text:
Screenshot always turns out dimmed on MIUI
When I take a screenshot on my Android Smartphone, it always turns out dimmed. For example, if a pixel is completely white (i.e. #ffffff in color) it is light gray in the screenshot. See the example screenshot below for reference. As you can see, all the bright areas are light gray instead of white, when they should be white. What can I do to fix this problem?
Additional note: The dimming is not permanent, it happens only when creating a screenshot for the time of the screenshot and vanishes right after.
Moreover, the same erroneous effect occurs when taking a recording of the screen for the whole time of recording!.
System Specs:

MIUI Version 12.5.7
Android Version 11

@Robert The image shows a partial screenshot, not a photo.

So if it is a screenshot we can exclude hardware defects on the display and problems with the brightness control of the display(e.g. because of defect ambient light sensor). One possibility would be a "night" or "red-shift" app that always draws an semi-transparent overlay above every app that is displayed. Check your app list.

@Robert I don't have such an app on my phone. And do note: The dimming is not permanent: It happens right when making the screenshot and vanishes right after too. I.e. the dimming is only triggered when making the screenshot and for the time of it.

Found the solution myself: Navigate to Settings > Display > More Dark mode options then disable Adjust text and backgrounds automatically.


text:
Restore whatsapp Backup in unexpected hidden/inaccessible location
Device: Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro
OS: Android 12
I need to restore a (local) backup of Whatsapp. Contrary to what Whatsapp sais, it is not stored in:
/sdcard/Whatsapp/Databases
nor in
/internal storage/Whatsapp/Databases
Rather, the backups are in:
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/WhatsApp/Databases
The files can be found by the "My Files (v13.1.01.321)" app, when searching for them. But I can't copy, move or rename them, as indicated by the whatsapp FAQ (see above link). Also, navigating to the files is impossible, as the Databases directory seems to be hidden/inexistent. (Tried with "My Files" app, Nautilus file manager on GNU/Linux Laptop and adb shell)
So, how do I restore the back up now? Do I have to "root" the phone?
Thank you very much.

FAQ: WhatsApp doesn't prompt to restore from local storage. It should be possible to access those files without root since those are public files. Make sure the app has "Allow management of all files" permission instead of "Allow access to media only". Based on personal testing, Files by Google is able to access it.

Thanks for the reply. I didn't answer yet, since I deleted the data when uninstalling whatsapp. Trying to recover but not hopeful -_-

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to run bluestacks emulator in slow motion?
I can run bluestacks emulator fine, but for some games which require dodging, it would be easier if I had more time to think. That said, is there a feature that allows me to explicitly reduce the fps or make it slow motion?

Probably not, or if it was "slower" it would be "laggy" and have poor input performance, i.e. touch a button but takes to long to respond, or have jerky rendering performance.
Games are typically designed with a minimum performance requirement so they can run the physics and graphics engines for their content. The games are play tested at a standard frame rate (most likely 30 or 60 fps on Android) and would only have "easy modes" like "slow-mo" or "bullet time" modes if designed from the start.
If the game developer used an existing third-party engine with standard input, there may be settings which can change touch lag performance externally but basically would mean hacking the game.
While there are various articles online on how to make Bluestacks NOT lag and you could do the inverse, I doubt it would be fun experience. Reaction time games are just that, reaction time games. Given that most are designed by a younger generation, all I can suggest is to provide feedback to those developers to provide some accessibility options which may/may not make sense for any particular game.

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


text:
Restoration of TWRP full system backup fails due to /data format
Device: Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017), a.k.a.: SM-A320Y
OS: Android 8
TWRP: 3.6.2-9
I created backups of the following partitions:

Boot
System
System Image

When restoring either of them, I get the infamous error:
Failed to mount '/data' (Invalid argument)
I can make this error temporarily go away by:

Reformatting /data as FAT or exFAT and
then back to ext4

When re-restoring either of the partitions afterwards, TWRP reports success, but the phone ends up in the boot-loop.
Side note: when attempting to repair the /data partition, before the 2 steps above, the error message is:
/sbin/e2fsck -fp /dev/block/mmcblk0p24 process ended with ERROR: 8
Unable to repair Data.

Search results for error 8 of e2fsck are not really encouraging though...
Is there any possibility to

either restore the backup
or read the data in the backup differently?

Thank you very much already.
P.S. I'm aware that there is a truck load full of questions like this on the internet, but I couldn't find an answer sadly :-(


text:
Macrodroid: how to check the level of brightness with "if-clause" (conditions/loops)
I would like to increase the brightness of the device from 0 percent to 100 percent if some trigger occurs (e.g. at volume button's long press).
I have created a macro as follows but it does not work: when I press volume button's long press the brightness does not change from 0 to 100.
More information:

I am able to set the brightness to 100% outside of "if-clause" in Macrodroid.
"Volume Down -Long press" works without problem as a trigger with other macros (if any).
I have tested with or without option, "Alternative Android 9+ mode".
The android version of the device is 12.
I also tested with the option "Brightness Less than 1%" in "if-clause" without success.

I think the macro is not working because the brightness is never equals to 0%. Are you able to set it to 0%? You should try using "Less than" or "Greater than" if the phone never reaches 0%.

@ReddyLutonadio thank you for your comment. It seems that macrodroid is not sensible to small values.

Many (possibly most/all) phones don't allow the brightness to reach 0%. You need to find a small value, try maybe if brightness < 30%, then set it to 100%.


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One contact not recieving SMS messages
There is one contact who I text and call regularly cannot receive SMS messages from my phone. They can receive calls and MMS messages. Forcing MMS costs too much on my network plan so is unfeasible. All other contacts recieve SMS messages perfectly. All kinds of restarts have been tried on both ends.
I am stuck with where to go.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

They haven't accidentally blocked texts from you?  And before your say they can receive calls from you, text and calls are blocked separately on some phones

I'm afraid this doesn't have anything to do with Android specifically. You might want to contact your provider instead to troubleshoot this.


text:
How exactly does Android deal with adoptable storage (SD card as internal storage)?
I have a couple of confusions about this:

Does Android just randomly write data to its internal storage and the adopted SD card? Or does it only write to the adopted storage only when the internal storage is full?

What happens if the SD card gets damaged or just intentionally removed? Does the phone crash and require a factory reset?

Sorry for asking 2 questions together, but hopefully it is okay since they are related to the same subject.
Thanks.

A brief description of how adoptable storage works: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/214706/218526 // 2. Android reverts back to using userdata partition (/data).

@IrfanLatif Thanks brother. But it would be really appreciated if you could post it as an answer but in a bit of layman's terms.

You might also wish to visit our adoptable-storage tag wiki for some background. Side note: More and more places point out that you should only use adoptable storage if you have no other choice. Some reasons for this are outlined in the linked wiki article.


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Unable to open downloaded PDF files directly from Opera browser
I'm using Xioami's MI 9 SE phone.
I have several PDF viewer apps installed: Mi Doc Viewer, Pdf Viewer Plus, MuPDF viewer...
However - whenever I try to open a PDF with one of these, or even with a file manipulation app, from a browser - I either get some error message (e.g. lack of permissions which I can't change, or some blurb in Chinese) - or just an empty screen.
Here are two screenshots, of the errors with two apps, when I try to open a file via my (Opera) browser Downloads screen. The file I try to open is desktop.pdf; when pressing it, I'm presented with an app selection dialog, and whichever app I choose, it doesn't work.
With "MI Doc Viewer (Powered by WPS)":

With "Document Viewer":

What might cause this problem, and how can I circumvent or fix it?
PS - I don't get this for other file types (at least, not that I've noticed).

According to Google Lens, the Chinese text is "请在文件管理器中选择正确的文件打开" which according to Deepl, "Please select the correct file to open in the file manager".

@AndrewT.: Ok, thanks for that, I suppose that once I got the screenshot (which was not trivial, since the error message disappears quickly), at least the translation is possible. Question is - why am I getting these weird errors?

Based on the second error message, looks like Opera's content provider for downloaded files is not exported, thus other apps cannot access it? This looks like an app issue rather than an end-user issue.

(@AndrewT.'s comment is correct:)
It seems that the problem is with my default browser, Opera. Somehow, the "content provider" it exposes to PDF viewers is flawed, whatever that means; and if I downloaded and view a file in Firefox, it works.
This is rather strange, since the viewing should get the location of a properly downloaded file, but I guess that's not how Android works.

Further reading: Content provider permissions, "If a provider's application doesn't specify any permissions, then other applications have no access to the provider's data, unless the provider is exported."


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Do I need a Samsung phone to recover notes from the 'Memo' app on the dead Samsung phone?
My Samsung Galaxy S7 (with Android 8.0) is dead. I need to buy a new phone now and recover all my data from the automatic google backup. I wrote numerous notes to the default Memo app (which produces the undecodable memo.nmmm file; it is not this app; i cannot find it in the app store, it was on the S7 by default). Do I have to buy Samsung phone to be able to recover that from a backup, or will any Android phone do?

Does this answer your question? Can I access the Memo data without rooting?

@Robert unfortunatelly not :-)) That is actually my quesiton a while ago and there is no satisfactory answer till now (at least not without hacking). Here I am just asking for a simple 'buy the phone and use it' scenario.

I kind of doubt that Samsung's own memo is stored in Google Backup in the first place (note that apps can opt-out from Google Backup). Possibly on Samsung's own backup service: Samsung Cloud, but still no guarantee since I don't have Samsung devices to test.

the apk itself can be obtained from ROM/firmware download with sdat2img or simg2img


text:
Connect to a Network over wifi or ethernet adapter, with twrp and use the terminal?
Im a noobie with twrp and android, i have Install it on a very cheap Nexus 5 and it works.
Is it possible now, connect with twrp to a network with the terminal, if not possible over WiFi could it be work with an ethernet adapter?
Can i modify or upate twrp to get network functionality?

I want only twrp on the phone without any android or rom an execute some terminal network commands, is it not possible?

TWRP is only a lightweight OS that AFAIK does not contain drivers for Wifi or Ethernet. You may be able to modify TWRP but effectively that would be like building your own custom ROM which isn't easy and requires to learn a lot.

@Robert no, building my own is not my intention and also not my area. Is it something similar to twrp with network functions, what is easy to install, handle, use and manage custom rom's if needed?


text:
Not receiving emergency alerts for the Ukraine test broadcast on September 7th
Recently, I received an SMS that the State Emergency Service of Ukraine will test the new Cell Broadcast notification system, and that test notifications will come from September 7th. Why don't they come? All emergency alerts in notification settings are enabled, and airplane mode is disabled.
SMS:

З 07.09.22 розпочнеться тестування нової системи інформування про надзвичайні ситуації. ДСНС надсилатиме тестові повідомлення зі звуковим сигналом на телефон. Тестування не потребує дій з вашої сторони. Ознайомтесь з деталями за посиланням: https://dsns.gov.ua/test

Settings:

Phone: Samsung Galaxy A10s, Android 11, all updates installed.
I live in Dnipropetrovsk region.

The link on the SMS https://dsns.gov.ua/test/ has more information about the test. Do all of the conditions apply in your case, including the location?

@AndrewT. Yes, all conditios are met

Hi, FYI, I refunded the bounty since I'm not sure if it's possible for anyone to diagnose or even guess the reason why you didn't get it on Sep 7 but got it on Sep 14. I hope you understand.

@AndrewT. Thank you for canceling the bounty, I was looking for an option to cancel it.

September 14, 14:28 received a test alert.


text:
What is this icon with a square border containing lines that look like text?
When I use the volume keys on my Samsung Z Flip4 I get the volume bar for media/ringtone volume. When I tap on ...  I get the following advanced volume settings menu:

What is the purpose of the small icon (marked red) on the top left? If I tap on it its gets strikethrough. Another tap reverses that, and so on. Seems like a toggle button for something but I cannot figure out its purpose.

This seems rather odd placement of a functionality in Volume panel, not to mention it causes a very bad user experience since the icon is not intuitive enough to be self-explanatory, nor does it explicitly instructs about itself to the user. Even the user manual from Samsung doesn't mention anything about this icon.
That little icon is for toggling Live Caption. Dallas Thomas of Gadget Hacks has dedicated a whole article for Live Caption. That article showed up in Google Images search for the query "samsung one ui volume panel".

In deed, not intuitive at all. And not related to anything I would consider as "volume setting"

@wernfried-domscheit I disagree, it's perfectly placed for someone who is hearing impaired


text:
How can I Simulate External Drives on Android Studio?
I'm currently working on a small internal application for my company. (non-commercial, just a QoL app) The plan is to connect several hard drives to one mobile device and simultaneously flash them all for backup purposes, rather than connect the drives one at a time, the plan is to connect them all at once via an on-the-go cable.
For testing purposes, I was wondering if there was a way to emulate external hard-drives on Android Studio?
(also any advice is welcome!)
Edit: I'm looking for a way to simulate any external drive within studio

I am not aware of an OTG simulation for the Android emulator. For such hardware related apps you should test on real devices.

Additionally no requirement exists in the Android Compatibility Definition Document for OTG support. So I'm not even sure how one would test this in emulator. Agree with Robert, you'll need to use a physical device for testing.

Cross-posted from SO: https://stackoverflow.com/q/73672214/2821954


text:
What do the TalkBack reading controls do?
I am trying to use TalkBack on a Realme 6 Android 11 phone.
When I activate TalkBack by pressing the volume up and volume down keys simultaneously, I can then iterate through the following entries by swiping up then down to move forward, or down then up to move backwards:

Spoken language
Speech rate
Windows
Links
Controls
Headings
Paragraphs
Words
Characters

However, I don't understand what these entries are. What are they, what do they do, or how do I use them, using TalkBack?
Thank you for your replies.

After selecting the desired entry by swiping up then down to move forward, or down then up to move backwards, you can select subentries (for instance, for spoken language), by swiping your finger up (to go back), or swiping your finger down (to move forward). In the case of spoken language selection, this will select the language used to read the text. You can then tap on the screen to read the text under the finger, with the language in the selected voice, or move the finger forward or backwards to read the previous or the next entry.
Other settings in the swipe up/swipe down menu can be activated similarly.


text:
How to use file picker from command line
I would like to launch a file picker from a script to graphically select file. While I am able to launch a file picker by sending intent
am start -a android.intent.action.OPEN_DOCUMENT -d /storage/emulated/0 -t '*/*'

I can't see any way to get selection back to script. The command returns immediately and after file is chosen the dialog is simply closed.

I kind of doubt if it's possible to retrieve the paths from the Terminal because it's tightly linked to the Android app framework (the Intent on onActivityResult()), but I may be wrong.

However, for Termux specifically, looks like it has plugins to allow using file picker.

am start is an asynchronous command that means it always returns immediately and there is no way to get any return value from the intent/activity that has been started.

@AndrewT. Termux provides termux-storage-get script which calls functionality from Termux:API but it's very limited. Only single file is allowed with no ability to specify MIME types. Perhaps it could be improved


text:
How can I backup Samsung Note 10 it if does not work
My Samsung Note 10 went green lines and now it does not turn on. But sometimes when I connect power supply it vibrates. When put on the wirless pad it also vibrates. The phone not the pad. How can I backup the device? Tried connecting to computer it did not pick up the note 10. How can I backup? Can I remove memory from it and plug it in to something elae? I need my old texts and data. Please help? Any good method helps. Thanks!

Use data partition is encrypted by default. Outside of the phone it is impossible to decrypt. So assuming your phone is not rooted or bootloader unlocked the only way to access is to make your phone boot to the regular Android OS.

I never rooted the phone. Simple standard android it came with.


text:
How to install Google Play or other repo's on Waydroid?
Having just installed waydroid, how is the Google Play Store installed?
nicholas@mordor:~$
nicholas@mordor:~$ sudo waydroid shell
/system/bin/sh: No controlling tty: open /dev/tty: No such file or directory
/system/bin/sh: warning: won't have full job control
:/ #
:/ # whoami
root
:/ #
:/ # exit
nicholas@mordor:~$
nicholas@mordor:~$ waydroid status
Session:    RUNNING
Container:  RUNNING
Vendor type:    MAINLINE
Session user:   nicholas(1000)
Wayland display:    wayland-0
nicholas@mordor:~$
nicholas@mordor:~$ waydroid --version
1.3.1
nicholas@mordor:~$

The directions are:
waydroid app install xyz.apk

Which is easy enough.  However, there's no mention per se of installing the Google Play Store and secondary sources would indicate that alternates must be used.  Looking to install some sort of repository to pull in mainstream apps like gmail.
What repo's can be installed?

Google Play Store and Play services have to be installed as system apps, not as regular apps. Not sure how this can be done on waydroid. usually you have to modify the system image.

Trying https://auroraoss.com/ which has an apk for download..looks like the right thing.

AuroraOSS is a third party OSS app store (if it comes to OSS I would prefer F-Droid), even if you find GMail there it won't work without Play Services.

AuroraStore is just a FOSS front-end to Google Play (so it would work to get non-paid apps from there which, as pointed out, might not run properly if they require Google Services). AuroraDroid is the pendant for the F-Droid repositories. You can probably use both, yes. The term "Aurora Apps" just refers to these two apps, not to those you can access via AuroraStore ;)

So I would need Google Services to make Google Play Store work?  I'll look on FDroid for downloads.

You could install the GAPPS image (sudo waydroid init -s GAPPS -f) and register it.

@RafaelplayerxdYT Instructions unclear. I permanently broke my waydroid installation :D ! This might work for someone who hasn't ever installed any Android image. But as I already had Vanilla installed, this command did nothing, and there are apparently no way to re-initialize waydroid from scratch.

@Michael, that's what the -f do, it forces the image to change from your actual to a Google Services image (Google play won't work without Google services, at least not correctly), but once it finishes it will annoyingly beep on you because google doesn't recognize the device (and you won't be able to install anything), so you'll need to register the device to google to stop the beeps and install apps on Play Store


text:
How to backup Whatsapp images proparly?
I bought a new phone (OnePlus Nord 2 5G) and to my surprise, the WhatsApp backup restore my images but without dates.
I think the best solution for backing up images is to drop WhatsApp backup (for images only) and use Google Photos backup as I did for my camera images.
I saw a way to disable WhatsApp images backup which involved renaming the images folder but I am not sure what consequences this will have.
Any idea? how do you guys back up your WhatsApp images?

I use Wifi FTP Server on my Android device with FreeFileSync on my laptop to backup any files I need.

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.

Thanks! This is so fustrating when u use those big companies software and all those features are just f-ed up. U can't even disable image backup in WhatsApp, this is so basic!


text:
Would I break anything by installing another build of the same custom OS, but with a different signature, using a custom recovery tool?
I am about to get a device for which, so far, only an unofficial LineageOS build exists. A merge request to officially support this device is underway, but as always with LineageOS, no ETA.
A bunch of forum posts mention that there may be issues when signatures do not match. I remember that, when moving from CyanogenMod to its successor LineageOS, there was a special migration process (as the migration implied a change of the OS signature iirc):

Install a special, migration-only build of LineageOS (intended only for migration from CyanogenMod, not for permanent usage)
Boot up LineageOS once
Install a regular LineageOS build over it

Also now, I am seeing discussions about migration paths from an unofficial build of LineageOS to an official one (again, with different signatures). However, I have not yet seen a clear explanation as to what the signature does and what would break if the signature does not match. Presumably any update tool would reject an update with a different signature. However, custom recovery tools (TWRP for sure) allow for signature checks to be skipped, hence this would not be an issue. Anything else I am missing?
My planned update path is the following:

Using TWRP (or possibly, LineageOS Recovery), create a backup of the data partition on my present device.
Unlock the bootloader of the new device.
Install either TWRP (if available) or LineageOS Recovery on the new device.
Install the still-unofficial LineageOS build on the new device.
Using the recovery tool, restore the data backup on the new device.
Use the new device.
When an official LineageOS build becomes available, reboot into recovery and install it.
Continue to use the new device, now with an official LineageOS build.

When switching from Nexus S to OnePlus One, I followed the first six steps and this worked without any issues. Both devices were on the same CyanogenMod version, albeit both were official builds, presumably with the same signature. Thus, as long as the OS signature does not change, the above process is proven to work – save for individual apps doing some extra verification, the effects of which would only affect that particular app.
Would I be able to use the same procedure to upgrade to a build of the same OS but with a different signature? If not, what would be broken by the signature not matching?

Moving the entire /data partition to a different device no longer works with modern Android devices, as that partition is now encrypted. As far as I found out, the encryption method varies from device to device – either full disk encryption or file-based encryption. The recovery tool would therefore be able to either decrypt the partition, or back up the encrypted data and its keys. The second option would only work if both devices use the same encryption method.
As of September 2022, TWRP does not seem to be able to back up, or restore, encrypted partitions, and LineageOS Recovery does not include backup functionality at all. I am not aware of other Android recovery tools, so currently I am not aware of a way to move the /data partition to a different device.
That means the only way to back up /data would be from within the OS. If you are root, you could try taring the directory on one device (storing it on the SD card), then restore it on the other, though I have no idea if that works. Otherwise, NeoBackup (available on F-Droid) can do a batch backup of all installed apps with their data.
For the signature part, that leaves us with upgrading between official and unofficial builds. Examining a key migration script for LineageOS reveals that it modifies two files: /data/system/packages.xml and /data/system/packages-backup.xml. These contain a list of all installed packages and, among others, their signatures. According to the instructions on the LineageOS wiki, the signatures need to be changed before updating to an OS image with different signatures.
Admittedly, that still doesn’t fully answer my original question. Presumably either the recovery tool will refuse to update if signatures do not match, or the new OS will throw tons of errors on boot because all of the system app signatures have changed, possibly forcing you to revert to the old OS or even wipe your data partition. However, there is a migration path if you really need to move to an OS image with different signatures.


text:
"Do not disturb" notification turning on all on its own
has anyone noticed on their Android phone, that their "Do not disturb" function would be turning on all on its own every now and then? I've experienced this a few times on my Android 12 phone.

First of all, you might want to check the current settings for Do not disturb (particularly, "Schedules"), because they can have automatic triggers, like based on time, calendar events, etc.

Do your phone have switch for mute/do not disturb? It can happen you by accident move this switch.


text:
How can I install a user CA certificate from a .pem file?
I have a .pem file and -key.pem. I'm on a Pixel 4a with Android 13, and when I go to Settings -> Security -> Advanced Settings -> Encryption -> Install certificate -> CA certificate, I can select one file. When I select the .pem file it just goes back to the Install certificate screen, and when I choose the -key.pem file it says that I need a private key to install it.
I don't know much about SSL certificates so help would be very much appreciated :)

Edit: I am using mkcert to generate a certificate for a certain IP address in my network. I am using KDE connect to send the files to my phone.

For what purpose do you want to install the certificate? Wifi WPA enterprise auth or VPN or just a custom root CA e.g. for traffic interception?

@Robert I'm developing a mobile website that requires https to function. I want to host it locally for testing, but when I do it says the site is not secure, so I want to give a certain IP an ssl certificate.

Have you checked if your certificate has been added in the Trustworthy Login Data -> User list? If the certificate is present make sure to use the full DNS name in Chrome addressbar that is saved in the certificate.

It is not there, I don't think it's installing. Just for conformation, is this how installing a certificate works?

Yes, this is the way it is supposed to work. I just tried to with an example custom ROOT CA certificate from a large insurance company and it works, you get a toast message "Certificate installed". May be the chosen certificate you are trying to install is invalid? Where does this certificate come from, how was it generated?

I am using mkcert to generate a certificate for a certain IP address, and I sent it to my phone with KDE connect, I will add this info to my question.

@Robert I was able to successfully install the example CA, but I can't find any difference between it and my CA, when I changed my .pem file to a .cer file there was different behavior but it still didn't work.


text:
How to use Samsung Dex or Smart Switch with no phone screen
My Note 10 screen no longer works. When I connected it to my laptop it asked me to install Dex and I did that. But nothing happens. Smart switch says connect the device but when I do nothing happens. Do I need to approve on my note 10? I can't see the screen so how do I get dex or smart switch or anything to get the files out of the note 10

No just read it. Note 10  does not

Does this answer your question? How can I backup Samsung Note 10 it if does not work


text:
VLC for Android TV keeps freezing with 4K videos
My VLC (version 3.5.1) for Android TV (Sony tv with Android TV OS 10) keeps freezing after 10-15 min of 4K video from lan computer over wifi. I have no trouble with 1080p videos. I tried a bunch of config tweaks (like increasing buffer time, changing smb settings) to no avail. I’ll usually need to restart the app when this happens. I just tried with another app and didn’t get any problem. I'm not having any problem with VLC for PC.
I tried enabling debug logs and now the log section is completely grayed out and I can't interact with it at all :(
Does anyone else experience this? Any help much appreciated!

If you restart the app and continue watching does it again work for 10-15 minutes or is the time now shorter?

Mmm good question. Just tested, it’s not consistent. Just watched about 1 hour of 4K with no problem. And I’ve seen sometimes what you described, where starting the video again after a problem would freeze after just a few minutes.

Then a thermal problem could be the cause. May be the CPU overheats and throttles itself. because of the reduced CPU speed the video stops and the whole app hangs.

mmm are there VLC settings I could set to reduce CPU usage?

Not sure about VLC, I would recommend MXPlayer as it display if a video is decoded in software or partially/fully in hardware. Hardware decoding is very efficient and should not overheat your CPU/GPU, but pure software decoding could be a problem.


text:
Moto G8 Power/sofiar softbricked, TWRP sees encrypted files
I got a hold of a Moto G8 Power, it has no working OS (slot A is Lineage, slot B is arrow OS, neither works). Bootloader works, TWRP recovery works, bootloader is unlocked. The issue is anytime I try to wipe in TWRP or sideload a ROM, it fails half way with error “operation not permitted”. If I try to install ROM through TWRP, it fails trying to mount anything and if I try to browse files in TWRP, all I see is files/folders with hash names.
I don’t know what to do with this, so it’s a last resort post before I throw it into ewaste bin. I’m not skilled at all with ROM loading on Android, please ELI5. Official ROM would be nice, too.

I think it is because of your device is encrypted try, formating your data partition.

Hello. OP mentioned this in the question: "anytime I try to wipe in TWRP or sideload a ROM, it fails half way with error “operation not permitted”". You might want to provide a resolution for this.


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Issue connecting note 10 to windows 10
My note 10 screen does not display anything. So I cannot see any note 10 pop up prompts. In windows 10 settings bluetooth and other devices. When I connect my note 9 it gives the name of my phone that I choose. When I connect my note 10 it says samsung android. When I turn off my note 9 and connect it does not say anything. Based on this I can assume my note 10 is on. But why does my pc not show real name of my note 10? Why generic?

Have configured a lock screen PIN/password? If yes you have to enter it after a reboot to make the phone fully finish booting (by default the device boots to a state where some parts of the system are already booted but all user-related apps and some settings are not yet ready). May be this is the reason.

@Robert i was thinking that but when I tried that using my note 9 it still said my phones actual name. But maybe because it had already done that before and I never connected my note 10 before. So maybe my win 10 has not recognized it from before


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Is it possible to proot into an Android rootfs?
Where can i download an android rootfs? I was wondering will it be possible to use Android on Linux using (proot)

Your question is a bit short so that most people will not understand it. I would recommend to edit and extend it especially explain in detail what you are trying to do and how. I assume you use Termux?

Android is distributed as ROMs, not as a simple rootfs. chroot / proot is possible only for UNIX / Linux environments which can be entirely run from CLI. But Android is by-design a GUI operating system which requires a lot of hardware-specific proprietary code to load before the GUI loads. So you cannot run Android in chroot. Android's shell environment is very very limited, meant to be run for debugging, not as a complete operating system.

@IrfanLatif nevermind. A shell environment is good enough :)


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stuck on boot-loop
I experimented with custom roms, my phone cant load system, i get the start vibration with redmi screen looped. I have redmi note 9 pro max, i got lineage os 18.1 working for month, i tired upgrading to 19.1, i suspect that it could have been Magisk ive tried to flash on my phone that caused it, ive been for hours downloading different roms and magisk versions to try to find combination thats working, i need help, i think i want to reset the phone to how it was before the magisk but i dont know the words that i need to google for solution, my guess is something wrong with boot image- but i dont know what it means.
i tried looking online how to uninstall magisk, but tutorials are outdated, i cant use TWRP because theres no version for my phone

First of all is your device boot into recovery mode or not ? if it is then, just wipe data, system, cache, meta and whatever then connect your device to pc copy paste your customrom.zip then flash. If your device didnt boot into recovery then download miui fastboot rom and mi flash tool install necessary drivers and then, extract the rom zip in pc, goto fastboot mode into your mobile. Connect usb cable to your laptop, then run mi flash tool as admin select the extracted folder path in miflash tool, refresh to check if th device is connected to your laptop. The flash. It will erase all your data and install official stock rom to your device.

i did do hundred wipes when trying different roms+magisks versions. anyways i already did the mi flash tool, it looked like it didnt do anything, after status turnt finish i tried to reboot phone and now its even worse then before. phone turns on for 1 second then black over and over, no fastboot/ recovery anymore. this is where i gave up


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Family link setup; one child, two parents
Me and the mother of my daughter have separated. My daughter is with me on odd weeks and her mother on even weeks. I have set up Family link to work on my phone and my daughter's. We would like to be able to switch control of my daughters phone via Family link between me and her mother.
I have searched but not found an answer to if that is possible and how you do it. Can you help me?


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Google Family Link reports an error stopping supervision
I have just turned 13.  The "Google Family Link" parental-control software is installed on my device.  I tried to stop supervision. After waiting for the mandatory 24-hour delay to elapse, it said error stopping supervision. What do I do?

I don't know.  However:  Why do you want to stop supervision?


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Where do I turn route highlighting on / off in Google maps?
How can I show / hide the blue line representing the current route in Google Maps route planning and navigation screens? Essentially I want to toggle between the two views below:

Background: I somehow managed to switch route highlighting off and now I want it back. It doesn't seem to be a bug in Google Maps, at least a phone restart doesn't restore the highlighting. I know I can just wipe Google Maps user data, but I prefer to learn how to do it properly.

The route highlighting reappeared when my phone went back online, so apparently it's not something one can configure. Note that simply being offline is not enough to make the highlighting disappear: I have used Google Maps with offline maps many times, and it was never disabled before.


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How to force background graphics printing on Chrome for Android?
I am using Android 11. I could not get the version of Chrome I am using. I am using an OTG connector with a USB cable to connect my Android phone to my printer Ricoh Aficio SP C320DN. I'm also using the NokoPrint Android app.
In Chrome's desktop version, I can tell the browser to print background images through checking the "Background Graphics" option under more settings. I need to do the same on the mobile version. But I can not find the option when printing.
Does it exist somewhere? Or does not it exist at all?
P.S. I am developing an app using Oracle APEX and I need to enable users to print the web page themselves. Telling users to tick a checkbox or change a browser setting could be sufficient. It's been days since I am surfing the web, but all solutions do not work as expected.

Are you trying to print all images on the screen not just the foreground on part of the screen, could you not just take a screenshot and print it?

Yes, I need to print everything I see on the web page. I am developing an app using Oracle APEX and I need to enable users to print the web page themselves. I am searching for a JavaScript solution. But for now, Telling users to tick a checkbox could be sufficient. JavaScript solution will take time. It's been days I am surfing the web, but all solutions do not work as expected.

Note that Android Enthusiasts focus on Android end-users who are not necessarily developers. Comments focusing on the development part have been moved to chat.

Related: How do I print background colors on webpages in Android?


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I recorded a few videos in 4K 30 FPS and 60 FPS on a Pixel 6 but the actual FPS is 29.XX and 59.YY. Why?
I use a Pixel 6 running Android 12. I recorded a few videos in 4K 30 FPS and 60 FPS. Why does Windows Explorer shows a slightly different FPS? VLC agrees with Windows Explorer. I used Google Camera.

I found the answer on https://www.reddit.com/r/VideoEditing/wiki/faq/vfr (summary: it's because most phone video recording apps use a variable frame rate):

Chances are if your video came from either a cell phone or a screen recording of some kind, it's variable frame rate. Most video editing tools expect constant frame rate, and thus don't cope will with variable frame rate.
In order to edit the video you will need to convert it to a constant frame rate video using a tool that can cope with VFR, like Handbrake or ffmpeg. Note that if you are a Creative Cloud subscriber you can't use Adobe Media Encoder for this task, as it relies on all the same video access libraries that Premiere does, hence if Premiere doesn't like it neither will AME.
If you are a Premiere Pro user, read this
You can verify whether or not your video is actually variable frame rate by using MediaInfo. In the MediaInfo report you should look for Frame Rate Mode, which will either be Constant or Variable.
Note that every time you re-encode your video you can lose some quality, partially through a phenomenon called generational loss, partially dependent on your encoding parameters. Re-encoding your video to H.264, which is what Handbrake can do, can incur quality loss if you don't set the bitrate or CQ factor high enough. Alternatively you could use ffmpeg transcode to a mezzanine, or editing, codec like ProRes or DNxHD/DNxHR, which are designed to lose as little quality as possible, but at the expense of very large file sizes.

I used MediaInfo (5 MB, crossplatform, has a portable version on Windows, gratis) to confirm that the video has a variable frame rate:


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When turning on the screen automatically appears the Unlock Pin typing field
I have an app that performs automatic actions, but for that it needs to unlock my screen.
It doesn't have the Swipe + Pin option.
Pin only.
In version 8.0 of Android (latest for Galaxy S7 Edge) is there a way to make the screen turn on already on the screen where you type the Pin instead of having to do a swipe before it appears?
It is currently swipe then pin, see:


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Enable Wifi or Cellular data in Lock screen to unlock Phone
Problem:
my Huawei P30 Pro is locked and I don't remember my passcode as I was using it with the fingerprint unlock for 2 years, which suddenly stopped working. I can prove that it is my phone, as I still have the packaging and the original purchase receipt and I can access the google find-my-phone, where it is shown and I could theoretically unlock it.
However, the wifi and cellular are unfortunately turned off, as I was conserving battery during a hike.
Solutions tried:
I tried to connect it to my router via ethernet and USB-C to ethernet dock, which "worked": I see the <-> symbol in the display, I see the IP address in the router and I can ping it in the local network. It's still offline, as no notifications are coming through and it's offline google's find-my-phone :( Why?
I tried the safe mode menu, but no change, just the safe mode watermark.
I tried to update the EMUI via the recovery mode, it actually connects to my wifi(!) and tries to update, which fails and afterward DISABLES the damn wifi again. During the recovery mode and afterward it still does not show as online on google's find-my-phone.
There are no pull-down menus to enable wifi or cellular on this phone.
Unfortunately, I also seem to not have enabled the Huawei-app-thingy to unlock it, but wouldn't help anyway as I can not connect to the internet.
It's a bit ridiculous why none of these methods worked...
Question:
Why does the ethernet not work and of course:
Any hope or do I have to keep trying 3 passwords per hour for the next 9 months ? :(
Reward for useful hints and thanks a lot ;)


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Block top level domains in my device
In my pursuit to block porn, I installed many web filtering options. Currently, I am using Open Dns free version and Blockerhero for blocking specific domains and apps. However my issue is that sometimes these blocked websites popup with new names. For instance:

1filmy4wap.biz

https://tode793.com/selinte-tuition-class-2022-e01-02-yessma-seris-720p-480p-webhd-x264/

These post erotic content and are replica of each other. How many domains can I block, it seems almost impossible. Is there any solution anyone can offer?
Like anything with which I can block domains more easily. Or block those services which have pirated content like streamsb.

Related: How to block access to a website?, Block Adult Websites

The only solution is to have someone (e.g. a community) that maintains the block lists so that new domains are not blocked immediately but in short time.


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OpenCamera is configured to record in 60 FPS, however the recorded videos are in 30 FPS. Why?
OpenCamera is configured to record in 60 FPS, however the recorded videos are in 30 FPS. Why?
I use a Pixel 6 running Android 12. I don't use slow motion video. I can record videos in 4K 60 FPS with Google Camera.

Answer from rmendez011:

You probably have to change Camera API to "Camera2 API", you can find this option if you press the gear icon, and scroll all the way to the bottom, press "Camera API".
Not every device supports 4K 60fps recording on anything other than the stock cam.

Change Camera API to "Camera2 API" allowed me to record at 60 FPS on my Pixel 6.


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Does Samsung Galaxy Note 10 support USB C-to-HDMI?
Can Samsung Galaxy Note 10 do video over USB C to HDMI?
I called one of the companies that makes a USB C hub with HDMI and they said no. They said my phone does not support DisplayPort Alt Mode, but the Samsung website shows an adapter like that.
How can I display my Note 10 on a monitor or TV? My Note 10 screen is broken, so I can't make any changes on the phone.

If the Samsung website shows such an adapter why don't you include the link in your question? Furthermore is the adapter shown in combination with a Note 10? Because some Samsung phones may have support for such adapter but may be not yours (e.g.. those with full Dex support).

@Robert added the link to their article. Note 9 and 10 has dex without special cable. But I not talking about dex. Talking about connecting directly to monitor not a pc.

I talked to Samsung reps and they give me a wide array of answers. From yes to no to yours was an earlier model and only new 10s support it then back to yes  and no. Even got it depends on your monitor. So was hoping someone here has a real answer

Seems you need an answer from someone who owns a Note 10 to get a definitive answer. As this is a place not specific to Samsung or Note10 the chance is a bit low to find someone who knows the answer. In my opinion your chance would be higher when posting in a forum that is Note 10 specific but there you should name you exact model name e.g. SM-N970F as gsmarena lists 8 variants for Galaxy Note 10.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and my screen is also broken.
I've been using my phone through Samsung DeX for the past 3 years with the screen broken.
So the answer is yes. You can get a Type C to HDMI cable or a Type C HUB and connect your phone to an external monitor and use your phone while the phone screen is broken.


text:
Do android app crash logs or system crash/kernel logs contain user data?
Do app crash logs/reports contain user data from the app, such as note contents from a note app? And if there is a full android system crash or kernel panic, is that log saved to the phone including a snapshot of memory at the time or is it sent anywhere?
Thanks!

Kind of self-duplicate but not answered: Is phone data sent or saved in the event of a crash?, Is Google keep note content data included in a crash report or error log?

There is no standard definition of what should be included in logs and what should be done in case of a system crash. Also there's no standard that defines the “private data” (some users may consider device model as private info, while for others nothing less than a password is a private thing). So there is no universal answer to this question. It depends on the app developers and OEMs / ROM developers. Generally app developers and OEMs collect users' private data (for profiling / target advertisements etc.) even if there is no crash.


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Prevent keyboard from popping up when clicking a text box on Android
We have a Samsung Galaxy tablet running Android 8.1. We use it for inventory. We have a Bluetooth scan gun that goes with it and when hooked up to a tablet it registers as a physical keyboard. It works just fine. The problem is on the website (sage inventory tracker) we use, it has text boxes. You click the text box and scan the barcode and it fills in the information. This works just fine, but the keyboard pops up every time you click the text box which is annoying to the people using it.
I can turn off the show on-screen keyboard so it doesn't come up, but there are times when you need the on-screen keyboard to type things in, so you have to go back to the settings and turn it back on to get that to work.
I was wondering if there was a way to create a shortcut to either turn show on-screen keyboard on and off without needing to go to the settings every time or a way to just manually turn on the on-screen keyboard with a button click or from the drop-down notification bar. I've tried many different things but can't find a way to get it to work.

Use Termux Widget to create a screen widget which calls the shell command am start -a android.settings.INPUT_METHOD_SETTINGS.

is there a way to do something like am start -a android.settings.HARD_KEYBOARD_SETTINGS.SHOW_ON-SCREEN_KEYBOARD=FALSE. or true. What would be better to create a toggle. So if on goes to off. and if off go to on.

No AFAIK. You need to open both screens one-by-one and make changes. So you can create two shortcuts on home screen; one with am start -a android.settings.INPUT_METHOD_SETTINGS and the other with am start -a android.settings.HARD_KEYBOARD_SETTINGS.


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Can a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone be connected to a 49-inch ultra-wide monitor?
I want to start using my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra as a computer. I'm also planning to buy an ultra-wide 49-inch monitor that I want to display the Samsung screen on using DEX mode. I want to connect the phone to the monitor using a USB-C cable. I'm talking about a monitor having screen dimensions of 5120x1440 or something very similar, e.g. Philips 499P9H.
I haven't purchased the monitor yet because I want to know first whether the built-in video card of the Samsung Galaxy S21 is powerful enough to handle the resolution of a 49-inch ultrawide screen.
Does anyone know whether this smartphone can handle such a widescreen? It needs to be able to fill the entire screen, not just part of it.

According to the Samsung website it depends on the phone and the adapters wherpt resolutions and aspect ration are supported. May be you should first go to an electronic market and test it out with a 4k TV or other displays that are available if this works at all. Second check the spec of the used adapter regarding HDMI version and maximum resulution for the used HDM version.

@Robert it works with a 4K monitors and a usb C to HDMI cable. I know i could go to an electronics store as well. But i wanted to know if someone on here already knew whether using this smartphone with an UW monitor is possible or not.

It didn't work with my Samsung 32:9 1080p monitor. Specifically, invoice says

MONITOR SAMSUNG LED 49”
LC49J890DKUXEN

Monitor kept displaying Not optimal, use 3840×1080 60Hz. I tried both HDMI using dongle, and direct USB-C connection.
With traditional full HD monitors I'm getting lock screen displayed all right, tested on two, both using HDMI dongle.
This is only one data point, so it is possible that other pairs would work.


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How to get an older version of an app from F-Droid?
I used https://f-droid.org/ to search the F-Droid repository for an app and to download the respective APK file. I did find the app, however, the newest version has unwanted changes or requirements like a newer Android system version.
How can I download the previous/older versions of this app?

The apps I have tested always have the last three versions as direct download available on f-droid. E.g. https://f-droid.org/de/packages/com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro/ has the versions 6.25.0 and 6.24.1 and 6.24.0 available as direct download at the moment.

It is easy to install older versions, just from within the F-Droid app. From the specific page of the desired app on the device, scroll to its bottom, and open the directory node "Versions", revealing previous F-Droid versions.
For example, on the main page just now, "Diary", a personal diary, has a version page with DOZENS of versions, (dated). Knowing the prior release date roughly will lead you to the version you want with an "Install" button.

If you want to do it via the app, you should know that Android 4, for example, is not supported by the F-Droid app anymore. This could be relevant, especially since this whole question is about accessing older version of apps. So you'll have to install an older version of F-Droid, too. See https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Running_on_old_Android_versions

If I expand the old version that I want to install, there is no button to press to downgrade or install the old version. This answer is a "draw the owl" unfortunately

If you don't have any buttons to install the old version, try uninstalling the app first. Then the Install button should appear for old versions.

The APK files for old versions don't seem to be available/linked on the main homepage.
However, after doing some research, I found this forum post https://forum.f-droid.org/t/archive-repositories/10556 which contains a list of all archive repositories, including the official F-Droid archive https://f-droid.org/archive.
Using https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/?repo=archive, it is possible to browse said archive and download the APK file that you're looking for. You can verify that the actual download URL begins with https://f-droid.org/archive/.

You can use the WayBack Machine website, I found some versions here for F-Droid and by plugging that into the Wayback Machine website I could get back to earlier versions, albeit some are not cached and cannot be accessed.  I found that version 1.10 would download for example, is that old enough for you?


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Why can't I reach other devices on WiFi network that doesn't have internet access?
My phone with Android 11 is connected to a hotspot on my laptop that does not have internet access (on purpose). In the quick settings it shows a little cross next to the WiFi icon, the status bar doesn't show it at all, only a 4G icon that data is active.
Other devices on the hotspot can ping the phone and successfully send datagram packets to it (via a custom app) but the phone cannot ping them and its datagram packets don't reach the network (can't see them with Wireshark).
The only way the phone is able to reach the devices is when I turn off data connection, so it can only route the packets through the WiFi network. Is there another way that would allow me to keep data on so I can have internet access? The subnets don't overlap and I can't think of any other reason the packets would be lost. I believe this is some Android-specific issue.

Check your ip rule and ip route. Most probably you'll need to manually adjust routing table to achieve what you want. Manipulating network routing requires root access.


text:
Why does Android One not have a standard Recorder app?
I thought all Android phones had a standard recorder app so was surprised when I just tried to record an environmental sound and found that my Nokia 7.2, an Android One device running Android v11 doesn't have a standard Recorder app.
Why do Android One devices not have a standard Recorder app? I know there are many available from the Play Store but would have thought a recorder to be a standard app common to all Android devices.

There are many different legal standards for recording acceptance. Providing a recording application by default allows the user to record without understanding the standards and customs of the locale and possibly violate law. Forcing the user to seek out a recording app at least provides some deniability to the device seller that local regulations to their use are upheld. Much like guns.

Recorder app was never a standard on Android devices, even on Google devices. Google Pixel 4 (2019) is the first time a Google device has a built-in Recorder app.

My earlier phones were HTC, Samsung and LG that all added their own stuff so that's probably why I thought a recorder was standard. This is my second Android One Nokia phone and obviously the first time I've wanted to record something.


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"Install update to keep device running smoothly" dialog comes but when try to install, it stuck at installing update
On my Android phone, I'm getting the below dialog but when I try to install an update, it is stuck.

Please note that I have 20.83GB of free space in the Internal storage. I tried when the battery is 100% charged and also tried on "Mobile Data" as well as "WiFi" connection.
Anything else I can try? Also, I don't want to Factory Reset the phone.
More info about the device:

LAVA Z6
Android version 11
Build number: LAVA_LMX06_SW_V12_HW_V1.0_20220316

I fixed it by clearing system cache partition using the recovery. So no need to factory reset and not loss any data!
After wiping system cache partition, we need to download the updates again. Then it will install nicely.


text:
After moving to Pixel 6 Pro, some daily apps are no longer supported
I've recently upgraded my phone from Pixel 3 XL to Pixel 6 Pro.
After some time, I noticed that some are apps are missing from the Pixel 6 Pro. I can't find those apps at the Google Play store, and in the web version of the Play Store it say that they are not compatible with the Pixel 6 Pro:

It's probably not because of the Android version (13), because I know that these apps are available and working fine on some Pixel 5 devices running Android 13.
I thought that maybe it has to do something with the device's screen resolution or DPI/PPI, which the app might not support - but really unsure about this.
Any ideas about what could solve it, without side-loading APKs? Either from the user's perspective, or from the developer's perspective.

There are many potential reasons why an app is not available for a device. May be you should edit your question and add the PlayStore link to a few of the apps you miss. Then may be we will be able to investigate the reason.

@Robert sure, here's one of them: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.moblin.israeltrain


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what to do with this japanesed android system
So I received a phone as a gift but it turns out that at boot up is perfect japanese. We manage to set it up and change the language settings.
Yet, most of the applications are hard-installed (you can't remove) and even the keyboard is "japanese English(US)".
The phone barely connects to the network (low signal, -111DBm) and the mobile network state is Disconnected even though mobile data is on.
I am thinking of flashing a new Android Operative system. The phone is LG ISAI and the company that hard installed software (apart from Google) is Au.
Any help on what to do about it? (I won't sell it.)

Check the supported LTE bands and compare them to the bands used by your MNO in your country. If they don't match it doesn't matter which software you install, the reception will always be your problem.

@Robert would a hard reset help ? https://techviral.net/android-secret-codes/

@Robert  couldnt get a single code to work and show me any information. idk how to check the LTE bands

LTE bands are usually documented at some hardware spec collecting sites like GSMArena. Not sure if there is a way to query them in the phone.


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Mtkclient | mediatek phone won't boot into brom/boot rom mode
I downloaded mtkclient from the GitHub and followed the installation instructions but when I plug my phone in after running the command it never recognizes my phone. I've tried all different types of button combos and none seem to work. My phone is a Moto g 5g 2022 codenamed Austin and it is a mediatek dimensity 700.

When talking about tools like "mtkclient" that are not part of Android or Android SDK please always include the lik to the tool in your question. You should also explain detail at which step your phone is not recognized.

Ok yes, so my phone is not being recognized during the part where it says to plug your phone in and hold the buttons down. Nothing happens.

This is due to Motorola disabling the ability to boot into brom mode on newer Mediatek devices. I have the Moto G 5G 2022(Metro PCS) and I have unlocked the bootloader and rooted with Magisk, I think that the issue is due to a setting on the kernel command line, but I have been unable to recompile the kernel so far, so I can't be 100% sure. Long story short, as of right now the only way I know for sure to get into brom mode is to crack open the case and ground some test points, but since I have no idea which ones to do I would highly recommend against this.

have you found any custom roms or gsis that work with this phone? I tried some but they lacked any good features that im looking for. would like a pixel experience


text:
Phone calls rejected automatically from a specific contact
I have a Redmi Note 7 phone, from Xiaomi.
Since some time, one specific contact cannot call me directly. Phone calls are automatically dropped and I only get a notification of a lost call. I can call him, but he cannot call me.
I checked and this contact is not in the block list and I tried to remove the phone permission from all apps, but still, the contact cannot call me (so it is not actively blocked by an app).
How can I solve the problem?

After investigating, using adb to read the logs of my phone, I found out that it was an exception which was thrown that would make the call to be rejected.
It is actually a known issue, called Unbind Exception related to dropped calls (here I found info about it).
How to solve it:
for people who are not experts, it is almost impossible to find out the cause of the issue. But it is pretty simple to solve it, without having to reset the phone. You just need to delete the contact and create it again. This solved the problem for me.
I thought to share the solution, since I could not find anything about it online. I hope this might be helpful to some!


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Should the layout of Android's "secure keyboard" be localized?
Some application use the "secure keyboard" of my ColorOS 12.1 (Android 12 customized by Oppo).
While my device is configured to use German language, the keyboard displayed in such apps uses the English QWERTY layout, and even worse:
I'm not offered any diacritical characters when long-pressing a key.
That makes it rather useless for German.
So I wonder: Is this a security feature, or is it a bug?

By "Some application use the "secure keyboard" of my ColorOS 12.1", did you mean ColorOS has their own "secure keyboard", not the app's own keyboard implementation? Because AFAIK, Android doesn't have such feature called "secure keyboard".

Maybe the phrase is incorrect: Is it "incognito keyboard" instead, maybe? Threema has such a setting, too. However there I don't see that effect there (Threema). Where I see it is in the German "WarnWetter" app when I want to add a location via keyboard. There I also noticed that I cannot make a screenshot as it "contains private data" (says Android).

In ColorOS 13 and Threema 5.05 this is no longer an issue; maybe it was a software bug (if it wasn't just bad design).


text:
Verizon Software Keeps Re-Installing itself
i have a Pixel 4XL,
baseband version g8150-00123-220402-B-8399852
i think its American , but i have installed the Australian Firmware on the device , after a Factory Reset , and installation of Lineage OS,
this Verizon software keeps reinstalling... can anyone clear up if this is spyware hidden ( i got the phone from a dodgy supplier online, had bad reviews)
i want to remove it , yet it keeps reinstalling after multiple wipes.. i have erased slot a and b , reflashed recovery , reflashed firmware.
i intially thought it was reinstalling as it was linked to the baseband but from what i understand installing the Australian firmware should remove this system app ..
can anyone tell me how i can completely wipe this phone so this is removed. Do i need to edit the kernal to change the baseband someone at the phone shop suggested editing the Build Prop is this correct ? and if so how does one go about this.
The apk's listed below keep reinstalling no matter how many times i reinstall FW,wipe etc.
it leads me to believe it is malware. Any Help would be greatly appriciated
AppDirectedSMS
com.verizon.services
source directory - /product/priv-app/AppDirectedSMSService

com.verizon.obdm_permissions
source directory - /system_ext/priv-app/OBDM_Permissions

D-MAT
com.verizon.obdm
source directory - /system_ext/priv-app/obdm_stub
__
My Verizon Services
com.verizon.mips.services
source directory - /system_Ext/priv-app/MyVerizonServices
my running services shows these two process running constantly on Lineage 0S 19.1
com.qualcomm.qcrilmsgtunnel
com.qualcomm.atfwd

I think we had a question about self-installing apps where those apps were located on a separate partition within the system. May be this is also the source of the apps in your case. Have you tried to flash the last official image provided by Google? Those images not only contain system and empty user partition but often images for additional partitions. If you have rooted the phone you can search for partitions where the APK file(s) are located that are automatically installed.

i think this sounds about right !, i was reading someone else had a similiar problem , they described it as almost like a hidden partition, Yes i have flashed the official firmware from google. it says the APK'S are installed as a priv-app , how exactly would i locate where they are stored ? , and how would i go about deleting them so they dont come back after reflashes.
Do i perhaps need to flash fastboot erase modem
fastboot flash modem " or maybe fastboot erase carrier ?


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How to switch layout (language) of external physical keyboard on ColorOS 12.1?
I have a Bluetooth external keyboard with German layout (QWERTZ) that worked well with my old Huawei P10 Lite phone (Android 8.0).
Unfortunately with my current Oppo Android 12 (ColorOS 12.1) phone I have a big problem:
I cannot switch the keyboard layout, that is: Make Android know that the keyboard layout is German.
When I press Shift+Space, then the layout of the virtual keyboard displayed changes, but the keys on the external keyboard "still send the wrong character" (e.g.: I press Z on the keyoard, but Y is entered on the phone).
Did I use the wrong method to change the layout of the external keyboard, or is this some bug?
I see this question is very similar to Bluetooth keyboards is not switching languages properly

After upgrading ColorOS to Android 13 the problem was fixed, meaning:
I was able to select the keyboard layout.
So it seems it was a bug in ColorOS.


text:
No sound from navigation apps while connected via Bluetooth
I have the next issue with my Google Pixel 6 Pro. I use two nav apps - Google Maps and Waze. The sound from both of them are not audible while phone is connected via Bluetooth to my car, unless I start some song playing either in Spotify or Google Music. After song is started playing I need to turn off the nav app and run it again. Now the navigation audio will work and I can stop the music playing.
Any suggestions on how can I fix that? I've found multiple articles about "fixing navigation sound" but none helped me. Thank you!


text:
Is there any technical limitation that prevents Android from hibernating like windows?
Windows has the ability (disabled by default) to hibernate the entire SO. It does it by saving the entire RAM to disk and then restoring it.
When hibernating there is no power consumption, unlike when in a suspended state.
Android doesn't have that ability and I would like to better understand why.
There is usefulness to it and it's virtually impossible that no one thought of implementing it, so I would assume the reason must be technical.

Besides that it would speed up the "boot" process after restoring from hibernate I don't think regular users would have much advantage. Additionally ARM CPUs are really good in saving power while they are idle (especially compared to an x86 CPU) so that nobody saw a need for a hibernate mode. Furthermore a hibernate mode would require to reserve flash storage e.g. as a special partition which would be wasted for users who don't use hibernate.

Android runs Linux kernel. And Linux kernel supports both sleep to RAM and sleep to disk. Android uses enhanced S2RAM (doze) to save power and disables S2Disk (at bootloader, kernel and userspace level) on purpose as mostly Android devices are meant to be always running unlike PCs. Additionally hibernation needs persistent storage as Robert mentioned - a file or a partition. So saving the whole RAM snapshot to flash storage at every hibernate kills it more quickly as eMMC / UFS on phones have very limited R/W cycles. Android uses zRAM in place of swap for the same reason.


text:
Debugging Firefox on Android
I had the following: on Firefox on Android, some links in a facebook post behaved this way: I got a pop-up window that there's no Internet and I should try again, and then the following screen appeared:

How can I debug such a mishap, i.e. what happens here?

You can try Firefox Remote Debugging.

Or https://github.com/liriliri/eruda


text:
How to adjust ring volume on built-in speaker separately from ring volume on headphones?
Currently, if I receive a call, it rings in both my (wired) headphones and out of my built-in speaker.  I don't want rings to ever come out of my built-in speaker.  I only want to hear rings in my headphones.  I don't want other people to have to hear my ringer, but I want to hear it in my headphones!
It seems all other audio is handled correctly.  For example, if I am listening to a podcast using my headphones, no audio comes out of my built-in speaker (which is great!)  Using the volume buttons only adjusts the headphones volume.  If I unplug my headphones, it switches over to using the built-in speaker automatically.  Moreover, changing the volume while the headphones are unplugged only adjusts the built-in speaker volume; it doesn't forget my headphones volume.  This is exactly how I want my call ringer to work.
Basically, I want to set my built-in speaker ring volume to be 0, and my headphones ring volume to be 100.  How can I do this?
I have a Moto G Power 2022 with Android 11.
Edit: I'm surprised that even with a bounty, no one has any advice.  Is what I want unclear?  (I want the ringer to play in my headphones but not from my built-in speaker.)  Is it really that unusual of a desire that it is impossible to accomplish?  Is my problem specific to my particular phone and not Android 11?  Even if you have a partial solution, please let me know what you know.  I'd be happy with a solution that involves an app, as long as it fixes things.

Technically speaking, this cant be done unless you have your headphones in all the time, and plus the notification sound should always play through the headphones if there plugged in

I'm not sure I understand your meaning about having my headphones plugged in all the time.
You're saying Android 11 does not allow you to play the ringer in the headphones but not from the internal speaker?  That seems... weird.

What i mean is, you plug in the headphones  / earbuds and never unplug them (unless switching them)

I still don't understand.  When my headphones are plugged in, the ringer still plays out of my internal speaker.  The ringer plays out of both.  I only want it to play out of my headphones when my headphones are plugged in.  So, plugging in my headphones and leaving them plugged in doesn't fix the problem; if it did, I would do that.


text:
Pixel 2 XL will not charge anymore
Does anybody know what this weird symbol on my pixel 2 XL is? This appeared for the first time when I plug it in, when I unplug it there's a great big X on that symbol I've had this phone for a very long time never ever seen that before also,it says that it's rapidly charging and guess what, it's not deader than a doornail and I can't turn it on so I can't transfer any of my information on to  another phone, I have all so cleaned charging port  still nothing, (cleaning of Port was done with non conductive material no metals.)
I managed to turn it on for about 3 minutes, I had to continually hold down the power button, battery icon did have the charging symbol , indicating that it was charging, but still nothing and that was many hours ago. but then it turned off again. it's obviously registering that it's plugged in, because when I unplug it that symbols the X on it, so how do I go about transferring my info from the pixel 2XL to a new phone? If it's not charging and it won't turn on?? does anybody have any advice for me g

I see two possibilities: 1. the battery is near to death or 2. the charging port is partially broken. Both are common problems for an often used older phone. But if the battery is bad usually the phone works normally when connected to a charger. As your case is different my guess would be the charging port. If the soldering point break or get loose it can happen that the phone still recognizes if it is connected to the charger but if it tries to draw power this does not work because of the port.


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How can I get a ubuntu desktop on my Galaxy S8 Ultra?
I have installed UserLand and selected Ubuntu but all I see is this (note that I am in DEX mode on a Galaxy S8 Ultra):

All the tutorials say I have to set a VNC username and password but it never prompts me to do that. Any ideas?
FYI ultimately I want to run vscode and docker in the ubuntu instance.

If you just want VSCode in Termux see my answer. If you want to run Docker on your Samsung S8 you'll need to root the phone and follow this answer

Thanks for the response! I use dev containers with vscode so it's a little complicated. Am I able to run a full Ubuntu desktop VM?

You should probably explain in more detail what you want to accomplish. Realize that distro desktops are just additional load, but your image already shows a desktop. Also clearly state the make/model/OS version of your device as recent Android OS versions have put limitations.

Does Linux Deploy not work?

Install Termux and VNC Viewer. Open Termux and run these commands:
apt update
apt upgrade
pkg install root-repo x11-repo
pkg install proot proot-distro
termux-setup-storage
proot-disto install ubuntu
proot-distro login ubuntu

In Ubuntu shell:
apt update
apt upgrade
apt install sudo nano
adduser name #replace name with any username
exit

In Termux:
proot-distro login --user name ubuntu

In Ubuntu:
sudo apt install xfce4 xfce4-goodies
sudo apt install tigervnc-standalone-server
vncserver
vncserver -kill :1
nano .vnc/xstartup

Edit xstartup file:
#!/bin/sh
startxfce4

Press Ctrl+O and Enter, then Ctrl+X.
chmod +777 .vnc/xstartup
vncserver -geometry 1280x720 #replace 1280x720 with your resolution

Don't close Termux, open VNC Viewer, tap +, set address localhost:1. Save connection and enter it. Now you have Ubuntu desktop.


text:
Install Wechat Chinese version outside China
Wechat has 2 versions, one for China (Weixin) and one for outside China (Wechat). I need some functions only available in the Chinese version.
How can I turn my international WeChat into a Chinese Wechat(Weixin) from outside China?

Based on quick research, AFAIK the app is the same, but the functions differ based on which account is used, overseas phone number or (Chinese) domestic phone number.


text:
Exclude certain apps from Google Play updates when not installed using Google Play
With the bickering going on between Google and Amazon, I've hit a large annoyance. The versions of Audible, Kindle, and Prime Video from the Play Store all have purchasing disabled. You have to use the website to buy things and then download them (or for Prime Video, stream them). That lets Amazon comply with Google's policy while continuing to not give Google any money (I'd say that's malicious compliance, and I applaud it, even if the user experience of it is worse off to a consumer like myself). If you get the apps directly from the Amazon Appstore for Android, the features disabled for Google Play version are present in the Amazon Appstore version.
I have both Google Play and the Amazon Appstore for Android installed on my Tab S7+. If Google Play updates the Kindle app, as an example, the purchasing ability will then be gone, and if I go into the Amazon Appstore app, it won't allow me to do anything to fix it there because they identify that the current version wasn't installed through their Appstore app. So Google Play can do anything it wants on the system, but other launchers are better about not touching software they don't manage. Likely because Google gives themselves a pass while holding external devs to a much more stringent set of controls.
In the case of the Kindle app specifically, it really screws things up. You have to uninstall and reinstall the app, and then you have to re-add/re-download/etc. all the books, which is somewhat flaky given there's no "download all" option, and I have a ton of books. A lot of the time, it will lock up a bit trying to bite off more than it can feasibly chew. Not really a big deal for Prime Video or Audible since I rarely download videos and my audiobook collection is somewhere small like a little over 375 audiobooks. Kindle has 2836 books, 102 documents (sideloaded books, like the free ones Tor.com releases monthly), and some 3511 comics (now that Comixology seems to have finished merging with the rest of Amazon.
Anyways, I hope that explains things clearly. Any advice would be appreciated. I'll note that my Galaxy Tab S7+ is not rooted, and I have no desire to do so. It's running Android 12.
I've disabled automatic updates across the board on the S7+ for now, but it's time consuming to do manual updates for patching while skipping over these 3 apps (thankfully, the list is alphabetized).
So, the crux question: Are there any ways to block Google Play from modifying an app installed from another source? I do still want to be capable to turn automatic updates back on again in the future.
It's extremely easy to misclick on the name of the app to skip when running updates in the Play Store, which would then require a full reinstall and redownload all of the files again to re-enable purchasing support again.
TL;DR: my Android apps installed from Amazon Appstore need to come from Amazon, period. If Google Play updates them, then in-app purchases are off the table, and the Amazon Appstore for Android will never give you an easy way to bring it back. At least their launcher behaves correctly by not updating things thaf were installed by Google Play. The biggest frustration part, by far, is that uninstalling and reinstalling wipes out the downloaded data (Prime Video for TV/movies, Kindle for ebooks, and Audible for audiobooks & podcasts).
I read a bunch of older threads before writing this, but most of the ones I came across were missing large chunks of data and they didn't really help much.

The main problem is that Amazon should use different packageNames for their apps distributed via Amazon AppStore. This is the only reliable way to solve this problem (or they change the app package names in the apps distributed via Play Store).


text:
Disable signature verify in android default bootloader for zip files
I have a J7 elte. When I want to sideload a zip file with adb from the phone's default boot loader the bootloader raises error Signature Verification Failed whole-file. How can I disable this verification in my phone's default bootloader?

adb sideload is a feature of recovery, not of bootloader. They both are independent environments; tiny operating systems. // "Signature verification failed" cannot be prevented in stock recoveries. They accept ROMs signed by the OEM only. You can install a custom recovery if available and possible. More details here: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/233134/218526

As I understand I should verify the zip file in my laptop with https://wiki.lineageos.org/verifying-builds way and then again try to sideload. It this true?
I verified the zip file with the above way and again got the error.

You haven't stated clearly but I assume that you are using stock recovery and trying to flash a 3rd party ZIP file. In this case it's not possible to avoid "Signature verification failed" error in stock recoveries. Stock recoveries accept flashable ZIP files created and signed by the device manufacturer only. To flash other ZIP files (if you know what you are doing) you should install a custom recovery (like TWRP) if one is available for your device, and if it's possible to unlock bootloader on your device (which is a requirement to flash custom ROMs and recoveries).

If you want to know more about how ZIP signature verification works in recovery and what the error means, please visit this link. It's for knowledge only. It won't resolve your problem.

Finally I could install twrp and my problem solved.


text:
Couldn't pair with XXX because of an incorrect PIN or passkey
I'm trying to connect a bluetooth headset to my phone ( Poco X3 Pro ) but I end up with this error instead.
Things that I have tried:

Rebooting device
Killing bluetooth app and clearing all of its data ( user settings and cache )
Cleared cache from the Connectivity settings ( clears wifi, bluetooth etc )
Tried to download a Bluetooth app from the Playstore and connect through it, same error
Tried to manually "Forget" or "Disconnect" the device from the Bluetooth settings, but the android version doesn't even have these buttons ( long pressing or swiping on the device doesn't do anything )

Is there some sort of incompatibility between the devices where they just would not get along?
When I put the headset into pairing mode ( holding its button for a few seconds ) and I click on "Pair" from my phone, it hangs for around 5-7 seconds and then displays the error from the title.
The headset connects just fine to my older phone and doesn't require any additional inputs, apart for OS permissions.

So, none of the things mentioned above worked for me.
I ended up holding the connectivity button for like 10 seconds until it powered off and then held it for longer than the manual recommended, then it connected properly.
On two other phones it didn't matter how I turned it on, it would connect instantly, but on mine it didn't for some reason.


text:
Bluetooth track control not working anymore
All of a sudden I noticed that my Bluetooth headphones (one Bose, one Sony) cannot control tracks on Spotify anymore, i.e. play/pause, skip, previous, etc. do all not work anymore. Volume control is the only thing that still works.
The devices are flawless, they can still control tracks on my Laptop.
I also tried YT music, there the controls do not work either, so I assume it's not a Spotify issue.
Android 11 on Fairphone 3, Build number 8901.4.A.0016.6.
What else did it try?

Restarted the phone
Unpaired devices and paired again
Reset the Wi-Fi, mobile & Bluetooth connection (System > Reset options)


text:
Cannot access sdcard on Android 9 from Settings?
This is weird; I have an Android 9 device, and I have added an sdcard there. Using a standalone file manager, I can access the sdcard. However, when I go to Storage from Settings:

... I can see the entry for the sdcard as "Storag drove" (misspelled for some reason):

If I click/tap on Internal Shared Storage, I get an overview:

But, if I tap on "Storag drive", screen goes black, and then the Settings menu is shown again.
Tried to capture logcat, the only thing related seems to be this:
09-17 13:59:44.746  3638  6859 I ActivityManager: START u0 {act=android.intent.action.VIEW cat=[android.intent.category.DEFAULT] dat=content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/root/86C4-131A typ=vnd.android.document/root (has extras)} from uid 1000
09-17 13:59:44.748 11019 11019 D AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.android.settings, PID: 11019
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime: android.content.ActivityNotFoundException: No Activity found to handle Intent { act=android.intent.action.VIEW cat=[android.intent.category.DEFAULT] dat=content://com.android.externalstorage.documents/root/86C4-131A typ=vnd.android.document/root (has extras) }
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Instrumentation.checkStartActivityResult(Instrumentation.java:2007)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Instrumentation.execStartActivity(Instrumentation.java:1673)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Activity.startActivityForResult(Activity.java:4586)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Activity.startActivityForResult(Activity.java:4544)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Activity.startActivity(Activity.java:4905)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Activity.startActivity(Activity.java:4873)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.settings.deviceinfo.StorageSettings.handlePublicVolumeClick(StorageSettings.java:334)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.settings.deviceinfo.StorageSettings.onPreferenceTreeClick(StorageSettings.java:306)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.support.v7.preference.Preference.performClick(Preference.java:1132)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.support.v7.preference.Preference.performClick(Preference.java:1107)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.support.v7.preference.Preference$1.onClick(Preference.java:172)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.view.View.performClick(View.java:6597)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.view.View.performClickInternal(View.java:6574)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.view.View.access$3100(View.java:778)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.view.View$PerformClick.run(View.java:25885)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:873)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:99)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:193)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:6669)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:493)
09-17 13:59:44.750 11019 11019 E AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:858)
09-17 13:59:44.754  3638  6859 W ActivityManager:   Force finishing activity com.android.settings/.Settings$StorageDashboardActivity
09-17 13:59:44.761 11019 11019 I Process : Sending signal. PID: 11019 SIG: 9

What puzzles me, is that I would have guessed, SD card handling is something handled on the OS (Android) level - so I would not have expected the burden of handling this to be down to the vendor who modified Android for this device; but it does look like the vendor "forgot" to implement the overview for sdcard ?! ...
Does anyone know how come this problem happens on this device, and if it is possible to fix it (that is, get an overview for the sd card in Settings/Storage, instead of it crashing)? Could also a faulty SD card be a problem here (although, since my SD card is readable on the same device using a file manager, I guess it is not faulty)?


text:
Relocking bootloader on Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (ZB601KL/ZB602KL)
After a few dozen unsuccessful attempts to make TWRP recovery work and almost bricking my Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 (ZB601KL/ZB602KL), I gave up and decided to relock the bootloader. But this turned out to be a problem on its own. Rigorous googling didn't yield any solution. No fastboot command helped.
How to relock its bootloader?

I stumbled upon relock_bl.cmd file. After trial and failure with different command lines, I found the remedy. Here is what helped in my particular case.
fastboot -s !deviceId! flashing lock
fastboot -s !deviceId! flashing lock_critical


text:
Frame buffer not working in Android emulator when accessed from Linux
I am running Linux with kernel from Android SDK in an Android emulator.  When writing from /dev/urandom to /dev/fb0, nothing is drawn in the emulator window.
Why?  Can you help me with this problem?

Possibly related Why is the FrameBuffer missing on some Android devices?

No, /dev/fb0 present, and
fbset -s -fb /dev/fb0
mode "720x1280"
geometry 720 1280 720 1280 32
timings 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
rgba 8/0,8/8,8/16,0/0
endmode

Found your earlier SO post for context for any reader. As you seem to be running a HAXM QEMU, I wonder if a ARM QEMU has the same issue.

Yes, same problem with aarch64 qemu.

I can give ssh access to qemu's configuration with x11 forwarding.

Now I can't try it on a real device because I'm having trouble unlocking the bootloader.  In any case, the android emulator does not behave as expected.

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

I solved my problem with the following way to run the emulator:
emulator -avd TINYSYS -shell -qemu -usb -device usb-tablet -device virtio-vga,edid=on,xres=720,yres=1280 -kernel /home/root/emulator/rootfs/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.302 -tiny \\
-append 'selinux=0 no_timer_check clocksource=pit no-kvmclock console=0 cma=272M@0-4G mac80211_hwsim.radios=2 mac80211_hwsim.channels=2 skip_initramfs rootwait ro init=/sbin/init root=/dev/vdf2 .. .

/dev/vdf is the sdcard
Kernel rebuilt with virtio DRM support.


text:
Get text automatically deleted if number is blocked
I know how to block a number. However there is a block box where you can go see the blocked messages and restore or delete them. Is there an app or option to have those permanently deleted so I will never even know they were there? I am on an A52 if that helps.


text:
No charging or transfer despite USB debugging and working cable
Device: Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 lite (SM-T110)
OS: Android 4.2.2
I want to connect the device with my computer. In the developer settings I activate USB Debugging - but nothing happens. There is also no option to select the USB behavior.
Even more: Unlike this case, my device doesn't even charge. There's a red cross on the charging-battery icon.
What I tried so far:

The cable works with other devices (charging and data), so it's not that.
Factory resetting the device didn't help
There's a setting to connect media with Kies. But I doubt that would let me us adb for management.
In recovery mode, there's an option to install programs via adb. When selected, I'm told to install packages with sideload now. But neither adb nor heimdall manage to detect the device.
My laptop runs gnu/linux, so I don't assume it to be a driver issue.

So now I'm turning to you ¯\(ツ)/¯ Thanks for any pointers*.

What happens if you shut down the tablet and connect it to a charger? Does the tablet boot into the "charger OS" (the full screen battery/charging progress display) or the regular Android?

Thanks for your answer =) it boots into the charger OS indeed (full screen battery)


text:
Transfering data from non-default apps to new phone
I'm currently in the process of transferring my old phone's (Samsung Galaxy A8) settings, data, media etc to the new one (Samsung S22 Ultra). The Samsung Smart Switch app does transfer things like the apps themselves, the home screen layout, photos etc just fine. However, preferences and bookmarks in (at least some) non default apps do not seem to transfer.
One example is the national news app, NOS. Smart Switch has transferred the app itself, however none of my settings or news bookmarks (I have a few hundred) can be found on the new phone. Other examples: PostNL, Buienradar and Calls Blacklist. PostNL for example does allow you to log in, but past deliveries and mail history disappear. Other apps only run locally, without an account, and are therefore stuck on the old phone.
I've found that this lack of data/settings transfers applies to all of the non-default apps I've opened so far. In some cases some data can be transferred by logging in (if possible), but historic data does not seem to transfer. I assume all of these end up being files in the internal memory structure however.
So, is there a means to (relatively painlessly) transfer these to the new phone?
Note that the new phone uses Android 12, and a recent comment suggests that adb based solutions may not work. I also get the impression that Titanium Backup (which would additionally require rooting) may not work as smoothly anymore based on recent reviews.
PS. The samsung-galaxy-s22 tag does not exist yet, I'd appreciate it if someone with sufficient reputation could create this. Thanks!

NOS has defined in it's AndroidManifest.xml android:allowBackup="false" and thus it's data can not be accessed for backup or migration. Only if the source device is running Android 12+there should be a possibility to perform a "Device-to-device (D2D) transfers" to a new device for such apps (never tested, I only have read that it should work). But this will also not work if an app uses hardware protected AndroidKeystore for saving cryptographic keys, because by definition these keys can not be exported from the device.

Would there be a way around this, for example by transferring files manually? I have a separate problem with WhatsApp (my google drive account is not recognised by WhatsApp on the A8), so I'm currently attempting this solution. However, I find that the archiving process stalls, probably on file locks on icons and other media. Would I run into similar issues transferring files from the A8 to the S22 for apps like NOS?

Unless your old phone is rooted there is no way to access the app-private files of an app. So if Smart Switch does not work for an app the only way is a migration as you have pointed out in your comment. Some apps have a backup or export feature and also an import feature that can be used on the new phone. But that has to be provided by the app and only a few apps have such features.

I haven't rooted it yet, so that's one route to follow. I'll also report the android:allowBackup="false" setting to NOS, perhaps they can change this in future versions. For the rest, perhaps another answer will bubble up. Will report back if I find a solution myself.


text:
Androids 8,9, 12 format SD card to "read only" - only for non-android devices
I formatted two different SD cards with Android 8, 9 and 12. In all cases, the SD cards are write protected for my laptop (SD card reader) - but not for the Phones, or when connecting phone via USB. In those cases I maintain write access.
Any pointers on how to undo that?

Do you use an SD card adapter from microSD to regular SD card? If yes the adapter may the problem. A simple problem would be if the write protect selector of the adapter would be in the wrong position. Also possible is that the adapter was produced "too cheap" and now doesn't work correctly.

Nevermind.... it's my arch and manjaro laptops that mess up. On GF's linux mint, all is fine :-S

Turn's out, it's not Android but Arch Linux based systems (Arch and Manjaro).
On Linux Mint, all is well...
Marking this as answer, will look for solution elsewhere.
EDIT If sbdy stumbles accross this: the actual solution was to ... reboot after Linux Kernel updates. So much time wasted -_-" (source)


text:
What version of TWRP should I use with Android x?
Reading the TWRP release notes I often read "TWRP is now basted on AOSP x.x" etc.
So, do I somehow need to match my TWRP and Android versions?
I guess TWRP will boot regardless of the Android version installed on my device, since that's the purpose of a recovery. But can it "understand" the specifics of a device running a certain Android version?
Like the change from /data/media to /data/media/0 or device encryption?
So, it's probably not a good idea to use TWRP 1.x on a device running Android 11?
Also, is it a good idea to run TRWP 3.6.2 on a device running Android 6?
Is using the latest Version of TWRP always recommended?
I couldn't find an answer to this...