samsung galaxy s - Do I need to revert to stock firmware and/or wipe data before installing a custom ROM?

Several sites I've visited mention that I need to revert to the stock firmware and possibly wipe my phone data before installing a custom ROM. Is this recommended or completely necessary? I have a Samsung Captivate (Galaxy-S), running Froyo 2.2 (installed via Kies). My phone is rooted. In case it matters, I have Windows XP.

Answer

It's not always necessary, but always a good idea. There are custom ROMs that change the partitions of the phone storage, and some flashing methods don't reset the partitions. What ends up happening is that the update can't be written properly -- it either fails, or files and firmware end up in the wrong place and the phone can't boot. In some cases, this can brick the phone.

With a Galaxy S, the best way to ensure this doesn't happen is to revert to stock firmware, wipe everything, and then use Odin to flash an Odin-compatible ROM with the "re-partition" option checked. My answer here has some more info on Odin (just be careful not to use the firmware I linked to, since it's for the GT-i9000 and not the Captivate).

nexus 5 - Corrupted data - Can't restore Whatsapp chat history

When I try to recover my Whatsapp messages on my new phone after I have copied the Whatsapp folder from my old phone to the SDcard, it suddenly crashes after 10 seconds: "Whatsapp has stopped working"

I looked into the System Log to find some clues about this crash. It looks like it has something to do with SQLite and the msgstore.db (or msgstore.db.crypt) file, because there's msgstore.db file is corrupt error. Here are some lines from the System log:

 "E/DefaultDatabaseErrorHandler (3784): Corruption reported by sqlite

    on database: /data/data/com.whatsapp/databasesmsgstore.db"
 "E/AndroidRuntime (3784): java.lang.AssertionError: android.database.sqlite.SQLiteDatabaseCorruptExcep tion: Database disk image is malformed (code 11), SQLiteConnection.java,-2"
 "E/SQLiteLog (3784): (14) cannot open file at line 30191 of [00bb9c9ce4]"
 "E/SQLiteDatabase (3784): Failed to open database '/data/data/com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db' "
 "E/SQLiteDatabaseException: unknown error (code 14): Could not open database"
 "I/sqlite_db_corrupt (3784): /data/data.com.whatsapp/databases/msgstore.db"

Can somebody help me to unravel this mistery? I really want to copy my old messages to my new phone and continue using the app on my new phone.

How can I fix the corrupt msgstore file? Or see what part of the file is corrupt (the exact cause)

Some screenshots of the System Log file:

security - New files in Download directory

I see the following two files in the Download directory: Flash_Player.apk and securedownload.bin. I am sure for 100% (well, for 99%) that I didn't download them intentionally. What are these files, what should I do with them (delete, I guess...). Is it possible to know, what program is responsible for downloading these files?

Answer

The securedownload.bin file is from your email app trying to download/save an attachment. The app creates this file (no matter what the actual name of your attachment is) whenever you try to view or save the attachment.

The FlashPlayer installer may have been automatically downloaded by your Browser when you tried to view Flash content.

In either case, these files should be perfectly safe to delete from your Downloads, since no apps are supposed to store critical files there.

(if an app places critical files in the Downloads directory, the app doesn't deserve to be used!)

Bypassing mobile detectability from the browser

First of all I know that there is "request desktop site" in the android browser but it doesn't solve my problem.

I have this site and they have an android app as well, because of that they want users to play videos from their app and not from the android browser. But "for reasons" I want to play it on the browser. Defining user agent as chrome/windows didn't help either.

Do you guys have any idea how to do it?

id3 tag - How can I automatically correct tags of music files?

I've seen apps like Shazaam and TrackID, which can provide the Artist, Album etc. info, by recording a few seconds of a song from any source.
In my music gallery, there're lots of songs, with incorrect artist, albums or genre names. So is there a way that allows me to automatically correct these info, or at least fill up the missing info?

Answer

If you can use the Sony walkman app, that is the best solution for you. See the answer in this question. If that app is not compatible with your device, Album Art Grabber would be a good solution for you.

networking - Using Android as network server

I want to use my Android device as a network server. In the same kind of way you would make it a Wi-Fi hotspot, but I don't want to allow connected computers to access the internet, I would like them to be able to communicate together.

Possible uses:

1. Playing games via LAN (e.g., Quake)


2. Allow computers to share files


3. Bonjour (Macs)



4. etc...

Is there any way to achieve this? Any apps out there that will set up a wireless network server?

Answer

Use WiFi Tether app to create Wi-Fi hotspot. It features Access Control using which you can allow/deny clients to use mobile data.

adb backup not working for certain app

I need to get all files of a certain app (com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community), but adb backup only gives me a 1KB AES encrypted file. upon decrypting it there is nothing inside the tar archive

I tried: adb backup -f steam.ab -noapk com.valvesoftware.android.steam.community

Upon entering my backup password (not the encryption password!) the steam.ab package is made. My problem is that there is just about 1KB of AES encrypted information in it.

However, it seems I can back up other apps just fine.

What is the cause of this?

Answer

Developers can decide to have their apps opt-out of backups (ALLOW_BACKUP=FALSE). If you try to backup such an app via adb backup, the resulting file will contain nothing but the backup header (usually a 41 byte file). Working around that limitation is only possible on rooted devices, e.g. using the XPosed module Backup All Apps.

How can I take on-device screenshots of "secure" apps?

This question already has answers here:

Closed 12 months ago.

As per this Stack Overflow answer, Android apps using FLAG_SECURE in their activities are protected from screenshots being taken by the system. You get a blank file when using screencap and some other screenshot apps, and this error when using the hardware buttons:

Can't take screenshot due to limited storage space, or it isn't allowed by the app or your organization.

However, this is not a hard guarantee. In Android Studio, I can still take screenshots of such "secure" apps with the button pointed out in this SO answer.

I took a look through the Android Studio source code, and the screenshot is acquired through a framebuffer: request to ADB, which in turn uses screencap. Before I go looking through source for more info on how this works for adb but not for a root terminal and a possible "developer" solution, I thought I should ask: Has anyone already figured out what's happening behind the scenes here and can an end-user make use of it? Ideally, without needing a PC.

My device is rooted, so I'm open to apps/commands/etc. that require root (or having USB Debugging enabled). I've tried a few screenshot apps from pre-Android-2.3 that use root, but none of them still work (presumably due to how the framebuffer is now protected).

Answer

As your device is rooted, you could use the Xposed module DisableFlagSecure:

An Xposed Framework module that disables FLAG_SECURE on windows system-wide. This lets you take screenshots and do screen capture in apps that normally won't let you. (That said, you probably don't want to leave this on permanently).

You can of course also find it in the Xposed Repo.

7.0 nougat - How to fix the problem of offline packages not downloading in Google Translate?

I'm having a problem with Google Translate and downloading offline packages for any language. I tap the download button next to the language, it says "Starting download" and the indicator is spinning, but nothing happens and the language pack is not downloaded. The app has the permission to use the storage.

My setup: the latest version of Google Translate (v5.20.0.RC10.199570264), on an Xperia L1 with Android 7. I should stress that with previous versions this used to work.

What I have tried:

1) Clearing cache and data of both the app and Google play (also the services).

2) Unistalling and reinstalling.

3) Rebooting.

4) Unistalling, rebooting and then reinstalling.

5) Moving the app to SD. Also the opposite.

6) Checking the permissions (everything is allowed).

7) All combinations of all of the above.

I'm about to try a factory reset, but before going nuclear I'd like to try some alternative.

Any hints/ideas are welcome!

Answer

The issue was solved by clearing the data of download manager as confirmed by OP .

Go to Settings → Applications → Download manager → Clear data.

The download should proceed as normal.

services - How to stop Viber running without uninstalling it?

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

nexus 5 - How do I select a non-OEM charger for my device?

My Nexus 5 D821 (2014)'s original charger started failing to charge the phone since last week. There are 1.8A & 1.2A LG OEM chargers available in ebay.com. Is it okay to use the 1.8A charger? or Should I go for 1.2A charger?

Answer

When you are switching to a different charger from What is OEM supplied, things to bear in mind:

• 
  

  Type of battery (not really relevant these days as most batteries are Li-Ion or Li-PO . Both have sane charging characteristics. Your battery is Li-PO). Battery type dictates charging / charger features

  
  
  


• 
  

  Voltage This is critical and never use higher rated voltage than what is specified for your device. For instance do not use 9V tablet charger for your mobile rated at 5V (vice versa is safe but charging will be slower )

  
  


• 
  

  Current This does not matter much since the circuitry inside your phone / battery caters for this and draws as much current as required. Quoting from this

  
  

  
  

  Each device has a regulator or charge controller, known as a Power Management IC, or PMIC. This device protects the battery from charging too fast, or too slow.

  
  

  
  

Nexus 5 charging specifications listed at Charge your Nexus device and as confirmed by OP in his comments as same for his device

The input voltage range between the wall outlet and this travel adapter is AC 100V– 240V, and the travel adapter’s output voltage is DC 5V, 1.2A

The rating of LG chargers are 1.2 A and 1.8 A and should be 5V (which is the standard USB charger rating

Having said that, it is playing safer by choosing current rating closest too original-which is 1.2A in your case.

So you can go in for either LG charger as long rated 5V, but given a choice go in for 1.2 A

Edit

In some neighborhoods you'll see a water tank raised high above the ground on strong legs. The water in this tank has been raised up there to create pressure in the system. A series of pipes carry the water down from the tank, under ground, into your house, and then to each sink, bathtub, and toilet. The water in your pipes is under pressure because the water in the tank is pushing down on it. This pressure is similar to Voltage. Voltage is the pressure pushing on the electrons in a circuit.

If all of the faucets in your house are closed, no water flows through the pipes. If you open one faucet, some water flows. If you open all of the faucets, a lot of water flows. This flow of water is similar to electrical Current. Current is the flow rate of electrons through the circuit.

Correlation of this example and charger selection criteria

• Voltage: If the voltage is too high, the pipes in your home (read device hardware) may burst since they just are not designed to handle


• Current: The flow of water (read Current handling hardware)- if it is too low, you will increase by opening the tap outlet to allow more water and vice versa. This doesn't harm the plumbing of the house

htc desire - How to tell if a phone is rooted?

This question already has answers here:

Closed 6 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
How can I tell if I have root?

Is there a way to tell if an Android phone is rooted? Where can you find this information in the phone?

I used Unrevoked to root my HTC Desire (GSM) and I had the tool set to disable the phone security as well. But when I start the HBOOT menu it still says S-ON on top of the screen. Shouldn't that say S-OFF now?

Maybe Unrevoked failed to set S-OFF, but managed to root the phone? It has definitely changed the recovery system, because now it says ClockWorkMod Recovery. There is also a new app called Superuser Permissions. Does that mean it's been rooted?

I could try to install some app that requires root, but I thought I would hold off with that since I have just completely re-flashed it and don't want to clutter it with any bloatware until I have set up A2SD+ and partitioned my SD card.

I'm also curious as to why it didn't set the security flag to S-OFF. Would I need to use AlphaRev for this now? And can I skip this part, and still install A2SD+ and partition my SD card? What I'm asking is this: is S-OFF a requirement for A2SD+ and partitioning the SD card and messing around with things like partitioning, /system and Dalvik cache?

Answer

Is there a way to tell if an Android phone is rooted?

The easiest way of root checking is to use program Root Checker.

How can I find the saved password in Android browser?

I have Prestigio Tablet with ICS. I forgot a password from important site. It's remembered in the tablet's browser. How can I see it without rooting the tablet?

voice recognition - What is the list of commands to dictate punctuation, capitalization and line breaks?

I'm on a Sprint Samsung Galaxy S3 with Android 4.3.

I would love to become a power user of the dictation feature to dictate text messages and emails. More often than not, however, I have to hand-edit the dictated text not because of text comprehension issues but because of punctuation, capitalization and spacing problems.

These are the "commands" I've found to work. What is the full list?

"period"     --> .   (works fairly reliably)
"comma"      --> ,   (works fairly reliably)
"new line"   --> \n  (works about 50% of the time)

I've not gotten capital or anything like that to work, or acronyms. If you know how it works, please share.

Answer

Commands

"New Line" or "Next Line"               Press the enter key once, capitalize next word
"New Paragraph" or "Next Paragraph"     Press the enter key twice, capitalize next word
"Caps "                           Type with an initial capital

"All Caps "                       Type in all uppercase
"Caps On"                               Start typing words with initial capitals
"Caps Off"                              Stop typing words with initial capitals

Punctuations

&                                       "ampersand" or "and sign" 
.                                       "period" or "dot"
:                                       "colon"     
?                                       "question mark"
!                                       "exclamation point"     

,                                       "comma"
=                                       "equal sign"    
@                                       "at sign"
/                                       "forward slash" or "slash"  
-                                       "hyphen"
'                                       "begin single quote" or "open single quote"     
'                                       "end single quote" or "close single quote"
"                                       "begin quote" or "open quote"   
"                                       "close quote" or "end quote"
(                                       "left parenthesis" or "open parenthesis"    

)                                       "right parenthesis" or "close parenthesis"
%                                       "percent sign"
$                                        "dollar sign"
#                                       "pound sign"    
°                                       "degree sign"
:-)                                     "smiley face"
:-(                                     "sad face" 

google backup - how do i change my whatsapp number without losing chat history

Is there any way that I can restore my chat history, especially chats with a personal contact, when I change my number? I have important messages. I am using Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. Though, my phone is backup by google drive every night but I do not know how to use to it for changing my number without losing my history chat.

Google Play downloads last forever

I have been trying to download several apps from google play. I've got a 3G tested connection but whatever I try to download the download lasts forever. Can I somehow reinstall google play? What can I do?

Thanks.

Answer

Go to the apps list in settings, slide to see all apps (including system ones), open Download, clear data and cache of it, reboot and try again. If it doesn't work, try doing the same with Play Store app (you'll need to login again to your Google account).

encryption - Is my phone encrypted with my password?

I have a Galaxy S5 running LineageOS 14.1.

The device settings state that the device is encrypted.

I set up a password, and select to require password at boot.

I then set up a PIN for unlocking the screen, but did not select to require PIN at boot.

When I boot the phone, it does not ask for the password to boot and only the PIN is required for unlocking the screen.

Is my phone encrypted with my password?

tethering - Why can I tether to Ubuntu for free but not Windows?

I have a Motorola Droid 1 with Android 2.2 on it. I found something odd that I don't understand why it works.

If I plug my phone into my home computer which is Windows 7 and I turn on the tethering ability, I am met with a Verizon captive portal and it tells me I need to pay for a tethering plan (which I don't have).

Now the weird thing, if I plug the same phone into my Ubuntu 10.10 laptop and enable tethering it works and can get on the internet with no captive portal showing up.

The only thing I could notice that was different about the connections was Windows connected to the phone with an NDIS driver and Linux connected to the phone with what I think is a raw device mapping.

Would that have anything to do with it?

How to detect GPS status through adb shell?

I need to detect GPS status through adb shell. I have tried dumpsys location command but the output of this command is not changed when the GPS is enabled/disabled.

Answer

You can use this command:

adb shell settings get secure location_providers_allowed

Possible outcomes:

• returns nothing, implying the GPS is switched off.


• gps,wifi,network or gps,network -- High accuracy mode


• wifi,network or network only -- Battery saving mode


• gps -- Device only

sd card - How to install the application in SDcard (android phone)?

This question already has answers here:

Closed 9 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
How to install APK files on SDCARD.

I would like to install the .apk file into the SD card. Can I do this? If yes then how could I able to perform this in my HTC hero android phone?

Answer

This can "officially" only be done if you are running android-2.2-froyo and you set the app to install on the sdcard.

If you are not running android-2.2-froyo then the only way to do it is with some "hackery", which involves partitioning your sdcard, symbolic links and some other things. There are some custom ROMs that would have this built in

The non-froyo methods also involve having your phone rooted.

4.0 ice cream sandwich - Decrypting HTTPS Traffic from Android Apps via Fiddler?

I am actually trying to debug all the traffic going in and out on my phone. I am using Fiddler on my PC, and ProxyDroid on my phone to do this. HTTP traffic works fine. I am able to decrypt it completely. However, with HTTPS traffic, all I get is "Tunnel to : xxx.xxx.xx.xxx:443 ". Any idea how do I decrypt the traffic going through the HTTPS route?

I installed the FiddlerRoot.cer on my phone through the default browser. Still no luck on decrypting the HTTPS traffic.

P.S : I am talking about traffic from apps, and not through the browser. My Phone is running ICS and is rooted.

What is error code 495 on Google Play and the YouTube app?

"Facebook" could not be downloaded due to an error. (495)

How do I solve this error?

5.0 lollipop - How to use GPS without using Google Location Services

Because I do not want to consent to the Google Location Services privacy agreement I have this switched off. By doing so I know some location functionality like cell-based and wifi-based location will not be functional.

However I would expect simple GPS functionality to work in a normal way. Functioning in a normal way to me would be to use GPS data if available, else use the last known location. (Historically this is how GPS receivers work)
The current (I am running Android 5, Lollipop) implementation from Google however seems to not give any location at all when there is no clear fix, throwing me lots of warnings and placing me all over the world instead of in my home location.

My question:
Does anyone know a third party location provider / spoofer which simply caches my last known location if there is no GPS fix? (just giving me back normal functionality)
Additional functionality which would be very welcome is caching Wifi/Cell data so if I have been somewhere it will remember without a GPS fix.

Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

Answer

You could try this app: GPS Aids.

It tries to provide a quicker and more stable fix by providing a couple of GPS aids (GPS Aiding Data like LTO Long Term Orbits, gpsOneXTRA and AGPS), and it caches your last known GPS data.

It will run without root, but some options require root access.

Rooting Xperia tipo

I've unlocked my bootloader. After all the set-up, I tried to root my Tipo using Bin4ry Root's package. It didn't work; it gave me an error like permission denied (are you root?). Later, it said "successful", but it's not rooted.

I want to root it because Apex Launcher has an option that allows you to use the device's own widgets if the device is rooted. If there is any other way to use the device's original widgets on the launchers, I may not bother rooting it.

2.3 gingerbread - How to purchase an app on Google Play without a credit card?

I live in India and I don't have a credit card. I have tried using debit cards, internet banking and a virtual credit card from my bank (State Bank of India), but none of them work.

How can I purchase an app (PowerAmp) without a credit card?

Google Wallet is not acceptable because my phone runs Gingerbread and it isn't compatible.

4.0 ice cream sandwich - How to extract SMS from an HTC One ICS SMS backup file?

I have an HTC One V and I backed up my SMS using the phone's messaging application (which is a part of the ICS stock ROM) to the SD card. The resulting backup is a file called SD_20121221_448193_0 and stored in the SD card in /sms_backup

After that, I updated to an unofficial Cyanogenmod 10 and I don't see any options in the messaging app that comes with CM10 to backup or restore SMS.

How do I restore my backed up messages? Alternatively, how do I extract them from that backup file or convert them into another format? (I tried opening the file using a text editor and it seems like a binary file, I also tried opening it using SQLite Browser but it says that it isn't a SQLite database. So, to be honest, I don't know the format of the file and it would be great if someone can at least tell me what format is this file supposed to be...)

Answer

As we checked out on chat, the file was not (as originally expected) some compressed XML in any known format -- so there seems to be no easy way to read the contents of that file. Which leaves you with a few options:

1. re-flash the stock image to your device, import the backup, then use a good backup app like SMS Backup & Restore to back up your SMS. After that, flash back your current ROM, and import with the same app.
   This should always work (and did in the OP's case), but means a bit of effort as one has to flash the device at least two more times (to stock, and back to current). Before doing this, consider making a backup if you already put some customization/configuration work into your current ROM.


2. Similar: Use an Android Emulator (the one from the SDK, or Jar of Beans), load the same Android version you had on your device before, import the backup, and use one of the mentioned apps to export it from the Emulator, as well as to import it on your device.
   Note: this might only work for "Plain Vanilla Android", as the emulator will most likely not support device-specific (or manufactur-specific) stuff. Unless there's an emulator around supporting device-specific images, of course. In the OP's case it did not work, as the app in question was bound to HTC's Sense stuff.

Unfortunately we've been unable to determine the file format used. For completeness, one other thing we tried:

If a complete Nandroid backup is available, the SMS database can be found in /data/data/com.android.providers.telephony/databases/mmssms.db and explored using any SQLite frontend (recommendation for a graphical one: SQLiteman). Unfortunately, in this case the database was empty due to the wipe occuring when unlocking the device.

Why are preinstalled apps not registered in play store on new devices?

This is the 2nd time I noticed this. Once with a new Samsung galaxy s3 (with newly created Google account) and now with a new Samsung Galaxy Note (also with a newly created Google account).

I've just registered 2 new Samsung Galaxy Note tablets. One with my personal, existing Google account. And one for a friend with a new Google account I just created.

On my personal tablet, all installed apps where registered in the play store and they all said "update".

On my friends tablet with the new Google account, there are NONE apps installed on the device, according to Google play. What this means is that I need to find each and every one of the installed apps in the play store manually and update them. Or else I wouldn't receive update notifications from those apps.

This is very annoying. Especially with the loads of bloatware preïnstalled on new android devices these days.

Is there any known fix for this issue? How can I have Google Play store register all apps installed on device and show them in the my apps section?

Thx in advance!

Answer

It's because Google can back up which apps you have installed on your Google account, and restore them when you associate your account with a new device. Since your friend's account is new, the apps have not been installed yet, and are therefore not shown.

As for why the apps are not shown as installed, it's because they're not installed from Google play, but from Samsung. If I remember correctly, Samsung has it's own Samsung Apps app, which handles updates for preinstalled applications unless they're associated with their Google Play counterparts.

How to control, monitor and limit bandwidth usage?

During my last holiday, an overeager podcast app used my entire quota for downloading one podcast.

Now I am looking for sulutions that will help limit bandwidth usage.

1. Primarily I would like to monitor and limit usage by apps (getting warnings,throttling and blocking apps).



2. Sometimes up/down can be treaded separately (like photo backups)


3. I probably have a lot of apps that I can't monitor individually, I think I should be notified about those using resources, and then be able to set limits.


4. Would like the possibility of several different "policies", with automatic or manual selection. (I often use a mobile hotspot, so basing it on wi-fi or mobile data is not sufficient). Can be home operator, roaming status/location, Hotspot name.


5. Sometimes the problem is hotspot clients of my device. Some granular control would be best.


6. Perhaps granular control of browses - possibility to control websites, tabs perhaps by limiting heavy downloads like flash and photos.


7. Limit bandwidth used by ads.

On my phone I have a Data usage listing under Settings|Connections, which is somewhat useful.

mediatek - Where does the partition information in /proc/dumchar_info come from, on MTK devices?

If I want to resize partitions or restore a backup later, how do I make sure that /proc/dumchar_info reflects the changes?

As far as I can tell, dumchar_info is not related to the MBR and EBRs, since it has more info.

Answer

/proc/dumchar_info is provided by the dumchar driver, which reads the partitioning info from a header file generated during the build process and compiled in when the kernel is built. This header file is also used by other components, like the preloader, possibly bootloader, and both regular and recovery kernels. This means unless you can rebuild said components with a new header file, the partitioning is quite literally hard-coded.

A scatter file is related, in that it's generated from the same source. You can use the information from /proc/dumchar_info (together with some assumptions) to generate a scatter file.

For more information on partitioning on MediaTek devices that don't use GPT, see here.

4.4 kitkat - Editing root files

Every time I edit a file in /, /sbin, or /system/bin it overwrites on restart (device is rooted and in r/w mode). I assume this is because Android mounts a temporary root? Or maybe it's just a problem on my device?

How do I make a permanent change to root files? Can I do this through adb? Do I need to edit the system image, and if so can anyone point me in the right direction on where to start on this?

Answer

The root file system (/) and the files therein (plus several more in some sub-directories) are overwritten at boot time from the so-called InitRd ("initial RAM disk", or "boot image"). So if you must change/add stuff there, you will have to modify that image.

If you just want to store some additional binaries/scripts, you should rather do so in /system/xbin (which usually is also contained in the $PATH) – though files in /system/bin should survive a reboot as well (/system is a separate partition usually mounted read-only, and thus not touched except for OS updates).

ios - Is there any launcher app that behave like Iphone?

I've just switched from Iphone to Android (CM7), and I strongly prefer the Iphone way to manage apps. The separation between Home screen and App Drawer screen on Android is very awkward. Is there any launcher app that behave like Iphone, ie. manage, arrange apps right on the home screen?

Apps I've used: LauncherPro, GO Launcher Ex, and ADWLauncher

Answer

Since you've already rooted and flashed your ROM, you can give the MIUI rom a go, see http://en.miui.com/

I feel that is sort of the iPhone feel ROM for Android... no app drawer, newly installed apps get put onto the next available space on your screens. Folders to organise etc. Even the settings look iPhone-ish.

boot - Does android keep a log of when it starts?

I'm making a parental control/accountability app for android. It consists of a monitoring service that runs in the background and starts when the phone is booted.

Unfortunately, I have found that when android is started in "Safe Mode", services are not started automatically, and because of this my app has a serious flaw.

While in safe mode, the web and other apps can be started without my monitoring service running.

I thought that if it isn't possible to monitor app activity while in safe mode, maybe I could at least have my app detect if the phone was previously in safe mode. Then it could maybe alert the parent or accountability partner?

Does Android keep any log of this? Or any boot log in general? I'm very open to suggestions and alternatives.

hardware - Are there any Android phones that allow Bluetooth PAN off the shelf?

I'm specifically looking for an off-the-shelf solution.

Without going into too much technical detail, I need to connect a phone via Bluetooth to a device and receive IP traffic from the device. Bluetooth PAN provides that functionality, but it seems to be disabled by default in most commercial Android phones. Short of recompiling the OS, are there phones available (specific models, or buying directly from the manufacturer etc) that allow Bluetooth PAN?

edit: I'm actually looking for any solution that would allow me to establish a network connection from the phone to the device. The device's onboard NIC doesn't allow it to be configured as a WAP.

htc desire - Move to SD Card doesn't move everything

I have noticed that when I move apps to the SD card, it doesn't move everything. Is this a bug or a known behaviour or something weird going on with my phone?

Here's an example:

• Start point: Phone free space: 18MB


• Install Skype app: Phone free space: 3MB, Skype is apparently using 15MB for the App


• Move Skype to SD Card: Phone free space: 8MB, Skype is now apparently using just 5MB for the App.

What appears to have happened is it's only moved some of the App, not the whole thing. It's a real pain for me as I have an HTC Desire, which doesn't have much internal memory (I live on the balance of the low memory warning). It's running the official HTC Gingerbread install...

Answer

Indeed, Android's native "Move to SD Card" does not move the entire app to the card. Things like app's data, cache and dalvik-cache (optimized bytecode) are left on the device's internal memory. You can try to mitigate this by regularly clearing out the cache of apps you use most often (e.g. Browser, etc.) by going to Menu -> Settings -> Applications -> Manage applications -> All, then selecting the app, and tapping the Clear cache button. However, you will just be delaying the inevitable.

Also, the fact that not all apps support being moved to SD does not help the situation. For example, widgets and sync adapters may not be moved to SD Card due to a limitation of Android. Other apps simply have not been updated to support this functionality.

If your phone is rooted, you have more choice to mitigate this shortcoming. First, some custom ROMs (e.g. CyanogenMod) allow you to move all non-system apps to the SD Card, even if they don't explicitly support this functionality (even Widgets can be moved, but will stop working after a reboot.)

There are also alternative "Apps to SD" solutions that can move all non-system apps to the SD Card on a rooted phone. For example, the S2E app works wonders on CM ROM, and is very easy to install and use. The DarkTremor A2SD script is a lot more difficult to set up and configure, but works on different custom ROMs.

user interface - What are the other "home" screens called?

On my Samsung Galaxy SIII when I get past the lock screen there are several "home" screens, each indicated by a clickable dash, and one of these (the second one on my device) has a home icon in place of the dash and can also be accessed by two (if an app is open) or one (if no app is open) clicks of the home button. Of course one can also swipe left and right from one screen to another (or use the dashes area as a scrollbar).

Now my question: if I were to write about these "home screens" differentiating between the "main home screen" and the other "secondary home screens", so as to differentiate between these two kinds of "home screen", is this the corrrct terminology or would I call these two different kind of screens something else?

Note: I am also but not exclusively asking this question with accessibility (TalkBack) in mind. Haven't figured out how to pass from one of these screens to the next with TalkBack enabled. (when an app is closed and the launcher is shown, no matter which page, TalkBack says "home screen").

Answer

From source code of Launcher3 in Android 6.0.1 r16:

The workspace is a wide area with a wallpaper and a finite number of pages. Each page contains a number of icons, folders or widgets the user can interact with.

Honestly, this is the first time I heard the term workspace in context of a launcher for Android, but if you want a standard term, there you have it.

The page with home icon is referred as default page and the page currently displayed to the user is called current page. This is what I understood from this line in the source code of the said launcher.

Edit: After checking the sample of Home app in Android 6.0.1 r16 (they are using a very old sample for developers), I noticed this line inter alia and I conclude that each page can be referred to as home screen and you can reference another page by calling it previous, succeeding, or preceding home screen or by using the numbers available through scroll, such as home screen 3.

How to get rid of OTA software update notification?

I upgraded my Nexus 4 to Lollipop a few days ago but I don't like it. I'll leave out my reasons because they're not relevant here. I wiped my phone and installed a clean stock 4.2.2 version instead. I'm happy with this.

Not long after, Android automatically downloaded the 4.3 upgrade and notifies me with the choices "Later" and "Install". I don't want to do this upgrade.

How do I:

• get rid of the notification, and


• remove the downloaded update (to free up precious storage space).

---

I have already tried choosing "Later" but the same notification immediately reappears.

Based on Google search results, I also tried going to Settings > Apps > All > Google Services Framework and unticked "show notifications" but it still appears. Force stop or disable also doesn't seem to help, so I've re-enabled the service including notifications. I didn't see any other apps in this list that sounded relevant - did I just not see it?

Answer

You can disable these notifications by unchecking the notifications for Google Play Services [Not Framework]. This fixed my problem on the LG G3 and I assume it will on all other devices.

The best option is to click and hold the notification and then select 'App info', which will take you to desired app info for that update notification. Then uncheck the notification option there.

samsung galaxy s - Change language ICS spell correction (red dotted line)

I've upgraded my i9000 to Android 4.0 using CM9. I've found a major annoyance though. I've enabled spell-checking on my phone (the fancy one, with the red, dotted lines), but it appears to be available only in English, and 4 other languages. See this image:

When I switch my entire system language to Dutch, the dotted line just disappears. I've Googled around and learned that Android.com officially states: "For specialized features or additional languages, you can now download and install third-party dictionaries, spell-checkers, and other text services."

However, I haven't been able to find language packs like these. I'm dying for one, and find it hard to imagine that months after the launch of 4.0 not a single language pack has been made.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Much appreciated!

Answer

I am currently on Cyanogenmod 4.0.4 and Dutch has been added. I don't know where it came from, but it works like a charm.

Can I use Google Play gift cards in my country?

I recently found out that there are now Google Play gift cards. Something I've been looking forward to. The downer? It's not available for sale at my country (Philippines). So I want to know, if I get a friend from the US buy a card for me and send me the card code, will I be able to use it on my account that is based in the Philippines? I'm asking this because when I tried going to the redeem page, it said it's unavailable for my country and thus, didn't provide me with any way to enter a redeem code.

What I have in mind is I would TeamView my friend's PC on the US and log-in my account there then I will top-up my Google Play account that way. The question is, will it work? I mean, won't it detect that I was logging in from the Philippines just awhile ago? I wouldn't want to waste money with buying a gift card if it won't be usable anyway. My friend is an iOS user so I can't just sell it to him either.

cyanogenmod - "Access Point Name settings not available for this user"

This was probably an issue before but only became an issue when I changed providers in a foreign country. Running CM12.1 nightlies.

I can't connect to data and get the above message when I try to manually enter the APN settings.

I have tried:

1. The other fix on this site to change permission in com.android.providers.telephony to 660 from 751 but that resulted in non-stop error messages from the phone app.


2. Upgrade to the latest nightly with the new SIM inside. No change in service or in ability to change APN


3. Delete the data and cache for the settings app


4. Wipe cache and Dalvik cache.


5. Downgrading to CM 11 milestone

Answer

sigh factory reset did the trick.

google play store - Can't install from market: INSTALL_FAILED_DEXOPT

I have an LG Optimus V with CyanogenMod 7.1. I cannot install/upgrade anything from the Market. I keep getting "Package File Invalid". I think it may have something to do with s2e, though I only have apps and download cache moved to SD-ext.

I tried to install an app from the Market, and it gave me "Package File Invalid". I then ran adb pull downloadfile.apk to get the downloaded apk. Running adb install downloadfile.apk gave me:

Failure [INSTALL_FAILED_DEXOPT]

How can I fix this, so I can install apps?

EDIT: Could this be due to not having enough space for my new apps' dalvik cache? I tried to use s2e to copy the dalvik cache to sd-ext, but it's not working. It says "reboot required", and after I reboot, it still says that; I don't think it copied the files at all.

boot - How to add an image to the hard-disk of an android phone

Dont mention about custom Roms, I want to load an image into the hard-disk and be able to access it from a computer can I do so?

I want to know how to write to memory, and that includes wipping off the / directory.

May be want to load linux into it(Assume)

Answer

DriveDroid can help

DriveDroid allows you to boot your PC from ISO/IMG files stored on your phone. This is ideal for trying Linux distributions or always having a rescue-system on the go... without the need to burn different CDs or USB pendrives.

DriveDroid also includes a convenient download menu where you can download USB-images of a number of operating systems from your phone (like Mint, Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE and Arch Linux). Around 35 different systems are available at this moment.

Needs root

Related Creating a bootable USB through android

rooting - How do I root a Huawei X3?

I have a Huawei X3 (U8510) which I've purchased for testing Android applications I'm developing. I'd like to root this, but as I've not had any experience with rooting Android handsets, its something I'm approaching with some caution.

What is the recommended way to root the X3? I've found mention of a Windows app called SuperOneClick, which looks like it may be useful. My development machine is a Mac, but I'm not adverse to using Windows apps to do this if its easier.

Answer

Full rooting instructions for Huawei IDEOS X3 (U8510) are posted on this thread over at XDA:

1. Download the Automatic Root Enabler for the X3. For more recent versions I suggest checking original thread and the forum it's in as I may not be able to update this thread all the time.


2. Install the latest USB drivers for the X3. Search for the latest version of "HUAWEI Android Phones USB Driver" from the Huawei Downloads site.


3. Turn on USB Debugging from Settings -> Application -> Development on the X3.


4. Connect the X3 to your PC via microUSB.


5. Run the Automatic Root Enabler and it should start rooting your phone automatically.

rooting - root-android.org - A scam?

Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers.

---

I would just like to know whether the website root-android.org and its product is a big scam when it comes to rooting Android devices. If it is, then I advice other would-be rooters to stay away from it if they were to come across it.

Answer

According to this ScamWarners post, it may be a SCAM.

The site Root Android.org supposedly carries out the service of rooting and unrooting mobile phones with a "special" program. Like all scam sites "100% money back guarantee if not satisfied" is a in your face feature, alas nothing is further from the truth. After initial email contact regarding technical issues with the downloaded program, there is nothing and certainly no contact when exercising the refund option. I have since searched and found that the program Root Android.org uses is a free download from a few specific sites that deal openly with the global community. The old warning of buyer be ware rings true, I sincerely would not use this site again and warn anybody who is contemplating mobile phone rooting to steer clear of Root Android.org.

security - When selling your phone, what steps should be taken to make sure that all personal data has been removed?

I am getting rid of my Samsung Galaxy S4 and want to know what steps I should take to make sure that private information has been deleted from the phone. I have removed the SD card and cleared all of the gallery files as well as music. What other steps can I take to make sure that the phone is as sterile as possible?

2.3 gingerbread - Google Play says "You don't have any devices"

I tried factory resetting so I need to enter my Google account again to my device however it's been more than an hour now and Google Play still says "You don't have any devices". Any ideas how to fix this?

wi fi - Should I disable mobile data while I'm connected to WiFi?

If WiFi is activated, the phone expends energy trying to find WiFi connections, even if I'm not using the internet. Is the same true for mobile data? Does the phone expend any energy trying to keep a good data connection even while it's connected to the internet via WiFi? If so, I'll set Llama to disable mobile data while WiFi is connected. Will that make a difference to my battery life?

Custom ringtone not working on Nexus 5 since OTA Lollipop

I've updated my non-rooted, vanilla Nexus 5 with an OTA update to Android 5.0 Lollipop and since then my custom mp3 ringtone stopped working. Here are the symptoms:

1. When selecting it via the ringtone selector in the Sound & notification settings panel, it plays properly.


2. When someone else calls me, the default system notification sound is played repeatedly.


3. Re-uploading the custom ringtone via AirDroid as an .mp3 file didn't work, nor did uploading an ffmpeg-encoded .ogg version of it.



4. The same applies to my custom notification sound.

I'm currently using one of the ringtones bundled with the system, and I'd love some help in solving this problem. Thanks!

Answer

A friend suggested clearing cached data (via Settings > Storage > Cached data) and then rebooting, and it seems to have resolved the issue.

Can't scan QR code for WhatsApp web due to camera inverted or tilted on Galaxy Y Duos

First of all, I already read the other posts about problems reading the QR Code, and my problem is different.

1. I have a Galaxy Y Duos, so my screen is bigger than 4 inches.


2. I do get the "Ok, got it" message, and can successfully press it.


3. I'm using Google Chrome.


4. My WhatsApp is up to date (re-installed it several times trying to solve the problem)

What is happening is that the display for the camera inside WhatsApp is inverted (or tilted sideways). When I move the phone up and down, the image goes left and right, and vice-versa. It is like that both for taking pictures to send someone, and for scanning the QR code.

So, since the QR code depends on orientation of the image, the app cannot read the inverted image. I tried inverting the PC screen itself to correct the issue, but it seems that there's no screen orientation that gives the proper reading of the code. Plus it's really annoying trying to focus the code, as the image doesn't behave as expected.

The camera works fine outside WhatsApp and other QR readers (I have QR Droid installed) works perfectly.

The problem is also independent of screen auto-rotation, I turned it on and off, and tried to manually rotate the screen, but the camera image stays tilted.

2.3 gingerbread - Does any version of Android support ad-hoc connections?

I just bought a Lenovo Ideapad A1 which runs Android 2.3. It seems that connecting the device to an ad-hoc network is not possible.

Does any other Android version support this?

downloading - How to download an audio file from a web site?

This question already has answers here:

Closed 6 years ago.

Is there a way to download an audio file, such as a mp3-file from the Android browser to the device so I could listen to it later when I'm offline? Is there a way I should program the web site to make this possible?

I'm not looking for an additional app to help me achieve this.

Answer

in your android browser long click on MP3 file link or any audio link and click on Save Link. It will be downloaded to your phone and it will be stored in download folder in your sdcard.

Hope it will help you.

Unable to write to internal storage through MTP

When I connected my XT1033 (Moto G) to my computer in MTP mode, I was unable to access the contents of the internal storage in write mode. I was unable to create any folders, delete files, rename etc.

As part of trouble shooting, I attempted to connect XT1022 (Moto E) to the same port in MTP mode, I was able to access the internal storage and its SD card normally.

Puzzled with this behaviour, I connected my XT1033 again but this time in PTP mode and I was able to access DCIM folder normally.

I tried the same with another Samsung Galaxy Duos phone and it too worked properly.

When I attempted to create a folder in Computer\XT1033\Internal storage\Download in my XT1033 (in PTP mode) I get the following error:

The new folder could not be created in this location. The device has either stopped responding or has been disconnected

I am able to connect to the device thorough ADB and tested the following:

shell@falcon_umtsds:/ $ cd sdcard
cd sdcard
shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard $ ls -la
ls -la
....
....
drwxrwx--- root     sdcard_r          2014-12-28 18:50 Download

....
....

I was even able to create folders through ADB console and even push files:

127|shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard $ ls test
ls test
test: No such file or directory
1|shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard $ mkdir test
mkdir test
shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard $ ls test

ls test
shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard $ cd test
cd test
shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard/test $ ls
ls
shell@falcon_umtsds:/sdcard/test $ exit
exit   

Any idea what could be wrong or what should I suspect next?

Environment: XT1033 (Moto G) rooted, running stock 4.4.4 Computer running Windows 7 x64.

Update: If USB debugging is switched off, I am able to read and write normally in phone's internal storage. If it is switched on, the internal storage becomes read-only.

rom flashing - How to create a flashable ZIP from FlashTools backup?

I have this backup that I presume was created using FlashTools from a stock MINT 140.

How can I create a flashable ZIP from that backup, that I can later flash to the device with

$ adb sideload rom.zip

I know I can flash the individual images with fastboot but I'd prefer something I can flash in a single operation.

4.0 ice cream sandwich - ICS upgrade - Contacts freezing on Galaxy S2

This morning I upgraded my Galaxy S2 from Android v2 to ICS, using Settings/About/Software Update. Since doing so, I am encountering a problems with my Contacts, which crashes practically every time I open it. Major downer, not to be able to look up my contacts, as I'm sure you can imagine.

(I also have a problem with Hebrew fonts, which no longer display correctly - but I've opened a separate question here to deal with that.)

I have tried doing a factory reset, as suggested in one of the answers, which I originally accepted, because it seemed Contacts were working OK right after the reset - but later, after the rest of my apps were automatically downloaded and reinstalled, the same problem started happening again.

Are there any apps that are known to conflict with Contacts in ICS? Everything worked fine when I was on Android 2. Any other ideas how to fix this?

samsung galaxy s - Is there anything that can show exactly what has awaken my phone?

Recently I had some issues with my phones battery getting drained in 8-10 hours, even though the screen was active for less than 1 hour and wifi/bluetooth/gps was off.

My first thought was to check the battery usage statistics, but all I saw was the display, voice calls and cell standby, and after that a few apps that I commonly use (such as the browser).

Still suspecting an app hogging the CPU I used applications such as a task manager and watchdog to try to find the culprit, but no luck. I then looked around here and found a couple of answers referencing to the awake time. Looking at battery usage again I could see that indeed the awake time was around 75% of the total time since last charge, i.e. some app was preventing my phone from going to sleep. I uninstalled a couple of apps I don't use anymore and lowered settings for email checks etc, and now my awake time is down to normal levels.

My question is, is there any app/secret number/trick/whatever that can show exactly what has awaken my phone? In the battery usage statistics I can still see that sometimes the phone wakes up even though the screen is off, and that is normal, but if I ever get this problem again (and I'm sure I will), this would be a very valuable tool for trouble shooting.

Answer

I'm using Better Battery Stats. It will shows what apps are causing wake locks and that sounds like what you're after. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1179809

cyanogenmod - How can I flash back to the stock rom for HTC EVO 4G/Supersonic using just the phone and clockwork mod recovery and/or rom manager?

I need to flash back to my stock rom for just a few minutes to get my GPS working again (http://code.google.com/p/cyanogenmod/issues/detail?id=2090&colspec=ID%20Type%20Status%20Version%20Model%20Network%20Owner%20Summary%20Stars%20Priority). Everything I read says I need windows to do this, is there a rom I can download and just restore it with clockwork mod?

Answer

http://goo-inside.me/evo/stock/ruu/ provides a straightforward guide, reproduced below, of how to revert to a stock ROM, and it looks like all you need is ClockworkMod. You probably want the newest Dec. 15th software linked on that page. Heed the warning!

WARNING! RUU'ing your phone will wipe all data on your phone, and if done incorrectly, can BRICK your device permanently! Performing an RUU entails completely wiping your user data, removing root, removing your custom recovery, and switching to the specified radio, hboot, and stock Sense ROM version that's in the file name.

Instructions:

1. Download the UnrEVOked Forever S-ON tool and flash from ClockworkMod or Amon_RA recovery.


2. Download ZIP file for whatever software version you want to restore to. Note that you may not be able to downgrade, depending on your current software version.


3. Check MD5 (Windows: HashCheck, Linux/Mac: Use md5sum comand from Terminal).


4. Rename file to "PC36IMG.zip" (ensure that you do not have file extensions hidden, aka, that the file is not now "PC36IMG.zip.zip")



5. Place file on the root of your SD card.


6. Boot into hboot by powering off phone, then holding down Volume Down and Power until you are taken to the white screen with the skating Androids at the bottom.


7. When asked if you want to flash the file, press Volume Up to confirm. The remainder of the prompts should be self-explanatory after that.

How to factory reset android using adb

I am trying to factory data reset my Oppo neo 7 (Android 5.1) using adb shell. Any ways i can try and links to adb shell? thanks

Google Maps can't get my location

This seemed to just start happening recently but for some reason Google Maps can't get my location (just have a gray dot). If I go into Settings -> Location and choose High accuracy or Device only then I will just get the gray dot. If I change it to Battery saving I can get the blue dot but it's obviously not as accurate so I'd like it to use GPS. At first I thought there was a problem with GPS with my phone so I downloaded a couple of GPS status apps and they were all able to get GPS signal immediately (even with poor conditions; e.g., indoors). If I go to maps.google.com in my browser on my phone (either Chrome or Firefox) I get a blue dot. I've also downloaded Waze and HERE Maps and they can get my location without problem.

In Google Maps app I can tap on the gray dot and I get a message saying it can't connect to Maps and I should try again in a few minutes. There is also an option to report blue dot issues. This has been happening for a couple weeks now and it's really frustrating as I use Google Maps all the time.

I was thinking that maybe there was some issue with Google Maps and Google Play services but I double checked and I have the latest versions of both (I'm on a stock non-rooted Nexus 5x). Is it possible there is a bug in Google Maps that I seem to be the only one experiencing? Any help narrowing this down would be greatly appreciated.

Answer

I had the same problem; fixing it was as simple as enabling automatic date and time and automatic time zone. Not sure what program turned those off but correcting that make the problem go away. (When I turn them off, the problem re-occurs.)

rooting - How to root Samsung Galaxy S5 for AT&T with Lollipop

I have Samsung Galaxy S5 for AT&T with Android 5.0 Lollipop upgraded.

Is there any way to root this phone?

PS. How do I root my Android device? This question is different. I heard that rooting Lollipop is different from rooting previous Android version.

Feasibility of flashing a ROM (meant for original device) on a re-branded device

I have a re-branded smartphone with Android 5.0. The thing is I want to install a custom ROM to remove all the bloatware and get more control. But, as it is re-branded and not that popular there are not any custom ROMs available for it.

What I'm thinking is that since its hardware is not that old and there are many popular smartphones with exactly the same specifications, is it possible to install a custom ROM that was not built for my smartphone but was built for one which has exactly similar specifications?

Note: I can post the specifications, if required.

external sd - Is there any contact information on the SD card?

I found an sd card that was definitely in someone's android phone. Is there any file within the card that would have it's owner's info, so that I might contact them somehow and return what they've lost? Just going out of my way to be a good samaritan here....

applications - Why do I keep getting "not enough storage space"

I have an LG Stylo with a 32gb SD card, which is supported on my phone, and I have 29gb free. I try to move an app of any size and I am told there is not enough space. One or two apps move, but the majority won't. What is the point of walking someone through the steps and not allow it? My system has been updated to 6.0 Marshmallow, but I was having the same issue before. The Stylo has been great but I am starting to run low on space, which could be fixed using the SD card.

google play store - How much privileged GMS Core is in the Android Stack?

The GMS Core has a ton of capabilities and doesn't seem to perform like a typical application (as in an Application living in the 'Applications' layer shown below). I would assume it would have more privileges and potentially live in the Android Framework layer or the same place as the 'Core Libraries' mention. However, I noticed a u0_a12 UID (not root or system) was attached to the com.google.android.gms process indicating that it's a user owned application. Can someone elaborate on this a little?

Answer

Android reserves UID range 10000 to 19999 for apps - user, system or framework. u0_a12 doesn't indicate a user owned application, it simply means UID 10012 which can be assigned to any app. On Android every app is assigned a unique non-zero UID. No app can run with root privileges, including system apps.

UID 0 (root) is the privileged user in Discretionary Access Control (DAC) but be noted that even a process running with UID 0 can be non-privileged or one with non-zero UID can be privileged. Refer to Linux capabilities, particularly Ambient Capabilities.

However Android's Java framework doesn't rely directly on DAC very much, it has its own privilege control mechanism through permissions e.g. Storage, Camera, Internet etc. Manifest permissions have different Protection Levels. Some are granted without asking user, some others require user's approval to be granted or denied and some are reserved only for system use. For more details please see this answer.

Google Mobile Services (GMS) make use of both; application layer and some features only available to framework/system/privileged apps. For instance Play Services has android.permission.INTERNET which is granted to every app that requests for it. But it also has android.permission.READ_LOGS ⁽¹⁾ which has protection level signature|privileged and can't be granted to user installed apps. Similarly GMS Core has unrestricted internet access even in Data Saver and Battery Saver modes ⁽²⁾ which is also possible only for framework apps.

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RELATED:

audio - Block all sounds going out through speaker when headphone connected

I'm kind of new in Android and I realized that all the sounds are going out through the speaker regardless if the headphones are connected. If they are the sound also goes out through the headphones, but I'd also like to avoid the speaker when headphones connected.

Is that possible?

Few more information that may help:

• My phone is a Samsung Galaxy i5510


• Its Android 2.2 Froyo


• I've installed Tasker, maybe there is some way to make a profile to achieve what I want.

Thanks, Diego

Update

As it wasn't to clear I'll clarify for each sound (if i forget any please let me know):

• Phone calls: Speaker and headphones.



• Notifications: Speaker and headphones.


• Games and almost every app: Only headphones. (I wrote "almost every app" because, for example, Skype or Camera sounds in both speaker and headphones).


• Keyboard and "touch clicks": Headphones.

Summarizing the problem are: phone calls, notifications and some "random" apps.

Answer

Currently you can't disable notifications via speakers while still having them via headphones. There's an open issue for that.

You also can use Llama or Tasker to switch profiles when you plug your headphones.

How to remove Google Account that is set for Android Market in device?

In my Device I have entered the the xyz@gmail.com as google account and I have also set that account as the Market account. Now I want to use abc@gmail.com as my market account but I am not able to do that. So how to set that another account for the android market.

I also want to remove the account xyz@gmail.com from my device completely. That Account I have set at the First time in to my device and now I am not able to remove it from the Device.

So what should I have to do for it?

Answer

You can't currently remove the primary Google account that you used to set up your Android device, the quickest way to switch to your new Google account would be to restore factory defaults and set up your device to use the new account.

The location of the factory reset depends on the Android version of the device. On ICS (4.0+) devices it's in Settings -> Backup & reset -> Factory data reset. On Honeycomb (3.x) devices it's in Settings -> Privacy -> Factory data reset. The same goes for Froyo + Gingerbread (2.0-2.3.x) if i remember correctly.

Note that this will clear your apps and their data, and depending on your device, MAY wipe your internal and/or external SD card, as TryTryAgain mentioned.

boot - Android 2.2 - How to see applications that run at start-up

This question already has answers here:

Closed 9 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:
How can I prevent applications from running on startup?

Hello!

Is it possible to see which applications are set to run at startup? For example, the idiots at Yahoo made the Android Messenger so that it starts on Android Start-up, but provide no way of preventing this behaviour. They always do this kind of dirty tricks...

Anyway, is there sort of an msconfig as in Windows?

Thank you.

Answer

I don't know of a free solution, though there may be one.

I do know of Autostarts, currently just under 1 USD, a pretty good price in my opinion. It gives you a list of applications that have attached themselves to different events in the Android OS (I'm not an Android programmer, my wording is likely wrong there). You can then choose to disable that association without actually removing or disabling the application. For your Yahoo startup example -- With Autostarts you can prevent it from launching on startup, but it will still be accessible for you to launch at your leisure later on.

Forgot to mention - this does require root. A bit of searching seems to confirm that there is no way to disable startup apps without root - your only option in that case would be uninstalling them.

I also stumbled on a manual process that I've never personally tried -- You can do what Autostarts does by issuing some shell commands (ADB or Terminal Emulator app).

su pm disable /.

I believe that would translate to something like:

su pm disable com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.im/com.yahoo.mobile.client.android.im.android.intent.action.BOOT_COMPLETED

But I've never tried this myself.

google - Purchased music won't play without wifi

Why won't the songs I purchase from Google play actually play without wifi? I have set the settings to download without wifi. I don't care about the data. I don't like waiting until I get home to be able to finally put the music I have purchased on my phone

google play store - Is there a way to trick the Android Market into thinking I'm using a different device do I can download protected apps?

I have an unrooted Archos 70IT with the market add-on app and there's a number of apps that I can find in the Market on my Droid but not on my Archos. They are likely "protected apps" which can only be installed on devices approved by the apps dev.

To get around this I just download them to my Droid, save to Dropbox then install on my Archos. These apps work just fine, so rather than be "protected" from "incompatible" apps and having to do backflips to get the apps I want, I'd like to trick the Market into thinking I'm on a Droid or some other ubiquitous Android device.

Is there anyway of doing this a) at all, and b) on an unrooted device? If so, how?

Answer

Yes, it can be done but it requires root. You edit the device fingerprint in the build.prop file. Here are details: http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-spica/98024-protected-app-market-fix-tutorial-build-prop.html

Edit: For a more complete answer, see How can I modify the phone model in build.prop to get unsupported apps?

4.4 kitkat - Photos in the Camera folder in the Gallery were deleted automatically in my Android phone

I am wondering about how it is possible that all the pictures in the Camera folder in the Gallery were deleted without my knowledge where I am the only user of my Android phone. I don't remember exactly how many pictures were there in the camera folder that I have been capturing for almost six months. But they were there till the last night and only this morning I was shocked to have discovered the deletion.Although I know there are many software through which I can recover my photos,I want to know the possible causes behind.Is it due to the maximum size of photos that can be kept in the camera folder in the Gallery,surpassing which may trigger automatic deletion of the photos or just something else? If so,then how do I manage the size or number of photos? My phone is not rooted. Any advice is welcome!

The screenshots of my device memory is:

^{Screenshot - Storage (Click to enlarge)}

backup - Merging multiple SMS databases

I have a lot of problems with my phone, and so I have a number of nandroid backups with different sets of overlapping SMS messages saved in them. I've also made a few copies of the data folder when the thing wouldn't boot. I like to have all my SMSes backed up to my Gmail for posterity and searchability, using SMS Backup Plus.

What's the easiest way to recover messages (and maybe other data) from my backups? Is it possible to open or run nandroid backups inside an emulator? Are they in a format that can be extracted to a filesystem, and then take the database files out and merge them with some kind of database tool and then put the merged file on my phone? Would it handle duplicates?

gmail - Unlock OnePlus2 after reset and now in FRP

I have reset my Android Phone (OnePlus2) after it froze. Now it wants me to log in to my previously used Google account.

I know the PIN Code and the Code to Unlock the Screen and the fingerprint is also set to me. Is there a way to bypass this protection ?

IMHO this does not make any sense if there is no way. Any reasonable thief, who knows all this information can simply unlock the phone and disable OEM lock.

My only problem is that i forgot the Googlemail.

Answer

I searched a few videos on youtube and found a comment, that i tried out of pure desperation:

"Use this code to unlock in emergency call *#812# "

... and it worked !!

After this code unlocks your phone, just go to settings and add a new google account.

Thanks a lot to Chris Rosario for the comment.

applications - Android apps for "armeabi-v7a" and "x86" architecture: SoC vs. Processor vs. ABI

While downloading Android apps, sometimes I have seen apps for armeabi-v7a and x86 architecture.

I read some references for armeabi-v7a and x86 architecture. However, at the end, I couldn't finalize which mobile processors and architectures belong to armeabi-v7a and which belong to x86.

As per my knowledge, mobile processors commonly used in Android devices are Snapdragon (by Qualcomm), MediaTek, Exynos (by Samsung) and Kirin (by Huawei). Almost all brands explain specifications of a smartphone and almost all specifications say mobile processor is 64-bit or not. Should I conclude that 64-bit of mobile processors (Snapdragon, MediaTek, Exynos or Kirin) belong to ARM architecture?

EDIT:
To understand which SoC supports armeabi-v7a Android apk and which SoC supports x86 Android apk, I have gone through the specifications of MediaTek Helio X30 and Snapdragon 855. The specification of Helio X30 says, it supports dual-core ARM Cortex-A73 and quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 but ARM is not mentioned anywhere in the specification of Snapdragon 855. So should I conclude that Helio X30 will support armeabi-v7a Android apps and Snapdragon 855 will not support armeabi-v7a apps?

Please clarify my confusions.

Better battery life by factory reset?

This is a bit odd. I thought I fairly well grokked how things worked, but this seems weird to me.

I have an original Moto X. I've had it for almost two years now. It started off with Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) and, slowly but surely (because Verizon) got updated through to Android 5.1 (Lollipop). It has never been rooted.

I figured it's been getting a bit long in the tooth, and the battery life has reflected that. I could leave the house at 100% charge in the morning and, a two-hour train ride later, without ever touching the phone, would be down to about 60% battery. If I didn't charge at work, it would be dead by 2:00, with minimal usage. If I work at home, with reliable wifi all day, I can usually get to about 4:00 before having to charge. But, I figured, this is just what happens to a well-used phone toward the end of its life.

I finally got the Lollipop upgrade and had been using it for a couple of weeks. Things were okay, but not quite right. So I decided I had nothing to lose by doing a factory reset.

So, I did. I restored all the same apps back to the phone, with the exception of a couple that I finally realized I never use and some Verizon bloatware that I disabled.

But now, my battery life has improved tremendously. At home, with a fair amount of use, I never put it on the charger in the middle of the day and went to bed with 40% on the battery. I use an app that graphs my battery usage, and the slope is significantly shallower when I'm not using the phone than it used to be. I'm not using it any differently, but battery life is way up.

What could have happened? I used to check fairly frequently what was using my battery and there was never anything "weird" there. There also weren't any unaccounted for amounts. I am seeing the apparently irksome "Cell Standby" draining some, but even so the whole thing is lasting much longer than it used to.

I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I'm kind of wondering what I did by doing a factory reset.

Offline city map with directions and public transport?

I'm looking for an app which basically is google maps but completely offline. Even with the new feature of offline maps, the directions and the public transport don't work, as well as the street names are not shown.

Is there a real offline alternative to Google maps?

callerid - Phone number shown as unknown. Always says sender is invalid

I have a Samsung Galaxy S SHW-M1105 and it displays my phone number as unknown. Is there a way to change it? And one more when I try to reply a message it says the sender is invalid. Someone please help

external sd - I want to split one MicroSD card into two parts: part adoptable storage, and part normal storage. How can I do this?

I don't want all my storage as adopted storage, so I was wondering how I can split it into 1 part adopted storage and 1 part normal file storage (what Android calls "portable storage").

Answer

You don't need to root your device but the device i done this with is rooted

1. You need to enabled Developer Options.


2. Enable the USB Debugging option.


3. Make sure your SD card is formatted as portable, then get the adb executable (see our adb tag-wiki for details).


4. Connect your device to your PC and run the adb devices command. If your device is connected correctly you will see your device listed in the output.


5. Run adb shell sm list-disks adoptable. This will show you the list of disks that can be used for what we want.



6. For my device it showed me disk:179,128 so i ran adb shell sm partition disk:179,128 mixed 80 on my 32 GB AS card. It gave me 5 GB as adoptable storage and the rest for other uses. (This will format your SD card.)

call history - Changing default behaviour of the Phone app in Oreo

Each time when I open the Phone app, I see Favourites tab (first one) as default.

This is completely useless for me, because Google uses its weird logic to tell me which contacts are my so called favourites and this logic produces completely wrong results -- i.e. I see "favourite" contacts which aren't truly my favourite ones.

This tab is also useless, if your contacts have more than one phone number, because instead of showing a list in this case and letting you pick the number, it always calls the default number. This isn't working in my case, because I have a lot of contacts which I contact both privately (i.e. during weekends and evenings; using private phone number) and on business grounds (using company phone number). So using the default phone number and Favourites tab is pointless in my case.

For the above reasons, I am not using Favourites tab at all and I am always forced to switch manually to recent phones / call history tab.

Is there any way to make that tab displayed as default each time I open up the Phone app.

My stack:

• Motorola Moto Z2 Play,


• Android 8.0 Oreo.

I am using the default, system Phone app. No 3rd party solution.

Answer

A possible solution is to automate the process of clicking the Call history tab when the phone app is opening. It is not elegant but may help you.

Using Automatem create the following flow:

1. In the Apps section, select App start. Click it, in the Package option select the Phone app from the list. Click Done.


2. In the Interface section, select Interact. Click it, set the Proceed option to When UI element appear, then click Record Interactions. A small widget will appear. Open the Phone app, then click on the call history. Click the check mark on the widget. It will take you back to Automate, and many parameters of the Interact block will be filled for you. Click Done.


3. In the Flow section, select Flow stop.


4. Click the Flow beginning block, give the title a name; then click on "Install home screen shortcut".


5. Link the blocks as seen on the image, then save and give the flow a name.


6. Give the required permissions when asked.

On your home screen, there will be a shortcut created with the label (title) you inserted in step 4. Clicking it will open the Phone app, then show the call history,

It is not elegant because for a fraction of a second, you will see the Favorites tab before the call history is shown.