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Will my photos and videos be gone?
I have a samsung galaxy tab 2 7.0, and I forgot the password. I want to save my photos and videos but I am not sure whether a factory reset will do. Any suggestions?

You can try installing a custom recovery and make a backup of the entire system. The backup will be a file that's like a zip/rar/etc. Then you can get your files that way.
Take a look at http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_p3110 If you have the WIFI version of the tablet.
Take a look at http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_p3100 if you have the GSM/SIM Card version of the tablet.
As with anything, You do this at your own risk.

A factory reset will not wipe the internal storage. And why should /system be backuped if he wants to save /data/media???

Hmm I was always told factory reset would wipe everything. And I guess I should've mentioned this in the answer. But with custom recoveries  you can include the internal storage. Which would save what he wants.

@SuperThomasLab is right that why would internal storage be deleted during Factory/Hard reset? But the point applies to devices and Android having 4.4+ only IMO. For my 4.2.1 your revision 1 fits correctly.

Yeah I could of sworn at one point factory resetting a phone would have erased everything.

A factory reset wipes /cache, /data and doesn't wipe /data/media or /external_sd.

And @Firelord do you have any experience with IMEI and /efs? If so could you help me with my question?

@SuperThomasLab It wipes my Internal SD card for Android 4.2.1. But not in 4.4.2 and 5.0. // I have experience but not with Samsung. Sorry!

Maybe thats where I got confused. I figured /data included /data/media since it was a subfolder.Thanks for clearing that up.


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Mute a single contact on WhatsApp
Basically I still want to receive the messages from a contact but on lesser priority. I don't want a notification to appear when this contact messages me.
It is possible to mute a group chat, but not for single contact. Or I haven't found it.
How to mute a single contact on WhatsApp?

Mischealle suggests (lacking the rep to comment): Can't you just go to the person's profile and tern the mute mode on?

In the conversation click the three dots in the top right > View Contact > scroll down and select Mute.
Or go to contacts, tap the profile picture on the left, click the "i" icon, to view the contact and scroll down and select mute.
Using WhatsApp 2.12.250 on Android 5.1.1 (Nexus 5).

If you want to mute a group conversation,
Whatsapp -> Click conversation you want to mute -> top right theres the options menu (three dots) -> Mute.
In that menu, you can deselect the notification setting or mute the conversation for a period of time.
I don't think there is a mute for a single contact though.

You can block someone though

Just like I thought , there is no mute for a single contact.

@huey I know "block" but you cannot receive messages from them anymore

@raychenon currently whatsapp doesn't have this functionality

There is an option in the Settings -> Notifications. When you go to section "Group notifications", there is an option to set the notification tone, vibrate or popup notification.
In my case, I've turned off the vibration and set tone to "no sound" and it's fine for me.

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Where are offline google music files stored on galaxy s6?
I have a galaxy s6 with many songs saved for offline use on google play music. I am having trouble finding the songs so that I can transfer them into the music storage file so that I can then transfer and listen to the songs on my galaxy gear s. Anyone have an idea of where these music files are or why I can't find them?

Even if you are able to find the music files they are encrypted using a private key and decrypted only while playing like when you are streaming it form the internet (if you use certain traffic counter app they will show that GPlay Music sends and receives a lot of data). They are usually inside the app's private storage, either on the internal storage or the external SD card.

Possibly covered in Where does Google Play Music v5 store music locally?

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Individual Photo Backup : New Google Photos
I've enabled Auto-backup in the new Google Photos app. And I have excluded some folders from being backed-up. But this seems to be all or nothing. I want some of the photos in those excluded folders to be backed up. Any way to do that?

Nope, not possible. You can upload the photos manually, but there would be no point specifying certain filenames to be automatically backed up, because they would never change.

I've been trying to do what you're asking for a while and I think I've found a way. Upload the pic to Google Drive and go into pic info. From there click 'send to' and select 'upload to photos'. The pic/pics you uploaded should be in the 'photos' section of Google Photos. After that you can delete it from Drive.
Hope this helps


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Bluestacks problem regarding Data Files
I once uninstalled bluestacks. But i had saved its game data. And then when reinstalling it i actually had to stop and close in just when it was about to end. Due to a power cut. So next time i opened my windows 7 pc i found bluestacks in my computer. I opened it and it took a hour or so to download game data but usually it should take 3 or so minute as of i know if we uninstall it while saving game data, the next time installation and game data and initializing doesn't take much of a time. But as it was taking so much time i did some copy paste work with the files in program data>bluestacks in my windows 7. And now instead of taking its own game data in program data its downloading the game data which takes a lot of my internet !
PC specs -
PC : AMD Athlon X2 250 3.00 ghz
OP : WIndows 7
Ram : 2 gb
system : 64 bit operating system
Details -
I've installed it before and have uninstalled it many times before as well and i know it  takes the old game data if i save them. But this time it isn't
My problem -
I want to ask what to do, i already have the data in program data>bluestacks which is about 3.34 gb. And if its downloading game data again will it download only the damaged or missing files ? or the whole game data ?
What to do ? how do i make the software accept its former game data ?


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How to increase volume in the Android Lollipop
All, I was trying to increase the volume of speaker for my Moto G2(2nd) phone. I just update it to the OS Android Lollipop.
I had tried the highly recommended APP (Volume+) in the Google Play.
But the app doesn't work in my phone.
Because I found it only works in the Android 2.3. I thought it must some api which works in the Android 2.3 but missing in the Lollipop.
So I want to know Is there any work around to increase volume for the Android Lollipop? Thanks.

You could try installing auto mods such as Viper4Android. While I know the dev is busy and development is on hold for the time being. Many custom roms use it and it works wonderfully. I do believe the device has to be rooted for it to work. Take a look here. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2191223

In addition to @jer3my: Viper4Android requires your SELinux to be set to permissive. Otherwise it can't process the audio output.

eh..Big headache...After I read the post..I really don't know what exactly Viper4Android it is .. Could you please tell me more about it . Thanks.


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How can I run a file on my phone, via the terminal on my computer?
I'm doing this. There is a detailed version of what I did. Now someone suggested me to install TWRP recovery, it could be installed via the playstore, but now I have no idea on how to make android run, it just opens in the CM recovery mode.
The second option seems to involve some kind of file transfer and manipulation of the files via a terminal on windows, but I have no clue on how to run files on my phone using Windows. I guess that the ADB is a tool for doing that, but until now I don't know how to do it.

Voyska, could you please at least mention the essentials in your post – not just the links alone? The links are fine for reference, but please do not expect us hunting them to figure out what you want to achieve ;)

Izzy is right. Please make corrections. // You have to boot into CM recovery mode, connect your phone into PC and type adb shell into PC's terminal/cmd (you would need ADB tool and phone drivers, try this or the web), find the Recovery partition name, and then figure out how to write TWRP.img (use adb pull to copy it from PC) to Recovery partition using dd. It probably would be like dd if=/sdcard/TWRP.img  of=/dev/<RECOVERY_PARTITION_NAME>.

If your phone supports flashing using fastboot mode, then just boot into it, connect phone into PC and issue (after drivers and fastboot tool installation) the command fastboot flash recovery <YOUR_RECOVERY_FILE>.


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How to get a confirmation when deleting images?
I just bought the LG G4 (Android Lollipop) and I'm pretty concerned that there's no confirmation "dialog" or something when we delete images in the Gallery.
Something like "Are you sure?".
Because now when I press the trash button to delete image, I have like 2 seconds to press Cancel if I don't want my image to be permanently removed.
This can be problematic if I missclick on the screen or if I let someone use my phone...
My step-father used my phone quickly just to check-out, he took a picture then wanted to delete it.. Then I don't know what happened but my previous photos were removed. I think he deleted all the photos by tapping too fast?
Well, I searched everywhere and I didn't find anything to have more security at least.

I have a G4, and you're right. The Gallery app doesn't have a confirmation message, just a floating dialog that has an Undo button which disappears after a while.
I'd recommend using another app instead. I use QuickPic. When you click the delete button, a popup with a delete icon appears. It serves as sort of a confirmation message. If you click the button, the picture is deleted. Otherwise, you can just cancel the operation by clicking the soft-key back button.

Exactly. Is this issue only for G4 (interface they add on Android stock) or for all Lollipop devices?
Well, thank you for you reply.

@Gawel91 the AOSP Gallery app and Camera app (linked together) both feature the Undo button only. It's a kind of new design technique that has been widely accepted by developers (but not by the users).


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Leap Seconds on Android
A leap second was recently added on June 30, 2015 23:59:60 UTC.
How are leap seconds implemented on Android (specifically Lollipop)?

Are you asking theoretically? If your phone receives its time automatically, it should be AFN (all fine now). If not, it's at most 1 second off additionally from your last manual time setting. Perhaps you should get on that, then.

The leap second was not implemented in Lollipop or any other Android version. If you are really concerned with having 'atomic clock' accuracy, use ClockSync, which synchronizes your device's clock with an atomic clock.
If you have root access, this is done automatically. Without root, a countdown assists in you manually synchronizing your clock. That will get you the one second back if you don't have network-provided time.

How does ClockSync show the leap second?  Does it properly show the right time on both the last second of the year, and the first second of the next year?  In particular, does it properly show the 61th second, e.g. Sat Dec 31 23:59:60 UTC 2016?

In Date/Hour Settings page you have a checkbox to enable auto-checking time by the network.
I think it's your mobile operator that gives time. Then the mobile is always up-to-date (time speaking).
I don't think leap seconds are implemented in stock Android if we're not connected on any network.

On my phone, selecting "use network provided values" winds up being equal to "use GPS values"and it turns out GPS time is ahead of UTC by 17 seconds because GPS time doesn't have leap seconds.  So... what is the fix for this?

@Michael First time I heard of that.. Are you on Android Lollipop?

@Michael It looks like you're running in to a device-specific time reporting bug which is discussed here (though it should be reported to the device manufacturer): https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=5485


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Folder seen as file when connected as MTP
I have Redmi 1S phone running Andriod 4.3 (MIUI v56).  When connected to a PC (Windows 7 32Bit) in MTP mode, one of the folders named Backup (present in internal memory) is seen as a file and effectively inaccessible.
When connected through FTP, that folder is seen and accessible through an FTP client (can be downloaded as well to PC). Folder is accessible from within the File Manager app on phone as well.
I am clueless what is selectively causing this single folder being seen as a file when the device is connected in MTP mode! Any support to solve this would be great. Thanks.

Because of the different way files and folders are handled on Windows when compared to other operating systems, it could be that the folder is corrupted and Windows is seeing it as a file (which it really is in the Android filesystem).  It may be possible to fix this problem by:

Creating a new folder,
Moving the contents of Backup into the new folder,
Removing Backup, and finally
Renaming the new folder to Backup

However, depending on what the underlying problem truly is, this may not fix it.

Thanks for your suggestions Preston159. As a workaround I could access (it as a folder) and download the contents thru FTP. However when as MTP this particular folder is seen as a file of 4KB size. This folder is created by OS and it stores the backup as bunch of files therein.  I will follow the steps you suggested and check if it helps and update you.

'it could be that the folder is corrupted and Windows is seeing it as a file' -- would you please back this claim with a credible source? I would like to know the reason, or at least folks with similar problem.

The trick move-copy-rename as suggested by Preston159 worked indeed!  Now the folder is accessible in windows explorer and data remained  intact. This could have been indexing issue as suggested by ballzak. At the moment I don't have ADT so could not run the adb shell command as such.    Thank you all.

This is most likely cause by the path being incorrectly indexed as a file in the MediaStore. Only files scanned and added to the MediaStore shows up in Windows when the device is mounted in MTP mode. Try rescanning the path, to update the MediaStore with the correct path information.
If you have the ADT installed, use ADB:
adb shell am broadcast -a android.intent.action.MEDIA_MOUNTED -d file:///mnt/sdcard/Backup

It is still relevant in 2021 since I just encoutered the problem.
Simple solution: rebuild media cache.
Go to Applications, tap the three points in the upper right corner. Choose show processes. Find Media Storage. Clear cache and data. Reboot.
So it seems Windows is the culprit?

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Why 'Add what you're doing or feeling' option/icon is missing from my Android Facebook app? How should I enable it?
I'm using Sony Xperia C Android smartphone.
Facebook app is pre-installed in it.
The issue I'm faing is I'm not getting an option for 'Add what you're doing or feeling' when I want to update my status. Only three options are there as follows :

Tag people in your post
Add a location to post
Add photos to your post

The missing one is'Add what you're doing or feeling'. I checked all the settings but no success.
The same option appears on facebook website. Can someone please help me in this regard?
Thanks.
If you want any other information please do let me know.

What version of facebook are you running?

@Manubhargav : I'm running Facebook Version 2.3

My facebook version is 41.0.0.25.131 . I don't see this problem.

Update your Facebook app, you'll probably get those options

Facebook released v2.3 around 20th March 2013, Here's a snapshot of the page with Facebookv2.3.
Facebook announced it's enhanced status update on how they're feeling around 10th April 2013 which is the reason it's not included in the App.
Update the app, you'll get this feature.

Thanks for your interest in the issue. Can you please tell me how should I update my facebook app since nowhere I'm getting update option.

Go to play store > My apps > Installed > Check for facebook app, see if it's there


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Apps compatibility on Android x86
I have a few questions about normal devices (non-x86) and x86 devices:

Why, sometimes, an app that isn't designed for x86 devices works, but sometimes it just crashes when starting them?
I've seen a lot of rooting apps (e.g. Xmodgames) that don't support x86. Why is that?

The answer for questions 1 and 2 is that some apps on Android are compiled purely in Java/Dalvik bytecode, and others are compiled as native C/C++. Since Dalvik bytecode is not native, it has separate interpreters for different architectures. However, since C/C++ native apps and libraries are compiled for a specific architecture, they can be run only on the specific architecture.
Since most of the rooting apps use exploits of the Android system, they need to be compiled in C. This prevents them from being universally used, and require them to be recompiled for each architecture.


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Can't make or receive voice calls anymore
I have a Moto G 2013 (XT1033) with latest Lollipop.
Suddenly I'm unable to make any voice calls. I open the dialer, input the number, press dial and... nothing happens.
Either I'm thrown back to the dialer or I get a "call ended" message instantly after pressing dial.
I also can't receive voice calls, either: they go straight to voicemail. SMS are OK, then I know it's not the SIM card problem.
By adb shell and dmesg I saw those error messages which make it look like the internal memory is corrupted.
What to do?

I don't know if your issue is related to mine, but are you able to make calls when you aren't connected to WIFI?

@mezmo I tried disconnecting from Wi-Fi but didn't work, either.

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Add work email address to Gmail on an Android device
I want to install my work email address on gmail on an Android device. The device is a Samsung 10" with Lollipop 5.1.1. Gmail version is 5.3.9xxxxxx.
Following this:
Gmail 5.0 With Exchange Support And Material Design Has Landed | Android Police
it shows 3 options, the last being "Exchange". My device has only the first 2 options. Why

The Exchange option is only available for users with the Exchange Services package installed.  Unfortunately, this package doesn't come installed on all Android phones (as far as I know, only the Nexus devices come with it preinstalled) and isn't available on the Play Store.  However, I did find a link where the apk file can be downloaded from.  After installation, the Exchange option should appear when attempting to add an account (reboot possibly required).

Disclaimer: I myself have a Nexus device and already had the package installed.  I have not attempted to use the link included in this answer and cannot vouch for its safety.


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Nexus 4 red light of death. Unable to fix it (tried two possible solutions)
Using a 3-year Nexus 4, I started yesterday to suffer the red light of death issue.
Firtsly, I open the unit, disconected and conected the battery, following the directions of:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWABgDHvfx0
It did not work, so I tried to power off the device through the bootloader menu:
https://support.google.com/nexus/troubleshooter/3337561?hl=en#ts=3337943
The battery icon appeared on my screen, I waited for nearly two hours but, when trying to turn it on, the red light appared again and the device did not turn on.
What am I doing wrong? Any tip is welcome.


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Browser keeps refreshing tabs
I have a LG V480 (1GB RAM; LG Lollipop 5.0.2), when switching from one tab to another tab which was loaded before, it will reload it.
Example: 3 tabs with 3 websites, everytime i switch tab it will reload the tab i switch to.
Video..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjEGnTxsj3c
Its very annoying, if i had written this question on the tablet and for some reason i clicked in another tab, when returning to the question, i had to write all over again! Its not multitasked, its time/bandwidth wasting. Also tried to set to default the tablet, but the issue remains.
Tried with Chrome (preferred one), Firefox, Opera, some others browsers, and all behaves like this, some better, other worse.
How can i solve this issue?

It's probably the LMK (low-memory killer) that kills suspended threads for tabs that are not visible. They then need to be restarted and all of their data needs to be reloaded again.

Thanks for the comment. I did a follow up on your answer and Mikhail in his answer..

Its probaly in the websites code to refresh to keep you up to date with the websites content.

Definitely those tabs are just getting killed. Remember that in Chrome, page renderers run in separate processes for security. Once a renderer process has been put into background, the system is free to kill it. According to https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=98332, the issue with over-aggressive process killing should be resolved in the 5.1 update. Hopefully, LG will release this update for V480 soon.

Thanks for the answer..that makes sense.5.0.2 was released for this model some days after i purchased the tablet, originally was 4.4.2..do you think 4.4.2 also suffers this issue? I´m thinking on downgrading, if solves the issue..

I think 4.4.2 is actually better than 5.0 for non hi-end devices. For KitKat there had been a special effort in order to minimize memory usage (see http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/10/31/kitkat-feature-spotlight-project-svelte-extends-android-4-4-support-to-devices-with-as-little-as-512mb-of-ram/). Then in the initial release of Lollipop, things got bad again. This was fixed in 5.1. So until it becomes available for your device, it is wiser to keep with KitKat.

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Is it possible to order 2 Ubers at the same time?
Using the Uber Android application, is it possible to book 2 Uber drivers at the same time?

Franck(ly), are you sure this is an Android specific question – and not rather a policy-related Uber question? Does Uber generally allow this? (as on SR, please include context ;) A good starting place might also be the Uber help center (yuck, do they only know the iOS app there?)

@Izzy Unsure, I didn't use the iPhone app. Perhaps Uber policy indeed :/

I'd say simply try it; if it works you'll know (and have to pay 2 drivers :)

And? Tried it? Wanna post an answer? I know you know that on SE sites, it's perfectly fine to answer your own question :)

It does not seem possible to order 2 Ubers at the same time: requesting an Uber changes the application interface, making it impossible to request a second Uber.


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Can't change security settings due to VPN setup
This appears to be a duplicate of this post, but the solution there didn't work for me. Clearing the credential storage wasn't even an option -- it's greyed out.
Starting at the beginning -- I started to set up a VPN on my phone (Note 3, Android 5.0) but cancelled the operation halfway through, yet the OS still enforced the security settings (a PIN). I have tried a few things trying to disable the PIN lock, but the only option I have is to upgrade the security to a "password" which is even more unacceptable.
So far, I've tried finishing the VPN setup (it worked) then removing it, also force stop/disable of the VPN app, and quite a few other things that I can't recall at this moment.
I think part of the issue is that a certificate was installed when I started the process, but I have no idea which certificate it was. The System cert list is populated with tons of entries, but the User cert list is completely empty. Is there a way to determine which certificate was installed so I can remove/disable that one? I'm concerned with choosing the wrong one, as who knows what it might break on the phone.

Is your phone rooted? Without root, any trace of the installed certificate has to be in the user section. If you have root, you could sort the system certificates by date using a file explorer.

Phone isn't rooted. If the VPN that I attempted to create was an android function (system/more networks/VPN/etc), would that still have used a user cert?

Exactly: if you don't have root, all user certificates are located in the credential storage, which contains no user certificates like you said. It's like the credential manager somehow has a bad state, thinking there are credentials stored on the device but when if looks for them, it can't find any. Could you perhaps try installing some kind of root certificate? I know for a fact that ca root certificates go into credential storage, so you should be able to reset your credential storage ater installing the certificate. Another type of certificate might work as well.

Do you have any suggestions for a safe CA cert? Ironically enough cacerts.org got an invalid certificate when I browsed there oh my phone :)

You can try the one from Startssl: https://www.startssl.com/certs/sub.class1.client.ca.pem

Thanks. No dice. I installed it, verified that it was listed in the user certs section, removed with "Clear all", and nothing. Tried again and rebooted the phone between adding and removing, still no dice. Thanks for the suggestion.

Try this Its an apk that can disable the screen lock. It worked for me on KitKat when I had the same problem.
Install it, select launcher and don't mind the icon.

Not looking to fix this with software.. thanks.

The only other thing I can suggest is disabling all of your device administrators.

Oh yeah -- that's another thing that I tried before... still no dice.. Thanks though.


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Is there any way to control my android phone remotely from another android?
I have an Android Galaxy S4 Mini (SGH-I257) that is not rooted and running stock software Android 4.4.2 and an Samsung Galaxy Admire (SGH-R830C) rooted running stock Android 4.1.2. Both devices are fully updated.
I am trying to use my S4 Mini to control my Admire, is this possible? I have tried using TeamViewer and but that does not seem to be working. I tried droid VNC which worked but the interface was very clunky and it seemed to be made for computers.
I basically want to open an app on my Mini and have my Admire appear, like remote desktop connection. I don't need sound, but I would like to be able to click the home button remotely and be able to swipe the lock screen to unlock.
VNC works, but it will not work outside my home network which defeats the purpose. Could I host this via my modem I have? I have an At&T Uverse Motorola NVG589 modem running software version 9.1.0h12d34.

Port forwarding on your home router with a static IP could work.


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How can I access my Android Internal Storage (data/data) from the pc?
Not the SD Card that downloads, folders, gallery, etc. goes to. I mean the data/data internal memory of the Android device, where game saves, factory apps, etc. goes to.
As much as I'd love to root my device to access storage, I am afraid of the risks associated with it, like bricking. It's a Lenovo Ideatab S2109A-F and have found no simple low risk ways of rooting it and no one click root apps support it. It runs ICS 4.0.4.
But anyways now I'm turning to a pc method. We have a Windows Vista Compaq Presario computer, though its internet network card is dead and can't read our wireless router so I must tether to connect it to download whatever drivers I need for the pc to access internal memory. I don't plan to do anything with the storage itself for risk of damaging my device, I only intend to back up a few save game files to a pc folder so I don't lose them, just in case the tablet needs reset for any reason. Don't wanna lose my files and I cannot back them up if I can't access internal storage.
So step by step, what do I have to do and what files to download in order for the pc to read files from my Android internal data? Any alternative solutions would help too and if you know an easy low risk way to root this particular tablet, I'll give it a go. I tried looking up ways and tried, but nothing helped me.

Directly accessing /data/data/* is not possible without root – neither on device, nor remotely from your PC.
But your question rather is a XY problem: what you really want to do is "to back up a few save game files to a pc folder so I don't lose them, just in case the tablet needs reset for any reason". And for that, you've even put a tag that already answers your question: adb. Follow up to its tag-wiki for some general hints (e.g. how to install a minimal version of it). Then see the backup tag-wiki and scan it for "ADB" (also check the linked questions there).
Basically, what you want to do is to adb backup the relevant apps. Such an ADB-Backup always includes the app's data, and optionally the .apk of the app as well:
# adb backup -f <file_name> [-[no]apk] <package_name>
adb backup -f myApp.ab -apk com.foobar.app

The only thing you need to figure first for this is the package name of the app you want to backup. Easiest way of doing that is checking its page on PlayStore, where the package name is part of the URL (id=<package_name). Alternatively, e.g. the app AppInspector can help you find the package name.
If you later need to restore that, adb restore <file name> is all you need to call.

Yeah I knew it had to involve adb but I just wasn't sure on how to use it because I had a program called qtadb but it wouldn't work for me so I must have missed something. I'll have to reinstall what I need step by step so I can backup my save games but if it doesn't work I may be forced to root my device,if I can find a simple low risk way of doing it.

If you're on Windows, you might wish to look at Droid Explorer (Ryan, it's dev, is active here on the site), which allows you easy access also to backups. It's most useful on a rooted device, though (not sure if that's a requirement: I have no Windows, so I can't use it). Also worth a look: my ADB page ;)

I think Droid Explorer is for root only. I looked at the page and it mentioned root but didn't say it would work for unrooted devices. I'll retry qtADB because I don't think I had adb or SDK installed on the pc, just figured out I need SDK installed too. If it doesn't work I'll try others, and I may try Helium as well, I found it on the app store.

Brittany, you do not need the full SDK, see: Is there a minimal installation of ADB? 90% of SDK is complete overkill (and not even used) unless you're a developer. That's why it's called "Software Development Kit" ;) As for Helium: I thought about that as well, but you were asking to access from your PC ;)

Yes, I did install the minimum sdk. Got adb, aapt, etc. And trying to use qtadb now. If it doesn't work I'll have to learn to use the adb in command prompt. (Not really good with certain codes) And yes, was gonna try Helium, but non rooted also has to install Helium to PC so I assume Helium will let me backup save to the pc to store it. And yes I did want a way to access my storage from the pc but you informed me I can't unless I root, which I would love to but bricking scares me. So I'll have to rely on adb and apps related to/uses adb to pull my saves to store on pc.

Damn.....finally gt qtadb to open but it says I don't have aapt.exe but I do. It's with adb.exe in Android folder. I don't know what's wrong. Edit: Opening aapt.exe came up with this message saying C:\Program Files.android\aapt.exe is not a valid Win32 application. Yeah I'm new to these android/windows programs so I'm not sure why aapt is having a problem.

Can't help you with Windows (all the windows I have are for light and fresh air only), sorry. Wouldn't there be the error message, I'd suspect the PATH variable must be updated. Where did you pick your ADB stuff from? You could try the archives from here for a replacement.

Looking at different sites about adb, plus your links. Also gotta different aapt.exe and it works so qtadb opened. But it comes up blank, no apps on the list. http://techchasse.blogspot.com/2011/03/qtadb-is-adb-android-debug-bridge-for.html But I just found this, and it says I must have a rooted device with dropbox to use this. If only they told me on the download page. I'll test helium out and hope it lets me backup to pc, but Helium will work from the tablet and send to the pc, rather than a pc app pulling it from the tablet. Otherwise I'll use adb itself and hope it works.

Brittany, the way which definitely works is command line – as described in my answer. Requires no root, though some apps might have "opted out" of it (a dev can define his app as "no_backup").

Dang I hope not or all hell will break loose. Developers shouldn't take away the option for us to backup apps, or we'd lose all our data if the device dies or needs factory reset. Then we'd have to start all over. But anyways I'll be using the command line later on, heading to bed. Helium needs adb but I figured out it needs another driver that doesn't support Lenovo devices. I gotta learn the adb codes and commands though, plus the program filename of the app. ^^; Thanks for your help so far!

Tell them! Some at least only opt-out the .apk of their paid apps (to protect it against piracy), but allow for the data. Btw, to get you started with ADB, you might wish to see my article ADB for end-users.

I got it, package name in url was com.tinyco.realms. Reread your first post as ref to remember the code. So it's adb backup -f tiny_castle -noapk com.tinyco.realms Thanks for the help! Just checked the file but it's an encrypted mess and I didn't put a password for encryption though.

Sure it is. See: Is there a way to look inside and modify an adb backup created file? / How do you extract an App's data from a full backup made through “adb backup”? (taken from our backup tag-wiki). // PS: Don't forget to "accept" (click the check-mark next to it) and/or "upvote" (click the up-arrow) the answer if it solved your issue :)

Thanks for your help! I figured out the adb now. Still wonder though why the backup data is encrypted when I didn't encrypt it though, but it's no problem. I'll find a way to decrypt it. I wanna be able to read what my data is too.

Just follow above links for that. If you were using Linux, I'd refer you to my Adebar framework, which contains an ab2tar converter. Not sure how to do that on Windows – as my only windows are for light and fresh air (uh, today for "hot air" as well) …

It's /storage/emulated/0/, like if you have downloaded a movie then:
adb pull /storage/emulated/0/Downloads/moiveName /Volume/yourVolumeName

This doesn't save internal app data.


text:
Can one NFC tap initiate multiple actions from the same tag?
If a single user taps a single tag a single time, can the tag be encoded such that it both sends an SMS (or, at least, launches the SMS app) and launches a URL connection?
Is this the best S.E site to ask?

[Update] I can't rely on any particular app being installed. Can this be done with a fresh out of the box Android / iPhone?

I'm pretty sure Tasker can do this.

Thanks, but I can't rely on any particular app being installed :-(

In that case I'm not sure it's possible, sorry. What's the specific use case? Maybe there's another way around this.

use case: man in the street taps a tag - his SMS app should open, with some pre-loaded text and a URL should be launched, so that I can count the number of interactions with the tag (irrespective of whether the SMS was sent or cancelled)

Hmmm, have you looked into just loading the webpage with a sms uri? You can specify some default text and a number to send to.

That's last ditch, but possible (+1). However, if at all possible, I want to launch two apps - SMS & bowser (the URL will got to a page where I have some PHP to store the visit in a database, then display a page) Hmmmm, maybe two tags, very close to each other? But I can't be sure that they will both register ...


text:
Samsung S3 GT-I9300 stuck on Download Mode, Failed in Odin
Ive been trying to fix my Samsung S3 GT- I9300, stuck on Samsung Logo, Cant go to recovery mode anymore, can only go to download mode, and flashing thru Odin with stock firmware using only the PDA/AP
I9300XXUGNA5_I9300OLBGNB1_I9300DXUGNB1_HOME.tar

but gives me this error:
<ID:0/003> Added!!
<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..
<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..
<OSM> Please wait..
<OSM> I9300XXUGNA5_I9300OLBGNB1_I9300DXUGNB1_HOME.tar.md5 is valid.
<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..
<OSM> Leave CS..
<ID:0/003> Odin engine v(ID:3.1005)..
<ID:0/003> File analysis..
<ID:0/003> SetupConnection..
<ID:0/003> Initialzation..
<ID:0/003> Get PIT for mapping..
<ID:0/003> Firmware update start..
<ID:0/003> SingleDownload.
<ID:0/003> sboot.bin
<ID:0/003> NAND Write Start!!
<ID:0/003> FAIL!
<ID:0/003>
<ID:0/003> Complete(Write) operation failed.
<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)

Help!, i dont know what to do next.

Try flashing a different package to determine whether the problem is with the phone or the package.

i tried flashing a different one, but still giving me the same error

Did you solve the problem? How? Im have the same problem now :(

Hi, sorry for the late reply. to give an update, eventually I was advised by a techncician that my motherboard already needs replacement. So I just bought another motherboard and had it replaced. @ruineves


text:
Where does Xperia "backup & restore" app store the backup?
I use the stock Xperia "backup & restore" app to backup data like contacts, call log etc.
Then I want to backup the backup to dropbox, but I cannot find the backup anywhere on the sd card.
anyone has any idea where the backup is?

On the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact, seems to be this file SD-Card/Android/data/SonyBnR/Backup

On Sony Xperia Z1 Compact without an SD card (or when storage destination of "Internal Storage" is selected), the backups are located at /sdcard/.semc-fullbackup (or equivalently /storage/sdcard0/.semc-fullbackup, or /storage/emulated/legacy/.semc-fullbackup).
It seems to be exposed over MTP as \Internal storage\storage\emulated\legacy but gives errors when trying to copy it.
So, it needs to copied from within the phone to some other location.

The backups are located in folder ".semc-fullbackup" on your SD card.


text:
How can you sync multiple outlook calendars including delegated calendars
So I need to sync a user's calendar to their Galaxy S6's Calendar/Planner they are on the latest OS (Lollipop 5.1), I can't seem to find a way that will allow me to sync their outlook calendar and their boss's calendar to which they have full delegate access.
Is anyone aware of any solution to this? This is in a corporate environment so if the solution is long-winded or very complicated it won't be viable as the user's setup their emails on their phones.
The user can see their calendar fine it's just the delegated calendar that I can't seem to find/sync.
I've tried downloading the Outlook App, multiple calendar apps etc.

If you go to the Calendar app and go to the menu you should see 'Calendars to Display'. Does the delegated calendar appear there?

sorry which calendar app are you referring too? (just so I don't spend ages in the wrong place lol)

I've just checked the Google Calendar app and the extra calendars I have configured (admittedly they're not for exchange) appear in the left slide-out panel. I expect the S6 calendar app (and most other decent calendar apps) will have something similar.

Yeah it works fine with gmail etc I'm testing on my personal Galaxy S5 (not ideal but should be close enough) and it pulls through everything if I use gmail or the native email client but still not the delegate calender :(. Thanks though :)


text:
Is possible to charge device and provide data transfer using a single USB port?
I have a tablet that only has one USB port that it used to recharge the battery (so no extra charger port), and I need to connect another device to it (ex: USB drive or printer) that only needs to transfer data (ie it does not need power from the USB) at the same time the charger is on.
                       ____________
                      |            |
                      |   TABLET   |
                      |____________|
                             |
                     ________|________
              ______|____      _______|_______
             |           |    |               |
             | USB DRIVE |    |    CHARGER    |
             |___________|    |_______________|

There are some cables that allow to connect those devices (like the one pictured below), but it seems that applied to the example above it would provide energy to the USB drive and not to the tablet.

Is this possible? Do you guys know anything that can make this work?

It is depending on your device. Some Samsung Tablets can be charged while using OTG with special adapters. The cable you post in your question don't work.
Some devices have a special mode for USB Host and changing at the same time. Most devices can only charge OR host.

I couldn't find one for Samsung. Are you sure?

I can't speak to your specific device, particularly as you haven't named it, but assuming it supports the functionality, you would use an adapter such as this one which provides both a micro-USB input to continue charging the phone/tablet, and a USB-A port for the OTG functions. You'll find a variety of alternatives linked to via Amazon as well, with different layouts, and some with additional ports. Just be aware that compatibility differs from device to device. If you have Amazon Prime, then the one I linked to is cheap enough to be almost disposable if it doesn't pan out.

It seems that the converter from your link cannot charge the tablet. It's stated in its description: "The extral USB Cable is the Power for USB Device(Like usb hard disk, flash disk), Can not charge the Tablet & Cell Phone. "

Try this converter or a similar one (there are plenty of them on Amazon), just please read "Product description" first. It says what could work and which devices were checked.

authors: บุญชณะ หล่มทอง


text:
How do I get SuperSU to update binaries after a reboot after using Ping Pong?
Screen shot of popup after reboot after checking if phone has root. So the "Grant" & "Deny" button at this point are unclickable! Why?Okay so I used the latest Ping Pong root.apk from XDA to root my S6  which worked fine but yet after doing the reboot after rooting with Ping Pong and opening SuperSU it never asked me to update binaries like it's supposed to. Is that why the Root checker app says my phone is not rooted? And how can I fix it? What is causing this? Other people with my model have successfully rooted.
Model of S6 SM-G920W8
OS: 5.0.2

Try downloading the latest SuperSU zip and flash from recovery.

Where do I find the latest zip?  And what does "flash from recovery" mean?  I'm using the stock everything.

First, you should have never proceeded without proper knowledge. Currently you aren't aware of even flashing (a vital part of rooting process). In case something messes up, it would be very difficult to recover for you. Second, heres the super su zip: https://download.chainfire.eu/396/supersu/ Third, android flashing-> http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/6028/what-is-the-meaning-of-flashing-a-custom-rom and http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/2885/what-is-the-difference-between-rooting-jailbreak-rom-mod-etc I suggest you properly read these links before proceeding with anything.

I was only going to try Ping Ping nothing else since I don't know much.

CF Root?  Ping Pong comes with pre-installed SuperSU. One click root!I don't have to flash a custom ROM or a anything.

To me, it looks like the problem is in a different place than you think. Looking at your status bar, you seem to have a screen tint/filter app. Try disabling it and check if the buttons on the SuperSU popup work fine.

@Arielle THANK YOU!  You were  correct.  How did you know? Will I have to stop using the brightness app permanently?

@verve I had that problem with a Night Mode app. And no, you won't have to stop using the app permanently. Just disable it whenever you install another app that uses root permissions. You can enable it again as soon as you grant or deny those permissions to the app. And let me submit my comment as an answer...

Yes, do the answer.  Is there any way to get SuperSU to stop asking for permissions?  It's annoying to open Datasync and have ask for permissions continuously.

The problem is in a different place than you think. Looking at your status bar, you seem to have a screen tint/filter app. For whatever reason, apps like that seem to interfere with system dialogue boxes, such as the SuperSU one from your example, or the package installer. Disable the app temporarily whenever you have to deal with one of those.

The whole point of certain dialogue boxes not functioning when a screen filter is active is to avoid click-jacking - a malicious app could display a fake UI as an overlay and trick the user into giving the app e.g. root access, accessibility etc. You can disable the feature in SuperSU settings, under 'tapjacking prevention' or some such (be warned that this could lead to you giving root access to an app you do not trust).


text:
Cyanogenmod works with ext4 filesystems on sdcard?
Basic reference: How can I mount an ext4-formatted SD card with correct permissions (with root)?
I succeeded to make a partition with ext4 filesystem on the SD card, and I mounted successfully following the reference above. However, I still found that the permission issue is there if I want to copy some files from Linux systems to SD card.
I found that the gid of media_rw is 1023, therefore I created a group on Linux system as such:
# groupadd -g 1023 media_rw
# gpasswd -a USER media_rw

After that, I can modify data on sdcard. However, if I create some new files, the owner & group will be that of USER and the mode is 755 or 644, not 775 or 664. Everytime I need to run a root shell and
$ find . -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
# chown -R 1023:media_rw .

It's very annoying. I wonder what's the correct way to exchange data for cyanogenmod.
Any help? Thanks!
EDIT:
I found a method to set permissions except the owner:
$ rsync -r -p --chmod=D775,F664 -g --chown=:media_rw SOURCE DEST

If you create a new file, it will always be owned by the user who created it. So you would have to sudo su - media_rw and work as that when creating files. As for the permissions, check man umask to set the umask correctly in ~media_rw/.profile. // Besides, that's not really an Android question. Wait until your apps create files there and see by whom they're owned ;)

@lzzy Thanks, but I didn't create user media_rw, and even if I did that, I would prefer to set nologin and no shell. I don't know how Android system managed to create files owned by media_rw, and chown needs root privilege. (And yes, it's not really an Android question, but maybe these settings are calibrated for Android devices, and I'm asking a correct way. Maybe the correct way is to use exFAT, but it seems inappropriate to me to use such an obsolete and low-performance filesystem. There's a lot I heard about Android, say case insensitive by std.)

If you just care for the group, you could try to let the "parent folder" (where you mount the storage) belong to that group; AFAIR "child folders" inherit that then as long as the "owner" belongs to that group. As at the same time you might wish to have the created file set to rw for the group, that would be the umask again. But how to set that up for a specific folder/mount, I have no experience. That's better asked at SuperUser or Unix&Linux (wherever it fits better, check their resp. /help/on-topic). I see/share your points for extfs, but not sure how Android deals with it on sd card.

@lzzy I didn't get your point on how to use cp. I found a method. See EDIT.

Good idea! However, shouldn't that be an answer (a little more detailed, maybe)? On SE sites, it's perfectly fine to answer your own question :)

@lzzy I know that, but I was not only asking a solution, but asking a correct way. Now I'm considering converting the question into a community wiki, but I haven't enough rep to do that and I don't know how to change the content. Reorganize it in a broader context, say The correct way to operating filesystems with permissions and exchanging data under android, etc.

When posting your answer, you should see a "community wiki" checkbox on top of it. That would at least make the answer CW, if you wish so.

Related: How to bind mount a folder inside /sdcard with correct permissions?


text:
Uninstall programs that are not visible in Application manager
I have an Asus Nexus 7 that is full of games that take up all 29 GB of memory. The kids installed these games, and they are not visible in the Application Manager. Perhaps they were installed in a different way. I found an OBB directory that contains a lot of gigantic files with the extension obb and names that are related to games, but I'm not sure whether I can delete them without damaging the system. Where I should start to find and remove games?

OK, getting closer. Now just to check what you mean by "application manager", as some manufacturers ship such for their own apps/stores. Starting from the home-screen, check Settings › Apps, and in there select the Downloaded tab. That should list all apps installed by "the user", regardless of by what means. Is this what you're talking about? If not, are the apps you want to get rid of listed there?

I'm talking about "Starting from the home-screen, check Settings › Apps, and in there select the Downloaded tab"

If "user-installed apps" are not listed here, they're usually no longer installed (and the "big chunk of data" thus must be left-overs from some "unclean uninstallation"). To verify, you can use a terminal app or, better, adb shell from the computer, and run pm list packages -3. This lists all user-installed apps using their package names. To know what the "app name" behind them is, you can e.g. visit their app-page at Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=<package_name>. If the corresponding apps are not listed here either, they're definitely no longer installed.

Do the kids have their own profile on the Nexus 7? If so, have you checked the applications from there? There's no way for apps that are installed to not be listed in the Apps list in settings. But it is possible for the apps, if not installed, to have left file remnants behind. We'll address that after your other answers, though.

You can use alternative application managers available from the Play store, or even Titanium Backup if you are rooted.
secondly if you are rooted,

Download any root explorer,
Navigate to /system/app/ or sometimes /system/priv-app/ and manually
uninstall by deleting the packages (you may need to delete files
from android folder manually eg. obb files)
Reboot and you are done (optional)

If none of the above works,

Do a backup of apps and data using a backup manager (Recommended:
Helium for non root users, Titanium Backup for root users)
factory reset the phone, and delete '.androidsecure' and 'Android'
folder from external memory if exists.

Voila! you are done!


text:
What does "hand with small restricted icon" status icon represent?
Can anyone help me identify this icon that looks like "a hand with small restricted icon", and how can I remove it?

Click image for larger version

It means you have interruptions disabled. When your device is in this mode, you will not receive any visual, audible, or vibration notifications except for alarms you've explicitly configured to be allowed.
On vanilla/Google Android, this setting can be found in the "Sound & notifiation" category, but ASUS may have moved it elsewhere. Alternatively, if you press the volume button up when not in a media app (music player, video, etc) it should display the ringtone/notification volume overlay, and you can use that to adjust your interruption settings.

I use Do Not Disturb a lot. I decided to turn it off and a hand icon appeared on the top left of my screen. I also received a call from an unknown number that my caller ID and blocker allowed. They said nothing when I answered.
Googling it gave me: it's disabling glove touch. In Android, I never used glove touch although that would be great. There are gestures that can be used on the Moto Stylus. I've checked for that and so far nothing.
My phone may be telling me to split the screen (if it gives suggestions as cookies do for shopping). I really have no definite answer. Perhaps this will help someone see options in their problem-solving.

This is the sign for glove touch-sensitive. If you turn on the glove touch-sensitive, it will appear on the notification bar, but when you turn it off, it will not appear. For a solution in Asus, go to Setting - Asus customized setting - Glove mode and turn off the mode.

authors: Μάνος Κωτούλας


text:
Can my Whatsapp calls and messages be tracked and recorded by my mobile network carrier?
First of all sorry if this is the wrong section cuz I don't know where to post this question :/
I have been using Whatsapp for a while now and I'm wondering if it ever possible for my mobile network carrier to know who am I contacting on Whatsapp and record my call and text?

Nothing is utterly IMpossible, but it's certainly improbable. They'd have to carefully monitor every bit of your network traffic, and as WhatsApp encrypts all of their traffic, your carrier would then have to break that encryption which is no small task.
The alternative is for your carrier to have installed some sort of monitoring software on your phone pre-purchase to track all your actions before they even reach WhatsApp. If they're a large provider, we'd all know if they were doing this by now, as the class action suits would be flying. People take their security very seriously and regularly tear apart what's going on inside their phones to ensure they're not being spied on.
So for all practical purposes, no, your carrier doesn't know who you're contacting or what you're doing in WhatsApp. The most they likely know is THAT you're using WhatsApp. No need to worry.

But they will for sure know that I'm using whatsapp and the time duration I'm using it for a call, right?

Not exactly. They'll be capable of recognizing the IP addresses you're communicating with and that they're WhatsApp's servers, if they care. Which they don't. The most they'll use that for is internal data metrics for understanding how their network's being used. They can surmise that you might be using it for a call based on the amount of data flowing, but they can't actually know for certain what you're doing. Perhaps you can explain a little bit about your specific concern so I can address it better?

Well to be exact, the sim in registered with my friend's ID, so if my friend chooses to know who am I calling in Whatsapp and the time duration of my call, will he be able to get info about that from my network carrier?

Nope. In order to get those kinds of records, he'd likely need a subpoena. Carriers don't give out records that detailed. They will usually make available how much data was used at what time, but no information about where it went. That requires much deeper records that they don't just hand out. The law would likely need to be involved, and they still wouldn't know who you talked to. Just a rough guess at how long you may have talked to SOMEONE.

While I'd generally agree, there is more to it: some carriers forbid VoIP in their contracts, so they'd be interested to know when you're placing a VoIP call. Moreover, WA encryption is pretty weak and sometimes not even available (e.g. when the "other end" is using iOS), so I wouldn't bet on it.

Sure, but that's easily handled by simply filtering a specific type of traffic. However yes, I wasn't thinking about the fact that they can, indeed, recognize SIP traffic differently, assuming WhatsApp even uses SIP or a standard VoIP protocol. So still, the worst-case scenario is that the carrier can recognize THAT a call is taking place. But not to whom.


text:
Android 4.4.2 external SD card mount paths and Titanium Backup
I am about to wipe the stock ROM from my LG G3 and put in Resurrection Remix to get 5.1.1. My current stock ROM runs 4.4.2 of Android. In prep I downloaded the GApps and ROM zip files to "/storage/external_SD". I see them in there just fine.
I also told my Titanium Backup program to backup everything in the system for good measure. It seems to only backup to "/storage/emulated/legacy/TitaniumBackup". That is fine except I want to be completely sure this is going to the external SD card before I go wiping anything.
From what I have read it seems like "/storage/emulated/legacy" may be going to the external SD card. However that is a bit unclear.
Are there simply two partitions on the external SD card? Are both of those paths on the SD card? Is there an easy way to tell?

I'd expect everything in /storage/emulated rather to point to the internal card (see: /storage/emulated/legacy/ vs /storage/emulated/0/ vs data/data/myApp). /storage/emulated/legacy usually is a symlink; check where it's pointing to (ls -l in a terminal or via adb shell) and what's mounted there ( mount) to make sure.

On most phones, /storage/emulated/legacy, /storage/sdcard0, /sdcard   points to the internal memory rather than the external SD card (but if you want to be completely sure, open up a Terminal Emulator and type the mount command with no arguments).
Titanium Backup does allow changing the backup path though.

Open the app → press the Menu button and select Preferences ....
Scroll down to find the Backup folder location option and select it.
In the popup, tap on Storage provider and select Filesystem storage - Ext. SD card -- this will display the contents of your external SD card
Select a folder to choose as your backup location, or choose Use the current folder to make Titanium Backup save backups onto the root directory of your card.


text:
How can I use the stock Android settings app on an LG G2?
I've upgraded my LG G2 (AT&T D800) to Lollipop 5.0.2 and have been wanting to try out some new settings/features of the settings app. In particular I've been wishing I had the search feature to find a setting. But alas, LG has some custom settings app that seems to be missing some settings or just has things organized differently so it's hard to follow instructions for changing Lollipop settings.
Does the regular stock Android (AOSP) settings app exist on my phone? Or can I install it somehow?

Short answer: You can, but you shouldn't. Install a custom ROM instead.
Long answer: Some features in your stock ROM may be dependant on that ROM's Settings app, because it might contain some preferences that affect them. Your Settings app may be missing some Lollipop settings simply because the ROM doesn't support them. You can try to install the AOSP Settings app, but there's no guarantee it will fully work because of those two issues. A solution to that would be to flash an AOSP (or AOSP-like) ROM, such as CyanogenMod, probably the most popular one out there.


text:
Is my S6 camera broken? (Two more days to return)
So the rear camera is 16MP with 8x zoom.  Everybody has said the camera is awesome except that my S3 photos look better. Here is an 8x zoom photo from the rear camera from my S6: Photo of cupboard from few feet feet away with Auto everything in a regular lighted room with 8x zoom in 16MP
How is this impressive? It's grainy.  Is it broken?

The zoom on the S6 like most phones is digital zoom. It works the same way as enlarging a photo in your photo editor. Since no extra information is being added, your image quality will suffer at anything over 1x zoom level. This is normal.
The image that people are talking about is the one at 1x zoom which is essentially no zoom.
Also image quality can be a subjective thing. Some people like over saturated colors, some don't. Some like high contrast and some don't and the list goes on.
It is unlikely that there is something wrong with your camera. To confirm, go to a store which has a phone on display and take the same pictures with both the cameras and compare.

Oh. Interesting. Didn't know it was like a photo editor. I love this site.

Well some cameras do it a little better like the Nokia Lumia Pureview series of cameras which uses multiple images to create the final image but digital zoom is several orders of magnitude inferior to optical zoom (to say the least).


text:
How do I unlock my Tablet (using a pattern lock) when there is no "Forgot Password" button?
I forgot the password for my account on my brother's tablet, and being that it is not mine I cannot factory reset it, and even after about 100 failed password attempts, there is no "Forgot Password" option.

Did you ask your brother?

What device is it? OS version?

Back up data etc using the restore function obviously on a SD card!then remove card and perform factory reset and after phone is set up then restore data or restore data on computer isim USB cable!my thoughts

If you read the question you will see that it states there is no factory reset option


text:
Toast: MMS cannot be sent/received when mobile data is disabled -- shows up at every boot in Moto G XT1033 running Lollipop 5.0.2
Details: Moto G XT1033 with
Android Lollipop 5.0.2
Is there something wrong? Why would any app request this feature just exactly when I turn my cell phone on?

(Click image to see its larger variant.)

have you installed an app from unknown sources on your phone??
if you have, then you should install an anti-spyware app to find if there is a spyware in your phone.

This is normal.
What it's saying is "if you want to send/receive MMS, turn mobile/cellular data on".
I don't know how to disable this toast.


text:
Automatically download Dropbox Favorites to the external SD card
When a file is marked as favorite on the Dropbox app it is downloaded to the phone's internal memory for offline viewing. Dropbox also "attempts to keep the file as up-to-date as possible and gives you the option to update the file manually". [source]
My question is - Is there a way to have Dropbox download the favorite files to an external SD card? I am aware of the "export" option, which allows you to save files to the external SD card, but it is cumbersome and does not keep the downloaded files up to date.
Any ideas?


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Android App 30 day expiry
I downloaded an app that had a 30 day trial about 5 months ago and never used it, so uninstalled it. I have downloaded it again and it wont register as it 'sees' it has being installed on the device before...... any thoughts on where the App is getting its information?

Uninstallations sometime leave remnant folders on the SD card or internal storage.

This may depend on how the app implements it, so to avoid guessing, could you mention the app name? Have you opened it at least once before uninstalled it?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Opinion-based questions are discouraged on Stack Exchange sites and may be closed. To avoid your question being closed, you should edit it and add information to aid finding factual answers (as @Andrew said).

Since you have already downloaded the app once it will keep track of your 'Device ID' or even the 'google account' that you used to download the app.


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Boot looping Galaxy Ace GT-S5830i
I sent my broken phone to repairs, and they lost it. So I'm awaiting a replacement and in the meantime, I have a bog-standard non-smart phone. My mum very kindly said I could borrow her Samsung Galaxy Ace while I await the new phone. I don't know if the change in SIM cards has triggered boot looping issue.
So, I'm busy using the phone, deleting data from Facebook/whatsapp periodically because the storage on the Ace is low, then suddenly it starts boot looping. Not sure if I inadvertently cleared data from somewhere I shouldn't.
I have tried clearing the partition cache and factory restoring with no luck.
I followed some instructions to download Odin (not the latest version but 1.7 or something such), set it up as instructed in the particular video I was watching, but when I connected the phone to the computer it didn't connect to the program.
I tried to download a newer version of Odin, but got a virus on my computer.
I would appreciate any help to resolve this issue!


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Region Lock Workaround
I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S5, Note 3 Neo and Galaxy Grand 2 here in Saudi Arabia. I intend to give the latter two as gifts (the Galaxy S5 is mine) to family in the Philippines. I read online that some Samsung devices are region-locked to prevent gray market transactions. Is there any way that I can unlock these devices so that my family and I can use them?

Where did you buy these phones? Phones can be network locked, like they are in the US if you buy it on contract from a carrier but I don't think they do that in the middle east.

It seems you can get around the region lock by using the phone to make calls for at least 5 minutes using a SIM card obtained in the region where the phone was purchased.
GSM Arena has a post on this.
The article also notes that the region lock is for countries in the Europe region.


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How to install a pre-installed device specific app on another device?
I don't know how to explain, so let me give an example,
Suppose I have a samsung device and a HTC device,
And I extract the apk file of music application from my HTC device, and install it on my samsung device it does not work.
So is there any way to make application from another manufacturer to work on some other device?

You cant just normally install device specific APKs to some other device (especially from different vendor).
This is because it needs to be ported. Device specific apps use styles and layout and classes which are defined in that particular device's framework (in your case HTC). So to use that app in Samsung you will have to pull out all those classes and layouts from HTC into Samsung and merge with code. And this is a very difficult task.
However, if you still want to try your luck, system default APKs dont install like normal APKs. We just push them to /system/app and st permissions to 755 or rw-r-r and restart phone. This method works regardless of device (but again, I really dont think music app will work even this way. It needs to be ported as told in above paragraph).

authors: Руслан Дядюль


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copy multiple text messages in WhatsApp
I am selecting multiple text messages in WhatsApp Conversation, and copying it.
But when I am trying to "paste", to forward it to other contacts,  it seems WhatsApp is adding the name (from whom that message is received in conversation) and time stamp associated with a message along with actual text of the message.
Is there a way to tell WhatsApp to only copy message content and exclude message sender and time stamp details?
Device: Micromax Canvas 4 and Android version : 4.2
WhatsApp App Version: 2.12.124

This might be a workaround for what you are trying to do. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2142170
Just incase the link goes dead at some point, the link just says;
Method:

Open the conversation to copy messages from in Whatsapp.
Press menu button and select "More" then "Email conversation" then select "Without media" then select any of the Email applications shown, for example "Gmail" but don’t send any message just cancel.
Open the Jota Text Editor application.
Press menu button and select "File" and "Open" then select the "Whatsapp"  - folder, then "Media" folder, then ".Shared" folder. You will see the name of the conversation you asked to Email earlier. Open it.
You will see all the messages of the conversation and you can copy multiple messages from here.

Notes:
We used "Jota Text Editor" application, but you can use any text editor or file explorer that can open a TXT file.
This method is for Android system, but can be used for other systems with minor modifications.
Use a file explorer to dispose accumulated TXT conversations in the ".Shared" folder. This folder is hidden but file explorers has an option to show hidden folders and files.
Hope this is works for ya.

to simply copy message Should I download an App? That sound too much of effort for fairly trivial task

True, but then you are at the mercy of the WhatsApp devs. Since they coded it to copy the name, timestamp and the message.


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I have unlocked the booloader for my xperia arc s running ICS 4.0.4 and would like to flash a custom ROM.?
I have unlocked the booloader for my xperia arc s running ICS 4.0.4 and would like to flash a custom ROM. I would like to know if i need to root and flash same kernal ? and also need to install the CWM recovery ? or is is fine to flash custom ROM right away?
please be specific with your answers !

Don't even try to install any custom ROM or kernel without first flashing ClockworkMod. Also, I would suggest CyanogenMod, but that may not be compatible with your device. Check here: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Devices

This site expects self-sufficient answers. Please add the relevant info from the link. Also, Don't even try to install any custom ROM or kernel without first flashing ClockworkMod. -- do mention the reasoning for it.

Please be specific about wht you are sayin?

This hopefully should be the correct custom ROM for your device:

http://download.cyanogenmod.org/get/jenkins/5933/cm-9.0.0-nozomi.zip


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Is it possible to restrict a single app on the S6 from connecting to the internet?
Is there a way to stop a particular app from establishing ANY sort of outgoing connections to the internet but I still want the app to be able to use the internet when I want to but still be able to block "unverified  connections at the same time. Such a thing exists?

What are "unverified connections"? You can use a firewall.

@Firelord Wait, those exist and work like on desktops? Any that use up minimal battery resources on the S6 cause it dies quickly already even on Power Saving mode.

Most of the apps which needs root access uses IPTABLES which itself is managed by kernel, so you can be rest assured for battery.

@Firelord Oh, do all firewalls require root access?

See:  Closing internet access for some apps, Are there any good firewalls available?, How to limit data usage of individual apps?

@Firelord Too old that thread but Play store no-root firewalls that seem to be updated more frequently than root ones.


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Is it possible for apps to interfere with multi-touch system wide?
I'm having multi-touch issues with Swype. However, other users with same phone are reporting A-OK, so I'm wondering if PEBKAC or ID-10-T. However, I have tested bone stock after a factory reset and experienced the same behavior.

I think you should reduce the scope to answering by mentioning what User/system apps you have installed in your device. Think about it, there can be many apps responsible for the issue but not useful as an answer to you in case you don't have them installed. Only an opinion here. :)

Yeah I apologize for the spammy question. Perhaps I should rephrase if it's hypothetically possible for an app to interfere, and if so how would it do it.


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Fastboot hanging after first command (osx)
My fastboot binary from OSX is responding weirdly and i can't figure out why.
It seems to work great at first since the first command i'm sending works (and this whatever it is) ; but any command after that doesn't. The binary just hangs, and either i can ^C or open a second terminal and run fastboot devices, then the previously pending command will actually run. I've been managing by running a watch fastboot devices but it doesn't seem reliable at all.
After some researchs i've been finding an open bug at AOSP bug tracker but it doesn't seem very urgent to fix it.

OS             : OSX 10.10.4
Platform-tools : up-to-date (22)

Any clue, directions about how to solve this ?


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Switching from Wifi to mobile data takes long time
Since a few weeks ago, my Moto G takes a long time to start up mobile data after I turn off wifi. Usually it will take only a few seconds, but now it can take 10 minutes or even more. As long as it stays on, there is absolutely no problem with the mobile data. The problem only arises when I use wifi, then turn it off to get back to mobile data.


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Location of exported notes from Note Everything app
Where can I find the exported notes file from the Note Everything app on Android?

Note Everything exports all notes in the folder named noteeverything. It seems that it chooses /sdcard as its base to identify where to store. Regardless of it, in my device having External SD card as default storage, the notes were saved in the root directory of external SD card under the folder named noteeverything/text/ with names as text[0-9]+_<Note_Title>.txt.
E.g.:
text7_Bonafide.txt
text6_Bcode.txt
text5_QW.txt

where QW, Bcode, and Bonafide are the respective titles of my notes.
You can also find other used resources under the folder noteeverything.
Ultimately, you should look under all your storages for this folder. Otherwise, just use find/search in your File Manger to do the job for you.
A simple command-line query would be find /storage -iname noteeverything.


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Internet is not working on Moto G2 Sim B
I have 2 SIMs from BSNL and TataDoCoMo. Tata Sim is inserted in Sim A where Internet works very well in home and roaming. Couple of days back I purchased BSNL Sim and inserted it in Sim B but Internet did not work. After all the self  troubleshooting & help from BSNL helpline, nothing worked but when I swapped the sims, Internet worked without any hiccups on BSNL sim but stopped working on Tata SIM. Please help....................

This is because Only Sim A has the 3G support , Sim B is not 3G supporting for Moto G2. However you can use 2G in your Sim B

I think OP said Internet not working, not internet working slowly. The last time I used my phone in 2G, I had the Internet access.


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Root, but "file cannot be deleted"
I've rooted my worlds-lowest-end-tablet the Azpen A727 successfully a while back.  In my quest to recover as much of its tiny memory as possible, I came across a folder called /system/preinstall which has several .apks in it, for software that came with the tablet, that I don't want, and have uninstalled.
When I try to delete them using ES File Explorer, the app successfully gains root, but I get a message "[filename].apk cannot be deleted".
Is there a power greater than root?

Indeed there is: "root that knows what it's doing" ;)

you gain no usable free space from deleting stuff below /system, as that's the OS's domain and not used to place user content / user apps
As the user is not supposed to change stuff here (and neither is the OS while running in "normal mode"), /system is mounted read-only – which means you cannot write (nor delete) in this mode. If for some reason (which you should be sure of, know about possible side-effects, and have taken appropriate pre-cautions) you need to write there, you'll first have to re-mount it in read-write mode.

Glad you like it, @OrganicMarble – for more details on the file system structure, you might also wish to take a look at Android Folder Hierarchy. Except for the Dalvik specific stuff, it should still be valid up to Lollipop, though the answer is two years old :) Also relevant: Where Android apps store data?

That linked answer was also very informative.  Thanks again.  I notice that I don't come to this site much, but when I do, you answer my questions.  Much appreciated.

All except for one, it seems ;) You're always welcome.


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Filesytem on Android
I'm totally confused regarding Android file system and its relation to SD card.
While browsing my Asus Nexus 7 (2013) with file manager Astro from very root catalog I found directory sdcard. But there is also catalog /mnt/sdcard that points to the same location. Why do I need both of them?
I got mixed twice while browsing my rooted Samsung S4 Lollipop with external SD card. ES file Explorer. It has :
/sdcard/ with some information that is not on SD card. But why this directory is called SD scard?

Mount directory:
/mnt/
  /extSdCard/ with card information inside that can be visible on PC if I
remove it from phone and put to computer.
  /sdcard/ again pseudo SD card info.

Totally confused:
/storage/
  /emulated/0/ that contains /sdcard/ info
  /legacy/ the same like /emulated/0/
  /extSdCard/ linked to real SD card
  /sdcard0/ again pseudo SD card info.

What is idea of such strange file system organisation?

There are already answers for all parts of your question, so let me sum up:

Android Folder Hierarchy has some general information
Confused by the many locations of the virtual /sdcard/ should answer the last part of your question
The /sdcard direcory and other directory conventions: how is the Android filesystem structured? might also be helpful

If you take a closer look at /sdcard from a terminal (or via adb shell) using the ls command, you will see it is a symbolic link (the Wikipedia article explains it in detail), usually created for at least two reasons:

make it easier for you to find it
have a "canonical place" for it, regardless of where it is physically

There's of course more to it, but that would become too lengthy for an answer here :)


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DDNS Hostname Address?
Probably a dumb question...
I have a ddns that I got through no-ip.com. I have everything all set up in PuTty on my computer using the username.no-ip.org (and the port number in a different spot).
I downloaded Connectbot for Android, and it's asking me for username@hostname:port. I tried username@no-ip.org:1234 (left out real username and port for security reasons). I can't connect. How do I "convert" my ddns address to be in the format as required by Connectbot?
I know I'm missing something simple... a while ago I had this set up and working. But now I'm lost.

Never mind. I just needed it to be root@username.no-ip.org:1234.


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Restore Google Nexus 5 IMEI that reads 0
I bought a Nexus 5 on Ebay. It came brand new with all the packaging, but having bought a previous Nexus 5 (directly from Google) this packaging seemed a little suspect (I think it might be a very well made imitation, or a modified LG version of the device. Seemed legit on the website though).
Anyhow, when it arrived i put in a local SIM, but it wouldn't connect to the cellular network, or it would connect intermittently (5-10 seconds and it would drop off). I went into the settings and noticed that the IMEI read '0'. It was on Android 4.4.4.
It seems that if the IMEI is 0, the device would fail security checks (either with the MEID or the IMEI zeroed) and thus not register on the network.
After Googling quite a bit, I came across these answers on StackExchange, however they're not entirely clear:
Nexus 5, IMEI 0, how to restore IMEI? (Refers to a Russian website, and you need to translate to English ... so it's kind of messy)
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/96397/nexus-5-imei-0-shows-how-to-restore-original-imei
None of these was actually clear and after quite a bit of fumbling about, nothing seems to have worked. So how does one get this fixed?

Finally i found this post on XDA which seems to be a better translation from the Russian page above to English: http://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/imei-0-efs-backup-t2769023/post60421668#post60421668 . All the files necessary are also attached to the post.
However not all of it is useful, i'll copy-paste the useful parts below, and add comments to things that were important:

Download all the ZIP archives from the post
Install the LG driver
Install QPST
Copy the entire folder EFS Professional to C:/ drive (Not sure whether
it necessarily has be be the C:/ drive, or you can just have it in a folder somewhere on your machine)
You'll need to root the phone and get shell access through adb.
Either:

Unpack the archive Nexus5 the root of drive C (this is only necessary if you don’t use WUG);

Or:

Use WUG Nexus Root Toolkit (a lot easier):

Make sure you're running stock Android 5.0.1 (Very important, I tried with 5.1.1 and it failed). Depending on which Android version you're on, you can either upgrade normally till 5.0.1, or use WUG to downgrade to 5.0.1
Root the device using WUG
If necessary, you can reset the IMEI using backups zero IMEI from the archive. To do this, simply make a backup of your EFS in TWRP, then replace in the folder's backup your files on the distribution of similar make and restore EFS. (Mine was already zeroed, so i had no chance of making a backup) If it is already erased and reads 0, then just skip this step.

Still using WUG, click on the Launch the Advanced utilities:

Install boot [kernel] 5.0.0_diag_BOOT.img from folder "restore_imei_files" (Remember that you were on version 5.0.1 ... if you happen to be on 5.1.1, you may end up in a boot loop like i did ---> So 5.0.1 is very important)

Open a command window (Windows prompt) at the location where adb and fastboot are located (You can do this by navigating to the respective folder, hold "shift" on your keyboard, and right click. In the context menu click "Open command window here").
Type:

adb shell
su
setprop sys.usb.config diag,adb    (notice the comma between diag and adb) This activates the diagnostic mode on the phone and will avail operations with nvram through the com port.

Open EFS Professional:

(a). Click on Qualcomm NV Tools, Hit connect and go to the Secure Ops tab.
(b). Hit Check off IMEI and MEID and hit 'Read' ... if it's zeros then you know you have to enter the IMEI and MEID
(c). Remove the SIM card from the phone (Note: If you had already removed the SIM card earlier, then you can skip this step)
(d). Enter IMEI and MEID (Note: MEID is just the IMEI without the last two digits). (Note: I found my IMEI laser-burned on to the SIM-card holder)
(e). Hit Write

Reboot the phone and check the IMEI by typing *#06#
If the IMEI still reads 0, repeat from 9(b) above again, then Read (note ESN now appears), then Write again (ignore the errors) > Reboot and check, it should work. This did it for me

I am sorry, but i got a little bit lost after step number 7. Could you go back to it and explain just a little more detailed?

Have you ever did any flashing on your previous phones? If you did, try flashing the official factory images from here.

So all phones would have the same IMEI then?


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Weird icon on notification bar

Any ideas as to what it is?
Its not a notification or an ongoing notification.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 running Android 4.1.2

From the position (between Skype and Amazon), it looks like an app notification? It's strange if there's no notification on the notification panel though (AFAIK, it's impossible to have notification icon without content). Does it appear as soon as after rebooting the device? If not, is there a pattern when it appears? Is it possible to discard the notification through "discard all notifications" button on notification panel? (not sure if it's available on Galaxy Note though)

I just tried to clear out the notification bar and it disappeared.

I have just had the same question answered on another forum:  Its a notification from Greenify: opening Greenify showed that auto-hibernation was not currently working.  Greenify need to ensure that a notification is linked to the appearnace of the icon.
If you do not have Greenify installed then the mystery deepens...

I do have greenify installed, thanks for solving the mystery.


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GT-N5100: Random apps crashing suddenly
So, I got this problem with my Android GT-N5100 (running Android 4.4.2). It keeps crashing apps suddenly and randomly. I flashed it with Samsung's official firmware and since then it keeps like that. I know that if I factory reset it, it's gonna be happening the same way.
I was thinking about flashing Cyanogenmod but my device is currently unsupported. That is.. There are only nightly builds available for it at this moment, and it takes too many hacks to do so, then I'm not risking it. I thought also that it could be a memory overflow problem... Maybe.. But every time I open the window manager it seems to have plenty of memory left. I use to kill apps to avoid that, but no matter what... You got it.
Would someone PLEASE link me to a stable firmware free of bugs like that or tell me what the hell is going on and how can I fix this problem??
I'm tired of it... Believe me.

Have you tried clearing the dalvik-cache? It might be that the update did not clear it and it's now halfway broken.

@GiantTree, not just yet, but I flashed a fresh install of the ROM to the device. Does that really matter? I'll try that anyway then I'll report back. Thanks.

@GiantTree, forgot to mention... Can I do that via the stock recovery mode or do I have to install CWM Recovery? I just reset my device into recovery mode and wiped the "cache" partition, but I don't know exactly if that's the dalvik-cache partition.
Sorry, I'm pretty new to this.

Wiping the cache partition in stock recoveries usually also wipes the dalvik-cache. If not, only a factory reset might help.

Wait: You've flashed a ROM (different than the one running before) and didn't clear cache and Dalvik cache? Yes, that often causes apps to crash. Clear both, if possible. Wiping cache is always possible, even from stock recovery; for Dalvik, that's a different case.

@Izzy, so I do need to install CWM Recovery in order to clean up the dalvik-cache? Erm... I do not know much about unlocking the bootloader, so could you give me some directions to that if necessary? Thanks.

@GiantTree Are you sure that wiping cache ( /cache) also wipes Dalvik cache (/data/dalvik-cache)? Then why are that two different menu items in custom recoveries? A factory-reset wipes both, yes. X_Hunter: Did wiping cache help? If not: is your device rooted? As for the boot loader: sorry, I'm not familiar with Samsung devices. But you could watch out for a "temporary CWM" (one that is not permanently installed), and use that to wipe Dalvik cache. Also see this XDA thread ;)

@Izzy It depends on the recovery. My S3 wiped dalvik-cache together with cache, but I don't know about his phone in particular.

Thanks, @GiantTree – good to know. I never dug into that, but also never heard either report (whether it does or not). Yours is the first ;)

@GiantTree and Izzy, it's still happening now, but not so often as before. I had to wait some days to test the device, but it is still happening. Mostly with Google Play Games, Play Store, WhatsApp and Chrome. (which are the apps I use most.)
I even did a factory reset. Maybe it's memory related then?


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how do I browse to files on my external sdcard when the phone is connected using MTP?
I have connected my phone to my computer (Win7) using MTP. I can browse to the H:\ drive and see things like music,amazonmp3, alogcat and so on. But when I use my phone's file manager to try and find those folders, I'm unable to. I'm trying to go to things like:

/storage/emulated/0 - doesn't have the same files
/storage/sdcard0 - empty
/storage/sdcard1 - empty

Among others. No luck though. What I'm really after is being able to store a KeePass db on my phone and access it from my PC from time to time. To do that I need to be able to find it on the (external) SD card. How can I do that?

It's usually found at /sdcard – but depending on the device (and its manufacturer), that might differ. Another important criterium might be whether you're talking about the internal (emulated) or external (physical) SD card. So could you please [edit] your question and add those details? What also helps is running the mount command from either a terminal app or via adb shell, and provide the output.

It was tagged external-sd, I thought that clarified it.

You won't believe how often tags are misplaced. Added to that, your question text lists a bunch of locations applying to the internal (emulated) SD card, which might be confusing :) Thanks for clarification! // Have you checked with the mount command? That would help us helping you.

Don't get it wrong but are you certain you connected your device in MTP and not UMS? H:/  would be visible for block devices or network shares mounted as block devices. Devices connected using MTP shows up as "Portable Devices" in Win7. At least this is how all devices behaves in my Win7.

@Firelord ack, you might be right. I will research.

@jcollum Please answer your question if you've solved it, or update the question so that somebody may see it and help you out. :)

@Firelord give me some time here man, this is not a priority in my life

That's probably cause your phone automaticly mounts sdcards in MTP, when your phone is in MTP mode you apparently can't use your file manager.

What you write is correct for UMS (USB Mass Storage) only. That was one of the reasons Android switched to MTP, which is more like a "network share": you can access files on both ends simultaneously, they no longer "disappear" from the device.


text:
How do I scan android internal memory for viruses?

First I want to make sure can windows threats and viruses get into android internal storage when connected to PC?
If yes, How to scan internal storage in PC with windows antivirus? because USB connection is not "Mass Storage" and unable to right click and scan.
I usually use apps like Telegram and retrieve photos, videos and documents (all file types) to my android memory. are these files can be infected?

Yes, if a virus is programmed with the intention to spread widely to other devices, it certainly can copy itself to any connected media.
A good antivirus can scan MTP devices (like your phone) and spot a potential virus (at least my AV does).
It depends on the virus itself.
In the worst case, if you have a rooted device, debugging mode activated and allowed adb to connect without asking, a virus could infect your private applications data.
In the, more or less, best case it could only steal or destroy photos, videos, documents etc, but no messages from apps like Telegram.

Keep in mind: it doesn't matter how you scan for viruses affecting Android, they won't be found (there are none). But of course any storage can be used as "means of transport".


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Moto G 2014 XT1068 is bricked. Keeps looping and won't boot. What to do?
Ok so here's a couple things about my phone:
Its bootloader is unlocked, it is rooted, and it has a custom recovery (TWRP).
The problem is, my phone got stuck in the "WARNING, BOOTLOADER IS UNLOCKED" screen. I was using it normally, when Chrome froze then the phone turned off. It won't do anything else, it just keeps looping: it shows the warning, then the screen goes blank. When I try going into recovery mode, it just shows the TEAMWIN splash screen and won't do anything else, even though I tried every possible button combination I could find on the internet (volume up, down, power, 15 secs, 1 minute, etc).
It gets worse. When I'm on fastboot mode, I can plug the phone on my PC via USB but it won't be recognized. It appears on the device manager as "fastboot titan s" but the phone itself just keeps saying "Connect USB data cable" as if it's not connected.
It won't be recognized by RDSLite nor mfastboot applications, even though it shows up on device manager.
What can I do?


text:
Cannot find recorded video that I recorded. How can I dig it out?
Earlier today I used Google Camera to record four videos. I clearly hit the record and stop buttons both time. When I got home only two of those showed up in my gallery. The two longer ones did not. Is there some directory, temporary folder or hidden files wherefrom I can retrieve these two missing videos?
Thanks a bunch!

What is the memory information of your phone? and What is the duration of those two missing videos shot?

In my device the videos are saved under /DCIM/Camera of default SD card, but check all SD cards.

@Lucky - both internal and SD. Videos and images are saved internally. The first one was about 2 minutes, the other one was about 5 minutes. The two that saved were less than 30 seconds each.

@Firelord - No the only mp4 files I had in my /DCIM/Camera were of those two videos that saved correctly.

I think you dont have enough memory for you to store..thats the reason you cant find those videos..Clean up your memory and try recording a sample video of 5 mins. and see if you can find there. If you can find it then its an insufficient memory issue due to which it dint store it in your memory.

That's rather strange @Lucky as I have about 7 gigs free on the internal storage. I'll try to make a longer video and see what happens. Thanks!

A 5 minute 4k video I just recorded did not save. However, a 1080p video of a similar length did. This is quite bizarre.

I know I came probably too late, but since I had the exact same problem today, and this page is the first result that came, so if it can be useful for anybody :
In my case the videos were in the DCIM/Camera folder but hidden, filename started with .pending- and I've been able to copy them by connecting my phone to a PC and showing hidden files

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Just for clarity since the question mentioned the "Google Camera" app, could you confirm if this answer is for the same app? Otherwise, you might want to [edit] and mention the recording app you used. Thanks!


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Bottom right and left page curl that shows shortcuts when swiped?
My friend and I both have Samsung Galaxy Rugby Pro (SGH-I547) on Android 4.1.2, both fully updated OS and software.
His phone has a bottom right and left page curl effect accessed with a swipe from bottom left or right corners. This will reveal recent apps, swipe again and it reveals favorites, swipe again and it reveals tools.
I can't for the life of me figure out what app or setting makes this happen. I can't even find an image on Google to show you what I mean.

I figured it out. Omni Swipe gave me most of the options that I was referring to.
The page curl effect comes with an app called Clean Master. It has the option to have the page curl swipe with tools, favorites and recent apps.

Yes you may accept your own answer, but you will have to wait, my last information was 48 hours.

I had the same problem, caused by Clean Master as well, as it turned out.

It is a real shame that android does not let you find out where this weird widget is coming from so that you can disable it

This sounds alot like I tool I have just run across on Google Play. OmniSwipe, which is a productivity tool that allows for specifying favorites, tools, and settings. If it is not this, it must be something incredibly similar.
From Google Play:
Omni Swipe allows convenient access to your favorite apps, contacts, settings, and incoming notifications using just one hand.
Just swipe from your screen's bottom left or right corner on any screen to instantly open a customizable radial menu that keeps what's important and most useful to you always within a thumb's reach. Unlike other accessibility tools, Omni Swipe stays hidden and out of your way until you swipe it into view to use it.
I'm not the developer, and I've never used it, but it sounds interesting enough a tool, that I have just installed it! Without this question I may never have been aware of it.

That is very close to what it was but still doesn't have a page curl option. Thanks for input! Anyone else?


text:
private or unknown calls on call logs
I have noticed that when I receive a call from a private or unknown number, the notification does not appear on my call log list. How can I get a private or unknown number call I receive to appear on my calling log list?

Well, it may not register into the log because there is nothing to register. There is little, if any, data you can collect from a private call log.
The other thing is possibly your priority mode on your android. That could cause interference. Maybe. Not for sure on the last part but it is worth a shot. Anyways, just my 2 cents.


text:
Would my phone have to be reactivated after factory reset?
I want to know if I  will have to reactivate my phone since it is already currently on through boost mobile. It is a LG tribute for which I paid a full $35 for a prepaid plan on June 27,2015. It is now July 3, 2015.

In your question, reactive might have two meanings:

Reactivation/registration is a process which is one time, at the time you purchased a device inserted your carrier SIM to make handset useable. It sends a message to the Device Company that this device is now active and registered.( This process is one time, your carrier may charge this message as per your plan.)
If you mean by setting up your device as new handset. So answer for this is

'Yes', you have to setup/register/reactivate all the things/accounts by yourself. Factory Reset will make your device completely clean(internally) as it was at the time when took out of the box.

No. The IMEI will be registered by Boost with the towers so it should reset back onto the network without any work on your part.
Source: I did it with Sprint all the time