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How do I generate a PKCS12 CA certificate for use with Packet Capture?
I was trying to use Packet Capture app to find out some URLs used by an app. Packet Capture allows you to capture SSL packets by installing a VPN Gateway with its own root CA certificate and then channeling app requests through that gateway. However, when I try to generate the certificate from within the app (on my Galaxy Note 8), I just get the error "Cannot create certificate". I don't know why this is as the app doesn't give any further explanation, but this means I can't use SSL capture in the app.
The app does have another way to just import an existing CA certificate, known as "Import PKCS#12 file". However I need to generate the PKCS#12 file myself to use this, and not sure how to do this.
What I did so far: I installed the app "Dory". Then I tried creating a public/private keypair, CSR and root CA certificate, all the time setting the passphrase and alias to "abc". But when I tried to import the p12 file to Packet Capture, it just said "java.lang.RuntimeException: Cannot load key. Password might be wrong." I must have done something wrong; what should I be doing next?

I didn't find any solution to this directly (didn't find any way to generate a certificate for use with Packet Capture), but in case others have the same question, I switched from Packet Capture to an app called HttpCanary, which doesn't have the same problem with generating certificates directly inside the app. It provides similar features to Packet Capture and works well for me.

I had some issues with this after the Android 11 update. Android 11 no longer allows you to add certificates from any app other than the settings app, so you will have to generate and set the certificate yourself.

Generate the certificate in linux. You can also do this on the device if you get an openssl app or terminal. I followed this tutorial, except I added the name "alias" to the p12 key:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout myKey.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes
Hit enter for all the prompts
openssl pkcs12 -export -out keyStore.p12 -inkey myKey.pem -in cert.pem -name "alias"
Enter the password "test"

Transfer keyStore.p12 and cert.pem to the android device

In android settings, go to Biometrics and Security (note I have a Samsung device, it might be different for you) > Other Security Settings > Credential Storage > Install from device storage > CA Certificate > Accept the scary red warning and tap "Install anyway" > enter your pincode > find "cert.pem" and click "Done"

Going back to "Install from device storage," > VPN and app user certificate > find keyStore.p12 > Enter password "test" and name it "alias"

Go the the app info screen for Packet Capture > Permissions > Files And Media > Enable "Allow management of all files"

Open packet capture > Setting > Tap "No CA certificate" > Import PKCS#12 file > find keyStore.p12. Enter password "test" and the "alias". Restart packet capture. If everything worked, the "Status" subtitle should say "Installed to trusted credentials"

Restart device

SSL should work for most apps now but it can be hit and miss

I was on Android 9 not 11, but I'll accept your answer as it gives a procedure for generating the cert. I was keen to do this entirely within Android and without needing to use a PC, but maybe that was overly ambitious. Anyway I am no longer using Packet Capture as I switched to HttpCanary.

Looks like you can do this within Android. I got the above commands to run in Termux

At step 3, cert.pem is grayed out for me...

"If everything worked, the Status subtitle should say Installed to trusted credentials" Mine says "Not installed. Tap to install to trusted credentials".

Ah, I think it's because when I try to install "cert.pem" as a CA certificate it says "Private key required to install a certificate". When I click on myKey.pem there's no pop up showing up and the certificate doesn't seem to be installed.

I needed to use the -legacy flag in the openssl pkcs12 command for it to work. When I do not provide the flag Android states the password is wrong. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/71872900/installing-pcks12-certificate-in-android-wrong-password-bug/73512646#73512646

I got it working on Android API 34 with the -legacy option as @JanWytze mentioned. Here's a simple script that will create the pair and push it to the device (password: test):
#!/bin/bash

# Step 1: Generate the certificate

# Generate a self-signed certificate and private key
openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout myKey.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes -subj "/C=US/ST=Some-State/O=Company Name"

# Export the private key and the certificate into a PKCS12 keystore using the -legacy flag
openssl pkcs12 -export -out keyStore.p12 -inkey myKey.pem -in cert.pem -name "alias" -passout pass:test -legacy

echo "Successfully generated keyStore.p12 and cert.pem"

# Step 2: Transfer files to Android device using adb

# Check if device is connected
if adb devices | grep -q device$; then
    adb push keyStore.p12 /sdcard/
    adb push cert.pem /sdcard/
    echo "Files transferred successfully to the device!"
else
    echo "No device found. Make sure your device is connected and USB debugging is enabled."
fi


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Multiple users on Samsung Galaxy A10
I want to be able to have two separate logins on my Galaxy A10 android phone, which require different passwords to access. Is this possible?

See if this works. https://www.phonetipsandtricks.com/tips/samsung-galaxy-a10/how-to-use-guest-mode-187/

Not sure if Samsung added that feature in your rom, but this thing are provided as features from manufacturers. If your device lacks this feature, wait till new update.
Or you can install new rom for your device which have this feature. But it is risky as rooting and flashing new software involves.

It is unlikely an update would ever introduce multi user functionality. A multi user system requires reasonable amount of RAM (2GB in A10 is not gonna cut it).

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Unlocked bootloader with OEM locked inside system in Oneplus3. HELP?
I have a OnePlus3 device which was rooted(TWRP + magisk + stock rom). But as new rom was buggy, i install old stock rom + stock recovery without root. After installing by mistake i lock OEM from the developer menu. Now after a restart, I stuck in the bootloader. Now, bootloader can't be locked or can't install new recovery. I can access bootloader and recovery but can't get into System. I tried to sideload rom but it keeps loading.What to do now?

Can you see your device from adb/fastboot?

yes but can't install new recovery or rom.

headline says unlocked bootloader question says bootloader can't be locked please edit

Boot to bootloader, unlock oem and start the process all over again. You need to flash a recovery first, then the full ROM.zip.
If this doesn't work or you can't get it right, use the unbrick tool. We can provide you with the links if you can confirm your device

OP wrote "After installing by mistake i lock OEM from the developer menu". You can't unlock bootloader using fastboot unless you permit OEM unlocking from developer options (unless of course, vendor messed up lock/unlock implementation).

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


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Does YouTube Music allow non-premium accounts to download their own uploaded music to their device for offline use?
I just received an email notification that Google Play Music would be discontinued later this year, and instructing me to transfer my library over to YouTube Music (I haven't done this yet).  I am possibly an atypical user — my entire Play Music library is music that I ripped from CDs and uploaded to my account.  I also am often in places without reliable WiFi and I don't like to use data for streaming audio, so I prefer to have my entire library stored locally.  To this end I have my entire Play Music library downloaded onto an external SD card on my phone.
Will I be able to do the same thing with YouTube Music?  All of the information I have read online (for example official blog
) says that "paying members" will be able to download music for offline listening.
Does that mean that I won't be able to download my own music to my device without paying for the privilege?
EDITED TO ADD:  A few people have asked, in the comments, why I even want to bother with a cloud-based music platform, if I plan on always having my music locally stored.  This is a fair question, one I ought to have originally addressed!  The reason is that it makes synchronization simple:  every time I add a new song or album to my Play Music library (which I usually do from my home desktop computer) it is automatically available not only on my phone (where I can download it to keep available offline) and on my work desktop computer. Similarly if I create a playlist on one device it is automatically available on all of my other ones.  Since Play Music is going away, my hope is that Youtube Music will be able to take its place -- otherwise I will have to start all over with a new platform, which I would prefer to avoid.

I haven't tried this but according to Upload your music - YouTube Music Help, you can

You can play uploaded songs in the background, ad-free and offline - even if you are not currently a YouTube Music Premium subscriber.

(Emphasis added)
You would need to use a computer to upload (you cannot use YouTube Music mobile app). Once uploaded, you can view in the app. You can verify this by uploading a few songs

Good comparison between YouTube Music and Spotify

Well, on my end, I am unable to listen to music offline without YouTube Music Premium. I have to have my music straight from files to do that.
Where on the web it says, you can upload your music to YouTube Music, and without YouTube Music Premium you can listen to your music uploads offline. And then in the app, it says no connection, you are not connected to the internet, go to your downloads, but I have to pay for that.
So, I got on the web to figure out why, and my question was ignored by giving me as to why I can't download songs on YouTube, like if that is what I ask.
So, no, you cannot if you do not pay for YouTube Music Premium, but you can get around this if it's from your local storage.


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a sketchy person has my phone for half an hour. what should i look for?
Summary: what sketchy things, could someone do if they get your phone for half an hour. And could you do to find it out and protect yourself.
Luckily, nothing happened for me.

Hi, while I could sympathize with the situation, the question is too broad to be answered; without specific details, we can't suggest anything other than "change your passwords and do a factory reset for safety precaution". Being a Q&A site, Stack Exchange works best if you have a very specific problem with sufficient details. Sorry, but perhaps try other forums like XDA Forums or Reddits which allows more open-ended back-and-forth troubleshooting.

check your data usage for unkown apps. remove all google accounts including your own, create a new one for this device. inform your contacts that wasn't you last night (in case he sent something). uninstall automation apps like tasker, macrodroid (if any)

There are numerous things that one can do in half-an-hour. There are some things that you have little or no control over now, like him sharing your images and data, or him uploading your personal data to a place where he can access it later. There is also a risk of him having your passwords and credentials, because we usually use auto-fill services, or tend to save them in a note-taking app. Other possibilities include him installing a spyware on your phone.
The measures that you can take to re-secure yourself are:

Change all the passwords, particularly your banking passwords.
Take a look at your installed apps, and check if there exists any app that you haven't installed
If you use Google Photos, or a similar photo app which has a 'shared account' feature, you might want to ensure that no unauthorized person is added to it, since the person may have access to your photos
Review the login activity of your accounts (social media, etc.), and ensure that only authorized devices are logged in.
Check the running services of your phone and ensure that no 'shady' service is running. (How to check running services in Android

I would advise you not to give unauthorized people access to your  devices. Our devices store a lot of 'sensitive' information which may be stolen, and misused. Also, if it is inevitable, you might want to limit the privileges (by using a guest account).


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Display details stored in address book while receiving a call
Let's consider a situation where I have lot of people in my contact list named Kumar. Is there a way to display all or some of the details stored in address of a contact while receiving a call? like his company, address, anniversaries, etc,.

I found an app. But looking for better options and preferably free ones. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.nikanorov.callnotespro&hl=en_IN

I'm running Android 10 on Redmi Mi A3

True Phone Dialer & Contacts & Call Recorder is a contacts and dialer app that does pretty much what you are looking for except displaying email ID. It's free for 7 days after which you can disable ads by going pro.
Install the app, from 3 dots menu at bottom right → Incoming /Outgoing Calls → disable incoming call notification to see full screen call details.
On my OnePlus 7, Android 10,using the default contact app I filled in details and it displays event date (birthday), address & notes ( Don't be Covidiot- you can replace this by Email address if you badly need that)

(Click to enlarge)
From 3 dots menu at bottom right → Incoming /Outgoing Calls →  additional info, select to show (needs to be manually edited in the contact information using this app)

(Click to enlarge)
I added job information & Nickname manually (my contacts app doesn't have those fields) and now the screen shows

(Click to enlarge)
Eyecon:caller ID, calls and phone contacts is another alternative that harvests caller information and photos from social media and displays - in case, it helps somebody who likes that approach.


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CA certificate somehow not taken by browsers on android
This is a follow up question related to this answer.
In short: I am importing the self signed Root CA certificate into android system via
Settings -> Security -> Trusted Credentials -> install from SD
path slightly differs on different android versions.
Then point any browser (tested with Firefox, chrome and opera) to the secure (java script based) resource and I receive a socket error. The resource is an index.html with js web-socket logic to securely connect to a mosquitto broker.
If I on the other hand point the browser to "https://myserver:<mysecure port>" I receive a privacy warning, can continue unsafe and this somehow sets a cookie or other storage thing thus I am able to do future requests over the js based secure resource.
It feels, that browsers on android do not make use of the system's user imported CA certificates although they are listed in the trusted certificates "user" tap and in the trusted credentials area.
Tested with android 7.1.2 and 10. All desktop browsers work fine, tested on ubuntu / mint & raspi.
How to accomplish browser based TLS requests on android without accepting unsafe privacy risks?
Additional test:
I've tested the same thing on a ios 13.3 IPhone 7, importing the CA certificate, putting the secure resource on a proper web space since local file access isn't possible on ios. Worked out of the box.
So it seems to be a real android issue. It might make sense to put this question to an android space. Could someone make a suggestion please?
Further research:
Here is a detailed explanation, on how to get a custom certificate into the system's certificate section. But to be honest, that's not a usual way to go. Root access is not for ordinary mortals plus it might not work for more recent android versions.
User certificates are for android applications written by your own. You can have a view lines of property settings in app.config to work with your self signed user certificates.
Chrome browser and others on the other hand are kind of system applications or applications from vendors not being made to be aware of specific user certificates. And that's the only valid reason, why it will not know of certificates in the user section. It only knows of system certificates.
So the only way remaining, seems to be making your own application or somehow recompile a whole browser application configuring it to look for user certificates.
This is quite cumbersome and unsatisfying, since the web would give you all you need on any device, except android of course, which forces a detour.

I recall a similar issue, whereby the system managed certificate store differs from the user managed certificate store. You'd need to root the device to modify the system cert store, otherwise you can't get your root CA in. There's also the possibility that you'd need to explicitly trust the certificate like you need to on iOS. But I haven't done any of this in a while so wouldn't know the details.

@Pedro: yes seems so and I got a valuable resource which manifests the assumption. I'll edit my question

For reference, I have an Android 10 phone with a user trusted CA certificate installed and am able to access internal sites with CA issued certificates without a problem, using all but Firefox (which uses it's own CA list, not the phone's). I'm afraid I can't think of anything that would cause this problem on specifically a phone when desktops work fine though. Browsers tested on my phone were Chrome and Edge. Presumably you installed for "VPN and Apps" and rebooted your device?

@Unencoded: to your questions, yes I did. Tried also for WiFi but this results in nothing listed under trusted certificates "user" tap and in the trusted credentials. So this way has zero relevance. I'll give it another try

Yes I doubted it would be so simple, you have certainly done your research! All I can think of is looking at Android apps that may help you debug why the certificate isn't trusted - perhaps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.feuerbergsoftware.ssl_checker

Have you tried to install your custom root CA certificate inside Firefox as proposed here (ist's from 2016, not sure if this is still working)? https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1140625#answer-921174

This worked for me on Firefox 97.3.0:

Install the self-signed CA certificate into Android (for me, this was under Settings -> Biometrics and security -> Other security settings -> Install from device storage -> CA certificate).  My certificate had to be DER format.
Open up Firefox Settings -> About Firefox
Click on the logo 5 times (until "Debug menu enabled" popup appears)
Go back to Settings - there should be a "Secret Settings" option now.  Choose that.
Enable "Use third party CA certificates"

Thank you! this seems to be the only way to show a self-signed site without the warning in modern Android devices, thank you again

I can confirm it works on Firefox 115.0.1. Thank you!

I tested with Firefox 121.0.1 version on Android 11 (Waydroid) but we have to approve the exception manually so there is still a warning "Connection is not secure" when clicking on the lock logo and it will not work for some websites using HSTS preload like Facebook. Is there a workaround? Chrome has the same issue.

Firefox on Android
You don't have to add your custom root CA certificate to Android to let Firefox trust it. Similar to the Desktop Firefox versions Firefox maintain an own root CA certificate store you can add certificates to.
The only difference to the desktop version is that there is not management UI for adding certificates.
Instead you simply have to download a root CA certificate (DER format not PEM format) using Firefox Mobile then a dialog appears where you can mark the certificate as trusted for identifying web sites and/or mark the certificate as trusted for identifying e-mail users (pretty useless on Firefox on Android but it can be selected).

Hello, is this answer still supposed to be good today? I have installed both Firefox (86.1.1), and Firefox nightly (310302 17:01). When my site delivers to Firefox a CA in the shape of a .pem file (as an a tag: ), the only option I get is to download that file. Once downloaded, I can only open it, which sends me to the system wide certificate management, at no point I am offered to load this in Firefox? I've tried adding a html propertyto the a tag: type="pem-certificate-chain" to no avail

@Will59 yeah this seems to be broken now, and poorly documented in general. Did you find a solution?

@Cylindric no unfortunetaly I have had to give up on that, no solution so far.

The only workaround I found to intercept HTTPS traffic on Android 11 (Waydroid) even if the website uses HSTS preload is to use the default Android web browser but there was an error ERR_UNKNOWN_URL_SCHEME to open apps from the browser URL scheme (necessary to log in on some apps) so I have to save the login link in an HTML file (for example with nano in Termux) that I open with another web browser like Chrome to click on the link. Simply copy-pasting the link in other browser URL bar did not work. To make the login work, the app needs to be in a state where it is waiting for the login link.
Here are other answers I found useful to make it work:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/13644712/launch-application-from-browser-url-scheme/13646068#13646068
Is it possible to create a plain text file in android?


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Ghost letters and app display
I was looking at some picture that had mainly white background and noticed that there is a certain ghost screen that was layered on top of it.
I edited a picture to try to bring out as much as possible.
From what I can actually see on the phone, it looks like the image of a whatsapp conversation as i can see the letters at the bottom of the screen as well as the typing bar with the camera on the side and the go back button in top left.
I tried to take screenshot but it doesn't show on the screenshot. Could it be the screen burning up?
In terms of actual color its between a brown / orange, copper like.

The Note 9 has an Super AMOLED display. Ghost images are typical for a worn out OLED display. https://www.cnet.com/how-to/oled-screen-burn-in-what-you-need-to-know-now/

@Robert is there any way to fix this?

The pixels that are darker are worn-out. This is a irreversible physical process. The only work-around that exists is to also worn-out the now brighter pixels so that all pixels have the same brightness level again. From OLED TVs I know that most of them has a program that tries to bring all pixels to the same level by illuminating pixels to worn-out them when the device is not used. For smartphones I don't know if such mechanisms exist or if the manufacturer assume that because of the short life-time this is negligible.


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What is this system icon (looks like upside down Signal strength)?
Does anyone know what the left-most status icon is here? The one that looks like an upside down signal status.
It only shows up randomly from time to time, and I've tried toggling on/off different settings (such as night light) to try to make it go away, but nothing has been successful.
Rebooting my phone gets rid of it, until the next time it randomly shows up in a few days or weeks.
Moto G Power running Android 10, with all current updates.

Device user manual does not mention this. Are you using a VPN?

Also check in safe mode. If it is not present in safe mode, it is because of some app.

Since this is in the system area of the notification bar, I suspect that it might be a network signal indicator of some sort - perhaps roaming or mobile hotspot?  Can you toggle "mobile data" off and see if the icon still persists?

@beeshyams no VPN.

@CzarMatt I don't use it as a mobile hot spot at all, and never really go into roaming areas. Can definitely try toggling mobile data and see what happens, though... I have to wait till it comes back.  ... One of "those" issues. lol

This issue is specific to Android 10. On a thread this issue was solved after updating to Android 11. Really curious what it is for tho

@Aayush do you happen to have a link to that thread? Would be curious to read it.

@eidylon Locked.. https://support.google.com/pixelphone/thread/60105843?hl=en

@CzarMatt - well, it was't mobile data. However, toggling my wifi off and back on again made it go away.

I'm seeing it when running Blockada ad-blocker VPN. Turning it off removes the icon. If I pull down the notification bar, it changes to the normal key icon until released. Only started seeing it in the last week so maybe Blockada is tapping into this icon with a recent update.

Yeah, it's something relatively new for me too, shortly before I'd asked this question, guess as a result of a recent system update or something. I generally don't run any VPN on my phone, though could be something else using some sort of BTS networking.

It took me a bit of digging to figure out. It's actually a kind of rare icon. It means: 'Network/SIM/carrier-locked without prejudice'.
Say, if you have a CDMA, GSM, LTE/Dual SIM and want to use a compatible service provider SIM, you may, however, until you satisfy contractual criteria, your phone may not be officially network unlocked. This allows you to use the device, but it will look sketchy if you try to sell it. You almost never see this on postpaid phones, as when the phone is paid in full, the unlock is granted upon request, and if payment is not made, the phone is almost certainly blacklisted. You can make a NAND and edit the script to swap the IMEI with that of a broken phone, recompile the script and flash the edited firmware, or there's a simple technique to having it removed from the blacklist. Also, this icon will usually stop appearing the moment you begin using a valid SIM, and almost always makes its first appearance upon the denial of user request for network unlock.
I've noticed that on many devices, when Network unlock fails on prepaid devices, an alternative provider SIM almost always works, and sometimes, setting the phone up doing a formal soft reset and clearing any FRP issues will allow the device to be unlocked with the Network/SIM unlock app. In other words, enabling OEM unlock, (a prerequisite to unlocking the bootloader in many cases) and then doing a hard reset and curiously clicking the unlock app and seeing, "SIM unlock failed" will almost certainly trigger the presence of the NLWOP. Oh, in case anybody ever wondered what NLWOP stands for it's: Network Locked W/o Prejudice.
All in all, it's an icon that basically means no matter what SIM you use, it will still have Verizon apps that can't be uninstalled without root, and a Verizon splash screen. As long as that icon is up there, it's a dead indicator that not all the Ts were crossed and Is dotted. Except nobody knows what the hell it means, nor cares.
It's never given me any trouble other than what I've mentioned. But I've worked around that all too. By gaining root access, and learning about ADB, ADP, and with programs like Android Kitchen, which makes coding Android easy, you can make your Boost mobile phone appear to be a white box, remove all the bloatware, in some cases, flash a ROM which uses the same network from a similar device, a custom ROM, or like a ported out, streamlined Motorola ROM for your old LG, for example. The icon is only annoying and will correct itself. If you want it gone for good, the right way, just perform a web search for (your device) Network unlock eligibility criteria. Cheers.
Oh, and I had an afterthought: the icon doesn't just appear, it actually transposes your WiFi signal icon. The reason it is done this way is because there used to be great difficulty in blacklisted phones being set to WiFi only, so the WiFi signal is transposed with the 'anti-service' icon. You don't have to reset your device or anything, simply tap the Wi-Fi tile to disable WiFi, then again to enable WiFi and that will fix it every time. The evidence that this icon is the NLWOP icon, is that, more responsibly, when you drop down your notifications window, the 'anti-service' logo is now a padlock, the official Network unlock application icon.

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts Stack Exchange, a Q&A site for Android end-users and power-users! This looks like a great explanation about this matter. I did some cosmetic editing by adding some paragraphs because it was kind of difficult to read without spacing, but feel free to [edit] further to improve it, especially if the sentences grouping is not as intended. Thanks!

Also, by "ADP", did you mean "Android Dev Phone"?


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Cannot create, move or delete files or folders on android phone's SD card even after write only attribute is removed
When my old 16 Gb microSD card I used in my LGE V10 (h900) running Android 6 failed, I bought a new card; opting for a Sansdisk 64Gb microSD card. But since I inserted the card, I have not been able to write, edit or delete anything on card using my phone. I can do so readily by plugging my phone into my Win10 computer through USB, but when I try to access the card with any apps whatsoever except the built-in file manager app, and try to do any sort of write-related functions on it, they always fail.
Most commonly, I've tried to create folders on the SD card, but every time, I get the message "Folder failed to be created".
I first noticed the problem when I tried to set the SD card as the backup save location for SUPER BACKUP. Trying to select the root of the SD card, or any other folder that was added by formatting the card similarly fails, and even adding an extra folder using the built-in file manager didn't allow me to set that as the save folder for SUPER BACKUP.
So, I tried accessing it using ES FILE EXPLORER. It could read the card, but I could not move any files or folders onto it using ES, nor could I create any files or folders on it, or delete existing files or folders on it.
As per advice online, I downloaded the FX File Explorer App, and it recognized that my SD card was write only, and I used FX own auto-function to grant Write access to it, and the process seemed to run properly, and it recognizes my SD card as -RW, but whenever I try to move, create or delete anything on the SD card, I get the "folder was not created" error (or whatever I was trying to do).
I tried using FX to remove the write permission, then restarted the phone, and had it give write access to the SD card anew, and again, the process seemed to work without problems, but I still could not write to the SD Card using FX or ES.
I tried Unmounting the card, turning off the phone, extracting the card, cleaning the terminals with an erased and cleaned out the slot on my phone with canned air. Still couldn't write to the SD card.
I tried using the Storage Settings function to reformat the card. Still nothing. Again, I tried unmounting it, and reinserting it, but I still couldn't write to it.
Now, for some screwy reason, WIN10 won't assign the V10 a drive letter when I plug it in to the computer, so I couldn't use any fix that required targeting a drive or volume, so I ordered USB 3.0 SD Card reader, and plugged the card directly into the computer. There, I tried several so-called "fixes" I found online

I used an elevated Command Prompt to use DISKPART to remove the WriteOnly attribute from the card (which is seemed to do), but upon plugging it into my phone, it still wouldn't let me create folders or files, move files or folders onto it or delete files or folders from it, giving me the same "failed" error.

I used Diskpart to again try removing the WriteOnly attribute from it, targeting it both by first Disk number, and then by Volume number, then cleared the card, created a new partition and formatted it from DISKPART. That, as some might suspect, ran me into the problem with cards over 32Gb not being able to be formatted with FAT32 by DISKPART. I downloaded the GUI version of the Fat32Format utility, and after removing write only and clearing it card, I used it to format the card and return it to my phone. Still couldn't write to it.

I used DISKPART again to try formatting it as NTFS, but my phone read that as corrupt, so I formatted it on the phone, making it exFAT, but still no access, even after using FX Write Access granting function on it again.

I tried using the Write Protect removal function of EASEUS TOOLS M BETA. At first, it read it as not having any write protection, but I ran the tool, and it apparently put write protection onto it. I then used the tool again to remove the write protection. Still no write access from my phone.

The card is brand new; it's from a reputable mainstream card company (Sansdisk), bought from Amazon.ca (not one of their subcontractor companies).

I've tried writing to the SD card with other file managers, including "FileExplorer", ASTRO and even Sandisk Memory Zone, but I simply cannot write to it.

Every other solution I've come across requires root, and it is impossible to root a LGE V10 from AT&T. They've locked the boot loader for some stupid reason, and the only TOT file I've found to use LGUP to root it with only has Android 5 on it, and the damned phone won't let me upload a TOT file that downgrades Android from 6 to 5.
I don't live in the US, so I can't access AT&T servers to try to get an upgrade to my version of Android. Needless to say, I'm never going to buy a phone that AT&T provides ever again, but unfortunately, buying a new equivalent phone is not something I can afford, and the phone is still working great otherwise.
The only other thing that I can think of that might possibly have a remote chance of causing it was the fact that I recently changed mobile providers, requiring me to change my SIM card from a KOODO one to a PUBLIC MOBILE one, but I'm not sure how that could have messed up accessing the SD card; they're separate sockets, despite the fact that they're situated next to each other in the battery compartment.
Can anyone help with this? It's frustrating beyond all belief.

Phones are off-topic, but this is a pretty standard set of symptoms for a dead card. Firmware lock has been triggered, usually by a write error. The card is toast. The safety lock lets you read, but you can never make it write again. Recover data & bin it. See http://superuser.com/questions/1125282/what-can-i-do-if-my-usb-flash-drive-is-write-protected-or-read-only for more detail.

I had a similar problem. You have to make your phone format the card for you to use it. The card can then also be read by your pc. Format the card by windows, it can be that your phone can't make heads or tails of it. This is a security feature on android with a mismatched id or something... So I would go into the partition software on windows, remove all partitions, get to your phone, and tell it to initialize the card.

If your card is formatted with the wrong file system your phone will either have read-only access or no access. Try formatting the card in the phone.

First of all you should use the Windows PC you have and perform a test of the sd-card if it is not forged (claims to have a larger size than it actually has flash chips). A very good test program for Windows is h2testw. The download page is German, but the tool itself also has English language.

It's not forged; SD Insight App confirmed it.
I tried formatting it on the phone, as I mentioned above. Didn't work
The card isn't dead; it's brand new.
As I mentioned above; I wiped the partitions and created new ones, cleared the card and tried formatting it in FAT32, using a utility that creates small enough allocation segments to get past the "can't format a card larger that 32Gb with FAT32. I've also tried formatting it as exFAT and NFTS; No good.

How to save files to external SD card on a non-rooted Android?

it's a unkown problem nobody has solved yet https://android.stackexchange.com/q/221269


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How to fix water bugged screen?
I have Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1. The screen got splashed with the water and the touch is not responding.

How to fix it?

Shit down the device, dry it in rice for a few weeks and if that doe snot help go to a repair shop.

@robert, i already did that, and i have new phone and im gonna buy a new screen from Ebay for 20$. Just needed to know before buying stuff. Thanks.

If that darkness on the right is the actual screen and not a shadow then it was likely beyond saving. "Press F to show respects". This iFixIt answer goes into pretty good detail about what happens to wet phones and why rice is so often ineffective, along with giving a very oversimplified attempt-to-fix guide.


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Will a Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 (international version) work reliably in the United States (comparable to a domestic phone)?
I'm buying a new phone, upgrading from an LG Q7+, and so far the best phone I've seen is the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9. The only con to this is that the Note 9 is only available in International version, and I live in the USA. I've heard that Metro by T-Mobile (my service provider) is good for international phones, but I don't know if it will be comparable to buying a domestic phone. That is, I don't want to get a really good phone but sacrifice all of my connection speed. If it's a little slower, I'm fine with it, but if it will be a major difference, I'll shop domestic.
One thing I've noticed is that, according to this site https://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=9206&idPhone2=10192 , the Note 9 actually has more 4G connectivity than my current Q7+ (11 bands compared to 9). Does this mean that it will be more reliable than my current phone, or does this mean nothing since it's international? (Note that I'm not very tech savvy. I know next to nothing about these complicated specs, so I don't actually understand the numbers)
The bottom line is, I want to buy a new phone, but I want to be sure that the new model I'm considering will have comparable connectivity speed to a domestic phone. I know that T-Mobile will support international phones, but I want to be sure that the support is good compared to their domestic support. If anyone reading this owns a Xiaomi in the US, I'd love to hear from you, but anyone who knows about this sort of topic would be extremely useful to hear from. Thank you to anyone who has read this far. I appreciate the help!
EDIT: I've found this site https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/xiaomi-redmi-note-9 which suggests that it will work on US networks, but I have no idea what the numbers and technical terms mean. I'd like to know what exactly this says about the network reliability in the US. Thanks for putting up with my lack of tech knowledge!

A large number of supported frequency bands by the phone is good. But more important is what frequency bands are used by your mobile network provider (hence it has to support the "right" bands from your perspective). Every netwoprk provider uses different bands.

Community bump prevention: this question was closed because the question seems to have been abandoned (OP hasn't visited the site after asking the question, and no answers have score above 0). If anyone can evaluate the existing answers, feel free to vote accordingly and reopen the question (or mod-flag the question requesting for reopening). For anyone else having the same issue, please post a new question and refer to this question as additional context.

I was going to try and leave a comment instead but my reputation is not high enough.
A useful site that breaks down frequency bands is
https://www.frequencycheck.com/compatibility/Jxq7inG/xiaomi-redmi-note-9-global-dual-sim-td-lte-64gb-xiaomi-merlin/united-states
This will show you the bands of each network in the US and will state whether the phone supports it or not.
I can see that it is stating that only 2 of 5 LTE bands are supported on T Mobile for this phone. So it is likely you may experience some issues with 4g mobile signal depending on the bands available at the location you are at.


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How to find previously installed apps after micro sdcard gone bad?
My micro sd card that was used to extend internal storage died. Now the apps I moved there are also gone. I don't remember precisely what I had on the card but would like to reinstall all of them.
After doing factory reset on my phones, the system automatically installs my previously installed apps after logging in to my google account. Is there a way to access this list?

Yes - your installation history is preserved in the Google Play Account associated with your device.  To see your apps, both current and previously installed, you can navigate to the Play Store App -> My Apps and Games (in the drawer) -> Library on your device.
Alternatively, you can visit https://play.google.com/apps?hl=en_US
Please note that if you side loaded apps or installed from a third-party store, the above information does not apply.


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Need advice on deleting ".tmp" file in DCIM/Camera
The DiskUsage app shows that I have a 1/2 GiB file under DCIM/Camera, called something like 20160701_173401.tmp
DiskUsage will run HexEdit and show me the file...so I can see it's an mp4 video file, but since the filename suffix is ".tmp", it won't play it for me.
I'd like to get rid of the file ...
Unfortunately, DiskUsage also won't remove the file :(
The Camera app, and other apps aware of videos/images, can not "see" the file (or, said more precisely, it probably ignores it due to the ".tmp" suffix).  (I've also tried several "file explorer" type apps...no luck.)
The phone (Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge) is not rooted.
Is there a way to delete this file, short of resetting the entire phone?
I haven't tried yet, but am willing to write a special-purpose Solar2d (Corona SDK) app to "open" and "remove", but I'm not sure that's going to work.
...nope.  Did that, fails for "no permission".
BTW, full name of file is:
/storage/224B-18F6/DCIM/Camera/20160701_173401.tmp
thanks,
Stan

This solution is worth a shot

That points to the external SD card. You could simply shut down your phone, remove the card, put it into a card reader, attach it to your PC – and remove the file there. After that, put the card back into your Android device and power it up.


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Flashing stock Android 10 ROM in Samsung Galaxy M21
I want to flash a stock Android 10 ROM to my Samsung Galaxy M21 smartphone. I have some questions regarding the flashing process which I would like to know the answer to before I proceed:

Will the stock ROM be able to detect the hardware features properly?
Will it support the multi-camera setup of the phone?
Will it support the Camera2 API?
Will it support RAW photography?
Will it have root access?
Will it run well on the Exynos 9611 chipset?

Also, please tell me any other things which I need to consider.

Perhaps I'm missing something, but stock Android ROM means the original ROM that is installed by the manufacturer. So in this case, it's the one by Samsung, and should support original features on the phone. Unless you actually meant AOSP-based custom ROM?

Oh, is it that? Actually I mean to use the original Android ROM without any modification from any vendor. So, is there any custom ROM which can fit my above-mentioned needs?

The AOSP is considered [tag:vanilla-android] instead, i.e. pure Android without vendor customization. That said, there are probably many custom ROMs for Samsung Galaxy M21 and I don't know anything about them. Also, depending on the developers/maintainers, each ROM may also have different features (and bugs, usually labelled with "unofficial ROM"), so I'm afraid that as of current writing, this question is actually too broad to be answered and off-topic for finding custom ROM. You can try https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/17152 which usually refers XDA Forums for resources.


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Set fixed BSSID in LineageOS16 / Android
I'm searching for a way to set the BSSID my OnePlus One (running LineageOS 16) is connecting to. I started adb shell as root and tried to change the BSSID in /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml, but when restarting the WiFi connection, the *.xml file gets set to default.
Can someone tell me which file needs to be edited that the MAC Address of the BSSID may get written to the *.xml file, or in which format the change needs to be made so that it won't get set to default?
EDIT:
I found a configuration documentation which tells about editing a Public String, but I don't know what needs to be edited and how.
Thanks in advance.

I have noticed that to manually edit the XML file in newer versions of Android, you have to first turn Wi-Fi off, edit /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml, delete /data/misc/wifi/WifiConfigStore.xml.encrypted-checksum and then reboot and turn Wi-Fi on again. Then it should not revert back to default. However, I have not been able to confirm this works on all devices, so make sure you backup the /data/misc/wifi folder along with all permissions to restore everything in case something goes wrong.

Thanks for your answer. I would give it a try before I know what creates the *.xml file. But I'm not sure about the format I have to use. My WifiConfigStore.xml looks like this:  <string name="ConfigKey">"MYSSID"WPA_PSK</string> <string name="SSID">"MYSSID"</string> <null name="BSSID" /> <string name="PreSharedKey">"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"</string>  and I'm not sure about the null name, while the other entries which are used are using string name. Do I have to edit the null name?

You have to replace <null name="BSSID" /> with <string name="BSSID">a1:b2:c3:d4:e5:f6</string> (Don't forget to add the closing </string> tag otherwise you'll break the XML)

That sadly doesn't do the trick. The phone won't connect to the access point when using the changed *.xml file...


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Is there a super partition on Pixel 3/3XL with Android 10 (or greater) loaded?
Question: Does a production Pixel 3/3XL have a super partition when loaded with Android 10 or greater?
Background:
I changed out the UFS piece on a Pixel 3XL and loaded the newest Android 10 and 11 beta factory images for Pixel 3XL (crosshatch). In both Android 10 and 11 beta, when I use "fastboot getvar all" in bootloader or fastbootd mode, there is no super partition listed. However, according to the BoardConfig-common.mk file, it looks like the device should have a super partition:
ifeq ($(PRODUCT_USE_DYNAMIC_PARTITIONS), true)
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_GROUPS := google_dynamic_partitions
BOARD_GOOGLE_DYNAMIC_PARTITIONS_PARTITION_LIST := \
    system \
    vendor \
    product

ifeq ($(PRODUCT_RETROFIT_DYNAMIC_PARTITIONS), true)
# Normal Pixel 3 must retrofit dynamic partitions.
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_SIZE := 4072669184
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_METADATA_DEVICE := system
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_BLOCK_DEVICES := system vendor product
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_SYSTEM_DEVICE_SIZE := 2952790016
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_VENDOR_DEVICE_SIZE := 805306368
BOARD_SUPER_PARTITION_PRODUCT_DEVICE_SIZE := 314572800
# Assume 4MB metadata size.
# TODO(b/117997386): Use correct metadata size.
BOARD_GOOGLE_DYNAMIC_PARTITIONS_SIZE := 4069523456
else
# Mainline Pixel 3 has an actual super partition.

I've followed all instructions on the Implementing Dynamic Partitions page. Any help is greatly appreciated.

there is no super partition on a pixel 3/3xl, the device is retrofit to be able to work, but still no super partition: https://source.android.com/devices/tech/ota/dynamic_partitions/ab_legacy#background


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View the keyboard's list of learned words? (user dictionary)
Is there a way to view a list of all the words the keyboard has learned from my input? My dictionary saves things like passwords and they pop up as auto-suggestions (!!!!!) which is a monstrously horrible security risk. But I can't possibly remember every piece of private information I have ever typed into the keyboard so I need to see the list of learned words and delete everything that shouldn't be there.
This on a Samsung J5.

If your keyboard app uses Android's built-in dictionary, then see under Languages & Input ➔ Personal Dictionary in Settings. Or with root access: sqlite3 /data/data/com.android.providers.userdictionary/databases/user_dict.db 'SELECT * FROM words'. If the keyboard app builds its own dictionary, you need to look in its private directory, or may be in app settings.

Fix question - learned words are not user dictionary


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Samsug A50 Pattern Unlock not working Android 10
my sister was using her phone normally and till yesterday, the pattern unlock stopped working. The problem is not that she forgot her pattern but rather the phone is not allowing the correct pattern to access the phone.
What I have tried:

Find my phone; was not enabled

USB Debugging is off, but I can access adb sideload and can flash files and zip both using sd card and adb

Tried to flash pattern-remover.zip but an error occurred saying that
E:footer is wrong
E:Signature verification failed
E:error: 21
I don't want to factory reset it because pretty much all of her data are not backed up. If there is any options to backup and restore the data would be great, or to bypass the pattern lock. Any methods is much appreciated thanks

Did you not enabled face or fingerprint unlock?

both enabled but the device was restarted before the incident


text:
Can I use these chargers interchangably?
I happen to own two android devices, a Huawei P30 Pro and a Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e. Both devices came with a charger, the specifications can be seen here

I'd like to charge both devices with one charger, is this safe to do and which one should I use? Does it make a difference?

Does this answer your question? Is my phone liable to explode if I charge it with a charger that came with a different phone?

Both tablets support fast charging, which means they are capable of charging faster than the earlier standard USB charging of 5V,2A.

"Samsung uses "adaptive fast charging", while Huawei uses "super charging". They are proprietary technologies of respective OEMs, with specifics not made public (how fast can your device charge has become a selling point) . OEMs always advise that one uses the charger supplied with the device only, because fast charging is a complex interplay between the charger, device, battery level and cable. Using them interchangeably is  not recommended. It's not likely to cause an explosion or something like that if you use the same charger but it would not charge with the same speed as designed. If this is fine with you, I would suggest using Samsung charger for both devices since it has a lower maximum power rating (approximately 15 Watts = 9V x 1.67A) compared to Huawei rating of 40W (10V x 4A).

However, if fast charging is not a priority , it is  perfectly safe if you charge at 5V,2A. To do this, you would need to buy or use an old 5V 2A charger from pre-fast charging era and use that for both devices. It will charge much, much slower. Alternatively, see if Huawei P30 has a setting to disable fast charging (Samsung devices have this option from Android 6.0 onwards). I couldn't find it on internet but it may well be available. You can disable fast charging on both devices and use any of these two chargers to charge both devices safely.


text:
After screen overscan resize, some apps double the resize
The top section of my Samsung screen is completely non-responsive.
So I followed the excellent guide here to change the overscan.
I did adb shell wm overscan 0,245,0,0, followed by  adb shell wm density 230 to normalize the display and not have words cut off.
It seemingly worked great, I can now access my notifications with swipe down, can interact with the controls that are almost always at the top of apps...
However, I'm wondering if there's some additional setting I need to change, because some of my apps are now adding a bunch of additional dead space and there's a lot of weirdness going on.
So for example, play store and instagram both add a bunch of additional "dead" space in the area that is actually alive, and they aren't even consistent between the two of them about how much they add.

There's a lot of weird behavior going on around this. Nova launcher thinks 200 px of the active area don't exist, and therefore will not let me place widgets there, even though I can clearly move the widget with my finger and have it show up in the area. Maps displays the map up to an area that is one overscan displaced from the actual overscan, but then places the top bar an additional overscan down, which is just weird.
Not every app has this. Here's chrome, working normally, with just the overscan I set:

Edit: I see there's a similar question
How to stop apps from doubling overscan?. However, it has no answers, and the suggestion in the comments to clear cache partition and app cache does not help.


text:
Samsung Galaxy stops synchronizing Exchange ActiveSync account after every OS update
On Samsung Galaxy S10 Exchange ActiveSync (outlook365) account stops synchronizing after each Samsung OS update.
Our corporate IT policy requires a PIN to access the device when using the Android client.
I needed always to delete and recreate the ActiveSync account to make it sync again.
Today I have tried to just open the settings of Exchange server under setting/accounts in E-mail application and confirm it and it somehow started to sync again.
Any clue how to easily fix those problems and what is the cause?

Couldn't you just ask your Corporate IT section what controls the signature that ActiveSync needs for authentication? It probably includes multiple fluid parts, some more than others, that can change over time: your specific Outlook Account (not generally mutable), the device ID (not mutable), a signature from the OS version (mutable, but specific).

It is difficult with the IT section. But it is outlook.office365.com exchange account, so it should behave in some standard manner? The device is quarantined first, then they mark the quarantined device as an authorized device, that's what they do I believe.There is Device ID which should be unique.


text:
Get the size of the navigation bar using ADB
I want to know what is the size of the navigation bar in pixel using ADB.
Using adb shell wm size gives the complete screen size instead of only the navigation bar.
Is there any way to get it?

Enter this one-liner:
adb shell dumpsys window windows| sed -n '/Window .*NavigationBar.*:/,/Window .*:/p'| grep 'Requested'

Alternatively, if you don't have Linux/Mac, try this:

adb shell
dumpsys window windows | toybox sed -n '/Window .*NavigationBar.*:/,/Window .*:/p'| grep 'Requested'

What's happening in that one liner is this:

we use dumpsys to output all the details of all the windows displayed on the screen (irrespective of the screen on or off)

we filter the content using sed to show only those lines which have information about Navigation Bar

we grep the information we need.
You can alternatively try grepping for grep mSystemDecorRect. I don't know which one is more reliable in all circumstances.

Expected output example:

Requested w=1080 h=126 mLayoutSeq=10835

# if 'mSystemDecorRect' was grepped, then:

mSystemDecorRect=[0,0][1080,126] mLastClipRect=[0,0][1080,126]

w: width, h: height, of your navigation bar respectively.
Note: for some reason if the one-liner fails to work or gives unexpected output, filter it like this. Get the dump using that first dumpsys command, then find the entry for your NavigationBar, and within that, look for the size.
Tested on OnePlus 6 running Android 10.
Credits: Fiximan of Unix & Linux for sed command.

Thanks. Also possible to get using:
adb shell dumpsys SurfaceFlinger | grep -i “Navigation”

On OnePlus 3 running Android 9, replace NavigationBar with StatusBar instead.
adb shell dumpsys window windows| sed -n '/Window .*StatusBar.*:/,/Window .*:/p'| grep 'Requested'

It will return this
Requested w=1080 h=63 mLayoutSeq=3640

This will return the size of the status/notification bar at the top instead, not the navigation bar at the bottom.


text:
How to check if Android app is taking pictures in the background?
I have Android app that I found to be loading Camera in the background.
It's one of the most widely used internet browsers - Chrome.
I been trying debug what is actually happening with LogCat in the Android Device Monitor.
Couple of lines that catch my eye:
I/CameraManagerGlobal(24529): getCameraService: Reconnecting to camera service
I/CameraService(331): getCameraCharacteristics: Switching to HAL1 shim implementation...
I/NuPlayer(331): setDataSourceAsync(URL suppressed)
I/CameraClient(331): Opening camera 1
E/QCamera2HWI(331): [KPI Perf] int qcamera::QCamera2HardwareInterface::openCamera(hw_device_t**): E PROFILE_OPEN_CAMERA camera id 1
I/QCameraHalWatchdog(331): Starting Watchdog Thread...
E/mm-camera-intf(331): mm_camera_open: dev name = /dev/video2, cam_idx = 2
D/QCameraParameters(331): int32_t qcamera::QCameraParameters::initDefaultParameters(): supported pic sizes: 1280x960,1280x720,640x480,352x288
D/QCameraParameters(331): int32_t qcamera::QCameraParameters::setNumOfSnapshot(): nBurstNum = 1, nExpnum = 1
I/QCameraHalWatchdog(331): Stopped Watchdog Thread...
I/CameraClient(331): Destroying camera 1
E/QCameraPostProc(331): int32_t qcamera::QCameraPostProcessor::deinit(): Jpeg closed, rc = 0, mJpegClientHandle = 7900

How would I know if picture is actually taken?
Is this possibly normal behavior to check camera availability?

Yes it's Chrome. And I have in "Site Settings" camera set to Blocked so there should not be any reason for it to load camera in background.

Just to be sure, you can check which app/process writes the log with my answer. On my phone, CameraManagerGlobal is by Instagram. Not sure for PID 331 since I didn't get such logs even though I have Chrome installed...

The first process 24529 is com.android.chrome, and 331 is /system/bin/mediaserver that seems to handle the camera task.

Checking if one or more camera devices are available is not that unusual as it seems, it is often used to check whether camera-options should be shown or not. It seems unlikely as well that an attacker/spy would generate a log output that could reveal their intention. However, opening the camera as shown in your log seems suspicious and you should investigate it further. My suggestions:

If you got some strings or classnames you can search further in the open source of "chrome for android" (see this post for where to find the code) and check where the strings are used in the code. Maybe you can identify the calls and imports to the Camera API and check how they are used. Depending on the Android version the imports may vary, but here are some examples for the Camera2 API to look out for:

"android.hardware.camera2.CameraManager"
"android.hardware.camera2.CaptureRequest"
"android.hardware.camera2.CameraCaptureSession"

If you want to dig deeper I would recommend you to hook certain API calls with tools like Frida or RMS. This tools allow you to hook java calls when they are executed and you can log some more output if necessary. So you could actually hook the java camera API and see if a picture was taken. In case you have built the code yourself you can as well attach the debugger and set breakpoints to stop the code at certain states.

It sounds weird, but one of the fastest ways is maybe to ask the developers of chrome for android (embedded chromium) directly why there are using the camera and where in the code. Maybe you can open a new discussion on the official project webpage to ask devs to have a look at it.


text:
Does gboard have a key to switch keyboard apps?
I am looking for a way to quickly switch between keyboard apps while using gboard. My phone is a redmi 5.
For e.g if I am writing a message I prefer gboard. But when I have to write code I want to quickly switch to hackers keyboard app.
Incidentally on the latter I have the option to jump back to gboard...
I want to be sure that there is no option on gboard to do the same.

Try long-pressing the spacebar?

@Andrew T. Not OP, but that's failing for me on 8.1.0 with Gboard + Hacker's Keyboard installed. There is a notification (from Android System) that pops up while focused in a text input when there's more than one keyboard enabled that allows switching between them easily though.

@AndrewT. That helped. Not complaining. But I think this should be a separate question on its own. The question linked to by the close-vote only deals with switching languages - not the keyboard app as such. But I would want to close this for accepting answers...

Hmm, fair enough, though as a long-time Gboard user, the globe icon and long-pressing spacebar will also show other keyboard apps, in addition to switching languages.

You can press and hold the spacebar while using Gboard to switch languages and keyboards.

Funny.  This was not what I tried... I thought you were referring to the globe like icon left of spacebar...

Oops. I think you can also press and hold your keyboard? I'll have to try Hacker's keyboard once and see how can I switch keyboards.

Yes, you can press and hold the spacebar in your Gboard to switch keyboards, lemme edit my answer

if someone wonder, you can switch from hacker keyboard by long pressing the round key (the one used to open the settings)

I was wondering the same thing, because I don't like going into my settings all the time, so I searched and downloaded Keyboard Switcher app from F-droid.


text:
Is it possible to disable USB tethering from command line?
I try to be able to stop USB tethering.
I tried:
adb shell am stop com.android.settings/.TetherSettings # Unknown command: stop
adb shell am kill com.android.settings/.TetherSettings # nothing
adb shell service call connectivity 33 i32 0 s16 text  # works

Latest works, but I don't know if it's very reliable like am commands
Related, but the opposite, Is it possible to activate the "USB Tethering" Android setting from the command line?

You can run this command:
adb shell svc usb setFunctions

This should reset the USB mode/configuration to charging only.


text:
LineageOS 16.0, can't get tethering to work, Samsung Galaxy J5 SM-J500FN
I use 'Free' French ISP. Tethering was working previously, I made no update.
I have another device with LOS 16 that works well with tethering.
After running dhclient usb0 from my Linux OS, I get my private IP address, adb logcat shows:
07-16 01:46:41.940  4507  4507 I dnsmasq : DHCPREQUEST(rndis0) 192.168.42.124 00:11:22:33:aa:bb·
07-16 01:46:41.941  4507  4507 I dnsmasq : DHCPNAK(rndis0) 192.168.42.124 00:11:22:33:aa:bb address in use
07-16 01:46:44.221  4507  4507 I dnsmasq : DHCPDISCOVER(rndis0) 00:11:22:33:aa:bb·
07-16 01:46:44.222  4507  4507 I dnsmasq : DHCPOFFER(rndis0) 192.168.42.119 00:11:22:33:aa:bb·
07-16 01:46:44.222  4507  4507 W dnsmasq : Ignoring domain domain.tld for DHCP host name (null)
07-16 01:46:44.224  4507  4507 I dnsmasq : DHCPREQUEST(rndis0) 192.168.42.119 00:11:22:33:aa:bb·
07-16 01:46:44.224  4507  4507 I dnsmasq : DHCPACK(rndis0) 192.168.42.119 00:11:22:33:aa:bb linuxbox

from my Linux box, I can ping the Android device as well, but I can't get network access through Android
the Android interface rndis0 is up with ip in the same network as my Linux box.
I have default route established to the android device as well.
from the Android shell (via adb), I can ping whatever domain or IP.
in sysctl, I have net.ipv4.conf.all.forwarding = 1

This is some errors from dmesg:
[ 910.429371] 2 init: 1] init: Received control message 'interface_start' for 'vendor.lineage.trust@1.0::IUsbRestrict/default' from pid: 230 (/system/bin/hwservicemanager)
[ 910.429463] 2 init: 1] init: Could not find service hosting interface vendor.lineage.trust@1.0::IUsbRestrict/default

Any clue ?

Found the issue.
Blokada app is blocking tethering. Filled a bug report


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I keep getting redirected to TWRP after trying to boot to my newly installed LineageOS-16
I've been trying to install LineageOS 17.1 on my Xiaomi redmi note 8 for almost a month now, and there is always one obstacle or another. First problem is that while the tutorial websites clearly state their version is made for the redmi note 8, The download page itself always states that the rom is made for the redmi note 8 PRO. In the zip name also  mentions unofficial, while other lineageOS downloads don't mention it. When I'm on the official website, I can't find my phone in the download page (Xiaomi Redmi note 8). When I succesfully installed the (unofficial) ROM, I tried to reboot my phone. Instead of entering LineageOS, it reboots into TWRP, even when I reboot it by pressing system under reboot in the twrp menu. Now, I tried to install LineageOS 16, but the exact same happens. I always wipe the dalvic cache and cache in between actions. I do have a nandroid backup from MIUI11 in case it just won't work out...
Thanks for being awesome!
I am using:
TWRP 3.4.0-0
I've installed: Magisk 20.4
I've tried installing:
LineageOS 16 by DarkJoker ; LineageOS 16 ; LineageOS 17.1 UNOFFICIAL ; LineageOS 17.1 V2
Last time, I tried to flash vbmeta.img first, before flashing the ROM
In all cases, I can't reboot into the system anymore unless I use my restore point.

Model names can change at any time. The more important info is the code name ginkgo. That has to match with your device.

Hey, I forgot to mention that, the version I've used is made for ginko, and my phone is ginko, the only thing is, that if I understand correctly, the version that's made for my phone, is unified, not made by the original LineageOS makers, but a well-known senior XDA developer with a lot of experience. But it works for a lot of other people out there on the internet. I've found blogs, websites and youtube videos for my phone, all giving me the same download link. I've chosen for LineageOS 16 because 17.1 isn't stable enough for a daily driver.

consider magisk has bugs. restore MIUI back to working state + follow LineageOS instructions, there it is stated that formatting userdata is recommended (you will lose data + sdcard make sure your TWRP backups are copied to PC)


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Lenovo TB3 10 inch tablet
I have 16 Gb of internal memory available with 4.52 Gb used and when I try to add a simple app told to delete files to be able to do so.  I moved every app that I could to my SD card and it freed up some space. I tried All-in-one Toolbox, Disk Usage and Total Commander and none can find the 10 Gb missing in internal storage.  Thought it was some sort of delete issue as the table does not have a delete app icon or a delete file that I could find looking at both open and hidden files.   Any ideas of what to try next?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! As a new user you might not yet have noticed that our tags also have wikis attached. Have you seen our internal-storage tag wiki yet? If not, its content and linked questions should hopefully prove helpful. If that doesn't get your question solved, a screenshot from your storage screen (inside Android settings) might give us clues. Fingers crossed!


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Samsung Galaxy S6 - Want to talk on phone and listen to music at the same time - is this possible?
I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone.
I want to talk on the phone and listen to music at the same time - is this possible? Is there a native app on the phone or another app that allows this?  I find it cuts the audio and video when I go away from the app producing audio and video typically, or when a phone call comes in.
What can I do?

Does this answer your question? Direct Music Player audio to Caller


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What is this strange symbol when I try to play YouTube videos on Kindle's Silk Browser?
I have always used the included Silk Browser on a Kindle Fire 5th Generation to play YouTube videos. Inexplicably sometime in the last week, it stopped working. The video playback window plays the ad just fine, then briefly shows the spinning wheel loading thing, then displays the strange symbol seen here:

Screenshot of Kindle Fire. On screen is a YouTube page with a strange icon in the playback window. The Kindle screen orientation is portrait mode. The YouTube video is not on full screen. The YouTube page is opened in the Silk Browser app. This particular video is an episode of Jay Leno's Garage. Two suggested videos are also visible, both of them also Jay Leno.
The device does not seem to have taken an update recently, and does not seem to require an update. These screenshots show some device configuration information.

Screenshot of Kindle Fire "Device Options" screen. The Device Model is Fire 5th Generation. Battery is 93%. The following notification icons are seen at the top of the screen: screenshot captured, PC connected via USB, wifi connected with full signal strength, time is 8:46. The Device Name is redacted. The Find Your Tablet switch is ON. The serial number is G000 H404 5496....and the last four characters of the serial number are redacted. Developer options are enabled.
You can see I have Developer options enabled, but the only thing I did here was set the screen to stay awake during charging, animators are set to 0.5x, and strict mode is enabled. I have had these same settings for years, no recent changes.

Screenshot of Kindle Fire "System Updates" screen. You can see that the device is running Fire OS 5.3.6.4 (626533320). The build date is November 12, 2018. There are no updates available. The top notification bar shows the same notifications as the previous picture, except that the clock displays 8:48.
Internet searches for this problem only lead to companies trying to push me to install their app which is outside the Kindle store, and some "bootleg" YouTube apps within the Kindle store. I'm not inclined to do either one of these unless it is necessary. This is my kids' device, and the adult account I am using does not have any apps other than what it came with, not even from the Kindle store.
I did a reverse image search on Google and did not find this icon/symbol anywhere.
The ads play fine. After the ad ends and it tries to load the video proper is when this happens.
Does this strange symbol tell me what is wrong with playing videos and how I may be able to fix it?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts! Have you tried another browser to check if the same issue  also affects it?

@Reddy this is a good idea but there doesn't seem to be any other browser options for Kindle. In the Kindle store, I searched for Firefox, Chrome, and Opera, and none of them are present.

I had the same problem a couple of days ago. I performed a factory reset and restored my files from the backup and that seems to have cleared the problem, mostly.
I used one of the YouTube apps on the Kindle Appstore for watching videos. I initially encountered the problem while watching a video and switching to another. The emergence of the problem seemed to be unrelated to anything I was doing since I didn't change any settings between videos. I switched to the Silk Browser and encountered the same problem.
Clearing the cache in both the app and the browser did nothing to solve the issue. After the factory reset, YouTube started working properly in the Silk Browser but seems to be encountering the problem again in the app.
In my searching for a solution, I did come across a post that mentioned the symbol and explained that it was a problem caused by a change that YouTube made on their end. The solution offered was to "wait it out." Unfortunately, I don't have the link to the page since my search history was deleted when I performed the factory reset and I can't remember what search terms I used to find the page.

thank you for sharing your experience. I tried what you did, and it worked for me also! But I am not completely satisfied. These Youtube apps on the Kindle store do not quite smell right to me. I have asked a followup question about them:   https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/228383/is-this-kindle-store-app-legit-or-bootleg


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Blocking all porn sites and contents
Is there anything in android mobile which has block all porn sites with high security features and any paid software or anything please tell me..

Try searching our website for content/ads blocking. Those solutions can work for your case too. Other than that, Android doesn't come with this specific functionality per se to block adult contents on the go.

DNS blocking is enough. Works with both rooted and non-rooted devices.

I need those type of methods or apps which has not uninstall if i want uninstall those things then i can't do ..

There are many ways to block porn on android
1- First if you are android pie or up you can use DNS option in settings in other wireless connections and use a DNS that block porn like clean browsing DNS or opendns
Use this DNS
adult-filter-dns.cleanbrowsing.org
Put it in DNS option on settings
2- via router settings you can block  porn same way like above way by providing DNS to block porn (just Google DNS to block porn and how to inject in router settings)
3- block porn on non root devices by using apps such as blockada or adguard
4 - block porn in root devices by using an app such as adaway with providing a host file to block porn ( just Google adway host to block porn)
5 - there are an XDA app to block porn but don't remember it's name now
https://techwiser.com/block-adult-content-on-android/


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Why do Google Play Services appear to access Location despite being disallowed to?
On my phone I disallowed Google Play Services access to Location many months ago. Yet Recent Location Requests item of the Settings still gets them listed:

How can this happen? Do Google Play Services have some special privilege to work around permission checking? Or are the apps that get denied permission to access Location still registered in this list?

Google Services are part of the system – so yes, they tend to ignore the user's preferences (also see here). Not only that: I once disabled Play Store on a device – and guess what: it re-activated itself again, pulling updates while I was on mobile data, burning 1/3 of my monthly data plan within half an hour. Luckily, my current devices are Google-free.

Play Services is the location provider i.e. other apps rely on it for high accuracy location services (other than GPS). You cannot deny location permission to a location provider. All Google apps are privileged: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/218153/218526. Explore your /etc/permissions/ and /etc/sysconfig/ directories to know the details.

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/225549


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Is it possible to turn off the screen without stopping foreground activity?
Let's suppose I'm playing an idle game where things inside only happen when the game is running in foreground, or listening to music on YouTube, which also must be running in foreground to work. But when the screen is locked (turned off), all foreground activity gets suspended. Is there a way (like some 3rd party software) to somehow just turn off the screen (maybe even without locking the touch surface functioning) so that it wouldn't drain power and the foreground app would still work?

Exclude the app from Doze (battery optimization).

automation apps might help to create such action on long-press

turning the screen brightness down is already a step in that direction, and there are apps that can dim the brightness further afaik

Does this answer your question? How to turn off screen without affecting anything else?


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Why does GBoard have inconsistent "space to use autocorrect"?
My GBoard is having so many issues with how it autocorrects next work suggestions.
Generally if I hit space bar it automatically inserts the suggested word from the suggested word row above the keyboard.
But then for seemingly no reason it does not do it for some words.
For instance: brain.
If I type "brakn" ... And hit space... Hit inserts "brain", which is what I want!
But if I type "braim"... And hit space... It does NOT insert "brain" even though it is the suggested word... It just keeps braim and underlines it to show it is spelled incorrectly.
It's driving me insane.
I have cleared my cache and installed / uninstalled.
Why doesn't space bar ALWAYS insert the recommended word, it only happens some of the time.

Try open Gboard open its setting>correction>auto correct turn it off and also turn of spell check maybe it helps


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How do I clear native PDF viewer as default?
I'm on Android Lollipop. Due to ghost touch, the native PDF viewer is selected default.

I also checked Reset Default Apps in the Settings menu, but there's only e-mail and messaging.

I don't use Google so no data (of mine) to lose, and that did it.
I did manage to find the core problem, tho. Opening an image file did the same problem: ghost touch selected Default as I tapped Gallery. Of course,  Gallery is right on the application list but again no default was set there or under Clear All, but I deleted the data and fixed it.
Something clicked that I thought to check ES File Explorer so I set Gallery as Default again and checked that app, ES. It didn't have a Default but I deleted that data and that also restored the "Open With..." menu.
So that's the problem: browsing with ES or maybe other file managers and selecting a default only applies to that manager (confirmed via browsing with the stock manager), and why no default shows in the application manager, and the solution is to delete data for either the defaulted application if known or the file manager.
Poor design on either ES or Google's part or both.
Thanks, @Kirandeep Maan, for the help and getting this solved!

U can give a try to solid file manager, Fx File manager or Astro file manager else if its same probably system bug for sure

If it is (Google) Drive PDF Viewer, then:

Go to Settings
App and Storage (where you can see installed apps which are downloaded or pre-installed)
Select All Tab where you can see System Apps
Select Drive (triangle logo with three colors side green, yellow, blue)
Scroll down and click on Clear Defaults (if not available, directly check permission if available)

Note: Drive PDF Viewer has a red icon with a white Drive icon

I don't remember what the name was, but had a red document icon, like Adobe Reader, but not. It's not in the list of applications.
goovle drive says no defaults set and the  button is grayed out, ghosted. I don't have enough screen for a screenshot with both name and   button.
I'm afraid I don't follow when you say "directly check permission if available."

Can u open any random pdf file with it and then send screenshots of opened file and opened app in recent list

Other is to check every apps launch by default, Normal red logo of PDF viewer is by uc browser, mega app Which i used but u have to check every app one by one its time consuming but will solve ur problem and let me Know which file manager u using they also have inbuilt PDF viewers

New screenshot added. Yeah, I really don't favr trolling every application, so I'll leave that for tomorrow nite if I have to. I've got ES File Explorer and the stock file manager. I added MiXplorer recently, but had the viewer beforehand.

Its logo and interface says its drive inbuilt pdf viewer if u don't have data on drive just clear data and then see.

Otherwise boot your phone to safe mode might then open any pdf file many options will appear so u can have idea which pdf viewer that was

I added screenshot in answer see it matches with your logo screenshots


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More flexible Digital Wellbeing settings for limiting time spent in specific apps?
Digital Wellbeing is a feature/app built in to recent Google phones and some phones with Google-licensed Android distributions, but it isn't open source, so unfortunately it doesn't seem like it would be possible to modify it and add new features. I am looking for something a little more powerful, that would allow me to, for example:

Group a bunch of social media apps together, and have one time limit per day that covers them all as a group, rather than timing the usage of each individual app separately. For example, instead of limiting myself to 30 minutes on Twitter, 30 minutes on Facebook, and 30 minutes on Reddit, I would like to be able to limit myself to 1.5 hours in total on any "social media" app (the group of apps being definable by me, and I would define it to include Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and perhaps others). So with that "group limit", I would be able to spend, for example, 1 hour on Twitter and 30 minutes on Facebook, but then it wouldn't allow me to use any of those 3 apps for the remainder of the day.
Disable the time limits automatically at weekends, and re-enable them at the beginning of the next week
Disable all the time limits manually in the evening, but have them re-enabled automatically the following day, in case I forget to do so.

Is there any way I can achieve these goals?
Also, is there any way to also achieve these goals on my Windows PC, in a unified way? Right now I'm just blocking those particular websites on my PC, as a workaround. That means I can only access them on my phone, so I don't have an easy way to get around the time limits I've set up on my phone. But it would be nice to have a time limit that's shared across all of my devices.

TimeLimit can be used to achieve the first three goals. Steps to follow:

Go into Settings -> Digital Wellbeing and delete all existing time limits, making a note of them as you do so, so you can recreate them below. They will be managed by Timelimit instead, from now on.
Install Timelimit from F-Droid (where it is called Open Timelimit) or Google Play.
Open the Timelimit app
Grant all the permissions requested - except the device management permission, which is optional, and dangerous, because I think it is impossible to unlock your phone if you forget your "parental" password.
Set a password for the "parental" user (which can be just you, or it can be someone else who you trust to set limits on your behalf)
Add apps which you don't want to be time-limited to the "Allowed Apps" category. Be warned that notifications will be limited too - so make sure to add apps which you want to receive notifications at all times from, to this category!
Create a new category, e.g. "Social media".
Add the apps that you want to be in this category
Set a time limit for each day that you want the time limit to apply on, individually. So if you want to limit the apps during week days, you have to create 5 separate limits, one for each day. There is a warning message that warns you that you have to do it this way, but it's easy to skip past it and miss it. The problem is, if you just select all 5 week days, your limit will apply to the whole 5 days, and once it's exceeded, it's exceeded for the whole week!

The "child" user is the user that is restricted, and does not need a password. You can rename that user if you are not a child, by going into it and tapping the gear icon.
If you are asking someone else to manage the time limits on your behalf, perhaps because you don't trust yourself to manage them appropriately, there is currently no option to rename the "parent 1" user, but you can achieve the same effect by creating a new "parent" and then deleting "parent 1".


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Transfer paid app to Huawei device
I've purchased VerbTeX Pro for my Android tablet and recently I upgraded to the MatePad Pro. I'm wondering is there any way to extract the APK and install it on the MatePad without installing GMS?

In general, when you purchase an app through the Play Store, it is tied to your Google account and not a specific device or installation. The APK files for a paid vs free version are generally also the same and they are just enabled on the Google account. If you paid for the app and installed it on a new device and it doesn't have the paid features, look in the settings of the app for "Enable paid features" or something like that, otherwise message the developer.

why not ask Trump directly


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How do I stop my SIM card from auto-locking while powered on?
I have a set a SIM PIN on the SIM card I use in my Moto E4 Android phone. To answer some anticipated questions in advance:

I know my PIN
I want the SIM to lock when the system powers down or reboots
I want to have to enter the PIN when the system first powers up
All of the above are working fine for me

What I do not want is for the SIM to lock itself while the phone is powered on. I don't know how long it takes, but it seems like if I do not use the phone for an hour, when I try to use it, the SIM is locked again and I have to enter the PIN to unlock it. I suspect this means I cannot receive incoming calls for some period of time because the SIM card is locked.
I know the phone is not rebooting because after I unlock the SIM, I can still unlock the phone with my fingerprint. When the phone reboots, I have to enter my passcode.
I do not know much about Android, this is my first Android phone and I just have it as a backup. Is this auto-lock a feature I need to disable? It seems to me like a bad idea given that I want to be able to keep receiving calls. What can I do to fix this?

that is not android problem, your sim card is loose


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Chrome - how to swipe to dismiss articles on home page
Chrome - swipe to dismiss articles on home page missing answered for previous versions of Chrome. This does not work on Chrome 84.0.4147.89
Internet search and experiments didn't help. Any ideas?

It's a shame but you can't do that any more. Google says they won't fix it as mentioned in the  Chromium bug report ( Chrome does not maintain separate bug reports)

Swiping was indeed removed with the latest update due to usability reasons and it being difficult to interpret as a user signal. So this is working as intended.

But an enterprising user found out a fix! Great!

Paste chrome://flags/#interest-feed-content-suggestions in search bar select Enabled (snippets)

Paste chrome://flags/#interest-feed-v2 in search bar and select Enable

Relaunch Chrome and click on More at the bottom of the page.

Now you can swipe away as before. If you care for this feature which Google has removed, please star the bug report and optionally vent your frustration!


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how to turn on phone when power button is broken?
its a xiomi mi redmi 5a prime.
i can get it to fast boot but since usb debugging is int enabled i cant get it to go to recovery.
mi manager doesn't detect the phone in fast boot as well. Is there any way to fix this apart from taking the phone apart?

https://android.stackexchange.com/q/20021

If you can get it into fastboot mode, here's how you can bootup your device:

Get Google's platform-tools (aka adb), from here
Boot your phone into fastboot mode
Run this command with platform-tools:

fastboot reboot

did try that, doesnt work.


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Stream audio from android to Windows 10 using USB Connections
I'm currently finding a way how to stream or send the audio that android plays to a windows 10 computer without using any wireless techniques to avoid wireless congestions. Is there any? By the way, my phone's android version is 6.0.1

What about a connecting an audio cable from the Android headphone connection to the PC audio input? Using this there will be no wireless interference. If you want it digital you may need some handicraft work, e.g. if your phone supports headphones via USB you could use an USB audio to I2S converter and then connect the I2S to an Raspberry.

Alternativly it may also be possible with software. Some screen recorders allow to record the "Internal audio" - hence if there are tools that can record it it should be possible to send the audio data instead directly via TCP to a different program on a PC. Via adb tcp forwarding you can use the USB connection to transmit the TCP stream through the USB wire to the PC, where a program could send the audio data to the audio system. Unfortunately I don't know an app for Android that can record the internal audio and send it via TCP to an IP address.

@Robert I guess your first comment will be the best pick. But I'll be trying your second comment. I should search something easier since I'll be teaching my friends on how adb tcp works. It will be a very difficult for them since they didn't know TCP and even the basics of ADB or how to use them in advanced manners.


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How do I fix internal sdcard mount failure I/O error?
I have a tablet running android 4.2.2. The internal sdcard will not mount and logcat output is - failed to mount via vfat (I/O error). I used fsck_msdos and output is - ** Phase 1 - read FAT (compare skipped) Attempting to allocate 14000 KB for FAT ** Phase 2 - check cluster chains ** Phase 3 checking directories Root directory starts with free cluster Fix? yes ** Phase 4 - checking for lost files Update FATs? yes Attempting to allocate 14000 KB for FAT 1389 files, 1133632 free (2238856 clusters) ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***** But I am still getting the same error from vold. Is there anything elseI should try?

Should have waited to ask but heres the answer - mkdosfs on /dev/(etc.) and vold now mounts no problem.


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Android Boot Logs Before Logo
BTW, I am wanting to know what Android Boot Logs come before the Android Boot Logo. I see an Android Boot Logo, and I have to hold the power button, but what does it show in the boot logs in the background before the Android Boot Logo?
NOTE: I think I could use the command line to see the last startup log, what command could I use?

What's the actual problem you are trying to solve by taking logs? Boot logo is usually shown by bootloader. And bootloader log is accessible by no simple means. Or are you talking about boot animation?

I am wanting to be able to take note of the startup logs that are shown by bootloader in the background, yes. And yes, I am talking about the mobile phone & tablet.

android has no feature for that. you need to connect with PC and run logcat https://android.stackexchange.com/q/225239 or use an app to emulate https://android.stackexchange.com/q/81207

https://www.xda-developers.com/how-to-take-logs-in-android


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Mirroring PC screen to Android via USB-C
A few months ago I found software for Windows which could mirror Android screen to PC via USB (not sure if it needed to be type-C or not) and also capture mouse clicks as touch inputs.
I also know there is some software that mirrors PC screen to Android with Wi-Fi and such, but firstly they are not free and don't function as I want it to, and secondly, most of them use wireless which I don't want.
Is it possible to mirror (part of) PC screen to Android with USB-C?

There are plenty of apps that allow to remote control a PC from an Android device. You are correct that most of them use Wifi or in detail TCP/IP for communication with the PC. But some of those tools establish a direct TCP connection - hence using Android Debug bridge and adb forward you can forward the server port from your PC to your Android device and therefore tunnel the TCP connection through the USB cable.
On Android side in the app you then connect to localhost:<forwarded port>.

Microsoft Remote Desktop (Requires WIndows Pro edition or server)
VNC Viewer
...

Each of this app requires a different software installed on your PC. Only Remote Desktop is bound to the used Windows type.

Hi, when searching to mirror screen to TV found that one. Do you know how to mirror android to TV? If yes, please answer https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/249990/mirror-screen-sound-preferably-to-tv-via-usb-c-hdmi-xiaomi-in-particular


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Can I kill wifi on my Android, similar to how kill -9 would work on a desktop, to force restart it?
Since I upgraded to Android 10, wifi on my phone frequently "dies" and forces me to restart the phone. Is there a way to achieve something similar to what kill -9 does on a desktop system on the processes responsible for wifi to force it to restart?
The problem is that wifi is turned of and can't be turned on again. If I tap the wifi switch in system preferences it briefly goes to on but then immediately reverts to off.
The device is rooted.

Kill wpa_supplicant. But that's not the solution to your problem.

@IrfanLatif Why not?

Go for fixing the actual problem, why WiFi toggles back to off. See logs, use svc wifi etc.

How do I "see logs", svc wifi etc?


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How search for similar images in the phone?
I am looking for an equivalent functionality that is available on the desktop Google Search page: upload an image and search for similar ones.
Unfortunately once Google recognizes that I am on the phone, search with image gets disabled.
I also tried with DuckDuckGo.com but again I cannot find this option that is readily available once I am browsing on the desktop pc.
Can someone recommend a search engine that offers image search on the mobile?
Or alternatively simple way to fool DuckDuckGo or Google to let me search with image...

There is an app that claims to do reverse search. I haven't used it

According to Google support, you should be able to search. See support.google.com/websearch/answer/…. You have to put the browser in desktop mode. I just tried and it works

Indeed this one: https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/181506/google-image-search-using-android solves the problem.


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Changing to an SD card with more storage for android phone
My original SD card is formatted as storage so I am not sure if card readers can read and transfer data from it. So basically, I am looking for a way to switch SD card and preserve the files. Thanks in advance!

if it is encrypted adoptable-storage you can only clone 1:1 partition size, so best is to backup everything before removing sd card. internal storage contains /sdcard (for that you can use MTP or adb pull) and obb data (you can use adb backup -obb -shared)

@alecxs What you write is true for an FDE encrypted adoptable storage. Have you ever encountered an FBE encrypted adoptable storage? They may exist since Android 9. From my understanding cloning and resizing of the adoptable sd-card should be easily possible as the partition is just a standard file-system like ext4. Would be interesting to see such an adopted sd-card with FBE.

@Robert AFAIK adoptable storage sm uses dm-crypt (and FBE on top which lead in the famous double encryption bug). Haven't seen any android 9+ supporting adoptable-storage in the end, newer devices have enough memory up to 256 GiB. btw i am not using encryption at all, i don't like the idea of hardware backed encryption, even a rugged outdoor phone can break


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How to disable reverse portrait rotation?
I have a rooted Xiaomi redmi note 7 with the latest stable Xiaomi.eu ROM (Android 10) I want to have back the standard Portrait and Landscape Rotation and remove the reversed portrait rotation from my phone entirely.

Hi, since this is your previous question, consider completing the registration so that you won't lose access to your current account in the future to still be able to interact with your posts. That said, as I've mentioned the Xiaomi link on the previous question, looks like this needs a modification to the framework APK, which I can't guarantee the safety.

I didn't see your answer sorry.  What could go wrong with modifying the framework? I have no important data on my phone.

These are the hints: 1, 2, I'm not posting it as an answer since I can't test it and again, I can't guarantee the safety since modifying the system framework might brick the device, rendering it unusable. If you feel brave, then you can try it, and feel free to post it as an answer if it works. Best of luck.

If it carries the risk of bricking the phone then I won't do it. It looks like I'll have to change the ROM... I've been using Xiaomi Europe for a long time and they didn't have all rotation unlocked. Thank you for your help.

that rotation is cool, it will save your day when screen is broken

No it's not. It's annoying when you're lying on your side on the bed and  you want to keep switch between landscape and portrait.


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Where does Android get its DNS information when connected to Wi-Fi?
I'm hosting a server on my LAN with a port exposed publicly by the router. myserver.mydomain.com is pointing to the static IP of my router. So I can access the server from the the internet.
To make myserver.mydomain.com work when connected to my LAN I added an entry to the DNS server of my router, so it redirects to the private IP address of the server. This works fine for most devices connected to my LAN, except for my Android phone, where myserver.mydomain.com still resolves to the public IP of my router, even when connected to my Wi-Fi. So I suspect android always uses google DNS servers or something.
When I'm out and about connecting to some random Wi-Fi network this seems like highly desirable behavior, but when at home this creates the said issue.
I know I could configure my own DNS servers on my phone but I don’t want to configure that manually each time I connect to my LAN.
What would be the best approach here? Maybe I need to set up local access to my server differently?

I would suspect that its not using google DNS but rather the 4G connection. If you disable mobile data, does it still does that? Also, keep in mind that it possibly have cached the DNS locally once and that its just reusing the cached data, so you may have to clear your DNS cache too.

The best approach would be to have a router that supports hairpin NAT. Then you could use the public IP of the router even from within LAN. I'm not going to write an answer because the title asks about Android and DNS, and I'm not answering this.

Which Android version do you use (newer Android version ? Have you checked the DNS settings shown when you click on the Wifi network you are connected to? Usually Android uses the DNS server announced in the DHCP response received from your router unless you have enabled "Private DNS" in the network -> advanced settings (or in Firefox for Android should you use it).

Does this answer your question? Why is Android refusing to resolve DNS records pointing to internal IP addresses?

Most probably it's due to encrypted DNS as Robert mentioned. I've also seen users reporting this problem caused by routers advertising IPv6 DNS servers (as in the linked answer). Related: Accessing local computer using hostname, How does Android OS do DNS name resolution?

Shameless self-promotion ahead: you could use my tool Adebar to see that in the generated device documentation (examples here. Or manually call adb shell getprop X with X being net.dns1, net.dns2 (both mobile/fallback) and wlan0.dns1.

Thank you all for the comments. They helped me work it out.
I'm not 100% sure of the cause of the behavior. It stays even when I switch off 4G and restart the phone. In the post linked to by Irfan Latif it is suggested that Android favors IPv6 dns servers. That could be the cause since my network is IPv4 only.
But the hairpin NAT provided the solution. (Called NAT Reflection in pfSense) After enabling this, things started to work.