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I am unable to restore my whatsapp chats while switching to new phone
I switched to a new phone. I copied whatsapp folders- Database and media to the laptop. The database file has correct name as suggested by whatsapp faq- msgstore.db.crypt and it is version 12 only. But when i install whatsapp it does not take that local backup and asks to check google drive. I don't have backup on google drive.
Later i tried new idea- I disconnected internet after verification of mobile number and yes so it prompted - >backup found- Restore> i tapped restore, but still my chats didn't backedup, the restore processing also did not took lace, i turned on internet after tapping restore. what's the matter? please help. I have some really important stuff. You all are tech enthusiast here. i hope you can help me in this minor problem. I have local Backup, i have mobile, i have application. What else is needed??

Please try this step. Its just a test method, I hope this may work. Remove old copied folders from device uninstall whatsapp and remove whatsapp folder(keep it on another storage/USB etc ).  Install whatsap app on new device. after completing verification and all, it will create whtasapp folder. then copy old folders to exact folders that match with them. That means keep databases files on database folder. Then force stop whatsapp. clear all data. repeat initial processes and on complete I think you can see old items on your new device.

https://www.fonepaw.com/solution/transfer-whatsapp-messages-android-to-android.html, https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-get-my-old-WhatsApp-chat-in-my-new-phone

No, it doesn't work. whatsapp is not restoring messages even when it has found backup of 1.6 GB. 0 messages restored was written. it again and again prompts to check google drive. but i dont have backup on google drive. you alll are tech enthusiast please help. or if i put my old local backup in whatsapp folder and now tap backup after installing whatsapp. will it also backup this previous files or only the new chat?

Any Solution found?

not sure if you ever solved this or not but I have the solution.
First, lets call your original device, "Device A", and your new device, "Device B".
Device A should have all your local whatsapp backup files located in your internal device storage whatsapp database folder. Those files should have dates on them for the last 7 days (ex. msgstore-2020-03-08.1.db.crypt12).  Copy one of those dated files in Device A to another location (you could place it anywhere as long as you could retrieve it on Device B later. To be safe, choose a file date at least the day before you switched phones).
Now on Device B, go to settings Backup. Make sure you have Local Backup enabled (when enabling, it might look like youre enabling Google Drive backup but youre not, just follow the steps to back up to your local drive). To confirm you have back up enabled, go to your internal storage Whatsapp database folder in Device B, check to see if there is a msgstore.db file located there. If there is then you've got backup enabled on Device B.
Now uninstall Whatsapp on Device B. (This will not delete the internal storage local backup files on Device B, it will just enable you to run a restore which only happens during device set up).
Transfer the copied file you chose on Device A to a temporary random location on Device B for future retrieval (excluding the local database folder). On Device B, rename the transferred file to "msgstore.db" removing the date and leaving the crypt12 file extension part unchanged.  When renamed, the full filename should look like this "msgstore.db.crypt12".
Now browse to Device B internal storage whatsapp database folder. Delete all files in this folder. (There should only be one since youve only backed up the new whatsapp on Device B once, but if you've been backing up for a while and only want the backup from Device A then these backup files on Device B arent needed. If you want to keep them you can always save a copy of them elsewhere. For now we'll be replacing them with the renamed backup file from Device A). Next go to the temp location where you've placed the renamed file, and move it to the now empty Device B internal storage Whatsapp Database folder. There should now only be one file in Device B's whatsapp database folder which is your renamed file.
Next go to your playstore/appstore and install whatsapp on Device B. Make sure to provide the same phone number you had once registered on Device A. Once installed and number confirmed, it should automatically prompt to restore. Click to restore. When it asks to restore from Google drive continue clicking allow, yes and restore. (This part can be confusing since youre not restoring from Google Drive but when its past this it will see that there's no google drive to restore from and will automatically detect the local backup files instead). Click allow to access internal storage files. (This will allow it to find your recently renamed restore file).
Your whatsapp should restore now with all previous contacts, messages and everything else. Hope that helps.


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Google music player queue
I have read numerous posts about adding songs to the queue. My issue is I select a song and start it playing, I then select the next song and click the 3 dots next to the title and select "add to queue". I do this for several songs. I then click on the title bar and select the icon to view the queue and instead of showing the songs I added to the queue the queue now lists every song in my library not just the songs I added. What am I doing wrong?

If you want to play selectef songs back to back it is recommended to create a playlist of the songs you tend to listen more often. It is quite easy way and reliable as well.
Add to queue is nothing but to add the songs it is showing right in the list.
If you want to play few songs at once back to back please choose 'play next' option, as your concern is by choosing 'play next' option let's say for 5 songs, your 5 songs will listed just below your currently played songs and after 5 songs you will see list of all the songs from library.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Possible to transfer Google Play Balance from one Google account to another?
Actually I am using 2 Google accounts in my device and first is my permanent while second is only for special purposes.
I have mistakenly added my funds to second account instead of first one and now finding if there is anyway to transfer those bucks to my primary account so that i can make purchases. It is not convenient for me to make purchase from my secondary account.
Note - I have read that there is a way but that is as Google Gift Cards but that I can't purchase from Google play balance.

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


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How to disabled Viber running without uninstalling it?
How do I stop Viber running, without uninstalling the app? When I go Menu→More options→Exit it just comes back. I want it to turn it off completely, so it's not waiting to come on in the background.

Please do not copy paste questions. If the existing answers do not work, earn some reputation points and offer a bounty on the original question. Visit [help] to know more.


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How I can downgrade from U3 to U1 "oreo to nougat"
I want to downgrade my phone from Oreo to Nougat
My phone is Samsung J730F.
But the problem is that Samsung locked the boot-louder.
Can I go back by flashing the phone combination ROM then flash my phone with stock ROM to bypass this lock?
Note: FRP, google account protection is OFF and USB debugging is ON.
And I have rooted the phone and flash it with combination ROM.
My question is what should I do after flashing it combination ROM?
Should I flash stock ROM 4 files or replace only some files?

How I can downgrade from U3 to U1?

The short answer is you cannot. the u# is the bootloader version. The bootloader is protected by rollback protection fuses:
Rollback Prevention (RP)

Rollback Prevention blocks the device from loading or flashing an approved but old version of
  boot components. Old versions of software may contain known vulnerabilities that
  attackers can exploit. Rollback prevention checks the version of the bootloader and kernel
  during both boot and updates, and blocks these processes from continuing if versions are
  unacceptably old. The lowest acceptable version of the bootloader is stored in secure hardware
  fuses when the device is flashed, and the lowest acceptable version of the kernel is stored in the
  bootloader itself. Whenever a vendor-applied update occurs, the lowest acceptable version can
  be incremented in the fuses. Because this value is kept in fuses, it cannot be decremented even
  through physical tampering.
  Rollback Prevention fuses are set at manufacturing time in the Samsung factory to prevent old
  firmware versions from overwriting newer ones.

This is from Samsung technical notes but it is a .pdf Download.
Flashing back to stock will not help either since it an issue with Samsung Knox securities. It will most likely end with a fatal error like:
SW REV. CHECK FAIL(BOOTLOADER) DEVICE: 3, BINARY: 1
Mixing and matching stock firmware files maybe be possible but is an increase risk to bricking your device. If you try I would make sure to have multiple devices or multiple reports of success. Also double check to make sure if a workaround is found that it has not been patched or you have the firmware version it works for.
There might be an exploit to bypass this though I have not seen one for your specific device to downgrade oreo to nougat.
Another possibility could be a custom ROM downgrade to the android version you want that does not downgrade the bootloader.


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Open file on tablet from smartphone
How do I view the files on my tablet from my phone? Do I have to connect wirelessly? I am working on a translation and would like to see the original on one tablet and the file I'm working on on the smartphone or other tablet.
Do I need an app or is this service part of the OS? I would like to just use Bluetooth.
Thanks.

Do you want to see from phone the files on tablet or some translation app running on tablet?

You can create an FTP server on your tablet, then connect your phone via a browser to your tablet.
Download an FTP server via Google Play Store. I use FTP Server - Multiple FTP users for the demonstration below, however you are free to use other apps of your liking.

Enable WiFi hotspot on your tablet. Connect the phone to the WIFI hostpot.
Open the app, click on User management. Create a new user. Add the name, username and password. Click Add new, select the path of files that can be accessed via FTP (SD card, internal storage, etc). Click OK. (If you don't want to create a user, you can just enable Anonymous and add the path to your files).

Click Home, then Start.

Open a browser on your phone, enter the URL of the FTP server as seen on the image above. You will then be able to view the files stored on the tablet from the phone.


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File system error when writing
I recently encountered a problem using Threema on LineageOS 15.1: I noticed that whenever I want to download a picture posted by someone else in a conversation, I get the message "Could not download message". A logcat reveals, that an excepction is thrown when opening the file:
java.io.FileNotFoundException: /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ch.threema.app/files/data.blob/017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b144

I used adb shell (as root) to create an empty file:
# whoami
root
# echo "" > /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ch.threema.app/files/data.blob/017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b144
sh: can't create /storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ch.threema.app/files/data.blob/017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b144: Invalid argument

So the same error occurs in the shell, even if I am logged in as root.
Apparently, once the file is created, it can't be written to:
# echo "asd" > 017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b
# echo "asd" > 017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b
sh: can't create 017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b: Invalid argument

The permissions of newly created files are set to
-rw-rw---- 1 u0_a71 sdcard_rw 4 2018-12-31 13:45 017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b

Any ideas what is causing this? Is this a misconfiguration / permission issue? Or is this a problem with the file system (I used both f2fs and fat32)?

Can you use strace? Do you have SELinux enforcing?

strace yields openat(AT_FDCWD, "/storage/emulated/0/Android/data/ch.threema.app/files/data.blob/017c31a18e3325c75d3564fd3565b144", O_WRONLY|O_CREAT|O_TRUNC|O_LARGEFILE, 0666) = -1 EINVAL (Invalid argument)

As to SEAndrodi: getenforce => Permissive

dmesg tells me: WARNING: at ../../../../../../kernel/samsung/kminilte/fs/sdcardfs/inode.c:743 sdcardfs_setattr_wrn+0x48/0x60(), sdcardfs does not support setattr. User setattr2.

That's the thing. Problem is with emulated filesystem. You can try direct path /data/media/0/Android/data/ch.threema.app/files/data.blob/ (ext4 or f2fs whatever) and it should work. Also try with short filename. Need to check sdcardfs source to see why it can't handle this filename.


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Whatsapp images shows up in file browser since today
The media folder is hidden in the gallery since I created a .nomedia
 file. Since today the whatsapp filebrowser started browsing other
 chats as well and shows files from other chats to me.
How can I choose the gallery as the default location for whatsapp media I am about to send OR to hide the media from other chats from the whatsapp file browser?

whatsapp filebrowser started browsing other chats What do you mean by other chats?

Images I've sent to other whatsapp contacts are shown as entry in a gallery.


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How to view who is connected to my Wi-Fi hotspot
I'm using stock android 9.0. I'd like to be able to get a list of the devices (IP and/or MAC) that are connected to my phone when it's used as a Wi-Fi AP.
Here are a few ways I tried but didn't work:

In the settings, there is an indicator of how many devices are connected (Network & internet / Hotspot & tethering / under Wi-Fi hotspot), but there is no list of them.
Fing only works when my phone is a client on a Wi-Fi network, not when it is an AP.
On Oreo, the  /proc/net/arp file used to contain the list, but as of Pie, it doesn't (it's empty, even when something is connected).

I'm looking for a solution that does not require root.

You might wish to check with: Is there a way to check who is connected to my Galaxy Nexus hotspot // How do I check who is connecting to my hotspot?

The solution is to enter ip neighbor into a terminal app, it displays both the IP and the MAC address of the connected devices.

Use Ksiri tool to list devices connected to your hotspot.

you can also name the device connected.
Naming is based on MAC address, so if connected device resets it's address, then you may have to name again.
I was facing same issue on my Android Oreo, some tools on net available is filled with ads or asking for unnecessary permissions or root.
Just for this simple listing of which devices are connected, ads and special permissions or rooting, not necessary, so I have created this app, which will not ask for any permissions and neither shows any ads and no need of root.
This is the first step of "Ksiri Tools" that I have created, further if any tooling things comes up, I will add to same app.
I have not released any of my apps on play store, as I feel it's unnecessary to pay Google.
You can download apk file and install. While installing you will be clearly shown by Android that this app doesn't require any permissions.
So safe to use.

Your app is buggy, it doesn't show any devices (even after pressing refresh). However I looked into the source code, and it turns out that ip neighbor does work, if I enter it manually in a terminal app. I will accept your answer once your app works on my phone.

@AstroRP there is already an answer with ip neigh was late to flag as duplicate see: How to view devices connected to hotspot on Google Pixel?


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XBrowser app: where are bookmarks stored?
I have been using this browser for a while now and I am somewhat impressed. I've added some bookmarks which I'd like to import to the browsers on my laptop.
So where do I find them? Or are they in the app itself?

In XBrowser, go to Settings → User Center → Export bookmark to HTML file. The bookmarks would be saved inside /storage/emulated/0/xbrowser/recovery (just use a file manager and visit xbrowser directory in the default storage view). You should be able to use it to import it in a compatible browser.
The bookmarks are actually saved inside a database named mbrowser located inside /data/data/com.xbrowser.xplay/databases/. The table name is bookmark. You would need root access to access the data directory.

Thanks, I seriously doubted they were wrapped into the app. Old Classic Mac user here; Apple didn't, M$ did but changed, and I've never heard of it happening in a Linux.


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How to repair an android device after partially formatting its root directory
My phone is Samsung Galaxy SM-J7 and it's rooted. I heard a linux command which could format the entire operating system from root directory (I do not want to mention it here). I've been curious to know what happens if I try it on Android, and I sadly did so today using tsudo on Termux. After executing that, I realized I'm playing with fire.
However, while everything was being deleted, I stopped Termux app so my device was partially formatted. After a minute, it turned out that my phone does not even accept my password. Hence I decided to wipe its data using Google Device Finder. I did so and also a factory reset, and my device booted up with a long delay afterwards. Anyway, almost every thing went well, but I saw that Wifi and Mobile data are not working...
Now, is there a way to repair my operating system?
Any help will be appreciated.
Edit:
In order to see what filesystems I have on my device (as @IrfanLatif asked), I installed ADB Shell and executed this command in Command Prompt:
adb shell mount > result.txt

This is the content of result.txt after executing the command:
rootfs / rootfs ro,seclabel 0 0

tmpfs /dev tmpfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,relatime,size=701408k,nr_inodes=175352,mode=755 0 0

devpts /dev/pts devpts rw,seclabel,relatime,mode=600 0 0

proc /proc proc rw,relatime 0 0

sysfs /sys sysfs rw,seclabel,relatime 0 0

selinuxfs /sys/fs/selinux selinuxfs rw,relatime 0 0

/sys/kernel/debug /sys/kernel/debug debugfs rw,relatime 0 0

none /acct cgroup rw,relatime,cpuacct 0 0

none /sys/fs/cgroup tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=701408k,nr_inodes=175352,mode=750,gid=1000 0 0

tmpfs /mnt tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=701408k,nr_inodes=175352,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0

tmpfs /mnt/secure tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=701408k,nr_inodes=175352,mode=700 0 0

tmpfs /mnt/secure/asec tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=701408k,nr_inodes=175352,mode=700 0 0

none /dev/cpuctl cgroup rw,relatime,cpu 0 0

/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/SYSTEM /system ext4 ro,seclabel,noatime,block_validity,norecovery 0 0

/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/EFS /efs ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0

/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/CACHE /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,errors=panic,data=ordered 0 0

/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/USERDATA /data ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,discard,journal_checksum,journal_async_commit,noauto_da_alloc,data=ordered 0 0

/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/PERSDATA /persdata/absolute ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,data=ordered 0 0

/dev/block/platform/13540000.dwmmc0/by-name/CPEFS /cpefs ext4 rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noatime,data=ordered 0 0

tmpfs /storage tmpfs rw,seclabel,relatime,size=701408k,nr_inodes=175352,mode=755,gid=1000 0 0

/dev/block/loop0 /su ext4 rw,seclabel,noatime,data=ordered 0 0

/data/knox/tmp_sdcard /mnt/knox sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,mask=0077 0 0

/data/knox/sdcard /mnt/knox/default/knox-emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,low_uid=1000,low_gid=1000,gid=1015,multi_user,mask=0006 0 0

/data/knox/sdcard /mnt/knox/read/knox-emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,low_uid=1000,low_gid=1000,gid=9997,multi_user,mask=0027 0 0

/data/knox/sdcard /mnt/knox/write/knox-emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,low_uid=1000,low_gid=1000,gid=9997,multi_user,mask=0007 0 0

/data/knox/secure_fs/enc_media /mnt/shell/enc_media sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,relatime,low_uid=1000,low_gid=1000,gid=9997,multi_user,reserved=20MB 0 0

/data/media /mnt/runtime/default/emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=1015,multi_user,mask=0006,reserved=20MB 0 0

/data/media /storage/emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=1015,multi_user,mask=0006,reserved=20MB 0 0

/data/media /mnt/runtime/read/emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=9997,multi_user,mask=0027,reserved=20MB 0 0

/data/media /mnt/runtime/write/emulated sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=9997,multi_user,mask=0007,reserved=20MB 0 0

/dev/block/vold/public:179,33 /mnt/media_rw/4482-1BED vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0

/dev/block/vold/public:179,33 /mnt/secure/asec vfat rw,dirsync,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,nodiratime,uid=1023,gid=1023,fmask=0007,dmask=0007,allow_utime=0020,codepage=437,iocharset=iso8859-1,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro 0 0

/mnt/media_rw/4482-1BED /mnt/runtime/default/4482-1BED sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=1015,mask=0006 0 0

/mnt/media_rw/4482-1BED /storage/4482-1BED sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=1015,mask=0006 0 0

/mnt/media_rw/4482-1BED /mnt/runtime/read/4482-1BED sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=9997,mask=0022 0 0

/mnt/media_rw/4482-1BED /mnt/runtime/write/4482-1BED sdcardfs rw,seclabel,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,low_uid=1023,low_gid=1023,gid=9997,mask=0022 0 0

Guess I have lots of filesystems.
Edit2:
Now, take a look at this:

Along with message,
Device does not have DRK, please install...
I saw this during the first reboot after Odin passed the first operation. Actually I had trouble downloading the firmware from SamMobile, so I downloaded a firmware from someware else. The downloaded zip file contained only one file with extension .md5. And the instructions told me to set it in AP section on Odin.

Flash a ROM – either the original one, or a custom ROM. And consider trying hot stuff in an emulator first next time :)

Linux and Android have some major differences in root directory. My guess is that the said behavior is due to /persist deleted, but can't tell for sure unless I don't know what you exactly executed and what are your mount points in rootfs, though they are same on most devices.

@Irfan Latif This is what I executed, tsudo rm -rf /. Now I'll try to copy Root Explorer apk file to my phone via my PC and check what's deleted. Though I hope /su/bin is not deleted and the root access is intact.

@JavadBayat I don't why you tried this command. This recursively deletes everything it can subject to DAC and MAC permissions it can have, except the read-only filesystems. Your OS would be intact because that lives on read-only /system filesystem. Reflashing firmware is best option for you right now.

@IrfanLatif You see, I'm not an expert in Android operating system. I know mostly stuff about Windows. Could you explain more on how I can reflash frimware? And you were right, I found no folder named persist at root directory. And I rooted my phone again because everything in /su was deleted.

@JavadBayat what filesystems you have on your device? You can get by mount command

@IrfanLatif I copied Termux apk file from my PC to my phone, and installed the apk. When I run Termux, it says, "Termux was unable to install boot strap pakages. Check your Internet connection and try again." As I previously mentioned, my wifi and mobile data don't work. So I can't use Termux to execute mount command.

@JavadBayat use adb shell

@IrfanLatif After installing ADB shell with a lot of trouble last night, I executed mount command. Please see my edited question.

@JavadBayat most probably the problem would be due to EFS, CPEFS and PERSDATA partitions. Rather than making further experiments, better go for flashing. Start from here: https://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/search/sm-j7/

Please see my edited question. Anyway, I was disappointed, but I rebooted my phone and saw mobile data is working. Thank goodness! But I still suspect that there is something missing in my phone's OS.


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Multitasking more than 2 apps?
Is there any way to run more than 2 apps side by side? Preferably on a Mi Pad 4 tablet in landscape.
I'm only really looking towards a Xiaomi device since Miui allows input to both apps simultaneously when in split screen, with other devices you need to press on an app to select it and then are able to input, the window that's not selected gets suspended, if that makes any sense.


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Titanium backup and TWRP, custom ROM
I'm trying to install a new custom ROM on my smartphone and first I need to make a backup. I was wondering, if I use Titanium backup do I need to make TWRP?
I got a bit confused researching online and watching and reading all those tutorials.
I know that to use Titanium Backup I need to root my phone first (I know how to do it), then backup all the data and then do I just install the ROM?

Titanium Backup is a backup utility for Android that backs up your system and user applications along with their data on external storage of your choice. It is a leading Android application that uses root access to pull all your important applications and data from the system partition and stores them for future restoration. Whether your phone is corrupted or flashed with a custom ROM, Titanium Backup can save the hassle to get your phone loaded up just like it was before.
TWRP is an open source, community project. We also have a large support community with many people who are willing to answer questions and help people with their devices either through our IRC channel or on forums like xda-developers.
A custom recovery is used for installing custom software on your device. This custom software can include smaller modifications like rooting your device or even replacing the firmware of the device with a completely custom "ROM" like OmniROM.
A custom Android ROM refers to a phone’s firmware, based on Google’s Android platform. Android is open source and therefore any developer can edit the code, recompile it, and re-release for a wide variety of devices. Users can install ROMs to change a device’s appearance and behavior. ROMs are developed by the Android community, often times by a group of core developers who do this purely out of passion for modding. This means that most are completely free. Custom ROMs are available for phones, tablets, media players, smart watches and almost any type of device running Android.
Notes

You don't need to root for installing twrp and custom rom using twrp, but sometimes required to unlock bootloader to flash twrp. For a complete access and customisation, it requires root access on any ROM.
You can backup all your user app(apps installed from play store) data to any android version, and can restore using titanium backup app, which requires root access. For system apps, both should be in same android version is possible.
many custom roms are available on open source forums like xda. Search the one for your device. Look for some official builds like Lineage os, pixel experience etc. Developer will releases updates as nightlies, which resolves initial bugs, and makes more stable in future.
Gapps for any custom rom can be downloaded from open source platform like opengapps.org.
Rooting may voids your device's warranty. And you must be careful at each step. Because, any mistake can lead to make device brick. Device bricking means, it will continue in repeated on/off state
(Bootloop), won't turn on, boots to recovery only etc, repeated app crash while usage.
You can perform this ,
If you're going to use titanium backup app , then backup all your user app data using titanium backup to SD card or USB stick through OTG. Flash twrp and custom rom. On booting to custom rom, install titanium backup, and restore app data.

If you are using twrp method, you can backup your current rom using pressing backup part in twrp. After flashing custom rom, you can restore data backup which is done by twrp (nandroid) using titanium backup.

A backup of current rom using twrp is recommended, if anything happens in between, you can return to current os without losing any data. Back-up to SD card or USB, don't do it on internal storage, which may get erased.

Source:
Titanium
twrp
Custom ROM


text:
Does installing GApps save space compared to PlayStore install?
I am about to clean-install a Lineage ROM on my Android and I want to maximize the internal storage space left for the apps I want.
What I understand so far is:

The GApps package will reside in  the /system read-only partition.
Updates of apps from the GApps package will reside in the user partition.
Apps installed via the Play Store will reside in the user partition.

I see the two following options:

Install a lean GApps package (e.g. OpenGApps pico) and then install the apps I want from Google's Play Store.
Install a GApps package which includes additional apps (e.g. OpenGApps mini).

Question 1: Is there a drawback to making the /system partition as full as possible by selecting the biggest fitting GApps package?
Question 2: If I need some Google apps such as Maps and YouTube, which option maximizes the space left available to install other apps, updates and user data?
Additional information:

The device is a Motorola G 2015 (osprey) with 8Gb internal storage.
When comparing the difference between the mini and pico packages, the only apps I need from the mini package not included in the pico package are Maps and Youtube, all the rest is useless to me.
I can get the most recent OpenGApps package and it's ok for me to disable the update of apps such as Maps and Youtube if it results in more available user data space. (My aim is to extend the lifetime of my device by avoiding the lack of internal memory.)
I saw this StackExchange answer, but it didn't answer my question well enough.

If you don't need the whole biggest GApps package, don't install it. Active and disabled apps occupy /data space for their ART cache, so installing the biggest package for just a few apps is a waste of space.

Question 1: Is there a drawback to making the /system partition as full as possible by selecting the biggest fitting GApps package?

Whether you install the smallest or largest version of GApps, /system partition will remain the same, unaffected in term of its size. The partition size is fixed for the device by the manufacturer (Yes, if you are rooted it is possible to re-size the partition but it is not recommended).

Question 2: If I need some Google apps such as Maps and YouTube, which option maximizes the space left available to install other apps, updates and user data?

When you install GApps from the recovery, they will be installed as system apps under /system partition. Then when you start your device, their data will be under /data partition as any other apps. Subsequent update and usage may (will) increase their sizes on the /data partition while /system will be same. Making new version or updates part of /system partition will allow to recoup some space from the /data partition.
If you need Maps and Youtube, install GApps mini, then disable/uninstall apps that are not part of the pico or nano packages.

Are you sure the GApps are not installed into the system partition? AFAIR the last time I used GApps (install via TWRP) they were at least partially installed to the system partition and further updates will be installed to the user data partition.

@Robert Yes, they are installed on the system partition. If I have not been cleared enough, please let me know so I can modify the answer (see answer to Question 2).

@Robert See edit.

Thanks now I got what you mean.

whats the os version?
install gapps from this site: OpenGapps
mini installs to the system partition, if the rom version is higher than 8.0 (android version) is (the most times) the system partition smaller
try first gapps mini, if you get a error try pico
(sorry for my bad english)

Instead of "mini" I would recommend "micro" as it contains everything you need that can't be installed from Play Store. Therefore it gains you the full flexibility with the smallest footprint as you only install those apps you really want.


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How to set data limit to a metered wlan?
For Android 7, we can set a WLAN (wifi connection network) to a metered WLAN, which work similar like a cellular network.
For cellular network, we are able to set data limit.
So, the question is, how do we set data limit to a metered WLAN?

If not supported in your ROM already, you may need a third-party app

Which device/ROM are you using?

@xavier_fakerat Checked my device and could not find an option to set data limit, would like to know which third-party app able to set data limit in general for android 7.x nougat phones. Thanks.


text:
Which process is preventing me using Wifi?
I have a TV box provided by ISP (also TV channels provider), which has Android 4.4.4 Linux kernel 3.10.23. (I have root already)
It uses PPPoE to get a network so can receive TV stream, but this network has no Internet.
It also has wifi, which only works when PPPoE is down.
I want to make PPPoE and wifi work simultaneously, so get both TV stream and Internet. I did some test and find out there must be some process preventing wifi when PPPoE is on.
I use Linux laptop to setup an AP. I make box connect to AP on box's setting layout, when PPPoE on. I see this on Linux:
ap0: STA 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: authenticated
ap0: STA 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx IEEE 802.11: associated (aid 1)
ap0: AP-STA-CONNECTED 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx
ap0: STA 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx RADIUS: starting accounting session E67960Dxxxxx
dnsmasq-dhcp: DHCPDISCOVER(ap0) 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx
dnsmasq-dhcp: DHCPOFFER(ap0) 192.168.7.125 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx
dnsmasq-dhcp: DHCPREQUEST(ap0) 192.168.7.125 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx
dnsmasq-dhcp: DHCPACK(ap0) 192.168.7.125 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx FF1004xxxxxx
ap0: AP-STA-DISCONNECTED 74:97:81:xx:xx:xx

Connection sucessfully established, and even box has got IP from DHCP (I also see IP on TV for a very short time). Then soon disconnected.
If I unplug the cable, or turn Ethernet off in box's settings, or set a wrong PPPoE password, the wifi works.
How do I find out which process it preventing wifi?


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Facebook messenger 196.0.0.29.99 keeps crashing
I am using LG G6 Stock Oreo 8.0 and everything is working fine except Facebook messenger, it keeps crashing after a while without returning an error. I then took log from my phone and attached here. Please if anyone could read it and help me out to fix the issue. Facebook version below 189 and lite version are working fine. Only this version is crashing.
Logcat: http://saadtariq.net/logcat.txt

The link you provided is broken.

Have you tried cleaning its cache? Uninstall then reinstall?

@parthu_panther please check the link now, just updated.

@ReddyLutonadio yes did everything, completely uninstall both messenger and facebook app, removed all traces etc still no use :(

I'm facing the same problem after updating it. I installed Facebook lite messenger for now

V187 also worked fine for me too. I installed that downgraded version for now using apkmirror

so strange. they have changed something


text:
How can I change the default phone number for a contact?
I have seen this and this, but on my phone, a MotoG3 with Marshmallow 6.01 and what seems to be the built-in Contacts app (same version as the OS), long-tapping the number only gives Cut/Copy/Paste choices, and the extra menu has "Share" and "Lookup in Wikipedia".
Deleting the main number and adding it back made the other number the default, but there must be a better way?

What if you touch the contact once(not number) ? You tried may be it gives you a pop up with the options you are looking for.

Hmm. Actually works. I mostly tried when in "Edit" mode but it should be done when just in "Display" mode. I would swear I also tried that before, though.


text:
Incredibly low performance of Contacts app in Moto Z / Android 8
My 4 GB/64 GB/8 core Moto Z2 is incredibly slow when it comes to built in Contacts app. I.e.:

it requires at least 3-4 seconds to open it up,
it needs at least 2-3 seconds to exchange phone numbers with corresponding contacts in dial log.

It has nothing to do with the battery charge (happens all the time, on charge level between 10-100%) and has also nothing to do with overall system performance (both system and all other apps are working as fast as possible / expected; Contacts is the only problematic application).
I have 95 applications installed. None of them are performance-hungry and many system services (i.e. Google+, Google Assistant, YouTube, Google Drive, Google Play Music / Movies, Photos, etc.) disabled, because I am not using them.
Is there anything I can do to fix this problem (except for replacing Contacts with something else)?

Are you having a tremendous number of contacts?

Define "tremendous"? :> 285 doesn't sound like "that much", am I correct?


text:
How to make Phone app show favorites and contacts on app startup?
When you open up the Phone app, it shows recent calls list (second tab) as the default tab instead of contacts list (third tab). This changed during the last upgrade.
How do I switch that back so by default it shows the favourites and contacts.
My stack:

Samsung Galaxy J7,
Android 8.1.0 Oreo,
Samsung Experience 9.5.

I am using default, system Phone app.

This 100% relates to your phone version, system implementation etc. For example, on exactly the same Android version (i.e. Oreo), but on a different phone model (i.e. Motorola Moto Z2 Play, which uses stock, unmodified version of Android) this application always displays favourites list instead of call history. Which, in my case, actually kills me, because I find favourites list incorrect and pointless and I am forced to always switch manually to call history tab.

I think my answer here should help you. Change "Call history" to Favorties or Contacts where needed. It was helpful for @trejder .


text:
Manage file type or application defaults in Android 8
I am using Solid File Explorer to browse my files. Each time I tap an image, it is opened in Google's Photos. I would like to know where this relation is defined in my Android 8.0 and how can I change it (i.e. should I modify  defaults of Solid File Explorer or Google Photos or both)?
I am asking, because both applications defaults' settings doesn't suggest such relation exists:

I.e. Solid File Explorer doesn't open anything by default and Photos opens only some links and no file types. And the "Clear defaults" button is disabled in both cases. So, I am a little bit stumbled on how does my Android 8.0 know that it should open images in Photos and how can I change it.
Both questions that I've read so far (this and this) are seven years old and covers a very old version of Android. So brings no help here.

Related: this is how a file is opened on Android


text:
How to uninstall/disable system apps on Fire HD 8?
I want to uninstall or disable system apps on my Amazon Fire HD 8 2017. How can I do this? The FireOS version in "System Updates" menu is 5.6.2.0.

There is a method to disable system apps on Fire HD 8 2017, on your FireOS version. (Discovered by myself, actually :D) You can see that XDA thread here. To battle possible link rot I'll also describe it here too.

I'm not going to add a guide on how to install ADB here, this page by Amazon explains it thoroughly, so you can follow it.
Download the APK attached in post #2, or if the link is broken download it from Dropbox. You can install it with ADB if you know how to, or just install it as you install other APK files.
This is one of most important but most ignored steps. Reboot your tablet.
The Amazon page explains how to run adb commands. Run these commands in order.

adb shell
run-as com.amazon.unifiedsharefacebook

Run pm hide on every app you want to hide. (You might be thinking the difference between hide and disable. pm hide vs. pm disable was analyzed on here.) You can check the package name of the app you want to install by "App Inspector". You can download and install it from here and check the package name of the app you want to remove.

Example: pm hide com.amazon.kindle
Here are all the apps that are safe to remove. Removing any other all could cause unexpected bugs.
Good luck!

it worked and improved speed so much. thank you!!!


text:
How to configure Bluemail to NOT group emails
I am using the Bluemail email app and when an email is received on my android phone I get a notification on my phone showing who it is from and the subject.  But if I do not discard the notification, then when I get a second email then the notification says "2 new emails", so I can't see, from my lock screen, the email details for the 2nd and subsequent emails like I can for the first email until I discard the notification.
Are there any settings in Bluemail or Android O/S where I turn off the grouping of emails, so that I can see the details of each email, or if not are there any other email apps where this setting exists?
I have also tried -  Email by Edison, Email TypeApp, K-9 Mail and myMail and these are all no different.

After trying 6 different email apps I figured that may be all email apps send a notification of "2 new emails" for the 2nd email unless you clear the first, so I tried a couple of work-a-rounds for my use case which is to be able to view email notifications on my smart watch:

I tried using IFTTT where I created a trigger to send a notification when it receives an email.  This sort of worked, but notifications are not replaced, they are added and I couldn't find a way to clear all notifications from IFTTT - specifically when I went into IFTTT it does not clear notifications as it does if you go into email app, so the only way was to clear ALL notifications including other non-email apps.
I installed a notification blocker - the one that seemed to work best was Notification Blocker & Cleaner & Heads-up Off as this does not delete notifications, but puts them in separate folder called junk, so now I always get full notification details of every email on my watch and if I go into Junk folder notification on my phone then I can see history of all email notifications and I can clear them all from here.

So using a notification blocker works really well and solves my issue.


text:
How to always resolve a domain name to a fixed IP without rooting?
The financial website https://wex1.in got it’s domain name deleted but it’s still possible to reach it by adding 104.25.31.35 wex1.in to etc/hosts files on a ᴘᴄ.
So how to access the website without editing /etc/hosts?

You need some DNS server that has this record.

@iBug I’m talking about a public website. So this isn’t possible.

Then you're out of luck

@iBug many users like me ended up trusting such website which had no problem between 2011 and 2017. So this a question worthing more than 100 million (literally) with more than 8000 for me.

I agree. I don't have time to write a detailed answer now, but with my experience and expertise I don't think it's possible without editing /etc/hosts, as said in your question.

@iBug and the answer isn’t for me but for authorities. So for more than 100 millions in money combined, you're out of luck is not an acceptable answer.

There are a few options you can go with:

Enter IP address directly (with port 80 or 443) to web browser's address bar instead of domain name. But this won't work if web server relies on host header or SNI for virtually hosting multiple websites on same IP address.

It's possible to use VpnService API of Android to capture all DNS traffic without rooting phone. That's how apps like this and this work. Then the VPN app may use a custom hosts file before making queries to configured upstream DNS server. Virtual Hosts is an open-source app to achieve this.

As suggested by @iBug, you can setup a DNS server (locally or on cloud) and configure your phone to use that for DNS queries. For instance if using dnsmasq, add address=/wex1.in/104.25.31.35 to “dnsmasq.conf”. Or on dnscrypt-proxy add wex1.in 104.25.31.35 to “cloaking-rules.txt”.
Similarly other DNS servers can be configured to return a predefined IP address for a specific name.

Configure phone to use a proxy or VPN and then add the entry 104.25.31.35 wex1.in in hosts file on proxy server or run a local DNS server on VPN server.

If you don't want to root the device but bootloader is unlocked (or possible to unlock) and a custom recovery is available, mount /system in recovery and edit hosts file there. Set proper permissions; ownership, mode and SELinux label.
If you don't want to modify /system partition (e.g. to not break dm-verity or OTAs), it's possible to bind mount a custom hosts file from somewhere on /data. But that would require some extra effort like defining an init service, modifying SELinux policy etc.

Make sure not to use Private DNS (on Android 9+) so that DNS queries always go on port 53 unencrypted.
PS: Same methods can be used to block ads without rooting phone.


text:
How to fix lock screen stuck at "Tap to speak" when entering password?
I can’t access my phone. When I try to enter my password to unlock my phone it displays "Tap to speak" with microphone and the word "Google". There is also sign of setting and "X" but they are not responding.
This thing blocks me from using my phone and I don't know how it got into my phone. I am not familiar with it. How do I unlock my phone?

Did you enable 'voice lock' ?

my kid was playing with my phone I suspect she activated it accidentally

It's not cleared that what lock you used(there are 3rd party and in built 'Voice Lock' which could be found under Security Settings and then one is 'Google Voice Lock').
If it 'Google Voice Lock' say 'Ok Google' & 'Hey Google'. If it is your handset, you would have used Google Voice Search/Google Assistance which only activates by saving your voice.
Same voice is used for 'Google Voice Lock'.
So, if it is this lock. It will unlock as voice matches.
If it is other than this, i found this forum by xda-developers that could help you: Lock Screen stuck at voice lock.


text:
Termus/Python - How to mark unread SMS messages as read?
I made a simple SMS reader script with Python and Termux/Termux API (I use termux-tts-speak to read the messagees and execute the script from Termux). The script reads messages (with termux-sms-list) marked as unread. So I want to mark the messages as read after they are read by the script. How can I do this?


text:
What are the privacy implications of apps that use Android System WebView?
From what I've researched, Android System WebView supports cookies and HTML5 local storage.
When do those cookies and local storage items get cleared?
For example, Samsung Messenger (Samsung's default SMS app) uses WebView to load web links (even in Android Nougat).  If the loaded web page generates cookies and HTML5 local storage items, will those items be available:

to every web page loaded within Samsung Messenger during that session?
to every web page loaded within Samsung Messenger during later Messenger sessions?
to other apps that use WebView?

Looks like not even a bounty provokes an answer here. What a pity. Does really nobody know?

@Izzy Wow... besides you and me, currently only 66 views, even with a bounty.

Nobody interested in privacy (or in Webview) it seems. Sad. Great question btw, I'd loved to have the answer! Was hoping for Dan here to be honest :) And yes, sad not even the bounty was able to draw more attention…


text:
How to pick up the smallest distance for car?
I’m in a situation where even with forbidding motorway I’m ending up with a 110 Km deviation to the north or the south for driving straight to the east.
I want the shortest path in Km even if takes way longer and burn more fuel (fuel economic routes also have such high deviation).
The best way to achieve this is to configure for pedestrian mode (I checked in that case the route is almost a straight line instead of a curve with car mode whatever the guiding software). The problem is I’m not find taking stairs with the car.
So how to get the shortest path which excludes roads where cars can’t go through ?

Dirt roads need to be in the map provider's database as a routable path else you are stuck to workarounds as you've described. Have you checked if the map provider can provide bicycle directions?

@MorrisonChang yes it can. The system can also use uses dirt roads in car mode provided it’s allowed to drive on them. The problem is it simply compute a route with a huge deviation even in fuel econmic mode instead.

@MorrisonChang because car mode always uses roads with regular speed in fuel economic mode or the highest speed if configured for the fastest route. Dirt roads, as well as roads with a lot of curve and paths through cities are used only as fallback.

Not sure how you are expecting an answer when you don't specify what map providers (Google, Here, OpenStreetMaps, TomTom, etc) you are using/tried or the area/region/country you are trying to navigate through in case a different map provider can give what you are looking for.

@MorrisonChang I don’t care about the map provider. If something works on Openstreetmap then I’ll switch to Openstreetmap.

Then at least list the country you are trying to navigate through, preferably with an example (image or drawing) of what you are seeing with xyz map provider and what you want to see.

@MorrisonChang France. But I don t see how this is related since all services I found only propose the fastest route. The description of the exact case can t be translated in English.


text:
Does "Data Saver" also apply to metered Wi-Fi?
The section Use Android Nougat’s "Data Saver" (Android 7.0+) under this site How to Restrict Background Data for Metered Wi-Fi Networks on Android mentions:

Android 7.0 Nougat introduced a much more granular way to take the reins on your mobile data with a new feature called Data Saver.
Basically, this allows you to limit background data used by apps, but whitelist anything that want to have unrestricted access. This means background data is disabled for every app by default, then you can pick and choose where to grant unlimited access
And that’s all there is to it. It’s worth keeping in mind that this only applies to mobile data-all apps will remain unrestricted while on Wi-Fi.

My question is whether this Data Saver option applies to Wi-Fi that you set to metered, meaning metered WLAN?

Yes, Data Saver option applies to metered Wi-Fi. As quoted here:

From Android 7.0 (API level 24), users can enable Data Saver on a device-wide basis in order to optimize their device's data usage, and use less data.
  ...
  When a user enables Data Saver in Settings and the device is on a metered network, the system blocks background data usage and signals apps to use less data in the foreground wherever possible.

Android achieves this through iptables and I can confirm (tested on Pie) that REJECT rules are added for wlan0 interface when both conditions meet i.e. Data Saver and Metered WiFi.


text:
How to get an overview of which app are allowed to background data for Android 7
A user can enable or disable background data usage by following the following steps:

From the Home screen, tap the app slider, then open "Settings".
Select "Data usage".
Select "Cellular data usage".
Select the app you want to limit background data on.
Toggle "Background data" to "On" or "Off" as desired.

The question is - is there anyway to do it on a mass scale for all apps so that a user do not need to keep repeating the five steps as described above?
Example, a user just need to follow the following steps:

From the Home screen, tap the app slider, then open "Settings".
Select "Data usage".
Select "Background data usage", which will list all the apps. Each row will display the app name, the app version and a "On/Off" switch. If the app was "On" for background data, it will be a "On" for that switch.
Toggle "Background data" to "On" or "Off" as desired thru scrolling on the same page.

(Step 3 should look something like the picture below, which the picture illustrate which WIFI to be "On" or "Off" as a metered Wifi network.)

Not sure about GUI interface you want or a third party app that may do this for you, you can use CLI (terminal app or adb shell):
~$ dumpsys netpolicy | grep '^[ ]*UID=.*METERED_BACKGROUND'
  UID=10173 policy=4 (ALLOW_METERED_BACKGROUND)
  UID=10176 policy=1 (REJECT_METERED_BACKGROUND)

File /data/system/netpolicy.xml can also be read directly with root access.
~# awk '$2==10173 || $2==10176 {print $2,$1}' /data/system/packages.list
10173 com.whatsapp
10176 com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro

Or:
~$ pm list packages -U | sed 's/package://; s/uid://' | grep -E '10173$|10176$'
com.whatsapp 10173
com.simplemobiletools.gallery.pro 10176

It shows that WhatsApp has Unrestricted data usage allowed, while Gallery app is denied Background data usage at all. Rest of the apps have default behavior i.e. they can use background data but not in Data Saver mode.
You can do some further scripting with aapt tool to get e.g. app label / name.

FWIW, in the UI, if you go to the Settings screen that lets you control special app access permissions (WiFi control, device admins, modify system settings, unrestricted data, etc.) under unrestricted data access, the toggle will not be available for any apps you've restricted background data on. I check here to see if I'm missing any apps that I had overlooked toggling individually.

I was looking for the same thing to disable ads for offline apps. I'm not sure about 7.1 Nougat, but I just found background access control for Android 9 (Pie):
Settings => Wireless & networks => Data usage => Network access =>...
Here you can see the permissions for Wi-Fi and mobile data access. However, that does not include background data!
To see background data and roaming data access you need 1 more step:
At the top, there's a downward pointing arrow next to network access -  choose "Advanced network settings". This opens a new list with all apps and checkboxes only for background data and roaming data.


text:
How to lower the minimum brightness?
On my Moto Z Play on the stock 8.0 Oreo ROM (rooted, of course), I find that the lowest brightness setting is still a bit too bright for my liking. This is in contrast with my dad's Galaxy S8+ which goes so dark. One solution that I liked was GravityBox. Unfortunately, that requires Xposed and Xposed breaks Messenger at the moment, and I can't live with the Lite version of Messenger. Xposed also isn't actively developed nowadays so the issue won't be fixed anytime soon.
I'm looking for something that will achieve what GravityBox does, that is, lower the minimum brightness value for my ROM. I don't want any screen filter app that runs in the background all day, that just sucks. It isn't as effective as actually dimming the display, IMO.
Can you guys help me out here?

If you need to do this by hand you can (with a root terminal):
1. Disable auto brightness
settings put system screen_brightness_mode 0

2. Set desired brightness
settings put system screen_brightness 1

Where the value must be between 1 and 255 (inclusive)

Since your device is running on Android 8.0 Oreo, you can follow the instructions below to change the minimum brightness level on your device.

Download the Brightness Tweak from here.
Go to Settings and allow installation from Unknown Sources.
Open the app and grant the SU permission.
On the next screen follow the on-screen instructions and complete the initial setup.
Once done, you will be greeted with a screen where you can set the minimum brightness level for your device. The minimum brightness level that you can go to is 1.


text:
Can I get Fire OS 6 running on a Fire HD 10(7th gen)?
Android Studio claims Fire OS 5.3.6.4 is Android 5.1.1 API 22.
I would really like to be using Nougat (which apparently Fire OS 6 is).
Shouldn't I have the latest Fire OS on my tablet?
Is there a way to do that?
If not, I'll have to try rooting it. I hate these OEM blonked Android OS flavours!

Fire OS 6 for 7th generation tablets are not released yet, so it's not possible to install it yet. It is not sure whether Amazon will release it ever, or just keep maintaining the Lollipop Fire OS 5 version either. It might be best to just root it, you can install it later if they release it. (There is a way to go back to stock which will re-enable OTA updates. That will not leave any traces of rooting)
Even with root you won't be able to install a clean Android ROM, because the bootloader is locked. (No custom recovery either) But, you'll still be able to remove bloat apps, change launcher, install Google apps, speed it up considerably by adding a swap partition, install Xposed, etc.

Just reviewing. Didn't thank. Thank you. Also, did you ever try to root one of them? It's very finnicky isn't it? Any new methods?

There was a new method discovered recently which is not very easy, but easier than the older method. I also think a bootloader unlock method was discovered too? You'll find them on the XDA Fire HD 8 and 10 Forum, I got a new device so haven't been in touch with these methods :)

Amazon says 7th gen Fires should have Fire OS 6 now.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_sib?ie=UTF8&nodeId=201016370


text:
Google Pixel video camera keeps freezing and audio often doesn't get recorded
I have a Google Pixel running android Pie, and lately I've noticed that when I record video, the video intermittently freezes, and audio also intermittently doesn't get recorded, with an error message informing me that the mic is being used by another app. I've checked and no other app is using the mic. The video camera freezing happens maybe a few times a minute, and each freeze could be a split second up to a couple of seconds.
I've done some informal testing on CPU usage while using the video camera, and the top 2 processes (according to top) are the following:

android.hardware.camera.provider@2.4-service
com.google.android.GoogleCamera

The first uses about 60-75% CPU, and the 2nd uses between 20-30% CPU. Is this normal?
Another possibly related symptom is that taking pictures on my camera is also pretty slow, and it could take a few seconds while I wait for a just-taken picture to be processed before I can use it.
What could be causing the freezing?

Have you installed the December update? That update seems to have fixed a lot of issues with the camera.

Yes I have, it didn't do anything.


text:
How to load URLs in a separate browser from within Samsung Messenger?
In Samsung Messenger, if an SMS message includes a URL, clicking on that URL seems to always load the website in Android System WebView.
Is there a way to specify which external browser app to use to load these URLs?

I was also looking for the same but literally there is no such option.
However, what Samsung's Official site suggests to do it, is:

If you would prefer to use another browser as default from the messaging app - you can try searching the Google Play Store to download another messaging application. The Android Messages app, for example, defaults to open links in the Chrome browser.

Source: https://www.samsung.com/au/support/mobile-devices/about-the-new-in-app-browser/


text:
Unlocking Bootloader Android 7.1.2
I have a RCA device running Android 7.1.2. I'm having difficulty unlocking the bootloader.
On my device I've an option to turn on OEM Unlocking. When I try it asks if I want to enable when I select Enable it just jumps back to off position.
This is what I have tried.
adb reboot fastboot
The device reboots and stays on the splash screen when I do fastboot devices it shows "0123456789 fastboot". This seems weird to me I expected to see the S/N number like I see when I do adb devices.
Then I tried "fastboot flashing unlock" I don't see any change on the device and I instantly get FAILED.

How can I get the bootloader unlocked?
I have seen people that have gotten it unlocked, but they were on a previous version of Android.
My tablets info:

Model: RCT6973W43R
Android Version: 7.1.2
Android Security Patch: October 1, 2018
Kernel Version: 3.10.104 Fri Oct 19 11:05:52 CST 2018
Build number: RCT6973W43R-ANDROID7.1-V38-V1.16.132-DS-E17
Rockship: RK3066

Enable OEM Unlocking
If your devices manufacturer allows OEM unlocking
A.K.A (Also Known As) "Bootloader Unlocking".

After Enabling OEM Unlocking

Reboot to Fastboot
ADB

adb reboot bootloader

OEM Unlock

fastboot oem unlock
or
fastboot oem unlock -go
or
fastboot oem unlock /path/to/unlock-token.bin

If you have an MTK CPU you might be interested in flashing image's using a scatter file and SP Flash Tool v5.16 or above, as it doesn't require an unlocked bootloader.

Thanks for your quick reply. As mentioned in my question I already tried to enable the OEM Unlocking in the Developer Options. When I try it just slides right back to the off position.

You've had a Kernel update alongside the system update... I'm fairly sure that the new kernel locks out modifications and bootloader unlocking.   ... As it has an Intel CPU you can use https://androidmtk.com/flash-stock-rom-using-intel-phone-flash-tool ... Try looking around and getting familiar with stock firmware flashing on your device... This is using USB access to the CPU and bypasses androids security regarding bootloader unlocking... same for MTK CPUs etc...

Can you advise me where I can get more info on this flashing I wasn't successful or at least I'm not sure what I'm looking for.

I searched Intel ( Your CPU ) Firmware flashing, and it gave me that software, ... this tells me that you can access your system via the CPU in a "PreBoot" state, bypassing the System protection features... It's the same for MTK Mediatek CPU's, I'm more familiar with MTKs.

I have used the Wwr Tool in the past for getting the ROM on a MTK device. I had a tutorial from Hovatek Forums that helped me (https://forum.hovatek.com/thread-21970.html). Would you know if there is any similar tutorial or at least some guide for a similar thing for the Intel chipset?

All I can see is that this tool is used to FLASH a ROM. I'm looking for something that can download the ROM fist. Is there any tool out there that does that?

Are you trying to compile a stock firmware ?  or unlock the bootloader ?    This is the guide I found for unlocking the bootloader and getting root https://forum.xda-developers.com/general/general/guide-rca-voyager-rct6873w42-unlock-t3582973  ... But I'm not sure what you want to do   ..... If you have a copy of the stock boot.img and recovery.img, you can compile the CWM image's with them to remove CWM and replace the images with stock recovery... Then you'd have a stock firmware, but a device that has CWM Recovery, you then flash the stock recovery, or compiled stock firmware, and you stock.

I'm trying to download the images from the device. I can't unlock the bootloader as per the original question (the OEM unlock setting just jumps back to off). On a Mediatek device I was able to download the images (the full ROM actually) without unlocking the bootloader. You mentioned that this is possible with the Intel Flash Toll, but I can't figure out how. So I'm asking if there is any guide that I can refer to to help me with this. Or if there is any other way to achieve this goal.


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Changing a watsapp group name
I changed a watsapp group name and then back again to the original name. will everyone get notified of the changed name I didnt use?
Its just a work group and Im mortified.

Yes, Every member of the group will be notified when you change(s):
• Group Name
• Group Description
• Group Icon


text:
How to update wpa_supplicant to version 8
I am running LineageOS 14.1
I want to upgrade the wpa_supplicant so i can connect to my network with Management Frame Protection turned on.
I need to know how to update wpa_supplicant so i can connect to wpa3 when it get released with openwrt 19.01
This connecting to my network with my phone running android 8.1 has no issues connecting to my network with Management Frame Protection turned on.

You need to build wpa_supplicant yourself from latest source, either with ROM or the individual program. Standard source needs some Android specific changes. Or you can build static binary if you need to use from commandline

@Irfan Latif how do i do that, i have never complied any thing for an android OS before. is it like linux ?

Yes it's same with gcc, minor differences with Android NDK. Better go far gcc with musl, glibc is problematic with NSS stuff. If custom ROM source is available for your device with Lineage or Omni, you can go for that too. Check relevant site for instructions. But I'll suggest building standalone binary


text:
How I add a custom navigation bar button?
I see Android 6/7 I can to customize the navigation bar ("back", "home" and "recent" buttons). I can reorder, remove or add other pre-defined buttons.
I want add new custom buttom. By example, I want a "screenshot" button to avoid hold down+power to do a screenshot.
Is it possible?
EDIT: My devices are LG K10 (2016 and 2017 versions)

Please add your device name. Some android devices doesn't have on screen navigation buttons. For such cases, it requires root access. https://www.guidingtech.com/screenshots-without-power-volume-button/, https://android.gadgethacks.com/how-to/customize-your-navigation-bar-android-nougat-no-root-needed-0177176/

LG k10 devices has on screen navigation buttons. This link may help you to edit navigation buttons. https://www.lg.com/us/mobile-phones/VS985/Userguide/042.html


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How to disable sensors on-demand to reduce power consumption?
Nowadays, any Android device has a big sensor amount implemented. It is true that most of the sensors do not require a considerable amount of power for their operation. But the sum of the power consumption of the whole sensor set may be noticeable.
I already saw, some of the sensors are written/read through SPI interface by using linux SPI driver
So, is it possible to access the SPI driver at runtime to make sensors enter off/disabled/idle state to reduce power consumption? More specifically, I want to write/read SPI bytes through sysfs or command line
This should be achieveable in any rom, being rooted or with a custom kernel

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts, this site is primarily for end-users of Android. I assume you found the page on AOSP - Sensor Batching Not sure if you are speaking about a stock device, rooted device or custom ROM.

I think the answer would be kernel and device specific mostly. It would be best if you mention the device, Android ROM and kernel you are using. And sorry for misjudging your question and closing it earlier. :)


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Fastboot commands extremely slow
I'm trying to unlock my HTC U11 and I've tried to run fastboot both from the packages of my Ubuntu derivative (fastboot version 1:7.0.0+r33-2) and from the platform tools (fastboot version 28.0.1-4986621).
I can see my device both with adb in normal operation and with fastboot devices in download mode.
The output of fastboot getvar all is:
(bootloader) kernel: lk
(bootloader) product: htc_ocndugl
(bootloader) version: 1.0
(bootloader) max-download-size: 1562400000
(bootloader) serialno: xxx
(bootloader) slot-count: 0
(bootloader) current-slot:
(bootloader) imei: xxx
(bootloader) version-main: 1.27.401.11
(bootloader) boot-mode: download
(bootloader) version-baseband: xxx
(bootloader) version-bootloader: 1.0.0.0000
(bootloader) mid: 2PZC30000
(bootloader) cid: HTC__034
all:
finished. total time: 0.005s

When I try to get a token in order to unlock the phone, the command doesn't complete within any reasonable amount of time, e.g., fastboot  oem get_identifier_token did not complete after hours and I unplugged the phone:
...
(bootloader) [KillSwitch] : /dev/block/bootdevice/by-name/frp
(bootloader) [KillSwitch] Last Byte is 0X01, enable unlock
FAILED (status read failed (No such device))
finished. total time: 23223.012s

Has anyone seen this or can give me any pointers as to what I'm doing wrong?

I tried the same process from a different laptop and it worked instantly. I don't know what the cause of this issue is but having the alternative solution, I don't feel like investigating any longer.


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Difference between /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard
I'm in the beginning of Android kernel study and I'm looking at every directory in rooted Android.
I realized that the same directories were in those two: /mnt/sdcard and /sdcard. What's the difference between them?
(The directories that I found were:
Alarms,Android, Audio, Books, DCIM, Download, Images, LOST.DIR, Movies, Music, Notifications, Pictures, Podcasts, Ringtones, Video)
I'm using Android 4.1.2.

Possible duplicate of Are files created in "/storage/emulated/0" supposed to appear in "/storage/sdcard0"?

The directory /mnt houses the mount points of different Android partitions. (hence the name mnt) Actually the "real" directory is /mnt/sdcard. /sdcard is a Symlink (short for Symbolic Link) to that directory, intended for easy of usability. (That is also explained  here Are files created in "/storage/emulated/0" supposed to appear in "/storage/sdcard0"? and the answer by Izzy on that question is quite useful and detailed) It is possible to access /mnt/sdcard by ADB or a well designed file manager. /sdcard directory serves as a way for normal apps/users to interact with that data.
You can read more about Symlinks here. This article (also the source of some facts I stated above) may be useful for a basic understanding about the Android filesystem. (It is/may be outdated for current Android versions, but you are using an old Android version, so it may still be useful for you)

Though I never can remember which is the original: /mnt/sdcard or /storage/emulated/0 (or /storage/sdcard0? :)

I didn't find any source connecting /mint/sdcard to the other two directories, and for some reason I can't open /storage/emulated directory on my unrooted device. :D

No, that requires root. One is the original mount point (only accessible for root), one the the FUSE mount, one is the "convenience entry" for the user. I always lose track of which is which.


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How to open collaborated iwork file in android
I hope that somebody knows a workaround to a situation.
Recently, I needed to share a numbers file with a large number of coworkers. I used the collaborate option and opened up the file for viewing.
Unfortunately, many of my coworkers have android phones and they could not open the file. The information is of a sensitive nature - the file is password protected. This error screen was shown :

(Click to enlarge)
So far I have had no luck finding a way to share this data well.
I have found an android browser that can display some of the data, but usage is very limited and buggy.
It would be a shame to move the data to a google doc/excel for sharing as the file is in a relatively complex format. Does anyone have any ideas or experience with this?

Use something available on both systems. One option might be encrypting the files with GPG. We're specialized on Android here, so we don't know the iOS end. You might try our sister site for Software Recommendations to ask for an app available for iOS and Android. Or check with my corresponding Android app list which usually mentions if some app is available on other platforms.

With all due respect, if the "information is of a sensitive nature", the last thing you want to do is attempt to work with said data in some random free app on Google Play without knowing that app's exact behavior and permission requirements.  It sounds like the information is important enough to take the time to convert into a common, shared format complete with protection and/or encryptions.


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With multiple Google accounts logged in, use only one account for Google Maps
I have several Google accounts on my phone. I want to use only one of those with Google Maps. I must have accidentally used another one a few times, and now I keep getting notifications about it, should I do some more reviews and whatever.
I've tried time and again and never managed to come any close to disabling Maps for some specific accounts without removing the account altogether from the phone
Is there a way?

The original question was how to REMOVE the account. After @andrew T edit, the answer makes sense, but that is not and answer to the original question.

@DGaleano there's an answer that says it's impossible. It was deleted (perhaps mistakenly), but I undeleted it just now because that's the answer to the original question.

There is no way to do that. I also want the same. There is no way to stop some accounts to appear in Google maps (or any other apps like contacts). It is very frustrating but unfortunately there will not be any solution for this issue from Google. So you are kinda stuck.

I agree. This answers the original question about "REMOVE" the account from maps.

Even I've multiple accounts logged-in on my phone.
You can follow this Google's guide to disable the location history for a particular account on all devices or on a specific devices.
Turn Location History on or off
You can turn off Location History for your account at any time. If you use a work or school account, your administrator needs to make this setting available for you. If they do, you'll be able to use Location History as any other user.
Go to the "Location History" section of your Google Account.
Choose whether your account or your devices can report Location History to Google.
Your account and all devices: At the top, turn Location History on or off.
Only a certain device: Under "This device" or "Devices on this account," turn the device on or off.

The original question was how to REMOVE the account. After @andrew T edit, the answer makes sense, but that is not an answer to the original question.

You can follow the steps below, they might help:

Open your phone's Settings app.
Tap Accounts. If you don't see "Accounts," tap Users & accounts.
Tap the account you want to remove And then Remove account.
If this is the only Google Account on the phone, you'll need to enter your phone's pattern, PIN, or password for security.

Important: Settings can vary by phone. For more info, contact your device manufacturer.

The OP didn't want to remove the account completely: "without removing the account altogether from the phone."


text:
Wrong date stored when taking a screenshot
I have a Galaxy Nexus running CyanogenMod 10.2.1 (IIRC that's the last official stable version released). Beside both being quite old they're working for years without any big issue, but yesterday I found something strange: since sometime between 2019-01-02T21:38:35-0300 and 2019-01-03T08:47:13-0300 it started storing wrong dates from screenshot creation times like this:

It's quite easy to understand how it's getting this weird date: it's taking the Unix timestamp and multiplying it by 1000. I tried to track down the issue by checking the source code: there was a change on GlobalScreenshot.java some years ago, although it don't explains why this bug started happening just now.
By now I only saw screenshots with the wrong date, so in the best case it will not cause issues to apps or other parts of the system. It's also not causing issues when synchronizing files using MTP (beside the date being something like "29 November, 1983").
Is it similar to the Y2K problem? Should I worry about this? If I should what can I do?

Can you pull one of the screenshot files to your computer and inspect the file info?  Is the "created time" information what you expect there?

@CzarMatt Using MTP: https://i.imgur.com/W9s6ZXE.png The file name contains the timestamp of when I took the screenshot, created and accessed dates were the ones when I pulled the file and the modified date is bugged.


text:
Unidentified files stored as Facebook cache
I found several large files stored as Facebook cache in the emulated path.
277_428_10_0_en_us_1013.0,%   is one example of close to 1,000 files. What are they? I believe I have had a my phone to have been ha ked or tapped by an ex-boyfriend and when I try to open these files it says I don't have they ability to open theses audio files. I have found several other hidden audio and video recordings he made secretly and these files make . E extremely nervous. Please can you help me?

Usually, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc cache files on a device so that the next time you view a picture or video, it is not fetch because it is already on the device. Try changing some of the files to have .jpg or .mp4 extensions, then open them.

Your question is vague..

Open Settings
Open Apps
Look through your apps and try to identify any suspicious applications
Open Google Settings
Open Google Play Protect
Scan your device for any potential threats
Using a RAT ( Remote Access Tool ) without permission is highly illegal and constitutes as invasion of privacy along with many others.

You should probably back up all your pictures and files you'd like to keep and do a factory reset ... After factory reset, reinstall your apps from the Play Store and put your files back on it.... This way you'll eliminate any hidden spyware.
Remember to place a Lock Screen on your device, and don't let your partner or EX partner touch your device again...
The cache files could potentially be used as a form of log, logging your activities online and offline.
In the past I have installed spyware on my partners device ( with her permission ) but I at least made sure she knew it was on, and she knew how to remove it if she wanted too... Maybe if you are going through some trust issues, they should be addressed and openly discussed with your partner.


text:
tasker read numbers one by one
I am using this task to say loud numbers from SMS:
Variable Section: %SMSRB From 1, Length 6, Store Result in %SMSNUM
Variable Search Replace: %SMSNUM (?!^), Replace Matches, Replace With ,
Variable Split: %SMSNUM, Splitter ,
Say: %SMSNUM(1), Pitch 5, Speed 6, Respect Audio Focus
Say: %SMSNUM(2), Pitch 5, Speed 6, Respect Audio Focus
Say: %SMSNUM(3), Pitch 5, Speed 6, Respect Audio Focus
Say: %SMSNUM(4), Pitch 5, Speed 6, Respect Audio Focus
Say: %SMSNUM(5), Pitch 5, Speed 6, Respect Audio Focus
Say: %SMSNUM(6), Pitch 5, Speed 6, Respect Audio Focus

It's working and my question is if there is more elegant way how to read number from SMS. If I wouldn't split it, it'll automatically read number as whole (thousands, hundreds, etc ..) and I want to have number read/said one by one. Also, I've noticed that there are pauses between numbers and I cannot find why, can it be configured ?


text:
Why do I have Aptoide app installed, and why do update to apps that I didn't install shown on there?
I found this “Aptoide” app on my Samsung Galaxy A5 the other day but I certainly don’t recall downloading it. I opened it up and somehow got to the updates section. It showed me available updates for a bunch of apps, some of which I have but others I don’t. I’m wondering if one of my kids might be up to something on my phone and need some guidance. It shows a list of apps that have pending “updates” and then below it, it shows a list of “installed apps”. There is a weird messenger app called “Messagerie double” that you can see in one of the images. I don’t see that app anywhere on my phone and I guarantee I never downloaded it.
I’ve attached photos for example.

Apps I’ve never downloaded include:

Messagerie double
SEMFactoryApp
SVC Agent
Network Diagnostic
slocation (Another one not pictured but the same green Android logo)
bootagent (Another one not pictured but the same green Android logo)

Does its presence under Aptoides “Updates” section indicate it does reside somewhere, hidden on my phone? And if so, how do I access it? Am I right to suspect these are somehow being used on my phone without my knowledge?

After some research this is what I came up with.
Did you download an APK for some app from the Aptoide website recently? If so, you didn't download that app. You downloaded the Aptoide market, and that market downloaded your app. It is likely that one of the kids tried to free download a paid app, as I see there are a lot of them in Aptoide. :) As always those free market apps are not trustworthy at best (they may look clean enough but they might still be sending sensitive data to their servers), and malicious and virus-infected at worst.
Here is a list of what I came up with each of the apps you mentioned:

"Messagerie Double" means "Double Messaging". I didn't find anything specially useful about this app, but based on what I've seen it looks like the Samsung Dual Messaging function, hence a system app.
"SEMFactoryApp" should be a system app, as it was mentioned in this Reddit Thread. Also, this JoeSandbox analysis dodn't detect any suspicious code in this app, so it looks like it's safe to assume that it is a system app.
"SVC Agent" looks like it matches com.samsung.android.svcagent, which is in this debloat list on XDA, and this thread on Android Authority also mentions that, so it looks like a system app too.
"NetworkDiagnostic" is mentioned on this APKMirror page as having package name com.samsung.android.networkdiagnostic and it is also in the debloat list above, so likely a system app.
"slocation" looks like a system app too, considering it didn't go away after a system reset as mentioned here.
Finally "bootagent" also looks like a system app, refer to post #147 here.

So why does Aptoide display system apps? Because it doesn't distinguish between system and non-system apps, and someone named sirkesyone-applikes (clearly without a proper knowledge of system apps) uploaded those system apps to Aptoide. If you or one of the kids mistakenly hit "Update" and confirm the update on one of those apps it could update to a wrong or incompatible version and brick your phone or erase your data or etc. So I would recommend uninstalling Aptoide as quickly as possible. :)
Good Luck!

As always those free market apps are not trustworthy at best, and malicious and virus-infected at worst. Not all alternative markets are virus infected or untrustworthy see https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/216/what-are-the-alternative-android-app-markets. I think should backup that statement with a link.

Maybe "not trustworthy" is a bit strong... What I meant to say is, just use with care. Even though an app is clean looking and doesn't do anything that looks bad, it don't mean that it doesn't do anything bad, or never will. :) It could still send encrypted sensitive data to servers, or the app could change if some other company purchases it.

Agree. We should all be careful even when using Google Playstore.

Yes, I feel the number of malicious apps being discovered in Play Store is higher than usual lately, and Play Store isn't open source either. :/


text:
Touch screen changing
Can we replace the touchscreen of 5.5-inch size, 720p resolution in a smartphone to the same size but with 1080p resolution touchscreen? Is there any possibility? Or is it not possible? If not why?

It is possible theoretically, but impractical because of some reasons.

Android needs drivers to communicate with the hardware, and because you are replacing a hardware part, the old drivers will refuse to communicate with the new screen in a lot of cases, and you'll probably have to delete these drivers from the kernel source, rewrite these drivers (likely thousands of lines of C code) compile it and flash your new kernel.
The vendor of your device could have modified the way the screen interact with the motherboard. So unless if you are lucky to come upon a higher resolution screen that uses exactly the connection schemes of the old screen, you won't be able to replace it.
Your other hardware are probably not powerful enough to drive the higher resolution.

If you can overcome these difficulties, congratulations, you could replace your touchscreen! :)


text:
Annotate HTML files without editing raw HTML
I would like to add annotations (highlights and notes) to HTML files saved on my Android phone, without having to edit the raw HTML. How can I do this?

First convert the HTML file to a PDF file, using a conversion app like Convert web to PDF. Then annotate the PDF file using a PDF app that supports adding and editing annotations, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader.


text:
Use bluetooth music system to play sound of phone calls
I have an Xiaomi Pocophone F1 with Android 9. Its currently unrooted but I would not hesitate to root it, if considered neccessary.
I have music systems capable to play music over bluetooth. Think of bluetooth headphones (without microphones!) for example. Unsurprisingly, they provide a much better sound quality than my phone's loudspeakers.
When I make/receive phone calls, I would like to play the sound using these music systems but still speak into the phone's microphone. Could anyone please hint me how this can be achieved.

Mayve an app like SoundAbout can do that (this app tells the system where to route which audio to).

I saw that mentioned in some german forum too (https://www.android-hilfe.de/forum/android-allgemein.20/telefon-audio-ueber-bluetooth-schicken.790408.html). Unfortunately, seems to be abandoned; the recent version is from 2016 and does not start on my device.

I didn't encounter any replacement yet. I know there was no update since 2016 – but I didn't know it won't even start on Pie, sorry.


text:
How to change clocks position in Android 6.0
I have a quite simple problem: my screen is partially broken so I don't see clocks in it's default position, it looks like 13.XX and I don't see XX because screen is just black there.
So I want to change clocks position to be bottom-docked. I recall I did it in android 2.X several years ago, but I wasn't able to find this option in Android 6.0. It only allows me to change clock type, but doesn't have any options to change its position on the lock screen.
Is there any solutions for this?

press and hold on digital clock's(hour's position) visible portion and drag it to bottom. have you checked that?

It just unlocks the phone

Just for clarification: Are you speaking about the time displayed in the notification bar – or about a widget on your home screen? Guess Rahul assumed the latter but you mean the former. Or something altogether.

Yes @Izzy, my comment is for clock widget at home screen. And, yes he asked for lock screen clock. I think, it required to install some third party app/root to edit lock screen elements. Alex, please mention your device name on your question.

@RahulGopi I doubt that. Because, it cannot "unlock the phone" as it already must have been unlocked to press-and-hold that. And to confirm, from the question text: "position on the lock screen" means "lock screen", not "home screen".

Well, if you're phone comes with an AOSP(stock android) rom, you probably wont be able to change your clock position. And android 6.0 doesn't allow that. You need to root your phone in order to change your clock position. Or you can install a custom rom in your device. And of course, rooting your phone will void your phones warranty.

I'm talking about lock screen clock on Sony D5803

First you need to unlock your phones bootloader. You can find the full guide in google.(please search "how to unlock bootloader of " and note that, unlocking bootloader will wipe all your data)
Then you need to download a suitable TWRP/Philz custom recovery for your phone. Or you may need to port one yourself.
Now flash the new custom recovery to your phone. You can use a flashing tool or adb to flash it.
Download SuperSU.zip and flash it via your custom recovery.
To check if your phone is successfully rooted, download root checker from play store. And you'll find a new app in your phone named "SuperSU" if your phone is rooted.
Now you can use "Gravity Box" or some "Xposed Framework" to change your clock position.

If you don't understand any point, please tell me your phones full model, I'll try to provide you a full details guide.
And Please don't mind my English. I'm not that good at it.


text:
Bluetooth: one device for input and one for output
Good morning everyone!
I am wondering, is it possible on Android 9 to use a Bluetooth headset as voice input and a Bluetooth speaker as output at the same time?
Context: I need to run my voice through a modulator!


text:
Fingerprint sensor on Samsung Galaxy Wide 2
My phone, Galaxy Wide 2 (SM-J727S) is a device made for students in South Korea, and it blocks internet, wifi, mobile data, and stuff like that (maybe an irrelevant information, but anyway).
This "student" version of the Wide 2 is only sold in South Korea, and I'm not sure if you fellas could find any information about my device. (I live in South Korea, so my grammar might have some mistakes.. forgive me)
While I was researching about my device's specs on the web, I learned that it has a fingerprint sensor under the home button. But, I can't find any fingerprint unlocking option in the settings. I'm not sure why.
Did the software hide it? (The student version adds Knox Customization, and that's the part that disables the internet stuff. It doesn't show me Developer settings menu even after I did the revealing process of hammering the build number, but simply doesn't show up!)
I'm leaving some software information that might help you, and links of some spec pages that confuses me.
As far as i know, the South Korean version and US version are different in specs. Some sites says there is a finger print sensor, but some says there isn't.
SOFTWARE INFORMATION

Android 8.1.0 Oreo
Samsung Experience 9.5
Knox version 3.2 / knox api level 26 (?)

Links

https://droidchart.com/en/samsung/samsung-galaxy-wide-2-sm-j727s-3045
https://namu.wiki/w/%EA%B0%A4%EB%9F%AD%EC%8B%9C%20%EC%99%80%EC%9D%B4%EB%93%9C2 (use KR->Eng translation plz)
https://www.pdevice.com/product/samsung-galaxy-wide-2-j727s-price-specs


text:
Copying files from Windows PC to Android denied with error message "unsupported file type"
I bought Moto G6 Plus with Android 8 and I want to restore some files which I backed up from my older phone, Moto G (1st Gen.)
I connect the phone to my Windows PC via a USB cable and enable in the phone: Use USB to Transfer Files. I can send .mp3 files. I cannot send (paste) a .vcf file (my contacts) and .png images (screenshots). The message I get is:

The [filename.ext] file type is not supported on this device. If it is a media file, you may be able to use Windows Media Player to convert the file to a playable type prior to transfer. Do you wish to skip this file now?

And I get Skip/Skip All/Cancel options only.
But I can get any file type from the phone and into my PC which is weird.
Am I doing something wrong? How can I fix this? (preferably without having to install another app).

On the dialog that appears from Windows, there is no Yes. Your files will be copied but you might not be able to play or view it on your device.? If there is click it.

@ReddyLutonadio no there is no such option, I would have clicked it.

You are using MTP and copying files from PC to phone, and getting the error. Right?

yes, exactly that's it


text:
Cell Phone is unresponsive, but after it ran out of power it was chargable again?
So yesterday my cell phone was acting strange, it didn't respond to charging and/or could not turn on (no charging light and blank screen).
Today (I assume after it ran out of power), it is charging fine now.
I have a samsung S6, my question is what could the root causes be? Are there any suggestions on how to prevent this from happening again.
I presume a software glitch prevented my phone light from working and/or the screen.
Is it bad to turn on your phone while it's charging?

Charging is a complex task for mobile devices now.  For example, power can come from either USB or a wireless charger.  When USB was developed in the early 90's, it was designed for peripherals such as mice and keyboards - smartphone charging wasn't even on the radar (pagers were the hot thing back then).  So USB charging is a mess of its own on the technical side.
What this means is that your phone's CPU and its firmware is involved in the charging process, and if the CPU is completely frozen, then the necessary communication between the phone and its USB chipset won't happen, and you could be in a situation where the charger won't work because the CPU isn't following the necessary steps.
The power button on a phone is a "soft switch" - it's software controlled, not a physical on-off button, and some part of the phone is always powered to respond to that button even when off (thus turning it on while charging should always be a non-issue).  Computers have been like this since the early 90's - and if you couldn't turn it off because of a complete lockup (rare, but possible), you'd have to resort to unplugging it.
The equivalent of "unplugging" on a smartphone is removing the battery.  Given the trend of non-removeable batteries, this isn't an easy option.  But if the battery completely dies and runs out of power, it's the same thing.
You may try holding the power button down for 10 seconds and see if it will restart.  If it's completely froze you have to wait until the battery runs completely out, or take the phone apart to unplug and replug the battery.
What can make a CPU completely freeze such that even holding power for 10 seconds won't reboot it?

OS issue - make sure Android is at latest version.
Bad charger/cord, try a different or new charger/cord.
If using a custom or aftermarket ROM, check for a later version or revert back to stock firmware.
Physical issue such as battery going bad, physical or liquid damage.


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microSD card performance issue
I have some microSD cards and I noticed a weird behaviour: larger microSDs give lower results!
For example, using them on my Note 8, I get these results:
Code:
 64GB -> R: 70MBs W: 35MBs
128GB -> R: 60MBs W: 30MBs

While if I test them on my PC, I get the same performance:
Code:
 64GB -> R: 80MBs W: 40MBs
128GB -> R: 80MBs W: 40MBs

*same brand, same model, only size differs
**tested with multiple microSD cards
Why?
Honestly I'm shocked about those results! I always knew the opposite: larger storage (microSD in this case) gives better results[1]...
Does this do not happen with microSDs too?

Might be software issues

yes, it could be... but I can't find a logic behind that! Do you have any ideas?


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Can't unlock my phones bootloader
I'm using a local branded chinese phone. And my phones comes with locked bootloader. As it is a local branded phone, manufacture doesn't provide a official way to unlock it! I've tried many way I found in Google. but non of them work. It always ended up like the picture. Can anyone help me unlocking my phones bootloader?

Does it have an MTK (Mediatek) chipset? They are often supported by SP Flash Tools as fastboot commands don't work with them for some reason (may be they don't support that protocol). Try that tool and flash the images you want (be careful; take backup beforehand; always flash compatible images).

Yes, it's mt6580 chipset. And I've already tried to flash TWRP using  SP Flash Tool, but it always shows some error.

@Firelord i'm getting "BROM ERROR: S_BROM_DOWNLOAD_DA_FAIL (2004)" error. Any idea how can i fix this??

are you using the correct scatter file?

Yes. Every img file in my stock rom(boot, cache, system erc) was signed. So I needed to unsign recovery.img in order to port TWRP. And now when I'm putting the TWRP in my stock rom folder and trying to flash it via SP Flash Tool, there is a new error poping up. It says, 'ERROR: S_SECURITY_SECURE_USB_DL_IMAGE_SIGN_HEADER_NOT_FOUND (6045), MSP ERROR CODE: 0×00' I tried to edit Checksum.ini and also deleted it. But nothing works!


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How to translate question in the Quora app
Some time ago I could see a button allowing me to translate questions in the Quora app as I would go through them. However I now cannot seem to find it. Where can I find such a button?

The button is still there, but it appears only if at least one other language is added in the settings.
Note: To add another language, open your profile, click on the 3-dot on the right below your picture. then Languages. Select a language to add.
To view the Translate Question option:

Open the question in your Quora app, then click More.

 2. Other options will appear among them Translate Question.

Thank you. Could you please answer my other Quora questions on this site please.


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how can I download lyrics for audio files?
In the past and in others platforms I was used to plays mp3 and downloads txt/lrc lyrics from internet
how can I download lyrics for lacally stored mp3 files?
The app minilyrics for android is failing on my device and also it seems that was removed from Play

Have you tried https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.musixmatch.android.lyrify

@ReddyLutonadio Good suggestion! It's the very music player I've been using for years, but I'd like to note that I'm running a cracked version of 6.8.0 found online, instead of the vanilla 7.x from Play, due to ads/offline lyrics and the ugly new look.

@iBug I prefer this https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.geecko.QuickLyric

thanks @ReddyLutonadio , I tried the (opensource) Quicklyric and it find a lot of txt and syncronized lyrics. But i don't like  that lyrics are stored in its own database instead of a text file in the mp3 folder. So I have too much dependency of this app and the android platform.