text:
Program the official rom of samsung phone
Is there a way to program the official rom of a samsung phone?
for example to add a feature on the rom that doesn't exist or just the only way is to create your own custom rom?
My phone is Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Marshmallow 6.0.1. A feature that I want to add is the ability to mark as read messages from notifications without open them. (I don't want to create an app for this that's why am asking how to program the official rom)

Your question is not clear. What is that you want to add as a  * feature*? It may be possible by proper means. What is your device? Please edit your question to make it specific with device and OS details.

Those firmwares are signed and only Samsung has the key, so you can't modify it or the MD5 hash will fail! And you cannot add "features" if the hardware doesn't meet the requirements.

If you're rooted and skillful enough, you can do framework-res and SystemUI mods that somewhat alter the UI and functions. For example, many older Samsung phones can have newer model's features ported over this way. But you do need to be clear as @beeshyams said.

@AndyYan Thanks man you completely answer my question

Samsung developed what I requested here.
Probably they saw it from here :p


text:
After completing download 100% from google play store app wont install. but after 3 to 4 hour it install itself. What could be the problem?
After completing download 100% from google play store app wont install but after 3 to 4 hour it install itself. What could be the problem??

can't say exactly but might be your device having low internal storage or your internet connection was interrupted or your device was busy with may background process

nop thats not the problem cua i have half GB free space and good net speed. But on the other hand i f i download apk from other sites then install them, then it installed without any problem.

i suffered for same problem with my Sony Xperia M . Definitely it's internal storage and Low RAM problem..kindly Root your device and Remove unused app and then use your device freely

may be the file you want to download was corrupted ..:)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Opening a .gpg file via emacs under termux
I have installed the termux and app and used it to install emacs on my android phone, i.e.
http://endlessparentheses.com/running-emacs-on-android.html
I then installed gpg via termux, i.e.
$ apt-get install gnupg2

However when I try to open a symmetrically encrypted .gpg file (private key) in emacs (running under termux) I get the following error:
Error while decrypting with "/usr/bin/gpg":

gpg: CAST5 encrypted data
gpg: problem with the agent: Not a typewriter
gpg: encrypted with 1 passphrase
gpg: decryption failed: No secret key

Its as though it doesn't know that I have to provide the decrypt key via the emacs minibuffer in order to open the file
I've tried various permutations of the following elisp in my .emacs file:
(require 'epa)
(epa-file-enable)
(setq epg-gpg-program "/usr/bin/gpg"))
;; Don't display graphic prompt in terminal
(when (not (display-graphic-p))
(setq epg-gpg-program "/usr/bin/gpg"))

but all to no avail thus far
anyone with any pointers/experience in this area gratefully received..

Does (setq epa-pinentry-mode 'loopback) help?

Error while decrypting with "/usr/bin/gpg":

On Termux there is no /usr folder, so you need /data/data/com.termux/files/usr/bin/gpg (or perhaps you can just specify gpg without full path?).
Also, note that you should use gpg2 if you want to use gnupg2 - the gpg program is from gnupg version 1 (and would require apt install gnupg).

hmm - good spot. I've tried and can run gpg and gpg2 from the termux cmd line. So they're obviously on the PATH. I modified the .emacs file location as you suggested, just using gpg2 rather than /usr/bin/gpg2. Still coming back with same error though..curious

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


text:
Country restricted apps: how to find out where the app is available?
It is well known that some apps can only be downloaded in specific countries.
There are a lot of tutorials on the net that show how do bypass this restriction and download the app anyway.
However those tutorials require you to know in which country the app is available.
Is there are an automated way to find out in which country/countries an app is available (except from stupidly trying out each and every country)?

Why not downloading those apps from e.g. ApkMirror, which shares only legitimate APK files (the same as the Play Store ones)? You'll just need the app's name, by doing so.

Googling for the app doesn't provide informations on where it is released?

@DeathMaskSalesman because a user may not willing be to trust any third party site to fetch the APK, no matter its reputation.

@esQmo: That works some times, but it is based on human intelligence and therefore can not be automated.

@Firelord Reasonable enough to deserve an upvote. Bravo.

42 matters seems to provide this. I haven't checked out by signing in. It claims to provide this information

Country Availability API for Android Apps
Check in which countries an Android app is available on Google Play Store™.

Source: Andrea, On Quora

It works. But their pricing is quite high. Nothing for a small developer or a private user.

Not really good due to prohibitive pricing (300$/mo). Free trial isn't a real trial, only dummy.


text:
Running out of storage space. /data/log/ directory not found
My Android S5 is running out of internal storage.   Issuing du reveals:
root@kltetmo:/ # df
Filesystem               Size     Used     Free   Blksize
/dev                   846.4M    56.0K   846.3M   4096
/sys/fs/cgroup         846.4M    12.0K   846.4M   4096
/mnt/asec              846.4M     0.0K   846.4M   4096
/mnt/obb               846.4M     0.0K   846.4M   4096
/system                  2.3G   775.8M     1.6G   4096
/data                   11.4G     9.5G     1.9G   4096
/cache                 491.8M     8.1M   483.7M   4096
/firmware               77.0M     6.9M    70.1M   16384
/firmware-modem         64.0M    52.5M    11.5M   16384
/efs                    13.8M     4.3M     9.5M   4096
/mnt/shell/emulated     11.4G     9.5G     1.9G   4096
/mnt/media_rw/sdcard1    28.8G    16.0G    12.7G   32768
/mnt/secure/asec        28.8G    16.0G    12.7G   32768
/storage/sdcard1        28.8G    16.0G    12.7G   32768

On my old S2, I regularly cleared huge log files out of the /data/log/ directory, but...
root@kltetmo:/ # ll /data/log
ls: /data/log: No such file or directory

Here are the available folders in /data:
root@kltetmo:/data # ll
drwx------    2 root     root          4096 Apr 14  2014 adb
drwxrwxr-x    2 system   system        4096 Nov  4 13:21 anr
drwxrwx--x   72 system   system        4096 Nov  9 15:39 app
drwx------    2 root     root          4096 Apr 14  2014 app-asec
drwxrwx--x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 app-lib
drwxrwx--x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 app-private
drwxrws---    2 media    audio         4096 Apr 14  2014 audio
drwx------    6 system   system        4096 Nov  9 15:39 backup
drwxrws---    2 bluetoot bluetoot      4096 Apr 14  2014 bluetooth
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            45 Apr 14  2014 bugreports -> /data/data/com.android.shell/files/bugreports
srwxrwx---    1 camera   camera           0 Nov  9 14:23 cam_socket2
srwxrwx---    1 camera   camera           0 Nov  9 14:23 cam_socket3
drwxrwx--x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 connectivity
drwxrwx--x    4 root     root          4096 Jan  1  2014 dalvik-cache
drwxrwx--x  169 system   system        8192 Nov  9 15:36 data
drwxr-x---    2 root     log           4096 Apr 14  2014 dontpanic
drwxrwx---    3 drm      drm           4096 Jan  1  2014 drm
drwxrwx--x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 fota
drwxr-x--x    3 root     root          4096 Apr 14  2014 local
drwxrwx---    2 root     root          4096 Apr 14  2014 lost+found
drwxrwxr-x    6 1023     1023          4096 Jul 11  2015 media
drwxrwx---    3 1031     1031          4096 Jul 11  2015 mediadrm
drwxrwx--t   22 system   misc          4096 Apr 14  2014 misc
drwx------    3 1027     1027          4096 Jan  1  2014 nfc
drwx------    2 root     root          4096 Nov  9 14:23 property
drwxrwx--x    3 system   system        4096 Jul  6 03:45 resource-cache
drwx--x--x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 security
drwxr-xr-x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 shared
drwxrwxr-x   19 system   system        4096 Nov  9 15:45 system
drwx------    2 system   system        4096 Feb  2  2014 time
drwxrwx--x    7 system   system        4096 Mar 17  2016 tombstones
drwx--x--x    2 system   system        4096 Apr 14  2014 user

The largest file I could find in the /data directory is only 3.8M in size.
root@kltetmo:/data # find /data -type f | sort -nr | head -11
/data/tombstones/tombstone_09
/data/tombstones/tombstone_08
/data/tombstones/tombstone_07
/data/tombstones/tombstone_06
/data/tombstones/tombstone_05
/data/tombstones/tombstone_04
/data/tombstones/tombstone_03
/data/tombstones/tombstone_02
/data/tombstones/tombstone_01
/data/tombstones/tombstone_00
/data/time/time_log.5

root@kltetmo:/data # ll -h /data/tombstones/tombstone_09
-rw-------    1 system   system      3.8M Jul 25 12:33 /data/tombstones/tombstone_09

Also,
root@kltetmo:/ # du -d 1 -h /data | sort -nr
1016.0K /data/resource-cache
580.0K  /data/time
108.0K  /data/backup
36.0K   /data/property
31.1M   /data/tombstones
20.0K   /data/mediadrm
16.0K   /data/nfc
12.0K   /data/drm
11.7M   /data/system
9.3G    /data
8.0K    /data/local
5.0G    /data/media
4.0K    /data/user
4.0K    /data/shared
4.0K    /data/security
4.0K    /data/lost+found
4.0K    /data/fota
4.0K    /data/dontpanic
4.0K    /data/connectivity
4.0K    /data/bluetooth
4.0K    /data/audio
4.0K    /data/app-private
4.0K    /data/app-lib
4.0K    /data/app-asec
4.0K    /data/adb
4.0K    /data/.ssh
2.3M    /data/anr
1.8M    /data/misc
1.6G    /data/data
1.3G    /data/dalvik-cache
1.3G    /data/app

Where is the bulk of the 9G worth of used space coming from?

Could you include the output of du -d 1 -h /data | sort -nr?

Added to question.

Now, as you can see, a huge part of the 9GB you mentioned lies in the /data/media directory. Your best way to handle this, would be to focus on that directory and use the same du -d 1 -h <PATH> | sort -nr to further inspect the culprit. Keep in mind that files in that directory may or may not be critical for the OS, so you should always investigate the file name before the deletion. Still, a size of 5GB for that directory is anomalous; mine is about 677MB, to say one.

That directory identifies the internal storage that's accessible to the user under the alias /storage/emulated/0, as well as the obb directory for the files of homonym extension, which consist of further app data.


text:
Auto-Capitalization is Capitalizing First Two Letters in a Word
This is a weird issue that has been happening with my Galaxy S5 for the past month or so (I've had it for at least 4 months, had an old one for a year before that with no issues).
This is on Android version 6.0.1 (not rooted or anything).  Often times (but not every time) when I start a new sentence in a text field, it capitalizes the first two letters of the sentence.  After the first two letters are capitalized (and I don't fix it) the word auto-corrects to an all caps version of the word (e.g. I go to type "hello" and it starts it off as "HEllo" then changes it to "HELLO").
My initial thought was that the keyboard was just lagging a bit and the "shift" key was being kept on for two letters instead of just the first.  I was paying more attention today and noticed that even if I type quite slowly, the "shift" is actually held down after the first letter goes into the textbox.
I'm wondering if anyone knows how to solve this problem without turning off the Auto-capitalization or Auto-correct.  It's not a crippling issue; but it really hurts my user experience when I have to backtrack all the time.
I couldn't find anything about this online (it's a weird issue to search that gives results for things I really don't care about).  Any help fixing it or even explaining what is happening would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: I'm just using the stock keyboard.

What Keyboard are you using, the stock one?

Yes, I thought of that after I was away from the computer; I'll edit it in.

There is something I'm not getting: If the auto capitalization is enabled, why do you hold the shift key while taping?

@esQmo I don't hold it down.  The button is highlighted as if it was pressed (as it always does for auto-capitalization after a sentence).  The problem is that it's doing it for 2 characters instead of the first; which seems like very weird behaviour.

Seems like a bug. Did you try clearing the data and cache in the apps settings?

@esQmo yeah, I tried that yesterday and it didn't change anything.

On Android  6.0.1 : SETTINGS > APPLICATION > APPLICATIONS MANAGER > SAMSUNG KEYBOARD > STORAGE

If so, I'll just  suggest you using an alternative keyboard. Give a try  to Google Keyboard.


text:
I have a pop up every time I open my phone
Can someone please tell me what app is causing this pop up every time I open my phone? It's annoying, because I have to click on it every time just to use my phone. I've attached a screenshot.

It would seem you have an app on your phone that is popping up ads.  Without knowing what you have installed on your device, I would suggest trying to track down the app by uninstalling potential apps to see which one is triggering these.

Adwares. Proceed as described above.

Remember when did this start to happen. Then uninstall apps after that time.
If that didn't work a factory reset is always handy.
Good Luck!

At first check if you have installed any application that was installed by you or not. You can see the from setting >Apps (No rush if you are not much familiar with system apps and can leave them alone)
If you can't see any suspicious application, you should be cautious and maybe it is highly exploited. in this case you have to make full wipe and install a new rom.
if you can see some application that was installed by you but not from playstore uninstall that too cause Google developers have to follow their market and community standard .


text:
Completely hiding a whatsapp group so it never appears
I have a whatsapp group which I have muted and disabled notifications for, but I have no way to completely hide it. When I archive it it appears when someone sends a message.

Why not simply leave it?

Whatsapp does not have such privacy mechanism as of yet, but if you use Hike you will get what you want.

You can archive the chat /delete group by long pressing the respective group


text:
image to flash moto 4g play
I'm trying to remove the anoying amazon malware on my moto G.  I tried following these instructions: http://forum.xda-developers.com/moto-g4/development/moto-g-4th-gen-how-to-remove-amazon-t3416587 but without success.  both the RSDLight and non-RSDLight approaches fail.  I get a message saying that the image test failed.
I assume the problem is that i'm using an image for a moto 4g instead of a moto 4g play.  Where could I get an image to flash my phone with for a moto 4G play?

Amazon and Moto patched the methods used to remove advertising, I have to assume they did it on the G4 Play as well, meaning there are no known ways to remove the advertising on the current firmware for the G4 or G4 Play, except by going to Your Devices on Amazon and pay the $50 to remove the advertising. If you are a long time Prime customer, calling and complaining to customer service that the advertising is too bright and annoying has resulting in getting it removed free of charge for some people (yet not others).


text:
International Time Zones Are Wrong in Clock App
Since Android's integrated Clock app does not offer to select time zones, I decided to find location reflecting time zones I need - EST, CST and MST
For EST (-5 UTC ) I chose Tampa but for CST (-6 UTC) I wanted to choose Washington DC but it has EST (-5 UTC) time zone, which is wrong. For MST (-7 UTC) I wanted to choose Las Vegas because Nevada was not on the list but Las Vegas has PST (-8 UTC) time zone which is wrong.

Are they all off by one? If so, its DST and they are right.

Daylight Saving Time ended on Sunday, November 6 in US

I'm not entirely sure what your question is. I think you are reporting errors in the Time Zone data in your copy of the Android system.
You report that Android lists Washington DC as EST (-5 UTC), and say that this is wrong. According to a Time Zone database entry for Washington DC, based on the IANA Time Zone database, this city does indeed observe U.S. Eastern Time, so -5 UTC is correct during the Easter Standard Time part of the year.
You report that Android lists Las Vegas as PST (-8 UTC), and say that this is wrong. According to the Time Zone database entry for Las Vegas at that same site, this city does indeed observe U.S. Pacific Time, so -8 UTC is correct during the Easter Standard Time part of the year.
So, I think this evidence does not prove Android's data to be incorrect.
For CST, a good major city is Chicago, Illinois. For MST, a good major city is Denver, Colorado.

Maybe TimeZone Changer will help? https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.futurek.android.tzc


text:
Is there any android smartphone that is already rooted by default?
Is there any android smartphone commercially available that is already rooted by default, so that no rooting procedure is required?

No, There is no phone with root access pre-built but there are phones like oneplus with cyanogen OS.
I hope these links may help you reguarding this topic.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/why-doesnt-android-come-rooted/
http://www.androidauthority.com/sell-android-devices-already-flashe-119002/


text:
How can I prevent DNS resolution of a name?
Blocking DNS resolution is a very crude but simple safety net I put around websites that I have moral issues with — by blocking DNS resolution I prevent a connection being made to the remote host in the first place, which greatly reduces their ability to do much of anything with my data, or my eyeballs. This isn't about advertisers; it's really easy for ad networks to make this sort of thing ineffective and unscalable. Ad blockers try to discard the ads and keep the contents; I want neither.
How can I achieve that, or a similarly effective barrier, on unrooted Android M?

You can't on an rooted device, even if rooted you can only control WiFi DNS resolution, but not on mobile data.

@acejavelin He could set up iptables and discard any packet going to or coming from a certain website, no?

@DeathMaskSalesman True... I was just narrowing in on the DNS thing, still requires root either way.

@DeathMaskSalesman yeah, doing it at the IP address basis is extremely brittle


text:
How to extract Google contacts pictures?
I would like to have all my Google contacts' pictures extracted in a folder, for instance in JPG format.
I know that it's already possible to export all contacts including pictures, for instance via the Export option in Google Contacts or via a third-party app such as Contacts Backup Ultimate. However, this generates a bundle of all contacts (for instance, a VCF file generated via the Export command above will contain all pictures Base64-encoded). I would like to obtain instead a image file for every contact so that they are easily viewable.
Is there a way to do so?

To extract Google contacts you can use the web application provided by Google for free: Google Takeout. This application helps to extract all the data stored in Google Apps including contacts saved on Google. All you need to do is sign in with the Gmail id where all the contacts are saved, and then choose the contacts section to extract the files. Later, you will receive an email that will be containing all the information of contacts in a vCard file.

This did not export all images for some reason.

For Android device follow below steps :

Go to Chrome & visit https://contacts.google.com
Select the contact whose photo you want.
Tap on option, select export & select Google CSV.
Then the file will be downloaded.
Open that file in excel sheet (WPS office or MS office Android app).
Go to column name photo & select and copy the URL.
Paste it on Chrome's address/search bar & hit enter.
The image is opened just press & hold on image and save/download it.

I think this will be helpful to you.

It sounds even more complicated than @Charlie's answer below.

I see a column (AB) called photo, but there isn't any text/url under it. Tried on desktop and phone.

In Google Contacts on the web, click on contact then right click on photo. Select "inspect",
The code for retrieving your photo will be highlighted in a popup window. Click on that URL and then do a screen capture and edit the photo.

Thanks, but even if I wanted to do this manually (which I don't) there is probably a better way.

Open the contact. Under the contact name, scroll down for Google Profile. If you right click on the photo, you have the option to save or download the image.

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


text:
Bootloop problem. Lenovo A600e
I have this cellphone for my CDMA card and also it is my fav cell phone as gifted from my first girlfriend. It went in bootloop. However I got the flash zip file on internet. But couldn't find the better tool to flash this zip. If I want to flash via android recovery then external SD card is not getting in that. From which I could flash that zip. I want this cell phone back to work. Least ABD tricks may you know guys? Pls help me.
PS : our english teacher got hit by bus.

Flash your phone using a computer. As your phone is powered by Mediatek chips, it is easy to flash.
Go here and download the firmware for your phone model and here for Instructions.

I have searched more than 19 pages of google engine but I could not find above models stock ROM. I have a T-update zip file. Which can be flash with android recovery. While I entered in recovery i found the suspect that emmc failed something. Also I could not find my External SD card which I have T-zip in that. Do you know how to push n pull file using cmd in bootloop android?


text:
“Package installer has stopped working” after upgrade to OxygenOS 3.1.4 (Marshmallow)
I have upgraded my (rooted) OnePlus X phone from Oxygen OS 2.2.x to 3.1.4 (dirty upgrade, from Lollipop to Marshmallow).
Since doing that, the settings view crashed with "Unfortunately, Package installer has stopped" when I try to view the permission details for some apps. For example, when I open try to view the permissions for Hangouts (Settings > Apps > Hangouts > permissions), the above dialog appears and the following output is shown in logcat:
AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
AndroidRuntime: Process: com.android.packageinstaller, PID: 16689
AndroidRuntime: java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start activity ComponentInfo{com.android.packageinstaller/com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.ManagePermissionsActivity}: java.lang.SecurityException: com.google.android.talk from uid 10100 not allowed to perform WRITE_CONTACTS
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2493)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.handleLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2576)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.access$1000(ActivityThread.java:155)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread$H.handleMessage(ActivityThread.java:1421)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5539)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:726)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:616)
AndroidRuntime: Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: com.google.android.talk from uid 10100 not allowed to perform WRITE_CONTACTS
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.AppOpsManager.checkOp(AppOpsManager.java:1521)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.AppPermissionGroup.create(AppPermissionGroup.java:152)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.AppPermissionGroup.create(AppPermissionGroup.java:94)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.AppPermissions.loadPermissionGroups(AppPermissions.java:136)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.AppPermissions.<init>(AppPermissions.java:66)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.ui.handheld.AppPermissionsFragment.onCreate(AppPermissionsFragment.java:105)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Fragment.performCreate(Fragment.java:2198)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:942)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl.moveToState(FragmentManager.java:1148)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.BackStackRecord.run(BackStackRecord.java:793)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.FragmentManagerImpl.execPendingActions(FragmentManager.java:1535)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.FragmentController.execPendingActions(FragmentController.java:325)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.Activity.performStart(Activity.java:6305)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.ActivityThread.performLaunchActivity(ActivityThread.java:2456)
AndroidRuntime:        ... 9 more

And when I open access Settings > Apps > Gears icon > Access permissions, the Android activity briefly appears and then closes. There is no error dialog, but logcat does show the following error:
AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: AsyncTask #4
AndroidRuntime: Process: com.android.packageinstaller, PID: 19194
AndroidRuntime: java.lang.RuntimeException: An error occurred while executing doInBackground()
AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.AsyncTask$3.done(AsyncTask.java:309)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.finishCompletion(FutureTask.java:354)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.setException(FutureTask.java:223)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:242)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.AsyncTask$SerialExecutor$1.run(AsyncTask.java:234)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1113)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:588)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:818)
AndroidRuntime: Caused by: java.lang.SecurityException: com.ubercab from uid 10102 not allowed to perform CAMERA
AndroidRuntime:        at android.app.AppOpsManager.checkOp(AppOpsManager.java:1521)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.AppPermissionGroup.create(AppPermissionGroup.java:152)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.PermissionApps.loadPermissionApps(PermissionApps.java:189)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.PermissionApps.-wrap0(PermissionApps.java)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.PermissionApps$PermissionAppsLoader.doInBackground(PermissionApps.java:375)
AndroidRuntime:        at com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.PermissionApps$PermissionAppsLoader.doInBackground(PermissionApps.java:374)
AndroidRuntime:        at android.os.AsyncTask$2.call(AsyncTask.java:295)
AndroidRuntime:        at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:237)
AndroidRuntime:        ... 4 more

Why does this happen, and how can I fix this?

Both error messages in the question include a message in the following format:

java.lang.SecurityException: [app id] from uid [user id] not allowed to perform [permission id]

I recalled that for the affected apps, I once disabled some permissions using the "App Permissions" feature of OxygenOS 2/Lollipop. In OxygenOS 3/Marshmallow, "App Permissions" has been replaced by Android 6's permission management system. Although the UI disappeared after the upgrade, the backend did not and caused crashes when the settings page attempted to check the permission.
To fix the issues, I cleared some appops permissions, as follows:

On the phone: Enable "USB debugging" (Settings > Developer options > USB debugging).
Connect your phone to your computer (where ADB is installed).
At the computer: Start adb logcat to get a continuous stream of log messages (you can also use Logcat on the phone, but using the computer is easier because you will need the phone's screen space at a later step).
At the computer: Use adb shell to get a shell (root is most likely not needed).
Now repeat the following steps for every app at Settings > Apps:

Tap on the app icon to view its settings.
If the "Permissions" section is not empty, skip the following steps and continue with the next app (e.g. when it shows "No permissions granted" or "No permissions requested" or a specific permission such as "Location").
Otherwise (the "Permission" section is blank), tap on "Permissions".
Now you will see “Package installer has stopped working”.
Look at the logcat output, and look for the following message:

java.lang.RuntimeException: Unable to start receiver com.android.packageinstaller.permission.model.PermissionStatusReceiver: java.lang.SecurityException: com.google.android.talk from uid 10100 not allowed to perform WRITE_CONTACTS

In the examples below, I will use com.google.android.talk as app ID and WRITE_CONTACTS as operation/permission ID.
OPTIONAL: First look at the existing operation, in case you want to restore the original value (in this case, the output is "WRITE_CONTACTS: deny"), run the following in adb shell:
appops get com.google.android.talk WRITE_CONTACTS

(run "appops" without arguments for more options/help.)
Allow the operation, by running the following command in the adb shell (if it does not work, try "allow" instead of "default"):
appops set com.google.android.talk WRITE_CONTACTS default

If you get "No operations", then the permission name is probably different. Run appops get com.google.android.talk (without the specific permission) to see all existing permissions. For example, logcat shows "READ_ICC_SMS", but the actual operation ID as shown by the appops command is "READ_SMS"
On your phone, Tap on "Permissions". If it crashes again, repeat the above steps (Look at the logcat output, ...). If it does not crash, the Permissions for the selected app is shown and you can revoke permissions if wanted.

After following all steps, I did not get any "Package installed has stopped working" crashes at the settings menu, and I was also able to use Settings > Apps > Gears icon > Access permissions.
PS: not all appops permissions are problematic. Some of the operations that I did have to allow for some apps are: COARSE_LOCATION, CALL_PHONE, CAMERA, READ_CONTACTS, READ_SMS, RECEIVE_SMS, SEND_SMS, WRITE_CONTACTS.
E.g. for Hangouts, denying the following operations does not prevent the settings screen from working: WRITE_SMS, WRITE_WALLPAPER.


text:
Is there a way to enable monitor mode on my Samsung SM-G350 device?
Let me explain the situation : I have a old SM-G350, perfectly working. I just removed all Google/Samsung preinstalled things to make it look "clean". My goal was to install Linux on it, and I've done this by running Debian 8 on it with "Complete Linux Installer" app. So, all is working fine here. By SSH, I manage this Debian with my PC. My phone is rooted.
I ran into a trouble today : I was trying to enable the monitor mode for the wlan0 interface. With airmon-ng I ran the following command :
airmon-ng start wlan0
And I get this error message :
bcmsdh_sdmmc - [phy10]mon0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
So, I don't know what to do. I've tried this :

Messing around with various commands (like "airmon-ng check kill")
Looking for another driver for the Wi-Fi chipset (no significant results, but I think this could help)
Looking for another ROM, like Cyanogen, but I don't know if the monitor mode will be available with it (http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/development/cyanogenmod-11-galaxy-core-plus-sm-g350-t3284322)
Trying BCMON app, but the monitor mode failed (by the way, I saw that custom scripts could be available)

Any help would be great, I'm totally lost here !
Further information
If I run netcfg, I get the following output.
rmnet0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet1 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet2 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet3 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet4 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet5 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet6 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet7 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet8 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
rmnet9 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0xffff8080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
ip6tnl0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
lo UP 127.0.0.1/8 0x00000049 00:00:00: 00:00:00
sit0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000080 00:00:00: 00:00:00
p2p0 UP 0.0.0.0/0 0x00001003 02:12:36: ed:7a:b4
wlan0 UP 192.168.1.24/24 0x00001043 00:12:36: ed:7a:b4
tunl0 DOWN 0.0.0.0/0 0x00000080 00:00:00: 00:00:00

did you try eth0 instead of wlan0 ?

I don't have eth0 since it's an Android phone-based.

Did you try? Some phones have their wireless interface named eth0. If you have BusyBox, try busybox ifconfig -a

I tried, I don't have it. I guess it's logic ?

Or as suggested in the comment below, your chipset doesn't support monitor mode. What is the output of netcfg in ADB shell?

See my comment below.

This is something I also wanted on my Nexus 5, but after doing some research  I found that for enabling monitor mode on your android device your chipset must have monitor mode. In case the chipset doesn't support it, its not that easy to get this enabled. The supported chipsets as of now are broadcom 4329 and 4330 WiFi chipsets.
Though for Nexus 5 by making some modifications in the kernel, some developers on XDA found a way out. What seems the reason for getting it specifically for Nexus 5 is that this device still has development going on till date.
For your device unfortunately its chipset doesn't come up to be supporting monitor mode.

But the SM-G350 seems to have the Broadcom 4330 chip ! So there is a way to do it, no ?

As I also mentioned there should be development for your device, the driver and kernel should be modified/developed accordingly. There's a link though if u wish to get more info - http://bcmon.blogspot.in/2013/01/new-firmware-for-bcm4330.html?m=1

Thank you. I see someone telling to "compile your own driver", is it a way for me to get it working ? If I need to this, I'll do.


text:
ADB command to restore application data with Titanium backup?
I made backup with Titanium backup. Is there a way to restore application data using adb commands? Couldn't find solution to this, recently started learning about android
I tried with this but no luck.
adb -s MYDEVICE shell am start -t "file:///sdcard/backup/org.mozilla.firefox.TiBkp"  -a android.intent.action.VIEW com.keramidas.TitaniumBackup

Error: Activity not started, unable to resolve Intent

I want to use adb to start Titanium backup and command it to restore that one app settings backup, possibly withount confirmation.
But if there is some other solution to restore one app settings using command line withount confirmation it will be useful.
Backup file "org.mozilla.firefox.TiBkp" is backup of settings for Mozilla made with TB. It has .TiBkp extension but I also have .gz backup also made with TB.
Backup file is in the sdcard, but if there is solution to restore it from C: it will be useful as well. Only I don't want to restore entire phone, nor .apk itself, only settings for one app.
Also I tried with
adb restore with different commands and options but it initiates full backup and ask me to confirm.

May I ask why you can't just use the Titanium Backup app to restore app data?

I need to apply it in a script.

Did you get it working? I just got a device where adb restore is broken, so I'd appreciate a TiBu CLI. Besides: adb restore always restores all that's in the file passed. If you want "single apps", you must do so at backup time.


text:
How to fix background skew in screen recording
I'm currently using an Axon 7 (Android 6.0.1) to record some gameplay using the Google Play recording feature.
While recording in 720p, the quality looks great until there is a lot of movement with my character. For example, in the video below, from 0:25 to 0:27, the background gets extremely blurry because my character is moving.
https://youtu.be/xIBF4AdSl54
Is there a way to fix this? I'm not sure why I have this poor quality. whether it is my phone or the software I'm using, but I've seen other people's videos that have pristine quality throughout their entire video. I've made sure to turn off any powersaving settings as well as keep my phone plugged in during the recording, but that didn't change anything.

It could be the Google recorder itself. Try a 3rd party one (AZ recorder ain't too bad)

@DanBrown Worked like a charm. AZ allowed me to increase the bit rate and the quality is a lot better. You can submit this as an answer and I will mark it correct. Thanks a bunch


text:
How to see all the apps I have downloaded from Google Play store?
Is it possible to see all apps I've downloaded on the Google Play store?

Yes, it is possible to see all Google Play Store apps you've downloaded.
On your Android device:
1) Open Google Play Store app
2) Tap the hamburger menu in the top left corner

3) Inside the menu, tap "My apps & games"

4) You will get a list of all the apps you have installed.

Current url to list online all installed Google Play apps is https://play.google.com/apps. There is option to filter by devices.
List of recently uninstalled apps: https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/cluster?clp=ogoXCAYSC0FQUExJQ0FUSU9OKgIIAVICCAM%3D:S:ANO1ljJeyws&gsr=ChqiChcIBhILQVBQTElDQVRJT04qAggBUgIIAw%3D%3D:S:ANO1ljLsirA
List of recently uninstalled games: https://play.google.com/store/apps/collection/cluster?clp=ogoQCAYSBEdBTUUqAggBUgIIAw%3D%3D:S:ANO1ljKj8QE&gsr=ChOiChAIBhIER0FNRSoCCAFSAggD:S:ANO1ljL_xzM

Open Google Play Store.
Swipe from the left edge of the screen to the right (to reveal a menu).
Select "My apps & games"
The "Installed" tab shows all apps currently installed while the "All" tab shows all apps you ever installed including removed apps.

Note: The names could be slighty different since my play store app is not in English.

Thanx. Seems as if I were  over thinking it.lol

Its possible to see all the apps you have installed in your android device using either the Google Playstore App or using the web interface of google on your PC using this link https://play.google.com/store?hl=en. Remember when using the WEB you need to sign in with the same google account as that in your device.

If you enabled Google Activity, you can do below
Go to https://myactivity.google.com/myactivity
On left side pane select Other Google activity
Under  Google Play library, select View Activity


text:
Why would Google account show hundreds of YouTube purchases?
Google allows deleting Google products within a Google account.
A friend's Google account shows that it has a YouTube profile within his account.
My friend does not use YouTube, so he went into the Google account manager to delete the YouTube profile.  When trying to delete his YouTube profile, Google warned that doing so will delete his 1525 YouTube purchases!
My friend states that he has never purchased anything on YouTube, nor has he ever provided Google with a payment method.  Before deleting his YouTube account, how can he see these hundreds of purchases that Google has claimed he made on YouTube?
Update
Our always helpful Dan Brown recommended reading:
https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2850369
Based on the info in that article, I had my friend look at his order history in the Android Play Store.  It showed hundreds (perhaps 1525?!) of orders for items that had no cost: free music tracks, videos, digital magazines, and digital books.
All of the items are from the Play Store; none of the items appear to have anything to do with YouTube!
So either this means:

He has an additional 1525 purchases in YouTube.  But how does he view those?

or

For some reason Google is claiming that deleting a YouTube profile will result in the loss of 1525 free Play Store items.  Why would YouTube have anything to do with Play Store orders?

1525? What the? Anyway, I suggest He looks on the play stores settings, and see what these purchases are.

@DanBrown LOL.  I know... bizarre, right?  I'm not sure if Play Store settings is the right place, since the purchases are for YouTube.  Either way, play.google.com/settings only shows Email and Notification Preferences and Devices.  What's the URL or sequence to get the correct page?

Try this https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2850369%3Fhl%3Den&ved=0ahUKEwic9qXbvqnQAhWFIcAKHWoACQkQFggcMAE&usg=AFQjCNH7Xu_oNmi53ckCw10eZ4qyHSJ8dQ&sig2=zjc7Po7Eh65L0gtlEAvPZg

For those interested, a direct url to that page is https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/2850369

@DanBrown Thanks Dan.  Did you write that article (it was written by someone named Dan)?  Based on that link, I'll update the question with further details.

It could be point one. COULD. I went to the delete page, and it said 3 items - I have 3 movies, two paid. I have dozens of books and music tracks though.....

@DanBrown That's good info, thanks.  Did you purchase those movies on YouTube or from the Google Play Store?

Purchased via Google play. Still unsure how Google works sometimes :)

@DanBrown LOL. So you bought 3 movies (1 free, and 2 paid) from the Google Play Store, but when you try to delete your YouTube profile, Google tells you that you will lose your Google Play Store content?  Is that correct?  If so, that matches what my friend is experiencing.

Exactly. I would then go and experiment, but there's no free movies available to try on a alternate account.


text:
I think my phone might be infected
Over the last couple days, my phone has been acting weird. I have the Galaxy S6 Active. Over the last couple days, whenever I try to open something, rather than opening the app I want, it'll go directly to Uber in my play store. I haven't had any problems before. My phone did an update about 1 1/2 weeks ago and I didn't have problems then. I looked in my device manager to see if anything looks out of the norm or if anything downloaded that shouldn't and that's not the case. Is there anything that can be done?

If it's opening uber app directly in the app store, it must be an adware(malware that displays ads without your permission). Similar to the Google ads you see in different apps. These ads have to be called by an app. Think of it like their host. You can refference more from here
So probabilities are:

Your running a custom OS which was altered to have these hidden behaviours.
There's a funny app installed on your phone that starts when your phone starts. It's trained to listen in when apps are called to open and sends you to Playstore instead.

To get rid of this you could,

If you have a custom OS confirm the authenticity of the build.
Still with a custom OS as superuser prevent any unofficial app from starring when the phone starts. If the behaviour is still persistent repeat the procedure until you find the app causing you this fault.
Go through your phone for any apps that aren't default and uninstall each of the apps while restarting your phone to ensure that all its files are deleted.
Simplest of these all: download adware from the google playstore.
If all these fails, then you might have no other option other than to factory reset your phone to its original state.

Also be very careful when installing apps. If you find something you don't know don't install it. I normally check through comments before installing any unpopular apps to avoid nasty surprises.


text:
Unlock by fingerprint only
When I initially set up my phone, I had to both choose a pattern and scan my fingerprint, for providing maximal security.
Now, when I want to unlock my phone, I can choose, whether I want to do that with the pattern or with my fingerprint.
Why providing the fingerprint, when someone still can use my pattern?
Is there any way, to deactivate the pattern, so that it can be unlocked by the fingerprint only?

It's not possible since FP is less secure than password/pattern. And there's another reason.
FP is stored as a "credential", which is by default, encrypted. That's why whenever you reboot your phone, or haven't unlocked your phone for 24 hours, you must unlock with pattern before you can use FP again.

That doesn't entirely make sense, seems just arbitrary. Why can't they just store the FB the way of the PIN? It juts forces someone to give two ways of people to break in their phone!

@Itai Only because you need to unlock the key to decrypt your /data. While a PIN or pattern can provide a numeric passcode for a key, a FP can't. That's why FP is never used for encryption, but only for identity verification.

You'd imagine the FP is stored as a series of binary digits somewhere, but maybe I'm thinking too digital ;)

@Itai It's not what I think, it's what Android actually is doing.


text:
i am not access contact on my phone pleas suggest how can i resolve this problem
There is a contact in my contacts which can't be found by name in dialer, but if type her number in the dialer the name appears.

More details kindly. Are you using the default contact app? A different contacts app does this happen with that particular contact only.

I once experienced similar problem. I did the following:
1) Deleted the contact
2) Hard reset (press the button near SIM card slot until phone vibrates).
3) Added the contact agian after the reboot.
This worked for my phone, but I'm not sure if its universal solution.


text:
How boost adb wireless wifi data transfer speed?
I use the adb by wifi.And I try to install apk,but I found the data transfer is very slow.Is there any way to boost the speed.


text:
What happens if google play services data is cleared..?
Play services data was >200 MB in my phone i cleared data of it but now it is using so much of internet within fraction of minutes. What is the solution to fix this problem?

See http://android.stackexchange.com/q/117582/96277

First lets see what Google Play Services is. It is not an application like those installed on your android device, it is very much like an API package which is pre installed and cannot be removed. It helps developers in communicating with the applications they are working with. So in a way it is linked with an android to a great extent.
Now talking about what it does, it has all the data, settings which are required for other Google apps( Notes, Calendar, Gmail, Maps, and some other Play apps)for running efficiently. For example, Maps on your device gets frequent updates with the help of Google Play Services, earlier it could be updated only when the OS got an update. In today's time many manufacturers cannot manage to roll out updates so early, this is where Google Play Services comes in.
About your situation-
Since you mentioned it consumes around 200MB data, I would say this much space is usually consumed on most of the devices out there. Even if you would delete it, it gets recreated over times. It's your call entirely.
In case you want to delete its data make sure you have a backup of phone before clearing it.
The reason it's consuming so much of internet is because once that data is cleared it is again being fetched online, consuming a lot of data and battery at the same time.


text:
I mistakingly cancelled my android software system update I can get it back again and what are the procedures
I mistakingly cancelledy android system update
Please can any one teach me the procedure of updat my android system software ?
There is no select option from the main men

about
  phone
  network
  batery etc.

Yes you can get it back by going to . Settings >> About phone >> System Update. There you will see updates of your phone that are available. You can start the updates of your system from there and it work back again.


text:
Is there a way to fix the memory leak in 5.0.1
I'm using a Samsung GT i9500 running 5.0.1 stock firmware. The RAM gets full after a few days and device gets extremely laggy.
Is there a way to fix this by modifying some system files? If yes, what are the steps? Even theoretical answers will do.

Is rebooting every "few days" an issue?

Yes it's very inconvenient.

I guess that @MatthewRead was being sarcastic. End user devices aren't made for being kept up and running for several days in a row. That's a job for servers.

By few days I mean two days. Why are people so mean?

Not being sarcastic.  I reboot my phone every couple days myself if not more often, and don't consider it "very inconvenient" as it's just a press of a button when I go to bed.

I use Tasker on my rooted phone to reboot it every couple of days. at a time I don't need it.

Do you have the Facebook app installed? I've noticed that Samsung phones get very laggy when the app is installed. Uninstalling the app immediately makes the phone run quicker.


text:
How do reset my phone when it won't go past the sercurity check and wont let me type

It's not letting my type anything and it's been turned off for a while and this screen is still here

What happens when you type? The screen isn't responsive or? And if the phone is turned off why's the display still like that.

You could use the recovery mode to reset the device. To enter recovery mode,power off the device and then hold down the power and volume up key. Then use the volume down button to scroll down to 'wipe data/factory reset' and press the power button. Then, scroll down to 'yes, delete all user data' and press the power button. Finally, after the reset, scroll up to 'reboot system now' and press the power button. After the reboot, your device should be fully reset.
;)

You can use adb of android SDK to reset your phone. Just put your phone on recovery mode and connect it with a USB to your computer and start adb on your system and from there you can do many of things. Just checkout the adb commands and their uses.
Second thing what you can do is put a custom ROM in your phone with help of a Flash tool of your phone and that will give you a new os with Complete fresh functioning in your phone.

It would be appropriate for you to give the adb commands rather than ask him to check the commands out.

link is the link where you can find useful command for your boot mode of phone.


text:
Unable to change permissions for files on external storage
To clear up some disk space I moved my mp3 collection from internal to external storage.  My device is rooted and I was su at the time.
The files can be seen (and played) from the File Manager, but none of my music players see them.
What looked interesting was the file permissions after moving.   Here's a file still on internal storage that wasn't moved.
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Download/mp3 # ll
-rw-rw-r--    1 1023     1023       6730901 Aug 25 16:03 fatamix_upd_start_20160824(2).mp3
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Download/mp3 #

And here are a couple files that were moved to external storage:
root@kltetmo:/storage/sdcard1/Music/Bat for Lashes/Fur and Gold # ll
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5887321 Jul 16  2015 01 - Horse And I.mp3
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5894753 Jul 16  2015 04 - What's A Girl To Do_.mp3

Moving them to external storage appears to have changed permissions.  Unfortunately, chmod is not affecting the actual file permissions:
root@kltetmo:/storage/sdcard1/Music/Bat for Lashes/Fur and Gold # ll
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5887321 Jul 16  2015 01 - Horse And I.mp3
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5894753 Jul 16  2015 04 - What's A Girl To Do_.mp3
root@kltetmo:/storage/sdcard1/Music/Bat for Lashes/Fur and Gold # chmod 664 01\ -\ Horse\ And\ I.mp3
root@kltetmo:/storage/sdcard1/Music/Bat for Lashes/Fur and Gold # ll
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5887321 Jul 16  2015 01 - Horse And I.mp3
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5894753 Jul 16  2015 04 - What's A Girl To Do_.mp3

I tried moving the file back to internal storage to change permissions there.  This worked until I moved the file back to external storage.. moving it definitely changed permissions to 770.
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music # ll
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5887321 Nov 14 18:18 batforlashes.mp3
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music # chmod 644 batforlashes.mp3
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music # ll
-rw-r--r--    1 root     1028       5887321 Nov 14 18:18 batforlashes.mp3
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music # mv batforlashes.mp3 /storage/sd
sdcard0/ sdcard1/
forlashes.mp3 /storage/sdcard1/Music/Bat\ for\ Lashes/Fur\ and\ Gold/                                 <
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music # ll
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music # ll /storage/sdcard1/Music/Bat\ for\ Lashes/Fur\ and\ Gold/
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5887321 Jul 16  2015 01 - Horse And I.mp3
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5894753 Jul 16  2015 04 - What's A Girl To Do_.mp3
-rwxrwx---    1 root     1028       5887321 Nov 14 18:18 batforlashes.mp3
root@kltetmo:/data/media/0/Music #

What do I need to do to reset permissions so these files can be seen and played from my default music app?

IIRC, external storage uses fuse to shadow the FAT file system. FAT does not support Unix permissions and thus chmod won't do anything.

Thanks, so what do I need to do to allow these files to be seen by my music players?   Someone suggested JoeApollo, thinking it would read the ext storage.  I installed, rebooted and no dice.

This depends on how the MediaScanner is implemented. Usually, only the internal storage will be scanned. VLC, PowerAMP and other third-party players can be configured to scan external storage, though.

Still no dice.  I moved all the files back to internal storage in hopes I could at least get back to where I was.   Google's File Manager can't see any of the files or folders, and another File Manager at least shows the top level folder names, but none of the subfolders or files.   If I open Terminal with su, I can see the files and they are not zero byte.  They just have different ownership and permissions.

There is no single username on Android, each app has its own username and group to enforce simple (app) private file permissions and sharing files using special manifest entries. The files are owned by root and the group everybody on my device (permissions are 0660 -rw-rw---- for files and 0770 -rwxrwx--- for directories).

I was able to reset permissions and ownership using chmod -R 644 /my/musics/ then chmod +X /my/musics/ (where /my/music/ is on internal storage)

Might sound stupid, but: Have you tried restarting (rebooting) your device already? Do the music files turn up in your players after that?

This application fixed the issue i had like you.

Don't mind the "Kit Kat" part, works on lollipop aswell.

I'm using cyanogenmod.   This app is likely only useful if you have a stock ROM. If you're running an aftermarket ROM like Cyanogenmod, then there is no reason to install this app (good aftermarket ROMs don't suffer from the problem that this app corrects).

Apart from the fact it has no effect on CM (as the problem that app fixes doesn't exist there), it would help if you could add a few more details on what that app is and what it does. Currently, your post is just a comment; with some more details it could be a useful answer for people running a stock KK ROM. So could you please [edit] and improve your post?


text:
Decrypt android device (CM13/6.0)
I encrypted my device on a lark, but it affected performance too much. I want to decrypt my device, but the place where I could previously initiate the encryption now just show "encrypted". I tried a factory reset both from the setting and from TWRP, but after the device boots back up, it's still in the encrypted state. Tried several times.

Have you tried TWRP's "format data" option? They implement factory reset by deleting (with rm) files from the filesystem, which wouldn't affect its encryption state. Formatting should actually create a new blank partition which would be unencrypted. It will delete everything in /data, though, whereas the factory reset in TWRP doesn't delete things like media, downloads, etc. Make sure you backup anything you want to keep to another device.

This has worked for one of the two phones I encrypted (and +1 for that), but the other doesn't have the "wipe data" button in TWRP. I can select "data" as part of the wipe but it seems to leave the encryption status untouched.

Odd. What's the other phone, out of curiosity?

One is an LG G2 (which I managed to decrypt now) the other an Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100). Both on CM13 and recently updated, although the TWRP for the i9100 is not as frequently updated (and no wonder).

The odd thing is that in TWRP, I can see the wipe saying it's ext4-formatting the data partition.

You will have to wipe userdata using fastboot mode.
fastboot erase userdata

Sounds reasonable, Rohit – but could you please [edit] and include the steps required (boot to fastboot/bootloader mode, attach the cable etc.) and requirements (Android tools installed on the computer; you can link to our fastboot resp. adb tag wikis for details, and thus don't need to be too verbose)? Not that I think the OP needs that, but other users might :) Thanks in advance!

Also @eldarerathis♦ solution should at least be included in the answer. For most people on a current TWRP, it's going to be the preferred method.

@Izzy yes good idea.. I will be compiling and doing the same shortly.


text:
Unlocked boot loader Moto G (4th Generation) - Amazon Prime Exclusive
Does the Amazon Prime exclusive Moto G4 have an unlocked boot loader? This phone is $150. Is VoLTE. And, has Band 12. Can I buy it and put an AOSP on it and get around the Amazon adds?

No
The bootloader on the G4 Amazon Prime Exclusive is locked and can not be unlocked.


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delete gmail account without resetting my android phone
I mistakenly set my gmail account on my mum's phone the a few months ago  because I wanted to avoid the whole process of having to sign up on Google. But now I have created an email for her and actually added it on her phone. UNfortunately I dont see how to remove my account from the phone using android 4.4.2.

You should go to the phone settings, and go under accounts and then select the gmail account that you want to remove and click on the menu button in the top corner to remove the account. This process might be a little different based on the OEM of the phone, since they might theme the operating system.


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Is it possible to preemptively block an app's permissions to certain things before installation?
I just bought an Osmo Mobile (a gimbal for smartphones). It uses an app called DJI GO to communicate with the phone via bluetooth. The problem is, the permission list the app requests before installing is extensive. In addition to the expected permissions like camera and microphone, it wants:
Device & app history
Location
Phone
Wi-Fi connection information
Device ID & call information
I'd be happy to completely avoid the DJI GO app but the gimbal won't work until it's activated by the app. So I'm wondering if there's a way to both accept to allow installation to proceed and preemptively block it's access to the above list of permissions?

have you check the parental controls?

This is how I eventually got around it. Put phone into airplane mode, side load the apk for DJI Go. Go to Settings -> Apps and select DJI Go. Select Permissions. Disable any permissions you find onerous. I did this and the app didn't crash and I was able to activate and use the gimbal.

Not an option unless you are running android 6+.  For my tablent/phone on Android 5, editing app permissions isn't possible in the way you describe. I think there are apps which can get around it with limited success.  But stock out of the box, no, not for <6.

@Wolfie fair enough. I'm on a Pixel with 7.1.2. Wasn't aware of the version limitation.

@wolfie OctOS L (Anroid 5.1) has the privacy guard in it, so it might just be your ROM that's missing it.  I don't think stock ROMS had that functionality at all.

I can't answer the OP question and I know this is an older thread but I see similar questions pop up quite a lot, however I can explain a few things.
First, the GO app is not specifically for your Osmo.  I too have the Osmo Mobile but I also have 2 DJI drones (P3A and P3P).  The same GO app is used with the drones and that is why it requests those permissions.
GO needs WiFi to potentially communicate with the Phantom 3 Standard drone.  The P3 Advance and pro communicate via Lightbridge.  WiFi is also used for the Osmo as well as Bluetooth.
When operating the drones it needs to know where it is to identify the location of the RC for return to home operations and relative position from the pilot.  It also needs it for access to the maps feature.
I can't really explain the phone or call info.
Device ID makes sense to distinguish it from any others flying the same model drone in the area.
While the vast majority of that is not used with your(my) osmo, the same app requires it should you be flying a drone with it.  I don't think android has any sort of dynamic permissions that can be set.  So for DJI to have a unified app that you only need one app for all their products, it needs those permissions to install.  Even though it may well not use most of them with your Osmo.
That said, I am not defending the GO app.  I dislike it and its got a lot of internet connectivity thats possibly (probably) questionable.  I suggest, if you have a firewall, use it on the GO app.  Just saying.

I forgot about this. Guess I should answer it since I figured it out.


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How can I determine whether or not a phone can be upgraded to Android 7.XX?
I’m looking at getting an Android phone, and I don’t want to rule out phones that come with Android 5.XX installed if they can be upgraded to 7.XX, but I don’t want to get a phone if it isn’t capable of being upgraded.

We can't say that. If you want lifetime updates go with Iphone.

Good to know!  Unfortunately, I have a bit of an aversion to paying Apple's premium for pretty hardware.  Also, I don't want a such a restrictive OS.  I do like the dearth of accessories made for it, though

Many can - you will for instance find a Cyanogen (sorry, Lineage) Android 7 ROM for something as old as the first generation Moto G, it is just as much a question of the manufacturer deeming it worth supporting it. For Android most phones won't be updated more than one major revision, ie. 4->5 or 5->6

I would suggest a number of things:

Check on the manufacturer's of the phone's website for hints or tips on capabilities that come with the phone, hardware specifications and all features of the phone
Check on technology blogs that do phone reviews e.g "Reviews Tabloid".
When Android 7.X.X is out check its requirements and compare with the specifications of the phone using Android 5.X.X and see if upgrade is possible.
Lastly try and find out if the phone allows for OTA updates.


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Getting Data out of Android phone suffering from Google Apps stopped working endless loop
One of our Moto E2 LTE is constantly displaying a "Google app has stopped error" message on power-up, rendering it useless. This occurred after the phone ran out of battery, but this could be a coincidence.
I am hoping a factory reset will resolve the issue, but before I do that, there are a few pictures on the phone we would like to retrieve. (1)
This is what I know and have attempted up to now:

It's running Android 6.0 as provided by the carrier (no modifications)
Debug mode is not enabled on the phone, the bootloader is Locked. (At least that is my understanding since it reports 'Device Locked' in the bootloader screen.)
Connecting the phone to Windows shows an empty folder (since Debug is off)
The screen is normally unlocked using a gesture, I know the gesture.
The phone doesn't offer to answer call anymore
Pressing "Ok" on the error message restart the application, but it fails again within second...pressing ok many times doesn't help...
I get the same error when it starts in safe mode. The safe mode label is visible in the lower left corner of the screen.
Looking at the bug report the phone wants to send, the error is an exception related to SQLite: android.database.sqlite.SQLiteFullException
Swiping the top of the screen reveals the usual menu showing the time, battery and reception power level, but it doesn't interact beyond that. The setting screen that would be available this way is not reachable.
Going into recovery mode and wiping the cache partition didn't fix the problem (attempted twice)
I can connect to the phone using an USB cable and see the device with Fastboot or ADB in sideload mode only.
Since debug is not enabled I don't see the device on normal ADB

I read many posts about data recovery this week-end, but none of them would work we the situation I am facing (No Debug, cannot access settings). Or they would state that it should be possible to do something using sideload mode but don't provide any clear solution or instruction.
I have a background in telecom equipment engineering, including cell phones in the early 2000's. So I am confortable with low level manipulations, but at the same time I am not confortable injecting code in the phone from an unknown third party.
Is there a clean and relatively strait forward way of getting to the phone picture folder or should I give up?
(1) They have sentimental value and were not synchronised with a web based storage.
Update:
We gave up, at some point having a functional phone was more important than the lost data. The only good news is that the erase all data function in recovery mode worked and the phone is functional again.
Also, I made sure the debug mode is now active on the phone!

Did you try safe boot?

Thanks for the suggestion. I get the same error when it starts in safe mode. The safe mode label is visible in the lower left corner of the screen.

Have you tried using a different account or creating a new user account and use it, another method that I can think of is mounting the phone storage and use it on pc

Mounting the phone as storage doesn't provide access to the data, I get an empty folder. But since I cannot unlock the phone, this is expected. I also cannot change the user, because the interface at the top of the screen where I could do this is unresponsive.

You can try using aroma file manager and transfer the files using it to usb otg.
1. Is your bootloader unlocked?
2.Aroma file manager workes only in custom recovery like TWRP

My understanding is that the phone is bootloader is locked. On the fastboot page there is a line stating: Device is LOCKED. Status Code: 0 Won't unlocking the bootloader erase all data?

@LucDallaire yes that was what i was asking. It would be meaninglessness to unlock bootloader to recover data if it erases all the data. One more thing is their nothing like mtp mode when you connect your phone to pc ?

When connect in media transfert mode (camera) it report that there is nothing to import, but suggest to unlock the device and try again. With the Google App crash I don't get access to the unlock screen so it is another dead-end. (I also attempted this in safe boot mode)

@LucDallaire the camera mode is ptp . Is there no chance that you can swipe the notification bar and change ptp to mtp ?


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How to turn off WhatsApp incoming message sound in Redmi Prime 2 / MIUI 7.1?
I've turned it off in

Setting > Notifications > App Notifications > Whatsapp > Sound & vibration
Whatsapp > Settings > Notifications > Conversation Tones

And it still sounds. At one point I even tried to turn off all WhatsApp notif, but it STILL sounds even when no notification shown.
I just recently noticed this because usually I put my phone in Silent Mode. But now I'm waiting for a phone call, I can't do that, and suddenly noted how annoying this thing is.

One of the sound to play in the whatsapp settings is Silent. That should work and leave notifications still appearing.
Indeed extremely quitr confusing.

Download 1 second silent audio from the internet and set that as you message tone.
Link: http://www.minidisc.org/charman/downloads.html


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How to lower battery consumption on a S6 edge
Im not sure on what site I should be asking this.
So my phone is an s6 edge and it consumes too much energy. Im curious of how we can reduce the phone consumption using some app or root option I can use.
Thanks for your answers !

There are a bunch of things you can do, but keep in mind that the mythical method of doubling your battery life doesn't exist. You may get another hour or two before you need to recharge.

Greenify (I am in no way affiliated)- An app that, like some other task killers, stops background tasks, but greenify is different. It uses the native force stop function to stop apps that you don't want to keep running. It runs better with root, but isn't necessary.
Turn off WiFi scanning- did they forget to mention wifi never turns off? Depending on your Android version, this option is either within the wifi advanced settings, or inside of the location services (marshmallow and on). You will find an option that says wifi scanning. Turn it off, along with wifi on while asleep if you are it. Wifi use is usually one of the larger drains of the battery.
Use your phone less. We are so hypnotized by there things, and it can't hurt to try and stay off Pokemon go on the bus when you could be watching the scenery or just listening to music.

One addition: Sometimes the Gapps (Google Apps) are more active than you would want. You can stop them by getting root and installing a custom ROM and/or remove the preinstalled Gapps and install the smallest possible Gapps package - pico - which is barely enough to keep the Play Store but reduces the resources used by the Gapps by a lot


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Generate a location intent to share to other apps from a Google Maps
Normally, the share mechanism in Google Maps Android App shares text (containing an URL pointing to Google Maps website).
There is though an specific location intent in Android, that any app can catch. When I send such intent from other apps, I can embed a location in messaging apps or open that location in different map apps (including Google Maps).
How do I generate such intent from a pinpointed location in Google Maps, from the user interface?
For example, I have installed Maps.ME which does accept location intents too. How do I start a location intent with Google Maps and catch it with Maps.ME, to share a given location? I'm also interested in workarounds if no in-app solution is available.

Generate an hyperlink with desired coordinates as mentioned here.  Sharing this URL, most apps recognise it as URL and touching it raises an intent which the user can opt to use with any supporting app.

@Narayanan I'm trying to share that location as a true location intent. I'm unsure which app should I use to open the URL so that it gets recognized as location intent. Other apps are able to share a location and that can be opened in various types of map apps, including Google Maps App.

For example, I have installed Maps.ME which does accept location intents too. How do I start a location intent with Google Maps and catch it with Maps.ME?

Then in that case Tasker can raise intents. See this, but you have to figure out how the parameters are passed.

this app may help you to bridge different map apps. Here
you open Google Maps and share that location and choose this app. You can then open it using other maps which accepts location intent.
Hope it helps

It is a pity that apparently the Google Maps interface does not offer this already. This is indeed the best user-friendly solution.

@AndresR, i think google did it on purpose because they don't want others to use any third party maps.


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How to root the ZTE Z Max pro?
Im very new to this world of technology, i have the ZTE Z Max pro from meteo pcs and want it rooted. This phone sounds much harder to root compared to the stylo i had. I dont completely understand what TWRP and flashing is. Is there anybody thata willing to walk me through it, like android for a dummy? Lol

If you're that new to technology, then rooting might go against your interests, since the root user is able to alter almost anything on a device, to the point of making it useless.

Since you are new to technology rooting might not be the best way to into technology especially with your zmax, which seems to be a bit more difficult to root. But if you really want to root your phone have a look at androidforums.com, e.g. this discussion about rooting the zmax.

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


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Error While Saving videos offline on YouTube (unplayable)
I tried to save videos offline on YouTube on my Android mobile (Vivo V3) and it said that the video couldn't be save offline due to an error, "Unplayable". What does this mean and how can I fix this?

you need to include more info like which country you are using app, is it happening for 1 video or all videos, was internet ON when you tried to do this etc.

@AADAndroidEnthusiasts Nepal, it's happening for a lot of videos. Of course I'm doing it online.

Due to copyright reasons, YouTube does not allow offline playback except for YouTube red with certain content. Therefore, any app that is supposedly giving you offline access to YouTube without its paid services is doing so illegally, and you should not be surprised it is not working.


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Unable to Install Apps from on Samsung Phone
A friend of mine gave me here phone to install an application from Play store because she could not do on her own. It was a Galaxy J1 mini phone and I thought it would not take long to install the app which was 5 MB. The app downloaded up to 99% and when it was time to install it failed to continue. Later I tried the second and third time but it was all in vain.
I decided to send the app from another Android phone using but it didn't have flash share so I used Bluetooth. Funny enough the apk on the phone appeared unrecognized at all. In short the phone didn't have an installer app or it had been corrupted by a virus or got deleted by mistake. How is it that such an important system app could go missing on a phone? How can I solve such an issue next time?

Well if the system installer isn't present then why not consider running through with an apk installer?

But thinking about it you can't install an apk installer. Then I'd recommend I'm using ADB code to install the apk installer from your computer.


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OTG support for Samsung A3
Nothing happens when I plug a USB stick to my Samsung A3 2015 (SM-A300FU) with an OTG cable (on-the-go).
How to enable OTG support on this device?
PS: I previously had a 5.0.2 original, unrooted. I now have a rooted 6.0.1 Marshmallow (Build number MMB29M.A300FUXXU1CRA3, Kernel version 3.10.49-12877970, Fri Jan 12 20:48:03 KST 2018).

Like thinker, I can confirm that USB OTG is available on Samsung Galaxy A3 (2015), at least if you have the version SM-A300FU, but I'm pretty sure that all versions can support it. However to get it working you need to get the custom ROM Lineage OS (quite stable on my device), and the installation it pretty hard (not just an apk to install...) and can be dangerous. Here are the instructions to install it.
YOU NEED TO KNOW THAT INSTALLING A CUSTOM ROM CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS FOR YOUR DEVICE, BRICK IT, AND MAKE IT GOOD TO PUT IN THE BIN IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG DURING THE FLASH. SO ALWAYS FOLLOW ALL THE INSTRUCTIONS VERY CAREFULLY, I CAN'T BE RESPONSIBLE IF YOU BREF YOUR DEVICE, AND DON'T FORGET TO USER YOUR BRAIN.
ALSO MAKE SURE TO HAVE BACKUPS (DATA, OF EVERYTHING ON YOUR COMPUTER!!!
Step 1: Install Odin on your computer
First download ODIN from this source if you are on Windows, and compile heimdall if you are on Linux (the available version in the debian unstable repo is not up to date, so you need to compile it by yourself, but don't worry it's pretty simple and described in the Appendix B of the Readme file). If something goes wrong, make sure that your phone drivers are installed.
Step 2: install latest TWRP custom recovery mode on your device to backup your current ROM
NOTE: If your device is already rooted (link to root it if you are on Lollipop Android 5.x), you should be able to first backup the RECOVERY using this thread. I didn't try, but it may be a good idea...
It is always a good idea to backup your current ROM to avoid problems latter. To do so, you need to flash a custom recovery (TWRP) on your device. I tried the image on this website, but no idea why I wasn't successful (basically it shut down after showing me the first TWRP boot screen). Instead, I followed the instructions here, and I downloaded the file "twrp_3.0.2-1_sm-a300_otg_fix2.tar" that works great (actually, you can even test USB-OTG here if you change the "storage" during backup !). If you are on Windows, use Odin like in the tuto, on linux use a command like
sudo /path/to/my/compiled/bin/heimdall flash --RECOVERY ~/download/twrp_3.0.2-1_sm-a300_otg_fix2/recovery.img

Then, once TWRP is installed, reboot on it (power + Home + Volume up), go to backup, select the storage you want, and I recommand you to backup all the partitions. It's always better to have more than less...
Step 3: get the latest stock (Samsung) android ROM for your device & operator
This step is really needed if you want to avoid connectivity issues, like non working Wifi... I tried to install Lineage OS on my old 5.x android, and wifi was not working. But then I installed the lastest 6.x android version (that uploads the good baseband...), and now everything works great!
To do so:

first check what is your device version in the "Parameters > About phone > Model". Mine is SM-A300FU, and it should work on all SM-A300F, SM-A300FU, SM-A300M, SM-A300H.
Go on the website http://updato.com/, and type your "SM-A300*" model (you can also go to sammobile, but it was too slow for me to download the image). Then, filter by region to match your country and your mobile operator, and also filter by version (Marshmallow). Then click on "update results". You should get several items. Try to pick one whose PDA field ends with "CPH3", I saw some comments that said that this one is the best one to solve connectivity issues (not sure it others would work). For example, if you are in France, with Bouygues, you should use this version.
Then wait the end of the downloading, and drink 20 coffees (can be pretty long).
Then flash the rom using this tutorial if you are on Windows (I never really used Odin, but I guess you can do it). If you are on linux, you first need to extract the .zip, rename the .tar.md5 into .tar, extract the .tar, and then run something like
sudo /path/to/my/compiled/bin/heimdall flash --APNHLOS NON-HLOS.bin --ABOOT aboot.mbn --BOOT boot.img --HIDDEN hidden.img.ext4 --MODEM modem.bin --RPM rpm.mbn --SBL1 sbl1.mbn --SYSTEM system.img.ext4 --QSEE tz.mbn --CACHE cache.img.ext4 --QHEE hyp.mbn

All right, now if everything goes fine, you should reboot into the latest Android version. Wait a few mn that everything gets installed, and then go to the next step!
Step 4: Re-Install TWRP
Because TWRP has been erased (and no, don't try to flash everything except the recovery rom before, because it will bootloop after), you need to re-flash it, like in step 2!
Step 5: Install Lineage OS (yes !!!)
Follow this (xda-trustworthy) tutorial to install Lineage OS. Cross your finger, reboot, and enjoy !
PS: If you want to enable root on the Lineage OS, it's just a case to tick in the developer options!
Question: Can I keep using the official ROM?
I don't know if it's possible to exchange the kernel of Lineage OS with the official ROM, and if it would work... If you feel aventurous, you can give it a try, but personally I thing that Lineage OS is really nice ^^

Thanks @tobiasBora! I just rooted my 6.0.1 Marshmallow on SMA300FU, but no OTG support... I'd like to keep the original ROM... Would you try to put the Lineage OS kernel on the official ROM? It would be super great for the community :) One million thanks in advance!

@Basj I'm sorry but I'm really not an expert in creating custom Android ROMs, even by just mixing existing code, and I don't really have the time to learn it right now... I'm also afraid to create unstable ROM if I just exchange the kernel. Maybe the XDA forum can help you if you try to do that by yourself...

What seems after looking at the your device specifications and descriptions is that it doesn't come with USB OTG support out of the box.This is a problem with many of the OEM's nowadays. Some clear it out in their specifications, some don't and it gets back to the user who has to figure out himself. I would still suggest you to confirm whether your device possesses this feature, just download an application from the Play Store called - USB OTG Checker.This will let you know if your device has OTG support.
Since this thing is kernel dependent and, your device doesn't support this feature out of the box, then the most probable solution you can do is root your device and look for a custom ROM with a kernel that supports USB host or you can even just change the kernel in case you don't want to change the ROM.

Can you explain how to change just the kernel, and keep an original 6.0.1 Marshmallow ROM? Which kernel to choose on SMA300FU to have OTG?

My friend who owns a Galaxy A3 2015 told me that when he plugs a USB-stick in, nothing happens. So, the A3 2015 may have no OTG support.

I can confirm now: A3 2015 has no OTG.


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Annoying adverts showing on top of other apps
On my sister's Huawei 360 adverts appear on top of other applications whenever wifi or mobile data connectivity is on. These adverts are so annoying since the sometimes freeze the phone covering the whole screen with a small x on the right hand side corner. They also consume a lot of data. They can show even on whatsapp.
I have checked if there are any launchers but only the default one appers, Also I dont any funny apps in data usage under apps that use background data. Could these apps be the one installed via USSD code or phone serial number?

It's quite difficult to answer, without having knowledge of your installed apps.

The first reason for these annoying ads might be because of your browser when you have accidentally clicked on any of adds shown.Those malicious adds may install some apps in your ROM(internal memory) which may not be uninstalled so easily or will re-appear every time you connect to internet.
So, you could take backup and restore the phone to factory settings.
I did the same way when i was attacked by these malicious apps.
PS: these type of apps may import your photographs and other data. Please be cautious and do factory setting ASAP.

Notice that ROM is another way to call the firmware, or operating system. If those advertising applications pushed themselves to the /system partition of a device, then a mere factory reset won't help.

@DeathMaskSalesman How would one go around that then? Would it involve installing a custom rom?

@user145490 There are three ways around privileged ads. The first involves rooting the phone, manually identifying the offending apps, searching for their packages inside /system/app or /system/priv-app and delete them (tedious, but less aggressive). The second is to try finding your device's stock ROM, and flash it. The third is similar to the second, but is about flashing a custom ROM, yes.

@DeathMaskSalesman I would not recommend the first one, as you can really screw up your OS (and maybe notice that too late) when deleting the wrong files with root

@Namnodorel And that sums up pretty well why root tends to be disabled by default, doesn't it? One should always make backups before toying, and always inform themselves before deleting or messing with something unknown. Root is powerful, but that power is not without risk.


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Nexus 5 Early Bootloop Fixable?
My Nexus 5 goes into very early bootloop - basically during the initial 2-5 seconds from turning on it goes into bootloop. It also restarts even when in recovery mode (dont even have time to make any selection before it restarts). My suspicion is that this is a HW problem - just wanted to confirm if the phone is dead for good before I throw it away. If it is HW, it would probably require main board replacement, which would be very costly I assume? Or could it be something different?

Going to include my resolution in case it helps someone. The problem turned out to be malfunctioning power button, which the phone was taking as pressed all/most of the time. Some random jamming, pressing and squeezing of the button fixed problem. From what I understand this is relatively common problem on Nexus 5,as many are getting their power button replaced.


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"Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped" error
"Unfortunately, the process com.android.phone has stopped" error occurs when i try to change my network mode to LTE only.
The phone i'm using is Samsung J5(SM-J500H).

I also had once faced the same problem. I tried many different methods, but at last, I needed to factory reset my phone!!! You can also try it out, because sometimes, the problem comes from the phone itself.

I've read that this issue will occur because of APN settings being incompatible with the settings offered by your service provider. This is specifically only if the error pops up when you try and change networks.
Try

open settings >mobile networks>network operators>select manually. Then select a network purposely that's not your service provider. Your sim will refuse to pick a signal. Revert back to select automatically. Activate then deactivate flight mode and try and select 4G network
These are other remedies that work for the error you've provided but aren't exclusively for when changing networks. They are for when the error pops up when using phone or dialer.
Settings>Application Manager/ Applications > Switch to the All tab in Applications Manager >Telephone/Dialer/Phone
Open the phone app and force stop>clear data>wipe cache
do the same above except instead of phone/dialer work through for sim toolkit.
Factory reset your phone.

If all the above doesn't work then you'll have to recieve the APN settings from your provider and configure it yourself through mobile networks or have them configure it themselves.

It seems the error message is triggered by either the phone or SIM toolkit application. Here are some ways to fix this:

Force stop and then Clear Cache and Data of the Phone app and the SIM Toolkit app and then Reboot.
Wipe cache partition on your phone.

Power Off
Volume Up + Home + Power button
Wipe cache partition

I tried both the ways. Din't work. (There is no SIM Toolkit app)

The SIM toolkit app is also represented by the acronym STK. So, search for STK in your apps list.


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Phone randomly slowing
My phone is a Sony Xperia Z1s running lollipop, and I've noticed that this device loves to be very slow and choppy, even after a week after a clean install. The worst part, the slowing is inconsistent.  I have uninstalled Facebook, which seems to have helped, but not entirely. Are there any tips specific to my phone?

If I'm not mistaking, Lollipop 5.0, 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 suffer by a RAM leakage which consistently slows down the phone, based on the number of times you lock the screen. If your warranty is void, or you don't care about voiding it, your best bet might be to migrate to a newer Android version.

I would love to do that, but I'm at the newest firmware provided by Sony for this phone.

You might want to enter the realm of custom firmwares, then, if one has been made to suit your particular model.

That is a possibility, but I would like to save that as a last resort thing. I just don't want to brick my phone. Could I use ADB to flash images to my phone like flashing images to an Nvidia shield, or is it a different kind of process? My phone comes with a companion software, do you think I could use that in case a custom firmware fails to install?

Unfortunately, I don't own a Sony device, so my guidance would be unreliable at best. I suggest you to wait for a Sony user, or to come asking in the chat.

OK, so I used Clean Master lite, uninstalled some apps, and turned off animations in developer options. If I don't see that much improvement, I'll see if I can install a newer firmware.

Does your phone have a cleaning system built in? If it does give this a try to see whether it makes a change. If not, maybe download an app such as Clean Master or something similar.
If worst comes to worst then you may have a virus. I recently had a problem with my computer graphics card where it suddenly became extremely slow. I found out later that I actually had a virus or malware installed without even knowing, which was affecting the graphics card's output (for whichever reason). Give malware-bytes or an anti-virus program of your choice to remove any possible issues you could have with the phone. If these don't work I'm afraid I can no longer help you :)

It's difficult that a phone has that much junk after a week past the clean install. Plus, the majority of apps like Clean Master do just the opposite of what they claim. Don't let the fancy animations fool you.

I doubt I have a virus. Lookout comes pre installed on my phone and reports that my phone is clean. Besides, I don't install non-market packages that I don't already know are safe, like Amazon Underground, for example.

Yes, those cheat-sy "cleaning" apps do not always do what they intend; I know they sometimes just add more junk, rather than remove it. The only other guess comes in line with @DeathMaskSalesman and the comment they made on your original post; it could just be memory leaks. And I would also be surprised if you had a virus after a week, to be honest :)


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Question regarding slowdowns and swiping
2 questions regarding my note 4.
My phone randomly slows down / freezes. Especially when calling up a keyboard and start typing, it freezes.. very annoying.
I have a feeling, the keyboard is getting killed by the OS and when I want to type something it takes up a few seconds to "boot up".
Also looking at monitoring apps, I see that Android services consistently is taking up CPU time. Cpu usage is almost always hovering at 30% without doing anything with occasional spikes. When I want to d something that happens to conincide with that spike, thats when the lag spikes come.
Is there a way to find out what app is causing this? "Android Services" doesnt really say much..
Another question is regarding swiping. This might be a nitpick, but I noticed on some apps in order to swipe, I have to do the swiping motion for a pretty long distance. On apps like inbox, it's enough to do a little flick. On others like MS Outlook, I have to keep my finger glued to the screen for almost a quarter of the width of the screen, otherwise it will bounce back.
I think what is happening is, the dev optimized the swiping motion to be on a smaller screen and didnt take into account larger devices. Is there something I can do about this?


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Lightweight CyanogenMod 13.0 - Samsung Galaxy S2
I have found my old Samsung Galaxy S2, the plan is to use this as a small information screen in the livingroom. I was thinking of stripping down a CyanogenMod 13.0 and build a light-weight version of it, I don't need GPS, Bluetooth, Cellular, FM Radio, Camera support so I was planing to remove support for these. I only need WiFi support.
I have found this tutorial for building CyanogenMode 13.0 for i9100: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Build_for_i9100
How do I strip CM down, and remove all unecessary support and apps (The only app that is going to run on this is a app that I'm myself has written)? I guess I have to do this before i compile it?

Observe .repo/manifests/default.xml for a list of components included by default in the build. For example if you want to remove 2 live wallpapers "Basic" and "PhotoTable", then you'll find these corresponding lines in the file:
  <project path="packages/screensavers/Basic" name="CyanogenMod/android_packages_screensavers_Basic" groups="pdk-fs" />
  <project path="packages/screensavers/PhotoTable" name="CyanogenMod/android_packages_screensavers_PhotoTable" groups="pdk-fs" />

Now create another arbitrary xml file in .repo/local_manifests. Edit it and write:
<manifest>
  <remove-project name="CyanogenMod/android_packages_screensavers_Basic" />
  <remove-project name="CyanogenMod/android_packages_screensavers_PhotoTable" />
</manifest>

Do similar edits for all components you want to remove. Save, sync repo and build.
Do note that many items are crucial and can't be removed without introducing errors to building or using. Despite you wanting an extreme barebone experience, I advise against doing so, at least during building.


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Default mode with USB, charging + USB Tethering?
Is there anyway to make it so that my phone, when connected with a USB Data Cable to a computer automatically turns on USB Tethering?
Currently using Cyanogenmod 13.
I tried changing the option in Developer Options to RNDIS however it doesn't seem to work (by that I mean it doesn't seem to do what USB Tethering does), and it doesn't hold when I unplug and plug back in.

Yes, that's quite easy to do but  would more or less require root access. Use Tasker with Secure Settings or just Automate (llama) or provide us the information of your Android version and device.

I'm using CM13, rooted.

Android 6+ permissions changes made this impossible, this settings in Developer options is a hold over from older versions of the Android source code which likely just hasn't been removed yet, as far as we can tell it has no real world function, other than to allow some modes that may not appear in the regular USB menu if the device is equipped/capable. Regardless of the setting, the connection will return to Charge Only mode on the next connection.

Dang. Not possible isn't what I expected from an Android. It's a pain in the ass to click through 3 menus to turn on USB tethering. I just want to plug it into my router and have it work.

Is there anyway to make it so that my phone, when connected with a USB Data Cable to a computer automatically turns on USB Tethering?

Yes. Use automation. I successfully tested my solution using Automate v1.1.13 on CM13 (build:ZNH0EAO1QE).
You would need to make a flow and it should fairly look like this:
(Click an image to enlarge it)

Alternatively, you can use Tasker to detect the USB connection and then run this command with root access:
service call connectivity 30 i32 1


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How do I use only fingerprint to unlock my phone?
I got a Moto G4 Plus recently. It has a pretty fast fingerprint sensor. For my own reasons I don't want a secondary/backup(pattern/pin/etc) method to unlock my phone. I want to unlock it solely using my fingerprint. I'm ready to root it if needed. I know this comes with risks of being locked out of my phone or other emergencies, I'm ready for it. Does anyone have a way of achieving this?

That isn't possible.
Android encrypts a lot of your data when the phone turns off so no one can access your files. The key to that encryption, however, is the hard password you don't want to use. A fingerprint cannot be used a an encryption key because it is a system that has an error tolerance, and therefore does not work as an encryption key.
In other words, this is impossible under any circumstance. It's just how Android works.

That seems reasonable, that error tolerance part, but could you please cite credible sources to support your claim?

@Firelord I'm looking for a more credible one, but here's what I found quickly. I'll look more after my classes. http://m.slashdot.org/story/302377

@EthanZ, that actually makes sense. Thanks. But is there any app (like applock) that would let me lock other apps on my phone using only fingerprint and not a secondary pattern or pin?

Maybe a custom launcher, but that isn't my field of expertise. I'd do some googling


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How to create lock pattern without pin in Android 6
When I'm trying to secure my phone with the pattern it is forcing me to create a pin which isn't secure. Is there any way to bypass pin creation screen?

Which model and Android version is it?

lg g5 with 6.0.1

This is a "feature" in your LG G5's software. The only way to change it were to download a stock android ROM or use an Xposed module.