text:
Why are ringtone-songs I buy from Google Play impossible to make into ringtones?
This is not a duplicate question --- at least not a duplicate of many questions that the search-engine gave me that seem similar up-front -- but as soon as I read them, I realized that they do not even address my question.
My situation is fairly simple --- I purchased a ringtone-song on Google Play -- and was hoping to set it as my ringtone.
When I went to settings and tried to select a ringtone -- the one I had bought and downloaded wasn't available. But that's not when my frustration hit the roof.
Next, I hit the '+' sign in the upper left-hand corner -- and it asked me what app I wanted to use. I tried this three times - one for each of the three apps they offered to carry out this option with.
Here's what really irritated me ---- each of those apps (including Google Play) I got the same-old same-old pre-installed songs available ---- no way at all to got to the track that I paid good money for!!!
What am I to do? Is there a bloody way that the song I paid for in order to set as a ringtone can possibly be set as my ringtone?

No offense meant, but are you sure you saw all related questions?

Is it listed in Play Music or can you find that file in a file explorer app?

@Lucky - I can not find it in the file explorer app. The song is downloaded - but I have no idea where to (and since it is advertised as a ringtone there needs to be some way to solve this). So how do I get it to download to somewhere that I can find it?

@Firelord - Well -- if I didn't, it wasn't for lack of effort on my part. That said, I will look at the list of questions you just linked to --- and whether I find something that answers my question or not, I will report back here to let you know.

Are you sure it is not in the Downloads list? Can you share the link of the play store item which you bought?

@Firelord ---- I am looking --- I find a number of questions that seem to be similar ---- but which upon reading them, are either (a) different in a key point (b) their solution does not work (c) the system does not give me opportunity to apply said solution. Not really that surprising --- since some of those questions are a good few years old --- and at the rate technology changes, they have lost relevance. Would be nice if Stack Exchange found a way to treat aspects of technology that change like the stairs of Hogwarts differently from those that remain relatively static over time.

@Lucky - Here it is: link

@Lucky - Actually I think this is the correct link

@user3080003 Please follow this link on How to download and manage your Google Play Music on your device and computer?

@Lucky ----- the directions you directed to direct me to things that I had already done (to no avail) before even asking the question this discussion is over. I did the whole thing of actually downloading the song to my device. I still am completely unable to access it from any dialogue that supposedly allows me to add ringtones.


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How to install a certificate to Work Profile user
I would like my app on Work Profile user (https://www.android.com/intl/en_us/work/) to connect to a server with a cert.
Since Work Profile user shares Settings with Owner user, I installed a cert from the Settings (Security -> Install from internal storage/SD card). My app of Owner connects to a server with a cert correctly, but for Work Profile, it cannot.
Would you please tell me how I should do in order to make Work Profile recognize a cert?
Environment : Android 5.x on Nexus5 / 9

Related: Android 10 and 11 CA Cert on Work Profile

To install a user ca certificate into work profile you will need root access.
Installing user certificates into work profile:

Install an exported certificate normal way
Get a root shell

adb root; adb shell

Verify certificate and hash is installed.

# an example would be 1000_CACERT_*
ls /data/misc/keystore/user_0/<CACERT>

# example: 81c450f1.0
ls /data/misc/user/0/cacerts-added/<xxxxxxxx.0>

Move them to the work profile

cd /data/misc/keystore/
mv user_0/<CACERT> user_10/

cd /data/misc/user
mkdir 10/cacerts-added
mv 0/cacerts-added/<xxxxxxxx.0> 10/cacerts-added/

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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

sort: votes


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HTC Desire C stopped working after factory reset
I have a HTC Desire C. I performed a reset to factory settings. It went through the whole process, was shutting down to restart but it never restarted and now I can't even turn it on. I have pulled the battery, I've pulled the SD card... doesn't matter what I do I can't get it to turn on. Any ideas???? Can't even find the software for it to reinstall it. I plug into my computer it acknowledges that it is there but do have the software....ugh.

If your phone is not starting anyway try performing hard reset using hardware buttons

Performing a factory reset using hardware buttons

Note: All your data will be lost.

If you can’t turn HTC Desire 700 on or access settings, you can still perform a factory reset by using the hardware buttons on HTC Desire 700.
Important: The Fast boot option in Settings > Power must not be selected.

Remove the battery, wait for a few seconds, then reinsert the battery.
Press and hold the VOLUME DOWN button, and then press and hold the POWER button.
Wait for the screen with the three Android images to appear, and then release the POWER and VOLUME DOWN buttons.
Press VOLUME DOWN to select FACTORY RESET, and then press the POWER button.

If doing the above doesn't help you should reach your nearest htc service center

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
Rooting already unlock phone without losing data, possible?
As far as I have understood it's the unlocking part that requires wiping, and the rooting part doesn't. So, if I am already unlocked, can I root without losing my data? I've got a (red) Nexus 5 16GB Unlocked running Android 5.1.

Yes, you can root as many times you want without losing data if your device is unlocked. I've done that on my OnePlus One.
For further clarification, it's the default mechanism in the device set by the OEM, that whenever the bootloader's default (locked) state is tampered it would issue a data wipe (a Factory Reset), most probably to protect the user's data from a possible compromise.
Rooting on the other hand is moving a binary (su) under system (usually at /system/xbin and placing symlinks at locations like /system/bin) which with proper files permissions can be executed by an ordinary user  to gain supreme rights on the system.
It is possible that the rooting method you attempt in your device isn't the standard (via Recovery) one but needs a one-click tool, and some users have reported data loss with the latter, so you may take a backup to be on the safe-side.
Further reading:

Bootloader States
Why does unlocking the bootloader wipe phone?
What does to a "to root a phone" mean?
How does rooting work?

Do you know any methods that do work, since you mentioned you've done it? Like CF AutoRoot for example, since that's the one I've been using for rooting. Thanks.

I've a custom Recovery (TWRP) running in my phone, so rooting is easy. I just download SuperSu.zip and flash it via recovery, done! No data loss, nothing. I've seen many threads where same approach is used on Nexus phones as well.  I don't think rooting instructions for Nexus 5 will vary but take a look at Nexus 7 which does the same thing  I mentioned here.

Thanks, man. [Random nonsense to get up to the 15 characters limit]

In most of the cases, rooting won't cause data loss unless it failed. The challenging part is how to unlock the bootloader if there was. For unlocked phone, you can easily get the phone rooted with apps such as AnyRooter or TWRP.

Welcome to our community. It's great that you're posting answers to help others. Since this question already had an accepted answer, which made the same points you've raised, you probably won't get much attention for this answer. If you want to help where it's most needed, you can start with some unanswered questions (link in the top-right), and people will be grateful.


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Problem with Google Play services
I accidentally deleted Google Play services, Play store and various other apps through Titanium. I tried reinstalling play store through apk (5.7.6) but each time it either gives me many 'Unfortunately Play store has stopped' messages or it works but shows me an error when I try to download an application. I have lost many other google apps such as Maps, Music etc and I need all of these. Tried a factory reset as suggested on some forums but in vain. I'm running CM12: Lollipop 5.0.2 And I'm rooted. Any solutions please?
Thanks in advance.

It's hard to convince that you accidentally ended up deleting all those Google apps, not just a single one. Anyhow, "factory reset" wouldn't work and I don't get  why would one even suggest it. It defaults back to factory state, but you just removed the content from the factory (under /system), so how come factory reset would help? You've to flash GAPPS from the custom Recovery, but a CM user would've possibly known it already. Are you by any chance running Cyanogen OS, or using a Yureka device or a OnePlus One?

See: How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, …) on my Android device? (and our google-apps tag-wiki ;)

@Firelord Ummm. No, I flashed CM12, but I'm a newbie at custom ROMs and rooting. :D

Well, that's fine, and at least the issue is solved which matters most. :)

to solve your problem you need to flash the Gapps again follow this steps

Download the minimal Gapps from here this zip is for 5.0.x roms and contain the needed apps (including google play services) and libraries every thing else you can get it from the play store.
reboot to recovery and flash it like you flash any other mod or rom (no wipe needed)
after installation the first boot may take a while since android system needs to update the dalvic cache (now its art and it takes a little longer) so be patient :D .
Now the google apps should work just fine.


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Apps have become lost on main phone memory
Many of apps have disappeared from the main screens. On investigation I find they were all on the phone memory - the ones still working are all on the SD card. In app manager they are in the list of downloaded apps but are greyed out, and most of them start with an odd name such as com.android.... or just com... eg com.prey which I don't recognise.
Even more odd, the browser has disappeared too. That' was pre-installed and I can't see anything relating to it in that greyed list. Similarly play store has gone.
I'm using a Galaxy Note 1 with Android 4.1.2.
Can anyone tell me what's happened please?


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Can't bluetooth tether between sprint galaxy s6 and nexus 7
On my galaxy s6, I activate the Bluetooth server. I've confirmed that Bluetooth tethering works with my laptop.
On My Nexus 7, the s6 shows up in the paired devices list. I click on settings, and check "use for internet access".
"Connecting..." Flashes, and then goes away. Check box becomes unchecked.
How do I tether my Nexus 7 to my s6?
I'm open to a different app if it will work.
I've read that there are issues withe Bluetooth on the Nexus 7. Could this be the cause?
**edit: I'm using PDANET on my s6 **

What software are you using for Bluetooth tethering from the S6? I haven't used a Galaxy in years, so I can't speak to this too much...


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How to check if flashlight is activated?
I've got a brandnew OnePlus One with Cyanogenmod 12 on it, and the device is rooted.
I like the offscreen gestures very much. But sometimes they are triggered accidentally. This is very costy when the flashlight is turning on and you don't get it.
So my thought was, to write a task with Tasker, which let the phone vibrate, when the flashlight has been enabled.
But unfortunately I have no clue how. I looked for a solution in the web, but I didn't find anything. So maybe you have an idea how I could achieve this. Thanks in advance.

I don't know whether you noticed it but when flashlight is active three files jumps into the scene: /system/bin/mm-qcamera-daemon, /system/bin/sensors.qcom, and  /system/bin/mediaserver.

I created a profile based on Proximity sensor in Tasker (if flashlight is accidentally activated then I'm assuming that the device is in your pocket or bag) and killed /system/bin/mm-qcamera-daemon whenever proximity sensor detected something. It works, but I can't restart the daemon easily. It takes hell lot of time to restart.. If I kill mediaserver, then all works well except that my device restarted when profile repeated the task execution multiple times. May be you can use the idea to go further.


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Moto G2 speaker phone issue when calling
My Motorola 2nd Generation(XT1068) mobile running Lollipop 5.0.1 version is facing problems after removing headphone. While I can talk using the headphones' mic and the phone mic has no problems and the other person can hear what I speaking. But I could not hear the other person's voice from the earpiece or when loud speaker mode is on. If I press the loudspeaker, the icon loudspeaker is shown at the notification bar but I cant hear a thing. So everytime I need to use the headset to hear the other person's voice and its annoying.
I cleared the cache and data of the Dialer app but din't help. The only temporary solution that works is to restart the phone. After restarting the phone, the earpiece works fine and I am able to talk and hear properly. But again if I insert and remove the headset to listen to music the earpiece stop working and I couldn't hear the other persons voice on a phone call. I have also tried inserting alternative headsets. I've also tried removing the headsets slowly that din't help either.
I thought the phone was still in the headset mode but if I play song or video from Gallery/Media player or Google Play music or through File Manager apps the two speakers in the front work fine. And If I remove the headset the songs playing in the Play music pauses which means there is no problem in the headset and jack.
Any ideas on how to solve this issue? Could this be a hardware or a software issue?
Update 1:
Troubleshoooting methods suggested by Motorola Support:

Clearing Cache, Data of Dialer and Phone apps.
Wipe Cache Partition on recovery mode.

However both of the above didn't solve my problem. So they suggested me to do a factory reset which I don't want to do since factory resetting will erase all my data.
Update 2:
There was also another problem which gave me "Unable to play this file" in the Play Music app while playing a song. If I open the Dialer app when a song in playing in background(in Play Music/other music player apps) the song stops on it own and wont play and the Play button won't work until I change to next track or sometimes I need to restart the Music player app.

Not a Moto G2 but a similar problem is mentioned here related to Moto X (2013). Similarly, see this,  and this XDA thread.

Wipe cache partition in recovery mode

Solution:
Factory reset.
Finally, after doing all the necessary backups using different tools like adb, Helium(Carbon), Google, Super Backup,  I did a factory reset(Soft Reset through the option under Settings > Backup & Restore > Factory Reset) and the speaker phone issue is solved.


text:
How to automatically crop text messages when SMS character limit is reached?
Is there a way to prevent the Messages app from sending long texts? It's generally a nice feature, but my current plan has free SMS which I cannot use when overstepping the character limit - instead, the "long text" will be sent as an MMS and charged as such.

The default Messaging app does not show how much characters you have typed/left for it to be sent as an SMS. So you can use a third party messaging app like Textra SMS.
When you start typing the message, after typing a minimum of 22 characters, you will see a counter showing you the number of character left for it to be sent as a single message(eg. 130/1 - Which means 130 character are left).
The total length of the a single SMS message is 160 in Textra app(which is mostly the normal limit of a single text message). Based on your limitation you can send multiple separate text message to avoid sending a single MMS based on the counter. I don't send lengthy text messages but AFAIK even if your type more than 160 characters it will still be sent as an SMS rather than an MMS. But it would cost you twice the amount for that 160+ charactered SMS message.


text:
OTA upgrade after flashing with stock Lollipop ROM
I flashed my HTC One M8 with a stock Lollipop ROM from here.
And now there's an OTA upgrade available called Android L-MR1 that I cannot install because when the phone reboots it boots into TeamWin recovery mode and requires a password.
The password is most likely because the phone is encrypted, but typing in my lock screen code is invalid.
I ask TeamWin to reboot into system and the story begins from square 1 with the upgrade being ready to install.
So how do I proceed to get this upgrade installed? Should I remove TeamWin recovery?


text:
Can't install country-restricted app even if I'm physically in this country
I am trying to install this banking app from Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.ing.ingmobile
This app is allowed to be installed only by users in Poland. My Google account was created in Brazil, but I am in Poland since almost 7 months, so I should be allowed to install this app.
On Google Play, it says: This app is incompatible with all of your devices., further more, on my phone's tooltip, it reads: This item cannot be installed on your device's country..
That is very problematic, as this device was bought in Poland, is using a Polish SIM card and most importantly, it is physically in Poland, so how can it not be compatible?
How can I force-install this app on my device? It is a Sony Xperia Z Ultra, rooted and flashed with CM12.1.

Have you tried installing the app from the web version of the Play store What does it display?

Yes, those messages I quoted are from the Web version. In fact I could only find the app through a Google search, because it doesn't show up for me on mobile neither by searching directly in the Web version.

Are you using a Polish billing address/payment method on your account? It may be checking that, even if the app is free, to determine the "location" of your account.

That's an interesting idea. I have Brazilian and Polish credit cards added to my Wallet, but the default card is the Brazilian. I'll try to set it to the Polish card and see what happens.

@eldarerathis Still no luck, I've set the Polish card as default payment method and my address in Poland as default delivery address, but I still can't install this app.

On the web version of Google Play, I switched to another Google account on the top right menu, and for some reason the App is available to this account.

Our google-play-store tag-wiki leads you to the answers on this: How do I change the Google Play country? / Problems with changing the default country in Google Play Store match your case, and there's also How can I circumvent regional restrictions in Google's Play Store?

I'd like to add here the reason why I couldn't change my Google Account's country: I have apps for sale on Google Play, thus I have a Google Merchant account automatically configured, and thus I'm not allowed to change my Google's account country.

Add a Polish credit or debit card to your Google Wallet account and remove any other cards.


text:
How to copy the entire contents of an android device to a linux PC
I am trying to create an exact copy of the filesystem on my android tablet on my PC.
The device is a rooted Nexus 7 (2013).
I opened a shell on the device through adb and attempted to create a tarball of the whole root directory, but my root access was limited to 15 minutes so there was not enough time for completion.
Can anyone help here, either by showing me how to copy the whole root directory?
*Note that I do not want a backup .ab file, only and exact copy of the filesystem

possible duplicate of Full Backup of devices

Lucky, it appears a full backup as explained in your link will return a .ab file, I just want an exact copy of the full file system in its original folders and etc...

Sorry @Chris M. Wrong linked question. Check this post for rooted solutions How to backup your Android device?

Thanks to the link provided by Lucky above, I was able to use the ./abd pull .* while rooted to copy nearly the whole device to my PC. however some files were omitted because root access was only granted for 15 minutes, not enough to copy all of the files. I suppose all I need to solve my problem now is a way to grant root access for an extended time period, any ideas?

Look at How to root my android device? post for more information on rooting your device.

If you just want to find files of a specific type, there's a one-liner which definitely should finish in your 15min window: find . -type f -name "*.pub (to be run from a shell while in the / (root) directory of the file system) – no need to pull the entire file-system to your PC ;)

It's unlikely that you need to copy the entirety of your tablet's storage in order to find a file from one application. Assuming the app you're using is this one, you should only need to check in /data/data/bn.ereader/. IIRC, you can pull that to your PC with adb pull /data/data/bn.ereader/ . (the dot may or may not be necessary).

@ChrisM. Oops, it's actually /data/data/bn.ereader/ (I really should sanity-check answers better...)

Yeah, I knew which one you meant.

And Josh, to pull that directory the way you describe requires the adbd (ADB daemon) on the device running in root mode, which it usually does not (but OP wanted the location, and your answer gives that).

The correct reference would point to our nandroid tag-wiki, as a Nandroid backup is what covers all content. However, this is only available via custom recoveries.
An alternative to that would be the dd command ("Disk Duplicator"1).

Disclosure: the following describes an application I wrote and maintain:
My tool Adebar is able to generate you dd scripts for all partitions your device holds, which you then can cross-check before execution. While doing that, Adebar tries to figure out what each partition is used for, so you won't end up just with cryptic names on the disk-images. To get to the content, you still had to figure the file system used on each partition (to be able to mount it as a Loop Device). But for the "worst case", you should be able to use these images to restore your device to the state it was in when you've created them (though I must admit I've never tried that yet).

files pulled/generated by Adebar (click image for larger variant)
Adebar is mainly written in Bash version 4, and utilizes adb to communicate with the device. It definitely runs fine on Linux. I have not tested it on other systems, and so far got no feedback from users maybe having tried that.

1: careful: it's nick-named "Disk Destroyer", as if you use it the wrong way around (i.e. swap source and target), you can end up with a "disk without content"

While this solution also works, @Josh Holland provided a faster way of solving my issue, but thanks anyway for I will certainly make good use of your application in the future.

Always good to have alternatives! So congrats to Josh for providing a solution exactly tailored for your (and similar) issue(s) – need to upvote him for that (ding done.) Glad you see use for my application as well – it's also good to have a device documentation available to cross-check with, which Adebar creates, too (see the blue box in above graphic), and a "complete backup" (red box: partBackup for a partition-based backup) cannot hurt either ;). Btw: the Github page also holds a wiki to get you started.

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


text:
Root Access to avast moble
How do you grant root access to an anti virus program manually on a Samsung tablet.Because I want to enable a firewall to be more safe

How did you root your device? Most of the rooting methods would install an apk which would prompt a user whenever any app wants to gain root access.

You might want to install an app that manages root access for you such as SuperSu or Superuser. These apps give you various options for controlling root access for apps. These apps prompt you to ask whether you want to grant an app root access or not.
SuperSu: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.supersu
SuperUser(by ChainsDD): https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.noshufou.android.su


text:
Shutting down 2012 Nexus 7 without touch
My 2012 Nexus 7's touchscreen isn't working. I'll probably take it for repairs next week. Is there a way to shut it down without touch. I can reboot it by keeping power button for a long time, but I am unable to shut it down. I don't think I have USB debugging enabled on the device.

Since the phone isn't useful without touch, why not just let the battery drain to the point that your Android will auto power off. Or, as jer3my said, a mouse (if you've an OTG cable) would help a lot since USB debugging isn't enabled. // It's odd that your phone just reboots even after pressing power button for 10 seconds or more, since many phones power off in this fashion.

@Firelord - because it is said that if these batteries remain in fully drained state for too long - they do not charge easily then.

Yes, I would agree but if the period extends for more than 2-3 weeks, though it's subjective for me considering a battery's technology, so won't disagree here too. Oh, is there a reason why you don't want to or cannot continue running that device and want to power off? I see that its touch is broken but you can just charge it once and let it go to standby until you charge it next time and repeat this cycle until you reach the day for the repairs.

Just tested on my Nexus 7 2012. When I hold the Power and Volume Up. It powers down. Had to hold the power button to get it to turn back on, So I can only assume it powered all the way down.

Tried this - this also reboots for me.

Not sure why it works for me, but not for you. =( Do the volume keys work for you, Like if you were trying to adjust the volume? Another idea is, if you have an OTG cable you could plug in a mouse and use it as a pointer to select Power Off from the power menu.

Yeah, the volume keys work fine for adjusting the volume.


text:
How to disable Xperia Z2 burst mode?
Almost every time I take a picture by camera hardkey, burst mode is activated automatically although I released the key immediately. I don't expect such a short press to activate burst mode. Therefore, a new folder for the burst series is created. Most of those folders have only 1 photo and those photos even have the same name. All of that make photo managing and syncing really frustrated.
How can I disable that feature? I don't want to disable burst mode completely.

Is using another Camera app not an option?

@Firelord other camera apps may start slower or can't be set as the default app to start with camera hard key

Well, you can disable the default camera app, and use Tasker to bind your new camera app to hard key, though I get it that you're not inclined to have this solution.

Go to your Camera settings(three dots) and turn on  the "Burst with longpress" option. This will let you shoot b ursts of photos simply by holding down the shutter key by long pressing. This way you can diable multiple burst photos at single click.

yes but this will disable burst completely. Maybe I want a longer press for burst, otherwise a single shot is enough

@LưuVĩnhPhúc No it won't disable burst mode completely. If you long press then  it switches to burst mode and otherwise a single click leaves you with single shot.

No, it never switches to burst mode. I've tried that before

Which button are you using to capture photos? The physical hardware button or the softkey capture button?

As I said, I'm using the hardkey. But regardless of the soft or hard key, the burst mode never turns on if I select Burst with longpress to OFF.


text:
*#9900# not working on LG G3 Beat/Mini
I've just updated to the latest version of Android OS and I keep getting the "Insufficient Memory" error message. It seems there is 4GB allocated to "Misc", which I'm guessing would be fixed by deleting the dump file, but for some reason I can't access the menu via *#9900#. Are there any other methods to doing this?
(I do not keep media files on my phone at all and have already moved many of my apps to my SD card. I've also run CCleaner and cleared all of the major apps' caches)

While this is a general android code it might not work on your specific phone. Sometimes carriers have their own specific codes, so it might help to list the carrier too.

I'm on Vodacom (South Africa). I ended up doing a hard reset, but would still like to find a solution, should I run into this problem in the future


text:
How do I configure OpenVpn for android?
I've installed OpenVPN for Android on my Android 4.2.2 (Micromax A74) and Now I want to configure it in order to connect/active VPN.

First install the program. Which part of the configuration exactly are you having problems with?

Tutorials are provided on OpenVPN website on how-to use it for various platforms.

@LieRyan I am using this first time and currently "No vpn profile found" so how to set new or where can I get openvn file?

Did you read the site I linked above?

@Pandya - Here is the link > https://docs.openvpn.net/docs/openvpn-connect/openvpn-connect-android-faq.html

@MANI thank you for linking. Can you help me Where to get .opvn file? or I've to create account on OpenVPN Access Server/Private Tunnel service?

I'm gonna add an answer. Please wait.

How to configure OpenVPN for Android?
https://docs.openvpn.net/docs/openvpn-connect/openvpn-connect-android-faq.html

Some free VPN profiles or config files (.ovpn) to start-off with (on this page)...
http://www.vpnbook.com/freevpn

Downloaded files are bundled in a ZIP file. Use any file manager to extract. Don't ask for passwords and usernames. Everything is mentioned on the same page. Add the file to OpenVPN and type in username and password upon prompt. You're now connected anonymously ;)

Here is an article on how to setup your own OpenVPN server and at the bottom you have details on how to install it then onto your phone.
I think this article is usefull because you also get how it works in background and what is needed for the VPN certificate.
Also, it doesn't go that deep that you need some serious knowlege of computing.
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-set-up-an-openvpn-server-on-ubuntu-14-04


text:
Cannot access internet via Wi-Fi on YU Yureka running Lollipop
I have a YU Yureka mobile which upgraded to Android Lollipop version. I have been regularly using my office's Wi-Fi connection. For some days, the phone is showing that Wi-Fi is connected, but I can't access the Internet through Wi-Fi. When I connect the phone to a Wi-Fi network, I can access Internet for 30 seconds and then my phone would hang and then restart automatically.
There are more than twenty employees in my office, but only my phone has this problem. I have done soft reset and hard reset to solve the issue. It  works perfectly for Mobile data network.
Does anyone know how to resolve this issue?

Tweaking the DNS might solve the issue. Go to Settings>>Wi-Fi and turn on the Wi-Fi. If the network is known, 'forget' it and then connect it back. Once the password window pops up, click on 'Advanced options' and select 'Static' from the IP settings drop-down menu. Then scroll down and enter the IP address of the DNS server you would like to use in DNS1 and DNS2 box. Now enter your Wi-Fi password and connect it.


text:
Android continues rebooting and 'optimizing'
My S5 was running Fusion ROM 5.0.   I downloaded 5.1 and installed using ROM manager.  After the installation, Android continues rebooting and saying "Optimizing app 1 of 8.   Facebook...", then reboots a few seconds later into the same process.
What do I do to break this cycle and get my phone back?

It may be problem by the rom

clear the data
clear dalvik  cache
reinstall ROM

This may help cause you may have directly the ROM without clearing data

Footnote: Though in Android 5, Dalvik was replaced by ART, parts of the Dalvik stuff are still used (/data/dalvik-cache/arm/*; also see e.g. Should Dalvik Cache be wiped in ART). While in the end, apps will run from native Elf binaries, ART creates those via .oat files. Details can be found e.g. in this Wikipedia article. So don't be confused about "clearing Dalvik cache" here. You could still make sure to remove ART cache by running rm -rf /data/dalvik-cache/arm/* as root via e.g. adb shell when in recovery.

I fixed by trashing Fusion which was previously installed (the upgrade broke shit).   Using Cyanogenmod  now, no problems installing.

Actually this happens when you use old ROM and don't clear the data


text:
Install update in recoverymode delte phone?
I installed CyanogenMod 11 about a half a year ago on my phone (Sony Xperia Z aka. yuga) and now I want to update to CM12 manually. I know how to do that but my question is: does the Recoverymode reset your phone if I choose "Install Zip", so do I have a new Android on my phone without any Apps, because in every install guide they're telling me to flash gApps again. I don't want do reinstall all my apps again and setup my phone again, because it's a lot of pain in the a**. Hope you understand my "problem"...
Thanks for your answers

Why not take backup of your apps and then flash from the scratch? I don't advise dirty flash.

I agree with @Firelord here. As a side-effect, you've got a pretty clean system. But if you chose not to: unless you wipe manually, ROM-flashing usually does not (some images include that, but most do not). Still, I'd strongly advice to at least wipe cache and Dalvik/ART cache (will be rebuilt automatically). Apart from that, each ROM usually comes with instructions, which you should follow :)

To answer your question:
Installing the zip will delete (or change some apps) but not all. When you flash the zip it overwrites the "system" partition on your phone and so it changes which system apps are on your phone. Since google apps are system apps, but are not included in the CM zip, this is why you have to reflash gapps after because they get deleted. However, the zip does not overwrite the "data" partition which is where most of the user apps are (apps that you installed from the play store and such). But, flashing the zip without wiping the system and the "data" partition, and consequently all of your applications, is known as dirty flashing and is not recommended. It is especially not recommended when making a large jump such as from CM11 to CM12. Regardless, you should always perform a android backup before flashing anything just to be safe.
Now for a solution:
There are apps such as Titanium backup which allow you to back up your applications before wiping and flashing and then restore the applications once you've upgraded.


text:
How to backup / partition before rooting?
I would like to root my Nexus 5 but I am worried it will cause a bootloop or some other sort of problem and therefore I would like to back up all my phones data including / before hand. Is this possible?I have already tried using the adb command like this:

adb pull / your path here

But this doesn't work and returns

permission denied: read only file system

Is it possible using adb to backup / without having to be rooted so that I can root?
Thank you,
Isaac
Is there any way I can use adb pull instead of adb backup?

See Full backup of non-rooted devices.

The simple one line answer is: adb pull won't even fetch the files which adb backup can cover. So you should stick with adb backup if you want app data, and use adb pull only for /system -- but if you're going to root, then you can certainly flash the stock ROM as well in case of an issue, and speaking of flash, which Android version are you using?

I have using Lollipop 5.1.x

Still, adb backup doesn't cover really everything – but it's as close as you can get to (without a custom recovery or root). With root, Titanium Backup probably covers more – and with a custom recovery, a Nandroid backup covers really everything :)

You do not have to backup Entire /. Rooting phone only unlocks bootloader for custom recovery and involves installations of the su binary in /system partition and the overall partitions that can be affected due to bad root are: /system, /data, /cache. Rest of the partitions wont really be bothered.
An effective way to backup your everything is to use ADB Backup. It will backup ALL of your data except SMS (so backup them up manually with some app beforehand).
Hope this helps.

Yes but I can't back those partitions up either. I would use adb backup but I feel like its unreliable because it isn't documented on developers.android.com

Its not "unreliable". You can surely trust an adb backup. Infact, its one of most efficient ways to backup and it was google who itself created special provisions inside android source code for ADB backup possibility. And adb backup will backup all those partitions.

"It will backup ALL of your data" minus those apps' data which doesn't want to be backed up and declared related flag in their manifest.

So why hasn't google documented this command on the adb page at developers.android.com

@IsaacWalker-cox Just a note: There are many things related to Android which  Google hasn't documented, and it's really none of our concern to deal with what it has documented or not (since [android.se] or [SO] can create one, or rely on other useful sources). If you want it documented, I would advise contacting Google directly. :)

Ok I will do. But please can you answer the question in my edit. Thank you

The only problem is I have no cover if this command fails and I don't notice

Correction: Since when does rooting unlock the bootloader? I've had my LG O4X rooted for two years, the bootloader was still locked until I unlocked it explicitly (to install a custom recovery).

@Izzy, rooting itself doesn't unlock the bootloader but to obtain root without unlocking the bootloader you need to use a security flaw. Lollipop on the Nexus 5 has no flaws that have been exploited in order to gain root, as far as I am aware.

@LJD200 Yepp, that's correct. You can e.g. root via a custom recovery, which you only can install with the boot-loader unlocked. But that's not how this answer puts it. Quote: "Rooting phone only unlocks bootloader and makes some changes to /system", which is at best a bit misleading ;)

Aaah yes. I see what you were referring to now. Sorry! This is indeed slightly misleading.

Ah! My bad.... didnt really meant to put it that way. Anyway, edited :)

Those on Android 6+ can try the instructions that I posted here, starting at step 5. I think this will work without root, but I haven't tried. You'll need 6+ if you're running stock because some of these commands require tools only included in Toybox.
See also Ryan Conrad's great answer, based on this xda-developers guide, also linked by Firelord above.

It sounds like you need to use ADB's partner, Fastboot.
Like ADB, it is a command line tool run from cmd.exe (Window$) or terminal (Linux & Mac). You can only use fastboot while the device has been booted into bootloader mode. Bootloader mode can be accessed using the following steps:

turn off device
press volume down
while pressing volume down, press the power button
when device vibrates, release the buttons
connect device to computer with a USB cable

Device should now be in bootloader mode.
Fastboot is primarily used during the rooting process to unlock the bootloader and flash a custom recovery. You can also use fastboot to return the device back to stock by flashing the original factory images. Here are the commands available

This process, if not done properly, can turn your device into an expensive paperweight. It also can void the warranty if the device is still under one.

fastboot is a writeonly tool!

There is a very handy toolkit for nexus devices, at least on windows, which you can use to back up your system, unlock bootloader and flash a recovery via gui, called nexus root toolkit, I think you can get it on xda.


text:
Tablet restarts after entering a game
My tablet Tesla TTL7 has this problem where when I enter a game or app, it restarts on its own. No other threads have my problem, so I had to make a new one. Anyone had this before? Update: It now only affects games above 1 GB of size. But somehow MKX does not restart my tablet.

Does that happen for all apps, or just for a specific one? Background: I once had an app that caused exactly that. Replaced it by a similar one, problem gone.

I never faced this problem. Is the problem happening only for apps that you installed or for all apps including presinstalled apps? And did you install those from a trusted source like playstore or from unknown source?

All apps are from the play store, the problem only happens when I try to enter Hearthstone and World of Tanks, and also affects games and apps that I freshly installed.

bumping the post

Bumpity bumping


text:
Toggle location services via adb in Android 5
I see this answer from 2013, but now there are options for High Accuracy, Battery Saving, and Device Only.  Also, there was no command for disabling location.

Regarding the question you linked to in the post. I'm not sure about disabling location services but I would imagine that you could just leave both gps and network out of the command. As for the various location modes, I would imagine gps would represent Device Only, network would be Battery Saving and gps and network would be High Accuracy.

Should my comment be an answer? The thing is it's kind of me working stuff out. I'm not entirely sure...

@LJD200 You were close, good guess! I can make my answer on this page a Wiki, if you happen to have any issue with it. :) Just ping me.

@Firelord No issues at all. This is a fantastic answer. Just out of interest, what would happen if you ran the command with a combination that isn't listed such as gps and wifi but without network?

@LJD200 Glad you liked it, and good query for the gps,wifi -- it will simply activate "device only", the reason is mentioned in my original answer. Google's location service primarily needs network as a parameter to activate, so if it is not passed then "high accuracy" and "battery saving" would be out of the question. // And passing only wifi would not activate any option on its own.

You may check-out my updated answer dealing with the question in entirety, or consider the following info:

High accuracy: gps,wifi,network or gps,network (if you don't want Wi-Fi enabled)
Battery saving: wifi,network or network only
Device only: gps

E.g:
adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed gps,wifi,network

To disable Location mode
adb shell settings put secure location_providers_allowed ' '

This used to work on Android 5, but it doesn't anymore on Android 6. With or without root the setting does not change and stays the same as is configured on the system. It probably has something to do with location_providers_allowed being deprecated (https://developer.android.com/reference/android/provider/Settings.Secure.html#LOCATION_PROVIDERS_ALLOWED).

@gw0 My phone has not received Android M update yet, so I am afraid I can't offer any help at the moment.

authors: نورالدين شحادة


text:
How can I change the default due date for emails I flag for follow-up?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S5 running Lollipop.  In the stock "Email" app, I have the ability to flag messages for follow-up but for some reason when I press the flag icon, it sets the due date for the follow-up to "next week".
I want to change the default date for follow-up to "today".  Microsoft Outlook lets me define a new default date but I don't see a similar configurable option in Android.  Is this possible?  If so, how can I change this?

Does anyone have an answer to this, I am looking for the same solution. Thanks

@John I ended up switching mail apps. I bought one called "nine". While it's expensive (10 bucks), it's worth every penny and offers full customizability on the followup toggle.  There's a free trial for it. Give it a whirl


text:
Does Play Music download songs more than once if they are in different playlists?
I have several playlists which overlap in terms of the songs they contain. I have these downloaded on my phone. If a song is in two playlists, will it be stored twice on my phone?

No.
I went ahead and downloaded my master playlist that contains all my songs, then the other playlists. The latter all took zero time, indicating the songs were not downloaded twice

Yes. I downloaded an album and added to a playlist to check this (and deleted everything from my library first) and after downloading the album alone I had 118mb of music. Then I downloaded the playlist and I had 236mb. . So yes yes it does


text:
Google Maps strange green texture when zooming in
On my tablet Lenovo 10" Android 4.2.2 my Google Maps looks really annoying, when I zoom in it has this green texture covering the map. Anyone knows why this happens and how to get rid of it? Google Maps is up to date.

T
EDIT : It is also awfully slow and it takes seconds to respond to touch and zoom.
EDIT 2 : Its only the app, in the Browser (Chrome) it works well.
EDIT 3 : Got it back to normal, by uninstalling updates, deactivate Maps and restart the device. Still would like to know why this happened.

Not sure, but I suspect the issue with hardware graphic acceleration. Did this happen suddenly, or since long time ago? Also, I observed that you were using satellite mode, did this happen when you turn off the satellite mode? I found a similar issue on Google Maps official support forum, but it's unclear if it's the same or not. If you want, consider to post an update to that thread, or create a new thread with sufficient info on their forum.

Thank you ,its been that way since over a year as far as I can recall. Satellite mode on\off does not change anything. Im sure it has worked before, just dont know when it started turning green, havent been using it that much. I'll give the forum a shot.

The question is also going here : https://productforums.google.com/forum/m/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer#!msg/maps/u7wwTeGttMg/s74fagzgo9cJ

@AHoneyBustard: did you try the suggested solution to uninstall updates and reinstall Google Map?

Uninstalling updates, deactivating Maps and restarting the device worked.

You're the OP so consider editing your question to ask that "green part" rather than posting it here. In fact, because no other answer is good, you can overhaul your question and add the content you've mentioned here.

Made  it thanks, cant delete my answer though


text:
How to extract stock apk from TWRP backup?
I installed TWRP recovery on my phone and backed up the system, data and boot partitions before installing CM12.1.
I would like to extract one stock apk (FM radio) from the backup on a Linux system. How do I mount the system.ext4.win file?

It's a simple ext4 image so mounting it as an ext4 partition is enough. Just remember that CM12.1 may not have all required libraries/drivers to actually launch your stock app.

The extension is .ext4.win. Somehow I'm not managing to mount it with sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop system.ext4.win ./Mount. I'm getting a generic error (wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop0,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error). I'm aware that CM might lack drivers but trying it doesn't carry risks.

Do you have access to a PC running 7-Zip? If so, just open the file in 7-Zip and you are done. No need to mount it.

Finally it was not necessary to mount it. It was sufficient to extract it with tar -xf archive_name but the app doesn't install.

I discovered that it was not necessary to mount it. It was sufficient to extract it with tar -xf archive_name but this particular app doesn't install.

Rename the system.ext4.win file to system.ext4.tarand extract it.
If your
TWRP backup is not in compression method, you will directly get to the /system folder or if your TWRP backup is in compression method, you will get a file named system.ext4 which you'll have to just rename it to system.ext4.tar and extract it to /system folder


text:
SD card won't mount to Moto G
I've had a 64g card in my phone for months now, then all of a sudden (I believe after I updated to Lollipop) I began to receive errors saying the card was unexpectedly removed even though it was still in my phone. So I've tried to remove it and put it back in while the phone was both turned off and on with no success. My external storage settings don't even show the card is in my phone. I'm not super tech savvy so I don't know how to reformat and all that. Any simple fix?

Unfortunately, reformatting the card seems to be the best option but may not help anyway. There probably isn't a simple fix. There's lots of guides on how to format an SD Card in FAT32 but I'll give a quick overview for a Windows PC. Please be aware that this will wipe all data from the SD Card:

Backup data from the card using Windows Explorer.
In Computer or This PC, right-click your SD card and click 'Format'. Make sure FAT32 is selected and then confirm the operation.
Power off your device and insert the SD Card.
When the device boots, it should (hopefully) recognise the SD Card.

OK, awesome. Post back here if you need further help!


text:
How to fix wakelock issue on Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900H running Lollipop?
I have a little problem with my Samsung Galaxy S5 SM-G900H from Orange Dominican Republic running Android 5.0.
It happens that suddenly the phone ots having wakelocks and I dont know what to do since I don't want to root the phone to know which one is the bad app.
Here are the screenshots  of the battery:
(Click to enlarge the image)
stats after

After turn off remote controls

Battery stats

Location settings

Not an answer, but a pointer: check these related questions.

If you don't wanna root your phone there is no way of preventing the
power consuming apps from doing so.
From your screen shot I see the kernel and android system used most
of your power but they are not the ones using power but there is apps
on your phone are using core system functions so it's hard to say
witch app is really using to much power.
The other service using to much power is gpsd and I think it is the
real problem here. gpsd is a gps daemon it's a piece of software that
works with the gps sensor normally it shouldn't even appear in the
battrie stat ,but samsung repaced it by it's own software to offer a remote location service for the phone to help users find their lost handset through a website, just as Apple does with Find My iPhone. Unfortunately it appears to be causing the GPS Daemon to continually search and update your phone’s position, thus running down the battery.  While it’s a useful feature, you’ll need to deactivate it for now to save your battery and hope that Samsung issues a fix for it soon. Here’s how to do it: if you need this service even with the expense of power you can keep it but if you don't want it follow the next steps to disable it.

Open Settings
search for Security and tap on it.
Scroll down, tap Remote controls
Enter the password for your Samsung account, tap OK in top right
Slide the switch in the top right corner towards the left, where it
should change to grey or off.

+1 for the answer.  Im testing now with just the bluetooth off and gps.  Then I will test what you suggest.  Thanks

There is the gpsd still there and it appears  to be wasting battery life.

@Jhonnytunes did you disable the feature as I suggested ?

Can you post a screen shot of the location under settings ? It has a list of apps using the localization feature

The feature is off as is the bluetooth and gps.

are you you using any apps that tracks your location like some fit apps ?

I had Airdroid which I also uninstalled

I am doing more research and I will be back as soon as I find something

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Problem solved. These applications updated yesterday and I no longer have the wakelock problem unless I activate the Samsung remote controls.
Apps that updated:

Amazon Shopping
Drastic DS Emulator
Evernote
Google
Google Keep
Google Photos
IMDB
Juice SSH
Google Maps
Netflix
Skype
OOKLA Speedtest


text:
Will i lose my facebook acount if I force- stop it?
My facebook account is causing my mobile phone to run slow and it keeps restarting. Is it safe to force stop facebook?

Adding to what Lucky said - you will not lose the Facebook account even if you uninstall the app.

No. It wont be deleted. Please read my answer.

First, it's not your account that is slowing down your smart phone, it's the app itself (don't worry, even I had the same problem).
Your phone is probably weak or you are running too much of apps and processes at the same time, saving less resources for facebook.
So, to answer your qustion: No, your account will not be deleted if you force stop facebook (or any other app like google+). Deleting an account is a totaly different process. For that you will have to request facebook to delete your account. But what's hapening in your case is simply stopping the app (for geeks: the front end part) from doing further work. Your account detailes and stuff are perfectly safe at facebook's server (for geeks: back end).
So go ahead, force stop your app. You can still use facebook from their mobile site, which is not heavy and much resource consuming.
Happy facebooking =)


text:
how to mount emmc partition using adb
Yesterday, I tried to root my Micromax Unite 2 smartphone. I followed this tutorial. Before flashing the zip files I had the latest Android Lollipop installed.
I flashed all the zip using the sp flash tool. After completion, I got OK message. Then according to procedure I needed to wipe data factory, so I started my phone in recovery mode and tried to wipe content but I got error Unable to mount internal storage.
I have no idea about how should I mount. I tried to mount through recovery but failed to mount.
Does anybody having any idea how could I mount internal SD card back. Currently it is showing internal storage 0 MB.
I newbie in adb usage I tried to mount using adb but I didn't got any useful information.

Kindly post comment for down voting.

to mount all the partitions as R/W from adb execute this commands
adb kill-server
adb root
adb remount

if there is any error message let me know so I can update the answer

@lord-rafl-adolf I did as you said I got remount failed: Success, does it happen correctly or not. The message itself is in confused way.

yes the error is confusing ... it's a a fail not a success ,is the internal storage a physical partition or an emulated one (on new phones internal storage is under data/media and mounted to /emulated/0) ,and what recovery are you using ?

it is a physical partition and I am trying to mount it. When I try to mount or wipe user data it shows me error can't mount emmc@cache  and other can't mount error. I am unable flash anything on it. Is there any way to mount file system again as the phone is not able to mount any folders and partitions too.


text:
sdcard appears empty for sshdroid, samba fileshare etc, but not for total commander
I have rooted lenovo p780 with VIBEUI 2.0 (not sure that this matters). The issue is well described in subject. When I enter /storage/sdcard0 directory via remote terminal it appears empty. It's all the same for samba - I can see nothing. But in Total Commander I can see that there are actually a lot of files. What could be the reason? I thought it is not mounted but could it be unmounted only for certain apps?
130|root@P780:/storage/sdcard0 # ll /storage
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Jul  7 10:02 sdcard0
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Jul  7 10:02 sdcard1
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Jul  7 10:02 usbotg
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Jul  7 10:02 usbotg1

,
root@P780:/storage/sdcard0 # ll -a /storage/sdcard0
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root             0 Jul  7 10:02 .
drwxr-x--x    6 root     1028             0 Jul  7 10:02 ..

,
root@P780:/storage/sdcard0 # ll /sdcard
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            16 Jul  7 10:02 /sdcard -> /storage/sdcard0

,
root@P780:/storage/sdcard0 # mount
rootfs / rootfs ro,seclabel,relatime 0 0
tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,mode=755 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0
none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0
proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0
selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0
none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0
none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/secure tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=700 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/asec tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
tmpfs /mnt/obb tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0
/emmc@android /system ext4 ro,seclabel,relatime,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,data=ordered 0 0
/emmc@usrdata /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
/emmc@cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0
/emmc@protect_f /protect_f ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodelalloc,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,data=ordered 0 0
/emmc@protect_s /protect_s ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,nodelalloc,noauto_da_alloc,commit=1,data=ordered 0 0

Just three words: 'supersu namespace separation'. I use SuperSU as root access management tool on my device, which has an option for "namespace separation". I missed the point that this option must be disabled for my firmware.

Open SuperSU application (if you don't have it, then the solution is not applicable to you)
Go to Preferences tab
Scroll down to 'Namespace separation' option and uncheck it
Reboot the device.

This solved the issue on my device.

authors: Михаил Атрахимович


text:
All browsers are failing to open any web pages
I have a Galaxy S5 with Android 5.1.1. My phone is rooted, and has been working fine since I updated about a month ago. Within the last few days, I have been having this issue, and I don't know what change might have brought it about.
My preferred browser is Firefox, but I also have the default browser and Chrome installed. Regardless of which of them I use, when I open them, they just give me a white screen. Eventually I just get the message that says I can make the app stop, or wait for a response.
All other internet connecting apps work fine. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook messenger... it is strictly only browsers that are not working.
What is strange to me is that it is more than one browser that is failing. If just Firefox, or just Chrome, was failing, then I would assume the apps themselves were broken. But it's all three browsers failing the exact same way.
This happens whether I'm on wifi or mobile service. I've tried restarting the phone, and I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the apps, as well as clearing cache and data.
Is there some system resource common to all of them? Is there some plausible explanation for why all browsers would fail? And, of course, if there's a solution that can get them all working again, that would be great.

@Questioner - Have you tried others like Opera, UC, Dolphin? Are they working?


text:
Google Play not able to sign-in into Clash of Clans app
I'm playing Clash of Clans on my Android device, and I have already downloaded Google Play and signed in as well.  But when I am trying to log-in into Clash of Clans the loading ring just rotate for a while, but I am not able to sign in and save the game.
What should I do now?

Does this happen with all the games or only Clash of clans?

Have you installed Google Play Games? It should be signed in,  to allow you to log in Clash of Clans to Google Play Games.

You need the Google play games app now to log in to games.

Well if Google considered this step sometime ago requiring its app to log-in into Games, then there must be news out there to confirm this. Please quote or cite the reference.

Allstar heroes needs google play games to login, castle clash aswell, magic rush heroes too and a hell load of more games, browse the games sometimes.


text:
Moto G XT1039: Random reboots to bootloader with "failed to initialize partition table" message
I have a Moto G 4g (peregrine XT1039), which in every one or two days reboots to bootloader with "Fastboot reason: failed to initialize partition table", see Image(1).
In Image(2), you can also see "Device is LOCKED" on the photo, but I've unlocked it as you can see when I rebooted to bootloader manually.
(Click any image to enlarge it)

Image(1)                                                        Image(2)
I was using CM12 but tried to solve this by flashing a stock image following this thread. I also tried to solve this by replacing battery with a new one, but it didn't help. I think my device is defective, but I lost my warranty unlocking it and replacing battery.
Does someone know how to get rid of these reboots?

I know that the thread is old but for other people it can help a lot.
I had nearly the same symptoms and i found a reason why my phone dont wanted to start again. In my case it was the battery: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/MOTO-G-MOTO-G-4G-LTE-1st-Gen/Solution-Moto-G-4g-LTE-random-shutdown-2-4-times-a-day-and-after/td-p/3446925

in my case I've tried with a new battery, no luck

Many Motorola phones with an unlocked bootloader show they are locked because people flash a file to make it LOOK locked, not really sure why but many unlocking instruction tutorials online even include this as a step.
But to your core question, it sounds like your internal storage is corrupt (or worse, possibly failing), or the partition table is corrupt. You should first flash the latest factory firmware image for your specific device/region (available here) and make sure to follow the instructions EXACTLY including the factory resets and all sparcechunks or bricking is possible. Although it is not mentioned in the instructions on that page, it is highly recommended that you factory default before flashing the factory image.
Once the device is back in completely stock condition, try it for a couple days to see if the problems continue... if not, reflash CM... If the problem recurs, you likely have a flash module that is failing and it is not a replaceable component and it would be time to start looking for another device.

iirc I've tried to flash stock firmware, but didn't work, in fact I've bought new phone some months ago

Lol... I missed the posting date, hate how edits bump it up into the active questions. Sorry for the late answer.


text:
How do I backup Titanium Backup?
I want to install Titanium Backup on a new phone and would like to carry over the settings from my old phone, which include current backup schedules. How can I go about this in order to avoid having to recreate them manually?
I've checked the current backups and it looks like TB does not do backups of itself. I also have "My Backup Pro" installed, but it doesn't list TB as a selectable item for backup.

Go to the Titanium Backup settings page and enable (it it isn't already enabled) the Auto Sync TB Settings option. Then you should be able restore the file created on your SD Card to your new phone.

The file is created in sdcard\data\com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup\settings\ , so copying the folder to the new phone transferred the settings perfectly.

Glad to hear it! :-)

If the option wasn't enabled, you'll need to run a backup for the settings folder to be created.

You can also use Helium to backup the full app. You can choose to backup to Google Drive or to your storage. If storage is chosen, it will backup the app to Carbon folder. Remember to uncheck "Smaller app backup" to backup the full app. You can then copy the backup from the folder to your new phone and restore it.

I used the open source OAndBackupX and it worked fine :)


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Android Auto-Shutdown
I own a Samsung Galaxy S4 (Lollipop 5.0.1) and have recently had the problem if it automatically shutting down whilst in mid-use. I would try turning it on again only for it to quickly shut itself down after the Samsung logo appears on the screen.
However, the problem goes away once I plug it into a power source and then turn it on.
Has anyone any experience on how to remedy this problem - if it is a application causing the auto shutdown or if it is due to something a little more sinister?
Thank you!

The most probable reason of your Auto-shutdown could be low battery. (I know its "duh", but bear with me)
Reason 1: Wrong Battery Stats:
This is most probably the problem, because some time ago, I was also in the same position as yours.
Here, you will see that your battery is well above 15%; yet it shutsdown in middle of it, and act asif the battery is finished (not booting there-after).
The thing is, that the battery is finished, but your phone is actually getting the wrong or messed up battery stats.
So when your battery is 1%, your phone is showing 20%.
And then BOOM your phone shutsdown unexpected to both user and the phone.
For me, In order to reset the battery stats, I have to pull out the battery and plug it in again, then with charger on, boot it and it will show correct battery stats.
The culprit?, well it was Easy Tether app.
I used it to connect to my PC and use the WiFi-internet on PC.
As I connected my phone to the PC, it was charging.
And Easy Tether, somehow, messed up my Battery Stats.
(I simply switched to PDAnet+ to get resolve it.)
Solution: You can re-calibrate your battery stats, by deleting the batterystats.bin system file (take precautions tho!).
UPDATE: @Arch gave a very good source about Re-calibrating Battery Stats Please take a look at it!
Reason 2: Damaged Battery.
Well, nothing can be done about this. Find a new battery and see if the problem persist.

If these dont work, try to be more specific about your circumstances.
You have hardly given any information you know.
Kudos!

This answer tell us that deleting that batterystats.bin file isn't necessary. I once incidentally also saw some users sharing the same view in comments but I don't remember where. May be some experienced users can help here.

Thnks @Arch that was very helpful!


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Contacts Crashes when changing picture
I recently bought a Lenovo a 6000+ from flip-kart.
Now whenever I try to change a contact's Picture in Contacts, It crashes. I can select the picture and it changes. But when I press save, the phone becomes irresponsive and then gives an error message saying that

"Contact Manager isn't responding. Do you want to wait?"

Then I have to kill it. Waiting doesn't do any good.
PS: I have changed the images before.This started this week only.
Thanks in advance.
Cleaned data and cache, used very low res pictures etc, didn't work though.

Sync all contacts to Google and just start off again with Contacts app. To do this Clear data and cache for the Contacts app and Sync contacts using Google account.

@MANI,  Sorry, Should have specified in the question. I have done that. Twice.


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How to root Asus Fonepad 8 tablet?
I want to root my tablet Asus Fonepad 8. How do I do it?
I tried iroot, kingoroot, root my device, and etc, but to no avail?

Use Frama root (the easiest way) or Towel root. Tutorials are all over the web.

Elaborating that "and etc," would definitely help us to not ending up suggesting those "and etc," again, and see Methods/apps here.

authors: Собиржон Хужакулов


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"Incompatible with other applications(s) using the same shared user ID” while installing Google Play service?
I know similar question is floating on the same site, but no solution works for me.
I have been using Karbonn A26 Smart phone for the last two years, and I was not able to install run YouTube and Google+ since 2 years. Its hardware is quite ok. It runs Android 4.1.1.
Let me be clear what I am doing:

When I install and open YouTube, it says YouTube cannot work without Google Play Services. When I click on Get Play Services, it gives me error: "Incompatible with other applications(s) using the same shared user ID".
So I factory reset the phone. Then I try it out, same. I can download and install YouTube, but when open it, it keeps saying same "Cannot play without Play Services".
Same thing happens when I install and run Google+.

Installing YouTube on clean OS itself does not work.
Do I need to wipe cache? I think factory resetting must also wipe cache. What should I do to resolve this issue?

bro they all ask to factory reset. But this does not work for me, neither I am rooted.

Whether you are rooted is a different issue. But what you forgot to mention: Do you have the Google-Apps already installed on your device? Can you e.g. use the Google Play Store app? If not, please see How can I install the Google Apps Package (Play Store, …) on my Android device?

Whether I have Google-apps installed? Well I had only play store installed and it just works. But then I tried installing gmail, Google+, YouTube, all say Get Google Play Services, when I click on that, installing Google Play Services fail with above error. Also I checked,  in Settings > Apps > All, there is Google Service Framework, is it the Google Play Services?


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how do i get my stolen phone& pictures back?
On 7 july 15 someone broke in my house and stole my galaxy note 3 it did not have service it has been disconnect for about 6mo now i would like to get my phone back because it had picture of me and my dad who died the day after father day this past june & other family pictures that can not be replaced.how do i go about getting those back?

Afraid there's not much we can do about here. Being disconnected for half a year, I see no way how you could locate it. Apart from which, the thief most likely already factory-reset the device to sell it. Sorry for these bad news.

@Izzy he could file a complain in the local police dept.

Sure he could. That doesn't make it much likely the police dept will restore the data the thief most likely already purged – provided they even find the device.

I'm very sorry for what happened, but there isn't much that can be done.
You can only get your photos back if you had backed them up.
Try to remember if you had copied them to your PC, pendrive or CD.
Or if you had shared it with someone who might still have them.
If you had shared it in apps like hangouts then they will be backed up by google+ photos. And if you had set photos to back up all your images you can retrieve them easily by opening your account in another device. Every thing will be stored safe in google's servers.
Or probably you would have them on your Google Drive, Dropbox or any other cloud service.
And also, if you had your whole phone backed up by your google account (every time you log in to a google in your phone, google askes you if you want to back up your phone), then you can get back all your stuff like contacts and bookmarks back by logging in a different phone.
Hope this helps


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Preferred and forbidden networks on Android
In the days before Android, buried deep in the network settings of my old phone were two options called Preferred Networks and Forbidden Networks was an option called Preferred Networks, and I have also heard of Forbidden Networks. These were used for roaming: when the home network was not available, the phone would not simply grab the first available network but compare the list of currently available networks to the Preferred & Forbidden Networks: it would never try to roam into a forbidden network, and if one of the visible networks was on the Preferred Networks list, it would try that network first. The lists were stored on the SIM.
Note that this has nothing to do with APNs or network types – this setting is entirely about network operators.
Does Android still use these lists? If so, is there a way to view/edit these lists on Android?

I don't think Android deals with this natively (at least I've never seen/found/heard-of such an option). Which does not mean there's no solution: see my answer here.

Actually, reconsidering it – I use three different SIM cards from different countries in my phone, all of them either Vodafone or Vodafone partner networks. When roaming with any of these cards, the phone will almost invariably pick the local Vodafone network or the partner network, falling back to other networks only when the former is not available. As far as I remember, the cards have those networks in their Preferred Network list – thus apparently Android still honors that. Which leaves us with the questions: is that the same for Forbidden Networks? And how can I edit the lists?

I don't think so. What I rather suppose is happening here is some provider flags making Android prefer those networks. But I've got no knowledge on that level.

Through research I found out that Preferred and Forbidden Networks are part of the SIM card spec. While Preferred Networks are a user-editable preference, Forbidden Networks are not. They are a list of four entries handled by the phone: whenever a network rejects a registration request, its MCC/MNC is stored (dropping the oldest entry if the list is full) so the phone will skip these in the future. Most likely it's up to the modem if and how it handles both – maybe modems nowadays handle everything internally without relying on the SIM.

Deselect international OR select the service provider's roaming options under SIM tools, this may  may help to avoid any forbidden network scenario.

In a limited number of scenarios this might work. If you run a custom ROM, you can also edit the lists of networks considered not roaming (which are per MCC/MNC of the SIM issuer) and then disable roaming—this will effectively whitelist the networks considered not roaming, and prevent use of all others.


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Does Cyanogenmod 12.1 support the Samsung S4 Mini Smart Cover?
I have successfully installed the Cyanogenmod 12.1 (version as of 11.07.2015) for my Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and I was wondering if it supports the Samsung Galaxy S4 MINI I9192 S-View Premium Flip Cover Black, as can be seen here when it is closed:
It currently does not show the screen like this when closed, but parts of the vanilla Cyanogenmod screen which does not help at all. Any ideas how to change that behaviour?

There is an app called "Hall Monitor" made by Durka but it will only work on cm11 and not cm12.

Since CyanogenMod is close to Stock Android.
The answer will have to be no.
However though, there are many apps that bring this function.

Hi, simpletool, thank you for your answer. Are you able maybe to name one of these apps you mentioned?


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Can I recover photos and contacts from lost/stolen phone days ago?
Lost phone (LG Optimus) 2 days ago, anyway to recover photos and contacts?  Reported phone to sheriff's dept and Sprint.

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! While waiting for answers, you might wish to start with our lost-phone tag-wiki and our top questions using that tag.

Not sure about pics unless it was cloud backed up, but contacts Google back it up automatically in your new phone/ browser log in with same account

Yes, there is a way to recover both if your Android phone was synced to your Google account. All you have to do is just sign-in on a new Android phone and all of your data should be redownloaded.
In order to see if your photos were backed up, just go to Google Photos and you can view your photos there.


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how to disable "choose wallpaper from" prompt in KitKat?
I have a new Acer tablet running v. 4.4.4 No Wallpaper (black) is selected , and I use this device for e-reading. The prompt to "select wallpaper from" constantly pops up and is an irritant. Can it be disabled?

Download and set this as your wallpaper and see if the problem persists.

I just see a black square. Nothing to download. If this is another black background to use as wallpaper, I already have the "no wallpaper" ap installed , and it does not deactivate the prompt.

you need to save this pic or get a black wallpaper and use it as wallpaper instead of using an app.


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How to backup data on a non-booting, unrooted phone?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 (SGH-I747 for AT&T) that is not rooted. Recently it started shutting down in the middle of use and not start up again. At first, plugging it into the charger would get it to boot up and work. But after a few days it progressed to the point that it does not boot up at all anymore. I can get it into Recovery Mode and Download Mode but nothing else. Before I proceed further in trying to fix the phone, is there a way to backup the data -- mainly pictures and sound recordings? (No, it did not have an sdcard installed. And yes, I know it should have.)
I have never worked with this type of thing before (rooting, CWM, ADB, etc), but I have a remedial understanding of programming and I'm willing to get my hands dirty, as long as the instructions are clear. So please answer as if I have no idea what you're talking about (which most likely I don't).
Based on my preliminary research on this site and elsewhere, ideally I would make both a Nandroid backup and an ADB backup. I read that the ADB backup requires USB Debugging to be enabled. But if the phone won't turn on, that can't be done, right? Or is there a way to enable USB Debugging from recovery/download mode? I am assuming it can't be done and that the ADB option is out.
That leaves making a Nandroid backup. If I understand the procedure correctly, I need to download USB drivers, Odin, and ClockworkMod onto my PC, then install CWM onto the phone. From there, use CWM to make a backup onto an external sdcard. Once the phone is fixed, root it, install Titanium backup, and use Titanium to extract the data from the backup. Does that sound right? Would this work?

I have a solution but it may void you warranty since we gonna need to flash a custom recovery ,I will ask you first are you open to such thing (installing custom recovery and custom stuff too I will be clear on instructions )

My phone is 2 1/2 years old so it's well out of warranty. Yes I'm open to flashing some custom stuff. Thanks.

Personally, I am a Nexus user. But having repaired a friend's international variant S3 before, I do know some things about Samsung. And since you don't have custom recovery, you cannot access /data (the partition where data is stored). So the way I know of will use a custom recovery to backup/restore data. This voids your warranty.

I am assuming you already know the rooting process. So root and install CWM recovery (this will be our link for data transfer).
Power on to recovery.
Backup the /data from recovery (you can backup in internal SD card, won't really matter).

Now there are two approaches from here:
Approach 1: You are ready and willing to use custom ROM (you can switch to stock anytime of course).

Download any custom ROM from PC and transfer to some external SD card. Put the SD card in phone. Make sure the ROM is same Android version as the stock ROM you had in your phone.
Go to recovery (power off phone and power it on by pressing and holding power+volume up+home buttons. May take a few tries before you successfully get into recovery) and wipe data, cache ,dalvic (will not wipe your user data. Just don't factory reset, but manually wipe data partition).
Install ROM from external SD card. Restore Backup of data that you made earlier. Wipe cache and dalvic cache once again and reboot. It may take a while to boot up, but you should have your apps and data back.

Approach 2: You don't want to use custom ROMs.
If this is the case, you will have to use ADB.
The reason is recovery backup does not include backup of your personal files in user-memory partition. So for that, you will have to use ADB.

Power on to recovery mode and connect phone to PC.
Open up CMD/Terminal (we are going to use ADB to pull your personal files that weren't backup before).
Enter the command: adb pull /sdcard/* D:/Backup. This will start copying your personal files to your PC in a folder named Backup inside D:/ drive. This backup includes the /data backup you made earlier in recovery.
Go to sammobile and download the stock firmware for your phone. Again, make sure the ROM is same Android version as the stock ROM you had in your phone (else app backup may not work).
Flash the ROM using ODIN.
Now you will have to flash CWM again.
After flashing CWM again, power on to recovery. And again, open up CMD/Terminal and run the command: adb push D:/backup /sdcard. This will copy over your personal files back to phone.
Now to restore apps, simply use Restore feature of recovery and select the /data backup you made earlier. Wipe cache, dalvic cache and reboot phone.
First reboot may take some time but you will have your files and apps back.

Note: As silly as it might be, but personally, I have never used Titanium Backup (or any sort of backup apps for that matter. I always perform manual backups). So I do not know if what role could TB have played here. But if you stick to this guide, you will have your data back.

In case of Galaxy S4 non--rooted phone, it seems that ADB does not work in default recovery mode. As I understand, rooting requires unlocking, which also performs data wipe. Is there any alternative to create the backup in this case?

Does your phone start? If yes, then you can perform same procedure (skip until installing recovery and go directly with adb backup). If it doesnt start, unfortunately, I do not know a way to proceed then without rooting. Rather, I am not sure (did you try with bootloader mode? I doubt it will work though so...)
Maybe someone else can help. Its been a long while since I played with android, might need to have some memory refreshes.


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What is the meaning of the fan shaped area behind my current position in those gps applications
In osmand and other gps navigation applications, my current position is shown as a spot with a certain radius, the radius shows the accuracy of my position, sometimes there is a fan shaped area in that spot, what does that mean?

Can you supply a screenshot? That might help us identify it.

It's the direction we are facing when holding the device in front.
https://github.com/osmandapp/Osmand/issues/1476


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Why aren't all my tabs listed when trying to close all?
I'm running Android 5.0 on a Samsung Galaxy S5.
One thing I've noticed when trying to clean up program tabs is that there seems to be a limit on the number of tabs displayed any time I press the Tab (lower left) button.
So if I close all the tabs listed then press the button again, a new slew of program tabs appears. I would expect to be able to swipe away all apps in one go.
Is this a bug? A feature? Any way to change the options leading to this behavior?

I've got this problem too, you are not the only one:)


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Using Android tablet/phone as a bluetooth or USB touchscreen monitor
I have an LG G Pad F 7.0 and a LG G4, and I'm wanting to know if I have any options that will allow me to make my tablet preferably into a second monitor with the touch screen controls?
I'm planning on using my device as a drawing tablet when I'm out all next week. I have a special fine-pointed stylus that allows me to use the android device like a wacom tablet instead of a device designed for fingers. My major limitation is that I will be in a no service zone for my data carrier when I'm out, also there is no wifi connections available, so therefor I will not have any sort of network to connect to.  I will need to be able to use my USB(preferred) or bluetooth(I'm a heavy bluetooth user). My laptop is running Windows mostly, although, I do have Linux I use semi-often, and I have a live Mac OS X bootable if needed. Solutions I have seen so far are geared to using a wifi network, which I can not use.

You CAN use WiFi! Get an old WiFi router from a thrift store, or an inexpensive new one. Take it with you, and you'll have a WiFi LAN (local area network) that you can use to facilitate communication between all your devices. You don't need Internet service to create your own WiFi LAN! (Depending on your router, you'll also have some Ethernet ports for wired connections, too.)
Some Android devices support WiFi Direct, which allows a connection between two devices via WiFi.
There are a few good Android tethering apps that can create a WiFi hotspot, running on one of your devices. Your other devices connect to it just like they would to a hardware WiFi router. Look for apps that don't require a rooted device (unless you have one,) and look for apps that don't allow carriers (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.) to limit their functionality. One of the biggest/oldest tethering packages (PdaNet / FoxFi) has been forced to restrict their software so that the mobile phone companies can sell tethering as an add-on service.
Most recently I tried out Tether It, and  and found it to work great, but there are several good, simple tethering apps that provide essentially the same features.
My choice would be my first suggestion: pick up a cheap wifi router for $20-25; the D-Link DIR-605L and TP-Link TL-WR841N are two. That way your LAN isn't dependent on a tablet or laptop you use for other things. Hardware routers tend to make better routers than software solutions, and will generally be more configurable and more solid.

Can you also get mains electricity from a thrift store? The questioner says the reason he can't use Wi-Fi is that he's "out", which suggests that a solution that needs to be plugged into the mains won't work out. Also, you haven't described how he would use the tablet as a touchscreen for the PC once he's set up the Wi-Fi connection as you suggest.


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Internal storage space on a Motorola android phone
I only have 6 games downloaded and moved to my SD card but my internal storage is running how can I find out why that is? And how can I fix the problem?

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! Assuming you've meant internal storage is running low (just "running" wouldn't pose a problem), I've added the insufficient-memory tag to your question. Please start with its tag-wiki, which has first-aid and useful links. Also see if you can [edit] your question and add a few more details on your device: which Motorola phone is it? Can you also add a screenshot of the Settings › Storage screen?

Firstly, what's the size of your device's internal storage, and what are these games you've downloaded? Because if you have 4GB of storage and downloaded something like Dead Trigger it would be obvious that you would run out of storage space.
If it's still unclear why you ran out of storage, I would recommend two steps for you:

Download file manager from play store (I personally use FX Explorer) and search for large files you've in downloads folder (or any other folders you could possibly junk).
Download  SD Maid and let it optimize storage for you.

That should help in most cases, if not, let me know ;)


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Clear SD Card on Galaxy Tab 10.1 gt-p7510
I know how to factory rest my tablet but all of the information on my sd card remains. Because the sd card isnt removable is there a way to wipe everything from it?

If the card was left untouched by a factory reset: could you please check in Settings › Storage and watch out whether there's a "format" or "wipe" option for it? My device has that only for the external card (internal SD obviously uses FUSE, sharing the partition with /data – yours might have a separate partition and thus have this option here).

If you have no option to wipe internal SD card during factory reset you still can clear it manually with any kind of file explorer/manager you'll find at Play Store (navigate to your SD card, and delete all content there). Just make it before factory reset and you're done.
[credits: Izzy and our little conversation in the now deleted comments]


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Samsung S5 doesn't show USB icon
Whenever I plug a USB cable into my Samsung Galaxy S5 device, it won't show the USB icon, I don't see anything happening on my computer either, all that shows is that it's charging.
I tried plugging another android device into the same usb cable, and that works, so I conclude that there is a problem with my device.
I tried rebooting my device into download mode and then plugged the usb cable in, and suddenly my computer reacts!
Is there some setting that I've made that could block the device? I've set and unset USB debugging (I have been able to load apps from Eclipse earlier) but that didn't make any difference.
I heard that someone with similar problems solved it by reflashing the device, is this necessary? I would like to avoid that if possible.

I switched cables and it works. Its really finicky I find I have to switch cables/ports every few months or so.

Type in your dialer *#0808# and choose MTP+ADB and save it.

I was having the same issue so I attempted the Settings > Storage > Settings but there was no 2nd settings listed under Storage.  Instead, I found the MTP someone mentioned by doing the following: Apps > Settings > Developer options > (Scroll down to the Networking section) > USB configuration > (select MTP(Media Transfer Protocol)).  You will get a pop up on your phone that says: "Allow access to phone data.  An MTP connection will be established to access the data on the connected device."  Just hit Allow. After doing this I got a pop up on my desktop for the usual options of a media device and this time when I clicked on "Open device to view files" it actually worked.  I was able to access sound clips, videos, photos, you name it.
Another thing to note is after I disconnected my phone from the computer and tried again I had to go through the menus again and set it from Charging to MTP.
Also, if you don't have Developer options go to: Apps > Settings > About phone > (tap on Build Number several times until it unlocks the Developer options).  Now the Developer options should be right above About phone.

Go to Settings › Storage › again settings (on action bar). There should be "USB Computer connection" option. Tap on it and choose "mtp mode". That should make your phone visible to your pc.
If it won't help - let me know!

Screenshot (click to enlarge)

I have no such options under "storage" as far as I can see, I also tried searching in settings for usb and media without luck.

this didn't work for me. I have no further "action bar settings" after going to storage. I was able to get there doing a search for USB in the setttings search.

Reflashing the device is overkill for this me thinks - When you plug your device in, can you see it in your device list in Windows? (Search for "Devices and Printers", or go to Control Panel > Devices and Printers)
If Yes: Try a different USB cable. I've owned several Samsung devices and they're picky about USB cables. Try to use the one that came with the device, if possible. If several cables don't work, or you don't have an extra (and it has worked before), try the No steps below.
If No: Make sure you have the SAMSUNG USB Driver for Mobile Phones installed, it should be in your Programs list in Programs and Features (Search for "Programs and Features", or go to Control Panel > Programs and Features). When your computer reacts to the device in Download mode but not while it's running tells me you may only have the Android ADB drivers installed. You can obtain the drivers here. If the driver is there, try re-installing it (and make sure you use the newest version, such as the download from the Samsung website that is linked).

Nope, it's not in the device list. I ran the samsung usb driver installer twice, the second time I noticed an easily missed "driver not installed" text, not sure if it was there the first time around. The files are in the right folder, but there is nothing under "Programs and Features". Anyway it still won't react, it doesn't even show up in the device manager. I think I'll reset the phone and see if that works.

Give it a shot, I'm not sure where to go from here other than contact an Authorized Samsung Repair facility if it's under warranty. If you do decide to go that route, DO NOT reflash the phone - this can set the warranty bit and give them grounds to refuse to fix it under warranty.

This is a fix if you are having trouble transferring pictures and video to you computer from a Samsung Galaxy S7...it might work on a S5 too. First go to Settings, then System, then click on developer tools, turn on developer tools, scroll down to USB configuration...click on it and select MTP. Mine was stuck on "charging". Took several times of going in and out to select MTP. Then reboot device. I then could transfer pictures to PC again. Be sure to turn back off developer tools when finished selecting MTP.

I have search my phone high & low and discovered that Developer option no longer appears on my Galaxy s5. I finally got the USB screen to appear only when I used the original Samsung cable.

I have a few things I tried to get to see the photos AND videos on a Samsung Galaxy S5 when connecting by USB to a Windows 10 PC:

Plug in the USB cable
If you are lucky a window will pop up on your pc. If things are normal (i.e. poor) it will not show any of your images or even folders.
Swipe down from the top and there may (if you are lucky) be an option for USB behaviour: set it to "File Transfer"
That should work but normally doesn't
Go to Settings
Select Developer Options (near the end)
Turn on Developer Options
About halfway down in the Networking section, there is an option "USB configuration" - set this to MTP. Most times it doesn't change from "Charging" but be persistent. Untested, but this might relate to setting in item 3
Go back to Settings main screen
Use the search at the top for "USB"
Select USB configuration and if you are lucky, you will get a list of options from which you will choose MTP. If you are less lucky, it will dump you into Developer Options, which you have set in 8 above.

Jeeeeez

Okay had exactly the same issue changed the USB cable and the option appears it seems that not all USB cables are the same some must be USB 2 or 3.

To get the USB icon, go to SETTINGS → Developer Options → Debugging and then select USB Debugging.

This appears to be incorrect. The USB icon here referred to by the OP has nothing to do with USB debugging. Its just the icon on the device which shows that the device has been connected to a computer.