text:
ADB Shell: Reading exit codes from windows
So, I'm making a little batch script to be able to automate the whole process of flashing new roms for my Galaxy S6. Since its screen is broke, I have to do everithing manually from the adb shell, and since i'm having so many troubles with all the roms, I decided to make a little script to make my life easier.
This is what I got so far:
@echo off
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion

REM Factory settings

echo Formatting to Factory Defaults
adb reboot recovery
adb wait-for-usb-recovery
adb shell twrp wipe cache
adb shell twrp wipe dalvik
adb shell twrp wipe data
adb shell umount /sdcard
adb shell umount /sdcard
adb shell umount /data
adb shell umount /data
adb shell mke2fs -t ext4 /dev/block/platform/15570000.ufs/by-name/USERDATA
adb shell reboot recovery
adb wait-for-usb-recovery

REM Rom Flashing Section

set argCount=0
for %%x in (%*) do (
    set /A argCount+=1
    set "argVec[!argCount!]=%%~x"
)

echo Wiping /system
adb shell twrp wipe /system

for /L %%i in (1,1,%argCount%) do (
    adb wait-for-usb-recovery
    echo Flashing "!argVec[%%i]!"
    adb shell twrp sideload
    adb wait-for-usb-sideload
    adb sideload "!argVec[%%i]!"
    echo "!argVec[%%i]!" flashed
    echo.
)

REM Debug enable

adb wait-for-usb-recovery
echo Enabling USB Debugging
adb shell mount system
adb shell "echo '' >> /system/system/build.prop"
adb shell "echo '# Enable ADB' >> /system/system/build.prop"
adb shell "echo 'persist.service.adb.enable=1' >> /system/system/build.prop"
adb shell "echo 'persist.service.debuggable=1' >> /system/system/build.prop"
adb shell "echo 'persist.sys.usb.config=mtp,adb' >> /system/system/build.prop"

adb push C:\Users\ffpp2\.android\adbkey.pub /data/misc/adb/adb_keys

REM Booting system

echo Rebooting into system...
adb shell reboot
echo waiting for phone to boot up
adb wait-for-usb-device
echo Launch scrcpy
"D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte\scrcpy-win64-v1.25\scrcpy.exe"

Now, I want to be able to evaluate every adb shell ... return code, so if anything happens mid way I can stop execution and I can get to fix what didn't work.
I havent been able to find anything regarding if adb shell forwards error codes back to the windows command prompt. Take a look at this:
D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte>adb shell mount /system
mount: mounting /dev/block/sda15 on /system failed: Device or resource busy

D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte>echo %errorlevel%
0

D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte>adb shell
~ # mount /system
mount: mounting /dev/block/sda15 on /system failed: Device or resource busy
~ # echo $?
255
~ # exit

D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte>adb shell cat asd
cat: can't open 'asd': No such file or directory

D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte>echo %errorlevel%
0

D:\Users\ffpp2\Documents\Celus\zeroflte>adb shell
~ # cat asd
cat: can't open 'asd': No such file or directory
~ # echo $?
1
~ #

As you can see, no error code was returned. And, in theory, it should be returned, since I didnt used the -x argument:
Android Debug Bridge version 1.0.41
Version 34.0.0-9570255
Installed as C:\Program Files (x86)\ADB and Fastboot++\adb.exe
...
shell:
 shell [-e ESCAPE] [-n] [-Tt] [-x] [COMMAND...]
     run remote shell command (interactive shell if no command given)
     -e: choose escape character, or "none"; default '~'
     -n: don't read from stdin
     -T: disable pty allocation
     -t: allocate a pty if on a tty (-tt: force pty allocation)
     -x: disable remote exit codes and stdout/stderr separation
 emu COMMAND              run emulator console command
...

Has TWRP anything to do with this?

I am afraid that is windows issue

adb shell doesn't seem to return the exit code no matter which host OS you use. The only way to get it seem to be a workaround like the one described here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17480028/get-result-code-of-adb-shell-command

works for me on Xubuntu 20.04 LTS

@alecxs no it's not Windows issue. On macOS the same thing happens: adb shell never passes the exit code to the calling shell


text:
"The package conflicts with an existing package" error when updating YouTube ReVanced with APK
To clarify, my problem isn't that I can't install an app because I have a similarly-named app; I am trying to update an app I installed via APK with another one of a later version.
I had previously downloaded YouTube Revanced from revanced.io, and a new version has been released, so I want to update it with the latest APK. However, despite acknowledging that I'm trying to update the app instead of installing ("Do you want to update this app?" dialogue), it still gives the "The package conflicts with an existing package" error.
Uninstalling and then reinstalling the app, though an option I have used, is inconvenient as I lose all my settings (there's no way to export them).
Thoughts?

Unfortunately the install process of an APK file from within Android is bad when it comes to problems because the problem reason is not shown to the user. The only way I know for getting a good error message is by installing the APK file via adb install. But that requires a Mac or PC connected via USB, enabled developer options and ADB on the device and adb installed on the Mac/PC. If you then try to install the APK using the command adb install <somefile.apk> you will get an error message which describes why installation fails.

Edit: ReVanced Extended has added an option to export and import settings to/from a JSON file. I don't think this is in the official ReVanced app, though (probably forgot to mention that revanced.io is separate from the official one).
Edit edit: For anyone who happens to chance upon this post, just know that any website that claims to be "official" other than revanced.app is fake. Don't trust 8 months ago me. I don't trust them either.

From the official ReVanced Discord server, this might mean that there's a signature conflict between the previous APK and the to-be-installed APK, and the only solution is to uninstall the current app first.
From its "help" server, posted on Jan 21, 2023, by ReVanced (Bot),

27  Installation is blocked due to conflicting with an existing installation
This implies that you must remove the previous installation to solve the conflict.

In addition, the developer & maintainer suggested using ReVanced Manager instead and avoiding revanced.io.

meabeab So my revanced app started stopping and i tried to reinstall it but it says "app not installed because the package conflicts with existing package" revanced is uninstalled
CnC_Robert use latest patches
meabeab Where to download them?
CnC_Robert manager downloads it automatically
meabeab But aren't you supposed to download the revanced from the site?
meabeab Without the whole manager thing
CnC_Robert don't say revanced.io
meabeab It is revanced.io
CnC_Robert fake
CnC_Robert revanced.app is the only official
CnC_Robert its not from us

Yeah... I know about revanced.io being unaffiliated with ReVanced itself, though I still find it more convenient. It was worth asking though

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra has no aux jack, trying to use a USB-C adapter instead
I'm trying to use an aux cord, but my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra does not come with one.
I got a USB-C adapter, but when plugged in, it says the connected USB device isn't supported. I've tried to go thru the developer options, but none have worked. I'm currently at *#0808# but have not the slightest idea what each means.

When I watch videos, other phones don't have all these other options, so it's kind of like I'm just trying to use aux on a phone that has no aux option.

All the settings shown on your screen shot are only relevant if you connect your phone to a PC (PC = USB master, phone = USB slave). But an USB-Aux adapter will always run as a USB slave, thus the phone has to become USB master and so all of these modes are irrelevant for the adapter.

From what I could find the adapter has to specifically have an integrated DAC(Digital to Analog Converter).
You can read a full discussion here that applies for the S21FE so it is safe to assume it will apply to the S21 Ultra.
I have a Note 10 and observed one day that I got prompted for a firmware update for the wired USB-C headphones that came included with the phone. This shows that they are not using an analog signal and there is some sort of integrated chip in the connector(I always thought that they were just simple analog headphones).
Picture of the headphones so you can see that they are the most basic of basic headphones. :)
This article was also helpful when searching why the issue would occur. It explains how analog audio works on USB-C when implemented.
The problem might be that the adapter that you have uses the analog implementation for audio but the phone only supports digital.
Also check the Media Output in the dropdown bar, as outputting audio should not require you to enter USSD codes(**#0808#* that you mentioned in your post.) I attached a photo of how it looks on my phone and highlighted it.
I don't have an adapter to test this but in my opinion this might be the cause.
I hope this is helpful and you manage to fix the issue.

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


text:
How to toggle account sync at certain times?
I would like to pause the synchronization of my private account during work hours and sync the sync of my work account outside of my work hours. I don't want to use any special email client for that.
I remember this was possible some time ago, but is it still there? I tried looking for built in automations, IFTTT, even looked up apps that would allow that and found nothing.


text:
How do I stop music apps from opening in the background/a notification when turning on bluetooth/bluetooth tries to auto-connect
As an avid music listener I have several music apps on my phone. Everytime I turn on bluetooth (or when bluetooth tries to autoconnect to a device without any device to connect to) several of my music apps open a player notification.
This is really annoying, especially as it slows down my phone while the apps are opening in the background (unless it has something to do with bluetooth connecting). This also replaces the current player notification (if I have one) on my homescreen, which is annoying.
Is there a way to disable this?
My phone is an Sony XZ2 Compact running Android 10.
The music apps I experience this with are: Spotify, Bandcamp, Mixcloud and DR Lyd.
Update: The answer to How to stop music apps from playing when connected via Bluetooth to my car/headset/receiver? doesn't solve it.
I've tested the app Bluetooth Connect & play which doesn't solve it.
I've tested this answer with Tasker and it didn't solve it.

Hi. For all of these apps you can disable the app component responsible for receiving and acting on bluetooth events (probably targeting the intent bluetooth state changed). I don't know if this can be done without root access or not. Another solution is to use an automation app which should listen to "Connected to bluetooth device", and then dismiss all notifications that appear within X milliseconds/seconds from blacklisted (denylisted) apps.

@Firelord would I be able to do this with an app like Tasker (which I already use) or is there another app with the functionality you could recommend?

You should be able to use Tasker for this. If that does not work out you can give MacroDroid app a try -- I prefer this app for dismissing any kind of notification.

Thank you, I'll follow your suggestions and see if I find a solution.

FYI: I've found the app Bluetooth connect & play that I'll test and post an answer with, if it solves my issue.

Bluetooth connect & play didn't solve it. I'm not great with Tasker, so haven't found a solution yet. The answer in https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/77558/how-can-i-stop-music-apps-from-playing-when-my-android-connects-via-bluetooth-to doesn't work either. I guess something has changed with Android since the answer was given.

I've just tested the Tasker implementation in this answer https://android.stackexchange.com/a/179460/158409 which seemed related, but it didn't solve it either. When turning on BT, music apps still open a player notification in the background.


text:
Not recognized wireless interfaces
I have tried to use wireless-tools on Termux (non-root environment) and when i run these commands it does not recognize wireless interfaces:
$ iwlist scan
lo      Interface doesn't support scanning.

tun0    Interface doesn't support scanning.

$ iwconfig eth1
eth1    No such device
...
eth0    No such device

I know that some files at /proc/net/dev and it would be good to copy or push to this directory by using adb shell
ifconfig
lo: flags=73<UP, LOOPBACK, RUNNING>
        inet localhost   netmask 255.0.0
        unspec 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  txqueuelen 1000 (UNSPEC)

tun0: flags=81<UP, POINTPOINT, RUNNING> mtu 65536
          inet 10.0.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.255 destination 10.0.0.2
          unspec unspec 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  txqueuelen 500 (UNSPEC)

iwconfig
lo       no wireless extensions

tun0     no wireless extensions

How could i fix this?, is there could be another linux-based program to get a similar aproach?
EDIT
some files are missing in different folders corresponding to network system (/proc/net/.. etc)

Please do not use comments for additions to your question. Edit the question instead. /proc is a pseudo file-system so you can not anything in there.

lo and tun0 both are virtual interfaces; the loopback and VPN. Wi-Fi interfaces are usually named like wlan0 or wlp2s0 etc. (which don't appear in your list). // 2. /proc/net/dev is a virtual file created by the kernel to show the status of network devices. Copying anything to /proc doesn't make sense. // 3. /proc/net/dev is not accessible to apps. So iwlist scan won't work without root, or at lest without disabling SELinux.

ok i am trying to avoid any third party service to set up wireless network interface

I just want to be able to connect in any way to my wifi router idk serving as external network or configure a connection between my device etc i am too lost in this kind of issue watched a lot of posts and reading many articles too confusing for me sorry and many thanks to clearly help me (: .


text:
How to flash custom ROM on Samsung Galaxy A22 4G?
I have the Samsung Galaxy A22 4G (SM-a225m) and want to custom ROM it, but how? I am hating One UI and really want to change to a custom ROM.
I know how to install custom recoveries like TWRP, but I don't really know the custom ROM installation. If someone could help me do it and send me the link to the file and how to install it. Thanks anyway.

Have you tried the following guide? How to Install Custom ROM on Samsung Galaxy A22 SM-A225F

Actually, I did but I ended reflashing stock rom again because of it, I mean i would prefer someone with a custom rom on the a225m to tell me how to do it


text:
SuperNote A5X - Cannot download
I've got a SuperNote A5X and I've installed some extra apps to make my experience better. I'd like to be able to download files (such as via a browser or cloud-storage app). None of these work on it. Some examples are:

Most apps (Tor Browser, EInkBro, Midori Browser) just say "downloading" and do nothing
Some (Proton Drive) fail with an error "system could not find any application that could create a document"

I believe need to install some sort of download manager for these to work, but I can't seem to find any. I also tried to copy my phone's apk to the supernote, but it didn't work because of SDK incompatibility (Phone was ~30, SuperNote was 27).
p.s. Please don't skip reading and then tell me to reset the device to get the factory app back, like in all the other similar posts. There is no factory app.

The SuperNote A5X may base on Android but is it really designed to be equipped with third party apps? May be the manufacturer removed certain services and apps that are installed by default that are required by other apps. E.g. there is by default a Download Manager running as system service. Copying such APKs form other devices will most likely fail because they don't have the correct signature.

Yes, it's not technically designed to, and the devs have said that it's not officially supported. However, I'm not installing anything that is wildly dissimilar to the stock apps. ProtonMail - Built in email app; ProtonDrive - Supernote Partner App; etc. All I need is a way to get files onto the device without having to use my laptop or phone or other device. I can't though because the download provider (as far as I'm aware) doesn't exist. Would something like https://alternativeto.net/software/free-download-manager/about/ work?

If the SuperNote A5X is not an Google Android device (no Google apps installed = device not certified by Google) then it is not a regular Android device and thus you can not expect that a common store app works. Too many components (besides the obvious Google services) can be missing. In your case it seems that there is no DownloadManager included in the ROM, so you can not use apps that require a DownloadManager.


text:
Are there models of smartphones designed to run on AC adapter/extern power supply permanently?
Basically, I want to use a smartphone as a fixed position audio player (and rarely for browsing), so I'm thinking, I could use a second hand smartphone for this. However, I'd like to have it plugged in DC power supply 24/7 - but I know most smarpthones are designed to damage the battery if you charge it permanently, so there is more waste and you buy more and spend more money.
So I was wondering - are there smartphones/smartphone models, that are designed to run off an adapter 24/7? As in, maybe they have a setting that you can turn on while plugged on extern DC power, which from that point on disconnects the battery altogether?

Some Android devices have a "battery preserving" feature which limits charging to below 40% and stops charging at 60%. Especially on Lenovo devices I have seen such a feature. This reduces the damage a 24/7 connected device can do to it's battery, but of course the battery will still charge and discharge and so degrade over the time.


text:
Have screen rotation option always on
The screen rotation of my phone works fine. When I rotate the phone from portrait to landscape, then a small icon appears in the lower right corner. I have to click it, then the screen rotates. Going back from landscape to portrait works similarly.
Is it possible to have this icon in the lower right corner at all times? I.e., allowing me to rotate the screen at any time (by tapping the icon), but suppressing auto-rotation after I physically rotate the device?
In the options of my phone, I do not find that possibility. (See screenshot.) I also searched the internet, but what I could find was more concerned with bugs of the screen rotation (which I do not experience).

This answer assumed the device in question is Samsung based on its screenshot.

On Samsung devices, it is possible to show an always-on screen rotation button with the help of the Assistant menu.

Open Settings - Accessibility - Interaction and dexterity
Tap "Assistant menu"
Tap "Select Assistant menu items"
Add "Screen rotation" (and optionally remove the rest)
Switch "On" the feature
(Optionally, configure the size and its transparency)

The Assistant menu can also be moved around by holding and dragging the button.

My phone is indeed a Samsung device. And thanks for your suggestion, this works. For me, it would be even better if the symbol was part of the navigation bar at the bottom end of the screen. But I will try this for a while now.

@NerdOnTour unfortunately, unless the manufacturer allows navigation bar customization (to some degree), further customization is usually impossible without a rooted device/custom ROM because it's integrated into the system's UI framework.

It doesn't appear there's a way to do this directly in the Android system. For most phones the standard options are:

Auto-Rotate ON: Your phone rotates automatically when you adjust its rotation
Auto-Rotate OFF Your phone doesn't rotate automatically but gives a small button to allow for rotation (Android 12 and up)

Although there is no way to do it within the Android system settings, there is an app called Always Visible Screen Rotation that looks like it does exactly the thing you're looking for. It places a small icon on the screen that can be activated whether your device is physically rotated or not.

Am I right that this is more or less Andrew T's answer, but it works also for non-Samsung devices?

@NerdOnTour based on my knowledge, yes. Unless the manufacturer added such a feature, the usual alternative/general solution is to use 3rd-party apps as a replacement. For instance, the Accessibility menu (Assistant menu on Samsung) on Pixel devices cannot be customized and doesn't have a screen rotation button, thus it needs a 3rd-party installation.


text:
Obb folder empty even though I can see inside data folder
I looked through everything I could find but I couldn't find a specific answer to this, sorry. I'm using a Samsung phone running android 13 - it isn't rooted and I can't risk rooting it. Both by using a computer through USB and through the AOSP Files app, I can see files inside the android/data folder, but inside the android/obb folder is appearing to be empty.
This seems strange, firstly as: I read that obb folders are only created when an app needs them, so I'm not sure why it would create them and then leave it empty. And secondly, because I would think there are other files inside these apps that are not showing up within the data folders, as some of the apps are quite big and there aren't files corresponding to certain things that seem to happen too quickly to be downloaded as they're needed - as well as, with how spotty the internet I use is, I would expect to have seen more connection errors as the game tried to access them if they were being downloaded each time.
Do I just not have the right permission to look in the obb folder, even though I can see in the data folder? And if so, is there a way to look inside it without root? For reference, I use a Windows computer. Thanks for any help you can give.
Edit: The file manager linked in this Reddit post about accessing the /data and /obb folders in Android 13 can apparently allow the user to access folders through launching the file manager as if it was within the app the folders belong to. However, even through this, the /obb folder appears to be empty on my phone.
The /obb folder is also empty in the com.sec.android.app.samsungapps app - could anyone with root access who also has that app look inside the /obb folder and confirm whether it is indeed simply empty, or whether I still cannot access it?
If it is truly empty, is there anywhere else that the data from a large app (.eg saved games, animations, character images - all things which I would think would be within the app itself due to fast loading speeds and the lack of connection errors, but are not appearing within the /data folder) might be stored that I am unable to find?
Edit 2: I've been looking into various ADB and ADB shell commands following this list of commands on Github. Is the adb shell pm grant <package name> <permission> only for things like giving permission to apps to use the camera? Or is there a way (not necessarily with this command) to use ADB to change things like read/copy permission? I have seen posts up until fairly recently say that you can still access data and obb through a PC, but they often don't mention how.

It's a bit strange that you can see files inside /android/data without being rooted since I couldn't see any files inside /android/data on Samsung Galaxy M12, Android 13. Are you by any chance using an external SD card?

@AndrewT. I thought it was strange as well - I'm not using an external SD card and can't see an SD card folder on it (this phone is refurbished, so I don't know if it's ever had one in it.) Following this Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/yqenbr/how_to_access_android_13_data_and_obb_folder/) I downloaded the app which provides a shortcut into AOSP file manager. I don't know for the main app I'm interested in, but the app com.sec.android.app.samsungapps also appears to have an empty obb folder, and I can't think of a good reason for it other than permissions.

I just checked on my Pixel 3a running Android 12 and I can see the content of /obb but not /data using Files by Google app. However, I am still unable to access /obb on Galaxy M12 running Android 13 even though I know for sure that there are files inside there, since it stated "modified x minutes ago" just after I installed a big game.

This might be related: Android 11: Can't see contents of "/sdcard/Android/data" even with root, though I could browse /obb and /data using adb shell, if that's possible for you.

Thanks for answering this again! I'm a beginner with adb, but I gave it a shot. In adb shell, when I used $ cd /sdcard/android/obb/<app name> and used $ ls, it didn't return anything, as if it's still empty. Is this the correct obb folder? Or maybe the wrong commands?


text:
ADB: toggle "Adjust wallpaper to Dark mode" button
EDIT:
Device: Redmi Note 10 Pro - Android 13 - MIUI 14.
I need an ADB command (maybe using the svc command?) to toggle off/on the following button:

Eg, I am able to toggle the button USB tethering by execute adb shell svc usb setFunctions rndis; there is a way to toggle the button for "Adjust wallpaper to Dark mode"?


text:
How can I get Android File Transfer working between Mac 13.2.1 and Android 13?
There are a lot of very old answers to this question, and they are not helping me.

I am running MacOS Venture 13.2.1
I have a Pixel 4a running Android 13 patched to March 2023
I have Android File Transfer 1.0.12 which is the latest stable version available
I have never had a Samsung phone so haven't installed Kies.
When connecting the USB cable I get a notification and can select File transfer/Android Auto
The same USB cable is working fine with Windows.  The USB port on my Mac is working fine with a hard drive.

I am able to connect to the phone using ADB but don't want to use ADB to transfer files all the time when there is a simple GUI that allows this.
I am having the same issue on my Windows computer, so I am wondering if there is some setting on my phone I have missed.
Update - I am able to access files on my phone via Windows fine after all.  I see MTP showing up in Devices, and can see my Phone by it's name in File Explorer.
Update 2: I apologise for not giving more detail about what does happen.  When I connect my Pixel 4a to my Mac Android File Transfer does not open automatically.  When I run it manually, I get a message saying 'No Android device found. The phone detects the connection (hence the USB mode notification, but it seems the Mac does not.

Have you tried alternative apps like OpenMTP? May be the Android File Transfer program is juts buggy or incompatible with the used MacOS version.

What are the symptoms? AFT crashes? hangs? Fails to launch? Gives some error, if so what? Etc.

@Robert OpenMTP and uninstalling Android File Transfer did the trick! OpenMTP's docs were helpful in identifying that Google Drive, OneDrive and other apps (Calibre?) could also tie up the USB connection to my phone.

It turns out that a number of applications can block access to USB connections to my phone - here are the applications I exited:

Google Drive
OneDrive
Calibre

I figured this out through installing OpenMTP as suggested by @Robert in a comment - its in your face documentation was really helpful.
Closing the above apps allowed both Android File Transfer and OpenMTP to access my phone.
I then experimented with running the above listed apps one at a time to see if they interfered with Android File Transfer.

OneDrive definitely causes the issue
Google Drive definitely causes the issue
Calibre does not cause the issue, (and can be configured to ignore USB devices if it detects them - wish that OneDrive and Google Drive could do that!).

I didn't have this problem with my previous phone for some reason.


text:
How can I unset Google Translator as default translator
I am having a problem.
If I select a part of a web pages in my browser, I could tap on translate and then choose between various translators (including DeepL).
I accidentally set Google Translator as default and now there aren't any other translators. The only thing I can do now is choosing Google Translator.
I would like to undo my false selection of Google Translator as default.
How is this possible?

You don't provide the specific device or operating system, so this can be only in generalized fashion. Check settings for Apps>Default Apps (or similar). Google Translate should be in the list of apps there, and see if it can have its default permission removed that way.

I use a Samsung Galaxy A72 with Android 13. Unfortunately there isn't any option to specify a default translator application via Apps>Default App.

"I accidentally set Google Translator as default and now there aren't any other translators." Did you set it up as the default for the browser or for the phone?

There were to options within the interface to choose the translator app that should be used. 1st Use once 2nd Use always I accidentally chose the 2nd one. It looks like that I have set the default translator application for the whole phone, not just for the browser. Especially the behaviour of the translator function is the same in different applications than the browser.

I am sorry for the inconvenience caused by my question.
I could set DeepL as default translator via the application of Twitter.
After having set DeepL as default translator application I reset the application of Mozilla Firefox via the application settings. Still Google Translator was used as translator when choosing translate in the context menu of a selected text in the application of Mozilla Firefox.
It turned out that I didn't choose Google Translator as default translator. Using Google Translator as default translator seems to be the application of Mozilla Firefox' default behaviour.


text:
Chrome cannot play videos on MSNBC news site
I am stuck on this issue. My Samsung Galaxy A7 Lite tablet (SM-T220) running Android version 13 and Chrome 111.0.5563.116 has a strange issue. Until a few weeks ago I had no issue playing MSNBC news videos. Click, unmute, and play without issue.
Cannot connect this issue with an upgrade, so this could be the issue but, one day suddenly a few weeks ago, MSNBC videos will not play when accessed through their website (https://www.msnbc.com/).
Any other website videos play as they did and should. Just MSNBC will not play. (No, I do not want to use the MSNBC app, sorry.)
Chrome Version 111.0.5563.110 (Official Build) (64-bit) on my laptop (Debian 11) still plays MSNBC videos. Chrome on my desktop (ArchLinux current) Chrome plays properly. (None of the installs have any extensions installed.)
I have tried various Pi Hole settings for my Samsung A7 client with no love.
I have tried what I think is everything. Any suggestions on what to try/test/adjust would be greatly appreciated.

Have you tested if MSNBC videos work on a regular internet connection without Pi hole?

Both my laptop and desktop use Chrome and both can view MSNBC videos. My tablet, no video, only a black screen where the video should be playing. Enlarging to full screen makes no difference. The black screen continues. I think this fact may eliminate it being a PiHole issue.

I'm having the exact same problem on my A7 Lite. So weird!

So, I tried on Pixel 3a, Android 12 and Samsung Galaxy M12, Android 13. On both devices, Chrome cannot play videos on MSNBC. Looks like there is an issue with the site because of how it loads the video chunks.

I am going to agree with Andrew T. post. Due to that post I checked my cellphone (Samsung 8? running Android 9 with Chrome 111.0.5563.116) and it will not play MSNBC videos either. So it leads me to believe that there has been an update to the MSNBC website that has broken video playback. However, on both devices, my tablet and my cellphone, MSNBC "Live TV" plays. This leaves me with one option (as I see it) to wait . . . patiently . . . I'm getting older, HURRY UP MSNBC, fix your code!!


text:
Increase brightness when display is too dark to recognize anything
Any mechanism that doesn’t require seeing the display would be good. When I’m outside under sun and the phone brightness is at low level, I simply can’t recognize anything. The only currently feasible way is to remember where the slider will show up and operate it blindly. Better would be if it could be done by using

the hardware buttons,
swipe gestures,
motion-based gestures or
voice recognition

to name a few examples. It only needs to set brightness to maximum as any finer adjustment can be done using the slider as a subsequent step.
This question might be related to Make screen brighter when phone is raised? though (given that the question didn’t receive any response in the 4 years) I’m making the requirement broader (not limited to “raising the screen”) in the hope there might be a solution with a different approach.
The phone in question is Google Pixel (2016, upgraded to Android 10).

Does your phone misses a brightness sensor which automatically increases/decreases brightness or does the automatic screen brightness does not properly on your phone?

It does automatically change brightness a bit, but since I normally decrease brightness when I’m indoors, its slight brightness increase when outdoors is not sufficient to reach/surpass the necessary brightness level

You can try to use Edge Gesture to set a gesture to increase/decrease the screen brightness. Download the app, give it the necessary permission.
Set Pull and Slide (i.e. for the left edge) to Brightness control.

It is possible to combine the app with automation apps such as Automate or Macrodroid if you really want to create flows or macro that set the brightness to 100% immediately via gestures.
Disclaimer: I am just a user of the aforementioned apps.


text:
Google Assistant not properly answering questions about people's age or birth date (foreign names misheard)
I am running Android 11 on a Realme 8 5G phone. I would like Google Assistant to answer basic questions about people's age and birth dates, including my own.
I don't understand why it doesn't do this. When more than one user is present on the phone, it should recognize the person speaking on the basis of the voice being used, and answer the question (even providing more than one answer if it cannot disambiguate between voices).
Questions such as:
"What is my age?"
"When is my birthday/birth date"?
"How old is X?" (it should retrieve this information from the Contacts app).
"When is X's birthday/birth date?"
It is not uncommon for people who get older or develop some learning disability or dementia or other mind problem or who are simply lazy or forgetful to not be able to subtract the date of birth from the current date to compute their age.
The same goes for other people's data. A feature was introduced at some point where you could define kinship in the Contrats app and then just say "call mom/mum". This is also an Accessibility feature. But it would be just as useful if Google Assistant could answer "What is mom's/mum's age?".
Why is this important accessibility feature missing from Google Assistant?
When will it be added?
Is anyone willing to add it?
It would be highly appreciated.
(Here are some screenshots that display for Google Assistant is currently failing when I address the issue in Italian):

UPDATE;
Perhaps this is just a flaw of Google Assistant in Italian. Perhaps, it does not work very well in other languages. Ad a matter of fact, it does not understand correctly non English names. For instance, when I ask Google Assistant, how old is Imma Bonuomo, an Italian name for one of my contacts, Google Assistant does not understand the mixed English and Italian speech (wouldn't it make sense that it did, looking in my contacts first, and, only then, searching on the web? It could even ask me "sounds I look in your contacts?",0 if it was unsure. Or alternatively, it could ask, back, "Search from contacts, or search from the web?", (not sure if Google Assistant has access to any other data sets, then these two places. Perhaps other apps may make data available though a content provider. Or, perhaps, it could ask, back, "Imma Bonuomo found in contacts. Use this result?" and you could specify back, "search the web", if that is not what you wanted. A list of other places to retrieve the data associated with or computed from the name, could be specified in the horizontal scrollable area of Google Assistant.
In any case, Google Assistant hears "Emma Barnett" instead of "Imma Bonuomo", and fails (with the result given in the image below).
Indeed, it gives me this result, when I run such search:

Why is Google Assistant giving me this wrong result?
Thank you for any contributed improvements to Google Assistant.
And thank you for your answers.
UPDATE: I had placed the birth date in the notes, rather than in a separate field (due to a complication where two birth dates were existing separately for this person (the real birth date, and the one recorded at the registry office. Google Assistant was unable to search the notes field for this contract and find the birth date using DeepL (or something similar).
Thanks.
In any case, after reinserting the contact's information in the birthday field instead of in the notes field, the Italian counterpart answers properly to "quando è nata Imma" and "quanti anni ha Imma" (but the English counterpart still mishears). But when asking "how old am I?" In English, it works, but in Italian, "quanti anni ho io", which, is the same thing, doesn't work.
Thanks you for your contributed improvements.
Thank you for your answers.
Thanks.


text:
How to interpret ssrm_heating.log on Samsung devices?
I have the below log records of ssrm_heating.log on /data/system/ folder from Samsung Galaxy S5.
....
....
2019-11-11 16:06:05  >>> [Call] CallStateOffHook : false
2019-11-11 16:06:05 [PKG] com.facebook.katana
2019-11-11 16:06:06 [LCD] ON
2019-11-11 16:06:10 [LCD] OFF
2019-11-11 16:06:10 [COM] [(-1->-1)(33,30,28, 0, 0, 11, 450)([ -83, ---],R:  0K,W:289K),(BL:  0)(RUT:   0,   0,  22,   2)] [XXXXNXX0XWX / CF:  -1,CC:-1,GF: -1,LB: -1,CG:100,TS:20,DF:99,TM:1,FS:0,RC:0,SB:0,CD:0,]  default ScreenOff
                    [NET] com.facebook.katana : 223 KB, com.google.android.gms : 62 KB, com.facebook.orca : 1 KB,
2019-11-11 16:07:23 [COM] [(-1->-1)(30,30,26, 0, 0, 10, 450)([ -81, ---],R:  0K,W:204K),(BL:  0)(RUT:   0,   0,  20,   2)] [XXXXNXX0XWX / CF:  -1,CC:-1,GF: -1,LB: -1,CG:100,TS:20,DF:99,TM:1,FS:0,RC:0,SB:0,CD:0,]  default ScreenOff
                    [NET] com.facebook.katana : 141 KB, com.nest.android : 49 KB, com.google.android.gms : 8 KB,
                    [TOP] [top=8%] [kswapd0=8%] [flipboard.app=7%] [mmcqd/0=5%] [/system/bin/mediaserver=2%]
2019-11-11 16:07:53 [COM] [(-1->-1)(26,29,26, 0, 0,  9, 450)([ -81, ---],R:  0K,W:  9K),(BL:  0)(RUT:   0,   0,  18,   2)] [XXXXNXX0XWX / CF:  -1,CC:-1,GF: -1,LB: -1,CG:100,TS:20,DF:99,TM:1,FS:0,RC:0,SB:0,CD:0,]  default ScreenOff
                    [NET] com.google.android.gms : 6 KB, com.facebook.katana : 1 KB, com.google.android.tv.remote : 1 KB,
                    [TOP] [top=12%] [system_server=9%] [com.android.systemui=0%] [cfinteractive=0%] [irq/33-cpubw_hw=0%]
2019-11-11 16:10:11 [PKG] com.android.incallui
2019-11-11 16:10:14 [LCD] ON
2019-11-11 16:10:14 [COM] [(-1->-1)(29,26,26, 0, 0,  9, 450)([ -81, ---],R:  0K,W: 34K),(BL:226)(RUT:   0,   0,  18,   2)] [XXXXNXX0OWX / CF:  -1,CC:-1,GF: -1,LB: -1,CG: 70,TS:20,DF:99,TM:1,FS:0,RC:0,SB:0,CD:0,]  default
                    [NET] com.google.android.gms : 14 KB, com.facebook.katana : 9 KB, com.google.android.tv.remote : 3 KB,
2019-11-11 16:10:25  >>> [Call] CallStateOffHook : true
2019-11-11 16:10:26 [LCD] OFF
2019-11-11 16:10:26 [COM] [(-1->-1)(29,26,26, 0, 0,  9, 450)([ -81, ---],R:  0K,W: 69K),(BL:  0)(RUT:   0,   0,  18,   2)] [XXXXNXX0XWO / CF:  -1,CC:-1,GF: -1,LB: -1,CG: 70,TS:20,DF:99,TM:1,FS:0,RC:0,SB:0,CD:0,]  default ScreenOffInCall
                    [NET] com.google.android.gms : 66 KB, com.google.android.tv.remote : 1 KB, com.gotv.nflgamecenter.us.lite : 1 KB,
2019-11-11 16:11:54 [LCD] ON
....
....

Does anyone know how to interpret the logs?

External references mentioning this file: S98_clean_data.sh, XDA Forums


text:
Can't Find Any Backups After Uninstalling And Installing Whatsapp Because It Told Me To Do So
I was a Whatsapp beta user. A few hours ago it wanted me to update the app because my version is no longer viable. I tried doing that, then it told me, since I was a Beta user I need to first delete Whatsapp, opt out of Beta, then download it again. I wanted to make a manual back up since last one was from 2 AM but it didn't let me enter the app, just that announcement page. Then I said "Okay, I already have back-up. I will lose messages for only one day. Okie dokie." Then,

I uninstalled whatsapp
Opted out of beta
Installed it back, didn't prompt me for local back-up
I tried to find cloud back-ups, turns out I don't have any (weird).
I tried to find back-ups manually using a file manager: there is none (weirder).
6.?

My phone made back-ups every day at 2 AM. I have seen it for years. Where are they? Messages themselves aren't that important but the images are gone too! Only thing that is in my Whatsapp folder is a "media" file that has images, videos, and audios which are passed down from my old phone.
It remembers my profile picture and header photos of the groups.


text:
Is is possible to have sounds play through headphones AND the phone itself?
I have a Samsung S22 running Android 13. I use this with a bluetooth headset all day long, mostly for meetings and phone calls.
If I disconnect the headset from the phone when not in use, it's quite annoying to reconnect every time I want to use the headset, especially when in a hurry because I'm trying to answer a phone call. (There's also a few moments of latency before the connection goes through, and that's especially annoying when I can't hear the caller at all.)
But if I leave the phone and headset connected, and I put the headset down, then I don't hear the phone ring at all! (Or notifications.)
So what I would like is for ringtones, text tones, and notifications to play through the headset AND the phone speakers. Failing that, to play those through the phone, but have the phone call itself (and Zoom and everything else) play through the headset.
Can this be done?


text:
How to un-delete SMSes
A bunch of messages got deleted from my phone. I can see them when using various recovery software (FonePaw etc) but the major flaw of them all is that recovery is only available outside of the phone - saved as external file.
I know there's a way to access the SMS DB via adb, like so adb shell content query --uri content://sms to list the messages.
I wonder if there's a way to run a similar command to update the database and actually un-delete all deleted messages?

When it comes to databases on Android most likely it's an SQLite db. If you delete data in an SQLite database then it may be recoverable, however this requires direct access to the database file. If the phone is not rooted you can only get direct access via adb backup if the sms app allows backup and your phone isn't running Android 12+.

FonePaw can restore deleted SMS?


text:
"The security policy prevents the creation of a managed device because a custom OS is or has been installed on this device" on work profiles creation
I got the following message on a Samsung device when trying to create a work profile:

The security policy prevents the creation of a managed device because a custom OS is or has been installed on this device

But the device is not rooted. I have installed the latest official Samsung ROM using Odin and also disable the bootloader.
How can I fix this?

AFAIK, this is related to Knox being tripped, and there's no way to reset it.


text:
I want to edit lk.img to support fastboot binaries
based on what i found
Oppo removed the fastboot binaries from my phone (Oppo A5s)
and since the lk partition is the one that have it by default
i would like to know how can i sort of inject the binaries into this partition

without source code this question is better placed reverseengineering.stackexchange.com. what's the deal with this workaround by you?

i just want to change the stock rom because it sucks and it's outdated
i tried GSI roms but they hve many issues so at least i want to have root access
technically that guide needs an update because that method is extremely risky (i lost my IMEI because of it)


text:
What are these buttons on the edge of my Pixel 5 / Android 13 screen and how do I remove them?
There is a button menu on the edge of my stock Pixel 5 / Android 13 screen that do nothing and are constantly in the way, but I can't figure out how to make it go away. Probably the same problem that is preventing them from launching an app is also preventing configuration.
I don't know what these buttons are called, so I haven't been able to search the web for a solution. So here is a screenshot. The buttons are on the center-right edge of the screen:

The buttons are the icons of apps I have installed. They show up not just on the home screen, but on every screen of every app. I can move the position of this menu around the screen by dragging it, but it is otherwise inert.
Is this an add-on app that you recognize, that I might uninstall to make these go away? Thanks!

They look to match two of the icons on your screen - what I believe to be Vive Manager and 1Password - so it is probably some other third-party app showing you recents or shortcuts of some kind. Do the icons there change? Does it show over all screens or just the home screen?

Those are accessibility shortcut buttons. They are used to quickly toggle (i.e. switch off/on) the related accessibility features.
To configure these, go to the Accessibility settings:

Open Settings
Navigate to Accessibility
Tap the related accessibility app (e.g. 3rd-party apps under "Downloaded apps", otherwise scroll below for built-in accessibilities)
Tap the shortcut switch to show/hide the shortcut button

I went to "Accessibility Menu" within the "Accessibility" settings. There is an option for "Accessibility Menu shortcut", but it is already set to "Off". Are you sure that these are accessibility shortcuts? If so why are they still on?

@Mori sorry if I wasn't clear. What I meant in step 3 is to tap the related accessibility app, which I assume there is an entry for VIVE and another app under "Downloaded apps".

Nice! I thought it looked like the accessibility button, but didn't realize you could turn it on per-app. Good one!


text:
The sound of the phone is cut off due to the steam in the bathroom
My phone's media is muted! I put the phone next to the mirror in the bathroom this morning and when I came back several hours later I realized I couldn't hear music or videos.I can hear the phone ringing and the alert sound, which means media and notifications are muted, and the alarm and ringtone are fine. I whistle to someone, incomprehensible and vague sounds are played.When someone calls me, I don't hear his voice and he doesn't hear me either. I don't know what caused this but what should I do?
I find it surprising that I can hear calls and alarms, and it indicates that the notification and media sounds are muted.


text:
Issue in "apps overview" ( applications windows are white)
Redmi Note 10 Pro, Android 13, MIUI 14, Nova Launcher Prime.
What happen: in the "recent app overview", suddenly, some applications are shown as white windows:

What I tried to do:

Clear Nova's cache
Clear Nova's data (and start it from scratch)
Restart Nova
Restart the system

This issue doesn't occurs if I use MIUI's default launcher.
I sent an email to Nova's Developer, which told me:

The reason for this is because stock launchers have complete access to
the system whereas 3rd party launchers don't. The recent apps screen
is controlled by Android and your device OEM and is tied to the stock
launcher of your device.
The issue you are experiencing will happen in any and all 3rd party
launchers (not the stock launcher), not just Nova.

As I've said, this happened suddenly: two days ago I didn't had this issue; I have to give some specific permission to Nova Launcher? How can I solve?

Since the developer seems to think it should have been happening all along, have you tried other launcher apps? Or reinstalling Nova?

@jlehenbauer Yes: I tried other launchers and the issue doesn't occurs. Also tried to reinstall Nova and the issue is still present.

I'm a bit surprised that using 3rd-party launchers may affect the recent screen since I can't really think any relation between them. Instead, there's a similar question about a blank/white recent screen due to screen rotation.

@AndrewT. I have a news: yesterday, after innumerable reboots, the issue went away; then yesterday night, where i leave the phone untouched for eight hours, i wake up and the issue is back.


text:
How to browse, an organized, textual list of commands that can be issued to Google Assistant
I was wondering whether there is any way (my guess, is that this would be almost like an exhaustive dictionary) to go though a textual list of all the Google voice commands you can issue to the Google app or to the Google Assistant app.
Where can I find such a list? Can I find one on the system (perhaps, even within, the Google Assistant app itself, or, alternatively, within a special (related), app on the system)?
Thanks

Because of the nature of the Google Assistant, there is no exhaustive list - it tries to determine the meaning in any request and fulfill it as best as it can. That being said, the Google Support page has a good list of basic requests that can be fulfilled. Specifically relevant to an Android phone, they provide this list:
On Mobile Devices (phones and tablets)
Communicate

Calls: Call Mom. Call Bob on speaker phone. Make a video call
Duo: Call Mom. Call Living Room Smart Display.

On phones only:

SMS: Text Mike "See you at 5."
Emails: Send an email.
WhatsApp: Send a WhatsApp message to Sam.

Get around your device

Change settings: Turn on WiFi. Increase the volume. Decrease the brightness.
Control your phone: Turn on the flashlight. Take a photo.

Note: Whether Google Assistant can take a photo for you depends on your device
manufacturer.
Find things in your apps: Search for tablets on Amazon. Search for Kanye West on Twitter.

Find photos: Show my pictures of the beach.

Plan your day

Alarms: Set an alarm for 7 a.m.
Reservations: Make a reservation for 2 at [restaurant] on Friday.

Get things done

Shopping: Add cereal to my shopping list.
Donate: Donate $5 to [organization].

Tip: To do two things at once, connect two requests with "and." For example, you could say "Hey Google, turn off the lights and turn on the TV." For now, you can only do two things at once if you use Google Assistant in English.
Pixel phones (Pixel 4 and above)
Take, search & share photos

"Show me my photos from New York"
"Take a selfie." Then say "share this with Ryan"
"Take a picture in 10 seconds"

Manage your phone’s settings

"Turn on the flashlight"
"Take a screenshot"
"Turn on Do Not Disturb"
"Turn on Bluetooth"

Make calls or send messages

"Call Mom"
“Answer call” or “Reject call”
"Tell Tina I will be five minutes late"
"Text Adam, Don’t forget to get milk on your way home"
In a chat thread, say "Reply, I’m on my way"

Open apps

"Open Translate"
"Search for yoga classes on YouTube." Then say "Share this with mom"
"Find hotels in San Diego on Maps"
"[Artist name] on YouTube Music"
"Show me emails from Michelle on Gmail"

Open websites in Chrome

Ask Google Assistant to go to a site in the Chrome app.
"Go to [site name]"
"Open [site name]"

Search in your apps or websites
When you have an app or website open in Chrome, ask Google Assistant to help you complete tasks, like finding a video to watch or searching for a message. It works seamlessly with many apps and we’ll continue improving app integrations over time. For example:

With the YouTube app open, say "search for cat videos."
With the Google Photos app open, say "show me New York pictures." Then say "The ones at Central Park."
With a recipe site open on Chrome, say "Search for chocolate brownies with nuts."
-With a travel app open, say [hotels in Paris]


text:
Voice Access taking forever to download language update
I am running Android 12 on a Realme 8 5G phone. I am new to Voice Access. I have been following the tutorial to try and set it up, so that I can operate my phone and the user interface that it and its various apps provide entirely via voice. I am trying to download the US English language package from Italy. However, a language update was necessary to use it offline, and, as a result, the Voice Access tutorial stalls, as it takes forever.
Here is a screenshot:

bump. I also have this issue with a device purchased in Britain. It still tries to download the US English language package and has the same issue.

I had the same problem, then I realised was not updating because wanted to be connected to external Wi-Fi instead of using my mobile data for some reason. Try to connect to a Wi-Fi and see if that works.

Tried this yesterday and it did not work. There doesn't seem to be any dedicated support for this issue either.


text:
Camera Roll Upload to OneDrive Stalled
Upon the odd occasion, the WiFi connected Android device stalls on uploading the photos to the Camera Roll folder in One Drive. This folder and the corresponding synced OneDrive are hitherto up-to-date.
The fix offered by Microsoft didn't apply, neither did the troubleshooting guide. How to upload the photos?

Go in To the OneDrive app and click on the "For You" Tab.
If there is an "Uploading" text link showing, click on that to view the file (s) that are queued. Those which cannot be uploaded to the server from the camera are marked with a red X on the right. Click these to retry the operation, a circular progress arrow spinner should indicate the operation in progress.
If there is no response from either retry or "Uploading", try renaming the existing OneDrive Folder to Camera RollOld. Stop the backup by navigating to Settings on the OneDrive "Me" Tab, and click "Camera Backup." Then click "TURN OFF BACK UP," after which navigation to "Camera Backup" turns it on again. Then retry the "Uploading" text link to check the sync progress as above.
Once the files are synced, it's safe to rename the folder back to Camera Roll.


text:
Android apps won't update automatically
I wonder why my apps won't update by themselves.
The phone is Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and the Android OS and the Play store have been updated to the latest version as of March 30, 2023.
In the Google Play setting, the App download preference is 'over any network', and the 'Auto-update apps' is  'over any network'. So I expected all apps to be updated automatically, but 16 updates are pending now.
It has happened since I first bought this device, so I should have to select 'update all' manually every time.
Is there a fix for this?

Does this happen for all apps, or only the first time each app gets an update? Have you tried to clear app data of PlayStore app?

Just in case, have you checked the "Manage" tab and confirmed that no apps had been auto-updated? As mentioned in the answer, the current Play Store update mechanism is considerably quiet/stealthy that the user may never realize it. On the other hand, modern apps got updated so quickly that the Play Store prefers not to auto-update them without proper scheduling to reserve battery usage.

According to the Play Store Support page, the most you can do is enable the "Over any network" settings you've specified. Although not controllable by you, there are details on the Support page for Managed Google Play accounts (accounts that are managed through your work or school) that says app updates are queued and can take up to 48 hours to update after being added:

It can take up to 24 hours for an app update to be added to the update queue. After an app is added to the queue, it will be updated automatically the next time the device is in the maintenance window, if the network constraint is met. As a result, it can take up to 48 hours for an app to update after you set a maintenance window.

This page also specifies that the device waits until certain conditions are met:

The device is connected to a Wi-Fi network. (or meets the setting for network requirements)
The device is charging.
The device is idle (not actively used).
The app to be updated is not running in the foreground.

So if you have a managed account on your phone, it's possible your organization is setting this window to be longer. Otherwise, it could be that your phone is not being deemed "idle" by Google Play. A restart may help, as well as a look at any apps that are running frequently in the background and may be preventing the phone from appearing "idle."


text:
APK backup with data Anybooks app
Non-techie here. I have a Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro and installed the Anybooks app which is now discontinued. Since I had downloaded 1 GB of books, I need to migrate the app and data to a new phone.
The Anybooks app stores user data in the cache. I have tried APK backup apps and Samsung Smart Switch, but only the APK is backed up without the crucial user data.
How can I back up the app and data?

Looks like there are a few apps containing the name "Anybooks". Is the app mentioned in the answer the correct one? Otherwise, you might want to find its package name and mention it for clarity.

Yes it is the correct one.

I am sorry but the app AnyBooks (anybooks.free.books.novels.ebooks.download.gp) has the entry android:allowBackup="false" in it's AndroidManifest.xml.
Your Samsung j7 pro should run Android 9 which means it should respect this entry for adb backup and backup to Google Drive/Cloud.
As you have already tried Samsung smart switch this means there is no way to backup or migrate the data, unless your phone is already rooted.
Note that rooting the old phone is not an option because in the rooting process all user data will be erased in a way which makes recovery of the data impossible.

Thank you Robert..have a51s samsung phone..Will it be the same scenario. So can nandroid or titanium pro  backup work ?

@arul As Titanium requires root this should work (unless the app uses AndrodKeyStore to store the decryption keys in case of the downloaded books are encrypted). Note that if you make a backup with root you also need root to restore it on a different phone.


text:
Default app for text files
How can I make text files (e.g. myfile.txt) always open with a specific app (e.g. "Text Viewer Pro")?
I've tried Settings - Apps - Choose Default Apps, but the only choices are:
Browser app,
Digital assistent app,
Home app,
Phone app,
SMS app,
Opening links.
I've tried Settings - Apps - "Text Viewer Pro" - Set as default, however the next display:
Text Viewer Pro
Open by default ....
has no active choices (nothing selectable).
Under either scenario when I exit Settings, text files still open with a standard app (I guess it's a core app for opening text files). I can re-open each time using "Open with" scrolling down and selecting "Text Viewer Pro", but I'm trying to avoid this, as I have many text files accessible from my homescreen.
Thank you.

I'm using a Galaxy A10e running Android 11.
I have an icon on my homescreen "Text File 1.txt".
The actual file "Text File 1.txt" in on my Google drive.
The homescreen icon was created via the "Add to Homescreen" option of the "Drive" App.
When I tap the homescreen icon "Text File 1.txt", a core/default text file viewer opens the file.
I don't know the name of the core/default viewer. It isn't something that I have installed.
At that point, I can use the "open with" option to re-open the file using my desired app.
In my case I use "Text Viewer Pro" which has some additional viewing feaures, not available with the default/core app.
Unfortunately, when I do this, I don't get the "always" option, therefore it's always multi-step procedure
when I open such files.
Im trying to avoid the multi-step procedure, since I have many such files.
Thanks to all who respond.

Hello. What launcher app, file manager, and text editor app are you using? Which Android version and device are you using? On my Android 10 (OnePlus 6), using Nova Launcher I can create a text file shortcut (a 1x1 widget) made available by Solid Explorer File manager. First time if I open a text file under it Android asks me to select an app from a list of apps -- but also offers me to set "always". Once I press on "always" it consistently opens all text files in my QuickEdit text editor.

check the current default app settings if you can revoke defaults. installing another app sometimes revoke defaults too


text:
Minimum Android version that support WhatsApp select-text function?
I had Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with WhatsApp app installed.
On early days, I can select text in the WhatsApp app. But since updating WhatsApp to the later version, I cannot select text.
Another phone with Android 6 works just fine with newest version WhatsApp.
I suspect the new version of WhatsApp, when select text, has popup that not supported by Android 4.2.
So, what is minimum Android version that can support select text function in new version of WhatsApp?

Welcome to Android Enthusiasts. "Another phone with Android 6 works just fine with newest version WhatsApp." have you checked its version from Android Settings - Apps - WhatsApp - App info? I can't recall when WhatsApp allowed the select-text function. Before the reaction popup, I believe it only allowed copying the whole message through the menu, was it before that? However, WhatsApp often deprecated older versions so they may not be able to work anymore even if the version is found.

At the very least, I found some old posts (since 2016) mentioning the same issue: XDA Forums (2016), OnePlus Community (2018), CCM (2021), AskMeFast (unknown)


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Are Huawei nova Y90 ROMs for model CTR-LX2 interchangeable with CTR-LX1?
I have a Huawei nova Y90 (CTR-LX2). I've been wanting to flash it with either a custom or stock ROM for experimental purposes, but I can't find a ROM file/firmware for the model CTR-LX2 specifically. I could mostly find for model CTR-LX1.
So far, I've only downloaded CTR-LX1, which has the UPDATE.APP file in it which, from searching on Google, is the file I need to flash. And I stumbled across a CTR-LX2 which was being sold on the net. When I took a look at it, it contained a Super.img. I wasn't sure how to flash that one as there wasn't any info on Super.img.
I was wondering if it's safe to flash the device with the CTR-LX1 ROM file or if my device will get bricked?

Flashing the wrong firmware will most likely brick. PS - Don't ask here for ROMs, it's off-topic.


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Sort contacts by Hanyu Pinyin
I have tried the Google contacts app, the Samsung contacts app, and the Asus contacts app.
Only the latter will sort Chinese contacts in Hanyu Pinyin order, without requiring the entire phone to be switched from English to the zh-cn locale.
Else they get sorted by radical (Unicode order).
If one sets the entire phone to zh-tw locale, one gets Zhuyinfuhao sorting.
Anyway throughout the experience we see the very short sighted assumptions that certain people speak certain languages and prefer certain sorting orders without getting any choices in between.
No, I'm not talking about first name versus last name. Nor am I talking about establishing custom pronunciations for each and every contact.
Anyway the user, me, prefers the English interface to his Android phone. However he has learned Chinese using Hanyu Pinyin. That's how he expects his characters to be sorted by. It is unfortunate that various Android app developers would have never imagined such a combination, for some reason.
And yes, even if one day one could just change the interface language of the contacts app, that would still also be too much of a sacrifice. Why should interface language be related to sorting method in the first place? Sure it's a good guess for the majority, but for the minority it's a hardwired nightmare.
Also, choosing English as interface language means it's anybody's guess which the user's preferred Chinese sorting order might be. So why not give the user the freedom to choose?
Android 13.
Sure, you might say, "See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/22907288/chinese-sorting-by-pinyin-in-javascript-with-localecompare and build your own app." But I don't want to build my own app, or root my phone.

Holy smokes, by switching around the Android system language sub order (language #2), I stumbled on the answer. Of course it's totally undocumented so we will just document it here:
We simply put the zh-cn local at rank number two:

This fixes the problem for both the Samsung contacts app, and the Google contacts app. And in fact it even distinguishes that surname 曾 is Zeng, not Ceng!
Sure, it's not the total control that we want. But at least it's a workaround for now!


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By what mechanism does the Google Maps mobile app determine if a device is in one of the "limited locations" which has motorcycle directions?
Sometimes, Google Maps for mobile (iOS and Android app) has directions available for scooters / motorcycles (called "two wheelers" by google). This is useful in cities like Taipei that have certain routes that are available only for these vehicles, and illegal for cars to go on, or, have routes that it's illegal for "two wheelers" to go on. These routes can sometimes differ significantly, thus the option is basically necessary to use google maps in certain cities for navigation.
According to Google Support, "This feature is only available for mobile devices and in limited locations."
On most of my mobile devices, this option is available when I open the Google Maps app and am physically present in Taiwan. For example, Pixel 4a5g, Galaxy S10, Galaxy Zfold3. Some of these devices weren't purchased in Taiwan, which makes me believe the app simply detects through the GPS antenna whether the phone is physically present in an area that has the "two wheeler" navigation option available.
However, some devices don't have the option, despite being physically present in Taiwan. For example, a Unihertz Atom XL device doesn't have the option (despite following online advice regarding uninstalling, clearing cache, logging out / in, etc).
I've been unable to determine if there's some way to "force" the Google Maps app to acknowledge that the device is present in a location that clearly has the "two wheeler" navigation option available. Neither Google Support nor Unihertz support seems aware if it's Google's, or the phone manufacturer's, responsibility in determining whether the option will be available in the Google Maps app (I was thinking perhaps there was a flag the manufacturer needed to toggle in Android or Google Play Services or something).
So, via what mechanism does the Google Maps app determine if it should show the motorcycle directions option? Is this mechanism controlled by Google, a phone manufacturer, or someone else? My goal is to consistently have access to the motorcycle option in available locations, is that possible?
EDIT: Note that per support, the motorcycle directions may only be available to "Play Protect certified" devices, which includes Unihertz devices.


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Is there a way to backup an Amazon Fire tablet to Google cloud?
I'm assuming I have to root the tablet and install and log into Google+ to be able to do this.  I want to backup an Amazon Fire tablet with all it's apps and data to Google cloud, then log into an Android tablet on that Google account, then access all the account settings, apps and data from the Amazon Fire tablet on the new Google tablet.
So I guess what I'm trying to do is migrate from an Amazon Fire tablet to an Android tablet as painlessly as possible.

Assuming your plan of a migration via backup works at all you should keep in mind that Google backup never backups the APK files, only the app package name. Thus if the app package names are different in Amazon and Google store this will not work. If the app signature key is different this should not work, too. Also some apps are by design bound to the device those apps will not work correctly even if backup and restore works in general (e.g. banking apps or other apps that use certain cryptography).


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Force the phone to beep when a specific e-mail arrives, even on silent mode?
My phone is usually in silent mode and I keep it that way because in my country, phone service providers spam A LOT with both SMS and phone calls. But sometimes I receive important e-mails, I'd like to have something that makes it beep, even on silent mode, when a specific e-mail comes.
Is there a way to do that?

Tasker can achieve this fairly easily, with basic instructions coming from this reddit thread.

Create a new task in tasker using Event -> Notification
Set your email application as the "Owner Application"
Set additional email options (such as notification title for sender name)
Go back, and select "New Task"
Give it a title, then select Audio -> Notification volume and set it to a level above zero

This will leave your notification sounds on until you disable them again, but alternatively, for step 5 you could use One of the options under the Alert actions to create a one-time alert.


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chrome android keeps switching to desktop mode
There is only one site I want to use desktop mode in. Chrome android is now turning on desktop mode for all sites. How do I fix this? Why is this all of a sudden happening? There have not been any chrome updates.


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How to have LINE app Friends sorted in Hanyu Pinyin order?
In Sort contacts by Hanyu Pinyin one manages to sort contacts in Hanyu Pinyin order. Alas, with LINE app Friends it seems there is no way to get other than simple Unicode (radical) sorting.


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How do I find my DNS server code?
I'm currently trying to get my Nintendo Switch to connect to my phone's hotspot, but it comes up with a DNS error. I later figured out, that I need to put in the DNS server manually
However the problem with this is I can't find my hotspot's DNS anywhere, can somebody help? I'm using a Samsung Galaxy A20e (Version 10)

Honestly, it doesn't matter what it is... Use a public DNS server like Google (8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4), Cloudflare (1.1.1.1/1.0.0.1), or any other one you like, there are literally hundreds of public DNS servers. Otherwise, if your phone is connected over the mobile data network, you will need a special app or access to the terminal to determine that, if the connection is WiFi, it should be listed right in the Settings for the WiFi network you are actively connected to in your phone. DNS is just a service running on a server, there isn't a special code, you just need the IP address of the server.


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My Samsung device is rooted but Magisk is "not installed"
I have a Samsung A7 2018 (SM-A750F) Android 10 A750FXXU5CVJ2, today I rooted my phone through patching the AP file in Magisk v25.2 installed on my stock firmware, then I flashed the patched AP using ODIN along with the original BL, CP, CSC files from my stock firmware. It's worth noting that on my stock firmware (before flashing), Magisk showed that ramdisk is available, but after flashing the patched firmware, Magisk showed that ramdisk is not available on the patched firmware. Now I have root access, I checked through Root Checker app, but Magisk says that it's not installed.
Note: I have seen a lot of threads about this problem online, some said to flash a patched custom firmware (I want the original one), and some suggested to flash the Magisk.apk.zip file, but I don't want to do that since It's advised by the creator of Magisk not to do so Custom Recovery, and TWRP is not supported on my device. Another suggestion is to uninstall the current Magisk Manager and reinstall it, I have done that but to no avail.
Any suggestions are welcomed.

try another Magisk 1, 2

@alecxs Do I just change channel to custom and paste URL of stable.json of the version I want to downgrade to?

@alecxs I updated the channel and tried to install an older version (v24.3) but it doesn't install (I tried v22.0 as well). It only installs v25.2. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling but it also didn't work. I think I have to reroot my phone using an older version.

@alecxs When I uninstall and reinstall Magisk 22.0, it installs but it doesn't open, the app opens and closes immediately and then it prompts me to download and install v25.2. I think it has to do with the patch, it refuses all versions but v25.2.


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Battery drain caused by Android System (job.deadline and motion sensor)
Environment: Redmi Note 10 Pro, Android 13, MIUI 14.
Since a pair of days I'm facing a battery drain never seen before: by a first look the culprit seems to be Android System:

The fact is that the phone loose 1% every hour without doing nothing, just left it alone without using it.
I tried to clear Play Service data and cache, as well PlayStore data and cache, but I am unable to find the real culprit.
I link the logs from Better Battery Stats:
Better Battery Stats Logs
Here is reported that in 2h and 40s has lost only 1% (0.5%/h) but immediately after the save of the log, the battery dropped to 71%.
What can I do to avoid this battery drain? How to find the culprit?
EDIT:
In 3C Task Manager, I noticed the following:
Since the issue occurred, I noticed that Play Store and Play Service are always present/active; three days ago they were not present in the list of active processes.
EDIT 2:
I have a good news: I pinpointed the culprit to Google Play Services; I went to apkmirror and I downloaded Google Play services 23.13.12 beta and installed it. After two hours of idle the battery has been on 0% of usage.
I will update again this question if will be fine in the next days.
EDIT 3:
First of all, I forgot to mention that in EDIT 2, without battery drain, I was on Wi-Fi.
Today I have been outside, on mobile data, 4G, with, for the most of the time, a good signal strenght.
This time Android System has been less hungry:

I've lost 7% of battery in 4 hours: I've done 2 phone calls, received an email and checked the time few times.
Anyway, Android System, is still the  battery drainer
EDIT 4:
Finally i recorded a log of when the battery drain occurred: in this case is of 1.6%/h. I noticed that mainly occurs when I walk/move, like if was caused by the motion sensor. I attach the log of better battery stats:
battery drain log
As you can read in the Better Battery States log, when the battery drain occurs, Android System wakeups a lot:
android (): Wakeups: 123 (50.2 / h)
  Alarms: 0, Intent: TIME_TICK
  Alarms: 82, Intent: *job.deadline*
  Alarms: 0, Intent: upload_dark_mode_switch
  Alarms: 0, Intent: *job.delay*
  Alarms: 22, Intent: DeviceIdleController.motion_registration

But if I leave the phone on the table, untouched/not used, the battery drain doesn't occurs: in this case is 0.0%/h:
NO battery drain:
android (): Wakeups: 25 (13.6 / h)
  Alarms: 0, Intent: TIME_TICK
  Alarms: 0, Intent: com.android.server.action.NETWORK_STATS_POLL
  Alarms: 0, Intent: *job.cleanup*
  Alarms: 18, Intent: *job.deadline*
  Alarms: 0, Intent: *job.delay*
  Alarms: 1, Intent: DeviceIdleController.motion_registration

A 2 years old phone is due to have a noticeable reduction on battery autonomy.

@ChanganAuto As stated, the issue occurs since two days; two days ago I had a perfect battery life.

@ChanganAuto I have a 6 years old Xiaomi low-range phone running Android 11 and its battery still lasts a day with normal use.

@Dave you may want to try my app WhatsRunning. It may help identify the root cause. Related: Which Android apps are draining battery?. Disclaimer: both links belong to me.


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Google Calendar, shortcut to get you to the current day while scrolling
I wonder whether there is a shortcut (or, alternatively, any quick way) to get you back to the current day (the one we're in in the month we're in in the year we're in) on Google Calendar.
The quickest way I can think of is clicking on the square in the middle of the bottom part of the screen and flicking to where the date widget is on the desktop (if you clicked on it to open Google Calendar it will be the current page), memorizing the date, and returning to Google calendar, scrolling to the given date, while keeping it in mind.
I wonder whether there's a quicker way.
I thought, maybe, from the application menu there could be an entry for current date you could click on, but I couldn't find it (so maybe there is a more efficient way).
Perhaps the best option is just minimizing the app and clicking back on the date on the desktop. Is this the best way to do it?
Thank you for your help.
Thank you for your answers.
Thanks.

From Google Calendar Help - View your day, week, or month,

Go to a specific day
[...]
Get back to today: At the top right corner, tap Jump to today .


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Firefox for Android: How to specify timezone ≠ UTC with `privacy.resistFingerprinting=true`?
I use Firefox for Android (Mull). I have "resist fingerprinting" (privacy.resistFingerprinting in about:config) enabled. That results in Firefox being forced to report its time in UTC to websites. Some timetable query sites show me the results in the client's time, so in UTC, which is really confusing.
On Firefox for Android, I also don't find an extension to change my browser's timezone, like "Change Timezone (Time Shift) – Get this Extension for  Firefox (en-US)" that is available for "Desktop"-Firefox.
How can I set in Firefox for Android my browser's timezone to my operating system's or a self-chosen value while still having privacy.resistFingerprinting enabled?


text:
Manually updated Google Play Services. Will it continue to autoupdate iteself?
Due to an investigation of battery drain, I manually updated Google Play Services from ApkMirror (to V. 23.13.12 beta).
If I'm not wrong, I recall that Google Play Services update itself when new stable version is out (or is updated with Play Store?); will it continue to update also if I updated it manually? If not, what to do, to have it regularly updated?

If your phone came with pre-installed Google apps and services then it should make a difference if you manually update it or if the updates were automatically downloaded and applied by the Google services itself.

@Robert Yes: my phone came with pre-installed Google apps and services. So to summarize: will, Google Play Services, autoupdate itself also if I updated it manually?

It didn't autoupdate (there was and update of Google Play Service yesterday 3 April 2023, on Play Store).
I had to uninstall update on Google Play Service, then it autoupdate itself.


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Notification icon that looks like "C" with a dot in the center on Xiaomi device
I have a Xiaomi device and am confused about this icon ("C" with a dot in the center).

I can't get what application this thing is.

It's the repeated alarm. Just turn it off.


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Visual and sound notification calendar application for Android
I need a calendar application to give me an alarm at a certain date and time but I need visual and sound notification in the same time, like an alarm with text. Can Google Calendar notifications use sounds?
I have Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G, Android 11.


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Having internet access with no data plan
I have a pay as you go plan with no data. I have always been able to visit and search on Google and my carrier's website by turning on the data plan on phone (even though I have no data and there appears to be a cross on LTE sign meaning there are no connections).
Over the past year one day I noticed that by turning on data (no WIFI) I have full internet access (seemingly uncapped). But this connection did come and go when I put my phone in the flight mode. So after the flights I had to restart phone multiple times or quickly turn the flight mode on and off (usually multiple times) until I could get access to the internet.
Now recently after a flight this has stopped working, by restarting phone or turning the flight mode on and off quickly I can still make the cross on the LTE sign go away and the phone thinks that it has internet access but it can only go to Google.com. The connection also seems leaky meaning I sometimes get notification from apps that do not function without WIFI. This has made me wonder that what is the best way to diagnose this situation that why I do get leaky internet access on data with a plan with a no data plan?

The situation is replicable on a different phone too.

Most likely your carrier has detected the bug and fixed it so you now have to pay for a data plan like everybody else.

@Robert Thanks for your insight. The first part of your statement might be true but the second part of it is definitely incorrect! The weird thing is that this has happened many times on and off and usually has something to do with either flight mode or sudden location change which seems to be such random things.


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How to close programs in the Android-x86 emulator?
This may seem like an odd question but I cannot resolve it. I am using the Android-x86 emulator in VirtualBox (https://www.android-x86.org/documentation/virtualbox.html). I open various apps like Firefox, Chrome, Maps, etc.
Normally, I would click the 'x' or go to a menu which said 'exit'. But there is nothing like that. Swiping the app up / down / left / right does nothing. I use "Force Stop" in Settings but that doesn't close the program. In Ubuntu, I can ps aux | grep program_name and then kill the PID. But ps aux does not work in the Android Terminal.
How can I close those apps? Can I use the terminal to close programs?

I don't know about Android-x86 but on common Android devices, pressing the back button until it navigates to the home screen is the way to close the app. Also, "force stopping" the app should close the app. Do you see any counter-evidence that says otherwise?

@AndrewT - the counter-evidence for "force stop" not working is that the program (e.g. Firefox) does not close. That said, I have the same issue on Kindle Fire which also uses Android. However, when I power off the KIndle, the apps are not running when I turn it on. Whereas, in the x86 emulator, the apps are all running on start-up after power off.

"Whereas, in the x86 emulator, the apps are all running on start-up after power off." does this happen only after booting/restarting the Android, or the VirtualBox?

If you view the currently open apps, you can hold click on the bottom of the app preview window and drag up to close the application.
This took me a while to figure out myself.

This was a top hit for hard to swipe away close apps on android emulator on mac.  Something about using the touch pad on my macbook I am guessing something happens at the end of the gesture preventing it from treating it as a swipe away.

@MathiasTCK, try to grab the swipe from the bottom of the app card and then swipe it all the way up the screen. It is a little bit odd how hard it is to accomplish that on the simulator.


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How can I view downloaded .txt files as UTF-8 in Chrome on Android 13?
We download many UTF-8 encoded .txt files.

Later in the e.g., Northwoods, far from the Internet, we find they are unreadable.

Yes, we could simply open them in a different app, but we wish to keep using Chrome. No, the files don't contain byte order marks. Yes, there is no problem on Android 8, but things are much different on Android 13. As we observe, the content:// URI does not pass character set information, so the browser can only assume it is latin1.
How can I view downloaded .txt files as UTF-8 in Chrome on Android 13?

It turns out on Android 13, in Chrome, one must manually navigate to file:///sdcard/ and then via the directory tree to select the file.
Note, that the final "/" is important.
Without it, you will still trigger a web search (G icon) instead of being allowed to access the file system.

Indeed, you might need to type this in letter-by-letter: f i l e : / / / s d c a r d / as simply pasting might not bypass the web search.
If successful, certainly do save it as a bookmark as I have.
In fact, a better way is to go into your bookmarks and pick an old unused one and then edit the contents to put the file:///sdcard/  right in there and that ought to give you a bookmark that won't get hijacked to web search. If you don't have an old unused one then make a junk one.

Voila, mojibake gone!:

Images taken on Samsung Galaxy, Chrome Dev 113.

Maybe it's possible to copy-paste the link, delete the last character, and type the trailing slash manually.

Or go through the internal pages, such as chrome://omnibox to disable the behavior, etc.

This works for viewing downloaded .txt files (as stated in the question), but I wanted to view other (non-downloaded) .txt files in Chrome (or Kiwi, in my case). This doesn't work for that, since other folders are not accessible now because of Scoped Storage. At the moment, I open them from MiXplorer, so they have content:// URIs, with the wrong encoding, like in your case. I can't access those files even if I move them to the Download folder, I guess this is because they are not in the MediaStore.Downloads table


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notification dots missing - Samsung S22
An S22 of my friend's has changed appearance overnight and now the app notification dots are not displaying on the home page icons, but the icons at the top of the screen are showing, which they apparently were not before.  How can I re-enable the dots and hide the top-of-screen icons?

"has changed appearance overnight" was this by any chance Easy Mode? Otherwise, are they using a 3rd-party home screen/launcher app?

My friend is non-technical and we were drinking last night and messing with the phone. While trying to screen share to the TV someone probably touched something and switched it over. This is apparently "my fault" and so I am tasked with fixing it.  I will look at easy mode.

I'm not sure about "top-of-screen icons" though, and it might probably help if we can get a screenshot of it...

I don't know the technical term.  Where your battery icon and signal strength and everything is.  I get the impression she normally doesn't see new text message icons up there for example usually just the dot on the bigger icon in the main part of the screen.

Ah, the notification/status bar. By default, notifications will show icons on the notification bar, while notification dots/badges can be toggled from the home screen settings; e.g. by long-pressing on an empty space of the home screen. However, there are some other settings related to the visibility of notifications, like Notifications themselves and even maybe Do Not Disturb.

ok so I added an image - you can see there are no dots on the snapchat icon for example  but there's a notification in the notification bar.  According to her she did not see the icon in the bar before for that, but there would be a dot.  Are you saying both of those things are accomplished by long-pressing the home screen and selecting some option?  this is something we could have fat fingered while handing it back and forth last night I think.

@AndrewT. go ahead and create that comment as an answer because that ultimately worked - I will mark it as accepted.  It was a little more involved to get the dots back than I would have thought so my guess about "fat-fingering" it is probably not accurate.  But fixed is fixed and I will call it a win for now.

Glad to hear it's fixed. Also, feel free to self-answer it too :)

Commenter Andrew T. gave me an answer.
Ultimately, long-pressing the background of the home-screen took me to the edit screen for the page, and there was a button in there to adjust the settings.  Within that menu was a switch to enable the notification badges for the different app icons.  I believe the notification icons were still present in the notification bar at the top of the screen, but we determined that was a success.


text:
Pixel 5 bricked after normal usage
TL;DR: My Pixel 5 won't turn on. Bootloader was never unlocked, therefore it only contains stock software. I think the last update it received was the March 2023 security update. I already talked to Google Support, they also couldn't help me.
What happened:

I used the phone normally, browsing Instagram

The built-in "App timer" Android functionality stopped Instagram since I was using it for too long
Simultaneously, I had the app drawer opened, and the interface was a bit weird (other apps looked like they were in the foreground, but didn't reacted normally. A bit hard to describe and difficult to recall from memory)
I used the gesture to get to the home screen, all seemed fine again
(I'm mentioning this here because it's the only unusual thing that happened and makes me wonder if I ran into a very weird software bug)

I locked the phone via the power button and did something else
After a while, my phone vibrated due to a push notification
I wanted to have a look. I tried to unlock it. The screen stayed black. It did some usual vibrations though, as if just the screen wouldn't turn on but the rest works

The notification was probably caused by Signal Messenger, since I checked the message a while later on my computer

Since the phone didn't react, I kept holding the power button to turn it off

Due to the first vibration, I'm still pretty sure that at that point in time the phone was working, just with a turned off screen

The phone stayed dark. No Google Logo indicating a boot process
I connected it to a charger, multiple times trying to get it to boot by holding the button for >1 minute
I connected it to my laptop. I know that I enabled developer mode / adb debugging before, therefore:

Using adb devices, I can see that there is sometimes still life in it: Most of the time it isn't listed, but sometimes it shows up as "offline" or "unauthorized" (unfortunately, none of my PCs are currently authorized via adb.)
fastboot devices doesn't show anything

The phone was charged, at least at 60% and I didn't experienced any battery issues with that particular phone before.
Google Support also didn't had any more ideas, other than sending me the repair form. Since it's out of warranty, repairing it will anyway cost as much as getting a new phone, so I'm open to any radical ideas at that point.
How can I boot the device again and make it usable?

I understand, but from your description it seems that your display or the GPU or something else like this is defect because don't even see the boot screen. Thus from my perspective the only way would be to get the phone to a repair shop.


text:
How to mount a partition on an Android device that can be read by USB on a computer when plugged in
I have a tablet that I'm doing some hacky work on. This tablet comes from the factory with a small storage partition called USERDATA, that's about 5gb. It also comes with a large storage partition called SDCARD, which is about 20gb. The 20gb partition is USB plug and play, and as soon as the tablet is pugged in, I can access it with RW permissions on a PC.
I need to flash the system partition with a modded system partition, which I have done successfully. The problem is, for some reason the modded system partition doesn't automatically mount the SDCARD partition. I'm able to mount it using the typical:
mount -o rw /dev/block/...

This works, but I no longer can access this partition on the PC over USB.
Based on the little bit of stuff I've found that seems related, it seems that there's a way to configure a daemon process that enables MTP for specific partitions.. But I can't find anything that explains how to go about it.
Any insight on how to mount a partition that allows USB access would be greatly appreciated.

Does this answer your question? Why can't I see Android storage as a partition on PC?

@IrfanLatif Not really. I've studied that answer multiple times, and I still can't seem to make heads or tails of it. It says UMS is disabled on Android 3.x and later. Well, the partition in question must not be using UMS, because it works before I flash the system partition. My question is, what mechanism is this SDCARD using to be available via usb, and how to I do the same when I remount the partition?

MTP use MediaStorageDatabase so I don't think it is configured an a certain partition or may be only indirectly through the configuration that tell this database what to index..

On some Android OS, you'll find A and B partitions on the drive in question. And from what I think, you haven't flashed it the way it's supposed to.
And on, for example, Chromecast with Google TV, you can only use FAT32　(strange because on most Android devices, you can read/write with exFAT). As long as you use exFAT, devices like PS4, PCs, tablets/phones, and even some TVs.
I always use exFAT for different device interactions, because it works beautifully. But it hasn't been Microsoft's main filesystem even though it's around 10 years old or soon will be, but they're sticking to NTFS　(I guess it's more security safe, and a file safe copy thing, I don't remember, long time since I went through this)

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center.


text:
Recover accidentally deleted texts on Samsung Galaxy S21
I accidentally deleted all my text messages on my Samsung Galaxy S21 FE.
I tried to find them in the cloud. The trash, but to no avail.
Is it possible to retrieve them?

No, if you deleted them from your device, and they are not backed up in any way, you can not get them back.


text:
How to unlock Android phone when someone is calling, without picking up?
When someone is calling, a round slider appears at the bottom of the screen and I have to slide down to reject or slide up to pick up. The slider appears in the same place as the under-screen fingerprint sensor. The unlocking pattern also doesn't seem to be accessible.
Is there any way to normally unlock Android 12 when it is still ringing?

Try pulling down the Notification bar and tap on Settings icon when the phone is ringing. Does that show lockscreen? If it does, you should be able to unlock the phone and the incoming call might automatically reduce to a heads-up notification.

Have you checked out the solution presented in this question?
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/171947/volume-up-key-to-answer-call


text:
How to access WIFI passwords in android backup?
I have backups from my previous android phone in my Samsung Account as well as in my Google Account. I do not want to restore the entire backup to my new phone, I just want to read the passwords stored in Wifi backups. (My old phone is damaged.)


text:
Why can't banking apps be backed up and restored?
Last night, I messed with the system and lost everything.
Had to wipe the phone and do the whole ceremony that comes after.
But the worst part was not restoring every single app, or restoring the trillions of permissions the system denies: The worst part is the banking apps. These apps lose permission that Titanium doesn't recover, and I have to go to the bank to recover it. Personally.
I live far from the city, and it happened to two banks.
Tired of this.
By far, not the first time.
I suppose the banking app uses a unique identification that the phone provides.
It's not the fingerprint (already tried Props), it's not the MAC address, and it's not the email.
So: how does the banking app identify the phone, and how do I spoof this identification? How do I keep it the same across wipes?

Probably using keystore, which cannot be backed up.

Thank you, Andrew. Robert (below) seems to agree.

The banking apps don't identify your device. Instead, they use cryptographic keys:
When registering your device, the app generates an asymmetric key pair (RSA or Elliptic Curves). Alternatively the bank uses a symmetric (AES) key, that is "generated" by a key agreement protocol between bank and the app. The key (pair) is generated and stored inside the AndroidKeyStore, a special security service that uses security hardware which allows to generate and store cryptographic keys. The public is sent to the bank or used to encrypt stored data of the app on the Android device.
These keys never leave the security element (ARM TrustZone, Google Titan, or Samsung Knox), they can only be used by the app that has generated it (stock device) but not extracted, so a backup is impossible. With root permissions, you can also talk to this security service so that every app with root permissions can make use of the stored keys, again extraction or backup is not possible.
Therefore, if an app makes use of this key store, you can't do what you want, the data and the app is bound to the device no matter what you do or what permissions you have (e.g. root).
Only in case the banking app uses the key to decrypt locally stored data, there would be a theoretical possibility to hack the app, use the key to decrypt the locally stored data, and then transfer the data to a new device, generate there a new key pair and re-encrypt the transferred data. But that requires individuals to hack each banking app which would take even a skilled hacker a few hours up to a few dozen hours.