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How to bookmark a custom URL in Chrome mobile browser?
I have an entry URL into an app1 like
https://www.example.com/go/app1

which actually goes through a few redirects including SSO login and then finishes on something like
https://www.example.com/app1/home/session-f24a-3c29-843924fd001eea-1234

I need to bookmark the former URL (.../go/app1) because the latter cannot be directly accessed when the session expires. How can I bookmark that URL?

You can add a different bookmark and then edit it to what you need.

Open Chrome.
Open your address https://www.example.com/go/app1 and wait until the final page (with different URL) is read. (Or use any other URL but the previous one may already gives more accurate page title useful for the bookmark.)
Click the menu, then click ☆ (star) to bookmark current page.
On the menu, click Bookmarks.
Find the bookmark from step 3.
Click the 3-dot on the right, select Edit, then change the URL to your custom URL https://www.example.com/go/app1.


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How to open .jpg attachments in Whatsapp on android?
When images are sent as .jpg attachment in WhatsApp on android, they are not displayed and I get the error

"you may not have a proper app for viewing this content"

even though I can open .jpg files with my default gallery viewer app.
I noticed however that under WhatsApp>Media>WhatsApp Documents it is stored as 12345.jpg.enc and wonder if that is the reason why (encryption?).
Any way to make the gallery viewer the default app for .enc?

Who did you receive the file from? Can they help? .enc could indeed represent some form of Encryption / Encoding, but we can't help you without more information...

It maybe means "enclosure" as a generic wrapper to hold multiple types of files within WhatsApp. You might just experiment by deleting the .enc and trying to view again. If it doesn't work what would be the harm to restore the extension again?

Sure they can but I have seen this happening before, hence I was wondering why this might happen. Need to see if I can find this myself.

@wbogacz, I can open the file in the filemanager as it gives the "Select open mode" option to use the image viewer. I want it to open when clicking it inside WhatsApp for a more native experience :) I thought it may have been WhatsApp that transfers .jpg files as .enc but maybe not.

If a straight  view is possible once directed, without decrypting (since how would the viewer do that autonomously?), it supports the wrapper theory.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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How can I permanently change my hotspot tethering IP address?
IP address is 192.168.43.1 by default and there is no option to change it permanently. Is it possible to change it without root access?
My phone is Huawei Android 5.1.

How configure the DHCP settings of WIFI Tethering (Hotspot) on Android?

Note: Adding / removing IP address requires root access.

METHOD 1:
Before Android Pie, tethering IP (192.168.43.1) was hard-coded (1, 2). But now it's randomized on each session(3). You can use Android's builtin ip command to set an additional fixed IP address (within same subnet obviously):
~# ip address add 192.168.43.100/24 dev wlan0

* Replace add with del to delete.
Make sure that the name of your Wi-Fi interface (wlan0 usually) is correct. Check with ip link or ls /sys/class/net or iw dev.

METHOD 2:
The problem with above approach is that the added IP is not permanent. Once you switch OFF the hotspot, IP will get cleared. So you can use an init trigger to set IP address whenever hotspot is turned ON. Add these lines to (/vendor)/etc/init/hostapd.android.rc file (or any .rc file under /etc/init/):
on property:init.svc.hostapd=running
    exec - -- /system/bin/sleep 2
    exec u:r:magisk:s0 -- /system/bin/ip address add 192.168.43.100/24 dev wlan0

hostapd is the system service which manages access points.
Service uses Magisk's SELinux context assuming that the device is rooted with Magisk.

METHOD 3:
dnsmasq starts listening on all IP addresses which are set on WiFi interface before dnsmasq is started. But with both above methods there is no way to make sure that IP is added after netd sets up the interface and before dnsmasq starts. So the added IP address may conflict with IP leased to another host (saved in /data/misc/dhcp/dnsmasq.leases) by DHCP server (dnsmasq up to Pie) from DHCP range (192.168.43.2 to 192.168.43.254 by default) (4).
To address this problem:

Reserve the manually added IP address by editing dnsmasq.conf. See How can I permanently assign a static IP address to Wi-Fi or USB tether clients?
Or modify DHCP IP range, but it's hard coded. You can replace dnsmasq with a shell script to achieve this. See How to change the default hotspot DHCP IP address range?
Or replace /system/bin/dnsmasq with a shell script which adds IP address before executing original dnsmasq binary. Rename dnsmasq to dnsmasq.bin and create script: /system/bin/dnsmasq:
#!/system/bin/sh

# set fixed IP address on Wi-Fi interface
ip address add 192.168.43.100/24 dev wlan0

# execute original binary
exec dnsmasq.bin $*

Set ownership, permission and SELinux context on both files. See this answer for details.
Additionally you may add listen-address=192.168.43.100 (5) to dnsmasq.conf.
Use ss or netstat to make sure that DHCP server is listening on reserved IP address (or on all IP addresses i.e. 0.0.0.0) so that to avoid IP address collision.

NOTE that in order to modify .rc, dnsmasq or dnsmasq.conf files, /vendor and /system partitions need to be mounted R/W which requires dm-verity disabled. Otherwise you may use bind mounts (used by Magisk modules). On non-SAR devices /init.rc can also be edited to modify /init.rc file in ramdisk by unpacking boot.img.

I was able to set this up on a MotoG3 turbo with LineageOS 17.1 android-10.

Hi, I just want to clarify that this Q&A is about setting the Android's hotspot IP to static, but not the given IP to the devices that are connected to the hotspot right? I did a peek at deleted comments and looks like there was also confusion, so just to be sure before I wrongly close other questions as a duplicate of this.

@AndrewT. Yes. This question is about the hotspot IP address of the Android device. There's another question about the IP addresses assigned to the devices connected to the Android hotspot: How can I permanently assign a static IP address to Wi-Fi or USB tether clients?.

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


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Android Bluetooth profiles missing with paired devices
I have an Android 6.0 device and an Android 4.1 device.
I used Bluetooth to pair them (only a numeric code was shown, no input needed) and it worked, I can send files via Bluetooth.
However, when I click the paired device on either phone, I can't see any profile.
This is what I see:

As Internet Access is a crucial profile for tethering, it must be present.
Can you tell me why they are missing?

Have you enabled the "Bluetooth-Tethering" setting on either of the phones (the one which should share the connection)?

@Robert Yes, it says Sharing Internet connection…

It seems that my old Sony Xperia J phone does not have this feature: either by hardware limitations or by carrier modifications.


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not sure how to breathe life into mate 8 64gb dual sim variant
I'm at a loss here, i have nougat on my mate mate 8 but i completely forgot that you had to root nougat in a particular way. Anyway, i don't have access to erecovery, power+volUPvolDown doesn't work and i can't get access to fastboot. The only thing i do get is power to the screen and my 'your phone is unlocked and can't be trusted blah blah' message.
I need to flash a recovery.img, system.img and any other relevant img. How can i do this with the phone in this state?

Flash the stock rom by searching it from Google for your device and if you don't know how to flash rom search on YouTube.

Turn off your phone - 2. connect a USB Cable to PC - 3. Press and hold Volume Down - 4. Plug in the USB cable to phone - 5. fastboot boot twrp-3.3.1-0-next.img - 6. flash ROM

when i do that, the huawei logo flashes very briefly, then it flashes again very briefly and then its back to the 'your phone has been unlocked and cant be trusted' screen

if you are willing to pay you can flash with third party tools via COM port. you need to short circuit the test point https://easy-firmware.com/media/articles/large/2018/08/17/237829-1534544261.jpg and install the Huawei USB COM 1.0 drivers https://sigmakey.com/nfs/content/6104/file/HUAWEI_USB_COM_1.0_driver.zip but i would not recommend this because your phone seems still intact (only has dm-verity locked)

instead i would try everything you can do to figure out how to enter fastboot mode. fastboot is the best option to repair things. once you have entered fastboot, do not accidentally re-lock bootloader by flashing stock ROM, otherwise you have to pay for unlock code https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRfY7NM-s6I

I already have unlock code. Not worried about re rooting if I have to. Yes...I think fastboot is the safest bet for now. My worst case scenario is taking the phone to a repair shop where I might have to part with $100. It's starting to sound like it's worth it if I'm honest because no matter what I do...I cannot get access to fast boot. Even my Linux machine can't pick up any raw hardware so for now my ph is still not visible on any software

can you disconnect the battery, then try enter fastboot mode again (like he did in Video)? if still no fastboot, try the test point method and see if it connects

whats the test point method?? when you say disconnect the battery do you mean physically open the phone and disconnect battery? If that's what you mean then no is my answer to that one.


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Fastboot Device not Detecting my Device
I'm following this tutorial about how to unlock bootloader on Moto.  My device is a Moto G5, and my computer has windows 10.
On the command line, I can type
adb devices

and it returns my device.  I then do
adb reboot bootloader

and it turns my phone into bootloader mode.  But when I do
fastboot devices

it returns a blank line.  According to this source (the second answer), I need to update some the "Unknown 'Android' device".  However, I don't have anything like that.  The closest I have is Other devices->Fastboot potter S.  Do I update this driver?  If so, how?  If I choose "Search automatically for updated driver software," it doesn't find anything.  If I choose "Browse my computer for driver software" and then "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer", I have to "Select [my] device's type from the list below." but I don't know which one I'm supposed to choose.
How do I fix this problem with fastboot devices?  What drivers am I supposed to update?  How do I fix them?
If this question is better suited on another stackexchange such as superusers on account of it's being more about windows than android, let me know.  I tried asking it there first, but the "android" tag said that the question would be off topic.

I did enable usb debugging.  I'm not sure about the drivers.  I just installed what the tutorial I linked to recommended in the prerequisites.  I'll try that later to see if it will work.

USB Debugging is irrelevant within the bootloader. It does its thing within the system and recovery. This might help with the drivers: https://support.motorola.com/in/en/solution/MS89880#

Got stuck at the exact same point when I had this problem! I figured out I could follow the instructions on this page (https://developer.android.com/studio/run/oem-usb), and once I downloaded and installed the right driver, the device showed up when I ran
fastboot devices -l
then I just did fastboot reboot and everything worked : )


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Screen goes black during call
Often, when I try make a call or use the phone app on my phone, the screen goes black.  I have a Pixel 1 with Android version 9.  This is a problem because I can't see or use the numbers or buttons on the screen!  What is the fix?


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Android storage errors, cannot write files, app keeps stopping?
My Android phone runs 8.1, model ASUS Zenfone Live V. I have 15.06 GB/16 of internal storage and roughly 11/128 on an microSD card. (I checked with ASUS when I bought it, it is the max storage and speed the phone could support.)
Despite indicating more free space available, the phone has exhibited a number of weird behaviors lately.
-Camera refused to take pictures, stating Operation failed. Insert a storage card and try again. The microSD was never removed from device.

Google Drive refused to download files to my device. Said it could not write to device.

-A few weeks ago a significant number of apps mysteriously stopped functioning and would crash immediately on open. After painstakingly wiping cache and data from Google Play, rebooting and reinstalling I got most of them back. A few still refused to install. One app I tried to install since then has "installed" successfully but has now begun exhibiting the same error message. App (DiskUsage) keeps stopping whenever you try to open it, and had had no luck opening so far. I am guessing it has a problem being unable to read or write files that is preventing it from opening.
All things point to a storage problem. Advice?


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How to search for Android apps without ads?
Is it possible to limit searches within the Google Play Store to apps (gratis or paid) that do not contain ads?
If it's not possible within the Google Play store, is there another effective way to accomplish this?

Related or possible duplicate: Advanced searching in Play app store?

There are similar questions about filtering apps by a specific permission or in-app purchases.

Does this answer your question? How do I distinguish apps with in-app purchases from completely free apps on Google Play?

There's the Playsearch website which allows you that without having to install anything beforehand:

Playsearch website, your criteria marked (click image for larger variant)
In addition to what you asked for, you even can specify how long ago the last update should be at maximum, what size the app should have, what Android version it should support, how well it ranks (stars) – and how wide-spread (number of installs) it should at least be.

The kaki87 site used to work great but now appears to be broken? All my searches show apps that have both ads and/or in-app purchases.

No idea. I take all my apps from F-Droid, so I don't have that search issue. In the F-Droid client you can simply configure not to show apps with specific anti-features, so no need for 3rd party search tools ;)

Not sure with native Google Playstore, but you could use Yalp or a fork of Yalp, Aurora (F-droid link), it has many search filters e.g for ads, gratis, number of downloads etc..

Aurora Store is an alternate ( FOSS client) to Google's Play Store, with
  an elegant design, using Aurora you can download apps, update existing
  apps, search for apps, get details about  in-app trackers and much more.

Select the filter and tap apply, your search results will match your criteria.

Filters in Aurora (click image for larger variant)
Disclaimer  I am not affiliated with Aurora, but I use it as a replacement to Google play store client
Acknowledgements

Xda thread

Note that Aurora is also available at F-Droid :)

With App Finder, you can filter for apps without ads (and many other criteria). Also, in the result list it is indicated for each app if it contains ads.
It has 2,380,000 apps indexed currently, much more than playsearch.kaki87.net and reallyfreeapps.com. Also, there are more filters available, and more information is shown in the result list.
Available from Google Play here.
For more information see the thread on XDA, and here.
Disclosure: I am from Skyica LLC, the developer of App Finder

Thanks Jake. AppQuery looks very promising!  Is it offered in the spirit of generosity and giving, or does it have a profit-based revenue model?  Also, do you intend to release it on F-Droid too?

I has a profit-based revenue model, however there is a free tier, and I'll try to make it affordable to everyone.
Also note that for the database alone a 32-GB-RAM cloud server must be paid, and crawling is expensive also.

Thanks for the update Jake.  I've been thinking about starting a project (completely unrelated to your project) that involves a fair amount of crawling.  I wasn't expecting the actual crawling to be very expensive, but based on your comment, perhaps I need to revisit the potential cost.  What is making the crawling expensive for your project?

crawling 1.5 mio pages (*2 + something for "similar apps"+"more from developer") each day or every few days takes some resources you have to pay in the cloud, or you must buy and run your own servers.

AppQuery is now available worldwide, has data for all countries, and the number of apps has increased from 1.5 to 2.2 million

I developed an app (and web) called reallyfreeapps for Android to look at apps and games with no ads and no IAP. You can take a look at https://reallyfreeapps.com

I ran into apps which appear in the search results but have been removed from the play store. e.g. Piano Lessons 2021 on https://reallyfreeapps.com/?search=piano


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Backing up WhatsApp chats
My WhatsApp has slowed down because of too many texts in the message database (thousands of texts in some threads). Now, I want to take a local backup of these chats for later retrieval (this part is important) and clean my WhatsApp completely. How do I do that?

Firstly, to update your local chat backup :
Settings -> Chat backup -> Backup
Now, take a copy of WhatsApp folder somewhere. This will copy all your whatsapp related data - chat backups, media etc. In case you want to backup & restore only your chat backup, copy msgstore.db.crypt12 from Whatsapp -> Databases folder.
Then, uninstall WhatsApp app and delete WhatsApp folder, i.e, "clean my WhatsApp completely"
Finally, copy WhatsApp folder back to phone storage (in case you only copied msgstore.db.crypt12, make Whatsapp -> Databases folders manually) then install WhatsApp app. In the setup it will say `Backup found,do you want to restore' : select yes.

How are the texts stored in memory? Are all the messages saved in a single .crypt file or they're saved in parts, distributed among all the files?

How are the texts stored in memory? Don't know about that, it's encrypted by whatsapp. Yes, all the messages/chats are stored in a single .crypt file. So you only need the latest one - which will be named: msgstore.db.crypt12


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Getting signature error while installing a different version of the app
Recently I install a custom ROM named eelo https://e.foundation/. It comes with pre-installed Telegram app. After much research I was able to uninstall if from the system with the command adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 org.telegram.messenger. But when I tried to install the new apk with adb install telegram.apk I got the following error
adb: failed to install telegram.apk: Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE: Package org.telegram.messenger signatures do not match the previously installed version; ignoring!]

I also tried uninstalling with this adb uninstall org.telegram.messenger but it gave out Failure [DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR].
With further research I found out that I can install the new .apk with different if I comment the section in /data/system/packages.xml referring to telegram. But after making the change when I reboot it get back to the unedited version.
Currently using Android Nougat 7.1.
Can anyone tell me the reason as to why this happens and how I can stop it from happening? And how would I be able to install a different version of the app?

Ultimately found an answer to the query and how to solve it.

The first is how to delete a system application completely?
These are the following steps
$ adb root  - To start adbd with root privileges.
$ adb shell - To interact with the phone system directly.
$ pm uninstall --user 0 <package>.apk - To uninstall the package from the root    user  is any package you want to remove from the system.
These few steps may remove the whole package but in my case it was different as it  left behind few files from the previous built app. So these were the steps that I followed :
$ adb shell mount -o rw,remount /system - This would remount the system as read-write. Originally /system is a read-only folder so you can't edit directly.
$ adb shell rm -r /system/<package>.apk - This would remove the apk and there won't be anything left from the previous built.
Why I couldn't edit the /data/system/packages.xml file?
The answer to this is that though I can edit it with vim but it kept reverting back to the previous unedited form. This was happening because it was updating the information from /system/app files. Thus, editing it went in vain.

Refer to the following links that actually helped me out
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/6066030/read-only-file-system-on-android
https://www.besttechie.com/remove-preloaded-software-from-android/

Try using an apk Cloner if you want to reach to your goal fast.
using https://appcloner.app/
you can change the package id of your new telegram version and install it manually

That isn't really the answer to my problem or the issue I'm facing. Diversion to a problem can't be considered as a solution. Your suggestion gonna work to a limit but still the files of the previously installed telegram app would be there and I won't be able to appreciate that.


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Dual SIM sound, vibration and notification settings
I have a Huawei P20 Pro. This might be a quirk with their software, but I thought I should ask either way.
Let's say you have two phones with two numbers. One is your private phone and one is your work phone. During the day you can put your private phone on silent and your work phone with sound on. When you go home for the day you can put the work phone on silent and turn the sound on for your private phone.
If you put both SIM-cards in the P20 Pro, you cannot choose to have one SIM with sound on, and one on silent. You can choose that one SIM should vibrate and one should not. This only works with sound on. If you put the phone on vibrate, it vibrates for both SIM-cards. If you put it on silent, it is silent for both sim cards.
I also have the problem that I can set the notification sounds to "None", but I can't seem to turn off the vibration for notifications. I want the notifications for all apps in the notification bar, but I do not want sound or vibration no matter the settings for calls. So to sum up, this is what I was hoping to be possible. Is there an app for this?

Individually control sound, silent mode, and vibration on/off for both SIM-cards
Turn off sound and vibration for all notifications from apps like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, SMS Messages, etc. regardless of silent mode, vibration mode or sound volume, etc.

Is one of these or both of these possible, with or without an app? I may root the phone if I can keep the stock firmware, it is safe, and possible to reset.

Go to setting / sound and notification / General / phone ringtone. Select second sim card / select ring tone. Now you need to add ringtone with no sound. You can modify existing ring tone to no sound.
You need to root mobile. There is ringtone and ringtone_2.
You can find under media/ internal / audio / media / here are the list of ringtone. Change it to silent ring tone.
This is the only way. There is no setting to silent one sim card on android.

As far as I know you don't need to root the phone.  Otherwise it is a valid solution, so +1


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HUAWEI P20 LITE -ANE- LX2J. I can't get rid of this setup process
I was trying different shortcuts useng the default Launcher whilst switching back and forth, to greater easy access to some strings files.
'please keep in mind my phone has been set up properly for months now and works great'
At the time I had also the Play store app call "Shortcut Creator" open in the background so I'm not sure what particular hidden shortcut I activated .. but now I can't get rid of it. I've cleared the Android package cache, ive even just let it run for some reasonable amount of time, many times to see what would happen and you guessed it.. it just stays there in the notifications.
tl;dr
Basically I accessed something which I don't know what and I can't get rid of this notification or windows that follows I tap in it. pictures..
Sorry guys it won't let me upload pictures screenshots so here you go please take a look.

After I kick it, this happens, but phone is completely functional and restarts does everything except make money.

Device info

Thanks to who corrected the BB codes for the images

I've obviously initiative a setup and the only way to get rid of the notification is too hide it but that doesn't solve the problem. I would also like to apologise for the poor grammar I'm using voice to text

Ok the problem is solved now I went into developer options and then the running tasks there were two Androidprocesses running I opened up 1 and had something I don't understand set up this setup that I pressed stop and the problem is now solved so this thread is now absolutely lock delete whatever thanks for reading for ever did

Glad you found the solution by yourself, but could you post the solution as an answer, not as a comment? The comment thread is not the place for providing a solution, but proper self-answering is allowed and even encouraged :)

I contacted hicare and they agreed to a factory reset. But I'm persuing it regardless. Here's the logcat entry causing the issue. I used matlog ap                  06-14 17:26:06.672 E/DollieAdapterService(1710): notifyActivityState pkg:com.google.android.setupwizard/com.google.android.setupwizard.predeferred.PreDeferredProgressActivity state:2 fg:true mUid:10043

06-14 17:26:06.672 E/DollieAdapterService(1710): notifyActivityState pkg:com.google.android.setupwizard/com.google.android.setupwizard.predeferred.PreDeferredProgressActivity state:2 fg:true mUid:10043

Not my fault for creating such a message thread but this is officially solved with the new security update.
SOLVED


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3 Questions regarding restoring the backup of whatsapp from Google Drive
My phone Lenovo K53a48 stopped working on the 7th of June. I have a backup of all my WhatsApp messages until the 6th of June on Googe Drive. I installed WhatsApp on an Xperia M2. After I signed in with my phone number the question about if I want to restore my backup from my Google Drive came up. However, it required 9,3GB and the phone has a total internal memory of 8GB. I then bought a memory card of 32GB and put in inside my phone. However, the same message appears, so I understand there is no option to restore and save my WhatsApp history on the memory card. Could you confirm that, please?
Furthermore, If I uninstall the WhatsApp application now, do I have the option to install it on the memory card and so restore my backup on the memory card where there is plenty of space?
Finally, the last question. If I uninstall now WhatsApp without choosing to restore the backup but also without selecting the opposite, will I have the option to do it the next time I install WhatsApp or is it now or never?
Thank you very much for your help!!
Leo

so I understand there is no option to restore and save my WhatsApp history on the memory card. Could you confirm that, please?

Like any other apps, it is possible to save Whatsapp on the memory card. If whatsapp is installed on the internal storage, then its default location is the internal storage. If it is installed on the SD card, then it saves everything on the SD card.

If I uninstall the WhatsApp application now, do I have the option to install it on the memory card and so restore my backup on the memory card where there is plenty of space?

Yes. If your phone allows for the installation of apps on the SD card, then there won't be any problem.

If I uninstall now WhatsApp without choosing to restore the backup but also without selecting the opposite, will I have the option to do it the next time I install WhatsApp or is it now or never?

What do you mean by "If I uninstall now WhatsApp without choosing to restore the backup but also without selecting the opposite"?
When you unistall Whatsapp, the backups are still present in Google Drive. If you then install the app again, it will ask you to restore them.
However, note that:

Every time you create a Google Drive backup using the same Google account, the previous Google Drive backup will be overwritten. There's no way to restore an older Google Drive backup.

I did some more research and it comes out that it is not possible to install whatsapp on the SD card.... https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/21068307/

Could you suggest something? Thank you very much in any case for your answer! I really apreciate it!

My WhatsApp's files (media, documents, etc) are on my SD card (possibly because my phone is rooted and direct apps to save data on it).


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When an app is uninstalled, is its SharedPreferences database cleared?
When an app is uninstalled, is the data in its SharedPreferences database deleted?
If not, without a device being rooted, is there any way to clear that data?  (Or at least view it?)

SharedPreferences is located in the data directory of the app which gets deleted during uninstallation. Do you have a case where it was not deleted by the system?

@Firelord I was reading up on Stack Overflow on how to make an app with a "trial period".  One of the answers recommended writing data to SharedPreferences, because they claimed it can remain when an app is uninstalled.  That doesn't match what I remembered, so I thought it best to ask.

SharedPreferences are backed by Google if the app participates in the backup. It would be best  if you clarify whether "they" assumed your app would be backed up.

@Firelord I don't back up anything to Google (well, not intentionally), so I'm looking up what you're referring to.  I see a "Back up my data" option deep within Android Settings... is that it?

You are facing this problem. https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/data/autobackup. As I suspected app data by-default gets backed up including SharedPreferences unless developer explicitly declines participation in the backup using a flag in app manifest. Full reading is recommended. Afterwards, related questions can solve your query: https://www.google.com/search?q=SharedPreferences+app+uninstallation+data&oq=SharedPreferences+app+uninstallation+data+&aqs=chrome..69i57.8562j0j4&client=ms-unknown&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

@Firelord Thanks.  Reading it now.

If auto backup is the issue, then you can clear the app data after reinstalling to delete all the shared preferences.

@AndrewT. Thank you.  You read my mind.  That's exactly what I was wondering. :)

SharedPreferences are actually saved in a file in the app private directory:
/data/data/package_name/shared_prefs/somefilename.xml
When an app is installed this directory and file are automatically created. When an app is uninstalled this directory is deleted along with its parent /data/data/package_name UNLESS the app is uninstalled in order to update it.
From command line this is done using the flag -k or -r that is
adb uninstall -k package_name  - Keep the data and cache directories around after removal
adb install -r package_name  - Replace existing application (effectively reinstall an existing app, keeping its data)

SharedPreferences database always deleted when app is uninstalled. But when in the AndroidManifest.xml allowBackup is set true then data is not cleared even if application is uninstalled and re-installed.
android:allowBackup="true"
So, always keep allowBackup to false when you don't want the data to be stored.

Thank you.  What is the best way to keep allowBackup as false?

@user298642 The allowBackup flag usually only affects the adb backup. Do you have a source that backs your answer?


text:
How to get past the Google Assistant screen on languages that are unsupported?
The buttons on the setup wizard screen for Google Assistant (the screen after fingerprint unlocking) do not respond when using Finnish language for the setup.

Finnish language is unsupported by the Google Assistant, and consequently by some lack of testing, the screen is shown but the buttons do not respond and you can not get past it.
The solution:
Change the primary language to English and restart the Setup Wizard. The path to settings is: Settings > System > Language and input > Language > Add a language
It is very ironic that Finnish language is not so well supported and tested on a Nokia phone, considering it used to be a Finnish company... Now it is just a brand owned by HMD global or whatever.


text:
How can I reboot my phone without the power or volume buttons?
Title is pretty self-explanatory. My phone's power and volume buttons don't work. The home button does. It's a Lenovo ZUK Z2 Plus.
This phone has always had a tendency to crash unless rebooted occasionally. Now that the power button doesn't work, I won't be able to turn the phone on if it crashes and shuts down.
I've taken a complete backup, but I'd still like to continue using the phone for as long as possible. In order to prevent the inevitable crash, I'd like to reboot the phone every so often. How can I do so?

Can you not get the buttons repaired?

@Burgi No, spare parts aren't available anywhere in this city. Believe me, I've looked.

Do you have root access? It would be very easy than.

Use the Scheduled Power On/Off features available in the Accessibility setting to turn it off, then back on a minute or two later.

This! Also allows me to switch my phone on automatically in case it shuts down.


text:
How do I use a U2F key to log into google account in firefox on android
My u2f key is already setup and working as the second factor on my google account, and I've used it many times, including using it with this tablet via usb.
I now want to log into my google account in the firefox browser on my galaxy tab a. When I try, I only get the option to enter a backup code.
I checked about:config and security.webauth.u2f is set to true.
Security.webauth.webauthn is true.
Security.webauth.webauthn_enable_usbtoken is true.
What am I missing here?

Well, it's not a complete answer, but Google has apparently added some behavior at this point: There's now a URL (https://g.co/sc) given when you get to needing the second factor that you can use in another device to get a one-time use code.
I was able to switch to chrome on the same phone and use that URL. Chrome then prompted me for my FIDO key, which worked fine and I was able to login to firefox.
In no way is this ideal, but at least it's a workaround.


text:
What is this notification symbol for?
I’ve circled the icon in red. What is this notification/alert for?

This icon has to do with parent supervision. This means that someone is supervising your mobile phone and that your mobile is in a kind of "children's mode". Can you click on it?


text:
Outlook not showing notifications
I am using ms Outlook on my moto g5 plus android 8. My Outlook app does not sure any notifications. It used to but not anymore. What do I do?

Go to settings
Account
Reset account


text:
Force display cursor/pointer on Android
I bought a graphics tablet (Huion HS64) that works wonderfully with my S10. Only problem is that I can't see where I'm about to tap due to no cursor display. Is there any way I could force the mouse pointer to always be on or have my phone recognize the tablet as a mouse?
I could try and connect both a mouse and the tablet with a USB hub, but I'd rather a coding solution. My phone isn't rooted, but I'm not opposed to rooting to solve the problem. Thank you in advance!

I discover this method to show the cursor on Samsung A6+ (2018) using the Huion Pen Tablet HS64. It is not an "arrow-type cursor" but a "small-circle cursor" similar to the Samsung Note series with S pen.

Go to Settings
Open About phone
Under Looking for something else?, tap Reset. (If you do not see the reset, go to General Management and then tap Reset)
Tap Reset setting (just go through to make your settings can be reset)
Reboot the phone
Just do the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd steps, and then tap the Reset Accessibility Settings (just go through to make your accessibility settings can be reset)
Reboot the phone
Plug an OTG with a USB cord to the phone
Plug the USB cord to the Huion Tablet
The cursor will appear on the screen as a small circle

This is the method I used to my Samsung A6 plus 2018 and it worked perfectly. Now I can use my Huion Pen Tablet for my Digital Arts.
Note: I can't tell you guys if your Samsung phone can be work. I just want you to share this method. But I really hope can be work on your phone too. Please tell me if it works for you.

Thanks Conash. It worked except that there is no Accessibility Reset on my Samsung A pad, but simply doing the Settings Reset fixed it for me. :-)

I just created an account only to thank Conash for his / her "guide" to reset the settings. It worked for both my wacom and huion. They were useless in my samsung tab A 8" without the pointer Ps. The developer options (pointer location) only shows what you already have "clicked". It is not useful for using pen tablets like huion and wacom

I confirm @Reeshar experience. Just resetting works. It would be nice to know why, though...

Try turning on developer options(if you don't know how, you go into settings, about phone, software information, and tap on the build number a few times), and scrolling down in developer options to the one that says "pointer location". Tell me if it works.


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Prevent phone auto-connect to a specific wifi connection, without forgetting that connection
The feature I am looking for exist on MIUI rom and samsung roms:

Similar question were asked before:
This from 2015 has an answer about Samsung and MIUI roms only.
Answers to this and this question  (both from 2013) offer workarounds.
An answer to this question suggested to use Wi-fi Ruller which unfortunately is not supported anymore.
It looks like the questions are rather old, and a simple, straight forward direct solution is yet to be found.

Are you rooted?

Because it looks like the ROM must implement it or you must be rooted

@colbycdev  Yes, I  am rooted.  I would have used MIUI rom but there is no version for the phone I use.

it looks like an OEM implementation. So it must be implemented in the ROM.

From what I can see, there really is no way to do it directly
There are root workaround but nothing that only allows manual connection (excluding Samsung or MIUI stuff); it must be OEM implemented. I can't find any way to do it in standard AOSP or lineage OS
You could always try something like Tasker and have it shut off WiFi when your in range of a network you don't want to automatically connect to

Thank you for the answer. I think it would be quiet complicated with automation. The need is not to turn wifi on and off, but rather remembering a  connection without auto connecting to it. It seems silly to me that I need to forget a connection and key the password again, just because I don't want to connect to it evey time it is in range. Connection prioritizing makes sense but it is also too cumbersome.

@c0der sadly it has to be implemented ROM side. There is no easy way to do it otherwise. And only Samsung and xiaomi have it


text:
Remove Bloatware on my Xperia L
I'm try to remove bloatware on my old xperia, but then this is happening
shell@android:/ $ pm uninstall -k --users 0 com.google.android.apps.books
Error: Unknown option: --users

and then I try this, but same result
shell@android:/ $ pm uninstall -k 0 com.google.android.apps.books

Failure

You will need to root your phone to remove bloatware

It should be --user 0 not --users 0
Also - k flag is optional
But to acknowledge a comment you must be rooted to completely remove bloatware, because if you add another account or work profile that user will have that stuff. You, however, don't


text:
App data backup on android devices to google cloud
I have a question about the backup into google cloud on android devices. When you do a backup into google cloud also app data from apps which supports that feature will be uploaded too. But I think there are some conditions WHEN app data of a specific app will be uploaded. E. g. on my android device (Samsung Galaxy Note 9 on Android 8.1) there are some apps which won't upload app data and some apps which will upload data (even though they support it). It doesn't matter if the app data has changed, it won't upload to google cloud. So is there a way to start app data backup manually? Because app data backup has worked before. I can see this because of the "last updated" timestamp.
Thanks in advance

Please edit your question and add the info which device (name) and what Android version you use because what is backuped by Google Cloud backup is Android version dependent.

I updated it, Samsung Galaxy Note 9 on Android 8.1

If the app specifies allowBackup=false in it's AndroidManifest.xml then cloud backup is disabled for this app.


text:
Is it possible to install a radio application on Google Pixel 3XL?
I want to buy a Google Pixel 3XL but it does not have a radio. Is it possible to install a FM radio application on it anyway?

You can install the FM app but you will not get any signal because there is no chip on the device allowing to receive FM radio signals.
Your only solution is to install apps that stream FM radios such as TuneIn Radio. It offers a list of local (based on countries) and international radios. You can find other apps in the Play store.
If your media player is able to stream online content, you use it to stream radios if they offer online streaming. Create a playlist with the URL of the radio streams, then play them as you would with music. I use VLC to stream radios.

and does the app streams local radios ? or international radio only ?

@pheromix See edit.


text:
TWRP Wipe question
I want to root SG S7 Edge. I have not installed twrp. Once I install twrp, all I want is root acess not custom roms or whatever. My question is if I only will install Magisk, do I need to wipe. If yes, what is the bare minimum I need to wipe. I don't want to do a full wipe if I don't have to. (I am refering to the wipe on twrp)

When installing Magisk you don't need to wipe anything (data, dalvik, cache, system, etc). All you need is to install the Magisk zip.
If you want to install a custom ROM, then it is recommended to wipe data, system and dalvik/cache.

Thank you! I will try.

I'd personally recommend a full wipe, as that gives you the best chance to avoid weird bugs forcing you to do a factory reset later on anyways, even if you are just aiming to use Magisk. Wiping the Dalvik partition and cache alone, however, should be fine to perform without loss of data, as those are both files that the system maintains to reduce loading times for apps and such - if they are missing, the system will just regenerate them the next time you load that app, and clearing it out to begin with can mitigate hangups.

If you flash TWRP then there is a lot of work. You need to disable recovery-from-boot dm-verity and vaultkeeper. Besides this TWRP is not able to decrypt encrypted data partition by default.
I am not sure if flashing Magisk from TWRP works with unmountable data partition (magisk stores files inside /data/adb).
If you don't want to factory reset, i recommend to install Magisk Manager app and root without flashing TWRP. The app patches your boot image, so most of the work is done.
However, regarding vaultkeeper there is still a high risk you may brick your device. OEM unlocking once is not enough, you have to unlock it twice in a 3 step way. topjohnwu wrote a description how it works for the Galaxy S10. I am not sure if this also concerns your device today, but sure it will in the future

https://topjohnwu.github.io/Magisk/install.html#unlocking-bootloader


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Can't find call log from adb shell
Phone is a Samsung Galaxy E5 SM-E500m (lte, dual chip, codename e5lte). Android version 5.1.1 "lollipop" Stock ROM.
I pulled the database file from /data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/contacts2.db and tried to inspect it with both the DB Browser for SQLite and also the sqlite3 command-line tool.
The file is 1.7MiB in size. It has 42 tables.
From my research efforts, I was hoping to be able to see the call log in the calls table; but it is empty (0 records).
Other tables in this db file all appear to have data.
I also checked the file over /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/telephony.db but it does not appear to contain call logs (only 4 tables: android_metadata, carriers, siminfo and sqlite_sequence).
Where else can I potentially find the call logs for this device?
The call log is shown correctly in the Phone app.
Thank you.

/data/data/com.android.providers.contacts/databases/calllog.db

@IrfanLatif it's not there. I only got contacts2.db and profile.db.

In fact find . -type f -name "calllog.db" shows me such a file does not exist anywhere under /data/data/.

Ok then it was added later, exists on Pie. Don't have a lollipop device to help you exactly. May be some extra column in some table of contacts2.db or telephony.db. A trick is to use inotify to watch for changed files when you make a call.

Possible duplicate of https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/41455/where-is-the-data-for-contacts-storage-located


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How to prevent most syncing with Google in Android 7.0 Nougat on Samsung devices?
In Android 7.0 Nougat on Samsung devices, you can go to Settings -> Clouds and accounts -> Accounts -> Google to see a list of all the Google sync options.
Currently,

Sync Calendar says "Tap to sync now" with "Last synced date" of when I factory wiped the device.
Sync Contacts is the same as Calendar.
Sync Google Fit data is the same as Calendar.
Sync Google Play Books says "Tap to sync now" and "Sync turned off".
Sync Google Play Movies & TV is the same as Play Books.
Sync Google Play Music says nothing under it.
Sync People details says "Tap to sync now" with "Last synced date" of today!
Sync Play Games Cloud Save is the same as Calendar.

There are no enable/disable toggle checkmarks next to any of the items.
In Settings -> Clouds and accounts -> Backup and restore -> Back up my data is turned off.
I want all syncing with Google to be turned completely off, and any synced data to be deleted.
The exceptions are for Books, Movies & TV, and Music, for which I would like to manually sync once in a while.
How can this be done?

Any particular reason why you want this?

@colbycdev Google hasn't earned my trust, so I want to share as little data as possible with them.

why not go with no gapps or microg then?

is your bootloader unlockable?

My advice is to completely remove your Google account from the device and go to your account on Google and delete it
Some Google stuff, even on devices that let you turn off syncing select things in accounts->google->sync, will sync no matter what


text:
How can I obtain root access inside Daydream shell?
I am trying to get familiarize with the Daydream VR adb shell command, but I can't get to find for the right documentation. How can I obtain root privileges once I have done:

adb shell

I used the following command to see if root or sudo was an actual command

ls /system/bin

On stock Android, you cannot.

Is there any way I can unstock it?


text:
Can android user become a super user in android?
Is it possible to change the rights of normal user in android to super user?
My requirement is to run the super user code(I want to read a file data from system directory) in a device that has rooted shell but we can not install any super user manager(SuperSu, Magisk etc.) on that device.
I thought of a solution like following:

Install an apk in your device that has UI to call the required function on JNI side to start reading data from the file.
Find the user id of the installed application. I found it in data/system/packages.list file.
Make file owner is this new user id with su shell.
Call the required function in the application that further try to open file.

but this solution is not working. The file is not opened by code and return -8002. The errno is 13.
fd = open("/system/file.txt", O_RDWR | O_LARGEFILE | O_NONBLOCK);
    if (fd < 0) {
        return -8002;
    }

This is very important for us.
I shall be very thankful to all who will help me on this.

If phone isn't rooted with SuperSU/Magisk, from where comes the su binary? What file do you want to read from /system? May be the required information is available through some Android API.

Rooted shell is given by the manufacturer and I want to read a android port data to log the network usage. Reading file is just an example to prove the concept that we can read privileged data with the help of rooted shell. I am really sorry if I am fail to explain the requirement but there is no such thing like hidden malware.

There is no API which can expose android port data. Android port is actually a file so I have used the word file here to simplify the requirement.

I want my app to run NDK code for accessing the port without calling the su command. Because in NDK you can not create a su process and without su process an app can not read data from port. e.g. http://www.mobileinsight.net/diag-revealer.html These developers are reading data from /dev/diag port but they actually make an executable and copy the executable to system directory where they have root access. I do not want to use executable and instead want to create a shared library which can directly pass the port data to my android app.

Thank you for understanding :)

I know nothing about development; Java or native. So can't help you directly. But what I can tell is that it's not possible at all to change UID of an app to privileged UID. Android 4.3+ won't allow apps to execute /system/xbin/su because of multiple reasons explained here: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/207902/218526

Can middle process(that should be placed on /system directory and may be a daemon) execute the su binary and grant su permissions to the android app without the need of any su permissions manager like Magisk, SuperSu, .. ?

it depends on in what se context your middle process is running and what capabilities it does have.

So its possible. Any guidance how to make such daemon process in Android?

Magisk is open-source. See how they do it.

The source code is very complex for me. I am just a beginner in Linux and don't know python yet. I think it will not help me. Please do me a favor and let me know that the task to make such daemon process is a <500 lines of code or how big it is?

Depends what you want to do. With su (if it is installed) you became a superuser... But if you want to access some files you actually need to be the user system.  This looks like it is your case. The credentials of user system can be given to an app (apk) if you are the owner of the android os image or you have access to the private keys the os was built with... If you do then you need to sign your app with those keys and mark it in manifest as user system...

Thanks Gogu. I know I can do this by making my app as system app. But this required platform signature to sign the apk. Manufacturer will never share this credential with us so we are looking to do it without the need of system app and platform signatures. That is why I am exploring the permissions in android.


text:
USB port not functionning anymore on Samsung Galaxy Tab S3i
After installing software for an endoscope USB device, my USB port stopped functionning (no more tethering, no battery charging from adapter, tablet icon doesn't appear in Windows explorer). The software worked fine with device connected. Uninstalled it, but still can't use the port. Is there a way to reinitialise the port? When the tablet is off and I plug it into the charger, I can see te circled animation for the battery, but no percentage is displayed.

If you have installed the app you have also tested the USB microscope, right? If yes most likely this broke your USB port physically. Also that the device does not charge correctly when powered off is a strong indicator that you are facing a hardware and not a software problem.
When the USB port does not work correctly this usually means that the soldering points are broken so that electrical power sometimes can pass the USB port, however it is way too less to charge the device (loose connection).
To fix this the device most be opened and the USB port have to be re-soldered, sometimes also the USB port have to be replaced.

It makes sense. I'll bring it to the Samsung shop for checking.


text:
What happens when Android mounts a microsd card?
I've got a 256 GB microsd card which only works with my phone if its file system is FAT32. The issue I have with this, is that FAT32 only supports files up to 4 GiB, which is a bit low by today's standards. I am able to successfully mount an exFAT partition using a FUSE driver, which I found here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=79685842&postcount=9
I did not install that zip; instead, I simply extracted the mount.exfat binary and called it from a superuser shell.
The actual issue I'm having, is that if I mount anything using that method, the Android OS doesn't "register" that as a microsd card.
So apps can read and write data to the mountpoint as if it was a plain directory, but it is not recognized as an actual external storage device. I'm trying to figure out what exactly does Android do when you tap the "Mount SD card" entry in Storage settings, and how can that be replicated outside of the Settings app.
If a FAT32 card is mounted automatically by Android, here's what the mount points look like:
$ mount | grep 5D03
/dev/block/vold/public:179,65 on /mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D type vfat (rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro)
/mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D on /mnt/runtime/default/5D03-6C2D type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=1015,mask=6)
/mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D on /storage/5D03-6C2D type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=1015,mask=6)
/mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D on /mnt/runtime/read/5D03-6C2D type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=9997,mask=18)
/mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D on /mnt/runtime/write/5D03-6C2D type sdcardfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,fsuid=1023,fsgid=1023,gid=9997,mask=18)

Forgetting about exFAT or other file systems for a moment, I first tried to replicate that using the same FAT32 partition which was mountable natively by Android. I unmounted the SD card from settings, which resulted in the above command not outputting anything anymore, and proceeded to mount the partition in much the same way as described by the mount output seen above.
From a su -mm shell, I first created the necessary mount points with mkdir, then replicated all the entries with mount, like mount -o rw -o nosuid -o nodev [...] -t vfat /dev/block/vold/public:179,65 /mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D.
When finished, the output from mount | grep 5D03 was almost exactly the same as if it was the Android OS doing the mounting (checked with diff: the single difference was the lack of the dirsync option, as mount complained about not recognizing that option, all other lines were exactly the same).
But that still did not make the Android OS acknowledge that a SD card was indeed mounted. From this, I gather that Android does some extra step when mounting an SD card.
For example, if the card is mounted natively by Android, file manager apps will show the SD card's capacity and free space, and will allow to easily browse its contents. But if I mounted the very same SD card manually, as described above, the same file manager would only offer to browse internal storage. The SD card could still be accessed if I navigated to the mount point directory (/mnt/media_rw/5D03-6C2D) so it was properly mounted and working, just not recognized by Android.
So I guess this lengthy question really boils down to this simple one: How can one mount devices in Android OS and have the mount points recognized as real external storage devices?

Mounting/unmounting is managed by vold daemon. exFAT support was added to vold in Pie. exFAT is mounted natively (not through FUSE, provided that kernel is built with exFAT). Some custom ROMs also have NTFS support in vold through FUSE. Apps can't access the filesystem of external storage directly at least since KitKat. Instead they use some form of Storage Access Framework to read/write the contents of external storage. So if vold is not mounting the filesystem, I don't think you can let the OS (and hence apps) know you have done this manually.

@IrfanLatif Thanks for your comment. Does that mean I just have to replace the /system/bin/vold binary with another one, compiled with exFAT support, and it should work right away? By the way, I don't really care about exFAT specifically - I'll happily take anything that works and lets me store files larger than 4 GiB.

That sounds right but you can go through source code to see if any other things need to be replaced other than vold: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/vold/+/refs/heads/master/fs. Btw, did you try ext4?

@IrfanLatif Yeah, I already tried ext4, NTFS, f2fs without any success. I could mount the ext4 partition manually from a shell, but otherwise it's all the same as earlier. Makes me want to just try the vold binary from here: github.com/Magisk-Modules-Repo/vold-posix In the worst case scenario, it should just fail to mount, right? If it renders the system unable to boot, I should be able to just replace the binary with the original one.

There are other things too in the module in addition to replacing vold binary. It's worth a try.

did you meanwhile figured out how it works? i don't have arm64 and i use SuperSU (not Magisk), i am interested in manually mounting from shell, but only usage i have found is for running as service on init https://source.android.com/devices/storage/config-example


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[Honor View 10 Lite][USB] Device not recognized by PC
Looked everywhere around the net, followed any guide I was able to find, and now my last hope is here. As the title say I'm unable to successfully connect my device to any PC. What I already did ?

Tested connection on Windows 10, Windows 7 and Kali. Windows not show any device connected, same for kali, using lsusb command.
On the device, in Developers menu I've turned ON/OFF settings related to usb, changed the usb mode from Charge Only to any other option, but as soon as I exit the menu the settings change back to Charge Only, Debug USB OFF.
I've also changed USB Port Settings in the ProjectMenu to Manufacture Mode/Google Mode.
Removed, installed and updated to latest version HiSuite.
I've tested with 6 different cables.

What I can think is the EMUI 9 update I did few days ago broke something or the connector is half dead and can only charge(weird). Any idea about any possible solution?

I manged to get this working again, by enabling USB via Hi Suite.

Connect phone and open Hi Suite.
You should see a USB option for the device.
When selecting it, you should get the prompt on your device.

I had similar issues but it seems it may have been dodgy USB leads. HiSuite would pop up on the computer when I connected to the PC but wouldn't connect. Tried uninstalling then re-installing HiSuite on the phone but still the same. Was about to factory reset the phine when I decided to try a different USB lead whuch worked


text:
Is it possible to access Chrome data without root?
I have a OnePlus 5T. Android version 9. OxygenOS version 9.0.5.
Is it possible to access the /data/data/com.android.chrome/app_tabs/0 folder without root privileges?
As I understood, rooting will wipe out the data on the device.
Thank you.

AFAIR Chrome is an app that defines allowBackup=false, therefore without root there is no way to access the app private data. In general the "rooting" step is not the one that deletes the data, that is caused by the "bootloader unlock" step. However usually unlocking the bootloader is a requirement for rooting.

App data folders of any app cannot be accessed without root. Even ADB has limited power here
On top of that, in some versions of Chrome on Android app data is encrypted


text:
Use proxy for stock android download manager? Play store not downloading through shadowsocks
I'm in China.
I use proxy to access GFW blocked sites.
Proxy is connected as an android VPN.
Stock download manager does not go through proxy.
How can I use proxy with it?
On my Mi Mix 2S, I just opened the download manager app and disabled "Xunlei Download Acceleration" and then it worked. But there is no download manager app to open on my Nexus, and I can't find any settings related to it.
Now on my Nexus, everything I download in google play store is stuck at "Downloading...", without even starting the download process.
How can I configure the download manager so that it uses the proxy?
More Info:
•   Proxy App: Shadowsocks 4.8.0

•   Android Version: 9
•   StatiX OS Version: v2.0-OFFICIAL-20190225-2252
•   Android Security Patch Level: February 5, 2019
•   Kernel Version:
    o   3.10.108-Statix-Pie-g950b2df
    o   #1 Mon Feb 25 22:58:17 UTC 2019
•   Build Number: PQ2A.190205.003 release-keys

The only way to force everything through a server like a proxy on Android is a vpn. There are several apps to use a proxy via vpn
The theory is that if you get a bad proxy not everything is effected. Generally only web browsers respect proxy configuration and other apps must specifically support it (which they do not generally)
Also check the proxy configuration and that it is accessible


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Not Rooted Huawei Device, Android 4.4.4, Locked Out. USB debugging not enabled One is huawei. h60 -L01 Second is CHM-U01
Thanks for your time. I have a huawei phone which isn't rooted and USB debugging isn't enabled. Furthermore, I am locked out. Please suggest any remedy. I have searched out the whole internet but there isn't any solution, as far as I know.
And if there is No possibility please suggest me how to access my data by any mean. Even if it's post hard-reset recovery.
Please Help!
Thanks!
Edit 1:
Actually I handed over 2 phones to my employees. They gave me a loss of 42000$ and I have recovered 2 phones from them. I didn’t recover any cash but these two phones which can give me a lead to what they were actually up to. As I am from Pakistan, I don’t want to go into any legal process. So, that’s what I am looking for and I can spend money even to recover the data inside. –
So you can say I am not the owner but I would have asked it directly than it would be giving an outlook that I am a thief lol. So.... I am in a great need of the data inside that phone. Any sort of help that can give me access to full data will be highly appreciated. And I am willing to pay for that even. –
And thanks for staying there and spending the time to read all that long passages. Thanks again! –

Please elaborate on what you want

We can't help you if we don't actually know the issue

I am describing that the phones are locked that’s the whole issue. I am the owner of the phones and I gave them to my employees. They cheated me and gave me a set back of 48000$. I want to unlock the phone and read all the data inside. To get to know what they were up to!

Phones are locked. The google account inside one of the phone was mine. I locked it and now I can’t unlock it because I don’t know the passcode or pattern.

set a temporary screen lock password from google account, then unlock with this temporary password

the Honor 4C and 6 both have "backup user data" in recovery mode. once you have backup, come back here https://www.hardreset.info/devices/huawei/huawei-honor-4c/recovery-mode

@AbdullahAliAbbasi have you checked the backups? can you extract it? then you can unlock bootloader and restore the modified backups, ask here if you still need help

No Alecxs I cant create a backup as there is no backup otion and bootloader is locked.

Huawei has locked bootloader by default, no chance to boot custom recovery from fastboot = no way to break in and reset locksettings.db
(you can check the unlock status with fastboot oem device-info)
If you are the owner of the bonded google account and phone, you can connect it over wifi, or insert a SIM card (with disabled PIN) to accomplish mobile data connection. if you recently changed your Google account password, you need to wait at least 72 hours.
Unlock your Kitkat Android device

After you've tried to unlock your device multiple times, you'll see "Forgot pattern."
Tap Forgot pattern.
Enter the Google Account username and password
Reset your screen lock

Unlock your Android device using Android Device Manager (ADM)

On a computer, visit: google.com/android/devicemanager
Sign in using your Google login details
In the ADM interface, select the device
Select ‘Lock’
In the appearing window, enter a temporary password. You don’t have to enter a recovery message.
Now click ‘Lock’ again.
If it was successful, you should see a confirmation below the box with the buttons Ring, Lock and Erase.
On your phone you should now see a password field in which you should enter the temporary password. This should unlock your phone.
Now, before you go on with your life, go to your phone’s lock screen settings and disable the temporary password.

Android system recovery <3e> userdata_20160823_100259.backup
If your device has slot for external MicroSD Card or USB-OTG Support, is not encrypted, and has "backup user data" option enabled by default, you can create a backup from stock recovery. This backup files can be extracted with linux tools (google: "bckp2win")
Brute forcing a 4-digit PIN
If you are not the owner of the google account, the only way will be to bruteforce a 4 digit PIN with a Hak5 USB Rubber Ducky or Teensy microcontroller via USB-OTG Adapter. if it is a longer PIN or password, no chance!

source: https://trendblog.net/how-to-bypass-android-phone-lock-screen-pattern-pin-password

One is huawei  h60 -L01 Second is CHM-U01

Nice answer @alecxs you cover most of methods that will work but need to execute them correctly.

there are more methods, but these are the easiest one. I recommend to check recovery mode and bootloader mode first. I will update other methods if we can be sure that backup functionality is not available and bootloader is locked


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How to launch intent with app shortcut id?
I want to run the NordVPN app by using am start automatically connects to vpn, on my home screen I have a working shortcut. The shortcut code is:
Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=com.miui.home.launcher.DEEP_SHORTCUT;launchFlags=0x10200000;package=com.nordvpn.android;component=com.nordvpn.android/.MainActivity;S.shortcut_id=shortcut-germany-515;end
I am trying to the same via adb:
am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN -c com.miui.home.launcher.DEEP_SHORTCUT -n com.nordvpn.android/.MainActivity -e S.shortcut_id shortcut-germany-515
But that does not work, apps start but don't connect to vpn

Did you find a solution? S. is a string as -e than you should use -e shortcut_id shortcut-germany-515 but it still doesn't work for me. Skipping launcher (-c) has the same effect, runs an application without extra variable :-/


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zooming in and out using mouse scroll wheel
I searched desperately for a way to do that but in vain. so far it looks like the only way for zooming using mouse in android is clicking twice the left button and dragging up or down, which is very awkward and frustrating and out of common sense. I tried to find a key mapper on Googleplay but I found nothing which handles mouse buttons. I also looked for an image viewer with any options for mouse input, and nothing I found.

Do you mean something like clicking Ctrl and scrolling?

I mean zooming just through scrolling like image viewer in windows or like any 3d modelling program


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How can I permanently assign a static IP address to Wi-Fi or USB tether clients?
I use my phone as an extended display with x11vnc, which works as intended.
The only issue is, that I have to change the IP address on the VNC client on my phone, very often. Because of dynamic DHCP, I suppose.
I use a Motorola g Turbo Lineage OS 7.1.2, rooted.
Is Android capable of IP reservation? It basically assigns IP address and hostname depending on the MAC address. Or something that achieves the same.
Edit:
Is it possible to assign new static lease through an ADB command immediately?

Android uses dnsmasq as its DHCP/DNS server (up to Pie). So create the configuration file /etc/dnsmasq.conf with option dhcp-host=<MAC>,<IP> (1).
Root is required to place this file. Since /etc is a symlink to /system/etc, /system partition needs to be mounted R/W. Make sure you don't break dm-verity if enabled on your device.
Set permissions:
~# chown 0.0 /etc/dnsmasq.conf
~# chmod 0644 /etc/dnsmasq.conf
~# chcon u:object_r:system_file:s0 /etc/dnsmasq.conf

SELinux rules also need to be defined if status is enforcing. Use Magisk's suploicy or some other similar tool like sepolicy-inject:
allow dnsmasq system_file file { read getattr open }
allow dnsmasq system_file dir { search }

Is it possible to assign new static lease through an ADB command immediately?

No, you need to modify configuration file and restart the dnsmasq server (switch Hotspot OFF and ON) for changes to take effect.

what about android q?

@HakunaMatata too lazy to test so far. Will update.

Because dnsmasq has been deleted.

and what Android uses instead of dnsmasq?


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Disable YouTube AutoPlay on Home Feature
I'm having trouble disabling YouTube's "AutoPlay on Home" feature on my wife's phone/account. I've followed the instructions provided on Google's support site, but when I reach the settings for "Autoplay", there is no "AutoPlay on Home" option to change (see below).
ex. YouTube Missing AutoPlay on Home

I believe she is running v14.23.50 of the YouTube app for Android 9 on a Pixel 3 phone.
Can I somehow get to this setting? Should I report this to YouTube?

Just as feedback, running YT v14.23.50 on a Samsung and this option still appears for me.

It's weird because my phone (Pixel 3XL) has the option. So, I wonder if there is something with her account that it's not available.


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Fake security message playing continuously on Galaxy 7
My phone just started beeping by itself immediately after displaying an ad in a piece of software I've been using without problems for almost 10 years. There is a female robot voice that repeats the same message continuously:

Important security message.
Your computer has been locked up.
Your IP address was used without your knowledge or consent to visit websites that contains identity theft virus. [sic]
To unlock the computer please call support immediately.
Please do not attempt to shutdown or restart your computer. Doing that may lead to data loss and identity theft.
The computer lock is aimed to stop illegal activity.
Please call our support immediately.

What is this, how did it get on my phone, and how do I get rid of it?
It just stopped by itself too. It was playing for about 15 minutes. The beeps became slightly irregular at the end.

Find the app in Settings -> Applications, and force stop it. That should stop the app from doing anything. Restarting the app should hopefully allow you to continue using it without issue.
Sometimes apps will continue playing audio in the background, and unfortunately this applies to ads as well.


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USB Audio interface with Google Pixel 3a
I just migrated to a Google Pixel 3a coming from an old iPhone and I realized that I can't use my USB external audio interface for recording videos with my new phone.
I used my Zoom UR-24 without any problems with an old iPhone 5s
It's a shame, because one of the main reasons to migrate was the camera quality and for recording videos with external audio.
Is there any usb soundcard compatible with Android/Google Pixel ?

Here are some options:

Use an alternative camera app, which will allow you to set the audio source. For example: Open Camera
Record the audio in a separate app then edit the audio and video together later. An example app for recording audio from your interface is USB Audio Recorder PRO

Also, since this question is a top hit for "Pixel USB Audio Class 3", I want to also mention that the Pixel 3a does not support USB Audio Class 3.0. This means that unlike the Pixel 2, it does not support more than audio interfaces with more than 2 channels. I learned this by calling the Google's product specialists.


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S7 slow practically unusable at app layer
I know this seems a common complaint but I've been through the forums and can't find any solution to this very specific problem. Symptoms: Since returning from abroad 2 months ago, my S7 is barely receiving data from the mobile network at the app layer. e.g. I just tried to load google news and it took about 20 seconds. Next two attempts timed out.
Weird thing is if I enable the hotspot and connect a tablet or laptop, it loads the same page instantly. Therefore antannae is obv. fine, data transfer test from the laptop to the hotspot are as follows:

However I can't even run that test directly on the phone.
On wifi it behaves much better with no noticeable slowness of data transfer.
What I have tried:

Uninstalling all games, unnecessary apps my kids had on etc.
Clearing the cache
Using a cache cleaning app
factory reset
hard reset
wiping the APN settings and re-pulling
every permutation of the network's APN settings

none of the above has any effect. I've pretty much taken to bringing my 7" tablet around nowadays and hotspotting instead of using the phone directly.
Can anyone please put me out of my misery - am just on the verge of chucking the thing altogether now..

Since you traveled, could the phone have changed its Network Mode there to give you a better reception, but failed to undo the change here? Visit Settings > Mobile Networks > Network Mode, and experiment to see if any of them restore functionality.

hi thanks for your suggestion much appreciated but yes played round with this also. Only setting which works at all really is 4G. Selecting any of the others results in even worse performance and kills the hotspotting altogether


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How to export a large WhatsApp chat with media exactly as it appears on my phone?
I want to export a huge WhatsApp conversation (346,000 messages) along with the media (photos, videos and voice notes) to my computer exactly as it appears on WhatsApp.
There is a Chrome extension that does exactly what I want by downloading the conversation from WhatsApp Web as HTML. However, it crashes at around 100,000 texts. Is there any other way?
I can't export it directly through WhatsApp because it's limited to 40,000 texts. Also, my phone is not rooted so extracting the SQLite files is not an option.
(Technical answers are highly encouraged)

So, I managed to figure it out myself. Note that this answer has been written for non-rooted devices.

Go to Internal Storage/WhatsApp and rename the Databases directory to Databases.old
Open WhatsApp, go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup and set Back up to Google Drive as Never.
Tap the BACK UP button and wait for the backup process to complete.
Go to Internal Storage/WhatsApp and zip the Databases and Backups directories.
Arrange a spare device. Personally, I set up an AVD with Android Marshmallow x86 and increased the storage (partition size) to 8GB.
Root your spare device. If you're using an AVD, use this guide.
Create a new folder named WhatsApp on your spare device.
Copy the zip file to your spare device and extract it inside the WhatsApp directory such that the Internal Storage/WhatsApp/Backups and Internal Storage/WhatsApp/Databases directories exist. We won't be needing your non-rooted device in the coming steps.
Install WhatsApp on your spare device, log in using your original phone number, and restore the backup when prompted to do so.
On your rooted device, open WhatsApp and go to Settings > Chats > Chat backup.
Tap the BACK UP button.
Install any root browser and copy the file /data/data/com.whatsapp/files/key to the Internal Storage. This is your WhatsApp decryption key.
Install this app, go to Settings inside the app and set the Whats key file to the WhatsApp decryption key you just copied.
Go back to the previous screen, select the File type to your preferred file type and hit Export to storage.
You'll find the exported chat files in Internal Storage/BackupTextForWhatsApp.

To reactivate WhatsApp on your original, non-rooted device, just open
WhatsApp on your original device and verify your number again. Your chats will still be there.


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Bootloader Unlock Question: Motorola
I have a Motorola G7 Power; carrier is Metro PCS. It is my understanding that in order to unlock the bootloader I need to get an unlock code from Motorola. Is this true? Does this mean that my device cannot be rooted unless I have this unlock code?

First check whether you phone can be unlocked: https://support.motorola.com/us/en/solution/MS87215
If yes then you need an unlock code, to get this code and unlock the boot loader follow the instructions at https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/standalone/bootloader/unlock-your-device-a
It is not possible to root your mobile without unlocking it.


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Enable developer options on LG Stylo 4
The following is not working on my LG Stylo 4

To enable Developer options you have to go to About Phone (or About phone > Software info) and tap Build number 7 times.

The reason being is I don't have an "About Phone" option in Settings.
How to enable the developer options on LG Style 4?

Can you show us your Settings in a screenshot ? On some phone the option may be different

Ok, tell me what your last option fron the settings looks like?

settings is the last option

The settings has a couple of options. The settings should have a GEAR icon

my bad, SYSTEM is the last option

Check my answer

From the Verizon support page :
To enable Developer Options, navigate to: Apps > Settings > About phone > Software info then tap Build number seven times.
Ensure the Developer options switch (located in the upper-right) is turned on
Tap USB debugging to enable or disable.
Enabled when a check mark is present.
If presented with Allow USB debugging? screen, tap OK.


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Developer permissions
Is there a way to remove or deny permission of system packages
Example an app has permission to com.android.vending.BILLING?
I have root access

You can only deny dangerous permissions: https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/permissions/overview#dangerous_permissions

What about changing apk manifest.xml

I mean change it then install it will it work?  By the way i'm not removing permission to a service that is needed or the app won't run i just chanhe permission for unnecessary services


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What could I do to rescue some files from my sm-t320?
I installed cyanogenmod and twrp v2.8.7.0 a very long time ago.
Now that the O.S. has broken I'd like to copy some files to pc (windows 10), but I failed to find any solution til now on forums/youtube.

If the version of TWRP on your device allows in the Mount section to Enable/Disable MTP, you can use it to connect to your PC and copy files from the internal storage to the PC.
Or you can insert an SD card, and copy files from the internal storage to the SD card using TWRP's terminal with the following command
cp -R /path/to/internal_storage /path/to/sdcard/folder

Then insert the SD card to PC and copy the files.

or install twrp-3.3.1-0-mondrianwifi.img when MTP does not work


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Recovery image without root functionality for an Xperia Z1 Compact
A friend of mines child has a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact and a lot of what I would call Criminal Energy (he proved that on several occasions).
Because he did a lot of stuff on his phone which he is not supposed to do, we want to prevent him of finding out how to boot into the previously installed TWRP Recovery Mode, where he could root his phone and do other uncool stuff.
From what I found out, I am not able to remove TWRP, but could totally replace it with something else.
So my question is, are there any simple, Backup/Restore only, no root option, no File editing (eg. build.props) Recovery images available for me to flash on that particular smartphone or do i have any other options? (We already installed and configured Family Link, but that of course does not prevent booting in recovery mode)

Re-flash the official recovery and boot images of the device.
Lock the bootloader and disable Developers option.

Official recoveries do not allow to do much i.e rooting, changing/editing build.prop file and other system files. It will buy you time until the child studies enough and figure out that it is possible to change the recovery and root the system.


text:
Access Android log files for specific periods on android 7
Is it possible to access old log files,lets say 3 months old, to see the usage on the android device, by usage i mean, any app installed or unistalled, time spent online, via wifi or cellular, time offline, times switched on and switched off,apps used and any other usage data.
Is this possible through the ADB on windows? I want to be able to connect the tablet to my PC and access all the logs for the last 3 months, currently am just getting the current date only, i cannot even get logs for yesterday.
The command am using is adb logcat > currentdevicelog.txt
Any help would be highly appreciated, the version of android on the device is Nougat-7.0

Android does not store the output of logcat in flash memory. Instead logcat uses a ring buffer in RAM of usually 64KB up to 4MB (depends on what is configured). RAM is much faster than flash memory and also flash may fail earlier if constantly logmessages are written onto it.
A ringbuffer means that if the buffer is full the oldest entry will be overwritten by a new entry. Therefore logcat usually only contains the last minutes or hours. And only log messages after the last reboot as the logcat buffer is not saved on shutdown and the RAM memory is also lost on reboot.
Therefore there are no old log messages you can access.

there is no logs stored on the internal memory other than the RAM?

Only some kernel messages are usually stored in case the kernel crashes. As I wrote persistent logs are not designated by Android as this could reduce the flash memory life time and it costs more battery.


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How to debug boot loop?
I have a boot looping Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini LTE (also known as GT-i9195 or serranoltexx – this is not GT-i9195i or serranoveltexx).
Current behavior: when the phone is off, pressing power button results to normal boot screen with usual yellow text in the top left corner about custom kernel ("Set Warranty Bit : kernel"). The screen stays in this view for around 20 seconds, turns to black, vibration motor runs for two short periods and the system reboots. I guess the system is failing to boot until hardware watchdog resets the system due timeout exeeding. If I boot with Volume down + Home + Power held, the phone enters into download mode as usual. And if I boot with Volume up + Home + Power held, the phone enters recovery mode (TWRP version 3.3.1.0) where everything seems to work as usual, too. I was running LineageOS 16 (Android 9.0) with SELinux enforcement enabled with June 2019 security patches. The system has XXUCOL3 modem firmware if I remember correctly.
In the end, I can successfully boot into download mode and into TWRP recovery. However, the system started to fail to boot to normal system after normal shutdown-restart cycle and the system was working okay before shutdown. Is there any way to diagnose and possibly fix the problem without wiping all the data?
Steps that I've already tried:

Wiping Art/Dalwik Cache, Cache partition and System partition and re-installing full system image via TWRP.
Removing battery
Booting with SIM card and sdcard removed

I really want to understand why this happened to avoid it in the future. I really don't want to have a device that randomly enters this state and the only way to fix it is to wipe the whole device. Being able to bring the current system to usable state without full wipe would be a nice bonus because it avoids reconfiguring all the settings and apps again.
And yes, I know this device is old and I had to previously replace motherboard due emmc chip failing but I really like the form factor and no vendor is nowadays providing similar device. If Sharp Aquos R2 compact didn't have notches on the screen it would be my next phone.

This may be caused by software error in the latest version of ROM I'm using: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4-mini/orig-development/rom-lineageos-16-0-s4-mini-t3833063/page86 - other people are also reporting about issues that system no longer boots up after power off. No fix is known yet other than wiping all data.

See the answer below. It turned out that it was fixable via adb in TWRP without wiping data.

In practice, the only way to debug early boot loops is to read the kernel log as follows:
Minimum steps to get the kernel log if you have a working adb and TWRP:

When the device is boot looping, press and hold VOLUME UP + HOME until the boot loop repeats and you get blue "RECOVERY" text in top left corner (specific key sequence will differ depending on actual harware but above should correct for Samsung devices). The important part is that you have to enter the TWRP recovery directly after failed boot and exact steps to do this depend on the hardware. The above example should be correct for all Samsung devices with hardware home button. The firmware may have some other indication about entering recovery partition than blue "RECOVERY" text which I think is part of Samsung's firmware implementation.

Attach the phone to computer using an USB cable and wait for TWRP to finish booting (the order you attach the phone vs starting TWRP booting is not important).

Extract the kernel log from failed boot. Run following on the host computer command line:

The required command for linux host:
adb shell cat /proc/last_kmsg > ~/Desktop/boot-loop-kernel-log.txt

The required command for Windows host:
adb shell cat /proc/last_kmsg > %UserProfile%/Desktop/boot-loop-kernel-log.txt

You'll end up with a file called boot-loop-kernel-log.txt on your desktop which contains the kernel log of failed boot.
This works because /proc/last_kmsg contains the memory contents of previous boot kernel log ring (this works because kernel keeps this log in known memory address and next boot saves the contents of that memory area before writing the new log in the same location). Some vendors put the previous boot kernel log ring to file /sys/fs/pstore/console-ramoops or cat /sys/fs/pstore/console-ramoops-0 so you may need to do
adb shell cat '/sys/fs/pstore/console-ramoops*' > ~/Desktop/boot-loop-kernel-log.txt

instead, but the idea is still the same. Obviously, if the firmware overwrites all memory with zeros on boot, this cannot work.
In my specific boot looping case the problem was caused by "Live Display" color correction failing during boot process if its settings had been changed from the default. With that specific problem, the workaround was to boot to recovery and execute following as root
rm /data/vendor/display/.displaymodedefault

Long version of instructions to acquire boot log during a boot loop: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1520508

and if android doesn’t reach the point where it can connect to adb ?

Android recovery mode uses different boot partition than the normal boot so you should be able to get into TWRP which provides the ADB support. If you have e.g. flashed wrong ROM (technically flashed the OS partition but Android fans calls this "ROM" for some reason) and also flashed wrong recovery code, then you cannot follow above steps. Some hardware (e.g. modern Qualcomm) support booting recovery image over USB cable using fastboot mode. For wrong boot+recovery, I would recommend searching for brick recovery combined with your hardware name (e.g. gt-i9195).

No, what I’m meaning is I already have access to /data partition but don’t find anything usefull there. Also Samsung doesn’t have ᴛᴡʀᴘ in recovery mode.

Obviously, Samsung official fimware doesn't have a real recovery mode. If you have official firmware installed and the system boot loops, it will be much harder to debug. I guess you could install TWRP on the recovery partition and follow above steps. Note that you may need to mount the data partition in TWRP before you can actually see your data. Some versions of TWRP do this by default, some (which I consider safer to use) do not mount data automatically. Note that if you have locked bootloader, you cannot install TWRP when the system is boot looping and factory reset is only option.

I m in the same hell . Something poisoned my phone into boot loop stuck at powered by android logo. POsted my Q here          https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/239500/analyzing-boot-loop-root-cause-from-console-ramoops-0-logcat  &  w link to entire kernel log aka ramoops in there. can some dev take a peep to see if there's a quick fix or I am going to have to start with a clean slate

thanks bud for peeping into the issue. As I found out  /data could be restored ( see update with findings ) but stuck with bootloop   this question (  https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/239500/analyzing-boot-loop-root-cause-from-console-ramoops-0-logcat )  this question carrying a bounty might be of intrest  if you  are   that 'colonel' of  kernel.  Like  you correctly said need N and F boot logs  & I got 'em both in there


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How to save sessions in browser
I use Session Buddy browser session manager chrome plugin quite heavily on desktop and I want similar functionality on android.
I know chrome does not have plugin support on Android. So I tried bunch of plugin on firefox. I was able to install almost all plugins on Firefox Android. However none worked at actual functionality of saving sessions. Some simply had UI malfunctioning while saving sessions, other simply threw error.
Has someone tried successfully saving browser sessions on Android?
Edit

Seems that Tabboo plugin is working. But still I will welcome any recommendations, as it does not let us import, export sessions. Ok, it seems to be buggy. We cannot open saved sessions. Can only delete url from session, rename session name, cant open session, cant open url from session.
Also tried tabSession, Saving sessions and opening them working. But it shows only name you gave to the session while saving in its UI. So UI is just a list of names of sessions. It does not show URLs within each session.
Just came to know we can use kiwi browser on android which can install extensions from chrome store. I tried installing session buddy in kiwi. The extensions worked quite well, with some limitations. Able save, open, export sessions. Seems that session buddy cannot capture tabs in incognito. Also there are some UI glitches, may be since the plugin is built for desktop screen asect ratio.


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Tapping on a contact makes call, how can I see a contact's phone number on Android 8?
If I search for and tap a contact, it calls them, but I can't see their number. If I scroll up and down endlessly looking for a specific contact and I tap them, it still won't show me the phone number. Sometimes I would like to get a contact's number to share with someone else without having to call the contact first. Is this possible on Android 8?
I'm just using the stock dialer.

Which phone are you using? It sounds like the dialer app you have is not the one packaged with android by default, but one modified by your manufacturer. Every phone is different, so it's helpful to know which one we're working with.

In stock Phone app (com.android.dialer), you can tap on the picture (extreme left) of the contact. It'll show the details of the contact, won't make a call.

Thank you. I would like to accept your answer, as your solution addressed the problem I had, but there is no check mark visible.

@dcacat follow this: https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5234/how-does-accepting-an-answer-work

@dcacat it seems you accidentally created 2 accounts. Please follow this help center to get access to your old account and the ownership of this post. Thank you.


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Error Installing System Update
How can I fix my phone so that it will boot up again like normal?
When it tries to start up, I see the Samsung Galaxy S9 Secured by Knox Powered by android screen. After this screen vibrates, it restarts and returns to the same screen. Here's a picture of the screen.

If I press the volume up, power and button below the volume, then it will show the same Samsung Galaxy S9 Secured by Knox Powered by android screen. After that, it will show a Installing system update screen. Then it will progress to 28% and restart. Here's a picture of the screen below.

While it was trying to install the system update, I was able to push the volume up key and power key at the same time. It gave me the following screenshot.

I went to a uBreakiFix location. They flashed the OS for me for free. This was great since I didn't have to re-setup my phone. They have an agreement with Samsung to help with this. I don't have any affiliation to uBreakiFix other than as a customer.


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Disable music ticker on ambient display
I have a bootleggers ROM (Android 9 pie) installed on a Motorola Moto E 2015 phone and it lights the display (ambient display) every time a new song starts playing on the phone. There is a setting to toggle the "music ticker" in the bootleggers dumpster > lockscreen settings, which is turned off, but the ticker still appears.
Is it possible to disable the music ticker somewhere else?
Or maybe this is a bug of the ROM. If anybody is using Bootleggers ROM 4.2, pie, could you comment about the behaviour of the music ticker on your device?

I made a mistake. Turns out that "music ticker" and the information about the currently playing track, that I see on my ambient display are different things. "music ticker" can be toggled, as expected, in the menu bootleggers dumpster > lockscreen settings. What I am seeing are notifications from my music player app, which are pulsed on the ambient display, since at every new song the notification of the app changes and it is treated as new notifications in the ambient display, which makes it light up (or pulse) the "new" notification

I will ask a new question about the music app's notification handling on ambient display. I may delete this question if it is confusing.


text:
GPS quick settings tile
I have a bootleggers ROM (Android 9 pie) installed on a Motorola Moto E 2015 phone. Can I add a quick settings tile that would toggle the GPS (location) on and off?
I know there is already a "location" tile, built in the rom, that can switch between different location modes (high accuracy, etc.), but I only want to toggle the GPS on and off, not to change the modes.
Also, I already solved this by using Tasker and QuickTask app to create a custom tile. And it works, but sometimes it takes some time for it to respond (which is understandable having in mind my phone's specs and the fact that now two additional apps are used to control the tile). I don't know if the delay is caused by QuickTask, by Tasker or by both, and it also depends on how many apps are open at the time that I use the tile.
So, maybe there is a more reliable and quicker solution.

Just saying, the "location" tile works alright on my devices, though they all have much better HW than your device...

Are you using a custom rom?

LineageOS on all my devices.

And the location tile simply toggles the location between on and off? not switching between "high accuracy", "battery saving" and "sensors only" location modes?

Advanced location tile was only added recently in LOS, and even then tapping the icon part of the tile would still instantly toggle on/off GPS. This extra question does confuse me a bit though, are you just unsatisfied with the tri-mode behaviour and want to have a tile that just toggles on/off, or does the tile seem to work but GPS isn't actually turned on immediately (as your original question emphasized "delay")?

Yep, I just want a tile that turns GPS on/off. I don't want to switch between different modes and I think switching to high accuracy brings a confirmation dialog where I should let google access more of my personal data, to which I disagree and then I think the original location tile of Bootleggers rom gets stuck and I can't switch to the next mode or turn off the GPS with it. What do you mean by "tapping the icon part of the tile", though? does the tile react differently to taps on the different parts of the tile?

And the delay, that I wrote about in the question, happens not with the original location tile from the rom, but with a tile that I created with QuickTask app, and which is controlled by tasker. This is of course understandable, because now two additional third party apps are used for this tile so some delays are expected depending on how many apps are running at the time that the tile is used. I have edited the question to make it more clear about which tile is used.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

So an answer to my other similar question helped me find a solution for this one as well.
It is possible to toggle the GPS with an app Automate.
I used the block, called "Location provider set state" from the "Location" category to enable/disable the GPS. And the block, called "Quick Settings tile show" from the "Interface" category to create and control the quick settings tile.
Here's a screenshot of the complete flow I'm using: