text:
How to root Vodafone Smart Prime 7 (VFD600)
buid number VDF-VFD600B01-IT02c
kernel version 3.10.49
android version 6.0.1
I tried to use KingRoot, but it didn't work, now I have on my Prime 7 the apps Purify and King User but the smartphone is not rooted.
I tried also with SuperSU Me but the application crashs.
I hope this informations will be useful, thanks a lot.

I've seen that you can't root that phone with the classics apps like KingRoot, maybe these two links can help you: (https://www.oneclickroot.com/vodafone/vodafone-smart-prime-7/)(https://www.oneclickroot.com/vodafone/vodafone-smart-prime-7/) or (http://rootkhp.pro/how-to-root-vodafone-smart-prime-7/)(http://rootkhp.pro/how-to-root-vodafone-smart-prime-7/)


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What are the "Window animation scale", "Transition animation scale" and "Animator duration scale" settings in android developer settings?
I have seen many posts suggesting to turn them off, i have them turned off and notice quicker transitions, no animations, etc. But in some places it is weird to see no animation.
I googled the terms to try to find what they meant, but could only find the above suggestions. Could someone explain what effects each setting has?

Related http://android.stackexchange.com/q/81529/131553

All 3 of these are set to 1.0× by default ;  you don't need to turn them off, just cut the values in half and set them all to 0.5 for noticeable snappier performance.
As for what each one does specifically and using my Galaxy S8+ to test them ᎓
Window animation scale controls pop-up window opening and closing animation speed, such as the pop-up you get with the various speeds you can choose when you select this option.
Transition animation scale controls app window opening and closing animation speed,
Animator duration scale controls app switching animation speed.
If you use your phone's stock launcher, one of these — likely the middle one — will also affect homescreen-to-homescreen transition animation speed ;  on my phone I use Nova Launcher and homescreen animation speed is adjustable within Nova itself, and is unaffected by any of the above developer options.

source: Stack Exchange

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

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

sort: votes


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Can I get Apex Launcher's scrolling background to work on EMUI 4.1?
I got my new Honor 8 this past Monday, and after extensive tweaking (including hair pulling and uttering of words not approriate in respectable company), I got it to work and look the way I want it to, except for one thing. The scrolling background of Apex Launcher simply refuses to work. I've browsed through the system settings and the Apex settings until I've gone blind. I've tried to change the background setting of Apex to non-scrolling, restarting, changing it back to scrolling and restarting again, but I simply can't find a way to get this working. Is there a way?
I'm using Wallpaper Changer as live background, but I've tried disabling it, and instead using EMUI's native function to randomly change the background image, but this makes no difference. I've also tried setting Wallpaper Changer to use static background rather than live background. This also makes no difference. The image is cropped to the physical screen resolution (1080x1920) and the leftmost part of it shown on all screens.
For example, this image

is shown like this, regardless of which screen I'm on

I've rooted, and because of issues with TWRP and SuperSU on EMUI 5.0, I won't upgrade until those are resolved.
I'm not in any way affilated with with any software mentioned above, I'm simply a user. The images above have been created by myself, and you are free to download and use them as you see fit.
UPDATE: This suddenly started working. I don't know what fixed it, so I don't think this can be classified as an answer. It started working after I shut down to replace the SIM, because the transfer of my number from my old carrier to my new one had just been done. After booting up again, the scrolling background was working. As far as I can remember, I had changed no settings since I last rebooted. I did receive an update to Wallpaper Changer, but that came after the scrolling background had already started working, and the changelog only mentions adding the ability to darken the wallpaper. A mystery, but I'll leave it at that, unless someone has any ideas about what has happened here.

Can't say specifically about the launcher but bear in mind that Huawei tweaks the OS very heavily to the extent some apps just don't behave the way they are supposed to- especially those interacting with UI. Not surprising. IMO, options are use a launcher that suits the phone you, or browse Chinese forums for a modded launcher and use that at your risk

@beeshyams I'm aware of Huawei tweaking the OS, and I decided to go with the Honor anyway. And considering that I got it to work the way I want, apart from the scrolling bg, I don't regret it. And with the options you presented, I will live with the non-scrolling bg.

Earlier device of mine was Honor 6, and it had problems with Xposed framework too involving UI- suggest research that if you are going to use Xposed

@beeshyams I've tried Xposed in the past, both on my S3 and my S5, but I've never found any modules for which I actually had any real use, so I hadn't even considered trying it now. Still, it's good to know that it may be problematic, and that I need to properly reasearch it if I do decide to use it. Thanks.

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


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Will there be a performance issue if I put many files in a single ext4 directory?
I have a database of 250,000 tiny audio files that will grow to perhaps 500,000. I need to copy this to my Android phone's ext4-formatted internal storage.
I have discovered that some computers are unable to support such a large number of files in a single directory.
Will an Android 5.1 phone prevent me from moving 500,000 files to a single directory? If it permits this number of files, will it experience a slowdown in reading the files if they are all placed in one directory as opposed to distributing them numbered directories?

Internal storage or SD card? Your main problem here is going to be the file system, for example, FAT32 only allows 65,535 files in a single directory whereas ext4 has unlimited number of files per directory (as long as it's under the maximum, about 4.3B files per volume). Having 500k files in a folder is just bad practice, organization would be impossible without a folder hierachy of somekind.

On the internal storage. Is there any way to determine what type of file system is used on the internal storage? I cannot connect gparted via MTP to inspect it.

This will tell you the file system type: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=me.kuder.diskinfo

I have the files numbered carefully, so they are just as easy to manage inside folders as out. I can just use cp nn_*.mp3 outdir/ where nn is a prefix for all of the files that belong to a particular group. That is just as simple as cp nn/*.mp3 outdir/.

Be aware that most filesystems will start having performance issues once the number of files exceeds 10k per directory, if you Google around you will see that maintaining a single directory with more than 3k-4k files could impact performance. 250k will have a significant impact on performance regardless of the filesystem in use.

What is your file system as shown by the app

It seems to be using ext4, however, I cannot be sure as I don't know specifically where Android puts the files. It will be inside the Android/data/*.com directories.

Going by this SO question, number of files may not be a problem but surely would think they're would be performance issue- though can't back that up

And going by this, you can get a feel for the likely problems

@beeshyams I saw this one too.. and this was answered from a ftp or webserver perspective, something far more robust in this regard for file access than an Android phone. Although I can't prove or quantify it, which is why I didn't give a real answer, I believe that having 250k files in a single directory on Android could result in serious performance issues. They notes on a server it could increase access times by seconds, on an Android device it would likely be many times more of an issue... But like I said, I don't have no way to prove this theory.

@acejavelin: Quite agree and I am little surprised that Google doesn't throw up much when it comes to Android, perhaps unusual use case


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can you connect a wired controller through a pc to an android without plugging it into the tablet itself
i say this because i dont have an usb otg cable or whatever its called and i dont want to go out and buy one

So you want to connect a wired control to a PC, then have it control things on an Android device? I don't really see how that would be possible. Just order an OTG cable, they are dirt cheap, pretty sure I ordered a bag of 5 of them for like $3 on eBay.

some applications are made to interconnect an android device and a personal computer for casting or to make the android device do the job of a mouse for example. but your way is impossible because there hasn't been any software which allows a device to connect to android through PC and the fact is there is no need for it. or else nobody has developed a software for it.
better u buy it from amazon. its cheap nowadays

Just download BlueStacks on PC and map PC keys to touch screen
Next download pinnacle controller and map PC keys to controller
Problem solved (:


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Google Now no longer working on Nexus 5x
I am on a Nexus 5x running 7.1.1. Earlier today found no cards on the Google Now screen, just this message:
"New Version Available
A more recent version of the Google app is available for download".
So tapped the link which took me to the Play Store and the Google App. Where there is no update available, just options to open or uninstall.
Hitting open loops me right back to the above message.
Fixes I have tried:
Turning Now off and back on.
Deleting card preferences.
Uninstalling Google and the Now Launcher and reinstalling both.
Turning location services off.
Have also checked that Settings>account & privacy>Google activity controls>web & App activity is set to "On".
Oh, and switching my phone off and on again :-)
None worked. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Just to let you know you're not alone.
too have exactly the same symptoms on a Nexus 5X running 7.1.1
I've tried:

Leaving the beta program, removing Google App (beta) and installing mainstream Google App
Google App Rejoining the beta program, removing Google App and installing Google App (beta)
Deleting all cache data for Google App
Rebooting the phone.

etc.
Nothing worked.
However, switching to an alternate Gmail account clears the problem. This account is not in general use and although registered on the phone was not active when the App was updated earlier on today.
I do not want to change the main account as I have a vast network of settings and content in the original, non-functional account.

I have the same issue with my "Google Account" Here's what I have noticed so far. Incidentally I got a replacement Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge yesterday and I noticed this issue after I completed the initial device setup. But it did work fine initially.
Here's what I have observed so far:

This started happening around 9 PM CST.
I signed up for beta testing to install updated version but that did not help.
Reinstalling Google App, clearing app cache or android cache partition does not help.
This issue is not specific to a device, it's tied to the google account. I see this on my original Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (the one I am getting replaced under warranty), My wife's Galaxy S7 Edge(when I add my account to her device) and for that matter even on my Nexus 2012 tab.
Adding a different google account resolves the issue. This is not an ideal solution though, since Google now cards are based on data from google account and using alternative google account will not show you cards which are relevant to you.
Another possible solution, but it has limitations:

Navigate to Google App settings -> Account Privacy -> Google activity controls and turn on Web & App activity. Go back to google now cards and swipe down on screen to refresh. Google now cards start working and the "New version available" message is not seen any more.
Limitations: You will not get cards related to traffic updates, location, cards based on your web and app usage. This pretty much beats the purpose of using Google now cards.
Extremely frustrated with this issue. Hopefully there is fix available soon.

This issues seems to be fixed for me now. I added another google account and switched to it (only in Google App) for a while that was at least showing me the cards. Now I tried switching back to the the original account in Google App and it is working as expected. I still have the second account added though.
Now everything seems to be working fine. I an pretty sure this was at Google's end (server side) since no app update was pushed to fix this issue.


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Almost all memory is used up by files symply classified as "Other". How do I fix it?
Currently using an HTC Desire 510 with Android 4.4.3
It has a total of roughly 3.8 GB interal storage (not counting application storage). But about 3GB are occupied by what the phone considers "Other files", not letting me see which files those are.
When I connected to a PC through USB I did find a file named ".thumbdata" in DCIM/.thumbnails weighting over 2GB, which I immediately deleted. The empty space in my phone remained unchanged, so I restarted it a couple of times. The file reappeared, now weighting just 30MB, but the source of those used up 2GB is nowhere to be found. What can I do?

.thumbdata is nothing but the thumbnails of the images in your gallery. They are cached into the .thumbdata file.
Other than that, most of the space will be occupied by Apps installed in your phone.
Try clearing the cache of every app that you use and uninstall the apps that you don't need.
Try using ES File Explorer to analyse the files in your phone and get a detailed view of large files, duplicate files, junk files, etc.

The only large file I had was a 50MB video I did not transfer to the PC yet. All duplicates were deleted, weighting ~20MB total. Junk filed were only 900KB.

Already deleted every single detetable app from the phone just to update Youtube yesterday. Almost all of them were on external storage anyway. Internal storage stays unchanged. ES states the same thing, 83% of all files are written as "Other" and can't be viewed.

were you using ES from before ? ES actually has a Recycle Bin option. So the deleted files go and stay in the Recycle Bin. Maybe try cleaning them.

In section other is showing that uses space in my case that happens i multiple situations:
When there is files in .zip or any other format that is not music readable document or such
Aslo sometimes when apps stored some files downloaded trought them an files stored in Android folder, that was counted into other in storage settings
Sometimes when .mp3 files wasn't stored into "Music" folder they was counted as other
And finally cache not whole but good part of it was counted into other but when I clean cache with tapping on cache in storage settings that cache was cleared.
Now about .thumbdata files, thoose files mostly creates by stock gallery app, sometimes it's being created when you send some picture from for example from viber, so try disabling stock gallery app and deleting those files.
In my expirience happened that file manager shows that .thumbdata file weights 2gb but when I delete it storage doesn't show 2 more GB free but file is gone.
Use ccleaner app and clear cache and other junk it should delete .thumbdata too.


text:
Tell me what is actually broken
I got a Galaxy S4, which was accidently fallen by me on floor, not it won't show anything on screen and appers to be broken motherboard or screen, can anyone tell me what is actually broken either of these. When I connect it to my PC it shows me as Removable Drive, but when i try attempt to go on Odin mode by I just dit earlier by pulling battery and holding power+home+volume up. It just shows me as 'ID : COM5' in odin. Can anyone please tell wheather screen i broken or motherboard? Please I need help.
Regards,
Dc5000gs4

Odin mode is Volume Down + Home + Power then volume up to confirm. And it is very difficult to guess what can be broken inside. You should take it to a repair shop

If you can see it as a removable device and Odin connects, there is a fairly good, but not 100% chance, that the internals are okay.
If you want complete confirmation, buy a HDMI output cable for your phone and plug it into a TV (Research your device to find exactly how your it works with this system). You should see the screen, however, this is, in my mind, overkill. Send it to a repair shop an they'll have a better idea of what's wrong with it.

I have a rooted device, can there any change to take screen on computer as I have Mobile for Samsung installed.


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Can Emoticons in Google Messenger be Moved or Rearranged
There are two emoticons in Messenger that I like to use more than others.  Unfortunately, you have to slide quite a few pages to find them.  They are located right next to each other.
Is there a way to move those emoticons to the first page which would reduce the time in searching for them?

First of all, emojis are added from your keyboard, not Messenger, meaning that it all depends on the keyboard app which you are using.
Secondly, most keyboards do not support rearranging the emoticons. You can check out the Frequently used tab, though. Most keyboards have that.


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Two sets of Screenshots - Play Store
Why does every app on the Play Store have two sets of same Screenshots?
Some apps have Portrait and Landscape Orientation Screenshots but most of them have the same Screenshots twice.
Is it some sort of bug? Or is there some real purpose to it?

When it has two sets but one is landscape, that shows what it would look like on tablets, screenshots in portrait are from phones.
And about that when there is 2 or more sets of screenshots in same orientation, I think the uploder do that, don't know why, maybe because of look when there is only 2-3 screenshots, but even when having enough screenshots, I don't know why they do that.

But I have even seen Top Developer apps like Whatsapp and many of Google apps also have 2 sets of Screenshots. Why would they do that?

Yes you are right. I don't know for sure but it's probably just for esthetic.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
Battery draining fast
I have Samsung Galaxy S2 GT-I9100, I had purchased new battery three days before and charged until it's full, after an hour I found my mobile switched off. I would like to know the how to rectify this issue.

Are you sure your charger is working?  Also, switch to Airplane mode so your transmitters aren't using battery while you figure this out.

According to the site: http://blog.gsmarena.com/samsung-i9100-galaxy-s-ii-thorough-battery-test-results-are-out-even-better-than-the-galaxy-s/
The battery should last 82 hours, maybe the one you bought may have been used previously, or it already came with problem, this is not normal, it is certainly a problem in the battery itself and not in the cell phone.


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What are the advantages and disadvantages of MTP versus PTP?
My Android 5.1 phone lets me connect to my computer via MTP or PTP. Are there any advantages of using one over the other for copying files between the phone and computer and visa versa?

From Wikipedia:

The Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) is an extension to the Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) communications protocol that allows media files to be transferred atomically to and from portable devices. Whereas PTP was designed for downloading photographs from digital cameras, Media Transfer Protocol allows the transfer of music files on digital audio players and media files on portable media players, as well as personal information on personal digital assistants.

You'll be able to see most if not all files with MTP:

...whereas you'll only see media-related folders with PTP:


text:
Root Alcatel One Touch Pop 4s
Are there any tools to root a Alcatel One Touch Pop 4s (Android 6.0), I already tryed Kingroot and Famaroot but both do not work like on other Alcatel phones

You can try KingoRoot instead of kingroot....

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! This post does not contain enough information to be considered an answer. How did it solve the issue? Where to find it? What are the steps to perform?

Already tryed that but didn't work

Try this.... It will work.....

Download Super-Root.apk for Alcatel Pop 4s from this link : http://downloadsafe.org/file/0yF980
Connect your device to your PC using the USB cable.
Copy the Super-Root.apk over to the root of your SD card.
Once it’s been copied, disconnect your device from your PC.
Head to Menu>>Settings>>Security on your device and enable the Unknown sources option.
Open the File Manager app on your device and install the app you copied earlier to your device.
Once the app’s been installed, launch it from your App Drawer.
Select Install SuperSU from the first dropdown menu.
Select exploit, tap on it in the app.
The app should begin rooting your device, shouldn’t take too long to finish.
Reboot your device once it’s been rooted.
You’re all done! Enjoy

Not downloadable with "Quick Offer" thing, can you upload it via dropbox or something like that?


text:
How to get out off bootloop?
Can you tell me how to get past bootloop on my HTC desire 620g dual sim. I did an software update, but it failed. Help please

Add more information please.  Was the update that you tried to install an official one from the manufacturer? How and where did you obtain this update (automatic download, manual download from some site, etc.)? Is your phone running stock firmware, or a custom ROM? When you say "it failed" what exactly do you mean? Were there any errors?

If you're able to get to recovery mode, maybe you can flash a stock rom or use a backup. You may also be able to use ADB to flash a working rom, this tutorial is for the htc one but it's mostly the same.
You can also just keep turning it on I guess, I've gotten lucky plenty of times when a phone that was seemingly bricked and not exiting a bootloop just decided to work one day.
Also, if you are having issues flashing roms to your phone you should probably do a bit more research. Using reliable cables, not turning off devices and doing a bit of research into other people who were able to successfully flash and those who unsuccessfully flashed to a device is always a good way to prevent these mishaps as well as fix them. This tutorial explains the process quite well.


text:
What's the fastest and most intuitive way to transfer and install an Android application from a PC?
I need an Android app to be installed on my phone. I have the APK on my PC. How can I receive it without manually transferring it over USB or using the adb install method. Preferably via WiFi.

Do you not have a cable or something? All ways I can think of are more or less complicated compared to ADB install.

You can transfer the file over with something like Pushbullet. It has some file size limitations, which I don't remember right now, but if it's small enough it's a very useful application to do that sort of thing with.

Google android wifi transfer
There are plenty of options.


text:
Restoring backups from SD
Using Titanium Backup I backed up apps + data to the SD card and see they are still there. I flashed a new ROM. I installed TB again but am having trouble restoring the apps. It can’t find the backups, how do I change it? I went to menu > preferences > backup folder location > Storage provider > DocumentProvider storage > naviagated to correct location > pressed “select”
Then the list populates with backups but the “use the current folder” is greyed out. I can only click cancel. However if I make a new folder and navigate there, the “use the current folder” is clickable.
After clicking select the message quickly flashes “Access granted. Please create/choose subdirectory for your backups”
How do I resotre backups located on SD card? I named the folder myself so it’s not like the default. I'm on ROM that is based on Android Nougat 7.1

If the above suggestion didn't help try instead with File system storage,  instead of Document Provider

@DeathMaskSalesman well that was awfully unintuitive

It's been my observation sometimes I need to install an app (from the Play Store) before I can restore the data. For example, when I did find the right backup, the restore button was simply missing, but after I rebooted the phone and installed it from the Play Store, I was able to restore the data with TiB.

In order to successfully select a backup directory via the DocumentProvider storage, you should not navigate to the chosen folder immediately after choosing the abovementioned storage.
What you should do, is to navigate only to the root directory of the external SD card and then tap on Select. Next, after the Access granted popup appears, use Titanium Backup's built-in file explorer to navigate to the chosen backup directory, and then tap on Use the current folder.

If you changed(upgrade) rom version customizingly i.e. Kitkat to lollipop....
Then titanium backup fail to restoring the app and data....
If you want to restore backup any how then you have to flash previous rom....

I can't understand you.

My ROM is AICP12.1 with Nougat, and I can restore backups from CM13 (Marshmallow), therefore your assumption is invalid.

I've been using TiBu for years, and it always restored apps & data for me, including after ROM upgrades and even after switching to completely different ROMs (e.g. from stock 4.1 to Cyanogen 4.3). It never failed me from 2.1 up to 5.1 – and though I didn't try yet, I doubt it will fail me on 6+ either. So while according to Aristotle one can derive everything from a wrong assumption, this is definitely wrong altogether.


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Auto-sync is turning itself on randomly
(Nexus 6 on rooted stock Android 7.1.1)
I have a feeling a rogue app is turning on auto-sync, but is there any way to discover which one?
I checked that it was switched it off this morning and at some point in the last 4 hours, it has come back on without me doing anything.

and how did you discover it?

The rogue app that was switching on auto-sync was Kana Town
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fr.koridev.kanatown

and how did you discover it?

That was 2 years ago, but it may have either been through process of elimination or possibly checking the app ops settings.

@Rules any way to find?


text:
Can an app be customized to always appear in fullscreen?
I have an app that has buttons positioned in the top left and top right corners of the app interface. Because the buttons are there, it is easy to accidentally bring up some items in the notification area. If the app could be set to full screen always, or if the notification area could be hidden when the app was shown, this would improve usability.
Assuming the app itself has no such settings, is there some way in Android to set a particular app to always appear in full screen?

There is a setting called as the Expanded Desktop Setting in the Settings -> Display.

There you can select the Hide Both Option to enable full screen mode.
PS : I am using a custom ROM (Mokee) so I have that setting by default. I don't know about the normal Android OSs


text:
Automatically, seamlessly block Google-suspected spam calls
The Google Phone app now reports when a suspected call is spam. Right now when I receive such a call, I have the choice to block that number. But what I'd like to do is pre-emptively set it up so that any such call is automatically blocked without my intervention.
I've investigated apps like Root Call Blocker Pro, and while they seem to do the silent, transparent blocking I'm after, it seems to require me actively maintaining a black list, entering the phone numbers I want to block. I'd like to rely on the Google's suspicions to block them. How can I set this up?
Alternately, might this be something my carrier can handle on a network-level? I'd be happy to pay for a relatively cheap app or work up a tasker/etc solution, but I'd rather not pay AT&T for a monthly service.

I discovered the "suspected spam caller" feature last week (twice in one day, ugh).  Unfortunately, blocking based on that classification doesn't appear to be an option in the Phone app itself: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/phone-by-google/Md31RdUu768

The phone app newly (as of July 13, 2018) allows a user to block calls from numbers Google suspects to be spam.
Under Phone > Settings > Caller ID & spam, toggle on both the Caller ID & spam and Filter suspected spam calls settings.
Reported here among other places; the article contains photos showing the steps I described above.


text:
Is it possible to disable admin rights of a malware?
There is a smartphone with anroid 5.1. Another user installed an app from a non-verified source (some hacks for Clash of Clans afaik). To uninstall it I have to drop its administrator rights in Settings -> Security -> Device administrators. The problem is that when I click to uncheck it, device locks and I hear two check sounds (check and uncheck, I suppose).
When I go to settings again the checkbox is still checked. The same behaviour when using safe mode.
How to remove malware-originated administrators?

Is  the device rooted?

I don't even know what does it mean. Just a recently bought one.

Okay I presume it is not. But did you first try to force-close the app then disable the admin rights?

What is a force-close? It is not presented in a list of launched apps, but it generates fullscreen ad popups.

The adware might be present in the app list. Look for an unusual app name

Just SmartcardService org.simalliance.openmobileapi.service:remote looks unusual. I can't see both apps that are fake administratos in the list.

But com.simaliance.openmobileapi.service is a valid package name for STK services or SmartCardService

Download Uninstall from the Play Store, it will list all apps and their package name pretty better. Look for weird app name or package name.

But what does prevent from changing admin rights to Clash of Clans? Another application, not itself?

Clash of Clans don't have such rights. I think there is another app, an adware, that was installed when the user installed the hack. Or the full screen ads are generated by the modded Clash of Clans

Could you please create a full answer how to remove undesirable adm rights?

I would suggest installing security 360 from Google Play and see if that removes the ad ware.


text:
How do I disable audio pause in Android 5.0 when receiving notifications?
My device is running Android 5.0 and one annoying thing about it is that if I'm listening to music and get a notification, my music will pause just to play my notification sound. Is there a way I could disable the pausing of audio when receiving a notification?  I have root access, which should help, but I don't know where to start or how to start.

Here we are, 2019, and the problem still persists even in the latest Android releases. An app was created for this purpose called Don't Pause, which worked great, but then I got a new phone, and discovered that app is no longer in the play store. And switching to another music player is out of the question, because I use YouTube and I pay for Plex to stream my own media from home.

If you're willing to switch to another audio player than whatever you're currently using, you can achieve this with PowerAmp. It has a menu for audio focus, which has settings for pausing or not when a notification is received, and whether to pause or not when there's an incoming call.

The one I linked to is the trial version. The pro version costs roughly $5.
I'm not directly affiliated with MaxMP or PowerAmp, but I am betatesting the upcoming version.

Awesome suggestion. The only thing is, I use SoundCloud quite often. I can try PowerAmp for local music, but does this also disable pausing for notification/text sounds?

@MikeKuplevatsky The Short Audio Focus Change setting does that. When enabled, it pauses for notifications. If Duck Volume is also enabled, it lowers the volume instead of pausing. If Short Audio Focus Change is disabled, it doesn't pause for notifications. I just tried it with wired earphones, and with the built-in speaker, by sending texts to myself.

2021 & I'm on Galaxy S10+ PowerAmp DOES NOT FIX THIS. It briefly pauses when I click "like" on Facebook FFS. Paid version of PowerAmp


text:
What does tether_dun_required do?
I see lots of mentions of this option on Android sites, including Android.StackExchange.com, but I don't see any technical exploitation for what it does. What does this option actually do?

Tells telephony manager dial up networking emulation not required, not sure if thats actually required if you use net.tethering.noprovisioning=true in build.prop you can see the telephony and tethering code in the links below
https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/master/telephony/java/android/telephony/TelephonyManager.java
https://github.com/android/platform_frameworks_base/blob/355dbae680994002c48d7a66cb276a65393ecbbb/services/core/java/com/android/server/connectivity/Tethering.java

Not exactly sure what it does, but a lot of people seem tho think this in adb shell gets them free tethering.
su
settings put global tether_dun_required 0
exit

For my phone it isn't free tethering, it's tethering at all. Or maybe it's due to chaning SIM cards?


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Calibrating/Correctly draining an Extended Battery
I recently purchased an extended battery for my ailing Galaxy S4. It's supposedly rated at 4000 mAh over the previous 2600 mAh OEM battery.
First time I threw it in, I turned on the phone, chucked in the battery, and sat it on the charger for an hour or so.
It actually lasted a pretty long time. About 2 days and 5/6 hrs. SoT (not fantastic for 4000 mAh, but it's new so what the heck).
So, listening to the advice of others, I threw it on the charger until completely topped off while the phone was shut down. Again, I discharged it from 100%. However, this time, the battery drained much faster than usual. There weren't any particular apps draining the battery, it just drained faster.
Seeing as this was strange, I drained it to 0%, and charged it back up. Still, the same terrible battery drain. It may be I have to cycle it a couple more times.
Advice? How should I correctly calibrate an extended battery?

Good that the problem is resolved. You can post your solution and accept it to show that it was ROM related and not battery files as I suspected ( deleting my answer not being pertinent in your case). On second thoughts, your mention  within fine first time should have triggered that alternative. I was blind to it

Firstly, battery calibration is a myth, normal or extended battery. See Bought a new battery, do I need to calibrate it?
Next, with extended batteries, there is always a possibility that the correct capacity of the battery is not being read  by the ROM and displayed ( since there are two different sources for reading the battery capacity and it may be reading from the hardcoded (ROM) rather than battery capacity files. See for more details here Where are the battery capacity files located?)

What you can do

Measure the actual capacity of your battery as explained here How to determine maximum capacity of a battery in mAh? - received fake battery using the app mentioned.
Adjust the capacity of the battery manually in the app (from Battery Manager → Tap the 4 small square icon → Adjust Capacity or use Configuration Wizard) and create a shortcut on your home screen for the Battery Mgr widget and use that to measure

You can optionally avoid the first step above if you trust the battery provider capacity and adjust on the app

Thanks for your answer! As a rooted user, I deleted the batterystats.bin file, but apparently that's wiped at full battery capacity as well.

Sorry, accidentally pressed enter. My GS4 has it's battery files in /sys/devices/platform/sec-battery, but average capacity and min/low are unreadable by root explorer. I will discharge and recharge this battery a few more times and see how it goes.

Battery stats. Bin here re created when fully charged or on booting -that's a part of the reason, calibration is a myth as mentioned in my linked answer 2. Do not know about your device battery files so no comment 3. I think you may not have understood my answer, so let me clarify //

Your device ROM may be reading the battery capacity files from the location you mentioned, since the ROM knows the expected Max capacity of battery as stored there. It can't recognise a new battery with larger capacity. Hence, usage ratings are wrong.Using the app mentioned, you can force the app to read the new capacity as explained in answer. This will correctly determine usage stats. Only disadvantage of this is that it won't change the notification status of battery but you will have to depend on the app readings instead. This is my best guess. Putting it through more discharge//

Cycles is not going to help. Use the app to force read new capacity and then see if the usage makes sense

Thanks for your help. I reflashed my ROM and after another 2 discharges the battery meter as well as battery life has markedly improved.


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About security of my device
Once my friend login his google account in my device.Then he cleared my phone data by using lost my device option.Now how to protect my device from this type of problem?? Help me

Nice 'Friend' Make sure you have a password, disable Guest user (if you have it) and ensure his Google account is not on it.

The best way to keep yourself from being in such a situation is you should never let somebody else login to your device. They can't use their account to wipe your phone if you don't let them login. Also, if you are going to let somebody login to your device(which you shouldn't do for security reasons), do it via incognito in the browser. If they wiped your phone then you should be fine to login with your google account and get a backup(hopefully).
Just like the only way to make sure your computer can never get malware is to make sure it never interacts with the outside world, the only way to make sure others can't use their google accounts to wipe your phone is to make sure their accounts don't have access to your phone.


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Hidden alarm at everyday 12AM
I have the Lenovo Moto Z Unlocked with sadly still Android M.
There's a hidden alarm everyday at 12 midnight, and it doesn't show it in the original clock app, which I haven't used an app other than that for alarms.
How can I diagnose this problem?

I found the problem. It turns out TimeTune was doing this (even though it is only a reminder app). I uninstalled and it disappeared.

It turned out to be TimeTune for me too. The 12am alarm was showing on my lock screen. Uninstalling the app removed the hidden alarm from bring displayed on my lock screen.

What was your way of discovering it?

Check for Google Calendar or any other task app that you have installed. Possibly you might have setup notification as daily and time might have be automatically selected as 12 PM.
Do remember that Factory Reset is the final resort to solve your issues, including this one as well.

I haven't used another app for alarms.

I did everything that anyone in any sites suggested but it didn't solve, then I uninstalled clock app updates,restart the phone,and the hidden alarm disappeared!


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auto switch problem on music on(android version lollipop )
my android 5.1 lollipop switches to the next song if it experiences a shake so its frustrating when you are listening to music with the phone in my pocket, it auto switches to next song if it detects any movement. so how do l stop that?

You can resolve this problem  "Go to Settings - Accessibility - switch off Air-shuffle function for Music, FM radio, Pictures, Camera."


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Can we change SD card after installing a custom rom?
i have Samsung gt-19082 i recently rooted my phone and added cosmic cm 11, but i have a smaller SD card ? i want to know is it safe to change the SD card ? (as during installation we add all the ROM , g apps on the SD card . i am a newbie at this

Whenever your device is off, you surely can remove and change.

Think about files that you placed on SD card while flashing ROM as .exe for installing a program on windows. Files are placed there and have instructions where they go. After installing you can delete it without any consequences. And yes you can change your SD card without problems

For TL;DR It is definitely safe to replace your external SD card for a new one.

A normally working system will continue working normally. However there is no guarantee that all your apps will work correctly, as some of them may store extra info on your external SD card, like image caches (this is different from normal caches, some caches regenerate but others don't, e.g. image cache from the most popular instant messaging app in China, WeChat) and Link2SD. Most apps are designed to store only 'unessential' data on external SD card, so there's just a small matter of some network traffic to reload those caches.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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How can I find the last Synced location for my phone (which is now dead/off)?
I'm using Google's [Device Manager][1] to find my phone. It shows the last sync time as yesterday but won't show me WHERE that was.
(I'm sure my phone battery got too low and it turned off)
Device Manager shows:
Location unavailable
Last online January 29, 2017 (yesterday)
Seems like I should be able to find the last place it sync'd but I see no option for that.

Google's Device Manager does not store location. It will send a location request to your device, which if turned on with a network connection and location services enabled, will respond with its current location.
If you have location history enabled, your location should show up in the Google Maps timeline.

I looked here 10 m ago and didn't see this answer. In the meantime I found your exact answer. I should have been more patient :)


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Android 6: Can't save text files to external sd card
I can open text file from external sd card, but I can't save it back to the same place because of error

can't create storage...
  Permision denied

Is there a way to change app permission to saving files to external sd?

The app has to ask for permission. If it doesn't it's denied access to the external SD card.

To write to an external drive you need to add the necessary permissions to your manifest. To write you will want to add:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
To read from the drive you should add:
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" />
You should be able to get away without the read permission but if you want to futureproof your app and make it so users don't run into bugs add it in. Google's API explains the proper guidelines for handling datafiles here.


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Related to Battery Charging
I noticed sometimes in my android device.
The battery status is about 10-15%. When I plug it with its charger, it changed instantly to 85-90%.  Later on, it goes to 60-65%.
My android device is 4.4.2 with root access.
How to diagnose and fix it?
Regards
EinfoMail

See: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/29598/how-do-i-recalibrate-the-battery-of-my-phone

As per the link, battery calibration is required. Also I read, for battery calibration, root access is required. My device is rooted with Stock ROM. And battery is non-removable. In such case, will calibration work? If I use Battery Calibration Apk in non-rooted device, will it be functional?

Typically the battery calibration occurs when you do two cycles of 100% (or as high as it can go) to automatic shutdown. If you've done that and the behavior is what as described in your post, you could try a similar app (at your own risk), but honestly it may be your battery is at end of life and needs replacement.


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Are Android tracking apps legit?
I'm wondering if the apps, which claim about tracking a phone number and giving you the exact location of the caller really work. Is this really possible? If so, how? And what's the name for the app that could do this?

I don't see how it would be possible for an app to track the location of someone calling you and display that information to you, unless the caller used the same app and allowed that information to be shared. I have never heard of an app like this, so if you are referring to something specific you will have to share.

A simple Google search turned this up.

Say I have the phone number 1-123-456-7890. The 1 is the country code, 1 is the USA. In the USA phone numbers are split geographly into area codes (123). Area codes are split into central office codes (usually also geographic)(456). The last four numbers (7890) are either randomly assigned, assigned in order, or chosen by the customer from a list of available numbers. With area code and CO code, you can get what state and city they phone number is (or what city it was registered in the case of a cell phone). My Samsung Galaxy S5's OS (Marshmallow) tells me what state the number is from. There are some special area codes such as 800 and 710.
Other countries may have different telephone numbering plans, and even base cost on area codes you are tying to call:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbering_plan
More info:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toll-free_telephone_numbers_in_the_North_American_Numbering_Plan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Area_code_710
If you are worried about others knowing what state/city you live in you can type *67 before the number you want to call. (ex *671234567890) You will show up as private number. They will not have your number, so unless you tell them your number they can not call you back.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_service_code
The only legal way (in the US) to get your location, is to get a warrant and the cell company has to give up your location. The only exception is when you call 911, they will have your location without a warrant.


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Any downsides to disabling the gmail app?
I wanted to disable the Gmail app because I don't use it and something on my phone keeps hogging all my bandwidth. When I disabled the Gmail app it warned that "some apps may not function correctly" if it is disabled. I haven't noticed anything. Which apps might not function correctly when the Gmail app is disabled?

This warning appears for all system apps. Generally speaking: Disabling Gmail does not have any negative consequences.

It is a standard message to warn that dependent applications will find some functionality missing. Few apps are dependent on gmail. Most other email apps would work fine in its place. The only deficiency that I noted was that the gmail app can accept HTML content sent (shared) from other apps. Other email app turn the HTML content to plain text.

I believe that K-9 Mail can work with HTML, but I'm not sure.

The "some apps may not function correctly" warning is a standard thing that pops up when you disable stock apps. You shouldn't experience any issues for the most part, the only instance where I could possibly see an issue is when using google's other email client "inbox". But even then it's its own standalone app and they use google play services to connect with google and it's services. So as long as you're not using any apps that for some reason directly link to gmail (there shouldn't be any as long as you're not using some weird xposed module or something) in some way you'll be fine.


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Undo the effect of .nomedia file for WhatsApp images
I downloaded ES File Manager and created a .nomedia file so that my WhatsApp images wouldn't automatically download into my gallery. But that sends ALL WhatsApp images to a hiding spot. Ideally, I want to select the images I want from WhatsApp and have those seen in my gallery. It seems there's no middle ground or way to do that. So, if I have to choose, I'd rather all media automatically go to my gallery and I'll delete the images I don't want. But I cannot figure out how to undo the "damage".
I finally located and "unhid" the .nomedia file, but I can't seem to send my pics back to the gallery or make them automatically go there.

Have you deleted the .nomedia file, then rebooted the device?

Clear the MediaStorage "app" in Android Settings and perform a reboot.

If all your WhatsApp images are located in the same directory, then I have to say that there doesn't exist a 'middle' solution. However, if those images lie in different directories (it's OK even if the directories are nested, i.e. one contains others), you can create .nomedia for them separately.
Please note that the 'effective range' of a .nomedia is the folder it is located in and all the subfolders under it. So if the directories are nested too complexly, the solution may not be very satisfactory.
To undo the effects of creating the .nomedia file you simply delete the same .nomedia file. Then force restart your gallery app or restart your phone.

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


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How to disable captive portal login detection on Android M
I would like to know if it possible to disable the captive portal detection required by my WIFI HotsPot of my company. I found this question, the solution of which should remove the WIFI notification for enter the login / password of the captive portal. May be I didn't understand well the problem due my poor English skill. I don't want to transform my Android Box to a new WIFI HotSpot Box. Rather, I want to connect my Android system to the WIFI captive portal of my company. However I applied the booth solution of the question  above. No issue as all the ping to outside are lost, and the system still isolated from the network. Everything it's working with an authentication.
When I'm connecting to the HotSpot of my company, the status is : Connected, No Internet.
As the Android Box has been declared to pass through without any authentication on my WIFI network, my system should not ask for any login and password, the MAC address should be the identification only
Thanks for any help

The question you linked to already answers perfectly. I reckon that's still a problem with your network setup.

I corrected the meaning of my question with more detail (Hoping)

I see no difference: the captive portal problem at the core remains the same, and the only solution is still there, which you've already applied. I stand by my original opinion.

what's side do you thing is the problem on the android box or on the wifi of the company? thanks

To determine this, try letting another Android device through in the same way you did to the box. Can that device access the internet without the portal popping up?

Hi Andy,  It's working with  Android Kitkat MINIX devices. The network service told me the rules has been cloned with MAC address exception.


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Installing LineageOS OTA update from the recovery manually
I installed LineageOS on my OnePlus One, and today I got the latest nightly. The OTA update system downloaded the file, and I clicked install. However, it says

Note: This feature requires a compatible recovery or you will have to install it manually.

Then it sends me to recovery and nothing happens.
Can I get some help as to how to update?

From the recovery, navigate to the folder where the update ZIP has been downloaded and install it.

Yeaa. I don't know where it downloaded to.  @DeathMaskSalesman

Is your recovery TWRP? I am using TWRP on my Redmi 1s, after downloading, by clicking on Install, goes to Recovery(TWRP) and reboots automatically after installation. Otherwise, you need to follow the step of @DeathMaskSalesman

@RahulGopi yup. Twrp. Anyway, it finally installed on its own. Thanks.

If the auto install doesn't work you can go to /data/lineageos_updates and install the update manually.
Remember to wipe dalvik cache after flash ends.
Updated (thanks to Sup3rHugh): LOS changed the OTA folder from /data/data/org.lineageos.update/app_updates to /data/lineageos_updates.

Why does one have to wipe Dalvik?

It seem that the download folder location has recently changed to /data/lineageos_updates.

I had the same problem: nothing happened other then being send to the TWRP home menu screen. On the Internet, the most seen solution is to manually update from /data/data/org.lineageos.update/app_updates, but that didn't work for me, because that directory didn't seem to exist.
My solution was to turn off zip file verification in TWRP and then try it again. Step by step:

Go to the LineageOS update screen: Settings > about phone > LineageOS updates > choose to download the update > choose to apply the update.
While applying the update, it will reboot the phone in TWRP recovery mode and will send you to the TWRP home menu screen instead of installing the update. Check the log to see what happened: Advanced > Copy Log> slide to copy > this will not only copy, but also show the log. If you see something in red text with a warning/error like: unable to verify zip, or md5 verification failed or something like that, than you need to turn off zip verification.
To disable zip verification: go to the home menu of TWRP > Settings > uncheck Zip signature verification > and reboot the system.
Perform step 1 again, this time it should succeed and install the update automatically after it reboot automatically.

Please go to the Settings>about phone>lineageOS update Often
download    the update long tap the center of update, then selected
update and    you can select the save icon in top Windows to save to
card.
now go to the Settings>about phone>lineageOS update again and click    to install and reboot your phone automatically.
after reboot go to the boot recovery and you can click the install    and selected the zip file and swipe the scroll to install update.


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I want to use my phone as a GPS, but I don't want to turn on high accuracy to assist Google's wardriving. What am I to do?
I like using my phone as a GPS.  It has all the sensors and storage and everything.  Even if I can't find a good app yet.
However (since I am concerned about leaking private data, I have turned the location setting to device only, which means it only uses the GPS radio), Waze constantly nags about turning on "high accuracy" location; meaning it wants to scan wi-fi, bluetooth, and everything else.  Which means that the OS will be shipping that info to Google/Alphabet HQ.
How can I use my phone as a GPS without assisting Google's wardriving efforts?  GPS by itself is highly accurate, or at least it was until Google decided to harvest wi-fi locations via a distributed Android network.  Or am I misremembering something?
Are these nags just part of apps, or is there something I can do to mitigate incessent nagging?

You can use the "Device only" location mode, found under Settings->Location->Mode. The key performance impact of this setting is in the time to first location fix. It can take minutes to find your location initially, but later updates will be quick.
I am not sure whether you also need to disable use of WiFi and Bluetooth for scanning purposes, but if you are concerned about privacy I would disable these:
Settings->Location->Scanning

I have that turned on already, that's why Waze is nagging me to enable GPS+cell.


text:
I used memory card as adoptable storage in Android Marshmallow
I used memory card as adoptable storage in Android Marshmallow.And all of a sudden its asking to format the card,but wherein i have my data stored..how do i recover it?thanx in advance

Check if your pc is showing the sd card content. If it is then copy the whole storage into pc and format the card and copy back everything into card.If it is not , then format the card and use data recovery software like diskgetor to get back the lost data.


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Downloading... don't turn off target (S7 Edge)
I accidentally went to download mode and this "downloading don't turn off target message" appeared. It took me at least 20 seconds before I finally pressed volume down + home button + power button. My phone seemed to have rebooted after I did this. Was any harm done? Did my phone download something? Kinda worried because I'm not sure if it damaged my phone or something. Thanks!

That's Odin mode, designed for flashing firmwares from PC via Odin or Heimdall. As long as you didn't flash anything during the period, you're fine.


text:
Apps offering free data or money based on using and sharing
I have been hearing about some android apps which give you free money or data by installing, using and sharing. Many of my friends have been asking me to install such apps so-that they get benefits of sharing app with trying to convince me like "share to others and get free benefits". Such apps also gives benefits if you install other apps or click on some links through them.
But I've been refusing to install or use such apps thinking following reasons:

It should be nothing but pure advertising app for app maker
It may get our personal information like email, phone, contacts and even some may get usage and information of other apps, files etc.

But/Now, I want to know more about such apps like how do they work? what are the major and possible disadvantages (malicious, spy etc.) of using such apps, etc. so that I can keep way from  possible temptation/seduction and can preach my friends with better understanding.

I'd say both your doubts are true. Nothing can stop those unconcerned people from getting hold of that "free" money, though.

Agreeing to @AndyYan and sharing your concerns. In the best case, those apps are after your data (advertizing/profiling). Worse, they might turn trojan after being spread enough and convert your device to be a member of some bot net. I'd rather stay clear of those. If you cannot resist, at least take a very good look at the permissions requested and see if you can block "dubious ones".

Also: Most of those apps have so low returns, that the electricity is more expensive than the money you would get out of those apps (needless to say that the people behind such apps make some good cash by selling high value ads, like installing an app).

Your concerns are 100% valid!
A few things you can consider while making a decision whether to install such apps:
-Firstly, do you really need this so called app? If not, don't install!
-Secondly, see if the app has any good/social cause which really helps people if you download the app (when i say help, i dont mean your friends getting free money), if it does, then consider helping out!
-Lastly, if you do choose to install the app, check the permissions the app is asking before installing. Try not to download from unknown sources, and do read the reviews. If you have Xiaomi phone or cyanogenmod/lineage, they usually have 'App Permissions' sections, make sure not to give the application any permissions!

Your concerns are right. Never trust "free" apps, gifts or something else like that, because those companies always will make their profit otherwhise they wouldnt exist. Most of those apps are pure fake and some even harm your device by later install malware payloads on your Smartphone.


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How to go back to MIUI from Cyanogen mod?
I recently installed Cyanogen mod 14.1(7.1.1) on Mi5(gemini) and now I want to go back to MIUI (preferably MIUI global developer rom) and lock the bootloader. I have to tried to flash using the existing TWRP and also using the inbuilt fastboot mode, but was not successful. I can neither find a proper flashing guide nor the proper files required to flash. Is there something I am missing?

Did you not follow this? Aside from using 9008 mode (not recommended), this is the most surefire way to do it. If you can't, get your drivers right.

If you haven't saved a backup with TWRP you have to reinstall the MIUI.
First of all download the ROM here.
Then put the ROM in a USB drive or SD card (it has to be read from the smartphone outside its own disk).
Then, install the ROM.
You can follow these steps from How to Flash a New ROM to Your Android Phone
But if you have a saved backup with TWRP, go to restore and select your backup.

Method 1:
If you have backed up previous MIUI ROM(nandroid) using TWRP, you can restore MIUI by locating the backup file. Also, you can restore user apps from nandroid backup using Titanium backup.(Titanium backup pro have option to restore apps from nandroid backup).
Method 2:
If you don't have nandroid backup, then you need to reinstall MIUI. Download MIUI ROM from http://en.miui.com/download.html. And have a factory reset, to lock bootloader and remove root and replace stock recovery.

How do I lock the bootloader to unvoid warranty?

After installing MIUI, do a factory reset. It will lock bootloader. (Backup current, before any actions)

@RahulGopi How will a factory reset (essentially a data wipe) lock bootloader? It will not. Do it manually.

How do you do it manually?

@RahulGopi have you tried it? Does it work?

I have tried to unlock bootloader of my redmi 3s(MIUI). After that, I haven't get any updates, so I decide to lock bootloader. As, I am in MIUI, I have unchecked OEM unlocking in Developer options and do a fresh install of MIUI ROM and after that had a factory reset.

http://en.miui.com/thread-253680-1-1.html

@AndyYan how do I it manually

@Dhruva Have you looked at the guide? Or have you "@"'d the wrong person?

There is no guide! That's the reason I posted a question and I didn't '@' the wrong person @AndyYan

@Dhruva Huh? The link I left is a guide. Download appropriate file, enter fastboot, plug in, start flashing. What else do you need?


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Using phone's computing power to assist in PC's calculation
Is phone cluster or cluster with PC and phones possible?
I was thinking if recoding MOSIX or using any other program/software to connect your phone with PC and let the PC use phone's computing power in calculations is possible.
I know that it won't boost it a lot, but mostly just for an experiment.

Welcome to [android.se]. I edited the title to represent the actual issue. If I accidentally changed the intent of this post, feel free to [edit] and rollback/improve it.

A modern smartphone that runs Android is a general-purpose computer. Yes, you can run a single or cluster of smartphones to do general-purpose computation.
A smartphone is probably not the best tool for this job. Phones are expensive because they are optimized for size and power considerations. A desktop or laptop computer will be give you significantly more computing performance for the same cost.

i know it's not best ratio price to efficency but i was thinking more when you enter let say some Institute you connect to their network and can share you computing power. So i wasn't sure if it's possible.


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Retrieve GPS Data
I have tried to Google this but not sure how or if it's possible.  How can I retrieve my gps data from my android phone from an older date to prove I was not speeding?

Even if you had a continuous stream of GPS fixes from the time you're interested in, you couldn't use it in court to prove you weren't speeding. GPS doesn't record speed, only a sequence of positions, and there's enough error on each position that the speed can be inaccurate - inaccurate enough to look like you're speeding when you're not, or vice-versa.
Location History doesn't record GPS co-ordinates often enough to be any use for this purpose even if it were accurate enough anyway. You can get apps to record this information continuously, but they need to run all the time so they really drain the battery. And of course you can't go back in time to install the app before the date you want.

Go to your location history here: https://www.google.com/maps/timeline.
Keep in mind that the location history might not be complete and also doesn't contain any speed information.

Tried that but it doesn't show anything for that date.

Then there is no way (I know of) to get any GPS information unless you actively tracked it.


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View list of voicemails
I have a first gen Moto G running Android 5.1 that I purchased from Republic Wireless about two to three years ago.  Whenever I receive a voicemail I get a notification.  If I tap the notification I get taken to a visual list of voice mails that I have received with the title saying "History".  If I tap the back button I am taken to the home screen of the Phone app.
I am unable to figure out how to reach this list of voicemails without having a notification for a new voicemail.

Description of the Phone App
On the home screen of the phone app I have the following tabs: Speed Dial, Recents, and Contacts.  Going through these three I have been unable to get to the list of voice mails.

While writing the details for this question I figured it out.
There is a horizontal ellipse at the top-right of the screen.  Tapping that and then Call History brings up a screen with three tabs: All, Missed, and Voicemail.  The voicemail tab is what I was looking for.


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android x86 6.0 doesn't support mouse integration?
A while back, I made a virtual machine on VirtualBox for Android 4.4. I had a little trouble getting mouse integration to work for it, but I figured it out.
More recently, I tried Android 6.0 Marshmallow on a virtual machine. Mouse integration would not work, and as such, I could not get as far as setup. I've since moved back to Android 4.4 which displays a mouse pointer just fine.
Does android-x86 6.0 not support mouse integration?

The solution from Android X86 – No Mouse Cursor in Oracle VirtualBox:

Make sure the VM is not running (powered off)
Click on the VM name in the list (e.g., Android X86)
Click Settings
Click on the System category
Make sure you’re on the Motherboard tab
Change Pointing Device to PS/2 Mouse


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Flashing Nougat failed (partition table error), fast bootloop
I tried flashing my Acer Iconia tablet with Android Nougat (NMF26U), following the Google directions, but it failed during executing flash-all.bat.
What can or should I do to try and restore my device to any working state?
Terminal Output

C:\Users\admin\Downloads\marlin-nmf6u>flash-all.bat
target reported max download size of 134217728 bytes
sending 'bootloader' (32980 KB)...
OKAY [  1.110s]
writing 'bootloader'...
FAILED (remote: partition table doesn't exist)
finished. total time: 1.120s
rebooting into bootloader...
OKAY [  0.004s]
finished. total time: 0.005s
< waiting for any device >

Observations
The terminal hasn't updated since that, and the device shows no signs of life except it causes the Windows 10 "Device Manager" to update/refresh about once a second. This makes me believe that it's such in a fast bootloop, which causes problems mentioned below.
The device itself does not respond to any combination of button presses or holds, which may be a result of the fast bootloop not allowing the device to recognize longer button holds.
adb devices no longer sees the device at all, and neither does Windows. The screen remains completely black, and there are no indicator lights on the device.
Attempts
I am unable to use the terminal or any other tools to recognize the device over USB cable, except for the "Device Manager" refreshes explained above. The buttons are completely unresponsive. I have tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery ribbon, but the device returns to the exact state it was in before the hard power cycle.

Wait, you tried flashing the factory images for the Pixel XL (codename Marlin) to an Acer Iconia tablet?!  Yeah, you cannot do that, you can't just flash any firmware to any device, this doesn't work that way.
You would need Acer to release their firmware for your tablet, the firmware you flashed is for the Pixel XL and is only meant for the Pixel XL.  You may have bricked your tablet doing this.  You maybe need to figure out/find your factory firmware for this (from Acer), and figure out how (...if?) it can be reloaded.

Thank you, before I started I knew that it most likely wouldn't work, and thought that the Acer distro of Android was so far out of date that it would be worth the risk to upgrade. I'll be reaching out to Acer later and seeing what they can do, but also keeping this question open in case y'all have different suggestions.

Update: Acer refused to provide support without the SNID (now only obtainable from the non-existent Android settings)


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Gallery is not opening
I have multiple issues in my android device and I believe all are related to Gallery.

Gallery is not opening.
No images in Google Photo.
When I go to File Manager > DCIM > Camera, I see all images. If I open any of these image files, it gives me an option to opens files with Google Photo.
Phone is not in silent/ vibration mode. However, phone doesn't ring for any incoming calls and alarm.
I open media players like Music, MX Player, etc; I don't see any audio file in any location. But I can play audio files, if I go to File Manager.

I did..

Reboot device multiple times
Removed and reinserted battery and
Did Clear Data and Clear Cache for Gallery

However, issues not fixed.
I don't want to reset my android device. Can these issues be fixed without doing reset?
Please guide me. How to fix it?
EinfoMail

What device do you have, what software version is it and model number? Some manufacturers allow you to install/uninstall updates for some of the stock apps from their own markets which can fix some of these issues. When multiple issues arise it's usually caused by an unstable software update but can't tell without info.

Your phone has malwares that hide files by adding a .nomedia file in every folder, and such folder should not be scanned and indexed by multimedia players.
Download ES Explorer, go to its settings and enable Show hidden files. Afterwards browse to every location where your photos, videos, music are stored and you should see a .nomedia file, delete it. Your files should now appear.


text:
Dial a conference number and then automatically enter the participant code
I am frequently joining conference calls (WebEx, GotoMeeting, etc) from my cell phone as I work remote occasionally. These calls usually have a static session number as they are recurring calls. Is there an application or a way to enter the number in the standard dialer to auto-enter the attendee / participant code?

Go to contacts and edit the number. Add a 'comma' for a 2-3 second soft pause, add a 'semicolon' for a hard pause. Example,press 1 for English and enter extension and wait 4 seconds toconnect looks like this: ( 555-555-5555,,1;12345,,)


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How to natively automate an app with usb debugging disabled?
I am an avid sports bettor and everyday I place bets using a mobile app from a local sportsbook. The sportsbook offers a mobile app, only, and no desktop version. Which is too bad because I know how to automate desktop applications and desktop browsers using Selenium.
The placing of bets is a mindless operation that I have to perform manually. I get an email with which teams to bet from a professional service, I then open the mobile app from the sportsbook, and use my fingers to click through the various bets, submitting them as I go. I want to automate this to give me back time in my life.
I thought that I could use something like Android Studio, jUnit, and uiautomatorviewer (Android SDK tool) and automate the phone via my desktop through a USB connection on the phone. Of course this solution requires enabling USB Debugging on the Android phone. Thinking this solution would be a slam dunk, I started implementing it and I ran in to a major snag: the sportsbook mobile app disables itself when USB debugging is turned on! Which stops this solution from working. And that is why I am looking for a native solution: one that does not require a USB connection. (note: I did call them and ask why this is - they said that they triangulate my phone using its LTE connection to ensure I'm in a legal place to gamble in - and that if the USB connection could be enabled then theoretically someone could setup a server farm, hook phones to it, and remote in from any where in the world to place bets, violating the law - well I'm not breaking the law with what I want to do, but I see their point as to why it disables)
Before I go down the rabbit hole of discovering a native solution - which I freely admit I know nothing about - I'd like to ask the community here how it might be done.
Some thoughts that I had...
Could I write an android app that controls another android app?
Could I use Selendroid (natively) to control the mobile sports app?
Both seem like major undertakings.

The Settings-App uses a persistent system property to enable/disable
adb.

The property_service inside  the system controls which "process-id"
is allowed to set the different properties. Any Property starting
with
"persistent.service.*" can only be set by AID_SYSTEM.

So you app must be a system app to be able to set this kind
of properties and for this you have to sign it with the platform key
of the particular device.


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Bluetooth Headphone & Phone BT Media Volume Controls Now Separate
I have a pair of Bluetooth earbuds and a pair of Bluetooth headphones I use with my Nexus 6P running Android Nougat (7.1.1).
Two weeks into using the earbuds with my phone back when I first got them, the audio volumes separated: during the first two weeks of use, changing the volume with the buttons on the earbuds would directly change the volume of my phone and there was only one volume control (directly changed by both phone and earbuds). Unexplainably, while I was listening one day, the audio volumes separated: my phone's bluetooth audio volume has a range and the earbuds have their own (the buttons on the earbuds now control an imaginary volume slider that changes their volume but not the volume on my phone). Then the same thing happened two weeks into using my headphones: the buttons on the headphones used to control my phone's BT audio slider, but now change the volume without changing the BT audio slider (each has to be at 100% to get maximum sound now).
How can I stop the audio volumes from being separated between my BT earbuds/headphones and my Nexus 6P and why would they have separated in the first place? Basically, how can I make the volume controls on my Bluetooth devices control my phone's BT volume again?

Also see: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/146323/unsync-bluetooth-audio-volume-control

@Nick I have the exact opposite! 1 -> 2 instead of 2 -> 1. And does not correspond to a software update.

Maybe SoundAbout would help. It's on Google Play. It has a free version which allows you to use the paid features for a few days.


text:
Is it possible for a phone to save video directly to PC hard drive?
I want to use my phone as a camera, but at the same time not to use any recording software on the PC, because it drains a lot of processor speed and has lag.
As in to use a directory on the PC hard drive as the main save and temp directory.
I haven't seen any discussion on this topic so i was wondering if it were possible, if it is it would be highly useful.

What phone do you have? It's hard to say that what one phone can do is possible on another phone. Software version, model number and any other relevant info would be helpful.


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How to overcome the failure of data wipe? My smartphone's type is Huawei g730 - U 10
My mobile was restarting several times even when I touch the screen or trying to make a call...then I found this message:
Encryption unsuccessful Encryption was interrupted and can't complete.As a result, the data on your phone is no longer accessible
To resume using your phone, you must perform a factory reset. When you set up your phone after the reset, you'll have an opportunity to restore any data that was backed up to your Google Account.
There is such like a button entitled "Reset phone". When I press it, the phone restarts and enters in "Android system recovery <3e>"
There are more than a category or alternatives to choose from. When I choose the "wipe cache partition", everything is ok and this process completes successfully. On the other hand, When I choose the category of "wipe data/factory reset", unfortunately appears to me this phrase: "wipe data failed".
What should I do? Give me a hand, please!

Common issue with Huawei devices. This happens when the memory chip (eMMC) is damaged and become read-only.
This is a hardware failure, the only fix is replacing the chip or changing the motherboard. Sometimes heating the chip can solve (temporarily) the issue.
To be sure the eMMC is damaged, power off the phone, hold volume up and volume down at the same time then briefly hit the power button: if the screen goes purple or you get a more explicit message : Update exception. EMMC is readonly, you can't update your system - the chip is damaged. Otherwise you can flash the device to solve the issue.


text:
How to prevent CPU throttling after not poking at screen
I'm trying to run some benchmarks on a Nexus 5 using GNURoot Debian. (The purpose of these benchmarks is to figure out which implementation strategy of an algorithm is the fastest on ARMv7, so the CPU needs to stay constantly clocked.)
I've set GNURoot Debian to take a wake lock and a wifi lock. In the system developer settings, I've prevented sleep when changing. (And I've connected a charger.) I've set the screen timeout to max (30 min).
Yet, when benchmark runs suggest that the phone still alternates between some kind of 100% performance, 80% performance and 75% performance modes.
Is there a way to tell the phone to stay in one of these modes consistently (when the screen is on and the charger connected)?
(I'm keeping the phone in a cool place and the phone isn't running hot, so I think this isn't thermal throttling. Also, the phone stays in the non-100% modes for longer than Raspberry Pi 3 stays in its 50% mode when doing presumably thermal throttling during the same benchmarks.)

If you have root access you can try to use an app like Device Control
to set the processors min frequency and a rather aggressive cpu governor.
explanation:
The cpu governor controls how quickly the cpu responds to alternating performance demands. If you set it to an aggressive mode like "performance" or "interactive" the cpu will try to stay in a high power state as long as needed whereas with a powersaving mode it will try to be in a low power state as long as possible.
With the cpu min frequency you can try to lock it to the fastest possible power mode.


text:
OTG USB drive showing as file instead of folder
So I have run into a problem with my Nexus 7 2013 (2nd gen).
Some apps have not been able to find my OTG storage (such as Spotify) that is attached to my device, but it is been able to find it on my Nexus 7 2012 (1st gen) and OnePlus 3. I have narrowed down the problem to this:

In those images, you can see that the OnePlus 3 and the Nexus 7 2012(1st gen) have the OTG storage device showing up under /Storage/usbdisk and /Storage/18FA-B433 folders where as the Nexus 7 2013 (2nd gen) shows up as /Storage/0193-1CFF. But the problem there is that the first 2 show up as folders where the Nexus 7 2013 (2nd gen) only shows up as a file in 3rd party file explorers. (I can still browse the files in the built-in file explorer in Android)
Does anyone here know what the problem could be causing it to show as a file instead of a folder and how I fix it?
The device is rooted and running 6.0.1


text:
Recently Used Apps crashing in portrait mode
When I try to switch to the "Recently Used Apps" screen (by holding the home button), the process com.android.systemui crashes.
However, in Landscape mode it works as usual (and rotating the device makes it crash again).
Device: Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Version: 4.4.2
ROM: Stock
EDIT: The system was not modified in any way (e.g. no root access).
Where can I find logs/files that provide me with additional info i.o. to trace the problem? Or what can I do to make it stop crashing (preferably not reseting)?
EDIT: Unfortunately, the issue mysteriously disappeared today and I cannot reproduce it any more.

Is that allways like that? Did recents worked fine in landscape or it was allways crashing? You might look at logcat there is a lot of apps for that but I don't know if you'll be able to look at it because you don't have root.

This is becoming a common issue.

To check logs there are a few options, for instance:

Given that you have a Samsung, try opening SysDump by going to Phone dialer -> *#9900# (no need to press Dial).
To get the logs, you might need to root your phone. This shows methods for accessing files in data/data without rooting, and it may apply to data/log as well.
Use the adb to check the output of dmesg.
Use aLogcat.
Details for checking an app adapted from here, it may require some tweaking for Recently Used Apps, if useful at all:

Start your target app (e.g., "Myapp") on the device. If it crashes, repeat this step 2-3 times.
Next start "aLogCat app" and wait for approximately ~1 minute.
Press the "Menu" button and select "Filter".
Type "Myapp" in the text field and press "OK" button.
Wait for approximately ~1 minute.
Press "Menu" button and select "Share".
Collect the log via any sharing option you have access (e.g., email, Bluetooth).

Use CatLog - Logcat Reader!. You might need root Access.

For completeness, I leave here a few related posts
Android device crash logs?
How can I view and examine the Android log?
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24407984/how-to-locate-app-crash-logs-in-android-phone
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24305180/error-erasing-old-data-from-logcat

You can get the log with this application installed CatLog - Logcat Reader!. Try to read log immediately after the exception.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
Download apk with x86 native binaries
Is there a way to download APKs with x86 native binaries (from google play)?
With raccoon, I can download APKs directly, but it only add an Note 5 as a device. That causes, that the APKs I download only contains ARM binaries.
I need the APK to run Apps in the AVD (which is much much faster if I use a x86 android)

That's because of the preconfigured device settings. Take a look at Raccoon's partner-product DummyDroid and generate yourself an appropriate device profile. You can find DummyDroid on the author's website.


text:
Android Google Play Install count
my company need to install one specific apk in 1200 devices
how do they play store count the installation/active?
its per e-mail (all devices will have the same playstore e-mail) or per device?
will be 1200/1200 (by device)
or 1/1 (by e-mail)

See: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/51689/how-many-devices-does-one-purchase-of-android-app-support and

And https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/139628#install

Google provides analytics like number of active user, type of device used,version of operating system used.
I suggest to send a apk directly to specific user
or
ask user to signup for the beta version of your app and push company specific code to beta stage and proceed suitably .


text:
Transfer from yahoo to google mail
Can i transfer messages as well as contacts from yahoo to gmail ? And will the contacts remain in yahoo afterwards so i have a chance to close it in my own time ? Thank you,  Marie

You'd have to export the Contacts from Yahoo, and import them into your Google account.  For email, you can't really transfer, only real way would be to forward email from Yahoo to your Gmail account.
You'd want to do the Contacts transfer when logged into the accounts via a computer.


text:
What is this status bar icon for
Since I upgraded my s7 edge to nougat I am seeing this icon with circle quater of which is white and the rest dim and a plus sign in center.  There seems to be no  info in notification panel

That indicates that Data Saver is turned On in Settings - Data Usage.


text:
How do you unlock bootloader
How do you unlock the bootloader of the huawei y5ii because I would like to flash TWRP

It looks like you need an unlock code from Huawei from them here, then unlock the bootloader with the code they provide using the fastboot command fastboot oem unlock XXXX, where XXXX is the code they provided.
Then using fastboot and the TWRP recovery for your device, flash it using:  fastboot flash recovery nameofTWRPfile.img
That is the basics taken from XDA here.


text:
Debugging an app from the Google Play Store?
Is it possible to use USB debugging on an app that is not yours, and was downloaded from the Google Play Store?
I don't really need any in-depth information, I just want to be able to see general errors that may be occurring.
I'm basically trying to debug a scrolling issue in my US Bank app on my own because their response is terrible, slow, and I've done redundant "troubleshooting" steps.
The phone I have is a Google Nexus 5 running Android 6.0.1, which is not rooted.

If your device is rooted, you should be able to read the logcat from any app (given that errors are thrown). Otherwise, there is nothing stopping you from using USB debugging; given that you have the source code, you can even put in brakepoints given the app is compiled with debugging enabled.

@GiantTree That was an important step I forgot to add. My device is not rooted. And I don't have the source code, since it's an app I downloaded from the Google Play Store. I can try plugging it in and reading logcat when I get home tonight.

The issue is: an app can only read its own log, so you could only read the log of the adb daemon (which certainly doesn't tell you anything). This was changed some time ago to prevent the leakage of private information through logs.

Have you seen: http://www.curious-creature.com/docs/android-performance-case-study-1.html and you could try to see if its network issue via a MITM proxy like Charles/wireshark.

@MorrisonChang no I have not, but that is a good find. I'll give it a shot tonight. It's unfortunate that I have to take this debugging into my own hands. I first reported the problem seven days ago when the app updated. The help I've received consists of: clear cache, make sure your data is on, reboot device, uninstall and reinstall the app. Create trouble ticket New person, "have you tried to uninstall the app and reinstall it? Have you rebooted the device?" ..........

The problem with bank apps is that they have to follow their internal release protocols/security reviews. So even if internally its been fixed, unless the problem a serious bug (leaking credentials/app broken et al.) and not just janky UI, few will put their necks out for a hot patch release.

@GiantTree: The restriction regarding logcat you mentioned only applies to apps. If you adb logcat from a PC you see logcat from every app.

On an unrooted phone you can enable the Android Debug Bridge.
When the phone is connected to your PC and the smartphone is unlocked you can log in via adb from the PC and see the logcat output of the app you want to monitor.
If this is helpful for you depends on the app (some apps do log anything) and what you want to achieve.

I had a scrolling problem too. I factory reset the phone then reinstalled the us bank app then worked fine.  I believe it was a config type error when  transferring to the new phone. I have a Galaxy 3 android v6.

They got back to me and said they started receiving numerous reports. They still haven't pushed an update. I'm going to refrain from a reset though

Let me get it to point directly, if u don't have the source code ,you cannot read the error log messages .

I wish this were true! When I'm trying to debug my own app the log is full of every other app's log spam.


text:
How do I downgrade my Kindle Fire?
I want to downgrade my Kindle Fire from 5.3.2.1 so that I can root it. Can someone please help?


text:
Programmatic Alarm App in Android?
Suppose you wake up at 00:00 AM and usually have an alarm ring half-way through the day at 12:00 PM.
But now you sleep in, and wake up at 02:00 AM. Is there an app that allows for you to "reset" such alarms (and in my case there is more than one) to (in this case) find the new half-way point (which is 02:00 PM) for your alarm?
I don't know what else to call this except "programmatic alarms" in Android. Does such a thing exist?

This seems quite unclear.

I haven't seen an app that does that specifically, but such a thing would be possible.
In the Calendar API in Android, there are values to set AM/PM for a time (AM and PM, respectively). The midpoint you speak of is the same time just with this value changed. There really isn't any formula that would have to be implemented to make this really all that programmatic. Just switch those values.
Here is the reference to the API: https://developer.android.com/reference/java/util/Calendar.html
EDIT: Thinking about this a little bit more, if there is a function in the app to silence the alarm after a certain amount of time then if this extends to 12 hours (which is highly unlikely) your specific use case is covered. I think that it might be worthwhile finding an open source alarm app, editing and compiling your own version for personal use.


text:
How to get in samsung galaxy s6 actve
I had made a password for my Samsung galaxy s6 and I forgot it a few hours later and I don't know how to get into my phone and the thing where it say to sign into google is no working either i have been locked out for 3 hours it is a very stressful problem to have because all I wanted to do was get into my phone so someone please help me (btw I have the active)

If you have a Samsung account, and your phone can still connect to the internet (WiFi or 3G/4G doesn't matter), these instructions may help you. Otherwise a hard reset is likely your only remaining option.

I made a video for a similar model -- https://youtu.be/_onTYkSUbr0
If this method doesn't help you I have tons of videos for many models, try looking at a few of my other Samsung videos and see if any of they help you. Feel free to ask for help on my channel if you get stuck.


text:
What is this usb property
I stumbled upon property "ro.usb.vid=2970" so anyone know what it means and where it gets stored in which file because it's not in build.prop or default.prop..?

A USB device has a Vendor ID and a Product ID for the host to distinguish a device model. Both are 2-bytes integer. That ro.usb.vid is exactly your device's USB VID. It is located at/sys/class/android_usb/android0/idVendor
Use cat in a terminal to read its value and echo to change it (effective until next boot).
Also you can find your device's USB PID at/sys/class/android_usb/android0/idProduct
which is likely named ro.usb.pid in the same place. Again use cat and echo to access it.


text:
Nexus 6P - Fix "No Command" with a broken volume button
So, I have broken my Volume Up button. And my phone has gone into a "No Command" mode that does not let me turn my phone on.
Since my volume up is stuck and not working, how do I reset the phone so that I can go back to using it? I am able to get to the reboot screen by pressing the Power and Volume Down. But cannot proceed further because my Volume Up does not work.
Is there a way to fix this? Thanks!

is USB Debugging enabled?

did you get it fixed? I have the exact same situation right now


text:
Have a Moto g play believe 4th gen...
And when I go into storage my SD card doesn't show. I removed and put back in then it shows for a bit then randomly says ejecting SD card... Why is this happening and how do I fix it?

Bad card or bad device... I suggest getting a new, quality SD card and test it and if a new card does the same thing contact Moto customer care.

I had the same problem with several SD cards. I t seems the card reader is damaged


text:
What can I do to make only the active app use Internet?
I know there are few apps that can restrict apps from access internet, but I just want a simple app or a solution so that only the active app say WhatsApp uses the Internet and the rest apps don't access the Internet at all?
I am using MotoG3 with Marshmellow (6.0.1)

Did you try restricting background data in Settings > Data Usage

You can try NetGuard.

There usually is no need to install some 3rd party app to do the blocking part. These apps mostly require root access, even after granting root access to them, I found that the very app that was supposed to restrict background data usage was secretly consuming large amounts of data in the background.
Not many know this, but, android devices actually have the ability to restrict background data usage built-in.
Just go to "Settings/Data Usage" and then select the options menu (the three-dots on top right corner) and just check the box saying 'Restrict BackGround Data'. And now you're good to go.
You can monitor the data yourself, it worked pretty well for me, but, then you would have to manually open WhatsApp every minute to check if you have any new messages, this feature does not allow any exceptions!!

" I found that the very app that was supposed to restrict background data usage was secretly consuming large amounts of data in the background." GOOD ONE :)


text:
Unable to boot into recovery after flashing TWRP
My phone model: Moto G Falcon
I flashed TWRP with the app. I am not able to boot into recovery mode. I get this error message:

Invalid boot image size!
failed to validate recovery image

I am stuck with Cyanogenmod12 Nightly. The thing is I am at least able to boot my phone.

If you had TWRP installed previously, you can install zip using twrp itself.

Install ADB tools for your distribution. Check if it works with:
fastboot devices

then install with:
fastboot flash recovery twrp*.img

For me, the installation via the TWRP app did not work and I flashed it manually.

I suspect you might have installed a TWRP image that was not for your phone or corrupt. I would download it again, making sure it is the correct version, that is, it is the one for falcon and flash it again by booting in fastboot mode (power + vol down), and use
fastboot flash recovery twrp-3.2.1-0-falcon.img

Modify the name of the .img file accordingly.


text:
How to upgrade Xiaomi Redmi 3 to Android Marshmallow?
I have recently updated the MIUI 7 to MIUI 8. Thought it was based on Android Marshmallow. But it is on the same Lollipop version. How do I update it into Marshmallow? I know there is no official way to upgrade. So looking for other ways.

Redmi 3/Prime latest update is Lollipop 5.1. You can check updates using Tools-> Updater.

As of now MIUI 8 is still Lollipop (and will likely stay that way due to Xiaomi pushing Redmi 4 series), and there's no Marshmallow-based port either, so you will have to make a choice between up-to-date Android version and MIUI UI/features.
If you do decide that living on the cutting edge is worth the sacrifice, start unlocking and flashing custom ROMs. XDA-Developers will give you a good start, hosting a number of popular ROMs such as LineageOS (this would even bump you to Nougat).