text:
Why does the system take up so much of the internal storage space?
I have a tecno c9 it has taken me about 2.5GB for apps and I still have system which has taken more than 5.5GB, so I dont understand why the system takes up so much space of the total 16GB that I currently have.
Is there a way I can optimise this internal storage space (16GB), because it really is a lot of space, however it seems its so little?

Well to answer your question, I think it is important to first read the insufficient-memory tag wiki to get some insight.
A significant amount of memory in internal storage is taken by "system" (/system, /data partitions etc) and in some cases is reserved memory.
Some manufacturers include preloaded applications (sometimes known as bloatware) and these reside in /data or /system or /cust (in my case) partitions. It is virtually impossible to view the breakdown of these files without root privileges. Some space is reserved for ROM updates, acts as system buffer or caches storage etc.
While it's difficult to uninstall unnecessary applications residing in these "system" partitions, there are a few methods that can help you optimize your space

check for pre-installed apps you don't need. Clear their caches and
  data, then uninstall their updates and finally disable them (so they
  won't get updated again).

While pre-installed apps reside in the /system partition (which you cannot utilize without root), their data and updates consume space on the /data partition which gets freed this way.
If you have acquired root privileges try moving some apps to other storage (SDcard) via App2SD


text:
Android Debug Bridge (adb) backup/restore
I'm a bit confused with output bellow and was hoping someone can help me to decipher it for me)
backup/restore:
 backup [-f FILE] [-apk|-noapk] [-obb|-noobb] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|-nosystem] [PACKAGE...]
     write an archive of the device's data to FILE [default=backup.adb]
     package list optional if -all/-shared are supplied
     -apk/-noapk: do/don't back up .apk files (default -noapk)
     -obb/-noobb: do/don't back up .obb files (default -noobb)
     -shared|-noshared: do/don't back up shared storage (default -noshared)
     -all: back up all installed applications
     -system|-nosystem: include system apps in -all (default -system)
 restore FILE             restore device contents from FILE

My goal is very simple here; I'm about to perform factory reset and would like to take a backup of my phone, so I can restore my phone as it is now (before factory reset) (what is .obb files??)
Would following help me accomplish my goal or do I need something else like -all?

adb backup -f 05102017 -shared -nosystem

Please advise.

Just for curiosity: what good is a factory reset when doing a full restore afterwards, bringing everything back (except the things that backup doesn't cover, like SMS)? From a full backup you only can do a full restore (except for some tricks you only can do with root). So wouldn't you rather prefer separate backup packages for a selective restore? If so, you might wish to take a look at my tool Adebar, which a.o. would generate the necessary scripts for that. And: .obb is Opaque Binary Blob.

@Izzy my boot-loader is unlocked, and I want to re-lock it and in order for that to happen, factory reset would be performed cleaning up my phone and I'd like to get back to same state as I am now (just with locked boot-loader), I wish to use native tools only, such as adb.

AFAIK a factory-reset is only performed on unlocking the bootloader (as otherwise an unauthorized could gain access to your data that way), but not on re-locking it. OK, got the idea – never wrong to have a backup, especially before operations like that :) PS: Note that such a backup would include SD card contents as well (which then also would be restored), so the archive can get quite big.

@Izzy, that's not true as of now factory reset is required on re-locking as well. I don't have /sdcard in my phone (only internal memory).

First time I hear that – but thanks for the detail. They always invent new craziness… What does "as of now" refer to? A specific device, or a specific Android version?

@Izzy My device Nexus 6p w/ Android 7.1.2.

OK, so it is "N" specific (either Nexus or Nougat or both)…

@Izzy Maybe Nexus 6p specific? as I do remember having same thing with Android M as well on my phone.

You might be right with that, see e.g. here. Could also be introduced post-5.0 in general together with that FRP stuff (didn't check there). But we shouldn't further discuss this in the comments here :)

@Izzy I'm a bit surprised, as one would assume android.stack would know how to make backup using adb, yet still no answer for my question...

As I wrote: I never use full backups (I don't like to place all my eggs into a single basket). But have you already checked with our adb tag-wiki, our backup tag-wiki, and especially with answered questions using both these tags? :) Pointers from the latter: ADB backup is not working / What all does ADB backup and how do I restore part of it?

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is there a way to get an android image without root?
I wanna get a raw image from my Android Phone (5.0) to a PC using dd command, but i don't want to root it. So, i'm looking for a way for do it. Sorry about my english and  thanks in advance for your time.

Some Qualcomm phones have a "Download mode" that shows the phone as a raw disk

If there's a fitting TWRP for your device, you could fastboot boot twrp.img (without installing) and thus having a "temporary root" to run the dd.

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


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Battery Popup at 25%
I seem to have run into a bit of a challenge on one of our Android/Samsung devices...
On the device, regardless of what's open, when the battery reaches 25% on discharge, the below screen pops up and covers the entire screen, with MUCH difficulty to get rid of. I've tried to trace it to a certain app, but was unsuccessful in doing so.

Can someone perhaps help with some advice on this, on how to get rid of it?

I just got this out of the blue as well, I had to soft reset to get rid of the popup. I can't trace it back to any setting.

This is caused by the Peel Remote app. I deleted this app and it stopped.

I trust you, but we'll see... My phone is fully charged atm

Can confirm that this works. My popup is no more!

Confirmed again, S5. The popup is no longer a problem. Can't believe Peel shows system-like notifications. It is also against the developer policies, no app can show system-like notifications.

I started thinking it was an actual system popup. It  cannot be dismissed and often pops up every 2%. It is draining my battery telling me to save battery power :/ This has been reproduced on 2 samsung devices (S5 and S6 Edge), peel was the cause both times

I did visited the Settings => Device => Sounds and notifications => App Notifications => Peel Remote
Over there, I unchecked the Block. It now does not shows the notifications as shown in the image above.
Hence it resolved issue on my phone by keeping the application intact. [No need to uninstall/disable the app]

This looks to be a default setting popup which shows when your battery level reaches to a preset value of 25%. You can change these in Settings->Battery->BatterySaver option where you can either set the level to show the popup at 15% or 10% or you can turn it off by setting the turn on automatically option to NEVER.

My only fix is to plug my phone in... It instantly goes away at that point.
Though I'd rather it not happen in the first place. It's very intrusive.


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Fakestore, blankstore, gms, microg, unifiednlp - what's best for Android without Gapps?
I've been running Android for maybe 2 years without Gapps or a Google account, and like the experience, but I'd also like to do it better because some apps I used to use, now don't run without some Google services. I researched NoGapps but don't quite understand the  information well enough, and the different packages available, to know what I need.
It looks like these are packages that simulate the Google play store and main services APIs but return either null data, minimal responses, or data from other open source providers? But I can't find a clear explanation what options there are, and the main differences between them, to help me choose what to install.
My current phone is lineage 14.1 + SuperSU 2.79 on a Samsung S7 G930F, and I don't use the Play Store (I use FDroid and sideloading).
Update
Just to clarify (following @Izzy's excellent "basics" reply so far), the main issue thinking about it isn't so much "which of these packages can I use to replace a Google library".
The real issue is, to what extent do these No Gapps alternatives meet the presumed goal of allowing software to still work (by faking a playstore/location provider/other service that they expect GApps to have provided), but also in reality sanitising or avoiding actually using Google for these, or reducing and making clear what data is sent to Google if it's used.
So for example, Fakestore sends nothing to Google, period, its job is to fake that Google Play Store is installed and its Android API working, but unfortunately unreachable/empty.  But for the rest, it's really hard to know what's still sent and what's sanitised or not sent. If all there is, is a FOSS reimplementation of a Google Library, same data, same auth, mostly same logging/datamining, that's a bit weak and unfortunate, even if unavoidable. If Nlp can fully avoid Google and use more trustworthy sources, that's better. But this is the kind of information and discussion I can't find details about.
I'm realistic here - a person who wants an app that needs Google Push Notifications, has to either fake that functionality as installed but not responsive, or use code that cleans the data and does data leak avoidance as best possible, or must accept they can't use that app. But the information needed for that decision is clarity as to what these NoGapps softwares can do, to minimise or avoid data leaks, and how far they can go to distangling from Google.
That's pretty central to "why I want to use them". I'd like to be clearer what their compromises are and what's possible or not, in terms of data and info passed to Google, and I'm not, which is all that stops me enjoying them ATM.

Some basics first:

NoGAPPS is deprecated and got replaced by its successor, µG (read: microG).
µG includes the core (basically, GServices) and also UnifiedNlp.
No GService replacements will support the Google License API. That's much too hot an area. While we all love dentists, we better not see them working on us (replace "dentists" by "lawyers" in this context).
there are ways to access PlayStore, though, and you've mentioned some candidates:

BlankStore: Deprecated, no longer maintained except for bugfixes, but its successor not yet ready. Supports only free apps.
FakeStore: As the name suggests, only a "fake" – i.e. it fakes the presence of Playstore to apps not working otherwise.
Yalp: Like BlankStore but still maintained, plus supporting apps you've already bought (but not the process of buying and not the license check some paid apps perform).
More candidates in my corresponding app list.

I'm running that combination (CyanogenMod + µG with UnifiedNlp + BlankStore/Yalp) for about 2 years now. The only thing I found not working was paid apps that wished to verify their license against GPlay – apart from that, everything runs smoothly. For details, you might wish to see my article series on Android without Google. Note that, however, there seem to be some issues concerning LOS 14.x and UnifiedNlp currently; for details, please check with the issue tracker on µG's Github presence.
You can find the implementation status in the project's wiki, as well as a short introduction. In terms of privacy, you can derive from those two:

Acting as a replacement for the closed-source Google Apps (GAPPS), it is a powerful tool to reclaim your privacy while enjoying Android core features.

(from the introduction; emphasis mine). In the implementation status, take a closer look at two columns: Functionality and Crashing. If both are "No", we have a dummy: Apps think it's there, but absolutely nothing is happening in there (especially no data transmission); this is and always will be the case for Analytics and Ads, for example. No functionality and crashing means there's nothing implemented (not even a dummy) – so apps accessing that might crash, but again nothing is transmitted (currently e.g. Auto and Cast).
If data is transmitted, to my knowledge this is limited to the absolute minimum for the functionality to be achieved. This e.g. includes Google Cloud Messaging (token, id and obviously the message must be exchanged, where the latter is usually incoming only), Account Authentication (guess what: account name and token/password must be sent for that, or there can't be an authentication), Maps API (must obviously send the desired position for the tiles to be retrieved – but this doesn't go to Google, as it uses OpenStreetMap/OpenScienceMap instead). Fused Locations doesn't run via Google either, as it uses the UnifiedNlp backends instead.

That's really helpful basics, thanks. Thinking about it, what's not clear to me (and matters) is, how much each of these just re-implements as FOSS the same Google API calls (and hence still raises the same basic issues just via different middleware), or needs a Google login, etc), and how much they do detach you from Google. I'm realistic, if you want Google notifications/email/search/voice/calendar, it's realistic that Google will datamine it en route. But there's no clear information for most of these about what's been detached from Google vs what's relayed to them, which would help loads

See my update, hope it's clear now. Speaking of "clear": I will clear out the now redundant comments which I integrated with the answer already :)

Thanks - that really is clear! One last question (optional) - is there anywhere a list of exactly what data and/or tracking capability is inevitable, for each Google library function, to get a sense of "Using feature/API X, isn't possible unless one lets Google have data Y; however you can randomise the tokens or wipe them each time for at least data Z"? That would be very wonderful, but if it exists, I can't find it

I'm not aware of that, and rather deal with it "by my guts" (e.g. with Xprivacy, randomizing things like location, device IDs etc.). But what data exactly is sent in which context is beyond my knowledge. If you really want to investigate that, you'd have to "snoop" the network packets I'm afraid – unless someone had already done exactly that, and you can turn up the results. Though even that might change with new versions of the services/apps…


text:
Using LineageOS native SSHD over ADB
Ive got most of the way to getting native sshd working over usb (mainly for shell and winscp), but very murky and not quite there yet. I want to use the built-in sshd, not download an app for it.
Lineageos has a built-in SSHD and ADB allows forwarding from local host:XXXX to the phone on port 22. I've got a sshd_config file ready (password for now, RSA later), and Terminal + su all working. By trial and error I've found the sshd-start or start-sshd files and I'm probably most of the way there. But its hard to reproduce a trial and error approach and I haven't actually got it there yet.
The furthest I've got is that I can run ssh (client) on the phone and it'll at least try to connect to itself (in another terminal window), but doesn't yet fully reach a shell prompt. It gave errors on /var/run/etc and on missing an 'empty' dir which I manually created and seem to help but I don't really know if that's the right or best way to do it.
Assuming I have a valid config file and a clean install with no changes, what are the basic steps from the start, so.I can enable native sshd, start/stop it manually (not started with system), and access it across adb?
I would like to use /sdcard/sshdata for any keys/config, so they are preserved across installing, and for the moment, password over adb via usb only (not WiFi). I'm happy to mod some sshd-related files in /system and probably need to, but I don't know which I need to change.
What is the simplest recipe to get sshd available so that I can fire it up and connect when needed?

AFAIK with LineageOS 14.1 (I have a rooted FairPhone 2), sshd is enabled by default and ready to use. Its config file is /system/etc/ssh/sshd_config which points to /data/ssh/ for keys storage. I guess you can reconfigure it to use /sdcard/. In theory, /data should be preserved across system updates, though I have not much experience to confirm it. The daemon needs to be started manually (this also generates the server's key pair; note that the start-ssh doesn't launch sshd in the background, hence the &):
$ adb root
phone # /system/bin/start-ssh &

Alternatively, you might want to configure another sshd instance as explained here.
To have sshd start at each boot (I still haven't tried), one option is to use Termux:Boot. Be aware that having a daemon always running might drain your battery!
As for running ADB and SSH, you say

ADB allows forwarding from local host:XXXX to the phone on port 22

It is my understanding that this is not correct (unless you mean forwarding from a dev machine to another host which the phone is tethered to), as I don't see how adbd can handle encrypted connections. A quick sniff test with ngrep shows that my Wi-Fi connection on port 5555 is clear text.
Otherwise, make sure (I guess you already know it, but repetita iuvant...) that on your phone

Developer options are enabled
Developer options -> Root access is set to "ADB" or "Apps ADB"
Developer options -> ADB over network is enabled

Then, on your computer terminal, the following command should get you on the go:
$ adb connect <your-android-host-name>
$ adb shell

...expect an excruciatingly slow, not encrypted connection :-(

To have sshd start at each boot (I still haven't tried), one option is to use Termux:Boot so there is no native auto-start for SSHD in Lineage?

@Suncatcher, AFAIK, nope! This still

(ouch, broken connection) ...still the case with LOS17.1

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


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Why if I delete the Packageinstaller apk on Android 6 the whole Android OS crashes?
I have a Rooted Moto E 2nd gen(Android 6), and when making experiments on it, I discovered that when I delete Packageinstaller.apk and reboot the device, the whole Android OS crashes. This was not happening on previous versions of Android. Do you know why?

Package installer is also managing permissions (AppOps) since Android 6, removing it means critical package lose permissions you are not supposed to be able to remove, as they are mandatory to proper phone usage.

Is there a way to disable new apps installation?

Yes, remove the permission to install package to the target user by making the account a managed account, or hook system to intercept installation window and ask for a password or outright kill it. (What you are looking to intercept is probably com.android.packageinstaller.PackageInstallerActivity). Going to intercept route means you may need to block app stores the same way as they can bypass this if installed on system partition. It will still be possible to install over ADB or recovery if left unprotected.

"Package Manager" manages permissions including AppOps, not "Package Installer".


text:
Port forwarding to USB Tether
I have RaspberryPi which connected to Android Phone via USB and USB Tethering is up. Android Phone is connected to Home Router (Wi-Fi). With this setup, my Raspberry Pi can reach the internet with USB-Android Phone-Home Router-Internet path. And I can reach my Raspberry with VX ConnectBot app in Android Phone. What I want to do is, I want to make ssh connection to Raspberry Pi with my laptop (which is also connected to Home Router). IS it possible to redirect incoming wi-fi packets to usb on Android phone?
To be clear, here is the path that I want;
Laptop (ssh connection) -> Home Router -> Android Phone -> USB -> Raspberry Pi

Try running a proxy on the phone and then ssh to the Pi through the phone proxy using the IP address of the Raspberry Pi

That should be possible and requires a reverse port forward, which can be setup with adb:
Run this command on your Raspberry Pi: adb reverse tcp:<remote> tcp:<local> where <remote> is the TCP port on your android phone and <local> the TCP port on your Raspberry Pi.
Example:
adb reverse tcp:2222 tcp:22

Let's say your Android phone has the WiFi IP 192.168.1.5. Now you should be able to connect from your laptop (or any device on the WiFi) to 192.168.1.5:2222 and end up port-forwarded to your Raspberry Pi's ssh on port 22.
You might need to build adb for Raspbian yourself, which is explained here. But recent Raspbian versions should include a recend adb client.
2nd option:
you could forward (relay) the ports at the USB tethering subnet - usually 192.168.42.x, where 192.168.42.129 is your Android phone and the Raspberry Pi will have an interface usb0 with the IP address assigned by the Android's DHCP. Understand that once USB tethering is enabled, your phone will have two active network interfaces: wlan0 (which is your WiFi 192.168.1.x as usual) and usb0 (which is 192.168.42.x). You need to know the usb0 IP on your Raspberry Pi, once it's connected to USB tethering. Now to make it all work you would need to use a tool like tcpxd on your Android phone:
tcpxd 192.168.1.5:2222 192.168.42.55:22

Where 192.168.42.55 is your usb0 IP from your Raspberry Pi. Same as option 1: You should be able to connect from your laptop (or any device on the WiFi) to 192.168.1.5:2222 and end up port-forwarded (relayed) to your Raspberry Pi's ssh on port 22.
Both solutions should work without root.

Does this work with UDP as well, or is it only TCP?

Fwd: port forwarder app can forward both TCP and UDP ports.
The usage is straight forward:

Click the plus to add a new rule
Give it a title
Select protocol (TCP or UDP or both)
Select source interface and port
Provide target IP and Port

However, there are two limitations:

You need to know the local IP address of the PC / RaspberryPi which probably changes each time you enable USB-tethering.
The app does not create a real port forwarding at IP layer (this would require root privileges). Instead, the incoming data is forwarded to a new stream to the connected PC, similar to socat. This changes the sending IP address which is not acceptable for all use cases.


text:
Force Uber app to launch when requesting Uber ride within Google maps?
I am a fan of integrating ridesharing (Uber and Lyft) fare results into the travel directions interface of Google Maps, so that I may quickly compare the two companies to each other and to other forms of transportation.  However, I do not like having the entire Uber ride take place within Google maps.  I find the interface inferior to Uber's app (lots of info/options are missing), and I would prefer that the Maps app is available for other searches while riding in the Uber (e.g., looking up the exact location of a restaurant).
Is there any way to force Maps to launch the Uber app from within these search results?
The alternative is to

highlight the address
select "copy",
return to the desktop,
launch the Uber app,
clear out any Uber messages (e.g., rate your last driver),
paste the address into the Uber search (which doesn't work if you used something like "home" in Maps),
confirm that it's the same location on the maps you already found in Google (which might not be the case for overloaded place names),
confirm your current location,
and hit the "book"/"request" button.

Do-able, but inefficient.

You could just use the Uber app to use Uber rather than using Google maps.

But then I can't compare it with Lyft, public transit, and driving.

I'd recommend doing g it the way you are doing it then.  Pretty sure there's no way to integrate them like you've explained.


text:
How can you disable the Google "Did you just sign in?" notification
Title sums it up. I use my Google account on many devices. Including virtual machines and other items that may get reset and have to be logged in again frequently. It is annoying having to constantly swipe away this notification on multiple devices (5+) around the house when I already use two step verification and extremely secure passwords plus I get the email notification.
How can I disable this notification from coming back again?

To remove:
Settings -> Apps -> Google Play Services -> Notifications -> Block all
That should remove those notifications now.
Source here

I don't want to disable all notifications from "Google Play Services", just the sign-in prompt. Do you know which notification category I should disable?


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Do I need root to install xposed modules?
Is it necessary to root my phone to install any xposed module?

Root is a requirement to install the Xposed Framework, any additional modules can be installed (may not explicitly state root requirement) but need the Xposed framework to function, so in short yes root is needed.

As the other answer states, root is a requirement only if you're using the framework installer.

@AndyYan Thanks for mentioning that important point which I had overlooked! (I was used to installing Xposed framework without zip, so completely forgot about this other method:)) But one question. I am not an expert when it comes working with recovery, but doesn't installing a custom recovery require root also?

The "conventional" way of installing a recovery usually requires an unlocked bootloader (no root required). Furthermore, for many recent devices, only after installing a custom recovery can you flash a SU package and therefore achieve root.

@Andy Thanks for putting this up, perhaps OP can accept, the second answer. I am not really used to flashing zips though but thanks for the information

You don't need root to install xposed modules and you can avoid using root to install the framework if you have a working recovery that can install unsigned zip files.

I think a distinction should be made here. The Android doesn't have to be rooted to install a module, but a custom recovery still uses root access within its environment to install those modules. So root access is indeed needed, just not necessarily in Android OS though.


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Contacts missing on new Galaxy Core Prime
My phone was stolen and they deleted my contacts. They must be backed up somewhere? How can I restore them to my new Galaxy?   Everything else came back.

Did you select an online/synced account as the location for your contacts?
You can simply login to your former account and synchronize the contacts to your new device.
Did you select SIM card as the location?
I hope you've got that card. Simply put it in your device and your contacts are back. Move them to an online account or do whatever you want with them.
Did you select phone or device as the location?
Well, there are your contacts now. And they won't leave your device any time soon.
Some manufacturers offer you to sync those contacts to their services anyways so maybe you can login to that account and restore your contacts.


text:
How Can I Use Data For Apps Blocked on Wi-Fi Networks?
All questions that are similar to this one appeared to be asking the opposite of what I want.
At my job certain applications do not work when connected to the associate wi-fi network. If I turn off Wi-Fi and use data only then the applications work.
Is there a way to make it so that these 'blocked' applications will use data while on the associate network, but then go back to using Wi-Fi when the phone is connected to my home Wi-Fi?
Phone is Moto Z Force (XT1650) with Android 7.0.

You would first need to keep data enabled while being on Wi-Fi, and redirect application UID using netfilter, which require root to alter it's settings.


text:
Copying and remotely deploying a build across multiple devices
If I do a factory reset and then setup a given android phone in a particular way (removing apps, adding apps, syncing to certain bluetooth devices, turning on/off various system notification settings, setting up a particular google account, etc), is there a way for me to "Save that configuration" and then remotely redeploy that build at will either on the same exact device or on a different device that shares the same model type (i.e. from one Samsungs Galaxy S5 to another...)
I suspect something like that may be possible using Google's Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), but that seems fairly complicated. Is there an easier way of accomplishing what I want or some other service provider that can do it?

Is this the right place for this question? Would the main SO site be better? Somewhere else?

I've just added the multiple-devices tag to your question. You might wish to investigate answered questions using that tag. Also check their "Related" sections. I'm pretty sure a similar question has been asked before, I just cannot find it currently. Coming pretty close: Clone and distribute Android 4 device with preloaded applications

@Izzy Thanks for the suggestion. nandroid, as mentioned in the linked post, seems quite promising... I'll need to investigate.

That was my thought as well – and should work on devices which are similiar (same brand, model and Android version). But it requires a custom ROM, as the stock ROM doesn't ship with backup/restore facilities (especially not with Nandroid).

Using root and tasker rules you could pull your settings.db from a central point of your choice, but that would erase any settings.
A more elegant way would be a tasker rule that sets all the settings in the database.
For Wi-Fi AP you would have to pull the wpa_supplicant file from somewhere using the same method or use Linux tools to alter the config file.
Other settings would require finding associated config file or database and use above methods.

Are you suggesting there is no "all in one" solution? (I'm a complete beginner in this space..)

Unless you are deploying your own system on all theses devices, yes.

I'm still confused -- How is one's "own system" defined? What's to keep one from just defining one's own system as 'existing system + a few changes' and just deploy that?

Your own system means your self compiled Linux kernel and associated software. You cannot deploy anything but apk archives by default, your settings are not apk. There is no "save that configuration" because what you call configuration is thousands files and databases owned by different UID that are unique to each devices, even of the same model. To do what you want you need to undo Android and use a more rawish Linux, hence your own system.

On master device

Setup your device
Install TWRP custom recovery
Backup to SD

On new device

Insert SD
Install TWRP custom recovery
Recover from backup on SD

See if it works. I've never tried it as I only have 1 S5 device.

Accounts such as Google login likely won't work - I believe those are tied to unique device identifiers...


text:
Tell app to lower volume
Is it possible to tell a specific app to lower volume, using intents?
I would like to be able to use Tasker to tell the HEOS app to lower the volume.
EDIT:
Heos is a streaming system, controlled through an app. When the music is playing, and my phone is on the same wifi, I can control the volume of the system by opening the app and pressing the volume rockers.
But it is rather cumbersome to open the app each time, so I was hoping to create a custom widget to do this instead.

Volume is system wide and not application wide, unless an application has it's own volume management, meaning there won't be a bulletproof proof solution, only application specific solution.
System wide volume can be altered on settings.db.

Heos is a streaming system, controlled through an app. When the music is playing, and my phone is on the same wifi, I can control the volume of the system by opening the app and pressing the volume rockers.
But it is rather cumbersome to open the app each time, so I was hoping to create a custom widget to do this instead


text:
Nougat: force to enter PIN and disable fingerprint every hour or every 10th time
Is it possible to set Android 7 Nougat to ask for the PIN every hour or every 10th time, when using fingerprint to unlock a phone? The fingerprint unlocking is very convenient, but it seems not that safe, reading the following article:
That Fingerprint Sensor on Your Phone Is Not as Safe as You Think


text:
create-user "Error: couldn't create User"
I tried creating multiple users on my Android TV dongle (based on RK3188 board). It should work, it's Android 4.4.2, but it returns an error:
root@rk3188:/ # pm create-user username
Error: couldn't create User.

And at the same time:
root@rk3188:/ # getprop fw.max_users
4
root@rk3188:/ # pm get-max-users
Maximum supported users: 1

You should edit your build.prop and add the following lines:
fw.max_users=2 #in case you want a maximum of 2 users
fw.show_multiuserui=1 # to show Users menu in settings
Save and reboot. You will then be able to add users

But according to the question, fw.max_users is already more than 2. How will decreasing it solve the problem?

It is not about decreasing the number of users(the 2 is just an example), but more about modifying his build.prop mainly the fw.show_multiuserui part

Unfortunately this does not work. The problem still is as described above from the point of view of CLI. I didn't know about the fw.show_multiuserui settings, this is a nice part, but it still doesn't work, no Users menu is visible in settings after setting it to 1 and rebooting. I suppose the problem is in the way the build has been done and its related to software components that cannot be changed in a compiled image as it's something missing, not just disabled...

May be my answer should be removed. According to this article AndroidTV News, multi-user support isn't available on Android TVs.


text:
How is the Android System running Java jars?
There is a large amount of Java jars in /system/framework, for example, am.jar. I understand that Android uses Java in a very confusing way (at least for me). I do not completely understand the way that dalvik works.
Basically, I do not understand how Android runs these jars. Can somebody explain how it does this, and possibly how I can run my own jars?
I am on Resurrection Remix, 6.0.1, with Xposed framework, if it helps.
Thanks

What are you trying to accomplish by running your own JARs? New apps, changing OS behavior, etc?

@Mufasa I just want to know how it runs them. I dont want to run my own. (At least for now)

@Mufasa I know this is kinda old now, but if it only executes .dex'es, then what are those .jar's there for?

I'm not totally sure, but I think they have to do with the boot process, core framework stuff, and possibly for compatibility reasons. After all, JARs are just ZIP files with a certain directory structure in them—it doesn't have to be using them strictly for executable code. The general idea is that Android usually doesn't execute JARs in the user space during normal operation.
Also see https://stackoverflow.com/q/30656933/2291 which discusses how most of those JARs have simple meta data in them.

.jar files are Android's standard class library which is loaded by Dalvik/ART VMs just like JVM on PCs loads JCL from different .jar/.jmod files. Environment variable BOOTCLASSPATH defines a list of all such .jar files. Like .apk files, .jar files are also ZIP files and contain a classes.dex file which is either interpreted or JIT compiled (as was done by Dalvik) or AOT compiled to .odex or .oat files (as ART does). All apps built with Android SDK depend on this standard class library.

You can run the Jar files using app_process, which replaces the java executable on Android. Looking at /system/bin/am for example, we see it's really running
exec app_process $base/bin com.android.commands.am.Am "$@"

You've mentioned running Xposed. If you'll google the manual installation of this framework, you'll see it both deploys a jar to /system/frameworks and replaces app_process with a modified one, where the hooks are added. It's also instructive to read through the modified app_process code.
Note you may need this answer to actually run your apps.
Finally, note that you seem to have misunderstood the link to stackoverflow answer in the comments (https://stackoverflow.com/q/30656933/2291). The Jars are installed. On newer systems, they are converted (and the files removed from the jar) to ART and run as native code (i.e. machine language). On older systems, I think the java class files are converted to Dex bytecode and run in the Dalvik VM. That means that the Dex bytecode is run in Dalvik in the same way Java bytecode is run by the Java VM on the fly. In any case, the JAR files always contain code initially.

That's a pretty big question; it's a very complicated and large system. If you can't narrow your question any more, then the short answer is from Android's docs:

the Dalvik VM is an interpreter-only virtual machine that executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format

Similar to the Java JVM, but a different implementation optimized for Android's usage patterns.
Also see What is Dalvik and dalvik-cache? which describes it a little more.
Otherwise, I suggest you read Google's documentation on the subject to find out more info about whatever parts of the dalvik system you are interested in. (If we tried to answer it all here, it would take a nearly infinite page scroll (exaggerating a little) to describe all the different parts and pieces how and why it works.


text:
Change lockscreen time and date font?
Starting from Android 6.0, Google altered how their lockscreen looks in AOSP, presumably to increase readability:

Digital clock is smaller
Digital clock uses a bolder font, presumably Roboto Medium
Date text is ALL CAPS
Date text has a noticeable character spacing

A comparison can be seen in the pic below.

It seems that this is Google's design vision going forward, as Android 7.x only kept or reinforced upon those points, and the recently released Fuchsia OS preview is in the same style.
However, as good as Google's intention might be, I'm not a fan of all these points above, and now that I see Google is determined to push it (Fuchsia), I'm determined to revert it back to what it was in Android 5.x. I'm rooted, have a custom recovery, and know how to decompile and recompile APKs, so I should be ready for whatever's needed.
Ideas?

After some more searching, I finally came across an XDA-Developers thread explaining how to do it - or rather, how to do the reverse action of what I want to achieve (credits to the original author there). I'll post an excerpt of the core part and reverse the action yet again to make it fit my purpose.

Install apktool.
Install your framework-res.apk by executing apktool if /path/to/framework-res.apk.
Decompile your SystemUI.apk by executing apktool d /path/to/SystemUI.apk
Go to the decompiled SystemUI folder and open res/values/styles.xml.
Search for big_thin and replace sans-serif-light behind <item name="android:fontFamily"> with sans-serif-thin.
Open res/values/dimens.xml.
Search for widget_label_font_size and replace 14.0sp behind it with 16.0sp.
Open res/layout/keyguard_status_area.xml.
In the two lines starting with TextClock and TextView, remove android:textAllCaps="true" and android:letterSpacing="0.15".
Rebuild SystemUI (preserve its signature) by executing apktool b -c SystemUI.
Push the finished SystemUI.apk back to where it was using a method of your choice, set correct permissions, then reboot.

The end result is pictured below. Font size might still use some tweaks, but generally favorable result.

P.S.1: For the record, and for ROM makers who are interested: you can also modify the same files prior to building the ROM - find the files above in *build-folder*/frameworks/base/packages/Keyguard/.
P.S.2: Interestingly, while searching for "reverting the font on 6.0+ back to what it was in 5.x" didn't return anything, searching for "changing the font on 5.x so it looks like 6.0+" (the opposite) did return more favorable results, as there were quite a number of Marshmallow wannabes back then. I guess that's a lesson learned in Google-fu...


text:
android shell /system/bin/sh subshell not working
The script
#!/system/bin/sh
/system/bin/busybox find .
f=$(/system/bin/busybox find .)
echo $f
for f in $(/system/bin/busybox find .)
do
 echo $f
done

does not work as expected in my environment.
I get:
.
./loop.sh

while
bash loop.sh
.
./loop.sh
. ./loop.sh
.
./loop.sh

is the result for the equivalent on a linux box:
#!/bin/sh
find .
f=$(find .)
echo $f
for f in $(find .)
do
 echo $f
done

What can I do about this?
The environment is:
getprop ro.build.version.sdk
22
getprop ro.build.version.release
5.1.1
busybox
BusyBox v1.22.1 (2014-09-16 09:27:06 CST) multi-call binary.
busybox uname -a
Linux localhost 3.14.0 #68 SMP PREEMPT Wed Jan 18 10:27:06 CST 2017 i686 GNU/Linux

Maybe you're comparing apples with peaches here, as /bin/sh is something else than /bin/bash (e.g. doesn't support as many things as Bash does). Have you tried how that script works on Linux when using #!/bin/sh instead of #!/bin/bash? Or on your Android device when using Bash (if you have it available there that is)?

@lzzy - thank you for looking into this. On linux the /bin/sh doesn't make any difference. I would love to try out bash on my android device but i don't see how i could try it out without e.g. installing a full debian or a different busybox version. For the time being I'd love to understand what's going on that such a basic function like subshell doesn't work out of the box.

Making no difference means it works the same as with Bash – or the same as with sh on the Android device? As for Bash on Android: my corresponding app list says there is e.g. Bash Shell X you could give a try (if you don't mind it coming with AdMob; otherwise Termius also includes a local Bash).

I guess it's because BusyBox has a different version of find compared to your Linux Distro.. BTW, what is your script trying to achieve? If it's simply listing the contents of a directory, you could better use ls, and pipe it to grep for searching..

it doesn't make any difference what subshell command I call. the subshell $() doesn't work as expected ..


text:
How to Enable Android Opera mini browser off-road mode?
Recently I found that, enabling off-road mode in Opera mini browser is a great way to hide my browsing data from ISP. So I installed the version 24.0.2254. But I couldn't find the option in enable the off-road mode. Seems like this option is available in old versions but not in latest ones. Is off-road mode is obsolete now or is there any alternative options available?

In newer versions of Opera Mini, Offroad mode is automatically enabled. If you are concerned about your browsing data (Privacy), you can use a VPN.


text:
What specifies the maximum supported sdcard capacity of a mobile phone?
I often see this in mobile phone specifications: "microsd card supported, up to 32gb"

Is this limit really real?
Does it depend on hardware or software?
How to know for sure (e.g. using a software) the limit?
What happens if inserted a card that exeeds the limit?


text:
Where does WhatsApp store thumbnails of media in Android phone?
Today, I was observing WhatsApp app behavior.
By using a camera, I took a photo. That photo got stored in the camera directory of my cell phone (obviously that is normal behavior). And after that, I shared the same photo to one of my contacts using WhatsApp. After sharing, I deleted that photo from the camera directory and checked my WhatsApp contact (to whom I shared the photo) it was still in the list of messages.
Then I found on Google that WhatsApp also stores sent images in the internal directory as well. Then I deleted the same photo from WhatsApp's internal memory and checked the WhatsApp contact (to whom I shared the photo), I found that there was no real photo but a blurry image of the same photo was there (that is called thumbnail).
I tried to find out where it was getting that thumbnail. I searched my whole cell phone directory or even WhatsApp media directory as well, but could not find the thumbnail.
My question is, what is the location in the cell where WhatsApp stores the thumbnails? I am assuming that WhatsApp keeps the thumbnail URL and downloads on demand. Is that right? Any help?

I guess the thumbnail is stored in the database itself as a blob, which is at /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db

I can see them here /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/files/photos/. You can verify

WhatsApp stores the thumbnail as BLOB in the database in message_thumbnails table under thumbnail column.

this is correct. For anyone wanting to populate a iOS->Android sqlite db with thumbnails, its insert into message_thumbnails (thumbnail, key_remote_jid, key_id) values (x'<hexstring>, '123456789-123456789@g.us', '2AD6F9891DFF121C126D'););

Go to Explorer/file manager of your mobile, and scroll down to the WhatsApp folder.
Open it and go to WhatsApp Media.
Activate the Show hidden files option (usually a 3-dot symbol at the top-right corner).
Open the .sent folder.
Search for your photo.

This is NOT correct, thumbnails are NOT stored in "whatsapp images.sent" folder

Check the thumbnails table in the database at /data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db.

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


text:
Backup locked huawei p9 before hard reset
Is it possible to backup a locked Huawei p9 phone before hard reset; even with USB Debugging off?

I think it's not possible to backup all your data via USB with 'USB Debugging off'.
But it may be possible, if you make a backup using TWRP (android app.) with root access in mobile's external card.

Thank you guys for responding. @Gerry, quick question, won't backing up using TWRP delete all my data on the internal memory?

swap(delete) memory and take backup and many more options are there present.


text:
How to full root a stock-root only Android device?
I have an Android device, that is a Chinese TV device that runs on Android 4.4.4. I'm developing an app that needs root access to properly function which I will then install on the device.
I can connect to the devices via ADB over WiFi and gain root access too.

But I cannot gain root access from the app. A quick check by RootChecker app revealed that the "root access is not properly installed on the device". When my app tries to gain root access the error "uid xxx not allowed to su" occurs.
Turns out that the device is only stock root/systemless root
So far, I've copied the su binary from my rooted Xiaomi Redmi 2 into the TV and replaced the /system/xbin/su with that file and changed the permissions. For some reason this did not work.
CPU model name of TV = ARMv7 Processor rev 5 (v7l)
CPU model name of phone = ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l)
Since stock root is available, there must be a very straightforward way for me to root the device. Is it maybe possible to install TWRP on a device like this so that I can flash the SuperSU?

You can push super su APK to /system/app and run the boot patching script manually but please make sure bootloader isn't locked and make a backup.

Can you please tell me which one is the "boot patching script"?
99-supersu.sh 99SuperSUDaemon install-recovery.sh otasurvival.sh update-binary`


text:
How to change the name shown in my PC when I connect my phone in MTP mode?
When I connect my phone ( actually a 7' inch tablet ) to my PC and set the mode to be MTP, in my PC it shows GEM703L from where I can access Internal Storage and SD card, but the problem is that my phone is actually GEM701L and as I want to sell my phone it sounds awkward. Does the problem have anything to do with cust? How can I fix it?
P.S : I know that I can rename the name in Windows Explorer but that doesn't change the name permanently and the name changes as I connect the phone to some other PC.

Edit the file /system/build.prop
Change the ro.product.model or ro.product.device or any other property that has your device name and reboot..
Note:
I think you need to uninstall your device drivers from your computer after doing that..
Ofcourse, this requires root access (yeah, no official OTAs), and also make sure to backup your build.prop


text:
Recover files from Galaxy S5 Internal with ADB, Ubuntu and DD
My parents went on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Ireland last spring. They took most of the photos with my dad's Galaxy S5. They were stored on internal storage, and not an SD card. The photos were being backed up into Google, synced with his Gmail / Google Photos account.
Late last summer, unfortunately (and you know the rest of the story), as he was clearing photos off of his phone, he accidentally deleted the photos, and wound up wiping them from Google Drive as well.
He passed away this past winter.
A couple weeks ago, I did my first successful data recovery job on a microSD card (with photorec) for a client who had lost photos when his S6 was reset (I've done several data recovery jobs for various clients using photorec and other Linux utilities, but this was the first time I attempted a job on a microSD card that came from a phone).
That got me thinking: Could I, conceivably, attempt to recover my dad's photos from his internal storage?
I have the same phone (also a Galaxy S5), and live 5 hours away from my mom, so I'm doing some testing on my phone now.
Unlike my dad's phone, my phone is encrypted. Other than that, there shouldn't be any difference.
After some research, I've enabled Developer Options on my phone, turned on USB Logging, installed ADB onto my Ubuntu machine, and have given permission to the phone that my computer can connect to it over adb.
I then cd'd into where I want the backup to be saved on my computer, ran adb backup full-backup.adb -apk -all, and hoped for the best. Because my phone is encrypted, I was forced to enter in a password for the backup itself to be encrypted.
The backup "completed" almost immediately (the phone said "backup finished"), indicating to me that no backup was taken at all. The file name I see on the computer is "backup.ad" and NOT "backup.adb".
Questions

Why did my phone indicate that the backup finished when it clearly did not? How can I continue to troubleshoot this?
If I am able to eventually get the backup, how can I then go about extracting the data from the adb backup in such a way that photorec can read the data? I am hoping that there's a way to mount the image (since photorec requires an actual "device" (or image) and won't run on individual folders).
Any better ideas as to how I might be able to recover these photos? I do understand that, since so much time has passed, these photos may not be recoverable. But it's worth a shot! I exhausted, a long time ago, all other possibilities (I scrutinized my dad's phone and his account in Google many times over).

That makes two different (though related) questions better kept apart. First, adb backup is a "logical" or "file based" backup that won't help you with your case (PhotoRec had nothing to work on with that). Why adb backup failed as it did is better asked as a separate question. What you need is a "physical" or "block based" backup, i.e. a "disk image" – which can only be achieved using root powers. I assume your device isn't rooted, and neither has a custom recovery installed?

That's correct. Neither my device nor my dad's is rooted. Your comment is what I feared, as to-date, I haven't been able to get the device to show up as a mount point. in linux under the mount command. Thank you.

Don't just yet throw in the towel, I was just verifying. Go to TWRP.me and type "S5" into the search box. Check if your variant is covered. If so, download the image. Boot your S5 into fastboot/bootloader mode, then (from where the image file resides) run fastboot boot twrp.img (replace twrp.img by the corresponding file name). If your device then boots TWRP (unlikely if not unlocked, but worth a try), you can access your device with root powers (until rebooted). If not, there's still odin and heimdall for Sammy devices.

@Izzy Exactly. Samsung devices have no fastboot support.

@DeathMaskSalesman that's why I pointed to the Odin and, since OP stated Linux, Heimdall tag-wikis. I'm not that familiar with Samsung devices, but AFAIR those tools also allow backing up partitions (correct me if I'm wrong) – as MTK devices support not only flashing images to, but also reading them from the device ;)

@Izzy Almost correct. Odin (and hence Heimdall) featured a "Dump" button that was once used to dump either a partition or the whole eMMC. This feature was later removed, since the Loke component (the piece of software which interacts with Odin/Heimdall) of modern Samsung smartphones didn't recognize dump requests. (Source: Heimdall's main developer.)

So that approach no longer works, @DeathMaskSalesman ? Still, as TWRP.me lists the S5, is there a pendant to fastboot boot twrp.img David could use? If so, would you mind writing up an answer, as you seem to be familiar with Samsung devices? ;) Pointer: With TWRP running, adb shell gets a root prompt. From that, cat could be used to dump the partitions: adb exec-out "su -c 'cat /dev/mmcXXX'" > mmcXXX.img (replace mmcXXX by the device name of the partition). Scripts for that can be generated by my Adebar ;)

@Izzy Sadly, I'm not aware of a method equal to fastboot boot twrp.img for Samsung devices. To boot TWRP, it is mandatory to overwrite the previous recovery, so I have no optimal answer.

@DeathMaskSalesman I was afraid of that. And to overwrite the recovery with a custom one, it is required to unlock the bootloader, which again triggers a factory-reset. So dead-end here, very unfortunate. The only solution then is to root the device in order to dump the partition. Heck, manufacturers leave us in trouble whenever it comes to backup and recovery…

^^ Exactly why I've planned, for the last 1-2 years, never to buy another Samsung again. From now on, I'm purchasing unlocked phones to which I can easily obtain root access. Thank you guys for the comments. I did look at Odin once-upon-a-time for the purposes of rooting my own phone (this was several months back) and didn't get anywhere with it. Samsung has their devices locked down and make them very difficult to work with, it seems, based on my own efforts and research I've done over the past year or so... :(

@DavidW Odin's main purpose is merely to put things inside certain partitions, or to replace the whole partition table. Anything past that is out of its scope. Lucky me, to have a never-been-locked S4 Mini.


text:
Can I reinstall the apps freely from Play Store if I bought them while on sale?
If you buy an item that is on sale in Play Store, and remove it from your device, can you still reinstall it at a later time?

Yes... I do this all the time when apps/games I might like come up for sale cheap or free, or major titles I might use someday, although they don't have to be on sale. In fact, I often don't even let them install and cancel the download. They are always in your apps list or "Library" as it seems to be called now, to be installed later.
Once you have purchased an app, regardless if it is on sale or not, or whether you actually install it or not, the license (and thus the future rights to install the app), are tied to the Google account you used when you purchased the app. As long as you use the same Google account, you can reinstall the app to the same or any compatible device that is connected to the Google account you used to make the purchase.
You will notice if you have paid for an app that it will appear in your list or searches with an Install button instead of a "price" or purchase button, you can click it and select the device you wish to install it on without paying again.


text:
SMS/Call log backup utilities not saving everything
I have had a very frustrating experience in swapping over from one Android to another. As I had done with my previous transfer many years back, got the phone connected to the PC with developer mode and used ADB to take an -all backup, but upon restoring it on my new phone my ordeal started.
First Firefox on the new phone didn't have any of my open tabs, nor history, and after a bit of research, found that it has been built with the flag android:allowBackup="false" set solving the corruption that I understand can occur when Android restores Firefox data from the cloud, but also disables local ADB backups. I could find no other way to backup not only currently open pages in tabs, but also the history of those tabs - Firefox sync only recovers current page, not that tab's history.
Several other problems, some also having that same android:allowBackup="false" flag set, have had their data been copied at great time expense for either finding a solution, or manually copying the data.
Now I have struck a wall when trying to backup ALL call logs and SMS messages. Find below details of the discrepancies:
On Source Device (Samsung SM N915A):
20 Conversations in "Messages" app (could find no way to see how many individual messages this includes)
204 SMS's reported as being backed up via SMS Backup & Restore
529 call details in "Contacts" app (which launches when I click the phone icon on the home screen), found by clicking the "Select" option in the ... dropdown and clicking the all button
487 call details reported as being backed up via SMS Backup & Restore
On Destination Device (Samsung SM G955U):
204 SMS's showing in SMS Backup & Restore's backup of old phone
17 Conversations in "Messages" App (after restore using above app and backup)
487 call details showing in SMS Backup & Restore's backup of old phone
363 call details in "Phone" App (after restore using above app and backup)
I have also tried SMS Backup, Super Backup, and Helium all with varying (by not complete) numbers of SMS's/Call details claiming as being on the source device and then restored on the destination device. Still further other apps have at least one commentor saying that MMS/Advanced messages are not saved using that app. I have not tried to figure out whether all the messages missing from the backup and what then gets restored are either of these, but at least the first few I looked at didn't seem to be. Regardless...
...Does anybody know of a way to get ALL of the SMS's and Call Details off the old phone?
Footnote - Yes, I am seriously considering rooting the new phone before I accumulate any more data that I will need to deal with upon the next switch - Why phone manufacturers didn't allow, but not make obvious, users to be able to elevate themselves to root is well beyond me!


text:
How can I find out the current price of an app on Google Play after I've purchased it?
After you buy an app, it'll just say "Installed" where the price tag usually is.  I'd like to look up the current price to ensure a sale is still going on as I pass it to others.

Load the application's play store URL in a web browser with incognito/private mode. This way the play store will not be aware that the viewer has already installed the application.


text:
My device can't play .m4a files
I've a Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro.
When I put some .m4a files on my device from my computer, I can't play them. I always have to convert the files from .m4a to .mp3 and then I can listen to them.
How can I solve this problem?

Try third party players such as MX player or VLC for Android for playing m4a files.

I downloaded VLC and now the files are working.. thanks!


text:
Apps installing by themselves
I have old android phone, which is working on 4.4 KitKat. Up to last week, phone is working very nice from last two years. But from last week, I saw some apps are installing by them selves. I didn't downloaded them.
Further I always keep my Android setting as "off" for installation of apps from unknown sources. But this do not work!! They are still automatically installing rapidly(their name are Uc news, superb cleaner, and many more). They are installing when I turn on my data connection. I used WiFi connection, so could not restrict background data of apps using settings.
Further I had uninstall all apps which I had installed in last six months, but this does not do anything. I am not so much familiar with computers and android. I want simple way to secure my phone. What to do please help me.

Your device may be infected, and this causes all these apps to be installed alone. I advice you to find a proper rom and reflash your device.


text:
Can Xposed Framework be run successfully alongside a custom rom?
I would like to know if Xposed Framework can successfully run alongside a custom rom that possesses many features or whether it has to be a stock ROM. I wasn't able to find a consensus on whether or not it was possible, so I attempted to try flashing Xposed on a Nexus 6 while running Benzo Rom (a feature rich AOSP ROM), but I was unsuccessful since I got stuck on the Google boot logo.

In general it's possible, although some modules can/will fail because custom ROMs modify the framework already... But it's not supported, no ROM developer I've ever heard of actually supports Xposed and the first step in troubleshooting any issues is remove it and clean flash. There is the issue of Xposed basically being dead in itself as well, still no Nougat support and it's not looking good... Meaning Android O and future support is unlikely either.

I don't know if there's a general rule to it. The Framework might be incompatible with some ROM, but I've never heard of such.¹ I've used it successfully on multiple devices running either "stock"² or CyanogenMod.
¹ Some modules however don't work well with specific devices/ROMs, or only with them. Examples are those written for a specific flavor (e.g. just for TouchWiz devices), or adding features from a specific custom ROM (and thus shouldn't be combined with that one).
² What is "stock"? In case of one of my devices, it is CyanogenOS. On Xiaomi devices, it's something with MIUI. On the OnePlus, it might be OxygenOS. For Samsung devices, it's something heavily modified including TouchWiz. So some ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod/CyanogenOS) are even closer to AOSP than some "stock ROMs".
Conclusion: A generic answer is difficult. When in doubt, check for your specific combination (device & ROM) at XDA – either in the XPosed area, or in the section specific to your device.
PS: Also note that the "latest Android" is usually not (yet) supported by the Xposed framework. As of this writing, the latest supported Android version is 6.x.

You know, now that I think about it, "stock" in this situation probably means any ROM (that is rooted of course) that does does not have extensive features built into it (e.g., LMT, pie, graphical customization, etc.). So technically it may not be limited to ROMs that are specific to the device. I think as a general rule, custom ROMs probably don't bode well with Xposed framework, if they have extensive features.

@Narcotixs I cannot say so. As I wrote, on one hand I'm using it with CyanogenMod as well as CyanogenOS (both, if you so will, "custom ROMs" – while being close to AOSP, what you probably were pointing at) – and on the other hand I'd cosider Samsung's ROMs quite heavily modded, and there are even special Xposed modules for those. So hard to say where chances are best; in general, the closer to AOSP the more likely there are no (or only few) incompatibilities.


text:
Multiple uses for NFC
I have my bank card linked to my NFC and since this day it is also possible to have my public transit card assigned to my NFC-chip. The thing I want to know is, is it possible to have multiple functions for your NFC-chip, like in my situation.
If needed, my bank is the ING-bank and my public transit card is from Translink.

I'm not sure what exactly you want to do but still here a suggestion:
With the App Trigger you can run two actions alternately. You can have various restrictions, maybe one of them is useful to decide which task you want to run.


text:
My app refuses to work unless I have a vpn enabled
Would be grateful for some advice. For over a year my app developers have been struggling to get my app working correctly on my Galaxy S7. The issue seems to be that some aspect of the login process fails unless I use an active vpn connection. This happens with both Facebook login and regular login. With the vpn on it all works ad it should. We see the same behaviour on 2 S7 Edge devices. It doesn't seem to be as simple as just having something blocked here in Dubai as with an emulator on my laptop the app appears to work. What could cause this very strange problem? We've been trying to solve it for a year. I can't launch the app until we fix it.

Android Nougat adds a feature whereby Android for Work apps can declare in their security configuration that the app can only work when connected to a VPN, for security reasons. There's a quick description of the feature (amongst other Nougat features) in this Ars Technica article. This page on the Android Developers website describes how the app developer can control the feature, but the description is very technical and a bit impenetrable.
The restrictions added inside the app interact with the Device Administrator app (such as AirWatch), so that your IT department can set a security policy that enables or disables the restrictions (just like any restrictions on password length).


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My samsumg s3 is acting like its on silent
My s3 wont make any tones to allert me to calls messages email or anything. Its as though its on do not disturb but isnt

Are there tones set in Settings-Sounds? Will there be any sound coming out if you go change one of them? It's supposed to play a preview of the sound at the current ringtone volume.

The lack of sound may be caused by the malfunction of the battery, try removing it and repositioning it after checking that there is no swelling of it, if you still have problems trying to replace it.


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No memory avaiable on my Galaxy S4
I don't understand why I can't take photo or video with my Samsung Galaxy S4. I have 32 GB of memory and I haven't a lot of photo or apps in my mobile phone. I tried to delete photo, video or apps that I don't use, and also I have just restart my phone but the situation is the same.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! That's a quite extensive area. To narrow down your issue (and give you some background), may I suggest you consult our insufficient-memory tag-wiki, and follow its first-aid instructions as well as links? That done, please come back here and [edit] your post with specific details, including what you've tried and where you're stuck. Wish you quick success! :)

How disk space is used on Android device?

Speaking with experiance with a galaxy S4.

Try deleting the cache, from the storage menu.
  Goto Storage->Internal Storage-> Delete Cache

Should empty up a lot of space by now, for more storage,

Goto Storage->Internal Storage-> Explore

Delete files named,

.thumbnails
.profigos
.faces

These are temporary files created, you can delete them, it won't harm any of your data.

I had the same problem and I realized my Dropbox was taking up a lot of space.   I had my photos etc already downloaded do I just disabled it and now I have a lot more space.   Hope this helps.


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Safety net check ok but banking app not working
I'm running magisk latest and have configured it to hide it for the usual suspect apps.
I also have a custom kernel (Marco) that hides/resets the unlocked boot loader flag.
All tests with safety net apps, Pokemon, Android pay work without any problem, besides two banking apps that reject starting.
How do these banning apps determine root or modifications, while all others cannot?

They use more than SafetyNet... The exact implementation varies, might check for specific files (does su exist, does Magisk Manager exist, etc) or might just check if /system has EVER been mounted R/W. Is the app logging anything to logcat or elsewhere?

Nothing in the logs as far as I can see in alogcat. Any other place where it could be? And I always thought the apps are in a sandbox and cannot check arbitrary things like system mounts etc!?

Generally logging is in the system log or its own directory... Apps are sandboxed from changes or writing anything outside of their own permission context, but they can read a lot of things. Open a terminal in an unrooted device and see what you can do and see, can't do much but a lot you can see.


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Fix SELinux contexts for a SU binary
I am trying to root my android 6.0.1 phone using the following method:
I first booted into a TWRP image using fastboot boot, then using the TWRP terminal I copied the su binary from the SuperSU kit to /system/xbin/ and ran chmod 6755 ./su, chown root:root ./su and chcon u:object_r:system_file:s0 ./su. Now I booted into Android and opened a terminal emulator and goto /system/xbin/ and see that the SUID bit is set for su. But when I run su, nothing happens and the binary exits with a 0 value.
Running strace su shows that the setresuid() and setuid() calls are failing. I suspect this is because of SELinux contexts.
What should the SELinux contexts be for the binary?

Apps can't elevate their privileges by making use of set-uid-root or file capabilities. It's due to Security Enhancements in Android 4.3:

No setuid/setgid programs. Added support for filesystem capabilities to Android system files and removed all setuid/setguid programs.  This reduces root attack surface and the likelihood of potential security vulnerabilities.
Restrict Setuid from Android Apps. The /system partition is now mounted nosuid for zygote-spawned processes, preventing Android applications from executing setuid programs. This reduces root attack surface and the likelihood of potential security vulnerabilities.
Capability bounding. Android zygote and ADB now use prctl(PR_CAPBSET_DROP) to drop unnecessary capabilities prior to executing applications. This prevents Android applications and applications launched from the shell from acquiring privileged capabilities.
NO_NEW_PRIVS. Android zygote now uses prctl(PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS) to block addition of new privileges prior to execution application code. This prevents Android applications from performing operations which can elevate privileges via execve. (This requires Linux kernel version 3.5 or greater).

Default SELinux context of /system/xbin/su is u:object_r:su_exec:s0 but it may not be the only constraint.
For more details see:

What special privileges “/system/xbin/su” does have w.r.t. root access?

Also:

How to manually root a phone?

Impossible to say with that little information. You said:

...and ran chmod 6755 ./su, chown root:root ./su and chcon
  u:object_r:system_file:s0 ./su

This seem to imply you are already root. If it's SELinux problem, you shouldbe able to see this in logcat -b main *:V.

I am root in the TWRP terminal, but not in Android.

What I am asking is, what should be the correct SELinux context for the program.

Also, please elaborate on what information you would require.


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Force fullscreen mode in Chrome for Android
I want to put my Chrome browser in fullscreen mode without having to scroll down first.
Is it possible? Alternatively, are there any browsers that have this feature?
If it matters, my device is a Samsung Galaxy Tab E, Android 4.4.2. Not rooted.

See https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-enable-system-wide-immersive-mode-without-root/

I think there are 2 possible interpretations of "full screen" for this question: (1) Android's immersive mode (hide notification bar and navigation bar), or (2) Chrome's full screen (hide address bar). From the original wording of "having to scroll down first", looks like it's more about Chrome's full screen than Android's immersive mode, though fulfilling both is the most ideal...

Related: Force browser to hide nav & tab bar

Yes, you can do it by just running a line of JavaScript on the webpage. To do so, you can just type in the URL bar this code:
javascript: (function(){document.querySelector("body").requestFullscreen();})();

To avoid typing this manually, you can add this as a bookmarklet. For this, you have to just add any page in your bookmarks and edit the URL to the code above. After bookmarking, search for it in the url bar and you will be able to run the code.

This is awesome. I added this code as a Bookmark called FS. Then I just type FS in the address and then I tap in the second result which is the bookmark  it's the fastest way I can think of having a Fullscreen navigation whenever I need

Does this work in Android 13?  My experiments led me to learn about this important requirement:  Features gated by user activation ...

There is a great article in How-To Geek on how to force that for any app with Chrome as sample. It's difficult for non-technical people though.
The approach is to execute a command from a connected computer to put chrome on a "full-screen state". You must connect the tablet via USB-Cable to the PC. I paste the steps for accessibility here:

Enable USB debugging on Android.
Install the Android SDK and ADB on PC.
Find Your App’s APK Name (Something like “com.android.chrome.”)
Verify Your Device Connection with ADB
Choose Your Immersive Mode (Command line)

This is the command to be executed from the connected PC:
adb shell settings put global policy_control immersive.full=com.android.chrome

Detailed instructions can be found in the source article.

Settings > display > expanded desktop
That works on lineageOS, but last time I told someone to looks here, they said their phone didn't have it.

No such option exists anymore.

It's not possible with Chrome, at least not in current point in time.
Since you said another browser with that feature will also help:
There were comments (thanks) about the fact that it's really outdated, and probably has some security issues, so it's not really recommended.
Full Screen Browser
From the app page:

Web browser that allows for full screen viewing.
Used in many kiosk applications and similar products.

Hide or dim navigation bar (Home, Back etc).
Hide Action bar.
Hide status bar.

Support for desktop and mobile versions of web pages.

This app hasn't gotten any updates in 6 years, absolutely not useful. An extreme security risk.

People even complain about SSL problems using it- Not recommended!

I don't know why chrome doesn't give a option for fullscreen mode.
But you can view a webpage totally fullscreen using another browser such as

Brave
Full screen browser
Samsung browser
Mozilla Firefox browser

All the above browsers are in google play store.

No, you can't. Not in brave.

You can't in samsung or brave, Firefox is the only one that fullscreens for me yet it's broken with my webapp so I need a chromium fullscreen app

Chrome running on Android, unlike on Windows desktop, does not want to run in sustained full-screen mode for some reason:  Features gated by user activation ...

If you only need fullscreen for a specific site:

Open the site in Android Chrome
Tap the menu (3 dots at upper right) and choose "Add to Home Screen"
It will prompt you to change the title. Tap Ok.
Go to your phone's home screen and you should now see a new icon for the site. It opens in full screen like a separate app. (Since my home screen was almost full, the new icon got dumped into a new home screen reachable by swiping left on the main home screen.)

Nope. No, it doesn't

This solution works fine for me on an Android tablet using Chrome.

Doesn't do a thing

No longer works. I remember this working before, Google must have removed it from Chrome.


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Is it possible to implement seamless update in a ROM for nexus 5?
Android Nougat’s “Seamless Updates”, Explained
Seamless update feeature that was implementated in Android Nougat needs proper hardware config to work, which is nothing but another partition created specifically so that future updates get installed in 2nd partition and next time phone reboots, 2nd partition is used as system partition.
will it be possible to do if I created 2nd partition myself?
are their any Custom ROM available for hammerhead or hammerheadcaf that has this feature?

This is not a simple feat if it is probably possible.  To start with you would have to host your own servers, generate your own keys for security and greatly modify it.  I do believe is definitely possible considering OEMs do this with there own custom ROMs like the Galaxy devices.

@William Xiomi Mi3 had this feature well before nougat (not as good though, damn these Google Pixel's update fast), to flash custom ROM on that we had to remove the second partition, by installing a new partition table. do you have the link or little bit more info on what you're suggesting

Why do you want this feature?

@William why do want anything at all? || (better answer) I'm just tinkering with my Nexus 5 now, as I've got a new phone, so that's it

You can flash newer Android versions without loosing your data so I can find this question not ideal.  I personal prefer manually updating instead receiving updates whenever.


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how do i by pass google recovery on HTC 526?
a Friend gave mea HTC 526 but they hard reset an the phone is asking for me to give the Gmail account that's was set with the phone
 an I nor  my friend don't know it so how can I skip this an set it up with my email /

Boot the phone into recovery mode by using the buttons on the phone.
The way you do this depends on the phone, but with your HTC 526, this link shows that you have to hold down the POWER and VOLUME UP keys until it gets to recovery mode.
Once in recovery mode, use the volume and power keys to navigate through the menu. Select the option to completely wipe the data on the phone.
Please note: This will erase ALL of the data on the phone
Once this is done, reboot the phone and you should be able to use the phone without any problems.


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Is there any way to watch Showtime shows on Samsung Gear VR?
Last night the revival of the TV show Twin Peaks started airing on the premium cable TV network Showtime.  I'm a Comcast cable customer who's subscribed to Showtime, and I would like to watch Twin Peaks in my Samsung Gear VR headset.  So my question is, is there any way to watch Showtimes shows using Samsung Gear VR?
As you can see in this web page, Showtime allows for streaming of their shows through a variety of devices and services, including through Android phones using their mobile app.  But they don't have a Gear VR app on the Oculus Store.
But is there still some way of watching their shows through Gear VR?  For instance, can it be done through a web browser (either the Samsung Internet VR Browser or the Oculus Browser)? I know that from a computer, you can stream Showtime shows via showtime.com, but when I try to visit showtime.com on my phone it redirects me to a page that links to their mobile app.

One idea is to use a Plex account to play the video from the web interface you can access from Oculus Browser or Samsung Internet (it also seems to be supported by PhoneCast).
Then can try to use this client whose Github page claims to be working with TV shows.
I have not tried it (neither Showtime), so I cannot guarantee anything, but you might want to try this solution.

I'm accepting your answer, but I ultimately solved my problem another way: you can watch Showtime shows through Hulu Plus, so now I use the Hulu VR app.

That's good to know too!


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Android home buttons not work (e,g, back button/home and recent apps)
I have a nexus 4, got it roughly 5 years ago, and it has been working fine up until today. When I boot it up, I can open the phone but sometimes, when I hit my passcode, it freezes and I have to reboot. When I get past that, I can use apps and get into them, but I can't get out because the bottom buttons don't work. I can still use the app just fine. Those buttons also work when I first restart my phone.

I'll just ask the same old question: already tried a factory reset?

Probably it's no software issue, the home button may have been damaged. However, you can try installing third-party Navbar tools from the Google Play Store or install a custom ROM :)


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My phone don't use speakers to the maximum of its possibilities
I've a Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro.
I've a problem with its speakers. When I put the maximum volume and I put the phone close to the hear, I found that my phone uses only half speaker to share the music(or every type of audio).
Is this a bond I can unlock in my audio settings or is this a problem that the phone has took from outside?

Using half of speaker to play sound? How can you know that?

If you disassemble the device, you will see that, despite the outer shell reserved a wide opening for sound output, the actual speaker unit is quite small and biased to one side. This will produce the effect you observed.

You might be expecting a large speaker, or 2 separate speakers filling the whole opening, which simply can't be the case for lower-end devices.

authors: Једноруки Крстивоје


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Is knowing the MTK processor version sufficient to get the right twrp image on Android device?
If I download a twrp image depending on the MTK processor version and not the device name/ manufacturer, will I be wrong ? and will it be 100% working?
Note: the device is not rooted, I am actually trying to root it this way(No other way is working), so let's focus on the question.

You need to modify the fstab of the TWRP version along with many other files of the TWRP version you are willing to use in order to flash the recovery on your device. What is the MTK version of your Android device?

my mtk version is : "mt6735"

It doesn't work that way.
TWRP depends heavily on the fstab of the device model in question, which describes the partition layout of the storage. This is not related to the SoC (processor), and almost never the same between different models.

so if i get the scatter file , i can use iti think

TWRP is built with fstab, so if I understand correctly, supplying a scatter externally won't help. Scatters are only there to help you flash it in, not actually use it. [Note to others: I have no hands-on knowledge about MTK phones; feel free to correct me if you're knowledgeable]

No , i think you are right , scatter files descripes the structure of memory

You would probably get your device bricked. When you are making a TWRP (porting or building from source) it will need your kernel, so no, TWRP from other device won't on your device.

Knowing the chipset is one step. You need to also know the Android version of your device. Then download a working TWRP for the MT6735 on the same Android version. You can  then port it to your device as usual.
Just flashing the downloaded recovery may not work/boot up unless you port the kernel files, storage files, base etc using that from your own stock recovery. If you do this, you will get a working TWRP for your device.

so you think if i know the mtk version +android version , the corresponding TWRP image is 100% safe , i don't really agree , i guess some phones of the same mtk family would need diffrent TWRP images becausethey are not really that simular


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LG G5 Clear individual app cache when using "Home with app drawer"
I recently purchased an LG G5 phone. I am using the "Home with app drawer" home mode because I like having the app drawer.
I need to clear the data cache for an individual app. I know that you normally access this via the App Manager, selecting the desired app, and then clicking the "Clear Cache" button. However, when I go into Settings on my phone, I can't find "App Manager". The closest that I can find in Settings is "Apps". This screen lists all of my apps, but when I select one, there is no "Clear Cache" button.
How am I supposed to do this?

I don't use "Home with app drawer" but I think it's the same.
Go to Settings > Apps as you've already found. Then tap Storage. You'll see a new screen with the various figures and Clear data and Clear cache buttons.


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Internal memory full
I am using Micromax tablet for the last 4 years. As internal memory had become full, I removed many apps. Still same was the problem. I thought by factory res-setting the tablet, the problem would go away. Even after factory reset, it shows    internal memory is full even after factory reset . What should be done?

You might do Hard Reset that will help you. Sometimes Normal Reset Does not work.

First of all switch off the device by pressing the Power button.
In the next step hold down Volume Up + Power button for about 10 seconds.
You can release held keys when you see the Android Robot.
To enter the Recovery Mode hold down the Power key for a short while.
From the menu choose "Wipe Data/Factory Reset" by using Volume buttons to scroll and Power button to select options.
Tap "yes" to confirm the operation if you are certain you want to clear all your data.
Use the Power button to accept the option "reboot system now".
Well done!

This will surely help you. otherwise, your hard disk might get somehow corrupted.

Micromax tabs usually come with multiple bloatware, if you are ok with root, then you can remove all those apps. It should free up significant memory.
Installing and moving apps to SD card will also help.
Remove unused/ less frequently used apps

Hope this helps


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Facebook "more from related pages" feature
Recent updates on the Facebook app came with a new feature : "the more from related pages" after every time you like a post. For me this feature is terrible. Every time after I liked a post I would scroll down to like another one, and just right before I hit the like button this new function will pop some icons out, pushing the wall down and cause me to miss the like button.
So here is the question: are there ways to remove this feature ? I searched through the settings on my app one by one but I have yet to find anything that works.
Feature

This is a Q&A site, and therefore is not suited for propaganda, hence I vote to close this question.

@DeathMaskSalesman I actually would be really interested in fixing these problems regarding user interface. I don't mind the question being closed but I still would like to know how to disable Facebook recommending posts on my page. I am very sorry to the community that this sounded like a propaganda.

See, since the Facebook app is proprietary, no one but Facebook can change its code, and F has long been known for not caring about its uaers. All I can suggest, is to try some alternative Facebook clients, namely Tinfoil for Facebook or Metal for Facebook (I'm not affiliated with the mentioned apps). Aside from that, you're welcome to ask more questions in the future, but you might want to pay a look at the allowed topics.

@DeathMaskSalesman thanks a lot for these information. I was actually thinking whether I could in some way modify the Facebook app or the setting for this feature is not available on the mobile app. I'll be careful on my questions next time.

You could be able to modify the Facebook client, but you'll have to do so in a programming language which is neither friendly nor simple (and not exactly legal, but who cares).

@DeathMaskSalesman well believe it or not, the feature disappeared. Maybe Facebook heard my voice. Now gonna delete this post.

Happy for you, then! Have a good day.

The problem just.....disappeared


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How to reflash Alcatel 5054N Android ROM without android OS on the phone
Hello Android Enthusiest forum members,
I have a big problem with a recent ebay purchase of an Alcatel 5054N smartphone that recently became unbootable ; previously I had installed a recovery app by TWRP,and this app had subsequently wiped my android system partition of the Android 5.1.1!!
  My basic question now is how may I "unbrick"(the phone was able to boot to the Alcatel splash shield,but cannot do it anymore... :/ ) this phone without having to take it to a local PC/Cell Phone doctor...
  I have heard of the USB Download Mode Fix recovery dongles(Samsung specific)being sold on ebay,but is there one available (or will work) for an Alcatel 5054N??
Thanks in advance for any suggestions,positive replies which make my day!!

The one thing you need to look for is a factory image (and how to flash it).

Hoping that you still can boot into recovery mode(TWRP).
Try this if your mobile supports OTG:

download a custom ROM or stock ROM that is suitable for your mobile.
Copy that ROM into a USB flashdrive.
Boot into TWRP recovery mode, connect the flash drive which consists the custom ROM via OTG.
Click install, select the custom ROM zip file from the flash drive.
Wish for the best.

If your device is not supporting OTG:

Since you have TWRP i am assuming that you know how to work with ADB in the command line
Connect your device via USB cable to your PC.
Go to the folder where you have the platform-tools (android SDK) and open the command line tool from this folder
Click adb devices. If your device is shown then great.
now put the downloaded custom ROM file in this same folder. Comsider renaming the custom ROM file as per your convenience.
Now type adb push <your custom ROM filename> /sdcard/
This command pushes the file to your internal memory root folder.
Now open recovery mode again.
Select install.
Select the custom ROM zip file from the internal storage.
And flash it.

Hope any of the methods work.
I


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Is it possible to update BQ aquaris E4.5 with latest firmware for BQ aquaris A4.5
I have this phone, BQ Aquaris E4.5
https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/434564/bq-aquaris-e45-ubuntu-edition-zwart/reviews/
And at the moment I have android 5.
However I want to update to Android 6.
On the official page of the manufacturer I see http://www.mibqyyo.com/en-download/categorias/aquaris-e4-5/
However I see update for BQ Aquaris A4.5
http://www.mibqyyo.com/en-download/categorias/aquaris-a4-5/
Do you think If I try to update the firmware, the phone will break ?
Regards,
Oleg

Possible duplicate of Can I install a ROM made for a different device?

If the specs from PDAdb is to be believed, the 2 phones are quite different hardware-wise:
BQ Aquaris E4.5 Dual SIM vs. BQ Aquaris A4.5 4G LTE Dual SIM
The A4.5 is a relatively new Android One phone that's promised 2 years of support. The E4.5 on the other hand, despite released in late 2014, bears a MT6582 SoC which had fallen out of mainstream for quite some time. There's no way you could cross-flash between these two, and you likely won't find anything tailored to this particular device either.


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Google Photos can't free space when pictures are on SD card
I'm using Google Photos and I love the automatic backup and free-space feature. Lately (from the day I got a SD card into the phone, which could be meaningful) I see google photos is backing them up but NOT freing space automatically.
I try to free space from the menu, it says "24 photos to be deleted" (but I got thousands of photos) and then it says an error occurred while deleting those 24.
You can find the screenshots here: https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNEwrDRm6gO0D0LrW9YgnI1RA_Ddz-3NvbuZzxTAPy2hLolpUd4MC_x-YwQEyua4A?key=Nlo4WkI0WmxhdWNhUFlEVXE5TGZ1cU9UVXVfZ2ZB
A friend suggested that probably since I got the SD the phone is saving the photos in the external memory. From there, Google Photos can backup them but can't delete them (don't know why).
I went into settings -> memory -> default memory, changed to "External memory" and rebooted the phone. Still Google Photos can't delete them, I get the same "24 photos to be deleted"/"can't delete them" message.
Did this ever happen to you? How did you manage to solve the issue?
Thank you
Marco

The SD card on Android is by default mounted in read-only mode: Google Photos can copy photos from the SD card to the server but it cannot edit, create or delete files on the SD card.
To allow Google Photos access read-write to the SD card, follow these steps:

Open Google Photos > Side navigation drawer > Device folders > Open a folder that is located on the SD card
Try deleting an image in that folder by long pressing on it and then pressing the bin icon in the toolbar.
A prompt titled "Give Google Photos access to your SD card?" - allow it.
A prompt with a message saying "Grant Photos access to your data, including photos and videos, on ?" - allow it.
The photo will be deleted.

This method was tested on my Samsung Galaxy Tab A.

I can delete it in that way with the app, no problem.. However the clean up feature still doesn't automatically pick up sd card files.

Did this ever happen to you? How did you manage to solve the issue?

I am having the same issue on my Samsung Galaxy S7.
The Google Photos app won't "free up space" with photos on the SD card.   You can manually remove photos from the SD card within the Google Photos app but make sure you pick the "Delete from device" option on the special menu (not the trash can) and they will still be removed from you device but still be backed up in the cloud.
If you have concerns, someone wrote test case here:
Google Photos Help: Free up space on SD card
What I chose to do was to connect my phone to my Windows PC and delete all of the videos older than 6 months, since videos were taking the most space.  It was easier for me to do this than to select in the phone app.
I do wish the Google would get the "free up space" feature working in their app on their OS, and until then they should clearly explain the limitation in the app.

Click on storage in your phone then click on SD card. On the next screen click on the 3 dots on the side and it will take you to another screen that says "format" and "format system." Click on format and it will tell you that you need to format before you can use the SD card. After you click on it and wait a couple seconds you'll be able to use it. Dumb system that isn't explained but I figured this out just clicking around.


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Synchronize contacts between multiple devices
Is there a possibility to manage contacts together?
Similar to the google calendar.
For clubs that would be very handy.

You mean you want a shared contact list where all the devices have access to the list?

Exactly, it would be best if the contacts can also be edited.

You can use Microsoft Exchange Server or Office 365.
Exchange Server maintains the e-mail messages, contacts, and calendar information, so the data can be accessed from pretty much anywhere and any device.
Laptops can connect to Exchange over any Internet connection, and most smartphones and tablets can stay synced using Exchange Active Sync.
For example... BlackBerry smartphones and tablets use Blackberry Exchange Server rather than Exchange Active Sync to accomplish the same goal.
source : http://www.pcworld.com/article/228698/how_to_sync_your_data_across_all_platforms_pc_tablet_smartphone.html

Thanks. Are there also free, preferably browserbased, alternatives?
I only need a part of the functions contained in MS Exchange.

I think Kopano or G Suits are good alternatives to MS Exchange.

@user220007 also Kerio Connect is very good.

you must the google account if you have an android device or microsoft account if is windows device


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My Android Samsung won't switch on or charge after it got wet
My phone got wet. So I left it in rice and blow dried it with a hair blower. I've left it on charge for a day and it did not switch on or showed that it's charging. I left the battery outside for quite a while but still seems not to work.
PLEASE I WOULD APPRECIATE SOME HELP

http://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-fix-water-damaged-phone-647461/

Now, if the phone doesn’t work, it’s time to accept defeat and take it to a professional and see if it can be salvaged. You can also claim insurance if you have it. Not to sound like a doctor, but after this point we have really done everything we could. Sometimes you just have to let the phone go.

http://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-fix-water-damaged-phone-647461/


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Remove Backup and Factory reset option from Settings app
I want to remove some features from my settings app (device is rooted)
I used adb shell pm disable 'com.android.settings/.Settings\$SecuritySettingsActivity' to disable security settings and it worked. However, I am unable to find the activity name to disable backup and factory reset option.
Here is the AndroidManifest.xml of the settings.apk (I'm using LineageOS)
So far I have tried

adb shell pm disable 'com.android.settings/.BackupSettingsActivity'

and

adb shell pm disable 'com.android.settings/.Settings\$PrivacySettingsActivity'

Both of which did absolutely nothing. I am still able to open backup and reset option from settings.
When I try to launch the said activities

adb shell am start -n com.android.settings/.BackupSettingsActivity

It errors out at saying BAD COMPONENT
while these two commands open the back and reset activity that I want to disable

adb shell am start -a android.settings.BACKUP_AND_RESET_SETTINGS
adb shell am start -S 'com.android.settings/.Settings\$PrivacySettingsActivity'

The name of the activity was SubSettings (how intuitive!)

adb shell pm disable 'com.android.settings/com.android.settings.SubSettings'

You can find the name of any activity that's onscreen. Use

adb shell dumpsys window windows | grep 'mCurrentFocus'

'com.android.settings/com.android.settings.SubSettings' seems to be various sections within settings, not just the Backup and Restore section. After disabling that, i am no longer able to change the PIN, for example.


text:
Saving Notes when I change an Android phone
I have a Xiaomi MI3 and I'll buy the new Xiaomi MI6. In my current phone I have many notes (about 150 notes that I have to save).
Is there a way to save notes in order to have them in the next phone? Because I dont'know how to save them using the google account or the Mi account.

Are you using some specific note taking app (i.e., google keep, color note)? If yes, these app has exporting options inbuilt, check out.
Color note backup and sync