Tuesday, April 30, 2019

mount - What is default "fstab" file in Android?


As I known, in Android 9, system and vendor are mounted in the first stage of init by parsing fstab from device tree. But, there is another fstab parsed in init process, it is device default fstab, which is parsed by ReadDefaultFstab function below. I am facing to a error " failed to find device default fstab " in boot log. Can anyone explain for me this default fstab file? What is it and it's role?


// Loads the fstab file and combines with fstab entries passed in from device tree.
bool ReadDefaultFstab(Fstab* fstab) {
Fstab dt_fstab;
ReadFstabFromDt(&dt_fstab, false);

*fstab = std::move(dt_fstab);

std::string default_fstab_path;

// Use different fstab paths for normal boot and recovery boot, respectively
if (access("/system/bin/recovery", F_OK) == 0) {
default_fstab_path = "/etc/recovery.fstab";
} else { // normal boot
default_fstab_path = GetFstabPath();
}

Fstab default_fstab;
if (!default_fstab_path.empty()) {
ReadFstabFromFile(default_fstab_path, &default_fstab);

} else {
LINFO << __FUNCTION__ << "(): failed to find device default fstab";
}

for (auto&& entry : default_fstab) {
fstab->emplace_back(std::move(entry));
}

return !fstab->empty();
}


Answer



It can be in / (ramdisk), /odm/etc/ or /vendor/etc/.


Android Storage Configuration:



For Android releases 4.3 and later, the various fstab files used by init, vold and recovery were unified in the /fstab. file



Next change occured with Treble when vendor/SoC specific code was separated from Generic AOSP code. So fstab was moved to /odm or /vendor.


default_fstab_path reads GetFstabPath():


// Identify path to fstab file. Lookup is based on pattern fstab.,
// fstab. in folders /odm/etc, /vendor/etc, or /.


Commit states:



fstab contains device- and soc- specific content that should reside in /odm or /vendor partition. This change searches the fstab.${ro.hardware} file from /odm/etc, /vendor/etc and /, then use the first one found.



fstab contains entries for all filesystems to be mounted on boot or in recovery from partitions including system, vendor, userdata, cache, misc, persist, modem, dsp etc. See details in Android Partitions and Filesystems.


Some of the entries of fstab are moved to DTB. See "WHERE FSTAB IS?" in How to disable dm-verity on Android?


sandboxing - Security model when asking access to photo, media and files


When an app asks for permission to access photo, media an files, does the andriod security model sandbox the access to only files for that particular app?


Or can the app then access files created by other apps?



So many apps ask for permission to the file system, does that mean e.g. App#1 can grab files created by App#2?


I want to install WeChat but want to understand what security risk is involved potentially.




usb on the go - Simultaneous OTG + Charging Capability


I'm working on a hobby project to stick a tablet in a car to replace the factory head unit. For this, I need to connect the reverse camera to the tablet (via USB, using something like an EasyCAP adapter), while the tablet being charged.


So far, I found that Lava SimulCharge adapter claims to do this. Although it's very picky about the devices it works with. (Exclusively a few Samsung Galaxy tabs with strict OS versions and even cable lengths)


I would like to know what other alternatives I have which can do this. (Prefer not being locked down only to the LAVA supported tablets, as they're quite expensive for my purpose.)


Is it a Samsung only feature? (seems like most Windows tablets support this out of the box across a number of OEMs. But haven't seen any Android device that isn't Samsung supporting this.)


Can I check which tablets have the support?


I prefer to do this without rooting the device.





boot - Nexus 5 stuck on "flying color dots lollipop" screen after Hard Factory Reset


I just did a wipe data/factory reset on my Nexus 5. I followed this YouTube tutorial.


I'm stuck on the boot screen, which was my problem in the first place, and it's been on the boot screen for 25 minutes.


Should I wait or do something else?





Monday, April 29, 2019

6.0 marshmallow - How do I make my profile icon use the same image on my google profile?


I'm currently using Nexus 6P with Marshmallow. I have not added other profiles on my device.


Why does my profile icon not share the same image used on my Google account? I recalled this working on an earlier android version (maybe Kitkat or Lollipop) but it only took effect after adding more users. I might be remembering this completely wrong, though.


Is there a way to make the image share what is already on my google profile?



Answer



My understanding is that this is controlled by the google+ app.


according to this xda thread try:






  1. Open Setting -> Apps -> All -> Contacts Storage -> Clear Data




  2. Open Google+ -> Settings -> Your account (under Account Settings) -> Contacts -> Keep contacts up to date





Find serial number of Samsung Galaxy S7 edge


How can I find out the serial number of a Samsung Galaxy S7 edge without the sticker on the phone / box?


I've tried a few 'secret codes', but nothing happens when I type them in: http://geekofreak.com/2013/01/all-secret-codes-of-samsung-mobile-phone.html


I've tried downloading Kies on my computer, but it says my phone is unsupported and I need to download SmartSwitch. I've installed SmartSwitch on the phone but it doesn't seem to be for verifying the phone.



Answer



I would suggest you try using Phone Info Samsung. It is a very versatile app and gives you a lot of information on Samsung devices (many may come as a surprise). I have used it for four years on my previous devices. Developer has an active thread at XDA


Play store snapshot claims that it displays serial number too. It did that on my old Note 2


enter image description here



applications - How to recover apps from a factory reset?


I have some apps installed on my device and I want to perform a factory reset. Is there a simpler way to re-install my applications after the reset (with the least possible number of user interventions), without having to search them all in the Market and re-install them again one by one?


Rooting is not a problem.


Thank you in advance.



Answer



If you have a 4.x device, the automatic backup/restore found under Settings -> Backup & reset -> Back up my data and Automatic restore options work fine. It uses Google's own servers to save a list of apps installed on your phone. After a factory reset once you sign in with the same Google account, it gives you an option to restore those apps. Keep in mind that if the goal of factory reset is to change the default Google account, you'll need to first add that account to the phone, and change the Backup account to the secondary one you've just added.


On older Android versions the automatic backup/restore was not very reliable, but there are some 3rd-party apps in the Market that can help depending on what exactly your goal is. If you want to simply re-install apps, then AppBrain along with Fast Web Installer are great. AppBrain allows you to save the list of your installed apps to their online site, and after a factory reset you would only need to re-install these two apps, sign in, pick the list you created earlier, and it allows you to kick off a process that automatically installs the "missing" apps directly from Market.


If you also need to restore the settings and data associated with those apps, Titanium backup (rooting required) is a better choice. This app backs up all installed apps and their settings/data to your SD Card. After a factory reset you install Titanium from Market, and then do a restore. It can also backup/restore system apps and settings, which can help after a factory reset, but it's generally not recommended to do so, especially if you are planning to install a custom ROM.


2.2 froyo - What Android sync'd data is encrypted?



With the release of the firesheep plug-in for firefox it has become trivial for website browsing on open Wi-Fi networks to be hijacked by 3rd party listeners.


Android offers the convenient auto-sync option. However I fear that my data may be auto-sync'd while I am connected to an open Wi-Fi network while at the local coffee shop or shopping mall.


Is all the data Android auto-syncs encrypted using SSL or a similar encryption mechanism? Is any auto-sync'd data unencrypted and transmitted in the clear for all to listen in to?


Update: COMPLETELY INSECURE!!!! See below!!!!



Answer



Note: answering my own question as nobody knew.


I did a packet capture after selecting Menu -> Accounts & Sync -> Auto-sync (also accessible via the "Power Control" widget). What did I discover?


To my horror (http requests from phone displayed below):


GET /proxy/calendar/feeds/myaccount%40gmail.com HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip

Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=_hidden_
Host: android.clients.google.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Android-GData-Calendar/1.4 (vision FRF91); gzip

and


GET /proxy/contacts/groups/myaccount@gmail.com/base2_property-android?showdeleted=true&orderby=lastmodified&updated-min=2010-12-01T08%3A49%3A00.561Z&sortorder=ascending&max-results=10000&requirealldeleted=true HTTP/1.1
Accept-Encoding: gzip
Authorization: GoogleLogin auth=_hidden_
GData-Version: 3.0

Host: android.clients.google.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
User-Agent: Android-GData-Contacts/1.3 (vision FRF91); gzip

My contacts and calendar are being transmitted unencrypted! I don't currently synchronize gmail so I couldn't say if that is unencrypted either.


Also the stock market application (which must be a service because I don't have the widget displayed or the application active):


POST /dgw?imei=TEST&apptype=finance&src=HTC01 HTTP/1.1
User-Agent: curl/7.19.0 (i586-pc-mingw32msvc) libcurl/7.19.0 zlib/1.2.3
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Length: 338

Host: api.htc.go.yahoo.com
Connection: Keep-Alive
Expect: 100-Continue




VOD.LBARC.L




Completely unencrypted request for stock quotes: just think, you could sit in Starbucks in the financial centre of your city and packet-sniff what quotes were important to all the smart phone users around you..


Other items that were not encrypted:



  • http request to htc.accuweather.com

  • time request to time-nw.nist.gov:13 (doesn't even use NTP)


About the only data that is encrypted on my phone are the mail accounts I set up with the K-9 application (because all my mail accounts use SSL - and fortunately gmail accounts are, by default, SSL; and yahoo! mail supports imap using SSL too). But it seems none of the auto-sync'd data from the out-of-box phone is encrypted.


This is on a HTC Desire Z with Froyo 2.2 installed. Lesson: do not use phone on open wireless network without VPN encrypted tunnelling!!!


Note, packet capture taken by using tshark on ppp0 interface on virtual node running Debian connected to Android phone via OpenSwan (IPSEC) xl2tpd (L2TP).


nexus 5 - Casting Nexus5 Screen to a smart TV without extra hardware


I was wondering if there is any way to cast my Nexus 5 screen on to my Samsung Smart TV without any additional hardware such as chromecast.



Answer



If your smart TV supports the Miracast protocol for wireless displays, then you can cast to it just the same way you would a Chromecast.


Sunday, April 28, 2019

cyanogenmod - SD card formatted to ext4 and permissions


I'm using CyanogenMod 7.1.0 RC1 on HTC Desire HD. I've formatted SD card to ext4, because I wanted to use Fedora through chrooting into it, and Fedora ARM image requires FS which can do symlinks.


Now, when various applications try to save data (reading works fine) on SD, they get permission denied (so, for example, downloads don't work, camera can't save images, etc.). I've chmoded everything on my SD card to 777, but that didn't help (I don't really understand why, as a guy with strong Linux background I've assumed that this would make it readable to everyone).

I've also tried fixing permissions through ROM Manager, but this feature seems not to care about SD card.
All files on SD card seem to be owned by root:root.


Now, how do I make my SD card usable again? Should I format it back to FAT?



Answer



You can't have the full SD card formatted as ext4. Android only natively supports FAT / FAT32. The primary partition should be FAT, and you can use a secondary partition with ext4 only if you install an app for it like Simple2Ext.


wi fi - How can I stream music/audio from Android and PC to Android device via WiFi?


I've searched for this for some time, and I've found several options that almost works.


I have an Android device connected to my stereo and I want to be able to connect to it with either my PC or my Android phone and play whatever music I'm playing on the phone/PC on the device instead.


I've tried SoundWire, which sort of works with PC->Android, though the sound is sometimes choppy, and I have to connect from the Android device instead of from the PC.


I've tried Remote Droid Player and Twonky, that works with Music that's already on my device, and twonky beam seems to work if I find something on YouTube, but since most music I play is on Google Play Music, that doesn't do me much good either.


So does anyone have a solution for this. What I basically need is to replace my long jack->rca cable with an Android device, if you can put it like that.




Saturday, April 27, 2019

rooting - Possible to root Archos 79 Platinum


I want to root this device:


Archos 79 Platinum


Is it possible, and can someone link me to a guide please? (I couldn't find a clear cut answer whether it is rootable or not)



Answer



YES! It is possible to root the Archos 79 Platinum using the following methods:


VROOT-root exe file for use on Windows machines


And to replace the superuser-app with an English version:


English Superuser and busybox etc



Yoy may also first want to check out the following link to make sure USB works properly (also google on how to enable developer-mode and USB-debugging on Android devices in general):


Enable Archos USB devices


I just rooted my device, so I know for sure that it works.


Friday, April 26, 2019

automation - How can I run a sequence of applications or actions on certain triggers on Android?


Is there is free application or some trick to run sequence of applications on android? For example I want to start the following sequence: Wi-Fi --> Tor --> Browser



Answer



You should try Tasker for simple interface and quick setup.


If you are willing to do something by code and very specific, a good alternative is onX by Microsoft, you can write your code to do exactly the things you wanna do. Also there are some ready recipes that you can quickly setup.


tablet - How can I "split" the virtual keyboard when typing on a large display in landscape mode?


I have a large Android tablet and would like to "split" the virtual keyboard when it's in landscape mode. Something similar like the iPad feature.



Is this possible and if so how?



Answer



Thumb Keyboard allows for this, as well as many other handy features which make it well worth the money


Paid Version


7 Day Trial Version


htc - How to turn on/off voice typing


I have a HTC One X+ and I was using voice typing very well, however I accidentally turned this off or disabled it and I am unable to turn it back on. I am new to the Android system and this was done in error.


How can I re-enable voice typing?




Nexus 5 in boot loop


I will explain the issue in sequence



  1. I was running custom ROM on my Nexus 5.

  2. One day the device was stuck in flying colour dot animation and never came out of that

  3. I went to recovery mode and cleaned the cache but there was no change


  4. I did a complete factory restore. Nothing got resolved (The USB debugging option got disabled during this :( )

  5. I again tried to go to recovery mode. Suddenly TWRP started asking password for decryption. I don't remember enabling encryption and setting a password. I don't even have a screen lock. I trided "default_password" which didn't help. twrp welcome message

  6. I press cancel , which redirected to this screen after pressing cancel

  7. I selected install option and went to this screen. There was nothing displayed when selected install option

  8. I pressed back and selected ADB sideload and selected clean cache, which also failed with these messages ADB sideload screen


  9. I pressed back again and selected mount option and tried to mount system and firmware which again landed in password screen selected mount option Asking decryption password for mounting




  10. ADB and fastboot were not able to identify the device when I connected to PC through USB. I can see this message poping up on Windows device not recognized by windows





Please suggest a solution for this




encryption - How can I decrypt an encrypted SD card (HTC Evo 4G) on a different device?


I encrypted both my phone and SD card upon purchasing my HTC Evo 4g LTE. Recently the phone died (would get to the login screen and then reboot).


After a factory reset the SD card shows up as damaged. I've tried mounting it in various ways, but neither the phone nor a computer will attempt to mount the drive - they just ask to format it.


Is there any hope of recovering the contents?



Answer



The simple answer is: You Can't


The volume is already encrypted and can only be read as random hex because the required key is stored in your phone in order to decipher it. Unfortunately there is no way for you to recover your sdcard contents because the key on your phone is also lost when you factory reset.


Just reformat it if you still want to use your sdcard.


Thursday, April 25, 2019

usb tethering - Can I USB-tether my Android tablet to my Android phone?



IIs it possible to USB-tether my wifi-only Galaxy Tab to my Galaxy S?


I know how to wifi tether but it is a huge battery hog. Is there a mini-USB version of the Galaxy Tab cable? If so, can it be used to tether?


Thanks in advance...




applications - How to limit Google account access to selected apps?


I have used Google Photos App on iOS and the google account there allows me to disable access to the other google services where I don't see my other accounts in all Google Apps like Youtube, Gmail, Drive etc. This can't be done as far as I know on an android device. Although I can turn the automatic sync off but the account is pretty much there on all apps. Is it possible in some way that I achieve the same behavior as in iOS. It's pretty strange that google apps are giving more options on iOS than on Android.




2.2 froyo - Changing SD Card Just a Simple Copy & Paste


I'm migrating to a larger SD Card and I'm wondering if it is just a straightforward copy of the data from one card to the other in Windows? Specifically, can I just copy the card using Windows Explorer and paste to a temporary folder, then copy the contents of that temporary folder to the new card and have the phone be non-the-wiser (so long as I preserve the directory structure)?




Answer



Joel,


I've done this before, and I've had mixed results. Make sure you have Windows set to see hidden files and folders, then drag everything over. Your phone may refuse to remember the SD card-stored apps you have (as in, you've moved an app to run off the SD card), but it may also work. App settings, as far as I remember, seem to come over. I'd say it wouldn't hurt trying.


I know it'll preserve the link to Gallery pictures and videos and music and such.


Wednesday, April 24, 2019

backup - Retaining applications and settings when flashing custom ROMs


The one thing that's been keeping me from flashing a custom Jelly Bean ROM on my Verizon Galaxy S3 (SCH-I535) is the fact that, unlike OTA updates, when I update my phone with a custom ROM, I'll lose all of my apps and settings.


I don't want to have to reinstall and reconfigure all of my apps every time a new version of Android comes out.


What options are out there for backing up and restoring applications and application settings between custom ROMs?



Answer




Titanium Backup, is the most popular tool for everybody, not just for ROM Flashers, its for everybody, due to a large number of features such as:




  • Backing up user apps and their data

  • All backups are saved on the SD-Card (really, I should be calling this external storage to future proof this answer as SD-Card readers are in favour of getting dropped)

  • The capability to store up to fifty backups

  • Extract data from a CWM recovery image (via CWM's backup within recovery)

  • Freeze an app, and put it into a state of "suspension" such that, it gets removed from the app drawer temporarily.

  • Schedule backups on a regular automatic basis or via a widget, and by tapping on the widget, Titanium Backup will perform the backup.

  • There's far too much that you can do with it.



Think of this as a "Time Machine" application, where a backup is instigated, to backup user applications and their application data, and then can "revert" back in case of unforseen circumstances or... playing Angry Birds, and got to a euphoric state of delight in getting the high score, and decided to backup Angry Birds and the high-score data in place, "just in case" a foul-up is made.



The tool is often used heavily by ROM flashers, have AOSP Gingerbread, decide to go to AOSP JB, backup the apps etc, flash the new AOSP JB, and restore the apps.


Astute readers will point out a vital step that I left out, where does the Titanium Backup come from then, The answer is quite simple, every time there's a new update to the Titanium Backup in which Google Play automatically updates, first things first, instinctively, always, I do the following,



  1. Launch Titanium Backup

  2. Hit 'Menu', tap on 'More'

  3. Finally, tap on 'Create "update.zip"'

  4. Select 'TitaniumBackup-w.x.y.zip' under the heading titled, 'Select the name of the output file:' (Latest version, is 5.6.0)

  5. The zip file is created and saved onto the /sdcard/TitaniumBackup-5.6.0.zip, so, its' just a matter of adb pull on that file, unzip it, and install on to a newly flashed ROM, for example, in this case, AOSP JB, via the adb install method.


Then from there, after installing it, Titanium Backup will simply re-load the archived information about the backups already in place on the SD-Card.



The full information wiki can be found here on the developer's website, if any further information is required. Also take a look at our titanium tag.


Arduino heart rate sensor bluetooth terminal upon event command


I have an Arduino uno r3 set up as a pulse/heart rate monitor, I have a HC 05 bluetooth module set up so i can connect with my android phone, i get the reading on my android phone in a "heart rate is 86" and it shows a new reading every few seconds. Is there a way I can set up an event via the Bluetooth terminal or other app, to make it possible to sound an alarm or other android command upon a specified heart rate.




internal storage - How can I reclaim space used by the defaul email client


The default email client on my phone is reported as have almost 2.5Gb of data. It's used to sync with my work Exchange account. I've reduced the number of days to sync and the number of folders to sync, with no reduction in the reported space used by the app. I do notice that the trash folder claims 999+ messages, even though I delete the contents most days from my laptop client. That folder doesn't offer sync settings, and I can't find a way to select all of the messages to delete them.


Short of clearing all data for the app and setting my account up again, is there any way to reclaim some of this space?



Answer



I ended up deleting the account and re-adding it. Space used by Email went from 2.7Gb to 16Mb.


On my Moto X, running Android 4.4.4, Delete the account from System settings (i.e., not in the Email app) -- under Settings, in the "Accounts" section, find the account with the Email app's icon and name that matches the name in the app. Tap the account name, then the menu icon, and select "Remove account". Details may vary on other Android versions.



To add an account to the Email app, click the menu icon, then select Settings", "Add Account" will appear in the right side of the top menu bar.


applications - How to mount an ext3 partition from an external sd card on android



I'm trying to run Debian on the Android 4.4 (modded with cyanogenmod) that's installed on my nexus 10 to external sdcard. I'm reading this tutorial :


http://whiteboard.ping.se/Android/Debian


I've attached the Leef microSD microUSB Connector to the mini usb port of my nexus 10 as you can see here :


leef connector attached to my nexus 10


I've created two partitions on the sd card,as explained on the tutorial. The first is formatted with fat fs and the second one with ext3 file system. This is what I did when I've prepared the sd card partitions on the desktop computer :


Disk /dev/sdf: 64.0 GB, 64021856256 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 7783 cylinders, total 125042688 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x0004504c

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdf1 2048 32767999 16382976 b W95 FAT32
/dev/sdf2 32768000 125042687 46137344 83 Linux

When I attach the leef connector,only the fat32 partition is recognized by android,but not the ext3. This is the mount points that I see :


android mount points


To proceed with the tutorial I need to mount the second partition where should be installed the debian OS. How can I do this ? thanks.




Tuesday, April 23, 2019

motorola droid x - How can I reliably screen or block callers on a number-by-number basis?


Last night I got a telemarketing call on my Verizon Droid X. I was horrified, to say the least. I absolutely do NOT want telemarketers wasting my time and minutes with their B.S.


I looked into screening blocking calls through Verizon, but it seems Verizon only lets you block a total of FIVE numbers. I think this is unacceptable.


I went to the app store and there are a number of such applications available. From reviews and comments it's really hard to choose.


Is there a way to solve this problem? An app? A procedure? Something within the phone itself?


I'm using the soak release of Gingerbread, 2.3.3. I don't care about price. I just want something that is fast and effective.



Answer




I don't use an app.


What I do is have a "Spammer" record in my Contacts. Whenever I receive a telemarketing call, I add that phone number to the Spammer contact.


I give out my Google Voice number exclusively. Within GV I have that contact blocked, so any calls from one of those numbers receives the "ding-ding-ding This number is not in service" message.


In those rare cases where the call is to my actual cell phone number, it quite obviously displays "Spammer" on the screen and I simply slide to ignore the call.


9.0 pie - How can I sync the Google keyboard's clipboard with Android's clipboard?


How can I sync the Google keyboard's clipboard with Android's clipboard?


Google keyboard's clipboard:


enter image description here


Android's clipboard:


enter image description here


I use Samsung Galaxy S9 with Android S9.




Answer



The actions in these answer are from a Galaxy Note 8 which is nearly identical to your device. Unfortunately I do not know any way to sync them and as far as I know, it is not possible. However, I can explain this behavior.


The clipboard is a feature of the keyboard which is nothing but an application that registers itself as an Input Method with the android operating system.


What you are referring to as the android clipboard is actually the clipboard from the Samsung keyboard. This keyboard is better integrated with the Samsung environment. Here's how you can switch to the clipboard from the Samsung keyboard:



  1. Long Press on the globe like button:


Step 1



  1. Click on the Samsung keyboard in the list that opens:



Step 2



  1. Find the clipboard icon from the options on the keyboard, possibly in the extended list that is visible upon clicking on the 3 dots:


Step 3


Particularly in certain text boxes like the email compose section, this clipboard is disabled for some reason:


Final


Which is why you cannot use this clipboard everywhere even when you longpress in the area to bring up the clipboard shortcut.


To switch back to Google's keyboard, you can bring down the notification area and click on the change keyboard button:



Switch back


However; since these are 2 different applications; there seems to be no way to synchronize them since the clipboard feature is probably not universally standardized. 😔


documentation - Where can I find a thorough introduction to Android?


I recently bought an Android product (HOTT MD500), with no English-language manual. I've used Linux for more than 10 years, so I generally have no difficulty adapting to various interface changes, but the conventions used on the Android interface are a bit alien to me:



  • How to close programs.

  • How to switch between open programs. Are they even open still?

  • How to properly shut the device down.

  • When to use the SD card, when to use the internal flash drive for storage.


  • What tasks it is capable of doing.

  • What version it is. How to upgrade. Or should I?

  • What its limitations are..

  • What not to do so that I don't break it.


Is there a good manual which provides an introduction to all of this?



Answer



Complete Android Guide is a pretty good introduction/starting point for free on the website, available as an ebook or an app on the market.


http://completeandroidguide.com/


Monday, April 22, 2019

device firmware - What is yakju, gn, yakjuxw, takju etc?


I'm in the market of buying a Nexus 7, and these are what I understand some kind of firmware/maker identification. Can someone please explain all the different names?


Google sadly wasn't much help for me today.



Answer



For Galaxy Nexus these are different builds:



  • takju: devices sold through the Play Store in the US. Contains the Google Wallet aplication.

  • yakju: devices sold through Google outside the US.

  • yakjuxw: devices sold by Samsung.



If you buy yakjuxw I would recommend that you update to yakju with factory images provided by Google.


This way you will get the updates in time.


I wasn't aware that there are similar builds for the Nexus 7.


Sunday, April 21, 2019

How do some apps get past ad blocking?


I'm already using LBE Privacy Guard, AdAway and Droidwall to strictly control ads and app permissions. (All of them require root to run).


Droidwall has a whitelist where only apps that actually fetch data from the internet are allowed. (Games, system apps etc are blocked)


However I find some apps that are able to show ads even when they're not on the whitelist in Droidwall. How do they do it? Are they relying on some separate core system component to do this? My solution is to click on the ad and instantly hit 'stop' on the browser window that pops up, then adding the ad host to my hosts file.


I'd prefer a permanent solution, so that only apps requiring the internet are able to get through.


(Given a choice, I'd prefer a time bound full version or a feature restricted demo version to any form of adware, be it on Android or the desktop).



What Android system component do I block to completely disable in app ads?



Answer



It's been 5 years since I asked this, and I've finally found a solution for rooted phones. Google Play Services is the culprit. You need an app that can disable individual sub-components of other apps. I use DisableService, so I'll use it as an example, you'll have to follow similar steps with other such apps.



  • Select Google Play Services from the list.

  • Look for and disable the following components - AdRequestBrokerService, AdvertisingNotificationService, AdvertisingIdService, AnalyticsService and AnalyticsUploadIntentService.


That's it. Other apps send requests to these services to display ads, and turning them off has no adverse effect on them.


Is there a way to edit contacts birthdays on the phone?


As far as I can tell the default contacts app on the phone does not have a field to enter or edit birthdays.


Is there a way to do this?


What about other contact apps?



Answer



On Android 4.4.2 one can edit the Contact, and if the birthday is not showing at all, scroll to the bottom and tap on the "Add another field" button, add a tick mark to "Events", then tap "OK". The default event field shown will be "Birthday". If you tap on the event type tag, it can be set to "Birthday", "Anniversary", "Other", or "Custom", where "Custom" can be edited to display an arbitrary string. As of this writing, Google Contacts in one's Web browser only recognizes dates in the forms "MM/DD/YY", e.g., "12/24/72", or "MMMM DD, YYYY", e.g., "December 24, 1972". It flags other formats as invalid, such as ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD). This can cause problems if contacts are imported from other sources that recognize ISO 8601. Fortunately, if you enter the date on the Android side, it is constrained to the proper format by the "Set date" selector window and it also gives one the option to enter just the month and day if the year is unknown or irrelevant.


Multiple events can be created for a Contact entry. In a test, I tapped the "+" repeatedly and in addition to "Birthday", created "Anniversary" and over 250 "Other" fields, but the Contact app never issued a warning that a limit been exceeded.


Saturday, April 20, 2019

How can I install Google Play on my Samsung Galaxy A5?


After some messing around I was able to get my soft-bricked Samsung Galaxy A5 Duos (SM-A5000) running again:


Can I recover a soft-bricked Galaxy A5 without voiding the warranty?


However, the version of the firmware I flashed (Kit-kat) didn't have Google Play on it. I tried installing the latest APK that I could find, but when I try to open the installed app is just force-closes with this message:



Unfortunately, Google Play Store has stopped.



I thought perhaps I was missing Google Play Services so I tried installing that too (from this link), but it died with the same error as above. I also tried installing version 5.5.8 of Google Play Store (after removing all previously installed APKs) with the same outcome.



Eventually I concluded that I must need to install a GApps package.


Is there a specific version I need to be installing to run with my version of Android? What are the prerequisites for this to run? And why doesn't my version already have it? I thought I was installing the stock OS?? (To clarify, the version of the OS that the phone shipped with had the Google Play store)



Answer



Installing the Hong Kong firmware fixed the problem. Apparently it's just the mainland firmware that has Google apps blocked...


disable volume buttons


Problem at hand: I keep pressing volume button on my Nexus S when it is in my pocket. Most notably when playing music. More often than not it results in increasing volume, which is incredibly irritating. Had exactly the same issue with Nexus One.


Desired solution: A tweak/app that simply disables volume button when the screen is off (or locked?)


I looked through the android market and found a few half baked solutions... I don't really need a widget or a prompt to revert volume change or a being have to run an extra app when I actually want to change volume.




Are there any risks to rooting a device?


I see lots of tutorials telling me how to root my phone (Motorola Droid), but none of them mention any potential "side effects."


Aside from a few relatively minor issues that seem to require rooting to fix, I'm basically happy with the phone and therefore a little leery of messing with a device that cost me a lot of money and is only a few months old.


Assuming that I'm just talking about rooting, and none of the typical post-root actions (like installing a custom ROM), am I taking any risks by choosing to root?



  • Does it have the potential to brick the device?

  • Will it void my warranty?


  • Will I stop getting updates?

  • Will the cops show up at my front door the next day? (Yes, I'm being facetious.)

  • Anything else I should be aware of?


(See also: Are there any risks to flashing a ROM?)



Answer



Does it have the potential to brick the device?


Although it has become relatively simple on the Droid, some methods of rooting pose more risk than others. So in short yes there is a potential.


Will it void my warranty?


It depends on your manufacturer (and their warranty policies). But technically this does void your warranty in most cases.



Will I stop getting updates?


Again this depends. Some manufacturer provide updates for rooted devices while others do not. These will usually continue to come in and may unroot your phone if you install them, or even require you to unroot manually before you can receive their updates. If you install a third party ROM, then there's nothing else to do with your original manufacturer.


Will the cops show up at my front door the next day?


I certainly hope not :) but if rooting involves cracking a bootloader, it could theoretically get you in legal trouble in some jurisdictions (anti-circumvention laws, etc.)


EDIT: Also be aware that there are different root methods based on which current build you are running.


EDIT: It may (as of May 24, 2017) prevent you from installing some apps: Google Play can now prevent rooted users from downloading certain apps


internal storage - SD card is unwillingly used for apps


I'm having the reverse of the problem everybody is having with their internal storage management. So I have an SD card in my phone (xiaomi mi a1, android pie) which was never set to be internal/app storage or anything similar. I have plenty of internal space in my phone by default, still 30+ GB free, and I'm using a 16GB SD card, on which I have about 13GB music. Today I noticed my SD card is full. It contains an Android folder in which there are like a hundred folders for every app I use and its exactly 3 GB.


Now, I never set up my SD card as app storage, even if I go to options->storage, it shows up as a portable storage. And checking some of my biggest apps at settings->apps->app info, cannot find anything marked with external storage or SD card, everything appears to be on my internal storage.



Also, it is probably not cacheing, because running google's cache freeing stuff, I don't experience any change in my SD card.




More internal memory or less memory + SD card



I am thinking about buying Samsung Galaxy S3. The problem is that difference in price between 16Gb and 32Gb is significant, and it is much cheaper to buy SD card and compensate this difference. Is it good idea or not? What are disadvantages?



Answer



This is a question that I asked myself and the short answer is to always get as much memory inside the phone as possible, just to be sure. But saying that, it really depends on how you use your phone. I've gone for the largest amount of internal storage in my SGS3 as I could get (32Gb) and then a 64Gb external sd card, but I wish that I'd waited out for the 64Gb phone - reasons to follow after the tech bit:


The way that the version of Android you'll get on your SGS3 works is that it stores all application data on the internal storage and doesn't let you move that to the external SD card. This is probably to keep a good user experience - things will start going very wrong if you moved all your data to the external SD card and then removed that SD card. To note, older versions of Android did allow you to move apps to the external SD card. So when you download a game like NOVA, which clocks in at around 2GB of storage for the extra data it downloads, you will see that 16Gb or 32Gb internal storage is going to fill up soon.


To make matters worse - there's an extra layer to this: Android automatically assigns a private folder to each app, located in a protected folder on the internal storage. If you are non rooted, you won't be able to see this data, but it's what gets cleared when you 'clear data' within an application settings screen. If you are rooted it's located at '/data/data/'. This data is kept private so that only that app can look at the data, hence apps can't look at potentially sensitive information belonging to other apps. This data will always be located on the phone memory for security reasons. Some apps store a lot of data in these private folders: the newer version of Google music is a prime example - it stores all cached music in this folder (as mentioned in a comment older versions stored the music to the SD card, but this has changed in the newer versions to much annoyance)


So all your apps store all their data to the internal storage and there's not much you can do about it. After using my phone for a few months (installing applications, downloading music etc) my internal storage had 4Gb free (out of 32Gb) and my external SD card still had 60Gb free from my 64Gb. It seems that unless you root your phone and hack it a little, there's very little which will natively use the external SD card (I think you can relocate where photos are stored but that's about it from the native apps).



Hence I suggest to get as much internal storage space as possible, as that's the space which is going to be used first and fastest.


In regards to the other comments about installing apps to the ext card - I think they must still be using Android 2.x as this hasn't been an option since then, for the reasons explained above. To re-iterate - you won't be able to install apps on your ext sdcard using your SGS3 on a stock ROM


adb - How to mount /system rewritable or read-only? (RW/RO)


How can I mount the /system directory rewritable or read-only on my Android phone?



Answer



There are a few methods how you can mount your /system directory RW or RO. However, it will require root.






  1. Connect your phone to the computer. (Make sure USB debugging is enabled on your phone)




  2. Open CMD/Terminal on your PC.




    • Windows: CTRL + R, then type cmd.




    • Ubuntu: CTRL + ALT + T.





    • Mac: Navigate to /Applications/Utilities/ and double-click on Terminal.






  3. Type this:



    1. adb shell



    2. su




    3. Choose one: (for security mount /system back to RO when finished)



      • Mount system RW: mount -o rw,remount /system

      • Mount system RO: mount -o ro,remount /system









  1. Open terminal on your android phone (download here):


  2. Type this in the terminal:





    1. su




    2. Choose one: (for security mount /system back to RO when finished)



      • Mount system RW: mount -o rw,remount /system

      • Mount system RO: mount -o ro,remount /system








If you don't want to type the command every time in the terminal, I've written an app designed to do this for you:




Android 2.3


For people running Android 2.3 and the command fails, look at this answer: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/125437/95577


Friday, April 19, 2019

applications - How to downgrade an app if it has been updated via Play Store?


I have an app installed on my phone, which I've installed from the Google Play Store. If I update the app and don't like the upgraded version, is there a way to undo the update and downgrade back to the version of the app that I had previously installed?


I tried searching a bunch on this site, and I found lots of questions about downgrading the OS/ROM/firmware, but nothing about downgrading app versions or reverting an app update.




Is there any way to sync my Outlook calendar to my Samsung Galaxy S without Kies?


I am trying to sync my Outlook 2010 calendar to Samsung Galaxy S using Kies. For some reason, it doesn't sync.


Kies has a nasty habit of hanging, so I would really like to use something else, if possible, instead of trying to understand why it doesn't sync to begin with.


Are there any tools out there that will sync the calendar directly to the phone without using Kies?



Answer




Have you thought about doing this over the air, rather than using a desktop client for the sync?


If you use Outlook, presumably your company uses Exchange for it's mail servers? If so, and if they allow Exchange Active Sync, and/or have Outlook Web Access enabled, then you could sync your phone's mail and calendar directly with them over the air.


The built-in Mail client can be used to connect directly with Exchange, or there are third party alternative Exchange clients like Touchdown, Moxier or K-9 Mail


Thursday, April 18, 2019

root access - How to install SuperSU using adb while the phone is in TWRP recovery with a broken screen


I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 SHV-E330S with a broken screen (cannot see or touch anything). Please see this and it's comments for more context


I have managed to flash TWRP on this phone (https://twrp.me/samsung/samsunggalaxys4ltea.html) and now I can boot the phone into recovery mode and during this time I can use adb to get a root shell on the phone


I would like to find a way to stream it's screen to the laptop monitor and control it using adb, but I suppose I will need to root the android OS first to this more easily


I cannot use the phone screen so I am not sure how I can install SuperSu.apk from the phone itself. Is there a way to install it through adb? I think the adb shell I get while the phone is in recovery is not the android OS if I understand it correctly, so I don't know adb pm install while in recovery will install the apk correctly. Using adb to control the phone while in recovery is the only I can do anything at all with this phone at the moment so as far as possible I don't want to do anything wrong which might make me loose control of adb during recovery. What is the best way to go about this?


Or is there any way to get adb authorization for android OS, without root and completely through adb while in recovery?




Send SMS instead of MMS when texting multiple people


When I put more than one person as the recipient to my message my Samsung Galaxy S3 vibrates and says it's converting to MMS. When I send my message I know at least one person is not getting the message. However that person can send me a group message and I can see it is as a SMS instead of MMS.


I can't find any options to prevent it from becoming a MMS. I set the delivery report checkbox and sent another one out. I know one person got it and that person did it. I get no report on who got it. I'm using Android 4.3.



Answer



I was facing the same problem for long time on my Galaxy S3, at last i figure it out


by default android SMS allow you to send same message to multiple people without converting it to MMS. But when you Select the option Group Messaging under the multimedia message (MMS) setting it now set group messaging only for MMS


try un-checking the option


hope this will help ( am using default sms of android)


Screenshot

Screenshot (click to enlarge)


applications - Securing a young child's tablet


My wife has decided to get the kids a set of android tablets for christmas. These are Coby Kyros 4GB wi-fi only models. The kids are ages 6-10 so I don’t particularly want to let them have free reign of the internet or the app stores. I also want to make sure the tablets are protected from the various forms of malware.


Ideally I would like to be able to establish a white list for the websites they are allowed to visit, and make it so that they are not able to add any apps or modify the white list without parental intervention. However I am not familiar enough with the android platform to know where to start on any of this.


Google has helped me find out that apps exist which claim to be able to restrict access to other apps, but almost all of them have comments indicating that they are very easy to bypass. Likewise I have been seeing mixed reviews as to the effectiveness and value of the antivirus options that are out there. So far I have not been able to find anything about building a whitelist, or restricting content accessible from the web.


So I am asking for suggestions as to specific topics/apps that I should be reading up on, and/or other approaches that I can take to reach these goals.


EDIT: I should note that this model does not come with the android market pre installed, it has some third party app store on it. It does come with an apk manager installed, and I have played with one of them enough to get the market and gmail onto it. So I should be able to get most anything installed/removed if I can figgure out what it is I actually need to do.




Answer



As I noted in your other thread, your best bet is probably to manually set a web proxy server via the devices network settings that filters by keyword or whitelists. Even if they do go to another person's house or try to get on another network, they will be unable to browse (especially if you are hosting the proxy server yourself on your own network; in that case, they most likely won't be able to browse to anything at all).


From wikipedia:



In computer networks, a proxy server is a server (a computer system or an application) that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server. The proxy server evaluates the request according to its filtering rules. For example, it may filter traffic by IP address or protocol. If the request is validated by the filter, the proxy provides the resource by connecting to the relevant server and requesting the service on behalf of the client. A proxy server may optionally alter the client's request or the server's response, and sometimes it may serve the request without contacting the specified server. In this case, it 'caches' responses from the remote server, and returns subsequent requests for the same content directly.



4.2 jelly bean - I'm seeing duplicated images and videos on Gallery


I'm facing a strange situation on my Nexus 4, with Android version 4.2.2. I've being using it for the past 2 months without any issues whatsoever (other than a "regular" battery performance), but since last week I started seeing some duplicated albums with images on the Gallery. So, some images and videos appear twice, both with the same album name, but on a different "physical" folder, one on the folder /storage/emulated/0/ and the other on /storage/emulated/legacy/. I'm absolutely positive that this issue started only last week and the "duplicated" images existed before this issue ever appeared. I haven't installed any custom ROMs, I'm not rooted and haven't installed any apps in the las week (other than Google Translate, but I find it hard to believe that this is related). If this is a duplicated, please feel free to close it and point me to that discussion. If you need any more details, I'll update my question.



Answer



That's not duplicates. If you are the "device owner", /storage/emulated/0/ is your storage area (where your files etc. reside). /storage/emulated/legacy/ is a symbolic link, always pointing to the logged-in user's storage. That is, if you are the device owner, and you are logged in, both locations are identical. If some apps show the contained files as "dupes", they obviously have problems interpreting symlinks.



While for the gallery, this sounds pretty strange (if we are talking about the stock gallery, and not a 3rd party app): the very same Android developers who designed the multi-user capabilities should have been aware of that. Still, this is not the first time I heard about it. I cannot find the other issue currently, but a solution is as follows:


Go to Settings→Apps→Manage Apps, and scroll to the Gallery app. Open its entry, tap "Clear Cache" and "Delete Data". Tap the back key, and repeat the same for the "Media Storage" app.


Don't be afraid about losing data: the Media Scanner will re-collect them at its next run. You can trigger the scan by either...



  • powering off/on the device (bah!)

  • going to Settings→Storage and safely remove the SDCard, then mount it again (OK for one-time use :)

  • using a helper app like e.g. SDrescan or Rescan SD Card! (if you need it more often)


Once the Media Scanner is finished, all your media should re-appear in the Gallery app. Hopefully without the "dupes" :)


music player - Force Media Update?


Sometimes I download songs from various sources, and they aren't put in the requisite media folder on external storage. The media scanner can still find them, but the only way I have found to do this is by moving the file around with a file manager, or mounting and unmounting as USB storage. This forces the phone to rescan for media files.


Does anyone know of a way to give Android a hint that it needs to rescan for media from within Android itself?



Answer



Most custom ROMs include this functionality as part of the Power Widget. For stock firmware you have to resort to 3rd-party apps such as ScanMedia or SDRescan, for example.


2.3 gingerbread - When is the Nexus S Android 2.3.3 update coming to the UK




Possible Duplicate:
When will my phone get the Android 2.3 update (Gingerbread)?




I have a UK Nexus S and it is still on 2.3.2. It's been a month since this update began being pushed out in the US, but so far I've seen nothing. Have any UK users received it, and is there any news on its UK roll-out?



Answer



Offficial OTA updates can take their own sweet time getting to your phone, since they're dependent on not just how Google is rolling down the updstes but on operator arrangements as well. The simplest andquickst way of getting an update is to download the signed OTA update from Google and manually update your phone. XDA forums is typically a good place to find links to those updates - that is also how I downloaded my the 2.3.3 update to my NexusOne, sitting in India. Waiting for an OTA update, I would probably have been among the last people in the world to get it :)


Here is a simple way of manually updating your phone: - Download the update and rename the file update.zip - Connect your phone to your PC/Mac and copy that file to your microSD card. - Power down your Nexus S. Then press ‘power’ and hold the volume button. You’ll see a screen appear with three Androids. - Using the volume buttons, select ‘Bootloader’ and then press ‘Power’ to select. - On the next screen, select ‘Recovery’. - The phone will reboot. You’ll see a triangle with and Android robot and an exclamation point. - Press the volume up button and the power button at the same time. - Using the volume buttons, select “Apply sdcard: update.zip”. - Reboot to get 2.3.3


Wednesday, April 17, 2019

applications - Why do I see adverts after closing WhatsApp?


Every time I close WhatsApp I get some sort of an advertisement.


According to their site they don't advertise, but I see adverts like this after closing the app:


screenshot of advert



Click image for larger version


I have contacted the WhatsApp support team and their reply was:



WhatsApp does not advertise. If you are seeing advertisement on your device, it is from your device and not WhatsApp.



How can the device advertise on it's own??



Answer



Like KeshavaGN, I suspect a 3rd party app behind this. But neither your Nova Launcher, nor WhatsApp itself. To isolate the culprit, I suggest the following steps:



  1. Check with e.g. Appbrain Ad Detector (or TrustGO, which you chose) for apps carrying ad modules. These might include your culprit – but on a second look, that's not a typical "ad network message". Anyhow, note them down.


  2. See my answer here for how to check for apps having certain permissions. As described there, it's a "full-screen ad" here as well, so the SYSTEM_ALERT_WINDOW permission might be involved. As it happens always on closing WhatsApp, also check for GET_TASKS (allows an app to check which apps are running) and GET_TOP_ACTIVITY_INFO (details on the app running in foreground). Again, make a note on matches.

  3. Keep an eye on what apps are advertized. Try finding them at Play (better not by clicking on the ad, but separately – though the URL behind the ad might reveal more). If it's always the same dev behind it, check whether you have an app from him running on your device. If that's already on one of your lists from above, you most likely have found your culprit.

  4. Hard to realize, but possible while on some WiFi you control the router as well: If that popup is open, cut the Internet connection behind your router (i.e. your device is still using WiFi, but cannot reach the "open Internet"). Now it shouldn't be too risky tapping the ad (hopefully). I'd expect it opening your browser, which now cannot resolve the page – but you should see the URL in the browser's address bar. This might help to further narrow down suspects, if it is related to any of the apps you're using.


Finally, check your lists created during these four steps, and watch out for matches. If there's an app on list 2+3 (and optionally more), that's a pretty certain candidate. It gets even more likely if it's also on at least one of the other lists. Continue as described in the answer I've linked with item #2.


If you found out the responsible app, additionally to the steps described in the other answer, it would be a good idea to report your finding here as well ;)


Adb pull - access denied


I want copy all files(including system files), but when I enter adb pull /



i get this:enter image description here


I tried entering adb root but that does nothing.
enter image description here


Is there any fix to this? Else any other way to copy all files(including files like /data) to my pc?


PS:I have rooted my phone(OnePlus 6t) and have twrp and magisk.


Thanks



Answer



To (re-)enable adb root you have to modify your prop.default file. This file was traditionally named default.prop and stored inside the ramdisk of boot.img - however, for system-as-root devices it is inside /vendor.


change the line ro.build.type=eng into:


ro.build.type=userdebug


from the Magisk Troubleshoot Wiki:



ADB cannot run as root in production builds


If you're having issues running the ADB root command after installing Magisk this is because of MagiskHide setting a few prop values to known "safe" values. You can get ADB root working again by turning of MagiskHide and rebooting, but if you need MagiskHide for some app or service this could quickly become annoying.


A more convenient solution is to reset ro.build.type and ro.debuggable to their original values (userdebug and 1 respectively). This can be done by using the Magisk resetprop tool (see the Magisk Documentation for details), either by running it directly in a terminal emulator, in a late_start service boot script, or by using the MagiskHide Props Config Magisk module's "Edit MagiskHide props" function.



Tuesday, April 16, 2019

4.4 kitkat - What is the .android_secure Folder?


On my currently working Android 4.4 phone, much of my apps and data is on a MicroSDHC card and I am trying to find what to preserve and port to a new phone. As I am trying to move from an old phone to a new one and had not anticipating significant changes in behavior, I am rather confused on how to proceed and am entirely unprepared.


When reading the MicroSDHC card outside of the phone via a dedicated card reader there is a folder called .android_secure with 18 files all with .asec extension. What are those files? And can they be used somehow to help migrate to a new Android 7.0 phone?


Note that when mounting the phone, all the folders in the MicroSDHC card appear except for that one, so you have to read the card externally to see it.



This is about the concept of the folder which you can only figure out that it is for applications if you know already the answer.



Answer





  • android_secure folder contains those apps which you have moved to external SD. Files inside them would have .asec extension




  • Android 6.0 upwards don't allow you to move apps to external SD as you have been doing. They use wherein the external SD card and internal storage are merged to create a bigger storage. You can read more in adoptable-storage tag wiki. This folder is of no use to you in migrating , since the concept is different ( best is to restore all apps to internal storage before attempting backup )





  • Coming to the migration of apps and data,




    • If your device is not rooted, it is not easy or guaranteed to work since you are jumping across two versions ( this could be a separate question )




    • If your device is rooted , or backup would help







linux - How to create a copy of a file immediately when it's created?


I have an Android app that will create a file and immediately delete it. I want to know how can I catch this file or create a copy or even disable user permissions to delete a file. I have root access to the device.




Any apps that will allow me to set a profile that only allows emergency calls through?


I work third shift so I sleep during the day but I get calls all day long so I shut my ringer off. I would like to be able to set a couple phone numbers that can ring through no matter what. Using Google Voice to do this won't work because I get calls directly to my cell # as well as to Google Voice.



Answer




The Setting Profiles app can do that. From their site:



What if I don’t want to miss an important call while I’m on mute?


You can overwrite current sound settings with a rule based on Incoming Call condition. Here is how to:



  • Create a new rule

  • Add Incoming Call condition and set it to your preferred contacts group (like VIP or Family)

  • Add Activate Profile action to activate the profile where sound is On and/or some custom ring tone specified


That’s it! Now even if your phone is set to mute, it will still ring in case of a call from someone from Contact Group you have set up in step two.




They currently have two versions of the app - a Lite and Full. I would try the Lite version to see if it has this feature first.


QR Code for Setting Profiles Lite:


QR Code for Setting Profiles Lite


QR Code for Setting Profiles Full:


QR Code for Setting Profiles Full


Monday, April 15, 2019

What does "adb shell ime list" commands do?


What do the following two commands mean?



adb shell ime list -s
adb shell ime list

and why don't they return anything at all? See code below:


aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell ime list -s
aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell ime list
aneesh@nb-14:~$ adb shell ime list -a
jp.co.omronsoft.openwnn/.OpenWnnJAJP:
mId=jp.co.omronsoft.openwnn/.OpenWnnJAJP mSettingsActivityName=jp.co.omronsoft.openwnn.OpenWnnControlPanelJAJP
mIsDefaultResId=0x0

Service:
...
... etc.

I found no manual entry for these commands. It suggested that I did mandb to update the manual entries list. Googled too! But these efforts were in vain.


Any help is appreciated!



Answer



You won't find anything about this in the man page on your desktop, nor the usage information for adb because this isn't an adb command. Remember that adb shell foo starts a shell on the device and runs the command foo there. It would be like looking in the ssh man page to find out what ssh myserver rm -rf * does.


The command you want help with is ime list, and it only exists on the device, not your desktop. Running adb shell ime (with no further arguments) prints out the usage information for this command.


usage: ime list [-a] [-s]

ime enable ID
ime disable ID
ime set ID

The list command prints all enabled input methods. Use
the -a option to see all input methods. Use
the -s option to see only a single summary line of each.

The enable command allows the given input method ID to be used.


The disable command disallows the given input method ID from use.

The set command switches to the given input method ID.

"Enabled" in this description doesn't refer to the "enabled" field in the manifest (that is, the one printed out under ServiceInfo), but rather whether the IME is turned on in the settings. It might be a little confusing to have two different things called "enabled", but don't forget that adb is a debugging tool for programmers, who are expected to understand such things. End-users shouldn't need to run this command, since the list of IMEs is accessible through the device settings.


From this description, if you get output with ime list -a but not ime list, that tells you that no input methods are currently enabled in the settings.


antivirus - Is it a Virus? : " HTMLViewer "


For one time in my live, I accidentally set the option "Always" (tick the box) when Android ask me the question "which application must be used to open this type of file?" Android suggested some text application and " HTMLViewer".


screenshot


I found out this was not a good idea at all!


I tried to change the default application but " HTMLViewer" does not appear in the applications list, even if system files are displayed.



" HTMLViewer" is not known on Google as it seems, and I am now suspecting it perhaps is some kind of malware.


I only installed apps from "Play Store"..


Does anyone know something about this, and maybe solution to stop this behaviour?




Here are my device's specs. As you can see... We can not update more ☺️


Specifications




The inoperant changes done with "Better Open with" :


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Answer




HTML Viewer is not a virus and you shouldn't be alarmed.


Actually it is a core application in most android versions (It's also present on my device running android 4)


HTML viewer (as the name suggests) basically lets you read HTML files stored on your device and it occasionally handles some .txt or related extensions of files present on your device and normally appears alongside other .txt handling applications.


Under normal circumstances you should be able to remove defaults of the HTML Viewer as an individual app:



  • Go to Settings → Apps → Tap 3 dot menu → Show system.

  • Select HTML Viewer → Open by default → Clear defaults:


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You also can reset default applications by following this procedure:




  • Go to Settings → Apps → Tap 3 dot menu → Reset app preferences then click Reset Apps to confirm:


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Alternatively as beeshyams suggested: using an app like Better Open With provides flexibility to choose the prefered app even if its one.



Lib Caris is right by claiming that "even by clearing defaults/resetting preferences" HTML Viewer still opens .txt despite these interventions, and I agree with him.


Don't know if I can call it a bug, I reproduced this issue again and even if defaults are cleared the changes are not confirmed in android (Android 6).


Nevertheless I have two workarounds to bypass this "bug":


1. Temporarily disabling HTML Viewer




  • Go to Settings → Apps → Tap 3 dot menu → Show system.

  • Select HTML Viewer → Disable:


enter image description here



  • After disabling HTML Viewer, navigate to your device storage and look for any .txt file and open it.

  • You will notice it will open with any available text viewer (not HTML Viewer)

  • Next follow the above procedure and re enable HTML Viewer.

  • Then try opening the .txt file again, this time around the defaults are cleared automatically and you have a chance to choose your preferred text viewer:



enter image description here


2. Choose open as with file manager



  • Alternatively, directly navigate to any .txt file on your device storage with a suitable file manager e.g ES explorer .

  • Long press the .txt file and choose "Open As" → Clear defaults


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Due to problems in language barrier, it was a challenge to provide a conscise solution, nevertheless I will express my sincere gratitude to Lib Car, in his quest to address the problem and identifying pointer that ultimately solved this issue:




I did not find it since the beginning because it's name is NOT " HTMLViewer ". The NAME is " Visionneuse HTML " :



enter image description here



Execute Windows Run Command or Some Windows Batch Process from Android


Can we execute a Windows run command from an Android device? Like for example I want to open a file in PC using my Android device such as Run>C:\abc.exe.


Or you can say I want to run a batch process (Exe File) placed in PC from my Android device.




Sunday, April 14, 2019

Sending sms from tablet not allowed or not possible?


This is more of a meta question, but the best place to ask I'm sure..


Why can't I send an sms from my samsung galaxy tab 10.1 3G tablet? Is it because the hardware does not support it (most likely), or because android 3.1 does not support it (least likely)?


Cheers!



Answer




The hardware and software support SMS, but not calling. The most likely explanation is that your contract is a data-only contract and SMS messaging is disabled by your operator.


There is a chance, however, that the problem is your SMS settings. You can check these by opening Messaging, then open Settings from the top right corner and check that the Message center under Text message (SMS) settings is correct. The Message center number is network specific, so check it from another phone that uses the same network or ask your operator.


Friday, April 12, 2019

wi fi - All apps except WhatsApp cannot work on WiFi


I'm having some strange problem with my Sony Xperia SL. I use Virtual Router Manager on my Laptop to connect my mobile to internet over Wi-Fi. Since this morning, none of the apps are connecting to Internet (Play Store, Instagram, Subway Surfers, Browsers, etc.) except WhatsApp.


I've tried resetting Settings on my phone. Also reset the Wi-Fi modem on my Laptop, but still the same. Any solution?




Talking GPS software for Android?



I need a GPS when I use ride my bike. :\
Holding my phone in my hand is not really a solution....
Can somebody help me to find a talking GPS Android app?

Thank you...




Installing TWRP on a Samsung device, no fastboot (using ADB or other ways)


My device (Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300) is not detected by fastboot in Download Mode, but it is detected properly by adb. I want to install TWRP as my device recovery. Is there any way to install it using adb instead of fastboot?


There is a question about the problem of detection of the device by fastboot on this site (which has no working answer yet). But my question is not how to solve that problem. If you like to answer that problem please see this page.




Answer



There is no fastboot mode on Samsung. You must use the ODIN mode, which is an alternative to fastboot. On Linux there is a client application called Heimdall which talks to phones via Odin mode. So the answer to your question is ODIN or Heimdall. ODIN is the proprietary Samsung PC application, Heimdall is multiplatform open source alternative.


Alternatively, if you are able to root your phone somehow, you can put TWRP (or any other recovery) on your phone by rewriting the recovery partition via shell but this can be tricky and I wouldn't recommend it unless you know exactly what you are doing or willing to risk bricking your phone. If interested, I can write a generic how-to too but I'd rather leave it to someone with more experience on that - I only did it like 5 times.


whatsapp messenger - Unknown error code during application install "-24"


I just updated my Moto X to latest and greatest Android 4.4 KitKat (I even did full factory reset just to be sure) and now I'm trying to install WhatsApp Messenger but unable to do so, I'm getting following error:



Unknown error code during application install "-24"



Please advise.




external sd - Using SD card as internal storage and migrate date


I read this question, but I want to update the question.


Now with Android 6.0 we have the option to format the SD card as internal storage, and that's what I did. I also clicked that "Migrate data" option that moves pictures, music and such to the SD card storage.


Storage


However, I downloaded more music and now the internal storage is full. And the "Migrate data" option now tries to move data from the SD to the internal memory. So apparently you can only use it once #fail


The apps that consume the most space are precisely apps containing media that could go into the SD card (red arrows). Others are games that even allow the user to move the app to the SD card (blue arrow). For some weird reason, it always fails with a snack bar saying "internal error occurred".


Biggest apps




  • Should I format the SD card as external? I'll never remove it, so this "format as internal memory" option seemed perfect.

  • How can I migrate all this media/data back to the SD card?


Am I doing something wrong here? I have a Moto G 2nd gen.



Answer



OK, I think I found out the best setup.



  1. Format your SD card as internal memory.

  2. Go to Settings > Storage > Internal and open each app. Some apps have a "change" button. Press it to move the app into the SD card.

  3. Finally go to Settings > Storage > Internal and on the right corner press Migrate data.



At this point, you did all you could.


samsung galaxy s 2 - Cannot restore Kies backup after firmware upgrade

I backed up my Samsung Galaxy S2 on Kies before updating to Ice Cream Sandwich. After the upgrade I tried to restore, but the restore fails ...