text:
How to remove persistent ad notification
I'm using an unrooted Android version 4.4.4 on an Alcatel One Touch Plus phone.
Sometimes when I'm online, I would get notifications of ads like the ones on the picture below. I can't seem to remove them by sliding them left or right. I'm also unable to find out what app is causing this by long holding the notification.
The only way I can remove it is by either clicking on it, or by restarting my phone.
How can I remove those ads and find out what app is causing them?

(click image to enlarge)


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Accidentally downloaded custom OS
So I wanted to boot my android in recovery but instead booted into custom is download mode and instead of hitting the volume down and clicked the volume up and it started downloading something I got scared that this is gonna wipe my ROM and replace it with a custom OS so I held volumedown+homebutton+power button to escape then I booted normally into recovery and from there I booted into my android safely so should I worry that a problem will occur in the future and what does this custom OS download mode do?

Assuming you're talking about Samsung's download mode, when booted up cold, it only accepts input from a connected PC (via Odin/Heimdall), so if you haven't connected it to a PC, then you didn't even touch anything, and thus safe.

Thanks for your answer and it is the official Samsung mode only that is the light blue screen with the downloading symbol.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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ZUK Z1 bricked?
my device had gone into a boot loop condition where It can't

be detected by adb or computer even in fastboot or recovery mode
hence, twrp sideload not working
can't push files into and zuk is having no sd card

and some other resources might be useful,

has twrp on it
bootloader is unlocked
pc with adb :)

please help immediately.. and thanks in advance,

It appears you have bricked your device if you would have different device I would have provided better instructions however snapdragon chipsets are hard to flash however give this a try Download cynogen os from here-
https://forum.xda-developers.com/zuk-z1/development/rom-cyanogen-os-12-1-yog4pas3oh-t3248820/page1
And install it through your TWRP.
In case if you had a backup through twrp you can restore it hope it helps
Without a sd card its not possible so arrange it from somewhere or try QFIL flash tool and stock rom as you have a pc.
Follow this guide:
http://www.gsmhelpful.com/2017/06/how-to-flash-lenovo-zuk-z1-z1221-with-qfil-flash-tool.html?m=1

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


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S-On, No OS, UNLOCKED, No TWRP and want to install custom OS on HTC One M8
I have a HTC One M9 and would like to install the cRDroid ROM.
When going into the bootloader I see:

Software status: Modified
UNLOCKED
S-ON
(Now the options)

REBOOT
REBOOT TO BOOTLOADER
BOOT TO DOWNLOAD MODE
BOOT TO RECOVERY MODE
POWER DOWN

I have tried to flash the OS via fastboot fastboot flash boot boot.zip this returned:
FAILED (remote: cannot flash this partition in s-on state).
When I tried to boot with fastboot boot boot.zip I got:
creating boot image...
creating boot image - 381388800 bytes
downloading 'boot.img'...
OKAY [ 12.064s]
booting...
FAILED (remote: dtb not found)

Also booting to download mode got me Failed to boot to download mode

Guess I'm not sure what you are trying to do... Why not just flash TWRP, then flash the CRdroid room image with TWRP?

Won't let me flash it. Same as when flashing boot

So "fastboot flash recovery twrp.img" fails while unlocked? How did you get to this state?

The Problems turned out to be dead NAND flash, which will need to be replaced


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Phone Locked and safe mode disabled
my dad got a new xiaomi mi note 2 and forgot his pattern.So the phone is locked, I tried recovery but the recovery mode is disabled, the same goes for USB debugging.Do you know any way to perform a factory reset?
I read some articles to enter edl mode but i had no success .

Didn't you get the "sign in with Google account" option after getting the pattern wrong several times?

To perform hard reset, power off your phone and boot into custom recovery (Power + Volume up key together). From recovery, choose Wipe Data / Factory Reset and confirm the action using Power button

I found the solution.
You have t download the MIFlash Chinese Version

If I understood correctly, your only problem is Lock pattern? Doesn't understand how recovery is locked though - you should be able to simply factory reset device.
I am operating under assumptions that for some unknown reason (not unbelievable in regard to Xiaomi) that you are out of recovery and that bootloader is accessible.
To enter bootloader, press power and volume- buttons simultaneously; a little rabbit with tools and Mao Zedong style hat with communist star should appear.
Before EDL, you should try to enter recovery, after you entered fastboot mode - simply navigate with volume- but confirm with volume+ and do a factory reset.
If this is out of option for you, proceed with entering EDL mode.
First of all, download and install appropriate drivers for Mi Note 2.
Second, acquire MiFlash tool and stock ROM for Mi Note 2 whether it is standard - 4GB/64GB or high - 6GB/128GB edition and extract from archive.
Lobotomized Kenzo && Capricorn models, though eventually restored stock ROM, hence had limited (bad) experience with Xiaomi devices. Extremely frustrating if doing anything outside of box. Had no problems with recent Xiaomi devices, though it's like waiting for rain in London.
If bootloader is accessible and if oem edl or reboot-edl command is present in aboot partition, device can be rebooted to EDL from fastboot with command
fastboot oem edl
which can be issued on Linux, macOS && Windows platforms (this should be done only on nonVM Windows platform, because you need to flash ROM with MiFlash) or
fastboot reboot-edl
for which (reboot-edl) you need modified fastboot that can be issued only in Windows (another layer of frustration, because won't work in VM - virtual machine).
If bootloader is unaccessible but oem edl or reboot-edl command is present in aboot partition, you can enter EDL with proper (and timely) button combination for what you need to (exactly in this sequence)
Power off device
Plug USB cable into the station, but without plugging to device
Press the volume+ and power button while at the same time plugging USB cable to device (timing is critical)
Device should boot to EDL mode with blinking LED
Unfortunately, if none if the above helped you already, you could try with DIY flash cable which is substitute for regular USB cable in case bootloader is inaccessible.
In extreme scenario, there is PCB test point method for entering EDL mode, but we need schematics of mainboard for this device, which we don't have at the moment.
Supposing device entered EDL mode, you should start MiFlash which will automatically detect device.
While in MiFlash, click on Browse button, then select Advanced; navigate to directory where you extracted ROM you previously downloaded and optin flashall.bat (not flashall.sh - it is not for Windows platform). Now click on Flash. If everything is correct, it should be finished in couple of minutes.
Device should boot automatically if flash is finished without errors.


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Staging of several android devices made simple
I have to stage several android dongles to comply to my company’s need. I need to setup the WiFi, google account, download 3/4 apps, configure them, change background picture... i’v been Trying to find a script/macro that would do that for me. Apps such as MacroDroid requires that I setup the dongles anyway. I wonder if there would be an option to copy this macro to the dongle using the sd card and let it do the job. Ideas? Thanks

I've just stumbled upon a project at Github, and remembered your question here. It seems like inception should perfectly fit your needs (except for the Google account, maybe, where it's a bad idea anyway to use the same one for all your employees). Quoting from the project description:

Inception is a set of tools for auto configuring android devices. You can do the following:

Include any apps to be (pre)installed
Remove any stock apps
Root the device
Install busybox
Configure Wifi networks
Generate all device settings
Patch APKs
Replace Kernel, and/or ramdisk data in both boot and recovery imgs
Place your adb keys, configure USB debugging

Most of this you'd probably not even need (rooting, patching APKs, replacing the kernel, prepare ADB, installing Busybox). But what you wrote is covered.
Inception requires a Python installation on your computer. After initializing your "project" and adjusting the configuration to your needs (incl. placing the .apk files you want to install), it creates an update.zip you can flash via the device's recovery-mode (which usually will require a custom recovery). Optionally, it also can generate a cache partition img for your device, allowing you to deploy your update in bootloader/download mode.
I have not tried it, so I cannot tell how good it is – but it sounds like it's at least worth a look.


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Location of Whatsapp Web sessions
From a few sources (see below for examples), I learned about the possibility of locating the computers connected via Whatsapp Web and/or desktop apps, by simply tapping the relevant item in the list of connected computers (available from ... > Whatsapp Web); supposedly, doing so should automatically show you the computer's location on Google Maps.
However, that does not seem to work on my phone; whenever I try, I am just asked whether I want to disconnect from that computer. Moreover, all those pages I found seem to be more than one year old.
Do you know whether such a feature exists, and

if so, how to use it (i.e., why doesn't it work on my phone)?
if not, did it exist once and why was it discontinued?

Here are some sources (admittedly not very authoritative ones, and I could not find much better, but I cannot see the point in inventing and spreading such a lie):

a Youtube video
a tech webpage in Italian

Can you post links as to where you found that such a thing exists?

The thing is, I cannot find any good sources (and that's part of the reason why I'm asking here). Anyway, I added a couple of examples at the end of the question. The video looks genuine…

Searching all over, i couldn't find anything on this either. Very possible the video is fake. Wouldn't be the first fake video on YouTube. Also possible that WhatsApp tried this in a beta version but didn't implement it. I guess let's see if anyone has an answer. Up-Voting as a good question.


text:
Introspecting/monitoring apps to see whether they steal user data
It appears that a number of apps on the market place require a number of 'permissions' such as permission to access the files/photos, text messages, contacts, browser history, etc of the phone, usually only when a very specific subset of this functionality is needed.
This is an obvious privacy concern, and since there does not seem to be a way to protect user data on Android, it is important to identify apps which steal user data (to sell them to advertisers, or maliciously to sell on the black market, etc).
One way to do this would be to monitor the IP traffic generated by an app, but presumably it is common for such apps to use encryption e.g. SSL, in which case we would need to tamper with the certificates on the device to successfully execute MITM, etc. Not sure if it's feasible.
My question- has anyone worked on a framework to either reverse-engineer/introspect the apps (maybe to look for certain API calls which retrieve sensitive data, and observe where that data ends up) or monitor their network traffic, in a way that defeats encryption?
It would be interesting to take a look at a number of high-profile apps and see if they adhere to their 'privacy policy', or if they harvest everyone's data because they can get away with it.
On the other hand, I saw someone mention in another question (How to avoid leaking private data to apps without rooting my phone?) that we can read app source code to audit it for such things. Surely this is not true for all apps? Since not all apps are open source./

It should be noted that high profile apps' privacy policies are usually very stacked in favor of the developers.

The optimal solution for such intrusive apps is to tell the system to give them fake info: e.g., if it wants contacts, show an empty list &c. Alas, it appears that there is no easy way to do that.


text:
if my device has logged into someones gmail, will it still show on device list after being factory reset?
someone that i was friends with in a phone game decided he hates me and recently factory reset my phone and my tablet remotely through a shared gmail account. that part is over and done, but we shared more than one gmail account and i want to prevent him from doing it to me again.
I would think that when my devices were reset it would remove them from all accounts that they were logged into, but wanted to be sure that he will not still see my devices logged in on any of the shared accounts.
i have not added those accounts to either device again, the only account added is my private account.

Your question is a little unclear so let me know if i got this right.
You were logged in as abc@gmail.com on your tablet/tablets and your friend, being that he had access to this email address, went ahead and deleted everything in your phone, and now you are wondering if he's able to do the same again?
The answer is no, he's not able to wipe your phone again, because when he erased it in the first time, that cleared everything, including all accounts. And as long as you don't add that account back, he won't be able to do any harm.
You can double check this, by going to settings>accounts>Google, and see if "abc@gmail.com" is still there.


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Android Phone Shell Command Silent Mode?
What is the shell command to enable/toggle silent mode on an Android phone?
I ask because the Tasker app can run shell commands but only can enable vibration for my specific phone model.

So you're saying Tasker's Do Not Disturb action doesn't work on your phone? May be try MacroDroid app because without root access there is no point asking for a shell command.

Tasker only supports Vibrate, it reds out the Silent Mode. I have root access.

MacroDroid seems to only have Do Not Disturb mode, no Silent mode.

Silent mode was replaced by Do not Disturb. https://support.google.com/nexus/answer/6111295?hl=en Does DND fails to meet your needs?

Correct, DND doesn't mute mini alarms like those from hourly chimes. Silent Mode still exists in my version--so its weird how Tasker doesn't allow toggling of it in this version..

The settings is supposed to be called mode_ringer.
I can read its current status via adb shell settings get global mode_ringer.
However, changing its value does not seem to produce any effect and i'm still investigating why...

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


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Damaged SD card, chkdsk not working
MY SD card is damaged and not formatting. I tried chkdsk fix but its not working, have a look

C:\Users\subhn>chkdsk g: /f
The type of the file system is FAT32.
Volume Serial Number is EC22-1DA0
Windows is verifying files and folders...
The \torrent\Bu77y Sch07a4sh1p Ed1t10n.iso entry contains a nonvalid link.
The size of the \torrent\Bu77y Sch07a4sh1p Ed1t10n.iso entry is not valid.
25 percent completed......
C:\Users\subhn>

Have you tried formatting it on Windows? chkdsk does no formatting. And if it can't get through, formatting is the only way to repair.

"Windows is Unable to format" This is what I got while formatting it. Tried every option on formatting but no luck.

Afaid the card is dead then, and you'll need to get a new one.

I can still access the files but its work very slow. I tried to delete the data but it is not deleting. The Sd card is under warranty but I cant send SD card with personal data.

Of course it is slow, because the card is damaged. I strongly recommend you copying down your data before it's completely lost, and get a new card. Whether you want to send in the card for warranty is a different case.


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Get data/backup out of a bootlooping Nexus6P
My phone got stuck in a bootloop since yesterday and now I am trying to get out any data/backup I can. After dozens of tries (most of the times it just reboots when I choose to get into recovery from the bootloader), I managed to get to recovery and get the whole sdcard contents with adb pull. I am now trying to get backups of some, if not all, apps.
I tried adb backup -all -apk -f -backup.ab but since my phone has the TWRP recovery, this doesn't work.

Is it ok if I just get a backup of the data partition? Will I able to restore apps from this partition to a new phone (possibly not a Nexus6P). Do encryption/lock settings have a role in this?
Is it a good idea to try and flash a factory image, so that I have the factory recovery, and try running the same adb command? I am not even sure I will be able to get into recovery again after that.

I am really afraid to anything at this point, before I know that there is a good chance I'll have any success. I can get to the bootloader easily, but trying to get into recovery fails most of the times.

Factory recovery won't offer you ADB access at all. As you've got TWRP: have you considered using its integrated Nandroid backup? There are tools (e.g. Titanium Backup) which can even extract single apps (and their data) from Nandroid backups.

I'm actually in the process of doing just that. I just need the data partition, right?

Can't hurt to have a full backup – but yes, to restore apps and data the /data partition should suffice.

Tried it and reboots randomly while making the backup...

I never had that – first time I hear a device rebooting randomly while making a Nandroid in recovery. Apart from taking an image of the /data partition (using dd) I don't know what you could do; and while with that image you could access all data in it from your PC, restoring will be tricky at best.


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Game requiring gamepad instead of tilt controls
When i start a game it starts with gamepad controls as default, i can't play the game .
How to change settings in Mobile to change input from controller to default tilt.

That's not a global setting, it's specific to the game. You'll need to look in the settings inside the game and see if it has tilt controls. If it doesn't support tilt controls you're out of luck.


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How to root Samsung J1 Ace?
I have tried with many apps but none of them help to root Samsung J1 Ace (SM-J110H).
Is there any successful method to root Samsung J1 Ace (SM-J110H) smart phone?

Did you try this?: (ROOT) (RECOVERY) Samsung galaxy J1 ACE - SM-J110H

is it is a rooting method?

Yes. Follow the instructions there.

how to decide that which file i want to download for my device cyanogen,cwm-6,3.0.0

Use the first one: TWRP

can i increase size of ram after root the phone

If your kernel supports swap memory, yes, you can. Else flash a custom kernel that supports it.

Download Odin, SuperSU.zip and twrp for the j110h. Then be sure to enable adb debugging and OEM unlock in developer options. Then reboot into download mode. Plug into PC start Odin, choose the correct twrp and click start and at the same time hold down vol up and home button, I'm thinking g when I flashed this recovery I had to hold the vol up and home while it appeared to restart a couple times but it did work. When twrp finally boots it should mount on the PC and then transfer the SuperSU zip and then flash it.


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Can't hard reset samsung and forgot the Pattern
I have Samsung Galaxy Duos Grand Prime plus running Lollipop. I forgot the pattern.

If I keep entering wrong pattern, the phone won't prompt me to enter
the backup pin
Volume up + home + power isn't working, the phone will boot normally. Volume up+ power isn't working either.
Volume down + home + power takes me to the downloading updates screen and it get stuck there forever.

What other possible ways are there to remove the pattern?

On my phone, I need to draw 5 wrong patterns, before the phone asks for the pin code. But I noticed, that pattern consisting of few points (I think less than 4 points) do not count.
I hope this observation helps you. You need to draw 5 complex patterns (four or more points) in order to be asked for the pin.

If I do that, the phone will not let me any pattern for an hour, I can't force it to show the pin

Wow, one hour? On mine I'm blocked only for 30 seconds. Sorry, I can't help you further.


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Change the language everywhere
I changed the language of my phone (Samsung J7 2017) from Polish to French. So far so good, but there are many remnants of the language the phone was shipped in. For instance, the footer of new email, youtube suggestions, the news feed and so on are still in Polish.
Is there a way how to change the language of all system settings ? Or do I have to find those settings one by one?

Some apps are just not properly translated (i.e. does not contain translation for all strings in the app), especially when talking about less popular languages. For now my advice is to just flash a factory firmware designated for France.


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Samsung S5 Graphics Error under Lineage
I just got a refurbished S5 and installed the latest Lineage OS (lineage-14.1-20171123-nightly-klte-signed on it. Most of the time everything works normal. Sometimes, however, the graphics gets really weird (see images).
Other family members have the same phone and I also flashed Lineage on them without experiencing these problems. Therefore, it cannot be a general problem. Any ideas about what might be wrong with the phone and how to fix it?
Edit: This problem was also reported here but no solution was documented.

Please see Recommendation for questions pertaining to a problem specific to a nightly build of a ROM; these kind of issues are better reported to the resp. ROM tracker.

A nightly build is a BUGGY build . A different one is compiled EVERY NIGHT , and that’s why its called a nightly build.
This is how bugs are corrected. Enthusiasts and developers try out the new build and try find the bugs and solve them so that the next nightly build will have less bugs. After some some weeks/months , they manage to make a build stable enough to be used on a daily basis. This is the build that ordinary people download.
You should use the stable build if you want a stable OS. Stable builds might be released once a month or once in two months.


text:
How to avoid too much running apps?
Meanwhile I have many running apps in my phone and I found that a lot of apps keep running because they "trick". They register as a boot receiver so they start with the phone, then register as a "new app installed" receiver and so on. The do everything to keep running. If you kill them, some of them start again because the creat a service which checks if they are running.
I guess these apps do that because they want to transmit information about the user or phone.
What can I do against those apps when the phone is not rooted? The task killers that I checked do not work. I think they are fake.
(With a rooted phone the Autorun manager seems to work good)

Have you tried looking at hibernation applications for example Greenify?

Disable autostart on boot and restrict background execution

Perhaps you may want to look into hibernating the applications as opposed to killing them with a task-killer.
The former is advantageous, since it takes care of all background services of the given app and prevent them from waking up, until such a time when the user executes them.
One candidate in mind perhaps the popular one is Greenify. One XDA user(lioux)  has been generous enough to provide a detailed mechanism of Greenify;

It (Greenify) is a GUI (graphical interface) that lets you select applications
  that you don't want running on the background, starting automatically
  when the phone boots or responding to intents.
It provides useful data
  about running applications so that you may make an informed decision.
  It uses the android command am to stop an application. It will no
  longer start during phone boot, respond to registered intents or be
  triggered by alarms from the system:

 am force-stop package.name
 am start package.name

Everything it does is temporary. The am command does not touch the
  installed files or any configuration information. It merely tells the
  system to "forget" about the application.
The system re-learns some of the intents again the next time the
  application is executed: launched by the user or launched by another
  application.
If the application does not behave as expected after being awakened,
  remove it from Greenify then reboot your phone.
Some applications do
  not re-register events when executed. Sometimes, they only do it at
  boot. Furthermore, applications might have specific "relationships"
  that might be disturbed when one is stopped (location service for
  instance).

Up to date, Greenify has been constantly updated, to include handy features even for non-rooted device (although the functionality is limited compared to using it on rooted device and even much better when integrated with the Xposed module)

Most of the basic features of Greenify work out of the box on
  non-root devices, still some useful additional features require a
  one-time privilege escalation procedure different than normal
  permissions, which is enforced by Android system, using adb

For that see: How to grant permissions required by some features on non-root device?
Note: Some users have observed some certain functions are still limited despite granting permission through adb (may possibly be a bug in experimental releases)
Acknowledgements

Greenify
How to grant permissions required by some features on non-root device?
Greenify with ADB permissions?


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`adb shell` returns with error: closed
I somehow bricked my OnePlus One phone badly. It only loads directly to the recovery. Pressing vol up + power button or rebooting it with adb reboot bootloader doesn't get me to the bootloader. I think I erased the bootloader partition or deleted my bootloader.
Here comes the tricky part. I can't even sideload any file or access my internal SD card because then I get either following error messages:

E: footer is wrong
E: signature verification failed
Error opening '/data/media' (no such file or directory)

Right now I can either flash the OnePlusRestoreTool(64GB) recovery or the ColorOS recovery tool (both can't access the internal storage - button is not clickable). I thought I just have to mount my SD card new, but I can't enter a shell command, and most badly, I can't enter the bootloader.
How to fix it?

Have you tried doing what you have done from an administrator command line? I was having similar issues on my lenovo and redmi devices but when I switched my account to root(I use Arch Linux, in windows you would obviously have to 'run as administrator') and ran the commands everything worked perfectly.

Further specifying more details would probably attract the people with the right skill to help. This includes the exact model number/codename(eg: Redmi 4X/santoni), any system logs you might be able to get hold of(you will find this hard since you say you can't access anything). Another thing you could try doing is formatting your device from TWRP's  wipe section. This solved an issue I had covered here There might just be the slightest chance you are having trouble because of encryption.

Since you can boot into recovery, reflash your ROM - make a clean flash (wipe cache, Dalvik cache, system, and data.)
If you can't flash through TWRP, then you have to use the flashtool.

Sry, but I can't adb push any file on my phone. even sideload doesn't work. no shell command does work (so I can't mount or unmount my sdcard).

If you can boot into fastboot mode then you could try flashing TWRP again, then doing "fastboot boot recovery .img". After that format your storage, install magisk and only after that install a custom rom. Install Gapps only after you can ensure everything else works properly.

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


text:
bootloop issue on my device
I have rooted my android and installed succesfully custom recovery twrp zip through flashify.
Then tried to install custom rom but my device is now damaged totally, its is now getting on/off on its own and device is not starting only screen with lenovo androis is seen for now.

Did you try flashing the ROM again? It's possible that bootloop problems occur if you've not flashed the ROM properly or if you flashed the wrong one.
Check of the ROM is really compatible with your phone. If it is then check if there's something wrong with the ROM file. Maybe it might not have been downloaded completely or is corrupt.
Also try flashing the superSU again.

Never use flashyfy , for serious flashing at least , and a TWRP flash is a serious flash. Flashy damages flashes (maybe it’s still buggy) . I had similar problems when I used flashyfy. All the problems ended when I stopped using it.
You give very little information about your phone , your ROM and your TWRP. All that is important for us to help you effectively.
With the little information that you provided I suggest :
You flashed twrp through flashyfy (say twrp.zip or twrp.img)
Now boot into twrp and reflash twrp.zip or twrp.img (from your internal storage or microSD card)
wipe cache , dalvick cache , sysytem and data and then flash your ROM. No need to wipe internal storage and micro SD card.
Everything will work fine after this ...
In the remote chance that it doesn’t work , then use the pc flashtool to at least flash the ROM and twrp. You can also selectively flash twrp only and then flash the ROM through this twrp.


text:
Bypassing certificate pinning with integrity checks on Android 7 (Nougat) or newer
How can I bypass Certificate Pinning, or bypass SSL verification entirely, in an Android app on Android 7 or newer that has a built-in hash 'integrity check' to rule out APK modification?
Here is a rundown of the previous solutions and why they don't work:
 JustTrustMe does not work on Android 7, and Android-SSL-TrustKiller depends on Cydia Substrate, which is only supported on versions 2.3 through 4.3. That leaves SSLUnpinning_Xposed, which also does not work on Android 7.
I'm seeking any solution that works, which could include an Xposed module or other system modification requiring root. However, making such changes to the APK like these wouldn't work because they would trip the hash integrity check.
Any ideas?

@Arya I ended up bypassing the integrity check by decompiling the app with APKtool, first to Java with dex2jar / jd-gui just to get a big picture view, then once I knew where to look I went back to smali and found the integrity check, it simply took a sha1sum of the signature and sent it to the server. So I modified the in-app sha1 function in smali to just return what the 'correct' signature is every time, and that let me edit the app with something like the medium link.

it seems like there really is no such thing as a foolproof 'integrity check' on an android app, or at least not one i've seen yet. so it's just a matter of finding it and disabling it from tripping.

Here, check it out. I still have not tried it https://blog.nviso.be/2017/12/22/intercepting-https-traffic-from-apps-on-android-7-using-magisk-burp/


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Stop navigating to google.com for wifi sign-in?
My device (unrooted samsung s5, latest google chrome browser version) keeps navigating to https://www.google.com to (eventually) access a public wifi's login page. This is problematic of course as the actual wifi "sign-in" page (that I'm supposed to be forwarded to, or the http redirection for it) is obviously not signed by an ssl certificate for www.google.com, so I get the expected ssl error message.
Is there some setting I can change to change the default wifi sign-in address for the android chrome browser?

Refer to answers below this question for how to change the captive portal server, or how to disable the mechanism altogether.

Just guessing as I played with those settings last night. The setting is most likely captive_portal_http_url. Not sure if it can be set without root e.g. via adb shell, but it the syntax would be settings put global captive_portal_http_url http://www.example.com/page (of course replacing the URL by yours). See here for the other settings. To reset: settings global delete captive_portal_http_url. Use settings global get to check the original setting first ;)

@Izzy It's possible to set it without a root shell, I do it on new devices I set up.

Thanks, @AndyYan – did you also play with the URL parts, to define a "custom portal server"? And if so, using http or the https variant? If someone succeeded with that, it would make a good and interesting answer! Some detailed description of those parameters (and their usage) would also be nice. But I guess that should go to a different question I've just posted (I don't want to hijack this one ;)

Since the default Google server is unreachable in China, I have to define a custom URL. I only had to do the https command to make it work. Thing is, I feel the original question I linked to already has some answers that explains the whole mechanism quite nicely, only the command to set the URL wasn't updated for Nougat (captive_portal_http(s)_url instead of captive_portal_server). I'll sum up some info I can find and see if it's worthy of an answer over there.


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Why does unlocking bootloader require erasing userdata?
I unlocked the bootloader in my OnePlus 5 right after it was delivered, so there was nothing to erase. Then I flashed TWRP and SuperSU. It comes with DM-Verity (and /data force encrypted). I tried re-locking, but later I have to erase all data again before unlocking bootloader. So the questions are:

Why is it required to erase all data when unlocking bootloader? Even with device encryption on?
Can I avoid the erase?

And you second question, no you can't avoid it... that would defeat the whole purpose of why it is.

@acejavelin I edited my question

The answer linked doesn't change and still applies... If you unlock the bootloader, the first or hundredth time, regardless of encryption, it will wipe the device.

@Izzy Never heard of device-dependent cases! You broadened my horizons.

To clarify that last comment (on an exchange in chat): One usually cannot avoid the erase. But I know of one single exception: For the LG P880, some XDA dev wrote an app to unlock the bootloader. This was a very specific case, permitting the user to unlock/relock up to 8 times while the normal procedure wouldn't allow that: the P880 uses "fuses" for this. Once burned, they're gone.


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what is root? is it system app? and why it uses internet?
why there is a root that uses internet in my android smartphone?
what is root? is it system app? and why it uses internet?

One should never be seeing an entry like this. Which Android phone, Android version are you using? From where did you take this screenshot? Do you have an app named root that is listed under Settings > Apps > All/System apps?

In Linux, "root" is the name given to the super-user. It's kind of like the administrator in Windows, but far more powerful — root has permission to do anything on a Linux system.
Android is a Linux system, which means that it has a super-user called "root".
root (always spelled lowercase) is not an app. root is a user.
If you "root" a phone, what it really means is that you give yourself — and every app on the phone — the same powers as root.
You are advised not to root your phone, unless you are a power user who knows what you are doing, and you have good reason to do so. This is because root allows anything, making it easy to mess up your phone or to introduce dangerous malware.
Some apps on the Play Store require root to work. If you haven't rooted your phone, you can't use those apps.


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Why are my apps loading very slowly?
Lately, I've been having with my phone when I try to open some apps. Usually games, they spend a long time sitting on the opening splash screen before eventually starting up properly. This can take up to ten minutes, with no visible progress. Once the game is running, it's perfectly fine. Doesn't run sluggishly or have long waiting/loading times.
My phone is a Moto G4 running Android 7.0. unrooted and with no modifications. This has come up with Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Monument Valley 2 and Space Team. I tried moving the apps to internal storage, but it didn't seem to make any difference.
Does anyone have any idea of what might be causing this?

The fact it only happens with games suggests it might be a GLES problem, e.g. with shader compilation or texture upload, but I can't imagine how you might break that on a particular phone. Is your phone rooted, or have you done any other system modifications?

@DanHulme Nope, my phone isn't rooted and doesn't have any modifications to the system. I added this detail to my question.


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Prevent apps from getting list of installed apps on phone
How I can prevent apps from knowing which apps I've installed?
Is there something in premissions in settings or hack or trick with root access apps?

I'm not making my own answer as correct answer (although it is in some ways) to see if we have other options.

I found this XPrivacy that based on Xposed and it let take control of most API's to send fake data or deny apps requests.
There are 3 things here that might be valuable:

Xposed need root access. (and rooting device will wipe all data)
Installation (From rooting device to using XPrivacy app) is not easy and user should be advance.
Xposed not available for Android Oreo yet. Xposed Github Issue

Here is installed version on OnePlus 3t on android 7.1.1 (Oxygen OS 4.3) and result is success:


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Virus on Lenovo P1M?
My phone, a two year old Lenovo Vibe P1M, has been acting weird for a while.
It was damaged six months back in an accident, and the screen was somewhat cracked on the top. As a result the touchscreen got kind of faulty. But there were no performance issues.
For about a month, though, I've been experiencing huge problems!

Extreme lag and freezes.
The phone started randomly opening apps and messing around with them.
I found several audio recordings made without my knowing.
I found a lot of "empty" folders on the internal storage, and when I deleted these it freed up about 500 MB. One such folder was called "diaxin." I also got alerts from my CleanIt app asking me if I wanted to remove residual junk files. When I hit yes, it showed me a huge bunch of files with Chinese names. Needless to say, I had not downloaded any of them.
Worst of all, every few seconds, the phone opened the toolbar containing the icons for my WiFi, Data Connection, etc. Somehow it kept turning on my location. I tried scrolling up to hide the toolbar but no luck. Every time, I had to switch the phone off and on to get rid of this annoyance.
The touchscreen often stopped responding at random times, including when I tried to unlock my phone. Right now it takes me 5-7 tries to even get the phone to recognize my attempts to draw my pattern.

I tried to connect the phone via data cable to Ubuntu so I could backup the data. It just froze when I did so, and froze my laptop as well. I had to restart both devices.
What kind of malware infestation is this? I'd like to do a factory reset but can't because my contacts etc are on the phone (and it's not letting me back them up: see 5 and 6).

Honestly, I'd suspect the CleanIt app is the culprit. Read some of the bad reviews and some mentioned about the popup for app recommendation. Also, the permissions this app requests are over the place: access to camera?

Just so you know: the folders diaxin and diaxinos are created by DU and ES apps.

Try rebooting into Safe Mode. If its a 3rd party app messing with your phone then it won't work on Safe Mode. Then try backing up your data and resetting the phone.

While in [tag:safe-mode] you could also go and uninstall all "suspicious apps". With some luck that might save you from a factory reset (if you caught the culprit). You might be able to identify it by its data usage (as it had downloaded stuff to your device).


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How to toggle "Magnify with button" quickly, maybe with Tasker?
I often want to use "Magnify with button" (Android 8 > Settings > Accessibility > Magnification).
Unfortunately, it interferes with the keyboard chooser (Settings > System > Languages > Virtual keyboard > Gboard > Advanced > Show app icon), which I use frequently.
So, I want a quick way to toggle "Magnify with button", preferably from the notification area.
My guess — I'm no expert, so I could be wrong — is that I can use an "intent" to toggle the setting. I could do this from Tasker (maybe you know a better way?).
My problem is that despite plenty of searching, I cannot find the intent setting, or indeed any other way to achieve this.
If "Magnify with button" cannot be easily toggled, but "Magnify with triple-tap" can, that would be an acceptable compromise. (I don't want to leave "Magnify with triple-tap" on permanently because it interferes with normal access.)
Are you able to help, please? My phone is not rooted, and rooting isn't an option for me.


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Captive Portal parameters
There are several captive portal parameters one could apply to an Android device via settings put global – the most famous probably being
settings put global captive_portal_detection_enabled 0

to completely turn off captive portal check (for Android < 8). Can someone explain how to use the others – e.g. to define a "custom captive portal server for tin-foils"? For example, one cannot simply do a
settings put global captive_portal_server example.com

as that would, in most cases, cause captive portal check to permanently fail (background: doing so, portal check would construct an URL http://example.com/generate_204 and check against that, expecting a specific response).
So apart from simply deactivating captive portal check altogether (which might, as I've read, lead to other issues like not being redirected to the correct portal in some cases), what else can one do to enhance privacy in this context?
Examples (if I got them right):

captive_portal_mode (Android 8+?):

0: Don't attempt to detect captive portals
1: Prompt the user to sign in
2: Immediately disconnect from the network and do not reconnect to that network in the future

captive_portal_detection_enabled (Android <8?):

0: Completely disable captive portal checks
1: Enable it (default)

While these examples are pretty much straight-forward: How to use the other parameters?

See also: Very frequent Wifi disconnection while being in China, How to force android 6 to automatically connect to a network without internet access?, How to disable captive portal detection?, Connect to Wifi network even if it doesn't have internet access, How can I automatically re-connect to a WiFi network?, android 6.0.1 force wifi connection with no internet access

@MichaelAltfield instead of dropping a bunch of links, might to explain what they are for and why one should visit them? I've checked a few of them, but they don't seem to bring anything new here (in fact, some are even older).

@ Izzy the links allow the relevant questions to appear in the "linked" sidebar, to help SEO and people find the answer to their question.

I see that – but still some context would have helped (especially as you put each link into a separate comment; wouldn't the linked-box also be filled if you combined them into one or two? Just tested that for you, works fine – and isn't it also better readable this way? ;)

Configuring captive portal behaviour

captive_portal_detection_enabled (<= Android 7.1.1)

works as described in question body

captive_portal_mode (>= Android 7.1.2)

works as described in question body

Setting captive portal URL(s)

captive_portal_server (<= Android 6.0.1)

The server that holds a generate_204 page, used to internally craft a URL for captive portal detection (new URL("http", mServer, "/generate_204"); – obsolete as of Android 7.0, see below)

captive_portal_use_https (>= Android 7.0)

0: Don't use HTTPS for network validation
1: Use HTTPS (default)

captive_portal_http_url (>= Android 7.0)

The URL used for HTTP captive portal detection - use in pair with captive_portal_use_https (set to 0)
>= Android 7.1.1: OS no longer appends generate_204 to URL automatically, giving input URL some flexibility

captive_portal_https_url (>= Android 7.0)

The URL used for HTTPS captive portal detection - use in pair with captive_portal_use_https (set to 1)
>= Android 7.1.1: OS no longer appends generate_204 to URL automatically

Requirement for the URL to be used
A HTTP 204 response code ("no content") from the server is used for validation, no extra content needed: take the default detection URL for example, curl clients3.google.com/generate_204 returns empty, and inspecting HTTP response by adding --write-out %{http_code} returns 204.'
A small list of usable captive portal server URLs in mainland China (personally tested)

https://captive.v2ex.co/generate_204 (hosted by v2ex.com)
https://connect.rom.miui.com/generate_204 (hosted by Xiaomi, used by default on MIUI)
https://noisyfox.cn/generate_204 (hosted by noisyfox.cn)
https://www.google.cn/generate_204 & https://developers.google.cn/generate_204 (hosted by Google)
https://www.qualcomm.cn/generate_204 (hosted by Qualcomm)

Further notes
The source also mentions parameters captive_portal_user_agent, captive_portal_fallback_url and captive_portal_other_fallback_urls:

captive_portal_fallback_url (>= Android 7.1.1) obviously is supposed to hold a single URL, while
captive_portal_other_fallback_urls holds multiple further URLs (comma separated list, so the URLs might not contain any comma).

But I personally conducted tests on Android 8.0.0, and both fallback parameters don't work. Assuming they're declarations without an implementation for now.
Some examples of captive portal settings of Android in China show the use of some of the above settings:

adb shell settings put global captive_portal_http_url http://www.google.cn/generate_204
adb shell settings put global captive_portal_https_url https://www.google.cn/generate_204
adb shell settings put global captive_portal_fallback_url http://www.google.cn/generate_204
adb shell settings put global captive_portal_other_fallback_urls http://www.qualcomm.cn/generate_204

Knowing that, "tin foils" even could set up their own verification service. With Apache:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} /generate_204$
RewriteRule $ / [R=204,L]

or with Nginx:
location / generate_204 { return 204 ; }
References
1, 2 (Chinese), 3 (Chinese)

Related post – and at least with MM, the following code is used: new URL("http", mServer, "/generate_204"); (with mServer being initialized by captive_portal_server if set) – so this should just be the server name (or IP) there (which was most likely one of the reasons it failed for me on a MM device). Not sure when it changed then – but from what you write probably with N. For the 204, I've found this – so it seems I assumed correctly: just the 204 code, no content.

@Izzy Unfortunately the 2 fallback options don't seem to work. Using the default captive_portal_https_url and putting a reachable URL in captive_portal_fallback_url doesn't eliminate the cross mark, and same goes for putting in captive_portal_other_fallback_urls - Setting captive_portal_https_url straight is the only way out. Note that the tests are conducted under LTE instead of WiFi, because for some reason my school WiFi would always direct me to the captive portal even if I set a completely invalid URL.

Those fallback parameters might have been introduced with Oreo (note we've looked at Oreo code to find them). Guess you've checked on Nougat, right? // Good idea to include a little server list. AFAIK there also was g.cn available ;)

@Izzy Oh yeah, didn't realize that, I haven't flashed any of my devices with LOS15 yet. Might be worthy of checking out, and if it works I'll update and ping you to clean up the comments. Also, the HTTPS cert of g.cn is said to have expired in mainland, so it's no longer usable for HTTPS. // But wait... The 7.1.2 source code does also contain reference to captive_portal_fallback_url.

Like with many new features, references sometimes turn up before the feature is complete. And the file referenced mainly defines the constants, not the functionality, right?

@Izzy Tested on a LOS15 device, fallback options still don't do a thing. Guess this seals it for now.

Some details for Oreo here; basically "how to disable captive portal check". Interestingly, the parameter captive_portal_server which you commented as "<= MM" comes into play here again.


text:
Android TV autostart script
I want to run a script after booting from a Android TV box (Xiaomi Mi Box)
I tried a lot but nothing works. Is there any option to 'activate' an init.d folder?

Just a side note, some app services (e.g., Roku's) offer their own automation tools as part of their SDK's.  Not systemic, but might be useful in specific scenarios.

You could go with automation to accomplish this.
There are several candidates for this e.g Macrodroid (free up to 5 macros) , Tasker (free 7 day trial) etc (but I am an intermediate user of the the latter hence prefer it)
Profile (or Trigger)
Create a Profile which allows triggering of the Task after boot:

Go to Profiles Tab and click the "+"
Event ➡  System ➡  Device Boot
Tap back to exit from this window

Task
You will notice as soon exit, you will be prompted to link this to a Task

Scroll all the way up the Task list select "New Task + "
You can name this Task anything (optional).
Click "+" to add new Action
Code ➡ Run Shell [ Command (enter script command) , Tick "Use Root" if it needs root]
Tap back to exit from this task

Explanation: Soon after boot, your predefined script will be executed by Tasker


text:
How to detect which app is continuously showing "Network Error" toast messages
I want to understand (and report the bug) which app is showing the "Network Error" toast notifications in the middle of the screen each time when I unlock the device. Any tips or ideas?
I'm a JS developer, so can utilise any developer tools if necessary.
Device is stock oneplus 5, Android 7.1.1 if that matters.


text:
New SIM activation: Do I need to reboot?
I recently received a new SIM card from the telecommunications service provider I switched to (I kept my mobile number).  This is what I have done so far:

Went through the "activate SIM online" process
Powered off my mobile
Replaced SIM cards
Started my mobile again

The mobile appears to have detected the new SIM alright (I can see the new provider's name) but it says "emergency calls only".  I checked with the new provider's support and they said it may take up to an hour to get activated.
Now I am wondering, do I need to reboot my phone again before the new SIM can connect to the network, or are there other means of forcing the SIM to try to reconnect, such as

switching mobile data off and on again,
turning on flight-mode temporarily
...anything else?

What happened in the end?

Nothing much you can do here. It's "hanging" at the provider's end. With the activation process you "confirmed" the card, and now its data need to be fed into the networks "authorization system" to be accepted. My guess is it's that distribution process that keeps you stuck. But unless they send those data by "carrier pidgeon" (well, it's a carrier after all ;) this process should be finished by now, and your device should have started to work automatically. Can you confirm?

@Abochur: At this point, I'm still waiting. I contacted support again and they told me that it can take up to 48 hours because of the number transfer and I should keep using my old SIM until it stops working, which kind of supersedes my question altogether, as it was about keeping the new SIM in the mobile until it

@Izzy: see my previous comment. I'm a bit lost as to what I should do with A bochur's answer, as I can't prove or disprove it this way... remember, my question was about needing a reboot to activate the "activated" SIM.

Somehow they contradict themselves: first "they said it may take up to an hour", now "they told me that it can take up to 48 hours". When those 48h are up, it's probably "up to a week". Sure you've picked the right provider? ;) Btw: as they probably cannot tell what time your old SIM stops, might be worth requesting a bonus for "time without connectivity". Could at least mean 50% off for the first month.

@Izzy: yeah. To be honest I think it's my old provider not "wanting to let me go"... ;-) they were pretty dodgy in general. But you're right, the new one's support contradicted themselves... which may be due to the fact that the first time I contacted them they may have forgotten that it's a number transfer rather than a new number. And reading their FAQ also confirmed the 48 hours.

Out of curiosity, what happened in the end?

Usually a new sim card, before activation, will not be recognized by the phone at all (it will either say 'no service', or 'no Sim')
So, being that your phone recognized the carrier, it must be that the Sim is fully functional, and the reason that it says emergency calls only, is because the number wasn't fully ported, as you have stated.
Your phone should be able to detect automatically, the ability to make calls.
If it doesn't, then going into airplane mode for a moment should do the trick.
You can also keep trying to start a call, this will make the phone look for connection


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Cannot uninstall an application in Samsung Galaxy A5 (2015 edition)
I have developed an application and installed the app by running the code on my device. The problem is, only this application cannot be uninstalled. I have tried both the settings>Application Manager>App>Uninstall and Uninstall by dragging from Home.
Every time I try to uninstall by dragging, it shows package installed has stopped. From Settings, when I click on the application, it shows Settings has stopped and throws me out of the Application manager.
Can anyone tell me, what is the possible cause of it and how can I get rid of that specific application? Or at least, what are the ways to do that?
I have tried adb uninstall "package name" which shows failure [Delete_failed_Internal_Error]
N.B: My phone is not rooted.So better if suggested without rooting.

Try uninstalling it, while in safe mode. Edit your question, if you tried that too

Same issues. Not working in safe mode as well.

Tried uninstalling using adb ?

@GokulNC quoting: I have tried adb uninstall "package name" which shows failure [Delete_failed_Internal_Error]

Sorry, I meant adb shell pm uninstall <package_name>

Is your application a device administrator by any chance? You'll need to turn off device administrator from the app settings before you can uninstall it.

@GokulNC, tried, same issues

@DanHulme, how do I check that when I can't even click on the app from the settings? "Setings has stopped" is thrown everytime I click on the app to see details from Application Manager

Ah, sorry, I missed that line of the question. Is there something special about this app, or system modifications on this phone? It shouldn't normally be possible for an app to screw up the system in this way.


text:
Stable Android version with a gallery for Nexus 7 2013
So I got a Nexus 7 2013 tablet recently for my sister. Upgraded it to Android 6.01 (which is the last OTA upgrade available). My sister didn't like it for the reason that there is no Gallery. She was a heavy Gallery user in her earlier tablet. Other than that it worked fine for a few weeks. Yesterday, it went into the circles loop - https://i.pinimg.com/originals/27/03/92/2703922d465e0d968762093b2c1443df.gif - this animation kept going on & on & on - in between it would say updating app 16 of 16 & then again the animation starts again.
I am thinking of doing a factory reset - I assume factory reset would take it back to the 4.x version it came with. Post that I want to upgrade it again but to some version lower than 6.01.
Which is a good stable version before 6.01 which also has the gallery which I can update to?

Factory reset does NOT take the device back to 4.x - you'll stay on 6.0.1, and you might not even escape the bootloop if it's caused by something wrong in /system.
What you can do right now is to flash any factory image via fastboot (you can arbitrarily downgrade this way). But although this is almost guaranteed to make the device work again (unless the device is broken hardware-wise), an early Android version will render some modern apps compatible, and leave you vulnerable to a great number of security risks.
Although not necessary for your intended purpose, the ultimate way out is to flash a custom recovery then an actively maintained custom ROM. This will bump your Android version to the latest the community has to offer (up to Android 8.0.0 as of now - do note that the latest isn't necessarily stable or bug-free), and by flashing updates to the custom ROM, you will be patched against vulnerabilities in time. Get familiar with the basics and find the resources at XDA-Developers.
As for your purpose - using a gallery app - stock and stock-based ROMs should have Google Photos by default (not sure why yours didn't, you probably simply missed it), while other ROMs usually have an alternative one, which loses the sync-to-cloud feature but brings a cleaner, no-network-needed experience.

It does have Google Photos, but what I want is the Gallery which existed with earlier versions.

If you want it exactly that way then you probably have to jump through some more hoops. Android 5.x introduced Material Design so even the "light" (AOSP-based) gallery in most custom ROMs look and behave a bit different. Probably have to extract the old gallery app, and even then it's not guaranteed to work on newer Android versions. Of course, if you're just looking for an experience stripped of Google/cloud then it still qualifies.


text:
I don't have a phone and I want to start a new Whatsapp account on my PC
I do not have a phone and I wanted to open a new whatsapp account.
is this possible?
I have never made an account before and my friend suggests me to use whatsapp,
as I do not have a phone or any previous account this is a problem.

You can't use WhatsApp without a smartphone. From the WhatsApp FAQ:

Minimum requirements to enjoy WhatsApp Web

You need to have an active WhatsApp account on your phone.
You need to have a stable internet connection on both your phone and your computer.
You need to use the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari or Edge as your web browser on your computer.

The account is tied to your phone number, so you can't borrow a friend's phone to set up the account either.

Yes, this is possible.
There is a way to use WhatsApp or any other Android app, on a PC using BlueStacks.
All you have to do is download the BlueStacks app onto your computer, sign in to your Google account, go to the play store, and download WhatsApp.
After downloading WhatsApp, go thru the regular registration process. If you don't have a phone number of your own, you can register for a free number with Google voice and use it for your WhatsApp account.
I have seen this work perfectly for others, let us know how it goes for you.

Are you sure this will work? Only real numbers can be registered with Whatsapp!

@esqmo_ Yes I'm running a Google voice number on WhatsApp. And i know others who are doing the same. I know that they will block 'online' numbers. But not Google voice

Okay, never tried that. But this works only for people living in the US not outside right?

@esQmo_ it works internationally. But it would give you an American number, which is not a problem for WhatsApp

I believe it is possible, you need to install Bluestacks. It is an android emulator for pc, where you can install Whatsapp as well as other apps.
After installation, just follow instructions.
Note: You need an active mobile number.


text:
Can YouTube videos be downloaded with subtitles for offline viewing using the app?
I noticed that when I download a video in the YouTube app for offline viewing, subtitles are not included.
What do I need to do so that I can see subtitles while viewing a video offline?

With youtube-dl you can download all available subtitles from video. More details you can find here.

Try the 'TubeMate' app. I personally like it very much as when I copy the link of any video from my YouTube app, it automatically detects it and shows a icon, by clicking on which you can directly reach the TubeMate app.
If the video has subtitles, it will automatically download it, and also the download speed is very good.

If you have YouTube Premium, start watching the video you want to download and turn on captions. Now when you start the download it should also download the subtitles.


text:
How to view HTML file's source code on Android?
I have to view my HTML file which I have loaded into my Android mobile from Gmail. I don't want view it as HTML page. I just want to view its source code and note it down.
How can I do this?

What do you mean by "executed"? Is there Javascript embedded in the HTML file? Why not just open it with a text editor and remove any script?

Your question is a little confusing. In this answer I am assuming you want to see the HTML code and not the webpage(which is obtained by parsing the said code).
First you need to find where on device is your html file located. Then you can use a file explorer like ES File Explorer/Pro to long tap the file and select OPEN AS-> TEXT to view the source code.


text:
Why is the stock Android dialer app incompatible with my Samsung J7 2017?
I want to install this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer
to replace Samsung's customized dialer app.
But on that page it says:
"This app is incompatible with all of your devices."
Any idea why, or any workaround?

Some apps are only set to install on the phones they are designed for. The workaround is you can get it from apkmirror.com and install it. It should work on your Samsung. I installed it from there last year on my LG V20 and it worked fine.


text:
Force CPU full with display black
i have a galaxy core duos and minergate instaled for test, however, my H/s in on display stay in 7 and in off stay in 0,5, i instaled overclock app however did not work.
how to force CPU full speedy in off display?
Samsung did this on a galaxys s3 rig

Disable Doze. Set Governor as 'Performance'. Set the highest value possible for low & high clock speed. You're done. And pity your battery.

disable doze? I'll study it, governor stay in performance, This cell phone is for testing only, no problem with battery

You can force your cpu to work at full speed by changing the governor to Performance. If you are not sure what a governor is, you need to have ROOT ACCESS then you can use an app named Kernel Adiutor(https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grarak.kerneladiutor&hl=en) to change the cpu governor.
Also, overclocking would require a custom kernel which you can find at XDA Forums.
Found these relevant guides:
Tomsguide:https://www.tomsguide.com/us/overclock-android-device,review-1762.html
Androidpit: https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-overclock-android

only with custon kernel? stock rom not working? I already put the governor in performance

Stock kernels don't allow(aren't built to support) overclocking.


text:
What happens with updates for purchased apps after the associated Google account is removed?
I've recently bought a new phone for my brother and I'd like to install my previously purchased apps on his device. I'm trying to understand: If I add my Google account (temporarily) on top of his account to install those purchased apps on his device, and then remove it (for privacy reasons), will those apps on his device get future updates via Play Store even without my account?
To add a bit of context, I'm trying to do this for Tasker and a bunch of automation apps I bought last week. Once I install Tasker on his phone and remove my Google account (which was used to purchase Tasker), will Tasker get future updates whenever the developer releases them, just like other apps on his device?
Also, Is there a way to transfer ownership of purchased apps from one Google account to another Google account?, For now, I'm using a newly created Google account to make and transfer purchases across all my devices (Unfortunately, this is not the case with the situation in question).
Any thoughts are appreciated, Thanks!

It's worth mentioning before someone could say: I'm from India and we don't have Google Play Family account yet, unfortunately.

All apps you've bought via your Google account are bound to that. Not only they cannot be updated without your account then (which is where they're bound to), but some of them will even stop working if you remove the account (those which use Google License Check to verify a valid license whenever you start them).
And no, there's no way of transferring ownership from one account to another. Though it would be technically possible, Google is not offering that.


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Trouble playing videos on Chrome
I have Moto G4 Play (6.0.1) with chrome 62.0.3202.84(latest) installed. I tried to play videos from www.southpark.cc.com but the play button wouldn't appear.
A temporary solution was to open in incognito mode or to close chrome from drawer and opening it again.
I tried Firefox but Firefox used its own video player. This disabled captions and  plus the videos are in three part so only 1st part was being played.
The site seems to be working fine on my brother's android. Any solution will be appreciated. Maybe someway to make Firefox use the site's player or fixing chrome

Anvit, instead of adding a "found solution" to your question's title, please accept the answer that holds the solution. This is a Q&A site, and as such works a bit different from forums you might be used to. Also, currently there are two answers: how shall visitors tell which one solved your issue? ;)

@Izzy can't accept own answer untill two days, that's why I added the answer to my own post as edit too

Yupp – your answer just came up when I wrote my comment – and only after "committing" it I saw it's yours :) So when you accept it in two days, please remember to remove the suffix from the title. Once a question has an accepted answer it's automatically marked such in lists, and thus easy to identify. Thanks a lot!

Disable Data saver
In chrome, click the 3 dots in top right corner, then settings, then disable data saver in the andvanced section.

Beat me to it, @Abochur :)

You mentioned that it works fine in incognito mode. That leads me to believe that your browsers saved cookies are causing trouble.
To clear cookies, open chrome and press on the three dots menu>history>clear browsing data>advanced. On the top right, select the time range to 'all time'. Then select 'cookies and site data' and clear data.

Doesn't help. Plus, it doesn't always work in incognito. Same with the close from drawer. Those solution don't work all the time.

See if clearing data for chrome, helps. Settings>apps>chrome>storage>clear data

doesn't help either.. guess I'll have to carry my tab everywhere now

It was the data saver. Turning it of helped


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My Android phone stuck at optimizing apps again and again
My Yu Yureka with Cyanogen Mod is Optimizing apps again and again but not starting. Is there a way to fix this?
Is tjere a way I can somehow enter safe mode and delete few apps??  Please help.

Possibly related, as you also use a custom ROM (CyanogenMod): Fairphone Open stuck in “optimizing app” loop after OS update. Very likely related: Yu Yuphoria YU5010 is stuck in “Optimize apps # of #” loop. Also related: Android continues rebooting and 'optimizing'. More candidates by this search on our site.

Thanks for response..!!  I finally found a solution. Writing in answer

I found a solution and thats when the apps are being optimised..when the phone reaches to optimising last 1 or 2 apps (for example: optimising 99 of 100) press and hold volume down key untill the phone starts; the phone boots into safe mode and we can remove a few apps and take data backup to PC. Now when rebooted it starts normally..
Thanks everyone for response..!

Wow, that really works..!!  Saved me... thank you soo much!!!

You need to hard reset your mobile but this will delete all your data and apps. To hard reset YU Yureka Android smartphone follow the below mentioned steps.

Shutdown the mobile.
Enter into Recovery Mode by pressing and holding
Volume Up + Volume Down + Power buttons simultaneously until you see YU logo.
                              (OR)
Volume Up + Power key for about 5 seconds until you see YU logo.
Once you are in Recovery Mode, choose wipe data/factory reset and perform the operation.
Now choose wipe cache partition and perform the operation.
Now finally choose Wipe media and perform operation.
Once done, reboot your device.

That’s all now YU Yureka will boot with factory settings loaded and you have successfully hard reset YU Yureka.

Gvtha: You describe a factory-reset but name it hard-reset. A common mis-naming, but a hard-reset is just "a forced reboot/shutdown by removing power" (e.g. by removing the battery and putting it back again) as opposed to a soft-reset (as described by Shamik's answer), see What is hard reset and what is factory reset? Maybe you want to [edit] your answer and fix that up?

@izzy definitely a major mis-naming being that a quick Google search brings up some major tech websites, describing, hard reset as factory reset

@Abochur but second to "android virus", you must admit – or we wouldn't have that many "anti virus" apps in the stores ;) // Some background: "soft reset": Ctrl-Alt-Del. "hard reset": that "Windows repair button" on your computer (which does … cut the power while pressed, yupp). // If enough people calling a pig pidgeon, that pig still doesn't fly :)


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Connected by Telegram appearing in phone contact
Does a contact on an android phone contacts list that shows a Telegram app symbol by it and says "Connected via Telegram" mean it is someone who is chatting on telegram or just someone who also has telegram? None of the other contacts show this

The symbols that appear under 'connected via' are there to show you, where the contact is saved.
So if a number is saved on your Google account, it will show a Google symbol.
Being that apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, sync your contact list and use that for their app, therefore it will show 'connected via' telegram, because you are using that contact in telegram.

In short, when it says 'connected via' it just means that the app in question is using this number. And not that you have ever contacted the person.


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How to copy photos from SD Card to External Storage?
I want to copy my photos 22GB from my external SD Card on my phone to my Mac or USB Drive by OTG.
However, I have been trying to use 3rd party Files Manager "ASUS File Manager" as well as Samsung's My Files, but both of them result the date of my photo to be current time, not original photo's time.
I have been trying to copy the folder of DCIM to my Mac via Android File Transfer, but it doesn't work too (always error and quit).
Anyone can share me how to copy the photos and keep the original photo's time?

The date you see is the creation time of the file or the last time the file was written. To get the actual date of capture, take a look at the EXIF information inside the file itself. In case you absolute have to preserve the file system information, moving the files is the only automatic way I can think that preserves those times.

@GiantTree I don't think moving will do the trick, as across file system boundaries that's nothing but "copy + delete".

You can either:

fix date and time via Exif as described by GiantTree in his comment on your question (there are tools for that; if you've no idea which, please see Where to ask for app recommendations?) – or
simply use an app on the device to ZIP the files, then copy the ZIP to your Mac and unzip again (for "which app", again see above link). As this is not really practicable for 22GB:
option #3 would be to shutdown your phone, take out the SD card, and use a card-reader to connect it to your Mac and copy the files directly. This is probably the easiest approach to your problem.

I don't think moving will do the trick, as across file system boundaries that's nothing but "copy + delete".

No need to shutdown, it is possible to unmount the card and then take it out.

Sure it is, @Alex.S – but shutting it down is the safest way (and the easiest to explain). See: KISS principle :)

Have you tried Samsung Smart Switch?
I use it on my mac and it works fine!

Does "it works fine" include "it keeps the timestamps"?


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How can delete a draft for a no-reply sender?
I have a few messages in my Messages app from contacts that don't support replies. I've accidentally forwarded a message from one of my other contacts to a non-reply contact, now whenever I look at the main Messages screen, I can see there's a draft under the no-reply contact, however when I enter that contact there's no draft at the bottom, nor any option to see the draft and/or delete it.
Is there any way to get rid of this phantom draft?

Trying to reproduce the issue, but I'm not having any luck forwarding to a non reply number. How did you do it? What sms app are you using? And what phone do you have?

Using OnePlus 3T on Android 8, using the latest version of Google's Messages app

After playing around with the app, I've found that this is something that Google messenger has overlooked. They don't have any option of clearing drafts.
After some research I found that it's safe to clear data of your messenger app. This will clear all drafts and unsent messages, but nothing else.
To do that, go to settings -> apps -> messages -> storage -> clear data.
Sent and received messages are not stored in the messaging app, rather they are stored in /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/com.android.providers.telephony.
(You might need a rooted phone to access this)
Therefore clearing the app data is not going to delete your messages.
I have tried this myself before recommending such a drastic move. (I did make a backup before that, just in case.)

Thanks. I have researched a lot of times until I found this useful solution.


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What data is initially sent when inadvertently connected to unsecured network?
In my haste and ignorance I inadvertently connected to an unsecure wireless network from my Android phone. It didn't ask my for any login credentials, or any other information - it just connected.
After about 30 seconds I realised my mistake and disconnected from the wireless access point. I didn't use the browser while connected.
So what type of data is sent by the Android phone on initial connection?

The only thing sent by Android itself is the captive portal check: a single connection to a Google web server, containing no personal or special data. Google Cloud Messaging also connects to a server using SSL, to receive push notifications that are waiting for your phone.
But any app on your phone can register to be notified when a Wi-Fi connection becomes available, so if an app was due to sync with a server, it might have done that in the background as soon as your phone connected. That could be any app that syncs with a server. Many apps send analytics or crash reports in the background even if that's unrelated to their main functionality. There's no way for you to tell afterwards which apps might have connected at this time, unless the app itself tells you when it last synced (or if it gave you a notification or you noticed new data arriving at that time).
Well-written apps (including all Google apps) use SSL to secure connections to the server, so that information can't be intercepted even on a hostile Wi-Fi network. Not all apps are this well written, though, and which servers you're connecting to are visible on the network regardless. Even if every app you use uses SSL correctly, just the fact they're syncing with the server tells an attacker that you use that app/service. This is a reason why you might want an always-on VPN even if you don't normally use open networks.

Thank you kindly for a great answer. The phone is used 99% of the time for incoming calls. Its very rare I connect to a wireless network, let alone an insecure one. My background data was turned to off, so I suppose this must help reduce data leakage. I just was concerned what data might of "escaped" during that 30 seconds. Thanks!


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Is there a way to control/use Google Play Protect together with microG (open source Google Play service alternative)?
I'm facing a tricky scenario, sometime back I decided to discontinue using Google Play Services in favour of an open source alternative - microG due to constant problems and crashing of several Google applications on my device.
As Google launched Google Play Protect1 feature (on all Android devices running Google Play Services 11 or later), this seems to be missing or at least I'm not sure how to use it (i.e enable or disable it) with microG.
With a device running Google Play Services, one can easily control it by navigating to: Settings ➡ Google ➡ Security ➡ Google Play Protect
I wish to be able to control this feature on microG so I can control/disable constant false positive notifications about my installed applications being harmful, and also to have my applications regularly scanned.
Is there way to control "Play Protect" on a device running microG, or at least to integrate via another means, perhaps an Xposed module?

1

Google Play Protect is a feature that is, essentially, an evolution of
  the company’s “Verify Apps” service that was rolled out to Android
  many years ago. The feature, which will be enabled by default on all
  Android devices, is meant to be a real-time malware scanner that will
  scan every installed or about-to-be installed app and inform users in
  case there’s something amiss.

Not yet built into microG, maybe?  Also, there isn't much control available with Play Protect, at least not on my Pixel...its pretty much an on or off thing.

Thanks for your response @SiXandSeven8ths, I wanted to turn it on/off at will with microG

Google Play Protect can be disabled by editing these XML files:

/data/system/users/0/settings_secure.xml

package_verifier_user_consent=-1

/data/system/users/0/settings_global.xml

package_verifier_enable=0
upload_apk_enable=0

Edit
On older Android, it is stored in a database located at: /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db. You need to use some database editor to change that parameter

Thanks but the target device is running android 4.3, and that path does not exist on this android version, but +1 nevertheless for looking into this!

On older Android, it is stored in a database located at: /data/data/com.android.providers.settings/databases/settings.db. You need to use some database editor to change that parameter.

@TimJosten Please [edit] your answer to include that information. Comments are temporary and not searchable, so your useful addition is at risk of being lost!

@TimJosten, I have intergrated your last comment into your answer for the same reason suggested by DanHulme


text:
Cyanogenmod - new apps make bootloop
when I update some application (Telegram, Skype) my Cyanogenmod starts to glitch, Google Play, Trebushet services (when I open the application menu), Settings (when I click on the "Applications" section) stop working.
some applications after installation generally restart the phone. some do infinite loading. Only removal via recovery helps
tried to install CM 12, 13, 14 - everywhere this problem. Everyone works, but I do not have
Ttebushet error (just open empty main screen)
    property debug.db.uid not set; NOT waiting for gdb.
11-29 23:43:04.671 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        HINT: adb shell setprop debug.db.uid 100000
11-29 23:43:04.671 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        HINT: adb forward tcp:5039 tcp:5039
11-29 23:43:04.776 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
11-29 23:43:04.776 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        Build fingerprint: 'Micromax/Q415/Q415:5.1.1/LMY49G/C577B040:user/release-keys'
11-29 23:43:04.776 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        Revision: '0'
11-29 23:43:04.776 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        ABI: 'arm'
11-29 23:43:04.777 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        pid: 12687, tid: 12706, name: launcher-loader  >>> com.cyanogenmod.trebuchet <<<
11-29 23:43:04.777 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        signal 11 (SIGSEGV), code 1 (SEGV_MAPERR), fault addr 0xdeadbaad
11-29 23:43:04.816 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        Abort message: 'invalid address or address of corrupt block 0x21 passed to dlfree'
11-29 23:43:04.819 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        r0 00000000  r1 b6e55dec  r2 deadbaad  r3 00000000
11-29 23:43:04.822 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        r4 00000021  r5 b6e570d8  r6 a1d14000  r7 00000029
11-29 23:43:04.823 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        r8 a587b36c  r9 a587b42c  sl b6d29232  fp b6d2923b
11-29 23:43:04.824 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        ip 00008000  sp a587b318  lr b6e2717b  pc b6e2717c  cpsr 600d0030
11-29 23:43:04.825 267 267 I       DEBUG
11-29 23:43:04.825 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        backtrace:
11-29 23:43:04.825 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #00 pc 0002917c  /system/lib/libc.so (dlfree+1239)
11-29 23:43:04.826 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #01 pc 0000f363  /system/lib/libc.so (free+10)
11-29 23:43:04.827 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #02 pc 00012ac5  /system/lib/libandroidfw.so (android::ResStringPool::uninit()+38)
11-29 23:43:04.827 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #03 pc 000137f5  /system/lib/libandroidfw.so (android::ResXMLTree::uninit()+14)
11-29 23:43:04.828 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #04 pc 00013813  /system/lib/libandroidfw.so (android::ResXMLTree::~ResXMLTree()+4)
11-29 23:43:04.829 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #05 pc 000104e7  /system/lib/libandroidfw.so (android::AssetManager::getPkgName(char const*)+258)
11-29 23:43:04.829 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #06 pc 00010549  /system/lib/libandroidfw.so (android::AssetManager::getBasePackageName(unsigned int)+68)
11-29 23:43:04.830 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #07 pc 0008221f  /system/lib/libandroid_runtime.so
11-29 23:43:04.830 267 267 I       DEBUG                                        #08 pc 0027b38b  /data/dalvik-cache/arm/system@framework@boot.oat
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       <qeglDrvAPI_eglInitialize:379>: EGL 1.4 QUALCOMM build:  (I7b941c52a8)
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       OpenGL ES Shader Compiler Version: E031.25.03.04
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       Build Date: 06/25/15 Thu
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       Local Branch:
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       Remote Branch:
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       Local Patches:
11-29 23:43:05.372 9925 10106 I    Adreno-EGL com.aide.ui                       Reconstruct Branch:
11-29 23:43:05.373 9925 10106 I    OpenGLRenderer com.aide.ui                   Initialized EGL, version 1.4
11-29 23:43:05.662 5642 12736 W    ActivityManager                              Process com.cyanogenmod.trebuchet has crashed too many times: killing!
11-29 23:43:05.662 5642 12736 W    ActivityManager                              Force finishing activity 4 com.cyanogenmod.trebuchet/com.android.launcher3.Launcher
    11-29 23:43:05.663 267 267 I       DEBUG

i try install it again and see logs, wait please

There seems to be a solution for this over at xda.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/help/bootloop-updating-apps-telegram-t3700773/page2


text:
Bluetooth headset profiles
I have a JBL E25BT bluetooth headset which supports the following profiles according to specs: HFP v1.6, HSP v1.1, A2DP v1.2, AVRCP v1.5
I've tried to connect with it with my Oneplus One (lineage os, bluetooth 4.1) and Mac Mini 2012 (bluetooth 4.0). The voice quality for calls is always low. So my guess is basic HFP/HSP is used. As I read HFP 1.6 should provide good quality for calls.
Is there any chance to check/set the exact connection setting for bluetooth connection?

HFP/HSP have no good (in traditional meaning) quality at all. Only mono with 8 kHz sample rate (or mono with 16 kHz sample rate for Wide Band Speech mode). Wide Band Speech mode is optional for implementation by the both sides.


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Link to a group in Whatsapp
I am attending a group on Whatsapp.
I would like to add a friend to this group.
I wanted to know how to get a link to my friend to find this group.
If anybody know an option where I can add it would also be interesting.

Can you please explain the last question?

You must be the group admin in order to have access to the link.
Ask the group admin to share the link with you, and you can then send it to your friend.
From WhatsApp's FAQ:

If you are the group admin, you can invite people to join a group
  simply by sharing a link with them. To share a group invite link:
Go to the group in WhatsApp. Tap the subject of the group. Tap Add
  participant. Tap Invite to group via link. Choose to share the link
  within WhatsApp or to another app.
  (Source)

More info on how the link works:
When you press on the link, it will open WhatsApp, and it will give you more info about the group, who the creator is, and who is part of the group. You then have the option of joining the group.
If you open the link in a browser, and press the 'join group' button, it will open WhatsApp and give you the option to actually join.


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How can I limit data usage depending on whether the screen is on, or off/locked?
How can I limit data usage depending on whether the screen is on, or off/locked? For example, when the screen is off, data can only be sent and received at a reduced rate. Or, when the screen is off, data connectivity is reduced to 2G. I want to leave data on, but I don't want to let it chew through all of it.
I am aware of the data saver option, but it doesn't do what I want.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Please note that recommendations like Is there an app for X are off-topic here (see What topics can I ask about here? for details). I've rephrased it slightly to match this site's rules as well as your intention.

This literally sounds like what JuiceDefender does... One of the few "battery saver" apps I would actually recommend.

You could  try CleverConnectivity No Ads.
How it works
CleverConnectivity  will automatically turn on and off connectivity
 (data/wifi/sync) while screen is OFF.

For example if the user chooses below configuration:
  Time On: 2min
Time On Next Check: 1min Time Off: 10m Usage check Interval: 3s

Once the screen is OFF, CleverConnectivity will keep connectivity alive for 2min. Then it will check if data is used during a period of
  3s.
If data is used, connectivity will be kept for 1 minute (Time On Next Check).
If data is NOT used, connectivity will be deactivated for 10min. After this, the connectivity will be re-activated and Time On will
  kick in.
Once screen is ON, connectivity will be automatically re-enabled.

With a custom ROM there is also an option to keep conneectivity to 2G only whilst screen is off.

NB (from author): This app is not yet fully compatible with Android Lollipop 5+ as Google has restricted the access to the method to toggle mobile data programatically

Use Tasker app which can disable the internet connection automatically when the screen is off. Configure the app as below:
Profile: Screen Off
Context: (Event) Screen off
Task:
Clear variable %SCREENSTATE
Stop if %POWER ~ ON
Disable "Mobile Data" (With "Keep MMS" if you want)
Disable "Auto-SYNC"

Set Profile's Task Priority to 6


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Find out which app sent an intent to open Google Play?
My Android phone (MIUI v9) recently seems to open up Google Play (to a specific app detail page) randomly (a few times a day), which might indicate the presence of some adware.
As I understand, to make this happen, an app has to send an Intent with a URI of market://....  I don't know which app is doing this, and I would like to find out, so I can get rid of it.
Theres an app called Internal Broadcasts Monitor on Google Play that logs Intents, but it doesn't tell me which app sent the Intent.  Also, it does not provide any way to filter the list of Intents, which makes it very difficult to find a specific Intent that only happens a few times a day.
Is there any way to find the sender of an Intent, or any other way from Google Play to tell which app launched it?

Worth a try, especially if you know exactly when the intent was sent: adb logcat -v time, then check the entries around the time logged by the Internal Broadcasts Monitor.


text:
How much free storage should I keep?
I have a Huwaei mate 10 lite and it has internal 64 GB, I don't use memory card because I use two sims.
How much free storage should I keep? Is 10% enough? Or 20%?

Use as much as you need – but keep free as much as possible:

At about 10% you'll start to receive warnings about storage space running low, so you shouldn't go below that.
Plus, the more free space is available, the better the controller can handle wear leveling – which will prolong the life-span of your storage.


text:
Is it possible to officially download or purchase android software?
Just like there is a download or purchase option for Windows from their publisher (Microsoft), I could not found any download or purchase option from the official website of android (https://www.android.com/) and their owner Google.
Though there are so many third-party websites letting free download android, I don't think they are trustworthy.
I want to just know, is it possible to download or purchase Android software from any official link of their original publishers? Or the software comes only through in-built with the devices?

First, Android is maintained by the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) – which has its homepage here. What you may know as "Google's Android" is Android plus all those Google Apps (including the Google Frameworks).
Second, you can download the Source Code. There is no such thing as an "Installation CD" because, as you correctly assumed, the installation is very much device specific: other than on your PC, it's not done by transferring "selected files", but by flashing an image (think of Partition Cloning), so it must match the hardware 100% – including drivers for specific hardware etc.
As for purchasing: Above link title already says it, Android is "open source" – so nothing to purchase on that end.

So it is basically not possible to "download" android, is that?

Depends on what you mean by that. As said, it's possible to "download" the AOSP source code (that's what most ROM developers do – e.g. LineageOS is based on that), and it's possible to download device specific builds. Just the "where" question isn't on-topic here ("Questions asking us to find or recommend an app, device, ROM, accessory or off-site resource are off-topic for Android Enthusiasts" :)

ROM means Read-only memory?

That and a lot more (see our rom tag-wiki). In the context of my comment, it means the image file to flash. Traditionally, it referred to cartridges, then things like CDs (CD ROM), and currently also to the partition the operation system lives on (/system is mounted read-only during normal operations, and just mounted read-write for updates). Confusing term that, ROM. I take it as a term of R eal O bscured M eanings ;)

Probably android publishers provide only one official download, which is "Android Studio" (https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html).
Otherwise there is no official option to directly download Android (any of its version like Marshmallow/ JellyBean etc).

Nope. Android Studio is a tool for development (and the images it downloads are just for use in its emulator). The "official option" to obtain the code is here. I've updated my answer accordingly to include that link.

Thanks. Probably it is not like just clicking some download buttons but rather it requires some programing prompts such as your link tells "Downloading the Android Source Tree
To pull down the Android source tree to your working directory from the repositories as specified in the default manifest, run $ repo sync". Is this on DOS prompt?

Sure. After all, what would you do with source code if not programming? :) And being open source, it's good practice to not only take but also give. The tool of choice for that today is Git: fork the repo, do your work, offer back a "pull request" (or "merge request") with your improvements and/or additions. You don't "install" source code. And especially with Android, simply compiling it is no good to anyone (remember: device specific adjustments are needed).


text:
Grant notification access via ADB
This might seem weird, but I installed a regular Android app using ADB to my Huawei Watch 2 and the app requires notification access which when attempting in app causes it to crash as it trys to open the settings to allow it's access which doesn't exist in the settings.
I just need to grant this one permission in order to get the app to work

found any solution? (sorry for answer, and not comment, but I have less than 50 reputation :P )

@mirco no I have not

For Android 9 or above use this:
adb shell cmd notification allow_listener com.mypackage.app/com.mypackage.app.mylistener

For any other Android version below 9 use this:
adb shell settings put secure enabled_notification_listeners %nlisteners: com.example.myapplication/com.example.myapplication.service.ServiceNotificationIntercept

How does one figure out the necessary listener for the app?

adb shell into your device and do

cmd appops set package.name PERMISSION_NAME {allow/ignore}

Edit: I don' think this will work with notification access. Anyway, the command for changing system settings is

adb shell settings put setting_name value

But I cannot find any setting name corresponding to notification access. You can take a look all the available settings here
Other alternative if you are rooted is to extract the settings.db where all the preferences are store, modify it there using sqlite and reboot.

Thanks for trying to help, but I need the permission name


text:
EMUI 8.0 Google account contact, gmail, calendar, etc sync not working
Bought a new phone. The Huawei Mate 10 pro.
No I am not using a chinese variant. And I do not have access to HiApp.
Cloud backup was enabled at startup.
Google contacts sync is not working, calendar sync is not working, weirdly though says gmail is not working (exclamation mark beside the title) but the gmail app is pulling mails.
2FA is enabled for my primary account. I thought this might be a problem, so I connected a secondary account as well. Same issues there.
Principally the services which are not syncing are, Calendar, Contacts, Gmail, Play music, google+, Keep.
Please help.

What happens when you go to settings>accounts>Google>***@Gmail.com and select to sync all? Any errors?

@Abochur So I went to settings > users and accounts > google > bla@gmail.com > sync all produces the error "Sync is currently experiencing problems. It will be back shortly"


text:
How to change the name of Firefox desktop shortcut icon to website?
I long press the icon but only delete action exists there of the icon.
I press it but it goes to Firefox.
I create another one but it does not allow me to rename the icon.
OS: Oreo 8.0
Phone: Oneplus 3T

What kind of icing is this? What action do you want to take place when you press it?

@Abochur This is about having a shortcut icon to a website. Not the default Firefox internet browser icon.

I haven't used Firefox, but in chrome when you add to homescreen then it gives you the option to rename it. After you save it, there is no option to change the name. So i suggest you save it again with the new name

A bochur's differential solution

I haven't used Firefox, but in chrome when you add to homescreen then it gives you the option to rename it. After you save it, there is no option to change the name. So i suggest you save it again with the new name

Ditto on above answer, for me Chrome offers the option but my other browser (Samsung) does not. Other sites say Android OS itself does not offer renaming of icons, so renaming icons must be done by an app.