text:
Why & how disabled Google app(s) still keeps running something?
So, for whatever reasons, I like disabling Google services which I do not use. Since Android does not allow me to fully uninstall Google apps, I try to reply on the "Disable".
However, what I am noticing is that the Google app still shows a Force Stop button (see screenshot below). This suggests that the app is still running something. This does not happen with other (non-Google) system apps which I have disabled.
So, why do the stock Google App(s) continue to run? What do they do in the background? What is the whol point of disabling if they can still run? And is there a way to fully disable the app and stop it from running?
I am using an unrooted OnePlus 5. I have tried on a OnePlus 3T and a Nokia 7 plus with the same result. I do not intend to root my device.

Without root not possible

There is no way to fully disable it without root, but there is a new way to remove system apps without root. I didn't believe it when I came across this on Reddit, so I tested it myself, I can confirm that this works. I tested this on a unrooted One Plus 3T running stock firmware. Link
https://www.xda-developers.com/uninstall-carrier-oem-bloatware-without-root-access/

I checked that before posting. But it does not answer "Why and how". That's what I'm more interested in. Why non-google apps fully stop but not the Google ones?


text:
Getting rid of Samsung's Gallery app notifications? (or even the entire app)
I'm currently using a Galaxy S5 mini with Android 5.1.1 and one thing that I find particularly irritating is Samsung's Gallery app that keeps giving notifications. For some reason I can't seem to turn them off.
There appears to be no setting in the Gallery app itself to disable it. And I cannot disable or remove or uninstall the app itself.
If I go to Android settings, Sounds and Notifications, Application Notifications, for most apps in the list I can block the notifications. Strangely enough this is not the case with a few built-in apps like Gallery:

I also looked in the Application settings for Gallery, unfortunately the "Show notifications" checkbox and the "Disable" button are both disabled.
Is there any way to get rid of Gallery's notifications, or rather just get rid of the app entirely?

Gallery is a stock app, you can uninstall it without root by following this guide on XDA.
Link
https://www.xda-developers.com/uninstall-carrier-oem-bloatware-without-root-access/

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Back up whole system via ssh
How can I back up my complete android system (settings, apps and data)

to my own network storage (preferably via ssh or rsync),
in a way that allows reasonably quick recovery of the whole system (e.g. after I replaced the hardware),
but also allows me to restore individual apps, including the app’s data,
ideally in a form that allows incremental backups (rsync, borg)

A rooted phone can be assumed, if necessary.

I recently moved to Android from Sailfish OS, where I could just use the same rsync-based backup as with all my other Linux devices, and I miss that convenience.

Related: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/84390/how-to-automatically-backup-everything-to-a-safe-location
(I was unable to find that with Google, but StackExchange’s suggestion of related questions helps…)

Afraid that's not as easy as you think. There are rsync apps for Android, but you'd not only need root to get the files off your device, but the hardware to fully restore on must be identical. "Whole system" I'd not do based on that.

What about this “nandroid” backup thing – isn't that whole system? Is there an easy work-flow around that?

Sure there is. But again: A Nandroid backup should only be restored to identical hardware. For details, might I suggest you take a look at our fine backup tag-wiki – and the nandroid tag-wiki?

Trying hard to avoid chatting here … but thanks for the links. They led me to http://en.miui.com/thread-327449-1-1.html which indicates that from a nandroid backup, I can also recover individual apps, if needed. So if TWRP backup over nand would work as advertised then I’d be set :-)

Don't forget to answer your own question with the set-up you end up choosing.

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


text:
How to have a single tap "App info" shortcut from Recents screen?
I'm looking for a way to launch App info of an app when its icon is clicked in Recents (Overview) screen. So far, my search has resulted in nothing fruitful.
I'm aware that Gravitybox prior to version for Nougat used to have this feature, but I'm on Android 8.11 and corresponding GravityBox [O] doesn't have such feature anymore. I also looked into InstallerOpt Xposed module, but to no avail.
I'm aware of long-pressing the icon there followed by tapping the info icon in the right but that requires two extra steps which reduces productivity with phone.
Edit: for the sake of clarity here: I'm aware of long-pressing on an icon in app drawer to get App Info option, but that is neither a single tap solution, nor is productive for me.
(Click image to enlarge)

1: On a rooted OnePlus 6 running stock ROM with Xposed Framework and Magisk.

Xbridge module had this feature but sadly it broke after Android 7 and was never updated


text:
Dumping a ROM image completely
As you know when we compile SDK or download a stock ROM, it contains some partitions(system,recovery,boot,...). We can unpack this image to partitions with some tools. (or with a simple C code)
But my question: Suppose we have a device with a burned image. Is there any way to gain the burned '.img' from its MMC?
I know Team Win(TWRP) can extract system, boot and recovery but bootloader is missing. How to access the original image file? (So I can burn this image on a similar device if it is bricked. (suppose the image is not on the Internet!)
Thanks

You can use dd to make image of any partition.

Is it requires root? @Firelord

I know it already but do you have tested it? It seems something may be wrong. @Firelord


text:
How to remove the Google search bar?
How can I remove the Google search bar from the main screen? It's taking up screen space and I'm not using it.
I have a Pixel running 8.1.0.
I found ways to remove it from other models and versions, but not mine.

Google Pixel phones rely on an exclusive "Pixel Launcher". For Google to be able to push itself more onto the user, the search bar is made permanent.
There is currently no way to hide/remove the search bar from Pixel Launcher. If the bar hurts you a lot, then you need to switch to a different launcher. Nova Launcher is one such highly recommended launcher.

I tried Nova Launcher and it is pretty much what I was looking for. Though, it seems that it uses more battery power than "normal".

Might be happening that way. However, for me, it just gives almost the same output from the battery. You should usually stop android from adding any sort of battery optimization on the launcher. As it essentially always needs to run. If android tries to stop it and then a re-run would cause it to consume more power than actually staying in background.


text:
Why can't I browse the internet while using my mouse?
I recently got a Galaxy J7 (2017), and it's running Android 7.0. I chose a Galaxy because I can plug a mouse directly into the phone. I can't access the device otherwise.
Everything was working great for the first few days, but then last night I began experiencing trouble browsing the internet. Instead of being able to click and scroll through a website, it's as though the arrow became a text cursor. Each time I attempt to scroll I am only able to highlight the text on the screen.
It looks like this:

Any ideas what's going on here and how it can be resolved? I'd really appreciate your feedback. Thanks!
UPDATE: After several factory resets, I think I've identified the problem. The system is preloaded with internet browser 6.2. This version works fine. After about a day, the internet browser updates to version 7.2. This is when the problem occurs. I have turned off automatic updates in Google Play, but it still updates on its own. I'm assuming because its part of the system. Nevertheless, I'm stuck yet again.

Does this only happen in the browser, or in other apps too? Try the Gmail app, and look at a document in Google Docs.

@DanHulme - It happens in other apps too. I am able to navigate around the inbox of the Gmail app, but once I open an email, I can't scroll down the message; it just highlights the text as if I were in a word processor. It seems like this started after I copy/pasted some phone numbers while adding new contacts. I have cleared the clipboard, but the problem remains.

It's ages since I've used a mouse with Android. It could be that this is a deliberate feature because you would use a scroll wheel instead of dragging. After all, this is how a mouse behaves on a PC.

@DanHulme - That could be, but it worked as a drag and scroll for the first few days. Makes me think I unknowingly changed a setting.

@DanHulme and beeshyams I've updated the original post with additional information. The problem seems to be related to the latest version of the internet browser. Is there a way I can prevent it from upgrading?

You can factory reset again, switch off the internet, and force stop, disable the app from settings and activate internet. This may stop auto updating

@beeshyams This is my first time working with Android. Can you point me in the direction of a tutorial that outlines what you just described?

See this https://android.stackexchange.com/a/75885/131553


text:
Make google searches and "Ok, google" open in broswer, not Google "App"
Is it possible to change my settings so that the results to me asking a question through "Ok, google" or typing on the search bar in my home screen, open in my default browser instead of the Google "App"?
I dislike how the Google App isn't actually an app in the sense that I can't open it through the recent applications shortcut, and the broswer-like window isn't actually saved in memory anywhere for me to go back to if I switch out after a search. Additionally it doesn't allow me to filter search results by date, etc. like a normal Google search does.

In the past one could it from Settings>Accounts & privacy and click the Open web pages- not sure if that option still works

@beeshyams This only works for links opened from the "Google Now" or "Google News", not  from the results shown when using OK Google, or the Google search bar on the android home screen.

You need to open Google app. Then go to Settings > Accounts & privacy > Open web pages in the Google app.
Turn the above toggle off and you can open the web pages from search result in your choice of browser. You are forced to install Chrome before but once that's done, any browser will handle the webpage to display the results.
For results:
I'm not sure of an alternative to the Ok Google. But for the widget or search bar at the homescreen, it is better to use the search widget from Chrome or Firefox instead of relying on the Google app widget. In that case, your search (not just webpages) will entirely open in your browser.

This only works for links opened from the "Google Now" or "Google News", not  from the results shown when using OK Google, or the Google search bar on the android home screen.

As i suggested in my answer, you can use the search bar from chrome instead of using the stock search bar on your homescreen. I don't have a solution for Ok Google.


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Andriod Emulator can't find ip link set
I am currently using an unrooted Huaweii LYO-LO1 and I am trying to change my mac address using Andriod Terminal Emulator. I found a website that told me to find out things like my current MAC address and I did all that. The last part told me to type the command:
"ip link set AAAA address XX:XX:XX:YY:YY:YY"
I did that by typing "ip link set wlan0 address 84:9F:B5:0A:95:1F" but the output said
/system/bin/sh: ip link set wlan0 address 84:9F:B5:0A:95:1F: not found
I tried reinstalling the app, rebooting my computer, everything but it's the same result. Still the same MAC address. Anybody know the solution?

Don't type the double inverted commas ("") around the command. The command should be
ip link set wlan0 address 84:9F:B5:0A:95:1F


text:
ADB over wifi goes away after unplugging usb
connect the usb to your phone open the cmd and type:
adb devices
Huawie Mate 8                   device

and it gives something like this. This is the device connected over usb.Now type
adb tcpip 5555
adb connect 192.168.43.1:5555

type adb devices again
    adb devices
    Huawie Mate 8                   device
    192.168.43.1:5555               device
and it works perfectly.
The problem is:
as soon as the usb is plugged out.
and after typing:
adb devices
List of attached devices
and the list is empty
try:
adb connect 192.168.43.1

unable to connect to 192.168.43.1:5555 cannot connect to `192.168.43.1:5555 : No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.(10061)`

I dont know what to do tried revoke usb from developer settings.

Is the phone definitely on the same Wi-Fi network as the PC?

Hi.thanks for the reply.Yes they were but there was a FireWall installed on my phone which didn't support LAN it could only let mobile data and wifi but it had no idea about LAN and blocked all the data.

I am not sure it may be this the case, or it may be helpful, but I got the same message, and it worked if I enable adb via WiFi with the command 'adb tcpip 5555' (from the PC) when the PC is connected to the phone hotspot but the phone is NOT connected to the internet (i.e., 3G is deactivated).
In short, I did the following:

Plug the device via USB
Restart the phone
Disable phone data
Enable phone hotspot
(adb usb)
adb tcpip 5555
Unplug the device
adb connect 192.168.43.1:5555

After that, I reactivated 3G on the phone, and I had both the internet hotspot and the adb connection, at the same time.

Hi if you have the same problem,It's probably the firewall on the computer or on the phone,Make sure first disable both and try again if worked get another firewall or adjust the ones you had to get them working.


text:
Accessibility turned back off - how to keep it on?
I'm using the app 'Automate', in order for it to work I have to turn it on in Settings/Accessibility:

But after a short time I doesn't work anymore and it's back on 'off' again.
I think it may have something to do with my battery saving mode because I've seen it in a different question but no idea how to fix it because my gui doesn't have the same properties as suggested in an answer I've seen somewhere else.
I'm using an Honor 9 phone from Huawei, my software versions:

So my question is: How can I prevent my phone from changing the app's accessibility setting without giving up on the battery saving feature (if that is the reason for it)?

Ensure Automate is enabled as a "Protected App".

@ballzak Where do I enable that?

Dunno, it's a non-standard Huawei feature.

Related: https://android.stackexchange.com/q/137195/347677

This probably is the battery saving mode (Android 7) as you suggest.
On my Samsung you can mark Automate (or any other app) as an app not to be checked for battery drain.

From Settings, select Device maintenance.
Select Battery at    the bottom left of the screen.
At the bottom    of the next screen is    a list of apps that are
currently considered    by Android as using    power.  Automate is
probably on that list.
Below the list is a button "Unmonitored Apps", select this.
Select Add apps and add Automate to those apps that are no longer
checked and put to sleep by the OS.

The exact method may be slightly different on your phone but the principle should be the same.

The first point 'Device Maintenance' is already not there on my phone :(


text:
Google Maps location not working when offline
I have a Galaxy J7 Prime, android version 7.0. I'm abroad for a week and as such, am not using data. I can only use WiFi intermittently when I'm near a free hotspot.
When I had an iPhone, I was able to view my location even when offline. This was very useful for directions, as I could download an offline Google Map and figure out where I was. Now I can't seem to do that with my Android-- even with Location enabled, the location dot stubbornly stays gray (unless I connect to WiFi).
I've enabled automatic date and time as suggested by this question. I have high accuracy turned on.
Is there no way to view my location offline in Android?

Can your phone see the sky? Is airplane mode off?

Possible duplicate of GPS when roaming with no data

There is actually a Google Maps Offline version app you can download. I always had problems getting directions with google maps on devices that didn't have cellular connections, I now use one of my old smartphones as a dedicated GPS for my car.

You may want to try an alternative to Google Maps : OsmAnd (https://osmand.net/).
It's a navigation app with downloadable maps for offline use.
Also, be aware that Android considers two types of "location" :

"Precise location" (about 1-10m) is got from satellites (american
GPS, russian GLONASS, chinese Beidou, and soon european Galileo,
according to your device). You'll need a clear view of the sky and up
to 15 minutes to get a good position fix.
"Coarse location" (about 100m-1km, enough to know what city you're in) tries to get your location by scanning your surrounding cell antennas and wifi/Bluetooth access points, sending the list to Google's servers, which will then give back an estimate of your position (I bet you didn't know about that spying...). Alternative backends exist that mimick that behaviour, but without relying on Google. Check MicroG's Unified NLP if you're interested (https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_UnifiedNlp/blob/master/README.md).

A good app to check your precise and coarse locations is SatStat (https://github.com/mvglasow/satstat) : on the map view, red is precise, and blue is coarse location.


text:
Replacing the gmail account on my Mi android phone
My mother gave me her MI phone with android. It has her gmail account. I want to replace it with my gmail account. How can I do this?
I looked at Settings -> Accounts -> Google, but did not find there any way to replace the account.
Even better: is there a way to "format" the phone, so that I can start from a blank phone and directly enter my gmail account?

Why format? Simply factory reset the phone and start afresh

You can not change the account but remove it. You already were at the correct place, just select the Google account to be deleted and open the menu in the upper right corner. There you can delete the account.

@Robert When I go to Settings -> Accounts -> Google, I do not see the account name (maybe there is only a single account?). I see "My Account" title, then "Sign-in & Security", "Personal info & privacy", "Account Preferences"...
In the upper-right corner menu I see "Clear app data", "Usage & Diagnostics" , "Oper source Licenses", "Show debug items", "Help & feedback"

You are in "Settings -> Google" not "Settings -> Accounts -> Google". When you see the synchronization settings of your Google account you are at the right location.

I did not find Settings->Accounts - I only found Settings - Other Accounts. There, I found Google, and Indeed I see the account the be deleted, but, I do not see any menu in the upper-right corner...

you can perform a factory reset and can use  it as a fresh device. Goto settings->Additional Settings->Backup and reset. Then tap reset. If you had added mi account attached, sometimes it maybe required. You haven't added your device name and miui version in question. There's another option to factory reset is from recovery mode. Settings->about device it loads updater page, and on top right tap on three dots and select reboot to recovery. And on recovery, you can wipe completely. If your bootloader is locked, you cannot goto recovery. so you can do the first step.

My phone is mi5 pro running MIUI 9.5 Android 7
In the settings menu go to Sync > scroll down > click add account > enter your Google account
Step 2 is to delete the existing mothers account. Sync > Google > select moms account > gear icon on the bottom > remove account.


text:
Is there Malware on LineageOS that causes to receive SMS Spam
I never get SMS text spam on my phone.  Installed Lineage OS on a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini phone.  I installed TWRP and LOS both from official website (not various links on google or XDA).  Installed F-droid (with privilege extention).
I only had a handful of apps installed:  Fennec F-Driod, Firefox Focus, Stocks Widget, Net Guard, net Monitor, BlueBourne Scanner, Termux, SnoopSnitch  and Yalp,
Phone was running without a SIM for about a week.  All was OK until I inserted a SIM.  Moment I insterted the SIM a got spam from a load.
Note I have used the same apps (except for Fennec) on another phone without a single spam SMS!
So is the nightly infected with malware or spyware?

Beware of post hoc, ergo hoc : it's not because you started getting spammed after installing LineageOS (+ apps) that it DID cause the spam.
Since LineageOS (any many if not all the apps you cite) is open-course, it's highly doubtful that it's infected (that's the point of open source software !). Also, have you asked on the LineageOS community channels (Reddit, IRC, of XDA forum) if anyone has the same symptoms ?
I've set up a Galaxy S4 Mini with pretty much the same apps as you, and did not get such a spam.
My take is that for some reason, your phone number got leaked to a spammer during the time of your LineageOS transition. I think the cause lies elsewhere.


text:
Where are LineageOS nightlies compiled & Who has commit rights to the codebase?
A] Where are LineageOS nightlies compiled?
1) Are they compiled on maintainer's machines
2) On a project controlled build farm?
3) Pool of contributed (random) machines?
B] Who has commit rights to the codebase? Is that tightly controlled or is it easy for rouge commits or rouge maintainers to enter the project?
Note: I am trying to determine if I got SMS spam shortly after installing LOS.  I am trying to determine the security of the Lineage OS contribution and

CyanogenMod (the ancestor of LineageOS) compiles nightlies on its own build farm, but now without the backing of a corporate, LineageOS pay for 3rd-party servers. See costs here.
Among all AOSP-based ROMs, LineageOS has argulably the most strict standard for accepting a device into official queue, including a recently composed charter. A list of contributers / device maintainers can be seen here. Moreover, there's also a complete code review system that guarantees the non-malicious nature of commits.
On top of all above, all the device-dependent and -independent sources, sans Google apps, can be found on their GitHub. This might sound natural, but do note that for a lot of other ROMs, even if an "official" moniker is given to a device, its sources aren't necessarily readily available or easy to find.
Feel free to review the code on your own if you suspect a security breach.

Note that, for now, I can't find concrete worded evidence to back up the build servers part (it's from my memory), so if anyone has info to fill in or correct with, please do so freely.


text:
Stop Android from killing Runtastic
Runtastic is an app for tracking the paths you ran, how fast you were, etc. It worked great for me for many years but almost 2 years ago started crashing on virtually any run.
A few months ago, I tried different running apps but all of them crashed too. The only way I have found to somewhat reliably stop this from happening is to open the app every 2 to 5 minutes which is really obnoxious to have to do.
I already tried turning off battery optimization for Runtastic in the Android settings. This seems to make the problem less severe (though I'm not sure) but doesn't eliminate it. Furthermore, occasionally battery optimization for it just turns back on automatically for some reason.
How can I tell Android that Runtastic may use however much battery (mostly via GPS usage, I guess) whilst in the background without getting killed?
I use a OnePlus 3 running OxygenOS 5.0.1 which is based on Android 8.0.0.

Hello fellow OnePlus user! I had this same problem on my OnePlus 5. Turned off battery optimisation, still no dice. It was quite frustrating. I mean, I have 8 GB of RAM, why would it need to be killed?
Well, it turns out OnePlus has an additional setting: "Advanced optimisation". You can access it by going to Settings → Battery → Battery Optimisation and press the 3 dot menu on the top right. Turn it off.
Advanced optimisation is extremely aggressive. I was even missing emails because of it. Turning it off immediately fixed the problem for me, and I haven't really felt that much of a difference in battery.
P.S. You can turn on optimisation for Runtastic back on.

Thanks for your answer. However, it's already turned off. I probably turned it off when trying to solve the problem myself.

Do you by any chance regularly clear apps from your recent apps list? That might kill the app.

I hardly ever do that. Especially not when running.

Hmm, I'm not sure what else is there. Try the following: Settings -> Advanced -> Recent App Management -- make sure it is normal clear. In Developer Options, make sure "Don't keep activities" is off, and "Background process limit" is standard limit. Does it only happen with Runtastic/running apps, or anything else?

These options already were set the way you told me to. It also happened with the other running apps I tried. It doesn't happen with any other apps, but then again I don't use GPS excessively with any of them.

I've found battery optimisation on OP devices to be quite weird. For instance if you go to app info for a certain app it might tell you that it's optimising battery usage even if you go into settings and turn it off. I think OP uses a weird non-stock implementation.


text:
Why is application data of the same application stored in different locations?
I have installed the same application on

a device running Android 7.0 (not rooted) and
on a tablet running Android 4.4 (root),

but nevetheless I noticed that the application data (databases/files etc) is stored in different locations on each device:
On the tablet device the files are located at: /storage/sdcard0/Android/data/com.packagename and can be easily manipulated (i.e copy, back up etc) but not on the smartphone which likely leaves the storage location being: /data/data/com.packagename which I have no access to.

I understand that it is usually stored on /data/data (protected internal app storage) or /storage/sdcard0/Android/data (storage on user's internal storage partition), else on a SD card if present. In addition, a related question has been asked here: Where Android apps store data?
My biggest surprise is why is this happening on the same application (same version - sideloaded)?
This reference page also explains how a developer can configure the default location of application data. It  would have been  understandable if there were different versions of the application, but here I am only dealing with the same application (i.e .apk file). Is there something I am missing here or things have changed in recent versions of Android?
My concern is that I can't access these files on /data/data without root and since these are large files and I need to back them up just in case the app data is accidentally cleared (and I have already done that by mistake :(.
Most importantly  I don't want to continuously download them over again.
Note: Both devices have no external storage attached.
From the look of things the biggest obstacle is not being able to access files on /data/data  (device 1), hence no backup possible...(I would appreciate if there is another reliable workaround to achieve this)

Hasn't it always been /data/data?  Can you tell what location app data is being stored at? Do you know if the files are data files? Also how do you really know without root?

I'm certain clear data also wipes data at /sdcard/Android/data, in fact I just tried it on a certain app and it did so. Also, I think /Android/data and /data/data have different purposes. I've found that /Android/data is used more for caches/files related to ads whereas /data/data is more for private things (eg storing login info).

@SSS I get your point,but at least on the tablet I can easily back up its data, even if I clear it by mistake it won't have too much harm :)

As strange as it sounds, I had a successful workaround to this issue:

I had to manually move the necessary application data (files) from /data/data to /Android/data (with exception of shared_preferences folder and database folder i.e the normal config).
Second I had configure the app to use a private directory by modifying the userDefault.xml file (maybe different depending on application in question) and adding this necessary line of code:
<int name="app_private_dir"value_"1"/>

I temporarily magisk'd to fully achieved this :)

All apps have private storage in the protracted /data folder. Some apps choose to temporarily store data in public locations. Unfortunately I cannot say for certain what the exact results of this were, but I know the way shared data is handled changed in Android 7 for security reasons.

so can I possibly back up the app data stored in /data folder on this non rooted device


text:
Zip file is corrupt error in TWRP
TWRP and TWRP Treble give me error of "Zip file is corrupt" when I install zip roms or files. I wiped all the things that needs. (/Dalvik Cache, /System, /Data, /Cache) but nothing changed.
I redownloaded 2 or 3 times and checked the MD5 and it was all fine.

So what is unclear here? File is corrupted so download new gapps from here and be happy. Be aware you should pick only appropriate version for your system.

I downloaded from there although, I downloaded many other roms and checked it by MD5 and it was all fine, but twrp gives me that error. @Suncatcher

Agree with breversa answer. If it always says "corrupt" then reinstall TWRP and check that your internal storage is not corrupted. Try to change the way you copy gapps to storage (if you using MTP try adb and vice versa).

If your zip file is corrupt then no wiping will change anything.
You'll need to redownload the file, and check the checksum to see if it's been corrupted during transfer. If yes, you may want to redownload it again, using a different mirror.
Alose, be sure to get the right OpenGApps package for your Android version and device CPU architecture.
EDIT :
My bad, I didn't read your whole comment. Have you tried reinstalling TWRP (again, checking the checksum) ? If EVERY zip file is seen as corrputed by TWRP, it might be your storage that's damaged. Using the "Repair" function may help.

Tnx. Yes, i checked the md5 of the files, and reinstalled the twrp. both old and new twrp can't install.  i tried many zips. roms and pico gapps. not works.
My storage which zip files are there is an external storage, a sdcard, because I can't put files in my phone storage and install it with twrp after formatting and wiping.

Where is "repair" function dude?

how can I put the zip file in internal storage because that would be removed after wiping and formatting? and there won't be an OS to put it again. and I can't copy files in mount function. (I can just read it)

The "repair" function is in Wipe/Advanced wipe.

I'm having similar issues with TWRP(different device though). I tried to flash with orangefox recovery and it worked on my phone though orangefox for my phone is beta. I've opened a thread here The repair functionality did nothing of use, ne3ither did repeatedly formatting my storage. I would still have the same persistent problem when trying to install opengapps/others.


text:
How to bring back custom notification sounds in Oreo
I upgraded to Oreo about a week ago and I've noticed that all my apps' alerts now sound like my SMS alert.
This means that I either get constantly bothered by unimportant notifications (It's your turn in a game!, etc.), or I miss important notifications like most SMSs, because now now unimportant and important notifications sound the same.
With the new notification channels I can set a custom sound manually, but the last thing I want to do is customise every single notification on my phone, and I also don't know where the sound files are for the original sounds. It's just too much work.
How can I get Oreo to behave like Nougat in this regard?

Maybe not the best solution, but set the SMS channel notification sound as something different instead of customising for each app?

You may use Ultimate Notification Control in Gravity Bx with Xposed Framework. You can set per app vibrations and notification sounds there.


text:
Android "google play music app". How force it play ONLY local songs on my phone
How to force "google play music app" play ONLY songs I paid for and downloaded to my phone.
In other words how to restrict it from contacting the web and using my data allocation.
thank you

Press the hamburger button (top left) and enable "Downloaded Only".


text:
Fondi 4.4 Wifi Tablet - Pattern locked and can't remember the gmail log in and password
My Wifi tablet Fondi 4.4 is locked with a pattern and I can't remember the gmail account settings for this tablet or the password how do I retrieve this?  The tablet was locked in July 2017 and I have been struggling ever since to open it, please advise how do I get logged into the gmail account for this, the tablet does ask for the gmail login and password after I have done the pattern 5 times wrong

If your account has recovery settings, you should be able to regain access to the account, and therefore the tablet. Understandably, Google does not want entry methods that bypass the built-in security. If you cannot provide the details, there are no legitimate ways of gaining entry that I am aware of.
If you simply want to make the tablet useable, you can factory reset it.


text:
How to pause work ETA notifications from Google Asssitant?
Every day Google gives me a notification which gives me time to get to work and the best route to take. It also tells me the best way to get to work in my daily briefing through Google Assistant.
Currently, I'm on holiday so I don't need these notifications. Is there a way of creating a holiday time so that the notifications will resume automatically after it.
I know I can stop the notifications, but is there a way of just pausing them for a certain amount of time?
Android 8.1.0/Nokia 6


text:
Android Auto unusable
I have a Google Pixel 2 XL and a Sony XAV-AX100.
More often than not, when I connect the phone to the car, Android Auto is unusable. Everything is sooooo slow, that I have to reboot the phone. I can struggle to get Google Maps to work and if it does, it's often lagging behind so directions aren't accurate.
Playing music through Google Play Music will work, eventually, but every few minutes, it will stop momentarily and then continue (much like a CD skipping). This happens to other audio apps such as Pocket Casts too.
Once the phone has been rebooted, it works perfectly.
I've removed all the apps I don't really need, as well as some that I found reported as bad for this online.
Is there a way I can find out what is hogging the resources of my phone when I try to use Android Auto? I think the phone doesn't run as well at times of normal usage, but nothing like what I see in Android Auto.
I have issues with the Sony XAV-AX100, which Sony are now refusing to resolve because my warranty expired, even though I reported these before it did!

Google Pixel 2 XL is certainly powerful enough to handle Android Auto even without removal of unnecessary / unused applications, so this seems to be more like related to Android Auto itself or its implementation in your car. I've heard that car manufacturers didn't make their homework well and implementation of car's endpoint of Android Auto is often very poor. Do you have, by any chance, an ability to test these two phones in some other Android Auto-enabled car?

I don't have access to another Android Auto enabled car. Although, since I wrote this question, I had numerous other issues with the head unit and got it replaced for a newer one. I don't have anywhere near the same amount of issues I had with the old one, but I do occasionally have performance issues. Nothing like what it was though!


text:
Why do partitions get unmounted automatically after some time?
I have an Android phone running Oreo 8.1.0. I have two partitions in sdcard. One partition is ext4 formatted. I mount it using:
mount -t ext4 -o rw /dev/block/mmcblk1p2 /data/sdext2

But after some time, the partition gets unmounted automatically and I have to mount it again.
Even when it is mounted, the contents are not visible in file explorer apps like MiXplorer and ES Explorer, and are only visible in terminal.
So, what is the best way to mount ext4 partition in Android persistently and what is the reason of such behavior?

I am using magisk app. I face this problem only when I execute it in android terminal app. But when I set this command to execute on boot by placing inside init.d directory in etc.  Then it works normally and ext4 partition does not unmount itself automatically. I don't get it why it is working so in that case. Could anybody explain it ?

SHORT ANSWER
Go to Magisk Settings and set Mount Namespace Mode to Global once for all. In SuperSU app, disable Mount Namespace Separation.
OR
For one time solution, use this command instead:
~$ su -mm -c 'mount <device> <mountpoint>'

LONG ANSWER

but after some time, the partition gets unmounted automatically and I have to mount it again.

ANDROID NAMESPACES
This behavior is due to Mount Namespace implemented by Android since Android-6 for the purpose of apps sandboxing / isolation. In order to control app's access to system resources and  filesystems - particularly SDCards - every app (Dalvik or ART VM which processes Java bytcode to executable .dex binary) is started by zygote (an Android init process) in a new mount namespace where it can independently unmount any filesystem (except rootfs) or remount, not affecting other namespaces. Every process the app starts, lives in the same (or further) isolated namespace.
Usually mnt (mount) and net (network) namespaces are enabled on Android kernel by default. Other namespaces pid, user and uts can be enabled by rebuilding kernel.
GLOBAL NAMESPACE
Very first process started by kernel at boot: init along with all kernel processes (kworkers etc.) and other init daemon processes (such as ueventd, logd, servicemanager, vndbinder, mediaserver, netd etc.) live in Global / Root Namespace. When we install mods (such as Magisk, Xposed etc.), they also start as a process in root namespace, usually at initial stage of boot process.
Android filesystems (real or pseudo; /system, /data, /proc etc.) are also initially mounted in global namespace. An app's namespace has all mounts (including rootfs) set to slave, so that any new mount inside them in root namespace, propagates to the app's namespace but not vice versa. See mount propagation.
NAMESPACE TOOLS
Linux command lsns can be used to view all namespaces. Mount namespace can be created by unshare -m. To enter a namespace, nsenter is an easily available SETNS wrapper. In most cases these commands don't work without root privileges.
SUPER USER AND MOUNT NS
When we execute su command in a Terminal emulator app, a new process (shell) is started with elevated capabilities. This process lives in the same mount namespace as that of Terminal app. So the mount command is also executed in the same namespace and thus filesystem is only visible within that namespace. Once we exit that shell, mountpoint won't show filesystem contents. If there is no running process in a namespace, it's automatically cleaned.
Please note that an app is completely killed when its Dalvik process is killed by Force Stop or by Android's memory management.
If the Terminal app wasn't completely killed, su may enter the same namespace, only when Inherited Namespace option is enabled in Magisk. Isolated Namespace will always create a new mount namespace.
Now coming to your question:

Even when it is mounted, the contents are not visible in file explorer apps like MiXplorer and ES Explorer, and are only visible in terminal.

This is because Explorers (apps) are running in their own mount namespaces. Run this command as root to get an overview:
~# ps f -p2 --ppid 2 --deselect -o mntns,pid,cmd --sort=mntns

You may use Termux for a full version of ps.

When I set this command to execute on boot by placing inside init.d directory in /etc, then it works normally and ext4 partition does not unmount itself automatically.

This is because that init.d script is executed by init in global namespace.

So, what is the best way to mount ext4 partition in Android persistently and what is the reason of such behavior?

To escape the whole enigma, always mount your frequently accessed filesystems in Global Mount Namespace (though it's vulnerable to security breaches) unless necessary otherwise. A simple check if we are in global namespace:
~# [ "$(readlink /proc/self/ns/mnt)" = "$(readlink /proc/1/ns/mnt)" ] && echo 'In Global NS.' || echo 'Not in Global NS.'

NOTE: This test works only in initial PID NS.
Another possibility is to create namespace with unshare -m --propagation shared. Now any new mounts in this namespace will propagate to all namespaces. But this isn't applicable to already created apps' namespaces. mount --make-rshared / doesn't work (at least for me) if namespace was originally created with slave  or private propagation.
See this thread post for more details.

Magisk not available for Android 5.0. Wouldn’t SuperSU settings be sufficient for it ?


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Unable to connect to Raspberry Pi3 by hostname from Android VNC Viewer

I installed VNC Viewer on my Ubuntu from here. Then, I could connect to my Raspberry PI by both hostname and IP address.
However, I can't do the same from my Samsung Note 8 I can't connect by hostname - I'm getting something like "Cannot resolve hostname". If I use the IP address then I don't have any problem.

Ubuntu PC, Samsung Note 8 and Raspberry PI3 are all connected to the same WIFI network.
Can someone explain what is wrong here?


text:
How to force Adobe tracking link in SMS to open Google Play Store app and not the web browser
I am sending a bitly in SMS that masks an Adobe tracking link to download an app. I want the link to open the Google Play app, not the web browser. Is there a way to force this? Given that I can't change the settings on everyone's phones, need to be able to do it from my side.

Instead of linking to play.google.com, make the link point to market://details?id=com.example.android, though you may find that some software will block these links for security reasons. There's no way to force a play.google.com link to open in Play Store.


text:
How is the GSM Call Flow implemented and when is the microphone opened?
Is it possible to know how is the GSM call flow implemented on Android? I will like to know concretely when its the microphone opened.

You can always check the source and find out yourself. What's the actual problem you're trying to solve? Right now it's difficult for us to know what kind of answer will help you.

@DanHulme What I want to know concretely is if when making a call, during the ringing, is the microphone already opened  ? As far as I know the GSM flow requires CC_CONNECT_ACKNOWLEDGE before entering the speech phase. I've read this weird behaviour in forums i.e https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s4/511235-s4-without-answering-call-caller-can-hear-my-conversation-how-even-possible.html
thanks for your interest.


text:
Flashing update.zip signed with OEM keys return "failed to verify whole-file signature"
I have an update.zip which include an APK in the system/priv-app/ folder, a boot and shutdown animations and an SSH server among other things. I have the private and public keys of the OEM who sold me tablet so I used sigapk.jar to sign the update.zip file. The command I used is the following:
java -jar signapk.jar -w certificate.x509.pem key.pk8 update.zip update-signed.zip

Then after trying to flash this file via stock recovery using sideload (adb sideload update-signed.zip) I get the following error:
Verifying update package...
E:failed to verify whole-file signature
E:signature verification failed
Restarting adbd...
Installation aborted.

Previously, I was trying to flash the update.zip without signing it and the result was the following:
Verifying update package...
E:footer is wrong
E:signature verification failed
Restarting adbd...
Installation aborted.

Actually I do not know if the difference in the error (footer is wrong --> failed to verify whole-file signature) is because the keys are working or not, or maybe because the file didn't have any signature at all. Can someone help me with this and tell my why is it not working if I am using the OEM's .pem and .pk8 keys?
EDIT:
I also tried adding the certificate.x509.pem file inside the META-INF/com/android/otacert folder inside the update.zip file and then sign it, but that also didn't work.

The correct tool for signing is apksigner.jar from the Android SDK build-tools.

Try @Robert's suggestions. Also, are you sure that those keys are correct? How did you verify that the key you get is the preinstalled key on your device?

I have not verified. How can I do it?

@Robert apksigned.jar does not use pk8 and pem files so how can I do it?

Use KeyStore Explorer to convert it to a JKS keystore (new keystore and the import).

@Robert I tried múltiple to convert it to JKS but have no idea how to do it. It says that the pk8 file is encrypted.

Use the "import keypair" function.

You are on the right track.
The message "failed to verify whole-file signature", means that the file could not be deemed valid for the provided certificate.
The missing error message indicates that this is the case as the signature could not be matched to the trusted certificate store:
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/bootable/recovery/+/2c6c23f651abb3d215134dfba463eb72a5e9f8eb/verifier.cpp#258
The Android application which runs while sideloading uses a different certificate store than the recovery:
https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/sign_builds#signatures-sideloading
Assuming the keys you have are valid for the recovery, you might get away with directly booting into recovery using fastboot, then selecting your signed ZIP from there.


text:
Identify app icon that looks like a letter "b"
Anyone know what this one is? It was on a screen cap I received of a Galaxy S5.

Its the icon of application named Bixby in Samsung devices.
Bixby is a virtual assistant developed by Samsung Electronics.


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How to join WhatsApp group from "chat?code=" link
I was provided a web link in an email.  I was reading the email on my computer, so when I clicked it, it opened in Firefox.  It bounced around a bit (since it was a marketing tracking redirect link), but finally landed on whatsapp://chat?code=(randomlookingthing)&usp=sharing.
I would like to participate in this group (only).  In other words, I don't need to or want to involve my existing contacts, I just want to be able to interact with this group.
So far I have:

Forwarded the whatsapp:// link to my phone via an email
Installed WhatsApp on my Android 7.0 device from the PlayStore
Answered 'no' to the requests to access contacts
Pasted the link into the phone's browser, which had an error "Problem loading page" (didn't understand protocol whatsapp://)

I don't see where I enter the group in order to begin interacting with those in the group.
How can I join the group?

The marketing link clicked in the original email "secretly" went through a http://chat.whatsapp.com/(randomlookingthing) link first, before landing on the whatsapp://... link.  That link is only understood by phones that have WhatsApp installed.  As noted, the Firefox on the computer doesn't understand the whatsapp:// protocol, and the browser on the phone doesn't either.  What is needed is the chat.whatsapp.com/... link.
The easy solution is to forward the original email to the phone.  That link, with the original marketing link, should bounce through the chat.whatsapp.com link, then, since WhatsApp is installed on the phone, it will understand how to add you to the group.
Alternatively, you can open Firefox's Developer > Network, then run the marketing link.  This will expose the chat.whatsapp.com link that's aligned with the group.  If that link is used in the phone's browser, since WhatsApp is installed on the phone, it will understand how to add you to the group.


text:
I get "Internet may not be available" on my new Samsung J5 Prime
I get "Internet may not be available" on my new Samsung J5 Prime around every 5 minutes.
This did not happen with other Android devices on the same Wi-Fi router.
What can be the problem?
Model SM-G570M
Android 7.0

Have you tried setting static IP address? Also check the DNS settings

@xavier_fakerat How should I check it and what should I check for?

As strange as it seems, I now have come to an understanding that this issue may be related to an IP address conflict between the router and the connecting device or at least a faulty DHCP implementation (as discussed in some Samsung forums but for slightly different models).
It could perhaps a bug related the way the router handles 2.4GHz <=> 5GHz switching, causing an uncomplete handover (5GHz SSID to 2.4GHz or vice versa) (but users complain its worse when dealing with 5GHz only)

A probable workaround is setting static IP address for the wi-fi:

Go to your wifi connections, long tap on the connected wifi, until it gives you option to manage network setting,
Then choose advanced option, and put your IP type on static, then use a new ip address (for example, if it's 192.168.1.x change it to
  192.168.1.y where y can be a value 2-100 for simplicity )
Make sure that ip is empty in your router and your gateway is your router IP address, first DNS your router IP address,
  second one  Google DNS (8.8.8.8 or 8.8.4.4) and save it, turn your wi-fi off and on.

You may preferentially set the wi-fi SSID to use the 2.4GHz range.

Acknowledgements

S9 wifi internet may not be available
Galaxy S8 Wifi Issues

This is the stupidest darn thing ever but SOME ROUTERS like Freedom home internet (aka Shaw) & their wifi hotspots from phones using the same ISP(Freedom mobile) have a security setting somewhere that leaves your device as "The internet may not be available" if your device is set to the Wrong. Dang. Timezone.
I'm serious. We spent 3 hours trying to fix it, and it was Google Chrome's "your connection might be unsafe" page that suggested updating your system time.
Flicked on "automatically detect time", the clock switched from 21:05 to 20:05 and the internet just magically turned back on. Tah-dah!

This is actually expected for HTTPS connection due to SSL/TLS handshake needs correct time.

Just bought a new Samsung J9 phone which had the same problem. I unsuccessfully tried various fixes but finally (should have done this first!) looked at the IP settings. The Ip was set to a static value of 192.168.0.100. However, my home network has IPs 10.1.1.xxx. When I changed the IP setting from Static to DCHP and switched the phone on and off, the problem was solved.

I found the following step worked for me.

Make sure you are connected to the wif-fi network on your Android mobile phone
Modern routers have a WPS button, normally next to the LAN connections. Depress that button. You should see the wireless symbol on the wireless router blinking.
Now on the Android mobile phone go to Settings -> Connections -> WiFi, press on the three vertical dots on the top right of the screen
Choose "Advanced"
Click on "View More"
Click on "WPS push button
The WPS setup screen will appear and it should connect with your wi-fi router
Once connected, restart you mobile and the now you should be able to connect to the internet via wi-fi


text:
Editing TiddlyWiki files on Android
I just started using TiddlyWiki, I appreciate very much its technology agnostic paradigm and am convinced it is the right tool to manage my notes. I need to access my notes from both my computer (Linux) and my phone (Android).
I have successfully created Wiki files with Firefox and TiddlyDesktop on my computer, that are being automatically synchronised to a ownCloud server. On my phone the ownCloud client synchronises these files correctly and I am able to open them with the browser. However, I am unable to edit the TiddlyWiki files with either Firefox or Chrome on the phone (none of the buttons functions).
How can I edit on Android these TiddlyWiki files synchronised from ownCloud?

There's an app named AndTidWiki claiming compatibility, but it hasn't been updated for 5 years.

@Izzy AndTidWiki is only able to edit files in a specific folder, it can not be used with synchronised assets.

Ouch. Didn't know that, sorry. Neither I'm familiar with what specific formatting Tiddly uses; maybe one of the other wiki editors could help? In conjunction with ownCloud, I myself use Markor (a Markdown editor you find on the linked page). You can specify the folder it shall work in (e.g. on the SD card) and chose one you can sync. But it's not TiddlyWiki format. If you'd be willing to switch to Markdown (use e.g. ReText on your Linux PC), that'd be a solution.

@Izzy A TiddlyWiki is a just an HTML file (including a good deal of JS and CSS). I believe the issue is with the HTML5 code it has - that Android browsers fail to interpret. I installed Markor yesterday and so far am quite satisfied (it allows the user to select the notes folder). On my computer I can edit the MarkDown notes with any editor like GEdit. I think I will stick to MarkDown, as it is much simpler.

You can use Tiddloid, an app to work with locally stored TiddlyWikis, both local file and webdav are supported.
Or use Termux and start a Node.js server on it, but I personally recommend using Tiddloid, it works well.


text:
Change USB connection mode using ADB only (broken screen)
I am trying to use Vysor to control my Moto G5 which has a broken screen (completely black). It appears to be working otherwise (rings when called etc).
However, I cannot connect to my PC using USB cable when the phone is on, because I cannot change from "Charging only" to MTP or PTP because I cannot see it on the screen. I can connect to ADB via recovery (stock and un-rooted) but all "adb shell" commands fail (error:closed) which I assume is due to not being rooted.
I am trying to change the default USB connection mode to PTP rather than "Charging only" so I can use Vysor when the phone is booted normally, not in recovery. Has anyone got any ideas?
I either need a way to made "adb shell" commands work (to follow the below link), or another way to change the USB default or another bright idea!
How Do I change from PTP to MTP mode? Cannot find options in settings

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the site after posting 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.

Late as I am to the party the following might be of some help:-
https://trubitsyn.dev/posts/adb-connectivity
The command svc usb setFunction <mtp|ptp|rndis|midi> is the most likely candidate (alternatively setFunctions is used dependant on the version of Android.

Link seems to be dead.


text:
MIUI theme made with MIUI theme creator creating problems
I have a Redmi note 5 running MIUI 9.6.2.0 | Stable. I made a theme using MIUI Theme Creator and successfully applied it, but after an hour or so, the theme went back to it's default one. This is happening no matter how many times I set it up.
What is the problem? And is there a way to solve it?

I think theme application doesn't support third party themes(like created by any person) which is not verified by community.

Then why can I apply it for even sometime?

https://android-fix.com/tips-and-tricks/22-themes-from-third-party-sources-not-supported.html Please look through this link.


text:
How to block an Access Point by BSSID?
I connect to the corporate WiFi and sometimes my phone connects to the other AP with the same name (with poor signal). How can I prevent it on my Android? I have root.


text:
How to set the notification dots on a Moto G6?
I activated the notification dots on my Moto G6 following this process: Settings > Apps & notifications > Notifications > Allow notification dots, but the dots are not appearing.
Did I do something wrong? How can I solve this?

If you're using stock moto launcher, then go to settings->moto app launcher->app notifications, then enable both 'On' and 'Allow notification dot'.

I am also having this issue.  Notification dots are enabled on all apps but don't work.
I do not have any 3rd-party notification apps.
I have cleared the cache and data from the "Moto App Launcher" application and restarted it.  No difference.
I did, just now, download an application for notifications and it works.  So annoying.  Moto App Launcher obviously has some issues/flaws.

Scroll down from top of screen.  If it says 'Notifications paused by do not disturb', then that's the issue.  Probably activated it by an accidental swipe/touch.

Go to Special App access -> Notification Access -> Enable Moto App launcher

Make sure you do not have Data Saver turned on. This will prevent the notifications from appearing and will also cause email delivery issues.

This doesn't seem to be the case here. OP didn't say he wasn't receiving notifications at all, but only the notifications dots.


text:
Recover files from a Pixel 2 stuck in bootloop
My Pixel 2 is stuck in the boot loop. I will send it for a replacement but I would like to recover some files that weren't backed up in the cloud.
I can see the phone using adb devices and I was hoping to use the abd pull command but I can't due to permissions. I am using a Mac and my phone is not rooted.
adb shell ls -lah
1|walleye:/ $ ls -lah
ls: ./init.usb.configfs.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./init.recovery.walleye.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./init.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./init.zygote32.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./init: Permission denied
ls: ./init.environ.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./init.usb.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./persist: Permission denied
ls: ./cache: Permission denied
ls: ./postinstall: Permission denied
ls: ./ueventd.rc: Permission denied
ls: ./init.zygote64_32.rc: Permission denied
total 40K
drwxr-xr-x  21 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 .
drwxr-xr-x  21 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 ..
dr-xr-xr-x  20 root   root      0 1970-07-27 04:06 acct
lrw-r--r--   1 root   root     50 2009-01-01 09:00 bugreports -> /data/user_de/0/com.android.shell/files/bugreports
lrw-r--r--   1 root   root     13 2009-01-01 09:00 charger -> /sbin/charger
drwxr-xr-x   4 root   root      0 1970-01-01 01:00 config
lrw-r--r--   1 root   root     17 2009-01-01 09:00 d -> /sys/kernel/debug
drwxrwx--x  39 system system 4.0K 2018-01-13 17:08 data
lrw-------   1 root   root     23 2009-01-01 09:00 default.prop -> system/etc/prop.default
drwxr-xr-x  15 root   root   3.8K 2018-07-10 17:30 dev
lrw-r--r--   1 root   root     15 2009-01-01 09:00 dsp -> /vendor/lib/dsp
lrw-r--r--   1 root   root     11 2009-01-01 09:00 etc -> /system/etc
dr-xr-x---   4 system system  16K 1970-01-01 01:00 firmware
drwx------   2 root   root    16K 2009-01-01 09:00 lost+found
drwxr-xr-x   2 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 metadata
drwxr-xr-x  10 root   system  220 1970-07-27 04:06 mnt
drwxr-xr-x   2 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 oem
dr-xr-xr-x 655 root   root      0 1970-01-01 01:00 proc
drwxr-xr-x   3 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 res
drwxr-xr-x   2 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 root
drwxr-x---   2 root   shell  4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 sbin
lrw-r--r--   1 root   root     21 2009-01-01 09:00 sdcard -> /storage/self/primary
drwxr-xr-x   3 root   root     60 1970-07-27 04:06 storage
dr-xr-xr-x  13 root   root      0 1970-07-27 04:06 sys
drwxr-xr-x  14 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 system
drwxr-xr-x  16 root   root   4.0K 2009-01-01 09:00 vendor

adb pull /
adb pull /
adb: warning: stat failed for path /charger: Permission denied
adb: warning: stat failed for path /sdcard: No such file or directory
adb: warning: stat failed for path /system/bin/ip6tables-wrapper-1.0: Permission denied
...
...
...

Is it possible to pull all files from the phone or mount it on my Mac? I'm only interested in the pictures really.

I have used ADB on a Mac before, so it should be possible. I would suggest trying to pull specifically the emulated SD partition using the full path shown by your ls command: adb pull /storage/self/primary
I have seen a variety of "real paths" across different phones/versions of Android. Its actual location may be in emulated or mnt.
If it is stuck in a loop and never booting to Android, then there is little ADB can do.


text:
Create several Gmail accounts anonymously using only one Android tablet without letting Google know that they are created from the same single tablet?
I would like to anonymously create several Gmail accounts using only one Android tablet (but not phone) without letting Google know that the accounts are created from the same single tablet.  I do not want Google to know that any two of the accounts are related to each other.
If my ISP (Internet Service Provider) cooperates with Google and informs Google of the true identity associated with the IP address with which I connect to Google to create the Gmail accounts, then Google would know exactly who I am.  However, assume that this is not the case.
If the Android device were a phone, then Goole might uniquely identify the Android phone by IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity), ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identifier of SIM chip) or IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity); hence, Google would know that these accounts are created from the same Android phone.  However, this is not the case; I am talking about an Android tablet without phone.
First of all, I would like to make sure that Gmail accounts are free and that there is no need to provide Google with my credit card information, my billing address or my real name.  Is this correct?  Please provide an answer to this specific question as well.
So, with the above three assumptions (my ISP does not inform Google of the true identity associated with the IP; the IDs associated with phone are unavailable to Google; Gmail accounts are free, and hence Google does not ask for billing information), does Google obtain any information that reveals my true identity, when I create Gmail accounts using an Android tablet?  (If it does, what are they?)
Even if Google cannot obtain the true identity of the person whom the Android tablet belongs to, can Google uniquely identify each Android tablet?  (If it can, how?)
If Google cannot obtain the true identity and cannot uniquely identify each Android tablet, then I have further questions.
Assume that there is no account on this tablet yet.
Will Google know that the two Gmail accounts are related to each other if two Gmail accounts are created by the following steps?

Create a Gmail Account A using an Android tablet.
Disconnect from the Internet, that is, switch to the off-line mode by turning off Wi-Fi.
Turn off the Factory Reset Protection ("Settings" > something that says "Security" or "Screen" > set "Screen Lock" to "none".)
Remove Account A from the Android tablet.  (The account will remain intact on the Google server.  See "What will happen when I remove my Google account from an Android tablet?".)
Perform a Factory Reset ("Settings" > something that says "Backup" or "Reset" > Factory data reset).
Using a different IP (by going to another location for example), connect to the Internet (that is, turn on Wi-Fi).
Create a new Gmail Account B from this Android tablet.

If these steps successfully prevent Google from knowing that the two Gmail accounts are related to each other, then let me ask the following.  Are all these steps necessary?  Are any steps omissible to make the process simpler?
Note that Factory Reset deletes all of your precious files; but the law enforcement authority is likely able to recover them later.
Instead of Factory Reset, does it suffice to delete all the regular cookies and EverCookies that the account-management app creates?  How can they be deleted?

What you're talking about is not sufficient. As seen in answers to this question, some tablet devices do have IMEIs even though they don't have a SIM card slot or telephony capability. Besides, all Android devices come with some extra unique identifiers. Both the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi hardware include a MAC address, which is used in those network protocols to uniquely identify the device. These can be read by any app with the appropriate network permissions, including the pre-installed Google apps.
They can be overridden in software, but the true values are part of the hardware, so the OS can read the true values anyway. (And of course a factory reset would undo the override anyway.) The OS can also read the unique identifier that's a part of the CPU itself and can't be overridden. If you really don't trust Google to this extent, you need to install a custom ROM (which still leaves open the possibility of a malicious binary driver).

I would like to make sure that Gmail accounts are free and that there is no need to provide Google with my credit card information, my billing address or my real name. Is this correct?

Yes, that's correct. You'll be offered the opportunity to add your credit card details when you sign up, to enable buying apps on Google Play, but that's not mandatory. They'll also pester you to add a phone number or "backup" email address, to aid in recovering a lost account and for confirmation after an unusual login, but again, this isn't mandatory.


text:
Samsung phone charges poorly, periodically
My Samsung S8+ has started having periods when it does not keep up 100% charging when connected and in simple editing usage. If I leave it idle it charges slowly and the "charger beep" occasionally goes on and off. (But charging icon is lit most if the time.) If it is turned off it charges fast.
I only use original cable and charger and have replaced these. The problem has ocurred with several different power grids. I am abroad and can not claim warranty.
I had exactly the same problem with a Note 3. Original Samsung service ran the full program on it and declared it ok. (It was 3 yrs old then.) Finally I let unauthorized repair shop change all charging components to no avail.
I barely use a computer any more. My phone is connected to charger and often in heavy use about 18 hrs/day.
Once when I bought new battery for Note 3 (often change these) the original service center insisted on examining my phone even though I considered it OK at that time. They said phones that are connected all day may develop problems. I couldn't leave my phone for examination for privacy reasons.
Note 3 is now bricked by yours truly.
S8+ is 1 yr old and I have never changed its battery. It has started developing this same strange disease.
Maybe I should just leave my S8+ for battery change, but I fear it has developed the same problem as my Note 3. Changing battery was simple with Note 3, but did not help.
I have considered factory reset, but that would be difficult for me now, since backing up would take time. (Could malware or something be running and draining battery?)
Sorry for long post but does anyone have advice? Does SS include "controlled aging" in the software?  ;)
Edit:
I wrote this long post connected to a stable power grid with original charger. Charging is still 77%, like when I started, charging symbol is lit. When phone was new it would charge rapidly during such an edit. Charging has gone off and on maybe 7-8 times, but it is mostly on.

The phone probably had malware introduced through a SIM-card.
The phone also stopped recognizing the SIM-card. No calls or data possible. It asked me to make a factory reset to "accept new network configuration". Charged poorly when not turned off.
I removed the SIM, made backups and factory reset (which needs wifi to find my Samsung account password to allow for reset).
I do not wish to point out any country in particular. This has happened before in other countries. The new SIM that only worked for two days, I had bought in a big shopping center that also gave away SIMs for free with other buys. Largest network in the country I believe.
I had also connected to a hotel wifi with advertisments etc.
I went to the only direct outlet for the network and asked. They told me the SIM had given me the problems. Hotel networks have ads but are safe.
Malware was running, draining power and also interfered with connection.
The network shop was super pro. They sold me a new SIM and "pocket wifi" and set up everything perfectly. All works fine now.
My conclusion:
Only buy SIM directly from the network shops (or if you trust their envelope seals). (A lot of hassle for me that often travel and roaming  becomes too expensive. But no other choice.)
Data I backed up but apps seem to have problems downloading through the Google/Samsung system. Hopefully it will improve when wifi is not crowded in the night. But I can restore apps manually. The app data seem to be there if I just download the app manually. The nice Adobe Lightrooom that I reinstalled suddenly has pay-options for what used to be free :(  ;)
What the malware programmer wishes to achieve is not clear.


text:
Android Application fundamentals Process Virtual Machine
I just started on application development and wanted to learn properly everything about how Android works.
I came across four bullet points (https://developer.android.com/guide/components/fundamentals) that explain that Android sets each app as a different Linux user and that each process has its own virtual machine (VM). Here's the part confusing me, one of the bullet points (third one) doesn’t specify which process are encompassed in a virtual machine.

• Each process has its own virtual machine (VM), so an app's code runs in isolation from other apps.

This is the first time on the page it mentions a process which is why I am confused.
My question is which processes are running in a virtual machine?
- Is it the main Linux process only?
- is it ALL of the processes within the Linux process?
If so, how can processes communicate between each other if each one of them are running in isolation (in VM)?
Thank you for your time.

None of the apps are running in a virtual machine. Really, the page is trying to explain that there's a separate instance of the JVM for each application process. It's quite a misleading description.
FYI, there's no such thing as a "main Linux process". Linux is the kernel, which is not a process; rather, it is above all of the processes, in charge of creating, scheduling, and destroying them, and mediating their access to the hardware.

I don't think there's a difference between these two statements: "Every app is running in a virtual machine" and "There's a separate instance of the JVM for each app". Every instance is forked by zygote but after all it's an independent native process, though it shares open files with other app DVM/ART and system_server.

There's a difference between a virtual machine and the JVM. I think the source of the OP's confusion was that they were imagining each process being inside its own instance of Virtualbox (or equivalent), so I tried to make it clear that that isn't what the page means by "VM".

Yeah it makes sense.


text:
Unwanted alert sound
I have a Samsung Galaxy 8.Every 5 minutes or so I hear my phone buzz then I hear a gong sound. This gong sound is driving crazy.
Here is what i tried:
1: restarted my phone
2: killed all applictions
3: Ran a good antivirus
Also every time this song comes, if im watching a video on YouTube It causes to pause.
Any ideas?

sounds like (no pun intended!) you have notifications set to alert you.  Do the sounds coincide with email delivery, twitter alerts, Facebook alerts etc.  You can probably check notifications in Android Settings.  I don't know about Samsung but on my HTC running OREO the notifications are under Settings/Personalise.
If this doesn't help I suggest you edit your original post to include the Android version that you are running - see Settings/About/Software Information.


text:
Lenovo Vibe p1m suddenly slow
Today I notice my Lenovo Vibe p1m is running slow. It coudn't open Chrome without freezing. The whole UI is basically sluggish. It also couldn't open the flashlight.
I have tried removing the sdcard and restarting in safe mode. Same slowness. I didn't install anything new so it's baffling what could cause it. I also can't open the Update screen of Google play because it freezes. I check the running apps section, RAM usage is just 700MB out of 2GB.
Looks like the phone is basically screwed for no logical reason. The phone is only 1.5 years old.
Any ideas what could cause this and how/what else could I diagnose?

The same problem happened to me just a few days ago, seems like they screwed up some updates or something.

Exactly this happened to me today, at morning I was watching videos, then I use the mobile again, and i cant even load youtube! Ill try deactivating some apps as phaethon said.
Deactivating some apps and uninstalling some helped, but mobile is still very slow :/
So I decided to factory reset my phone and everything is like normal, I have no clue what was the issue :/

After deactivating playstore and relative apps + whatsapp the pproblem is solved.
I dont activate playsrre again for now until I get a "lenovo" reply

What is 'a "lenovo" reply'? This isn't a Lenovo site so you won't get an official response here. Lenovo has their own forum if that's what you're looking for.


text:
How does carriers blocks Internet connections on phone…
I just changed my ISP, and whatever the tethering method (usb or Wi‑Fi or bluethooth) I’m using, I’m redirected to a captive portal of my carrier on my PC web browser’s stating that I’m not allowed to use my connection for tethering (everything from DNS to ping is blocked).
But when I use ʟᴛᴇ from my phone, everythings works fine…
I thought tethering works like setting up a router… How does my carrier can detect the data comes from my laptop instead of my phone ? Does rooting the phone would allows to bypass this restriction.

I didn’t installed any software from my ɪꜱᴘ. And tethering is working through the native capability of the android system.

Do realize that the data transmitted between the device and the carrier contains device identification info such as user agent - without spoofing carriers could easily catch that and respond to all illegal packages with a STOP page like what you saw.

Network operators have deep packet inspection firewalls which can guess the type of a system a request was made with. Typical PS OS additionally identify themself e.g. through the calls "home" (checking for updates...).

@Robert : DPI is illegal in my country (or at least when operated by private entities). So this isn’t that.

@AndyYan I do realize that dns requests and ping don’t have something like ʜᴛᴛᴘ user agents… So you’re completely missing the point. I finally solved the problem through changing my carrier generated ᴀᴘɴ settings at random (however internet does no longer works on the phone but at least I can perform Bluetooth reverse tethering after usb tethering).

True, my bad for omitting that part. That solution doesn't look ideal though... I know that flashing custom ROMs or even just replacing/removing certain parts of the stock ROM could eliminate the tethering restriction, but since you're asking how the restriction is done I have nothing more to show. (wrote a comment instead of an answer)

@AndyYan you can still upvote.

Does this answer your question? How can phone companies detect tethering (incl. Wifi hotspot)


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How can I bypass Android FRP?
My child has transferred phones. I now have his old phone and want to repurpose it, sell it, donate it, give it to a co-worker, use it myself, etc.
The FRP protection prevents me from doing that. I understand the point of FRP but the logic behind it is somewhat flawed and doesn't cover a multitude of legitimate scenarios. I own this phone, not my child!
My child is not present to provide credentials to bypass this feature. How do I reset this essentially bricked device without having to use hacking software?

Note: this question does look a bit like a duplicate of this question, but none of the answers there are acceptable or work.

If none of the solutions work, it's advised that you supply more info, e.g. the device's model, Android version, how the given solution fails.

Have you actually factory-reset the device yet?


text:
Terminal stuck on "<waiting for any device>" after /fastboot oem unlock command
I have been trying to unlock my phone's (Samsung Galaxy J5) bootloader with almost no success. I used adb for the process but it always gets stuck at waiting for device, after fastboot command ./fastboot oem unlock
Idk why this is driving me crazy. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Is the phone in bootloader mode when you run the command? If you run fastboot devices with the phone in bootloader mode, is the device listed?


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Opening a pdf file duplicates it on android
Whenever I open a pdf file in adobe reader in Android and then close it, the pdf file duplicates itself in the same folder. This happens again and again as I open and close the file.
I tried searching google but found nothing relevant.

I would try to go to the pdf reader app settings and clean the data.
Settings -> apps -> the pdf app -> clear data
This will reset the app.
Is this happening to different pds files or just one? Is the file located on the phone or on the internet?

Does clear data delete all files related to the app? I mean will any useful information be deleted like the pdf files? Also, strangely, this happens only to those pdf files which are stored in internal storage > download > adobe reader folder

Clear data will reset the app. This will delete any settings or preferences. It will show like when first installed.
It should not delete any folders like Downloads, so the pdf files should be safe.
This is either app related, which only the developer can handle, or in a worse case scenario, maybe one of those pdf files has some type of maleware appended to it. Again, worst case scenario.
Make sure that you download files only from secure and reliable sources.
If you know they are safe and you can download them again, try also deleting them. See if this happens again when opened.


text:
File-based encryption security and backup/restore considerations
I'm evaluating making the move to file-based encryption on my device, but am having trouble finding satisfying answers to the following questions:

Apps can place data in either a Credential Encrypted (CE) or Device Encrypted (DE) storage, but does this necessarily mean all files in /data/ are encrypted? What if I run echo 1 > /data/test.txt from a shell? Is test.txt encrypted via CE?
I want my data to be protected with more than a four-digit PIN. Can a separate boot passphrase still be used to unlock encryption?
To enable FBE, /data/ needs to be wiped. Can I restore a pre-FBE TWRP backup after enabling it to fully restore my data?
Does TWRP still prompt for encryption password at boot as it does with full-disk encryption?
Can I make TWRP not prompt for encryption password so I can run automated backups via OpenRecoveryScript?
If I create a backup without providing my encryption password, is TWRP smart enough to restore the encrypted data as-is on restore?
Are there any other TWRP backup or restore caveats I should be aware of before diving in?

Good questions, however IMHO you should split them up a bit more, may be q1, q2 and the TWRP backup topics as a third question.

Android 9 and lower

Apps can place data in either a Credential Encrypted (CE) or Device Encrypted (DE) storage, but does this necessarily mean all files in /data/ are encrypted?

What will be encrypted and which key is used depends on the encryption policy. The encryption policy specifies on a per-directory base what to encrypt. Exclusions (no encryption) seem to be possible, too.
For Android 9 and below used policy us hard-coded in the source code of Android.
There you can read that currently some exclusions are known:

/data/apex
/data/data
/data/lost+found
/data/media
/data/misc_ce
/data/misc_de
/data/system_ce
/data/system_de
/data/user
/data/user_de
/data/vendor_ce
/data/vendor_de

For some of those exclusions there is an encryption policy for a subdirectory specified. However If I understand it correctly placing a files directly into one of those directories means that no encryption will be applied.
Android 10

In Android 10, the encryption policy was hardcoded into this location:
/system/extras/libfscrypt/fscrypt_init_extensions.cpp
1

Android 11+

In Android 11 and higher, the encryption policy is no longer hardcoded
into a centralized location, but rather is defined by arguments to the
mkdir commands in the init scripts. Directories encrypted with the
system DE key use encryption=Require, while unencrypted directories
(or directories whose subdirectories are encrypted with per-user keys)
use encryption=None.
1

Are you sure that /data/data is excluded from encryption? This is a directory where all app settings are. /data/user is a directory where are user files, so-called "internal storage".

@QkiZ There is a comment in the source code (I have corrected the link) about that some of the devices may be excluded from encryption because their subdirectories are included in the encryption. Therefore from my understanding this exclusion list is mostly applied to the directories itself, not their subdirectories.

@Robert You mentioned " while unencrypted directories (or directories whose subdirectories are encrypted with per-user keys) use encryption=None. 1"
For FBE:
What is this per-user keys, do we have separate keys per user, and do these keys changes every boot ?
Is each file encrypted with a different key?

@Lavyansi Individual keys for each file is standard for file based encryption systems. But AFIK the encryption is not user specific. You only have only types: one encryption type allows access before first user has logged on. The second type requires logon before you can access the files.


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Setting option for speech to text on Huawei mobile?
As we know, Android comes with an in-built feature, speech to text. But I failed to find any setting options for speech to text on my Huawei Mate 9 phone.
Does my mobile use online speech recognition service offered by Google or a service by Huawei?
Does my mobile support offline speech recognition? How many languages have been supported? ...
Thank you in advance.


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Infinity loading of centrain Google Apps on Italian SIM
I have OnePlus 5 (Android 8) phone and I have 1 SIM slot with my home SIM and 2 SIM slot with Italian Prepaid card with internet data.
I am getting infinity loops when I am using centrain Google apps. For example I cannot login into YouTube, Search on Google Play, or download emails. I am always getting infinity loading. When I am on Wifi its ok and working.
Only on first or second card I am getting this problem.
What is going on? Is google blocking access to some accounting servers from different locations? I am originally from Czech Republic and now I am on vaccation in Italy.

Fixed by clearing cache and data of all Google apps...
Seems apps where setuped for different country.
I am now back from Italy and SIM data alsos topped working so I did clear again and it works now.


text:
Find back the status indicator for Titanium Backup
I started a time-y backup task in TB. There's a popup window showing an overall progress and which app it's currently backing up. I accidentally tapped the screen (not the Cancel button) and it disappeared. I tried to start another task and it shows "An operation is already in progress". I have no way to know how much the previous task has done.
How to I retrieve the current progress?

Is there any notification of how much it completed shown?

Have you checked in the notification area?


text:
Company account terminated
I had my work gmail setup on my phone. I just switched jobs and I got a notification that I've been signed out of my account (the account activity required notification). I click it and it's trying to get me to sign in under the old gmail, which is deactivated. I disabled gmail and it still won't go away.
My phone is signed into my personal gmail account. How do I get this notification to go away?

Without knowing the phone model, you could try removing the old account via Settings - Accounts.

Simply remove the account from the phone settings.
Depending on your model and Android version, the location will slightly vary. Try this:
Settings > Users & Accounts (Or only accounts) > That Google work account > Remove account.
Once removed, you should get rid of the notification in your tray.

Great, thank you very much! I couldn't figure out where the account would be accept for the gmail.


text:
How to lock android tablet for web browsing only?
Im developing a web app for some clients and Im going to lend then an android tablet (one of those cheap chinese non-brand tablets, pretty easy to manipulate) and Im kind of new into android so I want to know how can I lock all system apps (including settings) and leave them with google chrome enabled, even with a browsing lock that only allows to navigate in the desired domain.
As a plus I would like to have like a remote monitoring of the tablet so I can see the activity.
Im asking such an ambiguous way cause I dont know anything about android, but I imagine that this can be done because is such an open OS. If someone can recommend me some apps or website where I can get more info about this.
Thanks!!

What version of Android u Use? are you a Android developer. If you are going to lend the Tablet to the customer for a short time(Such as a small demo) you can  use "Screen Pinning" option in android.

@Avinash Remember that screen pinning doesn't resume itself if the app it allows access to crashes or is closed via e.g. tapping an "Exit" button inside it.

@DeathMaskSalesman Yes. It is not a permenant solution. but for a short demo it is OK

@Avinash It is, unless the user manages to crash Chrome.

Please look at the questions under [tag:kiosk-mode].

Since you are looking at additional features which are beyond what has been pointed out by Fire lord, see single use set up https://developer.android.com/work/cosu

The simplest approach is probably to use Google's Android Management API, it's compatible with all Android devices running Android 5.1 or above.
To lock the device on one app, or on multiple app, you define a kiosk policy like below:
"applications": [
 {
   "packageName": "com.example.app",
   "installType": "FORCE_INSTALLED",
   "lockTaskAllowed": true,
   "defaultPermissionPolicy": "GRANT",
 },
 {
   "packageName": "com.example.app2",
   "installType": "FORCE_INSTALLED",
   "lockTaskAllowed": true,
   "defaultPermissionPolicy": "GRANT",
 }
"persistentPreferredActivities": [
  {
    "receiverActivity": "com.example.app/.com.example.app.MainActivity",
    "actions": [
      "android.intent.action.MAIN"
    ],
    "categories": [
      "android.intent.category.HOME",
      "android.intent.category.DEFAULT"
    ]
  }
]


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How to use GNU Root Debian from android terminal emulator?
I install GNU Root Debian on my android. Also i install jdk8. I can compile java programs. For example i can get java version.
cd /data/data/com.gnuroot.debian/debian/usr/java/jdk1.8.0_181/bin
./java -version

But it works only in GNU Root Debian terminal emulator. How i can use java from android terminal emulator? I got error: cannot execute binary file.
Android shell cannot run java? How i can change shell to debian shell?

GNURoot Debian run script in /data/data/com.gnuroot.debian/support/launchProot when app started. In termux I run it script and java works!


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Whatsapp doesn't run on background on new Xiaomi
I got a new phone yesterday, Xiaomi Mi A1, and installed Whatsapp on it. Now I only get notifications when the app is open and a few minutes after I turn off the display (or go do some other thing). On my Whatsapp Web it says that the phone isn't connected, and I have to manually reopen the app in order to get any recent messages.
I figured it's some sort of restriction the Android places on background processes, but how do I remove it? I'm pretty sure I haven't messed with any sophisticated settings up until now

Please check this. Settings->Apps&Notifications->tap on WhatsApp. tap Data Usage, then enable Background data, if it is not enabled. Hope this solves the issue.

It's enabled already. "Unrestricted data usage" is disabled, but it should take effect only on battery saving mode, which is off

I strongly suspect this is caused by the enhanced App battery saver, which restricts  application activities to a minimum or altogether close an application to save power.
In some miui based Xiaomi phones it can be adjusted here: Security → Battery Usage → App battery saver → (Choose application) → Background settings:

Alternatively on non miui Xiaomi devices it can adjusted under App settings → Battery usage:

You have to turn off this setting or adjust to make sure the target application (Whatsapp) isn't killed in background.


text:
How to infer battery consumption on a non owned app
I am a back-office system developer, and am struggling to deal with a problem.
I am addicted to podcasts (in fact I use the Podcast Addict app), but I am interested in all kinds of subjects and there are a lot of podcasters to provide me a bunch of options. This addiction means that I have more podcasts to listen to than hours in a week. So I listen with accelerated audio.
But, podcast addicted implementation of accelerated audio is very power hungry, and I am wondering if it should.
My goal is to get any information about CPU/GPU usage of every podcast player when playing in accelerated playback.
Any advice? Tools? Procedures? Anyone has made this analysis before?

Looking into the APK of Podcast Addict you can find the library libsonic which is the key component "for speeding up or slowing down speech". As it is  a native library it should be relative efficient (compared to plain Java). The sonic library does not seem to use the GPU for computations, just plain CPU power.
Regarding the comparison on different Apps modern Android systems already have everything in place to do so. On the app details page you can see the CPU time (total, background), and the keep wake time.
If you want to see more details you can use an app like GSam Battery Monitor.
Using a fixed length podcast you can compare different apps by noting the displayed values before and after the test.
For testing non-owned apps I only see the chance to buy it if it is not free, test it and then if it does not meet your expectations regarding the battery usage refund it. On Google Play Store this should be possible within 48 hours after you have bought the app.

Thanks a lot. But by 'not owned' I meant that I am not the developer, so I think that it would be impossible to make any profiling (am I wrong?). I was thinking of connecting to Android studio for any deeper diagnostic. To me seems vary strange that it does not use GPU, I mean, the acceleration (being done in real-time) is a algebraic wave compression, GPU should excel doing it, and would be battery conservative as well. I am totally Ok with buying a few apps for testing purposes, but, would be better to have a nice setup (profiling) to test them quickly.

That you don't have the source does not make a difference as long as you don't want to debug the app (as debugging slows it down this is nothing you want to do). I think the library is too old for OpenCL. Also using the GPU means you have to re-invent your existing wheel, as you can't reuse the code and just run it on the GPU.


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Installed app not showing on Play Store
I have a Samsung FGalaxy 7 using Android version 8.0.0.  I have an app that is on my list of apps to run (and it does run), but it does not show in Play Store so that I can uninstall it.  I tried finding it within Play Store, thinking that reinstalling it would clean up the app listings so I could uninstall it, but it looks like the app is no longer on there.
How can apps be uninstalled outside of Play Store?

Since you are running a newer version of Android you should be able to hold down on the app icon and then drag it to the top right of your screen where an "uninstall" should appear.

Samsung does things differently , so you may need to vary it ; on stock you would   go to  Settings→ Apps & Notifications → App Info → scroll and find your app name → tap on it and you get to see details with uninstall option

This is on Oreo 8.0


text:
How to manually set a roaming network (Pixel 2)
I am having trouble setting a specific roaming network on my Pixel 2. These are my options in the Mobile Network settings. Does anyone know how to set the roaming network here?

So right now I'm connected to a roaming network A. But I want specify connect to mobile network B.

Thanks @beeshyams. I don't have "Choose network operators" in my "Mobile Network" settings. See the image I posted at the top.

Pixel 2, Android 8.1.0, Security patch July 5th 2018

Thanks @beeshyams. I've added an image to my top post searching for 'network operator' -- unfortunately nothing found. Yeah I have looked into the solution you posted with dialing '##4636##*' but the problem is these network operators have the same network type / bands.

I managed to figure it out. The secret was setting the 'Preferred network type' from 'Global' to 'LTE / GSM / UMTS'. That displayed the 'Automatically select network' toggle which I disabled in order to select my desired network. See image below. Thanks for your help, beeshyams!


text:
Xiaomi Mi5s plus' display won't turn on after updating LOS
I encountered a very strange problem with my Mi5s plus (natrium). I was flashing the recent LOS 20180717 version, Open GApps Aroma and Magisk 16.0 via TWRP (in that order). That's my usual procedure every once in a while and it usually works perfectly fine. After flashing the Magisk zip, my phone "wouldn't turn on" anymore. However, I can boot into the bootloader and recovery modes and I can easily access everything from my terminal with fastboot and adb (it's even mounted when in recovery). The display stays dark, the notification LED as well. Now, I'm not sure what to do, I erased the cache, I tried to reboot.
Does anybody have an idea how to "unbrick" my device? I have the feeling that I messed up something with the boot partition, but I'm no expert on that.
Thanks, hundertzwoelf.

Update: I solved it by flashing the stock boot.img from MIUI. Yesterday I tried the same with the boot.img provided by the Lineage OS ROM and it did not work.


text:
Physical keyboard layout is reset with every reboot
In my Yoga BOOK, which comes with a physical keboard like a laptop, I have to set the layout of the physical keyboard every time I reboot the device. How to keep the settings?
How I set it: Settings, Languages and Input, Physical keyboard, The individual keyboard apps (it forgets the layout of all of them).
Android 7.1.1


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Google Calendar Android app doesn't always synchronize
I use a shared Google Agenda with someone else ("UserA").
If UserA:

opens his Google Agenda Android app (version 5.8.38-200532405, the latest version)
adds a new event in our common agenda
saves the event

then I often don't see it in my own Google calendar (on http://calendar.google.com desktop version for example) even if I refresh the page multiple times (F5 or CTRL+F5 or even close/reopen browser).
The only solution we found was that UserA has to click on the 3 dots menu on the top right, then choose "Refresh" (or maybe "Update"?). If he forgets to do "Refresh" after "Save" then it won't be synchronized. This is annoying and not user-friendly: a synchronization should be automatically triggered after an event is saved in a shared agenda.

Is there a solution to fix this?
PS: this lead to sometimes not knowing that the other one has added an event :) because he didn't do "Refresh" – the event was not propagated!

UserA needs to have:

ticked automatic synchronization
signed in into google account
allowed synchronization of Google Calendar

Thank you for your answer @user0. Which "automatic sync" option? Can you add a screenshot? "allowed synchronization of Google Calendar" => where to set this option? (A screenshot is welcome).


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Phone dying at 23% charge
I changed the battery of my OnePlus one (original and new, from EBay).
Everything went well, the new battery seems to do its job.
But now my phone keeps turning off and vibrating at 23% charge....
If i connect it to a charger, the "battery-to-empty-to-turn-on" screen shows (as usual) and the phone boots with 23% charge displayed.
Could it be faulty calibration data because i didn't charge the new battery till 100% yet?

What happens if you charge it to 100%?

I charged it many times to 100% now, it doesn't change anything. It's always vibrating while the screen turns off. No Shutdown-Message from Android though.


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Find My Device says "can't reach device", but I can make it ring
I'm having a bizarre issue with the Android Device Manager. Basically when I try to look up my Nexus 9 tablet, I cannot see its location, and it looks like this:

As you can see, it somehow does display the charge level and the name of the WiFi network it's connected to. More importantly, when I click the play sound button, it immediately starts ringing.
So this is clearly not true. How can I fix this and make it so that I can track my tablet's location again?

Wifi/ data could be off on the tablet preventing location finding

Managed to figure it out. Apparently this happens when location services are turned on, but fail to produce a location.
In my case, the tablet's location mode was set to GPS only, but the GPS sensors are busted and don't work. Switching to battery saving mode in Settings → Location solved this issue.