text:
Enable Landscape rotation quick settings toggle on unrootable Moto G (maybe using ADB?)
Pretty much what the title says.  Apparently the Moto G only has Auto-Rotate and Portrait rotation locking allowed, and I was wondering if there was a way to enable Landscape rotation.  I know that there are some apps that can do the trick, but I thought I'd see if it was possible to get the native landscape lock working before I tried those.  I just upgraded to Lollipop.
I'm using a Republic Wireless phone, otherwise I'd definitely root the thing.  As it is, I don't really want to deal with the hassle.

Try adb shell settings put system user_rotation 1. Make sure auto-rotation is disabled. I'm not clear on what you finally want.

My quick settings orientation toggle only has two options—Portrait and Auto-Rotate.  I've heard that for some reason, the Landscape option is disabled on my model, and was looking for a way to get it back.

This app can lock your screen in landscape: Rotation Locker - Google Play and doesn't require root. I recommend this app because it has no permissions, is <100KB (no ads), and if you use Tasker, this app also has Tasker integration.
The explanation for your problem is that carriers and phone brands often decide "you don't need this feature" and just disable it on the front-end. But they don't actually spend the time to really disable that feature. The app works without root because Android provides an API to lock rotation, that's just part of Android.
Hope this helps solve your problem!

That's what I ended up doing.  Thanks!  Yeah, I know that the manufacturers will disable stuff like that.


text:
Connect with the Filezilla Server Software to a FTP Server
I'm running a FTP Server on my Android device, there I want to change the options, but this is very uncomfortable, and I want to have a more overviewed Log, so I tried to connect with the FileZilla Server to this Android FTP Server, but it couldn't connect.
It showed me this error:

Protocol error: Unknown protocol identifier (0x50 0x50 0x48). Most likely connected to the wrong port.

I used the Standart Port from FileZilla (14147) and the port which I have choosen on my Android FTP Server.

An FTP server on your Android, now isn't that something. In any case, the 14147 is the default admin interface port for FileZilla server from what I read. Otherwise, from your server access the interface via 127.0.0.1 although I've never done this from an Android. This is what I read here: FileZilla WikiFor the server port, you have to enter the same port number you did specify during installation for the admin port.

What are you using on Android to run FTP server? Show us the settings you're using for FTP server.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Tablet as a secondary monitor
Do I have any option to use my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) as a secondary screen?
I want to use it for Photoshop, which runs on the PC, but I control it on the tablet. I know I can draw with the tab, and there are apps for drawing, and I've already used Sketchbook (Autodesk) but it has a lot of limits with the layers and brushes.
I have already tried applications like "Splashtop" via the internet but it was very laggy, and I also gave a chance to "Slide" (because of the USB connection) but the installation didn't work.
I don't really trust apps which work via the internet because it might be very slow and laggy, and it's a big deal in computer drawing, so I look for a solution which works via HDMI or USB cable.
Does anyone have an idea how can I make it work?

You can try :

Air Display by Avatron
iDisplay
Splashtop

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

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


text:
What does the circle with dots mean?
I have this circle with dots that showing up on my apps. Where did it come from and how do I get rid of it?
I've attached some screenshots:

It sort of floats on top of it. I can move it around but it doesn't seem to respond to anything.
Disclaimer: I wrote the app shown but I don't know where this came from and I don't see it on other apps.

Keep your app opened and force-stop all the apps having the permission to draw over other apps. If that icon still stays where it is now, then your app is  what causing that icon.

Let me guess. Your phone is Samsung S5 or Note 4? That is the Toolbox.

Yes I have a Samsung Galaxy 6. What is this tool box you speak of?

It's either Floating Toolbox (Floating Launcher)  which is a shortcut application or the Samsung Galaxy S5/S6 Toolbox. These
Floating Toolbox apps gives you access to your apps from anywhere by pressing the Floating button.
Here is a link to the Floating toolbox app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.toolbox.shortcuts
You should be able to disable / uninstall them from settings -> application manager.

I don't see anything running. I checked accessibility as well. I have action launcher but it's not running. Going to uninstall it.

I would believe it's a Samsung thing but it doesn't respond to any interaction except moving it around the screen.

I've been reading on the Galaxy S5 Toolbox I'm sure it's that but all the articles I've read on it say it can be accessed in the settings under Toolbox or other locations but it's nowhere to be found. So I think it's been renamed, moved or integrated into the OS or something like that. I do think it's a bug though because it only appears on one app so far.

That icon is definitely the same than the toolbox one, if it's not for that, then the only logic explanation is that something was activated on the Accessibility options, is the only place now where all this hidden features should be enabled, so I'm guessing the OP should have unintentionally turned on one of this settings, OP, were you playing on the Accessibility menu by any chance? If so, do you remember what you were doing?

I don't remember changing anything

Well, I am pretty sure that the toolbox is the problem. Some others have this as well. Can you still do stuff?

Yeah. It just floats above the app. I can move it around. No other interactions though. I couldn't find a way to uninstall or disable it.

Reason Solved* When you press the 3 dots, you should be able to see info about the app

On the app I'm using it does nothing but another app I used it did something but I don't remember what it was. I didn't have time to make a note of it at the time. I couldn't find the programs mentioned. It doesn't mean they aren't installed but I'm wondering if it's a Adobe AIR thing.


text:
Do modern Android devices regulate AC mains power similar to a laptop?
There have been a lot of discussions about lithium-ion battery life across the internet. However, within these discussions I have found contradictory details about the way power is regulated between battery needs and device needs when a mobile/Android device is fully charged. It's clear that the charging process itself is a "smart" process (multiple stages with different current, overcharge protection, etc.), but what happens when the charging stops and the device is still in use? My understanding is that in these situations most laptops have regulators that divvy AC power between directly powering the device and "topping-off" the battery as it looses charge to ambient factors. Do modern Android devices (and iPhones for that matter) do the same thing?
Consider the following hypothetical situation:

Device is plugged-in to AC mains with 1 Amp supply
Battery is charged 100%
Current ongoing device use draws < 1 Amp
Battery naturally looses 5% charge in 3 hours when not in use (I have not idea what an actual real word value would be here, but the point is that there is a slow loss even when no power is drawn from the battery)

In this case is the battery bypassed completely as long as the active needs of the device do not exceed 1 Amp, or does the battery remain an active power source regardless of charge state and cable connection status? If the battery is in-fact bypassed, does the device wait for some charge-level threshold (say 95% charge) before touching the battery to minimize accumulating (micro)charge cycles?
It's possible that this is more of an electrical engineering question, and though it has certainly come up in that context (such as here), the related discussion seems either too broad or too specific to laptops.
Update
I've been learning a bit more on the correct terminology (thanks to @beeshyams). I see that the concept of "parasitic load" plays a very important, and detrimental, role in charging efficiency. However, I am led to believe that it is not necessarily a key variable in the fully-charged state described above. Anyway, without getting too deep into semantics, it seems like the key variable would instead be "self-discharge" (the natural 5% loss in my example).
My original thought was that this self-discharge effect would be so small, and lead to extremely infrequent topping-off (micro)charge cycles, that it would have a negligible effect on the cumulative charge cycles of the battery. Therefore, by isolating the active load of the device to AC mains (keeping it plugged in most of the time), instead of drawing from the battery, one could potentially prolong battery life. Even though everyone says "don't do that" they never really say why, and that's really what led to this question.
What I'm now starting to see, and which someone will hopefully confirm, is that any charge cycles (even small and infrequent) are really really bad news when they happen near full charge:

They happen much faster than one would expect (the effects of self-discharge are increased near full charge).
They are really detrimental (it looks like a 5% cycle between 95%-100% can lead to several magnitudes more "wear" on the battery than a 5% cycle between, say, 45%-50%.
They exacerbate the negative effects of heat (heat at high change seems to be much worse for battery wear than the same heat at low charge).

So I suppose it's safe to say that these negative factors, even if only considering self-discharge as a catalyst for cycling, nearly always outweigh the benefit of diverting normal operational power away from the battery?

Good question and to give a definitive reply is not possible since OEMs use different battery charging algorithms both at hardware level and OS level. Details of these are deemed "proprietary" and not available on public domain.
By way of providing the background to understand:

Battery Charging circuits have a dedicated "Power Management IC (PMIC) to take care of battery charging operations. See PMIC from Wikipedia. The complexity of these chips has increased with multi core processors. These ensure that Power required for charging is pulled rather than pushed- meaning to say that chargers draw what is required rather than what they can possibly draw from the outlet
Battery Charging circuits "isolate" power required for charging the Battery and providing power required to use an application. For a detailed understanding of this,see my answer https://android.stackexchange.com/a/131169/131553. For purposes of this question, keeping the device on while charging constitutes a load, however small it may be
Refer Battery University post on charging Li-Ion batteries, which clearly depicts at Fig 1, various stages of battery charging-Constant Current stage, Saturation stage, Ready no current stage and Standby mode

Coming to your question,

*In this case is the battery bypassed completely as long as the active needs of the device do not exceed 1 Amp, or does the battery remain an active power source regardless of charge state and cable connection status?

Battery remains as an active power source. That is what is depicted in standby mode of referred battery charging article which shows current flow to " top up" depletion of charge. As to what level this topping starts send to be dependent on OEM implementation. For my Huawei Honor 6 device, it starts at around 97% and for Samsung Note 2, it starts way below at around 91%. In both cases, cable is plugged in and charger is switched on

Cable connection status as asked in your question is answered partly above, but if the cable is disconnected, there is no point of discussing charging!!

If the battery is in-fact bypassed, does the device wait for some charge-level threshold (say 95% charge) before touching the battery to minimize accumulating (micro)charge cycles?

As clarified above, it seems to be device and OEM dependent

Coming to micro cycles accumulating and resultant parasitic load (not asked specifically by you but micro cycles of charging and discharging cause parasitic load)- this aspect had been investigated by me and vetted by Battery University, in my answer is-power-consumed-from-battery-to-run-the-phone-when-Charging/. In this experiment, a load equivalent to mobile data download (by keeping screen on at 50% brightness" was loaded when charging was ongoing to study micro cycles and parasitic load and results submitted to Battery University for their views. Quoting Bruce Huang verbatim (emphasis mine)

I don't think the parasitic load is going to prevent the current drop forever. I guess the parasitic load only delay the current drop for a period of time. In this test, the parasitic load may be too small (turning on screen with 50% brightness is not huge load) to create a significant delay to the current drop.

tl:dr;

"Smart" management of battery charging is done by Power Management IC (PMIC) in Android phones. Key aspects relevant to question are:

Battery charger pulls power it needs

Battery charger isolates charging requirements from usage requirements and unless the latter is extremely high, will not affect adversely

At what level of battery will charging re-commence to top the battery seems to be OEM dependent

Micro cycles accumulation (and  consequent parasitic load) are negligible in the situation described by you

Is it safe to keep the Battery plugged in after full charging? Short answer NO , due to heating effects which causes internal stress. Detailed explanation on this available at Battery University article linked above, which clearly shows the deleterious effects of heating on battery health (Related: See this is your battery gauge lying to you (and it's not such a bad thing)

Edit: In response to edit by OP
As you have rightly concluded but packaged it differently, I do agree with your line of thinking but haven't come across any study which confirms it. You could consider this portion as a separate question in SE Electrical, which may elicit a suitable reply. My approach (simplistic?) would be to factor the potential damage at high voltage to the battery cycle life and that should be of more importance from end user perspective

This is a very thoughtful answer with good added references. One thing I'm not clear on however is the statement that "Battery remains as an active power source [at 100% charge and still plugged in]." Is this active as in "ready to provide current if device needs exceed the 1 Amp the charger can deliver", or active as in "always providing some of the power demanded by the device"? If the former it would seem that leaving the device plugged in would always reduce battery cycling... with the only (though notable) detrimental factor being the increased heat during any usage.

Thank you.  I meant readiness with reference to the battery primarily to connect with the last stage of graph in battery university link which shows current again being pulled and dropping to zero. Having said that, the distinction of readiness between the amount of some/more than 1A is immaterial since the Battery and usage by Battery are isolated and powered separately (as those detailed tests in my linked answer show ). Of course, battery being on itself while charging is a small load. To sum it up it doesn't matter as 1A load > some small load

About battery cycling reduction- it is the opposite. Your battery is worse-off if it is charged to full voltage capacity. The battery life is reduced if you do this compared to charging at less than full. Personally, I stop charging at 85%. Table 4 of this article makes it very clear. This aspect is not commonly known/implemented. I trust this answers and yes, do consider upvote and "accepting" the answer to reflect it has answered you and has merit for others who refer later (your choice of course)

I did upvote as you've definitely exposed the key variables that I was missing. I was getting too distracted by the concept of parasitic load, which (as noted) is probably irrelevant here. What has taken time for me to understand however is the concept of self-discharge (when all active device power is over cable), and the non-intuitive notion that it could somehow actually be worse than drawing the same amount of device power via battery. Anyway, I updated my question to capture this. That said, my edit may simply be re-summarizing some of your points from a slightly different perspective.

It is rare and good to find someone who is getting into these kind of details but as noted in the edit to my answer, it is unlikely that those points would be sufficiently answered here and SE Electrical is a better bet.  I would also suggest that you mail battery university (not post on their articles, that is rarely replied). You may also get lucky in getting a reply as I did and that could be the second and probably faster way

Thanks for the follow-up. I suppose some of this is starting to border on the realm of theory, as building a really precise understanding of all these variables sorta has diminishing returns when you consider all the variables at play in real world situations. Either way, I enjoy building an understanding of these things, especially given the huge variety of (sometimes conflicting) info available out there to the casual observer.


text:
"No application can perform this action" when trying to view a text message image
I’m using an LG Tribute phone (Virgin Mobile) with Android.  I’ve noticed recently when someone sends me a text message with an image in it, and I click the image, I get a warning that reads
Note
No application can perform this action.  Enable disabled built-in application?
No / Yes

When I click the “Yes” button, nothing happens.  Previously, I could click on the image and it would open up in some kind of application (I forget which) where I could enlarge the image.  What is the built-in application the message is referring to?  How do I view a larger version of the image that is in a text message?

I've been having the same issue with my phone running 5.0.2. Wonder if it's something that I accidentally disabled?

Go to Settings app -> Apps -> All apps -> Disabled and give us the screenshot of the list you see there.

There is no "All Apps" tab, only an "All" tab but when I click on it, I just see a list of applications, I don't see a "Disabled" tab or any item taht reads "Disabled."

@Dave check at the buttom of that tab whether there are some apps marked as "disabled" (often, disabled apps are moved to the end of the list). If not, scroll through the entire list (sometimes, disabled apps are kept just between others). The term "Disabled" is usually printed to the right-side of disabled entries.

Hi, At the bottom of "All" are the applications that fall in lowest alphabetical order -- "WhatsApp," "Xt9 Dictionary," and "YouTube."  When I scroll through all the apps in that tab, I don't see "Disabled" to the right of any of them.  What specific application is the error message referring to?  I can look for that.

The application needed to do this is Google Photos.  Installing that solved the problem.

This somehow implies that there is no image viewer app installed or they are disabled, including the stock Gallery app..? I can't recall anymore what the Android Settings menu looks like on Android 4.4, but usually, system/stock apps are not shown by default and the user needs to enable it from the overflow menu. Perhaps, just perhaps, this was missed when checking back then...


text:
Automated export of Samsung S-Note notes to image or PDF?
Are there any methods for automated export/transfer of Samsung S-Note notes to an image or PDF?
I understand how to manually export / share notes from within S-Note and am aware of S-Note to S-Note and S-Note to Evernote synchronization.  I'm hoping to find an alternative to Evernote synchronization which I currently rely on.
It would be perfect if this can be accomplished entirely within Android and accessible to Tasker.
This question was listed as a possible duplicate of "Get notes created using “Notes” default app and export them to PC".  These are not the same application.  Here is a link showing S-Note.  Techniques used by that question may be applicable in this case, however; S-Note captures images which represent additional complexity when pulling data through that many layers.  The adb nature of that approach makes an automated solution even more difficult.

Is your Android rooted? I suppose the native notes app in question is the same app mentioned here. In that case, see if you can get some info from the app's content provider.  If you can't get anything, then I would say root access is the only way to at least get access to notes, let alone convert them to image or PDF.

adb won't be required if the Android is rooted. You've not given any clarification on rooting.

A rooted solution is reasonable although the phone is not presently rooted.


text:
CM12 app install/reboot issue
I've installed CyanogenMod 12.1 (stable branch: cm-12.1-20151117-SNAPSHOT-YOG7DAO1K9) on my phone (MotoX, 1st gen) using Clockwork Recovery, including the version of OpenGApps recommended on CM wiki, and SuperSU.  There are three issues i've noticed - putting them all here in case they're related...

App install from Play Store triggers soft reboot
Android is upgrading, Starting apps message on every boot
Can't copy files to device: The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected

I've searched around but advice seems pretty thin.
UPDATE: I've checked adb logcat during install, and found that this seems to happen shortly prior to reboot:
F/PackageManager( 5905): java.io.FileNotFoundException: /data/system/users/0/package-restrictions.xml: open failed: ENOENT (No such file or directory)
Having checked for the file I can confirm it's not there. Is there a replacement I can add in order to resolve this? I've noticed that any new users created do have this file, though it doesn't seem possible to copy it across, even with root.
UPDATE2: Somehow i have files located in /data/media/0/0/0/0/0/clockworkmod: .recovery_version and philz-touch_6.sav
When I format in preparation for reinstall these files cannot be removed. I've also tried using root and adb shell to delete with no success. As a result apps seem to persist across OS reinstalls.
I think the best thing to try now is a manual reformat of the data partition...

Thanks.  Yes I used the version recommended on the CM wiki: OpenGApps.
CGApps is also linked, so maybe worth trying that.
Is it ok to just install one over the other, or is there a method to remove it first?

@Izzy The Open GApps FAQ says that only TWRP recovery is officially supported, though I had issues with it when flashing CM, so would prefer to stick with CWM.  I also found this in the details txt file: APK contains a new Google certificate not yet available in the keystore, please contact Open GApps maintainer to get it included - so maybe there's a key i need to install?

Haven't checked myself in a while (no longer using GApps), but as far as I've heard the packages do a removal first. If you want to be on the safe side, wipe and flash CM again before installing a different GApps package. Not sure about the certificate thing, but that might indeed be the cause of a crash (though not of a reboot).

I think it might be related to package-restrictions.xml (updated in question), but I've been unable to create a new one in that directory. If I create a new user everything seems to be in the right place though, so maybe a complete reset is the way to go.

That file missing shouldn't be the cause of a reboot. If it's not found, it should simply be created (see here and here for some background). Though I wonder why it was not created to start with, as it should include details of all packages (whether they're enabled/disabled, default app, etc.). I'd expect it to be created at the first startup automatically. Note that except from package manager, only root can access that file.

I seem to have all these issues resolved now.
Firstly I forced a format of my data partition, by flashing TWRP, switching the filesystem for /data to ext4, and then switching back to f2fs. This means that instead of just deleting files as it tends to do during a wipe it has to recreate the entire filesystem, removing those troublesome files from before in the process.
I then pushed CM12, OpenGApps and SuperSU zip files over adb to the data partition, before re-flashing CWM and installing them.
Boot into CM12 and everything works!
.recovery_version and philz-touch_6.sav have returned, this time to /data/media/0/0/clockworkmod but as I've already formatted by this point, they don't seem to be causing any problems.
Thanks to @Izzy and @Kshitij for their help.

I'm writing this here because I am unable to comment.

You could try a clean install i.e. wipe system, data, cache
partitions and flash ROM & GApps packages.
OpenGApps recommends that you flash OpenGApps package right after you
flash the ROM without any reboots in between
https://github.com/opengapps/opengapps/wiki/Notes-for-Android-6.0 (I
know this is for 6.0 but it might be applicable to previous versions
as well)
You could try posting your logs in the OpenGApps XDA Forum link given on
their FAQ page
https://github.com/opengapps/opengapps/wiki/FAQ#2-im-having-a-problem-with-my-open-gapps-install-what-information-do-you-need-to-help-me

Hi, thanks for the input! I'm actually trying to do that at the moment, but the factory reset won't complete properly (fails to format data) due to the files mentioned in Update2 above.  I'm currently looking into manually formatting the partiton,  but so far have some up with little to nothing...


text:
How to Slave Chromebook's Display for Android by RB/HDMI?
Condition: Slave Chromebook's Display for Android by Microcontroller/HDMI
Proposal: Microcontroller as a router in the local network which streams phone output to the local network, which Chromebook can access and view real-time
Support: Chromebook's display cannot work as a real slave itself for the phone
I would like to use my Android phone on the external monitor. I am thinking if any Chromebook's monitor could work as a slave for your Android phone, although it is not supported by their design. A microcontroller is needed in the solution between Chromebook and Android phone.
Hardware: Chromebook 2 Toshiba 13", Chromebook 2 Acer 13" and/or any
Phone: Samsung Galaxy S4 gt-i9506 and/or any
Phone System: CyanogenMod 13, Temasek's rom with patches
Microcontroller open: Raspberry Pi 3 b (RB3b), FPGA (SnickerDoodle), Pine64
Network: localhost HTTPS

You cannot do this without changes in the Chromebook itself.


text:
cant access google play store
i lost my first gmail account password and have tried using other passwords like excellency, excellently and so on to see if i can access it but to no avail so i re-opened a new account  with the name johneunice025 yesterday and still  i cant use it to access google play store rather my first account keeps on appearing for me to add my password and log in which i cant remember anymore. pls what do i do?

Why don't you try and recovery the password  For gmail? Click on the forgot password and follow instructions

Creating a new account does not automatically add it to your phone. You have to add your new account in Settings -> Accounts&Sync.
Keep in mind that, as beeshyams correctly mentioned, using another google account you will not be able to restore any of your paid apps or any game data.

Your solution is partial. He can't get his installed/paid apps /games. You can't transfer from one account to another. How would you want OP to do that?

@beeshyams Well, you're right, but I don't see any word mentioning restoring paid apps or transferring data in the Question.

That is the reason I didn't down vote. Maybe you can add that to your answer so that OP gets the full picture.Also the reason why I suggested that he should try and recover his pass word

@beeshyams Already added :)


text:
How to delete contacts from read only accounts
I am using android, and the I have used my google contacts to sync to this, when trying to delete an account, it shows "You can not delete contacts from read only accounts, but you can hide them",
When I search the net, I have seen answers like 'clear the contacts and dialer app and again sync'
and doing so every time I lost the call history.
So now if I want to delete a contact in my phone, I first go to google contact and delete from there and again sync.
So if we want to delete an contact from contacts in google do we need to delete this from google contacts and again sync?
How can I delete a contact in google contact from android phone?
and if we hide the contact in phone, where can I see hidden contacts?
thanks,

as far as I know, these "read only accounts" relate to other accounts you have set up in Android (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.). These accounts are (usually) synced by default when you set them up and the respective contacts are displayed in your contacts. You have several options to manage these contacts:
1. in Android under contacts go to settings and select "Contacts to display" - here you can chose which account to include in your contacts list. You can also chose a mix of them under "Customize"
2. to manage 'read only' accounts, you may go online to your respective services (e.g. Facebook, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.) and add/modify/delete the contacts there.
3. the best way to manage your Google accounts, at least for me, is still to edit them directly in your contact list at gmail.com.
Hope this helps a bit.

so Hide means hiding in the respective account?

so when we want to delete a contact, we first need to delete from google contacts and then clear the contacts in contact app and dialer app and then sync?   Delete a contact in google contacts remove automatically in android also when sync?

If you want to delete the contact:

Tap on a contact you want to delete
Tap the overflow icon on the top-right (like when you want to edit the details)
Choose "View linked contacts"
Tap on "Unlink", and then "Unlink" again
After that, go back and you can safely delete your contact without losing those that you didn't want to lose

As Frank said, most of the read only contacts come from third party apps that access your contacts to identify your friends (like WhatsApp, Viber, etc.,). These contacts are automatically created by such apps and they may or may not show up in your contacts list.
If you want to delete the read only contact, you have to either delete the main contact (not the linked one) or you have to uninstall the app.
If you want to delete the read only contact just because they show up as duplicates, you can try merging the contacts.
There are third party apps to merge multiple duplicates at once if the function isn't inbuilt.
Hope this helps.
Edit:
I encountered a situation where there were multiple read-only contacts, but no original contact. Not sure what caused this situation. The only way I got rid of them is by clearing the Contacts Storage app's data. Use this as a last resort. Also make sure you have a backup of contacts before clearing. It will also clear your call history.

If you click on the contact itself and delete the link accounts attached once you do that back out and delete like normal and the contact should be deleted finally.

I got fed up working around it, I just deleted whatsapp add (in my case its what was linked) then deleted the contact and added it with the right info I wanted to be saved. then just reinstalled the whatsapp app and that's it
be aware when you are adding this person again to your contact list it may prepolute old info like G+ account so i deleted anything but the email and the phone number to make sure I keep the right info

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


text:
is there a cardboard/VR emulator available?
i need to check out the content of some VR apps, but i dont have a set of VR glasses. is there any app or emulator or anything that can just show me the split 2-D views side by side?
i dont need the "full experience". a basic rendering will do just fine
i scoured the web but couldnt find anything like this
thanks!
here's a screenshot. i'm using droid4x

Just run the app. The Google Cardboard is just a way of attaching the lenses and phone to your face. The phone doesn't know whether it's in the headset or not. The app just displays the two views on the screen, whether it's in the headset or not.

Note that this only applies to Google Cardboard apps, not to Samsung Gear VR. Gear VR has its own electronics supplying extra sensor data to the phone, so apps written to work with Gear VR will only work with an actual Gear VR headset.

hi thanks. i tried but all i get is 2 tiny images on the bottom. i just added a screenshot. please advise.


text:
Why is it acceptable to supply devices without root capabilities?
It seems bizarre to me that Android devices that you have bought and paid for are not capable of providing a built in root session, so you can gain full control over your own device!
Why is this acceptable?
I understand that the functionality / stability of a device may be compromised by the use of the root user, but surely if you accept the void warranty and so forth and the device clearly warns you of the risks, an official root mechanism has to be better than downloading un-trusted binaries off a random locker site and trying to root the device yourself, with all the potential headache this might bring.
It irritates me that I need to do this to gain full control over a device I own.
EDIT: This question has been criticized its answers being primarily opinion based, and I admit it is practically rhetorical in its nature. BUT ... I personally believe this is the "elephant in the room" concerning the (current and future) freedom of users of portable devices, to control what they legitimately own: I challenge the received thinking which seems to be: "Do not dare question the authority of the device manufacturers to have ultimate control over a device you own".
If you own a smart phone and are not simply bovine marketing statistic, this affects you.

Answers to this will be pure speculation – though a very strong reason is manufacturers want to save themselves from thousands of service requests made by n00bs who "accidentally uninstalled a system app" and the like.

@Izzy Well, they would have already accepted the disclaimer during the process of getting root access ...

It's acceptable because people accept it. If you don't, buy something else you do accept.

@MatthewRead Yes, we must allow market forces to determine the future of our freedom.

I didn't downvote or VTC before, because although it's a rant disguised as a question, I thought the question itself was perfectly reasonable. After the edit I've downvoted because the edit is completely rhetoric: the OP is trying to tell us something, not find anything out. That's not what this site is for.

@DanHulme Downvote OK by me. Thanks to the power of advanced crypto all the thousands of questions on this site about "how to root ... whatever" can soon be all marked as rhetorical too.

@Geeb How important the issue is has nothing at all to do with how useful your post is as a question. This isn't Reddit.

@DanHulme Dan, you are absolutely right, old bean. I have shamelessly polluted a technically based forum with an opinion based question, contrary to all civilized rules of engagement. My penance shall be 10x "Dawn of the Angry" by Morbid Angel (It's not really a penance, I know :-)

Because most users don't want this functionality, understand what it means, wouldn't care about it even if they did understand, and would probably break their phone with it if they did. If it weren't acceptable, phones where rooting is not supported would have a much smaller market share than phones where rooting is easy and supported by an official process (e.g. Nexus phones).
Compare the situation with Android's main competitor, iPhone. Their nearest equivalent to rooting is jail-breaking. Jail-breaking isn't just unsupported, Apple goes out of their way to make it impossible, and each OS update makes old jail-break methods stop working. Unlike Android, where rooting a device just gives you more control over it, once you've jail-broken your iPhone you can't even use Apple's App Store any more.
This state of affairs, which is even more restrictive than the most restrictive Android builds, isn't just acceptable, it is viewed as a benefit to many people. Some kind of users think of it as a security benefit. Enterprise customers in particular, who want to lock down phones they issue and to be able to remote-wipe them if they're lost, like to know that the phones won't be rooted as soon as the users get their hands on them. And certain kinds of app developers (generally those with DRM, or games that need to prevent cheating) want to know that their app's private data can't be copied or modified by the user.
All these groups of stakeholders (enterprise users, security developers, and carriers) view restricting the platform more as a benefit. It's only the tinkerers who find it a negative. And even then, making the rooting process harder makes it more attractive to some kinds of tinkerer, because it is an interesting challenge for its own sake, with a cool perception, not just the first step to controlling your device further. Rooting your device is exciting in a way that turning on the "Unknown sources" switch in the security settings is not.

The very term "jailbreak" implies the removal of one's freedom has been inflicted by default. But, of course, it's all for your own good. Trust in the benevolent dictatorship of the gobal megacorp. Surprised at the down-votes considering the main codebase of Android is licensed as an open source project.


text:
Moved apps to SD. SD was full, Apps are vanished now, but phone storage stays clogged. What should I do?
Phone: GT-I9100
A: 4.1.2
I tried to move Apps from my phone to the SD card with root permissions enabled.
I missed the point that the SD card was running out of space during the process. A warning did not take place.
Afterwards the Apps seem to have been disappeared, but the Phone storage is still clogged with only 200 MB free. I thought that I could perhaps reinstall the broken apps to make them available again and move them again when the SD-Card is cleaned properly. But this seems unviable because the phone claims about missing space every time I try to fetch the app from the store.
If I enter the setup section for memory it takes eternal to sum up the memory consumption for the different categories (apps, pics/videos, audio, downloads and so on)
Questions:
Is it a valid assumption that due to the failed move to SD card the apps got rendered disfunctional but are still lingering on the phone memory? How can I verify that and what to do then?
What might prevent the phone to calculate the memory usage in finite time?

Sometimes the OS misinterprets files inside of the sdcard. However, it is possible that the applications failed to move. I would suggest trying to try reading the contents of the sdcard from another device (another phone or computer). Then try seeing if the applications are in there. If they are, chances are the sdcard isn't mounting properly. I would suggest backing up the sdcard and then formatting then restoring the files. After doing this try inserting the sdcard into your phone again and see if your applications load.

My primary problem is that the space on the phone is still full. The lost apps could be reinstalled later on from store or wherever they came from.. But at the moment I can't install any app because I'm lacking phone space.

Cop all data such as photos and videos off of the phone. Then just try cleaning up as much space as possible. Uninstall unnecessary applications or applications that don't have important data stored on the phone. Then try fixing the sdcard and see if it is possible to move some applications or some data onto the sdcard. Then reinstall applications that were previously removed. I'm not too sure if there is anything you can do if you can't move any data onto a computer but need more space.

Had a LG G2 do (looks like) precisely the same thing, I finally connected to a friends laptop via USB the laptop had some type of factory software that recognized the phones OS and actually gave me the option to backup everything,when I clicked backup da da! There before me was actually even stuff that I had deleted months ago along with all the apps, songs, pics,videos even a few text messages. Wish I could tell you the name of it. There is hope

The factory software on your friend's laptop wouldn't be LG PC Suite, would it? If you install LG PC Suite on your computer, its interface may look familiar.


text:
theme chooser for cm 12 broken/disappeared after update?
On my Xperia Z1 compact and cm 12 I used the Dark Material theme. Then after a recent update it was disabled 'after too many app crashes'. I tried to set it again but now every time I go to settings->themes it exits with the error 'unfortunately, settings has stopped'.
Some posts on the web suggest that in settings->apps, clearing the data for the Theme Chooser app (under All Apps) will solve it. But there is no Theme Chooser app in my app list.
Is it possible to (re)install Theme Chooser somehow? Or another way to be able to switch Themes in cm 12?
phone: Sony Xperia Z1 compact (amami)
OS: cm 12.1 update 20160110
android: 5.1.1
EDIT
I tried (re)installing the Themes APK generously provided by the author of this post, but when I open the APK it first says "Do you want to install an update to this built-in application? Your existing data will not be lost. The updated application will get access to New|All", and when I choose either of those it exits with "App not installed."
That means that Theme Chooser is still on the phone. But why does it then not appear in the "All Apps" list (which would allow me to Clear Data)?
EDIT II
I dirty flashed the latest image (15/1) from the cyanogedmod website. Still no theme chooser that works.

Tell us whether these commands solve the issue: adb shell su  -c am force-stop org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser; adb shell su -c pm clear org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser; adb shell su -c am force-stop org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider; adb shell su -c pm clear org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider ; adb reboot;

Also, what does this return: adb shell pm list packages -d?

adb shell su -c am force-stop org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser -> unknown id: force-stop. Same for the other force-stop command, and both clear commands return unknown id: clear.

The other command returns package:org.cyanogenmod.wallpapers.photophase package:com.android.camera2 package:com.google.android.launcher package:com.google.android.gm package:com.android.wallpaper.holospiral package:com.android.phasebeam package:org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider package:com.cyanogenmod.wallpapers package:org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser package:com.cyanogenmod.filemanager package:com.android.musicvis package:com.android.dreams.phototable package:com.android.wallpaper.livepicker package:com.android.email

without su -c I can execute those first 4 commands, but after reboot I still get Unfortunately, Settings has stopped.

Ah. This does work with su: adb shell su -c "am force-stop org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser"; adb shell su -c "pm clear org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser"; adb shell su -c "am force-stop org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider"; adb shell su -c "pm clear org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider"; adb reboot. That boots to recovery. After just rebooting to CM, I still get get "Settings has stopped".

It looks like a factory reset is the only way to go... Some posts suggest clearing the data of themes, theme provider, and theme chooser? I cannot see any other processes called *theme* , even with adb shell ps?

Cleaning trebuchet did not help either. It was OK again after a clean flash all was good. I felt like an iPhone user though.

trebuchet is the launcher app of CM. Why did you think clearing its data would help?

Stuck for ideas I guess - and thought it interacted with the theme manager.

I see. Can you sum up your solution into an answer? That would be easier for others to follow.

After using adb to remove the data for the packages org.cyanogenmod.theme.chooser and org.cyanogenmod.themes.provider, as suggested above and elsewhere, and also after cleaning the data in trebuchet on the phone (by way of trial and error), the only thing that really made the Theme Chooser work again was a clean flash:

download the latest cyanogenmod (and Google Apps if you want) to your sd card (remove /system/* too if you are switching to Open GApps from another GApps)
reboot into recovery (on an Xperia Z1 Compact by repeatedly pressing volume-up at boot)
choose wipe data / factory reset and empty cache
do install update for both the CM and GApps ZIP files
reboot

After reboot, my apps were re-installed via my Google account and the data (images, documents) from before flashing were all still there.
The custom wallpapers and (in my case no) sounds needed to be set anew.


text:
How do I make permanent changes to files in root (/) directory?
Every time I edit a file in /, /sbin, or /system/bin it overwrites on restart (device is rooted and in r/w mode). I assume this is because Android mounts a temporary root? Or maybe it's just a problem on my device?
How do I make a permanent change to root files? Can I do this through adb? Do I need to edit the system image, and if so can anyone point me in the right direction on where to start on this?

Give us the details of the whole list of instructions you used to edit a file in /system/bin. As for files in / and /sbin - they are loaded from the kernel on every boot, so it's not worth editing them out if you intend to make changes persist across reboots. What device are you using?

I'm using a rooted LG G Pad 7.0 running 4.4.2. To accomplish what I want, I think I can get away with either replacing /sbin/chargerlogo with a copy of /system/bin/reboot, or replacing the contents of /sbin/chargerlogo with
#!/system/bin/sh
/system/bin/reboot
However it needs to survive a reboot or it is not of any use. As for list of instructions... I was trying to do it through ES File Explorer with root explorer on, system in r/w mode.

Does this answer your question? Any changes to files in root directory (/) are gone after reboot

The root file system (/) and the files therein (plus several more in some sub-directories) are overwritten at boot time from the so-called InitRd ("initial RAM disk", or "boot image"). So if you must change/add stuff there, you will have to modify that image.
If you just want to store some additional binaries/scripts, you should rather do so in /system/xbin (which usually is also contained in the $PATH) – though files in /system/bin should survive a reboot as well (/system is a separate partition usually mounted read-only, and thus not touched except for OS updates).

OP says he modifies /system/bin and it gets restored.

@SarpSTA I've read that – and somehow (at least partly) doubt it. As to my knowledge, neither shutdown nor boot tamper with /system except to (un)mount the partition (read-only that is). Not sure what's behind that. I've done such manipulations several times on different devices – so I'm pretty sure what sticks and what does not. Though I admit different devices/ROMs might have specifics I've not yet encountered – thinking e.g. of those always replacing /recovery with stock when flashed with something else, as I've read.

@SarpSTA It might not, sorry for the mistake. The files I want to edit are in / and /sbin, the file I want to copy is in /system/bin, so my bad on that. Izzy, thank you for this! Any resources to point in the right direction to modifying the InitRd?

@Alan Sorry, that's the part I didn't do yet (modifying the InitRd myself). I've replaced it sometimes, but the replacement was built by someone else. As this would be off-topic here anyway, I'd recommend checking these posts at SO :)

Anytime, Alan. A quick Google search just found this little tutorial: Android boot.img manipulation – which should answer your previous comment.


text:
Galaxy Note 5 not connecting to PC
My Galaxy note 5 is not connecting to my PC, it is charging, but never shows up on the PC. can this be fixed?

State your Android version-if it is Marshmallow, by default it goes to charging mode.

Beeshyams is correct.  However, what is missing is how to change it to MTP mode.  So far the only way I have found is to activate developer options and scroll to USB Configuration and select MTP.  It's not sticky and you will need to set it each time you want to connect to a PC.

Be sure to use the supplied USB cord (Samsung) which came with the phone...

Why? What makes that cable so specific? Has it some features that deviate from the USB norm?

@Izzy Actually, it's a good suggestion. Maybe the OP is using a "USB charging" cable that doesn't have the data pins connected, instead of a real USB cable.

@DanHulme From that point, yes – but still, the data cable must not necessarily be the one that "came with the phone"; it must not even come from the same vendor. It just must be a "data cable" and not a "charging-only cable". I don't want to be picky, but as it's currently phrased, it's a bit misleading ;)

Go to settings->storage->USB connection mode
Connect to pc and change it

when I go to settings, storage, all i get is a list of all apps and how much space they take up. There is not USB connection mode option. Are you sure you meant to go to storage after settings? I was able to find it the way Richard Morton suggested but when I change it to MTP mode it doesn't stay at all, not even long enough to download once. It immediately flips back to charging mode.

Settings --> MORE --> Edit Quick Settings --> Scroll way down to Storage, and select it. Then, when you plug in the USB cable, a dialog pops up on the phone asking if you want to allow access (um, choose "allow") I just copied a pic from my Note5 this way.

Settings-->Developer Options --> USB config --> select * MTP (Media Transfer Protocol)


text:
"App not installed" error
I installed Badland from Play Store. It worked. Then I uninstalled it and tried installing it from Amazon Appstore. Every time I try to install it, I get the installing screen for about a minute (long time) and then the error "App not installed"
I found the apk file (from my filesystem, the one Amazon downloaded) and the exact same thing happens when I attempt to install it. I have redownloaded it many times.
I also have root and I'm running Android 5.1.1
EDIT: The message I get from terminal is: [INSTALL_FAILED_VERIFICATION_FAILURE]

Can you confirm the info mentioned in first paragraph of the answer for How to completely uninstall an app on Android Lollipop? If yes, follow that same answer for the remedy.

There is a good chance the App from Amazon Playstore is unsigned - have you tried allowing 'Unknown Sources' in Security Settings ... why not just install it from Google playstore again?


text:
Help me identify this tablet Vivax TPC 8150
Yes, this is a bit out of topic but I need to identify this tablet VIVAX TPC-8150
AND YES BEFORE YOU ASK I DID ALLOT OF RESEARCH BEFORE DOING THIS.
All I need is a update image that will remove a adware/virus stuck in the /system folder or partition (I don't even care).
And no I can't open the tablet because it has a fully metal cover.
The closest thing I found (by build number is MK808b which isn't even a tablet)
System specs:
Android 4.2.2 Jellybean
Dual Core ARMv7 A9 Rockchip 3066 Processor @1.5 GHz
1 GB of DDR-3 RAM
8" TFT 1024x768 4:3 display
HDMI 1.2 (I think)
USB-OTG 2.0
Bluetooth 4.0
Micro-SDHC slot
...etc..etc

To help out I discovered a few things:

How to root this beast (King root)
How to get in recovery mode (Hold Vol. Up and Power and after boot screen let go of Power)

Misc info:
Recovery system v4.2.41
C:\Users\NotGettingMyUsername>adb shell "cat /system/build.prop | grep "product""
ro.product.model=TPC-8150
ro.product.brand=rk30sdk
ro.product.name=rk30sdk
ro.product.device=rk30sdk
ro.product.board=rk30sdk
ro.product.cpu.abi=armeabi-v7a
ro.product.cpu.abi2=armeabi
ro.product.manufacturer=rockchip
ro.product.locale.language=hr
ro.product.locale.region=HR
# ro.build.product is obsolete; use ro.product.device
ro.build.product=rk30sdk
ro.product.usbfactory=TPC-8150
ro.product.version=1.0.0
ro.product.ota.host=www.rockchip.com:2300

All I need is a similar to model (WHICH IS COMPATIBLE) to reflash the device.
Also if possible get CWM or TWRP running on it :)
Any help will be appreciated :D thanks

This is a partial answer and may give you a head start, by way of correct product model details

Retail Branding: SK Telesys
Marketing Name: ITP-R208W
Device:  rk30sdk
Model: ITP-R208W

Source: PDF at this link  List of all devices supported by Google Play
Seems to be a Chinese product called "Thinkle"
This Russian site points to github source when I googled for custom ROM


text:
Retrieve photos backed up from Android and transferred to another phone via SD card
my old android died and I replaced it with a new different one.  my old phone came with an option to hide pictures so that I could keep some private.  now that I have the new phone I cannot see these pics in the backup or on my SD card which I transferred to my new phone. It was an option already on the phone not an app that I downloaded. can any help me recover my pics? I know the pics are still there in the backup and on the SD card because they were never deleted and by the size of space used on the card itself.
Can someone help me retrieve my pics?

Could you edit your question and include the devices' names and Android versions, and relevant apps, if any?

If you have hidden images through gallery app, their name is Changed to start with a "."
Download a file Explorer like Es-file Explorer.
I'm menu - >tools->show hidden files.
Then select those pics and batch rename them.
If the name is " .name.jpg"  change them to name.jpg
Hope that helps.


text:
remount /mnt as read-write
I am getting error "Read-only filesystem" when trying to add a new directory in /mnt via Terminal Emulator. So, I tried :
su
busybox mount -o remount,rw /mnt

in order to remount filesystem for /mnt as read-write; but I am getting error "can't find /mnt in /proc/mounts".
What is this error for !?
PS. My ultimate aim is to then mount an external storage on that new directory; say /mnt/myextdrive

Doesn't your device have a directory named usbotg under mnt? Why not mount it there?

Use these commands
su -c 'busybox mount -o remount,rw /'    # this will remount rootfs at / in rw mode
su -c 'mkdir /mnt/"NEW_DIR"'             # replace NEW_DIR with the name of the directory you aim to create under /mnt

Note that in Android /mnt is not a mount point for any real or pseudo-filesystem but its sub-directories are (actually, /mnt is a sub-directory of the / (rootFS), which is why you'd have to remount that to apply changes here). Also note that mnt directory in Android is created by kernel at every boot1  so any modification would be lost after shutdown.

1: mnt doesn't exist in a persistent filesystem but in a specific ramfs named rootfs - a filesystem which exists in RAM only.


text:
Can't install Aptoide
I'm having this problem since I was trying to upgrade Aptoide from 6.5.X to 7.X.

I was trying to upgrade Aptoide from inside Aptoide: Installation failed.
I was trying to adb install or pm install it, got the same response:
Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_CONFLICTING_PROVIDER]
So I removed the older Aptoide version and got the same response exactly except for several times where I got Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_INVALID_URI].
I tried upgrading my CM version (My device is OnePlus One with the latest official COS12.1), didn't help, same response.

I checked the list of packages, and there were no conflicts with the name in android:authorities in AndroidManifest.xml and there were also no special characters in that file (I used apktool to decompile the APK and look at the files).
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong but I don't want to mess with the package and there's nothing I know I can change in my phone's configuration that would fix that.
Any ideas?

Figured it all out!
Apparently Aptoide-dev was installed but somehow only for the guest user.
All I had to do was switching to the guest user, going to Settings -> Apps and remove the Aptoide-dev package.
Going back to my profile did some weird stuff (I can't switch between apps, it'll probably work after restart) but I managed to install Aptoide finally.
Thanks.

If it's a third-party app (which third-party apps are installed as .apk) you should go to Settings > Applications > and then enable Unknown resources it 'Allows installation of non-market apps'
I hope that helped and worked

It isn't making sense. OP has explained that even installation from adb is failing and has mentioned the error code as well. Unknown sources settings has nothing to do with that. That setting comes into action if only you're trying to sideload using GUI.


text:
My android phone instal app on it own
I use Evercoss AT1A and I have problem with my phone.  It installs applications on its own, without my permissions.
Can someone tell me how to fix it?  It doesn't update any applications, it installs new application,  that I don't know and don't want to install.

Is the device rooted? An app cannot be installed (ignore ADB here) by any other app unless you explicitly choose to, using Package Installer or the app happens to be a system app, such as Google Play service. Either, you've not given us enough details about the auto app installations or the system is infected with a malware.

Like Firelord I think that's malware behind. But it could also be something else, please see e.g.: Apps install on their own So we need additional details here. // @Firelord remember some malware is able to root devices and thus install everything. Just recently (a week or so ago) a bunch of them got removed from Playstore for that.

Some trojan/viruses do those kind of things, once they got the superuser privilege on your device they will auto install applications from playstore without any intervention from you, try to scan it with Malware bytes or Dr Web Antivirus to check if you are infected. I so far encountered 2 phones behaving same as what you described and found out it is infected. By the way those two phones are never rooted and all applications installed on it all came from google playstore.

I guess this is what happens to OP's device. Could you include a solution to the issue as well? How did you solve it for the devices you've mentioned? AFAIK if a "rooting trojaner" is involved, flashing a clean ROM is the only answer.


text:
TV IR remote codes discovery for Android
I have an Android phone with an IR blaster and I can use it to control my Sony TV.
However I have an other device - TCL L24B2500 TV. I don't have a remote for it and want to use my phone instead. But I cannot, as TCL brand is not supported by the application and I couldn't find the codes in public databases.
So I need to guess the correct control codes to put into Android IR Remote apps. Are there any application to guess, or I am out of luck (no apps or search space is too large)?
I know that there are devices to capture the codes from remotes, but I don't have a working remote to start from.

Try this app (Smart IR Remote - AnyMote).
When I tried using other apps I often found that they couldn't support old devices in my house, but this app has a plethora of devices and it supports many old products.


text:
How to install cynogenmod on Moto E?
I have Moto E with android 5.1.
I like install cynogenmod. What are the steps I need to follow?

https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Install_CM_for_condor

@firelord Can't it get easier than that? I have seen that before.

I see. So, what's hard to follow there? Also, what other guides/tutorials have you been through already? Tell us what precisely you find difficult in them?

That came up when I googled. It seemed complicated. I asked the question here.

@firelord Can you tell me what I need to have and know in order to follow the procedure? I will try to follow the procedure. I am afraid of bricking my phone.

Go on to Latest Cyanogenmod for Moto E
Go on to Latest Cyanogenmod Recovery
Wipe Dalvik Cache while changing the OS, NO NEED FOR Factory Reset
Take backup of important system apps as they get lost after installing any other ROM.
IMPORTANT: TAKE BACKUP OF YOUR CURRENT OS BEFORE CHANGING OS.
YOU DO NEED 5-6 GB FOR BACKUP(NANDROID BACKUP).
YOU NEED A ROOTED DEVICE.
YOU NEED PATIENCE. all done!


text:
Can't uninstall an app in android which is showing ads frequently
An app is showing ads frequently on my device. I can't find it in the app collection. I also tried Settings -> Device Administration but didn't get it there. Then I looked for it in Xender (app like ShareIt) and got it there . Its name is Shuffle but can't uninstall it even from there.

Is this the app? : Shuffle

I don't know but the xender shows it with the name of shuffle in app section.

Try this app to help remove it : App Manager - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lb.app_manager

I had a similar same problem and solved it this way:

Go to Settings → Device Manager → uncheck unknown app
Go to Setting → Apps → uninstall the first unnamed app from the list

Settings>Device Administrator... Then deselect the "ghost" app and it will allow for you to uninstall through application manager as other apps do. Basically it snuck in and gave itself administrative properties, not allowing for it to be removed. I refuse to factory reset my device, lol

There will be application named 'android communication' with android icon uninstall it.Actually I was having the same problem then this shuffel app made one mistake of poping notification which helped me to get its app info and as I got app info it was easy just uninstall it.

YOU CAN TRY
    (1ST PROCESS) "SETTINGS>APPS>(LOOK FOR AN UNIDENTIFIED APP)>UNINSTALL".
IF 1ST PROCESS NOT WORK,YOU CAN TRY SAFE MODE(HOLD POWER BUTTON,AND WHEN POWER-OFF OPTIONS WILL COME,HOLD "POWER-OFF" OPTION.),THEN TRY 1ST PROCESS.

SORRY FOR MY POOR ENGLISH.

I had recently encountered the same issue...I tried to uninstall it from Settings>apps...but couldn't do it cuz it was  disabled. Then I installed an app called "uninstaller" from play store...Upon selecting the blank app to uninstall, it said something like.."can't uninstall as the app is enabled in device administrators"..I had to deselect that blank app in Settings>device administrators.. and then I could able to uninstall that annoying blank app. Problem solved.

When I turned on my Hudl 2 I got a white screen that popped up displaying an ad. so I went to settings and found a app with no image or name. I couldn't uninstall it . So I found a app called uninstaller from the Play store and downloaded it. I opened up the app and that blank app was at the top of the list I clicked on it and I couldn't install it because it was ticked on device administrator so I unticked it and I could uninstall it
By the way you don't need an uninstaller.

I had trouble with "movie HD" app on android
besides not actually having movies to watch, it constantly showed ads even if it was not running.
When I tried to uninstall it the normal way I could not because uninstall was greyed out.
I finally got rid of it by using "AppMgr III" app that showed it had administrator protection. it showed me where to uncheck that and then I was able to uninstall movie HD and ads are finally gone!
YAY for appmgr III, BOO for movie HD

Could you link this "AppMgr III"?

I had trouble with "Movie HD" as well and could not delete it from my Samsung Galaxy Tablet so I followed Fred Stevens' advice and it worked. Please don't ever download it. It is a nightmare and the pop ups are relentless.
Thanks for your post, Fred.

@MatthewRead probably this one – but there are two more with the same name, so I'm not 100% sure. Hopefully fred can confirm?

Just download superuser apk from Google, then go to delete option. You will find all applications, you can even uninstall built-in apps.

It worked for me when I went to device administrators
Why not factory reset it it will probably go away

Hello Bia. Whilst I know you do not have enough reputation to comment, making comments such as this as an "answer" will not help.

Just install 360 Security from play store and go and clean your phone. That app detects com.media malware and asks you to deactivate your administrator ... deactivate that and you can automatically uninstall that malware.

I think 360 Security is best for your phone but you need to avoid ads
Don't allow it to remove app cache, otherwise it removes your uc downloads and other apps' data.
Don't download apps from untrusted websites

Please don't link malware.

App Mgr III really works, was so easy. All I did was click on the ad app and deactivated it, boom, no more endless pop-up ads.

you will have to flash the firmware (reload the software). you can try turning on the phone immediately after it starts to boot, press and hold volume down button. it will start the phone in safe mode. try uninstalling the app there, if unsuccessful, you will have to reload the firmware.

That doesn't make much sense: when flashing firmware, the current one is overwritten. So either the app was overwritten/removed as well (if it was a system app; in which case one doesn't need to uninstall it), it would be re-installed again (if it's part of the ROM; in which case that flashing is useless), or it wasn't part of system apps at all (in which case flashing was for no good). And if removal from within safe-mode was successful, then why is another reload is required? Shouldn't a simple reboot be sufficient?

Could it be what you wanted to say was: "Turn the device off, then boot to safe-mode, try to uninstall the app from there, and then reboot again to get out of safe-mode"? If so, what makes you think this approach might be more successful than the OP's original uninstall attempt?


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How to root Samsung S6 using Linux?
All the guides that I can find online refer to the Windows-only "Odin" software. I also found an open-source alternative "Heimdall" but the Samsung S6 is not supported (and apparently it's not compatible with the .tar.gz file format).
I have installed WinXP on a VirtualBox virtual machine, and then I installed the Samsung USB drivers and the Windows Odin software. I then made sure to route all Samsung USB devices to this virtual machine, but still neither Windows nor Odin sees the phone - neither in its normal operating mode nor in its "Odin" download mode.
Chainfire's CF-Autoroot also uses Odin, which means I'm still stuck at the above problem. I also tried running Odin in Linux (using wine) but again it couldn't see the phone, and I didn't expect it to work anyway).
I have not been able to find a description of how to root the S6 (or any Samsung) directly in Linux, or via virtual machine. Is that simply not possible? Do I really need to install my old WinXP license on a physical computer?

Scroll down to the comments, it shows somebody did it with Linux http://www.androidguys.com/2015/04/22/5-reasons-you-shouldnt-root-your-new-galaxy-s6/. And Google threw this up for a different model http://www.all-things-android.com/content/how-root-samsung-mobile-device

There is a program called "Jodin" It might do the trick.
http://www.xda-developers.com/meet-jodin3-a-web-tool-that-flashes-your-samsung-device/

@BoLawson: thank you! With JOdin, I came closer than ever. This runs on my Linux (in Firefox, after installing Oracle Java 8), and it reports "connected". But it does not succeed in getting the PIT file from my phone, so I'm stuck at that stage now (and the JOdin support seems to be a 24+ page long forum post). I dare not download a "random" PIT file from the Internet; the risk of choosing the wrong one is too high.

@BoLawson, I'd love to give you credit for your suggestion. Care to submit JOdin as an answer? I would revice/remove mine instead.

There is a cross-platform version of Odin called JOdin. It can run in a web browser, or locally after downloading the JAR file. Either one requires Oracle Java 8 to be installed first.
Web version: https://builds.casual-dev.com/jodin3/
Offline version: https://builds.casual-dev.com/index.php?dir=JOdin3%2F  '
The offline version is started with $ java -jar /path/to/JAR/JOdin3CASUAL-r1035-dist.jar.
Both versions work well - but now I run into the next problem which is that the PIT file can't be obtained.

The links you provide are dead. You might need to update or delete this answer.

here is a updated link for JOddin3 after downloading extract the zip file, you can run the JAR file in the folder. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ZC2H74coZrREE2NzU2NVZPSEE/view

I know this is old, but you need to make sure you present the USB device to your VM ;) (at least if you still want to do this from a VM) --- At least for anyone finding this off of the googles


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Lost my Android YU Yureka yesterday (12/1/2016)
Is it possible to track a lost phone by IMEI number?
Android Device Manager is active on my mobile.
Will it de-activate if the person who stole does Factory Reset?
It has CyanogenMod rom.

Related: Tracking Android Phone via IMEI number / Can I get my phone back, given some information like model, IMEI, etc?. But Android Device Manager is the best way to go (and do it fast, before the battery runs down or the "finder" factory-resets the device).

You can locate, make ring, or erase your device from the android . device manager
Sign in with your Gmail acount. Then choose your relevant device and choose what action you want. Google help page
As far as a factory reset honestly with Google search new security protocol it is supposed to prevent it. That being that if a device is factory reset in order to change google accounts the old account must be entered. So if they cannot sign into your old Gmail account then they cannot change to a new Gmail account. The majority of people will not be able to get around that.


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Google Hangouts chat not sending notifications
I am using Hangouts for both google chat and for text messaging. When I get a chat message my phone doesn't notify me, but when I get a text message I do get a notification. I have missed many messages via chat because of this. Is there anything that I can do to fix this issue?
This used to work, and all of a sudden it stopped working. I have no idea what happened, if it was an update or if I changed a setting not realizing it would affect this.
I have looked through all hangouts settings and I can't seem to find anything that would be causing the issue.
I have tried clearing the data, and I got a few notifications right away, but it didn't solve the issue.

Would  third-party support be fine with you? An [tag:automation] app, such as Tasker and MacroDroid can easily identify a notification from a particular app and do something for you, such as vibrating, ringing and more.

I would rather not have to use a third-party app...

go to settings/date & time/automatic date and time (enable"Use network-provided time.“) I do this and the notification start coming to me.

alright, I have done so. I then sent a message from my work to my personal and nothing. But maybe because my computer caught the notification.... I will have to look a little more...


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Weird app on my andriod. Unable to uninstall it
Here is this weird drawer/app I am getting when I swipe on bottom left corner of my screen.
I tried to uninstall it, but can't find it in the list.
I believe it is some malware/adware, as it shows random keywords in the search box (in screenshot, it is showing india vs australia). This app came out of nowhere without being preinstalled. I have another phone of same brand/model which is without this creepy app.
I am using Xiaomi Redmi 2

I'd almost bet that's a pre-installed system feature. Some Sony devices ship with something similar to be activated from the corners of their screens. Looks familiar?

Thanks @Izzy - I checked the mentioned app, but it is totally different. Installed the same as well and it is listed in apps normally. The above one altogether different with different UI, although some resemblance, and the worst part, listed nowhere.

I could find a link which has a similar screenshot, but it is written in a different language. http://hotro.mobiistar.vn/threads/cap-nhat-rom-android-lollipop-5-1-cho-mobiistar-prime-x-_-beta.41207/page-13

That page mentions it could be removed using CCleaner, if I understood it correctly (Google-Trans). But that seems to be a Vietnamese ROM on a Vietnamese phone at a Vietnamese provider. Strange. And the thread doesn't name the app.

I don't think rooting the device will help, as this app came out of nowhere without being preinstalled. I have another phone of same brand/model which is without this creepy app. The worst thing is battery life has reduced to half. :-(

OK, that's a fact worth integrating with your question (done), so it didn't come pre-installed. Rooting may in fact be an advantage here (in case the app hid itself, using some exploit to get root access itself). If you cannot find the app, maybe before going to root you try a factory reset? This would delete your data as well as the apps you've installed, but hopefully that app along.

@Ehs4n Thought it would be iSwipe feature from Clean Mater but I guess its the Omni Swipe app that you have in your phone. See if you can find anything with that name.

That's most likely a MIUI app called Lazy Swipe:

Lazy Swipe (source: Miui; click image for larger variant)
This app might have come pre-installed with your device. I wouldn't consider it malware until proven otherwise. The "random search presets" might even be possible to deactivate. And if you don't like it at all, you can simply deactivate it in settings. Please refer to the corresponding article/review for details.
Hint: Miui is the GUI (Graphical User Interface) most Xiaomi devices ship with. This is why I hold it much likely the app came pre-installed with your device, and is no malware you've caught somewhere else.

Thanks @Izzy - I checked the mentioned app, but it is totally different. Installed the same as well and it is listed in apps normally. The above one altogether different with different UI, although some resemblance, and the worst part, listed nowhere.

I also tried to scan the phone using few antivirus apps like Avast etc, but they didn't detect any issue.

I guess its the Omni Swipe app. Try to find this in the applications list and uninstall it. Here's a screenshot of this app which looks similar to the one you have,

Omni Swipe screenshot - Click to enlarge the image - Source


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my android phone can't access to any google related sites and services
I just recently bought a brand new asus zenfone go, everything is fine until I shut off my wifi and left home. I subscribed to a mobile data plan, of course.
but i can't access any google related website or apps at all using the mobile network. you name it, youtube, gmail, playstore, even www.google.com on the browser. But when i tried connecting to the wifi, I have no problem accessing them.
I tried tether my phone's internet connection on my PC using  a usb cable. Eveything works fine, google.com.. gmail.com.. youtube.com.. Only on mobile network on this phone, I can't access all google services. I tried clear data and clear cache of the google play services, it wont fix it.
I even tried manually setting up the date and time. still no.
I almost gave up googling for hours. hope anyone who experienced this help me please! as for now, if i need to access the gmail apps, i need to use wifi.

Assuming your device has the correct band and frequency support for your carriers 3G/4G data service, On the Zenfone 2, only SIM 1 allows data connection, and you must have the APN information set correctly, which sometimes needs to be done manually . Contact your carrier for the correct APN settings.

The problem is that only google services is not working. Others are working fine. For example, google.com won't open. But engadget.com load just fine. And this only happened on mobile data.

As for the apn, is already check and it is already correct. As internet is just working fine. Only google access i have problem with. Isn't that weird?

Do you have a VPN configured on the phone? And do any Google Apps work like Maps, or just the Web page won't load?

yes i do.. its already configured correctly as my telco sent me the configuration for the phone automatically... no, nothing related to google works on mobile data.. but on wifi they all working fine.. so i suspect this have something to do with the apn maybe?

I contacted my carrier and apparently the apn setting set by them automatically is wrong.. they asked me to edit the apn setting here and there and its finally working. thanks.


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usb not writable or readable
Since I have upgraded my mobile to marshmallow I am not able to see the files in  my san disk 128 gb pendrive on either MX player or file manager which I have downloaded from play store. I was able to do so earlier. However when I connect my pendrive a notification pops up in my notification bar saying sandisk usb drive. But the problem is I cannot see these files in MX player or file manager. Niether can I delete any files from san disk usb drive. Files are only readable there and I can only copy them. They can't be deleted from there. Also when I go in the menu options of the drive my options for moving pictures and video are frozen. I don't know how to access them. They are not clickable. Please help me to allow my pendrive to be readable and writable in mx player and file manager

If your device is rooted Stickmount should fix the problem

Have you understood the problem clearly? OP doesn't have an issue with mounting the USB drive. Files are readable and can be copied but can't be modified. Some apps are unable to read anything. Tell us how that app you linked tackles this issue and solves it.

Android itself doesn't always work with the usb devices correctly while specific apps do, what stickmount does is mount the device as a folder of internal storage

I don't know how the issue used to get tackled by MX player and file manager when my moto g3 was having android lollipop..but since I have updated it to marshmallow I can't see those files in those apps. My device is also not rooted so are there any other options for me.

I had a similar issue and stickmount fixed it, but since your device isn't rooted i don't have any other suggestions


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Different wallpaper for portrait and landscape
I used an iPad some years ago and it had an option to choose different images in portrait and landscape mode. I am on a Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 with Cyanognmod and I also use a OnePlus 2. I am using Nova lauchner.
My question is:
Is it possible to set different images for portrait and landscape orientation? (It is okay to use different apps than Nova Launcher)
I hope this is the right StackExchange sub"forum" for this question.
Thanks for answering,
Florian Reisinger

Installed CM version?

You can use an automation app here.
Automate
Setup a flow like this:
(Click image to enlarge)

Location of relevant blocks:

Interface → Screen Orientation?
Settings  → Wallpaper image set

After setting it up, make sure to install the permission it asks for - set wallpaper.
This worked in my COS12 and PA build of Android 5.1 but somehow failed in Android 5.1 nightly build of Vanir ROM.

Tasker
Try the trial version, before buying from Play Store.

Profile: State → Display → Display Orientation →Portrait

Task: (Actions): Display → Set Wallpaper → fill the details

For landscape orientation, you can either add an exit task by long pressing the task entry next to linked profile under Profiles tab and choosing "Add exit task", or setup a new profile for landscape orientation and create a new task for it.
For latter approach, make sure to disable Restore Settings  for both the profiles. A profile's properties can be accessed by long-pressing the profile and tapping the settings icon.

Tasker worked in both Android 5.0 and 5.1 ROMs installed in my device.

Automate did help.

It can be done easily.
Open an image you want to set as wallpaper in gallery
In menu->set picture as ->Nova wallpaper
In the crop screen choose crop icon
(2nd icon left of bottom) choose whatever rotation you want.
It will work.

I am unable to see that icon.... Would it be possible to add an screenshot?

Visit link for screenshot
[IMG]http://i65.tinypic.com/2ch1evo.jpg[/IMG]

I am unable to find this screen (only thing I have with latest Nova Prome on OnePlus 2: http://i68.tinypic.com/2q03539.png ) - I only have this screen


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Deactivate start of app
I have an app called "podcast" on my phone. unfortunately, when i try to open it, android closes the app because "it slows down my device" and gives me this notification: "Podcast was closed. to use it again, deactivate automatic start of the app".
I downloaded autorun manager to do this task, but it doesn't seem to work with my phone because it's unrooted and has a android-version which is too new.
what can i do to get my app running again?
I think it's an absolute joke that my phone deactivates an app automatically and i have to put so much effort into finding a solution.

In most cases a startup manager does not require root to disable an app from startup unless the app is a system application. I am not too sure as to why autorun manager is requiring root, but I would suggest installing a different app to manage startup apps.
In the past I have used Startup Manager to do this.
Try this app and see if it fixes your issue.


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Why expandable memory slot is not given in many phones?
There are many good mobile phones are available in the market who have only internal memory.
Why biggest manufacturers such as apple,  Xiaomi and even Google nexus are not giving memory expansion slots to their mobile phones?
Are they facing any technical problem in terms of OS support or Performance degradation by giving memory expansion slot?

Xiaomi put this down to design restrictions in the case of the new Mi5 - they say that there was so much to cram under the hood that they literally couldn't fit the slot in.
I believe them - I've just got the Mi5 and it's featherweight and slim.

Multiple reasons. Technical considerations like read/write speed significantly faster on eMMC than the best class 10. OEMs can guarantee the same experience and better support for everyone. Less hassle hardware and software side. It's generally a design choice, they restrict the user to save themselves headaches in tech support, ota builds, hardware design, roll-out time..etc. From OEM point of view the benefits far outweigh the costs of adding an sdcard slot.

The answer is simple, they want you to pay more for phones with more internal storage, versus buying one phone and expanding it when you run out of memory.

Perhaps, technical consideration is also a matter here. http://www.engadget.com/2015/05/06/hugo-barra-xiaomi-microsd-battery-mi-4i/

@Firelord Given how many sources that article has, you could include it (with a summary) as an answer in its own right.

Perhaps because those phones already have enough (for some users) internal storage but best choice is expandable because in case your phone is wrecked or bricked you can save some of your files if the 'Expandable storage' is not damaged.


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Why android OS performance is not too efficient compare to iOS?
Android phones have better processor and more RAM than iPhone.  Then after many android phones are suffering from hang problem.
Both OS are based on Linux then why should this big performance issue arise?

Specialization! iOS is optimized for a small set of specialized Apple processors. Android needs to work on many different CPUs and thus trades performance for support and availability.

Where did you read iOS uses Linux kernel?

Related: Are iOS apps faster than android apps since android apps are interpreted?

"majority of android phones are suffering from hang problem" This is a very dubious claim. If you're seeing hang problems perhaps you should ask a question about that specifically, giving details about your phone.

Brothers, why are you putting so much emphasis on words? My question was regarding performance. Instead of giving a proper or hinted answer, you down vote the question? Very strange. @GiantTree : your comment is highly appreciated.

@Dan: I have changed my word 'majority'  to 'many'.

@Firelord : Yes.  you are correct.  iOS is based on BSD UNIX kernel.  Here I am wrong.

@GiantTree: I have read many articles yesterday and In conclusion,  I can say that your comment is actual answer.  There is no comparison for BSD and Linux kernel.  But compatibility to different hardware technology is real problem of android OS.  I am requesting you to put your comment in answer box so I can tick it as accepted.

The problem is specialization!
Apple's iOS is optimized for a small set of specialized Apple processors, which are ARM-based but because of e.g. custom extensions are able to do a lot more than the specification. Each app is compiled for every set of hardware (like one binary per CPU+GPU combination).
Android needs to work on many different CPUs (Qualcomm, Exynos, MediaTek and all there different models) and thus trades performance for support and availability on all those devices.
With the latest addition of ART, Android tries to gain back a bit of the sacrificed performance by recompiling the binary (from the Dalvik bytecode) with vendor specific compilers that allow them to specialize the binaries again.
However, apps that rely on libraries compiled with the NDK (Native Devlopment Kit) see no improvement when using functions of them, because the binary files are not recompiled.

Because the devices that have hanging problems are not the ones with better processors and more RAM. Unlike iPhone, where there's only the expensive devices, Android runs on a whole range of devices. At one end, there are the flagships from the big manufacturers, which have a lot of effort put into them to make sure the animations are silky smooth and there are no dropped frames or hanging. At the other end are the cheap devices which use much cheaper components - often the components that don't show on the product feature list - and have little effort put into the system integration.
On this site we typically get a lot of questions from users who've bought those min-spec devices and then been disappointed by their performance. This doesn't happen with iPhones because the OS simply doesn't support cheapo devices. It's worth noting that iOS isn't without its performance problems. After each new version of iOS, users of older iPhones who've made the mistake of upgrading tend to complain that their phone runs much slower on the newer OS. It's not because the OS has suddenly got much worse: it's because it's trying to do a lot more, and use the increased resources on the newer phones, and those older, slower phones just can't do everything at once.
The fact that Android uses a Linux kernel is not relevant. In fact, you get the same behaviour out of any Linux: if you run it on a high-powered machine, you get good performance, but if you run it on a cheaper machine, you get poor performance.


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Cannot connect Android device via USB
Whenever I connect my note 3 sm-n900 to my laptop, it doesn't connect and also the usb icon doesn't appear on my notification panel.  My Android version is 5.0

i have experienced the same problem in the past. Here is my Guide:
Navigate to Settings > About Phone > scroll to the bottom > tap Build number seven (7) times. You'll get a short pop-up in the lower area of your display saying that you're now a developer. 2. Go back and now access the Developer options menu, check 'USB debugging' and click OK on the prompt.
Good luck and i hope i'm helpfull

Can you explain why your answer would work? It definitely didn't, in my device and doesn't make sense either, but I'm not voting it for now until you at least give a solid reason.

do you have installed drivers?
you can find it here http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/SW/201410/20141017131240597/SAMSUNG_USB_Driver_for_Mobile_Phones.exe
also is your phone charing when is connected?
try to install drivers,restart phone(reboot) and connect it.
If that dont work try to use other usb cabble


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Unable to unset the LOCK password Android 4.4.4
I have already read this Google help page as well as Unable to disable password on Android screen lock and several other links that explain how to a screen lock password/pin.
I am using Android 4.4.4 with developer options enabled and I cannot remove the password on my phone or change it to a PIN or change to a different password.
When I click on Settings -> (Connections, Device, Controls, General) -> I click General -> Security -> I only see Encryption, Find My Mobile, SIM card lock, Passwords (make password visible), Device Administrators (I made sure than none of them were checked), Security update service, Credential storage.
There is no option to change my password or to use a PIN. Can someone tell me how I can use say a 4 digit pin instead of a password? It is a real pain when I have to type a big password with letters and digits everytime I have to make a call.

You might look in the wrong place. Check Settings › Lock Screen to switch the method of unlock to use (PIN/pattern/password/swipe are considered "methods to unlock your screen").

What I am saying is that under settings there is no lock screen

I can't see your settings page from here. Maybe you include a screenshot from the first page – or list the entries found at top level? It's usually the first item after the network stuff.


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how to mount permanently in Android
I've successfully mounted my router device's sdcard on '/mnt/routersd' as follows :
#!/system/bin/sh
su -c 'busybox mount -o remount,rw /'
su -c 'mkdir -p /mnt/routersd'
su -c 'busybox mount -o remount,ro /'

su -c 'busybox mount -t cifs //192.168.0.x/sdcard /mnt/routersd -v -o user=admin,pass=xxxxxx'

The issue is that the mounted folder is lost on every reboot; so, I need to manually execute my script after every reboot. What should I do to have this mounted directory, permanently?

I've found some articles using UUID and etc/fstab applicable for Linux editions different than Android; but I don't know how to apply it for Android.

Simply run a script every boot. Put it in /system/etc/init.d and you're done.

I'm using CM10.2.1 for ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T ; /system/etc/init.d exists but seems that doesn't support auto-startup. No script is executed from there.

You could use helpers such as Tasker (run a script at boot_complete) or Script Manager for that.

I've heard about them. Preferably, I would like not to install new apps for that purpose. Is it possible !?


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Heimdall/JOdin: "We could not obtain the PIT file. We tried, but it didn't work."
I'm trying to root my Samsung S6, but I don't have a Windows computer. Luckily, JOdin works on Linux too and it connects to my phone, so I am now much closer to my goal.
But now I am facing a new challenge: JOdin says: "We could not obtain the pit file. We tried, but it didn't work." The CLI output of the JOdin's offline version reports the following (excerpt):
[VERBOSE]Heimdall Device detected!
[ERROR]ANALYSIS DETECTED ERROR:Failed to send data!
[VERBOSE]Did not find pit
[INTERACTION][SHOWERROR] Title:Could not obtain pit.
Message:We could not obtain the pit file. We tried, but it didn't work.

The JOdin support seems to consist of this 30+ page long forum post, which is why I hope to get more useful answers here.

JOdin relies on the Heimdall package, and that one has a list of supported devices that does not include the S6. I suppose this is part of the cause of the problem. I use JOdin v1035 and Heimdall v1.4.0-0.
Indeed, when I run only Heimdall, I succeed in connecting the phone but the PIT download fails; the only relevant log line is ERROR: Setting up interface failed!
Full log output is here and here is the verbose output.
The command sudo heimdall print-pit --verbose --stdout-errors --usb-log-level debug as suggested in comments produces this output which is beyond my skill to interpret.

I dare not download a "random" PIT file from the Internet; the risk of choosing the wrong one is too high, and those I've found are behind a sketchy-looking Vietnamese paywall. Google also pointed me to methods that rely on adb shell and requires root ... but having root is the goal I'm chasing right now.
How do I download the PIT from my phone?
Update: I've managed to root my phone using a Windows computer and therefore I no longer urgently need this working on Linux. I will probably need it the next time I have to fiddle with the phone (e.g. when an Android update is available) but for now I will abandon this challenge.

@BoLawson the normal output is here and here is the verbose output. It doesn't really give any additional hints...

@beeshyams The Droid News site suggests using Odin (didn't work) or using TermEmulator+BusyBox (requires root!), and the XDA link (thanks!) lists five different PIT's and I can't tell which one I should choose - as I said, I'm afraid that choosing wrong will brick my phone.

First post on XDA link clearly says " original pit for a G920F dévice open firmware:
ZEROFLTE_EUR_OPEN.pit :

Have a look at this....http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/root-pingpongroot-s6-root-tool-t3103016

@BoLawson thanks, I added the output in the post (list item 4).

It's a communication error between libusb and your device. Umm, try different ports/cables. Honestly though there are many things that could be. I will keep my eye out for more information while traveling the world wide web

I was thinking about it there might be another program blocking it. Example is kies and odin even though they are from the same family they hate each other and can block the other from working. TLDR there might be another similar program keeping it from communicating.

Interesting idea, and yet: isn't Kies a Windows installation? I certainly didn't install anything like this in Linux. I wonder if some combination of hardware (socket/cable/driver/mainboard) is somehow only almost compatible.

Yep kies is for Mac and Windows but it was just ment as an example nothing more.  Some insight into your logs #2 - #5 ended with -7 which = LIBUSB_ERROR_TIMEOUT meaning operation timed out. #6 ended with -1 which = LIBUSB_ERROR_IO meaning Input/output error. Now that your rooted (congratulations you totally need an aircraft carrier with a mission accomplished banner in the backround) it does not really matter but for future issues you could also pull kernel logs specifically Dmesg. It might give little bit more info.

I have similar problems with a Samsung J5 phone. The hint from @BoLawson to check the output of dmesg was good. The cable seemed to be broken, because the phone was connecting and disconnecting forever. With another cable at least that issue is gone. But still the PIT file problem. And now that I have found a PIT file which I think is the right one, Jodin and Heimdall still don’t copy the content of the TWRP file to the phone. I don’t want to install windows. Last time, with a Sony telephone, I used Wine and it worked.


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delete directory containing too many files
I have an app called Telegarm and it stores all its cache files in a directory inside sdcard/Android/data folder.
the problem is that there are thousand of tiny a few kilo bytes files stored in there.
while file manager app trys to read the list of files it hangs and wating a long time dosent work.
is there a way which i can delete those files fast and easy?
-p.s: my phone is not rooted.
-p.s 2:they are more than 30 000 files and more than 300 mgb!

It could be that Telegram may misbehave when find those files missing. Anyhow. You can use command-line for the job. Setup adb in PC and execute this command
adb shell am force-stop org.telegram.messenger                  # this would force-stop Telegram app.
adb shell rm -rf /sdcard/Android/data/org.telegram.messenger/*  # * means everything - all files and folders. Replace it with the directory name and enclose it in "" if the files to be deleted are inside a sub-directory.

Alternatively, you can do it using a terminal emulator app:

Force-stop Telegram app from Setting → Apps → Telegram → Force stop.
Remove adb shell from the said second command and run it on terminal app.

Another alternative is to use a third-party file manager and see whether it hangs. I would suggest using even an automation app. You can use my answer here for further info. (Tip: Use only the actions not the profiles there. Actions can be performed without a trigger/profile.)

Native Android file manager can delete the folder and all it contents
There is no UI showing the progress, but you can check the free space that is getting expanded periodically.


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Recovery messed up after phone discharging with no os
I was trying to install CM12 on my Xperia Z1. The zip didn't appear in the SD card in recovery. I accidentally erased the OS thinking that I needed to remove it, then the phone discharged and now its stuck on the Sony logo and I can't find a way to enter recovery mode again.

So, are you implying that hardware key combination to boot into [tag:recovery-mode] isn't working?

Yea. I can enter flashboot and im able to flash a new kernel. i can also enter flashmode. i tryed with Flashtool but i have a Pc Software related driver problem