text:
Setup wizard on samsung phone: run or make it run
How can i make a samsung phone, go through setup wizard again so the end user may personalize the phone?
I tried the factory reset but it wipes all data and applications installed, my interest is to keep applications and only wipe existing user data.
Is there any way to run it through ADB?... (this way i can only turn the phone off and let the end user handle the rest)

See e.g.: Trigger Setup Wizard at next boot using command-line

You can't factory reset a phone and keep applications.  This is by design.

my interest is to keep applications and only wipe existing user data

Apps are tied to a user, not a device.
Actually, the reason is because of Google's Terms of Service:
https://play.google.com/intl/en-us_us/about/play-terms.html
When you download an application from Google Play, you are agreeing to the ToS.  Setting up a new user with pre-installed applications breaks the agreement between Google and the end-user, since agreement happens at install time.
This is also why multi-account devices also do not share applications - each user is required to "agree" to fair use of each app.
Additionally, using the App Licensing service, developers can block use of apps that haven't been licensed to the current user properly.
Finally, Google has been urging app developers to include EULA within their apps thus corroborating the above.
All that being said, if you had root permissions, you could make any apps system level apps and theoretically circumvent this issue - but I wouldn't recommend nor endorse it.

I did this a few months on my tablet, and here is the general way I did it.
I used the app 3CTools and found the system app on my tablet that contained the Activity to for the setup wizard.
I believe it was Settings.apk but not sure.
Then I used Terminal emulator to start activity.
pm start com.android.settings/com.android.settings.SetupWizzardActivity
Or something very close to that.
Hope this helped
TwilightTime


text:
Can't enroll in Android Beta Program
I am trying to access the Android Beta Program page with my mac and even my Nexus 5X but as soon as I am presented with a signin screen and I enter my password to continue, I get redirected to an empty page and the Android Beta Program page doesn't load up...
I get a link something like https://www.google.com/android/beta?rapt=AEjHL4MMqsgJ4vq0c0LVX_BLkuayM7BPEP4z9GO8Bp7O2uk4L1pZNAaX9YYdGgzu-3kWI-aBhqxCmAuESj-vnVQShIyTVaVV-g and then nothing happens. I just get a white screen on the browser...
Can someone please help me?
Thanks!

It seems that when an Android version is out of Beta, the website portal is closed. If you would like more information, you can take a look here: https://plus.google.com/+SiddhantPagariyaCS/posts/AMHdvN6hPbU
Thanks,
Sid.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
What app does this notification icon belong to?
What app does this notification icon belong to?  Upper left (x shouldn't be there). Looks like a chat bubble or ribbon. Thanks!!

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


text:
Google Maps won't work
Google Maps app takes like half a minute to update my location every time, navigation instructions don't update when I move, and it doesn't automatically reroute, I have to restart navigation.
I can't use it, it doesn't work at all! How can I fix this?

Motorola Moto G4 Play
Android 6.0.1

Some more information might be nice, like what device you are using, what your Android version is, etc.  With the limited information you have provided one can only offer sympathy instead of help.

@OrganicMarble lol sorry, done

Have you tried the usual troubleshooting steps?

Now it worked. After trying lots of things, the way I made it work was just reinstalling the app.

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


text:
How to increase/decrease volume in smaller increments/decrements?
I'm using Huawei P10 (released in ~Feb 2017, using Android 7.0). One annoying thing I noticed is that the volume button changes the volume by 20 units (out of 100). Phone call volume in general is ok but for some apps like whatsapp, even 20 units is unbearably loud. I installed Precise Volume app which lets me change volume in smaller steps. However, it is not tied to the volume button i.e. I'd need to switch to that app's UI to change the volume. Is there any way to fix the volume button in general so that it changes the volume in smaller units?
I wonder if smartphone (software or hardware) makers are focusing too much on the smart and overlooking the basic phone features like call quality.

My bad, had posted a solution requiring Xposed not aware that Android 7 has no xposed framework (had to delete) though its the closest to what you're trying to achieve:(

@xavier_fakerat thanks for trying to help. i cannot believe that this simple volume thing is not supported despite all the smart bells and whistles in an android phone.

From the look of things Android Nougat has limited options to achieve this, but still a few options exist:
Using Magisk
This method is belived to be ideal for devices running on Android 7.0+ Nougat as is in this case.
Requirements

Magisk
Terminal Emulator app.
Volume Steps Magisk module (recent versions) or XDA link

Proceedure

Install the module by flashing it via recovery or the Magisk Manager app;
Next, open the Terminal Emulator app and type this command: vol_magisk;
Press Enter;
If you used the latest version of the module, you would see some values that you can apply by typing and pressing enter.

*For other android (rooted) versions, please see the workaround in my other post : How can I increase the number of volume levels?*
Edit
For higher Magisk versions (20.4+) find the module here.The default config has media volume steps set to 30, call volume steps set to 10.
However modifications can easily be made by customising system.prop values to your liking and zipping up the repo.
Acknowledgements

Learn to Add More Steps to your Volume Slider with VolumeSteps+

Volume Steps Increase (for Magisk v10+)

bladeSk

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


text:
Switching superuser permissions?
I used Kingoroot to root my Micromax Canvas A116 yesterday. And Kingoroot installed its own superuser app as a rooting procedure.
The problem is kingoroot's superuser is paid and displays ads and auto install apps if you don't buy it. I tried downloading Supersu but it gives an error "SU binaries occupied". How can I change superuser permissions from Kingoroot to Supersu?
Thanks.

Well first of all DONT root with Kingoroot, Kingroot, or with any other one click rooting crap. They install ad binaries that run with root permissions mine IMEIs and things like that.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2516942

Remember the little discussion we had going in a thread here regarding vRoot, and i joked about vRoot was mining IMEIs? Well, apparently it's true. We have only ourselves to blame. I'm already rooted so i'll unlock my bootloader and install recovery. That way i don't need to root again if i screw something up. You "should" do the same if you're already rooted and don't care about losing Gracenote and X-Reality. Remember to backup your TA folder.
  What does this mean? What are they able to do with our IMEI's (if they have them)? I'm not sure, and i won't speculate.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2515851&page=3

...
  What XDA is concerned with is the fact that your devices Serial number and IMEI numbers are collected during the root process. This is something which is not necessary at all in order to achieve root. They also use free servers in China in order to minimize cost to themselves.
  That is the concern. The reason you have seen back and forth on the subject is that it takes time for developers to reverse engineer the process to see exactly what it does.
  So XDA at this time has taken a position that links to the Kingo or vRoot methods will not be posted on XDA. You are free to use Google and search it out and use any method you want. You aware of the risks just like any other mod you do your device.
  Kingo has said they are correcting this and will be coming out with an app which will be self sustained and connection to their servers will not be necessary. They say it will be 2.0
  Until such happens we will not be allowing the links, but you can discuss it all you want.
  To be accusing the Kingo developers of doing underhanded things is just wrong and total made up speculation. XDA has to take the communities safety as priority #1.
  Just look at this way would you take a screen shot of your devices status screen posting all your IMEI and personal information on a public forum on a site of developers and hackers?
  It's always better to error on the side of safety.
  EFM
  Have a great day!

But to answer your question SuperSU can only manage the SU requests if it self has SuperSU, so you need to

Replace it with SuperSU VERSION 2.79 (the version is important)
re-root with CF-auto-root over ODIN or .zip file

I downloaded superuser pro and unistalled superuser using it and then unistalled superuser pro. Now i downloaded Supersu and its working fine. Is there a need to re root?


text:
SD card and internal storage
I've been having problems with my two storages. I can't move some of my installed apps to SD Card. My internal storage is full. I can't move an app from internal storage to SD card.  There's nothing in my SD card.  I've tried everything , formatting SD card as portal. Have no clue what that means. Again, I tried everything, nothing worked for me.  Have an awesome day.  Thank you for your help.

Some apps cant be exported. Did you tried apps like Apps2SD?

This works only on marshmallow and newer versions. Most of OEM's doesn't offer in gui option for adoptable storage. So you have to do it via ADB. Here is how click
Here it is:
NOTE  all data on your SD card will be lost.

Make sure USB debugging is enabled in developer options under settings and then connect your phone to PC via USB cable.
Open terminal or command line on PC ( make sure you have ADB installed if not then download minimal ADB and fastboot, you can find it on Google click ) type command "adb devices" to make sure phone is detected, then type "adb shell"
3.Type 'sm list-disks' to list the disks available, the result should be something like "disk:179:160"
To make SD adoptable use command "sm partition disk:xxx:xxx private" where xxx:xxx is replaced with result from previous command, in some cases there is _ instead of : so watch out for that. If you want to use only half of SD as adoptable then use this command "sm partition disk:xxx:xxx mixed 50" and that's it.

If you want to move your data (pictures, videos etc) you can go to settings>storage>SD card>more and you will have there option "migrate data" hit it and let it go.


text:
Launch AVD manager from command line

I'm on Windows 10.
Android studio version 2.3.3

How can I launch the AVD Manager with-out opening the Android Studio and creating a project ?
I remember it was possible for earlier version of Android Studio. I found the avdmanager.bat file in Android\Sdk\tools\bin but running it won't launch the avdmanger UI that we get from the Android Studio.
Anyone here faced the same issue and found a way to launch AVD manager from command line ?

This Q/A might be relevant to the OP or anyone else looking for how to open the AVD Manager graphical user interface without having to create or open a project in Android Studio.

There is no way to launch AVD manager from cmdline (It is deprecated)
There is no way to launch AVD from cmd line. But you can use avdmanager cmdline tool to create, delete, move, list & edit your AVD.
The avdmanager tool is provided in the "Android SDK Coommand-line Tools" package and is located in android-sdk\cmdline-tools\latest\bin\avdmanager.bat
To read more about cmdline avdmanager read this

To launch emulator from cmdline
Add the path first
C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Android\Sdk\emulator

Your path may be different update accordingly
An then run the cmd
emulator -avd "avd_name"

Reference
Android developers launch avd from cmd line

You may also wish to mention that the user can add the directory path variable, or perfoming this command in \sdk\tools folder

@Rajendran Thanks for the answer. But this is not what I'm looking for I want to launch the AVD manager UI not the emulator.

The thing that you are asking is impossible now bcuz those cmds are depricated and removed in latest version.

For folks arguing that the answer doesn't answer "how to launch avd manager gui using cmd", Rajendran has argued that it is "not possible" and provided an alternative to solution sought. If you folks disagree, then please provide an alternative as a proper answer which mentions the steps that would launch "avd manager ui using cmd" and that too "without launching Android studio at all".


text:
What app is showing these fix now messages on galaxy s6?
I have a Samsung Galaxy s6 that sometimes will pop up a message suggesting that some apps are consuming too much ram or cpu. And the following screen. I haven't been able to figure out what app it is though that seems to be acting like good samaritan on my phone.
It doesn't show on recent apps list and once I tell it to perform the fix, i can't interact with app or go back to it.

If you can use [tag:adb] and when that window shows up again, issue these two commands and save their output. adb shell dumpsys activity activities and adb shell dumpsys window windows. Share with us the two outputs and we will help in pinpointing the app.

Install Shutapp from play store and close all opened applications through it, you'll see all the opened apps and doing this may fix your problem. Find the conflicting one. If it's not a system application, you'll see it in the list. Also, You can click just below the big circle to see the list without closing the apps. Check whether that list has any unknown app.


text:
Screen lock not working in Moto z play
I recently got into an issue with my Moto z play screen lock. Pressing the power button doesn't lock the screen. I have enabled pattern lock option for screen lock. But still only after booting up it asks for the pattern. But later on when I lock the screen by pressing power button , I can unlock by just swiping the screen. Anyone knows what's the issue?

It was be because of the Google smart-lock feature. The on-body detection was on in settings->security->smart lock
. I Turned off the on-body detection and its fine now

It could be (depending on your Android version) there is an extra option called

powerbutton locks immediately

if that is not selected it could be the problem. You could crawl the security settings for more options.

power button instantly locks this option I have already enabled


text:
"Uninstall old version" before installing, but can't find it
Spotify doesn't show up anywhere (I used to have it). When I try to install the app, it wants me to uninstall the old version. But the old version doesn't show up anywhere. Tried going through "My Apps" and through the file menu when hooked up to a PC, and I cannot find it.
Any thoughts?

Spotify may be installed as a bloat-system-app so try Apps>right upper corner the three dots>show system apps. It could be that you hided the spotify app.
Additionaly you can type in the terminal pm list packages and use grep to filter so like that pm list packages | grep -i spotify. you can uninstall it by typing pm uninstall [package name]
Note the above assumes you're either using adb or running the commands as root. pm uninstall on system apps can only be performed as root (if at all) – for the other mentioned pm calls, connecting via ADB is sufficient.


text:
Disable telephone control (answer call, call) from Bluetooth headphones
Is there a way to disable telephone control (answer call, call) from Bluetooth headphones? I just want to listen to music.

Go to Setting - Bluetooth and find your headphone device in the list and press the settings gear next to it. Uncheck Phone Audio or similar entries related to phone/telephone (may vary by Android version or OEM).

Go to Settings, Accessibility, Answering and ending calls. Turn off the setting that automatically connects when you have headphones in.


text:
How to prevent android system from creating folders on internal storage
Is it possible to prevent Android from creating additional folders inside /data/app/
That is, this is the folder where (user-level) apps¹ are installed. So making the whole thing recursively unwriteable will mostly likely break the apps and that's not really what I'd like. (although if you know how to do that I don't mind testing it out) But my primary reason is that I want to prevent any folders from being created there. Specifically the temporary folders that Download Manager is creating there. This is part of my quest to take control over the Download Manager. I can't replace it, so I'm trying different approaches to, well, manage the Manager.
Additional info:
Device is rooted. Storage is internal. Android: v6.0.1, ROM: MIUI 8.5.3.0

¹ meaning the apps (APKs) themselves, I'm not speaking about /data/data/<package_name>/*

@Izzy I have access to a TouchWiz KitKat, and it's still got the APKs listed one after the other. I guess that the folders started popping up on Lollipop.

@Izzy Thanks for the edits! :) Added phone info

I'm sorry. I don't understand what you are trying to achieve? This might actually be an XY problem. If Download Manager is creating temporary folders then what's the issue with that? Moreover, what exactly is the issue that you thought to stop creation of new folders?

@Firelord I'm trying to control all installations that take place on the device which are triggered via Download Manager (I mean not sure exactly about the details but it seems to go through it) So that I would be able to install only the apps that I manually download. This might not be the best approach, but the thing first creates temporary folder while it's downloading and there seems to be only one concurrent download allowed. So I thought maybe use that somehow. That is I'm trying to stop automatic updates/downloads

If you want to stop automatic updates why not you go to play store>settings>auto update apps and set it to " do not auto-update apps" this what are you asking is playing with fire.

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје I meant System auto-updates (sorry ran out of space above). For normal apps that works, but for things like Google Play Services, Play Store etc, it just gets updated automatically. Been trying to disable this for quite some time (without losing app store)

Wait you want to stop play services and play store updates or Android system updates or both?

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје I want to disable everything that gets installed automatically. Except normal apps - they can be on/offed inside the Google Play app. Also I'm not talking about the System as in ROM/OTA updates.

Ok, first may I ask why you want to do that? To disable Google play services and play store auto update you can try to set "restrict background data" for play store (maybe even play services but that would probably cause more troubles, especially if you use play games and any other Google app) but keep in mind that than if you want to download/update app you will must stay in play store until process is finished. It's not ideal solution (it's more like crippling ).

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје Well that's why I want to disable auto-update and not these components themselves. I could also use a firewall to block them from internet. Also I can remove Download Manager & Play store from the phone. But then I won't be able to download new apps from Play store. (there are other stores, but I either wouldn't trust them or they're incomplete)

The way to prevent creation of new files/folders inside a particular folder is to use the chattr +i command. Using "+i" makes it immutable, preventing changes by anyone, including su, until you do -i .
so doing: chattr +i /data/app
and then running: mkdir /data/app/blah will fail
but mkdir /data/app/com.android.vending-1/blah will work fine

Good job I was just about to post this.

Thanks! ;) I think chattr is one of the lesser known/used Linux commands out there. It's the first time I ever had the need for it.

With chmod 744 as a root you ONLY can read/write in the folder /data/app (anyone else is readonly) but I wouldnt want to do this because apps are there located too. But you can only restrict user 1000 which is the system (i think) by doing
cd /
su 1000
chmod -wx /data/app/ -Rv (-R is recursively an -v is verbose)
ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY THAT THIS IS NOT HARMFULL

Well, I don't want to touch the existing folders because as you mentioned this is where the Apps are. I want to prevent creation of New folders inside /data/app folder.

sorry for the late answer: you cant disallow the system anything without risking a bootloop, factory reset, etc. If you want to diable bloatware this way you could just uninstall it with pm uninstall

Well, basically if one goes into the terminal mode with a root access, bootloop can happen ;) Removing bloatware is the least of my problems, got an automated script that does it. I'm trying to prevent Google from installing its apps like the Play Store update etc. So I thought maybe I block a folder it uses while downloading the app. I found a folders for new/updates to regular apps but it's smarter than that...

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
USB device not recognized.
USB device not recognized. The last USB device you connected to this computer malfunctioned, and windows does not recognize it. This is Windows 10
Originally my Windows 10 was working just fine and my pictures were imported with no issues. However, we had switched to Lenux (ms) and did not like it so we went to Best Buy Geek Squad and had Lenux removed and Windows 10 restored. Now I get the message I put above and I have no idea why or what to do and I need to get my pictures off my Samsung Galaxy s6 phone. Help?

Do you mean Linux not "lenux"? As far as I know some Samsung devices requires additional software to work via USB (I don't know which exactly I remember this was promoted when I tried connecting j5 (6) via USB to windows machine)

Some computers only recognize devices when they are plugged into the right usb ports. Have you tried using a different port? Also, some chords can be finicky, some of the cheaper ones don't like you when you try to do get into a device like that. Another thing you can try is to do like someone commented, and make sure you have the right driver for your device for your computer to recognize it. Just google search for the right driver for your model.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
WhatsApp 2 step verification code being asked frequently
Is it normal that Whatsapp keep asking for your two step verification PIN in a certain frequency? Like once a week for example. I noticed this behavior on my phone. Is something to worry about or it's normal?

As per WhatsApp FAQ I would like to believe this is normal, for security reasons and to prevent one from forgetting their PIN

Two-step verification is an optional feature that adds more security
  to your account. When you have two-step verification enabled, any
  attempt to verify your phone number on WhatsApp must be accompanied by
  the six-digit PIN that you created using this feature.

and that...

To help you remember your PIN, WhatsApp will periodically ask you to
  enter your PIN. There is no option to disable this without disabling
  the two-step verification feature.

I find this really dumb because I use a password manager, No matter how many times it asks for the PIN I'll just never remember it (heck I don't even know it in the first place).

@AlvinWong Meta are pretty dumb in general when it comes to security. You'd think a big tech company of that scale would know what works and what doesn't.


text:
Prevent YouTube from using mobile data at all on Android 7 Nougat
I would like to prevent YouTube from accessing mobile data at all. However, I cannot see how this is done in Android 7 Nougat on my Samsung Galaxy S7.
Has this feature been removed and replaced by the option to turn it off for background usage?

You can download a firewall app and restrict YouTube to WiFi only.
For example, with Onavo Protect, from Facebook, it will establish a VPN connection that works like the firewall on non-rooted Android devices. You can restrict any app from using mobile data.

True. Can you suggest a particular one and provide its relevant use case?

Protect.https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.onavo.spaceship&hl=en
Protect Free VPN+Data Manager - Android Apps on Google Play
. You it establish a vpn connection that works like firewall on non rooted Android devices. It's worth trying.you can restrict any app from using mobile data


text:
In app linked2sd i convert download mngr into usser app from system app, then it start my phone to get error
My phone k7, always unfortunately process android.process.media has stopped, and my keyboard aosp to. Pls help

Try to convert all your Google apps to user app and you will end up with an endless stream of "unfortunately...... has stopped" . That's to tell you that some apps won't run as user app. Download manager is one of such apps. Get it back into the system before you start having real problems with your browser and play store


text:
Gmail contacts not syncing - How to get them to sync?
I have a new Samsung S8+ and Gmail seems not to find any contacts when I try to compose an email. I have downloaded google contacts and all contacts appear on my phone. Is there a setting I've missed?

http://www.droidforums.net/threads/when-does-google-sync-contacts.14278/

Yes, the permission for Gmail to view contacts is most probably off.
Go into settings>manage applications>Gmail>permissions>contacts on
(Worked for me)

Please turn on "automatically sync data" on your device

You can go through Settings > Accounts > Google > Gmail and turning on the sync button.


text:
Get Android 7 do not disturb features back?
Do not disturb in Android 8 is now awful

No way to tell it to Do Not Disturb for an hour
No way to tell it to turn off DND after an alarm goes off (unless you specify a rule sets your phone to DND at a specific time every single night)

Any way to get the DND of Android 7 back? I used these features all the time. I have a Pixel XL

I have the same options on my Nexus 6P as I did on Nougat. Have you tried clicking the 'Do not disturb' text in the notification panel? I get the 1 hour option and (when within 12 hours of an alarm) the option to turn off at next alarm.

@bmdixon Oh I see it now, they just hid it.  Put your response as an answer and I'll mark it as correct.

I have the same options on my Nexus 6P as I did on Nougat however, they are accessed slightly differently. If you click the 'Do not disturb' text in the notification panel you should see the options you're after. I get the 1 hour option and (when within 12 hours of an alarm) the option to turn off at next alarm.

This article on Ars Technica demonstrates a few other changes to the quick settings pane (see image below too).

Thanks, that was a "nerve silencer" (from that really disturbing DND change, if you get the play on words). Are you aware of any way to switch that around, to avoid having to open the entire tile section? Somehow the man was right saying "Most changes today focus on replacing what works with what sounds good". And I bet the "old variant" covers more "daily need" than those rule sets which probably only few use, if at all…

Found an app called Timed Silent, which takes care of part 1. Also I just noticed that you can snooze notifications in Google Hangouts (shutting Hangouts up is mostly what I used the timed DND for). So that takes care of part 1

On Android 11 this is still  an issue. A long click on DND icon will open up a settings dialog. click Advanced -> Duration for quick settings -> Ask every time.


text:
Chrome Websites track when location is disabled
I'd like a solution to prevent websites from tracking my geo location even with the android location service turned off. Certain sites such as craigslist, google and bing will turn up my geo location with cookies deleted and "Do not track" enabled.
Does anyone else have this problem or am I missing something?

Use VPN. There is many free ones avilable such as Opera VPN, Hola, psiphon etc.


text:
App that would open a url based on the current date in a browser
I am looking for an app or a way how to automate opening a URL based on current date on the Android 7.0 phone:
On 2017-07-01 it would open the following url in a browser:
http://myserver.com/daily_reports/Day_20170701.htm

eventually
http://myserver.com/weekly_reports/Week_2017_27.htm

Since the ISO number of the current week is 27.
Is there any solution for that out of the box?

With Tasker this is very easy.
Setup a task like this:

Code → Run Shell:

Command: date +"%Y%m%d"
Store Output In: %date

App → Launch App → select your browser app:

Data: static URL part appended with %date as required. E.g. http://myserver.com/daily_reports/Day_%date.htm

For weekly URL, create an another task:

Code → Run Shell:

Command: date +"%Y_%V"
Store Output In: %week_no

App → Launch App → select your browser app:

Data: static URL part appended with %week as required. E.g. http://myserver.com/Weekly_reports/Week_%week_no.htm

You can save these two tasks, create a shortcut to them on your home screen and tap that shortcut to open the concerned URL. Or, you can setup a profile in Tasker for your requisite automation and attach those tasks to that.

Great, tasker is really cool for this.


text:
Sound whitelist
I really hate it that every new app (mostly games) that I install, thinks it has a right to make noise. Just about every game I ever installed comes with audio enabled by default.
This is annoying for two reasons:

It makes noise if I forgot to disable global sound, which sucks if I am in public transport or any other environment where smartphone noises are unacceptable
If I am listening to music on my phone it gets interrupted until I disable the app's sound and restart the music

Disabling sound globally is not a good solution either, because then I have to enable it again every time I open an app that I want to have sound, e.g. music or Youtube.
Is there a way (e.g. an app, preferably without root) to have a whitelist of apps that are allowed to have sound while every other app's sound is muted by default?
I am currently running Android 6 but my phone has upgrades up to 7.1.1 (and 8 scheduled), so any solution that works for any of these versions would be good.

Sound or access to speakers is not a permission... I don't see how this would be possible without root and using Tasker and making a rule for every application on your phone to mute the audio when launched, except the ones you want to make sound, but I still potential conflicts when a "muted" application is active and another notification or desired sound is to occur, it likely will be muted as well.

First, let's discuss some basic understanding of Android's audio frameworks.
In Android, there are a limited number of audio streams available via the AudioManager class.  These audio streams are:
STREAM_ALARM
STREAM_DTMF
STREAM_MUSIC
STREAM_NOTIFICATION
STREAM_RING
STREAM_SYSTEM
STREAM_VOICE_CALL
STREAM_ACCESSIBILITY  (added in API 26)

Like acejavelin said in their comment, playing audio doesn't require a permission.  Developers are responsible for using the appropriate stream to deliver sounds.

By default, pressing the volume control modifies the volume of the active audio stream. If your app isn't currently playing anything, hitting the volume keys adjusts the ringer volume.

Both games and music apps use STREAM_MUSIC.
Without rooting your phone, I don't see a way to selectively allow/deny apps from accessing audio streams.
There are a few best practices and guidelines for developers to follow when using audio streams outlined here.  Unfortunately, I don't think they satisfy your exact needs at the level you desire.


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Android Device Monitor does not list Application for events?
I'm worried about some activities showing up in logcat, but the "Application" field is empty on every entry.  Is there some way to get this populated?
WalletGuns and GnsSdk are related, but I can't identify what app is throwing the errors.

Might be helpful: How to find the PID of an app (without ADB)?

I know it's not very explicit, but for production ROMs, applications will need to have set the debuggable attribute in their Android Manifest to true.
<application android:debuggable="true"
   ... />

Otherwise, no Application tag will appear.
So, probably, the developers for the apps in question have either ignored the attribute (default is false), or specified the attribute as false explicitly.

Good to know, but literally no events (tens of thousands) have this field populated.  I think I'm missing something else.

Generally, debug builds (apps) will spit out far more logcat information.  Release builds are stripped of their logs automatically.  Wish I had a better solution for you.


text:
Identifying why Google Play Services is hogging background data
My biggest data usage is Google Play Services background data.
Google Play Services is used by many other apps, hiding which app is actually responsible for the data usage.  This also means you can't block background data for this app, because it will have side effects like preventing Google Hangouts from working.
How do I identify which apps are actually responsible for this data usage?

Which version of Android are you running ?

@CzarMatt CM11 Android 4.4.4


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My phone is going silent every day at 08.00 PM. Can't disable
I have Android 4.4.4 and once (or maybe after playing with settings) it started to go silent at 08.00 PM every day. And morning it is going back (usually I am doing it manually earlier). In settings this is disabled.
I can't disable it and it is very annoying, I miss many calls.
Is there any way to disable it, using some terminal commands? Thanks

Aside from the built-in functionality for "Do Not Disturb", do you have some automation that might be taking its place? Something like Llama or Tasker, which can trigger sound by profile built on time or location? The regularity is highly indicative.

I had Silent Night, but it just disabled phone module at given time, and not 08.00 PM. Now it is disabled

See below link for "Do Not Disturb" feature on your phone:
https://www.google.com/amp/www.pcworld.com/article/2857736/shhh-3-ways-to-keep-your-pre-lollipop-android-phone-quiet.amp.html


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How to transfer VCF file between two phones?
Does it require a cable between an old and a new Android phone to import a VCF file on new phone?

You can import contacts (in .vcf format) from another phone by a number of different methods but a cable between the two phones is the least likely of all.
On my phone, contacts can be backed up and restored to and from an SD card. One could backup to the SD, pop it out, put it in the new phone and restore the contacts from there.
Alternately, there are many apps and services that use cloud storage, networks, Wifi Direct, bluetooh or NFC to port contacts from one phone to another.  The Play Store is full of them.
You can also use a computer to download the 0001.VCF file from one phone and upload it to the second one.
If you would post your phone type and android version, someone might be able to give an answer more specific to that model.

I purchased a new phone (Samsung7) and the old phone is Kyocera. I went to Verizon and had them transfer my "stuff" to the new phone. But not all my Contacts are on the new phone. They also transferred the SD card from the old phone to the new, so I cannot use the SD card for the transfer. And I am a novice at cell phones. I did try to download the 0001.vcf file to my computer, but it did not work because  the SD card was not in the old phone. Looks to me that I will have to manually type in my missing contacts.


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Using USB for transferring files (MTP or PTP) to phone or charging using USB
I had my Android phone power discharged fully. On fooling/trying to find the root cause saw the following as options in Android which I wasn't aware of before. This is in developer options though.

Transferring media files through MTP - This seems to be only one way from phone to PC and not the other way around :(
Transferring images or files through a PTP connection (guess it's a lower bandwidth connection)

Edit : Update - The target PC is running Debian Testing, not MS-Windows, sorry for not sharing that part.

Connecting MIDI devices
Charging.

What was surprising at least to me was you could choose only of the options and when one is chosen say charging the other options cannot be used.
Is there possibility of transferring media files through PTP from PC to phone or not anymore ?
Also were these options always part of android say 5.0 or it's a new development in 6.0 marshmallow ?
Permission denied while trying to copy some data from computer on to Samsung Galaxy J5

Its a new development in android 6, mainly the location of these options. The USB configuration of Android 6.0 marshmallow is slightly different than other versions.

In Android 6.0, the options seems to have disappeared. It has in fact
  moved and you can only access it if you’ve enabled developer options.

The first option is to have a “Charging” only option which can be used to connect to a USB port to charge the device without any notification to the computer. This will be the default option for the device and hence the device will not allow to access the files unless it is explicitly changed.
MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)
When Android uses this protocol, it appears to the computer as a “media device.” A standardized protocol for transferring audio files (and other media) to digital music players using Windows Media Player and similar applications.
You can transfer media files either way.

Android can choose the files it presents to you, and hide system files
  so you can’t see or modify them. If you attempt to delete or edit a
  file that can’t be modified, the device will refuse the request and
  you’ll see an error message

PTP Picture Transfer Protocol.
When Android uses this protocol, it appears to the computer as a digital camera.

MTP is actually based on PTP, but adds more features, or “extensions.”
  PTP works similarly to MTP, and is commonly used by digital cameras.
  Any software program that supports grabbing photos from a digital
  camera will support grabbing photos from an Android phone when you
  select the PTP mode. PTP was designed to be a standard protocol for
  communicating with digital cameras.

It is generally recommended on a modern Android devices,  to use MTP rather than PTP  unless you have software that only supports PTP.
Note: It has been noted that you may need to physically remove the SD card after upgrading to Android 6, and putting it back in before you can view the files on your PC
If you're having issues transferring media in your upgraded OS, try troubleshooting using these options:

Make sure you have installed appropriate drivers

Connect your device to your PC and wait. If it doesn’t show up in file explorer, check to see if Windows is searching for drivers.

If it is, allow it to search and install any drivers it needs. This can happen even if you have connected your Android device to your PC under the same connection type. Do not disconnect the device and allow Windows to finish installing drivers.

Fix corruption issues on your external storage

Use an sd card adapter and insert in the slot on your PC, right click on the external storage device and go to properties, tools then check for errors, fix if necessary the re insert it in your device and check if problem is resolved.

Credits

How to Access Android 6 Marshmallow Files using USB to Windows
How To Set The Default USB Connection Type In Android 6.0
Android USB Connections Explained: MTP, PTP, and USB Mass Storage

hi, have updated my query with bit of info.


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Prevent apps from being suspended
I run sshd in a Termux window as my main means of accessing files on my Galaxy S7.  This works fairly well, except that I seem to have to re-run sshd rather frequently.  I suspect that this is because Termux is getting suspended by the OS.  I'm fairly certain that I've told it not to do so, but it seems to be happening anyway.  Using these instructions, which seem to be out of date for Nougat, as a rough guide, I've navigated to Settings -> Device maintenance -> Battery -> Unmonitored apps; Termux appears in this list of "apps that will not be recommended to be put to sleep."  However, after using other apps, Termux is not always present in the list of apps that appears when I hit the, erm, "windows" button at the bottom left corner of the phone, and as mentioned above, I frequently have to open a Termux window and run sshd again.
Is there something else I need to do to prevent Termux (and/or other apps) from being suspended?


text:
Restore a whatsapp chat with someone else using that person's phone
I have lost my phone and got a new one. Unfortunately I did not backup my WhatsApp.
There is a chat session held between me and someone else which is very dear to me. I have this person's phone.
I wonder if I can restore this chat on my phone through that other person's phone.
Thanks.

Good question. I don't believe it is possible since AFAIK database backups are signed with an account specific key.

The easiest would be to use the 'email chat' option. This would send you a copy of the conversation to your email.
Open the chat on your friends phone,
Press on the menu on the top right>more>email chat. Put in your email address, and you will have a copy of the conversation.
There is no way to port the conversation over to WhatsApp and make it appear as if you never lost it. Unless you have a backup.


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Titanium Backup - Restoring manually backed up apps (TB, Google Drive)
I recently had to format my OnePlus 2 and backed up a few apps, namely Authenticator and two games. First, I did a normal backup, then I used "send latest backup" in the "special features" tab to put the backup into my Google Drive (I didn't know about the sync feature then). Now, TB won't restore the apps after I 1) manually copied the .TIBKP files from my Google Drive to the detected (!) folder on my OP2's internal storage and 2) linked my Drive and used the Sync button in the schedules list to download all backups. The backups don't show up in "Backup/Restore", it says "no backup yet".
I've tried clearing the App's cache which didn't help unfortunately.
I went through all steps on the technical FAQ site numerous times without success.
I am running Linage OS 14.1 (August 31), rooted using their suaddon. F2FS on data and cache.
These backups are very important to me, I have about a dozen accounts linked with my Authenticator which would all be lost. I greatly appreciate all attempts at helping me.

Have you tried "starting" the .tibkp file with a file manager? That should have TiBu open it, as it's registered for that file extension.

Unfortunately, neither the built-in "Files" manager nor  Root Browser let me open the file with TB, can you recommend another file browser with that feature?

Nevermind, it worked with Root Browser, I just couldn't find the app in the list at first. Thanks so much for your help!

As you confirmed it worked out, I've made it an answer. Please "tick" the check-mark next to it to indicate this as your "working solution" (see What does it mean when an answer is "accepted"? for the idea behind that concept).

Titanium Backup would ask you to restore the .tibkp file if you "share" it to it directly. Easiest way to do so is using a file manager and "tap" the *.tibkp – as Titanium Backup is associated with that file extension, you should be offered to share it that way.
As you confirmed, Root Browser is a file manager capable of that. Most others should do as well, though some might be "too restricted" in their functionality as you found out, e.g. the built-in file manager.


text:
What happen with my message on my friend's device if I deactivate Viber
My question is quite clear, what happen with my message on my friend's Viber if I deactivate it?
Thanks

Your messages will no longer be available on your friend's device/account, but will still be seen from whatever device/account you're using, but
NOTE: All the messages will be stored at Viber's database as a backup.
I hope this answers your question.


text:
six-dot icon on home screen shows app icons, not app names
Something on my phone changed.  I don't know what or how, but now when I press the 6-dot icon in the middle of the bottom row of my home screen, I get pages of app icons without any names.  How can I get the names back?

Is it possible that you have somehow installed or activated an alternate launcher?

Somewhere I very recently read that a Cyanogen update might cause problems like this,

Your phone is on Cyanogen? You should specify that on your question because it is pretty relevant.


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How can I force android apps to not use more than a specific bandwidth ?
I know that I can use TrafficStats class to have an idea about how much data an app is using. But, I would like to know if there is any way in which I can force the apps to not use more than a specified bandwidth.


text:
How to detect memory of a Web page on Android?
I want to test the memory of a Web page on Android. The memory is mainly used for DOM, so I need to know the overall memory, rather than JavaScript memory.
Any idea?

Which browser? The memory use and the technique will be different from one browser to another?

@DanHulme Native browser of Android.

That depends on the Android version and manufacturer. Recent Android versions use Chrome as the native browser, but some manufacturers still include their own browser. Please [edit] your question to add these details.


text:
Can't turn WiFi off from lockscreen status bar options - Action Not Allowed [Nougat]
Recently updated my moto g4+ to nougat and now I'm not able to toggle WiFi and some other actions from lockscreen status bar.
Are you guys having the same issue? How to fix it?
follow the attached screenshots if you couldn't understand my issue.

Yeah, it's possibly us. Give us some time to diagnose.

Well, the error message says it's disabled by some organizational policy. So is your phone linked to a work account of some kind?

no.. it's my personal phone


text:
Enable charging while in MTP mode on Android
When I connect my Android device (a Samsung Galaxy Tab E with Android 4.4.4) to a PC in MTP mode, the tablet always shows the USB charging being disabled, which makes sense because the USB port of a PC might not be designed to drive a high current.
Now I have a Y USB cable that allows two inputs (one for power connecting wires GND and VCC and one for data connecting wires D+ and D-) to connect to a single output that is my Android device.
I want to force my Android device to both communicate in MTP mode with the PC and charge its battery through the same cable. How can I do that?
FYI I am perfectly OK with the idea of flashing a custom Android image to my device.

I was under the impression that all Android devices charged battery when connected to USB, regardless of mode

Sadly it doesn't seem to be the case with SM-T560 and Kitkat


text:
I can't factory reset my device
I forgot my password and accidentally typed to many wrong passwords. I finally remembered it and manually changed it. But now it says that I need to reset the paasword via an email that I will get:

It's been a long while and I don't have any email, not even in the spam. Please help I really need to reset my device!

It is asked to you to reset your password from the Samsung site! Open a navigator (chrome, Firefox), go to account.samsung.com then reset your password using your actual Gmail email address.


text:
Using ADB to install ARcore APK on adnroid
trying to install the ARCore apk using adb on my S8+. Enabled USB debugging.
Used powershell on E:\Users\black\AppData\Local\Android\sdk\platform-tools
then used ./adb shell to get 127|dream2lte:/
but when i run adb install -r -d arcore-preview.apk it gives the following error
/system/bin/sh: adb: not found.
any help will be appreciated, cheers!

The issue was trying to run the command
adb install -r -d arcore-preview.apk

after having ran
adb shell

from Powershell. The latter command, in fact, places the user inside Android's own shell environment, as one can discern from 127|dream2lte:/, which means that user 127 is currently logged in to the device dream2lte, and the working directory is Android's root /.
The solution was to run the first command only, entirely omitting the adb shell instruction, as the former is supposed to be issued from Powershell itself, which can be seen from the adb install portion of the instruction.


text:
How to change lock screen clock display on Samsung Galaxy A3?
On the lock screen of a Samsung Galaxy A3, the clock is displayed in two rows:
14
18

I'd like it to be displayed as God intended:
14:18

And I've spent an hour trying to get it this way, and nothing helps.
There's nothing in the Settings to customize the display of the clock.  There are apps that are clock widgets, but they can be enabled only for the "home" screen, once the device is unlocked, not for the Lock screen.
How can I change the display of the lock screen clock?
Android version 7.0, Samsung Experience version 8.1.

Use some other lock screen app from the Play Store.. You cannot customize the stock one.

Any particular recommendations?  I tried Next from Microsoft, and it worked more or less ok, but one day the lock screen began to behave like this: it shows the built-in lock screen with the two-row clock, then when I unlock, it shows the Next's lock screen which I have to unlock as well, and this is one unlock too many for my taste.

I've spent several hours but still no soloution. However, here's a link to a workaround provided you don't mind a notification on your lock screen:
https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S-Phones/Horizontal-Lock-Screen-Clock-Bluetooth-Volume-Work-Around/td-p/146676

To change the clock style on the A3:
go to Apps>Settings>Lock screen & security>Always on display. Select the digital clock then click on clock style (bottom left)>select the face of your choice. Click on Apply at he top right.
Enjoy.

No.  The question asks about the lock screen, not the always-on screen.  The solution, while helpful for the always-on screen, does nothing for the lock screen.


text:
Rockscout and Vanilla music
On my Galaxy S5 Android 6.0.1 I've installed Rockscout and Vanilla music to play music with my mirrorlink car infotainment. If I run Vanilla Music, it reads all files on the internal memory and the external microsd, but inside Rockscout, it "sees" only audio files on the internal memory.
How can I play all music with with Vanilla inside Rockscout?
Thanks

I've resolved myself: you have to select the target directory to add to the media library, TAP on that directory and THEN click "save".  Selecting only the directory and click "Save" is not sufficient (no action is done).


text:
How to enable unsafe volume warming in android 7?
I have a Huawei P9 lite smartphone with android 7. I disabled the unsafe volume warning by accident and I cannot find any settings to enable it again. I checked settings and then sounds, however, I cannot find an option to enable it again.

How did you disable it?

I got a notification that had two options, "Cancel" and "O.K". I chose O.K and then it was disabled.

Phone model? We can not help much without some basic informations

I added the smartphone model.


text:
How can I verify my phone's Bootloader, OS, and ROM haven't been tampered with?
I just purchased a Galaxy S7 for a really cheap rate... and it makes me wonder if the phone has been hacked in some way.
I know the phone supports Samsung Knox, and am new-ish to Android overall.
Question

What can I do to verify if this phone was untampered with?
How can I reset it (restore ROM?) to a known-trusted state?
Is there a general process for all Android phones, or is the verification method and technique manufacturer-specific?

Would love to know about any notable Android hardware security solutions (I already researched Blackberry Priv and Samsung.)

There are a few indicators of modified/unmodified devices, depending on what was modified and how.
Depending on the manufacturer and model, some of these indicators are not available.
These should apply to any recent Samsung phone:

: Go to Settings -> About phone -> Status -> Device status.
As long as the ROM/firmware hasn't been tampered with, it should show Official.
This can be Official, even when using custom ROMs, so it's not the best indicator, but the easiest to access.
: Hold Volume-Down+Home when powering on the device to boot towards the bootloader (used to install official and custom firmware, recoveries etc) and press Volume-Up without connecting it to a PC (just to be sure).
It will show some information about the state of the device like
the binary status ("Custom" means it's modified), the system status (I rarely seen this not reading "Official")
or KNOX warranty void status (just voids any warranty around KNOX, not anything else; hardware warranty and non-KNOX software warranty is still valid) that indicates tampering with the system at any point in the past (not even reinstalling an official firmware will reset this).

Devices which utilize fastboot, can be queried using the fastboot command (from the Android SDK, but there is a package with only the required files).
The command should be fastboot flashing get_unlock_ability (not tested, I don't have a device with fastboot capability).

Just to be sure you can simply download stock firmware for your phone model and flash it, if someone has played with something it will be gone. (Not sure about bootloader lock state, on some phones it reverted back to locked but on some doesn't).

Turn off your phone
then press volume down + home button + power
a warning screen appears
press volume up
WARRANTY VOID should be 0.
1 means the system was or is an an NOT official feature, but if the current binary & system status show official everything should be safe.
After that you can run an antivirus scan with the built in Virus scanner


text:
Unable to reboot Sony Xperia XA in recovery mode
In order to root a Sony Xperia XA phone I followed the steps described here, until the step to reboot the device in recovery mode. Using an Ubuntu computer and the phone connected by USB, I ran the following command:
sudo adb reboot recovery

after I copied the recovery image to the phone as described on the page linked above.
However, the phone rebooted normally and not in recovery mode. There was no option to load the root file to flash the device.
Is there any other way to reboot the device in recovery mode?

The site you linked to looks to be another one that just fits devices into a "generic" guide, which won't always work. Go look around in XDA instead.

Many Sony Xperia don't have a recovery. You need to unlock the bootloader first then you'll be able to root.

Which Android version is your device?

Follow this guide: https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xa/how-to/f31xx-how-to-root-xperia-xa-noob-t3430170

@esQmo_  Following this guide creates an error Unable to mount storage. See here: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/182543/how-to-fix-unable-to-mount-storage-error-while-trying-to-root-xperia-phone


text:
Restoring deleted video on Android Marshmellow
I accidentally deleted a video on my Nexus 5 running Android (6.0.1) Marshmellow. The device uses internal storage only. I'd like to recover the video and from what I already know from the Internet, there are desktop/mobile apps that can recover the file.
The problem is, all of the apps I've tried need root access to the system. Rooting the phone, on the other hand, will can wipe all my data (see the comments below), as far as I understood the process correctly. So, ironically, if I root, there will be no file to be restored.
1. Is there any way to recover the lost file without the root access?
or
2. Can I root the phone without deleting all its data?

Where did you read that rooting wipes a device? That's usually not the case. Also, have you already consulted our data-recovery tag-wiki?

I put it poorly into words, sorry. I read that rooting on some devices requires doing the OEM unlock or bootloader unlocking - which wipes all data. I tried 2 apps to root the phone but they failed for the reason unknown, so my guess is the unlock is needed in the case of my device. I will check the wiki.

Ah, in that case you're correct: Unlocking usually wipes the device. Though a Nexus 5 shouldn't be too difficult to root IIRC. Our rooting index points to Can I root my Nexus 5 without a custom image? You might wish to check that as well.


text:
android 8.0 su not working in terminal on Nexus 5x, ROOTed
android 8.0 su not working in terminal on Nexus 5x, ROOTed. Is anyone else experiencing the same problem? ROOT-based apps work fine, but in terminal emulators when I try su I just get a stalling of the app.

Does adb shell su act the same? On a computer

It works for adb shell surprisingly

I've tried a few terminal emulators off the play store though, and none are working (that worked before on an older version of android)

May be Google has made some changes. Does other commands work?

From the phone's shell, what's the output of type su? From a computer, what's the output of adb shell type su? Does /system/bin/sh su freeze the shell as well?

Other commands seem to work, the ones I have access to. type su returns /su/bin/su for both the terminal and adb shell. And /system/bin/sh su doesn't seem to do anything for both the terminal and adb shell, it just goes back to the prompt bullhead:/ $


text:
Help with dumpsys usagestats [ADB]
I'm totally new to ADB in general and I wanted to try to quantify my app usage throughout a weekly/monthly period. I used the adb shell command dumpsys usagestats
My questions with this is that

Can I specify  time range (a period of 30 days) to get the stats for ?
What does lastTimeSystem and inactiveTime mean ?

In-memory daily stats
  timeRange="9/2/2017, 5:30 AM ΓÇô 9/3/2017, 12:48 AM"
    packages
package=com.facebook.katana totalTime="25:35" lastTime="9/2/2017, 11:43 PM" lastTimeSystem="9/3/2017, 12:02 AM" inactiveTime="37:43"

I also wanted to check how much music I stream but spotify usage is 00:00 Is this a bug or is it because the app runs on the background? (I've been streaming for the past 2+ hours)

package=com.spotify.music totalTime="00:00" lastTime="9/3/2017, 1:28 AM" lastTimeSystem="9/3/2017, 1:28 AM" inactiveTime="01:09"

Is there a way to automate the log saving daily to my storage ?
In my earlier searches the dumpsys showed how many times the app was used as well. How can I get it with this adb version ?

Phone details: OnePlus2 on android 6.0.1


text:
Accidentally uninstalled KingRoot, cannot use root access anymore. Help
Ok so you might be thinking how I did it. Long story short My anti-virus (Webroot mobile) flagged it as a Trojan/Rootkit, and decided it would be a great idea to uninstall it without my concern. Now my root access is bugged and some root apps are bugging out. Any help will be appreciated. BTW I tried installing KingRoot again with the hopes that it will detect something and install itself back on the system.
Phone specs:
OS:    Android 4.4.4
Brand: Lenovo
Model: A6000+
I'm thinking about factory reset, is that going to help?

You cannot install kingroot apk with an active Internet connection. It will be blocked.

"I tried installing KingRoot again" - what happened when you tried?

Well, it just says App is not installed or something like that. You know this screen you see sometimes when installing external apks.

If a custom recovery is installed you may flash SuperSU as it is far more reliable (in my opinion) than the KingoRoot root manager. In SuperSu root manager you can install backup script which may prevent the same situation from happening.

Thank you I will research it and tell you if I can succeed.

BTW when I tried to install KingRoot.apk again, it says App not installed. If you could help me with that, I might be able to fix everything.

You can try installing the SuperSu app from the play store.

I have tried but it says SU binary occupied. I have researched on the error but nothing seems to fix it

It happened to me once, but KingRoot should be a system application. What helped me was a factory reset, but that is only an option you can try getting Kingoroot and try to use it and uninstall anything left from KingRoot (use only a "built-in uninstaller" don't try to remove su-binary stuff), then uninstall Kingoroot and unroot then you can go back again to KingRoot. Although, you want to do a backup as you have the ability to.

When I try to install Kingroot again it fails

Are you sure that you completely removed KingRoot? Use something like System app uninstaller or App2SD's uninstaller which is preferred and completely remove KingRoot then use Broken App Cleaner and reboot, then try to install again, after all you have the backup and factory reset option. @MarinB


text:
How can I enable Wi-Fi calling only when I'm at home?
I have a phone running Android Nougat. I live in location with poor cell service, so I'd like to use Wi-Fi calling at home. But I want to use cell service for phone calls everywhere else, especially when I'm at work or connected to a public hotspot with questionable bandwidth. Is there a way to automate this?
In the Wi-Fi calling settings, I can tell the phone to prefer Wi-Fi or cellular, but it always uses the preferred service if it's available, even if the quality is terrible. So I'm hoping for a solution that automatically enables or disables Wi-Fi calling based on location or network name.

This app does more or less exactly what you want.
You can create rules for entering and leaving an area. You could, for example, if you are at home simply switch off mobile data and connect Wlan.You can also connect the rule with your reception quality, try what works best.

Llama looks like a great app for a lot of things, but not the best choice for this case.  It can turn Wi-Fi on and off, but I want to leave Wi-Fi on all the time.  The only setting I want to change is Wi-Fi calling.


text:
Phone died after installing ROM
I wanted to install Global Developer ROM for my Redmi 3s Prime which I downloaded from their website. So I started with installing TWRP custom recovery and completed successfully.
After this I installed my developer ROM and after success TWRP tool asked me whether to root the phone or not, to which I said YES.
After this blank screen appeared for very long time and nothing happened.
So, I long pressed the power button and now my phone is not booting up at all.
I tried the following things but none of them are working.

Fastboot mode by pressing VOLUME DOWN + POWER buttons.
Recovery mode by pressing VOLUME UP + POWER Buttons
Also tried by pressing all three buttons.

I also ran these commands adb devices and fastboot devices, cannot see my device.
And even the battery charging indicator is also not showing up.
Is there any tool or something which can help me to fix this problem?
Any help is appreciated.

Are you sure you installed version that matches your exact model all phones have their code names (because phones have different variants in some countries)? One more thing did you downloaded stock firmware or custom ROM made by some developer? To me it sounds like hard bricked device.

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје Yes, I've downloaded the correct ROM. On Xiaomi official website there are two ROMs, stable ROM and developer ROM (Both are official). I've used developer ROM.

@ЈеднорукиКрстивоје And I can hear the USB plugin sound when I connect my phone to my laptop. When I try to go into recovery mode while my phone is connected to the laptop, this sound keeps on playing in a loop.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


text:
Why is there no option to choose size in TWRP's resize partition feature?
I'm trying to reflash an old Galaxy Note N5100 but I realized that the system partition is too big (~1.5GB). The current ROM uses only about 40% of the partition so I want to shrink it to make space for cache and data. I heard that newer TWRP has resize2fs so I installed the latest (3.0.2-0) TWRP and try.
But after selected wipe > repair or change file system > resize file system there's no option to choose the new size! I tried swiping to resize it and the system is now even larger (~2.5GB). I checked with fdisk and it's really bigger now.
~ # fdisk -l /dev/block/mmcblk0
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT

Disk /dev/block/mmcblk0: 30777344 sectors, 2740M
Logical sector size: 512
Disk identifier (GUID): 52444e41-494f-2044-4d4d-43204449534b
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 30777310

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            8192           16383       4096K   0700  BOTA0
   2           16384           24575       4096K   0700  BOTA1
   3           24576           65535       20.0M   0700  EFS
   4           65536           81919       8192K   0700  PARAM
   5           81920           98303       8192K   0700  BOOT
   6           98304          114687       8192K   0700  RECOVERY
   7          114688          180223       32.0M   0700  RADIO
   8          180224         3325951       1536M   0700  CACHE
   9         3325952         8568831       2560M   0700  SYSTEM
  10         8568832         9715711        560M   0700  HIDDEN
  11         9715712         9732095       8192K   0700  OTA
  12         9732096        30769151       10.0G   0700  USERDATA

Why is that? Where does the new size come from? Is there anyway to enter the size in TWRP?

Issue shell commands manually. You can do it.

First to clarify, Resize Partition is different than Resize File System, TWRP provides latter option. It resizes the ext2/3/4 filesystem to the size of partition it's created on. Filesystem size can be checked with df command when mounted, and partition size with blockdev.
Just like HDDs or SSDs on PC, Android's eMMC storage is divided into partitions (can be 50+). Some of them have filesystem e.g. the larger ones userdata and system. In simple cases a filesystem occupies a complete physical partition, but it's not always the case, LVM makes it possible to have single filesystem on multiple partitions. Or the opposite what happened in your case as explained here:
Sometimes the zip file of:

a custom ROM does not have the correct size for the system partition and if the ROM flashes a raw system image, that image will not take up the full block device. Running resize2fs can fix the size

Similarly:

Sometimes flashing a factory image may flash userdata with an image with a file system that does not take up the full size of the block device

So TWRP can expand the filesystem to reclaim wasted space. That's what happened in your case to the /system partition. The actual size of partition was 2.5 GB, but flashed image was of 1.5 GB.
Coming to your query:

I realized that the system partition is too big (~1.5GB). The current ROM uses only about 40% of the partition so I want to shrink it to make space for cache and data.

You want to resize partition, not filesystem. So resize2fs (which TWRP uses at back end) isn't the right choice. As your partition table suggests, you need to delete and recreate partitions 9 to 12. IT'S DANGEROUS AND NOT RECOMMENDED, you may permanently brick your device. All data on these partitions will be lost, so do backup. Also, fdisk isn't proper tool for GPT, it's for MBR partition scheme. Use parted or gdisk instead, but with great care.
RELATED:

How disk space is used on Android device?
Partitions and Filesystems on Android devices


text:
Way to "find & replace" on android device in multible files
Is there a way, possible an app free (without obligations demanted) avaliable, or tricks, to find and replace strings in many files, such as html?
(Note: a IT-dummy is asking)

Download Termux, install sed by running
packages install sed

and you'll be able to batch replace them with Regular Expressions. Now you have two problems!


text:
Remove Phh's superuser?
I have TCL Alcatel Pixi 4 (5) 5010D phone that i bought and decided to root it. I was kinda new to this kind of rooting (a bit complex) because i used kingroot before and it worked just fine till i got this phone and no app for rooting helped me which lead me to rooting using my computer.
I've searched on google and found one thread on XDA by kirito9, showing his tutorial on rooting Alcatel pixi phones and i've found mine there. Multiple choices occured and i couldn't decide which one is easier for me. So i went on to try phh's superuser method. Everything went fine, i've got TWRP installed on my phone and flashed phh's superuser onto my phone, rebooted and... well it booted fine. Installed the required superuser and Titanium Backup. Superuser worked fine and so did Titanium Backup.
Later i decided to uninstall some system apps that i didn't need and were wasting space so i downloaded system app remover and allowed root access.. as soon as i tried to uninstall the app, my device rebooted. I thought that was a normal process but i saw that the app did not uninstall. Tried again, same thing. After doing some research, found out that i don't have access to rewriting /system and files in it at all. I tried downloading an app again to make /system rewritable, but no access. Then tried it through ADB but didn't work as well.
So not sure but i think that's half root which i don't want, i wanted full root but i didn't get it. Now i wish to remove this phh's superuser and trying to get root another way if i can without bricking my device and of course, making /system rewritable so i can uninstall useless apps. Can't even install busybox because of this. Would appreciate help on both uninstalling phh's superuser and getting another method of safely rooting my phone.

My speculation on why: on newer Android versions /system is often protected from modifications using dm-verity, which can reboot the OS as soon as a corrupted block is discovered. dm-verity is turned on in the kernel and there's no universal way of turning it off unless you use another (custom) kernel, which many devices just don't have. You'll probably have to resort to pm disable or pm hide.

Also, deleting apps from /system does not save you space.

Not trying to save space, they're just annoying as i dont need them. So i cant do anything about this? I wish to install busybox as well, not just uninstalling system apps but its not allowing me due to /system not being rewritable. I wish i could install Viper4android but still makes changes to /system files when it's installing it's own drivers but even after reboot no changes are made.

I did say that you can use pm disable or pm hide. Other /system modifications would have to be "systemless", i.e. applied outside /system. Look up "Magisk" - it's the systemless solution people are using now, and should work with PHH Superuser as well. I have no hands-on experience with systemless though, so I can't help you much further in that aspect.

I can give magisk a try, but i still don't know how to remove phh's superuser completely from my device as that's what magisk requires me to do before installing it.

You should try this using es file explorer.
In the dash board of es file explorer, go to tools then turn on  the switch for root explorer. After that consider turning recycle bin on for later restores. Next tap on root explorer and a subwindow should open . Select Mount R/W. That's rewrite permission. Still there, you can select uninstall system apps. It should work well. Proceed with caution and at your own risk


text:
How to fix "Unable to mount storage" error while trying to root xperia phone?
In order to root a Sony Xperia XA phone (using an Ubuntu computer and USB connection) I follow the steps described here until step 12. First, I am not able to select Micro SDCard. But I am able to copy the zip file to the internal storage of the phone. But when I try to install it (step 13), the process soon stops because of an error displayed on the phone:
Unable to mount storage

How to fix this? What am I doing wrong?
Addendum: I managed to copy the zip file to an SD card and to start the installation from there. No error occurs, but no installation either; the phone is still not rooted...

Is your phone encrypted or has any locking abilities?

How to find this out?

In settings: 1. developer settings >OEM restriction 2. securtiy>if device encryption is greyed out the device is encrypted

OEM unlock is enabled and phone seems to be encrypted (Option Encrypt phone says: Encrypted). Will a factory reset remove the encryption?

A factory reset will remove the encryption only if your device is on KitKat or older Android, on the latest Android versions starting from Lollipop, Encryption is forced just after Factory reset or Firmware Upgrade.

You should go to mount menu and check all the boxes you, thengo to wipe to erase data partition successfully (you should be to be able to Format data partition before skipping to step 13), then reboot the device in TWRP again and again mount all partitions including OTG/ External Storage / SD Card whatever the device you are using to store SuperUser.zip and continue your mission.


text:
Stuck on Asus boot logo after flash Lineage OS
I have flashed my Asus Zenfone Max ZC550KL with lineage-14.1-20170406-Z010D.zip and Open Gapps x64  7.1 stock version.
After successful installation of both it gets stuck on asus boot logo

If you are flashing a stock ROM for the first time, it takes a considerable amount of time to boot up. You could:

Try waiting a little longer(10-15 minutes)
Flash the ROM only without the GAPPS and boot
Try another Custom ROM

If it boots up up without flashing GAPPS, then you  should probably use a lighter version of it, either
pico or nano


text:
ghost-input with phone screen-locked
I use my phone to hear music via bluetooth while doing my running training.
I always screen-lock the phone and put it into a hip belt, where it sits tight. Obviously it gets shaken while I'm running. I don't use a phone case.
It randomly happens that the phone all of a sudden changes music, stops it or even starts something else like a youtube video. It does completely random stuff like going into flight mode or writing ghost emails. :-)
When I notice it because the music stopped/changed I get it out of the hip belt and see that the screen is activated.
How can that happen and what can I do to avoid it?
I consider getting a case but since I wouldn't normally use one I'd prefer a simpler solution.
Thanks!

Galaxy S7 edge, Android 7.0
Screen unlock with either fingerprint sensor or pattern-unlock
Teufel AIRY


text:
How to detect spy software like flexispy, mspy, phonesheriff?
I don't want to factory reset my phone nor do I want to reflash Lineage OS ROM. I just want to check for a possible trace of spy software like flexispy, mspy, phonesheriff, ikeymonitor thetruthspy, and possibly others that I don't know of.
Just to check for root is enough? I have not installed the root feature of Lineage OS.
Is there any way which could do that? I don't mind doing things manually but I need to know instructions or pointers to begin with.

I have seen a site suggesting using a wifi access point to sniff network traffic from/to the phone. I could turn my rpi into an AP and sniff traffic but it will be tedious to check for every connection made by the phone to see if it's legit or not. But I could try. I just hoped for something else.

So the AP idea has limited value because there is encrypted traffic. And all info you have is at best a domain name or worse only an IP that the phone connected to. You could only make limited guesses then...


text:
Is it possible to add a "clear all app button" in android stock
I'm using a moto G (2015) which has android 6 stock. There is no button to clear all apps launched.  By "clear" I mean quit and delete cache. Some skins have such button sometimes represented by a carpet sweeper icon.
I know there is no need to clear opened applications. Android is managed them, will clear them for you if needed, and if you quit an app manually, she will be slower to open.
But I don't like to have a list of recently opened apps (in order) available to whom take my phone. Sometimes, the browser (firefox) remember my last search and I don't want that (I use also inbrowser but needed firefox for the sync feature).
Is it a simple way to add a clear button to android stock?

The Xposed module GravityBox has it, though I'm not sure if it clears the apps as hard as you'd like.

Click whichever button you clicked on your OS to display list of opened apps, and there should be a way to clear/close all of them from this screen. For me there's an X on the bottom middle and displays how much memory these apps used up. Clicking that X closes them all.

The feature heavily depends on whether the skin of the OEM implemented it. As far as I know, since Moto loads the phone with a skin close to AOSP Android, they have no such button, and that's why OP is asking.

@AndyYan ah, I see. For me on various phones option to clear all was somewhere on that screen. Though not always so obvious. I saw that X, but it was a while till I figured what it does, because I thought it just exits so I always used back button instead ;)

A really good Launcher by MS called "Arrow launcher" comes with a dedicated icon on screen that also accomplishes this. But that's a whole launcher so probably not what OP wants. IMHO it's better than Nova Launcher which I was using before. Efficient and clean.


text:
How can I change the default calendar for Cortana?
When I use voice command for Cortana to add an event to my calendar, it defaults to the wrong Google account calendar.  I have to manually switch to the correct calendar each time.

I'm signed in to Cortana with the correct account, which is a "Microsoft" account using my primary Google email address.
I have gone to "Manage Calendars" on my device and 'turned off' the calendar for the other account.
I have cleared the cache & data for the Cortana app and signed back in with the correct account.

I do not want to remove the other Google account from the phone completely, as I still use it (primarily for YouTube and games), but I do not use that account's calendar for anything ever.  I have no clue why Cortana insists on using it or even knows it exists.
Device details:

SAMSUNG-SM-930V (Galaxy S7)
Android v6.0.1
Rooted

I believe you need to contact Microsoft for this..


text:
Huawei P8 with or without dual sim?
I found out that Huawei P8 (not lite, not plus) supports dual sim, when I can insert only 1 sim and 1 sd, without possibility to swich sd for second sim. I tried micro and nano sim and none fits to sd slot.
Are there two versions of Huawei P8? Is it possible to check whether my phone supports dual sim?

There is indeed a single SIM variant of P8 (GRA-L09), and additionally it is mainly sold internationally (e.g. Europe) - do you have this variant?

Unfortunately... DualSim variant has code GRA-UL00. Post it as an answer so I can accept it

There are several variants for P8:
GRA-UL00 - LTE/WCDMA for China Unicom ("open"), dual SIM;
GRA-TL00 - TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA for China Mobile, dual SIM;
GRA-CL00 - LTE/CDMA for China Telecom, dual SIM;
(the 3 above comes with GRA-*L10 sub-variants with 64GB storage instead of 16GB)
...and finally GRA-L09 - international LTE with European bands, single SIM.
The dual SIM variants have one slot for either a nano-SIM or a MicroSD card, and a dedicated slot for a nano-SIM, as shown below. You did mention that one SD and one nano-SIM can be inserted at the same time - that means you do own a dual SIM variant, just didn't get the correct way to utilize it.

Huawei P8 has dual SIM support. You should put the 2nd nano SIM "vertically" so that it fits into the slot.

Hmmm... Stack Exchange does not allow image links in HTTP. Sad.

Posted an answer myself then saw you already used literally the same pic in link form... facepalm


text:
samsung galaxy note 3 factory reset
I have a samsung galaxy note 3. I tried to do a soft factory reset and my phone shut down and now it's been more than 15 minutes and my phone is flashing the samsung galaxy note logo then the little android guy laying with a red error on him and it goes back and forth.
Is that normal? should it take long??

Sounds like you have a boot loop.  No, that's not normal.  It sounds like you should attempt doing another factory reset from Recovery, or you might end up having to flash the device.


text:
Completeness of wiping lost android phone through ADM
I lost my Android phone. It was stolen by someone.
I erased all data and already got a notification from Android Device Manager when my phone was off. I worried, then I change all my google account passwords.
Does Android erase my data including photos in internal storage when I change my Google account password? I am very worried about my photos.

Android won't erase any device data simply by changing the account password.  I am unsure as to whether photos are erased when ADM does a wipe, however.

Google can only relay commands to your stolen phone if it's powered on and connected (either via cellular data or wifi).  If the thief knows this, they may be able to power up the phone in a location with no signal and no wifi and connect it to a computer with a USB cord to extract the stored photos (and likely other personal information).
The first/best protection against this is a secure locking method on the phone itself.  If you have a PIN to unlock, it's unlikely the thief will be able to access the stored data (can't say if this applies to all phones or Android versions, but my old Samsung with Lollipop warned that ten wrong PIN entries would result in the phone resetting to factory original condition).  If you have a good, strong password, it's even less likely the thief can access the contents.  Even a gesture unlock is better than no lock.
If your phone has no lock set up, you need to assume that all your photos may appear on the internet.  There's really nothing of consequence preventing it, in this situation.

While the first protection may be a lockscreen PIN/pass/whatever, it'd be best to combine it with storage encryption for optimal security.

@DeathMaskSalesman Is there ever an end to "better" in means of security?

@SarpSTA Not until there will be an end in regards to prying eyes, I reckon.

@DeathMaskSalesman Exactly!

@SarpSTA Let's rephrase my first reply, then! "On this third day of the ninth month of the year 2017, I thereby consider encryption to be the best measure to protect one's data on an Android-powered device. Do not mistakenly believe my word to stand the test of time, though, as security is ever fluid."

@DeathMaskSalesman I didn't mean to challenge what you initially said if I sounded like that. I wanted to extend your point.

@SarpSTA Never said you sounded patronizing, man. It was a funny way to practice my English, nonetheless.


text:
Headphone Buttons and USB-C Adapters
I owe a which doesn't have a 3.5mm headphone jack. Instead, it use my headphones with a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter. While the speakers and the mic work, the buttons don't. They're assigned incorrect functions. Play/Pause works, but Vol+ decreases the volume and Vol- selects things on the screen.
I wanna change this behaviour. Using the app "KeyEvent Display", I figured out that

Vol+ triggers "linux key code number" 114
Vol-  triggers "linux key code number" 259
Play/Pause  triggers "linux key code number" 226

Using the android documentation, I figured out that the buttons are all managed by /system/usr/keylayout/Generic.kl. I could get the expected behaviour by changing the following lines:
key 114 VOLUME_UP
key 226 HEADSETHOOK
key 259 VOLUME_DOWN

However, this interfered with the function of other buttons of my phone!
That's why I want to create a device-specific config file. For this, I need either the device name or the vendor and product IDs. (As explained in the android documentation.) However, I don't know to get those. The app "USB Device Info" didn't show any connected device. This is the shortened output of cat /proc/bus/input/devices:
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0003 Version=2061
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
I: Bus=0019 Vendor=0001 Product=0001 Version=0100
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000
I: Bus=0000 Vendor=0000 Product=0000 Version=0000

Full output: here.
Relevant output of "Under the Hood": pastebin.com/kDeBNS0H
I made a file containing the above code and tried giving it the following file names (rebooting every time): Vendor_0000_Product_0003.kl, Vendor_0000_Product_0000.kl, Vendor_0001_Product_0001.kl, but nothing worked.
Can anyone help me?

Is the converter active (digital), or passive (analog)? If you don't know, the price might be a hint.

I think it's passive.

Using the keytest app, I found out that the device ID of the headphones     (2) differed from the device ID of the regular volume buttons (7 and 3).
Now, I only had to find out the device name corresponding to the device ID. This I did using a terminal emulator:
$ su
$ getevent
add device 1: /dev/input/event7
name: "msm8976-skun-snd-card Headset Jack"
add device 2: /dev/input/event6
name: "msm8976-skun-snd-card Button Jack"
add device 3: /dev/input/event4
name: "qpnp_pon"
add device 4: /dev/input/event3
name: "qwerty"
could not get driver version for /dev/input/mouse1, Not a typewriter
add device 5: /dev/input/event2
name: "hbtp_vm"
add device 6: /dev/input/event1
name: "input_mt_wrapper"
could not get driver version for /dev/input/mice, Not a typewriter
add device 7: /dev/input/event5
name: "gpio-keys"
could not get driver version for /dev/input/mouse0, Not a typewriter
add device 8: /dev/input/event0
name: "synaptics_dsx_s2"

According to the documentation, all characters other than 0-9, a-z, A-Z and - are replaced by _. Thus, I created a new file: /system/usr/keylayout/msm8976-skun-snd-card_Button_Jack.kl with the following content:
# Configuration file for LeEco Le 2 headphone buttons
key 114 VOLUME_UP
key 226 HEADSETHOOK
key 259 VOLUME_DOWN

After a reboot, I got the expected behaviour!


text:
Can't copy files from Windows to Android?
I have a Galaxy 5s with a 32GB external card, which I connect to my Windows 7 x64 PC with a USB 2.0 cable.   I can copy files from my phone to the PC all day long with no problems.  Copying files to the phone from the PC is virtually impossible, however.
I can open the phone's card in Windows Explorer, and look at all the files.   But trying to copy anything onto the card hangs explorer.  Right now I'm trying to copy a 42MB MP3 file from my PC to the phone - it's telling me "27 minutes to go" and it's already taken half an hour.
I checked this question from 2013 which seems like the same problem, but basically the answers were "you can't get there from here."   Was wondering if anyone had a solution for this.

Is copying to the phone's internal storage feasible?

have you tried adb/ftp/methods?

Can't really copy to the phone's internal storage, it's nearly full.   I don't want to fill it up completely and risk corrupting all my data.

As a fast solution I would recommend FTPServer as mentioned above.I had a similar problem and that was the drivers from Samsung.Maybe a little driver upgrade would solve your problem . Google USB Driver

Thanks, I'll try upgrading the driver and see if that helps!

It is definitely a driver problem - tried it on another PC and it worked fine.  So, Android is off the hook and it's Windows.   I will keep looking and post any additional information.

I've got 3 possible solutions.
1) If your drivers and Android OS are up to date, I would simply purchase a microSD card adapter and insert it directly into your PC. This avoids the problem alltogether.
2) On the free side of things, you can upload the file you want from your PC to google drive (or other cloud service) and download it to your phone.
3) The problem might be with your SDcard. You might want to verify that it is the capacity it says it is. Sometimes cards are counterfeit and will be only 2gb or less in size. You can use H2testw to verify what the actual size is.
Hope I helped!

Windows 7 to Samsung A32 Card: I can copy files from a USB stick inserted in the Windows 7 PC to the Android card. I cannot copy files directly from the PC hard disk to the Android.
So I can copy from the PC to an inserted USB stick and then from the USB stick to the Android!


text:
Recover lost photo from Instagram stories
I took a photo to upload Instagram Stories but I have deleted it unintentionally without publishing or saving it when I was editing the photo in Instagram's built-in photo editor.
Is it possible to recover this photo?

I have found the solution. The photos are saved in a folder of cache. If you are root user you can recovere them. There are in the next path: /data/data/com.instagram.android/cache/original_images


text:
TWRP: What should I select in Backup on OnePlus 5
I'm new to TWRP and I'm going to be installing a custom.ROM/Kernel. I've messed up my device a few times by installing random things. I've fixed it now, and I'd like to start making backups. I know that the OnePlus 5 has dm-verity and I've heard that dm-verity prevents some backups. What should I select in backup in TWRP for the OP5?

I have found that backing up what it selects by default (System, Data, and Boot) are often what you need. System is the entire OS besides the Kernel and Ramdisk. Data is the userdata. Boot is the boot, as the name suggests.


text:
Android 7 ignoring Auto Updates turned OFF. Any solution?
In Settings -> System apps updater, I've turned  "Auto updates" to OFF. However, I've just received a message "5 apps updated". In fact it has updated Gmail, Maps, Chrome, Google Photos and Telegram.
It has changed a number of settings on those apps WHICH I DON'T WANT TO CHANGE.
Among those apps I only want to update Telegram, so why do the rest of them update against my will and change it's configuration?? I can't believe how far is Google going on forcing users to do what they don't want to.
How can I effectively tell Android that I don't want it's updates?
EDIT:  Besides the information Matthew Read pointed, one can uninstall these updates on Settings -> Installed apps -> [Each app], so one can free a great quantity of space.

Updates to Android (the operating system) are completely separate from updates to apps.  You can only control the former through the system Settings app.
To disable automatic updates for applications: Open the Play Store app, go to Settings → Auto-update apps, and select "Do not auto-update apps".


text:
Fix Broken Launcher on Soft-Bricked Device
I recently tried to remove the Google search bar on my homescreen using this tutorial by disabling the Google Search app in settings. It turns out I was using the Google Now launcher, and so when I rebooted the launcher broke and sent me into some kind of recovery mode (not the proper android recovery mode.) It went through the booting animation, but then just came up with an alert saying 'Optimising Apps: 1/150', which cycled through each app and 'optimised' it. Upon completion, a black screen came up and the phone rebooted itself.
I'm using an unrooted Moto G2 which had Marshmallow running on it. I'm wondering how to reinstall my OS or otherwise restore my device; I don't care about data as it is backed up.
Any ideas how to fix/reinstall my Android installation?

If all you did was disabling the Google App then it shouldn't have caused such havoc - try initiating a factory reset from fastboot first.

Would that be the 'Factory' option in the fastboot menu that I get when pressing Power+VolDown? If so, that just does a 'normal' powerup which gets stuck in a bootloop like turning the device on normally.

Yeah I meant that. If that doesn't work out for you, you'd have to flash a factory image, also via fastboot. For that you'll need to know your exact model number (should be on the fastboot screen as "XT10xx".

@AndyYan Maybe OP removed the launcher? Does their model come with Google Now?

@DeathMaskSalesman He did explicitly say it was a bootloop, whereas a removed launcher should at least present a black screen after the boot animation...

@AndyYan Correct. I was just "checking if you were paying attention", is all. cough

@AndyYan After the boot animation and after a modal appears saying 'Optimising Apps', which runs for a few minutes, it briefly comes up with a black screen before rebooting.

@DeathMaskSalesman My phone does use the default launcher which I believe is Google Now. I thought I turned it off in settings, but I must've only disabled the Google Now feed.

@AndyYan I just visited the link OP posted, and they indeed suggest to disable Google Now. Given the additional info Tobsta mentioned, it does quite seem a missing launcher's symptom.

@Tobsta Could you update your question with these findings, please? Also, did you not install another launcher as suggested in your link?

@DeathMaskSalesman Silly me, I wasn't thinking clearly when I first asked the question. I was in a hurry at the time and I misread the article, assuming that installing a different launcher was a separate solution. I'll update the question now.

Ok, I've worked out how to factory reset my device. It seems there are two recovery menus - one when you press Power+VolDown and other when you select the 'Recovery' option in the aforementioned menu (which shows a dead android saying "No Command"), hold the power button and then tap the volume down button. Both menus have a factory reset option, but only the latter (as far as I know) works.
Now that I know my device is recoverable, is there any way for me to avoid having to factory reset for convenience?

Solved my own question, thanks for the help.
To get into recovery mode on my Moto G2, I first went into the bootloader by force shutting down the bootlooping device (hold power until it turns off) and then pressing Power and Volume Down at the same time for 2-5 seconds. I then selected 'Recovery', which came up with the boot animation and then a dead android with the words 'No Command' written above. I then pressed Power for 5-6 seconds and tapped the Volume Down button, which took me to the recovery mode menu.
I then selected the option 'Wipe data/factory reset' and selected 'Userdata only'. Once it wiped that, I rebooted and waited ~10mins at the booting animation before it took me through the Android setup wizard. All of my data was restored through Google Drive and Google Photos, even stuff like the order in which apps were displayed on my homescreen.


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Is it possible to run a custom kernel that works with T-mobile wifi calling?
I am interested in understanding if it is possible to install a very lean version of Android (to maximize performance) and maintain TMO wifi calling.  If you have had success using a custom kernel and configuring to work with TMO wifi calling please state this in your reply.


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Strange T-Mobile Behavior
My LTE smartphone supports frequencies shown at the bottom of this message. I have been using this phone without issues on T-mobile for about 3 years but last month or so I noticed that LTE switches to Edge when I receive an incoming call. Ditto when making an outgoing call. As a result, I lose internet when a call is active. If I drive 10 miles away to the next city then phone's behavior changes. In that city, LTE switches to 3G/HSPA+ whenever there is a call active so I can keep the internet while making the call.
Did anyone else see similar symptoms on their phone? Any ideas if T-mobile might have "out-frequencied" my phone in my city?
My phone supports following: -
GSM: 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz; Bands: 1/2/4/5/8
3G: 850, 900, 1700, 1900 and 2100 MHz
LTE: 700, 1700, 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2600 MHz; Bands: 1/3/4/7/17/38/40
VoLTE: Not supported by my phone
Update 1: Just to clarify my question - I expect my phone to switch from LTE to 3G/HSPA+ when a call is active. But unfortunately, it is going from LTE to Edge in my city. Why?

I do believe that is called csfb (circuit switched fallback) here is my source http://www.telecomabc.com/c/csfb.html

Thank you, I understand that. I expect my phone to switch from LTE to 3G/HSPA+ when a call is active. But unfortunately, it is going from LTE straight to Edge in my city. Why?


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Is there currently a method to install Android as the main OS for Lumia 640 LTE?
Sorry if this has already been answered. I've scrounged for recent answers about whether it is possible to replace a Lumia 640 Microsoft phone OS with Android, but as far as I can tell it's not yet possible. I figured you guys would have a better idea than myself.
Long and short of my asking is that I bought one, and I just don't like the OS at all. I'm very much a novice with rooting and any sort of software manipulation, so I came here hoping for some good news.

Not (feasibly) possible... I had a few Lumia 640's and they were decent phones for $30 (the last price AT&T corporate stores had them for), but there is no Android build for them, although it has a SnapDragon 400 processor and 1Gb of RAM, there is no device tree or kernel source, so it is not possible for the average user to accomplish this task.

See: Can I install Android on my non-Android device? So in short: if someone has ported a ROM, it might be possible. But note that asking for off-site resources (ROMs, apps etc) is off-topic here.


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How to disable charge waiting time Alcate 9024w
My Alcatel A30 tablet 9024w is a great tablet but it has this issue. If i let my tablet die it will be 20 minutes of charging until i can use it again. I would like to disable this self-imposed limitation.
And btw, I know there's gonna be that one huy who's like, "isn't that bad for the battery if you do that?" And I am going to say right now, I dont care.
(Sorry if i come off a bit harsh)