text:
Mount Galaxy A5 (2017) on Ubuntu via MTP
I have been reading numerous articles on this, but nothing seems to work for me. I have a Galaxy A5 (2017) running on Android 6.0.1. When I plug it into my Ubuntu 14.04 laptop, the phone is recognised and I can browse the folders and see files. However, I cannot open any of the files, nor can I copy anything to the phone.
When I first plug it in, this is the dmesg output:
[ 2168.258890] usb 2-1: new high-speed USB device number 9 using xhci_hcd
[ 2168.276856] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=04e8, idProduct=6860
[ 2168.276860] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2168.276862] usb 2-1: Product: SAMSUNG_Android
[ 2168.276863] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: SAMSUNG
[ 2168.276864] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: d31e7ed99d31e7ed

At this point, "SAMSUNG Android" shows up in Nautilus, with nothing in it.
The phone then asks me if I want to allow the connection, which I do. Then dmesg displays the following additional output:
[ 2190.116385] usb 2-1: USB disconnect, device number 9
[ 2190.417923] usb 2-1: new high-speed USB device number 10 using xhci_hcd
[ 2190.434886] usb 2-1: New USB device found, idVendor=04e8, idProduct=6860
[ 2190.434891] usb 2-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 2190.434894] usb 2-1: Product: SAMSUNG_Android
[ 2190.434897] usb 2-1: Manufacturer: SAMSUNG
[ 2190.434899] usb 2-1: SerialNumber: d31e7ed99d31e7ed

Another Nautilus window pops up and the contents of the SAMSUNG Android device now contain "Phone". When I open that, it displays the directory structure. Like I said, I can browse through it, but not actually read the files or copy anything to it.
The "Use USB for" setting on the phone is set to "Transferring media files"; "Transfer media files to a PC via an MTP connection.".
When I change this to "Transferring images"; "Transfer images and other files via a PTP connection if MTP is not supported.", then I can open images on the phone, but I am restricted to only directories containing images.
Any ideas?

For users who were out of luck with mtpfs, jmtpfs, go-mtpfs or any other libraries which depend on libmtp; try android-file-transfer.
It does not depend on libmtp and is thus free from inherent bugs, is the most up-to-date MTP library I have seen on GitHub (as of May 2018), and also can be used with FUSE, although I personally recommend to use its own Qt-based GUI to avoid possible FUSE back-front interaction bugs.
Just make sure you DO NOT open your MTP device using any default mechanisms provided by your Linux distro, e.g. clicking on Open when the device-connected notification pops up!

Github: https://github.com/whoozle/android-file-transfer-linux
PPA: https://launchpad.net/~samoilov-lex/+archive/ubuntu/aftl-stable

Read about MTP on Linux: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/MTP


text:
New to Andriod - Duplicate contacts issues with WhatsApp and other messengers
I'm new to Android and I must admit it's been frustrating setting up the contacts.  I only want local contacts stored, I don't want it to sync anything.  When I added my work email it synced 5000 contacts without asking and it was a huge hassle to get rid of them.  (Why you wouldn't be able to "select all" from a certain group and delete it the Contacts app, I have no idea). Then after I deleted all the contacts from the work email somehow sync got turned back on by itself.
Anyways, now I deleted them again and hopefully sync won't turn back on.  But this is pretty brutal, I've spent hours on this.
So now when I add a local contact if they're on WhatsApp, it creates another entry.  If they're on Signal, it creates yet another entry and when I search for the contact I see them 3 times.  I'm trying to understand why WhatsApp etc can't just read my contacts from my list, or if it needs to store them can't it do that internally? I don't want to see a separate list for WhatsApp contacts on my phone that just duplicates ones I added.
I know I can merge them, but I'd prefer not to as I don't want to see 10 different call options when I click on someone (Call this person with WhatApp, call them with Signal, call them with your actual phone).  I don't use messengers to call people. It also seems like you can only merge them manually every time you add someone which is kind of a pain.
Am I missing something here or is that the only way this works?
Thank you for reading.
Edit: The frustrating thing is when I delete all the WhatsApp contacts it still works fine.  When I go to "New Chat" I still see everyone on there that has WhatsApp.  So why does it need to create a separate entry for every person listed there

Actualy, you cant get rid of that call via (on stock caller, pick any on market, they can help)
for avoid doubling you may show only local contacts (they will exist but become hidden). On stock  AOSP 4.4 People > menu (three dots) > Contacts to display > pick a phone contact or customise

Ok thanks, I'm not sure what you mean by "stock AOSP" but I will try another call app instead of the default one.

To others, by saying that my system AOSP(Android Open Source Project) i mean that no other UI elements was used like Vibe UI, TouchWis, etc.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How do I keep others from pairing their compatible device with my Android phone via Bluetooth?
I'm going to use the mysterious Bluetooth feature on my Samsung J7 to play music from my phone while I listen with wireless headphones paired to my device. Apparently, all anyone has to do is turn on Bluetooth and it will show a list of all the nearby devices you can connect to. How do I keep neighbors etc. from pairing with my phone while I'm listening to music via Bluetooth?

Pairing doesn't happen automatically or by default. You get an indication on your phone intimation you that a device is seeking permission to pair. Simply refuse

See this for images of pairing requests https://www.google.co.in/search?q=bluetooth+pairing+request&client=ms-android-motorola&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHjcqPy63UAhVJKo8KHbKADB8Q_AUICSgB&biw=360&bih=512&dpr=3

turn off your bluetooth visibility, by this way the media center will not be able to detect your bluetooth, but you will still be able to connect to other devices. For suppose if still showing pairing request means try using some friends phone and connect to mediacenter, so when the other phone is gone from your home, mediacenter might remember that phone and stop sending you connection requests

try this method if it doesn't work means inform me! i will give you an another solution

is this helped or not ??

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


text:
How to enable server in hotspot?
I got the error while trying this on command line interface

root@sabresd_6dq:/ # hostapd_cli wps_pbc
  Failed to connect to hostapd - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

How to solve this?

All you need is an unlocked bootloader and the latest TWRP recovery (I confirmed this works perfectly on the US Nexus 6 on Verizon).

Boot into recovery, go to advanced, and click mount and select system.

Connect your phone to your computer. Open terminal/cmd and run the following:

adb pull /system/build.prop

This will pull the build.prop onto your computer in the location where your terminal is open.
Edit that in your text editor on your computer and then add the following line:

net.tethering.noprovisioning=true

Save, and then run

adb push build.prop /system/

This puts it back on your phone, but the permissions might be funky, so run

adb shell
chmod 644 /system/build.prop
exit

Source

try this method if it doesn't work means inform me! i will give you an another solution

what do yo you mean by the first line : I got it working without having to root my phone, but I did have to put TWRP on for it to work.

Not only the file's permissions, but also the ownership might be messed up. Better to run chown 0.0 /system/build.prop either before or after chmod.


text:
how does CSipSimple connect to Ekiga through NAT?
What networking magic does CSipSimple employ for Ekiga that it works behind a Netgear home router and NAT?  Jitsi cannot connect to Ekiga from behind a router.
Wikipedia says that it uses:

NAT traversal using STUN, TURN and ICE

But which and how?  This is in the context of configuring Jitsi.


text:
Are there benefits to using Greenify with Android Nougat?
Greenify by Oasis Feng (donation package) is a well-regarded tool to manually and automatically freeze apps that are not in use.  Typically, Greenify's benefits are to:

increase battery duration
improve task-switching
reduce data usage
increase privacy (by not having apps performing background operations, including data transfer).

Android Nougat (7.x) has many new battery saving features as well as improved memory management.
Are there benefits to using Greenify with Android Nougat on non-rooted devices?

In my personal experience and opinion, no. I have tried using it for about a 3 weeks, and haven't seen any improvement. Maybe it works for rooted or custom Rom devices, but generally Nougat does a pretty good job.

This.  I gave it go as well, but noticed little change.  And that change was probably just placebo effect.  Maybe on rooted devices it is more powerful, but for non-rooted its just another do-nothing so-called battery saver.


text:
Record screen AND system sound on rooted device
I cannot find a way that will allow me to capture and save both system video and audio (not microphone),  even on the Play Store. My device runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow and has root permissions access via SuperSU. I'm aware the API for system recording is not available in Stock Android, though I remember several apps being able to access internal audio for purposes such as streaming, casting, etc...

You might want to check my answer to How can I record sound before outputting? since it also includes recording the screen.

I recommend AZ Screen Recorder, it is free, lagless, quality video, sound available from system and from microphone. Most important feature is that root isn't required and it is completely free for the most important features.


text:
Is shielding private data from apps possible by isolating/jailing them?
I want to keep my contacts list, call log, photos etc private. Xprivacy/Xposed looked like a viable path, but as of today (June 2017) it seems to be dead-ended and there is no sign of a Nougat release anytime soon.
Thus, afaik, faking results for api call is not a possible option for Android Nougat.
An other option I had in mind is to run certain apps in an empty environment. I was thinking i could achieve that by creating multiple users. I don't know what effects this could bring for my privacy.
My hope would be that nothing would be shared between different users. After digging in the Android documentation I'm not so sure about that being true.

How much isolation does creating extra users bring?
Are there alternative ways to sandbox/isolate apps?

@mattm I'm not intimately knowledgeable about it. I know that at least in the past revoking permissions leads to app crashes of malfunction.

Has that changed?
Does android respect it if I restrict GApps as well?
Is the new model forced on existing apps, or can they rely on a legacy layer?

Staring under Marshmallow (Android 6), the Android OS is able to restrict individual permissions (which may or not be fine enough control for you) for an app. Under prior versions of Android, there was no ability to restrict a single permission; if you didn't like that an application used something, then you simply had to choose to uninstall the application.
You can inspect and change permissions under Settings->Apps->[Specific App Name]->Permissions. You can see the table of dangerous permissions that you are probably worried about. These permission categories cover the examples you have enumerated (contacts list -> contacts, call log -> phone, photos -> storage). Izzy has pointed out that there is no separate control for reading v. writing, which could be an issue if your application needs to write to storage but should not be able to view photos.
As Izzy has pointed out, there are some things you cannot control with these permissions, for example access to the randomly generated Android ID or internet access.
Whether an application still functions with a permission disabled depends on how it was written. Well written applications will continue to function in some way. Applications that are targeted to versions of Android before Marshmallow or that are simply poorly written may simply crash.
You can set permissions for Google Apps. You can for example:

prevent the Photos application from reading storage, which means it will not be able to display your photos.
prevent Gmail from reading your contacts

Using multiple users will not help you with privacy. When you install an application, this application is available for all users. You do not need to open an application for it to access your data. So while under user A the application cannot access user B's data, this does not really matter because the application can also run under user B while in the background.

Thx, I thought that revoking permissions was not a viable approach at all. Still, some apps needs to acces a contacts list. I would like to present some apps an empty contacts lists. What options do I have? Is multiple profiles/users/accounts helpfull?

That's not an adequate protection. First, it's by far not granular enough (e.g. it cannot decide between "read calendar" and "write calendar"), and second it by very far doesn't cover all permissions (try e.g. restricting Internet access, or access to device IDs). To me, the built-in permission handling is not much more than a "white washing" attempt. Unfortunately, currently there doesn't seem to be a real solution when it comes to Nougat and up.

@Izzy You have pointed out important shortcomings but it's not clear to me whether this question needs that granularity.

@mattm seems it is, if OP wants to completely shield private data from apps – especially from system apps like GApps, which was especially pointed out in one comment. AFAIK that's not possible with Android's built-in AppOps.

@Izzy Do I understand you correctly that creating multiple users on the device wouldn't be of help? Eg. would whatsapp (installed by user1) be able to read the contacts of user2? If so, is there really no solution for this privacy hell? I mean, who tf thinks that the 100%-promiscuity android model (share everything about the owner with everybody) would be ok for everyone? I have a hard time believing that this of no concern to anybody else.

@Exceptione it wouldn't be of concern to Google who just wants your data :) But no: WA on user1 should not be able to access contacts on user2. But Apps on u1 and u2 would still see the same device identifiers, so WA/Facebook had easy play combining both contact lists. Same for other apps.

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


text:
Android Notification Issues relating to time
Over the past few weeks, I've had a serious increase in issues related to notifications on my Pixel, running Android 7.1.2. I'm beginning to suspect some sort of larger overarching problem, and I'm curious as to what the technical minds at Android Enthusiasts think.
My problems:
1) Notifications appear anywhere between 1 hour and 2 days late.
2) Clicking on notifications usually doesn't work, and sometimes presents the activity for the notification hours or days later. (example: I was at a CostCo and clicked on the location aware notification from the Google App, yesterday. This morning I was simply using my phone and then the Google Maps page for CostCo finally appeared.)
3) Do not disturb has failed to turn off at the appropriate time. (I set Do Not Disturb on Total Silence for one hour, eleven minutes after the time it was suppoed to turn off I looked at my phone, tried to change the volume, and the status bar appeared explaining the phone was on Total Silence for -11 more minutes. That's a negative eleven. In this instance, my sim card was out at the time, but I don't think that should have affected it.)
What could be causing these issues? Is it something timing related like I hypothesize?
Edit: I have rebooted multiple times and am fully up to date.

Have you taken any recent system updates?  Have you rebooted after any recent app updates?  I seem to have minor issues after system updates and a reboot clears it up.

I have rebooted multiple times and am fully up to date. Edited post.

My wife is having the same issues with her phone, an LG G5 on Nougat as well. Verizon has now sent her two replacements that are having the same issue. No resolution in sight.

@Andrew sorry to hear that! Try and follow this question to see if there's a solution later.


text:
How can I achieve operator agnostic call barring?
so, I've got a rooted Samsung G800F.
My objective:

The phone has access to mobile data (not WiFi). (Intended for
streaming Amazon and Youtube and maybe a bit of surfing or
tethering.)
The phone can not be called. Ideally the phone can not call or get/send sms and install other applications.
The calls do not get blocked. (They are intended for a second cell using the same
number/contract.)

What I tried so far and deem useless:

Call Barring (My operator does not support this.)
Call Blocking (My
other phone has no chance to answer the calls.)
Do not disturb/silent
mode (It could still be answered and the calls are still visually
signalled.)

What I'm trying now:
Fiddling around with the phone app.
And here I'm absolutely lost and hope you can lend me a helping hand.
So, I tried Titanium, but couldn't identify the correct app. I froze and killed some suspiciously sounding/looking ones, but calls still went through and the ringer went uninterrupted.
Next I installed "Root Uninstaller"
Here I found com.android.phone and had some partial success with killing this or some services.
There are two problems though:

I do not know what I'm doing. Not a clue. So, can you tell me what service to disable?
When I reboot the device it has problems and constantly displays an error message/is almost unusable.
(Falling under the "ideally"-category: can I just freeze some "Play"-App to prevent installation of messengers - relying on the phone number - and such?)

(Just FYI: I'm from Europe and might read and respond at odd-seeming times.
 I wanted to include the tag call-barring, feel free to add this.)

I simply can't understand your question. What is the Question?

Hm.. sorry..
How can I set this device up as to allow disturbance-free streaming while still being able to answer those calls on another handset pertaining to the same number/contract?

That's probably not possible at the moment, as you'd have to forward the calls using VoIP. This is way too complicated to implement on your own, as these features are already builtin to the mobile network.
Alternatively your MNO may have some USSD codes for automatic call forwarding, so you need to look if those are available to you.
Unconditional Call Forwarding is usually activated with:
*21*[phone number]# and cancelled with ##21#. For other options, check the link.
Call Barring:

If you wish to restrict calls that can be made or received by your handset then this is referred to as "Call Barring". All Call Barring codes are specific to your network, so you'll have to ask your service provider

Also check this

As I understand it, call forwarding would not work as both handsets use the same mobile number and subscription.
My operator does not support Call Barring via the network.
That is why I'm trying to disable basic telephony by tinkering with the software.

If what you want to do is to have both phones with same number, you are talking about SIM cloning, which apart from being illegal almost everywhere, is very hard to do. This is not the forum for this.

My operator readily supplies Multi SIMs, there is nothing fishy about that.
If those are "cloned" cards I don't know, they have different SIM card numbers for example.
Still, they pertain to one and the same contract and phone number.
So I can use all services with both cards. (Except SMS, those are send to the main card AFAIK.)

Who's your operator? I've never heard of such a thing as 2 SIM cards using the same number, except in cloning attacks. This clearly goes against the Mobile (and SIM) standard of operations. Also Google for osmocom. I think they did some research on this, some years ago.

Telekom Deutschland, a completely normal operator.
Check this out:
https://www.telekom.de/unterwegs/tarife-und-optionen/multisim

With the MultiSIM, you extend your Telekom mobile phone contract by up to two additional SIM cards and are therefore available on several devices.

One phone number, one tariff and one invoice for all cards
Allowance options apply to all cards
No messy switching of the SIM cards into other devices
Parallel phone calls, surfing and e-mailing

I've never heard of such a thing as 2 SIM cards using the same number plenty of such carriers. In Ukraine we have this too


text:
Remove words from the SYSTEMS predictive dictionary
On my Wileyfox Swift, the pre-installed keyboard is called "AOSP keyboard". It allows to type and to "swipe". When set to German, and I "swipe" the word "mal" (you can compare that to the English "just"), which happens quite often, in 90% of the cases text prediction replaces it by "NSKK". At fist I was irritated, then annoyed. Finally I looked up the term, which up to then told me nothing, and found out it's an abbreviation for the "national socialists motor corps" (Nationalsozialistisches Kraftfahrkorps) – and now I even feel offended.
I tried and checked:

no such term in any of my "user dictionaries" (I had wondered if)
Editing the built-in autocorrect dictionary in AOSP keyboard suggests to unpack, edit and repack the APK – which for me (and most users) is no option
Where's the stock keyboard's predictive dictionary located? mostly speaks about the user dictionaries, also mentions the source for the stock dictionaries, and one user reports (in 4/2012, so not sure if it still applies) where he found the files on-device – but no way how to edit them
Delete words from the built-in dictionary? (2015) never got an answer
Most other questions here talk about specific keyboards like Swype
hints I found in several posts (like long-pressing the predicted word should bring up a possibility to delete it, or correcting it often enough should make the system deem it "more important") did not work out.

Is there any way to get rid of those stupid predictions? I'm fine with solutions requiring root, even if it comes to edit some SQLite database. Imagine every time you typed "just" it would turn into "KKK", it's a horror…
In case it matters: my Swift still runs on its original CyanogenOS 12.1 (Android 5.1), as I didn't wish to go MM with it (and specifically not Nougat, as it has no XPosed).


text:
What is this Finder shortcut?
A few days ago, my Samsung Galaxy S6 added a shortcut to "Finder" on my home screen.  I looked through my app list, and I can't find an app with that name.  What exactly is it, and how did it get added to my home screen?  If it's relevant, I'm in the US and use Sprint as my carrier.
The shortcut on my homescreen:

When the app runs:

I haven't been able to find this in my app list.  What is this app, and if I want to uninstall it what do I need to do?

@beeshyams after digging around its help info it calls itself SFinder. That's too bad.

As confirmed by OP, it is Sfinder which is a Samsung app and cannot be uninstalled without root


text:
I'm with Virgin Mobile; should I buy Unlocked or Sprint-locked?
I'm looking around at buying a Samsung Galaxy S5, and learning quite a bit about what GSM and CDMA are while I'm at it. In that respect though, I have no idea what Virgin Mobile is, though I know Sprint is CDMA, and the Galaxy S series, from what I understand, seems to be GSM. Virgin sells them, though, so I assume getting an S5 will be fine. I'm just wondering which one, locked or unlocked, will provide me with the easiest process when setting up the S5- or whether there'll be a difference.
I did read  from Virgin's help site: "Your non-Virgin Mobile phone needs to be unlocked to work on the Virgin Mobile network."
Not sure how relevant it is.
(From the last question in the Get Started section, about halfway down the page)
http://www.virginmobile.ca/en/support/sim.html?province=ON&geoResult=failed

Unlocked would overall be better except in cases of your phone getting stolen, but whether a device is locked or unlocked will not affect how easy it is to setup.

@beeshyams It's not asking for a product recommendation though: it's asking a specific question about one specific feature.

@DanHulme yep, retracted vote

I'm just wondering which one, locked or unlocked, will provide me with the easiest process when setting up the S5- or whether there'll be a difference.

If you're buying the phone from the same carrier that you will be using the phone with, there's no difference to you. The only thing that makes set-up hard is if you buy a locked phone from one carrier to use with a different carrier: in that case you need to unlock it first.
Unlocked phones do have a slightly higher resale value, because the next user can use them with any carrier without having to get them unlocked. Unlocking a phone from the carrier typically costs in the region of US$10, and you can do it officially (by paying the carrier a fee) or unofficially (in an independent repair shop, or through a third-party website).
There's no advantage to the user of having a locked phone.

To avoid confusion: note that this carrier lock is completely unrelated to the PIN or pattern you use to unlock your phone. It's also completely unrelated to having a locked bootloader. Those are three separate concepts; they just have similar names.

So I called Virgin Mobile today, and I don't know whether the CDMA/GSM thing matters, but they can't do anything with a phone locked by Sprint, which I guess should have been my original question.
Note: I did try calling VM before buying this phone, with little success, as they seemed to have limited understanding of what I was trying to ask- they kept telling me they could only sell me the phones on their site.
Not sure what to mark as answer here.


text:
Is it possible and practical to add a larger screen to an Android phone?
I've been working on an Android navigation app, and to be able to use this on my motorcycle I need a waterproof device. Since I couldn't find a waterproof device that fits my needs, I was thinking of buying standard parts and recasing them.
Would it be possible to take a motherboard from let's say a Huawei P8 and attach a larger and brighter screen to it?
What would be some tips on doing this?

Theoretically, it's indeed possible. What is your experience regarding development of custom video drivers for Android? Which display data transfer protocols are you familiar with?

To be honest, I have no experience in those areas what so ever. That said however, I don't mind putting in the time and effort to learn this

There are hundreds of Android devices already out there. Why wouldn't you simply pick one that has the right screen size to begin with? As it stands, this question is a poor fit for this site — too broad, shopping, unclear what your requirements and constraints are. Modding questions need to demonstrate a good understanding of the device's design and focus on a specific issue.

Thjere is no reason to assume this would or wouldnt work, depends quite a bit on the hardware and the software, either may be forced to one resolution or even specific set of devices (digitizer, display, etc).  Just get a cheap tablet and hot spot it.

@Dave Tweed, I'm looking for a solution because I want to use a much brighter display than phones and tablet's use. This device needs to be used on a motorcycle, which means that it will br outdoors, sometimes in direct sunlight while the user may be wearing sunglasses. I've tried it with my oneplus 3t and at maximum brightness, its just not bright enough when in direct sunlight

Depends on the device. If you get one with HDMI out you can connect it to an external screen and expect it to work.
Otherwise you have to take a very close look at the connectors and signal standards of the replacement screen and touchscreen digitizer. If you find one that's exactly the same but larger then it might work out of the box.
If it's not the same resolution then you will most likely have problems which require rooting the device and fiddling with its display drivers.
(I managed to get a variant of this by accident; the Asus Transformer has two almost-indistinguishable models of touchscreen digitizer, but one of them has the X coordinate flipped. This makes it very hard to safely buy as a spare part.)

If I could source one with hdmi out, would the touchscreen also work via the hdmi connection, or is this a seperate connector? I'm sorry for the rookie questions, I don't have a really broad electronics background.

It would need a second connection over USB.

It is much easier and cheaper if, instead of getting a phone/tablet and trying to change the screen, you get a board which actually uses custom boards.
For instance, you can get a Raspberry PI, attach an HDMI monitor to it, add the required sensors (e.g. GPS), flash android on the SD and use it. This may require some work to find the right sensor compatible out-of-the-box with the android distribution, but it is MUCH easier than trying to adapt the video drivers to your screen.
You'll also need a battery and some power converters, but it is still much easier than the other part (and you can fine-tune the features to your needs)
UPDATE: I was very surprised to discover that the rPI has no android official distro... ?????
Anyway in the past I used an Orange PI zero (this supports Android 4.4, but I used a classic linux distro for it). This has built-in wifi, but in order to use accelerometers or GPS you will have to tweak a bit.
Here someone managed to install a USB GPS, and maybe you can figure out how to attach an accelerometer to it if you really need it..
Keep in mind that the Orange PI and the Banana PI are very similar, so you can use one of the two and port the code and procedures from one to the other

The thing is that i'm also using things like WiFi, accelerometers, Bluetooth and 4g. I've been looking into boards but things like 3g or 4g connections add up really fast. Should I do this, would I need to create some sort of custom rom so android knows which pins are which sensors? I can't seem to find much information on this :/ I would prefer this method however because it would give me more control in choosing sensors. Would you have any suggestions on sourcing information?

@KennethBreugelmans in fact... rPI does not support android. I was a bit puzzled at this. :-? Anyway there are other boards, but usually it is a bit tricky to port the peripheral codes (even if I think it is easier than replacing the screen). As a last resort, get a tablet ;)

Looking at all the responses, the tablet option might be the easiest :p guess i'll have to look into screen glare protectors than :p thank's for the input tho :)

As your problem (as stated in the comments) seems to be with the screen brightness rather than the actual screen, it may save a lot of work if you just beefed up the backlight LEDs and associated circuitry. This change may even be able to be modded onto the original phone PCB. This would save the effort of writing custom drivers, doing custom screen interfaces, etc. that accompanies changing the screen itself.

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


text:
How do I remove SIM Toolkit app?
About 2 months ago or so, I upgraded my SIM to 4G and I realized after the upgrade there's a SIM Toolkit icon on my home screen and I'm about to move it at least at my Tool folder.

Screenshot (click to enlarge)
Apparently, when I turn off my Airplane Mode (turn on my mobile network), I saw the SIM Toolkit settings again and I'm about to remove/disable it. I saw that I couldn't disable it, only Force Stopping it. But when I turn on my Mobile Network again, it appeared again.
Please help me how to remove it, I also couldn't hide it. Thanks

What device is this? Because this application is common in many stock phones and custom ROMs installed in the system, meaning you can't remove it. It is in my stock Moto X Pure Edition and Moto G devices, in fact all the phones I checked in our house have it installed. To remove it you would need root access to your device and a tool like Titanium Backup or Root Explorer

See https://android.stackexchange.com/q/96758/96277. You might be better off with a custom home launcher instead of unnecessary messing with that app. However, if you do want to remove that app, which you cannot without rooting the device, consider hiding the app.

It's easy.

First, you need to root your phone.

Take a backup from the SIM Toolkit (just in case). You can find a backup app in Google Play Store. After installing this app, you should choose system app to find SIM Toolkit.

Find a root app uninstaller (e.g. Root Uninstaller) and remove SIM Toolkit.


text:
Enable USB Debugging Android Dead Screen
I obtained a Nexus 6 with a dead screen. I am trying to cast the screen to my computer. In order to do so, I believe I need to have USB Debugging enabled (which is presumably off).
I managed to boot into recovery mode
I tried to follow: How to enable USB Debugging in Android if forgotten pattern for screen-unlock?
but for some reason /data is empty.
I have mounted /system
and added appended various lines to build files (link needed)
I am using twrp-3.1.1-0-shamu.img recovery image. When I boot (via fastboot) this image I can use ADB.
I have an OTG cable, mouse and keyboard but I doubt they will be helpful since I cannot see the screen

It may sound stupid, but when you noticed /data was empty in recovery mode did you make sure that Data partition was mounted already?

BTW, does WebKey not work for you? https://webkey.cc/

@Firelord I tried to mount it but it wasn't in fstab.

@Firelord I don't know how to install an app in recovery mode so I don't know how I would use webkey.cc

Maybe this helps: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=66731042&postcount=260

@MarkYisri Thanks for the link. I've seen variations all over that didn't work. Maybe this one will. Will try


text:
interchange front and rear camera
My rear camera is broken and  temporarily I want to use my front camera as my rear camera. is there any way I could do this. I am rooted. The problem doesn't occur when I use the camera app but rather applications such as Barcode scanner and others which do not have the option to change the camera used. I want applications to recognise my front camera as my rear camera. Is there any to accomplish this


text:
Change data roll over to number of days
My data rolls over every 28 days. The data tracker on my Samsung Galaxy S6 is only rolling over on the same date each month. This is frustrating. I want to know how to change the data roll over to every 28 days instead of the same date each month.

The last answer there works on stock Marshmallow for me. If that doesn't help you, add this piece of information to your question by editing it

It's not quite a duplicate, because this is about making the cycle fixed-length instead of changing which date, but the same procedure on the other answer should work for this too - just choose the right option in the data cycle dialog. If it doesn't work for whatever reason, complain back here and your question can be reopened.


text:
Is there any relation between processor clock speed and heating effects?
I'm planning to buy a new android smartphone, and I've heard that while high processor clock speeds are good, they are also accompanied by high heating effects.
Is there a way I can obtain the heat (in watt possibly) and the clock speed (in GHz) of the processor?
(I'm quite new here, and I'm not really a very informed person when it comes to anything digital technology).

I think this depends on the chip of the CPU, for example Snapdragon chips are known to produce very good performance and a considerable "trade off" with heat production, while Exynos are relatively good and relatively less heat. This may be because of the power (current) they need to keep the chips going. For detailedCPU information (eg clock speed, cpu frequency etc) you may use CPU-Z to get that kind of information. However nowadays the main focus is utlising the chip with much less power (aim of reducing overheating)  Also dont get trapped to think more GHz = better performance

@xavier_fakerat Thanks for the info, and of course, I've seen that clock speed doesnt always mean more GHz. In that case, on what factors does speed depend on?

I guess the technology employed in the chip, some use threading to better performance, multi-core sym, the type of activities e.g multitasking, gaming  (higher number-core processor is faster than a lower number-core processor only when it’s running an app that takes advantage of its abilities or when you’re multitasking) Other factors to consider GPU, RAM they work together to better execute the processes. If planning on serious multitasking etc go for a multi-core processor, more RAM better GPU (but power intensive processes mean more heating).  You may be able to make a compromise here :)

tl;dr There is a direct relationship between the amount of power used by a processor and its clock frequency. The higher the performance , the higher the power consumption and heat generated
 (meaning increased clock speeds attract more power consumption and subsequently increased heating)

In a nutshell the quicker all the transistors (gates) are switched in
  the chip the more power is used. How often the transistors are switched is controlled by the clock frequency.

For detailed CPU information (e.g clock speed, cpu frequency etc) you may use CPU-Z to get that kind of information.

Nowadays chip makers incorporate multiple functionality in a now called system on chip (SoC).
These chips which power smartphones now consist of CPU (central processing unit), GPU (graphics processing unit), memory controller and DSPs
(speciliased video or audio chips). So the overall "performance output" will depend on how manufacturers vary these components.

Currently there are four major android smartphones SoC makers;
  Qualcomm (Snapdragon), Samsung (Exynos), MediaTek (MT and
  Helio processors) and Huawei (Kirin chips)

All of these manufacturers make SoCs with segmentation in mind i.e cost performance etc
Nowadays the main focus is utilising the chip with much less power (aim of reducing overheating)
So how do manufacturers improve power-effeciency while improving performance?

Power efficiency and heat dissipation are everything when it comes to
  mobile CPUs and they are also factors that influence the performance
  of a mobile CPU

CPU designers employ a variety of ways to accomplish this:

throttling the CPU when it becomes too warm (reducing CPU clock frequency)
heterogeneous multi-processing (HMP)
thermal framework (e.g ARM’s
Intelligent Power Allocation , that can dynamically manage the thermal budget of a System-on-a-Chip – reallocating the thermal budget from the CPU to the GPU (and visa versa) when necessary)

Overally what this means is that that by lowering the clock frequency the power consumption is also lowered,
Although modern CPUs have various methods to minimise overheating, sometimes it depends on how the device is being used, gaming etc, so it partly depends on user's end

Credits: Android Authourity

Bonus info:
Cores versus Clock Speed

A core is a processing unit within a CPU. Each one can handle tasks
  independently, or can be combined to provide more power to
  particularly intensive tasks.

The clock speed measures, in gigahertz, the speed at which a CPU is able to process instructions. While it is tempting to think a more GHz equals better performance its certainly not the case.
A 3 GHz processor is faster than a 2GHz processor only when it’s running an app that takes advantage of its abilities or when you’re multitasking.
But generally, newer version of a processor is likely to be faster than an older one, even at slower speeds; a CPU based on a newer architecture is likely to be faster; and the number of cores also makes a difference.
There is some disparity when trying to compare these directly (e.g Exynos 7 Octa  is vastly different from the Snapdragon 805 in terms of architecture. Compared to the quad core architecture of the 805, the Exynos 7 Octa comes with two sets of quad ARM Cortex A53 and Cortex A57 cores on board, with CPU loads alternating between the two, or utilizing them completely depending on the computing power required)
Thus benchmark tests are often carried out.
Hope this helps
References

http://www.androidauthority.com/soc-showdown-2016-732870/
http://wccftech.com/galaxy-note-4-snapdragon-vs-exynos/
https://www.quora.com/How-do-phones-cool-its-processor
http://www.androidauthority.com/arm-cortex-a73-gary-explains-694455/
http://www.androidauthority.com/arm-vs-x86-key-differences-explained-568718/
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/jargon-buster-the-guide-to-understanding-mobile-processors/
http://www.androidauthority.com/what-is-cpu-frequency-scaling-672253/

Thanks for your answer (sorry for the delayed response). Do phone sellers disclose their benchmark results anywhere, so I can compare them and decide whether I should buy it or not?

@PrittNot really, but you as the end user should research on the gadgets before you buy them. Good places to start: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones, http://m.gadgets.ndtv.com, http://www.gsmarena.com/reviews.php3 etc.


text:
Toggle Lock screen
How to easily enable / disable the lock screen on nougat? So that I can remove
the lock screen when I frequently use the phone and enable when I leave the phone somewhere.

Would something like Android's Smart-Lock functionality (introduced with Lollipop) fit for that? It can e.g. change that setting based on location or nearby networks. If you carry another device with you that e.g. uses Bluetooth, that might be used as well (disable lock when near). Another possibility: Something NFC, ideally an NFC ring on the hand you usually hold the device in, so NFC could trigger the "unlock". Same goes for a smart watch.

The lock screen can only be changed in the settings. You can use smart Lock if you have a Bluetooth device, like a smart watch. You could also turn off instant lock, and set it to five minutes or so. That way when you are frequently using your device, you aren't prompted every time.


text:
GMail app not displaying signature
Issue:
When replying or creating a new email, the signature does not load.
How to replicate:
From the GMail app:
Settings - mail@mail.com - Signature - set any text - create a new message

Notes: there's no Google Account set on this phone. The GMail and Google Play Services APKs were downloaded from APKMirror
What has been tried:

Setting up Exchange and YahooMail accounts
Clearing the app's data and reinstalling it
Restarting the phone
Changing the phone's language from Brazilian Portuguese to English (United States)

What else can I try?
Thanks in advance
GMail versions tested:
7.5.21.158049789.release
7.5.7.156101332.release

Google Play Services versions tested:
10.2.91 (430-144333517)
11.0.55 (430-156917137)

Device:
Moto G4 Play (harpia)

Android version installed:
6.0.1 (stock, non-rooted)

Based on the suggestions given by Gmail Help (website) forum  just double these issues:

Make sure you are not using an alias email to send your emails
Usually the signature does not show when drafting a message but is appended when sending (try tapping 3 dots at th bottom of message and check
if see the signature)
Sometimes its the way the app is designed:

The signature does not show during drafting a message it is appended
  upon sending.
Try checking  in your "Sent Mail" and if you don't see the signature,
  there are three faint dots at the bottom of the message, click that
  and you will see the signature.

Sources:

Why is my inbox signature not showing in my email after I send
Signature hidden by "three dots"
Adding a signature to reply and forward emails

Sorry for not being clear on that point, but the signature is really not shown/loaded. There are no "three dots". This is a random bug that I couldn't find in any other place, and it's happening with only a few phones in the company I'm working. I even factory-reset one of them, but the issue persisted.


text:
Root ZTE Blade V6 seems complicated
I nearly get nuts because I cannot root my ZTE Blade V6 (europe version).
In the past I have rooted several android devices. Actually it was quite the same procedure everytime:
1. Install platform-tools (adb and fastboot)
2. Make device appear in "adb -devices"
3. Make device appear in "fastboot devices"
4. Flash any recovery via fastboot (I tend to prefer CWM)
5. Copy Custom-ROM (usually a *.zip for the OS and one for gapps) to internal or external space
6. Start phone into recovery and install the zip and afterwards the gapps
7. Done

However this seems to fail on the ZTE Blade V6 this time:
If I go to the stock recovery, it is all in chinese (or some other letters I can not read).
So I flashed a CWM recovery.img to the phone, from https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/twrp-recovery-3-0-2-zte-blade-v6-t3362252. The flashing seems to work (However it says: target didn't report max-download-size) But it does not boot into it. It just does not do anything after flashing the recovery. No Recovery, no fastboot. Only thing that works after that is normal start. Directly sending adb reboot recovery after flashing makes a simple restart of the device into stock ROM.
I tried different recovery images but the output is usually the same.
Somewhere I found a command that does directly boot the image and not only flash it:
fastboot boot recovery.img

All the images I tried report FAILED (remote: bad boot image header) when directly booted this way.
Can someone tell me what's wrong and/or help me flash my droid?

What about unlocking boot loader?  Pre requisite for most devices? ( I don't know about your device though )

Your steps are not wrong, but the prerequisites might not be there: unlockable bootloader (what @beeshyams mentioned), a recovery made for the specific device (note that ZTE has a lot of "Blade" devices that are all different - don't cross-flash them), a custom ROM made specific (same as above). The error about recovery you get sounds like you flashed a recovery from another device onto it. Mind sharing links to what you found and flashed?

First of all, make sure that you got the proper "recovery.img" for your device. Invalid header is not a good message.
Then,if you are able to communicate with an Android phone via adb, you can boot it into recovery mode by command "adb reboot recovery".
What I suggest for your situation is(I assume you don't need fastboot oem unlock):

Make sure your PC can see your device by the command: "adb
devices".
Boot into fastboot mode by the command: "adb reboot bootloader".
Flash recovery image to recovery partition: "fastboot flash recovery
recovery.img".
Exit fastboot mode: "fastboot reboot". (Some bootloaders may support fastboot boot recovery.img, I am writing for generic.)
After exiting fastboot mode, wait for Android to boot, then check if
your PC communicates with your device: "adb devices".
Reboot into recovery mode: "adb reboot recovery".
Now, the bootloader is expected to load CWM.

In case you need "fastboot oem unlock"(you will see a warning like "partition flashing is not allowed" at 3rd step above, because of verified boot feature.); under Settings->Development Settings, turn on OEM unlock. Then, run below commands:

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot oem unlock

Install Blade Checker then see but sounds like you have chinese version not european might solve the language problem.

Blade Checker tells me unknown device. Bootloader unlock by "fastboot oem unlock" gives me "..." as output and freezes there. Device still there in fastboot devices


text:
Can I use Android Biometric to Authenticate 20+ Users
Is it possible to use a centralized biometric database with Android or am I limited to users having to create and register their fingerprints on the device lock-screen on each Android device?
I have an in-house built Android Application that I would like to use biometric authentication, instead of in-app passwords.
I'm looking at using something like a BioWolf 7 Device and potentially 20-30 different employees could use the device during a day.


text:
Alarm not working
My Alcatel iPop Tracfone used to ring the alarm when the phone was completely turned off. It doesn't do that anymore. Would like to know why?
And how I can make that work again.
Thank you, Sandy

I did figure out how to make my alarm work again. On an Alcatel iPop phone, you go to the clock app. Click on the alarm. Then click on the settings icon. Check the "Alarm in silent mode" option. This will allow your alarm to work even when your phone is turned totally off.


text:
Where does twrp keep the internal storage backed up?
I have chosen to backup everything and all extra partitions on my twrp backup. When browsing the twrp backup folder, I renamed the .win extentions to .tar and unziped them using linux but I cannot find where twrp keep the internal storage contents. eg. emulated/0/

Related https://android.stackexchange.com/q/123558/131553

TWRP doesn't backup "internal storage"

Well, the 2 first comments are completely useless as they don't answer the question at all. I've been downvoted for no reason. However I thank @acejavelin for his answer as it answers the question.

I assume you got downvoted for "common sense"? Backing up internal storage and saving it to internal storage is a contradiction in itself. Not that I downvoted though... Also, since TWRP 3.1.0, there's a big fat yellow warning that explicitly warns people that it won't back up internal storage.

@Andy Yan Common sense would mean I expect a full system back up which includes personal files if the data partition was backed up just like the windows system image backup and thats what most people would expect so your argument make no sense saying I have no common sense. Also I'm using twrp 2.8.7 and 3.0.0 not the latest.

We're still talking about different senses... I mean, did you expect a full backup of internal storage to be stored in internal storage itself (that's the default)? Anyways, not backing up internal storage was the norm ever since custom recoveries existed on Android, and with external SD cards quitting the scene and OTG not really catching up, I don't see this changing in the near future... Sucks for people who want to play it safe.

I misread the question and marked as duplicate.. Sorry, retracted close vote

I didn't expect a full backup on the internal storage. I actually used a 64GB flash drive for the backup so no. Twrp does let you use flash drives for backups.

@beeshyams as long as you understand. Thanks.

in fact, this behaviour is not common sense.. common sense would be, not allowing to store backup files at the device itself. however, excluding media does allow backup for devices with no external sd / usb otg support. after backup just adb pull -a -p /sdcard advanced users who can't live with it, feel free to tweak your twrp with a shell script

@alecxs ok boomer

TWRP does not backup internal storage, like your photos, videos, music, ebooks, etc. (things in /data/media), that is why you can't find it.
As noted in the TWRP's FAQ from their official website:

Creating a backup of the user data partition will NOT include
/data/media (your internal storage)! That means if you save photos or
data on the internal storage (e.g. some apps will save data there as
well) those will be NOT included in a TWRP backup! There are many
people thinking that this is the case but due to a decision taken by
the dev team this is the current way of how it works.
To be absolutely clear when you do something like this:

Creating a full backup in TWRP (including /data partition)
Factory resetting your phone
Restoring your previously taken full backup
Result: all your saved data will be there but your data on the internal storage gets LOST!

Source page of quote

Are you sure about that? As the backup created by TWRP should be complete, where is it gone then? In fact, what OP is looking for is partly in data.ext3.win.gz and partly in the boot image. The emulated/* stuff AFAIR is setup at boot (with a lot of mounting and cross-symlinking which I never got into my head completely). If I'm wrong, please back your claim by a source: where does it say what TWRP does not backup?

@Izzy Yes, I am positive it doesn't backup internal storage, or "internal sd card" as some call it. It never has. I will update my answer with a verifiable source.

Thanks! That explains something I was wondering about a while ago. On an older device of mine it did backup everything, but on a newer one I wondered why that part was missing. Thought it was specific to the device (and TWRP implementation for that), but it's rather specific to the ROM structure it seems. Note the intruductional phrasing: "When you have a device with a /data/media storage as internal storage". So it seems there are such and others ;) Thanks for pointing out and mentioning the source, +1 now from me :)

@answerSeeker and acejavelin  FYI https://android.stackexchange.com/q/200713/131553


text:
Problems to get keycodes from fitness bike Android console
I've been working on an Android powered fitness bike for a while now, to basically pull the workout information generated by the bike in realtime, to use it with other applications running in a remote PC.
The problem I'm facing now, is that I need to trigger specific key stokes in the Android system programatically, but I'm having trouble reading the Key Codes of some hard buttons of the console in the first place, as they apparently don´t leave any trace in the Android OS.
So far, I tried with Android KeyEvent Display App to see if there was any trace of a keycode after pressing these buttons. The results were negative.
NOTE: The weird thing is that there are a "Menu" and "Back" hard buttons implemented in the bike console that actually leave a trace (Code 82 + ScanCode 229 for NAV_BACK, and Code 4 + ScanCode 158 for NAV_MENU)...so, for some reason the "other" special buttons are treated differently by the OS (BTW, these buttons are used to increase the resistance of the bike while riding).
...as if they would only work when the main workout application is running...the same thing happens with volume buttons, which is even more strange, as they are standard implementation in almost every Android phone.
Good news is that the fitness app included in the console, has a maintenance function that tells you the actual KeyCodes (that's how they are called) of the console when you press them, but in that application, all the console keys produce a different output than in the Android KeyEvent app. For example:
NAV_BACK = 101
NAV_MENU = 100
INCREASE_POWER = 6
DECREASE_POWER = 5
...and also none of those codes seem to work or do anything visible, when used with input and/or sendevent commands.
So, in summary:
a) I was wondering if there was another "lower level" or alternative way to intercept these key strokes that I might be missing...I already tried to "tail" the Serial 0 and Serial 1 ports, but once again, they only showed activity when the Menu and Back buttons were hit (and the codes are the same as the ones I see with the Android KeyEvent app).
b) and...is it possible that half of the keyboard is connected via serial and the other half is not? How are those other keys connected then?
Thanks a lot in advance.
Dan.


text:
LG E980 mostly unresponsive, only intermittently displays a default background image
After the launcher seemingly bugged out on my old faithful LG E980 (5.1.1 Lollipop) yesterday my phone has been unresponsive and acting very strange. To begin with I hadn't dropped my phone or had anything out of the ordinary happen to it. But when I unlocked it for the first time in the day after unplugging it, the display went straight to multitasking rather than the home screen. When I tried to escape it a dialog popped up asking which launcher I would like to use (with the "Just once" or "Always" options).
After selecting Nova Launcher the home screen appeared with only some of the apps and widgets visible, completely unresponsive. So I rebooted it, and since then the phone will only display (apart from completely normal boot animations) the power menu, if I press the power button in the right way. Or, if I fiddle with the buttons, position it in a certain way, cover the camera or the microphone, I'm not quite sure what triggers it, the screen will display what appears to be an aerial image of a coastline for a moment before going black again.

Here's a video demonstrating the behaviour: https://youtu.be/-YNbFiLNYTo
(In the video all I'm doing is repeatedly pressing the power button. Sometimes the image will fade on and off repeatedly, but usually it will only display once, and only ever for at most a few seconds. The notification light is flashing red, telling me I have an email, which suggests that internally the phone is still working normally.)
I know it looks like a graphical glitch in these low quality images, but to me it looks too close to an actual image, I can see the ripples in the water and everything. I've never used this as a background image on my phone, I haven't seen it anywhere before. Nothing turns up when I try to reverse image search it on Google.
I'm wondering if I'm going to have to restore my phone to factory settings (as recovery mode is still accessable through the power menu) or if someone might know what the problem is and a less destructive way to fix it. It appears most likely to be a problem caused by the launcher acting up.
Thanks for any help.
Edit: New development. I pulled out the phones battery while it was still on, put it back, started it up again, and now instead of the coastline (which I'm guessing was one of default background images on my phone) the phone displays a default screensaver or animated background of some sort. Purple/blue, with bubbles slowly moving around.
The screen will stay on now, but still featureless and unresponsive with the exception of the power menu.
Edit 2: Repeated the same thing with the battery. Now the screen won't display anything at all after start up. Very weird.
Edit 3: I rebooted it and it's back to the purple bubble screen... I'll stop posting these updates now.


text:
How to move audio files from internal storage to external SD card permanently?
OK so, I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime and just recently have purchased an SD card.
I want to move 117 audio files from my internal storage to (external) SD card without having those files on my actual phone. I tried moving them to the SD card and then deleting them from the internal storage but that just deletes everything from the SD card AND from the phone itself, so I copied them (if there even is a difference) and the deleted them from the internal storage but that didn't work either.
Pleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaase heeeeeeeeeeeeeeelp!!
p.s. If anyone knows how to change the download path to my sd card that'll be really helpful.
Thanks in advance!

Basically just get a sd card reader and a usb cable and copy it to your computer then unplug it then delete the file on computer then copy it onto the sd card then put it on then you are done then i stop typing then


text:
Exporting SMS on sim card to text file
It seems to me like Android comes with the "veiled" idea that management of SMS that may be present on sim card is not so important (and maybe it's true). Anyway, take me, I have to deal with them at this moment.
Being more precise, I would like to backup all SMS (both received and sent) that are stored in a sim card and I didn't found a fast way to do that.
By this moment I came across several apps that could let me backup/restore SMS that are held on phone but nothing -NOTHING- that deals with the ones on sim card also.
What's worst is that it seems the smartphone I'm dealing with has not ability to copy all the SMS at once, so I should copy them from sim card to phone one by one and then use one of the app I mentioned before... Now, every sim card may contains even 40 SMS and I have at least 4 sim card to backup, that would be really uncomfortable!
So what I ask is: can you please suggest

an app to save/export SMS on sim card directly to text file (txt, csv, html, xml, ...)
or a way to copy/move all SMS from sim card to phone AT ONCE (not one by one)

Your help in this would be very appreciated, thanks!
EDIT:
Trust me, by now I tried several apps. Popular ones (like this one or this one) and even less known but sim-card-specific such as Sim + and I couldn't ever get SMS on sim card to be exported. So I became to think it has to do with the device I'm using (I didn't test Sim Manager for the same reason). Actually, in fact, I managed the situation in another way: using another smartphone!
I borrowed a 5 years old Samsung that came with the ability to copy SMS from sim to phone all at once (I guess it's a feature that minor brands devices don't provide)... and I can then be able to use any app to get SMS exported to text.
Now I'm thinking if it's worth keeping this question or not...

i think this app will help you https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.idea.backup.smscontacts

@AniruddhParihar : thank you for trying to help me. I must tell you I won't try that app because it seems to me it requires too much permissions and I don't think it's worth as I wouldn't be surprised if it couldn't solve my problem... Please read my question as I edited.


text:
ZTE n817 android
does ATT ZTE Z831 Android disable the internal storage option
My ZTE n817 is stuck on the screen FTM i took out the battery and when i turned it back on it still said FTM what do i do because i want to factory reset it but it wont let me and nothing is fixing it

Why did you link to this other question? Is it related in some way?

To get into recovery mode:

Power off the device.
Then press the power & volume up keys at
the same time.
Hold down until the Android appears, release.

Note step 2: Pressing the volume key down instead up takes you to Factory Test Mode (FTM).


text:
Do published Android apps pay for open source libraries they are using?
If an android app is using an external library for instance like (Retrofit, EventBus, or GSON), does it have to pay for its service once that same app is published in the Google Play Store (Goes live)?

This would depend on the licence terms of each individual library. For Retrofit for example, I quickly found this: https://github.com/square/retrofit/blob/master/LICENSE.txt which is the Apache licence. It imposes conditions on how you use it, but it doesn't mention that you have to pay the contributors. Other packages may be different - you need to look at each one separately.

Looks like each library will have a license.txt file that contains permissions on how much of allowance you have in that library usage as far as commercial usage and other right.


text:
I cant install a application!
I'm trying to install a 1-click root app but just the install button is broken. Cancel works, but not the install button.
Also this is the Android dialog box, not the webpage itself.
EDIT: Now I'm trying to test an app that i made but it wont let me install it...
Also I have no filter apps

The app you are trying to install can't root this phone. One-click root methods won't work in higher android version (5 > 7)

Im not using any filter apps

Check if you activate install from other than market, also check can you reinstall any of app. Also you may use other tools like King (Kingo) root.


text:
Android 5.0: Create link in internal storage to SD Card
I have a LG G3 which I have repaired many times (actually by putting it into the furnace xD). Now I'm scared that my phone dies so I do a Titanium and Nandroid Backup every day, but none of these is backing up up my internal storage with my WhatsApp Photos and so on.
Now I had the idea to replace the WhatsApp folder with a link to my SD Card. I have root and tested it with ln -s /storage/external_SD/test/ /sdcard/test.
It returned ln: /sdcard/test: Function not implemented.
After some research I found out that links are not supported by the file system of the internal storage (I also tried to make a link to the /data/data folder and it worked so it has to be that).
My questions now:

Is is somehow possible to make a link in the internal storage to the SD Card (e.g. with an Xposed module which emulates a link or something like that)
Is there a better way of backing up my internal storage?

Thanks

There is an app called "Link2SD" on Google play store.
Link2SD uses a secondary partition on your SD card and uses it as another segment of internal storage.
Link2SD moves apk, dalvik-cache (.dex), lib and internal data files into this partition, which the OS mounts on boot, and creates a symbolic link in the original location.
This retains the file structure that the system expects but with the bulk of the data moved to the SD card.
Linking obb and external data folders of apps and games
- root permission
-Second partition on SD card is optional, folders can be moved to the 1st or 2nd second partition of the SD card.
Hope this works for u :)


text:
unknown notification icon on HTC One M9 Android 7
i´ve just installed Android 7 and this icon on the top left appeared, i want to know what it is, also i dont have any apps whith that icon..
my phone is a HTC one M9

If you pull down the notification menu is there a corresponding notification message? If you long-press the message does it give an app name?

It's the Peel notification. Its a remote app that comes pre installed on some devices. The notification lets you power off, change volume and go to the app.

its a peel remote control icon, if you want to remove it simply uninstall the app by going to setting> app manager> and remove the app.


text:
Do I have to install every nightly on LineageOS?
Do I have to download and install every single nightly that comes up?
Are the later updates dependent on the earlier ones?

each nightly arrives with some big fixes and new features. Track the changelog, and update if required.

Every update would fully overwrite /system and carry all history changes, therefore just installing the latest build would sync you up to progress.
There will be (rare) occasions where the developer pushed patches that negatively affects the build (e.g. wrong CPU governor causing the phone to lag or heat up). On top of that, Android security patches, which are arguably the most important change for users, are only updated once per month. In light of these, although installing every nightly when it comes out is possible, I suggest updating monthly, plus making a nandroid backup and inspecting user feedback (e.g. respective device discussion thread on XDA-Developers) before flashing any build.


text:
What is an International Version for Samsung devices?
I'm trying to buy a Samsung Galaxy J7 and I'm between two options.

one is: Samsung Galaxy J5 SM-J500H/DS GSM Factory Unlocked Smartphone, International Version
other is : Samsung Galaxy J7 SM-J700H/DS GSM Factory Unlocked Smartphone-Android 5.1, 5.5-Inch

I would like to know the differences between both of them (if there is any). Also, I want to know whether the phone is able to function well or not in my country, Ecuador South America.

Did you not notice that the first one is a J5, not a J7?

Also, be aware that the H-suffixed variants are 3G-only. The F/FD-suffixed variants are also deemed "international" and support LTE.

This is two different models.
Look here about:
J5 VS J7


text:
Setup WhatsApp status in Bluestack on a Windows 10 notebook
I have installed BlueStack on my Windows 10 notebook. I wanted to set up the status of my WhatsApp account. However, I couldn't find any option to navigate through and add a video file.
I could set up the status of my WhatsApp account by taking a new photo using my camera, but I want to add an already downloaded video file to my status.

Have you tried using an alternative gallery app to do that?

Thanks a lot, gallery app isn't involved in setting up whatsapp status.  Also, I don't know how to add/use an alternative gallery app on Bluestack program on my Windows notebook. I am just using Whatsapp on Bluestack. if I want to add an image or other media to Whtasapp contact,  I can click on "adding files" icon. Then,  I can select media or photo from my BlueStack Whatsapp gallery or from my Windows computer. However,  there are no options of navigating to select exiting media or photo file as Whatsapp status while setting up BlueStack WhatsApp status. take a new photo or video via camera.

I have installed Fish bowl.  But there is no option how to set up a photo as my Whatsapp status via Fish bowl.

Install Open Camera for Android.
Then, click on view picture (denoted by the most recent picture in the gallery on the upper right-hand corner).
Complete action using view picture if it asks for it.
Then click on the share icon on the image. Share pictures via WhatsApp. 5. When WhatsApp opens automatically, click on My status then send.

This worked for me.

Thanks a lot. Bear in mind that I am using WhatsApp installed via Bluestack on my Windows notebook. When I search for open camera and installed open camera (look! I only searched for open camera without for Android) and launched it,  there were no options like view picture.

Have you tried installing opencamera on bluestacks itself, not on windows?

Open your picture or gallery in Bluestack (if you don't have one, go get one).
Then select the picture or videos you want to use and click share.
Click WhatsApp, and then click My status.


text:
Why I am seeing every letter capitalized while browsing in chrome?
I'm using android 5.1(Gionee p5 mini)  and chrome 58.0.3029.83
While I am using chrome i am seeing every letter capitalized. Even i got the same thing on play store and also Mozilla Firefox.

Did you observe this with an another keyboard app?

@Firelord       No I have the same problem with almost every keyboard I have used (Default Keyboard, TouchPal, Gboard)


text:
How do I exclude a subfolder in DCIM from Google Photos backup?
I set Google Photos to automatically back up pictures and videos I take and nothing else. I use an Xperia phone and it comes with a feature to take "Time Shift" photo which is essentially just a series of rapidly taken pictures. It's stored under the "XPERIA" folder inside "DCIM". The problem is it doesn't show up in the setting to exclude folders. And it also gets uploaded to Google Photos, so I'm often flooded with pictures (remember, it's multiple rapidly taken photos) that I don't really need backed up. I can't move the folder either as it is hard coded into the Xperia's system.

See comment - you can do the same for some other folder within device too

@beeshyams Moving the folder elsewhere will cause the app to not detect the photos anymore. Is there a rooted approach to make it so that the Google Photos app don't see that the XPERIA folder exists?

You would probably need to use another gallery app to view them using alive options .

@beeshyams I have a gallery app, the problem isn't viewing the photos. The problem is the Google Photos backup service including the whole lot of images, I want to exclude those without moving the folder elsewhere so that the time shift camera still functions normally.

I understood your problem and also that if you move them elsewhere, Xperia gallery app can't see them. What I am suggesting is move them (so that backup is not burdened) and use another app or file manager to view those time shift photos

@beeshyams ohh okay!

Let me know if you want to post this approach as an answer, after you test it and it's suitable.

I managed this by creating a .nomedia file in the subfolder. In your case I think this should be
  - DCIM
    - XPERIA
      - .nomedia

I used ES File Explorer File Manager to create the file but I think you can use the native file explorer if you copy an existing text file and rename it.
The .nomedia tells the android media scanner to ignore the folder which stops Google Photo from showing or uploading any files.
A side-effect of this is that most apps will no longer be able to view files in the subfolder.
If you still wanted easy access to the time shift photos you could either install a gallery app that ignores the .nomedia file or set up a Tasker profile to watch the subfolder and move new files outside of the DCIM folder (e.g. Pictures folder?).

This method is not working on my Redmi Note 7 Pro.

Don't ever do it! You won't be able to get uri of the media file in this case and you won't be able to open such media files in other apps, basically MediaStore service ignores a file if that file is placed in folder with .nomedia file. And it's a real headache for developers and then users spam with bad reviews on Google Play that something doesn't work because those idiots put .nomedia file inside a folder. Google really sucks for allowing such things, it should be only used by system folders. And then we all discuss why Android is more buggy than iPhone

Beautiful! I've been tearing my hair out for 2 days trying to figure out how to get Google Photos to stop backing up huge videos copied over from my drone. This worked like a charm, and my file manager doesn't care about the MediaStore limitations user25 mentions.