text:
What is the difference between dual sim active and dual sim stand-by?
I am Using Sony Xperia Tipo Dual, which is Dual Sim Smartphone, but When i use internet from SIM 1 using Network Mode = GSM only or WCDMA/ GSM the another SIM's says NO NETWORK. When i deactivate my Internet i receive message's from my Network operator that you got missed calls from these numbers. GSMArena says My phone is no dual stand-by.

There are actually three types of dual SIM phones.

Dual SIM Standby (DSS): Only one SIM can be used at a time, 1 radio chip. The phone has single IMEI number.
Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS): Two SIMs can be used at a time, but if one opens a call or data connection, the other is offline. The phone has two different IMEI numbers.
Dual SIM Active (or sometimes Dual SIM Dual Active) (DSA/DSDA): Two SIMs can be used at a time, 2 radio chips. This enables both SIMs to open calls and/or data connection. The phone has two different IMEI numbers.

Since your phone is mentioned as "No dual standby", it means it's a DSS-phone, which allows only one open connection at a time.

Dual Sim standby : If you are talking in Sim A when someone calls to Sim B then they will hear Sim B is not reachable. You wont get prompted
Dual Sim Active : If you are talking in Sim A when someone calls to Sim B then they will hear your call is on waiting. You will get prompted and you can place the current call in hold and answer the new call.
But you should be able to receive call or make calls on both sim when you use internet.
GSM arena confirms Xperia Tipo is no dual standby meaning when you are using one sim to make phone call/ using data the other sim gets off. However, unlike many dual sim phones, in Xperia Tipo both the sim slot supports 3g sim.

no I able to receive & make call only with the Sim A from this i am using mobile data. When i stop using internet after few seconds the signal of sim B appears.

try swapping the sim and check

i have done this many times. it might be due to single IMEI no. when is type *#06#

No it should work even though you are using internet in one sim.

this is really irritating. because of this i cant even get any urgent calls. Thank god i have Missed call alerts.

Thanks. "But you should be able to receive call or make calls on both sim when you use internet." Do you mean the two SIM cards can't be used for voice calls at the same time, but can be used at the same time for VoIP over data or wifi? Regardless of whicy type of Dual Sim?

I think the selected answer does  a good job of expressing the limitations/advantages of each type of dual sim you might encounter so I instead would like to suggest a work around so you don't miss calls when the one sim is in use and the  other becomes inactive.
If you setup call forwarding for each number when you're unreachable so that number 1 forwards to number 2 and number 2 forwards to number 1. Now setup both numbers with call waiting. You now shouldn't  miss a call when on the other line and you should be alerted when you have incoming calls waiting whether redirected or not.
A downside is that you'll get charged by your carrier for incoming routed calls. It's also worth noting that if one sim is roaming you may be charged at roaming rates for incoming re-routed calls.
What happens when phone is off and therefore both sims are unreachable? I don't know, I'd hope/expect the networks could detect such an occurrence and not allow an infinite redirect. Maybe someone here knows and can chime in?
Hope this helps


text:
Periodic sync of data using Llama
Is it possible to set an Event using Llama, to repeat each hour that switches on the 3G connection, syncs data and then turns off the 3G connection again.
I would like to use this during work hours to check email etc without having to complete the task manually throughout the day.

I'd like to understand the background to your question. Why don't you just leave 3G on and set your email client &c. to check every hour?

I have limited 3G data. Even if change the sync rate for email apps etc, there some apps such as Plume which ignore this and update continually regardless of the setting. I thought Llama could control the connectivity. Switching it on and off peridocially.

I don't use Llama, so I'll let someone else answer that, but you may find it doesn't help much, because all the apps which wanted to update will update at once as soon as you connect to Internet. Try it anyway, and let us know how much it helps.

Llama does have repetitive functionality but I am unable to get the desired result!

Usually it should be enough to periodically switch data connection (and background sync) on/off. As for Plume (ignores pretty anything) I'd recommend taking a look at Greenify, which can automatically "freeze" it while it's not in foreground. Side-Effect: enhanced battery life! I just "greenified" Plume last night. Usually, at this time my battery is down to ~80% – today it's still at 96%, which I'd call a difference :)

Can Greenify be installed on 2.3.5?

I programmed Llama to do exactly that.
You'll need two events:

3G auto on
3G auto off

and one Llama variable:

auto3G

Event 1 (3G auto on)

when airplane mode is disabled [prevents the system to work if airplane mode is enabled]
when mobile data is not connected [this ensures there will always be a break of 60 minutes after each (manual) data or wifi connection]
when your phone disconnects from any wifi network [same as above]
when variable 'auto3G' does not have a value of 1 [new variables don't have values; this also ensures that data connections are not interrupted when activated manually]
delay for 60 minutes [change this to your needs, e.g. 15 minutes]
enable mobile data
set Llama variable 'auto3G' to 1 [so the system knows data connection was activated automatically]

Event 2 (3G auto off)

when mobile data has connected [lets te system wait until data connection is established]
when 'auto3G' has a value of 1 [only if data connection was activated automatically]
delay for 45 seconds [change this to your needs and speed of synchronization]
disable mobile data
set Llama variable 'auto3G' to 0 [system reset]

this should cover your needs ;)

As Izzy pointed out in the comments, Greenify might be what you are looking for. It includes an option (I suspect that this is only available for paid version users) to consolidate all app's sync actions. If several apps have sync tasks, Greenify will "collect" all those tasks and then wake the phone periodically and run all those tasks at once. This is exactly what you are looking for, no?

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text:
Mediascanner is not working
Currently I am using a Samsung galaxy note-2 with custom ROM (slimkat 4.4.2.built 4 official).
Since the last few days my media scanner is not working properly for some time.
Sometimes after restarting it works fine, but not always.
I already tried few media scanner apps from Google Play Store
but when I run those apps, they crash.
It scans only my phone content not my SD-card, while using phone browser
I can access the card contents. But my gallery and music players are not able to scan SD card media.
Does anybody have a solution for that? Or do I have to wait for slimkat net update?

What do you mean by "not working"? What steps do you take, what do you expect to happen, and what does happen?

Actually it's just scanning my phone data not my sdcard.

This can often be caused by filesystem corruption on the SD card. The SD card might appear to work normally if you don't access the corrupted parts of the filesystem, but since the media scanner reads the whole filesystem, it's much more likely to get stuck on a corrupted file or directory.
Try removing the SD card and using a card reader on your PC to check the filesystem (e.g. with scandisk or fsck).

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text:
How to avoid showing many processes on DDMS?
Background
As an Android developer, I use DDMS (link here about what it is), which shows all of the processes that I can debug (along with other stuff).
Today I've finally flashed a custom ROM that is based on AOSP.
The problem
Ever since I flashed the new ROM, I've noticed that instead of showing just a few processes (including mostly just the apps I'm making), it shows a lot more processes, including both system apps and user apps.
The question
Is there any way to avoid this from happening?
BTW, I tried putting a tag called "DDMS" and a tag called "AOSP" , and sadly I still can't do it even though my score is quite high on StackOverflow.

@Izzy This is DDMS : http://developer.android.com/tools/debugging/ddms.html . It's a commonly used tool for developers to handle when devices are connected to the PC. You can take pictures, see the log, choose which process to debug, etc...

DDMS shows the running apps which have the "debuggable" flag set. If the built-in apps are also debuggable, it suggests you're using a debug build of the ROM. Switch to a release build. If the custom ROM you're using doesn't have a release build, switch to a ROM made by people who know what they're doing.

I've tried out both CM, OmniRom, and PAC-rom. All have this. Also, as I've mentioned, it even shows user apps, such as Whatsapp...


text:
Set font size in Opera
Opera Mini has an option to choose between small/medium/large font sizes. I tried to find this option in the new Opera browser for Android, but couldn't.
Is there any way at all to set the font size for Opera?

I have not seen any setting to change the font size. However, you can pinch-in and pinch-out to zoom.

Except you can't on sites that disable zooming. Those are the sites I want large fonts for.


text:
Set export quality in Photoshop Touch
I'm pretty satisfied with Adobe Photoshop Touch but am struggling with my export file sizes. As far as I can tell there is no way to adjust the quality or file size of your exported JPG. The only way I have found to control my exported file's size is to reduce the image size.
This seems like a rather large functionality oversight...


text:
How to delete the entered number during call
I found no backspace button to edit the number once inserted in keypad during call.

I found this when I called my mobile operator customer care service which uses DMT, and suddenly the customer care executive asked me to tell my Sim Message Center Number which I thought to find by typing *#*#4636#*#*.
How to delete the number.
My phone is Nexus 5.

I'm not in a call currently, so I cannot check: but could it be you can long-press the input (to mark it) and the "cut" it to the clipboard? Worth a try at least. // Apart from that: how are you supposed to "execute" a service-code while in a call? I'm not sure that would even work.

@Izzy yes I am able to execute service code while in call.

And does "long-press-and-cut" (as described in my previous comment) work? Plus, as you found a solution: Maybe you post it as answer?

@Izzy no long press is not working.

I found a workaround. By clicking new call button, I am able to type new number and execute service codes.

Before you place a call there is a backspace symbol to the right of the numbers that you've entered that you can use to delete any of the numbers that you've already entered.

However, once you've actually rung a number and started a call, the backspace disappears and you can't delete numbers (as in your screenshot in the question).
The reason for this is that while you're making a call the numbers that you type in are instantly transmitted down the phone line as DTMF (or touch-tone) signals so that you can navigate through voicemail menus, phone menu trees (eg "press 1 for billing, press 2 for complaints..."), dial extension numbers, etc.
You can't delete a dial tone that's already been transmitted. This is the same as while you're in the middle of one phone call you can't just type numbers into the dialler and start a totally different phone call. So the dialer code that you typed in to try to show your SIM message number wouldn't work because the numbers and symbols would have been transmitted down the phone line as beeps while you typed them (possibly annoying the person on the other end) instead of being used as a "service code" instruction by the phone.

very simple guys.
while you are on call you should close all background apps including call and later reopen the call,and now check your dail pad it will be fresh


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I have a Kindle book with a deviating font, can I change it to normal?
Most of the books on my Kindle for Android app display with the same font, which I find good enough for reading.

But I have just one book which uses different typography, and it is bad enough to distract me from the reading experience. I checked maybe 10 other books and none displays that way. So I assume that this must be a publisher font. Kindle is supposed to support reset of publisher fonts since 4.3. I have 4.4.0.71 and can't find how to do it. A solution from Amazon help says

While reading, press the Menu button and then select Change Font Size.
Next to Publisher Font, select "on" or "off".

But I have no such option.
If this is a publisher font, how do I get it to normal? If it isn't, why is this book displaying so differently from all the others, and again, how do I get it to normal? (device is not rooted).
The below screenshot shows what I see in the settings for the book. (There are no font settings in the two real Menu buttons, this comes from the aA button which changes the book's appearance). It also shows the strange font with low readability (both screenshots are taken at the same line spacing setting).

You cannot change the font on some books if it's using an older format.

Because those books are older topaz format instead of newer AZW
  format. You can't change the font type with the topaz format, although
  you can still change the font size. If you look at the content of
  Kindle with your computer, you will notice that the books with the
  older topaz format has .tpz extension while the newer AZW format has
  .AZW extension.


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My nandroid backups are around 2gb, I'm told it shouldn't be this big
my nandroid backups are over 2gb and someone told me they shouldn't be that big. What might the culprits be? It would be nice to keep the backups on my phone if they were smaller.
Not sure how relevant it is, but I'm on stock deodexed ROM and ElementalX kernel.
I'm pretty new to android so any help would be nice.
CWM 6.0.4.5 and using ROM Manager to backup.

Keeping a backup of your phone on your phone seems a bit pointless.

@DanHulme I always keep my backups on the device (external SDCard), additionally to syncing them to my PC. That gives me the option to restore stuff even with the device alone. OP didn't state to keep those backups on phone alone :)

The size of your NANDroid backups is directly related to the amount of apps you have installed on your phone, and amount of data these apps store on your phone's internal memory. Even though CWM excludes the /data/media folder (which is usually mounted as /sdcard on newer Android OS versions,) the contents of /system and /data partitions alone will take plenty of space in the resulting backups.
Backup size of 2GB is not that uncommon, especially for phones without external storage.  Consider an app like Google Plus, for example. The app caches articles and images from your stream into /data/data/com.google.android.plus/cache directory.  The more you use the app, the more this cache fills up, and the more space in the backup it will require.  Same with other apps, like Google Chrome, or Gmail, for example.
To mitigate this, you can always clear the caches for the largest apps in Settings -> Apps -> All -> Sort by size.  Also, an alternative to CWM called TWRP recovery has an option to compress the backups in order to save on storage space.  Some apps give you an option to store their data and cache onto external storage on phones that sport SD Cards (Google Play Music has such an option, for example.)  NANDroid does not back up contents of SD Cards, so selecting this option will further shrink the size of your backups.
In terms of keeping backups on your phone, I would strongly advise against it.  I usually keep only the most recent backup on the phone, and copy older ones to my PC.  This way I have the backups in case the internal storage of my phone is rendered non-accessible.


text:
Google Now Voice Search not resetting (voice search brings up old search result instead of re-searching)
In the past whenever I launched "Voice Search" on my android phone (Samsung S3), it would bring up the google voice search prompt, where it was actively listening to what I said (the phone on the left in the picture below).

It would then search google for whatever term I said, showing the search term at the top, and a browser on the bottom (the phone on the right in the picture). If I then existed the search, and opened a different app then went back and clicked on the shortcut to "Voice Search" it would again bring up a voice search prompt where it was actively listening to what I said again (back to the state on the left).
Now, if I perform a search, exit to another application, then click on the "Voice Search" application, it then REOPENS the search I already performed (the phone on the right), as opposed to starting a fresh new search (the phone on the left). That is not the desired action. I want it to start a fresh search every time I open "Voice Search". Is that possible, or is this what we are stuck with as a result of some recent update?


text:
System icon that looks like ear with line through it on JellyBean
I'm Using Sony Xperia P with Android 4.1.2. Can anyone tell what's this icon (one with small T) to the left of battery bar? Is it any application based?

I remember a similar question was asked here a while ago (Can someone identify this icon (looks like a ear) in the notification bar?). Not sure about the T, but the symbol it's connected to is an ear (not with a cigarette behind, no), standing for some accessibility aid (hearing impaired?). I cannot say for sure, but tend to assume it's not application based (but provided by the system itself). Though an app could create a similar looking notification, admitted.

That symbol isn't Android-specific: it's the symbol for a hearing aid induction loop. Some landline telephones have an induction loop that transmits the phone audio directly to the hearing aid, so that hearing aid users can hear the phone call better than they would otherwise. The T stands for "telephone": because the induction loop system originated on landline phones, using the facility requires switching the hearing aid to "telephone mode", usually by flipping a physical switch to a position marked with a T.
It seems your phone has the same facility. The fact the icon is on the right with the "system" icons, instead of on the left with the notifications, shows that it's a part of the OS, not an app. I can't say for sure as I don't have your phone, but I expect you can turn it off in the device's accessibility settings.

Yep it indeed was a hearing aid notification from call settings

This symbol was frustrating me,
on my phone I managed to turn it off with this setting

Settings --> Call --> Accessibility --> Hearing aids (turn off)

I have no idea how it got turned on in my phone, probably some sort of elaborate 'pocket dialing'.
(Android version 6.0.1 - Marshmallow)


text:
How to start root shell with Android Studio?
I just installed Android Studio. How do I get into root shell on my phone? Or do I have to download ADB separately?

Android Studio does not contain ADB, you need Android SDK / Android SDK platform tools for it (it is installed on first run of Android Studio).
If you don't want to use Android studio, just download standalone Platform tools and extract to some folder.
ADB is by default located in sdk\platform-tools:
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe
C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe.
It's possible to add to PATH in Windows and use Terminal inside Android Studio only by command: adb shell and after use su get root shell.

Locate the SDK platform tools folder (e.g. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\)
Open Enviroment Variables in Windows (See http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000549.htm)
Add the platform tools path (e.g. %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\) to the PATH variable
(optional) Reopen Android Studio
Use Terminal with adb shell command

When you don't want to use it inside Android studio, you can use it just in command line / terminal by: C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\adb.exe

WINDOWS: In the current version of Android Studio, ADB.exe is located in %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools\. Earlier versions of Android Studio have it in %LOCALDATA%\Android\sdk\platform-tools instead.
MAC: Find the ADB executable in ~/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools.
To open the ADB shell: Ensure Android Studio is installed. In the command line interface (CLI) for your platform -- Command Prompt for Windows or Terminal for Mac -- navigate to the location of the ADB executable as described above (you can copy/paste the strings as shown and don't need to type in your actual username) and do the following:

Type adb devices and press Enter.
Locate the name of your device in the list.
Type adb -s XXXX shell and press Enter, replacing XXXX with the name of your device from the previous step.

On a Mac Android Studio installs adb there:
/Users/<your username>/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools

To use it in your shell, you can add it to your .profile file:
export PATH=/Users/<your username>/Library/Android/sdk/platform-tools:$PATH

Please open a fresh terminal window after you did that, or load the changes by typing this in your terminal:
source ~/.profile

Once you have Android Studio set up make sure you can connect to an emulator or a device where it will be listed in the AVD (Android Virtual Devices). If a physical device is connected confirm that debugging mode is enabled and access is allowed to Android Studio. A separate ADB is not needed as all the build tools are part of the IDE.
Now you are ready to access your device's shell!

Access the terminal at the bottom of the IDE by selecting the Terminal button.
In the terminal issue adb devices. This will list the all devices currently connected to Android Studio. Find and use your device's name for step 3.
Now issue adb -s <device-name> shell. Now you are in your device's shell.

On a side note, if you want to access the shell of an emulator with root access installed from Android Studio, issue a adb -s <device-name> root before accessing the shell.

After "adb -s  root" how to exit then get in again with non-root user?  Getting in again with shell the user is still root.

@jw_ adb -s <device-name> unroot :)

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text:
Run shell script in background process no matter what activity in foreground?
I have a shell script that looks does the following:
# /mnt/sdcard/touch.sh
sleep 10

while [ 1 ]; do
    input swipe 700 380 1020 600 1000
    input tap 960 540
    input swipe 1220 700 900 480 1000
    input tap 960 540
    input swipe 1220 700 900 480 1000
    input tap 960 540
    input swipe 700 380 1020 600 1000
    input tap 960 540
done

If I execute it from Terminal IDE (a terminal emulator), it only works while Terminal IDE is in the foreground, so I thought I'd make an actual app to execute it and keep it running in the background. Here's what I've got now:
package com.mycompany.myapp;

import android.app.*;
import android.os.*;
import android.view.*;
import android.widget.*;
import java.io.*;

public class MainActivity extends Activity {
    /** Called when the activity is first created. */
    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.main);

        try {
            // RIGHT HERE. WHY DOES NOTHING HAPPEN?
            Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[]{"/system/bin/sh", "/mnt/sdcard/touch.sh", });
        }
        catch (IOException e) {/*...*/}
    }
}

But it doesn't do anything.
So how would I execute this, then leave it running in the background so that the taps and swipes happen while another app is in the foreground? You get the idea. :D

This question shouldn't be closed as offtopic. He just tried to solve it via writing app, but his question isn't about it at all.

It worked by just doing sh /mnt/sdcard/touch.sh & after having started a shell with adb shell. Then, when I closed the terminal forcibly while the process was in the background, the process remained running in the background of my phone as expected. I was able to kill the process later by getting with adb shell the using ps to find the process ID and kill -s KILL <ID> to kill it.
Basically, turns out I didn't have to make an Android app just to make my script run in the background. Clash on...

I'm curious what various versions of Android behavior is. I wrote a script to log battery levels that runs in an endless loop - and I find if I start forked like you did & - and pull the USB cable... that it in fact halts... but resumes if I return USB cable.

had the same needs, answer helped me greatly! but... oddly enough, only within adb shell I could get to do it with no root. when running the exact same script within an android terminal app, I could only achieve the same effect (to actually get some touching working) after activating root with su! any clues on why this could be?


text:
Do I have to root Samsung Galaxy S4 Verizon before I install CyanogenMod 11?
Device: GS4 NC5 SCH-1545 Verizon
Android: 4.4.2
I don't want the all the stock apps that you can't delete normally.

Yes, because you need to have root in order to install a recovery; which you will, in turn, use to flash CyanogenMod.


text:
Android camera error
I used to have TouchWiz 4.1.2 on my Samsung Galaxy Express, and now I have CyanogenMod 10.1.
The stock CM camera has this weird behaviour of - for lack of a better explanation - not letting go of the camera once opened.
The app works on the first launch, then reports that it can't connect to the camera on subsequent launches.
Other camera apps, like Retrica and Camera360, work flawlessly.
I'm guessing that the problem lies in the proprietary camera libraries, but they come from an official TouchWiz 4.2.2 build for a similar device - actually, a better term would be a successor, since the device is labeled Galaxy Express 2.
Logcat gives me this:
E/QualcommCamera(  277): Qint android::get_camera_info(int, camera_info*): E
E/QualcommCamera(  277): Qint android::get_camera_info(int, camera_info*): E
V/CameraHolder(15689): open camera 0
W/CameraService(  277): CameraService::connect X (pid 15689) rejected (existing client).
E/CameraHolder(15689): fail to connect Camera
E/CameraHolder(15689): java.lang.RuntimeException: Fail to connect to camera service
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at android.hardware.Camera.native_setup(Native Method)
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at android.hardware.Camera.<init>(Camera.java:340)
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at android.hardware.Camera.open(Camera.java:302)
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at com.android.camera.CameraManager.cameraOpen(CameraManager.java:291)
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at com.android.camera.CameraHolder.open(CameraHolder.java:210)
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at com.android.camera.Util.openCamera(Util.java:545)
E/CameraHolder(15689):  at com.android.camera.PhotoModule$CameraStartUpThread.run(PhotoModule.java:347)
V/StateManager(15689): startState class com.android.gallery3d.app.PhotoPage
E/mm-libcamera2(  277): mm_camera_poll_fn: preview polling error!! err = 0
E/QCameraHWI(  277): processEvent: type :0 E
I/QCameraHWI(  277): processChannelEvent: E

What is the problem, and how exactly can I solve it?

Probably this can only be fixed by fixing the bug in the Cyanogenmod source and building a new ROM. You might want to check to see if there is a newer version.

@DanHulme Actually my device does not have official support. So the libs aren't broken?

This is what we call a system integration error, which just means that the parts are put together wrong. It'll need some investigation to find exactly which component needs to change to fix it.

@DanHulme Thank you very much, I'll suggest this to my device maintainer.

Do you have a working solution to release the camera properly?


text:
"/sdcard/Sounds" folder appears empty in Windows 7 for Samsung Galaxy S3
For some reason, the folder that once allowed me to access all my recordings using the default Sound Recorder app appears empty in windows even though the files are still there according to ES File Explorer. My phone is not rooted.
(Similarly, some files in my Downloads folder are not visible from Windows.)
I've also begun having an issue where deleting folders in the "Music" directory gives an error "cannot delete _____ the storage is write-protected.", but I don't know if this is related. I really need these recordings without having to "share" every single one of them individually in ES File Explorer.
What is going on?

I don't know what's going on causing your issue, but may have a work-around to offer: you could still pull the files from the device using ADB tools (and there are even graphical file managers available). Another option might be using "helpers" like Airdroid, which let you manage your files via WiFi remotely from your PC. If you're interested in details on the one or other, let me know, and I'll make it an answer.

So I did manage to install adb and the drivers for my phone. But now whenever I try to grab files from my phone in dos like such: "adb push /sdcard/Sounds/ E:\audio\phone" I get "cannot stat '/sdcard/Sounds/': No such file or directory"  I know this is unrelated to the original question, but what is going on? I can access /sdcard/Sounds/ just fine from shell, but trying "push" in shell gives me "/system/bin/sh: push: not found"!

Well, first to grab files, "push" is the wrong approach: you want to pull them: adb pull /sdcard/Sounds E:\audio\phone would be the correct command for that. Sure push "cannot stat '/sdcard/Sounds/'", as the first parameter for push is the local file/folder, i.e. on your PC :)

Haha, switched the terms and it worked like magic. I guess it really is a matter of perspective.. it says pull, I say push, etc. :p

If you put as an answer "just man up and use adb", I'll accept it, though the underlying issue of why the KitKat update would make files in that folder invisible to Windows is still a mystery. (Feels like every major update for the last year has been regrettable.)

Being aware it is not a full-fledged solution but rather a workaround (it's still unclear what's causing the underlying issue), this answer sums up what we figured being a work-around at least:
As the files/directories don't show up the usual way via "sharing the SDCard", they can still be accessed by other means. One example is using ADB: using adb pull files can be transferred from the device to the computer, and with adb push in the other direction. Examples:

adb pull /sdcard/Sounds/ E:\audio\phone would take the entire folder /sdcard/Sounds and save it as E:\audio\phone on the computer
adb push E:\audio\phone /sdcard/Sounds/ for the opposite

The culprit: types of "source" and "target" must match. If "source" is a file, "target" must be a file as well: adb pull /sdcard/Sounds/some.mp3 E:\audio\phone would fail as the source is a file and the target a directory.
Other draw-backs can be worked around as well: if you prefer a graphical solution over tinkering with the command line, there are several good GUIs available, e.g.

QtADB
Droid Explorer (by our member Ryan Conrad)

And several more. As a side-effect of installing ADB, you've got a powerful tool ready which will certainly help you with many other things!
For getting ADB to work without installing the full SDK, please refer to Is there a minimal installation of ADB? More ADB related information can be found via our adb tag and its tag-wiki.
Alternatives include several "WiFi file managers", which are too many to be listed here. So if you rather want a "simple app installed" on your Android device, and then do everything with your browser, you might wish to take a look at the following lists:

Manage your Android Device from your Computer
FTP Server
Various File Servers

An alternative I found after the fact is to use ES File Explorer or something of the like to move the files into a different folder. They're visible to windows in the new folder.


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How do I make /sdcard link point to external SD Card on Android 4.4.2?
I've got a Samsung GT-I9505 phone with Google Edition Rom installed. As my phone comes with 16Gb internal storage, I bought a 32Gb microSD. However, the phone still uses emulated SD card to store all data.
I looked through the filesystem and found two places which might be of interest:

symlink: /sdcard -> /storage/emulated/legacy
  symlink: /storage/sdcard0 -> /storage/emulated/legacy

My actual SD card, however, is at /storage/extSdCard
As far as I get it, apps use the first symlink to access SD card. I tried to use terminal emulator with root permissions to make these symlinks point to the right direction, however, it says that the filesystem is read-only.
This is where I got stuck and ask for your help to make my phone use the right SD card.

As far as I know, you can change this by editing /system/etc/vold.fstab, but if it doesn't have what you need, you might have to tamper with init.rc inside boot.img.
I'm not sure if what you're aiming to do is safe though, what with the recent switch to fuse sdcards.

I edited vold.fstab, but no visible changes after reboot.

@svz Then I guess the storages are mounted by init. I guess you can try and modify init.rc, but be sure to take a Nandroid backup first - tampering with the kernel is risky business!

I can see no sign of sdcard or anything similar in init.rc.

@svz Really? It must be in one of the other init files.

@svz Wait, I think I got it. It's in init.qcom.rc. Look for export EXTERNAL_STORAGE

Multiple approaches here, none tried myself as I never had that issue:
First, before manually altering the symlinks, you might need to re-mount the root file system read-write. Still, even if you succeed this way, you might have to repeat the actions after each reboot – so let's check for other alternatives.
There are several apps availabe which care for this kind of problem, some of them even specific to Samsung devices. A good candidate is probably Root External 2 Internal SD, which "swaps" the two cards just the way you want to do it. No manual fiddling with init.rc or vold.fstab required.

I tried the app: Root External 2 Internal SD, but it didn't help. Remounting /system partition did allow me to move a bit further, but changing /sdcard symlink to /storage/extSdCard doesn't seem to help. Apps are still saving data to emulated SD card.

Have you checked any of the other candidates from behind the first link in my answer?

I looked through the list, but what those apps seem to offer is different from what I want. They offer to mount external SD card to some location on internal one, while I wish to completely replace it. Probably, I'm misunderstanding the way things work, but on my HTC Sensation with Cyanogenmod 11 it was like this: when there is no SD card, the phone uses emulated one, but as soon as SD card is inserted, it overrides the emulated card. The behaviour implemented in AOSP 4.4.2 looks strange to me.

Looks like changing the symlinks does not "fool" the system calls apps use (getExternalFilesDirs() etc). Sad news. But maybe investigating API references on External Storage and its Device Specific Configuration can shed some light and provide helpful hints?

Well, I think we've reached the point where it is reasonable to ask whether this feature is worth the time spent. I suppose, this is caused by requirement that each user should have an isolated primary external storage, which is hardly possible with a single sd card. Thanks for your help, I'll continue to look for a solution, but in a "background mode", I guess.

If you've got a single card only (usually that's devices without microSD slot), that's the primary. Well, sorry I couldn't be more helpful – and good luck for your further research! Hopefully, somebody else turns up and provides a better answer.


text:
Fastboot flash bootloader fails
I tried to install CM11 on my Nexus 10. But, I wasn't able to install the boot.img with fastboot (Rooted, CM11 flashed with Clockworkmod recovery):
[root@xx temp]# fastboot flash bootloader boot.img
sending 'bootloader' (5100 KB)...
OKAY [  0.708s]
writing 'bootloader'...
FAILED (remote: partition table update fail!)
finished. total time: 0.726s
[root@xx temp]#
The boot.img is from cm-11-20140405-SNAPSHOT-M5-manta.zip.
Any ideas, why this doesn't work?

The partition you want to write to is called boot, not bootloader, so the correct command is
fastboot flash boot boot.img


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External USB Keyboard to Android (via bluetooth preferably)
How to connect external USB keyboard (preferably via bluetooth) to Android device?
Best would be piece of hardware with USB socket to plug standard usb keyboard into it, that would work as "bluetooth keyboard" without need of any special software on android device.

If it's an USB keyboard, it can be directly connected to the MicroUSB port of your Android device using an OTG cable. If your device is OTG capable (most devices of the current generation are, so chances are pretty good), it should be detected automatically. That's what I do with my tablets (running Android 4.1) and a tablet-case with integrated keyboard, to transform them into a mini-notebook – it works fantastic!
As a USB keyboard usually doesn't have Bluetooth integrated, the BT approach would require some kind of adapter. I won't say there is no such thing, but at least I've never heard of any.

Adopter idea you've mentioned is exactly what am I looking for.

I understood that, but I'm not aware of anything like that existing, sorry. The OTG variant, OTOH, is what's reported to work fine, and also is the intended way of connecting an USB keyboard.

Thanks for feedback , if not to me it might be helpful to other readers :)

Anytime :) You might consider upvoting the answer (if you find it useful). I understand it's not exactly what you're after, so you're unlikely to "accept" it as solution ;)


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Can I Flash Nexus Factory Image to any Tablet?
There are several different versions of Android ROMs on the Internet.
I found that no one is better than Nexus Android which is from Google.
There is a webpage on Google hosting every version of Nexus Android.
https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/images
Is it possible to flash Nexus images into other tablets like ASUS Transformer or Samsung Galaxy?

No. ROMs are always device specific. Reasons are proprietary drivers for specific hardware components.
For more details, you might wish to follow up to the rom tag-wiki, rom-flashing tag-wiki, and the sites/pages linked from there, e.g. Is there an official Android “Google” ROM?

The best answer for this question is you try flashing Nexus Roms on a old phone that you don't use.We cannot say that it cannot be possible without doing it practically.
IMPORTANT- please note that the old phone should be at least of 5.0 inch screen and the current Android running version should be Lollipop or above.
Please try it and reply me

This is incredibly bad advice. Of course it won't work. How about you try flashing it on your own phone before asking other people to break their phones for you?


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Snapchat Story Upload
How do I upload images from my photo gallery to my Snapchat story? I have heard of the Xposed module Snapshare but I don't fancy rooting my phone permanently.
What I want to do is, say if I downloaded an image from APOD, I would like to add that to my story.

Snapchat for android has been updated with the ability to upload screenshots to chats, my story etc.

How do you upload to the story?

Once you finish editing your Snap, you are taken to a screen where you can choose the recipients of your Snap. My Story is on the top of the list.

How do you upload the photo in the first place then?

@user12321 Refer to this picture. Evidence of My Story can be seen here. But seriously, is it really hard to use Snapchat for Android? The interface is pretty much the same.

Oh, I see, I was meaning uploading images from your gallery. Say I downloaded one of those screenshots, I would like to add it to my story.

I'm so sorry ;_; You can do this with root using an Xposed module called Snapshare.

Ah no, it's fine! Yeah, I've heard of Snapshare just the idea of rooting my phone isn't very enticing.


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Unable to play Snapchat videos
I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace and I am unable to view most videos on Snapchat that people send to me. I have tried to rectify the problem by downloading MX player and VLC player and updating to Snapchat beta. However I am still unable to view almost all Snapchat videos and was wondering how I fix this problem?

You can try to resolve your issue by below ideas.

Your device may not support the quality in which user has recorded that video.
You need to clear cache memory of phone, or reboot your phone.
Size of video is so large, it will be unable to view that in your net speed(2G).
You should try deleting the app and re-downloading.


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does SDK disk images of APIs for windows and mac differ?
I have started developing on a windows machine, I use the ADT with Eclipse, my SDK is updated with all the possible Android APIs, ie, (1.6-4.4). The windows machine is pretty slow so lately I got a Mac (Mavericks), so I am confused between ADT for mac and windows.
Is the APIs updated with the SDK work with mac(can i copy and paste the version images to mac sdk from the windows sdk)? or should I update the SDK (APIs) for mac?
thank you for any suggestion!

Some parts of the SDK are the same between Windows, Linux, and Mac, and some are not.
The developer tools, such as adb, fastboot, and hprof, are native binaries so they're different for each OS. The emulator too is different for each OS.
The Android system images for the emulator are the same between the different host OSes, so you don't need to download these again.
The android.jar files containing the Android framework library itself are also the same between the different host OSes. It has to be this way because the JAR files are compiled into your app.
If you're not sure what to update, it's probably best to just start a fresh installation of ADT. That way you're sure to end up with a working version, and there's no risk of failing to update something you should have, or mimatched versions. It might seem that you're wasting time by downloading some of the same things again, but at least you'll be able to trust your tools. If you try and Frankenstein your installation to save downloading, then even if you manage to do it right, you'll suspect it's broken every time you have an unusual bug, and you'll waste more time in the long run.

I know its a late reply but here is the answer.
Some parts of the SDK are same except the SDK manager AVD manager ADB etc.
all the system images jar are common
Remember Java is a platform independent language.
In real life, I use the same SDK library for Windows, Mac and Linux.
The files are kind of intact for Windows and Linux. But for mac, you have to download some other files too.
And ya, you don't have to copy-paste. Just share via a network.  That the best so that both copies will be same. download New version of android in Linux will reflect that in Windows.
I use the same SDK for:

Android Studio Windows
Android Studio Linux
Android Studio Mac
Xamarin Studio in Windows
Visual Studio in Windows (Xamarin development)
Xamarin Studio in Mac

All works cool. Only thing is you have to give write access for both Linux and Mac users.
Thank you!
Please comment for any doubts.

the avd does not link up can you tell me how to perform it

you need separate avd because the executable extensions are different. just simple download all missing stuffs.

The list of folders that you can share between Linux & Windows file system as they are the same files for Android SDK are below. You can just copy & paste these folders between any OS you use:
add-ons,
docs,
extras,
ndk-bundle,
platforms,
skins,
sources,
system-images,
tools
Apparently, you will need to download the below folders i.e. SDK Tools differently for each OS, as they are platform dependent tools which rely upon OS like Linux, Windows & Mac OS differently:
build-tools,
platform-tools
These two folders don't eat up much of a download bandwidth. So you can easily download it as per the OS you are working on.
I have tested and tried this successfully so far and all worked well with full support. This will save a lot of disk space as well as download bandwidth & time for sure!


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Best rated apps ? Any list of them?
Thousands of apps on playstore but there is no way to sort them on best rated.is there any site of way to find best rated apps (from playstore or otherwise) ???

Such ordering would've been useless to separate the cream from the crop. The best rated app is the app that is rated by 5-star by one person.

I agree with Lie: sorting on rating alone is insufficient. AppBrain has its own rating system (0..100 points), taking additional criteria into consideration – but I couldn't yet figure out how to sort by that. To my experience, some "low rated" apps are better than many "high rated" in the same category. If you're looking for a hand-picked selection, you're welcome to see my lists – but it's far from being complete, and never will be (currently ~9.000 apps are listed there).

Summing up from the comments:
To my knowledge, there's no site currently which has a complete records of all available apps (not even that, I'm afraid), or at least the most of them, and really allows you to sort by ratings. As Lie Ryan pointed out in the first comment on the question, this wouldn't even be very useful: A dev could simply ask his "best friend" to rate his crap app 5-stars. As long as nobody else rates it, that would turn out on top of the "best list". And to my own experience, some "average rated" apps are better than their "high rated" competitors. It always depends on what you need them for, what your requirements and expectations are. Those might differ from the "big swarm" ;)
So you would need additional criteria. AppBrain somehow set up its own rating system of "100 points max". I'm not sure about the real formula, but it seems to take into consideration how long an app is out. Though: AppBrain doesn't really enable you to list all apps by rating.
If you're happy with a smaller, hand-picked list of apps, I can recommend you my own site: my app lists are separated into "real life categories" (no such things like "productivity", whatever that should be – but rather e.g. "eMail Apps", "File Managers", etc.), which have their related apps ordered by... yes. Rating and votes, descending. That is: Highest ratings first, and if two apps are rated similar, the one with the most votes comes first. Far from being perfect, though. But you find them linked with additional information, such as reviews, demo videos, etc; so when looking for a "good app for X", that should be a pretty nice starting point :) But be aware it has only about 1% of the apps from Google Play, and doesn't cover all areas (e.g. almost no "social network" stuff, games, or sports).


text:
How can I make an APK backup from an installed and configured XBMC?
I sell boxes with XBMC pre installed and preconfigured however it takes a long time to manually configure it with each add-on and then setup to my liking it.
I was wondering if it were possible to generate an APK from an installed XBMC. I've tried Titanium Backup but as XBMC stores in different places it doesn't seem to work.
It can be done as I've seen other boxes with preconfigured XBMC having a customised XBMC installation and they appear to be using ZipSigner on the Android Box itself.

I don't know how and where XBMC stores stuff. But if Titanium can't do it, there probably is no "automated" way. You might be able to "combine forces" by manually packing the other locations (and restore them before the Titanium-made backup). Have you tried that?

It's not it's storing, it's how it does it. For example, if I back it up and re install we still get the "Preparing first run" but it should be a mirror image of the other install.

That rather looks like some "first-run" flag being stored somewhere, but not "captured" by Titanium. You could try an alternative, e.g. backup/restore via ADB (or using Helium Backup, which does this on the device itself). Maybe results are different with that approach.


text:
How to disable RIL on Android?
As soon as I connect a USB modem to android device, system grabs ttyACM0 and ttyACM1 in an attempt to open connection. As a result, the ports are blocked and can not be opened by other services. How, if possible, can I disable RIL on android to avoid having it block ttyACM0 and ttyACM1 as soon as modem is plugged in? Is it doable without having to rebuild Android?
I have tried making following changes in init.rc, as well as deleting ril-deamon service entry.
setprop ro.radio.noril yes
setprop hw.nophone true

Build your custom ROM.

The consequences of disabling the RIL daemon (rild) is hardware dependent. Because RIL is getting more and more involved in all aspects of Radio related items, including WiFi. The easiest way to stop RIL is by killing rild. But you need to have a rooted device to do this. Open a command shell and get root prompt (#).
# kill -9 `pidof rild`

You can then check the current status with:
# getprop |grep init.svc.ril
...
[init.svc.ril-daemon]: [stopped]
[init.svc.ril-qmi]: [stopped]

To restart rild you have to point it to the right device and library files. You can find what these are with:
# getprop | grep rild.lib
...
[rild.libargs]: [-d /dev/smd0]
[rild.libpath]: [/system/lib/libril-qc-qmi-1.so]

Then restart with*:
# rild -l /system/lib/libril-qc-qmi-1.so -- -d /dev/smd0

* PS. I haven't actually tried this line, so feel free to edit this post. It's possible you also need to supply the correct SE context to SU as well...

There doesnt appear to be any process named rild running. This is android 7.1.1.

My original post was from 2014, so surely today, the more common name may be something else ril*, like ril-daemon as suggested below.

1. how to stop rild
note: tested on android 4.4
try1
kill -9 `pidof rild`

it'll auto start a new rild
try2
stop service rild

not work for me.
try3
stop ril-daemon

this worked, found it from /etc/init.rc:
on property:ril.reset.rild=1
    stop ril-daemon
    start ril-daemon
    setprop ril.reset.rild 0

//so setprop ril.reset.rild 1 may restart rild too.
about service name
service ril-daemon /system/bin/rild ...

found such line in init.rc, maybe this define the service name referred in try3
2. answer the question
maybe you can imitate config in try3, add this config line.
on property:ro.radio.noril=yes
    stop ril-daemon

Killing the daemon is not the correct way although it would kill the service but you won't be able to access it again.
Type stop service rild in adb shell and it would work again for other services properly. You can check by typing ps if rild process is there or not. Just worked on this a few days back.


text:
How do I exclude album art from the gallery?
The answer to this question is not valid, because embedding the album art inside the media files does not always work, as I outlined in this question.
So basically, I want the hundreds of album art images to stop showing up in my gallery. I can't use .nomedia because that would invalidate any music in the same directory. Are there any other options?

I've had no issues using .nomedia. The music files still show up in Poweramp.

@geffchang Maybe Poweramp doesn't use the systems media database (which the media scanner feeds). Players who do will no longer find the music files, as .nomedia would keep the media scanner from adding them to the library.

NobleUplift: I don't know of a way working with the default Gallery app. But there are gallery apps where you can exclude folders. If you're open to an alternative Gallery app as solution, you can check with my list of gallery apps (might be faster than searching Play directly).

See my answer to a similar question here

rename the album cover to "folder.jpg", and it will be skipped. You can save the rest of the album art in a nested folder with ".nomedia" inside it.

ARG! I've been using AlbumArt.jpg this whole time! And to put salt in the wound, Windows generated a few Folder.jpg files and I renamed them to AlbumArt.jpg before transferring :\

My album art is all saved as folder.jpg.... What gives?

I have two Gists that can be used to either system hide every "Folder.jpg" or "AlbumArt.jpg" so that they are not uploaded to my phone:
https://gist.github.com/NobleUplift/d0524f901994ecb5e46d
Or remove that file in every subdirectory:
https://gist.github.com/NobleUplift/8c9e3b524284ac766b63
I actually use Windows Media Player for all of my syncing now instead of copying my entire music library, and I've begun to embed 500x500 album art images into all of my MP3s. I would suggest this for anyone else who is uploading album art to his or her phone.

rename the file to folder.jpg and/or albumart.jpg (not sure about this one. please check) and it should be skipped.
other option is to use .nomedia file. If you use a music player that as an option to ignore .nomedia, you can have a .nomedia file in your music folder and the album art wont appear in gallery.
third option is to use embedded artwork.

First option is already posted as answer here and Second option is gathere from the comment here Also could you explain how third option works? What is the reasoning behind it?

@Manubhargav Embedded artwork means embedding the image into the mp3 file, most practically using the ID3 Tag implementation.

Simple, just use poweramp as suggested, best music player on Android in my opinion anyway, and have your music in a folder with a .nomedia folder in it easy peasy.

Please link the app from play store

I also have a gist located here: https://gist.github.com/essboyer/3f84afc9595b068869fb0baf1e2a51b5
Note that this code will DELETE any image that is not folder.jpg. It will attempt to rename a few common misnamed folder filenames, and you can always easily add your own!


text:
CyanogenMod installer won't connect to internet
As per screenshot below, I have been unable to proceed with the CyanogenMod Installer (Windows).
This is what I get:
Having internet troubles? Please check your network connection.

Screenshot (click image for large variant)
I've tried adding extra inbound and outbound exceptions for Cyanogen Mod Installer (%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Temp\CMInstaller.exe) in the Windows Firewall (accessible from Control Panel), but it didn't help.
I am not behind a proxy. And there's nothing wrong with my Internet connection : I'm accessing all other online content.
I'm using Win8x64, and trying to install CM on my Samsung S3 GT-i9300.
Has anyone encountered the same issue?
*UPDATE: I tried running the msi installer via an admin command prompt, didn't make any difference.

I've had issues with network connections on Android using CM ROMs & often for me it's the clock being to far off from what the rest of the world agrees on. While I've not used Windows mobile since the T-mobile Wing and my CM issues where on Android it's worth checking the clock as this will cause networking issues no matter the device if off set to far.

its lineage OS time cyanogen is no more

@xeonzolt many people (including myself) are using CyanogenMod but their device is not supported by Lineage)

Because this question is in the active category, I'll give an updated answer.
CyanogenMod was discontinued on December 27th, 2016. Because of this, their webserver also went down, which would cause the issue this question asked. There is no solution, and the installer is forever broken. You can manually install the ROM or use a different custom ROM.

Download the CMInstaller.msi
Extract the CMIntaller.msi with 7zip
Rename the setup to setup.exe
Right Click on the setup.exe -> Run as Administrator
And it's running without a problem.
I'm on Windows 8.1 x64


text:
Upgrade with encrypted storage
I would like to upgrade my cyanogenmod to the latest M build. but my storage is encrypted, so i guess this will lead to some problems.
First of all i cant even seem to make a backup with CWM.

What's your question?

How do I upgrade from CM 10 to CM 11 with my storage being encrypted and make a backup before that.

I think you need to wipe the storage anyway to upgrade to a new major version. Perhaps someone more familiar with CM will answer definitively.

ClockworkMod Recovery (CWM) doesn't work with encrypted devices. You'll have to use TWRP: http://teamw.in/project/twrp2

strangely i cant flash twrp over my cwm. whatever i try i also find myself back in cwm.

What instructions are you following? Please post link.


text:
CM11: Nexus 10 boots forever
My Nexus 10 boots forever. I did (according to the cm-wiki):

Root it
Flash Clockworkmod-Recovery with fastboot
Flash CM11 with sideload
Flash Boot.img with fastboot

Now my Nexus 10 is stuck at the boot animation.
Any ideas?

I tried to wipe dalvik cache in advanced Menu in cwm. When I afterwards choose "show log" I get the following error:
mount: mounting /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc.0/by-name/userdata on /data failed: Invalid arguemnt
W:failed to mount /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc.0/by-name/userdata (File exists)
May theres ist the problem?

I flashed stock rom, and this works like a charm. Then I tried to install cm again and twrp. But, twrp tells me, that /data can't be mounted. I tried in twrp (Advanced, Terminal Command):
# mount /data
mount: mounting /dev/block/mmcblk0p9 on /data failed: Invalid argument

I found a solution. I had to format the partition /dev/block/mmcblk0p9 by hand (with twrp).
I can't remember the command exactly - but more or less it was:
mkfs -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p9

Boot into recovery and get a shell (e.g. adb shell on the PC connected via USB). Then format the userdata partition:
mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/dw_mmc.0/by-name/userdata

Afterwards, simply reboot and it should work fine.
The reason why this is necessary is simply (thanks to @utkanos in #cyanogenmod for explaining it): When unlocking the bootloader using fastboot oem unlock it erases all data but doesn't create a proper filesystem.

Solved my issue with Nexus10. Could not wipe the device, so was stuck in bootloop. Did not know it was due to this.

Try to enter cwm recovery and do a full wipe factory reset. Wipe both dalvik cache under advanced section and cache.

@Tobias If you have any important information on yiur phone make a backup then download and flash that rom via zip file (if there is an option) and restore your data

@Tobias the log says that system can't mount a partition where the installation is located so there is a serious problem

I don't have any important data... There's no worry.

I flashed the stock rom again, and this worked like a charm. I think, this is a good sign...

Good now do you want a cm11 rom?

@Tobias if yes go here https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=manta and download the first rom. When you completed tell me

Yes, I want. And, I have it. I tried the last snapshot release. I use sideload to install it and fastboot to flash boot.img. And, it is booting forever (see above).

Ya but i didn´t wanted for you to install it via sideload i wanted to install via zip option in "install zip from the sd card menu".

Glad you make it :)


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Notification Volume Control
One of the most annoying things about my phone is that the volume buttons adjust the ringer volume but not the notification volume.
Is there any way I could write a script or configure my phone so that the notifications volume is automatically the same as the ringer volume?
What about setting the volume buttons to set both the ringer and notifications volume?

Go to Settings > Sound > Volumes, then tick Link ringtone and notifications volumes.
If it's not there, you can use an Xposed module like GravityBox to achieve the same result. Just look in the Media tweaks menu.

Which version of Android would the first option be in?

If I am not mistaken, it's been present on AOSP ROMs since 4.1.

It's automatically linked on KitKat aosp for sure (I just checked it). This option is implemented in some devices, but the OEM often overrides it, the tick box isn't present on the few devices I have to hand. If the option isn't there, then Xposed is the only way I can think of also.


text:
Brightness and battery use
When I turn down the brightness of the screen on a Samsung Galaxy Mega am I lowering power consumption or increasing the opacity of the screen?

I'm going to answer generally, since the same is true of any smartphone. There are broadly two kinds of colour screen used on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, wearables, and handheld game consoles): LCDs, and OLEDs.
LCD screens
These change their opacity according to an electrical signal. But to see that change in opacity, they need a source of illumination: a backlight. In early PDAs and the first few generations of Android phones, CFLs (which are basically small fluorescent tubes) were used for backlights, but these days many LCD screens are lit by white LEDs. Either way, the brightness slider controls how bright the backlight is by varying the voltage to it, so it directly affects power consumption, just like a dimmer control on a lamp.
It used to be the case that LCDs used a lot more power to be opaque, so displaying a black screen drew more power than displaying a white screen. However, manufacturing techniques and densities changed a few years ago, and the difference is negligible these days.
OLED screens
OLEDs are a new kind of LED. They can be a lot smaller than traditional semiconductor LEDs: small enough for each pixel to be a separate LED. There's no need for a separate backlight. Because of this, the brightness slider multiplies the brightness of every pixel separately. Decreasing the brightness setting doesn't decrease power consumption directly. The power consumption of the screen depends on how bright is the actual image it's displaying. In general, decreasing the brightness slider will tend to decrease power consumption, because the screen is darker overall, but a white screen on minimum brightness will draw more power than a black screen on maximum brightness.
Some phones with OLED screens have software that adjusts the brightness dynamically, instead of simply multiplying the screen colours by a constant value. This increases the brightness of the bright colours when more of the screen is dark, and decreases the brightness when more of the screen is bright, so the overall brightness looks the same. This can help save power: when you've adjusted the brightness so darks are clear in your environment, there's no point in the phone burning more power to make the brights look brighter than you need. On Samsung phones with OLED screens, you can find this in the Display settings, labelled Auto adjust screen tone.
Summary
Whatever type of display technology your phone uses, decreasing the brightness control can use less power, but for different reasons in each case.

Lowering screen brightness is one of the energy-saving tips always coming out on top. That's not even specific to your Samsung Galaxy Mega, but valid for all devices. For other tips (and more details), see e.g. What can I do to increase battery life on my Android device?


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How can I fix a Droid Razr Maxx's power button?
Suddenly, today, the power button stopped working.  I tried to turn off the screen and it wouldn't.  Everything else works just fine.  Eventually the screen timed out, and wouldn't turn back on.  Plugging it into a charger turns the screen back on, but that's fairly useless away from power...
I had heard that soft reset (power button+volume down) fixes it, but not even that worked.  It would only register it as volume down.  I plugged it into adb and rebooted it that way, to no avail.
What can I do?

The power button is handled at a very low level by something like a watchdog, so if it's not working, the problem is probably in hardware, not software. That means it probably needs physically replacing. Take it to a repair shop and have them check it out.
Even if you don't think you did anything to break it, it could be the result of an earlier impact: e.g. it cracked the circuit board, but only after continued use has the crack broken the electrical circuit.


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S4 won't boot into ClockworkMod Recovery
I have a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4, and am trying to install CyanogenMod 11 Snapshot, but I'm stuck. I installed ClockworkMod Recovery using Loki, but whenever I go into recovery with my phone, it just goes into the default recovery mode, with a little Android guy saying "no command", so I'm unable to install the CM .zip from my SD card.
This is on a rooted S4 (Model SCH-1545) on Android 4.3, Kernel version 3.4.0, and Baseband I1545VRUEMK2.

Have you tried flashing clockworkmod via fastboot?   I believe the Samsung devices use their own version of fastboot, the cyanogenmod site will give you more info on how to install  :
http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_jfltecri
I have found that doing it manually is usually more effective than using some sort of automated program (I assume Loki is, never heard of it). It might look complicated at first, but Cyanogenmod is probably the easiest to install, taking into account its large user base and overall decent support. If you feel that the steps required are too involved or time consuming then you may want to consider why you are rooting - it is certainly not for the mainstream user that expects everything to work. Cyanogenmod do provide an automatic installer, but I don't know whether the s4 is supported. The main reason as to why you have to jump through so many hoops is that Samsung don't particularly want you to install a custom rom on your s4. On the Nexus 5 it takes 3 clicks.

Philz touch recovery is easily flashable. Works for every Rom I tried. Not a fan of cwm on Amy of my devices tbh


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Can I retrieve Whatsapp voicenotes which have been deleted while recording?
If I record a voicenote on Whatsapp and there is an interruption while doing so (incoming call, calendar notification), the recording is immediately aborted by Whatsapp.  A little dustbin pops up in the bottom right corner and I cannot stop the recording from being deleted.  Is that "piece" of recording available somewhere or was it never saved?

If the dustbin animation is shown the voice note probably is deleted.
Or you can check all the saved voice notes on the SD card.
The path is
Whatsapp/Media/Whatsapp Voice


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Play store - Wishlist server error DF-DFERH-01 - ZTE Blade III
My android was working fine until one day, i saw

Error retrieving information from server. [DF-DFERH-01]

with a RETRY button.
This is happening only in the "My wishlist" menu. No errors before.
I have ZTE Blade III with android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich.
SCREENSHOT:

First you have to go to Settings > Applications > Manage applications
  Once here you go to the "All" tab.
Seek the Google Play Store app and press "Clear Data" button.
Then look for "Google Services Framework" or "Google Service Framework" application and do the same.
Then restart the phone, wait a minute and ready.

I hope they work.

http://wikitechsolutions.com/6496/how-to-solve-the-df-dferh-01-error-when-you-are-into-google-play


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No notifications with Facebook messenger after upgrading to 4.4
I have a Galaxy S2 that is rooted and I recently upgraded to Kitkat 4.4.
After doing so, I've noticed that Facebook Messenger does not alert me when a new message comes in. It would before the upgrade, and I restored it from backup, so I assume it's the same program.
I have gone through the interface to ensure that notifications are set to be on. I have also looked in the app manager and made sure that notifications are enabled for this app.
I do seem to be getting notifications with Gmail when I get a new mail, but I'm not sure of other programs are affected.
How do I ensure that Facebook Messenger notifications are operating as they should?

If you haven't yet updated you should. it might be the problem that it isen't yet compattable with your OS. if that is not the case, reinstal the app so it is fresh and clean.


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Why does my phone need to connect to google servers?
You can tell the difference between when your phone is connected to Google's servers, and when it isn't by the following in 4.3:
Connected

Not connected
Please note one is blue and one is grey.
My question is why is it necessary for the phone to connect to Google's servers at all?

Lots of apps use this connection to do their work. As well as Google's own apps such as Gmail and Hangouts, third-party apps that use any of the following features via the Google Play services library need such a connection to work fully:

license verification or in-app purchases
push notifications using Google Cloud Messaging
Signing in with your Google account or syncing or backing up your data to Google's servers
Most Google Play Games Services features (e.g. online multiplayer and leaderboards)

Even so, the indicator isn't really meant as an indicator about Google's servers. Since Google's servers are always there, Android checks if it can reach them as a way of knowing whether it can reach the Internet in general. That way, it's easier for you to know what is wrong if you're on a captive Wi-Fi network; that is, the kind that redirects you to a login or terms & conditions page.


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Samsung Galaxy S2 can't write any files to SD nor delete existing folders, why?
I go to recovery mode, format everything that's possible, even running some full wipe script, then install fresh ROM, boot into it and see all old folder on internal SD card from old apps, also I cannot delete them and I cannot write new files, it just won't save, if I try to take a photo, it gives a warning that no room left on SD card...
I don't need any of the data on the phone, I just need to wipe everything and start from clean blank ROM flash...
Why is that happening and what could be done to fix it?

An exact error message would be very helpful

Which Android version? Sounds like Kitkat with its "great new security feature".

ROM is Based on XWLSW Android 4.1.2 (Date: 16/05/2013).

Error message when I make a photo with camera:
Not enough space, delete unnecessary items ...


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CyanogenMod 11 nightly on Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (gt-p5100)
I'm getting the set_metadata_recursive: some changes failed problem. All over the internet, it says to upgrade CWM to 6.0.4.5 or higher, but I'm using the latest for this device (6.0.2.7) according to the site, how do I get a later version? Or if I can't, how else can I get the latest CyanogenMod on the tablet?

Ok I was able to get it going by using TWRP instead of CWM. TWRP is much better!


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How to unhide contact?
I've hidden contact in hangouts' dialog for opening new hangout, by clicking on one of icons of most frequent contacts, then in "Contact options"->"Hide contact":

Now I wonder how to "unhide" it?
(Notes: Currently using "Hangouts Version 2.1.100 (1151589-30)")

Problem solved with Hangouts version 2.1.223.
In "settings" we now have an option do "unhide" contacts.
Thanks Google.

If you have hidden any contact and now want to unhide, just see at the top, next to notification bar, you will find a dotted sqaure box which contain folders liek "My Accounts, Search, Map etc". Now see at the bottom, you will find option of more. Click on it. Now there you will find "Hangout" folder. Click on it. Once you click it, a handout page will get opened. Now at the extreme left, you will find "Menu, then at bottom you will find Contact, Conversation, Phone Calls, More". Click on "More". After that at the bottom, you would find "Settings option". Now in that you will find A box like "Share your status" and all. Again go at bottom, you will find "Hidden Contact". Go on it and you will find hidden contacts and now you can unhide whom you want. All the best.

If you have the contact in your contact lists then just type the name in search bar.

That's what we do. However, so far earlier hidden contact does not appear in top icons, faces even frequently used, will it? (To make it clear: even I hangout with Joe Doe, he does not appear on list "people you hangout with" after I selected him as "Hide contact". Therefore I wonder if it's question of time or if Joe Doe is permamently hidden, if so - how to unhide him?)

Go to settings page and select the account where you want to unhide the contact. Scroll down, you will find the hidden contacts option.

On Hangout version 8.0.11.
Hidden contact is in the Archived Conversations.
You can find archive on your left screen - Hamburger menu.


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T0lte model number
This could be obvious I have a Note 2 and the Model number in the phone is the CyanogenMod T0lte. When I got the phone it already had a custom Rom so I never go to see the original modle number. With the official 4.4 update I want to try it out but Samsung does not recognize this modle number so what is the model number for T0lte?

It is most likely GT-N7105, the international version. You can find the other models in Wikipedia.

That was my guess but I was very unsure. Thanks


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Is it okay to use USB 3.0 cable with USB 2.0 wall adapter?
I bought an LG Optimus One phone a long time ago. The phone came with a USB 2.0 cable + wall adapter.
3 months ago, I bought a Galaxy Note 3. The phone came with a USB 3.0 cable + wall adapter. The wall adapter stopped working, however the 3.0 cable still works. (When I connect my Note 3 to the computer using the 3.0 cable, it works. But when I try charging my Note 3 using a wall outlet, it doesn't work).
My question is:
Since the wall adapter which came with my Note 3 stopped working but the 3.0 cable still works, is it okay if I charge my Note 3 with the USB 3.0 cable while the 3.0 cable is plugged into the wall adapter which my LG Optimus One came with?
Note: I didn't try it yet because I was afraid it might ruin the 3.0 cable.

USB devices are designed to use a wide variety of voltages ranging from 500mA to 1500mA and have been standardized for quite some time. You can generally plug any USB device into any USB cable and into any USB port, and nothing will blow up. Using a more powerful charger should speed up battery charging, while using a less powerful one will just charge slower. A good resource for this topic can be found here.
As noted in that article, the only real concern is when charging an older phone with a newer charger, as the battery might not be able to handle the higher current. In your cause your using an older charger with a new phone, so your all good.

right, I'm not concerned about the phone. Is it okay for my USB 3.0 cable to be plugged into an old adapter?

Yes, as long as it's micro USB. Your Note 3 is micro USB so if it fits it will work.

okay thanks.. if it does fit, then will I be getting  my regular charging speed / power? (I've noticed that my Note 3 charges much faster compared to my LG Optimus One). So if I charge my Note 3 with a USB 3.0 cable which is connected to an old adapter, will it charge at the same speed as it was charging before (when I connected the 3.0 cable to the new adapter which came with the phone) or will the charging speed be reduced?

Your old adapter is probably 500mA, and will charge a bit slower than normal.

Note that by “old” the article means pre-2007 or thereabouts, so, really, for most people it is irrelevant.

nullmem gave an excellent answer, but I'd like to add that it's NOT ok to plug use any USB-C cable.
USB-C was created exactly to resolve the kind of issues nullmem describes in his answer -- different chargers supply different currents, and different devices can accept different maximum currents.
The USB-C spec tries to negotiate the highest safe amount of current that the device trying to charge can accept, that the device supplying the power can provide, and that the cable can carry. To know this, the cable has to be intelligent. Several low-grade cables not only don't respect the specification but have faulty wiring, and this has been widely reported since it made nerd news when a Google engineer fried their Chromebook port using a faulty cable.
See the excellent USB-C guide here and the USB-C peripheral test spreadsheet (cables, chargers, etc) here.


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how can i repair samsung galaxy s duos 2 GT-S7582 no sim card/no service
i already tried installing stock firmware the new and the old firmware philippine GLOBE but still nothing happen still no sim card/no service .. when i try to call it says "not registered to the network" please anyone help me .. even just advice what to do ..

I also faced that problem. After changing the motherboard it rectified. Since it was done during warranty period, I did it free of cost. Many peoples suffer this problem and it is clear that it is manufacturing defect.


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Can I stop Google Goggles from automatically searching after OCR?
I recently had need to OCR a screenshot I had taken of my phone. I went to Google Play to find an app to do that, when I noticed that one of them was tagged "goggles". That reminded me of the Google Goggles app, which I already had installed. So I decided to see whether or not Goggles would work on an image that had already been taken. I found that it could, and it did successfully OCR the portion of the image that I needed.
The annoying thing was that it, quite without my permission, took that OCR'd text and did a Google search on it. It had no reason do to that, and I'm glad I wasn't OCR'ing any really personal data. So my question is: Is there any way to stop Goggles from doing the automatic search, or should I look for another OCR app?

If the part you're concerned about is sending the data to Googles servers, that's most likely already done for the OCR itself. I doubt there are many apps out there which can do complete onboard (offline) OCR. Just try doing the OCR in airplane mode to verify, I might be wrong here.

I'd just like the option to copy numbers. I very rarely want to search, so to have this as default is pretty frustrating.


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Disabling Verizon Galaxy S4 from sending usage data back to Verizon
Its come to my understanding that Verizon gets information about how you use your phone reported back to it. Information such as "Amount of data used for Facebook, Snapchat, Netflix" etc. I know Verizon can always see the amount of data I used, but I'd rather keep the specific content/origination of the data private.
A friend told me that I can "root my phone and disable that reporting" but I didn't get all the information. I wanted to ask this community:

How to disable reporting back (hopefully without rooting the phone)
If rooting is required, what the most effective way of accomplishing all this is?

For some reason, googling around for this issue has given me no information! (I am a bit shocked at that as I figure it'd be a hot topic now-a-days).
FYI - In case you are curious, I do feel how I use data is a private matter and unless a company issues a warrant, should not look at the type of traffic I carry. Its just a principal I live by.
Note - Just in case, I am sure Verizon isn't specifically sniffing my packets. My concern is Verizon seeing things like:
100 Mbs on Facebook
200 Mbs on Snapchat
500 MBs on Netflix
etc
It just feels weird to me that they can see this information.
I'd like to disable that reporting.
Lastly: I'm using a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 running KitKat 4.4.2, Kernel vs 3.4.0.

I'd press your friend for details, honestly. I doubt your phone is "sending" the data usage to Verizon at all. They're simply tracking your data usage themselves, on their switches and infrastructure. After all, they're effectively your ISP when using your phone's data connection. All of your traffic is travelling through them, and they (presumably) have lots of network monitoring tools in place that track packet destinations, origin, times, etc. A VPN might work to obfuscate this, if you're looking for something like that.

To be fair, my friend is on T Mobile. Perhaps they are different? As for VPN, that is an idea though I'd rather not add another layer + pay extra $

I can't imagine a situation where a carrier would be relying on the phone to communicate bandwidth usage in that way. All they're doing is monitoring the bandwidth used by your device as they handle it (again, it flows through their pipes, they can already track the bandwidth). Forcing the device to report its own usage somehow would be substantially more prone to error, and possibly even spoofing, which would greatly endanger the data packages sold by carriers (and therefore, their profit margins) which rely on accurate bandwidth accounting.

My friend told me the  name of the tracking system is Carrier IQ http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/01/carrier-iq-what-it-is-what-it-isnt-and-what-you-need-to/

This app will tell you for sure if you have Carrier IQ on your device. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lookout.carrieriqdetector

@eldarerathis: Verizon is known to use hidden apps to track their customers. (But, now when I need the link, I can't find it.)

The most effective way to block this, is by rooting your device, and remove or freeze the offending app. Try TitaniumBackup, AppQuarantine and AFWall+. But the simplest way, may be to try to install a hosts file that blocks all bad IP addresses, such as the one provided by MoaAB. You can try that without root, but I doubt it will work on your 4.4.2.

I have the best way to do this, you must be rooted unfortunately.
You need to edit build.prop and add this line ro.config.nocheckin and put true.


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How to install google apps when android built from source
I added a kernel module to the msm flo kernel. I built android JB from source for my Nexus 7(flo). I flashed the device with the built OS. I can add 3rd party apps for which I have apks or I could add them to the source tree.
But I can't add google apps or anything from the play store. I can't add my google account under settings->add accounts since it doesn't exist. I tried installing google play store by downloading the apk to my machine and installing it with apk. Play store does install, but play store crashes as soon as I click on it.
Is there anyway to fix this issue?
I am using ubuntu 14.04

There is a lot more to the Google Apps than just downloading and installing the APK.  Google's Services framework and apps (a.k.a. GApps) are not part of AOSP which is probably where your source comes from, but they are required for Play Store and other apps to work properly.
Unfortunately GApps is closed-source, so it's not allowed to re-distribute these portions.  However, since your Nexus 7 tablet shipped with them, you should be able to easily find all the necessary components in the original image.  Alternatively, you should be able to find the GApps package for your specific Android OS version that works on your tablet over at XDA-Developers forums.

You need the GoogleLoginService.apk and GoogleServicesFramework.apk installed in addition to the play store.
You can obtain the needed apks out of the google apps package cyanogenmod makes available, or just flash the entire thing.
If you want to do the one-at-a-time method, they also have a listing of what all the system apks actually do so you can decide if you want them.

You need to flash the Google Apps package for your device.
Head over to Goo.im. There'll be a guide there on which GApps build to download for a specific Android version.
Flash it through recovery. If you're having lots of FCs with Google apps after this, I'd suggest you reflash your Android build and then GApps immediately after. Don't forget to clear cache.


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How to unbrick Nexus 7
I bought this tablet on Jan 7, 2013, and have allowed it to update whenever it asked, but I can't tell you what version of Android is has now. However, instead of the "X", I see four colored balls that move into the center, become one white one, and then move out...
     I have used it happily since then, until a week ago. I had recently installed an anti malware program, and that may be part of the problem. While I was websurfing, without warning, it went to boot: it went black screen, the four colored balls came in from the edges, and did the usual boot thing. Forever. So, I held down the power button til it shut off (I hadn't powered down in a while...mea culpa), and tried a reboot. Still did te 4-ball X thing forever.
     So, I held the power, up AND down volume, and got the screen with the recovery/start/reboot options that you can scroll thru with the volume buttons. Start and Reboot got me back to forever-booting. So, I tried recovery. I tried deleting cache: it said it did it. I rebooted, still looped. So...I bit the bullet, and did the "factory reset, lose all data" option. It said it did delete everything (so it's talking to me and making sense). So then I rebooted, expecting the welcome screen...IT'S STILL BOOT LOOPED!!
OK, so what can I do next? Is there a solution?
Thanks for ANY help!!

Sounds like your device had a problem with the KitKat OTA.
You can, however, download the correct image for your device here, and manually flash Android onto your Nexus.

Thank you very much...it sounds like this is how to "reinstall the operating system", but could you please explain in words of one syllable? I download the files at the URL you gave onto my DESKTOP and unpack everything? and then connect the Nexus to the USB port and hope I can see it, move all the files onto it, then RUN this ./flash-all.sh thing? I have no idea how to tell if my Nexus is in"fast boot mode with bootloader unlocked" or not, since it'll barely talk to me. But I'll give it a whirl if you give me the OK here...!


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Transfer files via USB from PC
Windows will recognize my Sony tablet, but the external SD card does not show, only the internal memory, I have the settings in the MPT mode. But can only see internal memory.

The answers at this question will help you out.

I have three suggestions:

If it is a MicroSD card, you could plug it into an external reader.
Try ADB (Advanced). If it shows up using the devices command, try pushing and pulling on the SD card.
Install file expert. When the app loads, the third tab has "Share my files" (Or something like that) Try these options via Bluetooth or WiFi. File Expert also has a seperate app, Web PC Suite, which can do the job you want.


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Is it possible to force an app to use cellular data instead of WiFi?
Our local office provides free public WiFi for phones and tablets, but blocks access in ways that means that some applications (like WhatsApp) are unable to connect.
Is there any way to configure Android so that a certain app (in this case WhatsApp, but could be others) will always use cellular data even though it is connected to a WiFi access point?
Bonus points if it'll only do it for a specific access point, so we can configure it to use cellular data for the office, but at home it'll still go over WiFi.
Currently the only alternative is to either keep WiFi off (which is much slower and eats into data caps) or keep toggling WiFi on and off (which is really quite annoying).
(Free or paid solutions appreciated. Using Android 4.3. Would prefer solutions that don't require root, but if that is the only way, then so be it.)

Sorry Richard for the mail from this comment. As for readers, firewall solutions won't make a difference. A firewall blocks connection, it doesn't magically reroute everything. This question was closed by community users as a dupe of this one but I have reopened this. That question asks for having dual network access, while this question asks for redirecting internet access attempts of X app to mobile data successfully while keeping Wi-Fi enabled. The answers there didn't demonstrate that this objective could be achieved with their solutions.

Yes you can do this. On my phone you go into Connection Settings and in Data Usage you can choose which app to make a "Mobile Data Only" app.

Hi, consider mentioning the device model of your phone and the Android version since the feature & interface might not be universal on Android due to vendor customization.

This works well for me in Android 11 (Samsung S20), but note that if you have a VPN on, the option will be greyed out, as it appears to conflict.

NetGuard and AdGuard will both allow you to accomplish your stated goal.  Both apps allow you to specify whether each installed app on your Android device can use WiFi, cellular data, or both (try doing that on an iPhone!).
Even more impressively, both NetGuard and AdGuard can help you specify whether or not an app can access the internet when the screen is on, off, or either.

As far as I know, android won't use cellular data at all when wifi is enabled. On a regular machine I'd create routes for whatsapp to use the celular interface, and have a default route using the wifi interface.
One solutio might be to use a VPN server at home, and connect to that on your phone. If you run OpenVPN op tcp port 443, then you'll probably successfully evade the firewall. The downside: it can eat battery like crazy (at least, it did when I tried).

Some apps provide solution for your problem.
Try Avast Antivirus. It have a built in firewall which limits the selected apps to use the given data network.
You can select/limit app to use 2G, 3G, Wi-Fi etc.

The automation App Tasker allows for location-specific triggers so that you can disable WiFi completely whenever you are in the local office (see example here).
I'm not aware of an option in Android to direct some apps via WiFi and others via mobile, at the same time.
You may be able to set a variable to indicate when one or more of the problematic apps is running and combine that with the location-based trigger to disable WiFi only when one of these apps is running and you are at the office. However, that would would not be helpful with an app like WhatsApp that is running all the time.
Alternatively, you may set specific time intervals during which you turn the WiFi off at the office so that you can get WhatsApp updates. This approach may have the additional advantage that it limits diversions to limited time windows.

+1: Using Tasker you could even limit that to whenever a certain app is running in foreground while your device is at location X (e.g. connected to your home WiFi), it's between 6pm and 10pm, and cell signal is stronger than Y – or even wilder combinations :)

Use the Android app Mobiwol. You can designate each app to use which network. :)

This did not work for me. Mobiwol simply blocked whatsapp when it tried to ues the wifi. Whatsapp did not use mobile data instead.

No it can't. As per @pgsandstrom 's comment, it only blocks a network, but that certainly does not mean the app will automagically switch to mobile data. All it accomplishes is to make WhatsApp stop working while you are connected to WiFi.


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How to uninstall Android upgrade
I was asked by my Galaxy Grand to update. It was a 608 MB build update. After done , now I got Android Jelly-bean 4.2.2 . It is making my phone very slow and uses too much phone memory. Want to uninstall, How can I do it without resetting device ???

Downgrading Android, especially on Samsung devices, is generally not possible because Samsung includes bootloaders in OTAs that prohibit installing older Android versions than the one the bootloader was meant to run.
I think you can use Odin to do a reflash of Android 4.1, but I think you'd lose some data with that.


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how can I change the contents of /proc/product_name_extra?
I have a rooted device and need to change the contents of /proc/product_name_extra from Prod to Eng. I have tried cp, mv, echo, and vi. I get IO error most commonly and no matter what perms I set I cannot edit the file. Any help would be greatly appreciated

/proc isn't a real filesystem, so the 'files' in it can't be changed by normal means. Rather, it gives file-like access to the system state. The only way to change what it reports is to actually change the system: in this case, that means flashing your device with an engineering ROM instead of a production ROM.

Damn. That's actually what I am attempting to do, but in order to flash the engineering files, the updater script checks this files value for "Eng" instead of "Prod"


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How do I smite this unknown vampire process that is sucking the blood out of my battery?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 that I upgraded to 4.4 a couple of days ago. Since upgrading, my battery longevity has dropped a crazy amount. Just this morning, it took about four hours to go from full charge all the way down to about 25%, and that's without much use. Previous to upgrading, I could go for about two days while listening to podcasts and writing emails and general normal use.
I looked in the system settings under the battery usage, and discovered that some "unknown" process was responsible for 50% of my battery use:

I clicked on the process to see if I could kill it, but the option to "force stop" was greyed out:

I tried rebooting, but, near as I can tell, it's still there, eating my battery.
How to I put a stake in the heart of this vampire process and make sure it never returns?

Update: More battery madness.
Yesterday, I woke up and my battery was dead, even though it was left in the charger for the night. Took a few rounds of trying to recharge and reboot to get any response, but eventually I got it running again, and this is what I saw in the battery settings:

Looks kind of like Google+ threw a fit and sucked the life out of the battery. Though, actually, I think that's probably a misreporting of events.
Okay, so then, yesterday, I was listening to a podcast, and I hear a pop and then my phone reboots. Again, when it's back on, I check the battery report:

It's pretty normal for the screen to be the biggest battery draw, but I don't see why suddenly the available battery power droped by about half at the time the phone self-booted.
So... I don't really know what to make of any of this. I'm kind of thinking maybe my battery is dying and behaving oddly. But if anyone has any better ideas...?

Since the icon represented by Unknown seems to indicate a system app of some sort. Are you rooted? Have you checked this Q&A? Or use Better Battery Stats to determine the culprit?

+1 for the title....no, really; well-stated problem with good research done

If you are rooted, I would recommend downloading Better Battery Stats (or Wakelock Detector) from the Google Play Store, and finding the name of the 'mad' processes.
If you aren't rooted, I recommend you root as other apps can't access battery stats as of Android OS version 4.4.

A link to the app you're recommending would be helpful.

It's understandable that your battery life will decrease when you run 4.4 on an older device like the S2. But that is strange. Try identifying the process like the other users suggested. I would also suggest Greenify, an app that can put processes and apps into automatic hibernation, decreasing their CPU toll.

Interesting! Never seen a phone that didn't list 'Screen' as biggest drain. I'd try uninstalling apps until it's fixed, my theory being that some cheesy app (spyware?) keeps calling home. Start with the running apps list--anything running that shouldn't be? Got GPS turned off? How much free storage do you have on the phone? If the phone's memory is nearly full it will overwork itself, in my experience, perhaps defragging. If none of that fixes it to your satisfaction then I'd wipe the phone clean and start over. Let us know what you find out!

That's very interesting. Have you looked for the "Unknown" app in your Application Manager? That may shed some light on the subject, if it can or can't be found anywhere in there. Other than that, look at some recently downloaded apps, see if they have any weird numbers in the App Manager.
A very puzzling problem indeed.

Even without root you can run a shell for example with "Material Terminal" and run "top" e.g. running "top -m 10" you can see if there are any apps using a lot of CPU.


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Build android from source. Battery power incorrect
I added a kernel module to the msm flo kernel. I built android JB from source for my Nexus 7(flo). I flashed the device with the built OS.
My battery power seems to be stuck at 100% remaining. I also used the trepn profiler app for Qualcomm SOCs and it also gives incorrect measurements for  % battery power remaining and instantaneous battery power.
When I flash a factory image of JB 4.3 this issue goes away. Is there a part of the source tree that is responsible for giving correct battery power measurements? If so where is it located?
I booted into recovery and the battery power stats are still incorrect

If you changed something at the source code, most likely the issue is to be found there. I assume that a clean repo sync of the source tree with no changes would work properly.
If you would like some help, some information would be nice to have.
Which kernel module?
From which source you pulled the source?
Is anything to be found in the build logs?

I added a kernel module to msm/drivers/gpu. It basically is a new gpu pwrscale policy. The existing policy is trustzone which can be found under drivers/gpu/msm/kgsl_pwrscale_trustzone.c
From what I know, the battery power measurements are through the files in drivers/power which I didn't change at all.
It was a clean repo sync of JB 4.3_r3


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Put six quick-toggles in Note 3 menu
I have a Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The 'slide down menu' [1] can be configured with 'quick-toggles' [1] at the top. A maximum of five 'quick-toggles' can be displayed at any one time, with the remainder of configured 'quick-toggles' available by sliding the 'quick-toggles' control to the left.
My particular use case is that I do need to see at a glance six 'quick-toggles'. Scrolling to see the sixth is a hindrance to my particular use case. First-world problem, I know! How can I configure or hack the 'slide down menu' to show six thinner 'quick-toggles' on the display at once?
[1] This is my first Android device. Please correct my terminology so that I might be able to Google these questions myself next time!

Use Wanam Xposed or Wanam Kit. It's an Xposed Framework module that will allow you to change everything about the toggles