text:
Nexus 7 Google Logo Boot-Loop
My stock Nexus 7 was working fine until I turned it on. The lock screen was frozen. I then hard reset the device and turned it back on. On boot the tablet gets stuck on the Google logo and never continues. Tried recovery mode, but it doesn't start. I also tried re-flashing stock from here but it hasn't made a difference. How can I fix this? Can I resolve this with fastboot?

I would reset the whole thing using Wugfresh's Nexus toolkit. It has saved me from a few panics with my Nexus 7.

Try clearing/formatting Cache partition from recovery and than flash a factory image.
If it doesn't work, flash a custom recovery and than format the Cache partition and try rebooting your Nexus 7.


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Sideload Factory OS via ADB
I have a nexus 6 which failed when updating to 6.0.1. I can no longer boot into the Operating System as the /system partition is corrupt. I ran a factory reset - but this didn't fix the problem because factory reset only clears out the /cache and /data partitions.
Since I am able to get into the bootloader and android recovery I was wondering if it is possible to reinstall the OS via ADB. I've searched around it it looks like ADB can only be used for installing updates/programs while fastboot can flash the /system partition with a factory image. I'm unable to use fastboot because the phone is not rooted. So, is there any way to restore the factory image of the OS via ADB on a non-rooted phone?

You don't have to bother about having phone being rooted since you would have all the rights necessary to flash a partition when booted into fastboot (bootloader) mode. Now, download the appropriate factory image from here, boot into fastboot mode and begin flashing the various files. I'm wondering whether you had OEM unlock setting enabled or not? That may pose a problem. BTW, what actually failed during OTA update to 6.0.1 (not 6.1.1)?

Unfortunately I can't use fastboot (or the flash-all script) to flash the files because the phone doesn't have OEM unlock enabled. Running adb sideload image-shamu-mob30i.zip doesn't work, saying that the footer is wrong and signature verification failed (even though the MD5 checksum checks out).

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text:
Help me save battery, BBS dump included
I got fed up with my Android battery life and thought I should use it only when really required. Hence, I installed a minimum number of apps: Runtastic, Runkeeper, GPS Status & Toolbox, Metronomics Beats for tracking my runs, and WhatsApp, which I use from time to time in a day. I also have installed microG Project, UnifiedNlp Location, Nova Launcher, and Titanium Backup.
I froze all the running apps and WhatsApp using Titanium Backup and unfreezing them before use. Using Amplify, I also limited some wake-locks as suggested in other threads on XDA. I also have Naptime, Power Nap for dozing and blocking background activity on screen off. I have Greenify, but not enabled.
I marked a custom reference using BetterBatteryStats last night when going to bed and checked in the morning. The battery level lost is 1.6% in 7 hours 16 minutes. Out of this, my phone was in deep sleep for 7 hours 11 minutes. So, 5 minutes of activity consumed 11% of my battery. I am not sure what is eating my battery.
Could you guys help me figure out and block it? Ideally, since I don't use my phone a lot, I am hoping that the discharge percent is less than 1.
BBS dump: http://pastebin.com/066UsAwp

So, 5 minutes of activity consumed 11% of my battery

You are mistaken in saying this, don't forget that the phone is on all the time , so that too consumes power. But yes, 1.6% is a little on the higher side, but not too much IMO, considering that you have so many apps/services running
Looking at this, wake locks are reasonably under control

Deep Sleep (): 7 h 11 m 47 s  98.8%
Awake (Screen Off) (): 2 m 41 s  0.6%
Screen On (): 2 m 24 s  0.6%

but, you could also try to limit these using Amplify without disrupting, what is essential  to you (do you require GPS to be on?)

alarm (com.fitnesskeeper.runkeeper.pro.Runkeeper): 31 m 3 s  Count:0 7.1%
alarm (com.truecaller.phoneapp.Truedialer): 31 m 1 s  Count:0 7.1%
launch (com.whatsapp.WhatsApp): 31 m 1 s  Count:0 7.1%
launch (com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2.GPS Status): 31 m 1 s  Count:0 7.1%

So what you need is something that hibernates apps not in use like  Greenify (not task killers), which is missing from your active list- wonder why you didn't enable it? ( Have a look at greenifytag in case you are not familiar with it and in particular Android's native process management vs. Greenify) This should certainly help you in reducing battery consumption
I would also highly recommend you to read this XDA thread ✭[GUIDE][07-02-2016]Extreme Battery Life Thread(Greenify+Amplify+Power Nap)✭ by V7. It gives a very systematic approach starting with battery life saving tips and how to use apps like Greenify and Amplify to reduce battery consumption. The OP is highly responsive and would revert with solutions, once you post your BBS stats as explained in his thread. I have been able to achieve 0.8% per hour consumption following his thread
Edit: Since freezing apps by Titanium didn't help, they appear to be poorly designed- look for alternate apps. see this in the Greenify question linked earlier

Thanks for the reply. I am scared do to use amplify on runkeeper, runtastic and gpstoolbox as I use them for running with GPS on. I don't want the app to close or be non-responsive when I running. Also, before going to bed yesterday, I have frozen those apps including whatsapp using Titanium Root. I don't understand why those wakelocks/alarms are shown when they are frozen.

If freezing didn't help, It looks like they are stubborn by poor design and that is where Greenify would help. Having said that, please go through the XDA thread . You have a good set of tools installed to reduce battery consumption. I am repeating but OP is very helpful and good

I already have amplify and managed to limit most of those mentioned in that thread. Will try to post my BBS stats there too. Thanks

Unfortunately, I can't post the dump there as I don't have the required privileges.

use Greenify . 2. Look for alternate GPS apps that are not badly designed and will freeze when required and try them 3. 2. PM the OP of that thread with a request- he is very likely to help ( I know him-, use by name here- he will know :-)

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Black screen for about a minute after the startup sequence
When I start up my device, I often have to sit through a black screen for a minute or so before it asks me the PIN code of my SIM. This didn't used to be the case before. The black screen comes up after the Nexus' regular loading animation and is completely empty except for the status bar at the top.
Then after entering my PIN I see a 'Process system isn't responding. Do you want to close it?' message on top of my home screen. I can just tap 'OK' and then use my phone like I normally would, but it's annoying.
Why does this happen and how can I avoid the extra waiting time? I have a Nexus 5 with Android Marshmallow.

I would guess that the black screen is due to the system process crashing during or shortly after boot. If you can find out why that happens then chances are it will solve the black screen issue.

How would I go about finding out why that happens?

It may just be because your phone cannot handle marshmallow.
You have a Nexus 5 (released in 2013), therefore when you bought it, it would have been designed for Kitkat. The phone has now been through two other major os updates (lollipop and marshmallow). Because these updates are designed to work fluently with newer models, older phones are expected to see long loading times.


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Reinstall gapps
I am using galaxy grand2 with stock rom(jelly bean,rooted).Day before yesterday i saw a video of modded play store on the you tube. i tried to install that but it didn't work for me. and i removed it. but my original play store is not working any more(not working in the sense it is opening but when i tried to install any app it crashes). so i want to reinstall the gapps but don't want to install the whole rom. so is it possible to reinstall just the gapps after using my phone for sometime????
thank you.

You'll need some sort of custom recovery install. If you have one click here and then select the correct version of Android you're running. Then download it and move it to your phone. After boot into your custom recovery and flash it.

Before trying to install anything open the apps section and try to get playstore in stock version(uninstall all updates) then clear cache and data of that app. If it doenst work then go to your recovery and format just system and cache, then install the ROM and gapps (don't format data or you'll lose all installed apps and files on your internal partition)
Edit: you said you're running stock ROM! Stock ROM doesn't need gapps it's preinstalled in it.
One workaround would be to restore the backup of your system through custom/manual restore(just the system don't check data)

I just updated the Google Play Store on my Xperia T running Android 4.3 to version 6.5.08.D-all [0] 2792142.
You could download the Play Store .apk from somewhere (eg. here) and try to install it.


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Can I safely install Android system updates with disabled Gapps?
On my Nexus 5x for personal choices I disabled all the Gapps (Google apps) via the Settings menu, included "Google Play Services" and "Google Services Framework". With these two apps disabled the Software Update screen is not available at all, so I'd like to install the May 2016 security patch with the Adb Sideload method.
The question is, do I risk any bootloop or any other issue if I manually update while those apps are disabled?
I would say no for several Gapps because if so they wouldn't even let me disable them, but the two mentioned above are required to get the update screen, that's why I'm worried about it. The phone has the stock ROM, no unlocked bootloader, nothing unusual.

I answer myself, just updated and everything has gone smooth! Nice!


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Is auto-sync really the biggest battery killer?
I have been digging the archives for eternity to find that Location Services and Auto-sync (assuming we ignored other factors such as Bluetooth etc -- because my focus is mainly about auto sync) are extremely battery hungry.
Although, i manually toggle the switches (GPS, BT etc) based on requirement. I have paid enough heed to notice the battery gain and drain caused by auto sync enabled and disabled.
I have read somewhere people claiming innocence of autosync. Basically, Their idea is  that it doesn't constantly push all the data from server to my phone and vice-versa. instead, there is a thread meant to ask the server if there's something new (and events are created based on the responses).
So, shed some light on:
1) is auto sync really causing  the depression to my battery?
2) what does auto sync really do (perhaps a geeky explanation please) ?
3) how many minutes/hours am i actually gaining or losing while leaving it ON or OFF ?


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How to turn off Samsung Galaxy a3 if the screen doesnt work?
How do I turn it off? My screen is not broken it just stopped working and i tried to restart it by pressing the on/off button and volume down-button but it didnt work.
Thanks for you if you can help me!

If you know what adb is and how to use it, you can run adb shell reboot -p
If not, you can install the following drivers, and extract the following zip file anywhere. Once done, enable USB debugging, plug your phone in your computer, and double-click on adbprompt.bat. You're going to see the following text in a command prompt:
Portable ADB Interface - v0.2 Public BETA
Packaged by Kickface of xda-developers forums

adb

Simply type shell reboot -p. When done, close the window.
For the sake of simplicity, you can, if you want, remove the battery instead. Generally it doesn't break anything.

Thank you for your answer! I would remove the battery, but my phone unfortunately has non-removable battery.

Volume-Down+On/Off turns off the device if it is connected to USB charger. Otherwise it reboots the device.
So just connect it to USB prior to pressing those buttons.
Checked myself on several Samsung A3 (2016, 2017) with unresponsive screens.

Can confirm this worked.

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Can a hotspot android device intercepts my traffic?
i'm asking of how can an Android device that i'm connected to its hotspot can intercept all of my traffic or do other stuff.

I don't know if you are looking for a technical, or simple response.
The explanation, is that the android (Hotspot) device, acts as a gateway, therefore all traffic is passed on there. But the content of encrypted traffic (like https) cannot be seen (directly, at least).
This is different as a normal MITM, because the traffic route is not being changed. The gateway (or router), downloads the information while it is being sent.

There are a lot of apps that do this, like zAnti. The problem is, normally, to this to be accomplished, root is needed.


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Steps to update rooted Galaxy S6
I have a rooted Galaxy S6 on 5.1.1, the first and only version I rooted my device on. I want to update to Marshmallow and still have a rooted phone. What are the steps I need to do to make this happen?

Updating your Samsung smartphone to a stock firmware
Most Samsung smartphones can be flashed with the Odin Tool.
But before you can flash you have to get your devices model number, a compatible firmware, the USB Drivers and Odin.

Get your model number: Visit your settings menue - navigate to "About Phone" and see if you can find your model-number. See here for typical model-numbers of a Galaxy S5.
Enter your model number on sammobile and download the most up-to-date firmware. If there is one for your region then take that - if there is no update available for your region you can flash other regions aswell. (If you are experiencing problems with connectivity, flash another modem)
Make sure you have the Samsung USB Drivers for Windows installed
Follow the steps on the download page of your firmware:

Extract (unzip) the firmware file
Download Odin v3.10.7
Extract Odin ZIP file
Open Odin v3.10.7
Reboot Phone in Download Mode (press and hold Home + Power + Volume Down buttons)
Connect phone and wait until you get a blue sign in Odin
Add the firmware file to AP / PDA
Make sure re-partition is NOT ticked
Click the start button, sit back and wait few minutes

This process works for rooted aswell as unrooted samsung phones. Your phone will be running an unrooted (stock)  firmware after this process.
To root your phone again - visit Chainfire's site and select the appropriate package for your device-model. Then extract this file and flash it like the other package. (Start Odin, select the .tar.md5 file into the AP/PDA slot of Odin and start)
Use a custom ROM
You can also use a custom ROM to update your phone to a newer android version. You'll need to install a custom recovery (like TWRP) and download an appropriate ROM zip.

Download Odin v3.10.7
Extract Odin ZIP file
Open Odin v3.10.7
Reboot Phone in Download Mode (press and hold Home + Power + Volume Down buttons)
Connect phone and wait until you get a blue sign in Odin
Add the TWRP Image(https://twrp.me/devices/samsunggalaxys6.html)(twrp-3.0.2-0-zeroflte.img.tar) to the AP-Sector of Odin
Make sure re-partition is NOT ticked - disable the Option "Auto-Reboot"
Click the start button, sit back and wait few seconds

When it is done (Odin shows the "PASS" message) - press and hold the Volume Up+ Power Button on your device until it restarts - release the power button as soon as see the boot-up screen.
If you want to install ROMs - visit XDA-Developers and look into the Android Development section.
If you have downloaded a ROM zip, copy it to your device, boot into TWRP and wipe /system, /cache, /dalvic. Flash your zip file with TWRP and boot up to the new ROM :)
Sources and further reading:
Root Samsung Galaxy S6 and Install TWRP Recovery (All Models)

Warning: This process will very likely trigger the KNOX fuse and you're going to loose warranty in most regions.

So long as you don't try an OTA (Over The Air update, such as you would be offered with a stock phone), you shouldn't lose root. You just need to choose and flash a new ROM. There are many ROMs you could choose from but I always used Cyanogen Mod on my rooted phones. CM has it's own updater, so you can update with this in future.
Google your options and make sure you follow instructions carefully. With many ROM's you will need to install the Google Store app manually if you want to install apps in the normal way after your update.


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Is there a VoIP / WifiCalling app that allows you to use your own number?
Is there a VoIP/Wifi-Calling app that allows you to use your own phone number?  (that is, the cell phone number that is already assigned to your device by your carrier)?
I've been poking around online and it seems almost all force you to take on a separate phone number for the VoIP/Wifi-Calling app.  I've only seen one claim that Vonage allows it, but none other.  Ideally I'd like more than one to choose from.  Haven't tried Vonage as of this writing but going to try it right after posting this question.
I tried Vonage.  It does use my number for outgoing calls, but incoming calls still ring the phone app installed on my phone by Sprint.  I have a feeling that acejavelin is correct that my only option is call forwarding to another line (like google voice) which is inherently set up to work over IP.
Seems to me, ideally, if I could just actually replace the phone app that my phone came with, that would work, if I could find a phone app that can do that and that does everything I want.   By the way, the main reason I want this is to be able to use Wifi calling when I'm in a location with a weak signal but available Wifi.  Sprint offers Wifi calling but they have some bugs;  I've escalated to Sprint's Engineering team, but it does not appear they are going to fix their bugs anytime soon.

Many SIP or other online providers can route call outbound sending your Caller ID, or any Caller ID you chose for that matter (there are some legalities to this, so it could depend on your country or locale), but to get inbound calls over that service the provider must "own" the number in order to route it. The only other option would be to get a different number from that provider, and call forward always your existing number to that number.
A common way to do this is to port your number to Google Voice, and get a replacement number from your carrier... This allows Google Voice to route inbound and outbound calls on your number to cell phone. Google Voice allows inbound calls to be routed to your new number from your carrier transparently so the caller doesn't know the call is a data call or a voice call. This also removed the "link" between your number and the device, allowing you to make and receive calls via an Android app, iPhone app, Hangouts extension on Chrome/web browser, or with services like Simon Telephonics Google Voice SIP Gateway.

T-Mobile supports the Android's native WiFi calling mechanism, provided you have a device/Android version that support it.

FreeFly881 app does offer the same mobile number for your VoIP calling.

Please link the app from play store

Doesn't look like FreeFly881 does what I want.
In their words:
"YOUR OWN PHONE NUMBER

Create a free phone number out of your existing one:
881 + [country code] + [your mobile number]"
That means people have to dial  "881 + [country code]" before dialing my number, if they want the call to come in via FreeFly881 app.


text:
How do I read .csv files on my S6?
When I try to open the file to an editor I get a blank document.  What do I need to read a .csv file?

Assuming that you have an Microsoft office subscription I would install Microsoft excel. Otherwise Google Sheets


text:
Google play store won't let me download apps
Google Play Store is not letting me download a game for some reason I keep trying and every time it says the same thing it says something about the authentication I don't know what that means so it's hard for me to fix it if I don't know what it means and I definitely don't know where to look in the app's to fix it

You might not know what it means but at least you know what the error says. It's harder for us to fix it if we don't know what the error says. Could you [edit] the question and tell us exactly what it says, and when? (i.e. is it as soon as you click install, or after the download finishes, or some other time)

I had the same problem, so I did the following:

Clear cache for all apps.
Clear data in Google Play and Google Play Services
Logout of my Google Account, and login again.
Try installing the game.

Thanks a lot it worked. Althoughh i only cleared cache of Google playstore, settings and Google services. Thanks a lot!


text:
Are wakelocks only when screen is off?
If so, can I block all third-party app wakelocks since I want the apps to run only when my screen is on?
I understand that this would break some functionality like receiving whatsapp messages when screen is off, but I am fine with it.

Are wakelocks only when screen is off?

No
Quoting from Android Developers

PowerManager.WakeLock defines wakelock

A wake lock is a mechanism to indicate that your application needs to have the device stay on

PowerManager defines various types of wakelocks

The following wake lock levels are defined, with varying effects on system power. These levels are mutually exclusive - you may only specify one of them.

As you can see from the picture partial wakelocks will continue to run irrespective of state of screen.

I want the apps to run only when my screen is on?

This should be possible using automation but I haven't tried. Another alternative is using a task killer like [root] Servicely to choose and selectively kill apps when the screen is on.
Note: Task killers are not recommended for reasons mentioned here Do I really need to install a task manager? and various other answers in task-management tag
For further reading: Wakelocks: Detect No-Sleep Issues in Android* Applications

I have used servicely to control wakelocks despite the warning not to use it- the trick is in carefully configuring it once you identify your offending app


text:
How can I cause a dummy notification in Android 6.0?
I'm trying to set my phone up so that notifications won't show up in certain situations. To test my set-up, I need to create a notification myself, so I can see whether it shows up or not.
What's the easiest way to create a fake or dummy notification, without having to write an app to do it?

It's not clear- what is causing the notification in first place( apps, I suppose), where is it being displayed normally? what exactly are you trying to achieve? Maybe, a snapshot in addition to explanation would help

You Could try macrodroid. Trigger: Notification received (from any app); Action: 1.Clear notifications 2. Display Dialog (whatever you wish to be displayed) Constraints : none (run always). In the display dialog, you can configure for a number of things, like app sending notification, time etc...see options

I think I understood what you're trying to do. Other people haven't, and your question was at risk of being closed as "unclear". I've edited it to try to make it clear, but if my edit isn't right, you should [edit] it yourself and make it clearer.

Send yourself an email and you'll get a notification.

Looking for this?
(Click image to enlarge)

It turned out that major automation apps can easily do this, at least Tasker (free trial; user guide), MacroDroid and Automate can.
(Click an image to enlarge it)

Note:

In Tasker, Action to create a notification from a task is available under Alert action category.
Test run: use the play button in the main window of the task.
In MacroDroid, the Action is named Display Notification.
Test run: long press your macro and choose Test Actions.
In Automate, the block Notification show under Interface category can create notification. For that block, Proceed should be set to When dismissed.
Test run: press Start in the default window of the flow.
In each of the the said apps, you need not to assign a trigger at all.

It might become tedious if you're to create the dummy notification multiple times, so I suggest you try an app which can execute an app shortcut with convenience, such as:

LMT Launcher; or
a gesture specific app such as GMD Gesture Control and All in one Gestures (both may require root access); or perhaps
bind the shortcut to a hardware key using
Xposed Additions (requires root access and compatible Xposed Framework)

I think this is the best solution so long as there is no default way to do it with the phone.

Install the DO app: https://ifttt.com/products/do/button. Inside it create a DO recipe using a channel called 'IF notifications'. Set a message and you're ready to go - every time you'll hit that button, a notification will be posted. Tip - you can enable a floating button for this recipe too to make it more accessible.

Perhaps you could actually point out a specific one.

Yeah my bad - got more details in now :)

Another approach install Pushbullet on your phone and PC/browser. Then whenever you push from the other device, you'll get a notification on your phone :)


text:
Create wifi hotspot but block access certain domains
When I share my internet connection other devices think that they are connected to a WiFi (which is correct). Some programs such as dropbox, play music or updates start using a lot of bandwidth.
Is there any other way to block access to certain domains when creating a hotspot?

There's a setting on "the other end" (i.e. the clients using your WiFi), provided they run Android: in Settings › Data usage one can define a WiFi AP as "mobile hotspot". The system then will tell those apps to behave as if they were on mobile data.

@Izzy: This does not answer my question, but solves my problem! Thanks. I am still wondering if there is a "better" hotspot software on android available.

I was aware this isn't an answer (hence the comment), but was hoping it might prove helpful – which it turned out to be. Sure there are alternative hotspot solutions/apps, but none that solve your issue: all the client gets to see is a WiFi hotspot. I'm not aware of any "switch" an hotspot could use to tell the client "please be modest, I'm a bit limited".


text:
Auto upload all my videos to Youtube
I would really like to upload my 4K videos from my Nexus 5X to youtube. I don't want to take any manual steps.
So everytime I shoot a video, I want it sent to youtube without any manual intervention.
How can I achieve this? Tips greatly appreciated.
I upload all my videos to Google Photos, but they are limited to 1080p ...

Ditto.  One of my phones is the same model too.  Auto-upload to youtube would be excellent for backup since youtube charges nothing per upload.   And it would make sharing much easier.  +1 for this question!

On a quick investigation on "how would I build this" one issue it seems is that youtube data API has limits per application. So if I were to build this and release it in play store - it'd quickly get throttled by google.
I wonder if there is a way to pretend being the youtube app (add patch to ReVanced?)
Alternatively people can supply their own app keys, which seems involved on the user side

https://github.com/porjo/youtubeuploader an example cli automation tool that does this


text:
How do I recover the offline feature in YouTube?
I have lost the YouTube offline feature on my accounts and devices. The offline option has disappeared from settings. I have tried uninstalling updates and reinstalling them, I have tried changing countries, I have tried using online suggestions. Nothing has worked and the offline feature is still missing. Please help me. Thank you.

"I have tried using online suggestions" If you want to get some new suggestions, you should tell us what you've already tried. Nobody will answer if they think you have already done what they would suggest.

Offline videos are now only available for YouTube Red subscribers.
Youtube Help

As Alex said it it is feature of paid subscription, but there are a lot of other options to get it for free.

Root your phone and install xposed then YouTube addons from xposed framework.
If you do not have rooted device you can install ogYoutube which will allow you to use feature you mentioned.

The OP should have also tried to clear the cache. Or check if his/her country was on the list of countries where offline viewing was allowed. It was restricted to 16 countries (I guess that when the OP's Youtube app lost the offline feature) before being extended.
If you can still use the offline options then:

When watching a video that you would like to watch offline, click on Save or Download.
Select the video quality, then click OK.

The YouTube app will start downloading the video. The videos downloaded for offline viewing are available for 30 days (you need to connect at least once during the next 30 days to keep them offline). Note that there are still videos that you will not be able to watch offline due to copyrights, etc.


text:
How can I prevent installation of NEW applications on an Android 5.1 device, but keep auto-updates of existing applications?
We will soon have to provide a phone to a person who is obviously not familiar with IT stuff at all, and not capable of learning anything about information security, etc. (and probably not capable of learning anything really) They must have ability to communicate with us and there will be no one near them to "repair" the device in case something gets really broken.
I thought that it will be a good idea to provide them with a couple of necessary applications on the device and then block installation of any other new apps (both from Google Play and from anywhere else). However, the standard auto-update process of Google Play should be working (at least because otherwise messaging/VoIP apps will soon become obsolete and stop working, and for security reasons, too)
So the question is — what are the possible solutions to prevent the user from installing non white-listed applications?
Also, we think that the person will not try too hard to circumvent the restrictions. So, maybe even a simple solution (just hide all unwanted icons, including Google Play, from the launcher / app list) will do, but this is risky, and I am not sure that is possible with all kinds of stock UI. So it's interesting to know if there are any better solutions.
Update
Solutions which do not rely on the fact that the user doesn't know (their only) PIN/password are preferable, because a working screen lock can be useful to reduce damage caused by device loss/stealing.

There are multiple approaches you could take:

a kiosk-mode solution. That would pin the user to a certain app or group of apps defined as "kiosk"
parental-control apps, which are often a specific variant of kiosk
use an App-Locker

The latter most likely is the approach best fitting your current case: You can define which apps should be "locked down" and which not. Locking e.g. settings and the Playstore app, while unknown-sources are disabled, would prevent any new installations. With auto-updates enabled in the Playstore app, these would still be applied automatically.
For additional details, be welcome to click the tags (for questions using them), or take a look into the corresponding tag-wikis: kiosk-mode, parental-control, unknown-sources.
Note that, to prevent installations via the Google Play web interface, the user must not have the credentials of any Google account linked to the device (no chance otherwise).1 These do not necessarily correspond with the lockscreen PIN/password/pattern, so this is no contradiction to your requirements.

1: credits to Firelord for pointing this out


text:
Remotely remove all phone's data
I gave my phone away without removing the photos on it,now I know the gmail's account on that current phone.
Is there a way to remove all the data,or at least the photos on that phone,when I have the account running on it ? maybe install an app remotely ?
Thanks.

Just knowing the account name won't be enough (or one could simply iterate over all @gmail addresses to blank a lot of devices). But as you have that, there's one remote tool called "Email" you could use: write a mail to that account and ask to please remove the data you've left on the device.

That's an obvious sarcastic comment,look at the answer to know how to do it better next time.

Sorry if you feel like that, wadie – but it's fact. Once you've sold your device, and the new owner replaces your account by his/her own, just knowing the email address of the new account isn't enough. You didn't indicate you have the credentials for it – so I couldn't know you're talking about your account still being active on it. Thus knowing the Gmail address of the new owner was the much more likely assumption.

You can try to log in to the Android Device Manager.
You need to sign in with you google account (must be the same as on phone).
If your phone is still linked to your account and if it is connected to the internet you can fully remotely wipe your phone (= factory reset).
If the new owner has already changed the account, you have no chance to delete any data.


text:
Repair bricked Nexus 9
During an OTA update the tablet went into a boot loop.  I let this continue a few times until I was fairly certain it wasn't going to resolve itself.  I never had a reason to unlock the tablet or use ADB so I never enabled those options from the developer menu.  I am able to see the device from a PC using fastboot, same from my linux laptop.  When I attempt to flash anything I get permission issues, same with the oem unlock command.  ADB devices shows nothing, so I'm not sure if there's a way to update or sideload something or if I'm just screwed.
I've done a good amount of research and found people who have said they were able to sideload, but I'm not sure if ADB is like the unlock option -that it has to be enabled from inside the OS? (Aside: Why would they do this?!?)  Unlocking isn't an option it seems, so are there any other workarounds people are aware of?  Is there a way to unlock or enable ADB from the recovery menus?
Note: need help Nexus 9 stuck in endless reboot loop does not work for me as fastboot sees the device, but ADB does not.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.  This is the worst flagship device I've ever used and seriously has me considering an iPad...  With much angst.  I just can't believe a device that is less than 2 years old that gets bricked on an update, that I would have to pay to repair and not have a tablet for weeks.  Just not acceptable.

"I get permission issues" Could you be more specific? What actually happens?

C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot oem unlock
...
(bootloader) ability is 0
(bootloader) Permission denied for this command!
OKAY [  0.009s]
finished. total time: 0.010s

C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot flashing unlock
...
FAILED (remote: not allowed)
finished. total time: 0.003s

@DanHulme Any specific commands you want me to try to show the output?

You don't need to unlock the bootloader to flash an official image. Have you tried that?

I believe I did and got an error that the file was missing android-info.txt or something like that.  Do you know what official image I should use?  I was in the process of installing the may security ota.  Other than that it was up to date.

@DanHulme Yeah, I tried with that image:  C:\Program Files (x86)\Minimal ADB and Fastboot>fastboot flashall -p volantis-ota-npc91k-42fc9c84.zip
error: could not load android-info.txt: No such file or directory

What is your priority at this moment? Do you want to save data or get the tablet back to usable state? For the former, forget it. For the latter, why haven't you tried "Wipe data/factory reset" from recovery mode yet? An OTA update is a dirty flash (doesn't wipe userdata) so once shouldn't be surprised that the existing userdata could be causing issues. BTW, unless you've a custom recovery (which you don't) you shouldn't bother about adb at all. It is of no use now. Since the bootloader is locked, you wouldn't be able to flash factory image using fastboot either so go with factory reset.

BTW, I want to make sure of something: did the OTA update flash successfully? That is, when you restarted your device to install the update did it automatically boot into recovery mode or not? If it did, did it successfully install the update there? If yes, then there is no point in side-loading anything so don't bother with that.

@Firelord Not concerned with data. Tried factory reset first thing after it boot looped. It boots to a dead android image and says no command. I got a little farther with fastboot, had to get all the files in the right places, but it still doesn't appear to be flashing correctly due to permissions. I'll post images when I get back home.

After the no command, did you follow: Press & hold the Power button. While holding Power, press the Volume up button once. Then release the Power button per https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/4596836?hl=en?

After seeing this new question, I believe OTA update messed up with system partition as well. Anyhow, you should still try the factory reset.

solution: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/144481/how-to-unbrick-nexus-9-after-an-ota-update/144734#144734

Is the update the May security update.I am thinking if I should run that update on my Nexus 9


text:
How to search for a specific email in a long thread in GMail for Android?
My inbox is full of long conversations (threads), each of them often having 50 or more emails. I find that the search function in the GMail app on Android is virtually useless with an inbox like this. Is there something I'm missing?
A bit more context: on the desktop web UI, searching for a specific phrase yields results that are conversations. Clicking on one of these opens up that conversation, expanding only the emails that match, as well as highlighting the matching parts. This is good.
On GMail for Android, the same search query yields the same results, and tapping on one of them opens that conversation, however, only the latest email in the thread is ever expanded. There's no indication which emails in the long thread actually contain matches. I need to expand each one in turn and read them myself to look for matches, which is of course ridiculous.
Note that refining my search won't help, here. The correct conversations are found, but that's not granular enough. I need the precise emails that match.
So again: what am I missing, if anything? Is the GMail app for Android capable of actually giving me precisely relevant results?


text:
Recover Pictures
Ok, so I just dropped my android 5.1 Moto G. the screen is unresponsive and has lines and squares running along it.
I was wondering if there was any way to recover photos from this phone, as it works, but when I connect to the computer it is locked, and, as the screen is unresponsive, I cant unlock it.
Thanks, Josh

Welcome to the Android Enthusiasts! I warmly recommend you to start with our broken-screen tag-wiki. As you're not the first one here with this issue (not the second either ;) we've setup some first-aid there. You can find a data recovery section at the end of that page. Good luck!

Did you have USB Debugging enabled prior to losing functionality of the touch screen? Alternatively, do you have a USB OTG cable on hand?

Get an OTG cable and connect it with your phone. Unlock it. Install Vysor for future use. Download something like solid explorer and copy everything to SDCard. Now remove the card and transfer it to your PC/Laptop.


text:
Is this Official ROM of gt-i9506?
Device: Samsung Galaxy S4 gt-i9506.
The size of some (linked removed because faulty) Samsung ROMs is 1.3 GB while CyanogenMod corresponding ROM's size size 0.3 GB here.
I cannot understand so big difference.
I want to get a stable release.

Is the former the official ROM of gt-i9506?

CM doesn't come with full GApps but Samsung's ROM do. CM also doesn't come with TouchWiz and Samsung's apps either. Naturally, the size would differ a lot.

@Firelord Do you know where are the official ROM? The one which I linked is wrong. I will delete the link.

@Masi we don't do "where can I download X" here – but AFAIK the best place for things like that is SamMobile. Check their Firmware tab ;)

The size of more than a gigabyte is true. I also flashed the official ROM of this device a short while ago. As already explained, this is caused in the difference between the very light CyanogenMod Rom (about i think 60 apps preinstalled) and the heavy, overloaded Samsung Touchwiz Rom (about 300 apps preinstalled).
For official samsung roms / firmwares i recommend the site SamMobile.com. They have all of the official roms for all samsung devices and are very reliable. The only negative point is that you have to sign up to download files and even then you have incredibly slow download speeds. You only get high speeds with paid subscription. But there is a "workaround" there:
An XDA user developed a brilliant tool called SamFirm Downloader. With this tool you don´t even need to sign up to SamMobile. You just need to enter the information of your device and ROM and the tool downloads this ROM with full (possible) speed from the SamMobile servers. You can get the tool here (download link under attachments of first post).

Step-by-step:

Download the newest version of SamFirm Downloader in this XDA post and unzip it.
Run the program
The only required information are model and region.
Fill in the model field. Model in your case is "GT-i9506". If you have a different phone you can google for the device model number or look on the sticker under phone battery.
Fill in the region field. This field decides which rom version (vendor) you get, as every single vendor like T-Mobile has its own firmware version. You need to enter the vendor code. You can find it for your specific country and vendor on this site. Just click at the Select country drop down menu, search your provider and copy or remember the short (3 letters) at the end of the line. Don´t download directly from this site as it´s very slow.
The checkbox needs to stay on Auto
Click on Check Update. If your model and region code were correct, it should have retrieved the correct (newest) firmware for your device.
If you want to get the ROM checked for download errors after download completed, check Check CRC32.
Check Decrypt automatically. You actually could do it manually after download, but why don´t let the program do it automatically?
Leave the rest as is and finally click on Download

You´re done! After some time you have the final zip-archive in the folder of SamFirm-Downloader which you need to unzip and then you can flash it with Odin.

Thank you for explicit explanations and about the tool! Great!


text:
How to unbrick nexus 9 after an OTA update?
After the latest OTA update my Nexus 9 boots forever. If I turn it off and then turn it on, it shows
and then it boots forever (green, red, blue, yellow circles, squares, circle slices move forever). I tried rebooting it a few times and even tried going into recovery -> hboot -> factory reset. Nothing changed. My Nexus 9 was not rooted and doesn't have a custom recovery.
Is it clear from this information what is wrong with my tablet? Can I unbrick it by flashing a stock ROM using adb or something?

Some users reported that side-loading the OTA update solved the problem for them? You would need to find an appropriate OTA update file and side-load it in recovery mode using adb.

@Firelord Do those OTA updates require that I have an exact Android version installed already?

Yes, those updates do.

I've got the exact same problem last night ;-( there's another similar post in progress too http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/144456/repair-bricked-nexus-9?newreg=34cddfc5152a4361979ff158813fddc5

I've got the same problem on a recent OTA update on my Nexus 9. Unfortunately thes "Nexus Root Toolkit" app didn't help because my Nexus 9 was all stock, no root and the OEM unlock was disabled. The problem got me into a dead end. But I found a solution that helped me out and now my Nexus 9 is alive again. It's simple, but you need to follow the steps thoroughly.
Be advised that your data will be completely gone, but at least your tablet will live again.

Ensure your tablet is fully charged and that you have 'adb' available (here's the official process, or a minimal installation)
Download the OTA image for your device, mine was Nexus 9 Wifi so i picked the Nexus 9 "volantis"
Start your Nexus and you'll see an image of an Android robot with a red exclamation mark (you may also see "No command").
Press & hold the Power button. While holding Power, press the Volume up button once. Then release the Power button.
You will then get into the Recovery Mode screen
I executed a Wipe data/Factory reset, not sure if it's mandatory for this procedure, but I did, it's up to you.
With the device connected with your computer choose the option: Apply update from ADB
Execute the following command in the directory
android_sdk_path/platform-tools:
adb sideload path_to_the_ota_image_you_downloaded_on_step_2.zip

Wait until it gets completed, restart the device and that is it!

Good luck!
It worked well for me on the first shot, I hope it helps you too.

I used Nexus Root Toolkit to restore stock ROM. It seems to be working now - the tablet booted, I see Welcome screen with a prompt to choose language.

For those of you who had tried the above with no luck, here is a quick update about how I just unbricked my Nexus 9 device after a stock OTA update.
All of the above is correct but when I tried to sideload the latest version of the volantis.zip file I received an error message, something like
E: sigature verification failed
E: ... Aborted
The solution was surprisingly simple
Sideload the very next version that the device currently has installed wich you can find on the second line of the recovery screen, in my case this was 6.0.1 (MOB30D)
I was nearly ready to give up but am currently updating to the latest android version after going back in and enabling USB debugging and the Bootloader (which were bother disabled before) then I managed to flash to 7.0.0 (NRD90M) with no problems or errors.
Next just a manual update from the device to the latest version.


text:
can't get monitor mode for my galaxy alpha's wifi in stock rom
so i am trying to do the monitor mode for my phone's wifi
which is samsung galaxy alpha sm-g850f running stock 5.0.2,
and i used the bcmon app and it says no firmware detected .
also i installed kali linux through linux deploy app,
and whenever i try to do the monitor mode for my wlan0 using airmon-ng command,
it just says an error there is no such device (-19)
and i have no idea where to start to know the problem,
i thought maybe i the chipset if the wifi doesn't support that thing,
so if i bought a usb external wifi card and connect it via otg , would it do the job as wlan1? or is there a way to fix the wlan0?

You might try this, i want to try that too: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2338179

You should summarize the approach you are linking. Otherwise, if the link disappears your answer becomes useless.


text:
What is the difference between .dex and .apk file?
.dex and .apk file: What are they and how do they execute ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_application_package and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalvik_(software). APKs hold the app, while DEX's are only exported executable's. An APK may contain a classes.dex to be executed but this can be ignored if a proper exported *.dex or *.odex file is present.

Actually, an APK file is a ZIP file, where you can found the Magic Number PK in the file header. It contains not only classes.dex but also other meta files such as AndroidManifest.xml which contains the basic configuration of this file.
A .dex file is just... uh, I regard it as a "real" executable, like an .exe file in Windows or an ELF in Linux, which contains the machine code(for Dalvik VM).

What is the difference between .dex and .apk file?

.dex file
Compiled Android application code file.
Android programs are compiled into .dex (Dalvik Executable) files, which are in turn zipped into a single .apk file on the device. .dex files can be created by automatically by Android translating compiled applications written in the Java programming language.
Reference: Answer by Vineet Shukla

That's.. not how you refer to another post on SE. You should quote the relevant part, and give the link as the reference, not posting the link only.

Okay. Didn't know that. Will keep in mind the next time.


text:
Terminated app install corrupted SD card data
I was downloading an app for my LG-90 and it was taking forever. It had been minutes, so i restarted my phone. The phone would not restart; I'd see the T-Mobile logo and LG logo but it would not get as far as the home screen.
I started playing around with it and I found that if I took the SD card out it'd restart fine. I kept a lot of data on that card so I mounted it while the phone was powered on and was able to copy it's contents to my PC. The Lost.DIR seems to be full with all the data I had on the SD card; all photos, videos, etc. But none of them have a file extension so I can't tell what's what. I have to rename things to .png or .mp3 and see it they play or whatever.
I've unmounted and erased the SD card an remounted it, but the phone still seems to think the old data is on there. It says there's not enough space if I try move an app there. Also Photos has never worked right since (black screen when trying to view photos).
Anyone had an issue like this before?
Any suggestions on how to recover this data & get the SD card working again?

So the bad news is the solution to this issue was;

Back up all phone data
Restore factory settings
Get a new sd card

I went with a 16GB SanDisk to replace the 32GB Samsung EVO sd card.
Good news is it only cost $11 and restoring contacts from Google servers is a great feature.


text:
What are the SEC80 and SECD00 Android Wi-Fi capabilities?
I have been collecting Android ScanResult.capabilities for a while and have encountered some settings I can't find any description of.
[ESS][SEC80][SECD00] and [WPA2-PSK-CCMP][ESS][SEC80][SECD00]
These were on two different access points scanned by a Samsung Galaxy S5 with Android 5.0.
What is SEC80 and SECD00? They seem to be enabled together. Any link to an explanation for the two Wi-Fi capabilities will be much appreciated.

I'm not sure this is a security question, but rather a pure Android question.

Yep, I still can't find anything. Have you tried the suggestion from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6866153/android-determine-security-type-of-wifi-networks-in-range-without-connecting-t/7019338#7019338 and used AccessPointState.getScanResultSecurity

I have come across that suggestion earlier, but the link is broken (or I don't know what to click).

I think I found your answer. They are capability flags: https://github.com/gopicsw/pdn-slatedroid-froyo/blob/9a33664a6f0bf7ead8688d13b6a517674cdee08d/froyo/external/wpa_supplicant_6/wpa_supplicant/wpa_gui-qt4/scanresults.cpp#L89

the flags reference this list: https://sourcecodebrowser.com/network-manager/0.8/_network_manager_8h.html#acb60dd58623392ab0183ec57117cbf64

so, SEC80 would be NM_802_11_AP_SEC_GROUP_CCMP

That was a wild ride in WPA specifications and Android source code, but this question really is an Android internal coding question mixed with a WiFi specification question, and not a security question. I'm glad the community (thanks @Adi) was able to solve this mystery.

How on earth were you able to dig that up? Very impressive! How did you? Will you move the question somewhere where I can give credit?

It actually wasn't me. As I say, I'm not sure where to migrate this to, but I'll try over at Android.SE.

I guess I'll wait for an answer by @Adi? Thank you for all your help.

Welcome to [android.se]. Sorry for the confusion due to migration, but take a [tour] for a moment to understand the scope of this site, which focuses more on end-users. That said, this question looks like related to development due to API call and such (which usually is off-topic), but it seems you're interested in Android Wi-Fi capabilities in general (which might be okay, or off-topic due to Android-independent, but I personally can't make a call due to my little knowledge on this field).

Did Adi answer the question anywhere? I can't see the original post due to the migration, but it's weird if the answer is not migrated also...

Hi Andrew. It was on hold so it was not possible to add an answer. It was all handled in the comments.

I'm not sure any forum wants to touch this question. :)

You're in luck! Several years ago I was thinking about extending some aspects of WPA and wanted to test using my phone. It seemed that you need to add these as flags, so that made me dive in the Android source code, specifically wpa_supplicant.
Then @schroeder posted a link to your question on a private chat room, and it instantly rang a bell. I went back to the wpa_supplicant source code and traced it back a bit until I found references for the flags. If you look at line 89 there, you can see that the scan results entries ordered in the same exact order they appear in scan results console, so from there you can see that they're "flags" and you can go back in the source code to where they're declared.
Anyway, these are called '802.11 Access Point security flags'. Here's the reference list of the flags used in Android. For instance, [SEC80] would be NM_802_11_AP_SEC_GROUP_CCMP. I'm not really sure what [SECD00], but the 802.11-2012 specifications might give you some hints.


text:
Manually backup and restore all partitions
I would like to backup and restore manually all partitions.
I know this is not the first time this issue has been raised. There are already many links and questions on this issue, and I have reviewed most of them probably.
The suggested answers are divided to the following:

Root the device, install appropriate recovery tool (nexus root toolkit, TWRP or clockworkmod recovery), and boot into recovery, then do the backup from the tool.
Other solution suggest to use "dd command" but only for boot partitions, not all partitions. I'm not sure why.
for example the follwing page warns not to use dd on system partition:
http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-backup-your-android-phones-boot-recovery-and-system-partition-images/

I wonder how the suggested tools are capable of backup all partitions. If "dd command" is not used, what is the way to manually backup all partitions (which is probably the way these tools do backup in source code) ?

You can pull using dd or cat other partitions as well. All you need is a custom recovery or root access (adbd as root is better). To restore, you need to push the image back. I've done that on recovery, boot, system and frp partition.

the link above with the warnings not to copy other partitions make any sense to you ?

The article is from 2010 and seems to be  relevant to MTD based device  (because that's what it has been tested upon). I should've been explicit in my last comment that I tested upon an eMMC based device (Nexus 6). Related: https://github.com/ameer1234567890/OnlineNandroid/wiki/How-To-Gather-Information-About-Partition-Layouts

The reason for warning regarding backup is, that dd just copies block wise everything, not caring about content. It clones the partition. Of course you can use dd also for backup the /system or /data partitions in recovery mode.
But in normal mode you should not use dd for mounted partitions, because content may change during progress (Android is running) and you probably get inconsistent/unreadable result. Unmount the partition first.
Another way is to create a tarball archive. That is what nandroid backup does. But with the same warning - better to do this "offline" in recovery mode, and not in normal mode.

Ext4 handles such problems quite well. Of course a hot-cloned ext4 requires an e2fsck, but I never found any serious problems with it. I use that even in prod-critical environment - but only to extend filesystem-level backups.

In a server environment, you can also make an LVM snapshot from the partition, and then clone that snapshot. If the filesystem is journaled, so you reach a pretty consistent, snapshot-like atomic copy. Unfortunately, I've never seen LVM on Android.

You are lucky that you could root your Android. It is such a huge pain that it imho endangers even the free software movement on the longterm. You write good posts, but... if you search for any android, the results are mostly VLQ. This is imho a huge problem of the Android. I think if the Android SE would be an exception, the result could become influental. Particularly with the x??-developers I am very unsatisfied, most of the content there, well, is hardly decodable. Check this.

Okay! Herzliche Glückwünschen für den Junge. :-)


text:
Blocked History not working after Marshmallow upgrade in Lenovo K3 note
I recently upgraded my Android system in 'Lenovo K3 Note' to Marshmallow.
Now, I can't see Blocked History in the Contacts.
I could see the notification that some calls are blocked, but I can't see the Block History page.
Whenever I try to access this page, it redirects to the previous page.
Could you please help me fix this issue?
Any leads would be helpful.

I was able  to resolve this issue.
I followed these two links and now I can see the blocked history without having to lose the Call logs, blocked list etc :

Lenovo K3 Note: Blocked History not opening after Android 6.0 update
How to Backup and Restore Call Logs on your Android Phone

Summarizing the steps below from the above links:

Take back up of  contacts and call logs:

Used app SMS Backup & Restore to create a backup of my call logs and message logs. (Got to know about the steps from my second link)
Created Contacts backup (Using Export option in Contacts app)
Created Blocked Contacts backup (using Export black-n-white list option in Contacts (Call / Messages Blocking section)

Go to Settings → Apps → All apps →Contact Manager → Storage → Clear Data and Clear Cache.

After this, I was able to see the Blocked History.
Though, I didn't need to import back my Call logs/ Contacts, but yes, I had to import Blocked Contacts. But, that's it and now I'm good.. :)
Hope this helps others who face this issue.. :)

Apologies.. Added the steps in the solution.

No need to apologise :). Upvoted answer for efforts. Also please delete your comment to keep thread clean


text:
How to remove root backdoor on an Allwinner device?
I read on The Register that a root backdoor is triggered by writing rootmydevice to the special file /proc/sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug. That gives the current running process root privileges. If that file is present on your device or single-board computer, then you need to get rid of it. This is the code that checks for the magic write:
if(!strncmp("rootmydevice",(char*)buf,12)){
    cred = (struct cred *)__task_cred(current);
    cred->uid = 0;
    cred->gid = 0;
    cred->suid = 0;
    cred->euid = 0;
    cred->euid = 0;
    cred->egid = 0;
    cred->fsuid = 0;
    cred->fsgid = 0;
    printk("now you are root\n");
}

I have questions:

I have a Fusion5 tablet (which is rooted) manufactured by Allwinner with sun8I chipset using kernel 3.4.39. The file /proc/sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug is zero length. If the code is present, which file (if any) would it be in?
When using Terminal Emulator, I do rm /proc/.sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug, I get "Permission denied". sudo su gets "sudo: not found". How do I delete the /proc/sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug file?

To get root access, you only need to call su, no need sudo su (because there's no sudo on Android).

I just want you to note that the /proc is populated at every reboot and the kernel can recreate that file, should it need to. The correct way is to patch the kernel appropriately.

Thanks, Andrew. I think that the best idea is simply not to have Debug Mode set since the following quote seems to imply that is what lets the back door open:
"Its Linux 3.4-based kernel code, on Github here, contains what looks to The Register like a debug mode the authors forgot to kill.".
Am I correct in the above and am I correct in not deleting the file /proc/sunxi_debug/sunxi_debug since it is zero length.
PS the original article on this back door is at:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/09/allwinners_allloser_custom_kernel_has_a_nasty_root_backdoor/

I'm going to try this tonight, but I'd wager you can change the write permissions of sunxi_debug.

/proc is a virtual file system, and its contents is determined by the running kernel. You're not going to be able to rm (or probably even chmod) the file, regardless of root or not. In order to get rid of the backdoor, you need to recompile the kernel w/o the backdoor code. [Not an answer, because compile the kernel is a far from trivial step...] Maybe you could use SELinux to block access to the file, not sure. Or create a kernel module to do so.


text:
Can't authorise android device in USB debugging mode
I am trying to use a Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge for debugging an android app.
I've downloaded and installed the Samsung USB driver but when the device appears in android studio it says the device is unauthorised.
I've got my phone connected in transfer image files mode (PTP mode). I've tried turning USB debugging on and off and after reading other forums it says I should get an authorise pc message on my phone but nothing appears.
Any idea how to get it working?

If you have found your answer, please add it as an answer below and accept in, instead of editing it into your question.

Do you've an option Revoke USB debugging authorizations under Developer options? Unplug the device from PC, use that option and now plug it. Restart adb server using adb kill-server followed by adb start-server. Type adb shell. If no popup shows up then remove adb keys stored in your PC. If the problem still persist then I would consider Benjamin H.'s advice.

By deleting the adbkeys file found in C:\Users[Username].android folder the permission dialog appeared on my device.

Like you already said:
Unauthorized means that your is not trusting your computer. This is because after activating USB-Debugging and connecting your phone to your PC, there should be a popup asking you if you want to trust this PC, which you have to agree (permanently).
The issue now is that you do not get the popup. I also had this issue (on another device) and installing other USB drivers solved the problem. Maybe you try the official standard Android USB driver.
If this does not work too, try other drivers or if possible try it on another PC. Also try to disable and re-enable USB-Debugging (and reconnect USB) after installing new driver.
Before installing new drivers, make sure to remove all of the old broken drivers with USBDeview (Download at the end of page). You need to unzip it and !run the program as administrator. Then it creates a list of all USB drivers installed on your PCs (pay attention, as there are also drivers for other USB devices like printers or USB sticks).
Select all unwanted old Android USB drivers by holding CTRL and selecting one entry after another. If you have selected everything, release CTRL. Then click on the remove-icon or right click on any entry and click remove. Then the installed drivers should be cleared and you can install the new one.

I had the same problem because my C:\Users\--username--\.android folder was empty and readonly (because trying to cleanup C: and migrating to D: drive). Allowing to write to that folder and running adb server put the adbkeys files in and the permission dialog appeared on my device.

I tried all this and the only thing that worked for my Lenovo tablet was to switch it to PTP mode from MTP.

Tried all what?

and for me - even switching to PTP does not help. But I remember there was a trick with copying some files from phone to PC or vice versa...

I had the same problem and deleting the adbkeys files in C:\Users[username].android folder re-enabled the authorization dialog.
Good hygiene recommendation:  Copy those files and store them somewhere else prior to deleting them so you can more easily restore them if this is not your solution.

Try "Revoke USB debugging authorisations" in Android after changing developing computer
I had the same problem when I upgraded my development computer.  I guess Android allows USB debugging from 1 computer at a time.  If another computer already has debug privileges then the Android does not popup the permission dialog for the new computer.
I also changed "Select USB Configurations" from Charging to MTP, but I don't think this is what fixed it for me.


text:
Bypass 30 days limit
I downloaded some comics from Line Webtoons and they were stored in android>data>com.naver.webtoons>files.
But when i copied the .jpg files they were unable to view also in photo viewer it said

could not load image

I read that all files will expire after 30 days. Can anyone tell me how to bypass this so that i can view images in image viewer otherwise i will have to download them again.

I Am Not A Lawyer, but I recommend you to follow their policy of 30-day. There must be a reason why Line does that (make sense, or not), but personally, I won't encourage to breach that policy for whatever reasons.

Dude i dont wanna bypass tge app i just want to be able to view the images separately using any image viewer.

Apparently, the question title and the body gives that feeling. Mind to [edit] and make it clear what you really want? Please be specific.


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Nexus 6P - how to retrieve data with a locked phone and broken screen?
I've smashed my phone screen and it is unresponsive and completely black, displaying nothing. The phone has also been powered off, meaning instead of my finger print for unlocking, I have to put in the pin in order for the phone to fully boot up. I do know my pin however, cannot enter it.
Does anybody have any hints or perhaps know how to get into the phone (with my Mac) to try and back up my data to the computer so I can transfer it to my new phone?
Thank you very much for any help you can provide :) would really appreciate it!!

Possible duplicate of How to perform a full system dump/backup with a broken screen?

You use the [tag:broken-screen], but have you looked through it's tag-wiki? Also, you could try a site search filtering by the tags you use.

Thanks for the comments, but no sadly not! I have spent some time searching, yes but have found nothing. Difference in my situation is the phone has been restarted, and therefore does not fully boot-up until you enter the pin at the start and is thus not detectable by adb.

There are questions addressing exactly that problem too. As it turns out, there is some hacky way to use ADB to enter the boot PIN itself! Lets see if I can find it, 36000 questions tend to mean some get lost.

You could try this, this, this or this. Let me know if it helps!


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Recovering Audio from Unrecorded Call
On my Asus Zenfone 5, how can I recover/playback the audio of a previous call that I did not record?

If you would like an audio recording of a call you did not record, you want something that does not exist, since you did not make it.

Speak to the NSA maybe?

Short answer: You cannot. @Chahk, that depends on whether the OP is in America or not.

Without a phone that automatically records everything (I doubt you could carry it, the storage unit would be pretty heavy), if you didn't choose to record the call while it was ongoing, there's nothing you can do to get it back.
Well, you could try the special "TARDIS Recorder" app. You can only download it from either Gallifrey's cell network or from The Doctor's sonic screwdriver, or you can get it for free from the restaurant at the end of the universe. Beware the Hounds of Tindalos who might pursue you through the corners you cut!

As comical as this answer is... In all good conscious, I have to down vote it.

@acejavelin if you feel you must...

@acejavelin I will +1 this answer thanks to both its comedy and because of the fact that it also properly answers the question. Although I recommend changing the order of the paragraphs, as this otherwise might be misleading just going by the first line. I will edit the answer to that effect.

I added a bit more comedy and literary references for zat effect!

The edited answer is much better and retains the comedy, I will switch it to a +1


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Devices are not found when executing command (but "fastboot devices" finds them)
I'm trying to install CyanogenMod on Nexus 4 and so far I had done this:
- installed google driver;
- enabled developer options on my phone;
- enabled debugging by USB;
- unlocked my device using ADB;
- installed CyanogenMod Recovery;
PS C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools> .\fastboot flash recovery .\cm-13.0-20160510-NIGHTLY-mako-
recovery.img

started bootloader;

Then I get the following error trying to push the file to the devuce:
PS C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools> .\fastboot devices
01cf8682d9c98ac0        fastboot
PS C:\Program Files (x86)\Android\android-sdk\platform-tools> .\adb push cm-13.0-20160510-NIGHTLY-mako.zip /sdcard
error: device '(null)' not found

I followed CyanogenMod instructions step-by-step, including troubleshooting section, but I keep getting this error.

adb is not the same as fastboot. Thus, if adbd is not running on the device, adb can't find it. The same applies to fastboot.

You cannot use ADB when you are at the bootloader, you would need to push the files to the device using ADB when in recovery.

Don't edit the question to include the solution, because then the question will always show up as unanswered. Instead, "answer your own question" and then accept the answer you've posted.

Update: This works from Recovery mode:
- Full factory reset
and then:
- Apply Update -> From ADB
.\adb sideload cm-13.0-20160510-NIGHTLY-mako.zip


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Qmobile Forgotten Unlock Pattern
I've forgotten the unlock pattern for my Qmobile i7i and it does not provide me with the option to enter my email, backup pin, etc. Factory restore is not an option as there is important data on the device.
How can I bypass the pattern lock?

Please start with our locked-out tag-wiki, which we created with first-aid and useful links on exactly this topic. Especially follow up to Can not unlock my Android device as have no internet connection?

where it is asked already? Izzy ??

In the linked question. This answer lists up available methods to bypass pattern lock.

Well, first you can do is to make the backup of all the files which you can do so by copying all the files from the phone to your PC via USB connection.
The files you copied will include the contacts, media, system related file. Once you have copied all files then you can later copied back to your phone after phone reset.
Here is the link to reset your phone:
http://www.morenews.pk/2016/01/02/factory-reset-qmobile-noir-android-smartphone-forgotten-lock/
Another link:
http://www.phonerework.com/hard-reset-qmobile-noir-i7-to-unlock-pattern-lock/

not possible i'm connecting the phone via usb and when i clicked on import pic and videos and all options one by one nothing happens...when i click on open files to view then only empty folder opens...any other way to copy the data?

Did you install QMobile software which comes in CD in the box? try it out. Hopefully that will allow you to copy files.


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'My Files' Application Not Appearing
After updating to Android 5.0, I can no longer find the 'My Files' application. Has this feature been disabled? If not, where is this now located?

I merged in answers from an older question suggested by Michelfrancis Bustillos since it had been closed as unclear and was never clarified, but the answers seem clearly relevant here.

I had the same problem. I'm using a Galaxy Samsung Tab 3 with Android 4.4.  The "My Files" icon went  missing.
After a lot of digging I learned that I had to click the Settings icon,  then Application Manager. It would list all the downloaded apps. You must then swipe the list to the left so you can see the heading "All" and "Turned Off" hidden off to the right side. I found the "My Files" app had been turned off.  Click on it to turn it back on.

Most default apps or bloatware can be disabled, try looking into settings > apps > all, and search for you application there. It could have been disabled by a mistake.
If that solution does not work then I recommend you to download ES File Explorer. In my opinion it is a better file explorer than the android default.
After installing ES, assuming you are rooted. You can navigate to the root directory "/" /system/app. And you will see every application installed by default.


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ZTE Avid Plus screen isnt working
I woke up one morning and my phone worked perfectly fine. I went to the bathroom did the daily morning routine and when i checked my phone the screen went wack. I could'nt type my password and i couldnt swipe the screen to even type it. it typed in the numbers for the password but i wasnt doing it. it did it on its own, Seems like the screen calibration is off or something, i already restarted, turned it off, back on, and ftm moded it (on accident) and it still wont work. Do i need to factory reset?

did you have wet hands when you did it, by any chance? maybe all that's needed is a good wipe


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Galaxy S4 - Cannot turn email notifications OFF
Probably after a software upgrade, my phone now vibrates and makes a sound whenever an email comes in.  This is annoying and keeps me up at night!  I have unchecked email notifications but it hasn't stopped.  Can anyone help?

What email app are you using? The Samsung one that comes on the phone, or Gmail, or something else?

go to settings, find aplications menu find your e-mail client that spams notifications, click it. you will find buttons like uninstall or delete app's data. there should be a checkbox for notifications. you can disable them. now app dosent have permission to throw any notifications on you


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Android x86 Marshmallow not booting on Virtualbox and VMware Workstation
I've downloaded the latest Android x86 (android-x86-6.0_20160129.iso) from here and tried to install it to the HDD on a VM in VMware Workstation and in Virtualbox.
The installation seems to proceed properly (using EXT4, and EFI Grub) and i get a message that it has installed successfully. However when I reboot it passes GRUB, picks the correct Android installation, but it does not boot. I get the result seen in the screenshot below and then a blank screen with a blinking cursor.

I've seen somehow similar questions on Android-SE (here and here), but they use older versions of Android x86 and don't seem to have solutions that work for me.
The VMs in both VMware and Virtualbox have: HDD=4GB(IDE), RAM=2GB, 2 CPUs and they boot through EFI. I've tried nomodeset and xforcevesa in the Grub boot parameters but nothing seems to work.
The .iso does boot up though all the way to the GUI in Live mode (LiveCD).
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I have a feeling that the solution might be something linked to the graphics settings but i'm not exactly sure.

I share your feelings (same issue here). Due to some hints, I've even increased graphics memory to 32MB (no improvement). Some posts speak of the need for 2 partitions (1=primary 100MB for grub, 2=extended with the remaining space for Android), didn't help in my case. Another source suggested manually editing/creating the grub.cfg as menu.lst doesn't work (not tried that yet). My other try with Android 5.1 hung in the boot animation ("android" text), so I gave up after 15min. What OS setting is your install based on? I've used "other Linux", as that worked in the past.

I tried "Ubuntu" and "FreeBSD" so far  ... let me mess around some others and see if that helps.

I saw a YouTube video where someone used Windows7, which really confused me.

BTW: I've just tried again, for me it doesn't even boot into live mode (ends up at the same place then). Related issue on our sister site which I already mentioned: Android-x86 6.0 Marshmallow in VirtualBox:installation stuck on GRUB

@Izzy : Actually from what i've read, the solution at the link in your previous post (and from a bit of experimentation) is not exactly correct, but it works. From my understanding it's actually the creation of the GPT boot sector that allows the Grub stuff to proceed, not the presence of 2 partitions. I read somewhere that the Android x86 partition formatting fails silently if the "Create/Modify partition is not done" first, leading to the grub installer hanging because the disk wasn't even formatted to begin with. (I'll add this "footnote" also to that link)

More concrete info on testing "what the install is based on": Tried FreeBSD (32 and 64bit), OpenBSD(32 and 64bit), NetBSD(32 and 64bit), Ubuntu(32 and 64bit), Other Linux (32 and 64bit). No improvement yet.
For now i think i'll switch to the Android Virtual Device Emulator ... perhaps that might meet my needs, but hopefully someone will have a solution for Android x86 a little later.

I rather wonder how it is that it obviously works for some people – or whether those YouTube videos etc. are forged. Sounds non-deterministic, as I cannot see any pattern. Followed them step-by-step but came to different results (i.e. "not working").

I have been going in circles with this same problem. What I learned is that it may have to do with your video. Try booting live in VESA mode and if that works, then you know that is where the problem lies.

Have you tried Phoenix OS?

Found the solution!
You have to edit menu.lst file. Here is how:

boot in debug mode (usually the second option in boot menu)
when booting stops (for me it just hangs there with flashing cursor and without any prompt) enter mount -o remount,rw /mnt
enter cd /mnt/grub
enter vi menu.lst
press Shift+a
right under the first boot entry find the line starting with kernel initrd=/in (your line might look different; it depends on Android version; in general just find the line that starts with kernel)
at the end of the line type vga=834 nomodeset xforcevesa
press ESC then :wq - these commands will save the file and quit vi
enter cd /
enter umount /mnt
enter reboot -f

Now the system should reboot in the VESA mode of your choice.
This will enforces to use the VESA driver for X.
You can replace the vga=xxx by any number you want for your screen resolution.
Also tested that 832 works fine (gives 800x600 resolution).
You can find all the VESA modes when you use the iso file and pick the boot option to boot in VESA mode - it will show the list with all modes (numbers are in hex and there is also a redundant letter in front of some modes - ignore it) and you can test them there immediately to see if it works and is good to use in this menu.lst fix, but you have to convert it from hex to dec first using any hex->dec converter.

+1, Confirmed to work for android-x86-6.0-r3.iso on VMware Workstation.

Is there a non-tedious alternativ which also does not allow errors that can be caused by 1 typo?

Thanks a lot❗ it's still working on Android 8

Thanks a lot❗ it's still working on Android 8.1

Works for Mashmellow Stable release 3.

Thanks, it works for android-x86-8.1-r1.iso!

There is no /mnt/grub on android-x86-8.1-r1

At step 10 I get: 'can't umount /mnt: Device or resource busy'

works for vmware 12.5 on linux with android 8.1 r2

Successfully tested the suggested solution with android-x86_64-8.1-r2.iso with virtualbox.

Cool, vga=834 worked.

This works, not only on Android x86, but also on any OS built over it, like PrimeOS.

I tried this with Android 8.6. It worked but terrible performance.
I used a variation and got much better performance:
UVESA_MODE=1024x728 nomodeset xforcevesa

I'd like to extend and improve @Jay Smith answer based on personal experience.
He is right in the core thing that the cause of the issue is VGA resolution used by Android, but he is wrong in his assumption it is disposable fix and should be typed at each boot.
It can be made persistent, and should be! And I show you how:)

First of all, install the Android from iso image correctly through the wizard steps.
Do not use EFI GRUB during install.
Do not use immediate Run Android_x86 option, instead select Reboot and eject the iso. The error mentioned by @Jay Smith

The big drawback of this approach is that the next time you try to
  boot from the hard drive, GRUB will not be able to find the image

is not related to VGA issue and should be dealt separately. I also met this error and full reinstall helped, so I assume this error is somehow connected with the Run option, 'cause when I selected Reboot I didn't face the error.

After the install you will boot and will stuck into Android command prompt. Okay, go on then.
Now you should try to pick up your correct resolution.
It won't necessarily be 788 or 794, as they say here, it all depends on your hardware setup. For me 796, 794 and 792 worked for KitKat, Lollipop and Marshmallow images correspondingly, however your values could be different.
Here is the table for linking GRUB VGA values to resolutions.
To check what match you use trial and error method

Then on boot to GRUB screen choose e key to edit the option

There you will find a long-long string of options to which you should append your VGA option like that nomodeset vga=794

After editing press Enter and b to boot the desired bootrecord.

Iterate these steps N times to find proper resolution. You will recognize that by the booting of Android:)
O-la-la, excellent! We achieved the desired result and booted Android for one time. But this is only 50% of job. I guess you don't want to type this VGA crap each time? Okay, let's go on to persist our result.
Now we need to edit GRUB config to add our desired resolution. While there are ways that allow doing this within the GRUB itself (i.e. debug mode, grub cmd) I wasn't able to get it to work and propose another 100% solution.

We need working Linux installation (physical or virtual, doesn't matter). The problem here is that GRUB folder cannot be accessed from inside Android as it's protected, and it should be accessed externally. And not from Windows because it doesn't recognize ext3/ext4 partitions, only from *nix OSes.
So add this disk (VHD, VDI, VMDK or whatever) to your Linux installation for it to have access to android filesystem

Access /grub/menu.lst. Usually it is located in root folder.
There you'll find smth like

Append the desired VGA option to the bootrecord as we did earlier and that's it!

Save the file.

We've done! Now you can reattach your android disk to virtual machine and happily use it.

you can access grub folder within by following these steps:

open the terminal emulator
get root access by executing "su" command and allow it
make directory for the hard disk by: mkdir /mnt/sda
mount the hard disk by: mount /dev/block/sda1 /mnt/sda
browse to grub folder by: cd /mnt/sda

thanks for suggestion

Some progress here, but not the real thing. The following allowed me to boot Android x86 6.0 under VirtualBox correctly - but only once:
1) When booting the installation image, the initial screen gives you four options. Move the cursor to the last one: Installation - Install Android-x86 to harddisk".
2) Press the [Tab] key for edit options.
3) Immediately after INSTALL=1 DEBUG= type vga=788
(Make sure there is a space between DEBUG= and vga=788.)
4) Press [Enter].
5) Proceed with the disk partitioning as described in many sites in the net.
6) When offered the options Run Android x86 and Reboot, choose Run Android x86. You should see ANDROID pulsating in big letters for a few minutes, and then the Android welcome screen will come on.
The big drawback of this approach is that the next time you try to boot from the hard drive, GRUB will not be able to find the image :-( Any help fixing this would be appreciated.

Unfortunately it's one-time workaround :(...

I also had problems with Android x86 vitual box on a Windows 7 Pro x64 AMD machine. I suppose we are all going to have slightly different issues depending on our architecture/hardware but they all seem to be similiar root causes. I think more emphasis should be on the architecture/hardware then the host OS. Try 32bit without/with EFI set in System, leave hardware acceleration at default, make sure virtualisation is enabled in your bios. Don't enable 3D Graphics acceleration, you should get a warning if you enable 2D acceleration so don't enable that, if you get a black screen during initial setup try increasing the video memory up to 64mb. Finally you can download pre-built VM images here:
http://www.osboxes.org/android-x86/
All these little tweaks helped me successfully install Android x86 4.4 on a Windows 7 x64 Pro machine.

Here is a YouTube video showing how to set VESA mode in Grub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoMs-4bsygs
My other post was deleted for some reason, but if you want to find out if VESA/VIDEO is the reason your gui isn't coming up after install, then boot from the Android x86 ISO and select VESA mode (Live boot) and if you get a gui, then check out that youtube video. It explains perfectly how to setup your grub to boot the correct VESA mode.

Pressing [esc] is not supported

My problem is in booting from the ISO.

Select "Yes" when it asks "Do you want to install boot loader GRUB".

Now you can boot into Android. (Works even rebooted)
Reference: https://shellzero.wordpress.com/2015/10/27/how-to-install-android-on-vmware-fusion-mac-os-x/

Completely new to this but I just tried installing Android 6.0 on Workstation 12 Pro and on boot just stuck at command prompt ocassionaly flashing. Tried a couple of the suggestions from abvoe to no avail. Finally went into VM settings and ticked on 3D Graphics at which it warned that it was not supported. This then allowed me to select 32mb of graphic memory. Rebooted and it worked. Tried booting several more times just to prove it and it is still working. Hope this helps.

I tried the solution given by Spider5445 and it worked for Nougat as well...thanks a ton mate! :)

While in the grub bootloader, press tab and change androidboot.hardware=android_x86 to androidboot.hardware=x86.

Your ISO is corrupt, please try redownloading it from The offical Android website link

How do you know, is a corrupt ISO the only cause for this?

I had the same problem with the installation on my hard-disk and for me the following steps helped:

Like Jay mentioned above: On the installation medium I pressed the [Tab] key.
I wrote down exactly all the arguments like
androidboot.hardware=android_x86_64 and DEBUG=2 etc. which are shown now for the installation medium boot menu entry.
I added all these arguments in my custom grub configuration and updated grub.
When booting I have to enter twice "exit" in the prompt of the console.

Doing this Android booted and started the window manager.
P.S.: Very uncool if an reviewer messes up the format of an answer and than even votes you down without getting the content.


text:
Edit root files
I have installed Jota text editor on my rooted device but Jota isn't give root permission when started and I can't save edited files. I tried to clear the app and data cache to no avail. How can I manually give Jota text editor root permission?

You cannot manually give root permission if the app is not designed to make use of it. Are you sure Jota asks for root access? Try switching to another editor. As an example, QuickEdit app can save files requiring root access.


text:
How to grant a permission to an app?
I have an LG G4 with Android 6.0. I installed an application for learning English. The app requires me to watch a video and then to speak. However, I'm having trouble with the latter.
This is the error message:

In order for the app to work properly, please enable access to the microphone from your phone settings.

What should be done to make the application work?

Settings app -> Apps -> your  app -> Permissions -> enable Microphone or relevant permissions. Have you tried that already? And, link the app. If it is designed for Android 6 it should have asked you to grant that permission.

I don't find this , please can you show me using pictures

I don't have an LG G4. Can you go to the app's page where you can force stop it? If yes, you might be having the option about permissions. If you don't, do a web search.

For all the shortcomings of this question, that's a brilliant title! Unfortunately, I have to make this question more useful, so I will edit it to make it more informative. As consolation, have a +1.

Although Android Marshmallow should ask that each time it requests to use microphone, please include the link to the app, so we can test it. You might have set to always disable it.

Thanks  for you all, I found the solution, please take a look at the answer below.

The problem is Twilight application which is running, you need only to make stop and then give the permissions to the English application and then you can run the Twilight app.


text:
How to find out which apps are draining the battery?
I'm not sure when it started, but my phone is draining its battery even when being charged. It's likely to be caused by some apps I installed recently. How to find out which apps are causing the problem? Is the builtin Settings -> Battery statistics accurate enough?

The bultin statistics are actually pretty crappy and don´t show much information, as you don´t really know which action caused how much drain. It´s just a very vaguely statistic, which shows you the runtime of applications. At least this is my last point on Battery stats of Android 5.1. (I did not test it on Marshmallow). If you are rooted you have a few more options, but it´s still difficult to find out what is causing the heavy drain. I ended up with just removing some of my new installed apps and then testing the runtime of the battery and if it was better, i found the issue.

I think the "Battery" in "Settings" might give a hint and you should turn off  those apps working in the background when you don't use them.
And play your phone in somewhere cool, because hot atmosphere will also drain the battery fast.
Also you can download a third party app like GSam Battery Monitor(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gsamlabs.bbm) to check out what makes your battery drain so fast.

well, to be honest if you are rooted, you should install ampre, and measure if you give your phone enough juice. if you drain battery faster than charge, even if screen is off, or if you have good charger and quality cable (good charger means like 1.5Amps and higher) you have broken USB port. its very common, and it makes impression of super slow charging or discharging while beeing plugged in.
I hope it will help you.


text:
Problem copying files with unusual characters in their names to the Galaxy S4 SD card but not to the phone
I run Gentoo Linux on my laptop. MTP connection to my phone works well, and I can see both the phone memory and my SD card. I can copy files to and from both to my laptop with no difficulty. The laptop is exclusively UTF-8 filenames.
I was copying some music files from my laptop to the phone, when I noticed a series of errors with files whose names contained punctuation.
Specifically files called '08 - ¿Por Qué?.flac' and '01 - Visión: Bautismo En La Cruz.flac' would not copy over to any directory on the SD card.
They would copy with no problems to the Phone memory itself, and can be played from there. Files with names containing accented characters copied fine, for example '07 - Unción En Betania.flac'. Files named '0?8 - Por Qué.txt' and '?08 - Por Qué.txt' also caused errors, but a file called '08 - Por Qué.txt' copied normally
I assume this is problem with the SD card file system, and its support for Unicode. any suggestions for managing it. I can (and have) renamed the files, but that is only a partial solution. Anyone got any better ideas?

Yeah you´re right. The problem is caused by the file system of the SD card. Probably you use FAT32 as file system of your SD card which is using the OEM character set (Read more). And the OEM set seems to not contain some characters you need as you found out.
So you need a different file system on your SD card which is using UTF-8 character set (NTFS on your lapto does, and also the internal memory of your phone supports it (which could be an ext like ext4).
But the best cross OS supported file system should be exFat. As you can see in the Wikipedia entry it supports UTF-16 character file names (just a variation of UTF-8). Also with this file system you have the ability of storing files bigger than 4GiB, which is not possible on FAT32.
So backup your files and format your SD card with the program of your choice (you can use even the basic windows integrated formatting tool). Then the problem should be gone.


text:
Why does my downloaded MP3 files need to be unziped?
I don't know why, but for some reason, the google music don't play them directly, everytime, it opens winRAR on my Nexus 5X then plays it.
This only happens to the mp3 that I downloaded from internet, ie. sites like: youtube to mp3, clipconverter.cc
I am trying to make a playlist of youtube podcasts, and for somereason, I need to click the file, it opens winrar, then plays it, and if I uninstall winrar, then i can't play the music...
How do I solve this?  I quite like the current music player native to my nexus 5x, and it's not working out after a few weeks of trying....

Because the mp3 files you downloaded are zipped, (or you have a messed up file association (default app for the file type) somewhere). Do you use ES File Explorer or some such app?

Right, when we download the mp3 files using websites like youtube to mp3 etc etc they provide us mp3 songs in zip files. so in order to avoid it, you need to follow few below steps.
first click on SETTING
then go for DOWNLOAD SETTINGS
then at the end there is an option names MORE OPTIONS
Just check the DOWNLOAD DIRECTLY
that's it, it will solve your issue

It sounds like the music you are downloading is being delivered to you as a compressed file--that is likely why winRAR opens up before you are able to listen to it! WinRAR is able to unzip files on the fly so that you can use the file without having to actually extract them first.
To stop this from happening, extract the music and save it on your phone. (then go ahead and delete the original archive to keep things tidy, if you wish)
Are you able to tell us what the file extension of those files are that open in winRAR?


text:
Caller ID not displaying after android 6 update
My infinix x510 has stopped displaying caller ID for incoming calls. It only displays the phone numbers  without the names. And the contacts are in my phone book.  I'm thinking it's a result of recent update to Android 6 M. Please How could I resolve this issue thanks

After reading this post on Reddit, I fixed this problem by removing my Google account and adding the Google account again.


text:
Some location based mobile sites not working in chrome
I'm getting a message from some websites (m.yelp.com and nextbus.com) they do not have "permission to access your location". I have my location permission turned on for chrome in the app manager and set to "ask first" in the site settings tab of the chrome settings. These sites are not blocked in site settings.
The location works fine on some sites, ie maps.google.com. I get a message asking if I want to give my location information and once I approve it works.
Am i missing something, is there somewhere else I need to grant permission? Is anyone else seeing this?
I'm running marshmallow on an htc m8.

Does this happen with an another browser as well, such as Firefox?

@Firelord, Firefox seems to be fine.

It seems that starting with the April release of chrome for android, only sites using https can request location information.
https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2016/04/geolocation-on-secure-contexts-only?hl=en


text:
I need to know which app to download, how do i select the right one?
I have an AT&T tablet I have inserted my sim card correctly. Now I need to know which app to get from the playstore that will give me a keypad so I can dial out and receive calls. Please help.
Thank you,
Marci

it depends. Does your Tablet supports voice call? You can mention tablet details so others can help. If you want to use VoIP(which uses Internet for placing/receiving calls) for audio calls, you can search for many popular apps on Play Store like WhatsApp, Line and so on...

According to theartiszan on the T-Mobile support forum:

The tablets are setup in a way in the US that you can not use them for phone calls.
  So unless you root it and put in custom software you would not be able to use the standard phone features as such.

Depending on the model of your tablet, you may be able to modify your tablet with root access and activate these features, though keep in mind that this process can be dangerous for the device and may also void your warranty.
Alternatively, you can use a VoIP service such as Skype or Hangouts to make Internet calls and send messages. Also, Google’s Hangouts Dialer app lets you make and receive phone calls when you set up a Google Voice™ number. Keep in mind that these services will use carrier data instead of carrier minutes.
Note: While the quoted post is from the T-Mobile forums, it applies to all tablets in the U.S. including ones authorized by AT&T.