text:
"The Magic", that Magisk isn't supposed to do
I have magisk 24 which I futilely tried to downgrade  using XDA's  guide but did not succeed, which is the 2nd part of my Question . There is something v interesting I note ( not sure how long its been with through various Magisk versions )
So here are my questions
 df -h /data
 Filesystem               1K-blocks     Used Available Use% Mounted on
/sbin/.magisk/block/data  22442480 18250808   4191672  82% /system/xbin/zcip
# If I try rm -f below file it says resource busy , which means that mount is actually using that file
:/ # ls -al /system/xbin/zcip
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 1333960 2022-02-05 06:17 /system/xbin/zcip
olivelite:/ # $_ --help
BusyBox v1.30.1-osm0sis (2019-02-28 17:35:07 AST) multi-call binary.

Usage: zcip [OPTIONS] IFACE SCRIPT

Manage a ZeroConf IPv4 link-local address

    -f      Run in foreground
    -q      Quit after obtaining address
    -r 169.254.x.x  Request this address first
    -l x.x.0.0  Use this range instead of 169.254
    -v      Verbose

$LOGGING=none       Suppress logging
$LOGGING=syslog     Log to syslog

With no -q, runs continuously monitoring for ARP conflicts,
exits only on I/O errors (link down etc)

     # mount  |   grep -i 62
/dev/block/mmcblk0p62 on /data type ext4 (rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,noauto_da_alloc,resgid=1065,data=ordered)

/data partition is mounted on a file ( see above  I tried to peek in that file and its some kind of networkiing file ) ? wth ? ok before that /data was mounted on
this file /data/app/*youtube*base.apk and /data/app/*youtubemusic*base.apk both.
I cant get the log on screen of that since I uninstalled both these apps and after that
it showed up as above. While  the above 2 apps were installed it showed not
/sbin/.magisk/block/data but /data being mounted on these 2 apk. df showed the former apk while mount   command output showed  additionally /data being mounted on  the latter apk as well. /data being mounted on points that are actually files ? I dont get it  ?
Whats happening and what can explain this. I am sure if I delete /system/xbin/zcip  it will  catch some other file to mount.  Has anyone w/ magisk (24?) had the same exp like this ?

2) I cant downgrade from `magisk 24` to `less then 24`. I totally uninstalled. Then installed patched 23 (and less) images via `TWRP` -I was left rootless. So I have 24 or no root.

for downgrade uninstall apk, wipe cache partition and delete /data/adb directory manually, then pick the json url from raw.githubusercontent.com/topjohnwu/magisk-files (or /magisk_files <v21.4) and patch stock boot.img

"/data partition is mounted on a file". You need to understand at least two things: Linux bind mounts, and how Magisk uses bind mounts to be systemless and for Magisk modules.

this might help https://i.stack.imgur.com/YoTfl.jpg

yes it does. On the face of it al  appeared so "malwareish" ... thx. But  earlier it bind mounted on /data/app/<app name> . I see the idea of being system-less using this hack.


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Rooting android with the dirty pipe vulnerability
there is a newly discovered Linux Vulnerability has which lets you inject code in root processes (source), i have been looking into it but failed to pull anything off, for what i understand to gain root access we have to inject the su binary or (magisk?) into the file system, i have made a elf executable to run it on my phone but not much more, if someone who knows more than me, who can figure out how to use this to root the phone it would be nice.
It's just curiosity and I know this wont be a very efficient way to gain root but could be great for devices with locked boot-loaders like huawey devices.

Due to the fact that Linux kernel version 5.8 (or above) has only been an Android option since Android 12, legacy devices aren’t affected. https://www.xda-developers.com/dirty-pipe-linux-vulnerability-root-android/

I know, and i have a compatible device.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Remove default packages' caches
I removed a package installed default via this command (with adb):
pm uninstall -k --user 0 the_package

Because of -k, the command does not remove the package's cache. How can I remove its cache after removing package's itself? I can't use the command again without the option because I have removed the package and now I do not have it.

You can try pm clear <package name>

Thank you. It is what I want. But can I get list of packages I have removed?

You should be able to uninstall the data directories of an already uninstalled app by executing:
pm clear <package name>

respectively on recent devices using cmd command
cmd package clear <package name>
cmd package clear --user 0 <package name>

This will delete all files (for the selected user) in /data/data/<package name>. Only the empty directory itself will remain and the app package name will not be removed from the list of uninstalled apps.
If you don't remember the correct package name you can list all packages including those uninstalled by the command
cmd package list package -u

How can I use cmd command? Should I install a new package for using this?
I use debian.

@RezaHosseinzadeh No cmd is just the replacement for pm. It is only available on the Android device (so they are only available inside adb shell). If your device is too old and does not have the cmd command try the same arguments with pm. Most likely this will work, too.

Thank you. I found pm list packages -u command that lists removed packages to and used pm clear <package> command to clear their caches.

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


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according to following a post i tried to change system partition size ,now my storage is unuseable what should i do?
my cmd gone wrong here

i tried three times but failed(every time same problem)
now os is working in system folder but storage is not showing
is there any solution?

flash stock ROM and don't try ever again until you know what you are doing!


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After changing VolumeID (Disk Serial), Android (Lineage OS 17.1) refuses to accept card and wants to format
I tried this several different ways using several tools. In the past I was able to do it just fine. When changing to a new serial (VolumeID, like ABCD-1234), Lineage OS 17.1 on a Galaxy Tab S2 refuses to acknowledge the SD card, and requires me to format it. Once I format in android, of course it changes the serial, and I'm stuck in the original predicament.
I put into Windows, formatted fresh, and then changed serial using tools like DiskGenius and AOMEI. But when I put it back into Android again, it once again demands I format the drive again. Which I can do, then it recognizes it again, then I take out, change serial, and same problem again.
I also cleared any flags, checked for errors, etc, and the card has no problems.
The card is a 128GB Sandisk card.The former card was a different Sandisk card.
I did this using a 512GB Sandisk card to a 1TB Sandisk card, and it worked fine in a different device (running a stock OS). But this tab on LOS 17.1 doesn't like it.
I also tried this:
My fine 1TB MicroSD from my phone (which is running Android 8.0), which also has the same VolumeID (serial), I inserted this into the Tab S2 on LOS 17.1 and same problem - it asked to set up. I put the same 1TB card back in my phone, and my phone recognized it again no problem.
I also tried taking the same 128GB SD and putting it into my phone from before running Android 8.0, and my phone recognized this one too without a problem.
It should also be noted I did the same thing into a different tablet running stock Android 11 as well, without any issues. Same card.
So, it's clear that my tab or LOS 17.1 are the problem here.
The reason I need to do this is because many of my backups and data are dependent on absolute paths which means that it won't work to restore the data from the old SD card.
How do I change the serial to the number of my choice (the serial from my old SD card), so that Lineage OS 17.1 recognizes the card without requiring me to format it?

May be because you are not using one of the supported partition types. See the errors vold throws in logcat when mounting fails.

exFAT is not a partition type but a filesystem. But I hope you understand what I meant.

Keep in mind that the process was this: formatted in Android when it asked > took out and put in Windows PC > changed only the VolumeID (Serial) > Then reinserted into the tablet (LOS 17.1), and it didn't recognize it again and wants to format again. So, it's using the supported partition type - Android created it to begin with. Also, the same card works fine in two other devices (Android 8.0 & Android 11).

the problem is not with LineageOS but with using different MicroSD Cards all under same UUID. LineageOS detect mismatch to previous MicroSD Card partition size and think actual MicroSD Card is therefore corrupt. Factory reset will solve it

@alecxs On the other two devices, I also used 3 different SD cards with the same UUID (128GB, 512GB, 1TB) and all worked fine on the other two devices even though all 3 had the same VolumeID (UUID). (Also, I only used a single SD card on the LOS 17.1 device at first, and only changed the VolumeID of it. So it did not know that there was another device with the same UUID.) Factory reset does not solve it.


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What info/data can a fresh installed app without permission gather?

If I just install an app BUT DON'T OPEN it, can it do/get something? Maybe during installation process, even if I didn't open it yet?
If I didn't give the app any permission, what can it do/know? Can it access to parts of my storage? What kind of information does it know? Can it get Imei, mac address, phone number, serial number?
I am asking this because I have Aliexpress that when I open it it shows my name and surname, EVEN IF I FRESH installed it and first time I open it. So HOW TF does it know????? If you think that there is an online google backup, it's not: I cleared data before opening it, and it still shows my name and surname. THE ONLY WAY I achieve not to show my name/surname is launching it via "CloneApp". HOW can Aliexpress achieve this? It's CREEPY.

you are using same ip address

if you purchase some app the app developer needs some way to track the purchase bounded to your mobile, therefore I am pretty sure every app can read your android ID (which afaik is concatenated with another ramdom string on per-app-base)

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/13876

What device identifiers can be accessed depends on the Android version. On recent versions (11+) no direct identifiers should be accessible anymore. If  the behavior changes via app cloner this could indicate that they have assigned your ANDROID_ID to your account. On modern devices every app is getting an "obfuscated" ANDROID_ID which is different (but constant) for every app.

@alecxs if I install an app but don't open it, can it open silently by itself and gather infos?

@Robert if I install an app but don't open it, can it open silently by itself and gather infos?

Not sure if this is still possible on Android 10/11/12 devices, but in general an app can register a service to be notified e.g. if the battery state changes, after reboot, if the device is connected to a power source and so on and then execute code. I think on modern Android versions you have to start the app at least once for making it possible to register such code handlers.


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Schedule Power On/Off (not the restart)
Is there any 3ed party application to SCHEDULE POWER ON /OFF that is  compatible with any of the Samsung mobile phones or other Android phones which doesn't have this function build in?
AUTOMATEIT PRO app - would it do the schedule power on/ off?
Thanks a lot in advance☺

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. Sorry, but device recommendation is off-topic here. You might be interested in our sister site, Hardware Recommendations Stack Exchange, but please ensure to follow their guidelines to get the best device for your need.

any device can do it. set alarm it will ask about keeping alarm active while powered off and alarm should wake up device. but no device exist that will unlock sim pin without user interaction, therefore one can't receive calls. also the behavior turning on on charger is just a setting any android device is cabable of. so basically all it needs is some automation app like MacroDroid (if no native option already exist) https://android.stackexchange.com/search?q=scheduled+power+on

Sorry, while the question has been edited from device recommendations, as of current writing, it looks like asking for app recommendations, which are also off-topic. We prefer the asker to just state the underlying problem that they want to solve and not put any restriction for apps-only, so we'd appreciate it if you could [edit] the question, add some details, and/or remove the restriction. Otherwise, you might be interested in our sister site, Software Recommendations Stack Exchange instead.


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Termux access /sdcard/data
Most of the apps are now not permitted to access /sdcard/data

the only app i know which can access this folder is Files(not files by google)[com.google.android.documentsui]
a few days ago i see this app called X-plore

~ $ ls /emulated/0/Android/data/
ls: cannot access '/emulated/0/Android/data/': No such file or directory

~ $ ls /sdcard/Android/data/
ls: cannot open directory '/sdcard/Android/data/': Permission denied

It asked the permission to access this folder, with files like allowing access to newly inserted memory card,

is there a way to make termux ask to allow access to that folder

or, is there a command to do it like, termux-setup-storage
Or is there a way to do it directly with am command

And I'm not a rooted user

Does this answer your question? no write permission to memory card storage from termux

you have misconception here /sdcard is actually not your (external) MicroSD Card unless you formatted it as adoptable-storage which makes it (internal) shared storage

your question lacks basic information about phone and can't be answered

there is no confusion between /storage/emulated/0 = /sdcard but confusion with "newly inserted memory card" (/storage/FFFF-FFFF)

you still did not mention phone model and android version. works fine on Poco M3 MIUI 12 Android 10 https://i.stack.imgur.com/Sc25g.jpg

I believe that you are talking about /sdcard/Android/data instead of /sdcard/data.
From what I gathered, this is an intentional "security" feature. It is possible to bypass by root, but that is not an option for you.
There is the permission MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE, so if you manage to grant it to termux it should theoretically work, but may require some app patching to the manifest beforehand.
The last thing you can do is use adb on yourself using localhost with adb over network and edit the files from adb shell, that however requires the use of the run-as command which only works for debuggable apps.
I will look into more solutions and edit this answer later.

MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE applies to scoped storage android 11 (unrelated to MicroSD Card)


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App not installed error
When i try to install a minecraft apk it tells me app not installed after further digging it shows me this error:

INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE: Package com.mojang.minecraftpe signatures do not match previously installed version; ignoring!

Apps can only be updated if the are signed by the same developer key.
It seems that the currently installed or the apk you are trying to install are not genuine: they are not signed by the same developer key and thus you are getting the error message "signatures do not match".
You can only uninstall the old apk (this deletes all local data) and then install the new APK file if you trust the developer.
But you should ask yourself where you got got the old and the apk file from. So you really trust the person who has published it? Why do the files have different signatures, may be the APK has been modified and malware has been injected into the APK.
See also how to check if two APKs are signed with the same developer key and show the content of the signing certificate (e.g. the contained name):


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Seeing a floating "notification square icon" on my MIUI 12.5 phone - why?
Here I was, just living my life, a happy camper of a MIUI 12.5.1 phone (Mi 9 SE to be specific), and everything was just fine. Well, not exactly, but for the purposes of this question it was.
Then, a couple of days ago, I noticed something very weird: The application launcher screens - my home screens - now had a square icon floating over them! It had the icon of a Signal user, and a smaller notification-like icon on its corner... I think it was the blue Signal app logo. When I would press the icon, A Signal (?) screen would come up with the message.
I could only kill this window by long-pressing on it, then dragging it to an (x) icon which would appear at the bottom of the screen. But with a new message, it appeared again. For now I haven't gotten any new messages, so I don't know if I'll see it again or not.
My questions:

Is this the Signal app's doing, or is it my MIUI?
What is this "feature" called?
How can I disable it permanently and for all apps?


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Installed magisk after LineageOS upgrade and now wifi doesn't work
I have a OnePlus 7 Pro. I had LineageOS 17 (Android 10) with microG, magisk, and vanced on it running just fine for almost a year. I upgraded the Android version to 11 first (which LineageOS documentation says is a pre-requirement) then I upgraded to LineageOS 18, and everything seemed to work just fine. I can confirm that my recovery and wifi worked.
A few days later I wanted to open Vanced YT, but it was no longer installed, then I noticed that magisk was no longer installed. So I installed it according to it's instructions which was basically using the app to patch the boot.img I got from the extracted files (from a payload-dumper) and then installed the produced magisk_patched-24200_Y0Qmv.img.
Ever since then is my problem. I can no longer turn on my wifi, I no longer have recovery mode, and every time I turn on/reboot the device I am greeted with a "System UI Crashed" error message. I can hit ok and everything else seems to work as expected. With the exception to my wifi not being able to turn on
What I've tried:

re-flashed the original boot.img
re-flashed the recovery image
uninstalled magisk
I tried re-flashing other images from the payload dump (modem.img, etc) the same way the LineageOS documentation said to upgrade and I get the following error

fastboot flash --slot=all modem modem.img
fastboot: error: Could not check if partition modem has slot all

I have no idea what that error means. Nothing changed. I'm still greeted with the same crash message. I still can't turn on my wifi. And I still can't boot into recovery mode.
To make sure I'm clear, my question is; "Where should I go from here? What things can I tell you in order to help me get my wifi working again, and to fix this 'System UI Crashed' error message?"

So I figured out what I did wrong. I basically patched the wrong boot.img so the kernel was mismatched. I patched the one from the OnePlus OxygenOS. Instead I needed to patch the one from LineageOS.
The steps I took in order to fix it was:

unzip the LineageOS zip
extract the payload with a payload dumper
copy the boot.img to my device
patch that boot.img
copy the magisk patched image which was produced from the magisk app
to my computer with adb and fastboot on it
booted my android device into fastboot mode
flashed that magisk patched boot image to my device

After that when it rebooted, everything worked as expected with one exception; GCam. But I think this is related to the LinageOS upgrade. I was able to fix this by re-installing microG and upgrading to a newer version of GCam. All other original issues where cleared though. Wifi, phone, etc.
I hope this helps someone.


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How can I configure Android so that the alarm emit some sound when I'm on hold on a call?
I use Android 11 with pixel 6. By default, the alarm doesn't emit any sound when I'm on hold on a call. How can I change that?
Example of alarm ringing silently while a call has been put on hold:


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How can I disable app drawer in Android 12?
I’m on a Samsung S20 5G, Android 12 (just moved to this phone).
On my old phone which ran android 8.1 (I don’t remember the exact model, but it was a phone from Huawei), In the Display settings I could disable the app drawer and make all the apps show on the main Home Screen.
I’ve been looking around in settings and I just can’t seem to find an option that lets me disable the app drawer.
Do I have to drag all the folders and apps in the drawer to the Home Screen for it to go? Or is there a simpler option in settings?

"In the Display settings I could disable the app drawer and make all the apps show on the main Home Screen." possibly some customization done by Huawei because there's no such feature on stock Android 12. Some Samsung devices have Easy mode, though I don't know if it's similar to what you want. Otherwise, 3rd-party home screen app might have such feature (though I don't know), or lastly, manually drag all the folders and apps from the drawer.

Do a web search with this query: "iOS like launchers for Android". Try the launcher apps you find there. One of them might fit your bill.

@Firelord Thanks for the suggestion! I’d rather not use a launcher though, since I really like how Android 11 looks with One UI 4. If I was desperate, I would probably use it.

@AndrewT. I was thinking of using easy mode, but it also disables many other things that I do like about android, so I’d rather not use it.


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Block VPN completely on Android
For some reason, I want to block the VPN completely from my smartphone; So I can't run any VPN app, or connect to the VPN manually.
I want the simplest and easiest way to set a security policy that blocks VPN on Android.

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.

I am not sure if this is possible, but you could try to define your own VPN as always-on-VPN. As far as I know Android can only one VPN at a time so with that always active VPN all other VPN connections can not be used.


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Change search engine in search bar on home screen on Android 11?
When I set up my new phone (Fairphone 4) with Android 11 I selected Duckduckgo as search engine. This is now used in the bottom search bar on the home screen. Now I can't find the place in the settings to change this to something else in the settings. And searching the settings for "search" brings up nothing :-/
Where can I change the search engine for the search bar on the home screen.
This is what I need to find again: https://www.android.com/choicescreen/ The EU forces them to provide me with a choicescreen so that I can decide freely which search engine to use by default. But like for cookie banners, the EU guys are not the brightest when trying to control Megacorps, so they seem to allow Google to hide that screen very well.
All descriptions I found refer to changing the search engine in a browser only.
(It is lamented elsewhere already what a pita it is to have the search bar down there, but it seems we cannot get rid of it. In case someone knows better, that would suit me as well.)

The "bottom search bar" is part of the launcher and usually fixed linked to Google. Use a different launcher and you can configure the used search engine.

No, it is not linked to Google. I have managed, during phone setup, to link it to Duckduckgo. No launcher needed. During setup it said that I can change it again later, so I assumed it is a no-brainer to find it in the settings. Well, I cant' find it.

Then this is a modification of the Android version for Fairphone.

One of the answer from this question on the Fairphone forum about the same  issue indicates that you must reset either reset the phone. It reflects the response from Fairphone support:

Support answered:

At the moment, the only way to change the search engine used by the search bar is indeed a full factory reset.
However, we understand that this is not the most convenient way. Thus, we will take your feedback into our considerations for our future developments. We appreciate your response as it is very helpful for us and it gives a good insight into the wishes and needs of our community

OR
install another launcher. The OP from that forum installed Lawnchair launcher.

For completeness, the thread mentioned above now has a solution involving the use of adb, see https://forum.fairphone.com/t/change-default-search-engine/78772. To also get rid of the big fat date/time display at the top of the home screen, I resolved to install the lawnchair launcher as suggested in that thread too. So far a complete no-brainer and easy to switch back and force if somehting turns odd.

Here is the adb method, thanks to the FairPhone forum thread.
$ adb shell settings delete secure selected_search_engine
$ adb shell pm enable com.google.android.apps.setupwizard.searchselector
$ adb reboot

It worked for me on Nokia G60 5G.  With the usual undocumented quirk: you also have to enable USB file transfer before adb can work.  I think there was a short delay before the choice screen appeared.
Unfortunately for me, the "Choice screen" only has a list chosen by Google, and the list does not include Firefox.
I agree the EU seem to have fallen asleep.

Easily "remove" the google search box by simply moving all your icons to the second home screen, which does not have the ugly google search box.
When you unlock your phone, the last used home screen is shown first, so for all practical purposes, you will never have to see the google search box again.
If you still want a search box widget but with another search engine, you could install the duckduckgo search widget. Perhaps Wikipedia has something similar.


text:
Do android apps look at your pictures if not needed?
Maybe I'm a bit paranoia, but I'm wondering if apps who don't work with your documents or files (games for examples) look at your pictures/files for advertising purposes. They will exist, but I'm I correct that this is a minority of the apps?

That is the reason since Android 11 the permission model to access the files on the "sdcard" section is split into multiple run-time permissions instead of one permission for "everything or nothing".

But do you think that this is a common practice or rather rare?

Android apps can only access some resources if you explicitly give permissions for that. One app can request this permission, but you are free to give it or not, and even to revoke that permission in a later moment. These are the permission types you can give:

Body sensors: Get sensor info about your vital signs.
Calendar: Use your default calendar.
Call logs: Access and change your call history.
Camera: Use your camera to take pictures or videos.
Contacts: Access your contacts list.
Location: Gets your device’s
location. Learn about location settings.
Microphone: Record audio.
Nearby Bluetooth devices: Apps can discover and connect to nearby
devices.
Phone: Make and manage phone calls.
Physical activity: Get info about your activity like walking, biking,
step count, and more.
SMS: Access incoming and send outgoing text
messages.
Storage: Get photos and other files on your phone.
Files
and media: Use photos, media, and other files on your phone.

If you want, for instance, to revoke the microphone or camera access from all apps in your device, follow these steps:

On your phone, open the Settings app.
Tap Privacy.
Turn off Camera access or Microphone access.

The same thing can be done for your storage, for instance...
More information


text:
How to repack a system.new.dat.br with open source command line tools?
We can decompress a system.new.dat.br and then convert to an img, like this:
brotli --decompress system.new.dat.br -o unpacked_system.new.dat
sdat2img.py system.transfer.list unpacked_system.new.dat unpacked_system.img
mkdir system && sudo mount -o loop unpacked_system.img system

I couldn't find anywhere a way to not mount this. I wanted to not mount this because it needs root, and because inside a docker container is hard, and also because I shouldn't need root to repack system.new.dat.br.
So, how can I both decompress unpacked_system.img, modify its files, repack it and convert back to .dat.br?

Does this answer your question? How to mount Android 10 vendor image file / how to mount ext4 .img in write mode?


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Oppo A73: adb works but fastboot won't recognize the device on either Linux or Windows
I'm badly in need of help with my broken Android device. The XDA community is where I always found most information on those matters so I'm hoping someone can help me out. Some background on everything that went on today: I recently bought an Oppo A73 (non-5G version), I live in Romania so the best I can offer are these links for the store I got it from:
Source 1
Source 2
My grievance with the device is how it comes with an Android distribution called ColorOS which is filled with bloatware and things being shoved in my face. I was discussing this today and someone brought up adb explaining how I could use the command to remove unwanted system packages. I used it to get rid of some things I wanted nothing to do with, such as Rakuten and Heytap. For some mind boggling reason it appears those garbage packages were connected even to the core system: The device became unable to start up and entered a boot loop. This forced me to do a factory reset from recovery mode, causing me to lose all contacts and SMS messages as I didn't think to back them up first. After that ordeal I want my phone to use the default Android distribution: I'd rather have just Google involved with my phone over all those insane extra services, I'm not going back to this broken bloated OS.
Someone explained to me the basics of ADB and DSU Loader. After enabling Developer Mode I was able to enable the "OEM Unlock" feature then use the DSU Loader option to download a DSU package. My two options are "GSI ARM64" and "GSI+GMS ARM64" I used the later as advised. After the download completed I was prompted to restart my device in order to boot into the new image which I did from the notification. The phone however would only boot into ColorOS each time. I was told this must be because I need to use the commands fastboot oem unlock and fastboot reboot after adb reboot bootloader. The problem is that while adb recognizes my device, fastboot does not due to driver issues.
I spent hours trying to find some format in which fastboot would detect the device but everything seems to be broken, that's presently what I need your help with. I only use Linux these days, Manjaro KDE more precisely: I have a Windows 7 image and in an attempt to find a solution I downloaded Windows 10 as well: I installed Win 10 in VirtualBox and proceeded to install every update and driver I could find, following articles explaining how to get the driver for Oppo A73. None of them would work however: Even with all those drivers installed, the device manager sees an invalid USB device and neither adb or fastbook see it from the VM... same story with Win 7.
https://romprovider.com/download-oppo-latest-mtk-qcom-usb-driver
https://oemdrivers.com/phone-oppo-a73-usb-driver

Can someone please tell me what OS and driver I need to get fastboot to recognize the device? If there's no way to, is there an alternative to fastboot to remove whatever's preventing the DSU image from booting and allowing me to flash it? Like I said I have access to adb on my main machine just not fastboot, anything adb can do should work.
I can't change my OS only for this task however. If I need Windows, is it not possible to do it from VirtualBox using the configuration in the screenshot above? If VBox is the issue, I will in an extreme scenario consider using a separate hard drive on my mother's computer to temporarily install Windows just to do this. I strongly hope that won't be necessary however, and this can be solved with a live tool or Linux distribution that has the necessary drivers.

https://developer.android.com/topic/dsu
https://developer.android.com/topic/generic-system-image/releases
I've attempted the manual technique using adb commands a downloaded image and of course setting the feature flag as indicated. Even with adb shell am start-activity the custom image refuses to load: The notification says "dynamic system is ready, to start using it restart your device"... I click on "restart" inside this notification, the phone reboots, I see the oppo logo for a little, but after that I'm back in the original OS. What's breaking it and not letting the DSU load?!

Oppo doesn't allow OEM unlock + disabled fastboot mode intentionally 2. on virtual machine usb passthrough is required 3. fastboot drivers requires windows driver signature verification disabled 4. there exist no "mtk-qcom-usb-driver" mtk and qcom are two different chipsets 5. unofficial unlock tools available for mtk and qcom

A guest inside a virtual machine can establish an USB device connection if the USB connection is correctly configured/forwarded but to my experience this connection is not good for device flashing especially if the phone disconnects and reconnects the USB interface (e.g. automatic reboot after flash of bootloader). Also the USB timing is different. Therefore I recommend to flash devices only with a real non-virtual OS, otherwise you have a slightly increased chance to brick your device.


text:
Looking for the folder location of where Google Chrome bookmarks are stored on Android
I'm looking to manually back up and restore the Google Chrome mobile bookmarks on my LG smartphone and wanted to know the folder and filepath of where they are stored on Android. I checked in /data/data/com.android.chrome/ but nothing is there. I do not have my bookmarks synced to my Google account so am unsure where they are stored on the device. I could not find this info anywhere online. Any help would be appreciated.

/data/user/0/com.android.chrome/app_chrome/Default/Bookmarks

Addition to alecxc's comment: this directory is only accessible with root permissions.


text:
Recover deleted file from /data without root
I have a non-rooted P30 lite which I no longer use. To cut a long story short, there are about 100 files (mix of PDF and videos) I need within my /data directory that were deleted about a week ago which I could do with recovering. I'm aware that it is possible that the memory has been trim'd in this timeframe. The phone was only used for two days after they were deleted before I turned off the phone after upgrading.
I have found this answer here: How to recover a deleted file from /data partition? but unfortunately it needs the phone to be rooted. I can't root the phone as the bootloader cannot be unlocked. I have full access to the phone and everything on the phone works fine.
What options do I have for trying to recover these files? As I no longer use the phone, I am happy to risk the phone/use potentially destructive methods to recover them.

you haven't read the linked question correctly. It's not about root is required, it tells you (even with root) "WHAT MAKES RECOVERY OF DELETED DATA IMPOSSIBLE: file/directory is simply deleted from File Explorer app or from commandline + Filesystem on device is Flash Filesystem F2FS + Filesystem is (SECURE) TRIM or ERASE + Deleted file is encrypted (so no file carving is possible)" either files still exist in trash can or they were already lost in the exact moment of delete

that's annoying. thanks @alecxs


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Flutter Android Debug Bridge (ADB) over different network on VSCODE
I am using VScode for flutter development.
I am also using "ADB Interface for VScode" to debug the coding over the same network wirelessly.
When I am not at home, I remote into my desktop to do some work but I see that most of the ADB only works on the same network.
Does anyone know how to use the ADB over a different network (for example, cellular network on your phone).
Thanks!

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

I recognized that my question was poorly worded. I updated the question. Thanks everyone!

@SteveKim I still think we need more info about how you want to remote to your Flutter dev PC and where the Android device that adb is connected to in this scenario. If the adb debug device is in your hands while remoting, you should specify details like: is Android device rooted, running Samsung DeX, running the RDP client to get to your Flutter dev PC.

@MorrisonChang Thanks for the reply. I realized I should have one question only. I updated my question in the StackOverflow

I think i will just post links to the project called scrcpy and it does it over adb. There is no point in me tutoring about something that has been tutored on the internet.
https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy
https://www.xda-developers.com/scrcpy-control-android-on-pc/


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Can't do ethernet tethering while (wireless) charging the phone
I have a Google Pixel 4 XL with Android 12 stock OS, and I'd like to use it for ethernet tethering (for devices not supporting wifi). I'd also like to concurrently keep this type of tethering enabled and charge the phone when needed. However, because I can't charge it via USB-C cable while already connected to a RJ45 cable (though I'm using an adapter), I thought wireless charging, since it is supported, could solve the problem. But unfortunately it disables and blocks tethering until I put the phone off the wireless pad and re-plug the adapter. Is there a way to fix this (through Developer Options or else)?

Instead of wireless charging, you could try an USB-C adapter with an Ethernet and a PD (power delivery) port. So you can have LAN while charging at the same time. There's an ever increasing number of available products for these. Most of them also have USB-A ports in them. Be aware that incessant charging is bad for long term battery life.


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Silence or disable Lenovo user experience spyware notifications without root
I am trying to disable "Lenovo User Experience" notification that pops up every ~4h. I linked some info below on the specific issue which is also probably illegal in the EU, but obviously the tech giants squish all the ants that speak up about it.
The apps with package names in question (not sure which one causes it):

com.lenovo.tab_p11 (most likely)

com.lenovo.lfs (maybe) named authentication

com.tblenovo.whatsnewclient

com.lenovo.productivity.service

What I have tried so far:
The tablet system is made in such a way that forces the user to use Lenovo services, no matter how many times the message is declined it comes up again.
As the app is a system app I cannot use the interface disable button (grayed out), this is not unusual and I had lots of success with adb on non-root devices like this. However it does not work. (I do not want to adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 as that cannot be reverted without reset in case something breaks)
adb shell pm disable --user 0 com.lenovo.tab_p11

Exception occurred while executing 'disable':
java.lang.SecurityException: Shell cannot change component state for com.lenovo.tab_p11/null to 2
    at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService.setEnabledSetting(PackageManagerService.java:21360)
    at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService.setApplicationEnabledSetting(PackageManagerService.java:21161)
    at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.runSetEnabledSetting(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:2164)
    at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.onCommand(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:233)
    at android.os.BasicShellCommandHandler.exec(BasicShellCommandHandler.java:98)
    at android.os.ShellCommand.exec(ShellCommand.java:44)
    at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService.onShellCommand(PackageManagerService.java:21982)
    at android.os.Binder.shellCommand(Binder.java:929)
    at android.os.Binder.onTransact(Binder.java:813)
    at android.content.pm.IPackageManager$Stub.onTransact(IPackageManager.java:4621)
    at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService.onTransact(PackageManagerService.java:4459)
    at android.os.Binder.execTransactInternal(Binder.java:1159)
    at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:1123)

The notification settings are also blocked from the user for the spyware apps in question, so it is not even a matter of "shut up and take my data in the background".
I am sort of an android enthusiast when it comes to de-bloating android, fun adb automation and rooting, but in this case my hands are tied and my knowledge is not enough unfortunately.
The exact answers I would be looking for are: (tablet under warranty so no root!)

Is there a way to force notifications off,
I could not find an adb command for that.
Other ways to try and disable the app

Here are some resources on the exact details of the issue:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Android-based-Tablets-and-Phablets/Lenovo-User-Experience-Program/m-p/5120621?page=1#5539399
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/b78wuj/the_bundled_nonremovable_virus_that_is_called/

Same problem here. Unbelievable. Anyway. Using the simplest of tricks, this is how you can get rid of this annyoing bs *temporarily (using Lenovo Tab P11 (2nd gen) - Android 12):

Find and open settings.
Find and open System tab.
Become developer.
Find and open "Developer options".
Find and open "Running services".
Find and click on services umbrella named "Settings".
Find and stop service named "UserExperSuggestionService".

Congratulations. The popup is now disabled (until you restart your device).


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How to run Whatsapp without a smartphone?
I need to access messages on a specific Whatsapp group but I don't have any smartphone (and don't want to acquire one). I have a "dumbphone" from which I can receive and send SMS and calls but not much more.
I have access to a tablet, running on android, but with no SIM card. When I try to use Whatsapp there it requires me to scan a QR code with my phone (which is not possible).
I also own a computer on which I managed to run the command-line version of Android-x86 in a virtual machine. I have absolutely no clue about how to access Whatsapp from there.
What would be the best way for me to access those messages?

So you have installed Whatsapp app from PlayStore on your tablet (not web version of Whatsapp)?

@Robert I don't know, what is the difference?

The one is installed from PlayStore the other runs in a web browser like Chrome.

@Robert Then I think I tried to use the web version, will it work easily with the app from the PlayStore?

The web version is always just an add-on of the app-version and does not work alone. So just install the app and use the cellular number of your phoen for the SMS number.

Install Whatsapp app from Play Store in your tablet. Register your phone number in Whatsapp running in that tablet. Enter the OTP, that you would receive on your dumb phone, in Whatsapp. That's it. Your Whatsapp would now work on your tablet with no sim card. Same goes for Android emulator from Android Studio (Google).


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how to root android box without internet
I am trying to root my android box, but one click root apps refuse to connect to the internet, is there a way to root without internet or android recovery (as adb refuses connection and i dont have power buttons), is there any one click root apps that dont need internet or is there a way to enter recovery without adb, physical buttons and root?
device: rk3222x box (V88 pro) android 5.1.1
tried: kingroot, towelroot and oneclick root

Common one click root apps like Kingo root and similar don't work on recent (last ~4 years or more) devices.

my device is running android 5.1.1 and is very old

Please edit your question and name your device, Android version and the on click root tools you have tried.

these tv boxes shipped rooted

mine wasnt, someone who owned this before me removed superSU binary

first figure out which exact box model you have. Scishion V88 plus is Rockchip RK322x but Scishion V88 pro is Amlogic S905X one can't be true


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Disable "PIN required for additional security" prompt
I have a Pixel 4a, and I constantly have to re-enter the pin, even though it hasn't been more than 48/72 hours. My Pixel 4a currently has a pretty bulky case, making it unreasonable that the fingerprint reader is being activated in my pocket, yet I still find myself frequently having to reenter my pin.
I'm looking for a simple clear-cut way to disable this. It's annoying, I think at times it could actually be more insecure, especially in places where there are cameras around capturing input.
My device is rooted, and I have xposed framework installed. How can I disable this abomination of a "security check"?

How often do you unlock your phone per day using fingerprint?

2/3 times an hour. Sometimes more, depending on what I'm doing on my PC, if I need my phone for 2FA/Authy etc. I'd say in a given day, anywhere from 20-40 times.

Closely related //what you want to do is not possible even with root /Xposed because you are dealing with TEE // using lockdown Option in power menu is the only way//BTW it's 72 hours not 48 hours

@beeshyams I restarted my phone no more than 4 hours ago (And unlocked with pin), and I was already prompted about 30 minutes ago to enter my pin again. Since my phone has been rebooted, my phone has been on a table, so idk why it's continuing to trigger this security check.

I have no idea why it happens with you. For me it was a custom kernel

Did you ever manage to find the solution to your issue ? I have exactly the same with my Fairphone 4 running LOS 19.1, after unlocking my device and putting it still on a table for 3 minutes, it will ask me for "pin for additional security".

@Marc Nope. It's extremely frustrating. Only thing I noticed, is that the original unlock (Even though it's requiring to use a pin), doesn't trigger the 72hr cooldown, so I'll always have to unlock it by pin twice before the 72hr cooldown triggers. This has to be a bug with TEE.

As a matter of fact I just resolved it a few minutes ago it appears by... resetting the PIN code. This is really weird. I assume you already tried that.

I'm sure it will be back, after a restart.

As a matter of fact it did not. So far so good. Really strange issue.


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SD card / card slot suddenly stopped working
My sd card (or my sd card slot) suddenly stopped working.
All of the apps that used the SD card don't work anymore (obviously), however also other apps have problems. My banking app won't start. The google play store won't let me install any app (no warning, it just stops working). I have to fix that.
My questions are:

how to disable the 'sd storage' for the play store?

Right now I cannot install any app, because play store wants to use the sd card as storage. I spent an hour trying to find a way to disable the 'sd storage' in the play store, but I haven't found a
solution. I cannot 'normally' migrate the apps using the settings->storage menu back to the memory, because the sd card is shown as 'corrupted'

how to repair the sd card?

I have a ton of semi-important files on the sd card. I can't simply format it. Is there any software to mount and analyze the card?
I am using Android 9 on Umidigi A5 Pro

where do you get the idea that play store wants to use the sd card as storage? 2. is your SD Card formatted as internal adoptable-storage?

I am not sure. However when I click the 'install' button in the play store it becomes gray for few seconds, the notification 'sd card not ready' pops up, and I the 'install' button refreshes - becomes green again.  2. Yes, I have been using it for one year. I have a huge app, that was installed on the sd card, and needed to update it (ca 4gb of data). The update somehow 'broke' the card, and it is inaccesible.

on unlocked bootloader 'fastboot boot TWRP_Hadenix-A5Pro.img; adb shell twrp decrypt 1234; adb pull /data/misc/vold;' to obtain encryption key

For analyzing an sd-card use an USB sd-card reader and connect it to a PC. There you can check what files are on the sd-card.

Does this answer your question? Can't access my phone memory suddenly after using SD card as internal memory

Does this answer your question? Can't access my phone memory suddenly after using SD card as internal memory

I managed to disable the sd storage, and I am able now to use the internal memory for any operations.
I did it this way: I tried to install an app->android told me that there is no memory free->I entered the 'memory settings' -> I chose 'forget sd card'.
From this point on I am able to use internal storage to use the phone normally


text:
Is there a way to get rid of the rounded corners in Android 12?
In Android 12, this is the default for widgets, the recents screen and it is hinted in the animations when resuming an activity. Is there a way to remove them and go to the good old squary look?

Display or icons? What device? Not sure myself, but this info should help in case anyone else knows.

@l3l-aze In stock Android 12 - regardless of the device (but I have a Redmi Note 9 running crDroid 8.2, in case you're interested) - many elements of the UI present rounded corners. For example: widgets, the long press home menu, the activities in the recents screen, the notification boxes in the notification area, etc. The app icon shape can be configured now as well as in previous versions. However, the rounded corners in the elements I mentioned cannot be removed.


text:
Start script to run app
I have a device connected to a TV, I need that when I start the device it automatically opens the player and plays a video.
I thought that I could do the same as linux, writing a bash script, it would be relatively easy and it would start at startup, well linux already has such a startup script. But I can't find the /etc directory.
On the other hand, how are the orders of the app? To be able to write it in the script? And your options.
Also if there is another option I would like to know it.
Thanks.

You wrote "I have a device" what device, model and manufacturer? Are you sure this device is running Android? Do you have rooted that device?

Does this answer your question? MacroDroid shell script non-root location permission denied


text:
Decompile Weight Loss App
Where can the gifs in these applications be stored? Play Store

I decompiled the APK but found no results
I looked in the data folder with the help of a rooted device but couldn't find anything.
I noticed that there is still data in my app when I login without internet which means it is not downloading over internet

There is only one question; Where might these files be stored?

You should examine the APK file more carefully then you would notice the folder "lottie". The decompiled code shows that it contains the library airbnb lottie which renders Adobe After Effects animations. Most likely these files are those form the lottie folder.

drawable or mipmap?

@Robert yes i noticed it but json file is corrupt

Your question is not very specific, because the res/drawable* folders contains a lot of  images like buttons in PNG format. But I assume you are not talking about those images.

@Robert No, I'm talking about them, I'm commenting. I'm talking about animations that do sports within the application.

In the 'Res' directory after decompiling

I couldnt find it


text:
Access my application files of an old App
I have this old-ish Android app running on my Pixel4 w/Android12 phone, the app was last updated on 2018 and it clearly uses old API or whatever and the built-in backup functions are obsolete. It offers option to export its DB to a folder but it can only access /data/user/0/com.cooly.OilChangeSchedulePro/files folder (yes, I'm giving out the app name)
My question is how the heck I can take that file out of my phone?
I do not have it rooted (and rooting will make it wipe, so no sense), please don't ask me to root the phone.

tried using adb run-as package but then the package is not debuggable.
tried to make the package debuggable by changing Manifest and repacking, but i cannot upgrade the app with my custom package.
tried adb backup com.cooloy.OilChangeSchedulePro and it gets an empty backup, nothing inside.

Any other way I can access that folder on my phone and copy out my DB to be restored on other phone?

Are you sure about the path /data/user/0/com/cooly.OilChangeSchedulePro, I would have expected com.cooly.OilChangeSchedulePro at the end (dot instead of slash after com. Also this is a strange path for a backup, as this path is never accessible by users. For `adb backup you can try to enable keyvalue option like shown i this answer for Chrome: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/232796/2241

@Robert you were right, ,i fixed the path, my mistake! :)
I will check that link you provided, thanks a lot!

@Robert oh man, I just love you, adding -f to the backup (and nothing else) DID work indeed, I was able to get the backup and then just did a adb restore to the new phone and the app db was restored!!!  Finally I was able to move that db, it was driving me crazy!
If you want, add it as a solution and I will make sure it gets approved! :)

Then it was just a typo on your side because the -f option should not change anything. Most likely you had a typo in the package name and therefore the created backup files was empty.

If the app does not disallow backup in it's AndroidManifest.xml then you should able to retrieve the data using adb backup.
Some older apps make use of key/value storage which is not included in backup by default. To include this data change the adb backup command to:
adb backup -keyvalue -f oilchangesBackup.ab com.cooly.OilChangeSchedulePro

Just make sure to use the correct packageName of the app because if you make a typo the backup file will be empty.

I did another try just to make sure, and believeme, the -keyvalue DOES make the difference.
Below is the proof (hard to read with no line breaks):
adb backup -keyvalue com.cooloy.OilChangeSchedulePro -f test1 and adb backup com.cooloy.OilChangeSchedulePro -f test2 output two different files, one is empty and the other isnt. 4,007b test1 - 47b test2
`

@Smoke Then in the end it was the -keyvalue option. I updated the answer accordingly.


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Oneplus 7 pro stuck at boot animation
I have a rooted Oneplus 7 Pro. Today my phone said that an OTA had finished downloading and to reboot to install the update. I had been postponing this update and decided to finally go through with it.
I went through all the steps to keep my root, uninstall magisk, download OTA, flash twrp ab retension script, install magisk to inactive slot, and finally reboot. I am now stuck at the boot animation.
When I try to boot into TWRP, the screen keeps flashing at the TWRP loading screen but I can never actually get into it. I am able to ADB into the phone at this point though and the recovery.log says something about Fatal signal 6 (SIGABRT), code -6 (SI_TKILL) Does anyone know know how to fix this? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Edit: I have made a little progress. I was able to change the partition back to the original partition and while I still can't boot, I can get into TWRP now.
Edit2: I updated my TWRP and can now get into TWRP on both partitions. On the old partition I can decrypt my data with pattern (and was able to back everything up), but on the new partition it is asking for a password and I don't have one. Still get stuck on the boot animation are both partitions. I have also tried uninstalling all my magisk modules (except for one adb one) and that didn't help either.

If you are someway able to boot into fastboot, try flashing stock boot.img there (Google might help you in finding stock imgs).
Otherwise, get the firmware flashing tools for OnePlus and reinstall stock from scratch which but would erase userdata though.

Thanks for the response. Sadly it didn't work. On the old partition it got stuck at the boot animation. On the new partition I got a qualcomm crashdump mode attempted to kill init! exitcode=0x00007f00. On the old partition the boot animation did seem to be running more smoothly though, so that's a plus!

@Winnie22 in that case I'm really sorry brother.. I would have personally helped you out if I owned a OnePlus

That actually was the answer! The only issue was I was on OOS Beta so the stock boot.img didn't work and I think the update wasn't for the latest version so the latest beta boot.img didn't work. I used ADB to pull the update zip from my phone, used payload-dumper to extract the boot.img and that booted me right into the phone! Thank you so much!

if it was the answer, then upvote it bruh

I totally would, but I don't have 15 reputation points yet....

oh okay understandable


text:
How can I find out if my keyboard is connecting to the internet?
I have it cut off from the internet on AFWall+ and I'm using XPrivacyLua with everything checked except "read clipboard". How can I now make sure whether or not it's connecting to the internet?

A keyboard app is just like other Android apps. For example, here is the URL list that is contained in the Gboard app (though possibly not exhaustive, look under "Interesting Strings" section), so you may want to check the firewall if those domains are already blocked or still allowed.

You can also use an app like PCAPDroid to watch (and record) the traffic caused by apps. Traffic can be filtered per app if you want.

@Izzy thanks Izzy! I downloaded it and it turns out that connections are being made! Utterly shocked and disappointed right now. Here is what I see https://i.imgur.com/sXACypd.png and this is even though I have it cut off https://i.imgur.com/cWzw2gc.png. How can I now make sure it's completely cut off ftom the web?

what would you have expected from MS? (oof) // 2) is that a screenshot from AFWall? Are you in white-list or black-list mode (i.e. are by default all connections disallowed, or allowed)? Because if by default connections are forbidden, you'd just have allowed them now. And otherwise I'd wonder how they can be made if the firewall won't let them through: the app will try nevertheless, but PCAPDroid should show them as unsuccessful (if at all). I've never dug into that, but they are shown as "closed" – the 5.4kB suggesting it was data transferred.

@Izzy Checked is "dis"allowed to connect and yes it's AFWall+. I also wonder how they can be made if the firewall - supposedly - won't let them. I was thinking maybe there are other components of the keyboard that's not part of the bundle of what's checked in AFWall? Maybe those other components are not showing up on AFWall?

Follow-up question: How can I block a certain app from connecting to the internet?

@JJrussel see my comments on your new question. I'll take my above comment and convert it to an answer now, including what additions are made by the comments – as that seems to have answered this question. You've already opened a new one for the resulting issue.

You can also use an app like PCAPDroid to watch (and record) the traffic caused by apps. Traffic can be filtered per app if you want. I recommend installing it from F-Droid (which I generally recommend as first place to go for apps, not just for privacy reasons).

I took your screenshot from your comment, and added a second one from the app's listing at Google Play: the first shows there are indeed connection attempts made by the app, the second shows how the details would look like if you'd tap one entry in the list. In this second screen it would be interesting to see how many packages have been transferred up and down – i.e. if there really was any traffic, or if it's all just failed attempts.


text:
Is there any way to recover a deleted voicemail?
A certain family member deleted a very, very important voicemail from their Android (Google Pixel 4A) phone. I'm not even sure exactly when this happened.
(I understand that the content of the VM is not relevant to the question, but it was a voicemail from my wife's father, who has died, and so the message is irreplaceable and priceless to us.)
I'm working with my carrier to see if they might have a record of it, but I am not optimistic.
Is there any possible way to try to recover the audio from the phone?

Voicemail systems I know do not store recordings on client side, instead they only store the recordings on a server at your mobile operator, because the main purpose of such systems is to record incoming calls when you are in an area without radio reception.

I think I can check voicemail in the app when I have no signal, so that seems like it does cache audio files locally.


text:
Run custom ROM on emulator/VM
Before I want to begin, I know this question has been asked, but I only found old answers or not really what I was looking for.
So, I want to build a custom ROM, and I'm sort of a beginner and I'm still reading about this, what I know so far about this is that you have to download and build AOSP, get a build number and a binary related to a real device (Nexuses or Pixels)
Here's where I don't understand, let's say I compiled everything and at the end I have the image, next step is to have the image flashed to a device, I don't have any android device, especially Google proprietary devices, nor I can afford one. Isn't there any possibility to run it on VM or emulators or things like this?
As of writing this, I'm going to build AOSP(ID :SQ1D.220205.004) to learn a bit about the process, but any tips on how to learn more about this is more than welcomed, and also the main question on how to run the image on my PC first.
I'm running on Arch Linux by the way.

There were a few old questions on here about the same issue, but this question has a comment linking to a question on Stack Overflow with quite detailed steps.

hmm AVD, might be the answer, I hope so though, now I have to wait until AOSP is compiled


text:
Is there a way in 2022 to remove factory reset option on android device
So I’ve Removed some bloatware like the browser google play store etc. and like you all are aware a simple factory reset brings them all back , the first solution I thought of was to remove the settings app but that’s not convenient at all (although it may work) . I’m trying to find a way to keep setting app however remove the factory reset option , would anybody have a code for such thing ? Or any alternative opinion is welcome. Thank you I can use any advice I can get

Make script to debloat and run it after every factory reset...
like this one
https://github.com/jasineri/android-bloatware


text:
Why LSPosed slows down screenshot take?
My phone is Samsung Galaxy M20 (OneUI 2.0 - Android 10) and I use the latest Magisk v24.3 (24300). After installing LSPosed, my phone takes screenshots more slowly.
Why? Is possible to fix this? If possible, how?

LSPosed uses Zygisk or Riru for injection interface.
There is no solution for Riru because if your LSPosed is using Riru, update Magisk to the latest version. Enable Zygisk (Beta) feature in Magisk Manager. Then download the Zygisk version of LSPosed from the GitHub repo, and install it.
Main Solution:

Enable DenyList in 'Magisk Manager > Settings'
Select SystemUI with its subprocesses.

This operation will revert all Magisk modifications for SystemUI and the problem will be solved!


text:
Is possible pass SafetyNet with official Xposed Framework?
I know LSPosed passes SafetyNet on Magisk but I want pass SafetyNet on official Xposed Framework.
Is possible with modules like HiddenCore, or maybe a snet.jar or framework patching trick?

Official Xposed is dead since years (sadly). So No hope in doing these things via it...

I don't think bypassing SafetyNet was ever possibly by using Xposed. So the question is if it is possible to pass SafetyNet on a device with Xposed installed, by modifying the system or a Magical plugin or something completely different.

@Robert Sorry to say, but you're wrong... LSposed, which is literally an Xposed fork but still being developed has modules based on Xposed framework to pass safetynet!


text:
Bluetooth volume defaults to maximum on each new connection
Every time I connect a Bluetooth headphone to my android phone the (Bluetooth) volume changes to max volume.
It doesn't matter what was the level of the normal volume (non-Bluetooth volume).
Example:
Listening on the phone speaker at 50% volume, I connect the Bluetooth headphone and once the connection is established the volume jumps to 100%.
How can I change that behavior?
It wasn't happening before with similar audio devices and now it happens with all/some devices.

This issue is like a bug or a corner case.
Once it starts happening there is no CLEAR FIX.
Here I describe the path I took that lead me to resolve the issue.
Test after every change until resolved.
Repeat these steps (or variations of them) until resolved.
Connect bluetooth audio device
    Disable absolute volume option in Developer Options
Disconnect  bluetooth audio device
Connect bluetooth audio device
    Enable absolute volume option in Developer Options
Disconnect  bluetooth audio device
Connect bluetooth audio device
Disconnect  bluetooth audio device
    Disable absolute volume option in Developer Options
Connect bluetooth audio device
Disconnect  bluetooth audio device
    Enable absolute volume option in Developer Options
Connect bluetooth audio device
Disconnect  bluetooth audio device

Once resolved, you may want to do this once more to protect your ears.
Enable absolute volume option in Developer Options

The easier way to find the setting is to search for volume

And here is the specific setting


text:
Android 9: Configure DNS while connected via cable
I've got an Android TV Box (orbsmart S86) running on Android 9. It is connected to the LAN and internet via a cable. Wifi is not used.
Now I've configured PIHole on another device and want to tell the android box to use the Pihole as DNS.
When using WiFi, I can go to the WiFi-settings and configure the settings there. How do I do this on this device?
So far I've tried ndc resolver setifdns eth0 mydns but without luck.
Note, that I've got root access.
Thanks in advance.

su
setprop net.dns1 <dns here>

eg, setprop net.dns2 123.123.123.123

As of Android 8, "The system properties net.dns1, net.dns2, net.dns3, and net.dns4 are no longer available" (source), but may work. More explanation here: How to configure DNS properly while two LANs are running?


text:
Debug Android Permissions
I would like to analyze deeply the behavior of the android permissions.
When a permission is granted or not, what android do, etc.
I have some ideas, but I would like to know which one could be the easiest one, or any new idea, or if some similar works have already been done.
So I thought about:

frida
android studio using the debugging
making in local a java script using the same logic than in the aosp

The logcat in Android Studio is very powerful, I can see the ActivityTaskManager and GrantPermissionsActivity for example.
But I don't know what happened to call them, why these parameters etc.
So, if you have any ideas, any tips, any documentations, I'm interested in.
Thank you.

Have you checked out Stackoverflow.com? There are dozen of questions and answer about what to do to request a run-time permission. Usually one of the Google support/Androidx libraries are used which then should contain the call to request the run-time permission.

Or otherwise, browse the Android source code directly.

@AndrewT. yes it would be the last option.
My goal is to find something to look at what's happening, as gdb can do for a binary file.

Use a framework mod like Xposed to hook into system APIs and get callbacks when they are called. In practice there is nothing very complicated happening underneath. Android framework grants (or deny) the requested permission and saves the new state in a file. The state is also cached in services like PermissionManager, PackageManager and ActivityManager. So that when the app wants to perform a privileged operation, it's allowed or rejected accordingly. Some permissions operate at kernel level. So the app is added (or removed) to some DAC groups (GIDs) when permission state changes.

Ok thank you @IrfanLatif.
I read a lot of documentation to understand how the permissions are managed. And you are totally right. But I did this post because I would like to trace the services you mentioned, to see what's going on, what is called etc, in order that I don't need to read and understand this part in the aosp.
The problem is that I will have to, I think.


text:
Sending messages to iPhone with File attachment
I just switched phones and carrier, going from a Huawei P20 to a Samsung S20 FE 5G.
I used to be able to easily send PDFs and other files via MMS (as long as the file didn't exceed a certain size).
Since I changed phone/carrier, I am no longer able to send files to iPhone users.
I still have the options to send files to other Android user, but that doesn't seem to be an option with iPhones, which is an absolute deal breaker for me as I rely on it quite a lot for work where everyone but me is using an iPhone.
Do you know of a work around or way that would allow me to send PDF files via "text message" as I used to? And I of course mean actual files, not links to cloud drive.

Thank you for your help!

Are you sure you were sending an MMS and not an Apple proprietary iMessage using the Apple proprietary messaging system (for which they refuse to provide an Android client)?

I have been using a Huawei P20 for the last 2-1/2 years, which is also on the android platform, so I don't think that I could have been sending Apple proprietary iMessages.
If I look in a conversation in my message app, and go back to messages sent last week (from my P20), I can see the PDF that I sent with "MMS" next to it.

Could you mention the messaging app you're using (is it the stock Samsung Messaging app)? As of currently shown, it's at least interesting that an app may look like it can detect Android/iPhone devices based on the destination, which I assume is just a normal phone number?

Yes, it is the default Samsung Messages app. Until just now I didn't even know you could change messaging app. I tried both Chomp and Textra and I am now unable to send files to either Android or iPhone.

I changed my messaging app from the default Samsung Messages to Google Messages and I can now send PDF to iPhones again.
From the answers I got earlier, I understand that it is not MMS, despite what it says. But I'll let you guys figure out what protocol it is and who's phone is to blame. I'm just glad it works.

google messages is a messenger like signal that combines messenger + sms in single app. it's interesting that option to send PDF still available even if messenger functionality is turned off. if you can send with wifi + mobile data disabled it is indeed MMS. in theory anything can be sent it's just a matter of en-/decoding and size (protocol)

SMS/MMS are both standard protocols that just send text/pictures to other phone numbers. The protocol does neither know the receiver is android or iOS nor does it depend on.
If you can't send MMS picture this is purely issue with your phone.
If someone can't receive MMS picture this is purely their problem and cannot solved by anything on your phone.
Btw MMS do not support file attachments, only audio and images. If you sent PDF via MMS this is non-standard extension (I never seen)

3GPP Technical Specification TS 26.140 Release V16.1.0 (2020-09)
Media formats and codecs
4.1 Plain text
Unicode (e.g. US-ASCII, ISO-8859-1, UTF-8, Shift_JIS, etc.)
4.2 Speech
AMR speech codec
AMR-WB wideband speech codec
4.3 Audio
enhanced aacPlus
extended AMR-WB
MPEG-4 AAC
4.4 Synthetic audio
SP-MIDI SMF
Mobile DLS
Mobile XMF
G.711 A-law codec
4.5 Still Image
JPEG
JFIF
EXIF
4.6 Bitmap graphics
GIF87a
GIF89a
PNG
4.7 Video
MPEG-4
H.263
H.264 (AVC)
H.265 (HEVC)
4.8 Vector graphics
SVG Scalable Vector Graphics Tiny 1.1/1.2
ECMAScript
4.9 File Format for video and associated speech/audio media types
3GPP
4.10 Media synchronization and presentation format
HTML5
SMIL
XHTML
4.11 Timed text
3GP
4.12 Digital Rights Management
DRM 1.0
4.13 PIM
vObject Personal Data Interchange
4.14 Dynamic and Interactive Multimedia Scene (3GPP TS 26.142)
SVG Tiny 1.2
ECMAScript
DIMS Streams
doScript
LASeR

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimedia_Messaging_Service


text:
VPN broke my network connection, how can I restore it?
I have a problem on my Lenovo K33a48 with Android 7.0. The problem manifests in almost all my google apps showing that there is no internet connection (Chrome, Play Store, Gmail), not syncing to my account (Google Calender) or simply crashing (Drive, Photos), see screen shots below:

If I try to do a system update (Settings->About->System Update) I also get displayed that there is no internet connection:

Nevertheless, I actually have an internet connection, both over wifi or cellular data, and can successfully send messages with Whatsapp. I think the problem cascades to other apps that can't open or keep crashing, e.g. Viber, and I think these apps are connected to my Google account.
I think the problem is the result of me installing, using and deleting a VPN app or/and me uninstalling and installing again songs on Spotify. Anyways, can you help me restore my network connection? Can I undo any possible changes the VPN app has done? Can I reset my network settings? I actually did in the Settings "Network Settings reset", I deleted the cache of all apps and restarted the phone, but it had no effect on the problem. Thanks for suggestions!

Have you checked your network settings if there is still a VPN-profile left? Also check network proxy and DNS settings.

Thanks for the reply, @Robert ! I managed to fix my problem by deleting the Google Play Store data and reversing updates

I fixed this problem with the instructions written by Darren here:
Clearing Google Play Store

Settings -> Apps & notifications
Google Play services -> Storage
Clear Cache & Clear Storage

Uninstalling Google Play Updates

Settings -> Apps & notifications
Google Play services
3 Dots (Top-right corner) Uninstall Updates

Afterwards restart the phone and check if the problem is solved!


text:
"This app isn't compatible with your device anymore." "Device is not certified"
TL;DR see this Google support post to complain and upvote:

https://support.google.com/android/thread/158332061?hl=en
I have a OnePlus 7 Pro that is an excellent top end affordable phone. It's been working great for a year until a couple apps I depend on stopped working. One example app is Disney Plus. It will not work at all and will not show up in the Play Store. When I weblink to its Play listing, it says: "This app isn't compatible with your device anymore. Contact the developers for more info."
I pestered the devs and never got anywhere and it looks like a device issue because on this round of searching I found a link that said it's because the "Device is not certified" message in Play settings.
There are many, many posts on this issue, just on the OnePlus forum alone. One discussed a device reflashed from or to a Global version, but I dont think that is my device problem, but also dont know how to verify.
I found a post from XDA that talked about the problem related to not being able to use GApps, but that is not my problem, and inputing the device ID onto Google's site didnt help.
Last post I found discussed it being from the bootloader being unlocked, or that its rooted. Is that really the issue? That would be terrible if rooted devices couldnt use certain apps as popular as Netflix, Disney Plus, PayPal and others.
If it's an issue with OnePlus having their devices certified by Google, is there a way around this. I'm posting to the OnePlus forum, but that's as much as I can do.
Here are a bunch of links for reference. The first one shows the error in Play on a OnePlus brand app. This seems like a recent change from Google's security policies. Second one discusses device model. Third one discusses bootloader and root:
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/this-app-isnt-compatible-with-your-device-anymore-contact-the-developers-for-more-info.1490603/
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/your-device-isnt-compatible-with-this-version-disney.1314553/
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/netflix-this-app-isnt-compatible-with-your-device-anymore.1377862/
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/your-device-is-not-compatible-with-this-version.1389536/
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/your-device-isnt-compatible-with-this-version.944366/
https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-fix-device-not-certified-by-google-error/
https://forum.fairphone.com/t/unable-to-install-application-since-fairphone-is-not-play-protect-certified/58067
https://komogame.com/en/netflix-blocks-its-app-on-rooted-devices/
"In case your device is rooted, has the bootloader unlocked or the device is not certified by Google, you will not be able to download Netflix through the Play Store" Message only says: your-device-isnt-compatible-with-this-version
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-install-an-app-on-Android-when-it-says-my-device-is-not-optimized-or-compatible-for-the-app-anymore
How To Fix - This App Is No Longer Compatible ... - YouTube Didnt work. Have tried twice.
https://nerdschalk.com/how-to-turn-on-or-off-google-play-protect-on-android/  I cant turn off Play Protect to test this.
https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-install-an-app-on-Android-when-it-says-my-device-is-not-optimized-or-compatible-for-the-app-anymore
https://www.quora.com/unanswered/How-can-I-fix-This-app-isnt-compatible-with-your-device-anymore-and-Device-is-not-certified-on-an-Android-device
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/how-can-i-fix-this-app-isnt-compatible-with-your-device-anymore-and-device-is-not-certified-on-an-android-device.4417785/

It seems my device is Play Protect certified. So I'm leaning toward there being a problem with the bootloader being unlocked, and it being rooted. I use Magisk which is supposed to be systemless, so I doubt that is the problem. And if it is from the unlocked bootloader, only Google or a collection of app developers can fix this.
You can check under Play Store > Settings > About > Play Protect certification.
https://support.google.com/android/answer/10248227?hl=en#zippy=%2Ccant-check-certification-status
https://storage.googleapis.com/play_public/supported_devices.html (large list loads slowly) Direct link to csv file: https://storage.googleapis.com/play_public/supported_devices.csv
The Google forum suggest: "If it’s on the list: We’d like more information about your experience. You can start a new thread in the Android Community to help us review the alert."
https://support.google.com/android/search?hl=en&q=play%20protect%20certified&from_promoted_search=true
https://support.google.com/android/thread/153942625?hl=en This suggests "If it’s on the list: We’d like more information about your experience. You can send feedback to help us review the alert." and "If your device uses a custom ROM, register your device." which links to the same "enter device ID" from the XDA post above. I've done that.. dont know how long it takes, but isnt working after a few hours.
https://www.google.com/android/uncertified/?pli=1
Ive added a link to this page in the Google Forum post two links up. Please go there and upvote it and my response. If this doesnt work after a few days, Ill create a new post that can be upvoted specific to this not working.. specific Google thread to upvote:
https://support.google.com/android/thread/158332061?hl=en

Also, it seems like the choice is partially up to the app devs. Many apps are unaffected. Some like PayPal still allow using the app, others tell you to update after a certain type of action, and some wont go past the login screen like Disney Plus.

The message "Device is not certified" may be related to the Widevine DRM system. Not sure if a Widevine certification can end, but when a streaming app complains about missing certification usually it is about Widevine certification. Other apps like Amazon Video in such a case limit stream to SD content, looks like Disney completely blocks everything.

@Robert interesting, but its also happening on apps like PayPal Business and AppOps. That may explain the total lack of login on Disney+ vs Hulu and Prime Video working fine.

If it happens to multiple apps then my guess would be that it is your unlocked bootloader. Google seems to have changed the Google SafetyNet check and now your device does not pass this test. That is the risk of unlocking the bootloader...

@Robert the main reasons I root are for: using a more sane backup than Google's with zero control (SwiftBackup), ability to customize permissions for more security (AppOps), and to remove bloatware that reduces device performance (AppQuarantine or Disable Application) which also allows me troubleshoot suspicious apps, and firewall (AFWall). These are perfectly good reasons to root, and I would not root if I were able to do these without it. In fact, they make my device more secure, recoverable, and performant.

I agree with you that root access has a lot of advantages, unfortunately SafetyNet and root don't play well together. Hiding root status has become more and more difficult and it is only a matter time when the last possibility to bypass detection will fail. I already made the decision to stay on the non-root side as I have too many apps that rely on SafetyNet.

@Robert With the recent removal of even the ability to take a full backup over adb, it does seem that Google is trying to kill functionality (probably in the name of security), however unless they provide these simple, in my view necessary tools mentioned above in some fashion, I believe, if they break that functionality, they will incite a mutiny or an exodus.. and I will be first on that train to LineageOS or whatever. Its a dealbreaker, there is no alternative for me. The use of backups, firewall, permissions and control on any Linux and most other computing systems speaks for itself.

Ubuntu OS on Android devices is starting to work pretty well, so that may be the next plateau. [This $200 phone can do ANYTHING!!! - Pine64 Pinephone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCKMxzz9cjs


text:
POCO X3 flash fail
TL;DR - Tried to flash TWRP and ended up with TWRP where my OS should be. Have both Mi and TWRP recoveries on device now.
Using a POCO X3(not the pro) and I wanted to install TWRP on it. I found an unofficial build (by a recognized dev) on XDA and proceeded to flash it in fastboot mode. I also pressed the right key combo immediately after running fastboot reboot, but it kept going back to Mi recovery 5.0. I did this a couple more times but to no luck, it'd keep booting to Mi recovery. I then tried booting temporarily into TWRP using fastboot boot command after flashing the boot image one more time. I could access TWRP now, so I thought that's that and powered it off. Then I pressed the recovery combo and Mi recovery flashes on the screen again. I select reboot to system and it then took me to TWRP. So now I have both Mi and TWRP on my device somehow. I don't know what caused this spectacular mess or how to get out of it. Any ideas?

https://xiaomifirmwareupdater.com/archive/miui/surya

Note: this applies to Poco X3 NFC. Poco X3 GT does have recovery-ramdisk in boot and requires different install method (flashable zip installer)

download MIUI according to your current version.
in TWRP connect adb shell
adb push boot.img /tmp
adb push "TWRP 3.5.0-0 By mahajant99.img" /tmp
adb shell
cd /tmp
dd if=boot.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/boot
dd if=TWRP\ 3.5.0-0\ By\ mahajant99.img of=/dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/recovery
reboot recovery

Note: in order to disable avb/dm-verity one must install Magisk. rename Magisk-v24.3.apk -> Magisk-v24.3.zip
adb push Magisk-v24.3.zip /tmp

TWRP -> Install -> tmp -> Magisk-v24.3.zip -> Swipe to install

https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk


text:
My mouse’s right click act as back button in my Android TV browser. How do I disable it?
A USB mouse plugged into my Android Tv, and when I browse my website and right click on my mouse by default it work as a back button and website goes to previous page.
I want to remove this functionality i.e right button click should not work as a back button. Or at-least when I click the right button it should not take me back to the previous page. If there's any solution it will be helpful.


text:
Connecting ACODE to Termux
Hi guys I have successfully connected ACODE to termux using sftp from ACODE to termux SSH using openssh sshd and dropbear dropbear via generated password passwd and username whoami and it works. I've been trying to write nodejs codes generated outside storage directory since storage refuses to install expressjs or reactjs, but ssh crashes after writing few lines of code and I attempt to save the file.

I used rsync/cp to copy code back and forth from the storage a file editor can access to internal storage of the app (UserLAnd and not Termux, but same idea). Is there an actual question here? Because your post seems to only be a statement with your answer being a related statement which should've been edited into the question instead.

I was using localhost as my connection host that's why it was crashing.  I switched to inet IP and it worked. You can check your inet configuration with ifconfig on termux


text:
Allowlist permission on android
I was reading about the read external storage permission on https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.permission#READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE.
It says:

This is a soft restricted permission which cannot be held by an app it its full form until the installer on record whitelists the permission. Specifically, if the permission is allowlisted the holder app can access external storage and the visual and aural media collections while if the permission is not allowlisted the holder app can only access to the visual and aural medial collections. Also the permission is immutably restricted meaning that the allowlist state can be specified only at install time and cannot change until the app is installed.

Am I correct that An app without this permission can still Access photos on the external storage? Or what does allowlisted means? What are the medial and aural collections?

By design*, the application cannot access the external storage if it does not have the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission granted.
Allowlisted means that the permission is granted to the application.
Probably medial and aural collection are the defaults medias for ringtones or notifications (IS_RINGTONE or IS_NOTIFICATION) as no special permission is needed to be accessed.
By design*: Supposing that the application does not exploit a vulnerability on the Android system.


text:
Android runtime permissions and older apps
Since android 6 there are runtime permissions. Is this applicable to all apps? Or only apps that target the API of android 6 and higher?

As far as i know, to all apps from android 6. Otherwise it would be a security issue.

This applies only to apps targeting Android 6 or higher, which must be able to deal with them. Runtime permissions mean the app itself must request them from the user at runtime – which was not possible before (and thus no API available to do so). Hence older apps (and those targeting Android 5 or lower) cannot implement this.
For apps targeting Android 5 or older, the old permission model will be applied.


text:
Can I somehow allow an app to access all files?
I have some applications which I want to allow access to not just for media folder:

OS: Android12, OneUI4
Can I somehow gently ask the OS to provide extra permission to this application without modifying the application to request it explicitly?
I need the following permission for the above application:

Can I do this somehow?

As a user, you can only grant permissions the app itself requests. So you'd need to ask the corresponding developer for that.

And there's probably a reason why the dev can't implement it due to the storage updates in Android 11 and the Play Store enforcement.


text:
Apps asking only permission to read external storage
Some of my apps only ask for a permission to read external storage, not to write. I trust these apps (even my banking app), so I guess they are not looking at my files. Any idea why they need this permission? Is this a useless permission?

at least my banking app wants me to save montly pass sheets pdf

Do those apps e.g. need to import things – like *.csv files with transactions with your banking app, which you mentioned as only example? Then this permission certainly is not useless.

It's mostly useless (unless the app has some feature to download your transactions etc to external storage) but alas you are helpless there not to grant it anyway. The app mostly would force you to grant it neverthless


text:
Is it possible to deactive vibration and ringtone for a call by a certain/specific number?
I would like to deactivate

the ringtone and
vibration,

when a certain/specific number is calling me. Is this possible?

Yes, that is possible depending on the app you use for calling.
In the AOSP phone app, when you click on a contact, behind the three-dot overflow button there is such an option. I am not aware of a feature to disable vibrations, but as this is handled by your telephony app, you should be able to replace it (by installing a new one and making it default for telephony) with one that supports this feature.
Another option would be to programmatically disable sound and vibrations when a specified number is calling, achievable in a number of different android automation apps (such as Tasker, Automate).

Not a reply. This content 1. references a new app which is 2. unspecified and thus includes random conditions which makes it all just useless and isn't helping.

AOSP refers to Android Open Source Project, thus meaning the default phone app on stock android devices without gapps


text:
How can I block a certain app from connecting to the internet?
I'm trying to stop Microsoft SwiftKey keyboard from connecting to the internet. Phone is Android 7, rooted. I have it blocked on AFWall+
But despite that, I can see through PCAPdroid (thanks to @Izzy for recommending this great app here) that it's still connecting to the internet and sending and receiving data.
Here are details of one of those connections.

I'm not sure how it's able to do so since it's - supposedly - blocked on AFWall.
I was thinking maybe there are other components of the keyboard that are not part of the bundle of what's checked in AFWall? Maybe those other components are not showing up on AFWall (or are under differents names), and it's those components that are connecting to the internet? How can I stop this?
Thanks in advance!

Additional context for other readers: continuation of How can I find out if my keyboard is connecting to the internet?

And maybe you could add a screenshot with one of those entries in PCAPDroid opened to show the details? The logs might also be interesting. Background: the app will still try to open those connections, but AFWall+ should block them. But in such a case, there should be no data transferred – so it's those "5.4 KB" which irritate me. Of course you could in addition use e.g. AdAway and put snippetdata.api.swiftkey.com on its filter list – so the IP address could no longer be resolved (unless the app uses its own name server).

Btw, this seems to be an old issue, having been voiced more than once. And putting the host name to your block list is a recommendation I saw quite a few times. Seems like several filter lists even include it already, going by the search results.

@Izzy "And maybe you could add a screenshot with one of those entries in PCAPDroid opened to show the details?" Just did! Check out the OP.

The reason I suspected SwiftKey to begin with is because on several occasions I got very specific ads recommended to me when I know %100 that I have never searched them anywhere and the only place I've typed them is offline or on my notepad (which is also blocked on AFWall). Another thing is also the next predicted word would be of something that couldn't be in the pre-saved dictionary because it would be about something that is currently trending.

That's the expected behavior. VPN (PCAPdroid) is not the right tool to test the working of iptables (AFWall) because both operate at OSI layer 3. AFWall might not be blocking the traffic going to TUN (VPN) interface. And the traffic leaving the VPN is owned by PCAPdroid, not by Swift KB, so won't be blocked by AFWall. Possible solutions: 1) Enable "VPN control" in AFWall. 2) Do not use PCAPdroid but insert a iptables -j LOG ... rule at the end of OUTPUT chain in filter table (or POSTROUTING chain in nat table). 3) Intercept the traffic outside the device e.g. at your router.

@IrfanLatif Thanks Irfan. I'm afraid I'm going to need you to dumb this down a bit. I'm assuming this is what ure talking about on AFWall - - > https://i.imgur.com/W6jUOU4.jpg https://i.imgur.com/hOJLlur.jpg. Correct? As for #2, where do I add that rule? And for #3, what if I'm using mobile data?

Yes. 2) Read iptables. 3) Make testing with WiFi. Or go for option 1 or 2.

@IrfanLatif in root mode, PCAPDroid doesn't use a VPN (I'm using the app myself). As OP is using AFWall+ the device must be rooted, hence PCAPDroid will have offered to run in root mode. My bad, I should have mentioned that. Next, AFWall+ operates via iptables as far as I know – so there's no VPN involved at all – unless the keyboard is using one.

@Izzy great. To be honest I've never used PCAPDroid because I'd developed my own minimal solution when I wrote this answer. I wrongly assumed that OP used the app in VPN mode. And I think I made the assumption because I've seen similar questions earlier like this one. Whatever the case is, bypassing Linux kernel's UID based IP filtering is out of question. There must be some issue in OP's test setup. Since AFWall is iptables-based, troubleshooting it directly is the simpler approach, IMO


text:
When someone logged in you account in his device while you're using in your phone
I was using my whatsapp no since many years,but today my account automatically logged out coz the same number allocated to another person as I was not using the sim (no calls &msg) I live outside my country so can he able to see my old chats &msgs
??