text:
Automatic nightly CWM nandroid backup?
I am using Cyanogenmod with CWM and am currently doing a manual weekly Nandroid backup (plus daily scheduled TitaniumBackup runs). Needless to say, it is easy to skip or forget.
Is there a way to have the nandroid backups automated? I.e., I would like the phone to shutdown into recovery once a week, do a backup, and reboot.

I don't know about CWM but it is quite easy to do through TWRP using OpenRecoveryScript. Let me know, should you want the details.

A quick google shows it to be promising; it seems to be compatible with my device (i9100 / Galaxy S2) and OS (CM 11) and the install seems to be as easy as firing up CWM and flashing a ZIP. Do you now whether TWRP nandroid backups are 100% compatible with CWM and vice versa (i.e. can I restore a backup made in either of those recoveries with the other one)? If you can add an answer with more details on how to get the backup to run automatically (without manually having to enter recovery; say every Sunday at 4am or something like that), that would be great.

Provided that you're using TWRP with version 2.1 or higher, you can make good use of OpenRecoveryScript.
The concept: When booted into recovery mode TWRP looks for a file named openrecoveryscript under the location /cache/recovery/. If the file is found, it is read and the instructions therewith executed accordingly. Once all the instructions are finished executing, the device reboots normally. All of this happens automatically the moment TWRP is fired up.
The important steps to make an automatic nandroid backup using TWRP are:

Create the file openrecoveryscript under /cache/recovery. You would need root access to write into that location.
Write into that file the instructions you want TWRP to execute. In my case I write:

backup SDCBM WeeklyBackup

You can understand the details about the command here. In short, I'm simply backing up System(S), Data(D), Cache(C), Boot(B) without creating MD5sums(M) and saving the backup with the name WeeklyBackup. The backup would automatically be saved under /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/<device_serial>.
Afterwards, I set the appropriate permission on that script using the command:
chmod 664 /cache/recovery/openrecoveryscript;

Here's what I use to make an automatic backup in my Nexus 6:

I found an automation app which allows editing a file, copying a file to directories with privileged access, or provides command-line access with superuser/root privileges. (I personally use Tasker, but MacroDroid and Automate may also work.)
I created a day based profile in conjunction with a time based profile to trigger the backup on a certain day of the week/month and at a specific time.
Related: How to create a profile with multiple context in Tasker?
I added a task in that profile with following actions:

Code → Run Shell:

Command:

echo backup SDCBM WeeklyBackup > /cache/recovery/openrecoveryscript;
chmod 664 /cache/recovery/openrecoveryscript;

The first command would create the file openrecoveryscript and write the backup instruction in it.
tick Use Root.

System → Reboot → Type: Recovery.

The profile and task is very flexible, so you can make it more convenient to you, such as by pushing a notification or a toast with a time wait action at the beginning that the system would now make backup, so you should save your work or stop doing any important task and more...


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What are the correct specs of Tecno W3 smart phone?
I would like to by Tecno W3 smart phone (Android 6.0 Marshmallow).
I googled to know its GPU. Some websites said it's Mali-400 GPU such as:

http://bestmobs.com/tecno-w3/
http://naijaquest.com/tecno-w3-specs-features-reviews-and-price-official/

And other websites said it's Mali-400MP2 GPU such as:

http://www.androidphonesinnigeria.com/tecno-w3-full-specifications-features-price/
http://www.droidafrica.com/tecno-w3-brings-android-60/

The official website of the phone does not give any information about the GPU nor the part number of the CPU IC.
How can I know the real GPU when I test the phone at the shop? Is there an android test code? Thank you very much,

Test it with CPU-Z when you're in store and permitted to access the device.

When and how can CPU-Z detect the core count of GPU?

@iBug One can infer the GPU from the SoC model itself. It's not like the phone will use an SoC that's off the charts or specially made...

That's indirect. A straightforward solution is better.

@iBug Well, what you posted is also doing such inference...

I'm going to take out the inference and give a direct instruction.

TL;DR If your model supports 4G LTE, then its GPU is Mali-400 MP2. If it has no 4G support, its GPU is Mali-400 MP (single core).
I noticed that there might be 2 different models of that phone. Older one (doesn't support 4G cellular network) uses MediaTek MT6572, while newer one (4G cellular) uses MT6582.
Both MT6572 and MT6582 have ARM Mali-400 GPU built in. MT6572 has only one GPU core, thus called Mali-400 MP. MT6582 has 2 cores built, so it's called Mali-400 MP2.
ARM Mali-400 is the name of the core (and architecture), while MP2 states that there are 2 Mali-400 cores. So in all, Mali-400 MP2 is a specific configuration of Mali-400.
The two different statement do not conflict with each other, only the first one not telling how many cores there is.

+1: Much more detailed info than mine. Mind sharing where you found out the exact SoC the phone is using? I've been using PDAdb but it doesn't include the least popular devices like this one in question.

@AndyYan "Tecno W3" has an MT6572, whereas "Tecno W3-H806" has an MT6582. I couldn't find the model number of the MT6572 model.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Remote control widget
I am looking to develop a remote control widget on the Android platform which is similar in concept to the JustABlip remote control widget on iOS. So wanted to know whether the android architecture can support such kind of widget development.
https://itunes.apple.com/hk/app/justablip-remote-control-widget/id944174429?l=zh&mt=8

The Smart Remote/Peel remote apps work well. can't remember, but one of them is a messenger-style bubble.

Questions like that are off-topic, man. However, there is already an app like it.
ONLY ONE CAN REMAIN
Ahem,
Try the Smart Remote app. Now, I know it's by Samsung (So you are choosing to install crapware) but it Has all sorts of features, including having the remote-get this!- in the notification tray. Try it out some time.
Disclaimer- An android phone may need an IR blaster, or the target device to control allow control over the internet. Like a sky+HD box.
Suprsingly useful: http://www.gottabemobile.com/2015/03/18/how-to-use-the-galaxy-note-4-as-a-remote-control/

@stud91 No problem.

But isn't Samsung discontinuing IR blasters? Your app might be for personal use only or have a very short shelf life.

@user145490 true, but it can work on non-samsung phones. Also, it's been out for quite some time, so it already has a decent shelf life. Samsung may stop supporting IR, but I doubt it will just be cut off by other devs too.

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


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Samsung galaxy S4 not charging
One day my Samsung stopped charging, as to my battery was swelling up. The following day I bought a new battery and it is still giving me the same problem. It does not charge or show any sign that it is working. Does anyone know a solution? I've tried many that I've viewed on youtube, but still doesn't work.

Consider changing your battery for your safety perpuse and dispose battery with care.

it's explosion protection that kicked in

@VivekJi they had already replaced the swollen battery

@SargeBorsch Haven't heard of explosion protection. Kindly expound on it.

Battery swelling up is an indication of battery in terminal stages . It's good that you decided to replace with a new battery
If the new battery is not charging, possible reasons:

a) It could be a rip off battery
b) battery charging is prevented by a transparent plastic foil on the terminals which is preventing contact. Examine carefully and peel it off . See this for a similar issue with S3 batteries
Phone only works with busted battery
C) there is a genuine problem with hardware
First eliminate b) then check for a) by borrowing a battery and if both are ruled out, your problem is C) for which only service center can fix

Your USB port maybe damaged. It's very cheap and easy to replace. I did on mine after the phone had trouble charging, and it worked great afterwards.


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Some icons missing all-together
Below I discuss SuperSu as an example but I suspect there are more apps affected as well.
I go to open SuperSu and discover that its nowhere to be found.

I tried GoogleNow launcher
I tried Nova launcher
I tried searching for it on both launchers

To complicate things further, it still manages my phone, I still see SuperUser grant permission boxes or requests for root access.

Ive checked for it being disabled, uninstalled, or frozen and its not
Ive checked the MainActivity for being disabled but its not, also tried disabling and re enabling the MainActivity to no avail

I then tried restarting the phone which also didn't work
The only way I have managed to open it is through ADB shell access
am start -n eu.chainfire.supersu/eu.chainfire.supersu.MainActivity
Once manually opened it runs just fine but glancing at the RecentApps icon list, SuperSu has no logo/icon, its an empty placeholder with SuperSu text below it

I'm now growing concerned that there may be several other apps who are the same way and after rumaging through google for a while now I cant find any answers
My only theory thus far is a running optimization program by 3c toolbox that runs on boot which Ive disabled and trims partitions, cleans cache, and optimizes databases which I didn't even know 3c was doing that so disabled immediately but not sure if its relevant or not. My last hope is just re-installing the entire system but I'm hoping to avoid that

Well I found SuperSU in the settings menu. I don't mind it there but it did throw me off as I do remember it being in the apps list and being searchable.
So I'm not sure if it's suppose to be in both or not but for the time being I'm marking it as answered.
If this is still not normal and it's suppose to be in both places or searchable let me know here


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The dimensions of my home screen and app drawer have reduced
I had my note 4 sm-n910c running marshmallow rooted by supersu chainfire. Today i hit the pro button on supersu and gave it a restart....eversince i have everything shrunk down to small sizes .even the touchwiz, internet all had crashed and wouldnt work, so i had to switch to touchwiz easyhome and chrome. Finally i understood its the dpi problem and restored it using build.prop method. But the dimensions of my homescreen and app drawer dont touch the bottom of the screen. I cant upload my images here but to be exact.the buttons or the scrolls which represent number of pages used to be 14.5cm diagonally but now they are just 10.5 cm diagonally. Youtube whatsapp everything works on full screen. Even the camera had a 10.5 cm covered and the rest area is a black screen. Also my notification bar and other things are still small but managable.
P.S - i have tried dpi combinations and thats not the reason for this malfunction. Also everything still looks thin and small

Try su then wm density reset and wm size reset from ADB shell.
Please remove any lockscreen protection - including swipe - prior to doing this, so that if anything goes wrong you're still past the lockscreen and therefore still has ADB access.


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What is the difference between MiraCast, MirrorShare, Google Cast and Chromecast?
I am a bit confused by my Android TV:

There is an app called Mirroring. When I start it, it asks me to use a thing called Miracast.
On my phone (Huawei) there is an app called MirrorShare. It was the only mirroring-related app, so I decided to try it.
After starting it, with my surprise, my TV got displayed as a compatible device. I connected to it and it seemed to work: my phone's screen (with A LOT of delay) got mirrored on my TV.
In the TV settings there is also an entry called "Google Cast". So why is it now Google Cast and not "Miracast" or whatever it's called?
I searched for Google Cast on Play Store and I found the official app by Google.
I installed it. Even this time, the TV got detected, but when I tried connecting, I noticed the delay of the screen was A LOT LESS, for example, Asphalt 8 was pretty playable.
I searched on the Internet for all these terms, and another word I saw everywhere was "Chromecast".

What is the difference between these technologies? Are some of these different ways to call the same thing? Wasn't Chromecast that little item you stick behind your non-smart TV to see Netflix or YouTube on it?

Google Cast and Miracast are 2 different technologies and protocols.
Miracast primarily allows wireless screen mirroring, and support is usually built-in in the OS in modern Android devices and Windows 8.1+.
Google Cast additionally allows transferring external multimedia stream to the remote screen without decoding it on the mobile device, but support for this depends on the application.
Miracast is often branded with proprietary label, most probably, in your case MirrorShare is Miracast.
Chromecast may refer to either the Google Cast protocol or a dongle which allows to use Google Cast on the TV without built-in support.

If you play a movie in your phone and use Miracast, the TV will get sound and image as if you plug in a HDMI cable on it, but your phone have to play the movie as well. But if you choose Chromecast, you can lock your phone but still having the movie played in the TV.
Miracast can work without Wi-Fi, but Chromecast can't.

Miracast does not use the Ethernet network provided by WiFi, but it uses the 'WiFi' infrastructure using something called 'WiFi Direct'.
Recent upgrades (2023) to Miracast now allow 'some' apps to 'cast' ('App Cast') to the TV without having to dedicate the phone screen to the same content. Netflix works this way on my phone.

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


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Note 4 Verizon Branded
I just activated my note 4 it's through Verizon but I switched it to AT&T and am now using it for cricket. Only problem is I want the Verizon boot logo off and all the Verizon based default apps and junk. How can I remove this from my phone permanently?

Verizon and AT&T locks down the bootloader of its phones, usually killing possibilities of root and custom ROMs in the progress. Luckily it seems Note4 has an unlock solution (read here and here), although it does require your current build to be old enough (Lollipop). After that, flash a custom recovery and a custom ROM and you're flying with no Verizon bullsh!t and generally better performance.

I believe I just watched a whole video on how to do this but i ran into a block on my windows 10. It wouldn't let me install samsung mobile phone drivers for some stupid reason! It just prompted me saying this publisher is blocked and I have everything set on the phone just right this thing is killing me.

Yeah it's exactly what I just tried, any advice on the blocking of the USB drivers? All it says is "this publisher is blocked from running software on your machine but it wont let me fix it I've tried turning the security off, I've gone to the link it gives me but it just brings me to the windows help center. And then it just starts giving me blocking messages saying it's been blocked.

@Frobinson8 Disable signature enforcement (i.e. enable test mode) from command prompt. You will see how to do it by searching (hint: involves bcdedit).

I keep trying different ways to stop the problems I run into, and when I fix them another problem occurs somewhere else. What about Verizon is making this more complicated than usual? Also when will easier methods come out? Also i tried to downgrade my device but i ran into problems, does it matter how far i downgrade? I also seem to keep having problems when dealing with my commands in cmd like im missing files or it cant find path to my phone.

also is there a really and i mean REALLY simple step by step walk-through tutorial on how to accomplish root and bootloader for the verizon note 4

What you get when you purchase stuff from AT&T/Verizon. It's already a miracle they come up with a way to unlock the bootloader unofficially. Don't think twice, just push yourself into doing it.


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Can I use Jio SIM in the second slot of my Redmi 3s Prime phone?
Can I use Jio SIM in the second slot of my Redmi 3s Prime phone? The second SIM slot is a nano type SIM slot. Please clear my doubt as soon as you can.

Define 'use'. Since your phone does not support voLTE, you have to use Reliance app Jio4GVoice to make phone calls using your Jio SIM. Of course for Internet connectivity you dont need this app.

Not all dual SIM phones have 4G + 4G support.
It is mostly 4G + 2G(or sometimes 3G).
It is not predetermined which SIM slot will be able to use the 4G bands and which won't.
Usually when a dual SIM phone is booted for the first time with two SIM cards, on the setup screen it asks the user to select which SIM card would be used for mobile data. Whichever is selected becomes the primary data SIM slot and is subsequently used for 4G LTE or 3G whichever the phone supports. The second slot in most phones either cannot use data or even if it does, cannot use the 4G or 3G bands- whichever the phone supports and the first SIM slot can use.
In case of hybrid dual SIM phones with single SIM does not arise as there is only one SIM card in use, and the device will automatically use whichever SIM slot is occupied as it's primary data SIM and will switch to 4G if available.
There is no official confirmation of Redmi 3S Prime being a 4G + 4G phone. Seeing how it is a budget phone, it is most likely 4G + 3G/2G.
If you are booting the device for the first time after inserting both the SIM cards (doesn't matter if Jio SIM is in second SIM slot, you can select the Jio SIM when prompted to select which SIM you want to use for data and it'll work.
If you inserted the Jio SIM in the second slot after having already booted the device, it probably won't work. What you have to do in this case is reset the phone, and when you see the setup screen, select the slot in which you have put the Jio SIM, and you'll be good to go.

Jio4GVoice app automatically reads the first SIM slot.So put the Jio Sim in the first slot if you are using an LTE device. If you are using a voLTE device, you can use either of the SIM slots.

I have seen in some internet videos that jio works in second sim slot of redmi 3s after changing certain network and access point settings. But in some videos,internet is working but calling is not possible. When i tried on my own redmi 3s, I too could not get a volte sign and so could not make a call. However,we can install jio4gvoice app and call using that app without any problem.

Yes, you can use on sim slot 2, only if it supports 4G too.  I am now using in my second slot in my Galaxy E5 4G mobile.


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Does rooting an android phone effectively also unlock it from network
If you root an android phone does this also unlock it from a network?
I.e. say you had a moto g locked to the vodafone network, and then you rooted the phone, would it then be unlocked from vodafone?

Unfortunately not. Rooting gives you access, unlocking allows you to use a phone with other networks.
http://www.howtogeek.com/135663/htg-explains-whats-the-difference-between-jailbreaking-rooting-and-unlocking/


text:
Remove "Software Update" app from device
I have an android device, with which I am facing this spam ad notification issue since quite a few months.
See below screenshot for reference.

Initially I used ignore them and close them by swiping them out of the notification area. But when the frequency of their occurrence got really high, I decided to get rid of the culprit app.
So I googled and found that by pressing for few seconds on the notification we can see the App Info menu appear in the notification area as shown in the below screenshot.

I hoped, that I would be able to uninstall the problematic app, but it wasn't to be. Clicking on App Info led me to below shown app.

As you can see, there is no option to uninstall the app. I am not sure from where this app came and is it of any use. I just want to remove this app and eventually the ad notification, as sometimes there are some ads for adults only and with my kid playing games on my device its obviously not good.
Force Stop doesn't help, neither does clearing data and cache, as the app gets started again after some time. Once you Force Stop or clear data and cache, the app appears in the All Apps section instead of running.

But after few minutes or hours it start running again causing the troublesome ad notifications.
I tried searching for removal of this app but my efforts were in vain.

For the time being you can use a firewall app to stop that app from accessing internet.

If your mobile is rooted, use System App Remove tool from play store & remove the system App.
If mobile is Non-rooted : I don't think that voonik advertise is generated from your software update as it is a pre installed system app, but still you can try to clear cache & force stop and check if advertise is still popping up or not. If it is still popping then check other apps you have downloaded...
Last option should be factory reset..

I should have mentioned, I've already tried clearing data and cache with Force Stop. But it has the same result. After some time the app would be running and would have some data increased > 468KB.

Software update is an essential app for android OS to help you keep up to date with latest version available for your android.
But as you mentioned, you get annoying ads via the app.
I suggest you to not to remove the software update app.
First of all you must be rooted!
Just google to get info.
You should download lucky patcher app.
And patch it to get rid of google ads.
Belive me it works.
Download lucky patcher app- http://lucky-patcher.netbew.com/
Lucky patcher guide- https://www.wattpad.com/125568455-lucky-patcher-tutorial-hack-in-app-purchase

That's actually an adware app in Micromax to fetch and display ADs, just packaged with the name "System Update" to delude us to think it's the app responsible for OTA updates..
I face the same problem in my dad's Micromax Canvas Tab P680.
That app cannot be uninstalled because it's an system app (you need to be rooted to do that as others have said), and neither can the app be disabled nor the notifications be disabled from the App Info.
You can use the app "Notify Block" to block the notifications from that app (or any other Notification Blocker app)
Or as @Firelord suggested, you can use a firewall app like Mobiwol: NoRoot Firewall to block internet connectivity of that app.


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Unfortunetly google play services has stopped
I just recently updated to marshmallow on my Oneplus X, ever since I did that I've been getting notification that "Unfortunately, Google Play Services has stopped." I've done tons of research and tried many things like clearing the cache, force stopping it, uninstalling updates, rebooting my phone, messing with the wifi. Even after all of that it won't go away. The message is popping up every 2-3 seconds and is really making it hard for me to do anything. Is there anything else I can do or should I get help??

Fixed it! If anyone else is struggling with this problem, try the following. Go to settings > apps > Google+, disable the app. After that, reboot your phone and it should be fixed!

Possible duplicate of Google Play Services Has stopped message continually popping up on my Samsung phone

You do not need to 'disable' the entire Google+ app. Your Play Services can stop working due to several other reasons.
First - Install the latest Google Play Services .apk file!
Second - If installing that doesn't fix, clear the Google Play Services cache. The Google Play Services app in your phone acts like a framework for all the Google and Google Play apps installed in your phone. You can try cleaning up its cache and see if that would fix the issue. This worked with one of our team members! Read these quick and easy steps :

Go to Settings > Apps.
Scroll to All apps and then scroll down to "Google Play Services"
app.
Open the app details and tap on the "Force stop" button.
Then, tap on the "Clear cache" button.

Could you attach reference points and list causes of the problem.

What if the "Force stop" button is disabled/greyed out?

I was facing this same issue. Its resolved now.
Just uninstall google + and reboot.
It will work.

Google+ is installed as a system app on some devices and can't be uninstalled without root.

This isn't a viable option for those who use G+ and experience this problem. Wouldn't recommend it as an answer.


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Why phone screens have full brightness during boot time?
A simple question.
Why do phone screens have to be set at full brightness during power-up? (Maybe at that time the hardware's light sensor/s is initializing?)
Why did the developer/manufacturers not set the display's brightness to a lower value to allow a better User Experience?
p.s.- this came to my mind when I was restarting my phone, multiple times while debugging my Xposed module and being terribly sorry for my eyes to be having to look at the bright display.

We can't really say why... My guess is the hardware defaults to full until the OS starts and the power management services start controlling things. This question will net purely opinion answers though, I don't think there is a definitive answer

Use a fully black bootanimation if you want to keep your eyes easy :P

@AndyYan this makes me look stupid. xD

@acejavelin given the long time we have been using mobile devices (and this thing/problem still exists), I am sure there should be a strong reason to blare my display everytime I restart...

@vijayant I assume that the "strong reason" is nobody cares. Who stares at bootanimations when you can put the phone down and grab a coffee?


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How to change default keyboard on Android N?
Somehow my default keyboard got changed.  I used to be able to go to Settings -> Language and Input and then there was something that would let me change the keyboard.  Now under "Keyboard and input methods" I only see "Virtual keyboard" and "Physical Keyboard".  When I select the former it lists all the keyboards I have installed and enabled, but doesn't show me which one is the selected keyboard.  If I tap any of the keyboards it takes me to the settings for that keyboard, which doesn't provide me with any way to make that keyboard the default.  Long pressing does the same thing.  There is nothing helpful under the menus.  If I tap on "Manage keyboards" it shows me all the keyboards installed, and a mini-slider showing if each is enabled or not and allowing me to change.  But again, nothing to set the default!
How do I change the default keyboard in Android N?
Update: Apparently Google doesn't even know how to do this - I contacted chat support and the agent wasn't able to help me!

It appears that some keyboards offer something under their keyboards (e.g. a special key) to switch keyboards.  However others, such as the Google Keyboard do not.
However, what I have discovered is that whenever the on-screen keyboard is up, no matter which keyboard it is, there is a new virtual button at the bottom right of the screen with the icon of a keyboard.  When I tap this icon a dialog box pops up to change the keyboard.

Whenever you can input text, a "Select keyboard" notification should appear:

Select keyboard notification / default keyboard (click images for larger variants)
Clicking on that will bring you to a screen with all of your enabled keyboards for selection (second screenshot). Selecting one of these options will set it as the default keyboard anytime your keyboard appears.

I just figured out how to do the same thing on the Google keyboard while searching for the same thing. Hold down the little globe icon to the left of the Spacebar and it will list all available keyboards.

Click to enlarge

TL,DR: try reinstalling your keyboard app
If you're like me and none of the three other solutions worked (keyboard button, globe button, or holding spacebar) Try uninstalling and reinstalling your keyboard app. With mine part of the first time set up included it bringing up the default keyboard selection. I can't get to settings disable it now but that doesn't really matter...

OK I had to go to my apps under Google play and click Gboard. Then I got a wizard that allowed me to set gbaord as default. Samsung default keyboard sucks. Gboard is better.

I had the same problem.  I installed Gboard and it would then let me turn off Samsung Keyboard.  After that, I was able to set the other keyboard I've used for a long time as the default

Spacebar trick didn't work for me and there was no globe icon on my Samsung keyboard.
I searched for my keyboard of choice (G Board) in the Play Store, opened it and select it as my default from there.

Please explain what the "Spacebar trick" is.

Some keyboards let you change languages by swiping the spacebar left or right. It might have the text [ < English> ]. This however is changing 1 keyboard's language rather than switching the keyboard itself.

Press and hold spacebar. A pop up will appear after that where you can choose  your default  keyboard.


text:
Can a galaxy s6 fit a s6 edge case?
I have a galaxy s6 and I love it I do, but,  all of the cases that I like are for the edge and I don't really like that many I see for my phone. I like the glittery cases and all of them say for a galaxy s6 edge.  Could I fit my old s6 into one of these cases?

Different dimensions (height and width). The part reserved for the edge on S6E will also bring trouble for S6. Don't bother.


text:
Tricking the file system to mount a LINK2SD drive as mnt/extsd
I've got a device that is using the brilliant LINK2SD to expand the system memory onto the SD......all good.
As part of the implementation, the app mounts the two SD card partitions as:

FAT32 /mnt/extsd/179_49

and

EXT4 /mnt/extsd/179_50

Of course a regular FAT32 SD card mounts as /mnt/extsd so the problem then presents itself with some apps that are hard coded to look for /mnt/extsd for SD storage.....apps like Camera fail with errors similar to can't find SD card etc.
My question is how can I mount/trick the system to mount the FAT32 partition /mnt/extsd/179_49 as /mnt/extsd ???
I've got root access, terminal etc.
Any ideas folk ?
Cheers
David

What Android Version is your device? Mention it in the question, because if it's JellyBean or below, you can do that by simply editing the vold.fstab, or for KitKat and above, I'm afraid you'll need to edit the ramdisk in boot.img

/mnt/extsd/179_49
/mnt/extsd/179_50
/mnt/extsd

some type of round-robin.
Your going to have to move your data in '49 & '50 to someother directories. mkdir /sdcard/externalData
rmdir '49
rmdir '50
rmdir extsd

cd mnt
ln -s /sdcard/externalData extsd

cd extsd
ln -s /sdcard/new49 179_49

ln -s /sdcard/new50 179_50

Whether this will work will depends on the capabilities of ln.  This would work in normal unix  / linux boxes.
R

It's not that easy in Android even if we have root access.. @historystamp


text:
I can't find files taking up space in my android phone
I have bought Lenovo k4 note and have recently upgraded to Marshmallow. So I've 16 GB of internal memory out of which the Android 6.0 inbuilt memory app inside storage and USB setting, says 5.37 GB is OS occupied. 9.46 GB out of 10.63 GB is used. Further break down are as follows:

Apps 5.29 GB
Images 105 MB
Videos 8 KB
Audio 588 KB
Other 488 MB
Cached Data 183 MB

Which totals to 6.066 GB.
So now subtracting 6.066 GB from 9.46 GB I get 3.394 GB which I can't understand where it went.
Still after going inside file manager and clicking the view hidden files these are what I get:

Android 2.17 GB
Download 278.01 MB
Shareit 200 MB
WhatsApp 136 MB
Pictures 74 MB
Books 52 MB
DCIM 29 MB

Which comes to around 3 something GB and still 3 GB are missing.. so.. around 6 GB of files are not showing.. I am unable to find the files that are taking up space. Can anyone help please.

Do cleaning apps that clean the hidden/system cache (like CCleaner for Android) find the used storage (and suggest to delete it)?

How disk space is used on Android device?

I also had the same problem with my Android.
But after doing some researches i found that the google apps Google docs Google sheets and Google slide are taking much space .
When i looked for the app info of these apps, i found that all of these are taking at least 200mb of space where as i never use them.
So i cleared the data and all problems solved.
But if still the problem does not solve, you should finally factory reset your device.
Hope it helps.

There might be some hidden files on your phone that occupy the 3 GB. Suggest you download ES file explorer. Then you enable Show hidden files to look for the hidden files.

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


text:
How to access and modify previous commands (bash history) in Termux
I use Termux on my Fairphone 2 and I want to speed up working with it. What slows me down is not having an up arrow key that I can use to access the last command in my bash history. I can do !! !7 and so on, but most of the time I don't want to actually repeat the commands, I just want to do something similar. I know some keyboard shortcuts to work with my bash history but they require a ctrl key, which none of my keyboards have. I use

AnySoftKeyboard
Hacker's Keyboard
AOSP Keyboard

None of them have up arrow or ctrl keys
At the moment, I select and copy text by touching, but this is still slow.
How can I access my previous commands more quickly?

See the Termux help page for how to input arrow keys using the VolumeUp button, VolumeDown for Ctrl and some additional shortcuts!
Volume Up+W → Up arrow key

Congratulations for your app, mister.

You said you use Hacker's Keyboard. If you turn the device into landscape mode Hacker's Keyboard does indeed have all four arrow keys along with ctrl & alt.

I use AnySoftKeyboard and it has up arrows on the code section :)

Volume UP + Q to add Ctrl, esc, tab, alt Keys on Termux

I seem to get a printed q if I do that


text:
Why Swiftkey not visible in OxygenOS 3.1 Search?
I have installed Swiftkey in my system. However, search does not show it. Going to play store, I see it is installed, and only there, I can open it.
Fig. 1 Search successful,
Fig. 2 Swiftkey visible in Play Store,
Fig. 3 Open button for Swiftkey,
Fig. 4 Frontend of Swiftkey,
Fig. 5 State of application after disabling and force quitting it,
Fig. 6 State of application after disabling, force quitting and "uninstalling" it

It started to persist in OO 3.1.
I created the ticket #712004 about the issue in Oneplus technical ticket system.
Uninstallation attempts
Unsuccessful uninstallation witohut disabling and/or force stopping application first.

I pressed uninstall the application.
However, doing so, it is not really uninstalled.
You see the situation in Fig. 3.
Reboot the phone, and you still get the same result.
You cannot uninstall it by dragging the icon to uninstall menu because no such icon exists.

Procedure for the partial uninstallation of the application i.e. deactivation, since there exists an evidence about its existence in Fig. 5 in the system

Press the Menu key and choose Settings → Apps → Manage applications OR tap 'Apps' (depending on device)
Scroll down to and tap SwiftKey
Force stop application
Disable application
Select 'Uninstall' in Play store now; OR uninstallation process will automatically start if you selected it before force stop and/or disable
Reboot

Output: the application is not active but we can see the application is still in the system register in Fig. 6 although we diasbled, force quitted and "uninstalled" it in Fig. 5.
Phone: Oneplus two
OS: OxygonOS 3.1

Official Oneplus answer about the topic

Revert OS back to 3.0 over remote session

Since this issue have occurred after an update then I would like to suggest that you undergo a remote session. This could be a compatibility issue thus I suggest that you revert back to the previous OS version where you are having no issues at all.

This choice is one viable solution because the normal uninstallation of the application does not work.
However, I did not agree with them and required for more steps about uninstalling the specific application and studying the system why the condition exists.
I also gave 1 star rating for SwiftKey to signal the current problem. I will remove it as soon as possible the problem is understood and fixed in both sides.


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app for better calls
when I talk with someone over facebook messenger the voice quality is unbleivable, the other person can hear a mosquito flying
But when I call someone normal over the phone, the voice is very weak
So I know it is not from my phone because I have the problem on 2 different phones from different brands, so is there any app that can manage the calls with a voice quality like facebook messenger

Are they both on the same carrier? If so, it could simply be a bad cellular connection or just a bad network. A different voice app shouldn't fix that, if it is happening on two different phones.
You could try communicating with people using a messaging app, such as calling on Messenger, or if you don't want to do that try a different messaging app that can call such as Viber, WhatsApp, or Signal (which uses E2E encryption, by the way). They are all available in the communication section of Google Play. I would link them, but I just joined the site and don't have enough reputation.
If you want to be able to call real numbers, without the recipient having to download an app, you should be able to try Hangouts Dialer. Hangouts Dialer calls real numbers using the Google Voice telephony system, so you can call your friends through a phone number provided by Google. It should provide decent sound quality, as long as you have a fair network connection.
If you have any more questions, please comment and let me know. I hope this helped!


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How to dismiss configurations from my lock screen in Android 6?
I have just bought my first Android phone (Hauwei P8 lite). It came with Android 5.0, but it updated to Android 6.0.
I have configured it to have notifications on the lock screen, which I like. What is really bothering me is that I cannot dismiss them from the lock screen. Even if I swipe them to the right, it asks for my password and if I enter the password, the app that sued the notification is opened.
Is there any way to remove the notifications, clearing the lock screen, but not opening the app?
(By dismiss I mean that I want that single notification to go away, but I expect new notifications from that app to appear, so I do not want to change the configurations)


text:
Broken OnePlus One - Data recovery possible?
So I've got a OnePlus One that's been badly smashed up (no screen or digitizer), and I was wondering if there's any hope of trying to rescue some (or even all) of the data off it?
Some details:
1 - The device still switches on
2 - It's running the latest version of Cyanogen OS (I think 13.1.12)
3 - It's still recognized by my PC when I connect it via USB. (I can't retrieve any data from it because of that annoying thing where you first have to give it permission when you plug it in)
4 - USB Debugging wasn't enabled, so ADB isn't picking it up either.
Any help/advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Hmm.. I have a couple questions first, and then I will provide answers.
Did you ever use a service such as Google Photos to back up photos?
If you have Verizon, did Verizon Cloud back them up?
If none of your data was backed up, I'm not sure if you can save your photos, but you should be able to restore your apps when you get a new phone. If you visit the Google My Activity page, and scroll down to Device Information, it should be checked. If it isn't, try checking it, and it should be able to back up if the device still turns on.
This backs up your apps, and if you buy a new Android phone and login with the same account, it should ask if you want to restore your apps from a backup. I'm really sorry about your phone, and I know this is not a great solution, but it was the best I could come up with.
In the future, however, consider an app like Google Drive, Google Photos, or OneDrive for backing up photos on WiFi. I recommend Google Photos, as they give free unlimited storage and have awesome categorization features. Anyway, I hope my answer helped and I hope you can get a new phone.


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Internal storage not mounting on all Android M ROMs
I have a problem with my HTC Desire 816G (MT6592). Whenever I install the Android M ROM, internal storage doesn't mount. My phone's internal storage doesn't appear in USB mode and nor in file manager. The phone's features like Gallery, Camera, Recording, etc., are not working on all Marshmallow ROMs. Lollipop and Kit Kat work fine. I didn't have this problem with Marshmallow ROMs before. I've been stuck for around 2 weeks now.

Try to format internal storage with /system, /data, /cache. Do these format with recovery, whatever you are using.
Do it multiple times until all of them get mounted and internal storage shows your space.
Two days before on my new rom flashing I got hell out of that situation by doing so as written above.

tried it, didn't work :(


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USB tethering not working properly
I'm using one plus two. I tried everything but still the option 'USB tethering - USB not connected' is like this and I'm not able to able or disable it, it's Grey.... Please help me guys

Here is a checklist of what you need:

Is the cable you are using the official one that came with the phone?
Some third party cables are untrustworty
Is your computer's USB socket working correctly and transferring
data? You can check this by plugging in a simple USB flash drive. This is the most likely problem because android should enable this option as soon as it detects it is connected to a computer.


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How much voltage does “Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman (WT19)” needs (for replacing the charger)?
I need to get a new charger for my phone, wich is a "Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman" and mine is WT19a, in the wiki article says there is another model called WT19i. I need to know the exact voltage needed.
This is the manual in pdf to download easily.
I read that manual and search for this keywords: battery, voltage, current (electricity usage) and there is no info regarding the voltage needed.
According to this answer, the most important to match in a charger for a phone is the specific voltage. The current has to be greater. I need to know both things, but with only the voltage we can call it a day.
The battery says both 3.7 V and 4.2 V in two different places with unknown Asian characters surrounding.
Wich charger do I need?

The voltage of your battery is not relevant. You will need a normal microUSB cable with a standard 1A USB charger, which is ~5V. Why would you think you need anything different? In general, especially among major manufacturers, they use a standard USB interface but allow for a higher current charge, Sony/Ericsson is no different.

Thanks!. Why wouldn't I think I need something different? I don't know how you know that. I am surprised that the same chargers can work for different phones.

@Santropedro That's why specifications are drafted and enforced. You don't want to go out without a charger and let your phone die on the way just because nobody has the same phone.

@AndyYan Ok but how do you know this phone obeys the exact same specification? If all phones respect a specification there should be sources on the internet that explain that. Nobody is providing me with that.

@Santropedro It is a USB device, all USB devices MUST follow the specifications for USB or they cannot be considered USB devices. If you are questioning this at all, look at your old charger, it should have it's input and output specifications on it. In general, all smartphones manufacturered within the last 6-7 years all adhere to the same standards for charging, although the physical connection may vary within the specifications (microUSB, miniUSB, USB-C, etc) they all follow the same standards.


text:
Allow download on a specific wifi-connection
Is there a way I can restrict downloads on all networks apart from a specific one which has no bandwidth limitation?

Goto Data usage,  network limitations. Here you can mark networks as metered.
Tested on Android 6 & 7.


text:
Lost tethering access and slow internet after uninstalling root firewall
Since I uninstalled root firewall, I've been facing a lot of bugs concerning network connectivity; I lost tethering access and the internet became so slow. Even browsers have reported "connection refused" issues.
How to fix this?

Which specific firewall are we talking about?

I dont know what you mean but i was using "Android firewall". It's available on play store.

With the help of a root browser, navigate to /system/bin/ and clear the content of the following files: iptables, ip6tables (using the text editor that comes with root browser) then set permissions for each file to read & execute only.
(Remark: This will also restore tethering access)


text:
How can I get the apk file of an app?
A while ago, I asked a question which has been deleted by Community

Some Android apps are in fact ebooks. For example, Learn Lisp
Is it possible to convert android app ebook to pdf or some other document file types? Are there apps to
  do that?

Andrew T. commented that:

For this particular app: get the APK, open it with zip viewer, and
  browse the /assets folder; they're in HTML files. I can't answer if
  there's an automated way to convert it to PDF because the content
  structure will not be the same for other apps.

Firelord commented that

@AndrewT. good approach. You can add certain tweaks and I think it
  would make a good answer, well at least for some apps, if not for all.
  In Android, download busybox, get the APK, and then do unzip -l APK_PATH | grep -E "FILETYPE$". If there exists a file with your
  extension, its path in APK would be listed. If the developer went to
  lengths to change the extension and hide the file, then this would
  fail.

My questions are:

How can I get the APK file of an app after installing it from Google Play?
Once I find the APK file of an app, can I copy it out of my android phone to my Ubuntu laptop and then extract the hidden document file in the apk file? Or do I have to extract on my android phone?

Thanks.

How can I get the APK file of an app after installing it from Google Play?

Multiple ways, but the easiest one, I suppose, is to install a backup type app such as App Backup Restore. Take the backup of the the target app and its APK would be saved inside a directory under the default storage (/sdcard).

Once I find the APK file of an app, can I copy it out of my android phone to my Ubuntu laptop and then extract the hidden document file in the apk file? Or do I have to extract on my android phone?

An APK is an archive (MIME type: application/zip). You can copy it to your laptop alike any multimedia file.
As for the extraction of the contents, there are multiple apps on Play Store which supports extracting a ZIP file, so it is up to you to extract the app on Android or in your PC to explore its contents.

Connect your phone to your desktop with usb. make sure your desktop have the adb utility and a suitable driver for your phone is installed.

adb start-server ; `adb devices´ ##make sure device is connected.
adb shell pm list packages|grep -i "keyword"  ##get the package full name, eg,my phone will get "package:com.sonyericsson.music" by running in  powershell>> adb shell pm list packages|grep  -i music
define the package's path "package:/data/app/com.sonyericsson.music-2/base.apk" by shell>> adb shell pm path com.sonyericsson.music
find the base.apk file in your working dir after running in shell>>adb pull /data/app/com.netease.cloudmusic-1/base.apk.

As the other guys say the apk file is actually a zip file, the extracting procedure seems easier.

Notice that adb pull expects two args, in the form adb pull file/to/pull computer/location/to/place/it/in.

if the dst folder is not provided, it defaults to the working dir.


text:
How to avoid factory reset and bypass unlock pin on my kyrocera 2.2 froyo
I forgot my unlock pin but i dont want to hard reset my kyrocera M9300 HOW CAN I BYPASS

Can you not use your Gmail account to sign in?

If you have any custom recovery or open download/fastboot mode, you can flash password reset zip.

Flash a stock firmware with fastboot. Look for instructions on XDA. It's not nearly as hard as it sounds.

How will flashing the firmware help? The unlock PIN is not stored in the system partition.


text:
Change language of chrome translation
I have Marshmallow and the latest Chrome. My phone language is set to Italian.
When I open in chrome sites in foreign languages it proposes to translate it in Italian.
For Japanese pages I noticed using Google translate that English translation is much more accurate than Italian.
Therefore I would like to know if it is possible to force Chrome on Android to translate Japanese into English instead of Italian.
Setting the browser in English would be a good workaround but I found how to do so just in the Windows version.

I found a solution.
In Android Chrome go to chrome://translate-internals
Change the only editable parameter from your language code to
en
Now restart Chrome.
When you open a page in a language different from yours and English you see the usual "do you want to translate..." question but source and target language are now clickable and you can change them as needed.


text:
How to check the VPN setting created by an app on an Android device?
Many VPN apps would create VPN profiles on the Android device. Unlike VPN profiles create by the user, they cannot be edited, and therefore the user cannot see the setting of said profile. With a rooted device, is there a way to hunt down such profile and read the setting in file?
On iOS devices, the VPN settings are saved in /var/preferneces/com.apple.networkextension.plist file. What is the path to an Android VPN settings?

I know this was asked a while ago... but I am working on this right now so I thought I'd share what I learned so far.
In iOS, a VPN profile defines settings that the OS uses to then initiate a VPN connection.  Everything is managed by the OS, so it would make sense that all of the VPN profiles would be in one location.
In Android, developers can create their own vpn clients instead of using the OS's.  They call into Android API's to raise a virtual adapter that redirects all traffic to their VPN service which they develop and configure to do whatever they like.  VPN connection settings depend on the app and any locally stored data would be part of that app's private data storage.
An example of this can be seen with the OpenVPN client for android.  All of the settings for your VPN connection will be in an openVPN config file that you can load from within the app and you use the app to initiate the connection and change settings.


text:
Can't add second google account to google calendar app
I have one google account for my android phone. Now I set up a work email at gmail to use the shared calendar and keep things separated. For convenience I downloaded the google calendar app to display events from the calendar on my phone. I followed the steps to add another google account to my phone via Settings -> Accounts -> Add Account -> Google. Everything worked out fine, but on the google calender no events are shown. When I go to Settings -> Accounts -> Google -> workaccount I can't see the toggle for Calendar syncing. In the phone account I see this though.
With the same account I added the calendar to thunderbird using lightning and followed the procedure which worked out fine. Therefore I assume that the accounts calendar is visible.
My phone is a Oneplus One running CM 12.1 (Android 5.11)

So the solution for me was:
First activating Device Information in my Google Activity Settings.
Second I deleted the account from the phone and added it again. There was the toggle for syncing the calender.
Third I needed to allow google calendar to have access to the calendar storage, which was prohibited by default from the Privacy Guard in CM. This solved the sync error problem.
Now all my calendars and events show up on my phone.


text:
typed stop on my android and it has stoped or freezed
I've typed 'stop' in terminal emulator on my lava fuel f1 and it has gotten stopped/Freezed. How to undo or deploy the command. Please help.

Try to hold the power button until the device reboots.

Turn the phone on and off. Different key combinations on different devices will force a reboot. For example, on my Nexus 5 volume down plus power will force a reboot. Play with the different keys until you get it. On Samsung you need the home button, etc.


text:
How to install working Play Store on a clean device (CWM13 ROM)?
I did a factory reset recently, and when I installed the latest version of Play Store and Google Play Services on my Android 6.0.1 device from APKMirror, it keeps showing Unfortunately, Google Play Services has stopped. Well, I have CWM13 ROM installed on my device, the app settings doesn't have the "Clear Cache" option, so I can't fix it in the common way.
Any ideas guys? Thx in advance.

You have to flash Gapps immediately after flashing a ROM to avoid such issues.

@GokulNC What happen if I don't flash Gapps immediately? Does it brick the phone or some sort?

@HappyFace Infinite bootloop.

While in recovery, you need to flash the ROM and then without booting to that ROM, flash gapps. If you're using TWRP MultiROM you can still boot into other installed ROMs without bootlooping the one you just flashed. If you're using regular old TWRP, just flash the OS and gapps all in one go.

Oh, and check on XDA for whatever files you need before going other places like APK mirror.

First you need to find GAPPS (google apps) that match your android version you can find it on opengapps.org
And than you need to do system, data, cache and cust wipes.
Than you need to flash ROM and than flash GAPPS right after flashing ROM.


text:
Disable proxy configuration on android
I recently use VPN client on my Android 5.1.1 after network was censored in my country. Later, after uninstalling, I can remark that when connecting to wifi, my phone is still configuring proxy, and I cannot connect to internet correctly.
Is there a solution ? What do I need to do ?

To fix this, I finally reset my phone.


text:
Screen dims except navigation bar
On my Yoga tab (B8080-F) with Android 4.4.2 all of a sudden screen got dimmed except for the navigation menu, where it remains bright as set in the display settings. If I change brightness manually, the dimmed part of the screen also changes and if I restart, the brightness is normal but shortly after the startup screen gets dimmed again, so I am suspecting an app that can make use of screen overlay to cause this. I have uninstalled FB messenger (it uses overlay notifications) but no luck. Any idea how to figure out what app is cause this annoyance?

UPDATE: Well as it often hapens, I found out solution right after posting this question. Using instructions from this post Determine which app is drawing on top of other apps? I have identified the offending package to be com.lenovo.powercenterhd which is Lenovo Power Manager, where at some point I have apparently enabled Protection Glassess feature, which dims the main screen. After turning it off, brightness went back to normal.


text:
How to move google search bar to bottom of home screen?
I have moto g4 plus rooted phone with Xposed installed. Google search bar is at the top of screen and it is inconvenient to reach it every time to search for apps.
Is there a way to move it to the bottom of the screen? I found several ways to remove google search bar but didn't find a way to move it. I don't want to use any third party launchers.

Which launcher are you using ? Generally, you should be able to drag search bar in all launchers.

I am not using any launcher. Just the default launcher of stock android.

That thing is merely a widget. So, you can drag to the bottom.

I also thought same way. Unfortunately, dragging is not working.

Then try it remove and then add again.

Google search bar doesnt appear to be a widget. There is no search bar widget in widget list. Also there is no option to remove. To remove that we have to use xposed modules.

Let us continue this discussion in chat.


text:
Remove Google widget
How do I remove the chunky, waste-of-space Google search widget at the top of every home screen? And if I do, can I put apps there instead? I know I can add and remove Google widgets on the main home screen:
Note: I am not willing to root it.

The easiest way is to just disable 'Google App' (the latest name for 'Google Search') from your app settings. You may have to, additionally, uninstall updates in order for the disable button to appear.

@bmdixon This is not a Nexus.

@NonnyMoose For starters, you haven't said what device you're using so I had no way of knowing. Secondly, the answers in that question aren't specific to Nexus (despite the linked question including that information).

@bmdixon Sorry, I confused this question with one in which I did give that information.


text:
How to fix YouTube and and GooglePlay store problems?
can anybody help me?  A couple of days ago I went to YouTube and a message popped up saying "Check your connection and try again" same thing happened with the play store.  I saw that my WiFi was perfect.  I rebooted my device and re-connected to my wifi but it's still the same.  The other devices on the same wifi was working perfectly.  And the problem is also same with my Data connection.  So my wifi and data connection,  none of them are working. Please somebody help me.
Thanks, Apon.

Did you use some VPN or freedom like apps recently?

No.  I watched  youtube and let my device charge for a while.  After 3 hours I came back and that happened. And what do u mean mean by freedom like apps? @Vivek Ji

There is a freedom app that does something with hosts file, and that screws play store connectivity.

That's a bummer. I used to have that app. It actually hacked offline games.  I have deleted it.  Now what should I do?  @Vivek Ji

Very well..... http://android.stackexchange.com/q/120467/131341 Try answers from these posts. They must get you out of situation.

@AponRoy Congrats! You are now tethered to freedom! In personal experience, you can fix this by- I'm not kidding- Installing freedom again. Got me out of many an issue. Also, +1 For a good first question.


text:
How can I change the default download location to the external SD Card?
I have a Chinese tablet that runs Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) and comes with the default Download Manager. I googled for a way to change the default download location to the external SD card with no luck. Can anyone advise me how to do this? I don't have the my files app as stated in most solutions.

Click image(s) for larger version

Did you solve this? 2. Pls post an example of the solutions you tried that didn't work 3. I have 'My Files' 1.0 pre-installed by Samsung, but I don't see any option in that to change default download folder.

Hello, I couldn't find a solution from the default app however I thin my files has the option somewhere. I found multiple apps on Playstore that does have this option.


text:
Samsung Galaxy S3 Neo shows the logo, then screen turns black
So basically today I was going home, started listening to some music and BAM the music stops. The phone "turns on" and shows the Samsung Galaxy S3 neo gt something and then the screen turns black. And that happens in an infinite loop. It also happens when charging and when I remove the battery and put it back in, it automatically boots up, shows the logo and turns black. What do I do?

Probably the battery is dead, try to plug in a new one

I don't really think so because the battery I am using right now is only 1 month old


text:
How do I unlock 4G bands?
I'm using Xiaomi MI4. In India it doesnt support 4G bands, is there a way to unlock 4G bands for this device?

In general, 4G/LTE bands are locked by the manufacturer and cannot be altered.

Is it possible after rooting the phone..

No, rooting has nothing to do with the bands the device can access. http://www.howtogeek.com/135663/htg-explains-whats-the-difference-between-jailbreaking-rooting-and-unlocking/

@acejavelin Unless you have a mediatek processor, then you can use engineering mode to enable and disable bands

@DanBrown True... but the Xiaomi MI4 is a Snapdragon based device.

@acejavelin yeah, shame. Does it have a MTK-style mode?

There has been an unlock method available for most Snapdragon 800/801 devices, and some forums claim it works for the MI 4 too. However, 1) it involves flashing a custom ROM and using a dangerous diagnostic tool, and 2) it doesn't unlock what the phone is not supposed to support (e.g. CDMA), nor is it guaranteed to unlock the band you want.
If you're still curious, take a look here.
And before you leave, you should know that MI 4 has 3G and 4G variants. If you have the 3G variant then just give up - there's no hardware.

Thanks bud! I read the post on that link.. the one who had done it has already lost 2 phones. I think I'll restrain myself from going further with this.


text:
Sharing internet on Kitkat 4.4.2
Presently i am using dual sim card (Grameen phone and Bangla Link) network in phone internet purpose, I have purchase internet package of 4GB data. Now I want to use this sim card internet 4GB data to my pc windows. My android phone verson is 4.4.2, So how can use this 4 GB data pack in computer. Please send me the procedure of using internet through USB cable (between phone sim net to computer).

Instead of using internet through usb, you can also try using internet on your PC by connecting your phone to PC via bluetooth. I haven't tried accessing internet using usb cable, but the bluetooth method works fine.


text:
Pulling out app and data
I incidentally broke the digitizer connector on the motherboard of my Nexus 10 tablet. I can still power on the tablet, but cannot do anything since the touchscreen is not working. I asked around a couple of repair stores, and was told that there is no easy fix for the connector. My question is: buying another connector or soldering the broken one would not be feasible?
If unfixable, I would like to pull the data out of the tablet, and move to another device. Since I can't use TitaniumBackup in this case, how can I extract each specific app and the data associated with that app so that I could transfer to a phone or another tablet via shell command adb? I could run 'adb backup...', but with that I don't know how to transfer the backup to another device.
My Nexus 10 is rooted, so some of apps are rooted and others are non-rooted, and the former seem to be anywhere on the phone. Also with TitaniumBackup, I know how to transfer the app and its data to another device. In this case, after pulling out the data, how do I move to another device? For example, I notice that some apps are stored under /data/data/ with multiple directories such as databases/, lib/, files/, shared_prefs/, etc. Can I directly move the whole directory tree over to another device?
Another question: the rooted apps seem to be installed as /data/app/com../base.apk. I tried to pull out base.apk, but it can't be installed properly on another device.
Thanks in advance!

Install a custom non-touch CWM recovery via the adb, make a full backup in it, pull the created backup out via "adb sideload" function in the recovery. Then, you can play with the total backup of your system, just rename "data.ext4.win000" (internal storage file) to "data.ext4.tar.000" (and other files in similar way) and open it in FTKImager (even lite version is enough).
If you want just to reinstall the apps with their data on a new smartphone use AppExtractor with your backup zip

Thanks for the help! Not so comfortable with installing a CWM recovery at this stage. Is there a solution through a total backup with 'adb backup -all ...' ?

adb backup -apk -shared -all -f C:\1.ab  will probably pull out everything, but I don't know how to avoid backuping everything.
https://android.stackexchange.com/questions/24785/partial-adb-restore
You should probably search for help on xda forum.

I just realized that I could not run a backup through 'adb backup ...' because it requires that I unlock the screen and confirm the backup operation, which I cannot do because of the loss of touchscreen.

so I guess, cwm non-touch recovery is maybe one of the last options that you can try


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HTC One volume too low
My HTC One is kind of old (2.5 years) and the volume is progressively deteriorating.  I can barely hear the other side when the volume is on highest.  Is there any way to adjust the volume beside the volume button, which is already maxed?

Try to carefully clean the speaker with a toothpick


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Can I install FM radio APK in another phone?
I have the FMRadio's APK of an old phone with recording feature and I would like to install it in a phone that comes with FM Radio but doesn't have recording feature.
I've tried but it says app was not install but the icon appears in desktop but doesn't run.
Is there a way to make this?
I saw somewhere something like the apk should be copied to system/app folder. But I receive permission denied to copy there.
I tried without success with Spirit Radio and next radio apps. They don't work for my phone model Zenfone2.
Thanks in advance

Zenfone 2 doesn't use a standard radio interface that most phones with FM radio do, the FM radio will only work with the stock radio app on the stock ROM. It uses a proprietary kernel interface that is only in the stock ROM. Other apps do not work.

Tu acejavelin. I even tried a Samsung J3 fm radio app in a Samsung S6 and doesn't work and both of the same brand.


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Android update on HTC Desire 628
I'm looking into buying an Android phone, and quite like the specs and looks of the HTC Desire 628. Unfortunately it ships with Lollipop (5.1). Would it be possible for me to upgrade this device to Marshmallow (6) or Nougat (7)? If so, how?

For a phone of this popularity you can only expect something to drop officially, the chance of which is slim (especially in regards to Nougat). Decide what's your priority (aesthetics VS updates) then choose wisely.


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Access data on an unencrypted SD card
Having recently gotten a drone with a camera, I find myself wanting to drop the SD card into my device to grab / share some raw photos / images, intended of just screen shots. The problem that I am having is that my android device is encrypted, and is asking to encrypt my drone's as card every time it is inserted.
On insert - I am prompted with the message ( would you like to encrypt this device ) to which I answer NO, the next toast message is SD card unmounted.
Every time I click mount, I am again prompted to encrypt the card, and if I click no it is automatically unmounted.

The card is a standard FAT32 format - how can I mount the card and view my footage without reformatting / encrypting the card?

I am running an LG G4 (VS986) running Android 6.0.

You could try connecting the sd card through a usb card reader and otg cable, but I'm not sure an encrypted android install will mount an unencrypted sd card. It introduces vulnerabilities which kinda defeats the purpose of encrypting your device to begin with.

I can try that at a later time - but it is kind of ridiculous that it will not even mount a standard FAT32 formatted device. My laptop is 100% encrypted, but I can still plug in a flash drive.

If the device is encrypted, you can try turning off the encryption in the settings. Then turn the phone off and remove the battery. While the battery is removed put the sd card into the phone. Then replace the battery and boot up the phone. It should mount the sd card with no problems (at least it did on my device). If all else fails, try a USB sd card reader on an OTG cable. It should be recognized as a USB device and should not want to encrypt it, since it just encrypts the sd card.
Hope this helps!


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Unable to unlock Boot-loader
My android device is 4.4.2 with MT6592.
I am not able to unlock its boot-loader.
After commands ….
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot oem unlock
Android device asks permission. I confirmed on android device by pressing Volume Up key.
There is no change on device screen and computer screen even after 30 min.
I checked its connectivity by a command.
adb devices
List of devices attached
x.x.x.x device
Apart from this I changed USB cable and USB port. However, there is no change.
If I go for commands …
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
No TWRP images is compatible.
Please guide me to fix it.
Regards
GNS

Are you sure this tablet is unlockable this way? Not every device (in fact, few) supports the fastboot command. And also, are you using a TWRP built for your device? If not and if you can't find one, then no you can't just flash anything else and call it a day.

@AndyYan What should happen on bootloader unlock? A factory reset, which disables adb (and sometimes pauses fastboot) Reboot, turn adb back on, try again

Thank you for replying. I tried many times to unblock its boot-loader, every time its stuck same way. I am able to root it but not able to unlock its boot-loader. How do I know, this device’s boot-loader can be unlocked or not? If it’s un-lockable, is it not possible to unlock its boot-loader? Please elaborate and guide me to unlock it boot-loader.


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How to root an Amazon Fire 7 5.3.1?
It has been a long time since the 5.3.1 update for the Amazon Fire 7 Tablet came out and there's no way to root it.
How to root Amazon Fire 7 5.3.1?


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Storage type mismatch
I've got tablet Asus MeMo Pad 7 (ME173X). I don't know what happened with him (is it broken physically or by software). Tablet don't respond on buttons, or charger. I connected it to computer dmesg shows (device also disconnect after one second and connect again):
usb 2-1.3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ehci-pci
usb 2-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=0e8d, idProduct=0003
usb 2-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=0, SerialNumber=0
cdc_acm 2-1.3:1.0: ttyACM0: USB ACM device

Sometimes but very rarely dmesg shows also (including above):
usbcore: registered new interface driver cdc_acm
cdc_acm: USB Abstract Control Model driver for USB modems and ISDN adapters
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
usbcore: registered new interface driver option
usbserial: USB Serial support registered for GSM modem (1-port)

I found stoc firmware, to flash preloader but every time I got error
Storage type mismatch!
scatter storage type is hw_storage_emmc
target storage type is hw_storage_none

I was looking some more info. I read some info about meta mode. I tried connect device holding vol up or vol down (both) but device is always recognize as above and flashing also return the same error.
Is there any chance to unbrick this tablet?

You can try hacking the kernel Readfile and WriteFile using a debugger and inject your data while flashtool is communicating with the device. What you should do is modify the devices output data to match the required output data from a similar device, therefore flashtool will think all is Ok.
It could work.
Or try emmc unbrick .


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changing lock screen effect
I upgraded my samsung phone galaxy note 4 to Android 6.0.1. There is now an animation for the lock screen that I don't find convenient. It looks like a a black curtain is closing. How can I change that ?

Usually you would go to settings > lock screen but it could also be in settings > security.


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Unfortunately Google play store has stopped working on one plus x
After updating my One Plus X to Android 6,
unfortunately Google play store has stopped working error pops-up
and I can't open Google play store.
I tried all the methods. Please help me.

What are all the methods ?

Disable Google +... Settings>apps>Google + and then reboot

Onehundredandfourteenthousand times thanks! Although this issues seems to have nothing to do with Google+, disabling the app works. Though on Android 6.0.1 I had to reinstall Google+ becaus apparently, disabling a factory app deinstalls the app.

Worked wonderfully!

Really amazing it worked !

Unfortunately, this didn't work for me :-(


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OnePlus one stuck in CyanogenMOD recovery CM13
I wanted to factory reset my OnePlus one to its factory settings. My OnePlus one is completely stock, no bootloader unlocked and no USB debugging enabled.
After the factory reset was completed the phone rebooted itself, it entered recovery mode and there was no way out of there, it would just boot back to recovery. Just before it enters recovery mode it shows and android error for a split second; "No Command"
-I did a factory reset from within the recovery menu, took a long time but didn't work, still only the recovery menu.
-I wiped the cache, didn't work.
-Then I installed the SDK kit on my Windows PC, got ADB working and entered the sideload option in the recovery menu. Sended the latest CM13 Beacon zip to the phone. It told me that it was installing but after completion it just disconnects from ADB and shows the Recovery screen. Navigating to "Apply Update" and then instead of "Apply from ADB" I can also pick: "Choose from emulated" but that just sends me back to the main menu.
Rebooting, rebooting to bootloader, it all gives me the Cyanogen Recovery screen

That's why one should unlock the bootloader first after purchase... Pull data from phone via ADB if possible, then unlock bootloader (wiping data in the progress) and flash TWRP. Stay the hell away from Cyanogen Recovery.

I unlocked the bootloader and the phone booted directly to Android. Weird but everythings works fine now


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Low power consumption application
In a non mobile application which is powered by a battery and it has to be powered on during weeks without recharging it.
Is Android suitable? Or an embedded Linux is better ?
Android has a power management feature, but can we control it or is it something "automatic" ?

Does the app require any sort of network access or interaction? Phones with large (>=4000mAh) batteries and tablets can easily make >2 weeks of standby in airplane mode (tablets can even make >4), but once WiFi or cellular is on, or a wakelock is in the background, nothing stays live for more than a week.

I have to be in a sleep mode (not airplane because it's not a phone) and when I have data comming from internet wake up the system. But maybe is a wakelock that do the job?

Sounds like a push mechanism should do. I don't have further knowledge in that, unfortunately.

Android would be  overkill.

Is there no systems like APM or ACPI in Linux for Android? Can't we control the power consumption of the chip at a very low level?


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Which has viruses? Aptoide, or the apps that come with it?
I have heard many things about Aptoide and without any money, I am desperate to get FNAF 2.
But my desperation still makes me ask "Which has the virus? Aptoide, or the apps that it comes with"?

First of all, it's Aptoide. Second, there are no viruses, just malware. Third, some of Aptoide's apps may be malicious, not the store itself.

Although.... Misguided, The concern raised is fairly legitimate @DeathMaskSalesman

@DanBrown No objection in regards to that. In fact, I believe that Enigma's answer pretty much sums up anything that needs to be said.

@DeathMaskSalesman exactly. Here's hoping that OP marks it.

Since Aptoide is not a mediated source for apps (Google Play is), it goes without saying that it's up to the user to use discretion on the things they get from that source.
An alternative market that could contain apps that may have malware could be described as risky but then again so is the internet - all sites are accessible and you must show discretion in avoiding the bad ones.


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Possible to transfer songs from iTunes (on Mac) to Android phone?
I have a significant music collection on my computer, which I am still frequently adding to. While the songs I've downloaded in the last several years are all DRM free (either downloaded for free or on iTunes post-DRM), I have many songs from the iTunes-DRM era. I use an iPhone as my phone almost exclusively for this reason (to use DRM-laced songs). Recently I have become disillusioned with iPhones and am considering switching to one of the new Google Pixel phones. However, my biggest hangup is still being able to store all my music on my device.
Now that Apple Music is available for iPhone, I was thinking it might be possible to access all my music on an Android phone--but I can't figure out conclusively if this will work. I have checked this official Apple page:

From your own collection
To add music that you imported from CDs, or bought from the iTunes Store or other sources, use iTunes on a Mac or PC. Make sure that you have the latest version of iTunes.

Open iTunes.
Sign in to the iTunes Store with the same Apple ID that you use on your Android phone for Apple Music.
Turn on iCloud Music Library and wait for iTunes to finish updating your library.

Any music that you add to iTunes after you turn on iCloud Music Library will be available in Apple Music on your Android phone.

However, I would like to avoid having to upload all my music to the iCloud Music Library (don't want to have to deal with that when I really just want to offload music straight from my computer to my device using a USB cord).
Can I transfer songs from my computer (Mac) to an Android phone that has Apple Music (or maybe some other software?) using a wired connection, without having to upload everything to iCloud? If so, will this work even for iTunes-DRM-laced songs?
If iCloud is the only option, I will probably cave and do this, but only if it will work with all my songs (from iTunes-DRM, iTunes-non-DRM, non-iTunes), and if I don't have to pay to store my songs on iCloud (again, I don't need to be able to access them from anywhere, just my computer and a single Android phone).
Similar questions have been asked before, but are all out of date (3-6 years old).:

Android and iTunes
Can I play DRM music from iTunes on my Android?
How do I get this iTunes song on an Android device?

I found from this answer on Ask Different that there is this software that can emulate writable CD. That's very neat if going the burn and reimport route. I just tried it myself, it works. :) I've added it to the answer.

@Fiksdal That's an awesome solution. Thank you for adding that.

Of course, it's trivial to transfer the non-DRM music. There are lots of apps on Google Play that effectively sync iTunes with Android in an iTunes-iOS way. Personally, I really like iSyncr used together with Rocket Player. It can also be done manually via Android File Transfer. The problem, however, comes with the DRM music.
I've been in exactly the same situation as you. I made the move from iOS to Android, and had a bunch of old iTunes DRM music in my iTunes library that I wanted to sync to my Android devices.
There is absolutely no way to playback the iTunes DRM files on Android
I've tried this personally, and I can confirm that at the time of writing (October 2016) there is absolutely no way to do it. iTunes DRM music will only play on Apple software. The Apple Music Android app might stream your uploaded music, but only if you're a paid subscriber. Apple Music doesn't let you do anything unless you get a paid plan. That's the first thing the app asks you to do when you open it, and there's really no other functionality to the app unless you do that. And even if you were a paid subscriber, I'm not sure what sort of offline or internal storage functionality the app would give you. It's really a streaming app.
You need DRM-free files
Please note: These methods all have annoying flaws about them. I'm sorry, but I'm really not aware of any better ways. I have searched quite thoroughly.
Option1 : Burn to a virtual CD and reimport
This is probably the easiest and most reliable way to do it. (Unless you have dozens of albums, in which case, yes, it's a lot of manual work.) Emulate a burnable CD. Use iTunes to burn the songs do the virtual disk. The software will burn it very fast since it's virtual. It will instantly be mounted as a virtual CD on your macOS. You can then import the songs to iTunes again, DRM-free. This is also very fast. I used Apple Lossless format while reimporting, because I have OCD about not losing quality. I have tried this on Yosemite and it 100% works. Here's an alternative for Windows users (haven't tried it myself, though.) If, somehow, emulation doesn't work for you, then I guess you could use a rewriteable actual physical CD. That would be much slower, though.
Option 2: Delete and redownload from iTunes (may not always work.)
According to Apple, you can delete the DRM songs from your iTunes library and download them again from the iTunes store. This is supposed to give you non-DRM copies of the songs. However, I've found that this doesn't always work. I just tried it with one song that I bought 10 years ago, and the downloaded file was DRM. Also, it was 128 kbps even though I would have gotten twice that bitrate had I purchased the same song today. Thanks, Apple! Also, if trying this, make sure you have a backup of your songs before deleting them. Previously purchased items are not always available for redownload.
Option 3: Pay Apple to remove the DRM (ugh)
According to some of the answers to this question on Ask Different, you can pay Apple for some services to remove the DRM. I'm not sure if this works anymore, though. Also it just feels bad to have to pay again for music you've already bought and paid for.
Option 4: Remove DRM with (paid) app
There's another way that will (unfortunatley) cost you money too.

The app is called TunesKit, and can be purchased from here. I've tried the free trial version, and it worked fine. Unfortunately, the limitations with the free trial mean that you'll need the paid version for it to be of any real use.
In the past, there were free apps to do what that app does. I haven't been able to get any of those apps to work as of today. I haven't found any currently working free apps that remove iTunes DRM. If anyone knows of any, then please let me know.
Option 5: Download again from non-DRM source
One final option is to simply redownload your music from a non-DRM source and delete the old DRM music. For example, I had some music from General Fuzz, an artist who licenses his music under the Creative Commons license. I had already paid for his music through iTunes (as a way to support him), so I merely used BitTorrent to download his music again, legally. Of course, it's likely that the vast majority of your music is not licensed under such a license. However, you have already paid for the music. If your personal morals, the laws in your jurisdiction and your computer knowledge allows you to do this safely, then you may consider simply redownloading the music through BitTorrent. I personally wouldn't have any ethical objections to downloading music I'd already paid for in this fashion, but do consider the laws of your juridsiction.

Warning: this answer has been proven not to work with DRM protected songs. This answer helps with that.
 Yay! You can!
You will need to consult here to be able to use android's MTP function on your Mac: android.com/filetransfer
Here is how:

Plug your Phone in via MTP, and open a window leading to it's music folder/ where you want the music to go.

Open another window and go [Your username] > iTunes > iTunes Music (also called iTunes Media)
(If it ain't there, check in iTunes where the music is saved, OR go into its advanced preferences and check if 'Copy files to iTunes Media folder when adding to library' is checked.)

Copy and paste it to your device, like a boss.

Hope that helps! IF you are having trouble playing it, use VLC media player. Its very good when it comes to format support.

I don't have an android phone to test this out with right now, but will this still allow iTunes DRM songs to be played? I think they're still protected so can't be used with VLC.

@spacetyper No idea (Lol!) I have a Friend who gets back from holiday tomorrow - he uses Android with a Mac, so he may know.

By the way, since OP is on a Mac, he'll need this app to use MTP: https://www.android.com/filetransfer/

You can sync your iTunes music files from your windows or mac through an app called AirSync by doubleTwist - available in Google Play store.


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Device no longer listed after clicking ENABLE LOCK & ERASE?
I clicked ENABLE LOCK AND ERASE since someone stole my device. After a day, The device is no longer listed in the android device manager. Can anyone tell, what happened?

I clicked ENABLE LOCK AND ERASE

And that's the issue. You erased the device, along with its binding to your Google account. That's why it does not appear. FYI, Erase should be a last resort. Lock it, grab the IMEI, report to law enforcement. That's what you do.

But there was no spearate option for lock and erase.

@KazeTdr Huh. Well, that's a Google issue. The bit about removing the account bind is still right AFAIK.


text:
How to mount in TWRP?
I've never mounted in TWRP, a script advices doing so. Can I mount directly from TWRP's mount screen? I can select the partitions to mount, but see no option execute.
Does rebooting/booting to the system the device mount the selected storage partitions?

As soon as you check (tick) the entry of a partition, it is mounted. If you untick the entry, the partition is unmounted.

@Firelord: You can post as an answer. Cache is enabled by default, should I keep it enabled (I have to mount data)?

@user598527 Leaving a partition mounted or not is a mere personal preference, as long as the partition itself isn't touched.

@DeathMaskSalesman: What do you mean? Should I "unmount" after mounting once?

@user598527 I mean that, if the script doesn't make changes to a partition's content, then mounting or unmounting it is irrelevant and you don't need to worry about it.

@user598527 Death is right. Mounting has no impact but only if the install does not effect it. I just mount SD/OTG to make backups, and leave the rest as-is.

Can I mount directly from TWRP's mount screen?

Yes. Under the category Mount you would see a range of partitions available to be mounted. Selecting an entry (check-mark) would automatically mount the corresponding partition and deselecting the entry would unmount that partition. You can mount/unmount multiple partitions.
You can verify the said method by executing the command mount when selecting/deselecting the partition(s), via adb or through Advanced tab → Terminal Command.


text:
Can a failed sideload take up storage?
I have a stock Nexus 5, newest firmware, no root. Usually, I maintain 500 MB free space (have to clear cached data sometimes) to avoid error messages. Since yesterday, I have done these things:

Cleared data on the Hearthstone app
Updated Hearthstone, which is a big storage hog, but I don't think this update really cost me 500 MB
Sideloaded the most recent OTA update (full, not incremental OTA) using adb sideload.
Launches Hearthstone, which unpacks gigabytes of obb files.

Step 2 failed at first due to a bad USB connection. So I tried again, and it updated fine that time, going through "optimizing apps" and all that fun. However, after step 3, storage is full, all the way. Clearing cached data does nothing. Phone is slow to react, unstable, etc.
I have uninstalled Hearthstone now, freeing 3.33 GB, but I am sure reinstalling it will fill that space again, and again: I don't the previous version was much smaller.
So, my question is: Can the failed sideload be reason for this mess by taking up storage somewhere? Is there a way to clean this (without root)?

Failed installs are normally cleared/marked as crap then cleared by new data (that's how deleting works, kids!) So I doubt it.

I could be wrong, but maintaining only 500 MB free space will probably mean you can't download and instal many apps because they take up too much space. A single app can claim an instal size is needed but exceed it, I am pretty sure. This is partly because they download (or unzip) more resources when you try to use them.

@S.Mitchell: Correct. I sometimes need to clear cashed data before being able to update apps, even tiny ones. (For very big ones such as Hearthstone, I usually need to clear app data and/or uninstall, but that is not a Play Store restriction necessarily.)


text:
Emmc replace (inbuilt memory card mounter) with external memory card mounter
Hi friends i want to increase inbuilt memory at infinity level by replacing Emmc holder (inbuilt memory card mounter) with external memory card mounter, can it be possible? If yes how? If NO Why??

There's more to just internal storage in eMMC - it holds a vast array of partitions. Here's an example I just got from my phone.

As you can see many of those "blocks" (mmcblk_p_) correspond to major functions of the phone. Even more, such as EFS (stores baseband info) and sbl* (bootloader) aren't even listed here because they're even more crucial, are loaded at boot time, and doesn't allow a regular user to tinker with.
Now imagine all those partitions all shifted to an external, removable source. With proprietary formats, is it possible in the first place? Even if yes, what if one removes the media in the middle of booting up?
And lastly, eMMCs (and recently-introduced UFS2s) are significantly faster than your average SD card. Running Android on a Class 4 SD card is actually a painful experience - if you don't believe it, burn Android-x86 onto an SD card and try booting from it.

But sir if we remove card in middle of booting system hanges  or stopped, just like a raspberry pie....ya it may hamper system but still I need to know how to replace it??

"with proprietary formats" - try and see if an SD card can have so many partitions of different and sometimes proprietary format.

Not understood, yes raspberry pie is proprietor formats but it's not restricting us to understand the concept of how?

@user190688 Out of my league, so I'll leave this up to someone else who's more knowledgeable. There are possible explanations but they're all just my speculations so I'd not bother confusing you with those.

To others: feel free to edit this if you have the privilege.


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How to keep an ODROID device connectable via adb?
I'm using an Odroid (rooted) device running Android 5.1.1 on a local network and I'd like to be able to control it via adb.
Currently I'm running this at startup:
setprop service.adb.tcp.port 5555
stop adbd
start adbd

This works initially, but I've noticed if works with one connection at a time.
If a connection is left open, a second connection won't work.
Even though adb says I'm connected, whenever I try to run any command I get an error:
> adb connect 192.168.0.33
connected to 192.168.0.33:5555
> adb shell date
error: device offline

What's the easiest to ensure adbd is accessible, even if a connection is left open/hanging by accident ?
I'm thinking about running a script that periodically restarts adbd but having a short interval
will be very frustrating as I'd need to constantly reconnect. Is there a way to check if a connection
is open, but hanging ? (no data has been received in a while ?)
Alternatively, would it be possible to close the previous connection if a new one is made automatically ?
How would one keep an odroid connectible via adb constantly (regardless of open connections ?)

No expert in adb, but I think simultaneous connections are disabled.

@DanBrown that's the issue I'm trying to deal with: I'd like to kick out the previous user if it's hogging the connection or something similar

try this script https://gist.github.com/christopherperry/3208109

That's a handy script, however it deals with connecting to multiple android devices from  one computer and running commands on each. My situation is sort of the reverse: I have multiple computers that may want to connect to the same android device, but I need a way to ensure the connection doesn't get blocked if one of these computers forgets to disconnect

Why not have one master computer, that you can teamviewer to do so? Either that, or write a script that executes adb close-server whenever you adb start somewhere else.

that's sort of what I'm trying to do, but adb close-server is done on the actual android device (restarting adbd). if the adb connection is locked already, can't use a computer to connect and trigger the adbd restart

That's why teamviewer is the holy grail of this kind of thing. Just use it- you will be making life easier.

For the scope of the project at that time there were two measures that helped:

Installing SSHelper to add SSH support (can use SSH instead of adb and restart adb daemon in case it gets locked)
Hacky, but a background service could be used to periodically reset adb connections: this could cause trouble depenending on what commands need to run and for how long


text:
how to get screenshots for tablet
My game is on the google play store (beta testing). How do I get screen shots of the app running on a 7 inch and 11 inch tablet so I can put images of how the game looks in the store listing?

if anyone with a 11 inch tablet can help - please share an email id as a comment and delete it later

I do have both a 7- and 10-incher, though I'd wait a bit for other answers to possibly pop up before sharing my mail.

@EelaKapilla You need to take screenshots or a video of the game in play. Again why not use the conventional method of taking screenshots using the physical buttons...

@user145490 I think the problem is not that he can't do the screenshot, but rather he doesn't have tablets (different layout, can't be substituted with phones) to do screenshots on.

To OP: is Android AVD (comes with SDK) viable for you? Or more efficient emulators like Genymotion? Can they run your game at acceptable performance?

@andy-yan game still in dev and only on usual phones. did not think the emulator screen shot will be accepted. anyway i though it was a easy request. will try with the emulator.

Capturing Screenshot

Install the required ADB drivers on your PC.
Connect your device with PC using wired or wireless ADB connection.
Open Terminal in Linux or Command Prompt and enter the following command.

adb shell screencap -p /sdcard/screencap.png

Now the captured screenshot will be placed on your internal sdcard. To copy the screenshot to your pc enter the command.

adb pull /sdcard/screencap.png

Now the captured screenshot will be placed on your PC

I think the problem is not that he can't do the screenshot, but rather he doesn't have tablets (different layout, can't be substituted with phones) to do screenshots on.

yes i do not have the device


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How to factory reset Galaxy Note 10.1 from Odin
My Note 10.1 (N8010) won't boot - sticks at the "Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1" logo.  Power+VolUp does not take me to the recovery (just reboots), but Power+VolDown does take me to "ODIN MODE", so I presume my options are limited to things I can do from ODIN MODE.  Fortunately there is no data on the tablet that I need.
I would like to perform a factory reset.
My best guess is that I need to erase the cache (and possibly data) partitions.  Can I erase these from ODIN?
If I need a cache.img or other images, where can I get or how can I create one?
I use Linux so I cannot use Kies.  I have Heimdall which appears to do this sort of thing.
I have flashed TWRP (using ODIN) in the hope that it would boot into that recovery, but it does not.

Flashing a whole factory firmware should automatically perform a wipe afterwards. If that doesn't work then you have trouble.

Ok, thanks. Where can I get a whole factory firmware image, please?

@MarkSmith SamMobile: link

Thanks again. I've flashed it using the instructions at https://gnoshmeness.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/rooting-and-flashing-custom-rom-using-ubuntu-heimdall-and-generally-useful-noob-info/ and that file (unzipped and the result untarred) but it's exactly the same, and I'm not convinced it's performed any "wipe" other than writing over the various partitions (which is not all of them).

@MarkSmith I don't know for certain... Most if not all Samsung devices I had would automatically boot into recovery immediately after flashing via Odin. Could be related to you using Heimdall?

It does reboot after flashing - but into its stuck-a the-logo state, not into the recovery. I guess this is the problem - it can't run the recovery. Strange.

@MarkSmith Out of ideas - I'm thinking hardware faults.  +1 for attention.


text:
How do I turn my Android into a USB Webcam?
I can turn it into an IP Webcam fairly easily using a myriad of apps + iSpy on the desktop.
However, even with 2 gigabit wifi, framerate seems unreasonably poor. Therefore, I would like to plug in my USB cable and stream it (DisplayLink can stream 4k over USB, so it must be possible in theory)
This would save me from spending hundreds of dollars on yet another camera. 4k video is supported by my Samsung S6, and that would be amazing to be able to use as a webcam.

I finally found a way using USB debugging support on the Android. The steps are quite involved, but here they are: http://www.dev47apps.com/droidcam/connect/
Careful, your phone can overheat when doing this for awhile. Also keep in mind that 4k is not supported, just 1080p. Both on Wifi & on USB the framerate alternates between super fast (>30fps), and super slow (<4fps) in both OBS & iSpy. Not sure why. I think it's the app since native video recording works.
I'm going to do native recording and use a clapping trick to sync audio between an external mic and the internal one from here on out.

It still work rather well today. TY

Anyone try this over USB-C? Does it work better? I was on USB 3.1

You can use Iriun 4K Webcam for PC and Mac (gratis for basic features) to use your Android phone's camera as a wireless or USB webcam in Microsoft Windows, macOS 10.12+ and Ubuntu 18.04+.
It supports resolutions up to 4K. (Max resolution depends on the phone).

Samsung Galaxy S9 with Android 10:

Windows 7 SP1 x64 Ultimate (go to https://iriun.com/ to get the program):

The instructions are straightforward: