text:
I am trying to change my device's Mac address from adb shell but
I tried to change the Mac address of my non-rooted Samsung Galaxy J5 2016 (running Android 7.1.1) from adb shell.
But the command
ip link set wlan0 [...........]
returns
permission denied.
Any idea out there on how to go around this issue?

You are getting Permission denied  error because you don't have sufficient privilege to execute that command. You need to elevate them and that can happen if only you root the device or use an exploit that grants you the required privilege.
Find out how to root that device, root it if you can, and then use that command.

♦ many thanks for your answer.
Let us say that I'm making my last attempts before rooting my phone.
What exploit could I try to gain the adequate privilege?

I haven't used any exploits for long and Android's implementation of security has made it hard for people to find or execute exploits successfully to get root privileges. Some apps such as Kingoroot claims to work for certain Android devices but they are very fishy in nature (known for installing backdoors and tracking apps). It would be best if you find how to simply root the device. If it involves an exploit you would get to know it. :)


text:
How to read a video embedded in a ᴘᴅꜰ?
A simple question on a ᴘᴄ.
But on Android, even the official reader doesn’t allows it.
This is for reading the video inside/with the ᴘᴅꜰ, not extracting it.

Unfortunately, stack exchange doesn’t allows to share an exemple because of the format.

You can use a file hosting service, or even Google Drive to share that PDF with us to test.

Please [edit] to mention Android Version and device details and what is the official reader?

@beeshyams the reader devlopped by the designer of the pdf format which is Adobe.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Android 8.1 Keyboard on Galaxy Tab A doesn't display word choices
My old Samsung Galaxy Tab running Android 4.2 would always show 3 word suggestions above the keyboard as I was typing. I thought it was very helpful. But my new tablet(Galaxy Tab A 8") running 8.1 doesn't have that. Can I get that back?

Let it be set to default keyboard(Samsung Keyboard).
Follow steps to turn on word's suggestions:
For Galaxy tab:
Follow the steps:

Open Settings - Scroll down to System - Language and input-Choose Samsung keyboard.
Under Smart typing choose Predictive text and enable it.

For Handsets:

Open Settings-General Managment-Language and Input-On screen keyboard-Samsung Keyboard.
Now turn on 'Predictive text' option and again in this option turn of 'Auto replace'.

Note: Auto Replace will enable the keyboard to replace predicted words by itself and this could create problem while typing.

Downloaded the Google keyboard app. It solved the problem for me

You can return after 48 hours to accept the answer.Thanks for self answering

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


text:
Take notes, and enter into a Google Docs spreadsheet using Google Assistant.
I have a pair of Google Assistant compatible headphones, and I want to use Google Assistant to help me keep track of my spending.
Essentially, I want to be able to say:
'spent $20 of groceries', or 'spent $10 on transport' etc,
and that map on to an spread sheet like:
datetime             type         amount
11/11/2018 5:10pm    groceries    20
12/11/2018 5:55pm    transport    10

I am happy to use an IFTTT integration to do this.
What would the best way to achieve this?

Ok,this is actually pretty simple on IFTTT - it's lucky that it's a simple task.
Here's an applet I created:
https://ifttt.com/applets/91022983d-if-you-say-spent-on-then-add-row-to-google-drive-spreadsheet
Essentially you can create a text and number trigger for google assistant, that maps nicely to creating rows on a spreadsheet.


text:
Android tablet has 45 GB free but shows low space warning
So this tablet is pretty new. Hardly even used it. But when I tried to put videos and large apps onto it, it constantly gives me a "insufficient space" warning. it comes with 57.61GB of storage ( no external SD or anything) and I can't add anything once it reaches "45GB free"
It has not been rooted. It has hit 0% battery once but was on charge and it shut down (yes, bad idea to run it but it's battery dropped from 14% to 0)
I've used all sorts of apps to identify how much space remains and even my computer says it has 45GB free.

(Tap to enlarge)

insufficient-memory' tag wiki should be of help to you. See the frequently asked questions in that tag to investigate and resolve. Also, please [edit] to mention  device particulars . Please add snapshot of memory space as shown by apps. You will find recommended apps in questions on that tag. Welcome to Android Enthusiasts

It seems you have /sdcard on a different partition than /data. What device is it? Not clear from K101.


text:
Can changing APN settings in Android improve internet speed?
I wonder while reading some of blogs and even people around me suggests some changes in APN settings(that includes APN Name, MCC, MNC, APN Protocol and Bearer), claiming that will increase my internet speed.
If this is a real solution for increasing internet speed, do above settings are enough to change?
Additional Info: Country India
Carrier Network- Jio/Airtel


text:
Watching Youtube and listening to music at same time in android phone- Is it possible
How can I watch Youtube video (app) muted as well as listen to music in phone's built in music app in any android phone?
It is not a duplicate of this How can I mute the YouTube app while playing music on another player?, I had seen that before. The answer there asks us to watch youtube in browser. but  my question is  watching youtube video in youtube app, while listening to music.
May I know if that is possible?

Not possible AFAIK

Hello Roohi. If the answer to the linked question doesn't work for you, you should offer a bounty. The questions are the same so they cannot be treated differently.


text:
Android 7 Nougat onwards: hides USB OTG sticks from third-party file managers?
Third party file managers such as ES File Manager and RhythmSoft File Manager HD (others will be tested) do not show an USB OTG device.
It does not even get listed.
Only Android's pre-installed file manager does.
Is USB OTG deliberately hidden in Android ≥7?

As explained here How app can access files on USB OTG storages in Android 6.0 (API level 23) without root?, the accepted answer says about the change introduced from Marshamllow

In Android 6.0, any device that is not adopted is considered portable. […] Third-party apps must go through the Storage Access Framework to interact with files on portable storage; direct access is explicitly blocked for privacy and security reasons.

(Emphasis added)
Which means that the File explorer needs to use Storage Access Framework (requires root as indicated in the question on SO). This XDA post Files by Google adds support for browsing files on USB OTG drives says Files by Google has been updated with this capability (not tested by me).

Thank you for the answer. Actually, I still have read-only access in Android 6.0. But what bothers me is that Google enforces the default file manager instead of giving the user a consentful choice possibility. (Spoiler: Even the earliest versions of ES File Manager, 2010 or so, were more functional than the newest Android's built-in file manager.) For a long time, Android did not even have a file manager. That's right. On a Google Nexus 7, 2012, one needed separate apps to access files and also the front camera (the Nexus had no rear camera due to toxic minimalism)

Glad it helped you :). But yes ES was very good before it started carrying dirty payload !

Dirty payload? What's that? Android 4.4.2's MicroSD scandal?

See how many times ES is mentioned here What is this lock screen with ads and how do I remove it?. I read that they have improved but I am not taking chances

I must be using an older (apparently better) version of ES.

MiXplorer by Hootan Parsa is a very appreciable replacement to ES and Solid explorers.

Can you clarify?  Your answer seems to say that using Storage Access Framework requires root "as indicated in the question on SO" but I read the question as saying you need root to access USB storage directly while the answer says you need Storage Access Framework but nothing about needing root.

Please try the explorer linked. I am unable to reply in detail. If that doesn't help, ping a moderator to reopen question

I also forgot to mention that all third-party apps from the past and also current ones such as VLC Media Player are now blocked from accessing OTG. That's like disabling the entire Internet access altogether, you know, for security reasons.


text:
Payment deducted but app was not downloaded
I paid Rs.180/- for an App called "Pop Diary+Journal.  The amount was debited but the App was not downloaded.  It has not shown in Google play stores history.
The App developer said he could not help in this matter.
How to download the App or to get refund?

What stopped you from downloading? what was the error message? You can call or chat with Google help from the Google Play Settings → Help and feedback. Related question Refund Google Play apps but haven't got my money back. Please do not include your personal contact information on the site (now deleted). We have no use for it and no one is going to mail you a reply

Open the PlayStore app on your device, open the app page you have bought and re-download it. Once you have bought it you can download it like any free app (on the account you have bought it).

Whenever a transaction is initiated online it has 2 parts ...

The vendor(merchant side - in this case will be google) side
The Bank side(the bank whose Credit Card/Debit Card/Net Banking one would use)

The part that routes from the Vendor side to the respective gateway(for credit cards) and Banking portal(for Net Banking) is a normal redirection. The next process is where the actual transaction takes place ... This is the process where the Credit/Debit cards/Net Banking Accounts are debited(which involves authenticating the OTP) ... ONCE this process is completed, what lies ahead is the MOST IMPORTANT part ... the part where the Successful transaction part has to be clearly transmitted back(redirected) to the vendor side(portal) for the finality of the process.
The Issue described above is the place where the last(and the most important) part has failed ... the communication of the successful transaction back to the vendor portal which initiated this whole process ... this occurs in probability due to a request time-out ...
In such cases the vendor has no information with regard to the success(approval) of the transaction as a result they have no information of the transaction except the request time-out information. But as the transaction was successfully completed on the side of the bank with the debit and the OTP authentication leaves the funds in a suspense account waiting for the vendor to raise a credit for the same. As the Vendor has no information with regard to the success of the transaction they will not seek a credit for the same ... the bank who had moved the debit to a suspense account which holds the funds until a claim is raised will not know what to do ... except lie in wait that they may be presented with a claim any time.
Net outcome of this above situation ... is that our funds from this stale transaction will continue to rot in this suspense !!!
The only way this stands to be resolved is from the side of the Bank as the success of the transaction was fully recorded on their side.
ALL WE NEED TO DO IS ... contact the bank and raise a complaint with them of this "request time-out" issue one has faced ... They'll raise a ticket ... and investigate the same ... they'll wait for a specific time to see if any claim gets raised for this transaction with the said date, time and transaction nos. ... and even after this waiting period they do not get any claim for that particular transaction they'll finally decide that this was a case of a request time-out and subsequently issue a reversal of this transaction ... This whole exercise could take a minimum of 10 days and could differ from bank to bank.
Hope this information helps cases of request time-out get sorted out better.


text:
Android device load process (preparing flashing)
Standard Android OS load process looks like (from docs):

BootROM (starts with 'on' button)
Bootloader
Kernel
init/mounting
Zygote+Dalvik VM
System services

But I have a difficulties understanding load process preparing flashing (how I met it flashing Galaxy Tab and MTK cellphone ROMs)
Could you help me to find a position for those tools on this diagram:
1) The code that show logo (or battery charge in percents when power cable is on) and respond to USB (when phone is off but battery is inside) ? Where it is ? It should be postioned before Boot ROM - but how you name it?
2) who are responsible for handle "on + volumne down" to switch to "bootload" menu ? BootRom or Bootloader?
3) "preloader" how it is positioned there? (I'm not sure that I understand what preloader is).
4) Twrp ? fastboot ? odin3  does they replace Dalvik or run over it? twrp by itself look like full OS.

Boot process of Android devices up to kernel stage is very vendor specific, device specific and contains mostly closed source code. You may see clear deviations of terminologies used and differences in their implementations. Here I'm giving a simple understanding.

When charger is inserted, device boots very similar to when power button is pressed except that a very limited OS is loaded.
Device boots normally up to init stage (given at point 4). init, instead of starting services from /system and /vendor partitions, starts a process: /sbin/charger* which is not a part of AOSP. Charger binary is usually closed source and varies for different devices. It may load some pictures / animations stored on some partitions specific for this purpose.
Also some OEMs allow enabling / disabling off-mode-charge through fastboot to control the behavior i.e. whether the device should be switched on when power is plugged in or not. But it's also not a standard feature and varies for devices.
Bootloaders (SBL / ABOOT or equivalents) handle Power and Volume buttons pressed to start (Emergency) Download mode, SPL mode, fastboot mode etc. and recovery or normal kernel.
Preloader is a bootloader stage (SBL / SPL) before final bootloader (UBOOT / LK / ABOOT)
Here is the boot chain:

BootROM
Primary / Secondary BooLoader or PreLoader
Final bootloader (which provides odin / fastboot)
Kernel / Recovery (TWRP)
Init (first userspace process and in-charge of all other processes, also mounts filesystems)
Services or processes are started from /system and /vendor partitions by init (Zygote / Dalvik is one of those).

So odin (specific to Samsung) and fastboot are two independent protocols for communication with device through USB to format partitions, flash factory firmware, (un)lock bootloader etc. While TWRP is a minimal OS which is booted in place of normal boot.img (usually using same kernel) in case Android is unable to boot or needs OTA update or some modifications / maintenance.
None of them can be related to Dalvik, they are hardware specific and run at pre-kernel or kernel stage. While zygote - a part of AOSP - is a completely userspace process which forks Dalvik Virtual Machine for every app.

For details: Boot Process: Android vs. Linux


text:
How to install system trusted CA certificate on Android without rooting
I need to install the firewall certificate on the devices of my company. Since I can't install a system trusted certificate without rooting the device I thought of creating an Android image that comes with the certificate and flash it into the devices, but...
Where or how should I put such cert on the image? Or if there is another solution that also doesn't envolves rooting I would be happy to hear!

Are you sure root is needed? I don't think so. I have Adguard which is adblock +firewall and it installs certificates without root. Question marked as duplicate deals with earlier version of Android but even on 8.1 you can install similarly (security & location >encryption and credentials

As far as I have seen you can add user certificates without root, no?

Yes, that is what I meant by giving the example of Adguard app


text:
Is your Galaxy S7 running slow after 11/2018 T-Mobile update?
Several days after receiving this update my phone became sluggish to do anything. Simple things like: swiping to answer calls is taking 2-4 seconds, lighting up a screen when the call is incoming is taking also several seconds. The battery life suffers as well - I am losing about 30% of battery every day compared to how it was before. When I look at what is consuming the battery, Android system is the biggest consumer, about 10-20% each day.
Also, the phone started complaining about running out of space even though I had 32Gb SD card that was empty. Going to storage setting shows that out of 32Gb of internal storage I have only about 1-2Gb free and that's after cleaning all of personal data. Most of the consumption is in the system memory. There is no way of seeing what goes into System memory consumption as the stock tools don't show it's contents.
Does anyone else have this problem? Any ideas how to resolve it?

Here is what I just tried to do and it seems to have worked for now. Be careful when doing this as this may lead to the loss of data.
Installed the app "X-plore". Thanks to the developers of this app - a really great tool! The feature to serve the phone's files over HTTP to the desktop PC is a brilliant idea.
It shows most of the system memory contents. I noticed that directory /sdcard/log was bloated: it had way too many files. Seemed like crash dump files that were zipped into ~6Mb packages. There were hundreds of them and they had dates in the names matching the time when the slowness started.
Deleting those files has freed up ~10Gb of space. The phone is running much better.


text:
Why don't calls to emergency numbers show in the Phone app's call log?
I recently had to make an emergency call.
I later noticed in my device's call logs in the Phone app that the emergency number I called doesn't show up in the call log. (In other words, no entry shows of the call; no trace in the call log that I called an emergency number.)
Why is this? Is this intentional and by design, or is it a bug?
(Using stock Android 8.1 with latest updates on Nexus 6P.)

Logically they should for traceability of crank / genuine distress emergency calls. As a matter of fact   Call  |  Android Developers specifies extra time accuracy for emergency calls:

Extra key used to indicate the time (in milliseconds since midnight, January 1, 1970 UTC) when the last outgoing emergency call was made. This is used to identify potential emergency callbacks

(Emphasis supplied)
Try changing the call app and if it still persists report to OEM / ROM developers
Related What's the purpose of "Emergency Call" button on SIM unlock screen?

I am not a developer, sharing my understanding as user. On my device mia1, it showed up in logs in past and now too - just checked

In my Nexus 6 and OnePlus 6, dialing 112 always shows up in the call logs.


text:
Change status of "view only" contact in Google Contacts
I have Nexus 5x running Android 8.1 Oreo with Google Contacts 3.2.5.222172751. I had a friend's name misspelled in my contact list and wanted to fix it. Ordinarily (and on all my other contacts), there is a blue edit button in the bottom right of the interface that displays contact info, but for this contact, it's missing.
When I open the contact from the Google search bar (Google app), it shows the words "read-only" at the top.  I think I created the contact in the normal way (rather than through another app). Yes, I could delete the contact and create a new one. That would be quite easy, but that's not the answer I'm looking for.
How do I fix the contact settings? Or if somehow not possible, what in the world? What is a "view only" contact?

I am guessing that this contact was created through some app (hangouts or something else) though you think it is not the case. Hence probably not editable. Go to contacts on web and check if that contact is there. If not, it confirms guess

This was so many years ago. I wonder if you ever figured this out. I have 1000s of contacts that are read only. It looks like I may have to delete my whole entire address book which will be a nightmare.
Thanks, T
PS: Sorry, I didn't suggest I have an answer. I myself am looking for an answer.

I ran into the same problem recently; here's the answer I found worked immediately.
Use the phone app. Like, the one you use to make phone calls.
Google Contacts apparently doesn't look at where the contact comes from, only that it didn't create it. And then just gives up.
But lo and behold, clicking the big green phone button and searching for that contact not only revealed two accounts with the same name (associated with another app), but both were easily and quickly deleted.
And now I have the right contact name in Google Voice! Miracles.


text:
Nextbit robin recognised on fastboot but not adb shell
In the process of rooting my Nextbit Rboin, I unlocked the bootloader, and wiped it so I only have TWRP on it.
I have an LOS zip ready but I dont know how to get it on the device.  I have installed minimal adb and fastboot, and after that adb did not work I also installed 15 seconds adb installer.
fastboot -1 0x2c3f devices

shows my device but
adb push los.zip /sdcard/

gives me the error no devices/emulators found.
adb shell

gives me same error no device found.
fastboot update los.zip

gives error does not contain android-info.text
How to get the zip on to the robin?  Should I be in fastboot or twep when I run adb?  neither work.

If fastboot devices shows your device, adb cannot work (and vice versa).
You need to boot to recovery (TWRP). Then you can push the ZIP via adb push and flash it using TWRP's menu (but fastboot devices then will show nothing, which is fully normal).
If ADB doesn't work when booted into TWRP, check TWRP's settings whether ADB is disabled. It might also be that, while booted into recovery, your Robin presents a different ID then when in fastboot, so you'd need to configure that (or, in case of Windows, need another reboot for the corresponding driver to update/activate).


text:
How to make Termux obtain root access?
I am using a rooted Samsung S8+. But, Termux cannot gain root access. I tried su, sudo unsuccessfully.
When I  tried installing termux-sudo, I had the error cat: sudo: no such a file or directory.

(Tap to enlarge)

Are you Magisk or SuperSU?

There is no sudo on Android, only /sbin/su binary exists on rooted phones. How did you root your phone? What does 'ls /sbin' command show? Did you grant root access to Termux app through Magisk or SuperSU app? Do you have SELinux enforcing or permissive? You may edit your question to add further details. Termux-sudo package isn't necessarily needed to run as root, that just a bash wrapper around su binary.

Can you please show the output of which su?

Instead of sudo ..Try running tsu

I don't think tsu comes inbuilt with Termux. Requires installation. You should mention that.

Yes, you need to type "pkg install tsu", and then "tsu" is exactly the same than "sudo" on the PC.

First, install the needed packages.
pkg install proot proot-distro tsu fakeroot parted

Then, go to a new screen in the terminal and type
proot -0 login

Are you sure that's the correct order of those commands? I have a strong feeling that it should have been sudo cat instead of cat sudo.

First, you probably need to use su rather than sudo. Where did you copy the sudo from? It looks like some incompatible executable, maybe copied from an x64 distro (guessing).
Second, Termux overrides $PATH. You will need to provide full path or to make su available on $PATH. You might want a symlink (ln -s) of su (which might be located in /sbin/, /system/xbin or so).

This is exactly right, although in my case the symlink was located in xsu. Also, after obtaining su, you need to re overwrite PATH so termux can access all of it's packages again.

You have installed incompatible software. In your output, the line "Exec: exec format error" is the program loader complaining about an incompatible binary format.
Your experiment failed because of wrong software type.


text:
IFTTT activity paused suddenly
I have a Nokia 6.1 with several geofencing based Applets to turn on/off the ringer, etc.  All of these recipes I got from IFTTT.  I just realized that none of them have run since December 6th.  Any idea what's going on?  My phone is a Nokia 6.1 running Android Pie.

It's hard to be certain, but it seems like opening IFTTT on my Android smart phone fixed my problem.  Although that isn't very helpful in a way, since you have to notice that IFTTT isn't working and open it.  I don't see a way of preventing the problem.  Maybe I could set an IFTTT applet to send myself a daily "everything is okay" email and then if I didn't get the daily email I would know to check on it?  This might not do anything to help problems with the geofence based applets like I use though.


text:
Can I bruteforce adoptable-storage SD card to recover data?
I got an LG G4  (locked bootloader, no root),  on which I enabled adoptable storage on with adb a few months ago.
Today, I tried to put a SIM card in the first SIM card slot, which was under the SD card slot (of course my phone was turned off). I removed the SD put the SIM in the other slot and put my SD card back in. Since my SIM card was the wrong size , I removed it. But when I turned the phone on , my SD card wasn't showing up. Even the file manager was not showing either my internal and my adoptable storage .  I tried to put another SD card , it didn't show up too. So, I think I damaged my SD card reader in some way. I know since device is not rooted I can't get the .key file to recover my SD card.
So my question is : Can I bruteforce the SD card to get the .key so that I can recover my data?

In theory , yes. In practice it may need huge resources and time. See What if the FBI Tried To Crack An Android Phone? We Attacked One To Find Out. It may be easier to try data recovery services such as EaseUS. I have no idea at all how much they cost and how effective they are

The problem with adoptable storage is you need the key... The key is 128-bit "code", the encryption itself is AES-256... So to brute force just the key is possible, but it could take 1 billion billion (1.02x10^18 to be more accurate) years with the most powerful supercomputer in existence today, because that equels 3.4x10^38 possible keys. In theory, you could get it right on your first try, but the reality is most cracks happen in 50% of the maximum time, so only 500 million billion years... We can't comprehend this kind of time, for example, the universe is ONLY 13.75 billion years old.


text:
My HTC one M9+ doesn't perform background tasks when idle but push notifications work
I have an HTC One M9+. After the update to Android 6 (two years ago?) it stopper performing background tasks. For example:
FeedMe - an offline RSS-reader. 100 000+ installs. It is set to download new articles every 2 hours. Doesn't happen.
SMS Backup+ - backs up your SMS etc to GMail. 5 000 000+ installs. It is set to backup every day. Doesn't happen.
FolderSync - copies folder to cloud storage. 500 000+ installs. No schedules are run.
These apps are not battery (doze) optimised. Adding / removing them to doze optimization doesn't make a difference in the behavior
Push notifications from Facebook and similar work as expected. It is like cron or a similar service stopped working when I updated to Android 6. Does anyone know if HTC made something special with their version of Android? Any workarounds?
Edit: I can add another another popular app to the list, Pusbullet (1 000 000+ downloads). I also have a Sony Experia with exactly the same programs on, and there it works flawlessy. It also runs Android 6.
Edit: I can add Firefox to the list above. Even though I have logged in to my FF account and confirmed the login it doesn't sync.


text:
Developer Options disappeared?
Recently I had to factory reset my LG Stylo 3 running Android 7. Now the section in my settings that was "Developer Options" is no longer there. How can I get it back?

Please [edit] to add Android version in question and tags too. You need to tap build number 7 times (usually you will find that in About Phone. Have you done that?

Thank you i have not. i will edit momentarily

It is preferred if you can post separate questions instead of combining your questions into one. That way, it helps the people answering your question and also others hunting for at least one of your questions. Thanks!

"Developer Options" is by default not shown on recent Android versions. To make it show up, you should go to Settings -> About -> Tap on "Build version" 7 times, and then it will come back. This action needs to be performed every time the phone is factory-reset, since it's stored as a (hidden) setting item.

Shouldn't this have been a comment, at best? An evident duplicate doesn't need a fleshed-out answer, but a redirect to the earlier post where the answer is both correct and accepted.


text:
Can I connect my XLR mic to my mobile via an XLR -> USB cable via OTG?
I have an XLR mic. I want to connect it to my mobile phone. But even after using all kinds of solutions / cables / connectors my mobile's audio (TRRS) socket is not detecting the mic.
I was thinking of bypassing the audio socket by going in for a USB based solution using an XLR -> USB cable (https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B06XBMMC1D)
If I use this cable and a OTG connector, will my XLR mic work in Android? The cable has a microcontroller based chipset inside it which converts analog signals to digital (that's what the manufacturer says).
My USB pc webcam mic works perfectly on my mobile when connected via a OTG connector. So will the above solution also work?

I went ahead and bought the XLR -> USB cable and IT WORKS through the OTG connector on my Redmi 4 mobile. But there is a lot of background static in the recordings.


text:
Program camera app to take multiple exposures?
I'm trying to create some HDR images by taking photos with multiple exposures. I have the "Kenu Stance" tripod for my Samsung Galaxy S9+, but ultimately, it's hard to keep the camera 100% steady in between shots as I have to tap the screen to change exposures and, well, it's a large phone so it will still pivot a bit when touched as the tripod is fixed on a small part of the phone (the USB-C jack).
Does anyone know of a way to program the phone/camera app to take three photos in a row, with different settings (like ISO and Shutter speed)? Or perhaps, if there already is a camera app out there that allows this? This way I could just connect my headset to the phone, click the shutter button once and be certain the phone is 100% steady during all the photos.

Izzy is a moderator here. Please see his list of curated camera apps that may help.

Several there that do exactly what you describe.

Thanks! Any suggestions? No offense but i get a headache from looking at that page.


text:
gboard suggesting passphrase after deleting app data and learned dictionary
I have been using the gboard keyboard app for as long as I can remember. I also use password managers for nearly every situation, but they do not completely eliminate passwords. To my horror, gboard's predictive text feature recently started suggesting one of my passphrases. Specifically, if I wrote the first word of the passphrase, the next one would be suggested, and choosing that would suggest the next one after that, etc.
I force stopped the app and deleted both cache and app data. That did not fix it. So I went into settings and explicitly deleted learned words. That also did not fix it. So I looked for any situation where I may have (stupidly) typed it into an email. I could not find any example.
At this point, I am out of ideas for where Google may be acquiring this password. Obviously, I will change the password. But how do I keep this from happening again?

From Gboard settings > text correction > disable personalized suggestions (it learns from Google apps and services you use). See if that helps


text:
What happens if vendor partition is corrupted?
I  mistakenly flashed recovery image in vendor partition while installing a custom rom. I am using Lenovo K6 Power with Lineage OS Oreo Karate by Karthik with TWRP. I was flashing Resurrection Remix Oreo while this happened.
I haven't rebooted my device till now and it is charging. So what will happen now? When I try to flash RR I get error: /vendor cannot be mounted, when I try to restore I get the same error message.
Currently I am downloading stock rom and planning to flash it via Qfil in hopes of fixing it. Any ideas what to do?

/vendor is sister partition of /system on Android devices which holds system applications and libraries that do not have source code available on AOSP but added by vendors (OEM's). It also contains SoC firmware images i.e. hardware specific libraries and binaries (OpenGL, ISP...).
Proprietary blobs (HALs) usually live in /vendor as shared libraries (.so files) which are loaded by Android binders when processes call a hardware component. This partition was optional before Treble support and /vendor used to be just a symlink to /system/vendor. However, on Treble devices it contains a separate filesystem, usually same as that of /system i.e. ext4 or f2fs.
If you accidentally flashed recovery image over vendor partition, it won't brick your device unless you have a ROM or factory firmware to flash. However its filesystem is erased which needs to be recreated. Factory firmware flasher will do this for you but you can also manually format it from TWRP Wipe menu or through terminal emulator using mkfs.ext4 or mkfs.f2fs commands.
Further reading: ANDROID DEVICE PARTITIONS and FILESYSTEMS


text:
Android Wi-Fi hotspot DNS resolver: locally point domain name to custom address without root
So, I know dnsmasq is used as DNS/DHCP server in Android when running as a Wi-Fi hotspot, that dnsmasq can be used to point users to a specific address when resolving addresses, and that there is a way to set a custom system-wide DNS server, either by setting it in the phone, or by using the Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 app.
Is it possible to give custom DNS records to clients in an Android Wi-Fi hotspot, locally, without rooting the phone? Say, by modifying the "address" configuration parameter in dnsmasq somehow, by running a local DNS server in an unprivileged port, and using that as the system DNS, or by using a custom VPN config (which, from what I've read, is the way the 1.1.1.1 app works)?

I don't think it's possible without root, whether it's to modify name servers of dnsmasq or to run some other local DNS server


text:
Best way to access the full Android internal storage directory tree from an Ubuntu pc
Background
I am trying to free up memory from my phone that is becoming more and more unusable, as it reports only ~600MB free memory out of 16,0GB; but deleting cache files, moving images/videos to my PC, and moving apps to the SD card didn't help much.
When trying to manage the issue from the phone, I find an inconsistent memory count, in that the Memory Management utility reports a total memory usage less than 11 GB (6.5 Firmware, 3.5GB Apps, 0.9GB other, 34MB cache, 21MB images). So where/what are the missing 5GB?
Attempts to a solution
One approach is to search for apps like in this question (but this guy had no much luck, one answer after one year).
So I thought I could understand myself the situation better, and hopefully reach out the root cause, by accessing the phone files directly from Ubuntu (assuming that Android should be, if not a relative or a good friend, at least collaborative with Linux), but attempting to do so I am very much confused when Linux reports only 1,1 GB being used (so I would expect the free memory to be 14.9GB!).
Therefore I understand that by the MTP protocol (that, I read here, is Microsoft, so no wonder it makes things difficult to Linux) I cannot access all files of my android phone "internal memory". And, by the way, PTP accesses even less files!
Additional data:

the phone is a Huawei P8 2017 Lite (likely I will soon need to the same on a Honor 8 too)
Android version is 7.0
Ubuntu is 16.04 (4.15.0-39-generic)

Other Searches
Of course I understand that such a need must be widespread, and searched for similar questions, and found a lot around speaking of MTP, PTP, ADB, AirDroid, even WiFi access, bust most of them seem to me outdated (2012/2015).
Here too, one can find some advice, but it just seems one out of hundreds of similar webpages that are usually too commercial to be true, and one must try dozen apps before finding a suitable one, or ultimately giving up after having exhausted all available time.
So I am looking for updated information about a (reasonably simple) method to mount the Android filesystem from my Ubuntu pc, and see all files (particularly those taking all that precious room, to eventually delete them).
Even if it doesn't exist (hope it does) and/or there are better approaches (including those that I have already discarded) that could help to solve my problem, I would be glad to read some pointers to.

I'm quite happy using adbfs, which runs as FUSE mount. Much easier and much more reliable than the other candidates you've named. But unless the ADB daemon on your device runs in root (aka "insecure") mode, which it usually does not, there will still be areas inaccessible to you.


text:
Play Protect certification: Device not certified - What does it mean?
I would like to know what it means when Google Play Protect certifies a device. My Motorola Moto G6 (ali) is not certified in the Play Store.

Play Protect certification
About phone

(Tap to enlarge)
Is there any way to certify my device?
Currently, it's running a soak test OTA firmware from Motorola.
Is there a problem if my device isn't certified ?

See your Play Protect certification status Google Play Help answers you :

What it means if your device isn't Play Protect certified
If your device is not Play Protect certified, Google doesn’t have a record of the Android compatibility test results.
Keep in mind that:

Devices that aren't Play Protect certified may not be secure.
Devices that aren't Play Protect certified may not get Android system updates, or app updates.
Google apps on devices that aren't Play Protect certified aren't licensed and may not be real Google apps.
Apps and features on devices that aren't Play Protect certified may not work correctly.
Data on devices that aren't Play Protect certified may not back up securely.

What to do if your device isn’t Play Protect certified?
If your device isn't Play Protect certified, we recommend contacting your device manufacturer. Ask for a fully tested, Play Protect certified device.


text:
Unable to boot into Recovery
I was using the latest build for my device: Aex Pie.
https://downloads.aospextended.com/Z010D
It has a bug : while we try to reboot it will get stuck in black screen same with power off. The developer who made this rom don't know how to fix that
The only solution I found is this :
For reboot =  Press power button ~5 sec
For Recovery = Press power button ~5 sec when vibration comes then press volume down button when asus logo comes then release power button only.
They say its EDL bug which is something gone wrong in kernel source.
Device descriptions are given below
Device : Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL

(Tap to enlarge)

You are welcome. We all were first time users !


text:
How can I use browser userscripts on my Android phone?
I am a passionate Stack Exchange user and I have a lot of userscripts in my desktop Chrome browser, installed with Tampermonkey. I want to use them on my Android phone, is it possible?

Related: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/242847/how-can-i-install-greasemonkey-tampermonkey-or-similar-in-firefox-android

Also related: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/229969/how-can-i-use-userscripts-on-firefox-for-android

Google Chrome on Android so far doesn't support plugins, of which Tampermonkey is necessary to run userscripts, so here I recommend Firefox for Android. You can install Tampermonkey addon in Firefox and then start with your favorite scripts. Note that all userscripts are not compatible with Tampermonkey such as  SE-AutoReviewComments for which you need
USI- Unified Script Injector addon.
Where can I find scripts to play with?
Stack Apps is a Q&A site for apps, scripts, and development with the Stack Exchange API. People discuss about developing around SE, and publish their projects there. You can find a lot of userscripts in the scripts section.
One of my scripts isn't working
beeshyams asked me this question before, but I wasn't a Firefox user then, so I installed Firefox fresh and installed that userscript, and found nothing wrong.
When you encounter some issues with userscripts, try removing and reinstalling them, as well as clearing/resetting your Firefox addon, and see if the issue resolves by itself. Usually this solves 99% of them.

There's also Greasemonkey which is the original such add-on for Firefox.

FF 81 (mobile) has disabled the TamperMonkey addon (it's listed as "Not Yet Available"). Apparently it's in the pipeline

Firefox doesn't let any other add-on be installed other than those recommended ones.

Tampermonkey or any other userscript manager can no longer be added to Firefox as of writing this answer. It was never even possible with Chrome. However, You can instead install actively maintained android firefox fork iceraven that supports extensions like tampermonkey, greasemonkey etc.

The situation changes all the time, I was using Firefox 68 for that but later versions drop add-on support. And using old version 68 is not very safe.
But hopefully Kiwi Browser took the relay of Firefox for browsing with userscripts on Android:
Since 2021 or so, I've been using for months without problems tons of userscripts with Violentmonkey (open source) and many userstyles with Stylus with Kiwi Browser!
It can install and run also other extensions from the Chrome Store.

It is possible with the help of Xposed framework.
I am the author of ChromeXt which adds support of UserScripts to Android Chrome:
https://github.com/JingMatrix/ChromeXt.


text:
Google chrome search results different view
I'm using latest version of Google Chrome in my android. Recently, the view of Google search results have changed.
I don't like this view because address is  in a grey color background and search results are in full black and white . I tried all settings to figure out why this change has happened.
It's really disgusting seeing this view
How to go back to previous view?
Here is the link for image for more clarity

Google might be doing some A/B testing with their UI - iirc they did that a few years ago with black/dark/light blue shades for links. Could you try using incognito, another device and/or another internet connection? Then you can work out how they are targeting you - in any case it's probably temporary.


text:
Turning off "storage full" warning

(Tap to enlarge)
Storage almost full

OK, nice of you to warn me, I'll take care of that later.
Storage almost full

OK, good to have a reminder.
Storage almost full

I guess I could have forgotten twice?
Storage almost full

Seriously though, do I really have to see it pop up ELEVEN TIMES during the span of a 10:46 Youtube video? Huawei p10 lite with Android 8.0.0 and EMUI 8.0.0 here. Isn't there a way to turn it off until I get to free up some space?

We can understand your frustration but please don't let that be expressed in objectionable language. You wouldn't want your post to be closed as rude

Try disabling notifications for SystemUI and/or Android System apps.

You can also try to disable notifications for "My files" app by opening its settings --> notifications, then uncheck Low storage option.

@ReddyLutonadio I think there's no such thing as "My files" on Huawei. At least, I most definitely can't find it. Searching for System UI under settings gives no results, and System Apps sends me to Special Access.

When you go to Settings --> Apps, there are no Android System and SystemUI?

@ReddyLutonadio Under Settings/Apps&Notifications/Apps I do have System UI (with the blank space), but not Android System. What I said before was about the search bar in the Settings app not returning anything for the query "System UI".

Next time that obnoxious warning pops up, I'll try disabling System UI notifs.

My mistake. It is System UI not SystemUI

Search "notifications" in the settings, select the notification access, then draw over other apps, find the phone manager and turn it off  bam the annoying pop-up is gone.
Just leaving this here for people who search how to fix this, found about it myself while trying to solve the problem on my Huawei when websites didn't have the solution.
For me the warning begins to pop-up when I have less than 100mb left in my internal storage and it won't go away until I delete something. It's very annoying when watching a video and it bothers you every 20 something seconds.
You can even remove the icon in the status bar by going to apps, finding the phone manager, clicking on the notifications and disabling Display in the status bar!

Thank you. My neighbor has an old phone, and this drove her crazy, and there's nothing she could do about it, since updates are forced onto the phone but storage is limited.

I do have such warning whenever my phone storage is below 600mb. I don't think there is any possible solution to stop the warning from popping up whenever you're making use of your phone. But I'll recommend you get a cleanup application. I'm using an infinix hot 5 and it comes with XManager. Whenever I receive such warning, what I usually do is  make use of the cleanup option in the XManager to get data of what is eating up my memory space. After scanning you'll get to see what you don't need. After determining that you can go ahead and delete things you don need to free up your space. That's I would recommend you to do for until there is a better solution


text:
Can .nomedia be a folder?
If a file called .nomedia gets put into a directory, the Media Scanner skips that directory, e.g. sprite images.
Does that also work if .nomedia is a folder?

Yes. If a folder contains another folder that is named .nomedia, the parent folder will be ignored.
The relevant code is here (note to the confused: File doesn't necessarily be a regular file - in Linux directories are just special files).
One of my favorite IME app also creates folders of this name (instead of files) in its asset folders - the assets are ignored by MediaScanner.
Trivia: If you managed to put other special files like symbolic links or named pipes (FIFOs) with the name .nomedia, it will also work. (Spoiler: indeed you can, but you need root).
An alternative way, as suggested by beeshyams, is to rename the parent folder and make it start with a dot. This has the same effect as having a .nomedia inside it, as both ways make the code return true (should be ignored).

+1. i didn't know that  !

I don't think the "note to the confused" is especially un-confusing. java.io.File is not Android or Linux specific, and can just represent any pathname, including a directory name, on any system, eg. on Windows.

@MichałPolitowski I myself don't even have any Java experience! But anyway, a non-programmer would possibly think a File is a file, no?


text:
How to enable TalkBack through ADB in Android P?
I've got the Oneplus 6 with unofficial mod (OmniRom Treskmod) installed on it. The issue is that the mod probably uses its own setup programme, and the accessibility gesture is partially broken. Holding two fingers in the middle of the screen starts the accessibility mode, however, it enables only some particular sounds such as those heard when locking the screen, but TalkBack doesn't start speaking then.
In earlier versions of Android there was a possibility to enable TalkBack through adb by editing Settings.db but I guess something has been changed since then and the method is useless now.
Do any of you knows the way of enabling speech through adb in the latest Android version (Pie)? What I want to achieve is to have it talking right after reboot. Of course, I know I could ask sighted person but I'd like to know if there's any solution to do it on my own.
I faced similar issue with Lineage as well.

Try enable:
adb shell settings put secure enabled_accessibility_services com.google.android.marvin.talkback/com.google.android.marvin.talkback.TalkBackService  commenting because I do not have an android p device to test

Unfortunately, it doesn't work. Shows "/sbin/sh: settings: not found"

Thinking on it you can also find the path to with the command adb shell pm path com.android.providers.settings the cd to its location.


text:
What is Error 38 when sending SMS and how do you resolve it?
My phone is working normally and network connection is fine. While trying to send an SMS, I get a notification for 'Error 38: Unable to send sms'. The message remains unsent after multiple attempts.

There is no detectable interruption in network; I can use internet services, make calls and even receive SMS.
This is not an account balance issue.
Toggling between networks (2G/3G) does not help. Sometimes the issue resolves after a while.
My network is Airtel (India), handset is Xiaomi A1.

Could someone help me understand what could be happening and how I can avoid/resolve this issue?

I too have the same device and carrier and never faced this problem. Try clearing the cache of SMS app, if it doesn't help clear data (make sure to take backup). If this doesn't help try using another SMS app. BTW the SMS app that came bundled with the device has some other issues I faced and switched to Textra

@beeshyams - thanks, it seems to be resolved now, and should it happen again I'll try clearing cache. Still trying to understand what could be happening and how to avoid if possible...

Remove another messaging application like Truecaller, etc. Successfully solved SMSC (Short Message Service Center) error code 38.

Try inputting *#*#4636#*#* in the dialer and a pop-up menu will open. Select phone option and it will show the SMSC block. Input the cellular company's SMSC number and click update. Get the SMSC number from the service center.

This is because your outgoing service is barred by your service provider. If you are from India then most of the service providers here stop the services if recharges are not done in proper interval as per company's policy.

This is not correct. In some instances, at least, the error has been caused by carrier problems and have been widespread.


text:
How to record (photos and videos) directly to Samsung's Secure Folder?
Sometimes or usually I need to take photos or videos of my documentation with my Samsung mobile.
How do I configure Secure Folder (provided by Samsung) to record all I want directly into Secure Folder? I don't want to move them one by one manually.

You can log into Secure Folder before you take any photos and videos. Use the Camera that's inside of the Secure Folder. If it's not there, tap "Add apps" and add it.
You can also do this with a lot of other apps, it's kind of like having a second phone inside your phone but more secure.


text:
Google drive making extra local copy on phone
I tried uploading some large audio files recorded on my phone to Google Drive to free up space on my phone (Xiaomi A1).
Almost immediately, I got memory insufficient warnings; apparently the Google Drive app stores a local copy on the device everything something is uploaded.
Is this counter-productive or am I using Drive wrong? I'd like to store files on the cloud and not on my device, with an option to download them to device when I require them. Any solutions towards this end are welcome!
( I would prefer not to migrate to another cloud storage app, but if that's the only option and/or there are other good reasons for that, please let me know.)

Some possible causes to why the Drive app saves local copies:

The file has been accessed recently and cached. This is possibly to reduce more bandwidth usage when the file is accessed regularly. Clearing the cache from the in-app's Settings can save some space, including limiting the cache size to a minimum of 100 MB.
The file is marked as "available offline". Files that are marked as "available offline" will be automatically downloaded to the local disk. To toggle it, tap the overflow context menu (3 vertical dots) on the file, and select "Available offline". To check which files are marked as such, there's an "Offline" category on the navigation drawer.


text:
How to use an ip webcam as a webcam on my android device
What I've found on internet is how to use an android phone's camera as an ip webcam on my computer.
But I was wondering if it possible to do the opposite thing : to use an external ip webcam as a virtual internal webcam on our android devices ?
Android would recognize the external ip-camera as internal so one could use its external ip webcam as a webcam on Whatsapp for example.
I'm thinking of an application that would let me enter the ip+port of my ipwebcam and then emulate it as the internal/virtual webcam like some app do on PC

I'm not sure if this answers your question because it's not clear what you're trying to do.  But you can buy IP webcams that have software that allows you to monitor them on your Android phone, including downloading clips and taking stills from the image or clip.

You can use your android device camera and make it an ip camera and then use it on your computer (at this step the computer will recognize the ip camera as an internal camera), I want to do the opposite thing, I want to use my computer camera and make it an ip camera (still from my computer) then I want to use that ip-camera on my android device (I want my android device to recognize this ip camera as its main camera), on whatsapp for example, in fact : I just want to use an ip-camera on my android device and use it on some apps, let's say because my phone camera is broken.


text:
Why can't I see Android storage as a partition on PC?
I'm trying to recover an accidentally deleted video from Huawei P10. I use Ubuntu, so I tried to recover it using photorec. The problem is that I can't see the mobile's internal storage or SD card storage in the list:
  PhotoRec is free software, and
comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.

Select a media (use Arrow keys, then press Enter):
>Disk /dev/sda - 2000 GB / 1863 GiB (RO) - ST2000DM006-2DM164
 Disk /dev/sdb - 240 GB / 223 GiB (RO) - KINGSTON SA400S37240G
 Disk /dev/sdc - 1000 GB / 931 GiB (RO) - WD My Passport 259F
 Disk /dev/sr1 - 3504 KB / 3422 KiB (RO) - Linux File-CD Gadget

Original screenshot
The first row is an HDD, the second row is SSD, the third is an external HDD, and the last row is present only when the mobile is connected to the PC.
The mobile is connected to the PC through a USB cable and I've set the Transfer files option. Same result with Transfer photos.

Do you know what to do?

Connecting to PC through USB (MTP) doesn't expose underlying filesystem (ext4 or f2fs) of internal storage (/data partition) to PC. But recovery programs need direct access to filesystem i.e. block level access and won't work with MTP (Transfer Files) which is just a client-server type protocol for data transfer.
You need USB Mass Storage (UMS) which is disabled on Android 3.1.x and above, when MTP was introduced and then UMS was discontinued gradually afterwards in later releases. See Android's Storage Journey and my answer to What is /storage/emulated/0/? for details.
OEMs may add UMS configuration to their devices. For samples you may see on property:sys.usb.config=mass_storage triggers in init.qcom.usb.rc and init.msm.usb.configfs.rc files in a Qualcomm device source.
However it's always possible to enable UMS manually provided that kernel support is present. The process described below should also work for older devices those had UMS officially supported. You need root access or at least custom recovery to enable UMS.

HOW TO ENABLE UMS?
Android Composite Gadget driver (which is an extension to Linux kernel's USB Gadget API) exposes Android in USB device mode to a USB host like PC. Different USB functions (like UMS, MTP, RNDIS etc.) can be configured and switched using sysfs interfaces. Later mainline Linux kernel added the ability to configure USB gadget modes through configfs interfaces. New Android devices also use the same (see this sample init's .rc file).
OLD DEVICES:
Kernel must be built with CONFIG_USB_F_MASS_STORAGE and Android Composite Gadget driver (CONFIG_USB_G_ANDROID):
cd /sys/class/android_usb/android0
echo -n 0 >enable
echo -n '/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata' >f_mass_storage/lun/file
echo -n 'mass_storage' >functions
echo -n <VID> >idVendor
echo -n <PID> >idProduct
echo -n 1 >enable

* Other files in gadget such as {iSerial,iProduct,iManufacturer} are usually set on device boot when creating the gadget.
NEW DEVICES:
Kernel must be built with CONFIG_USB_CONFIGFS_MASS_STORAGE:
cd /config/usb_gadget/g1
echo -n 'msc' >configs/b.1/strings/0x409/configuration
echo -n <VID> >idVendor
echo -n <PID> >idProduct
for f in configs/b.1/f*; do rm $f; done
ln -s functions/mass_storage.0 configs/b.1/f1
echo -n '/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/userdata' >configs/b.1/f1/lun.0/file

* Other files in gadget such as UDC and strings/0x409/{manufacturer,product,serialnumber} are usually set on device boot when creating the gadget.
NOTES:

Paths may vary - including directories g1, b.1, f1 etc. - depending on device and the hard-coded configuration.
In most cases you need to set proper USB Vendor ID (VID) and Product ID (PID) to make the PC identify the mass storage device. E.g. 05C6 is Qualcomm's VID and 1000 is their PID for UMS device. See .rc files on your device for device specific IDs.
Exposing mounted /data filesystem to UMS may corrupt the filesystem, and must be avoided. Use UMS in recovery mode.
If your /data partition is FDE encrypted, you need to decrypt it before exposing to UMS.
To make sure your data is recoverable, see my answer to How to make a complete factory reset, without anyone being able to retrieve my data?

Now /data will appear as a partition on Linux PC which you can mount (preferably read-only to avoid overwriting data). However recovery tools including extundelete mostly don't need mounting filesystems.
If you have custom recovery, another option is to dd out an image of /data partition to external SD card and then mount it on Linux PC as a loop file. For this and other options to access internal storage at block level, see my answers to related questions.
PS:
Using the same methods it's possible to expose a loop file like ISO image or any other filesystem as UMS or CDROM device by writing its path instead of block device path.

RELATED:

How to recover a deleted file from /data partition?
How to take full image backup of partitions or eMMC?
Is there any way to recover data from 2nd SD partition?


text:
Scheduled turn off & on on android 8.1
Scheduled turning the device off and on has apparently been discontinued in Android 8.
Edit: At least for my device thats the case.
Given that it was one of my favorite functionalities in android 7, I would like to retain it through the update to 8.1.
Is there a similar function on 8.1 or an app i can use to emulate it?
Taskr and Automateit require root access to be able to shut down the device.

Search for "scheduled power on/off" in the settings. It should be there


text:
Only one screen visible when playing videos using VLC and other players
I am able to mirror the Samsung Galaxy Tab SM-T520's screen to my TV over an HDMI cable.  I see the screen on both devices.  But as soon as I start a video, the tablet screen goes to an image of the traffic cone and a symbol indicating it's playing the video externally.  If using the built-in player, the video also disappears and shows an indication of the fact that it's sending video externally.  In both cases, various playback functions are available on the tablet, just no video is displayed there.
So rather than mirroring, it's sending the video to either the tablet or the TV, but not both.  This only happens with videos; the rest of the apps show in both.
I have poked around at the (very few) settings in the various players, but so far have not found anything that will allow video to show both places.  The tablet is on Android 4.4.2. Is there any kind of OS trick to get the video to play on both devices?

The answer is to change to a mode called "prefer clone".
Open VLC, but don't play a video.  In the upper left, select the 3 lines (hamburger), then:

Settings > Interface > Prefer clone

With this setting 'on', the video will play on both the tablet and the TV.


text:
Install Lineage OS on Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5, heimdall problems
I'm trying to install Lineage OS onto my Samsung Galaxy S4 and S5, following the instructions on https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/jfltexx/install
I've successfully installed Lineage to an S4 before, using these instructions, so I don't understand what's going on.
Both S4 and S5 exhibit the same issue.
I'm stuck at a very early stage (step 4): Instead of 'Replace Driver' I get the caption 'Reinstall Driver' on the button (Zadig v2.0.0.147). I figure that's because I did it before and it's using the same driver (also for the S5???). So perhaps that's fine.
In the instructions there is nothing about changing the target driver and I can install any of them successfully. However, none of the options work when getting to the next step, running heimdall print-pit
Here is the result for each driver:
WinUSB v6.1.7600.16385
Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
      Manufacturer: "Sasmsung"
           Product: "MSM8960"

            length: 18
      device class: 2
               S/N: 0
           VID:PID: 04E8:685D
         bcdDevice: 0100
   iMan:iProd:iSer: 1:2:0
          nb confs: 1

interface[0].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 1
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 02.02.01
       endpoint[0].address: 82
           max packet size: 0010
          polling interval: 09

interface[1].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 2
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 0A.00.00
       endpoint[0].address: 81
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
       endpoint[1].address: 01
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
WARNING: Control transfer #1 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #2 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #3 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #4 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #5 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #6 failed. Result: -9
libusbx: error [windows_transfer_callback] detected I/O error 87: [87] The param
eter is incorrect.
ERROR: Failed to send data: "ODIN"
Releasing device interface...

libusb0 (v1.2.5.0)
Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
      Manufacturer: "Sasmsung"
           Product: "MSM8960"

            length: 18
      device class: 2
               S/N: 0
           VID:PID: 04E8:685D
         bcdDevice: 0100
   iMan:iProd:iSer: 1:2:0
          nb confs: 1

interface[0].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 1
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 02.02.01
       endpoint[0].address: 82
           max packet size: 0010
          polling interval: 09

interface[1].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 2
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 0A.00.00
       endpoint[0].address: 81
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
       endpoint[1].address: 01
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
WARNING: Control transfer #1 failed. Result: -1
WARNING: Control transfer #2 failed. Result: -1
WARNING: Control transfer #3 failed. Result: -1
WARNING: Control transfer #4 failed. Result: -1
WARNING: Control transfer #5 failed. Result: -1
WARNING: Control transfer #6 failed. Result: -1
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet.
ERROR: Failed to send request to end PIT file transfer!
ERROR: Failed to download PIT file!
Ending session...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet.
ERROR: Failed to send end session packet!
Releasing device interface...

libusbK v3.0.4.0
Initialising connection...
Detecting device...
      Manufacturer: "Sasmsung"
           Product: "MSM8960"

            length: 18
      device class: 2
               S/N: 0
           VID:PID: 04E8:685D
         bcdDevice: 0100
   iMan:iProd:iSer: 1:2:0
          nb confs: 1

interface[0].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 1
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 02.02.01
       endpoint[0].address: 82
           max packet size: 0010
          polling interval: 09

interface[1].altsetting[0]: num endpoints = 2
   Class.SubClass.Protocol: 0A.00.00
       endpoint[0].address: 81
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
       endpoint[1].address: 01
           max packet size: 0200
          polling interval: 00
Claiming interface...
Setting up interface...

Initialising protocol...
WARNING: Control transfer #1 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #2 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #3 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #4 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #5 failed. Result: -9
WARNING: Control transfer #6 failed. Result: -9
Protocol initialisation successful.

Beginning session...

Some devices may take up to 2 minutes to respond.
Please be patient!

Session begun.

Downloading device's PIT file...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet.
ERROR: Failed to send request to end PIT file transfer!
ERROR: Failed to download PIT file!
Ending session...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet. Retrying...
ERROR: libusb error -7 whilst sending packet.
ERROR: Failed to send end session packet!
Releasing device interface...

I've tried this on another Windows machine as well and I get the same issue. So between two computers and two phones I always get stuck in the same place. That only leaves the root of the problem to sit between back of the chair and the keyboard - what am I doing wrongly?
Further research suggests USB driver problems, but that points back to Zadig/heimdall, doesn't it?

You have a Windows machine? Ditch Heimdall, use Odin. The former is open-source while the latter is proprietary, and that's part of why the guide recommends the former, but to end users the latter is way easier to use.

Now that works! Great stuff, you are a king @AndyYan!

Cool, I'll move it to a short answer.

If you're on a Windows machine, there's no need to mess with Heimdall - use Odin instead. It's proprietary software but works almost out-of-the-box (as long as you have the official USB driver installed).
Odin3 v3.13.1 (download supplied by SamMobile)


text:
Cannot clear app data
Specs

Samsung Galaxy S8
Android 8.0 Oreo
App based on this Google sample that works fine on other Galaxy S8 phones

Question
On trying to start from scratch on my app installed by APK file, I am unable to remove the app data.

Hitting the "Clear Data" button in app settings
Running adb shell pm clear com.myappsname
And uninstalling/reinstalling

Always leaves 16.38 kB in the Data category of the apps storage.
All I can figure is that this is what is causing the app to misbehave on this particular phone, since when installed on other S8's it works fine. Looking at logcat, I can't really diagnose anything wrong with the apps operation other than the fact that it is not updating location.
How do I completely clear the app's data (the 16.38 kB left)?
Thanks ahead!

How bout manual deletion? Android>Data>[App Name] and delete all its files

@HEWhoDoesn'tKnow The app's folder is not there. That is cleared on clearing app data, yet settings still shows data that isn't cleared. I figured out that the problem with my app and this phone was not related to the extra data, yet I'm still curious as to why the app data can't be completely cleared. And this extra data can be reproduced on other phones with the app.

If that's the case, then the app might have written the unknown file in the root/data folder

@HEWhoDoesn'tKnow How does the app even write to the root folder if the device isn't rooted?

It does at times, all applications has some traces in the root folder. If you have been rooted before, you can see that some apps has its data or cache files inside the root folder.

I am facing this same issue. It's terrible. I can't simulate an install from strach, because the data is always there and I can't wipe the data. Even tried restarting the device, but with no luck.


text:
Google assistant is not responding to OK Google
Google assistant is not enabled on my One Plus  5T  when I say "OK Google ". I have to open google assistant app and then it starts working.
I am not able to figure the reason. How to fix this?

(Tap to enlarge)

So did you go to Settings->Language & Input and Select 'Google' so that the first switch is no longer greyed out?


text:
How to prevent SECUSO Privacy Friendly Net Monitor apps from shutdown without my permission
I download the SECUSO research group - Privacy Friendly Net Monitor from https://f-droid.org/packages/org.secuso.privacyfriendlynetmonitor/ and install on my Android 7 phone which is not rooted. I run it to monitor which apps is connecting and downloading at the background (regardless I am on wifi or my phone mobile data).
I notice that the Privacy Friendly Net Monitor will shutdown when the phone is screen off, which I never permit it to shutdown as I want it to continuously monitor all the apps including those from Google (such as Google Play Store app, which is famous for notoriously downloading at the background without user permission.)
So, how do I go about to prevent Privacy Friendly Net Monitor from shutdown or stop running without my permission?

By default the app is battery optimised, which means once the screen is off and doze-mode  kicks in, it is stopped.
From Settings → Battery → 3 dots menu on top right → all apps → Netapp → Don't optimize
(that's on Oreo, may vary a little on Nougat). Once you do that app will run till you stop it manually.
OP has clarified further

For Nougat, find the options 'lock screen cleanup' or 'off screen cleanup' from Settings → Battery and choose the option 'Don't Close' for SECUSO Privacy Friendly Net Monitor.


text:
Wifi hotspot giving "No internet, secured" on Huawei P10 with Android 8.0.0
This is driving me bonkers. I've been on a chat with Vodafone and they sent me APN settings, but that hasn't helped. I've tried the settings in this thread.
And that hasn't helped this time (it did a few months ago!!)
If I drop to a CMD prompt, on Windows 10 I can see that DNS is not working.
C:\Users\music>nslookup google.com
Server: UnKnown
Address: ::1

*** UnKnown can't find google.com: No response from server

which is really odd.
So, I tried to hit the IP address of one of my own web sites, which works.
It's definitely a DNS problem, and I guess the DHCP on the phone is not giving me any DNS server address to use, but how do I force it to do that? I've tried putting static details, and just using 8.8.8.8 and 4.4.4.4 as DNS, but it didn't help at all.

Is chrome browser what you are only trying to search with or have you tried other browsers? If only chrome maybe clearing/flushing the DNS cache might help. Url Address: chrome://net-internals/#dns

I've tried within a Windows CMD prompt, and I can ping 8.8.8.8 for example, but if I try to ping google.com I get the error message shown above.

Also I have tried in ms Edge and I got the same behaviour.

This might help: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/205740/218526

This always happens if Vodafone send an update to the APN ... to fix it, just reset your APN settings back to default and select either pre-pay or post-pay, whatever's appropriate for your sim.

I tried that. Also, tried changing the APN type to various combinations of "default, supl, mms, ia, dun" but NONE of that seemed to help. The weird thing is if I try to ping a known IP address on the internet it works just fine. It's only my DNS that isn't working. Obviously speaking to Voda they weren't much help. I got them to sent me a new settings OTA, but it didn't help. I've got it working using a USB cable, but it will not play ball using Wifi hotspot at all.


text:
Why does Google Play Store show installed apps in the "Previously installed apps" section?
When I go to the Previously installed apps section of Google Play Store, some apps that are currently installed on my phone are also shown. I thought that may be all of the currently installed apps shown were not updated, but that not the case for some of them.
Should it not be only apps that were removed or not installed that should appear?
I have checked the issue with phones using Android 6.0.1 & 8.1. As you can see on the image below, VLC is installed, yet it is listed on previously installed apps.

I don't have that section at all, there's only Installed and Library which are self explanatory.

Check the picture from the edit

Well any app on your device and any app that was once on your device both classify as "previously installed", otherwise how else would they be there in the first place?

It might be semantics, but I expect to only see apps that are not installed on that section. I already know the apps that are installed on the phone

Sure, but the line "give one a go" probably suggests that the app has been downloaded but rarely/never used. I don't see any issue here.

I use VLC on a daily basis, and yet it is listed

you may need to scroll down to find that section, @trishmapow

I surmise that because you can have multiple devices with the same account. It puts apps that were installed on a device in that section, regardless of them being installed on the current device or not. Though I do not see why they could not filter out apps that are installed on the device.
I would suggest that if you think it is an issue, you can report it using the feedback. Aside from that action, I do not think there is anything that could be done on the user side to fix this.

Your explanation seems probable +1


text:
control per app internet (non-rooted) while using actual VPN?
I am trying all sorts of (non-root) security software that allows me to block internet for apps. so far every one needs some kind of fake VPN to gain access to traffic, I guess so no root is needed. I can't have this since I use an actual VPN which gets turned off if I use any of these security apps. is there no way to block internet for apps while using my VPN?

Hardly possible without root. You can run VPN inside VPN but I don't think any Android app would be offering that out of box. You need to configure that manually and that won't be possible without root. It needs messing with routing tables etc.

Does this answer your question? How to use a firewall AND a VPN?

This is possible since Android 8 (when Block connections without VPN feature was added), also you will have to use VPN app which supports Per-App VPN (which is supported since Android 5.0?) e.g. OpenVPN for Android from F-Droid or Google Play.
Assuming you use OpenVPN for Android:

System settings → VPN → tap button with gear icon on the right side of OpenVPN for Android → enable both Always-on VPN and Block connections without VPN.
OpenVPN for Android → tap button with pencil icon on desired profile → swipe to ALLOWED APPS tab → select apps you want to exclude from using VPN → return to main screen → re/connect to VPN using this profile

This was tested on MIUI device, but I think should be pretty much the same on majority of devices (except those whose manufacturers removed or hid Android's default functionality from ROM (like Huawei from EMUI)). Also per app internet control access is built-in by default in MIUI.

I don't think it's possible as per this answer: In Android 6, how to deny an app permission to access the network?. To summarise the network permission is classified as 'normal' so it is automatically granted and can't be removed. However you can try to revoke the INTERNET permission using adb.
adb shell pm revoke com.name.app android.permission.INTERNET
I'm 99% sure it won't work, but can't test right now, on mobile. Unfortunately that means a VPN firewall or root + iptables firewall are your only options.

Only permissions with dangerous protection level can be revoked.

You can try NetGuard, the non-root firewall for Android smartphones. It can help you in restricting the net usage per app.

this is also vpn based, I just tried it.

NetGuard also uses a local VPN. (https://i.stack.imgur.com/KacDS.jpg)

But this is the only option.

how is it an option if it has the exact same problem? plus is definitely not the only one that works that way. or am I missing something?


text:
cannot see device anymore when connecting to PC via USB
Lately I'm experiencing this problem when connecting my LG G2 smartphone to the PC: I cannot see it anymore in explorer.
I can actually connect to it tru ADB and push/pull files no problem. Also ADB shell works, developer options / debug USB enabled.
In Windows registry / System I got a critical error event id 10110 - 10111 DriverFrameworks-UserMode each time I connect it to usb.
Drivers are installed, cable is ok, I tried on several PC and can't see it, also tried with Linux, same problem.
If I dmesg | grep usb I got these two errors:
<3>usb_bam_ipa_create_resources: Failed to create USB_PROD resource
<3>init: cannot find '/system/bin/usbdebug-manager', disabling 'usbdebug-manager'

I'm 100% sure is not a problem PC side, but smartphone side.
I've been repacking /system/app and system/framework app to slim down my system, but I cannot figure out what is wrong.
LG G2 KK modified stock rom, Dorimanx Kernel

It sounds like the drivers maybe corrupted. Try un-installing and then re-installing (If possible updated) drivers? You could also try toggling the different usb modes such as mtp , ptp, and others. Debloating did you un-install a system app that had Mtp in name?

drivers are ok, 100% sure about that. Changing to other modes doesn't do the trick. I'll try to remember what apps I've disabled. Thanks for the suggestions anyway.  Btw Linux gives me this dmesg 'usb 1-1.3: usbfs: process 954 (pool) did not claim interface 0 before use
usb 1-1.3: reset high-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci'

I learned something new android has a connection assistant for usb troubleshooting. This would be good with your linux machine: https://developer.android.com/studio/run/device I do not know what process 954 is but something bad happened (obviously) and your linux machine reset high Speed usb for device number 6 (whatever device 6 is probably your android) which is pretty crazy to do in the middle of an operation. Is your data cable connecting your device to the linux machine old? Maybe try another chord.

What does the command mtp-detect return on your linux machine?

libmtp version: 1.1.13
Listing raw device(s)

Device 0 (VID=1004 and PID=61f9) is a LG Electronics Inc. Android phone (ID2).
Found 1 device(s):
LG Electronics Inc.: Android phone (ID2) (1004:61f9) @ bus 1, dev 6
Attempting to connect device(s)
PTP_ERROR_IO: failed to open session, trying again after resetting USB interface
LIBMTP libusb: Attempt to reset device
LIBMTP PANIC: failed to open session on second attempt
Unable to open raw device 0
OK.

That failed anyway Linux: Try editing/adding udev rules. Here is a walk through under Linux:
https://developer.oculus.com/documentation/mobilesdk/0.4/concepts/mobile-android-detect/
Make sure the not folder all did not get removed when Debloating seach with a file explorer for mtp should look something com.android.mtp or com.your_manufacturer.mtp
What version of linux?

That didn't work either. I searched into the original image file I downloaded, there's no mtp system app. Btw, if I enter TWRP recovery and plug usb cable I see my device straight in explorer no problem

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


text:
Disable wifi signin popup?
When I connect to a hotspot that requires signin, I don't want a popup that fills the entire screen. A simple notification would suffice.
Can this popup be disabled on Android 8?
Samsung Galaxy S9+

Please also give more information on your Android Smartphone, different models may have different options and layout. First, Check your Advanced Wi-Fi Settings if there's an option to disable the popup.

Short answer: it's not possible because this popup come from the SystemUI or from the Framework apk.
It's not come from a file that contain a setting, it's a JAVA runtime code.
Some customs ROMs could integrate it (not sure), but it's not the case of Android stock.


text:
Is "localhost" not supposed to point to localhost?
I have several applications on my device that can run HTTP servers. I can access the server just fine if I user the actual private IP address, but localhost, 127.0.0.1, and [::1] all fail to access the server. Before you ask, the port and protocol are both correct since I use them in accessing my device's server through its private IP address. Why won't this work? How do I get it to work?

You need to run your server on all the interface or explicitly at localhost to do that. If you bind the server to a particular network such as ethernet or Wi-Fi, accessing localhost would do no good. Many Android apps that are in the business of hosting a server provides a setting to choose an interface. Try changing it to localhost or All.

@Firelord I have no idea what an "interface" is here.

You would have a setting like this in your server app. https://i.stack.imgur.com/VPzA6.jpg

@Firelord It isn't my application. I did not write it. Servers, in any case, don't have control over whether or not they can be accessed from localhost.

You misunderstand. A server app has every control on which interface the server should be listening to. If you cannot access your server through localhost then it means your server is not configured to listen on localhost network interface. It would be better if you at least link one app you are using to host an HTTP server.

@Firelord I am using MiXplorer.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Localhost won't work because the server app that you're using is not configured to listen localhost network interface. I even doubt that the http server (web server) you're using has capabilities  to listening on the loopback interface. Thus you need to be using private IP address instead (on the network interface i.e wifi, ethernet, etc) .
In fact as discussed by Firelord and Irfan, you'd need to be using a real, dedicated webserver application that has the ability to listen on all network interfaces. Then bind the server to the localhost (or loopback interface)

Additionally if you are using localhost, resolvers may or may not
  resolve that to 127.0.0.1 if it's not explicitly mentioned in
  /etc/hosts

Did this help? Please don't forget to upvote/accept if it helped ;)


text:
Unable to handle subfolders in Termux
I'm trying to run a program which has its own directory. Termux doesn't allow creating the directory nor accessing the folder (permission denied error) after moving it to the Termux home directory with a root file explorer app. Also with p7zip (command line port of 7-Zip) I can't create a new directory with 7z x -o <folder name> <archive name>, I can only extract to the Termux home folder.
Termux FAQ has a page for the error, but the chmod command results in operation not permitted. I wonder if this issue is related to the differences in Linux distributions and Android:

Why do I keep getting 'No such file or directory' when trying to
  execute binary (it's file exists) ?
This happens when you are executing binary compiled for Linux
  distribution, e.g. Ubuntu or Arch Linux. This is caused by ABI
  difference between GNU libc and Bionic libc.
Create a proper chroot (proot) environment and try to execute binary
  from it.

Which directory you are trying to create with Termux and to which directory you are trying to extract the archive? May I know the exact location? Did you try that with root or without root? And yes, Termux environment is different than that of standard Linux distros. If the p7zip binary is of different architecture or a dynamic binary compiled for Linux linker and Linux libc, that won't work with Android linker and Android libc.

ASF-linux-arm, ArchiSteamFarm V3.4.1.7 specifically. Unzip (ships with Termux) can't open the archive at all. I tried creating a subfolder inside the Termux home directory, 7z x -o <folder name> <archive name> command in p7zip.

@IrfanLatif: My phone is rooted but I haven't issues Termux root rights, I don't yet know how this works.

Any status updates?

@iBug: Sorry for the delay, I'll return to the topic after I've reinstalled LineageOS. I get some unknown reboots after installing a major version on top of the previous one.

It's likely that the permission or owner has messed up.
Go find a folder where Termux operates normally, and run ls -ln to get the UID and GID of Termux (they should be the same, on the 3rd and 4th column of ls -ln). Then switch to root with su or tsu and change the owner of the problematic directory to Termux like this:
chown -R 10001.10001 path/to/dir

where 10001 should be replaced with the UID of Termux. Then you should be good to go.

Sorry, I don't necessarily have time to test this before the holidays are over. Your answer looks promising.


text:
How to use lsof, netstat and ps commands with complete options on Android?
I tried T-ui and although it has the lsof command, it cannot do lsof -i for example, so I need to go through every single process in Android. My phone is rooted and I wanna know the PID of the process listening to a specific port. Thanks!
EDIT:
Oh yeah, netstat command also don't allow any option, so if you guys know some terminal with the complete netstat command that would do it.

Standard lsof source code has some differences with Android implementation. Android's own /system/bin/lsof or /vendor/bin/lsof (both provided by toybox) work perfectly, but with somewhat limited options.
However, to view listening ports, you have multiple options:

netstat static binary compiled from standard source
Netstat Plus app
Netstat applet shipped with busybox (app or any standalone busybox) or the one that comes bundled with Android (at least on Android Pie, not sure about older versions); /system/bin/netstat or /vendor/bin/netstat (both provided by toybox) also offer enough options
ss command; the Android one (standalone binary shipped at least with Pie) i.e. /system/bin/ss or static binary

To view processes:

ps static binary compiled from standard source
ps applet that comes bundled with Android; /system/bin/ps or /vendor/bin/ps (both provided by toybox) also offer enough options
ps provided by Termux (procps-ng package) is a complete Linux ps


text:
How to view pdf file with chrome on android
I downloaded a pdf file on Windows and transferred it to my android phone. I want to know if there is any way to view the file using chrome browser.

There isn't. Chrome on Desktop/Linux uses Chrome PDF Viewer, a plug-in. Plug-ins are not supported by Chrome on Android.
Source: Quora


text:
How to view recovered (deleted earlier) images?
I, sometime ago, formatted my memory card, and few days later I recovered the data in it. I then copied the recovered data to memory card again. However, I am unable to see many photos in my computer. I thought my Android phone would support this. But my phone also failed to show me those photos.
The images I want to see are of the previous size of the image, when I captured them. E.g. if I captured an image of size 1.2mb, the recovered image is also of the same size.
My phone is running Android 7.0, has 1GB RAM and internal storage of 8GB. The problem is with SD card. When I try to open those pictures I see this:

Include more details to allow the community to help you. What is the app you are using to see the pictures? What is the Android version? Did you update the app? What steps have you tried to solve the problem?

How did you recover those images? Can you actually display them on, say, a PC? Sometimes the recovering, especially if done much later than the formatting,  can yield to broken files.

I recovered.. Not only my phone but also in my PC I can't see the photos.. All are blank.. Tell me what I do.. Picture size is ok, picture properties same as previou..

Recovering images from a previously formatted media usually means that the images are "carved" from the RAW data by detecting the image headers.
Images that are not stored as one data block (image is fragmented on file-system level) can not be fully recovered using the carving method because the information which blocks belong together was erased by formatting the media. You end up in having image files of the original size but from a certain point on the images just contain garbage data, not the image data.
A good image recovery tool should detect those defect images and let you decide what to do with them. Looks like your software does not work this way and now you have broken images that can't be loaded fully - e.g. for generating the thumbnail.
You may find software that is able to display the remaining parts of the original image, and save it to a new file. But this software has be be able to deal with defect image files and I don't know what Android apps could be used in such a case.


text:
twrp problems flashing SuperSU
I try to install something like SuperSU. All it gives me is

Updating partition details...
...done
Full SELinux support is present.
Simulating actions...
Updating partition details...
...done

I press reboot system as up there it says "Successful".
When I get in the phone there is no SuperSU.
The zip file is ok, I tried it on another phone and it worked well.
Nothing on twrp works: no wipe no nothing, it just gives the above again.

Gonna need WAY more information than this... What device, Android version, TWRP version, SuperSU versions (SuperSU is largely depreciated BTW and most people use Magisk now)... What you are flashing, bootloader status, etc. Sorry, but with what you asked in your question it will likely be close as unclear.

according to your logs TWRP is currently in simulation mode.
Updating partition details... ...done Full SELinux support is present. Simulating actions... Updating partition details... ...done
1) go to Settings
2) toggle simulation mode off.
Try to flash the .zip again. You should be good to go

@Wemmie In that case, you can hit the check mark in the left of this post (below arrow/voting buttons) to mark it as accepted. :)


text:
How I can contribute to the open source work of localization of Android OS for specific language
As Android is the open source, the translation of the localization for all languages should be the work on the same principle. How can I contribute to the translation of system messages and the user interface for some specific language?

Android is OpenSource, yes, however as Google is the one who controls what is included into the next release. See https://source.android.com/setup/contribute Note that contributing requires creating a full fledged AOSP development environment which requires a Linux system, dozens of downloaded GB, hundred of GB on the hard disk and several hours to set-up and build.

Thank you Robert, so there is no more direct way for the language translation contribution?

From Google perspective any contribution is equal, just changing one line requires the whole process.


text:
Phone virbates without there being any notification
My phone, Samsung A8 2018, sometimes vibrates without there being any notification.
I've noticed this since yesterday. The two new things which yesterday changed about my phone are: I updated my phone and I started playing games through facebook. I've reset my phone's notification settings and at least one of the games does also send notifications when something happens. The other one doesn't, but I haven't noticed any correlation between the virbations and something happening in the game.
Smart Alert is turned off.
Something which might be irrelevant: permissions for certain apps (Whatsapp and Snapchat) got reset, either after the update or after resetting notification settings.
What causes these vibrations without notifications?
Is there any way to check what causes a vibration?


text:
How would I go about purposely disabling all microphones on an Android phone?
I'm attempting to repurpose older Android phones, and I'm looking for a way to disable the microphones to avoid having spy-accessible microphones all over my house.
Is there a way of removing or purposely breaking the microphone drivers without breaking the ability to play audio?

I can not see a purpose for this but ultimately the easiest method if you never want to use the microphone again is to just break the microphone with a small pin or something,
 you could disconnect them from the motherboard altogether and rebuild the device with no microphone...
I'm recommending hardware based solutions because it's ultimately the safest method of complete removal....
If you are familiar with the mobile phone security protocol "SS7" and you have read your mobile phone provider's terms and conditions then you'd be aware that you don't actually have the legal right to remove the ability for police or other law enforcement agency's  to have access to the microphone ( even while your device is switched OFF )  ... This is clearly stated on most or all mobile phone provider's term's and conditions ...
The main reasons you can't legally do it ( without an unexplainable hardware fault - I strongly discourage tampering with your device )

You don't actually BUY the device, you ONLY buy the RIGHT to USE the device from the company or copyright holder.
You AGREE to ALLOW police and law enforcement angecys to have access to your microphone even while your device is switched OFF
So now that's clear,

This solution is provided for Educational use only.

SS7 is "Signalling System 7", which is the cell and telephone network's bottom three layers of network connectivity, equivalent to link, IP, tcp, udp, et. al. on the internet. It isn't a security protocol, although I'm sure that there are multiple security protocols that run over it.
As for the rest, I'll have to go back and read that documentation. I wasn't aware that our cell phones were 1984-enabled.

Yes.. the security protocol uses ss7 ... and it's one of the most used spying methods for mobile device's... Many news show's have addressed it and it's simplicity because of it's age ...

The problem is that we agree to it, unwittingly.


text:
FFmpeg Two-Pass Encoding in Android
According to the documentation for using Two-Pass method we have to run ffmpeg twice like this:
ffmpeg -y -i input -c:v libx264 -b:v 2600k -pass 1 -an -f mp4 /dev/null && \
ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -b:v 2600k -pass 2 -c:a aac -b:a 128k output.mp4

But When I use these codes I get this error:
Unable to find a suitable output format for '&&'

And Android doesn't recognize "&& \" as an argument for ffmpeg or ffmpeg doesn't recognize such a thing on Android!
Could somebody tell me how I should do 2-Pass encoding on Android with FFmpeg?

Remove the && and execute the two commands one after another.

@Gyan if I remove && then it says "Unable to find a suitable output format for '' " and if I remove \ it says "ratecontrol_init: can't open stats file"