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How does one properly install and run the google play store app on a xiaomi redmi 7 pro that was bought in China?
My cousin has a Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro, Android version 10, MIUI version "MIUI 12.5.1Stable 12.5.1.0(QFHCNXM)" (409dpi) that he bought 'to be delivered from China'.
He recently accidentally deleted the google play store app. When we started trying to fix the problem we first tried making a backup and resetting the device to factory settings, but I misunderstood part of the backup process and skipped a step (i.e actually transferring the backup files to my PC).
The phone was essentially reset without existing backup. Afterwards my cousin tried (without me) to blindly follow Youtube videos that claimed to demonstrate how to install the play store app. I am unable to understand most of those videos since they appear made for audiences that speak asian languages. Afterwards the phone did have the app (as far as I have been able to follow it was downloaded as APK), but it always crashed into the background directly after opening it. Since installing Google Play services (also as APK, 480dpi/ARM64/android10+), the store does no longer crash but also does not react to clicking "sign in" or in any other way.
Sadly I am very much less than a novice when it comes to handheld devices and anything involving them. I do not know how to proceed, but I do have access to my own phone (Huawei P30 lite, model MAR-LX1A, android version 10, EMUI version 10.0.0, decidedly NOT bought in China) with its own Google play store, in case I need a second device for fixing this problem. It may also be simply necessary to tell the device "no we are not in China right now, actually running a google app is allowed you know?" - which should be a software problem, which is about all I know about that.

So root permissions were used to delete Play store App? Because normally you can't delete, just disable it and after a factory reset everything is back to normal.

you need to find global version of ROM/firmware https://mifirm.net/model/violet.ttt

No, he did not have to use root permission to delete the app. When he first bought it he had to apply for permission in the xiaomi store and had the google play store unlocked 2 weeks later.But recently (start of the year or so), China put pressure on Xiaomi to stop supporting/distributing Google apps, including play store and play services.
For a short time some solutions were apparently popular, including an app in the xiaomi store that would install the play store and delete itself - but we seem to have missed the time those solutions were applicable.
Flashing ROM = last resort.


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How to extract data from app?
So I want to switch pedometer apps but move over my data.
I thought I could just get the database, extract the relevant entries and inject them into the other app's database. But no.
First off adb backup does not work, files are 1-4 kB. Possibly to do with my custom ROM.
Also no relevant data in /sdcard/Android/data/com.name.
It will sync with google fit but not historical data.
I located the databases in /data/data/com.name/databases but the ones I could open had no relevant data. The ones I couldn't open (requires some password) were .workdb (no clue what that is) or .workdb-wal, these are ~90 kB so it might have the data.
The app uses google sync. I thought maybe I could get at the data there but was unable to find the backup in drive.
Any  ideas how I could get at the data and then inject it into the other app?

There's no universal way to extract & migrate data from one app to another. Without knowing the specific apps and how they work, we can't provide further helps.

If the apps don't provide an export/import functionality data migration needs very detailed knowledge on how the apps work internally.

https://sqliteforensictoolkit.com/how-not-to-examine-sqlite-wal-files

https://www.staff.hs-mittweida.de/~pawlaszc/fqlite

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Native Linux on Android's SOCs
I wanted to know for quite some time why linux operating systems are not ported to phones or tablets SOCs with android? Like how they are on desktops and laptops.
I know linux can run on various devices with different CPU architectures, I use linux daily, and android uses a modified linux kernel so why it is so hard to run some linux OS natively on an android based device?
We have projects like andronix, termux and linux deploy but even with chroot that's not natively. I even played with them but they are limited. For example, hardware devices access like GPU is very problematic (e.g. use hardware acceleration).

Probably a duplicate of: Bootloader/BIOS, flashing ROM and correlated risks. Why Android devices are more brickable than PCs? and How to boot Ubuntu persistent live USB on Android?

More details: Is it possible to install iOS, Windows or Linux on Android device? and Boot Process: Android vs. Linux.

Does this answer your question? What is the analogy of the X Server on Android?

simple answer: embedded devices are not PCs and android firmware is not linux operating system. even ubuntu touch is just on top of android, that's in the nature of hardware design. you wouldn't expect to run linux on your TV or wifi gateway, do you?

The main reason:
There is no revenue-generating stream for Linux on smartphones in comparison to Android.

Technical reasons, which can't be solved without heavy investments
Just porting Linux to SoC is not enough. Linux is only a kernel.

You will need to develop a distro suitable for a smartphone.

Android = 1. AOSP + 2. patches and blobs from SoC vendor + 3. user apps`

Patches and blobs from SoC vendor
#2 in the equation has restricted access. SoC vendors don't share internal details even with OEMs, only providing a minimum description for available APIs. Typical Android-capable SoC has a lot of proprietary peripheral modules (such as mentioned GPU or Audio, Image processing, radio modules). Some of them require OS drivers, others even specific complex FW with a separate OS.
Even for some desktop peripherals, this factor blocks Linux support.

Existing attempts
There were attempts to develop an open-source smartphone. As we can see, they didn't get widespread till the moment, and some of the projects were discontinued. The main reason is the same: the model didn't prove its sustainability.

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


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Family Link always allow phone
I've been looking into this and reading articles for the last hour or so, and haven't come up with anything. The simple version of what I'm trying to do, is when my kids are grounded or at school that I'd like to turn their smartphones into a dumb phone. They need to be able to call my wife or myself in case of emergency, call specific contacts if we're not available, but not chat with all their friends. If someone can point me in the right direction for where these controls are located I'd very much appreciate it.
The 'Phone' app is not listed in FamilyLink under the apps I'm able to 'always allow' and there's no way I can see for me to limit calls to specific numbers. I'm totally open to third-party apps if there's a paid solution to this out there.

This looks like a job for Tasker

I looked at Tasker and I'm not sure there's a way for me to limit calls to specific contacts that I can control. Am I missing something?

I think it could be done by using Fixed Dialing Number although it would have to be changed several times, it won't know if the phone is locked or not..
This can be enabled in Phone application settings, depending on your mobile model.


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Voice typing is not working when talking onto Bletooth headset
I'm trying to use the "Google Voice Typing" and Gboard dictation, both works fine.
However if I'm using my Bluetooth headset neither of them can recognise any words. Only if I hold the phone close enough.
It seems they are still using the internal mic. Is it possible possible to use the Bluetooth mics for these applications?
Note: I have enabled all these Bt related settings in Google > Settings > Voice.
I'm on Android 11.

Probably an obvious question, but.. have you tested the Bluetooth headset's mic on other apps and make sure it's working?

Yes, it works, I'm using it constantly for phone calls, voip calls, etc.


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How to hide the new gesture pill / navigation bar on my pixel 4a running android 11?
I m trying to hide the pill bar to get more screen real estate but I can't figure out how to do it.

The bar is highlighted in red.

Yes, I'm trying to hide everything related to the navigation bar on the bottom of my screen to have some sort of full screen experience. The gesture navigation is already active. It is showing a bar at the bottom which I don't want.

AFAIK, for Pixel/AOSP-based, there's no setting to hide the navigation bar completely. One of the ways to hide the navigation gesture bar is to enter the fullscreen/immersive mode. Some custom ROMs may provide this feature built-in (Lineage OS provides this on Nexus 5). Otherwise, 3rd-party apps may help (ref: Force an app to full-screen mode)

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.


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rom on Xperia E4g instead of E1
Im trying to install lineage os in Xperia E4g E2003 but I can't find It. I want to flash and E1 rom but im not sure if It Is going to work.

ROMs only work on devices they are designed for. Even devices very similar like a single/dual SIM device can be enough to make it fail if you are using the wrong version. And in your case half the device seems to be different (display, CPU, ...).

Is there and way i can design a rom myself so i don't have to wait until someone posts One?

Theoretically yes, but most people are lacking the required skills (including me) for generating a device tree, compiling and modifying a Linux kernel (C/C++) and whole Android system and finally test and debug it to fix all the problems that occur. Even for some-one skilled I would assume developing a ROM from scratch will require minimum 30-100+ hours. With a fast multi-core PC with SSD even compiling a full ROM can take several hours.


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Where is the WiFi MAC randomization data stored?
In the newer Androids there's a feature called WiFi MAC Randomization. In its basic form, the mechanism calculates the random MAC for a given ESSID. Each time you connect to the same WiFi, Android will use the previously generated MAC. Even when you forget the WiFi network and add it anew, Android will use the same MAC as before. So where exactly is the WiFi MAC randomization data stored?

According to the Android documentation the persistent randomization is not stored anywhere.
Instead the "random MAC address" is generated every time you connect to the Wifi. This generation bases on the Wifi network parameters:

Android generates a persistent randomized MAC address based on the
parameters of the network profile including SSID, security type, or
FQDN (for Passpoint networks).

And I assume that additionally some secret factor that is unique to your device is included into the calculation, otherwise every Android device would generate the same random MAC address for the same network. Not sure what they actually use, may be ANDROID_ID or some random ~128 bit data stored somewhere in your user profile.
In such situations typically an HMAC algorithm is used to generate pseudorandom output that can then be used for the 46 bits of the MAC that are randomized. This makes it next to impossible to determine the used secret part based on the randomized MAC address and to calculate MAC addresses you would use in other networks.
Note that this answer is only about AOSP. Android manufacturer may change the randomization. According to a study on WiFi MAC randomization Motorola e.g. implements a custom MAC randomization scheme (not the 46bit scheme described in AOSP).


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How to cure Battery draining and lagging problem
Question How to  cure Battery draining and lagging  problem
I have lyf water 7 ls-5504 mobile it's been rooted through super user to use link2sd and link apps. But before rooting it's have huge proble of draining battery it's battery drains 25% within if screen off to 10-15min from 100% to 75% very fast. One day it got battery calibration problem to it showed 0% and still it was working... Then I went to sevice center and they formatted and installed th android 5.11 stock rom again they electrically tested  said battery is okay but software problem or may be software draining it.
As I  googled and founded that some softwares setting consumes battery and to find them and kill or.force.stop.them and to cha he settings... Which switch off did ie. Developer option> windows animation scale / transaction animation scale/ animator duration scale

This option and GPU rendering I turned off and Bluetooth WiFi off and background process limit to 2  in setting developer options  which reduced the battery draing in off screen but still while using its
draining to fast in compared to same company other model with same 3000mh battery.
So after rooting I installed  greenify and accu battery to solve the battery charging or draining  problem still it's same.
I tried to hybernate through greenify app  one or two apps which are silently memory resident    but I can't restrict system (google.play services) so I screenshot the developer option process stats  to refer you apps running in memory

From above photo I have given to give reference how much mh or percentage battery is consumed in charging and discharging . If any expert can find the reso. Or app of its draining battery fastly and second phone hangs lags and respond to late and stuck in browsing many times  and many time I have to close all running apps and restart them again. Is it due to rooting or.permissoon apps or link2sd apps or due to accubattery or greenify.  As link2sd accubattery or greenify is no where in process stats ... I had not linked or moved system apps or random used apps  to external sd card..
Now if u can help or advice.me how to redicate or troubleshoot or find the app which is draining the battery or hanging or lagging . The phone....any more reports or details required for your refrence I can send screenshot ...any opinion advice to solve help will  be welcomed
Following is screenshot of battery apps usage of android 5.1.1 native

Following is accubattery aps stats infor.of battery discharges and charging stats

From above photo I have given to give reference how much mh or percentage battery is consumed in charging and discharging . If any expert can find the reso. Or app of its draining battery fastly and second phone hangs lags and respond to late and stuck in browsing many times  and many time I have to close all running apps and restart them again. Is it due to rooting or.permissoon apps or link2sd apps or due to accubattery or greenify.  As link2sd accubattery or greenify is no where in process stats ... I had not linked or moved system apps or random used apps  to external sd card..
Now if u can help or advice.me how to redicate or troubleshoot or find the app which is draining the battery or hanging or lagging . The phone....any more reports or details required for your refrence I can send screenshot ...any opinion advice to solve help will  be welcomed

How long does battery hold charge in stand-by until phone dies?

@alecxs bro it drains and if we surf or use it jut run 2-3 hours...and if idle stand by in off screen  it finish in 6-8 hours.....the other model battery  of lyf water 8 3000mh  same as lyf water 7 3000mh but the mobile dvice and batgery physical width. And height is different don't know will it fit yes it can be externally  fitted ...the draining of battery in lyf water 7 is from the day I purchased the mobile...it's battery  usage is high as its display Is larger and may be hardware parts use more  battery

How long does battery hold charge in fastboot mode? If not more than 6-8 hours too discard that battery/device


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Sideloaded Wear Os App On Device But Can't Launch It
I am trying to gift my watch to my 10 yr old. However, google doesn't allow kids to install the wear os app, so I am trying to hack around it. I have installed it successfully to the device (pixel 3 running android 11) using adb install, and I can see it in the settings app list. However, I cannot find any way to add it to the app drawer or launch it. Any ideas?
Thanks

have you ever managed to get this working?

nope. my old android watch is a paperweight until she is 13. only solution would be to get her an apple watch in the meantime.

Isn't it easier to just edit your son's birth date in his Google account?
https://myaccount.google.com/personal-info

but that defeats the entire family link restrictions entirely, which i don't want to do. i still want restrictions on all other apps besides wear os.


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Why does my phone not find appex when I flash gsi?
Every Time I flash a gsi be it a only or A/B gsi. it doesn't boot. Twrp recovery reports that Evey time I flash a gsi system my device doesn't have have Apex in system_root/Apex when I flash the stock super.img it then boots

What device are you talking about?

the device is tecno kd7


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How to restore Google backup on Android 8.1.0?
My Android 11 'phone just died. I had Google Backup running.
I have an old Android 8.1.0 device lying around, which will do until I can buy a new 'phone.
There's lots of advice out there, but it all seems to mention menus that I don't have.
How do I restore my apps, contacts, photos, settings, etc onto the Android 8.1.0 device?3

Restoring a backup is part of the first-time initialization process after a factory reset.

Can you elucidate? I did a factory reset, then logged into my Google account. How do you get my apps, contacts, photos, etc, back?


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How to disable auto restoring of non-removable applications in Android 10?
I have Android 10 in my Samsung A12. There were about 10 applications that had to be installed by phone producer in the country I bought that phone. Using ADB and command pm uninstall --user 0 ... I removed all this garbage and was very glad. However, when I connected internet Android showed me message, something like "restoring preinstalled applications" and restored all applications I removed.
How to disable this auto restoring?

Please update question if rooting is option for you (lose warranty, knox, banking, etc)

@alecxs The phone is new (less one month) and I wouldn't like to loose warranty, knox etc. But if there is no other way, then I will consider all advantages and disadvantages of the solution.

already tried basic things like disable auto-update of system apps in settings or developer options?

@alecxs No, because I think there are only global settings, but the question is about these non-removable apps. At the same time I can be wrong here.

@alecxs As I understand, you don't recommend rooting for this command pm uninstall --user 0 .... If I am right, then what should I use?


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Is 3G network always available when 4G network is?
I'm going to buy an Android phone which has unfortunately blocked 4G calls by the operator. Only 3G calling will be possible. I think it's enough for voice, but:
Since I travel a lot, is the 3G network available everywhere when 4G is? Or is it completely different technology so I might end up in the places where only 4G signals are available, but no 3G?

I had to discard fully functional smartphone because we have no more 3G in germany. This concerned UMTS mobile data only, GSM phone calls still possible.
Nevertheless UMTS is independent from LTE so the answer is NO

If 3G/UMTS is available for calls depends on the country you are living in. A lot of countries have shut down older mobile networks like GSM/2G and 3G or planning to do so.
But every mobile operator and every country it can be different what networks are shut down.

In Germany the 2G network stays, only 3G is shut down.
In Switzerland Swisscom has switched of 2G completely, 3G is still active
In USA 2G networks are mostly shut down already and 3G networks are mostly shut down next year source.
In some Asian countries as far as I remember 2G and 3G has been shut down

So the answer is no, 3G and 4G are totally independent form each other.
Therefore today buying a phone that has no 4G + VoLTE support is not a good idea.


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Auto Reply set up on Google Messenger - How to set so doesn't reply every time same person replies
I have linked our Google Messenger to auto-reply via email as we are a doctor's office and the messenger is not monitored for canceled appointments.  The problem is we ask people to reply "Y" to confirm their appointments - sometimes there is additional messaging back and forth if we are in the office.  The auto-reply runs every time someone texts (a conversation).
Is there a way to have the auto-reply only send 1x to the same number if having a texting conversation instead of every time a response in the same conversation is sent without blocking the number because that defeats the point of auto-reply?

Google Messenger (Android Messages) doesn't seem to have an auto-reply feature. How did you set up the auto-reply?

I found this link and followed the instructions: https://webapps.stackexchange.com/questions/67645/how-do-i-auto-reply-to-text-messages-received-through-google-voice


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Android Chrome shortcuts are grayed out after transfer with "Smart Switch". How come?
I recently bought a new phone and tried to transfer all my stuff from the old phone using Samsung's "Smart Switch" (both phones are identical Samsung S9s, Android V10). It basically worked, but all my Chrome shortcuts on the new phone are now grayed out and don't work. When I click on one, I get the message "App version downgraded or isn't compatible with this shortcut". I did a thorough search on SO and Google with no joy.
Any ideas on what's wrong or how to fix it?
Notes:

If I add a new shorcut, it works fine.
I don't want to re-create them all because I have a LOT of them.

I noticed that the  Chrome version on my new phone was older than the old phone. After many failed attempts, I was able to update Chrome to the latest version from the Play Store. Voila! The shortcuts now work.


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wipping data after factory reset
to clear my data in my android 10 phone after factory reset,i was told that i must put trivial files until the memory full,since my memory is large 256gb,i filmed a short video and then copied and pasted the same video several times with change them names until the memory is full ,im asking the copied files can overwriting data after factory reset,or  must new files
(i also use disk digger wipe free space)

Does this answer your question? How to make a complete factory reset, without anyone being able to retrieve my data?

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

Device with Google Android 10 (assuming that the device came with Android 10 and wa snot upgraded to it) are encrypted by default. If you perform a factory reset the encryption key has been deleted and thus the file content can't be recovered.

Factory reset wipes data and clears encryption keys. Even if deleted data is recovered, it is not decryptable.

* except for unencrypted custom ROMs

Thank you all for the answers, my problem i did , Factory Reset, but I did not delete my Google account after or before the factory reset and i sold the phone, does this decrypt the deleted data or not,  because i  heard this if i do not delete my google account before i do factory reset  is ithe device enter Google Reactivation Lock ! Please help me understand this

Does this answer your question? Lost pin, no Google account, can I factory reset?


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Mount ext4 formatted sdcard on Lineage 18.1
I currently have Lineage 18.1 (20211007-microG-pioneer) loaded on a phone with Magisk 23. I have tried inserting an sdcard that has an /dev/sda1 partition formatted with ext4. In the past I've used the Magisk addon "Vold - exFAT/NTFS/EXT4/F2FS Support", however I now get an "Only support Oreo 8.1" when trying to install it.
Is there any way to get ext4 sdcard support on Lineage 18.1 (fully rooted).

Doesn't LineageOS automount all partitions by default? https://review.lineageos.org/c/LineageOS/android_system_vold/+/258169

It seems like it should, but it doesn't. When I insert an ext4 formatted sdcard, I get a popup saying the sdcard isn't in a usable format and it wants to reformat it (presumably as exfat)

oh, it might have stopped working in Lineage 18.1: https://gitlab.com/LineageOS/issues/android/-/issues/3684

yes, must be some bug or lazy dev. made some test on LineageOS 17.1 it works out of the box, no Magisk module needed


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Phone keeps going into Fastboot after water damage
My rooted Xiaomi Mi 5s plus refuses to boot into the system after I dropped it in water. I can boot it into TWRP recovery, and all of my files are still there, so I don't think that any files are damaged.
After it was damaged I quickly shut it off and when I turned it back on it simply refused to boot into the OS.
Any idea of what might be causing this?

Volume button is short-circuited, let it dry for few weeks. meanwhile you can boot phone with fastboot continue

yes, it turns out the volume button was damaged. thanks.

volume button or PCB area that connected with volume button Flex or sorrounding components, it is depend on damage caused by water leakage and carbon, need to service or clean the part very soon,


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Is there a workaround (rooting, etc) for Android pre-installed spyware?
Is there a workaround (rooting, etc) for Android pre-installed spyware?
(as seen in)

https://www.tomsguide.com/news/xiaomi-huawei-lithuania-warning

https://research.checkpoint.com/2019/vulnerability-in-xiaomi-pre-installed-security-app/

Be aware that rooting your device will prevent it for receive further security updates provided by Xiaomi. Also some apps may be able to detect that your device is rooted and will refuse to work (common are banking apps that only want to run on an unrooted device). So effectively the best way to get rid of the per-installed spyware is to switch the phone.

Although Robert probably has the correct long-term solution, the only other thing I would throw out here is that Android has the ability to disable most pre-installed apps... If these apps have that option, you could disable them.

Does this answer your question? How to uninstall an app when "Uninstall" dialog is not shown?


text:
How to make an installed application to run in background?
Let's say I record some video or audio and then I switch to other application, the first one goes in the background and stops working for that time (while the second in the foreground). How would I make an application to continue recording until it' completely closed?
(Android 10).

You, the user, can't. Developer of the app can.

This really depends on how the applications are coded, there's no way for the user to modify that logic. Otherwise, this might be an XY-problem. It might be a better idea if you explain what you're really trying to do so that the community might be able to give alternative solutions.

@Andrew T. there are applications that record something (video/audio), if switch to the other app they'll stop record, so they should always work even if in background.


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What's the write endurance for the storage of an original Google Pixel 128 GB?
I recently got ahold of an original Google Pixel XL phone so I could upload my large collection of photos and videos to Google Photos without having to (repeatedly, permanently) pay for a storage plan. The battery has been recently replaced and is in great condition, and am planning to take steps to ensure its future endurance (only charging it to 80%, using a slower charger to reduce heat, etc.).
Another thing that concerns me, however, is the endurance of the storage. As some of you may know, flash storage can only be rewritten a limited number of times before it wears out and becomes unusable. (This is why typical, low-cost memory cards fail quickly when used in surveillance systems or dash cams, due to their repeated writes.) I specifically sought out a 128 GB model over the more typical 32 GB model because, by its nature, it has four times the write endurance (as the data now spreads out over four times the memory cells).
However, I'm wondering what exactly this write endurance is. How much data can I write to an original Pixel XL 128 GB before its storage chip eventually fails? In other words, how many terabytes of photos and videos can I back up using the phone before its storage fails and I have to get another one?

A good question. But I have never seen an endurance information for a smartphone. Also comparison between SSDs and flash in a smartphone is that you don't know how wear leveling is implemented. Some smartphones just do it in software or using a special file-system.

By the way are you aware that the unlimited storage plan is no longer that unlimited as it was if you want the original resolution? https://www.wired.com/story/google-photos-free-unlimited-storage-ends/

Does this answer your question? Is it possible to know the wear level information of a phone, like SSD have with SMART?

@Robert Original Pixels get free unlimited storage for life in original quality. Those are not affected by the changes: https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/06/02/how-to-google-photos-pixel-free/

@alecxs Not a duplicate. That one asks how to determine how much the storage has been worn out on a given device; this one asks what the overall life is on this brand of device. In this case, I want the info to be public information so others who're deciding if they want to go the same route as me can make an informed decision.

This seems unrelated to Android. Flash storage (eMMC or UFS) chip is usually a part of SoC. But OEMs don't make such minor details available to public. Usually there are a dozen of hardware vendors involved in the manufacturing of a single phone device. So the task is to find the SoC and then eMMC model used in your device, and then find the specs sheet from the eMMC vendor to know the max P/E cycles. 3000 is a common figure you'll find in many specifications. But from my personal experience I don't think it's correct.

@IrfanLatif Questions about hardware that runs Android are on-topic. The second example there is about hardware in a specific Android device, and was deemed on-topic by a then-moderator in the answer.

@gparyani Please don't encourage other people to take this route, it just reduces the stock of available devices and increases the likelihood that Google will find some loophole to end the program.  Spoken as someone who just recently got a 128GB device for this very reason.

@Michael I'd say this question discourages others from taking this route, since it makes it clear that these devices have a finite storage endurance (and battery life) and will eventually wear out. If the answer is that it's on the lower side, it'd be even more so.


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android 10 encryption google frp
hello i have android 10 phone i did , Factory Reset, but I did not delete my Google account after or before the factory reset and i sold the phone, does this decrypt the deleted data or not, because i heard this if i do not delete my google account before i do factory reset is the device enter Google Reactivation Lock ! Please help me understand this whats that mean ?strong text

How did you perform the factory reset. From within Android or via recovery (boot by pressing certain hardware key while boot)? If you perform factory reset from within Android the Google account is automatically deleted as you have verified you are the device owner as the device is unlocked. Only if you perform factory from recovery (like a device thief would do) FRP is activated.

"does this decrypt the deleted data or not" - No, deleted data cannot decrypted. not related to FRP at all

Does this answer your question? wipping data after factory reset


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Is it possible to disable video feeds on Discord for Android?
When doing a video call via Discord, one can turn off each friend's video feed. That is, if one is using the desktop client. It is possible on the desktop, but, curiously, not trivial in the metered connection of the cellphone...
I tried: long-pressing the person, looking into video configurations, searching both in search.brave.com and Google, and found no solution.
Is there any way to achieve it?

It seems like it not yet possible. Many users have asked about it on Discord support for more than a year now, but the feature has not yet been implemented.

No, not possible
Source
My email to support@discordapp.com asking

When doing a video call , one can turn off each friend's video feed (without affecting audio) . That is, if one is using the desktop client, but not on Android. On Android, Possible, not possible? Planned for future or not? Steps if possible please

Their reply (request # (17987066) assigned)

Sadly, we don't have any option to turn off the video feed on mobile devices. Unfortunately, we also don't have any timeframe if this feature will be implemented on all mobile devices.
If you would like to see changes to these systems in the future, then you can definitely create or vote up the suggestions at feedback.discord.com. It would really help us out if you upvote the idea since feedback contributes greatly to our decision-making of which features and fixes to implement in the future based on what our community wants.
I'm so sorry again that we don't have a current solution for you at this time, but I like to think that anything is possible in the future.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Cheers,
Daniel R

(Click to enlarge)
As pointed out in comments, the fact that is open for so long is another indicator


text:
Why can't I add existing contacts to my Telegram account?
I can't add more contacts to my Telegram account. They said "[Name] is not on Telegram yet, would you like to invite them to join?" but the contact is indeed already existed on Telegram.
So I just want to know if there are any solutions and suggestions that I could do to deal with this.

Does this answer your question? Why I can't I add contacts on my Telegram?


text:
Running a web app full screen on Fire HD 10 tablet
I have a Fire HD 10 tablet that I recently purchased. I want to run a web app on it in full-screen mode (this web app, if you're curious), so that neither the system UI (notifications bar and navigation bar) or the browser UI (address bar) are visible. What Android app can I use for this?

Since I control the web app in this case, I was able to add a button that calls document.body.requestFullscreen, which works in Chromium, Firefox, and the stock browser (Silk Browser).
It would still be good to get an answer for the case where you can't control the web app.


text:
How to store photos only in SD card
I store some photos on albums that is stored in SD card, however when I take new photos the photos are stored on a new album that has both SD card and camera symbols. I guess it is stored on both device and SD card. How can I ensure that newly taken photos are stored only on the SD card on an album without the camera symbol?

Your guess is erroneous. Camera symbol means that it's an album of pictures made with phone camera (and not screenshots or downloaded pictures or pictures of some other app). SD-Card symbol means the pictures are stored on the sd-card.
You can always see where a picture is stored in picture details/properties.


text:
Lock screen and take a photo by button
I bought a waterproof case when I put my mobile phone in and put it under water, so the water pressure will cause other applications or some settings to switch on the screen and I can not take a photo. When I use the "touch lock" application, the camera does not work on the button again, again the button is used to control the volume. Is there an application that locks the screen but lets me take a picture using the button?

It is not the water pressure, those waterproof cases allow using the screen outside of the water, therefore they have to be electrical conductive. Unfortunately water itself is also electrical conductive and so the screen can not detect your touches as there is not difference between your finger and the water around. You need a camera app that allows to take a picture only by pressing one or more hardware keys.

Thanks for the explanation And do you know any such application, pls?

3rd Party app like Macrodroid should do it

Unfortunately I do not know how to Macrodroid use :/ seems complicated and do not see any condition that can help me :/

I was going to suggest looking into dive.plus...the community there could also give you some great additional tips. The app is very good with all aspects of underwater photography. The app is known also as Dive+ and is available widely.


text:
Keep YouTube Vanced playing in the background when closing the mini-player
I'm using YouTube Vanced. When I close the picture-in-picture by tapping the "×" of the mini-player, the video stops and I have to click the play button in notifications to continue playing it in the background.
How can I make the video automatically continue seamlessly in the background?
Environment

Android version: 9
YouTube Vanced version: 16.29.39-Builds-01.54.00

Change Settings -> Background & Downloads -> Playback to Always On.
Then, while watching, it will just not stop when switching apps or returning to the home screen.
If Picture-in-Picture is on it will switch to the mini player, but tapping the mini player and then pressing the headphone symbol will switch to background/audio-only mode.
Tapping the X from PiP/mini player will always stop the video, even with these settings done properly.


text:
My phone is not entering fastboot mode
I just want to check whether bootloader is locked or unlocked. I am using Minimal ADB and Fastboot which I downloaded from here. I am following instructions to check bootloader from this website. Everything is fine until I enter into Fastboot mode on my phone. (I enabled USB Debugging and revoked usb debugging authorization in Developer Options). I can see my device after running adb devices in cmd. But when I run adb reboot bootloader command, it just reboots in normal mode. It doesn't enter to fastboot mode. I aslo tried adb reboot fastboot but it also didn't work. That means when I type fastboot devices, I don't see anything.
What should I do to enter Fastboot mode so that I can run fastboot oem device-info to see my bootloader information?
Note: My phone is Oppo F11 and it is running Android 11. I am not familiar with adb commands.

Welcome to the wonderland of Android. Every device model can be different. The main problem is to identify if this is an unusual problem of your device or if all Oppo F11 don't have fastboot mode. Unless by chance one of the other users owe an Oppo F11 you are out of luck here. There I would recommend you to better ask in the Oppo specific forum ad XDA developers forum. There the chance should be greater to meet someone with experience with your phone and who knows if this is normal bahavior or not.

@Robert Also my phone is not rooted. Can it be a reason?

No fastboot/bootloader mode works no matter if your phone is rooted or not.

https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=3929505

Oppo F11 has non-unlockable bootloader, fastboot is disabled intentionally. You can root with bootless-root method only, but carefully read instructions especially respect all warnings

Thanks alot man. I needed to know it because I think my oppo f11 has any undetectable malware or backdoor and someone said if a phone is running stock ROM and bootloader is locked, those kinda virus will be gone if you reset your phone.


text:
DEX died after Android Debug Bridge (ADB) Bloatware Removal
I decided to debloat my Samsung Note 20 Ultra phone of all the garbage apps Samsung installs. I used ADB shell to perform this bloatware removal and the list shown below identifies all the Samsung bloatware app names which I used as a guide in my removal process.
Everything went perfectly except for the fact I mistakenly uninstalled DEX which is an app that allows me to connect my Note 20 Ultra to a monitor via an HDMI connection. Once the connection is established DEX would automatically start and magically generate a "Windows Like" desktop GUI on the monitor. In short, my DEX is no longer working in the same way it was working before I performed the debloat process.
I hope somebody in this community can identify to me which Samsung parent app from the list shown below is the DEX app subordinate to? Because my theory is the DEX app is hiding inside one of the parent apps shown below and what is not making it easy is how the word "DEX" is nowhere to be seen. Therefore, I hope somebody can tell me which of the Samsung apps shown below I should leave untouched so my DEX app remains operational.
Any tips welcome.
:Samsung Bloatware App Removal List
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.service.livedrawing           ::Penup app
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.kidsinstaller             ::Kids Mode
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.storyservice                  ::Samsung Story video collage app, now defunct.
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.service.peoplestripe          ::Access contacts etc from Edge Screen
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.galaxyfinder          ::Phone Search App
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.service.airviewdictionary     ::Samsung Translate
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.easysetup             ::Smart Things setup
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.beaconmanager             ::Bluetooth beacon service, location tracking and smart things
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.scloud                ::Samsung Cloud Service
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.spayfw                ::Framework for Samsung Pay
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.samsungpass               ::Biometric replacement for web logins etc
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.authfw                ::Samsung Authentication Framework for Samsung Pass
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.samsungpassautofill           ::Samsung Pass autofill
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.watchmanagerstub          ::Galaxy Gear Watch App
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.svoiceime             ::Samsung Voice Input
pm uninstall --user 0 com.sec.android.app.billing               ::Samsung Billing
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.simplesharing         ::Samsung Link Sharing (Using Samsung Cloud)
pm uninstall --user 0 com.sec.android.cover.ledcover                ::LED Phone Cover Service
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.rubin.app             ::Customisation Service
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.stickercenter             ::Call Stikers, discontinued by Samsung
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.aremoji               ::AR Emoji
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.livestickers              ::Deco Pic, Photo decoration app
pm uninstall --user 0 com.diotek.sec.lookup.dictionary              ::Samsung Dictionary
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.social                ::What's New, Samsung Social. Samsung Social Network with Contacts
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.forest                ::Digital Wellbeing and parental controls
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.ardrawing             ::AR Doodle, drawing on photos and video in 3D
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.arzone                ::AR Zone, Provides AR features.
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.app.tips              ::Tips, User manual and usage tips.
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.aremojieditor
pm uninstall --user 0 com.sec.android.mimage.avatarstickers
pm uninstall --user 0 com.samsung.android.kgclient              ::Payment Services

Do factory reset and disable one by one until you figured out

I had the same idea to isolate the DEX app by doing an uninstall one by one. However, I was hoping somebody in this community would read this post and tell me what specific Samsung app I need to leave alone so my DEX app remains operational.

Others I don't know but you'd need to keep finder as finder is a search framework that is also used in dex.
There may be more apps you need to leave alone


text:
Cold boot: snapshot failed to load
Sometimes I start Android Emulator with the GUI, and sometimes I start with the
CLI. If I keep using the same method, everything is fine, but if I switch
between methods, it causes problems. For example if I start the emulator with
the CLI, then shut down, then start again using the GUI, I get this:
Cold boot: snapshot failed to load

If I start with the GUI, then shut down and start with the CLI, I get this:
qemu-system-i386.exe: Failed to load virtio-blk:virtio

Here is the command I use with CLI:
adb start-server
emulator -writable-system -avd Pixel_2_API_24

Am I doing something wrong?

This isnt really an issue for me anymore, as I no longer use
emulator -writable-system. I was previously using it, so that I could install
a system certificate. However another method is available, that doesnt require
an Emulator flag:
adb shell mkdir /data/local/tmp/cacerts/
adb shell cp /system/etc/security/cacerts/* /data/local/tmp/cacerts/
adb push c8750f0d.0 /data/local/tmp/cacerts/
adb root
adb shell mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /system/etc/security/cacerts
adb shell mv /data/local/tmp/cacerts/* /system/etc/security/cacerts/
adb shell chcon u:object_r:system_file:s0 /system/etc/security/cacerts/*

https://github.com/httptoolkit/httptoolkit-server/blob/master/src/interceptors/android/adb-commands.ts


text:
Bootloop - can get to Fastboot, but volume buttons just restart the phone
Pixel 3 XL - has worked like a champ for years, but just started bootlooping. If I hold vol down + power, I can get into fastboot. However, volume down and volume up buttons don't let me navigate. Either one of those just restarts the phone. I don't believe there is any physical issue with the volume buttons since they've always worked perfet. If I let the phone just sit in FASTBOOT mode, after about 5 seconds it restarts and starts looping again.
I needed a phone right away, so I found another used Pixel 3 XL, and I'm using that now. I'd love to get the old one booting again so I can sell it, or at the very least, ensure that I do a factory reset on it before bringing to a recycler.
Any ideas how I can get out of FASTBOOT mode or securely delete my data?

buttons stuck/wet/short-circuited

@alecxs I don't think so since they both do something (restart the phone) when clicked.

can power off phone and does it stay off?

The phone would not power off. It just kept rebooting until dead.

if you press and keep holding power button this would have same effect on any device. I think your buttons dried meanwhile

I was able to get this phone working again by unplugging from the wall and letting it continue bootlooping until the battery was dead. I then let it sit for a day to ensure it had no power left. I then charged via USB on my PC (NOT A WALL CHARGER) until it was fully charged. I then powered it up and it seems to be working okay so far.


text:
How to remove app shortcut from home screen (modded trebuchet launcher) after installing as system app
This tablet is proprietary, so the launcher is custom (modded trebuchet) and very limited. It runs Android 8.1.
I was able to get apex launcher installed, along with root access, but I'm trying to avoid using a third-party launcher because if I rename it with app cloner it tends to glitch out.
The goal is for my exploit of this tablet to be as undetectable as possible, which is why I am renaming all apps I've installed.
I noticed that system apps don't show up on the stock launcher home screen, and since I can't use apex or some other launcher, I figured I would install all my wanted apps (Facebook, telegram, etc...) as system apps.
I was able to install them as system apps with lucky patcher, however they still show on the home screen.. Any ideas for how I can modify the system under the hood, or otherwise, and keep these apps from showing on the stock (modded trebuchet) launcher?

By desktop (which is a term specific to Windows and its counterparts) do you mean home screen or app drawer? Or does your modded launcher shows all apps on home screen (iOS style)? Anyhow, if a system app is not showing up in app drawer then it means that it has no default launchable activity (meaning it is not designed to be interacted with by user). FB, Telegram, they all have default launchable activities, so making them a system app won't make a difference.

@Firelord Yes, I did mean home screen or app drawer. Sorry, I'm a web developer still getting acquainted with this side of the street. So is there any way to remove/modify the default launchable activity? For instance, if I were to use apktools or jadx to decompile/recompile, is there a specific area I could look to modify this behavior? Thanks


text:
International area codes suddenly appearing in front of my contacts in "Messages" app
The other day I noticed that the international area prefix "+54 9" had started appearing in front of about half of my contacts in Android's native Messenger app. I can still send and receive messages from those contacts (verified with my wife's phone). But it's still annoying, and I worry that I'm getting charged extra by my phone company. When I go into my contacts and try to edit the numbers, the prefix is no longer there, but it shows up again the next time I add them to a texting thread. Has anybody ever experienced this?

It turns out there's a country setting under ⋮ -> Settings -> Your current country. Somehow my country had been switched to Argentina. Posting this here because I came up empty after spending 20 minutes of searching on Google. Hopefully this can help someone else.


text:
Is there such a thing as generic touch screen calibration?
I have an Orange pi 2g-IoT board with a 3.97 in TFT touch screen (the whole thing is a set)
One of the provided OS images for this board is stock Android 4.4 (at least this is what it claims, the UI does look like it is probably based on 4.4, but I am not sure whether/what kind of specific modifications the manufacturer has made)
The LCD touch detection is very flaky (sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, works consistently on some GUI components but doesn't on others, etc, see stackoverflow question about it here)
The user manual that comes with the board doesn't say anything about calibration, but I think some kind of calibration is needed. I had similar problems with the touch screen of a raspberry pi board that I had previously worked on, and it worked perfectly after calibrating the screen using the provided software, so I'm assuming that's what I need to do here as well. The board manufacturer is not very helpful with software support, I'm on my own regarding making this work
Is there anything like a generic LCD calibration app for android? I see that there are lots of apps claiming to calibrate the screen if I do a quick playstore search (never used any such app myself). So is that a real thing? How do such apps handle different phone models? I can't use google playstore on this board but I can connect to it using ADB and it has root, so I am ok with installing an apk through ADB.
After some random poking around I was able to get a preinstalled app to run on the board which shows LCD screen parameters. Here's part of what this app shows:

Is there any way to calibrate this touch screen, or any way to make my own calibration app? I can try and get more screenshots from this app pictured above, if it will be helpful.

Extra question: what does "soft-keys: false" mean above?

Soft-keys are the navigation button on the bottom that Android 4.x device can have (as shown here: https://android.stackexchange.com/q/32697/2241). They can be implemented in software (black bar with button on the bottom) or in hardware if the device has special hardware buttons outside of the display.

@Robert the screen has the triangle, circle and square symbols at the bottom (can be seen in the Aliexpress link above) but as far as I can tell they don't do anything. Does the "soft-keys: false" here mean I won't be able to get them to work on this screen then?

soft-keys; false just means that the soft keys are disabled in the current OS configuration. Just use your favorite search engine and search for android enable soft-keys and you will find a lot of older posts explain how to activate soft-keys.

I can't say for Android-based IoT-related software, but AFAIK there's no way to resize the touchscreen area on Android (that's a physical hardware issue, and if there was, I'd hardly believe there's no such answer to the existing questions about broken touchscreen). The usual workaround is to resize the screen area using adb shell wm overscan instead (ref: Resize screen for Dead touch zone.


text:
My phone starts downloading an app which is named 'Google Play' but is not the actual google play
My phone starts downloading an app which is named 'Google Play' when I press it's dialogue for a second it shows 'Download Manager' as the app which is downloading it. But I don't have any download manager on my phone.
It seems fishy, something isn't right with the app, it's probably a malware. Please help!
I've attached the screenshots.
!

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

It happens everyday at evening, between 7 and 7:30, It starts, though I cancel but it starts again until it gets completed, I'm really worried, might it be that someone is hacking my phone. Please help somebody!

"Download Manager" is the built-in download system of Android. It is available on every Android device. Apps can define download tasks that are executed by this Download Manager.

But I don't find any download manager in app manager, I've unlocked developer options.

check your google play version, let the "malware" finish it's update, check version again. If it's different version it's probably not malware but regular update (which btw cannot prevented from settings, google has full control over your phone)

Google Play triggers its own updates automatically because there's no way for users to manually update some Play-related services from the Play Store directly.


text:
Can any virus be removed easily on non-rooted phones?
I know that all android devices are hackable whether they are rooted or not. I have general idea of protecting an android phone (or staying safe with android device) from any viruses. What I want to know is curing an android phone. In other words, removing virus on it once it is infected. Are non-rooted phones easier to remove viruses (even backdoors)? For example, by doing factory reset on non-rooted phone, are all viruses gone? Can malware exist on /system partition or /boot partition on non-rooted phone? (In that case, I know I need to re-flash the ROM instead of doing factory reset)
I know many known viruses can be detected easily by anti-virus softwares. But nowadays hackers can easily make undetectable malwares.
P.S. My phone is not rooted and its bootloader is locked. Can all virus be gone after factory reset on my phone?

If your phone has a security vulnerability for gaining root permissions then the malware could write itself to the system partition and therefore survive any factory reset you do. On an unrooted device do don't have a chance against such a malware.

@Robert Sorry I don't understand your last sentence. What does it mean?

on locked bootloader, android should deny boot on modified system partitions, therefore factory reset would remove malware sufficient. But some older devices have weak implementation of avb/dm-verity, sometimes even modified kernel on locked bootloader is possible. Anyway flashing stock ROM will remove everything

@alecxs I think my phone is not kinda old device. When I purchased it, android version was 9. Now it is android 11 after upgrading. Anyway thanks man!


text:
What does the "Blocking temporarily off" Phone notification mean?
After calling an emergency number, I received a notification from the "Phone" app on my Android device that states:

Blocking temporarily off
Blocking is turned off after you dial or text an emergency number

Not to be dense or pedantic, but there's no noun there: the blocking of what, specifically, is turned off? Is it the blocking of calls, maybe? Is it disabling the blocking of caller-ID numbers on my side or their side (or both)?
In other words, what is the normal behavior in the Phone app being altered (i.e. what would I, or someone else, otherwise have been able to "block")?

This is about blocking receiving calls.
Apparently, this behavior has been observed since 2016. An article on Android Police provided an introduction about this behavior.

Apparently if you call an emergency number from your Android device, you can't block calls for the next 48 hours.
We don't know why this is the case, though we imagine it may be to prevent you from blocking your local police department or other emergency personnel.
The notification appears at the top of the Call Blocking screen. It does not provide a rationale, nor is this all that happens after you call for help. [...]

Google Fi Help also mentioned about this behavior.

Call blocking and emergency services (911)
If you make an emergency call, Google Fi will turn off all number blocking for a 2-hour period to make sure that 911 operators can call you back if needed.
To turn off number blocking temporarily, Google Fi sends a data message, and in some cases a text message, to our servers to let us know an emergency call was made from your device.


text:
Getting into Android with broken screen
My Moto Z Play died during a failed repair attempt.
The digitizer was dead immediately, the screen first still showed a faint image, but that's gone as well now.
ADB is activated, but only after login, and login only works using the gesture, not using the fingerprint sensor, at least after the phone rebooted.
I got scrcpy to work before, but while ADB isn't running, I can't use that.
My phone doesn't have any video output capabilities over it's USB C port, at least none that I ever got to work.
I can connect a mouse to unlock the screen, but without the ability to see the mouse pointer, that doesn't help either.
Does anyone have a clever idea what I could do to unlock the screen, so that I can grab the rest of the data that's left on the phone?
Or any other way of getting to the data?

get a second Moto Z play, tape two mouses together and unlock simultaneously

@alecxs I like your thinking^^ That's a pretty cool idea, but I fear, it won't really help me^^

What do you mean with login by gesture, screen lock pattern? adb should run before unlock, at least on my phone I can unlock pattern with scrcpy. I guess it's problem with rsa keys. scrcpy comes with adb.exe which is different to platform-tools, therefore will get in conflict with existing .android folder (do a backup, just in case) and discard existing rsa keys inside. you will see 'adb devices' unauthorized. another reason might be adb only enabled in MTP mode, but phones default is charge only

Yes, a lock pattern. I hoped, I could unlock it using a keyboard, but that sadly doesn't seem to work. On my phone, adb only starts after the screen has been unlocked. It's always been like that. After the botched repair, when the display still showed something, I could login using a mouse and after that use scrcpy. That worked fine. But I went to sleep before I could finish the backup. In the mean time the display completely died and the battery ran out. So today I tried to start it back up. The fingerprint sensor still vibrates the phone, so I know its on, but I can't get past the lockscreen

I even had the phone plugged in, so that it wouldn't run out of battery, but the case wasn't fully closed and there was a switch on the inside, that stops the phone from charging with the case opened. Stupid me did not disable the lock screen...

By any chance you can make screenshots to external MicroSD Card? That would maybe show you mouse cursor

I guess you would like the data that is in the phone, right? I'm not an expert regarding mobile software development, but I would try to take the data out building a software for it - maybe with Android Studio, which allows you to run/debug an app directly in your phone. I'm not sure it would work in your case, neither if it would be possible to do anything with a broken screen (I believe you need to have allowed the development tools in your phone for that), but I'd give it a try, since the tools for that are free.

@alecxs: That's a pretty awsome idea! I don't know if the default screenshot path is the sd card, though... But if I am lucky Google Photos might sync the screenshots.

@Leonardo Alves Machado: I considered this, but without adb I can't upload/install any software...


text:
While having the lock screen set to delay, is it possible to lock a phone instantly (Galaxy S20 FE in particular)?
I like having my phone (GS 20 FE) not lock automatically for a while, but there are times when it would be nice to be able to lock it instantly.
Often, I'll turn my screen off, put my phone in my pocket, and when I take it back out a few minutes later, it'll be in a settings menu of some random app.  Or trying to send a message to a random contact.  Or asking if I really want to delete a file.
It would be nice to be able to lock my phone immediately before I put it in my pocket but keep it on the delay setting for when I'm sitting somewhere.
Does anyone know if there's an easy way to do this?
Thanks!

Every Android phone I have ever used has had a button for that very purpose.  Why not use it?

Because turning the screen off and locking the phone aren't the same thing.  Sometimes they both happen when this button is used.  But since I have my phone set to delay locking for a little while, this button only serves to turn the screen off.


text:
Rebuilt `super` partition won't boot
I'm trying to customize an Android 11 super partition, removing certain apps. I used https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/guide-ota-tools-lpunpack.4041843/ to unpack the super partition, mounted them as read-write using the instructions here and then repacked them as follows:
~/otatools/bin/lpmake \
--metadata-size 65536 \
--metadata-slots 2 \
--device super:2684354560 \
--group qti_dynamic_partitions:2680160256 \
--partition system:readonly:700383232:qti_dynamic_partitions \
--image system=./system.img \
--partition system_ext:readonly:300167168:qti_dynamic_partitions \
--image system_ext=./system_ext.img \
--partition product:readonly:68022272:qti_dynamic_partitions \
--image product=./product.img \
--partition vendor:readonly:304410624:qti_dynamic_partitions \
--image vendor=./vendor.img \
--output ./super.img

The command executes fine with the usual messages about invalid sparse images. But when I flash it using EDL mode, the phone won't boot. Furthermore, 7zip won't open this file like it opens the original super image, it detects it as a different format. It doesn't seem to be a boot verity issue. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong, but what?

Does this answer your question? Android Verified Boot and generation of vbmeta image

@alecxs No it doesn't, I'm not asking about a vbmeta image and it doesn't look like a verified boot issue to me

@alecxs I think you're right that it's the dm-verity causing the problem. Unfortunately the bootloader cannot be unlocked on this device, and flashing the vbmeta without unlocking does cause the red warning screen.

try to hex patch devinfo partition https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=4100897

I tried that already, but like the article says, it's only for zte phones. My devinfo partition is completely blank. If you look at the source in the Alephsecurity article, you will see that only certain bootloaders store the unlock info in devinfo - not mine, apparently. It looks like the bootloader itself is stored in the modem partition but I have no idea how to patch it.

Does this answer your question? How is bootloader state protected against physical tampering in Google Pixel

Try replacing readonly with none, and add the flag "--virtual-ab". That did it for me.


text:
Magisk v23 with Android Studio
I am trying to install LSPosed [1], but it requires Magisk v23 [2]. I tried to
install Magisk v23 using the instruction here [3], but I get this result:
- Device platform: x86
- Installing: 23.0 (23000)
- Copying image to cache
! Process error
! Installation failed

In one of the steps, the instructions say you can use one of these three
commands:
patch.bat
patch.bat manager
patch.bat canary

I ran through all the steps three times, each time using a different command
above, none of them worked. Note, I am able to install the older Magisk v21.4,
but nothing newer. I am using Android Studio with a Virtual Device:
API 27
Android 8.1

I have seen other people show screenshots of this working, but they refuse to
explain how they were able to do it. Does anyone know how to get this working?

https://github.com/LSPosed/LSPosed
https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk
https://github.com/shakalaca/MagiskOnEmulator

Please include all the commands you have executed and at which command you are getting the error.

https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/guides.html#root-directory-overlay-system

Okay so you have magisk 21.x working...
su
echo $PATH

Copy the output string.
Use a file explorer with root access and

Head over to /

Edit init.environ.rc by adding "export PATH <that copied string>" as the first line of the file.

Now, if there is no sbin folder in / , make one

Now from magisk manager (or whatever way), upgrade to Magisk 23

I dont like this at all. I should be able to just install v23 directly. It appears that is what other people are doing

I totally agree with you but so far this is how  i managed the stuff for myself.... ofcourse not a solution but a working "workaround" .


text:
How to use rclone-mount with Termux:Boot?
I would like to do what is described in this post: How to mount rclone on Android? and then have Termux:Boot automatically mount my rclone remotes at boot time.
As per that post, I am using the static fusermount binary from here. I am using the official rclone binary from here.
Referring to this page, Termux:Boot, I have the general idea. However, I have several questions:

I have 3 remotes configured in rclone-mount. Is this script adequate to run with Termux:Boot to mount these 3 remotes? I appear to have it working on one device, but I can't replicate that success on my 2nd device. Also, I understand that only root can mount a FUSE filesystem, so I am confused that this appears* to be working on one device. (*The rclone mounts do in fact work on that device.)

#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh
termux-wake-lock
rclone -v mount pcloud: /mnt/runtime/write/emulated/0/pcloud --gid 9997 --dir-perms 0771 --file-perms 0660 --umask=0 --allow-other &

rclone -v mount desktop: /mnt/runtime/write/emulated/0/desktop --gid 9997 --dir-perms 0771 --file-perms 0660 --umask=0 --allow-other &

rclone -v mount server: /mnt/runtime/write/emulated/0/server --gid 9997 --dir-perms 0771 --file-perms 0660 --umask=0 --allow-other &

Or if I do need to run this script as root, how would I do it? For example, I tried adding these lines from the above referenced answer:
#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash -e

[ $(id -u) -eq 0 ] || exec su --mount-master -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH HOME=$HOME PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin $0"

[ $(readlink /proc/1/ns/mnt) = $(readlink /proc/self/ns/mnt) ] || nsenter -t 1 -m -- "$0"

That does not appear to work with Termux:Boot.

Related question, what permissions do the above scripts need for Termux:Boot to work? Does it need to be executable? Who should the owner and group be? Should it be run as root? Can it be run as root?

I set executable perms for owner & group and I gave it the same owner/group that I saw for the ~/.termux/boot/ directory in Termux on the phone (which is not root, just the regular user).
During testing on one device, I got this working without running the Termux:Boot script as root, but I had made so many different attempts to get rclone-mount working on that device that I also have the rclone-mount Magisk module installed as well some another custom script. So I don't (yet) know the precise steps required to repeat this successfully.
Now I am setting it up on a second device, and I cannot get the rclone mounts to mount at boot whether I run the above script in the non-root version or with the added root privileges (as suggested by the answer I referenced). Nothing I'm trying is working, even though I repeated the same Termux:Boot steps I used on the other device. In this question, I'm seeking clarification on the details, and hopefully I will be able to understand where I'm going wrong.

I assume backgrounding the rclone commands (&) is also needed, but I'm not sure. When I run the commands in the terminal, it is needed.

I manually created my 3 mount points (e.g., /mnt/runtime/write/emulated/0/pcloud) before running the script.

When I run the rclone mount commands as root in Termux (while logged in via SSH), I get this error:
Fatal error: failed to mount FUSE fs: fusermount: fork/exec /system/bin/fusermount: permission denied

/system/bin/fusermount is a symlink to:
# ls -la /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/fusermount
-rwxr-xr-x 1 u0_a212 u0_a212 95904 2021-10-21 16:48 /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/fusermount

In turn, that is the statically linked binary recommended in the other post.
When I run the rclone mount command as the non-root user, I get this error:
$ rclone -v mount pcloud: /sdcard/pcloud --gid 9997 --dir-perms 0771 --file-perms 0660 --umask=0 --allow-other
WARNING: linker: /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/rclone: unsupported flags DT_FLAGS_1=0x8000001
2021/10/21 23:57:07 mount helper error: fusermount: failed to open /dev/fuse: Permission denied
2021/10/21 23:57:07 Fatal error: failed to mount FUSE fs: fusermount: exit status 1

That would seem to support the statement that only root can mount FUSE filesystems.
Is it possible to get rclone mount to work with Termux:Boot? I'm wondering how I got it to work on my other device.
That working device is running Lineage OS and it also has the rclone-mount Magisk module installed -- which, by itself is not working. That is why I assumed that my non-root Termux:Boot setup is responsible the rclone mounts working.
I can't replicate that success on this device, a rooted Samsung (stock firmware). Maybe the working solution is some strange mix of the two main methods I tried (Termux and Magisk). Or maybe a working solution requires a non-stock firmware?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.


text:
No recent apps screen after disabling the launcher
My phone came with a launcher I didn't really like very much. So I installed Nova Launcher and disabled the in-built launcher. Now the recent apps screen won't come up. I looked up and most of the suggestions were to install a custom rom, I can't install a custom rom because there is not custom recovery as well as custom rom for my phone. To get the recent apps screen should I enable the launcher or is there any other alternative?
Device model: Tecno Spark 7
Android Version: Android 11
In-built launcher: HiOS

I just remembered, I have another phone running custom rom(Havoc OS) and it came with two launchers - Pixel Launcher and Shady Launcher and on switching between the two, the recent apps screens changed. So, I'm guessing it probably is part of the launcher(maybe?).

You need to enable the stock launcher. There is no other way. I had read somewhere that since Android 9 recent view functionality was being provided by a launcher app. Nova launcher doesn't implement a recent view functionality and since you disabled stock launcher too you are left with none. Keep the stock launcher enabled but use Nova or whatever launcher you need as "default". This is what I had to do in my OnePlus 6 (Android 10).

I read this and yes recent view functionality can be provided by a third-party launcher but it requires root.


text:
What is the correct download address for SP Flash Tool?
So far, all the download addresses I can find are from third parties, does MediaTek officially offer downloads?

https://spflashtools.com

Unfortunately, there is no official download source for SP Flash Tool, as Mediatek never released for consumer.


text:
USB tethering is Constantly disconnected automatically
I use USB tethering to access the internet for my PC, but after enabling USB tethering and using it for about 5 minutes, it disconnects, and I should enable it again on my android phone. What should I do to stop disconnecting automatically?
The USB cable is not broken (It doesn't have any problem with charging).  I bought it about one month ago.
Device: Samsung Galaxy A7 2016
Android version: 7.0

in "Developer Settings"
search for "Default USB configuration"
and select "USB tethering"
Reboot the phone (connected to the PC via USB)
and try to access the internet...


text:
Forward video stream to PC via USB-tethering
On my Android phone, I run AirReceiver which mirrors the screen of  my iPad connected to it via mobile hotspot. In the app, I can choose the player (VLC, the default player, etc.) to play this video stream in. I would like to redirect this video stream from the phone to my Linux PC via USB-tethering. Is there a way to achieve it?
My current solution is to mirror the phone's screen with the video running in the foreground via scrcpy. However, the iPad's and the phone's screen have different dimensions, the resolution is lost and the video has to be cropped on the PC.
I was thinking of using VLC direct somehow but I don't know how.
Thanks for any tips!


text:
Whatsapp Chat Backup
I have got new phone and in that I have lost my whatsapp chat backup as i have skipped to restore and the last backup has been overwriiten by new backup. Is there nay way I can get last backup in my new phone without having old phone

https://faq.whatsapp.com/android/chats/how-to-restore-your-chat-history

You already answered your question yourself. Last backup has been overwritten by new backup. There is no way to get last backup without having old phone.
Local WhatsApp backup is located Internal Storage
/storage/emulated/0/WhatsApp
/storage/emulated/0/Android/media/com.whatsapp/Whatsapp

transfer whole directory to new phone
install WhatsApp (or clear app data)
restore local backup on initial setup


text:
How to hide or unhide app in MIUI drawer?
In MIUI I have Files app hidden. I don't have it in my drawer. I can run it by adb shell like this:
am start -n com.android.documentsui/com.android.documentsui.LauncherActivity

But how do I add this activity to drawer? I was trying THIS way, but I cant find this piece of xml in sysconfig. Maybe because I have android 9.
Also, I don't know if I'm supposed to create new topic about this, but is there any option on sources.android.com to see previous versions of the page (It could help me to figure out how to show it in andro 9)?
EDIT:
In Android 10, the DocumentsUI module uses is_launcher_enabled to determine if the Files launcher icon should display in the app drawer.
I extracted the apk file with the ApkExtractor and checked this flag with the APK Editor Studio. I don't know if it gave me files actually used by the app, but It seems to be untouched:
AndroidManifest.xml
android:enabled="@bool/is_launcher_enabled">

res/values/bool.xml
<bool name="is_launcher_enabled">true</bool>

Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.

Re: see previous versions of the page, Android doesn't provide such functionality, so you have to use 3rd-party services like Internet Wayback Machine.


text:
Termux: bad interpreter: Permission denied
I'm attempting to execute this command in a Termux:Boot script.
 exec su --mount-master -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH HOME=$HOME PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin $0"

I get this error:
: /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/su: \
/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/sh: bad interpreter: Permission denied

However, I can execute the command directly (without the exec) on the command line without any errors and I get the root prompt as expected.
The command comes from https://android.stackexchange.com/a/225612/12444
#!/data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/bash -e

[ $(id -u) -eq 0 ] || exec su --mount-master -c "LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH HOME=$HOME PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin $0"

Also, as part of trying to get that entire script to work on my device, I am trying this in Termux:
$ tsu
# rclone -v mount GDrive: /mnt/runtime/write/emulated/0/GDrive --gid 9997 --dir-perms 0771 --file-perms 0660 --umask=0 --allow-other

This gives the error:
# bash: /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/rclone: Permission denied

The permissions are:
-rwxr-xr-x 1 u0_a212 u0_a212 62257128 Oct 21 16:57 /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/rclone

Any suggestions?

https://github.com/MrBIMC/SELinuxModeChanger

@alecxs luckily, my SELinux mode is already permissive, but that's a good link anyway. Thanks for sharing it.

try Termux:Boot with this script and check '/sdcard/termux.log' for debugging purposes https://pastebin.com/vqeWK60E

@alecxs: good idea. Thanks. Will run that and report back. Also, I have made some progress, so I will update the question. I also need to post a new question related to https://github.com/topjohnwu/Magisk/blob/master/scripts/emulator.sh

@alecxs - I updated our chat room with results. Need your suggestions on next step.


text:
I can enter recovery but not sideload, and fastboot does not recognize the device
I have a shieldtablet which was working fine, until I decided to encrypt the drive. The process completed, the device rebooted, and it's stuck in a reboot loop. Neither Linux/Windows recognize it when the USB is connected, and it's not listed/identified via the adb or fastboot utilities. I can enter TWRP recovery and the bootloader (nvboot), but it doesn't look like I can push any files to the tablet or flash.
edit: Fortunately the tablet accepts the sdcard, and it looks like I am able to install files via TWRP. I did attempt to format and install LineageOS 16 through it, but the issue remains (lineageos boot animation plays for 1-2 minutes, then the device reboots).
Potentially critical info: When I enter the bootloader, nvtboot versions shows a single glyph (garbage) character (although the bootloader reports version 4.00.2016.04-8b2413b7). Is it possible that the encryption broke the bootloader or some other important partition/data?
Do you have any ideas for further debugging so that I can salvage the tablet?

TWRP -> Wipe -> Format Data -> type "yes" (reboot recovery and repeat)

Does this answer your question? Cryptfs : Unexpected value for crypto key location

Thank you @alecxs. Hmmm dmesg and recovery log don't show any such errors. I also ran a grep -i for cryptfs, nvt etc but didn't find any logging of interest.I tried again with "Format Data" and an advanced wipe, I rebooted again before trying the installation, and strangely enough this time it worked. Last time I installed right after formatting. I recall that I set TWRP to leave the system partition as writeable (not read-only), so I'm not sure what changed from last time!
The fact that nvtboot still doesn't show a proper revision/ver still worries me, but at least the OS boots!

"Format Data" via the TWRP recovery -> Advanced Wipe -> Reboot -> Reinstalling LineageOS 16 seemed to do the trick, and the OS now loads.
(Interestingly, I still cannot identify the device via adb/fastboot, I wonder if the stock ROM will resolve that).


text:
POCO X3 Pro - Bluetooth stays on
Recently aquired a POCO X3 Pro.
Problem is, I disable bluetooth (to conserve battery), however, after a reboot, bluetooth is enabled again. It says that Google Play Services turned it on.
Any ideas please?

What is your question?

Why does Google Play Services need bluetooth? Presumably its better not to disable Google Play Services. And why doesn't my Samsung behave the same way?


text:
How to install Xposed framework on Android 12? What about safety net?
Further to these questions:

What are the alternatives for Xposed framework on Pie? Preferably without triggering Safety Net?
How to install EdXposed on Android 10 without triggering safety net
How to install EdXposed on Android 11? What about safety net?

How does one install Xposed framework on Android 12?
Notes:

This is a self answered question for the fourth year on this subject!  Edxposed is still in beta and Android 12 is recently released, so there would be many changes to this answer in future. Since I do not intend to update this answer with developments, others are welcome to add and modify - sadly, in the previous three questions, there hasn't been a single edit barring mine :( , so this may help the diminishing breed of Xposed module enthusiasts.

Answer is generic in nature and for issues relating to installation / modules you are better off asking in respective device/module threads in XDA.

Moderators are welcome to make this a community wiki if warranted.

This answer is valid on the day of posting and it is very unlikely I would be updating it. Please feel free to edit this or add a separate answer

Firstly,edxposed was the way in recent years.However,developers never provided adequate documentation and the Telegram channels are mostly in Chinese making it difficult to understand. Anecdotally, there have been differences in the team members (core Riru module and Yahfa/Sandhook drivers are developed separately), vouched for by developers on XDA. To make things worse,differences have reached a stage wherein the latest Riru module is incompatible with drivers and users are advised not to update. Driver developers termed this irresponsible change of Riru.
Secondly, the drivers have also not been updated to support Android 12.
Lsposed
Given these, the alternative was lsposed, which again anecdotally is developed by break-away members of the Edxposed team. There is an XDA thread  maintained by a user.
I had tried Lsposed earlier but didn't like it

because of their design wherein you need to deliberately select each and every app that you want an xposed module to hook into.Same logic applies for system components. Repeat this for every app/module you install(there is an automation workaround though)

Another difficulty is that unless the module developer specifies what system components are to enabled, it is a guessing game with unpredictable results.The developers however, consider this their core philosophy. Conversely, because of this , system lag is reduced.

Installation

After rooting device with magisk, install latest/compatible Riru Core module from github or magisk repo (v26.1.3, in this case).

Install the latest.compatible lsposed module from github (v1.6.2, in this case).

Once you install lsposed , it creates a shortcut on your launcher to manage  module installation. It has a module repo too (beta). This manager is called parasitic manager, since the app is hidden in the app drawer to prevent detection but you get a regular app shortcut on your home screen. If you choose to install from the built-in repo, you are saved the bother of figuring out what system components need to be hooked.

Setting it up was a breeze and the easiest xposed framework installation for me over last 7 years.
XPrivacy Lua works, so does XPosed Edge Pro. Though these modules haven't been updated yet for Android 12, they work to the extent I need.
Safety Net
As explained in Magisk will fail Safety-Net hereafter. Why?, safety net bypass is increasingly tough or impossible with recent devices. I wasn't keen to have the safety net status green since I don't use apps that demand this. However, one banking app refused to work as it detected root,despite enabling it in magisk hide. Since I wanted to have that app running , this is how I could pass safety net. YMMV may vary.

Installed this Magisk module [XPosed]DevOptsHide (Hide developer options)[ROOT] which claims to hide root and also hide developer option status. It didn't help me with this banking app.

Universal SafetyNet Fix Magisk module did the trick and I was able to pass safety net check and get the banking app running. It is interesting to learn how it works (for details see the linked page)

It prevents hardware based  safety net detection and forces basic attestation which is easier to fool.

Google knows which devices support hardware detection so it presents device as  a different device by appending a space character to the device model name

With magisk set to drop magisk hide feature with future upgrades, fooling safety net detection is going to be tougher if not impossible.


text:
I have forgotten the pattern for my samsung galaxy tab a i donot want to reset it please help
I have access to internet on the tab if that helps in any case. I have my study material there and I don't want to factory reset it what to do i hope to get help.

try to unlock from https://findmymobile.samsung.com


text:
Permanently disable one activity component
I have a banking app which was detecting root despite being hidden by Magisk.
I managed to hide root from that app but on analyzing that app I found an activity that is very conveniently named DETECT MAGISK with activity name com.sbi.rc.DetectMagisk
I want to know if I can disable only that activity so that the app cannot even make an attempt to detect root (I am not sure if the app would work or not with that activity disabled, but worth a shot)
Pixel 4a, Android 12,rooted

The command to disable app's components is pm disable <package>/<component>.
So, I ran this command:
~$ pm disable com.sbi.SBIFreedomPlus/com.sbi.rc.DetectMagisk
Component {com.sbi.SBIFreedomPlus/com.sbi.rc.DetectMagisk} new state: disabled

It was successful. But, the app refused to launch. In hindsight, this should have been obvious as the app is designed to work only after detecting device is not rooted and if the check itself is disabled, it logically shouldn't work.


text:
installing a language rom file for the same phone but a different build number
so i just want to install another language rom for my phone since it doesn't originally have it
now i found several files for my phone but the one that is available for my phone with my build number is just for keyboard, which was already available officially
the others however support both the interface and the keyboard
what happens if i install the rom that is intended for, let's say J120HXXS0AQE1 on my phone which has the build id of J120HXXS0AQF1?
because the difference is just for one syllable
that's it
will it be that bad?
please respond shortly if it works
thanks yall
the phone model is samsung j1 2016 sm-j120h

If you are able to install a ROM depends on two things: 1. The ROM have to be signed using the same cryptographic key as your installed ROM and second it's version have to be higher than the one you have installed because Android does not allow a downgrade. If one or both requirements are fulfilled is unknown to you as I neither know your device nor the ROMs you have mentioned. Note that even if you are able to install a ROM doesn't have to mean that it will work in the end. If two ROMs just differ in the language it should work as long as the hardware is not region specific.

well, i did it, i installed a rom that was not made for my phone's build number
and it worked!
(the phone is a bit slower, [probably due to installing a rom just now) it functioned alright, language is now changable for the interface as well
thanks the guy who helped me even though your english is a bit bad

i did it becuase robert said that it'll be fine as long im not trying to meddle with too sensitive stuff such as hardware and whatnot.
so it works
as longas the change ain't too drastic

You did what? Please mention the steps you took to solve your problem.


text:
How can I configure the Google Stack application so that it only backs up when connected to a Wi-Fi network?
I don't see the option in the settings menu of the Google Stack Android application:

It has uploaded over 10 GB of content today via my 4G network and doesn't seem to stop.
I use Android 10 with Samsung Galaxy S9.

This app isn't available in my country but I checked the reviews. 3 days ago this feature was requested by an user
Developers commented that this would be added in an update due shortly


text:
Why can I view files from "Internal Storage" WITHOUT entering password either in OrangeFox recovery or via USB cable on PC?
I was under impression that all user files are encrypted by default in Android using FDE.  It was to my surprise that I can just run, for example, OrangeFox recovery and when it asks me for a password to decrypt data partition, I can simply cancel entering it and then still view /sdcard directory.  If I then open some text file (from that /sdcard) in a built-in (OrangeFox) text editor, it would show me all the text properly without any scrambling.  The same would obviously apply to all other files such as photos, videos, and etc.  Similarly if I enable MTP in OrangeFox, I can also view all of that via USB on PC.  At the same time, when booted to Android ROM, in Settings and Encrypt phone, it says Encrypted.
I would imagine that only after entering user password/pattern should it be possible to even mount that partition in OrangeFox.  Viewing through USB again should only work if I'm either logged into Android ROM and unlocked the user or if through OrangeFox, when partition is unlocked and mounted.
Do I miss something?  How to ensure proper encryption on all of the user data?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

The newly flashed ROM was xiaomi.eu 12.0.4.  I then tried various modifications of it, but all of them expose the same issue over and over again.  After I flashed Lineage OS, the behavior was as expected: no way to see any files on "Internal Storage" (/sdcard or /data/media/0).  In fact, as I expected in my original post, even though /sdcard is viewable in OrangeFox, the only directory there is Fox, where it puts recovery logs and other volatile data, but there are no files from user even visible whatsoever.  Accordingly the "Data" partition is not even treated as mounted, and going to "Mount" option reveals that the checkbox of it is unchecked and one cannot even check it until one explicitly decrypts it.  Interestingly, I would have expected such mount-related behavior only with FDE, but I can confirm that this installation has FBE.  So this looks good now, but it's a pity that latest MIUI ROMs are that broken, what a mess...  :(


text:
MKV video files stutters GALAXY TAB 4 SM-T351
So here we are, I have that big ass 10.1 inches screen and with the course of the years I have more and more troubles with playing the videos, especially the ones from Shaanig and MINX torrent releases.
I inspected my tab with Antutu and it shows me clearly that I have a really old device.
Surprisingly it is still possible to have a very smooth playback with Xtreme player, available in Play Market but this fact ignites my interest even more.
Why is it just about a one single player app that can run .mkv releases on my  device?
Is my device too old and there is no hope anymore for playing latest releases of all those .mkv-s?
Should I try another video players instead?
Here goes the Antutu results screenshots.
Antutu version - 9.1.7
I know that Antutu of 4.x.x. shows even worse results for my device something about 12.000

MKV is just a container, more relevant is what video type is inside. E.g. an MPEG4 or H265 video and the used encoding profile. If the video type and encoding profile is not supported by the hardware encoder of your tablet, then a stuttering playback is the common effect as everything has to be decoded by the CPU.

Some 3rd-party apps may include/provide their own codec pack to support more audio & video formats.

@Robert great answer actually that explains a lot. Would be just some awesome if you could share a link on a few articles about hardware encoders since I'm really dedicated to get to the bottom of this very interesting particular problem.

@AndrewT. Actually that was my very first thought I had. I explored the Play Market installing page and I lured anywhere that could give me a slighted hint on why Extreme Player does better job than the other but there was nothing.
Also, VLC player is very famous for having his very own standalone codec pack but in this case it is not doing the job with MINX or SHAANIG releases any better than any other player.

MKV is just a container (like AVI), more relevant is what video type is inside. E.g. an MPEG4 or H265 video and the used encoding profile. If the video type and encoding profile is not supported by the hardware encoder of your tablet, then a stuttering playback is the common effect as everything has to be decoded by the CPU. Additionally battery usage of software based decoding is way higher than decoding a video in hardware.
There are apps displaying all the codec available on your device, usually this means that a supported codec is decoded in hardware or at least mainly in hardware.
My preferred player is MX Player (I prefer the ad free pro version). While the video is playing you can see which video decoder is used: SW (software), HW (hardware) or HW+ (hybrid of hardware accelerated decoding plus software enhancement).
If you have videos that can only be decoded in software I strongly recommend to reencode them on a PC using video transcoder like Handbrake (or if you prefer to make it manually you can use ffmpeg).
If the PC has a GPU with integrated video encoding then reencoding does not take too much time.


text:
Why I can't make a call with Telegram?
Every time I try to call,it write "Waiting" and then "Failed to connect".
I cant make a call.
How fix this?

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.

Try to clear cache and data of the app through Settings > Apps and notifications > See all > Telegram > Storage and cache > Clear (for both)
Check also the permissions (on the same menu of "Storage and cache") and make sure Telegram can access Phone.

it seems when person which I call is at wifi ,then call is ok but if he is at mobile data then failed to connect...really strange bug


text:
Cannot Save Any WhatsApp Data Including Backup to Gmail/Google Account
Recently I bought a new phone (phone Y) - originally, I had been using WhatsApp as a dual app on someone else's phone (phone X), with a number whose SIM card was on a different cellphone (Phone Z). I was messaging people on phone X using the SIM card of phone Z, but when I saved contacts I saved it to a Gmail account instead. All was going well.
Then I wanted to switch over to using WhatsApp on Phone Y. As popularly advised, I went to the dual app on Phone X and backed up the data to Google Drive on my gmail account, but it never notified me of a finished backup. When I deleted the app on Phone X and installed it on Phone Y (which already knows and is linked the Gmail account), I keyed in the number of Phone Z (did not move the SIM because its not a microSIM, as required by Phone Y) and then it asked to give permission to access Google Drive for the backup. I gave it permission but then it said, no backup found.
True enough, I checked https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/backups and it said there were no backups. I then got suspicious and checked my Google Contacts too - turns out it hadn't saved any of the contacts there either.
Which means the app was never importing any data to the google account, and still won't. Does anybody have any idea why this is happening??


text:
prevent android device from creating folders on otg storage
I know similar questions have been asked, but I haven't found a satisfying answer yet.
Whenever I connect a storage device to my phone, it creates the following folders on that device:

Alarms
Audiobooks
Documents
LOST.DIR
Music
Pictures
Ringtones
Android
DCIM
Download
Movies
Notifications
Podcasts

I need none of these. Is there a way to not have this happen every time? Possibly a magisk module or something.
Edit:
Additional information:
Rom: oxygen os 11
Device: OnePlus Nord CE

I would assume that this is a bug of your device (the details about hardware. ROM, Android version is missing in your question). It seems like it misinterprets the OTG device as internal storage. On my devices only the LOST.DIR is created.

Does this answer your question? How to stop apps writing to "Android" folder on the SD card?

@iHnR - did you figure this out? Have same issue with LineageOS 18.1 (Android 11).


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Wallpaper changer can no longer access/find home screen images on Samsung Galaxy A20/Android 11 to add to default album
Until recently, I was able to add one image at a time to the default album by (1) downloading image from Samsung Themes, (2) applying it to my home screen, (3) adding it to Wallpaper Changer's default album. Since each home screen image overrode the last, I had to repeat these steps to accumulate all the downloaded images into the default album. Now, Wallpaper Changer isn't defaulting to the home screen image location anymore. How can I re-direct it? Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.