
Those instructions however, are not optimized to run on x86 hardware and thus result in poor performance and high battery usage (the latter of those is one reason x86 is not primarily used in mobile processors).
The real problems are the developers:
Either:

They do not compile their libraries (often containing proprietary code) for any other architecture, for some reason.
They use specialized bytecode, only available on ARM so that any ARM Translator or libhoudini fails.

Luckily Pokémon Go received an update, allowing users of x86 devices to run the app, but other apps (mostly games) do require a real ARM device.


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Why are apps not loading anything after a while of use (Nexus 5 | 16GB)?
Well the title says it. It happens to most apps that need an internet connection.
(Instagram, Youtube, Play Store, Whatsapp etc.) The browser works fine though.
But for example when I'm looking at my Instagram feed, after a while nothing loads anymore. Like wifi turned off or something. Or on Youtube after watching a few videos If I click on another video it starts not/infinite loading.
The solution to this is reopening the app, but this can be annoying as you have to find where you were again.
I couldn't find anything on Google and never heard anybody experiencing the same.
Is it because of my phone ? My wifi ? (3/4 connection most of time | 60mb/s) I do think other people didn't have this in my house but I'm not sure.
Thanks in advance!
EDIT:
I now have the Nexus 5X (Same simcard) and I got the same problem.
EDIT:
I noticed reconnecting to the WiFi is a solution as well, but this is still annoying.

Try wiping the cache and data of that app in settings .

Wiping data is not a good recommendation here (and in general at least not without naming the consequences). OP already wrote "solution to this is reopening the app" – so data are obviously not the culprit.


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Stop syncronsing the contacts
I have bought moto g4 and I has the problem that even though I delete the contacts the are updated after some time

Option 1 - In your phone settings, visit the 'Accounts' section and disable syncing of contacts with the account(s) linked to your phone. Most probably Google accounts.
Option 2 - If that doesn't work, then when in your phone's address book, go to the settings and select which contacts you want to show in the address book.


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How to calibrate accelerometer sensor on Google Nexus 6P?
when building an application for Android, I've noticed that the rotation vector sensor gives readings that are off. The phone's rotation is reported a little bit tilted.
When investigating, I found that the accelerometer pointing along the x-axis is offset by approximately -0.02.
Here is a chart of the coordinate axis to help the issue:

Here is a picture of the measurements I took:

First, I assumed an device-specific hardware issue, but the issue is still present on a second replacement device.
Is this issue known? How could I calibrate the sensor to remove the offset?

You've got this too? I also noticed this when using Google Cardboard. It slowly moves away to a side, and after time it moved a whole circle.

The issue for cardboard is probably just gyro drift which is quite normal. With this issue, however, the horizon is tilted.

I have this too, and likewise it has persisted after getting a replacement device. It interferes with panoramas and photospheres, cardboard and the like. No idea on a fix. I think I'll do a second replacement.


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Compressing Torrents
So I am trying to download a torrent to my tablet, but it is 51.67 gb, which is HUMONGOUS. Any way to compress it and make it fit into my tablet?

Flagging as off topic since it seems to be asking for software recommendations. Although, it's asking about torrents as well, and I'm not sure if this goes against community guidelines or not.

Download it from computer, compress it & put it in your device..

On most torrent clients, you can select which files do you want to download. You can download some first, then do something to them to reduce the filesize (though audio/video file won't get better size because it's already compressed) or save it to external storage, then download the rest. Rinse and repeat.

No, you cannot compress files from torrents before they finish downloading. The torrent file contains a list of the blocks and their correct hashes. Your torrent client needs to download these blocks to the filesystem and check their hashes.
You are free to reencode or compress content once the torrent is downloaded, but this will not help you on a storage-constrained tablet.

Could I download it on my computer, compress it, then transfer it to my tablet?

@Kindler Yes, but it's simpler to move only some files in the torrent.

You could try raring or zipping the files into parts. But saving space is minimal. I guess you don't have an otg?

How are you going to rar the torrent before it has downloaded?


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Google Play Store stopped unexpectedly Samsung Galaxy II
While running the play store I am getting the message:

The application google play store(process com.android.vending)has stopped unexpectedly. please try again,

Force close is indicated in box below the message. I'm unable to
proceed further. I did try few tricks like clearing the data and cache
in play store, but the problem still persists.
My phone details: Android version 2.3.6, model Samsung Galaxy S II, Android 4G, Model no.SGH-T989., kernel 2.6.35.

you can  try to install an updated version of play store, it resolved my problem once.
here is a tutorial i wrote about play store issues  :
Solutions for the most major play store Problems

Try clearing App data for Google Play Store
Settings >> Apps >> Google Play Store >> Clear Data
And uninstall updates
Settings >> Apps >> Google Play Store >> Uninstall Updates
Then restart your phone


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WhatsApp is not initializing and not connecting
I restore my mobile and try to reinstall WhatsApp. It is not initializing, but I am getting notifications. In a pop-up, it shows "unable to connect".
I have cleared my data. My internet connection is very fast.
How to fix it?

I managed to resolve it by doing the following for my android phone:
It seems to be a contacts sync issue.
For my Android phone (Note 20 Ultra from Samsung), what I did was the following:

Unlinked my google account that had contacts

Uninstalled and reinstalled whatsapp (might have done this first before step 2 also)

Went into the phone's settings --> accounts and backup --> manage account --> Whatsapp --> then proceeded to 'unsync' my account

Went through the login process again and somehow it did not need verification or it autoverified or something (can't fully recall)

It started initialising again and I am logged in

Had to link back my account to google to sync back contacts thereafter and turn on the 'sync contacts' settings again

There might be some backend issue on whatsapps end that doesn't sync well with the phones contacts on android.
Searched multiple online forums and a few suggested that it might be the contacts settings thus I trialed and error regarding the various settings.
Hope this helps if you have future people who encountered the same issue (i see multiple people online expressing it)

Ensure that you have a fast and reliable internet connection.
If that doesn't solve the problem, try clearing App Data from Settings -> Apps -> WhatsApp Messenger -> Clear Data.

It doesn't work and it's still not connecting.

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Warning: [Video] Recording Failed
I recently got a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and was using it just fine. I imported all of my previous apps and app data and everything went smoothly.
Then, a few weeks later, I tried to record a video, and received the popup:
Warning: Recording Failed

This only happened with the video, and NOT with regular pictures (I could capture still images)
I've tried:

Taking out the microSD card
Formatting the SD card
Restarting the device
Clearing camera cache and data
Clearing system-wide cache partition
Factory data reset

Option 6) actually solved it, so I think it may be the cause of an app. What's going on?

The culprit is probably an app that accidentally doesn't release a critical lock.
In my case, it was the Cortana app that was causing the issue. It has a setting for the "Hey Cortana" hotword in the app, which requires that the application grab the microphone lock. It seems like the app, when quit, never released the lock, and so the camera couldn't have access to the microphone (and couldn't record)
If you don't have Cortana, try scouring your app list for apps that will obtain a lock for (and have the possibility of keeping it across runs):

Microphone
Camera
Storage

P.S. I've also heard that this issue can be caused by interference from Smart Stay, but I've never had issues with it

this is because some app is locking your mic or camera.  For example, if you have the Hue Disco app (which uses the mic to measure the music so that the Philips Hue lights can change) and then you try to load the Camera app to record a video, it will fail to record the video because the Hue Disco app is already using the mic.  You can't have 2 apps using the same microphone at the same time.

On my galaxy S8+, I had to set options to High Performance for the video recording to work

Where did you find this option? This answer could be helpful but right now it's not quite enough to help. Could you [edit] it to describe further?

This issue started happening to me after the June 2018 update. I'd restart the phone and for about a min, the video recording would work fine. Then suddenly stopped working. I have a microphone blocker app. I disabled that and recording started working again.

My new Galaxy S9+ worked great for the first two months then I also was unable to record video...still pictures only. I went into applications - permissions - microphone permissions - and turned ON and OFF microphone permissions on various apps.  Luckily, I quickly found an app that had microphone permission ON and when I turned it OFF I was once again able to record video. Hope this helps.

I was having the same issue, the issue was with Sd card I think. I open the settings>device maintenance>storage>sd card> options at the upper right end> unmount the sd card. After unmounting I waited a minute, then mount the sd card. I opened the camera app and start recording. This solves the problem for me.

Are you sure the problem is "solved"? Disk problems are transitory, and easily masked. If I didn't know for sure (no "I think" about it), I would only feel confident of the card if it was re-formatted for use, and then only with constant/paranoid review that any written files are fine, including immediate viewing where possible.


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Encryption on a rooted Canadian S5 (SM 900W8)
I am trying to encrypt my Canadian S5 and have high and low online for the multiple answers given to me on Google and XDA. I can't seem to do it either way.
What happens is when I run the encryption I get the screen saying encryption and then everything goes blank and nothing happens when it reboots (after a few seconds). How ever it will encrypt an SD card installed.
As I mentioned before I have looked everywhere and can't seem to solve the issue.
Thanks in advance.
Padraig.


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Grey circle background on app icons
I have a Samsung Galaxy S7 on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and I just looked at the home screen and some of my app icons have a grey circle around them.
Is there any meanings of this? Is it possible to turn it off while still using TouchWiz?

There's no meaning behind it, some launchers like perhaps your default Samsung launcher, try to add such backgrounds to the logos of apps, so that they all appear uniformly, like squares or circles. Try checking your launcher display settings if you can disable this or maybe try a different launcher that offers more control like Nova launcher.

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the site after asking the question, and no answers have score above 0). If anyone can evaluate the existing answers, feel free to vote accordingly and reopen the question (or mod-flag the question requesting for reopening). For anyone else having the same issue, please post a new question and refer to this question as additional context.

Not sure if this was fixed or not, but change the screen resolution and that should fix your icons.

Some launchers have an option called "Reshape legacy icons". Turn it off to remove the background.


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external SD card unmounted lost everything
I unmounted my SD card before resetting my phone when put baxk in nothing came up. No pictures or music. I have a Galaxy S3. Can I retrieve them some how?

Something similar happened to me and afterwards i found all my photos, videos, etc. were in a folder on the sd card called LOST.DIR. To make it more difficult unfortunately the file extensions were removed and the file names were meaningless e.g. 'holiday.mpeg' became '1g2h3j4k5'.
Check for this folder then copy it's contents to your laptop or whatever. You can see the file sizes and you know what you had on there so try something like adding a .mpeg extension to the large files and .jpeg to the smaller ones.
It took me some time to get them all back but in the end i got through it.


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Import Photos from Iphone to Android
I've been trying to access the wedding pictures I stored 5 years ago. I was an iPhone user, but now I'm using an LG K10 Android.
I know the photos were store on either iCloud Photos OR Photostream in my old iPhone. I don't know if I can import them to my Android phone. I do not have access to a PC with internet access. Can anyone help me?

We know you fell distress, but please don't spam caps.
To be able to help import the pictures we would need to know with certainty where are your photos stored, otherwise we would be be just making wild guesses...

The easiest way to get all your pictures from you iPhone to your LG is to use Google Photos. This does requires a gmail account. If you don't have one, its free to set up.
On your iPhone:

Download Google photos (if not installed already)
In the Google photos app, tap Menu (3 horizontal lines)
Select Settings then Backup and Sync
Switch it on
Allow permissions, if required

On your LG:

Download Google photos (if not installed already)
Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 for iPhone
Your pictures should be on your LG

Hope this helps!


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fastboot responds, except that it won't flash my recovery image
I have installed Cyanogenmod (v13) on a Xiaomi Redmi 2 phone. So, it all worked, but then I tried a manual update.
I booted into recovery (TWRP), and flashed the new cyanogenmod ZIP file; then flashed the gapps ZIP file. But when I rebooted, I found two problems:

the device won't finish booting (gets stuck)
recovery mode is gone. If I try to boot into recovery, the Mi logo stays there forever

So, I could get into fastboot mode. Then I tried using the fastboot tool from a Linux PC.
The device responds properly:
# fastboot devices
78768331    fastboot

# fastboot getvar version
version: 0.5
finished. total time: 0.003s

# fastboot oem unlock
...
OKAY [  0.003s]
finished. total time: 0.003s

# fastboot erase recovery
erasing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  0.041s]
finished. total time: 0.041s

But, when I try to flash a recovery image, it gets stuck:
# fastboot flash recovery cm-13.0-20160705-NIGHTLY-wt88047-recovery.img
target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes
sending 'recovery' (11136 KB)...

I have tried this from two computers:

from a notebook, when I plug the device it is correctly recognized as a USB 2.0 device (syslog says it's a EHCI device), but no data is transferred. After some time, the kernel reports that "task fastboot blocked for more than 120 seconds" and prints a stacktrace to syslog.
from a desktop computer (also Linux), the device is only recognized as OHCI (USB 1.0), and no data is transferred. But in this case, unlike the notebook, when it tries to transfer, the keyboard stops functioning (OHCI, I suppose).

I also tried a Windows flashing program for Xiaomi devices, which I ran on Virtualbox, but it didn't recognize my phone.
What else can I try?

Fastboot is so unpredictable, ouch. Try the following steps.

Check if your cable is the stock one. If not, at least make sure it supports file transfer in fastboot mode.
Check that USB drivers are installed properly
Try to rename the recovery file to just "recovery.img", I know it looks stupid, but it did the trick for me.

Finally,

* the device won't finish booting (gets stuck)
* recovery mode is gone. If I try to boot into recovery, the Mi logo stays there forever

yeah, obviously it doesn't boot, you erased the recovery partition.
Also, I think for fastboot flashing isn't really needed to erase the partition you are going to flash.

Thank you! It was the cable, and that's why the phone wasn't recognized as a USB 2.0 device. I could flash the recovery partition now, although it still won't boot (neither into the system nor into recovery) -- but that's a different question.

I deleted the old img files( that were used for flashing earlier) from adb and fastboot folder abd the error was rectified automatically…

The answer is completely irrelevant bro :)


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Booting into twrp unsuccessful
Followed the steps mentioned in
http://www.droidape.com/install-twrp-and-root-moto-g-2014-2nd-generation/
installed twrp successfully. But as  I try to get into the recovery the screen shows the android guy lying on its back(no command). Please help

After step 6,  boot into recovery using the options on your phone and from there boot into system. This may be the problem as stock recovery replaces custom recovery of you directly boot into system after flashing custom recovery

For more details see this, though the phone is different, principle is samehttps://twrp.me/devices/lgnexus5.html

Also,When TWRP starts up for the first time, you'll see a menu saying "Swipe to allow modifications or keep read only." Make sure to swipe the slider at the bottom of the screen here to make TWRP your permanent recovery, source http://nexus5.wonderhowto.com/forum/install-custom-recovery-your-nexus-device-without-rooting-0159035/

Moto devices with a stock ROM have a facility to replace the recovery with the stock image, TWRP handles this but you have to reboot into recovery once before starting the phone normally. Flash TWRP with fastboot and boot into it, allow changes (or first, say No, then do a backup!) then within TWRP do a Reboot -> Recovery, this will "set" the recovery so it will not be replaced.
fastboot boot twrp.img (replace twrp.img with the actual filename for your TWRP image)
TWRP should load. Do not allow changes and perform a full backup (keep this safe so you can restore to known good point if needed at some time). Once this is done, go to Home - Reboot - Bootloader
Flash TWRP with fastboot flash recovery twrp.img and then reboot into the bootloader with fastboot reboot-bootloader and start Recovery, TWRP should start.
In TWRP, allow changes and go to Reboot and select Recovery, the device should reboot and TWRP will start again. Select the option to allow changes, go to Reboot and select Recovery, this will "set" TWRP as the static recovery image.
You can now Reboot - System and the phone should start with TWRP left in place.

@NilabhraPatra Glad it worked for you, if this answer is acceptable, please mark it as the Accepted Answer, and upvote it if you like. That is how Q&A works here.


text:
How to know if an app has a background service that queries the gps and sends it to a server on the net?
How can i tell if an app has a background service that queries the gps and sends it to a server on the net?
For example i want to monitor get taxi app to see if while not in use it spies on the user....
If possible i would rather not use wireshark with a hub...

Well, the first step is to ascertain whether the app requests the ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION permission. Next, try inspecting with the netstat command line tool.

the app legitimately usesgps when active in foreground so of course it will have the permission.  question is how detect if it queries gps and sends it when not in foreground.  e. g.  once a week at midnight.

Not a perfect solution but you can check the battery usage of the application, on stock android, it will display the time it used the GPS, the data connection, the CPU & other stats since the last time you charged the phone.

In a time and age where huge companies just want to collect more and more data i think there should be a simple way to analyze apps and see they behave as expected - i am sure there is a solution (besides reverse engineering the dex byte code and reading the apps code which will probably consume much time and is infeasible for each update of each app)


text:
command to get current volume level
Is there any adb command to know the current volume level of android device?
I find this somewhere:
sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db "select * from system where name like '%volume%';"
but it's throwing following error:
Error: unable to open database "/data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db": unable to open database file

Is your device rooted? You have to be rooted to access the /data partition directly..

Yes, my device is rooted. I am able to do other tasks for which device is required to be rooted.

Ensure manually using a file explorer if there's a file named settings.db under /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/ directory..

No. it's not there. Neither I could find it using find command. Is there some other way to get volume level?

settings.db is removed since Marshmallow I guess. And also, this command seemed to work till JellyBean or something: settings get system volume_music. It returns some other irrelevant value now..

Use command adb shell dumpsys audio. It will list all the volume related information. e.g for alarm volume look for STREAM_ALARM in output logs.
- STREAM_ALARM:
    Muted: false
    Min: 0
    Max: 7
    Current: 2 (speaker): 7, 40000000 (default): 6
    Devices: speaker


text:
How to access contacts from lost phone?
I lost my phone and my sim card, but saved my previous contacts on my gmail account. How can I find them again.

It is totally unclear what you are asking for. Are your contacts not saved in gmail?

They should be located in https://contacts.google.com

Contacts stored on google will automatically be synced with any new android device you log into with your google account. You just have to head over to contacts to see them.
If you don't have an android device to login with, you could head over to Google Contacts page to view them. Google offers the option of exporting the contacts to view them on a computer offline. You could export them and open them in excel by clicking more on the left tabs then export>google csv format.
Note Since csv files are supported by Excel, you can just click on the file and open it in Excel. If however, you come across any problems in opening it, you can solve them by importing csv file into Excel. Choose the Data tab and the From Text option.After this, the Text Import Wizard will appear. It will lead you through several steps, one of which is choosing the type of delimiter. Once you’re finished, you’ll have a list of gmail contacts in your Excel document.


text:
.thumbnail file
.thumbnail file is occupying a lot of space in memory. I have very few pictures on the phone. Deleting doesn't work.
There were 2 previous questions regarding this which did not have a solution.
Have Android 5.0.

You can navigate to the DCIM Folder via any explorer app, generally the .thumbnail folder is  visible , if not then , tap on "Show hidden Files" from there you can delete the folder.

Deleted the thumbdata file (in DCIM/.thumbnails)
In Settings->Applications->All->Gallery: cleared data (only a few MB), (I would also have cleared the cache if there was anything there), then "Force stop"
In Settings->Applications->All->Media Storage: cleared data (only about 30MB), (I would also have cleared the cache if there was anything there), then "Force stop"
Restarted the phone

Original Source :  https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-delete-thumbnails-data-from-my-DCIM-folder-in-Android

Did not work. The file seems to have got deleted but the space is still occupied.

have u tried the below link !


text:
Phone won't boot and won't enter recovery, even after reflashing TWRP
I have a Xiaomi Redmi 2 phone on which I installed Cyanogenmod. So, after upgrading manually, the phone won't boot anymore (neither into recovery nor into the system). Only fastboot works. (Probably because whatever was in the recovery partition was lost).
So, I can get into fastboot mode, and the phone reacts correctly:
# fastboot devices
78768331    fastboot

# fastboot getvar version
version: 0.5
finished. total time: 0.003s

# fastboot oem unlock
...
OKAY [  0.003s]
finished. total time: 0.003s

# fastboot erase recovery
erasing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  0.041s]
finished. total time: 0.041s

Then I tried flashing a new TWRP recovery, that I just downloaded:
# fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.0.2-0-aries.img
target reported max download size of 268435456 bytes
sending 'recovery' (11136 KB)...
OKAY [  0.353s]
writing 'recovery'...
OKAY [  0.290s]
finished. total time: 0.642s

TWRP was the recovery I had installed before.
I also tried flashing the stock recovery, but it still won't boot.
What else can I try?
edit: I can boot a recovery image using fastboot boot recovery.img.

Have you tried flashing a stock recovery?

Couldn't find the stock recovery. It's a Redmi 2... Looks like Xiaomi doesn't make ROMs available. I'll keep searching

Ok -- I tried flashing the stock recovery, and it still didn't work.

So, I got it working again. The method was to not flash using fastboot.
I actually booted the recovery remotely with
fastboot boot recovery.img

Then flashed cyanogenmod (the system) and gapps from the external SD card.
On reboot, the system updated itself and it's working again.
And I can boot into cyanogen recovery mode (but not TWRP, as before).
Seems that it's fixed! :-)

Just saying, what happens if you flash TWRP after this? Also, accept this (your own) answer for sweet reputation :)

I did not try flashing TWRP again (afraid it's going to get stuck again)...

Can you access the phone using ADB while the phone is in recovery?
Also is it possible to set it back to stock rom?
That would be the first thing I would do and go from there


text:
Google Play Service 9.2.56 drains battery within 30minutes
Google Play Service 9.2.56 drains battery within 30minutes
With the new version of google play service it drains the battery of older devices instantly. It gets incredibly hot, barely touchable.
There are tons of threads appearing on the web. Some here
Google Groups
Github
The only solution so far is to completely uninstall the service. You can not use older version since it will auto update itself soon or later. It does not care about update restrictions.
I am using a Samsung Galaxy S2 4.0.3
Anyone got an idea on how to solve it without uninstalling?

Related - I am afraid there is no other way than uninstalling and reverting to earlier versions -though that would be a short lived relief

@beeshyams Hopefully there will be a patch soon.

My "solution" is freezing Google Play Services 9.2.56 with the disadvantage that some Apps relying on that service will not work anymore.
Restore to the previous 9.0.28 version does not solve the problem, because it will automatic be updated to 9.2.56.
I tried to find a way to contact the Android developer team at Google, no success.

 You will have to flash the whole Gapps(Google Apps) package of the same version. This happened to one of my friends.  He switched to a Custom ROM  and flashed the newest Gapps Package he could find. This is the only solution by now. Older devices have this problem because of the newer frameworks of the application. As you're using Android Ice Cream Sandwich which is a bit out-dated. Using a custom ROM will get you a newer flavour of Android such as Jelly Bean or KitKat
Google Play services have also had this issue in the past. You can use Greenify to hibernate the app (if you're rooted) but it will cause several apps to stop functioning.
 As of custom ROMs, Cyanogenmod is a good option to go with. Download the latest stable version and flash it in your device. You probably don't want to flash a nightly because it's not fully stable and have features that are in beta state.  You would have to root your device for this.
Some documentation about rooting Samsung Galaxy S2
Good Luck !!


text:
Android memory stuck
Once my phone froze and reboot by itself and then I notice all apps and every change i made went back in time :D. After few tries and reboots i decided to wipe all data it gave me this error:
-- mkdir /data/app/ fail. err is -1

I tried everything, even recording clean image by HDDRawCopy but it still goes back to this one state. I have no idea what I can do and what kind of magic is this. Do you know how to fix it or even what is it?

mkdir is a command that is intended to create a directory. The /data/app/ folder is an integral part of your android OS which practically stores all of your apps data. The fact that this command failed likely means your partition wasn't formatted appropriately as such the OS doesn't have permission to write to it. The only solution I'd advice is performing a factory reset/wipe data from recovery menu.Most android devices recovery menu are accessible through the following method

press the VOLUME UP + HOME + POWER buttons all the same time and
HOLD THEM DOWN
release only the POWER button when the device vibrates
release the other buttons when the ANDROID SYSTEM RECOVERY screen
appears
using the VOLUME DOWN / UP buttons to navigate, select WIPE CACHE
PARTITION
Then navigate to the wipe data/factory reset
For more information on different android partitions read here

I actually got this error on recovery, also I OVERWROTE whole memory, i found somebody else posted image of clean system so I kinda changed every bit of memory in the phone, but it seems it didn't work at all although the program said all succeded
EDIT: I don't know maybe it's some kind of virus that does it, but it's really weird that I can't even brick this phone, cause everything excluding external-memory keeps going to one state, although phone seems working, just freezes sometimes and reboots causing all data to go to "the state" ;)


text:
Memory almost filled by Android System and Google Application
I recently bought my first smartphone, a Sony Xperia T2 Ultra (D5303).
It has 8 Go of total memory space and I add a 16 Go SD Card.
Android System (5.1.1) takes 3.58 Go and Google/Android/Sony Applications take 4.19 Go.
There is less than 300 Mo of free space.
I always have a warning message that says that the memory is nearly full.
There is a lot of application that I never use (Google+, What's new, Docs), but I can't uninstall them nor move them to my SD card.
What can I do to have more free memory on the phone ?

Recommended approach without rooting:

Go to Settings › Apps and select the "All" tab
Pick the first "useless bloatware" in sight and tap its entry
Tap (in this order): Force-Stop, Clear Cache, Delete Data, Uninstall Updates (if any), Deactivate
Repeat for the other bloatware items.

What does this do?

force-stop: make sure the app doesn't continue to run and create new data/cache
clear cache: remove all cache files belonging to this app
delete data: remove all user- and configuration data the app might have
uninstall updates: if there are updates for system apps, those are installed in user-space. So removing them frees space you can use otherwise – plus is required if you want to …
disable: make the app unavailable. Though you cannot uninstall system apps, you can deactivate most of them. This ensures they don't clutter your GUI (all the app's icons on your home screen and in the app drawer will be hidden), the app should no longer start automatically (and create new data/cache), plus it should not be updated anymore

This won't entirely cure the issue (you cannot e.g. regain the space those apps use on the system partition), but should ease the effects. At least some space can be gained this way.
A little warning: If unsure what an app is for, better do not apply the above steps on it. Though the system shouldn't allow you to disable essential apps, better be safe than sorry.

Thanks for this advice. I did it for some applications and it freed enough memory to make the warning message disappear.

Here's a few tips:
 1. In Settings:Apps, you can move some applications to your SD card (Not all of them).
 2. You can also uninstall updates and clean data stored in the applications you don't use.

Uninstall updates is useless, because they automatically reinstall.

@Rodrigo not if you also disable them.

Disable them and your system becomes unstable in 3, 2, 1...

You can root your phone and use applications like Link 2 SD to move apps to SD card, this will free up some memory.

And void your warranty, right?


text:
Find lost Android tablet without SIM card
I lost my Nexus 7 Android tablet in February 2015. I noticed on Play Store settings that it was online on March 18, 2016. The device had my google account configured. So I guess Google logged an event when the device came online.
However I am unable to view the tablet anywhere else i.e., Android Device
Manager or Google's Timeline (which shows placed visited by me on the given days).
In fact my device still gets listed under the "Choose a Device" option on Play Store!
I want to check
1) Is there any Google tool which can help me find the device's location picked up on March 18, 2016
2) Could the device's settings have been erased by whoever found the tablet (I think you can erase all device data without logging in - is that correct?)
3) Is the device lost forever - any way I can find some details of the device?

You can use https://www.google.ca/android/devicemanager considering you account info is still on the device. and yes if you don't have a password set they can delete your data from the recovery.

As i had mentioned, device manager doesn't show the device. The only trace noticed is in Google Play Store Settings where the last accessed time is shown.


text:
Windows phone, Android OS
I made the mistake of getting a windows phone because the price was enticing. I want to run android O.S. if at all possible, being a working full time school full time person I'm looking to save money. Really I need the applications so I can interact with the rest of the world.

NO you can't based on the hardware and most windows phone are made by nokia which android doesn't support, if its been less then 2 weeks most phone providers will allow you to exchange your phone.


text:
How can't install a 338KB app when I have 474MB free?
I have a Motorola phone, with 8GB of internal memory.
To my surprise, in a few days, I had 474MB of free space, but couldn't install a 338KB app!! So, clearly the limit of ~25MB referred to in some comments (here and here) are not always the case. A user just told me the following:

Actually it's "25MB or 10% of the storage", whichever is hit first. So
  with e.g. 10 GB internal storage, it would hit you as soon as you drop
  below 1 GB free. Crazy, but that's what it is.

Actually, that's not correct, because I didn't have to free up 1GB of internal memory. But anyway, half a gigabyte is enough to run a full operational system. I've seen similar complaints of hundreds of MB not enough to install apps ~ 1MB or similar small operations (here and here).
What's wrong here?

I hate how there are some people who always want to protect the image of the powerful ones, no matter how bad it is. Could you please stop being so subservient?

All of the whining you seem to insist on shoveling onto the site is completely irrelevant noise. There are umpteen million places on the internet that you can go to complain about your personal peeves. This is not one of those places. We don't care about how you perceive that someone (or some company) has personally offended you, we just want the information that's relevant for answering your question.

ok mister bad-service defender.

Note: the quoted user was me. And here is the reference. To explain why it wasn't 10% in your case, here's an exception from behind the link: "As long as the device maker doesn't change the default settings". So those 10% are the default setting, but obviously can be altered by the "ROM baker". How often that is done I cannot tell; with that post being from 2011, the rule might even have changed meanwhile (though I didn't hear of that either).
So I just applied a little "Google-Fu": Android 4.1.1 still has the comment

If the free storage on device is less than a tunable threshold value (a secure settings parameter; default 10%) a low memory notification is displayed to alert the user."

(emphasis mine). Note the term "tunable threshold", which makes it obvious this threshold can be modified/adjusted. For Android 4.1.1 you can find it at line 67:
private static final int DEFAULT_THRESHOLD_PERCENTAGE = 10;

This is a class variable; but not being an Android dev myself, I cannot tell how it can be overwritten. It certainly will require system permissions (or just an app with the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission?). Quoting the latest code:
 * This class implements a service to monitor the amount of disk
 * storage space on the device.  If the free storage on device is less
 * than a tunable threshold value (a secure settings parameter;
 * default 10%) a low memory notification is displayed to alert the
 * user. If the user clicks on the low memory notification the
 * Application Manager application gets launched to let the user free
 * storage space.

You can see, the 10% rule is still there. But the DEFAULT_THRESHOLD_PERCENTAGE variable is gone (and replaced by mMemLowThreshold, which seems to be set in a different class now – see line 361).

TL;DR: The very same 10% threshold still applies, but the "ROM baker" (who creates the ROM) might adjust that. A developer with some more insight might be able to tell if it can be adjusted by other means, e.g. a special app with the WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS permission, or even simply via ADB.

Seems you entirely miss the point here: the problem is not that I was getting a message of low memory, but that I COULDN'T INSTALL an absurdly small app.

I once played a flight simulator by Silicon Graphics that fitted in a 1.44MB floppy disk. Just to give an idea of how LARGE 474MB are. If this is not an example of planned obsolescence, I don't know what it is.

You couldn't install that because the system decided you're running low on storage – which was why it sent you that message. Even if the APK would have been 1k, No is No. Remaining space is preserved to ensure the system won't completely run out of storage with its "daily business". A new check is performed usually twice a day or if available storage changed by at least 2 MB, if I remember the code right. So sorry, it's not me missing the point here. I'm aware this might sound unsatisfying – but you wanted the reasons, and I gave them (even pointing to a possible way out).

They could have displayed a message: "Installing this app may make your system slow, and even some operations and updates unavailable. Are you sure you want to continue? PS you will have the option to uninstall it later, returning the system to full operation." Or perhaps 474MB are necessary just to uninstall any app? Or maybe that message would be too complex for the usual "Homer Simpson" user? (But if the threshold can be changed by the user, so it's not THAT complex. Why not include a link for it with the message?) Or maybe it's just "soft planned obsolescence", who doesn't do it nowadays?

"Or maybe that message would be too complex for the usual "Homer Simpson" user?" Maybe they wanted to keep it simple, yeah. "But if the threshold can be changed by the user" Who said so? If that's the case, someone forgot to point out where and how :) As I wrote, according to the comments in the code (which no "average user" ever reads) there seems to be a possibility. Though I've never read how that could be approached by a user. And sorry, all the "why's" I don't know an answer for. Would have loved offering you a clearer "fix".

Note: I've posted a "follow up" you might wish to watch: How to adjust the threshold for the “storage low” event? I have no answer on that (or I had included it with my answer here) – but hopefully put it in a way one of our members with "deeper insights" might be able to answer it.


text:
How to root LG K7 (MS330)?
I have a cleaning program on my phone and one of the program functions is to optimize CPU.When I try this, it says I do not have root privileges.
How can I get root privileges on my android LG MS330 ?

I'm suggesting something similar to what @Gokul NC has suggested. I'm assuming you have a computer, so this is a better option with a higher chance of successfully rooting.
Access your computer, go to the browser, and download Kingo root from https://www.kingoapp.com. Once it's downloaded, install the program, connect your device, and you'll be given further instructions within the app.
I have tested this method more than 10 times, you should experience satisfying results.

Enable Developers Options on the device & allow Unknown Sources to install the non Play Store app.
Download Kingroot app (apk) & install it.
Run the app & click “Try to Root” button to start rooting process.
Wait until it’s done, and your phone might reboot.
Your device is now rooted..
Optional: You can replace KingUser app with SuperSU using SuperSU-me app

Source: XDA

Kingroot is spyware. DO NOT download it.


text:
How can I tell if someone is getting into my device remotely
I think someone is spying on me. How can I tell if someone read my messages for pink my phone calls or downloading pictures to their equipment or from cuz I have Android IP address pop up on my Google account every now and again that isn't mine

Have you used Android emulator once for a while? Did you notice any visible suspicious activities other than assuming if someone is spying you? Otherwise, change your Google account password first and observe the result.


text:
How dangerous is the fact that SELinux is in "Permissive" mode? What should I be wary of?
I have installed a certain ROM which comes with SELinux in "Permissive" mode. This is the only (good) ROM that properly fits my device and there is no way to change the state of SELinux.
Now I'm not really sure what are the consequences of such a decision and would be happy if someone could explain it to me (I have googled it and know what it is theoretically... just not in practice).
Said ROM has its root on "disabled" so the device is supposedly unrooted but how does that fits with the SELinux I'm not sure.

Are you positive that "there is no way to change the state of SELinux"? Did you try issuing setenforce 1 from terminal emulator (as root)?

Well, I'm going to research a little bit more about that, but yeah I'm pretty sure due to the ROMs creator instructions. I'm kinda a neophyte so I 'm not 100% sure why (still need to research) but the stated reason is the bootloader being locked... http://forum.xda-developers.com/amazon-fire/orig-development/rom-cm-12-1-2015-11-15-t3249416

TL;DR: Feel free to jump directly to the conclusion at the bottom if you like :) !
SELinux goal is to prevent privilege escalation by enforcing a mandatory policy which restricts possible actions from both unprivileged and privileged users.
The term "users" here also includes any process running on the device, no matter if it is directly related to the physical user actions (the human, you ;) ), since every process is running using some system "user" account.
Historically, permissions on Unix-based systems are handled using what is called a Discretionary Access Control (DAC) system. In this model:

Resources like files have owners who can define access rights on the resources they own: this allows them to decide whether a particular resource should be private (only the owner can access it) or if it should be shared with some other users.
On top of this you have the super-user (called root on Unix-based systems) which is the administrative user and has access to everything on the system. This account can be used interactively by a human (typically a system administrator) to maintain or repair the device, but usually this account will mostly be used by background or low level services which require such privilege level: device drivers, network configuration services, services needing to access files from every users or handling internal inter-users communication.

This is very nice and already provides a good security. However, what about circumstances such as these:

What would happen if a bug in a service running as root is found which would allow an attacker to trick such service into running some arbitrary code? Such attacker would gain a complete access to the device. To give some concrete examples, such bug could be triggered by sending specially crafted network configuration information (DHCP) or a MMS to the phone.
What would happen if some user does not protect private resources correctly? Then these resources could be maliciously accessed (read, maybe even modified or deleted) by other unprivileged users. This is typically what you have when a malicious application is running on your phone (no matter if you have been tricked into installing it, or if it came here by-itself by using a bug in another unprivileged application, a browser or mail client for instance), and this malicious application tries to directly access other applications data or storage locations (it can do so to access normally unreachable data or to install itself in several places in order to make its removal harder).

Here comes SELinux.
SELinux is a Mandatory Access Control (MAC) system. While in the previously described DAC system users were responsible of setting appropriate right on their own resources, with a MAC system a system-wide policy (provided with the operating system) is enforced to both privileged and unprivileged users.
This solves the two issues mentioned above in the following ways:

As I said, this policy also applies to privileged users. This means that, with a properly designed policy, a service designed to handle the device's network configuration will be unable to do anything else: it will have no access to SMS for instance, and a service handling SMS will have no access to the network configuration, and neither of them will have access to the user's data, despite the fact that both are running using the super-user account.
Android recently included a multi-user feature which is enforced by SELinux, preventing any user from accessing other user's data. But beyond that, SELinux policy is also responsible from describing permitted applications behavior, and most likely even if some resources are not properly protected using the DAC system SELinux will come at the rescue and still prevent the malicious application from directly access them.

The DAC and MAC systems are not mutually exclusive, on the contrary the MAC system (SELinux) acts as a second layer of defense behind the DAC system (the traditional Unix-like permissions). The job of SELinux is to block any activity contrary to the policy which, given only the DAC system, would otherwise be accepted.
The tricky thing is that such policy can be very complex to write: it must indeed cover every device's components for every possible usage in every situation. In fact, no matter if some action may be legitimate in your situation: if it is not in the policy, it is forbidden. Poorly designed policies can therefore have random consequences, like application crashes, unusable functionality, and so on.
That's why the first versions of Android shipping SELinux included it in "Permissive" mode by default. In this mode, SELinux will log policy violations, but it will not attempt to block the associated activity. By analyzing the resulting log files, it becomes possible to correct and enhance the policy up to the point when the only remaining policy violation are indeed malicious or undesired behaviors. At this point, SELinux can be turned into "Enforcing" mode: it will now not only log but also block every offending action.
Conclusion
SELinux is a mitigation technique. It does not prevent attackers from entering into your phone, but it ensures that once there they can do as few things as possible, ideally nothing useful thus removing any interest of attacking the phone in the first place.
The older the ROM, the larger the number of security bugs which would open such access. SELinux would be an efficient way to keep a minimum of safety despite these known vulnerabilities, however to function properly SELinux relies on a complex policy.
If your ROM is provided with SELinux in "Permissive" mode by default, this likely means that the policy it contains is not reliable enough to be safely switched into "Enforcing" mode.
If you are techie enough and have access to the phone log (dmesg at least, but usually they are also copied into logcat: there are applications allowing to see the latter one but depending on your Android version they may require root access), you can check if you find "avc" entries: these are messages telling you that SELinux has just detected an action going against the policy.
Here is an example of such entry taken from CyanogenMod's website:
type=AVC msg=audit(1363289005.532:184): avc: denied { read } for pid=29199 comm="Trace"
name="online" dev="sysfs" ino=30 scontext=staff_u:staff_r:googletalk_plugin_t
tcontext=system_u:object_r:sysfs_t tclass=file

If there is none, just a few of them or for any reason you think they may not keep you from using the phone, you may try to switch SELinux into "Enforcing" mode. In older CyanogenMod ROMs, this was easy and possible simply using an hidden option in the GUI (no need to root the phone or install any specific application), I don't know if other ROMs offered the same feature but since you used the CyanogenMod tag I suppose you may be lucky ;).

@j.d'oh: Comments are not for extended discussion, I've created a new chat room to try to address your questions.


text:
New CPU spinning problem
I have a number of phones, a few droid 3's running 2.3.4 and some samsung S2s running 4.0.4, that all at the same time started having the exact same problem last week.
They just started spinning cpu.
All the process monitors show android_system spinning 50% (burning up one core) and the only other evidence I can see it that it's coming from google play services, but I can't figure out what processing is causing the spinning. I'm sure the actually spinning is in system calls, but I can't figure out what process is doing the tight loop calling google play services to do a tight loop of system calls.
None of my phones are rooted, although if it would help me figure it out I might do it. Where to look? How to diagnose?
It happened to 4 of my phones all on separate accounts all at the same time so I have to assume it's happening to others as well.
I have removed and added the google account, spinning comes back.
I have factory reset the phone, as soon as the account restores, the spinning comes back.
I kinda need to tie my account to the phone or it's not much use.
I thought it might be the contacts sync because that was taking longer than usual, but one of the other phones is just a video server and has no contacts, so I can't see it being the contact data itself. I tried exporting and importing anyway, no help.
I'm getting desperate, the spinning kills the battery in a few hours making it kinda useless as a phone.
Anybody else see this? It can't just be me.
Help and thanks.
UPDATE:
For anybody else having this problem it definitely has something to do with syncing the account after it is added.
I factory wiped the phone again, created a new blank account and the CPU was fine.
Then I added my original account back and I was unable to turn off all the syncing stuff before it started doing it and then the CPU went through the roof again.
The problem is when the phone gets an account it seems to download a new google services app which has more options to sync which by default start out as on and then it syncs them and starts the problem.
The really odd thing is that turning off all syncing and rebooting does not get it into a good state, it starts spinning the CPU on boot even though nothing syncs, which means the first sync does some damage to the data that is messing up some part of account code I guess.
Is there any way to open an actual support ticket with google about stuff like this? I fear even if I were to buy a new phone the same thing would happen.
UPDATE 2:
If I go to app->google play services->clear data, the cpu spinning goes away for a few seconds, then google contact sync runs, spinning the cpu for a bit then it's back to google play services and android system spinning the cpu.
There are no accounts on the phone when I do this, but contact sync seems to be causing the problem.
UPDATE 3:
I think I finally narrowed it down somewhat. It must have been an update to the google play services app that broke everything.
When I removed the app the cpu spinning went away, of course everything else broke and I couldn't download apps or anything, but once I knew I could remove the google play services app without completely bricking the phone at least it became an option.
So I eventually found an older version of the apk on apkmirror.com (bless them) and installed it and then things worked for a few minutes.
But with all of their godly power, google mananged to install the latest version again behind my back and now its broken again.
so the problem is the google play services 9.2.56 update which came out june 27th which is around when my phone started going wonky and I'm probably hosed until they fix it or I can come up with a way to keep it from updating by itself.

Can you please explain  what's CPU spinning? Googling didn't help me..

It's when the the CPU is at 100% utiliziation. This rarely ever happens unless there's some really cpu intensive process running or there's some program going awry, which is the problem in this case.

You may have a x.yz Ghz processor in your phone or computer but it is rarely ever anywhere near 100% utilized.  Only server farms at the likes of facebook and google have a need to actually use their machines to near full capacity.

Oh, didn't know that name.. BTW, I remember having the same problem on my old Micromax Canvas A1. I just flashed a custom kernel & the issue never arose again..

So for anybody who starts suffering from high cpu usage starting June 27th 2016, it would appear the 9.2.56 version of google play services introduced this problem.
I have an "034" series device...
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/google-play-services/google-play-services-9-2-56-release/

explains what that means.
And that would appear to be the problem and I probably can't do anything but prey they fix it.

This is also a problem on the droid 3 running gingerbread 2.3.4 also a 034 series machine. Please help me spread the word to anybody you know at google who can help?

If that's the case, try Force Stopping the 'Google Play Services' and immediately note the CPU utilization to see if it's decreased, to ensure if that's causing the problem..

I did. If I uninstall google play services the problem goes away. If I install an older version of google play services it goes away until it auto updates itself. All I really need is a way to keep it from updating itself and I'll be fine.

You can't do that unless you're rooted

ahhh, there's a whole forum about my exact problem. thanks for point me to it.


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Moving apps to SD card?
How do I exactly move apps to the SD Card? I have already rooted my phone, but I still don't know what to do next. I did some research, but I ended up getting stuff like "Settings > Apps > [App] > Move to SD Card" but that button is nowhere to be found...

I forgot to ask.what device is your?which OS version are you running?

Good job rooting! Makes the process easier to explain.
First of all, take your SD card and backup all the data.
Then, partition it into two partitions - 1 half for regular usage. Format this as FAT. 2nd Half for the apps. Format this EXT2 format. I'm not too sure how to format on windows. I use the mac disk utility.
Then, insert the SD card back in and download Link2SD or Apps2SD. Load up the SD card. Link2SD will ask you to choose the partition for the apps. Here choose the EXT2 option. Once you've selected it (and rebooted your phone, which is required to load up the partition), you can link apps to SD card. Linking is just like moving and saves a lot of internal space.
Feel free to comment if you have any Qs.
Good Luck!

Thank you very much! :) Will report back once I try it out.

Okay, so I've created a second partition for my SD Card. I choose the EXT2 format for it. It all went fine for the partitioning part. I then downloaded Link2SD. But when I opened Link2SD, it prompted me to select the file system of my SD Card's second partition. I selected the EXT2 option and pressed "Ok". Then I got "Mount Script cannot be created. mount: No such device" Help please?

I forgot to ask, what device is yours? Which OS  version are you running? There's this app called busybox installer on the play store. Download that and install busybox, if you already haven't. You need that.

My device is a Lenovo A328 with an Android 4.4.2

What do I do once I install it?

Well, after you install busybox, and load up Link2SD , you should be able to mount the SD card partition. Have you tried with EXT2 again? If that still doesn't work, try other options.
If that still doesn't work, give Apps2SD a shot. It's actually better

I tried Apps2SD, it worked like a charm :D Thanks dude!

Glad to help :D


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How to turn off Opera Mini "discover"/"top stories" news feed?
I installed Opera Mini and was surprised at how slow it was to open. I figured out this was because it was automatically filling the home page with "Yahoo"-style random news headlines.
I couldn't find any way to turn this off. Long-pressing on the panel of headlines didn't give any "remove" option, the "Customise" button at the bottom of the feed didn't allow turning off the feed even when I deselected every type of story, and the only relevant thing I could see in the settings menus (Advanced > Feeds) was already set to disabled.
Searching online, all I could find was people on Opera forums being snarky at anyone who didn't want this feature, or, guides for different versions of Opera that don't apply to Opera Mini. Some sources say it's impossible. Is it?

There is an option under Settings, but it's tucked away under Advanced settings and the wording might not be intuitive to people unfamiliar with browser jargon:

In the popup settings menu from the Opera icon in the bottom right, (or menu button if you have one), choose Settings > Advanced > Start page content
Switch from Default to Speed Dial only

This turns off the news feed on the new tab home page.


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Reduce the icon size on an Android laptop running on Remix OS
I have recently dual booted Remix OS with Windows 10 on my Lenovo G580 and the problem is that the icons and the taskbar looks so big.
How to make them smaller?
Note- I am using UEFI mode

You can change the DPI.
When booting, press Tab or E to change the parameters of booting, and add
DPI=<Integer number>

In my case, I used 120 and got smaller icons, but you can try different numbers.


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Setting VPN when the built-in setting is absent/hidden
I know Android has native support for PPTP VPN, but I'm trying to set a custom PPTP VPN on an Android TV Box which has the setting hidden. Does anyone know if there's another way to enable this (without rooting)?
Any thought appreciated.

I am not so sure but try the apps : 'drony' or 'psiphon'. I personally use psiphon in my college. I recommend psiphon, its easy to operate upon.

These don't allow setting custom PPTP VPNs, right?

Like I said I don't know for sure but you can try 'Pshiphon or Drony' as they let you connect without having to root your device. They are small apps, look for it yourself :P

Did it solve your problem?

I've just tried both, but neither allows me to set a custom PPTP VPN server.

Well I am sorry then.


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What is Motorola Camera app's Photo naming convention?
The Images are saved as IMG_yyyyMMdd_kkmmssSSS.jpg
Here, the yyyyMMdd part in filenames matches the first half of the photo's EXIFDate/Time data.
Can anyone please help me out with figuring out the rest of the file name and how can I extract this from the photo's EXIF data?

Just curious, where did you get the info about the filename format?

@AndrewT. I decompiled the apk.

The format follows the pattern used in DateFormat class from Java/Android. It's:

IMG: constant prefix for Images
yyyyMMdd: date

years (4-digit)
months (2-digit)
days (2-digit)

kkmmssSSS: time

hours (2-digit in 24-hour format, from 1-24)
minutes (2-digit)
seconds (2-digit)
milliseconds (3-digit)

Thanks for your swift reply.
However I have already figured this out. The app uses the SimpleDateFormat class in Java. What I still don't know is that how the values for kkmmssSSS is determined and additionally if it can be found in the photo's EXIF data. I am guessing that it denotes the Date/Time Orignal tag under EXIF. Would be nice if you or anyone else could confirm.

I wouldn't know if you hadn't mentioned it in the question. Could you put some example filenames on the question?  As for EXIF, I'm afraid I can't help with that since I don't have (photos from) Motorola devices.


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Clear app data and maintain logins
As the title says, is there a way to clear all the data of a specific app leaving untouched it's login, settings and other personal information ?
There are tons of garbage files that a cache cleaning won't clean.

Usually, no. Some (actually just single apps) apps offer a way to manage their data and allow you to delete selected data instead of everything or nothing.

Android system clears all the app's private data when clear data is selected. Since all the app specific data(preferences, database,cache) stored in app's specific folder, everything will be deleted. if you still wanted to maintain that data, you can store the login information in either server/some other location on the device.


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Browser infected Pop-up
Today I opened my mailbox in my new Samsung galaxy J7 and this screen appeared:

WARNING  Your Samsung galaxy j7's browser is still infected with a
  serious virus! Continue with instructions to fix the phone. Do not close
  this window.**Exit at your own risk.

When I pressed OK, it took me to UPDATE BROWSER, and on pressing 'back' the phone started vibrating crazily! As the alert was from GOOGLE, I decided to go with it and pressed 'UPDATE BROWSER', it took me to a new page sitex.dmtracker001.com, but luckily error 400 appeared and it didn't connect.
The warning and vibration didn't go away until I restarted the phone, but it appeared again after some time and nothing I do makes it go away.
I don't know what to do, please help me.

You most likely visited some shady website and/or installed a very bad app. Go through the list of recently installed apps and remove the one(s) that seem like they would cause such things (like wallpaper apps that also require all permissions).

First - as you  are probably aware now.  You NEVER click on a link from an unknown source. I repeat - NEVER. Next time, just close the window without clicking on any links Second - if you can't figure out which malware app was installed , you need to consider doing a factory reset on your phone to eliminate all threats.   A factory reset will erase the data (Text messages, photos, videos, settings, everything on your phone will be removed in the reset process.).... I would do it anyway just to be certain that I got it all.  You may be able to backup any pictures or video.  The easy way to reset is to go to Settings -> backup and recovery -> Reset Device -> Erase everything.

Pretty much have been cleared by comment and answer. But in this case a single of clearing cookies from your browser will help you to get rid from that pop up.
Other wise you can do factory reset. I have been passed through such situation.


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How to Have Google Keep Button in Chrome of Android?
I would like to add content to my Keep as easily as in Desktop in Android.
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S4 GT-i9506
System: CyanogenMod 13

Not sure if it's possible even with 3rd-party, but the current quickest way to do that is using Share to Keep, if that can be counted as an answer.

Press Settings icon (three dots at the top-right corner) > Share > Google Keep. After once done it, you will get Google Keep icon directly in Settings > next to Share such that you do not need not go deep again and again


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Find text within an email in Gmail
Mailing list digests are generally very long.  They contain multiple emails concatenated together with an index and my traditional approach to reading a single email on the desktop is to use Ctrl+F (find text) to navigate/locate content within the email.
Android browsers typically have a 'Find on Page' function, but an equivalent doesn't appear to exist with Gmail.  Have I overlooked something?
Alternatively- are there any apps that offer a generalized search mechanism for selectable text regions in Android or extend the functionality available from a long-press on selected text?

If you are still looking for an answer, try FairEmail

FairEmail

You can search for emails containing a certain bit of text as stated here, but that doesn't narrow things down to the specific portion of the page. However, the search functionality in Inbox will highlight the section of text which is a step up.
Depending on your device, I recall having this functionality on my stock S4 ROM, so if your phone has another email client, try that out. I haven't seen this functionality or anything similar in Outlook or the Yahoo client.
So, I'd say your best bet to meet your Ctrl+F type searching is through the browser, then inbox isn't too bad as it highlights occurrences but doesn't jump to them, then the rest do the same thing of searching for text in an email but not highlighting it or do anything like Inbox or a browser can do.
That being said, I haven't tried many other email clients on Android, but that's what I got from the ones I tested.

I'm not sure what you mean by highlighting, nothing is highlighted, I don't even see the search term in the text of the returned results, just the first line of each email

By "Inbox" (capitalized), did you mean Inbox by Gmail (which is not available anymore), or another email app?

Even on an Android, you can use the Chrome browser to go to the web page for https://www.gmail.com, decline the option to open the Gmail app, search for the message you want, and then use the browser's "find in page" menu option to search within the page.
The same web-based approach works for Google Keep, where the app also lacks a search feature within each page.


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Samsung Galaxy S6: Back button presses by itself
On my Samsung Galaxy S6 (Android 6.0.1), sometimes the back button starts firing by itself, hence closing the current app or going back on a page. Other times it's like a ghost press on other parts of the screen, so that e.g. the menu opens by itself. Often this happens in bursts, making the device unusable.
It's a common problem, as seen here:

https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/s6-pressing-button-self-capacitive-key-t3146253
https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s6/519860-galaxy-s6-capicitative-back-button-spamming.html
https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s6/556632-back-button-issue-ghost-pressing-constantly-how-can-i-fix.html
https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/Smartphones-Tablets-Wearables/S6-back-button-self-pressing/td-p/160823
https://forum.xda-developers.com/s7-edge/help/random-screen-presses-button-presses-t3599821

Users report as possible causes:

Device overheating
Use of data connection (perhaps causing #1)
Hardware problem (interference from speakers on the capacitive touchscreen)
Moisture (triggering false contacts on the capacitive touchscreen)

In my case, I've noticed it happening especially when I use the Twitter app, which makes large use of the phone capabilities. Running Smart Manager and closing all running apps sometimes solves the issue, so it might really be #1.
Users suggest possible solution (none of which are working):

Factory reset and/or cache reset
Let device cool down
Disable data and/or WiFi connection
Lower volume speakers to less than 75% (?)
Dial *#2663# and do a TSP FW Update (General)

Anyone found a definitive fix for it?
I've had this happen to me on 2016 (hence the post), then the problem disappeared by itself, now in 2019 it's back, more annoying than ever.
Note: Related to an older Galaxy model: Galaxy S4 back button pressing itself

 I faced the same problem. Tried everything but nothing completely solved the problem. Finally visited the service centre and had it fixed. They said some fault in the diigitizer  under the back button  which started going on  like the back button was pressed when the device hits a certain temperature.
 One thing you can try : (If you are rooted) Enable the on-screen navigation buttons and disable the normal sensor buttons and see if the problem persists. Mine was just a month old so i went to the service centre.
 Good Luck hope this helps.

Had same problem. I did a factory reset which solved nothing, i tried the code which resets touch screen sensortivity.  No joy.  It's hardware. If your phone is under warranty take it back.  My cell was not so took it too local repair shop. They replaced a strip that runs around perimeter of my cell. This strip contains the sensors on the bottom of the cell and the side as well as the charger port.
Problem solved. Hope this helps

I wouldn't think of it as a software problem really because if you did a factory reset that should iron most kinks in the OS. And this isn't restricted to the S6 only as it had been reported as early as the S4. It had been attributed likely to a hardware problem caused either during packaging/ transportation/ mechanical damage e.g during a fall read here
If your device is fairly new take it back for repair or to an authorized Samsung repair center. In opening the phone they are likely to ease pressure on the plate that makes the the contact between the back button and the mechanical hardware component.

This worked for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsuiIF8CbvA
ie *#2663# and press the button 'TSP FW Update (General)'
UPDATE Problem returned after 30 minutes.

Tried this too, did not work.


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Faster charge through higher amp charger?
I'm looking for a solution to charge my Android smarpthone as fast as possible when travelling, eg. when sleeping at a camp site where I don't want to have to sit there for two hours just to make sure the phone doesn't get stolen.
Most USB chargers are 1 amp, but I was wondering if I could use a higher amp charger, eg. 2-5 amps, so the phone would charge faster without getting fried?
Thank you.

Depends on the phone. There are some standards but they are mostly incompatible with one another. Like Qualcomm's Quick Charge and Samsung's Adaptive Quick Charge and Qi quick charging. Most of them do either 5V 2A (10W) or even 9V 1.67A (Samsung Adaptive Fast Charge, 15W). Find what works for you, but most of them will just be fine with 5V 2A regardless of standard.

Can I use much higher amps, eg. 2-5A, without frying the phone?

No, you'll most likely just fry the board or cause over-current and make the battery explode. Your cable, connector and everything connected to it will suffer damage, too. 2A is the usual fast charging current. Any more requires special circuits to handle more current.

Thanks. I'll try with a 2A charger and see how it goes. Thank you.

Also: Make sure you use a proper charger to allow the phone and the charger to negotiate the current. If not, you might risk permanent damage on any of the connected devices (so use a quality charger and no $1 china ripoff).

"So, in the end, there are three areas where USB charging can be adversely affected – the USB port standard used (SDP, CDP or DCP), electrical signature mismatching and the quality of the USB cable being used." http://apcmag.com/android-usb-charging-secrets.htm/


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What is this application from the Play Store?
When looking to update apps, i noticed this application is claiming to be installed on my device.

What is this application? I did not ever install it myself, and i have not authorized its update yet. Is this a glitch on Samsung's part? It looks like their memo application but i cannot be sure. Is it a virus intended to fool me?

There seems to be a similar thread here, so you aren't entirely alone. Just disable that app for now since it's bloatware anyway!
(Switched comment to an answer as per comments)

In case the link dies, the app is called memo and is standard Samsung bloatware. The play store is probably automatically updated incorrectly, but updating the app shouldn't cause problems.


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Samsung s3 neo contact
In my contact list when I access it I see the person name along with details of list in which it is listed like Google contact & WhatsApp etc. Is there a way that I can download contact in excel along with info about listing I. E. Google or WhatsApp etc?

Download Contacts backup excel and email and run the app. It will backup all your contacts along with all their info stored I.E:addresses, emails, Google+ profiles. It won't however backup WhatsApp profile data. This is because that data is not contact data but rather data that belongs to the WhatsApp application.


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Can't write to storage after some time
I have a Galaxy S II GT-I9100 4.1.2 Rooted.
I have to restart my phone to be able to basically do anything involving writing to a file, such as taking a picture, browsing, copying anything through USB. I cant delete anything. Apps cant download and show pictures. But i can get messages, strange. This happens after some random time and a restart fixes it. Usually it takes like 10 mins or so. I thought it might be overheating but its fine. It has been like this since around 6 months and it was fine before and I changed nothing.


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Phone Damage (Micromax Knight 350) few days ago, anyway to recover photos?
My phone got damaged a few days ago. I believe the phone is connected with Google Drive and Gmail account, but I have not installed Google Photos and Dropbox to my phone. Is there any way to get my photos back? Some important documents were there.

There are ways, but you would need to elaborate a bit on the damaged part. Can you see the screen? Is it water damaged? What damage has it received. If you did not have a password on it. You may be able to connect it to a pc via USB cable and navigate through the folders to find the files you need.

My phone motherboard is damaged so I am not able to connect it to pc. Do you know any other idea to recover images only like from google server or any other way.

If you cannot get it to connect to a PC, then yes. The only way would be through google. You can check google pics or sometimes your google+ will have them.

Your phone should of come with a Sd Card, if not,use the USB cable that came with the phone and hook it to a computer. The Sd Card comes out and you can put it in some computers

My phone doesn't have SD card its come with only internal memory.


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Vertical task menu list
I was playing with settings or something and I changed my menu task list to be in horizontal style. Earlier it was in vertical style. How can I change it back in lenovo k4 note (marshmallow).
I want it to be like this:


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adb device not found after reboot
I am developing an automated test script to turn off my android device and turn it on back again and then run a few adb commands after the boot is complete.
My problem is that when I turn the device off and turn it on back again, the sys.boot_completed flag is true , showing that the device is on, but any command such as adb  -s <device_id> shell returns a device not found error.
I tried inserting delays between commands and sleep for boot completion but this error sometimes shows up after a few reboot cycles.
Is there a way to automize reboot with some post-reboot sanity check ?

check the device's usb connection mode. enable MTP and try.

it is actually an Android TV, I am afraid I cant do that.


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Adware keeps installing itself
I have somehow got my phone infected with an adware by the name 'Android Communication Sync' ('com.foreign.provider').
It isn't visible in the apps browser (doesn't have any icon) and causes ads to occassionally display out of nowhere.
I have tried to uninstall it multiple times, but everytime I find it installed on my phone after a few days (it appears in Settings -> Apps -> Downloaded).
My current solution is to disable (freeze) it, so that it atleast doesn't disturb with me ads.
How can I remove it and prevent it from getting installed again?
My phone is a rooted Micromax Unite 2 (Micromax A106) running Android 4.4.2. As far as I remember, I haven't installed any app outside of Google Play Store except Adaway.
Here is its apk I exported using Link2SD.

It could be that some other app you installed might be installing this app as an add-on. So no matter how many times you force remove it, as long as the "mother" app is there, it will still re-download it. That's one theory. Try uninstalling those recent apps that you might've installed one at a time to narrow down on the culprit.

@blueren Is it possible for an app hosted on the Play Store to do such thing? Doesn't Google filter these kinds of malware out?

You never know. Something similar came up here. Not entirely informative though.

It is possible for adware, as well as other "viruses" to be installed on the sd card. Thus even doing a factory reset can reinstall the "virus". If you have access to a pc with virus protection on it. You can mount the phone as a USB storage and scan it from there. Besides wiping both the phone and the sd card. There may not be a permanent fix. But if you are able to locate the file and delete it from there. That may fix it.

Root your device and remove the file
'/system/bin/fotabinder' using root explorer.
Then uninstall the App Android Communication sync. This would break your OTA updates though.
Recommend you to update your firmware or Flash with a new ROM


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Show Full Screen Portrait Layout with a VERTICAL screen with miracast
I have read this post and understand it is obviously not a smart idea to display the portrait layout on a horizontal (say 16:9) screen. However, many newer screens are able to rotate up (to 9:16) so I wonder if there is any short cuts to display the same portrait layout on such a screen, just like the one in this ad (which sells for $600 while we can buy a standard tiny 2.4G miracast receiver for less than $20).


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Which apps cannot be disabled (without root)?
I need to know more about disabling built-in apps. Some apps can be disabled, but there are some which has "disable" button disabled.
Is there any way how to find out which apps cannot be disabled? (I know that disabling some of them (e.g. settings) doesn't make sense, but some apps look OK for disabling and it is not possible for them too). Is there some other problem with disabling them? (I heard that some of them enable themselves with restart of phone).
Thanks a lot for answering.

Apps with Disable button disabled is the only way to identify they are critical to run the system without any issue and they can not be disabled. There are few services like google play services(in case of google apps), system server which needs to be run always to run the system smoothly. Finally, disabled apps will not be enabled and run until user manually enables them.

It is possible that devices producers have possibility to forbid Disabling of apps even when it is not necessary for smooth run?

@TGar probably, but I think it is an app property, not a device property. App devs decide if their app should be able to disable.

@TGar yes it is possible as system apps were controlled by them.

I think you cannot disable "system apps". A layman definition of system apps can be ones those are installed when you install the ROM.
there can be a few in custom ROMs and UIs that companies provide because they think it is useful.
if you have something like ESExplorer, I think you can see which apps are system apps and which are user apps.


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When I uninstall updates of system apps is it persistent?
I don't want some apps updated (especially some of built-in apps). If I uninstall updates in settings is it for good or only to next phone restart?
(I want to have auto updating in google play enabled)
Thanks a lot for answering.

You can enable auto update from Google Play Settings section. To prevent auto update of a particular app, Go to that app page in play store & click the Options Menu on top right & uncheck "Auto-Update"

yes uninstalls of updates is persistent, you can do it.

Even when new updates will be released?

update will be done either user manually updates or app gets auto updated. you can stop auto update in play store.


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Is music bought from Google Play Music DRM-free?
It is clear to me that with a subscription to Google Play Music you can only play "your" music (either online or offline) with Google Play Music player (see Google music: offline listening after subscription expires?). De facto, music is not actually yours: you just own the right to listen to it.
What is not clear to me, and I have not been able to find an answer for, is: what if I actually buy a track on Google Play Store? Can I move the MP3 to any "dumb" MP3 player and listen at it there? In other words: is it DRM-free?

It is not DRM protected
source:

Is Music Bought on Google Music DRM-Protected? where the first post in reply talks of user deploying purchased app to Dropbox for unlimited use

and

Does It Matter Where I Buy My Music? shows music purchased from any app store can be played on any other platform or device, which is only possible if there is no DRM

The song is yours. Simply install Music Manager for Google Play Music on your computer to download your songs. I think it's also possible from the website just haven't tried that.

Note that they do put a secret tag on their files, which restricts adding it to other Google Play accounts. Say, for example, you change your email address, they don't give you the ability to move it or share it with users in your own household.
You need to get and install eyed3, which does take a little technical expertise, and run this command:
eyeD3.exe --remove-frame PRIV ./

I tried looking and deleting it using a UI, such as Foobar2000 with it's advanced tools, but it still didn't see that tag.